Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Many of your Bibles will have a parenthesis before this section.

“The earliest and most reliable manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have .”

This does not mean this section should be omitted from our Bible.

It simply means that some early copies of the Gospel of John did not have it.

The church understood and accepted this section as part of the Bible from very early times.

But one thing we can say is that it is a section out of place.

Remember Jesus did many things and not all of them are written down.

This is one such event that actually was written down...but was not likely to have been in the original text of the Gospel of John itself.

The church inserted it in the Gospel because it was considered important.

God has preserved for us a perfect and infallible Bible through the work of the Holy Spirit and His church.

The fact the Spirit led men to insert something into this Gospel that the Apostle may not have written should not cause us a moment’s doubt to it’s authenticity or authority.

God’s word is powerful…it is perfect…for the purpose of leading us to the truth of who God is and how we can know Him

One of the most dramatic examples of the Bible's divine ability to transform men and women involved the famous mutiny on the "Bounty."

Following their rebellion against the notorious Captain Bligh, nine mutineers, along with the Tahatian men and women who accompanied them, found their way to Pitcairn Island, a tiny dot in the South Pacific only two miles long and a mile wide.

Ten years later, drink and fighting had left only one man alive--John Adams.

Eleven women and 23 children made up the rest of the Island's population.

So far this is the familiar story made famous in the book and motion picture.

But the rest of the story is even more remarkable.

About this time, Adams came across the "Bounty's" Bible in the bottom of an old chest.

He began to read it, and the divine power of God's Word reached into the heart of that hardened murderer on a tiny volcanic speck in the vast Pacific Ocean--and changed his life forever.

The peace and love that Adams found in the Bible entirely replaced the old life of quarreling, brawling, and liquor.

He began to teach the children from the Bible until every person on the island had experienced the same amazing change that he had found.

Today, with a population of slightly less than 100, nearly every person on Pitcairn Island is a Christian.

Scripture is powerful…infallible…perfect and effectual.

What we have has been preserved by God for a reason…that we might be saved from sin unto a right relationship with God…Let us never dismiss or discard what God has preserved for us in His word!

The passage is scripture and the event did happen in the life of Jesus...But it is a story out of place here.

picks up after 7:52.

through 8:11 are another incident in the life of Jesus that was not a part of the Feast of Tabernacles narrative of these other verses.

This passage records something of the habit of Jesus as teacher...

Jesus had made a habit, at some point in His ministry of teaching in the courts of the temple during the day.

He would dismiss the crowds at the end of the day, they would go home and He would go to the Mount of Olives for the night.

Then the people and Jesus would return to the courts the next day.

Verse 53 is indicative of this

Verse 53 in a conclusion to a story or series of stories that we do not have recorded in our Bible…Jesus had just finished teaching and the people went home while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

At dawn of the next day therefore has nothing to do with the events of chapter 7 but is just the next story of the ministry of Jesus

“At dawn” — The people and Jesus reassemble in the temple courts for a day of teaching

The Test

The Scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in the act of adultery.

This means that at least some of the men were actual witnesses to the act in progress.

This begs the question, “Where is the man?”

Scripture is clear that both participants were to be held accountable…perhaps he was more fleet footed and left his partner to face the music alone…or…and this is more likely…this was a trap…a set up.

The pharisees had set the woman up so as to have an occasion to accuse her before Jesus and thereby test Him...the man was allowed to escape.

In the Law stoning was only prescribed for a breach of betrothal or engagement…in such cases both the man and the engaged woman were to be stoned to death.

But in the time of Jesus only the Roman ruler could sentence someone to death.

So the set up involved placing Jesus in the position of rejecting the law of Moses and its prescribed punishment or at odds with Roman authority to met out capital punishment.

Jesus’ Response — He kneeled on the ground and began to write with his finger in the dirt.

We don’t know exactly what was written there on the ground.

One long held theory in church history is that He wrote out

Others believe Jesus wrote down the specific sins committed by the men standing around Him.

The men continue to press Jesus for an answer…He could have just ignored them and refused to answer…but had He done so the woman would almost assuredly have been stoned to death on the spot...so he stands up and says, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone as her.”

Jesus was not saying it is wrong to call sin what it is…He was not denying the existence of sin or advocating the turning of a blind eye to it.

However, It is easy, even tempting to point fingers at the sins of others while ignoring our own.

These men were self-righteous at best and a party to criminal wrongdoing at the worst.

Jesus exposed them for what they were with His statement.

It is easy, even tempting to point fingers at the sins of others while ignoring our own.

These men were self-righteous at best and a party to criminal wrongdoing at the worst.

Jesus exposed them for what they were with His statement.

All of us are sinners, some of us have been saved from our sin by grace through faith in Jesus...and we who have been saved should never consider ourselves somehow more worthy of that grace than any other.

Every single one of us need the same thing that woman needed that morning 2000 years ago…mercy and grace.

Jesus exposed these self righteous and arrogant men for the fraud they were…exposing the lies they were telling both the world around them and themselves.

All of us are sinners, some of us have been saved from our sin by grace through faith in Jesus...and we who have been saved should never consider ourselves somehow more worthy of that grace than any other.

They pounded their chest declaring how perfect and righteous they were…

Every single one of us need the same thing that woman needed that morning 2000 years ago…mercy and grace.

Jesus exposed these self righteous and arrogant men for the fraud they were…exposing the lies they were telling both the world around them and themselves.

One by one the men went away starting with the oldest first...

6 weeks--all systems go

6 years--all systems "No!"

16 years--all systems know

26 years--all systems glow

36 years--all systems owe

56 years--all systems status quo

76 years--all systems slow 

6 weeks--all systems go.6 years--all systems "No!"

16 years--all systems know

26 years--all systems glow

36 years--all systems owe

56 years--all systems status quo

76 years--all systems slow 

Maybe slow in body but we have learned a thing or two which often makes up for what we may be lacking in a foot race…We know enough to get a head start!

The older ones had lived some life...they knew they were sinners and the pronouncement of Jesus stung them the quickest…as a result they were first to walk away.

One by one they left until there was no one left except Jesus and the woman herself...

Go Now — Conclusion

“Woman” — Was a term of respect…Jesus used the same title of His mother as He hung on the cross.

“Where are they?

Has no one condemned you?”

Condemned — To pass sentence upon…Here it means to carry out the sentence

(ASIDE) — All of humanity lives as a saved or condemned person…a person living with the hope of eternal life or curse of eternal death...but in this passage Jesus is speaking to the carrying out of that sentence of death…There is no contradiction with here.

The person who does not believe is living with the sentence of death but it has not been carried out or executed yet…and it need not ever be if they would but believe!

(ASIDE) — All of humanity lives as a saved or condemned person…a person living with the hope of eternal life or curse of eternal death...but in this passage Jesus is speaking to the carrying out of that sentence of death…There is no contradiction with here.

The person who does not believe is living with the sentence of death but it has not been carried out or executed yet…and it need not ever be if they would but believe!

Where are the men who had sentenced you to death?

Is no one left?

Is there no one here to carry out this sentence against you?

The woman answers “No one Lord (sir).”

— And then the sweetest words any person has ever heard before or since are uttered by Jesus, “Then neither do I condemn you.”

The woman had sinned and deserved death but Jesus chose not to sentence her…instead turning her over to the opportunity for grace, repentance and salvation.

There is no mention here of forgiveness…she has not indicated any remorse or contrition…she has shown no sing of repentance or faith.

What Jesus has offered her is the grace of time and an opportunity to repent.

Jesus tells her, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” — Repent and live a transformed life…turn the complete opposite direction of how you have been living and become a new person.