 Let's open our Bibles together to John. We're in chapter 7. We're going to pick up at verse 53 in John 7. Then we're going to move into chapter 8 and we're going to look at verses 1 through 11 as we continue our series through the Gospel of John. I'll begin reading at verse 53. I'll read verse 53 in chapter 7 and move into verse 1 of chapter 8 and we'll begin our study. John writes in John 7.53, and everyone went to his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. And so we're about to enter into a study about a woman who was caught in adultery and this is one of those portions of Scripture that I think is very expressive of the way God is, the love of God, the grace of God and all. And it's one of those passages that in the years that I've been a believer, it's one of those passages that the Lord has used in my life to evidence his grace. There are basically in Scripture, there are certain people who have impacted me a lot. I still remember a woman asked me a question. She had said, who in Scripture has had the most impact on you outside of Jesus Christ? And so it was the lady who asked me. So I answered, well, there are three people that have impacted me an awful lot. One is the woman at the well. The second is the unnamed woman in Luke chapter 7, who was forgiven of her many sins. And then in John chapter 8, the woman caught in adultery. And when I told her that, you know, these three women with bad reputations had been the ones who impacted me, she got kind of shocked. And she said, well, you know, I thought you would say something entirely different than that. But the fact is, these are the ones that I really look at and I see the grace of God in, in a very clear way. And so we have an opportunity today to see how Jesus Christ moves and what he does and how he works in people's lives. And so this is one of those characters in Scripture that really impacted me over my spiritual lifetime. So as we begin this study, let's begin by developing the context. Jesus has been busy teaching and he's been ministering. And the day has now concluded and Scripture tells us that that evening has come and the people have begun to disperse and they've gone to their own homes. That's what it says in chapter 7, verse 53, everyone went to his, notice, own home. But Jesus in verse one went to the Mount of Olives. Everyone went to his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Jesus didn't have a place of his own is the whole point here. Everybody is dispersing, they're going home and all, but Jesus is going to a mountain, to a hillside really called the Mount of Olives. You see, he would stay in a place there called the Garden of Gethsemane. And we read of the Garden of Gethsemane often. I'm not going to teach on it at the moment, but it was a private garden and Jesus would stay there when he was in Jerusalem and this private garden was borrowed from a friend. So while others were going to the comfort of their own homes, Jesus was staying in a garden. And again, I mentioned that that's because he didn't have a home of his own. In Matthew chapter 8, verses 19 and 20, the Bible tells us a certain scribe came and said to him, Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, liar, no, Jesus said to him, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. He would borrow places to stay and he would stay in the Garden of Gethsemane, a garden that was a private garden owned more than likely by one of his disciples who had lent it to him for his use when he was in town. It's interesting how that he created and owned all things, but he didn't demand that people care for his needs. And you see that about the Lord, and that's because God desires those who love him to give to him, but to do so freely. Second Corinthians 9 verse 7 says it like this, let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity. God loves a cheerful giver. And so this way of life gave him great understanding of human needs. Isaiah tells us in chapter 53 verse 3 that he's despised, rejected by men. He's a man of sorrows. He's acquainted with grief. So the Lord Jesus Christ is there when everybody else is dispersing to their own home, and he goes to the Mount of Olives and he stays there because the Son of Man had no place to lay his head. So the Bible tells us that that's where he went. Now verse 2 tells us early in the morning he came again into the temple and all the people came to him and he sat down and he talked to him. So the next day at daybreak Jesus came into the temple and he began to teach the people. Now when you read your Bible you'll see that Jesus had a habit of getting up early, often to pray or to minister. All the way back in chapter 1 verse 35 of the Gospel of Mark, Mark said, in the morning having risen a long while before daylight he went out and departed to a solitary place and there he prayed. So from the beginning of his ministry it's noted that he would rise early, he would minister, he would go and pray, and that's what's taking place right now. He's arising early and he came to the temple to teach those who came to hear him. Later Luke in chapter 21 verses 37 and 38 says this, he says, in the daytime he was teaching in the temple but at night he went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet and all the people would get up early in the morning to come to him in the temple to listen to him. So they would get up early and they would be there to hear him because the things that he had to say were so impactful that they would actually rise early just to go and hear him as he spoke. And so as he's instructing them, he's about to do something, he's about to give them an opportunity to learn something about the grace of God. He's about to reveal how much the Father has mercy on sinners and how loving he is and how forgiving he is. In 1 John 4, 7 and 8, John said, Beloved, let us love one another for love is of God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. And he went on to say, he who does not love does not know God. For God is love. We're living in a time when people don't know what God is like at all. Those who have never come into contact with him through Christ haven't got a clue about what he's like. And this is one of those passages that helps us to see what he's like, to see that the God that we worship and love is a God who's merciful, a God who's gracious, a God who cares. And this is one of those passages that I think emphasizes that in such a clear way that it just blesses my heart every time I go through it. Because we have this setting here. Again, verse 2, it's early in the morning, he's in the temple. When you go into the temple of Israel, you had the southern steps, you'd walk up what are called the southern steps and you'd go through an entrance and that would enter into an area that is called the court of the Gentiles. And the court of the Gentiles was the first of several courtyards that you would enter into the court of the Gentiles, the court of the women, the court of Israel, the court of the men, the court of Israel. You'd have it broken into different courtyards. And so in the first courtyard and you'd walk up the steps, and those of you who've been to Israel, you've been on the southern steps and you know this, those who in the future may go and it's the steps. It's the one place in Israel that we know beyond a shadow of a doubt Jesus actually walked on because they're still there from his day. And you actually walk up the same steps that your Lord and your Savior walked up into. It's quite a thrill. And we'll be seated there and we have a Bible study I teach at this particular place here and we share about the baptism of the Holy Spirit there. But Jesus went into that particular area there. He would be seated there. Rabbis would have students who were surrounding them. And that's where the rabbis would teach their students. It was called the court of the Gentiles because Gentiles were allowed there. But there was a sign there that said that any Gentile proceeding further in than this court of the Gentiles are subject to death. And so only Jews could go beyond that. You'd go to the court of the women, men and priests and all of that. There were different courts. The Gentiles is where everybody could come. And so Jesus would be there in the court of the Gentiles. And it was apparently his habit to teach there and that's what he's doing. It's early in the morning. There are people who have gotten up early. They've come to temple. Jesus is seated there. I've mentioned to you before that when a rabbi had something of import to instruct his disciples concerning, he would be seated. And so the picture here is the Lord Jesus sitting down, which tells me he's giving him an important study and he's teaching them. And as this is taking place and you have to put yourself in that position, I'm certain that there were other rabbis in that area. It's a very large area. And they would be speaking. I'm certain that it wasn't like our restaurants today where you actually yell to talk to one another because everybody's so loud. It would have been a place where they were speaking with respectful tones. It wasn't a real loud area, but they would be talking. And so Jesus is instructing. He's got a group of people surrounding him. And picture in your mind's eye that for just a moment that Jesus is speaking. People are attentive to what he's saying. The other sounds around them are being drowned out so they could hear the voice of the master. And as this is taking place, verse three says, the scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had said her in the midst, they said to him, teacher, this woman was caught in adultery in the very act. So imagine that for a moment, even in a church service like this, there's a teaching going on. It's quiet and respectful. And then picture a door swinging open and some men angrily bringing a woman in and bringing them, bringing her up. We'll say right here, right in front. And all of you are just riveted because this is so disturbing. It's so wrong that you're naturally going to be looking at what's taking place. And that's what's happening. It's not a clean scene at all. It's actually a very loud and it's just terribly wrong. And so this is what happens during his teaching. He's interrupted. The scribes and the Pharisees are bringing in a woman. When you read your Bible, you see about the scribes. And you see scribes often, especially in the other gospels. This is the only place where John mentioned scribes and Pharisees. The other gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, all will use that term together. But John, this is the only place he does. The scribes were the experts in the law of Moses. They were students as well as teachers of his law. They were the scribes. They would be what we today would call the scholars. They were the PH or the THDs. Then you had the Pharisees. The Pharisees are religious leaders. The religious leaders at the time of Christ were broken into two basic groups. You had the Pharisees and you had the Sadducees. The Pharisees would be today described more than likely as those that would be considered the conservative scholars. The Sadducees were from the liberal perspective. And you see them having arguments more than once in Scripture. But this happens to be scribes and Pharisees. Pharisees were so conservative that the name Pharisee really spoke of what they were. They were the separated ones. And there were only around 6,000 of them. And their activities were normally centered around Jerusalem. They were small in number, but they were great in their impact and influence. And so here come the scribes and Pharisees together. These representing the religion and traditions of Israel. And notice in verse 3 how it says, they brought a woman to him that they had caught in the act of adultery. Now remembering what was taking place the day before, these religious leaders had tried to have Jesus arrested. But they were foiled in their attempt. Their failure, though, didn't deter them. They continued trying to find a way to accuse him. And so this is what they're doing. And so what they're doing now is they're bringing to him. And notice in verse 3 it says, the scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman caught in adultery. Now the word brought means to lead away, to seize forcefully, to compel. That's what gave me the right to say they were basically almost dragging her in. Because the word brought means that. And they set her in the midst of the people. They forced her to stand still in front of everybody. Now obviously this isn't the proper way to handle the situation like this. At that time they actually had a court that would handle cases like that, who would oversee this particular charge. But they did this because they knew that Jesus was prone to forgive sinners. And that's what he had come to do. But they knew it. They knew that Jesus was likely to pronounce a forgiveness to this woman. And that's part of what's motivating them to bring her. They had seen it happen before. They had heard of it at least. They knew that he forgave a paralyzed man who had been brought to him. It's recorded in Mark chapter 2. You remember that story where four friends brought this man, ripped the roof open and lowered the man in front of Christ. And he said, son, your sins are forgiven you. They'd already heard that Jesus Christ claimed to have the power to forgive sins. They knew that he was prone to do that. He forgave a woman at Simon the Pharisee's house, as is recorded in Luke chapter 7. A woman who came in when Simon had seen this woman and Jesus is allowing her to touch him. And all Simon the Pharisee says, if this man truly were a prophet, he'd know who and what manner of woman this in is that is touching him. She's a sinner. And Jesus spoke concerning the forgiveness that she had received. Your sins are forgiven you. So he had a reputation for forgiving sins. You might want to remember that always. He forgave sins. And he forgives yours. Never forget that. Because the enemy has a tendency of telling you that your sins are too great and there's no sin too great for Jesus to forgive. Jesus' blood covers all sin, all manner of sin, every sin. We need to remember that. He's gracious and loving. We're about to see that acted out right in front of us as he deals with this woman. We need to remember that Jesus came to forgive sinners. Now it's not automatic. It requires repentance. It requires confession of sin. We need to acknowledge these things. Proverbs 28 13 says, he who covers his sins shall not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy. First John 1 9 says, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It's not an automatic. It's something that we confess for sake, ask for God's forgiveness. And that's how it works. But that's what the Lord has come to do is to forgive us. And Jesus was willing to forgive sins. His adversaries were aware of it. And so they're plotting against him. They're wanting to trap him. It says it in verse 6, this they said, testing him. So he knows that, that they're there plotting against him. Proverbs 117 says, surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. It's very obvious what they're doing, but that's what they're doing. They're setting him up and they're using this woman to do that. Notice what they say in verse 4. They said to him, teacher, this woman was caught in adultery in the very act. She was caught. That word caught again means to be seized eagerly. She was caught in the very act of sexual intercourse. What's interesting is when it says in the very act, because that word act in the original language literally speaks of theft. The word act speaks of stealing something. She was caught in the act. She was stealing something. And that gives us insight into the fact that God regards adultery as taking something that does not belong to you. Isn't that interesting? Adultery is taking that which does not belong to you. A man and a woman marry and the act of adultery is somebody taking from somebody else, stealing from somebody else. That would belong to that person. And so when it speaks concerning this, it gives you insight into God's view of and declaration of adultery. It's taking something, stealing something that doesn't belong to you. You're stealing somebody else's wife. You're stealing somebody else's husband. And the Bible makes it very clear, and I'll speak about this for just a moment to set this up a little further. The Bible is very plain when it speaks of adultery being an extremely grievous sin. Some people don't even know what adultery is anymore. We have romanticized it to the degree that it's almost something that you celebrate. But adultery is sexual intercourse with a married person that you're not married to. It was not regarded as romantic. Never has been, really. It's a terrible breach of trust. It is so serious that adultery is forbidden in the seventh commandment. Exodus 2014, you shall not commit adultery. And in Jewish thinking, adultery is one of the three worst sins along with murder and idolatry. And one commentator said, every Jew must die before he commits idolatry, murder, or adultery. A very serious sin. And because it is a very serious sin, God warns against it repeatedly. Hebrews 13, 14 says it like this, marriage is honorable among all and the bed undefiled. But fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. So at least two witnesses had to actually see what was taking place, or this accusation would not stand. In Deuteronomy 19, verse 15, it says, a single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he's committed. On the evidence of two or three witnesses, a matter shall be confirmed. And that's why there's more people involved. There had to be at least two who saw what was taking place. They caught her in the very act. And as they caught her in the very act, they ultimately brought her to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it says again, in verse 4, teacher, this woman was caught in adultery in the very act. Then they go on in verse 5. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do you say? That such should be stoned. That gives you an insight into how they looked at her. She's not a person. She has no history. She has no feelings. She has no shame. They have no regard for her. She's simply a test case. She's one of those that Moses spoke about. And he commanded that such should be stoned. So they begin by appealing to the Bible. Moses says that a person like her should be stoned to death. Now notice verse 6, how it says, this they said, testing him that they might have something of which to accuse him. Testing means to simply tempt or to try, to put to the test. Jesus's religious opponents were looking for something they could use to accuse him. They already consider him a blasphemer. They already consider him a Sabbath breaker and they're seeking to kill him. And Jesus and others knew this to be true. And they even clearly stated it. We saw it in chapter 7. We saw in verse 9, 19, where he asked the question, why do you seek to kill me? We saw it in John 7.25 when the people said, is this not he whom they seek to kill? His opponents were looking for something they could use to accuse him. They thought he was a blasphemer, a Sabbath breaker. They were seeking to kill him and they're using this as a test case. They want to put him to death and they're setting traps for him. Now when it says here again in verse 6, this they said, testing him. This is something that you find more than once in Scripture. They often ask questions of him seeking to find an accusation in his answer. For example, Matthew 19, verse 3, it says the Pharisees also came to him, testing him, saying to him, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason? You see the same kind of mentality in Matthew 22, 35 and 36 where it says one of them, a lawyer asked him a question, testing him, saying, teacher, which is the great commandment in the law. You see it in Mark chapter 10, verse 2, where the Pharisees came and asked him, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife, testing him? And Luke 11, 16, others testing him, sought from him a sign from heaven. And so this is a test. They're trying to find something for which they might accuse him and they're basically giving Jesus two choices because they want to trap him. Well, if Jesus chooses to demand that they put her to death, that would mean that he was breaking Roman law and the Romans would not allow him to do such a thing. So he'd be breaking the law. Remember in John 1831, Pilate said to them when they were brought Christ before him to be crucified, Pilate said to them, you take him and judge him according to your law, but the Jews therefore said to him, it's not lawful for us to put any man to death. So they were trying to trap him in the horns of a dilemma. If he says put her to death, then they'll report him to Rome that he's commanding the death sentence and it wasn't lawful for him to do that. But if he said, let her go, then he'd be breaking the law. He'd be violating the law of Moses. He'd be a law breaker and his disregard for the law of Moses would be used to state that he didn't value the word of God. Jesus had already made it clear that that would not be true. He had said in Matthew 517, don't think I came to destroy the law of prophets. I didn't come to destroy but to fulfill. He was fulfilling the law. The law was intended to bring people to him and Jesus fulfilled that law. But John is making it clear that they did this in order to test him, that they might lodge a charge against him. Somebody said, when the wicked make a snare for good men, they make a snare for themselves. So as they're speaking to him, and we'll develop this now a little bit further, verse 6, they said, testing him, that they might have something of which to accuse him. Now picture it for a moment. It's kind of loud now, but Jesus stoops down and rode on the ground with his finger as though he didn't hear. So picture that for a moment. In the midst of all this anger, Jesus just kneels down and begins to write. Notice his initial response. He ignores them. Now he knew more of what she was like than her accusers ever could. They knew her actions, but Jesus understood her reasons. I want you to notice how Jesus says, how John says he acted as though he didn't hear. Perhaps Jesus is at first communicating his contempt for their behavior by taking his time to respond. He gives time for the situation to calm down. It's always a good thing if people's tempers are rising and their voices are getting loud. It's always wise to try and bring calm to the situation, and that's part of what Jesus would be doing here. But he also might be giving them time to think about what they're doing. They were demanding the death of a person, and the taking of a life is never a light decision. But guess what they did? As he's there riding on the ground, verse 7, they continued asking him. He raised himself up and he said to them, he who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first. Only those who have not committed this kind of serious sin, only those should be putting her to death. Are you willing to be the first to put her to death? When he said, let him throw a stone at her first, he was speaking of the duty of the witness. In Deuteronomy 17, verse 7, the scripture says the hands of the witnesses must be the first in putting him to death. So he was actually demanding what is called the duty of the witness. Now Jesus is not saying that proper judgment should not occur because there are those today who read this and they say, notice what Jesus said, he who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first. What right do you have to judge me, bro? What right do you have to tell me what I'm doing is wrong? And people refer to scriptures like this. I think there are very few scriptures that people memorize, this may be one of them. You know, the other one is husbands and husbands are talking to their wives and they say, didn't the Bible somewhere say you're supposed to submit to me? Those are the two scriptures a lot of people know by heart. You're not supposed to judge me. Is that what's happening here? Is Jesus saying proper judgment shouldn't take place? No, there is a place for a righteous standard and a righteous judgment. He was insane. You have to be perfect to make a judgment. Somebody said Jesus does not say sinlessness is the necessary condition of fitness for taking part in the judgment and punishment of guilt. This would be to undermine the rule of law, for there could then be no human judges. He's not speaking of a case brought before an appointed judge, but in the case of where men are taking it upon themselves to be in the position of judges concerning someone else's guilt. What he's saying is take a moment before you act and consider your own life because true judgment needs to be balanced out by an understanding of people's human weaknesses. Before you throw a stone, understand your own weaknesses. And then he, once again, verse eight, he stooped down and he roan on the ground. It may be that he's giving them time to leave. By doing this the second time, he repeats his determination to avoid being their judge. In Luke 12, 13 and 14, there's an interesting story where someone from a crowd said to him, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. But Jesus, he said to him, man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you? I didn't come here to act as that judge. And so Jesus is avoiding that position. But there's something that people will ask themselves about this particular thing and we'll take a moment to do that ourselves. What do you think he was writing? Now, I was taught a long time ago if the scripture is silent, you ought to shut up too. And I'm not going to. I'm going to share a couple of things with you. But I'm not going to say that this for sure is what he was saying. As I was preparing this message, I was going through commentators that I used and and more than one said that it was commonly believed that in the earlier times that what he was doing, it was commonly believed that what he was doing was writing down the sins of those present, just writing out sins. And you could almost see that. I don't know that it was true or not, but imagine that you're standing there and Jesus looks at you and he writes down whatever it is that you're guilty of. Then you go and you kind of like look the other way. And then some he looks over here and he says, I would be kind of awkward. But I don't I don't know. I mean, that was commonly believed in the early church that that's what he was doing, writing the sins of those. I'm not sure that he did that. I don't see that it's being consistent with how he does things. But I do think this is a possibility. And I lean in this direction. And again, don't it's not it's not solidly scriptural in terms of, yes, it says it, it doesn't. But when you think about him writing in this and that, we need to remember this is the only time in scripture that Jesus has ever spoken of as writing anything. And so what you do is you begin to ask yourself, well, as there any other place where the finger of God is spoken of as writing. And the answer is, yes, of course, when the commandments were given, when the commandments, the 10 commandments the original commands were given, it was written with the finger of God. And so you see evidence of the Lord writing in the Old Testament and he wrote the law. You see another incident in the book of Daniel in chapter five, where the words were written on a wall, many, many Tekalupartzi. Yeah, you've been judged and found wanting. That's the only time you see the finger of God writing. So when you're looking at this, you ask yourself, what could Jesus possibly possibly have been writing? Seeing as the only time in scripture that ever speaks of him doing something, he kneels down and he writes, what could he have been writing? And I think it's worthy our consideration. Lord, what might it have been that you were writing in the Old Testament? You wrote out the law and you wrote of judgment. I wonder, I wonder, I only wonder if it's possible that he wrote Leviticus 20 verse 10, where it says the man who commits adultery with another man's wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulterers shall surely be put to death. You want to go by the law? Where's the man? Where's the man? Now I'm speaking to a lot of men and women in here right now. Men, ignore this for a moment. I'll talk to the ladies. No, actually, I'm playing with you. The fact is, even to this day, women are judged harsher than men, even to this day, even to this day in days where sexual freedom is so championed and so regarded. Women are still regarded differently than men. When a man goes out and sows his wild oats, that's just what boys do because boys will be boys, right? And when a woman goes out and does something wrong, she's looked at in a different way, always has been. I don't know that it's not possible that Jesus would allude to the law because the law was to judge fairly and the man was just as guilty as the woman. And sometimes when you have boys, you're raising boys, you think that they're going to go out and boys will be boys and this and that. You don't raise your boys to be immoral anymore than you raise your children, your girls to be immoral. And you don't make excuses for the boys to go out and be immoral because it's wrong because purity is something that gives honor to God and has great reward within it. So you don't say, well, guys are going to be guys, but you girls better not. You don't do that. It's all equal before the sight of the Lord, sin, this kind of sin. The man was also to be judged and the man is not there. The man was a part of this. They should have brought the man along with the woman. They should have dragged him in along with her and said, both of these people are guilty of sin. Both of them are to be, because there to be some because, because Moses said such, which would include the guy, such should be stoned. And the question has to be asked, where was the man? It's a setup. It's an embarrassment and a humiliation upon that woman. And this must have outraged the Lord as it was taking place. It must have outraged him as they were doing this. The question has to be asked, why wasn't he brought forth? Why wasn't he also to pay this penalty? Because justice has to be applied equally to all involved in Romans 211. It says there's no partiality with God. And so this is what's taking place. He's stooping down. He's right in on the ground. I can't help but wonder, did you write the law pertaining to adultery? They were charging her of it. This woman was guilty, caught in the very act. There were witnesses to it. Where's the man? Why isn't he being penalized? Why isn't he being dealt with? That's a good question. And so as this is taking place, Jesus is, I believe, giving them time to consider what they're doing. And again, it's he's stooping down. He's right in on the ground. Now it says those who heard at verse nine being convicted by their conscience went out one by one, beginning with the oldest, even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, the woman standing in the midst. Old people started kind of shuffling away. Now when you think of stoning, you may be thinking, and some I did for a long time, I thought stoning, you know, they pick up rocks like river rocks or something in the small ones. That's not what they were. When they were stoned, they would pick up very large rocks, small boulders. Normally they would be put in a pit. And then the first one with the accuser would be the first to cast the stone. And then the rest would literally bury her, bury the person with these heavy rocks. It was not it was it was not just small rocks or you kind of rocks you skim on on water. These are big rocks. So they're holding, there are people possibly holding these larger stones in their hands. And before you know it, you start hearing the sound of those rocks hitting the ground. And you look and Jesus is still down looking up. And the older, why the older first? Quite obviously we've had longer to sin. It's been said there's no center like an old center and there's some truth to that. The older have a longer life. And we don't always walk away from sin just because we got old. If you're dealing with the sin as a young man, there's a good chance you'll deal with that sin as an old man. If you don't repent and develop new habits of life. But if you keep sins like a little pet, just one sin, this is just a small sin. This can I keep this little sin here? That will become a large sin in your life. It actually grows to have more dominance than the other ones you've forsook. So what you may think is a small sin actually grows to be the besetting sin. And when you're older and you've lived a long life, you don't outgrow sin. What you do is you refine yourself in committing of it. You might be a person who who's a thief and you're young, you're little, you saw something, you took it, you got caught. And instead of changing what you did is you started refining. You figured out what got you caught. And you work to develop a method so that you learn how to not get caught for stealing. First time you lied, you probably got caught because you're not a good liar when you're a kid. You say dumb things, stupid kind of things that kids will say. I was a little boy. The first time I ever played baseball, I was four or five years old. I remember my first real lie and I played baseball. They threw the ball. I still remember. I just barely hit it. It rolled maybe 12 feet and I ran to first base and I was excited. I came home and my mom says, what did you do? And I said, we were, I learned to play baseball today. And she said, really? And what did you do? I said, I hit the ball. Now, the field that we played on, the Santa Ana freeway, the five freeway, the field that I played on, actually the five freeway went right past it. So when I told my mom, I hit the ball, she said, really? Where did it go? I said it rolled on the ground. She said, really? Now, the freeway was about 350, 400 feet away. And I was about five years old or so. And I said, she got these big eyes. She thought, man, I thought she likes this stuff. So I said, and then the ball went in the air. She said, it did? I said, yeah. And she got big eyes. Well, the bigger her eyes, the bigger the lies. And so I said, and then it went over the freeway. I still remember that. And she said, really? You know, now that's not a good lie. But later on, I got pretty good, because if you practice lying, you can become a good liar. If you practice stealing, you can become a pretty good thief. If you practice any sin and refine it, you can learn how to do it pretty well. You don't outgrow sin. You don't. Sometimes people think they're going to outgrow a sinful. Oh, I'll outgrow my temper. No, you don't outgrow your temper. You know, when you're young, they'll say he's just got fire. When you're old and you still have a temper. You're just a mean old man. You don't outgrow it. You forsake it. You repent from it. You turn away from it. You ask God to forgive you. You ask God to change you. And he does. He can take the liar and make them honest. He can take the thief and make them honest. He can. Because you have asked God to. You've said, God, forgive me a sinner. And he forgives you. And he transforms you. And he gives you power to overcome. And then you have this amazing testimony, because you'll encounter people who knew you when you were a thief and a liar and whatever else it was that you were guilty of. And they see you and they say, wait a minute, I went to high school with you. Or I hung around with you just out of school when we're in college and used to be the party guy. What happened to you? Because your life has changed so much. It comes through repentance, fellas and ladies. It comes through yielding. And that's what God calls us to do. God calls us to forsake these things so that we can be changed in all. And so the Lord is speaking to somebody right now. And he's speaking and considering this sin. But these older people are listening. And as they're listening to what's taking place from the oldest to the youngest, they begin to be aware of what they are, what they've done. And their conscience convicts them. They know they've been wrong. And one by one, they begin to walk away. And before you know it, this crowd that was so angry, ready for her to die, has dissipated. And Jesus was left alone, verse nine says, and the woman standing in the midst, standing in the midst of those who were not part of this, standing in the midst of those who had been there in order to hear Jesus teach. And what's Jesus doing? Well, Jesus is working within the law because without accusers, she cannot be condemned. They had their own wicked plans, but Jesus was able to deal with them. In Job chapter five, verse 12, it says, he frustrates the devices of the crafty so that their hands cannot carry out their plans. And so verse nine says, Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst. And so Jesus, verse 10, raised himself up. And he saw no one but the woman. And he said to her woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you? Those who demanded his judgment are gone. They leave her alone with him. And he asks, where are your accusers? Where is those who are condemning you? And in this question, there's a reminder, and I want to develop this for just a moment. He's saying, they had accusations against you. What were they? You need to remember that he's not whitewashing her sin. He's not ignoring it. Sometimes you might read this passage and think that he is. He's just whitewashing it. He's not. When he says, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you? He's reminding her that she sinned. Sometimes people say, well, Jesus never pointed out sin. He's doing that right now. By reminding her of the accusers and reminding her of condemnation, he's also reminding her of her sin. He's doing it in a gentle way. You don't always have to point somebody's sin out, by the way. You don't have to. Not always. Sometimes you simply have to ask them, where did it get you? What you did, you know it was wrong. Where did it get you? Was it worth it? You don't have to go into every single thing they did. You just ask them about it, reminding them they did it. Because you're pointing them to something greater than their sin. You're pointing them to first remember, but also forsake, so that they can receive forgiveness. And that's what Jesus is doing. Where are your accusers? That reminds her that there was an accusation. What was the accusation? She was caught in the very act of sexual sin. So he's reminding her in a discrete way, but he's reminding her nonetheless. You did wrong. I'm reminding you of what you did. But where are your accusers? Where are the ones that wanted to put you to death? So he's not ignoring it. He's actually bringing it to the center of the conversation. So he says, where are your accusers? And she says in verse 11, when he says, has no one condemned you, she says, no one, Lord. And Jesus said to her, neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more. Neither do I condemn you. But notice, go and sin no more. Notice that he doesn't express forgiveness or offer her peace, offer her peace with God by saying, sin no more. He's saying, be no longer a sinner. That is a direct comment on her sinfulness. And it's pointing to her need to turn away from it. Jesus did not accept her sin. He told her to repent. I'm not accepting your sin. I'm giving you a chance to turn from it. Remember in Luke 19 verse 10, Jesus said, the son of man has come to seek and save that which was lost. So he's given her an opportunity. He's not saying, go and continue in sin. He's basically teaching her not to sin anymore. Go, he said, and sin no more. Turn away from your sin and live a life that is free from its bondage. What does this reveal to us about God? This reveals to us that God loves and God forgives. Jeremiah 31.3, the Lord has appeared of old to me saying, yes, I've loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you. And what does it teach us to do as his followers? It teaches us to be compassionate and understanding and fair towards those who've been caught up in sin. In James, I just shared this this last week in James 2 verse 13, judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy, but mercy triumphs over judgment. God never accepts your sin. He hates it. He hates it so much that he sent his son Jesus to rescue you from it. God loves us so much that he took upon himself, his son took upon himself our sin. He became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And Jesus Christ said to us, I love you so much that he died on a cross for us that set us free. He didn't come to the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. But that doesn't mean that we don't encourage people to turn from their wicked ways. You know one of the things I think the church is forgetting to do today in preaching the gospel is acknowledging the reality of sin in people's lives. I think part of the reason we don't is because we don't want to be their judges. We're not being their judges when we say you have to be living a miserable life right now. You've got to be miserable. I think that sometimes the most loving thing I can say to somebody is you've got to be miserable. You have to be. You can't have any joy. You don't have any peace. I remember a friend of mine his name is Jim and I was speaking to Jim one day and Jim was a complainer. I mean you know he would complain if it was too warm, it's too hot, if it's too cold, it's too cold. He's never just right. He was always upset about something and finally one day I told him something. I said you know Jim you're miserable. You're always upset about something. You complain about everything. And I said you've got no joy. And he looks at me and he got mad at me. He says yes I do. I've got a lot of joy. I'll never forget that. Yeah I've got a lot of joy. I said yeah yeah you do. You're the most joyful guy I know. You can't you can't have joy guys as long as you're not with right with the Lord. You can't. But when Jesus Christ comes and he says listen I'm not condemning you that's not giving me permission to continue in sin. That's giving me an escape from sin. He didn't come to destroy but to fulfill. He came in order to draw us to himself so that he might patch up our wounds that he might heal us in the deepest recesses of our soul that he might give us forgiveness and an awareness of the reality that life actually has a purpose and the purpose is to give him glory and honor and his desire is that he might be able to bless us. I mean what kind of God we worship. I'm picture that for a minute. You've got the religious leaders there saying such should be stoned. This we don't even want to call her by name. We don't even want to refer to her as a woman. This is just a such. This is a test. This is somebody that Moses said we could kill and we could do so because she's unrighteous. What do you say? And the attitude. Think of it for a moment. That attitude was coming from religious people who should have known better. Should have known better. We're all failures. We're all mess ups. We're all sinners. All of you are. I'm not but you are. We are. We are. We are. Every day his mercies are renewed because I need his mercy every day. Every day. Now that doesn't mean that I don't care about people or you don't care about people sinning. Sin destroys. Sin destroys. When you watch some young guy some young woman beginning their alcohol journey. You know what it does. It'll destroy. It can't. It can't. It has a potential to destroy them. When you see him buying the cigarettes for their first time. Not to say this is so sinful and all but when you see him using God's money to kill themselves in a slow way and you say that's not healthy for you. It's not good. Oh shut up man. You're just ruining. I can do it. But you know what someone's got to tell them the truth. Someone does. A long time ago I made a decision and it's not. It wasn't an easy one. I was a hippie hippies were real live and live people. I mean you want to do that. You want to do that. I don't care. And I've told you this before and I'll close by reminding you. I was a hippie. I had nothing. No spine. Nothing to stand up for. Then I got saved and I started reading the Bible and I started realizing there is true and truth sets you free and there is sin and it brings you into bondage. And so I started praying and I prayed every and I still do. And I started praying this when I was a very young believer. I started praying God give me a spine. Give me strength to stand up for what is true. Help me to know what true is and help me to stand up for it. Help me to know what the truth is and help me to stand up for it because there's got to be something called truth. And Jesus said you shall know the truth. It will make you free. I said I want that freedom. And that's what began to lead me as a Christian into the pastoral ministry because that has been such a fire in my heart to know what truth is and communicate it. Then I stepped into a pulpit like this and began to tell people this is the truth. Every word of God is true and we ought to live by it. And I was free by his truth and we all can do too. It's not just hearing it. We'll see this on Sunday through James. It's hearing it and doing it and that demonstrates that we believe it. And Jesus had this woman caught in the very act. He didn't condemn her but he didn't give her permission to continue in sin. He said go and sin no more. Go and sin no more. What he says to her he says to us go but sin no more. And that's where the blessings come from when you receive his forgiveness and live as if you've been forgiven.