Introduction
I. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” at least according to one contemporary proverb.
II. I discovered some rather interesting statistics concerning the state of America this past week.
A. Let me begin with divorce
1. We often hear that the divorce rate in America is 50%, but check this out
a. That 50% figure is for first marriages
b. A full 67% of second marriages will end in divorce
c. Further, 74% of third marriages will end in divorce
2. I guess trying again, at least in marriage is not the way to go.
B. Now, let’s consider the facts of marital infidelity
III. Marital Infidelity - The Facts
Polls show that although 90% of married people disapprove of extramarital relationships, statistics from a national survey indicate that 15% of wives and 25% of husbands have experienced extramarital intercourse.
a. These numbers increase by 20% when emotional affairs and sexual relationships without intercourse are included.
b. Another source, The Monogamy Myth, authored by Peggy Vaughan, approximates that 60% of husbands and 40% of wives will have an affair at some time in their marriage.
2. I don’t know about you, but I find those numbers just a bit scary;
a. Is it any wonder that divorce rates are so high.
b. In fact, is it any wonder that so many people choose to “live together” rather than take the step of marriage?
C. In fact, according to the 2000 census, 11 million Americans are currently living with a partner, outside of marriage. That includes
1. 9.7 in a heterosexual relationship, and
2. 1.2 million in a homosexual relationship.
3. 41% of women ages 15 to 44 have been in a “live-in” relationship.
D. The number of people living together has increased by 72% from 1990 to 2000.
E. Even with those numbers, here is an even more astounding one,
1. In the year 2000, the most common household type was a person living alone, a full 27 million compared to 25 million with a husband, wife and child.
F. According to a survey, 75% of live together partners say they plan to marry, while 55% actually do so within 5 years.
1. Of course, 40% break up during that same time, and 10 remain unmarried.
III. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”, just doesn’t appear to work.
IV. I could go on and on with statistics, but my message this morning does not really concern the moral breakdown in America.
A. Yes there certainly seems to be moral decline, at an increasing rate.
B. But my real point, and I believe the point Christ was making in our text is, “People that live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones” and we all live in glass houses.
V. Our text this morning is found in the Gospel of John, chapter 8, verses 1 to 12.
But Jesus
8:1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
I. Although we did not look at John chapter 7, allow me to give you a synopsis.
A. In chapter 7, the main idea is one of people making decisions as to who this man, Jesus Christ might be.
1. In the beginning of the chapter it is Jesus brothers, who do not believe in him as savior, pressing him to go to Jerusalem, and make himself more visible.
a. Jesus response, “My time is not yet here...”
b. It was not time for him to become visible enough to end up on the cross.
2. However, Christ did go to Jerusalem, apart from his brothers, and as the crowds came, arguments ensued as to who exactly Jesus was.
3. Towards the end of chapter 7, as calls go up for Christ to be seized, Nicodemus makes a defense for the person of Christ.
B. In that no consensus of identity could be made by the crowd, John 7, verse 53 says, “Everyone went to his home.”
II. Then chapter 8, verse 1, “But Jesus...”
A. I like that phrase “But Jesus.”
B. But Jesus; the phrase is used 102 times in scripture.
C. But Jesus; those words speak to me this way,
1. Everyone else is lost in this life, BUT JESUS, came to give life.
2. Everyone wonders what their next step should be, BUT JESUS, knew and knows exactly what steps to take.
3. Everyone wonders if God really does love this world, BUT JESUS knows that God so loved the world that He made the ultimate sacrifice of His son.
4. I was lost in my sin, BUT JESUS came into my life, forgave me, and gave me a purpose to live.
D. In the case of our passage this morning, everyone in town was prepared to stone a women to death for her transgressions, BUT JESUS came to her defense; forgiving her and yet not allowing her to believe that her continued sin was OK.
E. Jesus still called on her to make a change in her life.
III. I’m wondering, when you hear the words “BUT JESUS” what comes to your mind.
IV. In verse 12, Jesus says, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
A. In the context of this passage, that verse seems to be saying that Jesus came to expose us for who we really are, and lead us into living in newness of life.
B. John 3:17 - For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
1. But interestingly perhaps, when we come face to fact with the Son, our sins expose all of our need for mercy.
V. Christians often get accused of being close minded, intolerant, self-righteous, bigoted and other such words, and often rightly so, because we can be.
VI. I think God put these verses in the Bible to teach us that none of us have the right to throw stones at another; for my sins might be different but I still have my sins.
VII. BUT Jesus came to expose the truth, to call us to live for God, and yet without throwing stones, and I believe we are called to this same task. What Would You Say???
2 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. 3 And the scribes and the Pharisees *brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the midst, 4 they *said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 “Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” 6 And they were saying this, testing Him, in order that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground.
I. One of the most difficult issues that the church, and most especially church leaders must deal with is sin.
II. In part, these scribes and Pharisee’s were absolutely correct in their pronouncement that the Law of Moses, and thus God’s word condemned adultery.
A. Leviticus 20, verse 10 specifically states, “If there is a man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, one who commits adultery with his friend’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.”
B. In fact, Leviticus 20 also states death is the consequence for several and various sexual sins.
III. And the Pharisee’s were also correct in that the accepted method of death among the Jews was in fact by stoning.
IV. And we need to understand that the word of God never approves of the continuation of sin in our lives.
A. When Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church, he made an extremely strong statement about the churches acceptance of sin in their midst.
B. In 1 Cor. Chapter 5, he writes, “It is actually reported that there is immorality among you and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. 2 You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.”
1. So here, Paul is saying to the church, “Confront and deal with sin in your midst.”
2. Do not allow sin to continue to grow and thus tarnish the entire church.
C. In Romans 6, verse 1 Paul writes, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
D. Paul also wrote to the Galatians, “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.” (Gal. 6:1)
V. The Bible names sin, and calls for sin to be confronted, and for sin to be removed.
A. So the Pharisee’s were in part correct,
B. This women was caught in the sin of adultery, and God called for that sin to be dealt with.
VI. Verse 2 here states that “Jesus came to teach this day.”
A. It seems to me that what He came to teach was perhaps,
1. Sin must be confronted, BUT
2. Before your throw a stone at someone else, you might want to check your own righteousness.
3. Before you throw a stone at sinner, we need to understand that stones could just as easily be hurled at us.
B. Sin, whether great or small, according to our set of scales is still sin, and the Bible says “the wages of sin is death...” irrespective of the degree of sin.
VII. The Pharisee’s came to test Jesus this day.
A. If He said, “Stone her”
1. He would be guilty of breaking Roman law, for in this day, only the Romans could administer the death penalty.
2. If He said “stone her” his reputation as a man of compassion and forgiveness would be ruined.
B. Yet if He said, “Let her go” he would be guilty of ignoring the word of God.
C. What a dilemma.
VIII. We don’t really know what Jesus wrote in the sand that day.
A. Maybe he was writing the names of the accuser’s
B. Maybe he was writing a list of the multitude of sins gathered before him.
C. Maybe he was just doodling, allowing time for these “righteous” men to consider their own condition and standing before God.
IX. Whatever it was, The Pharisee’s had set a trap, but the trap was about to close in on them.
Sin Cannot Be Ignored
7 But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And again He stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9 And when they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the midst. 10 And straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” 11 And she said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go your way. From now on sin no more.”]
I. Jesus’ response to their persistent call to action seems so simple.
II. I don’t know about you, but I imagine my response would have been just a bit different than Jesus’.
A. Where is the man that is involved in all this? The law said that both should forfeit their life.
B. Typically, someone involved in an adulterous relationship is at least a bit circumspect in their actions. How is it that you not only know about the affair, but you actually caught these two in the very act?
C. Why are you bringing her to me anyway.
1. You caught her,
2. You know what Moses wrote,
3. Jewish law states that the witnesses were to be the ones to administer the punishment.
D. And I can only imagine that I would have ended up in a big argument.
III. Jesus’ response is so simple; “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
A. What if we each took that approach to pronouncing someone as sinful?
B. What if we each took that approach, even when we pronounced our co-worker, or boss, or school mate as somehow beneath us.
C. What if we each took that approach as we sit around the dinner table and discuss the character or decision making of people that we know.
IV. The truth is that sin CANNOT be ignored.
A. But it seems, that what Christ is calling for her is self evaluation first.
1. Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.
2. Christ did not say that this women’s adultery should be overlooked.
3. He simply said,
a. “Don’t be to quick to cast a stone.
b. We all have our own personal sins to deal with, and our dealing with sin must begin with our own lives.”
B. If you have nothing to be ashamed of, then go ahead and call this person to task for what they have done.
V. And notice, how the accuser’s left.
A. Verse 9 states that they began to leave, the oldest ones first.
B. Why did the older one’s leave first?
1. I doubt it was because they were so smart.
2. I believe the older ones left first, because they realized they had the most to be ashamed of in their own lives.
C. In leaving these people said,
1. “I do not have the right to judge anyone else,” but they also said something else
2. They said, “I have no desire to deal with my own sin.”
VI. Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.
A. Based on this statement, there is only one person, since the dawning of time that has the right to call anyone else to task, there will be an accounting for our sins.
B. Maybe your sin is not adultery, I pray not.
C. But one thing is sure, we all have sin, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
D. And one thing is sure, sin will be dealt with.
VII. On this day, Jesus, who was worthy to cast the first stone, offered forgiveness to this women.
A. But he also called for her to make a change in her life.
B. “From now on sin now more.”
VIII. Sin must and will be dealt with.
IX. And the only way to deal with it, allow Christ to forgive,
A. Yes, make the change, but understand that simply making a change is not enough.
B. Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, BUT stop sinning.”
X. Unless we are without sin ourselves, we don’t have the right to throw stones at anyone else, but sin will be dealt with one day.
XI. Verse 12 states, - Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
A. Jesus came to shed a light on our life, in order that we might realize our need for forgiveness.
B. And we all need forgiveness.
