John 8:1-111Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. 2And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. 3And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, 4They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 5Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? 6This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. 7So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 11She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. (John 8:1‑11)
It is a different thing to have a rule of what is right, and to have the heart searched out. God can give a rule, and yet dwell in the thick darkness. But this is a different thing from having the soul unveiled in His presence. Now, it is not the sending of a law or a prophet merely that we have in Jesus, but far more; the Lord Himself was there. And this is what puts every one to the test, and what brings everything out into the light. Yet there is vast comfort in it; for having come to Jesus we have come to the last and ultimate tribunal, and found it to be all grace. So the soul that has got peace knows that nothing remains behind, nothing remains undetected; but all has been brought out and disposed of according to the holiness of God.
Take the case of this poor sinner, who finds herself in the presence of God. It is not the day of judgment, but it is the presence of the Judge Himself. She finds herself in the presence of Him who will judge in that day by the same principles; the presence of Him who is not now judging, indeed, but a light to bring out every one's character. So everything is brought out, as it was with the poor Samaritan woman. And that is what we want if we are honest to ourselves. If we are honest we shall not desire to have sin slurred over. If we like sin, and wish to get to heaven, too, then we shall want to get sin slurred over; but if we have any sense of God's claim over us, we shall not want to have sin slurred over. And this is the test of the renewed heart. Well, if thus honest about our sin, we want mercy. We want what will meet our need in grace, and what will meet God's holiness. If you do not wish your sin to be meddled with,—if you do not like God to probe your heart, you like sin. You want to get off,—of course you do! but that is not being honest in the sight of God. You want to get happiness and still to keep your sin. So it ever is with mere natural conscience. But when awakened by the Spirit of God there is no desire then to slur sin over.
In these scribes and Pharisees there is the most dreadful wickedness,—a readiness to show sin up and yet an unwillingness to have it detected in themselves. Now, nothing marks a soul to be wrong like wishing grace to be wrong. Whenever we think of grace, and blame grace, we have no sense of ourselves, and no sense of God. It may seem strange to speak of not liking grace, but really that is the case; and the principle of this is in every natural heart. Therefore, you will hear persons talk of judgment, because they have a notion that they can stand in the day of judgment, and therefore they do not like grace. Take the case here and you will find extreme hatred of grace. The Lord did not come to judge, He came as the friend of publicans and sinners. These Jews liked righteousness; and as the Lord liked grace, they brought this woman before Him, in the hope of confounding Him. It was the attempt to put His grace in opposition to the righteousness of God. They saw that He was all grace, and thought that if He condemned her, He would not be a Savior, the law could do that; if He let her go, He would despise and break the law. The thought of the natural heart ever is that if grace is fully come in, it is no matter what we be. People say, God is merciful—and indeed He is blessedly merciful—but not in the way they mean, not in the way of slurring over sin. They think they are good in the main, and that God will be bad for the rest. Now God is perfectly good and perfectly righteous in Christ.
Mark another aspect of the righteousness of these Pharisees; it has no pity; and it is the spirit of every self-righteous man. As soon as one comes to a pitch of wickedness to which he had not reached, he will condemn this person, who is more evidently a sinner than himself. So with these Scribes and Pharisees. They do not care for the woman if only Christ be condemned. It is the heartlessness that could condemn an outwardly greater sinner than themselves, and the attempt to condemn Christ too, if He will pardon.
The question which this narrative answers so blessedly is this—What is Christ to the sinner, who stands before Him just as be is What is Christ to one to whom God has told his sin, and who stands in conscience before Him, confessing it? This scripture, and all scripture, shows that Christ is to that person all grace. It is not a question of what I am that is settled, but of what Christ is. When I am in the truth of my sin, what is Christ to me? I repeat it, all scripture witnesses that Christ is to such nothing but grace. But the world is not in the truth about sin. The world wants to keep a character without a conscience. The whole history of the world is this, that men's characters and their consciences do not go together. Now God cannot go on in that way. These Jews cared about their character, and therefore had to get out of God's sight. That is what the world is at.
Does Jesus leave them here with their character? No! But first He allows, in the fullest way, the righteousness of the law of Moses. What He does is this. In effect He says, I cannot let you apply the law until I put you under it, for law has to do with those who are under it. " He that is without sin among you, let him first east a done at her." If you have no sin, so that the law cannot touch you, then you may use it. What men want is a little righteousness, and the rest of sin slurred over. But this will not do with Christ. He will put every particle of sin under law. Therefore do not take justice in your hand, if you have sin. God will not put the weapon into your hand to slay your fellow without its first laying bare what you are. He brings home to the conscience all that is in the heart of unrighteousness—in effect saying, if you will have righteousness, you will have it. If you are in the presence of God, are you not all condemned? And if you are, not condemned in your own conscience, it is because you have never been in the light. If you cannot bring out all that is in your heart, you have never been in the light—you are living without God in the world. The publicans justified God, the Pharisees justified themselves. All will justify God in the day when He judges; and that is what a sinner does now. "Being convicted by their own conscience, they went out one by one." And if our souls are not true, if we shrink from the light, we shall do as they did.
Why "one by one?" Because conscience always convicts individually. "Beginning at the eldest." The one who had the oldest reputation goes out first, and lets the others care for themselves. "One by one," they get away from the light as fast as they can, and leave Jesus alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
When they were all gone, the Lord turns to the poor woman. She was, indeed, a wretched sinner, but in a better condition than her accusers. She is honest about her sin. And being in the truth about her sin, she had nothing to go out for. As to man, when dealing with God about our sin, we do not care what he thinks. But it is a very solemn thing to be in the presence of God when all my sin is fully told out before Him.
Now mark how Christ acts. When it comes to be a question of righteousness, or Himself, He will give righteousness; but when that is done, then He can deal in His own way—then He can deal in grace. And thus He does deal with this poor sinner, condemned in her own conscience. He does not judge her, He did not come to judge. He came, indeed, as a light, to bring out the sin; but He came to reveal the love of God after all the sin and judgment is owned. Now this woman had to find out what Christ was to her. She knew she was a sinner but she had to learn what Christ was to her as a sinner. What would the Judge say to her, a convicted and confessed sinner? He was the Judge, but He did not come to judge. So, in effect, He says, There you are, deserving to be condemned, but I do not condemn you. No man can condemn you, and I will not. They thought they could condemn her undetected themselves, but they soon found they could not. Man could not condemn her, and Jesus would not.
Now suppose this woman had said, Ah! but if you knew everything I have done. If you knew what a sinner I have been. This is not the first sin, &c., &c. Ah! He well knew all her sin. With one word He brought into the consciences of her accusers all their sin. And this woman was in the light, and He knew it all. We alas! forget many sins. God never forgets. And in the knowledge of all she was, Jesus says, I do not condemn you. Now it is not a prophet who says this, but the very one who is to judge; and think you that then He will reverse His judgment? Will He then say, Now I am to condemn you! Oh, no. He anticipates the judgment in her conscience, and then gives her the assurance of full forgiveness.
But how can Jesus act in such perfect race? Because He went under the condemnation of all the sin. He put it all away. So with the thief on the cross. He acknowledges his condemnation before men, and Christ bore it before God. Herein is the unspeakable comfort, that if Christ speaks peace, He does it, not merely with divine title, but in the perfect knowledge that it is the sin which He bore and put away. Why am I sent away fully acquitted? Only because He has had love enough to bear it all for me. We find in Christ, God not imputing to us our sins. If it is a question of our righteousness, law must condemn us, but the God of the law has forgiven me according to the holiness of the law. And more than that in the love which has forgiven us, we have come to know God. " We love him because he first loved us,"-and he that loveth knoweth God. Thus we get, as the blessed fruits of being alone with Christ confessing sin, peace for the conscience, and a happy heart.