Back From the Dead

As we were designed to live, which is according, uh, you know, made in your image.

And Father, we don't deserve that.

We could never live up to it.

But Jesus, you by your grace, you empower us with this new life that you give us.

And it's truly something that's supernatural and incredible.

And so we pray that you'd help us today to walk in the fullness of what you've given us, uh, to know that we are loved and that there is nothing we have to do to earn your favor, to earn your attention, or to be fixed more than what you have already done for us, and that we are good in you.

And so, Jesus, help us to know these things in Jesus' name.

We pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Today's sermon is called Back from the Dead, Back from the Dead, and it's not about Jesus coming back from the dead, actually.

That'll be way later in our study.

Uh, this is gonna be every other person in the world is gonna come back from the dead at some point.

So I could have named this zombies are real, that would have been a good name for the sermon, but not really zombies.

So every single person is gonna be resurrected.

That's what we're gonna talk about today.

Now, when we talk about the resurrection, it actually is one of the things that I get the most questions on of anything in being a pastor.

Okay, I used to to host a live call-in radio program in Denver.

And uh we used two hours every day in the afternoon, drive time, right?

Um, and people would call in with just the wildest questions.

Um, but I'd say about a quarter to a third of them were about resurrection, were about what happens after we die, when are we resurrected?

What happens around it?

Blah, blah, blah, all the questions.

So I kind of compiled a list of some of the questions that came to me in that and and and have been asked out there.

And so um these are some of the ones that that we should think about today.

First, some lighthearted ones, okay?

Will I finally have abs in my resurrection body?

Paul says, I'll give you a quick little snippet answer for these.

Paul says we're gonna be raised in glory, so at minimum, you can stop doing crunches now.

All right.

All right, number two.

Uh, will my bad knees still crack when I stand up?

Okay.

Listen, right?

I just want you guys to be everyone be quiet.

Did you hear that?

Yeah.

I have terrible knees.

And thank you to my dad for that.

Thanks, Dad.

Um, he's already had both his knees replaced, and I have no cartilage, so it'll happen someday.

Uh, every creak and groan you have now is just creation groaning for its redemption, and it is temporary.

You will be fixed.

So you're gonna be out of a job, doctor.

Sorry.

All right.

Will there be coffee in heaven?

Well, scripture is silent, but Jesus turned water into wine, so I think our beverage situation is gonna be pretty good.

Will my in-laws be there?

If they are in Christ, yes.

And the good news is you'll love them perfectly.

Okay, if I'm resurrected next to my spouse, will they still steal the blankets?

Well, aside from the marriage part, uh, there's there's no night there, so the blanket war is officially over.

Okay.

Will we be able to fly?

Oh yeah.

Oh yeah, he says.

Well, if Jesus ascended into the clouds and walked through locked doors, so I say your resurrection body is gonna have some upgrades.

We'll just say that.

All right.

All right, now here's some real good questions that I think.

When we die, do I go straight to heaven or wait for the resurrection?

This is the most common question, okay?

What happens?

And I think we have to say that both are true.

Both are true.

You know, the difference between um these two things is kind of the hope of the Bible.

There's something that happens with time.

So time was created for us.

God exists outside of time, and heaven is outside of time.

So I really believe that when you die, you're gonna show up in God's presence, and your great-great-grandpa, who died in Christ, is also gonna be showing up and it's gonna be kind of arriving at the same time.

If there was time.

But our brains don't work like that, it's very hard.

I think the the best illustration I've heard for it is imagine um a parade.

You know, we are kind of at the corner of you know the streets, watching the parade go by, and that's time for us.

But God and and heaven and is another dimension, it's it's like in a in a blimp above, and you can see the entire parade at the same time, the beginning of the parade, the end of the parade, all of it happening at the same time, but you can see it all.

It's kind of that, you know, thing.

Uh, but the timings of it all, very interesting.

We'll talk a little bit about it today.

If my loved one is already with Jesus, why do they need a resurrection?

That's a really good question.

Um, but we will get a all of our bodies are gonna get resurrected.

Um, and heaven is a wonderful thing, uh, but it's not the final chapter.

Our lives aren't done when we just go to heaven.

So we're gonna get a new body for the new life that we're gonna experience once we get there.

And that's very interesting.

Um, will I get my same body back?

Maybe you really love your body.

Doug, I know you're you love your body.

So, um, yes and no.

Um the Jesus describes it like a seed.

A seed, you know, go it looks like something, but when we put it in the ground, it becomes something completely different.

But it's literally the same thing.

The seed is the plant, but it it's in a different form.

And so, you know, what about people who are cremated and lost at sea?

Do we have to be worried about cremation?

Some some religious people are really worried about.

Well, God made Adam out of dust, so I I don't think he needs the original parts to to give us an upgrade.

You know, it'll be alright.

Uh how old will we be when we're resurrected?

Um scripture never gives us an age, uh, but we will be given a body that never ages.

So we'll all be Peter Panning it.

Um will we recognize each other?

This is my my blanket answer for most things about the resurrection.

You're not gonna be dumber in heaven than you are here.

You're not gonna remember less things in heaven than you remember here.

You're not gonna have it wiped clean.

You will remember life, will be you'll have a perfect memory, and you'll be perfectly intelligent as well.

So, you know, the disciples had breakfast with a with a resurrected Jesus, and they they recognized who he was.

They knew who he was.

So there's something there that we can recognize, right?

All right, Jesus still has his scars.

So are we gonna have our scars also?

That's a good question, right?

Well, Jesus kept his scars on purpose, right?

So maybe that changes how you see your own.

You can think about that.

Will marriage continue in the resurrection?

Well, Jesus answered this really directly, and it's better it's no, you're we're not gonna be married in heaven.

Uh, we'll be like the angels, we'll be all complete and we'll all be united together, so there's not gonna be one relationship that you're united to, it's gonna be everyone is gonna be fully united.

And that's better news than you you might think at when you first think about it.

Um, do unbelievers get resurrected too?

And yes, everyone will be raised, but not everyone will be raised to the same experience, the same life, and that's what we're gonna talk about today a bit.

Uh, what do I have to do to make sure I'm in the resurrection of life?

Not the other one, right?

And the answer is not found in your performance as we teach every week, it's found in an empty tomb outside of Jerusalem where Jesus was resurrected, and we, if we believe in that and we place our hope in that, we share his resurrection life, and it begins today.

It's not something you have to wait for.

Our resurrection life is happening now, and that's that's what we're gonna talk about.

So we're gonna talk about resurrection, and there's the the big thing to understand is that there's two aspects of resurrection, okay?

There is the now aspect, and there's the future aspect.

So the now is Jesus gives spiritual life to his people, which is us.

He gives, he shares his spiritual life with us who hear him and believe him.

Jesus says literally, if you hear me and believe me, you have passed from death to life, or you are living a resurrection experience right now.

You don't have to wait for heaven, but you get the reality of it right now.

And then there's a future where everyone who is in the tombs or is dead will hear Jesus' voice and they will rise.

They will be given a new body.

And Jesus describes two outcomes of that there is a life outcome, and there is a death outcome, an eternal life and an eternal dying death experience.

And those are the reality of the situation.

So, with all that being kind of our lighthearted introduction, let's see what Jesus tells us as he's talking to the Pharisees here.

So he says in John chapter 5, verse 24, Most assuredly I say to you, so he's starting a teaching, he's starting a new message, a new topic, and he says, He who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

John 5:24

So Jesus talks about eternal life as a present experience, a possession that we have, where the believer has it and they've already passed from death to life.

So the moment that you decided, I believe that Jesus was God, I believe he died on the cross, I believe it was for me, the moment that happens, you have passed from death to life and you possess eternal life.

He doesn't say believers might come into judgment later, depending on if they follow all the rules, or if they go to church enough, or if they tithe enough, or if they fill in the blank with any kind of performance you want to put.

It does not come into play when it comes to eternal life.

Through Jesus' finished work, believers are forgiven.

We're secure, we're alive in him, we share his life.

We're not waiting for some future verdict or judgment like we kind of talked about last week.

Everyone in the world will be judged for their sin, right?

So you got two groups, two times when that judgment happens.

You have the great white throne judgment at the end of time, where all the men who didn't believe in Christ will have their lives played out for everyone, and Jesus will make a judgment, and all of them will be.

That's a bad day.

Everyone who's at the great white throne judgment is judged by their works, and it they do not end up in heaven.

Whereas we all also are gonna be judged for our works, but it's not our gonna be judged, we have already been judged because our judgment for our works happened 2,000 years ago.

Before you were born, before you did any of those things, God, through his power, took all of your sin, past, present, future, even things you haven't done yet, and he put them in a ball and put them in Jesus as Jesus died on the cross.

They were judged, they were paid for.

Why would God do something like that?

Because he loves you, because Jesus is so good and so kind that he is our hero who took our punishment and he substituted himself as the sacrifice for us.

And that's what the gospel is.

And so what do we get from that?

Yes, you're forgiven of your sin and your so what do you do with your life?

Live with him.

Delight yourself in his presence.

Learn about this God who loves you so much that he would forgive your sin and call you to walk alongside with him.

And that's just a beautiful, beautiful picture and of judgment and why it matters so much.

So you guys remember John 3:16, right?

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

You know, it it shows that believing in Jesus is trusting in Jesus, relying on Jesus, clinging to Jesus, and that's the path to everlasting life.

When we say that verse, it doesn't say those who go to church or those who try to be religious or those who try their best to be good people or those who do their best to follow the Ten Commandments.

These things are man's way of trying to impress God, but they're not the gospel.

So we have to be very, very clear.

What is the gospel?

Is there anything wrong with the Ten Commandments?

No, except they're not the path to God.

They show what perfection looks like, they measure how bad we are at being good.

That's what the Ten Commandments do.

So the harder we try to keep them, the more we try, which means the more self-effort we put out, which means the more we will fail, fail.

So the this is the trickiest thing.

The more you try to keep the Ten Commandments, the more you sin.

Because the Ten Commandments are not where life is found.

Jesus is.

And as you follow Jesus and as you put your hope in Jesus and Him alone, the most beautiful, crazy, supernatural thing happens.

Following the Ten Commandments is not even difficult.

In fact, you realize it's your very nature.

That's this new life that Jesus shares with us.

And that's why we make such a difference between law and grace and the risen life of Christ and the life that we can choose to live by our own religious efforts that we turn our back on as we follow Christ.

So that's how this all goes together.

So Jesus says hearing his word is the same as believing in the Father who sent him.

You guys know Jesus and the Father are one, right?

They're they're Father and Son, they're two.

There's actually three of them, Holy Spirit, right?

They're three persons, but it's all one person, one being, God, right?

That's the Trinity.

It's something our brains can't comprehend.

But there is the Trinity.

And this Father and the Son are so united in their work that when you believe in one, it means you're also believing in the other.

So if you believe in the Father, you're going to believe in the Son.

You are believing in Jesus.

You can't disconnect them and say, Well, I believe in God, but Jesus is a joker.

You can't do that.

It doesn't work.

They're so united, believing in one is and it's believing in the other.

Okay.

My favorite 1800s preacher in England was a guy named Charles Spurgeon.

So I do Spurgeon, quote, Spurgeon, quote.

He says this it does not appear from our text that everlasting life is communicated by drops of water or in any other ceremonial manner.

But the command is, hear and your soul shall live.

What's he talking about?

He's talking about people that think that because they were baptized, they're saved, or people who take communion that think they're saved.

And there's big parts of the church who say, You're not saved if you haven't been baptized, or you have you know they're they're making a work, the thing we do, the thing that salvation is is rewarded for.

It's like a reward for that.

And then that's not how the Bible works, that's not how the gospel works.

He says, There's if you believe, like we're talking, if you actually believe in Jesus, then there's no judgment, but you've come from death to life.

What why is there no more judgment on us?

Because the Ten Commandments are removed from our that we're not under the Ten Commandments anymore, and that's what judges us, the Ten Commandments.

It's not um uh the Ten Commandments are not good news for us.

When you hear, like, oh, we're gonna put Ten Commandments in uh in all the schools.

Okay, there's there's one good reason for that, and that would be to help everyone know how bad of a person they are so that they need Jesus.

That would be the good reason to do that.

But I fear most of the reason people do that is so that people will be good and we they can be better people, and so we don't need to put them in prison.

Or something, it's like a way to make people better, and that's not how they work, they don't change people.

Rules do not change hearts, they never have and they never will.

Only Jesus changes hearts.

She's very excited about that message.

Man has never lived up to the perfect standard of God.

God never gave the Ten Commandments for people to try to keep them and to get saved.

Even when he gave them to Moses, he had already taught the children of Israel through Abraham 400 years before about grace.

He said, I'm gonna save you.

You just keep your eyes on me and the coming Messiah, and that's where your salvation will be.

Then 400 years later, he says, You guys are crazy.

I need to give you 10 rules to help you not tear yourselves apart.

And that's what the Ten Commandments basically were.

Here's how life should look, but this isn't the way of salvation, it's always by grace.

Anyway, I could get into a rabbit trail on that.

Um, so what we got going on here is that God must judge everybody and everybody's sinned.

God has to judge sin.

Why?

Because it's literally his job distribution.

He is the judge of the world.

And the Father says, actually, I'm making Jesus the judge of the world.

So that's what Jesus is saying here.

I am the judge of the world.

And so the judgment of sin is always death.

So because of sin, each person has to die unless you have a substitute who will die for you.

Which enter Jesus, I judge you, but I will also be your substitute.

Just let me, and I love you.

That's the message of the gospel.

Who would reject this?

So judgment and death always go together.

We have to die unless we have someone to be exchange his death for ours.

And Jesus was judged on the cross for our sin, and he died for us.

And he simply offers to give you this free, perfect, holy life in exchange for yours.

And we call this great exchange, it's called the glorious exchange.

Our sinfulness, our sin nature, everything wrong inside us, God removes and places in Christ, judges it, it's it's dealt with, it's punished, and it's done away with, and it's not yours anymore.

And in place of all that, God replaces it with his perfect resurrection life, his Holy Spirit, he gives to us.

And that's what it means to pass from death to life.

So our trying to measure up to God's standard, to his perfect life, you know, it's just a free gift.

We just lay our claim on Jesus.

I don't, I can't live a perfect life, but Jesus, I know you've forgiven me, and I ask you to just live your life.

I claim your life is mine.

I ask you to live your life through me, for me.

And he says, I got you.

I will do that.

That's how good and faithful he is, and it's his life.

It's the life of Jesus, the life of his spirit.

It's not a get out of jail free card, it's a get out of jail free card plus let Jesus live his life through you for the glory of God card.

It's not just half of that, right?

Some people think Christianity is just, I'm not going to hell.

So I can do as much as I want, whatever I want.

I can be my own boss, which is not the life that God has invited us to.

Or that's not his offer to you.

His offer is freedom.

Not freedom to sin as much as we want, but freedom to have a life of meaning and purpose and love with our Heavenly Father, where we're free from having to impress God, having to measure up to a standard we couldn't, and we're free to freely offer more than the law could ever demand, not out of obligation, but out of just love.

We don't give, we don't serve, we don't love other people because we have to.

And as that love transforms you, then go and freely give that love to other people.

Well, how much should we love other people?

Well, with resurrection life, you can just keep on loving them.

You can keep you don't give up.

You don't get, oh, these people are too difficult.

I'm out of here.

You can just keep loving them, no matter how difficult they are, because you remember that you were way worse than their being to you, you were way worse to God.

And he never gave up on you.

And he always loved you, and he always will love you, and he's gonna continue to give his life for you and through you.

So that's the offer that we give.

So the verdict of our life, the verdict that the judge hands down, right?

It's already been read.

And it says, you're not guilty.

I mean, you were guilty, but you're not guilty anymore.

You're not guilty, you're alive in Christ because Jesus was made guilty for you.

So here's the question: what are you still trying to prove?

Are you still trying to prove?

I'm really special, I'm really spiritual.

You don't have to be any of those things.

Just be who you are.

Acknowledge that you're loved, like believe that you're loved.

And your life can flow from a place of I'm okay, I have everything I need from my Heavenly Father, so I don't need to try to get things from you.

You guys ever met somebody that always is trying to get something from you?

Whether it's your attention, your money, your approval, right?

You come to them and you're like, hey, I'd like to get to know I'd like to spend some time with you, and they're like, great, and they suck you.

I call them suck you.

Because they just suck you dry.

They just want, they tell me how wonderful I am.

You know what?

I feel like a terrible person.

And you're like, I didn't say that.

I I just wanted to love you, to care for you.

And that that shows that they're they get their life from other people.

And it's a it's a psychological thing we get going on as we were dealing with trauma and all kinds of stuff, where Jesus, he says, I heal you and I love you, and you don't have to prove yourself anymore.

You just are okay.

Because I say you're okay, and I've made you okay, and I've healed you.

Also, if you um have you only received Jesus' pardon, or have you received his life?

Are you letting him live through you?

That's our our big question for believers today.

Are you are we letting God live through us?

Or when you wake up in the morning, are you is your first thought, what am I going to do today?

What do I want to do today?

How dare we?

Our life was bought and purchased at a price, a pretty high price.

So why do we ask ourselves what we should do instead of looking to our father?

And that's the turnaround, not because we have to, but because he loves you more than you love yourself.

And you love yourself a lot.

But if he loves you more and he knows what's best for you, then isn't it smarter and more advantageous to look to him for your direction for the day?

That's where life is found, is in him, not in ourselves.

That's where resurrection life happens, is in him, not in ourselves.

All right, we're gonna go to our next verse, 25.

Most assuredly I say to you, Jesus says, the hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

So Jesus describes the life he gives to people who are spiritually dead.

He says, the hour is coming and now is.

So what it which form of resurrection life is he talking about right now?

He's actually talking about the thing that he's bringing, the spiritual life.

It's something that's already happening through his ministry as he's teaching and people are hearing him, they're receiving life as they hear the words of Jesus.

So when people hear and believe the sun, they receive life.

That's the rule of the kingdom.

If you hear and believe the sun, you receive life.

Have you ever felt like, what is the point of my life?

What's the purpose of my life?

I'm kind of lost.

I'm kind of floating in the ocean.

I don't have a lot of purpose or direction.

Where do I go to find life?

And Jesus says, those who hear and believe what I say, there you find it.

He literally said, How we can do this, how you can discover your purpose and meaning and value.

Read the Bible and believe what I say about you.

That's where it's at.

And every one of us who has done that, we have discovered.

It's a life that does not ever disappoint.

It's a life that truly meets your needs and and and gives you the purpose for which you were created.

He says it's not a reward for meeting religious requirements.

That's not where we find life.

But it's a gift from him.

You know, we could say all of you should come in two hours early to help clean the bar, and you have to do that in order to find life.

Some people come in and say, I'd like to grow in Christ.

And I do not tell them, okay, make sure you come to church early and clean with us.

Make sure you stay, make sure you're tithe, and these are things you can do to become a better person.

I will never say those things.

And it makes me really angry when I hear people actually using those strategies to cause spiritual growth in somebody.

You know why?

Because that's making my life easier.

It's not giving spiritual life to you.

It's actually an incredibly selfish and non-spiritual thing.

Oh, it sounds really wise.

You should read the Bible three hours a day.

You should give 10% of you, you should do this, you should do that.

But it's not where life is found.

I know it.

I'm gonna continue declaring that.

Life is found only in Jesus, in receiving, in reading his words, hearing his words, and receiving the life that he gives.

That's why this is so vital and important.

In here, most of us have heard his voice.

And today you're hearing him say all kinds of things.

And so you can all stop your attempts to measure up and instead just trust in his grace that's given by his voice.

His voice, his words, give you his grace, and we can receive that.

It's his sacrifice that God's looking at, not yours.

We can just receive his life.

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

So Jesus is the source.

There's no more searching for life or purpose or meaning in anything else.

It's just in Jesus.

It's all about him.

So verse 27, and God has given him authority, Jesus, to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of Man.

So, yes, Jesus himself is going to judge every single person.

He knows you, he knows everything you've ever done, and he knows every single person in this world and everything they've ever done.

And he will judge them.

Why is Jesus qualified to judge them?

Jesus says right here, I am qualified to judge because I am a man.

He's the Son of Man, it says.

See, if God did not become a man, we could have an argument and say, Well, how can you truly, even though he's the creator and he could judge us, but he wouldn't know what it's like to be us.

But we have Jesus, who in his love became a man, and so he could offer us his grace at the same time, he will also judge, and he's qualified, and he has the job, it's his task, he has to judge.

So he will judge.

But we don't have to be afraid because we have received his grace by faith.

He's the only one who can do it, he's the only mediator.

So when you have a mediator, it's someone who goes on your behalf to make a deal for you, and Jesus is our mediator.

And we're gonna talk a lot about this next week.

But verse 28, do not marvel at this.

I guess people were really shocked by this.

The fair the Jews who he was talking to, they were their minds were blown because they, in their mind, only God, the Father up in heaven, could judge.

And here comes a guy who we don't like, and he smells funny and he looks weird.

We don't like him, and he's coming and telling us he is God and he is going to judge us.

Well, he's not my friend, so I got a big problem.

I don't like him.

So if he's saying he's gonna judge me, I think I might want to kill him so that he doesn't judge me.

That's their logic.

That's what they're that's what literally is going on here.

They thought, well, we're we're already going to heaven because we were born Jews, right?

Remember?

They thought they really truly believed all Gentiles were only created to keep the fires of hell a little hotter for the bad Jews that would go there.

But the Jews who followed God would be the only people in heaven.

That's what they truly believed at the time.

So Jesus says, Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice and come forth, and those who have done good to resurrection life, and those who have done evil to resurrection of condemnation.

All right.

We got you, Pastor.

It's not all this grace, this sloppy agopy grace stuff.

Look, he says right there, those who do good go to heaven, those who don't do good go to hell.

So we're going back to our other church.

That's not what he means.

He says there's this resurrection of life, and then there's a resurrection of condemnation.

So these guys, these astonished religious leaders, Jesus is like, you know what?

I have the authority, and I'm gonna, I'm going to judge you.

I'm gonna judge everybody.

And I'm truly a human, and I know what it means to do good and to do evil, and so I'm going to, I can really see who it is.

I know what it's like to be a human.

Those who've done good, those who have done evil, they're both gonna live forever.

Every human being who was ever created is going to live forever.

Babies who die in the womb are still gonna live forever.

They will.

We can have perfect peace that every child who has ever died will live forever.

And God is just, He's not gonna send them to hell, right?

We know this.

This is very easy.

Jesus will command one day that every hu every human will rise from the dead in bodies suited for eternity.

That means a body that can live in heaven, could be on earth if we needed it to, or could exist in a bad place.

Verse 30, he says, I can of myself do nothing, as I hear, I judge.

My judgment is righteous because I do not seek my own, but the will of the Father who sent me.

So Jesus says, Everyone calm down.

My judgment is righteous, which means I will do the right thing every single time.

I always do the right thing.

I am completely qualified, and I'm a completely righteous judge.

I have the power and I have the heart to make the right decision because I only do what my father would have me to do.

And what does it the Father want me to do?

He wants me to give salvation to all who have faith, all who believe in me.

And so that's God's will that none should perish, but all should come to everlasting life.

And so I will give everlasting life to every single person who will put their hope in me.

Why?

Because I want that, and my father wants that.

We're one, and I promise you that's how it's going to work out.

Again, this claim to be the Son of God is insane for the people of that day.

They were like, You are just a person.

God cannot be just a person.

And he's like, I'm not just a person, I am God, and I am gonna judge you.

So you guys gotta get ready.

And Jesus says, Here's the proof I'm gonna give you that I'm God.

Here's the proof.

I have the exact same heart of the Father.

That's the proof that he offers them.

You know, can he do miracles?

Yeah, he did all kinds of miracles, and guess what?

They still didn't believe him.

He they literally raised people from the dead, and they still didn't believe him.

He healed people, he did all the miracles.

But he says, here's the one proof I'm gonna give you right now that can calm all your fears.

I have the exact same heart as my father.

Do you see it in me?

Do you see my eyes?

Do you see my graciousness?

Do you see my mercy?

Do you see who I am?

This is who God is, and I can prove to you I am God because I have it all.

I have everything.

I share a life with him.

And guess what?

As I look around this room, every single believer, we share the same life that Jesus shared with his Father.

And that's the offer that we have.

You have love, you have his heart.

When you see something that breaks the heart of God, guess what?

It breaks your heart.

And you're like, why do I feel so strongly about this?

Why do I have so much love in my heart for people that I shouldn't even like?

Or whatever the situation may be.

And the reason is because you share a life with God.

You share the life through Christ of the Father.

That's your life, that's your identity, is the Holy Spirit.

That's what's going on today.

You and He, he was only concerned with the will of His Father.

He says, Whatever uh I do, the will of I only don't worry about what I want to do.

I only do what he wants me to do.

So this union Jesus had with God's will is because he shared the heart and the life of God.

We started out this morning asking a lot of questions, like, How old are we gonna be?

Will we recognize each other?

What about our bodies?

And these are good questions.

And one day every one of them is gonna be answered.

But Jesus didn't come to answer every curiosity about his resurrection, he came to be the resurrection for us.

Your peace is not found in knowing answers.

Have you guys ever had that question?

Why?

Why is this bad thing happening to me?

And you're like, I'm not gonna follow God until he tells me why this happened.

Or first thing I get to heaven is I'm gonna ask God why cowboys sucked at football.

I don't know.

No, cowboys.

No, definitely the cowboys.

Yes.

Just kidding.

Sorry, guys.

I know there's a lot of cowboy fans in here.

Uh point still stands.

You know, we the peace that we're seeking is never found in that answer to the question of why.

Now, Jesus can and will answer the whys later, but that's not what what he gives us now.

We don't get the answer to why why you get cancer or why you this difficult thing happened or that.

We don't get those answers today, except Jesus says, I know what I'm doing, and I love you.

I made a lot of promises to you.

I'm not gonna break a single one.

So look in my eyes, and and when I say the answer to all your questions is trust me.

You'll see one day, one day the resurrection will happen, and you'll you'll have everything fixed, everything is gonna be okay.

Today you might not get that answer, but very soon you will.

And it's gonna be okay.

In fact, it's gonna be better than okay.

That's gonna be amazing.

That's gonna be incredible.

These are good questions.

Two times in this passage, Jesus said the dead will hear his voice.

Two times Jesus said, the dead will hear my voice.

Verse 25, he said, the spiritually dead will hear him now, and they will live.

And then in verse 28, it said, The physically dead will hear him later and they will rise to an everlasting death.

That's what hell is.

It's it's like wishing you could die, but never able to die.

It's the complete absence of love and light and Jesus, and he is love, and he is light.

So to be separated from him for eternity means you live with no love and no light.

And some people think, oh, I'm just gonna be partying with my homies.

But they don't understand that hell is complete isolation, you don't get to be with anyone because the one who made you to be with him, you've rejected.

And that's how it works.

So it's the same voice that the dead hear.

The the dead today, we were spiritually dead, and we heard his voice, and so we become spiritually alive.

We heard that voice, and it's the same voice that the dead will hear.

It's the same Jesus, it's the same power that will raise everybody.

Here's the point that the voice that will one day call your body out of the grave, that same voice, that same power that can raise the dead, is calling you right now just to walk with him, to receive his love.

And the only real question is, are you gonna hear his voice when you're gonna hear his voice?

Because everyone will.

You know, 20 verse 28, everyone who's in the graves is gonna hear it.

The question is, what that voice will mean to you when you hear it.

He says here, what about those who have done good and and have not done good?

What does that all mean?

There it is.

I I know it all comes down to performance.

You might be thinking, it Jesus even says it's gonna be performance, but see, the religious leaders asked Jesus this exact question in the next chapter we're gonna get to.

They said, What shall we do that we may work the works of God?

In chapter 6, next not next week, uh, but chapter 6, verse 28.

They said, What should we do that we may work the works of God?

They asked him the same question.

And Jesus said, This is the work of God that you go to church all the time.

He didn't say that.

How come none of you guys corrected me?

There should have been tomatoes flying at the screen.

He says, This is how you do the works of God.

Give 10%.

Thank you.

20 Jesus points for you.

That's not what he says.

This is how you do the works of God.

Believe in him whom he sent.

That's the words of Jesus.

They ask him literally, okay, the good, what is the good then?

If we're if we're judged whether we're good or we're not good, then what is the good?

And Jesus says, the good, there's only one way for you to be good, and that is to believe in me and my good.

And then my good is given to you, and when God sees you, my good is in you.

You are in me, I am in you, and your life is now judged as my life.

So is God the Father going to send his son Jesus to hell?

No.

He is good.

And if you want to be good, there's one hiding place.

In him.

In him is life.

And Jesus said, believing in me is that is the good that resurrection life gives us.

It's not a pile of good deeds, it's trusting in the one who was good for you.

And then everything good in our lives that follows your believing, all the sacrifice, all the love, all the good works that you will do, and we do do, do, is a result and a fruit of the good that He has already accomplished on the cross.

So we don't even get credit, we don't need credit for all the good.

That we do because it's just his life living.

But God is so sneaky good.

This is what he does.

At the end of your life, after you've done all this good, and after you've given and been generous and done all these wonderful things, just because Jesus loved you and you just love pouring that love to every single person you meet, and your patience and your kindness and all the good that you've ever done, God says, Look at all the good you did, my child, and he'll give you rewards.

And you'll be like, I didn't do anything.

I just was filled with your love.

And he's like, I know that's exactly it.

So you know what you'll do?

You'll take those crowns and you'll cast them at his feet.

So he's gonna be throwing rewards at you.

You're gonna be throwing your words at him.

It's a giant dodgeball game in heaven of life and joy and celebrating.

And that is what we have to look forward to.

So if you have any other questions about resurrection, email Doug at Wednesday.

Just kidding.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

I'd love to answer them for you with the answer.

I don't know.

I'm just kidding.

There's some great questions, there's some great answers.

If you need anything, please let me know.

Father, we turn our eyes to you.

We open our hearts to you because we've heard with our ears your voice.

Our hearts have heard you call us by name and say, I love you.

I have given my life for you.

I have sacrificed all for you.

And as we hear this, Lord, our hearts leap inside us to call upon you, to depend on you, to receive your life.

And I just pray, I I ask that you'd give me a very special thing today.

I pray that you would wash over everyone's minds and hearts and emotions today with the peace of knowing that we are perfectly accepted, that we are perfectly forgiven, and that we are perfectly loved in the beloved Son of God.

I pray that every single person here would have that confidence and have that peace that we have everlasting life.

Give me that, I pray, Jesus.

And we worship you in spirit and truth this morning.

In your name we pray.

Amen.

Would you guys all stand with us as we sing a song?

Jesus teach me a simple melody.

From the top of the law.

Jesus comes soon.

Amen.

Amen.

God bless you all.