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Sermon

Beware Dying in Your Sins

Speaker
David Capoccia
Scripture
John 8:21-30

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In this sermon, Pastor Dave Capoccia examines John 8:21-30 and Jesus’ profound warning to religious unbelievers at the Feast of Booths. John reports Jesus’ fourth round of discussion with the Jews at the Feast of Booths so that you will heed Jesus’ warning and not die in your sins.

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Summary

This passage from John 8:21-30 presents Jesus’ fourth round of discussion with the Jewish leaders at the Feast of Booths, where He issues a sobering warning: without Him, people will die in their sins. We are confronted with the terrifying reality that religious activity, moral effort, and self-righteousness cannot save anyone. Jesus declares Himself to be the divine “I Am”—God in human flesh—and makes clear that faith in Him alone is the only escape from eternal condemnation.

The Jewish leaders’ shocking response of mockery and spiritual dullness serves as a warning to all who hear God’s truth and fail to respond.

Key Lessons:

  1. To die in your sin means to die condemned, unreconciled to God, with no second chances—religious identity and good works cannot prevent this.
  2. Jesus’ “I Am” statements are declarations of deity, connecting Him directly to Yahweh’s self-revelation in Exodus 3:14 and Isaiah 43.
  3. The only sin God will never forgive is unbelief in His Son—belief in Jesus alone, not works, is what saves.
  4. True saving faith always includes repentance—turning from sin and surrendering control of your life to God.

Application: We are called to examine ourselves honestly, not assuming that church attendance or religious activity makes us right with God. We must believe in Jesus as the divine “I Am,” repent of sin, and surrender full control of our lives to Him—today, not someday.

Discussion Questions:

  1. In what ways might we, like the Jewish leaders, focus on secondary questions while ignoring the most urgent warnings from God’s Word?
  2. How does understanding Jesus as the divine “I Am” change the way we approach faith—moving beyond seeing Him as merely a good teacher or moral example?
  3. What areas of your life have you not yet surrendered to God’s control, and what would genuine repentance look like in those areas?

Scripture Focus: John 8:21-30 teaches that dying in sin is the inevitable outcome for anyone who rejects Jesus; Exodus 3:14 and Isaiah 43:10-13 establish the “I Am” identity that Jesus claims for Himself; John 3:5-6 reinforces that no one born of the flesh can transform themselves—only God can save.

Outline

Introduction

The church, or those that you mother at home, let’s pray before we hear from God’s word.

Lord, open our eyes to wondrous things in this book in your Revelation. Help me to be able to declare it, and help us, Lord, to be protected from distractions and from worldly things that do not let us accept the things of God. Help us to heed this word this morning in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The 11-Foot-8 Bridge: Warnings Ignored

And preparing the message this week, I began thinking about the infamous 11 foot 8 Bridge. Have you ever heard of it? It’s also known as the can opener Bridge or the Gregson Street Guillotine. Officially, this railroad bridge in Durham, North Carolina is called the Norfolk Southern Gregson Street overpass.

Built in 1940, this bridge allows trains to cross over South Gregson Street in downtown Durham while cars drive underneath. The problem is that this bridge was built when the standard clearance for bridges was only 11 ft 8 in, instead of 14 ft like it is in most places today. This means that many large vehicles cannot pass safely under the bridge.

But that should not be too big of a problem, right? Just put up some warning signs about the bridge’s low height so that any over height vehicles can turn away before running into the bridge. And this is precisely what the city of Durham did.

Today, large signs alert drivers to the low clearance bridge several blocks before drivers encounter it. Also, a half block before the bridge, an electronic sensor detects over height vehicles and triggers an LED blackout warning sign that reads “over height must turn.” This same sensor also triggers a red light phase at the traffic light directly in front of the bridge so that a driver can stop and have 50 seconds to read the warning sign and consider carefully how he should respond.

Finally, just in front of the bridge itself, there are two signs on either side of the street listing the bridge’s height. So you’re getting the picture? You’ve got multiple warnings leading up to and present at the bridge itself so that tall vehicles do not collide with it.

But do the warnings work? Well, many drivers do indeed heed the warnings and keep themselves safe. However, some drivers do not heed the warnings.

“Many drivers do indeed heed the warnings and keep themselves safe. However, some drivers do not.”

Hence the bridge’s reputation. Since 2008, when a local office worker set up a camera observing the bridge and its preceding intersection, there have been 182 collisions into the bridge with many over height semi-trucks, buses, and RVs traveling at high speed toward the bridge and then losing roof fixtures or even having their entire roofs sheared off as if by a can opener. Actually, two collisions have already happened this month.

Now, thankfully, injuries from these crashes into the bridge have been few, but the damage to the vehicles has been quite extensive. And all because drivers foolishly do not pay attention to or heed the many warnings.

The Most Serious Warning

There’s a much more serious warning that many people ignore today. A repeated warning, actually—not about protecting your property or even protecting your body, but instead about your eternal soul. In the Bible, God repeatedly warns people.

He even warns you and me that you must get right with him or you will die in your sins and be thrown into a place of darkness and burning forever called hell. Yet so many people react to these warnings like the foolish drivers careening towards the can opener bridge—oblivious or kidding themselves that they are the exception. God’s holy anger will not touch them.

“God repeatedly warns you that you must get right with him or you will die in your sins.”

These people are in for a terribly rude awakening. But what about you? In our next passage in the Gospel of John, we see Jesus give a message of sobering warning to his listeners.

But amazingly, his listeners ignore it. It’s like they don’t even hear it. Jesus repeats the warning and he explains it further so that his original hearers and we today might finally listen and therefore might finally turn from sure eternal death to sure eternal life.

Let’s look at this together. Please open your Bibles to John 8:21-30. The title of the message today is “Beware Dying in Your Sins.”

Beware dying in your sins. John 8:21-30. If you’re using the Bibles we’ve provided, it’s page 1069.

Context: Jesus at the Feast of Booths

Before we read the passage, remember the context. We’re six months before Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus is still in Jerusalem at the Feast of Booths, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, one of Israel’s three yearly religious feasts.

Messianic expectations are high. Everyone is talking about whether this man Jesus could be the Christ. Jesus’ enemies—the Jewish religious leaders and their closest followers, usually simply called the Jews in John’s gospel—are more determined than ever to oppose and kill Jesus.

So far at this particular Feast, Jesus has avoided their murderous designs. But he has nevertheless engaged in multiple rounds of public debate and discussion with the Jews.

In round one, John 7:10-36, Jesus began teaching in the temple and refuting the shallow objections people were using to justify not believing in him.

In round two, John 7:37-52, Jesus declared himself to be the source of living water, even the giver of the promised indwelling spirit of God.

In round three, John 8:12-20, which we covered last time, Jesus declared himself to be the life-giving light of the world.

In these discussions, Jesus has made wondrous declarations and given generous invitations to believe in him and receive God’s abundant life and salvation. Yet the Jews and the Pharisees in particular have opposed Jesus the whole time. Rather than taking him up on his invitation to believe in him and be saved, they not only have refused to believe but have tried to prevent others from doing so.

“Rather than believing in him and being saved, they refused to believe and tried to prevent others.”

Scripture Reading: John 8:21-30

So Jesus engages in one more round of discussion with his Jewish opponents, which is our passage. Let’s now read John 8:21-30.

Then he said again to them, “I go away and you will seek me and will die in your sin. Where I’m going you cannot come.” So the Jews were saying, “Surely he will not kill himself, will he, since he says where I’m going you cannot come?”

And he was saying to them, “You are from below. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

John 8:24: “Unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

So they were saying to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “What have I been saying to you from the beginning? I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but he who sent me is true, and the things which I heard from him, these I speak to the world.”

They did not realize that he had been speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing on my own initiative, but I speak these things 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 spoke these things, many came to believe in him.

This is round four of Jesus’ public discussion with the Jews at the Feast of Booths. You may notice that, like rounds 2 and 3, round four begins with a profound declaration from Jesus.

However, the previous two rounds began with declarations of wondrous compassion: “I am the source of living water. Come to me and drink.” “I am the life-giving light of life. Follow me and live.”

The beginning declaration here in round four is instead a frightening warning. Such a shift should have shaken the supposedly God-fearing Jews. But as you can see, they ignore Jesus’ warning and focus on the less important part of his declaration.

In the rest of the passage, Jesus repeats his declaration and gives three clarifications to his listeners so that they cannot pretend they do not understand Jesus’ warning and so that they might heed it.

We can describe the passage’s main idea in this way: In John 8:21-30, John reports Jesus’ fourth round of discussion with the Jews at the Feast of Booths so that you will heed Jesus’ warning and not die in your sins. John writes this passage so that you will heed Jesus’ warning and not die in your sins.

Jesus’ Declaration: Without Him, You Will Die in Your Sin

Let’s look first together at Jesus’ declaration in verses 21 to 22. The declaration is: without Jesus, you will die in your sin. Without Jesus, you will die in your sin.

Let’s look at verse 21 just to start. Then he said again to them, “I go away and you will seek me and will die in your sin where I am going you cannot come.”

Notice in verse 21 that Jesus is again speaking to them. Who’s them? We just look at whom he was just talking to. He’s talking to the Pharisees, the popular religious leaders with whom Jesus has just been speaking in the previous round on this last day of the Feast of Booths.

Though it’s not just the Pharisees now. If you just glance at verse 22, it says that those who answer Jesus are the Jews, indicating the others of Jesus’ enemies besides the Pharisees. They are re-entering the discussion.

Jesus is speaking to them all again. Here he is addressing his opponents. But what does Jesus say?

Jesus gives a warning that sounds like something he’s already said back in the middle of the feast. If you just glance back at John 7:33-34: “Jesus said, ‘For a little while longer I am with you, then I go to him who sent me. You will seek me and will not find me, and where I am you cannot come.’”

John 8:21 looks like Jesus is just repeating what he previously said. But there is a notable twist, a slight difference. He tells the Jews here, “I am going away,” which is a phrase he doesn’t totally explain. But he is again referring to his coming death, his burial, his resurrection, and his ascension back to his God in heaven.

Jesus is indicating he will not remain among the Jews very much longer. Therefore, they will have little opportunity to hear him further and respond so that they may have life. He says, “I’m going away,” and he says, “and you will seek me.”

Now, with this, as I’ve told you previously in the John 7 passage, Jesus probably does not mean that they will seek him in the future again to kill him or harm him in some way—not that kind of seeking. Rather, Jesus is indicating they will seek God’s Messiah and they will seek all that comes with God’s Messiah: God’s promised salvation, God’s promised kingdom, God’s promised blessing.

He says, “You will seek these things. You will seek the Christ. You will even seek me after I go away.” But will they find the Messiah? Will they find what Messiah has and brings?

Jesus says next, “and will die in your sin. You will seek me and you will die in your sin.”

“You will seek me and you will die in your sin.”

Now, surely, because this is more or less a repetition of John 7, this is an equivalent statement to what Jesus said before: “and you will not find me. You will seek me and you will not find me.”

What It Means to Die in Your Sin

But what exactly does it mean to die in your sin? This phrasing may be an allusion to some famous verses in the Old Testament, Ezekiel 3:18-20. I won’t take you there right now, but in that passage, God is telling his prophet Ezekiel that he—Ezekiel—must warn God’s people to turn from their sins lest those people die in their iniquity, or as the passage also says, die in their sin.

For somebody who doesn’t turn from his sin, he can die in it. He can die in his iniquity. Now, whether Jesus is alluding to that specific passage or not, the Jews would have understood what it means to die in your sin.

Basically, to die in your sin is to die condemned by your sin and unreconciled to God. Your sin is not covered or forgiven. It clings to you like a filthy, rotten garment as you go into the grave. Therefore, upon death, the anger of a holy and just God is immediately poured out on you.

This means that you will never see God’s life, God’s kingdom, God’s salvation at all—forever. You will only know everlasting regret, everlasting torment with no prospect of relief or escape. To die in your sin is no light matter. It is a horrifying prospect.

“To die in your sin is to die condemned and unreconciled to God. It is a horrifying prospect.”

No Second Chances After Death

And Jesus’ last statement in verse 21 makes total sense in light of what dying in sin means. He says, “Where I am going you cannot come.”

Now, where is Jesus going? Not simply into the grave, but back to life and then to the glory at the Father’s right hand in heaven. Jesus came from God and is going back to God. But for those who die in sin, they cannot ever come to God—not even after suffering in hell for thousands of years.

Truly, to miss Jesus when you have the chance to come to him and to die in your sin is the worst tragedy. Because there are no reset buttons. There are no do-overs. There are no second chances. As the other scripture says, “It is ordained that man will die once and then the judgment.”

“There are no reset buttons. There are no do-overs. There are no second chances.”

Those who seek Jesus when it is too late will never find him, and they will never go where he goes.

A Warning Even for the Religious

Now, notice that Jesus doesn’t pronounce this warning to theoretical sinners somewhere out there, but to whom? To the Jews. To God’s own chosen people. Even to the religious leaders among those people—the scribes and Pharisees, the priests and rabbis and their most devoted followers—who are all, let’s remember, in the middle of celebrating a religious feast to God.

To them he says, and using emphatic pronouns in the Greek, “I myself will go away and you all will seek me and in your sin you all yourselves will die. Where I myself go away, you all yourselves are not able to come.”

Jesus is telling the most religious people of his day—or at least those who’d be considered the most religious—that they are not going where he is going. They are not going to God. That should be shocking. That should be very sobering. Not just to them, but to us too, right?

Because could it be true among those who style themselves religious today that what Jesus says about the Jews is true about them now? Such is man’s proud, sinful heart. No matter the era, no matter whether it’s biblical times or modern times, you can have people who think they are going to God—very religious people—but God’s assessment is, “You will die in your sin.”

“You can have very religious people who think they are going to God, but God’s assessment is: you will die in your sin.”

And again, this is something that could be true not just out there in other religions and other denominations and other churches. It could be true here. Could be true here, even at Calvary.

Now, I love you all. I’m persuaded that this is a congregation of people who truly love God. But I cannot see your hearts. God does, though. It is possible that the warning that Jesus gives the Jews here is the very warning that you personally need.

Because despite the words you say, despite the service you offer in the church, it is still true that you have not turned from your sins. Therefore, you do not have Jesus, and you are in terrible danger of dying in your sin.

So bring back that introductory metaphor: the low hanging bridge of God’s wrath is approaching. Jesus has just put up a warning sign. How will you respond?

The Jews’ Mocking Response

Let’s see how the Jews respond in verse 22. “So the Jews were saying, ‘Surely he will not kill himself, will he, since he says where I’m going you cannot come?’”

To me, that response is almost comical. There’s a feel to you that the response does not really follow what Jesus just said. It does to me. Because instead of paying attention to the part where Jesus warns in multiple ways that these outwardly religious people are going to seek him too late and they are going to die under the wrath of God, what do the people focus on in Jesus’ statement?

Where Jesus could possibly be going. In some ways, this response from the Jews is not surprising. First of all, even Jesus’ own disciples are confused about where Jesus is going when he tells them he’s going away. They are confused until it actually happens.

This is, secondly, not surprising because the Jews have already shown confusion towards Jesus when he makes a statement like this back in round one of the feast. John 7:35-36: “The Jews then said to one another, ‘Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? He’s not intending to go to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, is he? What is this statement that he said, “You will seek me and will not find me, and where I am you cannot come?”‘”

They’ve shown that they’ve been confused about this before. So surprise, surprise, they’re confused again.

But there’s a third reason this is not surprising, and this is the most notable. The Jewish leaders, up to this point in the gospel, have consistently proven themselves to be spiritually dull—even to the point of being hard-hearted, proud, and mocking of Jesus’ words and warnings.

You may remember that I told you before regarding John 7:35 that the Jews did not seriously believe that Jesus, when he told them he would go away, meant to go among the Gentiles and teach the Gentiles and the Hellenized Jews in the dispersion. That was probably a statement of contempt, a suggestion of mocking: “You can’t make it here, but maybe he thinks those dirty Gentiles will give him a better reception. Maybe that’s where he means he’s going to go.” It’s probably mockery.

We probably see the same thing here. This is the proud attitude of the Jews toward Jesus on display in verse 22. It’s probably not that they really just can’t think of anywhere Jesus might go except into the grave by his own hand. No, this is probably more mocking.

Because the Jews at this point had come to believe that suicide was a particularly heinous sin in the eyes of God—even that God banished such persons to the lowest part of hell for what they did. So with their statement to Jesus, the Jews would be saying to Jesus—essentially, if indeed they are mocking him—”Couldn’t possibly mean he’s going to kill himself, could he? I mean, I can see why maybe that would be an attractive option for such a loser like him, and the lowest part of hell really is the appropriate place for this so-called teacher.

I mean, we righteous Jews certainly wouldn’t be able to follow him there. He’d be right about that. Maybe he does mean suicide.”

“Far from heeding his warning, they only use it as an opportunity to mock him.”

This is ugly. This is arrogant contempt from the Jews toward Jesus. Far from heeding his warning, they only use it as an opportunity to mock him.

How People Dismiss Warnings Today

And how many do this today with the good news about Jesus? I sure hope that none of you do. People scoff at the warnings about hell. They brush off any warnings with self-justifications: “I’m not as bad as that person. Oh, I’m going to church now. I should be fine.” Or they evade the warnings by thinking God must be talking about someone else: “Oh, I know who needs to hear this message.” They never apply it to themselves.

We can’t be like that. You can’t be like that. Don’t be like these self-righteous Jews.

“People scoff at warnings about hell. They never apply it to themselves. Don’t be like these self-righteous Jews.”

Well, as we learn as the scriptures go along, many of them—most of them, indeed—died in their sins just as Jesus warned. You don’t want to be like them. You want to listen to God’s warning so that you yourself might be saved.

Now, because the Jews so quickly misunderstand Jesus and ignore his warning, Jesus gives three clarifications about what he has just declared. So we’re going to look at those.

Clarification 1: You Will Die in Sins Unless You Believe

The first clarification appears in verses 23 to 25A.

Clarification 1: You will die in sins unless you believe. You will die in sins unless you believe.

Look at verse 23: “And he was saying to them, ‘You are from below. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world.’”

Notice the imperfect verb tense that begins this verse. Jesus was saying—that is, he was saying something repeatedly to the Jews so that they wouldn’t miss it. And what does Jesus keep emphasizing to his dismissive opponents?

Well, a fundamental difference in origins. You yourselves—the emphatic pronouns are back here. We don’t see it in English so much, but it’s there in the Greek—you yourselves are from below, Jesus says. Which, probably because of the parallel statement that comes at the end of this verse, this doesn’t mean that the Jews are from hell, but merely they are from earth.

You yourselves are from below, whereas Jesus says, “I myself am from above.” Unlike the Jewish religious leaders, Jesus came from God in heaven to the earth. He didn’t come from earth like they did.

You yourselves are of this world, Jesus says. That is, you were born into the dwelling place of mankind that is fundamentally in rebellion against God. It’s a dark place. It’s ruled over by Satan.

So you are dark people. Your thinking is worldly. Your desires are worldly. And your destiny is the same as all the other this-world-focused dwellers of the world.

Whereas Jesus says of himself, “I myself am not of this world.” That is, not only did I ultimately not come from this fallen world, but also my desires, my thinking, my destiny are not of this world. I am about my Father’s words and will, and I am going back to him.

Not all of this is explained in Jesus’ words, but because we know the rest of the scriptures, we get what he’s talking about.

But why bring out the fundamental differences between Jesus and the Jews? Why start with this in his first clarification?

Well, on the one hand, Jesus is, in a sense, answering their mocking question: “Where is he going?” Since he is not of this world, the place to which he will soon be going is back above, to heaven, the place from which he came.

On the other hand, Jesus mentions this immediately in reply to them to explain why even these supposedly religious Jews will in fact die in their sins without him. It’s because they are fundamentally just like everyone else in the world.

The Great Lie of Self-Righteousness

Here is the great lie that all other world religions besides biblical Christianity teach—even some religions that claim to follow the true God or label themselves as Christian. They teach this fundamental lie: that you can be good enough for God. You can do enough good works. You can participate in enough rituals. You can be religious enough. You can earn your way into God’s favor and into some kind of heaven that God promises you.

This was the teaching that the Jews in Jesus’ day had swallowed hook, line, and sinker. It is the same teaching that many people swallow today and think they are on the road to God and heaven.

But as Jesus points out, people from below, people of the world, can never be good enough for God. That is because they are born into a corrupted world and are of a corrupted world. They are themselves corrupt. Their desires, their thinking, their destiny are all fallen. Which means their good works are too.

“People from below, people of the world, can never be good enough for God because they are themselves corrupt.”

Those who are of this world cannot please God, nor can they transform themselves into those who can. For no person can change his own nature.

Didn’t Jesus already tell us this in John 3:5-6? “Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Flesh cannot transform itself into spirit.”

John 3:5: “Unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

Ultimately, all that sinful people of the world can do—and all of us are sinful people—is produce sinful works. They may look good on the outside to some people, but they are tainted by sin. You can dress it up in religiosity, but God sees to the core. It’s corrupt.

How can anyone in this world be saved? The only way is if someone who is not of this world—someone who is uniquely qualified to come and rescue—is sent into the world for the world. We need God himself to come to the rescue.

Jesus points out, by his contrast with the Pharisees and the Jews, that he is that fundamentally different one. He is God’s ordained means of rescue. Yet what have they just done? What have they been doing the whole time?

They say, “Thank you, but no thank you.” They reject and even mock the one sent by God because they think they don’t need him. “No, we got this, Jesus. We’ll be fine on our own.”

So Jesus puts two and two together for them. He says, “Here’s the reality. Here’s what you’re doing. Here’s the outcome.”

Only Faith in Jesus Saves

Verse 24: “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

Is there any other logical conclusion? If you cannot save yourselves and you reject the only one sent from heaven who can save you, there’s only one outcome: you will die in your sins.

“If you cannot save yourselves and you reject the only one who can save you, there’s only one outcome.”

Jesus is making it very plain. They cannot miss it. We cannot miss it.

Notice one difference here, though. In Jesus’ repeated warning in verse 21, it was “you will die in your sin”—singular. In verse 24, twice here, we have “you will die in your sins”—plural.

Is that difference in number significant? You might say no, except for the clarifying reason that Jesus gives in the middle of verse 24: “unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

From a certain point of view, it is true that every kind of human sin can be forgiven except one. Even the worst sins you can think of, committed over and over and over again, God can forgive. He is that merciful. He is that great in his kindness.

But there is one sin that God cannot and will not ever forgive, no matter what. What is that sin? It’s unbelief in his son Jesus.

If you believe in Jesus, incredibly, God will forgive everything else—past, present, and future. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done. If you believe in Jesus, God will forgive it all.

But if you don’t believe in Jesus—in the only provided provision of God for your sin—then, because you won’t believe, that sin of unbelief will take the lead among all your other sins and stampede you all the way to hell.

This is why, in describing why people become eternally damned, the Bible can answer by speaking both of general sins of rebellion and also the specific sin of unbelief. Both are what condemn a person to eternal punishment. Your sins condemn you, but also the sin of unbelief is what condemns you.

So that may account for the difference in number in our passage. In verse 21, Jesus is referring to the soul-damning sin of unbelief. In verse 24, Jesus is referring to all the other soul-damning sins that are left uncovered and unforgiven because of unbelief in Jesus.

Now, don’t miss the fundamental truth of verse 24: only faith in Jesus saves. It is not works. It is not faith plus works. It is faith alone in Jesus alone.

“Only faith in Jesus saves. It is not works. It is not faith plus works. It is faith alone in Jesus alone.”

Only those who believe in Jesus will not die in their sins. That is the only category of exception.

Jesus’ ‘I Am’ Claim to Deity

But believe what about Jesus? Notice here, very intriguingly, Jesus says, “unless you believe that I am he.”

Who’s he? What’s he? What am I supposed to believe about this he? What am I supposed to believe about Jesus in order to be saved?

Even more interestingly, the original Greek text for this phrase is more literally translated “unless you believe that I am”—the he could be implied by the grammar of the Greek, but it’s not literally there.

So what is Jesus saying?

Well, as we’ve already seen in this gospel, and we will see again, Jesus sometimes makes “I am” statements that have an overtone of claim to deity, to asserting himself to be God. We saw one of these last week in John 8:12: “I am the light of the world.” We’re going to see one again soon in John 8:58: “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”

And I would argue that we see another one here in verse 24, as well as in verse 28.

Now, what does saying “I am” have to do with claiming to be God? Anyone can say “that I am blank” and still mean something totally normal. We’re going to see this in John 9 with the man born blind. They’d be like, “Is this, is this your son? Is this the one who was born blind and now he can see?” And he says, “I am he.” “I’m the one.” He was not claiming to be deity there.

But when someone says “I am” and then fills in the rest of the statement with something that can only be true about God, or if someone says something like Jesus does here—”you must believe that I am”—and then doesn’t fill in the rest of the statement, such statements most likely are declarations of divinity.

Why do I say that? Because that’s the way God himself talks.

I reminded you last time of God’s famous self-identifying statement to Moses in Exodus 3:14. Just to recall it to your mind: “God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am,’ and he said, ‘Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, “I am” has sent me to you.’”

“I am” is a phrase specially connected to God and his very nature. “I am” expresses his eternality, his self-sufficiency. Fundamentally, God is “I am.”

Exodus 3:14: “God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’ ‘I Am’ is a phrase specially connected to God and his very nature.”

But it wasn’t just expressed there in Exodus. God sometimes uses that title again or uses that phrasing again in a poignant way in other places in the Old Testament, like in the one we read earlier in our service, Isaiah 43:1-13. God is stressing to Israel how much different he is compared to the false gods who can’t do anything, who can’t foretell the future.

Let me remind you of two things that God says in Isaiah 43:10 and Isaiah 43:13.

Isaiah 43:10: “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord—or the word there is Yahweh—”you are my witnesses, declares Yahweh, and my servant whom I have chosen so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed, and there will be none after me.”

Similarly, Isaiah 43:13: “Even from eternity, God says, ‘I am he, and there is none who can deliver out of my hand. I act, and who can reverse it?’”

Are you seeing the parallel to our passage? In these verses in Isaiah, God doesn’t define the “he” of “I am he” because it doesn’t have to. Here again is a declaration—like in Exodus 3:14—a declaration of divine self-existence, independence, eternality. “I am God,” says, “When you see me do things that only God can do, you’ll know I am.”

So bringing all this back to John 8: If Jesus is validated by God in his words and works, but Jesus also speaks like God and makes the same assertion about himself that God does—even in statements like “I am” and “I am he”—then who must Jesus be?

Jesus Is God: The Heart of the Gospel

Jesus is God. Jesus is God. He’s not merely a good man. He’s not merely a moral teacher or an example to follow. He’s not merely an exalted angel. He is the Son of God, the one sent by the Father into the world of darkness to be Israel’s promised Messiah and the saving light of all people who will believe in him.

“Jesus is God. He’s not merely a good man or a moral teacher. He is the Son of God.”

He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He is the only one who could deliver you and me from our sins because he fundamentally is not of this world. Though he was eternally God, he became a man.

He did come into this world so that he could grow up and live a perfectly righteous life—the very one that you and I were supposed to live, as Jesus himself will mention in a moment.

He then went to the cross to accomplish a desperately needed exchange for people. He took the sins of all those who believe in him into his own account and suffered the eternal hell penalty for those sins once and for all.

He also took his perfect righteousness—the very righteousness of the Son of God—and he placed it into the account of those who believe in him.

This is the exchange. He takes your sin if you believe, and he gives you his righteousness. As a result, when God looks at those newly redeemed people, those believers, God doesn’t see their sins.

He doesn’t see their pitiful, corrupted, self-righteous attempts to get right with God. He sees the perfection of his own Son.

God therefore declares all those people righteous and justified in Jesus alone.

Only God himself could accomplish the saving sacrifice that we needed and then rise again from the dead when it was all accomplished.

This is he. This is the “I am.” This is the one that you must believe in and give up all to have.

True Faith Includes Repentance

One word that’s often linked with faith or belief in Jesus in the Bible is the word “repentance.” This is because no one can truly believe in Jesus as the Lord, as the Savior, as the “I am,” who then hangs on to sin and control of his own life. “Yes, I believe in you, Jesus, but I’m still going to live the way that I want.” That’s not how it works.

See, repentance is the flip side of true belief. If you truly believe in Jesus, you will also turn from your sin. There are two sides of the same coin. In belief, in true faith, you give up everything that displeases and dishonors God so that you may follow him. You give up your sin. You give up your self-righteous attempts at God’s favor. You give up your own will.

“Repentance is the flip side of true belief. If you truly believe in Jesus, you will also turn from your sin.”

Now, that’s a big one, right? We all start out thinking, “I am the captain of my own life. I’m going to decide what I want to do. I’ve got my dreams. I’ve got my goals. I’m going to pursue them.”

But God says, “But I’m the Lord, and I made you for me.”

Genuine faith says, “Okay, God. I believe I am made for you. I’m giving you control. I’m giving up my sins. I’m giving control over to you. You’re worthy of it, and I want you.”

If you really believe, your heart tells God, “You are my master. You now have full control of my life. I now live for you because you have saved me—not to keep myself saved, because you have saved me. I commit my entire life in growing obedience to you, Lord. I’m still going to struggle. I’m going to get confused. I’m going to fail. But I’m going to keep pursuing you. And where sin crops up in my life, I’m going to put it to death. I’m going to put it away because I believe in you.”

Amen. That is true saving faith in Jesus. And that is the only way not to die condemned in your sins.

The Jews Still Don’t Understand

So Jesus has given this clarification. Do the Jews get it?

Look at verse 25, just the first part: “So they were saying to him, ‘Who are you?’”

Once again, we have to stand back amazed at the spiritual dullness and hard-heartedness of these supposedly religious leaders. Even after three years of public ministry, even after seven days of teaching at this feast, even after the explanation that Jesus has already just given, the Jews still ask him—and apparently more than once, according to the verb tense—”Who are you?”

“Even after three years of public ministry, even after seven days of teaching at this feast, the Jews still ask, ‘Who are you?’”

How can they still not get it? Why do they ask this question? Why do they keep asking this question?

Perhaps they did catch Jesus’s allusion with the statement “I am he.” Perhaps they think that Jesus is blaspheming by claiming divine, Messianic titles for himself, and they want him to clarify further so that they can entrap him and have some grounds to accuse him. “Tell us exactly who you are in ways that we can then accuse you.”

Maybe that’s why they ask him. Or maybe they just cannot conceive that even they would need God himself to be their savior. So even though Jesus has already been abundantly clear with them, they just can’t compute it. So they say, “Who are you?” again.

Well, Jesus will answer their question with a second clarification in verses 25B to 27.

Clarification 2: You Should Know Who Jesus Is by Now

Clarification 2: You should know who Jesus is by now.

Look at the rest of verse 25: “Jesus said to them, ‘What have I been saying to you from the beginning?’”

Jesus points out to the Jews—what I just pointed out to you—they ought to know who he is by now. If they are trying to entrap him into some sort of what they think of as blasphemous divine declaration, he’s not going to play that game. Not yet. He just points back to what he’s already told them, what he’s already showed them.

“They ought to know who he is by now. What worldly desires prevent you from seeing the plain truth?”

If you’ve gotten to John 8, if you’re reading through the Gospel of John, and you still don’t know who Jesus is, you really should go back and read the first eight chapters again because it’s obvious. Or better yet, ask yourself: “What worldly desires and expectations are you holding on to that prevent you from seeing the plain truth that Jesus is God, he’s the son of God in human flesh?”

It’s clear. What’s holding you back from seeing that?

Jesus Speaks Only the Father’s Words

Look what Jesus says next in John 8:26: “I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but he who sent me is true, and the things which I heard from him, these I speak to the world.”

In this verse, Jesus acknowledges the Jews’ culpability in not being able to understand who he is. They cannot understand even after all this time because they will not understand. Therefore, Jesus mentions that he has many words of spiritual exposure and condemnation stored up for these religious hypocrites. But he will not speak them now.

You may notice the contrasting word “but” in the middle of the verse. Because the sending one—the one sending Jesus—is true, fundamentally totally reliable, Jesus will only speak the words given him from that sending one. And Jesus will speak these words not only to his Jewish opponents but also to the whole world.

Remember, Jesus’ first coming was primarily for salvation, not for judgment. So though Jesus could rightfully and truthfully sentence each one of his hearers to immediate judgment—”These Jews, wow, you still don’t get it. You deserve to be judged”—he could do that right now. But he again demonstrates his identity as the Son of God who is intimately united with and completely humbly dependent on the Father.

“Jesus’ first coming was primarily for salvation, not for judgment.”

Jesus shows he will continue to seek the Father’s will and the Father’s timing. He’s not going to start judging because now is not the time. That’s not what the Father has ordained for him. As the perfect Son, as the perfect explainer of God, he will only speak the Father’s words and the Father’s time.

Yet even this clarification from Jesus soon demonstrates further the spiritual density of the Jews. For notice John 8:27: “They did not realize that he had been speaking to them about the Father.”

You almost want to hit your head on the desk. How could they miss even that? Even if they didn’t believe Jesus really has God as his Father, they should have been able to understand that he was making that claim.

Who could the sending one be if Jesus came from above and came from heaven if not the Father? And how many times has Jesus clarified to the Jews his relationship with the Father in heaven? John 2, John 5, John 6, earlier in John 8. Actually, it’s partly due to the claim that Jesus has previously made about his relationship with the Father that the Jews want to kill him. He called God his own Father, making himself equal with God. That’s John 5:18.

And now they don’t understand he’s talking about his Father when he’s talking about the sending one.

Clarification 3: You Will Know Jesus Better After the Cross

Jesus has one more clarification to make to the Jews and to us as well. We see this in the final part of our passage, verses 28 to 30.

Clarification 3: You will know Jesus better after the cross.

Look at verse 28: “So Jesus said, ‘When you lift up the son of man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing on my own initiative, but I speak these things as the father taught me.’”

Have you ever watched a movie and then later watched that same movie again? It’s a totally different experience the second time, right? Yes, you no longer experience the surprise, the tension, the humor like you did the first time because you’ve seen it all before. You’re more familiar with the story.

But once you know how everything ends, you can suddenly appreciate and understand the details leading up to that end which didn’t make sense to you the first time. “Oh, that’s why that character says that here. Oh, that’s why the camera lingers on this scene for a while. It’s foreshadowing the end.”

Jesus says that knowing who he is and knowing his relationship with the father is a little bit like that experience. As Jesus has just clarified in verse 26, there is already ample evidence as to who Jesus is and why everyone must believe in him to avoid dying in sin. It’s not as if he’s giving them a pass.

Nevertheless, he says in verse 28, “When you lift up the son of man”—doesn’t exactly explain what that means, but we know what that means—”when you Jews cause my body to be lifted up on the cross, when you kill me, then you will know that I am.”

“When you Jews cause my body to be lifted up on the cross, then you will know that I am.”

Literally, “I am” could also be translated “I am he.” Then you will know. And additionally, specifically, you will know that the whole time I was doing nothing on my own initiative or according to my own solitary will, but was always perfectly speaking and obeying the father.

“You’re not sure who the sending one was? It’s the father. You’ll realize the whole time I was obeying the father just as he instructed me.”

The Cross Makes Everything Clearer

Indeed, it is the lifting up of the cross—or I should say the lifting up on the cross itself—it gains new significance once you see the final outcome for Jesus, which is not death. It’s resurrection and it’s glorification of the son by the father.

Remember, we saw this back in John 3: lifting up also means to glorify, to exalt. Jesus is playing with that double meaning. What at first glance looks like a mere tragic lifting up to death becomes, on second view, once you see the whole story, a lifting up in glory before the whole world. And it even functions as the drawing of many peoples—Jew and Gentile—to believe in Jesus.

“What at first looks like a tragic lifting up to death becomes a lifting up in glory before the whole world.”

Jesus is saying the cross is going to make everything clearer. But don’t misunderstand Jesus. He’s not saying that when they know that “I am” after the cross, he’s not saying that means they will all believe to the point of salvation. The other gospels and the book of Acts reveal quite the contrary. Many of the religious Jews remain stubborn enemies of Christ and of his people even after the cross, even after the resurrection, when the evidence is so obvious.

What Jesus is saying is that even if they resist the truth, they will know it even better after the cross. There will be such new, plain evidence that what Jesus had been declaring all along is true—even that it was the father, it was God himself, it was the father who sent him and gave the son the words to speak.

Greater Knowledge Means Greater Accountability

Now, that’s not just an academic, idle point. That is a directly relevant point to us. Because what are we? We quite surely are people post-cross, post-empty tomb.

If Jesus held them to account for what they already knew up to John 8, how much more we, when we know so much more of the story? We should be able to understand Jesus better, much better.

So how much greater our punishment will be from God if, even with all this extra information, even with all the more warning signs that are so clear, we still proudly do not turn?

“We are people post-cross, post-empty tomb. How much greater our punishment if we still proudly do not turn?”

How much greater will our punishment be?

The Son’s Perfect Confidence in the Father

Jesus concludes in verse 29 by saying, “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 the Son of God, Jesus doesn’t need to wait for the cross, the resurrection, or the ascension to understand what’s really going on or what his relationship with the Father is really like. He knows it all perfectly from the start and constantly enjoys it.

Even when facing opposition, mockery, and death threats, Jesus is fully confident both in what he says and what he does because he knows his God, his Father, is always with him. And Jesus is always pleasing his Father.

Whatever he does and says, he makes sure that it’s pleasing to the Father. After all, the Son of God knows best where the greatest pleasure in the universe is: in God and pleasing God.

“The Son of God knows best where the greatest pleasure in the universe is: in God and pleasing God.”

Therefore, we who have believed in Jesus can experience a version of the confidence and joy that he’s testifying of here in verse 29. By the Spirit of God inside us, we have the Father with us, the Son with us, and the Holy Spirit with us.

When we rely on the Spirit and we heed God’s word, we can please the Lord as well, following after him, testifying of him, and honoring him.

Many Came to Believe

Now, this is where Jesus’s fourth round of discussion with the Jews ends. What is the result?

Look at verse 30: “As he spoke these things, many came to believe in him.”

How interesting. Even though many of the Jewish leaders won’t believe, there are others—maybe among them, certainly in the crowd—who are apparently willing to heed the Son of God’s warning and pass from death to life.

“Even though many Jewish leaders won’t believe, there are others willing to heed the warning and pass from death to life.”

Though, as we’ll see next time in the Gospel of John, not all who believe in Jesus even here will turn out to be true disciples, but the possibility of belief is there.

Conclusion: Turn to Jesus Today

So it’s time to assess ourselves. Where are you with Jesus?

Like the 11 foot 8 bridge, God has again given you multiple warnings by his word, by his spirit, so that as you approach the immovable overpass of God’s wrath, you will not crash. God’s word has scanned you. Now there’s an LED sign lighting up that says, “Dying in sin must turn to Jesus.”

Relatively speaking, in light of eternity, you have a short time left. How will you respond to this word from the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit?

Don’t be like the fools too caught up in the world, too trusting in self-generated works, to turn. Take seriously Jesus’ word: “Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins.”

Yet if you will turn, if you will believe, then you will know. You will gain eternal life. You will gain God himself by the spirit. And you will finally see the great glory of the Son that was there all along.

John 8:24: “Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins.”

Because the end of the story comes down to this: Turn to Jesus today. And if you’ve strayed, return.

Beware dying in your sins. Turn so that you may know the glory of the Lord.

Let’s close in prayer.

God, we thank you for your word today. We are not above needing your word of warning. We know how deceptive our own hearts can be. We know the allure of the world, the flesh, and the evil one.

Lord, I pray that we would take seriously this word, that we would fear with holy fear dying in sin, never turning from our sin, just keep going our own way to destruction. And God, you have warned us with compassion, and you’ve pointed us to a better way—the only way: Jesus Christ.

Lord, I pray that this congregation, all of us who’ve heard this message today, would believe that Jesus is the “I am” and that we would find our life in Jesus more and more. For those who haven’t tasted at all, I pray that they’d come and believe for the first time.

But for those who have believed, God, I pray that we would grow in the satisfaction of it, not distracted by the world, especially the fear of man, wanting people to approve us, wanting people to not have a harsh word to say against us. Help us not to be like the Jewish leaders who love the approval of men more than the approval of God.

Help us, Lord, again to take seriously this warning and to respond to those invitations you’ve already given. You are the source of living water. You are the light of life in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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