A Year with Jesus: 'Unless'

What Jesus Might Say

Dear Searcher,

There is only one message that you must hear today. This message is the one truth on which your eternal destiny pivots. So rather than give you many words in My note to you today, I want to challenge you with this one, unalterable truth:

Unless you believe I am Who I have said I am, your sins will lead to your death.

My beloved disciple John wrote his story of Me, the Gospel of John, to help you truly believe and find life in Me (John 20:30-31). While I welcome you here each day on our journey through the New Testament, I encourage you to take some time this week to read John's whole story of Me. Read it at one sitting to get the whole story and come to fresh faith in Me. Do this to find the life that cannot be taken from you even when death comes to claim you.

Verses Jesus Might Suggest

Notice especially what I say in the underlined paragraph near the end of the Scripture below. Notice what I say about Who I am and what My relationship is with the Father. Over the next several weeks, you will journey with Me to My crucifixion. All will appear to be lost. I will appear to be abandoned. Even when I AM lifted up on the cross, all will not be lost, and I will not be abandoned. I will be giving My life to ransom your life from sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). I will be doing what the Father has willed to redeem you at His exorbitant cost. I want to win your heart fully and help you know convincingly how deeply We love you. The power of sin to hold you and have you is real, but the power of My cross breaks the power of sin if you choose to believe!

Jesus (to the crowds):
I am leaving this place, and you will look for Me and die in your sin. For where I am going, you are unable to come.
Jews:
Is He suicidal? He keeps saying, "Where I am going, you are unable to come."
Jesus:
You originate from the earth below, and I have come from the heavens above. You are from this world, and I am not. That's why I told you that you will die here as a result of your sins. Unless you believe I am Who I have said I am, your sins will lead to your death.
Jews:
Who exactly are You?
Jesus:
From the beginning of My mission, I have been telling you Who I am. I have so much to say about you, so many judgments to render; but if you hear one thing, hear that the One Who sent Me is true, and all the things I have heard from Him I speak into the world.
The people had not understood that Jesus was teaching about the Father.

Jesus:
Whenever the day comes and you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He. It will be clear then that I am not acting alone, but that I am speaking the things I have learned directly from the Father. The One Who sent Me is with Me; He has not abandoned Me because I always do what pleases Him.
As Jesus was speaking, many in the crowd believed in Him.
(John 8:21-30)

Our Response in Prayer

O Father, thank You for Jesus - for His great love, for His costly obedience to Your will, for His redeeming sacrifice. I believe in Your love, dear Father. I believe in Jesus as Your Son and the greatest demonstration of Your love. I trust Jesus as my Savior, and I offer my heart to Jesus as my Lord. In His name, I confess and pray. Amen.