SAINTS TRIUMPHANT
November 15/16, 2009
Pastor Timothy J. Spaude
Text: John 5:25-29

“TRIUMPHANT SAINTS…”
1. Hear and live.
2. Live and LIVE!

John 5:25-29 (NIV) “I tell you the truth, 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. 26For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. 27And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
28"Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.”

If you start a little ways north on Forest Home Avenue, around 68th St., you will see a church. It’s called St. Johns. As you come south on Forest Home you will see us, St. Jacobi, the German name for St. James. If you keep going on Forest Home and shift on to Janesville Rd and go about a mile you will go past another WELS church, St. Pauls. All of these churches remind you of a time when Christians named their churches after the saints. Perhaps as you sang hymn 552, our opening hymn, your eyes caught the names of other saints in the 25 verses we didn’t sing. Those are just few of them. Did you know there are many more? There is, for instance, a St. Paul serving us on the organ bench today. St. Richard served us with our Bible readings. You see a saint, is not just a name for a believer who has died. Saints are those whom God has made holy, declared holy, through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ. Today as we celebrate Saints Triumphant God’s Word helps us see that through faith in Jesus we are Triumphant saints.
Now it didn’t look like Jesus was triumphing when He spoke the words of our text. Jesus had healed a man on the Sabbath Day and the Pharisees were opposing Him. They were questioning His authority to do anything. Jesus told them His authority came from God the Father. Jesus pointed out He had the authority to do a whole lot more than heal a man. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, 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. 26For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. 27And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.”
What does Jesus mean? While we know Jesus had the power to raise the physically dead to life and used it, that’s not what He meant. Jesus was talking about His power to bring the spiritually dead to live. His power lay in His voice, His word. Surrounding Jesus were spiritually dead people, trapped by their sin, trapped by their inability to please God with righteous living. Jesus gave them life. He removed despair by forgiving sins and they lived. People who thought they had no hope with God lived and lived for God. They were triumphant saints. Maybe you think of St. Matthew who heard Jesus’ voice and left tax collecting to follow Jesus. Or St. Zacchaeus who heard Jesus’ voice and lived by paying back more than he had stolen. Maybe you think of the other sainted tax collectors or women who were trapped in prostitution or caught in adultery who heard Jesus’ voice and lived. He forgave them their sins and gave them both motivation and power to live for God instead of against Him. And they did. They triumphed.
And the neat thing is this is still happening today. Jesus’ voice is producing triumphant saints who hear His voice and live real lives. You are such people. At some point you were spiritually dead but then Jesus found you. You heard His voice at your Baptism. He marked you as a redeemed child of God and you live. “But,” you may say, “I am no triumphant saint. I still sin. I worry too much. I can’t control my mouth, or my drinking, or my thinking, or my…” you fill in the blank. Listen, your Lord Jesus knows your heart. He knows your heartache over sin and He forgives you. Your past does not define who you are or what you will be. Today is a brand new day! Keep practicing daily repentance. Keep listening to Jesus’ voice. There are plenty of folks sitting here today who can tell you how Jesus helped them defeat alcohol abuse, selfishness, adultery and many other damaging sins. Because Jesus says so you are triumphant saints. If appropriate for you to come to Lord’s Supper, do so. Listen for Jesus’ voice announcing your forgiveness and go knowing you have His power to live a life that is real life, living for Him.
Now that’s great news but there is more. Jesus went on to say, "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.” It may be cliché, but it’s true. The best is yet to come. That’s why Jesus directed our attention to more amazing things than spiritually dead people coming to life on earth. On earth is not where it’s at. Heaven is. Jesus points to a time when triumphant saints who have heard Jesus voice and lived on earth will live in heaven. And don’t stumble over the doing good and doing evil part. We’re still saved by grace alone through faith alone. Those who believe in Jesus will do good. They have fruits of faith, obedience to God’s commands that flow from faith.
Those without faith cannot please God. Even their most righteous looking acts are done for the wrong reasons and rejected by the Lord and remember there is no greater evil than rejecting God’s Son Jesus Christ as Savior. The Bible compares rejecting Jesus as Savior to trampling Him underneath your feet. Yes, those who reject have done evil. On the last day they will rise. They will hear the voice of the one they rejected. Their bodies will be reunited with their souls and they will be condemned to the horrible eternity in Hell that was supposed to be for the Devil and demons. If you want to try to imagine how bad that is take the worse pain you can think of, the most forsaken, forgotten, rejected, hopeless you have felt, the guiltiest you have felt, multiply that times a billion and that’s a teeny, tiny taste of the horrors of hell that go on forever for those who reject Jesus.
Not so for the saints triumphant. On the Last Day they too will hear Jesus’ voice. Only it will be the commanding voice of their Savior. Their bodies will be reunited with their souls and they will rise to live, really live. Live body and soul with Jesus with no sin, no sinful natures, no weaknesses, no pain no disease only joy. If you want an idea of what that will be like think of your happiest moment, the best you’ve ever felt physically, the closest you’ve felt toward God. Multiply that times a billion and that’s a teeny tiny taste of what it will be like every day in heaven. Triumphant saints who have lived as believers will LIVE forever with the Lord. Now that’s something to look forward to.
Some saints aren’t looking forward to this. They have it. This past year we got to celebrate the times when some of the triumphant saints of our congregation who heard and lived got to go live with the Lord Jesus in the glories of heaven. Gilbert Manske, Irene Phalen, Peggi Scharf, Delores Schonack, Wilma Kulbe, Warren Hagen, Irene Martin, Bob Dallmann, Elda Kopitzke, Bernice Kangas. Perhaps you think now of other loved ones, not members or our congregation, who died in the Lord this past year. They too join the ranks of the triumphant saints who lived and LIVE. Oh we may miss them. Thinking of them may bring a tear of longing to our eyes but make no mistake about it, they have no tears. Because of Jesus they have triumphed and LIVE!
Hold on to your faith in Jesus and you will too. Jesus said it’s those who hear His voice who live. His voice is in His word. Listen and live. It’s that simple. Amen.