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Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, everybody. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. If we could go ahead and take our seats, we'll get started with our first hymn for this night. Go ahead and turn in your hymnals to song number 121, Like a River, Glorious. Song number 121. Again, that's song number 121, Like a River, Glorious. Again, that's song number 121, Like a River, Glorious. Again, that's song number 121. Again, that's song number 121. Again, that's song number 121. Amen. Let's bow our way to prayer. Dear Father, we thank you again that we could be in your house this Sunday night to hear the preaching of your word. I just pray you bless Pastor Shelley right now that you can fill in with your spirit. Lord, help us to hear this message and apply it to our hearts that we could walk out of here as better Christians. We love you, Father, and we thank you for all that you do. I just want to pray these things in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Next song is song number 114, The Great Physician. Song number 114. The Great Physician, 114. The great physician now is near the sympathizing Jesus. He speaks the drooping heart to cheer. Oh, hear the voice of Jesus. Sweetest notice, air of song. Sweetest name, immortal tongue. Sweetest carol ever sung. Jesus, blessed Jesus. Your many sins are all forgiven. Oh, hear the voice of Jesus. Go on your way in peace to heaven and wear a crown with Jesus. Sweetest notice, air of song. Sweetest name, immortal tongue. Sweetest carol ever sung. Jesus, blessed Jesus. All glory to the dying lamb. I now believe in Jesus. I love the blessed Savior's name. I love the name of Jesus. Sweetest notice, air of song. Sweetest name, immortal tongue. Sweetest carol ever sung. Jesus, blessed Jesus. And when to that bright world above we rise to be with Jesus, we'll sing around the throne of love. His name, the name of Jesus. Sweetest notice, air of song. Sweetest name, immortal tongue. Sweetest carol ever sung. Jesus, blessed Jesus. Good evening. Thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you didn't get a bulletin already, you can slip up your hand and Usher can come by and get you one. On the front we have our Bible memory passage, Exodus chapter 20, week 2 of 26. Obviously as we do these, the bigger the chapter, the bigger the prize. But for those that have not collected their Psalms prize, I should have more prizes up here. So if you didn't get your prize, you can come on down for Psalms 23 real quick. And we have either a choice. We have a couple of Herb Meyer books or a gift card, if you'd like to get one. So I know a couple people didn't get that on Wednesday. So if that's you, this is your opportunity. Come on down. What do you want, Clay? Those Sunday morning onlys that quote the verse, you know, they just really missed out. So they can blame Dylan. It's his fault. No, I'm just kidding. All right. Thank you so much to everybody that participated and everyone that works on that. The best prize is to have the Word of God in your heart. So on the inside we have our service and soul winning times. If you'd like to participate in any of the church-wide soul winning times, all you have to do is just show up. Regional soul winning meets at different parts throughout the city. And then let's go and get a count for the last few days. Was there anything to report from Thursday? Thursday? Anything? What about Friday? Two for Friday. All right. And then what about Saturday? What about yesterday? Okay. So 20 for Saturday. And then what about today? I know the van had five. What was outside of the van? It's like 28 for today. Praise the Lord on that. Keep up the great work on soul winning. And then also on the right, we have our list of expecting ladies as well as our prayer list. And so please be in prayer for all of them. Also, we have our soul winning marathon this upcoming Saturday. Breakfast from 9 to 10. Who's planning on coming to the soul winning marathon? Just have an idea. All right. And then there is a sign-up sheet for those that want to go to hear Pastor Mejia preach. I just want to have some kind of general idea. If you need a ride also, you could even mark that. And I'll allow probably a group. They can head down that Saturday night in the church van and hear Pastor Mejia probably come back that Sunday evening. And so if you'd like to go, just fill out that sheet. Even if you're taking your own transportation, everything. If you just want to sign up just so that way we have an idea of how many people maybe to expect are playing down there. I'd love to pack out that place. And so I'm really excited to have him come out, especially with all that they're going through. It means a lot for him to still come out there and preach for them. And so if you haven't heard Pastor Mejia in person, he's a great preacher. And we'd encourage you to go and hear him. I'll be preaching both services here. On the back, we also have a couple of the marathons. Galveston, March 6th. The mega marathon, April 3rd. And then Austin marathon, May 15th. So we have lots of great stuff. That's pretty much all that I had for announcements at this time. Let's go to our third song for the evening. Song number five in your hymnal. Song number five, When I survey the wondrous cross. And that's song number five. When I survey the wondrous cross. Song number five, When I survey the wondrous cross. On which the prince of glory died. My riches gained, I count but loss. And bore contempt on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast. Save in the death of Christ my God. All the vain things that charm me most. I sacrifice them to his blood. See from his head, his hands, his feet. Sorrow and love flow mingled down. Dead e'er such love and sorrow meet. O'er thorns composed so rich a crown. Were the whole realm of nature mine. That were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine. Demands my soul, my life, my home. As the offering plates are being passed around, please turn your Bibles to John chapter 8. John chapter 8. In John chapter 8, the Bible reads, Jesus went into the Mount of Olives, and early in the morning he came again to the temple, and all the people came unto him, and he sat down and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought into him a woman taken in adultery, and when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such to be stoned. But what sayest thou? 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 lived up himself and said unto them, He that is without stone among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 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 unto the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 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. Then spake Jesus again to them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that falleth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou barest record of thyself. Thy record is not true. Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true. For I know whence I came and whither I go. But ye cannot tell whence I come and whither I go. Ye judge unto the flesh. I judge no man. And if I judge, my judgment is true. For I am not alone, but I am the Father that sent me. It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bears witness of myself, and the Father that sent me bears witness of me. Then said they unto him, Where is thy father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me nor my father. If he had known me, he should have known my father also. These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple. And no man laid hands on him, for his hours not yet come. Then said Jesus again to them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins. Whither I go, ye cannot come. Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come? And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath, I am from above. Ye are of this world, I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, That ye shall die in your sins, for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? and Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. I have many things a saying to judge of you, but he that sent me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. They understood not that he spake to them of the Father. Then said Jesus unto them, When he have lifted up the Son of man, then ye shall know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he that has sent me is with me. The Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things that please him. As he spake these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue my word, then are ye my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou, ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin, and the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. I know that ye are Abraham's seed, but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my Father, and ye do that which ye have seen with your Father. The answer said unto them, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God. This did not Abraham. He do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication. We have one father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your father, ye would love me. For I proceeded forth, and came from God. Neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why ye do not understand my speech? Even because he cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and aboden on the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinces me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God's works. Ye therefore heareth not, because ye are not of God. Then answered the Jews, and said unto them, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, hath the devil? Jesus answered, I am not a devil, but I honor my father, and ye do dishonor me. And I seek not mine own glory. There is one that seeketh and judges. Verily I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets, and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead, and the prophets are dead? Who makest thou thyself? Jesus answered, If I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my father that honoreth me, of whom ye say that he is your God. Yet ye have not known him, but I know him. And if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you. But I know him, and keep his saying. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then took the upstones that casted him, but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. Father, we thank you this night to give us to hear the word of God preached, and we pray you bless, pass, and show your renown from the Holy Ghost, help him to be able to teach us in a way we can all be edified, and grow closer to you, and grow strong in the faith, Lord, and thank you for everything you've done for us, thank you for sending your son to die for our sins, and we pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Let's look back at verse number one again of John chapter eight. It says, Jesus went into the Mount 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 set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned, but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him. And the title of the evening sermon is this, A Woman Taken in Adultery, A Woman Taken in Adultery. And we see here that this is a kind of a story that is mentioned in John chapter number eight, and it's a story that a lot of people love to take, and use, and twist to teach a lot of false doctrines. And so I think what's important is just to slow down, and to really think about this story, compare spiritual with spiritual, and make sure we're walking away with the right interpretation. Notice this phrase though in the end of, or the very beginning of verse six, but it says this, this they said tempting him that they might have to accuse him. So in this scenario we have the Pharisees and the scribes, they're trying to trip up Jesus constantly, constantly arguing with him, they're constantly this contention between the two of them, and their goal is to destroy Jesus. Their goal is to get this guy out of the picture, and so they're always concocting all these different schemes, and these different scenarios to try and prove him wrong, or to try and get him to make a mistake, or ultimately to destroy him. And notice that they are not sincere in this request. Notice they didn't bring a woman caught in adultery, or taken in adultery because they actually care about a woman taken in adultery. They don't really care about the sin of adultery, they don't really care about this woman, they don't care at all. They're just trying to use this as a way to trip up Jesus, a way to accuse Jesus, a way to do something negative to Jesus. That is their motive, that is why they're doing the thing that they're doing. And so we have to come to this story from an adversarial approach. You know, this is not a story that's just a thing that they're sincere about, or they're wanting to figure out. There's something conniving about this situation, okay? And so it's important to understand that concept when you're coming into this passage to say, okay, what is it that they were trying to do? How are they trying to trip up Jesus? How are they trying to tempt them? What is this story about? Well, let's think about a couple things first of all. If you would, go to Leviticus chapter number 20. Go to Leviticus chapter number 20. We have a woman taken in adultery. They say that Moses said that she should be stoned, okay? Is that true? Well, let's look that up. Leviticus chapter number 20. Let's see what the Bible says. Leviticus chapter 20 verse number 10. 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 adulterous shall surely be put to death. So in this scenario that they're trying to tempt Jesus or to try to trip him up, this part's accurate. It is accurate that Moses said that a person caught in adultery should be put to death. Now some will point out the fact that why did they bring the woman and not the man too? Well, we don't know that reason, okay? They should have, according to the Bible, because notice it says not just the adulterous, but the adulter also should be put to death. That also shows me they must not have been very sincere because they didn't take the adulter with them either. They're just grabbing this woman and they're trying to take advantage of this situation to tempt or to try Jesus, okay? Go back to John chapter number 8. Go back to John chapter 8. So what would be the possible way that they're trying to tempt them or to try to have something to accuse against him? Well, let's read verse 6 in entirety and then let's read a little bit more. It says in verse 6, 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. Verse 7, 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. And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. So Jesus Christ, he's minding his own business. He's been preaching the word of God. Then they come out of nowhere with this woman. They are trying to tempt him by saying, This woman was caught in adultery. Moses said we should put her to death. What do you say? And then he just ignores them. Now, why is he ignoring them? You know, my viewpoint or why I think that he's ignoring them is because it's a grievous situation and he realizes they're trying to trick him. He realizes that they're trying to have something to accuse him. And technically speaking, he's not necessarily an active participant in this, because the eyewitnesses of a capital crime are the ones that are first supposed to put someone to death. OK, if you're not an eyewitness or you didn't witness the crime, you're not going to necessarily be the person leading the charge on this type of a case or anything like that. But additionally, I think that he's just thinking about how to handle this situation. OK, because number one, Christ cannot contradict the Old Testament law. And one thing you have to understand is they're not in the New Testament. I know that we're in the New Testament as far as our Bible is concerned, but they themselves are not entered into the New Testament yet. OK, go if you would to Matthew 26 for a moment. Go to Matthew 26. Let me prove this to you. Matthew 26. And let's look at verse number 28, because some people would say it is what I hear often. They say, oh, Jesus got rid of the death penalty in the New Testament. OK, well, first of all, he didn't. Number one. But but let's let's just keep with that logic. Even if Jesus Christ got rid of the death penalty in the New Testament, they're not in the New Testament. OK, so that's irrelevant. Look at Matthew 26. Look at verse 28. This is the Lord's Supper. He says, For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. So notice the New Testament is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. So while Jesus Christ is on this earth, something you have to understand is they're still under the Old Covenant at that point. It's still the Old Testament. So even if hypothetically, which he didn't. But again, even if Jesus Christ got rid of the death penalty in the New Testament, he's still in the Old Covenant. He's still in the Old Testament. And Jesus Christ can't contradict the Old Testament. OK, so that would mean that this woman would be guilty or worthy of death, according to the Old Testament law, according to Moses. So then what's what's the problem with Jesus Christ just saying, let's stone her then. OK, or let's just put her to death or, you know, let's go ahead and put this woman to death for her sin. What would be a potential problem with that? Well, as you read the Bible, you're going to find out why that's a problem. But I want to show you some reverses before we get there. Go to Matthew chapter number five. Go to Matthew chapter number five. You say, well, Jesus was changing things. Jesus was, you know, getting rid of certain laws. Jesus is the nicer God. You know, God the Father is kind of angry and Jesus is kind of nice. Wait a minute. I think he spoke on the Old Testament law. What did he say? Matthew chapter five, look at verse 17. Think not that I'm come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. So what Old Testament laws did he destroy? None. He didn't destroy the law or the commandment against adultery. He didn't destroy any of the Old Testament commandments. He came rather to fulfill the commandments to fulfill all the scripture about himself. He didn't destroy any of the law. OK. Now, what about adultery itself? He even spoke on adultery. Look at verse number 27. You have heard that it was said by them of all time, thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say commit adultery. No, that's not what he said. What did he say? But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Now, let me ask you a question. Did he just make adultery less sinful or more sinful? More sinful. He said not only should you not commit adultery, don't even look upon a woman, you know, to lust after her. Don't even look upon a man. Don't look on a person and lust after them because that's a type of adultery. That's adultery in your heart. So he's raising the bar of righteousness. He's saying I'm not destroying any of the Old Testament law. He's still under the Old Covenant. So how can he contradict Moses by saying, nope, let's not put her to death? OK, that's not going to fit very well. Go to Mark, chapter number seven. Go to Mark, chapter number seven. And in fact, we have other places in this scripture where Jesus Christ upholds the death penalty. He preaches the death penalty and he rebukes the Pharisees for not believing in the death penalty, for getting rid of the death penalty. OK, look at Mark, chapter number seven and look at verse number nine. And he said to them, full well, you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, honor thy father and thy mother, and whoso curseth father and mother, let him die the death. And does that sound like someone that believes in the death penalty or doesn't believe in the death penalty? Sounds like he does to me, right? He says, but ye say. So Jesus is saying, let him die the death. But then he says, but ye say. So who's he talking to? The Pharisees, they don't believe in that, do they? He says, if a man shall say to his father and mother, it is Corban, that is to say a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother, making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered, and many such like things. So who is it that would take the Old Testament law and make it of none effect? Jesus or the Pharisees? The Pharisees. The Pharisees are the ones that rejected the death penalty. They rejected the word of God. Essentially, you know, this is a kind of a difficult passage. I'm not going to explain it in detail. I'll just tell you what it means. But essentially, you're supposed to honor your father and mother, not just with respect, but also financially. And instead of giving money to their parents, they would just say, oh, you know, the money that I have, the possessions that I have, it's Corban. It's a gift. So I can't give it to you. You know, it's something devoted. Corban just means it's something devoted or it's already spoken for. So basically they're saying, oh, you can't have my cow. It's a gift to the Lord. I can't give that to you. And then they would not have to give anything to their parents. So anytime their parents ask for something, oh, no, I can't give that to you. It's already been devoted to the Lord. It's already spoken for. It's already given. So they don't actually honor their father and mother. They don't actually do anything for their parents. They don't bless them. They don't help them. And then according to the Pharisees logic, now they don't have to give any money to their parents. And so it's just an excuse to get out of actually honoring their father and their mother, taking care of them, doing right. And by that, he rejects the commandment and makes it where they don't even have the death penalty for not honoring thy father or their mother, which is a grievous sin. OK, now go to John Chapter 18, John Chapter 18. Now, I took a little time to explain that. Because I don't want you to get the wrong idea. Jesus Christ was pro death penalty. Jesus Christ preached the death penalty. He didn't soften his viewpoint on adultery. He didn't soften his viewpoint on the law. He didn't destroy any of the law. He wasn't against any of the law, OK? But there is a way that the Pharisees were trying to trap him, OK? And you have to kind of read through all the Bible. And I didn't even figure this out myself. I heard someone else teach it. And it makes perfect sense. But if they start putting people to death, there is a problem. Because the Jews are not in complete control of their own government. They're actually under Roman rule, OK? And whenever the Pharisees deliver Jesus unto the Romans, there's an interesting exchange. Look what it says in John Chapter 18, verse number 29. Pilate then went out unto them and said, What accusation bring ye against this man? So they brought Jesus, Pilate saying, you know, what's this guy's problem? What's the accusation you have against him? Verse 30, they answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee. FYI, they have no accusation. This guy's a racist or something. You know, it's a malefactor, right? Verse 31. Then said Pilate unto them, Take him and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto them, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death. So notice the Jews are saying something. Hey, we're not allowed to just do whatever we want. We don't have free reign with our laws right now. The Romans are over us and it's not lawful for us to put any man to death. Okay, now there's other places where they ask Jesus Christ tempting him if they had to pay taxes. And what did he say? Render under Caesar. What's due to Caesar, right? And what's to God to God. So Jesus Christ said, Hey, we're free. The children are free. Technically speaking, we shouldn't have to. Technically speaking, if we had our own laws and you know, we're of God, we don't have to pay these Romans, but we shouldn't offend them. We should just abide and submit ourselves to their authority. So obviously at this time, they're supposed to abide under the authority of the Romans. The Romans are the ones that are in power. You know, it's not for us, even though we have civil laws mentioned in the Bible, it's not for us to just impose our own civil laws on our, on our like area. We're supposed to abide by the civil laws that were already been given to us. Okay. We live in America, specifically Texas. And even within that, we have local municipalities. We're in Tarrant County. Okay. And then within that, we're in Hearst. So there's going to be certain authority structures and civil governments that are already in place. And we're under those. Okay. And so we're supposed to submit onto those to the best of our ability. Now this is what you have to understand. Number one, Jesus Christ has to agree with Moses. Okay. But number two, he cannot violate Roman law. You know why? Well, let's keep reading. He says this in verse 32, that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should die. Now that's an important statement. Why is that an important statement? If the Jews were going to kill him, how does the Old Testament law prescribe for someone to be killed? They're supposed to be stoned to death. But wait a minute. Jesus Christ is supposed to be what? Crucified. Now who does crucifixion? Romans, signifying that he was not going to be put to death at the hands of the Jews, but rather the Romans. Hey, when they drag Paul out and they're trying to kill him, how are they trying to kill him? Are they killing him by putting him on a cross? No, they're stoning him. How did they kill Stephen? They stoned him. But you know what? Jesus Christ wasn't going to be stoned. He was going to be crucified. It's Christ crucified, signifying what death he was going to be put under. Why? Because the Jews delivered Jesus under the Romans to be crucified. But what if Jesus Christ in this parable... I'm not a parable. It's actually a real story of this woman taking adultery. But in this story, if he had said, let's just kill her. Go for it. What if he just started throwing stones? What would happen? The Jews would have had at least two witnesses, there were lots of people there, to then go to the Romans and say this guy is trying to put people to death, which is not lawful for us to do. And then the Romans would have had a reason to put Jesus to death or to punish him. But Jesus Christ could not have died for his sin. He could not die for any wrongdoing. Pilate said, I see no wrong... He's blameless. I find no fault in him. He washes his hands clean before all the Jews. And then they say, his blood be on us and on our children. So Jesus Christ, whenever he died, he had to die as a spotless, perfect, blameless lamb. And there would have been fault with him if he had rebelled or usurped the authority of the Romans here and tried to put someone to death. So Jesus has to do something. Jesus has to agree with Moses and yet not put this woman to death. So then what does he do? Go back to John chapter number eight. He comes up with a very clever way to handle this situation. Look what he says in verse seven again. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said to him, he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. Now, it's funny to me that, you know, any time you ever preach against any person, you mention the death penalty, you mention any kind of judgment, they're always like, you know, let him that is without sin. And I'm like, do what? What's the latter part of that? Oh, yeah, cast a stone at her. Let me ask you a question. Did Jesus say put her to death or not to put her to death? He said to put her to death. And then people point that this is a proof that Jesus abolished the death penalty. I'm like, what? He literally said to kill her. He literally said, let's stone her to death. He just didn't put a condition on it that he knew none of them would actually, you know, go ahead and follow through with because they're all sinners. So it's a perfect way to answer them, to shut them up. Did he disagree with Moses? No, but at the same time, he wasn't going to be guilty to where they could take this to the Romans and actually put him to death. And so it's a perfect way to answer this question. OK, number one, he can't contradict Moses. And number two, he can't start a rebellion. He can't be punished for rebellion, you know, for sedition like Barnabas was. Barnabas obviously committed murder, too. But, you know, they could have looked at it that way. They would spin things, right? Even if they'd put this woman to death legally, according to God's law, they would have said he murdered her, wouldn't they? They would have flipped the script and they would have said, oh, he's committing, you know, he's rebellious and he's committing murder and sedition and everything like that. But we know that the Lord Jesus Christ is without sin and his law is without sin. But he's still willing to submit himself under Roman rule. You know, go to Romans chapter 13, go to Romans chapter number 13. And I'm sure this was a very grievous thing. It's not like he's really interested in seeing people get away with murder or getting away with adultery or getting away with grievous sin. And he doesn't like being tempted by these people. Romans chapter 13, look at verse number one. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt 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. Wherefore he must needs be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake, or for this cause. Pay ye tribute also, for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues, tribute to him, tribute is due, custom to him, custom, fear to him, fear, honor to him, honor. Now isn't that consistent with what Jesus did when he paid taxes? He still paid that tribute. And is it consistent with the fact that he was still subject to Roman rule, to Roman law, even though it was contradicted to God's law? So this tells me that no matter what society I live in, no matter where I find myself, I'm still supposed to submit to the government's authority to some degree. And it's not for me to just say, you know what, I'm judge, jury, and executioner. I saw what God's law is, and let's just start a lynch mom. Let's just start executing law, how we see fit. Obviously, that sounds good to some degree, but that's not what we're supposed to do. And that's not our fight. It's not our fight to go out and create a self-governing entity, and rebel against the United States, and to go against their government. God put certain powers in place, and we're just supposed to submit to the best of our ability. Now obviously, if there becomes a strong contrast to God's law from an individual perspective and the government, we ought to obey God rather than men. But as a collective, we're not supposed to create our own government and usurp the government authority that God has placed over us, okay? And we see even Jesus Christ submitting to that type of authority. Now, to give you more information about how Jesus supports the death penalty, go to Genesis chapter 18 for a moment. Go to Genesis chapter 18. Well, I just think Jesus got rid of the death penalty. Well, look, the Jesus that's in John chapter 8 is the same Jesus in Genesis chapter 18. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So I'm pretty sure he doesn't mind putting people to death. If Jesus was fine with it in Genesis 18, he's going to be fine with it in John chapter 8, okay? And not just John chapter 8, Revelation. And not just Revelation, every time, okay? Genesis chapter number 18, look at verse 16. And the men rose up from thence and looked towards Sodom, and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. And the Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? Now, I find this a very interesting statement. It's like God knew. Man just can't handle the death penalty or something. And he's like, should I even tell Abraham what I'm going to do? Because why? Because it's just like you tell people that you believe in the death penalty, they just freak out. They're like, what? You actually think that people should be put to death? And it's like, look, putting someone to death is way less severe than hell. Have you heard a place called hell? God's going to put a lot of people to death in hell, okay? But God's telling him, hey, there's something I'm going to do, Abraham. Look at verse 16. Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him. And they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. So he's basically saying, look, I don't really need for Abraham specifically to know about Sodom and Gomorrah, because he's not going to turn into Sodom and Gomorrah. You know, he doesn't necessarily need that example. He's a good guy. He's going to raise a righteous family. You know what? God knew that we aren't as great as Abraham, and our society is going to need this story, so he's going to bring us this story and tell us all about it, and then bring it up in the New Testament. Look at verse 20. And the Lord said, because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me, and if not, I will know. And the men turned their faces from thence and went towards Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before the Lord. So God's saying, look, I'm going to go check this place out, figure out if it's as bad as I've heard from all the cries, from all the prayers, and then I'm going to deal with it. I'm going to judge it. Look at what you would in chapter 19 and look at verse 24. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah, brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. So two angels go down. You know the story. There's a bunch of Sodomites there, and they're trying to, you know, hurt and harm these men, and they're men with men, going after that which is evil, strange flesh, and obviously it's as bad as he said. Every person shows up at this house to hurt them, every single man. And then we see them getting punished, but who does the punishment? The Lord from the Lord. So how can you tell me that God's not okay with the death penalty? He's literally issuing the death penalty on this entire city, on all these cities. It's the Lord raining fire from heaven down. Now look, that Lord is the same Lord that's walking in John chapter number eight. So then how can you tell, oh, he's done with the death penalty now. No, he's not done with the death penalty. He's fine with the death penalty, okay? Now, it's interesting that as I'm speaking to you, and I'm telling you this, most every Christian today would not agree. They get very angry about the death penalty and the death penalty for certain sins, and they say, oh, I can't believe that you'd want these Sodomites to be put to death. Well, God did, okay, number one. But then for thousands of years and hundreds of years, Christians understood this. Understood this. And when I say Christians, New Testament Christians understood this. You know what's interesting? I have a book with me. It's called The Laws of Connecticut, an exact reprint of the original edition of 1673, okay? So I have a reprint of the laws in Connecticut, which is a state in the United States, okay? And you know what they have? They have a section on the death penalty called Capital Laws, okay? Let me read for you a couple Capital Laws. Because look, when we read this story about a woman caught in adultery, you know, that story was available in 1673. You know how our kingdom's Bibles translated 1611? And they read John chapter number eight, and guess what? They still have the death penalty, okay? They still have the death penalty for lots of things, all right? Now, they have this thing called Capital Laws. Let me give you the first one, all right? Because all you constitutionalists are going to, you know, blow a gasket. Here's the first Capital Law of Connecticut. If any man or woman after legal conviction shall have or worship any other god but the Lord God, he shall be put to death. Deuteronomy 13, 6, 17, 21, Exodus 22, 2. That's the first law. Sounds like the Constitution's a little bit different. Here's number two. If any person within the colony shall blaspheme the name of God, the Father, Son, or Holy Ghost with direct, express, presumptuous, or high-handed blasphemy, or shall curse in the like manner, he shall be put to death. Oh, you guys, you're teaching something new. You guys want to bring us under a theocracy. It sounds like they had a pretty good law system here. How about number three? If a man or woman be a witch, that is, or hath consulted with a familiar spirit, they shall be put to death. That sounds like Tom Brady and Giselle. Yet they're playing in the super bummer or whatever. Who cares? They literally said that he's like, he's like bragging. He's like, I married a good witch or whatever. It's like, what are you talking about? How about number seven? All right, then they have murder, bestiality. Number seven, if a man lieth with mankind as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed abomination, they both shall surely be put to death, except it appear that one of the parties were forced or under 15 years of age. Leviticus 20, 13. And, you know, any sane rational person would watch the sodomite deception and realize this is not a vacuum. This was all of America for hundreds of years. So how is it that the Americans that have John 8 in their Bible, they have all of the Bible, they were reading it, they were filled with the Holy Spirit, some of them, and yet they still agreed, hey, the death penalty is legitimate. Hey, these are the laws that we should have. It's only modern Christianity. It's only a modern revelation where they try to figure out how can we get rid of the death penalty? They take stories like this woman taking an adultery and they twist it to say Jesus is somehow against the death penalty. Jesus said to stone her. Jesus said to kill her. He said about rebellious children or children that won't honor their father or mother, let them die the death. You know, when we were in the old building, I preached a sermon about children obeying their parents and I brought up the idea that if someone, you know, was a rebellious or stubborn child, they should be put to death. And I still believe that. I still think that's legitimate. And I got so much flack from this, you know, somebody like Manly Perry gave me a lot of flack for it too. But how about number 15? Okay, let me read you your number 15. If any man have a stubborn or rebellious son of sufficient understanding in years, 15 years of age, okay, which will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and that when they have chastened him, he will not hearken unto them, then may his father or mother, being his natural parents, lay hold on him and bring him to the magistrates assembled in court and testify unto them that their son is stubborn and rebellious and will not obey their voice and chastisement, but lives in sundry notorious crimes, such a son shall be put to death. Look, I didn't come up with this stuff, okay? I just still believe it. I still believe what Christians have believed for hundreds of years. What Christians believe way after, look 1670, what is it, 1673. That's a long time after Christ, and they still believe the Bible, okay? Now we don't live in a society that still has those laws. So we're more like under the time of Jesus where we have Romans who have bad laws, okay? But even in this day, okay, it's funny when I read all these capital punishments, it's like literally just all the Bible just straight up. It's really good. But then the sin that we're talking about, adultery, it's not in here, but it is found in this book. Let me read for you the adultery, okay? So in page two, they have a section on adultery. It is ordered by this court and the authority thereof that whosoever shall commit adultery with a married woman or one betrothed to another man, both of them shall be severely punished by whipping on the naked body and stigmatized or burnt on the forehead with the letter A on hot iron, and he shall wear a halter about his or his neck on the outside of their garments during his or her abode in this colony. So as it may be visible and as often as he or she shall be found without their halters worn as aforesaid, they shall upon information and proof of the same made before any assistant or commissioner be by them ordered to be whipped. So basically back then, if you committed adultery and you got caught, according to the Bible, like the same standards of the Bible, instead of putting them to death like the Bible said, they would whip them and then they got an A like branded on their head or something. And then they had to wear a halter with an A. And if they were caught not wearing that special, you know, Jew garment or whatever, the A garment or whatever, then they get whipped again. OK, but where did that come from? Not the Bible. So even back then, we still see an example where they're not following. It's weird to have every capital punishment literally as your capital, and then just adultery is not. I wonder who came up with that one. You know, maybe an adulterer or whatever. But it's not because of this story. It's because of the misguided attempt to follow God's law. So even back then and look, adultery and all the laws that we have, they keep deteriorating in our society. But we as Christians, we still have the same Bible and the same Holy Ghost. So we shouldn't change our opinion. We should be steadfast in our opinions. OK, so number one, what do we learn so far? Jesus supports the death penalty. OK, and it's funny because a lot of Christians used to believe in the death penalty, deteriorated to a point of insanity now. Or even murderers and everything like that are very rarely punished with the death penalty. Number two, we've learned that we should submit to our local government. You know, we shouldn't create our own government. Now obviously, from an individualistic perspective, don't hear me wrong, I'm not saying if the government says, hey, no one's allowed to read their Bible anymore. I'm not following that rule. If they say you're not allowed to pray, I'm praying. OK, they say you can't have church. It's too bad. You know, it doesn't matter. There's certain things that we're not going to necessarily obey no matter what. But when it comes to capital punishments and taxes, then yeah, we have to obey, and that sucks. But that's life, OK? But here's another thing we can learn. Go back to John chapter number eight. Let's learn a couple more things from this passage. And it makes me angry when people will point to the story and say, oh, see, Jesus got rid of the death penalty in the New Testament. It's like, there's so much wrong with that statement. We're not in the New Testament. No, we didn't get rid of the death penalty. Why did every other Christian for thousands of years believe that? I mean, am I really supposed to believe back then that these people are just not filled with the Spirit? They don't know what the Bible says. But today, atheists are more godly than the Christians back then, right? Because atheists today don't believe in the death penalty. So they're right, but the Christians, for hundreds of years that started our country, they're somehow more ungodly than the atheists today. The atheist is more filled with the Spirit of God and is more loving and is more compassionate than the Christians for hundreds of years. That makes no sense. Because it's not loving to absolve the death penalty. That's how you fill the earth with violence. And so as you see our nation and you see our culture and you see the world just constantly getting rid of the death penalty, let me warn you, perilous times. Let me warn you, more evil, more wickedness. Look, if you kill a murderer, he's not going to murder again. If you kill a pedophile, he's not going to offend again. Hopefully, you should get rid of that problem before it even happens. But here's another thing we can learn from this story. And look at verse number eight again. It says in verse number 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 on the last. And Jesus was left alone, the woman standing in the midst. What's another thing we can learn? That we're all sinners. Think about this statement. In just one simple statement, he supports the death penalty, he submits to the local authorities, and he can teach every single person there that they're a sinner. Three things already that we've already learned. Now, let me give you a caveat, though. Conviction of sin does not always lead to salvation. Because even though these people were convicted, most of them are going to still die and split hell wide open. So that also tells me that an unsaved person can feel bad about their sin and still not get saved. Hey, Judas repented himself, and he still went to hell. He still didn't do anything good in his life. And the Bible says, if we keep the whole law, yet offend at one point, we're guilty of all. Okay, so he's like saying, you know, all right, you want me to judge this woman according to the law? Well, guess what? Then we're going to judge you, too. Let's figure out what sins and problems you got, buddy. Makes it a lot harder for you want to condemn that person. Now, some people say, oh, that's because all sin is equal. That's not true, either. Go to James chapter number three. Go to James chapter number three. We're all sinners. But that does not mean that every single sin is equal. And I find that this is another story that people will go to to try and prove that all sin is equal. They'll say, oh, the woman caught in adults, we're all sinners. They all felt convicted. We all sin. You know, he didn't do anything to her because her sins, the same as my sin and vice versa. That's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible does teach that we're all guilty if we sin. We're all worthy of death. We're all worthy of going to hell. But that does not mean that there is not greater sins or greater punishment for sin. Look at verse one. My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. The Bible says those that have been put in a position of authority are going to be judged harsher and have the potential to have a greater condemnation when they sin, when they transgress, when they do wrong. Now, if you have a greater condemnation, that sounds like some things are judged more harshly, doesn't it? Right. Let me even prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt. Go back to John chapter 19. Go back to John chapter 19. Jesus also, when talking about different cities, he said that it would be more tolerable for Sidon and Tyre in the judgment. Now, why would it be more tolerable? Because they're not being punished as harshly. So we have a greater condemnation. We have a lesser condemnation for those who it's more tolerable and the day of judgment. Look at John chapter 19, verse number 11. The Bible just plainly states there's some sins that are greater than others, yet we are all sinners. So what's the point of saying we're all sinners? Because if you realize you're a sinner, then you need a savior. As I pointed to earlier in the morning sermon, look, it doesn't matter how many sins you repented of. It doesn't matter how righteous you think you are. You have to realize you have sinned, therefore you need a savior. You need someone to save you. Go back to John chapter 8. Just flip back a few pages and look at verse number 10. John chapter 8, verse 10. So number one, Jesus supports the death penalty. Number two, Jesus submits to the local government. Number three, Jesus can prove that we're all sinners. And number four, Jesus came to save, not condemn. Jesus came to save and not condemn. We understand that he has the opportunity. The only person that could have thrown a stone was who? Was Jesus himself, but he did not condemn her. He did not kill her. He chose to spare her to give her grace. Why? Because the purpose of Jesus being here on this earth was not to condemn. It was to save. You know why he didn't come to condemn? Because they were condemned already. There was no point in condemning anymore. If Jesus had come, if Jesus' first coming was just judgment, we would have all gone to hell. He had to save. He didn't come to condemn. You're already condemned. You're already under condemnation. We needed a savior. We needed someone to come here and live a perfect, spotless life and to die on the cross and take all of our sins away so that we would have an opportunity to be saved. If Jesus came to judge before he came to save, we'd be in trouble. We needed a savior before we needed the judge, okay? Now go to John chapter 3. Just flip back a couple pages. Let me prove this. In John chapter 3, look at verse number 17. For God sent not a son of the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. So is Jesus here to condemn us? No. Jesus was only here to save us. Go to Romans chapter number 5. Go to Romans chapter number 5. Let me show you in a few other places. Here's another thing, though. Jesus Christ was not an eyewitness of this woman taken in adultery, so it really wouldn't have been his place to put her to death anyways. Obviously, he knows all things, but Jesus Christ wasn't an eyewitness, and the person that had caught somebody in these sins was supposed to be the person that was first supposed to put her to death. So it wouldn't have been his place to put her to death for that reason. Romans chapter 5, look at verse 18. Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men under justification of life. Jesus Christ didn't come here to condemn us. Adam condemned us. We needed the other man to come, the other Adam to come, and by his obedience, by his righteousness, we're gifted eternal life through faith in him. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number 3. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number 3. What you have to understand is Jesus Christ's ministry, when he came, was not a ministry of condemnation, and so people get mad whenever you preach anything that's judging or you're pointing out the condemnation that comes from the Bible, and they say, oh, Jesus wasn't like that. Well, Jesus came here to save, okay? But you realize that it's the same Jesus before he came, and it's the same Jesus when he comes again, and there's lots of condemnation. There's lots of judgment. But his ministry specifically was not a ministry of condemnation. That was somebody else. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and look at verse number 5. Now that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God, who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. But if the menstruation of death written and engraven in stones was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold a face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away, how should not the menstruation of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the menstruation of condemnation be glory, much more doth the menstruation of righteousness exceed in glory. So we have two different testaments. We have two different ministrations. We have the ministration of condemnation, which is the law. And then we have the ministration of the Spirit, which came by Jesus Christ. And you know what? The law kills. The Spirit quickens. What is quicken? To make alive, to give life. Jesus Christ didn't come to condemn. He came to give life. He came to give his life a ransom for many. He came to save sinners. Go to 1 Timothy, chapter number 1. Go to 1 Timothy, chapter number 1. So what sense would it make for Jesus to go around and ensure capital punishment is being taken out on everybody? That's not his ministry. His ministry wasn't to go around condemning everyone. His ministry was to save. His ministry was to seek and to save that which is lost. His ministry was come to preach the gospel. His ministry was to heal the sick. His ministry was to bear our infirmities. His ministry was one of life. He went around giving living water. OK, that was his ministry. That was his purpose. So it makes no sense for him to start putting people to death. OK, 1 Timothy, chapter number 1. Look at verse number 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all expectation that Christ Jesus came in the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Notice what his purpose was to save the sinner, not to condemn the sinner. We were already condemned. OK, so what points have we learned? We learned in the woman taken adultery, Jesus supports the death penalty. We're supposed to submit to local government. We're all sinners. Jesus came to save us. And here's my last point that we have no license to send, though. Notice this woman caught in adultery. He doesn't say, oh, it's no problem. Adultery is fine now. He says, go and sin no more. OK, look at verse 12 where we're in. 1 Timothy, chapter 1, verse 12. And I thank Christ. He's our Lord who hath enabled me for that economy faithful, putting me into the ministry who is more a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious. But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord is exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. So the apostle Paul, he says that he's chief of sinners. He says one of the worst sinners. Yet God gave him mercy. God was longsuffering to him. Why? To be a pattern to those that after should believe on him. And is the apostle Paul a bad Christian, a decent Christian, or one of the best ever? Kind of one of the best ever, isn't he? So is the grace of God, is the longsuffering of God wasted on the apostle Paul? No. You know, there's another woman who was an adultery. She had five husbands, and the one she was with now wasn't even her husband. And Jesus got her saved, and then what happened? Then she went and got a whole bunch of other people saved. But was there a license to sin? No, go and sin no more. Now, what can we learn from this? Well, we don't have any license to sin. We've never been given a license to sin. Sin is always wrong. But you know what? Sometimes God gives mercy and grace, and he doesn't give an immediate punishment. Sometimes God gives grace and mercy to people, and he doesn't put them to death. You know, David was worthy of death through the sin of Uriah. He committed adultery and murder, yet God spared him. God allowed him to continue being the king. And so we can't ask this question. If someone's worthy of death, and they don't receive a just punishment, they don't receive the punishment that the Old Testament law prescribes them, okay? Are they... Is God wanting them to continue doing that? No. That's never been the case. He never wants that. But here's the thing. God can still use that person to do great things for him in the future. The apostle Paul was a horrible sinner in his past, but you know what? God still used him to do great things. You know what I love about Paul is we always say he's probably arguably the best Christian. You know what? He wasn't a pastor. He wasn't a deacon. That tells me that any person can be the greatest Christian on the planet at any point in their time. There's nothing stopping you from being the greatest Christian, except for yourself. God's always looking for someone to show himself strong on their behalf. But you know what? It takes someone deciding to get right. And even with a sinful past, even with a horrible past, you can still do great things for God. Hey, you could have really screwed up, yet you know what? If you have breath in your lungs and God is not giving you your just recompense of reward for your sin, you know what? Just count it a blessing and serve God. Hey, there's plenty of people that are on this planet that should be put to death according to God's law that are not and probably won't according to God's law. God's giving them grace. God's giving them mercy. God's giving them long suffering. And you know what they should do is they should just decide, you know what? I should just serve God the best I can then. I shouldn't take this grace and say, oh, I guess God doesn't care if I commit adultery or commit murder or commit, you know, any of these grievous sins. No, stop sinning, but then serve God with what life that you have. Now, let me prove to you that this can be this person. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number six. 1 Corinthians chapter number six and go to Romans chapter five. Go to these two places. I want to go to both of these real quick. And I want to look at something in Romans five real quick. But don't mistake God's grace as a license to sin. It's never been a license. He never will give you a license. And people don't need one anyways. Romans chapter five, look at verse 20. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more bound. That is, sin has reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness and eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. So the Bible says, no matter how much you screw up, God's grace will continue to cover it. God's grace will always win. It'll always be triumphant. It will always cover whatever sin you have in the future, no matter what sin you commit, no matter what grievous thing you do. That's why we believe in once saved, always saved, because no matter what offense you have, grace will still cover it. OK, so there's the question. Should we just do whatever we want then? Verse one of chapter six, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid! So obviously, there's never been a license to sin. There never will be a license to sin. And Jesus Christ, even though this woman's not being punished the way that she should, and she's getting grace, Christ still tells her, go and sin no more. Don't keep doing this. Don't keep living this way, OK? God forbid. And there's some people, they can do great things for God. They can serve in the church. And you can be worthy of death according to the Old Testament law. And at some point, you're past and still be in the house of God and still serve God greatly, OK? You have to do a couple of things. First of all, you have to get it right, OK? And you have to be saved. But if you get it right and you're saved, you know, not necessarily in that order. Maybe get saved first and then get it right. But it doesn't, you know, either way, if you do those two things, you can still be a very successful Christian, according to the Bible. And let me prove this to you. Look at 1 Corinthians 6, verse 9. Now you do wrong in a fraud, in that your brethren know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God, be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. You know what that tells me? Is that there are people in that church that were worthy of death, according to God's law, but because their society doesn't have that, they're getting God's grace, they're getting God's long suffering, and because they're saved, God's not going to hold that against them. God is not going to not be able to use that person and allow them to still serve him at whatever capacity that entails, okay? Now obviously, there are certain sins you can do that have irrevocable consequences. You know, you get divorced and remarried, okay? It's not that God hates you, but there will be consequences to that decision, and you know what? You're not ever going to be a pastor or a deacon, because if you commit that sin, you're not the husband of one wife, but you know what? You don't have to be a pastor to serve God, and you don't have to be a pastor to be greatly used by God. Case and example, the Apostle Paul, okay? But notice, he's bringing up all kinds of sins that are not only worthy of death, but even being thrown out of the church, and he's saying these people have been washed, they've been sanctified, and you know, someone that's committed a very grievous sin, I'm not going to, you know, not preach how adulterers shouldn't be put to death, or murderers, or these type of sins, but at the same time, it's possible for that person to still come to church. You know, and when you look at some of the statistics, there's a lot of wicked things a lot of people have done, and you know, there are certain, you know, caveats to this, you know, teaching. Obviously, we're not going to let a pedophile in, you know. That's not something you can get washed up from, all right? But there are certain things that you could have committed in your past and done, and you know what? When you commit those sins, give them up. Don't keep sinning. Take the blood of Jesus upon your sin, get your butt back in church, serve the Lord Jesus Christ, do that which is right. You know what? God allowed David to continue. God used Moses after murder. Think about that. Moses was a murderer, yet he's one of the most greatly used men of God, isn't he? How about God using Paul? God used David, God used Moses, God used Paul, God used the woman that was, you know, at the well. So that tells me your past does not matter. Your past is not going to hold you back from serving God. Your past is not going to stop you from being greatly used by God. Yet it's funny how people like to take this passage and then basically encourage people to commit adultery. Oh, you know, it's not a big deal. Jesus got rid of it. It's not a... No, don't commit any grievous sin. But what I am saying, even if you have in the past, hey, get it right. Now go to John chapter five. Let me give you one more thing to think about and we'll finish our sermon. But we've learned a lot. What did we learn? Jesus supports the death penalty, number one. And you know what? If we lived in a right to society, we would still have these laws, but we don't. So count yourself blessed. If you should be put to death, then you're not. Just say great. You know, I have long suffering. I have grace. You know, I'm going to use that. Don't beat yourself up about it. Just use the grace of God. Because frankly speaking, none of us deserve anything that we have. We're all here by grace. We're all here by mercy. None of us deserve the things that we have. Number three, we're all sinners. Number two is that we submit to local governments. Number three, we're all sinners. Number four is that Christ came to save. Okay. And number five is that we have no license to sin. Now, somebody could take this and say, oh, great. Well, I've committed murder and, you know, Pastor Shelley's saying I can just get it right and just keep going. And then I could murder again. You know, I just keep going on and just keep doing whatever. That's not what I'm saying. There is no license. And in fact, there's a strong punishment and warning from Jesus if you continue doing this. Look at John chapter five, verse number 14. Afterward, Jesus finds them in the temple and said unto him, behold, thou are made whole. Send no more, lest a worst thing come unto thee. Now, there's a man that he had healed of blindness. And he said, hey, don't keep sinning, because if you keep going down that road, a worst thing will come upon you. And you know what? This woman is caught and taken in adultery, should have been put to death, but she wasn't. And Christ is warning her, don't go and send no more. Because if she continues in that lifestyle, she may get even a worse punishment, something even more horrific. And let me tell you something, dying is not the worst punishment. In fact, in our society today, most people that are on death row, that have life in prison, they would rather die. There's a lot of punishments that you could get that are way worse than dying. Some people want to be put to death. They want to get put out of their misery. They don't want to go through much worse evils. And so it's important to make sure that we're always following God's commandments. And we don't want to take any of these stories out of context or not understand them. We want to understand them in their full context and look how many things we can learn from this story. But this is the last thing, this is the thing to just think about. I'll tell you a lot, but just think about this. There's never a bad time to start serving God. I don't care what you've done. Just get it right now and start serving the Lord. But beware, if you keep sinning, a worse thing may come upon you. Let's go to some prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for your word. Thank you for this great story. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for your long suffering. And thank you for those that, even though they may have screwed up in the past or done wrong things in the past, that you can give them great grace and long suffering and mercy, and you can still use them. That they're washed and they're sanctified. And I pray that you would just allow us to forget our past and forget the evils that we may have done and decide to just serve you and decide to clean up our lives and to realize the severity of sin. And that's what actually sent your son to the cross. And that we shouldn't continue in offense, but rather we should strive to be holy as you are holy. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. With that, let's take our hymnals for the last song for tonight. Song number 372. Let your lower lights be burning. Song number 372. Let the lower lights be burning. Brightly beams our Father's mercy from His lighthouse evermore. But to us He gives the keeping of the lights along the shore. Let the lower lights be burning, send a gleam across the way. Some poor fainting, struggling seamen you may rescue, you may save. Dark the night of sin has settled, loud the angry billows roar. Eager eyes are watching longing for the lights along the shore. Let the lower lights be burning, send a gleam across the way. Some poor fainting, struggling seamen you may rescue, you may save. Trim your feeble lamp, my brother. Some poor sailor, tempest toss, trying now to make the harbor. And the darkness may be lost. Let the lower lights be burning, send a gleam across the way. Some poor fainting, struggling seamen you may rescue, you may save. Amen. Thank you all for coming tonight. Y'all have a blessed evening. Thank you.