Alright, let's take our Bibles
and turn to John 8. Let me read for you the first
11 verses. Jesus went unto the Mount of
Olives, and early in the morning He came again into the temple. And all the people came unto
Him, and He sat down and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees
brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. And when they had
set her in the midst, they say 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." Now I want you to
go back Maybe this afternoon when you get some time and read
about that, there's a two-fold law back there. One had to do
with a young woman who was betrothed to a man, but who was not married
yet. For her to commit adultery was
to be guilty of stoning. For a married woman to commit
adultery, she was to be strangled. There's a difference in the two
punishments, but you're going to read about that. Moses in the law commanded us
that such should be stoned. But what sayest thou?" 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. So when they continued asking
Him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, He that is without
sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again
he stooped down and wrote on the ground. And they which heard
it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one
by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last. And Jesus
was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus
had lifted up Himself and saw none but the woman, He said unto
her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned
thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus
said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee. Go, and sin no more. Now the feast was over. We looked
at that back in John chapter 7, at all the events and things
that surrounded that feast. The feast was over. The Lord
had came up to the feast in Jerusalem where they warned that they would
kill Him if He came, and openly taught in the temple and defied
their authority to prevent Him from coming and doing what God
sent Him to do. And there is a great lesson in
that for us. We need not fear to do what God
has sent us to do, no matter what the circumstance. It doesn't
make any difference about the circumstance. He'll work around
the circumstance if we do what He commanded us to do. But now
the feast was over, and the Lord retired to the Mount of Olives.
And it doesn't say... I went back and looked in the
other accounts, and I can't find anything in there what he did. I don't know if he went home
with one of his disciples and spent the evening, or if he retired
to be alone at the Mount of Olives. Maybe he needed that solitude,
wanted that solitude, and went out there to pray, or just went
out there to get away from the people and spent the night alone.
I don't know what his reason for going, but that's where he
went. And then the next morning, he again goes to the temple And
the people find him there, and they come to him, and he sat
down with them and taught them from the Word of God. Now, try
to get a picture in your mind of this temple. This is the main
building. It was rebuilt, but it was the
building. This is the Temple of Solomon,
the temple they call beautiful. And this was the center of all
their worship. They went to Jerusalem on so
many occasions during the year. And one of the highlights of
their going was to go up to this temple. Massive structure. And it had courtyards in it.
I believe this is where he was at, out in the courtyards, where
a multitude could gather around him. And he sat down out there
and opened up the scrolls and began to teach the people. Here's
this multitude, and here's the Master. Quietly opening His book,
just like I've got open before me, He sat there and He taught
the people. All of a sudden, there's an uproar. Here comes the council. When
it talks about the Jews, when it just says, the Jews came,
or when it says, and especially when they're talking about something
that's going on in Jerusalem, They're talking about the Sanhedrin. They're talking about this high
council of the Jews who were set there to watch for the Messiah,
who were noted men among them, recognized, highly esteemed.
This council who looked for the Messiah, the highest trained,
the most wise, the most reverend among the people. And here they
come and they're dragging with her a woman. I know by the language that they
used that this woman, she was taken in the very act of adultery. I can't imagine her hair all
in place and fully clothed and all the things that should have
been done before they brought her into such a place to be judged,
especially by the master. But I see one that they just
took and drugged down, bruised, Probably dirty where they've
dragged her in here against her will and just slung her out in
the middle. Now he was teaching. There was
a service going on just like we have here this morning. He
was teaching. Things were quiet. And you imagine about 20 or 30
men busting through that door, just kick the door down and come
in. The multitude feared these men.
These men put you to death in a heartbeat. They feared. And
they just kind of made a hole right down the middle. That's
a term we used to use in the Navy. When one of these officers
wanted to come through, he'd say, make a hole. And you made
a hole. You let him come in. And here
they come right down the middle. And I want you to try to get
this picture in your mind. Here's these Pharisees especially. I know all the Pharisees did
it. The Lord said, you make broad
your phylacteries. They had these big special robes
Everybody knew how religious they was and how holy they was.
And they wore these robes that distinguished them from all other
men. And especially the Pharisees
made broad their phylacteries. So you can imagine what a member
of the Sanhedrin would have had. He had a special dress too that
set him apart. And so here comes these men dressed
to the hilt. These big old robes and Broad-flected
reason. They're dragging this young woman
and they just come right in where the master is and just kind of
sling her out in the middle. And just start in. They just
start in with their accusations. Now they, all these years, they
have taken care of these judgments. They didn't come here. They didn't ask one individual
to do it. This council saw to it. The high priest saw to it.
All of a sudden, on this day, they bring her in and they're
going to put him on the spot. Because they weren't interested
in the crime. They weren't interested in the
law that they had offended. They weren't interested in the
honor of God. They were there to tempt Him.
See that there in verse 6? They were there to tempt Him
that they might have to accuse Him. That's what this was all
about. And they throw down this woman.
And try to get this picture in your mind. She's guilty and she
knows it. And she knows the law. She knows
what that law says. And they know what this law says.
And they tell him what it says and tell all the people. This
law says she needs to be stoned. What do you say? What do you
say? Now I want you to see four or
five things here. I want you to see, number one, that the
woman had nothing to say. She had nothing to say. She was
guilty. The law had something to say.
It said stone her. And these people who brought
her had something to say. They said stone her. But they brought her, gave her
to Christ, and they said, now what do you say? What do you
say? Now I think these men had, I
think they had a little bit of a dilemma here. I think they had kind of a two-fold
thing in mind. They either wanted to expose
his total disregard for the law. If he did that, he was out with
the people. If he totally disregards this
law, has nothing to say about this law, does something contrary
to this law, they know 100% for sure he cannot be the Messiah.
The Messiah doesn't come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. And
then they had another object in mind. They were under Roman
rule, and they cannot execute capital punishment. Now if he
keeps the law, and stones this woman, then the Romans are going
to come and take him away. Either way, they're rid of him. Either way, they're rid of him.
And if he tries to compromise it, then they have something
to accuse him of. So anyway, there's no way out of this. This
is a dilemma. And the eyes of every person
in that temple were facing on him to see what he was going
to do. And while the scribes and Pharisees, they make their
accusations before the Lord, having interrupted His teaching,
interrupted the Word of God. And they come in, and they cause
this big commotion, and they throw this woman down, and they
just go right into this spiel, accusing Him. Here's what the
law says. Here's what Moses says. Here's what we found. We took
this woman in adultery. We took her in the very act.
The Lord just totally ignores them. And he stoops down. Do you see
how that's written there? It says, "...but Jesus stooped
down with His finger and wrote on the ground as though He didn't
hear." You know somebody calls you and
you don't want to hear from them. It's the phone company or somebody
trying to sell you something that you don't want to buy. And
they call you and you sit there on the phone and you've got your
pencil and you're just doodling. You just sit there and doodle.
Drawing pictures and cartoons and little stars and you just
sit there because you're not really paying any attention to
what they say because you know you don't want to buy it to start
with. That's what the Lord was doing. He just stood on the ground. Now this is in italics, so you
can lift that out. It has nothing to do with the
original. The original translation just says He wrote on the bank.
The translators added this as though he heard them not. This
is what they thought he was doing, doodling on the ground, just
ignoring them. They came in in all authority,
all their authority. They just assumed that everybody
in there was going to bow to that authority. And they come
in there with those robes and looking down their nose and throw
this woman out in the midst and start making their accusations
and he just ignored them. and started writing on the ground
just because they ignored him and what he was doing. And I see a lesson there. You
know, men come and their foolish ideas of religion and start making
accusations. I tell you, the number one thing
to do, the best thing you can do is ignore them. That's the
best thing you can do. Just ignore them. Just don't
get involved in the argument. Satan uses men. Men aren't smart
enough by themselves to do these things, but Satan is sly and
deceitful and he knows how to use men. And he'll tie you up
in knots. And the best thing for us to
do is just do what the woman did. Just shut up. Let him defend
you. But the Lord just stooped down
and ignored them. These scribes and Pharisees,
they made their accusations and he bent down as though he didn't
hear them. And I get the idea that this
thing had all the dignity of a Wednesday night Baptist business
meeting. That's what I see going on here.
Just making their accusations. They already knew what they was
going to do before they got there. That's how we used to do in the
churches we were in. There was a group of people pretty
much running that church. And they were deacons and elders
and influential men. And whatever they decided to
do was already decided. They just had the business meeting
to put it on the books. No matter what you had to say,
it didn't make any difference. It was already settled before.
That's this. This had all the dignity of that
old Wednesday night Baptist business meeting. They had their pawn
and they were hurling at her these accusations and demanding
that something be done about it. And I say she was a pawn
not because she was innocent, but because this was not about
her crimes. It was about using her to get
to him. And on the courtyard on either
side was this multitude standing in their religious, these Sanhedrin
councils standing there in all their gowns and broad phylacteries,
and on either side the multitude stood in silence waiting to see
what he was going to say. And this woman lay quivering
in the midst, guilty in her sins. His counsel persisted. He ignored
them. But it said they continued with
their accusations. They didn't stop there. That
wasn't enough. They kept right on. Kept on.
Kept on. So finally he stands up and he
tells them this. He doesn't argue over the issue
of the law. He doesn't say, now the law don't
mean that. He didn't say that. Because the law did say that
and the law did mean that. Everything they said was true
except for why they said it. There's another lesson. There's
another lesson. It's not always what is said,
but why. But why? Here they were. Here's the dilemma.
This woman was caught in the very act of adultery. They had
more than a sufficient number of witnesses. Her guilt was beyond
question. The law of Moses was very clear
on this crime. It was a serious crime, and it
carried a serious penalty. There was no gray area. There was no loopholes. There
was a guilty sinner standing before an unalterable law and
unbending justice. He said, the soul that sinneth,
it shall surely die. And the Lord turns to him. stops
his riding on the ground and he stands up and he addresses
his council and he says, okay, anybody here without sin, pick
up the stone, cast the first stone. Now, I read, I don't know how
many writers on this subject. I don't know the Hebrew language
and the Greek language well enough to go into it. I just have to
take the word of my lexicon and stuff as to what's going on.
But by the language that this is written in, they say that
what this statement actually says is, let him that's not guilty
of this same sin cast the first stone. And whether it was You see, adultery
and idolatry and all sins, there is the actual physical crime. But our Lord said to look on
a woman in lust after her is to commit adultery already in
your heart. So whether the Spirit of God
convicted them in their heart over lustful thoughts or actual
crimes, we're not told. But it said, each one being convicted
in his conscience, beginning with the eldest, all the way
down to the youngest, one at a time, left the building. Turn
around and went out. Nobody there wanted to pick up
a stone. Everybody there was guilty. They went out the door. And the Lord After he said what
he said, he bent back down and started writing on the ground.
Writing on the ground. It's been of interest to me for
many years as to what he wrote. Wouldn't you like to know? I'd
like to know how they knew where to go get this woman in the act
of adultery. That's another something I'd
like to know. And the Lord knew. And I believe that's why he said
what he said. And each woman turned and went
out the door. But I'd love to know what he
wrote on that ground that day. And maybe someday we'll know,
by the grace of God. But over in Jeremiah 17.12, I'm
going to give this to you. In Jeremiah 17.12, this prophet
says, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he said, a glorious
high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.
High, holy, righteous beyond your imagination. A glorious
high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary,
O Lord, verse 13, the hope of Israel. All that forsake Thee
shall be ashamed, and they that depart from Me, now listen, shall
be written in the earth. Because they have forsaken the
Lord, the fountain of living waters. Now let me tell you something
that I do know about these Pharisees. They knew this book inside out.
They knew this Scripture right here, and they knew what it pertained
to. And whether he's talking here about a physical writing
on the ground, I don't know. But somehow in my mind, I see
him writing these verses, standing, telling them what he told them,
and then bending back down And starting with the eldest, writing
his name. And then the next one, and writing
his name. And one by one, they left the
building. Left the building. These men
were all acquainted with these things, and they all left. Now, this is what this whole
thing was about from the beginning. She's left there with Him alone. Nobody else is there. Everybody
else left the building. It's just Him and this sinner
and this congregation looking on. Just Him and the sinner. God
arranges His providence to bring His elect to Christ. This woman
wasn't seeking Christ. She wasn't reading her Bible.
She was taking an act of adultery. She wasn't at home praying that
she might find God. She was committing adultery.
She was walking, as Paul said, after the course of this world,
after the prince of the power of the air. That's what she was
doing. She was going her way just like Paul was. Paul wasn't
on his way to church. He was on his way to get paper
so he could go kill some more Christians. None of these people
were seeking the Lord in that passion. You're not going to
seek the Lord until He seeks you. The Lord already told them. He said, no man can come unto
Me except My Father draw him. This woman is being drawn. It
doesn't appear to be so to the congregation and it doesn't appear
to be so by His enemies that brought her there. That wasn't
their intention. It wasn't her intention. It wasn't
the congregation's intention, but it was His. And in His providence,
He brings this sinner to Him. And one by one, He causes her
accusers to leave. And she's left alone in the presence
of the Savior. Just a sinner and a Savior. And here they are. You know,
I see this all through the Bible. There was a man in the Old Testament
before Israel really came to be much of anything. His name
was Joseph. And his father gave him a coat.
There are songs about it, the coat of many colors. And his
father's affection for him caused the other children to be jealous.
And they just couldn't stand that little brat. They didn't
want him around. He was just a nuisance. He just a reminder
to them that their father preferred him over them and they didn't
want him around, so one day they got tired of it and took him
down and sold him into slavery. And to make a long story short,
before this thing's over, he becomes the salvation to that
family. And he brings those brothers
in and reconciles them to himself, and here's what he told them
at the end of the whole thing. At the end of the day, all this
going to prison and all these things that took place, he said,
you meant it for evil. That's what you meant it for.
That's what she meant, Pope. You meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. He takes our evil doings, even
our evil doings and rebellions, and the rebellions of His enemies,
and those who don't know anything whatsoever about God, and He
overrules providence and uses these things and brings those
that He has determined to save, He brings them to Christ. That's
how you got there. He brought you there. If He hadn't
brought you there, you wouldn't have come. You wouldn't be there.
You meant for evil, but God meant for good. Now here at His feet
was a young woman. She wasn't seeking the Lord.
She wasn't trying in any way to worship God or live a moral
life. And God in His providence brings
her to see herself. for what she really is. That's
the next thing He does. He's going to make us acquainted
with who we are. And I'll tell you how He's going
to do it. He's going to bring you in such a way as to catch
you in the very act. You don't know anything at all
about sin until He reveals in you your unbelief. In the very
act. Right in the middle of it. Right
in the midst of your rebellion and your hatred and your enmity,
He'll open them eyes. He'll open them eyes. Just like
Judas was over there cussing, I don't know the man. And the
Lord turned and looked at him. Huh? Right in the act. Oh, don't
you know he wilted? Have you ever been looked at? Has
the Lord ever looked at you? Huh? Right in the middle of your
rebellion. This woman standing there, she
couldn't even look up. Tears running, dirty face, bruised,
been dragged in by this lynch mob and left there before the
Lord fully expecting, fully expecting to be put to death. All hope
gone. And then the Master stands and
He says, Woman, where are those thine accusers?
Doth any man accuse thee? And she looked around. They were
all gone. She said, no, Lord. He said,
I don't either. Now go your way. Sin no more.
See, this is what the Lord does. He causes you to see what you
are. Not in word. Words mean very little to us. I'll tell you when you learn
things. You learn spiritual things Experience. By experience. I'm not talking
about dreams and visions now. I'm talking about a thirsty man
learns to drink because he gets thirsty. He knows the value of
drink when you get thirsty. You know the value of food when
you get hungry. You learn those things. This
is how you learn grace. When you're guilty. And He'll
cause you to experience that guilt. And when He does, when
He does, He'll cause your accusers, one by one, Now, he didn't do
this in violation of the law. He fulfilled that law. That's
what he was doing as a man. Fulfilling that law. Manifesting
God's righteousness in his own obedience. And he didn't overlook
her sins because he was going to bear her sins in his own body
on the tree. He took part for her before the
world was. God gave her to him. That doesn't
keep her from being a harlot though, does it? Huh? But I'll tell you this, it caused
him to reconcile her and give her righteousness. She left there
as righteous as God. That's right. Because that's
how righteous you have to be to find favor with God. His righteousness. His righteousness. May the Lord
give us some understanding of what took place here on this
day.