Let's open our Bibles to John's Gospel, Chapter 8, the Gospel by John, and we're going to read 13 verses from that Gospel soon. As you're turning there, we're actually starting in verse 53 down through verse 12 of Chapter 8. And I do have to comment, because last night when we were going over this with my family, they said, well, what about all the people that those verses are either in italics and the footnotes are not there? And I'll say, well, then I'll have to say something to him now. My years as a professor, I will not bore you with textual criticism, but I preach from and use and memorize from the King James, New King James manuscript. And we are not at all a King James only church, but I am a King James, New King James, Caring Person by Conviction, not because I got a deal on it at the bookstore. There are two families of manuscripts. One's called the majority text and the other's called the minority, the most and the fewer. The majority text is the King James, New King James family, and that means that that the preponderance, the greatest number of manuscripts are in that family and they're from Western Europe and the other are from the East, from Syria and Egypt and all that. And so the minority text, if there's any doubt about anything, they remove it. They cut it right out, right away. The majority text, if it's in the manuscripts, they leave it there. And they might tell you that, you know, there's some doubt about this or that, but they leave it there. And I prefer to leave it there, and this is probably one of the several reasons why, because this inspired section of God's Word is one of the most beautiful pictures of Jesus Christ. If you've ever sinned, you'll love this section and that should include all of us. So this morning and before we read, we're going to read one of the most touching passages of the scriptures to all of us who know what it means to be a sinner. These inspired words, and they are inspired, even though most textual scholars don't think it belongs here, few of them would go so far as to say that they shouldn't even be in the Bible. They realize the power of the Word of God. But I believe not only do they belong here, but they're also part of the Bible. But the Holy Spirit inspired John to capture for us one of the clearest pictures of Jesus Christ and how he looks at contrite grieving, sorrowing, repentant sinners and those who realize that they've sinned and failed and fallen short of God's holiness. This scene is so beautiful, let me just start in verse 53 and before we read it, I want to paint it for you, okay, because sometimes we read this so fast we miss some of the intricate details. It's early morning, the sun is probably already warming the air around the glistening marble covered with gold of the Herodian temple. This was one of the great wonders of the ancient world, the Herodian temple. And as it glistens off the gold of Herod's temple, Jesus, who had no place of his own, comes into the temple. It says in verse 53, everybody went to their own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Why? Well, most likely, He went to a place where a year ago all of the pilgrims stood and we had a service over there in the cave or the grotto of Gethsemane. It was a public spot. It was a place of three giant olive presses where people could collect their olives from their trees around their house, take them in, crush them and squeeze them into oil and so it was a common area. quite a large one, where those that were crushing and waiting for their olives to be squashed into oil could sleep there and guard their treasure, which was their olive crop. And so they would sleep by the press and stay there. So it was a kind of a free place to stay if you didn't have anywhere else. And that's probably where Jesus was. In fact, he often went to Gethsemane, and that's the name of that place, the olive press place. So Jesus came that morning, into the temple, across the Kidron Valley, probably having slept with the Twelve there on the Mount of Olives, probably in that common place known as the Grotto or the Cave of Gethsemane, where anyone could stay free of charge near those olive presses. Then he finds his spot. Jesus often sat on the steps of the temple. In fact, He often, and so did the apostles, teach on the southern steps of the temple, which are still there today, a real treasure place to visit and sit and read God's Word. But Jesus sat somewhere on those steps in the temple area, and as He sat there, the eager followers, probably hundreds if not thousands of them, who often mobbed Him in His ministry, gathered there in Jerusalem to listen and to learn. And Jesus, who had been teaching, had gone through, in the North, the Bread of Life discourse, and now, in Chapter 7, had started talking to them even more deeply and revealing himself. And here, he starts doing that. As Jesus is there teaching, all of a sudden, no sooner had he opened his mouth than a group of religious leaders And they're listed here. A group, verse 3, of the scribes and Pharisees. These were the religious establishment. They had long flowing robes. They had manicured beards. And they were very well known in the city of Jerusalem because they were the leaders, many of them part of the ruling body. So they were the political as well as the religious leaders. But a whole group of them start storming across the great colonnade. Now, what's the colonnade? It was a huge, scores and scores of these massive columns that Herod had carved from the native bedrock. In fact, we know exactly there's one piece of the, they always say not a bit of Herod's temples left, there is one column left. It goes from here to that door. It's over 70 feet long and it's still stuck in the bedrock because Harrod's artisans were making it into a beautiful 70 foot high pillar and as they got it rounded, just when they got the last part rounded, their chisels hit one too many times in the wrong place and it split. that huge column and so they left it embedded in the bedrock just outside the city so we know how massive they were so it was like a redwood forest of columns and through those columns came these religious leaders and they're coming clamorously across that great colonnade they march right up to where Jesus was sitting as he was quietly teaching all those were listening and there they step forward and thrust before him very unceremoniously A nameless, faceless woman who is the center of this whole controversy. And that woman falls to the ground probably face down, trembling before Jesus. And those men stand with eyes full of hatred and begin to spew out their venomous kind of like serpentine accusations against her. Their knuckles are probably, I can just see them white as they're clutching most likely rocks because they were very graphic. They wanted to stone this woman and they couldn't legally according to Roman authorities, but they wanted to point across that this woman deserved death and so their white knuckles are gripping those rocks for stoning. And they stood there with hearts as hard as those stones and coldly demanded the immediate death of this woman, this sinful, adulterous woman. What death did they demand? Crushing or stoning. The Jewish writings are very clear how this was accomplished. And if you want to not be able to sleep, you ought to read the extra biblical writings about how precisely they, where they threw the rocks and how they crushed the life out of these people. And that's what they demanded that morning. And there the woman was in a pitiful heap, torn clothing. I can just see her tangled hair, her trembling shoulders as she not even looking up, gets up to her feet and stands with downcast eyes in front of her accusers and before the seated master and the crowds of people that surrounded him. Her tears were running down her face from her eyes, dripping through the dirt on her face to the temple pavement, refusing to even lift her head before her accusers, before the Lord, the master of all in the crowds. But Jesus, One of the characteristics of God in human flesh is He's always totally in control of the situation. And Jesus Christ, sitting there in the steps, doesn't need to get some advice on how to handle a difficult situation, doesn't need to harken back to some of His training. He calmly surveys the situation. He looks at the woman, and if you could have seen His eyes that morning, they would have been eyes of compassion and love. And then he turns and with eyes described in the book of Revelation chapter 1, eyes of fire, he looks at those accusers. And with that, he stands up from the steps and walks down to the courtyard where they are for this meeting that they've called Jesus calmly and boldly, unmoved by the hatred and anger of these well-known and recognized religious leaders, watches them standing in front of him, literally panting with hatred, both at this woman and at Christ himself. Jesus standing, walking down the steps, stoops down, and without saying a word, gets down on his knees on the pavement. And I can imagine probably standing between the accusers and the accused and he gets down right in front of these bearded, robed big shots and starts writing on the ground. Stooping on his knees in the courtyard between the accusers and the accused, every eye becomes locked on Jesus because he still hasn't said anything. And hundreds if not thousands of spectators lining the steps are watching as Jesus, on his knees, writes. Now this is interesting. This is only the second time we know about God writing. God the Father, or through Jesus Christ, wrote the Ten Commandments with his fingers, as in Exodus 20. So we know about that. And then, Jesus, this is the only time Jesus ever is known to have written anything that's recorded in the scriptures. He starts writing, tracing letters in the dust of the stones of the pavement. So, fascinating. Every eye is on him as he begins to write on the ground, tracing his fingers over the dust on the pavement. At first, this mob of accusers continue shouting their accusations. They continue to demand that this woman be stoned In fact, probably some were waving their rocks menacingly, showing that they meant it, and that this woman deserved death, which she did, according to the Mosaic law. But Jesus, speaking not a word, the scriptures add, acting as if he didn't hear them. I think that's so interesting when we get to that verse. He didn't even act like he could hear all their shouts. He continued writing, and as he writes, if you notice, he's pausing and looking up directly into the eyes of his circle of accusers, one by one. It's almost as if he's looking at them and writing things down about them, is the idea that's given. And then all of a sudden it begins to happen. Shouts slowly die out. This crowd of accusers, their voices fall to just a mutter. You can just hear a low mutter coming from them because their eyes are becoming riveted on the ground in front of Jesus as Jesus begins to write out an indictment against each of his accusers. You say, what do you mean by that? Well, in verse 6, Jesus stooping down and wrote on the ground, There are two words in the Greek language, actually many, for writing, but the most common, almost always used, is graphane, you know, like graphite and photography and any other graphics arts we heard about the careers of the young people this morning. Graphe is writing. Graphane is the Greek word. This word is katagraphane. Kata, that's a preposition added on the front of this verb to write. Kata means down or against. And so, actually in Job 13.26, this word is used in the Septuagint. It means to write against an indictment or to write out accusations. And so, that's where, if you've ever heard Jesus was writing out their sins, that's where we get it from, from the Greek word which was precisely chosen by the Holy Spirit. But God the Son, kneeling before these accusers, begins to mark their iniquities. And in my mind, I see this as a foreboding picture of what the judgment is going to be like. At the Judgment, all who die in their sins are going to be standing there, clothed in their sins, as God the Son, the Judge of the Universe, begins to write down all of the sins and the reasons why they shall spend forever separated from His Holy Presence in the fires of Judgment in Hell. the circle of robed and bearded men begins to change. Jesus, perhaps moving to the feet of the eldest of the accusers, stands in front of a man, the oldest of these scribes and Pharisees, probably with white hair, probably with a manicured beard and manicured hands, is standing there in his robe, very righteous, and Jesus at his feet begins to write his secret besetting sin. which that pompous, religious, self-righteous leader thought nobody knew about. And in front of everybody, Jesus at his feet writes down, covetous, or maybe idolater, or maybe liar, or drunkard, whatever it was. It's interesting. As Jesus there stood, I mean knelt in front of that man standing, looking up at him with Christ-piercing fiery eyes, looked into that man's soul. And with a thud, you could hear the rock hit the pavement. And with downcast eyes, the Bible says, from the eldest to the youngest, they leave hurriedly. Well, Jesus looking up into the faces of the other men standing in the circle does say something in verse 7. After he raised himself up, he looked them straight in the eye and with that, never blinking look of His eyes, He speaks to them, He that is without sin among you, why don't you be the first to throw a rock? And then it says, He moved to the feet, perhaps, of the next oldest accuser. And Jesus wrote out His besetting sin. And up and down Christ's finger began to move, and one by one, the men began to tremble as He came in front of them. And Jesus, with His eyes, riveted upon them, glowing with his judgment of righteousness, caused those men whose eyes were painfully glued on the man who was reading their hearts like a billboard and who was writing their sins so devastatingly in the sight of this crowd. Jesus, seeing into their souls, his finger moving upward, writes onward, And finally, the last stone has fallen. The last accuser ashamedly hurries away and now all is silent and Christ's finger stops. And Jesus standing has the quietness now only filled with just the sound of the deep sobs of an accused woman. And Jesus standing there quietly turns toward that trembling, sobbing woman And just as he had read the billboard of the hearts of those accusers, he looks at her heart and reads that heart. And in that heart, reading her soul, he speaks softly, and that's verse 10, and he says, woman, where are your accusers? Has no man condemned thee? And she answers, no man, Lord. And that's all the woman said in the whole account. That's all she says. In the entire scene, she makes no excuses. Didn't say, they set me up. They probably did. And didn't say that they lured me in. They probably did because they had to somehow, the Greek says they caught her in the act. That means they actually pried them apart and brought her, not him, to this scene. She doesn't give an excuse. She doesn't blame anyone. But just by her sobbing, She acknowledges her sin and her sorrow for it. And Jesus, knowing her contrite and repentant heart, speaks to her. And what he says in verse 11, he says, to all who come similarly as sinners before him, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. What's amazing is Jesus didn't acquit her as a sinner. He forgave her. And Jesus doesn't absolve her of blame. He doesn't say, she isn't to be blamed, you know, she's from a warped past, or she was abused, or she, you know, He doesn't absolve her from blame in this. He only absolves her from guilt. He says, I remove her guilt. You know, as I've thought about this over the years, I've wondered which of the women which followed Jesus all the way to the cross, this woman taken in adultery may have been. I don't know which one she was. She might have been one of them. You know, the legends have it that this is where Mary Magdalene came from or Mary and Martha, Bethany. It doesn't matter which one she was. But though we don't know her name, we don't know her background, we'll never know her family, we won't know the circumstances that led up to this, we do know one thing. We can be sure of that. This woman, from that instant that she was cast in front of Jesus and felt His eyes upon her and finally looked into His eyes and heard His words, that woman was never the same. Because that woman had felt and known and experienced the touch of Jesus on her life, the forgiveness of Jesus of her sins, the deliverance by Christ of her soul from death and from being clothed any longer with her sins. And she was never the same. And God revealed, as He always does through Jesus Christ, that He is willing to forgive sins. He is willing to cleanse unrighteousness. And as God's Word says, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses from all unrighteousness. Well, with that in view, let's listen as John captures for us this most beautiful moment in sacred history. Let's stand together and you can follow along in your Bibles. I'm going to read John 7.53 and conclude in John 8.12. And everyone went to his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Now early in the morning, he came again into the temple and all the people came to him He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought to him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to him, Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery in the very act. Now Moses, you notice they start quoting the Bible, in the law commanded us that such should be stoned. What do you say? This they said, testing him, that they might have something of which to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote, katagraphine, on the ground, with his finger, as though he did not hear. So when they continued asking him, he raised himself up and said to them, He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first. And again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest, even to the last. And Jesus was left alone. And the woman standing in the midst, which reveals to us that big crowd of learners haven't left. They're still watching this whole thing. Verse 10, when Jesus had raised himself up, he saw no one but the woman and said to her, woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you? She said, no one, Lord. And Jesus said to her, neither do I condemn you. Go and leave your life of sin. Verse 12. Then, and boy, what an audience he had, Jesus spoke to them again, saying, I'm the light of the world. He who follows me, and I can just imagine him pointing to those who had left, shall not walk in darkness. but especially to that woman so radiant with her forgiveness, but shall have the light of life. Let's bow before our Lord and ask Him to open this to us. Father in Heaven, Thank you for sending the Incarnate Word, and thank you for sending the Inspired Word, and thank you that your precious Spirit can illumine the written Inspired Word so that we can see even more clearly your image, O God, reflected in your Son, the Word become flesh, the exact representation of your glory and of your invisible attributes. We see them in Christ and we rejoice this morning that you are a God of tender mercy, of forgiveness and of love and of compassion. And you hate sin so much that you put in six hours the eternity of hell and the wrath that you have against sin upon your son so he could die in our place. And I pray that we would be moved if we know him personally to hate sin and to love him even more deeply. And if we don't know him this morning, that we would be moved if you will knock on our hearts door and if we feel your conviction to be moved to say yes, to cry out to you and to say, yes, Lord, I am the sinner and you're my only hope. so we can walk away with rejoicing as this woman did. We pray that you teach us great things through your spirit for your glory this morning. In Jesus name we pray, amen. As you're seated, I just want to elaborate a little bit on this. For Jesus to forgive this woman, theologically, means that one day he had to die for her. I want to remind you, forgiveness is not free. I mean, it is free through Christ, but it's not cheap. It did come to her free of charge, but it was not cheap to Christ. It cost him his own life's blood poured out. Let me show you what I mean. Turn back to chapter 3 of the book of Romans, and we're going to look at a couple passages before we get back to chapter 8. Look at Romans 3 and verse 20. The law was given to reveal sin, and there's something very interesting in the whole setup of what Christ did. Now, what he wrote against them is he wrote in the dust. It could be he traced the two tablets, the four and the six of the Ten Commandments. All of those scribes and Pharisees would have known that. You know, the tablet of the four commands that are God-word and the six that are man-word, and he could have done that. We don't know what he did, except he wrote against them. But he did introduce the law. He was writing against them. He wasn't showing their sin. Look what it says in Romans 320. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." The purpose of the law, Paul tells us in Galatians, is to be a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ, to show us our total inability to please God. Now, sometimes people are so grace-oriented that they forget the law must be in place to convict of sin. There must be the awareness of the holiness of God that has been broken, be it the written law or the law of God written on the hearts, but law and grace are not in competition. We must be condemned by the law before we can be cleansed by God's grace. And so that's what Jesus is doing. He's setting up the law, pointing out their sins, which is the purpose of the law, and then offering himself as grace to alleviate the need in the desperate condition. Now, think about that. Nobody was ever saved by keeping the law, and we would heartily amen that. But nobody can ever be saved by grace. who has not first been indicted by the law. You see, with the preaching of the Word comes the awareness and the conviction of sin, comes the need for salvation and for God's gracious gifts. So, there must be conviction before conversion. And I say that because we're living in the day where we're so used to marketing and packaging and sales and promotion that I have actually heard gospel presentations that sounded to me like being over at Sam's and taking the Coke test. It was, you already have Pepsi, we'd like to offer you Coke. Would you like to try it and see if you like it? There was no awareness that you are dead, dying, damned, ready for hell, and if you don't come to Christ, that's where you're going. It's just so glossed over. that it becomes kind of like a different brand rather than a desperate condition. And so there must be conviction before there can be conversion. But, back for just a minute now to John 8, because I want to read to you from an ancient manuscript. It's called the Armenian. Now don't, some of you will have a heart attack. I didn't say Arminian. Some of you would just die if I read something Arminian. Arminian with an E, that's from a little spot up there in Asia Minor above Turkey where the our Crest and our Mount Ararat. There's a community of, in fact, some of the first Christians are from Armenia. But the Armenian manuscript of the New Testament translates this passage with that kata graphene, the way I mentioned it. I'll read to you. Verse 6, as their Armenian version goes, and this is what it is. He himself, bowing his head, was writing with his finger on the earth to declare their sins. And they were seeing their several sins on the stones. How do you like that rendering? they really ran with that kata-graphene idea. But this suggests Jesus was writing in the dust the sins of the very men who were accusing the woman. And the normal Greek, as I mentioned, for right is graphene, but here it's kata-graphene, which is parallel to Job 13.26. But whatever the event that takes place, Whatever he wrote, and we don't need to get all worked up on what it was he wrote, but we do know that the Spirit of God chose to say he wrote it against them, and he was trying to bring them to conviction of their sin. And what's amazing is, I think they were. That's why they left. But the problem is, they were convicted of their sin and they left without the solution. without coming to the gracious offer of Christ. Well, why are we studying this? Let's turn to verse 11 and I'll show you. Because we're systematically going, and this week is just another week of examining in the Gospel by John, Jesus explaining the Gospel. salvation, how to become a believer, how to be born again. This is another scene, and we've gone all the way through seven chapters, now we're in the eighth chapter, and this scene is this woman taking an adultery. What is the lesson? Well, it's in verse 11. Jesus said to her, has no one stayed to accuse you? And look at her answer in verse 11. No one, Lord, she said. And then Jesus said, neither do I condemn you. Go now. and leave your life of sin, or go and sin no more, depending on which version, which translation you're reading. Point number one from this passage, a believer is a person who has left their life of sin. You know, that's the joy of salvation. We can preach the gospel to anyone, anywhere, in any part of the world, in any condition, in any strata of society, and we can tell them, whatever form of sin you have committed against God, He will give you the grace as you are convicted of your sin, and as you turn in repentant faith to Him, He will give you the grace to leave your life of sin. And so believer number one, leaves their life there. Look at verse 24, because Jesus starts preaching on this. His sermon actually starts in verse 12 where he says, I am the light of the world and those who follow me don't walk in darkness. That means they leave their life of sin. But, how does this occur? Verse 24 explains it. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins. That's the worst condition anybody could ever have, to die in their sins. Worse than dying with cancer, worse than dying, you know, with your arteries clogged, or of some horrible crippling disease. The worst, ultimate, final, damnable condition to die in is in your sins, with them still on us. But, look at this, I told you you would die in your sins if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be. How do you get out of your sins? Believe that I am the one I claim to be. What did Jesus claim? Now keep your finger here, turn back to the beginning, Matthew chapter 1. This one often gets lost in the Christmas wrapping paper. We get so caught up with the camels and the wise men and the manger and all that, we forget verse 21, the whole purpose of the Incarnation, the whole purpose of Christ's coming in human bodily form. It says, and she will bring forth a son. That's the virgin birth of Christ. And that's part of believing who He is. He's the virgin born, God the Son. And you shall call His name Jesus. Now look at this, for he will save his people from their sins. Why did Jesus come? To save sinners from their sin. Jesus came as the solution to the sin problem. The SIN virus is the greatest malady, not the HIV virus, not the AIDS condition. The SIN condition is the only remedy for that is through the blood of Jesus Christ, his sacrificial death. So, you, she, that's Mary, will bring forth a son, that's Jesus, and that unique event is the virgin birth. Now back to chapter 8, verse 24. I told you you would die in your sins, Jesus said, if you don't believe, I am the one. What one? The promised one, the only hope to take away your sin, the only one who could be a substitute, the only one that lived a perfect life, the only one that could die the perfect death, the only one that can dispense the remedy. you have to believe I'm the one not me plus anyone else not I'm insufficient you do some believe in Jesus that is always what John presents as the gospel and I love it believe that he's the one and if you this morning believe he is the only hope you have believe that he came by the way you have to believe that he is the one presented in God's Word I remember 20 some years ago when I was in seminary we did a paper on then the current well-known people on television that were preaching. And I remember writing to the top-rated Christian show, which back then was this liberal guy from a mainline liberal denomination. And I said, I have three questions for you. I'm doing a paper. Will you please answer this? Please, please, please. Because I wanted to quote him in my paper. And I wrote a personal letter handwritten to him. And I got back a personal handwritten on parchment inside of a gold foil envelope response. I was really, ooh. And I asked him three questions. I said, do you believe in the virgin birth? Do you believe in sin? Do you believe in hell? I'm writing a paper. I want to clarify your position. I read all your books. He wrote back and said, son, thanks for asking. And it's very clear from my ministry. If I believe in it, I talk about it. And he said, you will never, ever hear me talk on TV about sin, virgin birth, or hell. He said, does that answer your question? And I thought, Look at John 8, 24, I told you, you would die in your sins if you do not believe that I am the one, the virgin born, spotless, infinite, God incarnate, the son, who talked more about hell than he did about heaven, because we are in our sins, which by the way, knocks out this guy, if you really believe what he wrote in his pretty little handwritten note to me, he doesn't believe Jesus is the one, And the danger of that man is he'll die in his sins. Because there's only one remedy for sins. And Jesus said, you have to believe in me. What else does he say? Look at the end of verse 24. I told you you would die in your sins if you don't believe I'm the one who I claim to be. You will indeed die in your sins. He says it twice. It's such an awful thing. What does that say to us who do believe in him? We die sinless. Hey, I don't need some religious official to come to my bedside at St. whatever when I die, Francis or St. John or whatever and have them put a little oil on my head to take away the last little bit of sins so I can work my way through purgatory. Because a believer dies sinless, not perfect, not never sinning. Think about a little theology lesson here. When I was born again in November of 1962, as a little six-year-old boy, and the Gospel was presented to me by my mother, it was an offer God made that He would take all the sins from January 11, 1956, all the way through November 1, 1962, all the sins of that day, plus every potential future sin I would commit, all the way until I lapse into the final unconsciousness coma, or get crushed, or die, or shatter. have a heart attack or whatever when I die and he said I'll pay not only for the sins of the day you got saved and not only for everything from when you were born and all the wicked things you did hitting other kids with rattles and taking candy you know and not saying thank you and all those wicked sins you know that five-year-olds and four-year-olds and three-year-olds do but I'll cover you all the way through life Now, think of 1 John 1.9. If we confess our sins, present active indicative, if we are characterized by continuously confessing our sins, He is faithful and just to already have forgiven. Check the tenses. God, once and for all, forgave all of our sins. The instant we come to Christ, hearkening back to the cross, Jesus Christ paid for my sins, past, before I was saved, present, the moment I was saved, future, until I die and enter his presence." That means believers die sinless. We aren't covered with our sins. We are covered, as it says in Romans 13, we put on Jesus Christ. We're clothed in Him. So, a believer, verse 11, leaves their life of sin, if you're a note-taker. Secondly, believes in Jesus, verse 24. Thirdly, dies sinless, verse 24. Verse 30, Another element of what a believer is in this chapter, even as he spoke, many put their faith into him. I was standing yesterday at one of those car washes and I had my little pile of quarters and I picked them up and I put them in and I couldn't get them back out. I put my coins by faith that that little car wash would come on. And you know what? You and I stand and we put our faith into him. We believe that what he said, he will do. And that's what those people, they said, what you say is true and they put their faith in Jesus. Verse 30, it continues, to the Jews who had believed in him, put their faith in him, Jesus said, if you hold to my teachings, you are really my disciples. So a believer holds to Christ's teachings. That's what a believer is. Go into all the world and preach the gospel, teaching them all things I've commanded you. Have you ever checked Christ's commandments? Do you know what they are? Have you ever seen what he commanded in the Gospels? That's what we're doing right now. He says, they are those that hold to my teachings. And, look at the end of verse 31, a believer really is Christ's disciple. Now, nowadays we have new theology that says that there's believers and then if you really mature, someday you become a disciple. Maybe never. Jesus said, no, no, if you're really a believer, you're really my disciple, my follower, my learner, Mathetes, you are mine. You're really my disciple. Look at verse 32, it continues. Those who are really his disciples know the truth. Then you will know the truth. He said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. They know the Lord himself. They know the truth. They've received the implanted word, as James put it, Christ earthly brother. And verse 32 says, when you know the truth, the truth will set you free. That's the gospel. Set free from what? Sometimes look at 1 Corinthians 6, that listing of such were some of you, and it talks about all the sins of the flesh, and he said all of you were that, but you're washed, but you're justified, you're sanctified. You were those things, you're set free. Now, it doesn't mean we never sin, we never slip, we never fall, we never go back, but we have been set free. We're no longer enslaved by those sins. We may still be tempted, we may be still sometimes when we're not looking at Christ and we're walking in the flesh, we might go back to them. but we're not characterized by those anymore. We've been set free. Look at verse 44, the next element of a believer, and that's the end, so those of you that are nervous about lunch, don't be nervous. A believer, verse 44 through 47, belongs to God and hears God. He said, you, lost people, belong to your father the devil. You want to carry out your father's desire. See, a born-again person wants to carry out their new father's desire. That's what the engrafted word that saves your soul is all about. I received, the instant I was saved, a new operating system. I might still be drawn at times to sin, but my heart's desire is for my heavenly father, not for my father the devil. So I don't want to do the old desires. He was a murderer from the beginning. He doesn't hold the truth. There's no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he's a liar and the father of lies. Look at verse 47. He who belongs to God, that's a believer, hears what God says. The reason you don't hear is you don't belong to God. Now, let me ask you this. Do you belong to God this morning? Do you hear Him? I mean, I cannot pick this book up without loud and clear. It just starts broadcasting. Boy, I hear God's voice all the time. I've heard it ever since I was old enough to open this book. What is that? It's part of salvation. The author talks to us through the words of this book. And it's the most wonderful thing. I'm talking about reading your Bible. And we talk back to Him in prayer. So, what does John 8 say? Let me summarize it before we go. Verse 11. In chapter 8, verse 11, a believer, a born-again person, leaves their life of sin. They turn, that's repentance. They believe in Jesus, that he's the one, verse 24. Then, verse 24 ends with, they die sinless. They don't live a perfect life. Their sins are all taken care of by Christ. He buys our liabilities at the front end, all the way to the end. He takes on all of our debt. Next, they put their faith in Jesus, verse 30. They hold His teachings, verse 31. At the end of verse 31, they are really His disciples. Verse 32, they know the truth. And knowing the truth, verse 32, sets them free. Now, that's an instantaneous act that's lived out for a lifetime, and that is called sanctification. We're not covering that this morning, but we must pursue and seek and allow the Lord to be at work in our lives. And they belong to God, verse 44 through 47 says, and they hear his voice. Well, that woman there in front of Jesus experienced the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. and she was never the same. And she walked from that setting, leaving her life of sin, leaving behind her sin-stained life, and walking out brand new, starting over again, as if she had never sinned. And in God's sight, he saw her clothed with Jesus Christ. That's the offer God makes to all of us today.