“I SAID therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:24).
More solemn words than these it would be impossible to find among all the solemn words contained in God’s book; and yet, though so searching and solemn, there is promise in them. For while it is clearly stated that those who do not believe shall die in their sins, it is also clearly implied that those who do believe in Him shall not. This scripture is like a two-edged sword―it slays the unbeliever and cuts him off from all hope, it protects the believer and assures him of eternal salvation. In these words He who cannot lie asserts both the object and the importance of faith.
The OBJECT of faith, is JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF. “Except ye believe that I am.” It is necessary to salvation to believe in. His Deity. He claims to be Jehovah, the I Am, the Eternal, the Immutable, the Self-existent, the Almighty, the Infinite One. The incommunicable name of God is claimed by Jesus Christ, and this claim is the very foundation of the Christian faith.
Unless He be God His other claims are a pretense, His sacrifice of no avail, and faith in Him utterly vain. To TRUST IN HIM WOULD BRING US UNDER THE CURSE IF HE BE NOT GOD, for it is written, “Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm” (Jer. 17:5). He requires us to believe that while He is truly man yet He is also the true and living God, the great I Am. He is the true Messiah. He is the Anointed and Sent One; the true Prophet, revealing the name of God and the way to God. He is the great High Priest, whose sacrifice avails to put away sin and make propitiation. He is the appointed King to reign in righteousness and claim allegiance and obedience from all. Jesus Christ is He of whom Moses and the prophets did write. He must be accepted as such, as the only Saviour of sinful men, the only propitiation for sins. He is the sure Guide, the infallible Teacher, the rightful Owner and Lord of all. We must heartily believe that He died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
The IMPORTANCE and NECESSITY of faith. This is here stated clearly and solemnly. To believe in the Deity of Jesus Christ is of supreme and vital importance. “If ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins.” You may have much knowledge, you may think your intentions very good; your zeal in the externals of religion may be untiring; there may be in you many things that are commendable, useful and admirable, yet, except ye believe on this blessed Person, ye shall die in your sins.
Do you think this harsh? Remember it was the Pharisees, the leaders of popular religion, to whom these words were first spoken. Nothing can take the place of faith. It is by faith alone we are saved. All are guilty before God; all are under condemnation. All who are saved are saved by grace through faith. Salvation, therefore, must be accepted as God’s free gift through Jesus Christ to the guilty and unworthy.
Faith is not SPECULATIVE, but PRACTICAL. He requires the faith of the heart, a living faith that adheres to Him, relies upon Him, and trusts in Him. Without faith in Him there can be no love to Him. You cannot love one you do not trust; doubt and suspicion are the death of love. Love rests upon confidence and is maintained by it. Only as we believe in Jesus and His love to its can we love Him in return. “Faith worketh by love.” There can be no cheerful obedience without faith. The traveler who distrusts his guide will follow him reluctantly, even if he followed at all. The sailor who does not believe in his captain may obey him of necessity, but certainly not willingly. In every relation of life, the true spirit of obedience is in proportion to the measure of faith. It is only by believing we obey, yea, faith itself is called obedience. Faith, therefore, is of the most practical importance, since it is the root front which all loving obedience and devoted service springs.
Faith in the Lord Jesus is of PERSONAL importance. These words are addressed to the individual. Each one must believe in Jesus Christ himself. Sin and death are personal matters; salvation is also a personal matter. In John 6. you find faith compared to eating and drinking (read verse 35. with vv. 50 to 55), and eating and drinking are distinctly personal acts. Even a loving mother cannot eat and drink for her sick child; the child, to live, must itself eat and drink.
Thus; must it be in reference to you and Christ: you must believe in Him yourself and for yourself. There are those who are trusting in their parents’ faith and prayers. Vain confidence Your parents can no more believe for you than they can breathe for you. Not that the faith and prayers of godly parents are to be lightly esteemed, far from it; but they avail not for salvation unless you believe for yourself. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” The soul that believeth, it shall live. Such is the clear teaching of God’s Word.
Faith in Jesus as God manifest in the flesh is of ETERNAL importance. Your eternal destiny depends upon your acceptance or rejection of Jesus Christ in all that He is. “If ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins.” Such will remain under the guilt and power of sin. There is only One who can save us from our sins. His sacrifice alone avails to atone. His Spirit alone renews.
If you reject Him, there remains no other that can deliver you. Such will bear the punishment of their sin forever; their sins will follow them to judgment and sink them into eternal woe.
“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36) O. T.