John 8:1-11 JESUS: THE SYMPATHETIC SAVIOR
Intro: "He painted a sign advertising the pups
and set about nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard. As he was driving the last
nail into the post, he felt a tug on his overalls. He looked down into the eyes of a
little boy.
"'Mister,' he said. 'I want to buy one of your
puppies.'
"'Well,' said the farmer, as he wiped the sweat off
the back of his neck, 'these puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of
money.'
"The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching
deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer.
'I've got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?'
"'Sure,' said the farmer. And with that he let out a
whistle. 'Here, Dolly!' he called. Out from the doghouse ran Dolly followed by four little
balls of fur. The little boy pressed his face against the chain-link fence. His eyes
danced with delight.
"As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little
boy noticed something else stirring in the doghouse. Slowly another little ball appeared;
this one noticeably smaller. In a somewhat awkward manner the little puppy began hobbling
toward the others, doing its best to catch up. This was clearly the runt of the litter.
"'I want that one,' said the boy pointing to the runt.
"The farmer knelt down at the boy's side and said,
'Son, you don't want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like these
other dogs would.'
"With that the little boy stepped back from the fence,
reached down, and began rolling up the leg of his trousers. In doing so, he revealed a
steel brace running down both sides of his leg and attaching itself to a specially made
shoe. Looking back up at the farmer, he said, 'You see, sir, I don't run too well myself,
and he will need someone who understands.'"
Sinners need that same sort of understanding! I praise the Lord this
morning that there is a Savior who loves sinners and understands us like we are. Now,
please do not misunderstand me, God never condones your sins or mine. He is holy and He
hates our sin with His entire being. However, He knows what we are made of and He knows
what we face in our lives day by day, Psa. 103:14. How does He have this kind of
information about humans? He lived as one for 33 years, Phil. 2:5-8!
As we look at the portrait John paints of Jesus here in Chapter 8, I
want you to see that he paints a picture of a Sympathetic Savior. He doesn't tell us of
One who is soft on sin, but of One who loves sinners and reaches out to them in grace,
forgiveness and love. That is the Savior I would like to bring before you this morning. As
the Lord gives us liberty today, I want to preach for a while on Jesus: The
Sympathetic Savior.
I. V. 3 THE SINFUL WOMAN
A. Her Sin - According to the narrative, she was
caught in the very act of adultery. She was guilty before the face of the Lord and before
the world. Now, adultery is a vile sin, but it is no worse than any other - James 2:10. In
fact, even if we never committed a sin with our bodies or our minds, we would still be
guilty before the Lord! (Ill. Rom. 3:10; 3:23; Gal. 3:22) We are all as guilty as this
woman, our problem is that we simply won't admit to it - Pro. 28:13.
B. Her Shame - In their haste to bring this
woman to Jesus, her accusers probably didn't give her sufficient time to get properly
dressed before they brought her into public. However that may have been, she was certainly
humiliated by the public accusation and disclosure of her sin.
(Ill. Sin is a shameful thing! No matter how skillfully it is hidden
from the eyes of men, Jesus knows all about it and one day it will be revealed before all
- Luke 12:3. Saddest of all, the truth about your profession will also be made public one
day - Matt. 7:21-23. Wouldn't it be far better to get everything right with the Lord and
have nothing to fear out there. There will come a day of judgment and of full disclosure -
Rev. 20:11-15.)
C. Her Sentence - Her accusers were absolutely
correct! According to the Law, she deserved to die - Lev. 20:10; Deut. 22:22. There was
one small problem here: Where was her partner? Both were supposed to die for this sin! The
man may have been part of this scheme to attack Jesus. He may have been allowed to slip
away. Nevertheless, this woman was guilty and she deserved to die.
(Ill. Nobody gets away with sin! The penalty of it will always come due
- Rom. 6:23; Eze. 18:4. There will come a payday someday! The only hope any sinner has is
to run to Jesus. He offers the only hope anyone has in this world or the one to come. He
is the only way - John 14:6; Heb. 2:3.)
(Ill. In there effort to humiliate this woman and to discredit the Lord,
they brought her to the best possible place. They brought her to the very man who could
deal with her past and her problems and who could make it all right.)
(Ill. Never think that Jesus doesn't care for you. He is the sinner's
Friend! Even in His day, He was known to hang out with notorious sinners, Luke 7:34; Luke
15:2; Luke 19:7. Jesus isn't concerned about His reputation, He is only concerned with you
eternal soul!)
I. The Sinful Woman
II. V. 3-9 THE SCHEMING CRITICS
A. Their Plan - These men had it in their heads
to pin Jesus on the horns of a dilemma. If Jesus simply let the woman go, then He would be
seen as being easy on sin and could have been arrested for being in violation of the Law.
If, however, He gave permission for the woman to be killed, He could then be accused
before Rome as an upstart and a seditionist, and He would have destroyed His reputation as
being the "friend of publicans and sinners". They felt that no matter what Jesus
said, He had no wiggle room.
(Ill. These religious men are just like legalists in our day. They
couldn't have cared less about this woman, her sin, her soul, or her eternal destiny. All
they cared about was pressing their agenda, and their brand of righteousness. Thing
haven't changed! All Pharisees are the same!)
B. Their Problems - Their plan might have
succeeded with an ordinary man, but they were dealing with Jesus Christ, and He simply
refused to play by their rules! When they tried to stump Jesus, They discovered that they
had met their match. Notice how He responded to their arguments.
1. V. 6 They Were Ignored - While they were
talking to the Lord, He just knelt down and began to write on the ground. He had no use
for their pettiness and lack of love for sinners.
(Ill. What did Jesus write? Well, for 2,000 years, men have tried to
solve that little mystery. Today, I am going to give you a deep theological answer: I
don't know! And, neither does anyone else! However, let me give you a little food for
thought in this matter. Maybe He wrote:
a. The Ten Commandments. After all, it was his finger
that wrote them the first time!
b. Perhaps He wrote their names in fulfillment of Jeremiah 17:13.
c. Maybe He wrote out Lev. 20:10 and Deut. 22:22.
d. Maybe He simply wrote their girlfriends names in the sand.
Whatever the Lord wrote on the ground, it surely got their attention. By
the way, He knows how to speak to your heart as well! How much better it is to come to Him
by faith and miss all that exposure and punishment!)
2. V. 7-9 They Were Exposed - When Jesus did
speak, He said, "He that is without sin among, let him first cast a stone at
her." Jesus wasn't requiring that any judge be sinless. If that were the case then no
human would ever be able to render judgment in any matter, even in a court of law. I think
that Jesus was saying to these hypocrites, "He that is free from this particular sin,
let him first cast a stone at her." You see, adultery can be committed with the head
and the heart just as surely as it may be committed with the body! At this point, all the
shouting came to a stop and all that could be heard was the dropping of their rocks and
the shuffle of their sandles as they stole quietly away. You see, these men has been
exposed before their fellow man, the accused lady and most importantly before the Lord.
(Ill. Let's at least give them credit for the fact that when they saw
themselves as they really were, (Perhaps the most painful realization of all), they
stopped calling for the death of this woman. I want you to know that one of the hardest
things you can face is yourself as you really are! However, when you see yourself as being
sinful, then you can do something about it. (Ill Paul would have went to Hell had he not
been brought face to face with himself on the road to Damascus - Acts 9) When we are
convicted of our sins, then is the time to come to Jesus. After all, He is the only One
who can deal with Man's sin problem!)
I. The Sinful Woman
II. The Scheming Critics
III. V. 9b-11 THE SYMPATHETIC SAVIOR
A. V. 9b -10 He Faced Her - Only Jesus could
have cleared the Temple after that fashion and when the last rock had hit the Temple
floor, Jesus stood up and faced this sinful woman. As He stood before her, He was the only
One the world has ever known who was qualified to take up the first stone, as well as the
rest, and stone her to death. When she faced Jesus, she was facing the ultimate judge!
(Ill. She had reached a place in her life where it was just her and
Jesus. It always comes down to that! Eventually, somewhere, someday you are going to have
to face Jesus. Oh, I am sure that He has given you opportunities in this life to come to
Him. What have you done with them? My friend, you will either receive Jesus at one of
life's encounters, or you will face Him on judgment day. Which would you rather it be? In
the end, it always comes down to just you and Jesus. And, what you do with Him will
determine where and how you spend eternity!)
B. V. 11 He Forgave Her - The only One qualified
to throw a stone refused to! Jesus dealt with here on the basis of compassion. The
religious men had condemned and considered her as good as dead, Jesus however, saw someone
worthy of His love and worth salvaging. When she came to Jesus, she received 2 great
blessings that forever changed her life. These same 2 blessings are the gift of God to all
who receive Jesus as their Savior.
1. A New Lord - By her simple confession of
Christ as Lord, salvation became her's. That is all there is to being saved! Rom. 10:9
says, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved!"
It doesn't get any easier than that! Even small children can comprehend that truth and
make it real in their lives. What about you? Have you taken this step of faith?
(Ill. Anyone who wants to be saved can be saved through faith in the
shed Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ! Rev. 22:17; John 3:16; John 6:37.)
2. A New Life - Ill. All of her life, she had
been subject to the God of this world, Satan. She had been a prisoner of her own lusts and
desires, Eph. 2:1-3. Jesus, however, came and unlocked the shackles that held her bound in
sin and He set her free! Imagine for a minute what happened the next time she saw her
lover!
(Ill. Jesus specializes in taking wasted, ruined lives and saving them
by His grace and restoring them to usefulness. Every person who comes to Jesus for
salvation receives this new lease on life - 2 Cor. 5:17. We get a change to begin again,
and this time, we actually have a chance of making something out of our lives - 1 Pet.
1:23.)
Conc: Maybe. Like this woman, your life has been wrecked and ruined by
sin. Maybe you have been hurt by religious people. Maybe you are looking for a
compassionate Savior, One who will make everything right. I want to invite you to come to
Jesus. He cares about you just like you are. He loves you and wants to save you. He wants
to deliver you from your bondage. He wants to set you free. Therefore, He invites you to
come to Him today. If there are issues in your life that need to be settled, this altar is
the place where they be taken care of forever. Will you bring your life to Jesus and let
Him make it over?
