Amen. Amen. All right. Let's turn our Bibles to John chapter eight and let's look in verse one. I want to this is the woman who is taken in adultery, and I'm sure we've heard a thousand messages on it and four hundred people preach on it and and time after time and year after year and all that. But I want to try to make you take a different angle on it tonight. I want to preach on the art of Jesus counsel. the art of Jesus' counsel or the art of Jesus' counseling. And I want us to see it from that position of the counseling of Jesus. He says in verse 1 of chapter 8, Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives early in the morning. He came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him, and he sat down and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned, but they sayest thou, but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and with his finger rolled on the ground as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted him up himself and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down and rolled on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last. Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted him up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She said no man Lord Jesus said unto her neither do I condemn thee go and sin no more father We come to you in the name of Jesus tonight. We we thank you for just the reading of the Word of God Thank you Lord for the ministry of brother Robert. Thank you Lord for the songs that were sung tonight Thank you for the church gathering again tonight Lord in your name I pray as we worship the as we learn of the tonight. God as we give you praise and glory in all of our lives that you help us in this time tonight of this preaching father fill us with your spirit guard our lips and our mind father I pray to anoint us tonight that we might preach and power and authority yet compassion and love We pray father as we look at the counsel of Jesus that we would counsel as Jesus God as we look at how he counseled this woman and canceled this meet this situation Father that we may learn from it tonight and take it into our counseling sessions God whenever we are asked your God to help and asked your God to talk and Father, even if we're one of the people, God, that needs counseling tonight, that we'd understand tonight what it would be like and what we need to do. Father, we love You. We thank You, Lord. You are the Counselor. You are wonderful. You are the Prince of Peace. You are the Everlasting Father. You are the Mighty God. And Lord, we know these things to be true. In Jesus' name we ask. Amen. And amen. You may be seated. So I'd like to take this experience here that this woman had with Jesus and these Pharisees and scribes and as Jesus was one that they came to They came to him. I know they said to accuse him or tempting him, but I don't want to take it from that I want to take it about what Jesus has said and what Jesus did and I'd like to take it into in our own personal life Tonight it may be well good for a marriage tonight to take heed to what is being said here It may be in a relationship of two people who may be just not getting along that they could take this as well and It may be tonight that you're one of the other. You as one as the woman who has been accused, or you may be one who's accusing. And so you may be in either one of those positions. You may be tonight in a place where you just need counseling, or you need to counsel. And I would suggest that we would take the advice, we'd take the example tonight of the counselor That's Jesus tonight, and that we may do as He did, and we may learn as He has taught tonight these that were involved in that. I want you to notice, first of all, tonight, the guilty party. Every time there's a counseling session or some situation that needs to be counseled with or or something that needs to make a decision upon There's going to be a guilty party and always in a fight no argument or something tonight of offense or or something of accusation There's a guilty party. We find tonight that the guilty party is the woman and Is a woman doesn't give her name, but they say a woman now this guilty party here as we see According to the according to the Word of God and the scribes in verse 3 and the Pharisees brought unto him a woman And so we understand it's her three things about this tonight. I noticed in the guilty party I noticed the accusing of the sin the Bible says in verse 3. They say that this woman was taken in adultery Can I just imagine, or can you just imagine, as this accusing of the sin, the sin of adultery? One was taken in adultery. She was taken, according to the Scripture, a sin of adultery. And in that, we find that she, the Bible says, that they brought her before Jesus. Verse 2, And the people came unto him, and he sat down, and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman, Taken in adultery and when they had sent her in the midst and so I was thinking as I was reading the scripture how? Intimidating that must have been how fearful that that could have been here this woman who's been taken in adultery She's been accused of adultery and now she's been taken by these men I don't know one man two men four men five men old men young men and You know, I don't know the amounts of all that but I do know here's this one woman and she's been taken in adultery and the Bible says she's been set down right before Jesus right in the midst of Jesus right in the eyes of the counselor and And they're sitting her down, and I'm sure that these men were surrounding her, and I'm sure that Jesus was there in the midst of her, looking upon her, looking at her. She's looking at Jesus. They're looking at her. And so she is the spectacle of that day, of that time, of this counseling. And so we find, before Jesus, she sat. And then before Jesus, they sat. So before Jesus, she sat. This is how it usually works, right? I mean, you say you get together and you say, OK, come on, wife, when are you going to go to the counselor? And so in your mind, in your heart, you're saying, well, if I ever get her there at that counselor, he said, we're going to straighten this out. I'm telling you, we're going to get this over. We're going to get this done. And this old counselor is going to get her her right so my home can be happy again and my home can be right again. And so you walk into the counselor, you sit your wife down, you say, OK, counselor, here she is. That's how it works, right? If you go somewhere else, you're at work and somebody does something to work, you say, come on with me, you go with me, you sit down right in front of the boss. Here they are, this is what they did. And so we find that to be a normal activity, a normal movement, and so in the mind of those men, in the mind of those people that were accusing her, if we can get them before Jesus and sit down before Jesus, and then we will say, that this woman has been taken in adultery how awful that she is how awful that this is Jesus how awful counselor that they are doing this how awful they are they're saying this they're acting this the way how awful they are that they will conduct themselves in such a way how awful so we find that How sinful that she is. I mean, they took her in adultery, they've taken her and they brought her before Jesus and in front of Jesus. They say, how sinful that she is. Right? How awful. I mean, adultery. I mean, it may not be adultery in your life. It may be something of some different issue or some different sin, but it all equals the same. And you say to the counselor, counselor, how awful this is and how sinful they are. Fix them. If you ever get it straightened out, my home will be right. How awful, how sinful, but how unlawful. How unlawful that it is that she would act this way. She is to be submissive. She's breaking the law of God. So how unlawful that it is to to commit adultery, how lawful it is to tell a lie, how unlawful it is to steal, how unlawful it is to covet, how unlawful it is that that one who's in the counseling session, and how they come together, and they come and they put her right in the midst of Jesus, they set her for the men, and then they begin to say, we've taken her in adultery. So we find the guilty party. Number two, though, we find not the accusing of the sin, but we find the agreeing with the sin. We find that the Bible says in verse 4, and they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, and then they added four little words, in the very act. And so we find that not only is she accused of the sin, but she's agreeing with the sin. She's in the very act of the sin. So we're not talking about a woman who is denying it. We're not talking about a woman who is trying to explain it. Trying to say, well, you know, you don't understand why I was in an adulterous affair. You don't understand why I did what I did. You don't know what he did. And you don't know what the other did. And you don't know the circumstance. And you don't know what caused that. Do you think I just did it because I wanted to? I had to do it because somebody else wanted to. So she's agreeing in the sin because she's calling the very act. What are you going to do? I mean, she's not denying it. She's not just she's not trying to justify it. She's not trying to explain it. She's not even questioning it. In other words, she's not saying, you know, it looks like to me, guys, that I am guilty. I agree with you. I did sin. But where's the where's the man? Where's the man? Did he not sin? Why isn't he here with the counselor? Where's he? Why am I being treated like this? Hey, if I sinned, yes, I'm calling the very act, but he sinned as well, and he broke the law as well, and he's sinful as well, he's awful as well. Why do you treat me this way? Somebody else is guilty too in this matter. See, she's not justifying it. She's not explaining it. She's not denying it. She's not doing any of that. She's just agreeing in the sin. So we find accusing of the sin, agreeing with the sin, but then thirdly, I notice the action for the sin. They say in verse 5, Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned. That's the action. They want her stoned. And that's usually what goes on in a counseling session, is that you bring them in, you say to the counselor, counselor, it's her, it's him. This is the awful thing they've done. This is the sinful thing they've done. This is the unlawful thing they've done. And, you know, I caught you in the very act, and you know, and I know, and God knows that you do what you do, and you said what you said, and you act the way you act, and that's why our marriage, and that's why our relationship, and that's why things are falling apart, and that's why we're not as we used to be and as we should be, is because of these things. You know what? Divorce. Separation Jail prison to the girl than this adultery death That's the action of the scene Yeah, this is what she deserves She deserves you Jesus to say to her I condemn thee Because that's what she did. That's what she deserves and the wages of sin is death That's what she deserves. She deserves stoning Does she deserve that but this is her penalty if you're gonna act that away you're gonna be that away You're gonna cause trouble that away. You're gonna see him that away You're gonna you're gonna make things this way then that whatever you get is what you deserve You get a slap in the face. You get a punch in the head They kick you out They run you off They divorce you they throw you out They run from you, they take all your money, take all your children, they took all your home, now you got your little car running around like a little cab. The woman that took everything from you. That's what he deserved. That's what the penalty was. This is the judgment. Stoning. And so we find the guilty party. We find the acquisition of the sin. We find the agreeing with the sin. And then we find the action for the sin. And here this woman sits in all that. Tonight, you may be in a setting like this where you're as this woman. And you've been accused of doing wrong. And you agree with the wrong you've done. And the action for you doing wrong is whatever you get, you deserve. Just like this woman. You may be on the other end, though, and you may bring somebody into the counseling, and you're saying, this is their sin, and this is what they've done, and we know they've done it, and the action for that is punishment. And so, we find this woman in the guilty party. But number two, I want to talk about not only the guilty party, but the innocent person. We find in verse 6 through 9, the innocent person. I want you to notice number 1 tonight. The innocent person will be the one to cast the first stone. The Bible says there in verse 6, they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him, but Jesus stooped down with his finger rolled on the ground as though he heard them not. Now if you're in a counseling service, I'm a counseling office and the counselor is telling you to talk and you're talking He's not look like he's not listening. You better be kind of worried about that Here Jesus had his head down Jesus stooped down He had his finger on the ground. He's writing something and he's not paying no attention. It don't seem like what's being said Because saying counseling services you want to be heard You have a complaint You have an issue and you want to express it and you want to give your side of the story and you want to tell how it really is because the other partner don't tell it truthfully. But you want to bring things to reality. Jesus here is just stooping down and writing on the ground. Now we don't know what he wrote. We don't know what he's saying. We don't know what's going on. He might be drawing a smiley face. I don't know. He may be writing down names. He might be writing down names with sins next to the name. I don't know. I don't know what he's doing. You don't know what he's doing. But he's writing down something. But then verse 7 says this, So when they continued asking him, he lifted him up himself and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And so he's asking about an innocent person here. He's saying, okay, now we're all together. Here's the guilty party. And here's the ones who's making the accusation to the guilty party. And so here, how we're going to start this counseling session is this, is I want the innocent person to cast the first stone. In other words, what I'm asking with the group that are here, I want you to, who is sinless, I want you to cast a stone at her. Anybody sinless? This is good counseling. This is good counseling. You get in that office and that counselor says to you, oh yeah, you done laid all this out, she committed adultery, how awful, sinful, unlawful. The counselor says, okay, everybody in this room take a stone and cast it at her if you have no sin. That took the air out of the room. Anybody sinless in here? Anybody guiltless in here? Anybody? Anybody here tonight, as the Counselor Jesus would say in the midst here? He said, anybody here that is faultless? Faultless. Oh, yeah, I forgot that this woman was caught in adultery in the very act. But my question in the way of counseling to you, in the way of rectifying and resolving it, you came to me because you want me to take care of the situation. I'm taking care of the situation. So I'm asking everybody that's involved here, the first one who has no sin, cast a stone at her. Everyone in this room has no sin. Everyone who has no guilt and no fault Shut up then Right How could you bring somebody into a counseling session and point your finger at them and tell the counselor? How awful and how sorry no good and how bad they are when you walk in with sin yourself? How dare you right I Say that's Jesus the counselor So we find nobody in that group. Nobody in that group. They cast a stone. We find that they were highlighting her sins, but they weren't mentioning their sins. You see, they say, we're taking her in adultery, but Lord, let me tell you about it. I had an adulterous affair too about two months ago, just letting you know that. See, they highlighted her sins, but they didn't mention anything about their sins. Happens in counseling sessions They expose her wrongs, but they minimize there's All this woman Adultery been the very act But my sins are just small compared to that Right. Hey, man, how how would you like to be in a counseling session with Jesus? You walk out like they did. See, they declared her offenses, but they hid theirs. They walked in, they walked in squeaky clean. They walked in, nothing they ever did was wrong, and nothing they ever said was wrong. And boy, this woman was caught in the door, they did run over there. They couldn't get quicker than Jesus. They said, Jesus, we're gonna tempt you, we're gonna accuse you. Now, you know that Moses said this, that if this woman's come out in adultery, that she's to be stoned? If Moses said that, we'd like to know what you said. He said, if you got no sin, you cast the first stone at her. Something on that ground he must have wrote, Brother Robert. Because nobody could read anybody's mind in that day. Except Jesus And so when they came in there, the only reason they came to Jesus is because she was caught in into the very act Right, she wouldn't call it in the very act if it was somebody who was accusing her It would have to have two or three in order to go to the judge or you can't go. It's just one. You're not gonna work out The law is two or three. And so we find she's caught in the very act. So we know that it's true. But when they came in, they came in as they were squeaky clean. They came in as if they didn't do anything wrong. They came in as if everything in their life is correct. They came in as if they have done nothing to equal this adulterous act that she'd done. Jesus cleared it all out. This is good counseling. I wish I'd have done this in my lifetime. I quit counseling. We find cast the first stone. Secondly, I noticed casting no stones. No stones were cast. But I'll tell you what happened. The Bible says in verse 8, and again he stooped down and he wrote on the ground. They which heard it being convicted by their conscience Now I want you to listen to what's being said here verse 8 there verse 8 and again he stooped down and wrote on the ground it should say and They which read it Should not say that He wrote on the ground They said, which heard it. In other words, what Jesus wrote came alive. He wrote it and they heard it. You talk about some power here. So whatever he wrote, And it had to, we don't know what he wrote, but it had to do something with their sin. Because how would they have their conscience convicted Jesus had said nothing except he that without seeing cast the first stone and they he wrote on the ground and they Written they heard it. It was like the words of Jesus that was written was like a Voice that came into their ears and it brought a great conviction upon their heart and but it had to be in You know, so-and-so with so-and-so, and so-and-so did this, and that, and the other, and so-and-so is guilty of this, and that, and the other, and John, and Paul, and Joe, and all this list, and as they're looking at it, it's like a loud voice just coming out saying, That's you! And all of a sudden, this woman who was in adultery, you remember the story, we almost forgot, Because Jesus turned this whole thing around and he said, he that is sinless and guiltless and faultless, you throw a first stone and nobody did. Next thing you know, those stones were thrown and there was great conviction upon those men. Well, the conviction didn't end. There's something else that they did. Notice the Bible says they were silenced. In verse 7 it says, so when they continued asking. In verse 9 it says they heard. being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one. I hear nothing else being said. You see, when you get the picture from Jesus, you have no business, no business to come into my office, Jesus' office, and make accusation of anyone when you can't throw a stone. Amen? You get your life in order before you come into the counseling of Jesus. You make sure that your ducks are in a row and you make sure that your life is right and you make sure that you got your things together before you walk into His office and you start accusing some woman of adultery whenever you don't have your life right. We find this guy, these men were silenced. No more questioning. No more words, nothing. That happens a lot in counseling, and the few times I've counseled, you can't hardly say anything because they want to say something. So we find silence. We find conviction. And then we find departure, departing. The Bible says they went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last. Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst. I found they were convicted and silenced and departed. The only person that day and the only person in the day of your counsel that is innocent is Jesus. That's it. If ever one of us today would say, hey brother, brother Robert, we need to come and counsel with you. We got somebody in our life, we got some issue, we got some problem with some people, and this, that, and the other. When we get together, as we get together, we'll find the two who's having the issues. None of us are without guilt. Amen? Jesus is the only one without sin. So he can counsel. He has the right to counsel. As the counsel would come, we find, number three tonight, We'll close not only is there the guilty party and we notice tonight the innocent person, but I noticed a counselor's plan This is the whole plan that Jesus had from the very beginning whenever these These uh sinful men can talk about the sinful woman Number one the plan was to draw all attention to her look what happened Verse 10, And when Jesus had lifted himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? See, what Jesus is saying to her is, Look up now, woman. You know all those who had their dirty fingers pointing at you? And all those who said how bad and awful that you were? Well, they're no longer here. Guess who it is. It's just me and you. This is the whole purpose that he needed. He just needed to get the woman with him. That's all he needed. That's good counsel. He doesn't need all the other. He just needs the woman and he needs himself. So now he's got it cleared out. Now he's got it just like he wanted to get. It's not what anyone else is saying now. It's not anybody accusing her of doing anything. The accusers are gone, so it's not about somebody saying something. It's not about someone doing something here. Everybody's gone. It's just her. It's not about someone thinking something. It's just about Jesus was left alone with her. You see, the plan of the counselor was All the attention is going to be on her. Not them. Her. Tonight, this is how Jesus counsels. It's not about everybody else. It's not what they're saying. It's not what they're doing. It's not what they're thinking. It's about me and you. That's the counsel tonight. Many people are too more concerned about what everybody else is saying, thinking, and doing, rather than getting along with Jesus. And tonight we find that Jesus now is along with her. Now we find, now His plan was not to draw all attention to her, but the plan was to draw all the attention to Him. And so we find there in that verse 11, she said, No man Lord, and Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more. We find in this drawing attention to himself, he asked her a question in verse 10, Hath no man condemned thee? And what he's doing is he's taking the tension off of her, putting it on them, and saying, is there anybody condemning you? No, there's nobody condemning me. And then he puts the tension back on him, and he says, neither do I condemn thee. Wow, that has to be real refreshing to the one who's getting counseled. And we find tonight that it's not about others who condemned you. It's not about those who have accused you. It's not about those who have sentenced you. It's not about those that have judged you. It's about me and the condemnation that I would give. And yet, in this case, to the woman, He says, neither do I condemn thee. It's not about your condemnation. It's not about how you condemn yourself. I can imagine that she probably feels bad about what she did. She's probably, no doubt, ashamed about her act, and she's probably to the place where she's really just feeling awful about what she did, wouldn't you? And Jesus said, listen, it's not about them condemning you. It's not about you condemning you. It's about me not condemning you. That's what it's about in this counseling session. It's about me. about me not condemning you. It's about the Lord's condemnation. John chapter 12 and verse 47. John 12 and verse 47. He says, if any man hear my words and believe not, he said, I judge him not, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. So he wasn't there to judge the woman. He wasn't there to sentence the woman. He wasn't there to condemn the woman. He's not here to condemn you. He's not here to judge you. He's not here to sentence you. That's not what Jesus' job is. That's not what His role is. That's not what He does for the counselor. That's not how He behaves. That's not His motive. That's not His reason. His reason is not to judge, but to save! or you may come in guilty, but that's not because He will condemn you. He will pardon you. He's not going to judge you and send you off and throw you in the gutter and get rid of you. He's going to speak with you and pardon you and restore you and make your life again. That's the counseling of Christ. He'll get rid of them accusers because they're just as bad as you are. But He's dealing with her. So he shows her that, listen, I don't condemn thee either. He said, I'm here to forgive you. I'm here to restore you. I'm here to change you. Can you imagine that type of counselor in this situation and under those circumstances? And he looks and says, is there any man here to condemn you? No, sir. No, sir. No, sir, Lord. There's nobody here to condemn thee. And he says, neither do I condemn thee. I want to restore you. I want to forgive you and change you. In Luke chapter 9, in verse 56, Luke chapter 9, In verse 56, turn there with me. So this woman is standing next to Jesus and he says, neither do I condemn thee. Why would Jesus say that? Because I'm telling you what Jesus has come for. Luke chapter 9 verse 56 says, For the Son of Man is not come to destroy man's lives, but to save them. He wasn't here before her, but to deliver her. He was there to her to rescue her. He was there to heal her. That's what Jesus was all about for her. Neither do I condemn thee. I'm not here to destroy your life. I'm not here to judge you. I'm here to save the world. I'm here to save you. Not to destroy your life. And what a counselor. Matthew chapter 9 verse 13. He said, For I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He said, I'm not here to lift up the saved, but to lift up the lost. I'm not here to draw the saved, I'm here to draw the lost. I'm not here to guide the saved, I'm here to guide the lost. He drew all his attention to him. He said to her, Is anybody here could damn you? He said, neither do I condemn. You talk about a counselor. May I be a counselor like this? You talk about a marriage in a situation and you bring that into play tonight, it will help the whole situation out. It will change the whole dynamics of what's really going on when you see this happening. Whenever they set her before Jesus and they said that Jesus she was taken in adultery in the very act and Moses said that that she's to be stoned we want to know what you say tempting you accusing her and he turns around he makes all this turn around next thing, you know, they're running out of there under conviction and She's standing there calling him Lord and he's saying I don't condemn thee either boy. It sure turned around didn't it? Can I say here, thirdly tonight, the counselor's plan was to draw attention to her and then draw attention to him, but then to draw attention to life. Because here's life. Life tonight is we're going to sin. Tonight, we're going to be a problem in a relationship. Tonight, our lives are a big mess. Tonight, we're full of stubbornness and we're full of rebellion. And if it's really told, our hearts are wicked, and who can know it? At our very best, we're as filthy rags. Tonight, not to think more highly of yourselves, we need the Lord Jesus tonight. And we need His counsel, and we need what he has to say concerning us and concerning life he says to the woman he said go see that chapter 8 of John he said go now she she already called him Lord I believe she got saved right here Bible teaches you can't call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Ghost of God So she gets saw she gets saved. She is born again She gets her sin forgiven for Jesus says neither do I condemn thee and so she comes to the place and and he says to her now I want you to go What do you mean go? Well, I want you to live your life with joy right Jesus isn't gonna Jesus isn't gonna say I'd I condemn these not and then say okay now I want you to go you will heathen and He says you got non accusers here. I condemn thee not go. I want you to live your life with joy You're not condemned You're forgiven. You're pardoned You're parting you're forgiven I have given you I have given you a grace You So live your life with joy now and don't worry about it You're not condemned Don't worry about it! Amen? Man, when you get under the blood, and you get forgiven of your sin, and the Lord says, I condemn thee not, you need to live your life with joy, and don't worry about it! That's grace tonight! Many of us, we go to the Lord, we say, forgive me of my sin, I've been rotten, I've been sorry, I'm the armpit of America, and you say, oh dear God, and the next day you worry about it. That's not life. He says go. Don't worry about it. Hey, don't be depressed. Don't be depressed. Why are you depressed? You're not condemned. Why are you depressed? You're forgiven? You're pardoned? Listen friend, they may condemn you. They may judge you. And they may sentence you. And they may accuse you. But when you come to Jesus, you come to God and get your sins forgiven before the Lord. He says I condemn these not. And it matters what He thinks rather than what they think. So why are you depressed? Go. No, don't worry. Don't be depressed. Don't be angered. Don't be angered about those accusers. Don't be angered who set you up. Don't be angered who treat you the way they treated you that caused you to do what you did in your mind of making things work out for your benefit and all these things. Listen, don't be angry. You've been forgiven. You're not condemned. Go! That's what Jesus is saying. Don't sit here. Go. Go live. Live your life. I say to you tonight, who's been living in sin, if I say to you tonight, who's done awful things, I say to you tonight, who's in addictions, and who has things of life tonight that you're ashamed of, you're embarrassed of, and friend, they're things that you don't want nobody to know of, go to Jesus tonight and get forgiveness of those sins, and He will say to you, neither do I condemn thee, go! Don't sit in your pity. Don't sit in your worry. Don't sit in your depression. Don't sit there and be angry at everybody and everyone. Listen, you've been set free. What a counsel. So we find. He says, I want you to live. I condemn you not. Then number two. No, I live your life with joy. But live your life without seeing. He says, and sin no more. You say, well, finally, finally he dealt with the sin. No, he's dealt with the sin. He said to her, sin no more. That's dealing with the sin. I don't condemn you. I forgive you. And you're pardoned. But you know, have no rights to do it again. You don't have no privileges of that any longer. That sin, you got to stop now. Oh, I forgave you of it. I cleansed you. Sin no more. See, we like the first part of that, don't we? Go, I condemn thee not. But when we get to this part, we start making a little nervous. Sin no more you were an adulterer You're forgiven You know what you don't become an adulterer again I'm a drunkard you get forgiven. You don't become a drunkard I'm an alcoholic, I'm a drug addict, I'm a whoremonger, I'm a prostitute, I'm a liar, I'm a thief, I'm a homosexual, I'm a murderer, I'm all these things tonight. He says, I'll forgive you all that. Go and sin no more. That's the counsel. Sin no more. See, this is repentance tonight in action. They came to Jesus, right, in a counseling session. You had one party that was making acquisition toward this other party, the innocent to the guilty. You committed adultery. You're in the very act. Jesus, what'd you say? Moses said to Stoner, That was the original problem, right? Just like if you would take your wife or your husband or you take somebody into counseling and you'd have original reason for go counseling, right? We just don't wake up in the morning and say, call up a buddy or a friend or a wife or a husband and say, hey honey, hey friend, hey buddy, let's go to counseling today. Like going fishing or going hunting. There's always a reason to go to counseling, isn't it? There's somebody that's not doing something right. There's something that's not kind of working together here. So there's a guilty party and there's an innocent party, it seems, at all times. So the original problem was this woman was in adultery. And now they want to know what Jesus has to say about it and what he would do according to that. Well, the problem is fixed. In Jesus' counseling session, would you agree with me, the problem of adultery is fixed for this woman? Right, she's forgiven. She's not condemned and he said go and sin no more That's that's what they came in for Jesus I want you to fix this It's fixed And if you do this with your counsel, it'll fix You do this in your marriage. It'll fix it You do this in your relationship it'll fix it it'll fix it We find the very thing that they were offended of, the very thing that these Pharisees and these scribes found that was very offensive to them, Jesus now said, you don't ever do it again. It's fixed. Now, wouldn't it be good if you take your wife into a counseling session and you say, I got a wife that disrespects me, don't reverence me. Just use that word reverence because it's a Bible word. She don't reverence me. Counselor comes to you and says, OK. Who has to for who has no sin cast the first stone? And. You say. No, I'm not. I'm not sinless. OK, you leave the room. The woman's in there and Jesus talks to the woman, he says, we see by condemning you. No, I don't see nobody. Your husband's gone. Yeah. All right, well, I don't condemn these either. But I want you to leave this room. He said, but I don't want you to, I don't want you to sin no more. In other words, I don't want you to be disreverence ever again. That's what he came in for. It's fixed. Right? To me it looks simple. Some of y'all looking at me like, I don't know what to even think about this. Jesus restored, not only fixed the problem, but Jesus restored the people. Or restored the person. The men were helped because they realized that their sins have now been manifested. Right? They walked in pious, they walked in as if they were perfect, and they walked out, they walked out little wounded puppies. They got help, knowing that they got sin in their lives too. She got help. She left saved. She left by not being condemned and she left by the counsel of the Lord Jesus Christ saying go and sin no more So they got help. Isn't that the reason for the counseling session? Is that everybody get help? Check to Problem fixed Jesus restored the person and now the determined path has been developed go sin no more If you said no more, you'll be no more in my counseling office. If you said no more, there'll be no more accusers. If you said no more, there'll be no more troubles as you got. If you said no more, you'll be just fine. So the plan has now been determined. Let's turn to one more scripture, 1 John 2. And we'll close on this passage. So here's the determined path for this awful, awful sinner, they say. So we find that Jesus said that you sin no more. We find in 1 John 2, verse 1, My little children, these things I write unto you, that you sin not. I would think that says the same thing. Would y'all? Yeah. Sin no more, sin not. The Bible teaches where two or three establishes a matter and here we got two verses that said thou don't sin no more. That's what it says. So that's the path that we're to live. Just like her path is to live, that's our path to live. Now if we do sin, We got 1st John 1 9 if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness We have chapter 2 and verse 1 if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous we have an advocate if you sin tonight and the only reason why tonight you have forgiveness of that sin is because there's somebody that is faithful and just and Because you're not, by your sin you're unfaithful, and by your sin you're unjust. But because of the confession of that sin, there is one that is just and faithful, his name is Jesus Christ, he's called an advocate. Now that word advocate there is the same word as paraclete, which means Holy Spirit. which means comforter. If you look up the Greek word all through the scripture, you'll find everywhere it says comforter, comforter, comforter. It's referring to the Holy Spirit of God. Here in the scripture, the Bible says that I don't want you to sin at all, never, not one time, not in the morning, not at night, not in the day, not in good times, bad times, any time, no sin at all. But if you do sin, you got an advocate, you got a comforter, you got one that means who pleads another case before a judge. And when you sin, Jesus Christ has got to go before the God the judge. He's got to plead your case Lord it's not him. It's me It's my blood That forgave him about sin that word advocate means counsel for defense That means when you say Anna the Lord Jesus Christ has got a counsel for your defense Hey, listen, it's just not seeing and go your way. It's seeing and God gets the work in Jesus You have an advocate with the Father. Tonight, sin affects Christ in the way that Christ now stands up before the Father on your behalf, being just and faithful and defending your sin. Do we understand that tonight? Sin is just not committed and you just move on. No, it affects Christ and God. We find advocate means intercessor. It means legal assistant. It means helper, aider. It means called to one side. The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ the righteous is the propitiation for our sins. In other words, tonight, He's the one who peaces the demand of God. He's the one who relieves the demand of God, satisfies the demand of God. He's the one that brings us to the state of peace and quiet and ease and calm and contentment. He's the one who puts the end to it. He's the one who suppresses and restrains it. This is the new life for the woman who was caught in adultery. Her new life is this. Go! Sin no more! But if you do sin, confess your sin, because faithfulness will make you faithful and just and forgive you of your sins. Who is that? Jesus Christ the righteous, the advocate, the propitiation for your sins, but not only for you, but for the whole world tonight, so that He can cause things to calm down. He can bring things to rest and things to peace, because your sin makes trouble. Thank you, Lord. That's why Jesus said, I condemn thee not because I'm the advocate. I'm the propitiation. If you ask me to forgive you, I will, because I'm just and I'm righteous and I'm faithful. Tonight, that's how we need to get counseled. That's how we need to counsel. Help us tonight in these endeavors. Stand our feet, our heads about, our eyes are closed. This is the new life to live. What a great counselor Jesus was. If you ever have to counsel, remember John chapter 8. If you ever get counseled, remember John chapter 8. Remember the great counselor. What needs to be done. What should be done. How to fix the problem. How to restore the people. how to determine the plan. Jesus did it well. Counsel me tonight, Lord. Counsel me.