Faith on Trial
(Divorce Series Part 4)
Scripture Reference: John 8:1-11 (KJV)
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. 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. 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.
Many of the saints of God are headed to the divorce court and they really have no earthly idea why
Most believe that they are going to oppose their wife but I am here to tell you brother that you are placing your “Faith on Trial”.
Many times when we study this particular scripture and we see the charges brought against the woman we can usually come to a conclusion that the husband would have been right to divorce her
This brings me to my first question:
Where is the husband?
It seems as though if the case was so serious as to have need to stone his wife to death then he should have at least been present.
For my second question:
Where is the other party?
Another very important participant in this scene that should have been there was the person that she was accused of committing adultery with (Leviticus 20:10 And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.)
Just by the mere fact that these two were missing or at least without voice in the matter let me know that something “fishy” was going on
As I continued to study this passage I finally noticed something and I said, “Ahh haa”
In verse six it reveals that the true motive was to accuse Jesus that they may have reason to kill him
This is the same thing that we do today
When we go to divorce court we are not really concerned about what our wife did (for the most part)
We are not concerned with our wife, we are concerned with proving that we are right and that she is wrong?
After taking a closer look at this, who is really on trial? (Our Faith)
Now Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. We should all as children of God walk by Faith and not by sight
In a nasty case like this one (adultery); Jesus really did hate this sin (Luke 16:18 Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.)
The scribes and Pharisees knew how he felt about adultery and this is why they wanted to use it to dangle over his head that he may say one wrong word and they have a justifiable reason to kill him
However when we really search the scripture we realize that Jesus was using the sin of adultery as a tool to give the people of God even more reason not to divorce versus the other way around
Also these people then were doing the same thing that we do now
They were placing the relationship between Christ and the church in an awkward position because the bible declares that a man should love his wife as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;)
Although there are a multitude of churches that have filed for a divorce from Christ there is not now nor will there ever be a church that Christ files for a divorce from
Even the church that we all know has long strayed away from following anything that God has to offer has a chance to be forgiven as long as they seek His face.
Many of us don’t like the fact that God forgives because we feel that we put all of this effort into doing the right thing and a dirty nasty sinner simply seeks Jesus and is forgiven. How can this be fair?
This is exactly what this woman’s husband had to deal with the rest of their lives together because of the fact that Jesus had forgiven her he too had to forgive her
Even if never before, his faith was now on trial
If he ever tried to bring up the past he would have to first deal with the fact that she was forgiven. This is truly hard but it’s fair, it’s tight but it’s right
Has God forgiven your wife for whatever it is that you may be going through right now?
Have you even taken the situation to Jesus that he may have a chance to deal with it?
If God decides to forgive her and he is the ultimate judge then why do we still think that we have a case?
Are we like the husband in this particular scripture without voice and no presence?
Jesus never said that this woman was innocent, he never said that what she did was not wrong, he never even said that the people couldn’t carry out the sentence in which the laws of Moses commanded
Jesus simply said that He without sin among you cast the first stone
In other words, while we are coming up with the perfect accusation and evidence against our spouses are we first considering what is within us?
Are we casting stones and yet full of sin?
Jesus commanded the woman to go and sin no more
This was an awesome command because in order for her to hold on to the word of God she had to begin to live a life free from sin from that moment on
God has given many of us a second, third, fourth, fifth, etc. time and each time he has commanded us to go and sin no more are we fulfilling this new commandment that he has placed on our lives
Even in our state of breaking our covenant with God are we still standing in the crowd with stones in our hands ready to launch at our wives in an effort to kill them?
CONCLUSION
I am sure that when we are in divorce court that we feel that we are doing the right thing especially when the evidence is right in front of us but I ask you right now brother
Who are we really placing on trial?
I am truly led to believe that when we go against the word of God and divorce that we are really placing our faith on trial
Let’s Pray
Thank You. May God continue to bless you and keep you. Amen
Your Friend
Minister Juan D. Lane
