Sermon Cloud

Scripture Reading; Deuteronomy 4:1-14

Last time we ended with a crowd who really did not want to hear what Jesus had to say about Himself.

• Remember that as He stood teaching in the Temple that the people threw out many speculations

• At the end of it all John told us that everyone went to their own houses.....

John 8:1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ²Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.

• So, Jesus goes to find rest and probably fellowship with His Father and returns to teach the people again the following day.

• Luke 21:37 seems to indicate that this was a common practice for Jesus. “And in the daytime He

• was teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet. ³⁸Then early in the morning all the people came to Him in the temple to hear Him.”

• I once filled out a questionnaire as a part of an application for a pastoral position and one of the questions was “What evidence is there of God's blessing on your ministry.”

• Looking at Jesus' ministry, maybe I should have said most people don't listen to me when I preach but I keep doing it anyway!

• And so as Jesus is there with the crowd of those who wanted to hear Him teach we learn....

John 8:3Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, ⁴they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. ⁵“Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” ⁶This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. ⁷So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” ⁸And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. ⁹Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. ¹⁰When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

• And so here we are again. We have the leaders of the Jews, the scribes and pharisees, attempting to make Jesus look bad.

• First they bring a woman caught in the very act of adultery.

• I certainly don't want to be crass, but how do you catch one person in the act of adultery?

• Something is up here!

• John tells us that they were testing Him in verse 6, “so that they might have something to accuse Him of.”

• They want to know what to do with such a woman.

• In the Law of Moses, Deuteronomy 22:21ff it tells us that one in this situation is to be stoned in certain circumstances.

• The question is then, will Jesus follow the Law and demonstrate a lack of compassion which would violate His character....

• Or will He disregard the Law and be accused of being lawless?

• These men think that they have Him either way He goes on this one.

• What was Jesus' response?

• John 8:6b But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. ⁷So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” ⁸And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

• What was Jesus doing here? It almost seems to make no sense.

• As Jesus begins to teach, His group is invaded by several leaders who thrust a woman into the midst of the crowd and begin to make accusations.

• Here is a woman caught in the very act of adultery.

• Jesus, what do you tell us that we should do with her?

• By the way, God's Law, the law of Moses says that she should be stoned to death!

• Nothing like being put on the spot, aye?

• I believe that the woman was guilty because Jesus told her to quit sinning at the end.

• But Jesus shows a sharp distinction between the way that He handles sin and the way that these men handle it.

• What is your attitude toward sin?

• What is the Biblical attitude toward sin?

• I was speaking to a friend of mine this past week who was raised in a legalistic denomination.(many rules)

• He was talking about the qualifications of a pastor and whether a man who had married a divorced woman should be allowed to be a pastor of even a deacon.

• Is it God's plan to permanently punish and discredit everyone who has ever sinned?

• IF that were the case we would all be hell bound and in disgrace.

• Galatians 6:1 Brothers, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness, looking out for yourself lest you also be tempted.

• Jesus applies this principle to the leaders of the Jew here.

• You have a point to prove and you are not above making someone else's sins public to do it.

• How would you like it if I did the same to you?

• Some people believe that Jesus was writing the sins committed by the men.

• When it comes to someone else's sin we want justice. When it comes to ours we want mercy.

• Jesus and Paul give us a different perspective, they make it about restoration.

• As I was talking to my friend about pastors the other day I asked whether he knew of Augustine.

• He did.

• I asked whether or not he knew that Augustine had been immoral before he was converted.

• Confessions Book 3 Chapter 1 To love and to be loved was sweet to me, and all the more when I gained the enjoyment of the body of the person I loved. Thus I polluted the spring of friendship with the filth of concupiscence and I dimmed its luster with the slime of lust. Yet, foul and unclean as I was, I still craved, in excessive vanity, to be thought elegant and urbane.

• Confessions Book 4 Chapter 2 In those years I had a mistress, to whom I was not joined in lawful marriage. She was a woman I had discovered in my wayward passion, void as it was of understanding, yet she was the only one; and I remained faithful to her and with her I discovered, by my own experience, what a great difference there is between the restraint of the marriage bond contracted with a view to having children and the compact of a lustful love, where children are born against the parents' will--although once they are born they compel our love.

• So I asked my friend would you want this man to be your pastor?

• He was a great pastor and one of the keenest minds in the first millennium of the Church.

• He was grateful for the grace of God and lived above reproach for the rest of his life.

• Too many of us, whether we call ourselves Christians or not, have the attitude of the pharisees and scribes. We want “justice” for the sins of other people.

• We have no mercy, yet if Christ were to confront us with our own guilt we would slink silently away.

I want to bring to the forefront here that Jesus was not just ignoring sin.

• He was not saying, ”Hey, adultery, that's no big deal.”

• It is a huge deal and He commanded her, “go and sin no more!”

• Have you ever received grace when justice was due?

• Has anyone ever had the goods on you and said, hey, I forgive you.?

• The important thing about this story is that we are both the Scribes and Pharisees and the woman caught in adultery.

• When we sin we are looking for Grace

• When someone else sins we are looking for Justice

• And we really don't want Jesus to be right then.

• Jesus is able to offer grace, not because He doesn't care about sin!

• He is able to offer grace because He Himself paid the penalty for it.

• He cares about it so much that He took on human flesh and died to save us from the consequences of it!

• Whether we are immoral as Augustine was or as the woman caught in adultery.

• Or we are self righteous like the Scribes and Pharisees we all need that Grace.

• It is only the one who recognizes his or her sinfulness who will see a need for the grace.

• Jesus did not come the first time to execute judgment, but there is a time when He will.

• He was not in the office of a judge, but the office of a Savior and so He deferred judgment at that time and left it to those in that position.

• I appreciate my friend's response to what I told him about Augustine.

• He said that he believes that the Lord has some work to do in his heart because he was still struggling with the idea of a man who had been like the Old Augustine becoming a pastor.

• Is there someone that you know who has done something wrong and you would rather see them get justice than find mercy?

• Do you think that you are such a good person that you don't need God's mercy?

• IF either of these are true then you don't know Christ.

• Romans 2:1 Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. ² But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. ³ And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴ Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

• It is a lot easier to focus on the sins of others and ignore our own. (Matt 7?)

• Christianity is about restoration! Remember Galatians 6:1

• I will close with this admonition from the Apostle John in 1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸ He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹ In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

• BY the actions of these men, bringing the woman to Jesus to “test Him” they demonstrated that they do not know God's mind about sin.

• Jesus has paid for sin and is willing to forgive but we are guilty and still want justice for others.