The following verses come from John chapter 8:
21 Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.
22 Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come.
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.
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.
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.
There are a great many people out there who once identified as Christians but reject God now. Part of the argument that they make is what great Christians they were. They knew their Bibles. They sought God. They prayed. They went to church faithfully. They did everything they were supposed to do. How could it possibly be that what they did was not enough? They MUST have been as much a Christian as anyone else. And now they've grown beyond that; they know better now.
I don't know that they ever really read John 8. It quite plainly states that there will be those who are seeking, but not finding. You can seek God without God saving you. He's not under obligation to you just because you looked for Him. We don't think about this very much. We don't hear it from our pulpits (I haven't, at any rate). It's good to seek God, but it's not enough.
Seeking God is a nebulous thing. It doesn't define what a person believe about God, or who they believe Him to be. Believing that Jesus is God isn't really enough anymore either because there are so many different gods that have been called Jesus. Seeking the Messiah is not enough. Seeking a Savior is not enough. Seeking God is not enough.
They will seek for Him, but they will die in their sins. Why? That's why we have verse 24: because they don't believe that the Jesus in the Bible is God. Because they think that the God of the OT is a different God than Jesus in the NT. They see division where there is none. They see contradictions, and instead of trusting, they reject. They can't believe that the God Who IS love is also the God that exterminates whole people groups because of their wickedness. They can't believe that Jesus Who lived perfectly was also the Captain of the Lord's Host Who told Joshua to be courageous and utterly destroy Jericho (with the exception of Rahab). So completely that they couldn't even touch the stuff! The people weren't just polluted - everything they owned was polluted!
You will seek Him, but you will die in your sins because you don't believe. They may argue, say that they did believe, that they believed for a long time, but how much did they really believe? Because something came to light that changed their mind. Something was strong enough to make them say, "Eeeehhh, I don't believe THAT much." Either they just didn't think about the "contradictions" until they were older (easy to do when it's a family affair), or they never knew who Jesus really was so they were unable to believe in Him. It's possible to believe a lot of things ABOUT God without ever trusting Him to be your All.
And now they're not seeking because they think they've had it. When you're convinced that you've tasted milk and you hate it, you will never try it again. Why would you? But imagine that the only milk you ever tasted was sour milk, and you had it over and over. That's the only milk you've ever come in contact with. It looks the same as what everyone else is drinking and enjoying, but it's not. You kept trying it and it just made you sick! It was disgusting! How does someone with good, fresh milk convince you that the stuff you had before was not right, and that there really is good milk to be had?
It's not possible with men. I can't convince anyone. I can write and I can pray, but only God can give the increase.
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