Turn with me to John chapter
5. John chapter 5, look at 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 hour is coming. That's what we read right there,
the hour is coming. And he says this, it now is. It is right now. Isaac mentioned this in his message
last Sunday, that there's a time and purpose for everything under
heaven. The time is coming. and now is. You know there's several, several
hours mentioned in scripture. There's an hour in which the
Son of God was betrayed. There was an hour in which the
Son of Man was glorified and exalted. An hour of judgment. In each one of those hours ordered
of God, God who is sovereign in all things. And you know,
what I read here is, this is the hour in which men are going
to hear the gospel. The hour, that's what that says
there, the hour. You know, God spoke to Zacchaeus
and he said to him, remember that he stopped there at that
place. And he said this, he said, this day, this very day is salvation
come to your house. I've heard thee in an accepted
time. In the day of salvation have
I succored thee. Now, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. In an accepted time, in a time
of peace and goodwill from Almighty God to fallen man. The hour is in the fullness of
the time. God sent forth his son. God's word declares this, now
is the accepted time. It's a time of mercy, a time
of grace. Grace to men in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now is the day of salvation. The work is done. There's nothing left to do. Salvation,
righteousness, this has been brought in. God is reconciled. The day of salvation. God has
purposed it, he promised it, he pictured it. The day of salvation
throughout the Old Testament. And listen, this is an urgent
matter. This day, today, if you will
hear his voice, harden not your heart as in the
provocation. Second, we read here of the dead. The dead, those that are dead
in trespasses and sin. Men by nature will not come to
Christ. They can't. They're dead in trespasses
and sin. And just like Lazarus of old,
they will lay there in the grave until they are quickened, given
life by the Spirit of God. dead in trespasses and sin. Paul wrote this, he said, I know, the Apostle Paul, I know that
in me, that in this flesh dwelleth no good thing. We read this,
the whole head is sick, the whole heart faint, From the sole of
the foot to the top of the head. There's no soundness in it. Nothing
but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They've not been closed. They've not been bound up. They've
not been mollified with ointment. That's us. That's a description
of us. We're dead. Brother Henry once
wrote this. He said, I would just as soon
expect a dead man to get up out of his casket, walk into the
kitchen, and get a drink of water as for a sinner to rise out of
his sins and go to Christ who is the water of life without
the quickening and regenerating work of the Spirit of God. So often in our day, preachers,
so-called preachers, they stand and they ask men and women and
young folks to do something that by nature they are incapable
of doing, something they cannot do. They say, take a first step. They say, make a decision. They
say, pull yourself up by your bootstraps. All of these are
things that men are asking men to do. I ask you, what can a dead man
do? We know the answer to that, don't
we? Nothing. A dead man can do nothing. A dead man has no desire. No
ambition. No ability. And that's what we
are. Dead in trespasses and sin. Legally
dead. I've broken God's law. Spiritually dead. God told Adam
there in the garden, he said, remember that? Of every tree
in the garden, thou mayest freely eat. with the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. In the day that you eat thereof,
thou shalt surely die. He was still alive physically
after he had that fruit, inward and outward, but he's spiritually
dead. He broke God's law. And if we're
left to ourselves, And if we continue in our sin, refusing
to come to Him, refusing to bow to Him, one day we will die eternally. In Romans 7, 24, O wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of what? Death, death. In Romans 6, he calls it a body
of sin. We read this, the soul that sinneth,
it shall surely die. When lust hath conceived, Dave,
you said this this morning, when lust hath conceived, it bringeth
forth sin, and sin, when it's finished, bringeth forth death. And we see this throughout God's
word, throughout the scriptures. In Ezekiel 37, turn there with
me, Ezekiel 37. Look at verse one. Ezekiel 37 verse 1, the hand
of the Lord was upon me and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord
and sent me down in the midst of the valley which was full
of bones and caused me to pass by them round about and behold
there were very many in the open valley and lo they were very
dry and he said unto me son of man can these bones live. We should take great comfort
in these words. I answered, O Lord God thou knowest. Only the Lord can raise the dead. Only he has that power. Only he has the power to give
life. Lazarus who lay there in the
grave until his body started to decay. What's that a picture
of? Our sin, our rebellion, dead. A clear description of our fallen
state. Well, again, what was the result
of Adam's transgression when he sinned against God? We're
helpless. We're corrupt. in the sight of
Almighty God. Ephesians 2 says this, you hath
he quickened. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins. Every now and then we see a sign
that says, no trespassing, no trespassing. And it means this,
if you cross that line, There's a consequence for that. I did that one time. I stepped
over on some folks' land, and they asked me what I was doing
there. And I actually thought it was my mom and dad's land.
That didn't matter. That didn't change the fact.
I was on somebody's land. I had trespassed. And the fact
that I was ignorant of it, it might have been an excuse in
my mind, but it does not change the law. Doesn't matter if I know where
the property line is or not, I'm guilty of trespassing. And that's true of all of us. But far worse, we're dead in
trespasses and sin. That's how we're described in
scripture. God told Adam in the garden,
remember that? He said, again, of every tree
in the garden, thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for the day that
thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Adam desired the
things just like us. Not one of us here can find fault
with Adam. He desired the things of this
flesh. Isn't that all of us by nature?
We love our sin and we hate his law. Maybe that's just me. I've never
liked being told no. We love our sin, we hate his
law, and by nature, we hate his righteousness. Adam trespassed,
Adam disobeyed God, he sinned against God, and as a result
of that, spiritual death fell upon Adam and upon all men. When Adam died, we died in him. Turn with me. Back to John 5. Do you still have John 5? Look
at verse 25. The dead. Here's the third point. They shall hear the voice of
the Son of God. Now there are those who refuse
to listen, those who refuse to hear. Over in the book of Zechariah,
I'll just read this to you, Zechariah 7, it says they refused to hearken
and they pulled away the shoulder and they stopped their ears that
they should not hear. You ever see a kid do that, parents
trying to tell them something, maybe reaching, grabbing by the
shoulder, stopping from doing something foolish? And I say,
what do they do? What do we do, huh? Jerk our
shoulder away. There's something there for our
good. But what do we do? We pull away,
we turn the shoulder. What else does it say there?
Stop the ears. I'm not listening, right? I'm
not listening to you. That's us, by nature. It says,
yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should
hear the law and the words which the Lord have host has spent
sin in his spirit by the prophets. Therefore came a great wrath
from the Lord of hosts. Therefore it has come to pass
that as he cried and they would not hear. He cried and they would not hear. And what was the result of that?
When they cried. He would not hear them. Sometimes men have an interest
in salvation, but they want to keep their sin. Our text, it says this, listen
to this, they shall hear the voice of the Son of God There are those who will not
hear. But thank God, he has a people
that will. A people that are going to hear. Our text says this, they shall
hear. Is that true? In John 27, our Lord said this,
he said, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow
me. Sometimes he speaks with a, we
read in scripture with a steel small voice. There was a time
in the early church when God spoke from heaven. He continues to speak. Aren't
we thankful that He continues to speak His Word? He speaks
through the preaching of His Word. How shall they hear? How shall they hear without a
preacher? His elect, His sheep, His bride
will hear His voice. That's what they... Shall. That's a definite term, isn't
it? They shall hear his voice. They shall hear his gospel with
the ear and with the heart. And God, who is sovereign over
all things, gives them spiritual life. And all of a sudden, that
ear that could not hear anything, it's opened. It's open to hear
the sound of his gospel. That heart that was just hard
as a rock and stone, that heart's broken, given a new heart. The ability to hear, the desire
to hear. They shall hear the voice of
the Lord. Isaiah, when he heard the voice
of the Lord, he said this, he said, here am I, send me. And when God speaks, when he's
pleased to speak to his people, he speaks in, whether it's a
still small voice or a mighty voice from heaven, when he speaks,
he speaks in power. And his sheep hear. Back in the
70s, some of you in this room will have no idea what I'm talking
about here. But there was an investment firm.
Some of you will remember this. There was an investment firm,
and they had this advertising campaign. And it would start
with just a bunch of people in a room. Sometimes they were at
like an athletic event. Sometimes they would be in a
restaurant or on a bus. It'd be all kind of people. And
it'd be chaotic. People would be talking back
and forward. But one person in the group would
say this. You'd hear somebody say, E.F.
Hutton. You remember that, Marvin, don't
you? E.F. Hutton. Some of you remember
that. And what would happen? Everybody quit talking. And they'd
turn and look at whoever that was that said E.F. Hutton. And
this was what they would say, that this was the slogan. They'd
say, when E.F. Hutton talks, people listen,
right? Maybe they did. It would appear
to me that some people listened and some people didn't. But listen,
I know this. I know this, when God speaks,
When He speaks in power to His people, His people hear. The dead, you say a dead man can't hear. If
Almighty God speaks, the dead's gonna hear. Turn with me to Psalm
29. They're gonna hear the voice of the Son of God. You have Psalm
29. Look at verse 3. The voice of the Lord. I want
to hear His voice. The voice of the Lord is upon
the waters. The God of glory thundereth.
The Lord is upon many waters. You look in your Bible, you'll
see throughout God's Word, time and time and time again, there's
a reference to water. Water speaks of His creation.
One of the first things we read is the Spirit of God moved on
the face of the waters. This water, it speaks of judgment.
Remember when God sent a flood of water? He looked down upon the earth
and he saw the wickedness of man, that the thoughts of his
heart was only evil continually. And he sent a flood. And the waters profiled exceedingly."
This water speaks of deliverance. They're at the Red Sea. Remember
that when Pharaoh drew nigh Children of Israel had been delivered
out of Egypt, and they drew nigh, and there they are up against
the Red Sea. And those armies of Pharaoh coming
against them. And they were so afraid. And
they cried unto the Lord. And Moses spoke to the people,
and he said, Fear not. Fear not. What am I to do? Fear
not. What else can I do? Stand still. and see the salvation of the
Lord, which He's going to show you. They couldn't see it, could
they? We can't see it until He reveals
it. And at that, at the command of
God, Moses lifted up his rod and he stretched out his hand
over the sea and God parted the waters. And the children of Israel walked
through on dry land. They were delivered. They were
safe. And in it we also see victory
over the enemy. What did Pharaoh and his army
do? They pursued right after him. And when the last of the
children of Israel were up there on dry land, those waters prevailed. The sea, we read this, the sea
returned to its strength and Pharaoh and his army were destroyed. His voice is upon the waters. Did Naaman know that? Naaman
the leper? It's through that water we learn
of humbling and healing. Naaman, you go down there and
you dip in the River Jordan seven times. And Naaman was furious
when he was wroth Naaman had to be, just like us,
he had to be brought down. And when he went and dipped in
that water seven times, he was healed. Naaman the leper, his
flesh came again to him like that of a little child, and he
was clean. The voice of the Lord is upon
the waters. We read this, he leadeth me beside
the still waters. I don't believe we would go there
otherwise. He leads his people. In this
water, it speaks of salvation. There at the cross, our Lord,
as he hung on that tree, And that soldier came through
to break their legs, to hasten death. And he came to our Lord and he's
already dead. And that soldier, no doubt out
of disappointment, out of anger, out of wrath, he took that sword
and he pierced our Savior's side. And out came blood and water. Listen to these words from a
familiar hymn. Let the water and the blood from
thy wounded side which flowed be of sin the double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure. His voice is upon the waters. How about in the waters of baptism? There's no saving power in that
water, but listen, when a man or a woman or a young person
is baptized, when they go down into that water, confession is
made. This is who I believe. I believe Him. I'm resting in
Him. I'm resting with Christ. He's all my hope. He's all my
salvation. It's all of Him. In it, we see
in baptism, we see the gospel. We see that of His death, His
burial, His resurrection. The voice of the Lord is upon
the waters. Well, quickly, let's read on
here. In Psalm 20, 29, it says, the voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is powerful. You know, the word of the king,
when the king speaks, he speaks in power, not only in word, but
in power. The voice of the Lord is full
of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh
the cedars. We were out in California last
week. We saw not the giant redwoods,
but some of the ones we saw were probably about the size of a
limb. And they were big. Just a bolt of lightning. I tell
you, that mighty cedar, it can stand proud and tall, but the
Lord and his power can lay it on the ground just as quick. He breaketh the cedars. He breaketh
the cedars of Lebanon. He maketh also to skip like a
calf, Lebanon and Syrian like a young unicorn. The voice of
the Lord divideth the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord
shaketh the wilderness. The Lord shaketh the wilderness
of Kedash. He makes the hinds to calf. He discovereth the forest, his
temple, doth everyone speak of his glory, the glory of God. Listen, the hour is coming, and
now is that the dead, they are going to hear the voice of the
Lord, and they that hear, it's the fourth point, they that hear
shall live. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sin. There's life only in one place. There's life
in his Son. He that hath the Son hath what? Life. He's sovereign. He's self-existent. He's eternal. He's omnipotent. He's immutable. He's all-powerful. His word goes
forth in power to the saving of the soul. They that hear shall
live. In Matthew 8, there was a centurion
who approached our Lord and he said, Lord, my servant, he lies
at home sick of the palsy and he's grievously tormented. And
Jesus said to him, he said, I'll come to your house and I'll heal
him. And that centurion, he answered
him, he said, Lord, I'm not worthy that you should come into my
house. I'm not worthy that you come
under my roof. Just speak the word. Speak the word only, and my servant
shall be healed. In Mark 5, the ruler of the synagogue,
his daughter was dying. And he said to the ruler of the
synagogue, he said, be not afraid, only believe. And he come up
to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and he see the
tumult, and everyone around there was weeping greatly. And he entered
the house, and he said, why do you make such ado? What's all
this fuss about? The damsel's not dead, but she
sleepeth. And when he said that, Think
about that. They laughed him to scorn. And he put them all out, and
he took the mother and the father of the damsel, and they that
were with him, and they entered where the damsel was lying, and
he took the damsel by the hand, and he said unto her, Talitha
Cumi, which is interpreted, damsel, I say unto thee, arise. I wonder if those folks were
laughing then. Straightway, the damsel arose and walked. She was about 12 years old, and
they were astonished with a great astonishment. Lazarus, he lay
in the grave four days. He was one whom Jesus loved.
And the voice of the Lord spoke and said, Lazarus, come forth. Can the dead be raised? Is that
possible? Lazarus come forth, and then
we read these words, he that was dead came forth, bound hand
and foot, grave clothes around his face. And our Lord said,
loose him and let him go. The Lord Jesus Christ He lay in the grave for three
days. Turn there to Acts 2. Acts 2.22.
I'll close here. Acts. Look at Acts chapter 2 verse
22. Ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God
did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know.
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you've taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain whom God hath raised up. having loosed the pains of death
because it was not possible that he should be holding of it. The hour is coming, and now he
is. When the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. Job, Job asked this question. He said, if a man die, shall
he live again? And we read that answer throughout
the word of God. And our Lord answers it in John
11, 25. Just listen to these words. It
says this, our Lord spoke. He said, he that believeth in
me, though he were dead, yet shall
he live. John had heard of the work of
Christ when he was in prison, and he sent two men to the Lord
asking, is it you? Art thou he that should come,
or do we look for another? And our Lord responded, and he
said this. He said, you go show John what
you've heard and what you've seen. And this is what they had
heard and seen, the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers
are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the
poor have the gospel preached to them. Let me read our text
just one more time in closing. The hour is coming, and now is,
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they
that hear. Oh Lord, let me hear. Enable
me to hear. They that hear shall live. All right. Isaac, come lead us
in a closing hymn.