John chapter 8. We'll be looking
at the first 11 verses this evening. John chapter 8. And I've titled the message,
The Gospel Problem. The Gospel Problem. Scripture says, Jesus went into
the mount of olives, and early in the morning he came again
into the temple, and all the people came unto him. And he
sat down and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees
brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. And when they had
set her in the midst, they say unto him, 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? See the
problem? Here's a problem. What sayest
thou? The law says she should be stoned
But what sayest thou, you preacher of mercy, you preacher of righteousness,
you preacher of grace? What sayest thou?" See the problem? But Jesus stooped down and with
His finger wrote on the ground as though He heard them not.
So when they had 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. And again, he stooped down and
wrote on the ground. And they which heard it being
convicted by their own conscience went out one by one, beginning
at the eldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone and
the woman standing in the midst. Now here's the solution. You
see, the gospel problem, justice and mercy. And here's the solution. Jesus alone. Jesus alone. I thought I'd give you the whole
summation of the message right off the bat. Jesus alone. And
Jesus lifted up himself and saw none but the woman. He said to
her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man accused
thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither
do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. The gospel problem. Now here
in John chapter 8, at the very beginning, we see Jesus, the
creator, the sustainer of the universe. God incarnate. And yet here he is at night time
and he's going to the Mount of Olives. Look at verse 53 of the
previous chapter. After a long day of preaching,
the Lord here, he's, every man, after he had finished, every
man went to his own house. Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Our Lord and Master, Creator
of all things, yet being made flesh, being found in fashion
as a man, He humbled Himself to such poverty that the Lord
Jesus Christ had no place of His own to lay His head. The
Lord Jesus Christ, the Scripture says, who was rich, yet for your
sakes He became poor. that through His poverty you
might be made rich. Now believer, are you poor in
the things of this world? I tell you there was none poorer
than your Master. If we have lost everything, I
guarantee you we are none poorer than our Master. Our Master claimed
to have nothing in this world, but rather surrendered His whole
self to God. His whole care for His body,
for His soul, for His well-being, He trusted God in every way. Remember when Satan tempted our
Lord, and He was hungry forty days and forty nights without
bread. He who had power to make bread
out of stones, Satan tempted Him, If Thou be the Son of God,
make this bread, make this stone bread. He could have, But he
did not. Why? He said, man shall not live
by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God. He trusted God for his provisions. There's none poorer than our
Lord. And listen, he was not discouraged by his poverty. He
was not in the least discouraged by it. He trusted God. What a
lesson for us. In our poverty, should we not
just trust God for our every need? We should, because He has
provided for our every need since we were in our mother's womb,
has He not? He's provided everything we have.
Your Heavenly Father knows what you have need of. He knows what you have need before
you ask Him. And so we see his encouragement,
we see his strength by rising early in the morning and going
into the temple, and he sat down to teach in the temple. We must see this, that the whole
life of Christ was dedicated to this one thing. The glory
of God. The glory of God. Christ in His
whole life dedicated every aspect to the glory of God. And what
was He given to do? What was Christ given to do?
In His ministry, He was given to preach the Gospel. To declare
the Word of God. And that's what He did every
waking hour. When He was not praying, He was
declaring the Word of God. He was witnessing of God's Word. He determined. The determination
and will of Christ was to preach. Later, look at this in verse
26. Look what he says. He says, Many things I have to
say unto judge of you, but he that sent me is true, and I speak
to the world those things which I have heard of him. They understood not that he spake
them of the Father, then sent Jesus unto them. I'm sorry, He
spake the Word of God, then said Jesus unto them, When ye have
lifted up the Son of Man, then shall you know that I am, and
that I do nothing of myself, but as my Father hath taught
me, I speak these things. See, all that Christ did was
to speak the Word that God gave Him to speak. And here He was.
He was in the temple. And he was teaching the Word
of God. Isn't that what he said he was
to do in Luke chapter 4, his very first message? The Spirit
of the Lord is upon me to do what? Preach the gospel. To preach
the gospel to the poor. Lo, I come. In the volume of
the book it is written of me to do what? To do thy will, O
God. And Jesus taught the people.
What did He teach them? He taught them the Gospel. The Word of God. The Gospel. And behold it, the Master. He
sat in the temple. The Son of God. The Scripture
says, He shall suddenly come to His temple. And there He was.
He was in this temple, teaching the Word of God. And he taught it with such wisdom,
such authority and compassion. And his word was the word of
God. And listen, his word is no different
from mine. I preach his word. I declare
his word. The Word of God is the same Word
that was preached from the beginning. Even the sovereign free grace
of God and salvation through the merits and obedience of Christ
and His blood alone. We preach salvation communicated
by the Holy Spirit in the new birth through faith in Christ
alone. This is the gospel. It is a message
of grace. It is a message of mercy. I know
that's what He preached. I don't have the exact sermon,
but I know what it was. It was the grace of God. He was
preaching. Now, the exact words are not written, but we can be
very clear as to what He taught by what followed. What he was
teaching is evident by what had followed in the illustration
of this woman being brought to him. While the Lord taught, he
was rudely interrupted by these Pharisees. Look at verse 3. And
the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. And when they had set her in
the midst, they said unto him, Master, this woman was taken
in adultery in the very act. And Moses and the law commanded
us that she should be stoned. What sayest thou? Can you imagine
that? He's preaching the gospel and
all of a sudden these men just barge in. is barge in, no reverence
whatsoever. That word master is nothing more
than a facade. These men had nothing on their
hearts but to defame Christ. They just had nothing on their
hearts but to try to prove Him a heretic. That was their whole
motive for this. And so they barge in. And this woman, This woman they
brought, it is of no doubt she was guilty. She was guilty. This woman was a sinner, she
had broken the law of God, and according to the law of God,
she should be stoned to death. Moses and the law commanded this
in Leviticus 20 and in Deuteronomy 22. It says both the adulterer
and the adulteress shall be stoned to death. That's the law. Unequivocally. That what they
said was correct. This is in the law of Moses. But we can tell, even by their
neglect, to bring the man. If she was caught in the very
act Then the man was there. Yet in their neglect to bring
the man, we can see their lack of zeal and love for the law. They had no respect for the law
of God. They did not bring this woman
out of love and zeal for God. They did it only to tempt or
to try to disprove the words of Christ. Their motive was not love for
God, but rather their hatred for Christ, which by this they
thought would surely either turn the people against him or cause
the Roman government to kill him. See then, if Jesus, who preached
mercy, and there's no doubt about that, Remember when he had brought
Levi, Matthew in. And Levi, Matthew had brought
in all those publicans. And what was their offense? They said, your master eateth
with sinners. And what did he tell them? He
said, they that are whole need not a physician, but they that
are sick. I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance. All this must offend them. That
was offensive to them. And so the Pharisees, they brought
this woman who was a sinner in order to discredit Christ. And see, if Jesus preached mercy
and forgiveness of sins, and He were to say, stone her,
If Christ were to look at this guilty woman and have reverence
to the law and tell them, you should stone her to death, then
the Pharisees will say, well, where's your mercy? What's all
this talk of mercy? You said you came to show mercy.
You said you came to forgive sinners. And there you go. You're
going to stone this woman. Well, if he said it the other
way, if he said, let her go, if he said, show her mercy, then
they would say, ah, look, he hates Moses and the law. He's
not a doer of the law. He's not a lover of God's law.
See, they had him either way. Here's the problem. Here's the
problem. How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? There's the problem of the gospel. That's the light that they had
shown. That's the problem that they
had put out to Christ. How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? This is the problem of the gospel.
And so then in this problem we must first see the difficulty. And the first difficulty is this. Man by nature is guilty. That's
a problem. That's a big problem. Man by
nature is guilty as this woman who was caught in the very act
of adultery. Man by nature is guilty of sin
and rebellion against God, for the carnal mind is not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be. The law of God. Man is not subject
to the law of God, neither can he be, no matter how hard he
tries, he cannot be. The Word of God plainly declares. Paul, in his Gospel to the Romans,
is very clear. He says this, that there is none
righteous, no, not one. This is a problem. It's a problem. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that seeketh after God, none that doeth good. And
the second problem is this, God is holy. That's a problem. God is holy and His judgment
is just. And the Word of God is clear
concerning the judgment of God. This is not an iffy thing. Man is absolutely, completely
and utterly depraved. Man is completely guilty before
God. This is clear, this is evident,
this is not up for debate. And God is absolutely holy, absolutely
righteous, and God must punish sin. That is undebatable. Ezekiel 18, verse 4, it says,
The soul that sinneth, it shall, it shall, it shall surely die. That's clear. Galatians 3, 10,
Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things, all things,
all things written in the book of the law to do them. You know how men like to divide
up the law? You know why they do that? so they can escape some
of it. Oh, that's governmental law. That's not applicable. That's
ceremonial law. That's not applicable. No, the
law is the law is the law. And he who continues not in all
things written in the book of the law to do them is cursed
without question. Now behold, this is the problem
before Christ. How then could man who is guilty,
God who is holy, how then could Christ show mercy to the guilty
and not defile the justice of God? This is the problem of the
gospel. How can God be just? How can
he who must punish sin Seeing He cannot be unjust by allowing
sinners to escape His vengeance, how can He at the same time show
mercy and forgive without contradiction of His holy justice? Yet, God
declares Himself to be both. You know that? God declares Himself
to be merciful and just. This is a declaration. This is
not up for debate. God says He is merciful and He
is just. Go back to Exodus chapter 34. Exodus chapter 34. You remember
the previous chapter, Moses wanted to see the face of God. He said,
show me thy face. Show me thy glory. God said,
you can't see it. It'll surely kill you. But this
is what I'll do, Moses. After I give you my law, I'm
going to pass by before you. I'm going to put you in the cleft
of the rock. And then when I pass by, I'll
move my hand and I'll let you see my hinder parts. I'll let
you hear me proclaim my name. And this is what he does in verse
chapter 34 and verse 5. And the Lord descended in a cloud
and stood with him there. and proclaimed the name of the
Lord. And as the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God. Here it is. Merciful and gracious, long-suffering
and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. I like that, all three
of them. Just in case you missed it, he said, if it's iniquity,
I forgive iniquity, sin, and transgression. And, here it is,
will by no means clear the guilty. Do you get that? God's both. Merciful and just. Merciful and
just. He declares Himself to be merciful
and just. Now see these two seemingly oppositions. They are to us, in our view,
opposed to one another. Grace and truth, forgiveness
and righteousness, mercy and judgment. Yet these two seeming
contradictions here are laid at the feet of Christ when they
brought this guilty woman before Him and tempted Him. What will
you do? How will you show mercy and still
be just? That's the problem. But what
man sees as a problem, God doesn't. This was no problem to Him. How
could you answer that? How would you answer that? We
couldn't answer that. It was an impossible question
they brought before Him. And they knew it. They knew it
was an impossible question. That's why they brought it. And yet this was no problem for
Him. Matter of fact, He designed it
this way so He can show you He is Himself the solution to the
problem. Christ is the solution to this
problem. A problem that no man can solve
or reconcile. You and I can't reconcile these
two things. You can try. You can't do it. In your mind, in your heart,
you can't reconcile justice and grace. You just can't do it. Our Lord Jesus uses this as a
vivid display of the gospel which He was teaching in the temple.
That's why I'm telling you, He was teaching this very thing
in the temple, and He uses this as a vivid display of it. The
same gospel that we preach, by which we are saved, the same
gospel to which we cling to by faith, that God is both just
and the justifier of the ungodly therefore believer let us by
the grace of God see here again the gospel that is before us
and I pray that the spirit of God would open this to us again
and as Moses was put in the cleft of the rock That's the only place
that we're going to be able to see this. That's the only place
you'll be able to reconcile these two things is in Christ, the
cleft of the rock. That's the only place that these
two things meet together. No other place in all the world,
in all of history, does grace and mercy meet together except
in one man, Jesus Christ. That's it. There's no other place
to find it. You won't find salvation in any
other place but Christ. The only way for us to see how
God can be just and justify the ungodly is in Christ, by faith,
by looking to Him. Now, I want us to see that the
response of Christ is the answer to this problem. The response
of Christ is the answer. Jesus never did anything unintentionally. We do unintentional things all
the time. He never did anything unintentional. He was always purposeful in everything
He did. So as He is stooping down, as
He is standing up, as He is riding in the sand, whatever He's doing,
it is on purpose and the Spirit of God has a meaning for it.
There's a reason for it. It is the gospel. As I've showed
you many times, every miracle that he's ever done is a picture
of the gospel. And even this is the same. It's a picture of the gospel
of Christ. So first of all, when he hits
this problem, what does he do? Look at your text. They're tempting
him to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down. It's the first thing he did. stooped down to the ground. What is this? When our father Adam sinned, I tell you that's the first time
God stooped down was in condemnation of our father. The first time
God stooped down was to bring death to Adam and his race. When Adam sinned, he brought
in spiritual death. The justice of God stooped down
and in the day he ate of that fruit, he surely died. God stooped down and immediately
took his life. Took his spiritual life and the
life of all his posterity in one fell swoop. You remember in the day of Moses
God stooped down. He stooped down on that mountain
and that mountain was covered in fire and smoke and Moses said,
I do exceedingly fear and quake. So what was he doing? He stooped
down first as a picture of judgment. As a picture of judgment, God
stooped down first. And as He wrote on the ground
first, this is a picture of His law. When God stooped down in
judgment and killed our Father, you know what God did? He wrote
on His heart the law. Isn't that what Paul tells us? He says that all men everywhere
are without excuse. He said, you know there's a God,
you know it by the creation that surrounds you, you know it, and
yet you still would not worship Him as God. He said, you go around making
laws and judging others, He said, what is that evident of? He said,
the law of God is written on your hearts. That's why you do
it. That's why you judge or excuse one another. Because the law
of God, He stooped down to Adam and He wrote that law on his
heart. And not only that, when He stooped on that mountain,
what did He do? He wrote His law on tables of stone. Now I tell you this. That law that was written on
Mount Sinai was for the Jews, and it was clear. It was clearer
than any law that was written on the heart of man, wasn't it?
It was plainer. It was a more detailed revelation
and reflection of God's holiness. Well, what did that do for the
Jews? Did that help them in any way? No. No. Matter of fact, it only aggravated
their sin. Isn't that right? Man can walk
by a painted wall 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, not paying any
attention. You put a sign on there that says, wet paint, don't
touch, and all of a sudden he's got his attention. Why? Because
we're attracted to it now. All law does is aggravate. The law is not bad, the law is
good. But what is sinful inside of
us, it shows it more exceeding sinful. The law has a purpose,
only to show you your exceeding sinfulness. And so then our Lord stooped
down, and what was that? A picture of His writing of the
law. And then, what did He do? Look at your text. They continued
asking Him, and He lifted Himself up. These self-righteous Jews, they
pressed on Him for an answer, and He rode on the ground. But
as soon as He lifted Himself up, you know what He did? He
shut their mouths. Isn't that what the law does
when God lifts Himself up? The Apostle Paul said that the
law was written that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
become guilty before God. See the purpose of him lifting
himself up? He lifted himself up in holiness, in righteousness,
and he dared them to throw a stone. You that are without sin, you
that are without sin, you, you cast the first stone if you have
no sin. You see how he lifted himself
up? Who was the only one able to cast the stone? Christ said, I'm the only one
able to cast the stone. I'm the judge of all men. You
shut up. And he shut their mouths. He
lifted himself up and shut their mouths. the only one was the
holy lord jesus was able to throw the stone now the lord lifted himself up
in full display of his holy nature and declares that all who would
be accepted by him would you be accepted by him? what does
his law say concerning acceptance? Be ye holy, even as I am holy. Accept your righteousness, exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. You shall in no
wise enter the kingdom of heaven. Psalm 24 and verse 3 and 4, Who
shall ascend into the holy hill of God? You see Him lifting Himself
up? Who are you? Will you ascend
into the holy hill of God? only he that hath clean hands
and a pure heart." Our Lord lifted Himself up. You self-righteous
men, who are you? Can you claim to merit God's
favor by your works? How then can you look down upon
another, seeing thou art in the same condition? That's what He
was saying. You self-righteous Pharisees, you are in the same
boat as this woman here. You're in the same condition
as this woman here. That's what he proved. Isn't
that what the law proves? I like this. The Bible is the
great leveler of all men. It puts us all on the same level. Equally worthless before God. Equally guilty before the eyes
of law, the law of God. He is without sin. Let him first
cast a stone. And what did they do? They all
turned away. Their conscience convicting them, they turned
away. So then the only one that was
left to throw a stone was Christ. And the scripture says he was
left alone with a woman. Now she surely deserved the stone. She surely was worthy of death. But if Christ will ever save
a man, he must bring him down to the same place he brings this
woman. Alone with him. Alone with him. He must show us that we are only
worthy of the justice and wrath of God, that we have all sinned
and come short of the glory of God. We must confess like the
publican, Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. Therefore, we who are guilty,
Only we who are guilty stand in need of what? Mercy. Mercy. We need mercy. Do you
need mercy? Because this woman, she needed
mercy. The Pharisees, they did not desire
mercy. Matter of fact, they left Christ. They turned away from Christ. Jesus said, they that are whole
need not a physician, but they that are sick. Isaiah said, you
are sick, the whole head is sick. The whole head is sick with sin.
Therefore, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance." Now then, fourthly, notice what Jesus does again.
He stoops a second time. What is this a picture of? Well,
when He stooped the first time and condemned Adam to death,
He also stooped a second time to show him mercy. Did not God
come down to Adam? after he had condemned him, after
Adam had died, it was then that God stooped down in mercy to
save Adam. But when He stooped down the
first time and revealed His guilt, what did Adam do? He tried to
cover it. He tried to cover it. And when
the Law was revealed, what did we do? We tried to cover our
sin. We tried to cover and run from
God. We tried to hide in the forest, in the woods, saying,
surely God will not see me. You know what the Jews did when
God sent His Law? They made a God out of gold.
Isn't that what we did? As soon as the Law came in conviction
of our heart, we made a God of our own. A God of free will works
religion. A God we can move. A God we can
manipulate. We all did that. But I tell you this, when God
stooped down in grace, He brought all that to an end. He showed
us that our leaves were not sufficient. He showed us our God was no God
at all. And we were left alone with Him. He stooped down in grace. The Son of God stooped down in
grace. He stooped so low as to be made
a man, to be made flesh. And in humiliation, He, in obedience
to the law of God, obtained for us what we could never obtain
for ourselves. Righteousness. The righteousness
of God. By His stooping down and being
made a man as a representative man, He obtained righteousness
for us. And not only this, behold how
low did Christ stoop upon the cross. When He was on the tree,
how low did He descend into the very depths of judgment and justice. God hath made Him to be sin for
us who knew no sin. And therefore on the cross He
cried, Is there any sorrow like unto my sorrow? You that pass
by, is this nothing to you? He said, my bones are set on
fire from above and I am turned backwards. How low is the pit of hell for
one sinner? And yet God incarnate descended
into the very pits of hell for all his people. Can you even count your own sins? And yet all of the sins of his
people, God imputed to his charge. And look there upon the cross
and see that both justice and mercy are met together. That's
where it meets together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. For the sins of the people of
God did not go unpunished. God did not wink at our sins,
but Christ Jesus, in love and for the glory of God and the
salvation of His elect, suffered the full measure of God's justice
for our sins. He didn't let that woman go.
He didn't let her sin go. He punished it. God punished it in Christ. That's how he was able to say
to her, neither do I condemn thee. Because the sin had already
been condemned in Christ. He stooped down so low and as
he wrote the second time in the ground, what do you suppose he
wrote? I don't know. How about, it is finished. That's
not a good one. What about this? He shall see
of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. Some speculate
that he wrote the law of God out on there and probably drew
arrows to point to men and particular sins. You know what he did the
second time? He probably just erased it. blotted
it out. Isn't that what grace does? In
grace, God comes in mercy and blotted out our sins as a thick
cloud so that God Himself cannot see them by looking. God Himself
cannot find them. Isn't that what it says in Jeremiah
chapter 50 and verse 20? It says, "...the sins of Judas
shall be sought for, and they shall not be found." They shall
not be found. And third, the last thing, he
lifts himself up. Look at that. He said he stooped
down the second time, he lifted himself up. And he was left alone with the
woman. He lifts himself up. This, no doubt, is talking about
the resurrection of Christ. After He had put away our sins,
what's the proof that God is satisfied? The proof is Death
could not hold Him. Death could not hold Him. Because
sin had been forever gone, obliterated by His death, put away forever. God raised Him from the dead. And now Christ sits enthroned
upon God's throne in heaven. And what is He doing? He is moving all things after
the counsel of His own will to do one thing, save His people
from their sins. That's what He's doing. He's
calling His people. He is applying what He accomplished
in His humiliation. He is applying it to the hearts
of His people and keeping them until He gives them the kingdom.
That's what He's doing in heaven now. You suppose that these guys,
Jews, thought they were fulfilling the will of God? You think they
had one thought that they were doing, that they were actually
going to bring this woman to Christ for salvation? That's
exactly what they were doing, they just didn't know it. God
is moving all things. This woman was doing exactly
what she wanted to do. Sin. And these men were doing
exactly what they wanted to do. Sin. And you know what God was
doing? Working all of it together to save that one woman. So what
did God do for you? Isn't that what He done for you?
He brought all things. He worked all things together
to bring you under the sound of the gospel so that you should
hear and believe on Jesus Christ. That's what He did. He brought you to the feet of
Christ as a guilty sinner and left you there. You, like Mephibosheth,
were lame on your feet. And David, in grace, fetched
Mephibosheth. And that's exactly what God did
with you. That woman wouldn't have come to Christ on her own.
She had to be fetched. And she was fetched, alright.
They didn't know what they were doing. They fetched her and brought
her to Christ, didn't even know what they were doing. God did. And we, like Mephibosheth, sit
there and we found grace. And he said, as David said, for
Jonathan's sake, even so God said, for Christ's sake, sit
at my table, eat my gospel, be satisfied. Behold you who believe on Christ,
seeing that Christ is stooped to satisfy all the law of God,
to blot out all our sins, look what he says to this woman, he
said, where are thine accusers? What does he say to you? Where
are your accusers? You believe in Christ, where
are your accusers? Who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather
is risen again. Who then shall separate you from
the love of God that is in Christ Jesus? What then, where is thine
accusers, believer? Who condemneth thee? Satan? Can he condemn thee? He tries.
Can't do it. Your conscience, does it condemn
you? I know it does. It has no right. The scripture says, Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. What's a
problem? The problem is man's sin. The
problem is God's holy and just. How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? The solution? Only in Jesus Christ
who stooped down in grace to save his people from their sin. There is therefore now. No condemnation. You know that's an ever-present
now? That was a now when Paul wrote it and it's a now when
I said it. Now, there is no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. Those who walk not after the
flesh, but after the spirit. What does that mean? To believe
on Christ. Those who believe on Christ. No condemnation to
you. Go. And you know what? Sin no more.
Isn't that the desire of every believer's heart? You bet it
is. And one day, one day, we'll experience
it. One day we'll experience what
it is to sin no more. And praise God for it. I pray
God will bless this to your hearts. The stand will be dismissed in
prayer.