Scripture referenced 4 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
-
John 7:53-8:11 the main passage read and expounded throughout the sermon, the woman caught in adultery
53 Everyone went to his own house,
1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 Now very early in the morning, he came again into the temple, and all the people came to him. He sat down, and taught them.
3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman taken in adultery. Having set her in the middle,
4 they told him, “Teacher, we found this woman in adultery, in the very act.
5 Now in our law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What then do you say about her?”
6 They said this testing him, that they might have something to accuse him of. But Jesus stooped down, and wrote on the ground with his finger.
7 But when they continued asking him, he looked up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her.”
8 Again he stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground.
9 They, when they heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning from the oldest, even to the last. Jesus was left alone with the woman where she was, in the middle.
10 Jesus, standing up, saw her and said, “Woman, where are your accusers? Did no one condemn you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.” Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more.”
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Keep this verse
John 2:24-25
cited to show that Jesus knew what was in the heart of man
24 But Jesus didn’t entrust himself to them, because he knew everyone,
25 and because he didn’t need for anyone to testify concerning man; for he himself knew what was in man.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
1 John 4:19
quoted as 'we love because he first loved us' to explain the source of human capacity for love
19 We love him, because he first loved us.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Romans 5:8
quoted as 'while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us' in the section on compassion
8 But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
The preacher preached from John 7:53-8:11, the story of the woman caught in adultery, asking what makes Jesus so compelling to people who have never followed Him. His answer came down to three things visible in that story: understanding, compassion, and forgiveness, plus something more that he saved for the end.
What was said
the preacher opened by noting the contrast in attitude between Jesus and the Pharisees in this passage. The Pharisees' attitude is repulsive and pushes people away. Jesus' attitude is attractive and draws people in. He framed the whole sermon around that contrast, borrowing a line from the Nick Lowe song made famous by Elvis Costello: "What's so funny about peace, love, and understanding?" His aim was to answer the song's question, "Where are the strong, and who are the trusted?" by pointing to Jesus.
The first quality he examined was understanding, which he defined as being neither naive nor cynical. The Pharisees were cynical. They did not see the woman as a person but as an opportunity to trap Jesus. They reduced the situation to two options, agree with Moses or disagree, and assumed they had Him cornered. Jesus, by contrast, knew exactly what the woman had done and exactly what the Pharisees were doing, and He was not fooled by either. The preacher quoted James Montgomery Boice to put it plainly: naivete overlooks sin and gets taken advantage of, cynicism suspects the worst in everyone and refuses real relationship. True understanding refuses both errors.
Ray then walked through the moment Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground. He noted the speculation about what Jesus wrote, but what struck Ray more was the image itself: the finger of God writing on the ground, the same finger that wrote the Ten Commandments. The Pharisees were citing the law of Moses against the woman, but the one who gave that law to Moses was the one crouching in front of them in the dirt, declining to fight.
When Jesus stood and said "Let the sinless one among you cast the first stone," He did not simply sidestep a trap. He exposed that the accusers had no standing. The preacher pointed out that the man caught with the woman was nowhere in the room, that Jewish law required matching testimony from at least two witnesses, and that some of those accusers were almost certainly complicit in setting the scene. One by one they left, beginning with the elders. Only then did Jesus look directly at the woman and speak to her.
On compassion, the preacher said Jesus knew this woman fully, past and present, just as He knew Nathaniel under the fig tree and told Peter who he would become. He knows us that completely and still loves us. Ray connected this to 1 John: we love because He first loved us. He pointed to Turning Point, the local pregnancy center, as a live example of what it looks like to offer understanding and compassion in a hard situation rather than condemnation, and said their materials read like Jesus in this passage.
Forgiveness followed naturally. The woman did nothing to earn it. The preacher noted she called Jesus "Lord," but he was careful to say that word also simply means "sir," and that she made no formal profession of faith. It was entirely God's grace, free to her but not free in any ultimate sense, since it was grounded in what Jesus would do on the cross. Ray read Dietrich Bonhoeffer's distinction between costly grace and cheap grace, landing firmly on the side of costly.
The "something more" Ray had held back turned out to be the challenge Jesus gave the woman: "Go and sin no more." He said this is why some early church fathers like Augustine were nervous about the passage and why it was sometimes omitted from manuscripts. They feared people would use such generous grace as license to keep sinning. But the preacher argued they missed the point. The clean slate Jesus gave her was also an empowerment. Forgiveness is not softness on sin; it is a commission to leave sin behind. He closed by saying the church should be the answer to the song's question, visible to the community as the place where the strong and the trusted can be found, not by fighting back when criticized, but by meeting the world the same way Jesus met that woman.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Ray talked about Jesus being neither naive nor cynical, saying true understanding means holding both of those in tension. Where do you find yourself leaning, and what does that cost you in your relationships with people?
- The Pharisees saw the woman as an opportunity rather than a person. Can you think of a time when you or someone around you reduced a person to a problem or a symbol instead of seeing them as a human being?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 6,908 words
0:00
We are especially glad you're here today to come worship with us and listen to the good word that Ray's gonna bring. So let's go ahead and stand up. We'll call those folks in the parking lot in with our call to worship this morning.
0:32
You are the Lord, the famous one, famous one, great is your name in all the earth. Morning. Is watching you and miracles You are beautiful. You are beautiful. And you are the famous
2:57
one.
4:09
You may be seated.
4:12
Amen. Welcome to the first B this morning. It's good to see y'all. It's good to look out and see a lot of folks. We've got several announcements to make.
4:21
Dan, Toulson made an extended announcement last week about this. Stepping up rally. Tackle something other than yourselves. This is going to be held up at Snow King Center and it is on February 2. Are all the tickets sold out for that yet?
4:38
No. There are a few left. This is going to be great. It's a lot of the speakers on this particular men's issues especially. It'll be a video.
4:47
It's and it's actually been edited down. It's power packed. It's like a concentrated formula that's designed to help out with men and men's issues especially. So that's gonna be at Snow King, February 2 from nine to four. If you wanna get there a little bit early, we'll have a little breakfast snack.
5:07
Let's see. Next is Solid Rock Youth Group meeting tonight at 05:30. Now Carl is out of town, but Mike Demetrius is taking over tonight for Carl. And if you haven't heard Mike speak, he's got a very interesting story. So, young folks come on out for that.
5:22
Monday nights at First B are not going to be held at First B this time. Monday nights at First B are going to be held at the Mix Yogurt Barn, the Smiths, Eagle Village Plaza just for this Monday night. So, it'll just be a gathering for folks to get together and eat yogurt and hang out. We might sing. Hadn't thought about that.
5:41
Bring a guitar? We might sing. You won't be there. Brian. Brian will be there.
5:45
Okay. Brian and I might sing. If that won't keep you away, we might sing. We have a congregational meeting in between services today. So, if you're a member and you want to hear about what's been going on, all of this stuff, budget, finances, and voting in some new officers and servants for the church and saying goodbye to some of the old ones.
6:07
That's going to be at 10:05 today right after this service and I will call up Amanda to talk about this slide. And actually you don't have a microphone so Here comes one or you can use that one. Wow.
6:25
So I asked him how much time I had. I said, couple minutes? He's like, no, a minute.
6:28
No. I'm gonna
6:30
Thanks. Just kidding. Giving you a hard time. Today is sanctity of human life Sunday, which many of you know about. It's the day to remember 50,000,000 abortions that have taken place since, the legalization of abortion through, Roe versus Wade.
6:48
Interesting fact really quickly that many of you probably don't know, or maybe you do, that Jane Roe from that case actually did not have an abortion. She delivered and she placed her child for adoption, and now she's a pro life activist. Just a little tidbit. And this also marks, the third annual Baby Bottle Campaign fundraiser for Turning Point. It's a really simple and fun way to help support our programs.
7:16
There's bottles in the foyer and so when you come, when you leave, if you feel the Holy Spirit leading you to grab one, fill it with change or dollar bills or checks, lots of zeros. We would be ever so thankful. And, just a few, some of you may not know what Turning Point is or what we do. We work to administer to women in unplanned pregnancies that need help. And since September, when we opened as a medical clinic, our staff has performed 33 ultrasounds.
7:54
Some of them knew they were going to parent right away, but some of them didn't. They all left our building wanting to parent. So, we praise the Lord for that. We also have earn while you learn program. We have Healing Hearts Ministries and we have Empty Arms Ministry which are Bible studies that help women who have had abortions in the past or miscarriages.
8:19
We also, like I said, we we've served 150 patients in 2012 which is double the amount the year before. So, we also praise the Lord for that. And I think that's it. If you would, if you feel like the Holy Spirit's leading you to fill the bottles for us, bring em back on or before February 18 back to the church or to our office. And I'll be out there if you have any questions.
8:45
So
8:47
Thank you. I have one more. This one's just a thank you. And this one, the staff, pastoral staff was kind of blown away by y'all's generosity and I just wanted to say thank you to each of you. I started writing thank you notes for it and it's kind of an anonymous.
9:08
I didn't know anything about it and I apparently y'all received letters and thank you very much. It turned out to be a very nice Christmas bonus for for the staff and thank you very much. It was generous and we really really do appreciate it. God is working and it's amazing to be kind of the recipients of just an overwhelming amount of love. Thank you.
9:29
And would y'all stand up and welcome one another? Please, warmly greet.
10:57
Alright. Let's worship together. Now, here we go.
11:14
Give me eyes to see more of who you are. May what I behold still my anxious heart. Take what I've known and break it all Give me grace to see beyond this moment here. To believe that there is nothing that could fear. That you alone are high of our God.
13:41
It's been my life to know, and I'm far from close to all you are. The greatness of our to him I owe. Sin has left a crimson stain, he's washed in white as snow. Oh, praise Jesus paid it all to him I owe. Sin has left a crimson stain, he's washed it white as snow.
18:40
My foes are many. They rise against me, but I will hold my ground. I will not fear the war. I will not fear the storm. My help is on the way.
19:01
My help is on the way. And no, my God, he will not delay. My refuge and strength always. Always.
22:28
Thank you, fellas.
22:29
I'm going
22:29
to invite Melissa Landis to come up and she's going to share a little bit of what God's been doing in South Africa and maybe even Wyoming.
22:39
Good morning. Good my name is Melissa Landis and I've been serving alongside the Smiths in South Africa for about two and a half years. I just want to highlight a few things of what God's doing. He's been doing some awesome things the past year. Many of you probably remember Angel.
22:57
Some of you maybe have been praying for. She broke her ankle a couple months ago and was forced to be on crutches and not putting pressure on her ankle for about three months. So she's got a family of five and before, about a year ago, she wasn't seen in the community as a person really because she doesn't have a husband or like a male figure in her life. And so the community didn't, they didn't even recognize her as a person. But since breaking her ankle and she's been forced to stay at home, she can't go to the garden and she can't go to get water and do as many things.
23:33
She's seen the community surround her and they've they've offered to do her laundry. They've offered to give her money to lend her money to just give her money and it's been awesome because she's the missionary. She's the one who loves Jesus and is sharing the truth with her neighbors and it's been cool this past year to see how her neighbors have come around her and surrounded her in her time of need. So that's a highlight about Angel. The next slide is just a picture of some girls that are walking into youth group.
24:04
We started doing youth group on Friday nights through the church that we're trying to plant or that we've planted. We have about maybe 20 to 25 teenagers who come consistently. And it's awesome because they just they sing in Zulu the entire time. And then they'll break for a little while and open up the scriptures and you'll just see teens stand up, share some scripture and how it's impacted their life and then sit back down. And it's amazing to see the response that we've been getting to how these kids feel a part of something and especially a part of something that glorifies God and his name.
24:45
Then this is something I just want to point out as a need. There's a boy, 16 years old, who plays for my soccer team that I coach and his name is Sponiso. I've talked about him a few times. But we've had unusually heavy rains the past couple months and their houses are built out of mud and so the rains have just completely knocked down half of his house. And his mom doesn't have an ID book, which is like a social security number.
25:14
So she can't go out and get a job. She can't apply for government housing. So the Smiths and I have taken on kind of the need and we're hoping to build a house for his family. He has five brothers and sisters and this was his room. Before this fell in, it actually had a bed in it or a mattress and a few other things but now, it looks like this.
25:37
So, a need and if you guys want to pray along with us, it's just that God would provide the money for Kelly to be able to build a new house for Sponi. So, like we did for Angel. We did that for Angel a year a year ago and then the last slide is our church, Entebany Baptist Church. This is around the main numbers that we have on once a month. We still don't have a full time pastor.
26:04
The pastor who's been coming down to do the service drives about an hour and a half each Sunday morning. He has his own church in Durban and he's an amazing man but he can't commit to full time. So, we're just continuing to pray that God brings along a full time pastor and but the awesome thing is is that in those services, we still have women and men and and teenagers and kids turning to Christ and opening their hearts to what God's doing and so if you just would continue to pray along with me and with the Smiths for more salvation and then especially for discipleship. That's one thing that we're starting to focus on is that we have people raising their hands but we gotta get in there and disciple them. So, thank you for your prayers and support and thanks for, yeah, praying along with me.
27:00
Thank you. Thank you, Melissa. Now, I do want to pray for that but I'm going to ask the offering team if you would come up front too and we'll pray for the offering. You see how God is using it all around the world though. It's pretty pretty neat to see local, the turning point, and to the ends of the Earth to South Africa is a long way away but God is very active here and there.
27:21
So, God, I I do pray right now for the interbenny church and I pray that you would raise up from among them. Lord, the resources are in the harvest. So, I pray that you would raise up someone from among them that would be the light. That would shine your light, lord and would be able to teach them and show them, lord. You didn't say in the great commission to just teach them.
27:45
You said, teach them all that I have commanded. You teach them to obey all that I have commanded you and God we want for that to be the case there. We'd love for that to be the case right here in Jackson. Lord, let us as Christians in this community shine your light and lord, teach others to obey all that you've commanded us. It is good.
28:05
We've tasted and we had seen. I ask that we'd be able to express that and articulate it to others. Lord, we ask you to take this offering this morning and bless it, multiply it as you did the loaves and fishes lord that you would turn it into an amazing amount to do your work. So, in Jesus name, we pray. Amen.
29:43
This morning, we're going I I asked you last time to be reading through chapter eight of John and we we just kind of been bouncing along and this has been going on a long time. I looked back at the schedule and we've been doing this since mid October. I'm having a ball with it and I hope that y'all are enjoying it too. Today, we're gonna talk about this, understanding compassion, forgiveness, and something more. The something more is I'm just gonna let you leave you hanging until the end on that but when I started studying this passage, I thought, what is it about Jesus that is so incredibly attractive about this and I had an my aunt Laura always used to say, you'll hear me quote aunt Laura all the time.
30:25
Aunt Laura always used to say, attitude is everything. Whether she was coaching basketball or ironing clothes or whatever she was doing, she always said attitude is everything. Attitude is everything and in this story, attitude is absolutely everything. You look at Jesus' attitude and it is extremely attractive. You look at the attitude of the Pharisees, it is extremely repulsive.
30:47
It pushes people away. So, when I was thinking about, I was thinking, well, it's his understanding. Oh, it's the extreme compassion. It's the extreme forgiveness. Those are the things and it made me think of this song.
30:59
Do you all know the Elvis Costello song? What's so funny about peace, love, and understanding? Not a big new wave crowd apparently. I don't see a whole lot of people bobbing their heads, turning their amplifiers up to 10, and turning the reverb up. Nick Lowe wrote this song in the early like about '74 and then, it was done by Brinsley Schwartz.
31:17
It was done by Elvis Costello. It was done by a Spanish group in Spanish. It's been done by everybody has done this song. Phil and John, kind of a cheesy Christian act from the mid eighties. They did a version of it.
31:29
Derek Webb, who's a pretty relevant and edgy Christian singer, has recently done a version of this song and what's funny about it is that, well, what's funny about it? What's funny about peace, love, and understanding? That song, Imma read you just a couple of lines in it. Some people when they sing it, they have the attitude that it is ironic. Other people when they sing it, sing it as if it is earnest.
31:55
As I walk through this wicked world searching for light in the darkness of insanity, I ask myself as all hope lost. Is there only pain and hatred and misery? And each time I feel like this inside, there's one thing I want to know. What's so funny about peace, love, and understanding? And then Elvis would add, woah.
32:15
What's so funny about peace, love, and understanding? As I walk on through troubled times, my spirit gets so downhearted sometimes. So, where are the strong? Who are the trusted, and where is the harmony? Sweet harmony.
32:34
Because each time I feel it slipping away, it just makes me wanna cry. What's so funny about peace, love, and understanding? The song was written after Woodstock, after the peace, love, and music, peace, love, and hippie days. This was a new wave song and he was meaning it ironically because they really had gotten past the point of thinking it was possible at all. That ideal had died.
32:54
Well, I want to answer the question today for us, where are the strong? And who are the trusted? Let's look to Jesus. Let's look to his word and I'm going to read it from the ESV today. I'm going to read straight through and I'll answer something real quick before we get going on it.
33:13
If you read in most new modern versions of the Bible, there will be brackets around this passage, the whole passage. This is seven fifty three through eight eleven is a pericopy. It is something that can be cut around. It's a story that stands alone and in different versions of the Bible, they have put it over the years in different places. Nobody questions whether it is scripture or not but where was it originally in scripture?
33:38
If you wanna talk about textual issues, redaction criticism, all of that kind of business, meet me after the business meeting. I'll be glad to talk about it but we're going to get on through it because this, there's no doubt. This portrays Jesus of the New Testament. This portrays God's heart for people right here. So, let's just read straight through.
33:57
They went. So, it was immediately after the division among the people and the Pharisees were arguing with Nicodemus which was covered last week. They went each to his own house but Jesus went to the Mount Of Olives and what did Jesus do on the Mount Of Olives? Everywhere else we see him going to the Mount Of Olives, what did he do? He spent the night in prayer.
34:17
Doesn't say that specifically here but pretty much anytime you say, Jesus went up to the Mount Of Olives. They're saying that he was communing with God. Early in the morning or at dawn, he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees were bringing in a woman who had been caught in adultery and placing her in the midst, they said to him, teacher, can you hear him saying it?
34:46
Teacher. Talk about irony. Teacher. This woman has been caught in the act. The very act of adultery.
35:01
Now, in the law of Moses, we are commanded to stone such. They won't even call her a woman. So, what do you say? In the Greek, it says, you. So, what do you say?
35:21
Doubles it up. This they said to him, John tells us, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, and I'm going to stop right there. When I read through this passage, I thought, why is it that this passage is so attractive?
35:50
Just it feels like this one just brings everything together. I have a good friend named Jeremy. I've mentioned Jeremy before. Jeremy was sitting in our house reading through the book of John. I might have mentioned this in a sermon one time and as he got to this passage, he said, I accept him.
36:06
He's heard it. How many times have we heard it in John that I'm the way, you know, all of all of this, this is this is it. I think that every Christian can live an attractive life by exhibiting the characteristics from this story. There's understanding, there's compassion, and there's forgiveness. We'll start with understanding.
36:25
I used to hate it when preachers did certain things. One of them was dictionary definitions but you know what? They're so helpful. Can't help it when you get up here. Understanding.
36:41
Prompted by based on or demonstrating comprehension, intelligence, discernment, empathy, or the like. Jesus lived a life characterized by this. He knew what was going on. We see that he knew what was in a man. We see that from chapter two.
36:58
We have seen it in couple other ways. He was not naive nor was he cynical. That's understanding. That's in its truest form. That is understanding.
37:11
Not to be naive and not to be cynical. This is tough. In our society, we mentioned it being polarized a lot of times. You don't you don't see a whole lot of new stations that are actually straight down the middle. You see some that are way far to the left and some that are way far to the right.
37:35
And you really when you're listening to the ones that are way far to the left, you're thinking, that's silly. They're looking for an example that they can use and run with. But nobody can possibly be that naive to think that that's true. Or you listen to the ones on the right and you go, nobody could possibly be this cynical. Nobody could possibly be like that.
37:55
But that's what sells because that's what we are. We want to move further and further to something that we understand for ourselves that distances us from other people. You hear the term, oh they're just demonizing. We demonize the left or we demonize the right and that is what we do and that is what we see the Pharisees doing. They have already done it several times.
38:16
Is it not true that you're a Samaritan who has a demon? They're trying to cast aspersions on his character because they don't agree with his politics, with his religion. So, They let their own political and religious inclinations, teachings affect how they understand actual people. They did not see this woman, the Pharisees did not see this woman as a person. Such.
38:57
They
38:59
saw her as an opportunity an example, an opportunity to trick him because they thought, if we can get him in this situation, either there are two options here and that's what polarization usually does. It gets you to two options. There are only two options. Either he's gotta agree with Moses or he's gotta disagree with Moses flat out. Those are his only two options.
39:24
We've got him. So, while Jesus is up on the mountain praying, they're peeping through keyholes or probably worse yet. The way that the Jews, the Jewish law of the time read, it's difficult to say but you had to have exactly the same story. Two or three witness had to have exactly the same story. If there was any difference in the story whatsoever, cases thrown out.
39:51
Reasonable doubt. At least two of these guys and probably more, probably. Can't say it for certain. We're complicit in this act. First of all, they brought only the woman.
40:06
Takes two to tango in this situation but the man got away. Was he just quick? Was he wily? Did he fight to get away? They didn't even mention him.
40:15
It is quite possible because of the gender roles already previously mentioned this morning. That she was seen as the dirty, awful sinner and it was kind of an offense we can get over for guys. Again, politics, Jesus always elevated, always elevated women. So, understanding. What Jesus had was true understanding.
40:44
It was not naive. I want to read something about this. I just think that he put it so well. James Montgomery Boyce was talking about this section. He said, He says, We need to grow in such understanding if we're to become like Jesus.
41:04
Apart from this, there are two errors which we fall into. The first is naivete. This is the error of believing that people are better than they are and it comes about by overlooking sin and evil. A person who is guilty of this error may be overly optimistic, he may be loving and think well of all people, and as a result, he will be taken for a ride in many of his public relationships, personal relationships. He will be used by the less scrupulous or more realistic.
41:34
If such a person becomes disillusioned, he runs the risk of falling into the other error which is cynicism. And this results in suspecting low motives on everyone's part and in the best actions and in extreme cases and refusing to enter into any meaningful relationships with others at all. Do you all get what I'm saying? Don't be naive. Don't be cynical.
41:55
Jesus was neither. He knew that she was guilty. He didn't have any doubt because they wouldn't have brought her if she had not been. He knew that they were guilty because he knew what they were trying to do. He knew what was in the heart of a man.
42:09
So, understanding is the first thing. So, this setup, I got you to the point of setup where they ask him. Compassion is next. So, we've got understanding compassion. I'm going to read what Jesus said back.
42:26
So, they said this to test him that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continually asked him, they kept berating him. According to the Greek, it was a continual action but he was almost ignoring them. He was not looking at her.
42:46
It says, he had not fixed his gaze upon her and he's drawing on the ground. Now, everybody speculates about what he was doing. I think he was just diverting his eyes to avoid direct confrontation with the lady but everybody's got a speculation. Some people say, hey, he was writing their sins one by one out on the ground. He was writing their names down on the ground.
43:08
He might have been writing what his response would be. That was fairly typical at the time too to write your pronouncement and then read it. I think something interesting is that the finger of God was writing. When's the last time we saw that? The finger of God writing something was those the 10 commandments with Moses.
43:29
This is what they're bringing forward. He's the one who wrote the law. It wasn't that Moses wrote it or Moses made it up. The finger of God was writing again. So, he continue, he wrote with his finger on the ground and as they continually berated him and asked him, he stood up and said to them, but let him who is without sin.
43:51
In fact, in the Greek, it says, the sinless one. It's one word. The sinless one among you. First, cast a stone. So, let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.
44:07
That's our English. To me, that that hit me where it was like, sinless one among you. First, cast the stone. And once more, he bent down and he rode on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one beginning with the older ones, the elders and Jesus went, was left alone with the woman standing before him and Jesus stood up and then he looks at her and he said to her, woman, y'all remember our deal a while back with woman?
44:40
This is a term of endearment. It's almost like saying, ma'am, Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? And she said, no one, lord. And Jesus said, neither do I condemn you.
44:56
Go and from not now on, sin no more. So, we get to compassion. Jesus knows what's in the heart of a man. He knows what is he knows who we are. If you'll think back to Nathaniel, he knew him under the fig tree.
45:14
He knew that he was studying but he was not a Pharisee. He was not a scribe but he really did want to know and be in contact with the law with the Bible. He was studying this Bible and Jesus knew that. Peter, you're Simon but you're going to be Peter. He knew him.
45:28
Past, present, future. He knew the potential. He knew who they were, where they had been, knew the potential, what they could be, and knew what he was going to do with them in the future. Everyone of these people and everyone of us too. He knows that.
45:43
And he still loves us. This is the second point. He knows us and he loves us. Jesus understands our human frailty. He has been human.
45:53
He has felt it. He knows what it's like. He was without sin but he understands how difficult it is. Compassion. It is impossible to sufficiently explain Jesus's compassion or Jesus's love because we cannot experience that same kind of love in a human way.
46:15
It has to be his love. John says, that we love because he first loved us. I thought of this example too. If when you're a parent, you get this question. What do you say?
46:28
You're riding down the road, they're in the car seat in the back and they say, daddy, why do you love me? Well, I love you because you're good. No, we can't say that because I'd love you if you're a bad dude. I love you because you're beautiful. No, that could probably cause serious troubles later on.
46:49
I love you because you're mine. That's getting closer but it's still if that child had been adopted, I'd still love him the same intensity. Why? And I think John had it right. We love because God first loved us.
47:04
We can. We have the capacity for love because God first loved us and so we're looking at Jesus's example as our example. Was there any love whatsoever in the attitude of the Pharisees? Love of self, maybe, love of position but no love for that person at all. There was no love there.
47:26
John two twenty four and twenty five is where it says that he knew what was in the heart of the man. He could see it and we could kind of do the cop out of. Well, he's Jesus. He can do that. I think that's kind of dangerous.
47:39
If we have the Holy Spirit living in our life as Christians, if we have the Holy Spirit living in our lives, then we do have access to that same kind of love. We can love because he first loved us and we can't exhibit compassion. Understanding and compassion. God demonstrated his love for us in that while we were yet what? Sinners.
48:00
Christ died for us. Can we have compassion? I know we can. I know that Amanda, when she was up here, this is hands on application in this lifetime. We can have compassion on those who have made poor choices, who have ended up in circumstances.
48:18
It's not always their poor choice. Tonight, I mean, today, today at 02:00, there's a sanctity of life rally in the square downtown and I'm supposed to say one of the prayers or two of the prayers and as I was getting ready for that, I was thinking this goes so well along with this because there's so many people that just are not understanding. They're not compassionate. They're unforgiving. They're not showing love and they're hurting the cause.
48:52
It's real. How can we be of assistance? I think the turning point is great. Absolutely great because it gives us a very real understanding, compassion. I've been helping Tanya.
49:06
Tanya does the Spanish speaks with the Spanish ladies there and some of the earn while you learn classes and does translation for ultrasounds for the Spanish speakers and so I've been doing all of the counseling, you know, material that they offer and it impressed me the mercy and the grace and the love. It's just coming off of every page and it looks just like Jesus in this passage. It is attractive. It's not repulsive. When I was doing the study and I was looking at what's so funny about peace, love, and understanding and I'm looking up all the different images.
49:37
One of the images that kept coming up was somebody purporting to be Christian holding a sign that says something horrible. I wouldn't even put them on the screen. It was that bad and it's saying, you know, that there's nothing but hatred there. That is totally what the Pharisees were doing. Totally.
49:55
It's real life. We all have sinned. When Jesus says, the sinless one among you, you know, the only one who is sinless among them was him. He was the only sinless one and because he was the only sinless one, he's the only one who could offer forgiveness. So, that's the next point.
50:17
God's grace. Did that woman do anything to deserve his forgiveness? Nothing. Some people say, well, she said lord. She called lord.
50:30
Well, the word means lord. It also means sir. It was a sign of respect just like woman was a sign of respect. Sir, curious. Lord.
50:39
Yeah. She didn't make a profession of faith. She didn't bow. She didn't run the aisle. We don't know.
50:45
It was totally God's work and totally God's grace and I mentioned this a few weeks ago. My brother's favorite acronym. I think the only thing he learned in church sometimes is this, grace. I'm kidding about that. He's a he's a great guy.
50:59
Grace. God's riches at Christ's expense. Jesus was able to forgive her based on the perfect life that he had lived to that point and knowing that he would be dying a perfect death. If you don't think he knew it at that point, look on a few verses further and he tells those Pharisees, when you have lifted me up, you will know that this is true. God's riches at Christ's expense.
51:28
So God's grace, it was completely free to her, absolutely and completely free, but it was based on his sacrifice. A few weeks ago, I read the costly grace and cheap grace thing by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This was not a cheap grace. He knew what would be required. He knew what would be given.
51:50
It was based on his sacrifice on the cross. So, there's something more. I know all of you are just worried to death about what this something more is. After the woman was truly understood by Jesus and she had been shown compassion by Jesus and she had been forgiven by Jesus. So, those are the three points.
52:06
Understand. Compassion, forgiveness. What more could there possibly be? I'll tell you why this was a pericopy that was cut around and moved in different different places and left out of some versions of the Bible. I believe this to be true.
52:21
I think from all of my research. It's dangerous. It's dangerous to have this kind of grace because as human beings, people take advantage of that. We're not naive. Don't want to be cynical, but when you offer this kind of grace, sometimes people say, well, if there's grace available, I'll do whatever I want to.
52:39
That make sense? You know, get that? So, Ambrose in the fourth century, Augustine, fourth, fifth century, Augustine said, this passage is dangerous. We cannot include this in our version of the Bible because it shows that God loves so much that he'll take the sinless one but they were leaving out this last little something more. The challenge.
53:03
If you have been, if you're set free, you will be free indeed. If Christ has set you free, you'll be free indeed. If you have been given the absolute clean slate that comes along with complete forgiveness, you are being empowered by the Holy Spirit. Do you agree with that? If you've harmed someone and you go to em and you say, I am so sorry for that.
53:23
Will you forgive me? And they withhold it. You still carry that burden, right? But if they say, I forgive you. All is forgiven.
53:34
We are together. You've restored the relationship. You know, you're forgiven, then you can go on and rebuild trust from there. The clean slate makes all the difference and Jesus gave her that but what he said was go now. Sin no more.
53:50
Go now. Leave your life of sin. Don't let this be what Classifies you and characterizes you. Go now and leave your life as sin. He did not condemn but he did challenge and he was not soft on sin.
54:05
He knew what sin felt like. He knew what it was after the cross. He knew exactly what it felt like but he still isn't soft on sin. Every Christian can live an attractive life by exhibiting these characteristics. Understanding compassion and forgiveness.
54:21
The challenge that we have before us is to be doing that, exposing him to God's love, his forgiveness, his understanding, his compassion by the way that we live our lives, by the way that we walk, by the way that we do things. The challenge is to also extend that challenge. It's not just, well, everything's cool, everything's forgiven. People are basically good. You'll be alright.
54:48
No. It is a complete and utter dependence on God to go and sin no more. So, the church should be the answer to the song, Where are the strong? Who are the trusted? And where is the harmony?
55:09
Are we seen like that? As the church, are we seen like that? Or are we demonized? And when we get demonized, what do we do with it? Do we treat that with understanding?
55:20
Compassion, forgiveness, and go forward? Or do we fight back? That's what we usually do. We can be strong enough to write in the sand. Does that make sense?
55:37
We can be strong enough to take our eyes off of the thing and not butt heads with people. We can be that strong. If we're right and if we're right, we will be understanding, compassionate, and forgiving. Alright. So, where are the strong?
55:53
Who are the trusted? Where is the harmony? Sweet harmony? This is where it needs to be at. Let's bring em in.
56:00
We are and my last slide is, so let's be doing it. Let's don't just talk about it but let's be doing it. Let's do this, surrender to the Holy Spirit to have him allow our lives to be like that. If there's anybody here who have seen how Jesus acted in this and you've never made any kind of a commitment to him, can you tell that this is the way that he is? I'm going to ask you if you're not a Christian here this morning but you read the story and it just has something.
56:29
It says, that is exactly the way I feel about the religious establishment. Their attitude is terrible. And that's exactly the way I feel about Jesus' attitude is great. Attitude is everything. As a church, we want to be with Jesus.
56:44
So, I would invite you to come and meet that Jesus. Not one that's carrying a sign that says something ugly. This is where the strong. This is where the trusted. This is where there can be harmony.
56:59
So let's pray. And Renzi, y'all can come on. Lord, there's nothing funny about peace, love, and understanding. It is so comfortable to know that we've been understood and still loved, and loved to the point of complete forgiveness. God, I thank You that You've done that and I thank You that out of that life that we've been forgiven, everything is clean, you can give us that challenge to go forward and sin no more.
57:31
God, guard our hearts. To guard your word, to live it out daily. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
57:44
Stand together.
58:12
I worship his holy name. I sing like never before. Oh, my soul. I worship your holy name. The sun comes up.
58:33
It's a new day dawn. I You're rich in love and you're slow to anger. Your name is great and your heart is kind. All your goodness, I will keep on singing. 10,000 reasons for my heart to bind.
59:47
Bless the Lord, oh worship your holy name. Oh Lord, I worship your holy name. Yes, I worship your holy name
1:01:17
morning for you is just go out, understand somebody, and love them recklessly. Can you do that? That is attractive and that's what we want. So praise God and you are blessed and dismissed. This meeting happened in right away too.
1:01:38
So.
1:02:39
Thanks. I mean, I really noticed. So well, reasonable. Yeah. It's fine.
1:02:44
I mean, this is fun. So
1:02:48
anyway, watch over.
Share this message
Every word on these came out of the message. Download one and post it anywhere.
