You Will Die In Your Sin Unless You Believe

John 8:21-30 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.” 22 So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” 25 So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. 26 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.” 27 They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. 28 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. 29 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.” 30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him. INTRODUCTION In this passage, as John makes clear in the opening words, we have another public teaching of Jesus during the Feast of Tabernacles. Hopefully, as we’ve made our way through the Gospel, you’ve noticed that a central component of the Christness of Jesus was His teaching. Insodoing, Jesus corrected (sometimes centuries, or even millennia old) lies or misconceptions, revealed mysteries that had been hidden for ages and generations, and offered His hearers the chance to be transformed by the renewing of their minds. Above all, though, in His teaching, Jesus offered the fullest revelation of God and therein invited all into repentance, worship, and fellowship with God. As Jesus taught these things, people wondered. They wondered who this man was. They wondered what to do with Him. They wondered what to make of His unique authority and insight. They wondered how to respond to His claims, rebukes, and commands. And they wondered what to do with all of this in light of the prevailing, condemning sentiment of the religious leaders. And as Jesus’ own words make clear, the outcome of their wondering was of no small consequence. To believe Jesus (and believe in Him) meant life. But to disbelieve or reject Jesus was to die in sin. Jesus put His glory and the glory of the Father on display for all to receive, and so the decision was ever before His hearers—believe in Jesus and be reconciled to God or reject Jesus and remain dead in trespasses and sin. At its heart, this is a passage on the various glories of Jesus and the various responses of those who witnessed it. We see Jesus’ glory in His certain knowledge of the future (both His and that of His hearers), His heavenly origin, destination, obedience, and affections, His offer of salvation through His sacrificial death, His consistent and entirely divine teaching, His divine nature, and His perfect pleasure. And we see the various responses of the crowds in the confusion of most and belief in some. The main takeaways for us are to pursue the glory of Jesus in faith and declare it to the world that the world might not die in sin. JESUS’ TEACHING (21) In these few verses, John records a back and forth between Jesus’ teaching and the crowd’s response. Four times, Jesus taught and the crowd responded. Much of the content of Jesus’ teaching is familiar, even as much of the response of the Jews is familiar. Jesus’ first statement is especially familiar, “I am going away and you will seek me…Where I am going, you cannot come” (21). In 7:34, Jesus said, “You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” In both cases, Jesus’ main point was that He would soon r