A Woman Taken in Adultery - What Jesus Wrote in the Dust (John 8)

let's dust off an old sermon tonight i i i've liked this one i've been preaching over 40 years and every now and then i pulled this one out i don't know if anybody else enjoys it but i always do and maybe you will tonight john chapter number eight john the eighth chapter you've all heard uh the world quote the only part of this passage they know and as usual the world gets things all all wrong and all messed up and anytime you try to tell a lost person about getting saved you know the only thing things three people uh three things that lost people think are in the bible that aren't uh jesus turned water into wine ever ever lost drunk in in america knows that jesus turned water into wine they don't know anything about the context or anything like that i always ask him how does water ferment he he made that wine out of the only only liquid that would not ferment so you do it i tell them i said go down the liquor store and tell them you want whatever they got that's made 100 from water and then and then they say they said well you know the bible says judge not that you be not judged which of course it is not what it says and there's a context to that as well the same jesus christ said that said judge righteous judgment and then they always say well he without sin let him cast the first stone and whenever they tell me that i just say show me that in the bible and all they say is so i know it's in there somewhere which a lot of what a lot of saved people say when they quote the bible too but anyway there's more to this story than than cast in the first stone and look with me if you will we read the passage we'll pray then we'll go back and talk about it the bible says in john 8 verse number 1 jesus went on to 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 now wouldn't you like to been in one of those meetings the temple packed full of people sitting attentively as the lord of glory teaches them the bible and in the middle of one of these teaching services the bible says and the scribes and pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery and when they now here's my first suspicion about this entire episode verse number two says and early in the morning verse number three says they brought into him a woman taken in adultery when they had said in the midst they say unto him master this woman is taking adultery in the very act if i was a detective my first question would be early in the morning that doesn't sound like what i have heard in my years about adultery adultery is usually a sneaking around after dark type operation adultery is usually a prowling around at night operation it seems highly unusual to me they took this woman in the very act of adultery early in the morning but let's let's see what we can find here now moses and law commanded us that such should be stoned but what sayest thou this they said to honor the law of moses i don't think so this they said to uphold holiness in israel not so this they said tempting him that they might have to accuse him here's my second thing i note if i am a detective observing this scene and reading this history these men are not concerned with righteousness they are not concerned seemingly with what this woman has done or has not done they are concerned with entrapping the lord jesus christ they have something in mind that is not righteous while pretending they are there to defend righteousness there are some they have something in mind that is dishonorable while pointing this woman as though she has dishonored god let's read on the bible says in verse number six but jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them not and how many trees have died so that pages could be written about what one man or another thinks jesus wrote in that dust upon that ground you know what the bible says he wrote it doesn't we'll get to that the bible says in verse number seven so when they continued asking him come on come on come on what do you say come on what do you say come on no we got a stoner or not they're pressing and pressing and pressing him for an answer he lifted up himself and said unto them he that is without sin among you let him first cast a stone at her i believe you will see as this lesson unfolds tonight he's not talking about sins when they were little boys and he's not talking about the sins they committed when they were in high school and he's not talking about the sins a few weeks ago on the job or in the marketplace i believe he is addressing a sin they are committing in this hour that they know they are committing but didn't think he would know they were committing stay with me the bible says verse number eight and again he stooped down and wrote on the ground 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 nine accusers hath no man condemn thee she said no man lord and jesus said unto her neither do i condemn thee go and sin no more father please please help me tonight to tell the truth as you've written it help me to say what you would would want me to say in the way that you would want me to say it and god i pray that everyone that's made the effort to come tonight would be helped and strengthened and encouraged by your word we pray in jesus name amen let me let me say first what what must be said in this generation that would not have needed to be said from this pulpit 30 40 years ago adultery is a sin we are not under the law we are under the new testament we are not under the the tables of stone given to moses we're under the righteousness of jesus christ but the new testament epistles in romans the 13th chapter and elsewhere teach the very same thing marriage is honorable in all the bed undefiled whoremongers and adulterers god will judge there's only one sin i know of in all the new testament that god promises to bring judgment upon and it's the sin of adultery we're against it in every way shape and form we're against it in every way the bible defines it we still believe it's wrong jesus do not misunderstand jesus did not say that this woman was without sin he told her at the conclusion of the passage go and sin no more he is not excusing what she has done he's not denying she has done what they said she did he calls it a sin he has refused to allow these men to stone her with stones that she die because had he done so he would have sinned like the rest of the people on this scene are sinners thank god our lord jesus christ came to this world with no sin upon him he lived with no sin upon him he died with the only sin on him yours and mine none of his own and rose from the dead justified declared righteous by the holy spirit because he knew no sin he was made sin for us but he knew no sin praise the lord now that so so picture this scene the lord is teaching suppose we're we're in here tonight you're listening i'm preaching the bible and suddenly the back doors swing open and a group of men comes in and we're not sure what they're doing but it's it's quite a chaotic scene and they come all the way to the front of the building and they they throw this woman down in front of the preacher it doesn't sound to me like men with any compassion whatsoever it doesn't sound to me like men with any care at all for the soul of that woman they're using her as a prop in their dirty play and if she is truly guilty of what they say she is guilty of she needs to repent before god and she needs the cleansing that jesus christ can provide but who would deal with it in that way no decent person no upright person they'd have to bring her in there in front of that crowd but there she is humiliated and ashamed and fearing for her life in front of that great congregation of people and in front of that preacher surrounded by those scribes and pharisees and they say master why would you call someone master when he has no mastery over your thoughts no mastery over your deeds no mastery over your beliefs or your conduct these these hypocrites they throw these titles around they throw these names around they don't mean them they call jesus master he's not their master master this woman was taken in adultery in the very act now i'm going to ask you a question before we turn to what moses commanded and see the trap that was set here for jesus christ i i don't want to take your minds anywhere they don't need to be but this would be a simple question with a simple answer and we won't have to wallow in the mud if they caught the woman in the very act of adultery did then it also catch the man in the very act of adultery if they caught the woman with the man where's the man if they caught the woman with the man and didn't bring the man it's a trap if they brought the woman and there was no man it's a trap look with me in your bible to deuteronomy chapter 22 these are the verses the scribes and the pharisees have read they have listen they have searched the scripture not to find god but to find a way to destroy the authority of the son of god they are not studying the bible looking for truth they are studying the bible to find a way to get rid of a man they view as a competitor he's he's taking their crowd he's taking their following he's taking away their authority in the nation let's see if we can find something in the word of god we can use to mess him up to discredit him and so they read in the bible in deuteronomy chapter 22 verse 22 if a man be found lying with a woman married to and husband then they shall what does it say both of them die both the man that lay with the woman and the woman so shalt thou put away evil from israel if a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed and when husband and a man find her in the city and lie with her then ye shall bring them both out under 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 of the man because he hath humbled his neighbor's wife so shalt put away evil from among you if they caught this woman in the very act of adultery then they caught the man in the very act of adultery and if they caught the man and the woman they are to bring the man and the woman not into the temple outside the city not into a bible study outside the gates and there they are to stone both of them and put both of them to death for committing that evil what are they asking jesus christ to do they are appealing to a man they know is holy they can't deny that they're appealing to a man they know is righteous they can't deny that they are appealing to a man who honors the law of god they can't deny that they are trying to get him to jump at a verse taken out of its context to act in a situation in a very righteous and a very holy manner but in violation of the exact statute as it is written what does jesus do a strange thing he doesn't quote deuteronomy 22 he doesn't tell them he knows they have to have the man to stone the woman he stoops down and with his finger he without saying a word he begins to write in the dust of the floor of the holy house of god does that seem like a strange response why would deuteronomy 22 be a trap unless there's some other place they are going to use to spring the trap turn with me to numbers chapter number 5. numbers chapter 5. jesus is writing with his finger in the dust of the floor of the house of the lord numbers chapter 5 and verse number 11 says this and the lord spake unto moses saying speak unto the children of israel and say unto them if any man's wife go aside and commit a trespass against him and a man lie with her carnally you're addressing here a woman suspected of adultery but it cannot be proven because you don't have the man you know what you have in john chapter number eight you have a woman accused of adultery but you can't prove it because you don't have the man keep reading and it be hid from the eyes of her husband be kept close and she be defiled and there be no witness against her neither shall be she be taken with a manner she she's not expecting a child and the spirit of jealousy come upon him this man he just he's i know i know something's i know she'd been sneaking around on me and he'd be jealous of his wife and she'd be defiled or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him he'd be jealous of his wife and she'd be not defiled the man just might be the jealous type the man just might be suspecting something it isn't so you don't know because you don't have proof what do you do verse 15 then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest and he shall bring her offering for her a tenth part of a need for barley meal he should pour the world upon it don't put frankincense there on for it is an offering of jealousy and offering a memorial bringing iniquity in remembrance and the priest shall bring her near and setter before the lord and the priest shall take the holy water in an earthen vessel and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest should take and put it into the water and the priest shall set the woman before the lord uncover the woman's head and put the offering of memorial in her hands which is jealousy offering and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that should cause the curse and the priest shall charge her by an oath and son of the woman if no man is lame with thee and if thou has got not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of thy husband be thou free of this bitter water that causes the curse now here's what happens numbers 5 says if a man accuses a woman and there's no proof you bring that woman and set her before the lord in the tabernacle you take holy water you take dust from the floor of the tabernacle and put it in the holy water and you make her drink it and if she drinks that water and she's guilty the god will afflict her in her body for all to see and if she is not guilty nothing happens to her and she goes home and never speaks to her husband again you don't want to accuse your wife of that and then she passes that test that kind of ruins the whole marriage from there on out now did you read that passage do we read it together so when they bring this woman in and there's the woman but there's not the man if jesus has her stoned according to deuteronomy 22 he's a law breaker and they've discredited him because they know what he's supposed to do is make her drink that bitter water so what does he do he stoops down and with his finger he points to the dust on the floor in the house of god check mate you know why he's riding in the dust because that's the passage they're trying to use to trap him you know it's hard to trap the guy that wrote it [Applause] you could fool me with an obscure teaching in the law i could probably fool you with an obscure teaching of the law but that finger wrote the law on the tables for moses [Applause] jesus took the finger with which he wrote dust from the floor to prove adultery when you only have the woman and he took that finger and he wrote in the dust you know what they did one by one they left and you know what jesus said where are those thine accusers now what he said in john 8 where are those nine accusers look at numbers chapter look at numbers five look look at numbers five what did he say verse number 13 and there be no witness against her so this one left and that one left and this one left and that one left and this one left and that was left and you know why jesus let her go home he didn't say she hadn't committed adultery he said don't sin again but at the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established and there are no witnesses so jesus in accord with the law has to let her go you're not going to trick the author of the book with the book he authored now let me show you something really exciting about this to me this this really exciting because the reason they don't want to receive jesus christ is not because of his miracles they can't deny those it's not because of his teaching they can't deny those it's not because of his love they ca and his mercy and his grace they can't deny those things but when he said i am when he said i'm the son of god when he claimed to be god they they could not embrace that they could not receive that look at what the bible says in numbers chapter five what now wait before we read it get the picture again jesus christ is teaching in the temple right and they bring in this woman just the woman and the bible says and they throw her down there at his feet and address the lord and the lord addresses them correct look at numbers chapter 5 this is so beautiful verse number 16 and the priest shall bring her near and set her before the lord you know what they did they brought her into the house of god numbers five knowing she's supposed to drink bitter water made from the dust on the floor and so they get back home that afternoon and on the way home they're fussing at each other you told me that would work well how did i know it wouldn't work you wouldn't have got it and all the way home they say they thought they had the perfect plan and when they get back to the pharisee clubhouse somebody says well let's go back over that and see where we messed up and when they read verse 16 the priest shall bring her near and setter before the lord do you wonder if old nicodemus said i better go talk to him you know where that woman was in john chapter 8 she was sitting before the lord hallelujah that was jehovah manifest in the flesh what a book what a book come back to john chapter number eight john chapter 8. the bible says here in verse number oh it's so sad verse number nine here and they which heard it being convicted by their own conscience i say things sometimes people think i'm just trying to be controversial or try to be different and i'm not i'm just i'm just telling you something i i i don't deny as as you would say i would say the greatest day of my life is the day i got saved i wouldn't deny that but on par with that day is the day i fell under conviction of my sin you know how easy it was to lead people to the lord in 1955 around here because they were all convicted of their sin you know how hard it is to find somebody in this county today that's convicted of their sin saved or lost everybody's so stuck on himself everybody's so proud everybody's so self-righteous but how sad that these men are convicted but instead of walking to jesus they turned and walked away from jesus they were that close they were standing as as near as i am this young man right here they were standing that close to god manifest in the flesh and he has just proven to them that he has mastered their law that he is more righteous than they themselves the spiritual leaders of the nation that he is compassionate toward a fallen woman and he and he offers them offers them truth and light and they're convicted and instead of dropping those rocks and falling on their knees they drop those rocks and turn their backs and walk out the door [Applause] what a sad thing what a sad thing now in our passage just a little little short message here following that introduction i want i want you to see what jesus did for this woman in verse number 6 they tempting him they might have to accuse him but jesus stooped down jesus stooped down think about this please think about this i i don't know if they had an elevated pulpit in the temple where all that multitude was but but suppose they did here is jesus christ the holy son of god jesus christ who is the bible says holy and harmless and undefiled and separate from sinners and on this ground scared trembling something wrapped around her at the last moment is this dirty fallen adulteress and instead of jesus saying get up here jesus christ the lord of glory comes to her and stoops down and gets as low as an adulteress isn't that amazing is not some sword-swinging prophet cutting people's heads off who won't convert this is the creator of the heavens and the earth kneeling in the dirt next to a woman taking an adultery and saying i'll help you if you'll let me is that not amazing maybe you never committed adultery you committed something maybe you never felt like she fell but you're fallen you know what jesus christ did he came all the way down here from heaven you talk about stooping down those creatures around that throne day and night continually holy holy holy holy holy holy lord god almighty and jesus got up off that throne and said excuse me i've got to go take care of something that heavenly host that praised and worshiped and adored him ever since those morning stars began to sing he said i i sure enjoy this but i've got to take care of something and down he came to a manger in bethlehem and walked among sinful men as a lowly carpenter and began to preach and he came unto his own and his own received him not but look how far down he came to say to you and to you and to you i'll i'll help you if you'll let me you can pick any religion you want every one of them says stack up boxes of good works and see if you can get up there to god but bible christianity says god stooped down he came as far down as he had to to get us up out of that dust what an amazing thing what an amazing thing now look at the next verse so he stooped down where that woman was and then the bible says here after he wrote on that dirt in oh it's so beautiful verse number seven 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 so there's the woman in the dirt and there's jesus down there with her and then the bible says he lifted up himself and when he lifted up himself he spoke out against her accusers he spoke out against those who sought to condemn her he spoke for no other reason than his grace he spoke to deliver her what has she done but sinned what has she done for him what has she brought to him nothing she may not deserve to die according to numbers or deuteronomy but the wages of sin is death she deserves to die and yet jesus lifted up himself for her you know what he said in the bible he didn't say and i if i be killed by roman soldiers he didn't say an eye if i be killed by religious leaders he didn't say an eye if i be killed by jews he said if i be lifted up let me ask you something when they came to arrest him in that garden they said which one used jesus and he said i am and they fell down backward to the ground does that not suggest to you that he went willingly to that mock trial when he said to pilate thou could have no power at all over me except it was does that not suggest to you that he's going to that cross voluntarily amen do you not think the lord of glory that holds all things together by the word of his power could have resisted a man with a hammer and nails you know who lifted up jesus on that cross jesus did you know who hung himself on calvary jesus did and you know what he did he he lifted himself up on that cross to say to your accusers and your accusers and your accusers get out of here i'd rather save her than destroyer but he deserves to die i'd rather save him than kill him they deserve condemnation i'll take it for them if by so doing i can deliver them from sin death hell in the grave praise god he stooped down for that woman and he lifted himself up for that woman and he stooped down from heaven for you and he lifted himself up on a cross for you what an amazing thing look in your bible in in verse number eight and again and again he stooped down wrote on the ground jesus christ is finished father into thy hands i commend my spirit they came and begged the body and they took that body and laid it in a tomb it's so interesting when you read the gospels it doesn't say they laid jesus in a tomb it said they laid his body in a tomb and down he went into the lower parts of the earth he said he'd be there three days and three nights he told that thief he'd meet him that very day in paradise what's what's down there hell hell sure had a claim on me what's down there death death sure had a claim on me and down jesus went down into the grave down into death down through the gates of hell guess where i'm not going i'm not going down through those gates of death i'm going to walk through the valley of the shadow of death on my way to dwell in the house of the lord forever i'm not going to hell i'll never see it i'll never i'll never smell the brimstone i'll never see the smoke i'll never hear the first cry of one soul that's down there why because just like jesus went down a second time for that fallen woman he went down a second time for every one of us fallen sons of adam praise his holy name verse number 10 says when jesus had lifted up himself that body is waiting in that tomb that body is waiting in that tomb jesus goes down the lower parts of the earth he gets to the gates of hell and he says hand them over who are you i am hand them over and the keeper of the gates of hell gave him the keys and he walked over through the into paradise and he said to that thief i told you i'd see you today that thief said would you tell these people it's all grace that man never did one thing right in his life till about an hour before he died they called on the name of the lord and got to paradise just as quick as the sunday school kids did talk about grace and and and jesus got there in paradise and they're all celebrating i said what are we going to do now he said well just about three more days they said how long he said about two two and a half days how much longer about one more day how much longer lord about an hour when that three days and three nights were over jesus went to the to the door of death and he said hand them over death said nobody gets out of here without the authority of almighty god and jesus said i am that i am hand them over and a second time the lord lifted up himself nobody said jesus come forth nobody laid hands on his body by his power jesus christ lifted up himself and rose from the dead and he walked out of that grave and said behold i am he that liveth and was dead and i am alive forevermore and i have the keys of death and hell hallelujah and he led captivity captive and send it up into heaven gave gifts unto man you know why he stooped down for that woman because she needed him you know i stood up for that woman lifted himself up because she needed him you know why he stooped down again she needed him you know why he lifted himself up a second time she needed him and when he was finished doing what he did and she'd done nothing all her accusers were gone no stone was left in the hand of any man that could take her life and he looked at that woman and said there's nobody here now but you and me and she said lord hallelujah lord and that's all it took it's all it took you might be an adulterous lying in the dirt but whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved and the one that twice stooped down the one that twice lifted himself up said i do not condemn thee and a woman that was sentenced to die that morning walked out alive that afternoon because she called on the lord how about that my friend you are not just a sinner you're condemned you understand that you're condemned we can't repair you you're condemned you're not damaged you're not broken you're condemned there's no hope you can't lift yourself up you can't clean yourself up you can't say you never did it you can't say it doesn't matter there's a holy god who knows what you've done he sees you in the dirt and the dust on the floor in your sin but he came all the way down here to this earth to be lifted up on a cross he went all the way down into the grave to rise again so that if you would just call upon him as lord he could forgive your sin and deliver you from condemnation and you could go home to live eternally there is no religion in the world can do that there's no religious leader that ever lived that can do that jesus saves sinners there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in christ jesus my brother my sister that law it's holy it's righteous god wrote it all it can do is prove your guilt but what the law couldn't do jesus came down here to accomplish because the law could show you your guilt and condemn you and even put you to death but only jesus christ could take away that condemnation and give you everlasting life praise his holy name he stooped down here and came to earth he lifted himself up on that cross he stooped down and went through that realm of the underworld and then he lifted himself up in resurrection and what he'd like to say to you tonight is where are your accusers it's just you and me you know what's amazing i want you to think back now to the morning you were saved in the afternoon you were saved the night you were saved some of you got saved in your home listen to the preacher on the radio some of you got saved in a sunday morning church service some of you got saved riding a bus to sunday school some of you got saved a man witnessing to you on the job but you know what happened to you the day you got saved the same thing happened to me the day i got saved cars are going up down the highway people are sitting all over the auditorium people are working over here people are in the houses over there people but that morning it's like everybody else in the world just disappeared and there was nobody there but me and jesus [Applause] it was it was just wasn't it just you and jesus you quit caring what your friends were going to say you quit caring how they were going to laugh at you at work you quit caring about what the kin folks were and how they were going to react it just there was nobody else there but you and jesus in some way or another he said to your heart i can get you out of this if you'll just call on me i can get you out of this and the moment you called on the name of the lord didn't everything change past from death unto life in a moment of time praise the lord praise the lord father thank you for saving fallen men and fallen women thank you for coming so far down to this old world just to be lifted up on a cross thank you for going so far down into the realm of death and hell just to rise again victorious and father thank you for that day when there was nobody else on earth but me and you we could all say that that are saved what a great salvation father if there's one here tonight still condemned still lost in trespasses and sins may they see how loving you are how compassionate you are how willing to save their precious soul that you are may that one trust christ this very night in his name we pray amen let's stand as the music plays and the pastor comes

Channel: James W. Knox Sermons

Views: 31,702

Rating: 4.5661378 out of 5

Keywords: john 8, a woman taken in adultery, cast not the first stone, cast the first stone, adulterous woman sermon, john 8 sermon, john 8 1-11, jesus and the adulterous woman, what did jesus write in the sand, what did jesus write on the ground, what did jesus write in the dirt

Id: SITu-A3bO1Q

Length: 42min 26sec (2546 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 29 2019