John Chapter 5:24-34

Everyone will be judged.

Everyone. Now you need to understand this. It's not that just unbelievers will be judged. That's not all that it's saying here. It's saying that those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation, there's two resurrections, there's two judgments. And every person in this room will stand in front of God at the end of their life and have to give an account. And if you're trusting in your own works, man, friend, it's not going to be good.

It's not going to be good. And the concept that everybody, when they die, everybody goes to heaven, whether you call it universal atonement or whatever, it's simply unscriptural. It's not what the Bible has to say here or in other places.

Those who know Jesus will enter into the heavenly abode in His rest and those that do not will go to a place of eternal torment. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. Today, one of David McGee's associate pastors, Pastor Dave Brown, is with us as David teaches in John chapter five. It is all about Jesus. Bob, the Bible clearly states that all of us will be judged before God. Today, Pastor David is going to tell us about two judgments. Which one will we be a part of when we stand before God? So let's jump right in as David McGee continues with part two of his teaching, It Is All About Jesus.

Chapter five, verse 24. Most assuredly I say to you, who 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 into life. Again, the way is laid out to pass from death to life. The way is laid out to get into heaven.

The way is laid out to have access to the Father. Life lesson is the Bible clearly teaches that there's only one way to heaven. It clearly teaches there's only one way to heaven. I'm not talking about one verse. I'm talking about a whole bunch of verses. Of course, there's I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one goes to the Father but through me.

And the verse we just saw, to honor the Father, you have to honor the Son. And again, I'm just grateful there is that one way. I'm not in arrogance or ignorance going to say, well, I wish there was another way. If there was another way, then I would go that way.

But I'm not going to do that. And whoever believes, whoever believes, isn't that awesome? Whoever hears and believes. That's real complicated. Let me repeat it. Whoever hears and believes, Jesus in His love for us set it up to be so simple and so straightforward. And yet we've been pretty busy the last 2,000 years trying to complicate it.

It's not that simple. You got to do more than just hear and believe. That's what Jesus said, that we can be passed from death to life if we do this. And again, look at the power that is being ascribed to Jesus.

Jesus is God. There's a passage in Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6. And it's interesting because this one's on, they edit it out when they do Christmas cards very interestingly enough.

They take one part of it out. Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6 says, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Now we recognize that the Wonderful and the Counselor and the Son being given is Jesus. What about the Mighty God part?

Evidently, it's talking about Jesus as well. But I love this here, back to the hear and believe. Back to the hear and believe.

I mean, how simple can it get? I'm so grateful for this. I'm so grateful that when I decided to be a Christian, somebody didn't go, okay, well, this is Section A, Part 1, Section A. And if you look down to, here's the list of the do's and don'ts. And if you can do all those for long enough, then we might let you in.

But looking at you, probably not. I'm so grateful that it was hear and believe. And what happens is, Christians, when they're supposed to be spreading the good news, are spreading something else that's not the good news.

And painting all these rules and these regulations, and you've got to do this, and you've got to do that. And if you do this, that, and the other, and you do that long enough, then you're in. How tragic. That's the good news.

That doesn't sound like good news to me. The good news is, even though you and I are sinners, even though we fall far short of the glory of God, even though we don't deserve heaven, if we will hear and we will believe, we've passed from death to life. Verse 25, Most assuredly, I say to you, 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. You know, this morning, there's people who were spiritually dead who are alive this morning. Dead in their sins and raised from the dead. But there's also the concept, again, of Lazarus.

Isn't that awesome? And Jesus is still doing this. He's still raising people from the dead. Ephesians talks about us being dead in our sins. Boy, that's a good description. That's a good description, being dead in our sins. Because you can, you know, if you've come to know the Lord, and maybe you had a checkered past or colored past, or maybe you were just a goody-two-shoes, but still, go back and look at photos of yourself before you got saved.

It's interesting. Because, you know, the smile, it doesn't reach the eyes. And even if your face is smiling, your eyes aren't smiling. And Jesus takes us when we're dead, and he makes us alive. Hopefully that describes you this morning. If that describes you this morning, just raise your hand.

Say, yes, that describes me. I have passed from death to life. Praise God.

Now, if you didn't raise your hand, we'll get to you in a moment. You're going to have the opportunity to go from death to life. And again, Jesus is talking about the power to raise the dead. And again, that's the power of God. So he is God. He is deity. He is God. Maybe you're sitting there going, okay, well, maybe you're sitting there going, okay, okay, okay, you said that several times this morning. That's right. I'm going to keep saying it.

Why? Because scripture teaches it. And there's groups out there, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, that say Jesus was not God. Verse 26, for as the Father has life in himself, so he is granted the Son to have life in himself, and has given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of Man. Again, he has life in himself. I believe that when Jesus from the cross said, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit, he was having to allow himself to die, unlike the way that you and I would die. And he calls himself Son of Man here. That comes from Daniel 7, chapter 7, verse 13 and 14.

And you know what's cool? Jesus calls himself Son of Man over 80 times in the Gospels. It was his favorite term for himself.

That's amazing to me. He's the Son of God. He is, these things came into being in this earth, creator of the universe. But how does he title himself? He identifies, oh, this is sweet, he identifies himself with us, saying he's Son of Man. How humble, because I know that, you know, if that was me and I was the Son of God, that was, you know, that's, I would probably use that handle more than identifying myself with humanity. And here, when he says Son of Man, he is claiming to be the Messiah, the Messiah, the coming Prince or Messiah, the coming Messiah.

He's saying I'm the guy. I am the Son of Man. Verse 28, 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, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. That is going to be a trip, isn't it? I mean, that is just going to be wild. I'm looking forward to it.

I'm looking forward to seeing these things. Because, you know, Jesus told me in the book that he was going to raise me spiritually from the dead. And guess what happened when I got saved? I was spiritually raised from the dead.

Because he did that, guess what? I can trust him when he says he's physically going to raise me from the dead as well. I can trust that.

He's got an awesome track record. And look at verse 29. See, guys, this is why evangelism is so important. Everyone will be judged.

Everyone. Now, you need to understand this. It's not that just unbelievers will be judged. That's not all that it's saying here. It's saying that those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. There's two resurrections, there's two judgments. And every person in this room will stand in front of God at the end of their life and have to give an account. And if you're trusting in your own works, man, friend, it's not going to be good.

It's not going to be good. And the concept that everybody, when they die, everybody goes to heaven, whether you call it universal atonement or whatever, it's simply unscriptural. It's not what the Bible has to say here or in other places. Those who know Jesus will enter into the heavenly abode in his rest. And those that do not will go to a place of eternal torment.

Who would wish that on anybody? Now, understand, those who have done good, is he saying that you've got to do good? Is this talking about works?

No. It's done well. He's already told us in verse 24 what done well to looks like. Hearing and believing. That's where it starts. It doesn't start with good works. It starts by believing in Jesus. Once you believe in Jesus, I believe works should follow, just as the book of James says. But you're not saved by your works.

Faith comes and then works. But this mentions two resurrections. Understand, there's two judgments. And the life lesson here is we will all be judged before Christ. We'll all be judged before Christ. Now, maybe you thought, well, no, aren't just unbelievers going to be judged? No, clearly not from scripture. Again, don't take my word for it. I read this new bestseller.

No, I'm kidding. This is what the Bible says, that there's two judgments, if you will. There's the judgment seat for the believer. One is called the judgment seat of Christ or the bima seat.

Bima is just Greek for judgment. For the believers. And then there's the great white throne judgment for the unbelievers.

And if you're taking notes, you may want to jot these down. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 10 says, but we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. That's the Greek word bima. That each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. And that's the part, you know, where we are judged before the Lord.

What we did is tried. And that's where, you know, some stuff there's going to be wood, hay and stubble. It's going to be consumed in the fire.

Some will be as precious metals. The things that we've really done for the Lord. And then the other judgment, the great white throne judgment, Revelation chapter 20 verse 11 says, then I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was no, found no place for them. So we know this and we believe it.

It should change the way we live. If you understand as a believer that one day you will stand in front of the Lord and give account for what you've done, as scripture plainly presents, knowing Jesus is going to say, hey, why'd you do that? Why'd you do this? That motivates me. And Jesus, we're told he didn't, he didn't judge the first time.

We're told that in many places, John 3, 16, 17, 18, but he is the second time. See in this, this is what motivates me. This is knowing that at some point I'm going to stand before the Lord and he's going to inspect what I've done. He's going to say, okay, you know, listen, I wanted you, I told you in Timothy to teach the word.

So, you know, why did you spend six weeks and men are from Mars and women are from Venus at the church? We're not doing that. That's what we're doing. He's going to ask me, did you teach the word?

And I want to be able to say, you betcha. That's what we did. I taught the word of God, didn't teach anything else. We were focused on the word as best as I could. We'll be right back with more from David McGee on Cross the Bridge. Right now, here's a word from associate pastor, D.A.

Brown. Hey, Bob, we're excited about God's word going forth and we want to pray for some listeners in these cities, Susanville, California, Talmadge, Truckee, Victorville, Westwood, Yankee Hill and Yreka, California. God, we pray for the people listening in these cities today and the surrounding areas. We pray that they would put their trust and hope in you, that they would be encouraged and how much you love them. And Lord, that they would look for other people who you place in their life to share this good news with as well.

And God, that they would get plugged into a Bible teaching, Bible believing church. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse. Verse 30. I can of myself do nothing, as I hear I judge, and my judgment is righteous because I do not seek my own will but the will of the Father who sent me.

Again, a statement that we should use for a model. Not that we want to do what we want to do, but we want to do what the Lord wants us to do. And we should live our lives in such a way that the priorities to God are our priorities and have an eternal perspective. And the New Living Translation phrases this, but I do nothing without consulting the Father. See, there are some things that God cannot or maybe better will not do. God will not lie.

Aren't you glad? We can trust in the Lord because He cannot or will not lie. And Jesus is saying, I am so in tune with the Father, there are certain things that I won't do.

Not necessarily can't, but won't. Why? Because He was God. That was His character.

That was His nature. And understand, we have the opposite problem. We were born in sin. We are the bad news with the good news.

The bad news is we were just rebels, man. We were born in rebellion. We were born in sin.

If you think you're the only one that is tempted to do bad things or tempted not to do good things, that's not true. We have a sinful nature that is at war with God. Read the book of Romans.

It's at war with God. But what happens is, well, it starts with salvation. What happens at salvation is instead of having our way, we choose God's way. We bend our will to Him and say, you know what, God, I really wanted to be saved through my works. I really wanted to be saved through whatever bahama, bahama. Muhammad or Buddha. It's a new religion.

I need to slow down a little bit. I really wanted to be saved that way, but I will bend my will to you. And if you're telling me there is a way to be saved through the death of Jesus Christ, I bend my will to yours and say, yes, I'd like to receive that way.

And there it starts. But that's not the end of the bending of the will. Because after that, we live a life and we bend our will to God. We're presented with a crossroads.

You can do this or you can do that. You can go your way or you can go God's way. And again, we bend our will.

And the more we bend our will to God, the more blessed we are and the more we're living for Him and not living for ourselves. Verse 31, if I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There's another who bears witness of me and I know that the witness which he witnesses of me is true. Understand in Jewish law, you couldn't be a witness in your court proceeding. You couldn't defend yourself from the stand.

It wasn't allowed. Verse 33, you have sent to John and he has borne witness to the truth. Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.

John was the forerunner for Jesus bearing witness that He was coming. And Jesus is saying, I don't get honor in the King James. I don't receive honor from men. I don't receive testimony from men.

I'm doing these things. I'm saying these things that you may be saved. Being saved is not something man came up with. It's not something the Baptist came up with. It's something that Jesus came up with. So when you talk about being saved, that's a very scriptural term. When you talk about being born again, that's a term taken right from the Bible. It's amazing.

People talk about that Jesus was a good teacher, but then they say they reject Him as Messiah, they reject Him as God. Wait a minute. If He was a good teacher, that means that the information that He's given us is good. It's good stuff. You can take it. You can read it.

You can believe it. That means we should listen to Him. That means we should listen to Him. That means we should learn from Him. And right here, He's saying, He's doing all this.

Why? So that we can be saved. Jesus didn't come to just a good group, a group of people that had proven themselves to be worthy and interested in spiritual things. He came for the lost. He came for you. He came for me.

He came that we might have life. And then what does He do? He breaks down all these barriers.

He breaks down all these distinctions. Now, guys, understand, He didn't do that accidentally. He did it very deliberately, breaking down the walls of legalism, breaking down the walls of a religion based upon good works. He did that so that this morning, we can sit here and we can be forgiven of our sins.

What an amazing thing. God has a good plan for your life. It's not your plan. It's His plan. Oh, you can try to fulfill your plan, but, man, you're going to be sorely disappointed. What you want to do is see what His plan is for your life. And His plan for your life is for your life.

And His plan for your life starts here this morning. If you've never asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins, that's what it starts with. And maybe you're thinking, well, I'm not good enough. Exactly. You're not good enough.

That's why He died for you, that you might be forgiven. I mean, whose plan do you want to walk in? Your plan? How's your plan going in your life? How has your plan been walked out and executed when you were in charge of your life and running your life? Well, that didn't go so well. But as I've turned my life over to Him and said, not my way, but your way, man, what a blessing.

What an awesome blessing. I had an interesting experience this morning. We had the window open and there's a little hole in the screen and a wasp had gotten in the bathroom. So here's this wasp flying around the bathroom. And if any of you know me, what I do if I find a bug or I find an animal or whatever inside, I put it outside because it got in there by mistake or something. So I had a little container that I'm trying to get the wasp, who's not very interested in my little container, but I'm trying to swoop him so that, bear with me.

I know this will get a little bit weird, but there's a point here. I'm trying to swoop the wasp into the container so I can put him outside. And the wasp is, he's starting to get angry. And I can tell he's thinking about stinging me, you know, and I'm trying to catch him when he gets still and he won't be still. And so, you know, we're going back and forth. And then I said, you know, what are you doing?

I'm trying to save you. And he was angry. And then it became apparent what he was after. There was some fake flowers up in the corner of the room.

They weren't real. That's what he was after. He didn't want me to take him and save him and place him outside. He wanted the fake flowers. Now, at some point, I never got him outside. And at some point, he's probably going to realize, because he may die inside for those fake flowers, that those flowers were fake. But he had the opportunity.

And he turned it down. How much like that are we? God chases us around. God says, you know what? I'm chasing you to try to save you, to bring you to myself, to bring you to freedom and life and liberty and how we struggle, how we try to escape for fake flowers, how we sit there and we think about stinging him and saying bad things and dissing Jesus as he's trying to save us and set us free.

Some of you have gotten angry at Jesus for following you around, for pursuing you, when he wants to save you and set you free. And if you think I get excited about setting a bug free, that's nothing compared to people being set free in Jesus. See, if only I could have gotten that wasp and taken him to the window seal, he would have realized what was going on and he would have flown away and he would have been free. And you know what?

That's what I'm trying to do here this morning. I'm trying to get you to the window seal so that you can be set free and experience life like you maybe never have. Some of you may have already been saved, but you've been wandering. You haven't been experiencing that freedom that God meant for you to have. I want to bring you again to the window seal of you, to the altar where you can experience that freedom.

What's the window for us? It's the cross. That's the place we go to be set free. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Now, God wants you to pray this prayer so much that he died to give you the opportunity and the ability to ask him to forgive you.

Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven, and I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned, and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again.

Jesus said he would not turn anybody away who comes to him, and he came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness, those who were sick, not the righteous. So congratulations, friend. You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. Well, DA, before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day, you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God, with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee. That sounds good, Pastor DA.

And again, it's been great to have you with us on the program today. But tell us, what else can our listeners find on crossthebridge.com? If you're not able to make it to your home church this Sunday, why not join us for our live stream at 10 a.m. Eastern Time, or on Thursday nights at 7 p.m. Eastern Time? Just visit crossthebridge.com and click on our live stream link. There, you'll experience a live service from David's Home Church, The Bridge in North Carolina. Again, that website is crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening, and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the Gospel of John.