03-04-2018 – Dying In Your Sins?
03-04-2018
Dying In Your Sins?
John 8:21-30
Read John 8:21-22... Jesus is going away soon, in fact, in about 6 months He will be put to death for our sins and He will be buried, but three days later He will come out of the tomb, alive, show Himself to His followers over a period of forty days, then He will go back into heaven to be with the Father.
All who die in their sins, i.e., without receiving forgiveness for their sins, will not go to heaven, where He is. Jesus had previously told these people (John 7:33) that He would be going back to be with the One who had sent Him (cf. John 1:14). Hebrews 1:3b, “After He [Jesus] had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty [God the Father] in heaven.”
Notice (John 8:22), the Jews remark, “Will He kill Himself?” The religious leaders’ sarcasm is telling, for they have been plotting to kill Jesus ever since they became aware of what He was doing and what was being said about Him, e.g., John the Baptist (John 1:34), Nathanael (John 1:49), Nicodemus (John 3:2)
Jesus Himself declared He was the Messiah (John 4:25-26), Son of God (John 5:25-27), giver of eternal life (John 6:38-40), acquitter of sinners (John 8:10-11), the Revealing Light of God (John 8:12).
In John 8:21 Jesus is clearly speaking about His own death. The Jews (John 8:22) imply that He is saying He is going to kill Himself, “Is that why He says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come.’" The Jews believed anyone committing suicide would go to hell, to “the darkest place in Hades” (Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, III, VIII. 5).
The self-righteous Pharisees believed they were going to heaven, because of their ancestral heritage from Abraham [their father]; therefore, of course they can’t, neither would they want to, go where this Jesus will end up if He kills Himself.
Jesus is going to die alright, and it will definitely be by His own authority (cf. John 10:17-18), but it will not be by His own hand (cf. Acts 2:23).
These religious leaders are not going to believe in or receive this Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah (cf. John 1:11). Jesus tells them (John 8:21), “I am going away, and you will die in your in sin; you will not be able to come where I am going.”
Read John 8:23-24... Jesus is from heaven, the scribes and Pharisees are of the earth, the world [Gr. kosmos], which here refers to all that opposes God, all that is controlled by the devil and by sinful flesh.
John 2:15-16, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world [kosmos] - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world.”
Everything in the world was created, but Jesus [The Word of God], is the Creator of all that has been made (cf. John 1:1-3).
Back in John 8:21 Jesus tells the Jews they will die in their sin. Here (John 8:24) Jesus tells them, the reason they will die in their sins is because they reject the Savior who came from the Father, i.e., the ultimate sin, bringing eternal judgment, is not believing in God’s Son (cf. John 16:9).
John 3:18, “Whoever believes in Him [Jesus] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's One and Only Son.” 36, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."
In John 6:28, the people asked Jesus, “What must we do to do the works God requires?" Meaning, what must we do to be right with God, to be saved, to go to heaven? Jesus answers them in John 6:29, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent."
Wow! In John 8:24, Jesus says to the crowd, “unless you believe that I am, you will indeed die in your sins.”
The Hebrew theonym [name for God] is written with four letters [tetragrammaton], expressed in Latin as YHWH which is transliterated [spoken] as Yahweh. But most orthodox Jews would never pronounce this name, instead, they would substitute one of several Hebrew terms that are expressed in English as The Holy One, Blessed Be He, The Lord, The Name.
Everyone who rejects God’s Son will go to hell when they physically die; everyone who believes in and receives Christ as Lord, will go to heaven when they physically die (2Corinthians 5:8), “We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”
Read John 8:25-30... Jesus declared that those who reject Him, will die in their sins, condemned to an eternity in hell. The Jews ask Jesus, “Who are You?”
In the Pastor Mike version of this narrative, Jesus responds to the Jews saying, “You’re kidding, right? Haven’t you been paying any attention to the miracles I’ve done, to what I and others have been saying about who I am, since the very beginning?” See Luke 4:16-21...
These Jews have received more than enough proof that Jesus came from God the Father in heaven to do His will; in fact, Jesus repeatedly made it clear that what He says and does is in obedience to the Father.
But you know, these religious leaders (John 8:27) “don’t understand that [Jesus] is telling them about His Father,” even though Jesus just told them in John 8:16, 18 that the Father is the One who sent Him.
Scripture is clear, the Father’s plan was to send His Son to release us from sin’s penalty/condemnation.
John 3:16, “For God [the Father] so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Jesus made full payment to the Holy God of Creation, so that we would not have to die in our sins, but instead be granted life eternal through Him.
2Corinthians 5:21, “God made Him [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Jesus says (John 8:28), “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am,” i.e., you will know that I am [who I have been claiming to be since the beginning], the One who came from the Father, to die for the sins of all people (Hebrews 9:26), “Christ has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”
All those who repent, believe and follow Christ, are granted spiritual life eternal, and even though they die physically, they don’t remain dead.
John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.”
God provides temporary physical life [Gr. bios] to everyone on planet earth; He provides eternal spiritual life [zoe] to all who believe in His Son, those (John 1:13), “born of God,” (John 3:8), “born of the Spirit.”
The Son of God [The Word of God] is One with [equal to] the Father, yet He was submissive to the Father while in human flesh (John 8:29), Jesus says, “I always do what pleases Him [The Father].”
In John 8:30 we are told, “Even as He [Jesus] spoke, many [of those in the crowd] put their faith [belief] in Him.”
The truth is, we are all going to die physically, some day; but if you die as one who rejects Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you will die in your sin, and you will awake to face the judgement of God in Hell!
But, you know, there is a way to reconcile your sinful and lost nature with the Holy, Righteous, Loving and Just God of Creation, Who will render both Eternal Judgement and Eternal Reward; for Jesus turns no one away, He forgives everyone who repents of their sin and believes in Him for salvation.
Please, if you have never seriously considered your relationship with God, who created the heavens and the earth and everything that is within them, take the time to do that, right here, right now.
Jesus loves you and has a marvelous plan for your life, both as a temporary resident here on earth, and as an eternal resident of heaven.
Jeremiah 29:11-14, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.”
Romans 10:9-10, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your
heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”
There is no reason for anyone to die in their sins (cf. Romans 3:10-12, 23; 6:23, 5:8; 8:1).
Admit to God that you are a sinner (we all are).
Repent [turn from your sins to God], ask Him to forgive you (He rejects no one). Confess Jesus Christ as your Lord, believing in Him as your Savior: He willfully
died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the grave on the third day, demonstrating His sovereign victory over sin, death and judgement, forever!
Read God’s Word daily and seek to obey what you understand, following Jesus as your example in this life.
Find and participate in a local Bible Believing, Teaching and Practicing Church, where you can serve alongside your brothers and sisters in Christ, in both word and deed, as if serving the Lord Himself, for He was crucified, buried, resurrected, lifted back up into heaven, and He is coming again, to take all those who belong to Him, to be with Him forever.
Pastor Mike <‘(((><