If everyone could turn to John 8, I am going to read the first eleven verses. John 8:1-11:
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? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
We will stop reading there. This is one of those passages in the Bible that really gives a lot of hope to sinners. It is a passage that encourages everyone who is in their sin to go to the Lord, to go to the Lord Jesus.
Unfortunately, if anyone is reading these things in a different version other than the King James or if you are especially reading from the NIV, you might have a little notation somewhere on your page that says that some of the earlier and best manuscripts do not include this account of the woman caught in adultery. If you have that in your Bible, I would get a new Bible. I would get a new Bible right away, because they are really casting doubt upon the Word of God.
There is no question at all that this passage is from the mouth of God. It is Scripture and it is faithful to everything else that we read in the Bible. It is very unfortunate that there are some theologians and Greek experts that have studied other manuscripts that are not the Textus Receptus manuscripts. They are not the more faithful manuscripts, so they are casting doubt upon the Word of God.
There is nothing in this passage that would even begin to cause us to think that this is anything but the Gospel that the Bible brings to man, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus, as we find that this woman is taken to Christ. In this account, she is told, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” So we can be very absolute in saying that this is the Bible. Again, get a King James Version of the Bible, if you do not have one.
So this account is dealing with a woman who is taken in the act of adultery. It was early in the morning. Jesus had gone to the temple, and the Pharisees and the scribes brought this woman to Jesus early in the morning.
We do not know all the circumstances of how she was caught, where she was caught, whom she was caught with, or how she came to be in the hands of the scribes and Pharisees, but I think we can gather that she was with a man. We do not know if the man was married or if she was married. We do not know how these things work out, but she was with a man. Perhaps they had caught her and the man the previous night and then they waited until they learned where Jesus was in order to bring her before Christ, or maybe it was in the morning and someone discovered her in a place she should not have been and then took her to their spiritual leaders, the scribes and Pharisees.
Whatever the case, they immediately saw an opportunity to try to tempt the Lord Jesus to get Him to say something contradictory to the Law of God. We read that they reminded Him, “Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned.” And then they asked Him, “What sayest thou?”
They are under Roman rule, so I think that we can be fairly sure that it would have been more than likely against the Roman law to have this woman stoned, even though the Bible does say that someone caught in adultery was to be stoned to death. They are again trying to trap Jesus into going against the Roman authorities or going against God Himself and the Word of God.
This is just like when they came to Him tempting Him at another time. These were probably not the same men but other spiritual leaders of Israel. They asked Him, “What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?” The Bible tells us that the Pharisees “took counsel how they might entangle Him in His talk.” If He had said yes, then they would have told the people that He was doing what the Roman authorities wanted Him to do, which would have made Him sound like He was in cahoots with the Roman authorities. If He had said no, then they would have gone to the Romans and told them that Jesus was not going to pay their taxes, which would have gotten Him into trouble with the Roman government. Of course, Christ had an answer when He said, “Show me the tribute money. Whose is this image and superscription?” Then He stated because it had Caesar’s image, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.”
This was a constant, ongoing battle between the scribes and Pharisees, who were really under the dominion of Satan. We can gather that they were unsaved individuals, just in how they conducted themselves and were so contrary to the Lord Jesus Himself. They were constantly trying to find something, from the least thing of a coin to something major.
So here in John 8, they are getting into an area that is very serious, very serious. They are taking a woman and they are parading her in public for all to see. What is at stake? That woman’s life. Moses said that “such should be stoned.”
This just shows the total disregard that these leaders, the spiritual leaders of Israel, had for the very people whom they were obligated to look out for. These were the shepherds and the people of Israel were their flock, and they really are revealing that they did not care anything; they did not care anything about this woman or her life. They just wanted to trap Christ Himself.
We know what happened historically. This did happen about 2,000 years ago. This woman was in a very bad situation, a real predicament. She was just standing there. What can she say? She was caught.
The Bible does tell us, “Be sure your sin will find you out,” and this is true of every human being. At some point, our sins will find us out. If those sins are not paid for, we will be discovered, as “all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” Our sins will be exposed and we will be the one who is caught. And if we are caught, on Judgment Day there will be no hope. There will be no possible recourse except to be judged and cast into Hell. But if the Word of God, if God’s Word, the Bible, begins to shine its light on our hearts and souls before that day, during the time that we have now up until the Last Day, up until the end of the world, then there is the possibility of salvation, at least until the believers are raptured.
Let us look at this a little closer. We read in John 8:3-5:
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?
Now let us go to the Old Testament to read a few verses. One is in Exodus 20:14. This is one of the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses and all mankind. We read in Exodus 20:14:
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
“Thou shalt not commit adultery.” This is very clear. It is very definitive. It is very straightforward. “Thou,” and this is speaking to every person, “shalt not commit adultery.” This is the Law of God. This is God’s Word. We are not allowed to commit adultery or fornication. If we are not married, we are not to be involved in any kind of sexual sin whatsoever.
In some chapters, God goes into very explicit detail about homosexuality, about lying with beasts, about man with man or woman with woman, and incestual relationships. He goes into very definite detail about all of these sins that, here and there, people get involved with. He says, “Thou shalt not” do these things. They are not God-glorifying in any way. They are not pleasing to God in any way because they are contrary to God’s Law, to His will for man.
God has established certain relationships that people are permitted to have, relations between a husband and a wife. Only in this kind of a relationship can people have relations. Anything outside of this, no matter what it is, is against the Law of God.
Let us go to Leviticus 20. If you want to read this whole chapter, you will read about all of the other commandments that God has concerning sexuality. If we go over to Leviticus 20:10, it says:
And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
This is very severe punishment, very severe. This is talking about just one time. It does not say the third time or the fifth time. God is not saying at all that after so many times, if you are found committing adultery, you are to be put to death.
This is what these scribes and Pharisees knew. They knew the Law. They are coming to Jesus and saying that Moses said that she should be stoned.
In Leviticus 20, it does not indicate stoning. We read about this in Deuteronomy 22:23-24, where it says:
If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour’s wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you.
Leviticus 20 indicates that both the adulterer and the adulteress should be put to death. Here in Deuteronomy 22, it also indicates that both were to be put to death. Somehow, the man was forgotten when the scribes and Pharisees brought this woman to Jesus. No man was in sight. Why was that?
Men, I guess, had certain privileges, privileges that were not given them by God but by the leadership of Israel. So they were not going to stone him. He could have been an important person. We all know how things like this tend to work out in this world, how politics work. So we do not know the whole situation and why they did not bring the man. They just brought the woman. She was nothing to them. She did not mean anything to them. They thought that she was expendable; therefore, she could be stoned since this is what developed and her life was put on the line.
God has given us His Book, the Bible. He has given us the Law and He has commanded us to not commit adultery. Today, this almost seems farfetched because of the world that we are living in, the time in which we live.
Can you imagine the world really being faced with this type of commandment today? “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” The whole entertainment industry would crumble if they could not portray adultery on TV or in movies or in magazines. What would be their purpose if they were not trying to allure people and tempt them through the “lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life”? So much of Hollywood is based on the lustful desires of mankind. The lust that comes from the heart of man is pure evil, but Hollywood has developed this image and they know exactly what sells. They know what people want; they know what people want to see. And to think that this is not forced on anyone. They just put it out there, and they make millions upon millions upon millions of dollars, yet it is all contrary to the Law of God. It is all contrary to the Law of God, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”
More than this, some people say, “Well, I would never do that! I would never cheat on my wife. I would never be in that kind of a situation.” Or the wife might say this of her husband, “I would never commit adultery!” And this is true. There are people who will not get involved in this type of sin, but they may find themselves involved in other types of sins. Certain people have certain sin weaknesses. Other people have other types of sin weaknesses. So there are very respectable, moral people who will not get caught up in the sin of adultery. But I am going to read a few verses from Matthew 5. We know what Jesus said here. We read in Matthew 5:27-28:
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: but I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Here we have that one sin that God was focusing on, the sin of committing adultery, where it is outward. It is physical. It takes two to fall into this sin. Yet here, Jesus is expanding the Law. He is just revealing more of what the Law was really saying all along. You shall not commit adultery with your eyes or with your heart.
There are all kinds of people who try to get around this. You hear this all the time. I hear this all the time at work, “It does not hurt to look.” Has anyone heard this? Actually, there is one guy at work who came to me. They know that I read the Bible and am a Christian. He was intentionally starring at this woman. He came to me and asked, “There is nothing wrong with this, is there?”, and he is a married man. Well, the Bible says that we are not to commit adultery or to lust after her. Then for a few days, he kind of played this up at work. But this is what the Law of God says.
This is the Law, just as much as the Ten Commandments are the Law. Jesus said, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” God said this back in Exodus 20 and Jesus is just reiterating the same Law because the whole Bible is the Law Book. So, “Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”
This is all inward. It really is because no one knows that you are committing this sin unless it is very obvious. No one knows what is going on within a person, and this is adultery. This is plain adultery. This is sin as much as that woman was involved in sin, as she was caught in the very act.
There is no lesser or greater involvement in this sin. This is sin. This is a transgression of the Law of God. It is wickedness and it is punishable by death, “For the wages of sin is death.” This really expands the number of people who are involved in this sin, does it not?
Maybe there are a limited number of people who actually become involved in this physical sin. It is probably a larger group worldwide who commit the sin of adultery in their hearts through their eyes, through their desires. This really opens it up to how many, how many then become guilty of the sin of committing adultery.
How many are on earth now? Six billion, approaching seven billion people. We can see how God’s Law, God’s standard, is absolute perfection. So we are all guilty. That woman who was brought before the Lord Jesus, caught in the very act of adultery, is a picture of any one of us or all of us whom God is dealing with, because we have all sinned in this way.
In Matthew 15:19-20, it says:
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: these are the things which defile a man…
Let us go to Galatians 5:19 where the works of the flesh are in view. It says:
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
And it goes on. Adultery is the number one sin, followed by fornication. Sexual sins are the works of the flesh. God is very much aware that man is prone to this, that it is in his fallen nature to get involved in these types of sins. So, really, this sin of adultery affects every one of us.
Let us go back to John 8:5:
Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
We have seen that stoning was involved with sin. So what does it mean to be stoned?
Let us turn to Joshua 7 where we read about a man named Achan. Achan was amongst the Israelites when the walls of Jericho fell down. We read of Achan that he “saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent.” But we cannot get away from the eyes of God. “All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do,” so God knew. God then had Israel fall in battle to the city of Ai, the few in number of Ai. After that, they went to God to find out why this little city had defeated them in battle. At that point, God revealed that an individual of Israel had “taken of the accursed thing.” Then God, through the process of what we read about here in Joshua 7, reveals that it was Achan and his family. Then we read in Joshua 7:24-25:
And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor. And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.
The penalty was to be stoned to death, which was the penalty for many sins, many sins. And the act of stoning is picturing the “second death” of eternal damnation. It is picturing the judgment of God, the wrath of God that comes upon sin.
After they stoned Achan and his family, were they dead? All Israel stoned them. I do not think that this means that the whole population, including the children, took up stones. Perhaps this means that representatives of all of the tribes took up stones. This would have been a good number of people, and they stoned him. He was dead; his children were dead. But then, they killed them again. They burned them with fire to point to the “second death.” This was done to point out that God will bring upon sinners the “second death” that we read about in Revelation 20. Revelation 20 tells us about a “second death,” which is the “death” that comes after the first. After we physically die, there is a “second death” that goes on forever in Hell.
In Numbers 15, we read about a man who picked up a few sticks. What was God’s punishment was for this man? In Numbers 15:32-36, we read:
And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses.
Again, this little infraction of the Law of God caused a severe penalty of stoning, because God is very jealous of the Sabbath rest, as this points to His Gospel plan of salvation. Man is not to do any work in order to get himself saved. Here was the Sabbath day. This man was not cutting down a tree. He was not building a house. He picked up a few sticks, maybe for a fire, and God told Moses that the man was to be stoned to death—just like the adulterer/adulteress or just like Achan and his family. He was to be stoned to death because God wants us to know that the only way of true salvation is when the Lord Jesus does the work of saving us. It is His faith that saves us and not our own. So there is this penalty of stoning and it points to anyone who is trying to do any work of his own in order to become saved. On the Last Day, that is not going to cover over his sins and he will end up in Hell.
Let us turn to Romans 7 where I will read the first four verses. I think after I read this, you will see how this fits in with the sin of adultery. We read in Romans 7:1-4:
Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another…
God is telling us that when He saves someone, when God saves a sinner, we become married to Christ and we become part of the Bride of Christ. This passages tells us that we become dead to the Law so that we can be married to another.
If I am married to someone other than Maria, that is a second marriage. God is telling us that mankind is married to the Law. Spiritually, we are all married to the Law of God. This means that every man, woman, and child is married. Whether you are 8 years old or 80 years old or 8 months old, you are married. I am married. We are all married, spiritually, to the Law of God. God has joined man to His law so that the Law is our husband, in a way, and we are the wife of the Law. In a marriage relationship, God tells the wife to submit to her husband. So mankind is to be in submission to the Law of God. The Law has told us not to do something. If we go ahead and do it anyway, we have sinned. We have transgressed the Law.
Spiritually, what have we done? We have committed adultery. We have not been faithful to the Law of God. We have been unfaithful. We have gone astray from the Law of God at that instant, and we know that it is more than one instance. We sin with our eyes, with our mind. We stole something. We did this and we did that—sin, sin, sin. We transgress the Law and this makes us an adulterer and an adulteress.
God is addressing people in James 4. This is why He says in James 4:4:
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Well, who does this apply to? Who is this addressing?
Every person is an adulterer or an adulteress because we are married to the Law. So I have transgressed the Law. I have broken the Law. I have committed adultery. I am guilty of the sin of committing adultery against the Law of God.
A boy or a girl, have they ever committed adultery? No, a little child does not even think about sexual things at a young age. But, spiritually, yes. You are an adulterer. You are an adulteress. Whether you are 5 or 15, you have committed the sin of adultery. We are all guilty of this sin and so we all deserve the punishment that God lays out for this sin of adultery.
If we go over to 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, we read:
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
This just nailed every person. God just got every single individual in the world. Who has not committed these sins or at least one of them? The Bible tells us that maybe we have not committed the sin of adultery, outwardly, but if we have broken just one Law, then as James 2 tells us, we are “guilty of all.” We are sinners and we are in deep trouble because the penalty for sin is to be stoned to death and being stoned to death is pointing to eternal damnation. So what is our hope?
Let us look at 1 Corinthians 6:11:
And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
See there. God is saying that He can save, He can cleanse, He can wash away sin. Through the bestowing of His grace, His abundant mercy, He can forgive and pardon transgressions. He can make it possible for man to not commit adultery anymore from the heart. He gives us a new heart and a new spirit that does not flow forth with evil deeds but desires to do the will of God and to keep His commandments.
So this woman who has been brought to Jesus is really a picture of a sinner. She is a picture of any one of us who goes to God in our sins, in the very act of our sins. If anyone goes to God this evening and prays to Him, even in the very act, we are just as guilty as this woman; we are in our sins.
Notice that it was not even the woman’s desire to go to Jesus, but it was through a set of circumstances. God was working and orchestrating all events, directing the path of this woman, through her sinfulness. She did not first start to obey God and to keep His commandments and then go to Him. Instead, she was in her sin when God directed the course of her life. She got caught. She was nailed. Through the evil desires of these wicked Pharisees, God worked it out for good in her life. He worked through all of these events so that this woman, on this particular day, would be standing in the very presence of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is where we want to be and this is Who we want to go to.
In John 8:6-8, after the scribes and Pharisees referred to Moses, we read:
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.
What is Jesus writing? We do not know exactly, but we know who is writing. Jesus is God. He is the Almighty. He is the Everlasting Father. He is Infinite God and when God writes something, it is the Word of God. He is writing with His finger, just like when God gave the Ten Commandments and we read that it was written with the finger of God. So Jesus stoops down and He writes. More than likely, He is writing one of the commandments. More than likely, but we do not know that for sure. Then He stands up and says, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” Then He stoops down again and He begins writing further.
Maybe these men were like the rich young ruler that we read about in Matthew 19. Jesus had reminded him of five/six of the commandments. The ruler said, “All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?”
So Jesus just keeps writing the Law. If anyone thinks that they are good in God’s sight, that they are righteous in God’s sight, that they can keep the Law of God, just keep reading the Bible, keep placing yourself under the hearing of the Word of God. Your mindset, if God is merciful to you, will be changed to see the truth of who you actually are and how you are viewed by God as a desperately wicked sinner, as someone vile and filthy in sin.
The Word of God convinces us of our case. It shows us our sins. It is the light that shines into the darkness of our heart and reveals all the cobwebs and the creaky floors and the dirt that is there so that we begin to see that we are sinners, that we have done wrong.
Jesus stooped down a second time. Keep in mind that the Law was given to Moses on two tables of stone. He stoops down and begins writing with His finger a second time. Now notice what it says in John 8:9:
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.
We do not know how many people there were, but there were several scribes and Pharisees and they were all gathered around Jesus. Jesus is writing the Word of God and they are looking down, “Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt honour thy father and mother.” Previously, Christ had already convicted them with the Word about how they would call something “Corban” so that they would not have to honor their parents any longer. He keeps writing the Word of God and they are going to see what they are guilty of. They are going to see something they have done wrong and they are going to be convicted.
We read that the older ones left first. The eldest, he was the first one to go. Why do you think that is? Why did the oldest man go first? Because the eldest had lived longer, he has had more experiences. He has come to see many things he has done wrong in his life, and so he left. He just walks away, as do the eldest unto the last, till the younger.
The younger are more prone to think that they do not have as many problems as the older ones. This is not always the case, of course. God can show anyone their sin. He can show someone in their 30’s or their 20’s or a teenager their sin.
There is actually an article I read written by a teenager who you would not have known was a teenager because he was pouring out his heart over his sin. So God can show anyone, but really, typically in the world, the younger tend to think that they do not have as many problems as the older ones because they have not gone through as many experiences and they have not been involved in as many sins as the elders have.
So you have the young man and he is watching all his fellow scribes and Pharisees depart and walk away. Finally though, finally, he himself is convicted by conscience and through the Word of God.
This word “convicted” is translated in verse 46 of the same chapter as “convinceth.” We read in John 8:46:
Which of you convinceth me of sin…
Jesus was saying that they were convicted. They were convinced, “Yes, I cannot throw a stone because I am likewise guilty of sin.”
This word is also found in John 3:20, where we read:
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
This word “reproved” is the word “convicted” or “convinceth.” This has to do with the light or the Gospel or the Word of God that is witnessing to the heart of man and that there is something in the heart of man, in his conscience, that responds.
We find the word “conscience” in Romans 2:14-15, where we read:
For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;
So the work of the Law is written in the mind or the conscience of every person, every single person. These scribes and Pharisees were no different than anyone else, because everyone has a conscience. This is true, is it not? Does everyone have a conscience? This is true for every single person, no matter how far they have gone down into the depths of depravity, no matter how low they have gotten in their sin.
In our day, we read and hear about things that people have done in this world, things that we do not even want to think about for a second. We shake our heads. How could any human being do something like that? Well, man can go very deep down into the depths of his sinful heart and into depravity. Even so, he will never really be totally depraved; he will never be totally depraved.
We know that the Reformers developed a doctrine of “total depravity.” It is true. Man is depraved. Man’s heart is “desperately wicked: who can know it?” We are just shocked to hear what man is capable of doing, and it could be anyone out there in the world. You hear reports like this constantly, yet man still has a conscience and that conscience can be “seared with a hot iron” but never removed. Therefore, you can have someone who has killed 50 people. He seems to have no regrets or concerns about it, but he still has a conscience.
If these scribes and Pharisees are totally depraved, just like anyone else, and the Law is before them, the Word of God, what do they care? What do I care what the Bible says? What do I care what the Word of God says? How is that going to move me in any way shape or form? I am totally depraved. I could care less what God says in His Word.
That is total depravity. Total depravity is where the Law has no impact upon you whatsoever. But, you see, God has written the Law, the Word of the Law, in the hearts of men so that every human being has a conscience and that conscience can be exercised from time-to-time. Therefore, man is not totally, completely depraved. He is greatly depraved. He is severely depraved in his sin, but not totally. Total depravity will come when the Last Day comes and man is cast into Hell. Then man will be totally depraved forevermore, but not while he still has a heart where God has given him a conscience within.
Going back to John 8:9-11, we read:
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? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
Do you see how this worked for good? No man was able to condemn her.
We do not have to worry about man’s judgment anyway. God tells us through the Apostle Paul that man’s judgment is a very little thing. In 1 Corinthians 4, he says, “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.” Man cannot hurt us more than destroying the body, but the Bible tells us to “Fear Him, which after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear Him.”
So the woman was left standing in the midst and Jesus does not pronounce condemnation, “Neither do I condemn thee.” Why would He not condemn her? He would not condemn her because He paid for her sins. She was someone whom Christ had saved, as we read in Romans 8:1:
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
“No condemnation.” King David was guilty of adultery was he not? More than that, he had Uriah the Hittite, Bathsheba’s husband, put to death, so he added murder to it. But remember, when God sent Nathan the prophet to David and revealed that God was well aware of everything that David had done, Nathan told him, “Thou shalt not die.” Let us read this. I can not remember exactly how this goes, and it is always better to read it in the Word. We read in 2 Samuel 12:13:
And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
Well, whosoever committeth adultery, the adulterer and adulteress were to be stoned to death. And the “adulterer” was stoned to death because that sin of adultery was placed on the Lord Jesus.
Remember when Christ went into the Garden of Gethsemane, He withdrew Himself how far? In Luke 22, we read that He withdrew Himself “about a stone’s cast.” He withdrew Himself when He entered into the Garden because He began to suffer the equivalent of an eternal damnation for all those He came to save, including a great host of adulterers and adulteresses. He went “about a stone’s cast” away because God was going to stone Him to death, figuratively, in making Him pay the price, pay the penalty for all the wicked sins that ungodly sinners have committed against God in their minds, in their thoughts, in their actions, in their deeds. Jesus was “stoned to death,” so the sin is put away. “Thou shalt not die.”
1 Corinthians 6:11 told us:
And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
Such were all of us who are God’s people. Such was every one of us. We have sinned against God and yet Jesus says, “Neither do I condemn thee.” We are no longer condemned. There is no condemnation. Now what follows in John 8:11?
…go, and sin no more.
“Go” reminds us right away of the Great Commission. We read in Matthew 28:19:
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
And Mark 16:15 says:
Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
“Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.” Why? Because you are clean. You are forgiven. Now go.
This is just like Peter’s mother-in-law who had a fever. Jesus took away the fever and we read “immediately she arose and ministered unto them.”
If we have been forgiven much, if we have been forgiven all manner of inequity, now God is sending us forth. He is sending us forth with the same Gospel that has the power to heal and to save an individual. We are to carry this message to others around us, and on top of this, there is a further command that we read about in John 8:11:
…sin no more.
“Sin no more.” Everyone sins. We all fall into sin, even after being saved, “For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not,” but we are to strive to do God’s will. With everything that is within us, we are to strive to keep His commandments and to obey God as much as we can, praying for strength to obey Him and to do His will. We no longer desire to sin, and this is actually God’s commandment for us.
No matter what you have done in the past, no matter what kind of history you have, whether you have been a “Rahab the harlot” or a nameless woman caught in the act of adultery or Barabbas who was a thief and a murderer in the insurrection, whatever your particular sin, go forth and sin no more. Do it God’s way from this point on.