I am a poor wayfaring pilgrim while traveling through this
world below. There is no sickness, no toll,
no danger in that bright which I go. I know dark clouds
will gather or be I know my pathway is rough and
steep Yet golden fields lie out before me Where weary eyes no more shall we I'm going there to see my Savior
Who shed for me His precious blood I'm just a going over Jordan. I'm just a going over home. I'll soon be free from every
trial. This form shall rest. Beneath the sun I'll leave this
world With all its trials And enter in My home with God I want
to shout redemption story when I get home to that good land. I want to see my hope of glory
when I get home to that promised land. I'm going there to see my Savior
who shen for me is precious blood. I'm just going over Jordan. I'm just Let's turn again to John the
eighth chapter Let me give you a little background
so you can kind of get a picture of what's going on here You remember
that our Lord was up to Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles and
the Pharisees had laid a plot hoping to catch him. They would
have taken him by force and stoned him, but they were afraid that
they might themselves be overcome by the mobs. And in the last
day of the feast, as everybody was leaving, going home, they'd
come up with empty hearts to their empty religion, and they
went away empty. And our Lord, as he watched the
crowds departing from Jerusalem, in that last day, the great day
of the feast, he stood up and cried, saying, If any man thirst,
let him come unto me and drink, all that we may come to him today
and drink. He says, he that believeth on
me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water. Now, when he said this, some
of the people said, this is him. That's the Christ of God. And
they believed. And some of the people, they
said, why, can Christ come out of Galilee? And there was a great
division. And then the Pharisees sent some
of their own fellows out to try to catch him in a snare. They
thought, well, we can't take him by force and stone him, but
we could at least catch him in some kind of a trap. We can kind
of bait the hook and see if he won't fall for it, and maybe
we can get him to, by his speech, speak contrary to the law and
the prophets. And those men came back, and
they said there'd never been any man who spoke like this man.
And they were confounded themselves by his speech. And then our Lord
went apart from the rest of the men for a while unto the Mount
of Olives, and the Pharisees finally hatched a scheme. These
self-righteous scribes and Pharisees all during the feast had been
trying to find some grounds by which they might discredit Him,
by which they might accuse Him of some false doctrine or some
horrible offense. And now they had hatched a scheme
they thought would surely do the job. They laid a trap for
an unsuspecting woman. I don't know whether the woman
was a harlot going up to Jerusalem, selling her wares at the Feast
of Tabernacles or not. More than likely, she was. She
didn't know what these Pharisees were up to. And these fellas
had decided they'd take this lady, this woman, and they tricked
her into committing an act of adultery. Now it appears from
their own speech that their friends had gotten together and while
one fellow was involved in the act of adultery with this woman,
there would be at least two of them, for it required two witnesses
to condemn, there would be at least two of them standing by
the door watching to see what would happen. You never saw such
trickery and deceit as you see among religious folks when they're
determined to get their way. I could tell you some stories.
Well, to make a long story short, they caught her in their very
act of adultery. Now, this was something that
took place on the last night of their celebrated feast of
tabernacles. Now, the day after the feast, our Lord came down
to the temple early in the morning, as was his custom, and as he
sat down in the temple and began to preach, look in verse 3 of
chapter 8. While he was preaching, the Pharisees
and the scribes broke in, And they sat this woman down right
in the middle of the crowd. They just came storming in and
sat her down. And this is what they said. They
said in verse 4, I'm sorry. They say unto him, Master, this
woman was taken in adultery. Now, this isn't suspicion. She
was taken in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded
us that such should be stoned. What do you say? They thought
they had gotten him this time. This is how they reasoned. They
thought there's no way possible, there's no way possible for this
man to forgive this woman without breaking the law. And so they
presumed that if the Lord Jesus Christ forgave this woman, they
could accuse him of dishonoring the law. If, on the other hand,
he condemned this woman and demanded that she be stoned, then they
would say, well, he's a pretender. He's not merciful. He has no
more mercy than anyone else. He's just been talking about
being merciful and compassionate. They thought that the Lord would
have to relinquish justice or else that he would be required
to refuse mercy. And so with a devilish insight,
these self-righteous Pharisees, these men had hit upon the problem
of all problems with respect to the relationship of fallen
sinful man with a holy and righteous God. The problem was this. How
could God show love and mercy and grace to a sinner and still
be God, just, righteous, and true? The Pharisees couldn't
figure that out. They couldn't understand how
God could forgive and yet be just, how God could be merciful
and yet be righteous, how God could both forgive the sinner
and uphold his holy law. They couldn't understand that.
And so they thought, we've got him this time, fellas. We're
going to put this man to shame. We're going to show him for what
he really is. Now, from a human point of view, from the mind
of these self-righteous religionists, The problem seemed absolutely
inescapable, but that which to men is impossible is possible
with God. Our Lord's disciples were in
the same predicament on one occasion. You remember the rich young ruler
was present and after our Lord had examined him and given him
the commandment to go and sell all that he had, the man went
away sorrowful. And the disciples looked and they said, well, if
this man, this good, righteous man can't be saved, who then
can be saved? They didn't yet understand. They
didn't yet understand. It was not his goodness that
God would accept, but rather the goodness of a substitute,
the goodness of a representative, even the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
In this story, this woman symbolically represents for us every true
believer. She was guilty. She was guilty,
guilty, guilty. She had no excuse. There was
nothing she could plead. She could not argue in any way
to diminish her guilt before the law of God. But when she
came and stood in the presence of Christ the Lord, this guilty
woman walked away uncondemned, perfectly forgiven, completely
absorbed. In this passage of Scripture,
there's a vivid picture of our Lord's compassion. his mercy
and his grace towards sinners. He said, I came not to call the
righteous but sinners to repentance. And that's what he did. The self-righteous
Pharisees here walked away confounded. This poor guilty sinner was accepted,
pardoned, and justified. There are five things in the
passage that I want us to say this morning. I trust that God
will impress them upon our hearts. The first thing that must be
learned from the actions of these men, the attitudes that they
reflected, these scribes and Pharisees show us the terrible
evil of self-righteous religion. The terrible evil of self-righteous
religion. Turn back to the book of Matthew,
if you will. Matthew chapter 6. The real evil in this passage. About a year or so ago I was
driving on a long trip, and I heard a preacher on a tape preaching
from this passage of scripture. And I thought, well, I thought,
that fellow, he ought to be able to handle this pretty well. He
had a good reputation. And he began his message by saying,
now this story of the woman taking an adultery, was not intended
by our Lord to excuse adultery. And he worked on that real good.
Well, I'm glad to hear that. I would have been suspicious
if he hadn't told me that our Lord was not here excusing the
sin of adultery. And then he got up and he said,
he said, now this passage does not mean that we're not to discipline
our churches. And so he preached for a little
while on church discipline. That's good, I suppose. We need
to take some care to have proper discipline in our family. And
then he came along and he said, now there's a real problem here. There's a real problem here.
Our Lord in this passage did not forgive this woman either.
Well, that's interesting. He said, neither do I condemn
thee, go and sin no more. What he said was this. He said
the Lord just simply declares this a mistrial. He said there
wasn't enough evidence one way or the other to convict her or
to set her free. And so he declared it to be a
mistrial. And that's how he handled the passage. Because he's scared
to death that by proclaiming the free pardon of sin, somehow
men are going to misconstrue things. Well, these Pharisees
here had the kind of opinion this man did. They were very
religious men, very moral men, very outwardly straight-laced
men. They were very self-righteous
men. And that's the real evil of the
passage. The woman was an adulteress. More than likely, she was a harlot.
More than likely. But I want to tell you something.
I would far rather, I would far rather stand before the Lord
Jesus Christ as a harlot who sold her wares at Feast of Tabernacles,
then stand before him as a self-righteous religionist without Christ. Do
you understand me? The greatest, most terrible evil
in this world is self-righteous religion. There's not anything
worse. And my friends, you and I, have
a natural inborn tendency toward it. And we must be careful. We
must be careful. Without question, self-righteousness
is the most horrible of all crimes. Ever since man fell in the garden
and became unrighteous, he's been proclaiming, I'm not as
bad as other folks are. I'm not really that bad. He's
been proclaiming his own righteousness. Self-righteousness is so difficult
for us to deal with because it's so easily hidden. It's so easily
glossed over. It flourishes and grows among
folks like us. Our Lord gave us warning concerning
it repeatedly, repeatedly. As a matter of fact, if you'll
trace out the writings that are recorded in the four Gospels
concerning the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ, Merle, the
one thing he dealt with most often was this thing of self-righteousness. The one sin he most constantly
exposed was self-righteousness. That is, confidence in our own
righteousness before God Almighty. Now, it takes a lot of thorns.
It takes a lot of thorns. Our Lord says in Matthew 6, verse
1, Take heed, take heed, that you do not your alms before men,
to be seen of them otherwise ye have no reward of your Father
which is in heaven. Therefore, when thou doest thine
alms, do not sound the trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites
do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory
of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. But when thou doest alms, let
not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine
alms may be in secret. and thy father, which seeth in
secret himself, shall reward thee openly. Our Lord's talking
about giving. Specifically, he's talking about
helping the poor. And he's saying when you do something
for somebody, don't let the world know about it. Don't stand up
and tell everybody what you're doing. I see all kinds of things. I've been around a little while.
When I was in college, I used to see these fellas, they'd have
a certain man come take an offering because he was good at getting
folks to give. And he'd stand up and wave a
$50 bill. Now, I want you to do what I
do. And he'd wave it out and put
it in the offering platter. He'd have folks to, by some means
or another, show what they're doing. And they'd make a big
show of these things. They'd say, look here what we're
doing for God. Our Lord said, you've got what you were seeking.
You've got what you were seeking. Boy, he sure does give. He's a real tither. Look here
what he's done and how the Lord blessed him. You've got it. You've got what you were seeking.
God says it's an abomination. God says it's an abomination.
I'm going to stress this, I hope till I die, or till we learn
it, I should say till I learn it. My friends, anything given
or done for God to be seen of men, or given or done by any
constraint other than the constraint of love with a delightful, joyful
heart, God will not receive. He'll not have it. He'll not
have it. God Almighty will not receive that which is done from
unwilling servants. He will not have that which is
given from unwilling servants. His people serve Him with a willing
heart. Our Lord says here, you be careful
about this thing of giving your arms. Look in chapter 6 again
in Matthew verse 5. He said, When you pray, thou
shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray, standing
in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that
they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. But thou, when thou prayest,
enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray
to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth thee
in secret shall reward thee openly. And when you pray, don't use
vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they like to think that
they shall be heard for their much speaking. Now, I wouldn't
discourage prayer. I wouldn't discourage any aspect
of public or private worship, but please listen to me. Outward religion, outward religion
that's seen of men, honored of men, applauded by men, God Almighty
has no regard for it. He has no regard for it. These Pharisees used to pray.
I have folks ask me sometimes, why don't you pray when you're
in public restrooms? I say, why do you pray? Why do you pray? Well, I think it's a good testimony
so that men will see that I love God. That's the reason our Lord
said don't do it. That's the reason he said don't do it. He
said, don't you pray so as to be seen of men. Those Pharisees
would stand in the street corners with their long robes and they'd
fold their hands just right and they'd say their long prayers
and they had certain phrases that they constantly repeated.
And folks would pass by and they'd say, my, my, what dedicated folks
those people are. How they must love God. They're
devoted to their religion. I recall hearing a fellow, I
couldn't believe it, a man talks about knowing something about
the gospel of God's grace Talk about Anwar Sadat, that heathen
who ruled Egypt for so long. He said why he prayed so often
he had a callus on his forehead. Well, so what? That's not anything
to be too proud of. It doesn't matter that a man
does something outwardly. God doesn't look on those things.
God looks upon a man's heart. I'm afraid that most of what
we do in outward religion is self-righteousness. We pray in
public. I wish one time, I wish one time
I could lead the congregation in prayer. I'm guilty, I'm guilty,
I am. When I led this congregation
in prayer just a few minutes ago, things going through my
mind concerning what I was saying in the ears of men. I wish one
time I could pray and lead the congregation of God in worship
and prayer without any consideration of what men are thinking about
my speaking to God. Most of our religious works are
self-righteousness. They're done to honor men, to
honor ourselves rather in the sight of men. They're done to
gain the approval of men. They're done to get men to see
how good we are. We do what we do because we're
scared to death that somebody's not going to approve of the way
that we behave. People are forever setting up
rules and regulations. Do this and don't do that. Do
the other and be sure you don't do this. wear this and don't
wear that, and we dress in certain ways and go certain places and
speak certain words so that men will be impressed with our religiosity. God Almighty says it stinks.
It stinks. Abomination to Him. Most of what we call assurance
is really nothing but self-righteousness. We look to see how good we are.
We look to see how well we are measuring up to a standing that
we have established for ourselves to find the basis for assurance.
It's not there. It's not there. Most of our morality
is nothing but a self-righteous morality. We set up rules and
regulations for us and expect other people to abide by those
rules and regulations that we have made and we say this is
godliness. I can't stress it. I can't stress
it enough. I get so tired of it. I hear
preachers talk about women wearing shorts and folks going to the
picture show and people Play ball on Sunday? Oh, what
a terrible thing. You mean to tell me that fella
actually went down on Sunday afternoon and watched a football
game? Yeah, he did. Oh, what a terrible thing. Do
you really think, do you really suppose that God Almighty is
the least bit interested in such foolish things? Do you really
think so? When I was in college, we had
a rule in college when I was going to Bible school, you know,
they wouldn't allow us to wear our sideburns. We could wear
them down to here, but we couldn't wear them down to here. If they
come down past the middle of the ear, it was worldly. Now
that's a measure of godliness. You say, well, Preacher, that's
absurd. I'm talking about educated, religious people trained in theology. This is called ungodliness. This is godliness. That's foolish.
It's absurd. And there are no degrees to which
people will not go in their self-righteous standards of religion. If I like
it, it's godly. If you like it, it's ungodly.
That's what it amounts to. That's what it amounts to. And God Almighty
says it's hypocrisy. It's a show of religion. And
that's all it is. My friends, the wrath of God
burns most intensely against self-righteousness, and the hottest
place in hell is reserved for self-righteous men and women.
It doesn't matter whether they're Baptist or Catholics. The hottest
place in hell is reserved for self-righteous men and women.
Listen to what our Lord says in Luke 20, verse 46. Luke 20,
verse 46. Beware of the scribes. Beware
of the scribes. which desire to walk in long
roads and love greetings in the markets. Hello, Dr. Pharisee. Well, hello, Reverend Scribe.
They love their greetings in the markets and in the highest
seats in the synagogues and in the chief rooms at the feast,
which devour widows' houses and for a show make long prayers. The same shall receive greater
damnation. Can language be any clearer?
Turn back to Luke chapter 16. Let me show you this. Luke 16. This is the first obvious thing
to be learned from the story that's before us. Self-righteousness
is a terrible evil. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Our Lord says in Luke 16 in verse
15, Ye are they which justify yourselves before me, and that
is, men see you, and they say, look what godly folks they are.
But God knows your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed
among men, that which men applaud and men approve, is an abomination
in the sight of God. I'll tell you some things that
make self-righteousness so terribly evil. Self-righteousness hates
the gospel of the grace of God. It hates it. You can preach about
all kinds of things. But you come and declare to men
that salvation is by grace alone, and they're going to get upset.
You say, well, Pastor, no. I know lots of folks who preach
salvation by grace alone who don't get upset at that thing.
They get along fine in their religion. Oh, no. They just talk
about preaching salvation by grace alone. They say, well,
you're saved by grace, but now in order to get your proper reward
in heaven, you've got to do this and you've got to do that. Or
they say you're saved by grace, but in order to be a real spiritual
Christian, you've got to be this or you've got to be that. Salvation
is by grace alone. And men in their self-righteousness
will not bow to the absolute depravity of man and the total
grace of God in the salvation of sinners. Self-righteous religion
is at the root of all the evils involved in religion, gossip
and slander, persecution. Let me give you an example. I
wrote a letter, I don't often do this, but I wrote a letter
to a preacher recently. I preached in his pulpit, and
frankly I was quite careful to try to avoid causing any difficulties. I knew he was a legalist. So
I didn't say anything, I don't think I said anything, well I
might have, it usually slips out on me. I didn't intend to
say anything about the controversy between legalists and those who
recognize believers are free from the law. Well, after I was
there and preached, I had a call from one of the men in his congregation.
And this fellow was talking about leaving. And I said to him, I
said, I'd recommend you not do that. I said, I'd recommend you
stay there. and hear what you can, and rejoice in what truth
is preached there. After all, you're talking about
having to drive a long ways to go hear men preach the gospel.
And I did it for a couple of reasons. I presumed that if this
particular fellow stayed, one of two things is so. Either his
pastor is not as legalistic as I suspected, or else this fellow
does not really see the gospel as clearly as I see it, and as
I think he sees it. Well, he stayed a couple of weeks,
and then he left. He'd been going all over the place, talking about
myself and some others, Brother Henry and Brother Richardson,
some others, said that I was going around telling folks to
leave their congregations, and that we were promoting licentiousness,
and that people were living unpardonable lives, all this kind of stuff.
I wrote to him. And I said, you self-righteous hypocrite. You
didn't even check to see whether or not what you're saying is
true. It strikes me as strange that you who pretend that you're
such lovers of law are such terrible men to slander and spread things
that are not true. I haven't heard from them yet,
but I intended to make it clear that generally, generally, self-righteous
religionists are slanderers, they're gossipers, they're backbiters,
they're persecutors of men, and they delight in it and think
they do God's service. I think they do God's service.
I get upset with it. Love covers sin. Self-righteousness
exposes. These Pharisees were not interested
in the least degree in honoring the law of God. They were interested
in honoring themselves and that alone. They had no regard for
that woman. Okay, she's a harlot. That poor,
poor, desperate woman in her utter depravity. in the corruption
of her heart, and in the circumstances of the age, was a woman in need,
but they had no regard for her need. None whatever. They hated
Christ because He exposed the evil of their hearts, and they
hated the doctrine of Christ because it declared salvation
to be entirely by grace. Self-righteousness barred these
men, it just barred these men from hearing anything the Lord
had to say. He's not talking to us. We're good folks. We're good folks. We've never
done this. We've never committed this evil. We've never done that. I thank
God I've never done this, and I've never done that, and I've
never done the other thing. Our Lord said, you're dead men. You're dead men. Well, I've got
to go on. The second thing we learn from
this story is the utter severity of God's holy law. The law of
God most certainly did require that this woman be put to death.
You can read it in Deuteronomy 22 and in Leviticus 20. A woman
and a man taken in adultery, the law required that they both
be stoned to death, that the iniquity be put away from Israel. A woman taken in adultery, even
if she is forced by a man who screams not the law requires
that she be stoned to death and the man be stoned to death because
she did not scream that she might obtain help. And so the laws
were certainly saying what these folks said. They said Moses in
the law commanded us that such should be stoned. What sayest
thou? But in their hypocrisy, they
didn't mention that fellow. They didn't mention. It wasn't
convenient to mention him. I think it'd be difficult. You
correct me if I'm wrong. I believe it'd be difficult to
catch a woman in adultery without catching a man. I just believe
it'd be difficult. But they didn't say a word about
their buddy who was involved. And my friends, the law of God
is perfectly clear. And the law of God is utterly
severe. There are no exceptions, no excuses,
no extenuating circumstances to be considered. There's no
room for pardon. There's no grounds for amnesty.
The law says the soul that sinneth, it shall die. If men understood
the teachings of the law, they would run from it like a scared
dog, for they know that the law demands perfection or death. One of the two. The law does
not take into consideration the sinner's age, only his guilt.
The law does not take into consideration the sinner's ability or lack
of ability, only his guilt. The law does not take into consideration
the sinner's environment, only his guilt. The law does not take
into consideration the sinner's intelligence or his ignorance,
only the guilt. One breach of God's law, one
transgression, one act of sin is grounds enough for eternal
punishment, everlasting damnation. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. Now that's what the law teaches.
That's what, you want love, you've got death. That's what you've
got. Either you produce perfection or you die, one of the two. A
guilty must die because the law demands it. The law of God will
not allow any leniency. The law of God will not allow
any mercy. The law of God will not allow
any pardon. The law of God will not allow
any forgiveness. The law of God is utterly, inflexibly
severe. Wherever sin is found, it must
be punished. Now, my friends, the law was
given. Turn over to Romans 3. Romans chapter 3. The law was
given not so that men might learn to live good. That's not the
purpose. That's not the purpose of God's
law. The law was given to show men they can't live good. The
law was given to show men their guilt, their depravity, their
corruption. Look in verse 19. We know that
whatsoever things the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law. Now this is the purpose, that every mouth may be stopped
and all the world become guilty before God. Therefore by the
deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin now every notion of Salvation
by the works of the law our sanctification by the works of the law is foolishness. It's absurdity It's utter ignorance
what the law is given for the law of God will do one thing
if you're honest with it It'll show you your sin, your guilt,
your depravity. It will never show you anything
good in yourself. Never. People read the law and
interpret it the way they want to. They say, well, I measure
up pretty good. You know, after all, I'm not
a heathen. I don't bow down and worship
either the Virgin Mary. I'm not a heathen. I don't bow
down and worship a statue of Buddha. I'm not as bad as those
folks are. That's not what the law requires.
That's not what the law requires. The law requires that you perfectly
love God with all your heart. That's what the law requires.
The law stands up and the man looks at it and he says, well,
I'm a pretty good fellow, you know. No, I haven't measured
up really the way I ought to, but you know, I don't beat my
wife and I don't abuse my kids and I provide for my family and
I don't hurt anybody. That's not what the law requires.
That is not what the law requires. The law requires that you love
your neighbor just exactly like you love yourself. Anybody measure
up? Either you do or you're damned,
one of the two. Either you do or you're damned
according to the law. The law was given to show men
their guilt, their utter, excuseless guilt. And that there is need
for a substitute. Need for somebody to stand in
my place. Need for somebody to obey God's
law in my stead. And that brings us to the third
point. I want you to see here the only ground of divine forgiveness. Before this woman could be forgiven,
God's holy law had to be dealt with. Her accusers had to be
silenced. And my friends, before you or
I can be forgiven, God's law has got to be dealt with, D.C.
Those who accuse you and accuse me have got to be silenced, completely,
totally silenced. Got to be silenced. Before we
can be forgiven, the law of God's got to be satisfied. Our Lord
Jesus Christ came not to condemn but to save, yet He came not
to destroy the law but to fulfill the law. How then can He do so? How could that possibly be done?
How could He forgive this woman and yet satisfy the claims of
the law? How could He fulfill the law and yet let this poor,
guilty, adulterous woman go free? How could He fulfill the law
and still save us? Look in verse 6. Our Lord silenced
this woman's accusers. They said this, tempting Him
that they might have something to accuse Him with. But Jesus
stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground as though
he heard them not. I don't know what he wrote. And
nobody else knows what he wrote. I don't have any idea. At first,
our Lord acted as though he were just ignoring these religious
hypocrites. He knew who they were. He knew
what they had done. He knew how they had caught this
woman. He knew who the fellow was she was with. He knew where
the two witnesses were standing outside the door. And so he just
acted like he was going to ignore them, but they pressed the issue. They kept pressing. And when
they pressed the issue, when they continued asking him, he
lifted himself up and he said, he that is without sin among
you, let him cast the first stone in her. And again, he stooped
down and rolled on the ground. By that act, our Lord drove away
this woman's accusers. Somehow or other, he cast the
light of judgment upon these men. He said, Merle, are you
without excuse? Are you without sin, rather?
You're not guilty in this matter? You've accused her. You pick
up the first boulder and throw it at her. Bob? You're free from this crime? You're without this sin? He's
talking about this sin of adultery. You're free from this? In the
light of these things, you're free from this? You pick up the
first stone and throw it at her. He that is without sin, pick
up the first stone and throw it at her. And casting the light
of judgment upon them, he wrote something on the ground the second
time. Something on the ground which
which did something. In verse 9, when they heard this
being convicted by their own conscience, they went out one
by one, beginning at the eldest unto the least. Let me do a little
guessing, can I? He may have written some names,
some places, and some times involving these very men. He
may have. He may have written the name
of the man who was with this woman in the act of adultery.
He might have done that. He may have written the events
exactly as they actually had happened, even up to the time
when these men brought her into the temple and set her before
him. Or he may have written something like this. Suppose now, yes,
the woman's guilty, and the law says she must die. Suppose a
perfectly innocent one should volunteer to take this woman's
place. Let her go and take me instead. I'll be her substitute. He may
have done that. I wouldn't doubt that at all.
Whatever it was that he wrote, it seized these hypocrites with
a legal conviction, and they were fricked in their own guilty
consciences, and at last they all left. So, Pastor, what's
the significance of that? Where there's condemnation, there's
got to be witness. are the law of useless. And so
these people who were accusing the woman were silenced, silenced. And then our Lord Jesus Christ
was left alone with that woman. This woman had no more accusers.
The law, therefore, had no claim upon her. Now, my friends, by
His one all-sufficient, sin-atoning sacrifice for us at Calvary,
our Lord Jesus Christ silenced the claims of God's law against
us. He says in Romans 8, there is therefore now no condemnation. There's no accusation from God's
law against any soul in Christ Jesus. No condemnation to them
that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but
after the spirit. For what the law could not do,
and it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, enforced sin, condemned sin in the flesh. The law, therefore, is silence.
Silence. It has no accusation. And this is the only grounds
by which the law of God can be satisfied. The only grounds by
which the mercy of God can be extended to guilty sinners. And that is through Christ Jesus,
the sinner's substitute. Under the penalty of God's holy
law, the Son of God being made sin died for us, and now sin
being charged to Him, God will never, no, never, no, never charge
us with sin, ever, because the law says we're not guilty anymore. The law says we're innocent,
altogether perfectly righteous, for God has made us so in Christ
Jesus His Son. That's the only grounds of divine
forgiveness, and the only grounds of divine acceptance. But pastor,
don't you think that we have to be good Christians or we'll
lose our reward in heaven? What foolish absurdity! What
absurdity! I don't know where on earth people
get the idea, I don't know where they get the crazy notion. They're
scared to death they've got a bunch of folks in the churches who
don't know Christ and therefore they're not motivated by love
for Christ. And if they don't motivate them by something, church
has to close down. So you give and God'll give you
a great reward in the skies. You do this and God'll give you
a great crown for glory. You do this and God'll see to
it you have a great place in heaven. Oh, how good it'll be
in that day to gloat before men. Oh, what a fine, upstanding Christian
you've been. Well, I believe I will. God's
people do what they do. because they love Christ, being
fully, freely, completely, perfectly forgiven in Him. Perfectly forgiven
and accepted through His righteousness, through His righteousness. Our
Lord freely forgave this guilty woman. She was guilty, but she
was no longer condemned. The law couldn't condemn her,
and Christ wouldn't condemn her, and so she must be pardoned.
She must go free. Look at what he says in verse
11. Verse 10, Jesus lifted up himself and he saw none but the
woman. And 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. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ
has done for us. We were guilty, guilty. We still
are, in ourselves, guilty. But we shall never be convicted. So, Pastor, how can that be?
Because our sin is gone. Our sin is gone. It means that
He took it away. When He took our sin on Himself,
He took it away. The law of God is silenced. God's
holy law, that law that requires you to perfectly love God and
perfectly love your neighbor, says you do. It says you do. It says you're perfectly righteous.
For in Jesus Christ, we love God and we love our neighbor
perfectly through the righteous obedience of our representative.
And that's the righteousness of God imputed to us. The law
will never condemn us because justice is satisfied. Our Lord
Jesus Christ cried, it is finished, and the work was done. Justice
was satisfied. The law will never condemn us
because there's no condemnation for any believer in Christ. There's
not any basis for condemnation. There's no condemnation now,
and there's no condemnation forever. This pardon and forgiveness is
absolutely free, and it's absolutely unconditional. Now look at what
our Lord said. Look in verse 11. Suppose he had said this,
go and sin no more and I will not condemn you. Suppose he had
said that. She's left without hope. She's
left without hope. He said, now listen lady, you've
been caught here and you're guilty. Now you go and get your act together
and straighten up and live right and I'll forgive you. I won't
condemn you either. Well, there's no hope in that. Our Lord says
to her, Neither do I condemn thee. Now, go and sin no more."
There's all the difference in the world. Our Lord says, my
pardon and forgiveness is free. You who have freely given now,
go and walk no more in this way. And so she left. As guilty sinners
worthy of eternal damnation, we will worship and praise the
Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, for the free full, everlasting
pardon of sin to his blood. That precious blood is the only
grounds of divine forgiveness. And that blood being shed for
us is effectual, having secured for us the forgiveness of sin,
and not for us only, but for every sinner in all the world
who believes on him who died on the tree. We're taught something about
the mysterious ways of divine grace. I'll not labor the point. These scribes and Pharisees were
doing exactly what they wanted to do. They were doing exactly
what they wanted to do. They were ungodly, wicked, self-righteous
men. They hated God and hated Christ
and hated this Lord. But you know what they were doing?
They were instruments in the hands of our sovereign Christ
to accomplish His good purpose for His chosen child. Those wicked
men, they brought that woman to Christ with the intention
of stoning her and discrediting Him. Oh, the wondrous ways of
God's providence. God, on the other hand, was sovereign
then. By the wicked, evil deeds of
those men, he was sovereignly bringing that woman whom he loved,
that woman whom he was about to redeem, that woman who was
chosen as an heir of eternal life, God brought her to the
place where the Master was. That's the mystery of his grace.
This poor, guilty, trembling sinner, she wasn't seeking the
Lord. But he was seeking her, that's
the reason he went down to the temple that day. He went down
there because one whom he had determined to save would be there.
And the time had come when it was a time of love for her. And
she must believe. He said, Pastor, do you see all
that? You think God was in all that?
Oh, I don't think it, I know it. He used these ungodly men
to expose her shame. He used her shame and her adultery,
her wickedness in the eyes of these people publicly exposed
to humble her. And he used even her loathsome
sin to bring her to himself. I marvel at that. I rejoice in
it. I know some people can't see
it. They get so upset. They say, well, it's evil doctrine. It's evil doctrine if you don't
know it. Oh, but if you know it, God was secretly working. Oh, while that woman was in that
tent with that Pharisee, committing that act of adultery, while she
was there, God Almighty was secretly working the wonders of His grace
to bring her here so that she might see Him and live for Him.
That's the mystery of His grace. She wasn't seeking him, but he
was seeking her. And he wisely, graciously, sovereignly,
tenderly made her willing in the day of his power to embrace
him. At the time of his grace, he
wrought a mighty change in this woman's heart. Once she saw Christ,
once she saw him, she fell in love with him. She fell in love
with him. If ever God will allow you to
see this Christ we worship and adore, if He'll ever let you
see Him, if you could just see Him, you'd fall in love with
Him. I guarantee you would. Wouldn't
need anybody to pressure you to get you to act right. You'd
fall in love with Him. You'd just fall in love with
Him. Now one final thing we're taught in this story. And that
is the nature of true repentance. True repentance is much more
than a mere reformation of life. Anybody can quit drinking, quit
cussing, start dressing a different way, and start going to church
on Sunday. That's not repentance. True repentance is a change of
heart and a change of attitude toward the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the presence of Christ, this woman was convinced of her sin. In the presence of Christ. She offered no plea. She offered
no defense. She stood before the Lord silently
in her guilt. What can I say? What can I say? Just silently she stood before
Him. And this woman recognized Christ as her Lord. She didn't
ask for anything. She seems to simply stand before
Him In her guilt, her corruption, silently, you're the Lord. In her silence, this is what
it's saying, you're the Lord. You promised to be gracious.
You promised to be merciful. I'm waiting. I'm waiting. And
this woman just flatly refused to leave him. She knew he could
save her or he could damn her. And though everybody else had
walked away and she had plenty of time to walk away, for she
was now standing before him alone, she refused to leave him. She
submitted himself to Christ. She submitted herself to Christ
as her Lord, bowing to his authority and his dominion. You see, she
was overwhelmed by his grace. She was conquered by his love.
Her only hope was the Savior, and she knew it. Therefore, she
would not leave. From that day forth, she took
up her cross and followed Jesus in the way. Now, you're in this story somewhere.
I'm in this story somewhere. Some of you, I expect, are in
the crowd, standing around, wondering what's going on. Interested,
little, but basically just confused. Some of you are standing among
the scribes and the Pharisees. You're self-righteous. You think
you're good. Well, you are. You're too good
to be saved. Too good for mercy. too good
to have God's mercy. God will not save good folks.
He never has and he never will. Until men are made to see themselves
as guilty sinners, God will never show them mercy. Never. These
Pharisees were in the place where grace was bestowed, but they
were too proud and too self-righteous to see it. It may be that there's some of
you here like this poor woman You're guilty. We used to say
guilty of sin. That's the way you are, guilty
of sin. You got no excuse. You got no
excuse. But you've heard the message
of grace. Now then, will you, will you
fall down and worship the Christ of God? Or will you refuse? Will you bow to Him, the Lord,
or will you refuse? Will you receive free pardon
and free forgiveness and everlasting life and eternal glory, purely,
purely, purely, as an act of His grace, to you, an undeserving
sinner? If so, He'll never, never, never
convene you. I said, Pastor, what do I have
to do to have that pardon? Not a thing. Not a thing. Trust
the Son of God. Fall down, fall down on His merits. Trust His blood, His righteousness,
His power, His grace, His promise. Trust Him. Fall into His arms. That's all. That's all. Trust
the Son. Believe and you shall live. Amen. Lindsay Leaveson Hymn.