19 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.
because their deeds were evil.
The word “evil” means wicked. People reject Christ not because they are ignorant of what He offers but because they love their deeds of darkness. “Deeds” may include religious activities and self-righteous actions (Is 64:6). The only righteousness that God accepts is the righteousness that Jesus offers. This is why our only option is the cross.
The “deeds” here are not immoral actions; they are the actions of those who go negative in volition toward God. They reject the advances of God over and over (Jn 7:7).
The inner motive of those who reject Christ is that they have a vested interest in doing so. Their soul stands bare before Him. This is why people persist in rejecting Him. They love darkness for what it hides. They do not want their value system disturbed.
Immersed in their bias, they do not want to change. They set their belief system in darkness. They, in fact, “love” darkness.
PRINCIPLE:
The ground of judgment for man is who and what Jesus is and did.
APPLICATION:
God pronounces a divine verdict on those who make their decision to reject Christ. Jesus came into the realm of humanity to reveal who and what God is. Mankind as a whole rejected Him and preferred to love their sin, which they covered in darkness.
The thought in this verse is not that God has decreed that some men are eternally lost; His thought is they are in a state of judgment that needs to be addressed by believing in what Christ did on the cross for the sin question. Men choose not to believe on Christ and that is their current state of judgment. Their condemnation lies in that fact.
