Truly a message of hope
So why do I feel condemned?
Denial of sin hinders true forgiveness. There is no condemnation in true forgiveness. Failure to accept that which on has done is wrong and to truly humble oneself blocks one from truly being free from the penalty of sin. This failure can also lead to self condemnation.
In John 8:3 the Pharisees brought a woman caught in the act of adultery before Jesus. Their motives were obviously twisted in their own hatred of Jesus, and thus they were walking in darkness. But the woman herself did not offer any defence. Indicative of one who had accepted her faith, she stood before Jesus ready to accept whatever fate would be meted out to her. Jesus turned the tide on her accusers. None of them were willing to face up to their own transgressions and thus walked away; the woman, who stayed before Jesus received forgiveness. And Jesus did not condemn her. He did not ask her what she did, nor did he ask her why she did what she did. All he asked her was "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" When she answered, "No one, sir," his response was, "Then neither do I condemn you," … "Go now and leave your life of sin." Where sinners were unable to condemn this woman, the one who was without sin reserved his right to condemn her
Luke 15 tells the story of the prodigal son. He went away and wasted his inheritance on debauchery and loose living. So desperate was his cause, so steeped was he in his sin, so blinded was he in his condition, that he hired himself out to a pig farmer to look after pigs and would have eaten the very slop of the pigs had he being offered it. But he came to his senses (Luke 15:17), and realised that his father was indeed a merciful man, and would have accepted being take back, even as a hired hand. So he decided to eat humble pie and go home.
(Luke 15:20) …"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”
His father was indeed looking out for him and not waiting for an apology or an explanation ordered an immediate celebration. No condemnation, just forgiveness. The prodigal’s son decision to return from the darkness was rewarded with his father welcoming him home.
Peter denied Jesus three times (Luke 22). When he realise that he had done as Jesus told him he would, he went away and wept. After Jesus had risen and met with them on the beach (John 21). When Peter realise that is was Jesus, he jumped into the water and swam to shore to meet Jesus. He stood the questioning of Jesus asking him, “do you love me?” not once, but three times. And even when he became upset for having being asked a third time, Peter stood there, he did not walk away or seek to defend himself, but simply acknowledged Jesus as “know(ing) all things” Jesus did not condemn Peter. Jesus simply reaffirmed the love Peter had for him, and the love he had for Peter
Judas on the other hand could not live with what he had done (Matthew 27:5). He had betrayed Jesus to the authorities which resulted in Jesus’ death sentence. And although Judas did realise within himself that he did wrong, he could not, in himself, face up to what he had done and took the easy way out … he self destructed. His self condemnation led him to kill himself.
Where are we in our walk of life?
Do we try to justify our sins by casting doubts on the credibility of others?
Do we hide behind our authority free that those who we are over will never dare accuse us?
Do we simply look the other way hoping that whatever we have done wrong with just simply go away?
Or are we going to stand up, face up to our actions, admit them, bring them out into the light, and trust in Jesus to forgive us and wash us from our sins?
RO 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
The choice is yours.
My friend sent me this today and I was completely blown way. To be honest, God has been speaking to me about a particular sin in my life for the last two months and I have been struggling with getting free of it. He finally opened up all the doors for my individual freedom and yet I cannot take the leap. It seems I am afraid of Judgement by man. If I change a behaviour that has become so much a part of me, how will the world take it? How will my friends take it?
But my biggest struggle is WHY do I even care what the world has to say?
Has my relationship with Jesus really come to this? Can I really reacht he denial point like Judas and Peter? And since I am here, will I like peter accept his grace or will I like Judas die in Guilt?
Thank you God for the bible. For your message of hope and for the strength to pick up from here and move on. Its about time. :)
