Let's see if the Lord's helpful.
I can't think of any other announcements than that. So Ray is in the hospital. Sharon's on the way back to Nashville.
He had a place on his hand and evidently it's infected so they're
gonna have to cut that open. I think they're gonna leave it
open. And you said something about mercy? Marsopa, that might have been
the last time. Yeah, could have been. But I
love it. That man, if he got there, because
that's about the hardest infection in the world to take care of.
But remember him in your prayers. Also share him as he was traveling
back and forth to Asheville. Hymn number 45, in service of
God through masterful love. Each servant of God, your Master
proclaim, and publish abroad His wonderful name! The name all-victorious of Jesus
extol, His kingdom, His glories, He rules over all! God ruleth on high, Almighty
to save! And still He is mine, His presence
we have! The great congregation, His triumph
shall sing! salvation of their faces and worship with angels Right here? No, no. Box on the bottom. Look to your right. Okay. See some boxes over there? Uh-huh.
Bottom shelf. Bottom shelf. Oh, down here?
Yeah. There's a button that you keep
pushing to light up orange. No, I don't see it, Tim. I don't know where Timmy is. I don't know where Timmy is. There is no shadow of turning
with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassion
will not. ? Great is thy faithfulness ? ?
Great is thy faithfulness ? ? Morning by morning new mercies I see
? ? All I have needed thy hand hath provided ? ? Great is thy
faithfulness ? ? For unto me ? ? Summer and winter and springtime
and harvest ? ? Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
? ? Joined with all nature in manifold witness ? Do Thy great
faithfulness, mercy and love. Great is Thy faithfulness, great
is Thy gratefulness. Morning by morning, new mercies
I see. All I have been and all I am
is Thy thankfulness, Lord, unto me. For sin and I, He's fed and endured
My only bread is to share and to guide Strength for today and
life for tomorrow Blessings all mine, the 10,000 you've signed
Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! Morning by morning, new mercies
I see! All I have needed, Thy hand hath
provided, Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me! If you have your Bibles, I'd
be pleased to John 5, verses 25-30. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour
is coming, and now is. when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. For
as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to His Son to
have life in Himself, and hath given Him authority to execute
judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Marvel not at
this, for the hour is coming in which all that are in the
grave shall hear His voice. and shall come forth, they that
have done good unto the resurrection of life, they that have done
evil unto the resurrection of damnation. I cannot of my own
self do nothing, as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because
I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father, which is
sent me. Let us pray. Father in heaven,
most gracious Lord and Savior, King of kings, and great Almighty
God to bow before you in thanksgiving and praise for all that you have
done for your children. We thank you for perfect salvation
brought out by our Savior Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.
We thank you that our sins have been put away and we have forgiveness. And we can experience the love
of God spread abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. We thank you, Father, that we
can read this book and understand and appreciate the glories of
our Savior. We pray for those who are sick, going through trials,
especially Randy and his brother. Ask Lord to be with him, comfort
him, and please your father, turn his eyes to Jesus Christ.
Father, we pray for rain to be able to remedy this situation
to the place on his hand. We pray for Sherry. She must
minister to him, grant her peace and comfort in this time. We
pray for ourselves tonight as we gather here. You might be
pleased to teach us your way, to show us our savior. We will be satisfied and pleased
if we can catch but a glimpse of his greatness and his majesty. As here in this passage he proclaims,
who He is to men who care not to hear what He has to say. Thank
you for giving us ears to hear and eyes to see, a heart to embrace,
a mind to understand. Thank you, Father, for giving
us faith to believe. Help us now, we pray in Christ's
name, for His glory Now the verses I've just read
to you, our Lord continues to assert his claims that he is
the Son of God. And this claim has incensed these
Jews that he's speaking to. And these are the ones who made
legal prohibitions against the man who was healed and was carrying
his bed on the Sabbath day. And the Lord declared that he
had sovereign rights to heal the man, as the man on the Sabbath
day, because he was the son of God. That's what he said when
they said, why do you heal this man on the Sabbath, and why does
he carry his bed on the Sabbath? Our Lord answered, said, my father
worketh hitherto, and I'll work. So he claimed there to be the
son of God, and that mean he had the right. Over in Matthew
chapter 12 and verse 8, We find out that he declares
himself what he declares himself to be. Matthew chapter 12 verse 8, he
says, for the Son of Man is the Lord even of the Sabbath day. So he has a right to do what
he wants to on the Sabbath day because he's the Lord. of the
Sabbath day. And in this passage he illuminates
his statement that he made in verse 21 when he said, the Son
quickeneth whom he will. In days to come he will prove
this fact when he quickens Lazarus from the grave after being dead
four days, the widow of Nain's son as they would carry his coffin
to his final resting place and raised him from the dead, and
Gerias' daughter whom he raised from the dead. But in this passage,
he addresses not only the physical raising of the dead, but the
quickening to spiritual and eternal life. And such power belongs
only to God, and thus he further asserts his claims to deity.
In this passage, he also refers to himself as the Son of Man.
First time he's done that. He's called himself the Son of
God, and now he calls himself the Son of Man in the latter
part of this passage. But that's another reference
to his divinity. In verse 25 he refers back to
the words of verse 24 concerning hearing his voice. Let's read
these two verses together. Verse 24 says, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him
that sent me, hath everlasting life. and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death to life. Verily I say unto
you, the hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear
the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.
Now he's basically saying the same thing in these two verses,
but he addresses this matter of you pass from death to life
in this passage of scripture here in verse 25. He makes an
important distinction here. In the previous verse, he referred
to hearing and believing, which asserts the necessity of spiritual
life, and it's always accompanied with faith. If you have life,
you have faith. The two are not to be separated
and cannot be separated. There are some who like to talk
about regeneration might happen years and years and years before
you ever believe, but that's not the language of scripture
at all. When a person has life, that life is faith. That's how
that life is lived, is lived by faith. Our Lord said in chapter
1, it says, but as many as received Him gave ye the power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. Those
that believe on His name and His power as sons of God, which
were more were from above, not of the blood, not of the will
of the flesh, but of the will of man, but of God. He's talking
about the new births of life and faith. are inseparable, just
as repentance and faith are inseparable. These things come together. They
are part of the package delivered to the children of God by the
Lord Jesus Christ by his mercy. And in this verse he says that
the dead shall hear his voice and hearing they shall live.
Now he speaks of his elect, all of whom are naturally dead in
Adam and trespasses and sins. They are what men call spiritually
dead, which means that they are dead, insensible, and insensitive
to anything relating to spiritual life. Remember he said to these
same kind of men in John chapter 8, verse 43, as he was speaking
to them, they were very religious men, and he says, why do you
not understand my speech? Because you cannot hear my word. Now he was speaking to them and
they were physically hearing what he was saying. But he says,
you don't understand because you can't hear my word. Remember,
his words are spirit. His words are life. But not to
everybody. They are spirit and life to his
elect. So he's talking here to people
who don't believe in him. But this issue was faced by Nicodemus. Nicodemus thought he knew something.
Our Lord simply sent a man to be born again. He cannot see,
perceive, understand, or grasp the kingdom of God. Those are
spiritual things. The spirit blows like the wind,
whithersoever it will. We don't know where it's coming
from or where it's going, but we can see the results of it
being there. Spiritual life is not available. to them who
are dead in trespasses and sins. Something must happen. You were
to go to the funeral home and see a person in a coffin, he
has all the equipment he was born with, no longer functions
because this matter of life is gone. But he has all the equipment,
and people who are walking around in this world have all the equipment
that they're born with, but they're not capable of believing and
understanding spiritual things. Just as a dead man is not able
to experience natural things and believe them. He's insensitive
and incapable of doing so. So our Lord is addressing men
here who have no concept, really, of what he's talking about. They don't have any concept of
the Spirit. Their whole religion is physical. Their whole religion
is seen. It's touched. It's held. It's
all their whole religion. Their law, which they go by,
is written on stones. It's written on stones. It's
not even personal. It's cold concrete. It has no
value. Their ceremonies all have to
do with actually touching things, and killing things, and bleeding
things, and offering up things, holding things. It's all touchy-feely,
if you will, but spirit, none of that takes place. We do not
walk by sight. We walk by faith. We look on
things that are not seen. That seems to be an oxymoron.
How can you see something that you can't see? The children of
God see what cannot be seen. They see by faith. the Lord Jesus
Christ in His glory. They see Him on the cross. They
see God creating this world. They see it and understand it
by faith. In fact, our Lord refers to this
as now. That's what He says in verse
25. Verily I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is. It
now is. When the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. Now,
he's talking about, he speaks of the power of his voice to
give eternal life. The power of his voice, and also
establishes the presence of the new covenant, the kingdom of
God indeed has arrived into this world, the sovereign rule of
Christ. His voice will be heard miraculously through the preaching
of the gospel and the dead shall live. We don't know how that
works. That's one of those, but most of the stuff we believe,
we don't know how it works. We just believe it because God
has said it, because he's given us grace to understand, appreciate,
and believe what he has spoken. That's our life in this world.
That's what we have in this world, this book. By and large, the
world has no idea what it means, though they quote it all the
time. They don't have any idea what it means, but the children
of God do. The preaching of the Gospel.
You are born, it says, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible
seed. Even the Word of God. That's how you're born. Even
the Word of God, which by the Gospel is preached unto you.
That's how the Word of God comes, through the preaching of the
Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now it refers to what
is called the Gospel Age. It covers the time from Christ's
birth until He returns at the end of time. This life, eternal
spiritual life, is in and only flows through the Son of God.
That's what He says here. For as the Father hath life in
Himself, so hath He given His Son to have life in Himself. In Colossians chapter 3 it says,
Christ who is our life? Because we are dead and our life
is in with Christ and God. Christ who is our life. Another
one of those wonders, strange things that can't be explained.
But this is life, eternal life, spiritual life, and it is in
and only flows from the Son of God. The Father has given Him
that life. In 1 John chapter 5, First John chapter 5 verse 11
and 12 says, and this is the record that God has given us,
given to us eternal life. And this life is in his son.
He that hath the son hath life. He that hath not the son hath
not life. That's pretty clear. This is
the record that God has given. You won't understand it if you're
explaining it to me. If you have Christ, you have
life. If you don't, you don't. It says this in verse 21 or verse
20 of the same chapter. And we know the Son of God has
come and have given to us understanding that we may know Him that is
true and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. And this is true God and eternal
life. There is no life, no faith, save
for those who have heard the voice of Jesus Christ. My sheep
hear my voice. What happens when they hear the
voice of Christ? They follow Him. How does this
voice of Christ come to you? It comes to you through the preached
word of the gospel. Through the preaching of the
gospel. This word, which by the gospel
is preached unto you. And you believe, Paul said, after
you heard the word of truth. The gospel of your salvation.
after which you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of God. Son of
God, that's how he's referred to himself here, I'm the Son
of God. And these things he's saying, he's just, he's illuminating
this truth to these people, though they'll not receive it, as we'll
see in the latter part of this chapter. The Son of God has been
given authority to execute judgment. Why? He says, because he's the
Son of Man. He said, now he says he's the,
before he said, I'm the Son of God, and he is. But now he refers
to himself as the judge, because he is the Son of Man. Verse 27, I've given him authority
to execute judgment also because he is the Son of Man. Notice that the word Son is capitalized
which distinguishes this title to belong uniquely to Christ
alone. There are many who are sons of
men. There are many here tonight who
are sons of men, daughters of men. There's only one son of
man. Only one. That's why it's capitalized. He's the son of man. Why does
he tie that in with the judgment? He has authority to judge the
sons of men because he's the son of man. The Son of Man is
the Son of God and He is the Messiah. Over in Daniel chapter
7, He's referred to that way. Daniel chapter 7 in verse 13,
it says, I saw in the night visions and behold one like the Son of
Man. Notice again, capitalized, the
Son of Man. Came with the clouds of heaven.
and came to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before
Him." He's the Son of Man from Heaven. The Son of Man. Our Lord here speaks not only
of His elect. He speaks also of judging men.
In verse 28, the Lord speaks of His second coming. Now first
He talked about what the Gospel does. That voice of Jesus Christ
through the preaching of the Gospel raises men from the dead.
They said they were dead. He said of His elect that they
were the dead in trespasses and sins. He said of His elect that
by nature they were the children of wrath even as others. By nature,
but not by grace. They were the children of God,
but by nature they were no different than anybody else. So He speaks
in verse 28 of His second coming. Because He doesn't speak about
dead being raised quickly. He talks about people coming
out of their graves. out of their graves. It says, Marvel not at
this, for the hour is coming in which all that are in the
graves shall hear his voice. How's that going to happen? It's
going to happen because he's lying. He's lying. The graves will be opened in
the final resurrection. There is a resurrection that
occurs with Christ. There's a resurrection, his resurrection.
But it says we were, in Ephesians chapter 2, quickened together
with him. We're quickened together with
him, raised from the dead as it were. And that's how we're
raised. We're raised with the Lord Jesus Christ. But there's
another resurrection to come. Now, some who read eschatology
will have two resurrections, but there's just one more. Just
one more resurrection, and it's talked about in this passage
of Scripture. That resurrection, that resurrection
for Son, is resurrection unto eternal life. Over in a few passages
of Scripture, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 13, it says, But I will
not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are asleep,
and that's those who are those children of God, who in the world
think they're dead. As you saw a lot, even as those
who have no hope, For we believe that Jesus Christ died and rose
again, even so them that which are asleep in Jesus Christ will
God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not proceed, that's what the word
should be, them that are asleep, they're gonna be raised from
the dead first. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven
with a shout, And the voice of an archangel, of the archangel
with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we who are alive and remain shall be called together with
him in the clouds to meet him in the air. Wherefore, comfort
yourself with these words. This is often read by the graveside
and it gives a comfort to believers. Because they know that the graveside
is actually the place of resurrection. Resurrection into life. It says
the same kind of language in 1 Corinthians 15. When Paul is
comforting the Corinthian church. In verse 15. Or verse 51, chapter
15, he says, behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep,
but we shall all be jammed. In the moment of the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump, the voice of the archangel, the
voice of Christ, the last trump. Can't tell you how many times
I sat at Wayne Lamb's bedside after Laverne went on to glory,
he missed her so. I can't wait for that last trumpet. Wait for that trumpet to sound.
I can't tell you what it's going to sound like. But the trumpet
shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. Incorruptible. And we shall be
changed. He said, now the dead shall be
raised out of the grave. And the dead elect shall be incorruptible. They're pure as the driven snow.
He said, we who are corrupt by nature, we're going to be changed,
too, at that time. Remember before in the testimonies,
he said, those who are dead are going to be raised first. And
then we'll be called up to be. Well, this corruptible must put
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when
this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O
death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin. No sin in an incorruptible. The
strength of sin is the law. The law doesn't apply here, it's
all by grace. Thanks be unto God who has given
us the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the Lord here,
back in our text, speaks not only of the elect, but of all
men coming forth from the graves. He's elect to the resurrection
of life, and the non-elect to the resurrection of damnation.
They are referred to, respectively, as those who have done good,
and those who have done Now the legalist, free will, works religionist
jump on this verse like a duck on a june bug, asserting that
this proves that salvation is by works, must be by works. But the believer knows that among
the sons of Adam, born of Adam, there is not one who is righteous,
and there is not one that does good. Scripture says that in
Romans chapter 3, there are none righteous, No, not one. There is none that doeth good.
In the Psalms it says there's not a good man on earth. Or a
just man on earth that doeth good and sinneth not. In other
words, in the doing of that good there's still sin. Those who
have done good are those who are in Christ. In Christ. Those who have heard His voice.
Those who are ordained to good works and will walk in them according
to Scripture, and they are called at the end of their days when
they stand before the throne of judgment, well done, thou
good and faithful servant. And those who have done evil
are those who have refused his voice, many of whom he is speaking
to right here in this passage of Scripture, who cannot hear
his words, from perishing their sins. In this judgment of men,
the Father and the Son are in concert. The Lord says this, I can of mine own self do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment
is just, because I seek not mine own will, but the will of Him,
or the will of the Father, which has sent me. He is not saying
that there is a difference between His will and God's will. God
the Father's will. He is not saying that. He said
the same thing in the Garden of Gethsemane. Remember, not
my will but thine will be done. Places in scripture where it
says the Lord pleased not Himself. Another place it says He always
does the will of the Father. So when he's saying that it's
not his own will but the Father's will, what he's saying is, I
am the Son of God. I am the Son of God. I am the
Son of Man, a human being. And as a perfect human being,
He will always be subservient to the will of the Father. This
is what perfection is in humanity. We don't know anything about
that. It's far beyond our imagination to even think of what it is for
a human being to be perfect. But there was one. One who walked
this earth, who did everything right, and always submitted himself
to the Father. Always. Father wills, so does
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now remember, his whole assertion in this passage of
Scripture is to those who want to kill him because he's made
himself equal with God. He's made himself God. So his
whole argument here is that if God does father, he's saying
I'm the Son of God. And I'm the son of man. Father,
bless us to understand and pray in Christ's name. Amen. All right.