Neither Do I Condemn You

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This is Fifteen Minutes With Jesus. Today’s program is called, Neither Do I Condemn You. Let’s turn to John 8:1-12, But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?" This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 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." Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." Verse 7, So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first."

We are such a self righteous and hypocritical people! We see someone making a mistake, or sinning, or doing something we believe is wrong, how quick we are to judge them and condemn them, according to our law, which we ourselves do not keep. He that is without sin among you, let him be the first to cast a stone. We so often forget that Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost, that all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God. In verse 10&11 Jesus said to that woman, "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." Let’s turn to John chapter 3, verses 1-3, There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." I want to go to verses 16-21, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 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. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God." Jesus said to Nicodemus, God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. This is the condemnation: that light is come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

Mat 7:1-5, "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank isin your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. With what judgement you judge you will be judged. Self righteous condemnation of others does not make you righteous. You will be judged according to your works some day. In verse 24 Jesus said, Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgement. Understand people, God loves us so much that He gave His Beloved Son as a perfect sacrifice on the cross for our sins. How was Jesus a perfect sacrifice for our sins? He was born of the Virgin Mary. He was conceived in her womb by the Holy Ghost. The angel Gabriel said to her, Therefore that Holy Thing that shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God. He became a man; Jesus, the Son of God. He lived as a man, just like you and me, and He was tempted in every way, just like you and me, yet He never sinned; he never yielded to the temptations. He overcame the temptations, and He never sinned. That’s why He is called the spotless Lamb. That’s why He could give Himself on the cross a perfect sacrifice for all of our sins. It was a horrible, brutal death and suffering on the cross that He did for us, because He so loved us, and He bore our sins in His own body on the cross, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He did that that we might be saved from our sins. God raised Him from the dead that we might inherit eternal life with Him, through repentance and faith in Him. He is not looking to condemn us, but to save us. We condemn ourselves when we will not come to Him.

Let’s look at John 6:32-40, Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always." And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day." Let’s go to verse 51 , I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."

Notice that Jesus told the woman, Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more. It is those who continue in their sins and will not repent, will not come to the light and repent and be cleansed of their sins through Jesus’ precious Blood, that condemn themselves. And because they are guilty before God, they take delight in condemning others. It makes them feel righteous, but it does not make them righteous. We are made righteous only through humbling ourselves before the Living God and confessing our sins to Him and receiving the gift of His Son, and His sacrifice of Himself for our sins. All of us have sinned. There is no man that has not sinned, but one. God made Him who knew no sin to become sin on the cross that we might be made the righteousness of God through Him. We are righteous only through faith in Him. When we believe in Jesus it is imputed to us for righteousness. When we believe what Jesus suffered for our sins, not for His sins, but for our sins, we will be convicted and come to Him, confessing our sins, and being washed in His precious Blood. We will love Him and seek to follow Him and obey His Words. Jesus is not condemning you. He loves you and He wants you to come to Him and let Him cleanse you and forgive you and deliver you and make you a man or a woman of God and bring you into His Glory. But you must come to Him. He said in Matt 11:28-30, Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Come to Him. Come to Jesus! Come to Jesus! Stop judging others. Stop condemning others. That does not make you righteous. Jesus said, Come to Me! Learn of me! Follow me, and you will have eternal life, and you will be justified! Come to Jesus!

Right now I want to lead those of you who are willing, those of you who are reading this message, if you would like to join me in a prayer of repentance for judging others self righteously, please join me now:

Father, in Jesus name we come to you and we ask forgiveness for how we have judged others in our own self righteousness; condemning them, separating ourselves from them, looking down on them, whatever the case may be, we have judged un-righteously. We have condemned others to make ourselves feel more righteous, or better than them. We acknowledge this to you now Lord. We ask you to forgive us. We ask you to take the plank out of our eyes. Deliver us from this evil, from this pride, from all our self righteousness. For all of us have sinned. All of us have come short of your Glory. So we humble ourselves before you right now Father and we ask your forgiveness in Jesus name. Teach us to love others. You so loved us that you gave your Son for us. Help us to forgive others and to love them.

Is there someone that you cannot forgive; someone you feel that you cannot forgive them; you have judged them; you are still holding them in your judgement? They did something against you: they hurt you, they sinned against you, maybe really badly, and you feel like you are righteous in holding them in your judgement. You feel like they don’t deserve your forgiveness. My friend, you are in self righteousness. I’m not condemning you. I’m just telling you the truth. You have no right to judge them. Yes, they treated you wrongly. Yes, it was wrong, and you were hurt, or hindered in some way. I plead with you right now: because God forgave you through the sacrifice of His own Beloved Son, who never did anything wrong, I urge you now; ask God to help you to forgive that person. Forgive them! Forgive them! Forgive them! Forgive them for what they said to you, what they did to you , how they embarrassed you, whatever it is, forgive them! Don’t hold them in judgement any longer. Release them from your judgement so that God can release you from His judgement against you for your self righteousness and your own wickedness. He promised, if we will not forgive, we will not be forgiven. If we are not forgiven, we are not going to Heaven. Don’t kid yourself, don’t deceive yourself, you must forgive; in order for you to be forgiven you must forgive others. Not only that; you need to love them. You need to ask God to help you to love them and do good to them, as much as it is in your power. God bless you, everyone reading this. I pray that God will help us all to not be self righteous, to not judge others un-righteously, but to humble ourselves and follow Jesus. Remember, as Jesus was suffering so badly on the cross, He prayed for those who were condemning Him and killing Him: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.