In John chapter 8 we read the account of a woman brought forward to Jesus by the Pharisees who had been caught committing adultery. Let’s have a look at how Jesus responds – 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.”

This brief story is incredibly powerful and one that we should pay careful attention to. You see Jesus gave this woman the gift of no condemnation before He told her to go and sin no more. Yet in practice much of the church today says, “Go and sin no more first, and only then will we not condemn you.”

Too often, non-believers have only been introduced to a religion – a set of rules that only judges and condemns them. If you were to conduct a survey among non-believers to find out what they know about Christianity, many of them would be familiar only with the Ten Commandments. They know only about the law that kills and not the Person who came to bring life. It is because they have not been introduced to the Jesus who gives the guilty sinner the gift of no condemnation.

But if there is no condemnation for us, won’t we just go out and sin? Let’s come back to the woman caught in adultery. Was the woman guilty? Yes, she absolutely was, the Bible clearly states she was caught in the very act of adultery. But instead of condemning her according to the law, which required her to be stoned to death, Jesus showed her grace and gave her the gift of no condemnation. Now do you think that the woman would go off and jump back into bed with the same guy after receiving this gift, after her life had just been spared? It is obvious that Jesus believed that when someone really has a revelation that God does not condemn them, they would have the power to get out of the vicious circle of sin. They would have the power to “go and sin no more”!

What are you going to put your trust in today? Jesus’ grace which swallows up sin? Or man’s fears that believers would use “grace” as a license to go out and sin?