Sermon Notes - John 7:31-8:11 - Grace - Littleby Baptist Church - April 23, 2023

1.     If your Bible is like mine, you are going to see a note about the last verse of John 7 and the first 11 verses of John 8.

2.     This section is about an adulteress and her encounter with Jesus.

3.     As we continue to find older manuscripts it has been determined that this encounter is not recorded in the older documents.

4.     Which brings up a few questions.

5.     Are these verses part of scripture?

a.      There is a little bit of a debate here.

b.     If we believe that God orchestrated everything in our Bible today, then yes.

c.      But we should realize that these words have been assigned to John but best we can tell they were not in his original letter.

d.     Someone added these verses at a later date.

6.     Were these written by John?

a.      The style is different than the rest of the letter.

b.     Some of the older manuscripts have this section plugged in at different chapters of the Gospel.

c.      These were very likely not words written by John.

7.     Is it ancient, true, and historical?

a.      Most would agree that it is historical and in-turn ancient and true.

b.     Highly likely that this event played out as described, with Jesus, the crowd, and the woman.

c.      Just not something originally included in John’s letter.

8.     Is it Canon?

a.      Roman Catholics will tell you yes as it is part of their Vulgate.

b.     For us Protestants, some will draw a hard line and say no since it was not part of the original letter.

c.      Others may wonder if it was added before the council decided on the New Testament in 367 AD.

d.     Best I could find, these events were added in the 4^th century, so in the same ballpark of time that Biblical Canon was being decided on.

e.      With what we know today, these words were in the Greek copies of the letter by the time the Canon was defined.

f.      Them being part of Biblical Canon is still debated.

9.     One might ask, why these verses were added at the beginning of chapter 8?

a.      The best we can tell, is that they fit with the other teachings in chapter 8.

10.  Why would we spend time looking at verses that were not part of John’s original letter?

a.      This event is believed to be true as written.

b.     Jesus was involved.

c.      If we can learn anything about Jesus through these verses, we should study them.

11.  John 7:53

a.      We finished off with this verse a couple of weeks ago as it seemed to flow with the rest of chapter 7.

b.     One may wonder if this was a bridge they built in to help the verses tie or was it originally a bridge to something else.

12.  John 8:1-2

a.      The author is setting the stage for the events to play out.

b.     Luke 21:37-38

c.      When we look at both Luke and John, we see this is common practice for Jesus.

d.     In the evening Jesus would go to the Mount of Olives to spend time with His Father.

e.      And each day He would go to the temple courts and people wanted to hear what He had to say.

f.      Nothing unusual here.

13.  John 8:3

a.      Those who enforce a strict following of the Old Testament Law brought a woman caught in adultery before Jesus.

b.     There is no mention of the guy.

c.      No mention of the two witnesses needed to testify.

d.     Or how she was caught.

e.      They made this woman stand in front of Jesus and the crowd He was teaching.

14.  John 8:4

a.      They are pointing at the woman, but she was not the focus.

b.     They were more interested in Jesus.

c.      They wanted to see how He would respond to this accusation and the woman.

15.  John 8:5

a.      Leviticus 20:10

b.     Biblical law clearly states that both parties are to pay the penalty for adultery.

c.      Here is where we start to see their true intent.

d.     If they were only focused on following the Law, they would have simply carried out the punishment without getting Jesus involved.

e.      Both the man and the woman would have been put to death.

f.      What they really wanted, was to see how Jesus would deal with the situation.

g.     Would He agree with the Law and lose favor with those listening to His teachings.

h.     Or would he disagree with Moses which would give the scribes and Pharisees the ammunition they were looking for.

16.  John 8:6a

a.      The trap is sprung!

b.     They figured they had Jesus stuck between a rock and hard place.

c.      Either agreeing with the Law or siding with the woman would likely hurt His ministry.

17.  John 8:6b

a.      Jesus wrote…

b.     I wish I could know what Jesus wrote in the sand that day.

c.      Did He write the sins of those who were surrounding them?

d.     Did He quote Exodus 23:1?

e.      Did He write Love Your Neighbor as yourself?

f.      In the movie ‘Resurrection of Gavin Stone’, Gavin who was playing Jesus in a play, wrote the word ‘Grace.’

g.     Maybe He was trying to buy time and was drawing a picture to give people a chance to think.  

h.     We have no idea what Jesus wrote, and we don’t know if it is relevant to these events.

18.   John 8:7

a.      ‘The one without sin among you should be the first to throw a stone at her.’

b.     There was only one there that day that lived a sinless life, and that was Jesus.

c.      The scribes and Pharisees knew that they had to offer sacrifices regularly to ‘cover’ their sins.

d.     Some of them may have been sinning at that moment with hate in their hearts.

e.      I bet some were protecting the man and in turn sinning against God.

f.      They may have been sinning by being a false witness.

g.     Based on the line Jesus drew, He was the only one who could throw a stone at the woman.

19.  John 8:8

a.      Jesus stooped down and started writing again.

b.     About what, no one knows.

c.      For how long, it does not say.

d.     But long enough for people to think about their sin.

20.  John 8:9

a.      One by one they left.

b.     Starting with the oldest, likely the wisest, who knew they were not sinless.

c.      Many likely left as they realized that there was sin in their hearts and their lives.

d.     I wonder if they remembered the words of David after the prophet Nathan called him out for what he did with Bathsheba and her husband.

e.      Psalm 51:1-5

f.      Conviction struck their hearts and they walked away.

21.  John 8:10

a.      Everyone had left.

b.     No witnesses to her sin were there to convict her.

c.      Without two witnesses present to testify against her, there was no longer a ‘legal’ case against the woman.

d.     There was no one left to condemn her.

22.  John 8:11

a.      No sinful human was around to condemn her.

b.     Jesus, the only sinless person there says that He does not condemn her.

c.      Please note that He did not give her a free pass.

d.     He was saying that He did not condemn her for what she had done, but clearly told her that she needed to stop sinning.

e.      He was forgiving the woman, offering her Hope, but let her know that things needed to change.

23.  Romans 6:6-7

a.      Our old sinful selves died with Jesus and ultimately, sin no longer has any control over us.

b.     We are no longer slaves to that sin.

c.      As we continue to draw near to our God…

d.     Devoting time to Him, truly digging into His Word, talking to Him…

e.      Making choices to replace the things in our lives that do not honor God with things that do.

f.      As Jesus grows in importance in our lives, it becomes easier to shed our sinful ways.

g.     We will always be sinners… but as we give God our lives, He is faithful to work in us.

h.     He is faithful to give us the strength we need to endure.

i.       He is faithful to give the faith we need each day.

24.  John 1:14

a.      Our Lord Jesus is full of Grace and Truth.

b.     He spoke truth to those accusing the woman.

c.      He spoke truth to the woman telling her to sin no more.

d.     But He also showed GRACE.

25.  Grace that we all need.

a.      Everyone here is a sinner that needs God’s Grace.

b.     Let’s thank Him for the Grace that saves us.

c.      Let’s thank Him for this amazing gift that He is offering us.

d.     If you would like to learn more about this Grace, I would love to talk to you.