Message

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In the previous passage Jesus made a 38 year invalid get up and walk by the power of his word. This was done on the Sabbath. So Jesus was persecuted. At this time of persecution Jesus was not daunted but spoke amazing things regarding himself. Thus he revealed himself by his own words. He is the Son of God, who has the authority to give eternal life and the authority to judge. As one who has this authority, he urges us to do one thing. First, the Father and the Son are always working. The day Jesus healed the invalid man was the Sabbath. The Jews had so many Sabbath laws not to do this and that. In the course of keeping rules meticulously they completely forgot the true meaning of the Sabbath. They thought doing no work was keeping the Sabbath. In fact they did nothing physically but in their hearts they had no God. Rather they were full of human thinking, such as how to get rid of Jesus. They had no fellowship with God in their spirit, so no rest but only troubles in their hearts. However, as for Jesus he loved God and was full of hope and compassion for the invalid and healed the man on the Sabbath. Indeed, Jesus had deep fellowship with God. He spent the Sabbath in the service of God and others. Jesus said to the Jews, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” God is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. His work did not finish with the creation. He maintains his created world. God is living and working. He causes his sun to rise everyday including Sun-day. There will be a day when all things stop functioning. Most importantly God is doing his work of soul salvation each and every day. God has no weekends and holidays to do his work of saving souls. He will be happy if more people receive healing and salvation on Sunday. He is faithful to his duty, most hard-working and diligent. In our society we often see that the patients who are in emergency cannot go to hospitals or good doctors are not available to them on Sunday. But our God is different. He is always available and always working ahead. This is the reason the Son Jesus was working even on the Sabbath healing the sick. We remember how Jesus worked. When he was tired and thirsty and hungry, he served a Samaritan woman until her soul was revived. He said that doing God’s work was his food. On the Sabbath he healed a man with a shriveled hand; he healed a crippled woman whose back was bent over for eighteen years; he opened the eyes of a man born blind; and he made the 38 year paralytic walk. It seemed that Jesus worked more on the Sabbath, not intentionally, but necessarily. We thank God that the Father and the Son are always working for the salvation of mankind. May we take part in the heart and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Second, the Son gives life to men. Look at verse 19. “Jesus gave them this answer: ‘I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” Jesus did not do his own work. He was watchful to see what God was doing and sensitive to do whatever the Father did. So his work was none other than God’s work. Many great men in the world do various kinds of work. Most of them do their own work. But all Jesus did was God’s work. And he did all the work in love relationship with the Father God. Look at verses 20,21. “…Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.” All human work ends in death. Death swallows up everything. Nowadays the “well-being” business seems to be prosperous (some examples). It is good to live a healthy and happy life. But no one can do anything with death. Bethesda pool was the pool of the sick. All kinds of sick people were lying there. But the world is worse than that: it is the sea of death, filled with dead and dying people. Everyone carries the sickness of death. The severity of this sickness varies. Yet, all have these sicknesses; not just cancer patients but all have the disease of death. Ecclesiastes 8:4 says, “Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion.” It is true that a live man is much better than a dead man. But a live man becomes a dead man in the matter of time. Death takes away all the meaning and happiness of men. But to our amazement it is written, “Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.” While on earth Jesus raised a dead girl from the bed, a dead young man from the coffin and a corpse from the grave. He himself was raised from the dead. He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” There is a remedy for the sickness of death. That is to believe in him. Jesus’ work is life-giving, which is over the power of death. He gives life, death-killing life to those who believe in him. Fear of death is embedded in all men. It makes people sorrowful and anxious and fearful and helpless and hopeless and lifeless. When people have no true hope under the power of death, they are strongly attached to the things of the world. They become petty and often ugly. They try to preserve their lives for more comfortableness and benefit and pleasure, confined in this world. They are basically fatalistic upon their lives. But those who receive the life Jesus gives have true meaning and purpose of life with real hope. They can accept any given-situation with thanks and live by faith. We thank Jesus who gives life to men. What an authority! Third, Jesus wants all men to hear his word. Look at verse 24. “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent him has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” This promise of Jesus is truly great. There have been so many words of men. But who could make such a promise as this through his word? This is the promise of eternal life, no condemnation, and crossing over from death to life here and now. Jesus’ words are different from any human words. Jesus said John 6:63, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” Those who put Jesus’ words above any words and any human situation and believe in God who sent him have eternal life. They will not be condemned while all other sinners, condemned. They have crossed over from the sea of death to the sea of life. When the royal officer in John chapter 4 heard Jesus’ word, “Your son will live,” and regarded it as highest authority, he could experience the power of Jesus’ word. He and all his family believed and crossed over from death to life. Jesus said, “…whoever hears my word…”There is no boundary in hearing the word of Jesus. Jesus gave his words to all kinds of people so that they might hear his word and have eternal life and salvation. Satan’s great work is to block people from hearing the word of Jesus. Satan is the prince of this world. Hearing Jesus word is a fierce spiritual battle. Hearing Jesus’ word is to fight with ourselves and our human situations and at the same time to fight against the trend of this world. Our children struggle a lot to hear Jesus’ word, because what they are taught in school makes them doubt the words of the Bible. The world we live in is materialistic, physical, relativistic and momentary pleasure-seeking. The world does not seem to allow us to have room for the words of Jesus, holy and truthful. People think that as our society changes, so everything should change with the old stuff passing away and the new coming. It is true that in this world everything is passing away; nothing is certain and reliable. But Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Lk 21:32). In this world we cannot trust anything, for all things change and pass away. But we can put out trust and faith in Jesus’ words, which will never pass away as timeless truth of God. Hearing Jesus’ word must be our top priority in our lives. Look at verse 25. “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.” Here the dead refer to the spiritually dead people. As we studied, the world is the sea of death because all people are dying. At the same time the people of the world are dead spiritually with no spiritual life in them. They are cut off from God. But as God created the world with his words, the Son of God came to this world to speak the words of God so that those who hear would live. This is a recreating work of God. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’” Nicodemus’ flesh was wonderful, obtaining all the things that the world could offer for happiness. But he was dead spiritually. Jesus spoke to him so that he might hear Jesus’ word and be made alive. The Samaritan woman was dead in sin, and her life was deadened in shame and guilt. But when she heard the word of Jesus through conversation with him, her soul was made alive and she became a new person with new joy of life and new hope (some examples). Jesus wants all people of the world to hear his voice and live. This is the reason Jesus sent his disciples to all the world. This is the reason we are here so that all U of Students hear the word of Jesus and live. A truly amazing thing will happen. Look at verses 28,29. “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming, when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.” In many big cities like Toronto, New York, and Los Angeles, graveyards occupy many of the best and busiest areas of the cities rather than the outskirts. I saw a banner at the entrance of a graveyard in Toronto, “We have space for you. Take a good rest.” We feel that in the matter of time the whole city of Toronto will be a graveyard with millions of graves. Maybe people think if they hide themselves in the graves, they will not hear the voice of God’s Son and not be bothered. But they are greatly mistaken. They cannot escape the voice of the Son of God. Against their wishes they will hear his voice. Amazingly a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out. Why? To live again in this world? No, it is to be judged. Those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. In the context of this passage those who have done good are those who hear Jesus’ word and honor him. They can do truly good work, participating Jesus’ work of life-giving. Those who have done evil are those who reject Jesus’ word and dishonour him. They can do some good human work, but they are evil in the sight of God. The people of this world must know that Jesus the Son of God is the Judge of the living and the dead, and he is coming again. Rejecting him and his word is not a light matter. Thank Jesus who has the authority to give eternal life and the authority to judge. In light of this he wants us to hear his word. He tells the truth, “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.” To all people of the world hearing Jesus’ word is of foremost importance for the present life and for the life to come. May we hear his word and let his word be heard as a matter of life and death.

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