Starting at verse 53 we read,
They went each to his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
Early in the morning he came again to the temple.
All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them.
The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery,
and placing her in the midst, they said to him,
Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.
Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such woman.
What do you say?
This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and wrote his finger on the ground.
And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them,
Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.
And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground.
But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the oldest one.
And Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
Jesus stood up and said to her,
Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?
She said, No one, Lord.
And Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you.
Go.
And from now on, sin no more.
Again, Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life.
This is the word of God.
Thank you, Angie.
This will be on shortly.
There we go.
Well, good morning, everybody.
If you don't know me, my name is Kevin.
I'm one of the pastor guys in this church.
That was a reference to Alan saying he's the youth guy.
But okay, we'll let that one slide.
It's good to see you all.
And a warm welcome if you are new to Watermark this morning.
Won't you join me?
Let's pray together and ask God to speak to us from his word.
So, Father God, Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit,
the three in one, the triune God,
we come before you this morning.
As we've said so many times,
we come to worship and adore you,
to give you the praise that is due to your name.
Father, we come to your word
because we want your opinions and your word to shape our lives.
We don't want to be shaped by the views of just our culture.
We don't want our worldview to be shaped by our own hearts, God.
We want our lives to be shaped by you.
And so we come to your word this morning.
Father, as we look at this passage,
we pray that you will send the Holy Spirit to speak to us.
God, we're not here to hear the opinions of man.
We're not interested in some new understanding or philosophy.
We want to know what you have to say.
So come and speak to us, we pray.
Come and open the eyes of our hearts to see you.
God, I pray this morning we will understand
the deep compassion and the tenderness of God.
As Celeste read to us this morning from Psalm 103,
that God, you have compassion for us.
You'll even exceed that of a parent for their child.
I pray we'll know that and we'll experience that this morning.
God, I pray that we'll experience the wonder of the gospel again.
And I pray that God will experience you calling us to walk in freedom and joy.
And so come and have your way, Lord, we pray.
In your wonderful and your gracious name.
Amen.
So as Oscar reminded us,
we are doing this series called Gender, Sex, Relationships, and God.
And we are on the final one.
Today is the last one of those series.
And we've been looking at these really important topics or themes
over the last five weeks or so.
And the reason we've done that is twofold.
One of the reasons is because these are themes or topics
that our culture speaks about all the time.
And we want to have our views shaped by what God's Word says
more so than what culture has to say.
We don't just...
These really important topics,
we don't want our worldview shaped by Netflix or social media.
We want to say,
what is the God that made us?
What does He have to say about these topics?
A Christian is not just someone who intellectually believes that God exists
or that Jesus was a real man.
A Christian is someone who's coming to say,
God, my life belongs to You.
I've surrendered my life to You.
I've been transferred from the kingdom of my own kingdom
to the kingdom of God.
And so, Lord, You come and shape my life.
You come and lead me and guide me.
And so, we've been looking at these topics for that reason.
But the other reason we've been looking at these topics
is because these things of marriage and sex and gender identity
and sexual attraction and singleness and gender identity and dysphoria,
these aren't just theoretical ideas.
These aren't just some theory.
These are really real things that all of us grapple with.
And these are areas that also have the tendency to cause the most pain in our lives
and the most heartache.
As Chris mentioned a few weeks ago,
when it comes to relationships and sexuality,
all of us are both sinners and sufferers to varying degrees.
And so, what that means is every one of us needs to experience
the redemptive, healing grace of Christ in these areas of our lives.
And so, we've been looking at these topics for the last couple of weeks.
Now, some of us may carry real shame in these areas of our lives.
Maybe because of stuff that we've done.
Maybe because of what has been done to us.
For all of us, the easiest thing in the world, the temptation,
is just to bury it in the past,
to try and just move on with life and pretend that it's not there.
But I think all of us know that that doesn't really help, right?
Just covering over something, pretending that it's not there,
doesn't really deal with it.
It's kind of like when you go to your fridge and you open,
you see that thing in the back that's been there for way too long
and it's not looking very healthy.
You can close the fridge and just ignore it,
but that's not going to deal with the problem, right?
And so, what you want to do in these really deep, meaningful areas of life,
we want to shine the light of the gospel
and allow for Christ's redeeming, healing grace to shine there.
And so, that's what today's passage is all about.
And today, we're going to look at an instance
when Jesus Christ comes face to face
with some of the most intimate and painful and broken areas of our lives.
And so, we're going to look at John 8, verses 1 to 12
that Angie read to us this morning.
Now, a brief disclaimer.
If you've got your Bible in front of you,
one thing you'll probably see is
this section is often bracketed off in your Bible
or there might be a footnote
that says in most manuscripts,
in the ancient manuscripts,
this passage wasn't there.
And so, what's happened here
is most historians and commentators will agree
that this passage wasn't originally part of John's gospel
in the earliest days.
When John wrote and compiled his gospel,
this passage probably wasn't in there.
And there's a couple of reasons for that.
One, we know because the most ancient manuscripts
don't have it in there.
But the second one is because the kind of writing,
the language that John uses,
that this passage uses,
actually doesn't really correspond
with much of John's language at all.
It actually fits much better with Luke's writings.
And one of the earlier manuscripts in Luke's gospel
actually has this passage
towards the end of Luke's gospel in chapter 21,
right before Jesus goes to the cross.
And so, most commentators will say
this probably wasn't part of John's original gospel,
but it probably is a historical account
that did actually happen
because it corresponds so well
with what we know about Jesus
and the scribes and the Pharisees.
And it was part of oral tradition
that was later on added into scripture.
Okay, so that's just by way of disclaimer.
So, let's dive into this passage
and see what happens here
because what we see in this passage
fits so well with what we see
in the rest of the gospels
and what we see about Jesus.
And so, the passage starts off with this.
It's telling us that Jesus spent a night
in the Mount of Olives.
And in the rest of the gospels,
when Jesus spends the night
on the Mount of Olives,
he's always there spending the night in prayer.
And he comes down
after spending this night,
probably in prayer,
he comes down to the city of Jerusalem,
he goes to the temple,
and he engages in dialogue and discussion
in the temple courts,
in the outer courts,
in the courts of the Gentiles.
Now, what would happen was,
there's the original temple,
and then there's this court area outside,
and all sorts of religious leaders would come,
and they'd gather,
and their disciples would gather,
and passerby would gather,
and they would discuss things,
and debate things,
and look at the scriptures,
and they'd have this dialogue,
and this discussion.
And so, that's what happened.
Jesus is there,
and he's having this discussion
with all sorts of people around him.
And into the midst of this crowd,
a bit of a raucous is getting dragged along.
Everyone looks and sees what's happening,
and there's a group of men
that have got a lady,
a young lady,
maybe she's tied up with rope,
or maybe they've strong-armed her.
They drag her into the crowd of people,
and they throw her at Jesus' feet.
And they say,
Teacher,
we know what God said.
This lady has been caught
in the act of adultery.
And you know what God told Moses.
We know what God told Moses.
We've got to stone such women.
But, Teacher,
we also know that
you like to talk about compassion,
and forgiveness,
and turning the other cheek,
and all that kind of stuff.
So, what should we do?
Tell us,
what is your philosophy?
What does your teaching say
we must do with her now?
What's going on here?
Well,
verse 6 actually tells us,
because,
look at verse 6.
It says,
they said this to test him,
that they might have some charge
to bring against him.
In other words,
they're setting a trap for Jesus.
And it's a good trap,
because what's happened here
is that no matter how Jesus answers,
one way or the other,
he's going to get himself in trouble, right?
If Jesus, on the one hand,
says,
oh, well,
that's a little harsh.
I mean, come on,
we've all made mistakes around here.
None of us are perfect.
She's a first-time offender.
Let's just let her go.
Then,
that'll confirm their suspicions
that Jesus doesn't take God's word
very seriously.
Remember,
Jesus has already got them on edge
because of the way
that he treats the Sabbath,
the way that he welcomes sinners,
he touches lepers,
unclean people.
Jesus welcomes people.
He has meals with prostitutes
and tax collectors.
So they're really suspicious of him
and they don't think he's very serious
about God's word.
And so if Jesus is kind of saying,
oh, let's just be gracious,
then they feel like they can nail him.
They can confirm their suspicions
that Jesus is a heretic,
he's a false teacher,
and they can reject him
and denounce him.
But if, on the other hand,
Jesus says,
oh, you're right,
that's what God's word says,
I guess we better honor God's word.
Let's get our stones
and let's go and stone her now.
Well, they know that Jesus
has a following
amongst particularly
the common people,
the people that don't fit
the boxes of the religious people.
Those that are marginalized
and are often ostracized on society,
those are the ones that love Jesus.
So if Jesus says,
okay, let's go stone her,
he's going to be discredited
amongst the very people
that are following him.
And so on one hand,
this is Jesus' dilemma.
Uphold the law
and he discredits himself
amongst the people
with whom he's established
a following,
deny what God has said
to his people
in the Old Testament
and he'll discredit himself
amongst the religious leaders
and they can denounce him.
And so they reckon
they've got him.
They've got him cornered, right?
Except, of course,
they haven't got him
because this is Jesus
and Jesus is perfect.
And so in this passage,
I think God wants to show us
a couple of things.
And the first thing
he wants to show us
is the heart of sin.
The heart of sin.
In this passage,
we see sin manifested
in different ways.
There's the obvious sin
of the lady and her adultery,
right?
Okay, we'll get there.
But what Jesus wants us to see,
there's something
far more sinister,
something far more dangerous
that's going on
underneath the surface.
In a way,
Jesus wants us to see
the cancer of sin
that's taking place
in these religious leaders.
You know,
you and I all know
that when you,
that it's possible
to have cancer
raging inside your body
and yet on the outside,
you look completely fine.
You look healthy,
you look fit,
there's nothing wrong,
but inside,
there's this battle
going on within you.
And what Jesus is doing here
is he's holding up
an x-ray machine
so that these religious leaders
and all of us
can see what's going on
under the surface.
He wants us to see
the heart of sin,
the symptoms,
okay, cool,
we'll get there, okay.
But he wants us to see
what's going on
underneath the symptoms,
what's really going on
underneath the surface here.
And so here we have
this outward
and this inward reality
to sin.
And Jesus is going to show us
that the inward reality,
the hidden reality,
is far more dangerous,
far more insidious
for followers of Jesus.
Because Jesus is going to show us
that what these guys
are grappling with
is not just sexual sin,
it's the sin
of self-righteousness
and pride.
I've got a friend
called Andrew Haslam.
He leads a church in London.
And many years ago,
I remember listening
to a podcast of his,
and he said this.
He said,
Christians don't just
repent of their bad deeds,
they repent of their good deeds
done in self-righteousness
and pride.
And when he said that,
it hit me like a ton of bricks.
I can still remember
exactly where I was driving
in Cape Town
when I heard that.
I thought,
oh my goodness,
that's profound.
Christians don't just
repent of our bad deeds,
we repent of our good deeds
that are done
in self-righteousness
and pride.
And what Andrew Haslam
was showing us there
is that sin is far more insidious,
the sin of self-righteousness
and pride
is far more dangerous
than just what we do
with our lives
and what is outward
we manifest.
And so notice a couple
of things here
with these religious leaders.
Notice firstly
their lack of compassion
and their empathy.
Why did they bring
the woman to Jesus
in the first place?
It wasn't because
they had outraged
at the moral decay
of society.
You know,
people these days,
really,
the things they get up to,
that's not why
they bring the lady
to Jesus.
They've done it
to set a trap.
They don't care about her.
They're using her
as a tool.
They're using this lady
as an instrument
for their own
political means.
They're using her
as a trap
so that they can
trap Jesus
for their own
political agenda.
They don't care
rocks about this lady.
They don't care
if she dies
or doesn't care.
They don't care about it.
Who do they care about?
They care about themselves.
Notice also
their partiality
or their favoritism.
The religious leaders,
they come to Jesus
and say,
oh Jesus,
we've got a problem.
You know,
Deuteronomy says
in such instances
we're going to have
to stone the woman.
We're going to have
to drive the evil
out of our community.
See,
that's true
but Deuteronomy
also says
that what about the guy?
I mean,
it's not only the lady
that's guilty.
The guy is not innocent
in this situation.
Both of them
are condemned
but where's the guy?
He's nowhere to be found.
Why?
Because they've got
an agenda.
They've got an agenda.
Their partiality,
they're criticizing the one
and they're turning
a blind eye
to the other.
But most importantly,
notice their duplicity.
Notice how
they are more aware
of the sins of others
than their own
insidious self-righteousness
going on
in their own hearts.
In the Old Testament,
in order for someone
to be condemned
or convicted,
you needed two witnesses,
at least two witnesses,
eyewitnesses.
And they had to be
eyewitnesses.
They couldn't infer
that this is probably
what happened.
They had to see the event.
And so here they come
to Jesus
and they say,
Jesus,
this lady has been
caught in the very act.
Now,
commentators have often
asked the question,
how did two or more
witnesses catch her
in the act?
Well,
I mean,
maybe they,
you know,
stumbled into a bedroom,
but what were they
doing in there?
Okay.
Maybe this couple
were doing it
in broad daylight.
Okay,
well,
that's unlikely.
I mean,
think first century
conservative Jewish values,
unlikely.
What could have been
happening,
we don't know,
but commentators
have long suspected
that what was actually
happening is these
religious leaders
set her up
as a trap.
Maybe they got a guy
and they said,
listen,
we'll pay you some money
if you sleep with her
and we'll be watching
and we'll make sure
that we'll storm in
at the right moment.
Because they had to be
more than one witness
and they had to catch
her in the act.
Now,
part of why we know
this possibly happened
is because when Jesus
says,
listen,
the person amongst you
that is without any sin,
pick up the first stone.
In Jewish culture,
what that didn't mean
was that anyone
who's never sinned at all
because,
I mean,
that would never apply,
right?
Nobody is sinless.
It didn't mean
those of you
that have never
committed adultery.
What it meant is
those of you
that are innocent
with regard to this action,
in other words,
you didn't know about it.
You couldn't have
prevented it in any way.
There was nothing
that you could have done
to have stopped this.
And what did they do?
They dropped their stones
and they slink off
into the sunset.
In other words,
there's a good chance
that these guys
knew exactly
what was going on.
They either set her up
or they were watching
it taking place
and they thought,
time for our trap.
We've got a plan.
But here's the thing.
While they're aware
of her sinfulness
and Jesus' apparent
floundering of God's word,
they are completely blind
to their own self-righteousness
and their pride.
Friends,
how do you know
if you're proud?
How do you know
if you're proud?
Well,
one of the telltale signs
is that we're far more aware
of the failings
and the brokenness
and the shortcomings
of those around us
than of ourselves.
We find it easy
to notice everybody else's failings
and yet we're blind
to what's going on
in our own lives.
And Jesus comes
and He names their sin.
He calls them out.
Jesus is going to speak
to women in a while.
That's right.
But right now,
He's holding up
an x-ray machine.
He's saying,
let's see what's going on
in your own lives
and your own hearts.
Let me show you
the cancer
that's ravaging
your own heart.
Now,
what does this mean
for us here
in Watermark,
21st century Hong Kong?
Well,
what it means is,
one of the things it means
is when we talk
about things like sex
and marriage
and singleness
and gender dysphoria
and same-sex attraction
and all these things,
it's possible
for us as a church
to be technically right,
to technically obey
what God's Word said.
We say,
okay,
I'm not sleeping
with my girlfriend,
can't check.
Okay,
I haven't had an affair
with anyone,
can't check.
Okay,
I'm right with God.
And one of the things
that Jesus wants to show us
is that we can be
technically right
and yet our hearts
can be filled
with the same self-righteousness
and the same pride
as the religious leaders.
We can technically be right
and yet be far aware
of everybody else's faults
and failings,
pointing the finger
at everybody else,
lacking compassion
and empathy,
tenderness and grace.
And so throughout the Gospels,
what Jesus wants to show
is that the life
that Jesus called us to,
yes,
it's a life of walking
in the light,
yes,
it's a life of purity
and holiness,
sure,
but it's also a life
that doesn't just honor
Christ with our bodies,
it's one that honors Christ
with all of our lives,
heart,
soul,
mind,
and strength.
Jesus says
the life He's called us to
is a life of humble obedience,
of compassion
and tenderness,
of compassion
with those
that are struggling.
The cancer
of self-righteousness.
Now,
contrasted to that
is we see
the beauty of Jesus,
the beauty of Jesus.
And when we see
the beauty of Jesus,
I want us to notice
three things here.
Firstly,
the heart of Jesus,
secondly,
the work of Jesus,
and thirdly,
the instruction of Jesus
or the appeal of Jesus.
Notice what happens here.
What does Jesus do?
These guys come
and they say,
Jesus,
we've caught it in the act,
what should we do?
And the first thing
Jesus does
is He bends down
and He writes
with His finger
in the dust.
Now,
side note,
what was Jesus writing
in the dust,
right?
Well,
the answer is
we actually
just don't know.
All sorts of people
have come up
with all sorts of theories
and He was writing this
and He was writing this.
Actually,
we just don't have a clue,
right?
So here's the question.
This is a bit of a sidebar.
Why does the author,
Luke or whoever it is,
why does the author
put this in here?
I mean,
it doesn't add anything
to the story
other than maybe
a little bit of tension.
Why is it in the story?
I think the best answer
is this,
because it really happened.
If somebody is making
the story up,
why would they write that?
It doesn't add anything
to their story.
The reason that it's
in the story
is because whoever
the witnesses were
that saw this,
saw this happen.
Okay,
does that make any sense?
It's just a sidebar
to say we can trust
the arbitrary nature
of Scripture sometimes.
If someone was making
this stuff up,
they wouldn't put
these things in.
Okay,
coming back.
So Jesus is writing
to his finger in the dust.
The religious leaders,
they're just on
a one-track mind,
and they carry on
because verse 7 says,
they continue to ask him,
what should we do?
Jesus says this,
let him who is without sin
among you
be the first
to throw a stone at her.
Notice the heart
of Jesus here.
Jesus says,
these incredible words,
and I can imagine
the lady,
she's lying on the ground,
and she feels the rope
that maybe has tied
her slacken.
She hears and feels
the thud of these rocks
hitting the ground.
First one,
two,
and then a whole heap
as she sees these men,
her accusers,
slowly drift away.
And Jesus looks up
and he says,
where are your accusers?
Has no one accused her?
She says,
no.
And Jesus says
these incredible words,
neither do I
condemn you.
Friends,
just consider
how remarkable it is
that the sovereign God,
Oscar led us
in such an amazing prayer earlier.
God immortal,
invisible,
the God only wise,
the sovereign God
of all creation,
the one whom angels
long to sing about,
holy,
the one whose scripture
describes as lives
in inapproachable light,
the God that created
the world,
who has never
once for one second
in all creation
ever sinned
or ever
had an immoral thought.
This perfect
God of creation
looks at this lady
who has just been caught
in the act of adultery
and says to her,
I do not condemn you.
John Stott says
that this miracle
is greater than
all the miracles
in the whole of the Old Testament.
Jesus turning water
into wine,
Jesus walking
on a storm-tossed sea,
Jesus healing
a dead,
dying boy
with a simple word,
Jesus feeding
5,000 men
and more
with a snack lunch.
All the miracles
combined and together
come nothing close
to the simple words
of Jesus
that says,
I do not condemn you.
John Stott goes on
to say,
in this sentence
and in the heart
of mercy
which lay behind it
is all our hope
and all our salvation
forever.
Friends,
what glorious words.
Most of us will know
the famous words
of John 3, 16.
The most famous words
in the Bible, right?
For God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son
that whoever should believe in Him
will not perish
but have eternal life.
But John 3 goes on
to say then,
verse 17,
for God did not send
His Son into the world
to condemn the world
but in order
that the world
might be saved
through Him.
Friends,
Jesus Christ did not
come into the world
with a clipboard
to grade your moral performance.
Jesus did not come
with a grading sheet
to see how well
you measure up
according to
the standard,
the IV standard
of heaven.
Jesus comes
that we might be saved
to Him.
Yes,
it's true
that if we will not
name our sin,
Jesus will do that.
That is true.
But Jesus does this
in order that we might
be set free,
in order that we might
own our sin
and be saved through Him.
Neither do I condemn you.
In this sentence
and in the heart of mercy
which lay behind it
is all our hope
and all our salvation
forever.
Now when Jesus says,
neither do I condemn you,
Jesus does not say this
for the same reasons
that the religious leaders
abandon their condemnation.
Right?
They also walk out
and they abandon
their condemnation.
They give up
on their condemnation
not because of their compassion
but because of their hypocrisy
as being exposed.
Because they're confronted
by their own sinfulness.
Jesus' lack of condemnation
does not come from
His guilt
or His conscience
or His modern view
of tolerance.
It comes from
His abundant heart
of tenderness
and compassion
and His grace
towards sinners
like us.
Friends,
over the last five weeks
we have touched
on many deep
and intimate
and painful areas
of our lives.
We've asked the question
about what do we do
with our bodies
and how do we
honor Christ
rather than
selling our bodies
in the pursuit of sin.
And as we said,
for most of us
these aren't just theories.
These aren't just
theological ideas.
This is reality.
This is pain.
This is the shame
that we carry
in our lives.
These are very real struggles
that many of us
grapple with
in our day-to-day reality.
For some of us
it's grappling
with same-sex attraction.
For some of us
it's gender dysphoria.
Friends,
for some of us here
maybe you fell pregnant
and you couldn't live
with the shame of that
and so you've terminated
that life inside of you
and now you live
with the reality of that.
Friends,
for some of us
we've been unfaithful
to our spouses
and for the rest of our lives
we'll live with the reality
of that.
Friends,
for some of us
it's the addiction of porn
that feels like a rope
around our neck.
And the truth is that
all of us have compromised.
All of us have
made sacrifices
and probably all of us here
have felt
the hurt and the pain
of those,
of others towards us.
All of us are both
sinners and sufferers.
And what that means,
what Jesus wants us to see
is that no matter
what your past,
no matter
what you've done,
no matter how tarnished
your past,
no matter how you
stained your track record
it is,
no matter how disastrous
your sin,
no matter how radical
you've sinned,
the radical compassion
of Christ towards you
is able to cover
the most devastating
track record
and past of your life.
Friends,
there is nothing
thank you,
Elodie.
Elodie agrees.
Thank you.
There is nothing
in all the world
that you can do
that will disqualify you
from the compassion
of Christ your maker.
Jesus Christ looks you
and I in the eye
and he says,
if you're willing
to own your sin,
if you're not going
to hide it like the Pharisees,
if you're willing
to own it,
neither do I condemn you.
Friends,
if that is not good news,
I don't know what is.
A little while ago,
a friend of mine
or someone very dear
to me said this.
He said,
the great vaults
of Christ's redemption
and healing
turn on the very small
hinges of repentance.
Friends,
there are vaults
of redemption
and healing
that are more valuable
and more precious
than all the diamond fields
of Russia
and Namibia,
the gold mines
of wherever,
the great vaults
of Swiss bank accounts.
There are vaults
of redemption
and healing
and it's accessible
to every single one of us.
This is the heart of Jesus.
There is nothing,
nothing
that you can do
that will out-sin
Christ's compassion
and tenderness for you.
And so as we talk
about these things
and as we carry the pain
and the shame
of our lives,
friends,
you are not disqualified.
Jesus moves towards us.
The heart of Jesus.
Secondly,
the work of Jesus.
Now,
when Jesus says,
I do not condemn you,
Jesus is not just
being loose
and easy
with God's call
for holiness.
Jesus is not just
being modern
and tolerant.
Typically,
when we are confronted
with sin in our lives,
there's typically
two ways to handle it.
The traditional
or the religious way
of handling it,
maybe the moralistic
way of handling it,
is through self-atonement,
through our moral performance.
So we try and perform
or merit our way
towards God's forgiveness.
We think,
if I can do enough,
if I can serve enough,
if I can give enough,
if I can do enough stuff,
God will be pleased with me
and I'll earn my way
into His good books.
The problem is
that as we've already seen,
that leads to either
self-righteousness
and pride when we do it
or failure and despair
when we don't.
The other way of doing it
is the more modern way
of doing it,
the relative,
the way of tolerance,
which is to say,
hang on,
who says that's sin anyway?
We're all sinners.
Who are you to say
what's right or wrong?
Who are you to judge me?
What's right for you
may not be right for me.
What's right for me
may not be right for you.
So we just relativize it.
But the problem is
that if we downplay
or re-relativize sin,
we don't actually deal
with the reality of it.
And so for instance,
you can say,
oh well,
you know,
who's to judge,
who's to say
what's right and wrong anyway?
But try and say that
to somebody
whose child
has just been
sexually molested.
You can't just say,
oh well,
you know,
we live in a modern age
and everyone's doing it
these days
and who's to say
what's right or wrong anyway?
Relativizing sin
doesn't deal with the pain
and the agony
and the anguish.
It doesn't set us free.
Jesus Christ
doesn't do either
of these things.
Jesus doesn't say
like modern culture,
well,
no one's perfect,
everyone's doing it.
Just as long as
you have good intentions,
I'm sure you didn't mean
to harm anyone.
But Jesus also doesn't
like traditional culture
say,
right,
go to the temple
and earn your forgiveness.
Go offer the sacrifices,
do this,
pray 10 times a day
and then you'll be forgiven.
Jesus does something
altogether different.
Jesus comes
and he invites her
to experience
his forgiveness.
Jesus is serious
about sin.
He's realistic
about the fact
that she's an adulterer.
He's realistic
about the deadly
consequences of sin.
Jesus Christ,
the Son of God,
in no way
undermines
or diminishes
the rightness
of God's holy commands.
He's not downplaying
the seriousness of sin.
He calls her actions
for what it is.
Her guilt is real.
But then he says,
I do not condemn you.
Now how does Jesus
do that?
Why does Jesus say,
I do not condemn you?
Well,
the one reason
we already looked at
is because of his
unbelievable compassion,
his tenderness.
But the other reason
is this.
Because Jesus
is going to take
her guilt
upon
himself.
friends,
it's not only
the compassion
of Jesus,
it's the sacrifice
of Jesus.
You see,
compassion is wonderful
and compassion
is amazing.
But compassion
doesn't bring
about justice.
Compassion
doesn't justify
God's righteous law.
people.
The reason
Jesus could say
those words
and the reason
Jesus could say
those words
to us
is because
in a few short
days after saying
this,
Jesus Christ
would go to the
cross
and he would
take her
condemnation,
he would take
our condemnation
upon himself.
Friends,
God fully intended
for the sin of
adultery to be
punished to the
full extent
that his
righteousness
and his
justice
demanded.
And yet it was
just that she
would not bear
the condemnation
of herself.
Jesus Christ,
the only sinless
man,
the one man
in history
who rightly
could condemn
her,
does not condemn
her because
Jesus takes
the condemnation
upon himself.
Jesus says
you are guilty
but you're not
condemned
because Jesus
who is not
guilty
will himself
be condemned.
Jesus will
allow himself
to be condemned
in her place
so that all
those who
hope in him
and trust in him
though guilty
can go free.
Friends,
remember the words
of Isaiah 53?
Isaiah the prophet
writes about this
coming suffering
servant,
the one who will
one day go to
the cross
and he writes
about him
and says
he will be
wounded for
our transgressions.
He will be
crushed for
our iniquities.
Upon him
will be placed
the punishment
that will bring
us peace
and with his
stripes we will
be healed
and we all
like sheep
have gone
astray.
We have
turned away
every one
of us
his own
way
but the
Lord
has laid
upon him
the sin
of us
all.
Friends,
when Jesus
speaks these
stunning words
and says
I do not
condemn you
it's not just
because of the
abundance of
his niceness
it's not just
because Jesus
is a lovely
old grandfather
it's not just
because Jesus
is overly nice
or avoiding
conflict
it's because
in a few
short days
he's going
to go
to Calvary
and the
condemnation
that she
deserves
and that we
deserve
will be
placed upon
him
so that we
can go
free.
Friends,
the heart
of compassion
of Jesus
the work
of Jesus
on the cross
but then
thirdly
and finally
the appeal
of Jesus.
look at
verse 10
and 11
with me.
Jesus
stands up
and he
says to her
woman
where are
your accusers
has no one
condemned you?
She says
no one
Lord.
Jesus
says
well neither
do I
condemn you.
Go and
from now
on
sin
no more.
I meant
to say
this earlier
but notice
the order
Jesus does
not say
go and
sin
no more
and then
you will
not be
condemned.
That's how
every religion
in the world
operates.
It's how
every moral
philosophy
in the world
operates.
Do the
right thing
earn your
stripes
meet the
grade
you will
not be
condemned.
Jesus
doesn't say
go and
sin no more
and if
you're good
enough
for the
next six
months
you will
not be
condemned.
Jesus
says
you are
set free
now go
and sin
no more.
having
flooded
her
with
grace
Jesus
now
calls
her
to
a
life
of
obedience
and
Jesus
is
not
just
pronouncing
forgiveness
on her
he's
calling
her
out
of
darkness
and
into
light
he's
calling
her
out
of
death
and
into
life
when
Jesus
calls
us
to
forsake
sin
he's
not
calling
to
minimize
our
joy
he's
wanting
to
maximize
our
joy
look
at
verse
12
with
me
Jesus
says
I
am
the
light
of
the
world
whoever
follows
me
will
not
walk
in
darkness
but
will
have
the
light
of
life
Jesus
is
not
just
saying
okay
we've
dealt
with
your
past
okay
all
the
best
to
you
Jesus
saying
you
are
not
condemned
now
walk
out
of
darkness
and
come
and
walk
in
the
light
walk
out
of
death
and
come
to
find
life
in
John's
gospel
whenever
John
uses
the
word
life
he's
not
just
talking
about
breathing
as
opposed
to
not
breathing
he's
not
just
talking
about
eternal
life
after
we
die
he's
talking
about
heaven
invading
our
lives
now
he's
talking
about
the
fullness
of
life
remember
John
10
verse
10
I've
come
that
you
might
have
life
and
life
in
the
full
life
to
abundance
Jesus
says
whoever
follows
me
will
no
longer
walk
in
darkness
but
will
have
the
light
life
and
says
come
and
walk
with
me
come
and
experience
fullness
of
life
follow
me
what
he's
saying
is
leave
behind
your
shame
leave
behind
the
darkness
he's
saying
come
and
find
peace
come
and
find
fullness
of
joy
come
and
experience
the
security
and
the
identity
that
you
long
for
Jesus
grace
calls
us
out
of
darkness
and
into
light
and
friends
it's
important
for us
to
note
that
sin
has
such
a
profound
effect
on
us
it's
able
to
wound
us
so
deeply
sin
is
really
serious
that's
why
Jesus
calls
us
to
repentance
but
in
calling
us
to
repentance
Jesus
is
not
laying
us
with
guilt
and
shame
he's
calling
us
to
freedom
and
life
Jesus
calling
us
to
walk
in
light
and
in
life
and
so
Jesus
says
to
her
where
are
they
has
no
one
condemned
you
neither
do
I
sin
no
more
now
what
does
all
this
mean
how
do
we
apply
this
to
our
lives
well
there's
really
one
application
here
and
that
is
for
all
of
us
no
matter
where
we
are
on
our
spiritual
journey
no
matter
whether
we've
been
walking
with
Christ
for
30
years
or
we've
been
walking
with
Christ
for
three
weeks
come
to
Jesus
come
to
Jesus
the
one
who
is
full
of
compassion
and
come
to
Jesus
freshly
today
and
follow
him
and
walk
in
the
light
friends
you've
got
to
come
to
Jesus
and
receive
his
grace
if
you
try
and
earn
his
grace
you'll
find
yourself
disqualified
and
unable
to
do
it
if
you
come
to
Jesus
but
you
try
and
relativize
your
sin
you
try
and
say
everyone
is
doing
it
you'll
find
that
you'll
never
be
free
from
it
you'll
never
be
set
free
it
will
always
have
a
power
on
you
the
only
way
to
truly
be
free
from
the
condemning
voices
of
the
past
from
the
enslaving
power
of
sin
in
the
present
the
only
way
to
truly
be
free
is
to
come
to
Jesus
freshly
today
friends
come
to
Jesus
and
bring
your
sin
to
him
his
sacrifice
is
enough
to
cover
your
sin
friends
come
to
Jesus
and
bring
your
shame
to
him
his
grace
is
enough
to
cover
your
shame
friends
come
to
Jesus
and
bring
your
fears
to
him
his
faithfulness
is
enough
to
carry
you
through
your
fears
friends
come
to
Jesus
and
bring
your
longings
to
him
his
love
is
enough
to
satisfy
the
longings
of
your
heart
let's
come
to
Jesus
right
now
let's
pray
together
Lord
Jesus
Christ
in
this
passage
we
see
just
a
small
glimpse
of
the
cancer
of
sin
but
also
the
beauty
that
is
Jesus
Lord
Jesus
thank
you
so
much
for
your
amazing
grace
God
your
amazing
grace
that
would
save
a
wretch
like
us
Father
the
truth
is
that
every
one
of
us
have
been
tainted
by
the
reality
of
sin
every
one
of
us
need
to
come
and
drink
deeply
God
of
the
wonder
of
your
grace
Father
each
one
of
us
need
to
come
to
the
vault
of
your
redemptive
mercy
and
healing
grace
God
and
find
our
restoration
in need
there
Jesus
thank you
that your
heart
of
compassion
and your
sacrifice
on the
cross
bids
us
it
calls
us
to
come
and
do
that
God
Lord
as
we
come
to
the
communion
table
I
pray
Lord
that
you
by
your
spirit
will
minister
to
us
deeply
God
for
those
of
us
that
carry
guilt
and
shame
for
those
of
us
that
have
been
walking
in
the
dark
for
those
of
us
God
that
have
been
taking
steps
towards
death
rather
than
life
Jesus
won't
you
come
and
join
near
to
us
now
won't
you
come
and
heal
us
and
redeem
us
restore
us
and
renew
us
come
and
call
us
back
to
yourself
we
pray
in
your
wonderful
and
your
gracious
name
Amen