to John, the Gospel of John, chapter 5. Tonight we're going to continue from the sermon of last time. Last time I brought a message entitled The Two Resurrections, Part One, obviously dealing with the first resurrection. Tonight I want to continue and we'll look at Part Two, The Two Resurrections, Part Two. So I want to read verses 25 through 29 and then we'll look more closely at the text. So, beginning with verse 25, this is the Gospel of John, chapter 5, verse 25, the Word of the Lord. An hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself. And He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come forth, those that did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. If you'll remember as we entered chapter 5, just to continue to keep the context before you, Jesus entered Jerusalem and entered the pool of Bethesda and brought healing to a man who had been infirm for 38 years. The healing was on the Sabbath, which brought him into conflict with the religious leaders. Even more so is his statement to the religious leaders after they condemned him. In verses 16 through 18, for this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But he answered them, my father is working until now. And I myself am working. For this reason, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him. because he not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. But Jesus was making himself equal with God because he was equal with God. He was God in every way. God, eternal, self-existent, the creator of all things. He is God, yet God exists in three persons. He is undivided, and each of the three persons are a part of the one divine being, the one divine essence. Three persons making up the one being of God. The three persons of the Trinity share all of the attributes of the Godhead, Jesus and the Father being one in being, one in purpose. This infuriated the Jews for Jesus to make such bold claims, but although there is one God, to exist in three unified persons. Each person of the Godhead has a unique function as we consider what we call the economy of the Godhead. Each has a distinct function, but each carrying out the one unified purpose of God. Verse 22, Jesus says that the Father has given all judgment to the Son. Verse 22, for not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son. Judgment belongs to the divine essence of God. God's judgment, God's wrath, God's anger, is his just action upon sin. But in the economy of the Godhead, judgment is given into the jurisdiction of the Son. Now, verse 24 serves as a transition. We've seen up to verse 24, and it deals with the healing, it deals with Jesus and his conflict with the Jews, their hatred of him because he is claiming to be one with the Father. And then verse 24. In verse 24, again, we find all judgment is given to Jesus Christ, and all will stand before his judgment seat, and all will stand condemned but there's hope in Christ. So this verse, verse 24, speaks of hearing and believing and passing out of death into eternal life. Verse 24, truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment that has passed out of death into life. Do you see the transition? All judgment has been given to the Son. All human beings will stand before the Son, but there's hope in the Son. There is life in the Son. So, he who believes in the Son, he who believes in Him who sent me has eternal life, does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life." Now, Jesus is speaking of passing from death to life, but God's redemptive purpose actually involves two deaths and two resurrections, and that's what we're looking at in this passage. Last time, we looked at the first. The first resurrection is the raising of sinners from spiritual death to spiritual life. When Adam died, or when Adam sinned, he died spiritually, immediately. Instantly, he died spiritually. He lost the ability to approach God, the ability to understand God, the ability to reflect God, he lost the ability to comprehend God, and in his spiritual death, he lost all ability to restore himself to a right relationship with God. And this is what we refer to as total depravity, spiritual death. And unless an individual is brought from death to life, unless a man is born again, Jesus tells Nicodemus, he shall not see the kingdom of God. What we need is new life. because we are heirs to our first father Adam. He represented us when he sinned, when he fell, when he came under the condemnation of God, we too fell or we too inherited the sin of our first father. We have the corruption of Adam. We are born into spiritual death. What we need is new life, to be raised from the dead. This is the first resurrection that Jesus is speaking of here. Verse 25, Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and now is, he's not talking about the future, he's not talking about the resurrection to come. He's talking about the first resurrection, the passing from spiritual death to spiritual life. An hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. but there is a second resurrection that will come for all men. Those who participate in the first resurrection will be raised to eternal life, the second resurrection. For all others, They will participate in the resurrection, but it will be a resurrection unto condemnation, a resurrection unto eternal death, if you will. Jesus speaks of both resurrections in this passage. Verse 25 again, truly, truly, the hour is coming when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God. That's the first resurrection. But in verse 28 he says, and the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice. Verse 29, those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, and those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. All people, without exception, will participate in the second resurrection. some to the resurrection of life, others, the rest, to a resurrection of condemnation. Our confession, London Baptist Confession chapter 31, we read, it's under the heading, of the state of man after death and of the resurrection of the dead, paragraph two, we read, At the last day, such of the saints as are found alive shall not sleep, but be changed, and all the dead shall be raised up with the selfsame bodies and none other, although with different qualities, which shall be united again to their souls forever. And then we read, the bodies of the unjust shall, by the power of Christ, be raised to dishonor. the bodies of the just by his spirit unto honor, and be made conformable to his own glorious bodies." Well, the first resurrection, we refer to this as regeneration, the first resurrection is essential to the enjoyment of the resurrection of the glory of eternal life. It's only possible through our union with Christ. As we read in Ephesians 2.5, even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ. By grace have you been saved. Well, I want us tonight to spend just a few moments considering the second resurrection. That is all that, I mean, that's what we're anticipating, that's what we're looking forward to. It is our hope. It is our sure expectation. Jesus Christ will return and we will, the Christian, will participate in the resurrection of life. All others will be raised unto condemnation, but all will be raised. So first of all, it's a reminder to us that all, without exception, are going to the grave. Death is a reality. We try to cover it up, we try to hide from it. But death is a reality. When Adam said he was promised death, now we've been looking at his spiritual death, and that came immediately. This is the focus of verse 25. But Adam also became mortal, and he began the decaying process, the aging process, and he went to the grave. Genesis 5.5, so all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died." The phrase, and he died, appears 25 times. It is the common experience of all of humanity. The wages of sin is death. common parable that's been spoken over and over through the years. Preachers often refer to it, but I'd like to bring it before you once again tonight. You may have heard it in the past, but it causes us to think. There's a preacher of the old school, but he speaks as boldly as ever. He is not popular through the world, though the world is his parish, and he travels every part of the globe, and he speaks in every language. He visits the poor, calls upon the rich, preaches to people of every religion, and no religion, and the subject of his sermon is always the same. He is an eloquent preacher, often stirring feelings which no other preacher could, and bringing tears to eyes that never weep. His arguments none are able to refute, nor is there any heart that has remained unmoved by the force of his appeals. He shatters life with his message. Most people hate him. Everyone fears him. His name? Death. Every tombstone is his pulpit, every newspaper prints his text, and someday every one of you will be his sermon. It is a sure reality that all will die. The reality of the death expressed in verse 28, do not marvel at this for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice. He's speaking of all who are in the tombs, that is all men. except for the generation that is alive when he returns. That's the words that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians. The dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. There will be a generation that will be alive when the Lord Jesus Christ comes. But that is not a statement regarding mortality, because every single human being are mortal, and we can expect death unless Christ returns first. But this is a universal resurrection. We have to assume that at the resurrection, as we read Paul's words, the dead in Christ shall rise first. That's referring to the redeemed, those who are patiently awaiting the coming of Christ. We shall be raised to meet the Lord in the air, a glorious event, a glorious meeting of our Savior who has come for us. But, those that are alive in Christ will then be raised and meet the Lord in the air. And then comes the judgment. Everyone will come before the judgment seat of Christ. Those that are the wicked and condemned alive when he returns will surely stand before the judgment seat of Christ. And all who are condemned, who have gone to the grave without hope in their condemnation, they too will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. The issue really isn't whether or not you're going to be raised. The issue is what happens after you are raised. Verse 29, those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life. and those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment." Now, this is not a statement of salvation by works. It's a statement of our universal condemnation, and if we stand in our sin, we will be condemned, and we will be raised to a resurrection of judgment. If we stand in the righteousness of another, our only hope to be judged by good deeds, yet not our good deeds, but the good deeds of our Lord Jesus Christ who has kept the law, but at the same time, Through the first resurrection and the new birth and being raised from death unto life, there is the result of a holy life. For without holiness, the writer of Hebrews says, no one shall see the Lord. And so we're not declared righteous by our good deeds, yet good deeds do accompany salvation. We're saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone. It will always be accompanied by good deeds. It's what Paul writes in Ephesians 2, for by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. But then he says, for we are his workmanship, which God before ordained that we should walk in them. So we're not saved by works, but we are saved unto good works. Well, the issue in verses 28 and 29 is eternal life or condemnation. For the lost, they will be raised to eternal condemnation. Revelation 20 verse 11, Then I saw a great white throne. and him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and the books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged from the things that were written in the books according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire." Well, what about the resurrection of the righteous? I'm not going to dwell tonight on the resurrection of the condemned, because this is not what we as Christians have experienced. We have been delivered from death unto life now if you're here tonight, and you have not received Jesus Christ as your Savior Then use your tremble because the wrath of God abides on you. And if you were to die before you receive Christ, there is no hope, there is no mercy. Flee to Christ tonight. Today is the day of salvation. So give careful regard to your soul. But what about the resurrection of the righteous? Well, their resurrection is distinct. Jesus refers to it as a resurrection to life. Verses 28 and 29 again, all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come forth, those who did the good deeds, to a resurrection of life. Now remember, the curse of sin is death. all by nature, by inheritance, by the sin of our first father, all of us justly come under God's condemnation. Though death is the penalty of sin, there is victory over death. In Christ, though death has jurisdiction over us, and although the law makes its demands upon us, and though divine justice demands satisfaction, Our deliverance was fully accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ through the Atonement. Jesus Christ removed the curse of sin by taking the curse upon himself, and victory over death accomplished. We might say it is finished. Or as Paul would say in 1 Corinthians 15, 54, but when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, having accomplished our salvation, accomplishing our redemption, Jesus Christ demonstrated his victory over death by his own resurrection, thus assuring us of our own resurrection. And when Jesus Christ returns in glory, we will be raised with him. It will happen instantly. It will happen suddenly. Mortality will put on immortality. It's described as fast as the twinkling of an eye. Probably since I began the sermon tonight, you've blinked your eyes many times. You're not even aware of it. And it happens so fast that when you blink your eyes, it goes dark for just a millisecond. So quickly, you do not even perceive it, unless you're thinking about it. Now that you're thinking about it, you'll go, Oh, wait a minute, it does go dark for a minute. But just a millisecond, while Paul writes, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed. Well, in the resurrection, we will enter into the state of glorification. In our present state, our bodies are undergoing decay, continual decay. It's really amazing. As you grow older, you really see the decay happening before your eyes. It doesn't, perhaps, carry the stench of decay. But it's decayed nonetheless. We see our mortal flesh decaying before our very eyes. Our bones become brittle. Our joints become painful. Our skin loses its elasticity. Our cells do not replicate as quickly as they used to. We are subject to sickness and every form of disease. And eventually, we will die. Our bodies will grow progressively weaker and weaker and we will die. But in the resurrection, our bodies will go from mortality to immortality, no more sickness, no more weakness, no more decay, no more death. After a million years, or you could say a million trillion years, if we can count time in eternity, our bodies will remain the same. In the resurrection, we will be united to our same earthly bodies, yet they'll be glorified. When Jesus was raised from the dead, he was raised in the same body. The tomb was empty because his body was raised. Thomas put his fingers into the nail prints of the hand of Jesus and into his side that was pierced. He was raised with the self-same body yet glorified. Our confession again says, chapter 31, paragraph 2, at the last day, such of the saints as are found alive shall not sleep, but shall be changed, and all the dead shall be raised up with the selfsame bodies, and none other, although with different qualities, which shall be united again to their souls forever. I like the way Sam Waldron puts it. He writes, the confession paradoxically asserts two things. Firstly, it asserts that the resurrection body is the identical body with a difference. It's an identical body. It's the same body. And so we'll look at each other and we will recognize one another because it's the same body. I will look at each of you in eternity and I will know you because we believe in a physical resurrection of the self, same body. Waldron continues, it is this body with different qualities from what it now possesses. As Hodge says, it is not a new body substituted for the old, but the old changed into the new. What does self-same body mean practically? It means the very body which dies and is buried must and will be raised from the dead. There is no resurrection where the body committed to the ground does not come up from it. In the resurrection, we'll be glorified, no longer tormented by sin, no longer plagued by the curse of sin. No longer will we return to this condition of sinfulness. We will enter into a state of sinlessness. But there's an important distinction between the state of Adam before sin when he was sinless and our condition after the resurrection. Though in both states sinless, Adam sinless before the fall and us being sinless in the resurrection, But Adam was created mutable. That is, he was subject to change. He could change, and he did change. Sin was possible, and he did sin. In our eternal state, God will forever preserve us from sin so that we will never sin. We will be what Augustine called non passe paccare, not possible to sin, not able to sin. We will remain forever in a state of sinlessness without the possibility of sin. Does that not bring us comfort? Adam was created sinless, but yet with the possibility of change. He was created with the possibility of sin, and he fell and was cast from the presence of God. If we simply entered into eternity in the state of Adam before the fall, we would forever have the possibility of sin. And so there would be the possibility that we could at some point in eternity be cast forever from the presence of God into the lake of fire, only there would be no possibility of redemption. But we have been redeemed, we are kept, and we will forever be kept by the power of God because He will not lose a single one of the elect and we will have the full knowledge of God's approval. Now, we receive it by faith. Then we will know it by sight. Now we moan and groan under our sin. Our faith is weak. Sometimes we have doubts. Our sin sometimes fills us with gloom. But then we will have a perfect sense of His love and a perfect sense that we are the children of the Most High. There are times now that the Spirit of God has to continually remind us, bearing witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. But then we will see our Father and we will know without doubt, without any degree of uncertainty, we will know forever and ever that we are His and nothing shall separate us from Him. We have to be reminded now, Paul writes, nothing shall separate us from the love of God. Why did he have to remind us of that? Because sometimes we have to be reminded of that than in eternity. We will know the love of God forever and ever and ever. And in the resurrection, our bodies will be physical, yet spiritual. How can that be? Is that a paradox? Physical, yet spiritual. 1 Corinthians 15.44, it is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. Well, it's not spiritual in terms of non-corporeal or non-physical, but spiritual in terms of being in the fullness of the redeemed state, completely engulfed and governed and ruled by the Holy Spirit, the fullness of our redeemed state. Or Sam Waldron again. He writes, the spiritual does not describe that which is non-material or non-physical. In similar fashion to 1 Corinthians 2, 14, and 15, the natural body is described in chapter 15, verse 44, is one which is part of this present sin-cursed existence. but the spiritual body of the resurrection is one which will be totally, not just partially, dominated and directed by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the body of the resurrection is called a spiritual body. Gyarados Vos is correct when he insists that we ought to capitalize the word spiritual in this verse. That is 1 Corinthians 15, 44. So as to make clear, the verse describes the state in which the Holy Spirit rules the body. We are sown a natural body. We are raised a spiritual body. Well, as God's people today, we know that we are here for one purpose. One purpose. What is the chief end of man? Yeah, man's chief end. Our purpose is to glorify God. Or in the children's catechism, who made you? God made me. What else did God make? God made all things. Why did God make you in all things? For his own glory. Well, we are here for one purpose, and that's to bring glory to our great God. But God's people must be serious about this life because we know that this is man's one and only opportunity to obtain God's mercy. Mercy is for this life alone, which makes this life a weighty matter. It's waiting for the lost. If you're here tonight, do not toy with your soul. Do not pretend that you have an absolute expectation of tomorrow. I remember years ago, an illustration. I was in an Arminian church at the time, and back then we had our annual revivals and the The evangelist was always quite vocal and quite animated regarding his sermon. But I still remember, we tend to remember the illustrations. I don't remember the sermon, but I sure remember the illustration. He spoke of being on a ship. And the seas were rough and the crew were feverishly trying to maintain the sails and keep them trimmed and keep the ship heading in the right direction. And the oarsmen was fighting feverishly and all had their tasks to do. But there was one man that He was on board and he was transporting a precious cargo. It was the largest diamond that anyone had ever found. And he was proud of it and he was transporting it to safety. But in the midst of the storm, he suddenly started casting the diamond up in the air and catching it. And all of a sudden, all the crew began to watch him. He tossed the diamond up in the air, and he'd catch it. The crew started gathering around, and every time he'd cast it up in the air, they'd go, ahh! And they'd catch it, they'd go, ahh! And each time he'd throw it up higher, and they'd go, ahh! And then he'd catch it, ahh! And this went on for several minutes, and he was really engrossed in the crew watching him, and being engrossed in his actions, and he tossed it up again, and it came down just as the ship lunged and it went into the sea and fell to the bottom. And of course the illustration is that's exactly what people do with their souls. They toss it up and it comes down and they catch it. And they've got the world's attention and all the world's goods and But it doesn't have value. Not the value that it should have. They toy with their soul. They pretend that it's just a little thing. And in the end, they lose their soul. Or, in the words of our Savior, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world? and lose his soul. That means that on this side of the resurrection, it's a serious life in which we live. It's the only time, the only opportunity that a man or a woman or a child can obtain mercy. And it's very important for us as believers, too, because it's the only opportunity that we have to bring the gospel to these lost, condemned souls who will experience the resurrection. but possibly not the resurrection unto life. There are millions of people around us who need God's mercy, and the gospel is the only means of receiving it. We must keep our eyes on eternity, unto the resurrection of life, and it should govern everything that we do. Paul says, if you've been risen with Christ, set your eyes on things above. Where Christ is, seated at the right hand of majesty on high. Set your minds on things above. Think on things above. Think of the resurrection unto life. Think of that which is coming, and think that it could be tonight. Life is to be lived quite seriously, because this is the only opportunity for mercy. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the promise, the hope of the resurrection of life. And thank you for the first resurrection, wherein you have raised us from death to life, and you've transported us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of our dear Savior. We thank you, Father, for the life that we have in Christ. It's a joyous life. It's a life lived in His presence. It's a life freed from the dominion of sin, freed from the power of death, where death can no longer claim us. The sting of death is sin. We thank you, Father, that you have redeemed us from this terrible sting. We know that the moment we close our eyes in this life, we will see our Savior face to face. So Father, keep us with a mind towards eternity. Help us not to be consumed by the things of this world so that we forget the resurrection that is to come and how quickly it is before us. Help us to be steadfast and immovable until the end. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You're dismissed.