Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: We have been walking through the last few weeks, chapter seven, just a little bit of context. And then we'll read through our passage today. And then, and then pray. I will also just give you a, just a brief, just heads up. We won't end the sermon right at eleven today. Okay, we'll go a little, we'll go a few minutes past that, perhaps. So this is a great passage, great passage before us. So stay, stay with us as we do. Chapter seven walks through one of the major feasts that the Israelites would have been celebrating, the feast of booths or the feast of tabernacles. And that's when we've talked about this before, when they would have built little tents, little shacks almost out of sticks, and they would have been pretty small and the family would have stayed in there and it would have just been a week, unlike in Africa, where they stay there for a lot longer than just a week, by the way, they would have stayed there for just about a week or so and celebrated God's faithfulness and provision. And so it's the tail end of that. The feast of booths has just ended. And Jesus, if you look in your bibles, in John chapter seven, Jesus has just had some interaction with the people there and they don't like what he has to say. And he's really calling them out in the things that they're teaching and saying. Like you, we see this in chapter 40. We saw this last week, chapter 40 through 52, that there was a real division among the people. And Jesus calls people to himself and says, believe in me is really what he is saying. So chapter seven, verse 53, your bibles might have it kind of sectioned with chapter eight under the heading the woman caught in adultery. And that's the story that we're looking at today. It says in verse 53, then each of them went to his own house. So they've just had this interaction with Jesus and now they're leaving. It was the last day of the feast and they're all going back to their own quote unquote house. It's not really house because they've been staying in these little pop up shacks that they've just made out of leaves and out of some sticks and such. So we're going to start in verse one of chapter eight there today and let me read through the passage and then we'll pray and we'll get into your outline here in front of you. I won't give you much other setting up for this passage. I think it's pretty important for us to just see what's here. So, chapter eight, starting in verse one.
But also we see that there's. We'll talk about the manuscript. Some of your bibles might have some notes about why it's here. Or if it should be here.
It's written later manuscripts. We'll talk about that in just a moment. But verse one starts off. But Jesus. So others went to their own house. But jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning, he came to the temple, and 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 a woman. What do you say? This they said to test him. That they might have some charge to bring against him.
As you've been following on the last few chapters, they've been building and building greater and greater anger towards Jesus, trying to find a way to make him stop talking. Verse seven, six continues. 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 at once more. 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. Verse ten continues. I'm reading from ESV.
Verse ten continues. And says, 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. Let's pray.
Lord Jesus, we come before you today praising you for the faithfulness you have shown us. In stepping into a world that is dirty and messy.
To a people that desperately need help. And pulling us, drawing us to yourself and saving us from a future without you. A destiny without you. And so today, as we come before you. We recognize your faithfulness, your grace, and your mercy that you've shown us. And as we look at this passage today, Lord, we see that you are the same then as you are today. You are faithful and you are kind. You are full of grace and full of mercy.
And you see us and you love us.
And so, as we walk through this passage, Lord, I pray that you would open our eyes, you would open our hearts to what you want to say to us personally that we would listen to your words and that we would hold tightly to them in Jesus name. Everyone said this passage. I said earlier, as you know it, and your Bible probably notes this passage isn't in some of the earliest manuscripts in John's gospel, but it does appear in later manuscripts. And so some of your bibles may say some things about that in later manuscripts. It does show up in different parts of John, actually.
And so actually, we read through some of the older manuscripts. We see it showing up in different parts of John and actually one time in Luke. And so sometimes we look at something like this and you look at some of the notes and you're like, wait, is this really true? Is this really here? Should this really be here in the Bible? And really, what most theologians continue to see over and over again is yes. The answer is yes, it should be here. It's true. It does not provide any inaccuracies as far as the character of God, the gospel of God. We also see that perhaps if there's any question about this text, it's not if it should be here, but perhaps more so where it should be placed. Does that make sense? So is this the exact place this happened right after the feast of booze? It makes sense, and that's why this is put here. But some of the earliest manuscripts don't see that. So I just want to make that note here. There's also this passage. Even many unbelievers know this passage well, mainly for the one line that they want to use, right? Not the whole throwing of the stone. So as we look at this passage, what we're going to see is this story is powerful for us today, for you and for I and for you and for me, and also for us to see the heart of Jesus. I think perhaps we see that most clearly laid out here. Jesus heart for the broken I've labeled as a sinner meets the savior. Let's look together in your outline. You'll see three big ideas. We meet Jesus character in a powerful way. Firstly, in verses one and two, you can write this in. And then you'll see point a in just a moment. Point one, you can write this in Jesus the teacher. First off, we see three major characteristics of Jesus in this passage. Firstly, we see he's the teacher. He spent. Look what it says. The others, they went off to their own houses. And Jesus, it says he didn't go off to his own house, but rather he went off to where, the Mount of Olives, which is just outside the city. And so most likely there would have been perhaps if he was celebrating the feast of booths, he might have even had his own little booth with his disciples out on the Mount of Olives. And as everyone else is breaking down their booth and going back to their own houses, he, on the other hand, is saying, the city is busy right now. I'm going to go back to where I normally go. He regularly spends time out there. If you remember earlier on in the gospel of both Matthew and Luke mentioned this, when the disciples go to follow Jesus and they say, where are you going? He says, the son of man has no place to lay aside. If you remember, Jesus doesn't have just his own home somewhere in the city. He moves around and regularly he actually ends up on the Mount of Olives. This is why, remember when Judas is going to have Jesus arrested, how does he know to go to the mount of olives? This is a regular place for Jesus to go. He teaches there at times. He spends his nights there many times. So Jesus goes there after a busy week, and then he gets up late the next morning. Verse two. No, look what it says. Early in the morning.
Early in the morning. We don't know how early, but we see he gets up, and he has a heart to teach other people. That's why he's getting up early. He knows that people are going to be getting up, packing up, and about to head out of the city, back to wherever their homes are. And he says, I want to get to see people before they leave. I want to get every moment of teaching in before they all leave. And so we see he gets up early and he goes back to the temple where he just was the day before, and he begins to teach. Look what it says there in your bibles there. He says again, he went to the temple. All the people came to him, and then he sat down and taught them.
Jesus a point a. He prioritized people. We see this in him getting up early and going and finding people. He reorganized. Jesus reorganized his life around other people so that he could, he could teach them and he could engage with them. Notice also what it says there. And he sat down and taught. Did you know that early on in this time frame, when jesus would teach, he wouldn't stand up like most of us do, but he would sit down. That was normal. And actually, and you're probably gonna be glad about this, that when Jesus taught, he would sit down and everyone else listening. They would stand for a long time.
Wouldn't you just imagine you come to church every day and I get to sit down the whole time. And all of you are standing the entire time. Also, you note, I think it's in John, chapter six, verse ten or so, the feeding of the 5000. You could look later. Some of you are going to look now. But I think it, when he's feeding the 5000, it says that he told the people to sit down because there was much grass there. Why is that even there? Because they were all standing before that. So as you think through, and you read through Jesus teaching, imagine Jesus sitting down in front of a bunch of people like this. And everyone else standing the whole time.
You're glad that some things in the Bible are reversed today. This is one of those. So here I'll stand up again. But you see that when you're sitting down, people, oftentimes, even today, when you're sitting in this way, like, oh, I'm going to pay attention. I'm engaged a little bit more. And so Jesus, he's teaching and he's sitting there, probably on one of the temple steps. And the people are standing there. They're engaged, they're paying attention. And then a disruption occurs in Jesus time, in this time of teaching. Look what it says as we read on now. The scribes and the Pharisees. The scribes are the people who would have been writing out the Old Testament. Most notably, would have been making copies of the scriptures. And the pharisees who were to teach the scriptures. So the leading class of religious people, they brought in a woman. We see in .2 in your outline. You can write this in. Jesus the wise. Jesus the wise. Look what it says. They brought in a woman who had been caught in adultery. And placing her in their midst. So you get this picture that Jesus, right now, he's sitting there in front of a crowd of people who are not sitting. They're standing. And then off to the side we see the scribes and the Pharisees running in. And they're dragging, most likely this woman who does not want to be there. She comes pulled in, probably crying, distressed, obviously brought in. And everyone else, they're no longer looking at Jesus, are they? Where are they looking at this woman? At the people here, the Pharisees and the scribes who are coming in, probably angry, probably talking quite loudly at this time. And they come before Jesus the teacher, right there in front of them. They know that Jesus is there. And look what goes on. They wanted the people to look at Jesus not as a good teacher, but as a criminal. And so most likely, as we see here, they set this up and it says, to test Jesus, or most likely actually to trap Jesus. Their goal wasn't just to see, how smart is this guy? But we want the people to look at Jesus not as the Christ, but as a criminal. And they have worked together to create a situation, a scenario in which Jesus could be made to look bad. They're seeing people over and over look at Jesus and say, man, he might be the christ, he might be the prophet. We should follow him. We should listen to him. And the Pharisees and scribes and Sadducees are thinking, how do we make people stop looking to Jesus? Now, there's a few major interruptions that. A few major things that we want to talk about from this interruption. First, you might ask, how did this setup occur? We don't know. We don't know the background of this, but most likely, most likely they knew this was going on, and they thought to themselves, how can we find a way to have Jesus look bad? And somebody might have thought to themselves, wait, if we have a way for Jesus to where he has to either contradict the law of Moses, which was what he, or make, make the Romans the one he's going to listen to. So either he's going to contradict the law of Moses, or he's going to have problems with the Romans. We want to find a way for people to not look to him anymore. So did they know about this relationship? Perhaps? Did they get this report of the sinful interaction the day before? And then they brought her forward to Jesus to see, let's see what Jesus will say. We don't know, but we know that they say they caught her.
It says, in adultery. And look what they say to Jesus in verse four. They said to him, teacher, this woman has been caught in what?
In the. Go to the next slide in the act of adultery. Now, this is, again, interesting, because this is very, very particular, isn't it? Now, some of you have heard this story. Probably many or all of you have heard this story. This is very, very particular. There's a few reasons they are intentionally being this particular, and here's why. In order for this, by the way, is a criminal offense in which the punishment is death, which is what we see here. In order for this capital crime to be carried out to bring about death, somebody actually had to witness it. So we can't just say, oh, I saw two people coming out of a door together. And I have a suspicion that wasn't what occurred here. Somebody actually had to witness this in order for this to be something that they would actually kill someone over. So the proof had to be very significant. And so they come to Jesus, by the way, there's no witnesses coming to Jesus. It's just these pharisees and the scribes saying, we caught her. Not just with some guy, but we caught her in the act. They're trying to be very particular because they know that if it was just a general suggestion or a general suspicion, I should say that Jesus would say, well, that's not enough proof. The very act. Now we see what they're saying. We understand the tension between what they're saying and what Jesus position is. But what about the woman?
The woman who is standing there, shoved in front of everybody else.
Jesus sitting, the people standing, the Pharisees behind her standing. And she's literally caught in the middle.
How do you think she's feeling right now?
Shame. Guilt. Fear.
She's silent before the judge.
This woman, they say this teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.
Now, here's the part where the testing comes into play. Look what it says. Verse five. Now, in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. What do you say? Verse six. John adds this. They said to test him. That they might have some charge to bring against him.
We'll pause there for just a moment. Now, you also are probably asking another question.
Where's the man?
Right?
I mean, it takes two people.
And perhaps the people watching on are asked, thinking, this thing. Perhaps Jesus, he already knows. So he's not guessing or thinking or wondering. And the woman having been thrown before these men might also be thinking, why am I the one?
There was another person there. Another piece of evidence that shows this. This was probably a setup all along. They were looking for a way to shame this person. And they also wanted a way to discredit Jesus. And so they ask the question, by the way, these leaders, they do not care about actual justice. Because if they did, the law of Moses, you could look at this on your own time. Leviticus 2010 and Deuteronomy 22 22 are very specific. They say that if two people are actually caught in the act of adultery, there has to be two witnesses that find them there. And those two witnesses are the ones that bring them before the judges. And then judgment is carried out. So here these people are saying, well, the law of Moses said, and Jesus, obviously being God, goes to himself, because we don't see it. Him saying this. You're quoting the law of Moses, but you've clearly missed something. The law of Moses says, the man and the woman. And here I only see one. So why do you think you have the authority to bring up the law of Moses when you're clearly breaking that? Now, that's important in just a moment. So they say, what do you say? Their question is this, what is your judgment? By the way, he's a teacher. He's one of the rabbis. His job is not to bring about this judgment. So again, they're not even bringing this woman to where she should be brought. If they actually cared about. True. If he says, stoner, it was breaking the roman law, because only Romans had the authority to kill. The Romans had taken that authority away from the jewish people, even though the law of Moses said they should be stoned.
The Romans said, no, we'll let you do what you want to do, but you're not allowed to kill anyone anymore. That's going to be on us later on in six months when Jesus goes to the cross. That's why the Israelites said, the Jews said to the Romans, you go and kill him. Because they knew they didn't have that authority any longer. So Jesus says, yes, stone her. Wait, you're breaking the Romans law. That would give him problems with Rome. But if he said, let her live, then they could say, clearly, everyone pay attention. Jesus is clearly ignoring the law of Moses. They're looking for a way to discredit Jesus. They were setting up a trap. They were trying to put jesus between a rock and a hard place.
Verse six. B.
This sentence, look in your bibles there. It's short, but it speaks volumes. Look what it says.
The end of that Jesus. Then after hearing this crowd before him, yelling at him, calling him to make a judgment, he bends down and he writes with his finger. Where?
On the ground.
Jesus was not stirred by the hype of the crowd. He didn't get angry, but rather, this is what he did. He's sitting there, and then they bring this woman over. He probably turns to look. He might even stand up. They ask, what? And then he bends over and imagine the crowd of people and the woman literally right in front of him. And what he does is he starts to write. Now, the posture is significant for multiple reasons. One, he's showing that he's in no rush, but also he's getting lower than the woman in front of him. And as a man in that culture. Wow.
To all of the jewish leaders watching on right now, who sees Jesus? The rabbi, the judge, the person they're calling to judge this woman, kneeling down, bending down in front of this woman, if nothing else were to cause a hush in the crowd that would have done it. And so here's Jesus bending down. He's writing. And I know you're all wondering, is he gonna tell us what he wrote? I don't know. So just get that out of the way. No one knows what he wrote. Scripture doesn't tell us. All right? We can just get past that. Jesus is writing here. He's writing something. And by the way, you might think to yourself, that's interesting. There's no other place in scripture that we see Jesus writing something.
What's also interesting is the last time we see, or one of the times, most significant times, that we see the hand of God, the finger of God. Writing something is the Ten Commandments. And what does jesus say later on? The fulfillment of the Ten Commandments is love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. I don't know what he was writing, but I feel like that would have been very applicable right now as he's writing. Love the Lord your God, thinking, they're not doing that. And love your neighbor as yourself. They're also not doing that. And perhaps Jesus was writing that. Perhaps he wasn't. I don't know what it was. You can do all sorts of research and have all sorts of opinions, but in the midst of that time, we see Jesus being willing to pause everything because this moment mattered. And so we see here, over and over again, the people are pressing in and pressing in. Look what it says. Verse seven goes on to. And they continued to ask. The idea there is pressing upon him an answer, desiring an answer. And then he stood up and he said to them these famous let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. Now, why were these words so powerful? Perhaps because of how unexpected they were. Perhaps because of the incredible balance between grace and truth that was found in these words. Perhaps it was because he truly understood God's heart towards sin, the sin of all people. Perhaps it was because it shows great mercy that wasn't expected in a situation like this. But let's be honest.
That's not the only part that was so powerful. If we dig into this a bit more, we find Jesus is not saying that only those who have never sinned can carry out punishment, because if that were true, then no one should ever punish anybody, right? I mean, imagine if you use that phrase everywhere. That wouldn't work here. There's a consequence. There's a punishment. Well, are you a sinner? Yes, I guess you can't punish me. That's not what he's pointing at here. Now, remember I said earlier this was important for us to remember. They have broken the law already. They are ignoring the law of God as they. The law of Moses, the law of God as they bring this woman to Jesus to be judged. There wasn't the right time. It wasn't the right place. There wasn't the right person to judge. And also, there's no man there. They know all of this. And so as jesus stands up and he says that, imagine what they're all thinking, oh, we're not doing this right.
You remember the trial of Jesus? Was that done right? No, but they were passionate. They were looking for a way to get Jesus to be quiet. How can we shut this man up? So let's try to kill him. So they ignored the law in order to do that. In this case, they're looking for a way to trap Jesus, and so they're going to ignore the law in order to find a way to do just that.
These words of Jesus not only speak to Jesus kindness towards the woman, but it also speaks judgment to the accusers.
Jesus has a way with words, doesn't he? Verse eight continues. Look in your bibles.
And once more, he bent down and he wrote on the ground. It was like jesus knew they're going to need some time to think about this. So he says these profound words that speak grace to a woman who is filled with shame, filled with guilt, filled with fear, as he bends down before her and says, I'm willing to lower myself before you.
And he speaks words as he stands up, speaks words of kindness and mercy and speaks words of judgment to the people behind them and bends back down and begins to write again. Again. We don't know what he's writing. It doesn't say the second time. And the woman still stands there before him. And the people, what? They begin to leave.
Oldest first, and then the younger, the younger folks there as well. That's what it says there in your bibles. Until Jesus. Now, he's there writing, and the woman is by herself. In other words, the accusers are gone. The woman is there. Jesus is here. And there's still. Remember, there's still a crowd of people out here who have watched this entire thing unfold.
And then he stands up.
He stands up before her. Verse eight goes on. He bends down. He writes in the ground. Before we get into verse nine, though, we see two things. You could just write these in. In this passage, in this area of Jesus wisdom.
He saw the setup of the ruler of the accusers. You could write that in. He saw the setup, and in his wisdom he spoke with gentle power.
He saw the setup that was before him. Because he is wise, and because he is wise, he knew how to respond to the woman in front of him with kindness and with mercy, with gentle power. Three. On your outline, you could write this in Jesus. Not only is the teacher, not only is he wise, but he's also loving.
Verse nine continues. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones. And Jesus was left alone with the woman.
He stood up and he said to her, woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? When the accusers heard these words of Jesus, they were probably shocked. It wasn't what they had expected. But they had forgotten that Jesus, as God knows all things, including their hearts, this time, in what they assumed to be their most powerful case against Jesus, they ended up leaving embarrassed. They came in all prideful, all arrogant. We got them this time. And then they walked away saying, wow, we missed it. This, as we might say today, is a true, like, mic drop moment for Jesus.
And they walk away with nothing else that they could say. It was most likely this awkward pause as they stood there thinking, and then, because it's this story, I have a rock.
They probably, by the way, were standing there, rocks in hand, ready. Ready for Jesus to say, yes, let's do it. Now, would they have stoned her there? We don't know. Probably not. They would have taken her somewhere else, out of the city. They were in the mood of breaking laws anyway. Who knows what would have happened? But they were. Had they probably at the time, they could have had rocks in their hand. And so imagine this. As they begin to leave and Jesus is still bent down, we hear this, and then you hear another one, and another one and another one. And the woman standing there in her shame hears that, and she then is reminded, this man here before me loves me. This man before me cares. He's not here to find a way to make me feel worse. He wants to lift me up. Maybe that's why he's on his knees there, or he's bending down, stooping over, riding in the dirt. So we have stones now laying on the ground behind the woman. And Jesus stands up and he asks her, where are the folks? Where are the folks who? The accusers that are trying to bring this case to me. And by the way, if there's no one to accuse you, there's no case.
So the stones have been dropped the woman is standing there. He says, where are your accusers? Are they gone? She says, yes. There's no one else here.
They're gone.
What might have this woman been feeling at this time?
Perhaps she was afraid, but perhaps she knew that Jesus is a kind person. And I've heard stories that he eats with sinners and tax collectors.
Maybe that Jesus is the one that I'll see today, maybe the one who's a friend of sinners.
Maybe that's what he'll say to me, something kind.
So he says, is there anyone here to condemn you? She says, no. And Jesus doesn't say, well, I'm left, and I'm going to. That's not what he says. The stones have been dropped. And Jesus doesn't go and pick up some of their stones and says, well, I have a right to throw it because I haven't broken any laws. That's not what he says.
Rather, he says this, neither do I condemn you.
In that moment, imagine the wave of relief that washes over this woman right now. Wow. As she realizes, no one is going to be stoning me today.
No one is going to be accusing me today. Now there's all the people watching on as this goes on, the sigh of relief, the realization of the heart of Christ, grace, mercy, love. And without giving much time for anything else to happen or for her to say anything, Jesus then gives her instruction as well. He says, go and sin no more. In other words, stop doing this life of sin. Leave this life of sin. He releases her with an instruction to repent is what he does. Here's also what he tells her in the midst of this loving act, he shows her, and this is true for us today, friends.
He shows her that she is more precious than the sum of her sins.
He knew that what she did was wrong. And in no way in this case is Jesus saying adultery is fine. That's not what we see here, but rather we see that Jesus showed mercy. Was he breaking the law in this? Was he supposed to condemn her? John chapter three, verse 17 says this, for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. One Timothy 115. This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of who I am the foremost. Paul speaking. Then James 213. The last part of it says this, mercy triumphs over judgment. We see two things that Jesus did here. You can write these things in. First off, point a is in his love. He clarified sin. He clarified the sin of the accusers, the Pharisees and the scribes that were there, the accusers, he clarified their sin, because the loving thing to do is to speak truth. And Jesus balances that perfectly. Love and truth. So he speaks truth in his love also. He doesn't notice, he doesn't ridicule them, he doesn't tear them down, which he could have done in front of all of the people. But he doesn't do that. He also, in his love be on your outline is he showed mercy. In his love, he showed mercy. This is clearly seen.
The accusers are in the business. We're in the business of heaping on guilt. And Jesus was in the business of heaping on grace.
They were in the business of shaming and stoning. And Jesus desired to save, and he desires to sanctify.
They desired to bring ridicule, and Jesus desired to bring repentance. That's what we see here. I want to give you three application thoughts as we close here today.
Is there someone in your life that you are upset with, that you're angry with, or that you're bitter towards, that you need to show grace to? What I want to do in these three questions is this.
I want to put us in the place of each of these people, the accusers, the woman and of Jesus.
So in the place of the accuser, is there someone in your life that you're upset with, you're angry with, or you're bitter towards, that you need to show grace to, and if so, do that, stop holding a grudge. Imagine this rock here, right?
It's the idea of saying, I have something against you.
I know what it is, and I can use it against you.
But we're called.
We're called to do this. I see what I could throw at you to bring you down and to hurt you, and I'm called to drop the rock.
I'm called to drop it. Now, obviously, it does not mean that I never cast any kind of judgment or discernment, but what it does call me to do is put the rock down. And actually, let me tell you something else. It's actually better not just to drop this, but to recognize I am a sinner and I need saving. And so, first and foremost, the way that I'm going to judge someone is not in my opinion of them, not in how much they hurt me. But I'm going to take this and I'm going to go and put it before Jesus, and I'm going to leave it there, and I'm going to say, this is what I have against this person. Jesus, will you help me with this? How do you see this person? How do you interpret this judgment? How do you interpret their sin? And here's what Jesus might do, is he might say, and such were some of you and I showed you mercy and called you to repentance. So is there a right way to handle anger or bitterness or hurt that someone's caused you? Laying it before Jesus, we see the accusers. They brought the woman there, but they were ready to throw the stones.
Secondly, the accusers in this story intended to shame a woman in an unfair and an unjust. Today, you and I, if we were to put ourselves in the situation in the person of this woman, today, you and I have an accuser, and it's the devil.
We have to know this, that Jesus will not accuse you before God if you are his child. Rather, he will be your advocate and he will be your protector. In this story, imagine yourself as the woman and the devil, as the leaders or the accusers. And Jesus, well, he's Jesus.
He's the one who casts the judgment of no condemnation. Go and sin no more.
Some of you, perhaps today, are holding on to the words of the accuser behind you, choosing every day to say, okay, I'm gonna pick up the words of the accuser. I'm gonna live in the words of the accuser. You are bad. You are shameful. You don't deserve that. And rather, we're called to do something different, to push the words of the accuser aside and say, I'm gonna listen to the words of Jesus right now. You're my child. You're loved. You're cared about. There is now, therefore, no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Those are the words of Jesus to you and I today.
Sometimes we're put in a position we can perhaps rightfully tear people down. Sometimes we have all the ammunition we need to make other people feel small and to make ourselves feel big. Jesus could have done that. He could have stood up and said, yep, you should feel the way you feel right now. But that's not what he did.
When those moments come, remember Jesus pausing, probably praying and looking for a way to speak truth in love. Making people wait for a reply is okay as you ask the father to help you to speak with mercy and to grace. In this story, we see Jesus as a teacher. He teaches us today and every day. We see him wise. He knows our hearts and the hearts of all people. We also see Jesus as loving. I know the thing about you that nobody else does.
And I still love you.
Come to me, is what he says.
I'm going to pray. We're going to spend a time remembering Jesus faithfulness and his love in the cross. But let me just pray for a moment for us all, Lord Jesus, as we spend time here today, seeing your mercy and seeing your grace, being reminded that you are a God who not just sees us here today, but all people around the world, people thousands miles away in Uganda that. That desperately needs you. Lord, you have not abandoned us to our sin and our shame and our guilt, but rather you stepped into our world and you've shown us that you want to have a relationship with us, that you want to know us. And you're calling us to leave our life of sin and to run to you, to run to you with everything that we have.
And so for those here today who might be struggling, might be thinking through the words of the accuser in their mind or their heart, Lord, I pray that you would free them of that. Help them hear your words. You've called us your children. You've called us beloved.
You've called us friends.
You've called us forgiven.
So as we sit before you this morning, help us to trust in your words over all things and to rejoice, knowing that your love and your judgment is what matters in the end. In Jesus name, amen.
The first Sunday of every month, we celebrate communion. The Lord's supper is what we call at times. If you were to go back in church history sometime, and even in some churches and denominations today, it's called the Eucharist. Can you say Eucharist? You know what that means?
It means thanksgiving. Can you say thanksgiving?
Interpreters look at that. And the opportunity of what we do here today is to remind ourselves that we are thankful for what Jesus has done. Truly. This, it's thanksgiving, is our theme as we take and we eat and drink.
In a moment, the ushers will come down. And as they do, as they pass, we're going to hear a song from these folks here reminding us of the blood of Jesus that was shed for us in a moment of great sadness. For many people as they looked on at the cross, it truly is a time that we now look back at with thanksgiving, not with sadness.
The song lyrics go like this, and I'll read some of them and you all I want to steal your thunder there's no way that I could there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunged beneath the flood they lose all their guilty stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day. And there may I, though vile as he right, we are all sinners. The wages of sin is death. We all deserve that. The blood of Jesus washes my sin away.
Dear dying lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose its power. The blood of Jesus is stronger than any and every sin that you and I have ever committed.
The power of Jesus blood can cover it all.
Ever since, by faith I saw the stream thy flowing from the wound supply. Redeeming love has been my theme, and it shall be until I die. We're called in scripture to take part in the Lord's supper communion ushers. You can walk forwards. We're called to do this to remind ourselves that we are not good enough to stand before God by ourselves. It is only under the blood of Jesus that we are able to approach the throne of God with confidence. And so, as the song play, as they sing the song, as he ushers past the elements, what I want you to do is remember. Reflect on your sin under the blood of Jesus and just thank him for that. Praise him for his kindness and his faithfulness. This is the time to rejoice. After the elements have been passed and they're done with the song, I'll read a passage of scripture, and then we'll take and eat and drink together. Ushers, if you could pass the elements and you guys could sing song.
[00:41:20] Speaker B: There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's name sinners plunged beneath that but lose all their guilty state lo, their guilty state lose all their guilty stains and sinners plunged beneath that flood rejoice to see a fountain in this day and there may I ohi as he wash all my sins away away wash all my sins away as since my face I saw the sea I flowing wound supply redeeming light hash has been my king and shall be till I die.
And shall be till I die.
And shall be till I die.
Hash dreaming love has been my theme and shall be till I die.
Wash all my sins away.
Wash all my sins away.
Redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die.
[00:45:16] Speaker A: Blood of Jesus washes away all of our sins.
If you have trusted in Jesus, then the blood of Jesus is covering you as we exist, as we stand before God. It says in Isaiah 53, he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him. And by his wounds we are healed.
We're called first corinthians eleven.
To take and to eat. It says this, for I received from the Lord Paul speaking, that which I delivered to you like this is important for you, church, today, you, 2000 years later, from when this is written that the Lord Jesus, when he was betrayed, he took bread. When he had given thanks, he broke it. And he said, this, this is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way he took the cup after supper. He said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. And this final phrase here, this is so important. For as often as you eat this bread and you drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death. You're saying he died, his blood was shed to cover me.
And then he's going to come again to take me, covered by his blood, to heaven, washed clean. Let's eat and drink together as a church.
We're going to close this, our service with a song that you all know.
Amazing grace. Lord Jesus, we are so amazed by the grace that you show.
I can't get the story out of my head that was shared earlier today of the man who was just in awe that he didn't have to pay something to get something from you, that you stepped in to our world and gave before we could give you anything.
And today that's us, amazed that before we could offer you anything, you gave to us free of charge.
That is free of charge to us.
You paid the highest price so that we could experience your grace.
Your judgment still stands, but we sit under the blood of Jesus. The death has happened, but it wasn't our death. And so thank you, Jesus, for dying in our place. Thank you for calling us to yourself.
Thank you for not accusing us, but rather showing us mercy, the mercy that we so desperately need. In Jesus name, amen. If you would like to pray with myself or someone in the back, Pastor Les, we would love to do that. If there's something heavy on your heart you just want to rejoice in, this time we invite you to do that. We're gonna sing amazing grace. And as we do, encourage you to just to sing out. Imagine you're in Africa, maybe, and just look for some dust to be rising up around you. As you rejoice in God's amazing grace, let's stand and sing together.
[00:48:43] Speaker B: Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me I once was lost but I found was blind but now I see twas grace that of my heart to him and grace my fears release.
How precious did that grace appear?
He has been the Lord has promised good to me his word my hope secures he will my shield and worship as long as I endure through many danger to I have already come.
His grace has brought me save us far and grace with me.
Sadeena.
10,000 years bright shining as a sun.
We know last days to see God's grace. And when we pass beyond we know last days to sing God praise. And when we first begun.
[00:52:24] Speaker A: As we close here, just encourage you to think through. Maybe you've never trusted in Jesus before. Maybe you feel this morning like you're the woman standing there full of shame and like God would never forgive you, encourage you. Reach out. I'd love to pray with you. I'd love to talk you through that. Maybe there's other people in your life that you need to tell that, to get that out of your own heart and your own mind and truly believe that he is a merciful, merciful God who wants people to be restored.
Maybe you're also like that woman. You're thinking there's this sin that's holding on to me and I don't know if I can ever stop. Believe the words of Jesus today when he says, go and leave your life of sin. He gives us his spirit to empower us to do just that. Let's close in prayer today. Lord, thank you for your grace that you've shown us not just in this act of salvation for us and covering us with your blood, but the riches of your spirit living inside of us, giving us the ability to leave our life of sin and to trust in you, in each of the decisions that we make as you send us out from this place today, Lord, we go under your power, under your strength. As redeemed children of you. We're looking to call people who might feel like they're in shame or in guilt, who are hurting, calling them to you to remind them that your yoke is easy, your burden is light, and that you have come to seek and to save the lost.
So as your ambassadors, Lord, we go out trusting you under your spirit's power and direction in Jesus name. Everyone said.
