Sermon Tone Analysis

John 5:25–29 (ESV)

25 “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, and those who hear will live.

26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.

28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

·         It’s about Jesus

·         Brothers and Sisters of New Hope, in the difficulty of these passages, it is easier to get caught up in other matters and lose that focus

·         Throughout this journey there is a thematic question that I approach, work through, and leave my studies with; *“What Does The Passage Tell Us About Jesus?”*

·         Jesus speaks in a monologue about Himself; He is not interrupted but completes what He has to say.

·         We are made aware of Jesus and the Father in verses 19 through 24 of this monologue.

·         Next week, if the Lord is willing, we will hear about ‘Witnesses to Jesus’ verses 30-47

·         But here in these verses they speak of Jesus and Judgment

·         Recall verse 22; /The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son,/

·         John 5:25 “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, and those who hear will live.

·         Jesus is able to speak to dead people and grant them life!

·         Truly, truly (amen, amen) here is a declaration by Jesus that is not debatable.

·         What is to follow is emphatic and important.

·         An hour is coming, and is now here!

·         This is a statement that seems to be a paradox.

·         A paradox is a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd, but in reality expresses a possible truth.

·         How does that apply here?

·         The statement; the dead refers to the spiritual dead who hear the message of Jesus, the message about Jesus, believes, and act upon it,

·         That is, brothers and sisters, put that belief into everyday practice

·         The hour of the believer’s resurrection, your resurrection, is here and now.

·         What do you mean by that, pastor?

·         Allow the Word of God to explain; using two references;

·         One is in Ephesians and the other is in Colossians

·         Turn to Ephesians 2, starting at verse 1;

·         Ephesians 2:1–6 (ESV)

·         1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

·         We are studying the book of Ephesians in our Growth Group and your group may have studied this or you will study it very soon.

·         And from Colossians chapter 2 verse 13

·         Colossians 2:13 (ESV)

·         13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

·         Therefore, saints, because you are now saved, thus an hour is now here!

·         And to that, the church can say Amen.

·         But the paradox is there because the passage says; truly, truly, I say to you, and hour is coming, and is now here.

·         An hour is coming, in the sense that the resurrection of your physical bodies is yet future.

·         Again, going to the Word of God, to comment on this

·         Looking now at 1 Corinthian and Philippians

·         1 Corinthians 15 is a long read but a necessary reading, starting at verse 35

·         1 Corinthians 15:35–54 (ESV)

·         35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised?

With what kind of body do they come?”

36 You foolish person!

What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.

37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.

38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.

39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.

40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another.

41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead.

What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.

43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory.

It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.

44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.

47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.

48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.

49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

51 Behold!

I tell you a mystery.

We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 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 shall be changed.

53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

·         And the reference in Philippians is much shorter;

·         “/But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

/” (Philippians 3:20–21, ESV)

·         The verse ends with the statement; ‘and those who hear will live.’

·         Now the critic could say, pastor, the people who Jesus is speaking to or who are listening as Jesus is speaking would not have these letters of Paul

·         My answer is ‘true that!’ so let us go to the Scripture that they would have had and see if there is something there to help them understand this resurrection stuff.

·         Open your bibles to the Old Testament book of Ezekiel chapter 37.  Listen and follow along, I am reading from the English Standard Version.

·         Ezekiel 37:1–14 (ESV)

·         1 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.

6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded.

And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.

8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them.

But there was no breath in them.

9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.

Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’

12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people.

And I will bring you into the land of Israel.

13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.

14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land.

Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”

·         The people of Jesus day would have access to this scripture.

·         One additional observation; the title ‘Son of God’ only appears here and three other places in this gospel.

·         For those who are listening to the recorded message, they are John 10:36, 11:4, and 19:7…

·         And those who hear will live, Jesus said; “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

·         During this coming week, find yourself a quiet place or give yourself a quiet moment and reflect that God almighty has blesses you with his amazing grace and rich mercy and abundant love and you are alive spiritually.

·         Just say to yourself; “I’m saved!”

·          

·         But why is Jesus able to speak to dead people and grant them life?

Verse 26