Condemned No More [Part 1]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright.

We come to something that is absolutely important that we know is a big problem, and yet we get very confused as Christians throughout the history of Christendom about this question, how does Jesus see our sin? That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, You'll See, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org, or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But right now, let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. Okay, are you ready for some good news? Jesus has so decisively dealt with your sin that every accusation of hell has to fall impotently to the ground like rocks thudding into the dust. You in Christ are not condemned but free. We are in a series that is called You'll See because it is all about seeing as Jesus sees. And when you get the eyes of Jesus about a situation, about a person, about your own life, when you see things the way He sees it, then you can think the way He thinks, feel the things He feels, and act in the right accord. Instead of trying to manage all our behaviors and our thoughts, what we're focusing on is a simple prayer.

Jesus, let me see this as you do. And today, we come to something that is absolutely important that we know is a big problem, and yet we get very confused as Christians throughout the history of Christendom about this question. How does Jesus see our sin? And to order to understand this, go to a beautiful, beautiful story in John chapter 8. John chapter 8, picking up at verse 53 of chapter 7, we read that they went each to his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. And early in the morning, He came again to the temple, and all the people came to Him, and He sat down and He taught them.

So Jesus is in this traditional position of being seated as He's teaching in one of the outer courts of the temple. Verse 3, the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst, they said to Him, Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now, in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.

So what do You say? And they said this to test Him, that they might have some charge to bring against Him. Jesus bent down and wrote with His finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask Him, He stood up and said to them, Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.

And once more, He bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones. And Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before Him. Jesus stood up and said to her, Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? And she said, No one, Lord. And Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you.

Go and from now on, sin no more. My friend Kenny, Pastor Kenny has a minister friend who this really happened to him. He was officiating a wedding. And the couple said they wanted to do something a little different at the very end as they were making their recessional down the center aisle, exiting at the end of the service. The couple said they wanted to get midway down the aisle and then have the music be brought down and there would be a pause. And they wanted to turn around, face the minister, and they asked the minister if he would please say, Go and the Lord be with you. Kind of a traditional liturgical statement. And the pastor said, Well, that sounds fine.

That'd be great. So the day came for the wedding. The wedding went just beautifully and got to the end of the wedding. And I know exactly how that pastor felt. It's like, OK, that wedding's done.

You're starting, you know, music's going and you're starting to think about the next thing you got in your day or whatever. And the couple is recessing out. They stopped midway down. The music paused and they turned around and looked at the minister and all of a sudden he remembered he was supposed to say something. And before he realized what he'd done, words just came out of his mouth, Go and sin no more. You can't get out of that. You just can't get out of that.

You just have to just crank the organ back up and keep going because you just can't do a thing about it. The Pharisees wanted to put Jesus into the horns of a dilemma. They had set a trap for Him, as they were always trying to do in this particular trap. They knew that Jesus taught about love and grace and mercy, that the quote, sinners loved being around Him. He became known as the friend of sinners. And he taught about the mercy of God. And they also knew that he had affirmed that he hadn't come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. So what they did was they, by some means, and we don't know how, what trickery or what they've done, but they caught a woman in adultery and brought the poor woman in all of her shame right into the midst of the crowd of them with Jesus there and says, here, we caught her in the very act of adultery, which according to the book of Leviticus, had a mandate of punishment by death.

Interestingly, there seems to be a distinction between the instances of capital punishment by stoning, which is a particularly heinous way of dying versus other means. And the act of stoning was reserved for betrothed brides that it would require certificate of divorce if you were betrothed. So it's much more than engagement if they were caught in adultery. So it could be that this was a young woman that was very young and it was betrothed.

We just don't know for sure. What we do know is that, according to the Jewish law, both the man and the woman when they were caught in an act of adultery were to be brought forward and punished, but they'd only brought this woman because it wasn't really about the woman. They were trying to trick Jesus and trap him in to say, how are you going to handle a situation where on the one hand justice and the word of God says here's what the appropriate punishment is and yet you're a teacher of grace and so how are you going to handle this? This is essentially sums up the whole problem for Jesus in general.

And that is that it seemed like that justice and mercy can't go together. It seems like that righteousness and unconditional love can't fit together. And this is the reason for Jesus to come to earth is because in the person of Jesus Christ, God found a way for justice and mercy to meet.

You understand to be a Christian means to be someone who has accepted a gift from God through Christ. The gift is that Jesus took the punishment that was due for human sin. And therefore God is just because he said sin must be punished and so sin was punished. But it was the greatest act of mercy imaginable because God did so through the gift of his own son. So in this one man, Jesus, justice and mercy meet, he is both just and the justifier.

So there always seem to be a trap. And this is what hell want to do. I try to put Jesus like, what are you going to do? We're going to put you on a dilemma between justice and mercy. And here is a beautiful story that shows us how Jesus brings justice and mercy together and how it is that he so thoroughly deals with the problem of this woman's sin. And it points us to, I think some beautiful truths about how Jesus looks at sin, our sin and how he deals with it. Because you need to see this from the perspective of Christ.

There is the very force of hell is to bring a spirit of condemnation over even the believers and many, many, many people, even Christians who've been Christians for a long time, have a lot of confusion about this. And so we look at this beautiful story today to learn how does Jesus see our sin? Well, and the first thing to say, he sees it. He sees all of it. He is, according to this story and according to who we know God is, he is the one who sees all things. So, so clearly in the story, the first thing we learn is that not only is this woman's sin exposed, but Jesus knows the sins of the Pharisees and understands that everyone has sinned, that we all have the same problem. Some of you have heard my admission of this, um, that I have made in the past.

Some of you have not known this, but I'm just might as well tell you that I have in my life had a brush with the law. That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Seeing as Jesus sees, it's the title of Pastor Alan's newest book soon to be released, and it's the giant secret of real transformation. Alan Wright invites readers into a new simple spiritual practice, a little breath prayer that can be prayed throughout the day. Jesus, how do you see this?

It's a prayer that the savior loves to answer because after all Christ came to be the light of the world. Clear away confusion, win over the darkness and open your heart to wonder and joy by pre-ordering the book today. Though the book releases October 10th, if you pre-order now, you'll receive over $100 of bonus resources. Simply pre-order the book at Amazon or your favorite online bookseller. Visit seeing as Jesus sees.org or come to our website, pastor Alan.org. Give us confirmation that you've pre-ordered the book and when the book releases, you'll be given a free audio book from the publisher and you'll also receive a free six week seeing as Jesus sees companion video series from pastor Alan, along with a study guide and a daily reading plan. All these valuable bonus gifts are only for those who pre-order the book.

So place your order today with your favorite online book retailer and visit our website for instructions on receiving all the extra resources. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. I was in college and I was home for the summer and my buddy Bob that I grew up with didn't see that much in my later years, but Bob called me up on a hot summer day. He said, let's go swimming down at the old rock quarry. I said, well, tell me about that. He said, oh, you've never been.

I said, no. He said, oh, it's fantastic. He said, it's like a scene from out west. It's like a canyon. He said, it's gorgeous. Like a hundred feet of crystal clear water. You can jump off a little cliffs and swim around.

Oh, it's just fantastic. I said, well, do they allow you to swim in it? He said, oh, everybody swims in it. And so I said, oh, okay. And off I went with Bob. Now you got to understand that Bob and I were quite different. Bob's idea of what was right and wrong was not necessarily the same as mine.

And in my whole goody two shoes life, I had never to my knowledge violated the law. And we pulled up to a gate and there's a big, no trespassing sign. I said, what's that? He said, oh, that's just there. Everybody just says, I said, well, how do we get in? He said, well, we just climb over this fence right here. I said, we're going to climb over the fence, right over the no trespassing sign. He said, yeah, everybody does it. He said, come on.

I said, okay. I went on and we started swimming around and just as he said, it was beautiful. I'm telling you an old rock quarry that gets filled up with water and it's just pure. I mean, as far as I could see that water deep, pure, clear and, and refreshing. And we were swimming around, you can swim around through the nooks and crannies, jump off little cliffs and all this.

We're swimming right here just having the time of our life. And all of a sudden I heard Bob say, uh-oh. I said, what? And he pointed up and there was an officer of the law up on the bluff, starting to walk down into the rock quarry. And so I did, I had the universal reaction to being caught in your sin. I tried to hide behind a rock. It was one of the dumbest moments of my life, both Bob and I tried to hide behind rocks. You can't hide when somebody's up way high above you. Hiding behind a rock does not work. And so we're crouching down stupidly behind rocks and the policeman comes down and, uh, he tells us, uh, that this is a no trespassing area and that the, uh, the owners of the property had decided to start enforcing it.

They started enforcing it that day. And, uh, so he said, boys, come with me in a moment that if I saw him today, my friend Bob would bring this back up to me. It is so embarrassing that I even said it, but I looked at the policeman and I said, do you want me too, sir? What I meant was clearly Bob is a, is a, is a hoodlum. Clearly he's a villain here. He lives his whole life trespassing on stuff.

Said, I don't do anything wrong. And, uh, and I didn't say all that, but that's what I was thinking was surely I am too good to be arrested by you right now for trespassing. He just looked at me like, what are you talking about? Yeah, I just caught you both in trespassing to come over here in my car. And, uh, and so, so I'm looking at Bob and I'm sweating. Like I've ruined my whole life here. You know, like I'm going to jail the rest of my life and Bob doesn't seem to care one bit.

Like what's the big deal? Well, so, uh, we get written up for this and given a court date and, uh, here's how Bob reacted to it. He said, well, I'm gonna be in Colorado. He was living in Colorado at the time. Uh, I think he was taking a year off.

He did eventually go to college there, but he was just skiing and stuff. And he said, I'll be in Colorado. So, you know, they want to come spend their money in Guilford County to come out here in Colorado and bring me back for a simple trespassing thing. Let them come after me.

I'm not coming any court date. And I was shaking in my boots. Like it ruined my life. And I never got my dad to do any favors like this, but he knew the DA, he called the DA. Eventually they threw it out and I was like, so to this day, I'm still clean.

My records clean. How differently we react. On the one hand, we all have the same reaction and that is crouched behind a rock, but how differently, and we tend to go in one or two different directions. And Bob and I really typified that.

One reaction is mine. And that is like, I am so good in every other way that this trespass can't be held against me. The Pharisees brought this woman because essentially what they were saying is we are so righteous, it never would cross their mind that Jesus would point out their own sin to them. We're so good, we brought a sinner out here to see what you're going to do about it. Jesus is like, no, it's the all the sin. He wanted to establish we're all on the same playing field here. We've all fallen short of the glory of God. The other way to deal with sin is to act like it's not sin.

It's like if they want to come to Colorado and get me, that's not even trust, but I don't even care about that. It's why in our culture, it's just hilarious the way that political figures and celebrities try to apologize without apologizing. It's hilarious, isn't it? That's the passive tense. Mistakes were made, I admit it. Or the if-pology, that is where it's like, if anyone was offended by my remarks, then I'm trying to put out the other phrase you hear this is I deeply regret. And if you want to dodge all of it, you could just put it all together, the passive tense, the if thing, and the deeply regret and make your apology and put it all together.

If anyone was offended, I admit mistakes were made and I deeply regret the whole situation. We have such a hard time just saying, I sinned. Jesus makes this clear. He sees all of the sin.

He sees the underlying plot and conspiracy. He sees that the woman was caught in sin and He sees that what the Pharisees are doing is cruel to expose a woman to public shame and He knows all of their own sins by the unction of the Holy Spirit He knows. And I want to just suggest to you that the fact that God knows every one of your secrets is maybe the best news you could ever have. David and the beautiful Psalm 139, one of the most powerful, beautiful Psalms, one of the most powerful, beautiful chapters of all of the scripture. And Psalm 139 said, oh Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up, you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, oh Lord, you know it all together. If I were to rise on the wings of the dawn and travel to the uttermost parts of the sea, you are there.

If I were to make my bed in the depths of Sheol, oh God, you are there. It had come into the blissful and wondrous knowing that God sees all is in all places and that even your thoughts and intentions of your heart, God sees it. And something happened to David where he realized that this is a wonderful thing because by the end of the Psalm at verse 23 he said, search me, oh God, and know my heart.

Try me and know my thoughts. You see what David's saying now? He's like, I realize that this is one of the most wonderful things that could ever happen to me is for you to see everything in me. And he says in verse 24, and see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. There's something about the abundant life and being known by God at the very worst in your life that is connected.

And here's what it is. Only if you're fully known can you be fully loved. For if you are loved by someone who doesn't know your secret sins and your worst parts of your heart, if they haven't seen it and they don't know, then what you always wonder is whether or not they really love the real you.

Because if you're hiding and covering, then you're wondering whether they're just loving the appearance of who I am rather than who I am. Tim Keller in his book, The Meaning of Marriage, put it succinctly, to be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear.

And that's why we keep our secrets. But God knows them all. And for so much earlier in my life, even in my earlier Christian life, that thought instead of nourishing me and comforting me made me a little afraid. A little like maybe I should stay away from God because maybe God will expose something about me.

Maybe God would want to humiliate me. And what this beautiful story of Jesus proves to us is God is not like that. But instead, here's the truth of the gospel. God, having known every single flaw in your life, past, today, and in the future, loved you so infinitely that He came to die for you. And greater love has no one than this. Alan Wright, today's good news message, Condemned No More.

It's from the series You'll See. Pastor Alan's back with us in the studio here in just a moment with what today's good news means for you. Seeing as Jesus sees. It's the title of Pastor Alan's newest book soon to be released. And it's the giant secret of real transformation. Alan Wright invites readers into a new simple spiritual practice, a little breath prayer that can be prayed throughout the day. Jesus, how do you see this?

It's a prayer that the savior loves to answer because after all, Christ came to be the light of the world. Clear away confusion, win over the darkness, and open your heart to wonder and joy by pre-ordering the book today. Though the book releases October 10th, if you pre-order now, you'll receive over $100 of bonus resources. Simply pre-order the book at Amazon or your favorite online bookseller.

Visit SeeingAsJesusSees.org or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Give us confirmation that you've pre-ordered the book. And when the book releases, you'll be given a free audio book from the publisher. And you'll also receive a free six-week Seeing As Jesus Sees companion video series from Pastor Alan, along with a study guide and a daily reading plan. All these valuable bonus gifts are only for those who pre-order the book.

So place your order today with your favorite online book retailer and visit our website for instructions on receiving all the extra resources. Back now with Pastor Alan. So what's our takeaway from this series and this teaching today? So we're learning how to see with the eyes of Jesus, and it's a whole different way of living instead of living moralistically, which is to say, well, what would Jesus do? And I'll try hard to be like Jesus.

The invitation of the gospel is much richer. There's a way of being empowered to live as he does. And one of the ways that I and many others have been putting into practice is by a simple discipline of praying, Lord, how do you see this? And when you see through Jesus's eyes, that changes your feelings, that changes your thoughts, that changes your behaviors, because we act according to what we actually see. And today we're learning, Daniel, that one of the things we need to see through Jesus's eyes is not only other sins, but we need to see our own sin. We need to see the full depth of the way that He can forgive us, and we need to be able to see our accusers for who they are and what they are. Ask Jesus, how do you see all these failures in my life? He'll show you, and it'll change everything. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.