Sunday September 25 2016

The Sermon today was Discipleship Part 4  Women at the Temple

John 8:1-11

1-Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 
2-But early the next morning He was back again at the temple, a crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 
3-As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery, and put her in front of the crowd.

(This was their stage - Temple Courtyard)

4-"Teacher, they said to Jesus, this woman was caught in 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.

(We never need to feel rushed into an answer)

7-They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, "all right, 

(Pharisees are now grinning ear to ear) 

but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!" (silent hush falls over the crowd)
8-Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. 
9-When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman.

(Jesus powerfully showed the weakness and futility of the Old Covenant)

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."

(Everyone standing there knows sinning no more is impossible) 

For we have all sinned and come short of the Glory of GOD! 

12-Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, "I am the Light of the world," if you follow me you won't have to walk in the darkness, because you will have the Light that leads to life." 

(There is an answer and it is Jesus, Grace, New Covenant)

13-The Pharisees replied, "You are making those claims about yourself! Such testimony is not valid."
14 Jesus told them, "These claims are valid even though I make them about myself. For I know where I came from and where I am going, but you don't know this about me.
15-"You judge me by human standards, but I do not judge anyone."
16-"And if I did, my judgement would be correct in every respect because I am not alone, The Father who sent me is with me."
17-Your own law says that if two people agree about something, their witness is accepted as fact."
18-"I am one witness, and my Father who sent Me is the other."
19-"Where is Your Father?" they asked. Jesus answered, "Since you don't know who I am, you don't know who my Father is. If you knew me, you would know my Father."
20- Jesus made these statements while he was teaching in the section of the Temple known as the Treasury. but he was not arrested, because his time had not come.

John 8:1-30 (NASB)

 The Adulterous Woman
1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 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.
3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court,
4 they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act.
5 "Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?"
6 They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground.
7 But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."
8 Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 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 of the court.
10 Straightening up, Jesus said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?"
11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more."]
Jesus Is the Light of the World
12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life."
13 So the Pharisees said to Him, "You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not true." 
 14 Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.
15 "You judge according to the flesh; I am not judging anyone.
16 "But even if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and the Father who sent Me.
17 "Even in your law it has been written that the testimony of two men is true.
18 "I am He who testifies about Myself, and the Father who sent Me testifies about Me."
19 So they were saying to Him, "Where is Your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also."
20 These words He spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come.
21 Then He said again to them, "I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot * come."
22 So the Jews were saying, "Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, 'Where I am going, you cannot * come '?"
23 And He was saying to them, "You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.
24 "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless * you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."
25 So they were saying to Him, "Who are You?" Jesus said to them, "What * have I been saying to you from the beginning?
26 "I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world."
27 They did not realize that He had been speaking to them about the Father.
28 So Jesus said, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught
29 "And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him."
30 As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him.