Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the gospel according to John, chapter 5. John, chapter
5. I would like to look this morning
at verses 25 to 29, but before we begin, let's ask our Lord's
blessing on this services. Our Father, how we thank You
this morning. Oh, for the blessed privilege
to be able to call upon Your holy name. Thank You, Father,
for allowing us this time to come together and to worship. Father, I pray that You would
bless Your Word. May Christ be exalted Your people
comforted. These things we pray in the name
of our Savior. Amen. Our Lord had spoken previously
an absolute truth concerning the evidence of life eternal. Now, this is the evidence. Here
is the evidence of eternal life. Verse 24, "...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 unto life." that this hearing, he that heareth
my word." This hearing is more than just listening, just hearing
somebody talk. Many people heard the actual
words of the Lord Jesus Christ and hear words today and don't
truly hear. They don't hear with the heart.
It's that hearing. The Scripture reveals that that
hearing is set forth as having ears to hear. He that have ears
to hear. Well, obviously there's a hearing
that is not truly hearing. This hearing counts all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ if you
truly hear. Everything else takes second
place. Everything else. With this hearing,
there is a believing on Him that sent the Lord Jesus Christ. He that heareth my word and believeth
on Him that sent me. But that true hearing believes
that God the Father chose a people in Christ before
the foundation of the world that they should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. True hearing believes that the
Father hath said concerning the Son, This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased. You hear Him." True hearing believes
that Christ laid down His life for the sheep. True hearing believes that the
Spirit of God is absolutely going to call out everyone that the
Father chose and the Son redeemed." The reason that true hearing
believes that is that that's the truth. That's the gospel. Any hearing that does not believe
God's Word concerning God's sovereign right, sovereign grace is not
hearing unto salvation. I mean, this is a qualifier.
He that heareth my word. Who said that God chose a people? God said that. Who said that
Christ died only for the elect, only for the sheep? Christ said
that. Who said that all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me? God Almighty has set forth that
God shall not fail. God is not going to fail. We
do not preach a message that sets forth that God Almighty
is trying to do anything. God does as He will in the army
of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and no man stays
His hand. It says unto Him, What doeth
thou? He that heareth my word believeth
on him that sent me." That man has life. The reason that he
believes is because he has life. Life eternal by God's eternal
will and purpose. Now, let's begin in verse 25. The Scripture sets forth, 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." Now listen to what he just said. Verily,
verily, truly, truly, I say unto you, the hour is coming, now
is, when the dead Now you listen to these next two words. Shall
hear. The voice of the Son of God.
And they that hear shall live. We speak of Him who is omniscient,
omnipotent, omnipresent. The time is coming. Now is. The Lord Jesus Christ is God,
equal, Father, Son, Spirit, the triunity of God. Now these Jews had witnessed
in regenerating grace the power of the Lord Jesus Christ to speak
to an impotent man by the pool of Bethesda, and he told that
man, Take that bed. You rise up. You walk. And the
Lord revealed Himself to him. But when He says the hour is
coming and now is, it could be. I tried to look and see what
could He be referring to. He could have been referring
to. The hour is coming and now is. He could have been referring
to the possibility of the Spirit of God coming at Pentecost. The
hour is coming. But also He said, and now is,
whatever He meant. The Scripture sets forth that
God Almighty knows, knows that He shall call. And He knows that
when He calls, they shall come. God Himself, He is the God of
all salvation. God Himself is going to save
His people. Listen to those words. I say
to you, the hours coming now is when the dead, the spiritually
dead, shall hear the voice of the Son of God. They that hear
shall live. For as the Father, verse 26,
hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life
in Himself. Now, without question, the Father,
has life in Himself. He's God. But when it says in
verse 26, For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given
to the Son to have life in Himself, we know that the Son is equal
with God. We know that. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So when it says the Father has
given to the Son to have life in Himself, and knowing that
the Lord Jesus Christ is God, what does He mean? Our Lord declares that He, being
the federal head and the surety of the sheep, the Father in His
eternal purpose, in His eternal will, in the eternal counsel
to do His people good in the Lord Jesus Christ, He has given
unto Him the Son, the One made flesh, the Word, to be the dispenser
of that which is absolutely necessary life. He has given unto the Son,
the Father hath life in Himself and has given unto the Son to
be the dispenser of life. John 17, 2, As thou hast given
Him power over all flesh, this is God Himself in human flesh. This is what He's saying. The
Father has given unto Me the responsibility to be the dispenser
of life. This is my Son. Hear Him. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry. The Son is the dispenser of life. As the Father hath life in Himself,
so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself. The dispenser. Verse 27. And hath given Him
authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of
Man. Now remember. Again, we absolutely
never insinuate under any circumstances that there's any greater the
Father over the Son. You've seen me. You've seen the
Father. God Himself. Tri-unity. Father, Son, Spirit. But again, the Lord Jesus Christ
is setting forth that the Father has given into the Son, with
no insinuation of inferiority in the Son, the authority of
the dispensing, not only of life, but of judgment. He is appointed
to be the Son. He was appointed to be the Great
High Priest. He was appointed to be the dispenser
of life He took upon Himself the form of sinful flesh. He was made in the likeness of
His brethren. Here He is, flesh, made like unto His brethren,
and the Father has given Him the authority to dispense life
and to execute judgment. All power is given unto Him. And here is the reason, because
He is the Son of Man. This is the reason. A man has obeyed God. A man, the God-man, the man Christ
Jesus has obeyed God Almighty. He has suffered as a man and
for men. He is fit. He is worthy to be
man's judge. The Son of Man. God Himself appointed
to be the giver of life, appointed to be the judge, that shows our
Lord's submission to the Father. And He is also the provider of
the only righteousness that will stand before God Almighty. He
is the Father's faithful servant. And believers love Him. They
hear Him. They bow to Him. They know this. There is life in no other. There is no life produced by
man to reconcile himself back to God. There is nothing that
a man is going to do to reconcile himself back to God by his obedience. All of our righteousness is filthy
rags. He's the giver of life. The Father
gave to the Son the authority, responsibility to give life. And the Father has given unto
the Son the authority, responsibility to be the judge because He is
the Son of Man. Verse 28, 29. Marvel not at this. So the hour is coming. in the which all that are in
the graves 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." Now, he just spoke
a few minutes ago of regeneration. The time 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 speaking of regeneration there. Regeneration. Right here, he's talking about
resurrection. Obviously, the hearers of our
Lord were astonished at some things that he said. He's talking
to them. He's telling them, My Father has given unto Me The
responsibility to be the dispenser of life. My father has given
unto me to be the judge. He said, marvel not at this. He said, the time's coming, hour's
coming when I'm going to speak and everybody that's in the grave
is coming out. Marvel not. The hour is coming. Oh, the omniscience
of the one that is speaking. Here, God Almighty declares the
certainty of this based on the authority of God's Word. This is what is going to happen. There's coming an hour when everybody in the grave,
and save for those that are here at the second coming of Christ.
Paul says that we won't prevent those. But save for those that
are still on this earth when Christ comes back. God Almighty
is going to speak. The trump of God is going to
sound. of the Son of Man is going to
be heard. And everybody is coming out of that grave. And immediately,
men will stand before God Almighty. There is going to be a universal
resurrection. No one is exempt. We must all,
Paul said, stand before the judgment seat of Christ. His voice. I'm talking about the voice that
the sheep hear right now. The voice that the sheep listen
for right now. Right now, you that know Him,
you're listening for His voice. A believer says, Tell me of Him
who is all-powerful. Tell me of Him who is omniscient. Tell me of Him who knows the
end from the beginning. Tell me of Him who speaks and
it is. Tell me of Him who alone can
save a sinner. And don't tell me anything about
what I have to do to reconcile myself back to Him because I
know, based on His Word, that I'm helpless. Tell me of Him who is merciful.
Tell me of Him who has compassion on those who don't have enough
sense to get out of the rain. Tell me about God. The hour is
coming in which the voice of the Son
of Man is going to speak and all men, just like they died,
is going to stand before God in that state, just like they
died. I know this. He has just set
forth the two categories, two classes. are going to stand before
Him. They that have done good unto
the resurrection of life. And here's the other class. They
that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. Those that have done good. Those that have done good, I
think this one verse of Scripture sums up doing good. That Philippian jailer in Acts
16.30, when he realized that Paul and Silas were still in
that prison, obviously the Spirit of God had taken what That man
obviously had heard preached. Paul and Silas had been in the
area. They had been preaching. I know a woman named Lydia heard
them. They had been there. God opened
her heart. And this man came in after there
had been an earthquake. He saw that they were still there.
And he asked this question, Sirs, what must I do to be saved. And I do understand how someone
could take that passage of Scripture there and they said, now you
just said that we don't or can't do anything to merit our salvation
before God. And that's absolutely right.
Not by works of righteousness that we've done. What was he
asking? What did he just ask these two
preachers? What must I do? Here's what he
asked. Sirs, if God has done something for
me, what will be the evidence of
it? If I cannot do anything for myself, if all things are passed away
and all things have become new, if there's going to be something
that will evidence life A baby's born. What's the evidence
of life? He cries. He moves. That baby's
alive. That baby's warm. That baby's
moving. I hear a sound. I see it. There's something about
that child that's evidencing its life. I didn't give it life. I can see whether there's life.
Sirs, what's the evidence of life? Tell me. What is it? that I will manifest,
what will be manifested in me. Here's what they said. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house. It is God that worketh in you
both to will and to do of His good pleasure. It's given unto
you to believe. Believe on Him, not believing in your faith. You
may say, well, I'm a Christian because I believe. No. A believer
believes because God's given him life. That's the evidence. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't believe in your free will.
Don't believe in your baptism. Don't believe in your church
membership. Believe on Him. You see the difference? Believing
on Christ. What is the evidence of life?
What must be evidenced in a believer? They believe God. They bow to
the Lord Jesus Christ. And they shun, just like Paul
the Apostle, He said, I counted all of these things that I formerly
trusted in as dung, that I might know Him, that I
might win Him, that I might be found in Him. Believing on the
Lord Jesus Christ is by the absolute grace of God. My friend, if you
think that it's easy to believe God, There's a problem there. It's impossible unless God gives
you a new heart, a new life, unless God Almighty creates in
you a new man, rebirths you. You say, well, anybody can believe. No, they can't. No, they can't. The Lord Jesus Christ was approached
by a group of Pharisees They said, how long are you going
to cause us to doubt? If you be the Christ, won't you tell
us plainly? He said, I told you. This is
in John 10. If you'd like to read it. John 10.24 says, Then
came the Jews round about him and said unto him, How long dost
thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you
and you believe not. The works that I do in My Father's
name, they bear witness of Me." Verse 26, "...but ye believe
not, because ye are not of My sheep. As I said unto you, My
sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and
I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand." Men say, oh, it's not hard. Just believe. Just believe. Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ
is a miracle. It's a miracle. I say, well,
we're going to go to a miracle, sir. We're going to have a healing,
sir. We're going to do this. I'll tell you a miracle is when you
can look around And by the grace of God, behold the evidence of
God's compassion and mercy when you find a man or a woman that
believes God. There's coming a time, the Lord
said, when all that's in the graves shall hear His voice and
shall come forth, they that have done good. Well done, how good
and faithful servant. God gave a man, a woman, a heart
to believe in. What must I do? What's the evidence? Show me. Tell me. Tell me the
evidence of knowing Him. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Believing on Him counts all of this world's care as vain. A man that believes God will
give up anything. if he has to, for Christ. He'll give it up. Believing Him
is evidence by following Him. I thought a lot about this in the
last couple of days. He said, My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them, and they follow Me. Now, if somebody were to
ask you, what does it mean to follow Christ? I know this. I know this. Following Christ,
I know that it's to hear His Word and believe Him. I know
that. It's to seek His face in prayer
and search His Scriptures. That's absolutely right. The
means of God's grace in teaching. But following after the Lord,
you're going to find that there comes in different instances, not always. And your instance may not be
my instance. But following after Him, you're going to come in
time. And you're going to have to make
a decision on something. And you're going to have to make
a decision based on what the Scriptures has to say. You're
going to make a decision on what and how the Spirit of God bears
witness to your heart concerning God's Word and God's honor. And when you're confronted and
you're going to make a decision, often you're going to find you've
got one chance to do the right thing, don't you? You're going
to make a decision. Lord, what would you have me
to do? There's times that I've Got to make a decision. It may
not be a popular decision with some folks. That's all right.
I'm not going to have to stand before some folks. I'm going
to have to stand before Him. God help me that when that time
comes, Lord help me to honor You and be faithful to You and
follow after You. In Christ, it's evidenced by
a walk that is consistent with the believer's concern for the
honor of his Lord. Does a believer find any confidence
in his following after as far as meriting a right standing
before God? Absolutely not. When we've done
all that we can do, you know what we say? We're just unprofitable
servants. We've done that which was our
duty. No believer finds any confidence
in himself. None. But I'll tell you this. You watch a believer. They're
going to hunger. They're going to thirst after,
Lord, help me. Lord, teach me. Lord, lead me. Walk that's motivated. by the
blessing of God's Spirit and is consistent with these Scriptures
following after Him. We come together. This is where
the Lord has been pleased. He has been pleased to bless
His Word. Aren't you glad we just come together? I think about
the responsibility that I have as a pastor. To me, the Scriptures
sets forth God Almighty sends pastors according to His will
with pleasure after His heart. And I think, I know, I'm convinced
that some of God's sheep are going to be here. Some that He's
everlastingly loved. Those that He's redeemed. Those
that He's called out of darkness. As your pastor, I pray, Lord,
give me a heart. to seek your face for your message for today. Today, I think about the responsibility
of having today's message. Oh, God help me to take this
responsibility seriously. It is coming a time, they that
come forth, those that have done good under the resurrection of
life, not counting one thing that they ever did as having
any merit, but just saying, by the grace of God, I am what I
am. Lord, help me. They that have
done evil under the resurrection of damnation. I can sum up that
last part real easily. Those that believe that they
can do something to reconcile themselves back to God. Those
that count, because of unbelief, the blood of Christ to be a light
thing. Those that can take this glorious gospel, take it or leave
it, it's not that important. Lord, help me. Help me. It is Christ plus nothing. If I stand before Him, saved by His grace, it will be
according to His will. If I perish, it is because I
would not come. May the Lord bless these words
to our hearts for Christ's sake.