This sermon explores the hope and forgiveness found in Jesus, using the story of the adulterous woman as an example, and encourages the Church to extend the same grace to others.
I want to welcome you back to our current sermon series called Hope Is Here. We have been discovering the hope we find in our relationship with Jesus Christ and in the relationships we find with one another inside the Church.
Last week we looked at how Jesus invites us to find rest in Him when we are weary and burdened, and how we can share these burdens with one another so that we don’t walk alone. This is where hope is found: in relationship with Christ and in relationship with one another. The truth is we all find ourselves in need of hope from time to time.
Perhaps our need for hope does not stem from a weariness, but instead from a sense of brokenness.
The truth is we all find ourselves in need of hope from time to time.
There is a story of a woman in the scriptures who knew exactly what it felt like to be broken and in need of restoration. It takes place in John chapter 8 as Jesus is traveling to the temple to teach. As he sits down with the crowd, his teaching is interrupted by an angry mob of religious leaders who are dragging a woman along with them.
The woman in this story is brought before everyone with the accusation that she had been caught in the act of adultery. She was cheating on her husband with someone else, and these men apprehended her in the middle of the scandal. How embarrassing. How humiliating. She would have been fully aware that the consequence for this sin, according to Mosaic Law, was for her to be stoned to death. This is what brokenness looks like. A broken marriage. A broken woman. A broken reputation. This is rock bottom.
What is most shocking about this story is that the woman seems to have been used as a pawn in the religious leaders’ plan to rid themselves of Jesus. Here, sin was being exploited in front of everyone in order to harm Jesus. This woman was caught in the middle, and her sin had been exposed.
Our sin being laid bare can be one of the worst and best feelings possible. On one hand, it is horrible because everyone knows the truth about you. On the other hand, it is wonderful because, finally, everyone knows the truth about you. No more hiding, no more shame. Everything is out in the open, for better or worse.
So here she was, caught in adultery and lying before Jesus. She had lost hope that her fate could ever possibly avoid the cultural penalty: death by stoning.
But then Jesus intervenes.
Rather than agree to this woman’s death on account of the law, Jesus does something different ... View this full sermon with PRO Premium
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