Throughout our entire discipleship, eternal death and eternal life struggle for dominion over our thoughts, our words, and our actions. We are being redeemed from the hand of the enemy. This is why Paul exhorted Timothy to "lay hold on eternal life."

Being redeemed from the hand of the enemy requires that the evil in us be judged. We have been forgiven totally but there remains all manner of darkness in our personality. In order for us to be brought into the Kingdom of God the spiritual darkness in us must be judged and removed.

In fact, one of the main concerns and operations of Christian discipleship is the work of judging, through the Holy Spirit, the sin that is in us and the removal of this sin through the ability Christ gives.

Notice that we are making a distinction between the sinner and his sin. Paul makes such a distinction:

Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. (Romans 7:17)

The "I" who hears the word of Christ and believes in God who sent Him will not come into condemnation. The sin that dwells in the individual indeed will be judged. Here is the reconciliation of John 5:24 and I Peter 4:17. We abide in Jesus without condemnation provided we follow the Lord in the judging and removing of the sin that dwells in us.

The process of redemption through judgment and deliverance can be observed in the first chapter of I John. It is fitting that the Apostle John who brought us into this seeming contradiction (John 5:24) should be the one to explain how it can be true that we Christians are not judged and yet are judged.

This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (I John 1:5)

The object of our attention here is God the Father. The persons being addressed are the saints.

If we [saints] say that we have fellowship with him [with the Father], and walk in darkness [not in the light of the Father's Presence and will; not in eternal life], we lie, and do not the truth: (I John 1:6)

It is clear from I John 1:6 that the believer who is not walking in righteousness and obedience to God is not abiding in the blessings of John 5:24. He may at one time have been abiding in John 5:24 but he is not now. His experience of eternal life and his freedom from condemnation have been brought into jeopardy.

Why is this? It is because he no longer is hearing the Word of Christ and believing in God. Isn't this what I John 1:6 (above) is saying?

But if we walk in the light, . . . . (I John 1:7)

The ongoing process of redemption depends on our continuing to walk in the Light of God's Presence. If we choose instead to walk in the sins of the flesh, to walk in self-centeredness and self-will, John 5:24 no longer applies to us.

To be continued.