24, Verily, verily, I say unto
you. And he used those double words,
verily, verily, some 25 times in the Gospel of John. Verily
means surely, amen. It means so be it. It means most
solemnly. And it means this is a trustworthy
statement. And to add to the importance of the statements
that our Lord made, he used the word verily a second time, verily,
verily. So be it. So be it. Amen. Amen. Most solemnly. Most solemnly. This is a trustworthy statement. This is a trustworthy statement. And in all of the Gospel of John,
he used this word 25 times. In other Gospels, he used the
word verily only once, that is, only one time using the word.
But in John's gospel, our Lord used it 25 times, and I'll give
you a few of them. I don't have time to go through
all of them, of course. But in John 3 and verse 3, he
said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. He can't even see it. Verily, verily, truly, truly,
this is a trustworthy statement. Amen, amen. It is so. Except a man be born again, he
can't even see the kingdom of God. And that tells us something
about what happened to the believing thief on the cross. He said,
Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. He saw that
Christ had a kingdom. He saw the kingdom of God over
which our Lord Jesus Christ would be the king. And the Savior said
unto him, verily I say unto thee, today thou shalt be with me in
paradise. That's a man who was born of
God. that which happened to him as he hung on the cross beside
the Savior was not something of his own instigating. It wasn't
something that he brought to pass. It was a miraculous work
of God Himself, the one on the middle cross, the Son of God,
who was dying for the sins of His people. He who has power
to quicken the dead. He quickened the spiritually
dead heart of that thief, and the thief saw the kingdom of
God And he said, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
Again, in John's gospel, chapter six and verse 47, verily, verily
I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. This is so absolutely true. It is so absolutely true. If
you believe on the son of God as he's revealed in the word
of God, not as grandma told you he was, not as you envision him
as being, but if you believe the record that God has given
of his son, you have everlasting life. That's a life that will
never end. In John 8, verse 51, he said,
"'Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my saying,
he shall not see death.'" He won't see death. Those who believe
on the Lord Jesus, who is our life, who is our righteousness,
who is our all in all, this body may fall asleep, but we shall
not see death. And the reason we shall not see
death is because Christ died for us. And so the apostle said
in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 that Christ died for our sins according
to the scriptures and he was buried and he arose again from
the dead according to the scriptures. We're not going to see death.
In John 8, 58, the Savior said, verily, verily, I send you before
Abraham was I am. Here is a tremendous statement,
a trustworthy statement indeed. Before Abraham was, I am. I am the eternal God. I am the self-sufficient God. You remember before that he had
said to the Pharisees, he said, Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad. He saw my day. When Isaac, when
a substitute was found for Isaac, God provided that substitute
and instead of Isaac dying, the ram caught by its horns and the
thicket died. In the stead of Isaac, Abraham
saw the day of the true substitute for sinners. And he rejoiced
in that day. He rejoiced in that Savior. And
then in John chapter 10 and verse 7, Jesus said unto them again,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Amen. Amen. Surely, surely, so be it. So be it. This is a solemn statement,
a true trustworthy statement. I am the door. By me if any man
enter in, he shall be saved. and go in and out and find pasture. And I'll give you another one.
John 12, 24. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, and die,
it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. And that's our Savior. So look
at verse 24, verily, verily. So now we know this is a tremendously
important statement, a statement of great significance. 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." Oh, that God would open up our
ears and open up our hearts that we might hear His voice. May
He speak to us tonight. Not speaking in a general way,
but speaking in a personal way. You see, salvation, everlasting
life, spiritual life is communicated to us not through counting of
beads, not through going into a confessional, not by entering
into the waters of baptism, We pass from death unto life at
the very voice, the voice of the Son of God who has power
in Himself to give life. And He must speak life to us
individually, personally. If life is not communicated to
us by exercising beautiful and ritualistic religion, It doesn't say, verily, verily,
I say unto you, if you will kneel at a certain time, if you'll
say the blessing before every meal, if you'll keep the Sabbath
day, if you'll do this, if you'll do that. It doesn't say that.
It says, he that heareth my word, he that heareth my word and believeth
on him that sent me hath everlasting life. Who are the ones who hear? Well,
they're sinners. They're sinners. They hear that
God demands perfection and they can't render it to God. Do you
hear that? I hear that. Don't you? They
hear God is holy. He will not accept the best you
can do. I hear that. Do you hear that? I hear it's not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy hath saved us. I hear that. Do you hear that?
I hear that you must be washed in the blood of the Lamb. I hear
that. Do you hear that? And you see, we will never really
hear and comprehend and receive the word of the gospel of free
and sovereign grace unless the Lord speaks in a life-giving
voice to our hearts. Those who hear are sinners. They hear and believe the word
of God. You see, our problem is that
we passed from life unto death in Adam. We were alive in him, but we
passed from life, a state of life, into a state of death. in Adam's transgression. Wherefore,
by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. And
so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned in Adam. We pass from life into death. God said to Adam, In the day
ye eat thereof ye shall surely die. And Adam died spiritually,
and we all died spiritually in Adam. But though in Adam we died, in
the Lord Jesus Christ, all of his people shall be made alive.
Now, having read verse 24, and have some degree of understanding
of verse 24, Here's where a question needs
to be asked and answered. How is it that anybody really
hears the Word of the Lord, the Gospel of Grace? How is it that
anybody believes on the Lord Jesus Christ so as to have everlasting
life and assurance, assurance from condemnation? Well, the answer is the first
point of the message, the first resurrection. There's got to
be a resurrection. Look at verse 25, and here he
uses the word verily again, two times. Verily, verily, I say
unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, and I hope it is
now for somebody amongst us or somebody who's watching. And
now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God,
and they that hear shall live. You see, the reason in verse
24 that people hear His Word and believe on Him that sent
Him, is because the dead, those who were previously dead, have
heard the voice of the Son of God who speaks words of life,
words of life. You remember in John chapter
10, the Savior said, my sheep hear my voice and I know them
and they follow me. Well, how is it that the sheep
hear his voice? How do we come to hear his voice?
He's been calling others. He's been speaking to others.
The voice of Christ has been heard by others. But for so long,
we go a long life's way deaf to His voice. We have no interest
in His voice. We have no desire to hear what
He has to say. And then we find ourselves hearing
and believing. What's the reason for that? What
is the reason for us hearing His Word and believing on Him
that sent Him? The reason is because we have
been resurrected spiritually. That is regeneration. And that's
what's meant there in John chapter 3, being born again. What is
the first resurrection? It is the new birth. Now, people
vainly imagine it's a movement of the body. It isn't. As in the altar call, it isn't. A noted preacher from Houston,
Texas says, if you'll make Jesus your Lord, we believe you just
got born again. That's not how you were born
again. It's not agreeing to a proposition. Do you want to go to heaven?
Yes. Do you want to go to hell? No. Then you're born again. That's
not the new birth. It's not a decision you make. It's not the exercise of your
will. We live in a day when men and
women and young people are really taught to bow down to the idol
of their own will, which the preacher tells them is free.
It's free, that's what they say. The Lord has done all He can
do. He's loved you. He sent His Son who died for
you. He sent His Spirit who calls
you. Now you must exercise your will,
exercise the freedom of your will, and let God save you. Those are damning words there,
because your will cannot save you. Your will will only add
to your condemnation. You see, none are willing to
come to Christ except those who are made willing in the day of
his power. What is it that we need? We need spiritual life, that's
what we need. You see, man is dead in trespasses
and sins, Ephesians 2.1 says that. You don't need revival,
you need life. You don't need a reformation,
you don't need to change your life, you need a new life. You
don't need help, you need life. You don't need religion, you
need life. And here it is. Life is in Christ
and He gives it to whomsoever He will. He doesn't owe you anything except
the wages of sin, which is death. What is spiritual death? Because that's our dilemma. Well,
death is separation, isn't it? If you think about that, death
is separation. Physical death is the separation
of the soul from the body. A person down at one of the funeral
homes who is awaiting to be embalmed or is being embalmed, whatever
the case may be, there's no life in that body. The body is dead. It is unresponsive. We understand death, the principle
of death, the fact of death. Physical death is the ceasing
of all activity. There's no speech, there's no
hearing, there's no seeing, there's no feeling, there's no breathing,
there's no smelling, there's no tasting, there's no action
on the part of that body. There's nothing that that body
can do because the life of it is gone. That's us spiritually. We're in a bad way, folks. God demands faith, we can't produce
it. God demands repentance, we can't
muster that up. God commands us to come to the
Lord Jesus Christ, but we're like the man who's lame on both
feet for 38 years. We can't come to Christ because
a dead man can't move. The Savior talks about hearing
His Word, but our ears, they're not gonna work. They're not gonna
hear. Why not? Because we're dead.
Talks about believing on Him, and belief comes forth from the
heart. Why won't we believe? Because the heart is dead. It's
hard. There's an absence of life there. Spiritual death is the separation
of the soul from God. We're separated from God. And we have no ability whatsoever. We have no desire toward God. That's the thing. Those who defend
the majesty of man, so-called free will, have no idea of our
natural condition. Oh, that men and women would
search the Scriptures and perhaps God would open their eyes to
see what our natural condition is spiritually and that we have
no hope, we have no help, we have no life unless God gives
us life. We're in a very bad way. We're
spiritually dead. Fallen man, pity him. He's dead. Don't get upset with
your relatives if they don't believe. They're dead. They're
dead. They can't hear the gospel, not
with a believing ear. They can't see the kingdom of
God. They have no spiritual eyesight.
They can't feel the Savior's love. They can't taste the sweet
morsels of God's grace to sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ.
They can't smell the sweet fragrance of the sacrifice of the Son of
God that satisfied the justice of God. Well, how come they can't
appreciate all these things? Because they're dead. Dead. When Lazarus was laying in the
tomb in John chapter 11, could he come out of the tomb
on his own? Well, that's a foolish question.
Of course he could not. There was no activity in that
body whatsoever because the life of the body was gone, the soul. Well, you, my friend, and me
as well, by nature, we're in the tomb of spiritual death. And the only hope we have is
that the Son of God who has life in Himself will pass by our entombment,
pass by our grave, pass by our spiritual deadness and say, And
then we'll live. But if He doesn't do that, there's no hope. There's no hope. You see, the Word of God backs
us up. It leaves us with no way out.
No way out. And then God puts it in our hearts
to come to Him like a beggar. Like Brother Toplady said in
his song, Rock of Ages, nothing in my hands I bring. I don't
bring anything. Simply to thy cross I cling.
I'm helpless. I'm naked. I'm dead. I need the life-giving power
of the Son of God. Let me say again, make sure you
understand me. Spiritual resurrection is something impossible for you
to do. You can't resurrect yourself.
The dead hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear
his voice live. It isn't dependent upon you.
And I'll tell you something else, I was thinking about this this
afternoon, this spiritual life that we have, it is not dependent upon us in
any way whatsoever to keep that spiritual life. If the Lord turned
us loose, and made our salvation and our continuation in the faith
dependent upon us. If he turned us loose for five
seconds, five seconds, when you're on your own for five seconds,
we'd go straight to hell. That's how pitiful we are. Oh, that God would make us to
be mercy beggars. People say Christ died for you
and now it's up to you. Well, you've presented to me
a helpless task if it's in any way up to me. I can't write my name down in
the Lamb's Book of Life. What do you mean it's up to me? I can't choose to be numbered
among God's people. I can't ask the Savior, did you
die for me? And I can't even go to the Spirit
of God. I will not go to the Spirit of
God and say to Him, would you make me alive? Because I'm in such a spiritual
death, I'm in such a spiritual quagmire of depravity, I'm not
going to go to the Lord for anything. He's got to come to me. That's
what people need to find out. He has to come to us. And that's the first resurrection.
No wonder John says in Revelation chapter 20, blessed is he that
hath part in the first resurrection. On such, the second death hath
no power. See, once we're made to live
in Christ Jesus, we live forever. It's forever. And then there's the second resurrection. Look at verse 27. And hath given him, the Father
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 the 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, and they that have done evil unto
the resurrection of damnation. Now we're faced with a second
resurrection. The first resurrection is a spiritual
resurrection. You got that? I know you do.
It's the work of the sovereign Christ who has life in himself. And by his Spirit, he uses the
word of the gospel, the incorruptible seed which makes us alive by
the power of Christ. We're made to live and we hear
His voice and we believe on the Son of God. We believe what the
Father has to say. The second resurrection, though,
is not a spiritual resurrection. It's a physical resurrection.
This is Christ's power and privilege to resurrect everybody who's
ever lived from physical death and to judge them according to
the strict standard of righteousness. All judgment's been given to
him. That's no use talking about the
resurrection of the dead unless we understand this. All are gonna
be raised because our Lord Jesus who died was raised from the
grave. And he has the power to resurrect
and he will in fact resurrect every dead body. The first one
who died was Abel. Who in their wildest imagination
could think that the dust particles of the body of Abel could be
located by any human eye? And yet the eye of God knows
where every speck of that body is, wherever those atoms are,
wherever those cells are. Abel's body is going to come
back to life at the call of the Lord Jesus Christ in this second
resurrection, the physical resurrection of all men. This is good news
for us, for those who have passed on, of our family members, good
news concerning those who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ,
because in that same body in which they worshiped our God,
in that same body in which they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ
by the grace and power of the sovereign Christ, in that same
body, Their soul will inhabit that body again. You see, we
know this, when all souls are mine, God said. And Ecclesiastes
chapter 12 teaches us that when we die, the spirit goes back
to God who gave it. That's the spirits of all men.
That's the souls of all people. No matter when they lived, no
matter whether they were righteous or wicked, souls go back to God. And He
does something with them then. He does something with them dependent
upon, are they righteous in Christ? If they are, he welcomes them
into paradise. And if they're not, he sends
them away to a place of darkness and torment. He sends them away
to hell. Death is a separation term. The soul is separated from the
body. And it's sure to happen to you.
It's sure to happen to me. Our Savior died. Huh? Right? Our Savior died and His
soul went to paradise. He had a human body and He had
a human soul. And when He breathed out those
words, It is finished, and bowed His head and gave up the ghost,
His body became vacant of his soul. And his body was as dead
as any other person who's ever lived has died. Where did his
soul go? Went back to God. Went to paradise where he told
that thief, I'll meet you there. Today, you'll be with me in paradise. And all of the angels welcomed
the Savior's soul when he went back to glory. And the Savior
said, look, yon are coming. Here comes a sinner saved by
my bloody sacrifice. But the Savior's body was dead. And it stayed that way without
movement, without breathing, without anything. It was as dead as anybody else's
body would be dead. But after three days, he who
is the eternal God, his soul, came back to rejoin that body,
and that body lived again. And when we die, our soul's gonna
go back to God. You're a believer, you'll be
welcomed in because you're righteous in Christ. If you're an unbeliever,
There's no hope for you. Oh, God, give you an interest
in this gospel. Oh, may God intervene in your
fatal plunge toward hell. May God do something for you.
May you be one of the Savior's patients and may He raise you
from a spiritual death in that first resurrection. Otherwise, you're going to perish. Our bodies are going to be raised.
And the thing of it is, not just the bodies of the saints. It's all bodies. Everybody who's
died. And watch this. Look what it
says. Verse 28, "'Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming
in the which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice.'
But it won't be the voice of salvation, it won't be the voice
of grace, it won't be the voice of mercy, it won't be the voice
of a spiritual resurrection, They shall hear His voice and
they shall come forth, everybody. Now the Bible teaches us the
saints who have died will be raised first. And then any of
the saints of God who are alive and remain on this earth, when
the Lord comes back, they shall be changed in a moment in the
twinkling of an eye. And those who are raised from
the dead and the saints who are alive when Christ comes will
be caught up to meet him in the air and will come down here with
the Savior to the earth. And here's what it will happen.
Verse 29, they shall come forth, they that have done good, under
the resurrection of life. And they that have done evil
under the resurrection of damnation. Jim, what in the world does that
mean? Will the saints be judged according
to their good works? Remember this, the scripture
says there's not a just man upon the earth. That's a justified
man. There's not a righteous man upon
the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. So this doesn't
have to do with our personal works. Well then, whose works are in
view here? Remember this, all we are and
all we hope to be is in the Lord Jesus Christ. God has always
viewed us in Him. In the covenant of grace, we
were one with Him. That's the reason in Ephesians
chapter 1 and verse 6, we are accepted in the Beloved and that
is stated even before redemption took place. We were accepted
in Jesus Christ from old eternity. We were in Him. We were in Him
when He came. We were in Him when He lived.
We were in Him when He went about doing only good. We were in Him. We were in Him when He died.
When He bore our sins in His own body on the tree, when He
was the sacrifice for our sins, we died in Him. We lived in Him,
we died in Him, we were buried in Him. When He was raised, we
were raised in Him. When He ascended back to heaven,
we ascended in Him. Ephesians 2 says we're seated
in the heavenlies. How so? In Christ. And I'm going
to tell you how we're good. And I'll tell you how that we
have done good. Because all of the goodness of
the Lord Jesus Christ, all of His righteousness, He who is our righteousness and
is our holiness, that's our merits to get into
glory. And we will, we will be accepted
in this resurrection of the just, the resurrection of life. You see, Jeremiah, look at this
verse, Jeremiah 50 verse 20. Get you to look at this with
me. Jeremiah chapter 50, I believe
it is in verse 20. Yes. Isaiah, or Jeremiah, excuse me,
15 verse 20. In those days, Jeremiah 50, 20. And in that time, saith the Lord,
the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall
be none. Don't you still commit iniquities?
Yes. But at the judgment, God's going
to look for them. God's going to look for them.
Guess what? He's not going to find any. And
the sins of Judah, He's going to look for sins. Because you
see, the judgment isn't about mercy. The judgment isn't about
grace. The judgment isn't about leniency. The judgment of God is according
to the very strictest of justice, and the standard is righteousness. But those who are in Christ, our God's gonna look us over
with a fine tooth comb, as we say. Not gonna find anything
wrong. You see, the works of Christ,
The death of Christ, the merits of Christ, the faithfulness of
Christ has all been imputed, charged to our account. And even
now, we stand before God perfectly righteous, perfectly holy. Say, Jim, I'm not holy in myself. I know you're not, and neither
am I. But our Lord Jesus of God is
made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification, that's holiness,
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth
in the Lord. And so this resurrection will
be for the saints of God. It will be a resurrection of
life, of life. Enter into the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. But they that have done evil under the resurrection of damnation. You remember the Savior said
in Matthew chapter 7 of those people who, they made this great
professions of all the things that they had done. And he said,
depart from me. Ye workers of iniquity, that's
all you are. Everything you've done just been
iniquity. And I'll tell you, for those
who are untouched by the grace of God in Christ, all they've
ever done is evil. You say, what? They did some
good things in life. No. No, they didn't. Never did
anything good. And the Savior will say, depart
from me. It's what he'll say. The judge will say, depart from
me. I never knew you. Two resurrections. One to life. One to damnation,
that is condemnation. Accusation, if you look up the
word, it's accusation. But the thing about the people
of God, Who can accuse us? Who shall lay anything against,
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justified us. It's
Christ who died for us. Resurrection. Oh, may we be partakers
of the first resurrection. Spiritual resurrection. For I
promise you, you will be an object of the second resurrection. That's
for certain. And may it be pleasing to God
that you will have a part in the resurrection of life and
not the resurrection of damnation. See, the people of God can't
be damned. The people of God can't be condemned
because Christ was condemned for us. And we bless his name
for that. Well, let's sing a closing song,
shall we? 240. By the grace of God, I can say,
I am coming, Lord. I'm coming unto Thee. Wash me and cleanse me in the
precious blood of Christ. Number 240. Let's stand together
and we'll sing. ? That calls me Lord to Thee ?
? For cleansing in Thy precious blood ? ? That flowed on Calvary
? ? I am coming, Lord, crowning Thine own ? Watched she glimpsed me in the
love that flew from Calvary. Though crowded, weak, and wild,
thou dost my strength assure. ? Bless my heart as you will be
blessed ? ? We'll start this all anew ? ? I am coming, Lord ? ? Coming
now to Thee ? ? Wash me, cleanse me in the blood ? If Jesus calls me on to perfect
faith and love, to perfect faith and love. I'm dying, Lord. How lonely now to be. Washing empty in the blood that
flowed on Calvary.