"For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." —John 3:17
The Bible teaches that Jesus did not come into the world to condemn mankind.
Rather, Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost, i.e., mankind.
When Adam sinned, he opened a Pandora's box upon the world and sin came upon
all mankind.
Romans 5:12, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."
We are all sinners. There are no righteous people in this world. Romans 3:10, "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one." There are many self-righteous people in the world; but only through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ can anyone truly become righteous, but it's the righteousness of Jesus Christ which God places upon our record at salvation, and not our own self-righteousness. Man's best and grandest efforts are highly offensive to God.
Isaiah 64:6, "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."
It is impossible for mankind to impress God in his own self-righteousness and works.
"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil" (John 3:19).
This is why Jesus died on a cross and was buried and rose again and appeared before the Father in Heaven on our behalf, to wash away our sins with His own precious blood. Hebrews 9:12,24, "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." Amen! What a wonderful Savior!
"It must always be remembered that Jesus came, lived, died and rose again for the salvation of lost souls. Luke 19:10, "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." Only when we become this type of friend to the unsaved can we enter into the sweetness and closeness of the friend relationship with our God."
SOURCE: Dr. Jack Hyles, from the excellent book, EXPLORING PRAYER WITH JACK HYLES, CHAPTER 27, The Model Prayer, Pg. 160
It is the Word of God that condemns mankind. The Law of God indicts every one of us as GUILTY sinners, because we've all broken God's holy commandments. Praise God, Jesus paid the price for our sins! Jesus paid a debt that He did not owe, because we owed a debt that we could not pay. Jesus is our Advocate the Bible says, which means He comes to our side to defend us. Literally, Jesus is our divine Lawyer. 1st John 2:1, "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." God the Father is the Prosecutor. The Law of God indicts us. Jesus has paid for our sins and a plea-agreement has been worked out between the Father and the Son for us. If we'll acknowledge our Guilt of sin before God, then He'll pardon us if we'll come by way of the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ for forgiveness. We must come through Jesus Christ alone, for there is no other way to be saved. God offers us a full pardon, but we must believe on Jesus Christ to receive it.
Jesus didn't come to condemn anybody. The Law of God condemns mankind. Jesus came to set us free with the curse of the Law and give to us eternal life.
"He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." (John 3:18).
