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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!
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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,
We are sinful from birth because we are sinful in Adam.
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.
Being sinful and offensive, we are deserving of the punishment God set down from the Creation.
Sin brings the punishment of Death.
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?
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?
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