John 8:1-11
You may have heard this common argument that some versions of the Bible are taking out verses out of the Bible. This argument is often made to charge those versions of taking out truth from the Scripture, diluting the Scriptures and reducing the veracity of the Bible. But this charge is far from the truth. Rather, these versions are ensuring we have a Bible that contains only what it should contain.
Now those charged of taking things out of the Bible are not just randomly and willfully taking things they don’t like out of the Bible. There is a whole field of theological study called Textual Criticism. Textual Criticism is simply a study or science that tries to determine the original words of ancient writings from copies that have been made. The fact is that nobody has the very first original words that were written of any book of the Bible. Everything we have now, translated into English was translated from copies made of the original and preserved through God’s providence. The modern world has the benefit of photocopies and scanners where exact copies of books or documents can be made. But it wasn’t so in the ancient world. Every copy of an original work has to be hand copied by people we know today were called scribes. And in the process of this tedious work, things can go wrong. A letter can be dropped, a punctuation can be put where a punctuation should not be, a scribe may add their thoughts as margin notes which may get included in their copy. All kinds of things can go wrong to change what was originally said.
Now the handwritten copies of the original are called Manuscript. And this is what the field of textual criticism does. It compares all the Manuscripts available for a particular text, and chooses the majority that agrees on the same things basically. So the more the manuscripts, the greater the chances of getting close to the original. And in this field of study, the New Testament has about 5000+ manuscripts, more than any ancient writings. And textual criticism has been applied to make sense of what the Bible should look like. That’s why some things are been taking out. Because they shouldn’t be there.
Why have I bothered to do all this. Because the text in front of us, is one of the major issues concerning what I have described. If you look into your Bible, you are likely to see a parenthesis around John 7:53–8:1–11 and there is an accompanying note: “The earliest manuscripts do not include 7:53—8:1-11” or “Some manuscripts do not include 7:53–8:1-11”. I did a little consulting with some Pastor friends with a question “will you preach this knowing the controversies around it.” Some said they won’t preach it. Others said they will still preach it because it says nothing that contradicts Scripture. And I agree with the latter group, so I am preaching it this morning. We should also note that, the argument is not actually whether it belongs in the Bible. The argument is where in the Bible should it be? Some say it should be after John 7:36, others say it should be after John 21:25 or better still Luke 21:38.
Dear friends this is not to call to question the authenticity of the Bible. But this is rather to give us confidence we can be sure what we have today is sufficient to lead us to salvation and obedience of God.
With this out of the way, by way of introduction, I announce my title for this morning: “Pardon For The Guilty” There is in these words a display of the grace of God. And the demands of grace at the same time. Under this title, I will want us to consider Four points: (i) Jesus Reveals Our Guilt; he shows us our sin: “He who is without sin, let him throw the first stone” (ii) Jesus Reveals His Grace For Our Guilt. In the midst of the guilty accussations, Jesus will tell the woman, I do not condemn you. (iii) Jesus Redeems From The Punishment of Sin, “Go and sin no more” That is redemption. That is freedom to live to please God (iv) Jesus Restores Sinners To Holy Living
Jesus Reveals Our Guilt
Now in this narrative, the scribes and Pharisees were not concerned about upholding the law. Rather, they were concerned about trapping Jesus. They were concerned about putting him into trouble. It would have been great if their motives was honestly to uphold the law and were genuinely seeking Jesus’ opinion. But no, they had wrong motives: This they said to test him, that they may have some charge to bring against him” (v.6). In fact, we can charge them of being guilty of causing the righteous to sin. They were putting a stumbling block before Christ: “Whoever misleads the upright into an evil way will fall into his own pit, but the blameless will have a goodly inheritance.” May we not be guilty of leading others to sin. May we not be guilty of bringing false charges against other.
We may rightly ask ourselves, how were they trapping Jesus?
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Jesus had no authority to implement a death sentence. In fact not even the religious leaders had that authorithy. Under Roman rule, that authorithy lied squarely in the bossom of the governing authority. So if Jesus had prounounced a death sentence, he will be in trouble with the Roman authorities. These same religious leaders will charge him of pronouncing sentence where he has no authorithy.
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Secondly if Jesus also frees the woman, he may be charged of breaking the law of Moses.
So there judges rightly had put him in a tight corner, humanly speaking. Perharps that’s why he bowed down and wrote (v.6). Maybe he was solving the equation to find what to eliminate. When he now got the answer, he turned the pronouncement of judgement on them. Indeed they were the religious leaders so the pronouncement of judgement rests with them. So Jesus allowed them to make the call (v.7). Now in this responsibility that Jesus gives to them, he exposes something that is true of all humanity. Truly, he wasn’t speaking to only the Pharisees; we can all take some lessons here: “If anyone has no sin…” This reveals something about the university of sin: we are all sinners.
Notice that if Jesus had said if anyone has never committed adultery, of course there are chances that some of them will pick up a stone and stone the woman. Because rightly, we should never think that everyone sins the same way as everyone else. Every single one of us in here may not be guilty of sexual sins for example. Some may be guilty, some may not be. What you struggle with may not be what I struggle with. Your particular sins may not be my particular sin. But what is true of all of us is that we are sinners. So what Jesus did was like saying, okay, look, let’s move away beyond this particular sin. Let’s deal with the real problem that just like this woman, you are all sinners.
Dear friends, the point truly is that we are all sinners and this should manifest in how we treat the sins of others: “If anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” We have previously looked at lessons where we are asked to judge rightly. How we handle the sins of one another reveals a lot about the state of our hearts. Are we hypocrites who condemn or seek to help one another? Are we self-righteous people who think ourselves better than others? There is hope for the sinner. There is hope for the self-rigtheous. There is hope for the guilty sinner: Jesus Reveals His Grace For The Guilty
Jesus Reveals His Grace For Our Guilt
I am careful in saying this, but I look at this encounter in the narrative as a clash of the law and grace. The law demanded the sinner be killed. Look at verse 5: “Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.” They pointed out to Jesus the demands of the law. The law was brought before him who through his live lived a life pleasing to God on behalf of sinners. He paid the price for the penalty of sin through his death on the cross that anyone who will come to him through faith will be saved. John has earlier told us in John 1:17 that the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ”
Brethren, see, none of us can stand before God on the account of the law. The law demands 100% obedience. James tells us breaking one law is breaking all the law. We can only stand before God because of his grace revealed through Jesus for sinners.
The law was brought before him who absolves all the demands of the law. Christ stooped– no one knew what he was writing but he rose with a verdict. A verdict that convicted the self-righteous and justified the sinner who needed help. Perhaps that was an opportunity for the scribes and Pharisees to consider the offer of Christ. But they walked away. Leaving Jesus standing alone with the woman: Jesus Redeems From The Punishment Of Guilt
Jesus Redeems From The Punishment Of Guilt
See, I am sure when this woman was dragged by the Pharisees en route to Jesus, she knew this was her last day on earth. She was truly guilty of the offense. She has been caught in the very act we are told— red handed:“Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery” (v.4)’ She has been caught! She is guilty! There’s no way of escape! She must suffer the consequences.
All of us are like this woman. We are all guilty of sin. We are all liable to face the consequences of our sins: death. The law demands we die. We are all law breakers and rebels who have in many ways sinned against God. This is the true verdict of the Scriptures.
Now for this woman, and for all of us, rather than standing face to face with death, awaiting our punishment, we encounter the grace of God and find ourselves standing face to face with Jesus. There is a beautiful picture in this narrative. The self-righteous couldn’t stand Jesus. But the sinner brought to be condemned is left standing in the presence of Christ: “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” (v.9).
Here is a guilty sinner, with all the shame of being caught in the very act of adultery, standing before a Holy one who is without sin. She expected condemnation, but no, this man utters words sweet to the sinners hearing. He passes judgement. But his judgement is pardon from sin. His judgement is freedom! His judgement is Redemption From The Punishment of Sin: “Neither do I condemn you; go”
Praise, my soul, the King of heaven;
to his feet your tribute bring.
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
evermore his praises sing.
Jesus Restores Sinners To Holy Living
To close, I want us to consider the closing words of Jesus: “Go and sin no more.” That is freedom from the shackles and dominion of sin. Jesus doesn’t only Redeem us from the guilt and punishment of sin, but he Restores us to live Holy Lives. The woman’s adultery has not been condoned. It has been pardoned. It has been forgiven. And Jesus commands her to turn a new living. She’s is not to go back to her sinful ways again. Now she is a new creature. Now she has been washed and cleaned. Now grace demands she lives the way of grace.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works (Titus 2:11-14).
Is there any sin in your life you are struggling with? I appeal to you to look to Jesus. Jesus doesn’t condemn sinners who come to him. Rather, he extends his grace. He saves sinners and restores them to a relationship with God. Will you consider this invitation to receive the pardon of Jesus from sin. Today you can be set free from the guilt of sin if you will put your faith in Jesus.
Amen
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