John chapter 5. I just want to
read three verses to you concerning the two resurrections. Our Lord
Jesus here was speaking of two resurrections. The physical resurrection
and the spiritual resurrection. Or if we keep them in order,
the spiritual resurrection and then the physical resurrection.
Verse 25 and 28 and 29. 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. Verse 28, marvel not at this,
for 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 and they that have done
evil unto the resurrection of damnation." The voice of the
Son of God. No wonder they came and said,
no man spake like this man. The voice. The voice. The voice
of the Lord is powerful, David said. The voice of the Lord is full
of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh
the cedars, those mighty cedars of Lebanon. The voice of the
Lord divideth the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shaketh
the wilderness, even the wilderness of Kadesh. By the word of the
Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath
of His mouth. God hath in these last days spoken
to us by his Son, by whom he made the world, whom he made
heir of all things, and he upholding all things by the word of his
power." The voice of the Son of God. It's a mighty, mighty
voice. No man ever spake like this man
spake. Even the winds and the sea obey
his voice. He controls all nature. He controls
it by His voice. But not only the winds and the
sea, but devils obey His voice. He commandeth the unclean spirits,
and they obey Him. They cometh out. He has power
over all sicknesses and over all diseases by His mere voice. He healed them by His Word. Lord, if You will, You can make
me whole. And he simply said, I will. And
immediately he was made whole. Lord, I am not worthy that you
should come under my house, under my roof. Speak the word only,
speak the word only, and my servants shall be healed. I have not found
so great a faith. Go your way and be unto you as
you believed. And he was made whole from that
very hour. The word of the Lord is powerful. And when the Lord
is pleased to speak effectually to men's hearts, they will obey. They will obey Him. Hold your
place there and look with me at two or three passages of Scripture.
Look in Psalms chapter 18. When the Lord is pleased to speak,
and when He's pleased to speak effectually to the heart of an
individual, that individual will hear, they will hearken, They
will obey and they will believe. In Psalms chapter 18 and verse
37, this is speaking of the Son of
God. I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them, neither did
I turn again till they were all consumed. Sin, the curse of the
law, the wrath of God, the works of the devil, and the devil himself. The Lord Jesus got on their trail
and did not quit until he had consumed them. I have wounded
them that they were not able to rise. They have fallen under
my feet, for thou hast girded me with strength unto battle.
Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me. Thou
hast also given me the necks of my enemies, that I might destroy
them that hate me. They cried, but there was none
to save them, even unto the Lord, but He answered them not. Then
did I beat them small as the dust before the wind. I did cast
them out as the dust in the streets. Thou hast delivered me from the
strivings of the people. Thou hast made me the head of
the heathen. A people whom I have not known
shall serve me." And look at this, "...as soon as they hear
of me." And as soon as they hear from Me, as soon as they hear
My voice, they shall obey Me. And strangers shall submit themselves
unto Me." When? When they hear My voice. The
voice of the Son of God. Look here in Matthew's Gospel
chapter 4. We find illustrations of this
all through the Gospels when the Lord was here. of speaking,
merely speaking to men, and the sound of His voice won their
hearts and caused them to leave everything they had and everything
they hoped for and follow Him and graciously do it too. Look
in Matthew chapter 4 and look in verse 18. Jesus walking by
the Sea of Galilee saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew
his casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And he
said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
And they straightway left their nets, and followed him." And
the scripture says in another one of the writers, they left
their father, they left their nets. They left their ship, they
left everything, and followed him. Why did they do that? They
heard his voice. He spake, the voice of the Son
of God. And read on. And going on from
thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and
John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending
their nets. And he called them, and they
immediately left the ship and their father, and fathered him."
The voice of the Lord. That's what salvation is, isn't
it? Isn't this a beautiful picture of salvation? Look here in the
ninth chapter in verse 9. Zane and Kathy Bradley come and
spent the night with Joe and I the other night. He likes to
have Bible study early in the morning. He got up early and
he came down where I was and he said, I found a beautiful
illustration of what it means for Christ to save a sinner.
And this is what he's reading and he told me about it. Here
in chapter 9 of Matthew and verse 9. And as Jesus passed forth
from thence, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt
of customs, and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose
and followed him." What is it for Christ to call a sinner?
It's just that simple. Follow me. And he obeys. He submits. It's not complicated,
is it? It's not confusing. Follow me. Follow me." When he heard His
voice, he followed Him. But even more than all of this,
the voice of the Son of God is a life-giving voice. It's a life-giving
voice. The dead shall hear the voice
of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. God has given to us eternal life,
and this life is in His Son, in His voice, in His voice. Now look back over at my text.
What do you mean, Bruce, when you say His voice? Do you mean
to tell me that we hear an audible voice? That people are going
along and they're dead in sins, and suddenly, out of heaven,
they hear this audible voice speak to them? No, that's not
what we say at all. That would scare me to death,
wouldn't it you? If I was to go along here, the last one that
that happened to that we know of for sure was Saul of Tarsus.
And as far as we know, nobody has seen him and nobody has heard
him since, as Paul did. Paul said, last of all he has
seen of me. And I just about bet you last of all he was heard
of Paul with that audible voice. But when we say the voice of
the Son of God, what do we mean? We mean His Word. Here is His
voice. Charles Spurgeon said, if I could
step down from my pulpit and Jesus Christ take my place and
become the preacher, He would say no more than He has already
said. This is the voice. This is the
way He speaks. Now look back up here in Matthew
chapter 5 and look in verse 24. Look at this. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him
that sent Me, hath everlasting life." See there? Down here in
the other verse, He says, they shall hear My voice and live.
And here He tells us what His voice is. It's His Word. They
that hear His Word and believe, they live. Look in the 6th chapter
in verse 62. He says it even plainer. The
sixth chapter, and look in verse 62. What and if you see the Son of
Man ascent up where He was before? It is the Spirit that quickeneth,
that gives life. The flesh profiteth nothing.
The words that I speak unto you are Spirit and are life. The words I speak. They are life
and they are life-giving. The words of Christ. And look
what Peter said down in verse 68, when the Lord said, Will
you go away? In verse 68, Simon Peter answered
him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And you know something, brothers
and sisters? Here are all those words. Here they are. We've got the words of Christ
today. And it's this Word that gives
eternal life. This is why we encourage people
to read. We encourage people to listen
to the preaching of this Word, because when Christ is in this
Word, by the Spirit, there's life in it. There's life in it. I have heard of people setting
up the Gospel, and just that quickly, the Lord give them life
through this Word. I've heard of people setting
and just reading this Word, reading the Word, and life come to their
hearts through this Word. This is the Word to Christ, and
it's got life in it, and it gives life. And this life, this spiritual
life that the Lord Jesus is speaking of here in our text, this is
the first resurrection. the first resurrection. It's
a spiritual resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath
no power. This is the first resurrection.
And those who partake of this resurrection have eternal life,
and the second death won't harm them. What is the second death? What is the second death? I'll
turn over here and I'll show you. Look in Revelation chapter
20. You hold your text in John 5, and look in Revelation chapter
20. This spiritual resurrection, resurrection by the power of
the voice of Jesus Christ, gives the soul the spirit life now,
and that soul will never come into condemnation. He will never
face death, spiritual death again. Now the Lord tells us here in
Revelation chapter 20 what this second death is. Look at it in
verse, begin verse 11. And I saw a great white throne,
and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the
heaven fled away. And there was found no place
for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before
God. And the books were opened, and another book was opened,
which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out
of those things which are written in the books according to their
works. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which
were in them. And they were judged every man
according to their works. And death and hell were cast
into The lake of fire. This is the second death. The lake of fire. The second
death. The last death. The death from
which there is no life and no deliverance. And whosoever was
not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake
of fire. But the Lord Jesus said this
second death will not harm those who have experienced the first
resurrection. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth
my words, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting
life, and shall never come into condemnation." He'll never die. I am the resurrection and the
life. He that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall
he live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. And here's the second death.
But he'll never touch those who have heard the voice of the Son
of God. Because they live. They have
His life within them. And this brings us to this second
resurrection back over in our text in John chapter 5 verse
28 and 29. First one we have this spiritual
resurrection. It's the life of Christ that
comes through the voice of Christ. He speaks to us and gives us
life. My sheep hear my voice. A life-giving
voice. And here in verse 28 and verse
29, this is the second resurrection the Lord is telling us of, the
physical resurrection. And he says here in verse 28,
marvel not at this. Don't marvel at what I've been
telling you. And they couldn't help but marvel, because here
they were looking at a man that looked just like them. And he
was a poor man, a persecuted man, had no place to lay his
head, no money to pay his taxes. And he was claiming this great
thing for himself, that there was power in his voice, those
who heard it would live even though they had been dead in
trespasses and sins. And he was telling them now,
don't marvel at this, don't wonder in unbelief. and in doubt of
my worth that I can do just what I've claimed to do. He said,
you're judging me by what you see. You're looking upon my mere
body that appears weak and frail. You're judging me by what material
thing that I do not possess. But he said, this Word that I
speak, it's a spiritual Word. It reaches the person's soul.
It reaches the spirit and gives eternal life within. Don't marvel,
just believe it. Don't wonder in doubt, just believe
me. And he said, I've got something
else to tell you also. And look at this, marvel not,
for the hour is coming. in which all that are in the
graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God, His voice, and
they shall come forth. Marvel not, the hour is coming,
and as far as I know it will be the last day, the end of time,
when all that are in the graves, all who have died, shall hear
His voice, and shall come forth." Somebody said this. Somebody
said there were four great miracles. Four great miracles. And the
first one was this, that God made this universe out of nothing.
The things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. God made this universe by the
Word of His power. He created it. He made this earth
and hung it out there upon nothing. What a miracle that is. And secondly,
they said the miracle of the incarnation. God was manifest
in the flesh. The Word was made flesh. God became a man. What a miracle. And thirdly is this, the miracle
of this sacred trinity in dwelling in the human body. Ye are the
temple of the Holy Ghost. As God hath said, I will dwell
in them, and I'll walk in them, and I'll be their God, and they
shall be my people. Christ dwells in your heart by
faith. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
That's a miracle. And then we have this miracle
of the resurrection of the dead. All that are in the graves shall
hear his voice and come forth. All of them. Everybody. Listen,
I jotted some down here. Adam and Eve. They're going to
hear his voice. Cain and Abel. Noah and his family. And all the old world of humanity
that's long gone by now. Not the dust of those people
can even be found. They're gone from sight. They'll
hear His voice. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and
the Canaanites, Moses and Pharaoh, the children of Israel and the
children of Egypt, the apostles and prophets and all believers,
Herod and Pilate and the Romans and the Greeks and the Jews,
Those who have just died yesterday and those who have been gone
for thousands of years and their ashes or dust cannot even be
found. Those who were pulled apart and
fed to beasts. are fed to the fishes of the
sea, are burned and their ashes spread on the water, are thrown
up in the wind, whatever their grave may be and wherever their
grave may be, there's coming a day and coming an hour when
everybody who has died and was laid back in their grave is going
to hear the voice of the Son of God and they're going to get
up and come forth. They'll come forth. And what happens when a person
dies? I've been asked that twice this
last week. I've been asked that twice. What
happens when people die? I told a young man just the other
night. Well, he's an older man now. What happens to people when
they die? What happens to the saved? What
happens to the unsaved? Well, we know from Scripture.
What happens at death? The soul leaves the body. They become separated. The body
of the saved, the body of the unsaved. There's no difference.
When an unsaved person dies, his body is put in the dust,
and that body is unconscious of anything. It's rested. But the soul of that unsaved
person goes immediately to torment. The rich man died, he was buried,
and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torment. He was driven
out or carried or forced unto hell, and he's there in torment. And the bodies of the believer
lay down in the grass, just like the bodies of the unbeliever.
And they rest there, unconscious of anything, and the soul goes
to be with Christ immediately. Paul said, I've got a desire
to depart and to be with Christ. To be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord. There's no difference in the
bodies of the believers and the unbelievers. They both go back
to the dead. And at the resurrection, the
physical body of both the saved and the lost will be raised. The Lord said here, they'll hear
His voice and come forth. They'll come forth. That means
they got up out of the grave. They came forth. They're visible.
They're flashing again. They come forth. The saved are
raised and they come forth. The lost are raised and they
come forth. And the souls of the saved who
are with the Lord, They descend with the Lord, and their bodies
are raised, and the body and soul are reunited in this resurrection. And then the bodies of the unsaved
are raised, and their souls are brought out of hell, and their
bodies and their souls are reunited at the voice of the Son of God. And we know a little about this
coming forth. I don't know a great deal about
it, but let me tell you a little bit about what I know about this
coming forth. They shall come forth. The dead bodies will arise. I
want you to look with me over here to 1 Corinthians, chapter
15. They shall come forth. Here's the body of the saint,
the resurrected body of the saint. Now look at this with me. In
1 Corinthians chapter 15, and look here first of all in verse
19. 1 Corinthians 15. If in this life only we have hope
in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. And that we all
agree with. But now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. For
since by man came death, physical death, by man came also the physical
resurrection of the dead. As in Adam all physically die,
even so in Christ shall all be made physically alive. But every
man in his own order Christ the firstfruits, afterwards those
who are Christ's at his coming." Now he said Christ is the firstfruits. Now you know what firstfruits
is. If you have a whole patch of tomatoes, and you've got one
or two that gets ripe first, that's what we call the firstfruits.
The children of Israel had to bring their firstfruits and offer
them there to the Lord. But that firstfruit tells us
there's some more fruit coming, just like the firstfruit. And
when Paul is teaching us here the resurrection of Christ, he
is saying the saints' body are going to be like Christ's body.
He's the first fruit. He's the image. He's the pattern
of what they're going to be like when they're raised. And that's
what he tells us. Look down here in verse 49. As we have borne
the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. What's the image of the earthy?
Well, it's mortal. It's corruptible. It's vile. It's weak. It's sickly, and it's
subject to death. That's what the image of the
mortal is, or the earth is. What's the image of the heavenly? Well, it's glorious. It's immortal. It's incorruptible. It's strong. It's spiritual. And by spiritual,
I don't mean it's some little ghost that's going to float around.
But it's not subject to the infirmities of this life. And it don't have
to depend upon the things that it depends upon in this life.
That body in its glorious state that the Lord Jesus Christ had,
He don't have to eat, He don't have to drink, He don't have
to rest. It's a spiritual body. A glorified
flesh. And here in verse 42 and verse
44, look at this. Here's the bodies that they will
come out of the grave in. Here is what Paul is telling
us in verse 42. They shall come forth, the Master said, and here
is the way they will come forth. So also is the resurrection of
the dead. It is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is
raised in power. It is sown a natural body, subject
to infirmities, food, and drink, and sleep, and all of that. But
it's raised a spiritual body. That's the way the saved will
come forth from the ground. And look here in verse 51. Behold,
I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. But we
shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." Now
you notice, you notice how Paul keeps emphasizing this, this. Now there's not another body
that's going to be raised. I had a dear friend of mine one
time to try to tell me that we were going to lose our humanity
at the resurrection. He said, these bodies that go
back to the ground are not going to be the same bodies that the
Lord raises. Yes, they are. Christ purchased these bodies.
And the Holy Ghost occupied these bodies, and the Lord said, I
purchased your body. And this is the temple of the
Holy Ghost. that carried the Holy Ghost around within it and
did the service of God. These members are members and
instruments of righteousness that served God. And these members
will be raised and glorified at the last day. And that's why
Paul kept saying you're this corruptible. must put on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality. In verse 54, when this corruptible
shall I put on incorruption, and this mortal shall I put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory? The sting of death is to sin,
the strength of sin is to the law, but thanks be unto God which
giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. And can you imagine what a reunion
it will be when the soul that sleeps in Jesus will be reunited
to that body that has slept in the earth. And when that body
is glorified and raised and comes forth, And that soul which sleeps
in Jesus, and they meet in the air, and they're reunited. Can
you imagine what a reunion that will be? Oh, how they'll rejoice
together. Oh, my soul. Oh, my soul. We're reunited again. Oh, my
body. When I left you, how you had
suffered, how weak you were, how frail you were. And I left
you breathless and lifeless, and they put you in the ground
and you decayed, but look at you now. Oh, blessed body, look
at you now. You're incorruptible. You're
immortal. You're undefiled. You're glorious.
You look like the face of my master that I've been beholding
all of this time that you've been sleeping in the dust. And
oh, how the body will praise the soul for subduing me in my
time of weakness. Oh, how you persuaded me not
to use my members as instruments of unrighteousness. You ruled
over me. I thank you for doing that. And
oh, they'll rejoice together. What a reunion that will be.
And body and soul will behold the face of their Lord, and they'll
worship the Lamb throughout all eternity when they hear the voice
of the Son of God. But we also know something, not
very much, at least I don't, of the resurrection of the lost.
The Lord Jesus said, they shall come forth too. And look here
how they shall come forth, and look how it's opposed. Look in Daniel. Look how it is
compared to the way the righteous will come forth. Look in Daniel
chapter 12. We're told something about this. Look in Daniel chapter 12. And
look here in verse 2, Daniel chapter 12 and verse 2. If you
go to Ezekiel, just turn to your right. Daniel is the first book
right of Ezekiel. I don't know a great deal about
the coming forth of the physical bodies of the unbelievers, but
the Bible teaches that they shall. The Master said, they shall hear
my voice and they'll come forth. And many of them, that sleep
in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life,"
and look at this, here's the loss, "...and some to shame and
everlasting contempt." That's the way the loss will come forth.
The saved will come forth in glorious bodies, incorruptible,
undefiled, immortal. But here the lost will come forth
in shame and in contempt." You know God hates a proud look.
He hates a proud look. And you and I see all around
us, especially the rich and the famous, how proud they are of
their beauty. And they glory in their sin,
and they glory in their carnal privileges, But boy, it won't
be so on this day. It will not be so when they come
out of the grave. They'll sneak, they'll crouch,
they'll try to hide anywhere they can because of the contempt
and the vileness and the ugliness of their bodies when they're
raised. In shame, and in shame, they'll
not glory of their beauty in that day. They'll be ashamed
of their ugliness. And those mighty men of the earth
who ruled with an iron fist over the poor and kept back part of
their wages and cheated them, those mighty men who ruled over
the weak, boy, when they come forth, they won't be ruling over
nobody in that day. Nobody will reverence the mighty
in that day. Nobody will have any respect
or regard for the noble people in that day. The most mighty
and the most noble will be held in contempt by the poorest and
the most despised of this world. That's what Daniel tells us.
Shame and everlasting contempt. That's the way they'll come.
They won't come forth to rule over anybody. They'll be held
in contempt. And Isaiah tells us of the bodies
of the lost, that they will be an abhorrence of all flesh. They'll abhor themselves, they'll
abhor each other, and everybody will abhor them when they look
upon the wretched, ugly bodies that's come out of the grave.
I think it will be far different in that day than it is now. And what vile, wretched, and
ugly bodies The lost must possess that merit nothing but shame
and everlasting contempt. And can you imagine when that
soul that's brought up out of hell is reunited to that body
that's brought up out of the dust? Can you imagine their conversation
one with another? Oh, it's not like the conversation
between the soul and the righteous and their bodies. Can you imagine
how they argue and accuse each other? Oh, the body says to the
soul, and the soul talks to the body. And the soul says, you
wretched body, you're the cause of us being like this. You took
your members and you served your sin with it. You would not bow,
you would not submit, you would not surrender. You're the cause
of this wretched resurrection. And the soul will say that to
the body, and the body will only return. No, no, no. You wretched
soul. Why could you not have went on
to judgment yourself and left me to sleep in the dust? Don't
blame me for this. If you would have been strong,
you could have persuaded me not to go after sin. I went after
sin because you loved it. Your mind was full of lust and
greed, and you served your sin. You're to blame for this wretched
resurrection. And in that very condition, they
rise up to the judgment to give account of their awful, awful
state. And those who by the grace of
God and by new birth have done that
which is right and done good, and they labored to please God,
and their work were work of faith and labor of love, they'll be
rewarded. And the Lord Jesus will say to
them, Come, ye blessed of my Father. Come into the joys of
the Lord. Come and inherit the kingdom.
Come and inherit everlasting life. And there they stand in
their souls and in their bodies. And they enter that everlasting
kingdom forever to be with the Lord. To learn mysteries that
they sought to know in this life and was never able to learn them.
And there stands the wretched, miserable, lost. Their souls
and their bodies have been reunited. And what does the Lord say to
them? I was hungry, and you wretches wouldn't even give me one crumb
to eat. I was thirsty, and you too wretched, your souls and
your bodies wouldn't give me one cup of cold water. You never
had any trust in me. You never had any reverence for
me. You lived in mistrust and unbelief and contempt. You hated
me, and now I hate you. And I'm going to consign you,
soul and body, to the everlasting lake of fire. And off they go. And those who refuse to go at
His word will be bound by those holy angels and cast into the
lake of fire. And they never rest, day or night. The smoke of their time in it
rays up forever and forever and forever. And that's the first
resurrection and the second resurrection. And brothers and sisters, don't
it show us, don't it show us the importance of hearing the
voice of the Son of God. Oh Lord Jesus, you never spoke
to my heart before, speak to me now. I long to hear your voice. I don't want to die without hearing
your voice, because if I do, the next time I hear your voice,
it's going to bring me to judgment. Oh, Lord, speak. That's what
I want for myself. That's what I want for you. That's
what I want for our loved ones. That's what I want for the loss
that comes here. Lord, please speak. Speak and give life. Well, may the Lord bless His
Word. Let us pray.