← Back to sermon library

where you can turn with me in 
your Bibles to John's gospel. We're in John chapter eight this 
morning. Our focus will be verses 21 to 29, so John chapter eight. I'll read the section verses 
21 to 29, we'll pray, and then we'll look at this section of 
God's holy and inspired word. So beginning in John eight at 
verse 21, 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. So the Jews said, will he kill 
himself? Because he says, where I go, 
you cannot come. And he said to them, you are 
from beneath, 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 if you do not believe that 
I am, you will die in your sins. Then they said to Him, Who are 
You? And Jesus said to them, Just 
what I have been saying to you from the beginning. I have many 
things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true, 
and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him. 
They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father. 
Then Jesus said to them, when you lift up the son of man, then 
you will know that I am and that I do nothing of myself. But as 
my father taught me, I speak these things. And he who sent 
me is with me. The father has not left me alone, 
for I always do those things that please him. As He spoke 
these words, many believed in Him. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our God and Father, we thank 
You for this beautiful day that does describe, or declare rather, 
Your glory and Your majesty as revealed in the created order. 
We thank You for the Lord's Day and the reality that Christ is 
risen from the dead, that He is enthroned at the right hand 
of God Most High, where He ever lives to make intercession for 
His people. from which you will come again 
in glory to judge the living and the dead. We give praise 
to you, Father, Son, and Spirit, for this day we ask now that 
the Holy Spirit would guide us as we consider this passage of 
Scripture and what it testifies concerning the Lord of glory. 
Forgive us for all of our sin and transgression. Wash us in 
that precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have that sure 
word from the Apostle John that if we confess our sins, you are 
faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all 
unrighteousness. So God help us to lay hold of 
this by faith and as well for any and all who've come here 
this morning that are dead in their trespasses and sins. We 
pray that the Holy Spirit would work effectually, that He would 
take that word and bring that conviction for sin. and cause 
sinners to flee to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith that they may 
have everlasting life. It's a very sober warning given 
by our blessed Savior to these Jews in this passage. Give us 
all ears to hear and hearts to receive these things, and we 
pray through Christ our Lord, amen. Well, in terms of the context, 
remember that in John 7, it was the Feast of Tabernacles, and 
Jesus taught in the temple there. So after the feast concluded, 
it was a seven-day feast, everybody returned to their home. That's 
what John 8, 1 tells us. Jesus himself went out to the 
Mount of Olives. Most likely he would have visited 
with Mary and Martha and Lazarus, who lived in Bethany. So early 
the next morning, after that Feast of Tabernacles, he comes 
back to the temple, and here he discourses with the Jews. 
The primary emphasis, or the primary target, are the religious 
leaders. They continue to ask him questions, 
they continue to challenge him in terms of his identity and 
of his authority, and that does not abate in our passage this 
morning. So essentially what we have in 
the section before us, verses 21 to 29, we have the announcement 
of his departure in verses 21 to 24. Secondly, the question 
of his identity in verses 25 to 27. And then thirdly, the 
reference to his crucifixion in verses 28 to 29. They essentially 
slander him by saying, is he going to kill himself? No, it's 
not him that's going to kill himself, it is they that are 
going to kill him. It is they that will undertake 
crucifixion, that worse form of Roman execution, because they 
saw him as a threat to their religious and political order. 
So let's take up this first section in the announcement of his departure 
in verses 21 to 24. I've got four things that we 
need to unpack here. And it may be the case that we 
spend a bulk of the time here this morning, because I think 
it's a very powerful warning. Our hymnody today reflected this 
particular passage. We sang, secondly, that song 
concerning the judgment that is to come. And as we look in 
this passage, Christ threatens these people with a concern in 
terms of a judgment to come. If you do not believe that I 
am, you will die in your sins. And then the next hymn was Amazing 
Grace. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day 
in Canada. There ought to be great gratitude in the hearts 
of God's people for giving us eyes to see and ears to hear 
what the blessed truth is concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, that we 
have seen Him as the great I Am, that by grace we have believed 
in Him for the forgiveness of sins, is a wonderful time for 
us to reflect upon, or a wonderful truth for us to reflect upon, 
and return our gratitude and thanksgiving to our blessed God. So I wanna look at the declaration 
of Jesus in verse 21. Second, the slander of the Jews 
in verse 22. Thirdly, the contrast between 
Jesus and the Jews in verse 23. And then finally, the condemnation 
of the Jews by our Lord in verse 24. But notice his declaration 
in verse 21. Then Jesus said to them again, 
I am going away. Now remember what we saw last 
week. They're questioning concerning 
his authority. They're questioning concerning 
his identity. And in verse 20 it says, these 
words Jesus spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple and 
no one laid hands on him. The implication being they wanted 
to. They wanted to stop him. They 
wanted to seize him. We see that already in the prologue. John tells us that Jesus came 
to his own and his own received him not. We see it fleshed out 
in the pages of John's gospel in the early chapters. John 5, 
he heals that man at Bethsaida. And instead of praising God, 
instead of rejoicing in the goodness of the Lord, instead of the appreciation 
of the fact that this man who was lame, this man who was maimed, 
this man who could not walk, was now leaping and praising 
God. Instead of praising God, they want to kill Jesus because 
he broke the Sabbath, and they want to kill Jesus because he, 
being a man, made himself equal with God. These men had great 
animus toward him. They had enmity in their hearts. And so they wanted to lay hold 
of him. So notice how verse 21 begins, I am going away. Verse 20, his hour had not yet 
come, but it was coming. And as a result of that, he would 
be going away. So he highlights here, he anticipates 
here his departure, which specifically is seen in his death, resurrection, 
and exaltation back into the heavenly glory. Now notice as 
well what we see in verse 21. He says, I am going away. The 
willingness of the Savior. He is not hesitant. He is not 
resistant. He is not sort of, you know, 
conflicted about the mission that is set before him. In Luke's 
gospel, when he turns his face to go to Jerusalem, he sets his 
face like a flint to go there. He must go, he must be tried, 
he must be executed, and he must be raised again. He's not an 
unwilling participant in this plan of redemption. No, the inseparable 
operations of God, the Father, Son, and Spirit are one in terms 
of the execution of the will of God, and Jesus Christ is compliant. Jesus Christ, according to his 
humanity, goes to that cross most willingly. In fact, look 
at John's gospel in chapter 10. at verse 18, he says, no one 
takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power 
to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This command 
I have received from my father. So this willingness of the Savior, 
the voluntariness of the Savior to go to the cross. When you 
look at that, you know what you should consider? The reality 
that God is in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. There is 
a standoffishness about some people when it comes to the grace 
of God in the gospel. They conclude that, well, there's 
only going to be a handful of people that are saved. There's 
only going to be a few of those miserable souls that have their 
eyes open and their hearts open to receive the glory of the gospel. 
But that's not what the Bible says. The Bible says there is 
a multitude that no man can number. The Bible says they will hail 
from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. The Bible says that 
God sent his son into the world, not to condemn the world because 
the world was condemned already, but he sent his son into the 
world to save it. God so loved the world that he 
gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should 
not perish, but have everlasting life. So when you see the willingness 
of the son of man, the voluntariness of the son of man, may that be 
an inducement or an enticement or a solicitation to you to look 
unto him and be saved. He didn't come here simply to 
reject people He didn't come here and say thank you father 
Lord of heaven and earth that that you have hidden these things 
from the wise and prudent But it revealed them unto babe and 
you babes that have had this revealed unto you stay away from 
me No, that's not the Savior. Look back at the Feast of Tabernacles 
in John 7 737 in particular on that on the last day of that great day of the feast, 
Jesus stood and cried out saying, if anyone thirsts, let him come 
to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the 
scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living 
water. So going back to our particular 
passage, the willingness and the voluntariness of the son 
of man to undertake all that was laid upon him in order to 
save his people from their sins. How much does He love us? He 
loves us so much that He was willing to go to the cross for 
us. How much does He love us? He loves us so much that He would 
take the wrath and fury and judgment of God. How much does He love 
us? He would do that for us men and for our salvation. If you 
are not a believer, I want you to consider what Jesus says in 
this passage concerning the way of salvation. He goes willingly 
to the cross to do all that was laid upon Him by the Father so 
that sinners can come to Him and have everlasting life. It 
is a most wonderful argument. The very gospel of our salvation 
is the argument as to why you should come to our blessed Savior. So he makes this declaration, 
I am going away and you will seek me and will die in your 
sin. Where I go, you cannot come. 
Turn back to the prophet Ezekiel for just a moment. Ezekiel chapter 
three. Ezekiel chapter three is likely 
the background for what Jesus is doing here in terms of this 
warning, this warning of judgment. Now remember in the gospel narrative, 
the Lord Jesus uses the term son of man for himself on many 
occasions. Interestingly, Ezekiel is called 
by God the son of man. And so when we look at this particular 
section in Ezekiel 3 verses 16 to 21, notice that one of the 
purposes for Ezekiel, the son of man, was to function as a 
watchman, to warn people, to tell people to flee from the 
wrath to come. So notice in Ezekiel 3.16, Now 
it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the 
Lord came to me saying, Son of man, I have made you a watchman 
for the house of Israel. Therefore, hear a word from my 
mouth and give them warning from me. See, that's supposed to happen, 
not only in the life of the prophet Ezekiel, not only in the context 
of the ministry of our Savior when he's dealing with these 
hostile Jews, but it's supposed to abide in the church today. 
Certainly, we're to declare the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. We're to tell about the way of 
access through the Son. to the Father in the Spirit. 
We're to emphasize faith and repentance as the means by which 
sinners close with God. We also have to warn them of 
the ramifications for rejection, warn them for their wickedness 
and the condemnation that will come upon them for refusing to 
come to the blessed Savior. So notice what God says through 
the prophet, verse 18, when I say to the wicked, you shall surely 
die and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked 
from his wicked way to save his life, that same wicked man shall 
die in his iniquity. Now notice, but his blood, I 
will require it your hand. In other words, Ezekiel, if you 
fail to warn people, if you fail to tell them about the consequences 
of their sin against a thrice holy God, I will require their 
blood at your hand. Same background for the Apostle 
Paul in that pastor's conference in Ephesus in Acts chapter 20. 
He says, my hands are clean from the blood of all men. Why? Because 
I have not shrunk back from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 
Verse 19, yet if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn 
from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die 
in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul. Again, when 
a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, 
and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die, because you 
did not give him warning. He shall die in his sin, and 
his righteousness, which he has done, shall not be remembered. 
But his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless, if 
you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, 
and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took 
warning. Also, you will have delivered your soul." So going 
back to John chapter 8, the Lord Jesus is functioning in a similar 
capacity. And brethren, as we reflect upon 
the state of evangelical religion in our own day and age, we ought 
to pray that men would not shrink back from declaring the whole 
counsel of God. Yes, the glorious gospel of salvation, 
the cross of our Savior, the life, death, and resurrection, 
the ascension on high, the return again in glory to judge the living 
and the dead, but that emphasis to judge the living and the dead. 
The law broken by sinners, the law trashed by sinners, the law 
transgressed by sinners, such that those sinners need to flee 
to the gospel. They need to flee to the Lord 
Jesus. So back to John 8, 21, 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. Go back to chapter 7, at the 
Feast of Tabernacles, he does the same thing. Verse 33, Then 
Jesus said to them, I shall be with you a little while longer, 
and then I go to him who sent me. You will seek me and not 
find me, and where I am you cannot come. Now, the cannot here, in 
the mouth of the Savior, is somewhat alarming. Now, as he preaches 
on that last day, that great day of the feast in John 7 37, 
he says to guilty sinners to come. He says to those who thirst 
to come and to drink. But amongst that class of sinners, 
there were these men that were intimately opposed to him or 
vehemently opposed to him. And when he says you cannot come, 
it sounds like reprobation. These persons are diabolical 
in nature, and we see that develop throughout this particular chapter. 
Notice, he tells them, if where you go or where I am you will 
seek me and you will die in your sin, where I go you cannot come. Again, I think he's speaking 
about death, resurrection, ascension on high. He tells his disciples 
in the upper room, I go, but after a while you will come to 
be with me. John 14, I go to prepare a place for you. He doesn't 
do that with these religious leaders. He tells them where 
I go, you cannot come. This is the declaration of the 
same son, a man who says, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and 
earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and prudent. 
In Matthew 15, he says, leave them alone. Everything not planted 
by my father will be uprooted. Christ knows these men. He knows 
their spirit. He knows their attitude. He speaks 
harshly and directly with them, hopefully to alarm them from 
a sense of their danger, but as well, He's speaking truth. 
And when He speaks concerning their death, It refers to not 
only the eternal judgment of God Most High in hell, but also 
to the temporal judgment that they would receive in AD 70. 
Matthew Poole takes it this way, which doubtless signifies in 
the guilt of your sins, not removed from you, and is a threatening 
of eternal death as well as temporal in the destruction of Jerusalem. 
See, brethren, there's a lot going on in the ministry of Jesus. 
He has announced to them that their city is going to be surrounded 
by the Roman armies. When you see Jerusalem surrounded 
by armies, then know that its desolation is near. There was 
a temporal judgment coming to this generation of godless men 
who rejected the Messiah sent by the Lord. They refused, they 
resisted, they rejected the very Lord of glory himself. And we 
see that in the passage before us. They keep asking him, who 
are you? Intriguingly, they ask him that 
in verse 25. And in verse 27, it says, they 
didn't know that he was speaking about the father. Jesus can't 
define himself without reference to the father. Jesus, the sent 
one, has to refer to the one who sent him in order for them 
to understand. And yet, they continue to block 
up their ears. They continue to resist. They 
continue to reject. They continue to say, no, we 
don't want to go in the direction that you're leading us. These 
are vile, vicious, godless men. The fact that they cannot come 
to where he is, is a most solemn and shocking warning pronounced 
by the Savior. Now notice their response, secondly, 
in terms of slander. Verse 22, so the Jew said, will 
he kill himself? Because he says, where I go, 
you cannot come. Brethren, they're not asking 
this as a matter of factuality. They're not, is he going to kill 
himself? Has he got a suicidal tendency? Is he a bit off kilter? Is there 
some sort of organic issue going on with his brain? The sorts 
of ways that he speaks, he indicates that he's going to go somewhere 
and we will seek him, but we can't find him. Is he gonna kill 
himself? They're not asking it like that. 
They're putting him down. They have a notoriety for doing 
this. Go back to Matthew's gospel in 
Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12, and notice 
what they say to the Savior when he's doing great things for sinners. Matthew 12, verse 22, then one 
was brought to him and was demon-possessed, blind and mute, and he healed 
him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. And all 
the multitudes were amazed and said, could this be the son of 
David? Could this be the Messiah? Could 
this be the servant of Yahweh? Could this be the one that was 
prophesied in Isaiah that would come to save his people from 
their sins? That's the proper response, right? When you see 
a man who has power over demons, when you see a man who has power 
over nature, when you see a man who can multiply loaves and fish, 
when you see a man who does the mighty works that Jesus does, 
it should lead you to that conclusion. Is this in fact the son of David? 
Now, unfortunately, it didn't lead everybody to that same conclusion. 
Notice what we see in verse 24. Now, when the Pharisees heard 
it, they said, this fallow does not cast out demons except by 
Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons. He gets his power from the Lord 
of the flies. He gets his power from that dunghill 
deity. He gets his power from his own 
father, which is the devil himself. Brethren, that's slander. That's 
harsh. That's vicious. Turn over to 
Matthew 27. Matthew 27. Talk about an uncharitable lot 
kicking a man when he's down. What's probably the worst place 
to possibly be ever? Well, hanging on a Roman cross, 
suffering the punishment that is due for your people, and yet 
having these people mock him and slander him. Notice in 2741, 
likewise, the chief priests also mocking with the scribes and 
elders said, he saved others himself he cannot save. If he 
is the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross 
and we will believe him. He trusted in God, let him deliver 
him now if he will have him. For he said, I am the son of 
God. This outraged them, this incensed them, this caused them 
to respond with this animosity toward him. He's on the cross 
bearing up the punishment due for us men and for our salvation. 
And they're at the base of the cross and they're mocking him. 
They're slandering him. They're jibing at him. In our 
own passage in John 8, look at what they do in terms of slander. 
In verse 41, Jesus says, you do the deeds of your father. 
Then they said to him, we were not born of fornication. We have 
one father, God. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. We 
were not born of fornication like you were, Jesus. Oh yeah, 
the power of the Holy Spirit came upon the Virgin Mary. As 
far as our experience has shown, every time that someone has come 
forth from the womb, it's been a result of the conjugal relation 
between a man and a woman. We weren't born of fornication 
the way that you are, Jesus of Nazareth. See, these men are 
vicious, brethren. These men are vile. These men 
are reprehensible. So when we see the Savior warn 
them that you cannot come, that is justice. That is righteousness. Sometimes we look at that passage 
in Matthew 11, in verse 25, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and 
earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and prudent. 
Well, that's not fair, is it? That God would hide gospel truth 
from the wise and prudent? No, it's not fair. It's just. 
It's righteous. It is holy with God to destroy 
guilty, vile sinners. And so our blessed Savior does 
not divest himself of that blessed perfection of justice and righteousness. Klink, the commentator. That's 
not his name. I think it's Edward Klink. He's 
not Klink, the commentator, but that's how I'll refer to him. 
Listen to how he explains this emphasis. He says, their suggestion 
serves to slander Jesus, since suicide in Judaism was abhorred 
and considered to be the act of an insane person. Josephus 
indicates that in the wars of the Jews. He says, the question 
was never intended to be realistic, but to make a rhetorical statement 
regarding the sanity of Jesus. It's kind of like what happens 
today. It doesn't matter if something is factually true if it gets 
into the news cycle, right? As long as it gets into the news 
cycle, the lemmings will all forget a week later about the 
factuality of it or not. It's stuck. It sticks. He's nuts. He's a madman. He wants to kill 
himself. Again, brethren, that is the 
exact opposite of what is transpiring here. In verse 28, he underscores 
that they will lift him up. He's not got a death wish in 
terms of suicide. He is not one who's going to 
go cut his own throat. They're asking this simply to 
slander him and make him look like a nut or make him look like 
an insane person around the others or to the others. Now notice 
startling on the heels of this, he develops or shows this contrast. Verse 23, he said to them, you 
are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not 
of this world. I think I shared some weeks ago. 
that I worked with a fellow at Northrop Grumman. He was really 
into aliens. He was really into life beyond 
the stars and that sort of thing. And he had a sort of like a devotional 
book about this. And I remember looking and there 
was this passage referred to that Jesus was the man from, 
you know, his origin was from beyond the stars. This is the 
passage that validates the fact that Jesus was an alien from 
another planet. That's not the point. That's 
not the emphasis. Notice with reference to the 
contrast. He says that you are from beneath. You are of this world. You are from it and you are of 
this world. The Jews being from beneath means 
that literally. They're of the world. Now, John 
uses world in a whole host of ways in his gospel. He sometimes 
refers to Gentiles as the world. It's not just Jews, but the world. 
That means it includes the Gentiles. But he also uses world with an 
ethical reference. And when he says, you belong 
to this world, I think that's what he's talking about. You're 
wretches. You're sinners. You've got big problems. I am 
the Lord of Glory standing before you, and instead of receiving 
me and bowing down to me, you want me to die? You want to lift 
me up on a cross? You want to bring shame and ignominy 
to me? You want to see me executed because 
I've challenged your position here? John Gill says, not only 
of the earth or earthy, and so spoke of the earth and as carnal 
men. Then he goes on to say, but even 
of hell, they were the children of the devil. They breathed his 
spirit and spoke his language and did his lusts. Look over 
at John 8 at verse 44. Again, brethren, Jesus doesn't 
go wandering down the streets of Jerusalem to every comer by 
and say, you're of your father, the devil. When he goes to that 
well at Samaria, he meets that woman at Jacob's well in Samaria, 
that Samaritan woman. She comes or happens upon him, 
what does he say? He doesn't say, get away from 
me, hell child, get away from me, one who is connected to the 
devil. No, he's not mitigating or minimizing the reality that 
all men everywhere are sinners, but he reserves this particular 
language for a class of men. He reserves this particular language 
for these leaders, these Pharisees, these scribes, these priests, 
these persons that were supposed to be officiating the very temple 
of God. Well, the temple of God has descended. 
The temple of God has been in flesh. The temple of God is dwelling 
amongst them. And instead of bowing to him 
and confessing him as Lord, they want to destroy him. They want 
to murder him. They want to kill him. They want 
to do everything they can to rid the world of him. So he reserves 
this language not for the common garden variety sinner, but he 
reserves this language for the reprobate, for these religious 
leaders that were vicious in terms of their ways. So verse 
44, you are of your father the devil and the desires of your 
father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning 
and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in 
him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, 
for he is a liar and the father of it. So you see, brethren, 
again, he doesn't wander down the streets of Jerusalem pointing 
at everybody saying, you're of your father the devil, you're 
of your father the devil, you're of your father the devil. No, 
he reserves that for the religious leadership that was apostate 
at the time that he came down from heaven. And so he makes 
this contrast. You are from beneath. You are 
of this world. Now going back to his identity, 
look at what he says concerning himself. Verse 23, you are from 
beneath, I am from above. You are from this world, I am 
not of this world. Now the reference from above 
used by Jesus points to his divinity. It points to the reality that 
he has specified on many instances up to this point, that the Father 
is the Father who sends, and the Son is the Son sent by the 
Father. I did a count, and by my estimation, 
I could be off a few here, a few there, but already, and we're 
just in John 8, there's been 20 references of Christ having 
been sent by the Father and being the one sent from the Father. 
Almost so much so that you could argue that it's almost a title 
in John's Gospel. The one who's sent is the Father. 
The one who was sent is the Son. And so Christ is again pointing 
to His divinity to make His case in terms of who He is and the 
authority with which He speaks. So the reference from above used 
by Jesus points to that divinity. The many references to his being 
sent by the Father throughout John's gospel up until this point 
is again a reference to his divinity. He's not of this world. That 
doesn't mean he doesn't have command over it. It doesn't mean 
that he isn't dwelling in it. But the prologue has told us, 
in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the 
Word was God. And what does that Word do according 
to verse 3? He made everything. He created 
the world. If He created the world, then 
arguably He is not from the world. His origin is not like us. He 
is not creature. He is not born in the way that 
normal people or un-extraordinary people are born. The Lord Jesus 
is from above. So again, he's highlighting his 
identity as the Son of God. The coming from above and the 
being sent by the Father highlights his relation to the Father, which 
is a relation of eternal generation. In fact, Cyril of Alexandria 
says, wise reasoning will convince us that from above refers to 
the Son's begetting from God the Father. So what is he doing 
here? They've got a problem with what 
he's saying. So does he say, well, I'm just going to back 
it off. I get that you're not ready for a full disclosure in 
terms of who I am. No, he doubles down. He keeps 
pressing. He will tell them his identity. He will tell them concerning 
his authority. The two obviously bound up with 
one another. And his identity is, you cannot 
understand it apart from the father. Again, when they ask, 
who are you? Verse 25, he speaks to them concerning 
the father in verses 25, B and 26. In other words, you don't understand 
the Father without the Son. But you don't understand the 
Son without the Father. Why is this? Because in this 
divine and infinite being, there are three persons or three subsistences. Christ is teaching the doctrine 
of the Trinity all throughout this glorious gospel. John starts 
that way in the prologue in 1 to 18. Remember when we considered 
that? I know it was a long time ago. But I tried to show that 
John starts first with God's relation to God, the ad intra, 
who God is, Father, Son, and Spirit, before he gets to the 
economy. In theology, it's called theology 
and economy. Who God is in himself, Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit, John does that in John 1, 1 to 18. Then 
he turns to the economy of our salvation. John 1 29, behold 
the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. What's 
the point? John wants you to know that the second person of 
the triune God came into this world, took on our humanity, 
lived for us, died for us, and was raised again for us. So that 
when we ponder the glorious gospel of our salvation, we are led 
to worship and praise and wonder. God so loved the world that He 
gave His only begotten Son. That only begotten Son took on 
our humanity with all of the common infirmities thereof, and 
yet without sin, everything that makes man, man, Christ assumed. If it's not assumed, it's not 
redeemed. He didn't just appear to be a 
man. He didn't just fake being a man, but He was in all points 
like us and yet without sin. And so when they ask him, who 
are you and where do you get your authority? He never shrinks 
back from declaring, you are from beneath, I am from above, 
you are of this world, I am not of this world. And interestingly, 
this reference to being sent by the Father in terms of the 
economy reveals something to us in terms of the ad intra, 
or God in Himself. The fact is, is that the Son 
is eternally generated from the Father. And that is paralleled, 
that is mirrored in terms of revelation in the mission of 
the Son. That the Father sends the Son 
into the world teaches us something about the intra-Trinitarian relations. The Father is unbegotten, the 
Son begotten, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and 
the Son. The economy illustrates, doesn't exhaust, but it reveals 
and demonstrates stuff that is true about God. And as we go 
through John's gospel, brethren, I want you to just understand 
for a moment. I'm not trying to confuse anybody. I'm not trying 
to make you say, you know, we've heard this over and over again, 
Butler. Why do you think we've heard it over and over again? 
Because it's that important. I'm on a chat group of pastors. 
They want revival in Canada. I want revival in Canada as well. But there's no revival in Canada 
without getting God right. This idea that theology proper 
and Christology are only for the few in the academy is not 
biblical. We all need to understand, perhaps 
not at the level of an Augustine, or the various Gregories in the 
history of the church, or John Owen, or those brethren that 
we look back to in history, but we have to have a good understanding 
of the oneness of God at the level of essence or substance, 
and the threeness at the level of person or subsistence. So 
again, Christ is doing this. John does it in the prologue, 
not because it's unimportant, not because it's only for a few 
within the context of the church, but it's so that we may know 
our God. John 17, three, this is eternal 
life, that they may go to that place where there are roads paved 
with gold, that they may go to that place where those great 
gates are made out of pearl. That's not what Jesus describes 
as being the very essence or nub of everlasting life. This 
is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God 
and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Brethren, if we don't get 
revived, if we end up in the gulags, what is going to help 
us to solidify us, to stabilize us, and to bless us? It's not 
the knowledge of ourselves. It's not the knowledge of our 
goodness. It's the knowledge of our blessed 
God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is the reality that Christ 
is enthroned at the right hand of God Most High, the one who 
has all authority in heaven and on earth. That sweetens suffering, 
doesn't it? Because it means that whatever 
we're going through is under the command of our blessed Savior. 
That whatever afflictions we go through, it isn't haphazard, 
isn't random, wasn't a bad luck of the draw, but it's because 
our blessed Christ knows what we need. through many dangers, 
toils and snares, I have already come. The Lord Most High is working 
out His purposes so that we'll understand the Lord Most High, 
so that we'll draw nigh to the Lord Most High. The New American 
Standard, I think in Psalm 73, renders a particular verse there. 
The nearness of God is my good, Brethren, when everything is 
deprived, when everything is gone, when everything is taken 
from us, what will it be that stabilizes the true saint of 
God? It's a knowledge of Thee, the only true God, and Jesus 
Christ whom Thou hast sent. Everybody should get their minds 
wrapped around this convention used by the Savior, that He is 
the one sent by the Father who sent Him. And while that mission 
does not exhaust everything there is to know about God, it does 
reveal to us something of the eternal relation of origin. The 
fact that the son is the only begotten son of the father, not 
the son by creation, not the son by adoption, but the son 
by nature. That's why he can pronounce the 
warning that he does in verse 24, to which we'll now turn. 
Look at the condemnation of the Jews. Look at how verse 24 starts. Therefore I said to you. This 
is the kind of thing where, you know, in a Bible study, without 
any therefore, it's good information, it's helpful, but these therefores 
drive that truth home. These therefores cause us to 
reflect upon things. Well, in light of what Jesus 
has said, and He has pressed it with this, therefore, I really 
need to pay attention. I really need to take heed. I 
really need to get my mind and heart wrapped around what He 
is saying, what He is doing. Notice what He says in verse 
24, Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins, 
for if you do not believe that I am, The he there is supplied 
by the translators to make it make sense in English. But as 
we developed a couple of weeks ago from John 8, 12, when Jesus 
says, I am the light of the world, or he says, I am the way, the 
truth, and the life, or he says, I am the door for the sheep, 
or I am the bread of life. When he says that, there's the 
background of the revelation of who God is as the great I 
am in Exodus 3, 14. But then there are these statements 
that don't have a predicate. He doesn't say, I am the bread 
of life, I am the good shepherd. He just says what he says here. 
If you do not believe that I am, in other words, the relation 
between the Father and the Son, The communication of the divine 
essence by the father in eternal generation means that the son 
has the same nature as does the father. So when he goes to the 
upper room and Philip wants to see the father, Jesus is able 
to say, if you've seen me, you've seen the father. Doesn't mean 
that the father has hair, doesn't mean he has fingernails, doesn't 
mean he has feet. Jesus is saying at the level 
of the divine nature, This is common to the Father, to the 
Son, and to the Holy Spirit. In this divine and infinite being, 
there are three persons. Again, this is how you know that 
this is supposed to be preached, because Christ is preaching it. When we think about a passage 
like this, the warning that he issues here in terms of a reckless 
Christology, Now, as I said, these Jews could have heard up 
to 20 times of the relation between the father and the son. The father 
is the one who sends, the son is the one who is sent. What 
about the church today that has 20 centuries of the church's 
proclamation and teaching concerning Christology? In other words, 
if you get Christ wrong, you get everything wrong. There's 
probably in this room as many differences in terms of eschatology 
as there are people. In other words, we don't all 
see the same thing in terms of how it's going to turn out at 
the end. Some are all millennial, some are pre-millennial, some 
are post-millennial, some are pan-millennial. The pan-millennialist 
says, I just trust it's all going to pan out in the end. That's 
a good position. It's a safe bet. But you can 
be wrong on those things, brethren, and still enter heaven. But when 
Jesus says, if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your 
sins, what does that say about the pulpit in the church today? 
Should it be culture, warrior-ism? It's hard to avoid that, brethren. 
I'm guilty as charged. It's tough to neglect what's 
happening in this present evil age. And sometimes I know I go 
too far, But the primary emphasis with reference to the Christian 
pulpit is to preach the Christian God, Father, Son, and Spirit, 
and that a rejection of the Son is a rejection of the Father. 
You don't have one without the other. have Jesus if you don't 
have the father. You don't have the father if 
you don't have Jesus. Look at verse 19. Then they said 
to him, where is your father? Again, not an allusion to Joseph, 
but a dig at him for stressing his relation to the father in 
heaven. Jesus answered, you know neither me nor my father. If 
you had known me, you would have known my father also. That's 
why in verse 25, when they ask him, who, who are you? He defines 
himself with reference to the father. You don't have the father 
without the son and you don't have the son without the father. 
It's not sort of a, well, you know, I'm just religious. I'm 
just spiritual. I've got a relationship with 
God. What do you think of Christ? I'm not really a Christian. I'm 
not really into that stuff. Listen to the words of our blessed 
Savior. If you do not believe that I am, if you do not understand, 
not every jot and tittle, I mean, the thought that he's one in 
three in different ways. If he was one in three, if we 
maintain it was in the same way, that would be a contradiction. 
But he's one in one sense, he's three in another sense. The confession 
hits it well. In this divine and infinite being, 
there are three subsistences. In terms of being, one. In terms 
of persons, three. That's the Christian doctrine 
of the Trinity, as simply stated as I can make it. But when it 
comes to pushing these particular men, the emphasis is always, 
what think ye of Christ? What think ye of Jesus? The Christian 
pulpit today needs to burn bright with the knowledge of God Most 
High as Father, Son, and Spirit, with a heavy emphasis on justification 
by faith in the Savior who came down for us men and for our salvation. If Christology and theology proper 
are this important, then why isn't it the case that every 
man everywhere isn't preaching these things? In other words, 
as we go through John's gospel, this isn't a one-off. 20 times, 
and we're in John 8, 20 times Jesus is referred to the Father 
who sent Him, and as Himself is being sent from the Father. 
Why do you think that is? because the question concerning 
his identity is uppermost in the hearts of these people. Who 
do you think you are? I am the one sent by the Father. I am the only begotten Son of 
the Father. And as the only begotten Son 
of the Father, I have the same nature. So that when I say to 
you, if you do not believe that I am, That is correct. I am putting myself on par with 
the revelation of God at the burning bush. They understand 
this all too well. Look at how the passage ends 
in John 8 at verse 57. Then the Jews, well, verse 56, 
your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and 
was glad. Abraham rejoiced to see the day 
of Jesus, the Messiah, the one who had come to save his people 
from their sins. And he rejoiced. So I wonder about this at times. 
I wonder about this for myself. I wonder about this, not for 
anybody in particular here. I can assure you, no list at 
home. I wonder about this for them. Do I rejoice in who the 
son is the way that Abraham rejoiced? How much information did Abraham 
have? He had enough to know that the 
Messiah would come to save his people from their sin. Where 
did he get that information? I guarantee you Genesis 22 loomed 
large in it. Remember that passage when God 
tested Abraham? God tells Abraham to take his 
son, your only son, the son whom you love. Language that is descriptive 
of our Lord Jesus in terms of his relation to the Father. So 
Abraham is told to take his son to Mount Moriah. Interestingly, 
Mount Moriah would be the site of the temple. That's where that 
would be built. It was a place of sacrifice. 
It was a place of atonement. So Abraham takes Isaac, they've 
got the wood, they've got the fire, and Isaac at some point 
along the way says, father, we've got the wood, we've got the fire, 
but we don't have a sacrifice. See, Abraham hadn't let him in 
yet. Abraham hadn't told him on that morning, come on son, 
we're going up to Moriah and there I'm going to lay you on 
the altar of the Lord and I'm going to kill you. He didn't tell him 
that. So Isaac asks that question. What's Abraham's response? Abraham 
says, Yahweh will provide. And at that point, according 
to the book of Hebrews, Abraham knew that if he carried through 
with this, putting his son to death, that God was able to make 
him alive again. So when it comes to what did 
Abraham have? When it comes to him freeing 
Isaac from that bond on the altar, then they look back and there's 
the ram caught in the thicket. And what happens? The ram takes 
the place of Isaac. So now, did Abraham have a lot 
of information about Jesus? Yes, he did. And when he saw 
that, or pondered that, or contemplated that, he rejoiced in it. Brethren, 
we have the whole Bible. We have preaching. We have good 
Christian books. We have a whole host of stuff. 
We got, as Reformed believers, we got the church in terms of 
the patristics, the medievals. We've got the Reformed. We've 
got the post-Reformation. We have just a wealth of data 
and resources. Are we as joyful in our blessed 
Christ as Abraham was? That's a good question to ponder. So back to the text, notice, 
your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and 
was glad. Then the Jews said to him, you 
are not yet 50 years old and have you seen Abraham? Jesus 
said to them, most assuredly I say to you before Abraham was, 
notice the language, I am. Then they took up stones to throw 
at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, going 
through the midst of them, and so passed by. Turn over to John 
chapter 10. John chapter 10, same sort of 
a thing. This isn't a one-off in John's 
gospel. He continues to hammer and continues to press and continues 
to ring the bell as to who he is in terms of his identity as 
the sent one from the Father who does fulfill the Old Testament 
scripture and who has come to save his people from their sins. 
Notice, John 10, 30, I and my father are one. Verse 31, then 
the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered 
them, many good works I have shown you from my father, for 
which of those works do you stone me? The Jews answered him saying, 
for a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy and because 
you being a man make yourself God. See, they got it eventually. They understood. They knew what 
he was declaring. They knew what he was indicating. 
So back to our passage, look at the soberness of this particular 
warning. Therefore, I said to you that 
you will die in your sins. That means to die in your sins 
without them having been forgiven, without atonement not having 
been wrought. To die in one's sins, and this 
is a horrifying thought, and you should ponder this if you're 
not a believer this morning, to die in your sins means to 
die without hope, It means to die without Christ. It means 
to die under the just judgment and wrath of God Most High. That's what it means to die in 
your sins. Again, the temporal expression 
in AD 70, when the Roman armies would sack Jerusalem, but the 
eternal or the spiritual ramifications of dying in one's sins. It is 
to be cut off from God. It is to be cast out into that 
place where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. 
Again, brethren, these are not popular topics today, but in 
light of Ezekiel 3, the Watchman passage, in light of the teaching 
of our blessed Jesus, that greater Son of Man, we ought to be warning 
people. The biggest problem we're faced 
with today is not nuclear war in Ukraine or in Russia. That's 
certainly on the map, it's a big one, and it should affect each 
and every one of us in terms of prayer to our God to stop 
the madness and the lunacy, But hell will make that look like 
a walk in the park. An infinitely holy God punishes 
sinners. The Bible everywhere teaches 
that. The Bible declares that. The Bible tells us on many occasions 
that that is the punishment for those who die outside of Christ. So he tells these men that, therefore 
I said to you that you will die in your sins, for if you do not 
believe that I am, you will die in your sins. the rejection of 
the Son as the I Am. The Nicene Creed gets this well. 
It says, the Son of God is God from God, light from light, true 
God from true God, begotten not made, one in being with the Father. I've used that word several times 
in our exposition. He's consubstantial. That means 
he has the same nature. That means that he can say with 
absolute propriety and correctness, I am. And if you reject or resist 
the reality that I am, the punishment will be to die in your sins. Now brethren, when you ponder 
the glorious gospel of free and sovereign grace, there's forgiveness 
for pretty bad things, isn't there? In fact, turn real quick 
to 1 Corinthians 6. 1 Corinthians 6. This is what makes it good news. 
Not good advice, but good news. 1 Corinthians 6, 9. Do you not 
know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? 
Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, 
nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor 
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the 
kingdom of God. Look at that next clause. And 
such were some of you. Such were some of you in Corinth. The word Corinth became a verb 
to Corinthianize. It meant to engage in gross sexual 
perversion. If you were of the city of Corinth, 
you carried a badge that basically said you were a degenerate, you 
were a lowlife, you were a wretch and a rebel. And he says to this 
church, such were some of you. But notice the power of the Christian 
gospel. You were washed, you were sanctified, 
you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the 
Spirit of our God. So there is great grace for great 
sin to be forgiven, but it hinges upon this understanding who Jesus 
is. And if for you Jesus is just 
some sort of a good fellow or the beginner of a new religion 
or a guy that did a lot of cool things, If you don't see him 
as the I Am, if you don't understand that he is in fact the second 
person of the Trinity who took on our humanity for us men and 
for our salvation, you'll die in your sins. That's why I say 
the church has a high calling not to simply preach how do we 
be better uses, but to preach the glorious gospel of the great 
I Am who reveals himself to these people, and who has said so on 
many occasions, the relation he bears to the Father. And as 
a result of that relation he bears to the Father, he has the 
nature of the Father. And if you disbelieve that, if 
you resist that, if you reject that, if you say no to that, 
then you will die in your sins. That is a warning by the Savior, 
and I think Cyril is right. He says, not only must one believe, 
he says, but he insists that one will have to believe in him. That seems so tautological. That seems like saying, you know, 
light's light. Dark is dark. That's called a tautology. When 
you say something obvious and evident, you repeat it, okay? 
When he says, not only what must one believe, he says, but he 
insists that one will have to believe in him. What do you think 
Cyril's talking about? Maybe it was kind of like back 
then what it is today. It doesn't really matter what 
you believe. It's just that you do believe, 
right? It doesn't matter, you know, 
the object of faith. It just matters that you have 
faith. It's almost like that existential 
experiential sort of warm feeling that comes over one that just 
has faith. No, with reference to the Christian 
religion, the only true religion, the redemptive religion of our 
triune God, it absolutely positively does matter in terms of the object 
of faith. You must believe that I am. You must believe that He is who 
He says He is. Cyril goes on, for we are justified 
when we believe in Him as God from God, as Savior and Redeemer 
and King of all and truly Lord. You don't just parcel them out. Well, I like this about Jesus. 
Sometimes you get that too. I like when Jesus just blesses 
and gives me things. I don't really like it when he 
tells me I need to obey his commandments. You don't get part of Jesus. 
You don't get a little bit of Jesus. You get all of Jesus or 
none of Jesus. And he tells you if you don't 
get all of Jesus, you will perish or die in your sins. So I want 
to end here. First, in terms of a doctrinal 
emphasis, if in this particular section, in John's Gospel, they 
had heard or had the potential to hear for 20 times that he 
was the sent one from the one who sent him. What about the 
church today? One thing that has plagued the 
church since her inception is bad doctrine concerning Jesus. That's why the fathers set out 
to sort of define or describe the Christian doctrine of the 
Trinity. We call that the Nicene Creed. Bless God that they did 
that. It stands up to the test of time. It is a wonderful, accurate statement 
concerning the relations that obtain between Father, Son, and 
Holy Spirit. And then from that, there was 
still people scratching their melons and still trying to work 
through all of this stuff. So they had to sort of bring 
Jesus down just a little bit. He can't really be the same as 
the Father. So then comes the Christological 
controversies. This fellow that I'm quoting 
often, his name is Cyril of Alexandria. This man did much for the church 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He did much for Reformed Baptists 
in the 21st century. He was a good and faithful servant 
and an articulator of the truth as it is in Jesus. So the church 
was challenged at the point of who is Jesus? Was Arius right? Arius, today known by our experiences 
with Jehovah's Witnesses, said that Jesus was God, but not a 
capital G God. He was a little g God. He was 
sort of a lesser God to the Father. There was a time when the Son 
was not, is what Arius taught. Well, that's obviously false. 
In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the 
Word was God, right? There's never a time that the 
Son was not. Or perhaps it was Sibelius. Sibelius 
taught that this God sort of appeared in three different ways. So he was the Father, he becomes 
the Son, and then he is the Holy Spirit. So it's just sort of 
God showing himself with different masks on at different sort of 
periods in the church. The church condemned Arianism. 
The church condemns Sabellianism, but unfortunately those sorts 
of errors continue on today. There are men teaching in otherwise 
good schools that subordinate Jesus to the Father, not at the 
economy, not in terms of the Lamb of God who takes away the 
sin of the world, but in terms of ad intra, in terms of relations 
between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They teach 
that the Son is eternally subordinate. Brethren, if you do not believe 
that I am, you will die in your sins. It's not my place to make 
pronouncements or judgments. I know no heart. I'm thankful 
that I don't, but I know doctrine. And when men derogate or de- de-elevate our blessed Savior 
to the status of a subordinate being. Even if they still say 
he's God, but he's subordinate? Brethren, that is not the Christian 
doctrine of the Trinity. He couldn't say, I am, if he 
wasn't. He couldn't make this pronouncement 
if he is not the one who is sent by the Father, who has the nature 
of the Father, such that he can tell Philip, if you've seen me, 
you've seen the Father. There's no subordination in the 
father. There's no subordination in terms 
of his relation to the world. With reference to the son, those 
who maintain eternal functional subordination or eternal relations 
of authority or any kind of a hypostatic submission on a part of the son, 
they need to listen to this text. They need to come back to John 
8, 24 and understand the gravity involved in tampering with. tinkering 
with, messing with what the Bible says concerning the Savior. There 
is a doctrinal application here that needs to be thundered. But 
practically, ask yourself this morning, ask yourself right now, 
do I see Him as the I Am? Have I believed on him? Have 
I come? Or is it going to be the case 
that I die in my sins? Brethren, that is a horrifying 
thing, a horrifying thought. What does the book of Deuteronomy 
say? And the book of Hebrews says 
the same thing. It is a terrifying thing to fall 
into the hands of the living God. Obviously that means unsaved, 
because as saved, the most blessed thing will be to fall into the 
hands of the living and true God. But with reference to the 
unsaved, this is what it's all about. If you do not believe 
that I am, if you do not believe that Jesus is God from God, light 
from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one 
in being with the Father, you will die in sin. your sins. So do not tarry, do not wait, 
do not say, well, you know, I'm going to just live it up a bit. 
And then in a few years, I'll make peace with God through our 
Lord Jesus Christ. Today is the day of salvation. 
Now is the acceptable time. God so loved the world that he 
gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should 
not perish, but have everlasting life. Let us pray. Our father 
in heaven, we give praise to you. And we have gratitude in 
our hearts for the grace received. And we ask God in heaven that 
you would be glorified throughout the earth as this gospel is preached. 
And we pray that you would reach down with grace and love and 
mercy and pull dead sinners out of darkness into marvelous light. 
Cause that Holy Spirit to be working to bring regeneration 
and new hearts that believe the gospel of our blessed Savior. 
And we ask that you would be praised and honored in the churches 
all throughout this earth. and that you would help us all 
to think clearly concerning our blessed God, even Father, Son, 
and Holy Spirit. And we pray these things in Jesus' 
name, amen. We'll close by singing 568, 568. 
More Trinitarian than 564, so. ♪ Praise Him, all creatures here 
below ♪ ♪ Praise Him, above the heav'nly host ♪ ♪ This God, this 
God, this God above us all ♪ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ 
and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you 
all. Amen. Father, thank you for this blessed 
day. Thank you that we can call it a delight and God help us 
to be drawn out in praise and worship and adoration to our 
blessed Savior who has loved us and who has given himself 
for us. Go with us now and cause us to know your peace and your 
protection and your nearness as our good. And we pray through 
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Well, please be seated 
for a brief time of meditation.