“The Two Resurrections”

(John 5:24-29)

Introduction: Last week we were considering the resurrection of Christ, and noting how
important it is to us. Without it, we would have no hope of life beyond the grave, only the
certain terrifying expectation of judgment. Remember how when John saw the risen and
glorified Christ on the Island of Patmos, he fell down at his feet as a dead man. He was
afraid of him, because he was aware of his sin and of its consequences in the presence of the
holy God. But Christ placed His hand on him and raised him up and spoke comforting words
to him. In essence, He told John that as the One who is the first and the last, the One who is
God Himself, He, through His incarnation, His suffering and His resurrection, had overcome
John’s sins, as well as the sins of all of His people. The keys of death and hell are now given
to Him, and He has authority over them, either to free a person from that condemnation, or to
give him over to it. The implication for John was, that although he was a sinner and under
condemnation, yet, through Christ’s work, he had been set free. This is the comfort which
Christ gives to His saints, to those who will come to Him in faith and repentance. This is the
only way in which a sinner can ever stand in the presence of the holy God. There is salvation
in Christ Jesus and in Him alone. God takes His justice so seriously, that He gave His Son to
die that He might show mercy to sinners. The sacrifice of His Son was the only possible way
in which He might do this. This being the case, do you think that God will receive anyone
who attempts to come in any other way? No. He cannot without denying everything He did
in Christ! You must come to God through Christ, on God’s terms, or you cannot come to
Him at all. God has given His Christ authority. God has made Him to be the door of
salvation. And He is the only way to God.
What we will want to consider from our text this morning is how Christ now exercises
this authority, and how He will do so at the end of the age. And what we will see is that,

Christ has the authority to release a person from, or to bind him over to, the
condemnation of his sins, in this life and in the next. Christ can save you or He can
condemn you, both with equal justice.

I. First, I Want You to See that Christ Has the Authority to Release Men from Their
Sins.
A. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who
sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death
into life.”
1. Jesus begins this crucially important statement with the words, “Truly, truly,” which
is a solemn declaration that what He is about to say is very important.
a. Everything Christ that says is important and necessary for us. His words are to
be our daily bread. But how much more are we to feed upon those things which
He singles out as especially important.
b. And what is it that He points us to? It is the evidence of how we might know
that we have eternal life.

2. Jesus says, “He who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal
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life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”
a. Notice first of all that Jesus is not telling us here how to be saved, but what is
true of those who are saved. He does not say “If you hear My Word, and if you
believe Him who sent Me, you will have eternal life,” but rather tells us that those
who do hear Him and believe God, have this life.
b. Jesus is giving to us the character of those who have been born again from
above, of those who are in possession of eternal life. They have not only heard
the words of Christ, but they hear His words. That is, have not only heard and
understood and responded to His commands, but they continue to listen to them
and to submit to them.
c. They also believe the One who sent Christ. They have not only believed the
witness which God has given of His Son, but they continue to believe all that He
has said. You cannot be born again from above and in the kingdom of God
unless you believe that everything that God has said is true. You must believe
and trust the Word of God as He has given it to us in the Bible.
d. And, we must not forget, that true saving belief in God means not only believing
His Word to be true, but also showing that we believe them by doing what it says.
We must embrace the One He points us to for our salvation. And we must obey
all that He commands us. John the Baptist said, “He who believes in the Son has
eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of
God abides on him” (John 3:36).
e. If these things are true of you this morning, if you hear the words of Christ and
obey them with your whole heart, in whatever He asks of you, leaving nothing
undone, and if you believe the God who sent Him, you have eternal life. You
have that gift of God which comes from above. It is only by His grace, which
comes sovereignly from Him as a free gift, that this could ever be true of you.
f. And, Jesus continues, if this is true of you, you do not come into judgment, that
is, you are now no longer under the condemnation of death, spiritual death. You
have been made alive again by the sovereign grace of God. You have passed out
of death into life. You now possess spiritual life, and because of this, you will
never die.

B. This new existence which Christ speaks of, this passing from death into life, is likened
here to a resurrection.
1. Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead
shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear shall live.”
a. This is similar language to what Jesus told the woman at Jacob’s well. He said,
“But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the
Father in spirit and in truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His
worshipers” (John 4:23).
b. Christ says that the hour is coming, yes, and it now is, when the dead shall hear
His voice; and those who hear shall live.
c. Christ came to seek and to save the lost. The way He did it was by preaching
the message of the Gospel, that all men everywhere should repent and believe.
d. Jesus came to those who were spiritually dead. It is not that all were dead, for
there were those faithful believers under the Old Covenant. But by far the vast
majority of them were.
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e. They were dead; dead in their trespasses and sins. And as a man who is
physically dead is utterly unable to respond to anything, so these could not
respond to Christ.
f. But not all remained dead. There were those who were enabled to hear by the
Spirit of God, those who were born again from above. It was not everyone. The
number was very small. But they were made spiritually alive. God gave them a
new heart that inclined them towards Christ, so that they willingly heard His
Word and came to Him.
g. And even though Christ is now in heaven, seated at the right hand of God, yet He
still calls His people out of death unto life by His Word and Spirit. He does so
through His saints, as they carry that message of the Gospel, according to His
command, to all the world.
h. But that which makes the ultimate difference as to whether or not a person will
hear, is the sovereign grace of God. Not all hear, but some do.
i. At this point it would be appropriate for us to ask ourselves, whether or not we
have heard His voice, and are still listening to it. Has Christ spoken to you?
Have you heard His call to faith and repentance, and have you responded? Are
you showing that your heart has been changed by continually listening to Him and
yielding obedience to His commands? If so, then you have strong evidence that
you are born again from above, that you have passed from death into life.
j. But if you haven’t, then what are you to do? How can you who resist the Lord in
your hearts ever turn from your sins and give to God the obedience which He
commands?

2. The answer is that you must come to God through Christ, for God alone has the
authority, the power to change your heart.
a. Christ continues, “For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to
the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute
judgment, because He is the Son of Man.”
b. Christ has been given honor and authority, because of His work of redemption.
He now has the power to bestow life and the power to withhold life, to free a man
from judgment or to leave him to it.
c. The Father, who is here shown in His role as the representative of the Godhead in
the covenant of Redemption, has all life and blessedness in Himself. He has the
power to confer grace or to withhold it.
d. He has given to the Son, as a reward for His humiliation and suffering, to also
have life within Himself. It is not that Christ in His Deity does not have it, for
He possesses all things as God. But rather it is in His incarnate state that God
has given Him the right over these things.
e. Now, Christ as the God-man has the authority to give this life to those whom the
Father has given to Him. He can send forth His Spirit to bestow the gift of life,
through union with Himself. He can raise His children from the dead by the
power of that indwelling Spirit. He says, in verse 21, “For just as the Father
raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He
wishes.”
f. But Christ can also leave a person in their state of death which they are by nature.
He can leave them bound over to their sins and the penalty of those sins. It is all
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in His sovereign power.

g. And so if you are yet in your sins and bound over to eternal death, then you must
come to the One who can release you from those sins and can raise you to life.
You must come to Christ. He has the authority to set you free! You, like one
who is dead, can do nothing. Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh
profits nothing” (6:63). You cannot save yourself. Your only hope is to come
to Christ, that you might receive His life by His mercy.
h. And their is good hope for you that if you cry out to the Lord you will be saved,
for the Lord is sovereignly disposed to be merciful.

II. This Brings Us Now to the Second Resurrection, the Outcome of Which Is
Determined by the First Resurrection.
A. There is one spiritual resurrection which is through Christ, and there is one bodily
resurrection which will also come about through Christ. He continues, “Do not marvel
at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice,
and shall come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who
committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment” (vv. 28-29).
1. Christ not only has the power to raise a person spiritually, but also bodily. He has
shown us that He does by raising Lazarus and the widow’s son from the dead. And
by His infinite power, He can also raise all the dead at one time.
2. But notice that in this resurrection, unlike the last, there will be no one missing.
a. This resurrection is yet future, “An hour is coming.” Jesus does not say that it
now is. Jesus is not presently raising the dead physically. This event is awaiting
His return from heaven.
b. But when this hour comes “all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and
shall come forth.” Not some, who are in their graves, but all.
c. This is a call of Christ that all will hear and that all will respond to, for they
cannot resist His power.
d. And notice that since all are called from the tombs, that there cannot be any
subsequent resurrections, for there will be no one left! There is only one bodily
resurrection.

3. And what does Jesus say is the purpose of this resurrection? It is really two-fold.
a. Those who did the good deeds shall come forth to a resurrection of life.
b. And those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.
c. All of the dead will be raised in order to bring them to the judgment bar of
Christ. All of them will be judged according to their works. And all of them
will be rewarded or penalized accordingly.
d. Again, I point out that the Scripture never says that we will be judged merely
according to our profession, but by our works. Our works really show the
character of our hearts.
e. And so we should not find it strange that in Scripture, again and again, the
judgment of Christ relates to what we have done, not merely to what we have
professed concerning Christ.
f. Paul writes in Romans that God “WILL RENDER TO EVERY MAN
ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: to those who by perseverance in doing good
seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are
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selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and
indignation” (Rom. 2:6-8).
g. He also writes in 2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the
body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
h. At the Sheep and Goat Judgment of Matthew 25, all are judged according to their
works. The sheep are rewarded for their actual feeding of the hungry, giving
drink to the thirsty, taking in of the stranger, clothing of the naked, and visiting of
the sick and imprisoned, while the goats are rejected for their failure to do so (vv.
31-46).
i. The same thing is true of that much debated passage of Revelation 20. In verses
11-13, we read, “And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from
whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.
And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books
were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the
dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to
their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades
gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them
according to their deeds.”
j. I want you to notice the strong parallels which exist between Revelation 20 and
John 5.
(i) In Revelation 20, there is a first resurrection and a second resurrection. In
John 5, there are also two.
(ii) In Revelation 20, not everyone takes part in the first resurrection, but all take
part in the second. The same is true of John 5.
(iii) In Revelation 20, those who do take part in the first resurrection are given
special spiritual privileges: They rule and reign with Christ for a thousand
years. Those who take part in the second are all gathered together for
judgment. In John 5, the first group have spiritual blessings, and the second
group are all gathered for judgment.
(iv) In Revelation 20, those who take part in the first resurrection have no fear of
the second death, which is called the lake of fire. “Blessed and holy is the one
who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no
power.” But some of those who take part in the second do. He writes, “And
if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into
the lake of fire” (20:15). In John 5, the first pass from death into life, while in
the second some are raised to life and others to judgment.

k. I believe on this basis, it is best to see that both of these passages refer to the
same event. There is only one spiritual resurrection to life, and there is only one
bodily resurrection to judgment. Those who take part in the first resurrection,
which is the spiritual resurrection one undergoes when he is born again from
above, will have nothing to fear from the second death, even though he will be
present at the final judgment, because he has been delivered by Christ. His name
will have been recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life from before the foundation of
the world, and he will not be cast into the fiery furnace with the unbelievers and
rebellious.
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l. The important thing to see is that the outcome of the second resurrection will be
determined by whether or not you are a participant in the first.

B. Seeing then that there will be a general resurrection of the just and the unjust, that all
will be judged according to their works, and that Christ alone has the power to free you
from the fear of that day, what are you to do?
1. If you are a Christian here this morning, if Christ has released you from judgment,
and if you see the evidences of this through a life of godliness and increasing
holiness, then you are called by this passage to give yourself wholly to God in a life
of praise, worship and service to Him.
a. Christ, in His love and mercy, has set you free from the fear of eternal damnation
in hell.
b. The only appropriate response that you can give is a life of continual devotion in
love and submission to His will.

2. But if you are apart from Christ this morning, and strangers to this love and grace,
then you must run to Christ, and lay hold of Him.
a. Outside of Christ, you are still in danger of the damnation of hell. Outside of
Christ you will certainly perish.
b. Christ, through His death and resurrection, has been entrusted with the authority
to judge you according to your works. If one sin deserves the damnation of hell
for eternity, because it is committed against an infinitely holy God, how much
punishment do you think your years of sinning against Him deserves? God says
that hell grows hotter for you with each additional sin you commit.
c. How can you escape what you know is inevitably coming?
d. You must come to Christ while the door of His mercy stands open. Christ calls
you to come by His word. He calls you right now. This is the means He has
appointed to alert you to your danger and to give you the direction in which to go.
e. He tells you this morning to stop rebelling against Him, and to yield yourself
wholly to Him. He tells you to give up your own life, to lay it down that you
might find it again. If you save your life in this world, you will lose it. But if
you give it up for Christ’s sake and for the Gospel, then you will find it.
f. And so turn from your wicked ways and come to Christ. Receive His offer of
full pardon and His promise of everlasting life. If you truly seek Him with all
your heart, you shall find Him.
g. But if you find that your stubborn heart will not let you come, then cry out to
Christ to change it. You cannot do it, but He is able. He is the only One who
can.
h. Christ Jesus tells you this morning that He has the keys of death and of hell, as
well as those of heaven. He is the One you must reckon with. I pray that you
will meet the terms of His offer by His grace, and receive His everlasting
blessings. May God grant you the grace and mercy to do so. Amen.