Put Down the Stone John 8:2-11, NIV At dawn he 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, “If any one of you is without sin, let him 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.” I would like to share the grace of God under the title, “Put Down the Stone” based on John 8:2-11. Please repeat after me, “Put Down the Stone. Put Down the Stone.” Today’s theme is “Sin and Forgiveness.” After Adam and Eve sinned and fell, the relationship of love between God and humankind was broken. The relation of love among humankind was also broken. Hatred and conflict have been passed down in the history of humankind. We have lived, hurting one another and blaming others for all the trouble and problems. Instead of admitting our own mistakes and incapability, we are apt to point out the faults and problems of others. All of these are rooted in sin. Today’s Scripture speaks about a woman who was brought to Jesus, because she had been caught in the act of sin. 1. A woman who committed sin (Jn 8:2-4). First, let us think about the woman who was caught in the act of sin. John 8:2-4 says, “At dawn he 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.’” Jesus went up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, one of the three major feasts of Israel. While He was teaching in the temple courts, many people gathered around Him, listened to Him, and received God’s grace. The Feast was more than halfway through. The Lord Jesus had gone to the Mount of Olives the night before and had appeared again in the temple courts at dawn. All the people gathered around Him in the temple courts. The Lord Jesus sat down and taught them without taking a rest from dawn till night. Suddenly, there was a commotion at the back, and a group of people came toward the Lord. They were the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees, bringing in a woman who had been caught in the act of 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.” When the Scribes and the Pharisees said that the woman sinned, people began to babble clamorously, saying, “She has to be stoned.” The woman was standing in the middle of the crowd, trembling in fear. She was covered with dust and had messy hair and torn clothing. Even though she was not stoned yet, she was trembling with the fear of death as if she were being stoned at that instant. Who was this poor woman? When we see people around us committing sin, we are likely to think they deserve punishment. However, when we see them, we must look at ourselves first, examining our own lives, to see if we are the same as sinners. This poor woman symbolizes all of us. Romans 3:10 says, “As it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one.” This means that all humankind is living in the midst of sin. The woman who was brought before the Lord was a sinner and so were the multitude of people who were about to throw stones at her. In Galatians 5:19-21, apostle Paul pointed out the sinfulness of man. The Scripture says, “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” We all commit sin without exception, whether big sin or small sin. Therefore, there is no one who can be free from sin. The difference between the woman and us is whether the sin has been exposed or not. However, we should never forget that there is no sin which will not be exposed before the Lord. King David, the greatest king of Israel, committed a grave sin before God. He took the wife of his servant and then made his servant die in the fiercest battle. He tried to cover his sin. However, his sin was exposed before the blazing eyes of God. God sent Nathan the prophet who rebuked his sin, saying, “You are a sinner.” When Nathan boldly rebuked him for his sin, David became broken and repented of his sin immediately. Herein lies the greatness of David. People try to conceal their sin. They make all kinds of excuses even when their sin is exposed. They lie and flatly deny their sin until clear evidence is present. However, no sin will be hidden from God. David repented of his sin before God. He confessed in Psalm 51:9-11, “Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.” “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.” David was a man of God and a man of the Spirit. He knew that he would be nothing and hopeless if the Holy Spirit would leave him. He knew that he could not control the flood of sin if he were left without the Holy Spirit. That is why He pleaded with God not to take the Holy Spirit from him. This is true. We cannot overcome sin by ourselves. Only when we are filled with the Holy Spirit can we defeat sin by the power of the blood of the Lord Jesus. We need to pray, “Lord, do not take your Spirit away from me. Do not take your Spirit away from me.” When we have committed sin, we must come to immediate repentance and pray to God with tears, “Do not take your Spirit away from me.” 2. Law and judgment (Jn 8:5-9). Second, I want to speak about the Law and judgment. The Scribes and the Pharisees asked Jesus in John 8:5, “In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” According to the Law, when a person was caught in the act of adultery, the witness was supposed to stone the person at the scene. Deuteronomy 22:22 says, “If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.” Even though the woman was caught in the act of sin, instead of immediately stoning her there, they brought her to Jesus. There was a reason behind it. They used to have all the power, being popular and respected, before Jesus appeared. However, Jesus appeared like a comet and preached to people. All the people respected Him and went to listen to Him. His Word had power and authority. He also healed every disease, which the Scribes and Pharisees could never heal. They were filled with jealousy and hatred. They were determined to accuse Jesus of being a heretic and to put him to death. They brought the woman to Jesus with the intention to trap Him. John 8: 6 says, “They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.” They brought her to have a basis for accusing Him. If Jesus had told them to stone her, it would contradict His teaching of love and forgiveness. Then they would have a basis for accusing Him as a hypocrite, for self-contradiction. In Matthew 5:43-44, Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” On the other hand, if Jesus told them not to stone her but to forgive her, then it would be a violation of the Law in an attempt to cover sin. That was the reason why they brought the woman to Jesus?to trap Him. The religious leaders in those days forgot and ignored the core of the Law, which is love. Instead, they used the Law to judge and condemn people. In such a tricky moment, Jesus answered them very wisely. Jesus said in John 8:7, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” In this passage, “if any one of you is without sin” means a person who was absolutely righteous without any kind of sin. The Lord Jesus was saying, “Fine. Follow the Law and stone her. However, only he who has not sinned at all, he who has no shame before the Lord, can throw a stone at her.” By saying this, the Lord Jesus pointed out that all of them had committed sin in their lives. We check our appearances by looking at the mirror. We can fix our clothes and wipe off something that should not be there. The Law is like a mirror. It reflects sin in our lives. However, it cannot save us from sin. Dr. Roentgen discovered X-rays in 1895. This brought great advancement in medicine, because X-ray photography pinpointed the source of diseases. In a sense, the Law is like X-rays. Before the Law existed, sin was not known and people lived in sin. When the X-ray of the Law was shed upon people, they came to realize sin. There is absolutely no one who can be forgiven and saved through the Law. That is why Jesus had to die on the Cross. Romans 3:21-22 says, “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference.” Even though we were sinners, however, God calls us righteous through the Cross of the Lord Jesus. When we believe in Jesus, the righteousness of Jesus Christ is shifted to us. In other words, we are clothed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus. Since our sins are covered under His righteousness, God calls us righteous. We commit sin from time to time. Every time we sin, we need to be cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus through our repentance. When we stand before the Lord, then the blood of Jesus Christ will cover us so that we may be called righteous by God. When Jesus said, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her,” He meant that no one was qualified to judge sinners. Psalm 75:7 says, “But it is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another.” There is only one judge in heaven and earth. He is our God. We all were destined to be born in sin, living and dying in sin. However, through the inconceivable grace of the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the Cross, we have become the children of God. Overwhelmed by this wonderful grace, we must love and forgive one another. I pray that you will not be the first ones to judge and condemn others. Romans 2:1 says, “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.” We must let God judge and condemn people. What we have to do is exhort and correct our unrighteous neighbors with faith, treating them with mercy and love when they repent of their wrongdoings. We also have to guard ourselves lest we should commit similar sins ourselves. We have to remember that God did not send us to this world as judges but as preachers of the Gospel. After saying that only the sinless could throw a stone at her, Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground. John 8:8 says, “Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.” The Bible does not say what the Lord Jesus wrote on the ground. Some commentators say that He wrote the Ten Commandments. According to their theory, as He wrote the Ten Commandments, those around Him felt convicted of their sin and went away. Other commentators say that He wrote the sins of those who were there so they could not stay there. We do not know exactly what He wrote. A missionary once joked, saying that He wrote, “There are her customers among you.” We all laughed. Whatever it is, what is clear is that people around Him began to think about themselves when He wrote something on the ground. They went away, putting down the stones they were about to throw. Reinhold Niebuhr wrote this prayer, “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.” Jesus was writing something so that those people could have a chance to look at themselves with reason and clear conscience. They saw Him write on the ground and began to go away one by one, the older ones first, putting down the stones they were holding. They realized that like the woman, they also had committed sin. They felt a sting of conscience, and consequently, they went away. John 8:9 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.” Jesus confronted those who used the Law to condemn the woman with the Law. They went away one by one when they realized their own sin in their conscience. We also need to cleanse our conscience with the blood of Jesus. Hebrews 10:22 says, “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” When we have a clear conscience, we can be used by God to please the Lord as His children. Hebrews 13:18 says, “Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way.” Let us live with a clear conscience and please God as His precious children. 3. Grace and forgiveness (Jn 8:10-11). Third, I want to speak about grace and forgiveness. Verses 10-11 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.’” All the people who were holding stones went away, leaving a pile of stones there. The Lord Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied in a small voice, “No one, sir.” John 8:11 says, “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” Jesus told her that He was not going to condemn her, either. He also told her to leave her life of sin. He did not want her to live with a sense of guilt, so He did not condemn her, meaning, “Everybody is a sinner. Go and start a new life with a clean heart. Do not live the same life of sin anymore. Do not be hopeless anymore.” What has passed has gone. The old has gone, and the new has come! We have a brighter future prepared for us. We will be used by the Lord in that future. Whoever comes to the Lord Jesus, whoever repents of sin before the Lord, that person will be cleansed by the blood of Jesus and be renewed to live for the glory of God for the rest of his/her life. It is enough for us to come before the Lord and repent of our sin. When we repent of our sin with tears, He will always forgive us. Just as He forgave the woman who was trembling with the fear of death, He will forgive all of us. We are like the woman whom Jesus forgave. We were born in sin and have lived in sin and debauchery. However, since the Lord Jesus forgave all our sin on the Cross, as soon as we believe in Him, we will be forgiven and can live victoriously as the children of God. Romans 8:1-2 says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” He set me free from the law of sin and death! Hallelujah! The Lord Jesus forgave all those who came to Him. He forgave a thief, a tax collector, and a prostitute. He forgave Jaebong Ko who killed a family of six with an ax. He also forgave Kihoon Kim who killed people and burned the bodies of the victims. However, before they were executed, they accepted the Lord Jesus as their Savior and went to heaven. The Lord forgave them. The Lord Jesus came to earth as the Completer of the Law and resolved the problem of sin that the Law alone could not resolve. Matthew 5:17 says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” By His death on the Cross, taking all our sin on himself, the Lord opened the door of salvation to us. The Cross is the place where mercy and the justice of God intersect. God judged all sin on the Cross and forgave it on the Cross, opening the way to forgiveness and eternal life. We cannot thank God enough for His wonderful grace, even if we had ten thousand tongues. Soon Moon, an Indian ink painter, painted a picture named, “Blindfolded Jesus.” She put a blindfold on the eyes of the Lord Jesus in her painting. She wanted to express His desire not to see our sin. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, she shed many tears while completing the painting. She wrote, “I cried and cried again and again. Why did I cry so much? I put a blindfold on the eyes of the Lord with my hands and wiped away my tears. I cried very much while blindfolding His eyes. Even though I blindfolded His eyes, I was thankful that the blindfolded Jesus had forgiven us. I was thankful that His smile, which could not be blindfolded by any means, was upon me.” The blindfolded Jesus was the Jesus who met the woman who was caught in the act of adultery. It was the Jesus who met Zacchaeus and said to him, “I must stay at your house today.” The Lord Jesus does not look at us as sinners but as changed ones, now that we have come back to God after repenting of our sin. Since the Lord has forgiven us, we must forgive one another. The world of grace is different from that of dissoluteness. The world of grace is one in which we earnestly try not to sin. We need to live a new life, a changed life. We must shed the light of life, love, and forgiveness on the world, being soaked in the grace of the Lord. 4. Our decision. Finally, I want to speak about our decision. The Lord Jesus came to earth to forgive us and to make us righteous. He paid the price on the Cross. We must give thanks to the Lord for this wonderful grace. Now that we are forgiven free of charge, we should not throw stones at others anymore. We must put down the stones. People have stones of hatred and anger in their hands. They need to put them down. Let us put down the stones of hatred, revenge, grudges, enmity, and a revengeful mind to hurt those who have hurt us. Let us put down the stones of criticism, complaints, and dissatisfaction. Let us put down all the stones which we used to throw at others without hesitation. Let us forgive and love one another, having mercy on each other. Ephesians 4:32 says, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” We must make up our minds. Just as Jesus told the woman to leave her life of sin, let us fight sin and gain victory. We need to get out of the cycle of the sinful nature in which we repeatedly and habitually sin. We need to turn from sin. We also need to turn from our attitude of condemnation and criticism. We need to put down the stones and turn away. Ephesians 5:8-9 says, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth).” Hallelujah! On an autumn day at a penitentiary in a local town, they held a sporting event for the inmates. It was a very special event, and they invited the families of exemplary, long-term inmates who had spent more than 20 years in jail. Even though it was an event held in a penitentiary, it was a feast-like event, like an elementary school sporting event. The highlight of the event was the final game in which the inmates were going to carry their parents on their backs and run a lap around the field. Staying more than 20 years in prison meant that they were cruel criminals such as murderers. The final game was about to start, but the atmosphere changed?becoming quiet and solemn. The inmates were supposed to carry their parents on their backs, but their parents did not want to be carried. Looking at the weak body of their son, they did not want to be carried on their sons’ backs. The prison guards proceeded with the process and blew a whistle to start the race. Even though the race started, no one was running hard. It was a strange race in which the players tried to reach the goal line as slowly as possible. The fastest one would receive a prize, but they wanted to go slowly. There was a mother who was occupied in wiping away the tears of her son, unable to wipe away her own. There was a father who could not be carried on his son’s back, because his son looked so weak and frail. They did not want the first prize. What they wanted was to extend their moments together for as long as possible, even for a second longer. Soon the field was filled with tears. Everyone had deserted them because they were criminals and were locked away, but the love of their parents had remained the same. The parents confirmed that their love was as just as strong as it had been since the beginning of their sons’ prison confinement. We see the love of God for us here. Our God will never forsake us. Even though we have committed sin and turned away from Him, living in debauchery and unrighteousness, God loved us so much that He sent His one and only Son Jesus, letting Him die on the Cross. He is calling us again. He is holding us in His love again. We are here today, being touched and moved by His great love. Now that we have received His enormous grace, let us put down the stones in our hands and love and forgive one another. We must have the same heart as the Lord Jesus. Philippians 2:5 says, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” I pray that you will have the heart of Jesus Christ, loving and forgiving one another. This is my earnest prayer for you in the Lord. Let us pray. Our Father of infinite love, grace, and mercy, we cannot thank You enough for Your great love. Even though we were sinners, destined to be born, live, and die in sin, You loved us so much that You sent the Lord Jesus to earth and let Him die on the Cross to save us. Even though we have received so much love and forgiveness, however, we are so weak that we cannot love or forgive our neighbors, despising and throwing stones at them. We repent of our sin. Lord, forgive us. Help us to put down the stones of hatred. Help us to love and forgive one another. Help us to remember and keep Your command to love our enemies. Pour Your grace upon us so that we may love and forgive one another, practicing Your love to our suffering neighbors. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.