John 8:23-24

Main Thought: In this chapter, we find Jesus once again proclaiming to the unbelieving Jews that He had come from the Father, that He was from Heaven and sent by the Father to proclaim the truth concerning sin, salvation, and the judgment. He rightly says “You are from below,” indicating their hatred of Christ and the truth of His Word. Their claims that “Abraham is our father” (John 8:39) was true only in the physical sense, for their desire to kill Jesus (John 8:40) indicated, as Jesus points out, that their real spiritual father was Satan himself (John 8:44) and their true desire was to murder Jesus. As we know from history and the Scriptures, they eventually fulfilled their hateful desires when they crucified our Lord. However, we also know that Jesus’ words spoken here still sound forth the sad truth that all who reject Christ, the great I AM who came in the flesh as the perfect and spotless sacrifice upon Calvary’s cross, will die eternally in their sins. You must believe in Him, the eternal Son of God, the perfect Lamb of God, as the substitute for your sins, If you do not, as Jesus said, you will suffer eternal death, punishment, and separation from God. We may think how sad it is that those who heard Jesus’ declaration and rejected His words, now dwell in eternal death. But it is just as sad in this day that people have heard the declaration of these words from the Bible and in many Gospel messages, yet still reject the truth of who Jesus Christ is, and reject any notion of the judgment of God. Our calling as individual believers and the church is to continue to proclaim the message of the atoning death of Christ as the only way of salvation and pray that the Holy Spirit would open the eyes and ears of many unbelievers, and they would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, not dying in their sins, but being born again and eternally living with Him. May our Lord be pleased to move in a mighty way soon, and the words of Jesus in these verses bring conviction of sin and repentance to the lost.