Well, you know, currently we're in a series entitled, People Jesus Met. And today we come to one of the most well-known stories in all the Bible, the story in John Chapter 8 of Jesus meeting the woman taken in adultery. And so what we want to do today is go back 2,000 years and look at this meeting that the Lord Jesus Christ had with this woman.
And then we want to wind all of that forward and we want to talk about, well, what difference does that make in your life and my life? How does that change and transform our lives today? Now, before we dig into John Chapter 8, however, I think a word of introduction is in order because there are some scholars who question the authenticity of this passage, John Chapter 8 verses 1 through 11. And the basis for this is that several of our oldest copies of the New Testament from the fourth century A.D. omit this story. Now, I am absolutely convinced that these so-called scholars are wrong. I am absolutely convinced that John Chapter 8 verses 1 through 11 belongs right where it is in the New Testament.
And there are a lot of reasons for this, but I'll only give you two. Number one, because the overwhelming majority of our ancient New Testament manuscripts do include John Chapter 8 verses 1 to 11. And the second reason is that we have writings from church fathers before the fourth century A.D. that quote from these verses, John 8, 1 through 11, making it obvious that these church fathers were reading a copy of the Bible that had John 8 verses 1 through 11 in it since they're quoting from us.
Our oldest reference like this goes all the way back to Papias in 125 A.D. So, in summary, I can't tell you why John 8 verses 1 through 11 was omitted from a few copies of the Old Testament, but what I can assure you of is that John Chapter 8 verses 1 through 11 belong in every single copy of the New Testament. Now, having said that, let's go on and see what happened. Verse 1, Then Jesus went to the Mount of Olives, and early the next morning Jesus came again to the temple courts, that is in Jerusalem, and all the people gathered around him, and he sat down and began to teach them. Then the scribes and the Pharisees, the Jewish religious leaders, brought in a woman caught in adultery, and they made her stand in the middle of the group. And they said to Jesus, Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery in the very act.
Now, we need to stop here and ask a couple of questions. Question number one is, how did these rabbis catch this woman in the very act of adultery? Number two, where was the man who had been with her? And number three, unless they had just caught her five minutes ago, where has this woman been all night?
Well, let's answer those questions. Number one, how did the rabbis catch this woman in the very act of adultery? Folks, it's obvious, they set this woman up. They entrapped this woman.
They set the situation up so they could bust in and find her right in the middle of things. Number two, where is the man who was involved? The rabbis obviously let him go.
And number three, where had this woman been all night? Well, she'd been in the custody of the rabbis waiting for Jesus to show back up in the morning so they could bring her and put her in front of him. And why did the rabbis do all of this that we're talking about?
Very simple, my friends. They were not really interested in true justice for this woman or anybody else. They were trying to trap Jesus. Now, in the Old Testament law, the rabbis say to Jesus, Moses commanded us to stone such women, but what do you say, Jesus? Verse six tells us that the rabbis were using this question as a trap in order that they might have grounds to accuse Jesus. Now you say, wait a minute, stop, stop.
I don't get it. I mean, no matter how he answers the question, I don't see how that gives them grounds to accuse Jesus. Accuse him of what? Well, think for a moment. If Jesus says no, that is, you should not stone this woman, then the rabbis can accuse him of disobeying the Old Testament, of not respecting the Old Testament, of not believing in the Old Testament, and then they can write him off and say he can't be the Messiah because the Messiah obviously would have to respect the Old Testament. On the other hand, if Jesus says yes, stone her, then the rabbis could accuse him of treason against the Roman government because the Roman government had forbidden Jews to carry out a death penalty on anyone regardless of the offense. Hey, this is why the rabbis had to go get Pilate to sentence Jesus to death.
They didn't have the authority to do it themselves. And so, either way, whether he says yes or whether he says no, the rabbis figure they got him now, they got him. All right, well, what happens? Verse 6 continues, But Jesus stooped down and started writing on the ground with his finger.
Hey, don't you love this? Jesus absolutely ignored these guys. He didn't say one single word to these guys. Instead, he bends down and starts writing in the dust. And as you might imagine, commentators have spent page after page after page speculating about what Jesus was writing in the dust. Some of them say he was writing Commandment Number 7 over and over, Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Some people suggest that he was writing in the dust the list of the sins of each individual rabbi standing there. You say, Well, Lon, what do you think Jesus was writing on the ground? Folks, how in the world do I know what he was writing on the ground? I don't have a sighted clue what he was writing on the ground.
But, you know, look here. The important point is not what he wrote on the ground. The important point is what he's about to say to these rabbis. Here we go. Verse 7, But when the rabbis kept pressing Jesus for an answer, Jesus straightened up. Uh-oh. And he said to them, Let him who is without sin cast the first stone at her. And then he stooped down and began to write again on the ground.
Wow. These guys were speechless. They were stunned.
They were completely silent. On the one hand, he had not denied the Old Testament. On the other hand, he had not defied the Roman government. What Jesus had just done is he had trapped them in the very scheme that they had planned to trap him in. And when they heard this, listen, verse 9, And when they heard this, they were convicted by their own consciences. And one by one, they began to go away, beginning with the oldest, even to the youngest, until only Jesus was left with the woman still standing there. I love what Augustine, the great church father, said about this verse. He said, and I quote, The only person left now is the one person who really is qualified to cast the first stone, the sinless Son of God. Then Jesus stood up straight and said to her, Woman, where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you? And she said, No one, Lord. Then Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you.
Go and sin no more. Now before we leave John chapter 8, I would like to mention that Jesus's treatment of this woman here in John chapter 8 is a perfect picture of how Jesus treats us as sinners when we come to him at salvation. He did two things here. Number one, he didn't pronounce this woman innocent. She wasn't innocent. She was guilty. He pronounced her guilty but forgiven. And when we come to Christ for salvation, we're not innocent either. And the Lord says, You're not innocent.
Ah, but that's okay because you're forgiven. And the second thing to notice here is that with this woman, Jesus did not condone her sinful behavior. He showed her mercy. And then on the basis of that mercy, he called her to a new life, a life of obedience to God. Just like when we come to Christ, God doesn't condone our sinful behavior either, but he shows us mercy and says, Alright now, based on that mercy, I'm calling you to be a new creature in Christ and to start living a new kind of life, a life characterized by obedience and not disobedience.
What a great picture of salvation in how the Lord treated this woman. Now that's as far as we want to go in our passage because now it's time for us to ask our most important question. And you all know what it is, so are we good here?
Good for you. God bless you, men. Alright, now, are we good out on the internet?
I know you are. Okay, let's all take a deep breath. Here we go.
One, two, three. Oh, wow. See how much that deep breath helps? You say, Alright, Lon. So what? You say, This is a great story. I've heard it before.
I'm familiar with it. You know, and I love the way Jesus treated her and I love the way he outflanked those rabbis. But what difference does any of this make to my life today? How does this change my life? How does this revolutionize my life?
Well, let's talk about that. You know, the question I want to begin with is this. When Jesus said to those rabbis, Let him who is without sin cast the first stone. When he said that, my question is what was the main point that Jesus was trying to drive home to these rabbis? Well, what the main point was, he was trying to get them to understand you guys are in no position to judge this woman or to condemn this woman or to find fault with this woman because you guys are unrighteous sinners just like she is and you guys have done rotten sinful things just like she's done. And this is what I want us to focus on today. I want us to focus on that critical spirit, that judgmental spirit that we all have which causes us to judge other people and condemn other people and slander other people ruthlessly just like these rabbis wanted to do to this woman.
Now, before we go any further, let's at least stop for a moment and make sure we clarify exactly what we're going to talk about for the rest of this message. When we talk about judging others, let me say first what we are not going to talk about. This does not mean that we're talking about passing judgment on other people's theology or theological teachings.
Friends, the Bible tells us we're supposed to do that. 1 John 4 verse 1 says, Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. Take what people are teaching, compare it to the Word of God and see if they're teaching truth because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Folks, if we can't take what people are teaching theologically and judge it according to the Word of God, how are we ever going to avoid heresy and false doctrine? That is not what we're talking about when we say we're going to talk about judging others. The other thing we're not going to talk about here is governments, legal systems passing judgment on people's illegal and criminal actions. You know, even in the Old Testament, God set up a system of jurisprudence for the nation of Israel.
And in Romans chapter 13, God reiterates the right of every government to judge and punish wrongdoers. That is not what we're talking about. What we're going to talk about today is we as individuals making personal judgments about other people's actions and other people's motives and other people's intentions and then condemning them in our minds and then slandering them with our mouth. And folks, this is a deep-seated blemish that affects every single member of the human race. Hey, I have this problem. You have this problem.
Every human being alive has this problem. And Jesus spoke about this problem in the Sermon on the Mount. Chapter 7 verse 1 of Matthew. Jesus said, Do not judge others lest you be judged yourself. And what He's talking about here is exactly what we are talking about. Jesus is talking about this tendency we all have to make personal judgments about other people, not just to disagree with them on an issue.
That's one thing. But rather to go beyond that and pass judgment on their character and their motives and their intentions and Jesus says, Don't do that. Now, there are four good reasons, four biblical reasons why we shouldn't be passing these kind of judgments on other people. And I'm going to tell you what they are. Number one, why shouldn't we pass these kind of judgments on other people?
Number one, things are often not what they seem from the outside. I remember a few years ago, Brendan and I went on a cruise together. And the first day on the cruise, I spotted this guy on the cruise ship and he looked exactly like Tony Soprano.
I mean, was a spitting ringer for Tony Soprano. So I started to watch him a little bit and he would lay up by the pool. He had these two women with him, two different women. They would lay around the pool with him on the dance floor at night. He'd get up and dance with both of these women at the same time when these women would come up to him. He had this huge wad of hundred dollar bills that he pulled out of his pocket and he peeled off hundred dollar bills and just handed them to each of these women. And I said to Brenda after the first day, I said, I know who this guy is, Brenda.
I got him. This guy is a mafia boss on vacation with his two mistresses and those hundred dollar bills he's pulling out of his pockets, he probably got from extorting some honest business man or woman or from running dope. That's who this guy is. And Brenda said to me, she said, Lon, get me to talk to this guy. You've never even met this guy.
What are you doing? I said, I know this guy, Brenda. I got this guy down.
I've watched him and I know exactly who this guy is. Well, a couple days later, I was standing in line to get some lunch and this elderly man was right next to me and we got to talking. I said, hey, what brings you on the cruise? And he said, well, he said, it's my 75th birthday. He said, so my two daughters and my son got together and decided to treat me to this trip. He said, as a matter of fact, my son was the one that's paying for all of it.
He's been saving for a year so he could bring all of us on this trip together. And he said, oh, and he said, here he is now. And I turned around, guess who it was? Tony Soprano, you got it. Peeling off the $100 bills to his sisters.
Dancing with his sisters. I had to go tell Brenda what I discovered. I was pretty sheepish in that little meeting we had.
Listen, Brenda and I still laugh about this to this day. But we also use it as a great reminder that things are not always what they look like. And that's why we have to be so careful about judging people. Number two, why shouldn't we judge people? Because number two, only God knows what's really in a person's heart. 1 Samuel 16, 7, the Bible says, man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. In Jeremiah 17, 10, God says, I, the Lord, search the heart and test the mind. Friends, only God himself is capable of judging the human heart. Our hearts are so complex and so convoluted that only God himself knows what's really going on inside there.
And when you and I step onto his turf and we begin judging other people's hearts, we are way above our pay grade. Number three, why is judging other people something we shouldn't do? Because it hurts other people when we do that.
It causes lots and lots of hurt. You know, I've been here at McLean Bible Church a little over 30 years as your pastor. And I have to tell you that looking back, the worst hurts I've ever suffered here have come from Christians who incorrectly judged my motives, who incorrectly judged my heart, who incorrectly judged my intentions without all the facts, usually in most cases with no facts at all, and then proceeded, based on those misjudgments, to slander my name and to impugn my reputation. And I'll bet you that much of the worst hurts that you've suffered in your life have come from this same evil source, other people misjudging you and slandering you and impugning your character. And may I say, much of the hurt that you and I have caused other people in our lives have come from this evil source, judging people, condemning people, slandering people without the facts and without mercy. Don't judge people because it hurts them. Finally, number four, the reason we shouldn't be passing these kind of personal judgments is because, number four, judging others exposes us to harsher treatment by God. You say, what do you mean by that? Well, let me read the next verse in Matthew, chapter 7, verse 2. Jesus said, For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged by God, and by your standard of measure, that you measure out to other people, it shall be measured to you. Now, I don't know about you, my friends, but I just can tell you for me this is a scary verse because you see, I depend heavily on the mercy of God in my life. You say, why? Because I'm always doing stupid things, because I'm always doing foolish things, because I'm always doing dumb things, and I'm always running to God and begging for mercy and understanding and clemency and leniency and asking Him to dust my trail and deliver me from the consequences that the dumb thing I did just set me up for. Now, I'll say God has been amazingly gracious to me, but I'll tell you this, here in Matthew 7, verse 2, Jesus warns me and He warns you that when it comes to our treatment of other people and the judgments we pass on other people, God expects us to show them the same mercy, the same understanding, the same clemency, and the same leniency that we want God to show us, and if we don't, we can expect less of those things from God.
Well, I can't afford that. No, no. I can't afford any less mercy, I can't afford any less leniency, and I can't afford any less clemency from the Lord. So then, Jesus said, you better treat other people the same way you want God to treat you. So let's summarize.
Since, number one, things are not often what they appear, and since, number two, people's hearts are so complex only God is able to judge them correctly, and since, number three, we always hurt people when we step into God's arena and start judging other people's hearts, and since, number four, judging others exposes us to harsher treatment by God, since all these four things are true, therefore, Jesus says, stop judging other people. You say, but Lon, I got this. I agree with you. The problem is I'm so good at this. The problem is I do it so easy.
It comes so easy. The problem is that I'm so ruthless about doing this. You know, this is like second nature to me walking around judging other people.
So, Lon, what I need to know is how can I get on top of this in my life? Well, I'm happy to announce Jesus answered that question. Here's what He went on to say in Matthew's gospel, verse three, chapter seven. Jesus said, why do you look at the speck that's in your brother's eye and ignore the log that's in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when all the time there is the log in your own eye? Here comes Jesus' advice.
How do we get on top of this? You hypocrite, first, take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly enough to take the speck out of your brother's eye if you even care about it at that point. Friends, Jesus is saying if you want to do less judging of other people, then do more judging of yourself. If you want to be ruthless with sin, fine, start by being ruthless with your own sin.
And you know what I've discovered? I've discovered that the more I do this, the more I pray like David, Psalm 139, search me, O God, and know my heart and show me if there be any wicked way in me. The more I ask God to show me my own sins and my own faults and I begin to realize that they are the big, ugly, sinful telephone poles in my life that they are, the more I do that. Friends, the more other people's faults and weaknesses start to look like little splinters by comparison, to put it another way, the tougher I get on myself about judging my sin, the kinder I get about judging other people's sin. So let me conclude by saying, Romans 14, 10, here's what the Bible says, You then, why do you judge your brother?
Or why do you despise your brother? Verse 12, Romans 14, For each of us shall give an account of his brother to God. Is that what that says? No.
For each of us shall give an account of her sister to God. Is that what that says? No. For each of us shall give an account of our co-worker, our neighbor, our friend at school, our relative to God. Is that what that says? No. It says for each of us shall give an account of himself to God. what is God saying to us he's saying hey listen you got enough to handle you got more than you can handle with just you you just getting you ready to give an account to me is a full-time job you don't have any extra time to be judging your brother my friend you got your hands full with just you and if you keep your hands full with you you wouldn't have time to be out there doing all this things with your brothers and your sisters folks of each of us would expend the same amount of energy working on our own fault as we do on criticizing the faults of others the world would be a better place and you know what else the church would be a better place and this is what God tells us to do now I have a problem with this you have a problem we all have a problem with this we admit that but friends we can get better and we can start holding ourselves accountable to do better and that's the challenge of the Word of God to our hearts today may God help us let's pray Lord Jesus we ask you to forgive us for the slanderous things we said about people this week for the condemning things that we thought about people this week not just about issues but about their character Lord their motives their reputation and Lord Jesus I pray that if some of us need to go back and apologize for things we said and did this week that you would give us the courage to do that but whether we need to go back and apologize or not Lord grip our hearts with the awareness that this is wrong to do this to other people this is sinful and this is damaging and give us a heart to turn that same critical spirit on the logs in our own life so that we Lord Jesus will have a much more patient attitude towards the specs in other people's lives Lords remind us as Paul said that we must give an account of ourself to God and that's where our focus should be Lord change our lives because we were here today and we sat under the teaching of your word and we pray these things in Jesus' name and God's people said amen
