So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.

Believers, don't let any one deceive you into thinking that "all sinners are equal but some are more equal than others." Paul said in Romans 7:18- 

"For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find."

The flesh refers to human effort that is channeled at attaining any of God's freely-given blessings in Christ (righteousness, living a morally upright life, freedom from oppression, financial stability, whatever we lack.) The flesh that is in a prostitute is the same flesh that is in a pastor and the same flesh that was in Paul the apostle of Christ- there is no good in it. It is what caused Peter to deny Christ three times. Remember "the arm of flesh will fail." 

(Wow. just noticed that Prostitute, Pastor, Paul and Peter above all start with the letter P!)

The non-manifestation of evil works and acts of sin in the lives of many is akin to how Peter denied Christ and some disciples didn't; if they had been tempted like Peter who boasted in the flesh by relying on his own effort to not deny Christ, without grace, they too would have fallen in the same way. Recall that Christ said to Peter in Luke 22:31 after Peter boasted that he would not deny Him -

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat;" Same thing Satan did with Job who did everything in his power to keep safe. The reason that many people who boast in their own strength at doing the right thing are still standing and not wallowing in sin like the vilest offender is because Satan is yet to sift them like wheat! Many think that it is their self-discipline, good works and doing their best to keep the Ten Commandments that make them "good people" before God but Galatians 5:4 says-

"4 For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace."

Cut off from Christ, "time and chance happen to them all." Remember the words of King Solomon in Ecclesiastes 9:11-18-

"11 I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise nor wealth to the discerning nor favor to men of ability; for time and chance overtake them all. 12 Moreover, man does not know his time: like fish caught in a treacherous net and birds trapped in a snare, so the sons of men are ensnared at an evil time when it suddenly falls on them."

We look at "core sinners" and wonder why they just won't stop sinning. Beloved of God, this is akin to the French Queen Marie Antoinette (supposedly) saying: "Then let them eat cake" upon being alerted that the people were suffering due to widespread bread shortages!

I believe that most people who commit sins, including Christians, are looking for a way out and not a way to continue wallowing in sin.These God-loved souls that Christ died to save have been caught like fish struggling to get out of the treacherous nets of sins, lack, addictions, pride, feeling inferior, sicknesses, oppression, barrenness and such. What they need is a Saviour and not the law aka telling people stop sinning and get their act together by their own human effort at keeping the Ten Commandments. Remember that the law does not grade on the curve; James 2:10 says-

"For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all."

The good person who only lied about his location is in the same boat of unrighteousness as the vilest offender in the world! At Christ's words to them, the law-bound Pharisees who wanted to stone the woman caught in adultery realised this (that they were as guilty as the woman they were accusing) and could not accuse the woman any further, much less stone her. They left her with Christ and she lived. 

But many of us in the church, especially leaders who keep on accusing young people of their sins without pointing them to Christ as Saviour, do not understand that without Grace, we are as guilty as the ones we are accusing and condemning. This is why many young people don't like going to church. By all means, show them that what they are doing is wrong but point them to Christ as the one who can redeem them from their lawless deeds. As it was with the sinner woman, His "Neither do I condemn you" makes us "go and sin no more."

Without Grace, personified by our Saviour Jesus Christ, we would all be like fish caught in a treacherous net and birds trapped in a snare. No fish knows when or where the nets will come a-trawling. Amazing grace saves us all when we believe, from the best-behaved to the vilest offender. No more "time and chance" happening to us in Christ, but like Ruth who "happened to stop at the plot of land belonging to Boaz," we get to be in the right place at the right time because the Lord our Shepherd leads us on the path of righteousness.

Believers, let's point all (including ourselves) to our Saviour Jesus Christ for salvation from every lawless deed. See what Titus 2:14 says of "our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus," "14 who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds."

When our answer to those who are caught in the net of sin is for them to struggle some more to get out of their prisons by keeping the law with their arm of flesh that is bound to fail, sin will multiply. I Corinthians 15:56 says "...the strength of sin is the law"

But Christ came to redeem/ransom/buy us back from the sins (treacherous nets and snares) that hold us captive. Paul tells us how to be free from the prison of sin in Romans 7(MSG)

"21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin."

And Romans 8:

"1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. 3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit."

The law of Moses cannot save. It is Christ's "Neither do I condemn you" that makes us "go and sin no more."

The Holy Spirit will teach you all things.

Believe Right and you will Live Right.