Is there not anything after John 3:16?

The Context is Important

Tim Tebow made the verse popular.  Before he placed the trademark reference on his face as a focal point during football games, people have for many years held up the reference on placards or poster board as the camera pans the crowd of people in the stands.  It is more a publicity and cultural icon than anything else.

Don’t get me wrong, I like seeing it and believe it to be an all important and vital verse which reaches people, helping them to understand the reason Jesus came.  Yet, there is more than just one verse and I am afraid we may be missing the point of the impact by limiting our focus on that one verse instead of seeing the context in which it appears.

“For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16 (HCSB)

In the context we have Jesus speaking to a ruler of the Jews who has approached Him in the night to find some answers to questions which have not settled within his heart and life.  Nicodemus comes to ask Jesus what he must do to have eternal life.  Jesus explains patiently and pointedly that the man must be born again. 

Nicodemus, who has followed the rules of the Old Testament is sunned and amazed by Jesus’ response.  It seems to create even more questions.  His mind cannot reach around the issue that faith and confession and obedience is the response God seeks from those who would follow Christ.

Jesus said that the love of God is the reason He came and God had no other plan than to send His One and Only Son, to be the conduit through which the lost sheep might find rest and peace with God.  It is through faith in Christ alone that we are saved.

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

John 14:6 (HCSB)

The message is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. This is the message of faith that we proclaim: ⁹ if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ With the heart one believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses, resulting in salvation. ¹¹ Now the Scripture says, No one who believes on Him will be put to shame, ¹² for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, since the same Lord of all is rich to all who call on Him. ¹³ For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.^[

Romans 10:8-13 (HCSB)

Now, back to the question.  We can quote verse 16 of John chapter 3 with the best of them.  All of us do it every time we get a chance.  It is important, it is vital, and it is personal.  But what about the next two verses?  Do they not have impact, meaning, revelation for us all?

¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. ¹⁸ Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God.

John 3:17-18 (HCSB)

Look at verse 17 above.  This verse reminds us that the condemnation is an issue; but saving mankind is the mission.  Many seek to condemn the world, tearing down and destroying those who refuse or reject the free gift of God in and through Christ Jesus.  Yet, the mission is more important than the issue.  The issue is resolved through the mission. 

That leads us to verse 18.  In verse 18 we see the phrase, “Anyone who believes…”  Rich or poor; black or white; the Southside of the tracks or the North side of the tracks: All who believe will pass from condemnation (the issue) to salvation (the mission).  In so doing, the realization is that God’s Son came to save us from sin and give us new life, for we have “passed from death unto life.” (John 5:24b)

Now, for a minute review the whole that text:

“ I assure you: Anyone who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.

John 5:24 (HCSB)

That verse reminds us that we are condemned when we are outside of Christ.  The one who rejects and refuses the one way to deliverance from condemnation is condemned.  They are still in their sin; still living in denial that there is a way and only one way to move from condemnation to salvation.  It was God who gave that way in Jesus, to remove the condemnation from condemned man and give Him hope and life-in this world and in the world to come.  The sad truth is that the longer one stays in this state, the harder it is for them to break the chains that constrain them.  Their mind grows callous, their heart gets harder and harder, and they white knuckle the pew each time the invitation is given.  Stiff necked and unrepentant they will die and spend eternity in hell, separated from the lover of their soul for all eternity.

“This, then, is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who practices wicked things hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. ²¹ But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”

John 3:19-21 (HCSB)

Look at verse 19: “This is the condemnation…”  That is emphatic.  That is definite, forceful, absolute, and clear.  There is no way to debate it or question it.  Jesus as the final authority of all things and says that for the one who refuses the free gift of God in and through Jesus Christ, they have revealed their true character and are sealed in it; condemned.

There is one more thing to point out and it is important to this discussion.  “The light has come…” Jesus said and He knows something about the light.

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created. ⁴ Life was in Him, and that life was the light of men. ⁵ That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it.

John 1:1-5 (HCSB)

The world “loved darkness” and this is the trait of that one who rejects Jesus.  In the darkness they hide their sinful and evil ways.  In the darkness they are covered so that not all know who they really are.  In darkness they roll and wallow in the muck of this messed up, sinful, “untoward generation.”  When light comes to penetrate the darkness, shining on it the glory of God and the mission of the Son, then those affected by it the most will fearfully turn to Jesus, the author and finisher of their faith.  That is why I say with all honesty revealed light should and does fearfully reveal the condition of the heart.  The only response that makes any sense whatsoever is to turn away from the darkness and turn to the light.

Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and he with Me.

Revelation 3:20 (HCSB)

In conclusion, I will say that what I have written here today is neither politically correct nor a popular sentiment in our “full acceptance” world of the 21^st Century.  I will not or never apologize for preaching the full gospel of Jesus Christ.  In the world today, there are those who refuse to accept that there is but one way to God the Father, and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ.  Oh, they make big arguments as they spout off various philosophies and vile ideologies of manmade thought processes claiming many ways to God, acts of repentance, and paths of enlightenment.  But the Word of God is clear: There is no other way to God but through Jesus Christ.

Also, many enlightened individuals say it is judgmental and demeaning to say that people are sinners, living under condemnation.  This is the reason many believers will not witness; they do not wish to hurt someone’s feelings by calling them a sinner.  Some years ago, an author wrote:

For we have previously charged that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin, ¹⁰ as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one; ¹¹ there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God. ¹² All have turned away, together they have become useless; there is no one who does good, there is not even one. ¹³ Their throat is an open grave; they deceive with their tongues. Vipers’ venom is under their lips. ¹⁴ Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. ¹⁵ Their feet are swift to shed blood; ¹⁶ ruin and wretchedness are in their paths, ¹⁷ and the path of peace they have not known. ¹⁸ There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Romans 3:9-18 (HCSB)

Paul, the Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote those words and they ring true even in today’s time.  Outside of Christ, Jew or Gentile, all who are under sin, individuals are doing as they please without any thought or actions which reveal righteousness.  He goes on to say, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23 KJV)  Those who live in sin are condemned and do not want the reminder, but the reminder must be made so that they will come to Jesus, the only lover who loved them more than life itself and was more than willing to die than to live life without them.

For while we were still helpless, at the appointed moment, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. ⁸ But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us! ⁹ Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath. ¹⁰ For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, [then how] much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life! ¹¹ And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Romans 5:6-11 (HCSB)

This is research and may not fully deal with the issues of this section of scripture.  I share this with you, after sharing some of these thoughts with our folks on Wednesday evening a few weeks ago, to help you think and maybe discuss the deep truths of these passages as they relate to the subject of salvation.

The Pastor’s Study @ Rockford