Before I read this text, I'm going to do like Brother Carter, I'm going to preface it by a verse in the Old Testament that summarizes the ministry of Christ. It was the text that he unfolded and read. He didn't expound upon it other than just a brief comment in his public debut in the hometown synagogue of Nazareth. It reads, Isaiah 61 verse 1, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. John chapter 8, beginning at verse 1. Jesus went into the Mount of Olives, and early in the morning He came again into the temple. And all the people came unto Him. There's a crowd gathering. And he sat down and taught them. It is a church service going on. It is in the temple grounds and quite a crowd has gathered for this meeting. And the scribes and the Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, They said 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 what sayest thou? This they said, tempting or testing him that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground, And in italics, which means it wasn't in the original text, but it is assumed that this was the thought, as though he heard them not. But this emphasis that he wrote with his finger on the ground, this is very significant in the whole story. So when they continued to ask him, asking him, he lifted 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 wrote on the ground. And verse 9 says, they heard what he was writing. It's not just that they heard Him saying, He who is without sin among you, let him cast a stone at her. They would not have heeded that word alone had it not been for the writing on the ground. But after they were Reading what he was writing on the ground, it took the wind out of their sails. And when they had heard it. Being convicted. By their own conscience. They went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last. And Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst. And when Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Has no man condemned thee? And she said, no man, Lord. Notice. No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her. I cannot help but to think that when she said this, there was some tears in her eyes. trembling in her body. She had just experienced in this bewildering moment in her life, the most traumatic experience of her life. Taken out of the very bed in which she was committing adultery, brought into a church service, sat before The famous teacher, Jesus Christ, and was gathered there for the purpose of accusing Christ of being in conflict with the Law of Moses. She said, no man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, it's one thing For man to say, I don't condemn you, it's another thing and falls into a different category when Jesus says, neither do I condemn thee. The only one with the authority, the right, the power, the privilege to condemn her. neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more.' Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, took up his sermon where he had been left out." What a church service. Unconventional. One of the most traumatic episodes in the ministry of Jesus. The tension is so thick. The reality here of this no doubt partially clad woman who had been dragged into that service. And after all that was said and done, Jesus resumed and concluded This message, this meeting with these words, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. It's amazing how many Bible scholars and commentaries say that this account really ought not to be in the Scriptures. It's an illegitimate account. But as we read this, we know the Spirit bears witness that this actually happened. This is true. This event presents us with Christ at His best. Now that's saying something about Christ is always at His best. But my friend, if there was any dilemma that He was faced with, Of all the trials and tests that the devil placed upon him, there was not anything that was more contentious and possibly ruinaceous to his life, his ministry, than this particular test. And I declare, and look at it in verse 5 and 6. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned, but what sayest thou? This they said, not because they cared about the soul of the woman. Not because they wanted justice in the sight of God. Not because they wanted the law and honor the law. They did it to trap Jesus. To discredit Christ. to undermine his ministry and his whole thrust of gospel preaching, so that they might have something to accuse him. And I declare that it is only the incarnate Son of the living God that could have passed this test. Here he does three things. He convicts These arrogant, self-righteous, religious sinners, that they are no better than the woman that they have dragged before the court. That's something. I suppose it had something to do with what he wrote on the ground. And I suppose that had something to do with his wisdom. and his omniscience of knowing their lives, their crimes, their immoralities, their sins. It is possible that he wrote all the Ten Commandments Because it's significant to me that he used his finger. Whose finger was it that carved the first ten commandments? It was his. And no doubt, as he was writing on the ground, commandments came forth from the finger with names. So he convicts these arrogant, self-righteous sinners. He vindicates also the law. He does not nullify the law. He does not cancel the law. He does not set it aside. He does not belittle the law. He upholds its true purpose and its purity. amazing, only the Son of God. And then thirdly, he shows compassion and extends the mercy of God to this trembling, half-dressed, poor, sinful woman who has been caught in adultery. Now I want to say something, if you happen not to be a Christian, after considering the treatment of Jesus Christ to this particular sinner, and we learn something, how willing the Lord Jesus is to pardon the repentant. to cleanse the sinner from all their guilt, to put in the sinner a new heart and a new spirit whereby the word when it comes, go and sin no more, doesn't fall on deaf ears. For the work of the new covenant says that I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh and I will put in them a heart of flesh and they shall keep my commandments and walk in my ways." And so, what a tragedy for any sinner. Whatever area of sin that is your weakness, whatever areas of sin that holds you in bondage, what a terrible thing to die without knowing this Lord Jesus." Now, I want you to join with me the remainder of our message, and we're going to make a few observations of the nature of things that stand out in this account. And of course, we're just going to touch the hem of the garment on these truths, but I do want you to consider, we're going to consider the nature of sin. It stands out in this count what sin is like. Number two, we're going to consider the nature of the law. What sayeth the law? What sayest thou Christ? What's the nature of the law? Then we're going to consider the nature of Jesus in this situation. And then we're going to conclude with a couple of observations on the nature of conversion. For if there's any wonderful account of someone who leaves, comes in sinful, condemned, poor, lost, needy, and leaves a changed woman, converted, forgiven with new life, This particular woman is a wonderful example. First of all, let's consider the nature of sin as set forth in this account. Now, here we have the ever-popular, time-tested, no respecter of persons sin of adultery. Adultery never goes out of style. Adultery is the prominent sin of any age. Jesus, in classifying the characteristics of the day in which he lived, called it a sinful and adulterous generation. Adultery has a lot of false names. An affair. A love romance. Well, I found my soulmate, a little indiscretion, a fling. But beloved, if we could see it for what it truly is, adultery, breaking the covenant with the wife of your youth or the husband of your youth, sinning, deceived, It is no less than betrayal. It is distortion. It is hurt. It is injury. It is a stain upon the inward soul. And if it is not forgiven, it is damnable. Brother Carter, I think, quoted, sinners and whoremongers will God judge. If there has not been a clear cut break with the sin of adultery and the forgiveness of God to cover it, it will damn you forever. Adultery is forbidden in the fifth commandment, Exodus 20, 14. Thou shalt not commit adultery. God's mind is against it. And he knows these are not just little rules that he pulls out of the oblivion of the universe and says, this would be a good rule. He knows that adultery is a self-destructive sin. As all sins is. Sin hurts you. Yes, it's a sin against God. But when you sin, you sin against yourself. You sin against your makeup. You sin against your nature. And here it is. It is right in the middle of the Ten Commandments. In Leviticus 20, verse 10, and in Deuteronomy 22, 10, the Word of God laid down the severest penalty upon those who were guilty of adultery. Let me read Leviticus 20, verse 10. And the man, listen to this, and the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, Even he that commiteth adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, both of them, shall surely be put to death." So here it is. The pronouncement of God is plainly understood, and the scribes and the Pharisees know what God has said about it, and they want to use this dilemma to find an accusation against Christ. Now we see the dual nature of sin here. And I hope this is something that we will all remember. Sin has two sides to this. And you reflect it in our story. First of all, there is the pleasure phase of sin. That is, Do you remember when the Bible in Hebrews said about Moses, he chose to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than what? To enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. The pleasures of sin are for a season. That is, they are brief, but they are there, they're real. And so we see that she had lived in this pleasure phase of sin when, as it were, her deeds, her affairs, her sins, her wrongdoing was under control. That's the deceptive nature of sin is that you think you can get by with it. You think you can control it, and maybe for a while. It seems that judgment or bad consequences for your sin is nowhere to be seen. You know, there's a proverb that says, because sentence against the evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the hearts of the sons of men are set in them fully. to do evil. So she was living this, and had to live this pleasure phase of sin. When those deeds of darkness remain in the dark, secret, hidden, out of the view of the public. As if, you know, in the night, when we're doing these things at night, so what? Who sees? Who cares? It's a delusion to think that deeds performed at night are any less visible to the Almighty than were they to be performed in broad daylight. It makes no difference whatsoever. But here it is. I don't know. There's several things I don't know. Was she a married woman? Probably. Was her soulmate a married man? Probably. We're not told. But one thing, she's getting by with this for a while. She's loving this. She's having fun. You know, the Scripture tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5, 7, For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken, are drunken in the night. There's something about being deluded by your sins. You're made drunk by them. You don't understand. You think you're getting by. You think no one notices. They knew how long this adulterous affair was going on. Who knows? And no doubt, you see, when Jesus wrote on the ground, The Bible says that the people that were condemning her was convicted in their own conscience of their own sins. Well, there's something inside us that when we're breaking God's law, I don't care. When we are breaking God's law, we are sinning against our own conscience. And so therefore, no doubt, as many adulterers and adulteresses have in their minds, they plan on stopping this. This is only for a brief time. So at some point she planned to stop this. She knew that it was wrong. How long again this adultery had been going on, we do not know. But let me tell you this, when sin traps you, it is a vice that you cannot escape from easily. When you become engaged in immorality, it weaves a sticky web around your will and your power and entangles you to the point that you can't get away! That's what the Lord Jesus said in John 8, 34. He that committed sin is the servant of sin. Well, I thought we're free in this thing. Oh, that's the thing. Whatever freedom, whatever fling, whatever wonder, whatever marvel, whatever excitement is in this thing, it soon jades to the point that this is not fun anymore. It doesn't have the thrill it used to. He that committed sin is the servant of... You don't have sin, folks. If you're involved in it, you don't have sin under control. It's got you under control. So for the present time, she was committing in this pleasure phase of sin. No one knew. Live for today, don't worry about tomorrow. Let's have another fling tonight. Make no mistake, sin does have a brief but pleasurable phase in its practice. But let's go on here. We're talking about the nature of sin. Suddenly on that particular morning, that early morning, Things took a turn for the worse. Without warning, a group of men burst into the room where she was with her partner. And they dragged her out of bed. And they dragged her before the Lord Jesus and before this gawking crowd and before this bloodthirsty mob who were calling for her death by stoning. You see, this is the second phase of sin. In verse 4, the scripture says, Now they said unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act. There's this involuntary, out-of-control aspect of sin. Sin has its pleasure, and I've got this under control. I'm in charge here. It's got that delusion to it for a while, but then when you practice sin so long, it gets out of control. You can't judge the consequences anymore. Here it is. She's caught. She's taken. She has no place to hide. What an amazing experience this was for her. She was exposed. Indeed, the deepest, the most stressful, the most hurtful incident of her life. For in a flash of a moment here as the men break in and grab her out of bed, all of whatever was pleasurable, all whatever was satisfying, all of what she enjoyed just dissipated in a moment. And there she was in the crisis of her life. terrorized, caught without excuse. Here they burst into a room taking her in the very act of adultery. No doubt she said she could have screamed, well of all the nerve coming in on me like this. Is there no respect for a woman's privacy? Yes, all the former pleasures and delights were swallowed up by this dreadful bite of sin. And my friend, this is the nature of sin. It will bite you. It's like trying to tame a wild animal. Sooner or later you're going to get hurt, and hurt deeply. It's the law of the harvest. Be not deceived. And God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. And he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh what? Reap corruption. Yes, sin has its pleasurable phase, its enjoyable phase, but my friends, soon the pleasures run out and there's the misery. You remember the story of the prodigal son. who took his father's inheritance and made his journey into a far country. And the scripture says there he wasted his substance with riotous living. There was the pleasure phase. He was having a good time on his daddy's money. In fact, the elder son made a comment that the younger son had devoured thy living with harlots. But you remember what was said in Luke 15, and when he has spent all, you're going to spend all very quickly when you're living in opposition to God and His truth. When he has spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land. And he began to be in want, and he was sent to feed swine, and no man gave unto him." So obviously, this woman's private secret life was not as private as she believed it to be. They knew where she was. It's very possible that they knew the man in whom she was having the affair. She is betrayed. People know what's going on. You think you got your life hidden. And also, if you think your friends out there in the world are really friends indeed, you're mistaken. They will betray you and turn on you in a New York minute. Here she is. But you know what the most hypocritical thing in this grabbing this woman and taking her before Christ that morning? Do you smell a little fishy business going on? There's something sinful about this pretended zeal for the law and for righteousness. You see the motives of these scribes and Pharisees was not pure. They had skirted an essential part of the law They quoted, yes, Leviticus 20.11 and Deuteronomy 22 partially. But they didn't quote all of it because they weren't obedient to all of the law, which says what? Not just the man is to be, no, the woman is to be taken, but the man is to be taken as well. Now why in the world did they let the man go? Only the woman taken. So here it is. There's some hypocrisy here going on from the get-go. But whatever else may be true, here she is in a dilemma, and she has no excuse. And let me tell you this, when it comes to sin, sin is an individual thing in your life, and you cannot exonerate yourself and your guilt by the wrongdoing or failures of others. What others seem to get by with does not excuse you for your sins, nor can we make our shame, our guilt, and our deserved judgment any lighter. So we see the nature of sin, these two things. We see it in this woman. Oh, it was fun for a while, but look at the crisis now. Look at the dreadful, horrible circumstances she finds herself brought in, half-naked, trembling, before this crowd. Master, this woman has taken an adulterer. Now let us observe the nature of the law. We've seen a little bit about the nature of sin. Verse 5. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned. Indeed, that's true. What sayest thou? What says the law about this woman and her behavior? What does the law say? Is her deed permissible? Is it excusable? When we break the law of God, can we just go on and pick up the pieces and act like nothing else has happened? No. Does time remove the consequences of breaking the law? Oh, I've broken the law years ago. I've sinned in great ways. I've never really repented of it. I've never really renounced it. I've never really made it right with God. But time makes it go away. No, no, no. The law. You've got to face the law. And the law has one thing to say to those who violate it, to those who transgress it. It's not just adultery that will get you dead. Dishonoring mommy and daddy will get you dead. Stealing anything that doesn't belong to you will make you condemned. Taking the name of the Lord God in vain will damn your soul. For there's only one final and ultimate conclusion of the law and it is this, the wages of sin is death. The law is inflexible, unwavering, It is very clear. What part of the law do you not understand? When you read the Ten Commandments, do you scratch your head and you say, God, you just didn't make this plain enough? It's clear, exact, and it demands a severe penalty. And now it must be so in the life of this woman. She is before the law. She's in the hands of the law. And this is a proper and a necessary thing. If you ever really come to enjoy the benefits of Christ and His gospel, you first have to stand before the law. The law first. There's no conflict here between the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, that He came to seek and to save the lost, We need the definitions and the condemnations of the law. We must have it. The law is a teacher. It is a schoolmaster. The law awakens a sense of wrongdoing. It is through the knowledge of the law that we know we're sinners. The law diagnoses our problem and the law condemns us and convicts us. The voice of the law says but one thing. Obey me or die. Keep me or be cursed. That's the message of the law. So the law does rightly expose our sin and rightly call for our death. The law called for her death and that's the issue and they bring that to the forefront. The law convicts and condemns. And that's what it's supposed to do. That's what God intended it to do. The law never liberates you or sets you free. And anyone who ever receives pardon and mercy from Jesus Christ must first appear before Him as a lawbreaker. Jesus Christ will only save lawbreakers. Sinners! If you've never seen yourself as a sinner, if you've never seen how horrid it is to transgress the law of God, then I doubt very seriously you understand the mercy of Jesus Christ. The law condemns us. The law convicts us. Therefore, the law is the friend of the gospel. The law is required. You must stand before the law and judgment before you can ever hear the merciful good news, neither do I condemn thee. You can't bypass the law. You're only wrong under the law. It's an accuser. You're strict, clear, and unbending. But you see, the hypocrisy of the whole affair was everybody here in before Christ, the crowd, the scribes and the Pharisees who had brought the poor woman to this point in time, all of them are lawbreakers. All of them are under the curse, although some of them do not feel it early that morning. They feel pretty good about themselves. They feel better. God, I thank Thee mentality. They brought this poor woman that they felt and knew to deserve condemnation. But the law is fair and balanced, and it has the same standard for one and all. And this is the thing about the law. If you keep all but one commandment, you're guilty of breaking all. All of the laws of God stand together. united to proclaim our guilt. And if we're not guilty in this area, say, oh, I've always honored my mom and father. That's very good. Do you remember the rich young ruler who said, erringly, when Jesus said, you know the commandments, honor thy father and thy mother. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. And he said, all these things have I kept from my youth up. Wrong, oh. If you really have kept the commandments, then you can sell everything you've got. Your heart is in such a disposition before God that you can release your possessions to give to the poor and you can follow me without a Any hesitation? No. Jesus was putting upon him and his requirement the fact that he had not kept the law. That he was guilty. And that's what the law does to us all. We're all guilty. We're all condemned by the law. All the law stands together. And the scripture says that no man can be justified by the law is evident in the fact that no man can keep the law either in deed or in spirit. And Jesus is the only one that really understands this. He knows exactly that all of these people are lawbreakers. They don't feel that, but He knows. Therefore the finger incident. in the dirt. Names, deeds, law. Names, deeds, laws. And when they had heard that, condemned, guilty. They were hypocrites. Perhaps they were guilty of the same sin, but whatever He wrote on the ground about them convicted them to the heart. They had gross violations of the law and stood guilty and condemned. Now remember this about the law, folks. The law is only a means to convict and condemn. It never is a means of life and liberty and forgiveness. How foolish it is to think the way to live a blessed life is by trying to live by the law. You can't do it. You've never done it. All sinners who come to Jesus Christ come with certain violations of the law And the penalty of death is upon them. Now we turn here briefly to consider only two things here now. There's so much about our blessed master that could be said. But I want to consider the nature of Christ and what a study this is in the perfections, the glory of the Lord Jesus. I'm telling you, what a man. Look at how he handles this thing. Two things. First, his incomprehensible wit and wisdom in handling this situation. They thought to trap him. They thought the scheme was foolproof. They thought he had no way out. Look at his wisdom. He traps them. He hymns them in. He brings conviction upon all of them. So we see His incomprehensible wisdom. The trap was this. Here's the dilemma. If He gave the answer, what sayest thou? If He exonerated her, He said, well, she needs mercy, let's let her go. That would put him contrary to the law of Moses. Okay? Now you've got to appreciate, look at this now. It's no little test. On the other hand, if the verdict was condemning her, It would seem to put Him, and they would accuse Him of insurrection against Rome because the Jews had no authority to put anybody to death. And it would contradict what He was going around preaching that He came to seek and to save sinners. You remember one of the things they accused Christ of when He was hanging on the cross was that He saved others. But he catches the wise in their own craftiness by only allowing. Here's the wisdom. He only allows those who he says have no sin to cast a stone at her. Thus he does not nullify the law, nor does he reproach the theme of the gospel. You're talking about smart guy. He would let justice fall upon this woman because the law demanded it, but only, ONLY in the full light of everybody's sin. They thought to have Christ condemn her for this awful sin. Christ would have them convicted in silence by what He knew about their lives. You know, if Jesus wrote our sins on the ground before our peers, how would we feel about condemning somebody else? It'd take the energy out of us, wouldn't it? That's exactly what Jesus did. He doesn't nullify the law, and He doesn't nullify the gospel of grace. But he shows his incomprehensible wisdom and knowledge of all men in that he could write on the ground their own transgressions and violations of the law and says, okay, boys, if you don't have any sin, let's get to it. Let's judge her. Well, did this work? He turned this affair into a forum illustrating His perfect knowledge of men. These men who came as judges and condemning critics left with a sense of guilt and shame. He brought the light of truth upon the whole situation and upon their individual lives. They are convicted, they are guilty, they are awakened in their conscience. And these would-be judges, who came to condemn her that day. The eldest being the first to leave. And then the youngest. Are saying. We have no right. To condemn this woman. And that's right. Never forget it. You don't have a right to condemn anybody. Jesus is an amazing man. Wise. Omniscient. Merciful. The second thing I want you to see about the nature of Jesus is His great tenderness toward this woman in her most desperate moment. His tenderness. There's not a friend like the lowly Jesus. No, not one. No, not one. The Lord Jesus is above all, foremost, a merciful Savior. He's the only one that has the right to stone her. Why didn't he do it? He knows he's going to let the stroke of justice that this woman deserves fall upon himself. You know why he releases you from your condemnation and your deserved judgment? It's not because he loves you. is because He sacrificed Himself and gave His life. And therefore it's the basis of the atonement that He moves in mercy to release this woman. He was the only one who could have justly condemned her. But listen, hear the voice of mercy. Neither do I condemn thee. And this is something you better be glad is in the nature of God. He'd rather save you than damn you. He can do either, but he is, this is in his heart. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. What a merciful man he is. Look at these greedy, self-righteous, hypocritical Pharisees ready to damn in a minute. Heartless, cruel, cold, sterile religion. But here are the Son of God overflowing from His heart with tender mercy, gentleness, kindness. Only at His second appearing does He mount the throne of justice. Right now He is on the throne of grace. And Christ now receives sinful men. This quality in Christ is your only hope. That He will be merciful to you and pardon your transgressions. You better seize upon this. His great willingness to pardon transgressions, His power to transform you and set you free. Oh, you say, well, Brother Don, that was then. No, no, no, no. He closed that sermon that day with verse 12, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. So you do not need to be left out, your life, your sin and transgression, however, whatever area it is in. It can be through His merciful propitiation for your sins. His bloodletting, His beatings, the spittle, the spear, the cruelty, the slaughter of this Lamb of God. puts God in a position to wash you whiter than snow. There ain't nothing better than this! To be forgiven! To be cleansed! Let me conclude this by giving you a couple things regarding the true nature of conversion. With this woman converted, Isn't it an odd paradox that the very people who wished to bring this woman to her destruction unwittingly brought her to salvation? It's amazing what God can use to bring a man to salvation or a woman to salvation. What about conversion? Two things I want to say here. First of all, I'm talking about real conversion now. I'm not talking about phony little walks, strolls down the aisle of a church and shaking a good preacher's hand and saying, I'm ready to follow Jesus. I'm talking about a real conversion. If you are really converted, it's hard getting there. That is, to come to the place where you really have peace with God and release to a new life. You don't get there very easily. It's a hard thing. You look at this woman. She's helpless, stressed, guilty, shuddering, shamed, exposed, without excuse, trembling. She is a perfect example of the dynamics of heart and soul that we must pass through. on the road to conversion. You know what our problem is? We're too high, too old, too good, too smart. We have to be brought down off of our high horse and made to see we deserve death. We deserve hell. And here that happened to this woman. It wasn't easy for her to be brought to this place where she could receive the mercy of God. And neither will it be for you. You won't tiptoe through the tulips in this business. God, if He's going to save you, will bring you through the path of the law, the path of conviction, and the path that you are shut up and you have no hope. Here it is. It's not an easy thing to come to a place where you release your life into the hands of Christ. Her pleasure of sin has now turned sour. She suffers terrible sins of guilt and condemnation. The wind of blame and excuse. That's another thing. As long as but, but, but is in your vocabulary, you're not close to being forgiven. When you get all the excuses taken out of your vocabulary and you have no one to blame, You're close, not far from the kingdom of God. She's helpless, powerless, speechless before God and man. Lost, undone, defenseless. She's as good as dead if the Lord wills it. She's at the lowest of the low points of her life. Wouldn't you agree that? She just is down. She's a fallen woman and she's as down as she could be. in need before God. Yes, it's not an easy place to come to the place of conversion. But I want to notice the second thing. This sad, stressful event came to the place where it was only her and Jesus alone. And let me tell you, beloved, this will be the place that you find peace and forgiveness. It will be the place where misery passes into peace. When it's ever just you and God alone, you and Christ, and you're willing to accept His will and His Word. you will be converted. As long as it's Jesus plus something, it won't happen. If it's Jesus and your good works, it won't happen. If it's Jesus and baptism, it won't happen. If it's Jesus and good resolutions to do better, it'll never occur. If it's Jesus and excuses, forget it. As long as another human being is in the picture, as long as you're listening to what other voices are saying, you will never have peace. But when did you just get before the Lord and it's just you and Him? It'll be the critical turning point. When you bowed before Him and said, Lord, what sayest Thou, Lord, about me? Neither do I condemn thee. I wonder how she felt when those words passed her ears. Because when he spoke the word with his voice, the power of the Spirit moved in her heart and she got a washing, a cleansing, a renewal, a regeneration, a restart, a rebirth. I wonder how she felt. Clean. Gone, gone, gone are my sins. Jesus alone with the Word of Christ came this strange heavenly peace that settled into her soul. It was the most critical point in the experience. She was released from her condemnation. She was cleansed from her guilt and she was renewed in her spirit. She would never be the same. That brings me to my final point. I've preached long enough. The words that Jesus finally told her is applicable for any convert and it is this. Go and sin no more. She was changed and she was in a state of mind and heart where she could obey this. The saving grace of Christ is always effectual and fruitful. The grace of Christ is never a license to go back out and do it like you did before. You cannot. You are not the same. If you are truly converted, you are inwardly changed and your whole perspective and attitude and world view is different. You do not look upon God the same. You do not look upon man the same. You do not look upon sin as the same. She was enabled because of her regeneration to obey Christ. You can count on this. Anybody who quickly returns to their old life and their old ways are not converted. It's a sham. It's a joke. If God has saved you, he's put in you a new heart and a new spirit. And now you will love, you are in harmony with God. You can say with him, thy law do I love. I will keep thy commandments. If any man says he knows God and will not keep his commandments, he is a liar. And the truth is not in him. So what a remarkable story, isn't it? What says the Lord about you? Where are you at? I hope you're in this phase of going and sinning no more. But if not, I hope you'll meet the mercies of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for saving this woman. Thank you for setting her as an epic example of your mercy that can be shown to the most fallen, embarrassed, shamed, humiliated, fallen creatures. Father, thank you for saving me from my condemnation. Thank You for cleansing me of my guilt. Thank You for washing away all of my wrongs. Thank You for making me a new man. I love You, Lord. I love You. And we love You here. There's many, many hearts here that are in love with You. And Lord, we want to obey You. We want to follow You. We want to glorify You. We want to magnify Your grace that's been shown to us. Bless this church, this pastor, this family, these members of this local congregation. Bless Brother Carter in his evangelical ministry. Bless everyone that's here in every way we need to be blessed. Thank you, Lord, for your sufficiency. Thank you for your mercy. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.