(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

service in every aspect of it, Lord. We pray this all in Jesus' name, amen. Amen, we're in John chapter eight this morning, this evening, excuse me. The title of the sermon this evening is Go and Sin No More. Go and Sin No More. Of course, here in the beginning of John chapter eight, we have the famous passage dealing with the woman taken in adultery. And it's a very famous passage. Most of us know it already, especially if you read through the Bible a couple times. And unfortunately, it's a passage that's often misused to teach a couple things, right? For one, you think of the crowd, the sinless perfection crowd, that will often use a passage like this to say that God expects for us not to sin anymore completely after salvation. And this is what we would call the sinless perfection doctrine, where people will teach that as soon as you get saved, you will no longer desire to sin, nor should you sin. And if you do sin, then you're just not saved, okay? That's that teaching there. And they think, and obviously they pull passages like this out of context, and passages in 1 John chapter three, for example, we're gonna look at tonight as well. But they'll say, well, Jesus told the woman who's caught in adultery, go and sin no more. Therefore, we as God's people have that same commandment that we're not to commit any sins after salvation. That's one of the teachings that we see that people will use this scripture for, out of context, of course. But then there's the other crowd that will seek to soften the blow of sin by pointing to the fact that Jesus Christ told the Pharisees, you know, he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone. And they will often point to this and say, you know, we should tolerate people and be patient with people. And they will condemn a church like ours because we practice church discipline, okay? According to the 1 Corinthians chapter five. And when people catch wind of the fact that we practice church discipline, they'll often point to John chapter eight and say, hey, you know, Jesus said he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone. And my response is, well, I haven't cast stones at anybody when I throw them out of church. No one has ever put to death when they're involved in these sins in our church. They don't get, we don't cast a stone at them, we just cast them out. I know they both have the word cast in there, but it's two different, completely different things, okay? And so one teaching that they'll use is they'll say, we should live a holy life to the point where you're not committing any sin, sinless perfection. These are the Ray comforts of this world, right? Where Ray comfort will literally say, I don't commit any sins, I don't desire to sin. He's just like glorified already in his mind or whatever. This nonsense, but then you also have the other crowd, the liberal crowd, the bleeding heart that will condemn any condemnation of sin by a pastor, by a church, any church discipline is just wrong. We should be able to tolerate this and not cast stones at them, but they're both wrong, okay? And both of these views are wrong and a biblical balance needs to be established when looking at this passage. Now look down at your Bibles of John chapter eight. Here are a few points to consider before we get into the actual story of the woman caught in adultery. First and foremost, we need to understand that when we're studying the Bible, when we look at transgressions, we look at iniquity, we look at sin in the Bible, God views them in varying degrees and some are actually worse than others. Now obviously we understand that James chapter two verse 10 tells us, whosoever keepeth the whole law, yet offended in one point, he is guilty of all, right? So in other words, someone who just lies, which obviously we understand that no person just lies and doesn't commit anything else, but let's compare a liar to a thief, right? Or a thief to a murderer, okay? All these sins that we see here, all of them merit eternal damnation according to the Bible. Because the Bible says that sin is the transgression of the law and God's standard is perfection in order to go to heaven. Well, obviously none of us could ever be perfect and that's why we need the perfection of Jesus Christ in order to have eternal life, right? Well, so what the Bible's telling us in James chapter two verse 10 is the fact that it's showing us the perfect standard of God. In other words, lying is worthy of eternal condemnation just as murder is, why? Because God's perfect standard is perfection, okay? And so lying will get you to hell. This is why the Bible says, but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. It isn't saying that just those particular sins will get you in hell, it's saying that even lying will get you to hell, right? Even being fearful will get you to hell. Even being unbelieving will get you to hell. Why, because any particular sin, because it's a transgression of the law, merits eternal damnation no matter what it is that you do. Now, the reality is this, is that maybe you've never murdered in your entire life, right? Maybe you've never committed murder, maybe you've never committed adultery, maybe you never did something worthy of physical death, right, but maybe you're just dishonest. Well, according to the Bible, we still merit eternal damnation because even though that's good for you, it's not good enough for God, okay? And so the concept that we see here is that certain sins are worse than others. Look down at your Bibles, in verse one it says, Jesus went unto the mountain of Olives 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 and the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery and when they had sent her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken into adultery in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned but what sayest thou? Now, this is the only time that the Pharisees are actually right, okay? Most of the time they're lying, they're wrong, but here, they're actually telling the truth, okay? You know, they're not being Pharisaical by actually telling the truth. Now, by what means they got to this point, might have been dishonest. We don't know exactly how this really played out and how is it that they caught this woman in the very act. We don't know all the details because the Bible doesn't tell us but what we do know is that Moses did say that such a person should be put to death under Levitical law. Now, when we say under Levitical law, we're referring to the fact that under a theocracy, under the fact that Israel at one point was under the rule of God himself, he was the king of Israel, he established these particular laws and death penalties in the land and he deputized his people to carry out the death penalty for people who were worthy of it, okay? Because he considered certain sins, not just sins, there were crimes in the Bible. So obviously lying is a sin but if you bear false witness against another brother and seek to want to put him to death, then you would actually be put to death if you're bearing false witness, you understand? So yeah, obviously lying is a sin but bearing false witness of someone who committed a crime worthy of death is not just a sin, it's a crime. So we have to understand there's sins but there's also sins that are considered crimes in the Bible, right? And adultery would be considered one of those, okay? And in fact, go with me if you would to, go to Matthew chapter 23, if you would, Matthew chapter 23. And the reason it's important to make that distinction is because of the fact that you have people today that just kind of label all sexual sins as being kind of the same exact thing. But you know what? Actually it's the same exact thing in the sense of they're all sins worthy of hell but on the other hand, the Bible actually makes a distinction between certain sexual sins. For example, you have adultery and fornication which are both sexual sins but one is actually more grievous than the other, you understand? Adultery being someone breaking their covenant that they made before God, right? Going outside of that marriage and committing that sexual sin with another person, that's called adultery and that according to the Bible, according to Leviticus 20 verse 10, is worthy of death, okay? Because you're breaking a covenant before God, you understand? Whereas fornication is just a sexual sin that's done between people who are not married. It's still wicked, it's still sinful, it's still a transgression, it's still sinful but the reality is this is that we know that it's not as bad as adultery because of the fact that the death penalty was not instituted for fornication, okay? There's a different punishment laid on fornication, it wasn't the death penalty and it shows you that God hates adultery more than he hates fornication. I mean fornication is bad but he hates adultery so much that he wanted them to be put to death for committing such a wicked crime. It wasn't just a sin, it was a crime in the eyes of God. And let me just say this is that it's still a crime today. He said not in the United States, I understand that but in the eyes of God, it's still a crime. So the law of God didn't become null and void once the United States of America just kind of popped up. You understand? Now obviously, we have to abide by the United States law. We can't just be like, well, I'm under that theocracy, brother. I go under a different law, you know, just start putting people to death. Now we're not deputized to do such a thing, right? We don't live in that world, that's not the realm that we live in but we do understand and by the way, we have the freedom and the responsibility as Christians and more specifically myself as a pastor to tell people, yeah, this person's worthy of death. Oh, you're gonna, what are you gonna do? You're promoting, you know, violence. No, I'm promoting the death penalty by the government to put these people to death. I'm saying that that's what they should do. Are they gonna do it? No, the government never does what we tell them to do. So there you go. But you know, somehow it's like a hate crime just for saying what the Bible says and saying that these crimes are worthy of death or something like that. No, it's a proclamation, it's a declaration of God's word and if you wanna get secular about it, it's just an opinion that I have. Since when was an opinion a crime, okay? It's a crime to opinionate on actual crimes which is insanity, okay? The Bible says in, you're in Matthew 23, I'm gonna read to you from John 19 verse 11. Jesus answered, thou couldest have no power at all against me except that were given thee from above. Therefore, he that delivered me unto thee, listen to this, hath the greater sin. So according to the Bible, there are actually greater sins. Okay, look at Matthew 23 verse 14. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you devour widows' houses and for pretense make long prayer. Therefore, ye shall receive the greater damnation. Now let me explain something, okay? Hell is hell, right? I mean, regardless of what part of hell you go to, it's bad. But according to the Bible, there's actually a greater damnation and according to the Bible, the Bible actually describes a part of hell known as the lowest hell which would probably describe that which is the hottest part of hell. And what God is saying here, what Jesus Christ, when he's preaching against the Pharisees, he's saying these Pharisees, these fake religious leaders, these hypocrites who are coming in the name of God, because they're perverting the ways of the Lord, they're actually worthy of a greater damnation. Aside from the fact that they're already damned. They're already gonna split hell wide open. They're going to the bottom of the barrel. They're gonna receive a more severe punishment by God for perverting God's word. So you know what? The murderer will go to hell if he dies without Christ, obviously. And he's gonna be in hell, but did you know that the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes who pervert the word of the Lord, they actually go to a deeper hell, a hotter part of hell? Why, because they have a greater damnation put upon them because their crime is far more severe than just the murderer, you understand? Go to Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter number 10. Hebrews chapter number 10, certain sins are worse than others, okay? And people will say, no, you know, the Bible says that all these sins, they're sinful and we're just as bad as this person. Well, here's the thing. If we're talking about regarding the punishment of hell, yeah, you're right. But did you know that safe people commit sins and sometimes can even commit sins that are also crimes? And at that point, there's a punishment that needs to be dished out, you understand? Or even this, maybe they're not committing sins that are crimes in the eyes of God, but they are sins that merit excommunication from a church. Where God says you can't commit these sins and be in the church and just perpetually live in fornication or be an extortioner or be a railer and just expect to continue to be in the house of God. Oh, he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone. Okay, I'm not a railer, so where's the stone at? If that's the standard you wanna go by, because according to the Bible, yeah, judge not that you be not judged for what judgment you judge, you shall be judged. And what measure you meet, it shall be measured to you again. Bible talks about removing the beam out of your own eye before you take the mode out of someone else's. And then he says, then you can judge. Well, apparently, if I as a pastor, I'm not railing, I'm not committing extortion, I'm not a fornicator, guess what, then that places me in a position to be able to judge those who do in the local assembly. You understand? And so there are sins that are worse than others. What do I have you turn? Look at Hebrews 10, verse 29. This is in context of a believer. Because later on, a couple of verses later on in Hebrews 10, he says, vengeance belonging to them to me, say it the Lord, I will repay, and the Lord shall judge his people, right? Well, look at verse 29, of how much sore punishment suppose ye that shall be, excuse me, shall he be thought worthy, who have trodden under the foot, the son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace. I want you to notice the very beginning of that verse, of how much sore punishment. In other words, a worse punishment should come upon a person who just is unwilling to repent, they're just committing sin willfully, they're living in rebellion against God, they're causing others to stumble, and the Bible says they deserve a much sore punishment. Now, obviously, this isn't saying that we should punish them. Now, if they're in the local assembly, like we're gonna look at in just a bit, the Bible says that we have the responsibility to give them over unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, okay? And then let God deal with them while they're out there committing whatever. So certain sins are worse than others, you know, adultery is worse than fornication, murder is worse than lying and theft, okay? Sodomy is worse than adultery. Now, they're both worthy of death. But according to the Bible, sodomites are not only worthy to be put to death, according to the Bible, they actually make the land vomit. Bible never says that adultery makes the land vomit. But you know what? If you permit these sexual perversions and sins in the nation, and it gets to a point where sodomy is being committed, there's a lot of consequences that come upon the land because of it, okay? And ultimately, of course, God would just destroy that land, as he's doing to the United States of America. It's worthy of a sore punishment, okay? Go back to John chapter eight, if you will, John chapter eight. So there are sins that are worse than others, we see that here. And obviously, the woman that's taken in adultery, yeah, she is worthy of death. But the difference is this, is that they're under Roman rule, okay? And the Romans did not put people to death for committing adultery, unfortunately, that's just where they're at. But it still made it a crime, okay? It still made it a crime worthy of death in the eyes of God. Look at verse six. 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. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. Now, what did he write on the ground? I don't know, by what it doesn't say. So that's all we got, okay? I mean, we can speculate what he wrote, we can say, well, I think he's writing Old Testament law, he's writing Leviticus 20, 10, or he's writing Where is the Man? You know, he could be playing tic tac toe, I don't know what he wrote. It doesn't really matter, okay? It could be that he's just trying to be disrespectful towards the Pharisees. You know, you ever talk to someone and then they're just doing something else as they're talking to, it's just they kind of walk away and do other things. They're just kind of looking the other way. It kind of annoys you, doesn't it? You want their full undivided attention, right? Well, he's kind of doing that to them. He's just like, just writing on the sand, he's probably not even writing anything, I don't know. He's probably just squiggling in the sand, just to kind of take them off a little more, okay? And it says he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. What does that tell us? It tells us he's not against the death penalty. Right? You say, well, who's the one that is worthy to cast a stone? Well, Jesus is the one worthy to cast a stone, because he's the one who's without sin. But here's the difference, is that he came not to destroy man's lives, but to save them, right? And he had the ability, and he did, to forgive her and exonerate her of that sin of adultery. And we'll get into the fact that he tells her, go and sin no more. But go to Romans chapter 13, if you would, Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter number 13 is the famous passage dealing with governmental authority, okay? And look, folks, let me just say this, is that it's important for you to understand that some sins are worse than others, because if you don't believe that, then you're gonna have a hard time loving the law of the Lord. You're gonna wonder, like, why, you know, you're gonna have this skewed interpretation of the God of the Old Testament, right? And then you start dividing the God of the Old Testament from the God of the New Testament. You know, you'll come up with these weird doctrines that says, well, the God of the Old Testament, God the Father, he's just mean, and just destroys people, and kills people, and destroys nations, but the God of the New Testament, Jesus Christ, you know, he's not like his dad. You know, he's more kind, and he's just coming to save people. Well, here's the problem with that, okay? First of all, the Lord never changes. He's the same today, yesterday, and forevermore. Secondly, there's more carnage, blood, punishment, and vengeance being dished out in the New Testament than in the Old Testament. That's right. On a bigger scale. Because in the Old Testament, punishment, and death penalties, and all these things, were only subject to a small portion of land called the Middle East, right, Israel. That's it, nowhere else. Whereas in the New Testament, you have the book called the Book of Revelation, of Jesus Christ. And the Bible talks about the wrath of the lamb. And you have entire chapters dedicated to Jesus Christ, just completely pouring out his wrath upon an ungodly world for their fornication, their sorceries, their ungodliness, their hatred towards God, their blasphemies. And there's a lot of carnage taking place, okay? And so, you know, you can't point to the scripture and say, well, Jesus is just, you know, he's changed a little bit in the New Testament. No, because Romans is also in the New Testament. Second Peter chapter two is still in the New Testament. You know, Jesus did, how about this? Jesus said, if it were better than a millstone were tied about his neck and he would drown in the depths of the sea. Jesus said that. Okay. And look, folks, I know that the Book of John is in the New Testament in our books, but this is actually taking place during the Old Testament. So for you to say that he's changed, you're saying that he's violating his own law. Okay, Steven Furtick. God broke the law for love. He said that. He literally said, God broke the law for love. Like God broke his own law because he loved us so much. That's so wicked and blasphemous. And that fool is gonna suffer the greater punishment. He's gonna go to the lowest hell. He's worthy of the greater damnation for teaching such a damnable heresy. That God broke the law. No, he came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. That's what the Bible says. Folks, if Jesus Christ broke the law, he wouldn't be able to save us. Because sin is the transgression of the law. So you're saying that Jesus Christ sinned. I know it sounds so inspirational, you know, not to me. If I was in that church, I would stick my fingers on my throat and just puke in that church and say, this is disgusting. That's what I would do. You know, it's such a stupid thing to say because Jesus Christ is God, he's perfect. You know, he would never break his law. He fulfilled the law. That's why we're able to receive the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Because he fulfilled it completely, perfectly, without flaw, okay. Look at verse one of Romans 13. I don't even know how I got off on that, but it was good. Look at verse one. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there's no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisted the power, resisted the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works. We need to give that verse to the police officers out here, amen. Don't be stopping me from soul winning. But to the evil, wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do thou which is good, and thou shall have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God to thee for good, but if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain. For he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. So according to the Bible, God has ordained governmental authority, whether saved or unsaved. He's deputized them to carry out executions, okay. He doesn't bear the sword in vain. In other words, God didn't give him a sword just to make him look cool. It's a tool to be used to put people to death, okay. He is a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore you must need to be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For for this cause pay tribute also, for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. So this is the New Testament. This is the Apostle Paul advocating for the death penalty. He's talking about the sword not being in vain. It's supposed to execute wrath upon him that do with evil, et cetera. This is what the government is supposed to do. Now does the government do that today? No. To a certain extent they do. You know, they'll punish certain evil doers, but not to the extent of the Bible, but it's where we live. It's what we gotta do, all right. We gotta deal with. I will say this. You know, obviously I'm not for the position of police officers, but I do appreciate the police officers who were there in Omani when we were being protested because they fully took our side. And I was thinking to myself, hey, these people are actually following what the Bible actually says. Because they're supposed to protect and serve, right? Isn't that what they're supposed to do? You know, the innocent of Omani, which we're Christians. Now I remember when that happened, they came to me and they said, hey, we're not your bodyguards. We're not your security. You know, we're here to keep the peace between both parties. And I'm like, these guys are in for a show then. Because reprobates are implacable. So anybody with any common sense will see God-fearing people with families, ladies with dresses, you know, men who are dressed sharply with children coming to church, and then they'll see these dogs barking at them. And they're gonna be like, well, this is the right side. And that's exactly what happened. To the point where the police officers were literally in front of the building, arms crossed, being our security. It's like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We can't be your security, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. They're like. Because they understood, they're like, wow, these people are really bad. These people actually need protection from these people because these people are really bad. So that's a prime example of, you know, governmental authority actually doing their job to protect the innocent. And I remember there's times in Omani when we'd go out sowing, it wasn't the nicest area, and police would come and they'd stop and they would actually ask us, are you guys okay? Are you guys safe? Everything all right? We're like, yes, sir, all right, please be careful. And they would patrol the area. That was great. You know, they were doing their job, amen. I haven't had any bad run-ins with the police prior to getting saved, so I think they're great, you know, as long as they're doing their job. Okay, I've never been arrested, all right, relax. So what we see here is the fact that, you know, he's not approving them putting her to death because of the fact that they're not necessarily under the sovereign of the Old Testament where God is telling them to do so, okay? But we also see that he's not necessarily telling them not to, he's just saying, here's the stipulation, you have to be without sin, okay? Verse eight, go back to John chapter eight. And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground, and they which heard it being convicted by their own conscience went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even until the last, and Jesus was left alone in the woman standing in the midst. So obviously, you know, these Pharisees were just being self-righteous. Obviously, you know, they weren't necessarily trying to execute the laws of the Lord. They had some selfish reason behind it, and in fact they were doing it because of envy towards Jesus Christ. They were trying to catch him in his words. You know, they were trying to deceive and try to catch him, so obviously it fell apart. Look at verse 10. And when Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? Now, this is a beautiful verse right here, okay? Because he says, where are thine accusers? And when we look at this from a spiritual perspective, you know, the accuser of the brethren is Satan himself. Right, that's what the Bible calls them in Revelation chapter 12, the accuser of the brethren. Why does the Bible call him that? Well, because he goes to God day and night accusing us to the Father. That's what he does, you know? And, you know, he's constantly accusing us and condemning us, because look, folks, we're not perfect, we sin every single day, you have particular sins that you struggle with, I have particular sins that I struggle with, and you know what, we have someone who's constantly fighting against us, his name is Satan, and for whatever reason, he has access to heaven still. That's what the Bible says, that he is the accuser of the brethren, you know? But thankfully, the Bible says, what? That we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Amen. So, you know, Satan never wins that court case. He sucks as a lawyer, he sucks as a prosecutor, because for thousands of years, he's accused the brethren to God the Father, and Jesus Christ, who's the greatest lawyer of all time, because he's actually honest, because he's the originator of the law, so he's a lawyer, right? The advocate, well, he's already paid for those sins. That's why the Bible tells us, little children, these things I write unto you, they sin not, but if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, okay? And he's the perpetuation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And so, we never wanna be like the Pharisees who accused the brethren, you understand? We as Christians, obviously, we have a mandate to not tolerate sin in the house of God, that we should not keep company with people who are involved in particular sins, but at the same time, there are specific sins that don't merit excommunication, and the Bible says that we should cover the multitude of sins, you understand? We should turn people to righteousness, help them in the Christian life, help them to become better, and cover the multitude of sins, and not seek to magnify people's flaws and their shortcomings, okay? And at that point, I would say, yeah, be patient with people. You know, there's people who come into church, and maybe they don't dress like you. You know, maybe they're literally feminine. The last thing you should do, be like, oh, is that guy a faggot? Excuse me, sir. You know, and just like, folks, maybe his sin is just being effeminate. You understand what I'm saying? And so, you know, sorry they haven't had a five-week course on manliness like you did. You know what I mean? They don't know all those variables and factors. They need to grow in their knowledge of God's word and understand biblical manhood or whatever. You know, and obviously we live in a day and age where guys, they're not sodomites, but they, you know, I've seen guys paint their hair like different colors and stuff, and they're not sodomites. They're just effeminate, you know? And it's frustrating, I get it. You know what I mean? But, you know, we gotta be careful not to just pinpoint every single person like that and think that they're sodomites. Folks, the public schools of today are churning out a lot of just effeminate people. Right. Just soft, limp-wristed people, and it's sinful in the eyes of God, but don't turn them away when they come to church. Be patient with them, be kind to them, teach them, because maybe that's a sin that they struggle with, okay? Or, you know, maybe ladies come to our church and they have pants. They have, you know, jeans or pants or whatever it may be. You know, don't condemn them for it. Let them learn. Let them learn. And one of the best ways for them to learn is by example. It's not like, girl. You know, just kind of like making them feel like a whore or something like that. Like, what, what's wrong, you know? This is how, this is one of the best ways to help people dress appropriately. You dress appropriately. Be an example unto the believers, the Bible says. My father-in-law used to say, things are rather caught than taught. A lot of things are rather caught than taught. Some people begin to change the way they look, change the way they dress, just based upon how other people look and dress. It's just how it works, okay? And leave the preaching to me, okay? Because when I preach from the pulpit, I can just rip on pants and be looking faggoty and all this stuff, and you know what? It's just very general for the public. And whoever's guilty of that, you know, they shall receive it. And so let's not be accusers of the brethren, where we're just accusing them and just pointing out their sin and magnifying their flaws. You know, that's actually pretty bad, okay? That's what the devil does, okay? Look at verse 17 of John. Oh, wait, wait, where am I at here? Oh, go to John chapter, oh, we're gonna skip that, actually. Let me see here. I lost my place. Okay, verse 10 of chapter eight. When Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She said, no man, Lord, and Jesus said unto her, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Now, before I get into that phrase, let me just explain the fact that by saying this, he's basically forgiving her, okay? And we know that Jesus Christ had power on earth to forgive sins while he was on this earth, but even now, he has the ability to forgive sins, right? And in fact, he doesn't necessarily do it the way that he did it here. We believe on Jesus Christ and then we're forgiven of past, present, and future sins, okay? By believing on him. But he says there in verse 11, she said, no man, Lord, and Jesus said unto her, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. What does that mean when he tells her, go and sin no more? Well, again, the sinless perfection people will say, well, this is proof that once you get saved, you cannot continue in sin. You cannot perpetually commit sin because he specifically says there, go and sin no more. Well, at that case, then we would have to say that the Bible's contradicting itself. Because everywhere else in the Bible says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There's none that do with good, known at one. There's none righteous, known at one. There's not a just man upon earth that do with good and sin it not. And the Bible also teaches us over and over again that we live in a corruptible body that will sin every day this side of eternity. So let me ask you, is the word of God perfect? Yes. And if it's perfect, then we look at this and say, well, we have to reconcile what Jesus is saying here to everything else that the Bible says. And recognize there's no contradiction. This is not like we're not dispensationalists here where we wrongly divide the word of truth and say, well, this is for this dispensation. What he's saying here is for a different dispensation. Right now, we're under the dispensation of grace. False, stupidity, okay? Context is key, folks. When he says go and sin no more, it's obvious what sin he's referring to. Right? Adultery. He says, go and sin no more. And in context, he's referring to the adultery that she was caught. Because he's not saying see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. He was like, you never did it. He's telling her, hey, I'm not gonna condemn you, but don't commit that sin anymore. Because here's the thing, adultery, although the Bible can describe it in Matthew chapter five as the sin of the heart, adultery as being the sin of the heart doesn't get you put to death. Because there's no such thing as like a thought police going around checking what you're thinking. And God didn't say that he puts people to death for what they think in their heart. Okay? He puts them to death, according to the Bible, based upon the physical acting out of it. And that's what he's referring to. He's referring to the physical act of adultery. Okay? So what he's telling her is saying, don't commit this sin again. Okay? And look, you know, there's another story where if you remember, you have the paralytic man, he's coming to the pool, and then, you know, Jesus Christ heals them, and he tells them, go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee. You understand? So we don't know the whole story with him. We don't know if he committed some sin that caused that sickness in his life or whatever it may be. But he's saying, hey, go and sin no more, because a worse thing can come upon you after that. He might be referring to the consequences of sin. Because folks, there are consequences of sin, and we're not talking about hell. However, for a safe person, there are built-in consequences to transgressions. There's built-in consequences to adultery. Venerial diseases, bastard children. You know, there's all types of consequences that you get when adultery is committed, and aside from God punishing you. You understand? And so what Jesus is telling her here is saying, don't commit adultery anymore. You need to forsake that sin. But you look at the new versions of the Bible, these modern versions of the Bible, they'll say from henceforth, you know, don't live a life of sin. Well, that's confusing, right? That's implying that you just don't sin in general, period. Okay? Whereas the King James Bible says, go and sin no more, and it's in context of adultery. Now go to Galatians chapter five. Galatians chapter five, if you would. Because I run into these people all the time, on social media, mostly on social media, because, you know, I put out a lot of content out there, and it attracts a lot of different types of Christians, with a lot of messed up theology. Okay? And it's gotten to a point where it's just like, you know what they're gonna say, because they use the same format as everyone else. Right? One of the favorite ones to use is right here in Galatians, chapter number five, verse 19, it says, now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envies, murder, drunkenness, revelings, and such like of the which I tell you before, as I've told you in time past, that they which do such things, shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Now this would imply that someone who's committing these sins is not gonna go to heaven. Right? That they shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But I want you to notice the beginning of verse 19, what does it say? Now the works of the what? Flesh. Well, duh. Romans seven tells us for me that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For to wills present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. And when you study Romans chapter seven, you see that there is this constant battle between the new man, the spirit, and the old man, which is the flesh. Now according to the Bible, listen to this, according to the Bible, your spirit does not sin. It's not sin, it can't, why? Because it's born of God and it can't commit sin. But that doesn't mean that you don't sin because along with the new man, you also have the element of the old man as well. Which is called the flesh. And if someone who says well I don't have the flesh, then it's just like what's this thing you got on your muscles and your bones then? That's, your flesh is referring to your body, your members. Okay? And that flesh commits works of sin. I mean it listed all the ones that it's capable of and it says that that flesh shall not inherit the kingdom of God. This is why folks, when a Christian dies, they bury him six feet deep to symbolize the fact that as a seed goes into the ground and when it comes up, it comes up completely different. Well in like manner, when you die and you're buried, you're not gonna come up looking like, Maury, you're not gonna come up looking like you, Maury. Like we know you today. You're probably happy about that, okay? You're gonna look different. No, I didn't mean it like that. Look at this instigator over here. Duh! Buh buh buh buh buh buh! I'm saying, you know, Maury, when he's resurrected, is not gonna struggle with sin. Amen. Why, because a resurrected body, a glorified body shall arise. You say, why can't my body, you know, be resurrected? Because the flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Right, right. And the Bible tells us flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Right. It has to be completely transformed, transfigured, glorified, changed into something completely different to become a sinless person, okay? Right now, we're only like half sinless, if you wanna say it like that. Because one half of us is the spirit. The other half is the flesh. The flesh lusteth against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh. These are contrary to one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would. That's why the Bible says, walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. So obviously, the goal of a Christian should be, you know, to sin less. You know, if you come from a life of drunkenness, or you're just like dishonest, or fornication was in your past, you know, God wants you to clean those things up, go and sin no more. But that doesn't mean you're not gonna sin anymore, because you still have this corruptible flesh that are manifest in this lifetime, okay? That will commit these things. Now, what's the difference? Well, look at verse 22. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. Here's the difference, verse 24. And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust. So according to the Bible, if we're saved, our physical body, spiritually speaking, has been crucified with Christ. Buried in the likeness of his death, raised again to newness of life, you understand? So salvation has brought death to our members, okay? You know, obviously the law puts us to death, but we are crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And so what this is showing us is the fact that we have an upper hand over anybody who's not saved. Because the person who's not saved doesn't have the spirit, so all they can do is just sin. They don't know how to do right. The plowing of the wicked is sin. They just perpetually, you know, do wrong in a sense in the eyes of God, their righteousness are as filthy rags. But any good that we do is obviously a manifestation of our spirit, okay? And when we do wrong, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, et cetera. We have an advantage over those who are not saved because our flesh is crucified with Christ, okay? Go to Galatians, I'm sorry, go to Ephesians chapter five, Ephesians chapter five. I'm gonna read to you from Romans six, verse six. It says, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that we henceforth should not serve sin. That's what the Bible tells us. He says, for he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ being raised from the dead die no more, death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died into sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. And this is what the Bible says, likewise, reckon yourselves also to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, that ye should obey in the lustre of. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. We have a choice. We can either walk in the Spirit, and manifest the works of the Spirit, or the fruit of the Spirit, or we have a choice to obey the flesh, allow the flesh to reign over us, et cetera, we can sin no more, right? And not commit those sins that we used to commit, or we can just say, you know, forget it, I'm just imperfect, I'm not even gonna try, okay? Look at Ephesians five, verse one. Here's another way to save what we saw in Galatians chapter six, chapter five, excuse me. Look at Ephesians five, verse one. Be therefore followers of God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as becoming saints. So it's like you're saying, don't be characterized by these things. You're a Christian, you're a believer, you shouldn't be involved in these sins. Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, listen to this, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater, hath any what, inheritance in the kingdom of Christ, and of God. So you know what, a Christian could spend his life just not serving God, living in sin, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and when they go to heaven, they're not gonna have an inheritance. There's no reward for them. Why, because they lived unto the flesh, okay? So there's no inheritance in the kingdom of God for someone who just perpetually lives in sin, and doesn't serve God, okay? Go to First Corinthians chapter five, First Corinthians chapter five. First Corinthians chapter five. Now, obviously we're not perfect, we see that, that there's a constant battle between the new nature and the old nature. But let me just say this, is that it doesn't mean that every Christian has to tolerate, or allow people in church who are involved in particular sins. Look what it says in verse nine. I wrote into you in an epistle not to company with fornicators, and then he further clarifies it in verse 10, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or with the extortioners, or with idolaters, for then you must needs go out of the world. So he says, don't take this commandment too far. Sometimes people can get a little too radical, sometimes they're a little more holier than God or something, you know? It's like, oh, I can't work at this place because there's a bunch of fornicators there, it's just like, where are you gonna go to Mars? Are you gonna follow Jeff Bezos into space? Like, that's not gonna help, you know? He's one of the worst people out there in this world, okay? He's saying, look, obviously not altogether with the people of this world, because then you have to go somewhere else outside of this world, because this world is filled with people like this. So don't have a self-righteous attitude that you're working at a job where there's a drunkard or something like that, it's like, I can't be around, this is not a Christian environment. Yeah, because it's not church. Why do you want everywhere, it would be nice if like, everywhere we go is just Christianized, but this is the real world we live in, okay? You know, in that case, don't go to the grocery store, don't go to, you know, whatever store or whatever, don't buy coffee at whatever, don't go to this restaurant, why, because they're filled with people like that. You know, why is it that it only applies to where you work? Hmm, that's not in my notes, but you know what, let me ask this question. Why do you complain about it only when it comes to work, but you're okay with going everywhere else where there's fornicators and all this idolaters? You know, it's called laziness, it's called you're a sloth, it's called wicked, okay? You're obviously not gonna be in a place where there's a bunch of Christians. And let me say this, sometimes you're not even gonna work at a place where you have a Christian boss. Sometimes they're gonna be froward, they're gonna cuss you out, they're gonna be mean to you and hurt your little feelings. But you know what, if you don't like that, then go work on the moon or something, because according to the Bible, this is what we have to tolerate while we're here on this earth, okay? And so, and obviously, I'm not talking about like abuse, you know, if your boss is like slapping you upside the head or whatever, unless it's your dad or something, you know, if he's like physically abusing you, then it's time to get a new job, okay? I'm saying like, you know, what people consider verbal abuse today, or abuse that's verbal, it's just like, you're just, you need to develop some thicker skin. You don't know how to do anything right, ah! It's just like, people get hurt for the smallest thing, you can't correct them on anything. Look at verse 11, but now I've written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother. So now we're getting into the realm of Christians, right? If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, was such a one, no not to eat. So it's not saying you can do everything else with them, just don't have a meal with them. It's giving you this exaggerated example to say, you shouldn't even share a meal with them. Which implies, just don't be with them at all. And by the way, it says fornication, but you know what, this also includes adultery, right? And let me just clarify, is that 1 Corinthians 5 is referring to a church, okay? Obviously we could apply this to ourselves, in a sense of, you don't wanna just hang around with other people who claim to be Christians, but they're involved in these sins, okay? This is referring to the context of a church, and saying, look, we can't tolerate people like this in church, so, oh, but he that is without sin among you, let him first cast his stone. I'm not trying to put them to death. Stop exaggerating, you know? We're just following biblical mandates not to tolerate this. He says in verse 12, for what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within? Don't judge. Well it says I'm supposed to judge people who are within. But them that are without, God judgeth. Therefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person. So think about this. God has deputized us as a church, more specifically me as a pastor, to judge the church, and he says, I judge those, God judges those who are without. Therefore, because God judges those who are without, we should put away from ourselves that wicked person. Why? Because then we allow God to judge them. Does that make sense from the context here? He's saying, but them that are without, God judges. He's gonna chastise them, he's gonna spank them and punish them, and try to bring them to a place of repentance where they get right. But then he says, therefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person. So we're not helping people by allowing them to remain in church and be involved in these sins. We're actually aiding them in their sin and causing more wrath to come upon them and our church as well, because a little leaven, leaven it the whole lump according to the Bible. So the best thing that we can do is cast that person out so they can be chastised of the Lord, humbled, and be restored, come back, and they can live happily ever after, okay? And so, you know, this concept of, oh, he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone, doesn't apply to church. Discipline doesn't apply to church, okay? You know, we could obviously say, okay, I get what you're saying, but we're not trying to put anybody to death. You know, I'm not trying to kill anybody. You know, as much as I'm for the death penalty and a lot of people out there, I'm not gonna take matters into my own hands. But when it comes to this arena known as the church where we have jurisdiction over, yeah, we have the right to say no homos allowed. No pitos allowed. No, you know, rapists allowed, you understand? Oh, you're not loving. Well, yeah, how did you notice? I'm glad you observed that, okay? How are they gonna change? Well, here's the thing, they can't change. You can't reform them. If you could, then God would have said, here's the 12-step program for the sodomite. Is there, do we see a 12-step program for them? No. And notice that sodomy is not on the list here, right? For casting people out of the church because it's not even allowed in the church. It's like common sense. Common biblical sense tells you that you just shouldn't be allowed, okay? Go to 1 John chapter three. We'll finish off in 1 John chapter three. Go in sin no more. So when you come to church and you hear about a particular sin, you should take it as, hey, go in sin no more. Stop drinking alcohol. Put out the weed. No more doing, I don't know, acid or whatever. NAS or something. What's the famous drug nowadays? Meth? Oh yeah, don't do that. Xanax? Don't do Xanax. Don't take steroids. I mean, what else we got? What's another drug out there? Mushroom psychedelics. Only mushrooms on pizza. You know, those of you who don't like mushrooms on pizza, go in sin no more and put mushrooms on your pizza. No, I'm just kidding. It's not a sin to not like it. You know, put away from yourself that sin. You know, if you are given to dishonesty at your job, you know, go in sin no more. Be an honest person, okay? And again, this doesn't mean go in sin no more. You're no longer dishonest. Now you're sinless. It means you've repented of that particular sin. And look, God expects us to clean up our lives, folks. I mean, you could go too far into the other direction when you say, you know, oh, you know, we should just come as we are and leave as we were. No, come as you are, but you should leave a little changed. The longer you're in church, the more you read the word of God, the more you look into the perfect law of liberty. You walk away and you start making good changes to your life. You start developing good appetites and good habits. You have good relationships with people in church. You put away from yourselves, wicked people who are causing you to sin. You know, this is what God wants. You know what? God is into reformation. And I remember people used to say, oh, you know, God's, he doesn't want us to be reformed. He wants an honest change. No, he wants reformation. He wants you to be reformed. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. And purify your hearts, you double minded. He said, do both. Be reformed. Hey, I'm not against some young man coming to our church, looking as worldly as the day is long and having some good peer pressure to dress right, look right and act right. Why? Cause he's purifying his hands. He's cleaning his hands. He's changing how he looks, how he acts and how he talks. And then eventually the heart also follows folks. That's how it typically works. God is into reformation. Okay. Just not those other reformers that teach Calvinism. All right. Look at first John chapter three, verse four. Let's go and explain this verse here, this passage here. Whosoever committed sin transgresseth also the law for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him, sineth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you. He that do its righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committed sin is of the devil. For the devil sin is from the beginning. For this purpose, the son of God was manifested. He might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God. So this is a pretty common passage that people would try to use to teach a sinless perfection. They say, you know, whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. Are you born again? Yes. Then why are you committing sin, right? But folks, you have to understand first and foremost, we gotta see that he's giving two extreme examples, right? Because he's saying, whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. And then in the previous verse, in verse A, he says, he that committed sin is of the devil. So here's the thing, are you saying that any person who commits just any little sin, if they're a Christian, automatically transfers them into being of the devil? No, he's giving extreme examples, okay? And I'm gonna try to put this cookie on the bottom shelf for you to eat and enjoy at this moment, okay? When it says whosoever is born of God, it's obviously referring to our spirit, right? Because our body's not born of God. That's why it sins, okay? Now one day we shall receive the redemptions of our body, where our body is glorified according to Romans chapter eight and it will no longer sin, it can stand before God sinless. But that's not where we're at right now, okay? The aspect of our being that is born of God is our spirit. And the spirit never sins. It perpetually does right. When we quench the spirit and are fleshly, it doesn't sin, but that means the flesh is sinning. You understand? Now at this point we're walking in the flesh. In other words, we're not obeying the spirit. Doesn't mean the spirit is sinning, it just means we're not obeying the spirit. To do righteousness, we're obeying the flesh and that's why we're sinning, you understand? So what this is teaching us here is the perpetual right of what the spirit does. And this is why it gives us the extreme example in verse number 12, or excuse me, verse number eight. He that committed sin is of the devil. Now let me ask you this. Is everyone who's unsaved of the devil? No, the Bible actually describes them as children of disobedience and children of wrath. Children of the devil is a certain segment of the population that are called reprobates, okay? You know, we saw it in John 844. Ye are of your father, the devil, the lust of your father will ye do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not into the truth, for the truth is not in him. He's talking to religious leaders who have been given over to a reprobate mind they can only perpetually do wrong and they can't change that. So let me say this. So when someone is born of God, that can never change. We don't lose our salvation, right? Well, when someone is condemned eternally, such as a reprobate, they can't change that either. So just as the spirit perpetually does right, in like manner of the reprobate, perpetually does wrong. This is why the Bible says in Romans 1 that they are filled with all unrighteousness. That they're laden with sins. They can do nothing but sin because their entire being is corrupt, okay? And let me just prove to you that this is what it's talking about. Look at verse 10. In this, look at verse 10. In this, the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil. Showing you that there's a distinction between the two, okay? So it's not saying, oh, you commit sin, oh, you're of the devil. You're of the devil because you can't even do right. No, that's not what it's saying at all. It's giving you the extreme examples of someone who is damned eternally, called the reprobate, someone who's plucked up by the roots, twice dead, right? And someone who is eternally secure. They're saved. They can never lose their salvation because the Bible doesn't teach that. This is what that's referring to, okay? So when it says, whosoever's born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him, it's referring to our spirit, okay? And here is the way that you can tell that this is the ironclad promise here is, well, can a reprobate do right? Never. A reprobate can never, a child of the devil can never do right. And even the right that you think that they're doing is a deception. Because they could only perpetually do wrong. Why? Because whosoever committed sin is of the devil. It's giving you two extreme examples of both. Someone who's a reprobate and someone who's born of God. Okay? So let me just finish with this is that, you know, when he tells her in John chapter eight, John chapter eight, go and sin no more, obviously he's specifically referring to adultery, but this is a great message for us to learn as well. Okay? Not to take sin lightly, not to think, well, you know, I'm saved so I shouldn't sin, or, excuse me, I'm saved so I can just commit sin and just kind of do whatever I want. Well, yeah, you can, but you know what? There's a punishment that God's gonna give you for that here on this earth. And it's a sore punishment because you're willfully sinning. Okay? And you know what? As a dog returned to his vomit, so a fool returned it to his folly. So if you're like, well, you know, I'm saved, yeah, you won't lose your salvation, but you know what, you will lose his honor. You know what you can lose is a child. You know what you can lose is good health. Hey, you know what you can lose is your life. Because there's instances in the Bible where God sees someone go so far into sin that he says, all right, I'll just take him out. Folks, look up the sermon that I preached one time, it's called Our God Kills. And this is a true saying and worthy of all acceptation. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. I pray, God, that you'd help us, Lord, as your people to continue to work on this matter of sanctification and to live a life that's pleasing unto you, Lord. We know that we will never reach perfection this side of eternity, but we should strive to do that which is pleasing to you, Lord. And I pray, Lord, that you'd help us to understand that and guide us, Lord, and help us to love righteousness and to hate sin and bless us as we go on our way. We love you, we thank you, pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.