The Savior And The Sinner

It starts in John 8:1, “Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. 2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him, and he sat down, and taught them. 3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, 4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act. 5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? 6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. 7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”

I love this story in John 8 because it reveals to us the heart of the Savior toward the sinner. If you want to know what God thinks about the sinner, you look at Jesus—His love, His compassion, His mercy—and especially His forgiveness in His call of this woman to go and sin no more indicates that He wanted her to go and walk in the way of holiness; so we see His compassion, His kindness, His tenderness, His mercy, HIs wisdom. We also see His hatred for and the reality of sin. The sin of the scribes and the Pharisees in some way is worse than that of the woman because they thought they were holy, righteous, and religious, but they were really hypocritical in their hearts using this woman, no doubt, as just a pawn to serve their evil end.

Now, I want to be true to the text and mention something that some of you may have discovered or wondered about. Some translations of the New Testament omit verses 1-11 in the gospel of John. Maybe in your Bible you’ll find it in the footnote or reference that some include the story in this section, so it is a section that there is a little bit of dispute about, “Does it belong here in John? Does it belong maybe at the end of the gospel of Luke or in other places?” Basically, I believe, it does belong in John. I believe it belongs where it’s been put in the gospel of John, but the reason why it’s in dispute is because in many of the oldest manuscripts, it is omitted—only some of the older manuscripts it is omitted. It also is interesting that early on in church history that some of the church fathers quoted from this passage, so it was in circulation, it was available, there are other transcripts that have it in it, and I believe that it should be relied upon. If you want to go into all the arguments, pro and con, and all that stuff, you can read a very scholarly commentary (several of them). I’ve done that, and read the different arguments, but what everyone will agree with is that it is consistent with the nature and actions of Jesus. There’s nothing in the story that is out of sync with what we know about Jesus.

One other theory might be that some of the manuscripts don’t have it because some of the early scribes felt that it was kind of conveying the idea that Jesus was soft on sin and may have taken the liberty to omit that, which really no one has the right to take that liberty and do. I also disagree. I don’t believe that He’s light on sin, that He just says to the sinful woman, “Neither do I condemn thee.” The end of the statement there is that you should, “…go, and sin no more.” I want to look at that when we get there, but He doesn’t just say, “Oh, it’s okay, no biggie. Everybody blows it once in a while. Next time, just be a little more careful. Don’t get caught.” He didn’t say that. He said, “I’m not condemning you, but I want you to go and sin no more.” He did that based on the idea that she called Him Lord and that she believed in Him and, no doubt, she was saved; and because she’d been forgiven, now she is to live a holy life. She didn’t have to live a holy life to be forgiven, she lived a holy life because she was forgiven. That’s a very important point, and I’ll bring that out again when we get to the end of the story, verse 11.

Now, basically, I want to note three ways of dealing with sinners. This is not exhaustive. There are a lot of different things that we could bring out, but three simple ways of dealing with a sinner. The first is the way of the religious leaders. How does religion deal with those that are sinners (verses 1-4)? Actually, the last verse of John 7, verse 53, should actually be the first verse of chapter 8. When the Bible was originally written, there were no chapter verses, so sometimes the breaks aren’t really at the best spots. Back up one verse into chapter 7. It says, “And every man went unto his own house.” Now, Jesus had been in the temple and had been teaching and ministering. Jesus did not go to His own house, John 8:1, “Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.” Jesus actually said, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” Now, you might say He was from Galilee, and that wasn’t where He was from. It is true sometimes He would stay with Mary and Martha, but Jesus made it very clear that He didn’t own a home. Think about that. Jesus didn’t own a home. Jesus said that foxes have places to dwell and birds have their nests, but I’m the Son of Man, I created all things, but I have nowhere to lay My head other than the mount of Olives (verse 1).

At the base of the mount of Olives (those that are leaving tonight on their trip will visit the Garden of Gethsemane), it is no doubt there that Jesus went with His disciples and threw out their bedrolls and laid under the big olive trees, looked through the branches, and saw the starry night. They just laid there looking at the wonders of His heaven. Jesus is now laying out under the sky (verse 2), “And early in the morning he came again into the temple.” In chapter 7, He was in the temple. He went out to spend the night in the Garden of Gethsemane, and now He’s coming back and goes to the temple early in the morning. The area of the temple that He was probably in, it doesn’t really specify, was the court of the women. Outside and around Herod’s temple there were different courtyards. The one outer courtyard was known as the court of the women where women could come. It was there, by the way, that they had on the walls of that courtyard what was called the trumpet coffers. They were trumpet-shaped coffers that you put your money in for your giving. That was where the widow came into the temple and put her little two mites in and Jesus observed that she gave more than all those that put in of their great riches.

They’re out in this courtyard known as the court of the women. All the people came unto Him, and He sat down and taught them. Now, in the Bible, the teacher sat and the pupils stood. I think that’s kind of a nice arrangement. Maybe we ought to do that here on a Sunday. Sometimes you get tired, “Pastor John goes so long. When will he ever stop?” I’m standing, okay, you’re sitting. I’m the one talking. I’m the one standing. I’m the one moving. You just have to sit there and look like you like it. That’s all you have to do. Jesus sits down, they stand up, and it says that He taught them. Now come the scribes and the Pharisees, the religious leaders. The scribes were those who translated and wrote out the law. The Pharisees were those who tried to keep the law. The Pharisees were the strictest sect of the Jewish religion. The name “Pharisee” means separated ones. They devoted all of their time, all of their energy, all of their efforts to just keeping every jot and tittle of the law. You didn’t get much more religious than the Pharisees and the scribes.

Verse 3, “And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him,” that is, Jesus, “a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, 4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.” We’re going to get into it in a minute, but basically I’d like to ask a question: Where was the man? If she was caught in the act of adultery, obviously there was a fella somewhere, right? This is at least a question you women ought to be asking: Why just the woman? We can’t be dogmatic about it, but it supports the idea that this was something that was diabolically arranged and designed to trap Jesus by the Pharisees and the scribes. They were as religious as you can get. They were the holy men, but they weren’t very righteous. The Bible says that God looks on our hearts, not just on the outward appearance. I believe there’s warrant to viewing this as something that was orchestrated by them as opposed to just somehow somebody brought this woman that was caught in adultery and let the man go. Why do I say that? Because under the Old Testament law, Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22, it says that the man and the woman would both be put to death for this sin of adultery.

They bring her to Jesus, and right in the middle of Him teaching there in the temple area, they said to Him, “Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.” Now, they’re going to go on and ask Him that the law commands that she should be stoned, but what do You say? Notice in verse 6, we’ll get there in a minute, “This they said, tempting him,” that’s the important point. They were trying to trap Jesus. They didn’t care about the woman. They weren’t really all that caring about the law, they were just trying to get Jesus. They wanted to trap Him. How would this work? Well, a couple of ways. There were a lot of issues at stake in this situation. First of all, the life of the woman was at stake. His response would determine whether she lives or whether she dies. That’s a really heavy thing. Secondly, Jesus has been preaching and teaching compassion, love, and forgiveness. If He says, “Yeah, the law commands that she should be stoned. Stone her. Put her to death.” Well, they could say, “He’s not even practicing what He preaches.” They also could’ve run to the Roman government and said, “He’s commanding us to kill this woman, and we don’t have the right of execution,” and He would have been against the Roman law.

He’s also in a pickle in their mind, and I say in their mind because you can’t pickle the Son of God, right? You can’t catch Him in a dilemma because basically they would think that Jesus, if He said, “No, forgive her. Let her go,” Aha! The law of Moses commands that she should be stoned, so now He’s speaking against the law of Moses. This is one of several times that they came to try to trap Jesus. Remember they came and said, “Is it okay to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” They thought, We’ve got Him! We’ve got Him! We’ve got Him! If He says yes, people will be against Him, no one likes to pay taxes to Rome. If He says no, then we tell the Roman government and He gets arrested. Then, Jesus says, “Show me a coin. Whose picture is on it?” “Caesars.” He flips it back to them (it doesn’t say that in the Bible, but I picture Him doing a messianic flip). He said, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God,” right? They just went (showing a surprised facial expression with eyes wide and mouth dropped open), and there was nothing they could do. They came another time and said, “A woman had a husband and he died. She had another husband, and he died. She went through five husbands, so when they get to heaven who is going to be her husband?” They thought they really had Him trapped. Jesus chided them and says, “Look, you do error that you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God. In heaven they’re going to be like the angels, they’re not going to marry or be given in marriage.” He answered their question very quickly and simply, but this, in their book, is: We have got Him! We’ve got Him! We’ve got Him! We really know we’ve got Him this time. He’s not going to be able to get out of this.

What I want to point out is that this is a terrible thing to fall as a sinner into the hands of self-righteous sinners who don’t see their sin before God. These men were religious, but they were lost. They were blind to their own sin. In a couple of places, this one to begin in the story, it really illustrates what Jesus taught in Matthew 7. Jesus says, “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged,” but then He went on to say this, “How is it that you are all worried and concerned about the little sliver that’s in your bother’s eye, and you don’t even see the board that’s hanging out of your own eye.” I believe that Jesus was speaking humorously there. He was speaking in hyperbole. He wasn’t meaning a literal board, but He’s saying, “You have this huge sin in your life, and you’re all uptight and worried and freaking out about little sins in other people’s lives.” That’s what religion does to people many times because they keep a certain standard of righteousness and then look down on other people that aren’t as holy, good, or religious as they are. They don’t realize that all have sinned and all have fallen short of the glory of God. There’s no one righteous, not one. That’s one thing about knowing that I’m a sinner saved by grace, I’m merciful to other people when they fall into sin.

Paul said in Galatians 6, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” Who do we think we are to be condescending and condemning of other people? Now, this is not to say that you can’t make a determination that behavior is sinful. It’s not saying we can’t ever make a judgment, but when Jesus said, “Judge not, lest you be judged,” He was using a word that spoke of a critical, fault-finding, judgmental, censorious attitude; and that’s what the Bible condemns. It’s not saying we can make a discernment based on God’s Word that this is wrong and that’s wrong, but He’s basically saying, “Look, don’t be critical. Don’t be judgmental. Don’t be fault finding.” Sometimes we, as Christians, walked with God for many years and become kind of holier than thou. We become kind of Christian Pharisees is what we become, and we pull our self-righteous robes around us very tightly when we go out in public lest we touch a sinnah and contract cooties. You go into a restaurant, “Do you have a sanctified section?” We don’t really want to interact with the world because we’re righteous and forget that we’re sinners saved by His grace. They were only using this poor woman. Religion cannot save the sinner. They are blind leading the blind. Write down Luke 11:52. Jesus says, “…for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered,” they prevent others from entering and hinder them, so there’s no help and no hope in religion. The religious group had nothing for this sinful woman but to condemn her.

The second way of dealing with a sinner (verse 5, and the first half of verse 6) is the way of the law. How does the law deal with somebody who has fallen into sin? Well, I believe that the law just condemns the sinner. Notice verse 5 and the first part of verse 6, “Now Moses in the law,” they said, “commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?” They’re trying to pit him against the law of Moses. “This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him,” stop right there. Perhaps you can find help in the law—the religious community can’t help me. Maybe I can keep the law and live a life that is good enough in obedience to God’s law—but the Bible teaches us that that’s not the purpose of the law. The law can save no one. That’s not the purpose of the law. All the law can do is condemn us. Galatians 2:16, “…for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” Justified means to be declared righteous by God’s grace. You can’t get righteous by keeping the law. It’s interesting that Moses, who represents the law, was unable to lead the nation of Israel into the promised land. Who led them into the promised land? Joshua, right? which is the Old Testament Jehovah saves or Jesus. The law cannot save us, it takes Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the life.

What is the purpose of the law? The purpose of the law, Romans 3:20, is to reveal our sin. That’s what the law is for. It’s holy, it’s just, and it’s good; but if you’re trying to be righteous before God by keeping the law, you can’t do that. It only reveals your sin. What it does is kind of like a mirror. The New Testament refers to the Scriptures as being like a mirror. When you look into a mirror, if you’re not lookin good, it’s not the mirror’s fault. I hate to break it to you. Can you imagine someone, “I need to get a new mirror.” “Why?” “Because every time I look in it I’m ugly!” I understand. When I look in a mirror, I want the lights to be kind of dim a little bit, and I don’t want to look too close. I hate those real bright mirrors that kind of make you real big and it’s kind of like, “Whoa!” They don’t lie, right? The mirror isn’t the problem. When you look into the law of God, it shows you that you are a sinner.

Paul says in Galatians that it is a schoolmaster that is intended to drive us to Jesus Christ. That’s the purpose of the law. The law is intended to show us our sin and to humble and drive us to Jesus Christ for salvation, to bring us to Christ. We can’t keep the law. In Romans 8:3 it says that we are weak through the flesh; so because our flesh is weak, we can’t keep the law’s demands. We can’t be saved by the law—no flesh shall be justified. The problem is the law cannot save. Christianity is not a code of conduct, Christianity is not a ceremony, Christianity is not a creed, Christianity is Christ. What a blessing to think about that: Christianity is Christ. It’s Christ crucified and the sinner trusting in the Person and the work of Jesus Christ, and it’s a personal relationship with Christ. So, “Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?” Jesus could’ve said, “Yes, that’s true, so stone her,” but He didn’t say that.

The third, and last, is the important one (verses 6-11), we see the way of Jesus with the sinful woman. The religious community couldn’t help her, the law of God couldn’t help her, just expose her sin, but Jesus came and fulfilled the law. He paid the penalty for our sins so that we can be forgiven. Notice it in verse 6, “But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground,” the statement stops right there, but my King James translation has, “as though he heard them not,” that’s italicized, so it’s not there in the Greek. It’s put in there to kind of create a flow and continuity of thought, so it’s just, “Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground.” This is a fascinating thing. In a minute He’s going to stoop down and write on the ground again. We do not know two things: What Jesus wrote and why Jesus wrote on the ground. When I get to heaven, that’s one of the first things I’m going to ask Jesus. I’ll say, “Jesus, come here. What did You write in the dirt that day?” He’ll say, “Lighten up, Pastor John. You’re in heaven right now. Just check out the glassy sea. Calm down, and quit asking stupid questions.”

There are all kinds of speculation and all kinds of theories have swirled around about what Jesus wrote. I’m going to throw out a few little teasers. I believe that the same finger that wrote on the palace wall of Belshazzar: Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin, thou are weighed in the balances and found wanting, is the same finger that Jesus used to write on the dirt. What an interesting thought. Another interesting thought is: This is the only time recorded in all of Scripture when it says Jesus wrote anything. It never tells us that He wrote a book, a letter, a psalm; and when He wrote, He wrote in the dirt. We don’t really know why He was writing in the dirt, and we don’t really know what He was writing. I reject the idea—I think it’s foolish—that He was trying to buy time to figure out what to say, that He was doodling in the dirt, “What do I say? What do I say? What do I say?” No. Jesus is God. They didn’t take that into consideration. They think, We’ve got Him trapped. You’re dealing with God in the flesh, and He’s also in control of all the circumstances. Amen? Which we need to remember, by the way, He’s in control of the circumstances of our lives. We sometimes forget that, so Jesus stooped down and began to write in the dirt on the ground.

Many times Jews would do that because they didn’t have tablets to write on. They would use tablets of clay to write on, but it wasn’t very common so sometimes they’d write in the dust or the dirt. They were pressing Him (verse 7), “So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” First, we have the mystery: What did Jesus write? Why did Jesus write it on the ground. Then, we have a revelation. Notice what He says, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” Now, Jesus didn’t argue about the law and the merits of the law. He didn’t debate about how many witnesses were needed and how do you know that she was really guilty, but He goes to the heart of the issue and wants these religious individuals to realize you’re a sinner.


You see, there are sins of the flesh as well as sins of the Spirit. What do I mean by that? There’s adultery, fornication, drunkenness, laziness and those kinds of sins; but there’s also pride, lust, covetousness, greed, and unforgiveness. You might be sitting here right now feeling kind of self righteous and smug, you know, “I’ve never murdered or killed anybody.” Jesus said, “If you have hatred in your heart, you’ve killed them. You murdered them.” “Well, I’ve never committed adultery.” Jesus said, “If you look lustfully after someone, you’ve committed adultery in your heart.” God looks not just on the outward appearance, God looks upon the heart, which is so important. These proud, self-righteous men first saw only the mote in their uncleanliness of the woman, but they didn’t see the beam or the hypocrisy that was in their own eye. Jesus came to deal not only with the sins of the flesh but sins of the heart or sins of the spirit. What a sad thing that they were dealing with this woman and forgetting their own sin.

It’s kind of like the elder brother, by the way, in the parable of the prodigal son. Do you know the parable is actually more about the older brother than it is the little brother and his attitude? “Well, I have never wasted my money on harlots and spent all those things, and I stayed here and I’ve been a good boy.” He was angry at his father and wouldn’t go into the party. He was reflecting the heart and the attitude of the religious community that was angry at Jesus because He received and ate with sinners. Jesus was showing them their attitude in the elder brother, not necessarily the prodigal son. We make a bunch of ado about the prodigal son, but the elder brother was just as big of a sinner and was sinning in his heart, and that’s where God so often looks—at our hearts.

There’s also the conviction. Jesus said, “Okay, let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” Guess what? No one threw any stones because they knew that they had sinned. They were convicted by their own conscience. “So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.” We have the mystery, the revelation that they were sinners, and then we have the conviction (verses 8-9), “…being convicted by their own conscience,” so the Spirit of God was convicting them.

Now, this is why there is one theory that I have always thought was kind of interesting that maybe it is that Jesus was writing in the sand possibly the Ten Commandments, and maybe even putting their name next to the sins that they had committed. The word “write” in the Greek is the word used to write a record against. It could be that He was writing down sins and then putting Rabbi Shimei. He looked over and saw his name and his sin and said, “I have a dental appointment I need to get to right now,” and SWOOSH! he took off. Then He put Rabbi Hillel and put the name of the sin and the commandments against him in the sand, and they’re like, “Well, I think I hear…my wife is calling me for dinner. I need to go!” And, “…beginning at the eldest,” and some say it was because they had more sins in the sand, they just slithered like snakes out in the crowd until “Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.” What a beautiful picture that was in verse 9—Jesus was alone with the woman standing in the midst of the crowd.

Now, think about this woman was a sinner. She knew she was a sinner. She was caught in the very act, and she’s looking into the eyes of the Son of God. Can you imagine how that would just melt your hardened heart? Looking into those eyes of love and grace and mercy and forgiveness? How did Jesus deal with her? Look at it. He dealt with her in understanding. Secondly, He dealt with her in mercy and compassion. In verse 10 He said, “Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?” An interesting thought: It took three witnesses, two or three witnesses, to condemn someone. Obviously, they’re all gone—they’ve all departed, they’ve all left—so, where are the witnesses? They’re not here. “…hath no man condemned thee? 11 She said, No man, Lord.” He showed her mercy, which is not getting what you deserve, and lovingkindness, which is giving her what she does not deserve—we call that God’s grace. What a marvelous thought that is.

In verse 11, Jesus gave her hope. “She said, No man, Lord,” is there to condemn. I believe that is a statement of faith in Christ as her Lord. In Romans 10:9 it says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” It’s confessing, and she confessed Him as Lord. Then, Jesus says to her these beautiful words, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” She received forgiveness and freedom.

There’s something very important I want to point out here. On what basis could Jesus tell this clearly guilty sinner, “I don’t condemn you.” I mean, isn’t God holy? Isn’t God righteous? Isn’t God just? Doesn’t the Bible say: The soul that sins shall surely die? How can God maintain His righteousness and forgive an unrighteous individual? This is the great problem, by the way, and this leads us into our communion service. How can God, Paul says in Romans, be just and the justifier of the unrighteous? How does a holy, righteous God maintain His righteousness and forgive and justify the ungodly and the unrighteous? I believe that it’s based on His soon to take place death on the cross in this sinful woman’s behalf. This is what Paul deals with in the book of Romans: How can God be just in justifying the unjust?

I realize that many of you may not be thinking in those terms. You might not have thought in those terms but it’s an issue that’s dealt with in the Bible. How can God just say, “You’re forgiven.” If I broke the law and was brought before a judge and the penalty was to pay $1000 fine, but he says, “You know what? You are Pastor Miller, aren’t you, from Revival? I think you’re a nice guy,” and just let you go; but you committed the same crime and had to pay the money and say, “It’s not fair! Why should he go free?” You’d think, “What kind of a judge is that? That’s not justice. That’s not righteous.” Or, someone committed a crime against you and the judge says, “Oh, well it’s my birthday, so I want to be nice today. I’m going to let you go.” That wouldn’t be a just judge. So, how does God forgive the unrighteous? The answer is simple but not simplistic. The wisdom of God in the cross is seen in this truth that God sent His Son to die on the cross to pay the penalty of our sins to satisfy the demands of His holy righteous law so that we could be forgiven and that God could still maintain His righteousness and His justice.

The punishment was meted out upon Jesus on the cross, so when Jesus died on the cross, the Bible refers to it as our propitiation. That means that He died to satisfy the demands of God’s holy, righteous law. We often think of the death of Christ towards sinners, but Jesus died for God the Father as well to satisfy the demands of His law that had been broken. God can actually forgive the guilty sinner and still maintain His righteousness and still be a holy, righteous God because He meted out the punishment on His own Son. He took our place. He was the substitute for our sins upon the cross, so it’s all about the cross of Jesus Christ.

Jesus gives the woman forgiveness and then gives her hope, “…go, and sin no more.” God’s commandments are God’s enablements. I wanted to point out again, as I did in opening this study, that He doesn’t say this, “Go and sin no more, and I will forgive you.” That’s how we often think, Okay, I gotta be really good. I gotta do my best so that I’ll make it to heaven. I gotta be really good so God will forgive me. Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn thee,” and because of that, “go, and sin no more.”

In Christianity, forgiveness comes first and holiness flows out of my relationship to God. Having been forgiven of my sins, I don’t want to go back and live in sin. I don’t want to go back and be a slave to sin. I don’t want to go back and be in bondage to sin. Amen? I want to live free from sin. So, having been forgiven, now she can live free in the power of God’s grace, mercy, and love. The same thing is true of you and me. What a glorious truth that is, so don’t try to perform, earn, or merit God’s favor.

Wrapping this up, we can find ourselves in some place of the story. Are you like the crowd that stood watching? They witnessed the forgiveness of the sinful woman, but they didn’t experience forgiveness. Maybe you’re here tonight and you are just kind of an onlooker but you’ve never experienced forgiveness. Maybe you’ve come to take communion, which communion cannot save you. Communion can’t make you right with God. You do that because you are a Christian. Maybe you haven’t really entered in and experienced forgiveness or maybe you’re like the religious rulers—self righteous, proud of your religion—but you are lost. You’re like Paul the apostle before he was converted thinking that you are serving God, but the Bible says that the works of the flesh cannot please God without forgiveness. Or, maybe you’re like this sinful woman. She knew she was a sinner, she heard the word of forgiveness, and she received it. She called Jesus, “Lord.” I believe that she put her faith and her trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and she was saved.

How do we get saved? How do we get forgiven? How do we get right before God? By faith in Christ through the grace of God. Amen?