When Life Becomes a Courtroom - John 8:1-11

Good morning, everyone. Hey, you're loud.

I like it. Well, my name is Nate.

I am one of the teaching pastors here at RES, and I also serve as

the creative director. And happy Father's Day to the

dads out there. I'm a, yeah, been a dad for

almost five years. And this morning I was given a

beautiful Father's Day gift. My son got into our bed last

night and he, you know, to, to snuggle, you know, But it was

11:00 PM. So I was gifted with a barrage

of tiny kicks to my lower back for the duration of the evening.

And so the first, first service I started, I forgot to say my

name. I was just so tired.

I'm like, what's up? I'm Nate or something.

And so happy Father's Day. I'm full of energy now and I'm

ready to go. And we just finished up a series

called Sound Mind, and I really enjoyed that.

Did you guys like that? Mental health?

It was really cool, really good. I'm hoping to do it again, but

we're starting a new series today.

We're jumping back in the book of John, and our sermon series

is called. But now I see.

And I want to kick this off with a fun story about Nate when he

was about 1819 years old and I had gotten involved in a youth

group, specifically young adults.

You know, when you graduate from youth group, they're like, well,

I guess you're a leader now because, you know, you're too

old, but they want you to stay. I don't know.

So I became a leader and we did this thing called a drama tour

and it was basically a bunch of us youngsters.

We would get in a caravan and go up and down the West Coast and

we would go to churches and high schools.

And sometimes we just like set up out in public.

And we would do these presentations, which were a

combination of we did worship music and there was some some

preaching and we did something called human videos.

Do you guys know what human videos are?

Literally no one has heard us. You know what?

I figured it out. I come from Assemblies of God

background, which is more like charismatic, and I think that's

why you guys don't know what this is.

Let me explain it to you. It's really cool, trust me.

It's basically you pick a song, like a Christian song and all of

us act out. All of us humans act out the

song and create a human video. It's really cool.

So we did a bunch of human videos, and one of those human

videos was a court. It was based on a song called

The Courtroom. This is going to be a big fat no

as well by an artist known as Carmen.

Do you guys know who? Oh, this is a Carmen audience.

That handsome devil right there, that's Carmen.

So if you don't know who Carmen is, it's this person.

And he did like kind of, it was like kids music, right?

It was like kids music, but it was like cool.

At least our parents thought so. And he would do these really

elaborate, actually really well done music videos.

You're nodding your head. You've been changed by Carmen.

And so his song was called the courtroom.

Now, the courtroom was, you know, it's a courtroom and you

need to cast the part of God, the judge or the person who has

brought forth in the courtroom, the Sinner and the part of the

prosecution lawyer, which was Satan.

So when it was time to cast that, no joke, you guys already

know where this is going. The pastor, youth pastor was

like, all right, who should be Satan?

And no joke, all of them turned around to me sitting back in the

22nd row wearing all black, you know, like, and they're like,

Nate should be Satan. Nate would be the perfect Satan

to their defense. I did have I used to wear

eyeliner. I had black fingernail Polish,

all the things I had blue hair at that time.

And so it's very, you know, Satan like I guess so it's Satan

wears evidently. So I I got the part and I

graciously accepted, yes, I'll be Satan.

And I wore a red blazer and I took it.

I'm a method actor. So I took it very seriously.

And one of the performances was in the Bay Area.

It was at a high school and it was in the gym full of high

schoolers and gym floors. If you've ever been on one,

sometimes they can be a little slick.

And there's a part in my amazing performance where I would jump

up onto a folding table with all like the papers, you know, like

the evidence and then throw them and then like jump off the table

and be like whatever. And so I'm, I'm getting ready to

do this signature move and I jump up on the table and as I go

to jump, the table slips and it flips up on its side.

And at the same time I go and I go up on my bat like a Creed

music video. I'm like, it's taking me higher

and I'm like parallel to the ground.

And I just literally fall right on the edge of the table on my

back, dude. And that's the sound they made.

And that's this other sound they made.

So I fall down and and I get and I'm the song's just going, you

know, people are still. So I get up and I'm like, you're

going to hell. Still kind of walk it off.

Make sure you know, I'm not paralyzed, OK?

Feels good. And no joke, I still have a like

a knot in my lower back to this day from that.

It's pretty crazy. And ironically, during that

human video about the courtroom, that gym had become a courtroom

because I was being judged so hard in that moment, I was so

embarrassed just being out on display.

Has anyone felt like that before?

Like everyone knows your business and you're just out

there and you're like, OK, it's me.

Well, that's exactly where the woman in today's story finds

herself. She is dragged into the centre

of a crowd, She's exposed and she's being judged.

But the difference is, although she didn't know it at the time,

she had a defender. And so do you.

And in our text today, the religious leaders, they dragged

this woman caught in the act of adultery into a very public

courtroom, throw her before Jesus.

And what happens next is an absolute scandal.

So if you have your Bible or you got a phone, we're going to be

in John chapter 8, verses one through 11, John eight, one

John 8 · chapter mention

through 11. Let's read that together.

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 women.

So what do you say? This they said to test him, that

they might have some charge to bring against Him.

But Jesus bent down, and he wrote with 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 again he bent down, and he wrote on the ground.

But when they heard it, they went away 1 by 1, beginning with

the older ones. And Jesus was left alone with

the woman staying before him. And Jesus stood up and said to

our 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.

So what do we do when our life becomes a courtroom?

Well, sometimes in that courtroom, you're the woman

caught in adultery. You're the person caught in sin.

You're exposed. What do you do?

You trust your defender. You have a defender and he is a

defender you can trust. But other times you're one of

the Pharisees and you have the rock and you're ready to go and

you you're ready to judge this person.

What can you do in this opportunity?

What can you do in this situation?

Well, in these situations, you have the opportunity to become a

defence attorney for someone else.

And in both of these instances, both, both of these people need

to go before the judge. Now, the story starts off in

verse one with Jesus teaching. And if you combine the Greek

word for teacher and the Aramaic rabbi, Jesus is referred to as a

teacher approximately 59 times in the New Testament.

And although we talk a lot about his miracles, Jesus is primarily

known as a teacher. I mean, do you ever wonder why

we get up here and do this? Like when you get up early and

you get the free coffee and you sit there and then some guy

talks about Carmen and he's like, yeah.

And he's. Do you ever wonder why we

actually do that? I mean, simple explanation is

because that's what Jesus did, he taught.

I mean, all these things we do are the props, the sometimes we

bring a backpack or a quilt. One time I brought a a pot with

macaroni, if you remember that. But why do we do all that?

It's just all an attempt to get you to walk away with more

knowledge, more experience, and more spiritual maturity in the

teachings of Jesus. And the older I get, the more I

realize that spiritual maturity happens mostly in the mundane,

not the miracles maturity. It happens every day.

It's in the consistent things, the consistent time in prayer,

the consistent time in the teachings of Jesus.

And that's where the Pharisees and scribes found him this day.

And he was doing what he did the most, He was teaching.

Verse 3 picks it up and it says the scribes and Pharisees

brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, 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 women.

So what do you say? And this they said to test him,

that they might have some charge to bring against him.

So First off, if you're newer to church and you don't know what a

scribe or a Pharisee is really quick.

The scribes, we're the legal experts.

They were scholars in the law of Moses.

So they were most likely lawyers.

The Pharisees, they were the religious, they were the cold,

they were the rigid, but they were deeply committed to

upholding God's commands. And now they've drugged this

woman out in front of the crowd, the crowd that Jesus was

teaching. She was probably not completely

dressed because it says that they caught her in the act.

So she's ashamed and they throw her down before Jesus and court

was now in session. Before we go any further, I do

have a few questions about this scenario.

Like, if you actually think about this, one of my questions

is how did you guys catch her? How did you know where she would

be? Typically, these things are done

in secrecy, so how did you know where she would be?

I mean, were you guys all there? That's weird.

That's fishy. I have another question.

It's a big question. Where's the dude?

Yeah, right. Who cares?

Where's the dude? The law says.

Well, the Pharisees say, hey, it's it's we need to stone such

women. But what the law actually says

is you're supposed to stone the man and the woman.

Two people. So where's the man?

These things usually take two people.

OK, biology or whatever. So what is the simplest

explanation here? You ever heard the term Occam's

Razor before? Yeah, it's cool.

I like to use Occam's Razor a lot in situations.

But basically, if you don't know, Occam's Razor is a

principle often attributed to 14th century Friar William of

Occam that says if you have two competing ideas to explain the

same phenomenon, you should prefer the simpler 1.

The simplest explanation is often the correct 1.

So what is Nate's razor? Well, I think, and don't add

this to your Bible, which is just what I think.

I think they set her up with one of the Pharisees.

That's what I think. That's why they didn't bring the

man because he was one of them. And that's how they knew where

to find her because he was one of them.

And I would not be surprised if they compromised their moral

code just to trap Jesus. And Jesus threatened, if you

think about it, he threatened their religious system, which

ultimately means he threatened their power.

People don't like that. Perhaps in this situation, in

their minds, the means would justify the end.

And it really reveals their ulterior motive because if they

actually wanted justice, like they said, they would have

brought both of them. But they did it.

It just brought the woman. They did this simply to use her

as bait in a trap set for Jesus. So what's the trap?

Jesus is sort of stuck between a rock and a hard place here.

Did you? Yeah.

Sorry. It's a dad joke.

It's Father's Day, I'm going to do all the dad jokes.

Jesus was in a tough position here.

If he said, all right, guys, let's rock, let's stone her, it

would do three things. Number 1, he would contradict

his own teachings about mercy, forgiveness, and compassion.

OK #2 he would appear harsh and unloving to the people who saw

him as merciful. If he was like, let's stone

this, this lady and #3 he would also run afoul of Roman law

because Roman, the Romans had restricted Jewish authority from

carrying out capital punishment. OK, now if he says, well, hold

up, let's just show some grace here.

Let's how about we don't stone her?

That would have done a few things.

Number 1, he would now appear to contradict or dismiss the law of

Moses, which clearly commanded death for adultery #2 the

Pharisees could accuse him of being a false teacher who

undermines God's law. They love that.

And #3 they could claim he was leading people away from

obedience to scripture. So what the heck does Jesus do?

What he doesn't do is he doesn't engage in their catch 22

situation and he doesn't get caught up in their religious

rhetoric. He simply takes action.

See, the Pharisees made a huge mistake here.

They expected Jesus to be her prosecutor, but he was actually

her defender. And if you find yourself maybe

today, maybe in your life currently, you are the person

caught in sin, I want to tell you that you can trust your

defender. You have a defender.

He's a defender you can trust. Let me show you why.

He goes on to say that Jesus bent down and wrote with 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 then once more he bent down

and he wrote on the ground. You can trust Jesus as your

defender because he gets his hands dirty.

When my car, the beautiful silver Corolla is there's

something wrong with it never happens, by the way.

But if something were to happen wrong with it and I went to a

mechanic or I asked the guy, Hey, do you know anything about

cars? Can you help me?

He's like, sure, I could help you.

I'm great with cars and he's got beautiful, clean, dainty hands.

No, that's like me, like I don't know.

But if I go to the guy and say, Hey, my car needs fixed, do you

know anything about cars? He's like, of course I do.

And his hands are disgusting. And he's got the kind of, you

know, like the dirt that just it doesn't you can't get it out.

It's just there forever and you're and his hands are all

rough. That's the guy I want working on

my car because I know that guy gets his hands dirty.

He means what he says. That's why you can trust Jesus.

He doesn't condemn her. He goes right into action and

comes to her defense. Have you, have you ever

experienced that in your life where I mean, you messed up

really bad, you got yourself into some trouble and you went

to a person and they could probably say, hey, you're an

idiot man, and they could condemn you and they can do all

that stuff. But they didn't, and they lead

with love. Have you ever experienced that

in your life? I have.

When I was in my early 20s, I had a decently paying job and I

was single, which means I was really dumb with my money and I

had no savings. And I I had, I had a lot of

money, but not in the bank. I just had a lot of cool stuff

in my apartment and my roommate one time wrote me a bad check.

So when I, I went and, you know, cashed the check and went on

with my life and I got like these notifications that I was

severely overdrawn. And because of that, there was a

overdraft fee. And because of the overdraft

fee, there was a another fee, you know, and then because of

that, there's a three fee effect that comes in when you have

three fees. They had another fee.

And so I had all these fees, said the word fee a lot there.

But the point is I had like negative like $1000 or

something. It was crazy.

And So what do I do? So I called my dad and it's

like, dad, I got myself some trouble, wasn't super smart with

my money. And now I'm like in the hole,

what do I do? And he could have been like,

Nate, you're an idiot. I taught you better than that.

But he didn't. He's like, well, we both were at

the same bank. He's like, you know what?

I know a guy. Oh, OK.

Do you ever you know a guy who like knows a guy?

I love those guys. They know guys.

Like my dad was AI know a guy guy.

Everywhere we went, we could be in a different city hours away

from we lived, and there'd be a guy at the bus station like, is

that Bill Parrish? What's up?

And we're at Disneyland one time and some random person is like

Bill Parish, what's up? And he's like, and I was like,

how do you know that guy's like, oh, he's a guy.

We I know a guy I don't know. And so he knew a guy at the bank

and he went to the bank and then he called me the next day and

said, all right, Nate took care of it.

You're good. What does that mean?

And he's like, I went and talked to my friend at the bank, told

him your situation and said, Hey, can you help my son out?

You know, he's kind of dumb and you help them out.

And they said, yeah, sure, we'll reverse all the fees and put

them back at 0. Awesome.

This is why you can trust Jesus as your defender, because he

doesn't defend you from a distance.

My dad went to the bank. You know, he didn't just call

them. He got in the car.

He drove down there. He walked in, He sat across from

his friend. He put his reputation on the

line for me. And that's exactly, exactly what

Jesus does for you. He doesn't defend from heaven's

throne. He came down, he put on human

flesh and he got his hands dirty with our mess.

So in this story, he, you know, they're, they're bringing all

these accusations. You know, it's funny because he

doesn't even address their accusations.

I just imagined them talking, you know, they're just yapping

at Jesus and he doesn't even address our accusation.

He just gets to doodling, OK, and just starts, just starts

writing. Now, we don't know what he

wrote. No one knows what he wrote.

Doesn't say. Of course I got to have a theory

here. I have a theory.

OK, Nate's racer, I think, I think it was something like

this. He starts writing and then you

have the two Pharisees. You have Pharisee Carl and

Pharisee Steve or whatever. Sorry, Pastor Steve is not

personal, but so Carl's like, what are you going to do?

Jesus, You're going to stone her.

We're not going to stone her. What are you going to do with is

he writing in the what is he doing?

What's he writing there? Steve, can you see it?

It says Cynthia. What the heck is Cynthia?

And, and Steve's like starting to sweat.

Don't you know a girl named Cynthia?

I mean, she's not your wife, but she like, and then Carl's like,

you know what, turns out I'm late for like a Pharisee thing.

So you guys decide you're going to Stoner or whatever and just,

I think Jesus started writing the commandments that they had

broken in the dirt. Now we don't know.

It's actually not important what he wrote.

What's important is who wrote it?

The text says that he wrote with his finger.

Now Jesus was God in human flesh.

That makes this finger the finger of God.

Why is this significant? Well, in Exodus 31 there's a

story about Moses getting the 10 commandments right.

The 10 commandments are the stone tablets.

The the laws were written on the stone tablets with the finger of

God. So the same hands that wrote the

law on the stone tablets are now riding in the dirt, showing

mercy to lawbreakers just like us.

And Jesus did this a lot in his earthly ministry.

He, he got his hands dirty a lot.

We read about him washing the disciples feet.

That's not just like, oh, take your shoes and socks off and

I'll wash your feet. This is like gross.

They all wore, you know, flip flops or whatever.

They're walking everywhere, dirt, you know, think of all the

other gross stuff that they're walking in and Jesus washes

their feet. Should be the other way around

because the servant is the one that washes the feet.

But Jesus is a king who comes and serves us and he gets his

hands dirty. He washes their feet.

He also worked as a Carpenter. So you know the guy I was

talking about with like the rough hands that knows what he's

doing, That was also Jesus. So Jesus is not unfamiliar with

hard work in the plight of the blue collar worker.

He also healed through touch. He healed the leper with his

hands. Now, I don't know if you know

about leprosy, but it's not something that you want to put

your hands on, OK? It was actually considered

unclean and if you touched them, you were defiled.

But Jesus touched him anyways. There's also a story where

there's a blind man and he's asking for healing, so Jesus

heals him. And he could have just been

like, you're not blind and he's healed what he does and says.

He gets dirt, spits in it, makes mud and puts it on the dude's

eyes. And it's like, go wash that off

and you'll be able to see kind of weird, kind of weird.

But it's just another example of Jesus getting his hands dirty.

He doesn't defend us from a distance.

He gets in our mess. Now, whatever Jesus actually

wrote, whether it was Cynthia or whatever, one by one they they

all start. I'm sorry if there's anyone

named Cynthia in here. I, it was like the only name

that popped into my brain right now.

I didn't use a name for services.

Like I don't want to be offensive, but I'm sorry.

One by one they start leaving, starting with the oldest.

I think the oldest left first because they've just lived

longer and they've done more bad stuff.

So they end up all walking away. It says in verse 9.

But when they heard it, they went away 1 by 1 beginning with

the older ones. And Jesus was left alone with

the woman standing before him. And 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

neither do I condemn you. Go.

And from now on sin no more. Some of you currently right now

sitting in this room, you're the woman caught.

You're the man caught. Just being direct.

Stop hiding. Stop hiding.

Practically speaking, I'm talking.

You need to tell someone. You need to talk to someone.

Ask God to show you a person in your mind you need to talk to.

Maybe you already know that person.

I'm giving you permission right now to text in church.

I'm not even going to get you in trouble and text that person,

say, hey, I really messed up, can we talk?

Can you get coffee? If you want to talk to me, I'll

be at Smitten tomorrow at 7:00 AM.

OK? If you know me, you know where

to find me. OK?

Talk to someone. You don't need to hide.

You can enter that courtroom of confession because your defender

is already there. Go before the judge.

Talk to someone and go before the judge.

God pray, ask for forgiveness. You can do that because Jesus

made a way. You don't need to hide.

He already paid the price for your forgiveness.

Sin has a way of compounding interest when you leave it

unchecked, when you don't show up for your court date, as it

were, you start getting those fees right.

There's a time when me and Rachel, we were had just been

married not very long and we were super poor and we would

take these trips to the Bay Area and the carpool lane in the Bay

Area is 3 or more people here. It's two right the heck.

So I got in there to to to do it and there's like, oh, it says 3

and I got out and it would took like the cop was like waiting

and he like pulled me over. You know, you were in the car

and I know, dude, I'm not from here.

And so he gave me the ticket, but it wasn't like the real

ticket. He was they were going to mail

me the real ticket. So months went by and I sort of

forgot and I was like, I guess he just let me go.

I guess I just charmed him. So am I say he let me go?

How nice of him. Instead though, I got another

letter in the mail and I was like, this is official looking

and it said that I owed like, I want to say I don't remember.

I want to say it was like between 700 and $1000 or

something crazy like that because evidently I had missed a

court date. What?

And so I thought, legitimately thought it was a scam, like this

is a scam. It's not real because that cop

wouldn't do that to me. So I called the number and said,

hey, hey, I'm just calling about the scam.

Yeah, you guys got me. Ha ha, ha, ha.

It's not real, right? She's like, oh, it's real.

It's very real, Mr. Parrish, Like, well, what happened?

Like, well, we sent you a ticket.

We sent it to your address. I was like, that's not my

address and I live there. She's like, oh, yeah, sorry.

Any who you missed the court date.

So now you owe this much money or you're going to be in

trouble. And so I we had like, we didn't

have this much money, you know, we had like this much money.

So I had to do something really difficult.

My dad had passed away maybe a year before that and he left me

a bunch of jewellery and this didn't occur to me until last

night but so I was going to wear his ring today.

This is all I have left but I'm not a ring guy.

I'm not sure how I feel about it.

What do you guys think? Going to punch someone in the

face with it? It's stuck so it doesn't matter,

but I wanted to wear this ring. And then it occurred to me as

like my dad, even even from beyond is still saving my butt

because I took his jewelry and I and I, I had to sell his jewelry

in the pawn guy. The pawn store guy was like, why

is this dude crying? What the heck?

And so but I kept this and a few other little things.

But the point is, and I missed my court date.

But the longer you stay in sin, it just compounds interest.

So if you have a court date and let's just say today's your

court date, we're going to call it today your court date, go

before the judge. Don't let that sin.

Emulate because it has ripple. Effects It affects more than

just you. The longer you stay and sin the.

Bigger the consequence now. Some of you might be thinking.

In this story. Well, that's awesome.

This whole story is very convenient, right?

The woman caught in adultery and she she broke the law, Nate.

Yeah, she did. She she was doing it.

She was sinning. She she did break the law.

OK, But she just gets to walk away.

Where's the justice? And that's.

Honestly, a fair. Question.

That's a fair question. But here's what I learned.

Is that Jesus didn't eliminate consequences.

He eliminated condemnation. There's a difference.

Sin has real effects. Your choices, positive or

negative, are going to have effects.

But she didn't have. To face the ultimate

consequence, which was separation from God.

That's what Jesus took on himself.

And I really appreciate that. I really appreciate that The

grace Jesus gives to us is not cheap.

It's not a throwaway thing. He paid a big price for that.

He paid his life for that. And now as a Christian.

Myself, I've been a Christian for a while.

Maybe you're in here. You've been a Christian for a

while. It's, it's, it's a little easier

for us seasoned Saints to become Pharisees, you know, because the

longer you're like, well, I start to, you know, I don't sin

that much anymore. And I do this.

And, and then you see someone else who's like really messed

up, like, oh, stone them, you know, let's stone them.

Believe it or not, that's that's pretty easy to do.

But if you if you, it happens when you forget the grace you

were given. Because that grace you were

given? Gives you the opportunity to

become a defence attorney for someone else now if you're

finding. Yourself.

And in the position of the Pharisee, maybe you're not the

woman caught, but you're the Pharisee.

You have an opportunity because of this grace to become a

defence attorney for someone else.

So what? Does that look like well?

Simply put, if you look at the order of Jesus's confrontation

in this story, it's significant. Jesus leads with compassion, and

then he. Leaves.

Us with with truth he leads with compassion and leaves us with

truth in that order and that's important and that's intentional

when I. Was getting into.

Church again in in my early 20s and there was a friend of mine

who is a youth pastor and, you know, I'm like this tattooed guy

where I play guitar and it's kind of a mess and he's like,

well, how about you join the worship team and you know, we

can, we can help you, OK And join the worship.

I had no business being in this worship team, you know, And I

remember there was a night where I had this, I was in this really

unhealthy relationship and I knew it was wrong, but I just

couldn't like get out of. It or didn't want to get.

I wasn't. I wasn't brave.

Enough. To get out of it, right.

And so after practice one night, I felt like I just got to talk

to Kenny about this. His name's Kenny.

What's up, Kenny? Thanks, buddy.

So yeah, he's like, how's it going, Nate?

I'm like, it's good, except for super bad.

This is going on. And he's like, oh, and I

remember this visually because it, it stuck out to me, but

it's, it makes sense now as I'm sitting in my car and Kenny,

like, kneels down like, so we're like level.

I was like, whoa. I was like Jesus, I was like,

what happened, you know, And I just started talking to him and

he was very loving and very compassionate.

He didn't judge me. He wasn't like you did that

under my. Leadership.

Stone. Him.

Let's Stone, Nate. He didn't do that.

He's like, tell me. About it.

And as I'm talking, you know, I'm, I'm more comfortable

because I'm like this guy. I could trust him, right?

He's getting his hands dirty with me.

I can trust this guy and I spill my guts.

And then after that, you know, he just, he looks for, he waits

for the opportunity and he's like, well, sounds like you need

to end this relationship, mate. I'm like, yeah, totally.

He's like, well, how are we going to do it?

And so he's like helping me through it.

Perfect example of a person who leads with compassion and leaves

us with truth. And that's what Jesus did.

And that's what you could do instead of being a Pharisee,

That's what I could do. I tend to be more of probably

more of a Pharisee in this situation.

That's what we can do. We can become a defence attorney

for someone else. So when someone confides in you

with their sin, you ask, how can I help?

How can I get my hands dirty in this situation?

And then where can I speak truth?

Because at some point we will all be one of these two people

sometimes. We're both and.

That's really complicated, but you will find yourself in one of

these two places at some point in your life.

And here's the thing, both the adulterer and the Pharisee find

forgiveness in the same place. Because don't you know, don't

let this slip here. The Pharisee's in the wrong too.

Those guys were in the wrong just like she was.

They both find forgiveness in the same place.

Before the judge, you got to go. Before the judge now.

I've started this message off with a really cool story about

me being in a human video. Now you guys all know what human

videos are. You're welcome.

And years later, I actually got to meet Carmen.

I think you have a fabulous picture I can show you.

Boom. Now look at the joy on my.

Face, it's just I. Mean that is a.

Sincere smile. Beautiful.

So that was 20/17/2018 ish. And the radio station, my buddy

Matt Pelischek, he gave me tickets.

He's like, hey, do you and your wife you want 2 tickets to see

Carmen? I was like, yes.

And we saw Carmen. I was just.

Like sitting there like yeah, do do the one about the courtroom

or whatever. And afterwards we got to meet

Carmen. And it's funny because you know

Danny that plays bass up here. You know Danny, he all know.

Give it up for Danny. So I didn't know Danny at the.

Time but he was doing security right and he was the one that

was like guarding Carmen and so when I got into the front of the

line he goes hey Carmen, that guy plays in Cutlass and I'm not

joking. Carmen goes what?

I love Cutlass. And so.

We we talked for like right, a long time, actually got in

trouble because they're like, what are you guys doing?

We were just like talking about music and like comparing tattoos

and he he had just gotten tattoos, you know, so he's like,

I don't show people, but check it out, you know, and it was so

dude, it was so cool. And so just kind of casually, I

bring up like, man, thank you for doing what you did.

Like he, you know, he was doing his thing in the in the 80s and

he was filling stadiums and doing all that.

And I was like, thank you for doing that.

Because, you know, without guys like you, you know, Cutlass

wouldn't, we wouldn't be where we're at.

And he like starts crying. I know he starts crying.

I was like. And.

It was the most beautiful thing. And he's like, no one's ever

said that to me. I was like, well, people are

stupid, Carmen. And we should stone them.

I was like, well, let me. Be the first.

As a dude that plays in Cutlass, thank you for paving the way,

dude. And it was like this beautiful

thing. And then the someone came over

and they're like, what are you guys doing?

The line is like 1000 years long and you're talking and, and

Carmen's like chill. This is my friend Nate.

And it was great. And he and sadly he passed away

a few years after that. And so I was super stoked.

Yeah. Just going to look at this for a

while. It was really cool.

And when I was putting this message together, that courtroom

song that he did popped into my head.

I don't know why. I mean, it makes sense now, but

that's what popped into my head as I was preparing the sermon.

So I went back. I was like, I should probably

listen to the song. And I haven't listened to it in

like 20 years. And it is a, it's a pretty

cheesy song, I'm not going to lie, you know, but I, I read the

lyrics to this song and wow, they're like, it's like a very

powerful presentation of the gospel in like a creative way,

you know, this courtroom scenario.

So I'm going to actually read you some of these lyrics.

I'm not going to like sing it or do it like Carmen.

I mean, I'll do it a little bit, but not really.

But basically this summarize the first part of the song is you're

in the courtroom of heaven, OK? And you walk in and God the

judges before you, and Satan gets up, jumps up on a table,

doesn't fall, and he does his whole thing.

He lays out his whole case. He talks about all the sins

you've done, all the things you've done.

And God's like, Yep, Yep, Yep, OK, Yep.

And this is where the song picks up.

It says now if it's true. You are standing there in the

courtroom of eternity with God to your front and Satan Nate,

the prosecutor to your left. There's one remaining remaining

eternal truth, one that's crucial to remember, one you

should never, ever, ever forget. Then on the other side of the

courtroom, Dun, Dun, I said, on the other side of the courtroom,

Dun Dun, you ain't hearing me tonight.

I said on the other side of the courtroom, yes, is the one and

only Son of God revealed in time and space, and he's your defense

attorney who has never lost a case.

It's not Buddha, Muhammad or Krishna.

Or any others who succumbed to death.

Ladies and gentlemen, on the other side of the courtroom is

Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Then Jesus jumps up and says

Now. Wait a minute, Judge, I got

something to say. May I remind you that on a cross

2000 years ago, I washed his sins away.

I was crucified. I died.

They put me in a tomb. About the midnight hour, the

power of God hit me and I walked out of that grave alive and well

with resurrection power. Then the devil says it's in the

book, it's written in the book, check the book.

God said, OK, He takes the book out, lays it open.

He says, now we'll see what this book has to say.

Turns to the first page, the second, the third.

By the 4th, the devil seems shook.

God closes it and says the blood of Jesus must have worked

because there's nothing in this book.

And the devil says, wait a minute.

Check that book again. All his sins are written.

They're all right there. God says, devil, Maybe you're

mistaken altogether. Maybe it's this other book down

here and the devil cries. No, not that book, not that one.

I actually remember doing that. So God said, devil, why are you

so uptight? God sets the book down.

The dust flies the cover. It says the Lamb's book of life

that goes on and says your name in that book.

If you've been forgiven and your name is written, then raise your

hands, praise the Lord and the song ends with this court is

adjourned. It's pretty cool, man.

I expect to get like emotional reading that, but it's pretty

cool. Good old Carmen.

But maybe you're here today and you know, you actually don't

know where you're standing is in the courtroom of heaven before

God. I want to.

Tell you that no matter what, you've.

Done. No matter what you're doing, you

can be forgiven because you have a defender.

Your defender is Jesus, and although he lived a sinless

life, he took your sins away, was crucified on the cross,

paying the debt we owed for God, paying the debt we owed to God

for breaking his laws. He rose again.

Three days. Later, for all justification,

you have a defender he gets his hands dirty in.

Fact. He gets his hands bloody.

For us, if you're here today and you don't know Jesus as your

Lord and Savior, you need forgiveness of your sins and you

want to follow Jesus today I'm going to lead us in a prayer.

So if you do me a favour, would everyone bow your heads, close

your eyes? I'm.

Going to say this prayer. And you can repeat after me out

loud if you want. You can repeat quietly to

yourself. But if this is you, I want you

to repeat this prayer after me, Jesus.

I know I am a Sinner who? Cannot save myself.

I want you to save me and adopt me into your family.

Forgive me of my sins. I surrender everything to you.

I receive your promise of forgiveness, adoption, and

eternal life. Jesus will you today.

Be my Lord. If you said that prayer.

With no one else looking around just for me, would you do me a

favor and raise your hands just so I could see it?

Thank you. Amen.

OK, guys can look up if you. Just committed your life to

Jesus. For the very first time, welcome

to the family of God. Just a moment, we're going to

continue on. We're.

Actually going to take communion, we're going to sing

another song together, and we're going to have prayer up front.

As always, there will be people up here that want to pray with

you. So if you need prayer, please,

please, please come up. And if you did raise your hand

or said that prayer, please go to the back.

We have these tables that say I raised my hand.

We want to meet you, pray with you, give you a gift, whatever,

whatever you need. We want to be there for you and

help you on your next steps in your journey.

But hey man, I want to say man, happy Father's Day to all the

dads out there. And if your dad is here, send

him a text, call him, give him a hug and give him a steak because

we like. That.

Hey man, love you guys.