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Today's Little Lift
by Jim Bullington
Unusual? Yes! Long passages are usually taboo in articles such as this. However, the text which we are using is also unusual. I beg your attention as you read and glean from this ten-verse text. There are five phrases which you will see that are presented here in bold text. These five phrases will be used as the focus text for each of this week's devotional messages.
“Then Jesus said to them again, 'I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.' So the Jews said, 'Will He kill Himself, because He says, “Where I go you cannot come”?' And He said to them, 'You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.' Then they said to Him, 'Who are You?' And Jesus said to them, 'Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him.' They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father. Then 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 of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.' As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.” (John 8.21-30).
“If you do not believe...” Jesus spoke these words; they are red in your red-letter Bible. They are hard words and they present a hard truth. They exhaust all the options as regards eternal salvation. As He said so plainly, there are only two pertinent options. It is either believe in Him with its consequence, salvation. Or, it is not believe in Him and its consequence, damnation. This, unlike many false dilemmas presented by man, is not a false dilemma; it is real! Negotiators love to create a win-win situation in order to settle a stalemate. Salesmen like to create the perception of a win-win situation to make a sale and a happy customer. Educators like to demonstrate that when their students learn, everybody wins. If a win-win situation were possible when it comes to faith in Him, Jesus would have know it and He would have capitalized on it. However, there is no win-win here; rather, it is a win-lose. “If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
There are other ways of saying the same thing. However, without them, one cannot miss the logical force of His statement in today's text. He could have said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14.6). Or, He could have said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16.16). Any way one says it, the result is the same. It is a true either/or choice and it is a choice that one must make. By choosing not to choose, the choice is made not to believe! By choosing to believe, one chooses not to disbelieve. There is no middle ground and no ambiguity in these statements. No matter how magnanimous we might want to be, the bottom line is still the bottom line!
It is important that we understand somewhat of the nature of spiritual truth from today's message. It does not fit our mold and it does not exist to complement what we already believe. Truth is the norm and all contrary things are an aberrant. Satan does his best to convince us that truth is the aberration and what culture says is truth! Herein lies the important truth which we try to impress today. Hear all voices but discern when it comes to saving truth; it only come from One Source!
Questions:
1. What is a dilemma? What is a “false dilemma”?
2. What is the alternative to dying “in your sins”?
3. What is the consequence of dying “in your sins”?
4. What room did Jesus leave for other “means of salvation” other than Himself? If someone could truthfully present another means of salvation, what effect would that have on Jesus' truthfulness?
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