God's Grace for Sinners, Sufferers and Saints

Starting at verse 53 we read,

They went each to his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

Early in the morning he came again to the temple.

All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them.

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery,

and placing her in the midst, they said to him,

Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.

Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such woman.

What do you say?

This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him.

Jesus bent down and wrote his finger on the ground.

And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them,

Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.

And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground.

But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the oldest one.

And Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.

Jesus stood up and said to her,

Woman, where are they?

Has no one condemned you?

She said, No one, Lord.

And Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you.

Go.

And from now on, sin no more.

Again, Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness,

but will have the light of life.

This is the word of God.

Thank you, Angie.

This will be on shortly.

There we go.

Well, good morning, everybody.

If you don't know me, my name is Kevin.

I'm one of the pastor guys in this church.

That was a reference to Alan saying he's the youth guy.

But okay, we'll let that one slide.

It's good to see you all.

And a warm welcome if you are new to Watermark this morning.

Won't you join me?

Let's pray together and ask God to speak to us from his word.

So, Father God, Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit,

the three in one, the triune God,

we come before you this morning.

As we've said so many times,

we come to worship and adore you,

to give you the praise that is due to your name.

Father, we come to your word

because we want your opinions and your word to shape our lives.

We don't want to be shaped by the views of just our culture.

We don't want our worldview to be shaped by our own hearts, God.

We want our lives to be shaped by you.

And so we come to your word this morning.

Father, as we look at this passage,

we pray that you will send the Holy Spirit to speak to us.

God, we're not here to hear the opinions of man.

We're not interested in some new understanding or philosophy.

We want to know what you have to say.

So come and speak to us, we pray.

Come and open the eyes of our hearts to see you.

God, I pray this morning we will understand

the deep compassion and the tenderness of God.

As Celeste read to us this morning from Psalm 103,

that God, you have compassion for us.

You'll even exceed that of a parent for their child.

I pray we'll know that and we'll experience that this morning.

God, I pray that we'll experience the wonder of the gospel again.

And I pray that God will experience you calling us to walk in freedom and joy.

And so come and have your way, Lord, we pray.

In your wonderful and your gracious name.

Amen.

So as Oscar reminded us,

we are doing this series called Gender, Sex, Relationships, and God.

And we are on the final one.

Today is the last one of those series.

And we've been looking at these really important topics or themes

over the last five weeks or so.

And the reason we've done that is twofold.

One of the reasons is because these are themes or topics

that our culture speaks about all the time.

And we want to have our views shaped by what God's Word says

more so than what culture has to say.

We don't just...

These really important topics,

we don't want our worldview shaped by Netflix or social media.

We want to say,

what is the God that made us?

What does He have to say about these topics?

A Christian is not just someone who intellectually believes that God exists

or that Jesus was a real man.

A Christian is someone who's coming to say,

God, my life belongs to You.

I've surrendered my life to You.

I've been transferred from the kingdom of my own kingdom

to the kingdom of God.

And so, Lord, You come and shape my life.

You come and lead me and guide me.

And so, we've been looking at these topics for that reason.

But the other reason we've been looking at these topics

is because these things of marriage and sex and gender identity

and sexual attraction and singleness and gender identity and dysphoria,

these aren't just theoretical ideas.

These aren't just some theory.

These are really real things that all of us grapple with.

And these are areas that also have the tendency to cause the most pain in our lives

and the most heartache.

As Chris mentioned a few weeks ago,

when it comes to relationships and sexuality,

all of us are both sinners and sufferers to varying degrees.

And so, what that means is every one of us needs to experience

the redemptive, healing grace of Christ in these areas of our lives.

And so, we've been looking at these topics for the last couple of weeks.

Now, some of us may carry real shame in these areas of our lives.

Maybe because of stuff that we've done.

Maybe because of what has been done to us.

For all of us, the easiest thing in the world, the temptation,

is just to bury it in the past,

to try and just move on with life and pretend that it's not there.

But I think all of us know that that doesn't really help, right?

Just covering over something, pretending that it's not there,

doesn't really deal with it.

It's kind of like when you go to your fridge and you open,

you see that thing in the back that's been there for way too long

and it's not looking very healthy.

You can close the fridge and just ignore it,

but that's not going to deal with the problem, right?

And so, what you want to do in these really deep, meaningful areas of life,

we want to shine the light of the gospel

and allow for Christ's redeeming, healing grace to shine there.

And so, that's what today's passage is all about.

And today, we're going to look at an instance

when Jesus Christ comes face to face

with some of the most intimate and painful and broken areas of our lives.

And so, we're going to look at John 8, verses 1 to 12

John 8:1–12

that Angie read to us this morning.

Now, a brief disclaimer.

If you've got your Bible in front of you,

one thing you'll probably see is

this section is often bracketed off in your Bible

or there might be a footnote

that says in most manuscripts,

in the ancient manuscripts,

this passage wasn't there.

And so, what's happened here

is most historians and commentators will agree

that this passage wasn't originally part of John's gospel

in the earliest days.

When John wrote and compiled his gospel,

this passage probably wasn't in there.

And there's a couple of reasons for that.

One, we know because the most ancient manuscripts

don't have it in there.

But the second one is because the kind of writing,

the language that John uses,

that this passage uses,

actually doesn't really correspond

with much of John's language at all.

It actually fits much better with Luke's writings.

And one of the earlier manuscripts in Luke's gospel

actually has this passage

towards the end of Luke's gospel in chapter 21,

right before Jesus goes to the cross.

And so, most commentators will say

this probably wasn't part of John's original gospel,

but it probably is a historical account

that did actually happen

because it corresponds so well

with what we know about Jesus

and the scribes and the Pharisees.

And it was part of oral tradition

that was later on added into scripture.

Okay, so that's just by way of disclaimer.

So, let's dive into this passage

and see what happens here

because what we see in this passage

fits so well with what we see

in the rest of the gospels

and what we see about Jesus.

And so, the passage starts off with this.

It's telling us that Jesus spent a night

in the Mount of Olives.

And in the rest of the gospels,

when Jesus spends the night

on the Mount of Olives,

he's always there spending the night in prayer.

And he comes down

after spending this night,

probably in prayer,

he comes down to the city of Jerusalem,

he goes to the temple,

and he engages in dialogue and discussion

in the temple courts,

in the outer courts,

in the courts of the Gentiles.

Now, what would happen was,

there's the original temple,

and then there's this court area outside,

and all sorts of religious leaders would come,

and they'd gather,

and their disciples would gather,

and passerby would gather,

and they would discuss things,

and debate things,

and look at the scriptures,

and they'd have this dialogue,

and this discussion.

And so, that's what happened.

Jesus is there,

and he's having this discussion

with all sorts of people around him.

And into the midst of this crowd,

a bit of a raucous is getting dragged along.

Everyone looks and sees what's happening,

and there's a group of men

that have got a lady,

a young lady,

maybe she's tied up with rope,

or maybe they've strong-armed her.

They drag her into the crowd of people,

and they throw her at Jesus' feet.

And they say,

Teacher,

we know what God said.

This lady has been caught

in the act of adultery.

And you know what God told Moses.

We know what God told Moses.

We've got to stone such women.

But, Teacher,

we also know that

you like to talk about compassion,

and forgiveness,

and turning the other cheek,

and all that kind of stuff.

So, what should we do?

Tell us,

what is your philosophy?

What does your teaching say

we must do with her now?

What's going on here?

Well,

verse 6 actually tells us,

because,

look at verse 6.

It says,

they said this to test him,

that they might have some charge

to bring against him.

In other words,

they're setting a trap for Jesus.

And it's a good trap,

because what's happened here

is that no matter how Jesus answers,

one way or the other,

he's going to get himself in trouble, right?

If Jesus, on the one hand,

says,

oh, well,

that's a little harsh.

I mean, come on,

we've all made mistakes around here.

None of us are perfect.

She's a first-time offender.

Let's just let her go.

Then,

that'll confirm their suspicions

that Jesus doesn't take God's word

very seriously.

Remember,

Jesus has already got them on edge

because of the way

that he treats the Sabbath,

the way that he welcomes sinners,

he touches lepers,

unclean people.

Jesus welcomes people.

He has meals with prostitutes

and tax collectors.

So they're really suspicious of him

and they don't think he's very serious

about God's word.

And so if Jesus is kind of saying,

oh, let's just be gracious,

then they feel like they can nail him.

They can confirm their suspicions

that Jesus is a heretic,

he's a false teacher,

and they can reject him

and denounce him.

But if, on the other hand,

Jesus says,

oh, you're right,

that's what God's word says,

I guess we better honor God's word.

Let's get our stones

and let's go and stone her now.

Well, they know that Jesus

has a following

amongst particularly

the common people,

the people that don't fit

the boxes of the religious people.

Those that are marginalized

and are often ostracized on society,

those are the ones that love Jesus.

So if Jesus says,

okay, let's go stone her,

he's going to be discredited

amongst the very people

that are following him.

And so on one hand,

this is Jesus' dilemma.

Uphold the law

and he discredits himself

amongst the people

with whom he's established

a following,

deny what God has said

to his people

in the Old Testament

and he'll discredit himself

amongst the religious leaders

and they can denounce him.

And so they reckon

they've got him.

They've got him cornered, right?

Except, of course,

they haven't got him

because this is Jesus

and Jesus is perfect.

And so in this passage,

I think God wants to show us

a couple of things.

And the first thing

he wants to show us

is the heart of sin.

The heart of sin.

In this passage,

we see sin manifested

in different ways.

There's the obvious sin

of the lady and her adultery,

right?

Okay, we'll get there.

But what Jesus wants us to see,

there's something

far more sinister,

something far more dangerous

that's going on

underneath the surface.

In a way,

Jesus wants us to see

the cancer of sin

that's taking place

in these religious leaders.

You know,

you and I all know

that when you,

that it's possible

to have cancer

raging inside your body

and yet on the outside,

you look completely fine.

You look healthy,

you look fit,

there's nothing wrong,

but inside,

there's this battle

going on within you.

And what Jesus is doing here

is he's holding up

an x-ray machine

so that these religious leaders

and all of us

can see what's going on

under the surface.

He wants us to see

the heart of sin,

the symptoms,

okay, cool,

we'll get there, okay.

But he wants us to see

what's going on

underneath the symptoms,

what's really going on

underneath the surface here.

And so here we have

this outward

and this inward reality

to sin.

And Jesus is going to show us

that the inward reality,

the hidden reality,

is far more dangerous,

far more insidious

for followers of Jesus.

Because Jesus is going to show us

that what these guys

are grappling with

is not just sexual sin,

it's the sin

of self-righteousness

and pride.

I've got a friend

called Andrew Haslam.

He leads a church in London.

And many years ago,

I remember listening

to a podcast of his,

and he said this.

He said,

Christians don't just

repent of their bad deeds,

they repent of their good deeds

done in self-righteousness

and pride.

And when he said that,

it hit me like a ton of bricks.

I can still remember

exactly where I was driving

in Cape Town

when I heard that.

I thought,

oh my goodness,

that's profound.

Christians don't just

repent of our bad deeds,

we repent of our good deeds

that are done

in self-righteousness

and pride.

And what Andrew Haslam

was showing us there

is that sin is far more insidious,

the sin of self-righteousness

and pride

is far more dangerous

than just what we do

with our lives

and what is outward

we manifest.

And so notice a couple

of things here

with these religious leaders.

Notice firstly

their lack of compassion

and their empathy.

Why did they bring

the woman to Jesus

in the first place?

It wasn't because

they had outraged

at the moral decay

of society.

You know,

people these days,

really,

the things they get up to,

that's not why

they bring the lady

to Jesus.

They've done it

to set a trap.

They don't care about her.

They're using her

as a tool.

They're using this lady

as an instrument

for their own

political means.

They're using her

as a trap

so that they can

trap Jesus

for their own

political agenda.

They don't care

rocks about this lady.

They don't care

if she dies

or doesn't care.

They don't care about it.

Who do they care about?

They care about themselves.

Notice also

their partiality

or their favoritism.

The religious leaders,

they come to Jesus

and say,

oh Jesus,

we've got a problem.

You know,

Deuteronomy says

in such instances

we're going to have

to stone the woman.

We're going to have

to drive the evil

out of our community.

See,

that's true

but Deuteronomy

also says

that what about the guy?

I mean,

it's not only the lady

that's guilty.

The guy is not innocent

in this situation.

Both of them

are condemned

but where's the guy?

He's nowhere to be found.

Why?

Because they've got

an agenda.

They've got an agenda.

Their partiality,

they're criticizing the one

and they're turning

a blind eye

to the other.

But most importantly,

notice their duplicity.

Notice how

they are more aware

of the sins of others

than their own

insidious self-righteousness

going on

in their own hearts.

In the Old Testament,

in order for someone

to be condemned

or convicted,

you needed two witnesses,

at least two witnesses,

eyewitnesses.

And they had to be

eyewitnesses.

They couldn't infer

that this is probably

what happened.

They had to see the event.

And so here they come

to Jesus

and they say,

Jesus,

this lady has been

caught in the very act.

Now,

commentators have often

asked the question,

how did two or more

witnesses catch her

in the act?

Well,

I mean,

maybe they,

you know,

stumbled into a bedroom,

but what were they

doing in there?

Okay.

Maybe this couple

were doing it

in broad daylight.

Okay,

well,

that's unlikely.

I mean,

think first century

conservative Jewish values,

unlikely.

What could have been

happening,

we don't know,

but commentators

have long suspected

that what was actually

happening is these

religious leaders

set her up

as a trap.

Maybe they got a guy

and they said,

listen,

we'll pay you some money

if you sleep with her

and we'll be watching

and we'll make sure

that we'll storm in

at the right moment.

Because they had to be

more than one witness

and they had to catch

her in the act.

Now,

part of why we know

this possibly happened

is because when Jesus

says,

listen,

the person amongst you

that is without any sin,

pick up the first stone.

In Jewish culture,

what that didn't mean

was that anyone

who's never sinned at all

because,

I mean,

that would never apply,

right?

Nobody is sinless.

It didn't mean

those of you

that have never

committed adultery.

What it meant is

those of you

that are innocent

with regard to this action,

in other words,

you didn't know about it.

You couldn't have

prevented it in any way.

There was nothing

that you could have done

to have stopped this.

And what did they do?

They dropped their stones

and they slink off

into the sunset.

In other words,

there's a good chance

that these guys

knew exactly

what was going on.

They either set her up

or they were watching

it taking place

and they thought,

time for our trap.

We've got a plan.

But here's the thing.

While they're aware

of her sinfulness

and Jesus' apparent

floundering of God's word,

they are completely blind

to their own self-righteousness

and their pride.

Friends,

how do you know

if you're proud?

How do you know

if you're proud?

Well,

one of the telltale signs

is that we're far more aware

of the failings

and the brokenness

and the shortcomings

of those around us

than of ourselves.

We find it easy

to notice everybody else's failings

and yet we're blind

to what's going on

in our own lives.

And Jesus comes

and He names their sin.

He calls them out.

Jesus is going to speak

to women in a while.

That's right.

But right now,

He's holding up

an x-ray machine.

He's saying,

let's see what's going on

in your own lives

and your own hearts.

Let me show you

the cancer

that's ravaging

your own heart.

Now,

what does this mean

for us here

in Watermark,

21st century Hong Kong?

Well,

what it means is,

one of the things it means

is when we talk

about things like sex

and marriage

and singleness

and gender dysphoria

and same-sex attraction

and all these things,

it's possible

for us as a church

to be technically right,

to technically obey

what God's Word said.

We say,

okay,

I'm not sleeping

with my girlfriend,

can't check.

Okay,

I haven't had an affair

with anyone,

can't check.

Okay,

I'm right with God.

And one of the things

that Jesus wants to show us

is that we can be

technically right

and yet our hearts

can be filled

with the same self-righteousness

and the same pride

as the religious leaders.

We can technically be right

and yet be far aware

of everybody else's faults

and failings,

pointing the finger

at everybody else,

lacking compassion

and empathy,

tenderness and grace.

And so throughout the Gospels,

what Jesus wants to show

is that the life

that Jesus called us to,

yes,

it's a life of walking

in the light,

yes,

it's a life of purity

and holiness,

sure,

but it's also a life

that doesn't just honor

Christ with our bodies,

it's one that honors Christ

with all of our lives,

heart,

soul,

mind,

and strength.

Jesus says

the life He's called us to

is a life of humble obedience,

of compassion

and tenderness,

of compassion

with those

that are struggling.

The cancer

of self-righteousness.

Now,

contrasted to that

is we see

the beauty of Jesus,

the beauty of Jesus.

And when we see

the beauty of Jesus,

I want us to notice

three things here.

Firstly,

the heart of Jesus,

secondly,

the work of Jesus,

and thirdly,

the instruction of Jesus

or the appeal of Jesus.

Notice what happens here.

What does Jesus do?

These guys come

and they say,

Jesus,

we've caught it in the act,

what should we do?

And the first thing

Jesus does

is He bends down

and He writes

with His finger

in the dust.

Now,

side note,

what was Jesus writing

in the dust,

right?

Well,

the answer is

we actually

just don't know.

All sorts of people

have come up

with all sorts of theories

and He was writing this

and He was writing this.

Actually,

we just don't have a clue,

right?

So here's the question.

This is a bit of a sidebar.

Why does the author,

Luke or whoever it is,

why does the author

put this in here?

I mean,

it doesn't add anything

to the story

other than maybe

a little bit of tension.

Why is it in the story?

I think the best answer

is this,

because it really happened.

If somebody is making

the story up,

why would they write that?

It doesn't add anything

to their story.

The reason that it's

in the story

is because whoever

the witnesses were

that saw this,

saw this happen.

Okay,

does that make any sense?

It's just a sidebar

to say we can trust

the arbitrary nature

of Scripture sometimes.

If someone was making

this stuff up,

they wouldn't put

these things in.

Okay,

coming back.

So Jesus is writing

to his finger in the dust.

The religious leaders,

they're just on

a one-track mind,

and they carry on

because verse 7 says,

they continue to ask him,

what should we do?

Jesus says this,

let him who is without sin

among you

be the first

to throw a stone at her.

Notice the heart

of Jesus here.

Jesus says,

these incredible words,

and I can imagine

the lady,

she's lying on the ground,

and she feels the rope

that maybe has tied

her slacken.

She hears and feels

the thud of these rocks

hitting the ground.

First one,

two,

and then a whole heap

as she sees these men,

her accusers,

slowly drift away.

And Jesus looks up

and he says,

where are your accusers?

Has no one accused her?

She says,

no.

And Jesus says

these incredible words,

neither do I

condemn you.

Friends,

just consider

how remarkable it is

that the sovereign God,

Oscar led us

in such an amazing prayer earlier.

God immortal,

invisible,

the God only wise,

the sovereign God

of all creation,

the one whom angels

long to sing about,

holy,

holy,

holy,

the one whose scripture

describes as lives

in inapproachable light,

the God that created

the world,

who has never

once for one second

in all creation

ever sinned

or ever

had an immoral thought.

This perfect

God of creation

looks at this lady

who has just been caught

in the act of adultery

and says to her,

I do not condemn you.

John Stott says

that this miracle

is greater than

all the miracles

in the whole of the Old Testament.

Jesus turning water

into wine,

Jesus walking

on a storm-tossed sea,

Jesus healing

a dead,

dying boy

with a simple word,

Jesus feeding

5,000 men

and more

with a snack lunch.

All the miracles

combined and together

come nothing close

to the simple words

of Jesus

that says,

I do not condemn you.

John Stott goes on

to say,

in this sentence

and in the heart

of mercy

which lay behind it

is all our hope

and all our salvation

forever.

Friends,

what glorious words.

Most of us will know

the famous words

of John 3, 16.

The most famous words

in the Bible, right?

For God so loved the world

that He gave His only begotten Son

that whoever should believe in Him

will not perish

but have eternal life.

But John 3 goes on

to say then,

verse 17,

for God did not send

His Son into the world

to condemn the world

but in order

that the world

might be saved

through Him.

Friends,

Jesus Christ did not

come into the world

with a clipboard

to grade your moral performance.

Jesus did not come

with a grading sheet

to see how well

you measure up

according to

the standard,

the IV standard

of heaven.

Jesus comes

that we might be saved

to Him.

Yes,

it's true

that if we will not

name our sin,

Jesus will do that.

That is true.

But Jesus does this

in order that we might

be set free,

in order that we might

own our sin

and be saved through Him.

Neither do I condemn you.

In this sentence

and in the heart of mercy

which lay behind it

is all our hope

and all our salvation

forever.

Now when Jesus says,

neither do I condemn you,

Jesus does not say this

for the same reasons

that the religious leaders

abandon their condemnation.

Right?

They also walk out

and they abandon

their condemnation.

They give up

on their condemnation

not because of their compassion

but because of their hypocrisy

as being exposed.

Because they're confronted

by their own sinfulness.

Jesus' lack of condemnation

does not come from

His guilt

or His conscience

or His modern view

of tolerance.

It comes from

His abundant heart

of tenderness

and compassion

and His grace

towards sinners

like us.

Friends,

over the last five weeks

we have touched

on many deep

and intimate

and painful areas

of our lives.

We've asked the question

about what do we do

with our bodies

and how do we

honor Christ

rather than

selling our bodies

in the pursuit of sin.

And as we said,

for most of us

these aren't just theories.

These aren't just

theological ideas.

This is reality.

This is pain.

This is the shame

that we carry

in our lives.

These are very real struggles

that many of us

grapple with

in our day-to-day reality.

For some of us

it's grappling

with same-sex attraction.

For some of us

it's gender dysphoria.

Friends,

for some of us here

maybe you fell pregnant

and you couldn't live

with the shame of that

and so you've terminated

that life inside of you

and now you live

with the reality of that.

Friends,

for some of us

we've been unfaithful

to our spouses

and for the rest of our lives

we'll live with the reality

of that.

Friends,

for some of us

it's the addiction of porn

that feels like a rope

around our neck.

And the truth is that

all of us have compromised.

All of us have

made sacrifices

and probably all of us here

have felt

the hurt and the pain

of those,

of others towards us.

All of us are both

sinners and sufferers.

And what that means,

what Jesus wants us to see

is that no matter

what your past,

no matter

what you've done,

no matter how tarnished

your past,

no matter how you

stained your track record

it is,

no matter how disastrous

your sin,

no matter how radical

you've sinned,

the radical compassion

of Christ towards you

is able to cover

the most devastating

track record

and past of your life.

Friends,

there is nothing

thank you,

Elodie.

Elodie agrees.

Thank you.

There is nothing

in all the world

that you can do

that will disqualify you

from the compassion

of Christ your maker.

Jesus Christ looks you

and I in the eye

and he says,

if you're willing

to own your sin,

if you're not going

to hide it like the Pharisees,

if you're willing

to own it,

neither do I condemn you.

Friends,

if that is not good news,

I don't know what is.

A little while ago,

a friend of mine

or someone very dear

to me said this.

He said,

the great vaults

of Christ's redemption

and healing

turn on the very small

hinges of repentance.

Friends,

there are vaults

of redemption

and healing

that are more valuable

and more precious

than all the diamond fields

of Russia

and Namibia,

the gold mines

of wherever,

the great vaults

of Swiss bank accounts.

There are vaults

of redemption

and healing

and it's accessible

to every single one of us.

This is the heart of Jesus.

There is nothing,

nothing

that you can do

that will out-sin

Christ's compassion

and tenderness for you.

And so as we talk

about these things

and as we carry the pain

and the shame

of our lives,

friends,

you are not disqualified.

Jesus moves towards us.

The heart of Jesus.

Secondly,

the work of Jesus.

Now,

when Jesus says,

I do not condemn you,

Jesus is not just

being loose

and easy

with God's call

for holiness.

Jesus is not just

being modern

and tolerant.

Typically,

when we are confronted

with sin in our lives,

there's typically

two ways to handle it.

The traditional

or the religious way

of handling it,

maybe the moralistic

way of handling it,

is through self-atonement,

through our moral performance.

So we try and perform

or merit our way

towards God's forgiveness.

We think,

if I can do enough,

if I can serve enough,

if I can give enough,

if I can do enough stuff,

God will be pleased with me

and I'll earn my way

into His good books.

The problem is

that as we've already seen,

that leads to either

self-righteousness

and pride when we do it

or failure and despair

when we don't.

The other way of doing it

is the more modern way

of doing it,

the relative,

the way of tolerance,

which is to say,

hang on,

who says that's sin anyway?

We're all sinners.

Who are you to say

what's right or wrong?

Who are you to judge me?

What's right for you

may not be right for me.

What's right for me

may not be right for you.

So we just relativize it.

But the problem is

that if we downplay

or re-relativize sin,

we don't actually deal

with the reality of it.

And so for instance,

you can say,

oh well,

you know,

who's to judge,

who's to say

what's right and wrong anyway?

But try and say that

to somebody

whose child

has just been

sexually molested.

You can't just say,

oh well,

you know,

we live in a modern age

and everyone's doing it

these days

and who's to say

what's right or wrong anyway?

Relativizing sin

doesn't deal with the pain

and the agony

and the anguish.

It doesn't set us free.

Jesus Christ

doesn't do either

of these things.

Jesus doesn't say

like modern culture,

well,

no one's perfect,

everyone's doing it.

Just as long as

you have good intentions,

I'm sure you didn't mean

to harm anyone.

But Jesus also doesn't

like traditional culture

say,

right,

go to the temple

and earn your forgiveness.

Go offer the sacrifices,

do this,

pray 10 times a day

and then you'll be forgiven.

Jesus does something

altogether different.

Jesus comes

and he invites her

to experience

his forgiveness.

Jesus is serious

about sin.

He's realistic

about the fact

that she's an adulterer.

He's realistic

about the deadly

consequences of sin.

Jesus Christ,

the Son of God,

in no way

undermines

or diminishes

the rightness

of God's holy commands.

He's not downplaying

the seriousness of sin.

He calls her actions

for what it is.

Her guilt is real.

But then he says,

I do not condemn you.

Now how does Jesus

do that?

Why does Jesus say,

I do not condemn you?

Well,

the one reason

we already looked at

is because of his

unbelievable compassion,

his tenderness.

But the other reason

is this.

Because Jesus

is going to take

her guilt

upon

himself.

friends,

it's not only

the compassion

of Jesus,

it's the sacrifice

of Jesus.

You see,

compassion is wonderful

and compassion

is amazing.

But compassion

doesn't bring

about justice.

Compassion

doesn't justify

God's righteous law.

people.

The reason

Jesus could say

those words

and the reason

Jesus could say

those words

to us

is because

in a few short

days after saying

this,

Jesus Christ

would go to the

cross

and he would

take her

condemnation,

he would take

our condemnation

upon himself.

Friends,

God fully intended

for the sin of

adultery to be

punished to the

full extent

that his

righteousness

and his

justice

demanded.

And yet it was

just that she

would not bear

the condemnation

of herself.

Jesus Christ,

the only sinless

man,

the one man

in history

who rightly

could condemn

her,

does not condemn

her because

Jesus takes

the condemnation

upon himself.

Jesus says

you are guilty

but you're not

condemned

because Jesus

who is not

guilty

will himself

be condemned.

Jesus will

allow himself

to be condemned

in her place

so that all

those who

hope in him

and trust in him

though guilty

can go free.

Friends,

remember the words

of Isaiah 53?

Isaiah the prophet

writes about this

coming suffering

servant,

the one who will

one day go to

the cross

and he writes

about him

and says

he will be

wounded for

our transgressions.

He will be

crushed for

our iniquities.

Upon him

will be placed

the punishment

that will bring

us peace

and with his

stripes we will

be healed

and we all

like sheep

have gone

astray.

We have

turned away

every one

of us

his own

way

but the

Lord

has laid

upon him

the sin

of us

all.

Friends,

when Jesus

speaks these

stunning words

and says

I do not

condemn you

it's not just

because of the

abundance of

his niceness

it's not just

because Jesus

is a lovely

old grandfather

it's not just

because Jesus

is overly nice

or avoiding

conflict

it's because

in a few

short days

he's going

to go

to Calvary

and the

condemnation

that she

deserves

and that we

deserve

will be

placed upon

him

so that we

can go

free.

Friends,

the heart

of compassion

of Jesus

the work

of Jesus

on the cross

but then

thirdly

and finally

the appeal

of Jesus.

look at

verse 10

and 11

with me.

Jesus

stands up

and he

says to her

woman

where are

your accusers

has no one

condemned you?

She says

no one

Lord.

Jesus

says

well neither

do I

condemn you.

Go and

from now

on

sin

no more.

I meant

to say

this earlier

but notice

the order

Jesus does

not say

go and

sin

no more

and then

you will

not be

condemned.

That's how

every religion

in the world

operates.

It's how

every moral

philosophy

in the world

operates.

Do the

right thing

earn your

stripes

meet the

grade

you will

not be

condemned.

Jesus

doesn't say

go and

sin no more

and if

you're good

enough

for the

next six

months

you will

not be

condemned.

Jesus

says

you are

set free

now go

and sin

no more.

having

flooded

her

with

grace

Jesus

now

calls

her

to

a

life

of

obedience

and

Jesus

is

not

just

pronouncing

forgiveness

on her

he's

calling

her

out

of

darkness

and

into

light

he's

calling

her

out

of

death

and

into

life

when

Jesus

calls

us

to

forsake

sin

he's

not

calling

to

minimize

our

joy

he's

wanting

to

maximize

our

joy

look

at

verse

12

with

me

Jesus

says

I

am

the

light

of

the

world

whoever

follows

me

will

not

walk

in

darkness

but

will

have

the

light

of

life

Jesus

is

not

just

saying

okay

we've

dealt

with

your

past

okay

all

the

best

to

you

Jesus

saying

you

are

not

condemned

now

walk

out

of

darkness

and

come

and

walk

in

the

light

walk

out

of

death

and

come

to

find

life

in

John's

gospel

whenever

John

uses

the

word

life

he's

not

just

talking

about

breathing

as

opposed

to

not

breathing

he's

not

just

talking

about

eternal

life

after

we

die

he's

talking

about

heaven

invading

our

lives

now

he's

talking

about

the

fullness

of

life

remember

John

John 10:10

10

verse

10

I've

come

that

you

might

have

life

and

life

in

the

full

life

to

abundance

Jesus

says

whoever

follows

me

will

no

longer

walk

in

darkness

but

will

have

the

light

life

and

says

come

and

walk

with

me

come

and

experience

fullness

of

life

follow

me

what

he's

saying

is

leave

behind

your

shame

leave

behind

the

darkness

he's

saying

come

and

find

peace

come

and

find

fullness

of

joy

come

and

experience

the

security

and

the

identity

that

you

long

for

Jesus

grace

calls

us

out

of

darkness

and

into

light

and

friends

it's

important

for us

to

note

that

sin

has

such

a

profound

effect

on

us

it's

able

to

wound

us

so

deeply

sin

is

really

serious

that's

why

Jesus

calls

us

to

repentance

but

in

calling

us

to

repentance

Jesus

is

not

laying

us

with

guilt

and

shame

he's

calling

us

to

freedom

and

life

Jesus

calling

us

to

walk

in

light

and

in

life

and

so

Jesus

says

to

her

where

are

they

has

no

one

condemned

you

neither

do

I

sin

no

more

now

what

does

all

this

mean

how

do

we

apply

this

to

our