Jesus the Only Saviour - Joh..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. So we'll be reading from verses 12 through 30, although this evening, I'm going to concentrate our efforts simply on verses 21 through 24, but for the context, we'll read the larger portion. John chapter eight from verse 12.

Again, Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. So the Pharisee said to him, you are bearing witness about yourself. Your testimony is not true. Jesus answered, even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and from where I'm going.

But you do not know where I come from or where I'm going. You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your law it is written that the testimony of two people is true.

I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me. They said to him, therefore, where is your father? And Jesus answered, You know neither me nor my father. If you knew me, you would know my father also. These words he spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple, but no one arrested him because his hour had not yet come.

21. So he said to them again, I am going away and you will seek me and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come. So the Jews said, will he kill himself? Since he says where I am going, you cannot come.

He said to them, you are from below. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. I told you that you will die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.

So they said to Him, Who are you? And Jesus said to them, Just what I've been telling you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to judge, but He who sent me is true. And I declared to the world what I have heard from Him. They did not understand that He was speaking to them about the Father.

So Jesus said to them, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing on My own authority, but speak just as the Father taught Me. And He who sent Me is with Me. He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him. As He was saying these things, many believed in Him. Amen.

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord, it remains forever. Let's just come before our Lord in a quick prayer. Father, we come before you now and we ask that you would be among us. For these are your people and this is your word. And we come to the one who is the limitless well.

And we come and we say, Lord, please, Feed us. Satisfy our soul as only You can. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Last week, if you recall, we brought the first section, the first section of the dialogue between our Lord and the religious leaders there in Jerusalem, in particular, in the temple, to a close.

That section began in verse 12 and ended in verse 20. Now, the discussion or the dialogue was happening between Jesus, our Lord, and the Pharisees. You remember the Pharisees? These are the very highly esteemed, well-respected men. The ones among all the Jewish sects, these were the highest respected.

They had the best knowledge. They were well-educated. They were well-trained. They knew scripture. And if anyone had a matter of religion, any matter on their mind, or any question they wanted to ask, they would come to the Pharisees and ask the question of them.

Because these men knew their stuff. They were the experts in the days, and they were the go-to guys. But they... the most supposedly, the most knowledgeable of the day, were trying to go toe-to-toe with the wisdom of our Lord. And it was very quick, very quick that we saw that they were unable to do so.

Because as we began to engage in this chapter, this eighth chapter, we quickly found out that these men are all talk, but there is no substance. They mention the name of God, but they don't know Him. that they speak His word, they refer to His name, and they refer to His word, and they say they know Scripture, they can recite it all. But very quickly, as we work our way through this section, it was proven that these men are fakes. They're unauthentic.

The religion that they practice is counterfeit. Their knowledge resided in their minds, but, beloved, it had not sunken into their soul. It wasn't real. On matters of true religion, these men failed, and they failed dismally. And we've seen already in their discussion with the Lord how they were unable even to believe the testimony or the claim of our Lord that began it all in verse 12 when he said, I am the light of the world.

We also saw, as we worked through that section, that these men had a faulty understanding of the law. They didn't correctly interpret the law of Moses. We saw also that they were capable at best of a superficial and a fleshly judgments in matters of faith, only judging according to the flesh and according to very superficial appearances. And the supposed guardians of Scripture, who are supposed to know the Word, they could not even tell the difference between a truth and a lie. But the sad thing is this, that when Jesus pulls them up, when He confronts them graciously with their error, they don't understand.

It goes over their head. They don't understand what our Lord is saying. He warns them, but they don't understand. Even in our Lord's last words, in that section, beloved, words that really show the blindness of these people. They don't feel the weight of what our Lord Jesus Christ is saying.

Because when our Lord refers to the Father, they're in their mind thinking that he's referring to a mere human being. They don't understand that Jesus is speaking of God, the Father, and the very one who testifies to the veracity of the words and the claims and the teaching and the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. They didn't know that. They didn't perceive. They didn't understand.

And of course, if they had of understood, the only right response would have been one of absolute terror. Why? Because in no uncertain terms, Jesus tells these men, he looks them in the eye and tells these men that all their religion is absolutely worthless because they are devoid of the knowledge of God. As I said earlier, they have Him up here, but He hasn't sunk into their soul. They don't know God.

They know His name. They've read His word. They know of Him, but they do not know Him. Because God sent forth His Son. God sent forth His Son to make Himself known, and yet they did not recognize the Son of God.

They weren't familiar with his voice. They weren't familiar with his words. They weren't familiar with his truth. And they weren't familiar with the salvation that he has to offer, a salvation that was prophesied in the Old Testament. And so they proved to be frauds.

Men who masquerade as pious men, but truth be told, inside, the deepest part of their soul is the stench of death. So this evening, we'll continue the conversation between our Lord and these men from verse 21. But we're going to get it to 24 this evening and by God's grace in a few weeks time, we'll continue. Let's look at verse 21. So he said to them again, this is this is the same people.

Jesus is still in the same place and he's addressing them. He says, I am going away and you will seek me and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come. So much in these few verses and a few words that we can say. But let's start from the beginning.

I am going away. In other words, Jesus is saying, I'm here now, but there'll be a time that I'm no longer going to be with you. That's that's what he's saying. My time with you is limited. My presence, my words, my invitation to you are with you now.

But in time. It'll be gone because I'll be gone. Now here in chapter 8, Jesus doesn't elaborate on those words. We have a bit of a summary, and that's probably for good reason, because back in chapter 7, he said something similar to the same myth and the religious leaders. It was only a few days earlier.

There he does elaborate. Back in chapter 7, in verse 34 and 33, our Lord says, I will be with you a little longer. And then I am going to him who sent me. You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.

The words are so similar. But we have some more details that we can look at. You see in chapter 7 he gives them a time frame. We don't have that in chapter 8. But in chapter 7 he does.

And he says the light is among you a little longer. So we're talking months, not years. In fact, we know, because we've read the Word and we've studied the Word, we know that it's in six months' time that the Lord will be crucified and will ascend to the right hand of the Father. Because that's the plan of God. And Jesus is aware of every single detail of the plan of the Father, because He's following it to a T, in perfect righteousness, in perfect obedience to the Father's will.

That is His food, remember. That's His food. So even a cursory look at the Gospels, we know that Jesus knew why he came and what his mission was. He kept telling his apostles who were his disciples back then, and they had a hard time understanding that he has come to lay down his life. He kept saying that over and over again to the disciples.

He said, the son of man, he says, must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed. And after three days, rise again. But he came for this reason. This was his mission. And he willingly and he joyfully submitted to the father's plan.

And it'll take place according to the divine agenda of the Father, and it'll be exactly according to the timing of the Father, not a second sooner. And so Jesus informs these men that he'll be with them only a little while longer, because he knows what he has come to do. He came to die. He came from heaven to die at the hands of wicked men that He created so that His life would be a ransom for many. And when His time had come where He will go, He will go after the resurrection, He will go to be with the Father.

He said that back in chapter 7. He said, I'll go back to the One who sent me. He returned to the glory at the right hand of the Father to enjoy the face-to-face fellowship and the glory that He enjoyed from before the world existed. Right? John 17, verse 5.

And this is why He came to the earth that He created. This is why He left heaven and condescended in a humility that you and I will never, beloved, never fully understand how it is that God, God the Son, would become man, part of His own creation in order to redeem wicked, sinful sinners like us. How can we understand that in its fullness? But we believe, don't we? And as Holy Scripture tells us, that when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law, Galatians 4, 4 and 5.

Came on a mission. And he's already told these men in verse 14 of our chapter, I know where I came from and where I am going, but you, you don't know where I'm from and you don't know where I'm going. I've told you on numerous times, but you don't understand because you don't have eyes to see. You don't have ears to hear. These are lofty truths.

These are high spiritual truths that Jesus is speaking about when he speaks about his claim and his identity and his personality and who he is and his eternality. And when he speaks these things, these men before him have not the ability to perceive or to discern what he's saying. There's good reason for that. So Jesus is saying in these few words before us that a time will come where you will see me. A time will come where you will see me.

Verse 34 in the previous chapter adds to that and he says, but you will not. find me." So Jesus has already told them, I will be going away, and there'll be a time when you'll seek me. We know that these men will search for Jesus, but they will not find him. And the natural question at this point to ask is this, in what sense will these people be seeking after the Lord?

You see, his crucifixion will be a public spectacle. They'll see it. They'll see Him hung before me upon that cross. They will know Jesus' faith. They will know what He came for, to die.

In what sense is Jesus saying that you will seek Me, and then back in chapter 7, but you will not find Me? What does He mean by those words? Well, I believe the most natural way for us to understand the words of our Lord is that they will seek after His true identity, which they have not come to recognize yet. So in other words, when Jesus is no longer among them, these people will continue to seek after, it is, the Anointed One of God. They will continue to seek after the Messiah, the one that they've been waiting for for decades and centuries.

They will be seeking after the Christ. But sadly, their search for Messiah will continue, but they will not find Him. Messianic expectation in the first century, we know, was at an all-time high. They had a zeal for Christ. They knew the hope of the nation rested in the Messiah to come, and His messianic, kingly rule.

They knew that. They had the Scripture. They had a surface understanding. They knew that much. But they perceived Him to be a warrior general, one who would come and rescue them from the Roman oppression.

He will rescue the people of Israel, these privileged people of Israel, because God's favor is upon us, they're thinking. He'll give us the land back, because we're the rightful owners of the land, not this Roman Empire, and He will rule and reign over all things with His righteousness. But Jesus is saying, you've missed Him. You'll seek after Him, but you will not find Him, because you have missed His coming. I'm standing right in front of you, Jesus is saying.

The Messiah that you're waiting for, the one who is anointed of God to bring redemption, salvation, is now standing before your very eyes and you don't recognize him. That's pretty scary reality. You see, Jesus is probably thinking, I told you with my words, I've demonstrated with my work, the Father, God the Father has testified to my authenticity through the various testimonies or testifiers or witnesses, and yet you still do not believe. You willfully reject me. It's because you're not satisfied with this Messiah.

You're not satisfied with God's Messiah, who is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies about the one to come. No, you've fabricated a messiah in your own minds. You pick and choose the prophecies that you like to keep and the ones that you don't like so much, you misinterpret those or turn your back on them. Then with your critical eyes, you sit back and you wait and you wait and you wait until you find a messiah that meets your standards. And it's quite clear and obvious that these people were looking for a lion.

and they had no interest in a lamb. But he's both. You cannot pick and choose. Here I am. Here I am, the hope of Israel, indeed the hope of the whole world, and because of your sinful, darkened, unbelieving hearts, you don't recognize me.

Here I am, but you don't recognize me. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. John 1, 10, and 11. How true is that?

So the Lord is saying, you don't recognize me, then your search for Messiah will be to absolutely no avail, because this Messiah, the true Christ, will be with you only a little longer. And then you will look for Messiah, but you won't find Him. Time is limited. The chance to look upon this Messiah and believe is limited. Because once I'm gone, I'm gone is what Jesus is saying.

The opportunity for salvation will not always be there. It will not always present itself. Especially humanly speaking. These men would do well to heed the word of the prophet that they knew so well and words that were so possibly familiar with, I would say, the great prophet Isaiah, when he says, Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near. Because in a little time they'll come and they'll seek, but they will not find.

These words to the unbelieving Jews in Jerusalem Beloved, what had been quite difficult for our Lord to say is our Lord Jesus has a compassionate heart. And if you recall with your minds, there's only three occasions recorded for us in sacred writ where Jesus actually wept. Only three occasions. And one was over Jerusalem. In Luke 19, verse 41, Through 44, we read, and when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that made for peace.

But now they're hidden from your eyes. They're scary words. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you on one side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone on another." Here it is, "...because you did not know the time of your visitation."

Messiah, Redeemer has come and He has made Himself known to you. He stood before you. He taught in your temple. He proclaimed the truth of God. He exegeted God.

He revealed God the Father before your very eyes, but you did not see Him. You did not recognize Him. What's left? Judgements. That's it.

One Savior, one Lord, one Messiah. You reject Him, what's left? Judgment. Verse 21, I'm going away. Again, limited time with you.

And you will seek me. We know they'll look after or look to the Messiah after He's gone. They will not find the Messiah because the Messiah has come and gone. They missed the time of His visitation. And then, and you will die in your sin.

You know, we've actually said on numerous occasions from this very pulpit that the words of our Lord in Matthew chapter 7 are probably among, if not the most terrifying words in the whole of the Bible. You know the words I'm talking about when I'll come to Him on the last day and say, Lord, Lord, we did this in your name, we did that in your name, we did this in your name. And the Lord will look upon them and He will say, I never I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, or you workers of lawlessness." They are terrifying words.

But beloved brothers and sisters, I will submit to you the words that are before you here. In John chapter 8, in verse 21, and some in verse 24, are on par with those words. They are absolutely terrifying. When our Lord looks in the eyes of these men, and He says, You will die in your sin. And he repeats the warning over and over again, twice, once here in 21 and twice in 24, because this is serious.

So now death is brought to the table. Not a popular topic for today, is it, death? Have you realised how our society avoids speaking about death? It's almost taboo. It's almost like we're not supposed to speak about dying.

You can speak about anything else. You can carry a conversation with someone you know or don't know, or even a stranger on the park. And you can engage in conversation about the sports, or politics, or the weather, or news, even conspiracy theories. And they'll consume it all, but begin to speak about death. and you'll find that becomes a very quiet conversation.

One becomes a bit jittery and they sit on edge and they become uncomfortable. Death is not a very popular topic. There's a lot of fear that surrounds death. Bring it up and I'll try to change the subject. Because no one wants to talk about the D word.

It's certainly not advertised. Death is not. Death doesn't sell. Ever wondered why you don't find a casket store next to your local Woolies? My beloved, here's the thing.

If the Lord tarries, if the Lord doesn't come back in the near term, the one thing we can actually be 100% sure of, 100% certain of, and that is everyone in this room will experience death. Will experience death. And for the most of us, it'll come very quickly. It'll seem like life was so short. James, Hit the nail on the head, didn't he?

When he said, what is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Have you ever looked at your coffee and seen that little vapor that comes? Have you ever tried to follow it with your eyes? Count to three, it's gone.

That's what James is saying. It's so temporal. It's here today and it's gone tomorrow. But it's certain, death will come. Death will come.

And death arrived into the world because of sin. We know that. It's not how God created man. When God made creation on the sixth day, he looked upon creation. He said, it is what?

Very good. No death, no decay, no suffering, no sickness, no disease. Very good. How did death come into the world? Well, it came courtesy of our first father, Adam.

Paul says it this way, therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, that's Adam, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. Whether our society, whether our culture, whether the people around us want to speak about it or not, death is a reality. For most of us, we don't know when it'll come, but we know one day our heart will stop beating, we know our lungs will decompress, and we know that our blood will stop will cease circulating through our bodies. And not meaning to sound insensitive, but that day will bring about where our loved ones will carry our cold, lifeless bodies, and they'll place them in a casket, and they'll dig a hole in the ground, and they'll place us there, or they'll cremate us. Either way, from dust we were formed, and from all too dust we shall return.

Genesis 3.19. But beloved, even though death is on the table here in our discussion, in Christ's discussion with the Pharisees, he's hinting at something far more terrifying than the experience of death. Did you see that in his words? And it's actually found, this concept or this reality or this truth is found in the words that we probably all become familiar with in Hebrews 9, verse 27.

It is appointed unto man to die once. We all get that. Everyone around us, everyone in society, everyone out those doors know that He has been appointed unto man to die once. But this is the next part that's a terrifying part. And then, after that comes judgment.

The certainty of death may be an uncomfortable topic. We will miss our loved ones who have passed and move on. But the judgment that follows, beloved, the judgment that follows makes or should make our heart grow faint. Think of the chilling reality of the judgment that follows. Death, death is not the end.

Remember that death is not the end. After death comes judgment. And thinking about that would bring fear to our souls. This is something worthy of our full attention in life. The judgment that follows.

And the unbelieving Jews before our Lord. And the countless of people outside these doors, and possibly even some that are in here this evening, don't need someone to tell them that they will die one day. Beloved, they already know that. These people need in love, you and I, to have the courage and the boldness of our Lord Jesus Christ and tell them, apart from Christ Jesus and the salvation He offers, They're gonna die in their sin. That's what they need to hear.

Not simply, you're gonna die. Not simply, life is short. But rather, have you trusted in Jesus? Have you received forgiveness for sins? Because if you die, you will die in your sins apart from Him.

as the subsequent judgment to death that makes dying in sin so terrifying. Why is that? Why is that? Because to die in your sin, or in your sin or sins, Jesus says it in the singular in verse 21, he says it in the plural twice in 24, I think in 21 he speaks about the sin of unbelief, and in 24 he speaks about sins in general. But why is it so terrifying to think that one who dies in their sin?

See what this said. It means, that the day of your death will come. And no one knows when that day will come, but that day comes before, hear this, before you've dealt with your sins, before a holy God. In a word, that day comes, the heart stops beating, a stroke, a blood clot, whatever is an accident, whatever it is, will come. and you die unforgiven Think about that for a moment Think about that reality Millions and millions of people outside these doors will die unforgiven To die in one's sin or to die in one's sins means no longer in the body, but before the judgment.

Open the eyes and you're before the judgment of God. That you stand before a holy God and you know your fate. You know that you never trusted in this Jesus. And you know your unrighteousness and your filth and the wickedness and the evil within you. You know that you are going to be condemned.

Stand before his judgment one day and you will receive your due on everything you have done in thought and action. Now I've spent some time throughout the week thinking about that, what it means to die in one's sin. I can only say it's a fearful experience. It's terrifying. I remember a few weeks ago when I preached a sermon on verse 16, a sermon where Christ says, but yet even if I do judge, speaking to the Pharisees who are judging according to flesh, He says, even if I do judge, my judgment is true.

Okay. I spoke then about the final judgments. I want to repeat that it is a scary reality because Jesus, who is the judge of all the judge of the universe, all judgment has been given to Christ to execute by the father that Jesus will be peering into the soul and uncovering every scene. Every one of those sins, every evil act, every evil thought, every secret in the heart, even those that you've been able to keep from those who are closest to you, Jesus will reveal those. And He'll even reveal every sin that you thought about, every motive that was evil, and even the sins that you didn't even know you committed.

You remember those words? We refer to Paul. I referred then to the parable in Luke chapter 12. You might remember the parable speaks about settling your debt with the accuser on the way to the court. You might remember that.

So the parable is basically, if you owe someone a debt, Jesus is saying, on the way to the courtroom, settle that debt. Don't wait. Don't wait until you make it to the courtroom and the judge has the hearing and he hears it out. And he makes a judgment. And when that gavel comes down in that judgment, it is absolutely final.

And if you're guilty, you'll be thrown in prison, Jesus says. Until when? Until the very last penny is paid. Beloved, the Bible makes it clear that our sin before God is debt. before God.

We owe Him. Why? Because we belong to Him. He is the Creator. We are the creatures.

We belong to Him. This is His universe. We live our lives and we eat His food, the trees that He's given us. We breathe His air. And we use those things for our own sinful desires, for the passions of the flesh.

Our very existence is meant to be in faithful service to Him and ultimately for His glory and not ours. Every time we live for our own satisfaction, every decision we've made that we would appease self and not God, everything or action we have ever done that is not in faith, you remember the two definitions of sin, transgression against God's law, and anything that is not rooted in faith. We are racking up debt. Massive amounts of debt. And hear this, none will be forgiven because he has an outstanding memory.

He's God. And every sin against holy God is worthy of eternal punishment. On our own, we are unable, unable, to satisfy or pay any of that debt. Never, never, even a single sin before Him is worthy of eternal punishment because it's eternally offensive to an eternal God. And beloved, that means The one who dies in their sin after a billion years in the suffering torment in hell under the wrath of God, the abiding righteous fury of God.

After a billion years, you've only just begun. Tell me that's not a scary thought. Now we're getting out. You know, getting out. Annihilationism.

That's to say that someone will perish. That God would just make that person cease to exist. Beloved, that's a man-made doctrine. Let me tell you, that flies in the face of Scripture. It's a lie.

How about teaching of purgatory? second chance that you can pay off when you're dead in hell. That's a lie from the pit of hell also. It's anti-biblical. The Bible doesn't speak about purgatory at all.

Hell, according to scripture, is a one-way street. Many get in, but hear this, not a single soul will get out. Your only hope, my only hope, and their only hope, is to settle outside court. to settle on the way. And that means to settle when this is still beating.

Because when that stops beating, we're told it's appointed unto them to die once, and when that stops beating, you're in the courtroom. And there's no coming back. There's no coming back. There's no second chances. And if you die in your sins, then Jesus says, and he goes on to say in our verses here in chapter eight, he says, where I go, you cannot come.

Now, as we'll see, these men don't understand our Lord's words. They're ignorant to our Lord's words. You remember me saying that a few weeks as we progress through the eighth chapter, we're going to see more and more ignorance. It's going to be remarkable. But it's clear what our Lord is saying, is it not?

where I go you cannot come. Only days earlier he had already told these men that he will return from the one who sent him. And who's the one who sent him? It's the father. Because He has a mission, and He'll accomplish the mission, and then He'll return to His heavenly abode to be in a wonderful face-to-face, glorious relationship with God the Father that He enjoyed from eternity past.

And that place, beloved, is a place that is undefiled. It is a place of purity. It is a place of righteousness. Nothing unclean or defiled will ever enter into the presence of the thrice-holy God who lives in unapproachable light and in whom there is no darkness. At all.

Only purity. Only cleanliness. Nothing of corruption will enter. Not even a single sin. And so the message Jesus is giving these Jews, these men who claim to know the scripture, understand about heaven and hell, and he's giving this message also to every individual who reads this text by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, because he was pleased to write it down for us, is this.

If you die in your sins, you'll be forbidden entry to where he is going. And he is going to heaven. Dying in your sins means you'll be forbidden the entrance into the eternal glory before the thrice holy God. Because for these men who Jesus has looked at and said, you're gonna die in your sin, then their final destination is not up, but down. So to speak, it's hell.

And despite the straightforwardness of our Lord's words, despite the multiple times that He's made reference to these truths to His audience, they remain ignorant of His words. Why? Because they have darkened, unbelieving hearts that don't understand spiritual truths. We spoke about that last week. And instead, instead of being concerned, instead of being moved, instead of their whole world coming down around them, they reply with a very disrespectful arrogance.

I hope you saw that in the text. Because in verse 22, this is what they say, so the Jew said, will he kill himself since he says where I'm going you cannot come? It might not be clear straight away, but we need to think about those words. We need to slow down and see if we can expose the wickedness of the naturally prideful, self-righteous human heart. And it's seen really in the state, the state of the heart is seen in this horrible, horrible response.

You see, these men are proving to be completely devoid of the fear of God. And I'll explain why in a moment. Their response to our Lord is incredibly insulting. It's mocking Him. And it shows who they really are.

It is actually exposing their true colors. Now, it's true that Jesus is going somewhere, and he says he's going somewhere, and he also says that where he is going, they cannot come. And on face value, it may be that we look at the text and we think that these men are quite curious. So where is he going? We're curious.

We want to know. You said you're going somewhere, and we can't come. So where are you going? Now, I get curiosity. But beloved, I want you to think about this.

Our Lord just said, you are going to die in your sin. Your earthly existence will come to an end and you will face Yahweh as an unforgiven sinner. The judge of all the earth will look at you And you'll be in a state of unforgiveness. And beloved, Jesus has just said those words and they are not even in the remotest phased by them. Knowing what they know about the Old Testament and the coming judgment.

I mean, these men are well-versed in the Scripture. We can all agree to that. They knew about the judgment of God. Plenty of passages speak about it. They knew about the wrath of God upon unrighteousness and upon sin.

They knew about that. So beloved, what should their response be? What should their response be? Essentially, Jesus is saying all their appeals to God for forgiveness have not been heard or accepted. Their prayers, their sacrifices are impotent because they don't have a real relationship with the God of the universe.

How does Jesus know this? Well, verse 19, they rejected God. They don't know God because they rejected his son. And his son is the only one who makes God known. If you don't know the son, you don't know the father.

And this is really bad news, really, really bad news for these men. And they're not in the slightest concerned. Rather, they're more concerned about, wait, where are you going? Where are you going, Jesus? Than, hold on, he's just condemned our soul to an eternality in hell.

That doesn't matter. It goes over the head, through one ear, out the other. Where are you going? They don't deal with the peril that their lives are in, that their soul is in, the eternal danger upon their soul. That doesn't fear them at all.

The fact that they can stand before a holy God unforgiven doesn't affect them. Beloved, there is no fear of God before their eyes. These are the men that are spoken of in Romans chapter 3. No fear of God before their eyes. But they're not unique because this is the state of every unregenerate person.

The cliff is ahead. And they've been warned over and over and over and over again by our Lord, and yet they continue down that path. What's going to happen? They're going to end up falling off that cliff. And therein lies, in essence, the core of an unbelieving heart.

The core and the essence of an unbelieving heart is this. It is pride and self-righteousness, self-sufficiency. These men are unfazed, like millions in our day, because deep down inside, they don't believe they have a need for a savior. We're doing quite well on our own, thank you, Jesus. We know what pleases God.

We know the Scripture. We've learnt it. We've memorised it. We're doing okay. We're fine.

Thank you. We are the privileged people of God. He's chosen us unto salvation. His favour rests on us. We're okay.

And so the shocking words of warning from our Lord go in one ear and out the other. Whatever they think they need, the Saviour to rescue them from their sins doesn't make it on that list. That's the condition of the spiritual, cold, lifeless, unbelieving heart. It rejects the light. It loves the darkness because its works are selfishly evil.

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to share the gospel with an elderly man. This man was in his 80s. He was in his 80s. And he made it very clear from the very beginning of the conversation that he believes in karma, you know karma They treat others with a certain respect because in that way it comes right back around to you And so he, in his own mind, he told me, Bernie, I believe I've lived a fairly good life I've played by the rules, I've treated people well, I'm okay But the Lord opened an opportunity for the next 15 or 20 odd minutes. I was able to explain to this man, it's not OK.

That won't cut it. That won't cut it. You are a sinner. And before holy God, you are going to be seen as a sinner. You need salvation.

And the only savior is Jesus Christ, who bears the sin of his people and those who come to trust in him. You require you require Christ. We spoke. I spoke to him about death and dying in sin. He wasn't overly joyful about speaking about death at the age of 80, but he gave me his ear and he listened.

And so, beloved, as we had this conversation, it seemed like he was By his body language, he was listening. It seemed to me that maybe the light was getting through, that maybe the gospel of Jesus Christ is actually taking root in this man. He asked a lot of good questions, I answered those questions, and it was a great conversation. And then the time had come where he needed to leave. So I walked into his car, and I'll never forget what he said, the last words he said to me.

He walked to his car and he opened the front driver's door of his four-wheel drive and he looked over his shoulder and he said to me, he said, Bernie, thanks for the chat, but I don't need a saviour. He closed his door and he drove away. pride. Self-righteousness. It makes a person a fool.

And it blindens the heart. It blindens the mind of the absolute peril you are in apart from seeking forgiveness from the one and only saviour able to forgive through his atoning sacrifice. Bernie, I don't need, I don't need a saviour. I'm okay with my karma. So how is it that these religious men that are standing before our Lord are unmoved and not paralyzed with fear when our Lord said that you are going to die in your sin?

Well, I suspect in their heart of hearts they're thinking, Jesus, we don't need someone to save us from our sin. Likely looking at their peers and thinking, God is pleased with anyone. He's got to be pleased with us. We do all the right things. We fast at the right times.

We sacrifice. We tithe. We do all these good things. Surely God is pleased with us. This was common.

You remember the Apostle Paul, or the then Saul, when he was a Pharisee. You remember the insight that we have on how he thought as a Pharisee in Philippians chapter 3, in particular verse 7. Paul says, as to righteousness under law, it was what? Who can say those words and actually mean them and not be blinded in their own deception? But of course, he didn't know God at that point, Paul.

When the light of Christ shone into his heart and God was made known to him, he called the blameless righteousness and all the works of the old life as what? Rubbish. Dung. disposed its nothing in comparison to the surpassing worth of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. That's rubbish.

But the men before our Lord in chapter 8 are still in that self-righteousness. They're still in darkness. And it's clear and evident that their hearts are arrogant and self-righteous because their response in verse 22 really does show this. You see, in a different response, or it is a different response than the one they gave earlier. It was only a few days earlier, actually, but it's laced with the same type of poison.

Remember back in chapter 7 and verse 35, when Jesus says that he's going somewhere. He says it back then as well, but he says, but where I'm going, you cannot come. They say, their response back then wasn't the same as this. It wasn't about suicide. But back then they said, where is he going?

Is he going to the Greeks? Is he going to the dispersion? In other words, is he going to the Gentiles? In other words, Jesus has tried to pull the wool over our eyes. You try to come and say to us that you are all these things and all these claims.

But we are the men who know scripture. We know you're not the Messiah. We're learned men. We can see right through you. You can't pull the wool over our eyes.

Oh, okay, so where you're going, we can't come. We now know where you're going. You're probably going to go off to the Gentiles, the Greeks, because those pagans have zero knowledge of Scripture, and you can pull the wool over their eyes. The poor saps, they'll probably even believe that you're Messiah, but you can't do that for us, because we know better. We know better.

We know better. What a smug attitude. Beloved, when I say these things, I don't think you think that I'm speaking specifically to the Jews, because I said earlier, this is the heart condition of everyone who is not in Christ. But these are the examples we're given in Scripture by inspiration of God's Word. But it's no different now.

Now, the response is different, but the smugness, and as I said earlier, the poison and the arrogance is still oozing out of them. They're still mocking our Lord. But beloved, can I say, their response now is far more sinister. Verse 22, so the Jews said, will he kill himself since he says, where I am going, you cannot come. And the Pharisees believed in the afterlife.

We know that, right? We know that the Sadducees, not so, but the Pharisees did. They believed in heaven and they believed in hell. Of course, without doubt in their mind, they would enter heaven with open arms. But as for this Jesus, this lying blasphemer, if he dies, He'll go straight to the pit of hell.

This was their thinking. And in this sense, he's right in their thinking. Because if he goes to hell, we can't follow him there. But beloved, they're not talking about simply dying here They actually make a specific reference which is more disturbing and the reference is to him killing himself or suicide You see, it was well known according to the historical writings of the Jews that suicide was one of the most heinous of all sins Very dark The sin of suicide was probably among the worst, according to the writings of this time. Now, I want you to know that those extra-biblical, historical writings are not authoritative.

And they are not, certainly not, infallible. This is authoritative. The Word of God is sufficient. Sometimes those writings can't help us. understand a little what's going on in the culture back then, in their understanding, what they believed.

It can shed some light. And so the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, you've probably heard of the name, he has a work called War of the Jews. It was written in the first century and it tells us something very interesting. It tells us that the Jews in that day believed the person who takes their own life, that is, one who commits suicide, will be, quote, received by the darkest place in Hades. End quote.

Are you going to take your own life, Jesus? That's not beneath you. We can expect you to do that, but you are a blasphemer after all. And if you do, you're right, you will be going somewhere that we cannot go. Beloved, that's dark.

The depth of the spiritual blindness in these men is remarkable. God in flesh is standing before them. Only moments earlier, in verse 12, I am the light of the world, he says. He who follows after me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. The pure radiance of the light of God is among them.

And here they are saying these words. The light. The inner circle of Jesus' disciples got a glimpse of that light. My brother referenced to it only this evening on the Mount of Transfiguration. You remember.

Peter, James and John. They were on the Mount and then they had a little glimpse of the pre-incarnate glory. and the light of Jesus Christ. And you remember how it was described? Luke says it was a dazzling white.

His clothing was a dazzling white. You can almost make a card book upon it. Mark is a bit more descriptive. He says they were more radiant and intensely white, more than anyone on the earth. That's what he says.

Anyone on the earth can bleach them. How bright is that? That's pretty bright. But Matthew, on the other hand, I suspect that the apostle that came to Matthew and described what he saw, one of the three men I would suspect, when they were thinking how to describe what they saw, I suspect in their own minds they thought of the brightest thing they'd ever seen. That brilliant light that I can't even look into for more than three seconds without blinking.

That's all He knows. There's nothing in the known universe that's brighter than the sun. So He says, it was like that. And so Matthew says, the brightness of the face of Jesus Christ was like the sun. How beautiful is that?

How wonderful is that? And His clothes, He says, were like light itself. Like light itself. Leave that to your imagination. And now the light of the world stands in the midst of these people and they're likely thinking in their minds that the darkest, deepest part of hell is reserved to people like you, Jesus.

Jesus made himself present. If Jesus was to make his presence known in that place, he will dispel all the darkness and everyone will be incinerated in a second. And they're saying, that's where you belong. Are you going to kill yourself so you can be found in the deepest, darkest place of hell? Beloved, remember this.

There is no such thing as mutual ground. You are either with him and for him, or you are feastly against him. We see that here. It's not like just leave Him be. No.

No. If you're not for Christ, you hate Christ and you are fiercely against Him. This is what the Word of God tells us. And this is evidence in what we see. So what is our Lord dealing with?

Spiritual blindness. Deception. Darkened unbelief. A heart that is devoid of spiritual life. No true knowledge of God.

No true understanding of the things of the Lord. He says up, these men are so confused. He says up and they think down. He speaks truth and they think lie. He speaks of light and they're thinking darkness.

Last week, as we were progressing through the chapter, I said as we work our way through that we'll come to realize that it's as though the Pharisees and Jesus are speaking a different language. Jesus says one thing and they believe or think or interpret it as another. It's almost frustrating when you start to study the words and what's going on. But actually, it's not a different language. I said it was, but it's actually more serious than that.

They're from... from different realms. And Jesus makes it known within his response, his next words when he says in verse 23, you are from below, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. Basically Jesus is saying the reason why you don't believe me The reason why you don't understand my words and you haven't come to embrace my claims is because we are polar opposites.

I am the very epitome of all that is good and righteous and just, and you're the opposite of all that. The reason you don't understand me, the reason why you don't recognize me, the reason you don't acknowledge I am who I am and who I claim to be is because I'm not from here, I'm from above, and I speak of lofty things from above, but you, your heart and your mind is taken captive by the world, and so you can't comprehend what I'm saying. The God of this age has blinded their eyes so that they cannot see the light of Christ, 2 Corinthians 4.4. The God of this age has entrapped their understanding in the evil system of this world, and they're unable to perceive or understand the spiritual, real meaning of what Jesus is saying.

Their wisdom is worldly wisdom. It's sinful, it's dark. The truth from above is foreign to their understanding. They'll say they understand heavenly truths. They'll even tell others they understand heavenly truth.

Beloved, they'll even tell themselves. They understand heavenly truths, but it's a lie. It's deception. Their affection is not directed up, but it's directed down. It's not for God or the things of God, but it's rather for self.

And it's attached to this world and the temporariness of everything in this world. And the system, the evil, sinful system of the world is what's captured their hearts. Why? Because remember, they do not know God. How do we know that?

Jesus says, because you have not come to know. the Son of God. Their affection is not from above, but from below. Their heart is captive to this world, and their love is for this world. You might remember the same apostle speaks to this point exactly in these beautiful words in the first epistle of John.

He says, do not love the world or the things in this world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, for all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, and the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world, and the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. So how can they understand Christ's words when He says He is from above, and yet they are trapped in their unbelieving worldly hearts? And so the eternal truths our Lord has been communicating all along, and maybe some of us have been a bit frustrated because they haven't been able to really perceive what is being said, have sadly haven't been understood because they are foreign to their ears. Because they remain in unbelief, beloved.

And these redeeming truths will remain foreign to their ears unless the mighty hand of God the Father intervenes by His grace and opens ears. Unless He opens eyes and gives them eyes to see. And unless He begins to draw them unto His Son. How does He do it? Jesus already told the Galileans He does it by teaching their hearts to believe in Jesus.

Just like our Lord said to the Galileans, He said, everyone who has heard and learnt from the Father comes to me. The heart needs to be taught by the Father. Regeneration happens when life comes where there's only death. And then the heart is taught, your eyes directed to Christ and you say, He's my Saviour, He's my Redeemer. I bend my knee to King Jesus.

And the person, beloved, who is drawn to Christ by the Father, he comes by faith. Because their only hope to be rescued from the clutches of sin and to be forgiven is faith in Jesus. What's the alternative? You will die in your sins. That's it.

There's no third option. There's no third option. Verse 24, I told you that you would die in your sins, Jesus says, for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins. I was going to spend a week on this, on this verse alone, but I decided to include it here. Sorry we've run a bit over, but I will be brief.

Literally what we have here in our Lord's words are, I told you that you would die on your sins, for unless you believe that I am, the he is included. The he has actually been added by the translators. Unless you believe that I am, echo I me. Jesus is boldly using the name of God. The name God gave Moses in Exodus 3.

The name that the prophets in the Old Testament used for Yahweh. I am me, the great I am. Jesus is claiming that name for Himself. We shouldn't be surprised because Jesus over and over is showing and proving that He is indeed, that He is God. He'll use this name again in verse 28, but the Jews won't get it.

Not quite yet, but in verse 58, they will get it and they'll be outraged and they'll pick up stones to kill him. But our Lord is saying to these men, we perceive only a mere man who stands before them. He says, I am much, much more than that. The whole time I've been telling you that I am God in flesh. The whole time I stand before you I've been telling you God the Father sent God the Son.

I'm the Son of God. And unless you believe that I am the Son of God, unless you believe that I am the great I am, I am the anointed one of God. I am the one from above. I am the Messiah. Unless you believe that I am God in flesh, you will die in your sins.

This is what Jesus is saying. Unless you place your trust in me, Jesus is saying, and believe that I told you all that I've told you all along. You will experience the torment of the wrath of God for all eternity. Your sins will not be forgiven. Because God's displeasure and God's anger will remain on you unless you believe that I am.

Because apart from him, all he sees is unrighteousness. That's all he sees. If you have not come to believe in the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, there's nothing left but judgment. Because what you think about this Jesus, what you believe about this Jesus, it matters, beloved. It matters.

You need to believe that He is the Great I Am. He's more than a good man. Many believe he was a good man, and they're going into hell because they're gonna die in their sins. Many, many believe that he was a great prophet, but they will die in their sins as well. Many tell you that Jesus had a spark of divinity in him, a benevolent man, a perfect example in all his ways, but they don't believe he is the I Am, and they will die in their sins.

Jesus is saying, what you believe about me matters. Unless you believe I am, you'll die in your sins. Not that I am or have a spark of divinity in me, no. Not as though I am one amongst many gods, no. But I am the fullness of deity that dwells in me bodily, as Paul says in Colossians 2 verse 9.

Only God is able to make this claim, beloved. Only God is able to say that He is the I Am. So either you take Him at His word as the God of the universe, or you refuse Him altogether. But don't mix and match. It never works.

You have no right to. What He's saying is, unless you believe everything I have told you about me, all my claims, you will die in your sins. All of it, Jesus. unless we believe all that you have said of yourself, all that you've remarked about your eternality and who you are and where you're going, all of it, Jesus. And Jesus is saying, yes, all of it.

Because beloved, true, saving faith is given from above. It does not pick and choose the parts of Jesus' words to believe and the ones not to believe. You either take Him all in His Word and everything in His Word as truth, or you leave it all together. True faith embraces the whole of Christ. True faith keeps the words of our Lord in our hearts and embraces His words and His personality, His character, His being as absolute truth.

Yes, beloved, you do learn more and more as you mature in the faith, as you mature in the understanding of the Word, absolutely. But to deny one of His claims, to be directed at His words and say, yes, but I don't believe that, then that would be evident that you remain in darkness. that the truth has not set you free. Even if you've made a verbal confession, a verbal profession of faith, as some have done, as some will do even at the end of our passage, they say, some who were there believed in Him, but come towards the end of the chapter, they were not able to embrace the fullness of the teaching of Christ. We believed up until this point, but what you said to this point, we can't believe you.

Will die in your sins because unless you believe I am you will die in your sins The question beloved that we need to ask ourselves in closing is this Have we truly come to believe? That Jesus is the brain I am Have we come to believe that He is the Son of God, God in flesh, the anointed Messiah sent by God? Have we come to believe that He is the bread of life? Have we come to believe that He is the light of the world and anyone who follows after Him will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life? Have we come to believe that He is the door, He is the chief shepherd, that He is the way, the truth and the life, that He is the resurrection and the life, that He is the true vine, and only those who are united in Him will have His life, eternal life.

His life will course through their veins. Have we come to believe that? Have we come to believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God? He came from heaven, sent by the Father, born by a woman, born of a woman, born under the Lord to redeem those under the law. Do we believe?

Have we come to believe that He did indeed lead a perfect, righteous life, a life that you and I could not live? And He did it for us who believe. Do we believe that He willingly laid down His life, accepted that evil men, disgusting wicked evil men that we were once, would capture Him by His will and that would hang Him on a tree to bleed and die, to bear the curse of sin? And do we believe He died upon that cross and He cried out, it is finished for everyone who believes upon Him? Do we believe that he died and he was buried and three days on the third day he rose from the dead into the newness of life, showed himself to the apostles, showed himself to some 500 people?

Do we believe? Do we believe that He's ascended to the right hand of the Father, right now, sitting at the right hand of the Father, interceding for the saints, sitting there as the King of kings and the Lord of lords in majesty? Do we believe, do we believe that one day He will come back, victoriously, as the King of kings, as the Savior of the world, that He'll come back and consummate His kingdom, judge those who are not found in Him, the wicked, And then when He comes to you, because you have believed, He looks upon you, and He is the judge of all the world. He's not one who has amnesia, but knows every sin you've ever committed, knows your unrighteousness, and you do too. And yet He'll look at you, even knowing every single dark secret in your life, but because you believe, He will declare to you, innocent do you believe.

Do you believe that he'll consummate that kingdom? Do you believe that he'll gather his bride unto himself and they will live with him in Christ for all eternity, enjoying the glory of our triune God? Do you believe? Because beloved, if you do, you have nothing to fear. Death has lost its victory.

Death has lost its sting. Everyone out there who speaks of death and is terrified is because of what comes after death, the judgment. But if you do not die in your sins, if your sin has been taken care of, if you have received forgiveness by faith in Jesus Christ, by trusting in his atoning sacrifice, then you have nothing to fear. Death will come. It's a gateway to the glories of Christ.

And we ought to, by faith, be as sure that that glory will come as we are that we've been saved by the precious blood of the Lamb. Let's pray.