John 3:16 ESV
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
God so loved the people of this world that he gave himself
(God the Son) to die on a cross for our sins so that we could be delivered from
the ultimate punishment of sin, and from our bondage (addiction) to sin, so that
we can live in Christ and to him and to his righteousness, by the Spirit of
God.
This word “believes” means to be persuaded, i.e. to be
persuaded by God. Also, belief in Jesus Christ is a gift from God. So, this
belief is gifted to us by God, and it is persuaded by God as to his holiness
and righteousness, and as to our need to turn from our sins and to walk in that
righteousness.
Another thing about this belief is that it is present tense
(believing). We are not saved on the basis of past belief, but on present
belief, which is of God, and is persuaded by God to forsake our lives of sin to
follow our Lord Jesus in obedience to his will and to his purposes for our
lives. In other words, this belief submits to the Lordship of Jesus Christ over
our lives.
John 3:17-18 ESV
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
When Jesus the Christ came to earth the first time, he came
to save the world from sin, not to judge it in the sense of condemnation and
assigning people to hell. This will happen the next time, when he returns for
his bride and to judge the people of this earth. But, this is not to say that
he made no judgments about sin and hell, while he walked this earth. For, he
did!
Jesus didn’t have to condemn the people of the world while
he was on this earth, for their own sins and their own disbelief in the Lord
Jesus is what condemned them. But, he did confront them with their sins, and he
warned of divine judgment, and of hell, and of disbelief and of its
consequences in their lives if they did not repent and turn to him in faith.
And, he told them that the only way to salvation was for
them to forsake their former lives of living for sin and self and to follow him
in obedience. They had to die to sin, to put it to death in their lives, by
faith, by the Spirit of God, and they had to walk in obedience to him, he said,
if they wanted to enter into eternal life with him (Lu. 9:23-25; Jn. 6:35-66;
Jn. 10:27-30).
John 3:19-21 ESV
“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
Yet, even though Jesus Christ did all of this for us so that
we could be free from our addictions to sin and be able to walk in his freedom
and in his righteousness, still so many people love the darkness more or in
place of God, and so they won’t come into the light of his truth, because they
don’t want their sins to be exposed or to have to give them up. And, many of
these people profess faith in Jesus Christ, too, and many are pastors.
What does this look
like?
The Lord led me to look up a children’s game on the internet
which I believe depicts how addiction works and how many people get trapped in
sin. And, the game is called “Mouse Trap.” Basically, once the initial decision
happens to go the wrong direction, each successive choice happens fairly automatically,
for one thing leads to another, which leads to another, and every time it ends
with the same result. And, then it just gets recycled.
Yet, this is no excuse, for all of this can be reversed and
done away with when the individual begins to take God and his Word seriously,
and when he submits to the Lordship of Jesus Christ over his life, and when he
willingly cooperates with God in stopping the cycle and bringing it to an end.
But, the sad reality in all of this is that so many people,
including so many Christians treasure their addictions in their hearts. And, they
embrace and love the darkness in place of God, and in place of their spouses,
too. And, so they hide these things away in their hearts so that no one will
know what they do in secret. And, so they lie about their sins, and they even
cover them up with false righteousness, and they minimize them, or they
convince themselves that they are not so bad, and thus they hang on to them.
They may or may not be successful in some behavioral
modification, if they want to try to convince others that they are working on
recovery, for example, but they don’t get out of the cycle because they don’t
deal with what is in their hearts deep down. They need to do an “autopsy” of
their hearts and, by the Spirit, dig out the evil that is in there so that they
can replace it with what is of God, and what is holy, righteous and pure.
But, that would be bringing those deep-seated sins into the
light, and they won’t have that, and so they continue the cycle, and the mouse
trap continues to fall on their heads. For, they have made darkness (sin) and
their addictions to sin their “honey” instead of God and their spouses.
But, the darkness, i.e. the addiction, wasn’t all that it
was promoted to be. The darkness didn’t deliver what it promised. His (or her) “honey”
didn’t keep his or her promise. And, so the addict is left empty, going
nowhere, perhaps faking recovery to try to look righteous, while willfully
hiding his secret sins from coming into the light. But, he feels miserable, and
so he is looking for something to make him feel better and to alleviate his guilt.
Thus, another “Honey?”
So, they are trapped in their sin, and there is no way out
other than coming into the light, which then exposes their sin, which they aren’t
really ready yet to let go of and/or to admit, so they have to have something
which will alleviate their consciences and console them in their self-deception.
And, so they turn to another lie, i.e. to “another woman,” i.e. to false
righteousness, i.e. to the cheap-grace gospel.
This cheap-grace gospel, thus, covers the true character of
righteousness with the darkness, and she tries to convince us that the darkness
is light and that what is right is actually wrong. For, she twists the
scriptures to her own advantage to make them say whatever will make people feel
good in their sins so they won’t feel guilty and so they will have the freedom
to continue in their addictions uninterrupted and without it making them feel
bad.
This new “honey” makes no demands for righteousness, for
repentance, for holiness and purity, and for faithfulness and submission to
God. She convinces the addicts that God’s grace merely forgives sin and it
requires no repentance or obedience. And, she lies and says that repentance and
obedience is “works-based” salvation and that the freedom she is offering is
the true grace of God. But, it is no freedom at all! It is a trap!!
She is really good at deception, though, and with hiding her
true character, so many people have accepted her as their “honey,” and they
have embraced her and her cheap grace which delivers no one from sin, but which
leaves them still bound in their sins, still bound for hell and damnation, but
while promising them heaven as their eternal destiny. So, she may seem sweet on
the outside, but she has a snake’s bite, so don’t be bit by her.
For, the truth is that we must die with Christ to sin, and
we must be resurrected with Christ to newness of life in Him, and we must walk
in obedience to him if we want to have eternal life with God and peace of heart
and mind. For, if we claim to have fellowship with God, but we still walk in
(darkness, addiction to sin), we are liars who don’t live by the truth. We don’t
know God. He doesn’t know us. And, we don’t have eternal life with God.
[See: Lu. 9:23-25; Jn. 6:35-66; Ac. 26:18; Rom. 6:1-23; Rom.
8:1-17; Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Gal. 5:19-21; Gal. 6:7-8; 1 Pet. 2:24.]
For
Our Nation
An
Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: we’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
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