John 8:19–24 • The most dangerous mistake a man can make isn't gross immorality — it's misidentifying Jesus Christ. And the Pharisees were standing right in front of him.

⛪ Preached at Pilgrim Baptist Church • Cookeville, TN • April 19, 2026.

📚 Part of our verse-by-verse expository series through the Gospel of John

The Pharisees built their entire identity on knowing God — the prayers, the fasting, the memorized scrolls, the tithed garden herbs, the phylacteries on their wrists. And Jesus answered all of it with one sentence: Ye neither know me nor my father. That's not a debate. That's a verdict.

In this exposition of John 8:19–24, Pastor Fortunato works through one of the most sobering passages in Scripture — the triple verdict ye shall die in your sins — and shows why misidentifying Christ is the most catastrophic failure a man can make. The problem wasn't the Pharisees' immorality. It was their genealogy. And it's yours too.

This sermon also opens up one of the most misunderstood features of the King James Bible: the italicized words. Why is he italicized in John 8:24 but am is italicized in Isaiah 43:10? Two testaments. Two languages. One voice. The fingerprint of the Holy Spirit woven between them.

This expository sermon walks through John 8:19–24, explaining:

• Why their failure was relational, not intellectual — and what that means for us

• The difference between dying of your sins and dying in your sins

• Why "from beneath" is genealogy, not geography — Genesis 3 and 1 Corinthians 15

• The only solution to an Adamic nature: you must be born again

• The warning of Isaiah: "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found"

• Why the Pharisees controlled nothing — not the timetable, not the door

• How KJV italics work — what Hebrew, Greek, and English require from translators

• Why on the day you die, your sins are in one of two places: on Christ or on you

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.