Last week, we learned that ignorance is rarely bliss. Although it can be very painful at the time to have certain truths revealed to us, it is ultimately for our good that we become aware of our reality.
Sin is essentially misusing our lives. God created us for one purpose, but we are using our lives for another.
It never feels good to any of us to have our sin revealed to us. Especially when what is revealed is sin committed in ignorance. When we truly think that we are right, it’s challenging for us to agree with God and admit that we are actually wrong.
Proverbs 27:5-6 (AMP)
5 Better is an open reprimand [of loving correction]
Than love that is hidden.
6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend [who corrects out of love and concern],
But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful [because they serve his hidden agenda].
It may not feel good at the time, but correction and truth shared with us from a heart and motive of love is always better than living in ignorance. Remaining silent while someone that we care about continues down a wrong path in sin is not loving.
No human has ever walked the face of the earth who knew how to love better than Jesus. H didn’t just love perfectly, He is love.
Before it became time for Jesus to begin His earthly ministry, His cousin was preparing people to receive Him.
Matthew 3:1-3
1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”
A simple, but powerful message. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.
We can’t have God’s Kingdom without repentance. Repentance is simply a change of mind. In the case of our sin, it is to see ourselves from God’s perspective and to come into agreement with Him.
Matthew 3:2 (AMP)
Repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, regret past sins, live your life in a way that proves repentance; seek God’s purpose for your life], for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
In fact, after Jesus was baptized and tempted by the devil, guess what the message was that He preached.
Matthew 4:17 (AMP)
Repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, regret past sins, live your life in a way that proves repentance; seek God’s purpose for your life], for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Calling us to repent is an act of love.
How important is being aware of our sin and repenting of it? That was pretty much Jesus’ entire message and ministry! Dealing with sin so that God’s Kingdom can be established! Expressing the love of God perfectly and completely.
Repentance redirects us away from paths of destruction and toward a path of abundant and fulfilling lives; the lives that we were created and purposed to live!
One of the best illustrations of how Jesus deals with our sin is found here in John 8.
I won’t go into the full detail this morning, but there is a lot of controversy about whether these verses belong here in the middle of John. It obviously breaks the flow of the events happening from chapter 7 to chapter 8 verse 12.
I point this out because in some modern translations, this text is in italics or brackets to point this out. The account is included in most Greek manuscripts, but in different places within John’s gospel and sometimes even in Luke, so it’s included in our copies as well.
John 8:2-11 (AMP)
2 Early in the morning Jesus came back into the temple [court], and all the people were coming to Him. He sat down and began teaching them. 3 Now the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery. They made her stand in the center of the court, 4 and they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the very act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women [to death]. So what do You say [to do with her—what is Your sentence]?” 6 They said this to test Him, hoping that they would have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and began writing on the ground with His finger. 7 However, when they persisted in questioning Him, He straightened up and said, “He who is without [any] sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Then He stooped down again and started writing on the ground. 9 They listened [to His reply], and they began to go out one by one, starting with the oldest ones, until He was left alone, with the woman [standing there before Him] in the center of the court. 10 Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” 11 She answered, “No one, Lord!” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go. From now on sin no more.”]
It is often said and taught that Jesus defended the woman caught in adultery.
It is often taught that she is a victim by pointing out that adultery takes two and the man wasn’t also brought into the court for trial.
Sticking to the text alone, Jesus did not defend this woman.
Jesus did not excuse away her sin.
Jesus did not say that she is not guilty of the sin that she was accused of.
When two people commit a crime together, they aren’t both half guilty of lawbreaking nor both fully guilty of half of a law being broken. When two people commit a crime together, they are both fully guilty of breaking the law.
This was a very clever trap that the scribes and Pharisees designed!
To release her would be to break the very Mosaic law that He had come to fulfill. If He broke this law, He would be guilty of sin.
To stone the woman to death would be breaking Roman law and cause for Pilate to find fault in Him. If He broke this law, He would be guilty of sin.
Jesus didn’t react emotionally to the trap that He knew He was caught in. Let’s be honest, when people intentionally force us between a rock and a hard place in a catch-twenty-two scenario, most of us react emotionally and sin in some way.
Typically, it throws us into a fit of rage and we lash out at our captor. That’s why the devil loves to lay these types of snares for us! And oh were the people pressing and pushing and questioning Him trying to get a reaction out of Him!
Jesus wasn’t quick to respond at all. In fact, He remained silent. He stooped down and began writing on the ground with His finger.
The text does not say what Jesus was writing on the ground, but I’ve heard some great speculations. Whatever it was, it caused each and every one of the scribes and Pharisees and people in the crowd to realize and acknowledge their own sin.
From oldest to youngest, they all walked away from the court. As they walked away, they were admitting their own guilt and sinful condition. Jesus cleared the court without really making an argument or defense or judgment.
She was guilty of sin and the penalty of her guilt was to be put to death by stoning. Jesus did not in any way disagree with that. He simply asked that the death penalty be carried out beginning by the person who was not guilty of sin. Not one could throw the first stone…
After they cleared the court, there was no longer a single eyewitness to accuse her. Mosaic law requires two or three witnesses for such a charge. As a result, Jesus could not lawfully stone her to death.
Deuteronomy 19:15
“A single witness shall not appear in a trial against a man for any wrong or any sin which he has committed; [only] on the testimony or evidence of two or three witnesses shall a charge be confirmed.
To be clear, if Jesus alone had been an eyewitness of her sin, He still would have carried out the sentence. However, He was not a witness of it.
John 8:13-18
13 The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”
14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. 16 But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. 17 In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. 18 I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”
Jesus acknowledged this woman’s sin.
Jesus acknowledged the penalty of her sin; death.
With no accusers, Jesus chose also not to condemn her.
Jesus then told her to go and to sin no more.
Let’s think of God’s plan and path as a road. Often, we err in one ditch or the other on either side of God’s road. We either treat sin too lightly or too harshly.
We overlook or minimize sin in light of God’s mercy and grace.
We judge and condemn sin in light of God’s holiness and righteousness.
The perfect love of our perfectly just God deals with sin differently just as Jesus did here.
God’s righteousness and holiness reveals our sin.
God’s justice requires that sin be dealt with through death.
God’s compassion caused Him to choose to pay that penalty Himself.
God’s mercy applies the payment from Jesus’ sinless death to cover the cost of our sin.
God’s forgiveness covers our sin and shame and condemnation.
God’s generosity imparts His righteousness to us and makes us holy.
God’s grace empowers us to no longer choose sin in the future.
God’s kindness causes Him to accompany and guide us away from sin and onto His path for our lives.
God’s goodness blesses us abundantly and covers and protects us.
Don’t you just love how God deals with our sin?!?!
We sin against Him, but He forgives and blesses us!
We deserve death, but He gives life!
We deserve curses, but He gives blessing!
We deserve to be abandoned, but He draws us closer!
We deserve wrath, but He gives us mercy!
We deserve to be crushed, but He upholds us!
Psalm 103:8-13
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him
This is how the Lord treats us. He is so good and so loving and so faithful and so generous and so perfect in every way!
After the Lord deals with our sin in this way, how do we treat Him?
Ouch!
Right?
The next scripture is going to pierce our hearts and it really should!
Take a moment right now and prepare for a hard truth and teaching.
Hebrews 10:26-31 (AMP)
26 For if we go on willfully and deliberately sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice [to atone] for our sins [that is, no further offering to anticipate], 27 but a kind of awful and terrifying expectation of [divine] judgment and the fury of a fire and burning wrath which will consume the adversaries [those who put themselves in opposition to God]. 28 Anyone who has ignored and set aside the Law of Moses is put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much greater punishment do you think he will deserve who has rejected and trampled under foot the Son of God, and has considered unclean and common the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and has insulted the Spirit of grace [who imparts the unmerited favor and blessing of God]? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine [retribution and the deliverance of justice rest with Me], I will repay [the wrongdoer].” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Consider the price that Jesus paid to deal with our sin.
When our sin is revealed, we are then walking in the light of Christ and no longer ignorantly in darkness.
How, then, can we continue sinning against the God that we claim to love?
How can we trample Jesus underfoot like dirt?
How can we treat the blood of Jesus like it is nothing?
How can we insult the Spirit of grace?
Truthfully, we all do, but we should not!
1 Corinthians 10:13
God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
It is one thing to stumble and fall into sin or to sin in ignorance.
It’s another thing to intentionally and purposefully and plan to continue in sin.
This is unrepentant sin.
This is unforgiven sin.
This is sin not covered by the blood of Jesus because we it is unconfessed.
Remember from last week?
To confess our sin is to come into agreement with God about it.
Unrepented, unforgiven, unconfessed sin leads only to one place and that is to the wrath of God.
This is not God’s plan!
This is not how God wants this to end!
That’s why God hasn’t given up on us yet!
That’s why Jesus held nothing back, not even His own life, for us!
That’s why John the Baptist and Jesus’ messages were both, “Repent! The Kingdom of God is near!”
Don’t run to sin, run to God!
Let’s back up just a few verses:
Hebrews 10:19-25 (NLT)
19 And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. 21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
We need each other!
James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Together, let’s deal with sin!
Let’s run boldly and confidently into God’s Presence so that all of our sin is both revealed and also covered by the blood of Jesus.
Together, let’s expect with eager expectation not the wrath of God, but the fulfillment of every one of His promises and blessings!
Through Jesus, we are forgiven, freed, healed, delivered, restored, made holy, made righteous, made whole, loved, blessed, and so, so much more!
Jesus loves you completely and perfectly! Let Him deal with your sin so that you don’t have to carry the weight and burden and guilt of it any longer!