Where sin and sense molest no
more. That sound good to you? Oh my. And you know, this place, this
little place the Lord's given us, haven of rest, little city
of refuge where Christ comes. The Spirit of God comes, and
this is about as close. This is about the only time where
sin and sense don't molest us like they normally do. This is
a good place to be. Although, you know, we still
struggle. But if the Lord blesses, man,
we can get such help and comfort here and peace from the Gospel. Chapter 8 of John. John 8. This,
you know, men made these chapter divisions and men erred. They erred. It shouldn't be a
chapter division right here because it begins in verse 53 of chapter
7. Look at this. Every man went
unto his own house. Jesus went unto the Mount of
Olives. Oh my, the Son of Man, He said,
I hath not where to lay His head. But did he rest? Did he have
a place to sleep? We have nice places to sleep,
don't we? We have very nice homes to live
in. We all do. Do we always rest peacefully?
Do we always sleep all night long? Sin. Troubles. Unbelief. Worry. Doubts. Fears. Troubles. All this stuff
keeps us from resting. You can count on it. Our Lord,
when He went to sleep, He slept. No worries, no fears, no doubts,
no sin, nothing woke Him up. In that boat, ship, they all
thought they were going to die. He was just resting. He had no
place to lay His head, or did He? No. Yes, He did. He laid
on the bosom of the Father. So many things disturb our peace
and rest. One of the men said, wouldn't
it be a blessing to truly trust the Lord, to truly believe the
Lord? Wouldn't that be a blessing?
Just go to sleep. He that keepeth Israel doesn't
sleep. Go to sleep. Don't worry about it. There's
nothing you can do about it. Just go to sleep. He gaveth his beloved sleep."
Surely that's Christ, isn't it? Well, early in the morning, verse
2, He came. Early in the morning, He came
to His temple. Our Lord lived by faith. Our
Lord walked by faith. Faith means believing God. Faith
means taking Him at His Word. Faith means doing what He said.
Our Lord did what the Word said. He did. Throughout the Scriptures,
it's written of Him. Proverbs 8, He is wisdom. He
says, those that seek me early shall find me. That's what he
said. Seek ye first the King of God
and his righteousness. Say that. David said in Psalm
63, O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee. So our Lord,
the man, woke up early. He is God whom we see, but he's
the God-man who woke up early like he tells us today. Didn't
he? He got up early. What's he doing? Seeking the kingdom of God. Seeking
the Lord. That is, came to do his will
and his work. Oh, I want to do that. Be better for us with it. Well,
he came into his temple. Oh, this is the Lord who Malachi
says shall come to his temple. This is his temple. You always
find him in his temple, his church. That's where you'll find it.
You want to come to Christ? You want to find Christ? You
know where you'll find Him? Where His people will meet, two
or three together. He's promised. He said in Psalm 46, it says,
God's in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall
help her, and that right early. We come in here in the morning,
Sunday morning. I wish we could have services
on Monday morning. You've got to go out in that
world. So we come in here Sunday morning, first day of the week,
seek Him first. Seek the Kingdom of God. Seek
our Lord in the morning. You know, the morning is when
the sun arises. The morning is when the bright morning star
is seen. Well, it says in verse 2, the
people, all the people came unto Him. You know what He's going
to do if you come to Him? If you come where He's promised
to be, you know what He's going to do? He's going to be there.
And you know what He'll do if you come to Him? He'll teach
you. He'll speak to you. He sat down
and He taught them. I need teaching. Don't you? Turn with me to Psalm 25. Don't
you love Psalm 25? Those that know it. It's my favorite
Psalm. Psalm 25. Don't you love it?
I need taught. They came, Lord, teach us. Teach
us. David says this over and over
in Psalm 25, verse 1. Do you have it? Unto thee, O
Lord, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in thee. Let
me not be ashamed. Let not mine enemies triumph
over me. Let none that wait on thee be
ashamed. Let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.
Show me thy ways. David's going to talk about his
ways and his way. That's what we were talking about. Christ the way? Well, I want
to know his ways in walking. Show me thy ways, O Lord. Teach
me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth. Teach me.
Thou art the God of my salvation. On thee do I wait all day. Verse
seven, remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions
according to thy mercy, O Lord. Verse eight, good and upright
is the Lord, therefore will he teach sinners in the way. You
see that? The meek, verse nine, will he
guide in judgment. The meek will he teach his way. Oh, we could just keep reading,
couldn't we? Verse 12, what man is he that
feareth the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way
that he shall choose. And his soul shall dwell at ease. The seeker of the Lord will never
fear him. So they came to our Lord. He sat down and he taught
them. What did he teach them? God. Ways of God. Who God is. And he taught them
that he is the way. He said, I am the way. No man
cometh unto the Father without Him. This is the way, walk in. I am the way. Seek me. Walk in me. So he came. Came to his temple. He taught.
He taught. I need teaching. Verse 3, here
come the scribes and the Pharisees. They're everywhere. There's not a chapter in this
book hardly that you won't, Gospel of John, you won't find scribes
and Pharisees. They were everywhere. Then and
now. Our Lord said, beware of the
scribes and Pharisees. Beware. Beware. Scribes and Pharisees. He always referred to them as
scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites. He always gave that. Hypocrites. What's that mean?
Playing a part. Brother Donnie preached on it.
He said, don't play a part. Don't put on airs. God knows
everything about you. Don't try to act anything. Come open to Him and each other. Be aware of scribes and Pharisees,
our Lord said. They're actors. They play a part.
They have a façade of religion. They have a façade of goodness,
a façade of righteousness, our Lord said. Within, they're full
of iniquity, full of excess. Scribes and Pharisees heard our
Lord. They listened to Him. They heard
Him. Did they like what He said? No,
they didn't. And the reason they came was to catch him at his
word, to find fault. And these people, these scribes
and these Pharisees brought with them someone, verse 3, they brought
a woman taken in adultery. These scribes and Pharisees were
looking for sinners. They were looking for sinners,
but not for their salvation, but to condemn them. to judge them, to execute them. You know, I've heard preachers
that preach grace. I've heard them preach in such
a way that they almost seem like they relished being going to
hell. Our Lord one time, His disciples,
so this is what I'm trying to say, beware that we not be not
like the scribes and the We want people to be saved. We
really do. But the disciples one time wanted
to call down fire. And our Lord, man, I bet he looked
at them hard. He said, you don't know what
manner of spirit you're doing. He said, I didn't come to destroy
them. I came to save them. Here's a point we need to keep
in mind here. These scribes and Pharisees,
they weren't sinners saved by God's grace. They were self-righteous
Pharisees, and they wanted to see sinners condemned. They wanted
to see sinners judged and punished. And they delighted in seeing
somebody get caught in the act. It made them look better. But where was the fellow that she committed adultery with?
How did they catch her in the act? Where was he? Is he one of them? Are they covering up for him?
You reckon? You reckon? Caught in the act. How did that happen? Were they
watching, spying, waiting on her to sin? That's what they
do. They're watching you. They're
watching to see what you're going to do. You know, if you wait
and you watch long enough, you'll see every one of God's people. You'll hear them. You'll hear
them. You'll see them. If you could see in private what
they do and what they think, they're going to sin. And I'm talking about you. I'm talking
about me. Right? Who would want their thoughts
just today put up on a screen here for everybody to see? Anybody? I tell you who does behold all
things, who does hear all things? Our God does. Oh, He's so merciful. Well, they said in verse 4, Master. They brought her and set her
in the midst. They said unto Him, Master, Teacher. They don't call
Him Lord. They call Him Teacher, Rabbi.
This woman was taken into adultery, the very act, caught in the act.
Go with me to Matthew 5. Matthew 5. Can you be condemned for your
thoughts? Man can't, but God does. God does. He does. His eyes behold, his
eyelids try, the sons of men. And what he finds, what he sees,
is all are what? Guilty. Matthew 5, and this is
what it means by our Lord magnifying the law. He shall magnify the
law. That means He expands it to show,
He blows it up clearly for you to see clearly what the law says. And whatever the law saith, Romans
3 says, it says to them under the law, and what does it say?
One word. Guilty. Now here's what our Lord
said, Matthew 5, 17. Look at it. He said, Think not
that I am come to destroy the law. Or the prophet. I'm not come
to destroy. Our Lord lived according to the law. The law is good. The law is holy. Lost yet. He lived according to the law.
Didn't he? Nothing wrong with the law. But he said, I came to fulfill
it. He said to John one time, it behooves us to fulfill all
righteousness. Well, John couldn't do it, but
Christ did. And he did it for him. Because John was in him,
he said, you've done it. Isn't that good news? What Christ
did for us, we did. in the eyes of God. He said,
till heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or tittle of the
law will pass from the law till all be fulfilled. By who? Christ. Verse 19, whosoever shall break
one of these least commandments and teach men so. He's least
in the kingdom of God. Heaven. Whosoever shall do and
teach them. Our Lord did. He's great in the kingdom of
God. Your righteousness better exceed the righteousness of the
Pharisees. Describe the Pharisees. They seemed righteous on the
outside. Everybody thought they were.
Our Lord, He looked them in the heart. And now here he blows
it up, verse 21. You've heard it said by them
of old time, Thou shalt not kill. Whosoever shall kill shall be
in danger of the judgment. I say, whoever's angry with his
brother without a cause is in danger of the judgment. That's
the only reason you didn't kill that person is you didn't have a gun on you
at the time. Or God kept you from it. That's
the only reason. Right? That's what he said. All right, look down at verse
27. You've heard it said of them
of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery. I say I did. Whosoever
looketh on a woman, or if it's a woman looking on a man, to
lust after her, is guilty, hath committed, in her heart, in her
heart. That's what he said. Anybody
guilty? Everybody's guilty. Everybody's
guilty. To his eyes behold, our Lord
said, we're guilty as charged. And so he goes on down to say
in verse, look at verse 25, you better agree with your adversary
quickly while you're in the way with him. You're going to deliver
you to the judge. What does that mean? You know what God says? Guilty. You know what you better
do? Agree with him. That's right. What should you do? Put a rope
around your neck. Go ahead. There were some kings
that Kings of Israel destroyed all
the nations. There were some heathen kings
that were getting ready to be destroyed. And they said, let's
put ropes around our neck. I hear the kings of Israel are
merciful men. Let's go plead for mercy. So
they put ropes around their neck and came up. You can hang us,
or you can save us. That's what it means to agree
with God. To justify God in condemning yourself. You know, if we judge
ourselves, we won't be judged. If we condemn ourselves, we won't
be condemned. If we condemn others, if we don't forgive others, our
Lord said, we won't be forgiven. Isn't that what He said? That's
what He said. Now go back to our text. And
our Lord brought up adultery. He didn't bring the whole lot
up, but He did bring that up. And here's a story of a woman
caught in adultery. Adultery is a bad thing. It's
horrible. It's horrible. 1 Corinthians 6 says this, and
so does Galatians and Ephesians, and you know these things. It
says, Know ye not, the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom
of God? Be not deceived, fornicators. Uh, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate,
abusers of themselves with mankind, thieves, covetous, drunkards,
revilers, extortionists, they won't inherit the kingdom of
God. Is that what it said? Over and over again. It says
don't let anybody deceive you with vain words because of these
things come the wrath of God on the children of disobedience.
Don't let any man tell you that it's okay. It is not. That you
continue in these things. You're going to be judged for
it. Right? Am I preaching God's truth? I
assure you. Because it's a bad thing. It's
a horrible thing. You know, lust is bad enough,
isn't it? Fulfilling it is worse. Temptation is not sin. We're
all tempted by sin. Falling into it and giving up
into it is worse. The consequences are so much
worse. Ask David about this subject.
Ask David and he'll tell you. I've got a sword in my house
that won't go away because of that. Paul, you know why Paul said
he was the chief of sinners? Because he could never get out
of his mind what he did to Stephen and all those other people. He'll
never get over that. Never get over that. You think
this woman ever forgot what she Adultery now is unfaithfulness
to a spouse. The worst form of adultery, which
Scripture speaks a great deal about, is adultery against our
God. And we're all so guilty of that. It means being unfaithful to
our loving, faithful spouse, our Heavenly Father, our Lord,
our Husband is faithful to us in every way and yet we're so
unfaithful to Him, like Gomer was to Hosea, like the child
in Ezekiel was. The Lord gave her life. We give
ourselves to the world. We give ourselves to things,
our minds, our hearts, our soul, our body, for pleasure. God saved
us for Himself. We lie around, play around, fool
around, sleep around with the people and things of this world
and forget our faithful and loving Lord. We won't get out of bed
to come worship our Lord. That's bad. All right, here's
good news. Here's good news. We're all guilty. We're this woman, aren't we? We may not have committed the
actual act, but we thought it. But we've certainly committed
the act of adultery against our God. Now, here's the wonderful gospel
news. Look at chapter 8, verse 5. Now Moses in the law commanded
us that such should be stoned. What sayeth that? This they said
tempting him that they might have to accuse him. Moses in
the law. That's what the law said. Is
that what the law said? Yes, it did. Yes, it does. Yes,
it does. And if you'll keep reading, you'll
see the law says stone a rebellious son. A son that won't. And on
and on it goes. There's so many transgressions
that the law says, just stone them. Just stone them. If he had a
son, it's rebellious. Anybody have a son that's disobedient? And you say, I can't do anything
with him. Well, the law said, well, bring him up here and we'll
kill him. They'll stone him. That's what
the law says. We're going to see in a minute
why he says, why the Lord used stoning. Well, the Lord doesn't dispute
this. The Lord wrote this. He didn't
dispute it. That's what he said. He wrote
it. The Lord didn't come to abolish the law. Didn't he say that?
I didn't come to do it. He said, but I came to fulfill
it. He came to keep the law for His people, but He came to deliver
us from it, okay, and from sin. He came, and we're not going
to be delivered by the law. We're going to be delivered by
Christ, keeping the law. We're going to be delivered by
grace, by love. And so here's what happened,
verse 6. They came and said, What sayest thou? Moses said
that she's to be stumped. What do you say? Now, who brought her? These lawyers. These pharisees, these scribes.
Who brought her? God and Christ did. Christ had them bring her to
Him. He said, My sheep will hear My
voice. He's waiting there in that temple. He's teaching His
people. There's a woman. He's waiting on a woman. There's
another woman, like at the well. She's coming. Somebody's going
to bring her to him. You know, the law is the schoolmaster
to do what? Bring us to Christ. And he uses
the law. What does it do? Convicts us. Not the world. The world's not
convicted. These Pharisees weren't convicted. They thought they
kept it. Well, then it says in verse 6,
this they said tempting him, but Jesus stooped down with his
finger and wrote on the ground as though he heard them not. How many messages have been preached
on this? He stooped down. Oh, my. How far down did our
Lord come to save His people? John and I sang that song, we
sang it again yesterday with John. When he reached down for
me, Johnny Bell got real worked up. How far did he reach down
for me? He couldn't reach farther than
that. His arms not short, Ted, aren't
you glad? Because when he reached down
for me, he reached down for you, where did he find you? The bottom
of the barrel. Less than the least. That's what
Paul said. Not fit to be called a disciple. I'm the worst. Chief,
sinner. Are you? That's who he came for. To show forth his power. To show
forth his grace. Show forth his mercy. Show forth
his love. He stooped down. He came down. I believe at this
time, this woman was probably down at his feet. I believe she
was. They set her in the middle, and
I believe she knows what the law says. She's caught, and everybody knows
it. She knows it. They know it. She's so ashamed. Oh, is she? Oh, my. Everybody there knows she's guilty
and what the law says. I think she probably collapsed
at his feet. Don't you reckon? She collapsed at his feet. She's
lying there on the ground. So what does the Lord do? That's
where He goes. Right down there on the ground.
Where she is. Wallowing at His feet. Crying. He stood there. Now they keep talking. Oh, do
Pharisees like to talk? They keep talking. Don't you
hear us? The law said. Did you hear us?
Moses said. Are you listening to us? It's
as though he heard them not. He heard every word. He hears
every word. And I tell you what, the Lord
has a deaf ear turned to Pharisees. He's not going to hear them.
He has a deaf ear turned. He will not incline his ear to
scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites. He's not going to do it. But
those that call upon him in truth, There's one person in this room
that's not speaking. The law has condemned her and
her mouth, she can't say anything. If she could say something, all
she could say is guilty. She's not saying anything. Boy,
her heart is crying out at you. I think she's sobbing. I think
she's crying. I know she is. Because we do all the time, don't
we? David said, I watered my bed with my tears. No way. Over what? Same thing. She's crying. That's who the
Lord's listening to. And he got down there. He's not
hurt here, I know. But he got down there, and he's
hearing the beat of her heart. He's hearing her cry. He's hearing
her sigh. He knows what he's going to do.
He came for her. Her weeping was music to his
ears. Their hard heart was making him
angry. Surely he's, surely, and some
of those fellas later on, he did, he cast them into hell. Surely he's angry with them. Because they're worse than Jesus. Didn't our Lord say one time,
the harlots and the public are going to get into heaven before
you do. But he hears her heart beating. He hears her cries,
her stooping. He's got all our tears in his
bottle. So he stooped down. He wrote
on the ground. Look at verse 6. He wrote with his finger on
the ground. Many of you, most of you know
that only two of the mentions of the finger of God, well, of
God's writing, God's fingers mentioned many times. But of
God writing in Exodus where he wrote the law on the tables and
in Daniel where he wrote and weighed in the balances of family.
So the law, thou shalt not commit adultery. God, this is the same
one that wrote that law on Mount Sinai. This is the one who wrote
it. This is the Christ, the author and the finisher of the law,
Christ. He wrote with his finger, for
most thou shalt not commit adultery. This is the one in Daniel, who
Daniel saw. He's going to finish the transfer. He's going to put away her sin
by the sacrifice of her sin. But he's the one that wrote the
law, weighed in the balances and found one. Okay. And here
he's writing on the ground. And there's been so much conjecture
of people that try to guess what he wrote. And we don't know.
We don't know. We can only guess. Was he writing? laws that these
men didn't know? You know, you're accountable
for laws you don't know. To offend in one point is guilty. People that love to be under
the law, they don't know it. You don't know the law or you
wouldn't want to be under it. God killed a man one time for
picking up sticks on a Saturday. What? Oh, we wouldn't go to a restaurant,
they serve alcohol. Man, you don't hear the love.
It's severe. It requires perfection in every
thought, word, deed, motive. God, look, it's got to be, it
must be perfect to be accepted. That's Leviticus 22, 21. Do these
Amish and German Baptists, do they know that love? No, they
don't read that. It shall be perfect. And in one point, guilty of it
all. Well, I didn't know that law. Oh, doesn't matter. See, by his knowledge, he knows
the law. He's going to justify his faith.
He knows the law. One time I was going through
a town and the speed limit was 35 and I was doing 50 I think,
you know, and I thought, and they pulled me over. I never
did see the speed, I never did see the sign. It was there and
he pulled me over and, you know, 30 is just, that's not reasonable,
30 miles. Have you ever thought that? That's just too slow. It
doesn't matter what you think about it. And there's a reason. They do studies, you know that?
They do studies of curves and so forth and how fast you can
go in that curve and what's the safe speed and other school zones
and all that. They don't just say, let's come
up with another. And God didn't make these laws just to make
you miserable. There's a reason. But, all right, he pulled me
over and he said, Do you know what the speed limit is? I said,
no, I don't. I thought it was 45 or something like that. He said, no, it's 35. I thought
you were doing 50. I said, I didn't know. Please, I didn't know.
Well, I'm going to give you a ticket. But I didn't know. But I'm going
to give you a ticket. That doesn't excuse you. And you've got people everywhere
who have a pick and choose law keeping notice. I like this law. I'll keep that. I can keep that.
I can grow my beard a certain way. I can wear my hair. I like
that. I can keep that. Have you read
all of it? No? Well, you've got to keep it all. See, the law, we're not under
the law in any way, shape, form, or fashion. It's not our rule
of life. Every single jot and tilt of the law would have to
be our rule of life. Oh, aren't you glad? I'm so glad. Well, he could have written the
laws that they didn't know. He could have written secrets
that only they knew. Names, dates, and places. And it says they're looking, watching
him write on the ground. And look at verse 7, when they
continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them,
He that is without sin among you, let him cast a stone at
her. First cast a stone at her. And
again he stooped down. and wrote on the ground. And
they which heard, being convicted by their own conscience, went
out one by one, beginning at the oldest." Those men were watching him write
on the ground. And he would write something
that only they thought they knew, a secret, in their life. And he wrote it down. And they quietly, from the oldest,
snuck out of there. You know, the Scripture says
that all the secrets of man shall be exposed. Doesn't it say that?
Doesn't it say that? That God will judge the secrets
of man by Jesus Christ. All the Pharisees and the scribes
and all that are going to say, well, I never... Hold on. Open the books. There you are. You want to be under the law? You know what they all should
have done? They left. They all snuck out of there,
one by one, beginning with the oldest, the youngest. They all
left. You know what they all should
have done? Fell down at his feet. right there beside that woman,
and asked Him to forgive them for condemning her, and asking
her to forgive them for condemning her. He'll judge the secrets. Oh,
listen to this psalm, listen to this psalm. I want to quit. the glory and the majesty of
His blessed mercy here. This is wonderful. But listen
to this psalm. This goes so well. Psalm 102. Psalm 102, verses 19 and 20 says,
The Lord looked down from the height of His sanctuary. From
heaven did the Lord behold the earth to hear the groaning of
the prisoner, to loose those that are appointed to death. This one woman is groaning, she's
sighing, she's mourning, she's weeping at his feet. Everybody
else is talking, they're talkless. She's weeping, groaning, oh,
I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die. God be
merciful to me, a sinner. The Lord stooped back down. Now,
the law says she's guilty. The witnesses have caught her,
and she must die. Our Lord just can't let her go,
can He? Brother Barnard said the Lord doesn't forgive sin
in the absolute sense of that. Every sin will receive a just
recompense. Sin has to be paid for. God is
holy. He will punish sin. Every sin
will be punished. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. That's what the Scripture says.
The law says stone her. All right, look at this. Prepare
to get Pentecostal. Luke chapter 20. Go to Luke chapter
20. We are Pentecostal. We preach
Christ crucified with glory in Him. Luke 20. Look at this. Luke 20. Luke 20. You have it? Luke 20,
verse 17. Now the law said stone her. Let
the stone fall on her. Let all the stones fall on her
and kill her. You already see it, don't you
sister? Verse 17. He beheld him and said, now what
is this? It's written, a stone which the
builders rejected. The stone, the chief cornerstone.
The same is of come head of the corner. Whosoever shall fall
on him shall be broken. But not condemned. Not killed. You fall on Him, you'll be broken.
You'll be brokenhearted. You'll be sorrowful. You'll be
broken. But you won't die. But if He falls on you, He's going to come down on you.
He'll grind you to powder. You know what she did? She cast
all her care on Him. She's a broken-hearted sinner
at the feet. She has cast all her cares. She's
resting. She's hoping in the rock. She's hoping that God, like He
did to Moses, will put her in the cleft of the rock. You say,
she didn't know that. Yes, she does. Oh, yes, she does. Yes,
she does. All God's people do. And you know what, as I said,
he's not, he can't just forgive this and all. You know, our Lord
is the one that wrote the law. He said, now he wrote guilty,
guilty, guilty, but he also wrote justified. He wrote the gospel. Our Lord said, the law says die,
but the Lord said, I'm coming with the might of life. Our Lord
said, justice must be served. I'm a just God. He said, but
I'm a Savior. The soul that sins will die,
but he said, but the soul that asks for mercy is going to receive
mercy. Well, how? How can he do this? How can he
be just? They're going to accuse him of
injustice. If her sins aren't punished, how can he be just
and justify her? And a little while later, he
is going to go to the cross. He is going to stand before scribes
and Pharisees. He's not going to open his mouth. He's innocent. No. God's made
him to be sin. Isn't this wonderful? I can't tell this. Nobody's ever
told this like it ought to be told. He's going to, a little
while later, see this was already done in the eyes of God for this
woman. He's not, he's not forgiving her completely of her sin. He's
going to pay for them. He's going to do it. He's going
to go to, he's going to be that Cleft of the rock to hide her
in, cover her in. His own precious blood is going
to pay for her sin. Our Lord stood on trial. This
woman is on trial here. She's guilty. But our Lord later
on stood on trial and He was silent and He was found guilty
by God. Found guilty. Our Lord was hung
on the cross. The cross says, cursed, cursed,
cursed. This woman was under the curse.
Our Lord went to the cross and took that cursed woman. He had
this woman in mind the whole time. Father, forgive her. She didn't know what she was
doing. God's going to kill him in her place. And that's what he did. Now look at this. I'll close.
Verse 8, it says, After they all left, Jesus was left alone, and now
this woman is standing. She's standing. in the midst,
her and him. She's standing. She's standing. Verse 10, he lifts himself up,
raises himself up. He stooped down. What did he
do? To lift her up. Our Lord came to bring us to
God. And when God raised him up, we're seated with him in
heaven. We read in Psalm 130, if God should mark iniquities,
who shall stand? This woman standing. She's standing before the judge.
She's standing before God. Is she guilty? Yes. No. And it's not yea and nay preaching. See, all the promises of God
in him are yea and amen to the glory of God by us. She cries
in Christ. She's faultless. She's unblameable.
She's unreprovable in God's sight. God has already seen Christ die
on the cross for her. Christ already paid for her sins. And now she's standing. Where? With Him. Or rather, He with
her. I think now He has His arm around
her. You reckon? You reckon? I know
He did. He's got His arm around her.
Oh, never a man spake like this man. And she never, oh, she didn't
expect to hear these words. But never sweeter voice. Sweeter
note on the seraph's tongue. Sweeter name, never been sung.
No sweeter voice has ever been heard. He said, woman, where
are thine accusers? You know, she'd been hanging
her head. She'd been down on the ground. She'd been hanging
her head. She's afraid to look up. She just knew the stones
were going to start flying. She's afraid to look up. And
now our Lord says, lift up your head. Lift up your head. Open
your eyes now and look. The first thing she saw was Him.
And she looked into a face of mercy. She looked into the face
of her husband. She looked into the face of love
personified. She looked into the face of grace. She didn't look into the face
of the law. She didn't look into the face of Pharisees wanting
her dead. She looked into the face of one who loved her and
gave Himself for her. She looked into the face of Him
who had dove's eyes. woman. Where are those accusers? She
looks around. Hath no man condemned thee? They're all gone. She said, No man, Lord. Lord?
What did she call him? Lord? No man? He said unto her,
Neither do I condemn thee. Neither do I condemn thee. You know, I'm going to quote
it. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are
in Christ Jesus. No condemnation. Who walk not
according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. No condemnation. Isn't that wonderful? That's
just wonderful. No condemnation. No condemnation. Who lays anything to the charge
of God's amendment? Nobody, because God justified
it. God was in Christ justifying it. Who is he that condemned
it? Christ died, he said. But then
he ends this with these words. Go and sin no more. Can he say anything less? No. And this brings us right
back to what we were looking at this morning. Why would she? Did she learn anything from this? Would she want to go back to
what gave her and everybody else so much grief and pain, what
nearly killed her? How could she do that? Go and
sin no more." Another man, he said, lets the worst come to
think of him. Our Lord doesn't condone sin.
He paid for it. He paid for it. He paid for hers. But here's the thing, in light
of such mercy and grace, and this is the only thing that will
keep us from it, the only thing, is realizing, always considering,
always keeping in mind what Christ endured for us. The law won't
keep you from it. The law won't do it. Love will.
Love. Love will. My Lord paid for that. How? How could it? Joseph loved
his master and he said, how could I do this to my master? Didn't.
That kept him from it. All right. Let's sing in closing.