The God Who Loves

The righteous demands of the law are fulfilled, and we are free from the law of sin and death. The curse of sin no longer remains on us. We’re not condemned, and we cannot be condemned. If God has declared us innocent, who has the right to charge us with sin (Rom 8:34)? Jesus—the one who paid our penalty—is now standing at God’s right hand, and no one is going to be able to tell God we still need to pay for our sin. Not a chance. Jesus paid it all. Nothing is left to pay. There’s no double jeopardy. The punishment for our sin has been poured out on Jesus Christ, and we will never have to pay it.

In John 3:18 the phrase “is not condemned” is in the present tense, which means our condemnation has already been removed. It doesn’t just anticipate a final day when God removes the guilt from us and does not cast us into eternal punishment. It says, “Right now, right here, you are free from condemnation.” It’s easy for a Christian to feel the weight of sin and guilt and condemn himself. When he does so, he forgets the power of the cross. We’ve already been freed from sin’s guilt. Sin is no longer our master. We shouldn’t wallow in the guilt of our sin.

Unfortunately, verse 18 has a second half: “Anyone who does not believe is already condemned.” We know sin has consequences. Whenever we hear the gruesome account of a murder, our first thought is that whoever did it needs to pay. We demand justice. All sin, including our own sin, regardless of the size, bears a penalty of death. “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). Your sin makes you guilty before God, and someday you will stand before holy God and experience his awful and terrifying judgment. If you have not believed on Jesus Christ, if you have not turned to him as your only Lord and Savior, then your condemnation has not been removed.

Most of us think we’re OK because we’re decent people. We look around and compare ourselves to the worst people we can find, and we feel pretty good. But pride and self-sufficiency often get in the way of admitting the real problem and addressing the real need. Every man, woman, and child is a sinner in need of a Savior. God is our Creator, and he deserves our trust and honor, but we have disrespected him. Scorning the infinite God is an infinitely serious offense, deserving infinite punishment.

John 3:19-21

Words like condemnation and judgment could make you doubt God is loving, but these verses make it clear: condemnation is a result of the refusal to accept God’s gift. People will face the consequences of their sin not because God’s gift of Jesus is insufficient but because they refuse to turn from their sin and trust in Jesus to save them from sin’s penalty. If you reject Jesus Christ, you have no one to blame but yourself. People are condemned to hell not because of something faulty in God’s gift of Jesus. He is perfect. He is sufficient. He alone can meet the needs of sinful man. When people reject his gift, it reveals the condition of their hearts. It reveals hearts blinded by sin. The fault lies in the sinner, not the Savior.

The message of the Bible is a simple message about God’s love and mercy, about man’s sin and need, and about the rescue that’s found in Jesus Christ. In simple words Sally Lloyd-Jones captures the love of God demonstrated in the death of his Son:

I think within a nanosecond of deciding to adopt we knew what our daughter’s name would be. In fact, I don’t really ever recall discussing it that much. Perhaps it’s because of why we chose to adopt. Our driving motivation was to rescue a little girl and give her a family with hope for the future.

They gave Jesus a crown made out of thorns. And put a purple robe on Him. And pretended to bow down to Him. “Your Majesty!” they said.

Then they whipped Him. And spat on Him. They didn’t understand that this was the Prince of Life, the King of heaven and earth, who had come to rescue them.

The soldiers made him a sign—“Our King” and nailed it to a wooden cross.

They walked up a hill outside the city. Jesus carried the cross on His back. Jesus had never done anything wrong. But they were going to kill Him the way criminals were killed.

They nailed Jesus to the cross.

“Father, forgive them,” Jesus gasped. “They don’t understand what they’re doing.”

“You say you’ve come to rescue us!” people shouted. “But you can’t even rescue yourself!”

But they were wrong. Jesus could have rescued Himself. A legion of angels would have flown to His side—if He’d called.

“If you were really the Son of God, you could just climb down off that cross!” they said.

And of course they were right. Jesus could have just climbed down. Actually, He could have just said a word and made it all stop. Like when He healed that little girl. And stilled the storm. And fed five thousand people.

But Jesus stayed.

You see, they didn’t understand. It wasn’t the nails that kept Jesus there. It was love. (The Jesus Storybook Bible, 302–6)