Without Faith, You Can Do No Good

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John 5:19–29 (ESV)

19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.

20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.

21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.

22 For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.

28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

Opening Prayer

Setting the Stage

Last Sunday, we looked at Jesus word regarding...

Two Types of Resurrection:

Spiritual Resurrection

A resurrection unto Spiritual life that is a foretaste of the physical resurrection of the resurrection unto eternal life.

Being made a new, by a new heart, with new affections that are alive and in love with God.

Physical Resurrection

We’ll be looking at this type of resurrection this morning.

First, we notice in v.28 that Jesus says...

Do Not Marvel

But, in v.20 Jesus said...

John 5:20 (ESV)

20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.

So, are we to marvel or are we not to marvel?

v.20 works are done by Christ so that you may marvel

marvel = to be filled with wonder, to be astonished by what you’ve witnessed

v.28 do not marvel at this

What do we make of this?

Well, what Jesus is saying first, in v.20, is this...

The miracles & signs are to draw attention to the person of Christ...

And, in observation of the miracle, the spectator should be astonished at the Messianic promises being fulfilled in the person of JC.

But, and this is what Jesus is saying in v.28...

Marveling is not all that should occur.

The marveling should initiate believing upon the Lord, JC as:

The Messiah

The Christ

The Divine King of Glory of Daniel 7 & Psalm 2.

The true Son of Abraham

The true Son of David

Marveling should rightly lead to believing all that God spoke through the Prophets of the One God would send to redeem mankind from the curse of sin.

And, restoring them to a right relationship with Him through the reconciliatory work of the Christ.

Now, Jesus tells why we shouldn’t just marvel.

Why marveling at the work of Christ is not the end goal of His signs and miracles.

John 5:28–29 (ESV)

28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

Before Jesus was speaking to a response from His word that shows that Spiritual Life has been given.

Now, He’s talking about a response to His word that every one hears and the tombs will empty at the sound of His voice.

Don’t just marvel at the work of Christ that is for the purpose of redeeming His people from the bondage of sin and spiritual death.

Because it is also meant for redeeming His people from the judgment unto death.

Everyone will respond to the second type of resurrection.

And, if you only marveled.

If you fell short of believing upon Christ for who He is and what He has done...

And, you only marveled at Him as a great teacher, a miracle worker, a prophet...

Then your marveling did not lead you to where marveling at God should lead you...

And, that is Faith.

There are lots of people who, in their minds, compliment Jesus by saying nice things.

There are lots of people who, in their minds, do nice things in Jesus’ name.

Matthew 7:21–23 (ESV)

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

They had their list of works.

They don’t sound bad.

What made them unacceptable, bad?

They were not done in faith.

The Law only accepts perfection.

In the NC the work of the Law is finished by Christ on behalf of His people.

NC people do good works while maintaining their Faith in the merit of Christ alone.

The people of Matthew 7 did works to gain merit in self.

Dear friends, if you do not recognize and acknowledge Jesus as He demands you recognize Him...

Than you reject Him and blaspheme His name.

You must honor Him and worship Him as God.

The fruit of spiritual resurrection or regeneration is faith in the person and work of Christ as described by Himself and the Apostles.

Now, Jesus continues and tells us that there are:

Two Outcomes of Physical Resurrection

John 5:28–29 (ESV)

28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

There are two outcomes of physical resurrection.

There is a:

1) Resurrection of Life

Those who have received spiritual resurrection have the assurance of a Resurrection of Life.

We do not face judgment because judgment has been rendered upon Christ for us as the people of His kingdom.

Christ paid our debt so we could be declared blameless in the sight of God.

This is when we will be made like Jesus.

We will be given a new body, one that is immortal.

2) Resurrection of Judgment

This is for those who rejected God.

Suppressed the truth of God.

Rejected God’s commands.

Lacked thankfulness to God for the common grace that upheld them every day of their life.

This is reserved for those who are counting on their ability to face the Law of God in the Court of God on their own merit.

All of their transgressions will be upon their own shoulders.

You probably noticed the qualifiers on these two outcomes of the physical resurrection.

those who have done good

those who have done evil

We need to understand the difference between good and evil as it relates to God...

And, as it relates to us.

What is the Foundation of Doing Good?

John 6:29 (ESV)

Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

—> Faith

Good works must begin in faith.

Paul states in Romans 14:23...

For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

Think about this...

How can works of Christians be good if we still have impure thoughts and deeds?

We still battle with the flesh which contaminates everything we do.

How?

Why?

What Does Faith Do To Make Our Works Good?

It is because FAITH places us within the NC with God in Christ.

Anything we do within the NC, is protected by the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Our good works are clothed in His perfect works.

A distinguishing characteristic of a Christian’s good works is the motive behind the good work.

—> Our works, that are good, are done while resting in the finished work of Christ for our meritorious standing before God.

And, so our good works are done out of a thankful heart, not out of a heart...seeking to earn.

—> Simultaneously true, is the truth that our good works are done within the new covenant.

The NC promises our eternal citizenship is exclusively based upon the work of Christ.

But, graciously, attaches the promise of reward on our good works in spite of the fact that our good works are imperfect and tainted with sin.

But, in the goodness of God, and contained in the NC, our good works are accepted by God within the NC because our good works are clothed in merit of Christ.

And, our good works are foundationally the work of the HS in and through us.

The Covenant of Works is not so.

The Covenant of Works says, “Perfection or death.”

Perfection was lost in Adam.

Therefore death reigns in the Covenant of Works.

And, those who are in and remain in the CofW can only do evil.

What is Doing Evil?

Remember Matthew 7 & Romans 14, from earlier.

Anything Outside of Faith is Sin

Why?

Because Faith in Christ is acknowledgement that our works are unrighteous.

That our transgressions have made us guilty before God.

That we need a righteousness from someone else.

We need to be made righteous before God by someone else.

We need the penalty of our transgressions to be removed.

We have nothing to offer God, but need everything from God given to us.

And, when we acknowledge that is when we are faced with the person and work of Christ...

Because He is the only one worthy.

And, if we acknowledge that is is a work of the Spirit of God...

That assures us of a resurrection of life.

And, if we do not acknowledge these truths it is a sure sign that you are clinging to a hope that you can somehow defend yourself in the Courtroom of God...

Based on your own merit that you feel you have to offer God.

And, if that is the case you can rest assured that you will face a resurrection of judgment.

Because if you are not in Christ, you are therefore under condemnation.

But, for those believing upon Christ, there is therefore now no condemnation.

Let’s think about this...

Jesus does everything that God does:

we need to stand in awe of that.

Jesus demands the very worship of God himself:

let us praise him.

Jesus is the only way of salvation:

let us hear him and believe him.

Jesus is the judge of all the earth:

let us rejoice that in him we have passed from death to life...

Rejoice, dear Christian, that we know we are saved.

Safe in Christ.

Closing prayer