Tonight's message. I was greatly blessed studying
and preparing for tonight's message from John 17, verse 12. I didn't get past one verse.
Verse 12 this evening. Untitled, A Given and Kept. He
says, I've, those that thou gavest me, I've kept. And if you want
to read that tonight, John 17, 12, or the whole prayer, I wish
you would. But I hope to come out tonight
and hear it. It's a blessing to me studying it. Now turn with
me to John chapter 8. John chapter 8. I often hear comments from people
after preaching I hear people say, You were preaching
right to me this morning. And somebody may say, You seem
to know just what I needed. Well, I don't. I don't. I'm not a prophet, but God's
Word is all-powerful and effectual, and if something touches you,
it's God's Word. It's not this preacher. It's
God's Word speaking to you. If it convicts you or comforts
you according to whatever you need, it's God that's doing it,
not me. And I honestly—here's a disclaimer,
Jerry—I honestly try not to prepare messages with particular people
in mind. I can't help but think about
people and think, oh, I wish they could hear this. Because
I said time and time again, nine times out of ten, ten times out
of ten, that person won't be there. And somebody else will
come up and say, oh, it's just what I needed, the last person
I expected. See, I don't know. That way, you know, I believe
if I did have somebody of mine that preached and the Lord gave
liberty and so forth and that person was greatly touched and
all, I might get a tendency to be puffed up. Right? But it's generally the person
you least expect that needs what is said. And this message is
not prepared for anybody in particular, unless the Lord has somebody
in particular in mind. I don't. I don't. Yet, it's for
everybody who can take the place of a guilty sinner. before God. So it's for me. I can take the
place here. Here's a woman caught in the
act. Condemned, poor, and miserable. Caught in the act. And that's
me. That's me. And don't think, I
don't want anybody in here to think that I prepared this for
you personally, but I do want you to think that God
prepared it for you personally. I do want you to take it personally. Not from me, but from the Word
of God. And like I said, if nobody else
will take it, I will. I'll take it. So many times I
preach and don't feel like I've gotten across to anybody, but
yet I got a blessing. I say, well, maybe it's for me.
But I'll take my place beside this woman here in John 8. Look
at it with me. Look up at verse 53 of chapter 7. I hope you have
a Bible. John 7, verse 53, and it's unfortunate, this chapter
division here, but we've got to restart here. He says, now
Christ was dealing with a bunch of Pharisees, and they were discussing
between themselves about him, and after they all couldn't come
to any conclusion at all, he says, verse 53, every man went
into his own house. Jesus went under the Mount of
Olives. Everybody went to their own house. Christ went up into a mountain.
He said, in one place, foxes have their holes and birds have
their nests. The Son of Man doesn't even have
any place to lay his head. He lived up in the woods. Now,
the reason I brought this out was because the Scripture says
he was tempted in all points, like as we are, yet without sin.
He's touched for the feeling of our infirmities. Nobody, I
mean nobody, ever lives as poorly as our Lord himself. Nobody had
as many trials, or troubles, or tribulation, or loneliness,
or whatever, more so than our Lord himself. And he did it to
enter into the things that you go through. He did it for our
sakes as a substitute, and also to enter into these things, to
be touched. He troubled himself, was touched
with the feeling of our infirmity. So, whatever troubles or trials
you go through, there's no excuse to keep you from seeking God.
Christ didn't. He didn't keep him from it. Consider
this man. Consider him. Okay, now look
at verse 2. Early in the morning, now stay
with me, I hope the Lord blesses us. Early in the morning, he
came again into the temple. The sun arose in the morning
and came into the temple. What a prophecy of the Son of
God entering into that little tabernacle of a baby. The sun
had arisen on this earth. Glory unto God and peace that
will toward men. The sun is rising. He's in the
body of a baby down here, in a tabernacle. He tabernacled
among men, the sun. Then, thirty-three and a third
years later, he went into a grave. But he didn't stay there. The
Son arose early in the morning and entered into the temple of
God with his very blood, to pour out that blood upon the mercy
seat before God Almighty. And not only that, the Scripture
says, but to them that look for him shall he appear as the Son
of Righteousness. with healing in his wings to
the temple, to the church. He's going to rise early in the
morning, the time when you think not, the sun's going to come
up again. The sun's going to appear on this earth, to the
temple, in the temple. Early in the morning, he came
again into the temple. He came again into the temple.
Let me say this also. Early in the morning. Every verse,
every word is a sermon, but it says early in the morning. He
said to John, he said, we need to fulfill all righteousness.
And the Proverbs said, they that seek me early shall find me. He was up early about his father's
business. Did he find him? Oh, he walked
with him. Early in the morning, early in
the morning. He fulfilled all righteousness,
he fulfilled the Word. And it says all the people, early
in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the
people came unto him, and he sat down and talked to them. I remember, this reminds me of
a few weeks earlier, a little time before. We looked at this.
Well, he came someplace and sat down. He's waiting on somebody. You remember? He came, it says
he must need to go through Samaria. So he came at midday and sat
on a whale. Who was he waiting for? Waiting
for one woman. Came into the temple. A multitude
of people thronged him everywhere he went. A vast number of people
came to hear him and so forth. He came into the temple and he
sat down and he talked to them. He's waiting on one woman. Again,
he's waiting on one woman to come into this place. Oh, the
wonder of God's Word here. And this also speaks to me. When
he sat down here, it speaks to me of our great high priest who
is seated at the right hand of God, waiting till his enemies
may be made his footstool. And you just wait a minute in
this story. His enemies are going to be made his footstool, and
sinners are going to come to him. Come to him. That's the
way it's going to be someday. before our great high priest
in heaven. So here he was, sitting in the temple, teaching the people. He sat down and he talked to
them. And all of a sudden, a great crowd of people came in and disturbed
him. I mean, here he was. He came
to the temple and he was sat down. He was teaching all the people.
And all of a sudden, a big bustle of doors flew open. A crowd of
people came in and interrupted his preaching right in the middle
of his teaching. They interrupt him with a verse 3, "...and scribes
and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery." I'm
sure they dragged her in pretty quickly, treated her pretty roughly,
dragged her in there, and they set her in the midst of him,
right in the middle, right where everybody could see. And they
said unto him, Master, I can hear their voices. I've heard
them. I've heard these voices before. Teacher, this woman was—poor
woman—was taken in adultery, in the very act of adultery. And wait a minute. How did they know this? I thought
about this. How did they know this woman
was committing adultery? Huh? Unless one of their cronies
was in on it. Were they watching her? Were
they watching her? Were they spying on her? That they might accuse her? This
is so typical of modern-day religion. So typical of self-righteous
religionists who are constantly on the lookout for somebody to
sin so they can catch them. Right? Paul talked about it to
the Galatians. He said there's some people,
false brethren, sinning to spy at your liberty. elders, examination committee, come into
your house, see if you've got a TV set, bring you before the
Sanhedrin and so forth, and the Monmon Nation. You wait and see
how the Lord deals with this. People do that. They're constantly
on the lookout for somebody to discipline. They love it, don't
they? Talk about discipline like they
love it. What it does is it makes them look good, makes themselves
look good. When they drag somebody in, that's
what these fellows are trying to do, and under pretense of
the gospel for sinners. Churches are supposed to be hospitals
for sinners. I mean, where sinners can come
in and be treated, not me, but treated with the balm of Gilead. The gospel. Comfort you, comfort
you, my people, God said. But he says, woe unto you false
prophets and false shepherds and so forth. You beat my sheep.
You fleece them. You feed off of them. You are
comforting them. You discipline them. Oh, that men would take notice
of the Holy One of Israel who came down to this earth. And
how did he treat sinners? You received. Centers would come in this place. We receive a center not to see
the center you receive a center not catches them. But look at these they said we
caught her in the very act the very act. I'm making fun I need to be made
fun of. I wonder how long they watched
this before they turned her in. We caught her! Let me act! Were
you watching? That's how wicked and perverse
people really are, if you knew the half of it. If we knew the
half of these religious parasites, if you knew the half. Some of
them have been exposed nowadays, haven't they? They're all like
that. Peter said that in 2 Peter chapter
2, is it? Listen to it. Read it sometime.
Well, they brought this woman in, caught in the very act. They
were watching. Caught her. In verse 5, here
they say, Now Moses and the law, the law. That's how they talk. Moses and the law. I guarantee
you that's the way they said that. He hath commanded us,"
in the reading of your hearing and however they say it, "...he
hath commanded us that such should be sterned. But what sayest thou?" Moses and the law, what did they
do? They started quoting Scripture. Quoting Scripture. And invariably,
this is what religious folks like to do, to justify themselves. to accuse others with. They use
it not for themselves. The scriptures are for me. When
I read the scriptures, I'm not supposed to read the scriptures
and say, oh, Nancy sure needs that. Oh, I wish she'd hear that.
I need it. If you read the scriptures any
other way than for it to touch you, you're reading them all
wrong. All wrong. I need that. I need that. And
this is invariably what religious folks do. Rather than using the
word for themselves, they use it as ammunition. ammunition,
point a gun, take the sword you cut people's heads off with. And just listen to this. Just
because somebody can quote scripture and use a few scriptures, that
doesn't mean a thing. That don't mean a thing. Jack
Van Emper, he didn't impress me in the least. The scribes
lived to write the scriptures. They knew it. They could quote
it. They could quote it. Let's hear Jack start quoting
the Old Testament. These fellows could. Long, laborious names. Endless genealogies. They could
quote them. They knew them. Christ said, you know, he said
to some of these fellows one time, he said, oh, and this got
under their skin. He looked right at some scribes
and some Pharisees who all their lives had spent in the monastery
reading the Scriptures and quoting and diligently preparing and
so forth. He said, you don't know the Scriptures. You don't know the Scriptures.
You do err not knowing the scriptures. What? We can quote them. I don't
care if you can quote them, you don't know them. They speak of
me. And I don't care who can quote
what, if they don't know the Word of God. In other words,
if they don't see God the Word in the Word of God, they don't
know the scriptures. Teach anything else, preach anything else, then
Christ and him crucified, they don't know the scriptures. Preach
any other gospel unto you than we have preached, Christ is all,
they don't know the gospel. They are not preaching the gospel. And I thought about this, too.
This is also a picture of people who claim to live under New Testament
regulations, but yet look and act like they're under the law. You know what I'm talking about?
I mean, people say, well, no, we're not under the law. We're
not under the law. We're New Testament believers. Well, why do you look
like it then? Why don't you revert back to it? Throw all the Ten
Commandments in. That's old law, right? That's Old Testament. Don't ever—throw
it away. Take the Old Bible, rip it in
half, and live by the New then. Don't you see it everywhere?
Claim to be living by faith in Christ and so forth, but are
living according to the Old Testament law. I can see that clear today. Well,
listen, here's what they said. They said, Moses saying the law,
he commanded us that such should be stoned, those caught in adultery. And he did, he did say that.
They should be stoned. What do you say? What do you
say? Now, they weren't really interested
in what he had said. They really weren't. They weren't
interested in knowing the truth. They were only accusing him, much
like people you talk to. You've gotten into conversations,
I know, with people, and they ask you a question. They're not
interested in what you have to say. They're waiting so they
can have their turn. They're waiting so they can tell
you what they want to tell you, right? They're not interested in what
you have to say. I don't care if you quote and speak it to them, right,
Henry? Well, let's see what the Bible says. Well, verse 6, this
they say, tempting him that they might have something to accuse
him. They're trying to accuse him. They're trying to discredit
Christ. Like I said, much like some people try to talk to you
and so forth, trying to disprove you, you imagine their stupidity. You imagine this, trying to accuse
the one before whom someday they are going to stand accused. You think about it. This is God
here, sitting there. And they're trying to accuse
him, God, trying to catch him up. And someday, Terry, they're
going to stand before this God, and this is the reason the Scriptures
talk about their hearts failing them. They're going to stand
before this Jesus that they talked about. He was so impotent and
this and that and the other. They're going to stand before
this awesome one that the Revelation describes in such an awesome
manner, the voice of the sound of many waters, and their hearts
are going to fail. They're going to remember all
that they said about Jesus. Their words are going to condemn
them, their thoughts, their actions. You're not Jesus, we. Oh, they're
going to get down on their faces and beg for mercy. You accused
me at one time, didn't you? Now, let's see who the accuser
is. Right? Scripture says God's going
to someday judge all men by that man. That man, they claim to
know and so forth. You think of that, they're stupidity.
But you know what? Listen to me, stay with me. This
is a good question. They asked him a good question.
They asked him the gospel question. This is the question of all questions.
Now listen to me. They said Moses says she's to
be stoned. What do you say? This is the gospel. These fellows
unwittingly were saying, Rick, they were saying, how can God
be just and yet justify this woman? Where does the answer
lie? What is he saying? Right? Now, here we are. We are this woman caught in adultery. Everybody in here. You say, I've
never committed adultery. Yes, you have. If you've thought
on a man, or on, you're guilty. That's what the Scripture says.
Anybody in here innocent? Caught in the act. You say, I've
never been... God sees you. He sees your heart. God doesn't look as man may look
on that account. God sees the heart, Scripture
says. Caught in the act. You've been caught in the act
of thinking of somebody else. But, you're brought in. You've
been brought in by somebody. Like I said, like I was trying
to pray, there's no accident you're here. No accident to anybody
in here is here. You didn't come here of your
own free will. You didn't decide this morning, I'm going to go
to church. No, you did not. God decided from the foundation of
the world you were going to be in church on November, what's
today? Whatever day it is, I don't know.
He knew. And he said, you're coming. And you're going to hear,
right? You believe there's a God, you
have to believe that. Now, you're sitting down in the midst of
this people right now. I wish I thought about doing
this, having one of these ladies stand up. It would embarrass
you to no end, wouldn't it? But you're not heaven and hell.
It'd still embarrass you, wouldn't it? Just think of it. Think of
it. You haven't done anything but
just stand there and look at everybody. Everybody look at
you. You'd be embarrassed to death, wouldn't you? was caught in the act. Everybody
knew it. And if I could somehow bring
proof against Sherry there, she'd be as red as her sweater there.
If she could get out of here, she'd run out as fast as she
could. This is the picture, and this is us. We're caught in the
act. The Scripture says, "...all have
sinned, and come short of the glory of God." You've caught
it in your soul. You've sinned. You've come far short of the
glory of God. Like Donny Bell said, what'd
you do all those years before the Lord revealed himself to
you, if he has? What'd you do with your life?
You wasted it on yourself, hadn't you? Not giving glory to God.
Like the scripture says, they weren't thankful. They're all
without excuse because when they knew God, that is in creation,
God kept giving you this, giving you that, giving you this, giving
you that, having mercy, having mercy, having mercy, having grace,
grace, grace, goodness, goodness, goodness, and never give a thought.
Never even look up. Right? Guilty. People are going
to stand before God just on that account. Guilty. You never thanked
me. Right? That's us. Guilty. We still don't do it.
Scripture says all we like sheep have gone our own way, gone astray. Right? Now, Moses says stoning. The law says The soul that sinneth,
it must surely what? Die. Here we are. You're guilty, Stan Anderson.
You're as guilty as if you'd been caught red-handed before
God Almighty, right? Yes, sir. Guilty as charged. Now, the law
says die. What are we going to do? I'm not making this up. This
is what it says. It says we're just spending eternity in hell
for not thanking God as we should. Not living for God. What are
we going to do? Nothing. As soon as this woman,
you're going to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Nothing. We can't do a thing. We're guilty. We can't do a thing. Nothing. And this is the question. How can a holy God just forgive
us? You say, I, I, you didn't mean
it, did you? No. Go on. No, he can't do that. God will by no means clear the
guilty, the scripture says. He can't do it. He can't be holy
and just let people go. He's got to pour out his justice
on them. How can God be just? How can
Moses' law be fulfilled on this woman? How is this woman going
to get stoned and yet go free? How? How? Look at the next verse. How? Well, this they said, tempting
him that they might have to accuse him. Bang! Jesus stooped down. How can God be God and let me
go free of guilty, hopeless, vile, wretched, wicked, hell-deserving
sinner? Caught me up? How?" The Son of
God came down and took upon Himself the form of a man and did for
me and for you, hopefully, if you just trust Him, what you
could not do for yourself. lived this life that God demanded. He came down and sat on the well. He came down and sat in the temple.
He came down and sat in the dust, waiting for sinners like you
and me. Waiting. The Son of God took
upon himself the form of a man, walked and talked and lived on
this earth as a man, yet without sin. Without sin. This is the gospel. He did it
without sin. For you and me. For you and me. And then, understand what I'm
saying. Christ lived this earth as a
man. And you women are included in this. As a man, as a human
being. He lived perfectly. Thought,
not only in deed, but in word and thought, perfectly glorified
God, loved God with his mind, heart, soul, strength, loved
his neighbor as himself, went about doing good, nothing but
good, and God said, I have plenty of you." Now, the gospel, the
good news is, here you stand, and here he stands. He comes
down and stands beside you. He stooped down right beside
you. You stand guilty as charged.
He stands innocent. You've got on a robe of filth
and wickedness. He's got on a pristine, holy,
spotless, white robe of righteousness. What are we going to do? Nothing! We're going to stand there. What's
he going to do? He's going to take off that robe.
Take off your robe. He takes off that old ragged
robe you've got on, and he puts it on. And he takes his spotless
white robe of righteousness and puts it on you. Now God looks. He sees two people standing there.
He says, you, holy, spotless. Look what a good life he's lived.
No, not under us, Lord, not under him. He looks at him and sees
a wretched sinner. And justice has got to fall.
The condemned, the guilty, has to pay. Punishment has to be
shared, right? Blood! The soul that sinneth
must surely die. Who's he going to kill? The sword
comes down on Christ. And we go for it. Accept it. And he dies. He suffers our shame,
guilt, punishment. What we deserve. That's the gospel, as clear as
I can make it. Punish Christ for what I did. How can he do
that? How can he do that? No, it just doesn't sound fair.
People talk about fairness. I don't think it's fair that
God should hold me guilty for what Adam did back in the garden.
That's not fair. I wasn't around in the garden. Oh, wait a minute.
People plead that, don't they? Nobody likes to, nobody believes
in imputed sin, imputed sin of Adam,
do they? They don't like to believe that.
They don't. The total depravity of man by
one man's sin, many were made sinners. Now, wait a minute now. You cannot, you can't take the act that Christ did on the
cross. You can't take credit for that. I mean, you can't take
the benefits of that if you're not going to take your place
with Adam. You weren't around when Christ died either. But
how can he do this? How can he do it? How can he
make one man guilty and pay for the sins of so many people? How
can he do that? Look at it. Look at verse 6. But Jesus stooped down and with
his finger he wrote on the ground. He stooped down and with his
finger he wrote on the ground. You see where I'm getting at
here a minute? He's all wise. He's all powerful. God is. Christ is. Only God could
think of such a way, think of such a gospel. Only God could
do it. Only God could think of this, and only God could perform
it. This is the reason God had to come down and do this. Man
can't satisfy justice. We sinned against the Holy God.
If God sends us to hell, this is the reason hell's going to
last for eternity. Sin can't be paid for. It's against the
Holy God. I don't know if you understand
that or not, but that's the way it is. It's against the Holy
God. One transgression, we've lived all our lives in transgression.
And all the myriads of people who've lived, it's against the
whole, that's the reason it's going to be an eternity of hell to
be paying for sin. But the debt's too great. It'll
never be paid for, like the national debt, never be paid. He can come down and satisfy
it. He can come down. God can't suffer. He can't suffer. God can't die. Man can. So God became a man. Who'd have thought such? Who'd
have thunk it? Only God. This is the wisdom of God. The wisdom of God. And you know,
he who wrote the tables of stone, this is what I'm pointing out
here. He who wrote the tables of stone, and look it up, it
says he wrote them with his finger in it. He who wrote the law that they
were accusing him with, it says he wrote it on rock,
on stone, and gave it to Moses, didn't he? Where does stone come
from? It comes from the ground. God wrote on the ground with
a finger. Thou shalt not, thou shalt not. Carved it out and
gave it to Moses. Here you go. God came back one
day. Stoop down. God came down. Stoop
down and rose on the ground. What did he write this time?
Thou shalt not? Huh? Thou shalt not commit adultery?
No. I bet you there was one person
looking at what he was writing. The rest of them weren't. Pharisees
weren't watching. But that woman was keenly interested
in what he was writing. He might have been writing this
speculation, but he might have been writing, he was willing for our
transgression. He will prove for our iniquities. By his stripes we are healed. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify me. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. He hath not
dealt with us according to our iniquities, like as a father
pittance. Good ask. You don't know it.
He could have wrote that. I've seen him write it. I've
seen the writing. Have you? Yeah. But he stooped down and he wrote
in the ground as though he, and it says there, he started writing,
and it was as though he heard them not. As though he heard them, them
not. And they kept asking. They kept
tempting him, they kept asking him, but he didn't sound like
he was hearing. Well, picture this with me. Here they come
barging in and interrupt his teaching, his preaching. He was
sitting there, sitting on the chair, talking to the people,
dealing with them. And here comes this lynch mob
in. And they bust in with all their
accusations against this woman. Now Moses said, and they're probably
looking down at him, down their noses at him, at him, whom someday
they're going to look up at. Moses said, and we caught this
woman in the very act of adultery, and Moses says that she's to
be stoned. What do you say, Rabbi, teacher? We got him now, don't we, boys?
We got him. Well, what do you say? He's not listening to them. His ears are open to sinners.
He didn't come to call the righteous. He didn't come to answer them.
Finally, then, what do you say, Rabbi? Come on, now. Let him that is without sin among
you Cast the first stone. Stood back down. Started writing again. And they which heard it, verse
9, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one,
beginning with the oldest, Now picture this again. Say we've
got one of you ladies up here standing before the whole congregation.
Everybody knew she was guilty. Let this be you, standing right
here. And they bring you in, the Lord himself. And everybody's
accusing. And then after that is said,
let him that was without sin among you, he that was without
sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And everybody
convicted. Anybody who's never committed
adultery in your heart, throw a rock. And begin with Virgie,
the eldest, down to the youngest, till finally Hannah or whoever,
everybody's gone. They leave. Everybody. But look at this. And they heard it, one by one,
they went out, getting from the eldest to the last, and Jesus
was left alone and the woman. Christ and one sinner. How sad this is, though, that
all these people left. You know what they should have
done? By being convicted in their own heart, what they should have
done was stood right beside that woman. I'm guilty too, Lord,
of cast themselves at that woman, at his feet. I'm guilty, Lord. Forgive me, please. I'm guilty.
The one who was caught was with her. She had to have a partner.
He was probably standing there. He should have cast himself at
his feet. It's me. I'm guilty. And you better be
doing the same thing this morning, right now. Right now. Yet how many times, this is convicting
right here, how many times Have you heard this same word before? And like Christ said, will you
also go away? You're going to come to Christ. And Jesus was
left alone and the woman standing in the midst. Everybody was gone
then. Everybody gone. Only Christ and this woman. And
now, boy, she's really face to face now. Oh, but what a face
she's standing before. Not the face of a of a critic
and a judge and a Pharisee looking down on her with me. Oh, I'd
like to. I've seen that face. Have you seen that face? She
was looking into it. Maybe she wasn't looking up yet.
Maybe she didn't look up until he spoke to her. Probably not. Probably not. That sounds good
with a story. But here you sit. Here you sit again. Here we are.
Here we sit. Man, child, woman, you've been
brought in here by God's providence, by God's divine providence. Definitely
not here by accident. You've heard the word accuse
you. You've heard it. Everybody in here stands accused. You've
heard the gospel. You've seen the written word.
And somebody said that second time he wrote, he could have
been writing names and addresses and dates on such and such a
date. Just, you know, all those Pharisees
standing there, he could have wrote to Jessica, November 12th, 10 p.m. at the Shady Lane Motel. And
one of those Pharisees, wow, I've got to get out of here.
Right? Names and dates. I feel everybody
in there was, oh! But you've heard it all. You're
guilty and you sit here right now. Nobody can help you. And it's you and Christ. That
is, every time the gospel preached, you're face-to-face with Christ,
right? You're face-to-face with the
Christ of Scriptures, with the gospel. You've got to stand face-to-face
with Christ. But you know what? The question
is not, what will you do with Jesus? That's what preachers
and soul winners are saying, isn't it? It's not, will you
accept Him now as your personal Savior? He wants to. That's not
the question here. That's not the question with
this woman, is it? She's standing there with Christ alone. The
question is, what's he going to say? What's he going to do
with her? This is not the Jesus they claim
it is. This is the male giver. This is God who wrote the law
that condemns that. What's he going to say? That's
the question of questions, isn't it? And that's what you and I
got to face. We'll look at it there. It says,
when Jesus had lifted up himself. Have you seen him high and lifted
up, holy and righteous as God, just God and a Savior, Creator,
your only hope, your only righteousness? If you have, here's what he says.
When he lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, and he
does, he deals personally right now, right now. I hope the Holy
Spirit deals with somebody in particular. He says, Woman. Where are those nine accused. Woman. Woman. Man. Where are your keys? Oh,
she might have said, oh, Lord, the law accuses me. Cursed is
everyone that continues not knowing. But he says, I was made a curse. I did. I continued, and all things
written in the book of the law has made a curse for you." But
she said, but Satan accuses, he's a great accuser of the brethren,
and Satan says, I'm guilty. And he constantly bombarding
me with guilt. No, he says, don't worry about
him. Don't worry about him. I've crushed his puny head. He's
in chains. He's like a dog barking on a
leash. He can't hurt you. I've met him. I've answered Him. Every temptation, every trial
that you will ever face, I've met it. What about Satan? But my conscience says, my conscience
bears and owns the guilt. Now, wait a minute," he said.
You remember that high priest of old, how he sprinkled the
blood and the book and the people and everything around? He said,
I sprinkled your conscience with my own precious blood. The blood. God doesn't see your sin. But I'm guilty. God doesn't hold
you guilty. He doesn't see, but I've done
it, but he doesn't see it. He forgot it! But just yesterday,
he forgot it! Why don't you forget? Where are
my accusers, woman? She looked grim. Does no man
accuse you? No man, Lord. Nobody else accuses
me. Who is he that condemneth? Huh? Who? It's Christ that doth. Well, look at his answer. Doth
no man condemn thee? And if, as clear as I can, as simple
as I can make it, you trust Christ, you come to him. I don't care
what this sounds like to you, but you come to Christ and ask
him to forgive you. I don't care what you've done,
where you've been, who you are, whatever, what you're doing right
now. If you're standing guilty before God, before Christ, and
you ask Him, Lord, forgive me, please, forgive me. You know
what He'll say to you? Neither do I. I don't condemn
you. Go. Go free. Go free." What do you
reckon she did when she left that place? There's a psalm that
says, "'By thee I have broken through a troop and jumped over
a wall.'" I bet she thought, man, oh man,
this whole tribe of Pharisees and Sadducees and scribes and
so forth, this crowd, a lynch mob of religious people swarmed
around me and brought me in here, and they're all gone. I've broken
through a troop. The whole army's defeated. Nobody can accuse me
now. I bet she jumped over a wall.
Clicking her heels together. Jumped out. Know it? You... Neither
do I. I don't condemn you. I don't
condemn you. I said, go. Go. You're free.
You're free. Free to what? Go back to sin?
Go back and commit adultery? Good! I'll go out on the town
tonight. No. You reckon she wanted to
do that again? Oh, no. Oh no, he said in verse
11, go and sin no more. How are you going to keep from
sinning? Well, about the closest you'll
ever come to it is to walk with Christ. Who did no sin, who does
no sin, to abide in Him. If you are in Him, if His seed
remains in you, like John said, you will not sin. Christ in you
does not sin. But what he said to this woman,
what he says to us, too, is, Go, you're free. No man condemns
you. Neither do I. There's none. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that does. Who shall anything to charge
of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Now,
go. Go. Come. Come to Christ. Go. Go to Christ. Come to Christ.
Whatever it means. Come to Him. Believe on Him.
Trust Him. and say no more. Take up your
cross and follow Christ. His yoke is not heavy. It's not. His yoke is easy. His
burden is light. Christians, so-called Christians,
might think it's tough to live a good life and this and that
and the other, but that's not it at all. He sets you free. And
some that know what I'm talking about know what I'm talking about. He sets you free. Not free of
sin, but just free from the guilt of it. Free from the penalty
of it. Free from the worry of it. You
know, your sins are going to plague you for the rest of your
life, right? Even now, it plagues us. But
Christ says this to us. Anybody that comes to Him, I
don't condemn them. Oh, that ought to be good news.
We ought to be clicking our heels together, leaving this place. Go and sin no more. Take up your
cross and follow Christ. Okay, stand with me now.