The River AM Class - The Woman who was bleeding and the woman who committed adultery, 04.15.2025

[Music]

good morning

good morning on this glorious gorgeous

day today what a week we have ahead of

us it's just doesn't it just make you

feel just so

lovely um it's great to be here together

to worship the lord and i just want to

give a testimony to the lord this

morning actually for both of us kayla

and i have both just had just amazing

answers to prayer on some things that we

were waiting on the lord for and asking

him for and he's just answered both of

our prayers and and so we're we're just

worshiping him out of uh a place of

gratitude for that this morning and um

so for those of you who are waiting on

the lord take heart and have have hope

and and trust in him what he has um

planned for you and uh let's let's stand

as we worship and psalm 34 which we've

read many times says this i will bless

the lord at all times his praise will

always be on my lips glorify the lord

with me and let us exalt his name

together and so let's do that this

morning come on and

praise the lord with

me sing if you love his name

come on and lift

your voice with me he's worthy of all

our

praise blessed are those who run to him

who place their hope and confidence in

jesus he won't forsake them

and blessed are those who seek his face

who bend their knee and fix their gaze

on

jesus they won't be

shen come on and

praise

the lord with

me sing if you love his name name come

on and lift

your voice with me he's worthy of all

our

[Music]

praise blessed are those who walk with

him whose hearts are set on pilgrimage

with

jesus they'll see his glory

and blessed are those who died to live

whose joy it is to give it all for

jesus and for him

only oh

jesus all for your

glory come on and

praise the lord with me

sing if you love his

[Music]

name come on and

lift

your voice with me he's worthy of all

our

praise come on and

bring

your

offering sing if you've known his grace

[Music]

come on and

lift up your holy hands he's worthy of

all our

praise bless god in the

sanctuary bless god in the fields of

plenty bless god in the darkest valley

every chance i get i bless your name

bless god when my hands are empty bless

god with the praise that calls me bless

god when nobody's watching every chance

i get i bless your name bless god when

the weapons for bless god when the walls

are falling bless god cuz he goes before

me every chance i get i bless your name

bless god for he holds the victory bless

god for he's always with me bless god

for he's always worthy every chance i

get i bless your

name every chance i get i bless your

name every chance i get so come on and

praise

the lord with

me sing if you love his

name come on and

lift

your voice with me he's worthy of all

our praise

come on and

bring

your

offering sing if you've known his

praise come on and

lift up your holy hands he's worthy of

all our praise

he's worthy of all our

[Music]

praise he's worthy of all our

praise and i know you by a thousand

names and you deserve every single one

you've given me a million

ways to be amazed at what you've done

and i am lost in

wonder at all you do i know you by a

thousand

names and i'll sing them back to

[Music]

you i call you

maker you give life an eternal spark i

call you healer

you can mend any broken heart i call you

faithful

father you finish everything you start

my soul was

made to

respond i know you by a thousand

names and you deserve every single one

you've given me a million

ways to be amazed at what you've done

and i am lost in

wonder at all you do i know you by a

thousand

names and i'll sing them back to

you and your love is

boundless it's beyond what i could dream

your grace is

patient and you're never giving up on me

i call you bondage breaker cuz you're

handing out the prison keys my soul was

made to be

free i know you by a thousand

names and you deserve every single one

you've given me a million

ways to be amazed at what you've done

and i am lost in

wonder at all you do i know you by a

thousand

names and i'll sing them back i'll sing

them back to you

[Music]

you are rock of aes you're the great i

am you are king

forever the beginning and the end you

are lord and serant you're the son of

man you're the lion of judah you're the

risen lamb you're the second adam here

to lead us home you are yah's glory now

revealed in flesh and bone you are ocean

pter you will make a way you are

death you have risen from the grave you

are full of mercy you are rich in love

you are jesus

messiah the one true god and i know you

by a thousand

names and you deserve every single one

you've given me a million

ways to be amazed at what you've done

and i am lost in wonder

at

all i know you by a thousand

names and i'll sing them back to you i

know you by a thousand

names and you deserve every single one

you've given me a million

ways to be amazed at what you've done

and i am lost in

wonder at

all i know you by a thousand

names and i'll sing them back i'll sing

them back to

you i'll sing them back to you

[Music]

let's sing this together what he's

done what he's

done all the glory and the honor to the

son my sins are

forgi my future is

heaven i praise god

for what he's

done see on the hill

[Music]

of myavior bled for me my jesus set me

free

look at the wounds that give me life

grace flowing from his sight no greater

sacriice what he's

done what he's

done all the glory and the honor to the

son my sins are

forgi my future is heaven

i praise

god for what he's

[Music]

done sing for the freedom he has won

even death is dead and done his life has

over speak say the name above all names

over every broken place he has risen

from the

grave what he's

done what he's

done all the glory and the honor to the

son my sins are forgiven

my future is

heaven so i praise

god for what he's

done and now on a throne of

majesty the father's

will he reigns in victory

so sing hallelujah to the king he is

worthy to receive all the worship we can

bring let's sing it out what he's

done what he's

done all the glory and the honor to the

son my sins are forgiven

my future is

heaven i praise

god for what he's

[Music]

done i praise

god for what he's

done i praise

god for what he's done

[Music]

so come on and

praise

the lord with

me sing if you love his

name come on and

lift

your voice with me he's worthy of all

our praise

[Music]

he's worthy of all our

praise yes he's worthy of all our

praise father it's a joy to lift our

voices to you this morning to give you

the praise that you

deserve we just bless you and our eyes

are on you again now would you speak to

us through your word we just want to be

more and more and more like jesus and so

speak to us now and it's in jesus' name

that we pray

amen thank you

good

morning you have to admit it's a

gorgeous day right unbelievable praise

god it's easter week and this is the

gift he gives us i want to tell you a

couple of things um there is a women's

worship night coming up in our city um

it is on may 4th in the evening 6:00 to

8:45 at south lake church in westland i

have some flyers here if you're

interested in going it's just an an like

all city worship night for women so

there is um the details here and the

address to that church as well also i

want to share with you about services

coming up this weekend this is a big

weekend for us we have a good friday

service on um friday 6:30 and 8:30 and

um i just want to give you a personal

invitation to this service pastor

christopher and i designed this service

and it is creative and different unlike

anything you've ever experienced before

and there will be a surprise at the end

of it so um i just want to invite you to

come i don't want you to miss it so 6:30

and 8:30 on good friday and then we have

32 hours of prayer so we are going to be

praying for 32 straight hours and there

are signup sheets out in the foyer and i

really want to invite you to come and

pray with us i will be there um saturday

um late morning afternoon i'll be having

two hours of that 32-hour time and we

keep we'll hand the baton to each other

as we go through the entire time

together and so join us for that time

it's very very special then we have

easter sunday wow starting at 7 in the

morning easter sunrise and then 911 5

and then after the 5:00 service we have

a baptism and the last i heard we have

40 people being

baptized how crazy is that i know praise

god so um we feel god moving in our

church we sense his presence lives are

being transformed the word is being

proclaimed people are entering deep into

fellowship with one another and with the

lord jesus so this is an exciting time

and i want to invite you to participate

all of it with us this weekend

this morning um we are going to be

talking about two desperate women who

encounter jesus one is desperate for

physical healing and for restoration in

her community and one is desperate for

salvation from death literally from

stoning and for relief from the shame of

her wrongdoing so i want to ask you can

you think of a time when you felt

desperate often we feel desperate when

we we realize we've just reached the end

of ourselves we're exhausted we are

empty of our own strength we have run

out of resources and options or

solutions and we've come to realize that

we just can't fix our own problems i

mean anybody feel that way you just

there's nothing you can do and the

desperation when the desperation sets in

we begin to feel like this burden is

just too heavy for me to carry it's just

too much i know that some of you feel

this kind of desperation in your

marriages i know that some of you feel

this kind of desperation with your adult

children who have renounced their faith

that they accepted when they were a

child some of you are at wit's end with

your health challenges or the health

challenges of somebody that you love

some of you are ex have exhausted your

financial resources and you really just

don't know how you're going to move

forward others of you are living with a

really heavy heart of regret over past

sin whether it was your sin or someone

else's sin that impacted your life and

that that memory or that circumstance

has impacted not only how you live today

but also how you see yourself how you

view your own identity

when desperation becomes the cry of our

heart we often find that there are just

no words to express the depth of our

despair except to just cry out "god help

me just help me." and often it's in

these moments of desperation that we

finally relinquish everything to jesus

i've had these moments in my life where

i actually couldn't utter the words to

even pray because my pain and

desperation were so great and in those

moments what we discover is that our

desperation is actually not the result

of an absence of faith but it's rather

the starting place of for actual real

dependence upon god when we cry out and

we say "god help me there is nothing

more i can do." it's not that you don't

have faith it's the beginning of what it

means to have real dependence on god

because you have come to the place where

you understand you cannot do it without

him so as we're going to see in our

lesson today desperation is what opened

the door for two women to have a divine

encounter with jesus we're going to see

the bleeding woman's encounter in in

mark chapter 5 30

Mark 5 · chapter mention

24-34 and then we're going to see the

adulteress's women women the adulterous

women's encounter with jesus in john

8:es 1-11 and what i want us to walk

away with today is the truth that jesus

meets us with his compassion and grace

and he calls us to a new life in him he

meets our desperation our suffering with

his compassion and grace and he calls us

to a new life in him

so let's open to mark chapter 5 and the

Mark 5 · chapter mention

one thing that i really one thing that i

really love about jesus is that he is

interruptible because as we open to the

story of the bleeding woman in mark 5 we

find that jesus is actually on his way

somewhere else he is on his way to

attend to a dying 12-year-old girl when

he's interrupted by this desperate woman

who has been bleeding for 12 years so

he's going to minister to a little girl

who all of her life this woman has been

bleeding and this little girl has been

is been diagnosed to die and as we

discover in this lesson jesus is being

followed by this great crowd so the

people are following him because they

wanted healing they wanted sustenance

from him they wanted information truth

and teaching from jesus they wanted

relief from the pain of their broken

lives they are living under religious

legalism and political oppression and

they are also seeing how jesus is really

captivating them by the miracles that

he's doing and his teaching about the

kingdom of god so everybody wanted to be

where jesus was and that was a challenge

not only for jesus but also for anybody

who wanted to have any kind of personal

contact with him because he had crowds

around him wherever he went but there

was one woman who had blended into this

crowd this is a woman who wasn't

supposed to be there she actually was

not allowed to be in public near other

people who might have inadvertedly

touched her and become defiled in the

process she was unclean by religious

standards and everywhere and everywhere

she went people knew that they had to

give her a wide birth because if they

touched her they would become unclean

too let's look at verse

25 and there was a woman who had had a

discharge of blood for 12 years and who

had suffered much under many physicians

and had spent all that she had and was

no better but rather grew worse so we

learned that for 12 years she had done

everything possible to stop her bleeding

but nothing had worked she'd spent all

of her money to find a cure but nothing

had changed can you just imagine how

anemic she would have been she would

have been so fatigued maybe she had

fibroid tumors or maybe she had a

uterine infection or maybe she had a

severe hormonal imbalance we just don't

know of course it wasn't sinful for her

to be bleeding but we know that women of

course were expected to have periods

once a month and yet they knew that when

they had their cycle their menstrual

cycle they were not allowed to enter

into the temple or to engage in worship

during that week because they were

deemed unclean because of the blood that

was flowing from their bodies but this

woman had been ceremoniously unclean for

12 years and everyone knew that if they

had contact with a bleeding woman they

too would become ceremoniously unclean

this was recorded in the book of

leviticus and i want you to see where

what it says in chapter 15:es 25- 27 it

says if a woman has a discharge of blood

for many days not at the time of her

menstrual impurity or if she has a

discharge beyond the time of her

impurity all the days of the discharge

she shall continue in uncleanness as in

the days of her impurity she shall be

unclean every bed on which she lies all

the days of her discharge shall be to

her as the bed of her impurity and

everything on which she sits shall be

unclean as in the uncleanness of her

menstrual impurity and whoever touches

these things shall be unclean and shall

wash his clothes and bathe himself in

water and be unclean until the

evening so not only was this woman

unable to worship god in the temple she

wasn't allowed to come in physical

contact with another human being for 12

years

if she had a husband she would need have

needed to keep he would have had to keep

his distance from her all that time they

wouldn't have been able to have children

they couldn't have intimacy if she was

single she would have no hope of finding

a husband during this time and no hope

of having children so in in essence

she's like a leper but even lepers had

colonies of people to live with who had

the same disease that they had and she

doesn't have that she is completely

alone in her suffering now we can

sympathize with her feelings of

isolation knowing what we experienced

during the pandemic i mean what we

experienced during the pandemic was

minor compared to what she experienced

for these 12 years but we know what it's

like to not be able to hug or to touch

or to be in close proximity with people

that we love we also know what it's like

we've learned what it's like to

experience the kind of psychological

pain of isolation and the sociological

suffering that it produces in

relationships and communities and we

also learned very clearly that god had

made has made human beings to live in

community we learned that we are made to

live in community it is not natural for

people to live in isolation

so imagine the hope that she might have

felt when she first heard the stories of

jesus and how he was healing people who

had been lame or sick their entire lives

this was her best last chance for

healing she just knew she had to see him

verse 27 she had heard the reports about

jesus and came up behind him in the

crowd and touched his garment for she

said "if i touch even his garments i

will be made

well." perhaps the crowd actually parted

when they saw her

coming perhaps they they saw her and

they stepped back because they knew they

couldn't touch her because she was

defiled and maybe when she started

coming they actually created a birth for

her to come through and actually reach

him but imagine the conflicting thoughts

in her mind because if she touches this

rabbi she's going to defile him with her

uncleanness but if she doesn't touch him

she will have no hope ever of being

healed this is a painting on a church in

israel that was shared with me it's

beautiful isn't

it let's talk about blood as women we're

women we're going to talk about blood as

women we actually have a lot of

suffering connected with the blood of

our monthly

cycles many women deal with intense

emotions the week before they start to

bleed and many women deal with

incredible discomfort during that week

of

bleeding normal menration can be

absolutely grueling and we don't often

speak about it we deal with cramping and

headaches and bloating and fatigue and

irritability and we do it all month

after month without taking a break from

any of our

responsibilities and when we want to

have a child we watch our bleeding very

closely maybe you've experienced that

joy of having your bleeding stop which

indicated you were pregnant or perhaps

you had the disappointment of seeing

your bleeding start and you know you're

not pregnant this

month some of you have also experienced

the devastation of seeing blood in the

midst of your pregnancy and you have had

to walk that sorrowful road of a

miscarriage and then there's menopause

when the bleeding often becomes very

very heavy and fibroid tumors set in and

then there's that time when you stop

bleeding and then there's sorrow in that

because now you realize that part of

your youth is gone you actually can

never

uh conceive a child again that that part

of your womanhood has now passed and

your hormones begin to wayne so our

relationship with blood is very

complicated as women but i love that

jesus doesn't shy away from these things

because this is how he made

us and when the bleeding woman got

within reach of jesus and she stretched

out her arm and she touched the very

very hem of his garment and perhaps she

thought that this small touch would be

enough she thought it said verse 29 and

immediately the flow of blood dried up

and she felt in her body that she was

healed of her disease like instantly she

was well she was whole the flow of blood

had stopped it worked but before she

could turn around and slip back into the

crowd unnoticed jesus knew verse 30 and

jesus perceiving in himself that power

had gone out from him immediately turned

about in the crowd and said "who touched

my garments?" and his disciples said to

him "you see the crowd pressing all

around you and yet you say "who touched

me?" of course jesus was being pressed

by the crowd people were bumping into

him jostling next to him they were

trying to squeeze together through these

narrow streets but the woman's touch was

very different it was not an accidental

touch it was a reach of faith she

believed that this man was so full of

the power of god that if she could just

touch the hem of his robe the hem of his

robe she would be

healed that really strikes me i mean do

we experience this kind of faith when we

encounter jesus through his word do we

open up the words of jesus and expect

that we are going to encounter him

through the power of his spirit do we go

to prayer and talk to god who's jesus

who's been raised from the dead who's

reigning at the right hand of the father

do we pray with the expectation that we

are going to experience him in these

moments

that his word and his presence can

transform our

lives i'm sure at this moment she

thought that jesus would just chastise

her for touching him without permission

and she probably thought "oh great now

all these people in this community are

just going to heap more shame on her

when they learn what she's

done." but she had experienced jesus's

healing power flowing through her body

and she knew she had to identify herself

to

him she though we don't know jesus

probably already knew it was

her verse 32 it says "and he but he

looked around to see who had done

it but the woman knowing what had

happened to her came in fear and

trembling and fell down before him and

told him the whole

truth." last week we looked at the woman

at the well and we saw the same thing we

see this thing where people encounter

jesus and they have to tell him the

whole truth there's something about him

because he is the way the truth and the

life that when you encounter him you

can't lie you can't skirt the issue you

have to confess you have to tell him the

truth and this is exactly what she does

she confesses that she's the one who

touched him that she had experienced his

healing power but notice that he he

didn't call her out in shame which is

what she feared instead he wanted to

affirm her action of faith and he wanted

to inform her that because of her faith

she now has a new identity as a child of

god verse 34 he said to her "daughter

your faith has made you well go in peace

and be healed of your

disease." this woman is not only healed

in her body she is actually healed in

her relationship with god and she's

healed in her relationship with her

community she is clean she is restored

and jesus spoke these words to her in

the hearing of the whole crowd so

everybody would know that she was now

free to engage with them again and to

worship at the temple but best of all

she now has a new framework for how to

think about herself she's not only she's

not the defiled woman anymore she's not

the unclean one she's not the one that

nobody can be near and nobody can touch

jesus proclaims her as the daughter of

the almighty king of god and this is the

only woman in all of the gospels that

jesus calls a daughter so what an

incredibly tender way for him to address

this woman who has suffered so much for

so long

and the truth is that jesus's heart is

moved by your smallest act of

faith i think sometimes we think we have

to do really big things for god we think

that in order for him to be pleased with

us we have to do something really

spectacular really big really faithful

but i love that god sees our hearts and

he knows how significant it is when we

trust him in the smallest ways behind

the scenes every time we actually cast

our cares on him in prayer he sees it

every time we refuse to be anxious and

choose to lean on the truth of his

promises he sees it every time we cry

out to him with our needs he hears us

and he sees our faith and they might

seem like very small acts of faith to us

but they're actually significant

expresses expressions of faith from

god's

perspective the bleeding woman she

didn't cry out loud in the crowd she

didn't make a spectacle of her need she

just

quietly reached for the hem of his robe

and jesus proclaimed that her faith had

made her well and she could go in peace

so what small act of faith might be the

next step for you in your spiritual

journey perhaps it's a step of growth in

your prayer life or maybe it's a it's a

step of courage to share your faith with

someone someone at work someone in your

neighborhood someone at

school maybe it's a step of trust for

god to work in what feels like an

impossible situation or in a broken

relationship

i want you to be encouraged because even

a trembling act of faith moves the heart

of

jesus well let's look next and see how

jesus responds to the woman who's been

caught in the act of

adultery many of you when you open to

john 8 uh you noticed some notations in

your bible stating that the story of the

adulterous woman was not contained in

the original manuscripts of john and

were you did many of you see that were

you perplexed wondering why am i reading

this about this piece of scripture um

there are lots of opinions held by

esteemed theologians and my my leaders

yesterday evening asked me if i would

speak to this so before we jump into the

story i want to give you some

perspective the record this the

recording of this story wasn't included

in john's earliest manuscripts but it

was properly recorded the question is

not about the authenticity of these

events that happened because they are

very consistent with um the truth about

jesus and his character the question is

actually more about the timing the

timing does this story actually belong

in this spot did these events that are

recorded in chapter 8 actually happen

chronologically as the story is told um

question did john write this even though

it was found a little bit later so this

story was found a little bit later but

450 of the early greek manuscripts

contain this passage so it was recorded

over and over and over again in the

early days after in the early church so

the conclusion is that yes this is um

this is john's writing this narrative

actually follows john's exact pattern of

writing both from a stylistic pattern

and a controversy pattern its placement

at the beginning of chapter 8 is very

logical because the remainder of the

chapter in chapter 8 continues on this

theme of how the pharisees are on

mission to trap jesus regarding his

views on the mosaic law so it's very

consistent with the rest of it

interestingly augustine thought that the

absence of this passage in some of the

early manuscripts was due to its removal

by some men who feared that this example

of jesus uh giving forgiveness to the

woman who was caught in adultery would

be interpreted as permission for their

wives to sin sexually and receive easy

grace so they removed it we don't know

um but that's a theory um so let's

transition to our story um early in the

morning we find following the feast of

the tabernacles jesus was teaching in

the court of the women at the temple

here's a picture of what that court

looked like and another crowd had formed

around him but this crowd was actually

sitting quietly at his feet and they

were listening to his teaching they were

listening to all that jesus had to say

but then that moment was interrupted

when the scribes and pharisees burst in

dragging this woman who had been caught

in the act of adultery it was custom

when legal problems arose that um they

would be brought the issue would be

brought to the head rabbi and that rabbi

would make a judicial decision about

what happened so they place this woman

in the midst of the crowd in front of

jesus and they say "teacher this woman

has been caught in the act of adultery."

now saying that she was caught in the

act implies that they were witnesses to

what happened and according to the

mosaic law if that somebody if a a man

and a woman were caught in the act of

adultery both parties were required to

be stoned for that sin so where's the

man

where's the guilty man they must have

known who he was right if they had

witnessed the act so can you just

imagine how absolutely humiliated she

was in this

moment not only is she experiencing

shameful stars from everybody i'm sure

everybody is just glaring daggers at her

but she's also bearing all the weight

for her actions and we don't know

anything about the circumstances of this

affair we don't know were this man and

woman in love we don't know did she

entice him was she the instigator of

this relationship we don't know was she

pressured into a sexual encounter with

this man that happened we don't know if

it was consensual we also don't know was

she set up was she set up because of

what the pharisees want to do now with

jesus but now what she knows is that she

is going to die right there and then for

her actions while the man that she is

with is going free apparently is not

having any consequences and this

continues to remind me of something that

we've seen throughout the course of our

study this year is that the women often

take the blame for the sexual

leaison while the men seem to go without

human consequence right we've talked

about this over and over again where the

women get so shamed and scorned and are

held you know it was bashibba's fault

for taking her clothes off on a rooftop

right well we dived into that story and

found that that wasn't exactly what

happened and we see this over and over

again and i think that's what we're

seeing here as well now verse 5 now in

the law moses commanded us to stone such

women what do you say this they said to

test him that they might have some

charge to bring against him so the

jewish leaders were trying to force

jesus into this dilemma he is widely

known as a friend to sinners so if he

condemns this woman to be stoned he's

going to jeopardize his reputation for

being kind of a trusted advocate for the

downtrodden it's likely that people

would now reject his message of grace

and forgiveness and yet if he let her go

free he would be encouraging more people

to commit adultery and just send this

message that all they need to do is just

depend on god's grace for

forgiveness but the bigger trap that the

religious leaders were setting for him

is this if jesus called for this woman's

execution under mosaic law he would be

committing a crime under roman law

because the romans forbid the jews from

executing anyone they could not put

anyone to death for a sin or for a crime

so he would then be condemned as a

criminal under roman law but if he

didn't demand her stoning it would be a

violation of mosaic law so if jesus

refused then to obey the laws of moses

the mosaic law he couldn't possibly be a

true prophet from god and certainly not

the messiah so then he would be

condemned as a fraud

but we find jesus in these tense moments

is always full of perfect wisdom and

perfect truth and so instead of actually

passing judgment on this humiliated

woman he actually passes judgment on the

religious leaders who are judging her

and after hearing their question he

bends down and he wrote with his finger

on the ground okay anyone want to tell

us what he

wrote the question of the ages know

that's one of the things when you get to

heaven you can put on your list to meet

jesus and say by the way what did you

write in the sand we all want to know

many people have speculated over the

years some have said oh maybe he was

listing all of their sins or maybe he

was writing the name of her sexual

partner showing that he knew who it was

someone they were maybe trying to

protect maybe he was writing the ten

commandments we don't know but what's

most significant for us to understand is

that jesus is writing words in the sand

with his finger the same way that god

wrote the laws of moses on the slabs of

stone with his finger moses records this

in deuteronomy 9:10 which says "the lord

Deuteronomy 9:10

gave me moses the two tablets of stone

written with the finger of god and on

them were all the words that the lord

had spoken with you on the mountain out

of the midst of the fire on the day of

the assembly

so more important than what he wrote is

the symbolism of his writing with his

finger which suggests that he is not

only the teacher of the law he is the

author of the law he is showing that he

is

god verse 7 says 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 now

there's only one person in the crowd who

is without sin right and that's

jesus and it's important to for us to

understand that his words are not

implying that only a sinless person is

free to execute judgment upon a lawb

breakaker but rather that witnesses to

the to a crime need to be non-malicious

according to the mosaic law a malicious

witness is someone who's perverting the

law for selfish purposes and jesus knows

that the scribes and the pharisees were

acting as witnesses against this woman

because they were conspiring to actually

trap him they were more concerned with

using her to trap him than they actually

were with bringing justice upon her they

don't have any real concern for her and

of course they're not god-appointed

judges or officials of the court

but we also shouldn't misunderstand this

event by thinking that jesus was easy on

sin or that he contradicted the law by

what he did because jesus by offering

this woman forgiveness he is doing so

knowing that one day soon he's going to

pay the penalty for her sins on the

cross remember the purpose of the mosaic

law was to reveal sin so that people

would understand their need for

forgiveness and for salvation the law

was like a plumline of god's holy

standards and when people saw the law

and recognized their failure to obey the

law then they would have this awakening

to understand they needed god's grace

they needed god's forgiveness it was not

possible for human beings to perfectly

obey the law even the law that says love

the lord your god with all your heart

soul mind and strength and love your

neighbor as yourself no one can do that

perfectly so rather than feeling like an

utter failure because you can't maintain

the standard of god's holy law you see

the law you recognize your failure and

you failure and you go "oh my goodness i

need salvation i need a savior i need

the forgiveness that god offers."

so the law was meant to reveal the

sinful nature of human beings and to

awaken our need to be cleansed by god's

grace romans 3:20 speaks to this when it

Romans 3:20

says "for by the works of the law no

human being will be justified in his

sight since through the law comes the

knowledge of sin." law and grace do not

compete with each other they complement

each other

so verse 8 "and once more he bent down

and wrote on the ground and as he did

now the people realized that they were

all disqualified as witnesses against

her because they recognize the guilt

they carried for their own sin and one

by one they walk away." verse 9 but when

they heard it they went away one by one

beginning with the older ones and jesus

was left alone with a woman standing

before him and jesus stood up and said

to her,"woman woman where are they has

no one condemned

you?" that word woman is a expression of

actual tenderness and respect it's the

same word that he said to his mother at

the wedding in kaa so we see again

jesus's deep care and compassion for

people verse 11 she said "no one lord."

and jesus said "neither do i condemn you

go and from now on sin no more in other

words he's saying to her be free be free

of the stronghold of sin that has

characterized your life be a new woman

be set apart unto god a woman who walks

in obedience and

faith there are two really profound

things that jesus does in this encounter

with her and the first thing he does is

he removes her condemnation

he forgives her on the ground of his

future

sacrifice you know the cross stands at

the center of time and those who lived

before the cross they received god's

forgiveness through the act of

sacrifices that were offered in faith as

they looked forward to god's provision

to bring a savior so they looked forward

believing the day would come when there

would be a savior on the cross and they

received forgiveness and those of us who

live on this side of the cross we

receive forgiveness as we look back at

what god has done in bringing the savior

the death and resurrection of jesus uh

and the covering of our sins on the

cross so they looked forward with faith

we look back with um belief and trust

and

conviction so that was the first thing

the second thing is that he required her

to repent of her sin so repentance he's

saying you know you've got to make an

about face um repentance is about

turning away from the things of the

flesh that enslave us and turning toward

god in obedience and faith and the best

thing about being in a relationship with

christ is that we actually have the

power to resist sin which we never had

before we have the power within us to

turn from our sin and to repent of our

sin and we can rely on the indwelling

power of the holy spirit to break those

strongholds of sin in our life and

actually change our desires from the

inside out haven't you experienced that

like before christ the desire in you was

so strong towards sin and then after you

receive christ and you mature in your

faith you look back at that thing and

you think that was wretched i can't

believe i liked or loved or behaved in

that way it totally changes your

passions from within so this woman

wasn't just commanded to sin no more she

was actually able to stop sinning

because of the forgiveness and grace

that she had received in jesus and the

truth is this jesus doesn't define you

by your past he defines you by his

love i want to say that again because i

think this is a huge

truth jesus doesn't define you by your

past he defines you by his love

and i think that some of you really need

to hear this today because i think that

some of you are carrying around the

shame of your past sin and you are

refusing to believe that jesus's death

and resurrection was fully sufficient to

atone for your

failures i know that we can say it with

our lips but do we believe it in our

heart do we believe that the work that

jesus did on the cross actually changes

our story and shame does not get the

final word the bible says it so clearly

in romans 8:1 there is therefore now no

Romans 8:1

condemnation for those who are in christ

jesus it doesn't say well there's a

little condemnation if you did such and

such it's like there's no condemnation

for those who are in christ jesus so if

you are holding on to the shame and

guilt of past sin you are not receiving

the new life that jesus accomplished for

you on the

cross because of jesus's death and

resurrection which we will celebrate

this week what a great week to remember

these things you are forgiven and you

are set free to live a new life and to

have a new identity and to have a new

path forward in christ the old is gone

and the new has come

i think that we have a lot in common

with these two women we can identify

with their suffering in a variety of

ways you know whether that be physical

in the body or whether it's emotional

some of us have had our sins exposed and

it feels horrible so we've got pain from

that but we know what it feels like to

be desperate for god to intervene on our

behalf we know what that feels like and

the good news is this being desperate is

actually not a sign of

weakness being desperate is an honest

admission that we cannot do this without

jesus jesus is the one who opens the

door for us to experience him in a a new

way notice that both of these women were

desperate in different ways they were

both considered untouchable in different

ways they both had a direct and

transformative encounter with jesus in

different ways the bleeding woman was

called unclean she was lonely she was

ostracized until she reached out to

jesus in faith and he restored her

health and then he restored her identity

by calling her daughter and then he

renewed her entire relationship with her

community and the adulterous woman was

labeled a sinner until jesus actually

stood between her and her accusers and

then in this private moment with her he

extended to her grace and forgiveness

and he spoke a new identity into her

life that she is now forgiven and free

to live into a life without the

stronghold of sin and to live in

obedience to

god two desperate women one loving

savior both of them their lives were

changed forever and this is the same

jesus who is here with us today hundreds

of women one loving savior who offers to

us a new identity and a changed life

forever jesus doesn't label you

according to your past sins he doesn't

mark your identity or my identity

according to what we've done or to

what's been done to us he meets us in

our desperation with his compassion and

grace he stands between us and judgment

and he invites us to walk a new path

with a new name as a new woman in christ

praise god let's

pray

father over and over again we find that

you are the god of

compassion yes sin is so critical it

devastates our relationships with others

it fragments everything lord everything

lord it is wretched we agree with you

and yet we live in human bodies with

human desires in a broken world and we

are confronted with the sin of our

thoughts and attitudes and deeds time

and time again thank you so much that

you know that you understand us you meet

us with compassion and grace and you

call us to walk with you in obedience

and faith you give us the power to

actually begin a new a new path a new

identity a new faith in you and so i

just thank you i praise you for all in

this room today who truly don't believe

it who agree with what you've done but

can't actually come to that moment of

truth in their soul that realizes that

actually there is no condemnation

i pray that you'd set her free this

morning to live into the relationship

that you've offered because of the cross

and may we celebrate easter with a kind

of joy that we've never tasted before

because this truth is true we ask this

in the name of jesus amen