God's Word for Wednesday, January 25, 2012

[SeniorSeeker]

[size=x-large]Condemnation and Grace[/size]

Most everyone is familiar with John 3:16. What comes after, though, helps flesh it out and explain it even better.

John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Read John 3:17-21. What does it say about judgment? About grace? How do these verses reveal to us how grace and judgment work together?

John 3:17-21
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 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. 19 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. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.

The word translated "condemn" in verse 17 is also translated in some versions as "judge." Clearly, though, the context is that of condemnation, because God has made it clear in numerous other places that the world will be judged.

Two themes appear in these texts, grace and judgment, and they are radically intertwined. Sin and darkness and evil have brought the need for a God of justice to judge and condemn these things. At the same time, God

 

[C. Nyal de Kaye]

Wise words mate, thanks for posting them.

 

[Ma Betty in MO]

someone else asks us for forgiveness and truly mean it in their hearts...most will forgive them and not punish like we would had they not said they were sorry...I was talking about this very same thing with my sister this evening while talking on the phone! I said that dad taught us never to lie, for if he asked us to tell him the truth, he would give less punishment or none at al, but if we lied and he always knew it by looking into our eyes, we would be punished worse for lying about it! The Lake of Fire sounds terrible and is but God gives us a way out of being cast into it as unsaved sinners with lost souls by believing in Jesus and not lying that there is no God, Who is our Savior and Lord, for denying His existance is LYING and makes us fools in God's sight! That is why lying is so bad, because it is like a spider's web and entangles the liar with more lies to try and cover up the first lie until forgiven by Jesus with souls cleansed by HIs shed blood and washed from all sinfulness by the reading and studying of His Holy Word, The Bible! Amen! Ma Betty