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16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.
17: For God sent not his Son into the world to
condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18: He that believeth on him is not condemned: but
he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the
name of the only begotten Son of God.
It is interesting how many people think that Jesus
Christ was sent into this world to be a finger-pointer; that he came into this
world to criticize lifestyles, dress, entertainment, and a host of other things
that the human flesh loves to be involved in. And yet, in Christ's own words he
said, "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but
that the world through him might be saved." You see God already knew our
sad and sinful condition before his Son ever came to be the Savior of the
World. He knew that we were sinful and rebellious. He knew that we were
callous, hardhearted, and stiff-necked. And yet his Son came into this world
anyway.
But he didn't come to judge, or to condemn, he came
to save!
A perfect example of this truth is found a few chapters
down in this book of John.
1: Jesus went unto the mount
of Olives.
2: And early in the morning he came again into the
temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
Here is the Creator of the universe coming to His
temple. Coming not to judge the people, nor condemn the people, but to quietly
teach "whosoever would come to him." And we note, the Scripture says,
"the people came unto him." They came willingly, and he began to
teach them.
Did you know that this is the only way you can get
into heaven, by freely coming to Christ on your own? Christ makes himself
available, but you must come to him.
Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
And here Christ is in the
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is
stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
What kind of peace are you experiencing today!
Christ can bring peace and quiet to an otherwise
turbulent and stressful heart.
He is the Prince of Peace!
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you:
not as the world giveth, give I
unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Now, you can find temporary peace in this world from any number of things.
You might find temporary peace in alcohol,
you might find temporary peace in drugs,
you might find temporary peace in sex, or money, or power or worldly relationships,
but you will never find the
peace that Christ can bring to your heart until you are willing to come to him.
Here in our text this morning, Christ has come to
the
And then we come to verse 3.
3: And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a
woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
Let me stop right here for a second. They didn't
just escort this woman down the street. They pushed her, shoved, and threw her
headlong down in the midst of this Sunday-school class gathering, and
announced, before everybody, her sin. They showed her no compassion or mercy
whatsoever. They publicly humiliated this woman and demanded that Christ judge
her.
4: They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken
in adultery, in the very act.
5: Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such
should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
6: This they said, tempting him,
that they might have to accuse him….
Keep in mind that there is a great audience gathered
around Christ. It's the very audience that he had been teaching. And now he is
forced to deal with this group of hypocrites and respond to an obvious attempt
to catch him in a contradiction. If he says to take her and stone her in
accordance with the law, those who know him to be a man of great mercy and
compassion, a man who has healed many, and cast out demons, a man who has
taught them the great principles of mercy and forgiveness, will now no doubt feel
he has brought upon himself great discredit. The people will no longer trust
him, nor believe him to be the true voice of the LORD.
But on the other-hand, if he says, "No, the
woman should not be stoned," then he would be openly contradicting the Law
of Moses, and likewise be at odds with the Jewish authorities. He could be
legitimately arrested for such a public violation.
What is he to do?
6 (continued): …But Jesus stooped down, and with
his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
Now some believe that he began to write the Ten
Commandments, just as he had written them before in the Old Testament.
And [God] gave unto Moses, when he had made an end
of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of
testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.
And so there are those that believe Christ was
writing the Ten Commandments. And then, on the other-hand, Christ could have
been writing out all of the grievous sins committed by these self-appointed
judges.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before
God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book
of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the
books, according to their works.
My friends, every sin we've ever committed is written
down in heaven. And it will remain there as a witness against us in God's great
day of judgment, unless we come to Christ and receive
forgiveness of sins and have our name written down in His Book of Life.
So, Christ may have been writing down specific
violations of the law committed by these self-appointed judges, making them ineligible
to judge any man or woman. Or, as recorded in the Book of
Daniel, when God wrote on the wall of the great
…thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
Christ could have been exposing the sinfulness of
these men, just as they had been so anxious to expose the sins of this woman. Whatever
Christ was writing in the sand, it exposed these men, convicted their hearts,
and turned them away from their intended act of judgment.
7: So when they continued asking him, he lifted up
himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first
cast a stone at her.
8: And again he stooped down, and wrote on the
ground.
9: And they which heard it, being convicted by
their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto
the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
The leader of the pack was the first to drop his
stones on the ground and walk away. After him followed the rest, one by one,
dropping their stones as they went. “He that is without sin among you, let him
first cast a stone.” Not one of them was eligible to judge her, for they were
all guilty of sin in one way or another.
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of
God;
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the
world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have
sinned:
Someone might say, "Well I've never committed
adultery." But you know what Christ says,
I say unto you, That
whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath
committed adultery with her already in his heart.
This is merely to say, that what our sinful bodies have not embraced physically, our sinful mind has entertained, and we are still guilty of sin. We, every one of us, are in need of a Savior. These men wanted to judge the woman, and they wanted to judge the Lord, but they found out that judging others can be an embarrassing business. They dropped their stones and walked away.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
And now, here she is, all alone before the true
judge of all the earth. And this is the way it will be for every soul one day.
10: When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none
but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man
condemned thee?
She was guilty of committing adultery. And the men
who brought her to Jesus were right. The Law demanded that such a one should be
stoned to death. But Christ said to her, "Woman hath no man condemned
thee?"
11: She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto
her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
All sin must be judged. Her sin was deserving of
judgment. But you see, Christ took her sin of adultery upon his own body and
carried that sin straight up the hill to
16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.
17: For God sent not his Son into the world to
condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18: He that believeth on him is not condemned: but
he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the
name of the only begotten Son of God.
What is it that God expects of us today? Does he expect us to be judges?
No, he expects us to walk justly, and mercifully,
and humbly with Him every day.
He hath shewed thee, O
man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly,
and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
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