condemed already

John 3:18

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.


John 3:36

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.


Preachers of the Gospel get accused all the time of "judging" people. However, the fact of the matter is, folks are "condemed already". It is not my judgement they are judged by. They don't need me to judge them, they are already judged according to God's judgement. We are all measured against God's standard, and found wanting.

Imagine a fellow who is very generous, kind, and well thought of. He does all sorts of really great things for people and is an all around great guy. For whatever reason, one day he commits murder. When he is arrested and goes before the court for judgement, it won't be for the good things he has done, it will be for the crime he has committed.

The same is for us. We will not stand before God on Judgement day for all the good things we have done.

We will stand before God because we have broken His commandments.

We have lied, and so we will be judged as liars. We have stolen, so we will be judged as thieves. We have coveted, we have blasphemed, we are adulterers and murderers at heart.

There is no way we can save ourselves or ever be "good enough" to make up for our sins. We are utterly guilty and condemed.

However, there is GOOD NEWS. Our debt has been paid! Jesus took our place and died for our sins. He paid the fine for us. Because of who He is and as perfect, sinless sacrifice, He is the only one who ever could. He then rose again in victory over sin and death.

See, I'm not out saying I'm better than anyone else. No, I'm not in a place to judge. I'm just telling folks about God's standard and the fact is, I'm in the same boat and in need of the Savior as much as they are. I'm just telling folks about the truth I've found.

All I know is, I was blind, and now I can see.