Will You Die in Your Sins?

The last time we were in John 8, we heard Jesus say in 8:12, “I am the light of the world.”

 

If you remember, He said that at the conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles.  The four enormous menorahs had been extinguished, and as the darkness grew and where hundreds and hundreds of people could hear Him, He said, “I am the light of the world.”

 

We then found out what that means for those who come and follow Jesus.  He can dispel the darkness of unbelief in you.  He can dispel the darkness of ignorance in you.  He can dispel the darkness of unbelief in others.

 

Here in John 8:21, Jesus is still addressing the Pharisees, who were the Jewish religious leaders. 

 

 

Exposition

8:21-22

21 Then Jesus said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.”  22 So the Jews said, “Will He kill Himself, because He says, ‘Where I go you cannot come’?” 

 

In verse 21, Jesus said again to these Jewish religious leaders that He was going away.  He was foreshadowing His death on the cross, and His resurrection from the grave and His ascension to His Heavenly Father.  Then He said they would seek Him, but would die in their sins.  For where He was going, they could not come. 

 

Jesus’ comments provoked this question in verse 22, “Will He will kill Himself?”  There question was snarky and insulting to the utmost degree. 

 

These Jews thought they were on their way to heaven.  They also thought that Jesus claimed to be headed there as well, but this statement through them off.  If He was going to heaven, why couldn’t they go there?

 

They then concluded that He was talking about suicide, and Jewish thought was that suicide would send a person to hell.  They thought they were going to heaven, and Jesus was going to hell.

 

 

8:23-24

23 And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

 

In verse 23, Jesus said that He was from God in heaven, and they were from the world.  Of course, that is true.

 

By the way, even though all of us are from the world, if have put our faith in trust as Jesus as Lord and Savior, we better not be friends with the world or love the world.  See James 4:4 and 1 John 2:15.

 

4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

 

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

In other words, when you accepted Christ, all things should have become new.  If that is not true, you ought to be worried.

 

Brothers and Sisters, our marriage cannot be the same as the world.  Our speech cannot be same as the world.  How we recreate cannot be same as the world.  How we parent cannot be same as the world.  How we spend our money cannot be the same as the world.  If the only difference between you and the world is where you spend Sunday mornings, you might be on your way to the same the place the world will go when they die. 

 

Furthermore, Jesus went on to say they would die in their sins if they didn’t believe that Jesus was God.  What does it mean to die in your sins?  I’m going to answer that in just a moment. 

 

 

8:25-30

25 Then they said to Him, “Who are You?”  And Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. 26 I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him.”  27 They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father.  28 Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. 29 And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” 30 As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.

 

In verse 25, they asked Jesus, “Who are You?”  Jesus told them that His answer is the same as it always has been, and they can trust what He says because He speaking on behalf of the one who sent Him.  Of course, they didn’t understand that He was talking about God the Father. 

 

In verse 28, Jesus prophesied of His death on the cross.  Some of them would finally recognize His true identity after seeing Him crucified and resurrected because Jesus was going to do everything His Father sent Him to do as they experienced perfect unity. 

 

 

Applications

1. Will suicide send a person to hell? Or, is suicide the unpardonable sin?

 

In short and according to the Bible, a person who commits suicide is not necessarily going to hell.  The only sin that cannot be and will not be forgiven is the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit or attributing to man only what should be attributed to God.  See Matthew 12:31-32.

 

31 “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

 

Therefore, suicide is not the unpardonable sin.  Rejecting Christ is or thinking that you can save yourself and don’t need to be born of the Holy Spirit.

 

What about Judas?  I believe Judas went to hell when he committed suicide, but it was because he rejected Christ and not because he hung himself. 

 

 

2. What does it mean to die in your sins?

Jesus uses that phrase on multiple times in 8:24. We are all sinners, and we are all living in our sins unless we have asked Jesus to forgive us and confessed Him as Lord and Savior.

 

For the person who receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, that person does not die in his or her sins, but trades his or her sins for Jesus’ righteousness when you call on the name of the Lord to save you. 

 

However, if you do not receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, then you are depending on your own morality to get you into heaven, and you will die in your sin even if it is only one sin because even one sin violates God’s perfect holiness.   

 

 

3. Who is Jesus?

That is exactly what the Jews asked in verse 25.  First, Jesus claimed to be God.  He did this in verses 21, 23, and 28.  Every time Jesus said, “I am,” He was claiming to be God, and we know this was true because He was God’s Son.

 

Second, Jesus claimed to be Promised Messiah.  When He spoke in verse 28, He was both looking back and looking forward.  He was looking back comparing Himself to Moses who lifted up the brass serpent to heal the people.  He was looking forward to when He would die on the cross for the sins of the world. 

 

Third, Jesus can be your personal savior.  In verse 30, many believed in Jesus.  Is Jesus your personal savior.

 

Back in 8:12, Jesus invited His audience and us to follow Him as the light of the world.  Would you follow Him today as light of the world and let Him dispel the darkness of unbelief in your life?

 

How you answer “How is Jesus” will determine where you spend eternity.  I pray that you have chosen Him as Lord and Savior and eternity in heaven.