That's God's strength, Lord.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Amen.
All right, well, we're there in John, chapter number 8, and we've been going through a series
like we've talked about on Sunday mornings called Encounters with Christ.
And the purpose of this series is going to take us through the summer, and we're just
trying to learn about the Lord Jesus Christ.
We're New Testament believers, and we're followers of Christ, and we're not focusing in on any
parables, and we're not focusing in on any miracles.
We're just focusing in on these intimate conversations that the Lord Jesus Christ had
with individuals, and we're watching him as he deals with people, as he helps people,
and as he ministers to people, and even sometimes rebukes people, and things like that.
And we started this series, we dealt with Nicodemus and the conversation that Christ
had with Nicodemus.
And then, of course, last week, we learned about Jesus with the woman at the well.
And today, we are dealing with another very famous story, and that is the story of the
woman caught in adultery.
And I want you to understand why this conversation between the Lord Jesus Christ and this woman
even takes place.
And before we get into the conversation, we'll look at the context that leads into this conversation.
You're there in John chapter 8.
If you look at verse 1, the Bible says, Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives.
John chapter 8, verse 2, and early in the morning, he came again into the temple, and
all the people came unto him, and he sat down and taught them.
Here's verse 3.
So Jesus is teaching, he's having his public ministry, he sat down, he's teaching people
truths.
And in verse 3, the Bible says this, and the scribes and Pharisees.
So these are the bad guys in the story, right?
These are the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you'll find that we constantly see them confronting each other and trying to basically
make each other look bad.
The scribes and the Pharisees are coming to Jesus, and they'll ask him questions, and
they'll try to put him in situations where they're trying to make him look bad.
And that's exactly what happens here in John chapter 8.
Look at verse 3 again, and the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him.
Just get this picture in your mind, right?
You're sitting there in a public gathering.
The Lord Jesus Christ is teaching from the Bible, he's preaching God's word, he's teaching
a lesson.
He sat down and taught them, the Bible says.
And then here come the scribes and the Pharisees, they not only interrupt this public teaching,
but they brought unto him a woman.
And I would imagine that this woman is not coming voluntarily, they're probably dragging
her.
They probably have two or three guys grabbing her by her hands and bringing her.
They brought unto him a woman, taken in adultery, and when they had set her in the midst.
So just imagine today if Pharisees and Sadducees walked into this building right now, and they
were just dragging a woman into this building and just threw a woman right here in front
of all of us.
The Bible says they dragged her into their midst.
Notice verse 4, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very
act.
And I want you to understand that the context that leads us into the story of the woman
caught in adultery, the reason this conversation between Christ and this woman even takes place
is because the scribes and the Pharisees are attempting to confront Christ, and they are
attempting to have this spiritual battle, this spiritual battle of the wits with the
Lord Jesus Christ, and they are trying to make him look bad.
They are trying to make him look like someone who's either going to deny the law of the
land or deny his own law.
And here's what you need to understand.
This is a very famous story in the Bible, but this story is often misunderstood and
misapplied.
And what I'm going to do this morning is I'm going to go through and kind of just show
you some lessons from the story, and what I want you to understand, this is the theme
of this story.
The theme of the story of the woman caught in adultery is that it shows us this great
balance, this great balance that must be balanced by New Testament Christians in different
aspects of life.
So here's the first one.
If you're taking notes, maybe you can write this down, and I'd encourage you to take notes
on the back of your bulletin, in the back of the course of the week, excuse me, you've
got a place there to write down some notes.
And when it comes to lessons about the woman caught in adultery, the first lesson is this.
In this story, we see a balance between scriptural law and secular government.
We see a balance that we as New Testament believers have to understand between scriptural
law, biblical law, law given to us by God in His Word, and how do we balance that in
a secular government that does not follow the laws of God, that does not follow the
precepts of God, that is not enforcing the laws of God.
And look, this is the time that Jesus lived in, and by the way, this is the time that
you and I live in.
You're there in John 8, look at verse 4 again.
And they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery.
Notice what they said, they said, in the very act.
Now when I read those words, here's what I think, I think, where's the man?
I mean, right?
I mean, they're saying they brought this woman and they caught her in the very act
of adultery, but they bring the woman and they don't bring the man.
Verse 5, notice what they said, they said, Now Moses in the law commanded us that such
should be stoned.
They said, look, this woman was caught in adultery, in fact, we caught her in the very
act, we brought her here to shame her in front of all these people, and we have a question
for you, Jesus, here's our question, because Moses in the law, in the Old Testament law,
Moses commanded that such should be stoned.
But what sayest thou?
They said, what do you think?
What is the answer to this question, Jesus?
And notice their motive, verse 6, this they said, tempting him that they might have to
accuse him.
They were not bringing this situation to Jesus, because they genuinely did not know what,
and they wanted to understand, and they wanted to get some enlightenment.
They were bringing this situation to Jesus, because they were tempting him that they might
have to accuse him.
And look, as we begin this understanding of the scripture, you need to understand the
context of the question.
You need to understand why is it that they even bring this question to Jesus, and what
is the context that surrounds the question.
Now keep your place there in John chapter 8, that's our text for this morning, but go
with me to the book of Leviticus, Leviticus chapter 20.
In the Old Testament, if you start at the beginning, you have the book of Genesis, you've
got the book of Exodus, and then you've got the book of Leviticus, Leviticus chapter 20.
And here's what you need to understand, because they asked this question, they say, what say
is thou?
They said, this woman was caught in adultery, and Moses said that she should be put to death,
that she should be stoned.
But they said, what do you think, Jesus?
What say is thou?
Now the context of the question is this, and here's what they're attempting to do.
They are attempting to put Jesus at odds between the law of the land and biblical law.
See there is no good answer by the Pharisees standpoint to this question, because here's
what you need to understand.
In the Old Testament, in the law that God gave the nation of Israel, when God set up
a nation, and when God set up a government, and when God gave laws that were to be the
commandments of the law of the land, that were supposed to regulate the law of the land,
God placed the death penalty upon adultery.
Are you there in Leviticus 20?
Look at verse number 10.
Now this is foreign to most Christians.
Most Christians don't understand this, but this is how God feels about it.
And look, in the law, in God's economy, in God's government, in God's reign, adultery
has the punishment of death.
Leviticus 20, look at verse 10.
Leviticus chapter 20 and verse 10, the Bible says this, and the man that committed adultery
with another man's wife, even he that committed adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer
and the adulteresses shall surely be put to death.
The Bible says that Moses, when Moses set up the Old Testament nation of Israel and
their laws, there was a law of death penalty upon adultery.
So the Pharisees are right.
When they say, hey, Moses and his law, Moses commanded that she should be stoned.
They are right because the Old Testament law puts the death penalty on adultery.
But here's the problem.
The problem is that Jesus was not living under the Old Testament law as far as the Old Testament
law being the law of the land.
Jesus and the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes were not living in Old Testament
Israel.
Jesus and the Pharisees and the scribes and this woman and everyone in this situation
is living under the Roman Empire.
And the Roman Empire has their own laws of the land.
And I want you to notice that the Bible highlights for us one of these laws in regards to the
death penalty.
Keep your finger there in Leviticus 20.
We're going to come back to it.
Go back to John, but not John 8, go to John chapter 18.
John chapter 18.
So you should have your place in Leviticus and you should have your place in John.
John chapter 18 and look at verse number 31.
John chapter 18 and verse 31.
Notice what the Bible says.
John chapter 18 and verse 31, the Bible says this, then said Pilate unto them.
Now who's Pilate speaking to?
He's speaking to the Jews.
They want to crucify the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then said Pilate unto them.
Now if you remember the story, and I'm not going to take the time to go through all the
verses, but when the Jews brought Jesus to Pilate, Pilate, he said, I find no fault in
him.
He said, this man has done nothing wrong.
This man does not deserve to die.
So if you remember, Pilate was hesitant.
Now he ended up giving in to peer pressure and he ended up doing the wrong thing, but
he was hesitant to crucify Christ.
Then said Pilate unto them, take ye him and judge him according to your law.
So he says, look, I don't want you to do with this.
Hey Jews, why don't you take him and you judge him according to your law, according
to the Mosaic law, according to the Levitical law.
You judge him.
Notice the response from the Jews.
The Jews therefore said unto him, it is not lawful for us to put any man to death.
See the Jews understood that under the Roman Empire, the laws of the Old Testament were
not in effect.
They were not to be implemented.
They did not have any right or authority to put anybody to death.
So it's kind of silly.
It's funny because Pilate says to them, hey, I don't want to put Jesus to death.
Why don't you guys do it?
And they're like, hey, Pilate, you know the law.
We're not allowed to put any man to death.
But yet these same people come to Jesus and they say, hey, the Mosaic law, the Levitical
law says that this woman deserves to die, but what say is thou?
And see what they're trying to do is they're trying to put Jesus into this catch-22.
They're trying to put Jesus into this no-win situation where there's really no right answer
because remember, what they're attempting to do is they are tempting him that they might
accuse him.
So here's the idea.
If Jesus says, yes, you're right, the law of Moses says that she should be put to death.
Let's stone her.
Let's put her to death right now.
Those Jews would be running to the Roman Empire and saying, Jesus is leading an insurrection
against Rome.
Jesus is telling people to forget about the Roman law and to follow the Mosaic law.
And if you remember, the Romans had this idea where they're constantly trying to put down
rebellion.
They're constantly trying to make sure that the Jews are in line.
They're constantly trying to make sure.
This is why there was this pressure with this coming Messiah because the Jews believed that
there was a coming Messiah that would free them from the Roman Empire.
And the Romans are constantly trying to make sure that doesn't happen.
That's why Herod had all the children two years old and under put to death when people
started showing up and talking about a king being born, a king of the Jews.
The Romans were constantly trying to make sure that there was no sort of insurrection
or rebellion brought up by the people.
So if Jesus would have looked at this woman and said, hey, you know what?
Leviticus 20, verse 10, she's committed adultery.
She deserves to be put to death.
Then they would have turned around and accused him against the Roman Empire as someone leading
an insurrection.
But if he would have said, if he would have answered, no, don't put her to death, yes,
the law of Moses says that she deserves to be put to death.
But we live under the Roman Empire, and it's not lawful for us to put any man to death.
If he would have given that answer, then they would have turned around to all of the Jewish
followers and say, see, he doesn't believe the Bible.
See, he is denying the word of God.
See, he is minimizing the word of God.
See, he's not really a follower of Moses because if you remember the Pharisees were constantly
telling the people, we be followers of Moses, but this man, we don't know where this man
came from.
So they put Jesus in this catch-22 where they want him to answer what should be done with
this woman caught in adultery because the Mosaic law, the Levitical law, says she deserves
to be put to death, but what say you?
And you need to understand the context of the question in order to understand the answer
to the question.
Notice the answer to the question, look at verse 5.
Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned, but what sayest thou?
John chapter 8, verse 6.
This they said, tempting him that he might have to accuse him, notice what Jesus does.
But Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground, I love these words, as
though he heard them not.
You say, what was the answer that came from Jesus, and it was no answer.
He stoops down on the ground and starts scribbling in the sand, starts scribbling in the dirt,
and he pretends he doesn't hear them.
And you say, well, what?
I don't understand the answer to Jesus' question, and here's what you need to understand.
We do not enforce Old Testament law in a secular government.
It is not our place to take Old Testament law and say, well, God put the death penalty
upon adultery, God put the death penalty upon rape, God put the death penalty upon kidnapping,
God put the death penalty upon witchcraft, God put the death penalty on homosexuality.
And by the way, those are all things that God put the death penalty on in the Old Testament.
Well, God put the death penalty on all those things.
So let's get a group going and let's go round all these people up and put them to death.
You know, see, as New Testament Christians, we do not enforce the Old Testament law in
a secular government.
Jesus was smart enough to understand, yes, that's the laws of God, and look, the law
of the Lord is perfect, but we don't live in that government.
We don't live under the Mosaic law.
We don't live under the Levitical priesthood.
We live in the Roman Empire.
There is a law to the land.
So he says, you know what, and he just gives them no answer, as though he heard them not.
Notice verse 7.
So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, and he finally
does give them an answer.
Here's the answer.
He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
That's an interesting answer to the question.
Because they said, hey, she deserves to be stoned.
The law of Moses tells us she deserves to be stoned.
But what says thou?
What do you think?
And he says, well, you know what, first of all, I'm just not going to answer your question.
And they kept pressing him for him, and they continued asking him.
He's pretending like he doesn't hear them.
They keep pressing.
And then he says, fine, you want an answer?
Here's your answer.
He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
And again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
And here's what he says essentially.
Here's what he says in effect, and it's this.
He says, what you are asking to do is above your pay grade.
He says, somebody has the authority to do what you're asking to do, but it's not you.
He says, somebody has the authority to go ahead and give the commandment to put this
lady to death, but it's not you.
You say, how do you know it's not you?
He says, here's the qualification to the authority.
He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
So he essentially says to them, this is above your pay grade.
You're asking questions.
You're asking theoretical questions that you don't have any authority to enforce.
Now, let me just say this, because this is where the story gets misapplied and misunderstood
and misused and abused by the liberals today, and I want you to get this.
Notice what Jesus didn't say.
Jesus didn't say, look, verse seven again.
So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, the Bible doesn't
say this.
He didn't get up and say, hey guys, we're not under the law, we're under grace.
That's not what he said to them, because today, you know what liberal Christians today want
to teach us and tell us?
And they'll take the story to teach it.
They'll say, hey, you know what, we need to just forget about the Old Testament.
We need to just unhinge ourselves from the Old Testament.
We need to just be done with the Old Testament.
The Old Testament law was for another dispensation.
It was for another people.
It was for another time.
It doesn't apply to us.
Just forget about that, guys, we're under grace.
Just eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die.
Notice he doesn't say to them, hey, we're not under the law.
We're under grace.
Forget about the law.
Forget about Moses.
None of that applies.
He doesn't give that answer.
He doesn't say forget about the Old Testament law.
Here's what he says.
He says, yes, we can enforce it if you're without sin.
He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone.
You say, I don't understand what is it that Jesus is trying to tell us.
Here's what he's trying to tell us.
Maybe you should write this down.
We do not enforce Old Testament law in secular government.
However, we do not condone what God has condemned.
Do you understand that?
What do you guys think about the Old Testament law?
We think it's perfect.
We think that if we lived in a society that followed the laws of God, we would live in
a happy and clean and pure society.
So are you going to go out and enforce it?
No, we're not going to condone what God condemns, but we're not going to enforce what our secular
government doesn't enforce.
Look, God did not call us to be lawless.
God did not call us to take matters into our own hands and to go start up a militia and
go march on Washington and let's take over this government and let's make sure that they
enforce the laws of God.
That is not what Jesus was here to do.
And by the way, that's not what you and I are here to do.
Now we acknowledge God's law as perfect.
We do not condemn, we do not condone, excuse me, what God has condemned.
And this is where the liberals, you know, just completely got derailed with this story
and other aspects.
They say, hey, we're done with the law and let's just embrace it.
No, look, he said, if you're without sin, go ahead, do it, go ahead, stone her.
And here's what he's saying.
And I really want you to understand this and keep your place there in John.
Go to Romans, Romans chapter 13.
You're there in John, you've got Acts, Romans, so you should have your place in John, you
should have your place in Leviticus, and now I'd like you to put your place in Romans.
We're going to go back and forth between these three passages, Leviticus, John, Romans, Romans
chapter 13.
And let me say this, you say, I don't understand this whole, he essentially told them that
you're asking to do something that's above your pay grade.
Let me explain this to you.
There is coming a day when the Old Testament law will be the law of the land of this world.
There is coming a day.
Look, don't let the liberals tell you, forget about the Old Testament, forget about the
law, unhinge yourself from the law.
It no longer applies.
Oh, no, it's coming back.
In fact, it never left.
It's always been God's law.
It's always been God's will.
It's always been God's desire.
There is coming a day when the Old Testament law will be the law of the land and that day
will be during the millennial reign of Christ.
You say, well, why can't we do it now?
Why can't we have a militia now?
Why can't we just take, you know, march on Washington now?
Why can't we just take over the country now and do it?
Here's why we can't do it, because you're not without sin, I'm not without sin.
You're asking to do something that's above your pay grade.
You say, well, is there ever going to be a time when the Old Testament law is implemented
and enacted in this land?
Yes, it's called the millennial reign of Christ when he that is without sin will establish
the biblical law.
But till then, till then, stop being so worried about politics and start getting more worried
about soul winning.
Start being so worried about, well, we got to bring in the kingdom of God.
And today you've got these scriptures, well, we got to bring in the kingdom of God.
You don't have to bring in nothing.
Jesus will bring in his kingdom when he's ready to do so.
He called you to preach the gospel.
He called you to reach sinners.
He called you to go out and take the gospel to the uttermost part of the earth.
That's what he's called us to do.
You say, are you denying the Old Testament law?
No, we love the Old Testament law.
And we do not condone what God has condemned.
But we also do not believe that it is our job to enforce Old Testament law.
You say, you're a liberal.
No, actually, I'm just trying to be like Jesus, because in the exact same situation, that's
what Jesus did.
You say, well, what should we be doing today as New Testament believers?
Are you there in Romans chapter 13?
Look at verse 1.
Romans chapter 13 in verse 1 says this, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.
For there is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God.
You know what Jesus did?
He just followed the law of the land.
You know what we should do?
We should follow the law of the land.
Now let me just give some disclaimers, because you need to understand.
There is a place for Christians to disobey the laws of the land.
You say, what is that place?
Whenever the law of the land requires us to sin against God.
See, there is a such thing as authority, as a hierarchy of authority.
This is what the book of Acts says.
We ought to obey God rather than men.
So look, if the law of the land says that we need to kill our unborn children, then
we disobey that law, because God says that a child in the womb is a human.
It's a person, and it should be treated as such.
If the law of the land says no more soul winning, then you know what?
We obey God rather than men, and we continue to go soul winning.
If the law of the land, like Fort Daniel says, you're not allowed to pray anymore, then we
just get on our knees and we pray to God anyway.
If the law of the land says you can't read the Bible, we just read the Bible anyway.
We just memorize the Bible anyway.
We just smuggle Bibles, and I guess we'll have to stand on street corners with trench
coats and Bibles in our trench coats and hand them out and have little gang symbols or something.
I don't know, but we don't follow the law of the land.
If the law of the land is causing us to sin, we obey God rather than men.
But look, as far as enforcing God's law, that's for a he that is without sin.
That is for when there is a, you say, well, when will that come back?
When there is a perfect government, and there will only be a perfect government when there
is a perfect prince, the Lord Jesus Christ, running the government.
Here's what Jesus was saying.
Well, if I want to cast a stone at this woman, I can.
But let me throw a question back at you.
Which of you is without sin?
And he that is without sin, let him cast the first stone.
Now, let me just go ahead and just take a moment and do a compare and contrast here
between adultery and homosexuality, because this is something that's actually thrown in
our faces a lot as fundamentalists.
If you kept your place there in Leviticus chapter 20, go back there, and let me show
you Leviticus chapter 20 verse 13.
This is a verse that we've taught and preached, and we teach our church and churches like
ours, and we get a lot of attention, a lot of negative attention.
We get a lot of persecution for this.
Leviticus 20, 13, the Bible says this, if a man also lie with mankind as he lies with
a woman, both of them have committed an abomination, they shall surely be put to death, their blood
shall be upon them.
And you know, preachers like myself, we get in trouble because we stand up with God's
word and say, you know what, Leviticus 20, 13 tells you exactly how God feels about homosexuality.
And you say, well, why do you have to say that?
Here's why we have to say that.
Because today you've got Christian leaders telling people, God doesn't think anything
bad about homosexuality.
God thinks it's fine.
God accepts it.
We stand up and say, well, actually, I don't know that God thinks it's all that great,
because when God instituted a government, because when God set up a nation, because
when God had the laws of the land, he said, if a man also lie with mankind as he lies
with a woman, both of them have committed abomination, they shall surely be put to death.
And people say, oh, you guys are trying to incite violence.
We never said go kill a sodomite.
In fact, we teach against that.
We say, look, we're followers of Jesus Christ.
We do not enforce the commandments of God, but we will not condone what God has condemned.
So if you want to know what we think, here's what we think.
We think that God put sodomites to death, because that's what he said.
And that's how God feels about it.
And you say, well, what do you think about that?
I think it's great.
The law of the Lord is perfect.
Are you going to go enact that?
Are you going to go make that happen?
Look, we don't live under Old Testament law.
We don't live.
But look, I'm telling you, there's coming a day called the millennial reign of Christ
when all of these Old Testament laws will be in effect.
And it'll be the best society anyone's ever lived in, because the law of the Lord is perfect.
So don't compare these two and say, oh, well, what about this?
Here's what you need to understand.
The comparison is this.
As far as how we look at it and how we apply it, it's the same.
It's the same comparison.
God put the death penalty on certain things.
That ought to teach us how God feels about those sins.
But we don't go and enforce those.
We don't enact those.
We don't put that into our own hands.
That is the job of government to do.
Government should be putting it.
Look, God never gave people the right to just go kill whoever they want.
It was government who had the responsibility of the death penalty.
It is government.
You're not just allowed to go kill whoever you want.
If somebody has done something worthy of death in the Old Testament and even in our government
today, you're supposed to try them.
You're supposed to bring them before judges.
You're supposed to bring evidence.
You're supposed to have their peers look at the evidence and say, yes, this person is
guilty of death.
Then the whole congregation was to go and put them to death.
This is what the Bible teaches.
But let me give you a contrast.
You say, OK, well, then adultery and homosexuality are the same thing.
No, here's where they're different.
And here's where homosexuality falls into a different category of sin.
Go to Romans chapter number 1.
You kept your place there in Romans 13.
And I don't want to spend a lot of time on this, but I do want to make sure I cover this
so that we're thorough.
Romans chapter 1, look at verse 26.
Romans 1, 26 says this.
For this cause, God gave them up unto vile.
You know what the word vile means?
It means repulsive and disgusting.
He gave them up unto vile affections.
For even their women did change, don't miss these three words, the natural use, into that
which is, don't miss it, against nature.
And likewise also the men leaving, don't miss these three words, the natural use of the
woman, burned in their lusts, one toward another, men with men, working that which is unseemly
and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to
a reprobate mind to do those things.
Don't miss those three words, which, notice the three words, are not convenient.
What does that mean?
It means that they don't come normally.
They don't come naturally.
Please understand this.
In the Bible, there are two categories of sins.
There are normal sins and there are unnatural sins.
There are natural sins and there are sins that are not normal.
And listen, we are not minimizing or making excuses for the normal sins.
Adultery is a terrible sin.
It'll really cause a lot of heartache in your marriage.
It can even destroy your marriage if there's no reconciliation and forgiveness.
Adultery is a terrible, terrible sin that no Christian ought to go down that road.
But it's not an unnatural sin.
Do you understand that?
Here's what's unnatural.
Here's what's not normal when a man is attracted to another man.
When a woman is attracted to another woman.
When an adult is attracted to a child.
When a human is attracted to an animal.
Those are unnatural sins.
So look, and when we study the Bible, we need to understand not all sin is equal.
Not all sin is the same.
There are unnatural sins, and by the way, the unnatural sins, God put the death penalty
on all of them.
And then there are natural sins that God put the death penalty on.
Look, you know that you can kill somebody and you're not going to make a reprobate,
but you still, by God's law, should be put to death?
Now, we don't do that anymore in the United States of America.
We don't put murderers to death.
You kill somebody and you go to prison for like 10 years and get out.
But God put the death penalty.
You can be a witch and not be a reprobate, but God put witches to death.
You can commit adultery and not be a reprobate, but God put adulterers to death.
So understand that they're not the same.
There's natural sins, unnatural sins.
All unnatural sins have a death penalty.
All unnatural sins show that your conscience has been seared, that you've been given over
to a reprobate mind.
God has seared your conscience.
You've lost your opportunity to be saved because the only way that somebody could go into those
unnatural sins is if God just seared your conscience.
Because normal people listen to me, and you know this to be true, whether you like it
or not, whether you agree with it or not, you know this to be true.
Normal people don't lust after those unnatural sins.
Teenage boys, we teach them to guard their eyes.
We teach them to look away.
We talk about members of the opposite sex.
We teach teenage boys, hey, you know, you're driving down the road and you see a billboard
with a girl that's dressed immodestly.
You need to look away.
You need to make a covenant with your eyes.
You need to decide that you're not going to look upon her, and not just teenage, all men.
Good night.
Jesus said, whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after hath committed adultery with
her already in his heart.
So what do we teach men?
You need to guard your eyes.
You need to guard your mind.
You need to make sure that you are purposely not lusting after other women.
Why?
Because that is a totally natural sin.
You know what I don't tell a 13-year-old boy?
Now when you're going down that road and you see that queer-looking model in that underwear
ad, look the other way so you don't get tempted.
You know what?
Boys think that's disgusting.
That's disgusting.
You know, a grown man is like, I'm around a little five-year-old kid.
I better be careful.
It's disgusting.
It's vile.
It's unnatural.
The fact that you can go down that road shows that you've been given over to a reprobate
mind.
So there's unnatural sins.
There's natural sins.
And even within the category of natural sin, some are worse than others.
Some got the death penalty.
Some got a financial penalty.
Some got a beating.
Some had no penalty.
God says, hey, don't lie.
But there's no punishment for it.
He didn't give a punishment in his law for it.
He just says you shouldn't do it.
You understand what I'm saying?
So as Christians, we need to be able to look at those scriptures and understand these things.
And here's what we realize.
We realize that Jesus, Jesus did not enforce Old Testament law, but he also did not condone
what God condemned.
Go back to John chapter 8.
We're talking about the lessons that we can learn from the story.
And the first lesson is this.
We see that there is a balance between scriptural law and secular government.
Now that's the longest point.
The rest of the points won't be that long.
We'll finish this up quickly.
But let me give you the second balance we learned in this story.
And the second balance is this balance between learning to speak in every situation.
I love this about Jesus.
And you really only see this with Jesus as far as we don't see it too much with other
Bible characters.
We see it with Jesus because Jesus, of course, was perfect.
But I want you to notice, and please understand this, and this might be foreign to some of
you.
This might be the first time some of you hear this concept or understand this concept.
But let me just help you out.
And it's because of the culture we live in.
But let me just help you out, and maybe you can write this down.
It's not that deep, okay?
But it's something that we don't do today.
And it is this.
The idea that we do not have to answer every question.
You know that?
You do not have to answer every question in every situation.
Did you know that?
Because we live in a Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, whatever social media society today where
everybody thinks their opinion is important and everybody thinks their opinion needs to
be heard.
Well, I've been given the freedom of speech.
Yeah, you know what?
You've been given the freedom to say whatever you want, but wisdom will tell you that you
don't have to give your opinion in every situation.
We learn from Jesus, and I love this.
This they said tempting him that they might have to accuse him, but Jesus stooped down
and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them not.
Go to Matthew chapter number 11.
I'm sorry, not Matthew, Mark.
Mark chapter number 11.
You're there in John.
If you just go backwards, you have Luke and then Mark.
Mark chapter number 11.
Let me show you another story of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Mark chapter number 11.
In Mark 11, we have another face-off between the Pharisees and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice what the Bible says, Mark chapter 11, verse 27.
And they came again to Jerusalem, and as he was walking in the temple, there came to him
the chief priests and the scribes and the elders, and said unto him, here's what they
said.
Here's the question.
Two questions.
By what authority?
By what authority doest thou these things?
And who gave thee this authority to do these things?
Now again, they're trying to catch him in his words.
They're trying to get him to say something that they could use against him.
They ask him, by what authority doest thou these things?
And who gave thee this authority to do these things?
And Jesus answered and said unto them, notice what he says.
I love Jesus.
I love watching him interact with people, interact with people he loved, interact with
people that were trying to hurt him and cause grief to his ministry.
He says, I will also ask of you one question and answer me, and I will tell you by what
authority I do these things.
Here's what he says.
He says, I'll answer your question if you answer mine.
Verse 30.
The baptism of John.
Was it from heaven or of men?
Answer me.
They ask him a question, and he says, okay, let's play a game.
I'll answer your question.
You answer my question.
Baptism of John.
He said, I noticed you guys didn't get baptized when John was baptizing.
So let me ask you something.
I'm wondering about this.
Baptism of John.
Was it from heaven or of men?
Answer me.
Look at verse 31.
And they reason within themselves, with themselves.
Say it.
If we shall say from heaven, he will say, why then did you not believe him?
If we say that the baptism of John came from heaven, then he's going to ask, why didn't
you follow John?
Why didn't you believe what he said?
But if we shall say of men, they feared the people for all men counted of John, that he
was a prophet indeed.
Jesus puts them in a catch-22.
So if we say from heaven, he's going to say, well, why didn't you believe in men?
And if we say it's of men, then we're afraid of the people, because the people all think
that John was a prophet.
Notice verse 33.
And they answered and said unto Jesus, we cannot tell.
And Jesus answering saith unto them, neither do I tell you by wide authority I do these
things.
He says, if you don't want to answer my question, then I won't answer yours.
And here's all I'm trying to tell you is, you don't always have to answer every question.
In fact, in fact, sometimes the right answer is no answer at all.
And you know what I found is funny?
Is that I will take positions, and I will take stands on certain, there'll be certain
fights and certain things going on, and I'll say, hey, you know what, I don't know about
everybody else, but here's where I stand, here's what I believe, here's what I think,
and people will attack me for that.
I can't believe you.
I can't believe you believe that.
I can't believe you say that.
But then there'll be drama and fights, and I just won't say anything, and people will
attack me for that.
Well, Pastor Jimenez hasn't said anything.
What, Pastor Jimenez?
And they'll just start assuming that I believe this, or I believe that, or I believe that.
You know what?
You don't have to answer every question.
You don't have to give your opinion in every situation.
In fact, there are some times when it's okay.
People say, what do you think about, I don't want to answer that question.
I don't have a dog in that fight.
I think you're trying to put me in a situation where you're trying to pin me against certain
people.
You're trying to make sure that I give you a quote that you can use against me, so why
don't you just take a hike?
Oh, you're a liberal.
You know what?
Call me whatever you want.
This is how Jesus lived his life.
He didn't answer every question.
Look, you don't have to answer every question.
You don't have to give your opinion for every situation.
And by the way, Jesus, who's God in the flesh, didn't feel the need to give his opinion in
every situation.
You're not that smart.
I'm not that smart.
So sometimes, look, even a fool, what he holds in his tongue is counted as wise.
So sometimes the best answer is no answer at all.
Go back to John chapter 8.
Let me give you the third lesson from this story.
The first lesson was we saw the balance, the balance between scriptural law and secular
government.
What's the balance?
The balance is this.
We don't enforce Old Testament law, but we do not condone what God condemns.
Then we saw the balance about speaking in every situation, and here's the balance.
Sometimes we stand up to be counted.
Sometimes it's okay to not give an answer.
In fact, sometimes the right answer is no answer at all.
Let me give you the third balance we see in this story, and it is this.
The balance between salvation and sanctification.
The balance between salvation and sanctification, because these are two different doctrines
that balance themselves in the Christian life.
You say, I don't understand what those doctrines mean or what those words mean.
Let me help you with it.
Notice John chapter 8, verse 9.
And by the way, he stoops down and he starts writing in the sand.
There's a lot of talk about and discussion about and arguments about whether or not or
what it is that Jesus wrote in the sand.
We don't know what he wrote in the sand.
The Bible doesn't tell us.
We'll have to get to heaven and ask him.
I don't know what he wrote, but whatever he wrote must have been good.
Notice what the Bible says in verse 9, and they which heard it being convicted by their
own conscience.
He says, look, he that is without sin cast the first stone.
And then he's writing in the sand.
I don't know what he was writing.
I wonder if he was writing.
I don't know.
I don't know what he was writing.
He might have been writing the names of all the women that those men committed adultery
with.
I don't know.
Maybe he was writing a list of all the sins.
Maybe they hadn't committed adultery, but all the sins.
I don't know what he wrote, but whatever he wrote, notice the response, verse 9.
And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one,
beginning at the eldest, even unto the last.
And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
And when he had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman,
where are those thine accusers?
Have no man condemned thee?
Notice verse 11.
She said, I love these words, no man, Lord.
And Jesus said unto her, that's what he says, neither do I condemn thee.
He said, what did we learn from that?
You know what we learned from that?
That is the perfect illustration of salvation.
This woman was guilty, no doubt.
She was caught in the act.
The law had spoken.
She deserved to die, but Jesus forgave her.
He said, where are thine accusers?
He says, where are those thine accusers?
Have no man condemned thee?
She said, no man, Lord.
Neither do I condemn thee.
You know what salvation is?
Salvation is this.
You are a sinner, and you deserve to die and go to hell.
And before you get a little self-righteous about, well, she committed adultery, and
you know what, whatever sin you've committed has condemned you to hell.
And he chose to forgive her.
So you know what we get?
We get this perfect picture of salvation.
What is salvation?
What does salvation say?
Salvation says this.
Salvation says, your sins are forgiven.
Salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ saying, I have the right.
I have the authority.
I am the one without sin.
I have the law to back me.
I have the law of God to condemn you and send you to hell, but I won't.
But I will not condemn you.
I will forgive you.
In fact, I will take my sins upon you, and I will take your punishment.
Go to Romans, chapter number eight, Romans, chapter number eight.
You say, what is salvation?
Salvation is this.
You can basically just sum it up in Romans, chapter eight, verse one.
Notice what Romans eight, one says.
Romans eight, one says this, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ
Jesus.
There is therefore now no condemnation.
He says, neither do I condemn thee.
We see this perfect picture of salvation in the story.
What is salvation?
Salvation is you deserve to die.
You deserve eternal punishment.
You deserve to go to hell.
But Jesus says, I forgive you.
I forgive you.
Go to Romans, chapter five, Romans, chapter five, look at verse 20.
Romans chapter five, verse 20 says this, moreover, Romans chapter five, verse 20 says, moreover,
the law entered.
The law condemns us.
The law judges us guilty.
The law says you are guilty.
You deserve to die.
The law condemns you to hell.
He says, moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound.
What does that mean?
The law came in to accuse me.
The law came in that my offenses, that my sin, that it might be exceeding sinful, that
the offense might abound, but, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.
Aren't you thankful for that?
Hey, for by grace are you saved through faith.
Say, what does that mean, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound?
Here's what it means.
God has more grace than you've got sin.
It means that God can forgive your sins.
God can forgive all your sins.
God, you say, I've done some terrible things.
Oh, like David who committed adultery, God forgave him.
Oh, like Moses who killed a man, God forgave him.
I've done some sins that they're just, they're unforgivable.
Now, look, we're not talking about unnatural sins and becoming a reprobate.
We already covered that.
But look, where sin abounded, the Bible says, grace did much more abound.
Look at verse 21, that as sin hath rained unto death, even so might grace rain through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
So you know what we learn in this story?
Keep your finger right there in Romans.
Go back to John chapter eight.
You know what we learn in this story?
We learn about the balance between salvation and sanctification.
Why?
Salvation says, neither do I condemn thee.
Salvation says, I forgive you and I will take my sins upon you.
But you know that salvation is not the end.
It is only the beginning.
Didn't we learn that with the story of Nicodemus?
He calls salvation being born again.
Why?
Because salvation is just the start.
God then wants you to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior.
So look, salvation says, you are forgiven.
Your sins are forgiven.
Sanctification says, go and sin no more.
See, you know what the liberals want?
They want to tell you, Jesus looked at this woman and he said, neither do I condemn thee.
And yes, that's what he says.
But you know what Jesus says to all sinners that come to him in faith for salvation?
He says, neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more.
That's sanctification.
Salvation is this.
Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.
You know what sanctification is?
Go to Romans chapter 6.
Here's what's interesting.
Romans 5, the end of Romans 5, he says, the law entered in that my offense might abound.
And he says, and where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.
Romans 6 verse 1, he says, what shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
Now, he already told us, if you continue in sin, grace will abound.
Because where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.
He says, salvation saves you.
Salvation forgives you.
Salvation does not condemn you.
There is therefore now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.
He says, but shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
God forbid.
How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer there?
See, when God saved you, he not only took away the condemnation of sin, he took away
the power of sin on your life.
You don't have to live in bondage to sin.
You don't have to live addicted.
You don't have to live the way you lived before.
And Jesus looks at this woman and he says, where are thine accusers?
Because you know what Jesus does to the law?
He dismisses it.
He says, if any man accused you, none, Lord.
None, Lord.
He said, neither do I. Salvation.
But then he says, go in sin no more.
Sanctification.
And see, in the Christian life, we have this balance.
Salvation forgives you.
Sanctification cleans you.
Salvation says, I don't condemn you for your sin.
Sanctification says, but don't live in sin.
Salvation says, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.
And sanctification says, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
God forbid.
So we see this balance.
We see this balance.
What is it?
Oh, we see a balance between scripture, law, and secular government.
We see a balance about speaking out in every situation.
And we see a balance about salvation and sanctification.
In this little eight verse story of the woman caught in adultery.
That's Fireheads in our Word of Prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we love you.
And we thank you.
Because the truth of the matter is that no matter how good we are, no matter how righteous
we are, we all deserve to die.
And we all deserve the same hell and the same punishment that this woman caught in adultery
caught in the very act deserved.
Lord, I pray you to help us to live in this new identity you've given us in Christ.
That we are forgiven.
We are not condemned.
We can work through the guilt and we can work through the shame and we can work through
the pressures of our sin.
And we realize that sin has its consequences and we will reap what we sow.