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Who Will Not Be In Heaven? (John 8:21-24)
I. Be Self-Righteous
II. Be Preoccupied
III. Be Unbelieving
Who Will Not Be In Heaven? (John 8:21-24)
Our text for tonight's message is taken from the Gospel of John 8:21-24. Allow me to read for you. Gospel of John 8:21-24, "Then said Jesus again unto them, "I go my way, and you shall seek me, and shall die in your sins. Wither I go, you cannot come." Then said the Jews, "Will he kill himself because he says, wither I go, you cannot come?" And he said unto them, "You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins." The Lord bless the reading of His holy and sacred Word.
Have you ever attended a funeral service? Have you ever seen the body that is lying in the casket? At the end of the funeral service, the casket would be closed, lowered into the grave, and covered with sand. The body would be all alone in total darkness. Nonetheless, you know in your heart that it doesn't matter because the body is no longer alive. Then you ask yourself, “Where is the soul? Where is the soul of the person whom I once knew?” If that person is your father or your mother, you would be asking, “Where is the soul of my dad or my mom?” Dear friend, the soul is that part of a person that lives forever. And it will live forever in either one of two places, Heaven or Hell.
One of the most difficult tasks of a pastor is to conduct a funeral service. Sometimes, you have to conduct the funeral for a believer. And you know that he is now apart from the body and is in the presence of God. You can go on to speak of all the wonderful times he had while he was on this earth. At other times, you have to conduct the funeral for an unbeliever. You know that he is now apart from the body, but he is not in the presence of God. He is eternally separated from God and sent to a place the Bible calls Hell. What can you say? It is most difficult.
Some pastors would try to say as many nice things as possible to comfort the bereaved family members. Some pastors would try to answer all the questions as the family members are desperately trying to find some reasons or perhaps cling on to some hope that their departed loved one would be in a better place. But the reality is that there is no more hope and no more peace for the unbelieving dead. At such times, all the pastor could do is just preach the Gospel to the living. We have only one life to live. And the Bible says, “As it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this, the judgment.” Hebrews 9:27.
There is a judgment because all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is no one on the face of this earth who can ever say he or she is without sin. When a man stands before God on the day of judgment, he cannot say to the Almighty God, “Well, I am not as bad a person as all those criminals. I'm not a robber. I'm not a child molester. I'm not a rapist. I've not done all those wicked deeds like them. What I've done are just petty things.” Can the murderer stand before the judge and say, “Well, at least I have not murdered all the other people”? The question is not whether you have not murdered all the other people, but rather whether you have committed the very act of murder. If you have, you are guilty. Likewise, the question is not whether we have committed all the other sins, but rather whether we have sinned or not. If we have, we are guilty.
There are some people who think, “Basically, I am a good person. If there's a God, surely He will accept me into Heaven.” Do you really think so? Then you do not really know who God is. Habakkuk the prophet said, “God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquities.” Which means our God is so holy and righteous, and He cannot compromise our sins. If you are judged by the world, the people around you may pat you on your back and praise you for all the wonderful deeds you have done. They may say, “You are the most righteous person. You are the most generous person.” They may even give you an award for your contribution to society. But the problem is that you will not be judged by the standard of the world, but by the standard of God.
Remember Jesus said, “If you are angry with your brother, in the eyes of God, you have committed the sin of murder. If you lust after a woman in your heart, in the eyes of God, you have committed the sin of adultery.” God's standard is a perfect standard. And no man can attain this perfect standard.
There are some people who believe in good works. “Yes, I'm a sinner, but I've done many good works. If there's a God, surely He will accept me into Heaven.” They think of Heaven like a balance with two scales. On one side of the scales is your good works. On the other side is your sins. If you are able to do enough good works to tip over the scales, then you have earned for yourself a place in Heaven. If that is the case, then Heaven will be a place filled with boastful people who have earned for themselves through their own human efforts a place to be there. They will be saying, “Pity that Michael, pity that Susan, sorry that they couldn't make it here.” Heaven is not such a place.
The Bible says all our righteousness are as filthy rags. Everyone is equally depraved. If we try to rely on our own human efforts to earn a place in Heaven, there's no way. The only way for you to enter the kingdom of Heaven is for sin to be removed from your life. And the only way for sin to be removed is for the penalty of sins to be paid. The Bible says the wages of sin is death. You and I cannot pay the penalty of our sins. However, the Bible went on to say, “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The gift of life is through Jesus Christ because He is the only begotten Son of God, who is the eternal God Himself. Yet He willingly came into this world, lived a perfect life, He suffered, He was crucified, He died and shed His precious blood to pay the penalty of your sins and my sins. If you reject Him, your sins remain in you. As Jesus said to the Jews, “Ye shall die in your sins.” To die in your sins is to die bearing the full responsibility of your sins and face an eternity of punishment.
If today is your last day, if tonight you are to draw your last breath, will Jesus say to you, “Ye shall die in your sins”? The title of our message is “Who Will Not Be in Heaven?” Those people who will not be in Heaven are those who shall die in their sins. And there are three ways in which a person shall die in his or her sins.
I. Be Self-Righteous
The first guaranteed way to die in your sins is to be self-righteous. To be happy with your spiritual condition. To be happy with your own ability to please God. To believe that you can be good enough, religious enough, pray enough, go to church enough, or be moral enough, or have done enough good deeds that will outweigh your own imaginative scale of bad deeds, then you have earned a place in Heaven.
When Jesus told the people that He was going to a place where those who refused to believe in Him could never come, He was referring to Heaven. But listen to what the Jews said in verse 22. Then said the Jews, “Will He kill Himself? Because He saith, ‘Whither I go, ye cannot come.’” What did they mean by that? What kind of response was that? Well, the Jews twisted Jesus' words to mean that He was talking about killing Himself, committing suicide. And so, He must be going to Hell.
According to the Jewish historian Josephus, the Jews believed that the darkest part of Hell was reserved for someone who killed himself. So, indirectly, they were mocking Jesus by saying that He was going to kill Himself and go to eternal Hell. Yes, Jesus was going to die, but His death was not suicide. It was a willing self-sacrifice to save His people from their sins.
When Jesus hung on the cross at Calvary, it was not because He was incapable of bringing Himself down. It was not those Roman soldiers nor the rusty nails that kept Him crucified on the cross. It was because, “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.”
The Jews mocked Jesus because they did not think they needed a Saviour. The whole idea of them dying in their sins was a joke. After all, they were the spiritual ones. They were the religious ones. They kept all the laws, the traditions, and the ceremonies even to the minutest details. They were so self-righteous that Jesus' warning about Hell was a joke. And they will continue to laugh until they died. And then they will cry for all eternity.
Dear friend, please do not ever take the warning about Hell as a joke. Self-righteousness is a deadly sin. And it is a guarantee that you shall die in your sins. If you do not admit your inability to save yourself, you think your good works, your giving money to charity, your so-called morality, even your attending church can give you eternal life, can save you from eternal Hell, you will not turn to the only Saviour of the world.
You would be just like the Pharisee who beat upon his chest and said in the Gospel of Luke 18, “God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess.” They were trying to earn their own salvation. Just like most people living in this world. Today, men would try to rely on their own human efforts, trusting in their own achievements and accomplishments.
Some people ask, “There are so many religions in this world. How do I know that Christianity is the true religion?” The late preacher Harry Ironside once presented the Gospel on the streets of California. And he was interrupted by someone who asked, “Sir, look here. There are hundreds of religions in this country. And the followers of each religion think theirs is the right one. How do we know which one is the true religion?”
Ironside replied, “Many religions? That is strange because I've heard of only two. Maybe there are different shades of opinions in the hundreds of religions, but basically there are only two schools. The one who looks to salvation by doing, and the other looks to salvation by something already done. The one who believes that he can earn his place in Heaven by his works. And the other believes that he can only be saved by trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. So, the question is very simple. Can you save yourself? Or must you be saved by another? If you can be your own saviour, you do not need this message. If you cannot, then you may well listen to it.”
How true. On one hand stands all the religions of this world, which basically is focused on salvation by works. And on the other hand stands Christianity alone, which says salvation is by faith alone, by grace alone, and by Christ alone.
II. Be Preoccupied
The second way you can guarantee that you shall die in your sins is to be preoccupied with the world. To be earthbound. Just living your life according to the evil system of this world. Jesus said, “You are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world.”
The word world in the Bible can be used with different meanings, depending on the context. Sometimes it refers to people. Sometimes it refers to this cosmic world. Sometimes it refers to the evil system of this world. Here, when Jesus said, “You are of this world,” He was referring to the evil spiritual system that dominates this world where Satan is the prince of the power of the air. Satan is the one who is controlling a system of belief, a system of morality, a system of religion, a system of behaviour. And they are all opposed to God. That was why Jesus said, “I am not of this world.”
If you approach the average person in the streets and you ask him this question, “Do you believe in God?” If the answer is no, you will probably get a variety of answers. He could be an atheist, an agnostic, a worshipper of men, or someone who believes deeply in the evolution theory. You may also come across someone who says he believes that man is supreme, or there's 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 urge that can be only fulfilled by sex, pleasure, carnal ambitions, pride, greed, enjoyment, self-desires, etc. Where did all these ideas come from? The world.
And then, you meet someone who says to you, “I am a Christian. I believe in the Bible. I believe in Heaven and Hell. I believe in the things of God. And I believe that one day I will have to give an account to my Creator.” 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 God through the Bible. These are the two great divides of this world and not of this world.
Here Jesus points out this great contrast. “Ye are from beneath. I am from above. Ye are of this world. I am not of this world.” Man is enslaved to the evil value systems of this world. He's in total agreement with what the world deems to be right and wrong, what is valuable and worthless, what is important and unimportant. Men may have different ideas and standards. But he is in agreement with the values of this world more than the divine perspectives of God.
When our Lord Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, remember what He said: “It is finished.” The work of salvation is finished. Satan cannot do anything against the work of salvation. But what he would do is to deceive many by making them follow the philosophies, the ideas, and the value systems of this world.
Today, the world mocks the Christians and says, “See how narrow-minded you Christians are. It is always about the Bible.” What is slavery? But actually, it is the unbelievers who are enslaved. They are totally controlled by the world's thought system. They think like the way the world thinks. They will form their opinions from what they read in the newspaper and the internet. Even their appearances are controlled by the changing fashions of this world. They will conform to the pattern of this world and they live their lives as if this is the only life to live.
They couldn't care less about spiritual things. Nothing about God. Nothing about Heaven and Hell. They think they are free. But the reality is that they are trapped in the evil system of this world where Satan rules. They only think of life in this temporal world. And how long would they live in this earth? 70, 80, or 90 years. That's it. And then they will be eternally separated from God.
For a man to die in his sins, all he needs to do is to be preoccupied with this world. Just believe in the lies of Satan. Just believe in the evil system of this world. Just believe that this is the only life you have and make the best out of it. Beyond this life, there is nothing. And that will guarantee you shall die in your sins.
So, firstly, you shall die in your sins if you are self-righteous. Because if you are self-righteous, you think you do not need a Saviour. You can save yourself. Secondly, you shall die in your sins if you are preoccupied with this world. You are enslaved by the evil values and systems of this world. And you are unwilling to let go.
III. Be Unbelieving
The last way to guarantee that you shall die in your sins is the most serious. It is to be unbelieving, or when you do not believe. Jesus said in verse 24, “I said therefore unto you, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins.”
The only way to escape Hell is to believe in the Saviour of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ. John 20:31 said, “But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing ye might have life through His name.” Dear friend, you do not have to die in your sins. But the one who persists in rejecting the only Saviour will die in his sins because of unbelief.
Now, what do we have to believe? Well, Jesus said it right here: “For if ye believe not that I am He.” In the Old Testament, in Exodus chapter 3, when God called Moses to go to Pharaoh and asked him to let the people go, Moses asked God, “If they ask me what is Your name, what should I tell them?” God said to him, “I am that I am.” In other words, what Jesus was saying here is a reference to God. “I am He.” In Greek, it is simply “I am”. I'm the One who is the I am that I am.
Unless you believe that Jesus Christ is God, unless you believe that He is the great I am, unless you believe that Jesus, who is God, came into this world and ultimately He died to save you from your sins, you cannot be saved. You either believe in Jesus or you reject Him. No matter what, you have to deal with Him.
When Jesus was crucified on the cross, there were two thieves crucified beside Him. One of them mocked Him and said, “If You are truly the Messiah, then save Yourself and save us as well.” The other one rebuked him and said, “Don't you fear God? Now that you are dying?” Then he turned to Jesus and said, “Lord, remember me when You enter into Your kingdom.” He believed that Jesus was able to save him. He believed that there was life after death. And he believed in the kingdom of Heaven. And Jesus said to him, “Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise.”
So, one of the robbers was saved and the other was lost. Why? Because of unbelief. The sin that will send you to eternal Hell is the sin of unbelief, when you reject the only One who can save you.
Hell is a place of eternal suffering and torment. It is a lake of fire. A place where the fire never stops burning. A place for every sinner whose sins have not been forgiven. Their sins remain with them. And they have to bear the full responsibility of their sins. Hell is a terrible place.
And what must we do to be saved? The only way for us to be saved is for sin to be out of the picture. But God cannot simply remove our sins. He is holy, just, and righteous. Well, there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. What we cannot do, God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who was 100% righteous, holy, and without sin. He lived a perfect life on this earth. Ultimately, He bore our sins on the cross of Calvary.
And Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” According to statistics, every minute there are about 100 people dying in this world. If that is true, each time you breathe, a couple of people would have drawn their last breath. How many of them would die in their sins? How many of them would die without forgiveness? How many of them would die to experience weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth, fire, thirst, and eternal separation from God? Millions upon millions. Only God knows.
Dear friend, life is short. The Bible describes our life as like a vapour. It appeared for a little time, and then vanishes away. If you die as an unbeliever, rejecting Jesus Christ, the only Saviour of the world, there will be no escape from God's eternal punishment for you who die in your sins, for you who did not receive the forgiveness God offers to you so graciously in Jesus Christ.
After death comes the judgment. Your only opportunity is now. For tomorrow may never come. Before it is too late. Before your time on earth runs out. Cling on to the Lord Jesus Christ. Do not be self-righteous. Do not be preoccupied with this world. And ultimately, do not harden your heart and reject God. If you do that, God will say to you, “Ye shall die in your sins.” God forbids.
Closing Prayer
Let us pray. Our Father in Heaven, as we hear the words of our Lord Jesus, indeed, this is an important lesson for all of us. We do not want to take for granted that everyone in the church is a believer. We do not know the hearts of men, including ourselves. And Thou hast reminded us of Thy Gospel, the good news that the Saviour has come to save His people from their sins. And His name is Jesus Christ.
In the same way He warned the Jews, “Ye shall die in your sins. Whither I go, ye cannot come.” We know that our Lord Jesus, He died and He was raised from the dead and He has ascended onto Heaven to prepare a place for us. He said, “In My Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself. For where I am, ye shall be also.” We want to go to the place our Lord Jesus has gone to prepare for us.
And the only way is to believe in Him, that He is the only One who can save us. We pray for all those who are still lingering outside that kingdom. That they be not self-righteous. That they be not preoccupied with this world. And that they will not harden their hearts, for the sin that will send them to eternal Hell is the sin of unbelief. And may the Spirit of God convict their hearts so that they will believe in the only Saviour. And then Jesus will say to them, “Where I go, you can come.” We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.