DEAR reader, if you will kindly read the first eleven verses of the eighth of John, you will find recorded a touchingly beautiful story of the sin of the sinner and the grace of the Saviour. No doubt she was a bad woman, taken in the act of adultery, and brought into the presence of Jesus for judgment. She was like the man without the "wedding garment" in Matt. 22:11, 12—" speechless," her" mouth stopped," and” guilty" before God (Rom. 3:19).
Well, dear reader, if you, are not "born again," if you are not saved by God's grace, such is your present condition, for it is written, " There is no difference: for all have sinned " (Rom. 3:22, 23). One little hole would sink a ship to the bottom of the sea; and so one sin, if not washed away by the blood of Jesus, would sink your soul to hell forever.
Jesus in dealing with this poor sinful woman used four powers, —the power of silence, conscience, holiness, and love. Her accusers said, " Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him." But the God that wrote with the finger of "Law” on the tables of stone (Ex. 31:18), is the same God, manifest in flesh, who now writes with the finger of "Grace" on the dust of the ground. “O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord!" The "Law" reached the conscience, but to condemn; "Grace" reaches the conscience, but to forgive. There is nothing like a sense of God's grace for breaking the poor sinner down and raising him up.
The Lord's answer to their wicked query is matchless: —" He that is without sin among you, let him first cast the stone at her." And please notice, “Again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.” The law" was written to condemn, and Jesus stooped down, to write on the ground to forgive. “And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out." The conscience was God's deputy in the soul to convict. Jesus was the only one "without sin." He only could lift the stone to cast at her. "And Jesus was left alone.” There was the power of holiness. Jesus was left alone with the sinner.
Reader, have you ever been alone with Jesus? If not, you will have to be alone without Him forever. He was alone with Nicodemus, the best man (John 3.), and he was "born again;" and with the worst woman (John iv.), and she got saved. A sight of Jesus gives conviction of sin. Isaiah, when he saw Him, said,” Woe is me I for I am undone: for mine eyes have seen the King" (Isa. 6.). "When Simon Peter saw, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord" (Luke 5:8). If you want to get a look at your heart, look at Jesus. He is the standard by which God measures sin. Yes, if you want to know where sin is, look at Christ on the Cross-forsaken of God, and there you will get God's estimate of it.
Dear reader, if not saved, hear what God says about you. He says in Eph. 2:12, that you are "without Christ," "without hope," and "without God;" in 1 Tim. 6:5," without the truth;" in Jude 19, "without the Spirit;" in Rom. 5:6, “without strength;" in Rom. 1:20, "without excuse; "in 1 Thess. 5:3," without escape." Yes, beloved reader, this is God's description of the sinner: Without God,—without Christ,— with—out hope,—without the truth, —without the Spirit, —without strength,— without excuse,— without escape,—"lost," "condemned already," and " the wrath of God abideth on him.”
“When Jesus had lifted up himself" (to forgive, not to cast the stone at her), " and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” Beautiful grace! To condemn was not His mission (John 3:17); that was "strange work" to Him. He comes as it were with a blessing in each hand, —the forgiveness of sins in one, and holiness in the other; and He gives neither to any who will not take both. “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid." “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." We are dead to law, dead to sin, alive to God.
Oh, dear reader, are you saved? If not, Jesus says, "Come and rest" (Matt. 11.), that you may have peace; "Come clown" (Luke 19.), that you may be exalted; "Come and dine" (John 21.), that you may be satisfied; "Come and drink" (John 7:37), that you may be full; and let me add another, “Come and see" (John 1:29), that you may believe. If you come to Christ, you will lose one thing—your sins; and you will gain the One who put them away. Then you will be free from the condemning power of the law (Rom. 8:1), the controlling power of sin (Rom. vi. 14), and the conquering power of death (1 Cor. 15:55-57).
D. M.