 Jesus says neither do I condemn you. I wonder if sometimes the places that just have this part of the verse don't mention This is because we first condemn you and then tell you to go and say no more But that is not how it works because somebody say amen. I'm gonna share with you two simple thoughts from this message one is Jesus gives a mirror to those without mercy Because we can't be merciful without a mirror I want you to see in this story two kinds of people one category is the accusers and the other category is the accused and Jesus ministers to both kinds of people But Jesus doesn't give mercy to the accusers. He only gives mercy to the accused To people who are the accusers who are doing the accusing. He gives them something else He gives them a mirror Why? Because only Jesus can be merciful without being reminded of his past all of us we can't be merciful That's why the Bible says forgive as you have been forgiven love as you have been loved Why because God makes himself a reference to our behavior to a humankind We cannot be kind toward people if we first have not learned of God's kindness toward us We don't have the capacity inside of us to be nice We don't have the capacity inside of us when somebody mistreats us not to punch them back It's not within us and therefore the only way we can be kind toward others is if Jesus gives us a mirror to remind us How merciful he has been how good he has been and how we have fallen before and he didn't throw a stone in our face And this is how Jesus healed the accusers See the goal of Jesus is to take the stone out of every accuser and give him a mirror Because every time see most of us know that the grace of God is not an excuse to sin But the righteousness of God is not an excuse to condemn Many people when they get better in life when they overcome certain addiction overcome certain sin achieve certain goal They feel like they have been promoted to this new job which Satan put on for hire called accusation accused accusers and the accused are part of the devil's plan and And when you lived your life being accused live your life being condemned lived your life being looked down Shamed and embarrassed by people for the things you've done What happens is there comes a moment you beat that thing that caused you to be so accused and you get Elevated to something higher in the kingdom of the devil called the accuser When you're no longer being accused you're now privileged to do the accusing yourself Becoming the devil's right hand But it feels good because you're now in control it feels good because you have stones and you have targets and Jesus helps the accusers First he doesn't help the woman first he helps the accusers first By taking away their stones and the way he takes them away is he offers them a mirror He says anybody without sin throw the first stone and What happened he put a mirror in front of them and when a person looked in the mirror they realized I'm not much better and the stone dropped and The stone dropped and the stone dropped now. We don't stone people today We don't have stones we have words and Most of you whoever had words thrown your way you know that it would have been better if you throw a stone in my face Because words hurt deeper than stones Words can kill a person words start wars Wars words they create conflict in families Words can make a small problem in marriage become an issue of divorce Words can belittle a person a shame a person make person feel below carpet words They're the stones What they did yes what they did in that generation when somebody committed sin is they through stones We do in our houses every day When somebody comes in and makes a sin and maybe not as bad sin as this woman where she committed adultery But we immediately find stones and because we've never done this We feel like it gives us the right not to be because we're not the accused But we become the accusers not knowing that is not the job of the Holy Spirit Holy Spirit doesn't do the accusing only devil does the accusing and that is the devil's plan He wants us to be in that position to accuse people with our words with our stones and You would think Jesus would pat people on the back say hey guys. Let me give you better stones Sometimes people feel like Jesus is in a stoning business When somebody makes a mistake and you tell him you share peace of your mind and you let him have it And you feel like and God is a God of justice and all the God is a vengeful God and God is a holy God He doesn't tolerate iniquity. He cannot be hold iniquity all these scriptures come up and you feel righteous in your stoning Not realizing Jesus doesn't do stoning Moses did Moses is not Jesus Moses is not God the view of God has to be defined by Jesus not by our tradition By Jesus not by our feelings for vengeance and justice The last thing we should be wanting is justice And we all want God to be holy only when somebody's sinned against us And when we do the sinning all we run for the scriptures for the mercy and the grace of God