1/17/26 The Hope of the Worldview

The 3^rd portion of the series takes us to John 3:18 & we repeat a word that many of us wrestle with that we covered last week. In V16 we see that the motivator for sending the Son from the Father is love. V17 returns us to this word but unlike last week it is the emphasis of the verse. Last week we learned Condemn, that is a legal term. In the original text it is, condemn is not used. It is that he would not judge the world. Again, it maintains legal context. Condemnation krinó in the GR typically refers to making a determination of right or wrong (innocence or guilt), especially on an official (legal) standard. But John’s use here is not to rub our nose in condemnation, but to give us hope. Let’s review.

John 3:16-21¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ 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. ¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Sin is no where mentioned in this portion of John’s letter because his audience was well acquainted with the concept of sin & that it is an afront to God that he detests to a level that it causes separation & division between the Creator & creation. This is because the supreme deity cannot be in the presence of anything sinful because he is pure. This level of purity is pure in the eyes of himself, that is righteousness. Sin does not annoy him, sin angers him because sin is rebellion from what we were created to be. Rebellion against righteousness demands justice, & justice means that rebellion should be punished. That is condemnation.

What you believe can save you from the wrath of an angry God, bent on justice? According to this 3 verse passage this is what saves you. 4x is 3 verses this very word is mentioned. The emphasis is unmistakable. In order of being spared the punishment of unlawful activities there is only one chance we have that somehow someway the price has been paid, for justice to have been done for us. Belief is the criteria.

What belief is: V16  pisteuó sacred significance of being persuaded by the Lord (= faith-believing) 3x in V18, the same word. id continuity cannot be missed. This is not a intellectual knowledge, this is not accepting of data this is what you have hope in. You have faith in, believe in the hope in that condemnation has been dealt with because Whoever believes in him is not condemned and in this hope is spawned from within. Hope is something the world cannot offer because any hope the world system offers is fleeting. Everything in the world is physical & the spiritual is greater than the physical. The physical dies, the spiritual is eternal. That means that the legal representation here is spiritual, not physical because it derives from a spiritual source. Since you cannot solve a spiritual problem with a physical solution, you have to have a spiritual solution to solve it, thus hope in the presence of an almighty, just, righteous God can only come from the almighty, just, righteous God. That would be the Son of God.

Faith in the Son, is the solution. This is necessary to avoid condemnation. This is the hope we can have to avoid condemnation. Last week’s condemnation was explained. This is separation from God, basically rebellion calls for justice & the justice for this is to be separated from the Creator who is love (1 John 4:8, whose love never fails (1 Cor 13:4-8), who works to the good of those who are called according to his purpose & love the Son (Romans 8:28). This is eternal, and this is a prison. It is not a party, it is isolation, with your full senses intact & desires aflame that are never fulfilled. Angels are in chains separated from God for their rebellion, are we too arrogant to believe that rebellion against God doesn’t deserve the same for humanity?

For those of us who believe that the testimony of our waywardness isn’t seen & accounted for by the Lord I have grim news for you. You cannot hide what you do, you cannot hide what you think. You maybe able to from other portions of humanity but not from the spiritual realm. The process of legalities in the Bible account for instances including the Tabernacle of testimony biblically. So not only does God see it, remember it but there are messengers who see it then record it. Belief, faith in the Son of God is the way to avoid this. So belief, faith is what provides the gateway into eternity in spite of what humanity is doing & accepting. Remember the standard is righteousness which means when you get to the other side you will dwell in righteousness because you are in the very presence of He that is righteous. The verse continues in saying, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son

Then there is the flip, unbelief, no faith, no acceptance of the gift. The condemned have no relationship or are deceived into thinking they do. Because some will be fooled who did things in Jesus name. These people drove out demons in Jesus name they claim but Jesus says I never knew you. This is due to the void in understanding of appreciation that there is by no other name by which we are saved. The problem is there is much deception being fed to the masses about how to avoid condemnation. The culture will tell you lies, other faith sets will tell you lies, schooling tells you lies. The media will tell you lies. Heck most of them will not even touch the proper payment for rebellion against God & how to pay the debt, the penalty of.

Jesus & Luke then both warned about wolves among the sheep. These are those who prey upon the sheep. These are people who seem to be in the body but are merely in disguise, which is an act of deception. Now sadly tragically wolves are in the pulpit who are peddling self-improvement or pushing that life should be about the material gain & not the growing of faith personally to have a closer walk with the Son of God who is the hope and the one whom we depend on.

Signs of this are shown in our value of life of others & the perimeters of God. Once you get saved you start the process of sanctification & you began to share the character traits of God.

This is all based on your faith. Faith in the one who overcame the world

Faith in the one who overcame death

Faith in the one who overcame hell

Faith in the one who overcame the grave.

Faith in the one who did not fail

Who do you believe in?