Selected Scriptures
Ps Paul Cheng
“… Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not …”
~7 min read
“A Personal Relationship with God” is a most pertinent topic as it touches on the most vital relationship a human being could ever have on the face of this earth. To begin with, do we have a personal relationship with God? In other words, are we truly Christians? What
happens if we are not Christians? Then eternal hell would be our final destination, for it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment (Hebrews 9:27).
In the gospel of John, Jesus said to the unbelieving Jews, whither I go, ye cannot come. This is a most sobering statement because the unbelievers would not be with Him in heaven for all eternity.
John 8:21-24, Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shalldie 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.
One of the most difficult tasks of a pastor is to conduct a funeral service. Sometimes when the pastor has to conduct the funeral for a believer and he knows that to be absent from the body is to be present with God (2 Corinthians 5:8), he could go on to speak of the blessed hope of eternal heavenly bliss. But at other times, when the pastor has to conduct the funeral of an unbeliever, he knows for a certainty that the unbeliever would be tormented in eternal hell. What can the pastor say? It can be most difficult.
Most pastors would attempt to say as many nice things as possible to comfort the bereaved families. They would try their best to answer all the questions of the bereaved family members as they desperately try to find some reasons or hope that perhaps their departed loved ones would be in a better place. At such times, all the pastor could do is to preach the gospel to the living because there would be no more hope and peace for the unbelieving dead. Man has only one life to live and beyond that, it is either eternal heaven or hell. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23).The only way for a man to enter the kingdom of heaven is for sin to be removed from his life, and the only way that can be possible is for the penalty of sin to be paid. But no matter how hard a man could try, all his efforts to save himself would be futile, because all our righteousness are as filthy rags (cf. Isaiah 64:6). Thus, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
According to statistics, there would be about a hundred people dying in the world every minute. How many would die in their sins? How many of them would die without forgiveness? How many would die to experience weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth, fire, thirst and separation from God in eternal hell? Millions upon millions, only God knows!
Jesus said to the Jews, Ye shall die in your sins. To die in your sins is to be heading for a death with the full responsibility of sin and an eternity of punishment. Will Jesus say to you, “Ye shall die in your sins”?
I. Self-righteousness
The self-righteous ones would die in their sins. To be self-righteous is to be completely content or happy with your own ability to please God. To believe that you are religious, or you are good enough, or you have prayed sufficiently, or go to church regularly, or have done many moral and good deeds that will outweigh your self-deceived imaginative scale of bad deeds, and thus earn a place in heaven.
Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come (v.22). The Jews thought that Jesus was talking about killing Himself, and that would mean He must be going to hell. According to Jewish historian Josephus, the Jews believed that the
person who committed suicide would go to the darkest pit of hell. So indirectly they were mocking Jesus saying that He would be going to eternal hell which is a place they would not go. They were so self-righteous and spiritually blind that they could not understand Jesus
was speaking about a willing, self-sacrifice death on the cross at Calvary to save His people from their sins.
The Jews mocked Jesus because they did not think they needed a Saviour. The whole idea of them dying in their sins was a silly joke, after all they were the spiritual and religious ones. Self-righteousness is a deadly sin because it is a surety that you would die in your sins. If a
man does not admit his inability to save himself, he will not turn to the only Saviour of the world. He is just like the Pharisee who beat upon his chest and said, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast
twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess (Luke 18:11-12).
II. Preoccupation
Those who are preoccupied with the things of the world would die in their sins. They live their lives according to the ideologies and evil system of this wicked world. Jesus said, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world (v.23).
The word world in the Bible has been used with several different meanings; it may refer to people, or to ideologies, or to this cosmic world. Here Jesus was referring to the evil spiritual system that dominates this world where Satan is the prince of the power of the air (cf. Ephesians 2:2). Satan is controlling the world’s evil systems of belief, morality, philosophy, religion and behaviour that are opposed to God, which is why Jesus said, I am not of this world.
If you approach the average person in the street and ask him this question, “Do you believe in God?” If the answer is “no,” you would most certainly get a variety of answers. He could be an atheist, a humanist, a realist, a worshipper of man or perhaps someone who believes in the evolution theory. You may also come across someone who says that he believes that man is supreme, there is no such thing as heaven and hell, and life is all about eat, drink and be merry, and he lives his life dominated by a physical fulfilment for sex, pleasure, carnal
ambition, pride, greed, enjoyment, self-desire etc. Where did all these ideas come from? The world! And then if you come across a person who says to you, “I am a Christian who believes in the Bible. I believe in heaven and hell. I believe in the things of God. I believe that one day I will have to give an account to my Maker.” So on one hand, you have all these ideas that come from the world, and on the other hand, you have this faith that comes from the Bible. This is the great contrast that Jesus was pointing out, the two great divides; of this world and not of this world. To His disciples, Jesus said in John 15:19, If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you (cf. 1 John 2:15; James 4:4). The Christian is not someone who is of this world, believing in the lies of Satan that all there is to
life is found only in this world, and thus being preoccupied with the world’s evil systems.
III. Unbelief
The unbelieving ones would die in their sins. Jesus said, 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 (v.24). The only way to escape hell is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. John 20:31, But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. No one has to die in his sins but the one who persists in rejection would die in sins through unbelief.
In Exodus 3, when God called Moses to go to the Pharaoh, he asked God, “If the people asked me what is your name? What do I tell them?” God said to him, “I am that I am.” In other words, when Jesus said, for if ye believe not that I am he, He was referring to the name of God – I am He. Unless a man believes that Jesus Christ is God, He is the Great I am, and God the Second Person in the Trinity came into this world to save him from his sins, he cannot be saved.
Do not be self-righteous, nor be preoccupied with the evil system of this world, nor be unbelieving, for you would surely die in your sin. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.
With love in Christ,
Pastor Paul Cheng
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