January 31, 2021

Online Worship for Epiphany Four, Sunday January 31, 2021

Preacher:
Passage: John 5:24-29
Service Type:

Sermon for Epiphany Four – Sunday January 31, 2021
Calvary/Marquette ● Soli Deo Gloria

Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

John 5:24–29 (NKJV)
24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. 25 Most assuredly, I say to you, 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. 26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 27 and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

In the Name of Jesus, the Christ,
Whose Word grants spiritual and eternal life,
At whose voice all the dead will rise at the last,
Dear Fellow Redeemed in His Precious Blood –

He was only feet away…but it might as well have been 10,000 miles. He was so close and yet, so far.

The 5th Chapter of John’s Gospel introduces us to an un-named man lying next to a pool in Jerusalem called Bethesda. He had been paralyzed for 38 years and on this particular day had been carried down near the pool. He was there because it was believed that an angel came down to stir up the water and that the first to get into the water afterward would be healed of his disease.

He wasn’t the only sick person at the pool. There lay there a great multitude of people waiting for the stirring of the water and hoping to be the first in afterward. They weren’t all paralyzed. They might hobble or limp down to the water, but he would need someone to carry him. He was so close and yet, so far.

On this particular day, He looked up to see a man standing before him. There is no indication that the paralyzed man knew who he was when he asked him (John 5:6):

“Do you want to be made well?”

Well, of course he did, that’s why he was lying there at the Pool of Bethesda. The problem was that his personal desire would not enable him to arise and be the first to get into the water after it was stirred up. There were other people with problems and they wouldn’t wait. It was first come, first served. For at the end of the day we human beings think first of ourselves and our own problems.

He answered,
“Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool
when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming,
another steps down before me.”

Jesus didn’t offer to take him to the water’s edge. He didn’t have to wait for the water was stirred up, for He possessed authority and power unlike any other. He said to the paralyzed man (John 5:8):

“Rise, take up your bed and walk.”

We’d call those words empty, even hurtful, today. But the man, himself unable to get up and get in the water, did as he was told, enabled by seven words from the mouth of Christ.

Amazing, right!? Praise God! For the first time in 38 years, He stood up and picked up his bed, and made his way home.

We might expect him to ‘high five’ people all the way home. We would be wrong. It was the Sabbath Day and before long he was met by self-righteous lawyers who rebuked him for breaking God’s Law. He explained the situation – to no avail – and then went to find the man who had healed him. He found the man who first found him.

Then for a second time, the man left Jesus. He returned to tell the Jews who it was that corrected his paralysis and told him to take his bed home. Instead of praising God for what had been done, they went after Jesus.

They made plans to kill Jesus because He had healed the man on the Sabbath Day. In their minds, this made Him guilty of breaking God’s Law. As they had rebuked the formerly paralyzed man for carrying his bed; they rebuked Jesus for enabling the man to do so on the Sabbath Day.
They were only feet away from the Son of God…but it might as well have been 10,000 miles. They were so close, and yet so far. They couldn’t see further than their own upturned, self-righteous noses. The miracle meant nothing to them, it proved nothing.

They wanted to know; they demanded to know by what authority He had given the man his life back on the Sabbath Day. It is in this context that we find the words of Jesus upon which we meditate this morning.

Healing a paralyzed man was only the beginning of what Jesus could do for them. He had authority to give their dead hearts a jump; granting them spiritual and eternal life. If they would not receive His Word, He also had authority to execute judgment.

This morning we conclude our series on the phrases of the Apostles’ Creed. We confess that we believe in the Life Everlasting. We make this bold confession not because we’ve seen this life, but because by God’s grace we’ve already experienced a foretaste of the life that Jesus gives. In fact, neither death or the Judgment will separate us from the Life we have in Christ.

We begin with the prayer of Jesus, “Sanctify them by your truth, O Lord, Your Word is Truth.” Amen.
+++++++

What was it…apart from his miracles…that set Jesus apart from the Religious Leaders and Teachers of that day?

Was it His outward appearance? While there are no authentic photos in God’s Word, there is evidence that Jesus appearance did not draw him attention. The Prophet Isaiah said of the Promised Savior (53:2, NIV84):

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

Was it His personal charisma? Did Jesus have a powerful speaking style? We don’t know, but we do know that one of the things that set him apart from the religious leaders of his day was that He spoke with authority (Luke 4:32, 36).

When the Religious Leaders sent officers to arrest Jesus, they returned empty handed. Then asked, ‘Why have you not brought him?’ They replied (John 7:46):
“No man ever spoke like this Man!”

It was with that same authority that Jesus spoke these words:

24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

It’s sometimes said of men that they have selective hearing. In other words, we hear but we sometimes don’t listen. Now let’s be honest, it’s not just the male of the species. We all, from time to time, hear the noise coming from another person, but don’t actually listen to what they have to say. The Jews who accosted Jesus were guilty of the same.

Jesus only spoken a handful of words to a paralyzed man and gave his life back to him. Instead of recognizing the authority of Jesus, some of the Jews saw those seven words as ‘work’ and like religious zealots wanted to kill him! Despite this fact, Jesus turned to them and spoke these words. He invited them to listen to His Word, for in believing the message He had been sent to speak, everlasting life would become their possession.

Jesus wasn’t peddling some scheme…it was and is for real. Those who hear, who receive in heart Jesus’ message and by that message believe that He is the One sent by God to give eternal life, in that very moment receive it. Jesus doesn’t say, “If listen and pay shipping and handling, you’ll get it in the mail in 4-6 weeks.” Jesus says literally, “Is having” as in possession of it right now.

In fact, for those who hear and believe…not even death will separate them from the Life that Jesus gives. They have already passed from death into life. Picture it like this: All of humanity is by birth and nature, by word and deed standing on one side of a raging river, unable to cross over, awaiting judgment for sin.

Those who hear and believe Jesus’ message…are transported across the river, they have passed from death to life.

In fact, they didn’t even have to wait. Their time had come. Jesus was about to offer them that life that begins in this life…but never ends.

Jesus spoke with the same authority again:

25 Most assuredly, I say to you, 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.

Now this is one of those times when we need to listen carefully, to read carefully. For when we hear Jesus say ‘the hour is coming when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God’ we probably think that Jesus is referring to the Last Day and to the Resurrection of the Dead.

The three words that should make us stop and re-evaluate are the words ‘and now is.’ Jesus isn’t speaking of the physically dead, but the spiritually dead, to those who have not heard that Jesus is the Savior and that in believing in Him we are given the Life that even death cannot interrupt. Since we are all born of fallen parents, we all enter this life spiritually dead, our hearts and minds separated from God.

We first heard the voice of the Son of God when we were baptized. It was then and there that we were washed of our sins and granted that life that cannot be interrupted by death.

Even to this very day, the spiritually dead can and are hearing the voice of the Son of God. It happens when you speak to those who do not know Jesus about what he accomplished in his sinless life, sacrificial death and glorious resurrection. They are invited to come to Jesus and receive life eternal. Those who hear – even now – and are moved to believe in Jesus are awakened from spiritual death to life. They will live now and eternally.

Do you understand that you have been enlisted by Jesus to give life to the world? Do you understand that in speaking of Christ, you don’t just risk being labeled and mocked, you can actually make a difference that forever changes the life of another human being! This isn’t just my job, it’s yours. You have called me to equip you to do that work by proclaiming Jesus’ message to you.

How can Jesus make such a promise? How can Jesus give everlasting life? He explains.

26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 27 and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.

Jesus is the Son of God, and as such He possesses the authority to give life. In healing the paralyzed man, Jesus showed that He has that authority. He tells us – as a man – that the Father gave him that authority and power.
So, if you think that it’s amazing that those who hear and believe His Word have everlasting life and the spiritually dead are made alive, there’s an even more amazing event coming. It’s an event that will be witnessed, even experienced by every single human being.

Jesus speaks with that same authority:

28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

After forgiving the sins of a different paralyzed man; Jesus proved that He had the authority to speak those words by also healing his paralysis. Jesus doesn’t only have the authority and power to heal, but also to give spiritual and eternal life. He also has authority and power to call the dead from their graves…all the dead.

Once again, please listen and read carefully. Jesus says that ‘the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves’ – all the dead – will hear His voice and come forth. Even as Jesus gives spiritual life now by His Word, so also He will restore physical life to all the dead on the Last Day. Everyone – without exception – will arise from death.

However, those who live will fall into two categories: ‘those who have done good’ and ‘those who have practiced worthless things.’ Do these words make you a little uncomfortable? Do you look at your life and think, ‘what chance to I have, the worthless things I have done far outweigh the good things.’

So again, listen carefully. Remember what Jesus said at the beginning of this discourse. How did He begin?

24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

Those who hear His Word and Believe in Him…already have everlasting life and neither death nor judgment can interrupt that life. Those who are given spiritual life in Christ also live for Christ and in living for Him do what is ‘good’ very often not even knowing it. The evidence of faith will be borne witness to on that Last Day.
Those who do not hear and do not believe…can only practice worthless things…living for this life. They are born spiritually dead and will go on to eternal death. Their lack of faith will be borne witness to in worthless deeds.

I Believe in the Life Everlasting. I cannot fully comprehend what that means now, because I have nothing sinless and eternal to compare it too…save my Jesus. He has promised me that if I hear His word and believe in Him, I already have Life Everlasting.

I’m not afraid of the judgment…and neither should you be…because we know the Judge. He’s not unjust. He’s not just going to let us off the hook. It’s this rather, that He loves us and gave himself for us. He took our punishment upon Himself and died to forever free us from fear of it. He has given us the life that cannot even be interrupted by death.

I Believe in the Life Everlasting.
Amen!

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