Man is a complicated creature. With all the tools and technology that we have today which is supposed to simplify our lives, we end up making it all even more complicated. This natural propensity of ours to complicate things even filters over into spiritual things, mostly in the form of pride.
Today we will be studying the simple, uncomplicated Gospel of Jesus – just as it is, untouched by human complications. Is it basic? Is it profound? Is it life-changing? Yes to all three. It is so simple that even a child can understand, and yet powerful enough to move mountains and break chains.
So as we begin our study today, we will be looking at verses of scripture that may seem familiar… John 3:16-21:
“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.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
He that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For every one that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
But he that does truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are worked in God.”
Starting in verse 16, we see that God so loved the world, that He Gave His only begotten Son. This right here shatters many preconceived ideas about God, because many people still see God as an angry, abusive judge; a sadist who takes pleasure in inflicting punishment on us when we fail. However we see in this verse that God so loved the world, and He demonstrated that love by giving… He give His only begotten Son (Jesus), and why did He give Jesus? Let’s keep reading: that whosoever believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
God’s plan was never for anyone to die, never for anyone to perish or spend even one single moment in Hell, and so, knowing the frailty and weakness of human flesh corrupted by sin, there was only one solution, to send Jesus as a substitute, a sacrifice to end all sacrifices.
Then continuing in verse 17, we see the reason why Jesus came, not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Jesus did not come to condemn! Did Jesus magnify the law while on earth? Absolutely! He brought the law to its fulness, to show all of us that even the best of us fall short of the glory of God by the measuring line of the law, and to show us that we all need a Savior. The Law condemns us all, but Jesus saves.
Verse 18, he that believes on Him (Jesus) is not condemned, but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Today if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you are not condemned! There are many people in the world and many forces and influences that will try to bring condemnation into your life, but Jesus is your righteousness.
The other-side of this is of-course that if you do not believe in Jesus for your complete salvation, then you are condemned already. Now I know that some think that this is unfair, but we must remember that there is no salvation apart from Jesus. We can not save ourselves, nor can we clean ourselves up, we can not earn favor with God (even our best efforts are as filthy rags, Isaiah 64:6) nor can we make ourselves holy – the Holy Spirit does that (2nd Thessalonians 2:13).
We can not take any credit for anything, God get’s all of the glory. Some time ago we studied about how True Humility is Worship. Where we saw that the absolute exaltation of Jesus and worshiping Him is actually true humility. This again, is why prideful man hates the Gospel of Grace, because it leaves him nothing to do and gives God all of the glory. Hold your place in John chapter 3 and let’s read Romans 5:19:
“For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”
We know that the one man’s disobedience that made all of us sinner’s was Adam, but this is not unfair because it also sets the stage for perfect divine redemption… by One’s obedience shall many be made righteous, and we know that the One being referred to here is Jesus. Now 2nd Corinthians 10:5 tells us to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. This is the obedience that we have just read about in Romans 5:19. We are to be constantly focused and solidly rooted in the foundation of the obedience of Jesus, because this is where our righteousness comes from – it is His righteousness given to us as a gift.
This is the secret of spiritual warfare The devil wants to bring your attention back on your own obedience, but we must stay focused on the obedience of Jesus Christ for us, and when we do this we will win every single time.
Let’s return now to our verses in John chapter 3, and picking up at verse 19, we can see that even though in the preceding verses, Jesus stated plainly that He had not come to condemn the world, there is still a condemnation going on. Those who believe in Christ are not condemned and are totally safe and secure in Him, yet those who refuse Him and choose evil deeds instead, they are the one’s who are condemned. Now the word “evil” used in this verse, is the Greek word ponēros, which means “painful toil and burdensome labor”. It is a picture of striving, struggling and self-effort. The Holy Spirit calls that “evil.”
Continuing in verse 20, Jesus goes on to say that everyone which does evil, hates the light. Let’s remember the context here, The entire context of all of these verses in John 3, is the redemptive work of Jesus Christ and the salvation of all that believe on Him by faith. The word “evil” used in this verse is a different Greek word than the previous verse; here it is phaulos, which denotes something that is worthless and “of no account”. The Holy Spirit also calls such things “evil”.
So Jesus was in-essence saying that to choose something that is of self-effort and has no real worth or value instead of the gift of righteousness and salvation that comes from Christ, is evil and brings condemnation. Jesus was referring to the Law, as the Law is refereed to in scripture as the ministry of condemnation and death in 2nd Corinthians 3:9, and a yoke and a burden in Acts 15. Remember also that Jesus was speaking here to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; a Pharisee who knew the Law and knew full well of the references Jesus was making.
Lastly in verse 21. Jesus says that he which does truth, comes into the light, that his deeds would be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Now the phrase “does truth” can be a bit confusing here. Again, we must look at the context of these verses. Jesus was sharing the secret of the Gospel, and righteousness by faith with Nicodemus. And Jesus had just said that “he who believes on Him is not condemned.” and those who choose anything else are condemned already. So the phrase “does truth” here is not talking about works, but belief. Specifically, belief on Christ for salvation.
We can further tell this by looking at the Greek text. The phrase is different than the phrase “does evil” from verse 20. In verse 20, “does evil” is in the present-active indicative, which means that it is something done repeatedly and continually – in other words, practicing it. However the phrase “does truth” here in verse 21 is in the perfect tense, which means it is done once for all time and never needs to be repeated. This can not be works, but it can only be accepting Jesus as Savior.
Jesus was in-essence saying to Nicodemus here:
“Hey Nick, you have a simple choice. You can either keep going on with your burdensome self-effort and law-keeping which is worthless in the eyes of God and can’t save you, or you can believe on Me and receive My Divine righteousness, which saves you completely.”
And it doesn’t even stop there! Notice the order of the things in verse 21. First it is he that “does truth” which we recognize as belief on Christ. Then after you have believed on Christ and received His power into your life, your deeds will be made manifest. Your good deeds are fruits – they are results of receiving Christ, not works. And just in-case there was any doubt about the source of them, it is stated for us at the end of the verse… they are wrought in God.
God gets all of the glory, because He has done all of the work. The Bible makes it very clear in numerous places that there is a contrast between Grace and works of any kind, and God is a God of Grace. Romans 11:6 gives us a plain and simple definition of Grace:
“And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.”
The two are mutually exclusive. You cannot be half law and half grace. And God has made it very clear that we are not under law but under grace today (Romans 6:14).
This is the simple, uncomplicated truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And this is what prideful man hates. Men stuck in performance-mentality and pride want to have a part to play, because if they don’t have a hand in it, then they can’t boast. But God has done it all, He has done a complete work that we can not add to.
So I encourage you today, give God all of the glory, let Him be God and you simply say “thank you” for all that He has done. Don’t despise the incredible work of Jesus on that cross. Don’t make light of the completeness and totality of His payment for you. And don’t neglect the work of the Holy Spirit, which makes you Holy. It is all on God.
Under the New Covenant, our job is to simply believe the truth, and God is the one who has promised to do it all (Hebrews 8:7-12). Let’s believe what He has said. It’s the uncomplicated Gospel of Jesus Christ.