AMEN NEMA Studying the Amen Amen Sayings of

AMEN NEMA Studying the “Amen, Amen” Sayings of Jesus NEMA

AMEN NEMA “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Very truly I tell you, 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. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

AMEN NEMA “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 what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. ” - John 5: 24 -30

AMEN NEMA Crossing Over “The reality was that you had either crossed the creek or you hadn’t; you couldn’t really be “crossing” the creek for more than a second or two. ”

AMEN Four Key Verbs NEMA • “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. ” (John 5: 24) 1. Hears and believes (present active tense) - points to a present reality of hearing and believing and not some distant past event; it speaks to an ongoing, recent hearing and believing. 2. Has eternal life (present active tense) - possession of eternal life is a present experience according to our text. Obviously, there is a future yet to come aspect to eternal life, but there is also a very clear present aspect, too.

AMEN Four Key Verbs NEMA • “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. ” (John 5: 24) 3. Will not be judged (future tense) - suggests that by hearing and believing, one will never come into a state of condemnation. 4. Has crossed over (perfect active tense) - a result of hearing and believing in Jesus’ word on an ongoing basis is that one has definitively crossed over from death to life and continues to live moving forward in this new eternal life.

AMEN NEMA • When it comes to our spiritual life, Jesus is teaching here that there is no position of “crossing” from death to life; you are either alive or spiritually dead. • A perpetual stage of crossing positions us for inactivity and spiritually disengagement. • Do you know that if you are hearing Christ’s word and believing in Him that you, right now, have eternal life?

AMEN NEMA • “Very truly I tell you, 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. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. ” (John 25: 25 -26) • Jesus likely meant two things by this statement: 1. those who are presently in spiritual death will be called to eternal life 2. in a future temporal moment, those physically dead will be called to physically resurrected eternal life

AMEN NEMA • “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. ” (John 11: 25 -26) • Eternal life is now here and by the amazing interaction of Christ’s will and our faith in Jesus, we can receive it immediately. • As Romans 8: 38 tells us, not even death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, a love that gifts us eternal life. • We can right now, enjoy eternal life – a transformation of spirit, heart, standing and identity - as a present spiritual reality, knowing also that there is so much more to come – a complete fulfillment - one day, too.

AMEN NEMA • In very short order, the biblical narrative will record three accounts of Christ calling the physically dead to life – the widow’s son at Nain, Jairus’ daughter, and His friend, Lazarus and all three occur by Christ’s word. • There will be a temporal moment when all people, both those alive and those in physical death, will heed the voice of Jesus, as did these three individuals, and be called out of death/sleep. At this future time, Christ, having been given both the authority to gift life and the authority to righteously judge humanity by God the Father according to vs. 27 of our text, will execute eternal judgement.

AMEN NEMA • “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. ” (John 3: 16 -18) • Jesus enables us to live free of the ominous threat of judgement and without fear of death, for, by faith in Jesus, we have been set free with the gift of eternal life. What an incredible reality!

AMEN NEMA 1. Are you, right now, hearing and believing the Living word and His words of life? 2. Is it a present reality in your life? 3. Which bank of the creek are you on – the back of death or the bank of life? 4. Am I living in freedom, as one who right now has eternal life, having crossed over from death to life?

AMEN NEMA Might we all would hear His voice, knowing the profound, unfathomable love of Christ for us and experiencing full life and freedom from death, both now and forever. In a world dominated by death, might you have life!