First Quarter 2004 Adult Sabbath School Lessons:
"The Gospel Of John"

Insights to Lesson 4
Grace is All-Inclusive
January 17-23, 2004

(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)

The 1888 message which "the Lord in His great mercy sent" to us emphasizes certain Good News ideas about the cross more than our Sabbath School lessons do:

“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.” Within the sound of these words that ring through the centuries, we hear and find all that any man needs, and all that every man desires, and all that pertains to life, even life eternal. Embedded in these words is the assurance that an irrevocable gift has been given to every man that inhabits this world. That gift bridged the chasm caused by sin and in that Gift mankind was once again united with divinity in the person of the Son of God coming in the “likeness of sinful flesh.”

But more than this, just as the brass serpent was lifted up on a pole in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man was lifted up on a pole for the supreme and inexpressible demonstration of how God so loved the world. It is this demonstration that will change the hardest of hearts, if anyone is willing to look and behold. It is by this means alone that anyone can ever be born of the Spirit and born again.

If the soul is willing, he will be drawn by this love streaming forth from Calvary’s cross, and time and time again he will catch greater and greater glimpses of the matchless charms of Christ. There will be a continual softening and subduing of the heart with the recognition that the gift of God’s own dear Son was not merely for the 33 years of His earthly sojourn, but that the Son of God has bound Himself to humanity by ties that can never be broken—forever one (God) with us.

More than this, by beholding this love the soul will grasp the reality that in the person of Jesus Christ resides eternal life and that this gift was given to every man with the gift of God’s dear Son. Believer and unbeliever have been given this testimony “that God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son,” but His Son has been given to all mankind and therefore all have been given the gift. “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son does not have life” (read carefully and thoughtfully 1 John 5:10-12). E. J. Waggoner puts it this way, “Christ has wrought out a salvation for every man and has given it to him, but the majority spurn and throw it away” The Glad Tidings, p. 14).

Indeed grace is all-inclusive as our Sabbath School quarterly exclaims. The world was wrapped in an atmosphere of grace from the moment sin entered the world and the promise of the Seed was given to mankind. Grace and truth come through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ (John 1:17; Romans 3:24). The promise and the gift of Christ are the source and manifestation of that grace. This all-inclusive grace benefits the vilest of sinners to the humblest of saints. It is this same all-inclusive grace that saved the world and abolished the second death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (2 Tim. 1:9-10). Moreover, for those who partake of this grace, it will utterly transform the heart and mind, and it will teach us to “deny all ungodliness” (Titus 2:12).

But we learn more about God’s inexpressible love in the gift of His Son and His much more abounding grace that resulted from that gift in the story of the woman at the well. We see that God’s love and grace do not condemn but save. Jesus spoke not one word of condemnation to the adulterous Samaritan woman. His grace overflowed in tender words of goodness and reproof, leading her to repentance. There is good news about condemnation. Men must persistently insist in loving darkness rather than light before condemnation is pronounced. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

When received into the heart this all-inclusive grace will compel and propel the recipient, to become a witnessing disciple of Christ. And she said, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”

For an excursus on the Good News about Condemnation, see the added material below.

THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT CONDEMNATION

After the bitterest and bloodiest war fought on American soil, the War Between the States, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, legally setting at liberty all the slaves. The Proclamation was published in all the newspapers, North and South, and the liberating news was spread far and wide. But amazingly many of the slaves refused to believe the good news, choosing to remain in bondage to their slave owners. President Lincoln found it necessary to hire special government agents to hand-carry copies of the Emancipation Proclamation signed in fresh ink with his own signature and, with official U. S. government identification, to place the liberating proclamation in front of the slaves. At that point many of them chose to believe the good news, they got up, and walked out of the plantations at liberty.

So it is today, the Emancipation Papers have been signed in Christ’s own blood for every man, woman and child (1 Peter 1:17-20; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20). But the vast majority refuse to believe the good news that the prison doors of darkness have been thrown wide open and they choose to remain in bondage. But not one soul need remain in the bondage of despair, anxiety, fear, addiction, rejection, bitterness, or guilt. Jesus Christ came “to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound” (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18).

The Word of God in 1 Timothy 4:10 authoritatively proclaims that Jesus Christ “is the Savior of every man, especially of those who believe.” Let me repeat: Jesus is the Savior of every man. Yes, Christ is the gift that God has given to every man; He is the Light that gives light to every man that comes into the world, including the agnostic and atheist, as well as those who will believe (John 3:16; 1:9). Many think that the gift of Christ and the benefits of His sacrifice are provisional. In other words, we must do something first, namely believe, before we receive any benefit from His work of redemption. It is true that the benefit of eternal life is conditional on believing the gospel and a willingness to follow Christ to the His cross (Luke 9:23), however it is also true that whether, believe or not, all men benefit from His sacrifice¹, because in Him (Christ) every man lives and moves and has his being or vital life force. The Apostle Paul clearly states this truth to the unbelieving Athenian philosophers (see Acts 17:22-28).

Many people refuse to come to Christ, because they mistakenly feel that the condemnation of God rests upon them. But remember, Christ is the Savior of every man. And He has saved every man from condemnation to make a decision. How you ask? Well, it is true that Adam’s one offense affected the whole human race and gave condemnation to all men, but God reversed and cancelled the condemnation of Adam. Christ’s one righteous act of redemption affected the whole human race in a much more abundant way and gave justification of life to all men (see Romans 5:18).

The only reason any man will ever be condemned is because he loves darkness more than the light God gives to him. A man must passively or actively refuse to believe the good news and reject Christ and His cross in order to be ultimately condemned (John 3:18-19). God condemns no one until a final individual response to the gospel invitation is made². Remember the story in John chapter 8 of the woman caught in adultery? The Pharisees brought her to Jesus, condemning her, and hoping to trap Jesus. After unmasking their motives and unsavory history, her accusers departed in shame. Then Jesus asked, “does no one condemn you? Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” Although caught in the grip of sin with no evidence of faith, Jesus refused to condemn the woman. More than sufficient opportunity is given to everyone to intelligently respond in faith, both with the heart and the mind, to the good news that Christ is the Savior of all men.

Not one sin that you may have committed is counted against you until an ultimate response to the gospel is made, because “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself not imputing their trespasses unto them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). In other words, the sins of every man have been imputed to Christ, the Lamb bearing away the sins of the world. Jesus refuses to judge (condemn) anyone. “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge (condemn) him in the last day” (see John 12:47-48).

Please remember that condemnation is not automatic because of your personal sins; it is provisional and based on your response to the Lamb of God bearing away the sins and condemnation of the world. When you believe the good news that Jesus has “paid it all” and cancelled and reversed the condemnation resulting from Adam’s one offense, then at that moment of faith, there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1); condemnation is no longer even a provision because you personally have obeyed the gospel (Romans 10:16) counting it a privilege to go the cross with Christ.

Endnotes:

1. “To the death of Christ we owe even this earthly life. The bread we eat is the purchase of His broken body. The water we drink is bought by His spilled blood. Never one, saint or sinner, eats his daily food, but he is nourished by the body and the blood of Christ. The cross of Calvary is stamped on every loaf. It is reflected in every water spring” The Desire of Ages, p. 660). [return to text]

2. “Not because we first loved Him did Christ love us; but ‘while we were yet sinners’ He died for us. He does not treat us according to our desert. Although our sins have merited condemnation, He does not condemn us. Year after year He has borne with our weakness and ignorance, with our ingratitude and waywardness. Notwithstanding our wanderings, our hardness of heart, our neglect of His Holy Word, His hand is stretched out still” Ministry of Healing, p. 161; emphasis supplied). [return to text]

Read the study notes for Lesson 5