Caught in the Act Compassion of Christ

Introduction

The passage of scripture being dealt with today is a glowing illustration of the grace and compassion of Christ for sinners. It may seem a total contradiction to say that Christ had contempt for sin, while having compassion on the sinner, but it is true nonetheless. Most of us, including this preacher, find it hard to correlate those two seemingly incongruent thoughts. One would think that if Jesus viewed sin with contempt, He would also view one guilty of sin, with equal contempt. But from all that we know of the life of Christ, He, in fact, hated sin and loved sinners.

One might quickly pass off this idea by saying, “Well, that was easy for Jesus. After all, He was God in the flesh.” That may be true. But let us not forget that we are partakers of His nature (II Pet.1:4), and we are expected to emulate His nature in our daily lives. The apostle Paul said, “For to me to live is Christ…” (Phil.1:21). This is not possible in our own human flesh. But, again, Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Phil.4:13).

Today, as we look at the compassion of Christ, let us examine our hearts to see if our compassion toward others is what it should be. But let us also rejoice in the truth of God’s Word, which says, “He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities” (Ps.103:10).

Theme - A beautiful demonstration of Christ’s compassion is seen in…

I. The Public Accusation

A. A Woman Had Been Caught

John 8:1-4, “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.”

Let me be quick to say that these scribes and Pharisees weren’t out for justice. They were out to kill Jesus. They were willing to use any means necessary to trip Jesus up; even if it meant the public humiliation of this poor woman.

However, as ruthless as these religious leaders were, their claims about this woman were true. She had been apprehended in the “very act” of adultery (v.4). There was no question that she had broken the seventh commandment, “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Ex.20:14).

Please take note of the fact that even though this passage reveals the great compassion of Christ, you will never find even one incident where He minimizes this woman’s sin. Today’s society tends to minimize all sin, but especially sexual sin. Fornication and adultery seem to be in vogue these days. These sins are no longer spoken of shamefully, but are snickered at, and boasted about. God has not changed His mind about these sins. His Word tells us, “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge” (Heb.13:4).

According to Dr. Howard Marcuse, a philosopher of the radical left, “…no society can survive a disintegration of its moral standards.”1 The interesting thing about what Marcuse said is not only that it is true, but also that he advocated this as a means of causing America’s collapse. All one must do is look at how our nation has changed its view of sexual sin to know how close it is to collapsing  from within. What used to be spoken of blushingly is now spoken of boastfully and brazenly. Again, hear what the Scriptures have to say:

Psalm 9:17, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” Proverbs 14:34, “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.”

Concerning sins of promiscuity, Dr. Jerry Vines has said, “Rome was wrecked because of laxness concerning this sin, and America cannot survive a collapse of its moral standards.”2 Let the world mock and call the Christian view of moral purity puritanical if it will. But God’s Word speaks plainly:

Galatians 6:7-8a, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8a For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption…”

It is said of Russia’s Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn:

In his 1983 acceptance speech for the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn] recalled the words he heard as a child, when his elders sought to explain the ruinous upheavals in Russia: “Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.” He added, “If I were called upon to identify briefly the principal trait of the entire twentieth century, here too I would be unable to find anything more precise and pithy than to repeat once again: ‘men have forgotten  God.’”3

B. This Woman Was Biblically Condemned

John 8:5, “Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?”

The scribes and Pharisees were referring to Deut.22:22-24, which required that anyone found guilty of adultery be stoned to death. This stringent penalty was not only to show God’s hatred of sin, but also to preserve Israel’s moral strength.

This dear woman was condemned under the penalty of the Law. Apparently the Law of Moses didn’t see morality in the same way as Ernest Hemingway did. Mr. Hemingway once said, “What is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.”4

Folks, this is exactly where Jesus found us—condemned. The sentence had already been passed on us. “For the wages of sin is death,” the Scriptures tell us (Romans 6:23a). If the story ended here, this adulterous woman, along with every sinner, would have been without any hope in eternity. But thanks be to God for His marvelous compassion for sinners “…in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8b).

II. The Pernicious Attack

John 8:6a “This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him…”

These religious leaders were not concerned with the keeping of the Law, for they were filled with murderous hatred for Jesus, the Son of God. The question they posed was merely an attempt to trap Him into saying something that they could use as an excuse to kill Him.

These hypocritical religious leaders sought to have the woman caught in adultery examined and condemned by Jesus. But Jesus not only examined the accused, He also examined her accusers. They did not count on Jesus’ ability to see the hidden things in their own lives.

A. Jesus’ Writing Thwarted Their Trap

John 8:6b, “…But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.”

This is the only place in all of the New Testament where Jesus is said to have ever written anything. He, about whom thousands of volumes have been written, was not known for His writings, except this one.

No one knows for sure exactly what Jesus wrote in the earth. However, some interesting conclusions can be reached based on scripture.

Perhaps Jesus wrote on the ground in fulfillment of Jeremiah 17:13, which says, “…They that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.”

The word “wrote,” as used in John 8:6, also lends itself to a natural conclusion as to what Jesus may have written. “It means to write down as a record against someone.”5 It is very possible that Jesus began to list this woman’s accusers and their own sins, as He wrote on the ground.

B. Jesus’ Words Thwarted Their Trap

John 8:7-9a, “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. 9a And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last…”

This woman’s accusers wanted Jesus to do one of two things in this situation: Condemn the woman, so they could accuse Him of having no mercy toward sinners; Condone the woman’s sin, so they could accuse Him of not following the Law of Moses.

It’s ironic that this woman’s accusers were accused by their own consciences, after Jesus finished writing on the ground and offering His challenge to them (v. 7b). A black preacher in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. William Holmes Border, while speaking on this text, said it well:

If a one of them had thrown a rock at that woman, the Lord would have turned the heart of that rock into rubber, and it would have bounced back and burst their brains out!6

Some of the severest words Jesus ever spoke were to those who were guilty of sins of disposition, such as hypocrisy, pride, and self-righteousness. These men were so self-righteous that they could condemn this woman for her sin, yet overlook their own. Not only that, but their self-righteousness blinded them to the extent that they were willing to condemn He who was infinitely more righteous than they.

Anyone who comes to see their sinfulness as God sees it will get out of the rock-throwing business.

Jesus said, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” (John 8:7b).

III. The Pitiful Adultress

A. Jesus Spoke Words Of Salvation To Her

John 8:9b-11a, “…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? 11a She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee…”

Oh folks, listen to me. To be condemned of men is extremely hurtful. But to be condemned of God is to be eternally hopeless. How precious to this poor woman must have been the words, “Neither do I condemn thee…” (John 8:11a). Those are words of salvation.

The Apostle Paul would later say, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus…” (Romans 8:1a). I believe that somewhere between the time her accusers dragged this woman before Jesus, and the time she was left alone with Him, she came to realize who Jesus really was. I believe she exercised faith in Him.

How could Jesus tell this sinner, “Neither do I condemn thee”? She was obviously guilty of sin; and sin must be punished, according to God’s Word. How could He make such a statement?

It was because He knew that soon the words of Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled, which said, “… the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6b).

It was because He knew that soon the words that the Apostle Paul would one day speak were about to be fulfilled—“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Paul would also one day say, “…God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3b).

B. Jesus Spoke Words Of Sanctification To Her

John 8:11b, “…go, and sin no more.”

When Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn thee” (John 8:11a), that was words of salvation—words of forgiveness. But when He said, “Go, and sin no more” (John 8:11b), those were words of sanctification. The natural result of salvation is sanctification—a changed life. The Bible tells us plainly, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Christ’s statement to this woman did not mean that she would never commit another sin as long as she lived. It meant that she would no longer be controlled by sin’s power. “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin…” (I John 3:9a). The words “commit sin,” carry the idea of, “to live habitually in sin.”7 If there’s been no change, there’s been no conversion.

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1 Jerry Vines, Interviews With Jesus: published by Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee; pg. 84.

2 Ibid, pg. 84.

3.John Wilson, reviewing Solzhenitsyn and the Modern World, in Christianity Today, Feb 7, 1994, p. 57.

4 Ernest Hemingway.

5 Jerry Vines, Interviews With Jesus: published by Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee; pg. 88.

6 Ibid, pg. 89.

7 Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies From The Greek New Testament, Volume Two, In These Last Days, copyright © 1954 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49502, The Exegesis of I John, pg. 149.