Turn back to John 8 with me now.
John chapter 8. This is a story you have heard
many times, most of you. But this is your story. This is my story. This is a message. This is the gospel. for sinners,
convicted sinners, those who are convicted of their sins. Scripture says this is a faithful
saint, worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came in this world
to save sinners. And He came to seek and to save
the lost. That's why He came. That's who
He came for. And Scripture says, whoever and whatever they have
done or been, He will abundantly pardon. Just completely, fully,
freely, finally pardon. Blot out all their sin. Just
with a word. This is my story. This is my
song we sing. Praising my Savior all the day
long. It begins this way in verse 1.
The Lord Jesus went under the Mount of Olives. Now, this was
a place that he often resorted to. It says over in chapter 18,
when they came to get him, Judas led a band of soldiers and officers
from the high priest to apprehend him. He knew where he was because
he was there often. The Mount of Olives. That's a
significant amount of olive. See, there's a garden there.
That's where the garden of Gethsemane was. And our Lord was there often
with His disciples. You know the church is called
a garden? A garden. Over in the Song of Solomon,
you've read it with me, you've heard it. Where are you going
to find Him? He's in His garden. That's where
you'll find Him. And he went there to pray. He
often went there to pray. And we just prayed, didn't we?
It's not a ritual. It's not a duty. It's not just
something that you're supposed to do. It's what God's people
did, call on the Lord. Without Him, we can do nothing.
You won't be able to hear this message if the Lord doesn't give
you ears to hear it, a heart to receive. It will mean nothing
to you. It won't touch you. It won't
touch me. I won't be able to... get it
across unless the Lord blesses me. So we pray. We call, we pray,
and what is prayer? It's thanking God. We're just
here to thank God. We're here to call on God. We're
here to ask the Lord. We have many needs. We're needy
people. Because everything we have, He
gives it to us. You know, the Lord went there
to pray, and He went there often. And it was a garden amount of
olives, and that's significant. The lamp in the temple was lit
by olive oil. It was beaten olive oil, crushed. And our Lord, before He went
to the cross, it says He sweat, as it were,
great drops of blood, like those olives, crushed. And that blood
and that sweat is the light of life. So that's all significant. Verse 2, And early in the morning
he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto
him, and sat down. And he sat down, and they did
too, like you are. And we just don't do it, because
if I sat down, you couldn't see me. That'd be a good thing, wouldn't
it? But he sat down right in the
midst of them. Sometimes I do stand down there.
Why? I'd rather not be standing up
here. You know that? I'd rather you not be looking
at me. I really would. I'd rather somebody else be doing
that. But this is what I'm called to do. I'm up here just so you
can hear my voice, not see me. That's why we have a pulpit.
The flesh, the man, needs to be covered up. You're not here
to see things. You're here to hear God's Word.
Our Lord sat down right in the midst of them to teach them.
They came to His temple. It was His temple. It was called
THE temple. But Malachi 3 says, The Lord
whom you seek shall suddenly come to His temple. This wasn't the Jews' temple,
this was the Lord's temple that He had ordained and He had set
up and He had had this temple built. And this is where His
people were to meet, He told them to. This is where He would
come to meet with them, for them to worship Him and see that sacrifice
of blood, that lamb. What does all that mean? It all
stands for Jesus Christ. He says, you're the temple of
God, didn't you? And He came to His temple. Where two or three
are gathered together, that's where He is in a minute. That's
His promise. And His people are His temple. God doesn't dwell
in buildings made with hand. This is not the temple of God.
This is not the church of God. You are where He dwells. And He came again and again. And again, and again. And so we come. Why do we come?
Why did these people come? What does it say? Why did they
go to church? Why did they come? They came
to Him. They came to hear Him. They came to see Him. They came
to be with Him. They needed Him to tell them
something. They needed Him to teach them. They were like little
children. You know, you will not Hear the
Word of God, except you hear it like little children. Brother John preached a wonderful
message yesterday. He said, you know, Paul said
we preach in part. We know in part. We're not experts.
We're not masters. We're not masters of divinity.
We're not doctors of divinity, masters of theology. No, no,
no, no, no. Not at all. He's the master. And we preach
in part, but John said, everything we preach is in part. We don't
know it all. But this one thing I know. It's
like that fellow that they were examining him. All these church
leaders were examining this fellow and they said, what do you think
about superlapsarianism? Are you a superlapsarian or an
infralapsarian? Let me ask you. Robin, are you
a super-legislator or a super-legislator? You don't know? Well, I'd have
to look it up again to tell you what it is. Do you believe pre-,
post- or millennialists? Which are you? What's your view on soteriology?
That's what theologians and all these people... And again, I'd
have to look those words. I used to know what they were.
But thankfully, I don't care. We are concerned with what words
of Scripture speak. We don't diminish that. Well,
they were asking this fellow, they were examining him for membership
of the church, you know, and he said, I don't know. They said,
what's your view? He said, oh, he said, I'm just
a poor sinner. And nothing at all. But Jesus
Christ is my all in all. They said, well, you know, what's
your stand on on the church or the law. He said, I'm just a
poor sinner. And I'm nothing at all. But Jesus
Christ is my all in all. What about you? What's your profession
of faith? I'm nothing. I'm a nobody. This
preacher's a nobody from nowhere. Former railroader. People ask
me all the time, where'd you go to the cemetery? Seminary. I didn't. Neither did
the apostles. Not one of them. Neither did
the prophets. Not one. Well, what's your qualification?
I don't have any. What are your credentials? What
are your degrees? I don't know. I have a thermometer
at home. Then how did you get here? I
believe the Lord called me. Early in the temple, he came
again. The people came unto him. Oh, let us be like these people. Come to him and him only. Not
just going to church. Like the Pharisees, hypocrites,
playing a part, going through the motions. And when it's over,
we go home and it's all over and we did our duty. Oh, no.
He came to his temple. came to his people, and they
came to him. Verse 3, the scribes and Pharisees
brought unto him a woman taken in adultery, and they set her
in the midst, stood her there in the middle of them. The scribes
and the Pharisees, people came to hear him. People came to hear
his voice. People came to the temple to
worship. hear him, but the scribes and
Pharisees came to condemn. They came to try him, to test
him, put him to the test, to examine what he was preaching
and try to find fault with him. That's what scribes and Pharisees
do. That's not what sinners do. And they brought this woman to
him. Who brought her? Who brought you here? How'd you get here? Well, I decided
to come. So-and-so invited me. Oh, no, that's not the way it
works. That's the way man works, you
know. But Proverbs 16, 33, Brother John quoted this. He said, The
lot is cast into the lap. What are you going to do? But
the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. You see, He worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will. He does. And He had this woman brought
to Him. If you're here, you're here because
the Lord brought you. There's no accident that you're
here. Sovereign providence. If you're here to hear, Like
these people, Him. Oh, you're so blessed. He's given
you a heart to desire to hear Him, and hopefully He'll give
you ears to hear. And hopefully when you leave
here, you'll be singing that song like you've never sung it
before. What have I gotten? Naught have
I gotten but what I've received. Grace hath bestowed it, and now
I believe. Boasting excluded, pride I abate. You know what I am? I'm only
a sinner saved by grace. No condemnation. You've heard this so many times.
You want to hear it again? All that want to hear this again
say aye. Ayes have it. Motion carried. And actually
this is the only message I'm supposed to preach. We will not come unless He calls
us. We will not. Christ said, You
will not come unto Me that you might have life. And people come
to church for various reasons. Everybody comes the first time
for the wrong reasons. I came for the wrong reasons. I was trying to get a job and
trying to clean up my act. You don't clean up your act to
come to Christ. I'll tell you this story. Brother Robert Barnard was from
Winston-Salem, a preacher, and he was preaching, and he traveled
all over. And he was in a place, and this
man owned a tavern, a bar called a tavern back then. And his wife
was coming to the services, and she loved the gospel. And she
invited him over to eat, and he went over to their house to
eat, and the man never came. in this tavern, this bar, and
he thought like everybody else thinks, like most preachers,
that Barnard would be just like all these other preachers. You
don't have to quit this and quit that to come to church. Straighten up your act and come
to church. If you don't do that, the Lord
won't save you. Well, Barnard went over to his
house to eat, and he was eating. And Barnard said this later,
he said, I thought, I better, you know, this man doesn't like
me, and he said, I better eat up fast before he kicks me out.
But there was silence, and the man said, Preacher, he said,
I guess you noticed I hadn't been in the service. Barnard,
yep, that's right, I noticed. He said, Preacher, I own a tavern. And Bart said, I know it. And
he said, Preacher, tell me all the time and I'll have to sell
my tavern if I'm going to come to church. He said, I ain't selling
my tavern. Bart said, you don't have to sell your tavern. I took him back. I don't have to sell my tavern
to come to church? No. You don't have to sell your tavern.
He said, I think I'll come hear you. Well, he did. And he's just an old boy like
the rest of us. He's just like the rest of us. That's where
the Lord found you. Me. But anyway, he came and the
Lord dealt with him. Saved him. Spoke to him. Convicted
him of sin. You know what he did? He sold
his tavern. These Pharisees came to condemn.
We won't come to Christ unless He calls us. And if He calls
you, He'll call you to Himself to hear the good news. Salvation
for sinners. No condemnation of them in Christ.
That you're a guilty sinner. Yes, you are. You're guilty of
everything. You're going to see here. They
said this woman, Master, verse 4, this woman had been taken
in the act of adultery, in the very act. She was caught. How
did they catch her? What, they spied on her? That's
what religious people do, don't they? Brother Ed, you all told
me that years ago these elders from the Reformed came over to
their house to see what they were doing and what, you know,
if they had magazines on their table and had TV and all that. And brother, did you tell them,
look, can we come to your house and examine you? Well, they were
kicked out. Something like that, wasn't it? How'd they catch her? You know,
it takes two to tango. Where's the fella? Was it one
of them? You know, you'll accuse others,
if you're not a sinner, if you're not guilty, you'll accuse others.
You'll excuse yourself. You'll accuse those you don't
like, but you'll excuse those you do. Was this one of their
buddies? They're covering up? She was guilty. Caught in the
act. And so have you been. You know that to be divorced
and remarried is adultery. You know what? That's what the
Lord said. Jesus Christ said that. How many in here? You know, our
Lord said to think, to look on another with lust, you're guilty. Didn't He say that? Did He say
that? Is there anybody in here who
has not looked at the opposite sex at some point in your life? Anybody? Not one. Are you guilty? We say, but I
haven't done that. Now, granted, the very act is
worse and there's no excuse for it. And the consequences are
terrible. Terrible. But our Lord said, as I just
said, and the only reason you haven't done the worst sin on
earth is the restraining grace of God. The only reason the finest
woman in here who maybe was a virgin and got married and still married
the same man, only one man in your whole life. The only reason
you're not a harlot on the street is the grace of God. It's not
your will. It's not your goodness. It's
not your righteousness. Because it's not your self-control. It's the grace of God Almighty. One hundred percent. Is that right, ladies? There's
some fine ladies in here. Mary the Virgin, the Virgin Mary,
the Lord kept her a virgin so that Christ would be born of
a virgin according to Scripture, right? She didn't stay a virgin.
Her and Joseph got together and had other children, right? That's
right. The Catholics deny that vehemently.
Well, that's, that Scripture says that her, Joseph did not
know her until. She had this son who was supposed
to be born a virgin, according to Scripture. And he wasn't.
And you know why. But then they got together and
had sons and daughters. All right? Well, the Virgin Mary
was best friends with a lady in the church. And she was Mary
Magdalene. A harlot. She'd known every man
in town. And they were both best friends.
And you know what? Mary the former virgin thought
more highly of Mary Magdalene than she thought of herself.
And Mary the virgin knew that for the grace of God, I'd have
done exactly what she'd done. And Mary the virgin thought,
if I'm saved, it's 100% the same way she's going to be saved.
Mercy! Don't holler, preacher. Mercy! We need to holler mercy, don't
we? Please forgive me, because we're all guilty as charged. You've been caught. Caught in
a thought, if not the act. But do you know what the worst
adultery is, which the Scripture speaks of more than anything
else? Do you know that? James said, you adulterers and
adulteresses. That's what he said. He wasn't
talking about the actual act. He was talking about adultery
against God. Believers. I was going to go to Hosea. And
he said, Jose, you go down and you marry a woman according to
the love that God has for His people, who all they want to
do is go after the world and go after other people and other
things and even this and that things. And they commit adultery
and fornication with these things. They love these things. They
want pleasure. They are lovers of pleasure more than God. And
that's spiritual adultery. And our Lord said, all of my
people are guilty as charged. He said, you go love Hosea. That's what He said to Jesus
Christ. You go down and you love a people that are full of whoredom. And you marry her. And you buy
her. You redeem her to yourself. And
you save her from that sin. And you allure her. You bring
her to yourself. And you speak to her. And she
belongs to you. And he did. This woman, you see, is Jesus
Christ's wife. This is his daughter. If your
daughter was out in the world and caught up in harlotry, if
you could go get her, would you? I have an only daughter. Hmm. Can you imagine? I have two granddaughters. I
pray the Lord will keep them actually from being out in the
world and getting caught up with it. These things, sexual pleasure
and drugs and this whole world, it gets a hold of you. And it's
a cesspool and it'll bring you down into a hole you can't get
out of. A pit. David over and over said, deliver
me from going down in the pit. He said, he brought me up out
of a horrible pit, and if he doesn't keep me out of it, I'll
go right back. That's what he said. Because I had no power
whatsoever. You're the only one keeping me
out of the pit. You're the only one getting me out of it, the
only one keeping me out of it. Isn't that what he said? And I can't imagine one of my
daughters being out there in captivity still. And yet they
are caught up. Hannah, but my granddaughters
don't know the Lord, and they are caught up in this world.
And I pray over and over again, Lord, speak to them. Speak to
them. Please, please. I pray she's
one of yours. She just loaned her to me. I
pray she's there one of yours. Speak to her. If you don't speak
to her, I can't speak to her. Her parents can't. This is one
of His daughters. This is one of His bride, His
precious child, you know. And our Lord, His daughter, He can save His
daughter. Every one of them. And He will.
If you belong to Christ, if your granddaughters belong to Christ,
sister, He's coming after them. Now isn't that good news? What
the world calls it, we preach. If you don't invite sinners,
if you don't bribe them, if you don't promise them this and that,
politicians do that. This is God we're speaking of.
He does as He will, and when He calls, they come. So we call
on Him. Would you call them? I can't.
And sister and brother, when the time comes, if they want
to hear it, they're coming. They brought her to Him. They
brought her to Him. Who brought her to Him? Why did
they bring her to Him? They didn't know what they were
doing. If they knew what they were doing, they would have brought
her to Him. They want her condemned. If they wanted her condemned,
don't bring her to Him. Because everybody that comes
to Jesus Christ goes away not condemned. Did you hear that? Don't holler. Everybody that
comes to Christ and looks to Jesus Christ alone. Don't come
to me. Don't come to the priests. Christ
said, come unto me. I'll give you rest. He's the
only one that can forgive and forget. He's the only one that
can blot out all the handwriting ordinances against you. He's
the only one. They brought her to Him. They
said Moses and the law said this. Moses didn't write that. He did. This was no accident that they
brought her to Him. This was the grace of God brought
her to the only one who could justify her from all things by
which she cannot be justified by the law of Moses. The law
says guilty. He's the only one that can say
not guilty. There were two men who went to
church. Our Lord told this story. Two
men went to church. One was a Pharisee. And he stood
up to pray, and it says he prayed with himself. In other words,
he liked to hear himself pray, and he knew everybody else was
impressed by it. And he lifted up his eyes, like, oh God, aren't
you glad to see me? He said, I thank thee, God, that
I am not like other men. I'm not even like that. And it
was back in the back, there was a public, and everybody knew
it was no good. He knew it. Gee, a scoundrel. Sinner! He
said, I thank you, God, I'm not like other men. I'm not sure
I'm not like that fellow. He said, I tithe, I fast, I give
this and that and the other, I don't do this, I don't drink,
I don't smoke, I don't chew, and I don't run around. Women
that do. And the publican in the back
prayed a seven-word prayer. That Pharisee boy, he prayed
on and on, and everybody was impressed by his long, lengthy
prayers and the thees and the vows. But the publican prayed
a seven-word prayer. Seven is perfection. God, be
merciful to me, the sinner. That's all he said. You know
what Christ said? Patrick, you know what Christ
said? He said, I tell you, this man, this publican, went
down to his house justified, completely forgiven, just as
if he had never sent, completely, totally, his record, everything
about him, if he'd ever done wrong, wiped out clean. That other man, guilty as charged,
condemned. Damn, he's going to hell. I'm
going to put him there. You can't do it. I just did it
with the Word. What do you say? And people,
isn't this the question? It's not so much what the law
says, it's what does God say? What does Christ say? What did
Christ do? Here's what Romans 8 said. Who
is he who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
Why? It's God that justifies. Christ
said, justify. You can't do that. I just did.
But he didn't do anything. But I did. And I did it for him. He's justified. Who is he that
condemned her? Christ died. Christ died. So they brought her to Christ
to condemn her and accuse him. Verse 6. They said, tempting
him that they might have to accuse him. And you know, all who expose
others will be exposed. You know that? Listen to me now. All who condemn will be condemned. Now, there's righteous judgment.
It's just plain, obvious judgment. This man doesn't know God. This
person doesn't love God. And you tell the truth. But we're
not trying to sin. We don't want people to be condemned.
And all that's completely up to the Lord. Not us. That's what he meant by judge
not. He said, you're not their judge. You're not the one that's
going to finally and completely condemn them. That's up to him. If we condemn, we'll be condemned.
All who judge without mercy will be judged without mercy. But
here's what our Lord said. If you judge yourselves, you'll not be judged. And if
you judge yourselves rightly, not by man's standards, well,
I'm not as bad as that fellow. Well, maybe you're not. Are you
as good as God? This is the standard by which
mankind is judged. And all have sinned and come
far short, far short of the glory of God. So if we judge ourselves, we
will not be judged. If we judge ourselves, you know
what we'll find? If we take a good, honest look
within ourselves, you know what you'll see? Sin. Guilty. And if you see that, you know
what you'll do? If you really feel it, convicted of it, you'll
cry for mercy. Lord, be merciful to me, the
sinner, like that publican. Please forgive me. I did this.
I've done this against you. I've been nothing but a... Help me. And you know what he'll
do? What he did this morning. Look
at it. Verse 7. Verse 6. They said this, tempting him.
And this is what Pharisees do, you know. They come not to hear
the Word, but try to find fault with God's Word. You know, try
to ask questions that can't be answered. Where did Cain get
his wife? You know. It says in verse 6 that Jesus
stooped down. He stooped down. He was standing
there. Imagine there, you know, this
story, this actual happening. He's sitting down, teaching people
the Word of God. And they're all sitting there,
and in these Pharisees barging in, I don't know how many of
them, scribes and Pharisees, and they had this woman, laid hold of
this woman, and they thrust her. They weren't gentle. They thrust
her. Boy, they think, we've got her and we've got him now. We're
going to put an end to all this. And they thrust her in the middle.
Our Lord's sitting there. The people are shocked. It's
just an embarrassing, terrible situation here. This woman, guilty,
and everybody knows it. And they bring her in and thrust
her. And she's standing there. She's the only one standing there. And our Lord raised Himself up.
Got up out of His chair. to face them. He faced His foe. Our Lord, He always went out
before the disciples. When people came after them in
the garden, our Lord went out in front of them. Who are you
looking for? Gentle Jesus, yes. Meek and mild, yes He was, but
He's a Lion of the tribe of Judah. And nobody could stand before
Him. This is not this simple, pitiful Jesus standing outside
your heart's door. This is God who made the universe.
And he always went out in front of his disciples to protect them.
They didn't have any weapons, but he's the sword. He's the
hammer. He's the fire. He's the captain
of their salvation. He always stood up for them,
stood for them, and nobody could touch them all the days when
they were with them. They couldn't get near those
disciples. Why? Because he went out and
said, who are you looking for? They said, Jesus of Nazareth.
He said, if you seek me, you can let them go. He'd deal with
me. And he went out in front of Satan,
who desired to sift them all like wheat. He said, you try
me to Satan. Go ahead, have at me. And he sent all his disciples
away. They left. Yes, they did. But he sent them
away when he went to the cross. Why? Because he's going to do
this work alone. They're not going to help him.
They're not going to keep him from that. And nobody put him
on that cross but God. And he did this for his people,
to bear the wrath of God for them. And he withstood it, didn't
he? But now he stoops down. Our Lord
Jesus Christ says, Lord, whom you seek shall suddenly come
to this earth, and who shall abide his coming? Who shall stand? When they brought this woman
in, he stood up And then when they brought her in, then he
stooped down. Oh my, how much is in those words?
He stooped down. It's said over in John chapter
6, Christ said this just a little while before this. He said, I
have come down from heaven. This is the same one in Exodus
chapter 3. It's the same God who said, I've
heard my people's groanings. This woman's not saying a word.
Everybody else is speaking. Religious people like to talk
a lot. They like to tell what all they've done and what they
are and so forth. They like to condemn others. This woman's
not saying a word. She never did say a word until
it was over. And all she said was, no man, war. Her heart is crying out. The
whole time she's guilty. And her heart is crying out to
Jesus Christ. Our Lord stooped down. He said,
I am come down. It's the same one in Exodus who
said, I've heard my people's groaning and I am come down.
To bring them out. To bring them up out of this
pit. To bring them in to the promised
land. They can't get out. They can't
come up if I don't come down. And so he stooped down. And he began writing on the ground.
There's only a couple of times in the Scriptures speaks of the
finger of God writing. You know that? The finger of
God wrote. This is one of them. And back
in Exodus, it says the finger of God wrote the law. Well, this
is the same God. What was He writing on the ground? And you know, Pharisees like
to discuss what ground. They were in the temple. It was
concrete or something. Don't you worry about that. Maybe
it's so much dirt on the floor. He wrote in the dust, okay? He's
writing on the ground. And it's a symbol of Him. Everything
He writes in the earth condemns men who are of the earth. Of
the earth, you're earthy. And everything the law says condemns
you. You're a man. You're a sinner.
You're a son of Adam. And everything that God writes
is against you. The handwriting of ordinances
are against you. The law. Was he writing the law,
John? Probably. These Pharisees who
thought they were under the law, who thought they kept the law,
he's writing laws they forgot about. He's writing laws they didn't
know about. Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul
the Apostle, who was one of these Pharisees, was he one of them? He might have been right there.
He said, those that desire to be under the law, they don't
hear it. The law says just to think. The law says pick up sticks
on the Sabbath day. You're guilty. Stone him. The
law says stone you in every offense. Stone him. Kill him. The soul that sinneth, Scripture
says, will surely die. Have you sinned? Oh, any man
says he hath no sin, he's making God a liar. He's writing on the ground. He's
writing laws they didn't know. Maybe he's writing dates and
names and places where they've been and people they've been
with that they thought, nobody knows this but me. Oh yes, somebody
does know it. Every single thing. Every single thing. He knows
it. Who wants to be judged by God
according to your works. Anybody? Would anybody like to
have a big screen TV put up here and all your secret sins brought
up for everybody to see? Anybody? Not me. Scripture says the handwriting
of ordinances is against us. Thou, Lord, seest me. There's
not a thought in my head. You don't know it altogether.
You not only know what I did, you know what I do, and you know
what I will do. What's our hope? Jesus Christ. And he said this
in verse 7. They continued asking him. He
lifted up himself. Oh, what a verse that is. He
lifted up himself. If I be lifted up, he said. He lifted up himself on Calvary's
tree. He who stooped down, he who descended
is he that has sinned. He said in verse 7, He that is
without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And
he stooped down again. By this time, I believe this
woman has fallen at his feet. And he stooped down again. We
sing that song when Jesus Christ reached down for me. Did he reach
down? Did he find you? Are you the
bottom of the barrel? Or are you the cream of the crop? He only saves bad apples. The
bottom of the barrel. There he goes. He didn't come
to call the righteous. That's what he said. He didn't come
to call good people. He came to call sinners. Good people
don't need this gospel. Sinner. How did He come to call the righteous?
He knows our thoughts. He that is without sin among
you, He said, let him first cast a stone. Why did the Lord give
this order to stone somebody? You know that over... I was going
to have you read this. In Matthew's Gospel, it says that Christ is
the stone of stumbling and rock of offense. You know everybody
is between a rock and a hard place. Christ. And he said this in Matthew's
Gospel 21. He said, if this stone, if you
don't fall on this stone, He said, if you fall on this stone,
if you cast yourself on this great, unmovable, unchangeable,
eternal rock of ages, which is Christ Jesus the Lord, if you
cast yourself upon Him, upon His mercy, if you cast your soul
upon Him, it will break your heart, but it won't condemn you.
It will save you. He'll save you, the stone. But
if this stone falls on you, He says He'll grind you to powder. That's what He said. This is
not the Jesus that men know. He said, you think I've come
to send peace on earth? I tell you, I've come to bring
a sword. And that sword first will start in your own hearts.
It will convict you of what, not what other people are, of
what you are. And you won't say, that fellow
needs, like David, have mercy on me. against thee, and thee only have
I sinned, and done this evil, not secretly, in your sight. Oh, let the blood be on the mercy
seat for me." Which is crying. Well, verse 9, it says, they
all heard this, convicted by their own conscience, and we
should too. And they went out. beginning at the eldest until
the last. You know what? If they'd really heard this,
and really convinced of their sin, and really convicted of
their sin, and it really pierced their heart, and they were guilty
sinners before God, what it was was they were ashamed and they
didn't want to be caught. They didn't want to be caught. And people don't want to be caught.
People don't want to go to hell. People whom God sends this message,
they're convicted of what they are. Not only what they've done,
but what they are. Lord, I hate myself. I hate what I've done. I hate
what I am. Please have mercy on me. I can't
do anything about myself. And if they've been convicted
of what they were, instead of just afraid of getting caught,
you know what they've done? They had gone over there beside
that woman and said, we know better than you are. Maybe He'll
have mercy on us. And they said, we're guilty just
like her. We're caught. What do you say? David said, let me hear what
the Lord says to His people. That's all that matters. You
know, it doesn't matter really what other people think of you. It does matter what Jesus Christ
says to you. Look at verse 9. It says, it
went out one by one. It says, Jesus was left alone
and the woman standing in the midst. I believe He raised her
up with Him. I believe He stood up and He
raised her up. Didn't He say that? This is the
Father's will. That all He hath given me, I
should lose nothing. This is the Father's will. That all that
seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, I'll raise them up. He that is fallen, He that is
bowed down, He'll lift them up. And He raised her up. And He's
standing there. And she's standing with Him.
The only person standing when all this is over. Everybody else
left. Guilty. And here's this one woman
standing. The only person standing. Why
is she still standing there? She's with Him. He's with her. We stand in Him, don't we? Who
shall stand in the judgment? You know, sinners will not be
found in glory. The ungodly will not be in the
presence of God. You have to have pure hands,
pure heart, clean hands. You know that? You have to be
as perfect as God to get there. Who can stand? And who can? Those that stand in Him. You
understand? You say, no, I don't. Well, I
don't completely understand. But I just know it's true. If
your only hope of eternal life is Jesus Christ, you've got a
sure hope. He said, that's who I came for.
That's who I stooped down for. That's who I lifted myself up
on the cross for. And that's who I'll stand for
in the judgment. When the roll is called, when
the judgment books are opened, I'll stand. And when your name
is called, Christ will say, I'm here. And the judge will find
no fault. No condemnation. You see, this
is Rahab. This woman is Rahab. And she's
been brought to Joshua. Stay with me. You don't want
to miss this. This is Rahab, and she's been brought to Joshua.
The promise was by the men that the spies came and told her,
you hang on to that scarlet line. And when we see that scarlet
line, which is the blood of Christ, when we come to wipe this place
out, we're coming for you. We're bringing you out. And we're
going to bring you to Joshua. See, he's the judge of all this.
And this is Rahab who has been brought to Joshua. This is Ruth. And Ruth's about to meet Boaz. This is Gomer. And she had a
husband she didn't know named Hosea that loved her and bought
her with a price. Oh my. This is that woman at
the well, isn't it? Christ came and sat down waiting
on this woman like He did that woman at the well. She's coming. And He came for her. Why? to deliver her from condemnation. And when he lifted up himself
and saw none but the woman, who did he come for? He came for
this woman. He didn't come for this good
fellow. He came for this sinner. Now who's he looking at? Who's
he standing with? Who's he standing for? Who does
he have eyes for? That's his bride. That's his
daughter. He only has eyes for her. And
I believe by this time she's looking into his face. She was
looking into the face of her accusers, and so she hung her
head, but he lifts up the head. And he said to her, to her face,
Woman, where are those non-accusers? Doth no man, hath no man condemned
thee? Where are they? She looks around. There's nobody
there. There's nobody there but him. And he said the sweetest words
she ever heard. Verse 11, she said, ìNo man, Lord, no man. No man could save me. All condemned
me, but now no man condemns me. But the God-man saved me.î And
he said unto her, ìNeither do I condemn thee.î Romans 8. Paul, Romans 7, said, O wretched
man that I am. He said this when he was a apostle.
He said, The things that I do, I don't want to do. He said,
The thoughts I think, I don't want to think of. He said, The
things I want to do, I can't seem to do. He said, I find a
law in my memories called sin, the old man just wars against
me. I see another law in my memory,
a new man that loves the word of God and loves holiness, but
I just can't. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? There's a constant struggle between
these two. Who shall deliver me? And he
said, oh, I thank God. Jesus Christ our Lord. And then
Romans 8 begins this way. There is therefore. Now, right
now, no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk according to the Spirit.
This is not the last thing our Lord said. What did he say to
her? Go and sin no more. Don't go back to that. Don't
go back. Didn't it? Where'd she go? The
woman at the well, where'd she go? If you read on in John's
Gospel, you'll find there's a bunch of women that followed him everywhere
he went. You reckon this woman was one
of them? All the way to the cross. Sally? Sally Ann? All these women
followed him all the way to Calvary. And they held her far off. And
they wept for Him. And they mourned for Him. They
loved Him. Why? Because He first loved them.
And they followed Him the rest of their days. No, they didn't
go back. They didn't go back. They need one person. They need
Jesus Christ. He said, go and send them more.
What do you mean, send them more? I'm not here to explain that. That's what the Lord said, isn't
it? Lest a worse thing come on you. Don't go back to that pit
now. Don't do it. How are you going to keep out
of it? How did he get her out of it? Brought her to Him. Keep looking to Him. Keep calling
on Him. Keep coming where He is. Keep
calling on Him. Alright. Let's sing in closing
number