He has to have this eternal destiny in mind.
In John chapter 17, in verse 3, Jesus defines eternal life this way.
!
Their part is that they would be with God forever.
They thought that they were pleasers of God, and yet the opposite was true.
Whatever you can imagine might be most horrific about hell,
the worst thing will be exclusion from the place where God resides.
I earnestly hope that you do not want to die in your sin.
It is possible this morning that you just don't really care.
It's possible that you love your sin.
And I just want you to know that this is not a good position to stand in.
Your eternal destiny matters.
You should not want to die in your sin.
You should want to die clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
You should long for eternal life.
I hope that if someone were to tell you how to avoid a temporal and eternal life of misery,
that you would at least grant them a moment of your time, a bit of your attention.
Will you give me just some moments?
Hear the words that the scripture says.
What the Bible has to say about your eternal destiny has the potential to change your life forever.
Our outline for this text is going to follow John MacArthur's because I just thought it was so clever.
He often is.
This one especially so.
He titled the chapter on these verses in his commentary,
How to Die in Your Sins.
So the first way to die in your sins.
How to die in your sins.
Number one.
Be self-righteous.
Verse 22.
We note the response of the Jews.
They say,
Will he kill himself?
Since he says,
Where I am going,
you cannot come.
The religious leaders of Jesus' day were so confident in their righteousness
that they assumed heaven was their destination.
Jesus is saying,
I'm going to a different place than you're going.
And they so assumed they were going to heaven.
They ask sarcastically,
Will he kill himself?
Suggesting that where he was going was hell.
You see, the Jews had strong opinions about suicide.
The first century Jewish historian Josephus wrote,
Quote,
The souls of those whose hands have acted madly against themselves
are received by the darkest places in Hades.
End quote.
You have to understand that to see what they're doing as they respond in this way.
Will he kill himself?
Will he send himself to hell?
Because clearly,
He won't be where we are by his own proclamation.
They're being smug.
They can't imagine Jesus going to heaven and that they won't be there.
It's not possible.
Self-righteousness is a deadly deception.
Do you want to die in your sin?
Go on believing that you're good enough.
That somehow in your estimation,
you've tallied more marks on the good side than on the bad side.
Think that somehow God owes you something because you tried.
Proverbs 30 and verse 12 says,
There are those who are clean in their own eyes,
but are not washed of their filth.
Humility, rather, marks the saved.
Those who have repented of their sin and turned to Christ.
Jesus says in Matthew 5, verse 3,
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Those who recognize their spiritual need,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
You want to die in your sin?
Be self-righteous.
Isn't it a great irony
that the men who had already decided to murder Jesus,
which decision had been made in previous chapters,
that they suggest that he may take his own life
and not inhabit the same place as them?
How self-righteous to think
that the murder of an innocent man
would gain them reward
and find them in a different place than he.
Secondly, how to die in your sins?
Be worldly.
Verse 23, he said to them,
You are from below.
I am from above.
You are of this world.
I am not of this world.
As Jesus points out his opponent's
different destination in verse 22,
here he points out their different origin.
The concept being presented by the word world
is an important one.
Jesus is not referring here
to the material world,
but to the immaterial,
spiritual realm
that opposes the kingdom of God,
the system of this world.
I thought this paragraph from John MacArthur
summed this very well.
He says,
Materialism, humanism,
immorality,
pride, and selfishness.
The lust of the flesh
and the lust of the eyes
and the boastful pride of life,
1 John 2.16,
are the world's hallmarks.
It is utterly opposed to divine truth,
righteousness,
virtue,
and holiness.
Its opinions are wrong.
Its aims are selfish.
Its pleasures are sinful.
Its influences are demoralizing.
Its politics are corrupt.
Its honors are empty.
Its smiles are phony.
Its love is false and fickle.
End quote.
The starting point of the Jews' animosity towards Jesus
is the fact that they are part of the world.
They walked,
following the course of this world,
following the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that is now at work,
and the sons of disobedience,
Ephesians 2.
2.
This is why Jesus calls Satan their father.
Do you want to die in your sin?
Love this world.
Love the system that functions here.
Excuse me.
Listen to its falsehoods.
Believe that you are at the center of the universe,
that your emotions and whims define the truth,
that you can outwit God.
Instead,
we have to humble ourselves and submit ourselves
to God's word.
Third way to die in your sins.
Be unbelieving.
How to die in your sins.
Number three.
Be unbelieving.
Verse 24.
Jesus says,
I told you that you would die in your sins.
For unless you believe that I am he,
you will die in your sins.
For those of you who care and have been keeping up,
I think this is the chiastic center of this text.
Although,
Jim Hamilton disagrees.
And that was hard for me this week.
Maybe we can talk about it later.
I told you you would die in your sins,
for unless you believe that I am he,
you will die in your sins.
Unless you believe that I am he.
Isn't that an interesting phrase?
What specifically does the pronoun he refer to?
What's it referring back to?
I want to tell you,
my punchy response was to go back up the text
and start looking.
What does he mean when he's referring to the he?
Well,
the pronoun he
is not in the original Greek text.
It would be better
to render the phrase
unless you believe
that I am.
He's declaring himself to be deity.
It's not the first time that he's done this.
So if you want to include the pronoun,
I think he's going all the way back
to what he said in John chapter 5,
verse 17 and 18.
You may remember,
this is where some of this kicked off.
He said,
my father is working until now
and I am working.
And then verse 18 says this.
This was why the Jews were seeking
all the more to kill him.
Right?
There's their plan.
Why?
Because
not only was he breaking the Sabbath,
you remember he healed a man
at the Pool of Siloam,
but he was even calling God
his own father,
making himself
equal
with God.
That is exactly what he's doing here.
He is declaring
that he is
the I
Am.
The self-existent one.
Yahweh.
Later in verse 28,
he's going to refer to himself
as the
son of man.
The book of Daniel.
The one who will
reign at the father's
right hand over
the nations.
He is
unequivocally
doing that
very thing.
The thing that they're so
mad at him for doing,
that is exactly
what he is
doing.
And he says,
unless you believe
that I am,
you will die
in your sins.
Jesus is either
a liar,
he's a lunatic,
or he is
who he says
he is.
Do you want to die
in your sin?
Dismiss Jesus
as maniacal
or as a madman.
Dismiss him as that.
or
humbly receive him
as the great
I am.
The fourth way
to die
in your sins
is to be
willfully
ignorant.
Look at their response
in verse 25.
They said to him,
who are you?
Jesus said to them,
just what I have been
telling you
from the beginning.
It's like they want
to have a point
of contention
with him here,
and yet he has
already explained
to them
who he is.
They already
had the data
to believe
that he is
the I am.
To have the
forgiveness
of their sins,
and yet they
willfully
ignore him.
I want to
be brief
here.
I just want
to note
it,
just for the
sake of our
time.
They've had
enough to
place their
faith in
Christ.
They could
have approached
him as
Nicodemus did,
unsure and
curious.
They could
have asked
him honest
questions.
They could
have said,
these claims
you're making
are massive
claims.
You're claiming
to be God.
Tell us
more.
But this is
not their
approach to
him at all.
They are
positioning
to have
him killed.
They are
happy to
remain just
as they
are.
Self-righteous,
self-deluded,
unbelieving,
worldly,
sitting in
positions of
power,
trying to
play a
political game
with Rome.
They're so
happy to
see him
off the
scene.
They want
to get rid
of Jesus
as a
nuisance
to what
they have
going on.
Do you
want to
die in
your sin?
Ignore
everything you
have ever
heard about
Jesus.
Most of
you, I
would assume,
have grown
up hearing
about Jesus.
If nothing
else, you've
heard about
him.
I'll tell you
more here
in just
a moment.
You want
to die
in your
sin?
Ignore
everything
that I'm
going to
say to
you today.
But notice
the final
verse of
our text.
I'm
grateful for
verse 30.
It says,
as he was
saying these
things,
many
believed
saved in
him.
For those
of you who
have not
placed saving
faith in
Jesus Christ,
what if you
don't want to
die in your
sin?
What must you
do?
Or to state
it better,
what must you
believe to be
saved?
the Bible
gives us a
clear and
gracious
answer.
Zoom back
a bit from
it.
It begins
with God
himself.
The scripture
tells us that
in the beginning
God created
the heavens
and the
earth.
He's
over the
universe
and he is
perfectly
holy in
his character.
The prophet
Isaiah records
the angels
declaring before
him,
holy,
that thrice
repetition,
perfectly
holy,
is the
Lord of
hosts.
The whole
earth is
full of
his glory.
That's
Isaiah 6
verse 3.
Because
God is
holy,
set apart,
and he is
righteous,
he cannot
ignore
rebellion.
He cannot
dismiss
sin.
He cannot
be in
fellowship
with
rebels
to his
will.
His
justice
requires
that evil
be judged,
and every
human being
stands
accountable
before him.
The Bible
tells us that
humanity has
rebelled against
this holy
God.
It starts
in Genesis
chapter 3
and it carries
on to this
day.
Though we were
created to know
him and live
under his
good rule,
we have
all turned
away.
Scripture
says,
for all
have sinned
and fall
short of
the glory
of God.
Romans 3
23.
Every one
of us
guilty
before him.
Sin is
not just
some
weakness
or failure,
some minor
deficiency.
It's
rebellion.
It's declaring
God our
enemy,
the one who
created us.
calling him
no longer
our God,
our creator,
but that
is set
against us.
Each of
us has
broken
God's law
in thought,
in word,
in deed.
And because of
this rebellion,
the Bible says
the wages
of sin
is death.
Romans 6
23.
Death now,
death forevermore,
eternal separation
from God.
Sin leads
to physical
death and
ultimately to
eternal
death.
Left to
ourselves,
we cannot
right this
wrong.
No amount
of moral
effort or
religious activity
can remove
the guilt
of our
sin.
But the
good news
of the
gospel is
that God
has acted
to save
sinners.
In his
great love,
he has sent
his son
Jesus Christ
into the
world.
The
apostle Paul
writes,
but God
shows his
love for
us,
and that
while we
were still
sinners,
Christ
died for
us.
Romans 5
8.
Jesus
lived the
perfectly
righteous
life that
we have
failed to
live,
and then
he
willingly
went to
the cross
to bear
the penalty
of our
sin.
As the
apostle Peter
explains,
he himself
bore our
sins in
his body
on the
tree that
we might
die to
sin and
live to
righteousness.
1 Peter 2
and verse
24.
After his
crucifixion,
Jesus raised
from the
dead on
the third
day,
demonstrating
that his
sacrifice was
accepted and
that he has
conquered sin
and death
forever.
God
The Bible
calls every
person to
respond to
this good
news.
Jesus himself
proclaimed,
the time is
fulfilled and
the kingdom of
God is at
hand.
Repent and
believe in
the gospel.
Mark 1
15.
To repent
means to
turn away from
sin, to
change your
mind.
This is no
longer the
trajectory I
want to be
on.
I want to
go a
different way.
I'm not
going to live
for myself.
I want to
live for
God.
To believe
means to
place your
trust in
Jesus Christ
alone,
relying on
his life,
his death
and resurrection
as the only
basis for our
forgiveness and
acceptance before
God.
I used to use
an analogy with
my boys,
which I stole
from somebody,
I'm sure,
that we put
on Jesus like
a parachute and
we jump out
the plane.
We believe
he will catch
us and we
will,
not die.
We used to
practice jumping
out of the
plane off our
couch.
We put on
backpacks and
jump off the
plane.
That's what it
means to
believe.
We hold
on to him.
The promise
of scripture
is clear.
If you confess
with your mouth
that Jesus is
Lord and
believe in your
heart that God
raised him from
the dead,
you will be
saved.
Romans 10,
9.
Salvation is
not something we
earn by
religious effort.
Instead,
by grace,
you have been
saved through
faith.
This is the
gift of God,
not a result
of works,
so that no
one may boast.
Ephesians 2,
8 and 9.
So what must
you believe to
be saved?
You must
believe that
God is the
holy creator,
that you are
a sinner in
need of
forgiveness,
that Jesus
Christ died
and rose again
to save
sinners,
and that you
must repent
and trust in
him alone
for salvation.
salvation.
The Bible
gives this
gracious promise
to all who
respond in
faith.
Everyone who
calls on the
name of the
Lord will be
saved.
Romans 10,
13.
If you don't
want to die in
your sin,
repent and
believe that
Jesus is the
Christ.
for those of
you who have
placed saving
faith in
Jesus Christ.
Don't forget
the gospel for
you.
Once again,
we should never
grow tired of
hearing it.
It's a glorious
thing.
We should be
reminded of who
we once were
and now who
we are in
Jesus.
Never grow
cold, never
grow tired of
hearing this
glorious thing.
And secondly,
don't forget
the gospel for
others.
God is saving
a people for
his glory.
We want to
have God's
glory magnified
and we want to
be part of his
saving work in
the world.
So preach the
gospel to
anyone who
will listen to
you, to
your children
in your home,
to your
neighbors, to
your coworkers,
to your
extended family
members.
Follow a
simple outline.
It's what I
just presented
for you.
God, man,
Christ,
response.
It's not
difficult to
have conversations
about things
that you
love.
It's easy to
get into this
conversation,
particularly at
the man point.
Everybody's got
problems.
Everybody experiences
trouble in this
world.
Talk about the
fallence of the
world and then
back them up to
God, walk
through man, show
them Christ, ask
them to respond.
It's not a hard
thing to do.
Just do it.
Be faithful to
proclaim the
gospel.
Pray that God
will use your
gospel proclamation
to save souls.
You will not
logic anybody
into heaven.
It's not going to
happen.
Declare the gospel
to them.
I'm not
anti-apologetics.
We see Paul
reasoning with
people day by
day.
But it is not
the primary thing
that should be
done.
Help people put
down their guard,
lower their fists,
preach the gospel
to them.
Take them back
to their sinful
state.
Show them their
need of justification.
Present to them
Jesus.
Charles Spurgeon
once said, and
this is in your
bulletin if you
care to read it,
a great many
learned men are
defending the
gospel.
No doubt it is a
very proper and
right thing to do.
Yet I always
notice that when
there are most
books of that
kind, it is
because the
gospel itself is
not being
preached.
Stop it there
for a second.
You hear what
he's saying?
When we're
spending all of
our time making
apologetic arguments
for it, Spurgeon
says it's because
it's just not being
preached.
I'll pick back
up.
Suppose a number
of persons were
to take it into
their heads that
they had to
defend a
lion, a
full-grown
king of
beasts.
There he is
in the cage,
and here come
all the soldiers
of the army to
fight for him.
Well, I
should suggest
to them, if
they would not
object and
feel that it
was humbling
to them, that
they should
kindly stand
back and
open the
door and
let the
lion out.
I believe
that would
be the best
way of
defending him,
for he
would take
care of
himself.
Let's
pray together.