This past week, in No Perfect People Allowed…, we talked about the fact that we come to Jesus as we are…broke, jacked-up, messed up, imperfect, fallen, dead in our sins…. and that Jesus offers us… Himself! His love, grace, mercy, forgiveness…everything we could not fix, He has finished! Done!
So, then as we follow, we change and are changed…transformed from inside-out. Here are some of the teaching notes…
John 8:3 (NLT) As
he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees
brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put
her in front of the crowd.
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side note.. two to tango…
where's the man?
4 “Teacher,”
they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery.
5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”
6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use
against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his
finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and
said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the
first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
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What was Jesus writing? Possibilities according to some commentaries… was He…Listing the names of people there?
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Listing their sins?
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Listing the 10 commandments?
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We don't know what He wrote… but it probably made the
Pharisees uncomfortable!
9 When the
accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the
oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the
woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where
are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
11 “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus
said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
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illustrates again… no perfect people allowed… we are all
sinners, all have fallen short, all need grace and mercy… we too
would have had to walk away… -
was the lady guilty? Yes!
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Did Jesus excuse her sin, adultery?
No! -
Instead of condemning, He showed compassion… doesn't mean He
overlooked her actions!
It's ok to not be ok;
It's not ok to stay
that way!
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He told her to leave the way of life of sin… stop doing it!
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Instead of life that follows sin, live a life that follows
Jesus… -
transformed life, given by Holy Spirit, through grace, mercy,
forgiveness, repentance -
The first two weeks of this series… it's ok to not be ok…
because of grace and mercy, we who are guilty have a chance to be
justified… God's act of declaring people “not guilty”…
because of the work of Jesus on the cross!… -
just as if I'd never sinned….we need salvation, Jesus paid
for our salvation with His life, and we receive grace to accept by
faith this salvation! -
this week and next… want to focus on the statement… it's
not ok to stay that way. -
The focus here will be sanctification…God progressively
separating us (His followers, believers) from our sin and making us
more like Him -
step by step process the Holy Spirit working in our lives and
making us look more and more like Jesus… -
not overnight… the rest of our lives!
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Because of Jesus, we now have choice when it comes to sin, to
do right or wrong, to think good or bad, to listen to Holy Spirit's
leading or not…
