June 2, 2024

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Man, they did awesome this morning.

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Thank you both. Chris, thank you for coming over. She’s being missed at open Range Kingdom Church this morning in Crum. But we’re sure glad she’s here with us. We’re. You all get drink or take your Bible and open a John chapter eight. John chapter eight. And, I know there’s a lot of prayer needs, but there was one specific that came in this morning or last night.

00:00:34:15 – 00:00:57:12
Stephen South, who attend to your his dad is in pretty critical condition. really, really going through some bad stuff. So I want to ask you to pray for Stephen. I know he’s listening this morning, and, just want him to know that we’re all praying for his dad and pray that he pulls through and that God perfectly heals him, and restores him.

00:00:57:14 – 00:01:23:29
John chapter eight. In a, the problem with a preacher like me is I don’t preach with notes, and that’s probably good sometimes. The only problem is I don’t know where to start or where to stop. I have to really listen to the Holy Spirit, and I’ve got about three different things I write in my Bible. And by the way, it’s okay to write in your Bible.

00:01:23:29 – 00:01:46:28
If you got a Bible, it don’t matter if it’s yours or nine. If I loaned you one this morning, right. I didn’t keep it. Okay. But if if, if you’ve never written in your Bible, you need to you, you should write in it because it will remind you. You can go back and look or underline some verses or highlight something.

00:01:47:00 – 00:02:08:05
And I promise you down the road, it will be very helpful to you to be able to go back. So that’s why I’m telling you, it’s okay to write in your Bible. You’re not going to go to hell for it. All right? Just is okay. I write all in my Bible. As a matter of fact, I’ve got a bunch of Bibles I’ve preached to through the years, and the reason I have to change out Bibles, because I’ve got them so marked up, pages are falling out and stuff.

00:02:08:05 – 00:02:54:19
And maybe you heard my story years ago, I was preaching somewhere in East Texas, and I was to speak, and the guy that was going to follow me was none other than Phil Robinson, the patriarch, if you would, of the dynasty clan, you all know them. And so I remember I had preached, they sang a song and then we, we worked a little bit and then we up next was Phil, and he and I had been in what’s called a, a green room where we were sitting and waiting for the opportunity to come down and be ready to, to speak at this large men’s conference.

00:02:54:19 – 00:03:15:26
There was probably 3000 guys there. And one of the things I noticed when he walked in was that I was probably overdressed. And I dressed like this all the time. I mean, he was in camo and his old shoes looked like they would that fall off. He looked like he hitchhiked there to me. I mean, if I had known him, I thought he some homeless dude.

00:03:15:28 – 00:03:41:21
And he gets up to preach and he preaches through the entire chapter of Romans chapter one. If you’ve never read that, you ought to. But he preaches through that. And I had noticed that when he was up there with me. And as he walked up to the pulpit, and I’m sitting in a chair like right here from him, and so I could see everything he was doing from behind.

00:03:41:21 – 00:03:59:24
Matter of fact, I had a vantage point that really nobody else in the building had. And so he begins preaching, and I got my Bible open, which is a good thing. You want to make sure you got your Bible open, make sure the preachers getting it right. Okay. And so I open my Bible and I’m listening to him and he’s quoting this.

00:03:59:26 – 00:04:23:22
He’s he’s preaching. And I mean just verse after verse of diverse never misses a beat. And about halfway through that I noticed he had never opened his Bible in his Bibles, just sitting right there. But he keeps talking to people and reading these scriptures, but he’s never looking down. And what I noticed was his Bible was all duct taped.

00:04:23:22 – 00:04:41:07
I mean, this thing had more duct tape on it than a rope pipe. It was just it had duct tape everywhere. And it dawned on me, the Holy Spirit showed me I was like that guy’s never even opened his Bible. And the Holy Spirit said, you see that duct tape Bible? That’s the reason he didn’t have to open it.

00:04:41:14 – 00:05:13:28
He had it committed to memory. And so I want to remind you that you should read your Bible. You should commit Scripture to memory, because when you do, you you grow in the word. So look at John chapter eight. And I guess I’m just going to start in verse one. I was going to I don’t know if I should tell you about the lady who was caught in adultery or if I should skip over to where Jesus is teaching about the fact that he’s the truth and that the truth shall make you free.

00:05:13:28 – 00:05:39:07
But I guess this morning, I’m just going to do John chapter one, John chapter eight, verse one, and maybe next week we’ll go over there to the next few verses. But in John chapter eight the Bible says Jesus was went to the Mount of Olives in verse two. Now early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came to him.

00:05:39:14 – 00:06:03:26
And he sat down, and he taught them. So listen, they’re there in the temple. He’s in church, and they’re having church. There’s there’s a lot of people gathered around to hear him. Matter of fact, if you read the chapter before, there were people that stayed and they listened and, even Nicodemus had come to him by night and, and people just were attracted to what he was saying.

00:06:03:26 – 00:06:30:22
And who wouldn’t be if if you came this morning to hear me preach? But imagine if Jesus himself was standing here to preach. Surely this building would be packed out. Surely everybody would want to hear him. And that’s the way it was. So all these people are gathered around him and he’s teaching. And you, you’ve got to understand that what happens next would have probably messed up any preacher.

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It probably would have derailed anything going on, because what happens next would have shocked most people. And I think the guys that pulled it off wanted to shock him. They wanted to distract him, but ultimately they wanted to catch him and prove in their own way that they what they thought that he was a fraud because he, you got to remember, didn’t just claim to be a good teacher.

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They never crucified Jesus for being a good teacher. They didn’t crucify him for doing miracles. They didn’t crucify him for feeding the hungry, and they didn’t crucify him from raising the dead. They crucified him for one reason, and that was that he claimed to be the Son of God. That’s why they crucified him. They called it blasphemy. And that was the charge they brought before the Roman government to convince the Roman government to go forward with the crucifixion of Jesus.

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So whenever you hear people today and I follow social media and all the other, you know, crazy things out there, and it it astounds me how many seemingly intelligent people get on social media today and deny that Jesus was God in the flesh. Let me just say to you, if you don’t believe he was God in the flesh, you will never see heaven.

00:07:59:15 – 00:08:23:24
People don’t go to hell because Jesus rejected them. They go to hell because they rejected Jesus. Do you understand that? And so he’s teaching in the Bible says verse three, then the scribes and the Pharisees, these are the guys who knew the Bible. They these guys would read the Bible, preach the Bible, and then they would write stuff about in the Bible.

00:08:23:24 – 00:08:50:10
They they knew the law. And you’ve got to understand what we’re reading right now was John wrote after it had happened. But the only Bible they had in that day was the Old Testament, which was the law. And you’ve heard me tell you about the law. If he were here last week, I shared with you the difference in the law and grace, justice and mercy, and the fact that so many times we we read the law.

00:08:50:10 – 00:09:09:06
And if you are like me and you read the Ten Commandments, they just don’t give you a warm, fuzzy feelings. Matter of fact, every time I read the Ten Commandments, which is not that often, though I do know them, I try not to dwell on them for one simple purpose, because when I read them, I don’t get these warm fuzzy feelings.

00:09:09:10 – 00:09:41:27
Instead, I actually feel a level of condemnation because I realize I’m a wall breaker. Let me put that in cowboy terms. I’m an outlaw, okay? And I, I read that and all I feel is the guilt and the shame that comes from that. But that’s why there’s grace. That’s the New Testament, the New Covenant. I don’t have to live under the law anymore, and neither do you, because the law could never do anything for me but convict me and condemn me.

00:09:42:00 – 00:10:05:07
But the grace of God has has shown me the liberty that I have through the blood of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And so these guys, the scribes and Pharisees, I want you to notice what happens next. They brought to him a woman caught in adultery or if you’re reading from an old King James, it says, caught in the very act of adultery.

00:10:05:10 – 00:10:27:24
That’s what the Greek literally means. There. Now I don’t have to paint a very vivid picture for you, but just imagine if someone is caught in the very act of adultery and they’re about to bring her before somebody in order to accuse her and actually convict her. They want all the evidence that they could have. And so most of that evidence would include she was caught in the act of adultery.

00:10:27:24 – 00:10:49:20
She was probably they were she was caught while she was doing what she was doing, making whoopee. And you’ll get that in a minute. And they grab her. And I doubt they gave her a chance to put her clothes on. So, yeah, I like to read the Bible. I like to, like, be the fly on the wall. Like I want to know what was going on in that moment.

00:10:49:23 – 00:11:14:16
So when I read that, I think, man, they grabbed that woman they brought her. If she had anything on, it wasn’t much. And they bring her before Jesus. And here’s what happens. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to him, teacher, this woman was caught in adultery in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned.

00:11:14:18 – 00:11:40:20
But what do you say? I’m gonna stop right there and tell you whenever they bring up Moses in the law. Their law, which was religious law. But it also was civil law, they were governed by both. And so whenever they say this, their light does not the law. If you think stealing something would carry a big crime. DoubleTree in that day was a capital offense.

00:11:40:23 – 00:12:01:13
Messing around would get you killed and not just killed. You wouldn’t just be be hung or executed, it’d be over that quick. They would stoned you to death. They would throw a rock concert in your honor. Do you follow me? I mean, it would be bad. And so they bring this woman, they set her in the midst. And it’s not just in front of Jesus.

00:12:01:13 – 00:12:21:14
No, that would be embarrassing, wouldn’t it? You know, I remember growing up, my mom still, my brother and I, we’d go out. We were teenagers. She goes, now, don’t you do anything that you would be ashamed of if Jesus came back and caught you doing it. I can remember doing some things and looking up and take it. Here are funny noise and think, that wasn’t the trumpet, was it?

00:12:21:17 – 00:12:41:16
I don’t get caught. The truth is, he was watching me all the time. He was watching and I think he was telling my mama some of what I was doing. I’m pretty sure of that because she she just come up with stuff and it’s like, how did you know? I denied it, but she still knew, as I, I don’t know what’s going on.

00:12:41:18 – 00:12:59:16
Little did I know that every time my brother and I would come in, there would be this little light on in the living room and it would be my mama. And she’s sitting up reading her Bible. But I don’t think she was just reading the Bible. I think she’s praying and saying, God, watch over those two heathens. Don’t let him get killed.

00:12:59:19 – 00:13:17:21
If they’re doing anything wrong, make sure they come home. And so I am pretty sure. Matter of fact, I think I was having that conversation out in the parking lot with some people this morning about things I didn’t tell my mom. And now I do tell my mom, and she’s like, I don’t know how you boys survived. I don’t know how you live.

00:13:18:11 – 00:13:40:12
it had to be her praying, I don’t know, I there were a lot of things I did that, I think I, I think that conversation struck up by some young men out there telling me some things they did, and they put it on social media. Now, I would never that crazy, okay? We didn’t have social media, but I sure wouldn’t have put anything I was doing on social media that that’s like incriminating yourself.

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I mean, I plead the fifth on that deal. I’m not going to do that. guys, I’m a little smarter, but, I’m playing with you. But the Bible says they set her in his midst, and it says that’s not the law. And the law was right and wrong to black and white. This is just not the law command that she should be stoned.

00:14:09:01 – 00:14:31:04
And what do you say? And here’s why they ask that. Look at verse six. This, they said, testing him that they might have something which to accuse him. In other words, they were looking to trip him up. They were looking to confuse him. They were looking to get him to say anything that they could make an accusation about.

00:14:31:04 – 00:14:54:06
Can I just stop right there and tell you that’s exactly Satan’s ploy. He all he’s the accuser of the brethren. And anything he can get against you and accuse you of, he will. And it might even be true. And that’s in this case. This is true because look what happens. They said, we want to find some reason to accuse him.

00:14:54:11 – 00:15:19:28
But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger, as though he did not hear. So when they continued asking him, he raised himself up and said, he who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her. And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground, and those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience went out one by one, beginning with the oldest, even to the last.

00:15:20:01 – 00:15:42:05
And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. And when Jesus had raised himself up and saw that no one was with the woman, no one was there but the woman, he said to her, woman, where are those accusers of yours has no one condemned you? And she said, no one, Lord. And Jesus said to her, neither do I condemn you.

00:15:42:08 – 00:16:06:29
Go and sin no more. Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, I am the light of the world, and he who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Now I’m going to be as quick as I can this morning, because we we’ve got a book written, and I don’t have much time left, and I’m hungry, and we’ve had some good worship, but I wanted I wanted you just to get this picture in your mind for just a minute.

00:16:07:04 – 00:16:25:14
And let me give you just a couple of principles you can write down, and I hope you’ll never forget them. Number one, this woman who the Bible says was caught in the very act of adultery. I don’t know about you, but I have some questions about that. I told you when I read the Bible, I like to read it, but I like to read it like I’m the fly on the wall.

00:16:25:14 – 00:16:42:18
Like I want to be there real time. Now, obviously we can’t do that, but I can read between the lines. Okay, so I’m imagining Jesus sitting in the temple, and he would have been sitting probably on some steps or something like this. And he’s in there and he’s teaching and there’s a whole crowd of people gathered around listening to him.

00:16:42:25 – 00:17:07:00
And as he’s teaching, they interrupt him by coming in and saying, oh, Lord. And you can see, just imagine somebody this morning, I’m sitting here teaching you imagine someone brings a naked woman through the back door and rushes her right up here in front of us and says, hey, this woman was been doing this and and wants me or, and I’m nobody but Jesus to condemn her.

00:17:07:07 – 00:17:25:00
And and as a matter of fact, they want to do it so they can trip him up because they knew what the law had already said. The law said she was to be condemned. And by the way, who do you think wrote that law? Who do you think gave that law? It was God Himself. Who was Jesus? He was God in the flesh.

00:17:25:02 – 00:17:47:05
Emmanuel, God with us. So he was the law giver, all right. But now he’s grace and truth in the flesh. And so say, say to him, what do you say? They’re looking for the opportunity to trip him up. How many of you know you’ll never trip God up? You may trip yourself up and you may make excuses for yourself.

00:17:47:11 – 00:18:07:24
And you might even lie to yourself or somebody else. But you’ll never get away with it. With God. God is much smarter than any of us. Let me just put that down. And so he do. And they do this. This woman is standing there naked. And like I said, I have some questions. Number one, how did they know?

00:18:07:26 – 00:18:28:16
Oh, was there some peeping toms? Y’all know what that is? Don’t look at me crazy. You know what it is? Hey, who caught her? And here’s my second question. Where was the other half? You know, my mom used to tell me it takes two to tango. Or do you won’t be. So you understand? There had to be somebody else there.

00:18:28:22 – 00:18:53:14
Where was the man? They didn’t. If they didn’t tell you any of that. The Bible doesn’t give us that. Because they didn’t bring him. In other words, these guys were so religious and they were so self-righteous. They left an other part of the story out. Listen to me carefully. The Bible says he who answers a matter without hearing both sides, it is a folly.

00:18:53:14 – 00:19:17:23
It is foolish for him to do just because you hear somebody say something about somebody else. And it seems true. It’s juicy. I mean, we like that. We like juicy stuff. If you don’t believe me, just look at your social media accounts. We like to gossip. We like to say all kinds of stuff. But I want to encourage you to put the brakes on for a minute when you hear stuff like that and say, what is the other side of the story?

00:19:17:28 – 00:19:32:28
And let me tell you, as a pastor, as a pastor, I get to counsel lots of people and I get to counsel lots of couples. Okay. And so you have a couple come in and and this one says, well, this is the problem. And then you go over here and this one over here says this is the problem.

00:19:32:28 – 00:19:51:23
And this one over here says, no, I’m telling you the truth. The truth is. And then over here you got this one. Say, no, this is the truth. This is what’s going on. And I’m sitting there going, why am I in the middle of this? And then but here’s what I have learned. I have learned that when I’m hearing that, then there’s that one’s truth.

00:19:51:23 – 00:20:10:07
There’s that one’s truth, and there is the truth somewhere right in the middle. In other words, there’s two sides to every stinkin story you’re ever going to hear. And I want to encourage you, if you want to be a wise person, don’t answer the matter. Don’t jump in the water with the pigs until you know both sides know.

00:20:10:07 – 00:20:28:07
Hear both sides hear it out. Because somewhere in the middle is probably the truth. And you’ve always got some. How many of you know that we all have our own agendas? Let’s just be honest. That’s that’s human nature. To see it from our side. How many of you have ever been wise enough to say, this is how I see it?

00:20:28:07 – 00:20:51:19
This is what I see. But what do you see? And if you’re brave enough to ask that question, somebody else is probably going to tell you, I see something else and you’re going, I didn’t even see that. I surely didn’t see that about myself. But hopefully you have some friends in your life that are faithful enough of friends and to tell you the truth about you.

00:20:51:19 – 00:21:14:13
And here’s what the Bible says about that. The Bible says, the kisses of an enemy are deceitful, but faithful are the wounds of a friend. In other words, a friend, a real friend. Listen to me, young people, a friend will tell you the truth about you, even if it stings a little bit. You got somebody always applauding you and putting you on a pedestal and saying, you’re so perfect.

00:21:14:17 – 00:21:30:14
You and them both are about to be disappointed. You’ve heard me say, I live. Try to live my life for the applause of nail scarred hands. It’s not that I don’t love everybody in this room. And it’s not that your opinion doesn’t matter to me, but it doesn’t matter to me near as much as God’s opinion of me.

00:21:30:17 – 00:21:54:16
Because here’s what I wonder. Here’s what I know. I’m I’m guilty of this. I’ve been there. It is so easy to put somebody on a pedestal. And I always tell people, don’t put me on a pedestal. If you’ve ever been around me, my wife knows this, my family knows this. I go places I. The last thing I tell them is that I’m a pastor and I’m ashamed of that.

00:21:54:16 – 00:22:11:15
No, I know immediately if I say I’m a pastor, they’re going to put me on a pedestal. They’re going to have some certain expectation on me that’s unrealistic, one of which I can’t live up to. And eventually I’m going to fall off the pedestal they put me on because I’m a human being and I’m going to disappoint them greatly.

00:22:11:18 – 00:22:36:16
But can I tell you how to love people? Don’t put people on a pedestal. Don’t expect much of people. And if you’ve got somebody always singing your praises, then you need to understand. Sooner or later you will not meet their agenda and they will get angry with you and they’ll slapped a fool out of you. They will like you the moment you do something they don’t like you.

00:22:36:17 – 00:22:54:20
They’re going to be your worst enemy. So don’t, don’t, don’t look to people. Appreciate friends, and you’re locked into the truth. Now, what does it have to do in the sermon today? This woman’s kind of very act. I wonder, where was the man who found her? Was there a peeping Tom among them? Apparently. And how did they know?

00:22:54:24 – 00:23:14:29
And so they’re going to bring this woman in. Here’s here’s what I want you to see. This is what self-righteous and religious people do. They don’t. They may care about the law, but they don’t care about compassion. They they want justice as long as it’s somebody else. But they’re lacking in grace and mercy. You remember me sharing that with you last week.

00:23:15:02 – 00:23:32:02
The difference in justice and grace and mercy. When I told you the story about the professor grading those papers and, you know, finally, after three different times of kids not bringing their papers, he starts giving them a name. If one kid raised his hand, said, that’s not fair. He said, you want justice? I’ll just go back and change.

00:23:32:02 – 00:23:57:06
All your grace and mercy. And grace is not something we should presume or assume upon, but rather we should live, never getting over how amazing grace is in our life. But when this woman is brought before Jesus, you notice she’s not saying a word. What can she say? She’s been caught. She’s standing there, most likely with nothing on or very little.

00:23:57:06 – 00:24:27:12
They might have put some some notes, but it’s very evident just by her appearance that she has been caught, and there’s nothing she can even say in her defense. Can I just tell you that’s a picture of you and I. Without Christ before God, we are guilty and there’s nothing that you or I can say before God. The law condemns us when I like I told you, when I read the Ten Commandments, I’m reading them.

00:24:27:16 – 00:24:35:28
And by the way, the Bible says that if you are guilty of breaking one of the laws, you’re guilty of all of them.

00:24:36:01 – 00:25:00:10
How many of y’all know how many laws are in the Bible? 613. And the Old Testament law? I don’t even know all the laws, but I know enough. I never will forget. One time I was sitting with some Mormon missionaries and we were going back and forth and had done this for about three weeks, and I had been in a court class where I learned all about their religion.

00:25:00:10 – 00:25:22:21
I mean, I knew that I can tell you stuff about the I can tell you more than most Mormons can tell you about their religion. And we’re going back and forth. And I knew what really what it really came down to was whether or not a person could be saved by works or by grace. And I had already read the Bible, and the Bible already told me in Ephesians 289, for my grace are you saved through faith?

00:25:22:25 – 00:25:41:08
Even worse than any man should boast. I already knew that, but I said so, guys. I mean, let’s just in our last session here, we had a one hour session for three weeks. These guys would ride up on a bicycle in a jacket and tie, and by the time they left, they could take the jacket and tie off him.

00:25:41:08 – 00:26:03:01
Like, did you guys ride all the way from Decatur to here or. Oh, no. We drove our car and we parked it at the post office there and Boyd, and then we rode this extra mile out here on our bicycle and I’m like, why? Well, our church teaches that if it’s if if we ride, if we drive and ease the full distance, then that’s not pleasing to God.

00:26:03:03 – 00:26:29:24
I said, well, I notice you guys come every week with your suit on G riding a bicycle across Boyd, Texas in a suit and tie on a bicycle. I want to tell me y’all look pretty goofy doing that. but you do that. But when you’re leaving. Well, that’s because our church teaches us that we. If it’s 70 or above, we can not wear the jacket, but if it’s 69 or below, we have to wear the jacket.

00:26:29:26 – 00:26:55:16
I’m thinking, that’s weird. So they had all these rules and all these laws that they had to follow, all with the intention of pleasing God. Can I just tell you, just because you keep the law does. You don’t please God because you’re still guilty. And so I remember the last day I’m sitting there talking to him. I said, look, I believe that you’re saved by grace.

00:26:55:18 – 00:27:17:03
It isn’t about what you can do. It’s about what he did. And when it came down to it, I said, so how are you going to get to heaven? They said, we’ve kept all the laws. We’ve been a faithful tither and we’re baptized into the Mormon church. And I’m like, and you think that means anything to God? Can I just tell you?

00:27:17:04 – 00:27:52:20
Does it the very best that you and I could ever do means nothing. Nothing without you and I wholly, completely trusting in the cross of Jesus and what he did on the cross for our sins. Nothing else matters. So this woman is caught in the act of adultery. She’s standing there and this is what I like. And I’m going to give you two scenarios, because the Bible didn’t tell us completely exactly what he wrote.

00:27:52:23 – 00:28:13:17
But they’re standing there. They said, let’s not the law say that we’re just stone her. And Jesus doesn’t even answer them. I love him, he’s so smart. How many of you know you don’t have to always answer a fool? How many of you know if you answer a fool, it’s probably going to make you or what? Before giving somebody an answer isn’t always necessary.

00:28:13:19 – 00:28:44:03
You know, it’s kind of like going every fight you’re invited to. You don’t have to. I like to fight, but I don’t have to go to every fight of an attitude and I don’t have to answer. You don’t have to answer. Instead, what Jesus does is he instead of. And by the way, if you follow his life through the Gospels, you’ll find that oftentimes people were trying to trick him, trying to set him up, and he was really smart when they would ask him something rather than give them this answer that they wanted, he would normally ask them a question he would ask.

00:28:44:04 – 00:29:07:19
I often make another statement and so they said, does not. The law says you should be stoned. And Jesus says, I tell you what, let he who has no sin cast the first stone at her. In other words, he affirmed that the law said that, but he was also affirming something greater and intent of their heart that they weren’t just wanting to keep the law.

00:29:07:24 – 00:29:27:13
They were lacking compassion, grace, and mercy. They were lacking the law of liberty that we find in the scriptures that comes only through salvation in Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. And so here’s what he does next. He kneels down in the dirt and he begins to write. Now here’s the part I want to give you.

00:29:27:16 – 00:29:57:03
The Bible doesn’t tell us what he writes, does it? You read the text. It doesn’t say what he wrote. Here I have I have one of two scenarios, and I don’t know which one was right because it wasn’t there, but I’m pretty sure I’m pretty close to it. One of the two scenarios, I think number one, he began to write the names of those guys mistresses, in other words, the names of the women they were cheating on their wives with.

00:29:57:05 – 00:30:20:13
Birds of a feather flock together. And I think he knew that. I think he knew, because he’s God. He’s God. He already knew. They didn’t bring their good old boy buddy with them that was committing adultery with her. But but or maybe he was writing. Maybe he was writing the names of their mistresses there. And they began to look at, you know, and they’re thinking, who?

00:30:21:01 – 00:30:38:05
And I hope your name is not this. If it is, it’s okay. I’m just making up names. Mary. Who, me? Oh, can you see one? Oh, boy. He can look away. Little bird over there. Hey, you know, he writes Teresa, and this other boy goes, oh, well, you know, I think I think I got something to go do at home.

00:30:38:05 – 00:31:05:07
I mean, they’re starting to get antsy and squirming because he’s writing names. Or maybe these guys were scribes and Pharisees. They knew the law. They knew the Bible. And when God wrote the Ten Commandments, you know what he did? He wrote them with his finger on stone tablets. Maybe he began to write out the Ten Commandments with his finger.

00:31:05:10 – 00:31:29:04
Because what what was he going to do? He was going to prove that he was God who either way, whatever he wrote. They looked down. And the Bible says they be convicted by their own white conscience.

00:31:29:06 – 00:31:53:16
Well, you know, what’s your conscience? Your conscience won’t lie to you. How many of you know that your conscience is your soul’s warning system? Like I shared with you before? Like you have a, a fire alarm in the house, and there’s fire smoke in the house. It goes off. Well, that’s what your conscience is. That’s why I say don’t violate your conscience.

00:31:53:18 – 00:32:18:06
To violate your conscience. Well, is this right or wrong? Is this a gray area? I’ll confess. There’s some things in the Bible that’s like, you know, I don’t know it. There are some gray areas. But here’s one thing I know. Does it violate your conscience? In other words, when your conscience begins to go off, you’re like, okay, and but but the Bible says here they were convicted by their own conscience.

00:32:18:09 – 00:32:45:19
And what happens next? One by one, they begin to drop the rocks. But here’s what I love most about the way Jesus told the story we wrote. John wrote it was. He gives us some really in-depth detail. Help me if you can’t. With that detail was it says from the oldest to the youngest. In other words, the oldest guy there was the first one to drop his rock.

00:32:45:21 – 00:33:02:25
And you can see he’s making his way to the door. And I think when he got close, he just took off. And the next guy, I don’t know how many guys that were there from the oldest to the. How many of you know why that happened? Why? Why would the Holy Spirit record it that way to us to tell us?

00:33:02:28 – 00:33:29:26
Because how many of you know the older you are, the more life you’ve lived and the more life you’ve lived. You’ve done what sinned more. He who has no sin, let him cast the first stone. That oldest one. He’s thinking, man, I got a lot of sin. I’m guilty of those laws. He just wrote on the ground. I broke a lot of them.

00:33:29:29 – 00:34:01:11
And one by one, these out. And Jesus never looks up for a moment. Finally, he stops writing and he looks up. And when he looks up, it’s just the woman, just her standing there and he says, woman, where are those who were accusing you? She sent. They’re gone. First time she speaks, they’re gone. He says, neither do I condemn you.

00:34:01:14 – 00:34:43:19
Do what? Go and do what? Sin no more. Did Jesus excuse her? Sin? No. Did he deny the law? No. But did he do something that only God could do in that moment? He showed grace and mercy, compassion. You know why? Because even her own conscience had already condemned her. She stood there with nothing to say. She had no defense.

00:34:43:21 – 00:35:11:28
Do you realize that whenever it comes to a relationship with God, beginning your relationship with Jesus? That you have to come with no defense because you have none? You can blame the whole world for your problems, but when you stand before God, God won’t buy that. I know that hurts our liberal, you know, left leaning liberal, bleeding heart world today.

00:35:12:01 – 00:35:22:19
Wherever. But he’s a victim. But can I just tell you what the Bible says? Look up here at me. The Bible doesn’t say you’re a victim. The Bible says you’re the villain.

00:35:22:22 – 00:35:45:02
Too, I think I don’t. I was coming for a motivational speech today. It is hanging out. You’re not the victim. You’re the villain. I get it. Hey, there’s bad things. I minister to people every day I talk to. I talk to people this week that if you knew some of the things they’ve been through, it would. It would just tear your heart out.

00:35:45:05 – 00:36:07:13
I have a lot of days that I got to just go totally unwind, just totally unplug because I hear some things people let me let me say this especially to our younger generation. Can I just tell you something about life? You can live your life saying, well, I’m the victim, on this because of this, and this person did this to me and all this, and I get that.

00:36:07:13 – 00:36:34:26
And I’m not belittling your hurt or your genuine pain. But I’m also here to tell you, as a pastor, my job is to help you get past your past. Amen. Amen, pastor. Past helps you get past your path. Because if you live there your whole life, you’re going to live in bondage. You’re going to live in bondage, right where Satan wants you.

00:36:34:29 – 00:36:40:01
What you need this morning is to be free.

00:36:40:03 – 00:37:08:25
I got a feeling this woman, that wasn’t her first man to ever be caught in adultery with, don’t know. But what I do think it was probably her last, because when she heard those words from Jesus go and sin no more, he wasn’t excusing her sin. He was looking for genuine repentance. I think she had found that already.

00:37:08:28 – 00:37:35:21
I think the moment she stood before him and watched him ride in that dirt, I think she said, I’m sorry for my sin, but she didn’t walk out of there blaming anybody. She walked out of there. A woman who walked in in darkness but walked out in light. How many of you know sin will embarrass you? I remember growing up.

00:37:35:21 – 00:37:54:10
My pastor used to saying, listen to me. If you think you’ll flirt with sin and get away with it, you’re crazy. You’re really crazy. My pastor used to tell me this. He said, sin will always take you further than you want to go. Keep you longer and you want to stay and cost you more than you want to pay.

00:37:54:12 – 00:38:14:29
And when you see someone else who’s fallen in sin, and you’re quick to judge them and condemn them, well, I would never do that. Can I just give you a gift? Tackett ism. Y’all can put this on a t shirt. You’re only one step from stupid.

00:38:15:01 – 00:38:52:05
I’m sorry. That’s just the truth. But do you realize any one of us are only one decision away from a different life? Whether that’s good or bad. You know how many young people. You know? How many adults have made one decision, and it forever changed everything in their life, for good or bad, you know? You know how many times I’ve sat and talked to somebody in 30 years of ministry where, someone said when I was young and we were we were partying, we were drinking it was just some friends.

00:38:52:05 – 00:39:17:25
But I got in the car and we were in this accident and someone lost their life or. Yeah, I’m just giving you a scenario, but just imagine that. And that one moment, one night, one event, one one thing that seemed fun. And that’s what sin can do to you. And then so what is the point of this? The point is, before you judge somebody else for their sin, ask yourself a couple of questions.

00:39:17:25 – 00:39:49:10
Number one, am I qualified to be their judge? sure you are not. Number two, am I? Am I sure that that couldn’t happen to me? You know, most broken people I ever minister to who’ve really made a mess in their life and just broken. I gotta tell you a couple things. Number one, it never affects just them.

00:39:49:13 – 00:40:21:28
Never, never. Number two, no knowledge. It never just affect them. It affects a lot of people. But. Whenever they talk to me, they’ll often say, if I, if I, if I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard this, I would retire. I’d be rich and would retire. But you know what they say. I never dreamed I would do that.

00:40:22:00 – 00:40:47:11
I never dreamed I could go that far. I never dreamed it would lead to this. I’m listening. I’m not going to tell you. Picking up a beer and drinking it is a sin. I’m not that guy that when the Bible says. But I do want, especially the younger generation, to listen to what I’m about to say.

00:40:47:13 – 00:41:11:06
I’ve never met an alcoholic or recovering alcoholic delivered alcoholic that was, say, I’m glad I drank my first beer. I’ve never met a person who was a drug addict who said, you know what? I woke up one day and decided to be a full blown addict. That was the mission in my life is just to be a dope addict.

00:41:11:17 – 00:41:35:10
it happened that way. I’ve never met anybody that I’ve counseled with, and I’ve counsel plenty of them. They said, man, I cheated on my spouse. My marriage is messed up. My my kids have gone all they want to do with me. I lost my job. I can tell you some stories right now. People I’m dealing with right now that would just end if you could see the people that it is hurt and affected you.

00:41:35:10 – 00:42:01:02
Just you just melt. You’d be like, how could you? But I can remember talking to people like that and you’re like, I had no idea the fallout was going to be this. See, Satan never tells you that. He never tells you that. So what I’m telling you is, be careful when you flirt with sin. Be careful because it will burn you.

00:42:01:07 – 00:42:30:02
And you know what? You know what it is about sin. Sin always looks good at first. Connectedness. You had to raise your hand. I don’t want you to incriminate yourself. Although you’re all guilty. How many have ever done sin and it felt really good, or it really was fine? Just you and a lot of things. But here. Why that is the Bible says sin is a pleasure for a season.

00:42:30:04 – 00:42:53:16
I said, Satan hooks you. That’s how you get you. I don’t know why this woman was doing what she was doing, but I know that she wasn’t the only one doing that because those other guys had sin in their life too. So much that they had to drop those rocks and walk away. So I want to leave you with this.

00:42:53:19 – 00:43:15:26
You can follow the law. You can you can beat the right, the wrong, and you can go to black and white. You can do all that. But when you’re dealing with people, don’t forget to show grace and mercy. You want to be like Jesus in that moment he could have condemned and he would have been right to condemn that woman.

00:43:15:28 – 00:43:45:05
But he didn’t. Instead, he forgave her and he said, go and sin no more. And in his last parting words to her were, he who follows me, does it walk in darkness that walks in light? She walked in in darkness, but she walked out in light. Those old, those older guys, they came in thinking they were in the light.

00:43:45:08 – 00:44:20:17
But they left in darkness. She knew what the difference was. They never repented. They, they, they have stood there to. They didn’t have they they could have asked for forgiveness. She didn’t even have to ask for it. She stood there. Jesus knew her heart. She she was caught. Can I end it this way? For every person here, and especially those who don’t know Jesus, but every one of us, if we stood before God and oh, count on it, you have an accuser.

00:44:20:17 – 00:44:44:08
His name is Satan. The Bible calls him in revelation, the accuser of the brethren. Do you realize that night and day, night and day he cheats? He takes charges against you before God. But you know what the Bible says? That we have an advocate even now because like a lawyer. But we have an advocate with the father, and that’s Jesus.

00:44:44:08 – 00:45:19:01
So every time I charge you, which is pretty frequent for me, comes in from the devil before the throne of God, you know what happens? Jesus steps up. This is no forgiven my blood has been applied. My blood washed his sin away. And so I stand before God, guilty on my own, pardoned, forgiven, justified because of Jesus. That woman left there that day.

00:45:19:04 – 00:45:44:09
She came in a sinner. But she walked out of Saint. Was it because of anything she did? What could she do? She walked out of Saint because she was forgiven. Because of the compassion, the grace, the mercy of Jesus. So I will remind you, if you want to be like Jesus, be a person of grace and mercy. You have a choice.

00:45:44:12 – 00:46:07:23
Number two today. If you’re in sin, if they’re sin and unconfessed sin in your life, something that you’re practicing and I could go on down in Romans chapter eight next week we will some some sin. You’re caught up and you got to realize something. You I think the Holy Spirit is speaking to your heart right now, saying, be free from that.

00:46:07:25 – 00:46:38:03
Confess it, repent of it. That means change of mind about is not okay with God, and then walk out in forgiveness and freedom that he offers through his precious blood. Let’s pray. Lord, we love you today. Thank you for your word. Lord, this story reminds us of your goodness and your grace. This story reminds us today of how.

00:46:38:05 – 00:47:16:10
Much you love us. I’m thankful. Lord, you love sinners. I’m thankful, Lord, that when the law condemned me, grace and mercy of Jesus, forgave me, cleansed me and set me free. Lord, I thank you that every person. Under the sound of my voice, whether in this building or watching online, Lord. If there’s anybody that doesn’t know your son Jesus as Savior today, father, may they call upon him.

00:47:16:12 – 00:47:39:22
May they repent of their sin, and by faith believe that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again the third day. And he is the Son of God. And you said, Lord, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Let us not excuse our sin, but God help us to never look at others and condemn them, or condemn them because of their sin.

00:47:39:22 – 00:48:09:07
Because, Lord, we sin ourselves. Remind us that we’re not the judge. You are. Lord, help us to live with compassion, mercy, and grace in our life. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen. All right, well, thank you all for being here today. Christian, really thank you for coming over and joining us. Melissa, you did a awesome job this morning.

00:48:09:10 – 00:48:25:28
Hey, if you want to give an offering to the Lord, we have a milk can in the back. You can put an offering there or on those bulletins. there’s a on the back is a QR code if you want to give online. Thank you for worshiping with us. We’ll see y’all at 230 for the bull run. 6:00 Wednesday night Bible study.

00:48:26:00 – 00:48:32:15
Look forward to seeing you next week. Have a blessed week. God bless.