WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:02.640 Good morning, church. 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:06.799 I want to thank you for having me here this morning. 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:08.000 Thank you to Justin. 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:12.400 He's become a good friend of mine along with the other Acts 29 pastors. 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:15.599 If you're ever in Columbus, we would love to see you. 00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:20.559 We feel a kindred spirit with many of our Acts 29 families. 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:26.640 So we feel uh the same kind of things that you feel, the same kind of values we value as well. 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:31.199 So if you're in Columbus looking for a place to worship, we certainly would invite you. 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:34.000 Thank you for inviting me here tonight or this morning. 00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:37.439 Our church meets in the evening, so if I say tonight, I'm very sorry. 00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:39.520 I'm just so used to that at this point. 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:45.039 And gosh, this is the first time I've woken up before 10 on a Sunday morning in a long time. 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:47.280 So I'm really tired this morning. 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:49.679 All right, thank you for having me. 00:00:49.759 --> 00:00:52.880 If you wouldn't mind uh praying with me real quick. 00:00:55.520 --> 00:00:57.679 Father, where else would we go? 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:00.640 You have the words of life. 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:05.599 Father, where would we go for our anxiety? 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:08.799 Only your words are life to us. 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:11.680 Father, where would we go for our shame? 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:15.680 Only your words have life for us. 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:20.879 Father, where would we go for our frustrations and disappointments? 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:23.599 Only you have the words of life. 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:28.719 And so, Father, we know that man really doesn't live by bread alone. 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:34.799 Anything happening in this physical world is only temporary, but Father, we truly live. 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:40.560 We truly experience eternal life by every word that comes from the mouth of God. 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:51.200 And so, God, thank you for your Son Jesus, who is the very word who has come to us and has delivered to us not just the law, but has given us grace and truth. 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:54.879 And so, Father, today we would ask for the words of life. 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:57.760 Father, we have come to you on purpose. 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:00.159 Father, for your purposes. 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:01.599 So feed us this morning. 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:03.120 We pray these things through Christ. 00:02:03.359 --> 00:02:03.920 Amen. 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:11.039 Um I meet a lot of people in my profession. 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:13.360 I I love meeting people. 00:02:13.439 --> 00:02:15.840 It's part of why I love being a pastor. 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:18.560 I meet all kinds of people. 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:20.400 Uh you'd be surprised. 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:30.560 Sometimes I, on purpose, go to places where uh I'll meet some shady kinds of people because I think Jesus wants to connect with them. 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:32.879 But I meet a lot of people. 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:37.199 I meet good people who are trying to be good. 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:42.159 I meet bad people who are coping with their inability to be good. 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:47.039 And I meet bad people who have all but given up on any attempt of being good. 00:02:47.759 --> 00:02:52.000 You see, I'm trying my hardest to connect them to Jesus. 00:02:52.240 --> 00:03:00.000 It seems like a simple task, but you would be surprised at how many people do not actually want to be connected to Jesus. 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:03.199 As a pastor, they'll happily tell me that. 00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:09.680 The good ones don't need him, and the bad ones are too ashamed to talk with him. 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:15.919 I kind of feel as a pastor, I could, I think I could get it all to go away. 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:19.759 If I could just get everyone to stop sinning so much. 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:38.960 If the good people would stop being so pious, or if the bad people would finally get their stuff in a pile, I think they would see that, you know, Jesus really isn't that bad of a guy, and maybe, like Zacchaeus, maybe they would just invite him over for dinner. 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:44.319 But it's really hard to stop sinning, isn't it? 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:47.599 I mean, it's really hard. 00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:49.919 Really hard. 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:55.680 Have you ever been addicted to the thought that you're just better than everyone else? 00:03:56.879 --> 00:03:58.240 I mean like addicted. 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:02.719 Like every conversation with your spouse. 00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:04.639 You can't just stop talking. 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:06.319 You can't just lose. 00:04:06.719 --> 00:04:08.319 You're right and you know it. 00:04:08.479 --> 00:04:10.479 You're smarter and you know it. 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:22.639 And see, whether or not we believe it deep down in our hearts, we've all been committed to the idea, or at least trying to commit to the idea that we really are just better than other ones. 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:24.240 I've been here before. 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:35.040 I've spent most of my life literally believing that I was smarter than my parents, more competent than my teachers, had more potential than my youth pastor, and was more moral than my friends and co-workers. 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:38.000 Most of my life has been spent that way. 00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:41.600 I'm just better than everyone else. 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:45.439 And it wasn't until I was older that I actually figured out the truth. 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:47.279 It's not that I was actually better. 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:52.399 I was just simply addicted to the reality of trying to prove to myself that I was. 00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:59.199 You see, my religion is one of the reasons I have a hard time making friends to this day. 00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:00.959 Do you know anything about that? 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:07.759 Your ability to try to prove yourself just pushes people away. 00:05:08.959 --> 00:05:10.319 I know that all too well. 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:13.600 It's hard to love people when you're always better than them. 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:17.120 This is why the religious people hated Jesus. 00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:20.639 Because he wasn't interested in getting better. 00:05:21.519 --> 00:05:25.519 They hated the fact that God really isn't interested in playing games with religion. 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:29.680 It almost seems like he isn't interested in helping you get better at all either. 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:33.519 You see, it's really hard as a religious person to stop sinning. 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:38.639 But lest you think I'm only religious, let me tell you I'm not. 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:40.879 I also have a dark past. 00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:45.040 I have many things in my past that I'm too embarrassed to share publicly. 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:48.079 There are things in my life that only a few people know. 00:05:48.319 --> 00:05:52.720 Shoot, there are things that only Jesus knows, and I kind of think he's okay with that. 00:05:53.360 --> 00:06:01.600 If I could go back and tell myself something in the middle of my deepest and darkest temptations, I would tell myself it's not worth it. 00:06:03.279 --> 00:06:06.160 The guilt and shame are not worth it. 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:17.439 I'd like to tell you about all my success stories of personal triumph and sobriety and how my cravings have just simply gone away over time and how I've mastered my compulsions. 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:21.040 But I don't really have too many of those stories. 00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:28.720 I'll be honest with you, it's really, really hard to stop sinning, and this is coming from somebody who's tried really hard. 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:34.319 I've read my Bible from cover to cover multiple times. 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:39.040 I've prayed more than you know over my sin and my flesh. 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:45.199 I've been to more youth group meetings and revivals and church services than most people, and I'm only 35. 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:52.959 I've walked down so many aisles and prayed so many prayers at the altar, but the hunger for darkness still aches in my stomach. 00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:56.720 The pull of life's pleasures still pulls through my veins. 00:06:57.040 --> 00:06:59.600 It is so hard to stop sinning. 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:04.480 Do you feel what I feel? 00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:08.319 Have you ever tried to stop? 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:11.199 You ever tried to just quit cold turkey? 00:07:13.199 --> 00:07:17.360 This is part of the reason for the text this morning, part of what we see. 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:21.759 Maybe not so much the reason, but it's what we see in our text this morning. 00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:26.319 This is an interesting text. 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:31.279 Um, it's kind of actually one that I'm I'm not so sure is best placed in our scriptures. 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:39.839 You might even read in some of your footnotes in the text that this has some qualifications and some asterisks about whether or not it's supposed to be there. 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:50.959 So I'm not so sure this particular text aligns with the timing of the story of John's account in the Gospels, but uh the veracity of the scriptures here certainly uh would stand up. 00:07:51.120 --> 00:08:01.920 There are multiple historical accounts that talk about this story, uh and the realities certainly flow from a clear uh doctrinal um cohesion with the rest of the scriptures. 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:08.319 But this is such an interesting story and has actually become one of my favorites over the years. 00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:19.600 Jesus went to the Mount of Olives, but then early in the morning he came again to the temple where he normally was found by the religious people. 00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:22.639 We've got a couple of interesting details that are helpful. 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:28.639 Number one, this is very early in the morning, maybe even as kind of early as it feels here this morning. 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:32.399 I was driving in from Columbus and was able to see the sunrise. 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:39.519 I left when it was dark and I arrived when it was early and saw a beautiful sunrise over the farmlands of our beautiful state. 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:44.080 And it's probably that kind of early where Jesus was meeting in the temple. 00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:46.000 He was doing a couple things. 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:57.519 Number one, he was gathering with all kinds of people, just like I try to do throughout the week and throughout the months of pastoral ministry, just trying to gather with people and connect with them. 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:05.840 The reason people were gathering to Jesus is because Jesus was saying and doing things that were extreme. 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:09.440 They were on the polarizing opposites of life. 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:12.799 He was raising dead and he was speaking with authority. 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:17.519 He was doing and saying things that you don't normally have seen and done. 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:27.759 Jesus was, according to the people, speaking with boldness, making claims that were absurd, especially to the religious. 00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:35.440 All the people came to him in verse 2 and they sat down and Jesus began to open his mouth and teach them. 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:41.840 You imagine the kind of commentary on the scriptures that Jesus offered to them. 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:49.360 Jesus loved teaching about themes related to the law, the clarity of the law and the nature of his kingdom. 00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:55.519 And so Jesus often used parables and stories to communicate certain kingdom aspects and values. 00:09:55.679 --> 00:10:00.480 But he also used really hard sayings to clarify the true meaning of the law. 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:11.120 He would say things like, You have heard it said that you shouldn't commit adultery, but I'm saying to you, if you've ever looked at a woman with lust in your heart, you might as well have already slept with her. 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:14.080 The law of God is inflexible. 00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:20.480 Jesus was saying things that were really hard for the normal people to understand, people like you and me. 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:32.159 And while the normal people gathered to listen to Jesus' bold and authoritative teaching and to see his actions, maybe they were looking for a handout, maybe they were looking for some healing. 00:10:32.320 --> 00:10:35.360 The religious themselves had actual other intentions. 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:42.480 You see, verse 3, the scribes and the Pharisees had brought a woman who had been caught in adultery. 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:45.759 Again, the timing and the details are important. 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:54.480 We're talking about probably mere minutes or hours of this woman's actual sin. 00:10:55.360 --> 00:10:58.639 Early in the morning, they brought Jesus, this woman. 00:10:59.759 --> 00:11:01.600 I'm not even sure if she had clothes on. 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:02.799 We don't really know. 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:05.759 It was an unbelievable moment. 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:10.879 Truly shocking moment, scandalous moment. 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:23.360 It's hard to really even know the full feeling of this moment for her, for Jesus, and even for the crowds watching this happen. 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:32.159 And while the crowds were seeking answers about themselves with Jesus, the religious were more asking questions about somebody else to Jesus. 00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:34.320 It's an interesting kind of dichotomy. 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:38.559 The crowds were interested in hearing about themselves, Jesus teach us. 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:44.080 Whereas the religious were actually hoping to teach a lesson themselves with this woman. 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:48.720 It's an interesting flip and an interesting power struggle that's presented here at the moment. 00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:54.480 And so they placed Jesus in the midst of this crowd. 00:11:55.600 --> 00:12:03.519 And they addressed Jesus as teacher, kind of tongue in cheek, and say, This woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:07.039 They tried to put Jesus to the test in verse 5. 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:11.519 Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such a woman, so what do you say? 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:15.919 The punchline is given in verse 6, the motivation is given. 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:23.360 They said to him, they said this to him to test him, that they might bring some charge to bring against him. 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:32.960 There wasn't so much that much care about the woman and her situation and her setup there. 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:40.320 There was really a much bigger priority placed on trying to pin Jesus down more than the woman. 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:54.080 See, once you begin to see that religious, that religion's primary motivator is guilt and shame, you start to recognize religion everywhere. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:07.279 Once you begin to realize that the only thing that religion has to offer is a carrot and stick kind of way of life, motivated by guilt and shame. 00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:10.879 It's a horrible master. 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:16.559 And you'll begin to see that religion is all over our lives. 00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:18.960 Sometimes it's the reason we go to work. 00:13:19.200 --> 00:13:24.000 It's the reason we're pursuing the kind of jobs we're pursuing, because what if I don't? 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:26.879 What if I don't get that promotion? 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:29.600 What if I don't live up to my dreams? 00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:32.559 What if I can't do what I was built to do? 00:13:32.799 --> 00:13:33.840 What would my wife think? 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:34.879 What would my parents think? 00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:35.600 What would I think? 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:38.240 Would I be able to look at myself in the mirror? 00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:44.480 We're scared of these moments that this woman was placed in at the moment. 00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:49.039 To be honest, we're much like the religious here, they're scared. 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:51.519 They're trying to justify themselves. 00:13:51.679 --> 00:13:53.759 They don't have answers for their soul. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:58.000 They don't have a kind of settledness and assurance that religion offers. 00:13:58.159 --> 00:14:01.200 They're being motivated by guilt and shame too. 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:12.480 This is not found in scripture in this story here, but in my estimation, I think there's a good reason to think that this was actually a setup. 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:16.960 The religious knew exactly what they were doing. 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:28.960 I actually think that maybe even they themselves were part of the setup, trying to trap this woman into committing adultery so that they could bring her to Jesus. 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:33.519 Notice that there's no man present in this situation. 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:42.480 The law of Moses, when it reflects judgment or righteousness for those caught in adultery, it affects both the man and the woman. 00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:44.799 Here we just have the presence of the woman. 00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:46.080 Where was the man? 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:47.840 Maybe he fled, we don't really know. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:50.799 Maybe the man was actually part of the religious institution. 00:14:51.039 --> 00:14:52.879 Maybe he was part of the plan. 00:14:53.759 --> 00:14:56.159 We don't really know too much. 00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:02.399 But what's funny is they say that they're really concerned about righteousness. 00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:07.919 They really are concerned about morality, they're really concerned about the demands of the law. 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:21.840 And yet, in doing that, they're willing to publicly shame a woman and willing to publicly try to trap the one who wrote the very laws himself. 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:43.360 And so, what might look like morality, that is, this desire to love God and to love people, this pursuit of morality based on the function of our ability to do or not do it, actually is completely futile, backwards, and gets hijacked really quickly. 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:49.279 They neither end up loving God or loving people and seeking to love God or love people. 00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:58.799 It shows us that a life motivated by our own ability to keep the law is always going to backfire. 00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:02.799 Jesus knew this. 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:07.360 And so he begins to write. 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:13.759 In verse 6, Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:15.919 Something else we don't know about this text. 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:18.559 This text has a lot of mystery around it. 00:16:19.440 --> 00:16:23.039 But Jesus begins to write on the ground with his finger. 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:25.360 I find that a very interesting language. 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:35.279 We have actually the fact that God in Exodus 31 wrote with his finger the words written in the tablets of stone in the law of Moses. 00:16:35.600 --> 00:16:41.600 So maybe there's a hint there about the contents of what's being written by the fact that Jesus is willing to use his finger. 00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:47.120 He could have used a stick, could have just spoke it, but he begins to write it with his own finger. 00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:53.519 There's obviously some amount of time that's taken to be written. 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:58.320 It took him quite a while to inscribe all that he intended to write out. 00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:02.639 Because as he began to write verse 7, they continued to ask him. 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:05.680 They continued to badger him with questions. 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:07.119 What are you going to do, Jesus? 00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:08.559 What are you going to do, Jesus? 00:17:08.720 --> 00:17:09.599 What are you going to do? 00:17:09.759 --> 00:17:12.160 And Jesus kept writing. 00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:25.279 He actually interrupts their questions and says this in verse 7 Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:33.119 And then he continues to write, took even more time after Jesus acknowledged their questions. 00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:44.480 Some people think that Jesus was writing the Ten Commandments, a very general understanding of the moral law of God, that is like part of just the Decalogue there. 00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:54.559 That might be the case. 00:17:54.799 --> 00:17:58.559 Maybe Jesus was writing specific sins. 00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:03.599 Maybe he knew the religious crowd and began to write out very specific sins. 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:08.319 Maybe he even drew names and wrote very specific things. 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:11.200 I think that's less likely. 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:15.519 I think more he let the word of God do the talking. 00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:19.119 My own thought would be that he wrote just the Ten Commandments. 00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:22.079 That would be my personal opinion of what he wrote. 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:31.440 It's funny, they went to Jesus to accuse him, and they were the ones ending up accused. 00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:36.559 They went in being judgmental, but they were judged by the judge of the universe. 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:41.599 They went in feeling religious, and they left as actual sinners. 00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:54.160 Verse 9, when they heard it, and when they heard Jesus' words, let him who is without sin be the first to throw a stone, they left. 00:18:56.079 --> 00:18:57.839 They walked away. 00:18:58.880 --> 00:19:01.119 Jesus had silenced the argument. 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:03.279 He had silenced the accusations. 00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:05.279 And notice how they went away. 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:08.480 They went away from the oldest ones first. 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:12.559 It was the older ones who began to walk away. 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:15.359 And then the younger began to follow. 00:19:17.759 --> 00:19:25.039 Again, we don't know exactly what Jesus wrote, but he made something perfectly clear from a theological perspective. 00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:27.359 Nobody is without sin. 00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:34.079 And so the question, my question for us this morning, how do we stop sinning? 00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:37.200 If you're keeping notes, you're welcome to write this down. 00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:38.400 This is my first point. 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:41.279 Verse 9, how do you stop sinning? 00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:42.400 You can't. 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:46.720 You can't. 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:52.319 But you'll figure that out when you're a little bit older. 00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:55.680 You'll begin to realize that reality. 00:19:55.759 --> 00:20:00.079 You'll begin to internalize that reality once you've lived a little bit. 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:06.400 Once you've experienced a kind of chronicness to the suffering of our own sinful nature. 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:11.279 You'll begin to figure this out like these religious men eventually figure it out. 00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:14.799 None of us are pulling it off. 00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:19.680 None of us are as religious as we project. 00:20:20.880 --> 00:20:24.000 Everybody has skeletons in the closet. 00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:29.839 Everybody has chronic sins that they can't overcome. 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:38.079 Everybody is silenced by the accusatory voice of God's inflexible law. 00:20:39.680 --> 00:20:48.480 And so when Jesus comes in and says things like, you have heard it said, the goal in that moment is not to give you a passing grade. 00:20:49.279 --> 00:20:54.240 Jesus isn't trying to help you find justification on the basis of the law. 00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:58.880 He's actually trying to get you to understand your unjustification. 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:10.480 He's not trying to get you to understand that you're doing it, you're doing it right, you always have been doing it right, and you can find acceptance with him on the virtue of what you do. 00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:18.880 He's trying to get you to understand since you've been born, you've never been pulling it off. 00:21:19.119 --> 00:21:20.799 No one is righteous. 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:23.039 Paul would clarify this over and over again. 00:21:23.200 --> 00:21:25.200 Pauline theology is perfect for this. 00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:31.519 He says this by works of the law, no man is justified in God's sight. 00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:37.759 Or maybe maybe this will ring a little bit true in Galatians as well. 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:44.720 He says, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything to God. 00:21:46.079 --> 00:21:49.119 Let me translate that a little bit here to our context. 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:53.119 What you do or what you don't do doesn't mean a thing. 00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:59.599 What means a thing to God, the only thing that matters is faith. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.240 That expresses itself in love. 00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:08.559 Rule keeping, not rule keeping, none of it can set you free. 00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:10.480 None of it can justify you. 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:13.359 None of it can give you acceptability before God. 00:22:13.599 --> 00:22:15.519 The law was intended to crush. 00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:21.599 Paul says in 2 Corinthians that the law is a ministry of death and a ministry of condemnation. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:28.160 The voice of the law is to silence that voice of inner justification in our hearts. 00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:31.839 So how can you stop sinning, my friend? 00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:33.200 You can't. 00:22:34.880 --> 00:22:44.480 And the longer you live life, the longer you allow the law of God and the law of this world to work in your heart, the longer you will realize this. 00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:49.039 Because though God has his own laws, the world has our own laws, don't we? 00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:52.960 I call them big L laws versus little L laws. 00:22:53.039 --> 00:22:56.480 God's big L laws would be love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 00:22:56.559 --> 00:22:58.960 And we're really good at being religious. 00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:06.640 But then Monday through Saturday, we work so hard to fulfill the laws that were written on our hearts of be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. 00:23:06.720 --> 00:23:20.319 And it turns into little L laws of if I can just be pretty, if I can just be Instagram worthy, if I can just be church culture acceptable, if I can just be corporate office successful. 00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:30.799 And all of these little L laws scream at us, and so what we do is we kick into performance mode and we seek justification or acceptability on what we're able to do or not do. 00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:38.079 And my friends, by works of the law, no human being is justified in God's sight or get this in our own sight. 00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:46.720 Justification in this world is never finished, which is why we're so tired all the time. 00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:48.640 It's why we're so hungry. 00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:50.240 It's why we're so unsatisfied. 00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:52.559 It's why we jump from one thing to the next. 00:23:52.720 --> 00:23:55.920 We're always moving and never free. 00:23:58.640 --> 00:24:00.720 I don't know if you guys are familiar with this. 00:24:00.960 --> 00:24:04.319 There's a beautiful little curriculum that is written by Robert Foon. 00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:07.119 It's called the Gospel-Centered Life Curriculum. 00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:12.480 It's part of the foundation of our own church as we help bring people on board into the life of our church. 00:24:12.640 --> 00:24:19.680 We help them understand that throughout the whole Christian life, there are two things that continue to grow and grow in our Christian experience. 00:24:19.920 --> 00:24:24.160 Number one, we continue to grow in the awareness of God's holiness. 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:26.880 And that's not to say that God becomes more holy. 00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:27.599 That's not true. 00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:30.799 He's always holy, he's always been, and he's unchangingly holy. 00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:35.920 But in our own awareness and the awareness of our own hearts, God is increasingly more holy. 00:24:36.079 --> 00:24:38.799 And I'm not just talking about moral purity, that's true. 00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:48.559 But I'm talking about holy in his providence, or holy in his love, or holy in his morality. 00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:52.559 All the ways in which God is in and of himself who he is. 00:24:56.480 --> 00:25:11.440 And if that's going to continue to grow in your understanding, in other words, if you're never going to be able to exhaust the nature and character of God and your understanding of who he is continues to grow, then something else happens in relation to your understanding fundamentally of the human nature. 00:25:11.599 --> 00:25:15.599 You're going to see the true reality of the human heart as it is. 00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:19.680 A big theology of God leads a big theology of sin. 00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:27.119 So you begin to see sin and a clearer light in your own life as you stand in light of the holiness of God. 00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:38.400 You begin, and again, it's not that you are functionally sinning more, but that you're becoming more and more aware of just how sinful you are and just how much you need God in your life. 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:42.720 This is why Paul would say at the very end of his life, I am the chief of sinners. 00:25:42.880 --> 00:25:45.599 What would give Paul the awareness to have that? 00:25:46.079 --> 00:25:48.319 An understanding of God and who he is. 00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:52.559 Leads to a clarity on sin and what it is in our own life. 00:25:52.799 --> 00:26:02.000 And so you begin to see that the Christian life is not this upward mobility where we just keep getting better and better towards God, more and more acceptable towards God. 00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:10.720 Actually, it kind of works the opposite way, where you begin to see your sin more and more and more, and you begin to see the need for God's grace more and more. 00:26:10.880 --> 00:26:18.799 The very thing that connects you from your sin to this holy God is God's infinite, eternal, unconditional grace, his free forgiveness. 00:26:18.960 --> 00:26:20.960 And you begin to need that more and more. 00:26:21.039 --> 00:26:24.079 And so you're singing amazing grace, how sweet the sound. 00:26:24.160 --> 00:26:25.599 That saved a wretch like me. 00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:28.160 I once was lost, but now I'm found. 00:26:28.319 --> 00:26:33.519 I was blind, but now I see that continues to gain momentum in your life. 00:26:35.759 --> 00:26:39.920 I'm wondering, is the amazing grace of Jesus still amazing? 00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:45.839 Or do you just sing the words and have to check in and oh yeah, oh yeah, what are we singing about today? 00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:55.519 We're not seeing the amazing grace of Jesus as sweet as it is, probably because we don't see our sin as big as it is. 00:26:57.519 --> 00:27:05.039 As one pastor put it, Christian growth does not involve becoming stronger and stronger, more and more competent every day. 00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:14.640 It involves becoming more and more aware of how weak and incompetent we are and how strong and competent Jesus was and continues to be for us. 00:27:15.039 --> 00:27:18.240 My friends, that is the nature of Christian growth. 00:27:19.920 --> 00:27:22.000 This is why I love old people. 00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:26.880 We have some old folks in our church, which I praise God for. 00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:34.400 I tell them, you are not just critical, you are absolutely vital to the culture of our church. 00:27:34.720 --> 00:27:36.160 Because you see it. 00:27:36.640 --> 00:27:39.279 You see just how much we need Jesus. 00:27:39.519 --> 00:27:42.160 You don't buy into the press of your own success. 00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:44.559 You don't buy into the press of your own religion. 00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:47.440 There's an older guy, he's older 70s in our church. 00:27:47.519 --> 00:27:48.960 His name is Richard. 00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:56.720 I love him to pieces because if you hear him talk, he'll talk to you a big game about just how sinful and messed up he is. 00:27:56.880 --> 00:28:05.680 But I promise you, I promise you, this is one of the most richly virtuous men that I know. 00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:08.880 How does that happen? 00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:13.680 Because the grace of Jesus works in his heart big time. 00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:16.880 Grace oozes from him. 00:28:18.079 --> 00:28:22.880 Humility oozes from him, an awareness of sin oozes from him. 00:28:23.039 --> 00:28:27.359 And he, you know, and I've his ministry at our church, I don't give him a job in our church. 00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:29.440 Like he has no like title or tag. 00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:36.240 I just say, dude, your job why you are here at our church is to find young men to encourage. 00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:48.880 Go find young men who are bought into their own press, who are trying to find acceptability and self-justification in their awesome golf league and their passionate uh uh vocational spot that they're in. 00:28:48.960 --> 00:28:51.680 Like, and just go and encourage the heck out of these dudes. 00:28:51.839 --> 00:28:53.599 Just sit with them when they fail. 00:28:53.839 --> 00:28:57.599 Sit with them when they're struggling to be a good dad at home, and just sit and encourage. 00:28:57.680 --> 00:28:58.960 And you know what Richard says to them? 00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:03.039 Because I hear from these guys, he's just like one of us. 00:29:04.799 --> 00:29:13.599 Praise God for older men who see their sin and who rest in the grace of Jesus in a way that actually does the work of transformation in real time and space. 00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:17.920 If you want to stop sinning, sorry, you can't. 00:29:18.079 --> 00:29:20.400 And you'll figure that out when you're older. 00:29:24.640 --> 00:29:31.279 Jesus is now alone with this woman in another kind of amazing shift in the story. 00:29:31.519 --> 00:29:33.680 The drama is unbelievable. 00:29:34.400 --> 00:29:42.400 I would love to just be a speck of sand right underneath Jesus' feet at this moment to see this part of the story. 00:29:42.640 --> 00:29:44.559 All the religious had left. 00:29:44.720 --> 00:29:56.720 You get the idea that the crowd had even left, and all you see is this tortured woman standing there in who knows what kind of condition with our Savior, early in the morning, fresh out of sin. 00:29:58.960 --> 00:30:03.039 And Jesus says, Woman, where are they? 00:30:06.079 --> 00:30:06.720 Who? 00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:08.480 Her accusers. 00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:27.759 The law, judgment, those who would shout to her her guilt, those who would shout to her her shame, all the bad things that she's done in this moment expressed right in real life, right there, and our Savior looks at her and says, Woman, where are those people? 00:30:28.240 --> 00:30:31.200 Where are those voices of accusation? 00:30:34.480 --> 00:30:38.400 Has no one done the job of condemning you? 00:30:42.880 --> 00:30:45.519 Those are the sweetest words in scripture. 00:30:47.680 --> 00:30:50.079 And she says, this is beautiful. 00:30:50.319 --> 00:30:54.559 This beautiful confession of righteousness found in Jesus. 00:30:54.799 --> 00:30:58.799 No one, Lord, no one has been found to condemn me. 00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:03.920 No one is here to speak a word against what you say, Lord. 00:31:04.160 --> 00:31:13.599 And you see, at this moment, you'd be still tempted to think that Jesus doesn't care about sin, that Jesus is the kind of antinomian that the religious are claiming him to be. 00:31:46.319 --> 00:31:51.599 Where all of our mockery and our shame could be cried out against him at that moment. 00:31:51.920 --> 00:31:56.400 All of our religious, yeah, I told you so's would be placed on him. 00:31:58.880 --> 00:32:08.480 My friend, he cares a lot about holiness, so much so that he'd be willing to take the failure of that holiness all upon himself and bear it as his own. 00:32:08.720 --> 00:32:10.480 He cares deeply for sin. 00:32:10.559 --> 00:32:14.160 And as Jesus would cry from the cross, he says, It is finished. 00:32:14.319 --> 00:32:15.599 I've paid it all. 00:32:16.640 --> 00:32:18.640 I've embraced the debt. 00:32:20.640 --> 00:32:27.039 Religion fails because the law requires a perfect judge, and there's no one worthy except Jesus. 00:32:27.279 --> 00:32:32.960 Isn't this what John would eventually cry out in the book of the Revelation? 00:32:33.119 --> 00:32:33.920 Who is worthy? 00:32:34.079 --> 00:32:35.359 He gets so stressed out. 00:32:35.519 --> 00:32:38.960 Is there anybody who is worthy to open the scrolls of judgment? 00:32:39.200 --> 00:32:41.200 Who is able to exercise justice? 00:32:41.359 --> 00:32:43.920 Is there anybody who's able to do that? 00:32:44.480 --> 00:32:47.039 And we see a lamb. 00:32:48.720 --> 00:33:00.400 A lamb slaughtered before the foundation of the world, who is able to pick up the scrolls, the one who himself would be the sacrifice, is able to then execute perfect justice in himself. 00:33:04.960 --> 00:33:17.039 This is why Paul would say in Romans 8, it's because of Jesus' sacrifice, Romans 8, 1 through 4, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 00:33:17.359 --> 00:33:23.759 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ from the law of sin and death. 00:33:24.079 --> 00:33:43.920 For God has done what the law weakened by your flesh could not do, by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 00:34:15.280 --> 00:34:18.639 You owe nothing to this God who has paid everything for you. 00:34:18.800 --> 00:34:20.800 You're accepted and loved in Him. 00:34:21.039 --> 00:34:24.880 There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 00:34:28.800 --> 00:34:35.280 What though the vile accuser roar of sins that I have done, I know them well and thousands more. 00:34:35.519 --> 00:34:37.599 My God, he knoweth none. 00:34:37.840 --> 00:34:39.119 That is for you. 00:34:42.559 --> 00:34:46.559 And Jesus turns to the woman and says, Neither do I condemn you. 00:34:48.800 --> 00:34:50.480 Go and sin no more. 00:34:52.079 --> 00:34:53.679 Interesting word order here. 00:34:54.079 --> 00:35:00.800 Notice how Jesus does not say, go and sin no more, and we'll figure out whether or not I'll condemn you or not. 00:35:01.840 --> 00:35:03.679 The word order is very important. 00:35:04.880 --> 00:35:06.800 Neither do I condemn you. 00:35:08.079 --> 00:35:10.639 Now go and sin no more. 00:35:11.280 --> 00:35:14.880 You don't owe that way of life anything anymore. 00:35:16.719 --> 00:35:22.480 And so the reality is if you want to stop sinning, there's a big truth theologically that Jesus presents here. 00:35:22.960 --> 00:35:23.599 You can. 00:35:26.400 --> 00:35:27.039 You can. 00:35:29.119 --> 00:35:32.960 But you only figure that out after you realize how much he loves you. 00:35:35.039 --> 00:35:49.840 You only figure that out when you realize that everything that you've been living for, all the acceptance you've been wanting, all the justification that your heart needs, is not found in whatever you're pursuing, but it's found given to you freely in Christ. 00:35:51.119 --> 00:35:56.079 Once you realize that, you have no more need for that old way of life. 00:35:57.039 --> 00:36:03.519