The Light of the World | Pastor Eli Alexander | The Church at CW

Well, like Pastor Rick said, it has been a very, very big year in the Alexander household.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Before we get in too deep, I want to say thank you to Alexander Moving and Company, the team that included Summer Myrick, that included Sam Setzer and Madison Williams and Presley Johnston and all of my family and all of Kirby's family.

I want to say thank you.

If you picked up a box, if you packed a box, if you drove a vehicle, I just want to say thank you for your servant heart.

I want to say thank you to Pastor Rick for the opportunity to preach today.

It was an opportunity to preach last week, but he so graciously stepped in and let me spend time with family after the passing of my grandmother.

And I do want to just say to all of you, thank you for all of you who sent condolences my way, either in the mail or by sending a text message or giving me a phone call.

I want you guys to hear from my grandmother what she said to her pastor as she was preparing her funeral arrangements.

She said, Don't talk about me, preach the gospel.

And so, church, I want you to know what an opportunity we have to gather together today and hear the gospel preached.

This is a privilege that we get to gather together and hear the gospel preached.

And dear friends, our passage today is in John chapter 8, verses 1 through 12.

John 8:1–12

You can begin turning there now.

John chapter 8, verses 1 through 12 is an Olympic swimming pool of God's gospel grace.

John 8:1–12

A pool that Jesus invites each of us to dive into headfirst and to enjoy.

Some aspects, some parts of our passage today may feel heavy and may feel dark.

And I just want to say that that is because the weight and consequence of our sin, our shortcomings, the way that we fall short before a holy God, they are heavy and they are dark.

But I want to encourage you to frame the heaviness and to frame the darkness properly.

Because the heaviness is not without a helper who will carry the heavy load.

And the darkness is not stronger than a light that can never be extinguished.

So let's pray, ask God for his help, and then read this passage together.

Our Father, we thank you for this day and the privilege that it is to gather and hear your good news, the gospel.

Father, I pray that you would hide me behind the cross of Jesus Christ, and that you would preach your word so that hearts would be stirred, ears would hear, and that feet would move toward the risen Christ.

Father, we thank you for being the light of the world that guides us to eternity with you.

We pray these things in Jesus' name and for his sake.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, by now, if you've gotten to John chapter 8, verses 1 through 12, your Bible may look a little bit different than your neighbors.

John 8:1–12

I want to provide a little bit of clarity on why this passage may look a little different in your Bible versus in your neighbor's.

It may have brackets starting at John chapter 7, verse 53, and ending at John chapter 8, verse 11.

John 7:53 John 8:11

It may have a section break after verse 11, or maybe it's after verse 12.

And it may include a note at the top of your page or bottom of your page or in the margin that says something like, the earliest manuscripts do not include John chapter 7, verse 53, through John chapter 8, verse 11.

John 7:53 John 8:11

Some of these differences are only going to be a matter of who your Bible publisher is or what translation that you are reading.

But the reason for the differences in this passage is a little nerdy thing called textual criticism.

And that is the academic labor-intensive process of analyzing the ancient manuscripts, the original Greek and Hebrew manuscripts to reconstruct the original text in our Bible today.

I say all this, and I'm not going to say any more on the subject, because trust me, textual criticism is not easy or fun, but I say this not to be confusing, but to show you that you have every reason to believe that what you're reading today is the inspired word of God about an authentic event from Jesus' life and ministry, which was taught by the apostles and handed down through the generations.

This passage is consistent with the entire counsel of God, meaning it doesn't add to or take away anything from the rest of Scripture.

Instead, it affirms what the rest of Scripture affirms and teaches us with a beautiful picture of a sinner restored by grace.

Let's read this passage together.

We're going to start really in verse 53.

It says, They went each to his own house.

End of day.

New day starts in verse 1.

It says, 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 commands us to stone such a woman.

So 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 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 more he bent down and wrote on the ground.

But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, 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 light.

This is the word of the Lord.

And the first thing that this passage shows us, because we're in the seven I am statements, and if you didn't catch it there, we are talking about how Jesus says, I am the light of the world.

The first thing this passage shows us is that the light reveals.

This is the light that reveals.

Jesus is the light that reveals.

Dixon, the guy up here slapping the base, the guy up here who's one of the deacons in our church, the guy that is one of my closest friends in the church, introduced me to the concept of a scripture sandwich recently.

In a sandwich, you know, you have bread on the top, you have whatever your filling of choice is in the middle.

Maybe it's cheese on a grilled cheese, maybe it's just a PBJ, maybe it's a custom order from uh publics, getting a pub sub, and then you have another piece of bread on the bottom.

In scripture, especially in the gospels, think of a scripture sandwich like a movie.

All right, I really want to frame our passage today like you're watching a movie.

Kirby and I are going to watch a movie after church today, so I'm just thinking movies.

So if y'all will go to the movies with me and see our passage on the screen today, we have a main scene.

We have a main scene, we have a dramatic cut scene.

And then we return to the main scene again.

With our CCW students on a Wednesday night recently, we saw one of these scripture sandwiches in Mark chapter 5, verses 21 through 43.

Mark 5:21–43

In that passage, we see the synagogue official named Jairus come to Jesus and say, My daughter's very sick, and he asks for Jesus' intervention.

Jesus is on the way to heal Jairus' daughter, and then boom, dramatic cutscene.

One of everyone's favorite, most well-known stories in the Bible, right?

The woman who touches the hem of Jesus' garment and is healed.

Very dramatic, very long and drawn out.

You almost forget what was happening, but then the woman is healed and she goes away, and the next verse says, Oh, right, Jairus' daughter is sick.

And then ultimately, Jairus' daughter has died, but Jesus turns up and Jesus resurrects Jairus' daughter from the dead.

So, main scene, dramatic cut scene, return to the main scene.

Today we have another sandwich on our hands.

All right.

In John chapter 7, we find Jesus teaching in the temple in Jerusalem during a major Jewish holiday.

John 7 · chapter mention

It's called the Feast of Booths.

And Jerusalem is packed.

The people are flocking to Jerusalem to celebrate this holiday.

You can see that in John chapter 7, verse 14.

John 7:14

The chapter ends, John chapter 7 ends, with a debate among the religious leaders and the crowds regarding the identity of Jesus.

John 7 · chapter mention

Who is this Jesus fellow?

And at the beginning of John chapter 8, we find Jesus returning to the temple to teach again.

John 8 · chapter mention

And it was not a minor event, Jesus is turning up at the temple.

So that is our main scene.

Jesus is in Jerusalem, and he's teaching in the synagogue, in the temple court.

So I want you guys to get this the light that reveals, Jesus, the light of the world, he reveals what?

Well, I want you to get this is point A under number one.

Jesus and his teaching are attractive.

Jesus and his teaching are attractive.

If this story is unfolding like a movie, all right, in John chapter 8, our passage, um, we see that just yesterday in our movie, Jesus has stood up in the temple and said these words in verse 37 of John chapter 7.

John 8 · chapter mention John 7 · chapter mention

It says, Jesus stood up and cried out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink, whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

And then we skip down to verse 40.

It says, When they heard these words, this is the crowd, this is the Pharisees and the scribes, some of the people said, This man really is a prophet.

Others said, This is the Christ.

But some said, Is the Christ to come from Galilee?

Has not scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?

So, Jesus was teaching, gathering crowds, and everyone had their own opinion on who this Jesus fellow was.

Some said, Great teacher, I can really put this stuff in my back pocket and go live a happy life.

Be kind to others who can't like that, right?

This Jesus guy, so kind, can really just fit little bits of what he has to teach in my life, don't really have to change anything major, we'll be good to go.

That's some people's takeaway when they interact with Jesus.

Some thought that he was a blasphemer.

He was blaspheming against God and ought to be imprisoned or worse, put to death.

Some, even in this passage, declare that he was the Messiah come to save the world.

And I'm sure some were there just in hopes of seeing a spectacle, seeing something dramatic.

They've heard about what Jesus does.

Heck, yesterday he just stood up in the temple and shouted about coming to him for living water.

This Jesus guy can do some pretty crazy stuff sometimes.

This crowd is probably thinking.

So if we fast forward, if we return back to our passage in John 8 today, verse 2 tells us what?

It says that all of the people early in the morning came again, and Jesus sat down and he taught them.

Jesus is revealing who he is and the will of God the Father through his teaching.

And the crowds, regardless of how they receive it, the crowds can't help but stop and see and try to figure out exactly what is going on.

Point B is this Jesus the light also reveals that he and his teaching are faultless.

Jesus the light also reveals that he and his teaching are faultless.

Read with me again, starting in verse 3.

It says, 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 commands us to stone such a woman.

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 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.

Here is where we start to leave that first piece of bread, the main scene, and bite into something of some pretty incredible substance.

A major detour or cutscene has just taken place.

Picture it, remember, we're at the movies, friends.

Jesus is sitting and teaching a crowd in the temple court.

We can imagine a big crowd around him, and there's almost a hushed focus around the immediate crowd that's listening to Jesus speak, while there's a hustle and bustle of other people who have no idea what's going on around him.

And then, out of nowhere, the hustle and bustle starts to grow a little louder, and it starts to approach the circle of people who are surrounding Jesus, who are listening to him teach.

And then, flung into the middle by the religious leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees, is a woman having the worst moment of her entire life.

Notice what's at stake here.

How is this the worst moment in her entire life?

One, the public humiliation and shame, but second, her entire life is at stake.

Her entire life is at stake.

She is caught in the act of adultery, the Bible says.

She's not capable of pleading innocence.

She's not capable of bringing evidence that she's not guilty.

And the sentence is already decided according to Jewish law in Leviticus chapter 20, verse 10.

Leviticus 20:10

Death by stoning.

And Rome was tolerant enough, if you can even call them that, to allow some Jewish rule in the nation of Israel.

But ultimately, the verdict of a death sentence was in Roman, not Jewish hands.

That's why when we read the story of the crucifixion of Jesus, Jesus is handed by the religious leaders to Pontius Pilate, right?

The Roman governor, because he was the only one who could execute a criminal.

The woman could not have been stoned to death on the spot, even if the religious leaders really wanted to.

Their main motive is plain in the text.

Let's look a little bit closer.

First, this woman is brought forward after being caught in the act of adultery.

But no man.

This man would be just as guilty of adultery as this woman.

And yet, there is no man brought forward to be stoned under the law of Leviticus chapter 20, verse 10.

Leviticus 20:10

The man is absent.

That's the first clue to make us kind of scratch our head at the motives of the scribes and the Pharisees.

And then second, it says it right there in verse 6.

We have their motive right here.

They said this to test him.

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

And the religious leaders ask the million-dollar question in verse 5.

They think they have their case locked tight.

They have the evidence caught in the act.

They have the law on their side.

Leviticus 20, verse 10.

Leviticus 20:10

Plain and simple.

It's written right there.

But then they toss the ball into Jesus' court and they say, What do you say about Jesus?

Hear me, church.

Jesus and his teaching are faultless regardless of your intentions.

Jesus and his teaching are faultless regardless of your intention.

Remember this crowd.

Some of the crowd intended only to see a spectacle.

And boy, did they get one in this passage.

Some intended to hear Jesus' teaching and recognize him as the Christ.

And some intended to test and trap him.

Jesus' response is startling.

Light, center stage of the cutscene, woman in the midst.

Case has been explained.

A question is asked of Jesus, and he bends down and he starts doodling in the sand.

He seemingly ignores them and begins practicing his penmanship in the sand.

It's important to ask you, this is application for us, this is application for you and me, readers, today.

What do you see when you see Jesus?

Matthew chapter 6, verse 22 and 23 says, The eye is the lamp to the body, so if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.

Matthew 6:22

But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

That's not so much an eye doctor test that we're talking about here.

We're not seeing who has 2020 vision here.

We're talking about the eye of the soul, right?

What kind of light or darkness are you ingesting?

What is in here?

What is in that heart of yours?

So when I ask the question again, what do you see when you see Jesus?

When you see him on the pages of this book, who are you in the crowd?

When you see him on the pages of this book, who are you in the crowd?

Are you a believer?

Are you one in the crowd who says, This is the Christ?

With Peter, the one who says, the Son of the living God, right?

Are you a believer or are you a scoffer?

Is every page an opportunity to test or trap the Lord because of whatever circumstance you may be going through or facing?

When you see him working in your life, he doesn't just work here.

When you see him working in your life, who are you in the crowd?

Are you a worshiper for who he is and what he has done?

Or are you quick to acknowledge the benefit of your own efforts?

Or are you quick to give credit to luck or coincidence?

Whoever you are in the crowd does not change the fact that Jesus is perfect and blameless in all of his ways.

But do we have the eyes to see him?

When Jesus is asked this question, he does not buckle under the weight of pressure in the scene or any scene for that matter.

But when they press him further, he declares the law of God as seen in Deuteronomy chapter 17, verse 7 let him who is without sin Cast the first stone.

Deuteronomy 17:7

Jesus is the light that does not only reveal his glory and faultlessness.

Point two is this Jesus is the light that condemns.

Jesus is the light that condemns.

If point one was Jesus is the light that reveals, I've been thinking as I've been stumbling through my house in the dark at night to go to the bathroom or to get some water the past couple of days.

Light can be pretty helpful.

Kirby and I had been familiar with the floor plan of where we had lived for the past four years, and now we're in a new house with a lot of boxes in the way, and we have no clue where anything is.

A little light to reveal the situation is helpful.

But sometimes light can be a condemning sentence.

For example, when I worked on a farm, I would have to go into the tack room.

We took care of horses, and so there'd be saddles in there, there'd be horse feeding there, there'd be hay in there, all sorts of stuff.

And I'd open the door and I'd hear a little bit of noise.

And then I'd walk in a little further and I'd flip on the light, and rats the size of Barry Key were all in the middle of the room playing poker and doing terrible things.

And when that light came on, the rats scattered.

They knew that when the light was on and I saw them, it was over.

Because I worked for a lady named Miss Susie, and Miss Susie had a BB gun in the tack room.

So if I saw a rat, there was a death sentence that was handed down.

That was the job.

Jesus is also the light that condemns.

Let's read this and see what Scripture has to tell us.

Read verse 7 again.

It says, As they continued to ask them, 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 older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.

Pause there.

Something interesting to take there, starting with the older ones.

Starting with the older ones.

Not much we can draw from that, but maybe just a little bit of maturity, right?

The value of maturity.

The older ones saw whatever Jesus was doodling in the sand, or they finally caught wind of what Jesus was saying, and they said, mm-mm, I don't want to see where this goes.

I know exactly who this is pointing at.

And they left, right?

At this point, Jesus begins doodling in the sand again, and we can imagine that at this point the crowd, remember we're watching a movie, the crowd is at maximum capacity.

There's no more any hustling and bustling in the background because everyone knows there is a scene going down right here.

And everyone is crowding around to see what's happening.

What's Jesus writing?

We can imagine there's not a sound in the entire temple court.

What's Jesus going to say?

He just said, let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

And now, it is the preacher's obligation and real pleasure to try to answer the question: what on earth was Jesus doing in the sand?

Was it an account of all the wrongdoings committed by the Pharisees?

Was Jesus down in the sand writing?

Mordecai.

Theft.

Jumping Jehosaphat.

Theft.

Pharisee number three.

Adultery.

Was Jesus keeping a tab of all the wrongs that these people had done in secret, but nothing is secret before the eye of God?

Was it a list of just their names in the sand?

These religious leaders would think of Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 13, which says that those who turn away from God will be written in the earth.

Jeremiah 17:13

Is that what they're thinking?

Are they seeing their name being written in the sand by someone who claims to be the Son of God and saying, Oh no, this is no good?

The answer is maybe.

Unfortunately, I have to tell you with 100% confidence that nobody knows.

And anyone telling you is just giving you an opinion.

And that's okay.

In this the only count of Jesus ever writing anything, I really enjoy those explanations a lot.

They're very exciting, especially if you're picturing this like a movie.

They are exciting explanations, very dramatic, right?

Perfect time to cut to commercial and make you come back afterwards.

But in preparation for this message, I began to just fall in love with another possible explanation that I'll share with you today.

Maybe Jesus was writing nothing.

Maybe Jesus is just drawing random shapes, squares, squiggles, maybe he's writing his name over and over in cursive, like students do when they're bored.

Right?

Because regardless of what Jesus was writing in the sand, this, what I'm about to say, this is the honest to God truth friend.

Jesus gives no attention to the voice of your accusers.

Jesus gives zero attention.

He pays no heed to the voice of your accusers.

In this moment, when the Pharisees thought that condemnation would be placed squarely on the shoulders of this woman, Jesus reveals that his sights are set on their sins too.

His sights are set on all sin.

Jesus objectively exposes all sin in this story.

That's point A on your outline.

Jesus exposes all sin.

When the Pharisees and scribes believed they had trapped Jesus in a corner with a humiliated, broken woman as their victim, Jesus leaves no sin uncondemned.

Because like it says in Psalm chapter 90, verse 8, you have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

Psalms 90:8

Jesus is the light of the world.

There is no secret hid in a dark corner from him.

Point B on your outline is the reminder that all people are guilty of sin.

Romans 3, 23, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

This woman in our story, these religious leaders of our story, the crowd in our story, all are guilty of sin.

As we look out in this room today, as you look to your neighbor, to your right and to your left, and when you go out to lunch later today, there is no one on earth that you can look at in the face who is innocent of sin of their own accord.

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

We are all guilty of sin before the Holy Son of God.

Remember how this is our cutscene?

Well, this part is the dramatic cliffhanger.

What is Jesus about to do?

What is Jesus about to do?

He's now, we ended.

Jesus is face to face with the woman.

The religious leaders, the accusers have filed out one by one, oldest to youngest.

And now it's Jesus face to face with the woman.

The crowd has seemingly disappeared.

We know they come back when we come and read in verse 12 here later, but for right now, it just feels like it's Jesus and this woman in this moment.

The woman of our story is face to face with Jesus Christ.

The Latin phrase is caramdeo, translates before the face of God.

She is certainly not safe at this point.

The only one with any right to judge the woman for the wrong that she had done is staring her squarely in the face.

Dear friends, one day each of us will have our moment karamdeo before the face of God.

And the light of God, the eye that blazes like fire, will shine in each dark corner of our life, heart, mind, and soul.

And we must recognize that without the intervention of Jesus Christ, the only verdict we would reach is guilty, and the only sentence we would be given is death.

And both the verdict and the sentence would be blameless and justified.

After the religious leaders had gone, after what must have felt like another eternal silence, Jesus intervenes and he speaks.

And then we see, point number three, we see the light that frees.

The light that frees.

Read verses 10 and 11 with me.

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.

Jesus breaks the silence with the most reassuring, comforting words anyone on this earth can ever hear.

I do not condemn you.

Jesus is the only one in the picture who has every right to say, you know what has to happen now, right?

And no one would have right to complain.

In 2026, we'd all be horribly mad if that's the way the story turned out.

But that is what a just and holy God has every right to do: uphold his justice and righteousness.

But he looks at this woman and he says, I do not condemn you.

We've been dark, we've been heavy.

This is where our story launches upward like a rocket from the darkness of the adultery bed, the shame of the sandy pit of our accusers, and the mire of our sin into his marvelous light.

We see that the woman point A is freed from bondage because of Jesus.

He does not pay attention to the voices of your accusers, but he doesn't just stop there.

He completely dismisses them and removes their voices from the picture entirely.

Each one of us is carrying a weight of sin in our life.

For some of us, that may be a general struggle with sin day to day.

We can look back and think of a hundred different ways that we fall short of loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourselves the way that we ought to.

For some, the weight of sin is something specific that we have done that maybe no one on earth but you knows about.

And it feels like it is eating you alive from the inside out.

That guilt, that weight, and that darkness is not the voice of Jesus we hear from this passage.

That is the voice of an enemy who seeks your destruction.

That's a big reason why we feel such relief and freedom when our wrongdoing is ultimately of our own accord, or because we got found out, it's why we feel so much better when our wrongdoing comes out into the light.

There's a relief, right?

Repairing what was broken can now begin.

For just a quick silly little example, I was not the best student my junior year of high school.

I went on coast mode and I just enjoyed myself.

And when it came time to give mom my report card, boy, I thought of everything.

Mom got my report card three weeks later than any other student in the school in the entire Shelby County school system.

Student had a student had or teacher had a baby, substitute.

I mean, they've got they've got no brain.

They keep telling us at the beginning of class they're gonna give us the report card, and then they don't.

Sorry, mom.

Maybe when the teacher gets back from maternity leave, we'll get our report cards.

I don't know.

And then, oh sorry, mom, I left it in my locker.

Oh, sorry, mom, I lost it.

All sorts of things.

And it just it it really ate me alive because I knew at some point this is gonna come up.

And it's not gonna be good.

But I just for some reason felt like prolonged, like, you know, putting the punishment on layaway made me feel better.

And it definitely didn't.

The Bible says in 1 John 1 9 that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That's a memory verse that we have heard before, but focus on that word.

He is faithful.

That's great.

He is trustworthy, he will do it.

But he is just.

Jesus is just.

That means he is blameless in forgiving us.

Look at our story today.

Jesus hasn't broken or bypassed the Mosaic rules.

He hasn't bailed someone out of death row for free.

In the words of J.

Vernon McGee, instead, quote, he is placing his cross between that woman and her sin.

This one who is the son of the virgin is going to the cross to pay the penalty for even the sin of this woman in John chapter 8.

John 8 · chapter mention

What Jesus did for this woman is what he does for you.

For that reason, Christian, when we inevitably fall short of the mark of perfection and we commit a sin, because in case you haven't read John, 1 John 1 8, it says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

We are going to fall short of the mark.

We are not perfect.

Know that you are freed to a new life.

That is point B.

You are freed to a new life.

We're from bondage and we are freed to a new life.

Hold on, Eli, you just said that if we say we have no sin, then the truth is not in us.

But if I look at what Jesus just told this woman, he told her to go and sin no more.

It may be tempting to believe that this woman has just gone out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Jesus told this woman that he won't condemn her, but now he's telling her to never sin again.

Odds of that happening?

Unlikely.

Actually, it's impossible.

She will 100% sin again in her lifetime.

Jesus does command the woman to leave her sinful life.

Our explanation that the religious leaders may have been up to something nefarious.

They may have set up this scandal, they may have, you know, not wanted to execute justice wholly.

Maybe the man that she was caught in adultery with was a man of power, and they said, Oh, we don't want to mess with that.

Let's just make a point with this woman.

Who cares about her, right?

Just because the Pharisees were condemned for their wrongdoing doesn't mean that this woman is innocent of any wrongdoing.

Jesus does command this woman to leave her sinful life behind.

Another translation of this verse could be, leave your life of sin.

Get up and go away from your life of sin.

But Jesus is doing more than just saying, don't do that.

Jesus is charging the woman to live in the light and life that he would later achieve.

Christian, here today, this passage invites you and me to live in the light and life of what Jesus has already done.

Christ has already died for your sins and mine and resurrected from the dead.

Your accusers are silenced and dismissed.

John 1, verses 4 through 5 say, In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

John 1:4–5

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Listen, there is a place for righteous sorrow over our sins.

I'm not saying that we should or this woman should have swiped to the grace credit card like it had no limit and act like our sin is some small matter.

The Apostle Paul would say to that idea, by no means, with an exclamation point in your Bible.

But I'm convinced that many Christians live in a paralysis of perfection with a greater fear of sinning again than they have hope that their battle has already been won.

Like a song we sing all the time.

I see this so frequently in student ministry, but it's not unique to students who's been here before.

You start a Bible reading plan that falls off a cliff in Leviticus in February, and then you start the 10-month wait to reading your Bible again come January.

You don't have to wait.

You can skip a day.

You can pick up your Bible the next day in February.

You can even skip Leviticus and come back to it.

It is okay.

Or more seriously, maybe you're familiar with a situation where you commit a sin that makes you want to go into solitude, which leads to a pattern of sin, right?

One sin makes you ashamed, makes you hide, which leads to a lived pattern of committing the same sin or sins over and over again, which leads to a prolonged time away from God's word and God's people.

I'm sure we all know a person or are that person who has run from the family of God because of our own sin and shame.

This is the same pattern that Adam and Eve, our greatest grandparents, follow in Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

After their original fall into sin, don't hide in your nakedness and your shame.

Instead, run to Jesus and hear him tell you what he tells this woman.

I do not condemn you.

Go and sin no more.

You sinned, I knew you were going to do that, Jesus says.

I know.

I compared you to sheep all the time.

I do not condemn you.

Go and sin no more.

You are free to live a sin-free life.

You are free to follow Jesus and obey what he says.

You are free, and when you fall short, you know that you can run back to Jesus and back to his arms.

He's not going to stiff arm you and change his mind.

He's going to look at you and say, I do not condemn you.

Go and leave your life of sin.

As we finish the bite of our sandwich, we are back to the bottom piece of bread.

And the main scene has resumed in verse 12.

We forgot a crowd was there for a moment, didn't we?

We're here face to face between Jesus and the woman.

And then verse 12, again Jesus spoke to them.

We're still in the middle of the temple square.

I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

The God who led his people out of Egypt by speaking to Moses in the light of a fire in a bush that did not consume it.

The God who led his people and they followed a pillar of fire as he guided them to where they needed to go, would now be guiding his people by the light of his holy son.

How are light and life correlated?

How do these things go together?

Having a house, we got to pick some of the little extra things that we that we wanted, and Kirby, everything she wanted, was every optional window in the place.

Every optional window in the place is what Kirby wanted.

And we were sitting down for a break yesterday, and my grandfather was sitting there trying to look at my dad, and he was covering his face because we don't have blinds up yet, and the sun is beaming in through the windows, it's bouncing off of the white house next door in the very fresh concrete out front, and everything is just floodlights.

It is so bright in this house.

And Kirby has had what feels like a thousand places.

In my mom and dad's spare bedroom because it's the only one that has a good angle of light with a window.

And so now in this house where we live, there's plants in every corner, just soaking up all this light that is beaming in through the windows.

There's not a dark corner in the place.

In Jesus, there is also no darkness.

When God has forgiven and freed you through the death of His Son and the Holy Spirit dwells in your heart, even when you stumble, even if you stumble gravely, there is no darkness in you either.

That's not because you did a spring cleaning job in your heart, that's because God took your heart of stone and gave you a heart of flesh.

Followers of Christ, this is your standing before a holy God.

Despite all the evidence being stacked against you and all the shame worthy of being laid on your shoulders, God looks at you and instead sees the sin of the world and the shame of death laid on his blameless son on the cross.

What do we do in light of that?

I feel so reassured of the gospel truth, but what do we go and do in light of that?

The Bible talks about one other light of the world.

This isn't an I am statement.

This is a you are statement.

I'm talking at you people.

This is a you are statement in Matthew 5, verses 14 through 16, where Jesus teaches, you are the light of the world.

Matthew 5:14–16

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to the whole house.

In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

In Christ, we go from a lump of coal to a diamond.

Coal doesn't reflect any light.

But when a light shines into a diamond, it reflects refracts, it reflects, it dazzles, it shines.

As forgiven and freed people, we are to run to Jesus when we sin.

Remembering that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ.

And we are to reflect his light brightly for all to see.

If you don't believe in Jesus as your Savior, hear his invitation to you.

The light of the world sees every dark corner of your life, and instead of recoiling at what he sees, he extends his hand to you to lift you out of the sand, to lift you out of the darkness.

Instead of being stuck in the bondage of your shortcomings, you are freed to follow him.

You're freed to follow him in newness of life.

Will you believe in Jesus today if that's you?

Believers have hope for eternity.

This is another great part of the invitation.

That is to all people.

Believers have hope for eternity because of this light of the world, because of Jesus Christ.

Because Revelation chapter 22, verse 5 says that one day night will be no more, and we will have no need for the light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be our light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Revelation 22:5

I look forward to that day.

The hymn Glory Land, made popular by bluegrass musician Ralph Stanley, says, We'll need no sun in Glory Land.

The moon and stars won't shine.

For Christ himself is light up there.

He reigns of love divine.

That's the God that reaches his hand out to you.

A God of perfection.

Our mind can't conceive of him wanting to reach out to us.

When we think of all we've done, all the ways we've fallen short, and to think of someone that is blameless, someone that is perfect, to look at us with all our bumps and lumps and scratches and say, You, I don't condemn you.

Go and sin no more.

Will you rest in his love divine today?

I'm going to pray.

And while I pray, we're going to have the musicians come up and like a good old-fashioned Southern Baptist that I am, I'm going to stand in the front.

It's going to be a time of invitation.

I want to ask you if you have said I don't believe walking in, but now something is changing.

Would you come forward and talk to somebody?

We have a prayer team.

We have pastors who will be happy to talk to you.

Bring a neighbor down with you.

Talk to your neighbor and pray.

The altar is also going to be open for a time of prayer.

If you say, Lord, I believe, but because of my actions, I have been running from you.

I've forgotten this invitation.

I've done something horrible.

And I thought that meant you didn't want me any longer.

But I want to come back.

I want to hear you tell me, neither do I condemn you.

Go and sin no more.

If you say the voices of the accusers are loud, the voice of myself accusing myself is loud.

Help me, Lord.

This time at the altar will be for you.

Let's bow our heads.

Let us pray.

Ask God for our help.

Father God, we are in.