Introduction: There are two kinds of people in every church. There are those who are net casters, and those who are stone casters. Which kind are you? Net casters draw men to Christ. Stone casters stand as judge, jury and executioners over the sins of others. Stone casters are finger pointers. They are tut tutters who overshadow our lives. They are the critics, the self-righteous accusers of others, and they are all around us, ever ready to highlight our faults and failings, always eager to pull you down.
The text before us tonight draws to our attention just such people. The scribes and the Pharisees, those who sought to live by the letter of the law, but whose hypocrisy run rough shod over the spirit of it. Here is the story of a kangaroo court, the same kind of court that put Jesus to the cross. It was a lynch mob, and their victim was a fearful, pitiful woman, in the midst of a baying crowd of men.
I. Think For A Moment About the Defendant – vss 1-4
A. Immediately I read these vss I am drawn to the phrase at the close of vs. 4, which says she was taken “in the very act.”
1. The question arises “How did they catch her?’ How did they know what went on behind closed doors & her door in particular?
2. I put it to you they knew because she was a woman if ill repute, but more than that, I put it to you that many of her accusers were also among her customers and we will talk about that more later on.
a. Never was there a greater shower of hypocrites than this bunch of scribes and Pharisees.
b. Yet is it not often so, that the people who require the greatest exactment for sin are also the greatest perpetrators of it!
B. Certainly she had played the harlot, but they were playing the hypocrite, and there is no doubt that the former is the lesser of the two evils.
1. Somewhere in her past she had got sucked into the snare of prostitution, maybe like many women in her situation she had been driven to it by the necessity of sheer daily survival, maybe she had been threatened into it, maybe like some she sought acceptance and love and found it, temporarily, in the attentions of some man or other, whatever the reason, we must be slow to condemn her.
2. We can only imagine her shame being dragged through the streets of Jerusalem by a lynch mob, we can only imagine her anger as the man she was “taken in the very act from” skulked off “ in freedom whilst she faced capital punishment. We can only begin to conceive of the bitterness of her soul as she was brought into the presence of another man to be judged at the whim of men who had damned her soul & who were now demanding her execution.
II. Think for A Moment About the Prosecution – vss 5-7a
A. Notice the phrase in vs. 6 “this they said tempting Him.”
1. They weren’t out to get her, they were out to get Him.
2. They weren’t interested in keeping the law otherwise they would have brought her partner to be stoned also - Deut 22:22.
3. They were, however, interested in bending the law so that they might legally kill two birds with one stone, putting Him to death alongside her!
a. If He said, “Stone her,” they would charge Him with assuming political authority that did not belong to Him.
b. If He said, “Let her alone, do nothing with her,” they would charge Him with encouraging immorality and invalidating their law.
4. “But Jesus stooped down,” remember He was sitting, “ . . . and with His finger wrote on the ground.”
a. This was a deliberate gesture on His part, it symbolised to them an image of a man deep in thought, maybe even being somewhat aloof from the turmoil surrounding him.
b. They wouldn’t let go of it they kept asking and pressurising, hounding Him to give answer.
c. But they did not brace themselves for the answer He gave. The Lord Jesus always outwitted these tricksters and their shameful ploys.
III. Think for A Moment About Her Defence – vss 7b-8
A. Taking a break from his doodlings on the ground, the Lord Jesus looked them in the eye and said:
1. “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”
2. I am quite sure this challenge in itself did little to discomfit the Pharisees, after all were they not in their own minds the custodians of the Law and the bastions of virtue. Was it not one of their own number who Jesus typified standing at the temple altar and crying “God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are!”
B. However there is a subtlety in Jesus question that we miss in our English text.
1. There is an inference, which they understood, He wasn’t so much saying “He that is without sin,” as “He was saying He that is without this sin.”
a. That is, let the one who is free from adultery stone her.
2. Remember also Jesus’ explanation of the Law on adultery in His Sermon on the Mount. “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28).
3. Would there be one man among them who had not harboured one lustful thought in His heart at one time?
4. Jesus began to write in the sand again.
C. What did He write?
1. This is a question that is much debated among preachers.
a. Some say He wrote out Deut 22:22.
b. Others say He wrote out the O.T. texts calling for mercy.
c. Possibly He wrote out the name of her partner, who, likely as not, was one of their own number - why else would he escape when they caught them in the very act?
d. Indeed history tells us that at the time many prominent Rabbis were living in adultery.
e. But notice the opening of verse 9 - “And they which heard it BEING CONVICTED BY THEIR OWN CONSCIENCE . . .”
D. What did He write?
1. I believe He began by listing their names - then He stopped to say “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” - And then beside their names He began to write their sins, maybe even the times they too had committed adultery with this very woman!!
2. No wonder they were convicted BY THEIR OWN CONSCIENCE!!
IV. Think for A Moment About the Jury – vs 9
B. One by one they skulked away, their heads hanging in shame.
1. Let me tell you dear friend beware of judging others, beware of becoming judge, jury and executioner over others.
a. Illus: Charles Hempenstall, Wicklow Militia, 6’ 5” hung rebels (1798) over his back- “Here lies Charlie Hempenstall, Judge, jury, executioner and all.”
2. Matthew 7:1-5.
a. Always remember that the day may come when it is you who are standing in the dock and another bearing the judge’s gavel!
V. Think or A Moment About the Justification – vss 10-11.
A. Jesus did not condone her sin, but He did something many of us fail to do in situations like these.
1. Without compromising the need for purity - He respected her personhood.
a. He neither condemned her nor condoned her but went beyond the problem to meet her need.
2. The result was that her accuser’s hypocrisy was rebuked, the woman repented, sin was forgiven and a sinner restored to a place of dignity and wholeness with both the Lord and the community.
3. Which brings us to this evening’s query in our “Series of Queries”, “Where are those thine accusers?”
VI. Think About this Query.
A. Many people, Christians included, live under the shadow of guilt.
1. They spend their whole lives feeling ashamed, and in adequate, almost as though they are unforgiving.
2. It is as if we are in the position of this woman, and gather around us is a crowd of complainants pointing out some failing, ever finding fault, always seeking to bring us under condemnation.
3. But tonight Jesus asks, “Where are those thine accusers?”
B. The business of condemnation was never part of Christ’s purpose in coming.
1. John reminds us that, “God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:17) and “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” (John 5:24)
2. And once we are saved we are told, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1).
a. “Where are those thine accusers?”
b. Shame, self-reproach, disgrace, humiliation and self-remorse are to no longer be part of our experience, but they are.
c. We are sometimes accused by others, often accuse ourselves and always accused by Satan.
C. There is self-accusation.
1. Self-accusation comes often, but not always, as a consequence of sin in our lives.
2. Sin is always going to rob us of what we should have in Christ; sin is a joy stealer, and a peace breaker.
3. Sin pricks the conscience, condemns the heart and troubles the mind.
4. But thanks be to God we have a way of dealing with sin tonight.
a. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1John 1:9)
b. Have you confessed you sin. Have you brought before the Lord, have you asked Him to cover it with His blood, have you sought His forgiveness?
c. Well then rest assured it is a sin forgiven and forgotten. The Bible says He is faithful to do forgive and to cleanse.
d. You say, “But I still feel guilty.” But Jesus says where are thine accusers?”
5. There is such a thing as false guilt.
a. False guilt is when we feel responsible for something we did not do, or something we were not responsible for. It can be like a feeling of shame, without perhaps even knowing exactly what we feel bad about.
(i) It’s that badgering pushing voice that runs you and your self-image into the ground."You call this acceptable? You think this is enough? Look at all you’ve not yet done! Look at all you have done that’s not acceptable! Get going!"
• You know the feeling. You feel like you can never do enough. That you are never good enough. You have this overactive sense of duty and can never seem to rest. One person said he "felt more like a human doing than a human being." Your life is driven by a sense of guilt.
b. Where does it come from?
(i) Childhood - Maybe, as children, we had a very strict childhood.
a. There were many things we were not allowed to do.
b. Perhaps we were often punished for very small things.
c. Suppose, for instance, that it was considered as a bad sin not to wash hands before a meal.
d. Even now, years later, we may feel real guilt and shame, if we don’t wash our hands before eating!
(ii) Low self-esteem - We may always feel bad about ourselves in other ways.
a. We have a negative picture of ourselves and what we can achieve.
b. So we find it easy to blame ourselves for things that go wrong, or accept blame from others when it is not deserved.
c. Illus: Habitual apologizers – ever saying sorry for things that are not their fault.
(iii) Survivors - People who survive an accident or disaster, in which others were killed or injured, very often feel guilt that they have survived.
a. This can be a very strong feeling.
(iv) The abused – Those who are abused emotionally, physically, or sexually, as children or even as adults, feel guilt and shame for these terrible actions which they had no control over.
(v) Church – The very place wherer you should find love and acceptance as a person may become the very place in which your accusers lurk, causing you to feel guilty, where no guilt is merited.
a. Illus: Pastor came by to see a couple weren’t @ church – not out of any real pastoral concern, but because of a legalistic approach to worship. Husband was extremely ill - He said the wife should have been at church! He rebuked her and loaded her with unnecessary guilt. Her place was with her husband.
d. These are false forms of guilt – they are things over which you have no control, they are matters in which there is no condemnation, and the Lord Jesus stands in the midst and says, “Where are those thine accusers?”
(i) Let it go.
D. There is the accusation of others.
1. Like the scribes and Pharisees there is always those who are ever ready to point the finger of blame our way.
2. Sometimes, as with the woman in our story, we are to be blamed, their accusations are based in truth, and sometimes they are not, but either way, their words fill us with fear and guilt.
3. I think of Job and how his friends accused him of lying, of lacking integrity of some secret sin, I think of Nehemiah and the accusations made against him or the returning exiles under Ezra who were accused of insurrection, I think of how the Liord Jesus was falsely accused before they nailed Him to the cross, or of how Paul was brought before the Roman authorities, and ultimately executed on trumped up charges.
a. If God has forgiven us, we ought not allow others to accuse us.
b. We should ignore the finger pointing and the asides, we should remember that God has forgotten our sins, and forget that man often remembers them.
c. Jesus
d. How dare those with sins of their harp upon the sins of mine.
e. If God has forgiven me, no man has the right to condemn me – so Jesus steps into the midst and asks, “Where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?” To which our answer must be “No man, Lord.”
E. There is the accusations of Satan.
1. We must remember who our ultimate accuser is – see Rev 12:7-11.
2. Satan targets our heart and conscience with accusation;
3. His purpose is to indict what God has cleansed.
4. In the book of Revelation, you find him accusing.
a. You find it also in the book of Job the first two chapters, where we understand that Satan has access to God, and there he accuses us.
b. So we know that Satan is surely behind the words of Job’s comforters as they accuse him of wrong, but more than that the Wicked One stands before the throne of God accusing us before our own heavenly Father.
c. You say, “Well what am I to do about that?”
d. It’s already taken care of – 1John 2:1
e. When Satan acvuses us, there is one sitting at the right hand of God, who stands upo for us, he shows the nail scarred hands, He pleads our cause, and he asks us tonight, “Where are those thine accusers?”
Conclusion: Get this… in Christ we are not condemned. Say it if you’re saved, “I am not condemned.” We are forgiven. We are free. What did Paul write in Romans 8? He began by saying, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
And he closed by saying;
“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? (Where are those thine accusers?) It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? (Where are those thine accusers?) It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:31-39)
Illus: John and his friend George went golfing together one Saturday morning as they had for 24 years. They were fanatics about their golf game. Later that day, John returned home completely exhausted and plopped down in his easy chair. His wife was quite concerned since he was more exhausted than usual after his Saturday golf game. She asked him if something went wrong with the game. He replied, "No, hon, I had the best game in years! As a matter of fact, I started out the first three holes at 4 under par, including a hole-in-two on the 3rd." "So why are you so worn out?" she asked. "Well, George had a heart attack and died on the 4th hole." "What!? Are you so exhausted from trying to save him?" He said, "No, honey, it was quick and there was nothing anyone could’ve done. BUT AFTER THAT, IT WAS JUST HIT THE BALL, DRAG GEORGE, HIT THE BALL, DRAG GEORGE..."
That’s is how some of us are. We go through life dragging a dead weight. That weight is guilt. Sometimes it is a weight we have given ourselves, sometimes it is a weight landed on us by others and sometimes a weight brought by Satan himself. Whatever it’s source, we can live better lives without it. So tonight I’m calling upon you to drop it. If you have sin in your life seek forgiveness for it andlet it go. If there is no sin in your life you had no business pickingit up in the first place. Where are those thine accusers?
