This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to day four of our look through John chapter five in
daily drive time devotions. Yesterday we began a look together at what it means
for Jesus to be the son of God. And reminded ourselves that for Jesus to be the
son of God means that he is equal to the father.

He does what he sees the father doing. He is the one who has the power to give
life. He is the one who has all judgment entrusted to him.

And that last one, as we dive into verse 24 today, that last one is really the
focus of many of the comments of Jesus to the Pharisees. He talks to them about
judgment and what it means. He talks to them about judgment and how it works in
our lives.

In these verses, you learn some confidence about the future that can come from
nowhere but the word of Jesus Christ. And you learn some answers about the
future that are very clearly laid out for us here in the Bible about judgment
and what's coming. Let me read for you verses 24 to 27.

I tell you the truth, Jesus says. He uses that phrase, by the way, three times
in this passage, I tell you the truth. Anytime Jesus uses that phrase, he's
saying, get this, don't miss this, listen.

I tell you the truth, he says. Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent
me has eternal life and will not be condemned. He has crossed over from death to
life.

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. In Jesus' answer
about judgment, you see the present moment of decision and how important that is
and the final hour of judgment and they're brought together.

Whoever hears my word, Jesus says, right now, but then he also says a time is
coming. And in these verses, we learn that those without Christ are spiritually
dead. I have a lack in my life, an emptiness in my life, a void in my life
without Christ because I cannot connect with God as I was made to.

We need a savior, we need someone to come and rescue us and Jesus says, I've
come into this world for that very reason. I want to give you life. You see, Jesus
as the judge, he comes as the judge, not one intending to give us death.

He's not a judge that's looking forward to condemning anyone. He is a judge
who's come looking forward to giving us life. He wants to give us the best
verdict.

He died on the cross to give us the verdict of life. In fact, he says in these
verses, incredible verses, that whoever hears his word and believes in him, he's
already crossed over from death to life. He already has eternal life.

He already will not be condemned. The judgment is already finished. It's already
settled.

It says in these verses, he has eternal life. Not he will have it, you've
already got it. The minute you say to Jesus Christ, I want to begin a relationship
with you, I need forgiveness in my life, I want to follow you.

The minute you trust him as savior, in that moment you have eternal life. Now, I
understand when you get to heaven, you make a big jump in quality of eternal
life 'cause you get a resurrected body and it's a perfect place and now we're
not in a perfect place. But the idea that I'll get eternal life someday, that's
not in the Bible.

The idea is that's already settled, you'll have it. In fact, Jesus says he will
not be condemned. He has crossed over from death to life.

Signed, sealed, delivered, already finished. This idea that when you die, even
as a believer in Christ, you're going to stand in a long line somewhere snaking its
way up to St. Peter.

He's got this big book and when you get up there finally, he's going to see if your
name's in the book and you're going to get in and you have to sweat your way
through that line wondering, am I in or not? That is nowhere in the Bible. The
Bible says the moment you come to Christ, you're not in that line.

You've already crossed over from death to life. Jesus continues to talk about
the coming judgment in verses 28 to 30. Listen to what he says, there are some
questions that come out of these verses.

"Do not be amazed at this," he says, "for a time is coming when all who are in
their graves "will hear his voice and come out. "Those who've done good will
rise to live "and those who've done evil will rise to be condemned. "By myself,
I can do nothing.

"I judge only as I hear and my judgment is just. "For I seek not to please
myself, but him who sent me. " Many, Jesus says here, will come out of their
graves to live and many will rise out of their graves to be condemned.

There are three important questions as we walk through these verses. Question
one, why will there still be in their graves? I mean, if I'm a believer in
Christ, why would I rise out of my grave to life?

Don't I go immediately to be with Jesus when I die? Yes, yes, that's what the
Bible teaches. To depart from the body is to be present with the Lord, Paul
taught us.

So why will we still be in our graves? Well, here it's our bodies that are in
our graves, not our spirits. When you die, your body stays on this earth.

That's why we have a funeral with the body there. Someday that body's going to be
resurrected. Jesus' body was resurrected the moment that he came out of the
tomb.

When they went back to the tomb to look for his body, there was no physical body
there. Our bodies will be resurrected when Jesus returns and some will rise to
life. But then there's a second question here.

How can he say that those who are condemned will also be resurrected? Some will
rise to live, others will rise to be condemned. What is this talking about?

This is telling us that we all live forever. Or it may be more accurate to say
that some live forever while others die forever. The point is that we were
created to be eternal.

God made us to last forever. This is why salvation is so important. Death is not
the end for anyone.

I'm going to live forever somewhere. That's why it's so vital that we get to know
Jesus Christ. That we develop a relationship with him.

Because if I say no to a relationship with God in this life, God will honor that
choice in all of eternity. Because it indicates my heart for all of eternity.
It's not like my heart's going to change in eternity.

Whatever I do on this earth indicates what my heart's going to be for all eternity.
So the idea here that some are resurrected to be condemned. The word resurrected
here doesn't mean that they're going to heaven.

It means that their bodies are brought out of the grave with their spirits. They
come before God. And there, God gives them the judgment.

Now I know these are questions that I'm just giving you very brief answers to.
You might want to take our foundation study at Saddleback or some other study that
can help you to dig into this more. For some of you, this is bringing up more
questions than it's answering.

But that's good. That's why we continue to study God's word. Another question in
these verses is, what is this about those who've done good and done evil?

He says those who've done evil will rise to be condemned. Those who've done good
will rise to live. Wait, wait, some of you are thinking, is judgment based on
our works now?

No, no it is not. It's based on our faith. You can't base your theology on a
single word.

You have to understand what that word means in its context. And in Jesus's
teaching, doing good is equated with knowing him. Just back in verse 24, he just
said that those who heard his word and believed in him, those would be the
people that would have eternal life.

And that's what he's referring to here as he's talking about doing good. The
good work of faith, of believing in him, of trusting in him. Now these are some
questions that have to be dealt with in walking through this chapter of these
verses.

But before we end today, don't miss this. As you go back and you compare John 5.
25 and here John 5.

28, it's clear that the issue of our eternal judgment is decided when we hear
his voice. Back in verse 24 and 25, he has said, "Whoever hears my word and
believes has eternal life. " And then down in verse 28, he says, "A time is
coming when those who are in their graves "will hear his voice, "some to be
condemned.

" You see, here's the issue. Either I'm going to hear his voice now and trust
him, or I'm going to hear it later and be judged by him. Either I hear him now
as my shepherd, or I hear him later as my judge.

Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And
Jesus is speaking now. Question is, am I listening?

Do I hear him now as the shepherd? Who is Jesus? He is the Son of God.

And we've learned these last two days some of what that means, including the
fact that he will be the judge in the end, but not a judge who desires to
condemn, a judge who desires to give life. As we talk to him today, we can talk
to the one who's going to judge one day. Let's talk to him and ask him to give
us a new sense of confidence.

To say to him, Jesus Christ, I have been, for some reason, fearing the coming
judgment. Even as a believer in Christ, I've been fearing it, worried about what
might happen. I see in these verses that eternal life is given.

I see in these verses that it cannot be taken away, that you've come not to
condemn, that I have passed over from death to life. I pray that I could live
this day, live my life in that confidence, in confident praise, as I look
forward to that day, when I will be forever with you. Instead of worrying about
that day, being concerned about that day, or ignoring the fact of that day, I
pray that I could live in confident praise, as I look forward to that day, when
I will face you, my Savior, and only because of what you've done for me.

Only because of what you've done for me. I pray that you will be able to be
welcomed into your heaven for all eternity. Jesus, right now, I look forward to
facing you as my judge, only because you are my Savior.

I praise you, in your name, amen. Join us tomorrow, we're going to be taking a
look together at five witnesses to these truths about Jesus we've looked at the
last few days.