The book of John chapter 3. I want to talk to you a little
bit here this morning about a statement here in this 18th verse of John
chapter 3. It has to do with no condemnation. The apostle in the book of Romans said this, There is therefore now no condemnation. to them which are in Christ Jesus. No
condemnation. Therefore, now. And in this 18th
verse of chapter 3 of the book of John, our Lord Jesus Christ says the same thing. He that believeth on him is one
that is in Christ when he says, There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. So he that believeth on him are
those that are in Christ. He that believeth on him is not
condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Now, all of us, to a degree,
are aware that in our courts of law, a verdict of not guilty amounts
to an acquittal. That is, the prisoner is quickly discharged. He's acquitted of the charge
against him. And the judge says to the bailiff,
turn the prisoner loose. Now, the language of the gospel is about the same. A sentence of not condemned,
as it relates to the gospel, means that the believer in Christ
receives now a present justification. not guilty of the crime that
she is charged with. It is given to the soul the very
moment, the very second he or she comes to the Lord Jesus Christ,
the very second that a man commits his soul to the Lord Jesus believes
in him as his sin-bearer and his righteousness, who comes
to see that the atonement that our Lord made is sufficient to
cleanse him or her from all of their sins, past and present
and sins to come. in that very second, in that
very moment that he or she comes to the Lord Jesus, he is justified
and acquitted. If you remember about the story
of the thief, the two thieves that hung on either side of our
Lord Jesus on the tree, that thief which was justified the
very second that he turned his eye faint on the Lord Jesus Christ. He was justified in a twinkling
of an eye. The moment he turned and looked
at him and said, Lord, have mercy on me, Lord, when thou comest
into thy kingdom," remember me, that very moment, the very second
that his eye laid hold of the Lord Jesus Christ, you could
say justification was the result of his faith, justified before
God and looked upon by God as if he had never committed a crime. Justified before God is the result
of faith. Now, faith does not produce its
fruit by and by, but does it now. We are today, if we are believers
in the Lord Jesus, in the Jesus of the Bible, the Jesus that
the Bible identifies, if we are believers in him, in his blood,
in his righteousness, to take away our sins and to justify
us in the sight of God, well, then we are, this very moment,
accepted in the Beloved and cleared of all sin. The moment that a
man believes in the Christ of the Bible, in that moment, in
that instance, he is cleared from all sin, sin of yesterday,
sin of today, and sin of tomorrow. He is instantaneously cleared
of all sin, instantly justified. Today he is innocent. The moment that he comes to Christ
with saving faith, he is today. that very second, innocent in
the sight of God. Now, they are some clusters of
fruit that are to be plucked now. There are other benefits that
we find out about later on. when we cross the Jordan and
go into the Promised Land, but we haven't crossed the Jordan
as of yet. But there are many choice ripe
fruit to be tasted and to be enjoyed that we have right now,
and this is one of them that we are instantly justified before
God the very moment that we believe and trust the testimony of God
concerning his Son as our sin-bearer and as our righteousness before
him instantly. Well, I said that these things
are not the corn of the land because we haven't crossed over
yet, but they are something that is invaluable to the well-being
and the welfare of the warrior or the Christian soldier that
he might draw from, that might encourage him and help him and
bless him and give him joy and stability and and cause him to
be faithful in the days to come. If he takes to his mind and his
intelligence and in his heart and soul that he has, by the
grace of God, been instantly justified before God and declared
innocent, all of his sins have been removed. as far as the east
is from the west. Even now, remember I said that
the fellow said, When is now? And I said, Now is now. And even
now our sins are put away. Even now we stand in God's sight
as though we had never sinned. Now, if you can keep that in
your mind and in your heart, it'll be of a tremendous help
in your Christian experience, that you stand right now in the
sight of God as if you've never seen him, instantly justified
by God through the Lord Jesus Christ. We are now right now,
innocent as Adam was when Adam stood in his integrity before
he fell. We are as innocent as he is. Now, we know that before Adam
ate the fruit of that forbidden tree. When he ate of that, he
fell. But I'm talking about before
he ate it. Before he ate it, we are even
now as innocent and more so than Adam was in the sight of God. There is now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Even right now, there is not
one sin in the book of God that's against the believer. Even now,
after all of these years, even now, there is not one sin in
the book of God Almighty that's against the believer. Now, that
ought to be of some comfort to a poor hopeless sinner that has
no goodness in himself to come to this point in his life, that
he has been assured, he has been assured by God that there's no
sin in the book of God against him. Now, he's assured that that's true
because God said it. It's in the book of God. And
the gifts of God, such as calling and repentance, there's no change, even now. Even now there is said
by God that there's nothing laid to His charge. Who can condemn
us? Is there anybody or an assembly
of people that could come before God and charge us, lay something
to our charge? No, sir. They can neither lay
a speck or a spot or a wrinkle, or any such thing to our charge
because we have been instantly justified by the grace of God
through the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is not any one sin laid
against any one believer in the sight of God. in the sight of
the judge of all the earth, God himself. Now, in the matter of
justification, I'm talking about in God's sight. I'm not talking
about in my sight or in your sight. I'm talking about where
it counts most. It doesn't count a whole lot
about you or me. what you think or what I think.
Where it counts is in the sight of the judge of all the earth,
and he shall do right. And he says, he that believeth
on the Lord Jesus Christ is not condemned. He that believeth
on him is not condemned. Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? Now, it does not necessarily
and simply mean only a present justification, but it means a
continual justification. It's that way right now, and
that's the way it will always be. Throughout time and throughout
eternity we will have this present and continual justification in
the sight of God. That's what salvation is all
about. That's the reason we talk about
the good news, the good news that God sent Christ, Christ
become a man and now is a man, settled all of our accounts from
first to last, and he continually does that. In the moment that
you and I believe, it was said of us, the very moment, if that
was ten years ago, twenty years ago, or twenty seconds ago, It
was said of us the very moment that we believed. He that believeth
on him, it was said of us, is not condemned. The very moment. Just quicker than the flash of
a light. He that believeth on him is not
condemned and never will be condemned. cannot be condemned. Now, many days have passed, and there have been many changes
that have come about since I first, by the grace of God, cast my
eye of faith on Him. But it's still true to this day. That's been 50 years ago. Maybe
more, I don't know for sure. It's been three quarters of my
life that I first cast the eye of faith on Him whom to know
is life eternal. Times have changed. I've been
here and I've been there. I've done this and I've done
that, but it's written, it's written by the finger of God
that I'm still not condemned. I was not condemned then and
I'm still not condemned. It's still true of us, there
is now therefore no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. I don't know how long our allotted
or appointed time shall be upon this earth, but just naturally
I know in myself it won't be too many years, Maybe today or
maybe tomorrow, but I know just speaking from the top of my head,
I know that it won't be much longer, that I've got to lay
down this life. Don't know what it shall be,
but I do know this, I know this, if I don't know anything else,
I know this, I know it because since every
word of God is pure and it is truth, that the gifts of God
are without repentance. If God hath given us faith to
lay hold of him with the eye of faith, then we are assured
that God will not recall it. What God has done in Christ for
us, he's done forever. Even though we live another 50
years, and I know that won't happen, but even though we did
somehow miraculously live another 50 years, Yet it would still
be written, He that believeth on him is not condemned. It'll never change. Our Lord said, I give unto my
sheep eternal life. I give it to them. Now remember,
the gifts of God, and the callings of God without
repentance. God does not repent and change
his mind. I give my sheep eternal life,
and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my Father's hand which gave them me. Now all these promises,
isn't that a promise? My sheep hear my voice, and I
give unto them eternal life, and they shall never pray." That's
the promise. God promised that. God will not
go back on His word. If He gives you eternal life
in Christ, that seals it. You've got it, and you'll never
lose it. He'll never take it back. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my Father's hand which gave them me." And all these
promises go to show you and me that the justification which
Christ gives to our faith is not only a present justification,
but it is a continual justification. no end to it. And remember that
it will last in eternity as well as in time is justification. You see, we will not wear in
heaven any other dress than that which we wear right now. the glorious spotless robe of
his righteousness freely imputed to us. That's what we wear now
and that's what we will wear then. Presently justified and
continually justified through time and throughout eternity. Well, someone might bring this
question up and say, what if? What if that righteousness should
lose its virtue in eternity to come? There's no fear of that
whatsoever. No fear of the efficacy of Christ's
blood and the righteousness that it freely infused, losing its
virtue. Why? Because the Bible says,
we have the assurance of God, that the heavens and the earth
shall pass away, but this righteousness shall never wax old. A present and a continual. righteousness. No more shall
slip in and rend the garment. No thief can break through and
steal the garment of righteousness. It must be eternal, as Christ
is eternal. The Bible says of his years there
is no end. It says that his strength faileth
not. There is no termination to his
perfection and to his beauty and to his glory. As he was,
he always will be. The justification that I'm talking
about is a present justification, is
a continual justification, and thirdly, it is a complete justification. That is to say, not in any measure,
or any degree, will that justification alter? It's a perfect justification
then, and now, and always will be. He that believeth is not
condemned. That is, he is free, so completely
free from Condemnation. He is not half innocent, but
he's perfectly innocent. He's not half washed, but he's
whiter than the snow. Whiter than the snow. You know, if you would see a wall painted
white, you'd just glisten as the light shined on it. You'd
say, oh, that is such a white wall. And you'd be reminded that your sins are whiter than
that wall. They're whiter than the snow.
Because on the back of that white wall is some wood. But the snow is white all the
way through. From one side to the other, there's
no change in the snow. We're not half innocent or half justified. or half washed, we're whiter
than the snow. Now, if the Bible teaches anything,
it teaches this. It teaches that the sins of the believer in Christ are
not simply erased, like you would take the eraser and erased the
writing on the board that was written
with chalk. They are not erased, they are
blotted out. It says our sins are blotted
out. Not just put out of sight, but
they're blotted out. They're cast, the Bible says,
into the depths of the sea. They're not just merely gone,
but they're gone as far as the East is from the West. And God said, I'll not remember
them no more. Gone forever, once and for all. completely, continually, presently
justified from ever sinning. No sin against us. The Lord Jesus Christ has taken
care of all of us. It says there in the book of
Hebrews, it says, But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of
God. No more birth offerings are needed. No more washings. No more shedding
of the blood. No more atoning. No more sacrifice. It's finished and the death cry
of the Lord Jesus Christ gave the death blow in a semblance of salvation by
the law. Salvation is in a look. It starts with a look. It commences
with a look. Look all ye ends of the earth. under me, if I be lifted up, O the robe of righteousness."
When our Lord Jesus Christ, when He cried, It's finished, the
last thread in the robe of righteousness was used up. A perfect that covers us, and
God can look upon us now as though we'd never seen it. It's done! Hold these precious
truths in your thoughts and in your heart, and it will cause
you to rejoice. And I'll tell you, These things that I've said thus
far this morning are enough to make a man leap
off of the ground even though his legs were tied to iron. Make him shout! even if it is
gagged, that I'm free. I'm free. I'm God's free man. My sins are gone. I have his
righteousness that stands me in good stead. I never will fear
going down the valley alone. I've got his righteousness. Oh,
listen. Just to think of being perfectly
accepted in Christ. Not a partial acceptance, but
a full, complete, perfect acceptance. Not a limited acceptance, but
a whole acceptance. We're accepted by God in the
acceptability of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this no condemnation, he
that believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ is not condemned. No condemnation is not only present But it's also continual, not
only continual, but it's effectual. Someone said years ago that the
privilege of justification was a royal privilege, and a royal
privilege of justification shall never miscarry." Not only is
it said that your sins are gone, but they are gone. It just doesn't say that alone. Your sins are gone. They are
gone. All of them are gone. Gone forever. Never rise up in judgment. Sometimes
we think in our searching of our hearts and so
forth that I thought this or I said this or I done that and
certainly, oh, I don't want to have to face... You won't have
to face any of them! All of us have sinned. All of
us sins now. We sinned yesterday and we'll
sin tomorrow. But there's not one of those
sins that will ever be remembered against us as we stand before
God on the Great Judgment Day. We'll stand in Him as though
we never have sinned, and He'll bless us as though we never had
sinned. This is effectual. The work that
He finished, the atonement that He made, the reconciliation that
He made, the meditatorial work that He that's involved in that,
all of it is finished and it's made. Not only does God look
upon you and I, though you are accepted, he doesn't
look on us like that. He looks on us that we are accepted,
not accepted for anything we've done, accepted For his sake,
on his account, he shed his blood to atone for our sins. It was
he that worked out the righteousness that clothed us and gives us
acceptance with God. It's a matter of fact. No ifs
and ands and buts about it. black spots of sin that's on
us, He took care of all of them, every bit of them. And if there's any spot
on you, you've got a problem. Because when He cleanses us now, we are
dipped, We are bathed, we are washed in that fountain of blood that
flows from Emmanuel's veins and we are clean. Our Lord said,
if I have made you clean, you are clean ever with. You don't need to be washed again. I have made you clean. We are
clean. in this justification business
as though we'd never committed one sin. You say, Well, that's
hard to believe. Well, you can't believe it unless
you've come to Christ. And the reason you do believe
it is because you have got to Christ. Outside of Christ you
can't believe anything. You can't even believe that there
is a God outside of Christ. You've got no proof of it. The
only proof we have of it is Christ. Christ is God. Well, free from sin, and so now we walk at large or
walk as free men, free from the bondage of sin, free from death,
free from the law. He made us free in justification. Even right now, as I said three
or four times here, our sins are put away. Even right now,
we stand in God's sight as though we've never sinned, even right
now. Innocent as Adam was when he stood there in the presence
of God before he fell, even now, There is not a sin in the book
of God against us. So when he says in that 1, 2,
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 words, he that believeth on him is not condemned. Now, if you believe on him this
morning, as he is identified in the Bible as the sinner's
substitute, as the sinner's righteousness, that his atoning blood cleanses
you from all your sin and all your shame and all your guilt,
and His righteousness covers you and makes you accepted before
God in Him. If you have come to Him and you
believe in Him, well, then, that's all there is. I mean, that's
what it means to not be condemned. You're not guilty, acquitted
of the charge. Christ bore your sins, bore the
penalty. He suffered for you. He kept
the law for you. He died for you. He rose again
for you. He ever lives to make intercession
for you. Well, the Lord help us. And the Lord so bless us that we'll keep these
thoughts in our remembrance that there's no condemnation to them
that are in Christ.