Free to Forgive and Set Free (John 7:53-8:11 Jeff Kliewer)

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Sermon Notes: notes.cornerstonesj.org Free to Forgive and Set Free

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Cornerstone Church, I know that there's quite a few people that'll come in and get their seats, but we are gonna get started.
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We are thankful that you are here. Just wanna remind you again that if you are new here or you're visiting with us, we would love to be able to know that you're here visiting us.
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We'd love you to fill out a form on our website called contact .cornerstonesj .org.
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That is a great place for us to get to know you, for us to be able to reach out to you. If you need anything, you can reach out to us.
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Plus on that contact .cornerstonesj .org page, you can sign up for our weekly newsletter.
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It's really important that we connect as a group. And so if you ever feel that you're not getting the right communication from us, please let us know.
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Let me know. I will allow you to get into our church center app, which has all kinds of announcements and things going on.
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Here's things that you can sign up for and small group information, all the Bible studies and things that are happening.
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So love to be able to share that with you if you need it. Ah, now you can hear me.
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I'm loud enough, aren't I? Man. All right, so if you didn't hear that, you just rewind later.
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I won't repeat myself. So John's got a couple more announcements for us. It's awesome to be here in fellowship with my brothers and sisters.
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I'm gonna embarrass Michael Stockland one more time. I did this during first service. How many people like this new look with the vest?
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The nation of Israel had come out of Egypt and God through his sovereignty had redeemed them.
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Pharaoh's heart was hardened, but eventually he let them go and then only to have his heart hardened again and sent his chariots and soldiers.
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Just as an aside, I was in the Navy and at one time I made a transit from the Mediterranean to the
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Indian Ocean, which you have to go through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. And one night on watch,
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I said, guys, I need you to know that we just passed over Pharaoh's chariots.
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I don't know where, but it's kind of interesting to think about. There were a size, anyway,
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I digress. The nation is in the wilderness now and God is gonna give them instructions and guidance of what he would want from them.
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Now, we as believers, those who have bowed the knee and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ, we have his
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Holy Spirit to guide us, but he gives us his word almost. These are things that I would, wouldn't it be nice to have this list of what it is
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God expects from you? Well, I'm gonna say that this is a good start. Now, this was written to the nation of Israel, but I think we can take the words for ourselves, but I'll read it as it's written.
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And now Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you? Wouldn't it be nice to be able to answer that for ourselves?
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But, and here they are, fear the Lord your God, walk in his ways, love him, serve the
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Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. And we are his children and our directions are to have your life devoted to him.
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And our directions are to surrender to the sovereign God, to love him and to serve him.
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We have some announcements, there's some exciting things happening. I'm gonna start out with about an hour and a half,
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Jeff, about how long will it be? Till the end of service. A couple hours. There will be a planning session.
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We are going to be having a combined VBS vacation Bible school for the young children here on our property.
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This summer, we'll be working together with The Rock. And so there'll be a kickoff planning meeting after second service, if you're all interested, join in with that session.
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Later today, we are going to have the men's fellowship that's been an annual event that's been going on for a long time.
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If we meet now at the Stockland House, a time of fellowship and food and there's a football game,
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I believe this afternoon. Okay, and so three o 'clock at the
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Stockland House. There is a family that attended our church for a long time.
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In fact, Dave served and worked at our church for a long time. His wife,
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Laura, has passed away. She is home with the Lord. And so later today, there is a memorial service.
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And so I know some of our folks will be attending there. With that going on and with the men having an opportunity for male fellowship, which is an important thing.
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We are not going to do the prayer meeting tonight, but please remain in prayer for us and for all here at the church.
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Starting next week and for three weeks, we will have a starting point class.
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If you are new to the church, you would like to know more about our church. If you're thinking about membership at our church, it's a three week class.
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We talk about our statement of faith. What do we believe? We talk about what is an evangelical free church, so you'll have an understanding of that.
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And we talk about what is Cornerstone, what are our ministries. If you're at all interested, just come.
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It's gonna be during second service in one of the classrooms for three weeks.
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If you're interested, you want more information, ask myself, Pastor Jeff, one of the elders. We'd be glad to share that with you.
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In the middle of February, on the 18th, that's a Saturday. It's only about three weeks away.
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We're gonna have a work day. If you could put that on your calendar. It'll be time indoor work, things like spackling and painting.
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So if you like to paint, we look forward to seeing you here. In the week after that, on the 21st,
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I believe they're Tuesdays, the Biddles are going to relaunch a class that they've held a few times now.
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And it has a great impact to married couples. Marriage Matters is the name of the group. It will be on Tuesdays, and it will be for three weeks.
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There's a limited number of people in the group at any one session. If you are at all interested, again, you can contact the
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Biddles directly, myself, Pastor Jeff, one of the elders, to get your name on the list for the
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Marriage Matters class. Highly, highly recommended. The women's tea is coming up in the first Saturday of March.
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And the women are doing their planning for that already. I encourage you women to be considering that.
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And as a promo, gentlemen, we get to be part of it. The women will be sitting, this room will be set up as a really nice tea house.
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So we serve the hot water and coffee and stuff like that. Food will be on the sides for the women to take care of for themselves.
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But gentlemen, we get to serve the women during that day. The men's retreat is coming up in April.
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So be in prayer, be in fellowship. Remember, our normal things like the women's studies, the men's studies, the small group studies are all going on.
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Let's turn to prayer. And now
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Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? But to fear the
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Lord your God. To walk in his ways. To love him, to serve the
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Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Lord, I pray this morning that we be led to surrender to the sovereignty of God.
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The world's pushed in many, many directions. We pray, Lord, our surrender to the sovereignty of God that we would profess him as Lord, that we would be bold to profess him as Lord in a dark world.
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Father, we confess our sins. We know it's only by the blood of the Lamb, your Son, that we can even come before.
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Father, we seek the power of your Holy Spirit that dwells within us. Teaches us to deny the lures of this world and to grow in our relationship with a willing servant, serving you with our soul.
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Father, we pray for those in need. We pray for the rich family. We rejoice that Laura is home with the
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Lord, but we know that there is loss. With others that have lost and those who are suffering in sickness, we continue.
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This morning, Lord, we pray for the power of your gospel proclaimed today to reach into our hearts.
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We pray, Lord, that your word reaches us, conforms us into you, that your
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Holy Spirit would prepare and speak through Pastor Jeff and to prepare our hearts to hear.
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And we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand together.
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♪ People of the risen King ♪ ♪ Who delight to bring
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Him praise ♪ ♪ Come all and to your hearts to sing ♪ ♪
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To the mornings of grace ♪ ♪ From the shifting shadows of the earth ♪ ♪
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We will lift our eyes to hear ♪ ♪ Their steady arms of mercy reach to gather children ♪ ♪
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Rejoice, rejoice, let every tongue rejoice ♪ ♪
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One heart, one voice, O church of Christ, rejoice ♪ ♪
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From those whose joy is morning sun ♪ ♪
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To those whose joy is evening sun ♪ ♪ Rejoice, rejoice, let every tongue rejoice ♪ ♪ Rejoice, rejoice, let every tongue rejoice ♪ ♪
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One heart, one voice, O Church of Christ, rejoice ♪ ♪
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From every land and in women of the faith ♪ ♪
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Those with full or empty hands find the riches in His grace ♪ ♪
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Over all the world His people sing ♪ ♪ Shore to shore we hear them call ♪ ♪
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The truth that cries through every age, our
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God is a man of God ♪ ♪ Rejoice, rejoice, let every tongue rejoice ♪ ♪
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One heart, one voice, O Church of Christ, rejoice ♪
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Great singing this morning. We're gonna do a responsive reading from Psalm 113.
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I'm gonna say the first part and then you're gonna follow me with the bold italicized part on the screen.
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And it says, praise Yah, praise O slaves of Yahweh. Praise the name of Yahweh.
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May the name of Yahweh be blessed from now until forever. From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of Yahweh is to be praised.
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Yahweh is high above all nations. His glory is above the heavens.
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Who is like Yahweh our God, the one who sits on high? Low to see the things in heaven and on earth.
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Who raises the poor from the dust and lifts high the needy from the ash heap.
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To make them set in their homes with the nobles of His people. He makes the barren woman of the house sit as a glad mother of children.
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Praise Yah. Psalm 113 begins and ends with that phrase, praise
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Yah. The first part of the phrase reiterates praising Yahweh several times.
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The psalmist can't explain it, but he's joyful and excited about praising
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Yahweh. The second part asks the question, who is like Yahweh our
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God? The answer is no one is like our God. God is both high and comes down to see
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His people. He is in heaven and on earth. He lifts the needy and the poor, and He makes the barren woman a mother of children.
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There is only one appropriate response, and that is praise Yah. Let's sing together that song, who is like our
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God? ♪ ♪
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Saints and servants, host of heaven ♪ ♪
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All creation praise the name of the
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Lord ♪ ♪ Night and morning sing His glory now and forevermore ♪ ♪
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Earthly kingdoms, all dominions bow before Him ♪ ♪
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Praise the name of the Lord, none as holy, none as worthy ♪ ♪
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Now and forevermore ♪ ♪
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Crowned with adoration, He is the
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King of glory ♪ ♪ High above the nations, who is like the
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Lord, our God? ♪ ♪ Who is like the
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Lord, our God? ♪ ♪
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O Jesus, for our weakness, to redeem us ♪ ♪
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Yes, He will keep us young and forevermore ♪ ♪
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Crowned with adoration, He is high above the nations ♪ ♪
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Who is like the Lord, our God?
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♪ ♪ Raised from the ashes, He has turned our grief to gladness ♪ ♪
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Who is like the Lord, our God? ♪ ♪
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Who is like the Lord, our God? ♪ ♪
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High and holy, meek and lowly, there is none like Him ♪ ♪
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There is no one like Him, our Messiah, here beside us ♪ ♪
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There is no one like Him ♪ ♪ High and holy, meek and lowly, there is no one like Him ♪ ♪
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Our Messiah, here beside us, there is no one like Him ♪ ♪
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Crowned with adoration, He is high above the nations ♪ ♪
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Who is like the Lord, our God? ♪ ♪
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Raised from the ashes, He has turned our grief to gladness ♪ ♪
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Who is like the Lord, our God? ♪ ♪
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Who is like the Lord, our God? ♪ ♪
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Who is like the Lord, our God? ♪ ♪
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There is no one like our God ♪
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He is the Lord of all creation, maker of heaven and earth. He is the one and the only true
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God. Let's continue to sing to Him. ♪
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Voice in the dark, a song that lights up the stars ♪ ♪
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One breath that gives life, one sovereign power ♪ ♪
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Who speaks with thunder and fire ♪ ♪
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One, there is no other that can compare to You ♪ ♪
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You are the one alone in greatness ♪ ♪
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The one who never changes, Jesus, You are ♪ ♪
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The one who holds in power, the one who,
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Jesus ♪ ♪ The one true God ♪ ♪
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One man on a cross, one light of hope ♪ ♪
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One word, one name, one word, a way to be saved ♪ ♪
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One lamb that was slain, one love above all ♪ ♪
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There is no other that can compare to You ♪ ♪
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You are the one alone in greatness ♪ ♪
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The one who never changes,
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Jesus, You are ♪ ♪
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The one who reigns forever, Jesus, the one true
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God ♪ ♪ You're the one true God ♪ ♪
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Yes, we have seen the glory of the one and only
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Son of God ♪ ♪ Yes, we have seen the glory of the one and only
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Son of God ♪ ♪ You are the one alone in greatness ♪ ♪
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The one who never changes, Jesus, You are ♪ ♪
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The one who rose in power, the one who reigns forever ♪ ♪
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Jesus, the one true God ♪ ♪
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You're the one true God ♪ ♪
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You're the one true God ♪ You may be seated.
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Gracious Heavenly Father, as we open Your Word this morning, we pray that Your grace would abound to us,
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Lord, for the forgiveness of sin, that we would be aware of our sin and aware of Your forgiveness.
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And also, Lord, going forward from this place, that You would give us grace to go and to sin no more.
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Help us to walk in a manner that is worthy of the high calling, worthy of the gospel.
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So give us grace this morning, and we thank You for grace this morning. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
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There are at least three uses of the law of God.
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It is a mirror, a restraint, and a guide. The law of God, the law of Moses, is a mirror which shows us what we're really like.
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In the morning, maybe when you were getting ready to come to church, you looked in the mirror. Hopefully you did. And guys, if you had something caught in your beard, you kind of brushed that out of there.
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The mirror shows you what you look like on the outside, but the law of God shows you what you look like on the inside.
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Amen, Phil? We say that a lot when we're evangelizing. The mirror shows you what you're like.
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A second use of the law is to restrain evil. Because there is a law, and there are punishments attached to the law, it restrains the wickedness of men.
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Because God says, and prescribes the death penalty in Genesis 9, 6, for murder, it restrains people who otherwise might raise their hand to kill another.
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It is a restraint upon evil. And thirdly, it is a guide. Remember what
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Psalm 119 talks about. It teaches us there is general equity in every word of the
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Old Testament, which teaches us how we ought to live and what we should do. It directs us.
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So the law is a mirror, a restraint, and a guide. Mirror, restraint, and guide.
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Now, here's the problem. It's not the law. The law is perfect and righteous and good.
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The problem is that we all are sinners who are unable to keep the law.
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So at every point, the law becomes an insurmountable impasse.
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It is a mountain we cannot climb. It is a stone wall that we break ourselves against.
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So the mirror not only exposes the gross and disgusting sins of the worst things that people do, it also penetrates deep and shows us our hypocrisy.
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It shows us our hidden attitudes of the heart. It shows us that all of us are guilty before God, and none keeps the law.
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As a restraint, the difficulty is it is put in the hands of sinners to judge other sinners.
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So it's very difficult for man to judge the sins of others when every person who would wield that sword is themself guilty of crimes against God.
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And then lastly, as a guide, it is pure light, it is direction to our feet, but it doesn't give us the power to actually do it.
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The law tells us what to do, but it doesn't inwardly empower us to keep the law.
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So the problem is not in the mirror or in the restraint or in the guide. The problem is in the sons and daughters of Adam.
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The law is good, but we cannot keep it. Now consider the laws of man, because not all obey the law of God, and mankind creates their own laws.
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In the nation of Iran, recently, a woman was arrested for adultery, and they were about to stone her to death, but the international outcry against Iran for this caused them to stop, and now they did not.
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However, under their law, under their Sharia law, if a woman even has her hair uncovered, she likewise is guilty.
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According to this arbitrary man -made system of Islamic Sharia law, this woman, whose name was
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Masa Amini, visited Tehran, and she was not wearing the hijab, or however you say that, the morality police caught her, and the morality police brought her back to the station to teach her the customs and the law of Iran, but sadly,
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Masa Amini never made it out of custody, because for whatever reason, the law turned harsh against her and beat her to death, and there have been great protests in Iran against this injustice.
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Our White House said that this injustice is unforgivable, but is it?
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In fact, as you look at American culture, what sins are considered unforgivable, and which others are winked at and allowable?
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Certainly, any kind of hatred in the heart is considered unforgivable, especially racism, but the killing of unborn life is considered allowable.
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What is the arbitrary standard of the United States system of law?
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Some things are unforgivable, but others are allowed. Forgiveness is offered arbitrarily because the unjust nature is the injustice, and it is the problem.
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Think for a moment about what just recently happened. You guys see on TV the news reporting of what happened earlier this month where a man who was fleeing from the law, perhaps committed a crime of some sort and resisted arrest, was beaten to death by the police.
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The man was not an innocent man. None are. He died under the long arm of the law, but it seems that the long arm of the law itself used excessive force in killing this man rather than subduing and arresting, so the police were not innocent either, these particular officers.
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But then consider the protests, and which of the protesters who consider this injustice unforgivable have not have themselves lifted hands in rage and in anger and in violence against others, perhaps pummeling people to the point of death or near to it, or if not that, how many of them have used their words to pummel another person?
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And where does that leave us this morning? The law would slay each of us if we think anything better of ourselves than but for the grace of God, there go
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I. You see, the law of God raises a problem for sinners.
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The law of God is an unbreakable wall. It is written on stone tablets, and every person who runs against that is broken by the law.
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It's unyielding. It cannot be broken. And so justice, which is an attribute of God, it is eternal with Him as an eternal attribute, justice must be satisfied, and God must have wrath for sin.
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So here is the problem for sinners. Justice denies forgiveness.
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There cannot be forgiveness, there cannot be mercy if there is to be justice.
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The two are mutually exclusive, and this is a difficult problem, one addressed in John chapter 8.
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Let's turn there. The Pharisees who bring the woman caught in adultery think that the problem can never be solved, and what
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Jesus does here is absolutely beautiful and amazing in bringing justice and mercy together.
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As only He could do, no one else in the history of the world could solve this riddle.
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No one else could cross the impasse. It is impossible with man, but not impossible with God.
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With God, all things are possible, and Jesus is God. He alone will solve this problem.
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Now, we're about to read John 8, first paragraph. But before I read the first word of the first paragraph, notice that there are brackets in the
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ESV or any translation of the Bible other than the King James Version. What is the meaning of these brackets from John 7 .53
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to John 8 .11? The earliest manuscripts do not include
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John 7 .53 to 8 .11. I don't know if you ever noticed that in your Bible as you were reading, but that seems somewhat troubling, doesn't it?
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In fact, the earliest manuscript that does include this section of Scripture that we have, mark that, that we have, the earliest codex is
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Codex Bézé, and it dates to around the year 400. That's still extant.
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We still have that, and it includes this passage. But earlier than Codex Bézé are
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P52, P66, and P75. The P stands for papyrus.
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And the earliest of all extant manuscripts is P52, the John Ryland text.
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It dates to about 115 AD, which is very near to the writing of the
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Book of John. It is a small fragment of the Book of John, but it's only about 2 1⁄2 by 3 1⁄2 inches.
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So it has a part of John 18 on one side and another part of John 18 on the other side, the interaction with Pilate.
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So it is of no use to us in determining whether this is original. Now, P66 and P75, both are around the year 200
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AD, and neither of these manuscripts have this section.
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That's what your Bible is referring to. It wasn't found. As those were uncovered, we found a hole there.
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Now, there are later manuscripts of Luke and of John that have this section attached to the end of those
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Gospels, interestingly. So it's floating around somewhere, and it seems like a slam -dunk case against this section to say, this was not original to John.
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But the plot thickens. The earliest manuscripts that we have do not have this.
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However, there are very early references to manuscripts that had it. Follow that?
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They're not still around today, but Eusebius cited Papias, who in the early 100s, in the 2nd century, very early, he being a disciple of John, referred to the story of the woman who was accused before Jesus.
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A reference to this story. Didymus the Blind was a preacher on one side of the
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Mediterranean, the African side, and he preached about this in the year 350, earlier than the first appearance of it in our textual record.
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Ambrose preached on it in 375 AD, noting that some have taken offense to this passage.
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So there was some dispute even then. But I find most notable is the church scholar,
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Jerome. Jerome, at the time when he was leading, was the only scholar in the church who actually knew
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Hebrew and Greek and Latin. And Jerome considered it part of the original text, based on what he said were many textual extant manuscripts that did include
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John VIII. So I told you the plot thickens. In fact, it was Jerome who wrote the
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Latin Vulgate, which became a big part of the basis of the King James Version. Jerome himself was much nearer to the issue than we are in the year 2023.
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Many more manuscripts were available to him, so I think his judgment certainly carries great weight.
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In fact, he was commissioned to translate the Vulgate in 382. And he did include this as part of the
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Bible. Augustine, the great scholar from Hippo, he likewise agreed with Jerome that yes, this was original.
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So it's not a slam dunk case, even though the earliest manuscripts that we have don't include it.
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Pastor John Gleeson, a Baptist from Scotland, wrote this to sum it up. When someone tells you that the oldest manuscripts are best, remember
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Didymus the Blind and Ambrose on opposite sides of the Mediterranean, all preaching on the woman taken in adultery.
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There were an innumerable multitude of oldest manuscripts that were used, copied, preached from, and have since perished.
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The voice of those perished manuscripts comes down to us in later manuscripts, but that doesn't mean that that voice wasn't speaking in the early days.
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So where does that leave us this morning? Actually, we're on very solid ground because whereas you have some textual variants, especially
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John 8, 1 John 5 -7, the ending of the book of Mark, these few examples where there's some dispute about whether it's actually from the
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Bible, that leaves the 99 -point -something percent solidly established.
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And here's the great news. The theology of John 8 is perfectly consistent with everything else that was written.
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In fact, when Jesus will say at the end, go and sin no more, he just said that a few chapters earlier in John 5 to the man that he healed at the
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Pool of Bethesda, telling him, go and sin no more, lest something worse would happen to you.
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In other words, there's nothing troubling about the doctrine here. It's the same theology that's taught, and even those who reject it, like D .A.
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Carson and Bruce Metzger and the great textual critics, all of them also say there's no doubt that it actually happened.
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They're just not convinced it was written by John as part of the gospel. So we have no doubt, even those who disagree with it, have no doubt that it happened and that these events are real, but there is some dispute whether it ought to be in the text.
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So what do I do as a preacher? I have to either preach it or not preach it. Skip it or go through it.
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I'm going to preach it. Preach it, brother. So let's do it. You need to know that, though, because at some point, your faith will be attacked on some textual variant, and someone will say, well, you can't even trust it.
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Well, this actually solidifies our faith when you dig in to see how much is verified. So I wouldn't use it in a debate to prove a point over some fine point of doctrine, but for the preaching of the word,
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I do believe that this is God's word to be preached. Amen? All right. All that just to start preaching.
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Let's go. So it says in John 8, verses 1 and 2, they went each to his own house, but Jesus went to the
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Mount of Olives. First thing to say there is there is a contrast between Jesus and everybody else.
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They all have a home to go to, but Jesus' foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the
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Son of Man has no place to lay his head. He was here to tabernacle among us.
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The word became flesh, tabernacled among us. We have seen his glory. Glory is of the only begotten of the
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Father, full of grace and truth. John 1, 14. He's tabernacling here, but he's not of this world.
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He comes from a different world, and he's different and distinct. Notice in verse 1, but Jesus.
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But Jesus indicates he's not like us. Here we are, the sons and daughters of Adam, all sinners, all having wandered his own way like sheep, but there he is, the
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Lamb of God, and he's different. He's not worldly. He's not tainted. He's not stained. He's Jesus, and he spends the night in prayer at the
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Mount of Olives with no place to lay his head but on a stone of Jacob. So already we're seeing the contrast.
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Now we see the test in verses 2 to 6a. Early in the morning, he came again to the temple.
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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,
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This woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the law,
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Moses commanded us to stone such women. What do you say? This they said to test him that they might have some charge to bring against him.
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Turn with me to the law of Moses, back to Leviticus chapter 20 verse 10.
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Leviticus chapter 20 verse 10 is the law, not only of Moses, but of God, written by God himself and unbreakable.
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It says this, Listen, If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.
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And now turn to Deuteronomy, it's repeated in the repeating of the law, the second law, Deuteronomy chapter 22 verse 22.
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Reiterated here, Deuteronomy 22 verse 22.
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If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman and the woman, so you shall purge the evil from Israel.
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So going back now to John chapter 8, the law commanded us to stone such women.
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What do you say? The first thing that anybody reading this story and certainly the people who were there at the time should have noticed is the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees who brought this woman, but here's the big question, where's the man?
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The law said that both of them shall die and surely in this act of adultery in which they say they caught her, it takes two to tango.
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Where is the man? It's an evidence here that their concern was not with the law of Moses and I preached on this weeks ago.
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The Pharisees and the scribes, they were not overly committed to the law, they were lawless.
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They would often go beyond what was written in right laws of their own regarding the Sabbath, but they likewise were adulterers at heart and possibly themselves practicing adultery.
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They loved to put on a show of outward religion, praying on the street corners, wearing phylacteries on their head, looking the part to the public, but in private they were as wicked or more wicked than anybody else.
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They have this woman here, in order to trap Jesus, they don't care about her or the man or anybody else, they're out to get
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Jesus. That's what the text tells us in 6a. Now here's the question though, why is this even a test?
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Why is this hard for the prophet Jesus? I mean, isn't it obviously true that the woman should be put to death?
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Didn't we just read it in Leviticus and Deuteronomy? So why is this hard and why did they think that he would be trapped by this?
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Why is it a test? Can't he just say, okay stoner, wash his hands, just be done with it.
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He's still honoring the law of Moses. Well the issue here is what
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Jesus has been claiming. He has offered to forgive anyone, to cleanse them of any sin, to grant a washing of regeneration by the
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Spirit. You need to understand that they look at Jesus as an antinomian, someone who is against anti, nomos, the law.
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They think he's giving people a license to sin because all he's telling them is come to me and you'll be forgiven.
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Notice he's been in Jerusalem twice. The first in John is the healing of the man at Bethesda and the second is this
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Feast of Tabernacles. Flip back a couple pages to John 5, verses 21 to 24 and this is the claim that they're testing.
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John 5, 21 to 24. They heard him say this and it made him mad.
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For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the
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Son gives life to whom he will. He claimed freedom to give life to anybody he wants.
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It's the freedom of the wind. He can give life to the adulteress and the murderer and the liar and the thief and whoever it is.
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The woman of Samaria who had five husbands and the one she was with at the time was not her husband.
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He gave her life. Drink the living water. Look at verse 22. The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the
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Son that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the
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Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Look at verse 24. Truly, truly,
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I say to you whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.
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He does not come into judgment. He's forgiven. He's passed from death to life.
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You see, the claim that Jesus was making is the authority to forgive sin. The claim to renew and wash and to cleanse.
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Again in chapter 7, just the day before, he makes the bold claim in verse 38.
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John 7, 38. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
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To eat is to believe. To drink is to believe. And the promise is if you do, he'll wash you.
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He'll forgive you and cleanse you. And so they bring a woman to test.
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Jesus. Will he forgive her? He claims to have the authority to do it.
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Or will he be a law keeper? And the two seem diametrically opposed.
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There's no way out for him. If he forgives her, he's not just. Can't really stone her because the
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Romans don't allow it. They don't have capital punishment under the thumb of Rome. So he's completely stuck, or so they think.
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They've got him. And then we turn to chapter 8, verse 6, the second half of the verse.
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How unflappable Jesus is. Who's in control?
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They're all in a tizzy. They're all angry. They're demanding that he answer, that he says something.
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And on his time, what does he do? He bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
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And at his good pleasure, he stood back up and said, let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.
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And just like that, once more, he bent down and wrote on the ground. First question that comes to mind, what was he writing?
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And if anybody here claims that you know definitively, I don't trust you.
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Because nobody knows that. I mean, we could guess, based on the context, maybe he's writing the sins of all the people who are there accusing.
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Or maybe he's writing the law that they're bringing against him.
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And that's where I would lean. Just a couple things about the finger of God.
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Because the Bible clearly says he wrote with his finger. In Psalm 8, the scripture has told us, when
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I consider your heavens the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained,
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God's finger represents his authority, his power he creates by his finger, his ability to do whatever he wants.
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And he made the world by his finger. When he drove the
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Egyptians into the sea and delivered his people and all the plagues of Egypt, those were done by the finger of God.
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Because the magician said to Pharaoh, Exodus 8, 19, this is the finger of God.
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When Jesus cast out demons and exercised his authority to exorcise demons, he says, but if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
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It's the authority of God in that finger. Probably the most remarkable image of the finger of God that some of you are probably thinking of right now is
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Daniel chapter 5. And the hand that appeared, and the king could see nothing else but this hand writing on the wall.
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Daniel 5, 5 says, suddenly the fingers of a man's hand emerged. What's up with that?
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The fingers of a man's hand and began writing opposite the lamp stand of the plaster on the wall of the king's palace.
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And the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing. And these fingers are just writing, mene, mene, tekel farsin.
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Wade, wade, found wanting. It is the finger of God himself writing judgment on the king.
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Perhaps it was the finger of Jesus pre -incarnate. And that's the amount that that king was allowed to see.
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The finger of God is his power and authority and he writes his law.
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And he writes his judgment. And his judgment is true and cannot be thwarted. And that king dropped dead the very day that the hand wrote what it wrote.
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You can't miss the finger of God in the giving of the Ten Commandments.
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What command did this woman break? The seventh commandment, thou shalt not commit adultery.
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And so I think this has reference to that. Because when the Ten Commandments were given,
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Exodus 31, 18, it says when he finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, he gave
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Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone written by the finger of God.
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Jesus' finger in the sand has reference, I think, to Exodus 31, 18. And the power and authority of God and his judgment, him giving the authoritative judgment of God.
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And so he writes. Perhaps he writes the law. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
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He knows it because he wrote it. It was his finger that fashioned it in the stone tablet.
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Notice then what happens. Let him who is without sin among you be the first among you to throw a stone at her.
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Now, if we skirt over that, we just pay attention to the moral use of the law.
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How did Jesus just wield the law? As a mirror. Because he told them, if you're without sin, go ahead and throw the stone.
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And each person, suddenly, and I think this is the supernatural power of God, because he is
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God, he brings conviction to their hearts by the Spirit. And they feel guilty.
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And they begin to walk away. But notice that the civil law,
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Leviticus, Deuteronomy, was still in force. Did Jesus violate that law, or did he actually say, go ahead and stone her?
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Look carefully. Let him who is without sin, so he uses the conviction of the
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Spirit to drive the guilty away, while still saying, this is amazing, be the first to throw a stone at her.
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Now in the law, the one who discovered them and captured them was to be the first to throw the stone, he's the witness, and the two or three others that were required would also throw stones, and then also all of Israel would come behind that testimony and pile stones on the adulterer.
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Jesus did not violate that law. Look at the next verse.
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This is incredible. It says, but when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, probably because they had a longer list of sins.
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The longer you live, you're just piling on to the number of sins you've committed. And I think there's a wisdom that comes with age, when you really start to see that you really can't judge anybody else, because think of what you've done as well.
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The older ones walk away, but notice this, who's left alone? One. And that of course says that there is one who's righteous, one who's never sinned, the holy and the righteous one.
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So as to the mirror of God's law, he can look straight into it without flinching.
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There's one left. But notice regarding the civil law, the restraint of evil.
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If he just winks at sin and says it's no big deal, I forgive you, what happens to a society when all matter of licentiousness is simply tolerated and allowed?
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Look around. We live in one like that. It just completely unravels.
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There's no restraint of evil. Jesus wouldn't do that. So how then does he fulfill and not violate the law?
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Why doesn't he stone her and find him himself?
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Because the law says that to convict a person on these matters, there must be two or three witnesses.
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So look in the text. Jesus was left alone.
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So as to the civil law, she goes free and rightly and justly so.
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With regard to the law of Moses, he has kept that civil law. Remember this, church. This was prior to the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension and the heavenly session where Jesus then sends the
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Holy Spirit at Pentecost to institute the church age. This is before the church age.
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This is the theocracy of Israel. They were under the
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Mosaic law to stone the adulteress at this time. You see that? So why doesn't he do it and yet keep the law?
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Because there's not two or three witnesses. There's only the one righteous and that is
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Jesus himself. But the thrust of this passage is not merely that, although that's important because it speaks to the public restraint of evil.
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There's something even more important. The thrust of this comes out in verse 11. So Jesus in verse 10 stands up and says,
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Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? She said,
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No one, Lord. And Jesus said, Neither do
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I condemn you. The thrust of this passage is grace.
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That all the fallen sons and daughters of Adam, who have likewise sinned like this woman caught and her sin made public, maybe yours and mine has been private, never been caught with anything ever squeaky clean.
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And yet you know that God has seen every sin. And were God to judge you, the soul that sins shall die.
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The wages of sin is death. That death penalty that was prescribed to her was prescribed to you.
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You deserve to die. But look at the force of these words, Neither do
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I condemn you. She came within an inch of her life.
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She was dangling over the fires of hell and outer darkness and eternal suffering.
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In one second she was about to go into a Christless eternity.
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And in the next second she hears the words from God in flesh,
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Neither do I condemn you. Forgiveness of sin. Well, here's the dilemma.
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Justice and forgiveness. How can he do that? And still be a just and holy
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God? And this is the heart of the gospel. Paul unpacks it in Romans 3, 21, through the end of the chapter, especially verse 26.
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How can justice and mercy meet? It is only because the one who says,
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Neither do I forgive you, is looking forward to the cross. Because at the cross, the justice of God against sin,
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His wrath against sin and sinners is poured out on Jesus Christ.
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At the cross, justice is satisfied. God does punish sin.
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So God is just. But He's also the justifier of the one who has faith in Christ, because at the cross,
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Jesus in love steps into the place of sinners and takes the punishment that we deserve.
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2 Corinthians 5, 21, God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, that in Him we would be the righteousness of God.
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The sin of the woman caught in adultery and of you and I who believe in Christ by faith is imputed to Christ on the cross.
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And He is punished in our place. And right there, right in that moment at the cross, justice and mercy kiss.
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And the banner over that is called grace. No other religion has it. There's no other way.
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It's impossible that there be any other way. The sinner must die according to God's justice.
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The only way and Jesus prayed this in the garden, Father, if there's any other way, take this cup from me.
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Yet he had to go. There was no other way. The only way to satisfy justice without condemning the sinner to hell is for the cross of Christ to intervene, take our sin to Calvary.
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This is the story of Johnny. It gets fleshed out as the Bible unfolds and explained, but see it in these words, neither do
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I condemn them. It's grace. And the last words here are go and sin no more.
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Grace doesn't then set her free to go right back into the arms of a lover.
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Which is actually hate. Grace sets her free to go and sin no more.
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Jean Valjean in Les Mis, when he encountered grace from that priest, he was completely changed for the rest of that play.
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Grace changed him. Javert was the law keeper who could never find grace.
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But church, this morning, if you've believed in Jesus Christ, you've been forgiven. You were that one caught in adultery.
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And he said, neither do I condemn you. He set you free. So we're going to pray, we're going to close our eyes and just thank the
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Lord for this. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.
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Jesus alone rescues from the curse of the law. Jesus alone satisfies wrath against lawbreakers.
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Jesus alone fulfills justice without the utter destruction of the sinner. Justice and mercy are at odds and only
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Jesus has the way to bring them together. There's no other way for sinners to be forgiven.
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So God, I pray for those who have not yet come to Jesus to find mercy.
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Pray they will come to the foot of the cross, confess their sin, and cry,
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Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. Pray that you would use the preaching of this word,
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John 8, to bring sinners to repentance. To the
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Savior, the only one who forgives sin and gives eternal life.
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And Lord, I pray for us here who have believed and so we have eternal life.
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I pray that we would think hard about grace and how much we've been forgiven. We would feel the weight of standing guilty before a holy
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God. We would remember what that was like to be in our sin, to be in our guilt.
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To hear the Savior say, neither do I condemn you. We pray you would change us by this grace this morning as we look back on the cross that we would now go forward to sin no more.
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Change us by your grace, Lord. Give us grace to help in time of need.
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Thank you, Lord, for the cross. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In Christ alone my hope is found
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He is my light, my strength, my song
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This corner stone This solid ground
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Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
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What heights of love What depths of peace
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When fears are still When strivings cease
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I come for turn By all and all
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Here in the love of Christ I stay
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There in the ground His body lay
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Light of the world by darkness slain
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Then bursting forth in glorious day Up from the grave
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He rose again And as He stands in victory
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Since curse and law His grip on me
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For I am His And He is mine
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Bought with the precious blood of Christ No guilt in life
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No fear in death This is the power of Christ in me
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Of life's first cry In final breath
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Jesus commands My destiny No power of hell
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No scheme of man Can ever block me from His hand
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Till He returns Or calls me home
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Here in the power of Christ I'll stand I find my strength
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I find my strength I find my hope
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I find my help In Christ alone
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When fears assail When darkness holds
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I find my peace In Christ alone I give my life
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I give my all I sing my song To Christ alone
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The King of kings The Lord I love
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All heaven sings to Christ alone
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To Christ alone To Christ alone
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Till He returns Or calls me home
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Here in the power of Christ I'll stand Here in the power of Christ We stand
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If anyone has no love for the
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Lord Let him be accursed Our Lord come The grace of the