Dying in Sin

I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to John chapter 8 and we're going to pick up where we left off last week right at verse 12.

So we're going to be in John chapter 8 and verse 12.

One of the things that we tend to consider as human beings is especially as we age is that we begin to consider the condition in which we are going to die.

And oftentimes we may even in conversations with others maybe speak about favorable conditions for death and unfavorable conditions for death.

We may say I want to die in peace. I want to die in the presence of my family.

I want to die in comfort. And then sometimes we might talk about the adverse of that.

I don't want to die in pain. Don't want to die in agony. Don't want to die in a state of fear.

And here recently I've been saying I don't want to die in a plane crash. And that's very true.

I don't want to do that. And so the conditions of our death often are the concern of our heart especially as we consider the fact that no one is going to beat this.

It is the ultimate statistic. Ten out of every ten will die. And so I want to propose an idea for you today that there is one condition in which it would be the absolute worst to die.

And it has nothing to do with pain and sorrow or agony in the physical act of death.

But the very worst condition in which a person can die is to die in sin.

Now by that I don't mean that a person dies in the act of a specific sin.

I've often heard people ask me. They'll say, well pastor what if somebody is sinning and then they die in that moment?

Are they going to automatically lose their salvation because they didn't have time to repent? And my answer is no because if we were going to lose our salvation for all the sins that we don't verbally repent of then none of us has hope because none of us have fully and perfectly repented of every specific sin by word that we've ever done.

In fact even the Roman Catholic Church recognizes this.

They force confession. You know you have to confess your sins. But even they offer the plenary indulgence which is for sins confessed and unconfessed knowing that not all sins are able to be verbally confessed.

And so the idea of dying in sin does not mean that I just happened to be doing something thinking a sinful thought or doing a sinful action in the moment of my death and I died.

That's not what I mean. But when the Bible talks about dying in sin it's talking about the condition of sin.

Every man in this world, every woman in this world, every person in this world is in one of two conditions.

From a biblical perspective we are either lost in our sin or we are alive in Jesus Christ.

We are dead in our sin or we are alive in Christ. And so when we talk about dying in sin what we are talking about is we're talking about dying apart from faith in the

Lord Jesus Christ. And that is the very worst condition in which a person can die.

Even if a person dies in peace physically. Even if a person dies surrounded by family who love them physically.

Even if they have all the creature comforts of the world. Even if they are rich and powerful and have all the things that the world can provide.

And they're given the best of medical care on their deathbed when they die. If they die without Jesus Christ. Even if they died in physically the most comfortable condition.

They have died in the worst condition possible from the position of eternity. And that is what it means to die in sin.

And today Jesus is going to say in our text, Unless you believe that I am.

Meaning, unless you believe that I am Messiah. Unless you believe that I am Lord.

Unless you believe that I am God made flesh. Unless you believe that I am. You will die in your sins.

And if you take nothing else away from today's message. Know this. There is no other condition.

You are either in Christ or you are not. Let's stand together and read the text.

And we're going to read verses 12 down to verse 30. Beginning with verse 12.

It says, And again Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. So the

Pharisee said to him, You are bearing witness about yourself. Your testimony is not true. Jesus answered,

Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true. For I know where I came from and where I am going.

But you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh.

I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true. For it is not

I who alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. If your law is written that the testimony of two or three people is true.

In your law is written that the testimony of two people is true.

I am the one who bears witness about myself. And the Father who sent me bears witness about me.

They said to him, Therefore, where is your father? Jesus answered,

You know neither me nor my father. If you knew me, you would know my father also. These words he spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple.

But no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come. So he said to them again,

I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins.

Where I am going, you cannot come. So the Jews said, Will he kill himself? Since he says where I am going, you cannot come.

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.

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.

As he was saying these things, many believed in him. Father in heaven,

I thank you for your word. And I pray now, first and foremost, as I pray every week, and every time

I preach. Lord, keep me from error. Tie me to the post of your word.

Do not let me stray. Use this message to edify your people, and to draw in those who are not yet your people.

Draw them by your loving kindness, or break their heart over the anvil of their sin, Lord. Whatever it takes, so that souls might be saved, and believers might be closer conformed to the image of Jesus.

And Lord, I pray in this moment, God, that when we think about dying in our sin, that that would strike us to our core.

What a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God. And I pray, oh

God, for an extra measure of your spirit, while I preach, that Christ would increase and I would decrease, and your

Holy Spirit would take command. In Jesus' name, amen.

In our message last week, I gave the context of where we are in this passage.

And as I said last week, I believe we are still dealing with the final day of the

Feast of Tabernacles, where Jesus first went in private, not going up with the caravan that would normally go from Galilee to Jerusalem during this time of the year.

And when he first went, he was in hiding. And then he came out and began teaching, and has now begun to engage with the

Jewish people, the Jewish leaders specifically, and he's beginning to go back and forth in his dialogue with them.

He will say something and they will challenge. He will say something and they will challenge. And they go back and forth. And this is what we're seeing in John's Gospel, just remembering the bird's eye view of everything, is what we're seeing is the escalation of Jesus' interaction and escalation in his dialogue with the

Jewish leaders. And it's causing them to get more and more frustrated with his words, more and more angry with what he's saying, and more and more ready and willing to put him to death.

In fact, the very end of this chapter, if you go down to the end of chapter 8, you actually see at the end of this chapter something very interesting.

It says, So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

So by the end of this interaction, they're ready to kill him.

And the Jewish leaders have been ready to kill him for a while. They've been ready to kill him since the time he came on the scene.

Because when he came on the scene, he was challenging their false teaching. He was challenging their hypocrisy.

He was challenging them for the things that they were doing that were ungodly. And they did not want to be challenged.

They wanted to be followed. And Jesus would not follow them, but was gathering followers after himself.

And they hated him for that. And they wanted him dead. And so we pick up in verse 12, where we left off last week with Jesus making a statement about himself.

I am the light of the world. And I'm not sure if I clearly said this last week, so I want to make sure

I say it this week. When Jesus says, I am the light of the world, he is saying in no uncertain terms, I am the

Messiah. The one that you have been looking for. The one that you have been waiting on. You remember the woman at the well?

She said, we know Messiah comes. And Jesus says, I, the one who speak to you, am he. When Jesus says,

I am the light of the world, he is actually speaking, I believe here, at least in reference not only to the

Shekinah glory, the Old Testament light that led the people through the wilderness, but he is also referring to Isaiah chapter 9 verses 1 and 2, which tell us that there is going to be a light to the

Gentiles that comes through Galilee. Remember, it says in Isaiah 9, 1, it says, there will be no gloom for her who is in anguish.

In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Sebulon and the land of Naphtali. But in the latter time, he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the

Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

Those who dwell in the land of deep darkness, on them the light has shone. That's the prophecy from Isaiah chapter 9.

And then in the New Testament, we actually see that particular prophecy referenced in the gospel of Luke, where Luke says that actually was a prophecy of Jesus who came as the light of the

Gentiles, and he came in Galilee. Remember, Jesus is from Bethlehem, but he lived and grew up in Nazareth of Galilee.

Jesus is the light of the world. And he says, I am the light of the world. That's the light of the world.

That's one of seven statements he made about himself. One of seven specific I am statements in the gospel of John.

He says, I am the light of the world. He says, I am the bread of life. He says, I am the door. I am the good shepherd. I am the resurrection and the life.

I am the way, the truth, and the life. And I am the true vine. Those are seven specific statements that Jesus makes about himself, each one pointing to a different aspect of him being the

Messiah. So when he stands up in the midst of them and he says, I am the light of the world, he who follows after me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

He is saying, I am the Messiah. And the one who follows after me is following after the light.

And the one who doesn't follow after me is lost in the darkness. David Guzik, Bible commentator and good friend,

I heard him give a great illustration. And it was meaningful to me because of my recent time on airplanes.

He said, you know, you can get on an airplane and you can follow the sun and it never gets dark. He says, if you just keep going where the sun's going, as long as you stay on a plane, you could literally go around the world and never get into darkness because you're following the sun.

And Jesus says that. He says, I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

Follow the sun because he is the light. He's the light of the world.

And we have this wonderful statement that we will have the light of life.

We will not walk in darkness, but we'll have the light of life. That light of life is the light that is within us.

It's like Jesus told the woman. He says, you'll have a well of water springing up inside of you to eternal life.

It's referencing the spirit of God who comes to live in everyone who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have the light of life within us. We have the water of life within us. We have the bread of life within us.

All of these things from trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the

King, the very God man. So Jesus has made a powerful proclamation about who he is.

He has said, I am Messiah. And the response of the Pharisees is a response of question.

Verse 13. So the Pharisees said, you are bearing witness about yourself.

Your testimony is not true. Forgive me, I said it was a question. That's not a question. That's a straight out statement.

They didn't ask a question. They made a statement. They said, you are not speaking the truth.

And notice their use of language. You're bearing witness about yourself.

Your testimony is not true. They are actually referencing their own law. They're referencing the law of God. And they're referencing something good from God's law.

I want you to understand that God's law says that no man is to be counted guilty on the testimony of only one witness.

No truth is to be brought into court and is to be ratified based upon one witness.

And that is a principle that even comes into the New Testament. We know that in the New Testament, when

Jesus taught about church discipline, when the church has someone in it that needs to be addressed over sin, that that sin is not to be addressed on the basis of only one witness, right?

But we are to have two or three who go to that person. And so we understand this principle stands that there is to be more than one witness to a testimony.

And so they say that. They say, you're bearing witness about yourself. You're the only witness to yourself. So what you've said cannot be true.

Jesus answered. Verse 14. Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from, where I am going.

But you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one.

Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it's not I alone who judge, but I and the

Father who sent me. In your law is written that the testimony of two people is true.

I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.

See, Jesus was not left without a witness. Jesus was not the only witness to his ministry, but he had the witness of the

Father. Now some of you may think, but wait a minute.

How can Jesus say he has the witness of the Father? It's not as if the Father was standing right there with him like a witness in court.

Jesus actually addressed this back in chapter 5. And I know not everyone here is here every week.

And I know some of you are guests, and we're very glad to have you. But for those of you who were here just a few months ago when we were in chapter 5, you may remember

I said this. Because Jesus makes this same argument in chapter 5. He says, I actually have three witnesses that come from the

Father. Back in chapter 5, Jesus says, I have three witnesses, and all of them are the witness of the

Father. Number one, the witness of John. John was a prophet. And the people believed

John was a prophet. You know how much they believed John was a prophet? When Jesus asked the

Pharisees, where did John get his baptism? Was it from God? What did the

Pharisees say? They said they huddled up like a football team. Okay, guys, let's strategize. We can't say it's from God, because if we do, he'll say, well, why don't you listen to me?

But if we say it's not from God, we're going to get stoned, because the people hold

John to be a prophet. See, the people understood John was a prophet.

And what was John's major prophecy? Behold, the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world.

The prophecy of John was about Jesus. John says, I must decrease and he must increase. I've not come for myself, but I've come to pave the way and make the way straight for him.

So Jesus had a testimony in John. He had a witness in John. But he also had a witness in his miracles.

God the Father testified to the identity of the Son through the miracles that the

Son was able to accomplish. Every time blind eyes were opened.

Every time deaf ears were unstopped. Every time tongues that were unable to speak were given the voice of an angel.

And every time lame legs were unable to stand and now could leap like a deer. That was testimony as to who

Jesus was. That was a witness to his being the Messiah. And it was a witness from the

Father. But there's a third witness to who Jesus is. From the

Father. And it is the testimony of Scripture itself. Jesus said, search the

Scriptures and you will see that they are about me. Remember what he says to the two men, or we don't know if they were men.

Two disciples on the road to Emmaus, may have been a husband and wife. But we know they were on the road to Emmaus. And what did

Jesus do? He told them how, starting with Moses and all the prophets, the

Old Testament points to one person. Jesus Christ. So Jesus has the testimony of John.

Jesus has the testimony of his miracles. And Jesus has the testimony of Scripture.

All of them ultimately from the Father. So that's why he is able to say here, in verse 18,

I am the one who bears witness about myself and the Father bears witness about me.

How does he bear witness about me? He bears witness about me through these things. So you don't understand this.

He says this earlier. He says, you are from below and I am from above. You don't understand these things.

Now he says this. Now they respond. Verse 18.

I'm sorry, verse 19. They said to him, where is your father?

Now, nothing in the Bible ever says, insert sarcasm here.

But there are times where when you're reading the text, you can assume, based upon the language, that there is an element of sarcasm in the language.

Now, we don't want to over -read into the text, but I think it is well within the bounds of reason to consider this.

Jesus says, I bear witness about myself and my Father bears witness about me. Their immediate question is, well, where is he then?

Where is your father? Now, it can be assumed that they think

Jesus is speaking of his earthly father. Where is his earthly father at this point?

We don't know, but we have an idea. We have an idea that at this point in Jesus' life,

Joseph, his earthly father, is dead. Now, why would we believe that?

Well, at the end of Jesus' ministry, when he is dying on the cross, he looks down from the cross and he sees two people.

He sees Mary and he sees John. And he says, son, behold your mother, mother, behold your son.

He puts the responsibility of his mother into the hands of not one of his brothers, but into the hands of his beloved disciple.

Now, why would Mary need to be cared for? Likely because she was a widow. And up to this point, it was probably

Jesus who was making sure that Mary had the things that she needed as a widow would have to be taken care of by her children.

And Jesus is giving his mother to John. So we can assume and extrapolate and make a deduction from that, that at this point,

Joseph is probably no longer living. There are some who believe that this was also a sarcastic question about Jesus, because there may have been an understanding among some of the people, especially those from Nazareth, who understood that Mary got pregnant before she was married.

You understand, that was a thing that some people would have possibly known. And so the idea, who's your father, where's your father, may have been a dig at the question of who his father even was.

Where is your daddy? You say your father is bearing witness about you, where is he?

Jesus answered, and here, this is such a key statement. He says, you know neither me nor my father.

If you knew me, you would know my father also. Now you have to understand what he's saying there.

Number one, we know Jesus is not talking about Joseph. He's not talking about an earthly father.

Who is Jesus talking about? He's talking about God. And what did he just say to the religious leaders? You don't know

God, and you don't know me. I've said this over the last few weeks, and I'm not sure if it has landed with the power that I think that it should.

You understand, Jesus will look at a group of people who consider themselves religious and say, you don't know God. How many people are in churches today, right now, who don't know

God? They are doing all the religious things. They are performing all the ceremonies.

They are participating in all the events, and they do not know God. You can be religious and be lost.

He said, you know neither me nor my father. If you knew me, you would know my father also. By the way, that tells us something else.

And I've said this before, but I want to say it again. If you don't know Jesus, you don't know the Father. Any faith that will tell you that you can know

God apart from Jesus Christ is a lying faith. Jesus Christ is the only way to the

Father. Verse 20 seems to come rather abruptly.

It says, these words he spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple, but no one arrested him because his hour had not yet come.

This probably provides a break in the narrative where the next conversation, in fact, the next word in verse 21 uses the word again, which indicates a distinct separation in time in the

Greek. And so there's probably saying this is now moving into a different conversation, but still the same atmosphere and same attitude.

So it may be a next day, maybe another time, or it may be a little later that day. We don't know, but there's a break here.

And so there's an insertion here in verse 20. It says, these words he spoke in the treasury. The treasury,

I want to read this to you. It says, the treasury was a place in the temple of the court of the women, which was a court which was as far into the temple as women were permitted to go.

There were 13 trumpet -shaped containers, each marked to designate the purpose of the offering, and they were set to receive various monies.

This is probably the place the widow gave her mites. This is probably the same location. This area would have held about 6 ,000 people.

So this is a large, open area where Jesus could have been teaching and addressing a lot of people.

And this would have been a place where it would have been likely very easy for Jesus to be exposed, because he's in the midst of such a big group of people.

And yet it says here, no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

You remember what Jesus says to them when they actually do finally come to arrest him? I was with you every day in the temple, and you did nothing, but you come now in darkness, under the cover of darkness.

They've got every opportunity right now. If he is blaspheming, if he is breaking God's law, if he deserves punishment, go and take him by force right in front of everybody.

They don't touch him. Why? Because of the sovereignty of God. Because it said his hour has not yet come.

Remember the people in Luke who wanted to throw him off the cliff, and he just walked through the midst of them?

I remember reading that to my children, and I think it was Cody, if I remember right, we're talking years ago,

I was reading that to the kids, and he said, How did he do that? I said, I don't know. I don't know what happened.

They were ready to toss him off the cliff, and he just walked through the midst of them. I don't know how he did it.

I don't know what it looked like. I imagine maybe like Moses parting the waters, maybe the people just piled up in a pile on either side, and he just sort of strolled right through.

But until it was the time, Jesus is going nowhere. Jesus is here to fulfill his mission, and his mission is not over yet.

Jesus is going to die at the time of Passover. We are now, by the way, we are in the last six months of his ministry.

If we look at this chronologically, we are in the fall before the spring, which means this is the

Feast of Tabernacles, which is in the fall, and the Feast of Passover is where he's crucified. So we're about six months from his crucifixion.

It's not the hour yet, so no one arrested him. Okay, now, verse 21.

So he said to them again, I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin.

Where I'm going, you cannot come. Now remember, in the last section, they were questioning the validity of his testimony.

They were essentially calling him a liar. You have no basis for what you're saying.

So Jesus lays before them the ultimate challenge in three simple truths.

I'm going away, you will seek me, but you will die in your sins.

And then he adds to that, where I'm going, you cannot come. All of this is predicated on one simple idea.

They did not believe. They did not believe. When Jesus says,

I am going away, this is referring to his crucifixion. I am going away.

This is similar to when he says, when the Son of Man is lifted up, I will be lifted up. He says that later in verse 28.

When the Son of Man is lifted up, you will know that I am he. He says,

I'm going away, and you will seek me. Now that part is a little more enigmatic.

What did it mean when Jesus said, you will seek me? Well, there's, I think, one reasonable way to understand what

Jesus is saying there, is he is saying that once he has gone away, once his death, burial, and resurrection has occurred, they will continue to seek the quote -unquote

Messiah, but they're not seeking him as the Messiah. Jewish people today continue to seek quote -unquote the

Messiah. You talk to a Jewish person who is not a Christian, who doesn't believe in Christ, they're still looking for Messiah.

They don't believe he has already come. He says, you will seek me, but what? But you're going to die in your sin.

Why is it that they're going to die in their sin? Because they're seeking a Messiah other than Jesus.

Why do they die in their sin? Because they're seeking someone to save them, someone to come who's not

Jesus Christ. You will seek me, but you will die in your sin.

And where I'm going, you cannot come. You cannot come.

J .C. Ryle says this. He says, his hearers would seek him too late, having discovered too late that he was the

Messiah whom they ought to have received. The door of mercy would be shut. They would seek in vain because they had not known the day of their visitation.

This is what's going to happen to everyone who is looking for a Savior other than Jesus Christ. One day, one day, it will be too late.

As Thomas Fuller said, you cannot repent too early, but one day it will be too late.

You cannot repent too early, but one day it will be too late. And Jesus says that right here.

The Jews, of course, with their crass literalism hear Jesus say that, I'm going away, and how do they respond immediately?

With a crass question. Is he saying he's going to kill himself? Verse 22. Will he kill himself?

When he says, where I'm going, you cannot come. They're always quick to misunderstand the words of Christ.

They're always quick to apply crass literalism to the words of Christ, or to understand it in a way that has nothing in his intention.

However, I will say this. There is an irony here. Because while Jesus did not quote unquote kill himself,

Jesus did not commit suicide, Jesus did lay down his life for his people. We don't call that suicide.

We call that bravery. We call that nobility. We call that courage. What did Jesus say? Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life, what?

For his friends. And of course he's referring to the greatest gift of all, his giving himself. So Jesus is not going to quote unquote kill himself, but he is going to lay down his life for his friends.

Verse 23. He said to this, and I said this, it was before, but this is actually after. I made a mistake earlier.

Verse 23 comes later. He says, You are from below, I am from above. You are from this world, I am not of this world.

I told you, you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.

I want you to understand one thing about grammar in this text.

When it says, unless you believe that I am he, the word he is actually supplied by the

English translators. It is not in the original language.

The original language is the word ego, a me, and it means I am.

Now it can be supplied with the word he, so I'm not saying the translators got it wrong, but we do have to at least consider the fact that what

Jesus is saying is not only is he saying I am he, meaning I am the one you're wondering if I am the

Messiah, I am he, but he is also in this sense connecting himself with the divine name.

Because the name that God gives himself is the name I am. And Jesus says this very thing later in verse 58.

I can't wait to verse 58. We got about two weeks. I want you all to know I'm chomping at the bit. One of my favorite passages is

John 8, 58. Jesus is talking to the Jewish people and he says, Before Abraham was,

I am. He didn't say before Abraham was, I was.

He says before Abraham was, I am. And the use of the language in that very specific way is referencing himself with the divine name.

Jesus says, I didn't come into existence in Bethlehem. I became incarnate in Bethlehem, but I have always existed.

I have always been the word of God. I have always been the second person of the Trinity. I have always been the divine son of the living

God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, one God in three persons, co -equal, co -eternal.

And before Abraham was, I am. And so here he says to these men,

Unless you believe that I am, and what must they believe about him?

They must believe first that he is Messiah. For if they were to deny that he is

Messiah, they would be denying an essential truth and they would be denying what is plain as the nose on their face.

They must also believe that he is Lord. For anyone to say that he could be

Messiah and not be Lord would at the same time be a contradiction, because Messiah is the Lord.

He is prophet, priest, and what? King, and what is king? Lord. So unless you believe that I am

Messiah, you will die in your sins. Unless you believe that I am king, you will die in your sins. And I will say this to you today.

Upon the basis and testimony of Scripture, unless you believe that Jesus Christ is fully divine, you will die in your sins.

There is no question in Scripture that the

Bible provides for us a truth about the divinity of Christ that is without contradiction.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In him all things were created, and nothing was created that was not created by him.

And the book of Colossians tells us, In him all things hold together.

You realize what holds you together today is not the atmosphere and molecules and flesh and sinews of your body, but what holds you together is the will of the living

God and his son Jesus Christ. And unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins.

The Christian faith is more than a set of propositions to be believed. The Christian faith is a vibrant and living faith that is lived out in our lives.

But it cannot be lived out with denial of those tenets and truths.

This is why, what did we read this morning? We read from the Athanasian Creed, and it said very simply, the one who holds this faith is the one who holds the universal faith.

And if we reject it, what have we done? We've rejected the faith that has been provided, the once for all faith that has been provided.

Jesus said, unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. So they said to him, who are you?

Jesus said, just what I've been telling you from the beginning. Now, verse 25, I don't have time to get into the issues with this.

Verse 25 is actually one of the hardest Greek phrases to translate. And some of your

Bibles translate it differently. The ESV says, just what I have been saying from the beginning, or telling you from the beginning.

Other translations say it a different way. I think the simplest answer is that Jesus' response to them is simply this.

They say, who are you? And Jesus is saying, I have already told you who I am. But some people believe he's saying,

I'm about to tell you who I am. Depending on how you translate the Greek parsing here and the syntax, it can come out either way.

But I think he's saying, I've already told you. Think about when Jesus goes before the Sanhedrin, before his crucifixion.

And he says, the testimony, I've already made the testimony. You know who I am. You say who

I am. You say it. You know who I am. And they say, who are you? And Jesus goes on, verse 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. They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the

Father. That is about God. So Jesus said to them, when the Son of Man... Excuse me, 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. This is equivalent to verse 21, when he said he was going away. He says, when

I am lifted up. Lifted up here is referring to his crucifixion. We see this in John 3 and in John 12.

In John 3, he says, just as the serpent was lifted up on a pole, so too must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes on him will have eternal life.

In John 12, it says that he must be lifted up so that he would draw all men unto himself. The lifting up here is referring to the crucifixion.

And he says, and when that happens, you will know that I am he. And he who sent me is with me.

He has not left me alone. For I always do the things that were pleasing to him.

And verse 30. And as he was saying these things, many believed in him.

Now here is where we should end on a positive note. We should end with victory.

Because it says, as he was saying these things, many people believed in him.

And we should all step back and say, yes! Jesus has preached, and people have heard, and they have believed.

But I have to warn you about inappropriate optimism in verse 30.

Sorry, I don't know why my microphone just exploded. Because what we're going to see beginning next week, is

Jesus actually begins to address these people. It says, he spoke to the ones who believed in him, and he said, unless you abide in me.

Look at it with me. Verse 31. Just real quick. I know we're not getting there this week. I know you all want to eat, so we're not going to do a second sermon.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him. So he's speaking specifically to them. If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.

And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Here's what we find out in the next few verses. That some of the people who believed on him verbally, did not truly believe in their hearts.

Because these are some of the same people who by the end want to stone him. There is such a thing as false faith.

There is such a thing as what we would call momentary belief. Unfortunately, I see it quite a bit.

Every Thursday, I go to set free, and I preach to a group of men.

Some coming out of prison. Some coming out of drugs and alcohol. Some coming out of homelessness.

And while they are in the program, often times they get very religious.

And they get very excited. But some of those same men will depart from the faith the moment they walk out the door.

Jesus told us this would happen. He said the seed would fall on four different types of soil.

One soil won't even take it. It's the hard soil. The birds will come and eat it, and it doesn't even penetrate.

He said, but there will be soil that will go just below the surface.

And it will spring up for a season. But it will wither away, because it has no root.

Beloved, that is false faith. And so many people rely on that as their saving faith.

Here's what I hear people say. Well, I know I'm going to heaven. I believed in Jesus when

I was seven. But Jesus didn't change their life.

They believed in Jesus once. And they think somehow that that one act of assenting to the facts of who

Jesus is, is saving faith. No, Jesus says, abide in my word. And you're my disciple.

Abide in my word. Even John 3 .16, that great wonderful passage. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten

Son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but will have eternal life. Even the word believe there is in the ongoing tense.

We're not called to believe once and walk away from Christ. But we're called to abide in his word.

So I look forward to next week as we continue the words of Christ. As I said, I didn't want to leave you with no optimism.

But I also didn't want to leave you with misunderstanding. Because not everyone who says they believe in Jesus have actually believed.

So my question to you is this, have you believed? Are you abiding in his word today? If you are not, my prayer is that God would open your heart to believe that he would change you, draw you in, and make you his own.

And if you are, that he will continue to grow you and conform you into the image of his

Son. Let us pray. Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you for your truth.

And I thank you, Lord, that we have been confronted with very difficult things today. To die in sin is to die apart from Christ.

But Lord, we know that those who die in Christ are in the presence of the

Father. They are with you. Paul says to be absent from the body is to be present with the

Lord. So today I pray that anyone in this room would recognize that our life could end at any time.

And Lord, that they would recognize the need to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I pray this in his name. Amen. As we approach the

Lord's Supper, in your bulletin you can read along with me. It says, all believers are welcome, but those who are not yet believers, including small children, are urged not to partake.

Also, if you are visiting from another church and are not in good standing with your church, please do not partake.