condemnation Archives - Colin Dye

Deeper With GOD : Go and sin no more

Colin Dye — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:15:54 +0000

To go deeper with God you will need to forsake the sin in your life that so easily entangles you. Jesus says to you:” I do not condemn you, therefore go and sin no more.”

Deeper With GOD : Go and sin no more

The post Deeper With GOD : Go and sin no more appeared first on Colin Dye.

Forgiveness Comes First

Colin Dye — Sun, 13 May 2012 09:56:52 +0000

The woman caught in the act of adultery, a scene of The Passion of the Christ

The words of Jesus to the woman caught in the act of adultery are staggering: ?I do not condemn you.? Jesus, the ultimate judge of the universe refused to condemn this woman although she was clearly a sinner. But this was exactly what His mission was all about.
Jesus died on the cross to save sinners. This forgiveness is not a cover up for sin or an excuse for continuing in it. The next words of Jesus were, ?Go, and sin no more.? But the forgiveness came first. We can only live for God fully and freely when we know we have been fully and freely forgiven
Key Thought
Faith gives you access to the unconditional forgiveness of God. And this faith also leads you to respond in love and gratitude to the Father by turning away from sin in your life. First, you hear Jesus say, ?I don?t condemn you.? And then, come the words, ?Go, and sin no more.?
Prayer
Lord, I thank you that as I look to You for forgiveness You do not condemn me. You love me just as I am, but too much to leave me that way. Please help me to turn away from everything that offends You.
Discipleship Steps
Once you understand that you don?t have to earn forgiveness or work to gain God?s acceptance, you can really begin to deal with sin in your life. You have a new motivation for living ? the Father?s love. Begin to look at the sin in your life from this perspective. Respond to God?s love by turning away from the things that you know displease Him but do so out of a genuine expression of your love for Him.
Read: John 8:2-11

The post Forgiveness Comes First appeared first on Colin Dye.

Total pardon and a changed heart

Colin Dye — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:08:00 +0000

Neither do I condemn you

Jesus pronounced over this adulterous woman a total pardon for her entire life of sin. His words were beautiful music to her ears producing deep relief and unbridled joy in her heart. The burden of a lifetime of sin rolled off her back. Now she was ready for the second word Jesus spoke to her: go and sin no more!

This second word was equally as powerful and liberating as the first. He had just spoken as the Judge of all humanity and had pardoned her for everything. Now as the Creator of the world, he spoke new creation life into her soul.This command was not a legalistic word. Legalism teaches you what you have to do to be acceptable to God, but it never helps you do it.
The law tells you what you have to do in order to be holy, but it does not help you to actually to become holy. Grace operates in a totally different way. God first makes you acceptable through faith in Christ and his atoning death on the cross. He first declares you righteous by faith. Then he calls you to live for him. We do not try to live a righteous life in an attempt to make ourselves acceptable to God, but we live right because we have already been accepted by God.
We do not serve by trying to observe an external code of behaviour, but by the power of the Spirit working within us. When Jesus tells you to do something, he enables you to do it. He activates the power of the new creation within you giving you the capacity to live as he calls you to live. Jesus spoke new life into this woman. He changed her heart, and from that moment on, she had a new power at work within her.
Her encounter with Jesus changed her desires, her motivation and the entire direction of her life. That is what it really means to be born again and receive new life from Jesus. The Old Covenant was a covenant of works based on law. It had nothing to do with the grace of God working in people’s hearts. God gave the law to show us it is impossible to serve or live for him through our own efforts. That’s why it says in 2 Corinthians 3:6 – “the letter kills but the Spirit gives life.” The giving of the law as recorded in Exodus 19 was glorious. God himself came down and manifested his glory on Mount Sinai. But his glory was terrifying to the people.
They felt themselves unworthy to approach God. But they promised to obey the law and declared themselves able to do it. But, a few pages later in the Bible we read of the golden calf and the dreadful sin they committed by rejecting God in favour of a graven image. The rest of the Old Testament shows the total failure of God’s people to keep God’s law and make themselves acceptable to God.

God’s attitude towards you is constant and unchanging. he has already made up his mind about you – he loves you and wants to do good to you and to bless you – not because you deserve it or ever could deserve it, but because Jesus has paid the highest price imaginable so that you could be set free.

The post Total pardon and a changed heart appeared first on Colin Dye.