Transcription
Okay, you guys ready? Now, let's regroup. Let's focus. You want to see how Jesus will now prove he is the God of Moses and the God of Jeremiah, Yahweh. One of my favorite passages of scripture. But anyway, let me first show you, set it up. You ready? Let's see what the law says about adultery. If there is a man who commits adultery, Leviticus 20:10, with another man's wife, one who commits adultery with his friend's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
Now notice the law says you bring them both. The law says you stone them both. You don't just bring one of them. Keep that in mind. Deuteronomy 22:22-24. If a man is found lying with a married woman, then both of them shall die, not just one of them. Keep this in mind. And they know the law, right? The man will lay with the woman and the woman. Thus, you shall purge the evil from Israel. If there is a girl who's a virgin, engaged to a man, and another man finds her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both, not one of them, to the gate of the city, you shall stone them. They will die. The girl, because she did not cry out in the city for help, she acquiesced to it. And the man, because he has violated his neighbor's wife, thus you shall purge evil from among you. Notice both.
Now, how did God write the law for Moses? Pay attention because this is going to be my—and you guys who've been with me for years, you should know this already, man. So, now you learn it, remember it, and share it. Exodus 31:18. When he had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, he gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone written by the finger of God. Keep this in mind. God wrote the law, gave it to Moses, and he wrote it by his finger. Deuteronomy 9:10. And Yahweh gave me the two tablets of stone written by the finger of God. And on them were all the words which Yahweh had spoken with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. Okay? Now, I'll leave Jeremiah 17:13 for a little later.
Now, focus. Now, watch who Jesus is. Yahweh wrote the law for Moses with his finger. When you know a woman is caught in adultery, you bring her and the man and stone them. Not just the woman, both, right? Watch who Jesus is. Everyone to his own. But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives early in the morning. He came again into the temple and all the people were coming to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery.
Now notice, if they brought a woman caught in adultery, then that means they know the man she committed adultery with, right? If I know she committed adultery, then I know the guy she committed adultery with. But they didn't bring the man. No man. Where is the man? Right there. They were in sin. Right there. They violated the law. Right there. They showed their hypocrisy and they had no love for the law. Because if they truly love the law, you cannot know a woman is committing adultery if you don't know who the man is. They would have brought them both. So you see they're already in sin. So right there they show they're violating the law. They're dishonoring the law and the god of the law. They're hypocrites and sinners.
Now in the law of Moses, now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Wait, did Moses say stone such women? Wait, hold on. I thought Moses said stone them both. The adulterers and the adulteress, they shall both be put to death; the man who lay with the woman, you shall put them both to death and stone them. Hold on. Why did they forget that part of the law? Watch here. Cuz they're hypocrites. They don't care about the law. They just want to catch Jesus and get him killed. Okay. Now, in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such. What do they—what then do you say? They were saying this, testing him so he might have evidence to accuse him.
Now, let me explain to you how they're trying to set him up. If he says stone her, he would be inciting sedition, rebellion against the Roman authorities. The Jews had no right to kill anyone. If they went ahead and put someone to death, then they would be imprisoned and killed. See how they're trying to set him up? If he says stone her, hey guards, this man is inciting rebellion, sedition, taking the law into our own hands. He's going against Caesar here. John 8:31. Watch how they're trying to catch him. Hope you're listening, guys. So Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves. Judge him according to your law." The Jews said to him, "It is unlawful for us to put anyone to death." You know, we can't kill him. You don't allow us to put anyone to death. So you see how they're trying to set him up. If he says stone, they'll get him arrested and killed. But now if he says don't stone her, false prophet. Why? No true prophet can go against the law of Moses. No true prophet can break the law of Moses. And if he says don't, you are a false prophet. See, so they think they got him.
Now, let's see if you're going to see what Jesus does. Let's see. They were saying this, testing him so that they might have evidence against him. But Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground. He wrote with his finger. I wonder why. Let's see. Why did he write with his finger? He gave Moses the two tablets of testimony, tablets of stone written by the finger of God. He—John even says he wrote with his finger. He—Deuteronomy 9:10. And Yahweh gave me the two tablets of stone written by the finger of God. Jesus wrote on the ground with his finger in the context of the law of Moses, the very law that God wrote with his finger. You see what Jesus is doing to those who have eyes to see and know who Jesus is? He's signifying, "You're trying to use the law against me. Don't you know who I am? I'm the one who wrote the law with my finger. I know what it means better than you and how to apply it, and you're using it against me." If John wanted you to know what he wrote, he would have said it. John wants you to be fixated on the act. He's writing on the ground with his finger. Why? He's showing you this is the finger that wrote the law of Moses. I'm the God of Moses. He's going to do it a second time. But this time, John doesn't mention he wrote with his finger. But when they persist in asking him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her."
Now notice, he now catches them in sin. Why? Remember what I said? They said she was caught in the act of adultery. Meaning they know the man. Where's the man? You hypocrites. They didn't bring the man. That means they were already in sin. They had now broken the law, dishonored the law by letting the man go away. That's why Jesus caught them. You understand? He caught them because they knew they're in sin. Wait, we're already in sin by bringing her and not the man. Even though we know who the man is, but let him go. We're in sin and he's going to nail us. That's why none of them dared to stone her because they knew they're in sin again. Okay. Now, again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground. Now, I'm going to come back. Notice here. Now, it doesn't say he wrote with his finger because I want to make another connection. But pay attention. When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and he was left alone, and the woman where she was in the center court. You see why they left? He nailed them in their sin and hypocrisy. But now what's interesting is who are these people walking away? These are the people walking away who hate him, who want to condemn him, who do not believe in him. And now he's shamed them. Notice he just shamed and humiliated his enemies. These are the ones who hate him, who want to have nothing to do with him, who want to condemn him. He now shamed and humiliated them and now they walk away forsaking him. Right? So now watch the other connection again. He stooped down and wrote on the ground and they walked away. Right? This fulfills Jeremiah 17:13. Please don't ask me what he wrote. That's not the point of John. He's showing you these physical acts are meant to connect John with the God of Moses and the God of Jeremiah. Watch here.
Oh Yahweh, the hope of Israel. All who forsake you will be put to shame. He just shamed and humiliated those who forsake him. Those who turn away, they turned away from the earth will be written down because they have forsaken the fountain of living water, even Yahweh. Did you see what it says? Yahweh will write about them on the ground who turn away from him, who forsake him because he's going to shame them. That's what Jesus did. Jeremiah 17:13. That's what he did. Caught it now or you didn't catch it. He went to sleep. He just shamed them, those who forsake him. And then they walked away after he was writing on the ground. So he just did what Jeremiah says Yahweh does. And he just did what Moses said Yahweh did in writing the law with his finger. You understand who Jesus is claiming to be?
Now that we got that out of the way, let's conclude. The hope. Remember it says he's the hope of Israel. Why is he said to be the hope of Israel? Why is Yahweh the hope of Israel? Because he doesn't come to condemn and kill and destroy. He wants to save and forgive and restore and transform and give life. And here's God doing it. Here, look. Jesus now gives the woman hope because he's Yahweh, the hope of Israel. Yahweh, the hope of Israel. How do we know the woman caught in adultery? He didn't come to condemn her and apply the letter of the law. The spirit of the law, do you confess? Do you acknowledge you've turned? Cuz I am your hope, giving you hope. You can be forgiven, transformed in love and live forever. He stooped down writing on the ground. Run on the ground. When he—they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones. And he was left alone with the woman where she was in the center of the court. Straightening up, he stands up. Jesus said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you either. Go and from now on sin no more." Here's the hope of Israel, Yahweh, coming to say to adulterers, sinners, fornicators, "I don't want to destroy you. I don't delight in your destruction. I love you and want to forgive you and give you hope." But here's the condition: You must believe in me and turn away from your sin. Repentance.