Greg, you called me, didn't you,
and asked me what I was going to preach from today? You chose
that reading according to that, didn't you? It's obvious. That
went so well. I appreciate you doing that. That's so good. Romans 8. We're
going to look at John 8, the Gospel of John, chapter 8. Your pastor has said this, other
men have said it, I say this, this gospel is for sinners. I mean, this gospel is for sinners.
It's only good news to sinners, condemned sinners. This is a
faithful saying, a wonderful true saying. from God who cannot
lie, that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners, even
the chief, the worst, those that are caught in the act. He came to save, like this woman. Many of you, if not most, have
heard this story before. But this is my story. This is
every sinner's story. Now that Christ, this is the
thing about this story, We've got to hear this, and we've got
to take our place with this woman. Guilt is charged. We've got to
see the handwriting of ordinances against us. And then, if brokenhearted
over that sin, then we've got to hear him say, no condemnations. And you leave this place like
this woman, happy, with peace. No clearer gospel message in
God's Word. As I said, if we do not take
our place with this woman, then Christ didn't come to take our
place. He came to save sinners. It doesn't begin in verse 1,
because the Bible wasn't written in verses, you know that. There
was a meeting of the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they sent
some officers to take the Lord of glory, apprehend Him, bring
Him to us. We're going to examine Him. These
examiners, these accusers, this one here's a little bit, they're
wanting to stone this woman. They're going to stand before
Him real soon after this. and they're gonna wish they never
had them eaten before. They're gonna wish they never
had rocks in their hands to throw at that woman. They're gonna
rue the day. And even those that came to take
him, they said, where is he? They said, we couldn't. Never a man spoke like this man.
They were just, this is the Lord of glory. This is God, God, Son
of God. Verse 53 at the end of this chapter
says that every man went to his own house. They had their little
meeting and they determined what they were gonna do with this
Jesus, and they all went to their own house, but Jesus, verse one,
went into the Mount of Olives. I want you to stop and think
about that just a minute. Everybody went to their own house. We really don't own anything,
you know that? We live in tents. We live in tents that the Lord
gave us. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The
world inhabits thereof. Everything in it. We don't own
anything. The only thing we're gonna have
when this is all over is six feet under the ground. Why did somebody come up with
this social distance of six feet? God's not mocked. He mocks man. Yeah, we're going
to keep six feet. Yes, you are. When it's all over,
you're going to be six feet apart. They had their little meeting.
And they went back to their houses, all comfortable and all warm
and all that. Our Lord, the Lord God who made
this world, the Lord God who gave us our houses, the Lord
God that they weren't thankful to, that they never gave a thought
to, that they hated, and they wanted to go back where he came
from. He had no place to lay his head. No place to lay his head. He, the
God who made this earth, came down to this earth, and even
when He was a child, said there's no room for Him. We don't have
room for Him. Man, we don't want Him. Go back. Got no place to say his name.
What condescension, huh? What love, what mercy? Who is
man, David said, who is man that thou art mindful of him? Why
would you even think on a worm, much less visit him? Why would
you come down to this place? Why would God come to this despicable
place? Be like us going down into a
cesspool. Why would God do that? Because he's God, not a man.
Because he's merciful. Because he's wonderful. He ain't
us, he ain't like us. Aren't you glad? He came down
to this despicable place. Nobody wanted him. came to his
own, his own received him not. But as many as received him,
who receives him? Nobody receives unless they're
born of God. Nobody accepts Jesus. That's
blasphemy. Bless his holy name in love and
mercy and grace, he accepts some of these rebels and makes sons
out of them. Thankful creatures out of them,
where they acknowledge God. God doesn't thank men for acknowledging
Him. We ought to thank Him that we
do. He went to the Mount of Olives,
and you know there's a scripture in the Old Testament that says
the Jews were murmuring in their tents. Did we do that? We got a tent that God gave us.
Do we murmur in it? Do we murmur? They murmured against
Moses. They murmured against God. They murmured against prophet.
They murmured, murmured, murmured, murmured. You got a tent? He
didn't. Give thanks. We got no room for
murmuring or complaining. You ought to be the most thankful
people on earth. Thank Him. Our Lord went to the Mount of
Olives and slept there. Verse 2, He came early in the
morning. Early in the morning, He came to the temple. All the
people came unto him and he sat down. This was his home. Where
does God dwell? Where did Christ dwell? You'd
find him in the temple all the time. You'd find him in little
towns and villages, in these little tabernacles, little amiable
tabernacles, little synagogues, where his people are. That's
where he dwelt. That's his habitation. The Lord loves the gates of Zion
more than any other dwelling place. where two or three are
met together, that's where you'll find him. The Lord, this is the
Lord Malachi spoke of, suddenly come to his temple to be with
his people. Is he here now? If it's just
two or three, in our story, one sinner, one sinner is gonna sure be glad
he was there. Well, he came and he sat down
and he talked then. Oh, would the Lord, would God the Lord
would teach us this morning something of his mercy, of his grace. Verse
three, scribes and the Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken
in adultery, set her in the midst of him. Scribes and the Pharisees
brought this woman. You know why the Lord was there
that day? Waiting on a woman. That's right. He came to that. Now, hasn't
everyone heard God yet? Have they not all heard? Many
are called, yes, but few are chosen. When this is all over,
nobody's going to be left standing. One more. He arranged this meeting
before the world began, like that woman at the well back in
John 4. Remember that? Our Lord came and sat on the
well. He didn't come there to get a drink. He never did take
a drink of that well. He didn't need that water, and
she didn't either. She needed him. He hadn't come
for that water, he'd come for her. And he brought her to that
well. Like this woman, he brought her.
It says they brought her. They brought her to him. Who
did? Who brought her? All that the Father giveth me
shall come unto me. That's what he said. My sheep
will hear my voice. They'll be brought to me. I'll
say to the north, I'll say to the south, give up. Both sides, give up. The east
to west, bring my children from afar. This woman is coming to
meet her Lord and her Savior. And he arranged this meeting
for the world. That's what we hope and pray for our lost children
and our lost spouses and our lost parents and all, don't we,
don't we? We try to bring them, we can't.
We try to make them hear the gospel, we can't. We try to get
them to come, we can't. We try to talk to them all we
can, we can't. I tell you who can, who alone
must, him. If he's chosen them, here's your
comfort, here's your hope, is that if he's chosen them, they're
coming. They're gonna come, nothing and
no one can stop them. that they're going to have to
be made sinners. They're made to know that they're sinners.
Like this woman. It says in verse 3, they brought
unto him a woman taken in adultery and they set her
in the midst. These men represent the law.
They thought they did. This woman was apprehended by
these law men. These men were under the law.
Look at chapter 7 verse, look at this, verse 48 and 9. Here's what they said. Just say
it out of their mouth. Have any of the rulers of the
Pharisees believed on him? No, we don't believe on him.
No, no, no, no. We don't need him. Well, we are
under the law. We keep the law. We don't need
him to tell us what the law is. Look at verse 49. It says, This
people who knoweth not the law are cursed. You say how ignorant
they are? They desire to be under the law.
They're cursed. They're the ones that are cursed.
They don't know it. We've got a sect of people down
there much like the Amish up here, the German Baptists, and
they wear all the clothing, as you know, and they try to keep
the law, especially Leviticus 19 about the beards and cutting
their hair a certain way and all that. It's a pick-and-choose
religion. It's a pick-and-choose. Whatever
laws you like, you keep those. The rest of them, you just cast
aside. Or the ones they don't know.
You know how many there are that they don't know? to offend in one point of the
law. You just went through Galatians here, didn't you? You know this,
to offend in one point to be guilty of. All of a sudden, everybody
in this world is trying to keep the laws of man. Under the law, I kind of like
it, I think. Under the law, do you? Do you
keep the speed limit? One time I got a ticket, my speedometer
was wrong. And my speedometer showed me
doing one mile an hour over the speed limit. And I was six mile
an hour over the speed limit. Well, I got my speedometer calibrated,
calibrated, calibrated, calibrated. I went to a lorry and we collaborated.
And it didn't work. But I calibrated it and I sent
it to the judge. And he sent me a ticket back
for one mile an hour over. Still guilty. It wasn't funny
to me at the time. It was in West Virginia on a
turnpike, about $250. Tell me you desire to be under the
law. Don't you hear the law? It's a curse. As many as are
under the works of the law are under the curse. They said, these
people don't know the law. They're under the curse. No,
you don't know the law, and you're under the curse. What we need from God, who is
just, is mercy. Every single one. I know of a
preacher one time from Jamaica that was visiting and he got
pulled over by the police for speeding and it says that he
said that when the officer started walking toward his window, he
started crying, mercy, mercy, officer, mercy, please have mercy. And he did. He did. That's what we needed. We're
all guilty of what? Everything. Right? Everything. We're going to see that. All
right, these fellas, these lawyers sat her in the midst and they
said in her master, I can hear their tone, they don't believe
he's their master, their teacher, they sure don't think he's their
lord and lord owns them, rules them, master. This woman was
taken in adultery. In the very act, they brought
her to him and set her in the midst of him, by him. You know, they could have brought
her anywhere, couldn't they? The law said stone her. They
could have taken her anywhere. They didn't have to take her
anywhere. They could have just picked up rocks and stoned him. But
in the providence of God, the grace and mercy of God, God had
them bring her to Christ. They brought her to the only
one who could justify her from everything. The only one. that
could clear her of all these judgments. They just happened
to bring her to him. They're trying to catch him up.
They're trying to trick him. They're trying to find faults
with him, a fault with him. They're trying to accuse him.
Well, the Lord had them bring her to him because that's what
he said. My sheep, they want to hear my
voice. He has the law. Have you ever thought about the
laws of schoolmaster to bring us to Christ? We preach the law,
yes we do, to condemn us, to condemn man. And once condemned,
the law sends us to Christ, like these men did. Isn't that a blessing?
To send her to Christ. And they brought her to Christ.
Her hap was to light on the field that belonged to Boaz. I don't see any recognition.
Ruth, in the story of Ruth, her mother-in-law, Naomi, she
was down and out with nothing and nobody, lost it all, and
Naomi said, you go glean, daughter, I desire rest and peace, for
you go glean. You follow the maidens of Israel
and you try to pick up some corn in the field. And Johnny, her
hap, it just so happened, she lit on, she came across, how
many fields were in Bethlehem? She lit on the field. That's
an old Southern biblical saying. She lit on the field that belonged
to the only person that could buy back everything for her. Is that luck? Ain't she lucky?
No, that's sovereign mercy. And this woman's hat, they're
going to bring her to the only one that can tell her. Clear. The one who wrote the law. They
brought her to the one who wrote it. Who said stone. Guilty. This is what they said. Look in verse 5. Now Moses in
the law commanded us that such should be stoned. What sayest
thou? Oh, how man tempts God, doesn't
he? Tries to test God with his own
word. Now this is what it says, Lord.
What are you going to do about it? Have we ever subjected God's
word to our judgment and opinion? This is what it says. What are
you going to do about it? Hmm. Aren't you glad the Lord's slow
to anger? Slow to wrath? Whew. Yeah. His wrath is kindled but a little.
Should have snuffed them all out right at the end there. He
didn't. What do you say? And that's what
I want to know. You know that? I hear what the
law says against me. What I want to know is what does
Christ say? This woman in this whole story never says one word
until the end. And everybody else is doing all
the talking. And the Lord, look at this, verse
six, it says, they tempted him that they might have to accuse
him. But Jesus stooped down. Oh, what gospel there he is in
one line, in a few words. He stooped down. First he condescended
to come down to this place in the first place. Why would he
do that? Infinite condescension, wonderful mercy and grace that
he would come down to this place. Who'd he come for? Wretched,
vile, poor, miserable sinners, guilty as charged. That's who
he came for. Why would he do that? Because
he's merciful, because he's ready to pardon, that's why. The old
what manner of love that the Father bestowed upon us, we.
You ever read that in that way? That I should be called a son
of God. He stooped down. He stooped down
where she was and with his finger wrote on the ground as though
he heard them not. With his finger he wrote on the
ground as though he heard them not. Did he hear them? He heard
every word. Just like he hears every word
that's splattered all over Facebook. Everybody's got so much, it's
the most talkative generation in the history of the world.
God hears every word and a man shall give an account for every
idle word. Isn't that what it says? This
is why he says, God's in the heaven and thou on earth, let
your words be few. Be not hasty with thy mouth to
utter anything before God. This is what we think, this is
what we, who cares? We need to hear from him. You
can't hear anything while you're talking. These two things won't
work together. When one's open, the other one
shuts. Man, got that something to say, you got nothing to say.
You're guilty. What the law sayeth, the sayeth
to them that are under the law. Every man but, shut up! We need to hear from God, don't
we? Everybody's talking. Oh, the
lofty looks of man are being brought down. Cover your faces. Cover your mouth. God said, I'm
tired of hearing what's coming out of your mouth. As though he heard them not. So they continued. Verse 7, they
kept talking. And he lifted up himself. Buddy, we need to see Christ
high and lifted up, don't we? He said, if I be lifted up, meaning
crucified on Calvary's tree like Moses held up that serpent on
the pole in the wilderness, if you're a sinner, you look to
him, you're going to be saved. You're going to be justified
from all things from which you cannot be justified by the law
of Moses. If he's lifted up on Calvary's
tree and you look to him, John, you're going to be cleared of
all charges. You're guilty of all charges. But if you look
to him, gone. Gone. Your sins are gone. But
if he lifts himself up in wrath and judgment, This is what he
did right now in this story. He stooped down in love and mercy
and grace, he wrote on the ground, but he stood up as they began
to keep talking and he looked them right in the eye. And it
wasn't pleasant. He who has dove's eyes, he who's
full of mercy and love and grace, he has eyes as a flame of fire.
He's a consuming fire. I need mercy, I don't need judgment. And he stood up in judgment,
and here's what he said. He that is without sin among
you, throw a stone. Go ahead. He looked at all of
them. I can see him now, can't you?
And would that he'd look into the eye and the heart of every
single sinner in this room and is hearing on there. Are you
without sin? You better be if you're gonna
throw a stone. That's what he said, didn't he? And then he stooped back down and wrote on the ground. What
was he writing? I've heard so many men preach
on this and the best preacher in our generation was my father.
I've heard him many times and he said, that perhaps, and there's
conjecture and we just guess, we don't really know, but perhaps
that he was writing names and dates and places of little this and that and the
other, that only those who had been there and done that knew,
and they didn't think anybody else knew about it, he was writing
it down. Thoughts. He knew their thoughts. He knew
every thought. He knows every thought we've had this morning. Would you like, how would you
like for your thoughts today to be put up on a screen right
here for everybody to see? Anybody. Anybody. He knows. Have we met here with
pure hearts to worship God and have thankful hearts as poor
wretched sinners needing mercy and grace hoping that the Lord
will meet with us and speak to our hearts and in gratitude singing
these songs from the depth of our heart with pure heart and
soul not lifted up to vanity and our thoughts haven't wandered
anywhere but we've given our God perfect all our attention. Have we? Are we thinking about
other things? That's spiritual adultery. Scripture talks about, all through
the scriptures, about adultery, doesn't it? James calls all of
us by nature adulterers, doesn't it? Why? Because that's loving
things and other people and giving yourself to others rather than
your mate. And God is supposed to be our
husband, our father, and we think about things more than God. We spend more time with things
than we do God. That's adultery. Shame it. He stooped down. He's writing
things on the ground. Perhaps he was writing names
and dates and places. Perhaps he was writing laws from
the law. This is the one that wrote the
law. Maybe he was writing laws that they weren't aware of, that
they overlooked. Maybe he's writing laws. I like
Leviticus this and that and the other way. He wrote the next
verse. I forgot, I didn't see that one. You know, there's only a couple
of times when scriptures talks about a hand or a finger writing,
isn't it? Right? The finger of God wrote the Ten
Commandments, that's what it said. He wrote it with the finger,
and then that king, the Babylonian king, says the handwriting on
the wall, mene, mene, take out the parson, weighed in the balances
and found one in. That's the same hand. It's the
same hand writing on the ground here that wrote the law. This
is the one who wrote the law. They said Moses says in the law.
No, Moses didn't say that. Christ could have said, Brother
Greg, he could have said, I said that. I'm the one who wrote that. Why did God say stone somebody? Ever thought about that? How
do you say, shoot him with an arrow or hang him with a rope
or take a sword and pierce him through? Why do you say stone
then? Because this is the stone of
stumbling. He himself is the stone of stumbling
and the rock of offense. He's the one that's been offended.
My sin, sin is against him and him only, David said. He's the
one that we sin against, primarily, and first and foremost. He's
the stone of which Christ said, if you fall on this rock, Christ
said, if you fall on this stone, you're gonna be broken. If you
cast yourself on this stone as a guilty sinner, like this woman,
guilty, caught in the act, if you cast yourself on his mercy,
you'll be brokenhearted, yeah, but you'll be mended. You'll
be healed, you'll be comforted. But if that rock falls on you, That's representative of his
hand. He's the stone. And the law says stone him. Our
God's a consuming fire. Everybody should be cast into
the lake of fire that doesn't know him. He's the rock. He's the stone. Stone him. That's
what the law says. God's holy. But no one makes
clear the guilty. And we're all guilty. Everyone
of us. Start with that. That's why. All right, look at
this. And he wrote, stooped down, he
wrote on the ground. He continued to write on the
ground as though they heard him not. But they heard and they
saw. And verse 9, it says, they which
heard being convicted by their own conscience. Now there's a
difference between being convicted by your conscience and your heart
being broken. is broken over sin, you'll confess
your sins and the blood of Jesus Christ will put them away. But
most everybody's got a guilty conscience. If not, they'll sear
it with a hot iron, but people's conscience is bothering them
all the time. That's not salvation. It's just the law of God written
on the heart saying, you're guilty. But they quickly want to, you
know, these fellas left because their conscience was bothering
them. Let's get out from under here. Let's get away from this.
They didn't hear it with their hearts. Their hearts weren't
broken. They're doing all this talking, as I said. But there's
one person, there's one person in that room
not saying anything. Her heart is broken because this
is the Lord who looketh on the heart. She may be groaning. She may
be expecting the stones to fly. She may be covering her head
by this time. She's certainly sobbing. She's certainly worried.
She's certainly full of fear. She's certainly hoping in the
mercy of this one whom she's brought to. She's hoping that
she's guilty. She knows it. Everybody else
knows it too. And he's listening to her heart.
That's who he came for. For the groaning of the prisoners,
Scripture says, I've come to loose the prisoners. They groan
because of their own sin, because of their guilt. And all who groan
over that are going to rejoice. But they went out. They went
out. They left. Convicted by their
own conscience. From beginning at the oldest,
Even to the last, to the youngest. Why? Because all have sinned. So she was caught in the act.
Someone says, I've never done that. Oh really? And you're calling
Jesus Christ a liar. Didn't he say, look on a woman? Didn't he say that? He said,
if you're angry with your brother, you've killed him. Didn't he
say that? Did he say that? Have you ever
done that? Stoning. Stoner. That's what the law says. Cognac. I never did it. The only reason
you didn't is God kept you from it. That's the only reason. That's
the only reason. My dad used to say, so many people
mistake the restraining grace of God for their own personal
holiness. Well, look at me. I've never done that. It's just
because God didn't let you do it. He used to say, don't come
down on David because your Bathsheba hasn't come yet. Your David hasn't
come yet. Just hang on. Don't be throwing stones now
because you are guilty as charged. If these fellas knew who this
was, if they knew who the law was, they would have come right
beside him with this woman and said, you can make room for me,
honey. We're just as bad. We're worse. We've been pretending
all these years to know God and be, you know, we're worse. Move over, Senator. I need mercy,
too. Need to spare me? Yeah, he'll spare all to come
to God for mercy through him. Yes, he will. But you've got
to be guilty. You've got to be like this woman. You've got to
be guilty as charged. Caught in the act. Somebody said
he's writing on the ground. Guilty. Writing laws that she
had broken. Writing laws that they had broken.
And then writing her name beside it. And then writing paid. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
And put whatever her name was. And he blotted it out. justified
from all things, pardoned, paid. What do you mean paid? He hadn't
gone to the cross yet. He's the lamb slain before the
foundation of the world. After this meeting, not too long
from this, he's going to the Calvary Street to pay for every
sin she committed and all of my sins, past, present, and future. Bless his holy name. They were convicted, and they
went out from the oldest to the youngest, and he was left alone,
a woman standing in the midst, standing just him and her. Oh my, just him and her. And he lifted up himself. Oh,
the Lord stooped, and he lifted up, and he stooped again, and
he lifted up again. Oh, how Christ stooped, came
down to this earth, and he was lifted up, on the Calvary's tree,
and he stooped, he was buried in the tomb. Boy, he lifted up
again. High to glory. He's going to
come down, but he's not going to stand on this earth then again. He's going to meet him in the
air. He's going to fold his thing up. God's people are going to
come out of the grave and meet him in the air. He's not going
to defile his feet again on this blood. But oh, how he stooped
and lifted himself up. And verse 10 says, And when he
saw none but the woman, he had only had eyes for her. That's
who he came for. Brother Jeff, may you and I have
come here this morning to meet our Savior and hear from Him.
You know what we're going to hear? We're going to go out of
this place happy. Where are thine accusers? I think
she had her head down. You know she didn't. She had
her head down, expecting the rocks to fly. And the Lord lifted
up and said, woman, where are thine accusers? She looked around. Everybody's gone but her and
him. Doth no man accuse thee? Where
are thine accusers? She said, no man, Lord. Oh, who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? This is God, you see. This is
the one who wrote the law. And he had justified her freely
right then and there. Removed her accusers. And if
you accuse people, you're doing Satan's work. That's what he
does. You don't want to do that. You don't want to do that. You
want to be merciful like your Lord. Everyone who accuses others
shall stand before him accused. And we're guilty, that's Jordan.
What we want to do is be merciful. To the merciful thou wilt show
thyself merciful. There was an old ship years ago,
a sailing ship, and a preacher was on board, and there was a
ruthless captain, and one of his sailors did something wrong,
got drunk or whatever, and he did something wrong, and the
penalty was flogging. 29 stripes of their whip, cat-of-nine-tails. And this captain was flogging
this sailor unmercifully, unmercifully. And the preacher came up and
said to him, sir, would you please show mercy? And he said, I never
show mercy. And the preacher said, then you
better be without sin. or you will get no mercy. None. With a merciful, these
men wanted this woman condemned. They wanted to find something
wrong with our Lord. They wanted her dead. Their hearts
were bad. Our Lord came to save sinners. What do we want? Love. Thinketh no evil. Hopes in the
mercy of our God for sinners just like us. We're worse. No man condemned thee? She said,
no man, Lord. Jesus said unto her, neither
do I condemn thee. You can't do that, you can't
just, you're a just God, you can't just forgive her, oh, I'm
gonna pay for her sins. I'm gonna be made, he's gonna
be made sin for her in it. He who knew no sin, that she
might be the righteousness of God in him, but he said right
then and there, he just said it. No condemnation, and no condemnation
to them that are in Christ. But now, didn't he say, go and
sin no more? Didn't it? He can't condone that. God doesn't condone. Christ doesn't
condone our sin. He doesn't excuse our sin. He
pays for it. He doesn't excuse it. Go and
sin no more. Did she? I don't think she went back to
that lifestyle anymore, but was she a sinner until the day she
died? Absolutely. Absolutely. Did she repent of
him? Did she come back? To whom coming?
Did she keep coming back to Christ? She hadn't come to Christ till
this day. Did she keep coming back to him? What for? Mercy. Is she going to find it? Every
time. But he must require, he must
say that. Go and sin no more. Do you know who you've hurt?
Do you know who you've sinned against? God? Do you know what
reproach you brought on him? Do you know? Do you know then?
Do you know how many people you've hurt? My little children, these things
I write unto you that you sin not. Don't do it. Don't you tell your children
that? Stop. Don't do that. You're hurting people. You're
hurting yourself. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate,
the Father. May the Lord bless you and may
the Lord bless His Word and His glory and our comfort. Amen. Thank you.