Dead In Sin

You Will Die In Your Sin

Jesus knew that he was going to be crucified in 6 months. This is why He said that He was going away. He knew that he was returning to the Father. His time on earth was coming to a close.

He told the people that they would seek for Him and not be able to find Him because He would be gone. This could possibly have two meanings. The first is that they would seek His body after the crucifixion and not find Him because of His resurrection and ascension. The second is that they would realize that their opportunity to believe in Him would be gone. They would see no more miracles by Him or hear anymore of His teachings. Jesus was telling them that their time for salvation was slipping away. They had a better opportunity of salvation while He was with them than when He was gone.

They needed to respond by faith while Jesus was with them. Otherwise, it was unlikely that they would ever come to faith. They would have too many people casting doubt about Jesus and would not have him to continue to teach and reveal himself.

He told them that they would die in their sin. This was a shocker because they didn’t believe sin was an issue. They focused on them being chosen by God. They believed they were owed heaven because God chose them. They did not need a savior.

Where He was going they could not go. He was returning to the Father in heaven. When they died in their sins they could not go to the Father.

Today is the day of salvation

The church trend today is the seeker friendly church. Churches today are more concerned with the number of people, number of dollars in the offering plates, the types of facilities a church has, programs, and music styles. Churches try to cater to maximize these measurement. Unfortunately it comes at the cost of biblical preaching and teaching. People desire entertainment over truth.

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths 2 Tim. 4:1-4

Preaching and teaching the Bible is difficult because it deals with life's difficulties. There are principles in the word of God that must be preached that people don’t want to hear. The subject of sin and hell are not popular subjects, but must be taught because they are truth. People want to feel encouraged when they hear a message. I get that. Believe me, I like to preach those messages that are encouraging. However I have not been called to preach encouraging messages but the truth!

What I am saying is that when you hear biblical preaching and the Lord calls you into salvation, you need to surrender to the Lord. It is becoming more difficult to find churches and pastors that are preaching truth.

4 Ways to Die In Sin

Jesus mentions that those that were listening to Him were going to die in their sins. The next few passages demonstrate how you die in sin. John Mac Arthur points these 4 ways out.

Self Righteousness

So the Jews were saying, “Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’? John 8:22

The Jews presumed Jesus was going to take his own life. That is why they thought they would not be able to go where he went. The Jews believed that suicide was the worst sin a person could commit. They believed that a person that commited suicide went to the lowest depths of hell for all eternity. They thought Jesus was going to hell.

The fact that they thought they could go to heaven and Jesus was going to hell demonstrates that they were self-righteous. They could not imagine that they would go to hell because they were chosen by God. They believed that they had no need for a savior because they were God’s chosen people.

Jesus was telling them that they needed a savior in order to go to heaven. They could not get there by observing the law or because they were born Jewish. They needed a savior!

Today’s Self- Righteous

Many people today believe that they are pretty good people. They believe that when they stand before the Lord, He is going to consider their good deeds and bad deeds and if the good deeds are more than the bad deeds then He will let us into heaven. Because after all “a good god would never send a good person to hell.”

For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. Is. 64:6

There is no good deed that makes up for our sin. Our sin is the reason Jesus died on a cross. No good deed can satisfy God’s wrath for our sin. The only thing that satisfies God’s wrath is the forgiveness Jesus gives to those who believe in Him as Savior.

Be Worldly

You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. John 8:23

Jesus reminded them that He came from the Father and was returning to the Father. He was returning to the place He was before the earth was created. He was not of the world. He was from a different world.

Now He is not referring to the physical world but the world system. A person belonging to the world system cannot go to heaven.

15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2:15-17

If you love the world then the love of God is not in you. The world is lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. This world system is what keeps people from going to heaven.

The lust of the flesh are as Galatians 5: 19-21 lists: 19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. These are the things of the world that satisfy our flesh.

The lust of the eyes are the things of the world that we see that satisfies our soul.

20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

This speaks predominately about materialism. When we try to satisfy the soul with materialism and wealth we have bought into the world system.

18 And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, 19 but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. Mark 4:18-19

Be Unbelieving

24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins. John 8:24

Jesus told the people that if they did not believe His claims that they would die in their sins. This is the only unforgivable sin. People that refuse to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died for their sins and rose again to give eternal life that they could not be saved.

This holds true for us today. If we refuse to believe then we cannot be with the Father in heaven.

Be Obstinate

25 So they were saying to Him, “Who are You? John 8:25

They continue to question Jesus claims no matter what they have witnessed and heard. They asked Him who he was. This was an insult because he had been telling them who he was. They just refused to believe.

They were basically telling Jesus who are you to tell us anything. They were the religious elite of the day and he had no authority to tell them anything.

Obstinate Today

There are many people who refuse to follow Christ because they believe they know how to live their lives better without Him. They want to be their own god.

Jesus Will Triumph

Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. 29 And He who sent Me is with Me; He [i]has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.” 30 As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him. John 8:28-30

Jesus told the Jews that they were going to help Him accomplish His mission. He said when they lifted him up that they would know that i am He. His death burial and resurrection proved His claims. Though his miracles and teachings were not enough for them, they could not deny that He is the Son of God after His resurrection.

It is the completion of His mission that brings him Glory.

8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death [h]on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Phil. 2:8-11