Go and Sin No More

My first summer in Virginia, we decided we were going to go to the Greene County Fair. On the way home, I don't know why that's already funny. All right. The Albemarle County did not have a fair, so we go to the Greene County Fair. And as we're turning from 33 on the 29th South, a few moments later, I see blue lights behind me. Apparently, like many others before me, I got a speeding ticket there in that particular section of 29 South. Now, in my home state, South Carolina, in case anyone ever gets a ticket there, and I hope you don't, if you show up for the ticket, they reduce it for you. So, if you actually go to the clerk there and you show up, they'll reduce the ticket. And so, being a Carolinian, I drive all the way to Greene County. I show up and an officer asked me for the ticket and he looks at it and he kind of smirks. He's like, you're here for a traffic ticket? And with a little disdain in his voice, why didn't you just mail it in? And so immediately I'm realizing I'm now in the Commonwealth of Virginia and they do things a little differently. He points in the direction of some doors. I go through and there's actually a courtroom with a judge. And so now my heart's in my stomach. I'm starting to get a little anxious. I'm actually going to stand before a judge and give a case. Now, I'm ready to say I'm guilty. There's no doubt about it. I'm guilty. But I've got to think, what am I going to say? I mean, I might as well use the opportunity to try to get out of this. So I'm wrestling. I get to hear a couple cases, none of them traffic tickets. And I'm trying to think, what kind of a case do I have? Because I'm guilty. I don't want to deny my guilt. So the best I could come up with is I'm going to appeal to his mercy. And so he calls me up and, how do you plead? Guilty, your honor. Do you have anything else to say? Well, I would like to appeal to your mercy and at least reducing the ticket. And he responds. If I did that for you, we'd have to do it for everyone. You can pay your bill on the way out. And so I, I thought there for a second, that was his argument is if he forgives someone, he has to forgive everyone. Immediately I think, well, I could have built a God's election that he has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy. Could you choose to have mercy on me now? And I, I just think that's not helpful for anyone to hear in a courtroom, probably. go out and then the best part, I'm already embarrassed because obviously I just don't understand the system. I had no real argument to give. I have to stand up in front of this judge. The best part is I had to pay extra for using the courtroom. So not only did I waste half a day, but I now actually have to pay more money. So thanks for the heads up, folks. But as I went home, I wrestled with his argument. I was trying still, even though I'd already paid the ticket, I'm already declared guilty. How could one get past this argument? If we have to show mercy to one, we show mercy to everyone. If everyone is judged one way, everyone has to be judged. If one person is judged a certain way, everybody has to be judged a certain way. He appealed to equity. He appealed to equitable justice, equal justice for everyone. It's impartiality. And as I wrestled with it, I thought, well, surely I'm special enough to find a way to get out of this impartial judgment. And that didn't go anywhere. And the logic was sound. Well, this morning, we're going to be looking at a court case. We're going to be looking at judgment. And this idea of equity, impartial, just judgment is going to be a driving theme for our text. And what we're going to see is that everybody is equally guilty before the one true just judge. But our message this morning is this. Jesus alone executes just judgment and Jesus alone provides true forgiveness. Jesus alone executes just judgment and Jesus alone provides true forgiveness. We're in chapter 8 of the Gospel of John. If you're using a Pew Bible, and if you want to take that home, you're more than welcome to take that home with you. That is on page 894. John 8, page 894 in the Pew Bible. Our text will be broken down into these sections. Jesus tested. Jesus true. Jesus merciful. Jesus is tested. Jesus is found true. Jesus is merciful. Here, God's word. They went each to his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives early in the morning, he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and placing her in the midst, they said to him, Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. So what do you say? This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones. And Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? She said, No one, Lord. And Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on, sin no more. Our text this morning is a powerful text of, well, Pharisees trying to test Jesus. And in the end, they're the ones who were tested and they're the ones who are found unqualified. It's also a very sweet story because this woman is being abused by the Pharisees and the scribes. And in the end, she is the one who has given the declaration, you are not condemned. Go and sin no more. It's a fantastic final declaration that lets us see the gospel. You are no longer condemned. You are free to live for the glory of God. Now, it's also a popular text because it's what we call a disputed text. Many of your texts will have this in brackets. And what this means is that it did not have universal recognition by every church at all times to be canonical. This is what we call our canon. This is God's word. This is the Bible. It's our rule. These are what we believe we've recognized as authoritative words from God. And we know this because we know these are authoritative words from God, because there are certain ways that the church recognized we have to be able to recognize what God's word is. So this is a disputed text. Now, if you're not a Christian or if you are a Christian and you you wrestle with the authority of Scripture, Christianity begins and ends with the authority of Scripture. If this isn't reliable, we're wasting our time. This is and must be the true word of God that's authoritative over us. And if you're wondering about how reliable it is, this has been the most questioned book in the history of humanity. This has been the book that people have tried to attack because they hate it. And it's always been found true. This text is debated because not all of our earliest manuscripts included here in the Gospel of John. Now, as we think about the disputed nature, I want to walk through a couple of steps. First, I am not convinced that this text belongs here in the Gospel of John. It's not absolutely convincing that this text belongs here in the Gospel of John. And there's two reasons that maybe it doesn't belong here. First, it's a textual problem. Some of our earliest manuscripts simply do not have the text here. They have it elsewhere. Some place it in Luke 21. Some don't have it in the in the canon at all. And so we have some issues in that the earliest manuscripts, most of them don't include it, but some of them do. There's actually an account that alludes to this as early as 125 AD, so it has early recognition. It's just disputed because not every manuscript has it. There's also an issue with style. Our authors each have their own style. Luke and John are very different. This text sounds more like Luke. There are 14 words in this text that John never uses anywhere else, but Luke uses them often. Words like scribe, mourning. The way they write, well, it's not like if you, if Luke were from Wisconsin and John were from Georgia, they sit down at a restaurant, John from Georgia, he's going to order a Coke and they're going to say, what kind of Coke? He's probably going to say cherry. Well, Luke from Wisconsin, he's going to order a soda pop, right? They're going to use different words that are built upon their different backgrounds. And so, while this is inspired by God, it's authoritative because it's been breathed out by God. God carried along these men. So, you see their personalities. And this text sounds more like Luke than John in the way he writes, in the words he uses, a different vocabulary. Now, at the same time, it fits the context perfectly. If you've been with us, Jesus in the middle of the temple charging and bringing charges against the Pharisees and the high priest, not the scribes. You don't understand the law. I am the authority of the law. I've written the law. I can tell you how to interpret the law. The whole argument that we have had in chapter seven is very similar to what happens in this particular section. So the context fits just not the style, not the writing style. While I have questions if the text belongs here in the Gospel of John, I have very little question that it belongs in the canon at large. I believe this is a text that is for the church. While we may not know where it should go, I believe this is a text that has been given to us by God for the church. Now, when the church was seeking to recognize the canon, there were four things they looked for. First, was it written by an apostle? Is there a link to the writing to an apostle? Now, that's one reason it would be disputed. We don't know the author is if it's not John. The second question, does it express truth always in agreement with the rest of the canon of truth, including the Old Testament, does this story corroborate does what's being taught here? Does it corroborate with what all the scripture says? And the answer is yes. This clearly is teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, if this story taught us something that no other text in Scripture taught us, we may question it. So, for instance, let's say Jesus said, neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on, sin no more and handle poisonous snakes. If that was added on the end, I may have some question because that would be a different kind of problem. That would be a unique, disputed problem. But because it aligns with everything else in Scripture, we recognize it. The third test, is it universally recognized? Yes, the East and the West and most churches recognize it. They just didn't know what to do with it in terms of where it goes. And finally, does it claim authority that has a does it exhibit divine character? And it does because it has an authoritative teaching from Jesus Christ that the church is always seen as as hopeful and good for the church. So we may not know where it should go in the canon. It belongs in the canon. It's here in our context and it works with the context. So we're going to study it. Back to our outline, Jesus tested Jesus, true Jesus, merciful. The first thing we see this morning is Jesus tested. They each went to his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives early in the morning, he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and placing her in the midst, they said to him, teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the law of Moses commanded to a stone, such a woman. So what do you say with this? They said to test him that they might have some charge to bring against them. Now the scene here, they've gone away for the night. He went to the Mount of Olives. We're not sure why other than the Mount of Olives was obviously a special place in the gospel of Jesus Christ in the sense of his prayers were there. But he goes to the Mount of Olives. He comes back to the temple. He's sitting along with everyone else teaching. Then this group of Pharisees and scribes, they're dragging a woman they just caught in adultery. You can imagine she's a little disheveled. They're dragging her in. And while he's sitting and teaching, they interrupt. They barge in and they put her in the midst. And then they say, Rabbi. Now, there's some irony here. If they really saw him as their rabbi, they wouldn't come in barging in disrespectfully in the midst of his teaching. They would come in and they would sit and listen and submit to him. So, already, you see this group of Pharisees and scribes. They're misfits. They're against Jesus in the way they approach him, and there's lying on their tongue when they call him Rabbi. They brought the woman to ask Jesus what they should do because of the adultery. They declare she has been called in the act of adultery. Now, there's a few things we need to recognize about adultery in this time. First, sadly, By most accounts, adultery was not uncommon in this day. It was somewhat expected of men to have affairs in this culture in this day. We often think of these times before us that there used to always be a more holy and righteous people. Sinners have always sinned. And at this time, adultery was actually an acceptable sin. They did not uphold this law. The Pharisees never brought charges of people with this law. They've chosen to do so here because they're seeking to exploit this woman for their own evil plans. The third thing we need to see about the charge of adultery. First, it's uncommon. Secondly, they haven't been upholding the law. Thirdly, typically in adultery, the two people are condemned together. Where's the dude? Why did they drag the woman here? They're full of hypocrisy already. You can see this. They're charging this woman publicly with adultery, but they're not after justice. They're after justice. They would have brought him and her. They're not after justice. They're after Jesus. And they're using this poor woman to bring about their evil plan. Now, I'm going to pause here for a second and make sure you hear this. The Bible is the most pro-woman book ever written. This is not describing something the Bible condones by its very nature. Scripture is telling us this is the wrong way to treat women. Scripture always promotes the equality and dignity and honor of a woman. The Bible, because God created a woman beautiful and with dignity and honor, the Bible promotes women above all other sources. We have to remember that. It condemns the abuse of women and protects them. Verse five, the charge, they appeal to Moses and then they declare she must be stoned. And you can look later at Deuteronomy 22. Here's the law. If they're caught in adultery, then they must be stoned to death. And you can see them there. He's sitting there. Everyone else is sitting. They've got the woman in the midst and they've got stones in hand. Ready to slaughter this woman caught in adultery there in the temple. We continue, what do you say the trap has been set here? They brought this woman. She's been caught in obvious sin. They've quoted Moses. And now they say, what do you say, Rabbi? They put the pressure on him. They put all the authority on him. They've got stones in hand. They're just waiting to hear what he's going to say because they think they've caught him between a rock and a hard place. There's only two things he can say, either let her go or kill her. And either way, they think they've got him. If he condemns her first, he would be guilty before the Roman rulers. They alone had the right to bring about a judgment of execution. So this would give them the opportunity to go to the Roman rulers and say, this rabbi, he's causing trouble. He's brought about an execution without your calling it legitimate. And then the Romans would execute Jesus. I think more so they're trying to get rid of Jesus' reputation. They're trying to attack his particular ministry. And this is what Jesus declared his ministry to be. John 3, beginning in verse 17. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned. Whoever does not believe in him is condemned already, because he is not believed in the name of the only Son of God. They're trying to pit Jesus' ministry of not condemnation over against Moses. This is a classic error, as if the law wasn't full of grace, as if Jesus wasn't perfectly just. They're trying to pit these two things together. It's a classic error. The law is good news from God. It is just and merciful. It is full of justice and mercy. Jesus is the good news from God. He is just and merciful. Jesus, his reputation, he's kind, he's gentle. He's freeing us from the self-righteousness of the Pharisees. He's spoken the words of love and mercy that have attracted many people. And here they're hoping that if he says, Condemner, the people will be confused. Because he would give the order to stone this woman there in the midst of the temple while he's teaching. The other option would be that he shows mercy. And then they would charge him for not upholding the law of Moses, for being weak on sin. If he claims to be the right interpreter of Moses, but yet he says this woman can go without punishment, they would say, you don't understand the law of Moses. You undermine the law of Moses because you're weak on sin. So they think they've got him between a rock and a hard place. If he condemns her, he's denying his own message. If he lets her go, he's denying Moses injustice. We see here mercy and justice pitted against each other. What are the key dilemmas of all of life right here on stage? In this trial, this test for Jesus. Will he deny the weightiness of sin? Or will he relax the consequence? A few observations before we see how Jesus responds. First, we see how sinners treat sin in this text. We are preoccupied with other people's sin. That's how we treat sin. Sinners love to be preoccupied with other people's sin, not their own. We actually are experts at identifying other people's sin. We are very poor at recognizing our own. We have less discernment in this area because we are self-deceptive in our self-righteousness, and this only builds up self-righteousness, and then it desires to help ourselves look better because by condemning others. And you see, that's exactly what they're doing. These Pharisees and scribes, they don't like that Jesus is challenging their ministry. They're starting to look bad. So they use this woman to make her look bad, for the ultimate purpose to make Jesus look bad. In our self-righteousness, it's easy to find fault in others. That's the beauty of the gospel. It gives us the courage to recognize our sin, to recognize it's forgiven in Jesus Christ, and to talk about it. The gospel assumes you're sinners. Everything about the Bible, it assumes we're all sinners, so we don't have to hide it. The gospel gives us courage to acknowledge that we're sinners, acknowledge one another we're sinners, and actually talk about our sin. We should be talking about our sin with one another and simultaneously always talking about the cross. We should be talking about our sin and we should be talking with a cross because we are sinners and that is where we find courage to talk about our sin and the forgiveness of our sin. The second thing we see in this text is an observation how sinners treat God. We see how sinners treat God. And ultimately, it's foolish. Jesus is God, that's the message of John. He's the author of the law. Here they are barging in, making a scene and saying, what do you say about the law? They're trying to trick him with his own law, of whom he is the absolute authority. They're foolish. Our sin makes us stupid. Our sin makes us dumb towards God. We make foolish decisions and not only are we ignorant of God, we we hate him. Because his light shines on our darkness and helps us to see it. Really, there's two ways to respond to God, boastful sinners will hate God because he illuminates their sin, boastful sinners will hate God because he illuminates their sin. Broken sinners will rejoice in God because he illuminates their sin and he brings about healing. We will see this in the text. The boastful Pharisees, they'll leave angry and shamed. The woman who is broken, she will leave forgiven. Finally, we see how the law treats sinners. The Pharisees have an argument, the law says she should die, the law says she should be condemned. The law is perfect. It is perfectly just because God, who is perfectly just, wrote it and every one of us will be found wanting when we are measured against the law, we will all be found unworthy of life and worthy of judgment. We'll all be worthy of the wrath of God. As we think about their plan, they fail this time. One year later, they're going to succeed the Pharisees, they will have Jesus killed. But remember John 730, if you weren't here last week, look back. John 730, no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come. God will allow them to kill him because it's only by his death that he can forgive us. So Jesus has been tested. They've set up these two. What they think are the only two options. Either he condemns her or he shows mercy. Either way, they've got him. Next, Jesus is true. Jesus is found true. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground, and as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, let him who without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. And at once more and once more, he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones. And Jesus was left alone with a woman standing before him. Now, here's the scene. Jesus is sitting there teaching a sinner whose guilt is obvious and clear. She's in her midst. The law has been brought about against her. The enemies are surrounding them, waiting for a judgment. And what does Jesus do? He starts writing in the sand with his finger. This is not what they were expecting. What is he doing? Well, some people have actually saw that since this is all about the law with which God wrote with his finger, that there may be something here alluding to that Jesus Christ with his own finger is writing an authoritative word against them, demonstrating that he is the one true God. I don't know if that's that's not very clear, but it's an interesting thought. The real question is this, what did he write? Would you like to know what he wrote this morning? I would, too, I don't know. Nobody knows. There's some good guesses. Jeremiah 17, 13 is one option. Exodus 23, 1 through 7 is one option. One possible solution is this. He wrote what he said. This was a style. This is a way of teaching. They would write down something and then they would stand up and say it. And so what he says to the Pharisees, if you don't have sin, that's what he wrote. That's one option. I think our best guesses will always be lacking because Jesus is perfectly wise and whatever he wrote, it was perfectly wise. Verse seven, let him who without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. Now, at one level, you can't participate in a crime and then try to bring a charge against that crime. At that most basic level, we can see that this rule, let him who sinned among you be the first to throw a stone at her. You can't be a part of the crime and yet bring a charge against the crime. But I think he said something much more than this. He's saying if you have a sinful intent in your heart, you are not equipped to make judgment. If you have a sinful intent in your heart, you are not equipped or qualified to make a judgment. The blind cannot lead the blind. Those who are blind to their own sin, they cannot be trusted to make a proper judgment. Now, this is quite the scene here. Jesus has just been confronted by the authorities while teaching in the temple, he responds to them, let you let the first without sin be the first to cast a stone and then one by one, their faces change from malicious curiosity to shame and they all walk away. Everyone is gone except Jesus. Because he's the only one who is righteous. He's the only one who is without sin. He's the only one who can make proper judgment. They have disqualified themselves while trying to disqualify Jesus. He gives a perfectly just answer. He gives a perfectly wise answer. They're trying to capture him. And in the midst of it, they condemn themselves. and demonstrate they are not equipped to make proper judgments. He alone is sinless. Remember back in John 5.22, the Father has given Him all judgment. Only God judges sin, and Jesus is the true judge. He's the perfect judge. Now, here, these men were there. Their sin is confronted. They're convicted, and they all walk away in their shame. I need to make sure you all hear this. If you're not a Christian, especially, you need to hear this. One day we will all stand before the perfect and righteous, just judge Jesus Christ, and we will all have to give an account and we will be speechless in our shame because our guilt will be obvious to us because it will be seen in the light of the holy God. His wrath will be against us unless we have believed in Jesus Christ. If you continue to reject Jesus Christ, you are condemned. His wrath is against you and you will be speechless. There will not be an answer and there is only one place to go. And it is hell where you will suffer forever. The righteous judgment of God. The good news is this. God so loved those who hated him. That he sent his son to be condemned for their sin, to be the sacrifice that takes away their sin by putting upon himself. You can believe in Jesus and he takes away your condemnation. You can believe in Jesus and God's just wrath will be exercised against him to believe in him. You can be forgiven. Before I move to Jesus, the merciful, We have to ask a question. What does this text say about judging others? Is this text a nice proof text to say, stay out of my life. I don't want you making any judgments about me. I don't think so, because if you look at this, Jesus is not light on sin. His final word to her is go and sin no more. He doesn't see sin as something acceptable. He doesn't condone sin. He simply condemns the Pharisees and their own sin. As we think about this woman caught in adultery and the charges, we have to realize we live in a very sexually charged age. There's a lot of things that are acceptable and they're sinful. The way we treat each other, the way we relate with one another, the way we dress, the way we think about sex. Our culture is oftentimes calling evil good and good evil. We must remember God has designed sex for a specific purpose, and it is a good purpose. And it's only to be discovered and enjoyed between a man and a woman in marital union. Any other context is a perversion of God's good design. We must protect our purity and our innocence, because if you ever lose it, it's gone. You can be forgiven. But that pure heart, that innocent heart, once it's gone, it's gone forever. We must make right judgments in this world regarding sexuality. Further, as we think about, should we judge others? There's two ways in which I think the Bible clearly tells us we must talk about judgment. First, we cannot proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ without talking about judgment. It's only good news if Jesus Christ died for those who would otherwise be under the judgment of God. It's only good news if we realize that there's a holy and just God and we we've sinned against him and we're under judgment and Jesus takes away that judgment. Now, I think the the warning here is to not in our hearts condemn people. We condemn people when we don't share the gospel with them. We make inappropriate judgments when we don't share the gospel with them, because when we decide we're not going to share the gospel with somebody, what we must be saying is they're too sinful to be saved. When we look at someone and say there's no way they could ever know God, there's no way they would ever love God, or rather, there's no way God could ever love them. That is an unhelpful judgment that is a sinful condemnation. Everyone is worthy of hearing the gospel. That is our charge. Secondly, we are to judge brothers and sisters in the church. You can go to Paul in 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 12. He says this for what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. We are to purge the evil person from among us. We're supposed to know each other's lives. We're supposed to be protecting each other from self-righteousness by helping others see our sin and point each other to the cross, that there is a judgment that's supposed to take place that's within the body as we're living together and walking with one another, being watchful for one another. Finally, let's look at our last point, Jesus merciful. Jesus, the merciful. Jesus stood up. And he speaks to her. He said to her, woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? She said, no one, Lord. Jesus said, neither do I condemn you. Go. And from now on, sin no more. Jesus stands up. And as always, he doesn't ask a question because he doesn't know the answer. He has a question for the benefit of those around him. He has a question for her. Where are they? And so she looks up and she sees everybody that had a stone in their hand. They're gone. He asked the woman so that she can see that those who are bringing these charges against those who have brought her her sin to public shame, that they're all gone. Has no one condemned you? No. Because in Jesus wisdom, he he disqualified them all. No one was found to be qualified to condemn her except for Jesus Christ. She says, no one Lord. And then Jesus, the one who can condemn her, neither do I. Can you imagine? How this must have changed her fear. Imagine how she's feeling there in the midst of her public shame, her public trial. There's no more stones. And now she's been declared, you're not condemned. Well, the story isn't about her. I think it's helpful to think about how she would respond after this. The story's about Jesus and it demonstrates that he's not only the one who is qualified to condemn, he's the only one qualified to forgive. He's the only one qualified to make proper judgment and to provide mercy, judgment and mercy find their resting place in Jesus Christ. This is a great dilemma. How is God just and merciful? How can God say he's just in punishing everyone for all their sins the same way with equity, with impartiality, but yet in any way ever show mercy? Well, It's in the person of Jesus Christ that God is both just and merciful. God punishes and exercises his wrath against every sinner and every sin. For those who believe in Jesus, he looks down upon his own son, the father does, and he looks at him and he counts our sin towards him. He looks at him and all the wrath that we should get, all the wrath that we deserve because of our thoughts, our actions, our words, our desires, every wrath, every bit of wrath we deserve. It's satisfied in Jesus Christ because he's perfectly righteous and he is punished. On our behalf as our substitute. God is just because His wrath against our sin has been satisfied. And now, in Christ, we're forgiven. We're declared righteous. We're reconciled with God. We're shown mercy because Jesus Christ received our wrath. Those are the two options. We either receive our wrath or Jesus does. God is both just and the one who declares is righteous. Notice the order in which Jesus declares the truth, or there's two important truths, I do not condemn you, go and sin no more. The cause and effect order, the order of this is extremely important. He does not say, go and sin no more. I don't condemn you. Because that could be confused that if you keep if you quit sitting, then you won't be condemned. That's not the proper order. There's first forgiveness. And then there's a call to live a life that exemplifies that forgiveness. She's called to leave her life of sin. It's an important charge. She's not been condemned. And so therefore, she should no longer live this life of sinfulness. She's proactively plotting to sin. Stop pursuing perversity. Christians. We've been declared forgiven, but we are all susceptible, we are all so easily entangled and ensnared by sin. This is why we need one another to be watching over each other's lives as much we pray for the spirit to illuminate where we are still so susceptible to being ensnared and entangled is where we pray for grace to repent and deny ourselves and follow God. See, there's a key to ceasing sin. There's a key to stop sinning, and it's this. You can't stop sinning until you first see how destructive that sin is. Until you see sin for what it is, it has power to destroy you. Because it entices you. Until you see it as destructive, you won't stop it. See, playing with sin, it's like we're in the backyard. And we're swinging a stick around, we're throwing it up, we're hitting against a tree, and then we realize one day it's a stick of dynamite. We're playing with a destructive tool that we think is a toy. That's what sin is, friends. If you could only see how dangerous it is, it keeps you from the internal peace that you long for. It keeps you from true friendship and relationship and marital unity. It keeps you from the true source of delight. from enjoying God. I want to address one particular sexual perversion, since we're dealing with adultery and the call to sin no more in the midst of her sin. It's pornography. Pornography keeps you from true intimacy according to God's plan. Pursuing pornography, continually looking at pornography will shape the way you see yourself and the way you see others, and it will keep you from actually enjoying the way God designed you to enjoy marital union. More than that, it keeps you from seeing God. Matthew 5, 8, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. By looking at pornography, you're keeping yourself from pleasure with a spouse got created for, but more so you're keeping yourself from the highest pleasure. Delighting in God, because with the impurity of your eyes that you're you're corrupting, you can't see the pure God because of your own sin. I want to conclude with two quotes, the first is from Augustine that we read Wednesday night. And after his conversion, he declared this. Suddenly, it became sweet to me to be without the sweets of folly. What I once feared to lose was now a delight to dismiss. You turned them out and entered to take their place, pleasanter than any pleasure, but not to flesh and blood. Already, my mind was free of biting cares of place seeking. of desire for gain, of wallowing in self-indulgence, of scratching the itch of lust. And I was now talking with you, Lord. My God, my radiance, my wealth and my salvation. The key to stop participating in pursuing sin is to see how destructive it is and to see how much more enjoyable and delightful God is in his plan for you. Our final meditation, I encourage you to be thinking and talking of these words together, comes from Romans 8. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do. By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, brothers and sisters, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If, in fact, the spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not know, does not have the spirit of Christ, does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit of life because of righteousness. The spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. He who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. Will you pray with me? We thank you for the powerful proclamations we see in Scripture. That we who should be condemned are not condemned because of what Christ has done for us. Lord, let everyone here who believes in Christ and is indwelled by your spirit, let that freedom be their primary defining mark of their life. Give them the peace That comes from above that gives them an assurance that they are no longer condemned. They are set free from their guilt and they're set free from the chains of sin. We thank you for sending your Holy Spirit. That gives us the power to now walk according to your way. We thank you that you freed us from condemnation, you freed us from the mastery of sin. Help us now, Lord, to live that life that will glorify you. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.