"Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live."—John 5:25.

Tonight, I want us to think together on the subject, "The DEAD Made To LIVE." Now Jesus is not talking about the resurrection. In verse 28 of the same chapter He does introduce the resurrection of the body, but verse 25 is not even remotely related to the resurrection of the body. It has to do therefore with the impartation of life to those who are destitute of spiritual life—"The Dead Made To Live."

There are five things suggested in this text, perhaps more, but five things in particular to which I would direct your attention this evening:

(1) The dead spoken of are the spiritually dead.

(2) The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God.

(3) And they that hear shall live.

(4) Who are they that shall ultimately hear?

(5) The effect of hearing.

Religionists everywhere assail Baptists because of their position on the condition of lost men outside of Jesus. We take the position that those who have not experienced the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration are spiritually dead. For example, in Ephesians 2:1, the religionists mutilate and abuse this text to no end. When Baptists quote and read this text, they retaliate by saying this: "The Scriptures no where use the expression ‘spiritually dead.’" Granted. But the implication is there just the same.

"And you hath he quickened (made alive), who were dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1).

Well, if they had been made alive, He certainly was not talking about being made alive in the FLESH; for how could they have been dead in their sins if they had not been alive in the flesh to commit them? Thus, one can obviously see the inconsistency of the religionist position.

Now Paul said that these Ephesian brethren at one time were dead and that God had given life to them. I know what it says: "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." What kind of DEATH is He talking about? He is talking about spiritual death. He defines it in verses 11 and 12 of the same chapter in Ephesians 2, and the Apostle John corroborates what Paul introduces here: "He that hath the Son hath LIFE."—1 John 5:12. Now he wasn’t talking about physical life; men that live in this world have physical life whether they know Christ or not. A lost person is just as much alive in the flesh as is a child of God. The Apostle John is talking about being void and destitute of the spiritual life: ". . . he that hath NOT the Son of God hath not LIFE" (1 John 5:12).

Well, if he did not have LIFE, then what was his CONDITION? What is, therefore, the extreme opposite of life? It has to be DEATH. They stand diametrically opposed to each other; therefore, John is actually saying that the man who does not have the Son of God is dead spiritually; he is without Christ, without life. Now may I remind you once again that the Divine Spirit of God—if one is honest enough to want to try to understand the Bible—makes it plain as to what KIND of death and what kind of life He is defining or describing: "He that HATH the SON hath LIFE ("hath," present tense, don’t you see it?) and he that HATH not the Son hath not LIFE." Do you see it?

Well, he certainly had physical life, that isn’t the argument; but he is saying that the man who is without Christ is spiritually dead. Then, if he has NOT spiritual life, what other conclusion can one draw? We are driven irresistibly to this conclusion: A man without Christ is spiritually DEAD; there are lots of dead men walking. No doubt, there are some dead folk here tonight; however, I trust it might please the Holy Spirit to impart life in your dead hearts.

Paul writing to the Colossian brethren in the Epistle to the Colossians 2:13 points out there was a time when these Colossian brethren were dead and when they were in that dead condition God had quickened them and had forgiven them all their trespasses or sins: "And you, being DEAD in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses."—Colossians 2:13.

Now he is talking to SAVED folk but pointing out to them there was a time when they were dead, and it was BEFORE they had been forgiven, before they had become the recipients of Divine forgiveness. So the DEATH spoken of in the text refers to those who are spiritually dead.

The second thing that I want you to see is what Jesus said in the text: "Truly, truly, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that HEAR shall LIVE."—John 5:25.

Religionists say, when Baptists introduce this text, "Did you not know that God is no longer speaking to man? How, then, are we going to hear the voice of the Son of God?" Yet in Luke 10:16, Jesus said, "He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me." Jesus said, "He that heareth YOU heareth ME" and Jesus is saying in the second part of the text, "The dead shall HEAR the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall LIVE."

Now He is not talking about the actual, literal voice of Jesus, but He is talking about the voice of those whom God calls, those whom God saves and who witness to the lost. God is speaking in and through them, and "they that HEAR shall LIVE." There it is. "They that hear YOU," said Jesus, "hear ME."

That is why, beloved, it is so important as to our conduct in the house of God when one is teaching the Word of God or when one is preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ; for it is as if God were speaking to you. You always remember that. Always remember that when a preacher is preaching the Gospel and a Sunday School teacher is teaching the Word of God, it is as though God’s Christ, Himself, were speaking to you: "He that HEARETH YOU," said Jesus, "heareth ME."

Now notice the third thing: only those who HEAR shall live. "And they that HEAR shall live," said Jesus. Now He didn’t say that ALL were going to live; He predicates the LIVING upon the HEARING, and there are certain restrictions placed upon the sentence: "Only they that HEAR," said Jesus, "shall live."

You know people get the idea that when Christ spake a parable He did it every time in order to enlighten those to whom He was preaching. But that isn’t the truth. Not every time that Christ spake a parable did He speak that parable in order to further enlighten the multitudes, but He spake it in order to further darken their hearts.

Now if you deny that, you deny God’s Word. In Matthew 13:13, this is pointed out. In the context, the disciples asked the Master why He spake to the multitudes in parables, and He answered them, first, by pointing out that unto them it was given to understand the mysteries of the kingdom, but it had not been given to others. And in verse 13 He said, "Therefore, I speak to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand."

Now they had ears with which to hear, but they heard not; they had eyes to see, but they saw not; they had hearts with which to understand, but they perceived not.

Now Jesus said in the text, "They that HEAR shall live," not they that do NOT hear. Then again, in John 8:43, Jesus said, "Why do ye not understand my speech? even because you cannot HEAR my word." Turn there and read it; in fact, I insist upon you following me in this discussion. He was talking to the Pharisees. They were religious, devoted to their religion, devout in their religious observances, but notice two things that Jesus said to them in verse 43: "Why is it that you can’t hear my speech? even because you cannot HEAR my words."

The word "hear" commands our attention; it doesn’t just mean the hearing of the ear altogether: it means the hearing of the inner ear, the spiritual ear, not the ear that we see with our eyes—we will notice that in another thought tonight—"The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned."—1 Corinthians 2:14.

Who IS the natural man? The man spoken of here is the man that is natural in the sense that he has not been regenerated, the lost person, the man without God, without Christ, without life. Now Paul said that man could not understand the things of the Spirit of God; for they are spiritually discerned. It takes the spirit in a man having been regenerated by the Spirit of God to understand the things of the Spirit of God.

You know a lost man trying to tell you what the Bible teaches can confuse you if you don’t know one thing about what it teaches. Do you know why we have so many renegade Christians, so-called religious institutions today? It is because lost men started them, that is exactly right. Men that were LOST, who knew nothing about the truth of God’s Word, originated and introduced these man-made religious institutions that feed on fear and fear alone.

Now get this: "The carnal man, the natural man, receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; they are foolishness unto him, neither can he KNOW them." Paul said that they were spiritually discerned, spiritually understood, spiritually judged, spiritually seen.

One thing that has always alarmed, and sometimes made me about half mad, was to see some mediocre Christian, who had not taken advantage of studying the Word of God, let some lost person get him confused and bewildered about whether or not he was saved. That is the most ridiculous thing that I ever heard tell of. A lost man doesn’t know one thing about the Word of God. He may be eloquent, he may quote you Scriptures—the Devil can quote more Scriptures than anybody. Every time that he had an encounter with Jesus he quoted Scripture, but if you will notice he always left out or added a word. Go there and read it if you don’t believe it (Matthew 4). He was a Scripture quoting demon. Thus, just because a man can quote Scriptures and is eloquent doesn’t mean that he is SAVED. I have seen men that I knew were saved that couldn’t quote a verse, but when they read the Bible they understood what it meant. There is the difference.

Then the fourth thing: WHO are those who will ultimately HEAR? Jesus said, "THEY that HEAR shall live," not they that do not hear. Then who are those who shall ultimately hear? In John 6:45—I told you we would get back to this remarkable word "heard" in this verse. I want you to get it. Turn there and notice the word "heard." Jesus said, "It is written in the prophets, And they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore that hath HEARD, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." John 6:45.

Now who was to come to Christ? The man that hath HEARD and HATH LEARNED of the Father, that is what the word "heard" means in the text. It means to perceive, and it is the only time that it is used in the New Testament. It comes from a little Greek word that means to perceive, to understand, to grasp in the inward soul the things of God. They, therefore, that perceive in the inward soul and learned of the Father, they come to Jesus, and nobody else.

I think that Jesus sums it up much better than your pastor in John 8:47. Here is a text that many folk do not like, but I think that it is a great text. I have always believed that we should be honest with the Word of God. If it hits us right between the eyes, don’t dodge a text, don’t preach around a text. If you drown, just drown with it.

In John 8:47, Jesus said, "He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God." That is why.

But somebody will say, "Brother Cox, that would scare lost people to death, run them away from the church, thus and so."

But, brother, it knocks the props from beneath them. It makes them to realize one thing: nothing in their hands they bring; there is nothing worth saving in them; God is under no obligation to save them, and if they are saved at all it is by the sovereign grace of God, and, brother, he falls upon that for mercy. As long as a person thinks—now you hear me—as long as a person thinks there is just one tiny thing that he has to DO in order to be saved, he will NEVER be saved. You hear me now.

You know I love repetition, I suppose. I use certain verses enough but you can’t avoid them, they are in the Bible. About repenting for example: you know in order for a man to be saved, he has to do some repenting and that repentance is granted, but notice he has to repent from dead works. Who has DEAD works? A dead MAN (Heb. 6:1). So the man who wants to be saved must first repent from dead works; he must come face to face with the inevitable fact that he is filthy in the sight of God, that he must rid himself of his own dead works. He must change his mind about them. When he gets to the place where he recognizes the truth that he cannot save himself, he cannot assist God in saving him, that no overt act on his part has anything to do with his salvation, he falls upon the CROSS. This doctrine drives egotism out of men, abases man and exalts God.

Last, but not least, what is the EFFECT of hearing? It is through the hearing and call of God that men are saved. 2 Timothy 1:9, "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."

That is not nearly it; that is it. What kind of CALLING? It is an holy calling. WHY is it an holy calling? Because it is from GOD and of God. WHAT is this CALL? It is the Gospel, of course. Now the Gospel deals with Christ and His finished work. You want to read the part of the ‘Bible that defines the Gospel. 1 Corinthians 15 and the first eight verses is where you will find it.

The Gospel is the proclamation of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus for men’s sins: that is the Gospel. Everything that is preached is not the Gospel, but that is. What is that which they are to HEAR? The call of God. What is the CALL of God? The proclamation of the Gospel. What is the EFFECT of hearing? "They that hear shall live." That is what He said; "They that hear shall live."

John 6:47, Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me HATH everlasting life." I BELIEVE that.

But someone will say, "He didn’t actually mean that. He is speaking about the natural life."

But He didn’t SAY that!

"Well," someone might say, "He means that you MIGHT have life after awhile."

He didn’t say that either. He used the present tense, right NOW when he believes; not going to have later, but have it right now: "He that believeth on me HATH everlasting life." He has it NOW when he believes.

The Lord Jesus, in His marvelous prayer, had this to say: "As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give ETERNAL life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life ETERNAL, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."—John 17:2, 3.

". . . that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him (now these are the ones who hear) and this is life ETERNAL that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." To KNOW God is to have ETERNAL life. What did He say in John 6:45? "They that HEARETH and LEARN of the Father (that is, they that come to know God) have eternal life."

This last text and then I am through. In 1 John 5:11, John said, "And this is the RECORD, that God hath given to us ETERNAL life, and this life is in his Son."

What is the RECORD, John? What is God’s record? "This is the record, that God hath GIVEN to us ETERNAL life, and this LIFE is in His Son." You go back there and read the context and you will notice one thing: The person who says that life is for a little while, or life ends, or God may take it from you, or that you may lose your spiritual life, denies God’s RECORD and gives God the lie. God gives us eternal life and this life being eternal can never be forfeited. So God’s RECORD is that God has given to believers eternal life—life that shall never end.

Do you have this life? May God in His infinite wisdom and by His sovereign grace impart life to you who are destitute of life. May God have mercy on you. Amen.