Day 8 of 21 Days

During our Sunday worship I warned each of you to be on guard for attack from the enemy. To guard your heart, mind, and spirit, during this week of fasting and praying. God’s Word says in 2 Corinthians 2:11, “We are not ignorant of Satan’s devices”.

We should BEWARE of the Devil’s devices and be ON GUARD against the “fiery darts” (Ephesians 6:16) of discouragement, pride, fear, jealousy, selfishness, doubts, negative thoughts which he hurls at us to try to hinder us! But the Enemy can’t lay a finger on us unless the Lord ALLOWS him to! And if the Lord does allow him to, it’s only for our GOOD, to make us stronger fighters, to teach us lessons or to drive us closer to Jesus!

Always remember, that as a Christian, you have nothing to fear from the Devil or his forces because JESUS is WITH you! In fact, YOU have POWER over all the devils of Hell, including Satan himself! God's Word tells us, “Greater is He (JESUS) that is in YOU, than he (the Devil) that is in the World!”

This is day 8 so let’s look briefly at John chapter 8

• Man’s Dark Sinfulness and God's Great Forgiveness, 8:1-11
• Man’s Need for The Light of the World, 8:12-20
• Man’s Futile Search for Messiah, 8:21-24
• Man’s Tragic Failure to Understand the Light, 8:25-30
• Man’s Freedom from Sin Is Conditional, 8:31-32
• Man’s Enslavement by Sin, 8:33-40
• Man’s Wickedness—Illegitimate Birth, 8:41-47
• Man’s Escape from Death, 8:48-59

Let me begin by reading John 8:1-5, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn He appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around Him, & He sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law & the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group & said to Jesus, `Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’"

And John adds this footnote in vs. 6. He says, “This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him.”

Now here is the scene. Jerusalem is crowded. It is a festive time, with some obviously engaging in drinking, drunkenness and immorality - a time to get caught in the act of adultery. And that’s exactly what happened. So here comes a crowd, bringing this woman who has been caught in the act of adultery, and they make her stand before Jesus. She’s guilty, there’s no question about that. But notice what Jesus does.

It says in the last part of vs. 6, “Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.” I wonder what He wrote? [I hear a generation of preacher I grew up hearing using their sanctified imaginations] but it doesn’t say, so we just don’t know. But it doesn’t matter nearly as much what Jesus wrote as what He was doing. Jesus was giving them an opportunity to reconsider, to think about what they’re doing. He’s giving them an opportunity to drop the stones they are holding. But they don’t do it.

Then Verse 7-9 tells us, “And as they continued to ask him, he stood up an said to them, Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.

Now let me suggest that this is one of those precious moments in scripture when a sinner and the Savior stand face to face. He doesn’t condone her sin, but He doesn’t condemn her. He condemns her sin, but He doesn’t condemn her.

Here they are, just the two of them, and He asks, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? She said, No one Lord. And Jesus said Neither do I condemn you; go and from now on sin no more.

There are many lessons here, and the reason I think this story is important is because I’m convinced that we’re in this picture, too. Our list of sins may be different, but we’re in the same boat she’s in. We stand condemned before the Savior just as she was.

But it’s so easy for us to be just like the scribes and Pharisees, pointing their long bony fingers, stones in hand, ready to condemn. They were trying to trap Jesus. But He turned the tables on them, and the crowd slinked away.

The only one there who had a right to throw stones was Jesus Christ, AND HE DOESN’T WANT TO THROW STONES. Hallelujah!!! Verse 12 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Enjoy your study & will see you on day 9!