Dear Savior, hear my humble cry. While others are falling, do
not let me die. Thank you, John. I can just hear the puzzled response of religion today. Well, you're supposed to sing
that after the message. That's a halter call, you know.
No, the gospel is the call. The gospel is the call. Pass
me not. How do we know, peace of God,
that He hasn't passed us by if we hear this call? If we're going
to hear this message, if we hear it, Let me at a throne of mercy
find a sweet relief. Where do we find that but in
hearing the gospel? I seek thy face, trusting only
in thy merit. How do we see his face when the
gospel is preached? The spring of all our comfort
is the gospel. It's the gospel. So pass me not,
Lord, the message, the words that are going to be preached
right now. Don't pass me by. I need it. Call me by your gospel. John chapter 8. As you know,
the Scriptures are not written in chapters and verses. And this
story really begins in chapter 7. Verse 53 says, Every man went
to his own house. Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Everyone had their place to go,
but our Lord said, The Son of Man hath not where to lay his
head. Didn't he have any friends in Jerusalem? Were there not any rich people
that could give him a room in an inn? Does that sound familiar? When he was born, despised and
rejected. How about the religious? Jerusalem
is full of religious people. Isn't there someone that would
take him into their home? No. No. No friends there, nor
are there many today. Written to show us that though
he was rich, yet for our sakes became the poorest of the poor. There's no one, there's none
so poor. that he doth not understand. Aren't you thankful? Oh, our
brothers in Mexico. Our Lord really knows. He really
knows. Nobody there, Tammy, that's poorer
than he was. He's also to show us where is
true happiness found. Where is true happiness found?
He had nothing but the clothes on his back and the food the
Lord provided him every day. But he's happy, a blessed man.
That's what tells us. And though he's poor, yet this
is not poor Jesus. Oh no, not to invoke our pity. He doesn't need our pity. We
need Him. We need Him. Though poor, it says in verse
2, early in the morning He came into the temple. This is the
Lord of whom Malachi said will suddenly come to his temple. This is his temple. He's poor
alright, but the cattle on a thousand hills are his. He's poor alright,
but all the gold and the silver and all the mines are his. The
earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The world and they that
dwell therein. That's who this is. He came to his temple and he sat
down. Like you were Solomon or something. You know, Solomon
would come in his temple that he built and sit down. This is
a greater than Solomon. As the one who built the temples
greater than the temple. Built the house. He came and
sat down as if he were a king on his throne. He was. Came into
this temple and sat down as if he were a judge on his bench.
He is, and he's about to hear a case. He's about to hear a
case. He's arranged this whole thing.
He's arranged this whole meeting. Thank God. Thank God. The lot is cast into the lap,
but the whole disposal there is of the Lord. Early in the
morning, it's said. He did this early in the morning.
He came to this temple. Our Lord was always about the
Father's business. He'd been preaching all yesterday.
all night in prayer, I believe, on the Mount of Olives. And here
he is early in the morning. Our Lord is always about His
Father's business. Always preaching. He said, I
came to preach. Apt to teach. Apt to preach. Preaching the Word in season,
out of season. That's our Lord. And it says,
all the people came unto Him. I read that again and I thought,
and as Sammy read it, I thought, Ah, Lord, let this be me." And
all the people came to Him. May we come to Him. May we come
to Him to be taught. And He sat down and He taught
them. He sat down and He taught them.
Lord, teach us. Teach us. We need to be taught. He says, all that the Father…
they'll all be taught of God. I need to be taught. More than
that, even, I hope that He brought me here this morning like He
brought this woman, like He brings this woman, our brother Craig. We need the same forgiveness. Scribes and Pharisees, verse
3, they came, they brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery. They sat her in the midst. They
said unto Him, Now, just before this, they were calling him a
deceiver. Now, with feigned lips, they call him teacher in front
of the people. Master, this woman was taken
in adultery in the very act we caught her. In the very act. She's guilty. She knows it. And everybody there knows it.
She's guilty. I learn something every time,
I hope every time we look at the Scriptures. We've looked
at this so many times. She didn't come to Christ. Somebody
laid hold of her and brought her. She wouldn't have come. She would
have continued doing what she's doing without any conviction,
without any repentance, without any change. The Lord apprehended
her. The Lord had someone apprehend
her and bring her. She didn't come confessing her
sins. Her sins found her out. What's she going to do? She's going to find out. She's
going to wait. She's going to see the salvation
of the Lord. There's no excusing her. No excusing
of sin. The Lord doesn't excuse sin. Do you know that some of the
early church wanted to take this out
of the Bible? Because they thought it would
encourage sin. I'm sure glad it's there. This
is one of the greatest pictures of the Lord's mercy. in all of
Scripture. There's no excuse in it. Her
willful sin has brought her great shame and sorrow and troubles
upon herself, and now it's public in her family. But bless God. Here's our merciful Lord. This
is the way of our great God. Her greatest shame will reveal
Christ's greatest glory. Her greatest misery is in the
midst of her greatest misery, she's going to find her greatest
mercy. The day that she thought she
would die is the day she starts to live. The day when her life is a total
wreck and ruin and is over is the day when it's been renewed. when true life is given. It's
the Lord's great mercy, the greatest mercy, when we find out that
we're sinners, guilty before God. Matthew Henry said this,
it's better that our sins shame us than damn us. And all are guilty. Turn with
me to Matthew chapter 5. The Lord magnified the law. The
Lord Jesus Christ came to fulfill the law. He came to magnify the
law, to tell us what the law really said. And what the law
saith, in Romans 3, 19, it saith to them that are under the law.
That's every human being. We're all born under the law. And what the law saith, it saith
to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped,
and all the world become," what? Guilty. Guilty of what? All points. Every jot and tittle of the law. We've all broken it. You say,
I haven't. Hold on. Look at what our Lord said in
Matthew 5, verse 21. You've heard that it said by
them of old time, thou shalt not kill. Whosoever shall kill
be in danger of the judgment, I say unto you." This is the
one that wrote the law. Whosoever is angry with his brother
without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. So in other
words, you've been angry, our Lord God says, of murder. You say, but what? You didn't
have the opportunity. You didn't have a gun at your
side. when somebody crossed you. Back in the old west, you know,
when people strapped guns to their side. That's what they
did. You cross a fella, he'd kill you. And we've all gotten
terribly angry, haven't we? And the only reason we didn't
commit murder right then and there is because the Lord didn't
give us the opportunity. Look at verse 27. You've heard
it said by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery.
I say unto you, whosoever looketh on a woman or a man to lust after
her or him, hath committed adultery already. You've done it. Anybody in here not guilty of
that? Anybody? Paul said, the Lord said in the
book of Romans through Paul, The law is spiritual. The law
requires perfection in heart, thoughts, word, deed, and motive. And the Lord looks on the heart.
The Lord seeth not as man seeth. We're fooled by people, aren't
we? These scribes and Pharisees,
whom our Lord knew them, He said, you're whited sepulchers, and
on the inside, you're full of dead men's bone. You appear before
men to be holy, but I know you, He said. The Lord looks on the
heart. What does he see? What does he
see? In Genesis 6, it says, the Lord
looked down and saw that the heart of man, the imagination
of heart, was only evil from his youth. From his youth. God seeth not as man seeth. The
Lord looks on the heart. Out of the heart proceedeth these
things. Why does someone kill? Because
that's what they are by nature. That's what comes out. That's
what comes out. The Lord sees all. The Lord knows
all. The Lord hears all. The Lord
hears our thoughts afar off. So you can't judge a man for
his thoughts. We can't, but He does. He does. He does. Someone pleads their innocence.
That's a bad thing to do. Someone says, well, I've never
done that. Not yet. Not yet. Wait till it's over. And if we're a believer and we
say that, you're going to do it like Simon Peter. You can
mark it down. The Lord will show us. You will. Unless I stop you. There's not
the finest woman in here who wouldn't be walking the streets
today if it wasn't for the grace of God. There's not the finest
man in here who wouldn't be laying in the gutter right now or sitting
on the barstool if it wasn't for the grace of God. That's
a fact. Two old preachers were standing,
I forget who they were, somebody was standing there and
a drunk stumbled by. And one of the dear brethren
said to the other, he said, there go I, but for the grace of God. Now that's a fact. That's a fact. It's a dangerous place to be
to plead our innocence. And it's a dangerous place to
bring up the law. A lot of people, like the tribes
and Pharisees, like to bring up the law. You know that? That's what they pride themselves
in. Buddy, we bring up the law, and
the Lord is going to judge you. We plead the law, and we're going
to be judged by the law. Scripture says there's a day
in which the Lord shall judge all men in righteousness by that
man, who? Jesus Christ, who kept the law.
If we plead the law, we're going to be judged by the law. And
these scribes and Pharisees came judging this woman by the law.
And the Scripture says, we'll judge ourselves, we won't
be judged. But if we judge others, we're going to be judged. A dangerous
place to be. A dangerous place to be. Well,
they came, it says, and they were tempting him, taunting him. They said in verse 5, Moses in
the law commanded us that such should be stoned. What sayest
thou? They said this tempting him to
have something to accuse him by. Tempting him. They think if he pardons her,
now he's against the law of Moses. He's against the law if he pardons
her. They knew. They've seen him pardon others
before. They knew and they accused him
before. You're a friend of publicans and sinners. That's right. I think they knew what he was
going to do. And yet, they bring up the law thinking, We're going
to catch him now. He's going to prove that he's
against the law of Moses. He's going to break the law of
Moses if the law says, stole her. What sayest thou? Oh my. They brought, not knowing
unwittingly, they brought this woman to the one who wrote the
law. If you were guilty, of breaking
something. And someone brought, what if
you just happened to be brought before the One, the only One
who could answer it. They brought her to the only
One who could answer the law. The only One who could do anything
about it. They brought her, not knowingly,
but they brought her to her only advocate. They brought her to
the only One who could get her out of this whole mess that she
got herself in. Only One. Not knowing it. Thinking the
wrath of man is going to praise him in it. The wrath of man shall
praise him. Thinking that they caught him
now, he can't let her go. Oh, my. Moses didn't give this law. He
did. This is the one that made the
law. And look at it, verse 6, they
said this, tempting him to have something to accuse him. It says,
but Jesus stooped down. Jesus stooped down. He's standing
there, these impotent Sabbatarians come in, interrupt the Lord of
glory. Everybody's got so much to say
and talk about and bring up the law and so forth, and not listening.
The Lord Jesus Christ was teaching in the temple. The God of glory
was teaching, sitting down, teaching in the temple. And these impudent
law-keeping fellows barged in and interrupted the Lord of glory. Everybody wants something to
say, don't they? Bring up the law. What about the law? He said, but Jesus stood down. Thank God. Thank God he stooped
down. Huh? Thank God he came down,
condescended to be made flesh. Thank God he didn't have to.
What is man that thou art mindful of him, especially guilty sinners
such as we? And he would visit them, made
of a woman, made under the law to redeem them. They were under
the law. This woman is under the law, guilty. Why did he come? He came to save them, the likes
of her. He stooped down. These Pharisees kept talking
the whole time. They kept talking. They kept
talking. It says in verse 6, he stooped
down and wrote with his finger, wrote on the ground as though
he heard them not. They continued to talk. They
keep talking. Fool, you know, is known by a
multitude of words. A multitude of words their want
is not seen. They keep talking. But a wise
man studieth to answer. And this is wisdom right here. He's not answering. But they're
talking. And as though he heard them not,
he hears them. He hears them. He hears everything. The Lord's hearing it all. I
often wonder. David said that, Lord, don't
you hear? Do you hear what they're saying and doing? David said
this one time, Lord, it's time for you to work. They've made
void your law. Come down and fulfill us atonement."
He hears. He hears everything. He hears
all the talk, but he doesn't answer. The Lord doesn't answer
everyone. He doesn't have to. Men and women
make demands of God, don't they? They demand answers from God,
don't they? You remember that principle when we took Hannah
to Wade Elementary at that time? taking her to her first time
in school. And that principal of that school,
a woman, said, she said, I don't have any children. She said,
but when I get to heaven...pretty presumptuous, isn't it? When
I get to heaven, she said, I'm going to ask God why He didn't
give me any children. People make demands of God, don't
they? And He's hearing it. But He's
not answering. There's only one person here
who's not talking. She doesn't have anything to
say. She's guilty. But her heart's crying out. And
the Lord is listening everywhere. He made it so He wasn't listening
to them, but He's hearing them. You see, all this time, she didn't
come to the Lord. She's brought. We don't come
to the Lord the first time, do we? Huh? Not really. Somebody
brought us. For whatever reason, we come
for all the wrong reasons. We've got a boyfriend or a girlfriend
or something, or some mom and dad or whatever bringing us.
We're captive audiences. Oh, may the Lord take captivity
captive. The Lord in His mercy quite often
does that. He begins the work under the
sound of His Word. I think that's going on right
now as this woman stands there. What's happening in her heart
is a work of redemption, a work of glory. He's breaking her heart
over a sin. She didn't come, but she's coming
now to the Lord. She didn't seek the Lord. She's
seeking now, I believe. I think her heart's crying out,
oh, what's He going to do with me? I'm guilty, I'm guilty. She's not speaking, but her heart's
crying out, and the Lord's listened to her. And the Lord was writing
on the ground, it said. What was he writing? Much speculation
over this, what the Lord was writing. Some say he was writing
the law. Some say he was writing dates
and names and numbers and things, secrets that only the guilty
would know, but he himself knew. And that's what Romans 2 says,
there's a day when God shall judge the secrets of man by Jesus
Christ, according to my gospel. You know, there's only two other
places where it speaks of the Lord writing anything with His
finger. Once, on Mount Sinai, it says
the Lord wrote on tables of stone, Thou shalt not. This is the same
one. Once, there was a handwriting
on the wall to Belshazzar in the book of Daniel. Thou art
weighed in the balances, and Thou wilt Him." It's the same
one. Now here He is, God, manifest
in the flesh, right in the ground, His finger. Thou shalt not. Names, dates, whatever. All things
revealed, all things will be exposed. Yes, everything made
manifest in that day by the light, unless. Unless we come now and confess
all our sins to Him. And then He says, I'll cover
it. Then He says in the end, while
all the books are open with all men, so stand to receive what
they've done in their body, good or evil. It says, all these people,
we've gotten that. Nothing on the record. Clean
slate. All under the blood. Covered
and forgiven. Well, they kept talking. Verse
7. They kept talking. When they continued asking him,
they kept talking. Now Moses said, Master, this
woman's guilty. Moses, what do you say? They
kept talking. Since he lifted himself up, they
stooped down before him. Oh my! He stooped down. What mercy! What grace! The Lord
stooped down. It should cause us to fall down,
shouldn't it? On our knees and beg Him for
mercy. The Lord stooped down. But then the Lord rose up. Now
He rises up. They're looking down on that
woman, and they're really looking down on Him now. He stooped down.
They're looking down on Him, and they're all like this. Can
you see this picture? And then the Lord rises up in indignation and wrath. Rises up to His full height.
And now He's looking down on them. And you don't want the
Lord looking down on you. No, no. Brother Crabtree said,
If the Lord's your friend, you really don't need another. He's
the greatest friend you'll ever have, but if He's your enemy. God be for us. Oh my! Who can
be against us? Let everyone come against us.
No one can be. They can't touch us if the Lord
be for us, but if the Lord be against us. There's a Scripture that says,
if you fall on this stone, you'll be broken. If you fall on Christ
the rock, you'll be broken because of your sin. But all those He
breaks, He heals. But if He falls on you, you'll
be ground to powder. He rises up in His full height
in indignation and wrath against them. The Lord, who is slow to
wrath, He wasn't saying anything, but they kept talking. Kept bringing
up the law. Kept condemning this woman. He's
slow to wrath, but oh, when His wrath is revealed. And he rises
up, he lifted up himself, and he said unto them, Oh, the depth
of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. He said
this in, I think, fifteen words, all one-syllable words except
one. It takes you five seconds to say this. Oh, the depth of
our Lord's wisdom, knowledge. Oh, the depth. He says, He that
is without sin among you, Let him first cast a stone at her."
And he stood back down. Men ask and even demand, make
foolish questions, demands of the Lord, and the Lord won't
answer. But when He speaks, they can answer. You remember that
time? It was, I think, either Because
after this, they asked him many questions. Remember? I love that. They kept asking him question
after question. And they were amazed. He put
them all to silence. Then he asked them a question. And none
of them could answer him. They said after that, no man
dares to ask him any more questions. This is wisdom. Had they been asking him sincerely,
they would have found a wonderful answer. But now he puts them
to shame, puts them to silence and convicts them all. He that
is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone. Who
is without sin there? Who is without sin in this crowd? One. There's one there without sin
who could have cast a stone. Instead of casting it, John,
he became a rock. Oh my, he stooped down again.
How many times will the Lord stoop down to a guilty son? He
stooped down again. How many times will the Lord
stoop down? I love that Proverbs says, though a just man falls
seven times. How many times? Oh my, the Lord
does it again and again. He came down once to be made
sin for us. And he lifted up himself. Surely
that's speaking of when Christ was lifted up on Calvary tree.
When he had lifted up himself, he voluntarily made himself a
sacrifice for sin. Lifted himself on Calvary tree.
He said, I finally lifted up. I'll draw men to me. And he was
buried and he rose again, seated at the right hand of God. He's
coming again. He's going to stoop down again,
condescend again, come down to this earth to receive all unto
Himself. Who? Oh, once guilty, He's going
to come without sin. Once guilty, bow, wretched sinners. He's coming again to receive
them unto Himself. He says it continued to write.
Well, those who heard it, verse 9, those who heard this, Heard
him say this, he that is without sin among you, let him first
cast a stone at her. Those who heard it were convicted
by their own conscience, and they went out one by one, beginning
at the eldest. You see, the oldest are guilty
too, aren't they? Even the oldest. Even to the
younger. Went out one by one. They were
all guilty, and they were convicted by their conscience. You know,
the Scripture says the law is written on the heart. The law
is written on the heart. Even the Gentiles, which have
not the law, Scripture says, they are a law unto themselves. They have the law written on
their heart, either excusing or accusing them. The law. Why
does the native in the jungle know that it's wrong to kill?
He doesn't have the Ten Commandments posted on him, but he's got it
right here. They're all without excuse, you
see. The law is written on the heart. The conscience accusing
or excusing. But the law won't save us unless it points us to Christ.
The law won't save us even though our consciences convict us. That's
not repentance. These fellows didn't repent.
They were convicted, as most everyone is to some degree. But this is repentance. of just being guilty as charged,
but not being sorrowful over that guilt. Because repentance
unto salvation always makes a person run to Christ. And it says, beginning
with the oldest to the youngest, they all left. You know what
they should have done? You know what they should have
done? Get in line with that woman. They're leaving their only hope.
They're all guilty as charged, and even their conscience tells
them. And they're all leaving. They're all forsaken mercy. What they should have done was
all stood right beside that woman and said, we're worse than she
is. Master. They all turned away
when they should have turned to Christ. The fact of the matter
is, and here's what Romans 2 says, the goodness of God leads us
to repentance. It's the goodness of God that
leads us to repentance. All that the Father giveth will
come to Christ for mercy, for grace, forgiveness of sin, will
repent toward God and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
why it came. That's why it came. But it says
in verse 9, it says that Christ was left alone and a woman standing
in a meadow. He's left alone. He and this
woman. And there she stands. You know, the psalm says, If
thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquity, who shall stand? He exposed every one of them,
and they had to run. They left. But there she stands. If thou, Lord, shouldst mark
iniquity, who shall stand?" Well, she's standing. How? In Him. We're going to stand
someday before the judgment seat. And if we stand in ourselves,
if we stand commending ourselves, if we stand In our own righteousness,
if we stand pleading the law, if we stand pleading what we
have not done or what we have done, we'll be found guilty. But if we stand in Him, we'll
stand justified, forgiven, demoted. We'll be holy, unblameable, unreprovable
in God's sight, just for standing in Him. Here she stands. Says he was left alone with her.
A woman in the midst. A woman in the midst of trouble.
A woman in the midst of temptation. A woman in the midst of the world
of sin, sorrow, shame, and fear. Alone with the Lord. That's a
good place to be. Would that we were more alone
with the Lord. Men and women can't stand to
be alone, can they? Conscience is bothering her. She can't stand
to be alone. She can't stand silence. God
says, Scripture says, Commune with thine heart upon thy bed.
Pray without ceasing. We need to be alone with the
Lord, don't we? We need to be alone with the Lord. Well, what's
this woman going to do? What can she do? Wait on the
Lord? All she can do is hope in His
mercy, can't she? All she can do is wait on the
Lord. All she can do is stand still and see His salvation. And His
salvation is in a word. It's in a word of forgiveness.
Our brother prayed, may the pastor preach the word of forgiveness. I think I see this woman. I think
I see this. All the time they're talking,
her heart's breaking. All the time they're talking, I think I see her inching closer
to the Lord. She's standing over here alone.
All these people, and there the Lord is. She's hearing something
in His voice that they didn't hear. She's hearing a sound of
mercy and grace. She's hearing grace pour from
His lips. She's hearing a word of forgiveness that they don't
hear. They hear condemnation. She's hearing something that
they don't hear. And I really believe all this time, she's
getting closer to Him. She's getting closer to Him.
She thinks if I can get close to Him, surely He'll have mercy
on me. My old dog Abner, when he was
in trouble, he knew it and I knew it. He knew what he had coming
to him. You know what he'd do every time
when he was guilty? He'd come back to me every time.
I'd call him, and he'd come to me. His tail was a little stub. What little tail he had, he had
tucked between his legs, and his ears down, his eyes down. And what he would do was get
so at my feet, as close to me as he can, as if if I get real
close to him, he can't smite me. Whenever he did that, I never
once smote him. I looked on him with pity. These fellas standing over there
with their hands pointing at her and pointing at him and standing
there. They're alone, all right. Well,
she's standing alone, but she's not alone. She's with the Lord. And I really do. I think I see
her moving closer to the Lord all that time. I think she sees
a ray of hope in His face. If she dared look up, if she
dared look up, and she finally looked up when the Lord told
her to, If she dared look up, if she looked into that face,
she would have seen a ray of hope. Yea, a ray of sunshine.
She would have seen light in this great dark cloud hanging
over her head. A ray of hope. In thy light shall
we see light. Thy countenance. Well, verse
10, it said, When Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the
woman, He saw none but the woman. He saw her, all right. He saw
her before the world began. He saw her in her mother's womb
before she was formed in the belly. He knew her. He saw her. Hagar, it was Hagar that was
outcast, wasn't it? Her plea unto the Lord was, Thou,
Lord, see us. The Lord had great mercy on her.
He brought her back. The banished were brought back.
The Lord saw her in her mother's womb. The Lord saw her as a young
girl. The Lord saw her as a teen in
all her secret thoughts and all of her secret sins and all of
her rebellion. The Lord saw everything. He saw
it all. The Lord saw her as an adult in all her gross sin and
willful rebellion and iniquity, all of her failed marriages,
all of her failed relationships. He saw everything about her.
He saw her. And now He looks down on her.
Now He looks at her and He sees her. And what He sees is His
lovely child. What He sees is one whom He came
to die for. What he sees is one he has love
and compassion. He knows her frame. He knows
her better than she knows herself. He knows everything about her.
And he looks upon her with pity, with compassion, with love, with
nothing but forgiveness, with nothing but mercy. He sees her
as being in him on Calvary. The Lord can't forgive. He will
by no means clear the guilty. He's going to Calvary real soon
to pay for that sin of hers. And he sees her holy, unblameable,
and unapprovable in his sight. He doesn't see any iniquity in
her. He sees her white as a driven
snow. He sees her as she will be someday,
clothed in righteousness, with no sin in her, in the very image
of Christ. He sees her perfect in him. Thank God. But he sees me. He sees the blood of the Lamb.
He doesn't see me in my sin. He sees me in Christ. That's
more than a doctrine, folks. We make it a point to bring that
up all the time. Clothed in His righteousness.
Substitution. That's our salvation. That's
our salvation. That's our peace now. That's
our comfort now. Oh, and He says to her, Woman,
where are those thine accusers? You know, for a person to be
guilty, it has to be two or three witnesses. Huh? It has to be
two or three witnesses. All right, there were, but where
are they now? There were several. There was a whole crowd that
accused her. Everybody there said she was
guilty. Now she looks up, and there's not one. There's not one. I wish I had
written it down. I think it's over in Exodus,
yeah, over in Exodus where the Lord says, well, I can't find
it, but it says that those that were pursuing
the children of Israel, when it's all over, he says there
wasn't one of them left. Not one. Not one accuser. Satan is our
accuser. And the Lord stops his mouth.
Everything Satan accuses us of, Christ says, paid. All the witnesses of the law
accuses us. The law accuses us. Guilty as
charged. Christ says, done, fulfilled. You have no charge. See, there
is therefore now no condemnation. to them that are in Christ. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Woman, where
are thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? No, there's no condemnation in
Christ. Who is He that condemned her?
Christ died. Christ is a lamb slain. He can't
condemn her. He's a lamb slain before the
foundation of the world. Before she sinned, He paid for
her. Who is He that condemned her? Christ died. Thank God. She said, and this
is what we need to say, folks, for our peace, for our comfort.
Guilty as though we are. Guilty as we are. When the Lord
says, now answer me. That just struck me. He demanded
of her. He told her, say this. He told
her, it just struck me, I just now learned something. He said
to her, where are your accusers? She's guilty, but he says, where
are your accusers? Got to be two or three. Where
are your sins? Does no man condemn thee? No
man, Lord. That's faith. Say it. Where are your sins? Well, you
said, and I believe it. They're gone. Paid for. For our
peace. I think I see her now. I think
her countenance is lifting. All this time, she looks up and
says, lift up your head. The Lord lifts up the head. She's
downcast from all this time. She's downcast. She's downcast.
She's downcast until the Lord starts speaking. And we will
be tuned unless we hear it. Unless we hear His Word, we'll
be downcast. And when He begins to speak,
Lift up the countenance, he said. The Lord shall lift up my head.
If she lifted up her head, doth no man condemn thee? Why do we
come here? That he might lift up our countenance.
Lift up our head. That we might look and see that
all our sins are gone. All our sins are paid for. This
is an old sermon. This is our salvation. This is our peace. This is our
comfort. This is our hope. There is forgiveness
with thee. There is. No man, Lord. And Jesus said
unto her, neither do I. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation,
neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Lord, tell
me. Show me a token for good. That
was our message Wednesday night. Anybody need a token for good?
Get the message. Show me, Lord. Tell me that you
mean me good. Tell me it's all going to turn
out good. Get the message. Well, here's the token. Neither
do I. Condemn them. Go and sin no more. You know, I am certain she's
leaving a different woman. I'm certain of that. I'm certain
of that. Any man be in Christ, he's a
new creature. The Lord's telling her, don't go back to that. Look
what's happened to you. Look what it's brought you. Don't
go back to that. Did she sin again at all though? Oh yeah. And you know it broke
her heart probably more the next time than it did then. Now she
sees the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Now she sees she sinned
against mercy. Now she sees she sinned against
grace. She sinned against love. She sinned against Her Lord. She's against thee. The next
time she sins, she's going to pray with David. Oh, have mercy
on me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. Against
thee and thee only have I done that. He told me not to, and
I did. I don't think she went back to
that same lifestyle. I know she didn't. I know she
didn't. But here's what John writes in 1 John 2. Brethren,
these things I write unto you that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate. And we're going to. Hopefully
not to the same extent, but we're going to. We need to come back
again. But I believe, you know, the Scripture says, there is
forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. Now learn what
that means. That thou mayest be feared. Fear
what got you in that in the first place. But she's leaving, I believe,
a different person. She's leaving this room. I know
she is. She's leaving this room. She came in here scared to death.
And her perfect love has cast out her fear. This is why I say,
folk, you come in here. You come thou with us and we'll
do you good. If you come in here hungry, you're
going to get filled. If you go out empty, It's not
my fault. It's not my fault. I have not
shunned or declared unto you all the counsel of God. This
is why every time I get up, I tell you everything I know. I know
Scott told me not to do that, but I do it anyway. I tell you
everything I know. If I go from start to finish,
I tell you everything I know. Scripture after Scripture, hoping
one of them, one of those errors will reach home. If you go out
still hungry, it's not my fault. If you come thirsty, it will
be sated. Open your mouth. He said, I feel
it. We come. Oh, she came in here guilty.
She went home justified. She came in here fearful. She
went home with peace. Oh, she came in sorrowful. She's
going out leaping over a wall, running through a troop. She came in here hanging her
head. She's going and lifting up the head. She came out here
with her hands hanging down and her knees were feeble. He's strengthened
the feeble knee and the weak hand. She goes out with a high
hand. She came in here crying. She's
going out praising. She's going out singing. If she
can sing, I can hear. I know what she's singing. She's
saying, I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus of Nazareth
and wonder how He could love me, a sinner condemned unclean. How marvelous! How wonderful! That my soul shall ever sing,
how wonderful, how marvelous is my Savior's love to me. What's the lessons we learn from
this? What's the lessons we learn from this? Number one, we're
guilty as charged. All of us. Guilty. He said divorce
is adultery. Guilty. Last chart. The law condemns
us. You don't want to plead the law.
You don't want to plead you're innocent because you're not.
We're not. You don't want to plead the law.
By the deeds of the law, no flesh justified. You don't want to
plead the law. The law condemns us. What do we learn from this?
If we judge others, we're going to be judged severely. If we
judge ourselves, we won't be judged. What do we learn from
this? This great lesson. This great lesson. Jesus Christ
is our only hope. What sayest thou? That's it. What does he say? That's it. Lord, what sayest
thou? Here's what I say. I don't condemn
you. I don't condemn you. Sweetest
words. There's hope, there's forgiveness
for that. I'll tell you a story, in closing. George Whitefield,
a great preacher. Preacher of the gospel. And he
was preaching one time, and like every true preacher of the gospel,
he had those that hated him. He was persecuted for the truth's
sake. He had those that hated him. And there was a man, it's
a true story, there was a man that hated Whitefield, a religious
man. He hated what he had to say.
He hated this gospel of God's sovereign grace and mercy, electing
grace. And this man told this story
that he went to where Whitefield was preaching with the intent
of throwing rocks at him. He picked up a bunch of rocks
and stuffed his pockets full of rocks. And he intended to
throw those stones at Whitfield as he prayed. So he went there
and he stood back there and he said he had his hands full of
rock. And Whitfield began to pray. And the man tells the story one
by one. And he emptied his pockets. And the Lord spoke to him. And
he went up to Whitefield after the service, his head kind of
hanging down, ashamed of himself, you know. And he said, Mr. Whitefield, he said, I came here
today with the intention of breaking your head. He said, but the Lord
has broken my heart. I'm a pitiful preacher, but I've
got a wonderful Savior. And if you need this message,
it's for you. Let's sing that hymn, I Stand
Amazed, 452.