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[0:00] Good morning. It is great to be able to open God's word with you today.

[0:18] If you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn to John chapter 8. John chapter 8. So when I was in school, one of the most important principles I learned about writing a paper was how to make a good thesis statement.

[0:37] Now, if you are in here and don't have a lot of experience writing a paper and don't even know what a thesis statement is, I want to encourage you. You're not missing out on anything. So don't feel like you've missed out on some great enrichment in your life.

[0:52] But a thesis statement is simply this. It is the statement that your whole paper is going to be formed around. Everything that you write from that point on is going in to proving the point that you were trying to make in the thesis statement.

[1:09] Now, my second semester at OBU, I had to take this dreaded class called Western Civ. It had two purposes. One was to drain your desire for life.

[1:23] And the means through which they were going to do that was through endless amounts of writing papers. Now, my first exam came up, which the exams were writing papers as well.

[1:33] You had to go in and you had this little blue book and you had to write eight to ten pages off of the thesis statement that they would give you in class the day of the test.

[1:45] Now, the first quarter covered about 400 years of history. And I spent hours memorizing names, memorizing dates, trying to spark note all these literature books that I hadn't yet read to get the basic premise of it.

[2:01] And meanwhile, I'm also looking around the class thinking, you know, there's several people in here that are in that class for the second or the third time. No, no joke. And I'm thinking to myself, that's not going to be me.

[2:13] That's their mistakes. Not going to not going to do that. Well, I get to my first exam and I do what's called an information vomit on this blue book. I filled up eight to ten pages as quickly as I could with dates, with names, with literature references, thinking I've got this in the bag.

[2:33] So I wait two weeks for my results and I get a big fat D on the paper. That was my first grade in the class. And my first thought was my college life is over.

[2:46] I'm not going to graduate. I'm not going to get to be a pastor someday. Family Christmases are going to be awkward from now on. I'm never going to get married. And all because of this one class. Well, things got better.

[2:59] I managed to squeak by with a C. And so the rest is history. But it all revolved around that thesis statement. When I asked the professor, what happened here?

[3:10] It's like, well, you gave a lot of information, but you didn't talk about the point that we told you to talk towards. So that was what got me the D on that paper. Anyway, all that to say, we are going to be in John today.

[3:23] Now, the gospel of John is oftentimes seen as one of the more intimate accounts of Jesus' life and ministry. John is never specifically named in his gospel account.

[3:35] He always refers to himself as the beloved disciple, whether that's referencing a special relationship with the guy with Jesus, or maybe he's just trying to rub it in the other apostles' face.

[3:46] I don't know whenever they read it. But there was a special relationship and bond that John had with Jesus when he was here on earth. And you really see that in his gospel.

[3:57] Now, I said all that about the thesis because John also provides a similar statement for us. As we jump into our text today in John chapter 8, I want to preface it with this verse because this frames the whole purpose of John's writing.

[4:12] And in John chapter 20, verses 30 and 31, John gives us this thesis statement, if you will, to keep in our minds. Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.

[4:30] But these are written, these being the gospel account that he is handing down to his church. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

[4:48] So what we see all through the gospel account of John is him seeking to explain who Jesus is and why we should believe in him.

[5:00] This is definitely a letter with evangelical intent. John is hoping that lost people read this letter and not have any doubt in their mind who the person of Jesus Christ is and how they should respond to him.

[5:13] But there's also another intent behind this letter. See, a lot of early church fathers, they put the apostle John in the latter years of his life in Ephesus, overseeing the local churches that are in that city.

[5:25] So he is also writing to established believers when he sends out this gospel account. And he wants them to know the deeper things of Jesus Christ. You see that in the way that he details his teachings and the way that he talks about the interactions that he has with his disciples.

[5:42] And the interactions that he has with the crowds, with the scribes and the Pharisees, even, which we're going to see that today. So John's desire is not only evangelical, but it's also sanctifying.

[6:00] He wants believers to take something from this gospel account as well. Now, in our story today, as we read this in John chapter 8, I want you to be asking a couple of questions with this thesis statement in mind.

[6:15] What does John want the lost to know about Jesus? And what lesson does John want believers to take away from this as well? So with that in mind, let's stand together and read our text today.

[6:29] John chapter 8, starting in verse 2 through 11. Early in the morning, he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them.

[6:44] 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.

[6:56] Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. So what do you say? This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him.

[7:08] Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And 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.

[7:21] And once more, he bent down and wrote on the ground. And 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.

[7:34] Jesus stood up and said to her, Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? She said, No one, Lord. And Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you.

[7:45] Go, and from now on, sin no more. This is the word of the Lord, church. You all may have a seat. So in our text today, we find Jesus in Jerusalem.

[8:02] All Israel is celebrating this ceremony called the Festival of Booths. Or shelters, depending on what translation you might be reading. But this is a seven-day festival.

[8:13] Where all Israel would make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to the temple. There would be specific sacrifices offered, a feast. And this was a time that was meant to reflect back on when the children of Israel lived in shelters or booths in the wilderness.

[8:31] When God was guiding them to the wilderness. When God was guiding them to the promised land. This was a time that they were meant to set aside all work, everything in their lives, so that they could reflect on how God had provided for them in their history in the wilderness.

[8:45] Giving them meat. Giving them manna. Bringing water from rocks. Conquering their enemies on multiple occasions. And yeah, even to reflect on the times that God disciplined them.

[8:59] As a loving father would discipline his children. So what should have been a time of reflection for the children of Israel. A time when they would stir their affections for the Lord.

[9:11] This had turned into a time of sinful indulgence. For this woman that was about to be stoned. I want to point out that this circumstance that this woman finds herself in.

[9:23] Speaking about the Pharisees and the Sadducees. This had nothing to do with zeal for the Lord. But it has everything to do with the religious leaders wanting to trap Jesus.

[9:35] If it were about fulfilling the law. There would be a man beside this woman that was about to be stoned. And they certainly wouldn't have asked the approval of someone from a nowhere town.

[9:49] Who's an itinerant preacher. They wouldn't have asked for Jesus approval to carry out the law. He had no place in the Pharisees or in the Sanhedrin. This was all a setup to trap a righteous man.

[10:03] That the religious leaders viewed as a threat to their position. And what we're going to see from our text today. And this is our main idea. Those broken by sin.

[10:15] Are opportunities for grace. Not self-righteous judgment. We live in a very polarized society today church.

[10:28] We live in a time where culture says that we can no longer simply agree to disagree. You either affirm people's choices. Or you hate them.

[10:40] That's the narrative. That is why as a biblically grounded church. That stands for absolute truth. This kind of puts us in a weird place.

[10:52] Because biblically we can't hate. Those that are made in God's image. But biblically as well. We can't affirm sin. So how do we interact with a culture that rejects Christ?

[11:06] How do we interact with people who live in such a way that contradict everything that we believe about God and his word? Well we see Jesus do that in our text today.

[11:17] And our first point that we need to come to is that self-righteousness is always going to lead to a condemnation of the broken. I want to start by giving a little bit of context on what's going on here.

[11:32] Again, this woman has been caught in adultery. And the scribes and the Pharisees are wanting to stone her for her crime. Now think about the scribes and the Pharisees for a second.

[11:43] These were not just ignorant blowhards that didn't know what they were talking about. These were people that studied the law. They knew the holy scriptures. They knew it backwards and forwards. So when they say the law of Moses commands thus, it's worth looking into.

[11:59] Now when we go back to Deuteronomy 22.22 or Leviticus 20.10, this is a recitation of the same law. It says, if a man is found sleeping with another man's wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die.

[12:16] You must purge the evil from Israel. So this is in the law. This is God's holy law that he has handed down to Moses. Now if they are seeking to follow the law, there's a question that needs to be asked.

[12:30] Where's the man in this picture? Why is the man not being held account to his actions? Righteousness was not their goal. Their goal was simple.

[12:43] And it was stated in one of our verses. This they said to test him. That they might have some charge to bring against him. The Pharisees loved their position. They loved their authority.

[12:56] Their self-righteousness was like a trophy to hold over the heads of those that they should have been shepherding. The law should have been a shepherd's crook that these people would use to guide God's children into the pastors of his grace.

[13:14] But instead, the law had become a self-righteous pedestal. It had become a weapon of execution for these people. Jesus did not have a lot of good things to say about the Pharisees.

[13:28] And in every gospel account, you read him going back and forth with these people. In Matthew 23, verses 23 through 28, Jesus had this to say about the Pharisees.

[13:39] Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faithfulness.

[13:52] You ought to have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

[14:04] For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisees! First, clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

[14:20] Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.

[14:32] So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. When these teachers of the law saw this broken woman, they didn't see a child of God in need of mercy or correction or restoration.

[14:53] It also wasn't love for God that fueled this scene. They saw this helpless person who had no case to plead but guilty.

[15:07] They saw her as a means to their own self-righteous ends. They thought, you know, we've got Jesus now. Stoning a person is a small price to pay if only we can trap this man who threatens us.

[15:27] And what was a trap that they were trying to set for Jesus? The law of Moses was clear. This woman had committed adultery. Her and this man both deserved to die.

[15:39] So they were hoping that Jesus would contradict the law and then they could have a case against him. These twisted shepherds deserved every condemnation that Jesus could heap on them.

[15:54] And church, when we become proud of our religion, we forget that it should lead us to a life of mercy and compassion. True love for God, it shouldn't lead us to a hatred of the lost.

[16:10] But it should lead us to a brokenness for those that are in desperate need of his grace. I've seen too many Christians, and I've been one myself, that have stones in their hands, ready to cast a stone of judgment on others' sins while forgetting that Jesus bore a cross of shame for theirs.

[16:32] Was this woman guilty? Of course she was. But my heart also breaks for her because I see in the Pharisees and in this angry mob a glimpse of what the church can become to a lost world.

[16:47] This is not a call to affirm sin. I don't want you to ever hear me say that. But it is a call to reach out with compassion for those that are lost, that are in need of a Savior.

[16:58] The lost and the broken are not our enemies. They are our mission. A good point of application here for us, just in this, is that we shouldn't look on the lost in their dire state and be proud of ourselves for not being like them.

[17:14] I think all of us can maybe look back to a time when we've faced that in ourselves, when we've faced self-righteousness. We should see their sinfulness and let that fuel our efforts to share Jesus with them.

[17:29] Put down your stones. Delete the hateful Facebook posts. And rather than show the lost how against them we are, let's show them the answer to their greatest problem, which is a relationship with the one and only Son of God.

[17:48] That relationship can only come through grace. And our second point is this, that the broken will see grace when we cherish it ourselves. Let's go back to our text here. I want to read these verses to you again.

[18:00] Verses 7 through 10. And 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.

[18:11] 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.

[18:25] Jesus stood and said to her, woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? Now rather than Jesus standing up and refuting the Pharisees, rather than him standing in between the crowd and this woman or quoting other scriptures from the law, Jesus does something peculiar.

[18:48] He just kneels down and starts writing in the dirt. Now, if I were this woman, I would be a little concerned right now. Like this guy is my only hope and he's scribbling in the dirt. What's going on here?

[18:59] I've heard lots of thoughts about what Jesus might have been writing in the dirt. But anything that I say would just be pure speculation. So I'm not going to spend a lot of time on that.

[19:10] If John thought it was important to the original thesis that we read, he would have included what Jesus was writing. But he didn't. So we're not going to spend any time on that. But, again, rather than rebuking with the crowd, he makes a statement.

[19:25] It says, He who is without sin cast the first stone. See, the people that had forgotten, they had forgotten that under the law, they were all guilty.

[19:41] Every single one of them had broken the law of Moses at some point in their life. Multiple times even. And no doubt, they even remembered the costly sacrifices and offerings that they needed to bring peace between them and God.

[19:58] They had forgotten their own need for grace. As Christians, we are all partakers of the greatest grace that we could ever imagine, that could ever be offered to us.

[20:10] And just like this woman, we once stood before God completely guilty. Jesus is simply but powerfully reminding the mob of this truth. And if you really study the history of God and his people, you'll see that God is, I mean, forgiving sinners that have broken his law is kind of a common theme throughout the Old Testament.

[20:32] Yeah, there was judgment on unrepentant sin, but there was also great acts of mercy on the Lord's part. The most immediate one that I can think of is David. He was guilty of the exact same sin as this woman.

[20:46] And not only was he guilty of this sin of adultery, but he committed murder to cover it up. According to the law, David deserved death.

[20:56] This man that was responsible for shepherding God's people for a brief moment had become a wolf amongst the flock. But because he had heartfelt repentance, because he threw himself on the mercies of God, God allowed him to live and he was saved.

[21:15] We have received grace upon grace. And when we refuse to recognize that grace and be humbled by it, Scripture is also clear that there are consequences. In Romans, chapter 2, verses 1 through 5, it says, Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges.

[21:38] For in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. we know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things.

[21:51] Do you suppose, O man, you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourselves, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of the kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance, repentance.

[22:12] But because of your hard and impotent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

[22:26] Grace should not inflate us. It should humble us. When we look on those that are struggling, that have sinned, contempt should not be our first reaction.

[22:40] We should be reminded of the grace by which God has saved us. And through cherishing that grace, we should seek to share it.

[22:52] Their greatest need is our greatest need as well. The difference is that God has just opened our eyes and made us able to see that and recognize it.

[23:05] You know, in foster care, one of the things that you get to experience is just the full spectrum of human depravity. And I know I've used this example before, but it's a fitting illustration here for this point.

[23:20] One of the things that you'll see in the children who are the victims of all this, you'll see children that don't understand what it means to simply be clean, to take showers.

[23:32] You know, things, normal things that we as people that have lived like humans are used to. They don't know what it means to be clean. You'll see children that don't understand what it means to go to bed with full tummies at night.

[23:44] So when they think no one's looking, they steal food and hoard it under their beds. You'll see them rummaging through school dumpsters because for them, that's just what they've learned to survive.

[23:58] You'll see peculiar behaviors that they have learned because that's just what they need to do to make it through the day at their house. They don't understand why head lice is bad.

[24:12] They probably don't even know what it is. They just know that's why they keep getting sent home from school, from church and other events. Normal people have lived in a completely different context where they know these things, where they know how to take care of themselves.

[24:34] And unfortunately, when people who have gotten so used to that life, especially those in the church, even in the church, sometimes they see these children and they're disgusted by them.

[24:49] They don't want to be around them. They don't want to sit by them. They don't want their children around them. the church is sometimes the worst place of rejection for these kids because they're different, because they don't have any context or clue what it means to live in that kind of life.

[25:09] And what I want to say about this is that we live in a world that has no context of what it means to live in grace.

[25:22] They have no idea what it means to be loved by a God that offered his only son to die for them. And you know what? They live like they don't know that. So as Christians, how do we respond to that?

[25:39] Do we respond with disgust because they're living in a way that doesn't match up with what we know? Or do we try to show them grace?

[25:50] Do we try to lead them to the truth? It's an amazing, amazing thing when you see somebody that has been just steeped in sin their whole life and they experience grace for the first time.

[26:07] It's a beautiful sight. But oftentimes it's impossible for the church to witness that because we're too busy keeping these people at arm's length and casting stones at them rather than sharing the grace of Christ.

[26:19] I can't imagine the fear that this woman must have had in our story. She was publicly condemned for a sin that she had committed.

[26:31] She was guilty. She was surrounded by an angry crowd with the weapons of execution in their hand. The crowd's only desire was to see her suffer and die for her crime.

[26:44] She was humiliated. She was caught red-handed and now she finds herself at the feet of Jesus who happens to be her only hope.

[26:56] Coming to Jesus with our brokenness is the best thing that we can do. To come to him open, honest, come to him ashamed of our sin but confident in who he is, knowing that his grace will be sufficient to make us right with God.

[27:16] There's never going to be a time when grace is no longer our greatest need from a holy God church. And you know, I have to ask the question when I read this. When God looked at this woman, he knew her sin.

[27:30] He knew the law. He was God. He wrote it. He handed it down to Moses. So why didn't Jesus let the crowd stone her and fulfill the law? It's because when Jesus saw her sin, Jesus knew that his death would be enough to pay for it.

[27:52] His death would be enough to redeem her. Her death would not atone for her sins. It wouldn't make her right with God but Jesus' death would. His sacrifice would satisfy the law's demand for blood.

[28:07] God. And our final point is this, that Jesus makes the broken new. He makes the broken new.

[28:19] I want to read these last two verses to you again. Jesus stood up and said to her, woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? She said, no one, Lord.

[28:33] And Jesus said, neither do I condemn you. go. And from now on, sin no more. After making this life-altering proposition to the crowd, something amazing happens.

[28:51] All of a sudden, this crowd had been made plainly aware of their sinfulness. Where there used to be anger and contempt, there was now a denial of self-righteousness.

[29:08] And immediately, the woman begins to notice the crowd leaving. There's stones falling to the ground, but not at her. In the presence of Jesus, her guilt was brought to light, but there was no punishment.

[29:24] There was no condemnation. There was grace. And I think all of us can look at this story and find a person that we resonate with. Maybe you're the Christian that's in the angry mob.

[29:37] Maybe you're the Christian or the lost person that is caught in their sin, and that's thrown helplessly at the feet of Jesus. There are two vastly different dynamics in this story, but the beautiful picture is that when both of these dynamics meet Jesus, they are changed forever.

[29:58] The crowd leaves their self-righteousness. The lowly sinner is redeemed and brought up to be a child of God. They both had an encounter with Jesus that left them changed forever, church.

[30:16] Jesus truly does save. In John 3, 16, and 17, one of the more pleasant interactions that our Savior had with a Pharisee.

[30:28] Jesus said, For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

[30:48] Jesus spoke these words to a Pharisee who was trying to figure Jesus out. He just didn't understand it, and he couldn't quite seem to get it. The law may have illuminated the sinful actions of the people, and may have even prescribed punishment for these sins, but Jesus has come as the very fulfillment of the law.

[31:09] He has come to make sinners new. The woman in our story was certainly not the first sinner that Jesus had called and shown grace on. Levi, or Matthew, as some might know, was a tax collector, a very dishonest one, was very good at his job, and was an enemy of his people.

[31:26] But Jesus called this person to be one of his disciples. And afterwards, after he called him, Jesus decided, you know what, I'm going to have dinner with some of the other thieving friends. Why not?

[31:38] Naturally, this kind of confused the religious leaders as to why he would do that. And Jesus responds with this, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

[31:50] I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Luke 5, 31 and 32. This tax collector was sick. This woman was sick.

[32:02] The crowd was sick. And Jesus has come as the great physician to make all things new.

[32:14] And notice the interaction he had with this woman. He didn't excuse her sinfulness. He didn't just whitewash over it, thinking, yeah, it's fine.

[32:26] Do whatever makes you happy. He gave her this command. Go and sin no more. Many times when Christians read this, and the world, even to an extent, when they read this.

[32:47] The message that they take away from it is that we should never point out sin in people's life. That's a terrible application to take away from this text.

[33:00] Listen, if God did not want us to recognize sin, he wouldn't have told us what sin was. He never would have handed down the law. If God did not want us to engage in some sort of church discipline for unrepentant sin, as his word commands us to do, then there would be no need for pastors and elders.

[33:18] As a Jew, God's covenant people, this woman was bound to the laws of Moses, not just as a religious devotion, but as a legal obligation in this culture. And the religious leaders were correct and right to point out her sin.

[33:32] That's what good shepherds do. That is what faithful brothers and sisters in Christ do for each other. God's And if someone who is lost ever comes to us asking about their life choices and how they line up with God's word, you have a responsibility to tell the truth to them, to speak God's word.

[33:50] But we don't speak with the intent to condemn, but with the hope that they will turn to Jesus and repent. Jesus doesn't justify sinners by making their actions right.

[34:01] He justifies them by calling them to repentance and giving them a new nature that turns away from their former life, from their former choices. That's what he was saying in John 3 when he spoke to this Pharisee about rebirth.

[34:16] And that's what he was doing for the tax collector Matthew when he called him. And that's what he was doing for this woman when he said, go and sin no more. See, because of grace this woman experienced in Christ, she was now being called to a new life rather than being executed for her old one.

[34:40] And Jesus is still making the same call today. Christians, you've been saved and made new, not so that you can indulge in the flesh and be forgiven the next day, but so that you can go and sin no more.

[34:55] You were saved to live a life as something new. And this doesn't always mean that there's not going to be consequences for your sins. There are physical consequences for when we transgress against God.

[35:07] That's part of the curse of living in a sinful world. There's broken relationships to contend with. Maybe sometimes there's health problems that you need to contend with.

[35:20] When we go to the prison, there are fellow brothers in Christ in that prison that are dealing with the consequences of their actions. But what this does mean is that we can face a sinful world now with a new identity in Christ, with a hope that goes beyond this life that will carry us into eternity.

[35:43] And because we can look back on who we once were as Christians, because we can look back on our old life and what Jesus has saved us from, we should be able to show compassion to those that have yet to be redeemed.

[35:58] the main point of application that I want to take away from this is that we need to show the broken the grace of Jesus, not the condemnation of man.

[36:13] So believers, you're not called to be ignorant of sin. That's not what we need to take away from our text today. Showing compassion to the lost is not about turning a blind eye to how they've transgressed against a holy God.

[36:29] Responding to God's call for salvation, if you're lost, that means recognizing your need for a savior. And this comes with the realization that you have sinned and the realization of where that puts you before a holy God.

[36:44] But remember that it is going to be God who calls, it's going to be Jesus who saves, and it's going to be the Holy Spirit that convicts. We as God's children are just humble messengers that have been redeemed from the same fate as the people that we are trying to reach.

[37:03] Remember also that the lost are not our enemies. A lot of times our religion can lead us to become militant against the wrong problem.

[37:14] God for we do not wrestle. This is Ephesians 6.12 for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

[37:34] Church, we do have an enemy, but it's not the lost people that Jesus is seeking to save. It is the evil one who holds them in his clutches that is constantly dangling the wages of their sin in front of them because he still has a hold of him.

[37:49] That is our enemy. Unbelievers, If any of you are here today, or you listen to the live stream, we're glad that you're here.

[38:01] We want you in our church and thank you for being here. And I hope that you hear what I'm about to say, with a spirit of love and concern for you.

[38:13] If you have no relationship with Christ, if you are here and know for a fact that Jesus is not Lord and Savior of your life, you are still in the same place that this woman started in our story.

[38:26] You see, this woman was guilty. According to the law, she deserved the penalty that was coming to her. But Jesus looked at her sin and granted mercy. Why? Because he knew that he was going to pay the price for her sin.

[38:41] He knew that his death would be enough to pay that price in full, to fulfill the law that she had broken. If you are here and you have no relationship with Christ, the penalty of sin is still on you.

[39:01] It is still owed and it is yours to pay in full. But through Jesus, you can have forgiveness. Much like the story today, the eternal consequences of your sins can be disarmed through faith in Christ.

[39:16] The sinner in our story didn't have to die because Jesus was going to. And today, by that same sacrifice, you can forsake your sins. You can turn to Christ and live eternally.

[39:31] I quoted John 3 16 earlier to you. And I want to tell you this again. If you are lost, God has loved you so much that he sent his one and only son to die for you so that you could have eternal life.

[39:48] It's just like the thesis statement that we read earlier in John. But these are written, the story that we just read, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

[40:10] So for all those here that are lost, that don't have a relationship with Christ, this is my altar call to you today, and it is a simple one. Come today, believe in him, and live.

[40:25] Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, that if we are saved, if we are believers here today, Lord, that the consequences of our sin are no longer owed by us.

[40:42] Jesus has paid them in full with his death, with his resurrection. Lord, I pray that if there is someone here today, Lord, that does not know Christ as their Savior, Lord, I pray that they would look to Christ and live.

[41:02] Lord, that they would believe that he is your son, that he died on the cross and rose again for our salvation so that we could have eternal life with you. Lord, I pray that they would make that decision today in obedience and response to your call.

[41:18] And Lord, for us that are here today that are believers, Lord, self-righteousness is part of our sinful nature. And Lord, I pray that we would be continually humbled by your grace.

[41:33] Lord, that we would not see the lost as our enemy, but Lord, as our mission field. Lord, that we would eagerly long to share what Christ has done for them.

[41:46] Lord, that that would fuel our mission that you have set us on in your great commission. Lord, we long to see your name glorified. We long to see your kingdom grow. And I pray that we would see that happen today.

[41:58]  I pray for all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.