Sat, Feb 22nd - 6:27PM
Book of John Chapter 3
3:16-21
Here we look at a very commonly quoted passage of scripture. It frankly reveals to the reader God's great love for humanity. All of humanity. Now the Jews believed that God loved the religious, the true Jew, and hated the non-religious or Gentiles. But shockingly, God loves both the Jew and the Gentile. Perhaps you are thinking how could God love murderers, wife beaters, child abusers, prostitutes, enslavers, tyrants, and thieves?
Here in this passage it states plainly and clearly that God loves the good, the bad, and the ugly. He loves those whom no one else loves, those who cannot love themselves. He loves the unloving, the obstinate, the selfish and the vengeful. I Timothy 2:4 talks about God wanting all people to be saved, to come to the knowledge of the truth. For people to be able to leave behind the world's nonsense.
Why would God love all of us? It is in His very nature. He is love (I John 4:8,16) therefore He loves. He acts, demonstrates, and shows us His love. He does this while we still are sinners far, far, removed from knowing the truth about God.
But how did God demonstrate His neverending love for us? In verse one of today's text it tells us that He gave us His only begotten Son. Whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Would you sacrifice your only child to save someone else? This is not a human concept, willingly giving one's child in exchange for anothers life. It comes from a higher plane of existence.
Many people who do not accept that God is real allege that He hates every person, that He is just waiting patiently for each of us to screw up so that He can slap us into hell forever. But that is not the truth. Verse seventeen of our text states the Son was not sent into this world to condemn it but that through the Son it might be saved.
You see, God took the initiative to come into our world to save us from ourselves. We did not seek to save ourselves. God gave us His Son that we might be forgiven and saved. God gave the most dear thing to His heart in order to redeem the world. This was planned from before creation of the heavens and the earth.
The purpose of giving His Son was to redeem people from their sins. God desired to save us from perishing, to save us to eternal life, and to save us through our belief. In essence God desires to take us from being dead people walking and transform us into new creations. To fundamentally change our spiritual natures. There are all sorts of passages that I could quote showing what Jesus was meant to do while living in our world. He came to minister to people, to heal them physically and spiritually. He came to be the Passover Lamb for the entire world, both Jews and Gentiles.
If anyone chooses to not believe in Jesus then they condemn themselves by their choice. If people cannot recognize that light has come into our world and choose rather to continue to live darkness, then they condemn themselves. There are many who choose to live in the shadows in order that no one else may witness what they are doing. Light always reveals what the darkness has been concealing.
Christ is the great remedy for humanity's sins. He is the only way for people to truly change the way they live and treat others. Unbelief is rejecting and refusing to believe that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
So who escapes condemnation? Those who practice truth and live righteously. They know what is right and then do it. They practice truth. They are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination for they are still sinners. Those who come to the Light escape condemnation. Light reveals pitfalls in front of us we "walk" through life. Light helps us avoid stumbling and falling into sin.
Next posting I will look at the disciples' conflict over who was to be their Master, John the Baptist of Jesus.
Comment (0)
|
Name: Eric Rajaniemi
