 This video is part of a study series titled Biblical Salvation Settled Wonsome for All. Please see the playlist link in the video description. To kick off this study series, I'm going to be looking at the Gospel of John between chapters 1 to 3. There's not going to be a huge amount that I actually need to cover in chapters 1 and 2, so most of it's going to be focused on chapter 3. So the Gospel of John is probably the best place to start this series, because it's a unique book in the purpose of which it's written. So in John chapter 20 it says between 30 to 31. And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written that he might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his name. So the Gospel of John is written with the specific purpose of helping you to obtain eternal life by believing on Christ, and that is very unique in that regard, because most of the books in the Bible are written to those who are already God's people. So the Gospel of John is the best book to start the series because it serves as what you might call a beginner's course to salvation. It uses simpler language pertaining to salvation than other books in the New Testament, such as Romans or Galatians and so on. So to kick off in chapter 1, I'm not really going to read all of these verses here, because the first chapter of the Gospel were introduced to who Christ is, but it's slightly off the topic of what this series is intended. So this is who Christ is, and it will set the premise for the Christ that we're called to believe in frequently throughout John's Gospel. But regarding salvation instruction and doctrine, there's not really anything there that I feel I need to cover right now. One thing I do want to focus on is that in verse 11 it says, he came onto his own, and his own received him not. And so what you'll find frequently is that the people who should have been most receptive to Christ were the least receptive to him. We'll see this repeatedly throughout John's Gospel. He came for the Jews, he kept preaching to the Jews, and many of them were very difficult to reach. They would not accept him. And interestingly in the New Testament, actually when giving the Gospel, sometimes Christians can actually be the most difficult people to deal with funnily enough. So that's all I'm going to say on those first few verses there. And then in verse 12 it says, but as many as received him to them, he gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. So we're too early on in the sense that it's not yet clear in John's Gospel what it means to be the sons of God, quote unquote, or a son of God. But this will become more apparent as we progress through the New Testament. But there are powerful truths in the Bible that stem from us becoming the sons of God. So I'll just list a couple here. So we have adoption, so that's shown by Ephesians 1.5, that he's predestined us onto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ. We have future hope, so 1 John 3.2 shows that now we are the sons of God, and it doesn't yet appear what we shall be, but we shall know that when it shall appear we shall be like him, we shall be like Christ. And then we have the chastisement of believers justified by Hebrews 12.6, that whom the Lord loves, he chasens and he scourges every son that he receives. So these things will become more apparent as the series progresses. So we're too early on to really talk about what it means to be the sons of God yet, but it will become more important later in our study series. But building on this point as to what it actually means to become the sons of God, verse 13 says, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And so it raises the question, what exactly does it mean for the sons of God to be born of God, as opposed to of flesh or of blood or of man? Note that in chapter 3, when we look at that shortly, Jesus will use the phraseology, be born again, so we'll explore that later in this video. But just to define exactly what this means. So when it says that not born of blood or of flesh, this is because being a physical descendant of Abraham, or even Christian parents does not make oneself a son of God. And one passage just to show you, this is John 8.39, that a group of people answered Jesus being Jews and said, Abraham is our father. But then Jesus said, if you were Abraham's children, you would have done the work, you would do the works of Abraham. And then he says to them in a later verse, that they're of their father, the devil. And so just being Abraham's children of blood or of flesh doesn't make you a son of God. And then when it says not born of the will of man there, we can take that to mean that there is no salvation by the works of the law nor in man's own religious philosophies or revered persons. Things that show that, for example, Acts 4-12, that there is no salvation in any other name, for there's no other name under heaven. That's Jesus given among men where by men must be saved. So we can't be saved by Joseph Smith or Muhammad or anybody else there. Or even any of the things that they say in their Gospels. Ephesians 2.89 says, by grace you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, less than any man should boast. So Ephesians is clear that we cannot be saved as far as our eternal life is concerned by our works. And so to say that we can be saved by our works or be saved by man's own religious philosophies, that that would be the will of man. But the sons of God can't be born of the will of man. They have to be born of the will of God. And this is because salvation is given to them that believe on him. So it's to them to them that they're given the power to become the son of God, just as the Gospel of John already said. So just to show this later in John's Gospel in 640, he'll say that, and this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which sees the Son and believes on him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the last take. So that's how we can define the will of God there, that the will of God is believe on him. They're the ones that become the sons of God. And then as I said at the beginning of the video, I'm not going to dwell too much on chapter one and two because it's when we get to chapter three that the real meat comes in as far as the salvation doctrine. So we don't need to delve too deeply into these passages because there's no major instructions to actually apply to salvation. We do see salvation-relevant bits come out, like for example in John 1.29. It says that the next day John sees Jesus coming on to him and says, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. That's obviously salvation-relevant. But the thing about Jesus being the Lamb will become more apparent in later books of the New Testament. And then obviously as John points us to Christ and so on. Later in John 2.19 it says that Jesus answered and said onto him, Destroy this temple and three days I will raise it up. So that again will become more apparent as we progress through the Gospels later. But there's not really any specific salvation instructions as to how we are saved or getting the right doctrine about salvation. So I have obviously summarized that fairly quickly. But now that we can get onto chapter 3, we can go through things a bit more carefully and slowly. Actually start to get our salvation doctrine foundation set up. So we're getting onto the real meat on the bone here for salvation doctrine. That's John chapter 3. So Jesus is approached by a man named Nicodemus there, a man of the Pharisees. And it says that the same came to Jesus by night and said onto him, Rabbi we know that thou art a teacher come from God for no man can do these miracles that you do except God be with him. So Jesus is approached by a Jewish man here. He's obviously of some importance being a ruler. His comment in verse 2 that you are a teacher from God, he may have been sarcastic there, we can't really be sure. But Jesus answered and said onto him, very, very, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus says onto him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? So Jesus starts with this premise that will become very important in the next few verses that to see the kingdom of God, we must be born again. And he will define this in a few verses. What exactly that means? Nicodemus is unable to grasp the meaning of being born again. Virtually all unsaved people actually do not understand the distinction between the flesh and the spirit which we will show in a few verses later. So some context to this idiom be born again. We use actually in Christian lingo a lot more than the Bible actually uses it interestingly. Although several other passages in the New Testament do reference the new birth. The phrase born again only appears once outside of John 3 and 1 Peter 1 3. As far as I'm aware, don't quote me on that. I may have been mistaken on that, but that's just when I ran a search on it. Just an interesting fact is that most Jehovah's Witnesses do not claim to be born again. As far as I'm aware, because they apply it to very specific believers who will rule from Christ's heavenly kingdom rather than resurrecting on an earthly kingdom. But we can see here that by not being born again, they won't even see the kingdom, let alone live in it. But that's something again, we'll see that become more apparent as the series progresses. So continuing this conversation then in verse 5, Jesus answered, Now these two verses are heavily misunderstood and misinterpreted by a lot of people. So Jesus here, let's just examine the passage first. So Jesus makes a distinction in verse 5 between being born of water and then being born of the spirit. Okay, so to clarify what exactly is meant being born of water is that we can compare it with verse 6 where he re-emphasizes that at the same point just told a different way. He says that which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of spirit is spirit. So therefore we can interpret being born of water as just being born in the flesh, i.e. when you were born as a newborn baby. And how that's often misunderstood is that this phrase born of water is often wrongly associated with baptism. And so this passage is used to prop up the doctrine that water baptism, the physical ceremony is a mandatory component to enter into the kingdom of God. And so if you look on videos on YouTube, you know, is baptism required for salvation? You will get comments where people say well the Bible says to be born of water. Sounds perfectly simple to me. You say that that's not really what the Bible means by being born of water. It doesn't mean baptism because verse 6 shows this by contrasting the flesh and the spirit. So that which is flesh is a flesh, that which is born of spirit is spirit. Born of water and of spirit to enter the kingdom of God. Well we're already born of water anyway. We already know that we're born of flesh, but we need to be born again in spirit. And that's the concept that Nicodemus is failing to grasp. And even being born again in spirit is sometimes wrongly associated with continual acts of repentance throughout one's Christian life. So people that think you have to work, you have to obey, you know, you know, in order to maintain your salvation. You ask them, well show me that from the Bible. And this is one of the passages that also turn to well see. It says we have to be born again in spirit. You know, this daily sacrifice that we have to be doing. But if that were what that meant, then the phrase born in spirit doesn't actually make any sense whatsoever. Because being born, the very meaning of being born, is a one-time event. When you were born as a baby in your flesh, you will not continue with being born. Now you are actually dying in fact in the flesh. So your fleshly birth was a one-time event. And therefore being born in the spirit is a one-time event. And you immediately get born in the spirit and step on to eternal life. And this is something that will become more apparent as we continue our study through John. And I'm not actually going to cover here whether the ceremony of baptism is required for salvation. I'll just wait until we get to the relevant passages that actually deal with it. So we can just move on to the next few verses in John. So continuing through this same passage, the same conversation in verse 7. So is everyone that is born of the spirit. And so this is a somewhat unusual saying, but the implication is here that we as mankind, whether saved or unsafe, we do not fully comprehend in the sight of eternity where, why and how someone gets saved. Now obviously there are scriptures that we can turn to about heavenly reasons such as predestination and so on. And there's also the carnal reasons as to why one man rejects God and another does one, whatever their personal reasons are. But we cannot fully comprehend how and why. Why does one person get born again? Another does not, even though it's the same gospel. One person might give a list of his carnal reasons for rejecting the gospel. But then another person who's been through worse trials actually accepts the gospel. Well, the wind blows where it lists. We don't know where it came from. We don't know where it is going. So is everyone that is born of the spirit. Okay. Then continuing this same conversation in verse 9. So still Nicodemus fails to grasp the concept of being born again. And what I've found is, see many unsaved Christians have this same problem. Being highly educated or being important in ecclesiastical circles or being an expert theologian does not enlighten oneself to understand this what really should be a simple concept of being born again. It's quite a basic concept. I find often that virtually all unsaved Christians just utterly fail to grasp the concept of being born again and just completely twist its meaning. So like for example, first of all, they turn being born again into a lifelong salvation process of like daily obedient living, which completely contradicts the very meaning of being born in the first place. You know, when you were born a flesh, it was a one-time event. You are not still being born now. So to equate a lifelong process with birth is just a bad analogy, right? Spiritual birth is a one-time event. This will just become more apparent as the series progresses. Or sometimes what they do is they read a phrase like being born again. It's just meaning something that it doesn't actually say. So for example, they think it means you have to turn from all your sins to be saved. But that is not what it says. It says you have to be born again in the spirit. So I once asked an evangelist in the street, show me in the Bible where it says this phrase repent of your sins to be saved. Because I keep hearing that phrase. And she pointed me to this passage in John and says we'll see it says you have to be born again. But I never asked her whether where it says be born again. I already know where it says to be born again. I asked her where it says repent of your sins. But she just took that to me. Well, it says born again. But that's not saying the same thing. They mean two different things. And I tried asking her if, you know, when you were born as a baby, was it a one-time event? Are you still being born as a baby now? And she kept dodging the question and just couldn't understand this simple point. And then one key thing that they fail to grasp is that they do not distinguish between the flesh and the spirit. So they do not recognize that the flesh is still condemned and dying. It cannot be redeemed. So they assert that believers may lose salvation or that if a believer still has sin in one's life, then one's faith is dead or in vain. So let's just establish a little bit this difference between the flesh and the spirit. Now, I don't want to spend too long on this. I've only got one slide because I don't want to drift too far away from John. I want to keep things simple. But just to help expound on this point that we've been reading about, I've just pulled some verses from Romans and Galatians. So the point that I'm trying to get to you is that when we're born again, our spirit is reborn. OK, that's what's born again. OK, because our flesh has already been born. That's because, so Jesus says, you must be born of spirit. But the point is that the flesh is not reborn. The flesh is still condemned. It is still aging. It's still dying. And so I've just summoned some verses from Romans and Galatians to help bring this point together. So in Romans 7, Paul talks about that the law is spiritual, but he is carnal. He's sold under sin. And he does that which he would not allow, and he doesn't do what he would do, essentially. But then he says in verse 17 that, now then, it is no more I that do it, referring to sin, but sin that dwells in me. So sin still dwells in him, but when he thinks it's no longer he himself that does it, it's the sin that dwells in him. For I know that in me, and that is in my flesh, Paul says, dwells no good thing. So no good thing dwells in your flesh. So when you're born again, don't expect the flesh to catch up. OK, there's no good thing that dwells in him. For so will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find on. So he talks about wrestling between what he should do and what he does do, essentially in that passage there. And then a little while later in the same chapter he'll finish it off by saying I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord, so that with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. So he makes a distinction between himself and his flesh. OK, and we can understand that if we understand the distinction between the flesh and the spirit. OK, Galatians also picks up on this point in chapter five. It says, this I say then, walk in the spirit. So he has to give a commandment to walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. And this is key. Watch this verse 17 for the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary one towards the other. So that if you be led by the spirit, you are not under the law. So he's showing here that the flesh and the spirit are contrary to one another. And that's why I've shown them in a little boxing match there. They work against each other. So you have a born against spirit that wants to do good, but you still carry around this flesh that doesn't want to do good. And so that's what Paul's talking about there. Notice also as well in Galatians 2.16 and Romans 3.20 reads very similar that knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and that not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law, watch this shall no flesh be justified. So he says no flesh shall be justified. He doesn't refer to the spirit, but the spirit is the aspect that's born. Again, the flesh is the aspect that's dead in sin. So this establishes, if we can grasp this concept, that Christians do still have a propensity to sin, but the difference is that now they have a spirit wrestling against it. Okay, whereas the unsaved man is either not wrestling against it at all, and that would perhaps be a non-Christian who doesn't have a problem going out and getting drunk and doing this and doing that. He's not even wrestling against the flesh there. Or he is wrestling against the flesh with his flesh, and this is probably unsaved Christians where they trust in their own obedience to the law for eternal life. And they do use swings and roundabouts to special terminology about works of faith versus works of the law, and that's just something that I'll have to cover later in the series because we're too early for it now, but they think that their own obedience and helps their salvation somehow, it's not just enough to just believe on Christ, but we'll see this unfold as the series progresses. When we actually do a study series on Romans and Galatians, it will become more expository. It's just that here, remember that John's Gospel is keeping things fairly simple because it's just written that you would believe and get eternal life. He's not expounding on doctrine too deeply in that regard, although it is a very deep book in its own way. He's just establishing the foundation when he says to be born again. Romans and Galatians, they're not written as instructions to unbelievers how to get saved, they're written to believers. And so those books can actually go into more advanced language and more advanced concepts, building on the foundation that John's Gospel is actually laying out here. So unsaved Christians, they just cannot understand this doctrine at all. Christians with a workspace salvation or that they think you can lose salvation, they just cannot understand this distinction between the flesh and the spirit, rather like Nicodemus in a way. And it's because they themselves have not been spiritually born again, that's why they can't understand the spirit. So they think that they're justified by their works, but the thing is no matter how obedient you are or you say you are, even if they're more obedient than someone who is actually born again, they're still wrestling against flesh with flesh because flesh cannot be justified. There is no justification by our works or our own obedience. Our works help us with eternal rewards, which again we'll see later, but it doesn't help us with salvation itself. And so this is why they don't know what to do with a believer who sins. They just don't know what to do with that. And so some of them will say things like, you can lose your salvation, you have to repent and get it all back again. Or they'll say, well, you should be a sinless perfectionist. You will never sin again if you're truly saved or whatever ways they'll find their way around that. But ultimately the flesh is still aging and dying. When you die, the flesh gets left behind, but the spirit is the bit that's actually going to heaven and it has eternal life. And then we look forward to a future resurrection with a new body powered by the spirit. So only the spirit is born again and saved. And if you can just grasp that, everything else will start to fall into play and make sense. So I know I've branched off a little bit there and it's too early really to get into the deeper things in that, but it's just to help you understand that basic foundation because it does confuse a lot of people. So returning back to the conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus will clarify why he was unable to grasp the concept of being born again. So in verse 11, verily, verily I say unto you, we speak that we do know and testify that we have seen and you receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? So Jesus clarifies why Nicodemus is unable to grasp this concept of being born again. It's not because Nicodemus was not expert enough because in verse 10, Jesus asks with astonishment, you know, you are a master and you know not these things. It's not because Nicodemus was not willing to turn from all his sins and start living a righteous life and whatever terminology Christians will use nowadays. There's no evidence in this passage that that's the issue at all. Okay. Nicodemus would not believe. He would not receive Christ's witness. Now, it's possible that there was a surrounding crowd because when it says thee there, that singular you, but when it says ye, that's plural. So there may have been a crowd around Nicodemus, although it's not entirely obvious or it may have just been you as in he was referring, he was talking to Nicodemus, but talking to the Jews plurally. But the issue is Nicodemus would not receive Christ's witness, which is just synonymous with believing on him because those two things go together here. And we also saw that in John 1-12 as well. So that's the problem. That's why he can't grasp the concept of being born again. And so this is essentially why unsaved Christians, quote unquote, don't grasp the concept of being born again. And it will just come more clear as the study progresses, but ultimately it's that they will not receive Christ's witness, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. That's in the upcoming verses, by the way. They're not satisfied that salvation is as simple as believing on him. You know, for them that's too easy, or it's just it makes grace cheap, or however they want to phrase it with their little catchphrases and parroted things, because they want to insist that their own obedience merits their salvation in some way, or that it justifies the validity of their faith. So they'll say, well, of course we're saved by faith, but I know I'm saved because I have all these works to accompany my faith. You know, it's just this self-absorbed measurement of salvation by works when it's by faith not of works, even though they sometimes say that it's by faith and not of works. Or what they as well, what they'd rather do is they would rather build their salvation doctrine on less clear minority scriptures, such as, for example, James 2, then reinterpret the majority of the more clear scriptures, such as Romans and Galatians, so as to bring it back to man's fleshly obedience. And so I gave the example of James 2 there compared with Romans and Galatians. Well, throughout Romans and Galatians we keep reading, save by faith not of works, save by faith not of works, not justified by works, not justified by obedience, saved by believing on him. Ephesians also reads this way, but because we have this one tiny little passage in James 2 that says that we're justified by faith and works, that doesn't even say technically that faith without works can't save it, doesn't actually say that verbatim, okay, that they just want to throw out all of Romans and throw out all of Galatians and throw out all of Ephesians because of this tiny little tidbit in James 2, instead of just reexamining what they believe about James 2 in light of the multitude of other more clear scriptures. Okay. And so just another example of this is that though eternal life is simply believing, which we'll see throughout Gospel, John's Gospel, particularly later in this same chapter, they sometimes take statements like the go and sin no more, which is not talking about eternal life and they apply it to eternal life. So again, you search a YouTube video, do we need to be saved by faith alone or faith plus works and the video might argue it's faith alone and then somebody goes in the comments, well the Bible says go and sin no more, sounds pretty clear to me, but the thing is if they actually went and read where the Bible says that because it actually comes up later in John's Gospel, it's not associated with eternal life in either passage, okay, we'll actually see that later in this series as I do those chapters in John. And ultimately they want to insist that their own turning from sins credits their salvation instead of just recognizing that they dwell in sinful flesh even with the redeemed spirit, it comes back to they don't want to just believe in Jesus, they insist that they have something to do with it, that they must play their part, okay, and that's why they just fail to grasp the concept of being born again, just like Nicodemus. Moving along then into verse 13, and no man has ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven, and Moses lifted up the servant in the wilderness even so the Son of Man be lifted up. So these verses can be misconstrued pertaining to believers going to heaven prior to Jesus' resurrection and ascension, so you know, what happened to all testament believers before Christ died and rose again? Well, there is this doctrine where believers supposedly went to what's called the good side of Hades or held in Abraham's bosom, waiting to enter heaven by which they will be able to do when Christ has resurrected, they're just waiting there and then they can go to heaven when Christ has resurrected. I disagree with that doctrine because the doctrine of the good side of Hades or Abraham's bosom as being somewhere that's not heaven, Abraham's bosom, is to me conjectural, there's no clear scripture to prove this and if you go to Luke 16 where it mentions Abraham's bosom, it doesn't actually say that that's in Hades, it just says that there's a chasm between there and Hades. Regarding whether all testament believers could go to heaven, well, we do have an old testament example of Elijah being carried into heaven, that's in 2 Kings 211. The book of Hebrews does explain that all testament believers were saved by faith as we are in the New Testament, so it is essentially the same gospel, it's just that the name of Jesus hadn't been revealed yet, so it was the name of Jehovah or Yahweh or however you would pronounce that. Jesus says in verse 13, the Son of Man is in heaven, so that kind of implies then that Jesus is already in heaven, even though he's saying this to Nicodemus on the earth. So what we can take to mean from this is that from an eternal perspective, it doesn't actually matter when on the calendar Jesus actually died and rose again because in the sight of eternity, it's already happened. All right, and although we can't prove this as easily with the resurrection, we can prove it with his death, so have a look at these passages. So 1 Peter 1 19 to 20, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without sport, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. So he was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but manifest in these last times for you, okay. Revelation 13, 8, and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Another one, not sort of referring to the crucifixion per se, but John 8, 58, Jesus said onto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am, that's already, okay. So there's no reason why Jesus' death, burial and resurrection, was not then already pre-effective for all testament believers. They just understood less about it than we do now in the New Testament. So that's not hugely important. I mean, you know, even if people believe in this Abraham's bosom doctrine, I don't think it makes them unsaved. I just think it's very conjectural, and I think if we can just understand from the eternal perspective that everything Jesus came to do had already happened, it makes perfect sense why all testament believers can go to heaven even though Jesus hasn't technically died, buried and resurrected yet, as far as the earthly calendar is concerned. And then moving along, we're probably now onto one of the most important sections of the Bible you will ever read, okay. We're on the ultimate stuff now. So following this point that the Son of Man must be lifted up, I've grayed it out because we've already read it, verse 15, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believes on him is not condemned, but he that believes not is condemned already. Why? Because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son. So bearing in mind that, yes there are passages that other people will turn to and say well this also applies to salvation and that also applies to salvation but let's remember before we even get on to those passages, John's Gospel is the one book in the Bible that is written specifically to tell us how to have eternal life and he only gives one condition. He doesn't say repent of your sins to have eternal life. He doesn't say get baptized to have eternal life. He doesn't say go to church and receive sacraments to get back your eternal life. He doesn't say live in daily sacrificial obedience to have eternal life. He says, believe on Jesus and have eternal life. All right. John keeps it very, very, very simple. Okay. Now this is going to be a repeated theme throughout John particularly in the next few chapters probably up until about chapter 12 but very, very specifically over up until chapter 6 that it keeps saying believe, have eternal life, believe, have eternal life, believe, have eternal life and he's saying this over and over and over and over again. So if people then want to turn to another part of the Bible that's not necessarily actually written with the intention to tell you how to get eternal life, something about being baptized or something about obeying commandments or whatever and people say well that also you must be doing that then to have eternal life. Well then you would have to say then that Jesus is not giving a complete gospel here. He's giving an incomplete gospel if there's not enough steps here how to be saved. And again, I'm sure people just make stuff up about that but all in good time my friends. So on top of only saying this one condition Jesus uses very certain language. He did not say you might not perish, you might not be condemned. Well you could have eternal life, you know, you might be saved. You shall have eternal life as long as you continue on the right path and endure to the end but you know you might not if you don't make it. He says you are not condemned. You have now it's an everlasting life. Well guess what everlasting life is everlasting. That means it's forever. It doesn't end okay. And we'll unpack that more throughout the study series. So Jesus makes the path to eternal life simple. He makes it easy to understand. He uses certain language. There's no maybes perhaps as possibilities. And additionally notice he keeps repeating the same point multiple times. Believe, have eternal life. Believe, have eternal life. Be saved through him. Believe, you know, not condemned. Believe, not already condemned. He's using simple repetitive language there okay. So that means it's important all right. He's not saying believe and do this, that and the other to be saved. Believe and do that, this, that and the other. Believe and do this, that and the other. He just says believe, have eternal life. He keeps repeating it because that's what's important. We need to believe him okay. So you know as I've already said this will just become a repetitive theme in the upcoming chapters of John. So we'll just move on. So just a small point that I want to make here is that where it says have everlasting life in verse 16. And then it says be saved in verse 17. And then in 18 it says not condemned. So even though these are slightly different terminologies and strictly speaking, you know, you can argue they have different definitions, but they are simple terms that are synonymous. So if we say we are saved from condemnation, I'm born again in spirit. So now we have eternal life. They're all synonymous terms. If you are saved, you have eternal life vice versa okay. So throughout this series, we may use the phrase saved or salvation and eternal life interchangeably. So if I say you are saved or you have salvation, it's exactly the same same as saying you have eternal life okay. I'm saying the same thing just worded slightly differently. Let's play pay closer attention in verse 18 because this is important. We have he that believes on him is not condemned. And then he that believes not is already condemned. Why? Because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. So in this verse Jesus establishes in this verse there are only two types of people here two okay. There's those that believe and have eternal life. And there's those that do not believe and are condemned. They're the only two people that he hypothesizes here. Notice also in the blue bit that those who do not believe, they have not believed. That's perfect present tense, which you could argue is from the past until the present okay. Up to now from the past until now they have not believed. So therefore anybody who is condemned because they do not believe present tense has not previously believed past tense. And the reason this is important is because conditional security advocates and that that's those who claim that we can lose or forfeit our salvation is that they use other passages in the Bible that are not necessarily explicitly talking about eternal life or salvation in all cases actually. And then they inject those into this passage to create a new type of hypothetical person that doesn't even exist based on the verses that we've got here. So for example somebody who we've got somebody who believes and is not condemned here but what we don't have is somebody who stops believing and no longer believes and goes back into being condemned again. That's not hypothesized here. We also don't have hypothesized somebody who does believe but then sins too much so they forfeit their salvation by sinning too much and therefore goes back into condemnation. Again that type of person is not hypothesized by Jesus here. Now people say well yeah we should use the whole Bible we should use well yeah but you can't use other parts of the Bible to inject a hypothetical person that doesn't exist. All right there's only two types of people that betrayed here. So Jesus is very clear here there's those who do not believe and they have not believed. Therefore somebody who allegedly stops believing and does not have eternal life if we assume that they fall under that category then they fall under the category of has not believed. There is no prospect here of a believer losing salvation. There is only the prospects of somebody who never believed to begin with i.e. they were never saved. Now this will become more apparent later in the series so I don't need to dwell on that now but we'll get to John chapter 6 and we'll see the issue of Judas Iscariot because he's one of the token children for Bible characters that allegedly lost their salvation. So we're going to disprove that and prove that it actually agrees with this verse right here. So continuing in the chapter this is where the Gospel of John actually describes what the condemnation is that he's just been talking about. So and this is the condemnation that light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone that does evil hates the light neither comes to the light unless his deeds should be reproved but he that does truth comes to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrote in God. So now in John's Gospel the condemnation of the non-believer is not specifically related to Hellfire. Obviously Jesus gives plenty of warnings about Hell in other gospels so when we get to them then we'll deal with them but it's because that's not the point that John's Gospel is actually getting at here because what we've seen so far in the passages that we've just read is that salvation is as simple as believing on Christ. Okay so the condemnation described is not really about the end destination for the condemned but rather the reason why they are condemned. Okay so well what's the reason? Well Jesus the light come into the world but men love darkness rather than light they do not come to the light so they will not believe therefore that's why they are condemned so that that's just the point that John's trying to get across there. And then also just different parts to focus on in these verses that where it says he who everyone who does evil hates the light but then he that does truth comes to the light because this statement says do truth someone might misconstrue this statement as requiring works for salvation you know it's something you've got to do. That would be outside the context of this passage and it doesn't actually say that he who does truth has everlasting life that's not really what it says it says that he who does truth comes to the light well that's synonymous with believing on him coming to Jesus. Okay so when and then when it says his deeds may be made manifest they are rotting God we'll understand this later as the series progresses but a really simple explanation is that when we are unsaved our works have no eternal value okay now once we are saved our works can have value but they don't warrant or credit our salvation in any way but rather now that we have salvation by faith now we can start to earn eternal rewards because our works are rots or another word he might use is shaped in God okay so the Bible is clearly that salvation is by faith not of work so works only help with eternal rewards if you're already saved but not eternal life itself okay because otherwise what you would be doing is turning the effect into the cause okay the cause is believe have eternal life and then the effect is now you can work and get eternal rewards if you said well you must have these works to have eternal life well you're taking the effect and making it the cause okay but we can also demonstrate not with a lot of scripture but with a couple of pieces that even the man who was built no eternal rewards with no useful works is still technically himself saved if he believes so Romans 4 5 but to him that works not but believes on him that justifies the ungodly his faith is countered for righteousness and then 1 Corinthians 3 if any man's work abide which he has built there upon he shall receive reward there's that word if any man's work shall be burned he shall suffer loss so he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved yet so was by fire and that that doesn't mean hell fire but it means his work would be burned that that's his work being burned there that's what it's a reference to we'll cover that when we do Corinthians now between chapter sorry verses 22 to 35 that's John's testimony about Jesus there's not really anything that I feel I need to pluck out for this particular series but for the purpose of what we're trying to achieve so there's no salvation instruction basically and verse 36 that's the last verse in the chapter we end with this statement he that believes on the sun has everlasting life and he that believes not the sun shall not see life but the wrath of God abides on him now what I've brought close attention to here is that the ESV English Standard Version Translation is that instead of saying believe not it says does not obey so in the King James Bible we have belief is the opposite of disbelief but then in the English Standard Version we have belief is the opposite of disobey now there is an issue with translational difference here where the underlying Greek is translated as believe not in one translation but then does not obey in another and many more of the literal modern translations agree with the ESV such as the the new american standard so this does give rise to the debate on the issue of bible translation because you might ask the question well does the ESV sneak works and obedience into the gospel by placing disobedience against belief because now this implies that believers will automatically walk in obedience and anybody who is disobedient that they they do not believe so in that wonder is the ESV doing that but then they might flip it back and say well did the King James translators deliberately mistranslate disbelief because of the reformation reaction to Catholicism and the proclamation of solo faith alone so so just a couple of points to consider on this is that most textus receptors based and therefore most reformation era bibles agree with the King James translation as far as I'm aware so Tindale, Covertale, Bishops Bible even like the Reina Valera in Spanish, Luisa Gondin French, Dio Datti in Italian, Almeda, Portuguese, Chinese Union version and so on and so on so it's the King James is not the only Bible to translate it as disbelieve and also actually if you're going to say that it was just a reaction to Catholicism and solo faith a while the Catholic Douay Reims translation does actually agree with the King James so you know the Catholics themselves translated as disbelieve as well and there was one reformation era Bible that agreed with the ESV and that's the Geneva translation so it's not as if people didn't know that disobey is a possible translation there and the underlying Greek is the same in both textus receptors and critical edition text so this is this is an issue of just how the Greek is translated it's not what manuscripts we use now just as a sort of a disclaimer I don't speak Greek okay and this study series is not about textual criticism and correct Bible translation but the thing is because of differences like this where it starts to affect our salvation doctrine this is going to happen multiple times and so I am going to have to bring it up again to my better judgment so I because I don't speak Greek I can't give you any authority on what's the better way of translating it but let me just point out something here is that back in verse 18 both the King James and the ESV say him that believes versus him that does not believe whereas in verse 36 that's when we actually have the difference and so the reason for this is that the the underlying Greek antonym used in verse 18 is not the same antonym that's used in verse 36 and that that's why it's an issue it's not exactly the same word in both of those verses in the underlying text and this issue will crop up again in the New Testament particularly in Hebrews 3 to 4 so I'll sort of park it there for now but although translators may debate on which is the better translation at least in the English language the King James Bible appears to be consistent between verses 36 and verses 18 and that's that's all I'm going to say about that for now now an overarching point that I want to make about the whole chapter on reflection is that in verse 3 Jesus talked about seeing the kingdom of God when a man is born again then in verse 5 he said enter the kingdom of God when a man is born of spirit so we just assume that those are obviously somewhat synonymous and then continuing that same thought between verses 12 and 13 he says you know how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things no one has ascended up to heaven that came down from heaven and the Son of Man is in heaven and then continuing that exact same thought he says in verse 16 and you know have everlasting life and so that shows that heaven the kingdom of God and everlasting life are just synonymous terms okay entering having eternal life means you go to heaven and enter into the kingdom of God and so you know it's just to show you that that relationship and the reason that I point that out is because some groups like say the seventh day Adventists and the Jehovah's Witnesses have a sort of soul sleep doctrine where when you die you're not conscious anymore until the future resurrection and they claim that there are no clear passages that say that believers actually go to heaven specifically when they die but we can see here that they are interchangeable terms okay eternal life is equated with heaven and the kingdom of God now they want to sort of break it down and say well there's heaven and then there's the kingdom there's eternal life but this means that you know you'll go to sleep and then you'll go in the future kingdom but you won't be in heaven and they make all this sort of stuff based on other passages in the Bible which not only the wrong about those other passages but the thing is they then turn the Bible into such a convoluted book that it might as well be the Quran now because the thing is this is written as a letter okay John's letter should make sense we should just be able to read it and see he's using kingdom of God heaven and eternal life interchangeably there's no like oh we invent a doctrine that this means this and then this means this and then invent another doctrine for that based on these it just becomes so convoluted that you can't just read the Bible as a letter anymore you've got to keep going like that and then nobody knows where to go and you could really just point to any verse that you want to make up a doctrine so this will become more apparent as the series progresses you know just allow the book to flow in a sensible manner okay so just some final thoughts about John 3 if you already saw my series introduction which included a gospel presentation or if you see my standalone gospel presentation I've already actually talked about this but it's just clarifying that Jesus hypothesized only two types of people so those that believe in having to have a lasting life and those that don't believe in our condemned and then anybody that does not believe has not previously believed and the final thought is that people might wonder well wait a minute don't most people believe in Jesus I mean all Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, Protestants, Evangelicals, Seventh-day Adventists, Mormons believe in Jesus some Jewish sects even believe in Jesus like Jews for Jesus and Messianic Jews what is that about but then there's Muslims and Hindus and they also believe in Jesus and then even some atheists actually like scholars claim that Jesus existed and maybe was even a good man so lots of groups claim to believe in Jesus and we saw that whosoever will believe in Jesus but they all believe different things about Jesus so then are they all saved then it begs the question so well the Bible does give us a warning about another Jesus okay and another gospel and that's in 2 Corinthians 11 2 and 4 that Paul warns that there is a danger of their minds being corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ and that someone may come and preach another Jesus and another spirit and another gospel and we risk bearing with him okay so there is such thing as another Jesus and another gospel so based on what these different groups believe about salvation well in Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy you've got to participate in the sacraments to be saved okay in Islam you know to enter Jannah to be you know you must believe in Allah and his messenger and do many good deeds and repeat prayers and so on and then the Jehovah's Witnesses will say that to live forever you must learn about God exercise faith build a good strong friendship some branches of evangelicalism and Protestantism and I'm not getting them all but you know it's obviously a very much more diverse group than the others some of them will say things like you must repent of your sins or you must surrender your life to Jesus which what that means when you're dead in sin I don't actually know and you and you know you must walk in daily obedience or you must progress towards perfection or whatever they'll say different groups will have different sort of catchphrases Seventh-day Adventists will say that when you're saved you will strive to be good and pay attention that you won't fall away Mormonism will say that you know you must exercise your faith and do the best that you can in your own ability then trust in Christ I've seen that on some website somewhere I can't remember Eastern religions are obviously very different in what they believe but there's still something along the lines of good karma in some way and you know the way that you act in this life and so although they all have different instructions on how to be saved they all have one thing in common it's your works well we've already established that it's by believing anyway but let's just let's just pick on this point briefly about works so we have multiple passages here that say that salvation is by faith not of works Ephesians two eight to nine is one of them Romans 11 six is one of them Romans four two three is one of them okay Galatians two twenty one is one of them and and Romans actually points out in for that if Abraham were justified by work so if that were the case as these different denominations proclaim well they can glory actually he has glory wear of the glory but notice this not before God though okay now I'll unpack that when we get to Romans four and James two because you know that's that's something they like to parrot we can unpack that later in the series but it's clear that salvation is by faith not of works it's by belief okay so if someone then wants to say that we're saved by works well there's no grace in work salvation okay so they are ultimately believing in another Jesus and another gospel you can't say oh well we must believe in Jesus but then I've also got to do my part by doing this list of things because then you're no longer believing in Jesus you're believing in another Jesus and you're partly believing in yourself okay so that's just a finalizing comment that when it says you must believe on him that means by faith and not of works it's just that John hasn't clarified that yet because he's using simpler language whereas Romans and Galatians that are written to the saved they'll use more advanced language as well Ephesians that he was even more advanced language in Ephesians okay so that will become clear as I start to get to passage as those in a few weeks or a few month time further into the series so if you are trusting in your works you are believing in another Jesus and another gospel and therefore you fall into the category of does not believe ultimately and this is something that Jesus will end up hammering with with the Jews is that they won't accept him and that they still have a works-based mentality so I hope that this first video of this series the first study anyway has really helped you and I plan on doing more videos and going through the rest of the chapters of John and then branching out into other books in the Bible I want to make it as part of a series and ultimately the goal is to cover every passage possible at least in the New Testament that is used to apply for salvation in some way and then show either what it actually means or to show you how people are just getting it wrong it's going to be a work in progress it's going to take several months to do so if this is the first video that you've watched and it's still fairly on in my channel's history then click that subscribe and you know you'll be notified when more study videos become available if you're watching a bit later when I have actually finally managed to do those then just go in the video description and I'll provide a link to the playlist where you can just see all videos there and I'll put a link to the PowerPoint as well if you want to download a copy