Caught In the Act! John 8:3-11

Text:  “And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to DEATH.”

Leviticus 20:10.

Good morning GUILTY Christian!  By the Holiness of the Lord God Almighty, you and I are revealed as guilty of every sin contained in the Commandments of God.  What a doomed state to be in!  Help us, Lord God!

“For whosoever shall keep the whole Law (the Ten Commandments), and yet offend in one point, he/she is guilty of ALL.”  (James 2:10)

However, here’s the good news: At the Court of God’s Throne in Heaven, we are declared innocent of all charges, and robed in the righteousness of Christ Jesus Himself!  Amazing grace!  Totally unmerited mercy!  Wow!

Now this is something to get excited about today, guilty Christian!  Let us together shout, ‘Hallelujah!  Christ has set us free!  What a Saviour!’

God’s forgiveness cannot be obtained until one admits ones’ guilt to God alone - God alone can forgive sins!

The woman in today’s Bible reading from John’s Gospel account faced instant death for committing the capital sin of adultery.  She was in grave jeopardy of being taken, bodily, and stoned to death for her adulterous act.

“Now Moses in the Law commanded us, that such (adulterers) should be stoned…”  (V.5)

Yet in such times of total hopelessness - that’s where we find Jesus.

First of all, let us take note that these hypocritical Scribes and Pharisees brought only the female to be judged.  These religious charlatans had already judged the woman and, in their self-righteous hearts, she was already condemned to die.  The self-righteous are always first to condemn sinners.

Note also that these religious leaders of the day had only brought the woman although they stated that she had been ‘…taken in adultery, in the very act.’

We have an old saying here in Ulster today: ‘It takes two to tango!’  The woman could not have been caught ‘…in the very act…’ of adultery without the adulterous man being caught red-handed in the act also.  Yet, the male had not been brought forward in condemnation for judgement.  There seemed to be little knowledge or practice of sexual equality in those times.

Thus, we deduce that there must have been some reason for the above facts.  The Scribes and the Pharisees had some hidden agenda for bringing the woman before Christ for His judgement in such a serious, capital, issue.

Verse 6 sheds some light on this situation.  ‘This they said, tempting Him (Christ Jesus), that they might have to accuse Him.’  The were trying to put the Lord Jesus in a no win situation socially and politically.  They wanted to take all public support away from Him, thus making it easier to have Him killed.  They were pitting Jesus Christ against the Law of Moses.

Corrupt political and religious leaders always seek to, smear and  slander before they slay those that stand in their way. Christian, beware!  There are dangerous times ahead for Christ’s true Church.  We must stay very close to our Saviour.

The Lord Jesus reacted in a most peculiar manner at this point, and of course, what followed is open to wide interpretation.  However, this is what I personally believe might have been the case for what followed.

“…But Jesus stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground…” (V.6)

He then declared openly: ‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.  And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.’    (Vs.7-8)

Could it be that Christ, knowing all things about all men and women as He does, was writing the sins of each of the crowd down on the ground, and, if these sins would have been made public, ALL would have been found guilty of similar capital sins according to the Law of Moses?  (Exodus 20:1-17)

“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.”  (V.9) 

All were guilty sinners - just like you and just like me.  (Romans 3:10; 22-23)

“But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”  (Matthew 5:27-28)

Thought:  Now therefore, ‘…go, and sin no more…’, guilty Christian!