The Sweetest Words - Nick Napier
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus..."
Romans 8:1 is one of the most hopeful verses for sinners like me. There are other verses, of course, that offer this same hope (e.g. Ps 103:12; 1 John 1:9; Col 2:13—and many more), but those words, “No condemnation,” ring loudly in my ears.
It’s not that sins being removed and forgiven don’t ring loudly too; but “no condemnation,” as I read those words ring sweetly and loudly and resonate—probably because I need them so.
Many many things condemn me. My memory. My conscience. My heart. My tongue. My actions. God’s Law. The accuser. These all stack up and weigh me down like Christian with his burdens on his back.
“Lord, I am the sinner.”
“No condemnation.”
“But Lord, I am the chief of sinners.“
“No condemnation.”
“Lord, my iniquities have gone over my head.”
“No condemnation.”[1]
Of course, there is no condemnation only for those “in Christ Jesus”—that is, united to Him, found in Him, by the work of the Holy Spirit, through faith alone. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, because HE was condemned, and HE not spared for the sake of enemies who would be made children. Of Jesus, we read He “spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all,” and, "made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." [2]
So, the vital question becomes, do I trust my heart’s inclinations toward unbelief and doubt or do I trust in the promises of the gospel that all who come to Christ will not be condemned? Do I trust in my often unfaithful and unbelieving heart or him who is always faithful?
Those who come to Christ in faith, He will not cast out, and He will not condemn. Trust the promises of God, and “Come, all you liars; come all you Pharisees; come, all you fornicators, adulterers, swearers and blasphemers, come to Christ and He will take away all your filth. He will cleanse you from all your pollution, and your sins shall be done away. Come, come, my guilty brethren; I beseech you for Christ’s sake, and for your immortal soul’s sake, to come unto Christ.”[3] Come and hear the sweetest words, as sweet as they were when Jesus spoke them in John 8:11, "Neither do I condemn thee; go, and sin no more."
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[1] These are paraphrases of Luke 18:13; 1 Tim 1:15; Ps 38:4—not quotations.
[2] Romans 8:32; 2 Corinthians 5:21
[3] Whitefield, George. Christ the Only Preservative Against a Reprobate Spirit: A Sermon Preached at Blackheath. G. Whitefield, 1740.