Last week, we began to work through a method for sharing the Gospel that I am calling “The Road of Life”. This method uses the Gospel of John as our Gospel tract. We started with three opening questions about purpose, meaning, and truth. Then, we went to John 1:1-5 and underlined that. This is the first passage we want to share with our friend. There are four words that we double-underlined, “Word”, “Made”, “Light”, and “Life”. All of these words point to the fact that Jesus is the source of truth because he is one with God. He made us and so he reveals the world for what it really is, and we find true life through him.
Today, we come to the second passage we want to share with a friend from John 3:16-19. We will go there in just a second, but for now, I want you to flip back in your little Gospel of John to our first passage, and down in the bottom margin write, “John 3:16-19”. We want to write that there so that we can easily remember where to go next. See, this way, all you have to have to get started is this little book, and all you have to remember is to open to the first page of the Gospel.
So, now, let’s flip to John 3:16-19, and you highlight it as I read it. As we did last week, I want you to double-underline the first occurrence of six words: loved, gave, believes, perish, condemn, and darkness. When we are sharing this passage, we are going to do something a bit different - we are going to work backwards through these words to get to the point of the passage. So, that’s what I want to do this morning.
First, in verse 19, we have the word “darkness”. This is an important word-choice by Jesus, because it contrasts so clearly with who he is as the light of the world. Remember, from our last passage, we saw that Jesus is the light of life. He brings truth to this world. He shows it for what it really is. And, what does Jesus reveal about this world? Well, he reveals that it is full of darkness. In fact, Jesus says, in verse 19, that people love darkness rather than light because their works are evil. There is a strange reality about humanity: humans have to have a reason to live. Have you ever thought about that? We have to have a reason to wake up in the morning. We have to believe that tomorrow will be better than today. We have to believe that our work is going somewhere, or that our education will be useful, or that our relationship is beneficial. Your cat doesn’t worry about these things. Every morning, I do the same routine. I get up at 5 or 5:30, go to the kitchen and open the door to let in our two cats, then I go to the pantry and get a can of cat food out for them, go sit down and read my Bible and pray. I get dressed, drop Harmony off at school, swing by the gym to work out, go to work to face various challenges and engineer new projects, come home from work to supper with the family, read a book to prepare for my next sermon series, and go to bed. During the day, I might pray for a friend facing surgery, read and article and worry about the war in Iran, think on the political situation in America. Meanwhile, the cats that I let in at 5:30 lay around all day. They might get up to beg someone for a petting or for another can of food, but they give no concern to the contributions they make to society, the war in Iran, the needs of Antioch West, or anything else beyond themselves, and they are perfectly happy with that. Now, you could say that there are many humans (many more these days than in days past) that live much like my cats. They live for no other reason than to eat, watch Netflix or scroll social media, and sleep. But, they aren’t happy, and we have the data to prove it. The trend in isolation caused by our modern leisurely lifestyles follows the trend in depression and suicide. People are not happy because they do not live with purpose, or they live for a purpose besides that for which they were made.
You might say they live in darkness. They pursue satisfaction in alcohol or drugs, and that gives them a fix, but it leaves them worse off than when they began. They pursue happiness in another person, thinking that physical pleasure or even love can satisfy the longing in their hearts. Yet, with age and challenges, they find that their lover cannot meet every need. They pursue purpose in their work, gaining accomplishments, building a product, rising the corporate ladder, only to be kicked to the side when the company is bought out or forced into retirement when they age out. We can’t find happiness and purpose in any of these earthly things because we were made for a relationship with God. Yet, because of the darkness of our sin, that relationship has been broken.
The darkness of our sin leads to consequences, and that brings us to our second word, “condemn.” It is not just that our sins make us unhappy or unfulfilled, but they also lead to condemnation. God made us to walk with him, and when we don’t walk with him, we walk away from him. We live in rebellion against him. Because of this, we stand condemned. God is the judge of all things. He has every right to condemn us because of our rebellion.
So, what does this condemnation look like? That is answered by our third word, “perish.” The consequences of our sin are condemnation and death. Humanity is unique not only because we need a reason to live, but because we expect to live forever. We live as though we will, even though we know that everyone dies. And, when someone we love dies, it is never an acceptable time. We always want just one more day. Why do we feel like that? It’s because God created us for eternity. As we read this morning from Eccl. 4:11, “God has put eternity into man’s heart.” But, if we were made for eternity, why don’t we live forever? We die because of sin. Romans 3:23 says, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”, and Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” Death was brought into this world because our first parents, Adam and Eve, sinned against God, and we inherit from them a desire for sin, so we also inherit from them the reality of death. This death is not just a physical death, though. We are condemned to face the eternal death of God’s judgment in Hell because of our sins.
This is all terrible news. We have a need for purpose in life, but we can’t find fulfillment of that purpose because we pursue it through sin. That sin leads to the condemnation of God, and that condemnation means that we will die and face Hell. But, now for the good news. Consider our fourth word, “Believes”. Verse 18 says, “Whoever believes is not condemned.” And, verse 16 says, “Whosoever believes in [the Son] will not perish.” So, there is a remedy to this problem of sin and condemnation. Jesus says that all who believe in him will not perish and will not be condemned.
You might wonder, how is this possible? That brings us to our fifth word, “gave”. We can be saved from death and condemnation because God gave his son. Jesus has come to do what you could not do. You pursued a life separate from God. You have sinned and rebelled against him. But Jesus was born as one of us, took on human flesh, so that he might live in perfect obedience to God. And, he did that in our place, giving back to God what he required of us. He also died for us. When Jesus was crucified on the cross, he gave himself as a sacrifice for our sins, taking our judgment and condemnation on himself.
Finally, you might wonder, why in the world would God do that? Why would Jesus willingly give himself for me? The answer is in our last word: love. Jesus began this passage by saying “For God so loved the world…” God gave his son to save us because he loves us. Jesus lived the life we could not live and died the death we deserved because he loves us.
Friend, Jesus loves you, and he gave himself so that you might not be condemned. You can escape death and condemnation by believing in him as your savior and lord. Won’t you turn to him in faith today and be saved?
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