The Great Divide
John 3:16-18
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
Living in Colorado, most of us are aware of the Continental Divide. If you drive over I-70 from here to Denver, in the middle of the Eisenhower tunnel will be a sign that indicates this great divide. Water on the east side of the divide flows into the Atlantic Ocean. Water on the west side of the great divide flows into the Pacific Ocean.
There is a very real sense in which Jesus Christ is THE great divide. By His coming into this world Jesus Christ has divided people of the world into two distinct categories. John 3:16-21 clearly shows us those categories. We’ll see it in verse 16: there are those who “perish” and those who “have everlasting life.” We see the divide in verse 18 between “He who believes in Him,” and “he who does not believe.” Belief or unbelief in Jesus further divides people into those who are “not condemned,” and those who are “condemned already.” In verses 19-20 the divide is demonstrated by light and darkness. On the one side is he who “hates the light and does not come to the light.” On the other side of the divide is “he who does the truth,” and “comes to the light.”
1. God’s Mission of Love (John 3:16-17)
John 3:16 tells us several things about God’s mission of love (A.W. Pink):
- First, the timing of His love—”God so loved.” It is not God loves, but He “loved.” That He loves us now that we are His children, we can, in measure, understand; but that He should have loved us before we became His children is extraordinary. But He did. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8). Christ did not die in order that God might be induced to love men and to save them. The very opposite is the truth. Christ died because God did love men, and was determined to save them that believe. The death of Christ was the supreme demonstration of God’s love. The Atonement was not the cause, but the effect, of God’s love. 1 John 4:10 says, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” God did not wait for us to love Him. He first loved us, while we were still enemies of God and haters of God—He loved us and gave His Son to die for us.
- Second, the manner of His love—”God so loved.” This is the emphasis of that little word “so.” It means “in this way.” It is not speaking about our worthiness to be loved, but of the amazing weight and glory of God’s love. There are dimensions to the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of His wondrous love, that none can measure. But His love is shown in this way: “He gave His only begotten Son.”
- Third, the reach of God’s love—”God so loved the world.” It was not limited to the Jews or to Pharisees like Nicodemus. It flowed out to sinners everywhere.
- Fourth, the nature of God’s love—”God so loved the world that He gave.” Love is unselfish; it gives. Love, real love, ever seeks the highest interest of others. He gave.
- Fifth, the sacrifice of God’s love—” He gave His only begotten Son.” God sent His Son into the world to die for the world. We know Christ’s death is in view here because of the context of verses 14, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” As we saw last time, for Jesus to be lifted up refers to His death on the cross. God spared not His Best. He freely delivered up Christ, even to the death of the Cross.
- Sixth, the intention of His love. “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Many died in the wilderness from the bites of the serpents: and many of Adam’s race will suffer eternal death in the lake of fire. But God gave His Son in order to create a people who “should not perish.” Who these people are is shown by their “believing” on God’s Son. Verse 17 clearly shows God’s intention, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
- Seventh, the generosity of God’s love—”But have everlasting life.” This is what God imparts to every one of His own.
Doesn’t all that make you want to exclaim with the apostle, ” Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1). Or to sing with Charles Wesley,
And can it be that I should gain
An int’rest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me?
If ever you are tempted to doubt God’s love go back to the Cross, and see there how He gave His only begotten Son to die for you.
You would think that everyone would be responsive to God’s mission of love. Picture a guy floating downstream on a raft on a hot summer day. He’s having the time of his life, enjoying the ride as the cool water gently splashes on him. You’re on the shore and you know that there’s a deadly waterfall not far downstream. This guy is floating blissfully and ignorantly toward certain destruction! So you yell to warn him. You throw him a rope. But he rejects it and keeps floating toward certain death. Why won’t he grab the life preserver? Because he loves what he’s doing and he doesn’t want to believe your warning.
You would think that everyone would eagerly grab the life preserver that God has thrown out through the gospel (John 3:16): “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Why would anyone reject such a wonderful offer? Why would anyone want to keep heading for eternal destruction? Why are some still perishing? Verse 17 raises the question: If Christ did not come to condemn, why are some condemned? Why isn’t everyone saved?
Verse 18 answers that question for us and shows us again, the great divide that comes because of Jesus.
2. The Resultant Division (John 3:18).
In verse 16, Jesus describes two possible results of God’s sending his Son. Whoever believes on him will have eternal life. But whoever does not believe, Jesus says, will perish. Verse 16: “. . . that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Verses 17 and 18 take us into the courtroom. Look at the way verse 18 describes these two possibilities: “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already.” What’s the difference? The difference is that the result of believing and not believing is not described in terms of our perishing and eternal life, but in terms of being condemned or not condemned.
In other words, verse 18 shifts over to legal language—the language of the courtroom. The language of judgment. A judge says condemned or not condemned. So Jesus has moved from the language of life and death to the language of guilty and not guilty.
This shift in language had already happened in verse 17: “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” The literal translation would simply be, “God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world” (NASB). That’s the language of the courtroom, legal language.
But, in John 9:39, Jesus says, “For judgment I came into this world ….” And in John 5:22 Jesus says “the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son.” How do we reconcile that with John 3:17? The Gospels make it clear that Jesus’ presence always drew a line that divided people (Matt. 10:34-37). As the Light, Jesus’ purpose was not to cast shadows, but to bring light. But the presence of the light inevitably casts shadows. Jesus didn’t come into a neutral world in order to save some and condemn others. He came into a lost world to save some. Not all will be saved (3:18-21). But God’s purpose in sending His Son was to bring salvation to all who will believe.
But as I said, verse 17 raises the question: If Christ did not come to condemn, why are some condemned? And verse 18 explains that even though some are, in fact, judged and condemned, it is because they are already in that condition when Jesus came.
This is important. See the same point in verse 36: “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” The word abides makes the same point in verse 36 that the word already makes in verse 18.
The world was in a state of condemnation under the wrath of God. Jesus did not come to a neutral world with the result that some people moved from neutrality to be anti-Jesus, and others moved from neutrality to be pro-Jesus. Nobody was neutral. And nobody is neutral. We have all sinned. We are all guilty. We are all perishing. Therefore, we are all under God’s righteous wrath. And we are already condemned.
The cross draws a distinct line. There are two and only two alternatives: either you believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior from judgment and have eternal life or you do not believe in Him and you perish. God’s great love does not override or negate His perfect holiness and justice. So the message is both comforting for those who believe, but disturbing for those who do not want to come to the light because they love their sin (John 3:19-20).
Whether we stay that way depends on how we respond to Jesus. He came not to make neutral people into pro-Jesus people, but to make guilty people non-guilty, condemned people not condemned, and to make dead people eternally alive. God does not owe anybody acquittal or life. That Jesus came to offer it, and that some accept it, is all because of God’s love and by His grace.
