John Series PART 15 Revelation 6: Man’s Condemnation, 3:18–21
(3:18–21) Introduction: God sent His Son into the world to save the world, but this does not mean that everyone is automatically saved. In fact, some are condemned and doomed. Jesus reveals man’s condemnation.
1. Who is condemned: not the believer but the unbeliever (v.18).
2. When is he condemned: already (v.18).
3. Why is he condemned (vv.18–20).
4. Who escapes condemnation (v.21).
1 (3:18) Condemnation—Faith: Who is condemned? Not the believer, but the unbeliever.
a. The believer is not condemned. Note three facts.
1) The critical importance of belief cannot be overstressed. Belief stays, prevents, arrests, and stops judgment. The person who believes on Christ …
• is acquitted as though he never sinned
• is released
• is not to be captivated again (by guilt, fear, bondage, shame)
• is not to be condemned (judged)
• is not to be dealt with in justice
2) The believer is saved. He is as guilty as the unbeliever, but there is one critical difference: the believer believes on Jesus Christ and has committed his life to Him. The believer is actively and diligently seeking Christ (He. 11:6). God will save any man who will believe and seek and honor His Son
3) The believer is released from condemnation because he believes on Christ. The believer believes that Christ died for his sins, in his place, as his substitute, paying the penalty for his sins (which was death).
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (Jn. 5:24).
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Ro. 8:1).
“Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (
b. The unbeliever is condemned. Note two critical points.
1) Note who the unbeliever is. He is the person who has “not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” God has only one begotten Son. The man who has not already believed on God’s Son is the unbeliever. It does not matter who the man is or where he is; he is an unbeliever if he has not already believed on the only begotten Son of God.
2) Note what it means to be condemned or judged.
2 (3:18) Judgment—Condemnation: When is the unbeliever condemned? Already, right now. It is not that he is to be condemned; he is already condemned. At least three things are meant by being “judged already” (ede kekritai).
a. Condemnation is a sure fact. The unbeliever’s judgment is sure, so sure it is as though he has already been condemned. Nothing can change or stop the judgment from coming upon the unbeliever. Ignoring, denying, and struggling against the great day of judgment will not change one detail of the day. It is coming, and every single unbeliever will be judged.
b. The unbeliever is already under the present curse of sin. He is …
• without Christ
• an alien from the people of God
• a stranger to the promises of God
• without hope
• without God in the world (Ep. 2:12)
c. The unbeliever already stands guilty of all the sins he has ever committed; he is already condemned. The law of God already exists. Every time a man breaks the law of God, he immediately becomes guilty and is condemned. The judgment is already pronounced. The unbeliever must pay the penalty for every transgression of God’s law. He is already under the curse, the full force of the law.
“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Ga. 3:10).
“And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them” (Ga. 3:12).
3 (3:18–20) Condemnation: Why is the unbeliever condemned? Four reasons are given.
a. The unbeliever has not believed. The great sin of unbelief is that it neglects, ignores, denies, abuses, and rejects God’s Son.
? The dignity of God’s Son is ignored (see note—Jn. 1:1–2).
? The truth of God’s Son is not believed (see notes—Jn. 1:14).
? The goodness of God’s Son is not embraced (see notes—Jn. 1:14).
? The dearest thing to God’s heart is denied (see notes—Jn. 3:16).
? The name that is above every name is abused and cursed (Ph. 2:9).
? The only begotten Son of God is rejected (Jn. 3:16–19).
Christ is the great remedy for man’s sins. Therefore, unbelief—rejecting and refusing to believe Him—is the great damning sin.
“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (Jn. 3:36).
“I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins” (Jn. 8:24).
b. The unbeliever is condemned because Light has come into the world. The Light came into the world to give light to men, to enable men to walk out of the darkness of a sinful and perishing world. The Light came to show men the way, the truth, and the life:
? The Light shows man the way God intends for him to live.
? The Light shows man the truth of life, that is, the truth of God and of man and of the world that surrounds man.
? The Light shows man the life, that is, how to save his life and avoid the things that cause him to stumble and lose his life.
The point is this: the life of Jesus Christ now stands in the world to give Light. Any man who does not turn and walk in the Light is naturally in the dark. He is condemned to the darkness and to all that happens to those who walk in the darkness.
c. The unbeliever is condemned because he loves darkness. Why would he love darkness? Because his deeds are evil, and to turn and walk in the Light would expose his evil deeds for what they are: immoral, unrighteous, and disobedient to God. There are at least four reasons why man prefers to walk in darkness and prefer to hang on to his sins.
1) The unbeliever loves his sin and does not want to turn and face the conviction of the Light. If he turned to the Light, He would have to give up his sin; and he loves the feeling, the stimulation, the comfort, the ease, the challenge, the recognition, the power, the fame, the possessions, the things which the sin brings. He loves it all too much to give it up.
2) The unbeliever is full of pride. He does not want to confess his sin, the fact that he is in darkness and short of what God demands. He denies he is in darkness, refusing to turn to the Light (Christ).
3) The unbeliever is enslaved, in bondage to sin and gripped by the darkness; he has been in darkness so long that he does not have the strength to break the enslavement.
4) The unbeliever fears the shame, embarrassment, and consequence of his sin. In some cases he would like to confess his evil and correct it, but fear keeps him from coming out and facing the Light (Christ).
“But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.… And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ep. 5:3–6, 11).
“But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.… Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night” (1 Th. 5:4, 6–7).
“If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth” (1 Jn. 1:6).
“They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course” (Ps. 82:5).
“The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble” (Pr. 4:19).
d. The unbeliever is condemned because he does not come to the Light. Whatever his reasons, the unbeliever refuses to come to the Light; therefore, he is condemned.
“The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light” (Ro. 13:12).
“Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Mt. 15:14).
“Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD” (Je. 23:12).
“And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung” (Zep. 1:17).
Thought 1. The unbeliever is uncomfortable in the Light. Therefore, he shuns everything that presents the Light to him: the church, believers, the Bible, prayer, and spiritual conversation.
Note that unbelievers are said to hate the Light. They ignore, reject, deny, and fight the Light. They speak and write against it, ridicule and curse it, persecute and seek to stamp it out.
“In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” (Jn. 1:4–5).
“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (Jn. 8:12).
“Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth” (Jn. 12:35).
“I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness” (Jn. 12:46).
“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Co. 4:6).
“Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Ep. 5:14).
“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” (Is. 9:2).
4 (3:21) Condemnation: Who escapes condemnation? The man who does three things.
a. The man who practices truth and lives righteously escapes condemnation. He knows what is right and he does it. The verb is continuous action. He practices truth, continually and habitually. Note two things about this man.
1) This does not mean he lives perfectly, without ever sinning. No man is or can be perfect. It means that the man directs his life toward truth: diligently seeks the truth and seeks to be truthful. He may slip and sin, but he immediately turns back to God, repenting and hanging on to his integrity.
2) Christ said that the man who does truth hears His voice (Jn. 18:37; 1 Jn. 1:6). Only the man who desires truth is saved, and every man who comes to the truth is saved. Christ is truth.
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (Jn. 8:32).
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (Jn. 14:6).
“If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 Jn. 1:6–7).
“I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father” (2 Jn. 4).
“For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth” (3 Jn. 3).
“For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in thy truth” (Ps. 26:3).
“Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name” (Ps. 86:11).
b. The man who comes to the Light escapes condemnation. Only the Light (Christ) can dispel the darkness in a man’s life
c. The man whose works are wrought in God escapes condemnation. The word wrought (eirgasmena) means to work, produce, perform, originate, manufacture, and fashion from something. The idea is that the man comes to Christ (the Light) so that his works will be “wrought,” originated, and worked in and of God. The man who comes to Christ lives close to God. He walks and talks and listens to God (His Word), and he does what God says (see 2 Co. 1:12).
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Mt. 5:16).
“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him” (Jn. 14:21).
“Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate” (1 Ti. 6:17–18).
“In all things showing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity” (Tit. 2:7).
“But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased” (He. 13:16).
“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone” (Js. 2:17).
Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (2004). The Gospel according to John. Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
