Gospel of John, 3:22-36

We may do a little tag team today. Not that I would ever go along on lessons or anything. Smiling over here. We knew we'd maybe spill over a little bit, since I had a lot of questions. So I'll go through mine, and if I get done, we'll have Mike tag on. Is Mike or Chris? Are you doing it? So Mike will take over.

We are on lesson seven. So does everybody have a lesson seven, or does somebody need a lesson? Do you need a lesson seven? George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, All right, well, did we get through eight, or did we just start eight?

Nine. We're in nine, we got through eight, right? I don't think we got into nine, did we? No. We got through, I think, eight, or we're either through it or... Is that right? Yes, no? Thumbs up, thumbs down? We got through eight. We got through eight, okay. I thought we got at least through eight or partially through it, so we'll start on number nine. Lesson 7, question 9.

Read verses 14-17. What is the important new revelation for us in these verses? And I'll read the verses. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in Him will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but the world might be saved through him." So, I guess the first thing is, as Moses lifted up the serpent and the wilderness, even so the Son of Man must be lifted up. Does everybody understand what that means? What is it about Moses and the serpent? Does everybody know where that comes from?

Or get the water. Nope. Something different. Is staff turned into a serpent? Nope. That's number one. Nope. We're getting closer. There's a lot of serpents on sticks out here. They had some affliction and in order to heal that affliction, the serpent was lifted up and all they had to do was look at it that were there. And where the affliction was, this is in, I think it's Numbers 21. Is it Numbers 21, I think it is? And this is where they're out in the wilderness, and they got a little grumpy, and said, what have you, you know, dragged us out here, we're out in the desert, we could have been back in Egypt, yada, yada, yada.

So a few things called fiery serpents started showing up, and biting them, and they would die. So then Moses intervened again and said, okay, you know, we're sorry. So he said, raise up a serpent on a pole or a staff. And if you look at the serpent, if you've been bitten, you won't die. So again, it was a reference to, again, a good reference, there was life in the serpent raised up on the pole.

So this is basically saying about Christ being raised up, his death, and being raised up on a cross. First the Lord was telling of his impending death on the cross by saying, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. So Jesus had spoken to Nicodemus that a new birth was required for the Jews entry into the Millennial Kingdom. Now this was the shocker that we had before that Nicodemus the Jew firstly said now for the Jews to get into the Millennial Kingdom there was this requirement. Now Jesus states that the cross will be necessary for God to be propitiated and for us to be identified with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection and thereby receive new life. He brings the Moses analogy up for what he was going to do on the cross. Through his death on the cross, we might have new life. Just as when you look at the serpent, you have life from the bite of the serpents.

So he's first doing that. So that was just kind of the initial reference of it. Secondly, and I think most important, was the whoever in verse 15 and 16. Why is this important? Remember, he's talking to Nicodemus, and now it says, whoever, whoever. What does that mean? You better understand this. This doesn't apply just to the Jews anymore. This is whoever. Okay? This indicated that anyone could be saved.

You know, remember, again, go think about Nicodemus. Nicodemus, the Jewish ruler, all this stuff, and now, you know, he was worried about entering the Millennial Kingdom, the earthly kingdom. Remember, Millennial Kingdom, the Kingdom of God, all those kingdoms, refer to the earthly kingdom, the Millennial Kingdom. So Nicodemus was getting whacked with the left and right cross on that one, that now you need a new birth, and it's something besides just being a Jew.

Now, Christ tells him, whoever. Nicodemus is now knocked on the floor. He's down. But think what that means to us. That is now Christ saying, whoever. Jew, Gentile, it doesn't mean, there's no difference. Anybody can be saved and have eternal life through Christ.

Do you think Nicodemus understood it that way? I think he understood now when he said the whoever's. That's why all the rebukes and all the things that came through on the last one. the millennial kingdom was enough that he was getting whacked and I think now he's saying whoever he's got to have understood because it wasn't to the elect nation it wasn't he wasn't referring to Jews at all and now in the whoever's you know he's got to have understood that that you know because it was always to the Jew to the you know and now when he says whoever he's got to have understood that. God loves whoever, God so loved the world. And the world. And so he's got to have realized that. And I think because of all the other statements, he was already coming into, you know, that there was a new plan anyway, just for the Jews. And now when he says whoever in the world, I think he's really, really understanding this. And it's got to be just devastating to him.

You know, and to understand, I don't think we get that appreciation, what he's going through. I couldn't think of a good analogy of what that would be the equivalent to us. Stupid one, I don't know. Suddenly somebody comes in here and, I don't know, in order to be in the kingdom, you have to be tattooed with Bill on your forehead or something.

We're like, what do you mean? That's crazy. But that's the new requirement. That's crazy. Something just totally out of line. That's what Nicodemus is now getting. He's a Jew. He's a ruler of the Jews. And now he's being told not only, you know, just being Jewish isn't good enough, that everybody can get into the kingdom. I mean, not into the kingdom, excuse me. Not into the kingdom.

The kingdom references are the millennia. Now anybody can have this new life in Christ. And we'll get into a lot more of that as we get into some of these other questions. But again, it's an amazing revelation right there. As Winnie was saying, That's wonderful. That's us. That's us now. That's him saying, anybody, Gentile, now can have this new life through Christ. In verse 16, what is important about God so loved the world and is only begotten son? I'm sure I had a great thing on this, and I'm going to read a little bit from it. It was pretty cool what he went in.

I guess to help with this question, what can love? Can a tree love? Can a cloud love? Can an idol, you know, an idol sitting on a pedestal, can it love you? You know, I don't know, some of the other religions, you know, if you're a tree, a cloud, amorphous, whatever, you know, an idol sitting on the shelf, you know, can it love you? It can't.

What does this verse say? God so loved. So what does that mean? Think about that. What does it mean when God so loved? What does that say? It's a living God. It's a person. A person can love. Think of what that is now. We have a God who is a person. I mean, an entity. Because a tree can't love, an idol can't love, but a person can love. So we have God the Father loving.

That's pretty cool. We don't just worship a brass isle or something that can't love us. And when you get back to it, it's kind of the circle that migrates us. What first happens? God loves us. That's the first thing. But it's cool because it's a person now. So we have a God who is a person behind love. There must be a person and that's the one who generates it.

Also, what does it say about his only begotten son? What does that reveal? That he became man. Man or only begotten son. What does that say about the relationship? They're one and the same. One and the same, but it's about the Trinity and the three persons. that God the Son, and he says only Son, but he's the unique one of a kind. One of a kind. I guess what I'm looking at is, think of what that says now.

It's not only a person, but the relationship is like a father and a son relationship. The intimacy of a father-son relationship. You know, the triune, the trinity, but three different entities. But the relationship between them is a father and a son relationship. How cool is that? Not only a person, do we just put a person on this, but we have a father-son relationship.

The intimacy and the love of a father to a son is now shown in this verse. He gave his only begotten son. As I said, this is the truth of divine fatherhood. There cannot be a son without a father. If God gave a son, God himself has a father-son relationship with Jesus. And that is a revelation that the Gentiles and Jews would never have thought possible.

Again, this intimate relationship in a father-son relationship. You know, when I get into this, one of my things that I always get in, the intimacy that we have, that relationship that we have now. Again, as we see that it's a person, it's a relationship, now we have that same relationship. We don't have it with an inanimate object, we have it with a person, and we have that same intimacy. When you look in, when we get into John 17, we have that same intimacy with him. The same father-son relationship.

And the one I always go to is Romans 8.15. For you've not received the spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you've received the spirit of adoption as sons, by which we cry out, Abba, Father, Daddy. That's the intimacy that we have with God the Father. Daddy, Papa. That's the intimacy that we have.

It's not with any inanimate object. a person, and it's with the intimacy of saying, Daddy, you know, let me tell you, over the last three days, I've had a lot of Daddy conversations. It's been a lot of intimate, you know, what is going on? Lord, I understand you're in control. I understand you're in control. Just let me know what's going on, please.

And a lot of intimate conversations. I'm out on the drill rig. I'm out at 3 o'clock in the morning, up all night. I can have a conversation with my father. It doesn't matter if it's right. It's not like I knock on the door and have to see if he's awake or available. 3 in the morning, things are going crazy. I can have an intimate conversation with my God, my Father. How cool is that? That's what we have now, this intimacy, and it is fantastic.

The Spirit Himself testifies of our spirit, that we are children of God. And if children, heirs also, heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ, if we need suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him. And then from Galatians 4.6, because you are a son, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Therefore you are no longer a slave. but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God."

Again, the beauty of this, John 3.16, is the father-son relationship. And do we have that same relationship now? You know, we go back to some of our identifications. Do you believe that? Do you really believe that? Do you have that intimacy?

Just like going to daddy. He's told us we do. God so loved the world. His father gave us a son. We have that relationship now. So it's, there's so many things out of this John 3 16 that I mean, just the personal aspects of it, the ability to open it up to all of us, the intimacy that we have with him. And we're going to get into some of the requirements now that really tie into a lot of our identification truths that we looked at. Let's go on to the question 11.

What wonderful truth in verse 16 is related to God's grace? Remember that the definition of grace is the unmerited, unlimited blessings of God based on the totally adequate work of Christ. So in the 316 verse, you know, grace is written all over these wonderful verses or this verse.

First, the whosoever. How freeing that is that we're able to come. Anyone can come. to Christ and receive the free gift of salvation. How does this tie in the identification and the unmerited part? We don't have to do anything in return. We don't have to do anything except faith, by faith. Does it say whoever believes in this creature come? Does it say whoever cleans up their act Come. Doesn't say it. Whoever does. Fifty nine memory verses come. I'm looking between what we did there in 10 and going on to 11.

The scripture comes that God commanded his love towards us while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And I'm wondering about that commanded. That's a volitional thing. I think there's a certain element to God's love that I think only he has and he has it through his son. And that is basically because he loves us by his grace. It is. You know that's why I say grace and love are just smeared all over this. And that's it, you know.

And we'll get into this a little bit and I'll read a thing from Ironside and stuff. You know, to some degree, I think sometimes we've become the modern day Pharisees. I really get that feeling a lot of times. You know, because we suddenly put all these requirements on.

What does this verse say? Whosoever. Tell me what the limitation is. Give me one limitation to that. Ourselves. Well, yeah, I mean. But I mean, any requirement Do I have to dress a certain way? Do I have to talk a certain way? Do I have to, you know, if I'm an alcoholic, do I have to give that drink before I come to the Lord? Does it say that? No. You are an alcoholic. Before you come to me, you clean up your act. Is that what it says?

What do we do a lot of times? As soon as you get that nasty streak out of you, come on to the Lord. You can't come to the Lord being that nasty. That's where I say I'm the modern day Pharisee. If I'm doing that stuff, I'm putting all these laws on people to come to the Lord.

I think Mike said something about one time down on the mission, people coming in and just didn't feel worthy to come in. How wrong is that? You know, that he had to be cleaned up or he had to, before he felt worthy enough to come. What did Jack say? While we were yet sinners. You know, it wasn't that we had to clean up our act.

Don't be the modern day Pharisee and add conditions to this clause. Whosoever. No conditions. Yeah. I think that a lot of times we can Even if we believe there's no conditions for salvation, after salvation all of a sudden we have problems. Yeah, I mean that's the whole identification, learning the identification and learning grace. I mean that's our whole problem with grace is we suddenly, now we realize we receive this beautiful grace, this gift, now I feel unworthy and I have to do all these things I have to do. It's my sense of spiritual push-ups. You know, no. What is grace?

Unmerited. We don't do anything. The only thing we do is believe. The unmeritorious act of believing. But it's alright. Before coming to know the Lord, we try and put all these criteria. It's even worse on the other side. Well, now we suddenly feel humbled and I'm not worthy. I have to do so much. Does grace say that?

No. I have the thought as we're looking at this that something of value has to be exchanged for the sin. And the thing of value, the father gave the thing that was the most valuable thing to him was his son. And he willingly gave that for the price so that he could be gracious to us. So for us to try to come to him with any of our own value, we'll never measure up to the value that he's already put forth to pay for his righteousness.

And what are you saying by that? God, you did really good. You gave us this really good gift, but I'll add a little bit to it. the best price that you have that your son, I'll just add a little bit to it to make it a little better. No way, no way. Anyway, I thought this was good. This was from Ironside saying, it's just a little story and it kind of just is an example. I just thought it was good.

He had a lot of good statements in it. I'll try and get through it quickly. was a boy going to a missionary meeting. A missionary was there from Africa and was showing us a whole lot of curious things. And then he said, now boys, I want to tell you the kind of gospel we preach in Africa.

How many good boys have we here? A lot of us thought we were good, but our mothers were there. So not one of us dared hold up our hand. Well, said he, not one good boy here. Then I have the same message for you that we have for the heathen in Africa. God loves naughty boys. My, I thought, he's getting it all mixed up. For you see, I had heard people say, if you're good, God will love you. But dear friends, that is not true. God is not waiting for you to be good so he can love you.

God loves sinners and has proven his love for them by the gift of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Herein is love. Not that we love God. but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Instead of waiting for people to be good, God commanded His love toward us that in while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Do you believe that, dear friend? The difficulty is that men have the wrong idea about God and are always trying to make out that they are better than they are. Most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness, but a faithful man, who can find? Proverbs 20, 26.

You'll find people down in the depths of sin, but they're always ready to compare themselves with other folks saying, I'm as good as they are. But God has no message and no blessing for men who are trying to justify themselves. As long as you try to make a good name for yourself, God can only condemn you. But when you come into his presence and confess yourself a lost, guilty sinner, God has a message and a blessing for you. God so loved the world, a wicked, corrupt, and ungodly world, and you and I belong to it. God's word declares that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. Jeremiah 17, 9 and 10. Yet knowing all the wickedness of my heart, and your heart is capable, God loves us and gave his Son to die for us. My, what a gospel this is, what a message to bring poor needy sinners.

We do not come to men to say, turn over a new leaf, quit your meanness, give up this, give up that. We do not ask anyone to give up. We ask you to receive. the gift of God, and when you receive the gift, the things of the world will grow strangely dim in the light of Christ's glory and grace." I thought that was a great thing. We don't ask to give up. When you talk to somebody, you don't ask them to give up something. You ask them to receive the Lord. I thought that was a great thing, just how we try and put all these requirements on people and different things.

The whosoever and God so loved, it wasn't that we have to change anything. Alright, number 12, what does it mean to believe? In grace and love. You know, I keep thinking if you ever look in the dictionary for a definition of love, it should say Jesus Christ. I mean, there's no better demonstration. So what does it mean to believe in him? Question 12. What does it mean to believe?

A strange quiet came over the ground. Believe the gospel that Christ died for. Believe the truth that he died according to the scriptures. He was buried. He goes again the third day according to the scriptures. So to believe is? Is to believe the truth. You're using the same word in the definition. Rest on it. Would that be another word? Yeah, I mean, it's just a different word for what believe George.

I think that he says he's talking about him. I think what he's referring to is is believing those certain truths about who he claimed to be and what he claimed to be able to do. Jesus claims to be able to. Claims to be able to take away. that Jesus can do what he claimed to be able to do, and there are some people that don't. There are people that believe that Jesus can do what he claimed to be able to do, and that he was who he claimed he was. Those people have eternal life, and those people that don't believe that, don't.

Okay. You said one word in there that I liked, because that was what I was trying to get at a little bit. Huh? Accept? Any others? Yeah. He is the total appropriation of our sin. Yeah, but what does it mean to believe? So I'm getting what is an act of the will. Act of the will. You're the lexical definition. I've got that one, too. We got to go. I've got Zodiac. I've got the others. Go ahead.

Scofield says that the word is a noun and it means adherence to. Committal to, faith in, relies upon trust in a person or an object, and this involves not only the consent of the mind, but an act of the heart and will of the subject. Whosoever believes in him is equivalent to whosoever trusts in or commits himself to him. You like that? Not bad. George has a rebuttal now. I think that it's easy to make this too complicated. I think that the idea of saying that we commit to him, That carries a whole freight of other things with it.

I don't think that Jesus' intention whenever he said that whoever believes in him was a small and complicated definition. I think what he meant was, I mean, the best example is in John 11, where he's talking to Mary and he says, I am the resurrection and the life, and he that believes in me, even though he dies, he will live. And whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

And then he asks her, do you believe this? She could have said, you know, I just don't really believe that that's all that there is to it. And she didn't say that. She goes, yes, Lord, I've already believed that you're the Christ, the Son of God coming to this world. I think that's what Jesus is saying here. People either believe those truths or they don't believe those truths.

I'm going to boil it down, but I have a word that you had in there that tripped me, and I'll get to it. I'll boil it down into one thing, and I think it was a good difference, because you said the word, you believe about him. And that's the one that I want to hit. I'll go through the little definition here. Craig is in here, he has the computer with the Greek.

Pistulo is the word to believe, which means to have faith in, upon, or with respect to a person or thing. I credit my implication to entrust, especially one's spiritual well-being to Christ. Zodiates has the word believe in 316. It's present participle hope, pistulion, should not be taken as the one holding on to God constantly, lest he would let loose and fall.

It rather indicates that once one believes, he continues to believe, for he has eternal life in him. The assurance Christ gave in John 10, 28 is this, And I gave unto them eternal life, that they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Once a believer places himself in Jesus, it is he, Christ, who holds him firmly, without someone being able to snatch him away. For if this could happen, then there would be the acknowledgment that someone is mightier than Christ, which cannot be.

John 10, 28 was always one of my anchor verses when I was a young believer. John 10, 28 was one of those ones. I'm in God's hands. And it says, nobody's able to snatch me out, and I can't get out. So whenever that doubt came up, I always went back to that one. When I was an early believer, it's like, I'm in God's hands. And he's telling me I can't get out. Nobody can snatch me. So that was always my anchor verse.

But what this is getting to is the believing part. And I guess what I wanted to get about, and back to George and the about, remember that this is not a question of, now listen, there are two words in here. Remember this is not a question about believing about him. It's a question about believing in him. You know the difference now?

I can know all the facts about him. I can know all those facts about him. You went on but you used the word about and that's what I want to get. I can know a lot about him. I can know the history about him. I can know everything about him. But do I believe in him?

You see the subtle difference? I'm not exactly sure. You're asking me? Yeah. I don't know exactly what you mean. I know about him. I know about you. I know your job. I know what you're doing. That's one thing. but to believe in him, what is true about him. I can know facts about you.

I can know all those things, but I can't, you know, trust, there's a trust in you versus knowing about you. And it's a difference about knowing like, well, it's kind of head and heart knowledge is I guess maybe another way to look at it. believing in him, what he did, and all those truths what you said, it's not just believing about, yeah, he did that, but it's trusting in him and what he did. I guess it would be trusting about what he did, but how it applies to you. I mean, Satan himself believes that Christ is the Son of God, that he died for the sins, but he obviously doesn't believe, you know, even if that did apply to Satan, he wouldn't believe that it applies Right.

And it wouldn't be a personal thing, I wouldn't do what he did. And that's what I'm getting at. You know about him, but there's that second step of in him. You know, I can know about him, but you know, I can, yeah it happened. But do you believe in him? That's true about him. You know, how my wife put together that whole book on faith.

And he used the definitions from Hebrews 11.1 that faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And when he wound that down, in essence, what he said was that faith can be defined as the absolute certainty of the things of God. Did you hear that?

Yeah, I would agree with that. I have a hard time accepting that there's more than one kind of faith. No, there isn't. That just bothers me. And you're saying there's difference, I mean, faith is either... The difference in this, that there is the faith, there's my personal faith, and there's differences that way. Well, but that's in the object, isn't it? It's not the faith. Faith is still the non-meritorious act. It's the object of the faith that's the key. It's not the faith.

I can have faith in a dog. No, what I meant was that I think the Bible distinguishes between my personal faith and what we could describe as the faith, which is the entire Word of God. You know, it's a subtle difference. I can read the Bible and have a lot of knowledge about it, the facts, but I'm getting to the faith aspect of it.

Well, I think the way that I think about it is but I don't believe any of them. I mean, I know that the theory of evolution and cosmology says that the Earth is six billion years old, but I don't believe that to be true. There are lots of people, Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, that know that Jesus died on the cross, that know he was the Son of God and everything else, but they don't believe in them in the sense that when Jesus says, I am the one and only way to the Father, they don't believe that. And so by that definition, they don't actually believe, they don't believe in the way that Jesus means it. Yeah, and all I'm getting at is what that means by his belief. Like I said, you can know about it, but knowing in him and believing and trusting in the facts that you know about it. The faith is the, like I said, the only way to go to it is the non-meritorious act.

That's the key. And the real benefit of the faith is the object you have faith in. That's the key to the faith. You can have faith in a lot of things, but the key is the object of the faith. here. So it's a subtle difference. I want to get the difference between just knowing facts about it and the actual basis of faith in what he did is true. Would you say that the merit of the faith is in the object and not me who has the faith? Oh yeah. Like I said, you can have faith in a lot of things, but the importance is what you Okay, so what do we have when we have faith in him? What does it say?

Eternal life. In 13, what does it mean not to believe in him? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. And then in 18, he who believes in him is not judged but he who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son.

So, what about the whosoever in this one? About not believing. What is that? What happens on that one? He's condemned already. Condemned. Condemned. So, I want to get into this a little bit. You know, one of the things it says in Revelation 20, this is kind of a picture of those who don't believe.

Then I saw a great white throne, and he who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, and the great, and the small, standing before the throne. And books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life.

And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it. And the dead in Hades gave up their dead which were in them. And they were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds. Then death in Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

So again, the whosoever is just as open as the whosoever believes. Whosoever, I don't care, Jew, Gentile, if you don't believe in the Lord, you have been condemned and judged already. No criteria. There weren't criteria on that one. You have a furrowed brow. I don't think that the non-believing is what condemns you. I think you're already condemned. is, is open as the whosoever coming in. That's the point. It isn't because I was a Boy Scout and I helped eight ladies across the street today. Whosoever. The key is the belief in Christ. All right? I've got 14. I'll try and get through this quickly. Oh, he's getting up. Read verses 17 and 18.

What is a marvelous truth expressed in these verses? For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son. So what is a great truth out of here for us?

Romans 8.1? Exactly, that's the one I have.

What is Romans 8.1?

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. So we believe the marvelous truth is all our sins were laid on Jesus. God was propitiated through Christ's death on the cross. Now through faith, our faith in Christ, our co-crucifixion, identification, we are new creatures in Christ. Have all my sins, past, present, future, have they been paid for? Have all my neighbors' sins, past, present, and future? Mike's favorite guy that crosses the street in the White House? We still have to meet him someday. We've abused him for years. Have his sins been paid for? The ones he's done, he's doing now, and tomorrow. Have they been paid for?

Then what about this judgment in verse 8? What is it for? Read 18. He who believes in him is not judged, but he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son. So what is the issue now? Is it our sins paid for? Is that what it is? Yeah. So what is the issue now though? Belief. The sin issue has been paid for. His sins, my sins, your sins. Sin is not the issue. The payment for the sin is not the issue anymore. God is fully propitiated. Fully satisfied with the payment for the sins.

So what is the issue now? It's belief in his son. That's the issue now. It's not about all of our, you know, what I did yesterday. You know, I kicked the dog. Don't worry. You know, I had a horrible thought. I was doing 75 on the 55 mile an hour freeway. You know, whatever.

Is that the issue now? No. The issue is our relationship with Christ. How about if the issue is faith? And I'm a non-believer and I happen to live somewhere where I have never heard the gospel. Why am I condemned? So you're actually getting to number 15 real quick, if we can get there. About light. I'm trying to move you along. I know, I can see that. We'll quickly get through that.

Remember that all the sins we've committed or ever will commit, Christ took account for them on the cross when he died. So if you're condemned, it is not because of the sins you've committed, it is because you've failed to believe in the Savior that God provided.

The free gift is for all. It's waiting for the unbeliever to receive. It's like the example I've used before about somebody gives you a Ferrari as a free gift, but you don't take it. You don't believe it's a free gift, so you don't take it. You know, if you don't take it for any reason, you can't appropriate the benefits of that gift.

So, this is a summary by William Kelly that I thought was really good. Inasmuch as the true light now shines, no longer the law in Israel, but the light come into the world, a criterion is enforced which decides for every man. There's a far deeper question than a man's own state or conduct. Indeed, this too is already decided. A man is no longer under probation, as the Jew was under the law. He is lost, be it Jew or Gentile. He alike is lost.

It is a question of believing on Jesus, Son of God, Son of Man, who has been sent of God, not as will be shortly to judge the quick and the dead, but the world, not the elect nation now, but the world, spite of its ruin, in his grace, may be saved through him.

This test to the core, all thus depends on believing on Him. If one believes not, he has already been judged. It is not merely to fail in duty, but to fight against the grace and truth come by Jesus Christ. It is to reject life eternal and the perfect love of God and the only begotten Son of God, whose name one disbelieves or makes light of. So again, the issue is about our relationship with Christ. And do you believe that? Alright, so getting quickly on to number 15 so I can get out of this and get done.

Verses 19 and 21, what are some of the differences between light and law? This is the judgment that the light has come into the world and men love the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the light so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God. Is it okay to complain about the lack of light? light is coming to the world.

My buddy, who he just said, who is in deepest, darkest Africa, can he say, I didn't see the light over here? Does it say it? Where did the light come? So can I say, wherever I'm at, I don't have the light? Lord will make. And you know, a couple of things. What does the light say? Actually, I want to get, you know, one of the ones that touches on this. Well, I can get through in about one minute, I think.

You know, the law, basically what this does, if you're a Jew or Gentile, we got into that, if you're not under the law in the Revelation. Read Romans 2, 12 through 16, and that's about how the law was written, even on the Gentile's heart, the conscious, and by that law.

Everybody has the law and knows. And when we look at some of the old cultures, we talk about that a lot, where in the old cultures, they even know that God was mad and that he needed to be appeased. That's why Mayans had sacrifices. All these have sacrifices in trying to do things. They know in their hearts there's God. Romans 1.

We're without excuse. So the question the light came into the world. Is there a spot in the world where there isn't light available? Does it say in all the world except for in Cleveland, Ohio? Whatever. For those listening on the tape, don't take that as a personal offense for Cleveland. Is there a criteria on there? Did it come into only part of the world? Are you with that? What are we talking about as in light?

Because obviously people don't have the knowledge. They don't have the Bible. They don't have the knowledge of belief in Christ. It's just a... I don't know. It's opening a whole can of worms. I wish we hadn't done this at the end of the program. See, I love this. I give it to Mike next week. It's him. I kick the hornet's nest and he gives me the answer. There are people on this team who have a consciousness to understand that there's a God, but they have no way of understanding how to worship that God. We'll get to that. We did open the can. So this is a good opportunity for you to start exploring that and what that means. for next week. Mike will address that. Because that does come up. That does come up.

You know, what about the guy in the deepest, darkest Africa? You know, my question is, do you think God couldn't get the word to him? Think about that. Thousands of years he didn't, so were people not wanting? They were not pursuing the light? Yeah. Look at this verse again. What did man want? Did he seek the light? So this will go to the Fairness Doctrine. You're thinking the Fairness Doctrine. I don't know what I'm thinking. But that's what it is. That's what it is. It's the Fairness Doctrine is what you're doing here. You've got to deal with that. Alright, I've now opened up the hornet's nest and Mike will address it next week.

Let's close with a quick prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time. Father, we thank you any time we can get in your Word just to focus on you. We thank you for just what a tremendous set of verses these are about how you love the world. You wanted that relationship, and Father, you are satisfied with the payment for all of our sins. The issue now is our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is so nice to know that there aren't any criteria. We don't have to look a certain way, say a certain thing to come to you. We just have to, in simple, non-meritorious faith, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So Father, we just thank you for the wonderful truths that you have in the Scripture. And Lord, we just thank you for this time. We pray for Vern as he gets a message coming up. And Father, we just commit this day to you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.