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Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

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All right, welcome back Day five of John, chapter three. We're gonna pick it up in 316. Again one of the most famous verses, and part of the reason it's famous is because it is the whole gospel in one sentence. For God so loved the world. That means you that he gave his only son that whoever. That also means you that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. We love that, but a lot of people don't keep going.

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In verse 17, it gets great. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world. That's good news. But in order that the world might be saved through him. The reason the Bible says saved is because we need to be saved. We need to be saved from ourself, we need to be saved from sin, we need to be saved from this world and this is going to make people uncomfortable and we need to be saved from the wrath of God because we have incurred his judgment and wrath. But God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him, jesus, is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God. All right. Jesus came not to condemn us but to save us.

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I know a lot of us have some church backgrounds and all we heard was condemnation. I mean, listen, I'm sure the pastors were doing the best they could do back in the day when I was a kid, growing up in the church or going to, occasionally, when I went to church, these churches but the message that I heard over and over and over was about moral submission. That's what it was. It was about obligatory moral behavior. That's what it was. It was God is good, you are bad. Try harder. See you next week. And there was a lot of condemnation, there was a lot of beating up. Now listen, you've heard me talk about this a hundred times. We got to be serious about sin, about killing sin in our life. But killing sin, sin management, will never save you. And Jesus did not come to condemn.

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Condemnation is the language of the enemy. Condemnation is the devil of hell trying to whisper in your ear that you are unfit for use. That's what the word condemnation means. It's a building term. When I was in college, my fraternity house got condemned. They slapped a big old sticker on the front door and it said condemned, unfit for use.

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That's what the enemy wants you to believe about you. And Jesus said that's not what I came to do. I did not come to condemn you, but to save you. And then he tells us how to be saved. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but is saved. So let me ask you do you believe? If not, and what I mean by believe? I don't mean believe that there is a God and he sent his son, jesus. Have you trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? And if your answer is no, I haven't done that yet. Well then I've got terrible news. Then you are condemned.

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Verse 18 says whoever believes in Jesus is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned. Already that you stand condemned. Verse 18 says whoever believes in Jesus is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned. Already that you stand condemned. Why?

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Because God is just. All sin must be paid for and every single one of us have sinned against an almighty God. You don't just struggle, you don't just make mistakes. We sin, and when we sin against a holy and just God, because of the character and nature of God, for God to simply overlook our sin would make him an unjust judge. And because God is just and holy, all sin must be paid for, and we know that it's not only what you do but who you do it against that determines your penalty. I mean, you could punch a wall. That's not good. You punch your wife, you're going to prison, as you should, okay. And when we sin against a holy and just, almighty, sovereign king, then it deserves an eternal punishment that we call hell. So because God is just, all sin must be paid for. But because God is merciful, he delays the payment. This is at the end of Romans 3. Because God is merciful, it says he overlooks for a time our sin. This is how the people of the old covenant, the old testament, are saved, like David Solomon. You know those guys. This is also how you and I get saved, because if the wages of sin is death, then why didn't you die the very first time you sinned? Because of God's mercy, he delays the payment. But then, the best part, but because God is grace, he makes the payment on our behalf.

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That Jesus Christ is telling Nicodemus that he is the just and the justifier. He's saying look here, nicodemus, I did not come to condemn you. I came to save you. But if you do not believe in me, then you already stand condemned. And Nicodemus could have been like yeah, but do you know who I am? I'm a religious Jewish person that has religious Jewish ancestry.

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And Jesus would say neat, what does that have to do with the forgiveness of your sin? You cannot simultaneously reject the son of God and be in relationship with God, the Father. That doesn't work, because they are one. And so Jesus is saying to receive me is to know and receive the Father. So let me ask you this Do you believe? And you say well, I wanna believe. How in the world do I go from being condemned to saved? It's as simple as ABC. It's as simple as A. You admit it. I'm a sinner in need of a savior. B. I believe that somehow, when Jesus died on the cross and said it is finished, that somehow that counted for me. And if those things are true about you, the Bible says call on the name of the Lord, confess Jesus, I want you to be my Lord, I'm surrendering my life to you, and the Bible says you will be saved. If you've never done it, I hope you'll do it right now. Amen.

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Thank you for listening to today's episode Before you go. If you want to help equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five-star rating and review. Stay sharp.