Set Free

Set Free

John 8:1–12 (KJV 1900)

Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. 2 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. 3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, 4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? 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. 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. 8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9 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. 10 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? 11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Introduction:

* John starts this passage out with an illustration of a woman being set free from those who would stone her.

* In the story set before us in our text this morning, the Justice of God through the Law of Moses meets the Mercy of God in the person of Jesus Christ.

* In this story, the Law of Moses accuses and condemns this woman, sentencing her to death, but the mercy of God sets her free from the condemnation of sin, and gives her the gift of life.

* This story is an eternal object lesson of the two covenants that God has made with man.

* These testaments, or covenants that God has made with man have been written down and recorded in the Bible The old Testament, of the Old Covenant, and the New Testament, or the New Testament.

* The very blood drops that fell from the cross as a result of the condemnation of the first covenant- out of these same drops the mercy and love of God grew into the New and better covenant- the covenant of salvation in Jesus.

Hebrews 7:18–19 (KJV 1900)

19 For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God…

Hebrews 7:22 (KJV 1900)

22 By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament…

* This new covenant was better because it is an unconditional covenant that does away with our sin once and for all

Hebrews 7:22–25 (KJV 1900)

22 By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. 23 And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: 24 But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

* What could be more crude and rude and brutal than this act of these religious rulers? * As our Lord was sitting in the temple area teaching the people, there is a hullabaloo outside. * Then here come these religious rulers dragging a woman with her clothes in disarray, her hair all disheveled, defiant, and resisting them. * The crowd would naturally turn and look to see what in the world was happening. * The religious rulers bring her right into the midst of the group that the Lord Jesus is teaching! They fling her down on the ground there and make their crude charge. “This woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.”

Jesus stoops and writes on the ground. In effect, He dismisses the case. He will not join with her accusers. * Jesus will not so much as look at her to add to her embarrassment. He stoops down and writes as though He doesn’t even hear them. Observations from John’s illustration:

1). In this story the woman accused and condemned by those who represent the Law.

John 8:1–12 (KJV 1900)

Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. 2 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. 3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,

4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned:

but what sayest thou?

* The motive of the Scribe and Pharisees in this story is to try to trip up Jesus with his words so that they might accuse Jesus as a false teacher and incite the crowd to take apprehend Jesus and deliver Him to the officers of the temple.

* John’s motive, and the motive of the Holy Spirit, is to illustrate that you and I also stand accused and condemned by the Law of Moses, just as this woman was accused by those who brought her to Jesus.

2). Jesus wrote with His finger, just like when the law was first given, as he listened to the condemnation.

* Look with me if you will at the second part of verse 6 in our text in John chapter 12:

John 8:1–12

But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

* I believe that John, through the Divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit, records the fact that Jesus wrote with his finger, to remind us of that awful day on Mount Sinai, when God first wrote the law in tables of stone with His finger. 3). Jesus reveals that not just this woman, but all are under the condemnation of sin.

* The Holy Spirit had John to write, that all those who accused this woman, who was unmistakably guilty of sin, became under conviction because of their own sin.

John 8:9 (KJV 1900)

9 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.

4). Jesus delivered her from her accusers, and set her free from condemnation.

John 8:1–12

10 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? 11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

5). John, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, reveals the point of this illustrative story.

“That Jesus has come to deliver us from the darkness of sin and lead us to the light of everlasting life.”

John 8:12

12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

I. This passage teaches that we are all born in sin.

* Look with me if you will a little on past where we read our test to verse 20:

John 8:20–24 (KJV 1900)

20 These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come.

21 Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come. 22 Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come. 23 And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.

24 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. * Why did Jesus say that these religious rulers would die in their sins? The apostle Paul goes a little further and teaches that not only will these religious rulers die in their sins, but so will you and I “die in our sins.”

Romans 5:12–14 (KJV 1900)

12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression…

Romans 5:19 (KJV 1900)

19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners…

* Now you might say sure we already know that everyone will die! Paul is not just taking about physical death. He is talking about being condemned for our sins by the Law of Moses:

* Paul teaches that because of Adam’s sin, we not only will die physically, but we are already dead spiritually as well.

* This state of being dead spiritually is the “default mode” for every descendant of Adam from the very day He and Eve sinned against God in the Garden of Eden.

* Listen to the words God told Adam:

Genesis 2:16–17 (KJV 1900)

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

* The day Adam and Eve sinned and ate of the forbidden tree did they fall over dead? If they didn’t fall over dead, then did God lie to Adam?

* Adam and Eve did die! They died spiritually and lost the ability to live in the presence and fellowship of God.

* Before they died that spiritual death, the Bible said God came down in the cool of the evening and walked with Adam and Eve.

* After Adam and Eve sinned, God no longer could fellowship with man face to face. Adam and Eve. and all of their descendants to come, were locked away from the presence of God. My friend this was spiritual death!

* This is why God told Nicodemus that in order to see Heaven, he had to be born again! Why did Nicodemus need to be born again? Because He was dead! He was born spiritually dead!

* Nicodemus asked Jesus, can I return to my mother’s womb and be born a second time? Jesus explicitly, without a shadow of a doubt, explained that he was spiritually dead. * Jesus even used the wind as an example and said “that which is of the flesh is flesh, and that which is of the spirit is spiritual.

* Like Nicodemus, like this woman in our text who is brought before Jesus guilty and condemned because of her sin, we are all born spiritually dead.

II.This passage teaches that we are slaves to sin.

* Look with me if you will, just a little past where we stopped reading our test in verse 12 to verse 31:

John 8:31–36 (KJV 1900)

31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? 34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

James 3:6 (AV)

6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

* My friend, weather you realize it or not the fire of Hell already burns in your heart! According to the Bible the sinful nature that you were born with is ready to consume you!

* The ungodly lusts that lurk within the black depths of your wicked heart are ready to consume you like a raging fire! A fire kindled by the very fires of Hell!

* Look at the drunkard! Look at the person destroyed by meth! Look at the people all around you who have destroyed their lives by their ungodly sexual desires!

* You sinful heart is perched like a vulture ready to consume your body with drink and drugs and sex!

* Like with fire, you think you can control your sin. You think you are in charge! You think that you can flirt around with sin, have a little fun.

* The Devil has you deceived into think that you can just nibble around the edges of sin a little bit, but you’re not going to eat the whole thing! You’ve got it under control.

* My friend the Bible warns us that sin in the heart of man like a fire ready to flame up out of control and consume us.

Illustration: My brother and I playing with matches.

III. This passage teaches that the law brings the curse of sin.

Galatians 3:10 (KJV 1900)

10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

* You might say to yourself this morning, “I’m not so bad, I’m a pretty good person, God won’t send me to Hell!” * Oh but my friend you are dangerously and sadly mistaken! This story is recorded in the Bible that you might know the truth!

* The truth is this morning that you, like this woman stand before God guilty and condemned by the Law of Moses!

* The great preacher of the past Jonathan Edwards described our state before God in no uncertain terms:

“The sword of divine justice is every moment brandished over their heads, and it is nothing but the hand of arbitrary mercy, and God's mere will, that holds it back.”

Psalm 7:11–13 (AV)

God is angry with the wicked every day. 12 If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. 13 He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death…

* The bow of God’s fierce wrath is drawn back- - the bow strains with the pressure of the string

- and the arrow is ready on the string

- the arrow is pointed at your soul this morning

- nothing but the mere whim of God, and that of an ANGRY God, from being made drunk with your blood!

Jeremiah 46:10 (AV)

10 For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood…

* The wrath of God is like a great ocean that is dammed up for the time being. The waters build up more and more and higher and higher. The longer the flow of God’s wrath is dammed up, the more force will be released when the dam breaks.

* The foods of God’s vengeance against your sin have been withheld temporarily. Your guild in the meantime has been constantly increasing.

* You are every day treasuring up more and more if the wrath of God.

* If God were to let go of the flood gate, the fiery floods of the fierceness of God’s wrath would rush forth with terrible furry and would come upon you with all the power that God possesses!

* My friend, who are you to be able to withstand the fierceness of the wrath of God?

There are black clouds of God's wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder; and were it not for the restraining hand of God, it would immediately burst forth upon you.

The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber; the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them; the flames do now rage and glow. The glittering sword is whet, and held over them, and the pit hath opened its mouth under them.

That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you. There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hell's wide gaping mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor any thing to take hold of; there is nothing between you and hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up.

* Jonathan Edwards described the false security that men have concerning Hell as a men walking over the pit of Hell on covering full of rotten holes that we cannot see.

* These rotten places cannot be seen, and if we should step on one, it would not be able to bear the weight of our sin.

* We would fall head first into the fiery furnace of Hell, falling into the hands of very Devils that Hell was prepared for!

Jonathan Edwards- “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell; and if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf, and your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best contrivance, and all your righteousness, would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell, than a spider's web would have to stop a fallen rock.

* God holds you over the pit of Hell like someone holding a ugly spider, hanging on a slender spider web over a fire.

* If you have turned away the grace of God, God abhors you. God is dreadfully provoked by your sin and your pride.

* His wrath toward you burns like a fire!

* You are fore despised in his sight than the most dreadful poisonous snake would be to you!

* By turning away the Grace of God you have offended God more that a rebellious, unthankful, hateful child would offend a loving parent!

* There a thousand ways that God could use to send to your eternal punishment this very day!

* But there is nothing but the mere whim of the God that you have so offended to keep you from falling into the eternal fires of Hell right this very moment!

* You did not drop off into Hell as you slept last night because God’s hand held you up!

*You hang by a slender thread, over the very pit of a fiery Hell, while you hear the screams of dammed souls. Those who have refused the Grace of a loving God!

* The flames of Hell are flashing all around that thread, threatening to singe the thread at any moment!

IV. Jesus came to set us free from the curse of the Law.

* Look with me now at our text in John 8 and verses 10 and 11:

John 8:10–11 (KJV 1900)

10 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? 11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

* Jesus sets this poor woman free from the curse of the law and her accusers as vivid object lesson of how he has come to set us free from the condemnation of the Law.

* The apostle John, through the leading of the Holy spirit uses this vivid story to illustrate how Jesus has come into the world to set us free from the curse of the Law.

* The book of Romans in chapter 7 deals with how that when we believe on Jesus we, like this woman in our text, are delivered by Jesus from the bondage and condemnation of the Law.

Romans 7:5–6 (KJV 1900)

5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. 6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

Colossians 2:13–15 (KJV 1900)

13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

Galatians 3:13–14 (KJV 1900)

13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Romans 7:24–8:3 (KJV 1900)

24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

8 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

* This poor woman in our text was set free by Jesus on our story this morning.

* John summarizes the main thought of our story a little further down from the verses of our text in John 8:31-16:

John 8:31–36 (KJV 1900)

31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? 34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. 35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. 36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

* I will end this sermon with the main thought of the story we have looked at this morning:

“That Jesus has come to deliver us and set us free from the darkness of sin and lead us to the light of everlasting life.”

John 8:12

12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Conclusion:

1). For the Saved.

* Because we have been delivered from the power of sin, we have no excuse to live a life dominated by sin. * Christian, if your life is full of sin, God is calling you right now to come to this alter, right here and now, and confess and repent of the sin that you have allowed to rule your life.

* Just like with Peter the Lord will restore you to fellowship with Himself.

2). For the Unsaved.

* If you refuse to believe on Jesus you will suffer the full condemnation and sentence of God’s eternal wrath in the flames of Hell.

* My friend, Jesus took your condemnation for your sins while He hung on a bloody cross. God truned His back and refused to deliver his darling son from the cross, that you might have the opportunity to believe on His name and be saved.

* If you will come to the Lord and believe on Him this morning, He will set you free from your guilt sin, just like the woman in our text this morning.

* I plead with you, listen to the Holy Spirit of God- come down this isle this morning and let me take the Bible and show you how to be saved!