Saturday, April 25th 2020

I deserve to be condemned, but Jesus shows me mercy

John 8:2-6a NIV
At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”

They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

John 8:6b-8 NIV
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.  When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

John 8:9-11 NIV
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”  “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

I deserve to be condemned,
but Jesus shows me mercy

Mercy is God not giving us what we rightly deserve and have earned

Romans 8:1 NLT
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.

There is no sin in your life that is more powerful
than the mercy and the grace of Jesus!

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Have you ever been caught, red-handed, doing something wrong?

Lying, cheating at cards, stealing food from the fridge. Those chocolate chip cookies smelled so good. After the cookie, you needed a drink of milk. It was a quick swig of milk directly from the container. The milk mustache told the truth about your actions.

Getting caught in the act is one of the worst feelings. We are going to look at a woman who was totally busted and completely in the wrong. 

John 8:2-6

She is/was guilty, she was caught in the act, she had no excuse. She is totally and utterly shamed, she will never live this down, and she is surrounded by voices of condemnation accusing her and calling her names. 

You know what those voices sound like don’t you?

Your life is ruined, you will never live this down, you’re a failure, you call yourself a Christian, Jesus would be ashamed of you…

You don’t have to be caught to here these voices either, in fact these voices sometimes are stronger if no one knows your secret sin and the shame it brings you

Some of you even have believed that your life was over because of what you’ve done. For her, it really was true. The sin/crime of adultery was punishable by death. One of the top 3 sins, and you could be stoned to death for it if it was proven to be true.

So, there she is, partially clothed at best, caught in the act, without excuse, dragged through the streets, mocked, made fun of, and finally thrown at the feet of this great morale prophet in front of everyone, and your sin is pronounced out loud for all to her in church!

The reason they did this was not because they cared about her, or even her sin. They were using her failure as leverage against Jesus. If he forgave her they’d say “See he doesn’t care about the law” If he condemned here they’d say “See he’s not so loving and merciful as he lets on!” It was a trap!

So, picture this, the woman is full of shame, guilt, and fear. She’s standing there, barely clothed, and these church men are surrounding here, using her and her sin, shouting at Jesus, “Should we stone her?”

John 8:6-8

Jesus basically says, Okay boys, you’ve never done anything wrong and you don’t even want to do anything wrong, you throw the first stone and get this thing lit!

John 8:9-11

Now, beyond a shadow of a doubt this gal was guilty, she was caught. With absolute justice she deserved condemnation, she was sinful, she was wrong.

But, Jesus didn’t condemn her, he showed her mercy.

Now, for everyone of you that’s ever thought or even said out loud, that God cannot forgive me. Maybe you have half jokingly said “if I went to church the walls would cave in” or “I’d burst into flames if I ever went to church”

This woman was in church, in front of God, fully guilty, filled with shame, awaiting the judgment and condemnation that she justly deserved but Jesus showed her mercy!

Good news it’s not just for that woman, it’s available for everyone and anyone.

Romans 8:1

He says that if you believe in Jesus Christ, if you are a follower of Jesus, that you are forgiven. That you are not condemned!

Just like those religious leaders who had surrounded that woman accusing her and condemning her, you’ve done that to yourself, or maybe others have done that to you. But here’s what Jesus says…

Those people and those thoughts are lies and liars! They don’t have the right to say that to you. In fact the only one that has earned that right is me, and you know what, I say I forgive you.

If you are in Christ, you are free, you are forgiven, you have overcome through Christ’s death on the cross.

You are not your past!   

You are not who somebody else says you are!   

You are not held captive by your mistakes, your failures, or your sins, because in Christ you have received mercy and forgiveness and right NOW you are set free!

Notice, Romans 8 doesn’t say after years of counseling with the pastor or after years of reading Christian self help books or even months of not missing a church service. It says NOW!

When Jesus looked at that woman I want you to see what he said to her, “Go NOW and leave your life of sin”

Some of you have been trapped in a sin for years, maybe even decades, but I believe that one minute at the feet of Jesus can change all of that!  

You think you cannot change, you think you cannot be forgiven, you think you can’t have a fresh start, you believe you can never be used by God in a significant way, but that’s not what Jesus says.

He says, right NOW, you can be free! You can leave your sin at my feet and rise up forgiven.

 

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