How Jesus Calls Sinners (10/6/18 John #40: John 7:53-8:11)

ATTN: Our country is roiled in the debate regarding Judge Kavanaugh, and here’s what went through my mind when his past came to light: Here is a respected judge – one deemed good enough to be appointed to the highest court of the United States. And yet, when you dig deep enough, we see that he is a flawed individual with perhaps something to hide in his closet. And what this revealed to me once again is this: What a rotten, shameful sinners all of us are although on the outside, we all look alright! If a respected judge had that kind of possible past (at the least, he was involved in such scenes), what about you and me? If FBI or anyone were to dig up our lives – going through our texts, emails, even snapchats – a bunch of things may come out about you and me that we have buried in our memory – going back to our teen years, and college days. We would all be so shameful of our past!

Today, we are back to John, and we read a story about a woman who had to face such shame publically – a woman caught in the act of adultery. And unlike Kavanugh, there was no doubt that she was guilty. She knew it and everyone else did too. So, this is not a court scene. This is a execution scene. Now, to those of you who are aware that this passage is not contained in the earliest manuscript, let me just say that I do believe that this was not in the earliest manuscript, however, I do believe this scene took place and happened just as it is described here. You can come and ask me after service why I think that if you want to, but I didn’t want this sermon to turn into a lecture on texture criticism but rather be proclaiming the word of God… So, let me state what I believe is the point of the message is: Jesus came not to condemn sinners but to call them to Himself.

How does he call sinners? He demonstrates this in three ways with this woman: He calls sinners… 1) By dispelling our accusers. 2) By declaring us, “not guilty,” even though we are, and 3) By strengthening us from sinning further.  

 

1. By dispeling our accusers.

The woman was brought to Jesus by her accusers. And it seems certain that this woman was indeed guilty of what she’s been accused of. Her silence here speaks volumes. She’s not pleading with Jesus, saying that she is innocent. According to her accusers, she was caught redhanded – in the act. This leads me to believe that this woman was in an illicit relationship with a man not her husband, and she was possibly caught in a trap set by the pharisees collaborated by her lover, which means that she was betrayed by her lover since we do not see her lover in the scene. So, this woman was betrayed by her lover, abandoned by her husband, caught redhanded, humiliated publicly and was about to be executed.  

If you could ask her at this point what her last words would be, she might have said, “Please make it quick, for I fully deserved it…” What does Jesus do for this obvious sinner in front of her accusers? He dispels her accusers. He dismisses them. “He who is without sin, casts your first stone.” Who is without sin? No one. All her accusers turn back and leave. Actually, there was one who was without sin at the scene. And it was Jesus. He was the only one who could cast the first stone. But not only does He not cast the first stone, but he also prevents others from casting the stone.

APP: You and I will have our accusers: Satan, Moses, and our own tongue.

1. Satan: 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. (Rev. 12:10)

Have you felt his accusations? “Look at yourself! God can never forgive you of that! How many times have you done that? You ought to be ashamed! It would be more honorable to not ask for forgiveness this time than to shamelessly come to Him after what you’ve done. You are worthless. Your life doesn’t matter. No one cares! Why not end it and put yourself out of misery.”

1. Moses: 45Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope (John 5:45) What does Jesus mean that Moses will be our accuser? He meant that what Moses represented in the Old Testament, the law, will be our accuser. When our life is examined against the holy law of God, namely, loving God with all our heart and loving our neighbor as ourselves, we do not measure up. How often have we failed to treat others like we want to be treated? How often have we cursed, flipped off, and wished death upon those who cut us off in traffic, or even on our loved ones at home in our fit of rage? We have failed to love properly. The law of God accuses us.
2. Our tongue: “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (John 5:45). Forget living up to God’s standard. We don’t even live up to our own standards, do we? Think of all the gossips and judgements we have passed about someone. Do we live up to our own standard? “I find myself saying to my kids, “how long have you been on that game on that ipad? 2 hours? Too long. Get off, kids!” And I’m saying this while I’m on MY ipad watching a stupid youtube video!” My own tongue condemns me!  

So the devil, the law, and even our own tongue accuse us. Who will defend us? Jesus! “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” Romans 8:34

2. By declaring us, “not guilty,” even though we are.

After dispelling her accusers, there stood the only one who could rightfully cast the stone at her since he was without sin. If this was anyone but Jesus, we could take this as Him saying, “Well, no one condemns you? I don’t either. It’s not my place to judge. Besides, I’m not the judge and therefore, I do not have the proper authority to judge your case. So, let me now hand you over to the proper authorities….” But this is Jesus, the judge of judges and of angels and even of Satan. He says, “Neither do I condemn you!” I take it to mean that her sins are forgiven! Jesus has done something like this before. When a paralytic was lowered to Jesus by the man’s friends, Jesus looked at him and said, “Your sins are forgiven.” He had the authority to forgive sins, and he did it for the paralytic then, and here He is doing it for the woman caught in adultery. Romans 8:1. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Of course, you might say, but this woman does not say sorry or respond in any way. How do we even know that this woman was repentant? That is true. But this is Jesus who knows the internal affairs of our hearts. Jesus could read the condition of her heart, and the state of her mind. She knew her life was going to end that day. She knew that she deserved it. She is guilty. But Jesus exonerates her. Her life is spared. But more than that, the very holy one who knows everything about her, whose shadow she is not worthy to be under is declaring her “not guilty.” Those are absolute words coming from the absolute judge of the world. I have no doubt that she became a believer at this instant. When you and I go to heaven, I believe we will see this woman and can hear her story in person…

APP: Without true guilt, there is no forgiveness. I know it’s taboo these days to talk about feeling guilty or being guilty. Even in churches, we don’t hear very much about being guilty or feeling guilty. I was talking with a young lady some years ago and I happened to mention the word, “guilt” and she nearly jumped on me and said that as Christians we shouldn’t ever feel guilty because Christ has forgiven us of all our sins. I think what she did was to listen to the world’s way of mental health – which is feeling confident and having a healthy self-esteem – and combined it with the Christian message that Jesus gives us that confidence and self-esteem. So, according to her, feeling guilty is wrong because it’s a negative emotion that’s not healthy for our soul. Well, what the Bible actually says is that we are actually more wicked than we ever dared believe, but also at the same time more loved than we ever dared hope. We are not loved because we are lovely. We are loved because God is loving in spite of how unlovely we are! Therefore, we have no grounds for self-confidence. What we should have is god-confidence! But to answer the question, “should we ever feel guilty?”:

1 Corinthians 7:8-9 8Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— 9yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us.

In other words, Paul made them feel guilty by his rebuke of them. Why? So that they can have greater joy in Christ by focusing on Christ rather than on themselves.

APP1: A side note: As One, I want us to get to the point where a godly leader can come to you and in love, rebuke you without fearing that you will leave the church…. And you pray for us leaders in that we will love you enough to rebuke you when you are wrong even if there is fear that you might leave the church.

3. By strengthening us from sinning further.

Right after saying, Neither do I condemn you, Jesus says, “go, and from now on sin no more.” He doesn’t say, “Since I do not condemn you, you can live however you want.” But he charges her not to sin anymore. Now, in case you think this is out of character for Jesus to say, He says something very similar to a paralytic man whom Jesus healed by the pool of Bethesda. He said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” (John 5:14)

Now then, is Jesus expecting her never to sin from this point on again? No. What he means is for her not to continue living in sin like she did before. Certainly, at the least, He expected her to stop living in the adulterous relationship. But how? She couldn’t do it before. How could she do it now? Because she has met the Savior. She has experienced his grace, his compassion, his kindness. And later on, He promised the holy spirit to be strengthening us as well. Therefore, with the strength that Christ gives, she will work out her salvation and not continue in the life of sin. Will she never be tempted? Oh, she will be. But it is expected that she will have joined a community of sinners who were forgiven just like her, who will encourage her and keep her accountable to continue in Christ.

Let me say a little more on making efforts not to sin. If I have led you to believe that Christian growth will only come from beholding (looking at) Christ, then I have not been complete. Absolutely, I want you to look to Christ, but oftentimes, we need to make efforts to remove the fog and stain to see Him more clearly. In other words, It WILL require engaging our will-power at times, especially when our heart is not right.

“…Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Phil 2:13

The word, “work out,” does not seem passive, does it? It is we who are to work out our salvation. Believe me, I have been working out at the Y at least three times a week for the last several years, and it takes much effort even to get to the gym!

But the amazing thing is that when we make continued efforts toward holiness and godliness, God works in us! So, it is not a separate thing from our own action. We do not wait until God magically or miraculous change our hearts to make us want to be godly. Rather, we beat our body and make it obedient until we can see Christ more clearly. And once we see Christ more clearly through our clearing out the thistles, then we will WANT TO be obedient to Him.

ILL: Sometimes I bring flowers to my wife because I have this overwhelming feeling of love. But other times, my bringing flowers to her create the feeling of love.

Make an effort to come to Christ. Even if your wicked heart doesn’t want to…

CONC: Jesus came not to condemn sinners, but to call them to Himself. He called us to Himself by dispelling our accusers, by declaring us, “not guilty” when we are, and by strengthening us from sinning further. But there was a cost to this. Even Jesus could not simply let a sinner go free. And I have often wondered if what Jesus wrote on the ground was not, “I will pay for this.” He did pay for her sins. She deserved to die, but He died instead. She deserved to be stoned, but He was nailed instead. She deserved to have sharp stones bruise her head, but He had His precious head pierced by thorns. He paid in full. He didn’t just dismiss our sin as if it was nothing. He paid for it with His own blood.

Would you fight to hang onto Him? Would you fight your sin? Fight your lust. Fight your laziness. Fight your outbursts of anger. Fight your selfishness. Until you see Christ more beautifully.