JOHN 8:9-11 – But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before Him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go and from now on sin no more.”
THEME OF THE DAY: THE GREATEST WORDS EVER HEARD. The account of the woman caught in adultery in John 8 must be high on the all-time favorites list of people encounters in the Gospels. At least for those who feel or have felt the sting of sin deep within their hearts while standing in the presence of One who sees right through and knows everything (John 2:23-25).
Let’s look at this account from two angles, First, the woman. Talk about exposure! She likely lived feeling pretty “dirty” anyway, but now . . . public humiliation, overwhelming shame, brutal exposure, and absolutely no defense. No self-justification, no hiding things in the closet of her heart, no shifting blame. Guilty, guilty, guilty. And to add more fire to an already burning heart of condemnation, she stood before the One who mattered the most in this whole thing, the Lord Jesus. Put ourselves in her position. We really don’t have to because we already are every day in the presence of the Lord Jesus. Okay, now, let’s shift characters in the account. What do we see and learn about the Lord Jesus in dealing with her and us? This is liberating stuff so don’t go fast. First, Jesus deals with sinners upfront and personal; “and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before Him.” No freedom from sin occurs unless we take the hard step of spiritually standing in front of Jesus. Alone. We need this because without such, sin is not viewed as exceedingly sinful (Romans 7:13). Unless our sin gets really ugly and personal in our sight, we don’t run quickly to the only cure, the blood of the Lord Jesus. A second truth seen in Jesus staggers the mind. Actually, it floods the soul with hope – His willingness to forgive and not hold a condemning club over our heads; and Jesus said, “neither do I condemn you.” Three sources of heart paralyzing condemnation seek entrance to despair the Christian; conscience condemns telling us we constantly fall short in the pursuit of conformity to Christ, God’s law condemns for its perfect standard – never grades on a curve, and the devil condemns with fiery darts of accusations. The anchor of the soul does not lay securely in my Christian practice, but in my Christian position – “there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1) and remember, grace does this mysterious work (1 Corinthians 1:30).
A second angle is Jesus. He points to personal responsibility; “go and from now on sin no more.” We must not be deceived into the false theology which says, “let go and let God.” There may be a grain of truth in the statement, but not the complete truth. When we hear the words of Jesus, “go and from now on sin no more”, the writer to the Hebrews provides a pretty good description for this command of Jesus, “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). Remember, we start with the grace-filled words, “Neither do I condemn you”. These are the four greatest words a human may ever hear. Then, a life not of slavish obedience chained in terror, but loving obedience from a grateful heart flows. It is this heart which ever seeks to please our Lord by striving in the strength of grace to obey His command, “go and from now on sin no more.”
Prayer: “Lord, we praise you for the freedom from condemnation. Help us to silence the accuser when he says we are not free.”
Quote: “As God’s children, we never sin to the point we are beyond the reach of God’s restoring grace.”
Because of Him,
Pastor Jim