Voinding The Judgement Trap

Intro Play CD All She Saw Were the Stones Ray Boltz

I The setting and springing of the Trap 8:1-6

A The Setting of the trap

1 Jesus has been teaching about life

i Eternal

ii Abundant

iii This teaching divided the people

a People either loved Him

b Or they hated Him

2 The teachers the Scribes and

the Pharisees hated Him

i The "teachers of the law"

(or "scribes") were so called because

a They made copies of the Scriptures

b They taught and applied the law

to every day life

c These men were the theologians

and the lecturers of the Jewish

religion

d these people had added

additional teachings to scripture

ii The Pharisees were moral, zealous,

and self-denying, but self-

righteous (Luke 18:9)

a They did or could not see past

themselves

b They were legalistic

3 The trap was set in the morning

i It was premeditated in that a They thought of the paradox that

would catch Jesus

b They looked at Jesus’ teaching on

love

c They looked at the requirements of

the law

d They used the political

situation to their own ends

ii It was planned

a They found the bait

b They did not care about her

> Dragged naked from her bed

> Into the streets

> To the temple

B They spring the trap

1 They forced their way into the centre of

the group

i Dragging this poor woman through the

crowd

ii They make her stand in front of Jesus

naked

2 They interrupt His teaching by asking a

question that was created to be an

impossible dilemma for him.

i If he say’s let her go then

a He is seen as condoning her sin

b If he condones it then he is guilty

of that sin by implication

c He would then be deserving of the

same punishment

ii If he say’s stone her as the law

requires then

a His teaching of love and

forgiveness goes down the drain

b He is guilty of breaking Roman law

c He could be sentenced by the Romans

to death

C Now what do You say Jesus

1 They thought they had Him

2 How does Jesus respond

II The response of Christ 8:7-11

A First He ignored them

Illus Imagine the converstation

Pharasees’s Hey Jesus what are we to do with this woman ..... Hey mister we’re talking to you ....... hey we’re important people and we’re talking to you .........

Jesus sorry you’re speaking to me, oh I didn’t realise, what was the question?

1 He knew their motivations

i He knew their hearts

ii He knew they were not interested in

the things of God

2 This must have saddened him

B He turns the dilemma question around back

to them

he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, {8} Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

1 If anyone of you is without sin

i Some commentaries say it is sin

in general

ii Others say it is the specific

sin of adultery

iii This sin Looks at the

motivation of the heart

2 Jesus continues to write on the ground

i What did he write

a Some say it was nothing

b Some say it was the

individual sin of those

accusing this woman c Me I liked to think it was

the individual names of

their girlfriends

ii He invites those with a clear

conscious to “be the first

to throw a stone at her."

3 They all leave

i v9 At this, those who heard

began to go away one at

a time, the older ones first,

ii The accusers "began to go

away one at a time, the older

ones first."

a The older ones either

had more sins for which

they were answerable

b or they had more sense than

to make an impossible

profession of

righteousness.

C Finally we are left with the two most

important people in the story Jesus and

the woman

1 Put yourself in the place of this woman

i Expecting the pain of the

stones of those as guilty as her to

pound her body

a Yet nothing happens

b The accusers leave

ii She is left in the presence of the

one person who could accuse

and condemn her

a Maybe she is fearful

b She is embarresed

c She is hurting

> Physically

> Emotionally

> Spirtually

2 Look at Jesus now

i Get into his heart

ii Feel His

a Love and compassion

b Feel His forgiveness

c Feel the grace that he bestowes

iii v10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" {11} "No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."