John 5:25-30 (2)
Notes
Transcript
If you are visiting this morning I want to say two things to you:
Thank you so much for coming and visiting us this morning at POTR. We are so glad you are here.
And before I tell you the second thing, I want you to know that we know how kind and gracious and welcoming our Father in Heaven was to us…how he Welcomed us into his family and I want all of us to take just a few minutes to stand and welcome everyone this morning. (Give Ian a big hug…he loves hugs).
So…again, thanks for coming but I also want to apologize because we have been going through The Gospel of John now for about 5 months and we have entered some pretty deep water...
So we finished last Sunday at verse 24 and we saw the good news that for those who believe in Christ have PASSED from death to life and the one who believes in Christ will NOT come into judgement.
Now…lets read our text this morning:
“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. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
Prayer:
There is so much in these 5 verses.
The Power of the Word of God, the Power of the Word of Christ
The Power that Christ holds
his final judgement
The Power to Raise from the dead every human being who has ever lived
some will be punished for eternity
some will be resurrected to eternal life.
This little section right here tells us who Jesus is...
He is the Son of God
HE is God in the Flesh
He is All-powerful
He is the Saviour
He is the Judge
This is great news, the BEST news, for those who believe in Him.
This is horrible and dreadful news who do not…but they just don’t realize how horrible it is yet. I’ll tell you why.
Let’s look at verse 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.
What is this verse telling us?
Is it telling us that Jesus will give life to physically dead people one day?
a quick read of this verse might give you that idea.
read it really fast and keep on going and that might be what you think it is saying
But, I do not believe that is what it is saying. He deals with that fact in verse 28-29…we will see that in a minute.
Look at the verse again ( ON THE SCREEN )and look at this phrase, “and is now here”…
This is not talking about the final resurrection
this is talking about spiritually dead people right now..in the time of Christ’s ministry and moving forward through history…this is talking about Christ raising spiritually dead people to life then and now.
People who do not believe in THIS JESUS, the Jesus of the Bible, the Son of God, the Second Person of the Triune God, who came from the Father to do His Will, The God-Man…King Jesus…People who do not believe in Him are walking around spiritually DEAD…CONDEMNED ALREADY (John 3:18)
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
People who do not believe in the Biblical Jesus right now…though they may be walking around…they may be sitting right here this morning breathing the air that God has given them…if they do not believe in Christ, THIS Christ…are SPIRITUALLY DEAD and the wrath of God Remains on them ALREADY…(John 3:36)
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
Look at verse 25 again:
“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.
Spiritually dead people…what is that? What does that even mean?
I don’t want to waste time talking about “them out there”…you know…those horrible sinful people who are spiritually dead. I’ll talk to them when they come visit. Let’s talk amongst ourselves...
Also, we are keeping this in context. Jesus is talking to a bunch of “religious people” here right...
See, most people think that churches just dawg everybody out there…but here, at POTR, we step on everybody’s toes...
Here is a spiritually dead person:
It is the person who never sees the things of God in his or her life.
It’s the person that is so blessed by God in so many ways yet he/she never sees God in anything or gives him thanks for any of it. (maybe a tip of the hat somewhere but never from the heart).
They may come to church and sit in the pew next to you…or the metal chair with no cushion…and never hear anything that stirs their affections for God.
They may sing and pray but you know what is really in the heart?
Not the joy and the appreciation to be surrounded by God’s people...
Not the thankfulness to hear the Word preached
Not the praise of the God who has saved them from their sins....
What is truly in their heart is…
WHEN IS THIS GOING TO BE OVER?
I’d rather be anywhere else but here if I could be honest.
The SPIRITUALLY DEAD person hardly ever thinks about God at all in his everyday life.
they hear the things of God in His Word and it does nothing to them...
They find nothing in His Revealed Word that excites them
They have no desire to learn more of Him
Hearing of eternity in Heaven or Hell doesn’t move them one bit on the inside.
The things of this world excite them more than the things of God.
This is a spiritually dead person.
Turn to John 8 and look at a few verses with me. Look at verses 42-47
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”
Now, this is a section of Scripture that you’re not taught in Sunday School as a kid. Instead they teach that everyone is a child of God. We will talk about this in more detail in a few months when we get to this section.
But for now I want to point out something… LOOK AT VERSE 43
Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.
Again, he is talking to religious people…people who “claim” to love God.
they go through the religious motions
they know the religious LINGO
They just DON’T KNOW GOD OR UNDERSTAND HIS WORD.
THEY CANNOT BEAR TO HEAR IT!
they would rather hear anything but God’s Word
Now Look at verse 47:
Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”
Why are they NOT OF GOD? How is that? Because God is Life…abundant LIFE…and they are SPIRITUALLY DEAD! THEY ARE NOT OF GOD!
JC Ryle:
that there is no surer mark of an unsanctified nature than dislike to God’s Word.
Look again at John 5 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.
But Jesus says the time is now…it is already at hand when the dead, the spiritually dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and THOSE WHO HEAR WILL LIVE!
That was all of us in this room at one point...
If you BELIEVE IN CHRIST JESUS OF THE SCRIPTURE KNOW THIS:
at one point YOU WERE SPIRITUALLY DEAD
I WAS SPIRITUALLY DEAD
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
Back to John 5…look at verses 26-27
For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.
This is not saying that Christ is less than the Father when it says “he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.” Or when he says, “he has given him authority to execute judgement”.
The point is not that Jesus is less than the Father.
We established that last week.
The POINT IS:
In eternity past God appointed that the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son of God, would be the giver of life to men. These are the things that were given to CHRIST when HE assumed the office of Mediator between man and God.
This text also PROVES that The Father and The Son are two distinct persons yet one God.
ONLY GOD can have life in himself.
ONLY GOD can execute judgement.
And the Religious Jews knew that ONLY GOD could have this power. So IMAGINE what they are thinking when Jesus tells them this.
NOW…look at our last two verses: John 5:28-29
Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
They are looking at him like He is crazy right?
Then he says, “DO NOT MARVEL AT THIS...” HE IS SAYING…YOU AIN’T HEARD NOTHING YET!
You think it is crazy that Im telling you that I can raise spiritually dead people to life?
You think it is crazy that I have life in myself as the Father has life in himself?
You think it is crazy that I have the authority to execute judgement?
Well let me tell you this:
“an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgement”.
NOW THAT IS SOME AUTHORITY....
EVERY SINGLE PERSON will raise from the dead. EVERY ONE OF US.
some will face the judgement of God. And face His Eternal Wrath
Some will be raised to everlasting life in the presence of God for all Eternity
Who are “those who have done evil”
Those who do not listen to the Word of God
Those who do not believe in Christ for their slavation.
“Those who have done good”…who are they?
It is those who the Son chose to give spiritual life to (John 5:21)
They are the ones who are born of God (John 1:12-13)
They are the ones that came into the light because of God’s work in their heart (John 3:21)
“Those who have done good”…is this saying that our good works save us?
Absolutely NOT.
Our good works are not the cause of our salvation but the marks of our salvation.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.