Heavenly Help from the Lord
The Gospel of John
John 8:1-11
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - December 21, 2016
(Revised September 3, 2019)
BACKGROUND:
*Here in John 8 we are still in one of the most important seasons of Christ's ministry on earth. It's the 2 or 3 week period surrounding the Feast of the Tabernacles in Jerusalem. We know this brief period was important because the Holy Spirit led John to focus on it all the way from John 7:1 to John 10:21.
*In John 7 Jesus was at the Feast of the Tabernacles. It was one of the 3 great feasts the Jews observed every year in Jerusalem. During that 7-day period, all of the people moved out of their homes into temporary huts made from palm leaves and branches from certain other trees.
*By this chapter, Jesus was in the third year of His ministry, and the Jewish rulers had been trying to kill Him for at least 6 months, possibly up to a year and a half based on the different timelines scholars have proposed. Jesus was now 6 months away from the cross.
*John 7:37-38 tells us what the Lord did at the highpoint of that feast:
37. On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
38. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.''
*Some of the people there believed in the Lord, but the rulers were as determined as ever to arrest and kill Jesus.
*Chapter 7 ends as the feast ended with John 7:53 telling us that "everyone went to his own house." All of the chief priests and Pharisees went to their own homes, but the Lord didn't have a home of His own, so John 8:1 tells us that "Jesus went to the Mount of Olives."
*This points us to Matthew 8:20, where Jesus said, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.'' And it reminds us how much the King of Kings humbled Himself to save us from our sins. As Paul said in Philippians 2:5-8:
5. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
6. who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
7. but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men.
8. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
*Thank God for the cross of Jesus Christ! Now, let's read John 8:1-11 to see how the Lord helped a woman caught in adultery. Her story teaches us some of the most important ways the Lord can help us.
MESSAGE:
*From the day we are born, we all need help to make it through life. You'll never see a baby walk out of the hospital on their own two feet. We all need help, and there is no telling how many people have helped me over the years.
*One example I thought of from years ago, was a senior adult couple at First Baptist Church in Macon, Georgia. Mary and I were about to move to Louisiana for me to start serving as the youth pastor at McClendon. It was my first ministry position. I was taking a pretty big cut in pay, and Mary was giving up her teaching job. So it was a financial challenge for us, and this couple knew it.
*Out of the blue, they gave us a thousand dollars! That would be almost $2,500 in today’s money, and it's just one example of the countless ways people have helped me over the years.
*God has worked through His people and through circumstances to help me. But there are some kinds of help that can only come directly from the Lord. And the most crucial help we need must come directly from the Lord. Jesus Christ can help us like no one else can! And tonight’s Scripture shows us how.
1. FIRST: JESUS CAN SWEEP AWAY OUR SHAME.
*Jesus Christ can take away our deepest shame, even shame like we see here in vs. 1-4:
1. Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.
2. And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
3. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
4. They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
*Caught in the act: No way around it, no way out. This poor woman was caught big time, and there was nothing she could do to explain it away.
*Well, thank God, we’ve never been dragged through the street for our sins. But we must never think we have cleverly gotten away with our sins. Nothing ever gets by God, and the Bible says that we will reap what we sow.
*So, we must understand that there are serious consequences for our sins. And we should be ashamed of our sins. But Jesus can sweep our shame away.
*Rick Warren reminds us that we must let God remove our guilt. And Warren said, "Nothing destroys a soul faster than guilt. In Psalm 38:4 and 6, King David said:
4. . . My iniquities have gone over my head; Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
6. I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.
*There are two problems with guilt.
1. We all have plenty reasons to feel guilty. We are all imperfect. We all make mistakes. By nature we carry guilt in our lives.
2. We can't get away from it. It's in our mind. Even if we go to a new location we carry a guilty conscious with us. Proverbs 20:27 says, 'The Lord gave us a mind and a conscience. We cannot hide from ourselves.'
*How do you get rid of guilt? How do you deal with the guilt in your life? There are a lot of options: You can deny it, pretend it doesn't exist. You can try to bury the past. But it doesn't work. If it's still alive, it resurrects itself. Just about the time you think it's buried, the feeling comes back into your mind. . . Denying guilt does not relieve guilt." (2)
*And Church: This is especially true in the light of God’s holiness. Even the dirtiest floor looks clean in the dark. But when we see our lives in the light of God’s spotless perfection, we realize that even our best days are stained by sin. And our best works are like dirty rags before God.
*If we will admit it, some shame belongs to all of us. But just like He did here, Jesus Christ can overcome our shame!
2. HE CAN SWEEP AWAY OUR SHAME. AND HE CAN SAVE US FROM OUR SINS.
*This Scripture is about much more than our shame. Some of the worst sinners have no shame whatsoever. At least right now they don’t. The shameless scribes and Pharisees remind us of this truth.
*Please take another look at these self-righteous hypocrites in vs. 3-9:
3. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
4. They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
5. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
6. This 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.
7. So 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.
8. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
9. And 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.
*Notice that those scribes and Pharisees needed to be saved JUST AS MUCH as the poor woman at their feet. This is one of the most important truths in this story. And the great news is that Jesus Christ can save us from any sin!
*Jesus can save us from immorality. And He can save us from religious sin, like the spiritual pride and lack of mercy we see in the woman's accusers. How does the Lord save us from our sins?
[1] ONE KEY IS THAT HE LEADS US TO PERSONAL CONVICTION.
*This woman was under the strongest possible conviction. She had been caught red handed, and under the Old Testament law she did deserve to die.
*But all of us deserve eternal death. That's what the Bible is talking about in Romans 6:23 when it says, "The wages of sin is death." And those hard-hearted men needed to see that they were just as guilty as the woman at their feet.
*So in these verses, Jesus led them to conviction. We see the Lord at work starting in vs. 6, where Jesus stooped down and started writing on the ground.
*Think about what the Lord wrote that day. Someone suggested that Jesus simply wrote, "Where is the man?" The Pharisees surely didn’t seem too concerned about the other guilty party. They just wanted to use this woman as a tool to attack Jesus.
*But what did Jesus write? Some think He began to write the sins of the men who were there to stone that woman. And what a shock that would have been to them. Jesus could have done that you know. He could have written down every single sin of every one of those men. And the Lord could have done that, because He knows every dark part of our heart, and every shameful deed we have ever done. (3)
*No wonder Jesus was able to rise up in vs. 7 and say, "He who is without sin among you, let him first throw a stone at her." Then they came under conviction, dropped their rocks, and walked away.
*The only man who had the right to throw a stone that day never even picked one up. And He can save you just as surely as He saved this woman in John 8.
[2] BUT WE MUST HAVE PERSONAL CONVICTION FOR OUR SINS. THERE ALSO HAD TO BE A CROSS.
*We don’t see the cross in these verses, but it's both the heart of the Bible, and the heart of our salvation. Jesus Christ died on the cross to take the punishment for all of our sins. And 3 days later He rose again to give eternal life to all who will trust in Him.
*Rick Warren explained it this way: "There is only one solution to your guilt. You've got to give it to God. He's the only one who can remove it."
*Romans 3:23-24 in the New Living Translation says:
23. . . All have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard.
24. Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins."
*And Warren said, "The most basic truth of Christianity is that Jesus Christ has already paid for all of your sins. Everything you've ever done wrong has already been paid for. Everything you've already committed, the stuff you're going to do later, all of the sins, mistakes, regrets in your future have already been paid for.
*You just need to ask God to forgive you and trust in what Jesus did for you on the cross: He already paid for all of your sins. Put your faith in Jesus Christ. That's how your guilt will be removed. And there is no other way.
*I don't know what you've done, but it doesn't matter because your forgiveness is not based on how bad you've been, but how good God is. What matters is not what you've done, but what Jesus Christ has already done for you.
*How do you get forgiveness from God? -- Trust. You don't beg God. You don't bribe God. You don't bargain with God. Just believe. Trust.
*But you've asked God to forgive you many times and you still feel guilty. No matter how many times you ask, you still feel guilty. That means you don't understand how God forgives, how it is immediate, free, complete, unconditional, how it wipes out the guilt the first time you ask.
*If you feel guilty about a sin you've already confessed to God and still feel guilty about it, that guilt is not from God, it's from the devil. He wants you to feel bad, to continue to feel uptight. Before you commit a sin, Satan minimizes the sin -- 'It's no big deal.' After you commit the sin he says, 'This sin is so big, God could never forgive you!'
*How does God forgive? In the J. B. Phillips New Testament, Colossians 2:13-14 says: 'He has forgiven ALL your sins. He has utterly wiped out the evidence of broken commandments which always hung over our hearts, and completely ANNULLED it by nailing it to the cross!' God's not going to bring it up again. He says He completely ANNULLED it. That means it has been paid for.
*When you pay a bill do you still worry about it? No. The moment you pay a bill you stop sweating over it. Jesus, on the Cross, said 'It is finished. I've paid for your sins.'
*Why keep beating yourself up over something God isn't beating you up over? If you've put your faith in Christ, God's not going to get even with you because all of your punishment was already taken by Jesus Christ. The Lord voluntarily took it. He paid the penalty so you wouldn't have to. Jesus was nailed to the cross for our sins so that we wouldn't have to suffer for them forever. Let God remove your guilt." (2)
3. NOBODY CAN HELP US LIKE JESUS CHRIST! HE CAN SAVE US FROM OUR SINS. AND HE CAN STAY WITH US FOREVER.
*Think about how alone the woman must have felt in this desperate situation. Her partner in crime was long gone. Her family was no where to be found.
*There wasn't a friend in sight, -- except for one. And we see Him in vs. 9, "And 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."
*You may feel alone right now, but Jesus Christ wants to be your Best Friend. And if you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will never really be alone! Hebrews 13:5 tells us that Jesus has said: "I will never leave you nor forsake you.''
*Robert Strand explained that the original word for "never" there is really five negatives compounded together. And the way their Greek language worked, the negatives weren't added together, they were multiplied together!
*So instead of Jesus just saying, "I will never leave you nor forsake you,'' the full meaning is: "I will never, no, not ever, no never leave you or forsake you!" Jesus gave us "a forever never that has no exceptions!" (4)
*If Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, you are never really alone! Praise the Lord!
4. HE CAN STAY WITH US FOREVER. AND HE CAN SEND OUR LIVES IN A NEW DIRECTION.
*That's what the Lord did with this woman in vs. 10-11:
10. When 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?
11. She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
*"Go and sin no more." This is surely a command, but it is much more than that. It is more than just an order. It is a brand new opportunity, because Jesus has the power to make it possible!
*Jesus can give us a new direction in life, a brand new start. I am not saying that you will be perfect. None of us are. But with Jesus Christ, we can start heading in the direction of perfection. And God promises that one day we will make it!
*But we can’t do it without Jesus! As Eddie Snipes once said, "Any dead fish can float downstream. But it takes life to swim against the strong current of the world we live in. Only the hand of God holding me up will make it possible to fulfill my purpose in this life.
*The first step is a relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ. Without a relationship with God, you are struggling by your own strength. God’s desire is to transform us from the inside out. When we surrender our lives to Christ, the Bible tells us that God literally puts His Spirit inside us, and we are born as a new creation.
*God calls me to go where I don’t have the strength to go, do what I cannot do, and be what I cannot be. We are called to become like our Heavenly Father. His goodness is so far from our ability that we can’t make it with our own strength. But with Jesus we can!" (5)
*Jesus Christ can send our lives in a brand new direction. And that's what He wants to do.
*Stephen Olford was one of the best known preachers of the last 50 years. He grew up the son of missionaries in Africa. But Stephen did not want to go through the trials and tribulations of a missionary.
*Then, after being mistreated by some Christians in England, Stephen rebelled against God. He studied to become an engineer, developed a new kind of carburetor, and got into racing motorcycles.
*But Stephen was terribly injured in a motorcycle wreck and he was given just two weeks to live. Still rebelling against God, Stephen refused to see the pastors who visited him. But then he received a letter from his dad.
*This letter had been mailed long before the accident! The Lord got it to Stephen at just the right time. And the letter included this powerful message from Stephen’s father, "Only one life, 'twill soon be past, -- Only what’s done for Christ will last."
*God used that message to touch Stephen’s heart and he prayed, "Lord, if You will heal my body, I will serve You anywhere, anytime, and at any cost!"
*God did heal Stephen! And his life was greatly used by God because he heard the Lord speak through that letter from his dad: "Only one life, 'twill soon be past, -- Only what’s done for Christ will last." (6)
*The Lord sent Stephen Olford off in a brand new direction, and that's what He wants to do in us.
CONCLUSION:
*Nobody can help us like Jesus Christ! Let Him sweep away your shame. Let Him save you from your sins. Trust Him to stay with you forever. And let Him send your life in a brand new direction.
*Let's talk to the Lord about it right now, as we go to God in prayer.
(1) EXPLORING THE GOSPELS: JOHN by John Phillips, Kregal Publications, Grand Rapids - "His Deity in Focus" - John 10:22-42
(2) Adapted from GOD'S ANTIDOTE TO DAMAGED EMOTIONS - Stressbusters - Part 3 by Rick Warren - "He restores my soul" Psalm 23:3 - THE PATH TO EMOTIONAL HEALING
(3) Sources:
-Sermons.com sermon "Adultery, Cure and Prevention" by Bill Bouknight - John 8:3-11
-Sermons.com sermon "The Land of Beginning Again" by Bill Bouknight - John 8:3-11
-SermonCentral sermon "A Brave Grace" by Paul Decker - John 8:1-11
(4) ESPECIALLY FOR THE HURTING HEART by Robert Strand - Source: THE GOD WHO WON'T LET GO by Dean Merrill - Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1998, p. 105 - My Source: Dynamic Preaching sermon "Finding Peace" - John 20:19 -31 - 5th Sunday in April, 2004
(5) SermonCentral sermon "Step One: Our Relationship with God" by Eddie Snipes - Psalm 36:7-10
(6) SermonCentral illustration contributed by Mark Hensley
