Throw That Stone Away

Intro:

Over the last few years, we have seen God do some amazing things!

We have believed in the promise of John 1:12

John 1:12 NKJV

12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:

Two years ago, We prayed that we would RECEIVE the Holy Spirit as we gathered together!

Last year, we spent the year together simply BELIEVING God at His word!

And this year, we are focusing on BECOMING all that we are meant to be IN CHRIST!

In fact, we are in the midst of what we are calling 90 Days of Becoming!

Where we seek the Lord in how we EXPERIENCE, CONNECT, and RESPOND to the Gospel!

This morning, we are continuing through our series in the Gospel of John.

We are picking up in John 8.

Jesus has told several individuals how they can have Everlasting Life....how they can drink from the Living Water.

We have seen Jesus heal several people, including the lame man who hadn't walked in 38 years.

This healing was done on the Sabbath and has actually caused the Pharisees to seek to kill Jesus.

Today, we pick up with quite an interesting incident right in front of everyone.

The story will probably be familiar to many of you…

And then again, you may not know this story.

It is a story of....

Accusation filled with Shame and Embarrassment....

Yet matched with such Grace and Love

It is a story of one who should have died....Yet LIVED!

A story of Hope!

Lets read the story....John 8:1-11

John 8:1–11 NKJV

1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. 3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” 6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. 7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

I mean can you imagine this scene....

Its early in the Morning and quite a crowd has gathered to hear Jesus Teach at the Temple.

And just when the crowd was drawn in....there's this commotion...

“Get up there”.... “We got you now”.....”You nasty woman”

And they set her down before Jesus

And they say, this woman was caught in Adultery....Moses says to stone her....what do you say?

And Jesus pays them no attention....in fact, He starts writing on the ground.

After persistence, He said, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”

And ONE BY ONE....they each left....

Can you imagine the power of this moment!

USE STONES AS ILLUSTRATION.

“Where are those accusers? Has no one condemned you”

Tears in her eyes....”No One, LORD.”

“Neither do I condemn you”

This is a powerful story that each of us can relate too!

For we have each been the pharisees ready to cast our stone.

And we are also the broken woman caught in the very Act....with no excuse knowing our guilt!

But the Jesus who gives life here, is the same one who gives Life today!

The first thing I want to do this morning is recognize that we may still be carrying our stones…and may it be that we would throw them away today!

I. Throwing away your STONE means we must not get caught up in Religion. (John 8:1-5)

These accusers were religious people!

They used Religious Titles.

They called Jesus Teacher....recognizing him as a Rabi

In the Jewish Culture, teaching was a priority and was held in a high regard.

It would have been a religious thing to call him teacher

They were doing the religious things!

They were upholding to the Law of Moses.

The Law was clear about Adultery being a sin.

It was clear on the penalty of adultery as well!

They were holding to the letter of the Law doing the religious things!

They were condemning others for their immoral lives.

They caught her in the very act and was ready to follow through on the condemnation!

THEY WERE RELIGIOUS PEOPLE…using religious titles, doing religious things, and condemning immorality!

However, they were caught up in their religion TO THE POINT THEY MISSED THEIR SAVIOR.

They were really more concerned with Trapping Jesus to fulfill their own desires!

And if we are not careful....this is the very thing religion becomes....

It Becomes a way of manipulation and self serving system that USES THE NAME OF GOD....but completely MISSES GOD!

Let us not get caught up in RELIGION to the point we miss the GOD WAS SAY WE SERVE!

We are good at using religious TITLES.....

We talk about Jesus as THE CHRIST!

We use titles like....

THE GOOD LORD!

THE MAN UPSTAIRS!

Our mouth alone is not enough when it comes to our salvation....for we confess with our mouth....BUT BELIEVE IN OUR HEART!

We may be good at the RELIGIOUS THINGS....

We may....

Come to Church when we can....

We pray for our food....

We respect the Things of God!

However, religious things are not enough.....its not the religious system of God that captures our hands…It is God who captures our heart!

We may condemn the immorality of our world!

We hate...

How far our country has fallen...

We can’t believe the things we see on TV anymore!

However, our condemnation matters not, for we are not the righteous judge.

So, if we are going to drop our stones, we must make sure that we don't get caught up in religion and miss the SAVIOR

II. Jesus is the only one that is really able to cast the first stone! (John 8:6-11)

Jesus said, “He who is without sin, let him be the first to cast their stone.”

Well, the only one without sin was Jesus!

Jesus had every right to walk over and grab one of their stones and be the first to cast it!

But rather, he causes every one of them to drop theirs.

They pitted Jesus up against Moses…but what they didn't know was that Jesus is the Greater Moses.

John 5:46 “46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.”

Moses witness the finger of God that Inscribed the law on the tablets!

In John 8, we see the VERY FINGER OF GOD writing on the ground!

It is the long question of the ages.....what was Jesus writing on the ground!?

Many Theories....

Some believe this was an allusion to Jeremiah 17:13

Jeremiah 17:13 NKJV

13 O Lord, the hope of Israel, All who forsake You shall be ashamed. “Those who depart from Me Shall be written in the earth, Because they have forsaken the Lord, The fountain of living waters.”

Perhaps Jesus wrote their names and scratched them out!

Some believe that he was writing their specific sins....

“He who has no sin”...

And he list out prideful, embezzler, adulterer and murderer within your heart

I do not think it was addressed to them at all....

It says he stooped and wrote on the ground AS IF HE DIDN'T HEAR THEM

They never address what he wrote....they addressed what they HEARD!

So some think that Jesus wrote something for the woman on the ground....

Perhaps....forgiven....or the word GRACE!

COULD BE....or HE COULD HAVE JUST BEEN DOODLING as the leaders were getting worked up.

I am not sure....BUT THERE IS SOMETHING THAT I DO KNOW!

The Bible talks about our sin being wrote on our hearts....

Jeremiah 17:1 NKJV

1 “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; With the point of a diamond it is engraved On the tablet of their heart, And on the horns of your altars,

From the time of Adam and Eve.....SIN has been wrote on our hearts....making our hearts desperately wicked

And this Sin has been inscribed with a Chisel....engraved with a diamond point!

Meaning there is nothing we can do about it!

However, as the FINGER OF GOD was PHYSICALLY writing on the ground that day…The FINGER OF GOD was SPIRITUALLY WRITING ON THIS WOMAN’S HEART!

Jeremiah 31:31 NKJV

31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—

Jeremiah 31:33 NKJV

33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

God’s physical finger wrote on the ground, but His Spiritual finger inscribed on her heart!

Gave a new heart….ezekiel

God tells us that He still does this very thing....2 Corinthians 3:3

2 Corinthians 3:3 NKJV

3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

The finger of God till writes on the heart of man today!

He wants to write on your heart

It is these Fingers that have the right to clinch the stone that brings about our death.....YET.....

III. The Stones that are meant for us, are THROWN AWAY through the CROSS and the EMPTY GRAVE!

When these men left one by one....and Jesus asked “Where are your Accusers…Has no one condemned you?” and he says “Neither do I”.....

John 3:17–18 NKJV

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

THIS WAS NOT JUST FORGIVENESS....this was TRANSFORMATION!

Going from a heart marred with SIN unable and unwilling to follow God....

And given a NEW HEART that will keep my COMMANDMENTS....Go and SIN NO MORE!

This was not another LEGALISTIC LAW RESTRICTING HER....

THIS WAS FREEDOM FROM THE POWER AND PENALTY OF HER SIN!

There is a story of a 13 year old girl named Abby Wardell who had a heart transplant!

She had grew up with tremendous heart issues...

To the point where her heart was only working at 13 percent.

However, they found a heart from an Organ Donor and had the surgery

Abby said she had so much energy now, and had never felt her own heart beat like that.

In fact, she told the doctor that she thought it was working too well....

She could feel her new heart beat in her fingers and her toes

But, Abby also knew that this heart came at a cost....

She knew that SOMEONE’S SON HAD TO DIE for her to receive this heart!

Theres not hardly a day that goes by that she dosnt think about the donors family and is forever grateful!

This is what it is like for the CHRISTIAN!

We too, if you are in Christ, have been given a NEW HEAR with HIS SPIRIT!

And it gives new life....abundant life that we have never experienced before!

We can feel its heart beat in every area of our life!

And we too recognize that Someone’s Son......that God’s ONLY SON.....had to die for us that we might live!

However the greatest hope is not only did he DIE FOR US.....but that HE RAISED FROM THE GRAVE!

Not only did he throw away the stone that was meant for us.....HE ROLLED AWAY THE STONE OF THE TOMB!

The Cross shows us that we have been forgiven!

The Empty Tomb shows us that SIN AND DEATH HAS BEEN DEFEATED!

The Resurection PROVES THAT IT IS ALL TRUE!

We do not have to wonder if we can really be forgiven…if we can be given new life!

TAKE THE WORD OF ONE WHO DIED AND THEN CAME BACK TO LIFE TO TELL US!

TAKE THE WORD OF THE ONE WHO ASCENDED TO HEAVEN AND SITS AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD TODAY!

Praise God that rather than clinching the Stone we deserved.....He instead Rolled the Stone Away!

Conclusion:

Sometimes we are the accusers, aren't we?

We have all been guilty of seeing someone’s sin and instead of wanting them to be shown grace and mercy.

Sometimes, we get so caught up in the religious things that we miss the savior!

You may use the right titles for God....

You may do the religious things....

And you hate the immorality of our world....

But all of those things can be given by your environment and culture.

But there is only one that can give a NEW HEART!

One that truly beats and brings new LIFE!

And so the TRUTH IS.....We are really this broken woman caught in Sin needing grace and mercy!

And Jesus is the Just and Perfect God who takes our condemnation upon himself and gives us GRACE

Romans 3:21–26 NKJV

21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.