These words spake Jesus, watch
this, in the treasury as he taught in the temple. And no man laid
hands on him, for his hour was not yet come. Then said Jesus
again unto them, I go my way and ye shall seek me and shall
die in your sin. Whether I go, you cannot come. Then said the Jews, will he kill
himself? Because he said, whether I go,
you cannot come. And he said unto them, You are
from beneath, I am from above. Ye are of this world, I am not
of this world. I said therefore unto you that
ye shall die in your sins. For if ye believe not that I
am, ye shall die in your sins. Then said they unto him, Who
are you? Jesus answered unto them, even
that I said unto you from the beginning. I have many things
to say and to judge of you, but he that sent me is true, and
I speak of the words, and I speak to the world those things which
I have heard of him. They understood not that he spake
unto them of the Father. Now, this text that we have read
is one of what we might call the temple discourses. That is,
they were delivered in and around or about the temple. And it's
interesting to see the different places that our Lord let out
the truth and preached unto people, several places. One occasion,
We read that our Lord delivered the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew
5 and 6 and 7. Often our Lord would stand and
speak in the synagogue, as in Matthew 13 and verse 54. In Capernaum, same thing. Again,
once by the seaside, our Lord took up a discourse, Mark 2 and
verse 13. Again, In one of Simon's fishing
vessels, our Lord did put off a bit and speak unto them. Luke
5 and verse 4. Once by Jacob's well, and that
too an audience all but one. The place of his teaching of
these words that are our text today was in the temple. And John is precise about that,
telling us Jesus taught these things in the area of the temple
location known as the treasury or the public treasury. It was
a coming and a going, many people back and forth during that time
and during that day. And some think that this was
the court of the woman. where, in verse 13, chests for
the deposit of their offerings made unto the Lord God were given. There were chests, and as they
came, they passed by, made their offerings unto the Lord. There
was much hypocrisy, however, much self-exaltation, much self-righteousness
among the Jew and the Pharisee, they made a great show of the
giving of their offering and of their tithe, figuratively
blowing a bugle before them, as it were, that they might gain
the attention of men as they dropped in their various offering. And even more important, however,
than the place, which was teaching in the treasury, is the message
that the Lord delivered unto them. And the gist of the message
is our subject this evening. The gist of it to the Jew was,
it will be to your detriment not to believe my words. If you
do not believe me, if you do not believe on me and believe
my words, for I am in a very short time here, then I'm going
to go away. I'm going to go on my way. Comes
a time, he said, when you will seek me, but will not be able
to find me. And believing not only, you will
not be able to understand. Now, we notice something here.
We're in John chapter 8. We notice that the Lord taught,
yea, I think, three times to the audience, you shall die in
your sin. Now what an awful word is that
to hear. Verse 21, verse 24. And note
it. Each statement is proclaimed
by a qualifier. Look at verse 21. I go my way,
ye shall seek me. Whether I go, ye cannot come. Ye shall die in your sin. Literally, In the Greek I think
it would be, you will die in the sins of you. But look at
verse 24. If you believe not that I am
he, you shall die in your sin. And this is twice in the 24th
verse. Now, to open the text for our spiritual prophet, let's
look at some of the parts that make up the whole of the scripture
that we have read. And individualizing some of the
statements of the Lord. First of all, the Lord speaks
of his departure. And he says, I go away. I go
my way. And you will seek me. And by
implication, You shall not be able to find me. The reason being,
where I go, you cannot come. And the solemn prediction here
is the sad end of those unbelieving Jew. You shall die in your sin
apart from Christ. You shall die in your sin Now
the words of the Lord Christ I go my way you seek me whether
I go you cannot come now that stirred the Jews mind and that
caused them to speculate and and a question and a murmur among
themselves. What does he mean that he go
in some place and we cannot find him? Will he go to die? Will someone kill him? Will he
lose his life? Or what is it that it might be? Now, it's no secret that the
Jew professed to abhor suicide on that account. But compare
the reaction to that one in John 7, 33 through verse 36, where
the Lord having made much the same claim that he is making
here. On that occasion, the Jews surmise. Where will he go that we cannot
find him? Will he go among the Gentiles
and teach them the things of God? His meaning and their understanding
there in the 23rd verse is We want to focus on those statements
of the Lord concerning dying in sin. Now the Lord emphasizes
in two ways here. Number one, I'm going away and
you will seek me and where I go you cannot come and you shall
die in your sin, the failure to do that. Secondly, verse 24,
if you believe not that I am, I am the great I am, of course
from Exodus chapter 3 and verse 14, if you believe not that I
am, you shall die in your sin. Every gray claim the Lord made,
I am, I'm the resurrection, I'm the light, I'm the way, has to
do with that statement of God in Exodus chapter 3 and verse
14. Now, John Brown wrote this on
our passage, After the Lord left the earth, the Jews would be
involved in deep distress. Gil said, in that distress, they
would seek the Messiah. They would seek one to deliver
them out of their distress and their trouble and out of their
tribulation. They would look for one, one
from God that might come under their aid. Or to put it bluntly,
as John Brown did, the Messiah would not intervene in their
behalf. The Lord having been put to death
by them, raised again, gone to the right hand of God. Judgment
was sealed up upon them. Judgment was coming. No Messiah
would come to their aid in that time of trouble. It is back in
John chapter 7 and verse 34. You shall seek me and shall not
find me. There's that statement again.
They will seek the Messiah and He's come already. They have
rejected him. They put him to the death of
the cross, and he is gone. But as Gil writes, John Gil,
one of my favorite expositors, the Lord also speaks here not
only of some temporal ruin, of physical ruin and suffering and
death, but also of spiritual or eternal dying in their sin. And I think that's seen in the
words of our text here, where I go, you cannot come, verse
21. Where was he going? Well, he
was going to the cross, going to the tomb, but ultimately going
to the father for the highest glory in heaven, to be seated
and exalted at the very right hand of God, his father. And
while they who die in their sin as unbelievers cannot go there,
they have no entrance therein. But those that are given to him
by the Father, John 17 and verse 24, I will that they be with
me where I am. that they may behold my glory. I go to prepare a place for them,
and if I prepare a place, I will come again and receive them unto
myself, that where they are, where I am, there they may be
also. But unbelievers, those who don't
believe, those who cast aside and mock the gospel, the ones
who never espouse Christ, Never believe on Him. Never come to
Him. These die in their sin. And for the remainder of this
study, we want to inquire what it is to die in sin. That is to be a lost sinner at
the moment or the time of death. To leave this world as a lost
sinner. When the Spirit leaves this earthen
and clay body and enters into the other world into eternity,
when the soul passes out of this life and into that eternity to
come. First of all, let's make some
distinctions here, such as the kinds of death there are in regard
to sin. The scripture tells us of several
deaths in regard or in connection with sin. First of all, one may
be dead in trespassage and in sin. That's Ephesians, the second
chapter. That is, they are morally and
spiritually dead, dead in trespassage and in sin. dead in their sin
and the uncircumcision of their flesh according to Colossians
2 and 13. That's one dead. Now again, one
may die for their sin. They may be cut off by God for
their sin while they live in this world. for actual sin. I'll give you the case of Ananias
and Sapphira in the fifth chapter of the book of Acts. Suddenly,
because of their conduct, they fall dead. And this comes through
the grace of God, if any find life in Him. And then, of course,
one may die in their sin. One may be dead in sin and quicken. One may die for their sin fall
into judgment and one may die in their sin and reap that reward."
Now this would seem to combine two things as we look at it.
Number one, to die unpardoned, to die with our sin not taken
away, to undergo or die in the guilt of sin, die as a guilty
and condemned sinner. Having lived a life of sin, dying
in what the Bible calls sins, lost, unsaved, condemned, unregenerate,
and unrepentant. Being under the condemnation
of sin as well as physical death. Having no surety for their sin,
none to bear away their sin. But secondly, falling under the
unending punishment of sin. entering into that eternal part
of that spiritual death. Now, many are dead in trespasses
and sin, and they live all their life dead in trespasses and sin,
but then pass into eternal death into the hands of the living
God. And it is a fearful thing to
fall into the hands of the living God, Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
31. So let's make this point of emphasis. There may seem no great outward
difference, no distinction, none that is visible in the death
of the wicked, and the death of the righteous. They may die
in the same way. They may die from the same affliction
or disease or the same causes. Both may look alike as they lay
in their caskets and alike come to the corruption of the flesh
as all do. But in fact, there is a great
difference in the death of the wicked and the righteous as to
their physical death. This is illustrated, I think,
in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. We read that the
rich man died and in hell he lifted up his eyes being in torment
saying, I am tormented in this place. On the other hand, we
read very clearly, Lazarus also died, died a beggar in the street,
evidently, and was carried by the angel into Abraham's bosom
and was comforted. Not because the rich man was
rich and not because Lazarus was poor. And there is a great
and impassable guff between these two when it comes to their eternal
state and habitation. Furthermore, I think we can make
further contrast here between the two classes of people in
the time and the effects of their death. While some die in their
sins, eh, some die in the Lord. Some die in Christ. Revelation
14, 13. Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord, from henceforth they shall rest from their labor. 1 Corinthians 15, 18. They are
fallen asleep. Christ is the way that it is
described but then be Hebrews 11 and verse 13 these all died
in faith they die in Christ these die in faith and of course he's
speaking of all of the Old Testament saying that have been mentioned
here in Hebrews chapter 11 not just yet having received the
promise. No, they didn't live to see the
promise accomplished. But Owen the Puritan, the prolific
writer, said in the original, it is they died according to
faith. Not just in the faith, but these
died according to faith. They died according to the faith
and the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, our blessed Lord. A belief in him. Repentance before
God, a belief in the afterlife, the trust and the care of our
soul into the hands of the everlasting keeper, even the Lord and his
Father. And rightly, for the saints walk
by faith and they walk in the Spirit and live in the Spirit,
Romans 8 and verse 4, even so they, like those of old, died
according to the faith, having not seen the promise, not seen
the city, but seeing it as it were afar off. But there are
many, on the other hand, who die in their sin. There is a
constant parade of people marching down on the everlasting destruction. Jesus is true. You shall die
in your sin. And many examples of that can
be found in the scripture, will you some? The rich man died in
his sins and in his covetousness. The rich farmer who had gotten
a great yield and filled his barns, He died. His soul was
required of him that night. Judas died in his sin and the
scripture said went to his own place. Pharaoh died in the awful
evil of his sin. Swallowed up in the Red Sea and
the judgment of God. Ah, there's that famous couple
Ahab and Jezebel in the Old Testament wicked beyond measure and they
died in their sin. King Saul of Israel evidently
died in his sin. The prophet Ezekiel declared
something interesting, chapter 18 and verse 20. The soul that
sinneth, it shall die. Again, chapter 33 and verse 9. If the wicked fails to heed the
warning of the watchman, quote, he shall die in his iniquity,
unquote. Die in the guilt of his sin,
die under the condemnation of his sin. when David reflected
upon the death of his acquaintance Abner. You remember what he said? Did Abner die as a fool dies? Was Abner like a fool even on
the death? 2 Samuel 3 and 33. We must remember that death is
final. It puts an end to this temporal
worldly life. It sends one forward to there
eternal place and is irreversible. As the tree falls, so shall it
lay. Shed cold death, the deciding
epoch, unquote. It is a great event in the life
of any. Also, there is no such thing,
there is no such place as purgatory as we hear today. Some Catholic
doctrine. of a temporary place for cleansing
people of the rest of their sin that they might have died with
upon their soul. The difference of venial sin
or unfinished punishment, they say, requiring more punishment
and so the term purgatory. And then after that, you pay
the priest enough, they're out and they're on their way to heaven.
A Catholic catechism given to me years ago, ragged and torn
now because I've consulted it many times, how I know there
is a purgatory? The question, how I know there
is a purgatory? The answer, and this is a Catholic
answer, from tradition and the consent and teaching and practice
of the Catholic Church." So because of their authority, there is
a purgatory, but there is no scripture in support of any purgatory. We may well declare that those
who die in their sin, as described, are seized upon at that time
or at that moment, and enter in then to conscious torment. Even so, for those dying in their
sin, to be absent from the body is to be present in the place
of torment. To die is loss. To die is to
fall into the hands of a living God if one is not a believer. How and by whom is exact justice
determined? Who determines what justice is
in regard to those that are unregenerate and unconverted? So that even
in the cross The punishment fit the crime. If you want to know
what God thinks about sin, look at the cross where His holy,
innocent, impeccable Son bore our sin and was treated as a
criminal or a malfactor. Will not God be the only judge
of what is the proper punishment? What but God, who but God can
determine and can know. He's the judge of all of the
earth as Abraham referred to him in Genesis 18 and verse 25. Unlike the suffering and the
death of Christ, the suffering of the wicked has no merit. It makes no difference if they
suffer here in the flesh. You know, you have a lot of people.
Well, he's very sick here, sick a long time, hurt. He's surely
in heaven now. He's already had his hell. But
there's no merit in the suffering of the wicked, whether it's in
this life or in the world that is to come. Now, in keeping with
this subject, let us trace out an old heresy, an old heresy
called annihilation. which comes from the Latin word
nihil, I think, meaning nothing. That is, this doctrine says that
some soul, especially the wicked, will be annihilated at some point
in the future after death, that they will cease to exist altogether,
that they will go to nothing. Now, those who hold such a doctrine
draw the conclusion from texts that speak of sinners perishing,
of their destruction, and such like. But yet scripture portrays
eternal punishment as everlasting, day and night, forever and forever. Another heresy teaches the redemption
of all souls will occur at some point in the afterlife. A friend
in Louisiana took up this doctrine, ultimate reconciliation, that
eventually all will be reconciled unto God. extending as they do
the efficacy of Christ's redemption into the endless ages and the
world to come. Those who died in their sin by
this scheme, by this heresy, may yet be saved beyond the grave,
saved in eternity, and brought to everlasting happiness. This
is universalism taken to its extreme. Universalism in this
world is bad enough, but to take universalism to this extreme
is universalism run amuck indeed. It might surprise us to learn
how many in Christendom hold to universalism, but that there
is no such place as hell. I mean, there's some in Christendom
who do that. There's no such thing as hell.
A loving God would not do that to any of his creatures. But
let's come back to our text and bring our study unto a close. Notice something. that it is
the Lord, not Paul, Peter, or someone else, it is the Lord
that speaks of dying in sin. How much, how often, when you
read the gospel, how often did the Lord speak of eternal punishment
Judgment and condemnation. You read the Gospels and look
how often our Lord spoke of those things. Several passages of the
scripture. He said such things like you'd
be in danger of hellfire. He warned of Gehenna as he spoke
among men. Not Paul, not Peter as I said,
but our Lord often spoke of eternal retribution. A lot of people
see Jesus only as a kind, loving, wouldn't hurt a flea type, and
yet our Lord was wrathful against some in his day and spoke that
wrath and warned them of dying in their sin. That brings me
to saying I'm through. He's the only way. He's the only
Savior. There's none other. There's none
other work. There's nothing apart from Christ
that can save a soul. Jesus. Jesus only.