May it please the Lords to bless
us together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us
turn to the Gospel of John, chapter five, and we'll read verse 25. The Gospel of John, chapter five,
and reading verse 25. 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. The Lord Jesus, when he speaks,
he always speaks very clearly. And also the word is very simple. And also the word is very direct. And we're not therefore left
with any misunderstanding or wondering really what the Lord
is aiming at or what the Lord is speaking about. And here in
this verse the Lord speaks and he says very verily, it was obviously
a very important statement and of course it was, the Lord came
and said 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. Well, the great truth is that
all of us come into the category that we were dead. We were dead. We were dead spiritually. There
was no life within us. But the great question for all
of us is, have we heard the voice of the Son of God? Because if
we have, And it is so, so important. I suppose there's nothing really
more important in our lives than hearing the voice of Jesus. Because the result is very wonderful. And they that hear shall live. That means we are blessed then
with the great and glorious gift of eternal life. It's a life
which once given will never be erased, never be taken away. But we are totally dependent
upon the Lord to come to us and to speak to our hearts. And it's only you that know whether
this has occurred in your life. No one else knows. They may think
they know, but it's between you and God. as to whether the Lord
has spoken to you. Because if he has, then the great
evidence is that you are amongst those who have been called by
the grace of God. And what is that of course? It's
the free unmerited favour of God. So that we did not deserve
it, we did not merit it, but there we were, graciously singled
out. And it's very significant that
in the early part of this chapter, we read about the Pool of Bethesda. And we read there, there lay
a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered,
waiting for the moving of the water. So, a great multitude
must be very many people. And they were all waiting for
the moving of the water. and that Jesus came and he spoke
to one person. The whole multitude, he spoke
to one person. What do we conclude from that?
We conclude the sovereign grace of God. There was a whole multitude. The Lord came and spoke to one
person. Now if you and I had been there,
If we'd been amongst that great multitude, I'm sure we would
have been concerned and desired that we might have been that
one person. And that was in a natural way,
also in a spiritual way, but evidently in a natural way. And
if we think of that with reference to these words here in this 25th
verse, how important it is that we are, as it were, that person. That person that Lord Jesus has
come and spoken to, and spoken to that great and glorious word,
live. Because without life, we remain
dead. And if we're dead, we should
never enter into heaven. Only those who have received
life enter into eternal glory. And only those whom the Blessed
Lord gives life to. And sometimes the natural man
argues with that doctrine. They think, well, it's not fair. It's not fair that the Lord should
have the prerogative to call one here and one there. Well,
it is totally fair. And you might ask, well, why
is it totally fair? It's fair because of this reason.
All, without exception, all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. So everyone stands on equal ground
of having sinned. That means disobeyed the word
of God and therefore are guilty. and no sinner would enter into
heaven. And therefore the Lord has a
perfect right to come unto the great multitude of sinners and
call one here and one there, so that one here and one there
may hear the glorious voice, that voice which awakens dead
sinners into life. And that is really the great
blessing for us if you and I have been singled out to hear the
voice of Jesus. And so tonight may we be able
to stand before God and to look into our hearts and to see whether
that is true of us. Because the word here tells us,
the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that
hear shall live. Only those who hear this voice,
which enters into their heart and soul, will be blessed with
eternal life. In a slightly later chapter,
the 10th chapter of this Gospel, we are told about the sheep,
the Good Shepherd. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Good Shepherd and how he tells us, my sheep hear my voice and
I know them and they follow me. That's the wonderful picture
that we have set before us in the Word of God. And the Lord
tells us, he says, I am the Good Shepherd and know my sheep and
have known of mine." It's not something which is just a theoretical
word. It's a very practical word. It's
a very true word and there's the blessed evidence of it in
our own hearts. The Lord tells us here, the Lord
knows us and he is known of us. We know the Good Shepherd. That means we know Lord Jesus
Christ as our shepherd. It's a very wonderful picture
that we have before us, isn't it, in this 10th chapter of John. And how necessary it is, as we
of course are familiar with sheep, and familiar that the sheep are
looked after by a shepherd, and in a spiritual sense we are,
all the Lord's people are his sheep, The Lord watches over
us and the Lord guides us and directs us and leads us to green
pastures and feeds our soul. But the great blessing is, as
the Lord says, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and
they follow me and I give unto them eternal life. Oh, what a gift that is. My friend,
that's the only thing you and I want. The only thing you and
I need. This gift, this gift of eternal
life, because that gift will never grow old. It'll never wear
out. And it's the gift from Almighty
God. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My father, which gave them me,
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my father's hand. I and my father are one." Well,
the Savior was speaking principally to the Jewish people. And we
might think, well, this is a wonderful sermon, a wonderful word, and
they would surely receive it. Not at all. Then the Jews took
up stones again to stone him. They hated such words. Why? Because they were reliant
on their work. They were reliant on keeping
the law, as they thought they were never able to. But they
strove to keep the law, to do everything, all the minor things,
in order to satisfy the law of God. But of course, they failed. And now, here is the glorious
gospel being spoken to them. And therefore, they hated it.
It was contrary to what they wanted. They wanted to have their
hand in their salvation. But the Lord, you see, is a sovereign
God. And the reason that you and I don't have any hand in
our salvation is so that we can't claim any glory ourselves. You and I will never be able
to say, well of course, I did this and I received this and
I followed that. No, remember, you and I were
dead in trespasses and in sins. No life, no ability to give ourselves
life. What a mercy therefore, if the
Lord came and passed by and said those words, or that word, live. Live! Well, bless God tonight,
if you and I have the evidence that we possess life in our souls. And that life reveals to us what
we are by nature. That life, that life the Lord
gives, shows to us what we are as a sinner before
a holy and righteous God. And it shows to us what we deserve. Because we've sinned against
the Lord, we've sinned against light and knowledge, we've turned
our back upon God, that we deserve eternal punishment. Now what's
the result of that? Surely we then understand the
blessing of mercy. Surely that's why the children
of God are brought to that place, to pray, God be merciful to me
a sinner. The hymn writer says, mercy is
welcome news indeed to those who guilty stand. Mercy won't
really mean anything unless you and I are convicted by the Holy
Spirit of our sin, that we are not righteous. We are unrighteous. All the things that we may have
been totting up as things to recommend us, we realise that
all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. They are of no value.
We stand with nothing. Nothing, the writer says, nothing
in my hand I bring. But there is a secret. Simply to thy cross I cling. That means we're clinging to
what Christ has done because there is our hope for eternity. Not in what we've done, but in
what Christ has done. Because Christ has done for us
that which we could not do for ourselves. We could not save
ourselves. We are lost. We're an outcast
to think the Lord Jesus came to save such unworthy sinners. And so the Lord tells us here
in this word, the hour is coming and now is. What a wonderful
blessing if that's occurred in our life. When the hour has come,
and the Holy Spirit has come. And it's like this, the hymn
writer again tells us, not to propose, but to call by grace. The Lord comes when the Lord
calls. When he calls us, which he does
to his people, there is a response because it's a heavenly call
and it's awakened our dead soul. Awaken us into life to come then pleading for mercy
and then having the revelation that the Saviour has indeed died
for us. The voice of the Son of God,
and they that hear shall live. It's only those who hear, in
that spiritual way, will live. Our ears, our spiritual ears,
are deaf. They're stopped up until the
Lord gives us a hearing ear. And as we read so often in the
Revelation, when John wrote to those seven churches, in every
instance he says, those that have an ear to hear,
let them hear. What a blessing if God has given
us an ear to hear. Now some people, they spend their
life sitting in chapel, and they never hear. They never hear. You may say, well they do hear.
They hear naturally. It doesn't come into their heart.
It doesn't bring life. The Word of God to our spirit
brings life. And it brings it in this way
as the Apostle Paul, when he wrote to the Ephesians in the
second chapter, he tells us this great truth. He says, and you,
O may you and I be found amongst the you. And you hath he quickened. That means, and you hath he made
alive, who were dead, who were dead. Those who have been made
alive were dead, but those who have not been made alive are
still dead. And you hath he quickened, who
were dead, in trespasses and in sins. And then the Lord, through
the Apostle here, explains what we were like. Wherein, in time
past, ye walked according to the course of this world, according
to the prints of the power of the air, the spirit that now
worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also We all had our
conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath even as others. So have we been brought
from that position or are we still in that position? In the
things of God there are never any grey areas. There is always
black and white. There is always right and wrong.
And so here we have this statement here describing those who were
like that, but have now been made alive. And therefore those
who are not alive are still like that. And we have here some words
to be able to test the validity of our religion. We might say
test our conversion. test whether we are born again
in the Spirit, whether we have been quickened or not. Let me just repeat it. In time
past you walked according to the course of this world, according
to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now
worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past. in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature
detuned and wroth even as others." What it really means is, we did
that which we wanted to do. We pleased ourselves. There was
no real stop to that which we wanted
to do. And we made sufficient excuses
to carry out those things. The Apostle says, but God, oh
my friends, but God, the great God, the almighty God, but God
who is rich in mercy, for his great love with whom he loved
us, walking in this path, according
to the course of this world, far off from God, pleasing ourselves,
but God, It's rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved
us even when we were dead in sins. In that helpless and hopeless
condition. It's obvious, isn't it? We don't
need to have a degree to understand that, do we? It's obvious that
if we're dead, there's no life, we're lifeless. However we may
pretend to have life, there's no life. even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together, made us alive spiritually with Christ. And therefore he comes and tells
us, by grace ye are saved. Yes, the free unmerited favour
of God. And what does that do? Well the
apostle goes on to explain it to us. And hath raised us up together,
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that
in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of
his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. It's only made known to us because
of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done, because of the amazing
love of the Lord Jesus Christ as such, hell-deserving sinners. Let us not think we're anything
other than that. The love, the love of the Saviour,
so great. The Apostle knew it, didn't he?
There he was, following his own course. He thought he was doing
God's service, but he wasn't. Perhaps we think we're doing
God's service, but are we? And so he tells us, in the ages
to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace. Isn't it
wonderful? The riches of his grace coming
to you and me. Oh, what a favor. In his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. Through Christ Jesus. Neither
way, neither body, nobody else. through Christ Jesus. Then we
come to that glorious verse, for by grace are ye saved, through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. This you see is the whole crux,
the whole reason, because God will have all the honour, and
God will have all the glory, he will not let you and I have
any at all. And in our right mind we'll be
very thankful for that, because we will desire to extol the Lord
for what he's done, to praise him for his compassion upon such
an unworthy sinner, for calling us by his grace. For by grace
are you saved through faith. God given faith to believe the
gospel, You and I only receive that gift of faith to believe
the Gospel. It's not something that you and
I can manufacture ourselves. It is the gift of God and that's
why it's so precious. It's the same as the gift of
eternal life. It's very wonderful to give us faith to believe the
Gospel. When the Spirit of God touches
our hearts and moves us, we don't argue then with the great sovereignty
of God. We don't then say, well it's
not fair and it's not right. We stand amazed that God should
have had mercy upon such an unworthy soul. And we come in with a hymn writer
and we say, what was there in me to merit esteem or give my
Creator delight? There's nothing at all. But we
must say, because It seemed good in thy sight. And so what does
that mean? It means this, that we are monuments
of His grace. And what is a monument? A monument
is something which is seen, isn't it? Monuments are observed. And we are called to be a monument
of His grace. to show forth his praise, to
show forth his wonderful love that caused the Lord of life
and glory to descend into this sinful world, to live that perfect
life and to die that sin atoning death in order to redeem our
souls. And so do we come tonight and
do we say, blessed be God. And so the apostle was able to
say, for by grace are you saved through faith, not of yourselves.
It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast,
for we are his workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. You see there is an outworking
of this wonderful blessing. We read this morning in that
epistle of James, that first chapter where James tells us,
faith without works is dead. Now what that means is that the
Spirit's work in our hearts produces that in our hearts that desires
to honour our God. when we consider what he's done
for us, and that he's called us out of the darkness of nature,
the deadness of sin, to the glorious light of the everlasting gospel, and therefore we have a debt
to pay. And yet a debt you and I will
never be able to repay. Never. A debt so great We think the Saviour came and
died to atone for our sins, to deliver us indeed from the wrath
to come. And you see this wonderful blessing
of the grace of God, this wonderful blessing of his calling, has
an amazing effect. something which is through the
Spirit of God and the Apostle picks it up when he writes to
the Colossians and in the second chapter he speaks to us and you
be dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh
hath he quickened made alive together with him having forgiven
all your trespasses blotting out the handwriting of ordinances
that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out
of the way, nailing it to his cross." It's a very simple statement,
a very glorious statement. That means what it says. We were dead when the Holy Spirit
makes us alive, quickens us, at that time then we are amongst
those who are forgiven, quickened together with Him, having forgiven
all trespasses. And at that time the Lord has
blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us,
which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing
it to His cross." What a wonderful truth that is, to realise that
those who have been quickened are forgiven. We're forgiven. Every sin. That's why the Apostle
said, when he wrote to the Romans, there is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. That means those who have been
born again by His Spirit. Those who have come from darkness
to light. They are forgiven. They're washed. Their sins have
been belotted out, and the handwriting that was against us has been
nailed to the cross. The Saviour paid that price,
He paid that debt, and so we are complete in Him, full forgiveness,
nothing lacking. What a wonderful truth it is.
As the Apostle goes on to tell us towards the end of that 8th
chapter to the Romans, he comes and says, Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, a rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Those who are quickened,
those who are made alive, the blessed Lord makes intercession
for us. And then he tells us, who shall separate us from the
love of Christ, that love displayed to us? And then he gives a list,
shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or peril, or sword, as it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. For the Lord's sake, willing
to suffer for his sake. And the Lord and the Apostle
tells us, if we suffer with him, We should also reign with him.
Ah, that's the wonderful prospect, isn't it? Reigning with Christ.
Don't expect then to walk through this world without any suffering.
See, those who have no light, there's no suffering. As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep for the
slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him. You and I can't conquer ourselves.
We're helpless. We're sinners. But these words
are gloriously true. The Apostle knew them. He experienced
them. He knew them in his heart. He's
able to say, we are more than conquerors. Through him, the
Lord Jesus Christ that loved us from eternity past. It's an amazing truth, isn't
it? Who loved us. who loved us. If you and I possess
the life of God in our soul, if we've been shown the light,
then it's because of his love. It's because of his love. And therefore we are more than
conquerors through him that loved us. We don't conquer ourselves. We rely on what the Lord Jesus
Christ has done. Is that what you're doing tonight?
You're relying upon the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the Apostle then tells
us, I am persuaded. You see, he'd experienced it.
What a blessing when we are persuaded. But neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God. which is
in Christ Jesus. God's love doesn't change. God's love is the same, yesterday
and today and forever. He's loved us with everlasting
love and therefore with loving kindness has he drawn us, drawn
us away from the valleys of time, drawn us to himself, drawn us
to be found serving him drawn us to be able to acknowledge
that He is our Lord, that He is our God and our Saviour. And the Apostle, when he went
on in this epistle to the Romans, he tells us the great and glorious
truth of those who are blessed with the wonderful Spirit. For
with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, And with
a mouth confession is made under salvation. The Lord gives us,
when we are converted, when we possess that new life, we are
given a new heart, as we read in Ezekiel. A new heart will
I give you. And so there is this new heart, for with the heart
man believeth unto righteousness, we didn't before, we weren't
able to. We had a sinful heart, we couldn't believe. The new
heart enables us to believe. And with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation, to acknowledge what the Lord has done. For the
scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Oh, we don't want the Saviour to be ashamed of us. And we don't
want to be ashamed of Him. For there is no difference between
the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto
all that call upon Him. Rich unto us. For whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. No doubt about
that. How then shall they call on Him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe on
Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they Hear without
a preacher, and how shall they preach except they be sent? As
it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach
the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. And then the apostle gives that
warning. For they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah
says, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. But I say, have
they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound went
unto all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.
But you see, the problem was, they only heard with natural
ears. The blessing is, if the Holy Spirit has come and opened
our ears so that we have heard the glorious voice of the Saviour,
and we have rejoiced in it, we may not have done initially,
we may have been condemned by it. as the Lord directs us to
the Saviour and to His finished work. Oh how we are thankful
for it, how we rejoice then in what Christ has done and how
He is worthy of all praise and all adoration and worthy of our
confession of His name. And so we have these words, very,
very I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is, well I
hope it has come in our lives, when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live, and
that eternally. To God be the glory. Amen.