Thank you, Tom. I was hoping we would sing that hymn. I sent Tom the title to my message I wanted to try to preach this morning, and the title of it was the first line in that hymn. Free from the law's great curse. Free from the law's great curse. Our text is found in John chapter 8, if you'd like to turn there with me in your Bibles. The eighth chapter of the Gospel of John. We were here last Sunday, those of you that remember, and looked at the hypocrisy of the Pharisees as they brought this woman who had been caught in adultery before the Lord and foolishly thought they could trap him in a argument that he could not win. And of course, he responds to them in verse seven. When they continued to ask in him, he lifted himself up and said to them, He that is without sin among you, let him cast a stone, let him first cast a stone at her. So when they, and verse nine, and again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground, and they which heard it, being convinced by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last, and Jesus was left alone. and the woman standing in the midst. And when Jesus had lifted himself up, he 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." Never happier words heard from a sinner than for the Son of God to say, neither do I condemn thee. Precious words of life to a sinner. Only a guilty sinner would find these words to be full of hope. Only a guilty sinner would find these words to be full of salvation, peace, mercy, life. Only a guilty sinner would be able to rejoice in these words. Neither do I condemn thee to someone who does not believe themselves to be a sinner, Neither do I condemn thee would be nothing but just words. It wouldn't mean anything. Only to one who believed themselves to be worthy of condemnation would these words bring with them hope, joy, life. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit. and they are life. This was not a trial represented by a defense attorney. She had no one to defend her. She had no plea to make against the accusations that were made against her. The law was clear and she was guilty. At sentencing, she would not be sent to a prison to serve out some time on death row, even. No. Once sentenced, execution would be immediate. And it wouldn't be by lethal injection. It would be by the horrible experience of stoning. she'd be pummeled with stones by an angry mob. Not in her wildest dreams did she think that her accusers would walk away. When caught, she knew her end, and she knew that it would be quick. Never in her wildest dreams Could she imagine that her accusers, one by one, would walk away and that she would hear the voice of God say to her, neither do I accuse you. But here we are. Here we are. The law is clear. The judgment is sure. We have no defense. There isn't a There isn't a loophole in God's law and there's no appeal to God's law. In the day that you sin, you shall surely die. The death penalty was the result and is the result and always will be the result of sin. The Pharisees all left, and I love what we read in verse 9, and Jesus left alone and the woman standing in his midst. An average criminal would have fled when the accusers left. The Lord was looking down. He had not accused her. They had all went their way. What kept her from running for her life? Grace. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. The Lord was giving her ears. In Luke chapter 14, verse 35, we read those words. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And then in the very next verse, we read these words, then drew near unto him the publicans and sinners for to hear him. Only publicans and sinners have ears to hear. If we don't hear the gospel as good news, it's because we're not a sinner. It's because we don't believe ourselves to be under condemnation, and we don't believe ourselves to be worthy of eternal judgment. But if the Lord's given us any spiritual understanding at all, if he's made us to be a sinner, as this woman was obviously made to be, then we will find ourselves standing in the midst waiting to hear a word from Him, and so hopeful that it will be these words, neither do I condemn thee. Neither do I condemn thee. If God be for me, who can be against me? And if the Lord Jesus make you free, oh, You are free indeed. Free to continue in this pattern of life? Well, let's go back to our text. Go and sin no more. That doesn't mean that she's going to live a sinlessly perfect life any more than you and I would be able to do that. It doesn't mean that her flesh was somehow made perfect. The Lord's just saying to her what he says to us. The inducement that God gives to the heart for following after him is his mercy and his forgiveness and his grace and his love. That's what we're, if Jesus shall make you free, you're free indeed. Free to what? Free to love, free to worship, Free to believe. There was a time you couldn't believe. Free to follow. Free to rejoice. Free to rest. Free to hear. Neither do I. Neither do I condemn thee. We might ask what it was that we didn't read this verse. Let's go back. In verse 5, now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned, but what sayest thou? These foolish hypocrites, believing that they were going to catch God. They were going to trap him in a place where if he said stoner, then the people would no longer be drawn to him. If he said, let her go, then they could accuse her, accuse him of not honoring God's law. He's gonna honor God's law. He's gonna honor God's law. He's not gonna honor it by executing judgment against his people. He's gonna honor it by taking that judgment on himself. That's what he's gonna do. In verse six, and they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him. Self-righteousness is always that way. A critical, judgmental spirit towards others is always for the purpose of trying to make oneself look better, hide behind the veil of that sort of condemnation. It's pretty thin veil. Pretty thin veil. We see it. We see it, don't we? We see it in others. We see it in politicians. We see it in preachers. We see it most clearly in ourselves. It's a thin veil. And verse seven, so when they continued asking him I'm sorry, verse six, tempting him that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them not. He ignored them. He stoops down and takes his finger and begins to write on the ground. Now much speculation has been made as to what the Lord Jesus wrote. We can't tell for certain. Where the scripture is silent, we must be silent. We can't say with certainty what the Lord was writing on the ground. But we do interpret scripture by scripture. We compare scripture to scripture. And in so doing, What are the other two times in the Bible where God wrote with his finger? The first was Mount Sinai, when he took those tablets of stone and he wrote with the finger of God on those tablets, the 10 commandments. When was the second time that God wrote with his finger? In Daniel chapter five, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, Belchazzar, was now king of Babylon. And he took the instruments of worship from the temple in Jerusalem and brought them into his own pagan worship. And God would have allowed him to continue what he was doing until he involved the name of Jehovah in his false worship. And when he did that, the hand of God wrote on the wall, And what did that writing, Daniel had to be brought in to interpret what the writing was. We know what the writing was. In short, it was this. You have been found in the balance and been found wanting. You've been weighed in the balance and you've been found wanting. And your kingdom is to be taken from you and given to the Medes and the Persians. And that very night, the Medes and the Persians came in and killed Belshazzar and all of his court and took over Babylon. You've been weighed in the balance and you've been found wanting. That's what the law does. The law weighs us in the balance. Man might think that In heaven, there is a balance scale with his name on it, and he may spend his whole life trying to pile up good deeds on one side in hopes of tipping scales to his advantage over his sin. The problem with that is that everything man does to tip the scale goes on the sin side of the scale. You've been weighed in the balance and you've been found wanting, why? Because the scale that God is judging by has his law on one side of it. And there's only one that tipped that scale and balanced it. There's only one that made the law honorable. I believe the Lord was writing the Ten Commandments on the ground. It's what he wrote before. And he said to those men that were accusing that woman, those that are without sin, you cast the first stone. And someone said, well, Didn't Saul of Tarsus, the Apostle Paul later, say concerning the law, I was blameless? Aren't these Pharisees, didn't these Pharisees believe themselves to be beyond reproach when it came to the law of God? Did not the rich young ruler, when he came to the Lord Jesus and he said, good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And the Lord said, you know the law. And what'd the rich young ruler say? I've done those things since my youth. Again, the scripture is silent on this point, but I believe there's enough parallels between the rich young ruler and the apostle Paul to say that perhaps they were the same person. Concerning these things, I was blameless. But Paul went on to say, but when the commandment came, Sin revived and I died. What was the commandment that the Holy Spirit brought to Paul's heart? Thou shalt not covet. You see, Paul was interpreting the law of God as his outward behavior. Saul of Tarsus was. And he said, that which I thought was gain to me, I now know was loss. And I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Paul went around measuring his life by other men's life, measuring his outward behavior by the law, and convincing himself that he was a law keeper. So why did these other, if Lord was writing the law on the ground, why did these other Pharisees, beginning with the oldest and down to the youngest, sheepishly, with head bowed, shamefully, walk away when the Lord said, he's without sin, cast the first stone? The only conclusion I can come to is that Saul of Tarsus, who became the Apostle Paul, was an exception. The rest of these Pharisees were just like Pharisees today. They were living a double life. There are few Pharisees that can say, with Saul of Tarsus concerning the law, I was blameless. The vast majority of Pharisees who are looking at outward appearances and trying to impress men with how righteous and how holy they are, are living a double life. Particularly the ones that are promoting the law so strongly. You hear a preacher preaching against a particular sin and mark it down, that's the sin he's committing. And that's what these Pharisees were. They were just like most Pharisees today. Paul was an exception. When the Lord confronted them with the law, the law did what the law is supposed to do. It made sin utterly sinful. And they had no defense. But there's a great distinction between what they did and what this woman did. They were driven away from Christ by the law. The law was not their schoolmaster. The law was their righteousness. And being convicted by the law and unwilling to admit that they were not law keepers, they were forced. to leave the presence of Christ. This woman knew she had not kept the law. She was a sinner. She was a mercy beggar. And she stayed right there. What was her hope? What was her hope? Perhaps we We looked at it earlier in the first hour. Let's go back to that passage of scripture real quick in Joel. Joel chapter two. Verse 13, and rend your heart, not your garments. The self-righteous Pharisee goes about trying to establish his own righteousness, rending his garment, showing how humble and how pious and how righteous he is. The Lord said, don't rend your garment, rend your heart. Rend your heart and turn unto the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful. Could it be that this one who was riding on the ground might be merciful to me? My only hope is that he would show me mercy. If he holds me to the standard of his law, I'm dead. I have no defense. Perhaps he will be the one who's slow to anger. Perhaps he will be the one that is of great kindness. Perhaps he. When the Bible speaks of God repenting, and it often does, the Lord is using language that we can identify with. We know that our God is immutable. The Lord said, you sons of Jacob, I change not. And that's the reason why you're not consumed. I chose you in the covenant of grace. I redeemed you. I've not changed my righteousness. I've not changed my justice. Everything is all is the same with me as it's always been. God doesn't change his mind. He doesn't have a plan B. He doesn't repent. But the Lord uses this kind of language because that's the way we are. And he's just expressing to us, just expressing to us what our hope is. Perhaps the wrath and judgment of God won't fall on me. Who knows? Look at verse 14. Who knoweth if he will return and repent and leave a blessing behind him? Maybe he'll leave me a blessing. Maybe it'll be a meat blessing. Maybe it'll be a drink offering. Maybe he'll leave me with Christ. And that's exactly who the Lord Jesus left her with. That's who she, it's just her and Christ. The truth is, the truth is that there is a God with whom we must do. And there will come a day of reckoning when every man will stand by themselves in the presence of God. They'll not be able to walk away like these Pharisees. They'll not be able to hide in their own self-righteousness. They'll not be able to pretend among men to be so righteous. Find themselves like this woman in the presence of the Savior. in need of mercy. If we stand before the judge of all men on the basis of our law keeping, he has no choice but to declare us guilty. The law will drive the self righteous Pharisee away from Christ. The truth of law will cause the child of God to say, Oh, Lord, have mercy on me. Stay right there. Perhaps, perhaps he will have mercy on me. The problem with the law driving men away is that where did these men go to? Where did they go? They went back to the law. They went back to their religion. And here's the truth. There is no place farther from God than works religion, free will religion. There is no man so blind as the one who thinks he can see when he can't. There's no one more hardened to the truth of the gospel than the self-righteous Pharisee. They went deeper into their rebellion against God. In all the addictions of the flesh, there are no chains so strong as the chains of works religion." She didn't run. She didn't run. Surely she saw the gentleness of Christ. Perhaps this gentleman will find a way to show mercy towards me. But if he does, if he does, it won't be by overlooking my sin. If it does, it won't be by not satisfying the demands of the law. She had no way of knowing how he might do that. How is it that God can satisfy justice and be merciful toward us. Turn with me to Galatians chapter three, Galatians chapter three. It wouldn't be long from this day, about six months, the Lord would leave Jerusalem. And the next time he came back from John chapter eight, they would arrest him and, um, and he would be crucified. And this poor woman had no way of knowing that six months from now, the Lord Jesus would, would answer the question as to why and how God could not condemn her. Galatians chapter 3 verse 13, Christ hath redeemed us, he hath purchased us with his own blood from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Now the law said in Deuteronomy that if a man committed a crime that was worthy of death, the capital crime, he was to be put to death but his body was not to be left on the tree overnight. Kind of like when Absalom got caught in a tree, a glorious picture of Christ. His body had to be taken down. That the curse be not on, in the law it says the body cannot remain on the tree lest all of Israel be cursed. by this shameful dead body that's left upon the tree. The curse was to be only on the one that died. If it was left on the tree, the curse would be on all men. Joseph of Arimathea went and pleaded with Pilate for the body of Christ that it might be taken down before sunset. Otherwise, the curse would be upon all Israel. Of being taken down, the curse was upon him. Being made a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth upon a tree. who shall deliver me from the body of this death. Thanks be to God, through Christ Jesus I am free. There is therefore no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, we're not measuring the hope of our salvation by things that can be seen, with the natural eye. They that are after the flesh, the scripture goes on to say in Romans chapter eight, they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. And they that are of the flesh cannot please God. No, we walk not after the flesh, we walk after the spirit. It is the spirit that enables us to look through the eyes of faith to what the Lord Jesus did on Calvary's cross in becoming a curse for us. in answering the question, how, how can he say to a guilty sinner, neither do I condemn thee, neither do I condemn thee. Let's close with Romans chapter 10. Verse one, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Paul's praying for his brethren in the flesh, that God would have mercy upon them, for I bear them record. This is what I know from my observation and this is what I know from my own personal past experience, that they have a zeal of God They're very religious, but not according to knowledge for they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. When the Lord wrote the law, they didn't flee. No, she didn't flee. They did, she didn't flee, she stayed right there. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. I did not come to destroy the law, I came to fulfill it. He made the law honorable as far as what Isaiah tells us. Every dot and every tittle of God's law was met by the Lord Jesus, not just in his life, but in his heart, in his thoughts, in everything that he did. And then he bore in his body upon that tree our sin. And the greatest demonstration of God's wrath and judgment that this world has ever known fell upon our sin bearer, our substitute at Calvary's Cross. That's what breaks the heart. That's what broke this woman's heart. It wasn't the fear of the law. She had somehow escaped the judgment of the law. Maybe she would have gone back to the same pattern of life, but no. It was the voice of God that said to her, neither do I condemn thee. that broke her heart and caused her to want to follow after him. Verse five, for Moses described it, the righteousness, which is of the law, that the man which do it, those things shall live by them. If you're going to, if you're going to keep the law for the hope of your salvation, you got to keep it all perfectly. not just like Saul of Tarsus who thought that he had kept the law, but when the commandment comes, thou shalt not covet. In other words, when the law speaks to the motives and intents of the heart. Now I would say, let's be careful not to check our motives too closely, because we'll find that our motives are never pure as the, as the, as the snow, there's always something selfish and self-righteous in every motive. That's where God's looking. That's where God's looking. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, say not in thine heart who shall ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down from above. What can I do to make what Jesus did work for me? Well, if you'll pray this prayer, if you'll do this or do that or abstain from this or the other, you can make the work of Christ work for you. Or who shall ascend down in the deep that is to bring Christ up again from the dead? Again, what can I do to make his death effectual? It was the resurrection of Christ that made the death of Christ effectual. He was offered up for our offenses and raised again because of our justification. We don't try to justify ourself before God. It's the resurrection of Christ that justifies us. We don't look to something that we've done to establish our righteousness before God. Christ is our righteousness who's seated at the right hand of God. So we don't say, what can I do to bring him down to establish a righteousness? What can I do to raise him up? But what saith it? So what does the word say? The word is nigh unto thee, even in thy mouth and in thine heart. That is the word of faith which we preach. Faith by its very nature. Faith by its very nature is the absence of all works. It's the absence of all righteousness. It is as we saw in the previous hour, it is coming to God, Not offering our hearts as a sin offering. Not offering our lives as our bargaining chip. No, faith is the admission that, Lord, there's nothing I can do. I've got to have someone outside of me. It's trusting Christ. Faith is not our work. Faith is the confession that we have no works. That's what faith is. Men make a work out of faith, they've misunderstood faith altogether. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth under righteousness, It is the heart that looks to Christ for all of my righteousness before God, and it is the mouth that makes confession unto salvation. We confess Christ for who he is. He's all my salvation before God. I can't add anything to what he did, and I dare not take anything away from what he accomplished. He's all. This is the confession of faith. For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, shall be saved. Neither do I condemn thee." Oh, what hope those words give to a sinner, one who has no righteousness, one who is unable to save themselves, one who can bring nothing, one who, like that woman, was guilty of death and judgment. She had no appeal, no attorney, no hope of living beyond that day. She was going to die the most violent death. The Lord Jesus had mercy upon her. Why? Because when the law was written, she didn't run back to her religion. She didn't run to her righteousness. She stayed right there in the presence of the Savior with only one hope, that he would have mercy upon me, and that I might hear him say, neither do I condemn thee, and that my condemnation would be put on him. Our Heavenly Father, thank you for these words of life. Lord, we pray that you would speak them to our hearts. Lord, like this adulterous woman, we have been guilty of so many forms of adultery. The most severe is that which we've looked away from our husband and found our comfort and our hope in the arms of another. Lord, our hearts are so prone to wonder. Lord, let us sit at thy feet and plead thy mercy. Lord, might we hear those precious words Neither do I condemn thee. Thank you for this table. Thank you for the bread and for the wine. Thank you for the eye of faith that's able to look beyond these physical elements and see the body and blood of Christ. Bless it now, Lord, for your glory and for our good. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. 252. Let's stand together. 352.