I would ask your prayers on my
behalf. I've told folks before when the
subject has come up that I seldom sleep well on a Saturday night
or any time before I preach because the message I feel that the Lord's
laid on my heart is just revolving over and over in my mind. But
that was especially true last night. I didn't sleep very much
at all. Considering what I feel like
the lord has laid on my heart. We'll come to it in just in just
a moment but I'll tell you what my text will be. Verse twenty-four. And then I think you'll understand
why it is such a heavy burden. As the old prophet said, the
burden of the word of the lord. Our lord is And he says in verse 24, I said
therefore unto you that you shall die in your sins. If you believe not that I am
he, you shall die in your sins. In verse 1 of chapter 8, we read
this, Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives. Our Lord seems to
have spent many nights in prayer in the Mount of Olives. The garden
was there of Gethsemane, one of the few places until his last
night on earth that was tranquil and peaceful for him. And then
even that place became one where he sweat, as it were, great drops
of blood as the substitute for his people. But during his life,
we find him often resorting there to the Mount of Olives. And then
he seems to have spent his days preaching the gospel and testifying
those things that concern the kingdom of God. Look, if you
will, at the last verse of chapter 7. This is after the Feast of
Tabernacles. And all the people disperse,
and we're told every man went into his own house. But our Lord,
he didn't have a house to go to. He went to the Mound of Olives. One said to him on another occasion,
Lord, I'll follow you wherever you go. I'm ready. And he said, well, you'd better
count the cost. Think that over. He said, Foxes
have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son
of Man have not where to lay his head. But to him, that he
had no earthly possessions, that he didn't own anything, was of
really insignificance compared to why he came into this world. Look, if you will, a few pages
back in your Bibles, John 6, verse 38. What were earthly possessions
compared to the mission that the Son of Man came on? In John
6 verse 38, for I came down from heaven, as we read of in John
8, the Father sent him. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And then he tells us what that
mission the father sent him to do was. And this is the father's
will which it sent me, that of all which he has given me, I
should lose nothing. What a mission. What a work lay
before the son of God. No other man was given that.
No other man was worthy of that. In Revelations 5, John says there
was a search and no man was found worthy in heaven or in earth,
worthy to open the book to fulfill God's will but the Son of Man. That's why he came into this
world. That of all which he had given me, verse 39, I should
lose nothing. Oh, I like that. Don't you? I
should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last
day. He will restore that completely
and fully abundantly above that which he took not away. He'll do the father's will. He
said in coming into this world, I come to do thy will. Oh my
god and he did Everything that was required
by the holy God, our Lord did in order to save his people from
their sins. Listen while I read a few verses
in Matthew chapter 9. Again, in comparison to the mission
of the Son of Man, what does it matter about earthly possessions? In Matthew chapter 9, we read
these words. But when he saw the multitudes,
he was moved with compassion on them, verse 36, because they
fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd.
Then saith he unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous,
but the laborers are few. Pray ye, therefore, that the
Lord of the harvest, to the Lord of the harvest, that he will
send forth laborers into his harvest. O God, help me to view
things as my master viewed them. to see things as he saw them. As Paul put it in 2 Corinthians,
looking at the things which are seen. Or rather, not at the things
which are seen, but the things which are not seen. Why, Paul? Because all that I see, all that
I can touch, all that I see with these natural eyes is temporal. It's going to vanish. It's going
to pass away. My dear friend, Brother in Christ
Scott Richardson often said, hold everything in this world,
every earthly possession, every relationship, hold it with a
loose hand because soon we'll have to let it go. And Paul said,
because the things which are seen are temporal, but the things
which are not seen, they're eternal. Eternal. This is what our Master
always looked at. Eternity. He looked at everything. Every relationship. Every possession. He looked at it in the light
of eternity. These things that we just read
of in John 8. As in all other of his messages, his teaching,
he dealt with eternal realities, not fables. He knew what he was
talking about. When Christ saw men, he saw men
who possessed immortal souls. And therefore he said, what shall
it profit a man? You men. that possess immortal
souls, you men, that when this earthly tabernacle is laid back
in the dust, you possess within it an immortal soul that will
live forever. What shall it profit you then,
if you should gain the whole world? But in the process of
doing so, while you're grabbing all you can get in life, You
lose your own soul. Look, if you will, back in John
chapter 6, look what he said also there at verse 26. The multitude that had been fed
previously got hungry again, so they followed him. They track
him down, as it were, and when they find him, our Lord says
this in verse 26 of John 6, "...barely, barely I say unto you, you seek
me not because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the
loaves and were filled." And again, He tries to direct, he
rather directs their attention from the temporal to the eternal. Look what he says in verse 27,
labor not for the meat which perisheth, don't make that your
goal, don't make that all of your life, but for that meat
which endureth unto everlasting life. which the son of man shall
give unto you, for him hath God the Father sealed. And you have
an example of our Lord's always having this on his heart and
in his mind when these Pharisees plotted and thought they had
trapped him when they brought the woman to him that was taken
in adultery. Look at verse 3 again of John
8. And the scribes and the Pharisees
brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. And as I said, I'm
pretty sure they planned this. They trapped this woman. She
was guilty, but they trapped it. They seduced her, perhaps
one of themselves. But when they had set her in
the midst, they said unto him, master, this woman was taken
in adultery in the very act. And now what they thought, we've
got him now. We've got him now. Because they
were right. According to the law of Moses,
she should be stoned. So they thought they had trapped
him like they had trapped her. Oh, but he is the very wisdom
of God. But their plot was this, their
reasoning was this. If he doesn't allow us to stone
her, we can accuse him of not honoring God's law. And yet if
he does allow us to stone her according to that law, we can
tell all the people, you see, don't listen to him. He's not
merciful. He's not what he claims to be.
They thought they would trap the Son of God. They thought
that one or the other would have to go, mercy or justice. But he who is the wisdom of God
used their very treachery. Isn't that marvelous? He used
their very treachery to bring one of his chosen to himself. all the wisdom and the power
and the mercy of God, how unsearchable is His judgments and His way
past finding out who has known the mind of the Lord, who has
been His counselor. You have an example of that right
here. These very ones who drug this
woman before the Lord and said she should be stoned, those were
the very ones, the very means He used to bring her to Himself
because she was one of His sheep. Had they known that, had they
known that, they would have never done such a thing. And look what
he says in verse 10, when they'd gone out. When Jesus had left it himself
and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are
those thine accusers? Where did they all go? Hath no
man condemned thee? Her accuser had been silenced. And he has silenced the accuser
of all of his brethren. He took the law and nailed it
to the cross on the behalf of his people. Verse 11, she said,
no man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, neither
do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Now, notice
the order. He doesn't say, go and sin no
more, and then I won't condemn you. Oh, no. One's the cause
and one's the effect. And the cause is this, free mercy. everlasting grace, neither do
I condemn thee. Go, go and sin no more. Does that verse in Romans 8 and
1 come to your mind right now? Are these not sweet words? But
Paul says this is true of all God's people. There is therefore
now. Can you not rejoice in that child
of God? Right now, there is no condemnation
and never will be. Never will be. Not based on what
you've done or ever shall do, but there's no condemnation to
them who are in. Oh, blessed word. In. Like Noah was in the ark. like they were in those houses
marked with the blood of the innocent Lamb. There's no condemnation
of those who are in Christ Jesus, in God's Son, in God's Son, the
place of all acceptance, the place of all mercy, the place
of no condemnation. he for the sins of his elect
has full complete atonement made and just as never can expect
that the same debt should twice be paid. No, no, that cannot
ever happen because God is faithful and just to forgive all those
that believe on his dear son. Our Lord was, our Lord's teaching
in the temple as the chapter began was interrupted by this
woman being brought to him but then beginning at verse twelve
until the chapter ends and he leaves the temple, he begins
his message again. Especially to the people that
were gathered there and the Pharisees included among them. Look what
he says in verse twenty-one again. Then said Jesus unto them, I and shall die in your sins, whither
I go, ye cannot come. I'll soon finish my work, he's
saying, and go back to my father. And then you'll seek the Messiah.
But I'm the Messiah and you'll die in your sins because you
didn't recognize me as that one God sent. You didn't recognize
me when I was here, who I am. And therefore, you'll die in
your sins. There'll not be another Messiah.
And those poor deluded Jews, many of them yet today are looking
yet for their Messiah. And He's done come, and finished
His work, and gone back to glory, and is sitting on the throne
of everlasting majesty. They look for one, but the Messiah
has already come. Look what He says in verse 42
of this chapter. Jesus said unto them, if God
were your father, you would love me. For I proceeded forth and
came from God. Neither came I of myself, but
he sent me. Whither I go, you cannot come. You cannot come. They would not
come to him when he was on earth. And he says, you will not come
to me in glory. You will not come to me in glory.
You wouldn't come to me feeling your need of mercy, and you'll
not come to me in glory. And here enter into the joy prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Look in John's gospel
again, if you will, chapter 5. Look what he says to them on
another occasion. Chapter 5, verse 39. Search the scriptures, he says,
for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they
which testify of me. They all speak of me. And ye
will not come to me that ye might have life. I don't think it's
possible to overemphasize or to state too often that salvation
is in Christ. If I have salvation, I must have
Christ. I can't have it by sitting in
this building. I can't have it by just simply
knowing doctrine, even correct doctrine. I must know Christ. He said, come to Me. Salvation's
in Me, and you won't come to Me. What He literally said to
them when He said, search the Scriptures, He wasn't telling
them to go and do it. He was saying, I know you do
that. You searched the Scriptures, and they did. They bore over
the Scriptures, but he said, they speak of me. They're all
about me. And if you don't recognize that,
if you don't come to me, you won't have life. And that's the
same thing he says here in John 8. Ye shall die in your sins. Whither I go, you cannot come. There can be no life. spiritual
life or eternal life apart from Christ. He that hath the Son, thank God, he that hath the Son
hath life, the very life of God. eternal life, spiritual life. Because I live, ye shall live
also. You derive your life from me,
the resurrection and the life. But he that hath not the Son
shall not see life. The wrath of God abideth on him. Where I go, he said, ye cannot
come. The elder spoke in Revelation
and said, he that is filthy, let him be filthy still. But he that is holy, righteous,
let him be holy and righteous still. Now look at verse 24 of
John 8. Our Lord repeats what He said
in verse 21, but now He adds something. He tells them why
it is. that where he goes they cannot
come. I said therefore unto you that
you shall die in your sins. For if, if you believe not that
I am he, you shall die in your sins. First, first. And this I don't mind telling
you is why I tossed and turned all night. But as our Lord was faithful
to the souls of men, by his grace I have to be. First, he states
a true and terrible fact. Does he not? Look at those words
again, child of God. Look at them. You shall die in
your sins. What else matters in this life? If that after it's
over, after this vapor that we call life that appears for just
a little while, then it's gone. What does it matter what I've
done if I died my sins? What else matters? This is what
our Lord said to those, you shall die in your sins. On Mount Calvary,
there were three crosses. Our Lord, of course, hung on
that middle cross, being made sin for us, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. On that cross, Christ
was dying for sins. There was a thief on the other
cross, dying to sin. Because Christ was dying for
his sins, that thief was dying to sin. Because Christ was dying
for his sins, he could say that that thief today, today, isn't
that glorious? Today. Oh yeah, you're going
to close your eyes to this world. This, what you're going through
now, it's going to be over in just a moment. It's going to
be over. But today, you're going to be with me forever. Today,
you're going to enter into glory with me. Today, you'll be with
me in paradise. What a glorious prospect, child
of God. What a glorious certainty. Today,
God might be pleased. One day, He will. Perhaps today,
but whenever it is, whenever He calls us home, we shall be
with Him, the God-man, our substitute, our Savior. We shall be with
Him in paradise forever. Paul said, I have not seen, neither
has it entered into the heart of man. the things that God had
prepared for them that love him. Oh, what a day! But to the one
thief, he was dying in his sin. In his sin. As our Lord spoke
to these, they were to die in their sin. And in hell, they
were left up their eyes. You shall die. That's not everything
he said, is it? That's not all. You shall die
in your sins. He who cannot lie spoke these
words over and over again in this chapter. He told them, I'm
telling you what God told me to tell. I'm revealing to you
the very mind and will and purpose of God. I'm not telling you fairy
tales. I'm not telling you hearsay.
I'm telling you what I know, what I've seen, what God sent
me to tell. I'm revealing to you. God's mind
and purpose and will. And I tell you, Christ says,
I tell you, as one who knows and speaks with authority, that
if you die in your sins, you cannot go. You cannot come where
I am if you believe not. The only one who has the right
to declare himself the way, the truth, and the life, only he
could say, no man comes to the Father but by me. Christ himself alone can say
that. Look, if you will, at verse 46
of chapter 7. The officers that were sent by
the chief priests and Pharisees to arrest our Lord heard him
speak and came back empty-handed. They asked him, why have you
not brought him? The officers answered, never
a man spake like this man. That's pretty much the same reaction
of the multitude after our Lord spoke the Sermon on the Mount. They were astonished, we read
afterwards. They were astonished at His doctrine.
Because He taught them, not like the scribes, but He taught them
as one having authority. He talked about the things of
God. He talked about heaven. And He
talked about hell. He talked about eternity. He
talked about sin. He talked about mercy. And He
talked about judgment like someone who knew exactly what they were
talking about. He spoke with authority. Never
a man spoke like this man. He spoke with confident certainty. What I'm telling you is so. If you believe not that I am
he, you shall die in your sins. That's the terrible fact of it.
You shall die in your sins. Old Jonathan Edwards wrote this. I copied it down not long ago
to share it with you. He said, how can a poor worm
bear the wrath of the great God? Oh, prize that Savior who keeps
your soul in safety while thousands of others are carried away by
the fury of God's anger and are tossed with raging and burning
tempest in hell. Oh, how much better is your case
than theirs. and to whom is it owing but to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember what you once were,
what was once your case, and what it is now, and prize Jesus
Christ. Oh yes. Prize Jesus Christ, cause
he paid it all, and all to him I owe. If you believe not that
I am he, you shall die in your sins. That happened to those
that our Lord spoke to. Will it happen to any here this
morning? To die in your sins is to die unforgiven, to die
lost, to die without Christ. It's to die as an unbeliever. and to die in your sins has terrible
consequence. I know we live in the day where
people just make light of hell and make jokes about hell and
every time a celebrity dies, there's a remark, well, he's
up in heaven now, he's got his place and nobody, nobody goes
to hell. Well, the Lord says, yes they
do. Yes, they do. To die in unbelief, to die without
Christ, to die unforgiving, is a reality. Ask the rich man who
lifted up his eyes in hell. Ask him. Did it make any difference how
you lived on earth? How does all those riches that
you grabbed appear to you now? Is it all? Could you just allow Lazarus
to dip his finger in water and bring it to me? I'm in torment. No, can't do it. There's a great
gulf fixed. There's no passing. Will you at least allow him to
go and tell my brothers? not to come to this place. It was a delight to have three
of my four brothers with me this past week. I know they were going to get
up very early and leave, so I wrote them each a letter. Hope God makes it affectionate
to their hearts. Because Louis, they're my brothers
and I love them. But if they believe not that
Jesus is the Christ, they're going to die in their
sin. I pray God won't allow that. He showed mercy to the worst
rebel out of the bunch. I pray that he'll show mercy
unto them. Does it matter? Ask that fool. The Lord said, had so much that
he would build greater barns and then take his ease, saying,
eat, drink, and be merry. I have much stores laid up for
many years, but God, but God said unto him, thou fool, tonight,
tonight, your soul will be required of you. Then whose will those
things be? Tonight, tonight. There will
be multitudes go out to meet God tonight. This afternoon,
while I'm speaking, multitudes are going before the throne of
a just and holy God. And many of them, most of them,
will stand before Him without a mediator, without Christ. Oh, horrible. Horrible thought. Terrible. Tragic. But so it is. You see why I say nothing else
matters. And the reason our Lord gives,
he only gives one reason. He says, if ye believe not that
I am, that I am. Remember what he said after this
in his prayer? This is life eternal, that they
might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ, that thou
hast sent. I am. The word he is in italics. It wasn't in the original. If ye believe not that I am,
is what he said. I am the only Savior. that really saves. The only mediator
sent of God. The only one is the Lord Jesus
Christ. I must have him or I'll perish
in my sins forever. John alone in his gospel is the
only one of the four that tells us those seven I am sayings of
our Lord Jesus Christ. I am the bread of life. I am
the light of the world. If I don't have Him, I'm sitting
in darkness. I am the door. By me, if any
man enter in, he shall be saved. But there's only one door. I
am the good shepherd that seeks and saves his sheep. I am the
resurrection and the life. I am the way, the truth, and
the life, and I am the true vine." Notice what he says. He doesn't
say if you're the vilest offender in the world. No, he says if
you believe not. I remember listening to Brother
Henry Mahan years ago preach somewhere. He was telling us
about visiting the hospital. One of his members was there
and dying. And he had been in the church
in Ashland almost from the beginning with Henry. Years and years. And Henry said he sat by his
bedside, and the man began to tell him what his hope was built
on. And Henry, I remember him saying,
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This man had sat under
the gospel for years, but he said, you know, Henry, I've been
a good father. been a good daddy, been a good
provider, I hope God will accept me. Our Lord says, if you believe
not that I am he, does it matter if you're the best moral man? Does it matter? What does it
matter if I'm a Baptist or a Catholic if I die on my sins? What's it
matter? If I'm a free will or a free grace, what does it matter
if I die in my sins? If you believe not, these Pharisees
knew their Bible history. They could tell you all about
the twelve tribes of Israel. They had their creeds and their
customs and their ceremonies and their rituals and they knew
all about the law, the sacrifices, the holy days, but they didn't
know God. And our Lord said, if you miss
Christ, Messiah. The Messiah. There won't be another. No other savior. No other substitute. I'm anxious to get to this. Well,
our lord says, if you believe not that I'm he, you shall die
in your sins. Then, if I believe, if I believe He said again in John 6, this
is the Father's will that sent me, that all that seeth the Son
and believeth on Him should have everlasting life. It's been somewhat of a burden
up to this point. Oh, but now it's a joy. Now it's
a joy to tell you. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Turn, if you will, back to chapter
7. In this chapter is recorded the Feast of Tabernacles. Or
rather, the record of that event taking place. This took place
for eight days in a row. And in verse 37 we read of John
7, In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood
and cried, saying, If any man thirst, if any man thirst, come
unto me and drink. Our Lord had watched this go
on for days. It had deteriorated into nothing
but an empty, vain religious ritual, mixed with tradition
and so forth. And on the last day of the feast,
our Lord had watched this multitude come in, dotting every I, crossing
every T like the Pharisees instructed, and going away, now's the last
day of the feast, and they're leaving the temple, just like
they came in. They'd gone through empty, meaningless
tradition and religion, and they were none better for it. They
were rather worse. And our Lord, with a heart full
of mercy and compassion for the multitude. He was moved with
compassion and he finds a high place and he stands up with a
heart bursting. He says, is anybody thirsty? Is anybody thirsty? He'd watched
him go through that ritual. Just religion. And as though
he could stand it no more, he cries to the whole multitude
at the top of his voice, is anybody thirsty? He that believeth. Verse 38,
as the scripture hath said, out of his mouth shall flow rivers
of living water. Is anybody sick of these rituals? Are you tired of this yoke that
they've put up on you? Are you tired of this religion
that tells you touch not, and taste not, and wear not, and
go not? Are you tired of that? Do you
want more? Do you really want to experience
God's mercy? Do you really want to experience
God's grace in your heart? Do you want to hear? Is anybody out there in that
vast multitude wanting to know the sweet experience
of real forgiveness before the Holy God? Anybody out there want
to go home and lay down and know, My heart has been made pure by
the grace of the Holy God. I've been given a new heart,
rather, I should say. Anyone want to know? When they
lie down tonight, I'm just with God. Nobody, nobody can condemn
me. Even God's holy law doesn't have
a beef with me. It's satisfied. Anybody thirsty? Anybody thirsty? Oh, what sweet
words. Can you visualize Him? Can you
see Him? He who said, I'm the fountain of life, I'm the living
water. Can you see Him stand on that
last day of the feast and spread forth His hands and say, come
unto me? If you're thirsty, come to me. You've drank of religion and in your heart of hearts,
He was speaking to them, but I'm speaking to us. In your heart
of hearts, you know you don't know God. And our Lord says to
you, are you thirsty? Are you thirsty? Come to me. Take the water of life. Drink. And live forever. Live forever. Is anybody thirsty? Christ satisfies the thirsty
soul, does he not? Joseph Hart wrote, and I'll close.
Come ye sinners poor and wretched, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you,
full of pity, love, and power. He is able, he is able, he is
willing. Doubt no more. Ho ye thirsty,
come and welcome. God's free bounty glorify. True
belief and true repentance, every grace that brings you nigh. Without
money, without money, come to Jesus Christ and buy. Is anybody thirsty? God bless you.