Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

I was blessed to know most of my grandparents when I was a kid. My mom’s dad died just days before I was born, but I grew up around the rest of my grandparents.

One day, I was at my dad’s parent’s house and I started thinking, “I haven’t seen my other grandma in a while.” I was thinking about my mom’s mother. So, in a moment of complete stupidity, I left. I was only about 8 years old at the time. But I took my 8 year old self and I started walking to my grandma’s house. I didn’t tell anybody. I just left.

It took me almost an hour to get there. I knocked on the door. My grandma opened it up and, for some reason, she looked surprised to see me. I walked in, gave her a hug, and told her that I had come to visit. She said, “Who brought you?”

“Nobody. I just walked.”

For some reason, she looked worried. “Does anybody know you’re here?”

“Well, I guess not. I didn’t tell them.”

And then, she did something really weird. She made me call my other grandparents to tell them where I was. And to my surprise, when I talked to my other grandmother on the phone, she sounded a tad upset. I couldn’t figure out why. All I did was leave without telling her. Walk clear across town on my own, which included walking down a major state route that had no sidewalks. And I was 8 years old. What could be wrong with that?

What was wrong was that I was lost. I didn’t know I was lost, but I was lost. The people who loved me couldn’t find me. They were minutes away from calling the police. My grandpa was driving around looking for me. They were calling all the neighbors to ask if they had seen me. They were on a frantic search to find me.

When someone that you love is lost, you will go to any length to find them. Nothing else matters. You don’t care about anything else in the entire world. Your only concern is finding the person that you love.

My grandparents were completely consumed with finding me because they loved me.

Jesus is completely consumed with finding us because He loves us.

In Luke 19, Jesus said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10, NIV)

This is Jesus’ mission statement. This one sentence sums up his life’s mission. We read this Scripture a lot at ACC, and we make no apologies for it. This one sentence is why Jesus came. It’s why He died. It’s why He rose again. It was all done for one, and only one, purpose. To seek and to save the lost.

When someone you love is lost, you’ll stop at nothing until you find them. We were lost. And nothing…absolutely nothing…was going to keep Jesus from finding us.

Today we’re kicking off a new series called Lost & Found. This is going to be one of the most exciting, one of the most hopeful, one of the most life-changing, eternity-altering series that we’ve ever had here at ACC.

Let’s pray for God to blow our hearts wide open in this series.

In this series, we’re going to look at three different encounters that Jesus had with people who were lost. Now, as we’re going to see, they were lost in different ways. Each of them had lost their way, but it played out very differently in their three distinct lives. But Jesus was the solution to each of their situations, because whatever we’re facing in our lives…however we’ve lost our way…the answer is always Jesus. The answer is only Jesus. The answer is Jesus plus nothing.

Today, we’re in John 8. We’re going to explore the encounter between Jesus and the woman caught in adultery.

Before we get started, we do need to talk through something about this text. In your Bible, this text is probably noted with italics or something like that. That’s because this part of the book of John is not found in the oldest and most reliable manuscripts of John’s gospel.

Most scholars agree that this story was not part of John’s gospel as he wrote it. So what do we do with it? Does it even belong in the Bible at all?

Well, it’s probably not something that John wrote in his original book, but this story does have evidence to back it up. It is a piece of material that the early church preserved. Early Christians believed this story was factual. They treated it like any other account from Jesus’ life.

This story also rings true to the time. It fits with first century culture. It also fits with the character of Jesus.

This text has all the earmarks of something that is historically accurate and authentic. We don’t know who wrote it and exactly how it came to be included in this part of John’s gospel, but there is ample evidence to believe that this really did happen.

So I read this section of Scripture like it is just that…Scripture. God inspired, God breathed Scripture. And it tells us about a life-changing encounter. Let’s get into the story.

In John 8, starting in verse 2, the Bible says, “At dawn [Jesus] appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:2-11, NIV)

This passage is so rich. There is so much here. Let’s go back and unpack this step by step.

Jesus was teaching in the temple courts very early in the morning when some of the teachers of the law and the Pharisees approached Him. In other words, He was confronted by the religious elites. They approached Jesus, dragging a woman with them. The Bible says that this woman was caught in the act of adultery.

I don’t want to go too far down this road, but just think about that. She hadn’t been accused of adultery. This wasn’t just based on gossip and rumors: “Hey, you know that woman over there. I’ve heard she really gets around, if you know what I mean.”

The Bible tells us point blank that this woman was caught IN THE ACT of adultery. Are we tracking? Are we getting this? She was caught in the act of sleeping with a man who wasn’t her husband.

Starting in verse 4, they “said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.” (John 8:4-6, NIV)

The religious leaders tell Jesus something very interesting. They told Him that the Law of Moses required that adulterers by stoned to death. Now, you’ve got to understand something about the Pharisees. These were the experts. They had the Torah memorized. The Old Testament law, with all its details and regulations…these boys had it memorized.

And even though they had it memorized, they still got this wrong. Nothing in the Old Testament law said anything about stoning an adulterer.

We can assume that these men were referring to the law in Leviticus 20:10. “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.” (Leviticus 20:10, NIV)

It does say that adultery is punishable by death. But it doesn’t require stoning.

Why is that a big deal? Because it shows just how cruel and callous and unfeeling these men had become. I read a commentary that said, “The demand for stoning betrays their bloodlust, for stoning was little more than mob lynching during this period of Roman occupation.”

The Roman government did not allow the Jews any legal authority for executions. That’s how stoning came to be. It was vigilante justice at its worst. When a stoning occurred, there were so many people throwing stones that the Roman government simply couldn’t take legal action against them.

It was horrible, barbaric, and illegal. And this is what the Pharisees…the ultra religious people…wanted.

In John 8:6, the Bible tells us about their motives. They wanted to trap Jesus. They didn’t care about this woman’s guilt or innocence. They didn’t care that she could be brutally and mercilessly killed. They didn’t care about her at all. All she was was a pawn in their scheme to trap Jesus.

Think about it…there are a lot of unanswered questions here. First of all, who caught this woman? Were they hiding in a bedroom closet, ready to spring out and say, “Ah ha!” Probably so.

Jewish law required that two witnesses actually see such inappropriate sexual conduct. They had to see these things at the same time and place so their testimonies would be identical. They couldn’t hire a private investigator to get the whole thing on film. Two people had to see it with their own eyes. The law pretty much required witnesses to set a trap.

And then there’s this…where was the dude? This woman was caught sleeping with a man that wasn’t her spouse. Where was he? According to Leviticus, they were BOTH in deep trouble. But the Pharisees didn’t bother to bring him along…possibly because they had paid him to help them nab this woman.

The Pharisees were so intent on trapping Jesus that apparently they planted someone to spy on this woman’s bedroom activities. It’s possible they even hired the man she was sleeping with.

What we do know for sure is that this woman’s life could not have mattered less to them. She was worthless garbage. And this is where the dichotomy between these men and Jesus comes into crystal clear focus.

These guys start demanding an answer from Jesus. “What do we do with her? What do you say, Jesus? Judge this woman. Condemn her to death by stoning. How about it, Jesus?”

But Jesus never answered them. Instead, He does something pretty weird. He bends down and starts to write on the ground with his finger. Of course, everybody wants to know what He wrote. There are a lot of interesting theories out there, but we just don’t know. What we do know is that He was completely ignoring the Pharisees.

It’s also possible that Jesus did this to preserve some shred of dignity for this woman. She was caught in the act of adultery, and immediately whisked up before Jesus. What do you think she was wearing? Probably nothing. It’s possible that Jesus stared at the ground to eliminate a little bit of the humiliation she was experiencing.

The Pharisees kept badgering Jesus until He finally responded. In verse 7, the Bible says, “When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7, NIV)

Jesus is not only just. He is not only gracious. He is also brilliant. There could not have been a more perfect comeback. As religious and devout as they were, the Pharisees all knew that they couldn’t live up to this standard. They weren’t sinless. And so, one by one, they walked away until finally, no one was left except Jesus and this woman.

Starting in verse 10, the Bible says, “Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:10-11, NIV)

The amazing thing is that Jesus could have thrown a stone at her. He told the Pharisees, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Jesus was the only one who met the qualification. He was the only one who passed that test. He could have started hurling rocks at this woman. But instead, this is how He responds to her.

“Where are they? Didn’t anyone condemn you? No? Then I don’t condemn you either. Go now and leave your life of sin.”

He didn’t excuse her sin, but He did forgive it. He gave her a second chance.

This is much more than an amazing story. This is more than a story of an encounter between Jesus and this woman. This is a story about how Jesus pursues us. This is a story of how Jesus rescues us. This is a story of how Jesus saves lost people.

This first thing that is obvious in this story is that this woman was guilty. She was caught in the act of adultery. Her guilt was never in question. Neither is ours.

In Romans 3, the Bible says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23, NIV)

In Ecclesiastes 7, “Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.” (Ecclesiastes 7:20, NIV)

From Proverbs 20, “Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin?” (Proverbs 20:9, NIV)

In 1 John 1, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8, NIV)

We could go on and on. The Bible is crystal clear. We are guilty. There is no debating that fact. We are all sinful.

That’s not surprising. It’s not surprising that you’re a sinner. It’s not surprising that I’m a sinner. But what is surprising is just how deep and dark our sin really is.

What if we could all know your thoughts? What if we knew what really lies in the deepest recesses of your heart? What if we could all see what you wrote on this paper, assuming you were honest and authentic? Would we be surprised? Shocked? I bet we would.

I surprise myself sometimes. There are times when I am shocked about how deep my sin really goes. There are moments where I am appalled at how dark my heart really is.

If you’re honest, you would say the same thing. The secret is not that we’re sinners. We all will admit that. But what we don’t want to admit is how deep that sin really goes. We don’t want other people to know the true evil that occupies our heart.

But here’s the problem with that…it will come out anyway. As much as we try to hide the depth and the darkness of our sin, it will find us out. It’s not a secret that we can keep.

The woman in our story never thought that she would be paraded in front of a large crowd. She never thought she would be standing naked before Jesus.

She thought that her sin would be in secret. No one would find out about this tryst. It was done in secret. It felt so good that she didn’t want to stop. And it was a secret, so why should she stop?

The problem is that secret sin never stays that way. In John 3, Jesus said, “Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” (John 3:20, NIV)

But now, combine that verse with this one. In Job 12, the Bible says, “[God] reveals the deep things of darkness and brings utter darkness into the light.” (Job 12:22, NIV)

We do everything we can do to conceal the depth of our sinfulness. We don’t want anyone to know just how dark it really is. But the problem is that our secret doesn’t stay secret. God reveals the darkness of our hearts. The secret will get out.

The woman in our story never thought it would happen to her, but it did. You never think it will happen to you, but it will.

Listen to me…if you have a secret sin in your life, it will come out. That sin will not stay secret. It will go public.

If you’re in denial…if you ignore me…if you write me off and think I don’t know what I’m talking about…then just wait. The day will come. You can try to cover your tracks all you want, but God will eventually bring that secret sin to light. And when it happens, you’ll remember this moment. And you’ll wish you would have listened.

Secret sins go public. And when they go public, we often experience exactly what this woman experienced. Judgment and condemnation.

That’s the second truth to pull out of our story. The religious people were ready to judge her.

Starting in John 8:3, the Bible says, “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” (John 8:3-5, NIV)

She was caught. She was guilty. Let’s stone her. The case was open and shut. The only thing left to do was carry out the execution.

That’s how the religious leaders treated this woman. And that is how a lot of churches treat sinners. Which causes people in the church to work even harder to keep their secret sins a secret. They do that because they know what would happen if they were found out.

This sets up a deadly chain of events. In James 5, the Bible says, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” (James 5:16a, NIV)

Where do secrets fit in this verse? What part of this verse says you’ve got to wear a mask? Where does it say to keep your sinfulness hidden?

It says the exact opposite. It tells us to confess our sins to each other. No masks. No secrets. Full, open confession.

But there’s a reason that doesn’t happen in so many churches. Because these churches ignore the second part of this verse. When a person confesses their sin, what is the Biblical response? Prayer. “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other.” The response is not judgment. It’s not condemnation. It’s prayer.

Prayer is the greatest act of love that we can show to each other. No one gives me a more loving gift than when they tell me, “I’m praying for you,” and they really mean it.

That’s our response when someone has the courage to confess their sins. We respond with love. We respond with prayer. We do not respond with self-righteous judgment. We do not assume the role of judge, jury, and executioner. That’s where the Pharisees made their fatal mistake. And a lot of churches are marching to the beat of the same drummer.

There are so many churches that don’t have worship services. They have masquerade parties. Before people come to church, they all put on their mask. They act like they have everything together. They act like they have really arrived spiritually. They act as if they don’t struggle with sin anymore.

So when all these fake people gather together, the goal is not to worship God. The goal is not to be authentic and real in their pursuit of God. The goal is to fool the person sitting next to you.

And when that happens, this verse from James shows us the result. No one is ever healed.

Read this verse again. “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” (James 5:16a, NIV)

There is a chain of events here. Someone confesses their sin. They are received with love. Prayers are offered on their behalf. And they are healed.

If one link in that chain breaks, you don’t make it to healing. If a person doesn’t confess their sin, there is no healing. If a person is not received with love and prayer when a confession is made, they are not healed.

So in churches all over the world, people are sin-sick, and they have no hope of ever being healed. Instead, this sick person goes to church every week, pretends like they’re not sick, which ensures that they will always remain sick.

What if we did that with our doctor? How stupid would that be? You’ve got measles, mumps, and malaria. So you go to the doctor. And after you wait 15 minutes in the waiting room and another 20 minutes in the exam room…I had three doctor visits this past week…I know their schedule. The doctor finally comes in and says, “How you are feeling?”

And you say, “I feel great. I am awesome. Life is awesome. Honestly, I just couldn’t be better.”

You’re going to stay sick because you won’t admit that you are sick.

None of us would do that with our doctor, but people do it all the time in the church.

There is a better way. It’s the Biblical way. It involves open and honest confession. And it involves a church that is a safe environment for that to happen.

That is the kind of church that we are here at ACC. We are a safe place where people can be open and honest and authentic about their sin. It’s not because we’re proud of our sin. It’s not because we want to brag about our sin. It’s because we want to be healed of our sin, and honest confession received in love is the only way that can happen.

When the religious leaders made their accusations against this woman, Jesus turned the whole thing around. In verse 7, the Bible says, “When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7, NIV)

Jesus flipped the whole thing around. He made the religious leaders face their own sinfulness, which is not at all what they wanted.

They could have received Jesus’ words and done something about it. When Jesus asked if anyone was without sin, they could have said, “No. In fact, I’m sick with sin and I need help.” They had that opportunity to come clean before Jesus and allow Him to work His healing in their lives.

But instead, they chose to walk away. In verse 9, the Bible says, “At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.” (John 8:9, NIV)

Instead of confessing their sin…instead of asking Jesus to heal them…they walked away. And someone in this room will make that same choice today.

Instead of choosing confession and honesty, you will choose secrecy and deception. And in an effort to keep your secret, you’ll never come back. Maybe you’ll go look for a church that doesn’t call out sin. You’ll look for a church that isn’t about openness and honesty. You’ll look for a church that will allow you to live in your secret sin without ever calling you out. In other words, you’ll do exactly what the Pharisees did. You’ll walk away. But you’ll also miss exactly what they missed. You’ll miss out on the healing that is available.

One more truth to pull out of this story. Jesus gave this woman the perfect mix of grace and truth.

Earlier in the book of John, here’s what the apostle said about Jesus. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14, NIV)

When this verse says, “The Word became flesh,” that is a reference to Jesus. And this verse tells us that Jesus was “full of grace and truth.”

He wasn’t 50/50. 50% grace, 50% truth. He was full of both. 100% grace. 100% truth. That’s what we see in His encounter with this woman.

Jesus asked this woman, “Where is everyone? Didn’t anyone condemn you?”

“No. No one.”

Then, in John 8:11, Jesus told her, “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:11b, NIV)

Jesus didn’t condemn her, even though He could have. That’s grace.

But He also didn’t dismiss her sin. He didn’t say, “I don’t condemn you because you really didn’t do anything wrong.”

He said the exact opposite. He said, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” He told her point blank, “What you did was wrong. Very wrong. It was dark. It was evil. It was sinful. And it’s got to stop right now.” That’s truth.

That’s Jesus. Grace: I don’t condemn you. Truth: Leave your life of sin.

Jesus was full of grace and truth. But a lot of His people are full of grace or truth.

There are people who are all grace and no truth. They completely dismiss sin. In fact, they’re not even sure that sin really exists. They just love everybody and everything. They can never call someone out. They can never call a sin a sin. It’s all grace.

But then on the flip side, there are people who are all truth and no grace. They see a sin everywhere they look, except in their own lives of course. They are lightning quick to judge someone else. When it comes to condemnation, they’re the fastest gun in the west. All truth, no grace.

What we have to understand is that it’s not an either, or proposition. It’s both. It’s not grace or truth. It’s grace and truth. That’s the message that we preach at ACC. And that’s the example of Christ that we strive to live out in our lives.

We’ve covered a lot of ground today. What do we do with all this?

We confess. We need to deal with the evil that resides in our own hearts. We need to deal with what is on these papers.

Some of you, you’re carrying around that secret sin. You’ve never confessed it, and it’s killing you. You know it’s killing you. It’s time to stop this insanity. It’s time to stop looking over your shoulder. It’s time to stop covering your tracks. It’s time to come clean. Confess your sin so that we can pray with you and the healing can begin.

Some of you have never believed in Jesus. You’ve never repented of your sin. You’ve never made Him the Savior and Lord of your life. You know it’s time. You walk in and out of here every week without taking this step. You know it’s time.

What step is God calling you to take? Where is He calling you to repent? What is He calling you to confess? What decision is He calling you to make?

Our church is a church of grace and truth. We won’t make excuses for sin, but we also won’t condemn you. Every week we offer you a chance to respond. You know God is calling you to step out of your seat and take that hard step of confession and repentance.

You have a chance to confess your sin to a leader who is compassionate. Who is loving. Who will not condemn you, but who will pray for you. This can be your first step to healing.

We’re ready to receive you just like Jesus received the woman in our story. We’re ready to receive you with grace and truth. We’re ready to pray with you so that the healing can begin.

For some of you, we’re ready to walk with you as you take the step of committing your life to Jesus.

Tags: Adulterous Woman, confession, grace, healing, James 5, Jesus, John 8, Lost & Found, truth