Die in Sin

No one likes to be excluded. Even from places they really don’t want to go, they’d be offended if they were told they were not acceptable. The Jewish leaders Christ spoke to in John’s eighth chapter were the same way. They had already come to dislike Christ, then He told them:

Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come. Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come. And he said unto them, Ye 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 he, ye shall die in your sins. (John 8:21-24 KJV)

They weren’t certain where He came from, and had no idea where he was going. What Christ taught was totally from their scriptures, but it was not what they believed. They chose what they wanted from the words God had given them, added a bit of what they thought should be and adjusted for times and needs.

Mankind has done such since Eve looked at the fruit and saw it was good. We do the same thing.

We pick from churches and from the Bible what fits with what we’ve heard or what we want and ignore the rest. In many instances we’ll state openly that what we’re reading applies only to a specific time, a specific place and it is no longer applicable.

We don’t look at His words here, for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins, and believe they do not apply to us. They do.

Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. (Isaiah 43:10-11 KJV)

I like the connecting view from Isaiah that there is only one savior. There are those who become content with their own live, satisfied with what is happening now and do not seek Him. Instead, they will fulfill Christ’s prophecy.

That does not mean that those who have found Him are sinless. We did, do, and will sin while in this world. Christians work toward being aware of their sins, changing their lives toward not sinning, along with confessing and repenting when they do. The big difference is that we know our sins affect our edification and glorification of our Father, making our witness of Him lessened. We’re still learning to put off our natural way of living and putting on the way Christ has taught us.

We do so because we believe He is who He said He was.

Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. (John 8:25 KJV)

For those who say Christ did not proclaim He was the prophesied Messiah, read again.

The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. (John 4:25-26 KJV)