NEITHER DO I

 

John 8:1-11

 

The feast is over, its the next day Jesus goes to the Temple

to preach as He always does.

 

The day starts off innocent enough, all is calm and peaceful. Its a new day, a wonderful day, to worship our God, as the people listen to Jesus. But this day is soon interrupted by a group of scribes and Pharisees. (v3) Some think that scribes and pharisee’s are all the same, they are not. The “Scribes” were Jewish theologians, they were called lawyers because they were experts in interpreting the Old Testament, and to be a scribe was a career. The “Pharisees” were a conservative party, a movement of conservative religious practices. The term “Pharisee” means “separated one” It is said, “During the inter-test-a-mental period, many of the people moved away from zealous obedience to the law of God, so a group of people committed to spiritual, moral, and theological reform banded together in an effort to purify the Jewish community. They committed themselves to zealous and passionate pursuit of obedience to the law, and so they were called “the separated ones.” or Pharisees.” 

The Lord’s teaching was interrupted by these scribes and pharisees; and they brought with them “a woman caught in adultery.” This is some heavy charges, so its easy for us to get caught up in the accusations and drama, especially in church settings. But what is before us this morning is so more than an accused woman of adultery, it’s a reminder of what we are all guilty of. We are all guilty before a holy God, we are all guilty of His eternal wrath according to the Scriptures. “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Eph 2:1-3

This interruption we are about to see is a demonstration of the grace that God extends to the sinner through the gospel. The same grace that you, and I, have received; and continue to receive everyday, through the gospel confession. I say that because Paul went on to say in the same chapter. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Eph 2:4-7

This portion we about to look at, reminds us of this truth. Its because of His grace we are able to stand freely in Him alone. “But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.” Rom 5:15

 

This passage is a reminder of the grace given to us, by

our merciful Saviour who died for our sins.

 

The Truth of the Matter for everyone of us apart from the gospel is that:

 

We are all guilty of sin! No one is exempt except Jesus, The Christ.

We all point fingers at others and their sins at time, all the while overlooking our own sin.

We are all guilty of throwing stones in judgment of others without examining our own hearts.

 

The Truth of the Matter for everyone of us is that:

 

When our unrighteousness is pointed out! It hurts and makes us feel uncomfortable.

Even our hurtful, and careless words, can destroy one’s hope.

That pain must be overcome by love and forgiveness that is found in the gospel.

 

This confrontation that Jesus is faced with is yet another reason to why the gospel is precious to those who have been saved by it. This reveals how Jesus confronts the accuser, and the accused, by showing us the gospels love and forgiveness that He displays towards us, because of our sin. This passage is not necessary about the scribes, the pharisees, the woman accused. This is all about Christ and the gospel. Let me ask you in relation to the text before us. Did you come here with stones to throw at someone today? What do I mean by that? Did you come all prepared to disrupt this time of worship with….

 

Stones of Bitterness/resentment

Stones of Jealously

Stones of pride/selfishness

Stones of Anger/rage

Stones of Hatred/murder

Stones of Prejudice

Stones of Revenge

 

Heed the warning from James, “For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” James 2:13.This is the same thing we read in Proverb 21:13, “Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.” If you did bring stones this morning this passage is for you; to reminder you of the grace and mercy that you have received because of your sin. If you didn’t bring your stones, this affirms what you always remind yourself of every day; about His mercy, and His grace is sufficient. As Jeremiah penned, “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” Lam 3:22-24. So, what do we see here in this confrontation? We see a scheme, to see if these men can trip up Jesus, with their accusations of this woman. Jesus is teaching in the temple which is normal! Then all of a sudden [again, rudely I might add] they barge in with a woman who according to them was caught in act of adultery! (v3-v4)

 

This is major violation according to the Mosaic Law, as we read. "If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then both of them shall die—the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall put away the evil from Israel. "If a young woman who is a virgin is betrothed to a husband, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones,…..” Deut 22:22-24

Let’s stop and ponder the words by the religious elite “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.” (v4) Hang on a minute there! You cannot read this text, without asking yourself this question. "Where is the man in this adulterous union?" She had been caught "in the very act," and yet only the woman is brought before Jesus. The law of Moses did indeed outlaw adultery, which was defined as sexual relations between two people, at least one of whom was married to a different person. The law permitted execution of both people, “So where is her partner? At the very least we see a sexual bias, by these corrupt men.

 

It’s interesting that some of the commentators suggest that perhaps these men knew the man who as with her. Perhaps, he may have been one of their very own and they let him go because they did not want to get him into trouble, or maybe he is in line with a stone himself. In reality we do not know. But this situation would indicate a double standard was very much in effect in those days; just as it is today in our society. What we need to understand…. is that the scribes and Pharisees did not bring this woman to Jesus because they were zealous on this particular morning to uphold the law against adultery. They didn’t bring her because they were outraged by her behavior, and wanted Jesus to clean up Jerusalem.

We know why they brought her, because in John’s gospel it’s very clear about their motive “they were testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him” (v6a) This is terrible, is it possible that they took a random woman, and got enough men to accuse her; so, they could finally get Jesus and arrest Him. Can you imagine someone who was truly zealous for the things of God, using a person in this kind of a situation to destroy the Son of God, or someone you know, or love?

 

R C Sproul said in his commentary on this passage [this is important to know]. “The Romans permitted significant self-rule in the nations they conquered, but they did not allow vassal nations to exercise the death penalty in capital cases. If someone was to be put to death for a crime in a Roman province, it had to be done through the Roman judicial system. That’s why Jesus was sentenced by Pontius Pilate and not by Caiaphas. The people, who followed Jesus, hated the Roman occupation, so the sly scribes and Pharisees laid a clever trap for Jesus. If Jesus were to say, “Stone the woman,” they would run to the Roman headquarters and say, “This teacher is advocating that we exercise capital punishment without going through the Roman system.” That way they would get Jesus in trouble with the Romans. But if He were to say, “Don’t stone her,” they would run back to the Sanhedrin and say, “This Jesus is a heretic because He denies the law of Moses.” No matter how Jesus answered the question, He would be in serious trouble”

 

So here they stand before Jesus to get His advice, or opinion, with the hopes to finally catching Him, so they can arrest Him! This woman was being used by the scribes and pharisees in order to trap Jesus. And they do this with a woman who has been humiliated, terrified, and about to be stoned to death. So, what does Jesus do in this situation? I love this because the bible says “Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.” (v6) This is the only time in Scripture we read that Jesus wrote anything. The burning question is….What did He write? There are many ideas and thoughts about what He wrote, but in reality, it doesn’t matter; its not for us to know. But some theologians speculate Jesus wrote Jeremiah 17:13 which says “O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water.” Others say maybe Jesus wrote what he was about to say in (v7). Maybe He wrote something about being a malicious witness “You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness.” Exodus 23:1. The most popular view is that Jesus wrote the sins of the woman’s accusers. Whatever He wrote it was absolutely amazing and for these men specifically, because it left these men bewildered. “As they continued to ask him” (v7a)

 

What does Jesus do? He writes again in the sand, but first He says these words "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." (v7) Jesus did not hedge between the Jewish law and the Roman law, He sided with Moses and His verdict is what? She is guilty and she should be stoned. But Jesus, examines the accusers, and find them all lacking, Jesus points out to the accusers their sin and they are just as guilty as this woman. These men were bloodthirsty, hypocrites, to shame a person, and to scheme against the Son of God. The men dropped their stones, but beginning with which one first? (v9) The oldest to the youngest! See older people, have more sin to remember and reflect upon. There was only one person there who was without sin, and qualified to carry out the Law of Moses, and that is Jesus. He is the Author of that Law, and He would have been perfectly just to carry out the penalty of stoning this woman. This what makes what happens next so absolutely amazing, that a God would show grace to as sinner like her. In our human sinful minds, we can’t understand why He would this.

 

But we need to understand that He has the right to have mercy on whomever He wills. “As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.” Rom 9:13-16

 

And so looking up and seeing no one left to condemn her, He said, “Neither do I condemn you.’ ” But He added, “‘Sin no more.’ ” This isn’t about the Scribes and Pharisee’s This isn’t about adultery? This is about the gospel and grace He gives to each and every one of us daily, minute by minute. If you can’t relate to what Jesus says here in (v11) then your heart has been hardened because each one of us come to Jesus like this woman.

 

The reason I say that! We all adulterous at heart! You might be thinking “No Mike, I’ve never committed adultery on my wife or husband, or my boyfriend, girlfriend.”

 

But listen to what Jesus said you and me "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Matt 5:27-28

 

Every one of us are guilty of this [with the exception of our younger children] they say “Ewe that’s gross” when they see guy with his t-shirt off. 😊 In all honesty! We are all just like this woman who was brought before Jesus. Today we say we don’t commit adultery but in reality, we do; it’s

called by a different name the “OTHER LOVER.” The “other lover”, is the thing in your life that you’re giving yourself too daily. The “other lover” is what keeps you from living godly, and holy, before God who saved by His grace.

 

Your other lover can be……

What do I worry about most?

What, fills and consumes the most part of mind daily?

What do I dream about the most?

What makes me feel the most satisfied?

What do I lead with in my conversations?

What do I really want and expect out of this life? What would really make me happy?

What is my hope for the future?

  

See! The other lover reveals how quickly we are to break the vows we made; as our

unbelief leads our hearts astray.

 

 

Jesus wants all of your life…..

Not just part of our heart, but all of our heart.

Not just piece of our soul, but all of our soul.

Not just a portion of our mind, but all of our mind.

Not just a percentage of our strength, but all of our strength.

 

What Jesus is revealing here is this…. The Christians must put away their selfish desires that prevent us from being all that God wants us to be. What Jesus said to this woman, is the same thing He says to you and me when you embraced the gospel truth. “Neither do I condemn you.’ ” But He added, “‘Sin no more.’ ” (v11) What does that mean? Don’t do this anymore. Be done with this kind of life. Go now in your forgiveness, and sin no more. Those who are forgiven should gladly put aside their sinful ways, and walk in newness of life because of what Christ did on our behalf.

 

How can we who are dead to sin go back into what we have been freed from? “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.” Rom 6:6-12

 

Our desire should not be to sin………..shouldn’t it? If you can’t relate to those words, then your heart has been hardened because you love your sin more than God and His grace. Please realize that each one of us stand accused before God, like this woman, guilty, ashamed, naked, and exposed. But the beauty of the gospel is that Christ clothes us with His righteousness, covering our nakedness and shame, and says to us, “Neither do I condemn you.” (v11) Why? Because our sin was placed on the spotless, lamb of God, when Christ bore our wrath and judgement by the Father. As we read, “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Heb 4:14-15

 

Jesus gave every part of every part of Himself to God. Jesus held nothing back and loved completely with His heart, soul, mind and strength. Jesus gave Himself fully to God to appease His righteous wrath. God took His jealous anger out on His Son, so all those who trust Him can see like we're supposed to see, and be forgiven for our spiritual adultery. This encounter and failed attempt to arrest Jesus is filled with God’s grace for sinners like this woman, like you and me.

 

Paul Washer talked about a story about a girl by the name of Christina, and she lived in Brazil. She wanted the bright lights of the city, as many teenagers do - and she used to talk about it, and fantasise about it, and torture her Mum about it. One day Maria, her mother, went into the bedroom in the morning to waken her for school, and she was gone - clothes taken with her. This is what Maria did: she went and packed a bag, she went down to the bus station and got a ticket to Rio de Janeiro where she believed Christina had gone.

 

Then she went into a kiosk in the bus station, and took as many photos as she could afford of herself, one after the other and put them in a bag. She got on the bus, got to Rio de Janeiro, and spent as many days as she could afford with those photographs, putting them all over the place - in phone booths, foyers of restaurants and hotels, toilet mirrors - with the hope that Christina, somewhere, somehow, would see it.

 

One day, just like the prodigal son, Christina's money had run out and she had lowered her morals to earn a little more. She was walking down the stairs of one of those hotels, and she saw in the corner of the mirror in the foyer a picture of her mother. Her eyes began to fill with tears as she walked up, plucked it down, turned it round, and on the back were these words: 'Christina, whatever you've done, whatever you've been, whatever you've become, come home. Come home'.

 

That's not just the love of a mother, but this describes the grace of God as it pertains to the gospel. Whatever you've done, whatever you've become, wherever you've been, come home. This what Jesus is demonstrating over you and me for those who are His in the gospel confession. This is also what Jesus is saying to lost sinners as He is calling to them today through the gospel.