March 7, 2020 NEITHER DO I
John 8:11 “She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”
Romans 8:1-2 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.”
Even as believers, we may have difficulty in experiencing a sense of ‘no condemnation’ after we have done wrong and have sinned. We tend to think that once we fail, once we sin, we must ‘pay the price.’ Sin is never to be taken lightly, but neither is ‘no condemnation’ to be taken lightly. The corner stone of the gospel is that Jesus came to forgive us of our sins and restore our relationship with the Father; Jesus came to save us, not to condemn us! When we sin, our pride is wounded-and that is the problem and that is often what keeps us from receiving the message of ‘no condemnation.’ Most believers, if not all, have memories of past sins and often these memories rob us of our joy and spiritual fervor; dwelling on the remembrance of our sins (past or present) can make us feel ‘less than.’ In Psalm 25:7 David’s prayer was: “Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to Your mercy remember me, for Your goodness sake, O Lord.” As said earlier, we should never make light of sin; our sin is what made it necessary for Jesus to be crucified; it is good and right for us to ‘own’ our sins and our failures-not deny them or rationalize them away. God likes honesty on our part; there is nothing He does not know about us. Isaiah 1:18 is a key truth in regards to owning our sins: God says this to you and me: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” The other side of the coin is that even though we all have sinned, we no longer have to live in sin; the power of sin has been broken for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Note that Jesus told the woman in the verse above to “go and sin no more.” Jesus does not give commands that are impossible to keep.) The lead pastor of our church gave a good insight regarding what our perspective should be in light of the fact that we have in the past sinned against God. Rather than being focused on or haunted by past sins, let us ‘from this point forward’ walk in the ways of God and not be bound by sin. We simply must come to the point that even though we are guilty of sinning against God, we have been forgiven and God remembers our sins no more! Since God forgives us, let us forgive ourselves as well. God does not begrudgingly forgive us, He gladly forgives us because He LOVES US. We can and should celebrate our being forgiven. Jesus came for those who were lost-those who knew they were sinners in need of God’s grace. Here is a tip on how to deal with thoughts of past sins: when a thought of a past sin enters our mind, (and they will on occasion) use the thought as a spring board to agree with the fact that yes we did sin, BUT God has forgiven us, and thank God for His mercy and grace in forgiving us. You and I are forgiven; the price for our sin has been paid in full. Live in the reality of and the blessing of that all of our sins are forgiven and God does not condemn us, and live, knowing that the power of sin has been broken.
Psalm 103:11-12 “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving kindness toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
John 8:36 “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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