GENTRY — “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already,because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:18
Why is it that some will be saved and have everlasting life in heaven and others will be condemned to everlasting torment in hell?
Those who are saved have forgiveness for their sins and everlasting life entirely because of God’s love and mercy in Christ Jesus. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). And God’s only begotten Son was “lifted up” for us upon the cross and paid in full the punishment for the sins of the whole world. Therefore, whoever believes in Him shall not perish but has everlasting life.
As John writes, “He that believeth on him [Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, who died for our sins and rose again] is not condemned.” The one who by the grace and mercy of God trusts that in Jesus his sins are paid for in full and forgiven is not condemned but has everlasting life.
The one who does not believe and place his trust and confidence in the atoning sacrifice of God the Son is condemned already! And why? Not because his sins are worse than another’s and not because Christ Jesus did not pay in full for his sins when He suffered and died upon the cross for the sins of the world; rather, it is “because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” It is because he has rejected the only way of salvation - the way God provided for lost sinners when He sent His only begotten Son into the world.
It is just that simple. God so loved the world - all lost and condemned sinners - that He sent His only begotten Son into the world as a true man, born of the Virgin Mary, to suffer and die for the sins of all. Those who, by the grace of God, look to Jesus and rely upon Him for forgiveness are not condemned but have everlasting life! Those who do not look to Jesus and trust in His atoning sacrifice for their forgiveness are condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s only begotten Son, the only Savior of lost sinners!
In his first epistle, John says it this way: “God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” (1 John 5:11-12).
If, by the grace of God, you look to Jesus for forgiveness and trust that He has paid in full for all your sins, you are not condemned but have everlasting life. If, on the other hand, you do not look to Jesus and His blood shed upon the cross for the forgiveness of all your sins, you are condemned already, not because your sins are too great or because Christ did not pay in full the punishment for your sins, but because you have not believed and placed your trust in the only begotten Son of God, the only Savior of the world!
Dear Lord Jesus, only begotten Son of God and Son of man, grant that I may trust in You alone for the forgiveness of my sins and for life everlasting. Amen.
[Devotion from The Still Small Voice, Gentry, Ark.,Scripture Quotations from the King James Version of the Bible]
For The Record, Pages 4 on 11/18/2009