TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11
Scripture: John 3:17-19

John 3:17-19 says, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. ‘He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.’” Even John 3:16 became a judgment, according to verse 19. When people did not receive the salvation offered, verse 19 says the word of that salvation became their judgment. The judgment was, “…that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” That takes us back to the choices of 1 John. If we choose to turn, acknowledge and confess our sins, then we do not come into judgment. But everyone who has ever quoted John 3:16 and did not read on to verse 19 has very likely missed an important fact. Verse 19 reveals that if verse 16 was not received, it became a judgment! The very word of salvation is a word of judgment if the salvation is not received. We cannot extract John 3:16 from its context without sacrificing the Scriptural integrity of the passage. Jesus’ own words cannot be denied. Ignoring the context of verse 16 is a foolish and dangerous mistake to make.