You Will Die in Your Sin

Our Lord was standing in the midst of His cruel, bitter enemies. They despised Him, but He never stooped to their level.

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.” John 8:21

Or “I go my way (hodos),” meaning a specific route, progress on a journey. This indicated God’s entire plan concerning His Son, Jesus Christ. There would be no deviation from the preordained course of His life, the perfect will of God. “seek me” – they would search for something they already had, and rejected. They would die in their sin (singular, meaning the Old Sin Nature). That’s the sin we are all born with, and cannot be free of until physical death. Physical death separates the believer from his OSN, but the unbeliever dies with his intact. This removes any possibility that they could ever be in eternity with Jesus. “Where I am going” – the specific place. The Old Sin Nature cannot reside in God’s heaven.

So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” John 8:22

This was wishful thinking on the part of the Jews. They believed suicide would guarantee damnation. If Jesus killed himself, they thought He would go to hell. That’s exactly where they wanted Him to go.

 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 would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” John 8:23-24

Contrast of species: one heavenly, one worldly. This time “sins” is plural, meaning the practice of human good and evil in the life of the unbeliever. Human good is always no good, and is the flip side of evil, but it is all the religious unbeliever has, since he has no human spirit to be nurtured by the Holy Spirit. The only remedy for their inborn sin and their personal sins is to believe that “I AM ” – Eternal God, the Son. Exodus 3:14. The I AM. The Messiah. "He" is not in the original.

 So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have 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 declare to the world what I have heard from him.” They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then 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.” John 8:25-29

Who is He? Immutable God – “from the beginning.”

“much to say about you” – omniscient God – knows all there is to know about each of us.

“much to judge” – He is the judge of their behavior and attitudes toward Him in the present setting. He will be the final judge of those unbelievers who will stand before Him in their sins at the Great White Throne. He will be the judge of believers’ production at the Judgment Seat of Christ (the Bema). He is the judge! This seems impossible for many believers and unbelievers to grasp. Jesus is Love. He is also all Power, all Knowledge, perfect Righteousness and perfect Justice, among other Immutable characteristics.

Righteousness sets a perfect standard. Justice enforces that standard. It is not always warm and fuzzy. Jesus Christ is Lord of the Armies, as well as our humble Redeemer. Here He declares Himself to be our Judge.

He kept telling them that the Father sent Him to bring us the truth. They didn’t get it, but He assured them that they would get it, after they had sent Him to the cross, and they would then understand His origin and His mission, and that all He is and does is on the authority of the Father.

“the Father taught me” – Jesus Christ is God from eternity past, but in His incarnation as a human, He had to learn. He learned through obedience – “the things that are pleasing to Him” – and was absolutely confident of the Father’s unfailing support for Him and His work.

Verse 30:As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

Some had positive volition toward Jesus, and believed in what he was telling them.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,  and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32

“If” – 3^rd class condition in the Greek language, meaning maybe you will continue, and maybe you will not, in MY WORD. This is entirely a matter of the believer’s individual volition. There are believers who have been saved for upwards of 50 years who do not know the truth, because they have lived their lives in religion, superstition and legalism. The written Word of God- Bible doctrine- the Mind of Christ is our spiritual sustenance in the Christian life, and is the basis of our eternal rewards. Not ritual, not deeds, not touchy-feely. God’s Word! Taught systematically, line by line, from the original languages, under the authority of a man with the spiritual gift of Pastor/Teacher.  That’s how Christians learn the truth, and that truth makes us free! I was a Christian for about 8 years before I began to learn the truth, through the intake of systematic Bible doctrine on a regular basis. Newborn Christians are like newborn human babies. We must be taught Whose we are and what He expects of us. And then we must be taught how to accomplish what He expects of us. It is a lifelong learning process, but as soon as we learn the basics of unlimited atonement, eternal security and faith-rest, we begin to experience that freedom from satanic oppression that has dogged us up until that point. And from there, we are free to learn and appreciate the more advanced doctrines of the Church until we are completely identified, experientially, with our Lord Jesus Christ. That is our goal: to reckon ourselves IN HIM now and forever, and to think His thoughts. You don’t get that by simply saying “I’m saved, hallelujah, and that’s all I’ll ever need!” The person who thinks that does not know who he is.

Their argumentative question came next: “whattaya mean, ‘free?’ 

And then these arrogant elitist Jews denied their enslavement. This exchange was about to get ugly. Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is omniscient, countered their denials with the cold, hard facts of their enslavement. Yes, He is Love. Yes, He is perfect Righteousness. Yes, He has much to judge.