“THE MESSAGE OF GRACE IN THE SAND” (John 8:1-11)
February 20, 2000
Int. The background for this message finds itself during the feast which had grown to a kind of vintage festival.
I. SOMETIMES THE VILEST OF SINNERS ARE THE GREATEST ACCUSERS.
A. SUCH WAS THE CASE WITH THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES. (Vr. 3)
1. Many in their judgment of others are but putting up a smoke screen to protect themselves.
II. SOMETIMES THE SEVEREST JUDGE OF SINNERS IS THEIR OWN CONSCIENCE. (Vr. 9)
A. THEY BROUGHT A MOB WHILE TWO OR THREE WOULD HAVE BEEN SUFFICIENT.
1. They made no effort to reform or have mercy on the woman.
2. They didn’t bother bringing the man for judgement too.
a. “If an ox or ass fall into a pit, straightway pull him out;
If a man or woman, be quicker still.”
III. THE GREATEST FRIEND OF SINNERS IS JESUS CHRIST.
A. THE ACCUSERS ARE GONE; ONLY THE ACCUSED REMAINS AND THAT WITH JESUS.
1. He declines to pronounce a judicial judgement upon her.
a. “Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more.”
2. Their bitterness was not the indignation of the innocent against the guilty; but “the not found out against the found out.”
3. They, like many today, wanted credit for character and the best way to get it was by denouncing someone else.
4. They, like many today, had two standards of goodness—one for themselves and another for their neighbor.
5. They used a different set of weights to weigh the character of their neigbors.
a. (Prov 20:10) "Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the LORD."
b. (Prov 20:23) "Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD; and a false balance is not good."
Ill. Man & his crooked yard stick.
IV. SUCH JUDGING DISPLEASES THE LORD.
A. NOTICE HOW HE IGNORED THEM. (Vr. 6)
1. (2 Cor 5:10) "For we must all appear before the[1] judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."
1 The phrase: "The Judgment" is found 51 times in the Scriptures.
B. THEIR JUDGING WAS SOON PUT TO SHAME. (Vr. 7)
1. He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
a. If there's one who often falters
By the wayside in despair,
Seems unusual his shortcomings--
Do you hold him up in prayer?
If the weak should stumble, brethren,
If he cannot stand alone;
Let the perfect one among you
Be first to throw a stone.
If so often he has wavered
That you can't believe him true,
Have you mentioned it to Jesus
As the strong one ought to do?
Do you ever stop, consider
Have you no faults of your own?
Let the perfect one among you
Be the first to throw a stone.
Is there one with cross so heavy,
Seems he cannot carry all--
He may not keep step as you do,
If he even chance to fall;
Do you plead with God for mercy
Till He answers from the throne?
Let the perfect one among you
Be the first to throw a stone.
--Selected
2. What a terrible rebuke in the temple, in the presence of the people whose reverence they had won by hypocracy.
a. No one says: “Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
b. No one says, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.”
c. Or, “Whence knowest Thou me?”
d. Or, “Thou must be the Son of God.”
e. Only, shame and bitterness filled them.
C. DOUBTLESS, ALL OF THEM HAD EXCUSES FOR LEAVING..(Vr. 9)
1. One probably had a committee meeting demanding immediate attention.
2. Another probably had to catch a coach to Jericho for urgent business.
3. The excuses rolled on as each one left the scene. (Vr. 9)
VI. THEY HAD BEEN ANXIOUS TO JUDGE AND JESUS WAS ANXIOUS TO SHOW MERCY.
A. THEY WOULD DESTROY THIS SINNER.
1. Our Lord’s compassion would save the sinner.
2. C. H. S. describes the homes of that day as having very thin walls—easy to hear through.
So he says: It is to be feared that many a brave show of godliness is but an arras (curtain) to conceal rank hypocracy.”
B. THEY KNEW OF HIS COMPASSION AND EXPECTED HIM TO SHOW IT.
1. He had even given a hint concerning such action as theirs.
a. (Mat 21:31) "Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you."
C. CONSIDER THE CUNNING TRAP THEY HAD SET FOR OUR LORD.
1. If He said stone her, he would give twofold offence.
a. He would be condemning a laxity of morals sadly and widely prevelant at that time.
b. He would infringe on Roman authority and offend the rulers, as Jews no longer had the right of capital punishment.
2. They expected a very favorable decision from the past.
a. (Luke 7:47) "Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little."
D. THUS THE TRAP WAS CUNNINGLY SET.
1. If He said the law must be executed, the Roman authorities would be offended.
2. If He said they law must be waved, then the Law of Moses would be sacrificed.
E. NOTICE WHAT THOMAS GOODWIN SAYS ABOUT “ DEATH BY STONING”.
1. “The offender was led to a place without the gates, two cubits high, his hands being bound. From hence one of the witnesses knocked him down by a blow upon the loins. If that killed him not, the witness lifted up a stone, being the weight of two men, which chiefly the other witness cast upon him. If that killed him not, all Israel threw three stones upon him. The party thus executed was afterwards in greater ignominy, hanged on a tree till towards the sunset, at which time both he and the tree were burned.”
F. JOHN TRAPP HAS A QUAINT SAYING CONCERNING OUR LORD’S WRITING IN THE DUST.
1. “Perhaps He thus wrote to show that sin, which is written before God, and graven, as it were, with a pen of iron, and with the pen of a diamond and blotted out by Christ as easily as a writing slightly made in the dust.”
G. THEY WERE GUILTY OF RESPECTABLE SIN.
1. Our Congressmen write laws for us to keep; but they themselves are strangly exempt from those very laws.
Ill. Hot Checks and bad morals.
2. Respectable sin is often more base in spirit than that which is despised.
3. Respectable sin is commonly more inexcusable.
1. The lack of bread sometimes drives a poor man to sin.
4. Respectable sin is more injurious.
a. Sometimes those that sit in high places in a church are the worst of hypocrites.
b. The decent character of your sin will probably keep you from discovery of its real nature and root of character.
5. Respectable sin is like the clean house in the gospels.
a. (Luke 11:24-26) "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest[1]; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. {25} And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. {26} Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first."
Ill. J. I. Packer said: "A Christian when he makes a good profession, should be sure to make his profession good. --It is sad to see many walk in the dark themselves, who carry a lantern for others."
6. They came to the temple that day to accuse; Jesus came to forgive.
VII. THEY WERE CONVICTED BY THEIR OWN CONSCIENCE. (Vr. 9)
A. SOME FOLK THAT GO TO CHURCH TO PASS JUDGEMENT GET STEPPED ON SOMETIMES.
Ill. . “A preacher by the name of Rawson was a strong preacher. He was said to throw “fits” in the pulpit too. One day, he preached on the subject: “And I was the song of the drunkard.” Some folk got up and left during the sermon. The next Sunday, he preached on the subject “And they being convicted of their conscience, went out one by one.” On this occasion, no one left; but stayed and took the rebuke from their pastor. “
Ill. Jeremiah Taylor said: "Conscience is a clock, which in one man strikes aloud and gives warning; in another, the hand points silently to the figure, but strikes not. Meantime, hours pass away, and death hastens; and after death comes judgment."
B. NOTICE TWO CONVICTIONS HERE.
1. The Pharisees, convicted by their own conscience, go away from Jesus.
2. The woman, convicted by her conscience, remains with Jesus.
3. The Pharisees conceal and withdraw from the Saviour their sin.
4. The woman surrenders her sin to Jesus, for the burden she could not bear.
C. NOTICE THE MERCY HE EXTENDS TO HER. (Vr. 11-b)
1. (Psa 32:2) "Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth (chargeth) not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile."
2. She was brought to Jesus to be judged and found forgiveness instead.
3. What she perceived to be a Bar of Judgment became a throne of Grace.
4. He would later condemn her accusers...(Jn 8:44)
Conclusion: “A preacher was asked to preach in a prison and as he rose to preach, he saw hundreds of faces. He paused a moment, then a great wave of emotion surged over his body and he began to weep. He tried to stop but couldn’t. He was so overcome that he couldn’t say a word.
Presently, tears began to flow all over the prison auditorium. Men began to weep over their lost condition. His wordless sermon was, in its results, the most effective sermon that had ever been preached in that institution. “