SUNDAY SERMON - Calvinism, Arminianism, & “Prevenient Grace”
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Summary
In this episode, Pastor Ken continues our series on the Gospel of John 3:16-18, and looks at the difference between the life and death language of John and the legal language of condemnation in verse 18. God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Transcript
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Again, our text for today is the Gospel of John chapter 3, starting in verses 16 and finishing in
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verses 21. The Bible says this, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever
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believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world
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to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in
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him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed
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in the name of the only son of God. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world
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and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. Everyone who does
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wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his work should be exposed. But
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whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have
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been carried out in God. This is the word of the Lord. All right, please be seated. Let's go ahead
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and dive right in. I'm going to do my best to be a briefer today because we started late and then
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we had a special prayer. And yeah, so I'm going to try to be considerate. Here we go. Verses 16
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and 18 are mirror images of one another. That's the first thing that I want us to notice in the
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text today, verse 16 and 18, actually are mirroring one another. You could almost say that it seems
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as though verse 18 is entirely redundant and that there's no purpose for it being there at all. That
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would be a bad position to hold because you don't want to say that something in the Bible shouldn't
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be there. It's the Word of God. But there is a purpose because the same principle is being stated
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but with different language. The difference is that the language of life and death from verse 16
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Now, the significant question arises in verse 17 in between.
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I'll go back to verse 16 and 18 here in just a moment.
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But the significant question from the text today
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The question that arises from verse 17 is this.
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is clearly laid out in verse 18. Even though some are condemned, it is because they were already
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in that condition when Jesus arrived. So now let's look at verse 16 and 18 comparing. Verse 16,
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I trust that many of you are probably familiar with, for God so loved the world that he gave
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his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish. That is the eternal death should not
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be destroyed, should not perish, but have life, eternal life. Now, verse 18 is the same principle,
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but again, different language, going from life and death to judgment language, legal language.
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Whoever believes in him, that is Christ, is not condemned. So instead of he shall not perish,
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now we're seeing that perishing is likened to condemnation, being condemned. To be condemned
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in a legal sense is the same as to perish. The condemnation is what leads towards the perishing
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of life. So whoever believes in Jesus will not perish. Also, he will not be condemned, verse 18.
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But whoever does not believe, now this is where we get some insight, whoever does not believe
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is not just condemned, but it is proof, a revelation that he was already condemned. He is
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condemned already. Why? Because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. Now look at
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John chapter 3. We're skipping forward now, but it's the same chapter, the same thought. John
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chapter 3, moving forward to verse 36. It says this, same principle of what we just saw in verse
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18. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life.
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So now we're going from that legal language of condemnation back to the life and death
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So whoever believes in him, this is verse 36, in the Son has eternal life.
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Whoever does not obey the Son, that's interesting.
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I'll comment on that here in a moment, does not obey the Son, shall not see life, but
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the wrath of God, and here's the key word, remains on him.
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It is not as though the wrath of God comes to him for the first time initially,
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but rather what the text says is that for the one who does not obey the Son,
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the wrath of God was already there, and it simply remains.
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This is an individual, the person who does not kiss the Son, lest he be angry, Psalm 2,
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the person who does not pay homage to Jesus, and not just in word, but in deed, in action,
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the one who does not obey Jesus, is the one who doesn't all of a sudden garnish initially for the
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first time condemnation, but the one who simply proves, he simply exposes the reality that he was
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already under condemnation. That is to say, in other language, that the wrath of God remains on
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him. It was already there, and it's staying there. Now, one more point on this, a simple point that
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you hear in our church every Lord's Day as Connor faithfully leads us in the liturgy. But it's
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important for us to recognize the relationship between both gospel and law, grace and obedience.
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So again, this is John 3, 36. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Here we're speaking
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of faith, saving faith, belief. That we're saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ
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alone, but then it continues in verse 36. Whoever does not believe is what you think would be said,
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right? Whoever believes, if you do believe in the Son, you have eternal life. If you don't believe
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in the Son, then you will not see life. You will perish, and that's not an initial perishing or
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condemnation that's coming for the first time, but rather it simply reveals that you've been
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under the wrath of God already, and that the wrath of God and his condemnation remains. But that's
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not exactly what's said. In the middle of verse 36, instead of saying whoever does not believe,
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if you believe, you'll have eternal life. If you don't believe, you'll perish. No, it says if you
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don't obey, whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
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So what is it? Which one is it? Is it believing in the Son that guarantees salvation, eternal life,
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the life to come, or is it obedience? And the answer is, well, it's both. It's both. Now,
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it's not both. Here we have to be precise in our language, lest we deny the doctrine of
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justification by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone. It is not both in the initial
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sense that it is both faith and works meriting salvation. It is not faith plus works equals
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salvation, but it is, the correct formula is salvation equals faith plus works.
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Or we could say faith equals salvation plus works. So it's not faith plus works. It's not
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faith in Jesus plus obedience to Jesus' commands is what gains for us salvation. But instead,
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faith that is true faith, saving faith, garnishes for us salvation and will also always produce
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good works. So it's not faith plus works gets us heaven, gets us Christ, but it is true faith and
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faith alone, which receives Christ and the gift of grace. But that faith that is alone, if it's
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True faith, it will always be accompanied by obedience.
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So we're justified by grace alone through faith alone, apart from any works of man.
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But if you're truly justified, the fruit of justification will always be sanctification.
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The person who says, I've been justified, but has no signs of being sanctified,
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And in a sense, he's made God out to be a liar.
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that saves us. But loving brothers in Christ and sisters, obedience to Christ's commands in
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practical, tangible actions and deeds, all of this is not what gains salvation, but it is
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an undeniable proof or evidence of salvation. You can claim that the seed of faith, in this case,
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using an illustration, an apple seed was planted. And therefore, because an apple seed and apple
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seeds in this illustration represent true saving faith, because an apple seed was planted, then you
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are without any doubt, without question, an apple tree. But if year after year goes by and you
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produce pears, right, and you produce peaches and you produce all sorts of different fruit, but never
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a single apple, then at the end of the day, we're not saying that apple seeds, I guess, well, I guess
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the conclusion is that sometimes apple seeds produce pears. No, what we would do is we would
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go back to the original premise and say, your premise is faulty. We wouldn't say, well, you know,
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doggone it. I guess, you know, it turns out that apple seeds sometimes make a tree that produces
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pears and cherries and peaches. No, we would say, friend, I think you're mistaken.
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You are insisting that an apple seed was in fact planted, but I think you might have got that wrong.
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If it was an apple seed, this would be an apple tree. And if this was an apple tree,
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it would produce apples. So that's what we're seeing in John chapter three, verse 36. Whoever
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believes in the Son has eternal life. Faith alone. Faith alone is the empty hand. Faith is the empty
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hand or the instrument that receives the grace of God that lends to eternal life. However, whoever
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does not obey the Son won't have that eternal life. Well, I guess it's obedience then. No,
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obedience is the fruit of faith. Not faith plus obedience equals salvation, but faith alone
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equals salvation plus obedience. True faith gets you salvation, but it also gets you a heart
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that's willing to obey. Christians love God's law. And if you don't love God's law and you're
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constantly kicking against the goads, you're constantly saying, well, that's legalism. That's
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legalism. That's legalism. You might not be a Christian. I'm not speaking definitively. God
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alone sees the heart. But if your biggest objection, your biggest concern in the body of
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Christ, especially given what time it is today in the West, in 2023, if your biggest concern
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is that you think evangelicals and Christian churches might just be too legalistic,
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then at best, you're clueless. At worst, you're an unbeliever.
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you're just not saved you hate obedience you hate the law of god you hate righteousness
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and again it's not that you would not be a christian in this scenario because you're not
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obedient you would not be a christian because you don't have faith and how do we know you don't
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have faith because Jesus said you will know them by their fruit. That you can look to the life of
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a person and be able to say, hey, there's fruit. There's obedience. That's the sign of faith. And
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if there is no fruit, then there is a certain point. We don't do this presumptuously, prematurely,
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arrogantly, but there is indeed a point where the people of God, the church, can say and look at
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someone's life and say, brother, sister, there's nothing but bad fruit. There is no fruit of
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genuine obedience to the true law of God. And therefore we cannot continue to affirm a salvation
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which you claim to have, but there's no evidence that you in fact actually possess.
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At this point, we would be merely offering to you a false assurance. And a false assurance is one of
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the most hateful things that the people of God could ever offer to anyone. To assure someone
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who very likely is on their way to hell that they don't need to make any changes whatsoever
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because they're doing just fine. The devil loves two ministries. One is a ministry of false
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accusations. He is the great accuser of the brethren. He is a liar. When he lies, he speaks
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his native language for he is the father of lies. He is an accuser. And when he accuses, sometimes
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he says what is true, but those accusations for brothers in Christ, for the people of God, fall
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flat because Christ has already paid the penalty. But there are other times where he falsely accuses
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that he is in fact a slanderer. But this is not his only weapon in his arsenal. Satan is a great
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accuser, but he is also a great assurer. He does not only accuse the righteous, he assures the
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wicked. Let me say that again. Satan does not only accuse the brethren, the righteous, those who are
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righteous for Christ's sake, because of Christ's work, by grace to faith in him alone, but Satan
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Do you think that heaven is your inheritance?
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Turn back. Quit while you're ahead. There are easier paths. Take one of them. He accuses the
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righteous, but he also assures the wicked, the one who is on the path to destruction.
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Although God's word comes to him and says, turn back, repent. This is the path that leads to death.
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This is the path that leads to perishing. Satan comes and says, oh, this is the right path.
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you're doing good you're doing well stay the course continue ahead
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satan is an accuser of the brethren he is an assurer of those who are lying
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comfortably in the arms of satan who is if you're not a christian for the record your father
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And one of the ways that I know that you're his children,
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is because children always bear a striking resemblance
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He was a liar and a murderer from the very beginning
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And here you are also seeking to murder me.
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seeks to assure and quietly console his children
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and regeneration, the ministry of the Holy Spirit,
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the devil becomes an adversary, waging war against us at every turn.
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Whoever believes in the Son, belief alone, saving faith alone, has eternal life.
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But whoever does not obey the Son, obedience is the fruit of faith,
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it is likely because you do not trust and believe in the Son.
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And on that basis, in that basis alone, you are not justified.
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If there is no sanctification, there can be no justification.
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And if there is no justification, which does in fact come by faith alone,
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but the wrath of God that was always on you remains on you.
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That's verse 36, illuminating and giving insight to verse 16 and 18 of our text today.
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In the very next breath, the language, legal language of justification, condemnation, and wrath.
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Now, verse 17, again, is where we're going to focus our attention.
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If Jesus didn't come to condemn the world, then why are so many condemned?
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To read verse 17 once more so that it's fresh in our minds.
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For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world.
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Because the world was perfectly capable of doing that for itself.
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We don't need Jesus to come to the world in order to produce condemnation.
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Humanity was perfectly capable of condemning ourselves all on our own.
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I believe it was Edwards, Jonathan Edwards, who once said
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to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. If Jesus didn't come
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to condemn the world, then why does the world stand condemned? Because the world has condemned
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itself through its own unbelief. And why is it that people choose unbelief? Why is it that people
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again and again, left to themselves, apart from saving grace, choose to harden their hearts,
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to have stiffened necks and to rebel against God,
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and his son, Jesus Christ, who is the only savior?
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we choose to hate God precisely because we love our sin.
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see verse 17 what we're gaining from this what we're learning from this is that christ doesn't
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come to a neutral world and condemn some and awaken others causing some to oppose him and
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others to join him not one person was neutral during jesus earthly ministry 2 000 years ago
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We begin our lives under the just wrath of God,
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Children are not born into the world physically
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Children are born into the world with original sin.
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which regardless of what side of the aisle you fall on
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if you're underneath the ultimate banner of orthodoxy
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of denying the doctrine of total depravity
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because it's basic Christian orthodox, orthodoxy.
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The only difference with Jacobus Arminius,
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but that there's such a thing as prevenient grace, and that prevenient grace was something
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that would come to a person before saving faith actually occurred, and it would be kind of a
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window of opportunity unto salvation, a window of grace, and that under prevenient grace, which
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often would come through the preaching of the gospel, perhaps in an old-timey, you know, revival
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meeting, that the Holy Spirit would work sovereignly this prevenient grace, and that it would bring the
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individual person to a temporary state of neutrality. Not that they were born with moral
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neutrality. They were born, even according to the father of Arminianism, totally depraved.
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But in some kind of moment, a window of grace with a prevenient grace, it would bring someone
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who's totally depraved to all the way up. It would temporarily suspend their spiritual blindness.
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So like the man who Jesus prays for, and he says, can you see now? He says, well, I see people
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walking around, but they look like trees. That would be kind of a good illustration for the
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doctrine of prevenient grace, that the person is not a Christian yet. They have not placed saving
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faith in Jesus yet, but faith is actually a work of man in this scheme, not a work of God,
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which for the record, that's wrong. And the person is able to place faith in Jesus because a totally
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depraved person never would, but somebody who's neutral would and prevenient grace brings them
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of spiritual blindness where they all of a sudden
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can see for a little while and they can see a little bit.
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seeing men walking around like trees in that moment,
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provenient grace, they then, in hearing the gospel,
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must choose, as a work of man, conjuring it up on their own, choose to make the right choice,
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choose to make the decision, right? This is where you get guys like Charles Finney.
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He's the father of the modern altar call, right? Because the idea was, in a decisionism,
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revivalism, Arminianism kind of church history, somewhat recent church history in our nation,
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think second not first but second great awakening the idea was right now under the preaching of the
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gospel come down to the anxious bench right that was your original altar call come down to the
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anxious bench and i'm going to preach just to you for the next 45 minutes and people would come
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trembling the whole idea was decide decide decide make a decision now's the moment now's your
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opportunity. The window of grace is opened, and it could close in the next 30 seconds. Who knows?
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You've been brought to this place of a temporary suspended hostility against God, and all of a
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sudden you have a moment of neutrality where you can choose to fall back into your depravity,
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harden your heart against God, or believe. And if you believe, then you'll be regenerated.
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this is the arminian scheme i'm saying scheme just means theological framework not necessarily
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a malicious scheme although i think it is here's the point faith does not gain regeneration
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but rather regeneration precedes faith a person is born again as an act of god's sovereign grace
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alone and then responds with this new heart being born again being made alive spiritually alive
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a new creature in Christ Jesus, that person then places faith in Jesus.
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That's when they place faith in Jesus. But again, this whole idea of prevenient grace,
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these kinds of things that you're brought to, this temporary suspension, partial suspension
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of spiritual blindness, that's not the picture of a human child when they're physically born
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into the world. And there are many people who teach this still to this day. There are many
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parenting books that ultimately affirm this. They believe that children are blank slates,
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that they could go either way. They teach moral neutrality when it comes to a child.
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And that's why it would be taught that you could train a child in the same way you train an animal.
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No, it's that man has hostility towards Jesus in their heart.
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From the beginning of my life, that is a human being made in the image of God,
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Their life, from the beginning of life, I'm starting off with a hostility towards God.
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Romans chapter 8 says that the mind of the sinful man, the unregenerate man, the non-Christian,
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is neutral, indifferent, uninterested. No. Hostile towards God's law, he does not submit to it, nor
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can he. He is unable and unwilling. Why? Because his nature will not allow for that choice.
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in the same way that the nature of a herbivore doesn't allow for them to eat meat.
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They won't do it. They won't do it. Why? Because it's not the way they're made. It's not their
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design. It's not who they are. The whole idea of the gospel is that we become new creatures.
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The whole idea of Christian faith, of salvation,
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is that we gain, by God's grace alone, a new nature.
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The reason why the Christian can say, as the Apostle Paul does in Romans chapter 7,
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in my inward being, I delight in the law of God.
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The reason he can say that, in my inner being, I delight in the law of God.
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And I believe, for the record, in covenant succession, even as a Baptist, and so I believe,
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not as a 100% guarantee, but as an ordinary principle that we should eagerly expect,
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that God will do it for our children. That he will. That he will save each one of our children.
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But listen, your children do need saving. That's the point. I believe he will save them.
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But they do need saving. You cannot train up a child from the womb in the way that you were
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train up an animal. Because the animal doesn't have a hostile nature against the law of God,
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but your child does. And to deny that is to deny Christian orthodoxy. It's not up for debate.
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Jacobus Arminian is. The father of Arminianism would agree with me and not you. The idea that
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total depravity is not a thing. The only question is, is prevenient grace a thing?
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That's a debate with Christians and heretics.
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David doesn't say, I was brought forth in neutrality.
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But then at around six, seven years old, I decided to make some bad choices and became a sinner.
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and had done it and continues to do it to this very day
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And I'm using world in this context to speak of mankind.
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Image bearers of the living God, humanity, male and female.
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Because of Adam's sin, all his posterity have been born with a sin nature.
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Not only born, but according to Psalm 51 verse 5, conceived.
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From the moment of conception, we believe Christian orthodoxy has held that life begins at the moment of conception.
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And that conception is not, for the record, implantation, but rather fertilization.
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that's the moment that life begins consequently according to scripture that's also the moment
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that the sin nature begins both the moment you have a human life you have a human center
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this is what christian orthodoxy teaches so jesus doesn't come into the world to condemn the world
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The second Adam, the last Adam, the final Adam,
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and glorious ascension in power and authority to the right hand of God,
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As far as the curse has flowed because of Adam's sin,
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that by Christ's obedience, his blessings would flow.
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And that little by little, throughout this gospel age,
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as the Great Commission goes forth and brings forth fruit,
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starting with individual hearts, but working out into every element of society. And the last
00:34:00.620
element of the curse to be undone is physical death itself, which will be undone when Christ
00:34:06.340
himself returns. The last, not first, but last of his enemies to be defeated. Going on in your notes
00:34:13.940
in verses 19 through 21, Jesus clearly explains why some people choose to believe while others
00:34:19.860
do not. Here we find a description of the type of judgment that actually does occur when light
00:34:26.420
comes into the world. So Jesus comes, verse 17, into the world not to condemn it, but to save it.
00:34:32.980
It condemned itself. Humanity can do that on its own. But if humanity is to be saved,
00:34:39.100
that's where Jesus comes in. That's where we need Jesus' help. Not for condemnation,
00:34:44.380
but for salvation. So he comes into the world not to condemn the world. It's already condemned.
00:34:49.220
but rather to save it but now what we do see in the remainder of our text and this is where we'll
00:34:55.200
go ahead and finish for this morning verses 19 20 and 21 is that we see that there is a sort of
00:35:02.420
judgment there is a sort of judgment that does come in the coming of christ here we find a
00:35:10.780
description of the type of judgment that actually does occur when light comes into the world what
00:35:15.840
we see is that those who are condemned by this judgment are condemned already by what they love
00:35:22.360
and what they hate. It is their loves and their hatred, their affections and aversions that
00:35:31.320
ultimately betray them, that condemn them. Not Jesus, but their own hearts. Their affections
00:35:36.760
and aversions is what condemns them. But Jesus coming into the world reveals their hearts. It
00:35:43.260
reveals their affections and their aversions. Jesus is revealing that he knows exactly why
00:35:49.400
some people choose not to come to him. The reason why people choose not to believe in Jesus is
00:35:57.000
because they are still in love with the world. Now using the world in this context to mean
00:36:03.180
the demonic system underneath Satan's domain. I'm not saying that the one who is condemned
00:36:10.920
loves the world insofar as the world represents humanity. I'm not saying that the one who is
00:36:15.960
condemned loves the world insofar as the world represents the created cosmos. I'm saying the one
00:36:20.860
who is condemned loves the world insofar as the world represents all that which is antagonistic
00:36:28.020
to the character of God. I'm speaking of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful
00:36:35.520
pride of life. I'm speaking of worldliness in the terms that 1 John speaks of worldliness.
00:36:42.580
Or what we see in the very beginning in the garden in Genesis chapter 3.
00:36:47.880
Eve, who is deceived by the serpent, she saw these three aspects of worldliness.
00:36:55.320
She saw that the fruit, that it was good for making one wise. That is the boastful pride of
00:37:01.720
life. She also saw that it is good for nourishment. That's the lust of the flesh. She also saw that it
00:37:08.240
was beautiful, appealing, attractive to the eyes. That's the lust of the eyes. That's worldliness.
00:37:15.560
To be in love with the world and the sinful sense is to love that which stands in direct
00:37:22.240
opposition to the things of God. It is the love of money, for instance. It's just one illustration
00:37:28.820
and example, the love of money that is the root of all kinds of evil, not money itself. Job was
00:37:36.240
rich. Abraham was rich. You can be rich and love God and not love money, but rather use money
00:37:44.840
wisely to expand the kingdom. So love of the world is not the love of stuff. See, that's where
00:37:52.920
Christians have messed up. Let me just make this point. It's important. We have conflated love of
1.00
00:37:58.280
the world in the sinful sense that the Bible actually speaks of with the love of the world
00:38:02.740
in the physical sense, insofar as the world represents the created cosmos and stuff. So we
00:38:08.440
say, if you love stuff, you're worldly. And there's a sense in which if you love, truly,
00:38:16.160
affections flowing from the heart, love stuff more than Christ, more than God in an idolatrous
00:38:22.100
fashion, then yes, you are worldly in the sinful sense of the term.
00:38:28.280
But what we've done is we've conflated these terms.
00:38:31.940
That word world is used at least four different ways just in 1 John alone.
00:38:37.780
But we've conflated worldliness to the point where we've said, well, worldliness is the lust of the eyes.
00:38:47.000
It's also, you know, if you like to hike, you know, you're probably worldly.
00:38:50.280
And then what we've done is we've said, well, righteousness, we're going to define righteousness in the exact opposite way.
00:38:55.980
And what does righteousness become conflated with, synonymous with?
00:39:04.220
To be righteous is to care nothing for this world at all.
00:39:08.920
To not care about your country, to not care about your family,
00:39:13.660
to not care about your own descendants, your own grandchildren.
00:39:25.620
So worldly means to care about temporal things,
00:39:30.080
which means to be not worldly, to be righteous,
00:39:37.820
That the only righteous thing that anyone could ever do
00:39:43.980
and think delicious, romantic, erotic thoughts about God.
00:40:22.400
And I don't mean manly as defined by Joe Rogan.
00:40:28.480
I mean, it's not manly in the sense that it's not manly defined by Christ himself,
00:40:33.580
who is the perfect example of biblical manhood.
00:40:39.520
That is not the way that Christ lived in his earthly ministry.
00:40:48.900
verse 19 through 21 it tells us now the sense in which judgment did come when jesus came into the
00:40:57.700
world in his incarnation in his earthly ministry 2 000 years ago he didn't bring condemnation that
00:41:02.740
was already there the wrath of god remains on the one who rejects christ because the wrath of god
00:41:07.160
was already there condemnation remains because it was already there the world is perfectly capable
00:41:11.980
of condemning itself so jesus therefore came into the world not to condemn but to save but in his
00:41:18.040
coming. What he does is not bring condemnation, but he does expose and reveal condemnation. And
00:41:25.340
he does so by laying bare the affections and aversions of the hearts of men. Because Jesus
00:41:33.540
comes to the world as light. But mankind, apart from saving grace alone, is like a bunch of
00:41:41.280
cockroaches. And when the light comes and exposes the darkness, the cockroaches scurry away under
0.98
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the bed. And that's what happened when Jesus came. He didn't cause people to hate God. But what he
00:41:55.600
did was he came as God, God incarnate. He came as light. He came as the Christ, the anointed one of
00:42:02.440
God, the son of God himself. And all those who were averse to the things of God and in love with
00:42:10.800
things of the world, they scurried away from Christ. They sought to condemn Christ. They
00:42:19.400
falsely accused Christ. They opposed Christ. They hated Christ. And eventually, all this is proved
00:42:26.920
by the fact that mankind killed Christ. That the one time that Jesus, God himself, becomes vulnerable,
00:42:35.580
people seize the opportunity to kill the son of god
00:42:41.300
rather than the light why because their works are evil the light exposes the evil in our hearts
00:42:55.700
see in the darkness what you can do is you can love evil and hate good but put a spin on it
00:43:15.920
But what happens when Jesus comes is like light,
00:43:21.720
he turns on the light and exposes the hypocrisy.
00:43:28.600
That those who are loving evil and hating good,
00:43:30.980
but Jesus exposes that and he shows that these aren't good men. They're not actually righteous.
00:43:37.220
They don't actually, actually love that which God loves as they claim and hate that which God hates.
00:43:42.680
No, they, they hate the very thing that God loves and they love the very thing that God hates
00:43:48.480
and he exposes it. Remember, I've said it before. I'll say it again. The number one accusation that
00:43:54.940
Jesus levies against the religious rulers of his day is not that they are legalist.
0.98
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it is that they are hypocrites. He does not say, woe to the Pharisees because they care about my
0.94
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law. Woe to the Pharisees because they're meticulous about obedience to Moses. And that's
00:44:13.100
really bad. No. He said, woe to the Pharisees because they don't do as they preach.
00:44:22.840
Because they lay heavy burdens on you, but they will not lift it with one little finger.
00:44:29.360
because they boast of obedience to the law of God. They're like white sepulchers bleached and
0.99
00:44:35.620
pretty on the outside, but inside it smells like death. It's a rotting corpse. They clean the
00:44:41.540
outside of the cup, but they leave a Petri dish of a virus in the inside and drink the whole thing.
1.00
00:44:49.920
They're hypocrites. They're a brood of vipers. Legalism is not the chief problem that Jesus
1.00
00:44:57.400
cites among the Pharisees, hypocrisy is. They claim to care about obedience to the law,
00:45:04.620
but what they've done is they've twisted the law of Moses to suit their own desires,
00:45:10.900
and they expect others to obey, but they themselves are disobedient.
00:45:17.900
They themselves are disobedient. Jesus comes into the world as light and exposes that,
00:45:23.760
that all those who claim to be righteous are revealed as wicked. And Jesus continues to do
00:45:31.440
that for the record to this day. Jesus does that through his body, the church. Jesus is still in
00:45:38.800
the world in a sense. He is in his glorified state seated at the right hand of the Father
00:45:44.900
in heaven. But in a spiritual sense, Jesus through his church, his body on earth, and by the ministry
00:45:52.940
of the Holy Spirit, which exudes the spirit of the risen Christ. In that sense, Jesus is still
00:45:58.020
on earth to this day. And wherever Jesus is preached, wherever Jesus is seen, all of a sudden
00:46:05.000
the lights are turned on and the cockroaches scatter. All of a sudden the lights are turned on
00:46:10.860
and those who claim to be so ethical, they claim to be good, are exposed as wicked.
00:46:17.720
right i think of elon musk about a year ago where he said i think i'm going to vote republican for
00:46:24.140
the first time in my life and people are like why and he said well i used to think the democrats
00:46:28.580
were the party of kindness and compassion right it's like okay dude like you're you're you know
00:46:33.520
like i don't know about like 90 years too late you know but but good for elon you know like
00:46:40.900
better late than never you thought the democrat but but that's what people think people actually
00:46:45.780
think that. But that's what the truth does. It exposes hypocrisy. It exposes reality. It shows
00:46:53.840
that what is called compassion and empathy and care, all of a sudden it's like, oh no, that's
00:47:01.300
actually not compassion, empathy, and care. That's evil. And for the record, just to be fair, it
00:47:07.060
exposes at the same time on the Republican side, oh, there's plenty of hypocrisy there.
00:47:11.820
now for the record not equal right that's a whole third way ism that's destroyed
0.90
00:47:20.360
so much that i can't even begin to express but it's the idea well democrats are bad republicans
00:47:25.860
are bad and what's implicitly said in that is they're equally bad so you could go either way
0.89
00:47:29.760
no they're not they're not equally bad both bad sure but you have one party of wicked men
0.80
00:47:37.900
And then you also have, on the other hand, the spawn of Satan.
00:47:52.220
So I have to have that caveat because I don't want to bust a Tim Keller third way.
00:47:58.200
Jesus is right here in between. Conveniently, right?
00:48:00.580
Isn't it convenient? Jesus is never on this side or that side.
00:48:02.820
So you get to avoid all controversies for your entire life.
00:48:17.920
The condemnation is now just simply being revealed
00:48:20.220
and it's being revealed by their heart's affections
00:48:35.380
but the righteous. And this is the final point, verse 21. But whoever does what is true comes to
00:48:41.560
the light so that it may be clearly seen that he's better than everyone else. No. So that it may be
00:48:47.200
clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. That's the final point of the text.
00:48:53.520
When Jesus comes and not just speaking, remember, I've already kind of drawn this out with a bigger
00:48:58.640
picture, not just Jesus coming in the flesh and the incarnation 2000 years ago in his earthly
00:49:04.000
ministry, but Jesus continuing to come through the church, through the preaching, through the
00:49:09.100
expansion of the great commission, through his body here on earth, by the power of the Holy
00:49:13.860
Spirit, which exudes the ministry of the resurrected Christ, the spirit of the resurrected
0.91
00:49:18.500
Christ as Jesus, the parousia, as he continually comes, as he continually comes, the wicked hate
00:49:25.380
him and they draw back into the darkness so they can keep loving evil while calling it good and
00:49:31.240
keep hating good while calling it evil. But the righteous, on the other hand, the righteous are
00:49:37.540
drawn to Christ. Wherever Christ comes, the righteous are attracted. Wherever Christ is
00:49:44.340
magnified, lifted up, he draws all the righteous to himself. Why? So that they who are doing what
00:49:52.500
is righteous, doing the fruits of righteousness, can expose how good they are, how many good things
00:49:58.120
there? No. No, the righteous heart is the humble heart. The righteous heart is the heart fashioned
00:50:03.980
by grace. And it knows that everything it's ever done is by grace. And the righteous heart that
00:50:10.920
truly loves Christ comes to Christ, who is the light, who exposes all things. And the reason why
00:50:16.880
the righteous one comes to Christ is because he knows everything he's done that's good is actually
00:50:22.360
Christ doing. That it was Christ who produced any ounce of goodness in his life, and that Christ
00:50:27.420
produced it by his grace, and he comes to Christ so that Christ might gain glory. The Christian
00:50:34.980
wants to live in the light, not so that he might boast in his own right doing. The Christian longs
00:50:41.540
to live in the light because all of his right doing is the product of God's grace, and he wants
00:50:46.600
to be in the light so that God's grace is put on display so God gets glory. The wicked run so they
00:50:54.540
can continue to lie in hypocrisy and say they're good when they're evil. The righteous run to
00:51:00.700
Christ, not from, but to Christ, not to gain glory for themselves, but to be able to lay all their
00:51:07.000
treasures bare, anything they've done good at all, and say, look at what Christ has done through me.
00:51:13.300
To him be glory forever and ever. Amen. Or as Ephesians 1 would say, to the praise of his
00:51:20.180
glorious grace. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Bless it to your people
00:51:25.140
and may it bring you glory. We pray this for Christ's sake. Amen.