The title of the message is,
He Stooped to Save. He Stooped to Save. Now, it shocked
me to discover many people do not think this passage ought
to be in God's Word, because they think it excuses sin. I
think nothing could be more foolish. The Puritans wouldn't preach
from this passage, because they were afraid it would encourage
adultery. Never one time preached from
this passage of scripture. And I don't know why. I don't
know if he agreed with the Puritans or not, but he didn't ever preach
from it. And I've read this passage over and over and over again.
And I never find an excuse in this passage of scripture for
anyone to see it. I'll tell you what I see. You
read it. Read it and listen to the message
this morning and go and read it again. The only thing I see
in this passage of scripture is a reason for sinners like
me to flee to Christ. This passage of scripture illustrates
the gospel. This tells us how God can forgive
sin, how he cannot condemn the sinner and yet still condemn
sin. Now, I suspect that this is the
reason why Satan has caused men to put this passage under attack.
And if this passage is under such attack from Satan, and it
is, we should pay close attention to it. There's something here
for us to learn, and if God will give us an understanding of it,
we'll see the gospel and run to Christ. So let's see if we
can't see that here in these first 11 verses. The chapter
begins, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Now, this is kind
of an unfortunate chapter break. If you look back at the last
chapter, or the last verse of chapter 7, Every man went into
his own house. Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
Every man went to his own house. Our Lord didn't have a home to
go to. So he went to the Mount of Olives, spent the night outdoors,
probably in prayer. And it just shows such a contrast
in every way between God and men. There's such a contrast.
If men had done this to you and me, we probably would have stayed
in the Mount of Olives. But our Lord didn't. He came
back down and sat with the people. and taught men. He was always
about his father's business. What was his father's business?
To redeem. To forgive sin. And I'm thankful
he was always about that business. Look at verse 2. And early in
the morning, he didn't waste any time, early in the morning,
he came again into the temple and all the people, all kinds
of people, all sorts of people, came unto him and he sat down
and taught them. Now, Lord, you can see this in
your mind's eye. This was the custom in that day.
The one who was teaching would sit in front of the crowd and
teach. And here is the Lord of Glory
sitting, teaching sinners, teaching them the Word. The incarnate
Word was teaching the written Word. I mean, can you imagine
how wonderful that must have been? Wouldn't you have loved
to have been there and heard what he was telling you? Here come the Pharisees. Nothing lasts in this world.
It doesn't last. Here come the Pharisees to ruin
it. But the Lord is going to use their sinful actions to give
us an illustration of how God saves sinners. Look at it in
verse 3. The scribes and Pharisees brought
unto him a woman taken in adultery. And when they set her in the
midst, they said unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery
in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded
us that such should be stoned, but what sayest thou? Now this
they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him.
But Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground
as though he heard them not. Now this woman, let's not gloss
over this situation. She's committed a great sin.
This is a great sin. Adultery is a vile sin. It's such a betrayal of your
spouse. And worse yet, adultery is a
sin against God, because it violates the picture of Christ's union
with His bride. And she guilty. Now, I mean,
there's no denying it. She guilty. But you have to think,
I always think two things when I read this. How creepy is it
that they caught her? I mean, they had to be like a
peeping Tom, you know, just kind of creepy. And here's the second
thing. Where's the man? She didn't commit
this act alone. Where's the man? The law commands
they both be stoned. I mean, I guess he's their buddy.
Maybe they set her up probably. What I think is they set her
up to do this. So they knew where it would be going on. That's
how they caught her. And he must have been part of the setup.
But be that as it may, she's guilty. I mean, they probably
did set her up. But that doesn't remove her guilt.
She's guilty. You and me will never get a blessing
from this passage of scripture until we understand this. Everyone
in this room is guilty of the exact same sin. Every one of
us. Look at Matthew chapter 5. I'll show you that. We are just
as guilty as this poor woman. Matthew chapter 5 verse 27. You've heard that it was said
by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say
unto you, that whosoever looketh upon a woman, to lust after her,
hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. This woman, she guilty. She deserved
to die. That's what the law says. But
so do we. Every one of us is just as guilty
as this woman. And worse yet, we've even committed
spiritual adultery when we worship idols. I don't care who you are,
if you're a believer, for the Lord saved you, you're worshiping
an idol of some sort. We're guilty. So we should be
very interested in how our Lord deals with this woman. Because
we are her. I mean, it's not like she's us. We are her, just as guilty as
she is. Now there she sits. Pharisees
have brought her to the Lord. Caught her red-handed. You can
imagine the sick. and twisted glee that these Pharisees
and scribes feel. Yeah, they set up this woman
so they'd catch her red-handed. And they did all that. I mean,
it had to be pretty elaborate going on, you know, to make this
happen. And they did all that for this reason. So they could
trap the Lord. They could trick the Lord. And
if she ends up getting stoned to death, that's just collateral
damage. I mean, it's sick. And they really thought they
had the Lord. There's no way out of this one.
And they thought that because they couldn't think of a way
out. And they're trying to outwit wisdom himself. Now the law says
she should be put to death. I mean, that is what the law
says. So, if the Lord says stone her, they'll say, what about
all this mercy you've been talking about? What about this thing
of being friends with publicans and sinners? That's not like
you're being a friend. You're telling the stoner to death.
I thought you said your father didn't send you into the world
to condemn the world, but that the world through you might be
saved. And here you're saying put her to death. Talking on
both sides of your mouth, aren't you? And then if the Lord says,
let her go, then they'll say, wait a minute. What about the
law? Now, you don't care anything about God's law. You don't care
anything about holiness. You can't. You're no man of God.
See, they thought they had him because they couldn't think of
an answer. And while all this is going on, Here's this poor
woman. She's totally humiliated. She's
been caught red-handed. She's probably in some state
of undress, publicly exposed. And she knows, in a very short
time, she should be put to a very painful death. She's full of
fear and shame and humiliation. Have you ever been there? shamed,
humiliated because of your sin and your guilt and knowing what
you deserve. Have you ever been there? Now, the Pharisees are
right. They think they've got the Lord
trapped. All the law can say to this woman is put her to death. That's the only thing the law
can say. But thankfully, that's not all
God can say. They didn't know it, but they brought this guilty
woman to the very best place you could ever bring her. They
brought a guilty sinner to the Savior himself. Our Lord acted
like he didn't hear him. He just stooped down and started
writing on the ground with his finger. His body language was
telling them your question doesn't even deserve an answer. I'm not even going to dignify
you with the response. And there he is, stooped down,
writing on the ground. Now, there's a lot of speculation
about what our Lord wrote. And a lot of people think this,
and I tend to agree. He wrote something to do with
the law. And here's why people think that.
What's the first time you know of in scripture God wrote with
his finger? He wrote the Ten Commandments,
didn't he? So our Lord probably is writing something to do with
the law. Could be he wrote, thou shalt
not commit adultery. He wrote it so they could see
it. Thou shalt not commit adultery. I don't know if the Pharisees
paid attention to what he was writing, but I do know this,
they did not like being ignored. They probably thought the Lord
was stumped and he was just trying to buy time. So they pressed
on, verse 7. So, when they continued asking
him, he lifted up himself. He said unto them, He that is
without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And
you just see our Lord lifting up himself. He stooped, and then
he lifted up himself. He lifted up himself as the judge.
He lifted up himself as God. And our Lord knew these men were
guilty. He said, whosoever is not guilty of this exact sin
of adultery, go and throw the first stone. And he knew they
were guilty. Adultery was very common in this
day. Remember another time our Lord
called the Pharisees an adulterous generation, because this was
so common in this day. And then after he raised up himself
as judge, pronounced sentence, he stooped again and wrote with
his finger again, look at verse 8. And again he stooped down
and wrote on the ground. Well, what do you think he wrote?
Nobody knows for sure. But it appears our Lord must
have written something that made these men feel guilty. Could
be he exposed their guilt. Maybe he wrote names and dates.
That's what Pink thinks. He wrote names and dates. of
when these men committed adultery. And they smoked their conscience.
They're guilty of the same sin. And that would fit. Because can
you think of another time the Lord broke with His finger? God
broke with His finger. Remember Daniel chapter 5? Belshazzar's having a big party.
And He said, get those golden vessels from the temple that
we took. And we sat in Jerusalem and we'll drink wine from them.
Remember that? That big party. And then out of thin air, a man's
hand appeared and wrote on the wall. Thou art weighed in the
balances, and thou art found wanting." Could be the Lord wrote
something like that to smoke their guilty conscience. Well,
now they're exposed. She's exposed. Now they're exposed
too. What was their reaction? Verse
9. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience,
went out, went away from the Lord one by one, beginning at
the eldest. He had the most guilt, even unto
the last. And Jesus was left alone, and
the woman standing in the midst, the guilty conscience of the
Pharisees, made them leave Christ. Isn't that something? Self-righteousness
never likes to be in the presence of true righteousness. Self-righteous
people never want to be in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So they left. All the accusers are leaving.
Does the woman take this chance to run? The guilty sinner stayed
right there beside the Savior. And it's a good thing. Because
now she's in the best place she could ever be. If a guilty sinner
ever finds themselves alone with the Lord, the best place they
could ever be. A guilty sinner alone with the
Savior. In verse 10, when Jesus had lifted up himself and saw
none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine
accusers? Have no man condemned thee? And
she said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither
do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Now, our
Lord did not condone her sin, did he? But he didn't condemn
her either. How's that possible? I mean,
can you imagine the joy that this woman felt? She's full of
shame and humiliation. And suddenly she's not condemned.
She's free. He imagined the joy. But how
could the Lord do that and still be holy? How could the Lord not
condemn her sins? She's guilty. How can he not
condemn her sin and remain God? How is that possible? Because
God in his wisdom found the ransom. God provided the way for him
to be just and justifier. And that way is seen in the two
stoops of our Lord. See, before the Lord Jesus Christ
can be glorified, He must stoop, not once, but twice. He must
stoop twice and humble himself twice. Now remember, this woman's
us. And the same question I ask of
this woman is asked of us. We're guilty. We're guilty of
the same sin, because we're guilty of every sin. No matter what
sin they would have brought this woman with to the Lord, no matter
what she's guilty of, we're guilty of it. Because we're guilty of
every sin. Now, what's to be done with us? And you might go
home and forget about what happened to this woman. What's to be done
with you? That's a good question. If God
shows mercy and says, let them go, rightfully so, someone could
say, wait a minute, what about your justice? What about your
holiness? You can't violate your justice.
Or if God in strict justice says, send them to hell, they're guilty.
All right, but what about your mercy? What about grace to sinners? Is there a way? Grace and mercy
can meet together, or mercy and justice can meet together. Can
grace and righteousness ever meet in harmony? Not by Adam's
race they can't. Just like these Pharisees couldn't
figure a way out of their tribe, you and me can't either. Because
by Adam's race, grace and righteousness can never meet. Mercy and justice
can never be friends. Because we're guilty. And there's
no way for us to clear ourselves all along. can say to you and
me is die, guilty, put them to death. But that's not all God
can say. God in his wisdom has found a
way to honor both his justice and his love. God provided the
way to honor both his grace and his righteousness. God can honor
both his mercy and his holy hatred of sin. in this person, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who stooped to forgive. Now the first stoop
of our Lord. He stooped down beside this guilty
woman. Now she's full of fear. I'm sure
at that point she still was confident she's going to be put to death.
But it had to feel good. Don't you imagine? She wasn't
alone. Somebody's down there with her.
And that first stoop is a picture of when God's Son stooped to
become a man. So He could be the representative
of sinful men. He stooped so He could be the
substitute of sinful men. Now you think about this stoop.
The Lord of Glory took on Him flesh. He took on Him a body
of flesh and bones and blood and became a man. with a human nature, just like
you and me, yet without sin. The Word was made flesh. The eternal Word was made flesh. The One who created heaven and
earth was made flesh and dwelt among us with all the limitations
of weak flesh that you and I have. Our Lord grew hungry and thirsty
and tired. He had emotions, just like we
have. Now, they weren't affected by sin, but he had emotions.
He couldn't work a miracle to help his flesh. When he was hungry,
he couldn't create food. When he was thirsty, he couldn't
create water. The one who created the water and the oceans had
to ask a sinful Samaritan woman for a drink, because he could
not do a miracle to help his own flesh. Because you can't. He had to be your representative.
He took upon himself all the limitations of his people. And
our Lord didn't just stoop to become a man. I mean, that's
low enough. That's a further stoop. That
distance is greater than we'll ever know. But our Lord went
so far as to stoop to be a homeless man. That's why verse 20 went
to the Mount of Olives. He's homeless. The one who created
the world did not have a home while he was on this earth as
a man. He had no place to lay his head. to come where we are. He stooped
to be what we are. Oh, that's good news. Now we're
not so alone. One stooped to be down there
with us. Then our Lord stooped a second
time. The second time our Lord stooped, He stooped to show His
eternal love for guilty sinners. He stooped to show His power
to save. Normally, when we stoop, it's
to show weakness. When our Lord stooped, he stooped to show his
power to save, he got down there right with that guilty woman.
Like he was saying, whoever is among you, without sin, let him
cast the first stone. And he got right down there with
her. Like he was saying, let all the condemnation that she
deserves fall on me. You can throw the first stone
if you want to, but you're going to have to throw it at me. Let all the condemnation
that she deserves And my friend, that's how God saves sinners.
The Lord Jesus Christ stooped to become a man, just like we
are, a real man without sin. And He stooped for this purpose,
to keep the law, to produce a righteousness that He would freely impute to
His elect. You remember the first time God
wrote with His finger? He wrote the Ten Commandments on those
tables of stones. Moses carried those stones that
God wrote upon with his finger, carried them down to Israel.
How did he find Israel? Dancing around, making a fool
of themselves, worshipping a golden calf, worshipping an idol. And
Moses, in anger, threw those stones down and broke them, smashed
them to smithereens. A little while, God called Moses
back up the mountain. Second time, God wrote with his
finger what he wrote. The same law. New tables of stone. With his finger, he wrote the
law. Those tables weren't left to Moses' hand for safekeeping,
were they? He told Moses, you take them, you put them in the
ark. Cover them with the mercy seat. They're not safe in your
hands. Put the law in the Lord Jesus
Christ. We'll look at this next week
in, Lord willing, our Sunday school class. That ark's Christ. That mercy seat's Christ. Put
the law in Christ. He's going to keep it for his
people. It won't be lost. It won't be broken. Put it in
him. And what happened in the mercy
seat once a year? They sprinkled blood on it. He'll keep the law,
and then he'll cover the broken law with the blood of his sacrifice. He kept the law perfectly. The
Lord Jesus Christ was the only perfect man to ever live. There's
never been another one. He had no sin. He wasn't even
acquainted with sin. So he had no reason to die, did
he? The only reason anybody dies is sin. He had no reason to die.
But he stooped a second time. He stooped willingly to be made
sin for his people. He stooped to be made willing,
to be made guilty of the sin of his people so he could become
the sacrifice for sin. And at that time, when he stooped
to be made sin, his flesh was tortured and put to death by
man And his soul was tortured and punished by his father. And
it had to be that way. There's no other way. God spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. Because God's
holy law could never let Christ go. Never. Because he was made
to be sin. He was made to be guilty of the
sin of his people. Now how far down is that stew?
We can't comprehend it. He stooped to be made the sin
that we are. He stooped to suffer everything
the sin of his people deserves. If our Lord did write something
like thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting, now
that applied to him because he was made guilty of the sin of
his people. Brother, that's a stoop. What
a stoop. But now listen, he didn't stay
stooped. He lifted up himself. See that
in verse 10? He lifted up himself. When our
Lord Jesus Christ died, he died. He was dead, but he didn't stay
dead. He lifted up himself. He raised
himself from the grave so that now, when Christ forgives the
sin of his people, he forgives sin on resurrection ground. This woman had no idea of this,
but when our Lord raised up himself, he forgave her. on resurrection
ground. Now remember, we're her. And
if God's going to forgive our sins, He's going to forgive our
sin on resurrection ground. The Lord didn't condemn her.
He doesn't condemn the rest of His elect. Because there's no
sin to condemn. There's no sin to condemn. There's no sin to condemn if
Christ died and shed His blood and rose again. Then there's
no sin. There is no sin to condemn because
Christ has already died and justice is already satisfied. Justice
will never demand two deaths for one sin. Never. And since
Christ was made to be sin, and since Christ died on my place,
justice will never demand that I die because justice is satisfied
with the death of my substitute. The Lord did not condemn this
woman because shortly He's going to stand condemned for her. He
had to condemn her, unless he's going to stand condemned for
her. In the mind and purpose of God, that transaction was
already done. God already looked at this sinful
woman as justified in the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't see her
in herself. He saw her in his son, in her representative. And there is no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. You see, the Lord is doing a
whole lot more than just pardoning her sin. He's saying she's not
guilty. So there's no sin to condemn. And that's salvation. See, the
Lord never overlooks sin. There's no sin to overlook. That's
the point. The law can never touch anyone
in Christ. If Christ died for you, the law
can never touch you. But more than that, the death
of Christ satisfied every demand of God's holy justice. So it's
not just that the law can't touch you. You know, we say that, we
make it sound like the law wants to get you and can't. That's
not so. If Christ died for you, the law
has no interest in you. The law has no interest in touching
you. Because there's no sin to condemn. If Christ died for your
sin, brother, He would put it away. And it's gone! There's
no sin to condemn. And the Lord does the same thing
for every one of His elect that He did for this woman. He doesn't
overlook our sin. He takes that sin away. So there's
no sin to overlook and no sin to condemn. That's how God can
act in grace and truth and save His people. It's through the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, do you see that? Does that
give you the excuse to sin? Does that make you want to sin?
Or does that make you want to run to Christ? I'm afraid if it makes you want
to sin, there's one reason for that. You've not been born again.
But if God's given you life, this makes you run to Christ. to find in Him forgiveness of
sins. The only way you'll ever love
this is if you're born again. Now, people hate that doctrine.
They hate this truth. But if they do, it's because
they haven't been born again. If God has caused in you a new
man to be born, you love this forgiveness of sins in the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not a guilty conscience
that makes us run to Christ. hound and try to make people
feel guilty. We preach Christ. It's easy to
make a sinner feel guilty. What happened when the Lord revealed
the guilt and made the guilty conscience accuse those Pharisees
and scribes? They left the Lord. They weren't
born again. The new man who God creates in
the new birth, that man will run to Christ. And the only reason
the Lord would tell this woman, go and sin no more. Does that
sound odd to you? You know why he said go and sin
no more? She's born again. The Lord didn't leave her under
the law. She had a friend, that was very good. He didn't leave
her under the law. He put her under his love. That
new man is a son or daughter. And she's constrained by love.
Love for the Savior. You reckon she ever forgot this?
Not on your life. She never forgot. And now there's
no fear. There's love. And that new man
is born of God. He told her, go sin no more.
That new man, that new woman born of God, never sins. Because
it can't. It's born with the nature of
God Himself. And look in Jeremiah chapter
31. There's a third time I can think of God writing with His
finger. He wrote the law. He wrote there
on that wall, Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting.
He wrote the law. He wrote judgment. But there's
another time He wrote with His finger. It was on the hearts
of His people. Look at Jeremiah 31, verse 31.
Behold, the day has come, saith the Lord, I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, not
according to the covenant I made with their fathers in the day
that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land
of Egypt, which my covenant they break, although I was the husband
of them, saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant
I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, saith
the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts. And I'll
write it in their hearts. And I'll be their God, and they
shall be my people. Now what's he talking about,
I'll write my law on their hearts? Is he going to write the law
on your stony heart like he wrote the law on those tables of stone
put in Moses' hand? No, sir. He's talking about the
new birth. He's talking about writing his
law in a heart and flesh. A heart that loves the law. A
heart that loves God. That's the new birth. So, verse
34, they shall no more teach every man his neighbor, and every
man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they'll all know
me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the
Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember
their sin no more. I'll remember their sin no more.
Because there is no sin. Earl's gone. There's no sin to
condemn. Because of the two stoops of
the Lord. Now this is what I would like all of us, me and you, to
think about this afternoon. Here's a question. Are you as
guilty as this adulterous woman? Now this is ugly. I mean an ugly
sin. Are you as guilty? If you are,
you should know this, you have no hope other than the Lord Jesus
Christ, so come to him. He's stooped to save. Aren't
you thankful? That'd make us run to Christ.
Let's bow in prayer.