What do we do when you see a police car? Some say "Slow down," some say "Break!" "Scream." Just even when we’re at a stoplight and a police car pulls up behind us how many of us get nervous? You’re already thinking, "What did I do?... Did they see me run that stop sign last week? I’m making sure my mirror’s going, my cigarette lighter, my stolen jewels are hidden away..." We’re afraid that our actions will have consequences
This image is appropriate when we talk about God. As a matter of fact, I think many, if not most, when it comes to how we view God, a lot of times we view God as a spiritual cop, rather than the Savior that He wants to be. If we’re really honest and think about how do we view God we kind of view God like He’s in heaven with a night stick, just kind of pacing, thinking about us. Or He’s got a flashlight, moving into the darker parts of our lives. We think God is like that, that God is just waiting for us to mess up and what He does is take out a little sin citation and leave it there.
Sometimes through the centuries the image we have of Jesus gets translated into something that doesn’t bear a lot of resemblance of who He really is and how we can know Him. And maybe you’ve been wondering who Jesus is. Maybe you’re a seeker today, you’ve been investigating Christianity and asking questions, Who is this Jesus? What was He really liked?
Or maybe you’re a Christian and maybe your image of Jesus and who He is has been added on over the years. You’d just like to strip that away and get back to the fundamentals of who He is and how we can know Him authentically
We’re in this series called "Frequently Asked Questions". Today as we talk about Jesus, even if you don’t believe in the Bible, we do know a few things about Jesus. We know that He existed, that He lived in the first century Palestine, that He had a group of followers, that He was convicted and crucified under Pontius Pilate and upon His death a huge religious movement started. Those are facts that almost no serious historian will question or contest.
What I want to do is talk about Jesus from the Bible. What does the Bible teach about who Jesus is? There’s a lot of confusion out there about who He is and who He said He was. I’m going to discuss that today.
What if I had a friend who was a spiritual seeker, and who was checking out who Jesus is. We’re down at the local coffee shop and he says, "You say you’ve known this Jesus for years. Who is this guy? What’s He like?" What are the things I would tell him? What are the basic things I would try to communicate to him about Jesus?
The problem with our religious ideas is when we view God as that judge we tend to distance ourselves from Him. We tend to look at all our behavior and evaluate when I’m bad I want to distance myself. When I’m good I want to negotiate: "God, did You see this?" It’s faulty image of God.
God, as revealed in His love letter, the Bible, gives us a totally different picture, than God is a spiritual cop or a judge. In this second part of the FAQs series I want to talk about the Jesus I have known since I was child. I was fortunate to have parents who took me to church all of my life and in that setting I came to know Jesus.
So today I want to help you understand some of the questions you may have had about Jesus.
A. WHAT DID JESUS COME TO DO?
¨ Although Jesus was the best teacher that ever walked this earth the main thing that He came to do was not to teach.
¨ Although Jesus did some incredible miracles, he didn’t center what He came to do around those miracles.
¨ Although the largest, fastest growing religion resulted from Jesus’ time on earth, he did not come to start a new religion.
Based on my experience and what the Bible reports, I see that Jesus came to
¨ change peoples’ lives
¨ to give freedom to people who felt trapped
¨ to give forgiveness to those of us who feel guilty
¨ to give a future to those of us who feel hopeless.
¨ to look at how He comes to bring light to dark places.
If you observe the events in the life of Jesus, when people would intercept with Him, you see what would happen. Most of the time we see people actually pursued Jesus. They would work their way through a crowd just to touch Him. Some buddies took a friend and lowered him through a roof just so he would be in the presence of Jesus.
The event that we’re going to read today is of a woman who was actually forced into His presence. I can tell there’s some people here who identify with being forced. Some of you were forced to come today. You are married to a spouse who forces you, you feel forced to be here. Some of you are younger, you’re living with your parents, they force you to come. Those of you that are dating someone. You weren’t coming to church until this relationship started when she said, "Do you go to church?" and you looked at her and said, "I do now." So if you feel forced you will be able to really identify with this woman in this event.
If you come today willingly and have been before, I ask you if you can to maybe listen to this as if you’re hearing it for the first time. It’s found in the gospel of John, the eighth chapter, starting with verse 1 "Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives but early the next morning He was back again at the temple. A crowd soon gathered and He sat down and taught them."
Circle the word "crowd." The Bible tells us that everywhere Jesus went there was a crowd. People wanted to hear Him teach, people wanted to be around Him, they wanted to see Him. This crowd adds to the melodrama of everything that’s happening here. With this event, the more people that are around, the juicier it gets.
Verse 3, "As He was speaking the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman they had caught in the act of adultery and they put her in front of the crowd."
The religious leaders and Pharisees at that time kept everything the letter of the law. They really were into looking good on the outside and fulfilling every dot of the law. And why there was tension a lot of times with Jesus, when you see Jesus’ anger a lot of times in the Bible it’s not at common folk, notorious sinners. It’s at the religious elite. They were so concerned about the external and Jesus was concerned about the internal.
And these religious leaders weren’t oftentimes excited about who Jesus was and what He was teaching and his vision for the kingdom of God.. Then they drop this woman off who had been caught in the act of adultery. Now two thousand years ago, things haven’t changed all that much. When it comes to adultery basically there’s got to be two involved. Right? She’s by herself. Where’s the guy in this story? Sleeping in? Reading the paper? Did he slip out the back when the intruders scared the camels and they barked? Why isn’t he there?
It really doesn’t matter. Because the religious leaders who brought this woman really weren’t concerned about justice at all. And she was well chosen bait too because Jesus had a reputation among the Pharisees of being the champion of women.
They said in verse 4 "’Teacher,’ they said to Jesus. ’ This woman was caught in the very act of adultery. The Law of Moses says to stone her.’ Circle "trap" because this is really the backbone of this event. If He says "No," He loses; if He says, "Yes," He loses. The Law of Moses says to stone her. If He says, "No," He violates Mosaic law. On the other hand, if He says, "Yes" He violates Roman law. The bottom line of that was Romans said Jews could not have execution in their jurisdiction. So either way - if He says "Yes" He loses, if He says, "No," He loses.
The Bible says, "Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with His finger." We don’t know why. He just stooped down and wrote in the dust. Maybe in a very non-verbal way He was turning His back to the religious elite. Maybe He knew He was 100% God and 100% man, that He knew what was going on in the hearts of everybody there. ---Maybe He wrote the sins of the people...
We are left with some ambiguity of what He wrote but what He says is very, very clear. Verse 7, "They kept demanding an answer. So He stood up again and said, ’All right, stone her. But let those who have never sinned throw the first stone."
Surprise! Notice, it would have been very easy for Jesus to move into the role of judge but He doesn’t. He avoids that role. I don’t think the religious leaders and the Pharisees counted on the fact that Jesus was putting people before practices.
They hadn’t got their arms around His central message yet which was to love one another, not to law one another. His brilliant response broke the dilemma. Yet at the same time held up Jewish morality because He didn’t say that what she did was right. The Cliff Notes to this is "I will not judge her. That’s not why I’m here.
I think even in moments when our hearts are hard we know the depravity of our own lives. Even two thousand years later we know right now there’s not a person in here without sin in their life. If I were to say, "You can stay if you don’t have sin. If you have sin in your life or if you have sinned in your life you have to leave," ... I’d be the only one left!
In verse 8 it says, "He stooped down again and wrote in the dust."
The result is in verse 9. "When the accusers heard this they slipped away one by one beginning with the oldest (maybe those who were most aware of their own sin) until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman." As they guys walked away what they were doing in reality was admitting their sins.
Verse 10 "When Jesus stood up again and said to her, ’Woman, where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?’" Circle "woman". I want to give you a little bit of insight into this word. This is a word of affection. This is the same word that Jesus used when He addressed His mother.
Verse 11 "She answered, ’No one, Sir.’ [to the question of who’s left to condemn you] Then Jesus said, ’I also don’t judge you guilty.’" Underline those words. Again the role. Jesus doesn’t step into the role of judge. He steps into the role of Savior, Friend. The only one who could have thrown the stone didn’t even pick one up. Jesus alone could pronounce her, "Not guilty." Why? Because in a little it He was going to go to the cross and He was going to take all of her sin with Him as a payment for what she had done wrong, so He could say to her, "Not guilty."
Then He says these incredible five words, "Go and sin no more." Do you see this picture of a pardon? Do you see this picture of "Not guilty, enjoy your freedom." I love His focus. His focus is much more future oriented. He doesn’t bring up the act. He doesn’t give her a lecture about adultery and that type of stuff. He says "Go and sin no more. You’re forgiven. Now, go act like it."
Here’s a paraphrase of that verse: "You did wrong. But I will pay for your sins you matter to Me. I want you. I will not give up on you. I value your life. Don’t let it end here."
The Bible doesn’t tell us what happened to her. We don’t know. We don’t know if she went back to her way of living. But we do know this event reveals the character of God. It’s like the windows have been opened onto what God is like.
SO as you look at your lie—not just your behavior because you may have good behavior like the Pharisees—but your attitude, your heart, you might ask as many people who are seeking do—so what can Jesus do for me? What’s all that happened then got to do with now?
What does Jesus want to do for you? One, He wants to replace that guilt with grace
It’s a gift. That’s a picture of grace. God doesn’t give you what you deserve but God gives you what you need. You deserve to be judged, condemned, but you need forgiveness.
Romans 6 says when you have grace, "Sin is no longer your master for you are no longer subject to the law which enslaved you to sin. Instead you are free, free by God’s grace."
We have such a difficult time understanding this as humans because this is not how we treat one another. This is not how we live in society. You screw up, you pay for it. In the states where you deserve death, you will be put to death. In forty of our states, we have the death penalty - lethal injection or an electric chair.
But not in the state of grace. In the state of grace it’s already been paid for you. The courtroom was a wooden cross and the debt that was paid was suffered by Jesus Christ. When He hung on the cross it was if He was saying, "Don, you deserve to be here because of your sin but I’m going to die in your place because I love you and I don’t want you to die eternally. I want you to have a relationship with Me so I’m going to pay for it so I can look at you and say, ’Not guilty.’"
That’s grace. And He wants to take that guilt and give you grace.
The other thing God wants to do is replace your shame with salvation. Grace is a daily thing, a daily giving. Salvation is for eternity. Guilt says this: I did wrong. Shame comes a little bit later typically. After, "I did wrong," shame enters in with "I don’t have much value. I feel worthless. I am unwanted."
Some of you even walking into church feel shame. Somebody’s invited you and you feel like this place is filled with holy people and you go, "I don’t belong there." Where there’s guilt, then a little bit later comes shame. And God says, "I want to take that shame and I want to give you salvation."
The easiest way to explain salvation is with the word "adoption." If you picture an adoption, someone that is outside of a family, that is really brought in to a family and loved. That’s what a Christian is. Christian means "Christ’s one".
A guy wrote a song a few years ago titled "In Heavens Eyes." It mentions an orphan and talks about what is it like to be seen through the eyes of Jesus.
Some of the words: "In heavens eye there are no losers. In heavens eyes there are no hopeless cause. There’s only people like you with feelings like me amazed by the grace we can find in heaven’s eyes."
That’s how God sees us. In heaven’s eyes there are no losers. He cares for you to adopt you forever.
Ephesians says "His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave Him great pleasure." It gives Him great pleasure to give salvation for our shame.
These verses in Romans 5 when you see the word "friend" or "friendship" or "relationship" circle them. "For since we were restored to friendship with God we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by His life [meaning Jesus on the cross] so now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God all because of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us [on the cross] in making us friends with God." Friendship, friends with God - a wonderful new relationship. That is a picture of grace and salvation. Not God as judge. When you relate to God as a judge, you don’t even think of Him as a friend.
What if we were there two thousand years ago. We’re not in the crowd, we don’t have a stone or anything. Maybe we were up in the rafters of the temple painting or something like that. But you’re there and you saw what just good place. What would you do? You just saw what took place, what would you do? Maybe you’re thinking:
2. HOW COULD I RESPOND TO JESUS in light of what I’m hearing today?
The Bible gives us a picture of what God is like.
As I think about how He treated that woman I could only come up with one action step. I could really think of only one thing I want to challenge this church to do. That is to pursue Jesus. That’s it. When you just see and experience what we just talked about the only thing left to do is to pursue Him. Don’t you want to get to know a God like that?
I realize that even as you write down "pursue Jesus" we are at different places in our spiritual journey. Some of you that are just checking this thing out and you’ve been invited by a friend and maybe it’s your first time here and you’re on the outside of Christianity looking in and you’re hearing "Pursue Jesus," you’re thinking, "Slow up!" But I want to encourage you, to challenge you, Pursue Jesus.
If you’re wanting to experience Jesus today-don’t let that window of opportunity close. Pursue God-not religion-the truth of the matter is that he is already pursuing you. He wants to adopt you into his family.
For those of you who are believers, can I say to you ... let me give you a little coaching, a little tip, on how you help a seeker pursue Jesus.
One, drop the rocks. When you relate to seekers, quit throwing rocks at them. We are quick to condemn and slow to compassion. You can love the person without loving the sin in their life. I think we’ve got this whole thing messed up.
We wear our WWJD bracelet - What would Jesus do? - and then we look at somebody whose lifestyle is different than ours. And we say, "What would Jesus do?" and think He would hate them so therefore we do and we throw rocks at them.
To those of you who are seekers, can I apologize to you? What I’ve learned in my life is if I drop the rocks then my hands are open to point people to Jesus. I’ve had to learn in my own journey to be less tolerant of the sin in my own life and more tolerant of the sin in others. Drop the rocks.
The other thing I would say to you to help you help a seeker or a friend who doesn’t know the Lord to pursue Jesus is to quit the quits. "If you would just quit smoking... If you would quit drinking... If you would quit watching Jerry Springer ..." We think it’s about quitting. It’s not about quitting. Christianity is not about quitting.
As a teen ager, I grew up in this church in WV with all these rules - you should do this, you shouldn’t say that, you shouldn’t wear that... " I felt like I was going to church and holding my breath and closing my eyes. It was all about quitting and I never knew anything about Jesus. We focus so much on the brakes and not on the steering wheel.
You don’t become a vibrant believer because of all the things you quit.
You’re sitting here, you’re a believer. You’re a Christian. How do you pursue Jesus as a believer?
It’s desire to go deeper. That’s how you pursue Jesus - the desire to go deeper.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:9 "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those.... No eye has seen... God, give me the eye to see the invisible. Give me the ears to hear the inaudible. Give me the mind to understand the inconceivable. To be a Christian and want to pursue Jesus more.
I think what makes you want to do that is when you stop viewing God as a judge and you view Him as the Savior and a Friend. You just want to journey together in deeper places.
The last two verses, pretty much summarize everything we’ve been talking about today. One of them is very familiar to you. John 3:16 if you’ve grown up in the church you know this well. What I want you to see is verse 17 as well.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it but to save it."
It says in Romans 8:1 "So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus." in that first set of verses, the John verse, circle the word "believes".
And in the Romans 8 circle the word "belong". Then connect those circles with a line. The Bible says this: if you believe, you belong. That’s what a Christian is. You believe that Jesus Christ hung on the cross as a payment for your sins so you would not have to die eternally. That when He was taken off the cross, buried, three days later He was resurrected, proved He was God.
If you believe that He died in your place, then you belong. That’s what salvation is. You can be adopted. It’s not about religion-it’s about relationship with God. Not about God being your judge, but as your loving heavenly parent.
The bottom line is this-if you don’t get anything else I say today-get this-God longs for you to relate to him as a believer.
GET IT!!!
As a matter of fact, I want to call for a few different types of commitments. What I want to ask is if you would say to me, "Don, I like that seeker idea. I want to pursue Jesus. I’ll make a commitment between now and the 4th of July which is just a few weeks away to really investigate and pursue who Jesus Christ is."
Lee Strobel has written a book called The Case for Christ. I’ll Buy one for you-if you can’t afford it, just write on your response tab "Case For Christ" and I’ll order one for you. It will help you investigate. Just put on the tab, "I’m a seeker."
Maybe some of you in here who are believers, you’ve been living your spiritual life at the surface level and you would like to go a little deeper and you say "I know Jesus and I’ve experienced grace and salvation but I’m really in an ankle deep faith. I would like to pursue Jesus and know what it means go deeper," would you write on your card "Deeper". I’ll buy you the book Secrets of the Vine by Wilkinson.
The third, you say, I came in as a seeker but I’m ready. I’ve been at Bethany for awhile but I’ve never really said yes to be adopted into His family. I want to do that today," just write the word "Start". Anybody who writes the word "start" we want to get you a Bible and a tape and a packet of information.. It’s a very neat little packet it’s got some good information to help you start in that commitment to Christ today.
What about Jesus? What about all the questions you’ve had about him? Do you want to get to know him? Let me give you an opportunity to do that?. Let’s pray together.
If you want to meet Him right now just repeat these words in your mind. God knows your heart. He knows your mind. He knows everything about you. He’ll hear you. Say, "Lord Jesus, I do want to know You. I have committed all kinds of sin. I’ve fallen so short of how I know You want me to live and I’m sorry for that and I want to turn from that. I want to follow You. I want to not just know You, I want to experience You. I want You to take me to heaven. I want You to change my life. I want You to lead me from this moment on because, Lord Jesus, I love You. How could I not love You when You want to forgive me, adopt me, empower me and change me."
Father, for all who prayed that prayer we know that they are on the threshold of a great adventure of knowing You, of You working inside their hearts to change them. The single greatest thing they’ve ever done is just simply saying yes to the freely offered gift of Christ. We pray that You would work inside them to begin this transformation process even now and we thank You that You offer this out of Your love for them and we pray this in Jesus’ name.
God, thanks for hearing our prayers. We want to be different people as we leave here today. We pray all this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
