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Foreign.
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Let's pray.
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Father, thank you so much for your presence with us here this morning and the ability to gather and just worship and spend time focusing on you. Pray now as we focus on the message that you would speak to Brother Daniel, ask that you would minister to our needs here, pray that you give him clarity of thought and. And that we would all have the ability to listen and hear what you have for us. We anticipate a blessing from you in Jesus name, Amen. Amen.
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Good morning. I want to. It might be easier on the big screen, but can everybody see this? What is this? Tic tac toe. Okay, so I have a puzzle for you to think about as we go through. For the first part of this message, I want you to imagine that, well, who would you rather be, the X or the O? So you are the X and you are in this game and you have the next move. How do you win this game? Well, that might seem that way. I want you to think about that. What. And we'll come back to this. I just want you to look at this and think about this. How do you win this game? Today we are going to be looking at John, chapter eight. We're going to read the first couple or first 12 verses and we are going to also include a couple phrases from the previous chapter. And I'm going to do something a little bit different. I'm going to start out by. This is a relatively small passage. I'm going to start out actually just reading the whole passage. I like to read through and comment as I go, which I'm going to do in a little bit. But this is very much a story. And so we're going to use. We're going to read first, start out by reading this story. And the second thing I'm going to do that I usually don't do is this initial reading. I'm going to read it in the niv and I will just say I'm not. I don't love the NIV if I am studying. But if you're reading a story out of the Bible, it does read a lot easier. And I think it's easier to kind of follow the flow of the story just because some of the words that are being used. So for actually studying the passage, though, we will not be using the niv. So just that disclaimer to start. And then I will also just add one other really interesting thing about this story. This is a story that I think all of our. Well, regardless of the translation of Bible that you're going to use has in it. But a lot of early manuscripts did not have this story in it, which I. I'll be honest, I did not realize until I was studying this. But I think all the Bibles that I looked at do include it. But just something that's kind of interesting as we think about it. John, chapter eight, starting at verse 53, halfway through of the last chapter. Then they all went home. But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. dawn, he appeared again in the temple courts where all the people had gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the law of Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. Now what do you have to say? They were using this question as a trap in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, let any one of you who is without sin be the first one to throw a stone at her. Again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left. With the woman standing there. Jesus straightened up and said and asked her, woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? No, sir, she said, then neither do I condemn you. Jesus declared, go now. Leave your life of sin. So how many of you are very familiar with this story? Just raise of hands. So I always struggle to teach these stories that are so familiar. I feel like I read them. I kind of in my mind have three points that everybody has always said to me, and I struggle to get anything new out of them. I don't know if you all are there with me on this or not, but often I kind of get stuck on these really familiar stories. So I'm going out of my comfort zone today by teaching this story. And I invite you to go out of your comfort zone and look at this story as we go through it. Just try to find one new idea, one new blessing. The beauty of the Bible is that it is new every time we read it. And just because we got one truth out of it doesn't mean that truth is not true. But we can get hundreds and hundreds of other truths and out of every story. And God can speak to us in different ways. So I invite you to go on that journey with me today. So let's just start. And we're going to go through this verse by verse. And I'm just going to kind of walk you through things that struck me. I have a couple takeaways at the end. And then I also just want to spend a little bit of time. The last verse, Jesus invitation to her to sin no more. So in John, chapter seven, we start with just a few verses before Nicodemus, who had. I'm going to read a couple verses. Nicodemus, who had gone to him before and who was one of them, said to him, does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing? And a hearing and learning what he does. They replied, are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee. And then it goes on. So I just found this really interesting that immediately before this, they were having discussions about the law and about how to go about judging a man. And so it seems like they kind of jump into this. And I feel like this is one of those stories that I love to take a little mind journey. And so how many of you have had a discussion with somebody and you feel frustrated with the way the discussion turned out? And so you're like, the next time you see him, the first thing you want to do is just jump right into that discussion and be like, I've got something. I should have said this the last time, but, you know, I didn't think of it. And now you had them. Well, I feel like the Pharisees are kind of. They've been having this ongoing discussion, this argument with Jesus about the law and about Jesus, place in it who he is. And they just keep feeling like they can't win. And so now they're like, we've got him. And so, you know, just, you know, bring your. Bring yourself along with me on that. And so, you know, that's coming into this. And then in verse 53, halfway through it, you know, we stop that and then we go. They went each to his own house. So they. The they that I'm reading here is all of the people, but who didn't get to go to his house. Jesus did not. Each person had his own house to go to. They had their, you know, food, all this stuff. And Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. And I don't know if he was sleeping there, if he was praying there, it doesn't say. But I picture Jesus there praying and communing with his Father. And then early in the morning, he went up to the temple and he went up to serve the people in the Temple. And I'll point out also, you know, everybody else got a good night's rest, and Jesus is up on the Mount of Olives, but he still gets up early, and he goes to serve and to teach the people at the temple. There's something, you know, just very, very beautiful about that. And also kind of just a. Wow, I'm blanking out in the word. An example. An example to all of us on, you know, the way to go about living our lives. And so early in the morning, he goes to the temple, and all the people came to him and they sat down and he taught them. And so, again, I just picture this with me. Jesus is in the temple. And in those days, unlike now, I don't stand, or Jesus didn't stand when he taught. He sat, and people gathered around him. And it's an interesting thought. It might actually be a little bit more enjoyable for me if I could sit here on a stool and teach rather than have to stand up. That might make us all more comfortable. But Jesus is there teaching, and he is in the honored position of a teacher. And so I invite you to think with me as we are gathered together today. I'm standing here teaching, and then the front doors fling open and some random church preachers come marching in, and they have somebody in handcuffs. And right in the middle of my sermon, they throw this person down and they interrupt whatever I'm saying and have some question about what to do with this person in a very disrespectful way. Well, that is exactly what was going on here. This was not just, you know, kind of coming up and them raising their hand and saying, hey, we have this situation. What do you think about that? No, they were being disruptive, disrespectful. It was probably chaotic. I can't imagine this woman is being brought to them potentially to be stoned. I can't imagine she was very happy about this. So the whole scene is very disruptive, very disrespectful to Jesus. And. So the scribes and the Pharisees go on. And I also just wanted. Yeah, so he goes on and,
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Sorry,
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my notes are moving around on me. And the scribes brought the woman who had been caught in adultery and placed them in the midst of. And 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 women. What do you say? So a couple things that I want to point out about this is that this is an interesting use of the law. How many of you know what the law actually says. I was curious about this, so I looked up the law, and the actual law says in Leviticus 20:10, if a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be surely put to death. To death. So this is not a trick question. What is missing here? The man. There's no man. So this brings out all these other questions that we could ask. And quite honestly, we don't know. Was the adulter one of the men that were bringing the woman before Jesus? Possibly, we don't know. But there's in the Old Testament law, as I read it, the onus is on the man. The man always comes first. And then it often seems like, you know, putting to death the wife is almost an afterthought. And here they're turning it on its head and finding the weak person and using. Using it to promote their agenda. So just noting here, the man is the primary responsibility. So were the scribes following the law? No, they were using the law to promote an agenda. They did not care about justice. They were simply trying to create a trap. And so a question is, how do you win tic tac toe? Well, you win tic tac toe by, or at least if you're trying to win a game of tic tac toe, you want to get your opponent in this position where no matter where they go, you still have a move where you can win. And in short of them making a mistake where they just miss something, you get them in this position and then they have to either go block you here or block you here, and then you can go in the other spot. This is exactly what the scribes were trying to do with Jesus. They were hoping that he would say, oh, you don't need to stone her. And then they could say, you're disregarding the law of Moses and you don't follow God's word. Or he could also say, go ahead and stone her. She has done sin. And then they would kill the woman and blame it on Jesus. And the Romans would be upset with Jesus for causing, you know, killing people. And so they put Jesus in what they thought was a tic tac toe situation like this. And the beautiful thing about Jesus is, do you know how you win this game? You don't play it. So Jesus didn't play their game. Jesus put the game away and asked them one serious question. So. This they said to test him, that they might have something to charge, some charge to bring against him. And Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to him, let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. I'm going to pause here. I just want to point out, bring out a couple things that Jesus did that I think I sometimes miss in this story. And I'll illustrate one by telling a story about my wife. I try not to tell stories about my wife when she's not here, but this is not a bad story. So my wife, as all of you, most of you know, is a photographer. And one of the things that she always tells me is, if you want, people always ask her, how do you get children to like you and respond well to you? And she says, well, it's really simple. I just walk over, I get right on their level at the same, and I talk to them. And when you become at the same level as them, you're no longer a threat. You're somebody who they can relate to. And all of a sudden, the children will smile, they'll laugh, they'll engage with her. She's put themselves on her level. So when we read this story, we often think about Jesus writing something on the ground. And we'll get to that. I think there was something writing on the ground, and we sometimes miss the fact that he bent over, he got low and was on their level riding on the ground. Well, who else was cast down on the ground? The lady was cast down on the ground, and Jesus was willing to bend over to interact with her on her level. And there's something really beautiful about that and instructive to us as we are interacting with people, are we willing to get on their level? I'll also point out that many of us probably aren't as high up on our own level as we think we are. We're probably already starting out pretty low. But maybe our level is more in our mind. So pick up at what he says to the Pharisees and the scribes. He says, let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. And I just had to think about this. And again, just coming back to the law in Deuteronomy, I'm not quite sure I think I have time. I'm going to read a few verses out of Deuteronomy just for you all to hear the law that they were referring to. And I want to just point out a couple things in this just to kind of give some context. And it is told to you. Reading out of Deuteronomy and it is told to you, and you hear of it, when you shall inquire diligently. And if it is true and certain that such an abomination has been done in Israel, then you shall bring out to your gates the man or woman who has done this evil thing. And you shall stone the man or woman to death with stone stones. On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses, the one who is to die shall be put to death. A person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. The hand of the witness must be the first against him to put him to death, and after the hand of all the people. So you shall purge evil from your midst. And then. At the very end it says this and all the people shall hear and fear and not act presumptuously again. So I think what I mainly want to point out is this was a very serious thing. It was, you know, they, this was something that was, you know, in the law to purge sin, but it also was not. It was, you know, there were very, there's, you know, all these safeguards to keep people from abusing it, to keep people from accusing people falsely. They also later on it talks about how if someone accuses falsely and they go through with this, then that person then has to be put to death, the false accuser. So, you know, it's not a light thing. And then just finally the whole idea of the person who, who accused them was not just able to go and accuse and then walk away and not have blood on his hands. That person had to be willing to follow up and be the first person to administer the punishment or death. So I think I'm just trying to just show you this was not something that was lighthearted. And the scribes and Pharisees knew this. They knew that this was a really serious thing, a really holy thing, and that they were using it to advance their end and by doing that were condemning themselves. So moving on, Jesus says, let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone. And then verse eight, he once more bent down and wrote on the ground. So twice here Jesus bends down and writes on the ground. And I'm sure if any of you have read any commentaries, we all know, or most of them know that we do not know what Jesus wrote on the ground. But it is probably one of biblical scholars favorite pastime to make us to kind of throw out ideas. And so there are all kinds of ideas about what Jesus was writing on the ground here. And I am just curious, do any of you have. Have a thought on what Jesus could have written on the ground here? I have a couple that I like. But again, this is simply supposition, so don't take it for anything more than that. Right. No, I 100% agree with that. I think this is purely a. Right. Yes. So that is probably. That's one of the things that ideas is he was there writing all their sins down in list or another is that these men were all adulterers, so he was writing the names of all their. Their wives or I guess, whatever.
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Yeah.
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So that's another thought. One other thought is that he was simply writing the ten Commandments. He was there. Thou shall not. And just by using the law, they were seeing and thinking, I should not have any other gods before me, I shall not kill, I shall not steal. And you know, just reminding them with that of all of the sins that they had on them. Anyone else? Right, yeah. Or the one that I like is he was simply doodling in the sand just, just down there, giving them time to think. So I. Again, just. Just a thought, just something to think about, to ponder what we know of the character of God. We. I think we can assume whatever he was doing was thought provoking and convicting for those who had brought this against him. But. And once more he bent down and. Rode in the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones and. And Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood and said to her, woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? Jesus said, no one, Lord. And she said, no one, Lord. And Jesus said, neither do I condemn you. Go. And from now on, sin no more. One thing I just want to note as I read through that I thought it was interesting the older people left first when Jesus had called this out. And you know, again, this is supposition, but you know, I would think if you're older, you've had more time to accumulate more sin. And maybe they were just condemned first, maybe they were a little wiser and realized, you know, young people tend to be sometimes a little oblivious and brash. So maybe it took the young people a little longer for it to sink in. I'm not sure it's in the scripture, so it must have significance. But one by one they left. And I picture her laying on the ground, head under her hand, waiting for the first stone to come. And all of a sudden nothing happens. And she gradually looks up and looks around and that's when Jesus said, where are they? And she looks around and says, no one's here anymore. And then she's waiting. And I think she knows, here's the one person who has the right to throw the stone. And he says, neither do I condemn you. Go now and sin no more. Two very important things in this last sentence. The first is, neither do I condemn you. I think condemn is often a. We think of it as a guilty verdict or saying you did something wrong. But there's another way to use it. You can use condemn as the issuing of a sentence. So you are condemned to prison. And Jesus is not saying, she did not sin. Rather, he is not sin, condemning her to the punishment, to the consequence of that sin. But he also says, go and sin no more. So he does not, you know, say, oh, my grace covers this sin. Keep doing the bad. No, he is very clearly saying, you know, I am taking on your sin, but go and live differently. So in closing, I want to think about two things. And the first is a strong warning. And this is a warning to all of us against using God's law, God's word, to promote our own personal agendas. And I think that is something that is if you look at church history, and I mean, you know, in a very broad sense, you have the Crusades, you have, you know, all these stories that have been tied to Christianity. And we have people using God's law to promote their own agendas and as a consequence, do horrible, awful things. And I also would say that that can also destroy a church when we try to use God's law to promote our own agendas. Secondly, we are called to hold God's law to a high standard, and that is in verses, the last verses go and sin no more. So again, equally as dangerous is to use this passage as an excuse that we don't ever call out sin or speak against sin. And that is not what Jesus did. Here. We are called to hold that, and it is a beautiful and dear thing. And we are called to hold it and commanded to obey it. Jesus said, I have not come to take away from the law, but to fulfill the law. So in closing, I want to read the first few verses of the next section that we will cover at a different date. But I want to read a few verses 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. And I think it's beautiful that in his next teaching, he not only. And in my mind, again, we don't know, but I'm thinking this lady is still Here he's released, you know, has not condemned her. He has commanded her to sin no more. And then in his next teaching that we're told, he points her to the light that will fill her and the way to not walk in darkness. And I'm going to also read a few verses a little further on in the passage. So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, if you abide in my word, you truly are my disciples. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. They answered him, we are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will become free? Jesus answered to them, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever. The Son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham. Yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen in my Father. And you do not do what you have heard from your Father. I want to leave you with these verses, and I just want to. We don't often do this here, but I do want to just invite you if you are seeking and have not allowed Jesus to set you free, if you have not decided to follow him. Jesus is waiting, not with condemnation, but with grace, to set you free. He is bent down for each of us and has become accessible through his death and resurrection. And I just invite each of us to open our hearts to that. And I trust that many of us already have and that we continue in that. But also, if you're here and you haven't been willing to do that, I invite you to do that today or as soon as you possibly can. Let's stand and have a word of prayer, and you can be dismissed. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for coming to this earth to Dutton, dying for our sins and being not condemning us, but rather saving us. And Lord, I just pray that we would each continue to open our hearts to your light and allow you to dwell within us. Lord, thank you for salvation and the fact that we no longer have to live in darkness. Bless each person here that we may go throughout the week living to honor and glorify you in your name. Amen.