John 8:3-11
There is a Savior who loves sinners and
who understands and sympathizes with us.
John speaks about Jesus as One who loves
sinners and reaches out to them in grace, forgiveness,
and love.
I. THE SINFUL WOMAN (VERSE 3)
A. Her sin. This woman was caught in the
very act of adultery. She was guilty before the
Lord and before the world. Now, adultery is a
vile sin, but it is no worse than any other sin
(James 2:10). In fact, even if we never committed
a sin with our bodies or our minds, we
would still be guilty before the Lord (Rom.
3:10, 23; Gal. 3:22). We are all as guilty as
this woman; our problem is that we simply
won’t admit it (Prov. 28:13).
B. Her shame. In their haste to bring this
woman before Jesus, her accusers probably
didn’t give her time to get properly dressed
before they hauled her into public. She was
certainly humiliated by the public accusations
and the disclosure of her sin.
Sin is a shameful thing! No matter how
skillfully it is hidden from the eyes of those
around us, Jesus knows all about it, and one
day it will be revealed to all (Luke 12:3).
C. Her sentence. Her accusers were absolutely
correct! According to the law, this woman
deserved to die (Lev. 20:10; Deut. 22:22).
But there was one small problem: Where was
her partner? Both were supposed to die for
this sin! The man may have been part of this
scheme to attack Jesus. He may have been
allowed to slip away. Nevertheless, this woman
was guilty, and she deserved to die.
II. THE SCHEMING CRITICS (VERSES
3-9)
A. Their plan. These men had used this
woman to trap Jesus. If Jesus simply let
the woman go, He would be seen as being
soft on sin and could have been arrested for
being in violation of the law. However, if He
gave permission for the woman to be killed,
He could then be accused before Rome as an
upstart and a seditionist, and He would have
destroyed His reputation as being the “friend
of publicans and sinners.” The critics felt that
no matter what Jesus said, He had no wiggle
room.
B. Their problems. The plan might have
succeeded with an ordinary man, but these men were dealing with Jesus Christ, and He
refused to play by their rules! When they tried
to stump Jesus, they discovered that they had
met their match. Notice how He responded to
their arguments.
1. They were ignored. As the critics were
waiting for Jesus to respond, He knelt down
and began to write on the ground. He had no
use for their pettiness and lack of love for sinners.
What did Jesus write?
In the book The Desire of Ages, page 461,
Ellen G. White says, “But as their eyes, following
those of Jesus, fell upon the pavement at
His feet, their countenances changed. There,
traced before them, were the guilty secrets of
their own lives.”
Whatever the Lord wrote on the ground,
His writing surely got their attention.
2. They were exposed. When Jesus did
speak, He said, “He that is without sin among
you, let him first cast the first stone.” Jesus
wasn’t requiring that any judge be sinless. If
that were the case, no human would ever be
able to render judgment in any matter, even in
a court. I think that Jesus was saying to these
hypocrites, “He that is free from this particular
sin, let him first cast a stone at her.” You see,
adultery can be committed with the head and
the heart just as surely as it can be committed
with the body! At this point, all the shouting
stopped, and all that could be heard was the
sound of rocks dropping to the ground and the
shuffle of sandals as the men slipped quietly
away. You see, these men had been exposed
before their fellowman, the accused lady, and,
most importantly, before the Lord.
III. THE SYMPATHETIC SAVIOR (VERSES
9B-11)
A. He faced her. Only Jesus could have
cleared the Temple in that fashion, and when
the last rock hit the temple floor, Jesus stood
up and faced this sinful woman. As He stood
before her, He was the only One the world has
ever known who was qualified to take up the
first stone, as well as the rest, and stone her
to death. When she faced Jesus, she faced
the ultimate judge!
She had reached a place in her life where
it was just her and Jesus. It always comes
down to that. Eventually, somewhere, someday
you are going to have to face Jesus, too.
B. He forgave her. The only One qualified to throw a stone refused to do so! Jesus
dealt with this woman on the basis of
compassion. The religious men had condemned
her and considered her as good as
dead; however, Jesus saw someone who
was worthy of His love and salvation. When
this woman came to Jesus, she received two
great blessings that forever changed her life.
These same blessings are the gift of God to
all who receive Jesus as their Savior. Thus,
she got the following:
1. A new Lord. Through her faith and her
simple confession of Christ as Lord, salvation
became hers. And that is all we need to
do to be saved (Rom. 10:9). It doesn’t get
any easier than that! Even small children can
comprehend that truth and make it real in
their lives. What about you? Have you taken
this step of faith? Anyone who wants to be
saved can be saved through faith in the shed
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ (Rev. 22:17;
John 3:16; 6:37).
2. A new life. All of her life, this woman
had been a prisoner of her own lusts and
desires (Eph. 2:1-3). Jesus, however, came
and unlocked the shackles that bound her
in sin. He set her free! Imagine for a minute
what happened the next time she saw her
lover!
Every person who comes to Jesus for
salvation receives this new lease on life (2
Cor. 5:17). We get a chance to begin again,
and this time, we actually have a chance of
making something out of our lives (1 Peter
1:23).
CONCLUSION
In the same book Ellen G. White adds: “In
His act of pardoning this woman and encouraging
her to live a better life, the character of
Jesus shines forth in the beauty of perfect
righteousness. While He does not palliate
sin, nor lessen the sense of guilt, He seeks
not to condemn, but to save.”
Maybe, like this woman, your life has been
wrecked and ruined by sin. Maybe religious
people have hurt you. Maybe you are looking
for a compassionate Savior, One who will
make everything right. I invite you to come to
Jesus. He loves you just as you are. He cares
about you and wants to save you.
