“No Games”
[John
7:53-8:11]
January 24, 2016/January 31, 2016
Second Reformed Church
Do you like to play games?
Well, it matters what I mean by
“games,” doesn’t it?
If I mean, do you like to play
sports or board games or cards, many of us would say that we do.
If I mean, do you like to twist the
truth to get what you want, I would hope that you would say, “of course not!”
This second type of “game playing”
is what the devil and his followers like to do.
They say something that is almost true, or they say something that is
true, but they twist it or use it in the wrong way.
We will remember that the devil
played games like this with Jesus in the wilderness at the start of His
ministry:
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit
into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days
and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you
are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ But he
answered, ‘It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
“Then the devil took him to the holy
city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, ‘If you are the
Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his
angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you
strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus
said to him, ‘Again it is written, ‘” You shall not put the Lord your God to
the test.’”
“Again, the devil took him to a very high
mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he
said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’
Then Jesus said to him, ‘Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship
the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”
“Then the devil left him, and
behold, angels came and were ministering to him” (Matthew 4:1-11, ESV).
Notice, everything the devil said –
he quoted from the Word of God – everything he said was true, but the way he
said it – the context in which he framed it – it was a lie – an evil game.
Jesus said of some of the Pharisees:
“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's
desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own
character, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44, ESV).
A game inspired by the father of
lies is what we have in this morning’s text:
After Jesus spoke to the crowd on
the last day of the Feast of Booths, He left the Temple and rested the
night. In the morning, He returned to
the Temple, and He began to teach the great crowd that assembled around Him:
“They went each to his own house, but
Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the
temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them.”
We see, first, this morning, that the
scribes and the Pharisees used a woman caught in adultery to try to trap Jesus.
“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 in the
Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?’ This they said
to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him.”
The language that is used in this text
points to this being a plan of the scribes and Pharisees. It is as though they thought a way to trap
Jesus and bring Him to trial would be to bring a woman caught in adultery to
Him and ask Him to rule on what she did.
She was a pawn – a tool – in their game.
They went from door to door, peering in windows to find someone
committing adultery – to catch them in the act.
With venom on their lips, the scribes and
the Pharisees addressed Jesus as “teacher” – “rabbi,” with hatred in their
hearts and devilish hope to trap Him.
“This woman has been caught in the act of adultery.” Does anything seem strange about what they
are saying?
If it doesn’t, consider what the law of
God was:
“If a man commits adultery with the wife
of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to
death” (Leviticus 20:10, ESV).
“If a man is found lying with the wife of
another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the
woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel” (Deuteronomy 22:22, ESV).
If she had been “caught in the act of
adultery,” the man was also caught in the act of adultery. The law calls for both of them to be put to
death. Where was the man?
There has been a lot of interesting
speculation about where the man was, but the point is this – the scribes and
the Pharisees didn’t care about the man, they didn’t care about the adultery
that they had uncovered – they were using this woman to get at Jesus – to trap
Him – they were playing a game with this woman’s life – using the law – not
because they cared one way or another about her, but because they wanted to
trap Jesus and have Him arrested.
They wanted an answer from Jesus – should
they stone this woman? If Jesus said
“no,” He would be violating the Law of God.
If Jesus said, “yes,” He would be violating the law of Rome. Either way – they would have Him.
Also notice, there was no reason to
question Jesus – the Law of God was clear and stood for the nation of
Israel. They were not concerned with
honoring God and His Law or prosecuting sin, and they had no compassion on this
woman. They used her and did not hold
the Law of God as the holy, inviolable law given to Israel. In their sin, they looked for loopholes and
added restrictions – not unlike what we do – we make excuses and claim
exceptions and add on personal and church and denominational requirements that
God never commanded. So let’s not get
too high on our horses.
The Pharisees and scribes sinned grossly
in bring this woman to Jesus and trying to trap Him using God’s Law against
her.
Second, we see that Jesus did not fall for
their trap.
“Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger
on the ground.”
This is another text where there has been
a great deal of speculation – what did Jesus write?
God did not see fit to record what Jesus
wrote in the dirt – so, we cannot say for sure.
What we can say is that Jesus turned His
back to the Pharisees and the scribes.
He ignored them. He despised what
they were doing and allowed them to stew in their own juices.
“Jesus!
We want an answer from You. Stop
doodling in the dirt and answer our question.
Should we stone her or not? Are
you listening to us?”
“And as they continued to ask him, he
stood up and said to them, ‘Let him who is without sin among you be the first
to throw a stone at her.’
Listen to what God says about enacting
capital punishment:
“On the evidence of two witnesses or of
three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not
be put to death on the evidence of one witness. The hand of the witnesses shall
be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the
people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst” (Deuteronomy 17:6-7, ESV).
Two or three witnesses were required to
prove someone guilty of a capital crime.
And the witnesses had to be the first ones to throw stones at the guilty
party. And then, the whole community was
to continue to enact the punishment until the person was dead.
So, Jesus was challenging them, “If you
are witnesses of the crime, and you yourselves are holy – if you have never
sinned – (perhaps), if you have never committed this sin – lust and adultery
are the same sin – if you pursued her out of holy obligation and not because
you are using her and twisting God’s Law to trap Me in this wicked game – go ahead
and kill her.”
“The Law says that if you are just as
witnesses and in prosecuting her for this crime, very well then, but you must
raise your hands against her – to kill her – before the community joins in.”
And Jesus gave them time for this to settle
in:
“And once more he bent down and wrote on
the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with
the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.”
What did Jesus write? Did He write anything? Or was it a way to kill time while His words
settled in? We’re not told.
What is the significance of their leaving
– one by one, beginning with the oldest?
We’re not told.
But Jesus was left alone with the
women. The Pharisees and the scribes realized
that they had been outwitted. They could
not bring the death penalty against her.
Despite her being guilty – they didn’t bring the man, and they were just
using her in this sick life and death game to trap Jesus.
And Jesus said, “They have all left, but I
am the Lord God Almighty. I am Holy, and
I know your sin, so I am calling down the fires of heaven to kill you and take
you to your damnable destiny.” Right?
No.
We see, third, Jesus offerd her grace.
“Jesus stood up and said to her, ‘Woman,
where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus
said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.’”
Jesus wanted what happened to sink
in for this woman, so He asked her where all those who brought charges against
her had gone – hadn’t anyone condemned her – hadn’t anyone taken a rock against
her – hadn’t anyone thrown the first stone?
“No one, Lord.” She was naturally stunned. She knew Jesus was someone important. She may have known He was a rabbi. She may have known about the controversy
about whether He was the Christ or not.
“No one, Lord.”
“Neither do I condemn you;”
Was she shocked? We’re not told.
Are we shocked?
Didn’t Jesus care that she was
caught in the act of adultery – a sin that required the death penalty?
Why didn’t Jesus condemn her? Why didn’t He – at least – read her the riot
act?
Hear what John records:
“For God so loved the world, that he
gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have
eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17, ESV).
And Peter wrote:
“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his
promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any
should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9, ESV).
Jesus did not come to condemn in His
First Advent – He came to reveal the Gospel – to secure the salvation of His
people. Certainly, Jesus had some harsh
things to say to those who were full of themselves – those who didn’t think
they needed salvation – but generally, Jesus came – the first time – with His
message of salvation for all those who will believe. A day of judgement will come when Jesus
returns.
Jesus offered her grace; Jesus
offered her the hearing of the Gospel with the hope that she would receive
it. He gave her time to hear the truth
of salvation and did not damn her that instant for her sin.
Similarly, Jesus did not come and
condemn all of us in His First Advent, rather He came to call all of His people
to belief and repentance that we might be redeemed and live with Him in His
eternal kingdom.
Jesus would have been right, as the
Holy and Almighty God, to damn us all, but God’s plan was to present the Gospel
– to fulfill the promise to make the Way to be right with God that all we who
believe would be saved from the debt of our sins and made righteous through Jesus
and His work in history.
That is a lesson for us as
Christians – we are not to condemn people that God has not condemned. We have no right to go through the streets
and say, “Oh, look at you, everyone knows you are a sinner that does this and
that. You are damned to Hell for your
sin – the ground is opening up for you right now.”
Jesus showed compassion for this woman –
for His lost sheep. We have no idea who
might believe in the last moment of life; we have not right to damn people to
Hell. We have no right to cast the first
stone. That is the privilege of God
Almighty on the last day.
However, that does not mean we
should tell people it doesn’t matter what they do – that they can continue in
unrepentant sin and carry on in the work of demons. We should never be dismissive of someone who
sins and say, “Oh, well, we all sin – no big deal.”
Sin is a big deal. God is very angry about sin. God sent His Son to die for our sin. Sin is serious business – it is cosmic
rebellion against God – the Greatest Being in all of Existence.
That’s why we ought to notice that
though Jesus did not condemn her, He said, “and from now on sin no
more.”
Jesus did not condemn her, but in
His Grace, He gave her time to hear and respond to the Gospel, and He told her
that her sin was unacceptable and she must stop.
As we proclaim the Gospel and call
people to believe, we also call them to repent – that means both to ask
forgiveness for their sin and to stop sinning.
We are called to name sin as sin and to call for an end of it.
If someone is stealing, we must call
that sin and call him to stop.
If someone is murdering, we must
call that sin and call him to stop.
If someone is lying, we must call
that sin and call him to stop.
If someone is committing adultery,
we must call that sin and call him to stop.
If someone is using the Lord’s Name
in vain, we must call that sin and call him to stop.
If someone is dishonoring his
parents, we must call that sin and call him to stop.
If someone is not keeping the
Sabbath, we must call that sin and call him to stop.
And so forth.
Even so, as we speak against sin and
call people away from their sin and call them to believe the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, we are called to have compassion on them. They are dead in their sin – they cannot stop
sinning until God intervenes – and so, until God chooses to do so, we are
called to proclaim the Gospel and call people to repent and believe, while
having compassion on them.
Do we understand?
God does not play games with
us.
God is patient and sent His Son, not
to condemn us, but to make the Way for us to be saved through Him Alone.
Now, we are all called to go out, in
compassion, and call this lost world to hear and believe the Gospel, and to
repent of their sin – to stop unrepentantly pursuing their sin.
God has not sent us out to condemn,
but to compassionately call people to believe in Jesus Christ and His Work of
salvation.
So, if we know someone who isn’t a
believer, compassionately tell him how much we want him to believe and be made
right with God – tell him the Gospel – and tell him to stop sinning.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, sometimes we are like
James and John and want to call down fire on the unbelievers, forgive us for
our arrogance. Help us to speak to
others with the compassion that You showed to the women in this Scripture and
in opening Your Gospel to us. Help us to
speak the truth in love – even as we call people to stop their sin – for the
sake of Christ and His Gospel – in love of the people we speak to – as the
spoken grace of the Gospel proceeds from our lips, carried by God the Holy
Spirit. May You bring many people to
Yourself. For it is in Jesus’ Name we
pray, Amen.
