We're going to be looking here, beginning in verse number 21, and we'll try to get down to verse number 36 this afternoon. Here in this section, the Lord's still having His Bible study. with the group that was there with him at the beginning of chapter 8 when they brought the woman caught in adultery. They brought her to him there as he was teaching those folks there on the temple grounds. takes care of that situation, and they all leave. He tells her to go and sin no more. She leaves from that point. And then he turns and begins to teach his group again, those that have gathered there, to listen to him there at the temple. He continues to teach them, that taking place there in verse number 12, as he continues on with this teaching, teaching them these things concerning himself. And intermingled in that group now are Pharisees and some of the high priests. They're gathered there. Maybe some of those that had come in originally accusing the woman, they left off from accusing, but maybe they just moved around and got in the group to listen and see what was going on. But nevertheless, we find them now in the group. By the time we get to verse number 21, they've not said much between verse 12 and down to verse number 21. By the time we get to verse 21, They begin to speak up a little bit and they begin to make themselves known in regards to these things that Jesus was teaching them. And in this section, He declares to us and to them there, that there are four sure ways to experience eternal death. Four sure ways. Beginning in verse number 20, down to verse number 22, he describes their self-righteousness. For sure, if you are going to practice self-righteousness, you may find yourself in eternal death, or you will, if that's what your hope is in, is your self-righteousness. He says there in verse 20, these words make Jesus in the treasury as he taught in the temple and no man laid hands on him for his hour has not yet come. Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way and you shall seek me and shall die in your sins. Whither I go, you cannot come. And then said the Jews, will he kill himself? Because he saith, whither I go, you cannot come. The second thing that he says will surely bring eternal death is being earthbound. And he speaks of that there in verse 23 and 24. And he said, Unto them ye are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins. And if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins. So being earth bound will also give you or put you in a place of eternal death. Verse 24, he says that being an unbeliever, You will experience eternal death. He said, I said, therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. And then verse 25 down through verse number 29, a little sure way of eternal death is being willfully ignorant, willfully ignorant. And he says that to them, verse 25, then said they unto him, who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, even the same that I said unto you from the beginning, I have many things to say and to judge of you, but he that sent me is true. And I speak to the world, those things which I have heard of him. They understood not that he spake to them of the father and said, Jesus unto them, when ye have lifted up, the son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as my father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me, the father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things that please him. And he spake these words, as he spake these words, many believed on him. And so these four things, he mentions, being self-righteous, being earthbound, being an unbeliever and being willfully ignorant. The Jews in our text tonight, as we're looking at this passage of Scripture, who rejected Jesus, they displayed all four of these. They would display this self-righteousness and this earthboundness and this unbelief and this willful ignorance. Even though these are the things that He's told them, He says from the beginning, they continue to refuse to hear it. They continue to refuse to pay attention to the things that He's declaring to them. in regards of himself. And they continue to ask the same questions. Well, who are you again? What are you saying you are? And so on. So they continue on being willfully ignorant of who the Lord is. Here in verse number 21 and verse number 22, Jesus repeats the message. of chapter seven, verse number 37 and 38, when he says there in the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Here in verse 21, he repeats the same message there to them. When he says, I go my way and you shall seek me and shall die in your sins. Whether I go, you cannot come. Then said the Jews, will he kill himself? Because he said, whither I go you cannot come. Now, he declares here he's going away. And where he is going, they would not be able to follow him. Having a pretty good understanding that he's at least saying he's going to heaven. They understand that much. They understand that he's at least saying that. Then they mock him by this next question, well, is he going to kill himself? Because in the Jewish tradition, if somebody killed themselves, they were sent to the worst part of hell. The lowest part of hell is where someone who killed themselves would go. That's what the Jewish tradition, that's what they taught in Jewish tradition. That if you killed yourself, you'd go to the lowest part of hell. That would be the worst of the punishments that you could receive if you killed yourself. And so they mockingly, he says, I'm going away, and where I go you can't come with me. And so they mock him by saying, well, is he going to kill himself? He's going to the lowest part of hell, he ain't going to go with him. And so they're just mocking what he's saying at this point here in verse 21 and 22. And he says in verse 23, and he said unto them, ye are from beneath, I am from above, ye are of this world, I am not of this world. He declares to them, no, no, no, you all got it backwards. You all got it backwards. I'm from above. I'm not from beneath. You all are the ones that are from beneath, he said. They are of this earth and they belong to it, he describes to them. He is from above. And then he says in verse 24, I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins, for if you believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sin. That word he, we have that in the King James, it's there many times, but they, and King James translator is very honest in their translation when they did the translation. So they added anything for grammatical purposes and it needs that he there in order for it to be grammatically correct. They would add that, but anytime they added it, they put it in italicized letters. so that we would know this was added in order for it to sound right, in order for it to be grammatically correct. But literally what the Lord says here is, I am. He declares Himself God, is what He's doing. He declares His name before them. And they understood that perfectly. Each time that He's done that, they've understood perfectly that that's what He was doing, that He is declaring His deity. before them. And this is what has aroused their anger each time that he is in conversation with them when he uses that, when he simply speaks his name, I am. I said therefore unto you that you shall die in your sins for if ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins. If you do not believe that he is God, then you will die in your sins is what the Lord says. Now in verse 24, or verse 25 rather I should say, Then said they unto him, Who art thou? Now their angers aroused. Who do you think you are? Who do you say that they knew exactly who he said he was? But this is their go-to response. Every time the Lord makes mention of who He is, they start trying to find some way to tear Him down. And here they said, Who do you think you are? Who art thou? Jesus said unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. I'm the same one. I've said the same things. Nothing has changed. The same thing I said to you from the beginning, I'm saying to you now. I have many things to say and to judge of you, he says. He's going to tell you a lot more. Got a lot more to tell you. Got a lot more to judge about you. We hear a lot of people talking about, well, we just need to be more like Jesus and don't be judged. The Lord judged them. He declared who they were. This is judgment here. Now, obviously, we can't declare who's going to lift their eyes in hell and who is not. That's directly to the Lord's discretion on who that is. But He declares it to them when He's speaking to them. You're going to follow me. You're going to seek from me rather and you're not going to be able to follow me because you're not going to believe me. You are of this world. You're of your father the devil and he declares to them their judgment there on them. There's no problem declaring that. And he tells them here, I've got many more things to say to you and to judge of you. I've got a lot more to say. I've got a lot more things to declare concerning you. But he goes on to say there, I have many things to say and to judge of you, but He that sent me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of Him. So I've got many more things to say. I've got much more to judge concerning you. And my Father, He is true, the one who sent me, and I'm going to say everything He's told me to say. Everything He has declared, I will declare of you and to you. He says, verse 27, they understood not that he spake to them of the Father. As was their usual, they only heard the the physical or only looked at the physical in regards to the things the Lord was saying to them. They were only perceiving that. They were perceiving it from an earthbound position and they were not comprehending the spiritual reality that the Lord was declaring to them of Himself and of His Father. And so they missed the point here. They understood not that He spoke to them of the Father. Even though this is the same message, again, that He's spoken to them from the beginning. This same message He spoke to them first part here in this discourse in chapter 8. It's what He told them in chapter number 7. It's what He told them in chapter number 6. It's what He told them in chapter number 5. These are the same things He was declaring to these multitudes. It's the same thing He declared to the Jews when He was in Jerusalem before. These are the same things. And He told them from the beginning. He's still telling them the same things now. And they continually only look, they only are perceiving the physical and not going beyond that to see exactly what He's in reference to or what He's talking about. always lifting up His Father, always acknowledging the direction of the Father and the Father's direction for Him and the following after that which the Father has given Him to do. And so they didn't understand that He spake of the Father. And so it says there in verse 28, they said, Jesus unto them, when ye have lifted up the Son of Man, now there again, He's declaring Himself Messiah. The Old Testament prophets, especially Ezekiel there, speaks of the Son of Man. Those Old Testament prophets declaring the Son of Man, they knew exactly the Son of Man was the Messiah. They knew exactly who Jesus was declaring Himself to be. And so once again, He's already said He is the I Am. He declares He's the Son of Man, the one that they were looking for to come. And so He just keeps, He's still just rubbing them raw every time He's declaring who He is, His deity before them. And so He says, when ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself, but as My Father hath taught Me, I speak these things. Now here He's speaking of His death. And he calls himself the Son of Man. Hold your place here. Go back with me to Daniel chapter 7. Daniel chapter number 7. And we'll look there in verse 13 and 14. Daniel 7, 13 and 14. He says, I saw in the night visions. Behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people, nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away in his kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed. Here, Daniel's describing the Son of Man, the Messiah, coming to the Father, coming to the God of Heaven, and being crowned the King over all. He's talking about His kingdom, He's talking about His kingship, and receiving that kingship from His Father. So when He declares Himself Son of Man here in our text, they knew exactly what He was in reference to here. They knew that He was declaring Himself Messiah, declaring Himself the Christ, the one that they were looking for. And He speaks here not only of Himself as Messiah, but as being the Messiah that would be lifted up, speaking of His death on the cross. that he'd be lifted up on the cross. When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself. There again is that I am. Then ye shall know that I am, and that I do nothing of myself, but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. So he's referring here to his crucifixion. His resurrection and His crowning that is yet to come. And it is the Lord's sacrificial death that explains why He came. As we were talking about this morning, the holiness of God, we have to have a sacrifice that we cannot give. We have to have a sacrifice that we cannot give ourselves, that God had to give for us. This is the reason, this is the hour that our Lord came to this earth for. It is the reason he took upon himself flesh, was born of a virgin, the reason he lived a perfect, sinless life, the reason he went about doing and saying all that the Father gave him to do and to say, every part of his ministry, everything that he did, everything that he said was leading to that purpose to which he came, to be our substitutionary sacrifice, to die in our place. And so he's describing here that he is going to die, that he's going to be lifted up, and he says, when I am lifted up, then you will know that I am God. Then it will be revealed. Then you'll be able to see. Now, not all of them, obviously. Obviously, not all of them. But there were those in that crowd that were not going to believe on Him until they saw Him on the cross or afterwards, after He was resurrected from the grave. In fact, we see that even on the day, it's interesting there, the fulfillment of verse number 28 with the Roman centurion that was at the foot of the cross. What does he say? His Lord's hanging there on the cross in front of him and the earthquake happens, the darkness comes. What is it that comes out of the centurion's mouth? Truly, this is the Son of God. Truly, this is the Son of God, he says. Notice Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2, this is of course the day of Pentecost. These days, these 40 days, 50 days after the Lord's resurrection, the Lord, of course, stayed with them 40 days after His resurrection. Ten more days pass. The Lord tells them, stay in Jerusalem. You don't go anywhere until you are empowered by the Spirit of God. They stay in Jerusalem those ten more days after the Lord's ascension. Then on the Day of Pentecost, Pentecost, as they await the Lord there in the upper room, the Spirit of God comes on them. They are empowered here, this church at Jerusalem, to go forth and do the work that God has given for them to do. And Peter immediately goes out into the crowd and begins to preach Christ Jesus to them, here in Acts chapter two. His message is 10 minutes long. The things He declares, ten minutes long that He speaks to them, and He declares to them, cross Jesus, that they indeed killed the one that they were to be looking for. He says there in verse 22, He says, Ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did buy him in the midst of you as you yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holding of it. For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover, also my flesh shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. This is, of course, from the book of Psalms, and he's quoting here what David said concerning the Lord's death, burial, and resurrection. And he says to them now, he says, verse 28, Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, he says, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, And the sepulcher is with us unto this day. David's talking here about resurrection. He's talking about being resurrected from the grave. And he said, I want to be clear on this. He said, David is dead and he is buried and we know where his grave is at today. We can go and look at it and see he's still there. So David is not talking about himself here, Peter's son. David is not in reference to David being resurrected from the grave. And so he goes on to say there, verse 30, therefore being a prophet and knowing God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, therefore we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord. The Father said unto the Son, Sit thou on my right hand. until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." Now, remember the words of Jesus. He said, after you lifted up the Son of Man, then you're gonna see, then you're gonna understand, then you're gonna know that I am the I Am. Then you're gonna know that. It says, now when they heard this from Peter as he preached this message to them, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? They are convicted of their sin. They now realize that they have crucified the Lord of glory. And now they are in a hopeless state. Men and brethren, what shall we do? We made the ultimate blunder. We failed to see the Christ. Not only did we fail to see Him, we killed Him. Then Peter said unto them, Repent. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promises unto you and to your children and all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. With many other words did he testify and exhort, save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized. And the same day, they were added unto them about 3,000 souls. I don't know how many of the Lord's teaching here in our text, but I imagine a great many of them that seated here listening to him in John chapter eight, or those here in chapter two of Acts in verse 41 of those 3,000 that were saved, I imagine a great many of them were those that were right here listening to him in chapter eight. For He declares to them again, When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that I am, and that I do nothing of Myself, but as My Father hath taught Me, I speak these things. And He that sent Me, He says in verse number 29, is with Me. The Father hath not left Me alone, for I do always those things that please Him. The Father was always present with him. And everything Jesus did, everything He said was the express will of His Father. It was exactly what His Father wanted Him to say. It was exactly what His Father wanted Him to do. It was to the person when He would work a miracle. It was exactly that which He was instructed by the Father to perform. Each and everything, each and every word that our Lord would speak was that which the Father had directed Him to speak and to do. For I do always those things that please Him. That's a bold statement there, the Lord's making. I do always those things that please Him. Can we say that of our service to the Lord? Absolutely not. It should be our goal. It should be our desire. But we know our failures. We know our sins. We know how we come short. The Lord says, I do always those things that please Him. Do always those things that please Him. As He spake these words, many believed on Him. They heard this declaration of His Godhood. They believed on Him. And so Jesus knew those Jews which believed on Him. He sees it all. He knows it. He knows their thinking. He knows their hearts. And so He speaks directly to them here in verse number 31. If you believed on Me, then it's going to be proven. It's going to come out. If you're one of Mine, it's going to be seen in you. Then said Jesus unto them, unto those Jews which believed on Him, if ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. The first step of true discipleship is belief in the Lord Jesus. The second step is equally important, and that is perseverance and obedience in the Word of God. That means there is a continued life of service now that's going to follow up that which we say is happening. If we say that we believe Him, that will be proved out in a life separated under the Lord as we continue to move and serve and follow after Him to do what His Word is declared. That doesn't mean we're going to do it perfectly. It doesn't mean that we're going to do so without failure. We'll do that. But even after the failure comes, we're going to get back up and continue to follow. The proof, the proof that you are a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ is that you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. You continue to go. You continue to follow. You continue to serve. You continue in His Word, as He says here. There are a great many people in our culture today that are claiming belief in the Lord Jesus Christ and there is no following His Word in their life. Now, granted, there's a place for growth. And someone that is newly saved, they're going to be struggling to learn and they're going to be struggling to know what they're doing, but there's going to be that constant progression. It might be slow at first, but there's going to be that constant progression as they're going to be growing in the Lord and learning more of Him and doing more and following after Him. And you're going to be able to see that growth in that person as they continue to follow the Lord. But for one to simply say, well, I'm saved now. He's my Savior. And then nothing else happens. There's no growth. There's no desire for the things of God. There's no continuing in His Word. They just continue on with life as it always was before. The only difference is now they say they were saved the day before they didn't say. They said they weren't. There is no growth in Him. If there is no continuing after Him, then they did not believe to begin with. They did not believe to begin with. Jesus said, if you believed in me, then you're going to continue in me. You're going to continue in my word, he says. If you continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Free from law, sin, and death. Free from our own burden of sin. He makes us free in Him. In verse 33, they answered Him. We be Abraham's seed. And we're never in bondage to any man. We're talking about freedom. We're Abraham's seed and we've never been in bondage to anybody. How says thou you shall be made free? Well, they forgot a lot of their history. In fact, it's told us that the Jews in recording their own history would leave big chunks of an apple. Chunks they would leave out is where they were in captivity. They didn't want to remember those parts. Which is a contradiction to Scripture. It's a contradiction to the things God had established for them. The very Passover itself is a remembrance of how God delivered them from Egypt, he said. But we've never been in bondage to anybody. What about Egypt? What about Babylon? What about the Mede-Persian Empire? What about the Grecian Empire? What about the Romans? They were in bondage now when they were saying these things. They were in bondage right here when they were saying it. Well, we're Abraham seed. We've never been in Boston, mate. What do you mean we'll be made free? Jesus answered them there. He says, verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever commit a sin, a certain sin, They were claiming there was no bondage that they were in. And he said, you're a servant, you're a slave to your sin, he says. You're a servant to your own sin. If you've committed sin, he said, you are a slave to your sin. And the servant abideth not in the house forever. But the Son, the Son abideth ever. If you're just a servant, the servant only abides in the house until he's no longer needed. But the Son, He's an heir. The Son, it belongs to Him. Therefore, if the heir, the Son, sets you free, then you're really free. They did not receive freedom from Abraham, he's telling. Just because you're Abraham, see, does not mean you're free. You're still a servant of your sin. And the only one that can free you from the service of your sin, the only one that can make you free is the one who is heir to all things. It is the heir that sets you free. It is the son that has come to set you free. Not Abraham. Abraham's just a servant himself. He's just a servant himself. Abraham didn't set you free. Christ Jesus sets you free. He's the one that makes you free. And the servant abides not in the house forever, but the Son abideth ever. If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. The only place freedom is truly found is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The I am, the son of man who came to deliver us from our sin, to make us free in him, that we might be made the children of God, that we also might be made heirs and joint heirs with him. If the son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Let's all stand, we'll be dismissed tonight.