“Then they asked Him, “Where is Your Father? ” “You know neither Me nor My Father,” Jesus answered. “If you knew Me, you would also know My Father.” He spoke these words by the treasury, while teaching in the temple complex. But no one seized Him, because His hour had not come. Then He said to them again, “I’m going away; you will look for Me, and you will die in your sin. Where I’m going, you cannot come.” So the Jews said again, “He won’t kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I’m going, you cannot come’? ” “You are from below,” He told them, “I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. Therefore I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.””, John 8:19-24 HCSB
- I wonder what they thought dying in sin meant. What does it mean?
““Who are You? ” they questioned. “Precisely what I’ve been telling you from the very beginning,” Jesus told them. “I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the One who sent Me is true, and what I have heard from Him — these things I tell the world.” They did not know He was speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing on My own. But just as the Father taught Me, I say these things. The One who sent Me is with Me. He has not left Me alone, because I always do what pleases Him.””, John 8:25-29 HCSB
- No other human could ever make the claim that he or she always does what pleases God but I believe many people, in our heart of hearts, want to always do what pleases God. It is many times difficult to figure out what pleases God in certain areas of our lives, especially in then “non-addressed-in-the-bible” decisions we all have to constantly make. I think having the desire to always please God is a good desire to have and a good place to start. The blood of Jesus does the rest!
“As He was saying these things, many believed in Him. So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you really are My disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.””. John 8:30-32 HCSB
- Intellectual belief is apparently not enough to make someone a disciple of Jesus (a Christian), that is, if you believe what Jesus says.