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‘did No One Condemn You?’ Series
Contributed by Gordon Curley on Mar 2, 2015 (message contributor)
Summary: Questions & Answers in Jesus Day - ‘Did No One Condemn You?’ - PowerPoint slides to accompany this talk are available on request – email: gcurley@gcurley.info
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SERMON OUTLINE:
• The setting (vs 1-2)
• The attack (vs 3-5a)
• The question (vs 5b)
• The answer (vs 6-9)
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
• Duck Dynasty is A&E's most-watched telecast of all time.
• It also became 2013's No. 1 non-fiction series on cable TV.
• Duck Dynasty is an American reality television series on A&E;
• That portrays the lives of the Robertson family,
• Who became wealthy from their family-operated business, Duck Commander.
• The business makes products for duck hunters, primarily a duck call called Duck Commander.
• The Robertson men—brothers Phil and Si, and Phil's sons Jase, Willie, and Jep;
• Are known for their long beards and their Christian views.
• Silas Robertson, affectionately known as "Uncle Si" to "Duck Dynasty" viewers,
• Sometimes writes down John 3:16 and 17 when giving his autograph.
• Si said in an interview,
"Most people can tell you what 16 says, OK. 'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son; but they don't know nothin' about 17. It says Jesus didn't come to condemn us. If anybody had a right to condemn someone, it would be the Son of God. If He didn't do it, then hey, we definitely are not qualified to do it."
• TRANSITION: This passage should be a story of shame and condemnation;
• And yet it turns out to be a story of acceptance, love and forgiveness.
(1). The Setting (vs 1-2)
"But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
And early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them".
Along with the new morning came new crowds of people:
• The temple was crowded because a Jewish feast (Feast of Tabernacles) was taking place
• Whether this was the last day of the feast,
• Or the day after the feast was over, we are not sure.
• What we do know is that the temple was still full of pilgrims.
• And Jesus took the opportunity to teach them.
• If you scan down to verse 20 John pinpoints exactly where in the Temple:
• Jesus chose to teach.
• He taught in the court of women,
• The place where the treasury was situated.
• Noting: w not only can we pinpoint where Jesus would be:
• So could the scribes and the Pharisees know exactly where Jesus would be,
• And that meant that they were able to spring their trap to try to catch him.
Being Jewish Jesus sat down and began to teach them:
• This was the way Jewish rabbis taught.
• Jesus was a Jew and his hearers were Jews,
• So he obviously taught them in a Jewish way.
(2). THE ATTACK (vs 3-5a):
"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery.
They made her stand before the group ".
• Suddenly the calm and serenity of the temple, that sacred place is shattered,
• By the disturbance caused by a handful of men,
• They interrupt Jesus and demand to be the centre of attention.
• These men are the scribes and Pharisees,
• Israel's supposed spokesmen for God,
• Who have a very sensitive situation on their hands;
• But notice they handle this whole situation in a brutal, uncaring and harsh fashion.
Jesus is forced to stop teaching:
• And the religious leaders parade before him and the crowd,
• A woman who was caught in the act of adultery.
• The woman is full of shame and fear and totally humiliated:
• She is exposed to the stares and the gazes of the crowd of onlookers,
• And she hears the Pharisees publicly describing her shameful act.
• "Teacher this woman was caught in the act of adultery.
• In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"
ill:
• This really is an ice-burg of a question.
• On the surface it seems genuine and sincere,
• But below the surface it is full of danger.
• A quick glance at verse 6 reveals the danger:
• "They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him".
These Pharisees are bent on trapping and destroying Jesus:
• That they're acting out a plot, a cunning plan,
• That has been rehearsed down to the very last detail,
• A plot so insidious,
• That they are willing to entrap and execute a woman in order to discredit Jesus.
• The bait in the Pharisees trap is a woman:
• She is forced to stand before the crowd, red faced and totally humiliated.
• The Pharisees declare publicly this woman's sin,