Admonition Podcast

Walker Cain (00:01)
Have you ever felt alone? More specifically, have you ever felt alone because of sin? You know your family does not approve of the things you've done. They your family isn't known for the things you've done. You've brought shame on your family name. You know that any good friends would have steered you clear of what you've decided to go into. And the bad friends that said, hey, we're just gonna go have a good time, after the good times were over, they left you.

Because all they wanted was that moment. Have you ever felt alone because of sin? If sin has ever taken you this far before, if it's ever made you feel like you were estranged from all that you knew, because of what was decided to be enjoyed, you can relate to the woman who was caught in adultery in John chapter 8. Now, it's not that we have to relate to what she did, even though there are those who do relate to her actions.

But that emotion she felt, that situation of being estranged because of her desires being followed, that can happen to us as well. But despite that, despite that we share in common with her the fact that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, Romans 3 23, we also have the blessing of God's forgiveness. We have the blessing of Him saying, Go and sin no more.

Now if you will turn with me to John chapter eight, and we're going to explore this passage together, specifically verses one through eleven.

Going to look at three different points. In the first, she was caught by sin. She fell to sin's desires. She allowed them to take hold in her life. And second, she was caught in sin. She wasn't just caught in her by her desires. She was caught by others who found her in her desires, and then she would face repercussions because of that. But finally, she would be saved from sin.

Now looking at the fact she was caught by sin. Let's go turn to this passage. CHAPTER eight verse one. Jesus went unto 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 may might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down with his finger and wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. They have taken this woman. She was found in the act. She was found in her sin. Now the question comes to us, why did she go into this? She grew up.

From all that we know, as an Israelite, as one who was under the old law, and the old law made it very clear that this was wrong and this would lead to punishment, but she followed it anyway. Just as it can be with just as it was with her, it can be with us. Sin's pleasures are easy to follow. What was she thinking? It's just one night. My husband's mis been mistreating me left and right. I want to go go explore this relationship.

Or was she thinking, this person's just so nice to me? I just want to go spend time with them. And then it became something she didn't realize. So often those who go into this specific sin didn't mean for it to become what it did. It grew. It manifested because of compromises, of allowing senses to be dulled because sin just slowly crept in. Cain allowed sin to lie at the door when he had his anger before him. He didn't sin yet.

But he had judgment that would come upon him because he allowed that anger that was within him to stir and manifest into something else. And he killed his brother. Now, these are two entirely different sins, but here's something similar. It starts with just letting something be weak, of letting sin be at the door. If we allow that kind of compromise in our lives, it will be sin will be at the door of our lives as well. Don't

Compromise your senses to sin. Don't let yourself be dulled to it and allow it to come nearer to your heart. But also don't allow yourself to justify your sin. So many times it's easy to say, I want it, I I deserve this. I deserve that. I need to eat, so I'm going to go steal food. That's perfectly fine. The Proverbs writer says that the one who steals, he shall restore sevenfold. He'll give all the substance of his house. One can feel justified in what he does wrong.

Or what she does wrong. But if we go after that rather than follow God's word, there is going to be justice for it. And we cannot forget that. But also, on top of not compromising, on top of not justifying, do not reject what you know is right, but instead hold to God's word. Remember what Jesus did when the devil tempted him. How did he go against the temptation? He followed Scripture.

It says, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God. When he was taken up to the top of the temple, to the pinnacle, he said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And then when he was offered the world, just if he bowed down and worshipped the devil, he said, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Christ held to scripture. This woman here, she did not. She did not keep in mind the times where

The scripture said, if you do this, the death penalty is waiting for you. If you do this, you are going to be estranged and cut off from your people. She didn't hold God's word in her heart, but our Lord did, and we can follow his example so that we don't need so that we can keep from falling in sin like she did. We cannot compromise with that which is around us, allowing our senses to be dulled. We cannot justify our sins.

Allowing us to think that we are right in following it, we cannot reject that what we want to do is wrong, but instead hold to the standard God has put before us. But also we cannot deny the nature of what is done. Not just justifying it, but saying it's not wrong in the first place. The adulterous woman, as the Proverbs writer says, eateth and wipeth her mouth and says, I have done no wickedness. It can be easy not only to say, Well, it was right for me to do this wrong thing.

It's easy to say this wasn't wrong in the first place. This was something that would that I not only deserved, but it wasn't wrong in the first place. We can rationalize our sin, rationalize the things we do rather than following God's word, rather than looking at what is plain before us. When it comes to rationalizing, the Hebrews writer talks about talks about those who will. Paul rather writes about those who

Follow after strong delusions. Now the context of that, there were those who are coming and bringing strange doctrine. But it can be just as true for us. If there's something that we want to follow, whatever the sin might be, if we desire to follow it, we can find a way to make it right in our minds, to follow after strong delusions. But if we hold to God's word as Christ did, rather than trying to bend our reality to what we want to do, then we will find it much easier not to be caught by sin. But instead,

Follow His way, His will, His Word without ever falling to what wants to take us from Him. Sin's pleasures can be easy to follow, and we must run for them. But Sin's pleasure sin's pleasures also take the place of God's plan. This woman in her sin had violated the plan given by God. Genesis two verse twenty four.

Therefore shall a man leave father and mother, and cleave unto his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. There is there was a blueprint made by God, and it was marriage in and of itself, something beautiful. Marriage is honorable in all, in the bed undefiled. Those things enjoyed within marriage are a beauty, are something to be appreciated, they are a blessing from God.

But if we take those things and we enjoy them in a way outside of God's word, outside of God's path, outside of how he has designed it, it becomes something filthy. Now, with this point, we live in a world where so many look at intimacy in and of itself, and parents grow up telling their children, that's dirty. You don't want to know about that. We got to remember: this is about God's design, how he made it. Would you tell

A kid who wants to know how to drive. He's 10 years old, but he wants to go out on the interstate. Is his father going to say, no, driving's dirty? You don't want to do that? No, that's not what he's going to say. Son, we're not ready for that conversation yet. We're not ready to do that. The same thing applies with marriage. This is not something gross. This is something designed by God and is beautiful. And if we fail to train up the next generation, realizing that it's something beautiful.

Then there's either going to be rebellion over saying, No, I want to follow it anyway, or there is going to be remorse and regret over anyone who does enjoy it in the proper way because we've just taught the next generation that it's disgusting. How many have suffered from that same attitude in the past because of the way they were trained? We must remember that when something is done God's way, it is correct. And this applies outside of this specific topic. We need to eat. It's a blessing to eat.

The Ecclesiastes writer talks about it is great for a man to enjoy the fruit of his labors. And that applies when we're talking about the riches you have. That employs when we're applies when we're talking about your food and drink. And you're designed to eat and drink. God gave you t taste buds. You know why? Because he wanted you to enjoy the taste of honey. The Proverbs writer says, My son, eat thou honey, because it is good. And the honeycomb which is sweet to thy taste. There are things God has given us in all aspects of this physical life.

That were for our pleasure, for our enjoyment. But we can only enjoy them properly and have an enjoyment with them that we do not regret if we do it his way without going after it in our own manner. Now there are things that we could follow in this life that are in no way a blessing, a desire that is given by God. God did not make alcohol in and of itself. Now there are natural processes that lead up to it.

But the desire for that, that's something that man concocted for himself. He realized he could get a dopamine dump off of this. He could try to shove away his problems. There's things in this life that are not designed by God and are sin in and of themselves. But then we have these things like we have talked about that don't have to necessarily be sin. But if we follow them the proper way, it is a blessing from him. Sin's pleasures take the place of God's plan.

We enjoy the desires that He has given us, but in a way that is improper. That is what sin does. But God has given us a proper way to do it, so that we don't have to sacrifice our eternal destination for short term pleasures. Hebrews eleven twenty-five, talking about Moses, says that he, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. This is a man who decided, you know what?

I can enjoy riches, I can enjoy all these blessings, all these things that I'm really not going to get any other way. But instead, he followed God's way, not giving it up for short-term pleasures. So many times the reason we want to go beyond God's will, go beyond God's way, is because we desire instant gratification. Why would I wait when I could have it my way right away, as Burger King wants to say? If we follow the Lord's way, we might have to wait.

We might have to suffer affliction, but there's going to be a blessing on the other side. Now, in Moses' case, he never enjoyed riches like Pharaoh had. In fact, he never even made it to the promised land because he was made an example because of his sin, because he struck the rock instead of speaking to it. But what did he receive? One day he did make it to the promised land, when he was on that mount of transfiguration with Christ. And before that he was already in paradise, enjoying the reward of

of eternity. Sin's pleasures try to take hold of God's plan. And they will take the things that we can desire here and enjoy them in a way improper. Or even if we have to forsake those desires entirely, even if we have made decisions to where there are things that God gave us as privileges, but we've revoked them from ourselves, we put those away so that we can enjoy what Moses does now. A paradise with God and one day heaven with him.

Sin's pleasures will take hold of that plan from God, where he wants you with him, after enjoying the life that he's given to you, and destroy it all. Sin's pleasures are easy to follow, and we must run from them. They also try to take the place of God's plan rather than following the will that He has put before us, but also sin's pleasures can cost one their life. Deuteronomy chapter twenty two, verse twenty two.

If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die. Both the man that lay with the woman and the woman, so shalt thou put away evil from Israel. The Lord had a standard, and by the standard of what the twenty first century leaders want to say, it was one that was harsh. Who would even think about putting a woman away because of this kind of thing today? Or who would think about this being worth capital punishment? This is just their decision, right?

God didn't see it that way. God saw this as an iniquity that was going to go through the nation and was going to harm it. And it was something that had to be stopped before it went any further. Something of which there needed of which there was going to be an example made. Sin will cost one's a person's life. And in this case, it could cost someone their life because of how bad sin was, and they needed to realize it.

They needed to recognize that. Paul would talk about the fact that sin was made so that or that the law was made, and if it wasn't for the law, we he would not know sin. The fact that he recognized that there were certain things that were sinful, certain things he could do because of the law. The law made some things evident as, hey, this is something you could do. But look, there is punishment on the other side. That law needed to be made so that we could see what was sin, what was going to harm us.

And that applies right here and with any other sin that has followed. The old law helped lay the groundwork of realizing how bad this sin was. And that is why it could cost her her life. Because she needed to realize that this was something quite literally grave. Now today there is no death penalty for this. It's just as wicked as it used to be.

But it won't cost you your physical life in and of itself today, at least in our country. But it will cost you your eternal life. Hebrews 13:4, marriage is honorable in all, and the bad undefiled, but whoremongerers and adulterers God will judge. When the world wants to look at things that they can enjoy, wants to say, It's just freedom, it's just what I want to do, the Lord says

Wormongers and adulterers, God will judge. This world wants to make it look pretty. It wants us to say, ⁓ you go do what you want. But the Lord says, Hey, if you're doing this, I'm going to judge you. He doesn't make it pretty. And neither should we if we are going to teach the full, unadulterated gospel of our Lord. Sin's pleasures would could cost her her physical life.

according to the old law. And it would certainly cost her her spiritual life, her eternal life if she went through with it, and it can do the same to us. Therefore, why would we ever want to be caught by sin? It's easy to follow. And it's easy to make it take the place of God's plan, but it could cost one their life, certainly their eternal life. But finally, sin's pleasures with all of this are still avoidable.

How do we do it? We already mentioned the ideas of how not letting it start, of not allowing that compromise to build, of not justifying it in your mind, of not allowing yourself to deny the wickedness of it. With all of this, we don't let the stop thought start. We talked about James 1, 14 and 15 recently in Bible class together. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of what? His own lust and enticed.

Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death. What if it didn't start at all? What if a man said, This right here, this thought, I'm going to put it away from me? Sin starts when we allow that thought to stay in our minds. It never starts with, ⁓ I feel like going to murder today. No, it starts by letting anger fester.

And growing into something new. Now there are those times of impulsive acts as well, where it just comes out in this outright burst of anger. That usually comes after a lifetime of not using self-control. But sin usually builds up to that ultimate point. Don't let it start. Don't even let it begin. But if you do let it start, if it does begin, you don't have to let it continue growing.

He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Proverbs twenty-eight, verse thirteen. If sin has started, if it has decided to if it has started to corrupt inside, even after becoming a Christian, the Lord desires you to confess it and forsake it, to where you can walk in the light as he is in the light once again, first John one nine.

Don't be caught by sin. You don't have to be. Now, there is the fact that all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, as we previously discussed. But the fact is, you don't have to go into sin. You are not required to sin as a human being. It's simply something you are capable of doing as a human being. And something that all of us ultimately choose at some point in our lives. But we are not required to

or forced by our own nature to follow after it. You do not have to be caught in sin. This woman she was, and it can still be the case that we are, but not only was she caught by sin, she was caught in sin.

Looking at this further, turn to verse three, or look at verse three with me.

Verse 3, and the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery, and they set her in the midst. Think about this woman for just a moment. Not only was she now guilty of what she had done, she had been in this wicked situation, this wicked desire and pleasure. She is now brought by the scribes and Pharisees. They were the ones that were known for being righteous. They were the ones known for being holy.

Of being seen by the people as, ⁓ if you if you just do what these men do, you're going to be saved. You're going to be blessed by God. They're blessed by God. Look at all the riches they have. There were a lot of things wrong in the way they viewed that. But it was these, the ones who looked like they were righteous, that came and set her where? They didn't just set her privately where she could be judged by Christ, making sure that this was just kept private enough to where they were able to take care of something as privately as it possibly could.

We should often strive to do. They instead set her in the midst. They put her right there where everybody can see her. She has this iniquity behind her, or this iniquity now on her heart, and it is now set where everyone can see it. Everyone's a witness of the tears that she likely cries because she knows everyone sees what she has done. She probably wasn't carried there nicely.

She probably didn't come there without any resistance. She is probably not all put together. She's there on the ground. She's probably dirty. There's dust in the air. She's there sitting on the ground because of this sin in front of everyone. It's not pretty. And now it's in front of everyone. She was caught in.

Sin.

With this, not only was she, as we described, likely dirty. There was likely dust in the air, she was drugged there. She didn't even have anyone standing by her. Now, adultery is a is a crime, according to God. And is it one but it's one that it requires more than one person. It requires two. But they didn't carry the second person with them. It was just her.

She had a partner in crime, but he had no love for her. He did not stay there with her. He did not respect her enough to say, you know what, we've done this. I'm going to stand by you as we go toward this. The friends of the world, they don't stand by your side when the chickens come home to roost. Earlier, we described that you have the good times, and then the friends who wanted you to enjoy the good times leave when the good times are over. That's exactly what this man did. The time was over.

There's no reason for him to suffer punishment if he can run away from it. He instead goes on and she has to face this alone. This world is going to act like it is your best friend. The devil is going to wrap up that sin in all that pretty little Christmas paper and put a bow on top of it and make it look so pleasant and make it look like you're going to have all kinds of people smiling around you as you open what he wants to give you. But when you open it,

It's not going to be like family around a tree. It's not going to be like you just received a gift. You'll instead find yourself alone every time. She had a partner in crime, but he had no love for her. In this world, when we are done with our sin, we'll show it has no love for us. In contrast with this man, true love is not going to lure others into sin. It is rather going to do everything it can to help others not go into sin.

First Corinthians thirteen, verse five Love doth not behave itself unseem seemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, and thinketh no evil. It does not behave unseemly. It's not going to be inappropriate. Think about this woman and her relations with this man. That's unseemly in and of itself. Straight and obvious. This is something that was inappropriate from the very start. This what he did seeked his own.

He was not looking for her benefit, but instead looking for his desires, as is obviously seen in the fact that he is not there by her side now. It thinketh no evil. Now this is the idea of taking the benefit of the doubt. But this love is not going to think, hey, how can I do evil today? It's not going to say, hey, what can I get away with doing? While this man, that's what his mind was on.

She was caught in sin, and when she was caught, her partner in crime didn't stay beside her. He didn't continue being with her. Now, talking about this idea, there are those who take relationships that were not right, that were not right, and they were able to turn them into something beautiful. There are those who have had children and they were outside of marriage, but then they were able to come together, repent of those sins.

And do good. You can take lemons and you can make lemonade. Our point today, appreciating the fact that there are those who repent and they do show true true love toward one another, is realizing that by and large the sin that the world that the sin that the world wants to make us enjoy, enjoy with us, we're usually not going to have a fan club with us when we're done. It's going to leave us alone. We're going to be caught in sin.

And there's not going to be anyone standing by our side when we do. True love will not lure others into sin. This man, he had no love for her, but something else he lacked was a backbone. John 8, 4 through 3, as we describe, this man wasn't there. He did not love her enough to be there, and he was not courageous enough to be there when it was time for judgment. This world is not going to show any kind of good character.

When it's said and done. Not only will it be a lack of love, it's going to be a lack of consistency. Sin and of itself, you have inconsistency in it. This world is not going to be with you. Sin, when it is exposed, will leave you. Well, the world will cast you away. And sin, when it is exposed, the self-righteous that are in the world are going to look down on you. The ones who are with you in that sin leave you, and then those who

They have their own sins, but they're able to look down on you because of what you do, they're going to put make you a castaway as well. John eight, verse six, who is it that brought him to Christ? It was the scribes and Pharisees. But this they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down with his finger, wrote on the ground. Now they brought him her to Christ, and they are willing to say, Look at what she's done, and they're willing to say it out loud.

These are the Pharisees who make the outside of the cup clean, but inside is filthy. They are the ones that are like a tomb with decay and bones on the inside, but on the outside they're like white stones that are painted. The Jews, they would paint the outside of tombs to make them look pretty. In fact to make it to where it you wouldn't accidentally step on it because they were easy to see, but they would do nothing about the bones on the inside. I mean it

It's a grave, you're not going to go and disturb the bones. But the fact is they were like that. They were pretty on the outside and filthy on the inside. It was the self righteous, those who made their own standard of morality and wanted to make it look like they were righteous, that brought this woman to Christ. And then when they did it, it was not for justice. Why was it? They wanted to tempt Christ. They wanted to have him say something so that they could accuse him. It's interesting, these men

are her accusers. And why is it that they brought her to Christ? So that they could accuse him. We live in a world that wants to take God's people, wants to take them and then move them towards sin, and then use that as ammunition against the Lord. This world will make the most of if we decide as Christians to enjoy wickedness, to go after that which is wrong. Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter five and six six has a whole lot to say about

Judgment. And in that he talks about those who they are going, they go before the judgment seats of the world. And he says, Is there not a wise man among you who can judge rightly between you? Instead, you bring your problems to the world. And that was going to be something where the world looked down on them because they couldn't even take care of this within themselves. That is but one example of when the church decides, hey, we're not going to take care of our proper problems properly, it gives a bad light. It sheds bad

A bad light, and it's going to harm the way the church the world looks at the church. These Pharisees wanted to take this woman, and they wanted to bring her before Christ so he could say something wrong, so they could say something wrong against Christ. There are times where we are going to stumble, times where we are going to fall into sin, but may it be that we strive to follow God's way, not only

For our own benefit, because we know what is wrong, but because we do not want shame or reproach on his church. Because we want to make sure that the light that shines from Colrierville Church of Christ is one that truly shines God light without any spots or blemishes from the devil darkening it. Because the Lord's light is what this world needs, and if we allow the darkness of the world to de pollute that light, it's only going to hurt how many souls we can bring to the Lord.

Let us shine a proper light that doesn't make it to where the world has opportunity to accuse our Lord, but instead following Him properly. And brethren, thank you for following the Lord's way. Thank you for following the Lord's light, so that we can shine together and go out into the world and preach the gospel to every creature. When sin is exposed, those who enjoyed it with you will leave. And when sin is exposed, the self-righteous

And the world again is going to look down on you and use it for ridicule, both against you and your Lord.

She was in sin. She was in that which was against the nature of God. And then while she was caught in sin, she was brought to where shame was put upon her, and they tried to shame Christ by making him say something that that they might accuse him. Not shaming him by her sin, but by him saying that he either needed to follow the old law.

or the Roman law, and then they would go against one or the other to try to make him look like he did something wrong. They try using her to shame her and then also to try to tempt him, shame him. With all of this, with all of how wicked this sin was, Jesus still saved her from it. She was saved from her sin. Turning back to John chapter eight.

Verse 7, 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. We could try to put our hand in with all the scholars and debate over what Christ wrote. But we don't know. In fact, the italics show that this verse, if it was written as would be proper, would just say, This they said, tempting him.

That they might have to accuse him, but Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground. It doesn't even say as though they heard them not. This is something that we can easily assume from it, the fact that he ignores them. But if we go any further than that kind of implication, then we have gone past the point of what Christ is doing. Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Jesus is not answering these fools.

He is instead being patient and letting this suspense build before they learn this lesson. He writes on the ground and then verse seven So when they continued to ask him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

He that is without sin among you, the one among you who doesn't deserve punishment yourself, let him be the one that cast a stone. In this Jesus accused her challengers. He stood up for her even when her partner did not. This man who didn't love her, who didn't have no backbone, he didn't stay with her, but then Christ, the one who came to this world to try to save who did save us from our sin.

Who did all that was needed so that we could be saved if we follow his will. He came, and then he was the one who stood by her and said, The one that is without sin among you, first cast a stone. No one else was going to defend her, but the one who was harmed the most by her sin, he was the one that did it. He stood up for her when her partner did not. But also he stood for her when the world stood against her.

When everyone else has forsaken you and decided that you are too far gone, that you there's no way we're going to get this person back, even when those who are righteous say, Well, we've had to shake the dust from our feet. They're not going to come back. The Lord still wants you to come back. And if you were willing to change for him, he is going to defend you from the accuser, from the one who bring wants to bring all your sins before God, so that we can be punished at the judgment day with all of that against us.

Instead, God wants you to be defended by Him. But there's something that's going to be required if we want to be defended by our Lord. Jesus was not the accuser. Jesus is instead was and is the forgiver. Sin is that which is going to hurt God most. Yes, we can hurt our families. We can hurt those that are excuse me, those that are around us, but the one hurt most is God. Genesis chapter six.

Verses five and six When the Lord looked on the wickedness of the world, verse five says, And God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, and it repented the Lord that he made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. Now this idea of God repenting, when man repents, he changes his will. When God repents, he wills a change.

God is not changing his mind in the fact of saying he did something wrong. But he is going to will the change of saying, this man that I created, he's no longer going to walk in this earth the same way. He's going to cleanse this world, and Noah's family is going to come away from it. But the reason was because he saw the wickedness of man, and it could no longer stay on this earth, because it was hurting God. It grieved him at his heart.

The Lord isn't just looking for a chance to harm us. He isn't just up there with a lightning bolt wanting you to sin because he gets kicks and giggles out of saying, ⁓ look what you did. Instead, sin grieves him at his heart. He doesn't want you to go into it. That is the reason for the punishment. It's not an opportunity for him to exercise his justice. It requires him to exercise his justice because of how much it hurts him. Jesus forgives everybody.

Even though sin hurts God that much. Isaiah 59, verse 2. Both but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear. That which separates our relationship from God, that which separates us from the one that created us, is the sin that makes it to where he can no longer look.

He he has to hide his face from us. No, he turns his back because of what we have decided to do. Even though sin is that bad, Christ is going to say, Go and sin no more to her. He is going to forgive her sins. Sin is wicked. David realized that when he sinned against the Lord, when he sinned in the I in the occurrence with Bathsheba, Psalm 54, verse 1 says.

Against thee and thee only have I sinned. The words that that psalm has, the the Jewish, the Jewish information given to us, that is not inspired, but instead is ancient. It says that that was what he wrote, what David wrote when he committed that sin with Bathsheba. He didn't say against Uriah and Uriah only, against Bathsheba and Bathsheba only. Now these were people he certainly sinned against, people that were harmed by what he did.

But the person that mattered most to him was his Lord. When we sin, our focus must be on the Lord that we heard against Thee and Thee only. Have I sinned? If sin does not hurt us, if there is not that recognition of how much it hurts God, there is only so much change that's going to take place in our lives, because we must realize how much it means to the Lord before it's going to mean enough to us for us to change.

Jesus was and is the forgiver, despite how much sin hurts him. But me we must be willing to turn from that sin. Look at what Christ tells her. First, he tells the accusers, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And then each one of them is going to walk away one by one. Not one of them is going to be able to throw a stone out of a clean conscience.

Now we can commend them for this. The fact that they were not willing to cast a stone, but instead they were willing to say, Hey, I can't do this and it be consistent. They did a lot of things wrong, but right here they did something right. But then when they were left alone,

Verse ten 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.

This morning, our brother Aaron took us through scripture and ended with the idea of just as I am, of looking at the fact that even though we have committed sin, we have gone after this, the Lord wants you back. He wants you, and he is not looking up and saying, Well, before I even consider looking at you, you need to get these things straightened out. Instead, he looks at you and says, I want you and I want you now. Now repent, change for me.

He is not hiding until you figure something out yourself before you discover something. He is instead reaching out to you with his word and saying, I want you to do this so you can be with me. The idea of just as I am is not the fact that the Lord doesn't want us to change it all, but instead the fact that he reaches for us no matter what we have done for him, no matter what has happened, just as I am, that is

Present tense, and it's about the way I exist, just as I am. This is about the way you are at that moment. But God doesn't want you to stay that way. And that is evident in John chapter eight. Verse eleven he says, Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more.

He does not condemn her. He is going to offer her forgiveness as is going to be shown and made evident in the fact that he dies for all sin on the cross. And with that, he also says, Go and sin no more. There was a requirement for her not to be condemned at all, and that was the fact that she had to remember to stay away from what she had done. So many today wants to say, I'm just an old sinner, even Christians.

I'm just an old sinner, and I did that yesterday, but it's fine. I'm forgiven. You are not just an old sinner if you're a Christian. Because the Lord has told you, go and sin no more. Little children, these things I write unto you that ye sin not. Paul would write. We are not required to sin. And our identity is no longer sinner. Our identity is Christian.

If we are going to be like those who were in Antioch and they received a new name, a new name given by God that reflects the Lord who died for us, the Lord by whose life we live as a standard, we cannot carry the identity of Christian and sinner at the same time. The two are not synonymous. The two are opposites. You are not a sinner. Please do not call yourself a sinner. If you are following the Lord's way and doing the best you can, you might stumble, you might falter.

But that does not make you a continual sinner. If you repent and come back to Him, the Lord saves you from sin. It's no longer your identity. It's no longer there to punish you if you are willing to change from it. She was caught in sin. She was caught by sin, following after its desires. She was caught in sin, facing repercussions and shame in society because of what she did, but finally.

The Lord who came down from heaven for her, he saved her from sin, saying, Go and sin no more. This Lord on this day was her Savior and saved her from both the physical punishment here, and he would also save her from the spiritual punishment if she continued in the way he made plain for her. Imagine a man, and he's out driving.

Country roads. He knows he's going too fast. He knows he shouldn't have been drinking. And the next thing he remembers, and the last thing he remembers is he was in a ditch. There was blood on his hands, came off his head. He's bleeding out. There's few people that come on this road, maybe five cars a day, but somehow, some way, there's someone that comes by and he drags them out of that ditch and takes him to where he can get help.

And he just saw a glimpse of that man's face. And that's the last thing he remembered of him. And he's thankful. He saved his physical life that day. But he's not thankful enough. He goes and he does the same kind of thing. He drinks, he drives, but instead this time, rather than hitting a ditch, he hits a person. Fatal.

He's now in court. And he's facing charges for manslaughter, of driving under the influence. And there's a man standing there or sitting there at that judgment seat. And he looks at his face and says, Hey, I know you. I've seen you before. You saved me out of that ditch. You rescued me. That man who saved him from that ditch then said, Sir, that day I was your Savior. I brought you out of there. But today

I'm your judge. Our Lord wants to save us from the sin that has plagued our lives. But there will come a day where He can no longer be our Savior because of our own decisions, but He will instead be our judge. Brethren, if you desire for your Lord to continue to be your Savior, not having to be your judge and condemning you because of the sin that has separated you from Him, He wants you with Him. Those who are not

Christians. He wants them to be washed in the waters of baptism, being cleansed of their sins after repenting, changing the way they look at sin. And before that, confessing his sweet name. And before that hearing at least a complete enough version or a complete enough knowledge of the gospel to know what they have to do. You have to know what you're doing. If you want to be saved, He's given the path for it, He's given the way for it, and if you are one that is saved.

But you have turned back to sin. She was one that was a part of God's people. She was one who, from all indications, was an Israelite, but she went into sin anyway. You are a Christian. But if you have gone into sin, the Lord still wants to tell you, neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more. If you are in need of the forgiveness of your Lord today, so that you can no longer walk in the ways of this world, but walking in his light once again, would you please do so as we stand