Have you ever seen any of those “man on the street,” interviews? There is a fellow on Fox News named Jesse Watters who does these things and he introduces himself by saying, “Welcome to Watter’s world.” Some of the questions he asks get some very strange answers. For instance, Who won the civil war? Not one answered the (North.) Where did Abraham Lincoln live? All answered in the South. How many senators do we have? Not one got the answer right. (100) Who was our president during WW2? George Washington, Teddy Roosevelt. (Franklin Roosevelt) What month of the year do we vote for president? (November) Who was Susan B. Anthony? (Leader of the Woman’s Suffrage movement) Someone said she was a doctor! What is our economic system? (Capitalism) Some answer communism, socialism but most did not know. Now let me put all these answers in context. Jesse did these interview segments on spring break among college students from all over the United States. Sounds to me like one of the greatest needs we have is to teach basic civics in high school and college. What would you think is mankind’s greatest need? For just the next few moments I’m going to give you what the Bible teaches us is mankind’s greatest need.
“Mankind’s Greatest Need”
John 8:23-30
Key Verse
John 8:24 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.
I. The Greatest Trouble in Focus
When you look at our culture, what do you see as the biggest issue that we face? Is it the rejection of the Bible, or evolution or abortion on demand or the removal of prayer from schools? Is it crime, the immorality in our culture or something like that? All of these things are symptomatic of man’s greatest problem. In the statement made by Jesus there are three short phrases that get to the root of the problem. The first is, “…for if ye believe not…” What we believe or do not believe determines behavior. The real reason that people behave the way that they do is unbelief.
“Why will we believe every crackpot about aliens coming, but will not believe that God has come. The Globe could report that Oprah Winfrey gives birth to an alien, but witnesses say Mr. Spock is the father, and thousands will buy the paper. Yet they will throw down a free gospel tract!” Source: Larry Wilson
The question is, why? Unbelief is the answer. The answer to the question, “Why did Adam and Eve disobey God and give up the perfection of the Garden of Eden?” The answer is unbelief. If you are not a Christian this morning it is because of your unbelief.
II. The Greatest Truth We Find
This leads us to the second phrase in our key verse; “…that I am he…” This is a question of who do we believe that Jesus is? He is who He said he is or the greatest charlatan of all time. He is who He says he is or millions have believed a lie. What does Jesus say about himself and do you believe it?
“Throughout his ministry, Jesus did many miraculous works (in fact, you can see all thirty-six of His miracles here), and taught with authority (Mark 1:27). He willingly died on the cross, and rose again – but some think Jesus never claimed to God, that perhaps this was an invention by early Christians or misreading Paul. Not only were the Jews mortified when Jesus said He was self-existing before Abraham (as God told Moses “I Am” from the burning bush), but John's gospel has seven distinct moments where Jesus claims to be something that no human could possibly be, with language that no devout Jew would possibly use for fear of committing blasphemy. Collected below are the seven I AM statements of John, in which we hear the truth of Jesus' identity.” www.faithhub.net
John 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
John 10:7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
John 10:11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
Here, in these verses Jesus uses a series of metaphorical statements to declare His identity as the Son of God. The real issue for all of us is who do you believe that He is?
Matthew 16:13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
III. The Greatest Tragedy We Face
This brings us to the third and last phrase that Jesus uses; “…ye shall die in your sins.” This is the ultimate consequence of unbelief. What does Jesus mean when He says, “…ye shall die in your sins…?” The Bible speaks of death in two ways. First, there is physical death. It is appointed unto man “…once to die…” If Jesus delays His return another 100 years everyone in this sanctuary will be dead and buried. That is an undeniable fact of life. We are born, we live and then we die. Second way that the Bible speaks of death is spiritual death. This is when the soul is separated from God for all eternity.
Revelation 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
This is why our eternal destiny is not determined by our morality one way or another, by our religiosity, by our intelligence, by our affluence, by our relationships or any other factor. The one thing that matters is do we believe that Jesus is who he declares himself to be in the Bible and do we then act upon that belief and by faith make Him Lord and savior of our lives.
Not long after we were married we moved to Batesville, AR and started attending the Allen’s Chapel Free Will Baptist Church. Our Sunday School teacher was a man named Wilfred Robbins and I remember a statement that he made that has stuck with me all these years late; He said, “If you miss heaven, you’ve missed it all.” The plain and simple truth is if you die without Jesus Christ as your personal Savior you will miss heaven! So I close this message with a simple and straight forward question. Do you know Him today? Do you know for sure that you know Him?
The Continental Divide of the Americas (also known as the Great Divide, is the hydrological divide of the Americas. The Continental Divide extends from the Bering Strait to the Strait of Magellan, and separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain into the Atlantic Ocean (including those that drain into the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea) and, along the northernmost reaches of the Divide, those river systems that drain into the Arctic Ocean.
Stand on one side and the water flows to the Pacific and stand on the other side and it flows to the Atlantic, two completely different destinations. The same thing is true spiritually. Accept Jesus and believe on Him and your destination is heaven; reject Him and your destination is hell. What will it be for you today?
