From Death to Life
Download MP3Invite you if you would open your Bibles to John chapter 5. John chapter 5. I've been married to Lauren for 19 years now, and pretty much every day we go on a walk together. It's kind of our time we reconnect. We also did this a lot when we were dating and so really probably for about the past 25, 26 years, we have been going on walks together.
Jeffrey Heine:I say that to to tell you I know Lauren better than anybody and yet she is still a mystery to me. I still do not really understand her. And yet I know her better than I know any person, and I think she would say the same about me. I find that comforting. The the reason I find that comforting is because when I think of my relationship with God, there, I know him, but there is so much mystery still there.
Jeffrey Heine:And and I feel like every time I I get closer and closer, there's another layer and another layer. And tonight is gonna be one of those things where we're taken into the deep. We're taken into one of those mysteries, in which you realize, my goodness, how many layers are there, and just how great is our God? It's gonna take a lot of mental effort, a lot of energy to make it through this sermon on your part, but God is worth it. John chapter 5, we'll begin reading in verse 14.
Jeffrey Heine:Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, see you are well. Send no more, that nothing worse may happen to you. The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this was 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.
Jeffrey Heine:This was 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 on 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 the father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the son gives life to whom he will.
Jeffrey Heine: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. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgement, but he has 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.
Jeffrey Heine: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 have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
Jeffrey Heine:This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Pray with me. Our father, we ask in this moment that you would speak, that we'd hear you. I I am so aware in this moment of my failings as a pastor and I will fail to communicate the deep truths that are here.
Jeffrey Heine:And so, God, we beg in this moment that you would allow us to at least catch a glimpse, just a glimpse of your glory here. God, I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But Lord, may your words remain, and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
Jeffrey Heine:We left some things unfinished last week, with our story of Jesus healing the man who had been paralyzed for 38 years. And so I want us to pick up there and I want us to, to maybe use that text as an introduction to the new part tonight. Last week, we saw how after Jesus healed this paralytic man, he quietly slipped away before anybody really noticed. And the reason he he didn't wanna draw attention to himself, and is because he didn't want there to be this excessive focus on the miracle itself. Because the miracle was really a means to a greater end.
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus didn't heal people just to heal people. Jesus was ultimately after this man's heart. So after slipping away, Jesus later sought this man out and found him in the temple, and said in verse 14, I see that you are well. Sin no more that nothing worse may happen to you. We discussed last week how Jesus healed this man in order that this man might live a holy life.
Jeffrey Heine:He set him free from his paralysis to really live. He was free to live, but not live unto himself, to live a life that was for God's glory, a holy life. But what we didn't really have time to unpack was exactly what Jesus meant when he said, sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you. And last week as we were going through this, I could see some of the confusion in your faces, and some of the disappointment hoping that we would maybe land there and talk a little bit more. And so that is what I want us to do tonight.
Jeffrey Heine:And hopefully this will lay the foundation for us understanding the rest of chapter 5. Sin no more that nothing worse may happen to you. This certainly sounds like Jesus is telling this man, your your paralysis was a result of sin. And you know what? If you keep on sinning, now something worse than paralysis is going to happen to you.
Jeffrey Heine:Is is this what Jesus is saying here, that this man's paralysis was a direct result of his sin? And I think the answer to that is yes. Yes. In in this case, it certainly seems to be what Jesus is indicating. This really shouldn't surprise you that much, you see this throughout scripture.
Jeffrey Heine:One of the most common places we see this in 1st Corinthians, Paul writes the Corinthian church and he says, Hey, because some of you are sinning in the way you're partaking in communion, some of you are getting sick, and some of you are dying because of your sin. There is an immediate judgement breaking in because of your sin. But it's not always the case. Later in the book of John, we're gonna see in chapter 9, how Jesus heals a man who is born blind, and perhaps because the disciples remember this story, they asked Jesus, so exactly who sinned that this person was born blind? Was it him?
Jeffrey Heine:Was it his parents? Jesus says, neither. He wasn't born blind because of any sin. And so what we see is this, we see that sometimes a person's suffering is the result of an immediate judgment for a specific sin. And sometimes it isn't.
Jeffrey Heine:Only God knows. And it's not up to you, and it's not up to me to try and to figure out what might possibly be a specific sin behind somebody's illness or suffering. That is not our job. So what is our job? What what are we supposed to do when we see somebody suffering?
Jeffrey Heine:Well, we should be reminded that even though this person's suffering might not be the direct result of a specific sin, it most certainly is the result of sin in general, or sin with a capital s, and that the suffering we see is just a foretaste of the judgment to come. I realize that is a heavy statement, one that might need to be unpacked a little. So I want us to look at a similar passage to this, it's found in Luke chapter 13, it's there in your worship guide. And here we find Jesus saying something very similar to sin no more than nothing worse may happen to you. Luke 13, begin reading in verse 1.
Jeffrey Heine:There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Were those 18 on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you.
Jeffrey Heine:But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Here we see Jesus discussing 2 horrific events that happened, and he says that unless we repent, something like this will happen again. We will perish. The first event that he is talking about concerns Pilate. Pilate had recently sent soldiers in disguise to the temple.
Jeffrey Heine:And these soldiers, they they came up next to these Galilean Jews who were making their sacrifices and they drew out their swords and they killed them. And so the blood of these Galilean Jews flowed down and it mingled with the blood of the sacrifices. It was a horrific event. And around the same time, there was a tower in Siloam that fell, and it killed 18 people. And so here's 2 horrible tragedies.
Jeffrey Heine:One tragedy that's caused by the evil of man, it's an atrocity, and then you have another that might be an accident or possibly the result of a natural disaster. And the people to whom Jesus is talking with says that they're they're they're asking, why do these things happen? Why do these why do these terrible things happen? Why does genocide happen? What is tsunamis, or hurricanes, or or earthquakes happen?
Jeffrey Heine:Why does blindness or paralysis happen? We're 10 years removed now from Katrina. Did did God send a hurricane to New Orleans because of all of the excessive sin at Bourbon Street? Is is that what he did? Did your friend get cancer because they were having an affair?
Jeffrey Heine:How does Jesus respond to this? Let's just say his his response is stunning. He looks these people in the eye and perhaps he can kind of understand, or he caught a hint of of what they were thinking. So he says, do do you think that these Galileans were somehow more sinful than you, and that's why God judged them this way? No.
Jeffrey Heine:No. They weren't worse than you, but unless you repent, you will likewise perish. And do you think that these 18 people who were who were crushed by this tower, that that they had more sin than you had? That you're a better person than they are? No, Not at all.
Jeffrey Heine:But unless you repent, you will likewise perish. And what Jesus says here is that we should not look at tragedies like this and think, I wonder what terrible sin these people committed in order for God to judge them like that. Instead, we should ask, how is it that I, a sinner, just like them, have been spared that suffering? That's the question. How come I haven't received a judgment like that?
Jeffrey Heine:How haven't I been pierced by the sword? Why hasn't a tower fallen on me? How is it that I can text while driving and pull myself back in the lane, and everything's fine, and somebody else got killed? Why is it that I can temporarily lose track of 1 of my children in a crowded area, find them a minute later and everything's fine, but that doesn't always happen to others. Why?
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus said, it's not because you're better that you were spared that. When you see those horrific events happening, it wasn't because they were worse than you, And unless you repent, you will likewise perish. These events, these sufferings are signposts saying sin is horrible. Sin is absolutely horrible, and judgment is coming. What Jesus is saying here is that all the suffering, all of the calamities, they are a result of sin, sin with a capital s, general sin.
Jeffrey Heine:When Adam and Eve fell, when they sinned and they destroyed this beautiful world because God had to curse the earth. Have you thought about that? For moral failure, God gave a physical judgment, physical consequences for moral failure. There's earthquakes, there's hurricanes, there's blindness, there's paralysis, there's toil and sweat, there is pain now with childbirth. And Jesus says that when we see these things happening, we're not to think, oh those people are terrible.
Jeffrey Heine:What we're to think is sin is terrible. Sin is horrible. Look at the consequences of sin. The consequences of sin are devastating. Let's be honest.
Jeffrey Heine:Let's let's be real honest here. We need these physical signs to wake us up to the horrors of sin. I need this. Otherwise, I I can sin and just so casually go by and not think about it. I mean, confession.
Jeffrey Heine:There there are times that I worry more about the weeds in my yard than I do the sins that I've just committed. Until I see a tragedy or something horrible or some sickness, and I'm shocked by it, and it stands as a signpost saying, don't forget Joel, sin is horrible. It's horrible. And it's a wake up call to me to to remind myself that I need to repent, or I likewise will perish. The the horrors of these events, they're they're nothing more than a foretaste of the judgment to come unless I repent.
Jeffrey Heine:When Jesus healed that paralytic man, His healing wasn't just a healing, His healing was a sign. It was a sign pointing to an even greater healing that this man will someday experience. So he was physically healed here, but that was nothing but a sign or a foretaste pointing to a greater healing to come. And in the same way, this man's paralysis was a sign. It was a sign pointing to God's judgment, not just in this life, but in the life to come.
Jeffrey Heine:And if this man refused to repent, a greater judgment awaited. So, whether it's a calamity or whether it is an illness, whether this calamity or illness is a direct result of sin or sin in general, we need to see these things as signposts pointing out that sin is horrible. This is what sin brings, and if you don't repent, something worse will happen. Now, how does Jesus know this? I mean, he speaks on this with such authority, but how does how does he know that something worse is going to happen to those who refuse to repent?
Jeffrey Heine:How can he be so certain that judgment is coming? We find the answer in verse 22, there's other places we could look in this text, but 22 is pretty clear. The father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the son. So Jesus knows, he is certain that there will be a final judgment for sin because he is the one who is appointed as the judge for it. Because he is the son of God uniquely given this role as judge.
Jeffrey Heine:And this is what this section here is about. It's it's here we get the curtain lifted back for just a moment, we get to kinda see the the inner workings of God. We get to see what Jesus's relationship is with his father, and what Jesus's role is. He's the one who gives life, he's the one who judges. And and I'll just say this before we really dive in.
Jeffrey Heine:Whatever your view is of Jesus, it needs to be bigger. Whatever your view of Jesus is, it needs to be bigger. I don't care if you have been in church your whole life. I don't care if you've memorized the genealogy of Jesus and like to sing it. I don't care if you read Calvin's Institutes to your children.
Jeffrey Heine:Your view of Jesus needs to expand. You absolutely cannot see him as too supreme. It's it's kinda like taking a child to to see the ocean for the first time. It's so fun bringing kids to the ocean for the first time. It doesn't matter what you talk to them about in the ocean about the ocean, tell them about the ocean, until they actually sit there and they look at it, and then their mouths drop, and they can't believe the the immensity of it, how large it is.
Jeffrey Heine:You you can't do it justice in describing it. Your view of God is like that. Your view of Jesus needs to expand. It's here that Jesus begins to peel back the curtain and blow our minds and letting you know some of the inner workings of who He is and what He does. It's here that we begin to see that God exists as more than just one person.
Jeffrey Heine:He exists as father and son. Now later, we're gonna see that there's another person, there's the spirit, that he exists as Father, Son, and Spirit, but here, Jesus reveals that God at least exists as 2 people. And and with the father and son, we see that there is this eternal love relationship between the 2. Always always this free love flowing back and forth to one another, seeking to give to one another, honor one another. This is why John the Evangelist, he would later Or John the Apostle, he would later say in one of his letters that God is love.
Jeffrey Heine:God is love. This can only be said of the Christian God. You you can't A Muslim cannot say Allah is love. A Muslim could possibly say Allah can love, but absolutely cannot say Allah is love because love has to have an object. So only a triune God can be loved, because there is a perfect flowing love between the 3 persons that make up God.
Jeffrey Heine:He's the very definition of love. Matter of fact, there's a there's a lot of distinctions you could find in this text that sets Christianity apart from every other religion. That sets Jesus apart from any other prophet or founder of any other faith. You know, others might might point to God, but Jesus actually points to himself and he says, I am God. Others might point to the future and say, there will be a judgment.
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus points to himself and he says, I'm the one who's going to bring this judgment and I am the judge. Others might point to God and say, he's the one who gives life. Jesus points to himself and says, life comes from me. Life flows from my presence. Others might tell you you need to worship God.
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus says you need to worship me. Says, God should receive honor, and I should receive honor. Equal honor to the father, equal honor to me. Jesus is utterly distinct. And these people get it.
Jeffrey Heine:They absolutely get it. Verse 18 says that they wanted to kill Jesus because of who He was making himself out to be. I mean, you gotta really hate somebody to want to kill them. I mean, I know we say that sometimes, but you gotta really, really hate someone to want to kill them. They are actively trying to kill Jesus because who he is claiming to be.
Jeffrey Heine:And I want you to see that this is actually an appropriate response if you do not believe in Jesus' claims. If you don't believe in Jesus' claims, it is an appropriate response to hate Him. If you were if you were in this room and you were indifferent to Jesus, maybe just kind of think of Him as a nice man, a kind man, a good moral teacher, but you haven't you're not really moved when you think about Him, you're just kind of indifferent. Then you absolutely do not understand what he said about himself. Because if you did, you would recognize that he has not left that option out there for you.
Jeffrey Heine:If he is who he claims he is, then he is God. If he's not who he claims to be, then He is absolutely mad, or is there or He is a sociopathic liar, and you should hate Him. So far as we've gone through John, Jesus has said that he is there at the beginning of life, and here we see Him at the end of life as a judge. We see that from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. He is the Alpha and the Omega.
Jeffrey Heine:He is there when you took your first first breath, He will be there at the very end. Your entire life is about Jesus. Whether you know it or not, your entire life is defined by Him, revolves around Him. The question is what are you gonna do about that? Let's look at the judgment of Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:Let's look at verse 25. We'll read through 29. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming. Real quick. Truly, truly, I said I mean, listen up.
Jeffrey Heine:An hour is coming and 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 judgement, 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. How you're not supposed to marvel at that, I don't know. But he says, don't don't marvel at that.
Jeffrey Heine:Those 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. Jesus says that a day is coming when he will he will just give the word. He's just gonna say the word and every person who has ever lived will assemble before him, will stand before him and have to give an account of the life that he has given them. From every tongue, tribe, and nation of all time, there will be millions of of Chinese gathered there.
Jeffrey Heine:Millions upon millions. There's gonna be millions upon millions of of Romans, of of Greeks, of Russians, of Nigerians, of Americans, all gathered together before Him. And it doesn't matter if you died 1000 of years ago, because the God who just spoke and the universe exploded, is a God who can just speak and assemble your body before him. And he will do this. Be in awe of this.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, as a parent, I'm in awe of that. I cannot get my child to come down the steps to get in the car to go to school. I just yell, like, come on. Come on. Jesus with a word.
Jeffrey Heine:All people from all time come before him. We get a foretaste of this later when we come to Lazarus in John chapter 10, when Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Jesus walks up to that tomb, and he says, Lazarus, come forth. And Lazarus springs a life and comes forth, and I love that you get a foretaste of what is to come, and I love it that he has to say the name Lazarus, because you know what would've happened if he just said, come forth? All humanity would come forth.
Jeffrey Heine:That is how powerful his word is. If for some reason we're not supposed to marvel at that. Verse 24 and 25 are key. These verses should be starred, highlighted, circled. Whatever you do to show that this this is important, because this is important.
Jeffrey Heine:God, right now open up our eyes and our our hearts so that we might see these words and understand. Verse 24. Truly, truly I say to you, that is amen, amen, I'm saying to you. Or what I'm saying is is absolutely truth. This is a rock solid truth that you could build your entire life on, what I'm about to speak to you.
Jeffrey Heine:Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He who does not and he does not come into judgment, but is passed from death to life. Jesus says, if if you if you can hear my voice, if you can hear my word, and you believe that I am the son of God, I give you life. Says, you've you've passed over from death to life, and that past that word past is in the past tense. It's like it's already happened.
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus says that, you know, when you believe this, he gives you a real life, a life so real that it makes death irrelevant. Death becomes completely irrelevant to the life that he has given you. Verse 25. Truly, truly, I say to you, once again, amen, amen. Listen to me.
Jeffrey Heine:I'm about to tell you a deep truth, a rock on which you could build your entire life. 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. So Jesus here he says, yes, a time is coming when I'm gonna say the word, I'm gonna speak, and and all the dead are gonna come up, they're gonna rise and stand before me. We've we've already looked at that, but don't miss this point. It says, an hour is coming, but it is now here.
Jeffrey Heine:This word of resurrection is now being proclaimed. Says, right now in this moment, I am resurrecting people. I am giving life to people. I am changing people's heart. Resurrected powers at work here at Redeemer Community Church.
Jeffrey Heine:Some of you might be hearing Jesus calling you for the very first time, and your heart is being changed. Life is springing up, and this is a life that will not pass away. Right now, this is at work. For those of you who have heard that voice, God has resurrected your life and and you need not fear death. Have resurrected your life.
Jeffrey Heine:Let me say, you do not need to fear the judgment to come. You don't need to fear it, and the reason you don't need to fear it is is because that judgment has already come. That judgment came on Jesus on the cross when he was judged for you. We've talked a lot about signs, how suffering and tragedy are signs. Signs that point us to the horrors of sin and to a judgment to come.
Jeffrey Heine:Well, let me just tell you that the cross is the ultimate sign that says sin is horrible. Let me actually retract that statement. I'm pulling that one back. Alright? The cross is not a sign.
Jeffrey Heine:The cross is the reality that says sin is horrible. That's where we actually see it on full display. Right? The cross is where we see the true horror of sin, and we we see the full weight of judgment. It's not a sign pointing forward, that is it.
Jeffrey Heine:This is where Jesus experiences hell. You know, when Jesus was on the cross, he he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Oh, this is so rich. Notice this this whole text we've been looking at here is about the Father, the Father. He keeps saying I have this special relationship with the father.
Jeffrey Heine:If you go all through scripture, every time Jesus talks about God, he calls him the father. Every time except for 1, and that is on the cross. Here on the cross, Jesus doesn't say, my father, my father. He says, my God, my God. It's the only time he he doesn't claim that relationship, that special access.
Jeffrey Heine:It's because here he's getting to the heart of the pain. He doesn't say, my hands, my hands, how they hurt. My head, my head, these thorns, or my feet, these nails. He doesn't say that. That's not the source of his pain.
Jeffrey Heine:The source of his pain is, my God, my God, why have you left me? For all of eternity, all I have known is this eternal, loving relationship, And now, I feel nothing. I don't experience the special presence that comes from being your son. I feel the absence of your presence, and that is judgment poured out on him. He's experiencing hell.
Jeffrey Heine:The cross is the reality of judgment. It's not just a sign. And in the same way, the resurrection, Jesus' resurrection is not just a sign of of what awaits us, it is the actual. When we see Jesus' body, we see our own body. We will have a body just like that.
Jeffrey Heine:Eat fish, walk through walls, never no pain again, glorified. That's what awaits all those who hear his voice and call out to the son of God. I think all of this naturally leads us to this table here, in which we remember the judgment of Jesus on our behalf. And more than that, we we celebrate his resurrection. On the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread and he broke it.
Jeffrey Heine:He said, this is my body broken for you. In the same way he took the cup and he said, This wine is my blood. It is poured out for the forgiveness of many. And I love what what Paul says in 1st Corinthians about this. He says, as often as you eat of this bread and you drink of this cup, you proclaim Christ's death until he comes again, and he will come again.
Jeffrey Heine:Pray with me. Father, we we're at a loss of words when trying to thank you for your son, Jesus. Quite a loss of words when we try to praise him. They they just seem so shallow and empty. But through your spirit, God, I pray that you would take our thank you and our praise you and make them pleasing.
Jeffrey Heine:Thank you for this bread and for this wine and what they represent. And now as we partake of them, would you indeed, spirit of God, come and commune with us? We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
