How Christ Deals with Sin

One of the most astounding stories of forgiveness to appear in the media in the last couple of decades was the story of a man by the name of Chris Carrier of Coral Gables, Florida. When Chris Carrier was 10 years old, and that's been a number of years ago now, at least 25 years ago or so, he was abducted when he was 10 years old by a neighbor, someone who lived in his neighborhood, who was angry with his father for not giving him a job. Took the 10-year-old boy, burned him with cigarettes, stabbed him repeatedly with an ice pick, shot him in the head, took him out to the Everglades and dumped him to die. His attacker did. Amazingly enough, Chris Carrier lived. He was found a few days later. He lived, although he was blind in one eye and severely disfigured, but Chris Carrier grew up to be a youth pastor in a Presbyterian church in Coral Gables, Florida. 22 years after that brutal attack, a man confessed to the crime. When Carrier read about that and heard about it, he decided he was going to go see the man. What he found was what you see on the screen, although it's not the best picture taken from a Florida newspaper a few years ago. He found David McAllister, a 77-year-old ex-convict, weak, frail, blind, living in a North Miami Beach nursing home. So Chris Carrier began to visit him. Time and time again, he visited him. He would read his Bible with him. He would pray with him. He would witness to him. Newspapers got a hold of it, and this picture was taken. But because of Chris going to see this man over and over again and witness him to him, 77-year-old David McAllister put his faith in Christ and entered the family of God. Reporters couldn't understand how David Carrier could forgive a man who had so brutally attacked and tried to kill him when he was 10 years old. And David said this, while many people said this, while many people can't understand how I could forgive David McAllister from my point of view, I couldn't not forgive him. If I had chosen to hate him all these years or spent my life looking for revenge, then I wouldn't be the man I am today. I wouldn't have the wife and family I have today. I would not have the ministry I have today. I would not be the man God has helped me to be. Amazing story for forgiveness. We're going to look at another story of forgiveness today. I believe equally amazing in its nature and character. John chapter 8, the first 11 verses, tell us a gripping story of the woman taken in adultery. Now that's the side we are typically familiar with. Jesus has been teaching in the temple during the feast of Tabernacles, and the feast is now over, but he goes back the next morning and continues to teach in the temple. As he is teaching, the Pharisees bring to him this woman whom they have caught in adultery. We'll look at all this in a moment. But they bring this woman to him who has caught in adultery and Jesus deals with her sin. But what we often forget about when we look at this passage or we hear this story is that she is not the only sinner standing before Jesus that day. There are others standing in his presence who are just as sinful. In different ways, they are the Pharisees who have brought her to him. Her sin is outward. Everybody would recognize it as being a sin worthy of condemnation, worthy of justice and judgment. Their sins are more inward and maybe not as recognizable but equally guilty before God. The Pharisees simply covered their sin in a cloak of self-righteousness, a supposed zeal for the law, but they are equally sinful. And so Jesus deals with not only the woman's sin but also their sin. And we're going to group those together today and look at how Jesus deals with sin. Either the secret cloaked private sins of the Pharisees in the heart or the open, immoral sin of the woman. Jesus deals with both kinds of sin and he's here this morning to deal with both kinds of sin in our lives. And so let's look at how Jesus deals with sin. Actually, the story unfolds in three steps of how Jesus deals with sin. And I've convinced it is the same three steps that we will recognize today in our own lives if we allow him to do the same thing for us that he did back in that time. The first step in Jesus dealing with sin is his knowledge of sin. Now that may not sound like he's actually dealing with it yet but that's where it begins and that's where our coming face to face with our sin needs to begin with the recognition of his knowledge of our sin. Now we're going to see that he begins with the Pharisees. He doesn't start with her, doesn't start with the woman. He starts with the Pharisees and he knows their sin. It will become very obvious that he is very much aware of the sins of their heart. Let's look at the story and what it tells us about the Pharisees. First of all, their actions. Look at the beginning of the passage. Actually begins with verse 53 of chapter 7. The story begins. They all went home, meaning that people had left from the feast and gone home. Verse 1, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives where Jesus typically stayed at night when he was in Jerusalem either in the Garden of Gethsemane or sometimes on the backside of the Mount of Olives was the town of Bethany where he stayed at the home of Mary and Martha in Lazarus. So the feast is over but Jesus is staying at the Mount of Olives. Now verse 2. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts where all the people gathered around him and he sat down to teach them. You need to understand this is in the middle of a public discourse, a public teaching time in the temple. Jesus is addressing a huge crowd of people in the temple. Now look at what happens in verse 3. This is their actions, the actions of the Pharisees. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, teacher this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say? Now their actions are very telling. They bring this woman in and they rudely interrupt Jesus in the middle of his teaching the crowds in the temple. They are not concerned about his teaching, they are not concerned about the crowds as we shall see they are not concerned about this woman. They are concerned about one thing only and that is putting Jesus in an uncomfortable position, trapping him. So they bring this woman and their case is put before him, they bring this woman caught in adultery. They say to him as they stand her up in front of everybody, they say to Jesus, teacher this woman was caught in the act of adultery. Now that ought to raise a few questions in your mind. She was caught in the act of adultery. Last time I checked that is not an act that you do alone. Where is the man who was involved in this act of adultery? We are going to begin to get some clues that this is a frame job, this is a setup. And the man may have been let go or even may have been one of them, one of the Pharisees. So the man is not even in the picture, I don't think he was faster, I don't think he got away. I think he was conveniently allowed to slip into the darkness. Notice what happens next. Verse 5, in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Well they got that half right. Read Deuteronomy 22 sometime and you'll find out that in a case like this both the man and the woman were supposed to be stone to death. That was a capital crime for both people involved. So again I asked the question, where is the man? If she was caught actually in the act of adultery there was a man there too. I'm convinced that it was one of them or at least someone that they set up so that they could find this woman in this act and put Jesus in an uncomfortable position. That was the full purpose of what they were doing. So they remind him of Moses' law even though they only got it half right. Their purpose is we want to get Jesus in an uncomfortable position and then they look at him and they say actually in the original language it is much more forceful. It is okay, now you, what do you think about this? What do you say? Here's what Moses says, okay now you, what do you say? Okay that's their action but the Bible uncovers the motive behind their action, uncovers what they were trying to do. Verse 6, first part of the verse, they were using this question as a trap in order to have a basis for accusing him. That's their whole motive. They don't care about the mosaic law, they are not shocked at this woman's conduct, they are not violated in their own heart or greed because of the broken law of God. They're not sharing the heart of God over the brokenness of a woman who would live in this kind of lifestyle. They are simply exploiting her for their own wicked ends and that is to try to trap Jesus. Their sin is just as bad as hers, it's just not seen outwardly. You can't as easily be caught in it because it's a sin of the heart, it's a sin on the inside, it's a sin of wicked, devious, sinful motives. But they think they've got Jesus cornered, they think they've got him right where they want him, they've posed to him a dilemma that they feel like he will not be able to squirm out of. In their thinking if he lets her go then he's violated the law of Moses because we just reminded you of what the law of Moses is. And so if you in your great supposed love for these kind of people let her go then you violated the law of Moses. Didn't you Jesus say you came to fulfill the law of Moses? Aren't people saying you're the prophet that Moses talked about? We'll find out, we'll show them. So if he lets her go they think they've got him nailed. But if he says yes you're right, she needs to be stoned, they've also got him because to stoned her or to say yes go ahead and punish her they could turn that back on him. Aren't you the one that claims to be people say you're the friend of sinners that you came not to condemn but remember you're saying something like that Jesus? These are your kind of people, what are you going to do with her? And they could also get him on conflict with Roman law because Roman law does not permit the Jews to carry out capital punishment. So either way he goes they feel like they've got him in a trap. They should know by now this will happen until the last week of Jesus' life that in his divine brilliance he will escape any trap they try to set for him and this one will be no different. But he's not going to wiggle his way out of this one. He's going to turn it right back on them because he knows he knows the sin in their hearts. And so that's where he's going to begin. He's not even going to begin with the woman he's going to begin with them because of his knowledge. Yes, their actions, their motive, but it is his knowledge that begins to take over here. And it is evident that from what follows that Jesus knew the wickedness of their hearts. They may have convinced people of their concern for the law. Oh, we want the law Moses to be upheld, but he knows they're not concerned about that at all. They're concerned about hating him and putting him in an unpopular light which will allow him to be arrested and they can kill him. That's what they're concerned about. Jesus knows that. He knows the sin of their hearts. They may have a supposed concern for holiness and righteousness, but Jesus knows better. He knows their hearts are as dark if not darker than this woman's. He knows their sin is as great if not greater than hers. You cannot hide your sin from God. He knows the hidden secret sins of the heart. You may cover them with a religious cloak, but you will not get by with that. I don't care if you're a preacher, a deacon, a Bible fellowship teacher, a choir member, a church member, a supposedly good Christian. I don't care who you are. You cannot get away with sin before God. You cannot cover sin. I read just recently about a great dain in Portland, Oregon. A three-year-old great dain that suddenly came down sick and his owners couldn't figure out what was happening. This happened back in February, but it didn't hit the news until the end of August. It couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. The dog is wretching violently, but can't get anything up. They know something is terribly wrong. They rushed him to a veterinary hospital where an emergency doctor checked the dog's big X-rays and realized there's a mass in the dog stomach. He realized that the Allison McGee or Ashley McGee is the name of the doctor. We have to do surgery on this dog, and when they opened the dog up, they found out why he was so sick. He had swallowed 43 and a half socks. I hope that happened in one day, or else I would be concerned about the mental state of the owner. I think you would start noticing some socks were gone, but I mean, the washer and dryer don't eat that many. 43 and a half socks. But the X-ray equipment saw something, and the doctor's eye discovered what it was. You may have seen hidden away inside that nobody can see, that nobody knows what they are, but the X-ray vision of Christ and the searching gaze of his eyes knows exactly what is in our hearts. He knows what is in there. He knows what we have done, what we have thought, what kind of attitudes we have. Jesus knew that King Ahab had secretly conspired to have Naboth killed so he could take his vineyard. He knew that when nobody else, but Ahab's wife knew that, and God told Elijah. Elijah confronted Ahab with his sin. God knew that Aiken had taken things that were banned, that were not supposed to be taken from the first city of Jericho, that Israel conquered in the land. All of that was to be devoted as an offering to God. God knew that Aiken had taken that when nobody else knew, when he hid at any stint, God knew. God knew that Ananias and Sapphire were relying about what they were giving to the church in Acts chapter 5, when everybody else was wild by their gifts. God knew and he let Peter know. You see, God knows the sins of our hearts. He knows what is in our hearts and minds. Nothing is hidden from him. Motives, thoughts, secret sins of the heart, although they may be covered with a religious cloak, God knows exactly what they are. His knowledge of sin. That's where Christ's dealing with sin begins. He has an infinite and perfect knowledge of all of our sins. Even those that we've hidden from everybody else. But that's not where his dealing with sin ends. From his knowledge of sin, he then moves to conviction of sin. Now, conviction is that work of God whereby he makes us aware of our sin and causes us to feel deeply the guilt of our sin. That's conviction. It's primarily a work of the Holy Spirit. In this day and time in our hearts, as the Spirit dwells within us, when we sin, we grieve in and he lets us know. But conviction is that work of God where he makes us aware of our sin and helps us to feel and see the guilt of that sin. And that's exactly what Jesus will do next, not with the woman yet, but with the Pharisees. He knows their sin and he will cause them to feel the weight of it. Notice what happens in the middle of verse 6. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her, again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. Now here's the reason for conviction. The reason for conviction is that Jesus pointed out their sin. He pointed out their sin and that's the reason for their conviction. Now a lot of ink has been spilt about what he wrote on the ground. The bottom line is that none of us knows what he wrote on the ground. But a lot of speculation about what he wrote. Did he write some Old Testament verses? Some have even been suggested that he might have written about justice on the one hand and mercy on the other. Did he write the name of the man involved who may have been one of the Pharisees or an accomplice? I kind of like the idea that maybe in the first time he stooped down he began to write the sentence against the woman that was required in a court of law. If a judicial sentence was to be passed, the charge against the person had to be written down. Remember the charge against Jesus was written down and put on a placard above the cross or above his head on the cross. So maybe he was starting to write her sentence and when they may have started thinking, oh boy, we're getting to him and they go to him, they kept questioning him. Verse 7, he stooped down again. And this time maybe started writing their sins. Again, I don't know what he wrote. You can't be dogmatic. Certainly don't want to start a new denomination on this. But regardless of what he wrote, he did point out their sin with the question he asked him in verse 7, or the statement he made to them. Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. Now whether or not that was accompanied by some revelation of their sin in what he was writing or whether or not that statement itself was powerful enough for them to realize their own sin. He pointed out their sin. I think it shocked them. They came with every expectation that the sinner to be dealt with here today is this woman. And now they are being dealt with. Their sin is being pointed out. Jesus has penetrated their hearts and challenged them about, are you without sin? And for whatever reason they are convicted in their hearts about their own sin, it is possible for us to cry out against the sins of others, even against the sins of our culture. We know adultery is wrong. We know murder is wrong. We know drunkenness is wrong. We know homosexuality is wrong. And we cry out loud and long about the sins of our culture and all the while we may harbor within sins of pride and envy and lust and deceit. And the list could go on and on. And I believe if Jesus were here, rather than amenning our cataloging of the sins of others, he would point the finger at us and say, let's deal with your sin first. Let's get the plank out of your eye before you start dealing with the speck and somebody else's eye. He did say that. I think Jesus would point the finger at us and say, you need to deal with your sin. It's exactly what he did with these guys. When they come with somebody else's sin, he says, we're going to deal with you first. If you are without sin, you're allowed to cast a stone and he pointed the finger right at their hearts and their own sin. It is so easy for us to make our own rules so that our sin doesn't look so bad and everybody else's sin does. And I think God hates the sins of our hearts. Just like he hates the outward public sins of the people that we point our fingers at. Willie Nelson before the IRS got him had a golf course owned the golf course and he was showing some reporters around the golf course one day and somebody asked him, what's the par on this golf course? Willie Nelson said, whatever I want it to be. And he pointed over to a hole and said, see that hole? The par on that hole is 47 and I birdied it yesterday. That's the way we like to treat sin. As long as I can set the rules, as long as I can point my finger at other people's sins, then mine aren't so bad and I can live however I want. And on the inside, we tolerate things that God hates. God hates. So the reason for their conviction is because God has put his finger on their hearts and pointed out their sin. But I want you to see the evidence of their conviction. The reason I know they were convicted is what happens in verse 9. At this, this whole sequence, Jesus challenging them about whether or not they have sinned in their hearts and possibly the writing on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time. The older ones first until only Jesus was left with the woman still standing there. The evidence to me of their conviction was the fact that their mouths were shut. They were silenced. The conviction in their own hearts, it is as though they are struck by lightning. God's light has exposed the darkness of their own hearts. Their guilt is evident and they have nothing to say, no defense to give. And I think that will be the scene at the Great White Throne Judgment. When every unsaved person stands before God and the judge is Christ himself who has perfect knowledge of every sin. And perfect justice is meted out. There will be no defense. Everyone will be silenced before God. You may think, and I've heard people say, well, when I see God someday I'm going to give him what for. I'm going to explain this and I'm going to tell him that you will do no such thing. Before the awesomely holy God who is perfectly righteous and just and truthful in all that he says and does, you will be silenced. And that's what the judgment of his word is designed to do too. Paul said so in Romans chapter 3 and verse 19. Paul said, now we know that whatever the law says, God's law says which basically is to reveal our sin to us. We know that whatever God's law says, it says to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. That's the purpose of God's law to show us our sinfulness. God's law was never designed to save anybody, not even using the Old Testament. It was designed to show them how short they fall of the glory and the glorious perfect requirements of God. And to shut our mouths, to silence us, God's word silences us. And the evidence of their conviction is that they were shot up, they were silenced, they couldn't say a word before the correct diagnosis of the Son of God. But here's the terrible part, their response to conviction, they walk away. Verse 9 again, at this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left with the woman still standing there. This is the tragedy of this part of the story. Jesus knew the sin of their hearts, he has pointed it out, he has turned the tables on them, put the focus of attention on them rather than the woman. They are convicted, I have no question, they are convicted, the evidence of it is that they are silenced, the tragedy, the response, that they walk away. Rather than taking the next step toward Jesus and admitting their sin and asking for his mercy, they walk away, they turn and walk away. Why? It's obvious they are convicted, it's obvious they don't have a thing to say, it's obvious they realize he's right. And they may be even terrified, he will reveal more of the darkness of their hearts and they'll lose religious credibility among the crowd and there is the reason they are pride. The number one reason why people will not come to Jesus is pride. Pride. You don't want people to think poorly of you. After all you are a good moral person, you have been a good family person, you have been diligent in your lifetime of work, you don't want any, you have been a church member, people saw you baptized one time, but you know deep in your heart you have never trusted Christ, you know that you are still unforgiven, that you are not saved. And the number one reason I believe why people will not move toward Jesus and turn around and walk away is their own pride. Do you realize what a foolish thing that is? Do you realize that you are allowing pride to cause you to end up in hell forever? Why would you make a bargain with the devil that way? Is it worth the gratification of people thinking you are okay to spend eternity in hell? These men walk away because of the pride, the religious pride they have. If God is convicting you today, if God is putting His finger on your heart and you know you need Christ, you know you are a sinner, maybe not with great outward deeds of rebellion, but inwardly you know your heart is wicked. Don't walk away, don't walk out of this congregation today without receiving Christ, you may well be sealing your eternal destiny where you will spend eternity. Think of that forever, don't let pride keep you from Christ, His conviction of sin, but they didn't respond to it. But the woman does and allows Jesus the blessed privilege that He wants in every heart and that is to take the next step for forgiveness of sin. Forgiveness of sin. Notice His forgiveness, verse 10. Jesus straightened up and asked her woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? No one sir, she said. Then neither do I condemn you. Jesus declared, go now and leave your life of sin. Oh there's this power in these verses. Here's the dilemma that Jesus faces, if you can call it that. What will He do about her sin? Will He move forward in justice to do what the law says needs to be done? Will His holiness flash forth in divine wrath to judge her for her sin, or will He show her mercy and grace? Which way will it go here? Because justice demands a payment for that sin. Holiness cannot look the other way at sin. Holiness cannot let it go. So how will He avoid withhold punishment? And freely forgive her. How can justice be met? But grace and mercy still be given as we know God is want to do. How can that happen? Well my friend God has devised a plan that takes care of both, where His justice and His holiness are completely and fully satisfied and dealt with. At the same time, where He can offer grace and mercy and forgiveness to a guilty sinner. God has devised a plan, devised a plan. Whereby, a guilty sinner can walk away, un-condemned. It's a beautiful plan. And it is perfectly illustrated with this woman. Notice the woman's forgiveness, if you will. It serves as a picture for us. I believe two things happened in this woman's heart. I believe first of all she admitted her guilt. So I don't see that anywhere. On a wait a second. Remember Jesus has put His finger on the guilt of the Pharisees and what did they do? They walked away. What did she do? She stayed. To me there's power in that. Their hearts were exposed and they fled back to the darkness, not wanting any other exposure of their hearts or their sin. They crawl back into their sin of their hearts. Her heart has been exposed. Her life has been exposed. And what does she do? She stays. She doesn't run. She stays. She doesn't excuse herself. She doesn't claim innocence. Her very silence admits her guilt and says they are right about me. And you would be right to judge me. I mean she had the perfect opportunity as they're leaving one by one to just slip around the corner and get out of there. Nobody's left to accuse her. She could do that. But she doesn't. She stays. And her very silence indicates to me that she's saying they are right. And you would be right to judge me. I admit my guilt. I have no reasons to give. I have no excuses to offer. I'm not going to plead innocence. I'm not going to say I was set up. She just stays. I'm guilty. I'm guilty. My friend before you can get into the family of God you've got to admit your guilty. You've got to know and admit that you're a sinner. We have all sinned the Bible says and come short of the requirement for heaven which is the glory and perfection of God. We've all come short of that. Come on. Let's just admit it. We are sinners. We have all sinned. We have to admit our guilt. So I believe she admitted her guilt. But the second thing she did is I believe she exercised faith in Christ. I believe she exercised faith in Christ again. She stays when everybody else leaves. The others who have left are trying to cover their sin. Keep their hearts from being revealed. She stays looking to Jesus for help. She stays in his presence. Her wound has been opened. The others are ashamed. She stays to find healing. She stays to find hope. She stays to find help. Jesus said in John 3, just like Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so much the son of man be lifted up, that everyone that believe it in him may have eternal life. He used the beautiful illustration of the serpent in the wilderness back in numbers 21 where these relights besieged by poisonous snake bites were dying and God told Moses to make a brazen serpent and put it on a pole. And anyone who looked at that serpent would be healed. Not anyone who made their own concoction to heal themselves. Not anyone who tried to be good and helped their brother. Not anyone who tried to fix themselves. People who looked at the remedy would be healed. And Jesus used that as an illustration of faith. Even so much the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believe it, whoever looks to me in faith. And I believe Jesus knows her heart. That's what she's doing. He knows the heart of wickedness of the Pharisees and he knows the heart that is responding to him in faith. When she stays and she's just looking to Jesus, what's the next step? Is there any hope for me? Is there any help for me? Is there any healing for me? She's looking to Jesus. And that's what Jesus said. We have to do to be saved is to look to him and then notice how she addressed him. When Jesus said, is no one condemned you? She says in verse 11, no one sir. Now that is indeed a polite address, but the word sir is the Greek word, kuryas, which is also the word for Lord. Possibly she meant it only as a polite address, but even if she did, she recognized something about him, unlike any other man she was accustomed to. And it may well be that she read into that word her Lord. But whatever the case, I don't want to read too much into that, that saying, whatever the case, I believe she looked in faith to Christ. She realized that he knew her heart, that he is the Lord. And Christ's word to her is, you are not condemned. That in itself tells me that she looked to him in faith. For Jesus to say, you are not condemned. I am not condemning you either. And then he exhorts her to go and not sin anymore. Leave your life of sin. That is a beautiful picture of our forgiveness. Because for us to be forgiven of our sin, whether it's the outward immoral and God the axe that everyone would condemn or the sins of the heart that maybe only we know and God. Regardless of which kind it is, we are all sinners. And like this woman, we must first of all admit our guilt. And then we must place our faith in Christ. And here's the beautiful part of the plan that God has devised. God knows we're all sinners. We all come into this world sinners. David said, in sin, my mother conceived me. Not a reflection on the act of his mother. It's a reflection on the state of David in the womb. I was a sinner from the moment I was conceived. All of us come into this world as sinners. Every one of us know exceptions in the human race except for Christ himself. So we all come into this world of sinners. We must realize that God loved us so much. He didn't want us to pay for our own sin. He didn't want us to spend eternity separated from him. And so he sent his only son, sinless, stainless, spotless Jesus Christ. He didn't want us to take our penalty for us to die in our place and to pay the penalty for our sin. Jesus did that for you. And he did that for me when he died on the cross. God loved us so much that he sent his son to do that for us. So that when you place your faith in Christ, when you look to him in faith, God says, you know, I can extend a mercy and forgiveness because that person sinless. That person's sins already been punished. That person's sin has already been paid. Dependent. He's already been paid by Jesus. And so I didn't look the other way. My holiness, my justice is satisfied because the sin has been paid for. But I will now turn to the sinner who places faith in Christ. And I will offer them my grace and my mercy. And Jesus will say to us, neither do I condemn you. That is the essence of the gospel message. It's the message communicated over and over again in this gospel. It's the purpose of this gospel of John. Look at it in John 316. You know the verse, but look at it. A fresh and a new and the verses around it for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him right after the verses where he said, look, look in faith. Whoever believes in him shall not perish. That's condemnation shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. And here's the conclusion in verse 18, whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only son. Could anything be more clear? Jesus was lifted up on the cross to take the penalty for your sin if you believe in him. In other words, if you place your trust and confidence in what he did for you on the cross to pay for your sin. Not in your own good works to try to do better. Not in your own good deeds to try to outstrip your level of sin and get a few more on the good side than on the bad side. Not in your joining a church. Not in your getting baptized. Not in your trying to, no, not in any of those things, but in Christ and his death for you, you place all your confidence and trust in him and what he did for you on the cross to pay the penalty for your sin. When you do that, Jesus looks at you and says, neither do I condemn you. You are not condemned. But I give you life, eternal life. He says it again at the end of this chapter in verse 36, chapter three, whoever believes in the sun has eternal life, but whoever rejects the sun like the Pharisees did will not see life. Why? For God's wrath, that's condemnation. God's wrath remains on them. What's the wrath about? It's his anger because of his holiness. He cannot bear sin. And so he is angry at our sin. If you don't trust Christ, God's anger, wrath, justice, holiness, condemnation stays on you. The only way out is to believe in Christ as Savior. Again, he says it in chapter five in verse 24. Very truly, I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and I notice, and will not be judged. That's condemnation. But has crossed over already crossed over from death to life. Paul summarizes it in Romans chapter eight in verse one with this glorious triumph at statement. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. When you place your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior, admitting that you're a sinner and can't get the heaven on your own, in Jesus looks at you and says, not condemned. Neither do I condemn you. But you know what? He doesn't stop there. When Jesus says, neither do I condemn you. It's the same as him saying to us, your record in heaven is white, clean. All of your sin is taken off the record book in heaven. The righteousness of of of mine is on your record book in heaven. And you are justified. You are declared righteous in God's sight. When he does that, you are guaranteed a home in heaven. You are given eternal life at the moment you trust Jesus and your record book in heaven has changed. But you know what? God doesn't stop with us there. He didn't stop with his woman there either. He said neither do I condemn you. That's the statement of forgiveness. But then he says, we've got some work to do in your life now. Yeah. Go now and leave your life of sin. I'm so thankful he didn't twist that around. I'm put it the other way around. I'm so thankful Jesus said, okay, now work on your life. Get rid of all your sin. And then we'll see if you can make it in. Then I'll determine whether or not you're condemned. No, no. It's the opposite. He justifies us first. He saves us purely upon what Christ did for us, not on how good we can clean up our lives. But when we get saved, when we come into his family, he looks at us and says, okay, now we've got some work to do. Now go and leave your life of sin. Let's do some work on your life and get your life straightened out and begin to make you more like me, more like Jesus. That's how it works, my friend. I'm so thankful that my salvation is not based on me straightening my life out. My eternal security is not based on me straightening my life out. It is based squarely on the promise of God in Christ. Neither do I condemn you. You're not condemned. Your sins wiped off the record book. The righteousness of Christ glaringly shows up in its place. But now let's do some work on your life. Now that you're in the family, now that you're justified, you're saved, you're on your way to heaven, let's clean up your life. And the Lord moves in to help you do that. That's a beautiful picture of forgiveness that this woman paints for us. Here's the bottom line, my friend. Everyone in this room is born a sinner. Every one of us in this room comes into the human race, a sinner, separated from God. But God has devised a wonderful plan where you do not have to pay for your own sin. You cannot pay for your own sin. You cannot be good enough to wipe one sin off your record. So he's devised a beautiful plan by sending his son Jesus, who took your place and took my place, and took all the penalty of God's wrath, and judgment, and justice, and holiness, and condemnation, took it all on him, and he paid it all. So that if you place your confidence and trust in Christ and what he did on the cross, you will be forgiven. Declared righteous in God's courtroom of heaven, and then God will say, okay, now that that's taken care of, now that your record book is clean, and you're on your way to heaven, I'm going to help you clean up your life. That's what we all need. So whatever one of us in this room needs, what you bow with me in prayer. Father, thank you for forgiveness. Thank you for justification, which wipes the record clean in heaven. Through faith in Christ, declares us righteous. Thank you, Lord, that you don't leave us there struggling in ourself to straighten out our lives, but you, by your spirit, come in to make us more like you. You begin that work of sanctification, of cleansing us, dealing with our sin, so that in our lifestyle, in our character, in our mindset, in our actions, we become more like you. Thank you for that beautiful process that begins at salvation. Father, we are all represented in this story because we are all sinners. And whether we have been the outward known sinners like the woman or whether we've just been the people who've kept it inside, maybe others didn't see the deceit, the lying, the wickedness, the lust, the pride. We're sinners nonetheless. Lord, help us today to be willing to admit our sin and trust Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. We ask in His name, amen.