Sermon Discussion Questions:

1. Read John 8:21-30. What were the three points of the sermon?
2. What are ways people today try to push away the thought of death?
3. Why does Jesus say that where He is going, the people cannot follow? Doesn't He promise us in John 14:1-3 that when He goes away, He will come again to us? How is that connected with "dying in your sins"?
4. What is worldliness? What does it look like in your life?
5. "To be brave means to be ready to sustain a wound…Thus every brave deed draws sustenance from preparedness for death." - Josef Pieper. What requires courage from you today? How does preparedness for death help?

“Either that wallpaper goes, or I do!”

Those were Oscar Wilde’s last words spoken on his deathbed. They are famous because they demonstrated an enviable kind of light-heartedness and composure as the novelist faced the dark reality of his impending death. A little gallows humor seems to make the finality and terror of death less formidable.

But it is a humor that has little comfort in it. The reality is that death is formidable—no laughter prevents our dying. I saw an advertisement this week for a heart medication. It showed grown adults walking through bustling cities and crowded parks, all of them with their hands covering their eyes. The message was: open your eyes to the risks facing your health. That’s a good image of what many of us do, not just with our cardiovascular health, but our very mortality. We may use humor, like Oscar Wilde, to laugh at it, or maybe we just close our eyes.

In Alduous Huxley’s Brave New World, he imagines a dystopian society that has closed its eyes entirely to the reality of death. People live in perpetual youth, with lithe bodies and taut skin, permanently preserved in suspended animation as a 28 year old. At one point, two characters travel to a primitive reservation, and an old, toothless man passes by. His face is carved with wrinkles and his body is bent over with age:

"What's the matter with him?" whispered Lenina. Her eyes were wide with horror and amazement.

"He's old, that's all," Bernard answered as carelessly as he could. He too was startled; but he made an effort to seem unmoved.

"Old?" she repeated. "But the Director's old; lots of people are old; they're not like that."

"That's because we don't allow them to be like that.”

In the book, this doesn’t mean that people never die—it just means that they remain in such perpetual youth that they never have to think about death. Later, the governor of society explains: “They're not afraid of death; they're blissfully ignorant of…old age.”

Today, we may be able to invest in our health and appearances like never before, purchase health and youth, go to the gym, eat special diets packed full of superfoods that will reverse aging and keep your mind sharp. And we should take care of our bodies and exercise and eat healthy—but I wonder if our obsession with youth and beauty and experience are not merely us putting our hands over our eyes, trying to not see the reality that faces us all.

And in our passage today, Jesus is going to help us face it. He is going to help prepare us for how to die.

21 So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” 25 So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. 26 I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” 27 They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. 29 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.” 30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

• John 8:21-30

Why is this in the Bible? Three reasons:

You can die in your sins Your Savior can die for your sins You can die in your Savior

You Can Die in Your Sins

Three times in this brief discourse does Jesus bring up that his audience will die in their sin. Once in verse 21, and twice in verse 24, “you will die in your sins.” Why does Jesus say that? If we tell someone, “you are going to die,” we tend to think that is banal at best (of course, we all are going to die) and impolite at worst (what are you saying about me?).

But Jesus didn’t only say you are going to die, which is obvious. He said: you will die in your sins.

Which is rude, and true, and loving. And it is a warning that everyone should heed. Jesus is telling us this today so that we do not die in our sins.

What does it mean to die in your sins? We get a hint at what Jesus says in the whole of the passage, let’s read again:

So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” - John 8:21

Jesus seems to be warning them that they have access to Him right now, but He is about to leave and will be somewhere they cannot access. Where is He going?

Well, we know that—and will explore in our next point—that Jesus is going to die. He will not be accessible to the audience He is speaking with in the same He is now available. And that is actually what the crowd guesses at:

22 So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” - John 8:22

But Jesus means something more than that. Jesus is not accessible to us in the same way He was accessible to the Jews He is speaking with, and yet we are promised that if we seek Jesus, we will find Him. In fact, He promises that when Jesus leaves, He is going away to prepare a place for us and will return again to bring us there (John 14:2-3). So why did Jesus say: Where I am going you cannot come?

Because He is going to the Father, and what do we know about the people Jesus is speaking with? Just a few verses earlier, we read: “They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” (John 8:19). Later, in vs. 55, Jesus responds to the crowd’s claim that God is their Father, and He says, No He isn’t—you do not even know Him.

And remember, Jesus is speaking with Jews who have the Hebrew Bible. He isn’t talking to some Greek who hasn’t heard of the Old Testament. When Jesus tells them, You don’t know God, He isn’t saying that they lack access to information about God. They know much about God, but they do not know God. They don’t want to know God. Why do we know that? Because Jesus says: If you knew me, you would know my Father also. How you respond to Jesus reveals how you respond to the Father, because Jesus is sent by the Father and Jesus tells us “[The Father] who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to [the Father]” (John 8:29).

Christianity is provocative in its claims. Most other religions have founders who claim to show you the path the God, the way to God. Follow the rules, and you will climb the mountain up to heaven, nirvana, paradise. Christianity, alternatively, doesn’t give us a prophet or guru who says: This is the way to God. It instead says: God has come down to you. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the divine being Himself unlike us in every way, became like us in taking on humanity, to reveal to us what God is like.

And the longer the Jews interact with Jesus, listen to Him, observe Him, the more settled they are that they do not like Him. That they are threatened by Him. So, Jesus explains why they are this way:

23 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. - John 8:23

The reason they are so uncomfortable with Jesus and feel such hostility from Him is because Jesus reveals who they are by revealing who He is. He is from above, He is not of this world. And the longer the Jews are around Him, the clearer the contrast becomes, and they realize that they are not like Him: they are from below, they are of this world.

What does it mean to be “of this world”? Jesus is exposing the sin of worldliness, a term we don’t hear much today. Worldliness is the sin of living like this world is all there is. It is the willful posture to assume that the experiences, tragedies, and pleasures bounded by the circle of earthly experience is the sum total of your life, and therefore compels you to do whatever it takes to maximize earthly pleasures and minimize earthly pains.

Worldliness makes heaven and hell feel fuzzy and insubstantial, and this life—our careers and weekends and triumphs—feel like real life. So the man or woman in the grip of worldliness is not necessarily the person ruining their life with terrible habits or embarrassing sins. They are the person whose life is this world.

Imagine playing a game of monopoly, and assuming that it will last forever—easy enough to picture since it often feels that way—so that you neglect to pay attention to the rest of your life. You need to make dinner, finish your homework, get ready for work, pay your bills, plan that vacation, go on a walk, and so on. But you cannot. You are so emotionally invested in the game that, for all intents and purposes, there is no world outside of it. The fake money and properties and “go to jail” cards feel so real that they are reality itself to you. But what happens when the game ends?

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. - 1 John 2:15-17

God loves this world. And we should too. The Bible tells us that every good and perfect gift come down from God above. If there is anything we enjoy or delight in in this life, it is given to us by God and is meant to show us what God is like, the fountain of all joy. Last night we watched the sunset with our boys and the 1962 song Stand by Me by Ben E. King came on while we drank lemonade on the grass. Those are wonderful gifts. They show me what God is like—He made the grass and sunset and Ben E. King. But if I love those gifts like this world is all there is, then I am misunderstanding reality. I am to love those things for God’s sake, looking beyond this world.

Worldliness is an allergy to eternal things, a willfull ignorance, like grown ups walking around with their hands over their eyes, choosing to not to acknowledge that they—and this world—will soon pass away. And at the heart of that allergy, is a resistance to God.

Which is why Jesus again states:

I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” - John 8:24

Sin is separation from God. It is the internal resistance to God that manifests itself in our desires, thoughts, words, and actions.

And if we persist in our sin and are resistance to God, God will leave us there. If you don’t want God, if the idea of bowing in humble adoration before God hardens your heart, then God will let you have what you want.

There are two people in the world: those who say to God “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, “thy will be done.”

Hell is the eternal conscious separation from God. To die in your sins is to step into eternity forever separated from Him who is the fountain of light and all that is good. Which is why the Bible describes Hell as a place of eternal darkness, sorrow, weeping, and pain. It is shutting yourself off from the source of everything that is good, and stepping into the void and abyss.

Heaven and hell are overlapping circles, and the thin overlap where they meet is our time here on earth. If you experience anything good, it is a little preview of what heaven is. If you experience anything bad, it is a little preview of what hell is. And we only get one life, one shot, one opportunity, and after that we will be locked into our destination forever. Everlasting joy or everlasting sorrow.

And we have no idea when our time is up. It could be today. It could be sixty years from now.

And Jesus is willing to love you enough to say these uncomfortable and unsettling words: Unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.

Your Savior Can Die For Your Sins

I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins. So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. - John 8:24-25

Jesus is stating that your eternal destiny hangs on what you believe about Him.

So the crowds ask: Who are you? A good question.

Jesus told them: I am the light of the world.

Here: Unless you believe that *I am he…*but really Jesus just says unless you believe that I am. This is written in Greek, and the Old Testament is written in Hebrew, so the verbiage is a little different, but God’s name in Hebrew is I Am.

“When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he” - John 8:28

Lifting up the Son of Man = the crucifixion (John 12)

When Jesus is crucified then you will know that He is in fact God in the flesh. Why? Because the death of Jesus reveals more clearly than anything else God’s heart, who He is. He is a God who gracious and merciful, who atones for sin and forgives iniquity, and who conquers death.

And in Jesus’ death on the cross, we see this exemplified, because there He is dying our death. Our sins brought death to us, our sins have earned us an eternal separation from God, but Jesus died in our place, so that now our Judgment Day is gone.

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. - 1 Cor 15:56-57

The death of death in the death of Christ.

You Can Die in Your Savior

Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” - John 8:51

What happens to you when you believe this?

You approach death with confidence: the story of Robert Bruce

For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” “Set my finger on these words,” he asked. “God be with you my children. I have breakfasted with you, and shall sup with my Lord Jesus this night. I die believing these words.”

Blessed are those that die in the Lord - Rev 14:13

You have courage to live

To be brave means to be ready to sustain a wound…Thus every brave deed draws sustenance from preparedness for death. - Josef Pieper

I cannot help thinking of JRR Tolkien's Return of the King. In it, there are these terrifying enemies called Nazgul who are draped in black. The dark, cloaked figures have the nightmare-like quality of crippling fear. With each cry: “even the stout-hearted would fling themselves to the ground as the hidden menace passed over them, or they would stand, letting their weapons fall from nerveless hands while into their minds a blackness came, and they thought no more of war; but only of hiding and of crawling, and of death.”

The captain of the Ringwraiths approaches the gates of Minas Tirith and, “speaking in some forgotten tongue words of power and terror to rend both heart and stone,” he bursts them apart.

In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl. A great black shape against the fires beyond he loomed up, grown to a vast menace of despair. In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl, under the archway that no enemy ever yet had passed, and all fled before his face.

All save one. There waiting, silent and still in the space before the Gate, sat Gandalf upon Shadowfax…

‘You cannot enter here,’ said Gandalf, and the huge shadow halted. ‘Go back to the abyss prepared for you! Go back! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your Master. Go!’

‘Old fool!’ he said. ‘Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!’

Gandalf, of course, has already met Death. In the first book, he is dragged down into the abyss, into death itself...and has returned. So he has courage to face death, since he already has. He has died already. And Christian, so have you! Because you are in Christ, and He has died for you, and resurrected, you know that you too will rise again. So you can have courage to face death.