We are continuing our study in the Gospel of John, and I invite you to turn to John chapter 5 as we are right in the heart of this. That's on page 1058 in the Bibles before you. You'll remember that Jesus has healed a man in Bethesda at the pool, and that has ignited a firestorm and a large controversy, for he did it on the Sabbath purposely to expose what was really going on there and to expose the darkness of the heart and to give an opportunity to teach all of us today about the way of life and to understand his work that sets us free and we're right in the middle of this there have been two issues that they now want to kill Jesus over that he has told a man to pick up his bed and walk on the sabbath who had been sick for 38 years and the second that he has made himself equal with God. And that was a great blasphemy, at least as they saw it, because they didn't believe in him as the Son of God. And so we are going to pick up at verse 18, and our text this morning will be verses 24 through 29. This is the word of the Lord. This is why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. So Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, the son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the father doing. For whatever the father does, that the son does likewise. For the father loves the son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him so that you may marvel. For as As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. And now our text. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but is passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here 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 execute judgment because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out. Those who've done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. And there ends the reading of God's Word. It was quite something this week to watch the Celebration of Life service at the Staples Center for Kobe Bryant. I'm sure all of you watched that, right, in your spare time. Jimmy Kimmel was officiating the service, not a minister, I trust you know. He said as he started the service that he was trying to find some good in this whole thing. And it was amazing to look at the cameras, what the cameras were picking up as he was saying this, as these seven-foot men were sitting there with tears and broken and no perspective through any of this. It was really something to watch this. It was really something to watch. He stands up and he says, I really am trying to find some kind of good in this, and I have to tell you that I can't. But then he said, I've come up with this, that we should be thankful. I'm thinking, to who? That we should be thankful for you don't know. Now listen to Jimmy Kimmel. You don't know how long you have. So enjoy one another. It's stunning. how our world has absolutely no answer to this. It's absolutely stunning how our world has no answer to this wall and this end point of they see at death and no ability to process or to give an answer to anyone. The best they could come up with was that Kobe and Gianna simply traded courts and went from the court down here to the court up there, to which I'm saying, why did you have to die to trade courts? Has anyone answered that? Why would you have to die to trade courts? I don't get it. I can't imagine that that's an answer for anyone. We take for granted all that we have and all the perspective of what we just sung out from Psalm 16 about the resurrection, which is what you just sung out for about that there you will rise again and that at the Lord's right hand are pleasures evermore we just take this for granted that we know this and understand this and believe this when 20,000 people at a Staples Center got nothing is anyone listening to God's assessment of things why couldn't I go preach at the Staples Center this week, because you'd never see me again after that, I promise. Have we lost all urgency to this? Have we lost why faith in Jesus even matters in our day? Is there any real thought about why death happens and what is coming after that? Why do people seem to not want to hear the truth at all when it comes to this issue? And what about this great claim of Christianity that there is a judgment coming and that people are going to one of two places? Is anyone listening? Is anyone listening? Seems to me that's the question of the text. Seems to me that's the question of the text today. Is anyone listening? It's not that Jesus was saying things and making claims that the truth of what he said rests upon our acceptance of it. Some people might say, I just don't like that, or I don't like to be told that, or I'm not going to believe that. And that doesn't at all change the truth of it. Jesus didn't make these claims concerned about, you know, how we would accept them or not. He made these claims as statements of fact. This is the truth of the matter, and this is how it is. And what we do do with that is important. In most of the words that I have read of Jesus so far in the Gospel of John, I have been taken by John chapter 5. Because John chapter 5 says some of the most profound and heart-searching truths from the mouth of Jesus that we get in the scriptures. And they're very strong statements, they're very wonderful statements, and when I say wonderful, I mean wonderful statements, but absolutely worrisome and fearful statements to those who don't believe. And so that's the press of this particular passage, that unless in this little window of existence that we have, We are given life by Jesus. We will perish. In John chapter 8, Jesus says this very plainly. I told you that you would die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. I wish that would have been said at the Staples Center. That would have been the hardest thing to hear at the Staples Center. That would have been the most painful thing to hear at the Staples Center. But that would have been the most needful thing to hear at the Staples Center. Look to Jesus. Put down your idols. You're not going to receive life in a basketball. It's the last thing you would dream of hearing. You know the context here. In this last section, John has zeroed in on a particular figure, this man who had been sick for 38 years, and he really did, as we study, represent Israel in so many different ways. They have wanted to kill Jesus because when he healed this man 38 years on a bed, they wanted to kill him because he told him to get up on the Sabbath and walk. And that has been stunning to us. it shows how bad legalism can be. It shows how bad it can be. Look at the anger and look at the spirit that can come out in legalism. It's ugly. They're fighters. They don't understand the gospel, but they're very religious. They're very formal. And Jesus is going after this here. That's why he's so strong on this. Jesus did not come to just walk away from this stuff. He came to expose it in his light. He is the light, and he's going to expose everything that is in the darkness. So here we are. He has done two things that have really offended the Jews here. He has not only told them to get up on the Sabbath and walk, but he has also made himself, in their view, which was blasphemy, equal with God. And he has claimed that. I mean, the shocking statements that we looked at last time really were when he said these things they were furious and wanted to kill him and then he stepped it up on them. You think that's something my father and I he has shown me with my eyes everything. He was really pressing on them. He shows me his works. I've seen all of this. Whatever he does I do. And you can just hear the offense of this. But we were on this final claim last time, so he has made three claims here, that he is equal with God, that he is really the Lord of the Sabbath that we looked at last time, but we really stopped short in really addressing this claim of judgment and life, life and judgment that he has taken to himself here in this last section of John 5. And the first thing that he does here in the section that's in front of us is explain to them the free gift that he gives to people. Remember when the woman at the well had come to Jesus and he had tested her with living water and she had said, I don't have a bucket to go get it, and Jesus said, if you knew the gift of God, you would have asked and he'll give you life. It's just an amazing statement, isn't it? Ask him. I'll give it to you. Well, I want you to notice that he is now explaining that gift. Verse 24 is really wonderful. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but is passed from death to life. That is the best bumper sticker verse ever. what Jesus just said are two of the most important things to prove that you're a Christian today. He just said that if you hear the word and believe, you are a Christian. Now, I want to think about this for a minute. Remember that Romans 10 says, the Apostle Paul said, that how will they hear without a preacher, and how will they preach unless they're sent? How will they believe in him and whom they've not heard? You notice that you have to hear and then believe. And Jesus is using that order here. He's saying you have to be able to hear, you have to hear, and then you have to be able to believe that word. Hearing is everything. But everyone knows that hearing is the most difficult of things. Haven't you seen this? That in the Gospel of John, every time that Jesus has been speaking, they have not been able to hear him. This has been one of the great things that John has shown us. Nicodemus, you need to be born again. What do you mean I need to be born again? They couldn't hear him. They didn't understand what he was saying. He says, you need to be able to perceive and understand the things of the kingdom of God, and that's why you need a new birth. You need life first. Same thing with the woman at the well. The woman at the well, remember he had said, you need living water. And she says, I don't have a bucket. They couldn't hear him. Even last time in John 5, do you want to be healed? And the man says, well, I can't get into the pool. It's the same thing, the same deadness. What's interesting here is what he says. The verbs here for hearing and believing are what we call present active participles. So the importance of that is this. What it means is that these are ongoing things in the life of people who have become followers of Jesus. They are hearing and they're believing. And I want you to notice then how Christ says that. Whoever has the ability to hear the word and believe in Christ, that's evidence that life has been implanted in your hearts. He does not say, if you believe in here, then you will have life. He says really clearly here that what those who right now hear the word of God and understand it and believe it, that is evidence that Jesus, by the work of the Holy Spirit, has implanted life in your hearts. Now, back to my Staples Center for a minute. Michael Jordan spoke at the Staples Center. The best basketball player of all time. Did you know that? Henry Wardenburg is going to jump on me later for that. Here's what he said. It's an amazing thing about passion. If you love something, if you have a strong passion for something, you would go to the extreme to try to understand and get it. That's wonderful providence, by the way. Don't you agree that I get to preach this right now? If you have passion, you'll do everything to understand it and go get it. Either, and you're expecting something big, right? Ice cream. Cokes, hamburgers, whatever you have a love for. If you have to walk, you would go get it. If you have to beg someone, you would go get it. Kobe gave every last ounce of himself to whatever he was doing. And I admired him because of his passion. You rarely see someone who is looking and trying to improve with this kind of passion. People have passion for a lot of things in life, don't they? and they go get it. And they'll go after it with all of who they are. And that speech inspired everyone in the building that day. You should have seen the tears after he said that. And it was passion for everything that was wrong. What have we been seeing in John? John's gospel is life being given to people who were not full and had tried their passions. Whose lives were empty. Who were in desperate search to find satisfaction in life. And they never found it. Nicodemus tried to find it as a Pharisee in the first table of the law, which made him just a formalist. Not the second table. the woman at the well was trying to find it by craving men and finding identity with men and she was jumping from well to well to well to well and she was thirsty but she was passionate all of them wanting something the man sitting at the pool if i can just get in there i'm here I'll give everything I have on a bed 38 years just to get in that pool and be well. Passion. In the midst of this here is Jesus. Pursuing, finding, and giving life. I love this section because he is actually showing us what imparting life looks like in somebody. He's teaching us of what his life looks like in somebody. This greatly affected the Apostle John. I'll show you that in a minute. But I want you to notice here that this is what's happened. In the last section, you saw the life. You saw what it looked like. What did life look like? What did true passion look like? True passion looked like this. And many more believed because of his word. And they said to the woman, it's no longer because of what you said that we believe, For we have heard ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world. He is our passion now. How do you miss in the scriptures all over the place that this is what the Lord is showing you? You need Him. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. psalm 63 i am the vine you are branches and i am pumping life into you that's how you live you see what jesus is describing is nothing else can do this i mean you can go down your your passions and your idols and the things that you run to to find try just try to find relief today and they don't do it it doesn't provide this it doesn't satisfy not the alcohol not the sex not the money, not all the securities that you have in the world. They don't supply it. Nothing can. And Jesus is showing us here that he can. It's so powerful that in John chapter 7, he comes into the temple, and I can't even imagine hearing this as he stands there and cries out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. says these things? You ever heard anything like that? And I love what then verse 25 is showing us that he's saying, I want you to know, and so that all generations would study this and understand what that life looks like in people. He says something so encouraging to us right now in verse 25 where he says, truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the son of God and those who hear will live that is not talking about the final resurrection it is an implication it's not what he just said he just said this is right now that I am imparting life it's a wonderful verse I was moved so much by that verse that you're really living right now. This is what Revelation 20 talks about when it says, Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power. They shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. This is Ephesians 2. You who were dead and trespassed and sinned, he made alive. He's saying that life comes right now in your lives. The hour has come that the Son of Man is speaking. And when the Son of Man speaks, He summons. And you know what happens when He summons? This is Ezekiel. This is the valley of dry bones. This is Son of Man prophesied of these bones. Prophesied of these bones and rattle them and flesh will come on them and they'll get up and they'll live. Right now, the Son of God's voice is penetrating into very hard hearts. So I'm sitting here right now. And he can give life. I've seen this in you. This is one of the great joys of ministry, by the way. This is one of the great joys of ministry. The hard part is sometimes for you to realize you have that life. And that's what the Bible teachers are helping you to understand and see about yourselves. I've had a call even in this series from a dear member and he said, Pastor, I've been listening to John 4 and I've been listening to the woman at the well over and over and I've got to say, I've had many idols in my life. I've had a lot of other fountains and I want you to know I'm putting them away. The word has created life. Isn't that beautiful? I've seen it in the young adults here. I've been amazed at all the pressures today to do everything contrary and try to entertain them to death. I've seen response in the young adults and the beauty of it is they're gathering, they're talking about the word and they're helping one another. I've seen it in the older generation. I don't have to mention Oko, but I will, who would love to be here right now. how many say i i could never imagine missing church in their old age that's life these are some of the strongest statements on assurance that you get in the scriptures right here john wanted christians to understand this so much and he was so worried in a little epistle he made this the whole focus of his little epistle that people would know that they have life from Jesus and believe that they have life from Jesus. He says this 13 times in that little first John. He mentions life, and here's what he says. This is the testimony that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life. Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. He never wanted people going through this life as believers, living as if God hasn't given them life. In fact, John took this little statement of Jesus here, and this is, we're in the heart of the second point, if you're trying to take notes, I apologize. We're in the heart of the second point, the evidence of life. You'll notice here, Jesus says, whoever hears and believes has eternal life and has passed from death to life. John grabbed that. He says, I really want Christians to know that they have passed from death to life. How do they know that they've passed from death to life? 1 John 3, 14. We know that we have passed from death to life. We know. Because we love the brethren. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer. And you know no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. The happiest people are those who love. and love one another. And when I see that love in the church and I see the sacrificial love of the people of God to one another, you know that's all evidence of life in that place? It's not in the greatness of the band. It's not in the greatness of how you feel. It's in the greatness of your sacrificial love. That's life. That's the Holy Spirit. One of the greatest evidences of life is the love I see in this place. And I see it. Jesus says one of the most wonderful things here, he who hears and believes the word has everlasting life, and then he says this, here's the consequence of that, you shall not ever, ever, ever come into judgment, but you've passed from death to life. Listen, if this life has been planted in you, evidence being you hear the word and believe the word, and it shows itself in a love for that Word, a love to worship the Lord, a love to be among the saints, not to be distant from them. You will never come into judgment. That's the best news I could ever announce today. Judgment's over. You understand that? Sometimes people wrestle with what's going to happen on the last day, and am I going to have to give account of my sins? Hold this. You'll never come into judgment. He just said it. You'll never come into judgment. You'll never stand before the judgment seat of Christ to have to answer for your sins in judgment, ever. When you have life, it's over. That's the free gift. And I think that motivates a lot of loving in the body of Christ. But back to the context of this. Before him are his own, and what are they doing? not hearing or believing. Pharisees want to kill him for telling a man to take up his bed on the Sabbath. When you have a church full of people with no life, you know what the fruit is? This. Arguing over the minutest points of the law and crushing people. Fighting, disgruntlement, complaining, bitter spirits, hatred, lack of forgiveness, enmity, strife, dissensions, all which is followed by no hearing of the word. You know, look over at verse 38 for a moment. We'll get there. Jesus says this so plainly. But you do not have his word abiding in you because whom he sent, him you do not believe. So there's the issue. The word is not abiding. And then he says, you search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life. You think it's about just being a moral good person. But these are the things that testify of me. But you're not willing to come to me that you may have life. This is all over John 5, isn't it? The word has no place in you. That's the big key to all of this. At the end of the day, there will always be people in the kingdom who won't come to Jesus for life and who are not very interested in his word. And with everything I have, with everything I am as a pastor, I say, why would you not come to him? It's a marvel. What ties them to the kingdom if they don't love God's word and won't hear it and aren't hungry for it? What ties them to it? So I believe Jesus, what he's doing here is having believers and non-believers think about the outcome of their response to him now, and that's where we're closing today. What is the outcome of response to him? Jesus says the most serious thing ever in the Gospels, I think. It's a beautiful statement and simultaneously a scary statement. For those hearing, there's wonderful news. For those believing, there's wonderful news. For those not, there's really bad news. Are you ready to die? Are we so soon to die? In the midst of this, Jesus says something that I believe was meant to press them a little bit, a lot. He says in verse 27, And the Father has given him authority, the Son, to execute judgment because he is the son of man. Isn't it interesting? He says son of man right there. The Jews knew just what he claimed. He claimed Daniel 7. He claimed Daniel 7. I was watching in the night visions, And behold, one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him. Then he was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations, and language should worship him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed. I watched until thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated. His garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head was like pure wool. By the way, this is the description of Jesus in Revelation 1. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him, and thousands and thousands ministered to him. Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. Jesus grabs it, and he says, listen, you're playing with fire if you won't come to me for life. Because the Son of Man has the authority to execute judgment. Can you imagine the shock on their faces when he claimed Daniel 7 that day? And then Jesus, where we're closing today, says this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice. Everyone's going to hear that voice. And they're going to come forth. Those who've done good to the resurrection of life and those who've done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. You know, everyone's getting up. Moses is getting up out of the grave, wherever his body is. But Paul, Abraham, Caesar Augustus, Napoleon, Kobe and Gianna, everyone's getting up. His voice is so powerful that when he speaks, as he did at creation, your bodies come back together. and a divide is made. Those who literally performed worthlessness, who wasted their lives in worthless living, who squandered everything they were given, never did anything but serve the self, are rising with a body to the resurrection of condemnation. They will be given bodies for that place. those found in Jesus, those who believe and hear the word, characterized as good because they have life. I just described what that good life looks like. Who have been filled with his life and have passed from death to life and have been justified by faith are given resurrected bodies to go forever to be with the Lord in a place that you have can't even begin to imagine how wonderful that's going to be. And you're going to get the earth back. Did you know that? You're going to get the earth back. There's going to be no more sickness. There's going to be no more sin. No one's going to be evil. You're not going to have to lock doors at night. Everything's going to be new. That's what he came to do. That's what the Sabbath's all about. He came to fix this. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. We shall all be changed in a moment at the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed. This is what he came to do. Give it back. To give you back what all the life you're searching for. And you don't have to wait to judgment day to know where you're going. That's the beauty of this, isn't it? You don't have to wait to find out if the Lord on that day is going to say, mmm, you didn't make it. It's not how this goes. It's a smiling face on that day. It's a statement of come receive the kingdom that has been prepared for you before the foundation of the world. That's his free gift. Does the word have a place in you today? Does the word of God have a place in you? If Christ came to condemn the world right now, it would already be over. But you're here. I'm here. And look how patient he's been with us. these things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing that you would have life in his name. Amen. Heavenly Father, thank you for these words, and thank you for encouraging us in them. Yes, some of the most sober, serious words in all of Scripture, and yet the most freeing words in Scripture, thank you for the free gift and thank you that you didn't leave it to us to figure this out or to find this out for we cannot hear or believe apart from your grace so pour out your grace upon everyone here and would everyone respond with believing hearts knowing the terror of God we persuade men so that they would escape the coming judgment and know today your everlasting love and favor having passed from death to life today. Hear us, O Lord. If anyone does not believe here, work powerfully by your Holy Spirit to plant life in that heart. Only you can do it. And we're thankful that you care to speak the word that we might hear and live. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you.