John 5:24-30 - Homiletics

The two resurrections and the two judgments by the Son.

The views hitherto expressed in a summary form are now exhibited at length in their concrete aspects.

I. THE NATURE AND RESULT OF THE SPIRITUAL RESURRECTION . "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life."

1 . The two conditions of eternal life.

(a) Christ is the Author of revelation; as the Word, he makes known the Father's mind and will for our salvation.

(b) It is a word for hearing, because "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" ( Romans 10:17 ). "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." "The Word first began to be spoken by him, and afterwards by them that heard him" ( Hebrews 2:3 ).

(a) This implies more than belief in God's existence.

(b) It implies a heartfelt trust in him as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(c) Faith in God implies faith in Christ ( John 14:1 );

( α ) because the Father speaks through the Son;

( β ) because the Father's love reaches man through the Son;

2 . The result of this knowledge and faith.

(a) It is a present possession. He "hath eternal life."

(b) He has a right and claim to it by virtue of Christ's work, as involving a justification to life.

(c) He has meetness for it and the earnest of it in the Holy Ghost ( 2 Corinthians 1:22 ),

(a) He is not condemned for original sin, though judgment did pass upon all men to condemnation for it.

(b) Nor for actual transgression; for "there is no condemnation to him that is in Christ Jesus" ( Romans 8:1 ).

(c) But is "passed from death unto life."

( α ) He has escaped from spiritual death;

( β ) from the second death;

( γ ) for he has become alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

II. THE EPOCH OF THIS SPIRITUAL RESURRECTION . "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live."

1 . His words, which were spirit and life, were already preparing the way for Pentecost.

2 . The coming hour of abounding blessing was to date from Pentecost.

3 . The blessing of the epoch.

(a) The spiritually dead, alienated from the life of God, dead to all spiritual good;

(b) who hear the voice of the Son of God; to whom the Word comes in power, and works effectually in them, receiving, believing, obeying it.

(a) It is a voice of love, grace, mercy, righteousness, peace, and salvation;

(b) it is a voice of power, because it is the voice of the Son of God.

(a) It will be a life of faith;

(b) a life of communion with God;

(c) it will be eternal in its duration.

III. THE GROUND OF THIS SPIRITUAL RESURRECTION . "For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself."

1 . The Son has a self-sufficient life, essentially and originally like the Father.

2 . But he has a life given of the Father, in virtue of which it is divinely secured for those whom the Father has given him ( 1 John 5:11 ). Eternal life is what the one gives and the other receives in the economy of Divine salvation.

3 . There is thus a double security for eternal life.

IV. THE JUDGMENT IN THE HANDS OF THE SON OF MAN . "And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man."

1 . The judgment implies omniscience, perfect holiness, perfect justice, and all other Divine perfections.

2 . It is committed to the Son of man as a sharer of the nature that is to be judged for the deeds done in the body.

V. THE FINAL RESURRECTION AND THE FINAL JUDGMENT . "As by man came death, so by man shall come the resurrection of the dead." It was a marvellous truth to proclaim to the Jews, that he who addressed them would raise up the dead and judge them at the final assize.

1 . Mark the certainty and the universality of the resurrection. "The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice."

2 . The means by which the resurrection shall be accomplished. "The voice of the Son of man."

3 . The twofold end of the resurrection. "They shall come forth; they that have done good, to the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment."

VI. THE CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE MATTER . "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." Our Lord carries the Jews back to the starting point of his discourse: "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." He has now justified his original statement.

1 . Jesus repeats his declaration of a Divine Sonship.

2 . He announces the principle of his judgment —"as I hear, I judge"—which is the principle of all true judgment.

3 . He declares his judgment to be true, because it is based on his perfect knowledge of the Father's will, to which his own will is infallibly conformed.