There is an elephant in the room of understanding the relationship between Jesus’ attitude to the law and forgiveness – the mercy and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the account of the woman caught in adultery, the contrast between divine justice and divine mercy is laid bare. Jesus does not ignore sin, but bears its cost upon the Cross, turning the wrath of God into forgiveness for all who trust in Him. True freedom from condemnation comes not from perfect obedience to the law, but from the saving grace of Christ who says, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and sin no more.”

Automatically Generated Transcript

[00:00:00] I don’t know whether you’ve ever heard the way of speech where people says, haven’t you noticed the elephant in the room? I’m sure looking up at the screen, you have noticed the elephant in that room. But sometimes that little cliche, that little way of speech to say, don’t forget the elephant in the room is, is a way to refer to some enormous fact that’s bigger than all the other arguments. And here’s a committee meeting going on and they don’t seem to notice the elephant in the room. I’m sure if you came to see me during the week down in my office below the hall and you walked on down, you opened the door and strode in and there was a big elephant there and I completely didn’t make reference to it. The elephant’s swinging its trunk and you’re wondering, what on earth?

[00:00:57] How did that thing get in here anyway? Well, that’s a way of speech to say there’s something bigger than the usual arguments and the usual reasonings and the human way of thinking. The same is true about some passages of scripture. You know that when you study the Bible and when you’re trained at the college to study the scriptures, part of your training is to know about how we got the scriptures and how they’ve been written and what is the evidence for the authorship of those particular parts and whether or not we should be paying attention to which translation because of what basis was it made on which of the manuscripts were the most trustworthy. All those sorts of things is what the committee are discussing maybe in a scene like this. And in a college course where people are being trained

[00:01:53] as to what parts of the scriptures you might trust most. Now the elephant in the room is that the reason why we believe the scriptures is for a far bigger reason than what you might have read in a book about the manuscripts that are used. Put your hand up if you’re holding in your hands or you have with you in church today a New Testament part at least that is based on what is called the majority text. Now some of you don’t know what I’m talking about, do you? The majority text is the fact that there are some manuscripts that are older than others and if the part of the Bible that you’re reading has been a result of a more ancient text, in the scholarly circles or the committee discussions, in the training mechanisms, in the intellectual side of understanding the Bible,

[00:02:50] people say that the older the manuscripts, more reliable it is the part that you’re reading. The only trouble is that there’s a majority text approach to it that says, well, that may be true because some of the older manuscripts can be closer to the original writer. But why are there those few manuscripts that are called older and more reliable? some of it is because the manuscripts were written on papyri that came from reeds growing in the Nile River that were stronger type of stuff to make your paper out of. Therefore it lasted longer. And so the actual truth is that the real old manuscripts, there aren’t a lot of them, but there’s also a lot of manuscripts of the scriptures that have been copied and people got blessed by it and sent it on to a relative or to another city.

[00:03:50] And those manuscripts got copied and copied and copied and copied so there’s thousands of examples of it. And if you make up your recognition of what is the original thing like the book of John, from all the manuscripts there are, then you’ll get a majority text thing. And if someone here had a New Testament which is based on the majority text, Put your hand up. I don’t expect that you will. When I was studying at Dallas Seminary, my teacher, my Greek teacher, was one of the translators of the majority text. So he gave us a lot of teaching as to how you get to have a text that’s claimed to be written by the most big, enormous thousands of copies of manuscripts that base it. Now we have in our scriptures this morning in the Gospel of John in Chapter 7 at the end and Chapter 8 as it starts.

[00:04:47] So that Verse 53 is the end, what should be the end of Chapter 7 but sometimes appears in your Bible at the beginning of Chapter 8. In the final verse, if you’ve got a Bible open to the Chapter 8, Verse 1 might show you, it might be written there in little writing. This is actually Chapter 7, Verse 53. they went each to his own house. Now, the relevance to the narrative is, of course, that it’s like a new topic that’s going to follow. The people who put in the chapters and the verses did so because it looked like a new topic. There were no chapters and verses in the original manuscripts at all. But chapter 7, verse 53, is like the last of the last bit and then you get the verse 1 of chapter 8 that follows. But Jesus went to the man of olives, the others had gone to their homes,

[00:05:42] but Jesus went off on his own to the man of olives. And early in the morning, he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and taught them and the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who’d been caught in adultery and placing her in the midst, they said to him, Teacher, this woman’s been caught in the act of adultery, now the law in the law Moses commanded us to stone that’s to kill by pelting them with big rocks to stone such women so what do you say? this is the attempts of Jesus in the Jewish system political enemies the ones that didn’t like Jesus and his teaching and the ones that had a lot to lose if the Romans stepped in and took over the show the Pharisees in other words largely teacher this woman’s been caught in the act of adultery now

[00:06:37] the law in Moses commanded us to stone such women why do you think they got the woman there in front of Jesus and posed this question to him I can tell you it’s obvious it’s because Jesus has been teaching and has been observed to be very merciful and Jesus isn’t going around calling on people to be stoned but the law said she should and they’re going to catch him out disagreeing with the law and then they’ve got him this is a trap to catch Jesus it’s hardly motivated by people of any mercy in them either for the woman or for Jesus when you think about it teacher this woman’s been caught in the act of adultery now the law Moses commanded us to stone such women so what do you say if they had microphones back then they’d be putting it in front of Jesus and all the crowd would be going what will he say

[00:07:38] there is an elephant in the room in this story and the elephant in the room is the person of Jesus who’s full of mercy and love and forgiveness I wonder whether you know why Jesus is such taken over by that love and grace and forgiveness what’s the reason why he’s very aware that there will be forgiveness in his ministry the answer’s simple because he’s here on earth to go to the cross and pay for all these sins himself on the cross when he took our place under the wrath of God do you realise that from the moment human race sinned our ancestors Adam and Eve God was against them or he’s saying no no no he’s the loving God but you just don’t know the whole story what did God do when they sinned he called them into account and he kicked them out of the garden and began the whole history of sinful human beings under his judgement

[00:09:02] and when he introduced the Old Testament scene if you were to go along and subscribe to it you would be very aware that it’s based on there being judgement and the judgement was seen in the flow of blood that came from the sacrifices that were necessary not only for the people to be forgiven but for even the priests who were considered as a part of us unholy generation who were going to go in and handle that sacrifice to bring some atonement moment, these ones had to be cleaned themselves from their sins and they could go in only after special arrangements and sometimes only once a year and if they broke the rules they dropped dead. The Old Testament regime is a regime where the wrath of God and the justice of God and the anger of God against the wicked race is seen in page after page. One of the

[00:10:06] home groups I go to during the week has been reading through the book of Numbers and gee whiz, there’s thousands killed here and others dropping dead there and people being rejected from going into the promised land. That even included Moses when he didn’t do the exact right thing. He didn’t drop dead but he got stopped going into the promised land. That’s the Old Testament and it’s a true picture of God about our sins. And the reason why the gospel of Jesus and his love, the love of Jesus and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the whole Christian religion is in such contrast is because it shows the other attributes of God. Not only is he a God of justice and wrath and punishment, but he’s the God of mercy because he saw the end, the result that’s going to be of his nature of judgment

[00:11:12] is the obliteration of the human race and the damnation of every soul, including yours. Because you too are caught up in the diagnosis of God. For all have sinned and all are fallen short of the glory of God. But God also is a God of love and grace and mercy. And nobody knew it more than our Saviour and the mercy that he had and the grace to forgive than Jesus. Why did he know it so well? Because he knew why he was here on planet Earth. It was to go to that cross and for the greatest act of mercy ever happened in this planet of ours when Jesus took on him the sin of all the world, including mine, including yours, including all the Pharisees, including this poor woman who’d been caught up and dragged in front of the crowds and of Jesus to call for her stoning. I can’t think of a scene more ugly

[00:12:29] than having all those people crying for that woman to have her head splattered in with heavy rocks because her deeds were bad enough, they said, to deserve it. Yeah, well, they were. But that’s only half the story of God. The other half of the story of God is about Jesus. There is an elephant in the room when it comes to the anger of God and the judgment on sin. And the elephant in the room you can’t ignore is the character of Jesus. Now, some of this elephant in the room about the character of Jesus and his emphasis on grace and mercy is exemplified in the whole sphere of when they try and decide which is the best part of the Bible and what parts they’ll believe and what parts will be included. And the majority text, which my Greek teacher at Dallas Seminary was one of the translators,

[00:13:35] it does not have this passage from the final verse of chapter 7 through to verse 11 in chapter 8 present. And if someone here had it brought along, I’ve got one down in my office, I like it because it’s very accurate about how the Greek is translated. But it doesn’t have this passage in altogether. It’s missing. And some people will say, well, because it’s not a part of the older texts, we’re not going to listen to it at all. Throw that bit out. But it’s sitting there in most of our Bibles. Now, why is it sitting there? Because translators ended up making a decision, the ones that believed in a bit more generous approach than just the majority text, but taking into account other factors as well. So this passage rings too true. This passage actually has been incorporated in other manuscripts they’ve found,

[00:14:36] but sometimes in a different part in the Scriptures, not in the same spot. Perhaps this is the major spot that it’s found, but there are other manuscripts that have it included but put it somewhere else. The conclusion of those who are translators are that maybe John didn’t write it, but it so was appealing to be scriptures by the content of it and the truth that rang so clearly out of it about Jesus’ character and his desire to forgive that they found a place to put it in. But, of course, different ones put it in different places and in the case of what you call, if you don’t go for the majority text, you usually say you’re going for the one that is based on the older manuscripts more and other questions that are brought to bear as to the Textus Receptus is Latin words for the text that got received

[00:15:44] at a certain point in history is the most reliable. And it does have this passage in, even though often Bibles will have a little note this was not in all the ancient manuscripts. They don’t quite know what to do with it, but it’s an elephant in the room that when you read it, you don’t find yourself able to disbelieve it at all because it so rings true with all the rest of Jesus’ statements. Let’s read it through again. Early in the morning, verse 2, he came again to the temple, all the people came to him. That’s Jesus. They hear in his teaching that ring of truth. That’s, by the way, just in passing, why I believe the scriptures. Because they’ve spoken to me and they have a ring of truth. I’ve learned all the arguments, too, about the old manuscripts and new manuscripts, but I have to be honest with you

[00:16:45] to say I believe them because they’ve spoken to me. I believe them because Jesus believed them. I believe them because it’s the word of God coming through. I’m interested apologetically about all the manuscripts and what to say to people who have accusations against the scriptures but the absolute truth is I cannot doubt the scriptures there came a moment when I stepped out on them and they proved themselves and that’s the elephant in my room that’s far bigger than all the little people sitting around a table saying what about this and what about that tell me about your walk with Jesus have you got that side of witness in your heart the Holy Spirit brings so people come to you and try and doubt the word of God you’ve got an elephant that raises its trunk and gives a great snort

[00:17:56] and you don’t listen to the committee the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and placing her in the midst they said to him teacher this woman has been caught in the act of adultery now the law Moses commanded us to stone such women how does Jesus react to our condemnation because we have broken the law it’s not that the law of Moses was wrong in its discernment it’s just that it’s Old Testament and what to do about it and Old Testament had yet to come to the input of the elephant in the room the elephant in the room is why Jesus came to earth what he did on the cross when he wrought our atonement that word atonement means that he made right the wrong that the sins of us and the whole human race had us caught offside from a holy God but when he atoned for our sins

[00:19:02] by paying their punishment it turns the attitude of God from the God of wrath in his appearance to us because we’re caught out as sinners to a God of joy and grace and mercy. And some of the finest descriptors of God are those that describe how he goes on having grace even when we fail. And in the special word that’s used in the Old Testament about God’s grace, in chapters in Exodus and other places, it talks of this God of grace who’s long-suffering about our sins, who can be counted on always to stick to his forgiveness when he gives it. This grace that goes on being gracious even when you break your side of the bargain and you fail again. But his grace is a grace that just continues despite your sin. It’s his grace to you because of his character of love and forgiveness.

[00:20:18] And when you learn that even from the Old Testament as to what God is like and he has a type of grace that blesses even though you’re not worthy of blessing. What’s the story of the Israelites? There’s always one, but they didn’t deserve the blessing, but God stuck with them. That covenant-keeping loyalty is what the meaning of grace contains. That long-suffering of God about our sins still to forgive us and to keep us and never to throw us out because of his grace. Not your obedience, not your success at doing the right thing, but simply because he loves. And nobody knows it more than Jesus who knew that that would cost him that atonement, death on the cross, which alone changes the God of the Old Testament and his necessary wrath to the God of the New Testament of his paid-for forgiveness.

[00:21:16] Jesus knew that more than anybody. He was the one that had come to do the paying. So when a woman was caught in adultery and it’s brought to him, he says to her, first of all, he begins to scribble on the ground in the dust. And we don’t know what he scribbled. Some people guess, but maybe he puts some words that convicted the people standing around. Maybe he mentioned some of their sins with such detail. They were wilting in conviction. And one by one, from the oldest down at first down to the youngest, the different ones who would normally have called for her to be stoned, they disappeared and walked away, convicted by Jesus writing something in the dust. We don’t know what, or did he write the Ten Commandments? Or did he write something about the love of God for this woman? I don’t know.

[00:22:12] But I know that when I read this passage, I can’t reject it as scripture. And that’s actually what’s happened with this passage. Although the scholars admit, we don’t know whether it really belongs. Maybe it probably doesn’t belong here in John. But it belongs to be scriptures and it’s so true to Jesus. The elephant in the room is the very character of Jesus that that’s what he’s like. That they can’t stop by putting it in. That’s why it’s in this Bible we have, the ESP. It’s meant to be a literal translation, but they weren’t kept it in. Contrary to most of the evidence, they kept it in. In fact, some scholars say this is such a good fit for the things that come nearby and what’s written all around that they think it’s the right place, even though they can see it probably wasn’t written by John.

[00:23:06] Now I’m betraying something here that my care for you taking this as scripture is not totally because John wrote this and James wrote that and Peter wrote that and this one was accredited by this council and da-da-da-da-da-da. They may be all good reasons that you could marshal, but I’ve got to confess to you the reason why I believe the scriptures, I’ve only got two. The first one is that Jesus did and there are passages where he talks of Moses’ writings and the same writings of Moses, he sometimes calls it the Word of God and so Jesus recognised that there’s a human element in the construction of the Bible, but there’s also a divine element, they’re both there and he believed the scriptures, because all of it was the Word of God and I’m with Jesus. I don’t need any more reasons. And the second reason is

[00:24:07] because when I’ve taken the scriptures to be trustworthy, the Word of God, they become powerful in my life and they have answered things in my life and I’ve found them so, I’ve been trained in one, two, I could count up several theological institutions I’ve been trained in, but none of them are the reason why my preaching works as far as I can see. They’ve helped me gain information. But the reason why the Word of God works from the day that I decided to trust it to be the Word of God, it becomes overpowerful. And sometimes my sermons are not terribly well organised and they’re not necessarily well done. But they do something to people because it is the Word of God. And I reckon down through history, people who read this passage about Jesus and Jesus says, neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. That’s Jesus.

[00:25:27] I recognise Him in these words. It’s what He’s saying to you and to me. Neither do I condemn you because He died for your sins. So, go and sin no more. Not because you have to do that to get out of your punishment. But because you are out of your punishment by His death. And He did it out of grace. And you can do nothing else but say, Jesus, I’m glad to follow you. The most powerful scene I have seen that demonstrated this was in Amsterdam. A big conference of 10,000 travelling evangelists that gathered called by Billy Graham. And sitting up and there was, from where I was sitting, I was sitting sort of down on the floor level, I think, at one stage. And sitting up on one of the sides but closer to being visible because it was a bit higher and a bit closer, there was an Indian man from South America.

[00:26:37] and next to a young man who seemed to be his mate. They told us in the gathering who these two personages were. One was the Indian who killed the boy’s mother, killed the boy’s father when he first came as a missionary to their people. Elizabeth is the name of his wife and she was in a place of desperation. She had children who had survived, a husband who was dead. She went back to America, her home country. She was a, the couple had been a graduate from Wheaton College and was brought along to speak in the chapel where I was attending Wheaton College as well. And then later at the 10,000 present evangelism conference in Amsterdam, the young lad, the boy that was the child whose dad was murdered, as he grew up, the mother and the child won that man to Christ. And he now came to be at the evangelism conference

[00:28:00] sitting next to the son of the fellow he’d murdered. And so the person leading the meeting got the man, the Indian, to give a testimony he did in his own language. I think, I can’t remember the detail, but I think it was the boy who translated. 10,000 hearts wept with joy, sadness at the event that it happened for a missionary couple to go, a young couple and poor woman that had her husband murdered. Had to go home and face life of all the difficulties. Became a real woman of God if she wasn’t already. And then the boy grew up good friends with a man who killed his father. It helped that the Indian couldn’t speak in the language we could hear but the boy translated. I think that’s how it went. And I was so moved by the ring of truth of the words of Jesus. Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. That’s my Jesus. Jesus. And he wants

[00:29:27] to be yours. And what is more he on the cross worked the atonement means the turning around of God’s face and bringing the remedy to the off-sideness that our sins made us all from God. so that God is now no longer against you. He’s been for you ever since. And he seeks to pursue people to understand that the debt is paid there’s no reason for them to run. They can come and find him as saviour and lord and have the help to go and sin no more. So much does this passage reflect the gospel I’m not surprised to find it in the gospel of John which is largely about that theme and rings so true I don’t get bother worrying about whether it was first written by John. When you read the scholars this one says no it wasn’t this one says no in fact there’s more that say no it probably wasn’t written by John I did find one or two that did believe it fitted where it is right here

[00:30:54] and must be right but that’s not the point it’s the elephant in the room it’s the gospel about the grace of God in the person of Jesus and the successful ministry of Jesus the Bible says that he took his blood, now whether he had a bowl of it and went with that to heaven but whether he took the consequence of his shed blood to heaven before the Father to argue for your forgiveness, not argue as in angry argue but to place the rationale for God to accept you Jesus has done that he has atoned for all your sins and now he says to you this morning neither do I condemn you go from here and sin no more you may still have struggles with temptation because we get over the sin a bit totally in the end in glory but you’re released from the guilt of sin now and you’re set in a course that you can gradually have change of heart so that you

[00:32:13] sin less and less isn’t that fantastic it’s only the Jesus full of grace who says that neither do I condemn you go from now as this translation would say exactly go from now and sin no more will you do that Jesus is calling on you so to do Amen Heavenly Father we thank you for this beautiful passage and for the contrast of the law of the Old Testament that would have had those Pharisees quite correct when they quoted it the law of Moses said this woman should be stoned I praise our Saviour that he is further down the progressive revelation road to say contrary she didn’t need to be stoned she needed to be forgiven by Jesus Father if there’s someone here in whom the greatest need of their heart right now is that they know they’re forgiven by Jesus and they can go and sin no more let that be driven home by the elephant in the room in this passage in Jesus name we pray Amen