John chapter 8 now. John chapter
8. I'm entitling the message from
verses 1 down to verse 11. I'm entitling the message, Christ
sets the sinner free. Christ sets the sinner free.
Christ sets the sinner free. Listen to what the Lord said
to this guilty woman. taken in adultery, who had broken
the law, and caught in the very act of God." The very act of
adultery. The Lord says in verse 11, "...neither
do I condemn thee, go and sin no more." Now notice carefully,
the Lord did not say, sin no more and you're not condemned.
That would be salvation by the deeds of the flesh, wouldn't
it? But the good news of the gospel of God's grace is salvation
is based upon no condemnation in Christ Jesus. Salvation is
based upon sin forgiven, based upon the Lord Jesus Christ making
full and complete atonement for sin. The good news of the gospel
is that salvation is by the Lord Jesus Christ putting away sin,
and establishing perfect righteousness for us, and freely giving that
unto us. There is therefore now, right
now, no condemnation to those who were in the Lord Jesus Christ. For he hath truly redeemed us
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Now the
Pharisees had sent soldiers to arrest the Lord Jesus Christ,
we read in John chapter 7, Why'd they do that? Jealousy? Yes. Envy? Yes. But more than that, hatred for
the true and living God. They wanted to end this man's
ministry. They wanted to end this man's
life. On more than one occasion, they
went out and took counsel how they might destroy him. They
sent out soldiers from their office to arrest him, to end
his preaching. But instead of arresting him,
the soldiers were arrested by him. They came back empty-handed,
and as it says in John 7, 46, the officers, when they came
back, when the Pharisees said, why haven't you brought him back?
That was the charge we gave you. They said, never a man speak
like that man. We've never dealt with anybody
like this man. In Matthew chapter 7, when he
ended his sermon on the mount, they said, he taught us as one
having authority, power, not as described in Pharisees. This
man, the man from Nazareth, is no ordinary man. This prophet
is no ordinary prophet. This man is none other than God
Almighty manifest in the flesh. Never man spake like that man. Every word he spoke carry the
authority of God, the power of God, the truth of God, for He
is God. Never man spake like that man. Truly, fully God, and truly and
fully man in one blessed person. Never man. They never met a man
like that man. In Psalm 45 we read, Grace poured
forth from His lips. You remember when the disciples
were on the boat with the Lord and a mighty wind came up and
the seas started to fill the ship and the ship began to sink
and they cried out, And he rebuked the wind and the
sea, and they said, Behold, what manner of man is this, that even
the wind and the seas obey him? What kind of man is this? Most unusual, because he's God. In Luke chapter 4, when he went
to the synagogue of the Jews there in Nazareth, and stood
up to read, and he read from Isaiah 61 about the Spirit of
the Lord's upon me to preach the gospel, to heal the brokenhearted,
to set at liberty those who are bruised, and he said, this day
is this word fulfilled in your ears? And he sat down, and then
it says this, they all wondered at the gracious words which proceeded
out of his mouth. Never man spake like this man. Notice in John 7 verse 53, every man went unto his own house. Verse 1 in John chapter 8, Jesus
went unto the Mount of Olives. Now chapter divisions are put
there by those who organized a scripture in verse and chapter
to help us find our way around, but really, there shouldn't be
a chapter division there, should there? And the Lord Jesus went
into the Mount of Olives. Every man went home. The Pharisees,
being defeated on arresting the Lord Jesus Christ, they went
home and plot and planned how again they might come and discredit
and destroy Him. The soldiers went home that night.
Do you reckon what they said to their family about trying
to arrest the Lord Jesus Christ? And they were absolutely helpless
before Him. Do you reckon what they said
to the wife that evening? You know, we met a man from Galilee. He's something special about
this man. The soldiers went home wondering
what just happened. Nicodemus, it mentions there,
who came to the Lord by night, being one of them, the Pharisee.
No doubt I believe Nicodemus went home and wondered why he
didn't confess the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he did, in a measure,
come to his defense, but why didn't he step up and confess? I do believe him to be the Messiah,
but he didn't. No doubt He went home with remorse
in His heart. But the Lord Jesus Christ, it
says in verse 1 of chapter 8, He went to the Mount of Olives.
Everybody else went home. He didn't have a home. Here's
the homeless prophet. This man was homeless. He was
homeless. Think of it. God, the Creator
of the heavens and the earth, has nowhere to lay His hand.
He went to the Mount of Olives to rest, being weary in body,
no doubt, as it says in John chapter 4. But He went there
to pray. I think praying to Him was restful. Many times we read in Scripture
where He prayed all night. One time He prayed so intensely
that blood started to ooze out of His body. He went there to
pray, to intercede for you and me, as our great high priest. The Lord Jesus says, "...the
foxes have holes, the birds of the air, they have their nests,
the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head." Think of it. And then the next morning, look
what happens. And early in the morning, Early
in the morning, he came again into the temple. Now, you reckon
that he knew what was going to happen that day? He went right back into the camp
of the enemy, didn't he? Right back into their stronghold.
Not fearing the wrath of men, but as an obedient servant of
God, he said, I must be about my father's business. He came
again into the temple and all the people. Now there's a good
example right there that it, when it says all the people,
it just means a whole lot of people. It doesn't mean everybody
in all the world, does it? A whole lot of people came to
hear this man from Galilee teach the Word of God and he sat down
and he taught the people. What was his lesson? What we
learn in John chapter 8 verse 12, his lesson was, I'm the light
of the world. I'm the light of the world. He
that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the
light of life. He is life. He is salvation. He is light. Not fearing the
wrath of the Pharisees, the Lord Jesus went right back into the
stronghold of the enemy. Right back doing his father's
business, teaching and preaching the gospel. Think about this.
Praying all night and then preaching all day. Praying all night and
preaching all day. I want to make that my aim, my
goal, my ambition as your servant. Praying and preaching. Praying
and preaching. That's what God's servants should
do. Pray and preach. Pray and preach. Two things I can do for you,
to mention your name before God and to mention God's name before
you. Pray for you and to preach the
gospel unto you. Now, here we see verse 3, here
come the scribes and Pharisees again. Now these, these men were
rascals, I mean they were notorious They were notorious rascals. Full of religion. Full of self-righteousness. Hating God. Hating one another. And here they've been plotting
and scheming all night long. And here somehow they arranged
this situation. How did they catch this woman
in the act anyway? They were scheming this whole
thing. They set this whole thing up. They set this woman up. They conned one of their fellow
religious cohorts into having an affair with this woman. And
they brought this woman, taken in adultery, and when they set
her in the midst of this crowd, no doubt she was embarrassed.
I mean, she was caught red-handed. And here they're going to expose
her publicly? And they said that the master
of this woman was taken in adultery in the very act of it. Now Moses in the law commanded
us that such should be stoned. What do you say? What do you
think about this? What's the Lord going to do here?
This woman we have before us represents every true believer
guilty before God, and yet a sinner forgiven by the Lord Jesus Christ. Guilty, but not condemned. The Lord said, I don't condemn
you. In this passage we have before
us a vivid picture of the Lord's compassion, mercy, and grace
upon this sinful woman." Now this is the second woman we run
into in our study in the book of John. Remember? John chapter
4, there was a woman at the well and the Lord said to her, go
call your husband. She had five husbands and was
living with a man that wasn't her husband. She's living in
adultery. Who did the Lord call and save? a sinful woman. And here again,
He crosses the path of a sinful woman on purpose to show mercy
unto her. Like the woman at the well, guilty
but forgiven in Christ. Our Lord said, I didn't come
to call the righteous but sinners to repentance and this is what
He did. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that the Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners. You've heard
that before, haven't you? last week. The self-righteous
Pharisees, think about this, they went away confounded from
this scene and this poor guilty sinner was accepted, pardoned,
and justified in Christ Jesus. They brought her to the Lord
to condemn her. He used them to bring her to Him that He might
freely justify her by His grace. We're justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Having
their plans spoiled to arrest the Lord, now they scheme to
discredit Him before the people by this evil act. This is an
evil act on their part. It's an evil act of self-righteousness
on their part. They thought they'd backed Him
into a corner from which He could not escape. The law says this
guilty woman must die They thought they had him. Trapped him. Whereby they might accuse him.
They thought they backed him in the corner in which he could
not escape. What fools men are. They don't
even know it. The Lord is using them and they
don't even know and realize that he's using them. The law says
the guilty must die. What do you say? And truly, the
scripture said, "...the soul that sinneth, it shall surely
die." The wages of sin is death. Now if he said, well, just let
her go. They would accuse him of not
honoring the law, wouldn't they? Ah, we got him. He didn't honor
the law of Moses. If he said, stone her to death.
If he said, well, I'll just show you what I think of the law of
God. I'll just take a stone and I'll stone her. Then they'd accuse
him of having no mercy. What a dilemma. What a predicament. You see, my friend, the Lord
is in complete control over all these events. He brought this
to pass. And here's the question of all
questions. And here's really, in essence, the dilemma. How can a guilty sinner be set
free and at the same time honor the law of God? Now that's the
dilemma, isn't it? She's guilty, caught red-handed.
The law has to be honored. The law says the guilty must
die. How can the law be honored and
the sinner set free? That's the glory of the gospel. You remember from Psalm 85? How can mercy and truth meet
together? Righteousness and peace kiss
each other? How can the law of God be honored
and at the same time sinners justified? Only in Christ crucified. That's the question that can
only be answered in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. How
He can be just and yet justifier. How He can be a just God and
a Savior. God's law must be honored. Can't
be ignored. Righteousness must be established.
Our Lord said, except your righteousness exceed those of the Pharisees,
you no wise enter into the kingdom of God. You must have a justifying
righteousness that honors the law of God. And you must have
sin put away. How can all that be done? Only
in Christ crucified. The just suffering for the unjust
that He might bring us unto God. Now look at verse 6. This they
said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him." They
had no good about their motive. But Jesus stooped down and with
His finger wrote on the ground as though He did not hear what
they said. Now He heard what they said.
He ignored what they said. It says again in verse 8, again
He stooped down and wrote on the ground. You can easily see
their wicked motives, can't you? They were no more interested
in honoring the law of God, but only seeking ground to condemn
the Lord and discredit Him publicly, and to feed... And here's what
the self-righteous always do. They wanted to feed their self-righteous
ego, didn't they? And look carefully here what
the Lord did. First of all, He ignored what they said. He ignored
what they said. You see that? As though He heard
them not. He knew what was in their heart. He knew the malice
they had toward Him. He knew the hatred they had toward
the true and living God. The carnal mind is enmity. He
knew their heart. He knew their thoughts. And so He didn't answer them.
Instead, He stooped down on the ground. He stooped down. Now there's
a whole lot in that right there. He stooped down. The Lord of
glory among sinners. That's a stoop, is it not? That's
condescending grace, is it not? He stooped down. And I believe,
I just kind of got my mind that this woman's been cast to the
ground before the Lord Jesus Christ. They came through and
they threw her at His feet. And he got right down in the
dirt with her. And he started writing on the ground with his
finger. Not once, but twice. Now, we're
not told what he wrote, but I know this, whatever he wrote was true. Was true. He wrote something.
The same finger, it says in Exodus 31, 18, that the finger of God
wrote the law on the tables of stone. The same
finger that wrote the table of the law now writes on the ground
in front of these fellows. What did he write? Maybe he wrote
what the law said. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Maybe he also, when he stooped
down a second time and wrote again, maybe he included Name
of the man who wasn't there, or at least was not accused of
being in this act of adultery. The man. They brought the woman.
According to the law, both were to be brought and both were to
be stoned. Maybe the Lord Jesus knew this
man was standing in the crowd and stooped down and wrote his
name to identify him, and they were shocked. You know they were. They were amazed, they said,
uh-oh, uh-oh, we're in trouble. This man that the Lord identified
was an associate of these self-righteous Pharisees. We read one other
time when the finger of God was seen writing in the book of Daniel
when Belshazzar had that wild drunken party and took the vessels
of the temple There in his kingdom, they had raided Israel and taken
all the instruments of the temple back to Babylon. And when they
had that drunken party, they said, well, let's go down and
get all those holy vessels of the Jews and let's just drink
out of them. And they defiled God. And God,
they saw the finger of a man writing on the wall. And the essence said this, thou
art found, weighed in the balance, and wanting, lacking salvation,
lacking righteousness. Get ready for judgment. Judgment's
coming. Now, look at verse 7, back to
our text. So, when they continued asking him. Now, how long this
went on, I don't know. We're not told. They continued
badgering him. What do you think? What do you
think? He's ignoring them, riding on the ground. They come at him
again. They continued asking him. And
he continues to ride on the ground. Finally, he lifted himself up. Now, there's a significance in
that. He stooped. to become man, he
stooped to be made sin, and he lifted himself up, came out of
the grave, and ascended to glory, and sat down when he had by himself
purged our sin. He sat down on the right hand
of God. He lifted himself up. And here's what he says, He that is without sin among
you, Let him first cast a stone." The Lord gives them this challenge.
Those of you who have no sin, those Pharisees, you Pharisees,
you think you're so sinless? All right, cast a stone. Our Lord in His infinite wisdom
completely confounded them. They didn't know what to do.
He did not justify the woman for what she did. She was guilty.
Nor did he deny what the law of God demanded. The guilty should
die. But our Lord reminded them and
revealed unto them they were guilty of the very same act. And that were they to condemn
or stone her, He was saying, you are also sinful, you are
also guilty before God. That's what the law of God charges
every one of us with. Stop your mouth. The law says
let every mouth be stopped and all the world become guilty before
God. Until you see yourself as stripped
and guilty before God, you'll never cry for mercy. Never. As long as you go about to establish
a righteousness of your own, as these Pharisees did, you'll
never beg God for mercy. If the Lord ever strips you,
puts you in the dust and shows you that you are the guilty one. That you have sinned against
God. I tell you, that's a good place
to be. But as long as you go along and condemn others and
not condemn yourself, dangerous ground. Dangerous ground. The Lord stooped again and wrote
on the ground, He that is without sin among you, Notice, no one
here cast a stone. They knew they were guilty. The
Lord had exposed them. And again, he stooped down and
wrote on the ground. Someone suggested maybe he wrote
names and dates and places of all these men. And they knew. He caught us. Who is this man? No man ever spake like that man. Verse 9 says, And they that heard
it being convicted, by their own conscience, went out one
by one, beginning at the eldest unto the last, and the Lord Jesus
was left alone, and the woman, now she's standing in the middle
of this crowd. Seeing what the Lord wrote on
the ground and hearing what is said, hearing what he said concerning
their own sin, the sin of these Pharisees and their guilt, they
were convicted in their conscience. I don't think it was a true repentance. They felt a little temporary
remorse. Well, preacher, how do you know
they weren't really convicted? They really didn't have and were
granted true repentance. How do you know that? I know
they didn't. I know they weren't given true repentance. How do
you know that? They did not beg for mercy. What
did they do? They walked off. They walked
off. Those who are truly convicted
and brought to repentance and given faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ, they come to Him. They don't walk off. They come
to Him. They're convicted just with a mere legal repentance
or a temporary remorse they got caught enough so much that they
turned away, not being really convinced they were sinners,
because they did not beg for mercy. While the trap failed
to catch Him for whom it was laid, it caught those for whom
it was laid." They were caught in their own trap. Their religious pride was uncovered.
You remember how many times we've seen this statement in the book
of Psalms in our study the last few years in the book of Psalms?
The wicked is snared by the work of his own hand. How many times
the wicked laid the snare for David, and they became ensnared
in their own trap. Now, the Lord was left alone
with this woman. I'm sure that there were others
in the crowd. because the Lord had been teaching
them and He continues to do so. We'll see next week in verse
12. But think of this. Think about this. They brought
this woman to see her condemned, didn't they? And to discredit
the Lord. She went home justified in Christ. They went home condemned in their
sin and rebellion against God. It reminded me of this. Turn
back to Luke. the book of Luke. Luke 18. Luke 18. Do you remember the
publican and the Pharisee? The Pharisee went to the temple
and he bragged on himself how good he was. And the old publican,
the old wretched sinner, in Luke 18, Verse 13, the publican, standing
afar off, would not lift up so much his eyes at heaven, but
smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, thee
sinner. And the Lord said, I tell you,
this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.
For everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that
humbleth himself shall be exalted. Those proud Pharisees walked
off. They didn't think they were sinners. And this guilty woman
went home justified. Look at verse 10. And when Jesus
lifted up Himself and saw none but the woman, He said to her,
Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned
thee? And she said, No man, Lord. And
the Lord said to her, Neither do I condemn thee. and sin no
more." When the self-righteous walked off, the Lord was left
alone with this woman. And He dealt with her in mercy,
in grace. What a blessed place to be, alone
with the Lord, the sinner and the Savior. You see, He came
to save sinners. Woman, where are those who condemn
you? There's no one here to condemn
you. The law of God required that at least two or three witnesses
be established for a thing to be so. Look right across the
page in John 8 verse 17. He said, it's also written in
your law that the testimony of two men is true. Took at least two or three witnesses
to condemn her as guilty. Now the law of God had no claim
on her. You see that? The law of God
had no claim on her. These who were witnesses that
said she was guilty, caught in the act, they were gone. No one
could accuse her. And the Lord said, neither do
I accuse you. Now, here's again the good news
of the gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ honored
the law of God for us. We read that in Matthew 5. Our
Lord said, I didn't come to destroy the law, I came to honor the
law of God. It says in Isaiah 42 that the
Lord is well pleased for His righteousness sake, He will magnify
the law and honor it. The law has got to be satisfied. The Lord Jesus Christ did that
for us. He established a perfect righteousness
for us by His obedience to the law, satisfying every precept
of that law. He was delivered for our offenses.
He stooped down. Delivered for our offenses. being
made flesh, and dwelt among us." Being made flesh, he stooped
down, and then the Scripture said, him being delivered by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, delivered for our offenses,
raised again, because he justified us. Lifted himself up, that's
what I see, and he stooped down and he lifted himself up. upon
the basis of his obedience, stooping down, upon the basis of his resurrection
victory, having put away sin, established righteousness, upon
that ground, he said to this woman, no condemnation." Isn't
that good news? There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. The guilty not condemned. Think
of it. The guilty not condemned. Based upon the Lord Jesus Christ
putting away our sin. He established a perfect righteousness
for us. He established a perfect and
full payment for sin. A full atonement for our sin. Satisfying the penalty of the
law of God. In closing, look at this. Verse 11. And she said,
No man, Lord. Lord. She calls Him Lord. Lord. And the Lord Jesus said
to her, the law doesn't charge you, and I don't charge you. Now go, go and sin no more. Every believer can say, because
of the Lord Jesus Christ crucified, that He has put away our sin,
justified in Christ Jesus. He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It's Christ who has died. It
is God who has justified us. And the Lord said to her, neither
do I condemn thee, There's no condemnation to those who are
in Christ Jesus. You see, the law of God. The
best news any sinner can hear. There is no conflict at all between
the law of God and the mercy of God. Both have to be magnified. Let me show you scripture here.
Find Romans chapter 3. The Lord didn't ignore the law. He satisfied it. Honored the
law of God for us. And there is no conflict between
mercy. There's no conflict in the gospel
over law and mercy. Not at all. Because the law of
God has been honored. Look at Romans 3 verse 31. Do we then make void the law
through faith? Do we? God forbid. We establish the
law. How do we establish the law?
In Christ crucified. in the Lord Jesus Christ crucified. Mercy and truth are met together.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other in Christ Jesus. Now, the Lord adds this. Remember,
He does not say here, sin no more and you're not condemned.
Now, that wouldn't have been good news. But there's no condemnation
for those in Christ Jesus. Now, He says, you go. You go
and you sin. No He is not assigning her an impossible
task to live and never sin again. That's impossible. We're still
sinners, redeemed by the grace of God. But listen to this, sinners
saved by grace are highly motivated to live to His glory, to honor
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that we believe because
of gratitude and love to Him. Let us, in our heart, adorn the
doctrine of God our Savior in all things, in our attitude,
and in our conduct, and in our conversation. The Lord doesn't
give her a license to sin, does He? There's no condemnation in
me. Now, go. Go and live for my glory. Live unto me. Live unto me. Let
us never use the free grace of God as an excuse to live A life
without grace. A graceless life. Without being
gracious to others. Without showing mercy to others.
Without loving others. Without forgiving others. Let's close by reading one scripture.
Turn to the book of Titus. The book of Titus. All your sins
are forgiven. You're set free. Now, go and
sin no more. Titus chapter 2, verse 9. Servants, be obedient
unto their own masters, and to please them in all things, not
answering again, not gainsaying, not rebelling, not prolonging,
not stealing, but showing all good fidelity. Talking here to
believers. that they may adorn the doctrine
of God our Savior in all things. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared unto all men, that is, all sorts of
men, teaching us. The grace of God teaches us to
do what? Deny ungodliness, worldly lusts,
to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world, Looking for that blessed hope
and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity,
purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of all good works,
zealous of good works. Go. Justification in Christ Jesus,
my friend, free and full justification in Christ Jesus does not lead
the believer to a licentious life. It leads us to a life of
obedience and love unto the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the
Lord says now. Go. You've set free. You've set free. Now live for my glory. Live for
my glory.