John 8:1-11 “1Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. 2And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. 3And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, 4They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 5Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? 6This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. 7So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 11She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. ”
I. Illegible Penmanship
a. Illustration
i. An older man approached a young stranger in the post office and asked, “Sir, would you address this postcard and write a short note for me? I have such a difficult time writing these days.”
ii. The younger man gladly did so, and when he was finished, he asked the older gentleman, “Now, is there anything else I can do for you?”
iii. The older man looks at the card for a few moments and said, “Yes, at the end could you add, ‘Please excuse the sloppy handwriting’?”
b. Sloppy handwriting does not convey a clear message.
i. I remember failing tests in school because my handwriting was not clear enough for the teacher to determine what I had written.
ii. The first English typewriter patent was granted to Henry Mills by Queen Anne of England in 1714.
iii. The roots of illegible handwriting, also known as cacography, can be traced back to the mid-1960s, when handwriting disappeared from the elementary-school curriculum.
c. Doctors are now being required to take penmanship courses!
i. Six states have passed laws requiring legibility of prescriptions.
ii. In 1999, a groundbreaking lawsuit drew national attention to the implications of doctors’ handwriting for patient safety when a cardiologist was fined $225,000 by a jury in Odessa, Texas, because a prescription he had scrawled for Isordil, a drug used for heart pain, was misread by the pharmacist as Plendil, used for high blood pressure. The patient, Ramon Vasquez, took an overdose of the wrong medication and died of a heart attack.
d. The Penmanship of the Master is not illegible.
II. The Penmanship of the Master
a. Clear, Concise and Unmistakable.
b. God’s word has an answer for every topic in your life.
II Timothy 3:16-17: “16All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”
II Peter 1:19-21: “19We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 20Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
c. God’s word holds a clarity that the writing of mere men does not hold. It is the foundation of our walk with Him and holds the key of salvation! Your Bible is no mere book!
III. The Writing of Jesus
a. Our opening passage tells us of the only occasion in the New Testament where Jesus actually wrote.
b. Old Testament
i. The Ten Commandments
ii. Mene mene tekel upharsin
c. New Testament
i. The story of this woman caught in adultery was a set-up. They knew what was going on, and they chose to expose her as a means of getting at Jesus.
ii. Verses 3-6:
1. The accusers came, but he ignored them and he began writing in the sand.
iii. Verses 7-8:
1. They continued accusing, and he answered them briefly and then resumed writing.
iv. Verses 9-11:
1. Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. He saw nobody.
2. All he saw was the circle of stones left behind by the would-be assasins.
IV. We are set up by the enemy of our soul.
a. Have you ever been set up?
i. Seventh grade engine shop…I used to do my best to set people up. Magneto shocks were somehow tremendously funny.
b. Your enemy sets you up.
i. He knows your weaknesses
ii. He lies in wait to tempt you and get you to fail.
iii. When you fail, he laughs and throws it up at you to keep you under his cloud of failure.
iv. But Jesus has another plan for you when you fail. It’s called repentance and forgiveness.
Hebrews 8:10-12: “10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: 11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”
I John 1:9: “ 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Hebrews 10:16-18: “ 16This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; 17And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. 18Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.”
c. When we repent and turn from our old life, God does not throw them back in our face and command us to repent over and over again.
d. We find ourselves surrounded by accusations.
i. Temptation
ii. Failure
iii. Trial
iv. Difficulty
v. Fear
vi. Regret
vii. Shortcoming
viii. Weakness
e. We are not alone in the middle of this circle. Jesus is with us!
f. The accusations fall on the deafened ears of a Savior who already knows.
g. And Jesus begins to write. He writes, not in the sand where the winds of time will wash away His message, but He writes upon the parchment of my life. He writes, not with an ordinary pen, but with his own nail-scarred hand, and in his own sinless blood!
V. What does the Lord write?
a. We don’t know what he wrote that day.
i. Names and acts?
ii. Writing from the scripture?
iii. Just drawing?
b. We do know what he writes today. When for the…
i. Guilty, He writes pardoned.
ii. Sinner, He writes forgiven.
iii. Sick, He writes healed.
iv. Bound, He writes free.
v. Backslidden, He writes restored.
vi. Addicted, He writes delivered.
vii. Weary, He writes refreshed.
viii. Slave to sin, He writes redeemed.
ix. Hungry and thirsty, He writes satisfied.
x. Broken, He writes mended.
xi. Outcast, He writes adopted.
xii. Weak, He writes Strong.
xiii. Failure, He writes Success.
xiv. Lost, He writes Found.
xv. Rejected, He writes, ‘THIS IS MINE’
c. And no matter what words are written, the accuser sees them with clarity and reads them with conviction! For the Penmanship of the Master is clear!
d. The enemy must drop his stones and flee when we run to the Master!
VI. But we must also read the writing.
a. When we fail to read the writing, we go on living below God’s blessings.
b. When we don’t read it, we continue in that list of maladies; we stay guilty, we remain in sin, sickness continues, bondage, addiction, weakness, failure all linger in our lives.
c. But when we do read it, we live the list of blessings! Instead of guilty, we live pardoned. Instead of sin, we walk in righteousness. Gone is addiction, bondage, failure! Here arrives refreshing, revival, restoration, success and our very inclusion into the family!
d. There is a story of a private who ran after and recaptured the runaway horse of his commander, Alexander the Great. When he brought the horse back to the general, it is recorded that Alexander thanked him by saying, “Thank you, Captain.”
i. With the recording of one word, the private became a Captain.
1. He went to the quartermaster and selected a new uniform and put it on.
2. He went to the officers’ quarters and selected a new bunk.
3. He went to the officers’ mess and had a meal.
e. It is time for us to look at God’s writing today.
VII. Wherever/whatever you face today, look at the writing.
a. Are you inside the circle of guilt today? Are you surrounded by the accusers?
b. Have you been set up by the enemy and now find yourself a pawn in his game of sin?
c. Do you feel rejected, alone, betrayed, broken?
d. Let the Master step to your side right now. Let Him write in the sands of your life today!
