No Condemnation
When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman,
He said to her, ‘Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?’
She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.’
(John 8:10-11 NKJV)
When you fall, when you make a major mistake, when you realize you have failed miserably, it can be overwhelming. You may wonder how God can ever forgive you. Satan cleverly built and baited the trap, covered it with twigs and branches; you didn’t recognize the set up and you blundered right into it. Now you’re at the bottom of a pit, hurt, bruised, and bleeding, and the guilt comes in shattering waves. All you can think is Jesus died for you, that the pain and anguish He went through on the cross was for you, and you let Him down.
Take comfort from the woman caught in adultery in the verse above. Dragged into the court of public opinion by a bunch of self-righteous Pharisees, terrified and panicking, she desperately looked around her for someone who would step up and protect her. She found that Someone. Thrown down at His feet, she looked up into the only eyes that were full of kindness and love.
Unlike the Pharisees, Jesus didn’t see an object to be used as a lesson to others. Instead, He saw His daughter, scarred and weary from sin, but still His daughter—the same child He formed in the womb, the same child He knew before time began, and the same child He was going to go to the cross and die for.
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:1 NKJV).
Paul, probably more than any other apostle, understood forgiveness. When his story began, he was a fire-breathing zealot dragging Christians off to be killed. He even held the coats of the murderers stoning Stephen. But God reached out to him and Paul became God’s apostle to the Gentiles. If anyone experienced God’s grace, it was Paul.
No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us (Philippians 3:13-14 NLT).
When you trip and fall, get up and run straight to Him. Look into His eyes of love, ask Him to forgive you, and then move on. It’s over, under the blood of Christ. God says very clearly that He does not remember your sin. Follow His example and do the same.
I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more (Isaiah 43:25 NIV).
For I will be merciful and gracious toward their sins and I will remember their deeds of unrighteousness no more (Hebrews 8:12 AMPC).
As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:12 NIV).
Do you know how far east is from west? It’s immeasurable. It’s infinite and never-ending. If you go north or south, eventually you will reach a stopping point and have to change direction. But going east and west you just keep going and going and going, much like the Energizer Bunny. There is no ending. That is how God views your sins. They are so far away from you the distance cannot be measured. They are gone, erased by the power of the cross.
By the way, the Pharisees are still alive and well today. They are now in the form of self-righteous religious people who are happier to parade someone’s sin than to love and restore the person. Don’t allow them to put you under condemnation.
