The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 13: Throwing Stones

Episode Date: July 4, 2021

In Christ we are to leave behind our condemnation and our life of sin. Visit coe22.com/john to download the journal, find series resources and more.

Amen. And amen. If you got your Bible, it's going to be in John chapter 8. I want to thank Lisa for having the courage to share her story. Because as she explained one of the churches that she was at, and she said,

they were the worst. I used to work at that church. Not that exact one. It was the worst, man. I'm just telling you, every week we would walk in. And if you were a church people, no problem. No problem if you were a church people.

Like if you had, like, pleaded dockers and the right, you know, if you had the uniform on, you were good to go. If you knew when to stand up, when to sit down, if you knew how to greet one another, hello, brother, all the things. You were cool, man. But if you weren't in that category of people, then that church, man, they just walked around

with these stones of condemnation and judgment. So when God called me and a bunch of my friends to launch this church, I was committed that we were hopefully dropped those stones and just pick up grace. And this would be a movement, not for just church people, but a movement for all people to discover and deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ. Amen. Praise God. Praise God. Hey, happy Independence Day. Woo-hoo. That's fun.

Hope you blow stuff up. Not you. I hope you just, you know, other stuff. One of the things, our country's not perfect, not even close, but one of the things that our founders got right is this, is they understood that our government does not give us our freedom. It recognizes it, and freedom comes from the Almighty God. Amen? Amen. And so what we're going to talk about in our time together is we are going to talk about this woman who is set free.

She is going to find her independence, her liberty, her freedom in Christ. So if you go to John chapter 8 and if you back up like a half a verse, all right, in 753 it's going to say, and they went each to his own house. And right above that, if you see these little brackets that say this, it says that the earliest manuscripts do not include 753 to 8.11. So let me just cover this real quick, real quick, real quick, okay? First of all, the Bible is not only true, it's trustworthy, it's beautiful, and it's just. And here at 1122, we stand on the authority of the Word of God. And so what biblical scholarship has led us to know is that the earliest Greek manuscripts of the Gospel of John

did not have this section in it. And so what do you do with that? They were in the earliest Latin manuscripts, but not the earliest Greek manuscript. So what do you do with it? First and foremost, as you see this, there's two things I want you to know. Second Timothy 316 says this.

All scripture is God breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training and righteousness. I did a whole sermon just on that verse back in the Second Timothy series, so you can go back and see how we got the scriptures that we have

and why we can know that they're trustworthy and true. Second Peter 1, 20 and 21 says this, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. If you want to hear more about that, then you can go to our Second Peter series,

and Pastor Britt did a sermon on how we got the Bible and how we can believe is trustworthy and true. There are two schools of thought, generally speaking, as to why this section was not in the earliest manuscripts, okay? Augustine, and by the way, that's how you say his name, St. Augustine is down Highway 1, Augustine is in heaven. Okay, see the difference? All right, so that's how you know.

So Augustine believed he was an early church father, by the way, okay? He thought that the story was in the original manuscript, in the original text, but the early church pulled it out because, spoiler alert, this lady is going to be caught in the act of adultery, and she doesn't get punished for it, and then they thought all you nasty church people would just be committing adultery and you wouldn't get in trouble.

So the church fathers were like, well, let's don't tell them they can do that. That's what he thought. A different church father named Jerome, he believed that it was not in John's manuscript, but it was an actual event, a true story. Everybody knew about it. Everybody was talking about it so much

that some later people put it in, that John's disciples wrote it in in a later manuscript. Now, this is how committed Bible translators are dedicated to the truth of the scripture. Because there is some concern about was this in the original manuscript, in your Bible, there's a little bracketed part that warns us the earliest manuscripts do not include this. Okay. That's never going to happen when you watch cable news. You realize that.

Can you imagine like, we have an eyewitness, not sure if he can be trusted, but we just wanted to show it. Okay? No, no, no, no. They're just going to, they're actually going to feed you whatever makes it. some of the most money, but that's a whole different sermon. Let's not talk about that right now, okay? But stay focused on this, people. All right, so that's what's happening.

But here's what we know. Everything in this account lines up with who we know the rest of the Bible to describe who Jesus is. And I believe it actually happened just as it says. So here we go. Let me just explain it to you. It says, they went each to his own house. This is after Jesus stands up in the temple and says,

Is anybody here thirsty? If you are thirsty, come to me, and I will quench your thirst. And by the way, last week, 103 people here at 1122 surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And in particular, nine of those were our brothers at Baker Correctional. Amen. Amen. Praise God. Chapter 8, verse 1. But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. He went there often to pray. We're going to find that out later, okay? So he gets finished teaching at the temple. He's probably tired, needs somewhere to sleep, goes to the Mount of Olives.

He may be going over to Bethany. Bethany is kind of just over the edge of the Mount of Olives. He has some friends that live there. We'll see them by the time we get to John chapter 11. Verse 2 early in the morning. He came again to the temple and all the people came to him

and he sat down and taught them. So you get to see. He's been teaching in the temple during the feast of the booths. Big crowds are showing up to listen to him because he teaches with such authority. Remember last week they're like, Where'd you go to school?

He was like, heaven, remember that? Okay, so they're showing up. People are believing in him. There's all kinds of different responses, and now he shows up again to teach in the temple. Big crowds. I mean, it's like here, except the difference is, is back in the first century, the rabbi would sit down and all the listeners would stand up. I think we should do that one week. So, you get the stage.

Jesus is preaching and a whole bunch of people listen. Verse three, and the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in a adultery. And placing her in the midst, they said to him, teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. I think that is important. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What do you say? And then John gives commentary as to the thoughts behind what they are saying. This they said to test him that they might have some charge to bring against him. You see, this is a a setup. It's a total setup. These men, these religious men, they could care less about the holiness and the righteousness of God. They could care less about the purity of this woman. They could care less about the purity of their culture. They could care less about this. We found out right here, they just hate Jesus, and they are trying to trap him and use her as a pawn. Now the test here, there's two tests. They think they've got him in a lose-loose situation. First of all, I imagine some of

them have heard some of the teachings of Jesus. Maybe they've gotten snippets of the sermon on the mouth, and they hear about his grace, and they hear about his forgiveness, and so what they're trying to do is give him a theological test. All right, Jesus, and remember, I think part of this could be a response to his sermon is anyone here thirsty. If you're thirsty, then come to me, and they say, basically, like, here's one that's thirsty. She's looking to be filled in an unrighteous way.

So what are you going to do with her? Is it the law or is it grace? And no matter what he says, he loses. But I think it's also a political trap. Because here's the thing. By the time we get to the first century, the Roman Empire occupies Jerusalem. And the Roman Empire has passed a law that you little silly Hebrews with your theological laws, you are not allowed to exact capital punishment on anybody.

You have to have our permission, the Roman laws, permission. This is why, by the way, when we get to the end of the Gospel of John, that the chief priest, they can't crucify Jesus on their own. They have to take him to pilot and get his permission. So now he's in a political pickle here. So which ones are going to be, Jesus? Are you going to obey the law of Rome, or are you going to obey the law of the Hebrews?

Either way, you lose. And they think they're so smart, okay? It's a setup. It's fishy, man. I mean, look at this. They caught her in the act of adultery. In the Old Testament, we'll get there in a second. it. The Bible says, in order for capital punishment to happen, there has to be multiple eyewitnesses.

You can't just hear that she has committed adultery. You can't just see it on her Facebook. You have to actually see it. And they saw it. They said, we caught her in the act of adultery. How do you get somebody in the act of adultery? Okay, in case you're new to life. swimming, solo sport, bicycling, solo sport, adultery, team sport. Okay? Typically something that happens in private, which means these brothers are walking around hunting for someone to step over the law, the line. Some people speculate, maybe it was a setup, maybe they were like, hey man, why don't you go get her, we'll watch, we'll let you off the hook, I don't know. But they're hunting for her.

They're spying on her. And there seems to be somebody missing from the equation. Notice that? Where's the man? If they found them in the act of adultery, it takes two. And where is he? This is spiritual abuse, man. And spiritual abuse always goes after the weakest,

the one that can't stand up for themselves. It's religious abuse because they are using her as a pawn for their own means. any time any leader uses any person and does not value who they are as an image bearer of God but uses the category in which they fall in for their own means, then they are abusing that person for the sake of themselves. This is what they're doing to this girl. Now, the problem is, is when they do bring her forward and say, we witnessed it. The law says that we should stone her.

They're right. Exodus 2014 is the seventh commandment. Thou shall not commit adultery. And then in Deuteronomy 22, 22, and Leviticus 2010, the Bible gives us this law. What's crazy is before you get to Leviticus 20, if you go all the way back to Leviticus 16, we get a whole chapter on what's called the Day of Atonement. And every year, every year, the nation of Israel would gather together, they would confess their sins, Out loud. So think about that.

You've got to figure out if you're standing next to your neighbor or not, right? I just want to confess my hatred. Hold on, I haven't unspoken. That's what would happen, okay? And then the high priest, Leviticus 16, the high priest,

would receive the confession of the sins of the nation of Israel and then transfer the sins of the people to the head of this goat. It's called the scapegoat. Would take that goat to the edge of town, let it go out into the desert, and so the people would,

get to see tangibly their sins be removed from them as far as the east is for the west, and then that goat would go out there and just die. All right. And then he would take another ram, lamb, perfect spotless lamb. The high priest would consecrate himself, shed the blood of the lamb, take the blood of the lamb into the holy of holies. He would pour the blood of the lamb over the mercy seat of God inside the ark of the covenant, and inside the ark of the covenant were the laws of God.

God, the Ten Commandments. The idea being that when God looks down on his people in the Holy of Holies, he did not see his broken law, but he saw the shed blood of a lamb that would cover over the sins of the Jewish people for one year. And they did it year after year after year. Now here's what's crazy about it, even in the Old Covenant, even in the Old Testament. The Day of Atoment, Littavicus 16, comes before all of the laws and the consequences of breaking those laws. In other words, the verse. it comes before the performance. And then you get into, and here's what you need to be forgiven of.

And there's all kind of crazy laws in there. There are, for sure. But Leviticus 2010 says this. If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulterous shall surely be put to death. Now, in our 21st century mind, we think, how in the world? I mean, it does not, that seems crazy. why in the world would God say that that is punishable by death?

Well, one of the things is you have to understand what God is doing. God just saved his people out of Egypt. They go from a slave nation, and now they've got to learn how to live together and work together and treat one another. And so basically the law in the old covenant, starting in the book of Exodus, but also in Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy, it's like, this is how we're going to treat one another. This is how we're going to treat our neighbors.

this is how we're going to treat our enemies. This is how we're going to buy a cell. We're not going to lie. We're not going to cheat. We're not going to steal. We're not going to do those things to one another. Because if we do before the nation ever happens, we will tear ourselves apart. And so when it gets to adultery, I think the reason that the sentence is so severe is because adultery kills.

It kills relationships. It kills families. It kills children. It kills hopes, it kills dreams. And sometimes if there is adultery and nothing is done about it, then the person that is offended comes in and literally kills somebody. And then that family responds in kind and kills a bunch of people. And so before any of that happens, God says we're going to wipe it all out before we ever get started there.

It's a really, really, really, really big deal. And it was rarely, rarely, rarely, rarely ever enacted. that the Mishnah, which is like a commentary of the Jewish rabbis on the Old Testament, they said if this happens more than once every seven years, then it's a bloodbath. So this is a really, really big deal. God takes marriage very, very seriously, and then here's the thing. This woman, though, she's busted, man. She's guilty.

She's guilty. And let me tell you, it's because everything private turns public. Everything. One of the scariest things as a person should be that you don't get away with anything, which is also one of the most comforting things as a parent, okay? So it's just kind of parallel tracks here, all right? So here she is. Probably barely dressed.

The Bible does not give us specific words on what she has on, but she is caught in the act of adultery. I doubt they let her get all dressed up. They drag her in, they put her in front of Jesus, and she's knowing I'm about to die. This is going to be the last time I see the people that I love. I don't know if she has kids. Maybe she does.

I'm never going to see them again. I can imagine she's just cowering down, expecting for the rocks to come in any moment. And the religious leaders say, okay, here she is, man. We're right. We're right. We got Bible verses on our side. What say you, Jesus?

and Jesus bent down and he wrote with his finger on the ground. The King James says, as if he was not listening to them. You know how frustrating this must be for the chief priest and the scribes? Hey, hey, hey, man, hey, what are you doing? And Jesus gets on the ground and just starts doodling. Now here's what I love. Here's what I love. No one has any idea what he's writing.

No one. So whatever your guess is, as long as it's not bad words, it could be right. I mean, what's he doing? I think a part of what he's doing, I imagine, later the Bible is going to specifically say he is standing before her, but I imagine, at least the way it plays out in my mind,

is when they bring her in, they throw her on the ground. And here's this scantily clad woman, knowing that she's busted, waiting to get stoned to death. And then what does Jesus do? Jesus, instead of standing over her in judgment, he gets right down on her level. This is what Philippians 2 tells us that Jesus says for every single one of us, that Jesus,

being in very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. But he stepped out of heaven and he dressed himself as a human, even more than that, a servant, even more than that, he was obedient even unto death on the cross. That Jesus Christ, no matter what you've done, who you've done it with, no matter what condemnation you have heard from anybody else, Jesus through his life and death, he puts himself down on our level that God made him who was without sin to be sin. And he's down on her level. He's doodling in the ground. What's he writing? I don't know. Maybe he wrote, thou shalt not commit adultery. Maybe. It's just a total speculation. Some people think, maybe he wrote that. Thou shall not commit adultery. He

committed adultery. And then he starts looking around the crowd and starts writing names of the men holding the stones there. Maybe. I don't know. But he is for sure taking the attention off of her. Because while they are going to use her as a pawn, he is going to treat her as a person. He is going to distinguish her, even though she's guilty, he is going to distinguish her as an image bearer of God. And as they continue to ask him, so he must have written a lot. He stood up and he said to him, very famous words, let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone. And then once more, he bent down and he wrote it on the ground again. So what if, total speculation, I told you last week, I'm not trying to share with you my opinion, this is my opinion, but what if, can you imagine,

Jesus says, oh, y'all want to play the judgment game? We can do that. We can play the judgment game. I'm good at this. In fact, later in the Gospel of John, the Bible is going to say that God has given over the authority for Jesus to judge everyone. You want to start now? Let's start now. And maybe he just began to list the names of every single person there and all of their sins, known and unknown, next to them. So, all right, boys, let's go. Everybody brought their rocks?

Cool. Let's go. Who wants to go first? Because here's what we're going to do. If you judge this woman by the same message. that you judge, that's what I'm gonna judge too. And he leans back down, he starts writing this time. What's he writing this time?

Well, in just a second, we're gonna find out that they start leaving one by one. Maybe the moment they leave, maybe he just strikes out that name, and strikes out that name, and strikes out that name. Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone. And then he bends down.

Now here's the thing. Here's the part that so many of us miss, okay? for sure you should spend some time in this event and say make sure as a church person as a religious person you're not walking around with stones for sure but the reality is every single one of us every single one of us we are all the woman called in adultery and I don't just mean that we have all sin I mean specific to that sin maybe there's one here among you God bless you here's what Matthew here's what Jesus says about adultery okay So, in English, by definition, adultery means that you're sleeping with somebody that you were not married to. And you may say, well, I've never committed adultery on my wife. All right, cool. But here's what Jesus does. Jesus ruins your whole argument.

Matthew chapter 5, verse 27, Jesus says, you have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery. That's the seventh commandment. And you're like, cool, I'm good on that one, okay? But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Uh-oh. Anybody want to be like, nah, not me? Yeah, there's one in here about lying, too.

He'll get to that in a second. And then look at what he says. He says crazy talk after this. I mean, crazy talk. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away, for it is better that you lose one of your members than that of your whole body be thrown into hell.

And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away, for it is better that you lose one of the members than your whole body going to hell. and if your iPhone causes you to sin, throw it into the freaking ocean, that part's not in there, okay? I add in one verse.

So adultery falls under the category of sexual immorality. The word in the Bible for sexual immorality is pornao. Sound familiar? This is any sex outside of marriage. And marriage, according to the scriptures, according to God,

from the beginning is one man, one woman for one lifetime. And so there in the temple grounds, according to Jesus' definition of sexual immorality, according to Jesus' definition of adultery, if you're looking at pornography, you're guilty. And he could drag any of us in there and say, if you've ever commodified another person, not valued them for who they are, but looked at them and thought about what you, you could get from them because that's what you want. That's what we're talking about here.

Not noticing that somebody is pretty or handsome. That's not what it is. It is with this lustful intent. And here's why Jesus makes such a big... I mean, he says, gouge out your eye, chop off your hand. That's pretty extreme. And Jesus is saying, this is extremely important. So, listen, if you're watching pornography, I'm just going to tell you it's killing your marriage.

It's killing it. Your marriage won't last. It won't survive. It will kill the intimacy. And if you say, well, I'm not married. Okay, then you were just pre-deciding that your future marriage is dead. I'm telling you.

And it is killing your ability for intimacy. And I'm not even just talking about emotionally. Erectile dysfunction in guys 30 and 40 years old right now is through the roof, and it's because of pornography addiction when they're 15 to 25. You know why those commercials come on every three seconds that are super awkward during the football games

with your kids? What's that, Dad? oh my goodness, go what, something else, okay? Look, God's way is the best way. It just is. And so Jesus says go to extreme measures. Giving yourself away to somebody that is not your husband is sexual immorality. And if you say, yeah, but we're married in your heart.

No, you're not. No, we're married in God's eyes. I've seen God's eyes. They're blazing red fire, okay? He's not happy with it. I'm telling you. taking something that is not yours is not manhood that's boyhood boys take men serve men look at you and say you are so valuable you are so valuable that i want to treat you as valuable i'm tempted you're

awesome for sure all of those kind of things but but you are so valuable that i'm going to commit my life to you in the covenant of marriage and that's what it takes to be able to be with somebody like you this is jesus standard this next one's going to get me killed so here we go ready You got to hear my heart here, and I don't want anybody to clap or anything like that. According to the scripture, same-sex romantic practice is in the sexual immorality category. No more or less than any of the other categories. There will probably be a day that that statement is categorized as hate speech. But listen to me, just because you hate it doesn't make it hate speech.

and just even if you don't believe me, even if you don't agree with me, just know that it comes from a place of love, of love. I love you enough to not buy in to everything the world is telling you. I love you enough to bring you the very word of God because it's freedom there. It's freedom there. And then quite honestly, I know we have a whole bunch of same-sex attracted people that come to our church, sometimes even as couples. And to you, I would just say, I love you so much. the courage and humility that you have to put up with me week after week after week, I love you so much. Just hear this, so all I'm trying to do,

I don't write the mail, I just deliver it. Please hear from my heart how much I love you and just want to share the word of God with you and what God has for you is better than anything in this world, because what you really are looking for is intimacy with him first and foremost. And so every single one of us, every single one of us

can fall into the sexual sin category, every single one of us. Now, let me just give you one little caveat, okay? We do live in this crazy world now where these people, there's some people that will write commentaries on John chapter 8 and say, it's not this woman's fault because she was an abusive relationship because there was a power differential there. The only problem is, is at the end,

Jesus is going to look at her and be like, you're sinning. Okay? However, let me just, in this category, if you are being abused, that is not sin on your part. That is not your fault. That is not your fault. You come to the church. You let us help.

let us help, and we will get to police, and they will also help us, okay? The church should be the last place on the planet where some kind of abusive man or person in power could ever make it. The gospel ought to just root that up and out. So that's not what we're talking about here. But they bring this woman caught in the act of adultery in sexual immorality. And listen, this was common in the church. I don't have time to preach it, but let me just read for you a letter that Paul writes,

to the church in Corinth. Sometimes my pastor friends are like, I wish we could get back to the early church. Not me. Have you read about the early church? There are some sickos in the early church, okay? Paul says to a church, or do you not know that the unrighteous

will not inherit the kingdom of God? Don't be deceived. And then he gives, not an exhaustive list, but he gives a list of unrighteousness. Neither the sexually immoral, that's pornao. And again, I've already said, the large majority of us have fallen into this category,

so we wouldn't be able to get in heaven. So neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. To which you go, uh-oh, especially you swindlers. I don't know what that means, so.

And this next, look at this, here's the gospel. And such were some of you. that means that when Paul would go to church at the Corinthian church the places full of people that were sexually immoral, same-sex attracted, that were revilers and drunkers and swindlers and sinners and all of these things. Such were past tense. But you were washed, were sanctified, were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. In other words, you have a new name, and your new name is not the old thing that you used to do. The old thing you used to do is dead, and your new name, you have been renamed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of God.

That's good news. And then he shares a little, he talks about the current culture that they lived in. We'll skip down to 15. He says, but do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the member of Christ, which is my body, and make them members of a prostitute? never because that's what was happening in the first corinthian church people were sleeping with people that weren't their husband or wife people were sleeping with a boyfriend sleeping with a girlfriend they would go to the temple and sleep with the temple prostitute and call it worship and they had this

they had this false belief that i can do what i want to with my body it's my body my choice i do what i want i've given my heart to jesus but i'm going to get my body to the temple prostitute no problem And Paul's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, man. Don't you know? That's not just a physical act, that's a spiritual union when you do that? And he's like, whoa, whoa, I'm not, I'm not, there's no union. No, man, it's just, it's just what I do. And he goes, all right, no, that's not how it works, okay?

Or do you not know that he who is joined into a prostitute becomes one body with her? Like, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm not becoming one. And Paul's like, yeah, that's how, that's how this works. that sex is a supernatural gift from God that is supposed to be a picture and a reminder of the Godhead. One God in three persons, God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

and a perfect submissive love relationship with one another, and though there is one God when three distinct persons, there's still only one God. Like when a man marries makes a covenant with his wife, for a lifetime. Even though they are still two distinct human beings that Jesus died on the cross for, they come together, consummate the relationship,

and they become one. In God's economy, one plus one, and the covenant of marriage equals one. And so he says, don't you know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For as it is written, two become one flesh. But he who is joined with the Lord

becomes one in spirit. So then here's Paul's advice, which is similar to Jesus' advice, when it comes to sexual immorality, when it comes to adultery, when it comes to any of that temptation, flee sexual immorality. Flea sexual immorality. If you have ever failed when it comes to the area of sexual immorality, it just comes down to this.

At some point, you decided to flirt instead of flee. Okay? The Forrest Gump translation is, run for us run that's what this is which again i just want to point this out when you get to ephesians chapter 6 the bible says our battle is not against flesh and blood and if you come against the enemy himself the bible it says it twice stand firm against the evil against the enemy and his evil schemes do you see what a big deal this is man that means again man when church is over today if you're walking to your car and the devil is sitting in your car and he's like and let's just say it's

old school Saturday Night Live, devil, whatever era you grew up in, okay? So my willful would be my devil, okay? And he's in your car. You'd be like, get up out my car, man, that's my car. God has authority over me. I got authority over my truck. Get out my truck, okay? You stand firm against the enemy in his evil schemes, all right?

However, if you walk out to your truck when the service is over and your ex is in the truck, you run back in here, sweaty. Hey man, what you do? I need prayer and an anointing. Why? She's coming after me, okay? Devil, no problem. Sexual immorality, run away. Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Because sex is a supernatural gift from God, it's just different. Any and all sin separates us from God, and all sin is forgivable by Jesus at the cross. There's no doubt about it. But there are categories of sin.

And the Bible is saying, this one's different, man. This one's different. There's something about sexual sin that the enemy uses that brings more shame and condemnation than everything else. This is why you never hear Christians joke about sexual sin. You ever notice you can kind of joke about everything else? You can be a disciple group, and you can joke about how you got arrested

and how you did this thing and so all that kind of stuff, right? You can do that. Nobody jokes on sexual sin. whole couple has ever been sitting in disciple group, be like, oh my gosh, my wife used to hook up with everybody. Tell them about spring break 82. Go. This is hilarious. Nope. If anybody ever comes to me at the end of a service and say, I need prayer. About what? I don't think I can ever be forgiven of it. 100% of the time, this is the category. It's just different. And he says, or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you whom you have from God? Listen to this. You are

not your own, you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body. If you're sleeping with your boyfriend, if you're sleeping with your girlfriend, if you're sleeping with anybody that's not, that you have not made a covenant with, it's because of this, you, one, if taken your eyes off the gospel, two, you are flirting and not fleeing, and three, you don't know how valuable you are. And your valuable is found in the gospel. God says, you're not your own. I bought you with the price. And the price that God was willing to pay for you was the blood of his very own perfect son, Jesus Christ. That's how valuable you are. And you are valuable and you should be treated as valuable. And so they bring this woman who has sin in her life. And the old covenant, the Old Testament,

says, the law says, if you catch somebody like this, stone her to death. And so after Jesus doodles in the ground. He says, all right, all the perfect people go first. And whoever isn't perfect, we can start playing the judgment game. I think that's what they begin to understand. You see, here's the crazy thing. There was one perfect one there. And the only one that had the authority because of his perfect life to stand in judgment of this woman and throw the stone, he decides I'm not going to throw any stones. And the reason is because I'm going to be on the other end of those stones here when I go to the cross of Jesus Christ, that he was going to pay the price for her sin.

So he says, whoever has no sin, let him cast the first stone. But when they heard that, now we're back to John 8, but when they heard it, they went away one by one beginning with the older ones. Why? Because the old guys know when to give up, man.

When you got a few gray hairs, which, by the way, can I just point something out? I had not one before I planted this church. This is your fault, all right? Okay? And so the old guys, they know, they're like, yeah, he got us, man, he got us. And so they dropped the rocks one by one, and they begin to go away. Think about this.

I wonder if she heard the rocks fall. I wonder if every time the rock hit, she flinched and she thought, is that it? Is this somebody throwing it? And one by one, a rock drops. and rock drops and rock jobs. And then Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. And Jesus stood up, so again, eyeball to eyeball. And he said to her, woman, this is dignity.

Do you remember how Jesus spoke to his mama at the wedding of Cana? Jesus, they're out of wine. And he addressed her, woman. He is treating this woman with dignity. When this other man is using and abusing her for his own benefit, and he's got to understand the risk that he is putting her at by sleeping with her, and she is not his wife. And so he's just take, take, take.

And Jesus, eyeball to eyeball says, woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? Just imagine, man, maybe she opens her eyes and she begins to look around. No one. What's that next word? This is not a rhetorical question. Sorry to wake you. She says, no one.

The oldest confession of Christianity is just, that, Jesus is Lord. She's now beginning to operate in faith. She's now beginning to lean into him. Why? Because he just saved her life. Who here condemns you? And here's what's going on. I feel like she's laying on the ground. She's bracing herself for the impact of judgment and condemnation because she knows that she's broken the law and she's waiting to just get wiped out by a rock, by a stone. And instead she gets run over by the grace train of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Who here condemns you?

You see, it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. Because you might look at this, she'd be like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, Jesus. She might take this and just go do whatever she wants, not if she's experienced the grace of Jesus Christ. You're like, shouldn't we just point out

that if she keeps doing this, she's going to go to hell? That's what the Pharisees did. She knew the law. It's not that that's going to change a person. It's the grace of Jesus Christ. She says, no one, Lord. And Jesus said, neither do I condemn you.

You see, condemnation is the native tongue of the enemy. Can we just be honest for just a second? I know this church is no place for honesty. But just between us, nobody's watching. Anybody struggle with condemnation? My hand is not up to show you how to raise a hand, though Baptist. I know we need a class in this, okay? I do, man.

I struggle with it bad. Really, really bad. The enemy takes, particularly in regards to this area of my past. And he takes those things, man, and he just loves to bring up the past and bring up the past and bring up the past. He loves to point out every, not even just the law of God, but the promises that I made in my own life. He even brings up the temptations in my life and begins to condemn me by, like, who do you think you are? How in the world are you a pastor and you're all old and you still have the same struggles and temptations that you did when you were a teenager, huh? And you think you're progressing in your sanctification?

I don't think so. And I'm talking about the whispers get louder and louder and louder. That is the native tongue of our enemy. His two favorite languages, fear and condemnation. And Jesus says, who's condemned you? Nobody. Then neither do I condemn you. condemnation, we talk about this all the time,

condemnation is a building term. It's not just a feeling. It means unfit for use. It's what the enemy wants you to believe. I've evaluated your situation, and you, this building, you are unfit for use. The crazy thing is,

is that Jesus looks at the very same structure, and we found out in 1st Corinthians chapter 6 when he says that your body is a temple. You know what that means? That the enemy slaps the condemn sticker on you, but if you are in Christ, Jesus rips that thing down. It says, no, no, no, no, no.

When you put your faith in me, I'm going to fill you with the Holy Spirit and wherever the Spirit of God resides, that's called a temple. So praise God when he says your body is the temple. That doesn't, it's not a gym thing. It's not a beach thing. Thank you very much. It means that God lives inside of you. The enemy says you are unfit for use.

And Jesus says, shut your mouth, you liar. that body is my permanent address here on this planet. That's what he thinks about you. That's where your value is. He doesn't condemn you. And I'm telling you, many of you feel shame and condemnation, and you need to receive the grace of Jesus. This is why, this is why we talk about this all the time.

None of us can ever get over the gospel. Because the way I war against the enemy is the gospel. when he tries to define me by my scars, I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm defined by the scars of Jesus Christ. It is finished. Yeah, I did struggle with that. Yeah, I did do those things. But that old me is dead.

I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. I'm telling you, the enemy tries to label you and give you a name like a adulterer. And then Jesus comes along like, nope, that's not what I'm calling her. I'm calling her daughter. That's what I'm going to call her.

You see, only Jesus gets to tell you who you are. So we have to consistently preach the gospel. Listen, I'm not alone here. You ever read Romans chapter 7? You might want to leave through it. The Apostle Paul, can we agree? He was a Christian when he wrote Romans? Also not a trick question.

Yes, he was a Christian when he wrote Romans. He gets to Romans chapter 7 and he goes, what is wrong with me? What is wrong with me? I want to do good, can't pull it off. Evil's right there with me. The evil things I don't want to do, can't stop doing those things. Sound like anybody else's walk? Yeah, mine too.

Then his conclusion at the end of Romans 7 is, what a wretched man I am. Who would save a wretch like me? You get to chapter 8 verse 1 of Romans. The answer is Jesus Christ, 8-1. Therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, Jesus. This is what Jesus is providing her. There is no condemnation. for those who are in Christ Jesus.

What's no mean? No. Let me tell you in Spanish. No. And I hear some people, man, you think you're being humble and you, and you, like I believe in Jesus, but, and I know he forgives me, and I just can't forgive myself. I would just politely, lovingly, caringly say to you, who do you think you are? You think your standards or above the standards of a righteous and holy God?

Or do you think the cross wasn't enough and you've got to help him out of? little bit. Either one of those is a misguided view of who God is and how much he loves you and how sufficient his grace is for you. Constantly remind yourselves of the word of Jesus. Neither do I condemn you. Now most people want to just stop the story right there. You can't judge me. But he doesn't stop. There is a semicolon there. That means breathe on that for just a second. And then he keeps going So he says, neither do I condemn you. Praise God for that. Now go, and from now on sin no more.

You see, earlier we found out that Jesus came full of grace and full of truth. There's no more full than full. It ain't 50-50 either. It's not like as the grace goes up, the truth goes down, and when the truth goes up, the grace go down. That's kind of how we work. He goes, full grace, full truth.

Here's the grace train. No condemnation. Now here's the truth. Truth train. Quit sinning. Go and leave your life of sin. He does not lower the bar for her. He does not say what she is doing is not sin.

Because he loves her enough. See, we live in a world right now that says, no, no, no, no, no. God is love, and so you do whatever you want. Have you met a parent that lets their kid do whatever they want? Do you think the parent loves him? Mm-mm. My man, God loves you so much that he's looking at her saying,

if you continue down this lifestyle, it's not good for anybody. For you, your family, the other guy's family, it's killing everybody. Go and leave your life of sin. And listen, if you met a person that was malnourished, the way to cure them is not gluttony. That's the world we live in. Woe to a society that caused evil good and good evil. The way to heal that person, if they are malnourished,

You don't just fill them up on ice cream. You feed them a healthy diet. And so when people are walking out of step with the way God created us to live, particularly when it comes to sex and sexuality, it's not to just give you a sticker and say, do whatever you want to do. No, no, no, no, no.

It's to give them a healthy diet of the Word of God to say God loves you. He died for you. He designed you has a purpose and a plan for you that's way bigger than you would ever know. And what you want, what you want is him in intimacy with him.

He says to her, now leave your life of sin. And here's what's important. I think this is really important. A pursuit of no more sinning only works. It only works when you have an encounter with Jesus and you experience His grace. Because without it, guess what you turn into?

Next thing you know, you're walking around with a rock like a fair sea. Be like, I don't do that stuff. I don't do those things. that you do. You see, the reason that she's going to be able to have victory over sin is because Jesus saved her life. When she knew that she deserved to experience the penalty of her own sin, instead of experiencing that penalty, she experienced the reality that Jesus was going to be the propitiation for her sin, the payment that satisfies. And there's no way you could get run over

by the grace chain of Jesus and not walk away completely different than when you walked into him. that grace changes everything. So he says, go and from now on sin no more. Here's the point. In Christ, we are to leave behind our condemnation and we are to leave behind our life of sin. Here's the reality. Fear will grip you in responding to this one.

It will, man. Because if you're feeling some like stirring in here, that is not condemnation. If you know Jesus and the Spirit, lives in you, what is happening here is you are being invited by the conviction of the spirit to daily repent, to daily take up your cross, to daily turn your back on your own sinful wants and desires, and once again, remind yourself that Jesus came down on our level. He took the stones for us, and he does not condemn you. And by the power of the blood of

Jesus, we can walk out of here differently and not continue in our life of sin. the conviction of the spirit is like a warm blanket. It's an invitation. And so as we close, look, we're going to be radical. We're going to sing two songs because I don't want you to be in a hurry. Because if we're honest, every single one of us, man, there's some of you, and you are just living in sin. You're living outside of God's design for you. And you're sleeping with somebody that's not your spouse.

You're looking at pornography. Whatever the thing is, man. Pornayo is like the junk drawer of sexual. immorality. And I'm going to tell you, the enemy is crushing us with it right now. And by the grace of God, we're busted. And we may not be publicly busted. We're not going to drag you up here and say, all right, here's what I'm doing. That's not what we're talking about. But God would love us so much that he would convict us of the temptations and the sins in our life right now. And so the way we're going to respond is, I want you to come and I want you to pray. And I want you to come and I want you to

lay down your condemnation at this altar. If you're like me and the enemy whispers, and for me, man, Thursdays and Sundays, it gets louder and louder and louder. And I have to constantly come and just lay it down. Enemy, I am not who you say I am. Only Jesus gets to tell me who I am. Lay down your condemnation.

Some of you need to come and lay down your sin. That the enemy's got his grips in you. And the first thing you need to do is, confess it to him. And then all of us, man, if you're a believer and you need to come and lay down your stones because the longer you go to church, the easier it is to think you're right and they're wrong and to pick this thing up and stand in judgment and condemnation over other people, may we never do that.

Listen, man, if you're here as a married couple, won't you come together? You know you need to come. And husbands, you're kind of scared to come down here because you know if you go, she's going to I'm like, what's you going down there for? Wives? Drippy drip, don't do that. I mean, I know it's funny. How shameful would it be for you to stop

a nudge of the Holy Spirit in your husband's life because he's afraid of the condemnation that he might receive? Husband, same thing, man. Why don't you be an encouragement? Why don't you just come on together and pray for one another? Because the enemy, he wants to kill your marriage.

He wants to steal the intimacy out of your marriage. He wants to destroy your moral authority over your kids. That's what he's trying to do. And what the spirit of God is trying to do is to make sure that his love for you overflows towards one another in that covenant of marriage. So couples, why don't you come together? And if you're single, want you to bring a friend? Maybe not the one you're sending with. Why don't you bring a friend? So look, bro, the enemy's got our number on this one. Why don't we come down here and pray for one another? Hey, say this one. Why don't we come down here and just pray for one another that we can quit

comparing ourselves to everybody else, that we would look to Jesus and Jesus alone for intimacy. Why don't you come and pray that way? And how about this? If you're a parent of a teenager, why don't you get down here on your face and pray against the enemy? Because he's trying to kill a generation of young men and young women.

I mean, they carry it around in their pocket, and he is trying to kill, steal, and destroy everything that God wants to do in their lives. You see, prayer is ultimately coming to Jesus. That's what it is. And this woman, she didn't even want to.

She's forced into the presence of Jesus, and that encounter changes everything. And nobody's going to pick you up. Nobody's going to drag you down here. But Jesus himself right now is inviting you. Come here. Come here. Why don't you just come and experience some grace?

Who condemns you? There's not going to be one person in this church that condemns you. And Jesus is going to say to you, neither do I. Now go. Go and sin no more. Would you please stand? Let me pray for us and we're going to respond. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, we love you more than anything and we know that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but we have an enemy that has methods, that has schemes. And one of his greatest schemes is in this area of sexual immorality. And Lord,

I pray, I pray that you would root out any spirit of a Pharisee in this place, holding a stone of judgmentalism. And may we all drop them and understand that we are all sinners saved by grace. And the reason Jesus that you came is to set us free. You did not come to condemn. You came to save. So God we claim that. And the Spirit of God, I pray that you would re-preach the gospel to every single one of us in this room. That therefore, in our God, now, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So Lord, I pray that chains would fall off. I pray that years of addictive behavior would be broken because of an encounter with you. I pray that what the enemy used for evil, you would flip it upside down. It would bring us to a

desperate place at your feet, and we would experience the love and the grace and the peace, the justice of you. and that we would know that when you said it is finished, it counted for this too. And there would be an army of 1122ers that when we walked out of here, marriages would be different. Couples would glorify you in the way that they valued one another. The strongholds would be broken down and we would no longer be slaves of fear. But we would be children of God. We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen. So we're gonna pray, you should start coming now. We're gonna sing, and you better sing like your life depends on it, because it does. And we're gonna bring, let's respond.