Latest / truthunedited / _Cast the First Stone_What Jesus REALLY Meant (John 8_7 Explained

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_Cast the First Stone_What Jesus REALLY Meant (John 8_7 Explained · truthunedited

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Speaker 1: Did you know why Jesus wrote on the ground when
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Speaker 1: the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery before him.
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Speaker 1: Most people have heard the story. A woman dragged into
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Speaker 1: the temple courts, exposed before an angry crowd. The religious leaders,
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Speaker 1: with their cold, calculating voices, demand her execution. The law
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Speaker 1: of Moses says she must be stoned. What do you say?
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Speaker 1: It was a trap. If Jesus said let her go,
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Speaker 1: he would be accused of breaking the law. If he
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Speaker 1: said stone her, he would be seen as cruel and
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Speaker 1: lose his reputation as a friend of sinners. Either way,
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Speaker 1: they thought they had him cornered. But instead of answering,
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Speaker 1: Jesus bent down and began writing on the ground with
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Speaker 1: his finger. Why why not respond immediately? Why not engage
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Speaker 1: in debate? Why write in the dirt instead of looking
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Speaker 1: these men in the eyes and answering their challenge? And
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Speaker 1: most importantly, what did he write? Because whatever it was,
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Speaker 1: it changed everything. One by one, her accusers walked away.
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Speaker 1: The same men who were ready to kill her drop
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Speaker 1: their stones and disappeared into the crowd, until finally there
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Speaker 1: was no one left, just Jesus, just the woman, and
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Speaker 1: the words that changed her life. Neither do I condemn you,
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Speaker 1: go and sin no more. This moment wasn't just about
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Speaker 1: one woman's sin. It was about the hypocrisy of the
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Speaker 1: human heart. It was about exposing those who claim to
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Speaker 1: uphold righteousness but are blind to their own guilt. It
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Speaker 1: was about revealing God's mercy in a way the world
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Speaker 1: had never seen before And to day, this moment is
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Speaker 1: about you and me, because whether we realize it or not,
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Speaker 1: we all hold stones. Maybe you've been the one standing
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Speaker 1: in judgment of others, pointing fingers, calling out sins while
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Speaker 1: ignoring your own. Maybe you've been the one caught in sin,
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Speaker 1: ashamed exposed, certain that you deserve condemnation. Either way, the
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Speaker 1: same Jesus who knelt in the dust that day is
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Speaker 1: speaking to you now. So let's go deeper. What was
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Speaker 1: the trap the Pharisees set for Jesus, Why did he
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Speaker 1: respond with silence? What are the different theories about what
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Speaker 1: he wrote? And most importantly, what does this moment teach
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Speaker 1: us about the heart of God? Because by the end
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Speaker 1: of this video, you will never see this passage the
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Speaker 1: same way again. We have created in depth explanation videos
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Speaker 1: for every book of the Bible to help you go
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Speaker 1: deeper in your faith. If you want to truly understand scripture,
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Speaker 1: check out our ebooks. The link is in the description.
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Speaker 1: And if this message challenges you, like and share it
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Speaker 1: so more people can un understand the mystery of what
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Speaker 1: Jesus wrote in the sand, Because by the time this
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Speaker 1: video ends, you won't just know what Jesus wrote, you'll
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Speaker 1: understand why he wrote it and what it means for
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Speaker 1: your own life. The woman stood there, humiliated, trembling under
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Speaker 1: the weight of her own shame. The Pharisees had dragged
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Speaker 1: her into the temple courts like a trophy, as if
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Speaker 1: she were nothing more than bait for their real target, Jesus.
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Speaker 1: Because this wasn't about justice, this wasn't about holiness, This
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Speaker 1: was a trap. They weren't concerned about the woman's sin.
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Speaker 1: If they had been, where was the man? Adultery requires
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Speaker 1: two people, yet only she was thrown before Jesus. The
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Speaker 1: law of Moses in Leviticus twenty ten was clear both
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Speaker 1: the man and woman caught in adultery were to be
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Speaker 1: put to death. Yet the Pharisees had conveniently ignored that part.
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Speaker 1: Why because this was never about the woman. She was
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Speaker 1: just a pawn. Their real plan was to put Jesus
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Speaker 1: in an impossible situation, one where no matter what he said,
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Speaker 1: he would be trapped. If Jesus told them to stone her,
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Speaker 1: they would have accused him of breaking Roman law. At
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Speaker 1: this time, the Jews were under Roman rule and Rome
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Speaker 1: had taken away their right to carry out the death penalty.
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Speaker 1: That's why when Jesus was later arrested, the Pharisees had
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Speaker 1: to bring him to Pontius Pilot because they could not
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Speaker 1: legally execute anyone. But if Jesus told them to release her,
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Speaker 1: they would have accused him of rejecting the law of Moses.
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Speaker 1: They would have spread the word that he was a
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Speaker 1: false teacher, someone who disregarded the commandments of God. This
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Speaker 1: would have turned the Jewish people against him, destroying his
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Speaker 1: reputation as a rabbi. This was the perfect trap, at
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Speaker 1: least they thought so. And this is what religion without
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Speaker 1: mercy always does. It seeks to condemn, not restore. It
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Speaker 1: uses rules as weapons instead of pathways to redemption. The
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Speaker 1: Pharisees didn't care about this woman's soul. They didn't care
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Speaker 1: if she repented. They didn't even care about the law
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Speaker 1: they claimed to be defending. They just wanted to trap Jesus.
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Speaker 1: And this is still happening today. There are people who
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Speaker 1: claim to care about righteousness, but they are more interested
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Speaker 1: in catching others in sin than leading them to restoration.
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Speaker 1: They use the Bible as a hammer, not to build,
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Speaker 1: but to destroy. They watch for someone to slip up,
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Speaker 1: not so they can offer help, but so they can expose, humiliate,
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Speaker 1: and condemn. You see this in churches, people whispering about
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Speaker 1: someone else's failure, pointing fingers, waiting for the chance to
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Speaker 1: call them out, but never extending grind, never leading them
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Speaker 1: to Christ. You see this online Christians tearing each other
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Speaker 1: apart over theology, doctrine, or moral failures, not to bring
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Speaker 1: correction in love, but to prove they are right to
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Speaker 1: boost their own reputation. You see this in the world
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Speaker 1: media headlines, eager to expose a Christian leader's fall, not
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Speaker 1: because they care about truth, but because they love watching
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Speaker 1: someone crash and burn. And if we're honest, many of
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Speaker 1: us have played this role too. Maybe we haven't dragged
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Speaker 1: someone into a public square, but we've judged them in
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Speaker 1: our hearts. We've replayed their mistakes felt superior because their
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Speaker 1: sin seems worse than ours. We've held stones in our hands,
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Speaker 1: maybe not physical ones, but stones of judgment, stones of gossip,
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Speaker 1: stones of self righteousness. And yet Jesus did something none
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Speaker 1: of them expected. Instead of responding with anger, instead of
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Speaker 1: falling into their trap, he bent down and began writing
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Speaker 1: on the ground. Silence, no counter attack, no immediate defense,
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Speaker 1: just a quiet, deliberate act that changed everything. And this
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Speaker 1: is where the moment becomes mysterious, because whatever he wrote
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Speaker 1: in the dirt, it broke their entire plan. One by one,
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Speaker 1: the Pharisees walked away, not victorious, not satisfied, but exposed
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Speaker 1: because in trying to trap Jesus, they ended up condemning themselves.
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Speaker 1: And the same is true today. Every time we try
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Speaker 1: to stand as judge over someone else's sin while ignoring
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Speaker 1: our own, we set a trap for ourselves. Every time
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Speaker 1: we refuse to offer mercy, every time we act like
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Speaker 1: we are better than someone else, we forget the very
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Speaker 1: thing that saves us grace. Jesus didn't come to set
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Speaker 1: traps for sinners. He came to set them free, and
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Speaker 1: the Pharisees couldn't stand it. So what did Jesus write,
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Speaker 1: What was it that made them drop their stones and
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Speaker 1: walk away? Because whatever it was, it didn't just expose
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Speaker 1: their hypocrisy, It revealed the heart of God in a
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Speaker 1: way they had never seen before. The Pharisees came with
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Speaker 1: a plan, a trap so air tight, so perfect, that
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Speaker 1: they were sure Jesus had no way out. The woman
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Speaker 1: caught in sin was just a tool. The real target
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Speaker 1: was him. They stood before him, stones in hand, ready
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Speaker 1: to challenge whatever he said. And then he did something
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Speaker 1: no one expected. He said nothing. Instead of answering their accusations,
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Speaker 1: he bent down and began writing on the ground. Imagine
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Speaker 1: the tension. The religious leaders were waiting for a verbal battle,
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Speaker 1: the crowd was holding its breath, and the woman was
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Speaker 1: frozen in terror. Yet Jesus remained completely calm. He didn't argue,
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Speaker 1: He didn't he didn't explain himself. He simply knelt down
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Speaker 1: and wrote. And that silence was more powerful than words,
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Speaker 1: because silence forces reflection, It exposes the true motives of
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Speaker 1: the heart. How often do we demand an immediate response
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Speaker 1: from God? How often do we cry out, Lord, answer
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Speaker 1: me now, only to be met with what feels like
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Speaker 1: divine silence. But maybe, just like in this story, God's
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Speaker 1: silence is intentional, because silence is not absence. Jesus wasn't
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Speaker 1: ignoring the Pharisees. He was exposing them By refusing to
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Speaker 1: respond immediately. He was shifting the weight of the moment
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Speaker 1: back onto them. What was really in their hearts? Did
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Speaker 1: they truly care about righteousness? Or were they using the
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Speaker 1: law as a weapon. And maybe today, when God seems silent,
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Speaker 1: he's doing the same thing in us. Maybe his sance
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Speaker 1: isn't rejection, its revelation. Maybe, like the Pharisees, we're so
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Speaker 1: focused on exposing someone else's sin that we ignore our own. Maybe,
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Speaker 1: like the woman, we're so consumed by shame that we
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Speaker 1: assume God's delay means condemnation. But Jesus' silence wasn't about
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Speaker 1: ignoring sin. It was about revealing grace. And this wasn't
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Speaker 1: the first time God had written with his own hand.
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Speaker 1: In Exodus thirty one eighteen, we see God himself writing
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Speaker 1: the Ten Commandments on stone tablets. The very law the
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Speaker 1: Pharisees were quoting had been written by the same divine
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Speaker 1: hand that was now tracing letters in the dirt. What
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Speaker 1: irony the author of the law was being tested by
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Speaker 1: those who claimed to uphold it. But there was another
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Speaker 1: time God wrote In Daniel five, King Belchaza threw a
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Speaker 1: great feast, drinking from the sacred temple cups stolen from Jerusalem.
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Speaker 1: In the middle of the celebration, a mysterious hand appeared
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Speaker 1: and wrote words on the wall mene mene tekel parsin.
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Speaker 1: No one could understand what it meant until the prophet
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Speaker 1: Daniel interpreted it. It was a message of judgment. That
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Speaker 1: very night Belschaza was killed and his kingdom fell. So
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Speaker 1: when Jesus bent down to write, was it another message
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Speaker 1: of judgment. Maybe maybe Jesus was writing out the sins
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Speaker 1: of the Pharisees, exposing their hypocrisy. Maybe he was reminding
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Speaker 1: them of the law they so proudly claimed to follow
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Speaker 1: but failed to keep. Maybe he was writing something that
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Speaker 1: made each man, one by one realize he was no
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Speaker 1: better than the woman he was condemning. Or maybe, just
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Speaker 1: maybe he was writing a message of mercy. Maybe he
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Speaker 1: was reminding them of their own need for grace. Maybe
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Speaker 1: he was showing them that God's justice is always intertwined
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Speaker 1: with his life. We don't know exactly what Jesus wrote,
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Speaker 1: But we do know that when he stood up, everything changed.
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Speaker 1: One sentence, one moment, one divine truth. Let any one
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Speaker 1: of you, who is without sin be the first to
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Speaker 1: throw a stone at her. And suddenly the silence that
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Speaker 1: had made the Pharisee so confident became the silence that
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Speaker 1: made them tremble, because what could they say. They had
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Speaker 1: come to expose someone else, but now they were the
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Speaker 1: ones exposed. One by one, they walked away, not because
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Speaker 1: Jesus argued with them, not because he outwitted them, but
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Speaker 1: because his silence had spoken louder than words ever could.
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Speaker 1: And to day, that same silence speaks to us, because
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Speaker 1: how often do we pick up stones? How often do
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Speaker 1: we condemn, judge, and expose others while ignoring the sin
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Speaker 1: in our own hearts. And yet Jesus kneels, he writes,
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Speaker 1: he waits not to condemn us, but to save us
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Speaker 1: from ourselves. And the next time we attempted to cast
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Speaker 1: a stone, we must remember this moment, because the same
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Speaker 1: silence that exposed the Pharisees is the same silence that
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Speaker 1: calls us to put our stones down and walk away.
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Speaker 1: Changed one by one, the Pharisees dropped their stones and
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Speaker 1: walked away. The same men who moments earlier were demanding
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Speaker 1: judgment now stood in stun silence. Their self righteous confidence shattered.
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Speaker 1: And the turning point wasn't an argument, it wasn't a debate.
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Speaker 1: It was whatever Jesus wrote on the ground. This is
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Speaker 1: one of the greatest mysteries in scripture. What did Jesus write?
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Speaker 1: What words? What message? What divine truth? Was so powerful
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Speaker 1: that it exposed the hypocrisy of an entire group of
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Speaker 1: religious leaders and sent them away in shame. The Bible
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Speaker 1: doesn't tell us explicitly, but there are clues, and when
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Speaker 1: we explore the possibilities, we begin to see that whatever
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Speaker 1: Jesus wrote was not just for them, It's for us too.
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Speaker 1: Some scholars believe Jesus was writing the names of the
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Speaker 1: Pharisees a direct fulfillment of Jeremiah seventeen thirteen, which says, Lord,
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Speaker 1: you are the hope of Israel. All who forsake you
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Speaker 1: will be put to shame. Those who turn away from
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Speaker 1: you will be written in the dust because they have
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Speaker 1: forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water. Think about that.
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Speaker 1: Jeremiah prophesied that those who reject God will have their
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Speaker 1: names written in the dust. And now here were the
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Speaker 1: Pharisees rejecting the very son of God, while he bent
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Speaker 1: down and wrote in the dirt. If this is what
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Speaker 1: he wrote, no wonder they walked away. They realized they
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Speaker 1: weren't standing in judgment over the woman, God was standing
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Speaker 1: in judgment over them. Others believe Jesus was writing the
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Speaker 1: specific sins of the Pharisees. This would explain why they left,
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Speaker 1: one by one, from the oldest to the youngest. Maybe
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Speaker 1: Jesus started writing down secret sins, and one by one
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Speaker 1: their consciences betrayed them. Imagine standing there, so sure of
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Speaker 1: your own righteousness, so confident that you are better than
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Speaker 1: this woman, until you look down and see your own
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Speaker 1: sin written in the dust for all to see. Maybe
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Speaker 1: Jesus started listing their lies, their greed, their adultery, their
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Speaker 1: hidden sins. Maybe he wrote the name of a woman
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Speaker 1: one of them had been within secret. Maybe he wrote
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Speaker 1: the amount of money another had stolen from the temple treasury.
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Speaker 1: Maybe he wrote the sins they had committed in private,
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Speaker 1: the ones they thought no one knew about. And suddenly
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Speaker 1: they weren't the judges anymore, they were the accused. The
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Speaker 1: shame that had been on them the woman now rested
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Speaker 1: on them, because the law they used to condemn others
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Speaker 1: was now condemning them. This would explain why Jesus, after writing,
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Speaker 1: stood up and said, let any one of you who
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Speaker 1: is without sin be the first to throw a stone
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Speaker 1: at her. Not anyone who has never sinned, but anyone
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Speaker 1: who is without this kind of sin. And suddenly the
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Speaker 1: weight of their own hypocrisy crushed them. This wasn't just
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Speaker 1: about their legalistic trap. It wasn't just about the woman's sin.
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Speaker 1: It was about the darkness inside their own hearts, and
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Speaker 1: they couldn't hide any more. Another theory is that Jesus
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Speaker 1: was writing out the law itself. Perhaps he was writing
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Speaker 1: the very command they were using against the woman. Maybe
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Speaker 1: he started writing Leviticus twenty ten or Deuteronomy twenty two
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Speaker 1: twenty two, which required that both the man and the
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Speaker 1: woman caught in adultery be punished. And suddenly the Pharisees
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Speaker 1: realized they had broken the law by only bringing the woman.
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Speaker 1: If they had truly cared about righteousness, where was the man,
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Speaker 1: And now standing before the author of the law himself,
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Speaker 1: they saw their own corruption exposed because they weren't defending
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Speaker 1: the law, they were manipulating it for their own agenda,
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Speaker 1: and Jesus was showing them that God's law is not
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Speaker 1: a tool for destruction, It is a mirror that reveals
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Speaker 1: the heart. So what did Jesus write We don't know
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Speaker 1: for sure, but we know one thing. Whatever it was,
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Speaker 1: it wasn't just for them. It's for us too, because
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Speaker 1: to day we still stand in the same place as
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Speaker 1: those Pharisees. We hold stones in our hands, stones of judgment,
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Speaker 1: stones of self righteousness, stones we used to condemn others
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Speaker 1: while ignoring our own sin. And yet Jesus kneels, he writes,
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Speaker 1: And if we could see what he was writing about us,
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Speaker 1: would we be so quick to throw the first stone?
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Speaker 1: Would we still feel superior? Or would we be the
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Speaker 1: first to drop it and walk away? Because whatever Jesus
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Speaker 1: wrote in the dust that day was not just about
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Speaker 1: exposing sin. It was about revealing the heart of God.
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Speaker 1: A God who doesn't ignore sin, but doesn't delight in condemnation.
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Speaker 1: A God who upholds justice but extends mercy, A God
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Speaker 1: who sees the whole story, the sin, the shame, and
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Speaker 1: the possibility of redemption. So the next time we find
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Speaker 1: ourselves ready to accuse, ready to expose, ready to judge,
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Speaker 1: we need to ask ourselves, what if Jesus wrote about us,
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Speaker 1: and would we still have the right to cast the
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Speaker 1: first stone? The stones were ready, cold, heavy weapons of judgment.
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Speaker 1: The fact Parisies had come prepared not just to test Jesus,
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Speaker 1: but to carry out an execution. They had convinced themselves
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Speaker 1: they were doing God's will. They believed they were righteous,
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Speaker 1: upholding the law, acting as defenders of holiness. But then
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Speaker 1: something unexpected happened. Jesus stood up, looked them in the
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Speaker 1: eyes and said, just one sentence, let any one of
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Speaker 1: you who is without sin be the first to throw
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Speaker 1: a stone at her. Then he bent down again and
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Speaker 1: continued writing on the ground. And in that moment, the
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Speaker 1: energy shifted. The fury in their hearts was met with
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Speaker 1: an unbearable weight, the weight of their own guilt. The
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Speaker 1: law they had used as a weapon was now aimed
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Speaker 1: at them, and one by one they dropped their stones
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Speaker 1: and walked away, starting with the oldest by the oldest,
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Speaker 1: because maybe they had more sins to remember, Maybe the
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Speaker 1: weight of a lifetime of hidden failures hit them firs.
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Speaker 1: Maybe they had been in ministry long enough to know that,
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Speaker 1: deep down they were no better than the woman they
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Speaker 1: had dragged before Jesus. Or maybe they just realized Jesus
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Speaker 1: had turned their trap against them because he never denied
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Speaker 1: the law. He never said, don't stone her. He simply
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Speaker 1: reminded them that only the truly righteous have the right
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Speaker 1: to condemn, and suddenly they weren't so eager to judge.
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Speaker 1: Think about it, how often do we do the same thing.
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Speaker 1: How often do we point fingers at others, highlight their failures,
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Speaker 1: replay their mistakes in our minds, all while ignoring our own.
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Speaker 1: It's easy to judge when the focus is on someone
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Speaker 1: else's sin. It's easy to throw stones when no one
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Speaker 1: is looking at our own hypocrisy. But the moment Jesus
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Speaker 1: turns the mirror on us, we realize we have no
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Speaker 1: right to hold those stones at all. The Pharisees thought
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Speaker 1: they had exposed the woman. Instead, Jesus exposed them. They
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Speaker 1: thought they had caught someone else in sin. Instead they
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Speaker 1: were caught in their own. And this is what self
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Speaker 1: righteousness always does. It blinds us to our own faults.
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Speaker 1: It makes us think we are better than others. It
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Speaker 1: convinces us that our sins aren't as bad, that our
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Speaker 1: failures are justifiable, that we have the right to condemn.
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Speaker 1: But Jesus doesn't let us get away with that. And
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Speaker 1: the truth is, every single one of us has stood
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Speaker 1: in the pharisees place. Maybe you've never dragged someone into
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Speaker 1: public shame, But have you ever judged someone for their
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Speaker 1: sin while excusing your own? Have you ever thought, at
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Speaker 1: least I'm not as bad as them? Have you ever
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Speaker 1: whispered gossip disguised as concern? Have you ever secretly enjoyed
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Speaker 1: hearing about someone else's failure because it made you feel
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Speaker 1: a little bit better about yourself. We don't always carry
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Speaker 1: physical stones, but we hold them in our hearts. The
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Speaker 1: stone of pride, the belief that we are morally superior.
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Speaker 1: The stone of bitterness, unwilling to forgive, eager to see
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Speaker 1: someone suffer for their mistakes. The stone of legalism, using
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Speaker 1: scripture to judge others while ignoring our own sin. The
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Speaker 1: stone of hypocrisy, condemning people for the same sins we
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Speaker 1: secretly commit in private. And yet one by one, the
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Speaker 1: Pharisees drop their stones because in that moment they realize
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Speaker 1: something we all must come to terms with. None of
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Speaker 1: us are righteous enough to judge. Romans three ten says
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Speaker 1: there is no one righteous, not even one. Isaiah sixty
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Speaker 1: four col And six says all our righteous acts are
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Speaker 1: like filthy rags. Even the best among us are still
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Speaker 1: sinners in need of mercy. And if Jesus could stand
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Speaker 1: before this guilty woman and offer her grace, what right
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Speaker 1: do we have to hold it from others. But here's
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Speaker 1: the saddest part of this story. The Pharisees walked away.
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Speaker 1: But they didn't repent. They didn't drop their stones because
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Speaker 1: they wanted mercy. They dropped their stones because they had
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Speaker 1: been exposed. And instead of falling at Jesus feet and
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Speaker 1: confessing their own sin, they left in silence. And how
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Speaker 1: many times do we do the same? How many times
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Speaker 1: has God convicted us, and instead of repenting, we walk away?
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Speaker 1: How many times do we hear the truth, feel the
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Speaker 1: weight of our own guilt, and instead of running to Jesus,
23:36
Speaker 1: we disappear into the crowd, pretending the moment never happened.
23:41
Speaker 1: The Pharisees should have stayed, they should have dropped to
23:45
Speaker 1: their knees beside the woman and said, Lord, have mercy
23:49
Speaker 1: on me too, But they didn't. And this is the
23:53
Speaker 1: danger of self righteousness. It keeps us from experiencing the
23:57
Speaker 1: very grace we need, because we cannot receive mercy if
24:03
Speaker 1: we don't believe we need it. The woman knew she
24:06
Speaker 1: was guilty, she knew she deserved condemnation. She had nothing
24:10
Speaker 1: to hide, nothing to argue, nothing to defend, and because
24:15
Speaker 1: of that, she was the only one left standing with Jesus.
24:19
Speaker 1: The Pharisees had come full of pride, ready to judge,
24:22
Speaker 1: and they walked away empty. The woman had come broken,
24:26
Speaker 1: expecting to die, and she walked away free. And that's
24:30
Speaker 1: the difference between those who accept Jesus's grace and those
24:34
Speaker 1: who reject it. Some will hear the truth and repent.
24:38
Speaker 1: Others will hear the truth and walk away. So to
24:41
Speaker 1: day you have a choice. Will you be the one
24:44
Speaker 1: holding the stone or the one who receives mercy? Because
24:48
Speaker 1: in the end, only one of them stayed with Jesus,
24:52
Speaker 1: and it wasn't the one who thought they were righteous.
24:55
Speaker 1: The dust settled, the crowd was gone, The stones lay on,
25:00
Speaker 1: touched on the ground, abandoned by the men who had
25:02
Speaker 1: once gripped them with righteous fury, and now it was
25:07
Speaker 1: just Jesus and the woman. Can you imagine what she
25:12
Speaker 1: must have felt in that moment. Moments ago, she had
25:15
Speaker 1: been standing on the brink of death, exposed, humiliated, condemned.
25:21
Speaker 1: She had been waiting for the first stone to strike,
25:24
Speaker 1: waiting for the pain, the judgment, the end. But now
25:28
Speaker 1: the accusers had vanished. She was still standing. And yet
25:32
Speaker 1: there was one more person left, Jesus, and he had
25:36
Speaker 1: the right to condemn her. He was the only one
25:38
Speaker 1: in that crowd without sin, the only one who, by
25:41
Speaker 1: his own words, could have picked up a stone and
25:44
Speaker 1: carried out justice. The Pharisees were guilty, but he was not.
25:50
Speaker 1: And so she stood before him, waiting. Would he judge her?
25:53
Speaker 1: Would he rebuke her? Would he remind her of how
25:56
Speaker 1: shameful she was, of how badly she had failed? Instead,
26:00
Speaker 1: he asked her a question, woman, where are they? Has
26:03
Speaker 1: no one condemned you? She must have barely been able
26:07
Speaker 1: to find her voice, No one, Lord, And then the
26:11
Speaker 1: words that changed everything. Neither do I condemn you? Go
26:16
Speaker 1: now and sin no more. This was grace and truth
26:20
Speaker 1: in perfect balance. Jesus did not say it's okay, don't
26:24
Speaker 1: worry about it. Your sin isn't a big deal. But
26:28
Speaker 1: he also did not say you are too far gone,
26:31
Speaker 1: there is no hope for you. He forgave her, but
26:35
Speaker 1: he also called her to change. This is the heart
26:38
Speaker 1: of the Gospel. This is what makes Jesus so different
26:41
Speaker 1: from the world, because people usually fall into one of
26:45
Speaker 1: two extremes. Some choose judgment without grace. They hold on
26:50
Speaker 1: to their stones, quick to condemn, eager to expose someone
26:54
Speaker 1: else's failures. They want justice for others, but mercy for themselves.
27:00
Speaker 1: They act as if some sins are unforgivable, as if
27:04
Speaker 1: certain people are beyond redemption. But that's not Jesus. Others
27:08
Speaker 1: choose grace without truth. They say God loves you just
27:11
Speaker 1: as you are, but they stop there. They never talk
27:15
Speaker 1: about repentance, never call for transformation. They act as if
27:19
Speaker 1: sin doesn't matter, as if Jesus died to excuse sin
27:24
Speaker 1: rather than free us from it. But that's not Jesus either,
27:27
Speaker 1: because true love does not ignore sin, It sets people
27:31
Speaker 1: free from it. And that's what Jesus did here. Neither
27:35
Speaker 1: do I condemn you. That is grace, go and sin
27:39
Speaker 1: no more. That is truth. You cannot have one without
27:41
Speaker 1: the other, because grace without truth is a lie. It
27:45
Speaker 1: tells people they can continue living in sin without consequence,
27:50
Speaker 1: but sin always leads to death. If Jesus had only said,
27:55
Speaker 1: neither do I condemn you and left it at that,
27:58
Speaker 1: the woman might have walked away, thinking, maybe my sin
28:01
Speaker 1: isn't that serious after all, and truth without grace is unbearable.
28:07
Speaker 1: If Jesus had only said, go and sin no more
28:11
Speaker 1: without first forgiving her, she would have been crushed under
28:14
Speaker 1: the weight of her failure. She already knew she was guilty.
28:18
Speaker 1: What she needed was hope. Jesus gave her both, and
28:23
Speaker 1: he offers the same to us, because let's be honest,
28:26
Speaker 1: we are all that woman. We may not have been
28:29
Speaker 1: caught in adultery, but we have all been caught in sin,
28:33
Speaker 1: maybe not exposed publicly, but exposed before a holy God
28:37
Speaker 1: who sees everything, and he has every right to condemn us.
28:41
Speaker 1: Romans three twenty three says, for all have sinned and
28:45
Speaker 1: falls short of the glory of God. Romans six twenty
28:49
Speaker 1: three says the wages of sin is death. If justice
28:55
Speaker 1: were the only factor, we would all be guilty. But
28:58
Speaker 1: Jesus offers something greater than justice. He offers mercy. And
29:03
Speaker 1: when he looks at us, he doesn't say you're too
29:05
Speaker 1: far gone. He doesn't say you're worthless. He doesn't say
29:10
Speaker 1: you will never change. He says, neither do I condemn you.
29:14
Speaker 1: But he also says, go and sin no more. Because
29:18
Speaker 1: grace does not leave us where it found us. It
29:21
Speaker 1: washes us clean, It calls us higher, It changes us
29:25
Speaker 1: from the inside out. And that's the part we so
29:28
Speaker 1: often miss. Too many people want Jesus forgiveness without his lordship.
29:32
Speaker 1: They want to be pardoned but not transformed. They want
29:36
Speaker 1: the first half of Jesus' sentence, neither do I condemn
29:40
Speaker 1: you without obeying the second half, Go and sin no more.
29:49
Speaker 1: But Jesus cannot just be savior. He must also be lord.
29:52
Speaker 1: Real grace doesn't just cover sin. It leads to repentance.
29:57
Speaker 1: That's why two Corinthians five seventeen says, if anyone is
30:00
Speaker 1: in Christ, the new creation has come, the old has gone,
30:05
Speaker 1: the new is here. Real mercy leads to real change.
30:10
Speaker 1: So what about you. Maybe you've been afraid to come
30:13
Speaker 1: to Jesus because you think he'll condemn you. You think
30:16
Speaker 1: he's holding a stone waiting to punish you for everything
30:20
Speaker 1: you've done. But look at this story. Jesus isn't holding
30:24
Speaker 1: a stone. He's offering mercy. Or maybe you've received his grace,
30:30
Speaker 1: but you haven't walked in obedience. You've taken the neither
30:34
Speaker 1: do I condemn you part, but you've ignored the go
30:37
Speaker 1: and sin no more part. And if that's you, this
30:41
Speaker 1: is your moment to surrender completely. Because real faith doesn't
30:45
Speaker 1: just accept grace, it walks in truth. Real discipleship doesn't
30:50
Speaker 1: just receive mercy, It pursues holiness. And Jesus is calling
30:55
Speaker 1: you not just to be forgiven, but to be transformed.
30:59
Speaker 1: The woman in this story walked away with a new life,
31:03
Speaker 1: and you can too. But the question is will you
31:06
Speaker 1: take hold of the grace that calls you to something greater.
31:10
Speaker 1: The woman had walked away free, her life spared not
31:14
Speaker 1: by the Pharisees mercy because they had none, but by
31:17
Speaker 1: the mercy of Jesus, the same Jesus who had every
31:21
Speaker 1: right to condemn her, yet instead chose to redeem her.
31:26
Speaker 1: And in that one moment, we see something deeper than
31:29
Speaker 1: just forgiveness. We see something that shatters every misconception about
31:33
Speaker 1: who God is, about how he sees us, about how
31:36
Speaker 1: he deals with sin. Because if there's one thing this
31:40
Speaker 1: encountermakes clear, it's this God's heart is not to destroy,
31:45
Speaker 1: It is to restore. The world paints a distorted picture
31:49
Speaker 1: of God. Some see him as harsh, distant, waiting to punish.
31:54
Speaker 1: They imagine him scanning the earth for failures, eager to
31:58
Speaker 1: pour out wrath at the slightest mistake. Others see him
32:01
Speaker 1: as soft, indifferent towards sin, as if he doesn't care
32:05
Speaker 1: what we do. But neither of these views capture the
32:09
Speaker 1: true heart of God, because the God of the Bible,
32:12
Speaker 1: the God we see in Jesus, is neither cruel nor indifferent.
32:17
Speaker 1: He is just yet merciful, holy yet compassionate, righteous yet
32:24
Speaker 1: overflowing with grace, and this story proves it. If God
32:28
Speaker 1: were only about judgment, Jesus would have picked up a
32:31
Speaker 1: stone himself. If God were only about ignoring sin, he
32:35
Speaker 1: wouldn't have told her to go and sin no more.
32:39
Speaker 1: But instead he did what only a loving father can do.
32:42
Speaker 1: He saw beyond the sin to the person. Because Jesus
32:47
Speaker 1: didn't just see a guilty woman, he saw a soul
32:51
Speaker 1: in need of saving. And that is the heart of God.
32:55
Speaker 1: Look at how differently the Pharisees saw her compared to
32:58
Speaker 1: how Jesus saw her. To them, she was nothing but
33:01
Speaker 1: a label, an adulteress, a sinner. They didn't see her
33:05
Speaker 1: as a person. They didn't see her pain, her struggles,
33:09
Speaker 1: her story. They only saw her failure. And how often
33:13
Speaker 1: do we do the same. We slap labels on people
33:16
Speaker 1: based on their worst mistakes. We define them by their sins,
33:21
Speaker 1: the addict, the liar, the unfaithful, the hypocrite, the broken,
33:25
Speaker 1: the failure, and once we have labeled them, we justify
33:29
Speaker 1: treating them as less than human. We forget that every
33:33
Speaker 1: sinner has a story. We don't know what led the
33:36
Speaker 1: woman to that moment of adultery. Was she abandoned by
33:41
Speaker 1: her husband? Had she been deceived? Was she trapped in
33:44
Speaker 1: a life she never wanted. We don't know, and neither
33:48
Speaker 1: did the Pharisees because they didn't care. But Jesus did,
33:54
Speaker 1: and he still does today. Jesus doesn't see you through
33:57
Speaker 1: the lens of your worst sin. He doesn't define you
34:01
Speaker 1: by your failures. He doesn't see you as too far gone.
34:04
Speaker 1: He doesn't see a lost cause. He sees you the
34:08
Speaker 1: real you, the one the world doesn't know, the one
34:11
Speaker 1: behind the sin, the one behind the shame, the one
34:15
Speaker 1: who feels unworthy of love but desperately needs it, and
34:19
Speaker 1: he does not turn away because God's heart is always
34:23
Speaker 1: for redemption. This is why throughout scripture, God is constantly
34:27
Speaker 1: rescuing the ones the world has rejected. When everyone else
34:31
Speaker 1: saw a murderer, God saw a leader in Moses, when
34:35
Speaker 1: everyone else saw a failure. God saw a king in David,
34:39
Speaker 1: when everyone else saw a prostitute. God saw a woman
34:42
Speaker 1: of faith in Raehab when everyone else saw a persecutor.
34:46
Speaker 1: God saw an apostle in Paul. And when the Pharisees
34:50
Speaker 1: saw a worthless woman deserving death, Jesus saw a daughter
34:54
Speaker 1: who still had a future. Because God does not discard people,
34:59
Speaker 1: he rests them. But this is where we must stop
35:02
Speaker 1: and ask, how do we treat others? Do we reflect
35:05
Speaker 1: the heart of the Pharisees or the heart of Jesus,
35:08
Speaker 1: Because let's be honest. Sometimes we are the ones standing
35:12
Speaker 1: in the crowd holding stones. Sometimes we are the ones
35:16
Speaker 1: quick to judge, slow to forgive, eager to expose but
35:20
Speaker 1: unwilling to restore. Sometimes we are the ones saying God,
35:25
Speaker 1: why don't you deal with their sin? But do we
35:28
Speaker 1: ever stop and ask God, why haven't you dealt with mine?
35:33
Speaker 1: Because the same Jesus who showed mercy to this woman
35:36
Speaker 1: is the same Jesus who has shown mercy to us.
35:39
Speaker 1: And if he can kneel in the dust for a
35:41
Speaker 1: woman caught in sin, how can we ever justify standing
35:45
Speaker 1: in judgment over others. The heart of God is not
35:49
Speaker 1: like ours. We are quick to condemn, He is quick
35:52
Speaker 1: to forgive. We give up on people. He calls them
35:55
Speaker 1: by name. We see the failure, he sees the future.
35:59
Speaker 1: We remember the sin. He remembers his love. This is
36:02
Speaker 1: why Lamentations three twenty two to twenty three says, because
36:07
Speaker 1: of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for
36:10
Speaker 1: his compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great
36:16
Speaker 1: is your faithfulness. And this is why Romans eight one
36:20
Speaker 1: declares there is now no condemnation for those who are
36:23
Speaker 1: in Christ Jesus, because Jesus didn't come to throw stones,
36:29
Speaker 1: He came to take our place. The woman was guilty,
36:32
Speaker 1: there was no denying that. But the truth is so
36:36
Speaker 1: are we. And yet instead of punishing us, instead of
36:39
Speaker 1: giving us what we deserve. Jesus did something unthinkable. He
36:44
Speaker 1: took the punishment upon himself. He took our place. He
36:48
Speaker 1: bore our shame, He carried our judgment. The cross became
36:52
Speaker 1: the place where God's mercy and justice met. The Pharisees
36:56
Speaker 1: wanted judgment, but they had no idea that Jesus was
37:00
Speaker 1: about to take that judgment on himself. They wanted her
37:03
Speaker 1: to die for her sins, but instead he would die
37:07
Speaker 1: for hers and for hours. So what does this moment
37:11
Speaker 1: reveal about the heart of God. Everything. It reveals that
37:15
Speaker 1: God is not in the business of condemnation but salvation,
37:20
Speaker 1: That he doesn't write people off, he writes grace into
37:24
Speaker 1: their story. That he doesn't just look at sin, he
37:27
Speaker 1: looks at the person behind it. And that for every
37:30
Speaker 1: single one of us, no matter what we have done,
37:33
Speaker 1: no matter how broken we feel, no matter how deep
37:37
Speaker 1: our shame runs, his mercy is greater. The question is
37:42
Speaker 1: will we receive it? Because the woman could have run,
37:46
Speaker 1: she could have stayed in her shame, she could have
37:48
Speaker 1: refused to believe that jesus words were true. But instead
37:52
Speaker 1: she stayed, and because of that she walked away changed.
37:56
Speaker 1: And today that same Jesus stands before you with a stone,
38:01
Speaker 1: but with grace, and his question is simple, will you
38:05
Speaker 1: trust his heart? The woman walked away, free, forgiven and
38:10
Speaker 1: forever changed, not because she was innocent, but because Jesus
38:14
Speaker 1: refused to condemn her. The Pharisees, on the other hand,
38:18
Speaker 1: had walked away in silence, exposed guilty but unwilling to
38:23
Speaker 1: admit it. And now the question shifts from them to us,
38:29
Speaker 1: because this story isn't just about a woman court in adultery.
38:35
Speaker 1: It's about every single one of us. We may not
38:38
Speaker 1: have stood in that temple court with stones in our hands,
38:42
Speaker 1: but how many times have we stood in judgment over
38:45
Speaker 1: someone else? How many times have we held on to
38:48
Speaker 1: stones of condemnation, ready to point out someone's failure while
38:53
Speaker 1: ignoring our own. Because if we're honest, we love justice
38:57
Speaker 1: when it's for someone else's sin, mercy when it's for
39:01
Speaker 1: our own. Think about how quickly we criticize people for
39:05
Speaker 1: things we excuse in ourselves. We call someone else's sin disgusting,
39:11
Speaker 1: but we call our own struggles weakness. We demand that
39:15
Speaker 1: others repent, but we justify our own failures. We get
39:20
Speaker 1: angry when someone hurts us, but when we hurt others,
39:23
Speaker 1: we expect them to understand. It's the same self righteousness
39:28
Speaker 1: that blinded the Pharisees. And yet Jesus is still kneeling
39:32
Speaker 1: in the dirt, writing, still exposing our hearts, still asking
39:38
Speaker 1: the question, are you without sin? Then throw the first stone,
39:42
Speaker 1: and suddenly the weight shifts because we are not as
39:45
Speaker 1: innocent as we pretend to be. Look at your own life.
39:50
Speaker 1: Have you ever gossiped about someone? Maybe you didn't stand
39:53
Speaker 1: in a public square, but you dragged their name through
39:57
Speaker 1: the dirt in a group chat or over coffee with
39:59
Speaker 1: the friend. Have you ever judged someone for their choices
40:04
Speaker 1: while ignoring your own compromises? Have you ever been quick
40:08
Speaker 1: to call someone else a hypocrite while living a double
40:11
Speaker 1: life yourself. We carry these stones all the time. The
40:15
Speaker 1: stone of bitterness, holding on to past wounds and refusing
40:19
Speaker 1: to forgive. The stone of pride, believing we are better
40:23
Speaker 1: than others because our sins are more respectable. The stone
40:29
Speaker 1: of legalism, using religion as a weapon instead of a
40:33
Speaker 1: path to restoration. The stone of self righteousness, believing we
40:37
Speaker 1: deserve grace but others deserve judgment. And yet Jesus never
40:43
Speaker 1: called us to be stone throwers. He called us to
40:45
Speaker 1: be grace givers. He called us to see people the
40:49
Speaker 1: way he does, not as hopeless sinners, but as souls
40:53
Speaker 1: who still have a future. He called us to recognize
40:57
Speaker 1: that we have been forgiven much, so we must love
41:00
Speaker 1: much Luke seven forty seven. Because the truth is, we
41:07
Speaker 1: are all the woman in the story. We have all
41:10
Speaker 1: stood guilty before God, we have all deserved judgment, and
41:14
Speaker 1: yet Jesus stepped in. He stood between us and the
41:18
Speaker 1: punishment we deserved. He took the weight of our sin
41:21
Speaker 1: upon himself, and because of that we are free. So
41:25
Speaker 1: how can we who have received such mercy refuse to
41:29
Speaker 1: show it to others? How can we who have been
41:32
Speaker 1: forgiven still hold on to our stones. It's time to
41:36
Speaker 1: put them down. To stop seeing people as their worst mistakes.
41:40
Speaker 1: To stop assuming the worst in others while giving ourselves
41:44
Speaker 1: the benefit of the doubt. To stop being so quick
41:47
Speaker 1: to expose but slow to restore. Because if we really
41:52
Speaker 1: want to follow Jesus, we cannot just admire his mercy.
41:56
Speaker 1: We have to live it. This means forgiving people who
41:59
Speaker 1: don't deserve it. It means loving people who don't love
42:03
Speaker 1: us back. It means seeing people not as they are,
42:07
Speaker 1: but as they could be in Christ. And if we
42:09
Speaker 1: cannot do this, we are no better than the Pharisees.
42:13
Speaker 1: Because Jesus did not save us so we could sit
42:16
Speaker 1: in judgment. He saved us so we could extend the
42:20
Speaker 1: same mercy we received. So what stones are you still carrying?
42:24
Speaker 1: Who have you condemned in your heart? Who have you
42:27
Speaker 1: refused to forgive? Because to day Jesus is standing before you,
42:32
Speaker 1: and he is asking you to drop the stone. The
42:35
Speaker 1: question is will you? The stones have fallen, the judgment
42:39
Speaker 1: is gone, and now it's just you and Jesus. Not
42:43
Speaker 1: the version of you that the world sees, not the
42:46
Speaker 1: carefully curated, filtered image you show to others, Not the
42:49
Speaker 1: person you pretend to be when you're trying to look holy,
42:53
Speaker 1: The real you, the one with failures no one knows about,
42:57
Speaker 1: the one with sins you hope never come to light,
43:02
Speaker 1: the one with wounds you've never spoken of, burdens you've
43:06
Speaker 1: carried for years, regrets that still haunt you in the silence.
43:11
Speaker 1: And here's the truth. He sees it all, every sin,
43:14
Speaker 1: every thought, every hidden motive, and yet he kneels before you,
43:18
Speaker 1: not with a stone, in his hand, but with grace
43:21
Speaker 1: in his eyes, because this is who he is, A
43:24
Speaker 1: God who is slow to anger and abounding in love
43:27
Speaker 1: Psalm one hundred three, verse eight. A god who delights
43:32
Speaker 1: in showing mercy Mica seven eighteen. A God who does
43:37
Speaker 1: not treat us as our sins deserve Psalm one hundred
43:41
Speaker 1: three ten. And yet how often do we forget this?
43:45
Speaker 1: How often do we live as if we are still condemned.
43:48
Speaker 1: How often do we carry the weight of sins he
43:51
Speaker 1: has already forgiven or worse, how often do we act
43:55
Speaker 1: like the Pharisees, standing in judgment over others while ignore
44:00
Speaker 1: our own sin. To day we pray because this is
44:04
Speaker 1: not just a story from two thousand years ago. This
44:08
Speaker 1: is our story. This is the moment we choose mercy
44:12
Speaker 1: over judgment. This is the moment we surrender our stones.
44:16
Speaker 1: This is the moment we let Jesus transform us. So
44:20
Speaker 1: wherever you are, close your eyes, let every distraction fade,
44:25
Speaker 1: and pray, not just with words, but with your heart. Father,
44:30
Speaker 1: I come before you with nothing to hide, because you
44:33
Speaker 1: see it all. You see the sins I've tried to
44:36
Speaker 1: cover up. You see the thoughts I wish I could erase.
44:40
Speaker 1: You see the moments when I have judged others while
44:43
Speaker 1: ignoring my own failures, And I confess I have held
44:47
Speaker 1: on to stones. I have condemned when I should have forgiven.
44:50
Speaker 1: I have chosen pride when I should have chosen humility.
44:53
Speaker 1: I have spoken when I should have stayed silent. And
44:56
Speaker 1: to day I lay it all down. Jesus, forgive me,
45:01
Speaker 1: not just for the sins the world sees, but for
45:04
Speaker 1: the ones only you know about. Forgive me for every
45:07
Speaker 1: moment I have failed to show the mercy you gave me.
45:11
Speaker 1: Forgive me for every time I have held someone's past
45:13
Speaker 1: against them while expecting others to forget mine. Forgive me
45:18
Speaker 1: for every thought, every word, every action that did not
45:21
Speaker 1: reflect your love. Wash me clean, Lord, not just on
45:25
Speaker 1: the surface, but deep in my soul. Create in me
45:28
Speaker 1: a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit
45:32
Speaker 1: within me. Psalm fifty one ten. Take away my self righteousness,
45:38
Speaker 1: strip away my pride. Fill me with the same grace
45:42
Speaker 1: that you poured out on the woman that day in
45:44
Speaker 1: the temple. Courts, and Jesus, help me to live differently.
45:48
Speaker 1: Help me to see people the way you see them,
45:51
Speaker 1: not as their worst mistakes, but as souls in need
45:54
Speaker 1: of redemption. Help me to love those who are hard
45:57
Speaker 1: to love. Help me to forgive them the ones who
46:00
Speaker 1: have hurt me. Help me to release the bitterness I've
46:04
Speaker 1: carried for too long. Help me to drop the stones
46:08
Speaker 1: I have been holding. Because I don't want to be
46:11
Speaker 1: like the Pharisees walking away unchanged. I don't want to
46:16
Speaker 1: be someone who hears your words but refuses to obey them.
46:21
Speaker 1: I don't want to be someone who loves grace when
46:23
Speaker 1: it is for me, but withholds it from others. I
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Speaker 1: want to be like you, a friend of sinners, a
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Speaker 1: defender of the broken, a vessel of mercy in a
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Speaker 1: world so full of judgment. So break me, Lord and
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Speaker 1: make me new. Teach me what it truly means to
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Speaker 1: walk in both grace and truth. Teach me what it
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Speaker 1: truly means to follow you, not just in name, but
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Speaker 1: in the way I love, the way I forgive, the
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Speaker 1: way I live every single day, and let my life,
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Speaker 1: my words, my actions, my heart be a reflection of
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Speaker 1: your love to the world in Jesus name. Ay Men,
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Speaker 1: if you prayed that prayer, this is not the end,
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Speaker 1: It is the beginning, because following Jesus is not just
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Speaker 1: about receiving mercy, It's about extending it. It's about choosing
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Speaker 1: grace when the world chooses judgment. It's about forgiving the unforgivable,
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Speaker 1: loving the unlovable, and seeing the broken through the eyes
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Speaker 1: of Jesus. So today ask yourself, who do you need
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Speaker 1: to forgive? What stones are you still carrying, and most importantly,
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Speaker 1: what will you do with the mercy you have received?
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Speaker 1: Because the woman in this story didn't just walk away forgiven.
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Speaker 1: She walked away transformed, and today so can you. If
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Speaker 1: this message has spoken to you, don't keep it to yourself.
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Speaker 1: There are people living in shame, convinced that they are
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Speaker 1: beyond redemption. There are people who feel trapped, believing that
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Speaker 1: God is angry with them. There are people who are
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Speaker 1: still standing in judgment, not realizing how much mercy they need.
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Speaker 1: So share this, Send this to some one who needs
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Speaker 1: to hear it, because the same Jesus who knelt in
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Speaker 1: the dirt that day is still rewriting stories to day,
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Speaker 1: and he is ready to rewrite yours.