Subject One Hundred Nine

HE THAT BELIEVETH IS NOT CONDEMNED

Scripture: John 3:18

1. Men all have sinned
   To prove that men have all sinned, pick up two or three important sins, such as telling lies, stealing, and so forth.
2. Men are all under the condemnation
   1. Since all men have sinned, they are all condemned before God. Because God is righteous, He cannot reckon those that have sinned as without sin.
   2. Men are also condemned in their own conscience. Friend, today do you have peace in your conscience? Many people have tried to suppress their conscience. Though they could be at peace for a short while, nevertheless, when alone at night the sense of unrest rises up again.
   3. Condemnation of the conscience is the evidence of the condemnation of God. For example, when a man is condemned by a police station, he is also condemned by the country.
3. The Lord Jesus bore the sins of men
   Speak on the redemption of the cross.
   1. God should condemn our sins, but since He loves men, He has accomplished a saving way for us. His saving way is to lay all of our sins on His Son.
   2. The Lord Jesus did not die on the cross as a martyr, but rather, to be our substitute to be judged by God. Therefore, the blood that the Lord Jesus shed on the cross is able to cleanse us from our sins.
4. He that believeth is not condemned
   1. What to believe? Firstly, believe that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God and came to be our Savior. Secondly, believe that the Lord Jesus bore our sins on the cross, shed His precious blood, and then rose up from the dead to be our Savior.
   2. As soon as a man believes in the Lord Jesus, that is, receives Him, all his sins before God are forgiven. God’s judgment has passed over him. Therefore his conscience will not condemn him any more.
   3. So men are saved from the eternal judgment and perdition. (The word ‘condemned’ here in the original text also means ‘judged.’)
5. He that believeth not is condemned already
   1. Since all men are sinful, they are condemned before God.
   2. Since God had the Lord Jesus bear our sins, if we do not believe in Him, we would naturally remain under God’s condemnation.
   3. Therefore all those who do not believe are condemned already. They can only wait for the eternal judgment and perdition.