In a world gone wrong, things can quickly get turned around. In the name of tolerance we call evil good. For the sake of political correctness we call good evil.
How can we expect people to turn from a destructive life of sin when most people can’t even seem to agree on what sin is? How will we ever be able to bring those who are lost into the light if we ourselves are hiding in the shadows?
Read Isaiah 5:20-24
Points to Ponder
Scripture has much to say about good and evil, light and darkness. Consider the following passages.
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21:25)
You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, “How have we wearied Him?” In that you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them,” or, “Where is the God of justice?” (Malachi 2:17)
But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (Matthew 6:23)
But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
Something to Think About
Watch a news broadcast on any given day and you will likely see at least one example of moral deception. Wrong thinking doesn’t just exist on the evening news. The prince of this world has confused the thoughts of many. We often find we must defend our faith to family members, co-workers and friends. Ask God to give you the boldness to speak when faced with opposition to His word.
No more had God breathed His Spirit into the soul of man than man repaid Him with sinful pride, disobedience, lies, and murder. We tend to think our modern culture has evolved to the point of bearing no resemblance to the men and women of the bible. The truth is, if we’re paying attention, we can’t even get out of the third chapter of Genesis without realizing that nothing has really changed at all.
Read Genesis Chapter 3
In Genesis 2 God gave Adam clear and detailed instruction on what he was to do and what would happen if he disobeyed. While we aren’t specifically told that Adam passed along the information to Eve, based on her subsequent conversation with the serpent, we can surmise that he did.
So what happened? The same thing that happens to us all – out of pride or selfish desires – we choose to believe the lies. We doubt God. We trust our own thoughts over God’s word. We may not ask the question “did God really say…”? but when God’s word doesn’t line up with our mindset, don’t we question “does God really mean…?”
Points to Ponder
John explains for us the source of original sin “all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world”. (1 John 2:16)
Sin not only brought physical death, it also brought spiritual death
Has there ever been a time when you ignored God’s word? What were the consequences?
Why is God so serious about sin?
Something to Think About
When we measure ourselves against the world, we look pretty good. But ask yourself, before a holy God, how do I measure up?
There are many people, even some Christians, who buy into the world view that we have to be good to be saved. They believe that if we act good and do good, God will reward us. It sounds right doesn’t it? After all, if God is truly a just God, and if He is a God of love, would He really allow all these good people to spend eternity in torment?
From our world view, it makes perfect sense. But God doesn’t see things from a world view, He sees them from an eternal view. God’s word says that no matter how good we are, how much we try, or how hard we work, it will never be enough. We can give our human best but to a holy God, it amounts to nothing more than a pile of dirty rags.
Throughout His word, God tells us how we can obtain Godliness. Read the following passages: Mark 2:17; Romans 5:8; 1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 Timothy 1:15; 1 Peter 2:24.
Points to Ponder
Jesus came and died for sinners such as you and me
Through Jesus’ sacrifice we are not only cleansed, we are justified and sanctified
Christ took our sin upon Himself and imputed to us His righteousness
For those who believe, Jesus’ death on the cross destroyed both the power and the penalty of sin
Something to Think About
Until we understand just how depraved man’s heart is, it’s difficult to appreciate fully the gift we have received through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Spend a few minutes and meditate on all that Jesus has done for you and praise him for His wonderful love.
– You are a sinner too. I know at this point you are asking yourself “how dare she say that, she doesn’t even know me”. I didn’t say it, God said it.
Read Romans Chapter 3
I looked it up, the Greek word for “all” is pas, it means all. So, while we don’t want to admit it, there it is in black and white. Sandra is a sinner, _____________________ (your name) is a sinner – even the Apostle Paul was a sinner. As a matter of fact, he referred to himself as the chief of sinners.
Scripture tells us that the ungodly will not inherit the kingdom of God (See 1Corinthians 6:9; Ephesians 5:5; Revelation 21:27; Hebrews 3:11).
So, we have a dilemma. If sinners will not be able to enter heaven, and we are all sinners what hope do we have?
The Holy Scriptures tell us.
For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13)
Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:11)
For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared. He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:3-7)
Points to Ponder
Romans 3 gives us four essential truths concerning righteousness
That there are none who are righteous
That there are none who understand
There are none who seek after God
There are none who do good
Why are these truths essential to our exercising discernment?
Something to Think About
Just like the adulterous woman in John’s account, we have ALL sinned, we are ALL guilty. But, jut as He did for the woman, if we have put our faith in Christ, He has interceded on our behalf and we are not condemned!
Someone once brought up the discussion of how to know if a sense of guilt is from God or from Satan. If you don’t remember anything else from this study, please remember this – God convicts, Satan condemns.
Guilt can be a healthy thing. When we are in a state of un-confessed sin, a sense of guilt troubles our hearts so that we have no peace. The Spirit testifies to our conscience convicting us of our sin to bring us to the point of repentance. God has promised that if we confess our sins, He will forgive us and cleanse us. Once true repentance has taken place, God’s word assures us that our sins are blotted out.
Read Romans 5
If we have truly repented and still feel guilty, it is not conviction, it is condemnation and comes from Satan. Remember, throughout scripture Satan is called the accuser. In Revelation 12:10 we read that he accuses the brothers day and night!
Points to Ponder
A truly repentant heart is one that is broken, sorrowful for the sin we have committed and for the pain we have caused the Father’s heart.
The act of true repentance means we have turned from the sin.
True repentance means that we must stop sinning!
Something to Think About
We must fully examine our hearts and ask ourselves if we have truly repented? We must also remember that there are consequences to our sin. Even though true repentance assures full forgivenesses, there may still be damage that our sin has caused that we have to deal with. Caution! This is an area where Satan will try to sneak in with his accusations and condemnation!
If you were asked to define yourself as a lawyer, a jury, or a judge, which would you be? Do you tend to be a defender, always looking for ways to rebut the charges or do you try to find some technicality of the law that can be used to excuse the act? Do you sit high on a bench and watch the proceedings being careful to see that everything happens properly and in order? Are you one who considers the evidence, measures the facts against the law and then, only after careful consideration, hand down the verdict?
As Christians, we often find ourselves conflicted when it comes to dealing with sin. It’s hard to point at someone else’s life when we are in our own battle. We avoid judgment at all cost for fear we will be labeled a hypocrite. Herein lies the dilemma, we can’t excuse sin, but our own guilt prevents us from confronting it.
Read 2 Samuel 12:1-6
Points to Ponder
Based on some of your own experiences, what do you think David might have been thinking and feeling at Nathan’s revelation?
According to Romans 2:1, why do we have no excuse for judging others?
What is the result of our judgments?
Something to Think About
Is there a similar situation as described in 2 Samuel present in your own life? Ask God to reveal those hidden places in your heart so that you can be free of them once and for all.
Somewhere in the distance, above the venomous screams, the woman hears a kind voice. Trembling in fear and wracked with shame, she finally dares to open her eyes, and there is Jesus. We can imagine Jesus removing his cloak and gently covering the woman’s nakedness. Never has she experienced such kindness. As He stands to face her, her fear turns to disbelief, her shame turns to amazement. Then, this man, who literally holds the power of life and death over her, asks the question: “Woman, where are they, did not one condemn you?”
She wonders who this man could be. She heard them call him Rabbi but he certainly doesn’t act like he is one of them. She will later learn that this man, the one they call Teacher, is Messiah. Redeemer. Savior. The One who will one day judge the whole world.
Read John 8: 9-11
How tender this final scene. All her accusers have dropped their stones and walked away. Now, it’s just Jesus and the woman.
Points to Ponder
Was this woman innocent or guilty of the charges against her?
Does Jesus pronounce her guilty? On what do you base your answer?
What do the following verses teach us about guilt.
Ezra 9:15
Jeremiah 2:22
Romans 3:19
Something to Think About
Have you been beaten down by feelings of guilt for past, confessed, sins? Are you living under shame from the harsh judgment of others?
Let’s talk for a minute about the un-named woman in John 8. The scripture tells us she was “caught in the actof adultery”, which would no doubt mean she was naked. Furthermore, the word says “they put her down in the midst of them”. In other words she was brought into the temple to be judged by the temple leaders.
Read John 8:1-4
Fast forward 2,000 years. Imagine if you can that the woman has a name, she is you. You see yourself being dragged naked through the streets, down the aisles of your church, and thrown to the floor in front of the pastor and church elders.
There you are, filled with shame and fear, most likely about to die. You keep your eyes closed to avoid the stares of disgust and condemnation, you cover your ears trying not to hear the sneers and accusations. You wonder how it ever came to this.
Time seems to stop and in the silence of your mind you travel back across the years. The events of your life are played out on an imaginary screen. The joy of falling in love for the first time and the pain of the break-up. Your wedding day. The births of your children. The day you found drugs in the pocket of your son’s pants. When your teen-aged daughter told you she was pregnant and was going to have an abortion. The death of a parent. The divorce. It all seems so long ago and yet the pain of the memory feels so raw. Everything that mattered, everyone you cared about, all gone – and so has the person you used to be.
Suddenly, against your will, you’re back in the moment. The accusations and cruel words once again pierce your ears. “There is no question of her guilt, she was caught in the very act. The law demands that she be stoned”. Finally, you find the strength to open your eyes but not the courage to look up. You see the sandaled feet of the angry men. You know that they are tightly clutching the rocks that will be hurled at you, ending your life. In some strange way that you can’t understand, you welcome the anticipated attack, hoping that the physical pain might relieve the suffering of your heart. You long for the end to come and bring the relief you’ve searched for all these many years.
From somewhere in the crowd you hear a different voice. It’s soft and gentle, yet at the same time strong and powerful. You can hardly believe the words you hear, “let the one who is without sin cast the first stone”.
With your eyes still looking at the ground, one by one you see the stones fall. One by one the men turn and walk away until only one is left. He speaks and you realize that its the voice of the stranger. “Where are your accusers?” he asks. At last, you lift your head and you look into the stranger’s eyes, they are eyes filled with kindness, instead of hate. They are eyes full of tenderness, compassion, and love; you see a look you haven’t seen for many years.
It’s just you and Jesus. He removes his cloak and covers your nakedness. He speaks again, “is there no one left to condemn you”? You look around, somehow you find your voice, – “no one Lord”. His next words shock you, “neither do I condemn you. Go and do not sin anymore”.
Please notice, Our Savior didn’t condemn the woman, but He also didn’t condone her sin nor did He deny that she had committed a sin. Was she guilty? Yes, remember, she was caught in the very act. But Jesus loved her anyway (mercy), He gave her forgiveness (grace), and because He loved her, He confronted her sin and charged her to abandon it (redemption).
Points to Ponder
No man accuseyou? against one in the assembly, that is, a complainant at law; specifically Satan: – accuser.
Neither do I Condemnyou. to judge against, that is, sentence: – condemn, damn. To give judgment against, to judge worthy of punishment.
Go. to pursue the journey on which one has entered, to continue on one’s journey
Sin no more. no further: – any longer, (not) henceforth, hereafter, no henceforward (longer, more, soon), not any more.
Something to Think About
I don’t know about you, but I am so thankful that John included this event in his gospel. It is, I think, one of the sweetest stories in all of scripture. You may not be an adulteress. Maybe your life looks very different from the one portrayed here. If you’re having trouble relating to this woman’s story, I urge you to go back to Jesus’ sermon. You see, we were not born innocent, we were all born into sin. It is in our very nature to sin, Romans 3:23 tells us that. The only difference between your life, and the life of the John 8 woman are the details. But, no matter how different our lives may look, there is one thing that is always the same –that is God’s grace. It was extended to the John 8 woman 2,000 years ago, it is offered today to you and me, and it will be available to every generation until the Lord returns.
Society is mostly indifferent to what others do as long as it doesn’t cause an interruption or inconvenience in their own world. I think we are all pretty clear on the world’s view concerning individual behavior and the consequences: “If it feels good, do it”. “It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission”. “It’s okay as long as no one gets hurt”. “If you do it, just don’t get caught”.
That’s the world’s view, but what is God’s view? What does God have to say about right and wrong? What does God want our lives to look like?
Read (Matthew 5:20-48)
In what is commonly called the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus describes for us the completeness of God’s law. He tells us it is not enough to know or even to practice the letter of God’s law, if we are serious about being totally in God’s will, we’ve got to take it a step further.
First, we have to seek to understand Who God is. If we are to look like Christ, we have to know His nature and His character. Paul writes in Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect”. Paul is instructing us to abandon the ways of this world and to seek the ways of God’s kingdom world. There’s only one way we to do that, we have to study God’s written word, pray for understanding, and be guided by The Holy Spirit.
Points To Ponder
Righteousness not religion.Righteousness-equity (of character or act). In a broad sense: state of him who is as he ought to be, righteousness, the condition acceptable to God. The doctrine concerning the way in which man may attain a state approved of God. Integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking feeling, and acting.
Be perfect as your Father is perfect. Perfect-complete (in various applications of labor, growth, mental and moral character, etc.). Consummate human integrity and virtue.
Conformnot to the world. Conform-conform to the same pattern. To conform one’s self (i.e. one’s mind and character) to another’s pattern, (fashion one’s self according to).
Be Transformedby renewal of your mind. Transform–(literally or figuratively “metamorphose”): – change, transfigure, transform. To change into another form, to transform, to transfigure.
Provewhat is good. Prove-test, examine, prove, scrutinise (to see whether a thing is genuine or not),
Something to Think About
When we look to excuse our own behavior because it doesn’t violate the letter of God’s law, we need to ask ourselves, “what does this thing say about who I am in Christ”? If we find we look more like the world than like Jesus, we must ask God to change our spirit of compromise to one of complete surrender and obedience. And if we are serious and willing, He will do it.
In the opening scene of the account we read yesterday, we were introduced to a whole cast of characters, each playing a very distinct role. First, we see the Pharisees, a bunch of religious men doing their religious thing . You can almost hear the hardness of their hearts as they throw the woman to the ground at Jesus’ feet. “Here Jesus, this woman wascaught in the very act of adultery. Moses said to stone her (which by the way is not true see Leviticus 20:10, Deuteronomy 22:22), what do you say we should to do with her?”
Can you relate to this scene? Has there ever been a time when you have “demanded justice” for some offense? Have you ever disguised God’s truth in a cloak of self-righteousness? Speaking for myself, I know I would have to plead guilty, as a matter of fact, I’m a repeat offender. God says that we are not to do that.
Read Matthew 7:1-5
So many victories were won for us at Calvary. Through Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection we have been set free from the power of and the penalty for our sin. There is one word that pretty much sums up all that Calvary accomplished – GRACE.
Points to Ponder
Grace that justifies. and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus Romans 3:24).
Wonderful, unmerited favor of God. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, Ephesians 2:8).
GRACE that is greater than any sin we can commit. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more Romans 5:20).
GRACE that is adequate to meet all our needs. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8).
GRACE that is never exhausted. For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace John 1:16).
Having received such grace, should we expect anything less of ourselves than to extend it freely to others? Isn’t that’s what Jesus is telling us in the Matthew 7 passage, to check ourselves first? Isn’t He asking us to remember that we are all sinners saved by His grace? Isn’t He calling on us to give the same grace to others that He has given us?
Something to ThinkAbout
Next time you’re inclined to “cast stones” stop and think – who do I want to look like? A Pharisee, with a rock in my hand or Jesus, with grace in my heart?
Sandra Bivens Smith 