Resurrection: Theology of Hope

John  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  41:36
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Today we will be looking at John 5:25-30.
The larger context is Jesus talking to the Jews who were against him for healing a lame man on the Sabbath.
Jesus uses this opportunity to communicate truth to them. Truth that would change their hearts and lives if they will hear it.
Jesus’ response begins with three, “Very truly I tell you,” sections. The first is found in verses 19-23. In that portion, he is showing them that the Father and the Son are equally God. As God, the Son gives life, and judges. This is a theme which we will see continued today.
The next “Very truly I tell you” statement is in verse 24. Here we find Jesus building on the oneness of the Father and the Son, and wonderfully explaining the blessing of faith: eternal life and no condemnation!
John 5:24 NIV
“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.
I love that verse! Crossed over! This is a fact upon which we need to build our lives. We are no longer dead in sin. We are no longer separated from God. We are crossed over into eternal life. We have a relationship with our God, our Creator, our Savior!
Today, we are moving into the next “Very truly I tell you” portion. This portion is from John 5:25-30. Let’s read it together.
John 5:25–30 NIV
Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

Very truly I tell you,

This expression is Jesus’ way of really making his point. Another way of saying this in English, “Most Assuredly.” Jesus is communicating truth. This isn’t just an idea. This is bedrock truth. He is making some key points that we need to hear and understand.
The first was that He is the Son of God, making Him equal with God. What God does, the Son does.
The second was that those who believe Him and God when He speaks, has eternal life, they will not be judged, and they have crossed over from death to life.
The third point is built upon those two, and is as follows.
John 5:25 NIV
Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.

A time is coming and has now come

Why would Jesus say this, “A time is coming and has now come?” Well, let’s break it down…
“A time is coming” is a way of communicating what? Obviously Jesus is talking about time. So, “A time IS COMING,” would refer to something past, present or future? Future.
Jesus uses this expression a few times. In John we have seen it in John 4:21, 23 when He was speaking with the woman at the well.
He uses it here in John in verses 25 and 28. And we will see it later in John 16.
John 16:2 NIV
They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.
John 16:25 NIV
“Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father.
John 16:32 NIV
“A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.
A time is comingis just a way of refering to the future.
What about the second part? “…and has now come?” What does that refer to? The present.
So Jesus is saying something is going to happen in the future, and at the present time.
Just what is going to happen in the future and at the present?
John 5:25 NIV
Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.

the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live

At some time in the future, at right now in the present, the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
In the future there will be a point when Jesus will call all of the dead out of their graves! They will rise to either life, or condemnation. It is a literal Resurrection from the dead.
We will get into what Jesus means about that future resurrection more next week, as Jesus elaborates on this in verses 27-30.
Today we are going to focus on the “and now is” aspect of the dead hearing his voice, and those who hear will live.
What does he mean that right now, the dead will hear his voice and those who hear will live?
Is there a resurrection taking place right now?
Yes, there is. But not a physical resurrection like is going to take place in the future. It is a spiritual resurrection. But just because it is spiritual, and not something we can see with our eyes, it does not mean it is any less significant, nor less dramatic. It is wondrous, and can bring hope into this dark world.
So what is this resurrection that is taking place now?
What he is talking about is the fact that everyone, every person in this world is born spiritually dead. We are alive physically, but we are dead spiritually, and Jesus has come to raise the spiritually dead and give them life!

What is Spiritual Death?

What does it mean that we are dead spiritually?
Death means we are separated from God, and the life that is in Him. Perfect, everlasting life, being in proper relationship with Him, the giver of life.
Ephesians 4:18 NIV
They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
God created us to have life, and that life was knowing Him, being like Him and in relationship with Him. Being like Him is not being God. God is infinitely Holy, powerful, wise, good, patient, compassionate, gentle, just, and righteous (to name a few). We can be like Him, but we will never have those characteristics God has in infinite measure. We will never be the everlasting God who is and was and is to come. We have a beginning. We have limited knowledge. We have limited power. We grow in wisdom and power, but we will never have all wisdom and power.
No, we will not be gods, but we will be like Him! Being like is never the same as being truly.

Why are we dead spiritually?

We are born dead spiritually, because we are sinful from birth.
Like David said in Psalm 51,
Psalm 51:5 NIV
Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
We are sinful from birth because we are sinful in Adam.
Romans 5:12 NIV
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—
Sin is what causes death. Adam sinned when he disobeyed God. All of us are descended from Adam. We were literally, genetically, in Adam when he sinned, and his perfect created nature was corrupted. We all sinned when he sinned. We have all been born sinful, like our father Adam since that time.
And not only did we sin in Adam, but we also, like Adam, sin ourselves.
Romans 3:23 NIV
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Being sinful and offensive, we are deserving of the punishment God set down from the Creation. Sin brings the punishment of Death.
Romans 6:23 NIV
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So, to answer those questions, We are spiritually dead, separated from eternal life, being in proper relationship with God, because we are sinful as descendants of Adam, and sinful by our own actions.

What is sin?

Romans 1:29–32 NIV
They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Sin is any thought, word or deed that is contrary to God’s Holy Character and Righteousness; contrary to us being like Him as we were created to be.
Sometimes I think the word sin is this word that we only use in church contexts. It is not a word we use in everyday life.
What English word do we use on a regular basis would capture what sin is?
Let’s check out some verses in James and see what they have to say, and see how the description of sin might help us come up with another word.
James 1:13–15 NIV
When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
First, Sin and death come from our own desires. Something we want, and will pursue getting even if it is wrong, hurtful to us or others, and leads to death.
It feels like a disease. In some ways it is like a disease that just afflicts us and drags us where we don’t want to go.
It’s starts as something we want, and ends up controlling us and taking us places we do not want to go.
We hate it, but at the same time, it is rooted in our desires, so we want it...
Have you ever heard someone talking about something in their life that they hate. Something that they know is harmful to themselves and others. Something that leads to death, but yet somehow they want it. They feel they need it and do not truly want to get away from it?
Sounds like what?
An Addict.
I believe the way God describes ‘sin’ in the Bible is really what we call in everyday language, an addiction.
Wait, does that mean I am an addict? Yes! I am.
I may not be an addict to drugs or alcohol, but I am addicted to my own evil desires that drag me away and entice me. As Jesus says in John 8:34
John 8:34 NIV
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
As addicts, we are enslaved to our evil desires, our sin.
I read an article by an psychiatrist this week who was talking about a woman that tended to overeat. She joined a support group. One night, she was late for her support group, and didn’t realize that she was in a different group that met after her normal group. After sitting in the meeting, she eventually realized she was sitting with people who were dealing with drug addictions.
She was sick! Why? Because as she listened to them, she heard that exact same language, the exact same descriptions coming from these drug addicts as she heard in the overeating support group. The love for and hate for the addiction. The lies to cover up. The harmful effects on their bodies and their relationships. She was sick because she thought she was just an overeater. Now she saw she was an addict, who was bent on her own desires the way a drug addict is bent on their own evil desires that they both loathe and love.
There is a picture of how our desires carry us away, and then lead us to death in Proverbs 7.
Proverbs 7:6–27 NIV
At the window of my house I looked down through the lattice. I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who had no sense. He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in. Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent. (She is unruly and defiant, her feet never stay at home; now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks.) She took hold of him and kissed him and with a brazen face she said: “Today I fulfilled my vows, and I have food from my fellowship offering at home. So I came out to meet you; I looked for you and have found you! I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Come, let’s drink deeply of love till morning; let’s enjoy ourselves with love! My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. He took his purse filled with money and will not be home till full moon.” With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk. All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life. Now then, my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say. Do not let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths. Many are the victims she has brought down; her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death.
Our sin leads us to death. Like this young man, we think we are getting what we want. We are getting a feast. We are getting attention, affection. We are getting gratification. But all the while, we are in a grave. Everything is leading to death. We are separated from God and the very life He intends for us to have. The Life He wants us to have.
We are in this grave and we cannot get out by ourselves. We have lived in this addiction for so long, we are so deep, we cannot get out. We are helpless and hopeless.
Sounds like a certain lame man who had been lame for thirty-eight years, doesn’t it?
Then, here comes Jesus!
Do you want to get well?
Get up! I will strengthen those feeble limbs that have atrophied in that grave! I will bring you out of death, and resurrect you to life!!
John 5:25 NIV
Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.
Those who will listen to Jesus will experience a resurrection to life!
We do not have to live in our hopeless grave of addiction any longer!
Jesus has come to bring us up out of the grave and give us life in Him!
John 5:26 NIV
For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

As the father has life in Himself…

What is Life in Himself?
None of us have life in ourselves. We are not self-existent as God is.
God just is. He has life without it being given to Him. He is literally the source of all life!
God created Adam, and breathed into him and he became a living soul.
And just as we think of God as the source and giver of life, so Jesus, the Son of God who is equally God with the Father, is the source of life. Or, as Peter says in Acts 3:15,
Acts 3:15 NIV
You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.
Jesus is the author of life! Or, as John says in chapter one of his gospel,
John 1:4 NIV
In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
Jesus has life! He was not created, nor given life. He is, and was and is to come! He is eternally self-existent, having life in Himself to give to others.
And just as He did physically raise the dead, like when He raised Lazarus, He does spiritually raise the dead today! He has life to give, will you live in the resurrected life?
John 5:25 NIV
Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.
Are you resurrected?
Are you alive in Christ?
Are you living like you are alive in Christ?
Homework
Read John 5:1-26. Ask the Lord to speak to you about your addictions, the things in your life that make you lame, and maybe have dragged you away for ‘38 years’, holding you in bondage. Memorize John 5:25. Pray Psalm 139:23-24, and ask the Lord to show you where you are living in a grave instead of the resurrected life Christ gave you when you believed in Him. Make a list. Ask the Lord to work in you this week in just one of those addictions.
Read James 1:13-15. What are the root desires behind your addiction? Control? Physical pleasure? Avoidance? Distraction? Emotional pleasure? Status? Attention? Comfort? What is it you want? If it is avoidance, what is you you want to avoid? Why do you want to avoid? What are you afraid of? That can help you see what you do want. The things we want may not be bad in and of themselves, but when we want them over what God may want in a situation, then it is an idol. What are the idols, the desires behind your addiction?
Read Proverbs 7:6-27. How does this relate to you and your addiction? What are the things that entice? Notice the time of day. Are there certain times, situations, you are more vulnerable to being dragged away by the desires? Giving in to an addiction may feel good for a time, but ultimately, it is like a “Banquet in the Grave” (borrowed from Ed Welch). How is your addiction like living in a grave?
Read Romans 6. Romans 6 has bedrock truth we need to base our lives upon, and practical steps to living in the freedom of the resurrected life. Read Romans 6 at least 4 times. Try different translations to keep it fresh and to think it through. The truth is you have been resurrected with Christ! He has given you new life, new power, just like when He made the lame man walk. He has given you life in place of the death of your addiction. The question is which way are you going to go? Death or life? God gives some good directions for life in verses 13 and 19. Notice he does not just say, do not offer yourselves to your sin/addiction any longer. He says to do something else. Just stopping sin is not the way to go. If it is not replaced with something else, you will go back to the old addiction. The question is, what actions would God have you put in place of the old addictive behavior? In this passage there is also incentive for living the new life. What is it? See verses 20-23.
Read Colossians 3:5-17 at least four times. What are the actions you need to put in place of the old addictions? How will you do this? Be alert for the times and situations which lead to being dragged away by your evil desires! Make a plan. Pray for the Lord to give you the strength to walk through those times putting on the new life in Christ, the new actions. Seek accountability with other believers.
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