The following is a sermon preached at the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, Mississippi. A little commercial, please. Number one, you need to pray for Ligon, his great responsibilities as he leaves you to become Chancellor of Reformed Theological Seminary. And I know you will continue to pray for him and thank God for the great ministry that he's had here. Number two, you need to be thankful for this staff here. I've gotten to know them better and better just in the last few days, and they are very competent. This church is not going to hit a bump. We're going to go right on. And then finally, number three, the pastor that is to come. God will give you a good man. I spoke to Ligon after the service, the morning service, and he and I both agreed. It is just amazing that God continues to give to this congregation such men of intelligence, of education, of great preaching ability, and great leadership. And Ligon said, you forgot the part about handsome and And finally, all of us have been so humble. And so, you're going to get the same kind of a fellow. And now, if you will, let us open our Bibles to the book of 1 John, the Gospel of John, the 8th chapter of the Gospel of John. Let's pray now, and then I'm going to do something. Heavenly Father, we pray, to you that as we turn to your word that you would bless this congregation and everyone who is here. That you would give them an open heart and reception to hear and to understand the word of God. And that the Holy Spirit would speak to them. And Lord, I ask you that you would help the preacher. And you know his heart that he is a sinner. And he needs your mercy and grace. And I ask you to speak to him, you've called him, let's use him. Hear this prayer. In Jesus' holy name and for his sake and our good, amen. You ought to have a quick background here. The seventh chapter of John. By the way, in the morning service, the early service, I went overtime, and I didn't look down and ooh, but I'm looking down now, and I trust I'll get you out on time. I came to this pulpit, and the last two people I spoke to were members of my family, and they both said the same thing, keep it short. You could almost guess who they are. Here's the background. Second chapter, Jesus is presenting himself at the temple, preaching and teaching as the Messiah, the Old Testament Christ that is to come. He says, I am it. They send the religious leaders, the Pharisees, the kind of state police go arrest him and bring him back. They come back and they say, we listen to him preach. Nobody ever preached like this. We couldn't arrest him. So now. They're going to come. in a different way. And the seventh chapter ends with everybody going home for the night. Jesus does not go to anybody's house. Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives. He went out there and spent the night out there all by himself. I wonder why? To be by himself and to pray and to meditate. What do I get out of that? Here's what I get out of that. Sometimes there are men who feel like, oh, Jesus, you know, kind of like a kind of kind of wimpish, you know, Jesus was a real man. He spent many, many, he never rode anywhere, he walked everywhere, he was in shape, he was a godly man, but he was also a physical weapon. He was a man's man. And he can relate to that. That's what he does here. He spends the night on the Mount of Olives, and then he comes back with everybody else early in the morning to the Temple area. He begins to teach again. And as he is teaching, the Pharisees come with a woman. The Pharisees have decided, well, there's no need sending police. What we will do is discredit him publicly, so that they will not be influencing people. And here's how we're going to discredit. We're going to tell him we found this woman in the act of adultery. Moses, the law of Moses, which you're supposed to obey, Lord Jesus. The law of Moses says stone her. What do you say, Lord Jesus? We leave it to you, Rabbi. All these people are watching. If he says stone her, can you imagine? The death. Or if he says, let her go, they will say, this is your God? He can't even obey the law? You see, they got him in the horns of a dilemma. Either way, they discredit him. What does Jesus do? He kneels down. He begins to write the only time he ever wrote anything. And he begins to write in the street, in the dust. And they say, come on, tell us, give us a decision, decision. And finally he stands up and he says, he that is without sin, let him cast the first brick in your hand. And he kneels down again. And he continues to write. And they say, come on. And then finally, apparently, they read what he is writing. And these Pharisees, beginning at the oldest, walk away. And Jesus finally looks up and says to the woman. He said woman, which is a term of honor. It's a nice word. Woman, where are those who condemned you? None? And she says, None, Lord. And he says, Neither do I. Go, and sin no more. Let me read it to you. This is the Word of God. Verse 53 of the seventh chapter. and they went each to his own house but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives and early in the morning he came again to the temple all the people came to him and he sat down and taught them and the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and placing her in the midst They said to him, Jesus, Teacher, Rabbi, 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 cast a stone at her. Once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they, the Pharisees, 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. Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you. Go. And from now on, sin no more. God help us. Well, people would say, as many would, and reasonably so. Now, this was written 2,000 years ago. It occurred 2,000 years ago in a kind of a backwards situation. Man, in your lifetime, we put a man on the moon. And somebody else has been on that moon as well. And we live in a sophisticated... What in the world has this thing 2,000 years ago got to do with us today? And what are these people here for? Why should anybody listen to what you're trying to do right now? This is impossible to be of any real help. Let me put it like this. A number of years ago, we were having communion, the other sacrament, in this sanctuary. And I had preached, and we'd gotten to the communion table, and I had tried to begin to set aside the communion elements the bread and the wine, when I noticed that a man was being helped up and seated up in the balcony. He had just walked in. Here we are coming to the near end of the worship service. And in a minute, instead of being seated, he stood up and he began to preach up in the balcony and he cried out in a loud voice. He said, the Lord God has sent me here to give a word to this congregation. And he started out to criticize. And I said, we're going to have a word of prayer, sir. How about you bowing your head? We'll all bow our heads and we'll pray. And I prayed and I prayed, God deal with us, deal with this man. Amen. I looked up, he's gone. I later found out that some of the deacons had come, the same deacons, and they let him downstairs and they dealt with him. Now, in the first service, I said, I'm going to tell you what happened to that man and what the application was, but I better tell you right now because I forgot to tell them at the end. And they said, tell those other people and maybe we can ask them. And here's what happened. Here's what happened. The man had just gotten out of prison. Our deacons had called a a policeman that we had who was guarding our in that awful that in the worship serves you gotta have police guard your automobile and so they call him. I forget his name, but he was a skinny little fella, but mean as a rattlesnake and he was tough. And here's what he told me afterward. He said, I got that fella in the car and I recognized who he was. And I said, I'm taking you down there. We'll probably put you back in prison. And he said, that man said to me, he said, why don't you treat me with kindness like those men in the church treated me? That's what Jesus was preaching about. Here's what Jesus was preaching about. Here was a group of men who were committed by law. They were like the Justice Department of the Supreme Court, all rolled into one. And they were committed to disciplining the people according to the law. That's why they thought they had Jesus. How did Jesus deal with them? Notice he didn't deal with a woman, yet. He dealt with those men. How did he deal with those men? He didn't say, you have no authority. He didn't do any of those things. What he did is right. I wonder what he wrote down. Here's what I suggest. I looked at all the commentaries. Nobody knows what he wrote. But here's what I think. And what I think he did, he wrote down the Ten Commandments. There are times in this congregation Then we would have the Ten Commandments simply read, no comment. The short version of each of the Ten Commandments. And then we'd go to prayer. And I would watch the people as they were being read the Ten Commandments. It hit every time. And it hit these men. And when it hit these men, You know, it is amazing how Hollywood cannot stay away from the Lord Jesus Christ. They keep up, there's a new one just come out. They cannot get away from the Lord. They don't believe. They would say, what in the world? But they're interested. There'd been nobody like the Lord Jesus on this earth 2,000 years ago. Here's what happens. When these men, Cecil B. DeMille, He was the first one who really dealt with it. The movie was The King of Kings. And here's what happened. Cecil B. DeMille has this scene as a major thing in The King of Kings, the Lord Jesus. And when the Lord Jesus says, you cast the first stone, you who are without sin, and he's writing down here. And then Cecil B. DeMille, he centers on Christ kneeling there. And the first thing you hear is by the feet of a guy, a stone is dropped. It's like a football. Boom. And then another one. The guy will boom, boom, boom. They drop their stone and walk off. What had happened? Jesus had dealt with their spirit of the way they were treating this young lady. Without any regard for her, she was that far from execution and they were using her. By the way, there's no man mentioned. I thought that took two to tangle. But there's no man mentioned. They just got her in the act. I think the whole thing was set up. You got a pretty good indication. The whole thing was set up. Not only that. That when they get through and bring her, they have no compassion at all. And they are preaching to this woman and dealing with the Lord Jesus, and out of arrogance and out of no compassion, judging and applying the law. That's what Jesus is dealing with. And they drop their stone, their football, that rock, and walk off the oldest one knows. At my age, I know. I know about sin. I know about sin in the heart of men. I'm going to get around to it. But it's there. Jesus preached the greatest sermon ever preached, men say. It's called the Sermon on the Mount. And in the seventh chapter of Matthew. He says, if you go to judge someone else, be careful that if you're going to take a speck out of their eye in judgment surgery, that you don't have a plank in your own eye. And that's the attitude you have. That's these men, arrogance, judgment and self-righteousness. OK, so what? So this. You took a vow just a few seconds ago. To do what? To live before those three children. as an example of Jesus Christ, and to raise them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and to help those mamas and those daddies. So what? Everybody in this congregation loves my wife. Miss Jane, sweet thing, sweet thing. Can you imagine Miss Jane screaming at me? And not once. Over and over and over again. You know when it takes place? When I'm driving an automobile. And I'm in the wrong lane, I turn on the ignition, she says, slow down, and it goes on, it's been going on for years. And I mean, she does not, and I don't like the way she drives. And I'm going to tell you, there's real yelling, hard yelling at each other. Pass him. I'm going the speed limit. And my sons. My son says, yes, have you ever heard your mom and daddy have a real good fight? Oh, yeah. Happened years ago when we were in Miami on New Year's Day, but we had a crowd of people there and she is saying, go get some chicken. And I'm saying we're going to have hot dogs and hamburgers and we headed out. in front of them, and they still remember it. I mean, years ago. And they'll bring it up. You know, there are kids in Christian homes who hear mom and daddy at each other's throat day after day. How about you, brother, and your family? and your wife, grandmama. And then those children, they go to school. And in schools, we're trying to deal with bullying. You know what bullying is? It's an attitude of the superior, the stronger against the weaker. Where do those kids get that? They got it at home. That's where they got it. And they're hurting each other. How about the business world? You're called upon to listen. Everybody is making judgments. I wonder how many judgments you made today about this worship service. Just by sitting there and watching. And the choir and how many you will make afterward by listening and dealing as roast preacher when we get home. Everybody's dealing. How about the governor of New Jersey? It's called bullying. What is bullying? That's exactly what Jesus is talking about. You think this passage has any relevance, anything that is good for America, and for you, and for your home, and for your life, I believe it's crucial to the well-being of Christianity, the well-being of your home, the well-being of your heart, and your mama, and your daddy, and this church, of how we deal with things in this church, when we are making judgments of right and wrong, As did these men. How do you do it? Out of what spirit? Out of humbly, humility, or out of self-righteousness? You think it makes a difference in church life? I wonder why churches split. I wonder about the music of the church. Does this have any relevance? you better believe it in every area of life about those who are arrogant and have the ability and those who are standing there in judgment being made on them. It makes all the difference of the world. Well, those men left. Now the Lord Jesus, he's still kneeling. And he looks up and he says, where are the men who condemn you? And they're gone, Lord. Nobody. I don't condemn you either, madam. Go and sin no more. What's that got to do with us? Well, this is what I got to do with us. How about it, man? Do you know what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount about adultery in the mind? Do you know what he says? What kind of an age do you live in? You live in the same kind of age sexually that Jesus lived in, and it was wild. And in the name of religion, they had people in prostitutes in the churches and everything else. It was sex It's religion and everybody's got the right to it. How's that sound for today? How are you living like that, man? Is there a man here who's going to walk out there and say, sexually, in the eyes of God, I'm pure as the driven snow? Buddy, if you think that way, you don't know you're God. And it is awesome And it is frightening. And it is a struggle. It is a struggle when you're saying, oh, God help me. And ladies, can I say. I just had these four boys, no problem, just put on blue jeans, boy. How you dress? How you dress? Do you understand men, ladies? Can you understand the pleasure and the joy, if it would be that I walk out that door and I hear the Lord say to me, I do not condemn you, John, Joe, Jim, and Matthew, to walk out of here forgiven. And for him to say, and buddy, let's work with this. Help me, Lord. Help me. And what a blessing. You understand what happened to marriage right here in our beloved state? And to men and women and what has happened to marriage and little babies. I thought about that as you were making vows. That 70-some percent of the children who are born today in Mississippi won't hear anything like that. Many of them don't even know who their father is. Yesterday, you think this text has any significance? Has anything to say to us? Well, I could pronounce the benediction here, except for one thing. You see, he's dealt with those men. Now he's dealt with this woman. By the way, I'm sure that woman went home and said, Mom and Dad, you'll never believe what happened. I got saved today in more ways than one. I called him Lord. I got saved today. But there's one other person that I haven't mentioned. You know, his name is John Harry Billy. And Mary Lou. And Susan. That was the crowd that watched Jesus and the Pharisees, just like you at this Bible study. And they watched what happened. And they knew that Jesus was saying, I'm the Messiah. I'm God's answer. And in effect, he was saying, make a decision. Am I a liar? Am I a lunatic? Or am I the Lord? How about it? I was 27 years old, and I'd sat in a pew, not in a church like this, but anyway, in a church, and I'd apparently heard some good preaching. But I had some strange ideas. Anybody like that here today? I mean wild ideas about what God is like, the God I had made up in my own mind. not the God of John chapter 8. And then in a church, hearing a man preach, I came under conviction. And I wept at the age of 27. And things changed. Good guy, moral, oh you would have said, oh yeah, I'm a Christian. I wonder if there's somebody here who's just not certain where in the world I stand with the Lord. How about getting it right if you really want it. And even if you know that you're a Christian. God, you speak to me, you've spoken to me about sins sexually and about arrogance and pride making decisions. I come to you. You're my Lord, and you're my Savior. Now, no turning back. No turning back. As we pray together, Heavenly Father, we thank you again for the gospel of the Lord Jesus and for the fact that without him we could never deal with our sins and forgiveness and all these things and arrogance. We could, but you can. By the power of the Holy Spirit, you can change our hearts. Help us particularly on this day for the sake of the children. have our homes, places of loving discipline, loving discipline and purity. And may we rejoice in the name of Jesus, how sweet it sounds, amen and amen. You have been listening to a sermon preached at the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, Mississippi. Our contact is www.fpcjackson.org.