Sermon Tone Analysis

/“Men who live in glass houses should never throw rocks.”/

\\ /"But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery.

*They made her stand before the group* and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.

In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women.

*Now what do you say?*”

They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.

When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time*, the older ones first*, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.

Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they?

Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared.

“Go now and *leave your life of sin*.”

" (John 8:1-11, NIV)/[1]

 

I don’t know for sure how a person turns this account into a sermon that inspires us but I believe that in the pages of scripture we find the greatest source of strength and encouragement that we can find anywhere.

It is not false encouragement or flattery but an honest assessment of our standing with God, a report of our personal progress.

I think that our insight into the scripture is proportional to the time that we give to it.

/"But the man who *looks intently* into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does."

(James 1:25, NIV) /[2]

 

It is not meant for our discouragement, rather to give us direction so that we might struggle to become more like Christ.

This without question should be the goal of every person who calls themselves a Christ follower.

In our society today, it means little to call yourself Christian but to call yourself a follower of Christ is more specific.

And you cannot call yourself a follower of Christ if you do not enter into the quest for Christlikeness.

I believe that it is our desire today to be Christ-followers.

That’s really why we are here.

If we could discover one more way that we might emulate Jesus we could go away encouraged and strengthened and equipped to live more effectively before a skeptical society that suspects that we are not all that much different than they are regardless of what we say.

So I want to talk today about the position in which Christ found himself in the scripture that we watched together.

He found himself as a */middleman/* between a */mob/* and a */madam/*, between a rock and a hard face.

Most of us will identify in some way.

We’ve been in one of these places.

We’ve been the */accuser/* with our pockets full of rocks.

We’ve been in the dilemma where we realize full well what the implications of our beliefs are but we have wanted to come alongside someone who may have received exactly what they have deserved but we want more and better for them.

We want to show them something different.

Rather than rejection we want them to know forgiveness and restitution and freedom from the past.

Or we have found ourselves as the guilty one.

We know our own guilt and we are ready to receive the stones.

We have no idea what the middleman has for us.

We have no concept of mercy – God’s mercy.

You could have today if you want.

You could find forgiveness today regardless of what you have done or how many times you have done it.

You have lost the ability to forgive yourself and yet God stands ready to deliver you.

Let’s look first at the mentality of the mob

 

*/1.

/**/The Mentality of the Mob/*

 

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law had a shared mentality.

*They saw themselves as the only legitimate interpreters of scripture.*

They knew the scriptures inside and out by the letter.

For all their knowledge of the words of God they had *little to no understanding of His wonderful heart* for lost people.

You can’t discover God’s heart until you see your own clearly.

If I consider myself to be a “good person” then I can never fathom the riches of His love.

We sing about this idea in many songs new and old.

“Amazing grace how sweet the sound

that saved a wretch like me . . .

“

And can it be that I should gain \\ An interest in the Savior's blood?

\\ Died He for me, who caused His pain? \\ For me, who Him to death pursued?

\\ Amazing love!

How can it be \\ That Thou, my God should die for me?

*How Deep the Father's Love For Us*

 

How deep the Father's love for us

How vast beyond all measure

That He should give His only Son

To make a wretch His treasure

 

How great the pain of searing loss

The Father turns His face away

As wounds which mar the Chosen One

Bring many sons to glory

 

Behold the man upon a cross

My sin upon His shoulder

Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice

Call out among the scoffers

 

It was my sin that held Him there

Until it was accomplished

His dying breath has brought me life

I know that it is finished

 

I will not boast in anything

No gifts, no power, no wisdom

But I will boast in Jesus Christ

His death and resurrection

 

Why should I gain from His reward?

I cannot give an answer

But this I know with all my heart

His wounds have paid my ransom (repeat

 

A salvation experience restores a broken relationship with God.

It is totally a work of God.

There is nothing that we can do to make that more significant than it is all by itself.

It changes our relationship to God.

It does not make us better than anyone who has not yet experienced it.

We are set apart by virtue of God’s work in us and the way that He sees us, redeemed sons and daughters of God.

If he calls us to anything He calls us to love people to a greater degree than we ever have done.

If we have experienced his saving grace fully then we have it to give to others.

If there is anything in the life of a Christ-follower that should cause alarm relative to their experience of salvation it would be their feelings about people who have not yet come to Christ.

A sense of self-righteousness that causes us to look on others in judgment is a sign that we have forgotten our own “wretchedness”.

People who stand apart form Christ are spiritually impoverished and handicapped.

They are blind, deaf and even dead as far as their spiritual nature is concerned.

It can be a frightening thing when we forget that is nothing more than the provision of God’s forgiving grace that makes us different than others whose sin is so offensive to us.

* *

*It’s easy to hide in the mob* especially when we want to throw stones.

Anonymity breeds carnality.

If I can do my dirty deeds without fear of identification then it breeds more of the same.

On the other hand if I am called to stand out from the mob things change.