5/12/11 John 8:21-24

²¹ Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”
²² This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”
²³ But he continued, “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; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”

(Bronzino 1545)
Thoughts: Jesus talked three times here about dying in sin.  Dying in sin is staying in this life and not making it to the next.  It is like we are almost tied or trapped by a barrier of sin that keeps us from going to the next place where Jesus is.  Belief that Jesus is the saving Messiah (the "he" of vs. 24) ties us to the One who can enable us to be where He is.  He is the key to the door of heaven that keeps us from dying in our sins.  He died in our sin so that we would not have to die in our sin.

Prayer: Keep me Lord, from dying in sin.  Help me to believe in you and be set free.

John Calvin Abridged: Christ does not say this lightly.  We must breathe either the odor of life or death (2 Cor. 2:16).  The meaning of these words  amounts to this. “The wicked will at length feel how great loss they have suffered by rejecting Christ, when he freely offers himself

to them. They will feel it, but it will be too late, for there will be no more room for repentance.”  Therefore, when Christ knocks at the door, we should open it, for now is the time of salvation.