Turn back to John Chapter 8. Last year for my birthday, our
son-in-law got me a series of books on the Civil War. It's
three books written by a father and a son. The father wrote the
middle book, which is strictly about the Battle of Gettysburg.
And then the son, Jeff Shera, wrote the first book, leading
up to Gettysburg and then the last book, The Finish of the Civil War.
And I don't think I've ever read anything written quite like that
in my life. The way that they were able to
tell that story, it puts you right there in the trenches,
puts you right there on the battlefield. I'd read a while and then I'd
cry a while. It's one of the most sorrowful
things I believe I've ever read in my life. It's just, but the
ability that those men had to put on paper that that was in
their thoughts, what a gift that is. What a gift that is. And
I used to communicate, still do, with Gary Williams down in
Crossville. And Gary, he does some preaching,
fills the pulpit some. And Gary has this say, and he
uses it all the time. He said, oh, I wish I could tell
out Christ the way He should be told. Well, I've lived long
enough to hear giants. God's given amazing gifts and
talents to men in my lifetime to preach the Gospel. I remember
as a kid, I heard Ralph Barnard, and he scared me to death to
hear Ralph Barnard preach as a little kid. It was his eyes. He'd look out over that pulpit
and I'd think, oh my, is there nobody else here but me? I was about ten years old, you
know. But what a gift the Lord gave that man. What a gift the
Lord gave Henry Mahan all those years. And you can name them.
The Lord's raised up men that's well-versed, that's bibling in
this Word of God. They're able to just communicate
it Tell out the Lord Jesus Christ. I wish I could do that. I wish
I could do that. The Lord's not giving me that
gift. He's not giving me that talent.
But I guarantee you this, everyone, everyone that has seen something
of the majesty and glory of our God, everyone that has seen what
the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us, everyone that has seen
the price that He paid to redeem a wretch like me and you, we
do have a story to tell. I can't tell it like it should
be told. I can't tell it like I want to tell it. But I do have
a story to tell. Now here in this portion of God's
Word that we're going to look at, in the previous chapter,
in chapter 7, our Lord was in Jerusalem. And it was at the
time of the Feast of Tabernacles, one of those high holy days.
There were several of them in the calendar year. When Jews,
if they could, from all over the world, they came to Jerusalem. In this particular feast, the
Feast of Tabernacles, they were there for eight days. And the
Lord came up to that feast, in the middle of the feast, about
Wednesday or Thursday, and then on the last day of the feast,
after it was all over, and we'll pick up there in John chapter
7 and in verse 37, in the last day, that great day of the feast,
they had been in a conference, so to speak, for a week, for
eight days. They had had preaching. They
had had teaching. They had reading of the Law of
Moses. They had all those things that
went on. They had sacrifices. All those things that went on
for eight days. And now this was the eighth day.
This was the final day. And people were leaving. And
our Lord seen those people leaving and they were still in their
sin. They still knew nothing about Him. They knew nothing
about how God saves sinners. They knew nothing about, what
do you do about this thing called sin? How's an awful sinner made
righteous in the sight of God? They didn't know any of those
things. And the Lord seen them gone away empty and without Christ
and without hope and without help. And he stood on that last
day. And with a loud voice, he cried,
is anybody thirsty? We all know something about that,
don't we? Isn't that just basic, understandable words? Is anybody
thirsty? Let him come to me. Let them
come to me. Have you ever been thirsty? Have
you ever been thirsty? There's a movie coming out next
month. The lady that wrote the book Seabiscuit has written a
book called Unbroken. And it's a man by the name of
Louis Zamperini. It's the most amazing reading
you'll ever read if you ever get the opportunity to read Unbroken.
Laura Hilgenberg wrote the book. They're making a movie about
it and it's coming out next year, next month, unbroken. But this man was a World War
II, they crashed the plane out in the ocean and he was one of
the two survivors and floated out there in the ocean for 63
days. 63 days, it's the most amazing
reading you'll ever read. And then he was captured and
ended up in a Japanese prison and war camp till the conclusion
of the war. But he knew something about thirst.
But I don't know anything about thirst. I heard Henry say once,
we live on a river back there. We live right on that high river.
We don't know anything about thirst. Sometimes we've got too
much water, you know. But the thirst that the Lord
is talking about here is a soul thirst. Is anybody thirsty? Let Him come to me. Let Him come to me. This Philippian
jailer, when he rushed in that cell there at midnight when the
Lord had shook that prison, opened all those gates, and that prisoner
with his sword drawn fell in there on his face and said, Sirs,
what must I do to be saved? If you know something about that,
then I recommend you go to Christ. Go to Him. Go to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Don't get sidetracked. There's
people everywhere. You meet them everywhere, down
on the job, in your homes, in your families. There's people
everywhere that will sidetrack you. But he said, are you thirsty? Are you thirsty? Do you want
something done about this thing called sin? Then you come to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And as the Scripture hath said, he went on, out of your belly,
out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water. Out of
your belly. We do know doctrine. And we love doctrine. And we
love when doctrine is taught. But doctrine does not say. He
says it's out of your belly. It's out of your heart. It's
out of your innermost being. Out of your true person. Out
of your soul. Out of your bowels. You come to Christ. You come
to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're thirsty. And drink.
And drink in His goodness and mercy and grace and forgiveness.
And out of your belly. Out of your true person. It shall
flow. It's perpetual. It's not a one-time event when
you're twelve years old and that's the end of it and you just go
on your merry way. This is a perpetual flowing. It's an everyday. It's
a new life. It's a new birth. It's a new
beginning. It's new understanding and learning
and a new vision of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's out of your
innermost being, out of your soul. It shall flow. Rivers. It's abundant. It's abundant. It's sufficient for the darkest
trials. We know something about that. It's sufficient for the
heaviest burden. It's sufficient. Out of your
belly shall flow rivers of living water. This is living water. The Lord Jesus Christ in you.
That hope. That hope that will never fade.
And so when he finished preaching, many people believed on him.
Those that were supposed to believed on him. Those that were determined
to believe on Him, believed on Him. Others said, we don't believe
that. We don't believe any of that. And there was a division
because of the message of the Lord Jesus Christ. And those
soldiers that had been sent by the priests and the Pharisees
to take the Lord Jesus Christ, they come back empty-handed.
They didn't have it. And they said to Him, well, how come you
didn't bring Him? And they said, no man ever spoke like this man.
Have you heard Him speak? Have you heard Him speak in that
still, small voice? Are you thirsty? Come to Me. Come to Me and rest. Come to
Me and rest. And so all this tumult going
on in the city of Jerusalem, and it says here in chapter 8,
verse 1, and Jesus left. And He went into the Mount of
Olives. You see that? Chapter 8, verse 1. Jesus went unto the
Mount of Olives. He withdrew himself from all
that tumult, from all that crowd, from all that confusion, from
all that trouble, and he went into the mountain. And we're
not told what happened that night. Did he go there just for rest?
I tend to believe he went there and prayed. I believe he was
in prayer all night for what he had seen that day. The crowds
of people. The crowds of people. And they
were all going away without him, without hope. without an understanding
of who they are and who the Lord Jesus Christ is. But then in
verse 2, after that night, early in the morning, He came again
into the temple. Early in the morning. And this is good advice
here. The troubles of yesterday, leave
them there. Leave them there. This is a brand
new day. Leave those troubles of yesterday. Leave them there.
Our Lord left them there. Left that tumult, that crowd,
that confusion, that division, And He came early in the morning.
Early in the morning. He didn't put it off until He
was tired and weary and worn out from a day's work. He got
there early in the morning. There was people there waiting
on Him. There was people that was going to hear the Gospel
from the Lord Himself. And He came early in the morning. He
came to the temple. And all the people came to Him. Those crowds
of people that had heard Him and believed in Him couldn't
wait to hear Him again. Don't we know something about
that? Don't we want to hear about Him? Don't we want to hear from
Him? See what He says? See what He
leaves us? They came to Him, and this is beautiful here. He
sat down. He sat down. Right in the middle
of the people. Right among the people. He sat
down. And I know this is needful. I know this is needful, this
elevated platform for the voice to carry and all that. FDR, remember that? No, you don't
remember that. He had those fireside chats.
Henry remembers that. He had those fireside chats and
he just talked to the people. He just communicated with the
people. He didn't put himself way up on a pedestal and sternly
talk down to them and rough them up. These are people, he wanted
them to understand what he had to say. He wanted them to know
everything he said. I've lived a pretty long time.
And I've got little grandchildren. This little one that I told you
about in Sunday school. I've taught every one of them.
I'm a whittler. I love to whittle. We found some cedar slabs here
a couple weeks ago. There's nothing like whittling
a piece of cedar with a sharp knife. It's just amazing. And
I've taught all the grandkids how to whittle, every one of
them. And Ben's the last one. We'll walk back up on the hill,
you know. We'll find us a tree. We'll sit down there. Ben will
find him a stick, you know. I'll give him that knife. It's
sharp. It's sharp. I don't just throw him that knife.
I don't just throw him that knife and say, there it is, Ben. Learn
how to whittle. I show him everything I know about whittling. The first
thing, Ben, you want to make sure that thing locks. Listen
for that snap when you open that. Because if it don't lock and
you go to pry on something, that thing will slam shut and cut
your fingers wide open. It's sharp. I want him to understand
those things. I sit right there beside him.
I have him sitting right there on my knee. And I tell him what
I know. I want Him to understand. Me
and you always whittle away from Him. Don't whittle towards Him.
Always whittle away from Him. Always do those things. I want
Him to understand. Our Lord came in among those
people. This is God Himself. And He come in surrounded by
a bunch of maggots on a watermelon rind. And He got right in among
them. And He sat down. He said, I've
got a story to tell you. I've got something to tell you.
And that's what Henry used to say all the time. That's what
preaching is. It's communicating. It's to communicate with people.
Has the Lord done something for you? Yeah, but I can't get up
there and use them big words. No. Has He done something for
you? Has He given you life? Has He
saved you? Has He took away your sin and shame? It don't matter
how primitive it is you tell it. Tell it. The Lord God of
glory came and sat out here among a bunch of sinners. a bunch of
awful, ugly sinners, and said, let's talk. And he began to tell
them about how God saves sinners. And it's all because of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now listen, if you can imagine
this thing, here's the Lord Himself right there among them people.
Can't you just see Him? I bet they didn't even breathe.
I bet they held their breath so they wouldn't miss a word.
Like Mary there at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just enamored. Just mesmerized. Just in a trance. I've never heard anything like
this before. And that's what it is when the Gospel is preached.
I've never heard anything like this before. And he was among
those people. And that door flew open. And
in come these holy people. These Pharisees and Sadducees. These religious people. And they
had this woman with them. And there was a hush fell over
the crowd. And I believe every eye turned. Like this morning.
If that door busted open and somebody come dragging a woman
in here, don't you think every eye would turn? I believe every
eye turned. No, I don't. I believe there
was one set of eyes that never even looked. I don't believe
he ever looked. I believe he was talking to the
people. That door busted open and they brought her in. He never
even looked. Like he never looked, I don't
think when that woman, that sinner come in. When he was at the house
of Simon, and that sinner come in. Oh my goodness, what's she
doing here? I don't believe he ever looked.
I don't believe he looked when this woman came in, was brought
in. This is one of his. This is one he's going to save.
This is one he's going to wash in his blood. This is one he's
going to take away her shame and guilt and set her free. I
don't believe he ever looked. I believe everybody else did.
And they brought this woman in and they set her right in the
midst of this crowd. There sat the Lord Jesus Christ. And they
brought this woman in. And they said to him, what an
interruption. What an interruption! How bold! How bold these men
must have been just to interrupt God Almighty speaking. My, oh
my! It's a wonder He didn't destroy
them. Right there. Interrupting God. Speaking to
sinners. But they brought her in. And
they set her in the midst. And they said unto Him, verse
4, This woman was taken in adultery in the very act. Now Moses in
the law commanded us that such should be stoned, but what sayest
thou? This they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse
him. But Jesus stooped down with His
finger and wrote on the ground as though He heard them not.
They brought her in and they set her right in the midst and
said, this woman, can't you just hear the arrogance contempt they had for her, this
woman was taken in adultery in the very act. Now, the old writers
say that when these events, these high holy days under this Jewish
economy, when they went and came to Jerusalem for those number
of days, that a lot of things went on. A lot of things goes
on around any event that gathers a group of people, and that's
just the way it is. and said, this is one of the
things that went on. There were certainly these things that happened. And this woman was in this act
and she was taken in the very act. And these Pharisees said,
and I don't know the particulars and your mind can just run amuck,
but it's not recorded, but sufficient to say in the very act of adultery,
this woman was taken by these religious men. We don't know
how many of them they were, but I can guarantee you this. These
were the best of the best under that Jewish economy. Under that
law keeping, these were the best of the best. These were the strictest
and the straightest. And like Henry used to say, they
were straight as a gun and just as empty. And that's what they
were. And they brought her. And there
was no denying the veracity of these men. There's no denying
what they were saying was true. These were the best of the best.
And they brought her and they said, now Moses in the law said
that she should be stoned. What do you say? Well, he had
no answer to this, because either way he answered, he's going to
give them ammunition to accuse him. If he says, no, she shouldn't
be stoned, then he's flying right into the face of the law of Moses,
because that's what it says to be done. If he said, yes, she
should be stoned, then he flies against the Roman authority,
because they it was who was occupying Israel at this time. And they
were the ones that was the authority to do anything like that. So
he had no answer. Either way, they was going to
accuse him. And I thought when I read this, there's times when
we're questioned with some pretty difficult questions. And the
answer to those questions is going to be received wrong either
way we answer them. And our Lord showed much wisdom.
He didn't even answer them. He didn't even answer them. We
don't always have to give an answer when those things are
proposed to us. Sometimes it's best to let me
think on this. Let me take this a day or two
and give this some thought rather than to say something that's
going to bring an accusation. So the Lord just turned from
him and he stooped down and he began to write on the ground.
Now, there's been volumes written. I got all the commentaries that
I have access to. There's volumes written about
what the Lord wrote on the ground. It's not recorded. It's not recorded. So it may be that it's best just
to leave it there, whatever it was he did. But I remember years
ago, and I always refer to Henry, I just do, you know, Henry was
my pastor my whole life. But I went to Henry once and
I said, Henry, is it wrong to let your sanctified imagination
kind of run ahead and say, oh, I wonder if this could have possibly
been what he wrote. And Henry, this was the advice
that Henry gave me, he said, as long as you don't injure the
Scriptures, he said, as long as you don't injure the Scriptures,
he said, you're not bringing harm to the Scriptures, he said,
you're on solid ground. Well, if the Lord did write something,
and we might assume what it might be, I tend to think that these
high-muckety-mucks in religion, these best of the best, boy,
they were straight legs. They stepped over the line. They
never carried anything on Sunday that was too heavy. All those
particular things. They washed their arms all the
way to their elbow. They were something with that
Law of Moses. But they, all of them, like all
of us, we have those things nobody knows but me. Are you with me
on this? Or am I out here by myself? Ain't
nobody knows this but me? Well, the Lord knows. I promise
you that. I believe He may have wrote.
begin to write some of these things that these men that nobody
knew. And you'd be embarrassed to even
breathe if somebody didn't know. I believe he did. I believe he
wrote that. I believe he wrote that. And they continued. Look
at that in verse 7. They continued asking him. They
continued to torment him and go to him and say, what do you
say? What do you say? What do you say? And he lifted
up himself and he looked them in the eye. Boy, this is humbling here. This is humbling here. When I
get on my high horse, and I can, I can really cut and slash and
burn sometimes somebody else. And our Lord looked them right
in the eye and He said, whichever one of you is without sin, you
cast the first stone. Boy, that's humbling right there.
That will put us in our place. And then he went right back,
verse 8, and he stooped down and he wrote on the ground some
more. He may have wrote other things, other details that nobody
knew, but these men that had brought this woman in. And they
which heard, verse 9, being convicted of their own conscience, went
out one by one, beginning at the oldest, even unto the last,
and Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst.
They all left. And the oldest one left first.
And I kind of believe this. You know, we who've been around
longer, we would leave first because we've got more baggage. We have had greater opportunity
to do these things that are awful and ugly than these young ones.
We've had more opportunity, more cause to let the badger loose,
so to speak. Let the old man run wild. We've
got more cause. We've got more shame on us. More
guilt. And so they all left. They all
left. And there's nobody left now but
this woman. And there she stands. Verse 10, And Jesus lifted Himself
up and saw none but the woman. And He said unto her, Woman,
where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? And
she said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither
do I condemn thee. Isn't that something? Five more
words right there. Neither do I condemn thee. Is that the best word you've
ever heard in your life? Neither do I condemn thee. Well, in the
first place, let's go back and look at this. In the first place,
they brought this woman, taken in the act of adultery, And they
brought her in and set her in the midst of this crowd of people
and the Lord Jesus Christ. The first thing that jumps out
at me is, this woman did not say one word. Do you think that if she was
innocent, she wouldn't have had a lot to say? I know one thing. If I'm accused of something and
I didn't do it, I'm going to have a lot to say. But this woman
didn't say one thing. Why do you reckon she didn't
say anything? You know. She's guilty. And she knows she's
a dead dog guilty. She's got no defense. She's got
nothing to say. Not one thing to say. And there
she stands. And she's going to die. This
day, this woman's going to die. because of that sin that she's
guilty of. I hope we put ourselves there
every day. We're guilty before God. And we've got nothing to
say. We've got no defense. But the Lord Jesus Christ, and
we don't know what He did. We don't know what He did. But
we know this, as a result of what He did, this woman went
free. We don't know everything that
He did. We don't know what He wrote on the ground. We can assume
or we can suspect, but we don't know all that took place at the
cross. We don't know all those mysteries of the Scripture. But
we know this much, and this woman knew this one thing. As a result
of what that man did, I've gone free. Uncondemned. Now here again, I believe this
woman left. I believe this woman left. And
I believe she headed back home, wherever that was. And I think
she may have run into one of her buddies, one of her girlfriends. And that girl might have said
something like, Susie, I seen them dragging you out of that
house this morning. Them Pharisees? That wasn't your house. That
man you were with is not your husband. And I seen them take
you down there. Susie, how did you get free?
What was your defense? And I think Susie said, I don't
have no defense. They caught me red-handed. I
was guilty. Are you guilty? Are you guilty before God? She said, I deserve to die. Do
we deserve to die for our sins? She said, Susie, how come you're
free? There's a man down there. His
name is Jesus of Nazareth. He's God Almighty in human flesh. And for everything that he did,
my accusers left. He took care of all my accusers.
And they're gone. Do we know something about that?
What do we have to accuse us? Well, our conscience for one
thing. I know what I am. You don't know what I am. This
is what you see. This is what you see. The best
that I can put forth. You don't see what goes on inside.
I do. I know what I am. Nobody can be uglier and more
awful than I can. Nobody can hold a grudge longer
than I can. Nobody can be more lax of thanking
God for all He's done for me. Nobody can be less at prayer
than I can or in the study of God's Word than I can. My conscience
condemns me. The law condemns me. The law
that says, Thou shalt... I can't do any of them. I can't
keep one preceptable. Six hundred and fifty of them.
Thou shalt not and thou shalt. I can't keep one of them. Not
perfectly. Now these old Jews, these Pharisees that brought
this woman, they thought they did. They'd had fifteen hundred
years with this law and they whittled it down where they made
it a set of principles that they adhered to, and it was all external.
Oh, they looked good on the outside. But the Lord Jesus Christ come
there in Matthew 5, and the Lord Jesus Christ said, you've heard
it said as old, thou shalt not commit adultery. None of these
Pharisees probably committed adultery. He said, but I say
unto you, now you've had 1,500 years interpreting my law, let
me tell you what I meant. You ever looked on a woman and
lusted after her in your heart? You've committed adultery already
in my eyes. Thou shalt not steal. Do you
covet another man? Are you content with what God's
given you? Whatever it is He's given you? Or do you look over
there and say, man, I wish I had that. I wish I had that farm
over there. Well, that's what's going on
here. That's what's going on here. The law condemns us. Satan condemns us. Satan's accuser
of the brethren. Do you remember that? When the
sons of God came into the presence of the Lord, and Satan came in
amongst them, and the Lord said to him, He said, Have you considered
my servant Job? There's none like him. There's none like him. And Satan said, What have you
been doing? He said, Well, I've been going up and down in the
world, in the earth, and traveling to and fro in it, seeking who
I may devour. He goes about like a roaring
lion. Well, I tell you what, a scary thing to me, these preachers
on TV, they always say, you know, Satan, Satan come at me and I
said, you know, boy, you're on thin ice there. You don't ever
want to go face to face with him. You're no match gaver or
what no match? He said the Lord will rebuke
thee. These fellas just don't know. They just don't know. But
Satan's an accuser of the brethren. He knows what we are. He knows
what we do. But they're all taken away. This
woman told her friend, she said, that man, all them accusers,
every one of them, taken out of the way. And he let me go
free. He's let me go free. Do we know
something about that? Do we know something about it?
We know what her story is. What's your story? Suffer a sinner
whose heart overflows, loving his Savior to tell what he knows.
Wants more to tell it. Would I embrace? Can you tell
this story? I'm only a sinner saved by grace.
That's what my story is. I wish I could tell it better.
I wish I could tell it more plain. I wish I could give God the glory
and the Lord Jesus Christ honor and praise for all He's done. Every man's life is a story.
And our story is this. I'm a sinner. And I've got no
hope, no help. And I'm doomed and damned. But
the Lord Jesus Christ came. He came and identified with His
people. He came right down here among
us. And He took our ugliness and awfulness and sin and guilt
and shame. And I don't understand this.
And I've read and read and read. And there's arguments and people
fussing and fighting and falling out. And I don't understand it.
But I know this one thing. the Lord Jesus Christ hung on
that cross, and I know this much, God killed Him. And whatever took place there,
however that amazing transaction took place, He killed Him because
of that sin of mine that was on Him. And I can't explain it,
and I can't argue it and debate it and write things about it,
but I know this much, my sin, He took on Himself And God killed
him in my place, and all them accusers, they're all gone out
of the way. And the Lord looks at me now
and says, I don't condemn you. I don't condemn you. I wish I could tell it like it
should be told. But that's my story. He did it
all. He did it all. Let's pray. Our
God and our Heavenly Father, we come once again into Thy presence,
and Father, we're thankful for all Thy goodness to us. We're
thankful for the blessings that You've showered on us in this
life. But Father, chiefly, above and beyond all things, we're
thankful that in Your mercy and in Your tender love, You chose
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. And in time, our
Lord Jesus Christ came and He died for our sins, took all that's
ugly about us and put it on Himself, and died in our room instead.
And He set us free. Father, enable us to tell it.
Enable us to brag on the Lord Jesus Christ like He should be
bragged on. Enable us to praise His matchless
name for His great glory. Be with
us in the days to come, Father. Continue to bless us and lead
us by Thy sovereign will. These things we ask in our Lord
Jesus Christ's name. Amen.