The Gospel of John-30 – Amen, the Good Work of Jesus Begun in Us

John 5:24–30

“Most assuredly, I say to you, 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. 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. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. 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. 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.” Amen.

 

The ‘Amen’ of Jesus That Moves Us from Death to Life

Today’s text begins with the solemn declaration, “Most assuredly, most assuredly,” and marks a pivotal moment in the latter half of Jesus’ first major discourse. Let us look once more at verse 24: “Most assuredly, I say to you, 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.” It is no exaggeration to say that this verse stands as one of the most fundamental pillars of the Christian faith. Alongside John 3:16, John 5:24 provides the most lucid definition for the essential questions: “Why do I attend church?” and “Why do I believe in Jesus?”

 

We often simplify this verse to mean, “If you believe in Jesus, you will receive eternal life.” However, the eternal life spoken of here is not merely a physical extension of life into infinity. If we understand eternal life simply as “living forever,” we fail to grasp the profound meaning of the word as revealed in Scripture. Eternal life is not a product of greed, like the elixirs sought by Qin Shi Huang. If one were forced to live forever with an inherently evil nature, would that not be the very definition of hell? The essence of eternal life, as testified by the Bible, is a state of being in a right relationship with the eternal God. While it is not incorrect to say we are going to heaven, eternal life transcends a mere change of location; it signifies the restoration of the fractured relationships of our lives to their original, intended places. It is like finally re-buttoning a garment that was misaligned. We must deeply engrave in our hearts that eternal life is not a guarantee of heaven while we continue to pursue worldly desires, but rather the restoration of the bond between the eternal God and ourselves.

 

The Premise of a Right Relationship with God

If eternal life means the restoration of a relationship, the reason we need this Word is based on the premise that we are not currently in a right relationship with God. Scripture maintains a consistent solemnity toward all people, even those who have already confessed their faith. It asks incessantly: “Are you truly in a right relationship with God?” As if reminding us that we are inherently in a state of separation from Him, it urges us to constantly verify and examine that relationship. In this context, the declaration of today’s text is crystal clear. Jesus says, “He who hears My word and believes in Him—God—who sent Me has everlasting life.” The core of this proclamation lies in the announcement that we have already “passed from death into life.” Therefore, the conclusion we face today is self-evident: to listen intently to the words of Jesus and move toward a life that fully confesses Him as Lord.

 

If the sermon were to end here, you might be inwardly pleased by its brevity. But think deeply. Would Jesus ever speak words that are harmful to us? Would He not only deliver the good and beautiful truth? Furthermore, what is the image of Jesus that we imagine? We often envision a holy figure overflowing with mercy, love, compassion, and grace—someone whose voice anyone would be mesmerized by. In mass media and films, Jesus is frequently portrayed with overwhelming authority and benevolence. Think of the famous scene in the movie Ben-Hur, where a man offers water to the exhausted Ben-Hur, and the Roman soldier who encounters his face recoils in awe of his majesty. The world depicts Jesus as a figure whose mere presence overwhelms everyone with charisma, but the reality of the Messiah testified by Scripture is quite different. Isaiah 53:1–3 proves this.

 

A Messiah with No Beauty to Behold

When Jesus came to preach the truth, did the world welcome and believe Him? Scripture records firmly that they did not. “He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” This is the actual description of Jesus provided by the Bible. Far from being awed by Him, people found Him approachable to the point of contempt and even mocked Him. We often mistakenly believe that Jesus possessed a powerful charisma that mesmerized His disciples into sacrificing their lives for Him. Yet the reality is that at the very moment Jesus was seized, not a single disciple remained; they all fled.

 

No one remained by Jesus’ side. Except for a few who vanished cowardly and only reappeared later, everyone returned to their own livelihoods. Even by human standards of leadership, Jesus appeared as a figure who lacked the charisma to inspire a subordinate to go to prison in His stead. The disciples followed Him not because of His spiritual nobility, but because they saw His miracles and expected that through Him, they might achieve great worldly things. Nowhere in Scripture is it recorded that they followed Jesus with perfect faith from the beginning. When such an unimpressive and seemingly powerless figure declared, “Hear My word,” who would have listened?

 

We often judge people by their appearance and outward displays. Following the worldly notion that “a good-looking rice cake tastes better,” we assume Jesus must have been an attractive figure, but Scripture emphasizes that He was quite unremarkable. When a man with no external qualities to charm the masses claimed to be the Messiah, the public response was cold. The only reason people followed Him was exactly as recorded: “Because you ate of the loaves and were filled.” Jesus saw through their intentions and actually avoided the crowds. Unlike other religious leaders whose goal is to gather and teach people, Scripture records that Jesus guarded Himself against the masses. We must contemplate the existence of Jesus more seriously. We must abandon the delusion that we would have believed immediately if Jesus spoke to us directly. The true proclamation of Jesus lies not in outward charm, but in the words of verse 25.

 

The Voice That Raises the Dead

Let us look again at verse 25. Why does this concise verse demand such deep reflection? “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.” The “hour” Jesus speaks of is the very moment He is proclaiming. Surprisingly, the subjects who hear that voice and come to life are “the dead.” These are not those who will rise from the graves in the future, but those who are currently spiritually dead. Jesus is identifying the people before Him as “the dead.” Only by maintaining this perspective does the preceding verse 24 finally make sense. How paradoxical is it to say to a dead person, “If you hear My word and believe, you will have eternal life”? How can a dead person hear a voice?

 

This is like going to a cemetery, blowing a whistle, and saying that whoever hears the sound and runs out first will be saved. No one in the graves can respond to the sound of a whistle. In the face of the absolute severance that is death, any noble voice is merely noise. The stage of faith—'hearing and believing the word of Jesus'—is an impossible task for the dead. Our fundamental tragedy is not whether we believe, but our ignorance of the fact that we are already 'dead.' We must not confuse faith with mere intellectual agreement or subjective conviction. The confession “I believe Jesus is my Savior” can sometimes be nothing more than self-assurance. However, realizing the fact that ‘I was originally a dead man’ is an entirely different level of awareness.

 

Only for one who poignantly realizes they are imprisoned in a jail does the declaration of “release” become joy. To someone who believes they have always been free, the offer of freedom is merely a strange sound. Why did the Jews react with rage and pick up stones when Jesus declared He “came to save sinners”? It was because of the arrogance that said, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone; why do you call us sinners?” We, too, may confess our sins conceptually and admit to minor faults. But we must ask ourselves how deeply we feel the existential reality of being ‘one who deserves to die,’ which is the fundamental sin pointed out by Scripture.

 

The ‘Amen’ of Jesus Comes First

Do we truly face the fact that we were prisoners in a cell and spiritually dead? If Jesus currently regards us as dead and speaks to us, what then is the meaning of His previous command to “Hear My word”? How can one whose life is severed obey that voice? Let us return to verse 24 for the answer. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life.” In the beginning of this well-known verse, there is a crucial expression we must not overlook: “Most assuredly, I say to you.”

 

In the original language, “Most assuredly, most assuredly” (Truly, truly) means “Amen, Amen.” This is the same word we use to conclude a hymn or a prayer. Thus, translating the original meaning of this sentence gives us: “Amen, Amen, I say to you.” ‘Amen’ is not a mere exclamation; it is a declaration containing total agreement and confirmation: “It is so, it is truly so, it is right.”

 

Originally, the confession of Amen always occupied the end of a sentence in biblical usage. Psalm 41:13 ends the praise with, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen.” Psalm 72:19 likewise concludes, “And blessed be His glorious name forever… Amen and Amen.” Just as we respond with Amen only after a prayer is finished today, it is like a period that finalizes all petitions and praises. However, Jesus very unconventionally placed “Amen, Amen” at the beginning of His speech. This usage was so unique that neither Jewish literature nor the disciples, who learned Jesus’ manner of speaking most closely, dared to reproduce this expression.

 

We have often dismissed this expression as a simple rhetorical emphasis. But if it were merely a means of emphasis, why would the Apostle Paul, who so desperately argued the truth in the Book of Romans, not borrow this expression? It would have been immensely effective to say, “Amen, Amen, I say to you, there is no condemnation.” The fact that no apostle used this expression suggests that it carries a redemptive significance that only Jesus can proclaim, transcessing mere emphasis.

 

To understand the depths of this expression, we must look at the context of John 5. Verses 19 and 30 repeat the same confession, with only the subjects 'the Son' and 'I' being different: “I can of Myself do nothing.” This emphasizes that Jesus’ ministry was not an independent movement, but a ministry of obedience, doing exactly what He saw and heard the Father doing. When we understand this structure, the true meaning of “Amen, Amen” is revealed. Jesus is now facing the plan of salvation and the words performed by God, and He is responding to that holy ministry first with “Amen, Amen.” In other words, before Jesus’ proclamation is a request to “listen to Me,” it is a word preceded by the Lord’s total obedience to the Father’s will—the ‘Amen of Jesus.’

 

Why is this fact so important? Because the words Jesus is currently speaking are directed toward ‘the dead.’ Since the dead have no ability to hear on their own, for them to hear the voice of life, something must absolutely take place first. That is the Amen of Jesus. It is not that we understand the word and then say Amen; rather, because Jesus said Amen to God’s plan of salvation, its efficacy reaches us. When God commanded, “Go into the world and die for them,” the Lord obeyed by saying “Amen,” and thus we who were dead were brought to life and enabled to hear His voice. Our faith and confession do not exist alone. Because there was the Amen of Jesus who obeyed God before us, we too are finally able to say Amen together with the Lord.

 

The God Who Was Ignored, The Us Who Have Ignored Him

The ‘Amen’ of Jesus was always first, preceding our response. By that infinite grace, we finally hear and believe, and we wake from the sleep of death and come to life. Yet, upon gaining spiritual life, we only then begin to clearly see what kind of evil deeds we have committed against God. Scripture sharply points out the human condition, and among its points, the part where we have opposed God is a truly fearsome and heavy truth. Before believing in Jesus, no one realizes they have sinned against God. We only consider ethical transgressions, such as hating others or lying, as sins; we hardly realize the atrocity we have committed against the Creator. However, the true journey of faith begins with the painful realization: “Ah, I have sinned against God.”

 

Believing in Jesus involves a process of repentance where one beats one's chest because of sin. It is a pain that goes beyond mere reflection on moral flaws to realizing how atrociously we have lived while ignoring the holy God. Sins against people can be sought for forgiveness or compensated, but the rebellion committed against the eternal God cannot be repaid by our strength. Throughout our lives, we have never consulted God about the direction of our lives. We have lived as we pleased without ever asking Him, yet the fact that we have breathed and lived without any restriction was itself a profound act of ignoring God.

 

The desperate effort to build one’s life with one’s own strength and manage it by one’s own will begins to show how fearsome it was. The arrogant years spent believing ‘I can live perfectly well without God’ are exposed. Because we tried to survive solely by our own power, all our lives built up were bloated pride and arrogance. Yet paradoxically, as that pride grows, the inferiority complex within us grows in proportion. Whenever we face the limits of not reaching the ideal self we have set, humans inevitably fall into the mire of inferiority. In this state, every word from others becomes a wound, and even the word proclaimed from the pulpit is distorted as an ‘act of ignoring me’ and viewed with a cynical eye. This is an existential disease unrelated to having much or little.

 

This sense of inferiority narrows our perspective of others extremely. We evaluate people only by the standards we have made, and we categorize and hate others according to our preferences. To dismiss this as merely a matter of personality is too spiritually dangerous. At its base lies the declaration: “I will be the God of my life.” This arrogant declaration—that the sovereignty of my life belongs only to me—is the deepest darkness spoken of by the Bible.

 

The Love of Jesus That Rescues Us from Death

We do not have the power to control our own inferiority and pride. Trapped in those shackles, we suffer incessantly and tremble in the fear and anxiety of failure. The obsession with being responsible for oneself crushes our lives. However, when we receive the Gospel, we realize that very state was ‘death.’ We come to know that the miserable struggle to play the role of God was itself the state of spiritual death. Though physical breath remains, the years spent obsessed with pride and inferiority, struggling to prove oneself, are confessed as the very site of death that Scripture points out. Because we lived only for ourselves, we viewed every existence outside ourselves as a competitor or an enemy, and we face the reality of a selfish life that used even family and friends as means to increase our own value.

 

However, believing in Jesus is the event of being rescued from this isolated death. This is because we finally come to know the fact that there is someone who truly worries about and loves us. There is someone who never gives up on us, even as we destroy ourselves with uncontrollable pride. For us who lived while ignoring and denying God, for a sinner like me who endlessly rebels and betrays, the one who said “Amen” to dying is Jesus Christ.

 

Jesus calls this very moment “the hour.” It is the decisive moment when the dead hear the Lord’s voice and come to life. To us, who lived in lonely struggle believing there was only ourselves in the world, the truth that there is someone who decided to die for us—even in every moment we turned our backs on God—collides with us, and life leaps within us. Only then can we say we have ‘lived.’ One who tastes this wondrous life praises, saying, “Lord, why do You bestow such marvelous grace upon one like me?” and discovers the true meaning of life.

 

The value of life does not lie in brilliant achievements or noble philosophies. For life to have meaning, it must first be alive. Being alive here means more than just surviving; it means restoring a right relationship with God, which is ‘eternal life.’ Only within this relationship can we truly discuss life. But upon reaching verse 29, we again face a significant spiritual challenge: “Those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” When we face this word, we sometimes feel dismayed, wondering if salvation again depends on our actions. Between the promise of obtaining eternal life through faith and this word requiring good deeds, how should we maintain our balance?

 

The Good Work That God Began

We feel a strange sense of dissonance when we encounter the word that we must do good works to reach the resurrection of life. This is because even after believing in Jesus, good intentions and evil natures coexist within us. If reaching the resurrection of life based on good deeds is the Gospel, how can we avoid the judgment for the evil deeds that still remain in our lives? If we interpret the text literally, no one could be free from the resurrection of condemnation. Therefore, the expression ‘doing good’ mentioned here contains a spiritual meaning that transcends the ethical and moral dimensions we commonly think of.

 

What exactly is the good work that God Himself defines? To find the clue, we look at Joshua 23:14. As Joshua faces death, he confesses to the people: “Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed.” He proclaims that the things God performed for Israel were fulfilled without a single exception.

 

Here, God’s good work refers to the entire process of salvation: rescuing Israel from the slavery of Egypt, parting the Red Sea, feeding them with manna and quail even in the mid of the wilderness's deficiency, and leading them to the land of Canaan. In other words, the good work testified by Scripture is not human moral philanthropy but ‘the process of God’s history of salvation being fulfilled in our lives.’ Every providence occurring on this earth until the completion of the history of salvation is itself a good work.

 

The New Testament confirms this insight even more firmly. Ephesians 2:10 records that we are “His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,” and these works are what “God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Good works are not merits we arbitrarily manufacture, but the holy path God has already planned and spread across the horizon of our lives. Hebrews 13:21 also prays that the Father’s pleasant will would be fulfilled within us through Jesus Christ, identifying that as the good work.

 

Ultimately, doing good works means accepting the history of God that began within us through Jesus Christ and adopting a life attitude that entrusts itself to that flow. It is the essence of good works for the holy will God established within us to become reality. While moral purity will certainly follow that process, the more fundamental value lies in the fact that ‘God’s plan of salvation is being fulfilled without interruption in our lives.’

 

I Am Confident That He Will Perform It

In this regard, the word I want to emphasize particularly is Philippians 1:6. The Apostle Paul uses the same word that aligns with today’s text and expresses this confidence: “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” The ‘good work’ here is the ‘good work’ initiated by God. The starting point of good work is not human will but God’s determination. Since God Himself began it, it is the confidence that He will surely complete that work throughout the rest of our lives. Therefore, for one who has done good works to come forth to the resurrection of life is a declaration that there is life within them, and they are one who experiences the history of God holding and shaping them.

 

Who is a saint? A saint is ‘a person in whom God’s good work is being fulfilled in the present progressive tense.’ What a clear and glorious definition this is. A saint’s life is not time simply flowing by meaninglessly, but a site of salvation where the holy hand of God is working without resting for a single moment. Therefore, we can never treat the brothers and sisters beside us lightly. Do not look down on your spouse or neighbor who walks the path of faith together. What is happening within them right now? The holy history of the One who created the heavens and the earth is taking place.

 

Even if their appearance seems weak now and skepticism arises as to whether they can truly change, if they know Christ and possess life within, we cannot give up hope. It is because God’s good work has already begun. There may be times when the path of their life is winding and rugged, evoking pity, but we must trust the faithfulness of God working behind the scenes. We cannot prejudge anyone’s life as a success or failure based only on a short cross-section of the present. It is because we are all precious beings chosen so that God’s good work may be fully accomplished.

 

Good Works Together with Jesus

The journey of faith starts from receiving new life in Christ and rejoicing in the truth while hearing God’s Word. The thrill of the Gospel—'I have finally come to life because Jesus said Amen first, not I'—makes us dance. However, joy is not the entirety of faith. When we realize the Word and try to live according to that light, a practical change inevitably follows in our lives. God’s good work—the personality and life of Jesus Christ—begins to manifest through our existence.

 

The life of Christ sprouts within us and breaks through the remnants of the old self and a stagnant life. When the personality of Jesus begins to work within our inner being, we finally learn unspeakable devotion, love, and the aesthetics of deep patience. Sometimes the pain of participating in the sufferings of Christ comes, but all these labors are a sacred process made possible because Jesus first obeyed with an ‘Amen’ for us.

 

Do you ever want to ask why you must walk such a weary and lonely path even while believing in Jesus? Whenever you do, do not forget. You are walking the path of life right now because of the Amen of Jesus. Even when passing through the horrible pit and the miry clay, remember. The faithful Amen of Jesus is holding your life firmly. Let us engrave in our hearts that great confidence the Apostle Paul possessed. In the end of life, God will surely fulfill that good work. “Being confident… that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it.” Let us hold onto this glorious promise and complete the race of faith without wavering.

 

Let Us Pray

Loving Lord, we give thanks for Your grace in beginning a good work within us and leading that history to fulfillment. We confess that there are many times we despair seeing our own deficiencies at every turn of life and fall into despondency before a dark reality where the front cannot be seen. Touch our hearts, which have been wounded while trying to achieve good by our own strength.

 

As You promised today, we will eventually come forth to the resurrection of life. We proclaim in faith that the holy history God began in our lives will never be interrupted and will be perfectly fulfilled. We trust that even our weaknesses and limitations are under Your perfect sovereignty. For You are the eternal ‘Amen’ of our lives. Since You first opened the path of obedience, we too will gladly respond with Amen and move forward.

 

In the name of Jesus Christ, our eternal life, we pray. Amen.