John 5:25-27

The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God.

The spiritual resurrection

I. Its SUBJECTS. The spiritually dead, in trespasses and sins. To have life we “must be born again.”

II. Its MANNER.

1. The dead hear the voice of the Son of God in the word preached.

2. This word receives its power from heaven.

III. Its NATURE. Those who hear

1. Live.

2. Shall live. Death is banished for ever.

IV. Its SEASON.

1. The hour is coming.

(1) At Pentecost.

(2) Ever since.

(3) Till time shall be no more.

2. Now is.

(1) The day of the Spirit’s power had already in some measure come. Under every dispensation many heard the voice of the Son of God and lived.

(2) Now is the accepted time.

V. Its SOURCES.

1. The life which is in the Son (John 5:26).

2. The authority exercised by the Son. (A. Beith, D. D.)

The spiritual awakening

I. THE TIME OF IT. Now, during the currency of this Christian dispensation, at any and every moment thereof (2 Corinthians 6:2; Hebrews 3:7; Hebrews 4:7).

II. THE SUBJECTS OF IT (Ephesians 2:1).

III. THE MANNER OF IT. The vitalizing of a dead soul results from the infusion into it of life by the Son of God (John 5:21).

1. Not directly.

2. But indirectly through the word which the Son speaks.

IV. THE COGNITION OF IT. Not all the spiritually dead are quickened, or even all to whom the word of Christ is externally addressed, but only those who hear and believe (Joh 5:24-25, cf. Isaiah 55:3).

V. THE GROUND OF IT. The fact that the Son is possessed of life in Himself as an original and inexhaustible fountain, even as it exists in the Father (John 5:26).

VI. THE END OF IT. Life in the fullest and highest sense. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)

Life for the dead

I. SINNERS ARE BY NATURE DEAD.

1. Legally under the sentence of death (Romans 5:1.). We are guilty and condemned. The curse of the law and the wrath of God are upon all viewed in their relation to Adam.

2. Really. The body is subject to death and to all the miseries which precede death. The soul is dead in trespasses and sins. Natural death makes the body lifeless; spiritual death makes the soul graceless, and both soul and body comfortless for ever.

(1) In natural death the body is without the soul; in spiritual the soul is without God.

(2) Natural death disfigures the body; spiritual the soul.

(3) Natural death makes the body cold; by spiritual the soul becomes cold toward God.

(4) In the one a man loses all right to property that once was his; by the other men lose all their right which they had in Adam to communion with God.

(5) As a dead body is without understanding, so the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.

(6) A dead body cannot raise itself, neither can a dead soul.

II. IN THE GOSPEL MEN ARE PROMISED LIFE.

1. This life is real.

2. It is suitable, removing condemnation, extracting the sting of death, imparting spiritual vitality to the condemned, guilty, and helpless.

3. Christ is this life, and the Holy Spirit applies it to the soul.

4. This life becomes part of a man’s being.

5. This fife, although obstructed in its growth, is capable of endless development.

III. WHAT IT IS THAT QUICKENS THE SOUL OF THE DEAD. The voice of Christ is the Gospel, heard by the faith of the heart. (J. W. Reeve, M. A.)

Life in Himself

Life unoriginated, independent, absolute, eternal life

(Psalms 36:9).

I. SPIRITUAL.

II. EVERFLOWING.

III. OVERFLOWING.

IV. ALL SATISFYING to men and angels. (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)

God is the focus and fountain of life

In Him life may be contemplated in its twofold activity.

I. THE LIFE OF GOD PASSES FORTH FROM ITSELF. It lavishes itself through the realms of nothingness. It summons into being worlds, systems, intelligences, orders of existences unimagined before. In doing this it obeys no necessary law of self-expansion, but pours itself forth with that highest generosity that belongs to a perfect freedom. That is to say that God the Life is God the Creator.

II. GOD IS BEING RETURNING INTO ITSELF, FINDING IN ITSELF ITS PERFECT SATISFACTION. God is thus the object of all dependent life. He is indeed the object of His own life; all His infinite powers and faculties turn ever inward with uncloyed delight upon Himself as upon their one adequate end. We cannot approach more nearly to a definition of pleasure than by saying that it is the exact correspondence between a faculty and its object. Pleasure is thus a test of vitality; and God as being Life is the One Being who is supremely and perfectly happy. (Canon Liddon.)

And hath given Him authority to execute Judgment

The advent in judgment

I. WHO IS THE JUDGE? Christ. He must be Divine to work out so great a judgment; but His humanity is expressly given as a reason for His judgeship.

1. We know His character, and can rely on His fairness and goodness.

2. He knows us, can sympathize with our weakness, and can understand our temptations.

3. Having in His human life conquered the same temptations, He has a right to condemn us if we fail.

4. As Messianic King He has the office of judging those who submit to Him and those who reject Him.

II. WHO ARE TO BE TRIED?

1. The dead. Death is no escape. Those who would not hear the voice of mercy must hear that of judgment. Spiritual death might prevent their hearing the first, but with physical death added they will hear the second.

2. All men.

III. WHAT IS THE GROUND OF TRIAL?

1. Not opinions, feelings, professions, resolutions, but deeds.

2. Not what men expected of us, what the world did, what was fashionable, convenient, suitable or aesthetic in our conduct, but its moral character solely. The simplest but deepest lines of cleavage will separate men--the question of good or evil.

3. But this will be judged by One who reads the heart, weighs all circumstances, and characterizes an act according to its motive. Thus many deeds which the world accounts good will be condemned, and others that are condemned will be justified.

IV. What will the sentences be?

1. A resurrection of life. The reward of obedience is for further obedience--not luxurious indolence.

2. A resurrection of judgment. To the impenitent death does not end all, nor any judgment-day. Their future is dark, but just and fair.

V. WHEN WILL THIS JUDGMENT BE? No one can know. God has fixed it. Every day brings it nearer. To each man it comes virtually at death. (W. F.Adeney, M. A.)

The Son of Man our Judge

As a man His life will condemn us.

I. His HUMILITY our pride.

II. His TEMPERANCE our indulgence.

III. His FORBEARANCE our impatience.

IV. His CHASTITY our sensuality.

V. His PIETY AND DEVOTION our ungodliness and worldly-mindedness. (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)

The Son of Man

1. In His exaltation (John 1:51); as being in heaven while on John 3:13).

2. As Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8).

3. As blasphemed (Matthew 12:32).

4. As coming in glory (Matthew 16:27).

5. As suffering (Matthew 17:12).

6. As rising (Mark 9:9).

7. As Saviour (Matthew 18:11).

8. As sitting on His throne (Matthew 19:28).

9. In His second advent (Matthew 24:30).

10. As made under the law (Galatians 4:4).

11. As subject to God’s decrees (Matthew 26:25).

12. As forgiving sins (Matthew 9:6).

13. As houseless (Matthew 8:20).

14. As wearing a golden crown (Revelation 14:14).

15. As Lord of the angels (Matthew 13:41).

16. As supreme Judge (Revelation 1:7).

17. As head of the Church (Revelation 1:13). (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)

The judgment of the Son of Man

Judgment, as Scripture knows it, is not the popular idea of judgment, which bids us be careful in reverence for the tribunal of human opinion; nor the scientific idea, which shows us how inexorably what we are about to-day will tell upon what we shall be; nor even the moral idea, which challenges us to say whether there is not a right and a wrong, and a choice which we can make between them. The judgment of Scripture is a simpler, deeper, stronger thing, which includes and explains all these. The judgment of Scripture is that which brings each man before God his Maker. In it God is a present, silent “Judge of all.” God’s revealed Word declares a judgment which must be stringent and searching, because it is the judgment of the All-Holy and All-Knowing. What question is it that we should ask? It is, “By what standard shall we be judged?” The text seems to suggest the answer, “The Father hath given to the Son authority to execute judgment, because He is” (the) “Son of Man.” Not, as we might have expected, because He is Son of God, but because He is Son of Man. The Judge wears our manhood; His manhood equips Him for judgment, even as it equips Him for sympathy and compassion. It is by man’s standard, then, that we are judged and shall be judged; and fairly, for it is both the judgment which tries us by what we are made to be, and the judgment which we know; the judgment which speaks within us, just in proportion as our manhood is true and our conscience clear and strong; the judgment which speaks to us still more clearly through the human voices of men and women better than ourselves, calling us to “ quit as like men.” In the Gospels we see the Son of Man beginning thus to judge. By the human instinct of compassion, the priest and Levite are condemned, and the good Samaritan approved; by the human instincts of gratitude and humility, the forgiven, but unforgiving, servant is judged; by the common standard of faithful human service, and even by that of worldly sagacity and foresight, the servant who hid his lord’s talent and the foolish virgins are judged; by comparison with the purely human qualities of zeal and pluck in the jewel collector, or of skilfulness even in the unjust steward, He rebukes men’s slackness and unwisdom in the things that concern their souls; by the human instincts of charity, He declares that men shall be eternally judged, according as they have, or have not, regarded the appeal of the poor, sick, naked, hungry, and captive. Think, then, that we, individually and collectively, shall be judged by the standard of human excellence as it stands in our time, and as we may know it if we will what a dignity and value this gives to the human life about us in all its width and variety. For there, amidst much that corrupts and confuses, are to be found the best thinkings, doings, and strivings of our time and place; and by them, as men of our time and place, we must be judged. In this respect there are some simple counsels which may help. We must, for example, often learn from those whom we can by no means wholly follow. The prudence of the unjust steward is commended, without sanction of his character; the Positivist, who believes in no hereafter, may be admirable in his tenderness for all the natural parts and sympathies of this present life; students, whom, perhaps, we must think narrowly indifferent to interests outside their own departments of knowledge, are often excellent examples to us by their thoroughness, their perseverance, their reverence for every fragment of fact. Again, there is judgment for some of us in simple things, in natural virtues. We may go highflying after intellectual ambitions, and forget modesty and homely courtesy and kindness to those about us; or after special devotion and piety, while we neglect the simple duties of industry in daily work, or dutifulness at home, or brotherly kindness to Christians who are not of our sort. Once again, it would be well to judge ourselves by what is good in men of habits or temperament unlike our own; not to hug our own one-sidednesses, but to suspect them; to remember, if we are eager and easily moved, how much the slow, sober people have to teach us; or, if our pride is in moderation and solidity, how likely we are to need examples of warmer and less self-centred character, and a more generous appreciation of ideals. Remember, then, that the standard by which you must be judged is not that of your own low aims and narrow thoughts, but it is the standard of what you have the opportunity of raising those aims, or enlarging those thoughts, to he by a due use of all that is best and most inspiring in human life, as you have the privilege of knowing it. But we have not exhausted the meaning of the text. It cannot merely mean that we shall be judged by human standards. It must, mean that we shall be judged by the standard of the true manhood of Christ, and of humanity, taught, restored, illuminated by Christ. We have His Name on our lips, His cross before our eyes, His teaching in the gospels, His means of grace lavishly given to us. Must there not be a judgment in this--a judgment because Be is Son of Man revealing to His brother-men how they may be true men, as God their Father would have them be; and they will not? (E. S. Talbot, D. D.)

Christ will bring men to judgment

A man goes into an inn, and as soon as he sits down he begins to order his wine, his dinner, his bed; there is no delicacy in season which he forgets to bespeak. He stops at the inn for some time. By and by the bill is forthcoming, and it takes him by surprise. “I never thought of that!--I never thought of that!” “Why,” says the landlord, “here is a man who is either a born fool or else a knave. What! never thought of the reckoning--never thought of settling with me!” After this fashion too many live. They eat and drink and sin, but they forget the inevitable hereafter, when for all the deeds done in the body the Lord will bring us into judgment. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Death will be followed by judgment

After a mission festival several pastors and deacons continued an hour together, when the conversation drifted from the heathen abroad to those around us, and the following story was told by a village miller:--“I sat at a garden concert with a friend of mine. The first part of the programme was ended, when an acquaintance of my friend’s came to us. ‘Have you heard,’ said he to my friend, ‘that Mr. R--died yesterday quite suddenly? A great pity; he was an agreeable andclever business man, and a pleasant companion. Ah well! he enjoyed life while he lived, and he was quite right; for when we are once dead it’s all finished.’ ‘Is it all finished? Do you really think there is an end of it?’ said I. ‘Ah!’ returned he, ‘I see you are one of the old superstitious ones. What shall come after death greater or better than this life? “As the tree falls, so it lies.”’ ‘Quite right,’ said I; “As the tree falls, so it lies;” but--do not take it amiss, friend--when you wish to prove by this quotation that after death it is finished with respect to us, you have not considered the matter on all sides, or your opinion is a blind one. Near my mill I have a woodyard, and now and then I buy some trees to cut down. Often have I stood over the fallen trunks and thought of those words, “As the tree falls, so it lies;” none will grow one inch taller or thicker, better or worse; all that can be done in him is done. But now, dear sir, it is not all finished; does it not rather begin? I go from trunk to trunk proving the wood. “This,” I say to myself, “will be good for building purposes, that will prove useful;” but for others, I say it is but fit for the fire. You know now how I think of the text. May God help us to become trees of righteousness.’“ (Der Glaubensbote.)