Will you die in your sins?

Posted Jul 21, 02:27 pm

“Again, Jesus said to them, ‘I am going away, and you will seek Me, and you will die in your sins. Where I am going, you cannot come.’ So the Jews said, ‘Will He kill Himself? For He said, “Where I am going, you cannot come.”’ He said to them, ‘You are from below; 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 unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.’” John 8:21-24

What a terrible thing to die in your sins — to die and stand before the holy Judge of all while still bearing the uncleanness and guilt of your sins! Yet, this is what was soon to happen to a great many of the Jews in Jesus’ day. Jesus warned them, “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and you will die in your sins. Where I am going, you cannot come” (John 8:21).

Because so many of His Jewish hearers saw no need to repent of their sins and trust in Jesus as their Messiah and Savior, they would die in their sins and face the eternal wrath and condemnation of God. Where Jesus was going — to the right hand of God the Father in heaven (cf. John 14:1ff.; Eph. 2:20f.) — they would not be able to come! Instead, they faced a Christless eternity and the everlasting torments of hell!

Again, Jesus warned them, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24).

Jesus’ words still ring out today! Those who do not trust in Jesus as their Messiah and Savior from sin are not justified and forgiven and acceptable to God. They are still dead in their trespasses and sins (cf. Eph. 2:1ff.). Unless they repent and trust in Jesus and His cross, they will die in their sins and are headed to an eternity of everlasting punishment. Where Jesus is, at the right hand of God the Father, they cannot come!

Unless people repent and turn to God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who was lifted up on the cross to suffer and die there for us and bear the full punishment for our sins and the sins of the whole world, they will die in their sins and face the holy God in their own uncleanness and guilt! (Cf. John 3:14-18,36; Matt. 22:11-14.)

What about you? Will you die in the guilt of your sins and face the eternal wrath of an angry God? Or will you, by the grace of God, turn to Jesus and receive His full and complete pardon and forgiveness for your sins and enjoy the everlasting blessings of life in heaven with Him?

The Bible tells us: “As it is appointed for men to die once, but after this comes the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin but to save those who eagerly wait for Him” (Hebrews 9:27-28).

Jesus has already died and paid in full for your sins. His resurrection on the third day is proof that God accepted His death as full payment for the sins of the world (cf. 1 Cor. 15:3,4; Rom. 4:23-25)! Why die in your sins and be condemned by God? Turn in faith to Jesus and His shed blood and be forgiven and saved (Cf. 2 Cor. 5:19-6:2; Isa. 55:6-7)!

O dearest Jesus, have mercy upon our wayward hearts and draw us to You so that we might not enter eternity bearing the guilt and condemnation for our sins but have, instead, the blessing of forgiveness and life everlasting for the sake of Your holy and precious blood, shed for us on the cross. Amen.

Author Pastor Randy Moll
Categories Devotions, Bible Study

Why I won't be in heaven

Posted Jul 18, 04:28 pm

Again and again, I hear preachers telling mourning loved ones that this person is, without a doubt, in heaven because of how much he loved Jesus, how many people’s lives she touched, how strong his faith was, or how much good she accomplished in her lifetime.

I can’t help but wonder, “Was it enough?” After all, God’s Word commands us to love the LORD God with all our heart, soul, and mind, to love others as much as we love ourselves, and to be holy and perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect (Deut. 6:4-5; Lev. 19:2,18; Matt. 22:37-40; Matt. 6:48; 1 Pet. 1:16). It says our best works, in and of themselves, are like filthy and unclean rags in God’s eyes (Isa. 64:6).

So, I want to make a few things clear before I die. I even suggest these words be read on that occasion or printed in my obituary so there is no doubt:

• I won’t be in heaven because of how much I loved Jesus; I will be in heaven because of how much Jesus loved me!

• I won’t be in heaven because I lived a holy and sinless life (I certainly haven’t); I will be in heaven because Jesus lived a holy and sinless life for me!

• I won’t be in heaven because of any good things I’ve done; I will be in heaven because of all the good and perfect things Jesus did for me!

• I won’t be in heaven because of all I’ve sacrificed for Jesus; I will be in heaven because of all Jesus sacrificed for me when He gave His life on the cross and paid the just penalty for my sin.

• I won’t be in heaven because I died a good death for Jesus; I will be in heaven because Jesus died a good death for me, conquered sin and death, and rose again to be my ever-living Savior!

• I won’t even be in heaven because of my solid and enduring faith; I will be in heaven because Jesus gave me His Spirit at my baptism, and the Holy Spirit endured me and patiently, again and again throughout my life, revealed to me my utter sinfulness but comforted me with forgiveness and acceptance for Jesus’ sake!

So, you see, I won’t be in heaven because of me — I’ve failed and come short, but I will be in heaven because of Jesus — He did it all!

The Bible says of all who trust in Jesus and are saved from the eternal wrath and punishment they deserve: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith, in His blood …” (Rom. 3:23-25).

To quote from the hymn “Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness,” written by Ludwig von Zinzendorf and translated by John Wesley nearly 300 years ago, “When from the dust of death I rise to claim my mansion in the skies, e’en then, this shall be all my plea: Jesus hath lived and died for me.”

Author Pastor Randy Moll
Categories Devotions

Do you walk in light or darkness?

Posted Jul 13, 03:24 pm

“Again, Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.’” John 8:12

Have you ever tried to walk somewhere in total darkness, perhaps in a cave or on a moonless night? What happens? Without any light, we lose our way and begin to trip and stumble over everything. But what if a friend has a flashlight or lantern? If we walk with him, we can see and find our way. But if we do not follow closely, we again begin to stumble and grope in the darkness.

We live in a world full of darkness when it comes to knowledge of the truth. People don’t know or understand who they are, how they got here, why they are here, or how to live. People do not know God, their Maker, or how to walk in fellowship with Him. Instead, people deny the existence of God and believe they are freak accidents of time, chance, and evolution. They have no idea of their purpose here in this world — if they even have one — or what will happen to them after they die.

To the people of this dark and sinful world who are groping about in spiritual darkness, trying this and that to find happiness and fulfillment, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me shall not walk in the darkness but shall have the light of life.”

Jesus truly is the light of the world. He speaks the truth about our utter sinfulness before God and the condemnation we deserve, and He speaks the truth when He calls upon lost sinners to repent and trust in Him for forgiveness and life everlasting (cf. John 3:3-6,14-21; 8:23-24).

Jesus, the very Son of God, took on human flesh and blood and came into this world to save sinners like you and me. He lived a holy life under God’s law and then suffered and died on the cross to bear the full and just punishment for our sins. The Bible tells us: “But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born from a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4-5); and “Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit” (1 Pet. 3:18).

Jesus’ resurrection is proof that God accepted His sacrifice for sin and that we can be pardoned, forgiven, and justified before God through faith in Jesus and His cross. In Romans 4:23-25, we read regarding God justifying Abraham by faith: “Now the words, ‘it was credited to him,’ were not written for his sake only, but also for us, to whom it shall be credited if we believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our transgressions, and was raised for our justification.”
Jesus is “the Light of Life.” In Him alone can we sinners have life in fellowship and communion with God our Maker, both now and forever!

What shall we do? Shall we continue to grope around in the darkness, trying to find our way through life? Or shall we follow Jesus, “the Light of the world”?

Like the person walking next to one with a flashlight, if we walk with Jesus by trusting in Him as our Savior and being led and guided continually by His Word, we will “not walk in the darkness” but “have the light of life.” We will not be condemned on account of our sins but be comforted with the knowledge and assurance of forgiveness for all our sins and life everlasting through faith in His name! And we will be led and guided in the right way through life by the Holy Spirit’s teaching through the Word.

On the other hand, if we wander off and do not follow closely after the Lord Jesus, we will quickly find ourselves groping and stumbling through the darkness of sin and death, not knowing the way to walk in communion with God or how to live for Him.

Again, God’s Word says in 1 John 1:5 — 2:2: “This then is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you, so that you do not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Dearest Jesus, “with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light” (Ps. 36:9). Graciously shine upon our hearts, revealing our sin but comforting us with mercy and forgiveness through faith in You and Your atoning sacrifice on the cross for our sins; and lead us safely through this life to Yourself in heaven. Amen.

Author Pastor Randy Moll
Categories Devotions, Worship & Podcast

‘Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.’

Posted Jul 6, 02:05 pm

“When Jesus had stood up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, ‘Woman, where are your accusers? Did no one condemn you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord. Jesus said to her, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.’” John 8:10-11 (Read John 8:1-11)

The Biblical account of the woman who was caught in the act of committing adultery is an amazing portion of God’s Word to consider. The scribes and Pharisees were attempting to find grounds to accuse Jesus. So, they brought this woman to Jesus as He was teaching in the temple, saying they had caught her in the very act of committing adultery and asking Jesus whether or not they should stone her to death as Moses commanded in the law (cf. Deut. 5:18; 22:22ff.; Lev. 20:10).

Now, the Law required that both the man who took another’s wife and the consenting woman be put to death. This raises the question of why only the woman was brought in this case, especially since she was caught “in the very act.” Of course, the purpose of the scribes and Pharisees was to test Jesus and find grounds to accuse Him.

Jesus wrote on the ground and said to the woman’s accusers, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (v. 7). Then He again stooped down and wrote in the dirt. Verse 9 tells us that the woman’s accusers went out of the temple one by one, starting with the oldest, being convicted by their own consciences, until, finally, Jesus was left alone with this woman.

What Jesus wrote in the dirt, whether it be the commandments, the sins of this woman’s accusers, or something else, we don’t know, but all were convicted of their own sins and could no longer condemn this woman without condemning themselves (cf. Rom. 2:1ff.).

What can we learn from this? First of all, as sinners, we cannot judge and condemn another without also condemning ourselves (cf. Matt. 7:1-5; 18:21ff.). Rather, we ought to “be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you” (Eph. 4:32).

Not one of us is without sin. We all depend entirely upon God’s grace and mercy toward us for the sake of Jesus Christ and His blood shed for us on the cross. When we admonish sinners and preach against sin, our goal is not to condemn others but to urge sinners to join us in repentance so that they, too, might receive God’s mercy in Christ Jesus!

We remember that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16-17; 1 Tim. 1:15).

Secondly, you and I can find great comfort in the fact that Jesus told this woman caught in the very act of adultery: “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” If anyone could have condemned this woman, it was Jesus, the holy and sinless Son of God, but Jesus forgave her sin and told her to go and sin no more.

We can find comfort in this because, no matter how great our sin, in Jesus, we can obtain mercy and forgiveness, for He came into the world to fulfill the righteous demands of the law for us and to suffer on the cross the just punishment demanded by God’s law for our sins.

The Bible tells us there is no distinction between Jewish and non-Jewish believers, “for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith, in His blood” (Rom. 3:23-25). It is through faith in Jesus’ shed blood that sinners like you and me can find forgiveness from God and not be condemned (cf. John 5:24; Rom. 8:1).

Now, this does not mean that we can go on and sin freely since there is forgiveness in Christ, for Jesus says: “Go and sin no more” (cf. Rom. 6:1ff.). As those freely forgiven by Christ, we now want to serve Him and do His will. In this life, we will not be perfect — we will fail — but we continue to turn to Jesus for forgiveness and His help and strength to amend our sinful lives and live for Him (cf. 1 John 1:7—2:2).

O Dearest Jesus, we thank You for showing mercy to us sinners and pardoning our offenses for the sake of Your innocent sufferings and death on the cross. Grant that we not judge and condemn other sinners but share Your mercy and forgiveness with them so that we may join together in living our lives for You. Amen.

Author Pastor Randy Moll
Categories Devotions, Sermons

‘If anyone is thirsty …'

Posted Jun 28, 10:54 pm

“On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ By this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believe in Him would receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” John 7:37-39

We think little of the importance and need for water. We just turn on the faucet, and water flows. It wasn’t so in Bible times, especially in the arid regions of the Middle East. Water was a precious commodity, and obtaining all the water needed was a continual task and concern.

Think of the Israelites in the wilderness (Exodus 17). They had no water to drink and were thirsty. They complained against Moses, accusing him of bringing them out into the wilderness to die of thirst. God commanded Moses to strike the rock with his rod and water gushed forth, meeting the needs of God’s people. And the Bible tells us that God provided water for the people from the rock on more than one occasion (cf. Num. 20:8ff.; Deut. 8:15).

Now, it was the Feast of Tabernacles, the last day of that great feast in which the people dwelt in tabernacles to remind them of their living in tents in the wilderness for 40 years. On each day of the feast, the priests drew out a vessel of water from the Pool of Siloam, and the people sang psalms as they returned to the temple to pour out the water into a basin there on the side of the altar — a reminder that God had given them water from the rock in the wilderness.

Then, on the last day of the feast, Jesus cried out in the temple, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37-38).

That rock in the wilderness pointed to Jesus Christ. As God satisfied the thirst of His people in the wilderness with water from the rock, so Christ offers to meet the spiritual thirst of God’s people with living water, water which continues to flow and meet all our needs and to quench the thirst of those around us as we point them to Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world by means of his sacrifice upon the cross (John 1:29).

As Jesus offered living water to the woman at the well in Samaria (John 4:10,13-14), so here He offers it to all who had come to the temple in search of God’s mercy and blessing. And He offers it to you and to me, as well!

How does Jesus quench our thirst? He offers and gives us pardon and forgiveness for all our sins when we come to Him in faith, trusting that He indeed is God’s Son and our Savior and that He has satisfied the demands of God’s law for us and has suffered the full and just punishment for all our sins and is risen again (cf. Eph. 1:6-9; 1 Cor. 15:3-4; Rom. 3:21-26).

And, as John explained, when we trust in Jesus, He gives to us His Holy Spirit, who continually works through God’s Word and the comfort of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper to keep us in the true and saving faith and assure us of our salvation through faith in Jesus and His cross. He convicts us of our sinfulness with God’s Law and comforts us with God’s pardon and forgiveness through the message of the Gospel, the good news of His mercy and forgiveness in Christ Jesus (cf. Isa. 55:1ff.; 12:1ff.; Matt. 11:28ff.; Acts 2:36-39; Phil. 1:6).

We are living in a spiritual wilderness. True spiritual water is scarce — we can’t find it on our own. But God has provided it for us in His Son — the Rock which follows us in this wilderness of sin and death (cf. 1 Cor. 10:4; Psalm 36:9). And in Jesus, our thirst is quenched. Our greatest need — forgiveness of sins and fellowship with God our Maker — is met. And when we come to Jesus in faith, which is in itself of the gracious working of God (cf. Eph. 2:8-9; Col. 1:12ff.; 2:12; John 6:44,63), the Holy Spirit is given to us and our spiritual thirst is continually quenched as He sanctifies and keeps us in the true faith in Christ Jesus, our Savior (Rev. 22:17)!

We come to You, O Jesus, to quench our thirsty souls. Forgive our sins and keep us within Your flock and fold. And grant to us Your Spirit, and may the rivers flow, that others, too, may hear us, their Savior come to know. Amen.