................................................................................................................................................................
.
Hell is a place of eternal
separation from Christ - hell is the opposite of being with Christ. It is the
absence of God, it is the absence of all that is beautiful, true, lovely,
exciting, living, and fulfilling. God does not send anyone to hell - people
send themselves there by refusing to hear and believe the claims of Jesus
Christ. This is an earnest pleading on Jesus’ part: “You will die in your
sins unless you trust in Me alone as your only hope of heaven.” Once you
die, there is no second chance - the Bible says, “It is appointed for men
to die once, but after this the judgment.”
Jeff Ropp
“Therefore
I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe
that I am He, you will die in your sins.” - John
8:24
The second implication of
Jesus’ claim to be the light of the world is this: CHRIST’S CLAIM
DEMANDS THAT WE DEAL WITH THE FUTURE (John 8:21-24).
“Then
Jesus said to them again, ‘I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will
die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.’” (John
8:21).
Those words will ring in
their minds for all eternity!
“You… will die in your
sin.”
The word “sin” (hamartia)
is singular and refers to the sin of rejecting Christ (cf. John
16:9).
Can you think of anything
more horrifying than to hear such a statement from God Himself?
To die without forgiveness
of sins?
Jesus
says, “Where I go you cannot come.”
Where did Jesus go when He
died and rose again?
He went to heaven to be
with His Father (Mark 16:19; Acts 7:55; Romans 8:34; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews
10:12; 12:2).
But in the
after-life those in hell cannot transfer over to heaven (cf. Luke
16:26).
Once the door is shut on
that prison cell there is no escape.
It is not like these work
release programs where a criminal is free to go out during the day to work a
job as long as he is back in his cell that night.
There is no work release
program in hell.
The Pharisees would not be
able to join Jesus in heaven because of their refusal to believe in Him for
everlasting life.
But the Pharisees don’t get
it. Their response reveals another obstacle that keeps people from coming to
the light – self-righteous pride.
“So the
Jews said, ‘Will He kill Himself, because He says, ‘Where I go you cannot come?’” (John
8:22).
The Pharisees believed that
those who committed suicide went to the deepest place in hell, where there was
a special torment reserved for them.
Hence, they thought Jesus
was talking about killing Himself and going to hell, and therefore they would
never follow Him there because they were too good and decent for God to send
them to hell or shut them out of heaven.
But listen to how Jesus
responds to them:
“And He
said to them, ‘You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I
am not of this world.’” - (John
8:23).
Jesus exposes their basic
problem.
Jesus was born from above;
they were born in sin from below as a part of fallen humanity.
They were a part of the
ungodly world system; Jesus was not.
They were born sinners who
deserved to be separated from God for eternity.
Just as you cannot mix oil
and water or light and darkness, you cannot mix that which is from above with
that from below.
Though
they could not recognize it they were going to meet the supreme disaster… Jesus
told them, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your
sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in
your sins.” (John 8:24).
Jesus says that if you do
not believe that He is the light of the world, the only One who can give you
eternal life, then you are going to die in your sins, separated from God
forever.
This is what many people
today say they don’t want to hear – they do not want to hear anything about
hell.
But, in the New
Testament Jesus is the one who says the most about hell (cf.
Matthew 5:22, 29-30; 13:40, 42, 50; 18:8-9; 23:15, 33; 25:41, 46; Mark 3:29;
9:43-48; Luke 12:5; 10:28; John 3:18; et al.).
In this
passage He says, “Where I go you cannot come.”
These Jews could not go to
heaven where Jesus is going because they have rejected Him and His provision
for their sins.
It is the
absence of God, it is the absence of all that is beautiful, true, lovely,
exciting, living, and fulfilling.
But
please understand – God does not send anyone to hell. People
send themselves there by refusing to hear and believe the claims of Jesus
Christ (cf. John
3:18).
Isn’t it
amazing to see how much Jesus deals with these men in their blindness.
These are
not words of anger or accusation or condemnation from Christ.
This is an earnest pleading on Jesus’
part: “You will die in your sins unless you trust in Me alone as
your only hope of heaven.”
But in
their pride, they were blinded to the truth of Christ’s claim.
They
rejected Jesus’ word because they thought they were good enough already; they
thought they did not deserve any rejection from God.
Imagine
coming to the end of your life and you hear Jesus say, “You will die
in your sins” without forgiveness or everlasting life.
Why?
Because you refused to believe or trust in Christ alone to forgive all your
sins and give you everlasting life.
Once you
die, there is no second chance.
The Bible
says, “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the
judgment.” (Hebrews
9:27).
Are you
prepared to face Jesus Christ as your Judge?
If not,
He invites you to come to Him in faith just as you are right now.
Why would
you want to put this off? What could possibly be more important than where you
live after death?
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection
and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And
whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this” (John 11:25-26).
Christ
guarantees a future resurrection and a never-ending life to all who believe in
Him alone.
He promises that those who may die physically
will live spiritually (“though he may die, he shall live”) if
they choose to believe or trust in Him alone.
He guarantees that those who believe in Him will
never die spiritually (“whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die”).
They will
live with Him forever in heaven.
Do you
believe this?
Do you
believe that Jesus guarantees a future resurrection and never-ending life to
all who believe in Him?
He alone
has the power to do this because He died for all our sins on the cross and rose
from the dead (I
Corinthians 15:1-6), proving
that He is God (Romans
1:3-4).
No amount
of our prayers or good works can take away our sins (Isaiah 64:6).
But
because God loves us so much, He sent His Only Son, Jesus Christ, to earth over
two thousand years ago.
Christ
lived a perfect life and died a criminal’s death on the cross to pay the full
penalty for all our sins (John
19:30).
Three
days later He rose from the dead and He is alive today offering eternal
life freely to those who will believe in Him.
Make this the best day of your life by taking
Jesus at His Word when He said, “I am the resurrection and
the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And
whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this.”
(John
11:25-26).
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, I beg You to rescue those who are
perishing without Your gift of everlasting life.
Many people think that heaven is a reward for
doing good. They fail to understand that their performance cannot save them
from eternal punishment.
Only Your shed blood on the cross can save them.
Heaven is reserved for those who trust in You
and Your finished work on the cross alone as the only basis for entrance into
heaven.
Lord, You do not desire that anyone will perish
in hell, but that all will change their minds about whatever is keeping them
from believing in You, and then believe in You alone to provide a future bodily
resurrection and never-ending life.
Then and only then can they avoid hearing You
say, “You will die in your sins.”
In Jesus’ precious name.
Amen.
See you in heaven ministries is committed to multiplying disciples of Jesus
Christ until all hear His gospel of grace (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15;
Acts 20:24; I Corinthians 15:1-6). Our Pressing On discipleship training
offers a systematic approach to leading a non-Christian to Christ, building
them up and equipping them for ministry so they can multiply other followers of
Christ.
Jesus Christ
guarantees that all who believe in Him have everlasting life and a future home
in heaven (John 3:15-16; 14:1-3). Therefore those who preach the gospel can
confidently say to those who believe in Christ, “See you in heaven,” because Jesus
remains faithful to His promise of eternal life, even if they are unfaithful
(John 3:15-16; 4:10-14; 5:24; 6:35-40, 47; 11:25-26; 2 Timothy 2:13).
No comments:
Post a Comment