What Do You Say — Westlake Bible Fellowship

0:00 Introduction and Ministry Update

Well, good morning, everyone. Good morning. Thank you for having us this morning. It's delightful to be here. If you...

I guess I'm gonna take a few minutes to introduce myself, lest you wonder who that strange man is and his family walking amongst you and where we come from. I'll take a few minutes. We have a bit of a connection here at Westlake through Jacob. Jacob has been up as part of the Cross Canada Cruisers in Canada. And, of course, you're probably familiar with the ministry that they do.

And he stayed at our house a few times as well. He was up for a Canada Day outreach that we've had, and it's, it's been our pleasure to get to know Jacob. And at various times, at different times, we've received some, some gifts from the assembly here too. So we're we're just delighted to have an opportunity to put some faces and some names that Jacob has mentioned, and to have an opportunity to get to know you. My wife Deborah is with me.

I should mention that Deborah is American. She's from Upper New York State, from Syracuse area. She always wants me to mention that whenever we're in The US. She says, don't say I'm from Canada. Make sure you tell them.

So I wanna do that. You know how it is. You wanna make sure I'm not in trouble later. So I'll make sure that we we lay that out. My son, Layton Junior, LJ, is is with us today as well, is my daughter, Addie Kay.

We've been in the Lord's service now. We're in our twelfth year, in full time ministry in the Ottawa area. We're we're just delighted to be used by him in the in the proclamation of the gospel. We work with a ministry called Open Air Campaigners. Some of you might have heard of that ministry.

It's it's predominant here in The States as well, of course. And we go out with a sketch board, and we sketch pictures and so on, and object lessons, and we share the gospel. And the sketch board, for those of you that have done some sketch board work or perhaps worked, with it, it's been said that we will remember up to 80% of something we see as opposed to perhaps 20 or 30% of something we hear. So the goal with the sketch board is always to display the gospel. And if people can see the gospel displayed in the sketch board, they take home that visual picture of the cross and so on.

So the Lord has blessed us in Ottawa. We've been working on the streets now for over twenty years there, and nothing nothing that would be any different perhaps than anyone else would use. We do have a table with some literature and books and New Testament and so on, and the Lord continues, to bless. Canada, I'm not sure how much you know about Canada. Canada is not, you know, how would I put that?

We're not probably as accepting as you would be here even in Westlake, here in Cleveland. We're not as accepting as... Of the gospel, and there's much to do. I'm not saying there's not believers, I'm just saying it's not as accepted on the streets, and we receive a certain amount of opposition. I've done quite a bit of ministry in Quebec.

Quebec is even worse. Montreal and that area, very, very dark for the gospel. So there's many, many needs. Anyone ever considering on taking a mission trip and you have an opportunity to come to Canada, come. Come.

No question. Come, because we need the gospel. We need the gospel in Canada as well. We work with an assembly. We had the privilege of being involved at the grassroots of an assembly plant in Ottawa.

Now, were other assemblies, but there weren't assemblies downtown. So we had the privilege of being part of that work beginning in 2010, and the work continues to this day, and the Lord has been blessing as he would see fit. We've had, some baptisms this summer, as well as a wedding. My wife will tell you that we seem to have a wedding a year, at least one. So I was I was kidding with Jacob earlier, was saying, you know, baptism first, then we'll talk about weddings, so that's kind of the way it's been it's been going.

Right? So, but it's been very, very encouraging. Many of the people that we work with, they they don't have family. They don't have individuals that they can turn to. We had one lady who's part of our meeting now, who who we married, who was saved in the street, who was contemplating suicide that very night.

And that was her intention, and she was saved, miraculously saved, right on the street, right there that night when she heard the gospel. Praise the Lord. And these are some of the stories that happen. It's not always like that, of course, but there's many of our folks, at the assembly downtown, you know, they call they call Deborah and I mom and dad. They call us mom and dad because they don't have a mom and dad.

They don't have someone that they can relate to and talk to and so on. So there's many, many needs. And I have to be honest with you, I was a bit envious of you here at the Lord's Supper with a godly jealousy because, it would be so encouraging. We we we need we need mature believers in our meeting. We have a have a bunch of young people.

We have we have people that need discipleship. We need people that can lead bible studies. We need people that can grow up to be, an elder in the church. Right? That's what we need in our meeting, and I see that there's some mature brethren here, and that's very encouraging to us, so you'll have to move to Canada.

Help us out. Okay? That's what you'll have to do. But, no, we do enjoy our time. I I want to mention just as as for prayer, my wife and I do something, I'm sure it's not new, but we do something that we call counseling Mondays in Ottawa.

And what we'll do is we'll go downtown to the assembly on a Monday, and anyone can come in. Anyone can come in from downtown and have prayer, bible study, or receive some counseling and so on, and the Lord has really took a hold of that. And there's a lot of people that have been coming in and talking to us. My wife has several different bible studies independent to different people that she's doing. People that are overcoming all sorts of trauma from their past and different things have accepted Christ, but now they're trying to put it all together, and they're trying to shed those grave clothes, if you will, of the past.

And there's opportunities for the men as well. There's several men that we meet. As well, my my wife is involved with an outreach to the sex trade workers, where we're at, where we're set up, where our assembly is, where they're on purpose, and the Red Light district is literally just down the street. And of course, that's a trade that never dies. Right?

It's always there, and there's always people that that need to be reached in that area. And my wife, as well as two other ladies from the assembly, are very active in going out and reaching out to these women on Friday nights, and they do it every second Friday night. So if you think of us, there in Ottawa, we would certainly, appreciate your prayers as we continue in our service for the Lord. We're gonna turn to a familiar portion this morning in John's gospel chapter eight. John's gospel chapter eight, please.

6:49 Introduction to John 8: The Adulterous Woman

Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned, but what do you say? This they said testing him that they might have something of which to accuse him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the ground with his finger as though he did not hear. So when they so when they continued asking him, he raised himself up and said to them, he who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first. And again he stooped down and rode in the ground. Then those who heard it being convicted by their conscience went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last, and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

When Jesus had raised himself up and saw no one but the woman, he said to her, woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you? She said, no one, Lord. And Jesus said to her, neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more. And we pray the Lord will bless the time in our...

In his word this morning, and the reading of his word as well. I've entitled the the portion that we've looked at, but what do you say? This is the question, of course, that the religious leaders were asking the Lord concerning this woman. So I've entitled this portion, what do you say? We learn, just a little bit of a background here of the portion that we looked at, we learn from John's gospel seven and verse two that the feast of tabernacles had been taking place, which the Lord went up to Jerusalem from Galilee, to be at.

We see that in John seven verse 14. It says about the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. And we also learned from John seven thirty seven that the feast had ended the day before the portion in John eight, as it mentions the events of John seven that took place on the last day, that great day of the feast. Now, I wanna lay just a bit more of a, if you will, a foundation here. The feast of tabernacles or the feast of booths or shelters as it's it's called, remembered how Israel, as a young nation, lived in the wilderness during their forty years of travel.

It was intended, of course, as a time for the Jew to remember their dependence on God, their dependence on him for their... For his faithfulness to them, their dependence on him for protection. It was one of the three great feasts which the Jewish males were were obligated to go to Jerusalem to remember. The other two being, of course, Passover and Pentecost. Now what they did at this feast is very interesting, and I do see this connecting in with our story because I believe what the Lord does with this adulterous woman is, of course, just a continuation.

And it's meant to illustrate some of the truths that he was bringing out concerning himself around the feast of tabernacles. For example, during the feast, on the last day of the feast, was a it was a seven day feast for those in the land. Anyone that weren't there, and any... And when it's celebrated outside of the land, it was eight days. It was a day added to it.

But at the seven... On the seventh day, in the last day, people would carry torches and walk around the temple on the outside. And they would then take these torches, and these torches would be attached to the exterior of the temple. And you might say, well, why was that? Well, that was intended to show that Messiah who is to come would be a light to the gentiles, and that all the gentiles would be able to see the true God.

Consider a verse here in Isaiah forty nine six, this is a verse as I understand it which would often be read. It says there, indeed he says, now this is God the father is speaking, speaking of Messiah. Indeed he says, is it too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel? Then he says, I will also give you as a light to the gentiles that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth. And this is what was being proclaimed.

Now we know the Lord Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all the feasts. He's the very fulfillment of it, and we see here as they would take these lamps and they would go and they would show forth that their Messiah who was to come because of course, they had not accepted Christ at this time, their messiah who was to come was to be a light to the gentiles. Now thinking of that, on the very next morning after the feast, in in a verse that we didn't read, that follows, verse 11 and verse 12, what do we see the Lord saying? We see the Lord saying, Jesus spoke to them again saying, I am the light of the world. Now it's quite possible that that morning when he went to the temple, the lamps would still be burning announcing that Messiah is a light to the world.

Jesus said, listen, I'm the light. I'm the light to the world. I'm the one who's been promised, who's illustrated through the very festival that you're performing, who is the light to the Gentiles. He's also saying I'm a light to you. See, that's that's the message that is portrayed there, that they would consider these things.

We see it says early in the morning early in the morning. Also, it's very interesting that during this feast, a priest would carry water from the Pool Of Siloam, that's the same pool that's mentioned in John nine. We see the Lord there healing a man that was blind with the paste. You'd be familiar with that. It's significant because this pool, was cut, was was was water that would gather, it would it would flow through 780 feet of solid rock.

It was a pool that existed, of course, within the city walls. The significance of it was that Israel itself, Jerusalem itself, the city, would be able to have fresh water. If ever they were attacked, they would have fresh water that was basically irrigated so that they would be able to have this pool. It was called a virgin spring. It was fed by a virgin spring, the Pool Of Siloam.

So the priest would carry water from the Pool Of Siloam in a golden vessel to the temple, and it was to symbolize the whole earth knowing God as the waters cover the sea. The verse that was used, Isaiah eleven nine, they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Now this was part of their festival as well. Now consider the Lord's words in John seven verses 37 to 38. Look what he does.

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. What was the Lord Jesus saying? Listen, I'm the fulfillment. I'm the fulfillment of what you are doing just a picture of.

14:32 Transition to John 8

You'll notice I'm using the new king this morning. You'll notice that verse one of chapter eight, begins with the word but because it's believed, of course, at verses 53 of John chapter seven, and verse one of chapter eight were together. So with that in mind, it would it would read, and everyone went to his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount Of Olives. The feast had ended. The people had homes to go to.

Somebody has said they would go home to their their lit fires, their couches to recline on, their tables to recline at. But the Lord Jesus didn't have such a home here on earth to go to. He didn't have his own home. It reminds us, of course, of the well known verse in Matthew eight twenty. Jesus said there are foxes of holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.

And it reminds us of these very things. Where where is it that the Lord went? Well, it tells us he went to the Mount Of Olives. Now, what he did in the Mount Of Olives, we're not exactly sure. Many many commentators would would like to to tell us maybe that he went to the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha, Bethany.

Perhaps he went there. It's possible. Perhaps he went and he spent the whole night in prayer, and that is as well quite possible. You will notice too in John chapter seven that we didn't read to... In verse 50, you will see that Nicodemus is mentioned.

Now this is the same same Nicodemus, of course, that the Lord encountered in John three. And yet it said here, or somebody has said, I should say, that Nicodemus perhaps should have invited the Lord to his home. Somebody said, shame on you Nicodemus. Why didn't you invite the Lord to your home at this time when he had nowhere to go but went to the Mount Of Olives? Mount Of Olives was a very familiar place to the Lord.

It's gonna be familiar to him again at a future day. It's gonna come back. It's gonna come back, and what a day that will be. It was a beautiful spot, and it could be that he spent the night there in prayer. Verse two, we see that it's early in the morning, he came again into the temple.

Some of the the earliest manuscripts suggest for us in verse two that it was not only early, that it was very early. In other words, the Lord was up long before what would ever be, of course, the morning prayer. Morning prayer for a Jew was at 09:00 in the temple. And the Lord would be up long before this time, very, very early. And there's no doubt, of course, that the Lord within his ministry was up in the morning.

I'm not I'm not here trying to say that, we should be up early in the morning or we shouldn't. There's there's shift work today. There's many things to consider, but I can tell you this, there is a pattern in scripture. There's a pattern that exists in scripture. I just wanna share a couple of verses, and you can trace this through in your own time and have a look at it.

When the Lord was speaking to Israel through Jeremiah, this is what said, Jeremiah twenty five four, the Lord has sent to you all his servants the prophets. Then he says this, rising early and sending them. Rising early and sending them. You might remember the, the Lord after healing Peter's mother mother-in-law in, in Mark chapter one, Mark chapter one thirty five, it says, now in the morning, heaven risen a long time before daylight. The Lord was up early.

The Lord was up early. Perhaps most noticeably is resurrection day. Mark 16 records, now when he rose early on the first day of the week. Wouldn't fit the picture at all, would it be that if the Lord rose at noon or rose in the afternoon? That just doesn't work, does it?

Alright? It doesn't work. Now I'm I'm I'm just I'm just putting this out there, but we see the Lord up early up early in communing, of course, with his father. We'll see in verse two as well that the the people came, it says all the people came to him, and he sat down and he taught them. Perhaps they were up early on their own, it's possible.

19:02 The Crowd Gathers

The master is gonna expound on the contents. We're gonna have the word of God and glory. He's gonna be in heaven with us. We'll get to hear the master expound. Won't that be a day?

Won't that be a time? These people had the privilege of coming and sitting at the feet of the Lord. And then in verse three, we see the scribes and the pharisees, they bring this situation before the Lord. They bring this this this woman in, perhaps they're... Well, not perhaps, they wanna see how the Lord is going to handle it.

They're hoping to to trick him. This woman who, is described as a woman caught in adultery, she's caught in adultery, and, we we were going to learn, of course, that she was caught in the very act, and they set her in the midst. Now, just think of this for a moment, imagine that you're there that day, you're one of the people, you're listening to the Lord, you're part of this crowd, and all of a sudden, perhaps there's some loud voices and so on in the temple court, I'm not sure, and and then they bring this woman in. Doubtless, they didn't bring her in gently. It wasn't as if they walked her in gradually.

Now you take you take your step, watch your step now, just be careful, we're going to walk over here and we're going to see Jesus. No. Oh, no. It wasn't like that. They took this woman...

I don't I don't know. Maybe her feet didn't touch the ground the whole way. They might have even drug her. I don't know. But she's brought to the Lord.

She's brought to the front of the Lord, and and and I would have to think, I don't know, maybe I'm reading too much into the text, but chances are they brought her to face him, to look at him, right where he was. I could just see this little, you know, almost a funnel open in the crowd as they... As these loud voices and these individuals and they wrestle their way through the crowd and they present this woman in front of the Lord to stand there. Does she look at him? Don't know.

The scripture doesn't say. Doesn't say. Does he look at her? Scripture doesn't say. Of course, the Lord is omniscient.

He knows all things. He would know this woman. He would know his heart... Her heart. He would know everything about her.

But they go on in verse four to tell her the situation. This woman was caught in adultery, in the very act, very act of adultery. You know, a good question at this time might be, where's the man? Where is he? You know, very kindly, I was saved later in life.

I didn't come to the Lord. I didn't grow up in a Christian family. I wasn't even baptized as a child. I came later. The Lord in his kindness and his goodness drew me out of great darkness to bring me to himself.

And I can say this as somebody that can testify to the darkness of the world, that this is still a common problem in a fallen world, that men run away from their responsibilities. The responsibilities that are theirs, to be a father, to be a husband, to be a dad to children, to be an example, to be a role model. I'll tell you, we need more men like that today. We need more men that are willing to do this, and of course, the attitude and everything was focused on the woman, but the common problem is still there even today. Just a few notes on being caught in the act.

Again, there was no doubt as to whether she had done it or not. She was caught doing it. Reminds me of the heart and the actions of mankind, so many of the the people that we meet, they struggle, you know, and and and people think that they're going to get away with sin. They think, well, I haven't been caught, nobody saw me. What does it matter?

Nobody saw me. Take that, whatever it is. What does it matter? Nobody knows. I can tell I can tell a lie, nobody knows me.

How are they ever gonna find out? Nobody knows. And this is so much the attitude of the world, isn't it? You talk to people, you try to witness to them, and everybody thinks that they're going to get away their sin. You present to them the idea that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and people have no idea what this is.

There is no fear of God in people. Right? I mean we know it's the spirit of God that draws them, I know all of those things and I know God's spirit has to be present just as he was in my life to save me and so on. But the point is, the fear of God is just not there. Romans three ten says, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.

To an unbeliever who thinks, you know, that things are hidden and nobody sees, Bible tells us of a time when we're gonna stand before the Lord to be judged. Now for the believer, of course, it is a judgment that we will not be there. We've been forgiven of our sins through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have forgiveness, we are going to heaven, that is as set and sure and certain today as if we were standing in heaven right now. That's that's secure in the work of Christ.

But to the unbeliever, I can say this this morning on the basis of the word of God that they have been caught in the act as well. They've been caught in the act because the bible tells us of a time when people standing there to be judged, the books it says are going to be open. Well, what are the contents of the books? It's it's the books are the proof of being caught in the act. The books are going to be the testimony against the unbeliever up to sins committed.

And at the great white throne it says the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. And they will stand before the Lord at this time. And you know, it's people that would scoff and wonder at these these things and somehow or another think they're going to get away with things. This is a good verse, Revelation twenty twelve, to remind them of that God keeps an account. All things are reserved and maintained, preserved with him.

25:34 The Accusers' Question

What are you gonna do? You have you have the law, are you gonna go against the law of God? Are you going to go contrary to the word of God? Now wouldn't the religious leaders have loved that? To see him go contrary to the word, cause if he had gone contrary to the word, of course, then of course, they would have so much to accuse him of and so on, but he didn't do that.

The public, the crowds would turn against him, he would lose his popularity in their eyes if he would go contrary to Moses' law, contrary to the word. He didn't need to be reminded what it said, he wrote it. He wrote the law. He didn't need anybody to tell him what it was about, and they they thought they were giving him some new great revelation, guess, some great knowledge, and they say to him, but what do you say? That's the question.

What do you say? Here's this this terror, you know, in their eyes, this woman who's committed this terrible sin, she's caught in the very act, how are you gonna handle this? You who are a teacher, you who are here teaching in our temple, how will you deal with this sinful woman who has committed these acts? How are you gonna conduct yourself? What are you going to, say to her?

Of course, stoning was the punishment for work on the Sabbath. We see a little later that they tried to stone the Lord Jesus himself, it tells us that in John eight fifty nine. But stoning at this time, of course, because the Romans were in charge was not something that was common, it wasn't something that was practiced, in fact it's it's said that adultery was just, there was just it was just terrible in the land, the darkness, the sexual immorality, the lust, everything that was going on in the land at this time was just blatant. And the whole idea of something... Of somebody being stoned at this time, you know, was just unheard of.

The Romans didn't stone people, by the way, of course, they crucified them. That's how they dealt with sin. That's how they dealt with, well, sin. That's how they dealt with any sorts of acts of injustice. They crucified the person.

So it's not like people were being stoned, but they took the Lord back to the word as if they were gonna trick him. Verse six tells us, this they said testing him that they might have something to accuse him of. Another translation puts it this way, they were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him. And again, how is the Lord gonna handle this situation? What's he gonna do?

If he stoned her, he could be seen as against against going the laws, going against the laws of her own. They might even accuse him of of not showing mercy if he had stoned this woman, if that had been the decision that he makes. Verse six of course tells us, Jesus stooped down, rolled on the ground with his finger as though he did not hear. The Lord doesn't answer. Was it to...

I'm gonna suggest something to you. His reason for not answering, of course, knows what he's going to do. I'm gonna suggest to you that perhaps one of the reasons that he didn't answer was this, to alleviate, and perhaps in some small way, the pain that this woman standing there, being humiliated and so on, was going through and what it would be like for her being in the spotlight. Did he not want to look at her in her eyes at this time? I don't know.

He he stooped down and wrote in the dust. A lot of people have tried to say what he wrote. The truth is we don't know. Right? We don't know what he wrote.

But you read, oh, this is what he wrote. It's... And they'll they'll use an obscure old testament verse and try and present to you what exactly he wrote. We don't know. We don't know what he...

What it is that he wrote. We don't know what it says. The Bible doesn't tell us. But we see the Lord stooped down. Now imagine the picture.

Imagine the scene. You have a crowd. You have the religious leaders, you have the woman who's in front of the Lord, you have the Lord stoop down. He's not even looking at the religious leaders, he's not looking at the woman, and they're still standing there. Verses seven and eight, they continued asking him.

In other words, they weren't going to let this go, they saw this as an excellent opportunity to try to find something to accuse him of. They're not going to let it go. So what does the Lord do? He stands up. And I believe that when he stood up, I would suggest to you that he looked at them.

30:47 Jesus Looks at Them

You remember that? It says the Lord looked at him. The eyes of the Lord on you and on me. What that's going to be like for the for the believer who knows him, I believe it's going to be love like we've never ever felt in any eyes we've ever looked at or have ever looked at us. For the unbeliever, I'm not sure what those eyes are going to look like.

Not sure what they're gonna look like, but for him at this time, for the Lord at this time, I believe he stood up, he looked at these individuals, the accusers, he who's without sin among you, him let him throw a stone at her first. The Greek word for sin here is very... It's a very unique word. It means sin of the same kind. So you that are here that are judging this woman, any of you here without sin of the same kind, feel free to throw a stone at this woman.

You go ahead if you're you're if you're one of the ones that fall into this. Again, adultery, sexual sin, rampant in the land at this time. Then he stooped and rode on the ground again. Second time, he went down. Note that the Lord did not deny or strip away from the law of Moses in anything.

He didn't say the woman didn't deserve to die, he didn't say the woman didn't deserve to be punished, he didn't say what she did was right, he didn't excuse it at all, he did none of those things. It it it's interesting as well that one of the things, he didn't do, of course, was to start to humiliate her. That's something he didn't do either. He didn't change the subject. He made a statement and he wrote and he stooped down and he wrote on the ground.

There was only one person there who was qualified to cast the first stone, it was the Lord Jesus Christ himself. It's the reason that somebody said that the Lord said among you, not including himself because among them there was nobody qualified. But if you put himself in the midst, he was qualified, see, he was qualified to judge. It's also interesting that the laws of Moses, the laws of the old testament laws required that the witness was the first to throw a stone. And you'll see that in Deuteronomy chapter 17, it says the hands of the witness shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of the people.

So the Lord says to them, go ahead. Any of you without sin of the same kind, you go ahead. And these words, of course, verse nine, had a tremendous effect on their hearers. They realized their own hypocrisy. The Lord was causing his hearers to look within themselves with a statement like that, challenging them, challenging their hearts.

It says they were convicted by their consciences, this means that they realized that they were not sinless themselves, they weren't able to throw that first stone, they started going out one by one, note the order, it says beginning with the oldest even to the last, someone has suggested that it's possible that the Lord, when he rose from the ground to look, he started with the oldest. Somebody suggested that and you said, why would that be? You know why? Because you're supposed to know better. That's why.

They had a longer time, the older ones of course are supposed to be the wise one, the gray heads in our midst that know better. Right? And I and I do believe that that's entirely possible. Perhaps they're weighted down with the conviction of their own sins. The conscience is a wonderful thing because the conscience is what makes the gospel make sense to us.

It's in the understanding that we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, that the wages of sin is death. It's the it's the understanding that we will be judged for our sins, and that we deserve to be judged, and that we'll be separated from God forever in another place called hell. Hell is a place for people that don't want God and don't want his forgiveness. What is God to do with people that say I don't want you? But to have a place for such people And there's a place and it's called hell.

The wages of sin is death. That death of course means not only physical, but spiritual death. I sometimes wonder what that might be like and just a thought on that. I remember times when, when I've been sick in my life, and sick with a fever, and all of us probably have had a fever at one time or another. You might remember what that's like.

You hallucinate, and you go over, and you go over. There's many times when, a few years ago, I was I was quite sick for about two years, and, I was home I was home quite ill, my wife took care of me. During that time, I would have fevers, and I'd have illnesses and that, and you literally start to hallucinate. And oftentimes, it's not pleasant. It's not like you're hallucinating about wonderful things.

No. It's dark and it's miserable, and your your mind is going a 100 miles an hour, and you're just... You're going off in all sorts of directions and tangents in your mind. Sometimes I wonder if for the lost person hell doesn't look an awful lot like that. And it never ends.

36:33 The Accusers Depart

It's interesting, of course, that the... As the Lord would bring the weight of the scriptures to hang on their own hearts, this is their reaction. You might remember Paul wrote in Romans two verse 23, you who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? And of course, they did. They were making these religious leaders.

They made their boast in the law, yet they broke it. Right? They were guilty of breaking it. And finally in verse nine, what do we see? We see the Lord left alone, the woman standing in the midst.

Now the idea of being alone here, again, it isn't just the Lord and the woman in the other court. No, that's not what it is. It's the Lord left alone in reference to all the other religious leaders. You still have your crowd there. Your crowd is around.

And the Lord is left alone. The Lord stands again and saw no one but the woman. When Jesus had raised himself up and saw no one but the woman, he said to her, I'm gonna suggest to you at this time that he spoke to her and he looked at her at this time. He looked right face to face with her. And, of course, it's a good reminder for us that salvation of a soul is a personal matter.

It's not something that we can do from afar. It's something that individually, personally, each one of us must stand before the Lord. It's not as if it's something that we can do in a group where, yeah, I got saved in that group. I was part of that group that got saved. Now a group can get saved, but the group that gets saved gets saved individually.

They get individually whether it's a whole group of them that get saved or not, they're to get saved individually. They're not going get saved because they're in a group. They're going to get saved because they're saved individually. They personally, each and every one, take their time to stand before the Lord in their sin and acknowledging it. Because you can't be saved till you acknowledge your sin, and it must be acknowledged.

This woman wasn't standing there saying I'm not guilty. She's not standing there saying, I don't deserve a consequence. She knew she was guilty, her own conscience would be condemned by this time, she knew it. Standing before the Lord, it's a personal matter, salvation. Each person must take that time to stand before Christ personally to be saved.

He asked the woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemn you? Notice he doesn't say at this time, he doesn't say you evil, nasty, dirty, miserable, sinful, terrible woman. You lower than low, you disgusting, ignorant, whatever else you want to add to that. He says none of those things.

And you say, well, that's true brother, I see that too, he doesn't humiliate her, he doesn't drag her through the mud and so on. She was one sinner among many. She was no less a sinner or no more a sinner than any of us because all have sinned. How dare we ever, and I'm not suggesting anybody here as you know I'm a visitor, don't know any of you here, not suggesting anybody here, I'm just speaking in general terms, but how dare we as Christians ever try to pass some sort of judgment on someone else, you know, in regards to these things. Because this woman standing here before the Lord, if ever there was a time that the Lord could could say something to her personally and point all these things out.

I think another reason too that he didn't do it is because she knew perfectly well who she was. You know, that was Adam and Eve's sin in the garden. Adam and Eve's sin in the garden was not standing up and taking ownership for their sin. Where are you, Adam? God, oh, I heard your voice, I hid from you.

Alright. Did you eat did you eat from the fruit, Adam? Oh, well, the woman, she she gave them to me. You know? And he talks to the woman, oh, it was a serpent.

He deceived me. That's why I did it. You know what God wanted them to do? I think we know what he wanted them to do. I did it.

Guilty. Here I am. My fault. My fault. See, that's what's necessary for salvation.

That's what God requires of us. Stand before him in in our sin. See, being a sinner is the qualifications to being saved. You gotta be a sinner to get saved. You know that?

It's only way you're gonna get saved is if you're a sinner. Now everyone has sinned, but if you're a sinner, you qualify to be saved. But you have to stand there before the Lord and say, yes, yes, You're... I I am a sinner. I know.

I've broken your commandment. My own conscience testifies to the truth of this, and I am guilty of these things, and I do deserve your judgment. And, oh lord, I don't deserve anything that you've done for me. You've maintained me through all the years of my sin when I wanted nothing to do with you. You still give me the air I breathe.

You still give me the food. You still give me lodging. You cared for me. You preserved me to this day. Oh lord, I'm I'm deserving of all of these things.

But, Lord, if you could just take me in, if you could just forgive me of my sin, Lord, if you just give me another chance. That's all he asked, you know, believing, of course, in him, believing he could do it. He uses the same title in verse 10 to address this woman that he did to his own mother. Do you know that? He calls her woman.

It's the same word. He didn't call her you filthy woman or anything like that. He uses the very same title. He treats her with respect. He treats her with dignity regardless of how filthy we might have thought her sin is as compared to others because that's what we do.

Right? We group sins instead of just understanding sin is sin. Right? Sin is sin. Her answer to him, no one Lord.

Your translation might say, sir. Apparently, the Greek word is context dependent. It depends on the context. Sometimes it will translate it sir in her English Bibles, sometimes it will be translated Lord, I'm gonna suggest to you, did she say sir, did she say Lord? I'm gonna suggest to you that she said Lord here.

I suggest that to you. I think I think she got saved here. I think she was surrendering her authority, I think she was elevating the Lord Jesus, and she was getting down, if you will, in her own authority. She was elevating him in terms of how she would speak to him, reminds me so much of two familiar verses. It tells us that if we confess with our mouths the Lord Jesus and we believe in our heart that God has raised him from the dead, we will be saved.

44:04 Confession and Salvation

Think of John twelve forty seven, if anyone hears my words the Lord says and does not believe, I do not judge them for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. And he didn't judge her at this time, now he is he is the future judge, we know that all judgment has been committed onto the son. The scripture tells us that. But at this time, he did not condemn her, and he did not judge her, and she was not put to death. But he does tell her this, go and sin no more.

He does say that. Now there couldn't be no other standard, of course. We know that. And you know, the new life that the Lord Jesus gives us, the presence of the Holy Spirit within us, the power that we have from God is actually able to transform our life so that for the very first time in our life, it is possible to go and within the intentions of our heart not to sin and to have power to overcome sin for the very first time. You know, were a slave to sin before we knew the Lord, we didn't even know it.

And we followed the prince and the power of the air, Ephesians two. We didn't even realize we were doing it. I mean, before I was saved I had no idea, no idea who I was following. And it all became so clear when we come to Christ. His standard, go and sin no more.

That's God's standard of absolute perfection. The Lord Jesus, of course, could never say to her, go and try to sin less. You know. No. Go and sin no more.

45:55 Closing Questions and Prayer

Have you ever had a time when you stood there knowing that and threw yourself on his mercy saying, father, forgive me. Lord Jesus, be my savior. I do not want to be judged for my sins and separated from hell. I wanna go to heaven. I wanna be with you.

Those in heaven, you know, are gonna be those that made a decision to go there. You know, no one's ever gonna be in heaven and say, wow, what am I doing here? I never asked to come here. How'd I get here? Not gonna happen.

The ones that are gonna be in heaven are gonna be in heaven and the wonder and the and and just the majesty, the whole thing is gonna blow our minds, but at the same time, we're gonna say, yes, I asked to come. There is a day that I receive Christ as my savior. There is a time I remember. This is what I asked for. This is the reason I asked him to save me so I could be here, you see.

So let me ask you, is there a time all of us that are here this morning that you stood before the Lord in this way. Now they asked him what he said. Let me ask you this, what do you say concerning Christ? What do you say concerning his claims and who he is in the scripture? That he is the light of the world, that he is the one, the author, the finisher of our faith, he is the one who gave himself for us so that we could live and be forgiven.

What do you say about all those things? I pray everyone here today can say with full assurance of heart, I know him. I know exactly what that woman felt like because I've done it. I stood before him in my sin to ask him to be my savior. I know exactly what she went through, not physically, but in the spiritual realm.

Is that your testimony today? Do you know him as your savior? Oh, there's so many truths that we can find in this very short portion that we were looking at. I pray the Lord will bless these few thoughts to our hearts this morning. Father in heaven, we thank you, father, for your word.

We thank you for the majesty and the power of your word. We thank you for a savior, father, who loves. We thank you, father, that you did not send your son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. We thank you for the great gospel message we have to share to our friends, our neighbors, to our lot... To the lost, wherever they are, about a god who loves them, who will not condemn them at this time, but will forgive them, father, and give them forgiveness of sins and a home in heaven that will place them firmly into the family of God, who will come in spirit form and live with their spirit in their hearts to empower, to enlighten, to teach, to lead.

And, father, we thank you that we have the privilege, father, in this country and in Canada of opening your word and proclaiming it as we did today. We thank you, oh, father, for all of these things. Bless your word, father. We ask it in our savior's name. Amen.

What Do You Say — John 7-8

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What Do You Say — John 7-8

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