Sermon Notes – September 19th
Sermon Title: Shameless(Click Here to watch Sermon)
Pastor Richard J. Brown
Scripture Reading: John 8:1-11
This is a strange text. We have to understand chapter 7 verse 53 in order to get the context to understand the strangeness. In this passage, everyone went to their home but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. In Jewish culture, hospitality was a big thing; it was part of their nature. Strangers were welcomed in their home – welcomed and sheltered. Jesus had a high profile at this time; He was famous and well known. They had seen His great acts. And so, it was strange that Jesus went to the Mount of Olives all alone. The fact of the matter is, they were afraid of being associated with Jesus. This was for fear of the jews because they were afraid of the scribes and the Pharisees. And so, they went to their homes, but Jesus spent the night outside. A question for all readers: is Jesus outside of your life right now after all that He has done for you and all that He has brought you through? Are you ashamed to be associated with Jesus Christ?
Great things happen in the gospel of John. It shows a lot of the miracles of Jesus Christ. His first miracle was turning water into wine, the next miracle was feeding 5000, and then He walked on water. It is in the gospel of John after walking on water, that He finds a lame man, at the pool of Bethesda. This crippled man was there for 38 years. The thing about this pool is that it is like a porch and it is right outside the temple. This man was right outside or under the shelter of a religious institution for 38 years and could not be healed. He was at church for 38 years, and he couldn’t be healed.
Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Great things happen in the gospel of John. But the greatest thing to happen in the gospel of John happens in John 8. The greatest thing that happens in the book of John is not about a miracle but mercy. So Jesus has a following by the time He gets to Jerusalem and everyone is persuaded that He is who He says He is. Everyone associated themselves with Him in public but He was hated by the scribes and the Pharisees. The ruling religious authorities of the day couldn’t stand Jesus. They hated Him because Jesus constantly unveiled their theology – calling them hypocrites, calling them white on the outside but on the inside, full of dead men’s bones. They looked for every opportunity to bring Jesus down. In the text, they believed that today was the day for them to come for Him. They felt like they had Jesus between a rock and a hard place. They thought they had just the thing to bring Him down. While Jesus was preaching in the temple, the Word was going on, worship was going on, and the Pharisees were searching for someone, they caught a woman in the very act of adultery. In the very act. As in, it was indisputable that this woman was committing adultery. They snatched the sister out of the bed and left the brother. They’d call the woman a whore and a slut, but the man they’d give him dabs. They gave the woman no time to fix her hair. They gave her no time to cover herself. They gave her no time to put herself together. Religious folk. God-fearing folk. They dragged her out of the bed, they snatched her, they gave her no time to have dignity. She was snatched and she was shamed.
So imagine she grabs whatever she can and she tries to cover herself and they drag her through the streets of Jerusalem. She is publicly shamed, and they bring her to the temple and they throw her down before Jesus. It’s like Pastor Brown is preaching right now and someone brings a woman in this predicament to the front of the altar and throws her there. In this day and age, this would go viral. They were out for shame and humiliation. They thought to themselves regarding Jesus, “We got you now.” A woman caught in an act of adultery should be stoned to death. They believed they had Jesus between a rock and a hard place. Such a woman should be stoned. There is a decree as well, meaning the jews no longer had the authority to produce or commit capital punishment. Right there, they questioned what Jesus would do. He is claiming to be the Messiah and they knew that He could not violate God’s law. He can’t do that if He is the Messiah and yet, if He were to violate the Roman’s law, He’d be put in prison.
Jesus is in a difficult situation but this is where you will always find Him. You will always find Jesus in these places. You’ll find Jesus when you are high on drugs, when your husband has left you – in the middle of hard situations. And so, they think they have Jesus over a barrel. But, Jesus employs a third option. Nothing ever catches Him by surprise and He has a solution to every situation. It is this third option that will save our lives.
Jesus ignores them. This is what you do with your critics and haters. Say not a word. Jesus ignored the haters. He ignored the scribes and the Pharisees. He did as if He did not hear and He began to write in the dirt. Still, they don’t let it go. That’s what some people do; they just keep questioning you over and over to look for something to have against you. Jesus keeps writing on the ground. They just keep going like, “Jesus, this woman is caught in the act of adultery, what are You going to do – we KNOW that You can hear us!” Jesus eventually raises Himself up and He says one of the most famous statements in the Bible – “He who is without sin, cast the first stone” (John 8:7). He says okay, you got me. But, he that is sinless, let him cast the first stone. In essence, He is saying: drop it. Somebody today – drop it. A message for your haters and critics – drop it. That thing you were about to say to him or her, drop it. That text you were about to send, drop it. That gossip you were about to send, drop it. There are three reasons to drop it.
Number 1: Nobody is qualified to judge her. No doubt she is in sin, but nobody is qualified to judge her. Now why would Jesus say this? Because we aren’t qualified to judge anyone. The only authorization you have to condemn anyone else is that you yourself have no sin. The next time you hear someone’s business, REMEMBER, the only authorization you have to condemn someone else is that you yourself have no sin. Some of us need to be reminded of that. Jesus was saying that He doesn’t dispute the fact that the woman was caught in the act of adultery and that she should be stoned, but He’s schooling them because the Pharisees and the scribes thought they were clever. The law of adultery was put in place to protect a man’s property. At that time, the law stated that a man’s property also included his wife. If another man slept with a husband’s wife, then that was adultery and in this case, he violated the man’s property. According to the law of Moses, both the woman and the man should be put to death. This is all according to the book of Leviticus. They should be stoned to death because they violated the man’s property. Essentially, Jesus is saying, “Where is the brother?”. When your haters come after you, they don’t tell the full story. They only tell their side of the story. But Jesus makes it plain, you brought this woman, but where is the man, where is the brother? You want me to condemn this woman for breaking the law, but you’re breaking the law. Jesus says drop it. How will you condemn someone for sinning while you are sinning yourself? It’s a set up.
This is the year that you will stop falling for the strategy of the enemy. This is the year that you are going to ignore their foolishness. This is the year that you are going to be free from people’s opinions, crazy thoughts and what they say about you. Reference Isaiah 64:6. What Jesus is saying to them is that everyone that is standing here has dirt on them. All of your righteousness is as filthy rags. In the New Testament as well, Romans 3:23 states that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. If you are feeling shamed today, the Bible says that no one has the right to judge you because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. None of us are righteous outside of the blood of Jesus. This pursuit of righteousness should cause you to see yourself, not other people.
You and Jesus may be first cousins, lol, but you aren’t qualified to judge anyone. We have no evidence of what Jesus wrote on the ground. Scholars don’t know what He wrote. Pastor Brown believes though that He started to write the sins of those around – all of us have some dirt. What does He write in the dirt? Everything God does, He does with purpose in mind. Jesus is writing in the dirt to teach them a lesson. When you see your stuff, run. Literally, the people dropped their stones, and they were convicted to their conscience because they were reminded that they have some dirt on them. They were reminded that they weren’t so pious.
Number 2: You need to drop it and go deal with your issues. Something is wrong with you when you go looking for someone else’s sin. Something is wrong with you if you feel your life mission is to go find someone else’s sins. While Jesus was teaching in the temple, they were out looking. That is incredibly perverted. Something’s wrong with you if you feel you need to peep. We have people that are out of place, they aren’t in the worship service, when you should be lifting hands and giving God glory, you are looking from house to house seeing who is sinning. Something is wrong with you when your desire is to see your sister stoned, or to see your brother humiliated and shamed. Drop it.
Number 3: Condemnation is not your assignment. Jesus doesn’t condemn her because that’s not His assignment. The Son of Man came to seek and save that which is lost (Luke 19:10). Jesus didn’t condone the sin, but He didn’t condemn the person. Jesus says to Nicodemus, for God didn’t send His Son into the world to condemn the world (John 3:17)- drop it. You aren’t qualified to judge anyone. Deal with your issues. Do not be a peeping tom. So how do we then deal with the issue of sin?
How should we in the body of Christ deal with sin – because sin must be dealt with. There is a right way to live and a wrong way to live. You can’t just live anyway you want. How do we deal with the issue of sin in the life of others and ourselves? How do we deal when our brother and our sister sins?
1. Jesus will face you
As Jesus is writing in the sand and they drop their stones one by one and walk away, the Bible says that Jesus raises Himself up, He looks at the woman and He says, “Where are your accusers, has no one condemned you?” She says no one. “Go and sin no more, I don’t condemn you”. Jesus looked at the woman and He faced her. He erased all of the evidence. He put her in a place where it was just Him and her. That’s what you have to do. There is sin in your life, make it personal between you and Him, that’s what should happen with others, put them before the throne.
2. Jesus will forgive you
He says I don’t condemn you. Isaiah 38:17. Isaiah says God, You’ve thrown all of my sins behind your back. They want all of the details but God doesn’t want to look at your sin, He wants to look at you.
3. Jesus freed her
Go and sin no more. Paul says, for if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Jesus will face you, He will forgive you and He will free you. He wrote in the dirt, He wrote in the sand. The water washed it away. He wrote in the sand because sand holds no record of what You’ve done. Jesus was even being gracious to the scribes and Pharisees. If it was indeed their sins that He wrote on the sand. He holds no record of wrong. Love holds no record of wrongs done to it. Are you holding up somebody because of what they did to you? Write it in the sand. Everything we’ve ever done, He wrote it in the sand. There is no evidence.
What was the outcome? When God gets through with us, we will be shame-less. God will remove shame from your life because shame is a useless emotion. God doesn’t want you to even feel guilty. Guilt and shame are useless emotions; if you keep walking around with these emotions, you’ll be tied to what you did. God erases your shame so that you can be freed to be sin no more.
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