Sermon for Pentecost 26, November 17, 2024
Grace, mercy, and peace be yours, forever, from God the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit. Amen.
John 5:25-29 25“Amen,
Amen, I tell you: A time is coming and is here now when
the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who listen will live. 26For just
as the Father has life in himself, so also he has granted the Son to have life
in himself. 27And he has
given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28“Do not be amazed at this,
for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29and
will come out. Those who have done good
will rise to live, but those who have practiced evil will rise to be condemned.” (EHV)
Both now and then,
Jesus speaks life.
Dear hearers of the Word,
Two weeks
ago, we reviewed the miracle of Jesus raising Lazarus from the grave. We were reminded of how Jesus declared
loudly, “Lazarus, come out!” (John 11:43) Incredibly, if Jesus had simply shouted,
“Come out of your grave!”, it is completely possible that vast numbers of the dead,
perhaps even everybody who had ever died, might have risen along with Lazarus. Now, skeptics may deride this idea with
mocking laughter, but do not be fooled, Jesus here explains the power of His
voice by which Both now and then, Jesus speaks life.
Jesus said, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: A time
is coming and is here now when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,
and those who listen will live.” Truly,
adamantly, Jesus emphasizes that the power of His message never changes. At the very beginning of time, God spoke, and
everything came to be exactly as He desired.
St. John introduced His Gospel by teaching the world, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. He was with God in
the beginning. Through him everything
was made, and without him not one thing was made that has been made.” (John 1:1-3) Thus,
the power of the Almighty is in Jesus and comes through His voice.
In every time and place, those who hear the
Gospel, and believe it, receive the gift of life. That was true for Adam and Eve, for Abraham,
for the people who followed Jesus during His earthly ministry, in all the years
of history since Jesus ascended to heaven, and it remains true until He returns
again in glory to judge the world. Jesus
told His disciples the time had come to believe, and those who hear receive
everlasting life through faith. As St.
Paul wrote, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “So then, faith comes
from hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ.” (Romans
10:17)
At the same time, we know, just as Jesus knew,
that our earthly bodies have an expiration date. Because of the curse of sin upon the world,
and because we are all sinners, we all will die. That’s why Jesus’ statement also points us toward
His future return. It is vitally
important that every sinner understand that he or she will face Jesus at the
judgment, “and those who listen will live.” Those in whom the power of the Gospel has
worked faith in Jesus will be raised to enjoy eternal life in heaven. Thus, Jesus came into this world to give us
life that doesn’t end.
Jesus didn’t become our Savior because He
enjoyed suffering the rejection of His people and persecution from those who
should have recognized Him as their Savior.
Jesus didn’t take our place because He had a strong desire to live in
poverty and meekness, or to endure brutal flogging, thorns pounded into His
brow, nails ripping through His wrists and feet, or the piercing of a spear in
His side. Instead, Jesus came into the world
because of love, the love of the Father and the Son for the people of the
world, as Jesus explained, “No one has greater
love than this: that someone lays down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) So, Jesus
left His home in the glories of heaven to live holiness for us and to take the separation
from His Father we deserved because like our first parents, we too have
listened to Satan.
Jesus said, “For just as the Father has life
in himself, so also he has granted the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute
judgment, because he is the Son of Man.”
You and I and everyone who has ever been born from a woman’s womb,
inherited from our parents the spiritual corruption that made us spiritually dead
in sin which separated us from God. On
our own, we had no way to change the eternal death sentence, but as we said
previously, Jesus has the full power of God to bring life to dead beings. Jesus told His disciples, “I lay down my
life so that I may take it up again. No
one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the authority to lay it down, and I
have the authority to take it up again.
This is the commission I received from my Father.” (John 10:17-18)
By His powerful hand in creation, God brought
us into physical life. Through the water
and Word of baptism, His Spirit gives life to everyone who believes. Now, because Jesus gave His life into death
in order to save us, and because He has risen from the dead triumphant over
death, the devil, and the grave so that we may enjoy everlasting life, the
Father has given Jesus the due reward and responsibility of judging all
people.
For the sins of all people, Jesus bore the
judgment of death, but to us comes the life.
To His disciples as they marveled about His words, Jesus admonished,
“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their
graves will hear his voice and will come out.
Those who have done good will rise to live, but those who have practiced
evil will rise to be condemned.”
Many in our world deny and even mock the idea that they will be judged
and sentenced to eternal punishment.
Some are even so bold as to brag about their expectation of dwelling in
the bowels of hell.
Here, Jesus warns that those who have done evil
will be condemned to a torment far worse than what our sinful minds might
comprehend. People look at the good and
bad events of human history and assume that nothing could be worse than the
pandemics, casualties and cruelties of war, the betrayals, murderous rampages
and cruel rapes of sinful men, the crushing death toll of natural disasters, or
even the depressions, manias, and malaise so common in the world.
However, hell is a never-ending experience of
suffering totally separated from God and any good thing He gives. For those stuck in that awful place designed
to punish Satan eternally for his deceptions and deceit, there will be no joy,
no peace, no comfort, and no escape.
Their greatest punishment may well be that they will know, too late,
that Jesus is Lord of all. Speaking to
those who rejected and despised Him, Jesus said, “There will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets
in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown outside.” (Luke 13:28)
While those who reject Him will receive their
due reward of eternal suffering and separation from God, Jesus promises, “Those
who have done good will rise to live.”
Here again, we see that Both now and then, Jesus speaks life. Then and now, by His Word in the world, Jesus
gives life to sinners and the sure hope of eternal life to those who believe in
Him as their Savior. Then, when He
returns in glory on Judgment Day to judge both the living and the dead, the
sound of Jesus’ voice will raise from the grave every person who has ever
lived. As the Lord declared through His
prophet, Isaiah, “I have sworn by myself.
From my mouth a righteous word has gone out, and it will not return
unfulfilled. Indeed, to me every knee
will bow, and every tongue will swear allegiance.” (Isaiah 45:23) At that time, then, the wicked will finally realize
with trembling and shame that they missed their chance to believe and be
saved. However, for those who do believe,
their confession of faith in the Lord Jesus will be their triumph song. Having received the crown of life by the Word
of Jesus, we will rejoice forever worshipping at the throne of our God and
Savior.
Hearing the words of our text, however, many
wonder, who is it that has done good?
Who among us has ever lived a spotless life before the Law? Who can say they deserve this crown of glory? And of course, we know that no human, ever,
except Jesus, can make that claim.
Therefore, how can any of us stand before Jesus on Judgment Day and
live? Both now and then, Jesus speaks
life. We repeat the message of
Jesus’ words. In answer to some who came
to Jesus asking, “What should we do to carry out the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of
God: that you believe in the one he sent.” (John 6:28-29)
Those who are counted as doing good on Judgment
Day are not some who have lived perfectly holy lives in their deeds or even their
thoughts and intentions. They are
instead those, and only those, who have been counted worthy through faith in Christ
Jesus, the Savior who lived holiness for them and paid for all their sins. Indeed, we rejoice, because “God made him,
who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the
righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
That dear friends, is the gift God gives to you
and me. As we live through these dark
and dangerous days, when it appears more and more that the Last Day is swiftly
approaching, we who believe in Jesus have nothing to fear. When Jesus warned His listeners about the
signs of the end times, He assured us, “They will see the Son of Man coming
in a cloud with power and great glory.
But when these things begin to happen, stand up and lift up your heads,
because your redemption is near.” (Luke 21:27-28)
This second last Sunday of the Church year
focuses our attention on the Judgment Day that is coming to all people. This world will not last forever, but a day
is coming when all people must give account of their lives. For those who have rejected Jesus to follow
any other god, philosophy, or idol, there is only eternal banishment and
torment to come. On the other hand, those
who walk with Jesus by faith rejoice now, and then eternally, for that last day
brings only our entrance into the glories and peace of heaven. Give thanks to the Lord our God, for Both
now and then, Jesus speaks life. Amen.
To
Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and
might forever and ever. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment