God is preparing us for the Great Harvest in which sinners will be gathered into the kingdom so, we must have the right attitude towards sin and its consequences.

The Pharisees brought a woman to Jesus who was caught in adultery and asked Him to pronounce judgement upon her. Jesus knelt down and wrote a few words in the sand and then said, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” All her accusers, convicted by their consciences left one by one. Then Jesus said to the 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.” (John 8:3-11). Here is an example of what the Apostle James wrote, “Mercy triumphs over judgement.” 

Was not adultery a sin? Yes, but Jesus forgave her and told her to sin no more! Under the Law adultery is a sin but the purpose of the law is to lead us to repentance, which is to do the sin no more. A sin repented of is washed away by the blood of Jesus and God remembers it no more. God has given every person a conscience which is like a computer. When we commit a sin, it registers “guilty”! When the Holy Spirit convicts us of that sin, He leads us to repent and the shed blood of Jesus washes it away, but only if we continue to walk in the light of that forgiveness!

“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” – 1 John 1:7

Scripture says, “But know this, that in the last days perilous (harsh, fierce, savage) times will come:” (2 Tim. 3:1). Men will have a form of godliness but will deny its power. One way they will do this is to overlook sin, to say “Oh well, that’s not so bad”, but God says sin will lead to eternal death. The only answer is to confront sin and repent of it. God’s mercy will triumph over judgement but, we must first repent! Once that is done, we can live guilt free, cleansed.

The last prophet of the Old Testament prophesied about the last days and the coming of the Lord –

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,” Says the LORD of hosts, “That will leave them neither root nor branch.

But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; And you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this,” Says the LORD of hosts.” – Mal. 4:1-3

He prophesied judgement on the wicked and deliverance to the righteous and then to the righteous God says, “Remember the Law of Moses which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel . . .”. This is the Ten Commandments; the breaking of which is named sin: Blasphemy, murder, adultery, divorce, lying, stealing, coveting, any one of which will end us in hell. All equally bad and dangerous but all provided for by repentance and the blood of Jesus! Once we have genuinely repented of them, we can walk in newness of life – guiltless before God. Some of them may have lasting consequences on earth but, in God’s eyes they are forgotten.

We in the Church are duty bound to stand against all sin and warn of its dangers but, we must also present the only way of forgiveness as well. We cannot overlook sin, any sin, and we must tell its consequences. We can tell of our sin and how God delivered us from them, for we all have committed sin, by repentance and acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice for us. This is what witnessing is all about. For what God has done or us, He wants to do for others as well.

God has committed judgement to us –

“Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?” – 1 Cor. 6:2-3

But our judgement has to be on sin, not on the sinner. Only God can judge them.