[0:00] They went each to his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
[0:15] ! Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst, they said to him, Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.
[0:34] Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women, so what do you say? This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him.
[0:46] Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. As they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.
[1:03] And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
[1:15] Jesus stood up and said to her, Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? She said, No one, Lord.
[1:30] And Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on, sin no more. May God add a blessing to the reading of his word.
[1:40] Would you please be seated? The Corinthian church had major issues.
[1:52] It was the sort of church that a pastor today would want to steer clear of. They were prideful, divided, tolerant of gross immorality.
[2:08] They were taking each other to court, abusing and flaunting their freedom in Christ. Some of them were getting drunk when they gathered together for the Lord's Supper.
[2:19] They coveted spiritual gifts for their own edification, and they struggled to love one another. Dysfunction, dysfunction, disorder, and sinful behavior characterized the members of the Corinthian church.
[2:36] Yet, when Paul opens his letter to this problematic congregation, knowing full well the division, the immorality, and the lack of love that was taking place there, look at how he addressed them.
[2:56] 1 Corinthians 1, verse 2. Right after he introduces himself, he addresses them. He says, Notice the terminology that he uses when he addresses them.
[3:26] He says that they are sanctified in Christ. That they are called to be saints. In the Greek, sanctified means to separate, to consecrate, to cleanse, or purify, or regard something as being holy.
[3:44] Saints, hagios, means to separate likewise from common use, but for special use.
[3:54] Saints, and it was a term that Paul and the other apostles commonly used to describe Christians of those first Christian communities.
[4:09] Now, when we think of saints in the church today, well, Ted Eubanks probably thinks of the New Orleans saints, potentially. If you're not thinking about the New Orleans saints, you could be and probably would think of the Catholic church, and how they canonize individuals whom they've deemed worthy of giving such a high recognition to because of their good deeds.
[4:36] We also use this word in our churches typically to describe a person, particularly an elderly person, who we have seen portray a godly character in a godly life.
[4:52] And so at their funeral, you might hear the pastor get up and say, you know, such and such was truly a saint. And we know what he's talking about. Well, this is somebody who was in church a lot and involved in church a lot.
[5:05] This was somebody who had godly character who was upright in their conduct. But again, notice, Paul uses this term to describe people who are problem-plagued, who aren't acting very saintly according to our modern-day definitions of the term.
[5:29] But according to Scripture, a saint is someone who has and is being sanctified. A literal translation of what Paul has said here in his address to this church would sound something like this.
[5:47] To those separated in Christ who are called to be separated ones. You've been separated by Christ. You're called also to be one of these separated ones.
[6:00] Well, what does that mean? What does that look like? I want us to look at a couple of Scriptures to get answers to those questions. First of all, again, from the Apostle Paul in Titus 2, 11-14.
[6:12] There he writes, For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people. Training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions.
[6:24] And to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age. Waiting for our blessed hope. The appearing of the glory of our great Savior Jesus Christ.
[6:37] Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness. And to purify for himself a people from his own possession. Who are zealous for good works.
[6:50] And again, in 1 Corinthians 6. After he's already addressed them and dealt with a lot of their issues. In chapter 6, verses 19-20. He says, And so if we take these two passages together, they help us better understand what Scripture means by a saint.
[7:25] A saint is someone whom Christ has purchased. Whom he has bought with his blood on the cross. Whom he then has separated unto himself to be his own possession.
[7:39] Every believer has been set apart by God for God. In the biblical sense of the word, sainthood is not achieved by works.
[7:53] It's a state of being. It's a state of being brought about by the Spirit of God. Who as a result of the new birth has delivered us from sin and darkness.
[8:05] Filled us with the light of the gospel. Transferring us into the kingdom of Jesus Christ. We don't become saints by actions.
[8:16] We are made saints by the immediate action of the Holy Spirit. At salvation. And so Paul's exhortation as you go through 1 Corinthians.
[8:27] As he's addressing this sin sick church. These saints. What he's telling them repeatedly is basically this. You are saints. Act like it.
[8:39] You have been separated. Act like it. And so again he spends the rest of his letter reminding them of their calling. Of who they are.
[8:51] Of who they already are. Sin is conduct unbecoming of those who have been separated by Christ. For Christ.
[9:02] But on the whole. What I've witnessed in myself. And in the church today. And you probably could say the same. Is that we are. More aware.
[9:14] Of the sins of. Society. Than we are. Aware of the sins. Of the saints. In fact.
[9:26] We often in the church. Indulge in sinful behavior. Gossip. Harboring grudges. Against those whom we felt wronged by.
[9:38] In the church. Then. With that. Unwilling to forgive. As we have been forgiven. By Christ. We. Aren't willing to cancel.
[9:49] That sin debt. That we feel like is. Ode to us. Though Christ was willing to cancel. Our. Debt of sin out. On the cross.
[10:00] We often. Look down our religious. Noses. At people whom we. Determine to be sinners. In society. Without humbly.
[10:12] Acknowledging of ourselves. There. But for the grace of God. Go I. If not for God. That would be me too. If not for Christ.
[10:23] I would be there. As well. So. What does any of this have to do. With what we've read. This morning. In John 7. 53. 8 through 11.
[10:35] Well in this passage. We encounter Jesus. In conflict. Once again. With Jewish. Religious. Authorities. Over a woman. Who has been caught. In an ingratulation. In egregious.
[10:45] Sin. And we see that. That they're blind. To their own sinfulness. These men. Look down upon her. Look down upon. This guilty woman.
[10:56] Whom. They've actually. Set. Up. In order to. Humiliate. Jesus. But it doesn't work. Instead of. Pronouncing judgment.
[11:06] Upon her. Jesus. Spares her. The pain. And the humiliation. By confronting. Her accusers. With a reminder. Of their own.
[11:17] Sinfulness. As we read. Scripture. We are. We hear. Repeatedly. That we are. Disciples. Who are called. To make. Disciples.
[11:28] Matthew 5. 14 through 16. For example. Says. You are the light. Of the world. Jesus talking. Of those. Who. Follow him. A city.
[11:39] On a hill. Cannot be hidden. Nor do people. Light a lamp. And put it. Under a basket. But on a stand. And it gives. Light. To all. In the house. In the same way.
[11:51] Let your light. Shine. Before others. So that they may. See your good works. And give glory. To your father. Who is in heaven. You know. It just so happens.
[12:02] That our. Building. Where we're in. Right now. Is positioned. On a hill. You know. If you drive. Up and down the highway. It's pretty clear.
[12:12] To see. In fact. I think. Anytime. We're coming. Up to the north. Whenever Hazel. Sees it. She says. There's the church. It's clear. It's visible.
[12:23] We are positioned. On this hill. But we've got. To understand. That the days. When we. As a church. Could just. Open the doors. To our buildings.
[12:34] And expect. People to come. Filing in. Are over. They're over. If we are going. To be a city. On a hill. If we're going. To let our light. Shine.
[12:44] Then we. Must. Be. Going. And as we go. We cannot. Have the attitude. That characterized. The Pharisees.
[12:56] Towards. This. Woman. In this. Text. We must have. The attitude. Of Jesus. We must. Be on our guard.
[13:07] Also. Against. Being characterized. Individually. Or collectively. With the attitudes. That those Pharisees.
[13:18] Had. When they came. And set up. This woman. And brought her. Before. Jesus. They desired. To humiliate her. They desired. To humiliate.
[13:29] Jesus. Jesus. And if we. Had the same attitude. We look down. Our religious. Noses. At people. Whom we.
[13:40] Deem. To be. More sinful. Than ourselves. That attitude. Will not. Communicate. The gospel. At all. So here's the main idea.
[13:50] For this morning's. Sermon. Those who are. Pridefully. Unaware. Of their own. Sinfulness. Are ineffective.
[14:01] Disciple makers. Those who are. Keenly. Aware. Of their own. Sin. And of the grace. That they've. Received.
[14:11] From God. Will reflect. The light. Of Christ. To. The lost. Those who are. Pridefully. Unaware. Of their own. Sinfulness. And any.
[14:21] Will be. And are. Ineffective. Disciple makers. Those who are. Keenly. Aware. Of their own. Sin. And of the grace. They've received. From God. Will reflect. The light. Of Christ.
[14:32] To the lost. Now before I continue on. I must address. A textual issue. With this passage. That I know. Some of you. Are aware of. In most of your. Bibles. If you look.
[14:43] At your text. You see that this. Passage. Is in brackets. And so. We wonder. Well why. Is that? And I'll tell you why. It's because most Bible scholars.
[14:54] Don't believe. That this passage. Was a part of. John's original. Manuscript. Of John's original. Gospel. And I'll tell you. That the evidence suggests.
[15:06] That that is the case. This passage. Didn't start. Regularly. Appearing in. The gospel of John. Until the medieval. Period.
[15:16] Around the 13th. To the 15th. Centuries. And virtually. All the early. Greek. Manuscripts. That we have. The earliest ones. Of the gospel of John. They don't.
[15:26] Contain. This account. They transition. From verse 52. To. Verse 12. Of chapter 8. Other manuscripts.
[15:37] Other ancient manuscripts. Place this narrative. Of the woman. In adultery. In Luke's gospel. Or in. Different places. In John's gospel. Don Carson.
[15:47] A highly respected. Biblical scholar. Who. Who I like to lean upon. Especially on issues like this. Has said. And he's pointed to the fact. That the linguistic.
[15:58] Construction. Of this story. Doesn't match. The writing style. Of John. But. He says. Though it's not.
[16:09] In the right place. In our Bibles. He. Stipulates. That he still thinks. That it's something. That again. According to.
[16:19] Other ancient documents. That we have. Is something that we should. Continue to teach. And preach. Because there's evidence. To suggest. That Jesus. Had had this.
[16:30] Encounter. With this woman. So he says. There's little reason. To doubt. To doubt. That the events. Here. Described on this. Text. Did not actually. Occur. And then we read.
[16:42] In John chapter 1. Verse 25. And sometime. We will eventually. Get there. Where John says. There are many. Other things. That Jesus did. Were every one.
[16:52] Of them written. I suppose. That the world. Itself. Could not contain. The books. That would be written. So it's my. Personal. Belief. That though this text.
[17:02] May not be in the right. Place. In our Bibles. I think that it. Still is a text. That should be read. In a text. That should be.
[17:13] Preached. Because as I read it. And as you've read it. I witness. Christ's interaction. With this woman. Being very much. In line with Christ's. Interaction.
[17:24] With other sinners. Throughout the gospels. That we've. We have. So I'm going to preach it. As God's word. Okay. All right. The first thing we see here.
[17:35] Are attitudes. That extinguish. The church's light. So the first thing we see here. From the Pharisees. Is. The attitude. That extinguishes.
[17:46] Excuse me. The church's. Light. Now remember. These men were Jews. These men were. Teachers. Of the law. They were. Israelites.
[17:57] And if you recall. In the Old Testament. Israel was called. To be a light. To the nations. But by this point. Their religious leaders. Weren't even a light.
[18:07] To their own people. They weren't even a light. To one another. Remember how Jesus. Described them. Your blind guides. Leading. The blind. What had happened?
[18:19] Well their light. Had been. Extinguished. How does that happen? Or how did that happen? Well we see. A couple of reasons. For why that happens. In this passage. Through the example.
[18:29] Of the Pharisees. First of all. Underestimating. The sinfulness. Of your sin. Sin. Underestimating. The sinfulness. Of your sin.
[18:40] Will extinguish. Your light. For Christ. Verses 3 through 4. The scribes. And the Pharisees. Brought a woman.
[18:51] Who had been caught. In adultery. And placing her. In the midst. They said to him. Teacher. This woman has been caught. In the act. Of adultery. Now as we think about sin.
[19:02] Something I thought about. This week. Is the fact that the world. Doesn't really use that word anymore. They don't use the word sin. Sin is. Deemed. By the world.
[19:13] To be an archaic term. In fact. You won't hear many pastors. Using that word today. Instead. They'll substitute. Another word.
[19:24] They'll substitute. Pain. Or trauma. Or brokenness. Instead of. The words. That the Bible uses. Sin. Wickedness. Depravity. Additionally.
[19:36] The church today. Seems more concerned with. Again. The sins of society. Than they do. Seem to be concerned. With the sins. Of the saints. We. Draw distinction.
[19:48] Between. Sins that we deem. As being. Acceptable sins. As opposed. To those sins. That we deem. To be. Unacceptable sins. Acceptable sins.
[19:59] Are the sins that we. Tolerate in ourselves. Again. Gossip. Lust. Lying. Jealousy. Pride. I could go on.
[20:10] And on. And on. But I think our basic thought is this. Well. If they only really affect me. We're convinced to believe that. Then it's not that. Big of a deal. You know. I haven't killed anybody. I haven't caused any.
[20:23] Major harm to others. That I'm aware of. So therefore. I think I'm all right here. I don't think this is that. Big of a deal. As appeared. Opposed to those other people. That's sin.
[20:38] But the Bible says. The Bible says that sin. Is. Sin. Sin. Is. Sin. And that.
[20:49] All. Sin. Whether we. Think it's acceptable. Or. Unacceptable. That all sin. Is a violation. A rejection.
[21:01] A rebellion. Against a God. Who is holy. And who cannot stand the sight of it. And the Bible says that. All have sinned.
[21:14] Every single one of us has sinned. and scripture adds to that that the wages of sin is death we've all sinned the wages of sin is death even those sins that we think are acceptable not so bad you see we all fall fall short of the standard i should go up here the standard that god requires and listen i'm speaking from uh you know my own experience and i know that i do this but we all don't we have a tendency to act better than we truly are you know if i could put on the screen today if i could replay for everyone in this room the thoughts that you've had the words that you suppress that you wanted to share i think we would all run for the exits wouldn't we for being honest we act like we're better than we truly are but god sees straight through right through our white washed facades galatians 3 10 for all who rely on works of the law are under a curse for it is written cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them i'll add all of the time how are you doing with that not very good uh i know personally i'm not doing well at all that's a perfect exacting standard all the time uh many you know i'm getting ready to go back in november to uh take my next doctoral class and one of the things that was an eye-opener to me i knew it was going to be hard but what i didn't realize is that if you get anything less than a bee you fail in fact if you get a bee they're going to put you on some kind of academic probation where they're going to be watching you to make sure that you aren't um too dumb to continue on i don't know how else to say it right or too lazy i remember seeing that and be like wow i remember coming home to mom and dad with b's and c's and they're going to be like great job son right no f's no d's average doesn't cut it now listen that's a high standard but not nearly as high as god that'd be like imagine writing a 500 word paper and it's an a plus paper it's excellent except for the fact that you put a comma in one place where you shouldn't have and guess what your grade is f f well it was good all the way up to here but you still fell short you still sinned right therefore you're guilty of one you're guilty of it all we are sinners helpless sinners the pharisees underestimated their own sinfulness they underestimated their ability to measure up to god's perfect standard and as a result of that they were not gracious people they were not gracious people a pastor friend of mine once told me about an experience he had one sunday when a young single mother visited the church with her children and one of his members
[25:14] knew this woman's past had known her very well had known many of the sins that she had committed and she was shocked to see this woman enter through the doors of their church and her response was to go around to as many people as she could to let them know that morning the sinful past of this woman now let me tell you there are rare occasions i would say um where if you know somebody is coming into our church and they've committed heinous acts towards children i would like to know that for sure but listen instead of being thankful and praising god that here this woman i know her past and from what i've seen this is a woman who is lost an unbeliever oh thank you lord that she is in church that she's going to hear the gospel and praying and hoping that he would save her but instead of that the thought was well i better make sure that people know who this person really is and she was labeled as unclean and unworthy before anyone many of them could even get to know who she was what her story was what brought her to church that morning paul was once a pharisee he was there he would have been there with these women's accusers he hated jesus he sought to bring about the end of his church until on the road to damascus jesus our resurrected lord encountered him there and saved him and used him incredibly to to build and to establish his church to take the gospel to spread it but i don't know if you've noticed as you read paul's letters you witness a continually uh you witness that he excuse me continually spoke of himself as a sinner in the present tense as a sinner in the present tense in fact as you read those letters there seems to be a downward progression of paul's self-awareness of his own sinfulness as he progressed in sanctification and being made more like jesus christ in first corinthians 15 9 written around 55 a.d paul observes this of himself for i am the least of the apostles apostles i'm one but i'm at the bottom because i persecuted the church of god then later on when we come to ephesians which he was inspired to write around 80 60 look at what he says of himself there of this gospel i was made a minister according to the gift of god's grace which was given to me by the working of his power to me though i am the very least of all the saints this grace was given to preach the gentiles in the unsearchable riches of christ so i'm man i'm the least of the apostles now here i'm the least of the saints then we come to first timothy chapter 1 verse 15 written a year or two later or three he says there to this young pastor the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance
[29:21] that christ jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom i am the foremost least of the apostles least of the saints as a matter of fact paul says of all sinners i'm the worst i'm the worst how could he say that well as he grew as he progressed in becoming more like jesus christ as he fought the good fight as he became closer to our lord he he saw his sin for what it truly was it was his sin that put jesus on the cross he better understood the gospel that saved him so he understood how unworthy he was and deserving of the grace that he had received how can we do the same well from scripture we see that we are commanded likewise to put sin to death romans 8 12 through 13 it's our duty to do so but without a desire to do so that will become a drudgery and so we need to preach the gospel to ourselves every day that's what paul did as he preached the gospel to others he was preaching it also to himself galatians 2 20 i have been crucified with christ paul says it is no longer i who live but christ who lives in me in the life i now live in the flesh i live by the faith of the son of god who loved me and gave himself for me each day brothers and sisters in christ you must wake up and preach the gospel to yourself reminding yourself reminding yourself of your own sin and reminding yourself of your great savior who has overcome your sin reminding yourself of the wrath that we deserved but that christ absorbed in his body in his flesh on the cross and if you do this if we do this we will not underestimate sin and our own sinfulness which will prevent us from looking down on others because we understand the grace that we've received and the truth that there but by the grace of god go lie another attitude that extinguishes extinguishes the church's light is using the sinfulness of others to puff up yourself using the sinfulness of others to puff up yourself again as we go back to verses five in the beginning of verse six now in the law moses commanded us to stone such women so what do you say and there we understand that this they said to test him that they might have some charge to bring against him them these verses reveal that this entire situation was a setup by the scribes and pharisees you know if they were truly concerned about the sin of adultery that had been committed then where was the man where was he they didn't really care under rabbinic law it was next to impossible to secure a death penalty in the case of adultery because the law said that there had to be two witnesses at least two or three witnesses and these witnesses had to observe the act they had to see it with their own eyes happen and then as they came back and gave their testimonies their testimonies had to match up in everything that they had to say they had to be in complete agreement
[33:24] so what have these men done these men have schemed together to use this woman and her sinfulness to test jesus their objective was to use her so that they could turn the people against him to make themselves look look like they were more more law abiding to make themselves look like they were holier than christ and so we can imagine these sick twisted individuals peering through the keyhole or peeping in a window or even hiding in a closet as they observed this act not seeking to put an end to it furthermore these men not only used this woman but also they abused the scriptures as they came to jesus to put him to the test again disregarding with that the grace and mercy contained throughout god's word towards sinners who repent but they felt above this woman they felt like they could use her and they felt like they were even above jesus are you guilty of having the same attitude in the church do you sometimes have an attitude that suggests that you are better than others others other people here other people outside of this congregation you feel like you're better than unbelievers do you point people to christ as their only hope for forgiveness from sin or do you look down on them and think that they are too unclean too unworthy too sinful to be saved to be loved by god are you quicker to condemn than to share the good news of jesus christ christ christ christians and churches who underestimate their sin and use the sinfulness of others to puff themselves up will not be a city on a hill they will not give light to a dark and fallen world and the world needs you brother sister to be a light to them to be like christ to be compassionate not looking down on them with hatred and disdain not perceiving yourself as being better than them or more worthy than them of the salvation that you've received because you're such a good person to be like christ we need a better understanding of sin and the salvation that we've received which has delivered us from it so next we see the attitudes of christ the attitude that reflects the light of christ we're going to be a city on a hill if we're going to have our light shine brightly and brilliantly in bartlesville oklahoma this country the world world we've got to have these attitudes like christ the attitude that reflects the light of christ is the attitude of christ what characteristics do we see in him as he handles this difficult situation well first of all we see that it was important that he spend time with god time with god uh verse 53 and then verses 1 through 3 of chapter 8 we see what jesus was doing while the pharisees and the scribes spent either that night or that morning staring through keyholes and hiding in closets these verses reveal to
[37:25] us where jesus was and what jesus was doing they went each to his own house but jesus went where to the mount of olives what do we know that jesus would often do there pray early in the morning then where does he go he goes to the temple and all the people came to him and he sat down and taught them he went to pray the next day he was back in god's house time with god time with god's people is necessary for your christian growth being nourished and filled by the word of god spending time with god in prayer will have an a positive impact on your attitude time with god next characteristic understanding understanding rest of verse 6 into verse 7 jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground as they continued to ask him he stood up and said to them let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her jesus clearly knew what was going on both in the attitudes and actions of the men the accusers and in the life of the woman the accused and he wasn't fooled he totally understood he was not deceived by their religious talk nor by the unrighteous actions of the woman nor by the expectations of the crowd that was gathered around to witness this none of these things affected him he would not be swayed by the winds of popular opinion jesus response to the pharisees was a quote from deuteronomy 13 9 and deuteronomy 17 17 where again they would have recalled from his quoting this scripture that the witnesses of the crime must be the first to throw the stones and that in order to throw one of these stones they must also have not participated in this crime in any way jesus wasn't suggesting that sinless perfection was required in order to carry out this death penalty it meant that they must not be guilty of participating in this particular sin and so perhaps it was what jesus wrote on the ground we don't know what he wrote on the ground we'll ask him when we get to heaven perhaps tic-tac-toe uh perhaps he was writing these scriptures we don't know but whatever he was doing whatever he was writing and in mentioning these scriptures the pharisees realized that jesus knew about their conspiracy they had participated in this sin because they had set it up that doesn't mean that this woman was innocent but neither were they now unlike jesus our knowledge is limited and though we've been saved our sin nature remains but we can mirror his ability to understand by better understanding first his word and in doing so we gain a more accurate understanding of human nature of human depravity and the remedy for sinners which is found only in jesus christ next characteristic is compassion verses 8 through 10 and once more he bent down and wrote on the ground but when they heard it they went away one by one beginning with the older ones and jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him jesus stood stood up and said to her woman where are they has no one condemned you jesus knew this woman he knew her sin he knew her shame but i think he also knew her potential
[41:36] nobody else saw that jesus always saw people as sheep without a shepherd as sinners without a savior and from that understanding came compassion the woman was guilty no doubt she had broken the law she had debased her body she had violated the greatest illustration of christ's love for the church which is marriage marriage which was given by god to illustrate the greatest of all relationships and here he was though the only one truly without sin jesus what would he do well we know that he chose compassion he chose to love this woman he chose to spare her he chose to save her now that love and compassion was lacking from her accusers and again if it's lacking in us our light will dim and be extinguished next characteristic is forgiveness jesus jesus asked who condemned her who was left she said no one lord and jesus said neither do i condemn you i believe that this was his plan all along we must understand that it's this is not an easy forgiveness in order for god to forgive it comes at a cost and it would come at a cost for jesus to forgive this woman it meant that in choosing to forgive her that he would stand in her place he'd take the punishment he'd endure the wrath he would take the shame he would feel the scorn on the cross he would bear her sin and not just this sin but all of them past present future brothers and sisters in christ do you understand that jesus has done the same for you do you understand that in choosing to forgive you that he has taken your sin upon himself past present and future have you lost sight of that fact!
[44:27] that he who knew no sin became sin so that we could become the righteousness of christ we'll probably never fully understand what it meant for jesus as he was on the cross to scream out from there my god my god why have you forsaken me in that moment the father turned his back on the son and jesus endured a million hells experiencing the reality of death and separation from the father that sin creates between god and man he could have condemned this woman do we understand that she was guilty he was god he would have been justified to condemn her just as he'd be justified if he if he decided to condemn me or you and he likewise would have been justified in that so are we going to hold petty grudges against one another are we going to forget forget the grace that we've received and be deceived into thinking that a salvation is something that we earned or deserved because we're such good people now imagine being in the place of this woman she's been hauled out from where she was from what she was doing the other person involved in this act is gone doesn't seem like there'll be any penalty for him could you imagine being brought before all of these people the shame the guilt that she would feel could you imagine that as you're standing there your accusers who are right this is what the law prescribes and they're saying that we want to take stones big heavy jagged rocks and we want to throw them at her until she dies so she's got that going in her mind as well today is my last day to live i'm soon going to die for my sins but christ defends her he intercedes for her and he continues to intercede for us today satan accuses satan accuses us we're sinners and we should be punished for that but christ intercedes for us saying in our defense yes they are guilty but i've purchased them i've paid for their sins and i've paid for them with my own flesh and blood so are we going to have attitudes that mirror more of the attitude of the accuser these pharisees satan are we going to have attitudes that mirror our lord interceding sharing the good news of jesus christ being compassionate and forgiving finally there's the characteristic that comes in the form of a challenge jesus says go and from now on sin no more we've seen that christ forgave her and then here he challenges her
[48:29] and it's a challenge that jesus continues to confront us with today but understand that this challenge cannot be met apart from salvation in jesus christ alone and receiving the indwelling of his holy spirit so please don't come away from this text and think well the answer is i need to be perfect not sin anymore because you will fail miserably in that you must be saved you must have the holy spirit of god indwelling you christians who have been saved and who have the spirit are challenged to follow christ by modeling him to one another into the world they're challenged to put sin to death to deny themselves in pursuing christ john newton some of you know that name i'm sure all of you will know the hymn that he's famous for having been inspired to write amazing grace! amazing grace!
[49:34] uh... if you know the story of john newton it is a an amazing story i don't have time to go through it besides to say this man was a vile sinner involved in the slave trade he did all kinds of horrible and wretched things before god saved him he became a pastor he wrote that hymn he did amazing things lord did i should say amazing things through him him at the end of his life he was losing his memory and he is uh he is reminded or remembered for having shared a a famous quote to one of his friends as he had lost his memory and as he was dying he said to him two things i remember that i am a great sinner i am a great sinner and that christ is a great savior i am a great sinner but christ is a great savior and if you remember those two things every day god will use you god will use you and he will use us and we will be that shining city on a hill let's turn to our application questions we'll talk about these tonight but again i encourage you to if you can't be here stick these in your bible stick these in your pocket come back to them later today later this week and with these application questions these are really the things that i wanted to put into this sermon but i couldn't find the place to do it but they're they're things that i think will help they certainly go along with what this text has said first of all words are powerful example james 3 1 through 12 in scripture satan is called the accuser in hebrews 7 25 we are told that jesus intercedes for us do your words reflect those of the accuser or the intercessor next in the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector luke 18 9 through 14 what warnings does jesus give to those who look down their religious noses at others what warnings does jesus give to those who look down their religious noses at others and then finally are you preaching the gospel to yourself every day are you preaching the gospel to yourself every day and then i want you to think about how will doing so ensure that your attitude towards the loss becomes more like christ and i provided some scriptures there for you to memorize you memorize them there are many others but you will be in memorizing those and repeating those to yourself every day preaching the gospel to yourself you you