My text is, John 8:11, “She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”
The adulterous woman was brought before the Lord. Jesus was teaching in the temple when the scribes and Pharisees entered with the adulterous woman. They told Jesus, with disgust in their voices, that the woman was caught in the ‘very’ act of adultery. They went on to tell him, as if he did not already know, that the law of Moses says that such a woman should be stoned, and asked Jesus what his opinion was. However, they were only trying to trip him up. Because of their persistence Jesus answered them, not because he thought it was even a topic that should be addressed at the time, considering their attitudes.
We can read this account in the prior verses to our text in John 8 which says, “Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So, when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?”
We see in the account that when it was all said and done, no accusers were present when he arose and looked around him. He made the statement in our text to the woman, who had indeed sinned, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” What we see here is a supreme example of God’s love. In 1 Peter 2:21-25 we read, “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judges righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” We see that Christ had no sin nor was any guile found in his mouth. He could have cast the first stone in the story of the woman caught in adultery. But out of God’s freedom and love, he made the choice to forgive. When we genuinely love, we also will choose to forgive.
This point is also backed up in the passage of John 3:16 -17 that you may be familiar with. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” It was out of love that God came in the form of man. Not to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. What a picture of love, that God chose to come and die for our sins. John :1-5, 14 says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
God knew the consequence of his coming to earth robed in flesh was the eventual death of that flesh, and the shedding of pure blood for the sins of the world, yet he did it anyway. This is true love. Subsequently as a man he was then buried, but to fulfill prophecies and complete the redemption process he rose again on the third day. After his resurrection, he spent forty days of teaching and preaching before he, the flesh, the man Christ Jesus, ascended into heaven. Paul tells us in Romans 8:31-37, “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”
Though he left this earth, it was not without hope. He makes intercession for us, as the scripture we just read stated. He gave us the promise that he would come and be with us as a Comforter, and that he would prepare a place for us there, and that He would come back to get us when the time was right. What a love story. In John14:16-18 he stated, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” And John 15:26, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father.” The Spirit is from God because He is a Spirit. We see this promise fulfilled in the book of Acts 2:38-39, “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost/Spirit. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” As we see, this promise is ongoing to every generation until Jesus returns for us.
As in the story of the prodigal son who left home and spent all his inheritance and ended up in the pig pen with nothing, God is eager to welcome us home and is watching and waiting for our return. We read in Luke 15:20, 22-24, “And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.” The Bible says the prodigal son’s father was watching for him from a far off and had compassion on him. God does not want to condemn us, even when we, of our own free choice separate ourselves from him. Sin separates man from God, but he has made a way to reunite himself with us. Through the sacrifice of the man Christ Jesus. This separation from God began in the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve disobeyed him, we are now all guilty, because we are of the seed of Adam. However, the privilege of reuniting with God is ours to be had today. Romans 3:23-24 and 6:23 tells us, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: The wage of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
There are those who might say that God demands so much of us; however, they could not be further from the truth. We see the story in John 3 about Nicodemus who came to the Lord in the night searching for answers about the Kingdom of God and how he could attain it. Jesus told him he needed to be born again to see or enter the Kingdoms of God. Though he was perplexed and confused at first, it made sense once Jesus explained the concept to him. John 3:3-7, “There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, how can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”
In John 3:8-15 the story continues, “The wind blows where it lists, and you hear the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goes: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, how can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.” There are so many that are living with a misunderstanding of what is expected of us. If you are confused as Nicodemus was, all you must do is ask the Lord to reveal to you, his truth. He has given us his word where we can read the truth and his spirit that will bring us revelation of that truth.
In John 12:48 it says speaking of Jesus, “He that rejects me, and receives not my words, hath one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” And John 16:13 says, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will shew you things to come.” Acts 17:30 says, because of this, “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men everywhere to repent.” Romans 1:20 tells us, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.”
We see how that the explanation to Nicodemus in John 3 happened in the Book of Acts after Jesus’ ascension. The account begins in Acts 2:1-6, “And when the day of Pentecost (which was a feast day) was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.” They wereexperiencing the birth of the Spirit as was told to Nicodemus in the book of John. Their confirmation of this was the miraculous event of them all speaking in a language that they had never learned before. Yet, other people gathered from other parts of the then known world, who had come to the Feast of Pentecost, heard and understood them. This is where Peter got up to preach and explain to all of them what was happening. From Acts 2:14-36 his sermon laid out the facts of them crucifying Jesus an innocent man, and now his blood was upon their hands. In Acts 2:37 we see them coming to the realization that they needed to make amends for their actions. It says, “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?” This is where Peter responds in Acts 2:38 that read earlier, which was the completion process of the ‘born again’ mandate, that Jesus gave to Nicodemus that night. “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
John 15:13 says, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” This is the ultimate love story, that He would take our place, and pay our penalties for sin and wrong doing. He has given us a very simple, ‘Instruction Manual’ aka his Word, the Bible as we now know it, that tells us what happened to separate us from God, how it happened, why it happened, and what we can do to repair our relationship with him and reunite with him. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says plainly and simply, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
Micah 6 shows us the conflict that the people of God were feeling because of their separation from Him. In the Old Testament they sacrificed bulls and goats continually to the Lord for their sins against Him and others, but it says in verse eight, what God was wanting from them even back then. “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.” The Psalmist David shows His understanding and personal relationship with God, when he said it this way in Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” King Solomon allowed his heart to be drawn away from God, who should have been his true love, to wives and concubines who served false gods. Yet he came to this realization at the end of his life, in Ecclesiastes 12:13, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” These do not seem like high demands of God from us, seeing the great price He paid.
For us to love Him in return is what He longs for. We can find the attributes of true love in1 Corinthians 13 which says, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have no charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have no charity, it profits me nothing. Charity suffers long, is kind; envies not; vaunts not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; Bears all things, believeth all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Charity never fails. And now abides faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
My father-in-law, Mack Carpenter, wrote a song a long time ago, called, ‘True Love,’ which goes like this,
When two people give their lives to the Master,
and are yielded to his kind and tender care,
It is easy for these two to walk together,
while all their hopes and dreams they truly share.
Chorus
For love overshadows every problem,
and true love will keep you both from sin and shame,
As your love grows deeper for the Master,
then your love for each other will do the same.
As your years come and go while you are together,
let your Faith in God grow stronger every day.
And remember he can solve all of your problems,
So just trust him to be your guide and stay.
When the sun begins to sink, and time gets shorter still,
looking back upon your life that you have shared.
You can smile as you are smiling now, yet stronger,
where you have found that Jesus really and truly cares.
This exemplifies the fact that if we apply these attributes to our relationship with God, and others, we will have a life filled with faith, hope, and love. In fact, without these our lives would be most miserable, and filled with stone throwers and shame; however, if we are walking with Jesus, he will send the crowd packing and he will say, “neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” What a wonderful love story!