Welcome to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We're glad you've joined us for today's program. Connect with Skip Heitzig exists to connect you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times through verse by verse teaching of His Word.
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That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Skip Heitzig is a single known sinner. And it shows you the two types of sinners that are around. You have the rank sinner and you have the religious sinner. Somebody who is obviously a sinful person.
And then others who are sinful persons but not so obviously. So you've got the overt sinner in the woman caught in adultery but you have the covert sinners in the Pharisees who bring a woman caught in the act of adultery before the Lord Jesus Christ. The story that we started to get into and covered the first several verses last time. And we saw how amazing it was that Jesus dealt so tenderly with her.
So gently with her. And it was the manner in which he approaches her. This woman who was obviously embarrassed to be drug out in the temple courts, probably just a robe that was put on her or a towel over her if she was caught in the act of adultery and brought before this crowd, brought into the midst of Jesus in the temple courts. So she's ashamed, she's embarrassed and Jesus is so gentle with her. And it's that gentle nature of Jesus, I believe, that brought a conviction to her heart that caused her heart to turn toward Jesus even internally and to trust him. You know, the Bible says it's the goodness of God that leads a person to repentance.
And sometimes it's not you, sinner, but all you, sinner. Come and let me embrace you. Let me accept you as you are. Let me take you in. Let me heal your wounds.
Let me love on you and encourage you. And let me show you a better way. The people, the overt sinner was one person. The covert sinners are the Pharisees. They also are convicted. It's interesting because it says that they were convicted in their heart.
They had stones in their hands, but they dropped the stones and they walked away, went home. She was convicted and the conviction drew her to Jesus. They were convicted and the conviction drove them away from Jesus. It's interesting how that works. A person will come to church and hear truth and be convicted but get angry and ornery and think thoughts and I'm going to get out of here.
I don't like what he said. And they'll blame it on something other than where the blame lies. It's what they're feeling, the guilt that should lead them to Christ.
They're driven away. Others hear it and they go, oh, oh, I need to be forgiven by this Jesus. And it's that goodness and gentleness of God that draws them in. In looking at the story as we did last week, this story in John chapter 8 verses 1 through 11, we get a really good illustration of how sinners treat sinners.
And I'll give you one word. They do it harshly. We sinners aren't too nice to other sinners around us. We're good at pointing fingers at other people but not so much at ourselves. We smell our sin on other people. And we go, what's that stink? And you're actually smelling yourself. You haven't used deodorant for a while, spiritually speaking.
And boy, do you stink. But others are around you that accentuate that sinfulness and we sinners can treat other sinners harshly like they did. It also shows us how the law treats sinners. You know, by the deeds of the law, Paul said no flesh shall be justified.
Whoever breaks the law, a death sentence is pronounced in the old covenant. But it also shows us how Jesus treats sinners. And I love Romans chapter 8. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
So here's what you discover. If you're really saved by grace, you get out of the stone throwing business very quickly. When you're not understanding God's grace, you're quick to pick up stones. But when you're saved by God's grace, you go, oh, there but for the grace of God go I.
It takes you out of the stone throwing business, puts you into the compassion business. When people say, well, you know, I haven't been to church in a long time, but one of these days I'm going to get my act cleaned up and I'll come. I go, well, why don't you come just now? Oh, well, I don't want to be around all you good folks.
I said, good folks? I don't know any. I'm not one. I'm a sinner saved by God's grace. You are so welcome to come as you are. But be warned, when you come as you are, he'll take you as you are, but he won't leave you as you are. He'll catch the fish, but he'll clean the fish. And that's what I love about Jesus. He knows just how to clean this up. And take us along the road from glory to glory.
And that's really the story we have here now. In forgiving this woman, when he said, Where are your accusers, woman? I don't have any, sir. Neither do I. Condemn you, go sin no more.
How is that possible? How can God, on one hand, be absolutely just and righteous and holy and perfect and set the standard of perfection and demand holiness? And at the same time, forgiving, merciful, filled with grace. How do you balance perfect divine justice with mercy and forgiveness? There can only be one answer.
And you need to know this. The answer is found in 2 Corinthians 5 21. God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be the righteousness of God in him.
Call it the great exchange. He took what you deserve so that you could bear and live and enjoy what he deserves. He takes sinners and makes them sons and daughters of God by taking the Son of God and placing on him all of our stuff.
So it's the great exchange. God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be the righteousness of God in him. So at the cross, justice was satisfied. Perfection, holiness, the law was satisfied in the person of Jesus who lived the perfect life that you and I could never live and died the atoning death in our place. Another way of saying it is that God treated Jesus like you and I deserve to be treated so that he could treat you like Jesus deserves to be treated. That's how he can be just and merciful.
It's based on what he did. So in verse 10, when Jesus raised himself up and saw no one but the woman, he said to her, Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you? She said, No one, Lord. Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you.
Go and sin no more. Now, one thing I did not cover last week that I should throw in because there may be a question. And if there is, I want to answer it now so that it'll just save us all some time. Some of your Bibles at the beginning of this chapter at the end of the last chapter, the beginning of this chapter will say something like these verses do not appear in the oldest manuscripts. And so they're included in those versions. But there's a little footnote that says because they're not in the oldest New Testament manuscripts, they are deemed by some to be spurious texts.
Now, just know that there is an in-house debate about that. And also understand that many scholars who study language and context have made an interesting note. And this is one of the reasons many actually accept this as being part of the text itself.
Because older manuscript or not, you can make a mistake for a long period of time as well as a shorter period of time. But that aside, there is a pattern in the Gospel of John. And the pattern is there's an incident followed by a sermon. So in John Chapter 5, you have an incident followed by a message that Jesus gives a sermon. John Chapter 6, same pattern, incident followed by sermon. Chapter 7, incident followed by a sermon. If you take this section out of John Chapter 8, you have a sermon but no incident. So it breaks the Johanan or the John authorship pattern. So I want to throw that out to you Bible nerds, you Bible students, because if you struggle with this, add that to your struggle.
And maybe that will tip you one way or the other. But we saw last time when we studied this that when they brought the woman accused of adultery caught in the very act, that Jesus did what? He bent over and he wrote on the ground with his finger. I just love the thought of Jesus writing. I don't know why this interests me so, but I guess I would love to have seen his penmanship. That must be my mother in me because my mom had the best, most perfect penmanship until the day she died. And she used to, you know, work with us like, no, you've got to do that over.
You could look better. But Jesus, it's the only occurrence we have in the New Testament of Jesus writing anything down. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we return to Skip's teaching, we want to help you and the children in your life see the timeless story of Christ from cradle to cross with Nate Heitzig's new book, Christmas Under the Tree. Told through the eyes of an unlikely character and graced with illuminating illustrations. This gripping tale is rooted in the limitlessness of Christ's love and helps young readers understand why Jesus left heaven to be born under and die upon a tree. This exciting resource, along with a companion audio experience, are available to you now as our way of saying thanks for your gift of $25 or more to reach more people with God's love through Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give. Now, let's get back to Skip for more of today's teaching. Now, it wasn't permanent. He didn't write a book. He didn't inscribe anything. He wrote in the dust of the ground something that has long been erased.
Now, what is it that he wrote? We don't know. We're not told.
Let's be honest. We don't know. We can guess, but we don't know. But because the word that is used is a very significant word, katagraphin or katagraphine, which means to write an accusation against or to record an accusation about someone. Jesus is writing an accusation against them, no doubt. In fact, one of the translations, a newer translation, I can't remember exactly which one, it says that Jesus wrote down their secret sins. Now, we're not told that, but he wrote against them an accusation, some accusatory remark against these leaders who brought the woman caught in adultery. And I told you last week, and I had to end because of the time, that this is significant and it fulfills a prophecy, a prediction.
Now, you remember what happened in Chapter 7. It was the Feast of what? Tabernacles. And Jesus stood up on the last great day of the Feast and said, if anyone is thirsty, let them come to me and drink. And I told you the symbolism of the pouring of the water at the altar and all of the rituals that were done. He said, if anyone is thirsty, let them come to me and drink, for out of his innermost being, out of his heart, as the Scripture has said, will flow rivers of living water. Now, there's an interesting text of Scripture in Jeremiah, Chapter 17.
I'll read it to you. If you want to write it down to look at it later, it's Jeremiah 17, verse 13. O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be ashamed. Those who depart from me, the Lord is speaking, those who depart from me, the Lord, shall be written in the dust of the earth. Because they have, listen to this, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.
It's an interesting text. So here is Jesus writing in the dust of the earth against those who bring an accusation against this overt sinner, this rank sinner, and he's writing their names down. And the day before, he said, if anyone is thirsty, let them come to me and drink, because they have forsaken the fountain of living water. Jesus offered that the day before. So there he is in the temple.
He acts like he doesn't hear them. He promises no condemnation, tells this woman not to sin anymore. Verse 12, then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. The Pharisees therefore said to him, you bear witness of yourself. Your witness is not true. Now I have a question for you. Why would Jesus speak about being the light of the world right after he is forgiven a woman who was caught in the act of adultery?
How does this fit? How does this metaphor of light fit? Well, it's interesting, because if we read on, we discover that Jesus is in the treasury, it will say, the treasury, which was located in the court of the women. And to refresh your memory, at the Feast of Tabernacles, they would put these four 65-gallon lamps, 65 gallons of oil in each of these lamps up on a huge pole that would light, get this, the court of the women. And that would illuminate the courtyards all around Jerusalem.
It was to remind the children of Israel that their forefathers were led through the desert with that pillar of fire by night. So Jesus is in the treasury. He is in the court of the women the next day after the great day of the feast. So the feast is over. And we said it was a feast of great joy, right? You know, Christmas, we love Christmas. But the day after Christmas, it's over. Lights off, tree out, right? Throw away the wrapping paper.
It's like, okay, it's over. So here's a great celebration. And like Christmas, the lights are coming down. The day after the feast would bring those huge 65-gallon receptacles down from the poles that the young priest had stationed them on.
They take them and they pack them up, according to their tradition. So it's sort of like the day after Christmas. Lights are coming down, trees getting thrown out. Jesus is standing in the living room.
He's in the temple. When the lights are coming down, those huge lamps that lit the whole city illuminated the courtyards of the city. And as the lights are coming down, because they had spent one week celebrating the wilderness march of the fire at night, He says, I'm the light of the world. You guys just spent a week celebrating a journey of being lit up at night. I'll light up your life, man. I'm the light of the world. So it's in contrast to where He's at.
It makes perfect sense in terms of where He's at and what's going on around Him. The Pharisees therefore said to Him, You bear witness of yourself. Your witness is not true. That's their way of saying your personal testimony about yourself is inadmissible in our court system. A Jewish court requires two to three witnesses for every word to be established. You're just spouting off about yourself. That's what they're saying to Jesus.
They're going to treat Him very harshly here. Your witness is not true. It's not valid. Jesus answered and said to them, even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true. For I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from and where I am going. You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one.
What did He mean? Well, they're quoting the law. You have to have two or three witnesses, right? You bear witness of yourself. Your witness is not valid. Jesus said actually it is valid.
Now think about what He's saying. Even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true. The law they're referring to was a law given by God for men. Jesus is a man, but He's a divine man. He's the God-man. He is fully God and fully man. So the law doesn't apply to Him because He's all truth.
He can't lie. He is God in a human body. So He is making a claim about Himself.
Actually, that was a law given by God for humans. My testimony about myself is true. Now He's going to say I have another witness besides myself, and that is my Father, which you don't know Him either.
And that's one of the reasons you don't receive Me. By the way, throughout the Old Testament, throughout the Bible, essentially we have a record of God the Father as the witness for His Son. We have 330, roughly, prophecies, predictions, statements made in advance about the character, nature, and work of the Messiah, the Son of God, when He comes.
What He'd do, where He'd be born, how He would die, parentage, lineage, etc. So we have several, over 300, different statements, testimonies made in advance that come from God through the prophets, through the Psalms about Jesus. Very, very strong witness. You judge according to the flesh.
I judge no one. And yet, if I do judge, my judgment is true. For I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me. It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am one who bears witness of myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness of me. Then they said to Him, where is Your Father?
Now, how are they thinking when they ask that? Where is Your human Father? Some of them knew that Joseph, if they were from the Galilee region, that Joseph, the carpenter, was his stepfather.
And there was some question among the Jews about his birth, as you will see even in this text. So they say, where is your Father? You keep mentioning your Father.
Where is He? Jesus answered, you know neither me nor my Father. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. These words Jesus spoke in the treasury as He taught in the temple.
And no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come. Don't you love when the Bible says that? It does amazing things in my heart.
It shows me that no matter what's going on, nothing can touch you unless it first is sifted through the hands of a sovereign God. So here's, you know, the Rock of Ages, slipping through the hands of the men with rocks in their hands, ready to stone this woman. They want to control the scene. They want to put Jesus to death. They have His death wish in their heart and in their mind.
But it was not His hour. Now He's in the treasury. In the treasury, in that section of that court that I mentioned, it is colonnaded. It is a portico, a porch. So it's covered. There are columns in it, or there were columns in it.
The temple is no longer there. And there were 13 boxes, receptacles, where you could put money in, sort of like our brown wooden agape boxes, as we've called them. But much nicer than these. These things are as old as the hills and twice as dusty. They've been around 30 years. So you'd think we'd build new ones by now, but we'll get around to it.
It's in the budget. But in those days, they were called shofarot, which is the plural in Hebrew for shofar. You know what a shofar is? A trumpet, a ram's horn.
So they were shaped sort of like trumpet-like, where the big part of the trumpet was on the base of the floor, and then it narrowed up. And in that little small opening, you would place coins, money for the poor. Jesus was in that area as he was speaking in the temple, but his hour had not yet come, his time had not come. We're glad you've joined us today. Before you go, remember that when you give $25 or more to help reach more people with the gospel through Connect with Skip Heitzig, we'll send you Nate Heitzig's new children's book, Christmas Under the Tree, which includes a companion audio experience.
Just in time for Christmas, this book will help young readers understand why Jesus left heaven to be born under and die upon a tree. To request your copy, call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. For more from Skip, be sure to download the Connect with Skip Heitzig app, where you can access messages and more content right at your fingertips. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross. Cast your burdens on his word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
