For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him.
20 sermons cite this verse
… that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Verse 17, for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Verse 18, he who does, or he who believes in him, is not condemned. The word belief is put your weight on him. Trust him. Watch. But he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name or the authority of the only begotten son of God. If you're not a Christian today, and I'm not talking Christian like membership. I'm talking about Christian follower of Jesus, okay? If you're not a follower of Jesus, you are under the condemnation of your own sin. God wants you to be convicted and to be saved. Satan wants you to be condemned and lost. Romans chapter 5. Therefore, having been justified by faith, that is, we trust Christ, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which you stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. …
… him would not perish, but have everlasting life. We all know that. We can even keep going. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Romans 3 23 for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And that's cool. And I get it now. But when I was 15, I needed one night, one night. I didn't ask her to come in and say this, but here's what she did. She said, baby, once upon a time, long, long ago, there was a kingdom and there was a king. He was a loving king and he was a just king. And all the people in his kingdom was all loyal to him because he was loving. And everyone in the other kingdoms around did not mess because he was just. One day and the viruses came and they looked at him and they said, king, someone is stealing from the king's treasury. And he said, that cannot happen. …
… 3, 16 by heart. Few of us know John 3, 17 and verse 18. Listen to what the Lord said. For God did not send his son into the world to judge the world, but that the world through him might be saved. For he who believes in Jesus is not judged, but he who does not believe is judged already because he has not believed in the only begotten Son of God. Folks, when we fail to talk about hell, we remove perhaps the greatest incentive people have for accepting the gospel of Jesus Christ. John Gerstner, the theologian, said it this way when he talked about using hell as a motivation with people. He said, the fear of hell is the only thing most likely to get worldly people thinking about the kingdom of God. No rational human being can be convinced that he is in imminent danger of everlasting torment and do nothing about it. No rational person can be convinced of the reality of hell and do nothing about it. …
… son, that whosoever believes in, trusts in, clings to him, will not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to judge the world, but that the world through him might be saved. People misinterpret that. They say, oh, see, Pastor, Jesus isn't a judge. No, he didn't come to judge the world the first time. He didn't come into the world the first time to judge the world. He came as Savior to save the world. He didn't come the first time to judge. He came to save. John goes on to explain, for he who believes in him is not judged, but he who does not believe has been judged already because he does not believe in the name of the only begotten son of God. You see, a lot of people think when we're born into this world, we're born spiritually neutral. And when we die, you know, it's kind of a crapshoot, whether we go to heaven or hell, depending on how nice we are while here on planet earth. …
… will be to reap the harvest of those who reject the gospel. We read those words of Jesus himself when he said, for the son of God did not come into the world to judge the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Oh, people say, Jesus isn't here to judge anybody. No, he didn't come to the first time to judge. He came to save. But the next time he's coming, he's coming as the judge of the entire earth. And it is that second coming of Jesus when he comes as the judge to reward the righteous, to punish the unrighteous. That is the focus of Revelation chapter 14. Turn there in your Bibles, if you would, as we look at God's terrible swift sword. Now, for those of you who haven't been part of our study in Revelation, we're in that period of time in Revelation, the final seven years of earth's history before the return of Jesus Christ. We call those years the years of great tribulation. There'll be a one world dictator, the antichrist, and it will be a time that he will not only persecute those who are alive on the earth, who know Christ, who have been saved during those seven years, but it's a time of God's wrath upon unbelievers that will culminate in the battle of Armageddon and the return of Jesus Christ. Last time we looked at chapters 12 and 13 about the spiritual force of wickedness that will be responsible for much of …
… with genuine repentance. Here's 1 Timothy 1 15. This is a trustworthy saying. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. John 3 17. Jesus himself says, God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned. How about 1 John 1 9? If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. As we're repenting, that comes to life for us. And it did for David. You can see there's a turn. I'm going to be clean because God can do that. He didn't have it fully revealed, but we do. We see Christ. We know why God can say that. It's because of Christ. These truths are incredibly powerful for the true repenter. They allow him to truly die to the old self because this Christ came exactly for their ugliest sin. You're not in a position that Christ did not come to die for. That's exactly why he came. And that comes to life in true repentance. Here's a second way that rising to new life looks. …
… I'm going to John chapter three. He says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him might not perish, but have eternal life. So he says this belief, but it's really fascinating because later on, Jesus makes a contrast. And the contrast isn't between belief and unbelief. The contrast in John chapter three is between those who believe and those who disobey. So Jesus is making it very, very clear that belief is not just kind of like intellectual assent, like, oh yeah, no, I believe that God's a trinity. It's belief versus disobedience, which means to say that that term that Jesus uses for belief isn't just I understand or isn't just I accept this, but it's more. It's I accept this, I trust this, and now I'll obey. That's why we know this, we know this. Once again, it's less about knowing the right answer and more about submitting myself to the truth who's God himself. I don't think that many of us are going to stand before God and need to know the right answer to a test. …
… John 3, 16 says this. It says, for God so loved the world that he what? He gave, he sent his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, to complain about the world, to criticize the world, but to save the world through him. God, the father sent God, the son, God, the father sent Jesus. Why? Because when God wants to do something, he sends someone. And yet God wasn't done sending after Jesus, because make no mistake about it. If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, God has sent you. Jesus says this in John chapter 20, verse 21, peace be with you to his followers as the father has what? As the father has sent me, I am sending you. Jesus said, I am sending you to do God's work in his world for his people. But what does he want us to do? …
… begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son. So let me ask you a question, when does a person become condemned? the answer, they're already condemned. If you sit here today in unbelief, you are already condemned. Jesus didn't come into the world to condemn because you're already condemned. He came in that you might have life, eternal life, and not more abundantly. So this is the thing. He uses this analogy with Nicodemus. Nicodemus would have immediately remembered the serpent being lifted up now have you guys been reading the one-year bible because we just read through this not too long ago do you remember why Moses made this snake on a pole if you will this bronze snake do you know why he made it because there was snakes going around biting everybody they were poisonous and they were dying do you remember why that happened because someone said they were complaining they were complaining about everything they ate. They're like, we're sick and tired of this manna. What is this stuff? …
… shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but he sent his son into the world to save it. I just love this. God didn't send Jesus because he was upset with humanity. God sent Jesus because he was obsessed with humanity. God didn't send Jesus to condemn everybody. He sent Jesus to save everybody. In fact, write down point number one today. I love this about God. God sent Jesus to rescue those who are far from him. Anybody that's far from God, it is not the will of God. God wants every human to be close to Jesus. So God sent Jesus not to condemn people, but to rescue people. Oh, I know it's the Oscars here in LA. I know it's Oscars night. so I'm going movie references on you today. How about the movie Taken? Little Liam Neeson for you today in church. That man flew over to Europe to go look all through Europe to find his daughter. …
… his patience is pointing you towards repentance and when you turn from your sin and repent you're not met with condemnation you're met with grace john 3 17 the verse after the most famous verse in all of the bible for god did not send his son in the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him. Here's what I hear as a pastor sometimes. God's not fair. Man, God is just not fair. And here's my response. You're right, but not in the way that you think. If God was fair, we'd all be condemned. God offers grace, which is a million times better than fairness. Grace is getting what we don't deserve. And when you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you receive the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which means on judgment day, I'm not seen by my flaws, my discrepancies. I'm seen as the righteousness of Christ Jesus. Friends, that is the good news of the gospel. You're guilty. Jesus is not. And if you put your faith in him, you receive his righteousness. …
… Everyone knows this one, that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his son, amen, into the world to condemn the world. Why? Because they were already under the wrath of God. He didn't need to do any more condemning. He sent his son into the world to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only son. This is the verdict. Light has come into the world, but people love darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light so that it may be plainly seen that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. We were just over here, so loved the world that he gave his only son. And just a sentence or two later, we're in the light, living in the light, sanctified, becoming set apart and made into all of what God has put in us at salvation. We looked at this text last week in Titus, Paul speaking to one of his protégés. At one time, we too were foolish, But look at verse four. …
… We all need to learn this verse. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. God did not invite you to church today to condemn you. he invited you to church today to tell you that he loves you well why why didn't he invite us to condemn us next verse should become also a verse that we know whoever believes in him jesus the one talking his son that he sent into the world is not condemned but whoever does not believe in him check this out stands condemned already because he's not believed in the name of God's one and only son. God didn't invite you to church today to condemn you because he already knows you're a teacup sitting under a bowling ball. he invited you to church today to tell you that he loves you and he's got mercy toward you even though you went your own way. That's why when you look at salvation, although it starts off with bad news, depravity, and wrath, it turns pretty quickly to amazing news, which is a loving God who has mercy on his people. …
… he escapes the lake of fire and is given eternal life. Verse 17, For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, first time He came, but that the world might be saved through Him. And it's this direct, he who believes in Him is not judged. It comes down to that. He who does not believe has been judged already. In other words, if you don't believe, your judgment is already set. Your eternal destiny, heaven or hell, is all based on one thing. Do you believe in the Son of God? If you do, you receive eternal life. If you don't, you enter into eternal death. But this is the judgment, verse 19, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil. They were so in love with their evil that even in that last generation, like the present generation, but even in that last generation, with judgment flying all around them, they were so attached to their sin that they did not want to give it up. In fact, he says in the next verse, everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear his deeds will be exposed. He doesn't want his sin exposed and he doesn't want his sin exchanged for righteousness. …
… have eternal life. For God didn't send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged, but he who has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God is judged already." So already He was making people alive. He had been making people alive since the beginning. Go back to Abraham. Paul says about Abraham in Romans, he believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. He was – he's the illustration of justification in Romans 4. He believed God and he was justified by believing in God, and Abraham knew nothing about the cross or the resurrection. Now, I know Romans 10 says, if you confess Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. That's because on the side of the death on the cross and the resurrection, you must believe in that. But before that, it was a matter of believing all that had been revealed, and God accounted that kind of faith as the faith that embraced divine righteousness. …
… The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. John chapter 3 verse 17. for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. You see, when you judge other people, that's not what they need. They don't need for you to point your finger at them and tell them what they're doing wrong. When Jesus saw Zacchaeus up in that tree, you remember the story of Zacchaeus, climbed a tree, he was a little tax collector, and short of stature, climbed up in a sycamore tree down to Jericho so he could see Jesus pass by. What did Jesus do? Jesus did not point his finger up in that tree and say, Zacchaeus, you black-hearted son of the devil, you thieving, conniving, dishonest tax collector, get down out of that tree. I've got a thing or two I want to tell you about your sin. When Jesus said lovingly, Zacchaeus, come down. …
… in John the third chapter, for God sent not his world, his son into the world to condemn the world, to judge the world but that the world through him might be saved. Many times we're quick to judge and condemn those that God wants to save. Maybe we do know all of the facts. Maybe they do deserve to burn in hell, but I don't want them to go there. Do you? I cringe every time I hear one individual tell another individual, you go to hell. You go to hell. Who are you to tell someone to go to hell? If you know Jesus Christ, your heart ought to be yearning, burning, loving that they go to heaven. When you tell an individual to go to hell, it makes me believe, dear friend, you probably are headed there. Because what judgment you meet, it'll be measured to you again. And that yardstick is going to become a boomerang that's going to come right back to you. With what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. …
And so chapter 3 begins with this introduction of Nicodemus. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews. Not all of the Pharisees were elevated to membership in the Sanhedrin, which was the ruling body of the Jewish people. This would be akin to a senator in the United States Senate. This is a man of very high authority in the government of the affairs of the Jewish people who is also skilled as a theologian, or at least he's supposed to be. And we are told that he came to Jesus by night. John doesn't tell us why he came at night. Maybe he was too busy during the day, or maybe as many guests, he was a little bit embarrassed about being seen publicly with this Jesus who was gaining some kind of a reputation, which was basically negative among the Pharisees and the rulers of the Jews. So maybe Nicodemus was seeking the cover of darkness and hoping for a clandestine meeting with Jesus so that he could interrogate Him in private. …
… Jim goes on to say to me, he says, R.C., everybody knows John 3.16. He says, what's John 3.17 say? John 3.17. That He sent His Son into the world not to condemn the world, but through the world, through Him should be saved. So the examination kept going. He said, okay, let me hear John 3.18. And I said, this is the condemnation that men loved the darkness rather than the light. And he said, why is that? And on his radio program I said, because their Eads are deevil. That was the end of that interview. I can hardly read that text anymore without thinking, because their deeds were evil. See the world is already exposed to the condemnation of God because we prefer the darkness to the light. Now, here's what my prayer is for the weeks to come. I don't know the state of anybody's soul in this room. We judge on outward appearances. Only God can look at the heart. But if we just go by the odds, the probabilities are extremely high that there are people right now in this room who do not know Christ, who are still living in darkness, where the darkness covers their heart and their soul. …
… Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God. he who has ears to hear the word of God let them hear shall we pray Father, as we continue to give our attention to this discussion that Jesus had with a member of the Sanhedrin, we ask that what is there for our instruction may pierce our souls and our hearts. …