[0:00] 3 from John chapter 5 verses 19 through 29. 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.
[0:17] For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. But the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. In greater works than these will he show him so that you may marvel.
[0:30] Whereas the Father raises dead and gives him life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 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.
[0:46] Whoever does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly truly I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.
[0:57] He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly truly I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here when a dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.
[1:10] Whereas the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. He has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of man.
[1:21] Do not marvel at this for an hour is coming when all who are in tombs will hear his voice and come out. Those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
[1:35] We'll go ahead and stay in John chapter 5 as we look at verses 19 to 29 this morning.
[1:48] It's good to be here. It's good to gather with God's people, to seek his face, to hear his voice. And it's the right way for us to begin each week is to gather in worship of Christ.
[2:01] So let me pray and then we will launch into our study this morning. So join me. Lord, would you open our eyes that we would behold wonderful things out of your law this morning?
[2:16] Would you speak to each heart and as Sheldon prayed, if there's some here that have never trusted in Christ, today would be the day of their salvation. It's a trustworthy statement that Jesus Christ came into this world to rescue sinners.
[2:30] And Lord, we are here solely because you have rescued us. And so Lord, for those of us in Christ, Lord, would you refresh us with your grace, with your mercy this morning, with the fact that we have moved from death to life.
[2:46] And Lord, might we understand something more of you, Lord Jesus, because of the time we spend in your word? It's your name we pray and all God's people said.
[2:56] Amen. Well, last week, as Pastor Eric shared this story, this healing of this man, this paralytic, for 38 years at the pool of Bethesda, we see that Jesus heals this man and essentially after this man receives this healing, he essentially throws Christ under the bus.
[3:22] And maybe you didn't connect those dots last week, but as you recall, the religious leaders, they had come to this man who is now standing, he's there with his bed mat in hand, and they ask him the question, who healed you?
[3:40] And he didn't know at first. And then Jesus later returns to him, reveals himself to the man, also warns him, says, hey, there's something far worse than being an invalid during your earthly life.
[3:54] What's worse than suffering as an invalid your entire life? Well, it's an eternity apart from God forever, without recourse to rescue oneself.
[4:05] And so that story, it doesn't reveal the motivation of the man, but he leaves the temple, re-engages then the Jewish leaders after Jesus reveals himself to him, and it says in John 5.15, the man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.
[4:27] So Jesus, at this point, is definitively put on the naughty list in the eyes of the Jewish leadership.
[4:39] He heals on the Sabbath. Something that Jesus, by the way, did repeatedly, this is not a one-time offense, occurrence.
[4:49] Luke 4, he heals Peter's mother-in-law. In Luke 6, Jesus heals a man with a withered hand. In Luke 13, he heals a woman with a disabling spirit.
[5:01] In Luke 14, he heals a man with dropsy. So Jesus is a repeat offender on this particular issue. And then on most of these occasions, when Jesus would heal on the Sabbath, He would then follow that miracle with a conversation, engaging the spiritual leaders on their legalism, on their hypocrisy, on their addition to the Mosaic law.
[5:28] It says in Mark 7.7 that they were teaching as doctrine the traditions of man. And all of this essentially revealed that man, his heart was cold towards God, and he had no charity for mankind.
[5:45] In fact, it says in Luke 13, 15, the Lord answered him and said, You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it.
[5:59] So Jesus is saying, you're accusing me, but you're doing the same thing. You're not even self-aware. Don't you love people that are not self-aware?
[6:10] I was driving in a few weeks back with my wife on a weekday morning. We didn't have kids that morning. She's a teacher. She had conferences. So we're like, it's sort of like a 7 a.m. date.
[6:22] And we're just sort of leisurely driving down the road out in our neighborhood. And we had a gal that was like tailing us the entire time. And then I decided, well, I'm just gonna pull over.
[6:32] So I pull over and thought, you know, she would pass and she doesn't. She pulls up next to me. Like I don't know what this is about. So I pull my window down as a dummy.
[6:43] And she informs me, you know, you're driving five miles under the speed limit. There were many responses that went through my heart.
[6:56] Probably the worst one was I wanted to ask her, are you like from California? Right, but I didn't. I thought she was gonna apologize, but she was informing me that I was driving too slow.
[7:10] There was no self-awareness there. I'm so proud of myself. I didn't escalate things. That's good. Well, on this occasion, Jesus escalates things.
[7:21] And we're going to observe this escalation this morning. He does this intentionally. In fact, look at verse, we'll just review here, verse 16 to 18.
[7:34] And this is why the Jews were persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, my father is working until now and I am working. This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him.
[7:46] Because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal to God. So the two reasons that the Jews were upset with Jesus, number one, he healed on the Sabbath.
[7:59] But then secondly, he claims equality with God. Now, by the way, that first statement, healing on the Sabbath, that all of a sudden became a non-issue, right?
[8:10] It moved from being a felony down to a misdemeanor. Because Jesus was claiming to be God. Today's interaction, or rightly, it's really a monologue, is essentially Jesus now intensifying the situation, intensifying the tension.
[8:31] He is going to reveal really who he is. And if there's some men here that appreciate the film Gladiator, this is essentially the scene where Gladiator is removing his mask, right?
[8:46] Who are you? Well, I'm Gladiator. No, tell me, what's your name? My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius. I am the commander of the armies of the North.
[8:59] Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife, and I will have my vengeance. Did I get this? I like Russell Crowe just a little bit. That's the scene today.
[9:11] In fact, that film, that scene is just an echo of this gospel revealing section, these assertions that Jesus makes. You want to know who I am? I'm going to tell you exactly who I am.
[9:25] And Jesus here unequivocally claims to be God this morning. And he does it in a unique way, because essentially what he does is he says, there's three ways that I am exactly like the Father.
[9:38] You claim to love the God of the Old Testament? He's standing before you right now. So this morning we will consider these claims, these three areas where he is stating, I'm exactly like the Father.
[9:50] I am a universal God. I'm just stating I'm exactly like the Father. I am unified. I am one with the Father. So let's begin here and see this first claim in verses 19-20.
[10:02] Jesus says to them, truly, truly I say to you. Now truly, truly in the Greek the word is amen, amen. In the Hebrew the word is amen, amen.
[10:14] In the English amen, amen. Truly, truly. When you say amen at the end of a prayer, you're saying truly essentially, so be it.
[10:25] Let it be as we have prayed. When Jesus uses this to begin a statement, he says, he's not ending the statement, he's beginning. Amen, amen. He's saying listen, listen up.
[10:37] What I'm about to tell you is true. And it really carries this idea of what I'm sharing isn't like third hand. What I'm sharing with you, I have first hand knowledge of.
[10:51] It is truth. And so Jesus begins here saying, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing.
[11:06] For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing, greater works than these will he show him so that you may marvel.
[11:19] The first claim that Jesus makes here, he is unified with the Father in works. He's one with the Father in works, in action.
[11:33] There is total unity within the Godhead. Jesus is not some rogue agent of the Godhead. When he healed on the Sabbath, he wasn't actually doing something counter to the Mosaic law.
[11:52] Jesus is not some rebellious Son acting independently of God the Father. That's how we behave. That's not how God behaves.
[12:05] There wasn't some creation scuffle, right? We know that it says in Hebrews 1, 2 that God created the heavens and the earth through the Son. So it's Jesus creating in Genesis and there was not some scuffle between the Godhead as though Jesus said, no, really, Dad, I think we should have like a 10-day week.
[12:23] Let's go with the 10-day. Let's go with a 50-hour day. I think, God, man, I know you said no giraffes. I'm just saying it's going to be cool. The necks are going to be, just trust me.
[12:38] It's absurd. That would be absurd. Jesus, his every action, it totally, it completely, it unmistakably reveals the heart, the character, the person, the will of the Father.
[12:58] That's why Jesus said to Philip, hey, if you've seen me, you've seen who? You've seen the Father. Which is why we should study Jesus.
[13:09] We should make it a life commitment because as we study Jesus, we're learning who God is up close and personal. It's fantastic.
[13:22] We could say it this way, the Son exegetes the Father, explains the Father. So let us be students of Jesus our entire life because as we study Him, we understand who God is.
[13:40] See, in our day, I've run into folks, countless folks, that would love to sever the God of the Old Testament with the God of the New Testament. The God of the Old Testament is this holy, judgmental God.
[13:55] But man, Jesus, he's the domesticated, sort of tolerant version. Folks, this passage this morning doesn't allow you to sever the God of the Old from the God of the New.
[14:07] They're the same. But our world wants a tolerant Jesus. I drove a man yesterday as we're talking. He asked what I did. I said I work at a church, Fourth Memorial.
[14:19] He's like, really? I used to go there. I was like, oh, okay. He's like, yeah, I had a falling out with the pastor. I was like, really, tell me about it.
[14:31] And I said, yeah, the pastor, he told me that the choices I was making, they didn't honor Jesus, but I didn't like that. I didn't like the version of Jesus he was giving me.
[14:42] And I said, stick it in your beak. I'm out of here. And I said, really? And what do you think of the pastor? And it happened to be Keith at the time. And Keith gave him counsel. And I asked him, I said, so was Keith right?
[14:56] He's like, yeah, Keith was right. Yeah, we want a Jesus that we can control.
[15:07] And yet that's not the Jesus that Scripture reveals. You know, 2 Corinthians 11.4 says, hey, some come and proclaim another Jesus in the one we proclaim.
[15:20] But our passage doesn't allow for that this morning because like Father, like Son, what is said of God in the Old Testament, it's true of Jesus in the new.
[15:32] There is total alignment. Let me give you a description of God in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 32.4 says this, the rock, his work is perfect for all his ways are justice.
[15:52] So if this is true of Yahweh, this is true of Jesus. They are aligned. They are one. They are unified in works.
[16:04] I think that's helpful actually as we consider the narrative last week. Because all you optimists in the room, you heard the story and you're like, man, a guy gets healed. This is wonderful.
[16:17] What's inside my brain is, well, what about everyone else? Like because in verse three, it says like there was a multitude of invalids, but Jesus chose this one.
[16:31] Now we don't know, he could have healed others, but the story is silent. We know in chapter six, it says in I think belief verse two, it says that Jesus did some healings and healed many sick. So perhaps, but we don't know.
[16:44] And I just wonder why that guy, why not these others? In fact, we don't even know the faith in Christ. But what we do know is that the miracle lands Jesus in greater hot water.
[16:55] And so you're sort of wondering, was that a good choice? Yes, it was the perfect choice. His works are perfect. And if he chooses to heal or withhold healing, it's a perfect choice.
[17:10] It's highly devotional. We know that the actions of Christ, they're perfect. They're purposeful, even if we don't know how the dots connect church.
[17:23] Amen? In the stories in this book and in the stories of our lives. Amen? Yeah. His works are perfect. And no doubt in this story, the timing of the miracle was all part of God's ultimate plan to move Jesus closer to the cross.
[17:41] Now he's being revealed. You want to know who I am, this is who I am. And by the way, there's alignment in the Godhead, but Jesus is not being coerced to behave in a certain way.
[17:54] This isn't a control relationship. This is not a slave master dynamic here. In fact, it says in verse 24, the Father loves the Son and shows him all things that he himself is doing.
[18:07] So Christ's actions, they grow out of an affectionate, the word phileo, a familial love within the Godhead. The Father loves the Son. It said in John 3.35, the Father loves the Son, the Father agape's the Son.
[18:21] Here it's interesting because the word choice is by Jesus phileo. There is this affection within the Godhead, affectionate unity of purpose.
[18:32] Here's a wild thought. There's friendship in the Godhead. I never thought of it that way. And yet that's essentially what Jesus is stating here.
[18:46] The Son doesn't endure the Father. They actually delight in one another. And just as an aside, what I love here is it's a reminder that God indeed is God.
[18:57] The God of the Bible is actually God and it necessitates that there's plurality in the Godhead for God to be God, because if there were not, then God would need us.
[19:09] Because he has no friends. He has perfect friendship. We've just complicated things. Amen? Total alignment in works.
[19:25] Jesus goes on to say then, in greater works than these will He show him so that you may marvel. You think healing a man 38 years, a cripple is difficult, it's nothing.
[19:37] The God who spoke galaxies into existence, He's just begun to amaze. How about a man dead for three days? When we get to John 11, we're going to see Lazarus raised.
[19:48] How about taking the spiritually dead for giving sins, giving eternal life? Which is really the next area that we find ourselves in related to the solidarity between the Father and the Son.
[20:01] Look at verse 21. It says, For as the Father raised the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He will. The second claim Jesus makes here, He's one with the Father in works.
[20:13] He's one with the Father in sovereignty over life. Old Testament picture of God.
[20:24] God holds three keys. The big three keys that God holds. The first one is God holds the keys to open heaven and bring rain. Deuteronomy 2812 says, The Lord will open to you the treasury, the heavens, to give you rain to your land in its season.
[20:40] It's one of the reasons God is God. He has the keys to the heavens to open up and it causes it to rain, causes it to snow. God's at work. Right here while we're listening.
[20:51] Second key, He has the key to open the womb and empower conception. Genesis 30 verse 22. Then God remembered Rachel and God listened to her and opened her womb. The third key, God has power to open the grave, take or give back life.
[21:08] Deuteronomy 32 39. See now that I, even I, am He. And there is no God beside me. I kill, I make alive, I wound, and I heal. And there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
[21:20] That great section in Ezekiel 37, the Valley of Dry Bones. God has power over life. Second Kings 20. If God wants to give Hezekiah 15 more years, He has the prerogative to do that.
[21:33] That's the key that He holds. Scripture is clear. Only God has power over life. And so Jesus, by claiming power over life, what is He actually asserting about Himself?
[21:46] I'm God. Just like the God of the Old Testament, that's me. I have that same power. You want to know who I am?
[21:57] I mean, how do you think the Jewish religious leaders are feeling at this moment? Listening to the words of Christ. As He claims, there's a direct assertion here to deity.
[22:12] It says in Colossians 1.17, Paul, but if it were Jesus speaking, he would say, I am before all things. In me, all things hold together.
[22:23] In fact, I love this statement. In Revelation 1.18, Jesus says, in fact, I have the keys of death and Hades.
[22:35] The God of the Old Testament, three keys, I hold the same key. I have power to give life, to take life. I have the powers to death and Hades.
[22:47] So church, just take a moment and take a breath. Who's that from? It's from the Lord.
[22:58] It's from Christ. That breath that we just took, who do we think? We think Jesus, because He holds all things together by the power of His word. It's Christ.
[23:10] So we don't think Marduk. We don't think Dagon or Allah or Brahmin. We think Jesus, because He's the one that holds the keys to life, to death, just like the Father.
[23:29] Well, the third area, third claim Jesus makes, let's look at it at verse 22.
[23:40] It says, the Father judges no one, but given all judgment to the Son. So Jesus is unified with the Father in works, in power, over life and death, and then finally He's unified with the Father in executing judgment.
[24:00] There is such unity within the Godhead that the role of judge is placed upon Christ. They're unified. They'd be like parents being unified in the way that they discipline their children.
[24:14] You can't go to mom to get around dad. You can't go to dad to get around mom. They're unified. Lockstep. That wasn't the case when I was a kid.
[24:25] I went to mom. It was like, there was a spank agent. I wanted it was mom. That was a much better route to take than dad. Jesus, the Father, they are aligned here.
[24:40] And there's really sort of an eschatological flavor to the statement. Eschatos, word for end times. And it's really referring here to Jesus to His return and judgment.
[24:52] So we're going to take these verses a little bit out of order. Let me skip down to the end section. We'll come back to verses 23 and 24 at the end, but let's look at verses 25 to 29 here.
[25:03] I'm talking about Jesus being the judge. It says here, 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.
[25:17] This is an interesting statement because it's talking about an hour that's going to come. It's talking about future. But then Jesus throws in and is now here. I think he's making an illusion here to, you know, the spiritually dead in this life, they'll hear my voice and they will live spiritually.
[25:36] This is already occurring. We know it says in Ephesians 2, one, that man is spiritually dead. But when Jesus calls, man responds, men move from spiritual death to spiritual life.
[25:50] But there is a future judgment coming. Look at verse 26, 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.
[26:02] Did not marvel at this for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice come out and those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
[26:16] There's a key here, folks. The Scripture is actually telling us that everyone who has ever lived will be resurrected.
[26:27] Everyone is going to be resurrected and everyone is going to be judged. It's just that there's two judgments and you can determine which one you are a participant in.
[26:40] For believers, for those who have trusted in Christ in this life, there is a resurrection of life. After the rapture and there's this Bema Seat judgment, this judgment seat of Christ, believers are judged according to the works that they've done in Christ for not salvation but rather for reward.
[27:01] How will the Lord use us in the Millennial Kingdom? What responsibilities will He give to us? So it's a judgment unto reward. 1 Corinthians 3 describes it.
[27:14] Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, 10 that everyone who's in Christ will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account for how they have used the life that the Lord has given to them. Have they been generous with their time, with their talent, with their treasure?
[27:28] Have they lived to make Christ known? Have they taken on the spirit, the posture of a servant? And so we will be judged, not for salvation but for reward.
[27:42] But there's a second judgment for those that have not trusted in Christ in this life. It's a resurrection of judgment. I believe here, Jesus is referring to the great white throne judgment.
[27:53] It's described at the end of Revelation 20. It happens after the Millennial reign of Christ. When man who is without Christ, who does not have a Savior, will be judged according to the works to get into heaven.
[28:09] And guess what? On that judgment, if you're standing and you're part of that, everyone fails. We can't do enough good.
[28:20] That's why we need Christ. That's why we need a Savior. That's why we need a perfect life and then died in our place. Why would anyone reject Christ in this life?
[28:32] He's on everything we need to have relationship, to have communion with the Father. That we could be hidden from God in God.
[28:43] That holy God would pour out His wrath on the Son for our joy. That's the best news ever, church, amen. I met a woman in Gal a few weeks back who she got in the car and said, I just finished my first therapy session and I'm dealing with addiction and we got talking and I was explaining how God enters into the mess of people's lives and she had not heard this.
[29:09] And I said, yeah, that's Jesus. It's like he took our punishment. He went to the electric chair so that we wouldn't have to pay for our crimes. That's what he did by going to the cross and the dots were connecting for her.
[29:21] And the hush whisper, she's like, that's amazing, really? And I was convicted because I was confronted with, she responded with the awe that I should have all the time.
[29:33] And she was like, there was like this sense of like, I told her this incredible secret. She never heard this. Why would we reject this offer of salvation?
[29:47] Jesus says, I'm going to be the one judging. I'm going to be the one judging. Can you imagine the religious leaders listening to this? They're unhappy because he just broke their rules.
[30:00] And now all of a sudden he's saying, at the end of time, I'm the one judging you. What do you think is going on? It's like a cartoon where the guy's face turns red and then the smoke, right?
[30:12] I mean, I think that's what's going on internally inside them and there's a trigger phrase Jesus uses where I'm surprised they just, they didn't completely lose it here because it's subtle, but it's a theological bomb.
[30:35] He highlights that he's going to be the judge because he connects this phrase, the son of man. The father's going to give the son of man the power to judge.
[30:46] Jesus is now connecting himself. He's calling himself, I'm the son of man. And they know who used this statement, that it was the prophet Daniel. Back in Daniel chapter seven, they know.
[30:58] And Jesus is saying, that's who I am. I'm the one judging. I'm the one that will execute judgment at the end of time. And if you read Daniel seven, what you'll see is that statement, that title for Jesus.
[31:11] The son of man is the one who's given dominion and authority over the nations of the earth. Well, they will ultimately serve him. And the Jewish leaders at this point, you've got to imagine their faces are just melting off.
[31:25] Listening to what in their mind is the ultimate form of blasphemy. Suffice to say, church, has Jesus removed the mask?
[31:40] Absolutely. And this is where every person that's ever lived has to make a decision.
[31:53] This is the moment of decision. Who is Christ? Who is Jesus? It's that great dilemma or the great trilemma, right?
[32:04] Is Jesus some false prophet? Is He fabricating His statements? Is He a liar? Is He a fraud?
[32:15] Or is He just a madman? He's hopped up on meds. He's just a fool. Or rather, is He speaking the truth?
[32:27] Is He who He claims to be? Is He in fact the second person of the Godhead? I think Lewis says it the best in mere Christianity. Some of you are familiar with this statement.
[32:42] It's a great trilemma. Who is Jesus? Lewis says this, I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him.
[32:55] I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say.
[33:07] A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic or on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg.
[33:25] Crazy. Or He would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice.
[33:36] And so that really leads us to the key question for us this morning. If God has revealed Himself in the person of Jesus, how hot we respond to Him?
[33:50] Today for salvation, today in our approach of worship and how we live our life, is Jesus worthy? Is He, as Eric shared with us, is He Lord?
[34:04] Is He Lord of your life? Because He gets that right as God. And in fact, Jesus tells those listening, how do you respond?
[34:18] This is how you ought to respond. Let's end here, verse 23 and 24. He says that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.
[34:32] Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Truly, truly I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life.
[34:44] He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Amen? Salvation is not found in believing in some vague notion of God.
[35:03] Our faith rests on the reality of Jesus being God in the flesh and then trusting in His death, His resurrection for the washing away of our sin. Period.
[35:17] Believing that God exists is not enough. And just by the way, everyone already believes that God exists.
[35:29] Well, Jay, there's atheists. No, they're not. Because Scripture says they're not. Because Scripture says clearly in Romans 1, verses 1, verses 19 and 20, that man is without excuse, that he knows that there's a maker.
[35:44] It's like, duh, stuff exists. Where did it come from? Look at the watch. This says swatch. Who wrote that on there?
[35:56] Well, I don't know. That just happened. It says Swiss. Oh, yeah. I wear Swiss timepieces. I'm very refined.
[36:08] But you know there's a watchmaker. You know. There's a watchmaker. I know there is some debate, but this is a more sophisticated machine.
[36:22] Jay. Then the watch. Don't argue. I don't want to hear anything after the sermon. It's true. Finally tuned machine.
[36:35] Hey, hey. You know. Man knows there's a God. But you have to trust in the person of Jesus.
[36:46] This was God's remedy to deal with man's sin condition. Here's the truth because John says it later in 1 John 2.23. He says, no one who denies a son has the Father.
[36:59] Whoever confesses a son has the Father also. Man, the Jewish leaders are stuck. Because man, they're claiming, we love the God of the Old Testament.
[37:11] No, you don't. Because if you did, you would worship me. You would recognize who is standing before you. Church, our belief in Christ, it's more than just mental ascent.
[37:25] It is actually trust. You are trusting. You are throwing yourself on the mercy of Jesus to be your Savior. As Paul says in Romans 10.13, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
[37:42] You're crying out in desperation because you know your situation. You know your condition. That you are bankrupt spiritually before a holy God. And you're like, I need a Savior.
[37:54] It's trust. It's trust. Let me end this morning with a most staggering promise that if you have cried out to Jesus in this life, you have trusted Him as your Savior, then this is true of you.
[38:10] This is a glorious promise. And we'll just end with this here on verse 24. Jesus says, whoever hears my word and believes him, who sent me has eternal life.
[38:21] Now listen, He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. If we have trusted in Christ in this life, we have already passed from death to life, church.
[38:40] That's what Christ is saying here. We have already passed from death to life. Today, this is an actual spiritual reality. We have passed from death to life.
[38:53] The verb pass from is in the perfect tense. The perfect tense in the Greek, it carries these two concepts. Number one, it's an action that took place in the past that's completed.
[39:04] And then the second piece is that it's an action that actually has now ongoing implications, that's in the present. So once you place your faith in Christ, you have crossed over from death into eternal life.
[39:22] That's remarkable because what Jesus is actually saying to us is the harder transition in life if you're in Christ has already occurred. It's not death.
[39:34] Death is going home. The harder transition was when you moved from spiritual death to spiritual life, when you trusted in Christ as your personal Savior.
[39:45] That's a remarkable promise, church. We live in the realm of life today. Think about our sister and friend, Shelly Paulson, who's struggling with cancer right now.
[39:59] She's at the Mayo Clinic. She's already experienced a harder transition. She lives in the realm of life. Of a dear friend on the west side, like a second mom, Carla, struggling with lung cancer for four years.
[40:15] Started a new treatment last week, eight hours a day, taking in medicines once a week, just brutal. She's already transitioned. She lives in the realm of life.
[40:27] Regardless of what's going on physically, that was the harder transition. For all of us, if we are in Christ, death, it's going home. That's not the hard transition.
[40:39] That transition, it already occurred when we bowed our knee to Jesus. Amen, church? That's the reality. We live in the realm of life. You're struggling with illness today.
[40:51] Depression, maybe temptation. You live in the realm of life, and the enemy doesn't want you to hear that because he wants to condemn you. No, the Lord has actually forgiven you of sins past, present, future.
[41:04] So obey him in joy as worship. Not because I'm scared that I'm going to go to hell. The Lord's already dealt with that at the cross if you have bowed your knee to Christ. Amen?
[41:15] We live in the realm of life. We have already crossed over. It is a staggering promise. Eternal life doesn't begin at death, or even at the return of Christ, it began at believing him who sent Christ, trusting in faith that Jesus was our perfect sacrifice.
[41:38] This is what's true. Paul said it this way in 2 Corinthians 4.16, for we do not lose heart, though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
[41:52] Why? Because we live in the realm of life. For this momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.
[42:05] Man. And we get to delight in this. We get to have a sign up here that says joy. Why? Because Jesus is who he claimed to be. He is God in the flesh. And he accomplished what he said he set out to do.
[42:19] Vanquished our final enemy. That's joy, church. Jesus, very God of very God.
[42:30] Man, so good. Let me pray for us. Father, we're so thankful for this Advent season.
[42:45] We want to encounter you, Jesus, afresh this season. Lord, as you stood before these critics, you let them know exactly who you were.
[42:57] Aligned fully with the Father and works and power over life and power to judge. Lord, we love the stories of those that spent time with you.
[43:12] And there were moments, we think of when you call in the storm and they're like, truly, Jesus, you are the Son of God. And Lord, if you have revealed yourself in that way to us, we say thank you.
[43:27] We want to worship you today and this week. The gift that you have given us of insight, of repentance, that you would draw us to yourself, that we would be trophies of grace.
[43:41] Lord, that we would have passed over from the realm of death to life. Lord, we say thank you. Lord, we want to celebrate that today even as we are about to watch a baptism and celebrate with Beckham and Ferguson family.
[44:00] Lord, that you are in the business of rescuing sinners. Jesus, we worship you today. Let our worship be sweet. Would it be honest and true this month?
[44:11] Lord, if we are this morning here just discouraged, would you refresh us with the knowledge that we are spiritually alive? Lord, whatever this life throws at us, we live in the realm of life.
[44:26] Lord, would you refresh and encourage our brothers and sisters that this morning they're just struggling with physical health?
[44:37] Discouragement. Would you remind them that the most difficult transition in their life has already occurred? Would that be true? Would you speak that to their heart?
[44:50] We love you Jesus. We worship you. We count the highest privilege to be called your kids. It's in Jesus' name, all God's people said. Thank you.