go and sin no more

red letters are letters of Jesus

extremely powerful words

Who wants to be happy?

let’s see what Jesus says about being happy

1st what did Jesus NOT say about it

go into all of the world and preach whatever makes people happy

whoever wants to be my disciple must affirm themselves, avoid the cross, and follow their own heart

ask and it will be given to you, because God is your heavenly sugar daddy

Jesus never said any of that!

John 8:2 ESV

Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them.

John 8:2–3 NLT

but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.

John 8:2–6 ESV

Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.

John 8:

Jesus teaching Bible in town square

where is the man that was committing this sin with her?

what were these men doing to bump into this lady in the act?

she was probably barely dressed

humiliating

they were bringing her before Jesus to try to trip Him up

John 8:4–6 NLT

“Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger.

stop at “against him”

Complicated: Law of Moses

she is guilty (stoned)

Jesus agree - lose reputation of being loving

if he says to let this one slide then He is condoning adultery

John 8:6 NLT

They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger.

what did Jesus write

don’t know for sure

later manuscripts - wrote sins of accusers

graf-in to write down

kata grafin - kata against

write down against someone

maybe he began writing down sins against those accusing

John 8:7 NLT

They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!”

without sin - without even wanting to

why is it so easy to see the sin in others but yet so hard to see the sin in self?

I preach on loving others, taking every opportunity for Gospel, life in secret should match life in public or in church

not very long ago I was at work and I got a phone call at the shop phone

so I am working on a car,

jump up and run to the phone

and it’s a telemarketer

had about 8 already that day

and I let him know how big of a waste of time that he was and that his company was stealing from our business by making these bogus calls and that I never wanted to hear from him again

my dad overheard his pastor on the phone with a telemarketer and confronted me about it

John

John 8:8–11 NLT

Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

GO AND DO WHATEVER MAKES YOU HAPPY

GO NOW AND FOLLOW YOUR HEART

DOESN’T MATTER WHAT YOU DO

YOU DO YOU

YOLO

John 8:11 NLT

“No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

other translations say :Go now and leave your life of sin”

GO NOW - URGENT

leave your life of sin

sin no more

be different

be free

full of love and urgency

don’t need to live in shame

your free

you don’t have to live in darkness

no longer hostage to sin

Why do we give into the temptation of sin?

sounds fun

(It is fun)

pleasure for a season

if you don’t think that sin was fun that you didn’t do it right

but it’s empty and leads to death

sin promises satisfaction at the cost of disobedience to God and eventual pain to you

Woman:

maybe she was evil and wicked and wanted to be a home wrecker and destroy somone elses marriage

probably not

maybe she was in a marriage that went flat

husband took her granted

inattentive to her

maybe verbally abusive

maybe she got a new job to feel better about herself

one day she is talking to a guy at the office

nice guy

attention and compliments at work

notices her hair

INNOCENT

nothing wrong

funny

thoughtful

comments on her FB

one day they both find themselves working late

tired

connected

maybe at this point she is thinking that she wishes that her husband was more like him

her bestfriend says to her “follow your heart”

one thing leads to another....

don’t know how it happened

but step by step

finds herself barely dressed in a place of complete shame in public

why do we find oursleves in a place

we live in a place that beleives that there is no absolute truth

you believe what you believe and I’ll believe what I believe

without a belief in absolute truth

truth is defined by whatever makes me happy

when the bottom line is my happiness

then happiness becomes the standard by which I judge my actions

know it’s wrong but it feels so right!

problem is that so many of us think that happiness and holiness are at odds

choose one or the other

holiness = miserable existence

God is not in heaven looking down at us saying that He wants us to be holy and miserable

Matthew 7:11 NLT

So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.

Looking in wrong place

fish happy on beach Max Lucado

well he is there flopping so it doesn’t look like it

give him things of the world

give him money

throw a party

with best fish from the sea

bunch of likes on FB

fish will never be happy on the beach

we should lower our expectation of earth

we were never made to be here

BUT

Holiness is the pathway to true happiness and joy

eternal

Psalm 16:11 ESV

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

not fleeting pleasures of sin but eternal ones

That’s why Jesus didn’t condemn her and shame her more

but he said that there is more for her

to live for what really matters

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU KNOW WHAT’S RIGHT BUT KEEP DOING WRONG?

over eating

over spending

smoking, drinking, perscriptions

lust and porn

wrong relationships

sin promises satisfaction

at the cost of disobedience to God

and eventually the destruction of self

FAITHFULNESS OF GOD

1 Corinthians 10:13 NLT

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

there is always a potential for freedom

always a way out

every temptation is an invitation to depend upon Jesus

Go now and leave life of sin

remorse and repentance

re-pent: return to the highest

CG: re-sentence

If you rebuke the enemy and return to God by repenting of your sins and receiving Christ, your spirit will be reborn, your mind renewed, your life rebuilt. you will be reconciled by Christ’s redeeming work and reap the rewards of relationship causing revival to break free!

set us free to follow you