Life From Death

Good morning, welcome, and Happy Easter! Please open Bibles to John 5.

In the Beginning- starting next week- highlight the cards.

Before we get to our text- let’s remember why we are here this morning to celebrate and worship.

Matthew 28:1-10- Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

This sermon series- what difference is made by both the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Last two weeks have focused on what Jesus has made possible by His death. Today, His resurrection.

We will soon see that eternal life is made possible by Jesus’ defeat of death.

We have before us a long, but important text.

J.C. Ryle- “Nowhere else in the Gospels do we find our Lord making such a formal, systematic, orderly, regular statement of His own unity with the Father. To me it seems one of the deepest things in the Bible.”

To rightly understand, pay attention to the context.

Jesus heals a lame man in Jerusalem.

Jewish leaders are upset with the lame man for carrying around his mat on the Sabbath.

John 5:16-18- And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Upset about the breaking of the Sabbath, and that Jesus seems to be equating Himself with God.

How would Jesus respond? By backing off? Not at all. Jesus doubles down.

Read John 5:19-29- 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. 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. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 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. 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. “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.

Pray- Martin Bucer- German Reformer in the 16th Century- “Almighty, gracious Father, since our whole salvation depends on our true understanding of your holy Word, grant that our hearts- freed from wordly affairs- may hear and understand your holy Word with all diligence and faith, so that we may rightly discern your gracious will, cherish it, and live by it with all earnestness, to your praise and honor, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”

1. Jesus identifies Himself with the Father, which has major implications.

Notice what is said by Jesus in v. 19-24.

Jesus does only what the Father is doing.

Nothing that Jesus does, or says, or thinks, falls out of line with what the Father does.

But there is more here- Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.

Consider the implications of this. This is not a mere following of an example. It’s not like the Father is perfect and the Son tries His best to follow in His footsteps.

Dad and nightly worship.

This is our experience.

Matthew 5:48- You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

What an unimaginable command. God is Father, and we are to seek after perfection ourselves.

But Jesus wasn’t seeking after it, He was perfect.

Everything that the Father does in His perfection, Jesus does in His perfection as well.

How we have understood this idea- Jesus is the Word of God, the expression of God.

Hebrews 1:3- He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high...

Jesus sees what the Father is doing.

If only this was true for all of us.

The Father works in the realm of eternity. No one understands the plans of the Father. We grow frustrated because of it.

Isaiah 55:8-9- For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

I think we can agree with such a Scripture. We tend to have no clue what God is up to, even when we are trusting that He is working all things together for our good.

Jesus’ claim is no small thing- His plans and the Father’s plans are the same thing. He not only sees the will of the Father, but is in complete alignment with it.

The Son gives life, just like the Father.

Reserved for God.

Ezekiel 37:13- And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.

Many verses could have been chosen, but notice what is being communicated here.

The raising of the dead, the opening of the grave, is the proof of deity, the proof of God’s identity and power.

Jesus raising the dead claims such power and identity.

Here we find the identity of this person Jesus, or at the very least who He was claiming Himself to be and who His opponents understood Him to be saying that He was.

The Jewish leaders were right in saying that Jesus was making Himself equal with God.

Now, if this is true, if Jesus truly is the Son of the Father, a part of the triune God, then how we respond to Jesus will reveal where we stand spiritually.

2. How we respond to the person of Jesus defines our salvation, or lack thereof.

Salvation is all about our relationship with Jesus.

John 5:22-23- For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 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.

What is this text saying? However we feel about Jesus reveals how we feel about the very fullness of God.

Our relationship with God is all about our relationship with Jesus.

We cannot have right relationship with God if we are dishonoring Jesus.

Honor- to pay honor to or to hold in honor.

We may not know what it means to honor someone, but we likely know what it means to hold something in honor.

We think of something differently, we treasure it, it holds highest priority in our lives.

What do we honor in this life? What is of greatest value to us? Is it Jesus or is it something, or someone else?

Jesus says that if we are honoring Him, we are honoring God. If Jesus is our greatest and most prized possession, then God is as well.

But the opposite is true also- If Jesus is not held in THE place of honor in our lives, then this reveals our heart toward God.

Now why is this important? Because people tend to have a general and vague understanding of how we relate to and please God.

What do you believe about your eternity? That you can have some concept of God in mind and live in a generally moral way and be just fine?

The words of Jesus here reveal something else entirely. Who is Jesus to you?

This ought to make sense to us. Think about it this way.

To have eternal life, we must remain close to the source of such life.

This is the point being made in John 15:5- I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

We now know that Jesus identifies Himself with the Father, and that what we do with the person of Jesus reveals what we have done with the entire person of God.

But why follow Jesus in the first place?

3. Jesus claims power over death and proves it in His resurrection.

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.

Jesus commands life. This is a theme that is repeatedly shown throughout the gospels, but also throughout all of Scripture.

Notice what is written in the text- Jesus will speak and the dead will be raised, either to life or to judgement. Eternal life or eternal damnation. Everyone. We will all be sifted, or separated, like sheep and goats described in Matthew 25.

Further, it is the voice of Christ that raises the dead, to make life where there was none.

We see this exemplified throughout the gospels.

John 11- Jesus calls into Lazarus’ tomb and tells Him to come out.

Luke 7- Widow of Nain’s son- Young man, I say to you, arise.

Luke 8- Jairus’ daughter- Child arise.

But there is a greater understanding of what Jesus is doing. If Jesus has power over death, He also has the power over the greater and more devastating kind of death- spiritual death.

Genesis 3- Do not eat the fruit for you will surely die. Romans 3- wages of sin is death.

Scripture makes clear that there is a calling from God that brings to life the heart that is dead.

Ephesians 2- Though we are dead in trespasses and sins, God has made us alive.

Romans 8- Foreknew, predestined, called, justified, glorified.

Notice the absurdity of this claim by Jesus, that He is able to give life. How would you have heard such a claim?

But we have the resurrection. We know that Jesus does indeed have power over death.

There is no one who will escape one of those two eternal destinations. There is no other possibility.

Have you considered this for yourself? You and I will one day stand in judgement. And your eternity will be revealed to you.

Has Jesus spoken to your heart? Has He spoken into the tomb of your heart as he did with Lazarus’ tomb and commanded life where once there was only death?

How should I respond? Believe in the One who has defeated death by walking from His own tomb! Again, this power over both life and death has been proven in the resurrection.

Finally, to what am I being called? If Jesus speaks life into my dead heart, what does that mean for the rest of my days?

4. What is this life that is offered by Jesus?

John 5:24- 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.

Jesus defines for us eternal life.

Passing from death into something else.

What is physical death? An ending of what is needed for life and vitality.

What is spiritual death? An ending of what is needed for spiritual life and vitality.

We pass from such death into eternal life.

Notice the promise that is made by Jesus here- He who has eternal life will never come into judgement.

Do you honor Jesus with your life, your heart, your mind, your behavior? You will never come into judgement? How can this be so? We still sin, after all.

Judgement for you has already taken place. Jesus received it on the cross and was buried in the tomb.

Does this make Him a weak Savior? Not at all, remember Matthew 28, where we began.

That great enemy, death, could not hold Him. Jesus defeated death and removed it’s sting completely for those who are in Christ.

Please understand, this is not preacher talk, or snake oil, or me trying to dress up something better than what it truly is.

This is the promise of Jesus Himself. He defeated death in His resurrection, and promises that He can speak life into a spiritually dead heart.

What else is there to trust in this world? What can accomplish what Jesus has done? Faith placed in anything else gives no hope, no peace, no comfort in this life or beyond the grave.

Place your faith and trust in Jesus alone. In His perfect life, in His perfect divinity, in His death, in His resurrection, in His love for you.

Let’s pray.