Without Judy. Once again, good morning. Our Lord Jesus is holy. So holy that even like the Father,
it's hard to imagine. The Father cannot look upon sin
at all. At all. Yet He sent His Son down
to this world right smack in the middle to deal with men face
to face, to deal with sin in this world by Him. Jesus was made to be sin for
His people. That's what the book says. He
was made sin so that we might be made righteous in Him. That amazes me. That's amazing
grace. When we think about the creator
of everything there is, the power that he has, the ability to just
say, you know what? I don't want that. Get rid of
it. Start all over again. He has that power if he wanted
to, yet he had, and he delights in being merciful. He delights
in being merciful. Amazing grace. How sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. Turner, you're in your books
if you went to the book of John, in your Bibles, to the book of
John. I know that I probably shocked
many of you last week who have heard me preach or teach. Those of you who have been able
and noticed, I usually don't go very long. So last week that
I went an hour probably shocked a lot of you. Probably shocked a lot of you.
John doesn't take very long to get to what he normally wants
to say, so it shocked me too. I was surprised. I looked up
at the clock and, whew, wait a minute. People are probably
getting ready to go home right now. One of Kathy's and my favorite
places to go in all of this beauty that the Lord has provided us
for. Here's a place called French Meadows. It's up outside of Georgetown. It's a long windy road. A lot
of others know where it's at. It's a beautiful place in the
hills. The area is heavily, or was heavily, covered in very
thick forest at times. You get up there, and there's
no places. Once you leave Forest Hill, there's really nothing. I think there's one little place
that calls itself a store, maybe, somewhere that sits back off.
And I'm always afraid to go there, because I'm afraid of something
like deliverance. So I've never actually stopped there. But there's nothing. And you get
out there, and you know, Nature calls. You've got to go out.
You've got to do the things that nature says to do. And you walk
off into that forest, and it doesn't take but more than a
few feet to get away from the road. And you realize that you
can't see anything anymore. I'm not surprised that more people
don't get lost. When you hear of somebody who
gets lost in the forest, some of those forests that we've got
right here in our own backyard are pretty thick and pretty easy
to get lost in. And so it amazes me. One day a fire came through and
it burnt several, several thousands of acres. And Kathy and I went
up there and we drove through that area. And as we came out
of what the forest once was and looked, you could see for miles
all of a sudden where you couldn't see before. That fire had wiped out. Thousands
of acres, all that beautiful lush forest was gone. But what
we don't know, most of us, or some of us, I didn't, is that
fires are actually a very important part of the ecosystem. Many of
the new seed, the new sprouts, come up from burnt ground. When
a forest gets too thick, the water and the sunlight can't
get to the stuff at the bottom. Lightning strikes, burns it all
down. The next thing you know, there's
a lush green forest coming up underneath. It doesn't take long. We went back. We saw the burnt
forest. Then we went back again. And we were just amazed at how
much had grown in one year, coming back up, just sprouting up green
all over the place. It was beautiful. Fires can bring
a great destruction to what we may see. But underneath, there
is a beautiful renewal. Fire is often, often described
in scripture as a storm. And some of the biggest
storms that we deal with in our lives, in my own life, is my
sin. I told you last week, I'm a sinner
saved by grace. Don't ever expect any more than
that. Don't ever look to me like I'm
something more than just what you are, a sinner saved by grace. If you haven't seen it already,
I highly recommend that you stop in the foyer and pick up a copy
of it. My brother Mike Loveless wrote a poem called Besetting
Sins, and he sent it out on the internet, so I forgot to ask
you if I had permission there, brother. I apologize. Father,
he says, I can look outside to the evil tempter's snare, but
nothing out beyond my heart compares to what's in there. The world
is dazzling as it is, is not my greatest fear. Hedge up my
ways and keep me, Lord, for what I hold in here. Keep me from
the cherished sins that often are my foe. Withhold me from
the sinful paths, though I have traveled so. Hold me in your
loving arms and do not let me near the evil that my fleshly
lusts have held to be so dear. Keep my mind from looking on
and lingering there for long. Hold me tightly till they pass
and every trace is gone. Keep me ever looking past besetting
sins of heart. Arrest them all before I look,
before the longing starts. Oh, my loving Father, how I long
to be set free from every sinful act and thing that keeps your
joy from me, from every evil thought or deed I ever entertained. Hedge up my ways, oh wondrous
Lord, and keep away such stain. The world beyond my inner self
of glitter holds no fear, not nearly as what is within compares
to what's out there, compares to those besetting sins, those
birthed in my own mind, that uncontrolled place of myself
that shames me all the time. Brother Mike. Go ahead, tell Pastor Gene. He'll
chew me out for that later. My point of telling you about
the fire is that that's what sin is in my life to me. It's not just wickedness that
comes through our minds of that guy who just cut me off on the
freeway. It's not just the things that go through our wicked mind
of the flesh. But it's, I don't believe the
Lord really means that. Or you know what, I don't trust
what God tells me in His Word here. I'm going to just live
with this woman for a few years to make sure everything's right.
And then maybe I'll do it God's way. Or anything like that. Sin is not just what we think
is wickedness. It's unbelief. It's doubt. When
we don't put our trust in the Lord, when we think it's our
job to do something, God gives us responsibility, folks. Don't
take this wrong. There is a responsibility of
us in the flesh. We do have certain things the
Lord has given us to make decisions of whether, you know, I think I'll decide not to go
preach to those Ninevites because they're mean, nasty people, and
I'm going to run this way. We talked about that last week
in Jonah, didn't we? The Lord allowed Jonah to make a decision.
What the world doesn't seem to understand, though, is just because
you make a decision and you go this way and everything works
out doesn't mean that you made it's a decision according to
God's will. It doesn't mean that your decision
can make overpower what God wanted to happen in the first place.
And that's sin. Everything about us is sin. If there's somebody here today
who thinks they're not a sinner, they're in the wrong place. Because
I'm talking to sinners today. I bring this before you to point
out that we all have sin in us. Not one among us can say, I have
no sin. In 1 John 1.8 it says, if, this
is God's word, if we say that we have no sin, then we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us. It's as simple as that. Paul himself, a man used of God
in mighty ways, declares himself to be a wretched man. Oh, wretched
man that I am, he says. He declares himself to be a sinner,
one who does what he shouldn't and does not do that that he
should. I do not say that sin is good.
But when I see the sin that is in me, the wonderful grace of
Jesus is magnified more and more and more. It's as bright even
to the point of being overwhelming. When I see what I deserve, God's
grace is as great as a great bright star. And Christ brings
that light down to where I need it most, right to the very depth
of my soul. Is not our God good? In His love for His own, He shows
us what we are. But oh, how thankful I am that
He does not leave us there. That He did not leave me in the
desperation that day I came to this church. The day that all
I wanted to do was cry on my brother's shoulder. He did not
leave me in the desperation that was in my heart. Out of love
for me, He brings us to the understanding of what He has done for us. I
heard about Christ. I heard about Christ on the cross. I heard about mercy. I heard
about grace. I've shared with this many of
you many times before. I've been to a church where I
heard what was a so-called preacher preaching a message. And it was
all about the children and their wonderful works of going down
to Mexico, raising enough money for a whole year. They raised
a whole bunch of money for a whole year. And then they went down
to Mexico and they took an ambulance that they had bought and gave
it to a town so they would have an ambulance to take people to
the hospital. That's a wonderful thing. But that's not the mercy
of Christ. That's men's work. There is a
place for that. But today we talk about the mercy
and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and that's what I will
speak of every time I'm standing in this pulpit or send me off.
Let me go away. Don't let me stand here. He reveals His mercy in the giving
of Himself for us, laying down His life, that all for whom the
Father gave Him, all for whom the Father gave Him would come
to Him. All the fullness of heaven shall come to be. There will
be no empty seats. In John 6.39, and this is the
Father's will, which hath sent me, that of all which He hath
given me, I should lose nothing. but should raise it up again
at the last day. Our Lord speaks to us through
His Word, showing us our need of a Savior, revealing to us
who it is that is the true Judge. Who it is that deserves all the
glory. Who it is that covered the depth
and full of His people. Who it is that took all the sins
of His elect and buried them in that grave that they placed
Him in. They're gone, gone, gone. Never to be remembered again.
Gone from the side of God forever. Revealing to us who it is that
rules over all that is, according to His counsel and His counsel
alone. Scripture brings us to the knowledge
of our own shortcomings. Are you with me and John? John chapter 8, beginning at
verse 1. Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives. From Henry Mahan's
commentary, he brought out something I thought very important here.
It says, the closing verse of the preceding chapter, look back
to that if you would, verse 53. It said, every man went unto
his own house. But notice where our Lord went
from there. Our Lord went unto the Mount of Olives, a mountain
that was less than two miles from Jerusalem. He often went
there for privacy and prayer. But notice this, the Son of Man,
the Creator of everything, hath not where to lay His head." End
of quote. Just like the manger, isn't it?
He came into this world and there was no place for Him to lay His
head in Bethlehem. And they laid Him in a manger.
Here every man went unto his home, and God Almighty in the
flesh went to the mountain. And early in the morning, He
came again unto the temple, and all the people came unto Him,
and He sat down and taught them. He sat down and taught them,
it says, see how this One who is God in the flesh sits down? Notice how He teaches on the
same level of those around Him? He comes down to our level. Sitting
down projects calmness, peace, not standing over. Not lauding
over, but sitting. Teaching, not demanding. All must be taught of God. On the road to emancipation,
I mentioned this earlier, Christ expounded. He taught from the
Scriptures the things pertaining to Himself. Christ preached Christ. If He thought it good enough
to preach Himself, should we not also? Verse 3 and 4. 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, Master,
this woman was taken in adultery in the very act." By the way,
just in case you might have missed it, the law of Moses declares
that the man and woman both should be stoned. If they caught her
in the very act, these righteous, These self-righteous religious
hypocrites, should not they have brought the man to? I'm starting
to question things already about what they're doing. It doesn't say it here, but Henry
Mahan points out to us that just the day before, these same hypocrites,
these same self-righteous people, they tried to take our Lord by
force. But yet they were unsuccessful. It wasn't the Lord's time. Now they come in craftiness and
deceit. Do you guess they were respectful
in calling him master? These ones who crucified the
true master of all things? I personally doubt it. I also
find it questionable that they just found her in the situation
just by chance. The fact that the man was not
there, could they have actually set her up maybe? Read verse
5. Now Moses in the law commanded
us that such should be stoned, but what sayest thou? These religious men were jealous.
Jesus was commanding large crowds, 5,000 in a single day. No doubt
the coffers were a little bit short. People were flocking after
Jesus, not seeking the counsel of the religious leaders. And
what a stir was going on about that. Oh, you didn't come to
me. Why didn't you come to me? I'm
your pastor. Why didn't you go over there?
I can imagine that. They were jealous. You'll recall
last week we saw the jealousy of Cain. When God rejected him
and accepted his brother, he killed him. We saw the jealousy
of 11 brothers to their one youngest and how they were so jealous
over the coat of many colors. They sold him and told their
dad he was dead. Jealousy is a bad thing. The last half of verse six, this
they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him. Our Lord knew the hearts of those
men. God knows everything. And there you go. It tells us
right there. It was in their hearts. They
were doing it deceitfully to tempt him, to catch him, that
they might charge him with something. the last half of verse 6. But
Jesus stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground,
as though He had heard them not. Notice the italics from the language
before and after. Before and after it would seem
obvious, but for some reason, the translators thought it better
to put that in there and make it more clear. Continuing in
verse 7, 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. This is my title for today's
message. He that is without sin. As we've already seen in my opening
statements, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
And this is where men What a man should be doing. You shouldn't be casting stone
at anybody. You got enough sin in you. What
are you doing doing that? How dare you cast a stone at
him? Don't you know the sin that's in you too? Feel the guilt? Feel the guilt that people would
throw at each other to make them stop doing that? Something like
maybe this, maybe, in Matthew 7, 3. And why beholdest thou
the mote that is in thy brother's eye? But consider not the beam
that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother,
let me pull out the mote of thine eye, and behold, a beam is in
thine own eye? How dare you throw that rock
at our brother? How dare you look at this man
and say, he's a sinner? Thou hypocrite! First cast out
the beam of thine own eye, and then thou shalt see clearly and
cast out the mote of thy brother's eye." Feel the guilt that would
come from that? That's what they do with that
verse. I recall, I remember. It's amazing how the Lord, you
know, you all know I grew up in Baptist churches. For the life of me, I usually
don't remember anything that was ever preached. But when I
started reading this, I'm reading about this, I remember the pastor
up there, how dare you? Throwing stuff
at me. Man, the guilt was flying. But I would like to approach
this a little bit differently than the world might. I want you to consider this. He that is without sin. Think about that for just a second.
He that is without sin. The God of all glory stood right
before those religious hypocrites and they knew Him not. The only
man to walk this earth as perfect as God Himself was the Son of
the Living God, Jesus Christ the Lord. He is as holy as His Father is,
as the Holy Spirit is, perfect in every way. In 1 Peter 2.22
we read about Him, who, speaking of Christ, did no sin, neither
was guile found in His mouth, who when He was reviled, reviled
not again. When He suffered, He threatened
not, but committed Himself to Him that judges righteously.
Are you starting to get the picture? He that is without sin. One of the brothers asked me
this question last week. What would Christ do? Well, Christ, when He was reviled,
He reviled not again. When He suffered, He threatened
not. but he committed it all to him
that judges righteously. I think that's what Christ would
do. This one who created all things
that is seen and everything that is unseen had no sin in him,
but took upon himself the death of the cross with a perfect righteous
blood to pay the wages of sin for his chosen people. In 2 Corinthians
5.21, For He hath made Him, for God
hath made the Son, to be sin for us. He who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. The perfect Lamb
of God was made to be sin for us. Can you grasp that? Can you
get your mind around that? That is so deep. God made His
Son to be sin for us. So when He died and went into
the grave and took all the sins of His people with Him, that's
where they stayed. There's now no condemnation to
all who are in Christ. How can you point a finger at
a brother who has sinned? Our Lord tells us when the disciples
asked Him, how often should we forgive our brother? And the
Lord said, 70 times 7. I don't think I can do that.
I want to try, but this flesh is weak. I need all the help
in the Lord to get past number one. The perfect Lamb of God was made
sin for us, and this One who knew no sin stood right there
before them." Verse 8, and again he stooped down and
wrote on the ground, And they which heard it, being convicted
of their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at
the oldest, even unto the last. And Jesus was left alone, and
the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself
and saw none but the woman, 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. Go and sin no more. He who is without sin, that's who we're talking about
today. That's what this is all about. We're here today to talk
about our Lord Jesus who had no sin, but took our sins on Him. Because He loves us. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of
the life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law, hath
made me free of sin and death. For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in
the flesh. That the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit,
the things of the Spirit. God the Father laid all the sins
of His elect on the back of His dear sons. By His stripes, we
are healed. The worst storms that I have
had to face have been those of my own besetting sins. Like a
fire, they come through and it just starts in one second of
an afternoon, one phone call, and the fire just blows through. and wipes out everything in its
path. But God, who is rich in mercy
and grace, wherewith He loved us. Do you have your bulletins with
you still? Is there a storm in your life? Do the sins of your flesh bear
heavy on your shoulders? Turn to Christ. Turn to Christ. It's just as
simple as that. In 1 Timothy 1.15, I think there's a typo there, 15
to 15. This is a faithful saying worthy
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners, of who I am chief. How be it for this cause I obtained
mercy, that in me, first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering
for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life
everlasting. Now unto the King eternal, immortal,
invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever. Amen. When the sins of life come about
us like a storm, turn it over to Christ. He's our only shelter. He's the only place to hide.
You're not going to find peace anywhere else. Sometimes things
just go crazy, and there's no explanation as to why. But I
know this. I know this. I believe this. God's Word tells me it. Everything,
including my puny little fires, everything is for the good to
them. that are loved, that love God, everything. A shelter in the time of storm
will be our closing hymn this morning. Will you stand with
me?