If you take your Bibles now and
turn with me to John, John chapter 8, John chapter 8. I've entitled this message Christ
Stooped Way Down, Christ Stooped What we have before us here is
the history of this woman who was taken in the very act of
adultery and cast at the feet of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
in the previous chapter, our Lord stood and proclaimed the
gospel in the last day of the feast. He stood up and He proclaimed
this message, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.
Christ preached the gospel. He preached the message. Believe
on me. And anyone that believes on me,
that is what it is to drink, to believe on Christ. He said,
Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. He spake of
the Holy Spirit that was to come. And every time Christ preached,
I want you to see this, especially in John, you can see this again
and again. There was always a division. When Christ preached, there was
always a division made. Always two groups arguing and
one group believing. Well, he said he was a Christ,
how could he come from Galilee and be a Christ? The other would
say, well, man, he sounds like the Christ. Then there was another
group that just didn't argue at all. They believed. It's always
the way it is. Always the way it is. Jesus said,
Think not I come to bring peace, but a sword. This gospel always
divides. I remember in Houston there was
this radio station that was saying, a church without walls. That's what they wanted. No division.
We didn't want any division among us. So what'd they do? They stopped
preaching. There was no preaching going
on there because then there would be a division. The gospel always
makes a distinction between the elect and those that are not. The wicked and the righteous.
The lost and the saved. It's a sword that divides and
separates. Our Lord Jesus had caused great
division among these people. And when he got done, those Pharisees
talked to those, they sent some men out to get him, and they
said, why didn't you get him? And they said, man, never a man
spake like this man. They even testified that there
was something about this man and his word. So what did they do with this
thing? What did they do? They began to elevate themselves
in pride. They said, man, these people
don't know anything. These people don't know the law. And so in
chapter eight, they've devised a scheme now. They hated his
message so much. They devised a scheme in which
they were going to try to trip him up. And so they devised this scheme,
but in doing so they didn't understand they were fulfilling the will
of God. They were doing the will of God. They were going to, by
their scheme, give the Lord Jesus Christ another opportunity to
witness of the gospel, to witness of His gospel. They didn't know this, but they
were going to bring one of His dear children to His feet. Behold then the sovereign providence
of this, how God used these wicked men to bring this woman who had
no idea what was going on. All she was concerned about was
her sin until the moment she was brought. God had a different
purpose. Now then I want us to see three
things this morning. I want us to see first of all
a sinner brought. A sinner brought. Secondly, I
want us to see the ones who brought her. And thirdly, I want us to
see the response of Jesus Christ. That's going to be the most important
thing. What is His answer to these men
that brought her? First of all, the sinner that
is brought. Look at verse 3. It says the scribes, chapter
8 and verse 3 of John. The scribes and Pharisees brought
unto Him a woman taken in adultery. And when they set her in the
midst, they said unto him, master, oh, they didn't mean it. They didn't mean it. How many
people say master, give Jesus lip service? They don't believe
he's master. Master, this woman was taken
in adultery in the very act. And this woman was not taken
before the act of adultery. She was not taken after. She
was caught in the very act. And we. I don't know anything
about this woman. I mean, I believe I know who
she is, the person that she is. I believe that this is no none
of the Mary Magdalene, but regardless. We don't know much about this
woman in this text here. She could have been. She could
have been a prostitute. She could have been. We know
this. I believe she I know that she was betrothed to someone.
She was betrothed to someone. But whatever we don't know, I
know this. She was guilty. Whoever she was. She was guilty. There was no
way out for her. There was no escape. She was
caught in the very act. There's no room for speculation.
This woman was guilty. But I want you to understand
why this woman was brought. Because she is a picture of every
one of God's elect. She is a picture of all the elect
of God. Pastor, you mean that all God's
children are identified by this woman who is guilty of adultery? You bet. All of those that believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ are here pictured as this woman taken
in the very act of adultery. And we all come into this world
as this woman. following after our own lust,
our own flesh, and fulfilling the desires of our flesh and
our minds, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. No difference. No difference. There's a big to-do about this,
you know, these homosexuals, these sodomites running around
being proud of their sodomy. And we say, oh, how could you
do that? Really? You ain't no different. By nature,
you're not different. Your sin may be different, but
it's still sin. It's still sin. One day, we had
our eyes open. We were following after our lust,
but one day God opened our eyes and saw that we were caught.
We were caught. Guilty, our guilt was no longer
hid, but exposed. Just as this woman was dragged,
this woman was not willing, they didn't ask her to come, they
dragged her there, naked, stripped, in front of everyone, exposed. That's exactly how God brings
sinners to Himself. exposes our sin. That's what
Paul said of himself in Romans 7. He said, I was alive without
the law once. I didn't understand really what
the law was. I thought I was doing it. I was alive without
the law once, but when sin came, sin revived, I died. I found out I was dead. guilty
before God. And so as this woman is dragged
in the midst of Christ, so is everyone. When God, by His grace,
opens His word to our ears, the soul that sinneth, it shall surely
die. We were dragged by the justice
of God before His judgment bar. This woman was stripped and naked
and guilty before everyone's eyes. What she desired to keep secret
was now exposed. At this point, the woman, her
spirit is gone. There's no pride left, no plea
but guilty. This is the case of everyone
that is brought before God, that is going to be saved by God.
We are brought by the Holy Spirit to the feet of Christ. I tell
you what, there is a sense in which a man may feel guilt, but
it not be of God. A man must feel guilt. This is how we felt. We were
hopeless and helpless to atone for our sins. This is godly sorrow. This is godly grief. Is there anyone of us here that
can identify with this woman? Do you truly identify with this
woman? Can you recognize yourself when
you see her? Has anyone of us been brought
to God who was not so undone and vile before him? When I read
of this woman, I think of Mephibosheth, don't you? That man lame on his feet, a
son of Saul, worthy of death. And David said to his guards,
fetch him. And there his guards came and
dragged him out of his house. He had no place, couldn't run. When you were exposed, isn't
that how you felt, you couldn't run? Where could you go? Where
could you flee the presence of God? We're brought before Christ's
feet. I know that all that he has called
by his grace, look in the mirror of this text and see a reflection.
And it's good for us to remember this. You that are believers
in Christ, we remember this still about ourselves. The scripture
says, hearken unto me, you that follow after righteousness, you
that seek the Lord, look into the rock from which you were
hewn and to the hole of the pit from which you were digged. This, my friend, no doubt keeps
God's people humble. To know what kind of man we are
by nature. We look to this pit of our depravity. And we see ourselves here. Secondly,
we see the ones that brought her. The ones that brought her.
Now these that brought her in the very act of adultery, they
did not care for the law of God. They just pretended. They did
not care for real justice. Nor were they willing to be taught
by Christ. When they came and said, Master,
and they asked Him a question, they weren't asking for information. No. Verse 6 tells us this, They
said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. No
doubt many times they accused Jesus of this, that He was a
friend of publicans and sinners. He was a friend of publicans.
That's what happened at Matthew's house, remember? The Lord saved
Matthew, and he made a feast, and he invited all of his sinner
friends. A bunch of publicans and sinners,
and what did they accuse him of? This man eats and drinks
with sinners. But Jesus told them very plainly,
I came not to call the righteous, but what? Sinners to repentance. He came to call them to repentance.
And one time he told them, he said, you know what? Hookers
and publicans are going to go to heaven before you. You hear that? He told the Pharisees. He said, prostitutes and publicans
will go to heaven before you will. Why? Because they were going,
they had nothing. They were guilty. They would
come and believe on Christ. They wouldn't come in their own
righteousness. This is how sinners attain heaven
is they come to Him without merit. They come to Him without the
ability to save themselves and lean totally upon Jesus Christ. But these self-righteous trusted
in their own merit and they rejected the gospel of His free grace.
And so they tried to trip Him up. How are they doing this? They did this by trying to put
a wedge between the law and mercy. That's how they did it. They
were trying to trip him up by this matter of law and mercy. In other words, they set this
woman in front of them who was really guilty of adultery. Listen to what Leviticus 20 verse
10 says. It says, And the man that committed
adultery with another man's wife Even he that committeth adultery
with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress
shall surely be put to death. Is that clear? Believe me, that's
offensive to this generation. They don't believe in a God that
just. They don't believe a God would do that. Well, it's just
a minor. No, not to God. He says worthy
of death. Worthy of death is what the law
says. The law is very clear about adultery. Both the man and the
woman shall be killed. Now if these men desired real
justice, where's the man? You see, there's no man. They don't care about the law.
They just wanted to show that Christ was just a man, another
man, a wicked man. So they bring this this woman.
You see, they're evil. They're trying to find some place
to accuse him of. Now, I want you to see the problem
that they put before the Lord, because if he sided with them.
If he said the law is right, put him put her to death. Then
how could he say he was a friend of publicans and sinners? And besides this, they would
have to accuse him before the Roman government because the
Jews were not allowed to execute capital punishment. And so if
they said put her to death, they would then go to the Roman government
and have him removed. You see, they got him. But if
he goes the other way, say he goes the other way and says,
well, have mercy on this woman, then they could say, well, he's
neglecting the law. You see how they have him? They're asking a question that
they couldn't answer. They're asking a question they
really couldn't. No works religion can answer this question. How
can God be just and justify the ungodly? How can God be just
and at the same time have mercy? If we say the law is right, then
we are condemned, but if we say to have mercy, that mercy is
right without the satisfaction of the law. How can God be just? Number three, the Lord's answer.
He doesn't leave us without an answer, and he does this by his
actions and his words. Look at verse six. They said,
tempting him that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus
stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. So when
they continued asking Him, He lifted up Himself and said unto
them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast
a stone at her. Notice first. I want you to understand,
everything Christ does is on purpose. Everything we do is
not. How many things you do that you
don't even realize you're doing it? Yeah, we do that all the
time. Christ never did that. Everything He did had purpose
and meaning so as to preach the gospel. And this is one of them. He stooped down and wrote on
the ground. Why did He do this? Was there
a reason? Yes. Now listen, I don't know what
he wrote. But this no doubt means something
in relation to the answer. I believe this really has significance
to the first time we read about God writing something with his
finger. Go to Exodus chapter 31. First time we read about God
writing something with his finger, we read him writing the law. In Exodus chapter 31 and verse 18. You see this. And he gave unto
Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount
Sinai, two tables of the testimony, tables of stone, written with
what? The finger of God. The finger
of God. The first time Jesus stooping
has reference to when he first stooped and wrote the law of
God. He stooped and wrote the law
of God. Imagine the arrogancy of this.
These men were tempting him with the law that he wrote. He wrote the law. He wrote it. How arrogant are they to try
to tempt Him with it. The law that is to testify of
Him. I was talking to a preacher the
other day and we were talking about preaching the law. Preaching
the law. How can you preach the law? Simply
by pointing people to Christ. When I read this, Thou shalt
not lie. What does that do? That convicts
me that I'm a liar. But it also testifies that Jesus
Christ never lied. He obeyed the law of God. They rather saw it as a means
of their salvation. The law has a purpose. Friends,
when God wrote the law, he has a purpose. And this is the purpose,
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty
before God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in His sight. So by the Lord
stooping the first time, He's signifying the writing of the
law. Which is only meant to shut our
mouths. It can't do anything else. It can't help me. Thou
shalt not lie. How does that help you? Does
that tell you how not to lie? No, it just tells you not to
lie. Too late. You've already lied. You've already
broken the law. That cannot help me in my past
sins. It cannot help me in my present
sins. It cannot help me with future
sins. It can only convict me of sin. That's all it can do. And so, when he stooped down,
I like this, when he was writing in the sand, they didn't have
any idea what he was doing. They thought he was ignoring them.
So they kept pressing him. Oh, you imagine the Lord building
up their pride, thinking they got him. They were, we'll have
an answer. We're going to have an answer.
We're not going to leave until you give us an answer. He was giving
them an answer right there. He stooped down. They pressed him for an answer.
And notice this. or seven and when they continued
asking he lifted up himself and said under them he that is without
sin among you let him first cast a stone at her their religion
their hope was their self-righteousness immediately vanished What an amazing response. The law of God, friends, is good
and right. It is just and holy, it is perfect,
and it manifests all the perfections of God. This woman, as well as
all the human race, are justly deserved death. The law cannot
save, it can only condemn. Cursed is everyone. that continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them
all things I really despise disingenuous
men when they say go when you're to obey the law disingenuous
and I say what law and they just start spouting the Ten Commandments
no they like to divide the law because they think they can obey
those parts The law is not divided. The whole law, if you are under
one principle of the law, you are under the whole law, go find
a priest, go knock that mosque down over there, build you a
temple and offer you some sacrifices because that's the law. I'm so
thankful that the Lord destroyed that temple, put an exclamation
point on it and ceased. Those sacrifices forever, you
can't. You can't. So when God stands up and the
word of the law comes to the heart of man, if he is honest,
he will be leveled. He will be leveled. All men are
guilty before God. I remember the Jews as they waited
on that law, they came out and the Lord said, okay, go wash
yourselves and get ready. I'm coming down. I'm going to
give you my law. And what did they say? We will
do it. Oh, we'll do it. Just Moses,
go go. Tell God to come down and we'll
obey him. What happened when God came down?
They said, Moses, you go up. We can't or we'll die. And God
said, they're right. They're right. I remember this, a friend, a
pastor friend of mine said this to me one time, he said, you
know, the white part on chicken poop is still chicken poop. That's what your righteousness
is. The best part of you is still poop. Still unrighteous. Notice what he said, he that
is without sin among you. Let him first cast a stone at
her. Who's the only one standing there
could cast a stone? Who? Only Christ. Only Christ. We have all broken the law and
equally deserve the wrath of God and the answer of Jesus Christ
to this is the answer of Jesus Christ to the justice of God.
The law is right and man is guilty. But praise God, there's a second
part of this answer. Because we see that He stooped
a second time. Look at verse 8. And again, He
stooped down to write in the ground. Again, we see the answer
by His actions. He stooped the first time to
proclaim the justice of God's demands. Not just to this woman,
but to all of them. To all of them. But the second
time he stoops is to testify of His mercy and His grace. His mercy and grace towards sinners. For this stooping signifies His
great condescension and humiliation so that He might justify the
ungodly. Consider the great condescension
then of our Lord Jesus Christ as He stoops the second time.
He comes down, not as the giver of the law, but rather the savior
of sinners. He stoops a second time to manifest
His grace. The only way that Christ could
have ever dug us out of the pit of sin is to lower Himself into
it. If you had someone stuck in a
pit, the only way to get them out is to go down and get them.
That's what Christ did. He lowered Himself to become
a man. Why? Because it was by a man
that sin came. It was by Adam who was our representative
that sin entered into this world. and death by sin so death passed
upon all men in order for Christ to save us. He himself must become
a representative man. He must come as a representative
man in order to restore righteousness. And so having been given an elect
people by the father Jesus Christ condescended to honor the law
of God and its perfections by His love and obedience to sew
together a robe of righteousness for His people. He stooped down
so that He might bring the objects of His love to Himself. There was that woman, consider
her, she was naked. This woman was stripped and exposed. What did she need? She needed
a covering. This is what Christ came to do
to provide a covering for the naked. Those exposed of sin before
God. But not only did we need a covering,
we also needed a payment. Listen, somebody had to die. The law was very clear, wasn't
it? that this woman committing adultery deserved to die. And the only hope for her was
that somebody should die in her place. This woman needed a ransom. Her
rightful sentence was death. She needed someone to pay the
debt. Therefore Jesus stooped so low
that He not only provided our righteousness by His own obedience,
but He also paid the ransom price for our sins. Take note that
this woman was not pardoned or forgiven without payment. Christ
was not skirting the law by letting this woman go. No, He intended
to pay for her sin. Only way she could go. The only
way the law could let her go was that the substitute take
her place. Isn't this what all the animal
sacrifices pictured? That they were to offer a substitute? A ransom? They were to pay the
redemption price for the sins of Israel? That pictured Christ. He was going to pay her ransom. Her sin did not go to owe unpaid,
but Christ would pay it for her. You see, our great High Priest
offered Himself as a ransom price. He stooped to put His finger
in the blood, in His own blood. That's what the High Priest did.
Remember, the High Priest would take that blood of the offspring
into the very presence of God. and he would dip his, and he'd
sprinkle it on the mercy seat. When Christ stooped and put his
finger in the ground again, what he was saying is, paid. He was going to pay for that
sin. I imagine, I often think about
that, maybe the first time he wrote the sins of these people,
or the sin of this woman. But the second time he stooped,
he may have crossed it, Or he might have wrote paid.
Paid in full. And notice this, he not only
stooped again, but he stood up again. He stood up again. This is another part of the Gospel
message. Look at verse 9, And when they
heard this, they, being convicted by their own conscience, went
out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even to the last.
And Jesus was left alone with the woman, standing in the midst. Now, some will hear the gospel
and go out feeling guilty. These men truly felt guilty.
They were truly convicted. But not by God, they were convicted
by their own conscience. There is a difference between
worldly sorrow and godly sorrow. Listen to what Paul says in 2
Corinthians 7 verse 10, For godly sorrow worketh repentance to
salvation, not to be repented of. But the sorrow of the world
worketh death. The guilt and sorrow of conscience
only works death. All men have a conscience and
they may feel guilty. A man may kill a man and then
later feel a lot of remorse. You may commit some great sin
and feel really bad about it. I knew a man, he was a very base
man, a very evil man, and he would talk to me often. He would
come to me weeping and crying over, lamenting over all he had
done. You know how I know it wasn't
godly sorrow? Because it never brought repentance to salvation.
What I mean by repentance, I don't mean turning from one sin or
another sin. That's not what I'm talking about,
because this is the world's idea of repentance. Well, I'm not
going to do that anymore. Look, he repented. No, that's
not what it's talking about. Repentance is simply this turning
to Christ by faith. That's repentance. To turn to
Christ by faith, to love the brethren is repentance. And surely we do seek to turn
away from those old things, but that's not a guarantee, is it? We turn to faith in Christ and
we love Christ, we love the brethren. That man never did. He just wanted
to turn away from the sin because it hurt him. Men don't like sin
because it's painful. They don't like the results of
sin. They like sin, they want sin without consequence. That's
what men want. But godly sorrow works for penance
to faith in Christ. Unless God regenerates the soul,
you can only have this kind of repentance. You can have only
this kind of conscience. Worldly sorrow, scripture says,
works death. Notice that the conscience will
give you guilt. These men saw their sin, but
you know where they turned. You know how you know there's
wasn't godly sorrow. They went right back to their
religion. None of them went to Christ. None of them went to Christ,
but this woman. None of them, but her. Why did she go to this? Why did she stay there? Where
else are you going to go? She had no place to go. She couldn't
go with them. Their law condemned her. Cast
her out. She had no place to go. And then
with the disciples, our Lord asked, He had a bunch of people
and then they left and He said, Will you go away also? And Peter
said, Lord, to whom shall we go? To whom shall we go? Thou is
the words of eternal life. If you have any place to go other
than Christ, I know this, you'll go. If you have anything, any religion
to return to, you'll go to it. Any works, you'll go to. It's only when you have nothing
where you come to Christ. And really, everybody has nothing,
but they don't see it. They don't know it until God
reveals it. But let me ask you this. Is there
any better place this woman could be? It seemed like a bad situation
for this woman at the beginning, didn't it? It seemed helpless,
hopeless. This woman had no hope whatsoever. Seemed really bad. She was caught. But she was not caught for her
ill. She was caught for her good. She was caught to receive grace
and forgiveness. This woman needed pardon. This woman needed forgiveness.
And she found it at the only place in the world it could be
found. in Jesus Christ. Verse 10, And
when Jesus lifted up Himself and saw none but the woman, He
said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no
man condemned thee? You see, He lifted up Himself
again. This speaks to us of His resurrection. He condescended
to save us. He stooped way down to provide
us righteousness and redemption by his blood. But listen, he
was risen again for our justification. This speaks of His victory over
His enemies, over sin, over death, over hell. His victory in obedience
to the law and satisfying of the justice of God for His people. He led captivity captive and
He is now at the right hand of God having all power given to
Him over all flesh for the singular purpose of giving eternal life
to His people. Everything God does in time and
eternity is for the salvation of his people. Consider the providence
of this woman. Consider all of the providences
that led up to her being brought to his feet. So it is with all God's people. He will give eternal life to
as many as the father gave him. He will give eternal life to
as many as the father gave him. How many is that? I don't know.
It's many. But not one less and not one more. He will give eternal
life to as many as the father gave him. And so then the question
is this to you, do you need mercy? Are you without hope of pleasing
God? And may God strip you and bring
you to the feet of His Son. It's the only place you'll find
mercy. And lastly, look at the response
of Jesus. He not only stooped to show our
guilt, He not only stood up to convict us of our sin, He not
only stooped again in mercy to save us, He stands now and speaks
the word of comfort. Where are thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She
looks around and she says, No man, Lord, neither do I condemn
thee. Go and sin no more. How gracious were these words
to the ears of that woman? A moment ago, she was about to
die. But this man. This man pardoned. This, like I told you before,
I believe is Mary Magdalene. You read of what this woman had
done after the Lord did this. I think to say she was thankful.
Don't you? You remember she was the one
that broke that alabaster box of ointment that anointed our
Lord before His burial. She was the one that while Martha,
her sister, was serving, she was sitting at His feet. Now this woman, she was thankful. And so is everyone that is brought
to the feet of Christ and finds mercy. Why? Listen to this, you that
believe. Paul said this, there is therefore
now no condemnation. And when despair and sin and
shame roll over your soul, you that believe on Christ, there
is therefore now no condemnation. When you find yourself in the
darkest of providences, feeling as though God has shut you out,
there is therefore No condemnation. Paul at the end of that chapter
says, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Yea,
rather is risen again, ever living to make intercession. Who can condemn God's people? I know that you often condemn
yourself. I do. But there is therefore now no
condemnation. Those are in Christ Jesus. We
are free from all condemnation. Not by looking to the law. All who have been quickened and
resurrected, born from above, are free from all condemnation. Not by looking to the law, not
by technicalities, but because of the perfections of Jesus Christ
there is no longer any demands of the law upon us. We are free
from the law of sin and death. We are free from the law of sin
and death because it All it demands we've done. All that it demands
you have accomplished. In Christ, your federal head. It's done. It's done. We like to sing that song, oh
free from the law, oh happy condition. Jesus hath bled and there is
remission, cursed by the law, bruised by the fall, Christ hath
redeemed us once for all. And notice this, Jesus says to
her, go and sin no more. Listen, this is not a condition
of mercy. Go and sin no more, but if you
fall into sin again, I'm not going to forgive you. That's
not it's not a condition. It's not a condition of mercy.
But rather, it is an exhortation of love. It is an exhortation of love.
And we as believers, we still have this sin nature with us.
So that we are sinning even while you're worshiping, you got that,
have you felt that this morning? I have when I'm preaching. But this is not the desire of
our heart, is it? This is not what we desire after the inward
man. We that once loved sin, loathe
it, despise it, desire to be free from it. But our mandate of this is not
law. Go and sin no more. Is he putting her back under
the law? He said, OK, I pardoned you. Now, once you go back to
the law and figure out how to live. No. What constrains then the believer
from sin? What keeps you and me? What kept
Mary from going back? It wasn't the law. It was the love of Christ. Now,
you got that very specific with those words, the love of Christ,
not your love for Christ. You will not constrain yourself
based on your love for Christ. It is remembering his love for
us. So when he says, go and sin no
more. When I think of His love, no,
I don't want to offend. The love of Christ, Paul says,
constraineth us. So we who are free, we're born
again, we're free from the law, we're constrained by love that
has delivered us from death. We long for righteousness, but
out of love for Him, seeing His love for us, how low He stooped
to save a guilty sinner. I do pray that God even this
morning would call guilty sinners to himself vile filthy sinners
caught in the very act if he ever catches you in the
very act and brings you to his feet it is the greatest act of
mercy God can give a man because at the feet of Christ He satisfies
the law's demands. And you. The guilty sinner. Are no more condemned. You are
justified. You know what that word means?
I know we had that and that little saying, just as if I never seen,
that's really not what it means. It means I never seen. If you're
justified, it means that you never see it. How is that possible? Because
Christ is my representative and he never sinned. And so all his
righteousness now is mine. His blood has washed away my
sins that God can't even find them. This is what it is to be free
from the law. I pray God would free you and give you grace to
see yourself in this woman. Then, I tell you what, we would
be as thankful as she is. If God opened our eyes to see
what great grace, then we would be just as thankful. I pray God
give us these thankful hearts. Let's stand and be dismissed. I thank you, Father, for this
wonderful history. this wonderful gospel of your
grace and mercy toward this woman who is truly a picture of every
one of your people. I thank you, Father, that you
have by your work answered the question how God could be just
and justify the ungodly only by Jesus Christ and him crucified. Lord, even now give us faith
to look to him. Father, forgive us our sins and
cleanse us of our unrighteousness. Save those that are outside of
Christ and call them to yourself. And I ask you to do this for
your own glory. In Jesus' name.