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Who We Are - Sermon, Sunday, November 9th, 2003
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John 5:24-29 as follows —
I tell you the truth, 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 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 good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.
Dear Christians,
"What a voice!" That's what I think every time I hear the voice of James Earl Jones, the actor. You know him, or at least you've heard him. He was the voice of Darth Vader in "Star Wars," and King Mufasa in "The Lion King." What a voice he has, so deep and resonant; I wish I had a voice like that. "What a voice," some people say, when they hear an opera star like Luciano Pavarotti or Marian Anderson. Or maybe years ago it was Ella Fitzgerald or Lena Horne whose voice impressed you. I imagine that the voice that many of you enjoy hearing is that of Shania Twain or Toby Keith. Some people are just blessed with a voice — a voice that's beautiful or powerful or impressive!
But there's one voice like no other; there's no voice like the voice of Jesus. WHAT A VOICE that is! You know, don't you, that it's the voice that will, on the last day, compel all who have died to come out of their graves in the resurrection? Now, it seems to me that people are sometimes a bit confused about this resurrection thing. Not about the resurrection of Christ; we have a pretty good handle on that. We know that Jesus rose, his dead body became alive again on Easter morning. No, the confusion is about our resurrection, the fact that this body will physically rise from death when Christ comes again in glory.
To be honest, I'm always a bit puzzled by that confusion because the resurrection of the dead is such a clear, basic teaching of Scripture. From Daniel in the Old Testament, who wrote: "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt." To Martha, who said of her dead brother, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." To preacher Paul, who testified: "There will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked." To Christians today, as you and I confess almost every Sunday, "I believe in the resurrection of the body."
I suspect that the confusion exists mainly because the resurrection of the dead is so inconceivable. We simply cannot comprehend that the dead will live again! HOW? is the natural question. The answer lies in the omnipotence, the almighty power, of God. To some people who denied that there will be a resurrection, Jesus said, "You're wrong! You're wrong because don't know the Scriptures and you don't knonw the power of God." The same power that created all things from nothing will also call the dead back to life — a real physical resurrecting of the bodies of all people, no matter who, where, when or how they died.
What for? So that every human being can stand, body and soul, before God and be judged. It's called the Last Judgment, that day when all who ever lived will be separated finally and forever into two groups. When all who have lived will be either publicly acquitted and accepted into the presence of God forever, or, publicly condemned and banished from the presence of God forever. And the One who's in charge of all this, the One who's going to make all this happen, is Jesus himself, as he says here. He's talking about his role as the One whom the Father sent. And about the authority that he, the Son of Man, has been given: the authority to judge. He also has the power to speak the word that raises the dead for judgment! "The time is coming," he says, "when all the dead will hear my voice and come out of their graves to live again."
Not all, however, will truly LIVE in a good sense. Some, indeed, will rise from death to live in the glory of God's presence forever and ever. But many will rise to be condemned, to suffer eternally in hell. What did Daniel call it? "Shame and everlasting contempt." Elsewhere Jesus called it "the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth," and simply "eternal punishment" — the punishment that will never end. All of which underlines what we heard today from Hebrews 10: "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
What a day that will be, and what a voice it is that will call the dead to life, to face final judgment. It's the voice of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of Man, the Son of God, a voice that is all-powerful and irresistible. No one will be able to refuse this summons to appear before the Judge! So, is that a day to be dreaded? A future to be feared? Not for us, dear friends in Christ, not for anyone who hears the voice of Jesus now, in this time of grace, and believes. Now, you see, is the time when our Lord's gracious voice is calling in invitation, calling with a different kind of power, calling sinful people from death into life. And what a beautiful voice that is!
It is the gracious voice of our Savior, and now, dear friends, now is the time that he spoke about here: "Truly, truly I say to you that the hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live." That hour has come; it started back then! It's the time between his first coming and his return, including right now, when Jesus' beautiful voice is being heard by sinful ears and hearts.
What that voice is saying is the simple gospel message of John 3:16, where he said that "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son." It's the message that God's Son was sent into this world by the Father, to redeem sinners, to save the lost, to live and die in the place of every sinner. The Son of God became the Son of Man so that he could earn, by his holy obedience to God's Law, the perfect A-plus on every command of God that we need to have on our report card. And to suffer in his own body the just punishment for all our F's, our sins against God — for the hatred, the gossip, the selfishness, the disrespect for parents, the sexual sins, the greed, the hurtful words, the envy, the laziness, the love for things rather than God . . . and all the rest.
Yes, God gave his one and only Son, that Son tells us, "that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life." Here he says it again: "whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life." Those who believe — not just in any god but in this God, the true God and his Son, the Savior — they have eternal life in them. They've already "crossed over from death to life," from spiritual death to spiritual life.
It's happening right now, this hour "when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live." What a voice! It calls us out of the spiritual deadness in which we were born into faith and life with God. And in that faith and life, we are safe in the most important sense. For us, there is no fear of judgment, because Jesus says that the one who believes "will not be condemned." Remember his words in John 3:18? "Whoever believes in him is not condemed." Do you get it? In Christ, you ARE not condemned now and you WILL not be condemned, ever! Paul wrote: "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
Oh, but this is serious business! We who have heard the voice of Jesus, we who have believed in him and in the One who sent him, must make sure that we do not turn away. In these last days, dear friends, that is a clear and present danger. A few minutes ago we heard powerful words of warning from the book of Hebrews, words addressed to believers who then were in danger of slipping away from Christ.
The writer said things to them that need hear, too, like: "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment." See, I've crossed over from death to life, but I can cross back again into death by deliberately continuing in a particular sin. He warned also about those who "trample the Son of God under foot" and "insult the Spirit of grace." It is possible for me to trifle with God's grace, take his gifts and his Word for granted, work against the Spirit who's trying to keep me alive. Do you understand that it is our Savior's voice that also speaks those warning words, so that we do not lose the life he's given us?
That life is real life; it's the life that comes from God and leads to God. Jesus can give it because he has "life in himself." He gives that life through his Word, the message of grace and forgiveness and peace. He keeps speaking to us, and we keep hearing his voice and believing. And in believing, we have the life that never ends. What a voice that is, that has called us from death to life! What a voice it is, that keeps saying to us day after day, and every time we need it, "Cheer up! Your sins are forgiven! There is no condemnation for you." And what a voice it is, that will soon issue the summons to all to appear before the Judge; all will obey, and the dead will rise to be judged. A day to be dreaded? A future to be feared? Not for you, as one of God's saints in Christ, and not for anyone who has heard his voice now, and believed. Let's listen to the beautiful voice of our Savior . . . and believe . . . and live. Amen.