Latest / Off The Kirb Ministries / I Found The Best Answer For The Secret Thing Jesus Wrote in the Sand... | Biblical Wisdom

Transcript

I Found The Best Answer For The Secret Thing Jesus Wrote in the Sand... | Biblical Wisdom · Off The Kirb Ministries

• 0:00
  Arthur Conan Doyle is a very famous writer.
• 0:03
  He wrote things like Sherlock Holmes and The Hound of the
• 0:06
  Baskervilles. But not only was he good at
• 0:08
  writing dark novels, but he also had a dark sense of humour.
• 0:12
  One day he decided to play a practical joke on his 12
• 0:15
  friends. So he took a piece of paper,
• 0:17
  wrote something on it and put it through each of their doors.
• 0:21
  The note simply said this Lee, at once your secret has been
• 0:26
  discovered and within 24 hours, all twelve of his friends had
• 0:32
  fled the country in case their secret came out the rest of the
• 0:36
  world. What does happen when your
• 0:39
  deepest darkest secret, that thing you're embarrassed of,
• 0:43
  that thing you're really ashamed of, what happens if that does go
• 0:46
  public and suddenly everyone knows about it?
• 0:49
  Because that's exactly what happens.
• 0:50
  This woman here in John chapter 8, suddenly the whole world knew
• 0:54
  that she committed adultery. And all these years on, we're
• 0:57
  still talking about it to this day.
• 1:00
  So strap on your seatbelts because we're going to go on a
• 1:02
  bit of a bumpy ride today. I've got 3 headings for you.
• 1:06
  My first heading is the woman in the dirt.
• 1:10
  My second heading for you is the finger in the dirt.
• 1:13
  And my third and final heading for you today is the past in the
• 1:17
  dirt. OK, firstly the woman in the
• 1:20
  dirt. Just look at verses three to
• 1:22
  five with me. Then the scribes and the
• 1:25
  Pharisees brought him a woman caught in adultery, and when
• 1:29
  they had set her in the midst, they said to her, said to him,
• 1:32
  Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery in the very act.
• 1:37
  Now Moses and the Lord commanded us that such be stoned.
• 1:41
  But what do you say? This they said, testing him,
• 1:45
  that they might have something of which to accuse him.
• 1:48
  But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger,
• 1:53
  as though he did not hear. OK, I'll ask you again, everyone
• 1:58
  now in your own mind, think, what is the one thing you're
• 2:02
  embarrassed of? What's that one skeleton that
• 2:06
  you have in the closet? That that one sin that nobody
• 2:08
  knows about except for you and the Lord?
• 2:12
  Imagine if that sin was uncovered.
• 2:15
  Imagine if suddenly everyone knows about it.
• 2:19
  Perhaps the sin you struggle with is the sin of gossiping.
• 2:23
  Maybe you you just can't help yourself.
• 2:25
  You love a good gossip and one day you're just there gossiping
• 2:28
  and gossiping about somebody. And then you turn around and
• 2:31
  realise that the person you've been talking about is stood
• 2:34
  right behind you. Maybe you've got a terrible
• 2:38
  temper and everyone thinks, oh, you're just the sweetest Angel,
• 2:42
  but behind closed doors you know how to blow a casket.
• 2:46
  And one day you're just really shouting at your spouse.
• 2:48
  You're just having a good go at them, you know, exercising your
• 2:52
  lungs. And then the pastor knocks at
• 2:54
  the door and hears everything you've been shouting.
• 2:58
  You've been caught red handed. Or perhaps your sin is much more
• 3:03
  shameful. Perhaps you watch things in
• 3:06
  secret that you shouldn't and suddenly someone finds out about
• 3:10
  it. I've got a friend who his wife
• 3:13
  actually caught him doing such a thing and very, very sadly,
• 3:17
  they're no longer married anymore.
• 3:20
  There are famous examples of this.
• 3:22
  One day some policemen are in California on the beat, and
• 3:25
  they're looking around for any suspicious activity in the red
• 3:28
  light district. As they walk around, they see a
• 3:31
  car in the distance and they think, well, just check it out.
• 3:35
  As they go closer to the car, they ask the driver to wind down
• 3:38
  the window and who should be sat inside that car but Hugh Grant,
• 3:43
  the famous Hollywood actor. And what makes this even worse
• 3:47
  is the fact at that time he was engaged in one of Hollywood's
• 3:50
  most beautiful women, Elizabeth Hurley.
• 3:53
  And then what goes through your mind when I say this name?
• 3:57
  Matt Hancock. There is a man who said to us,
• 4:01
  you know, I will keep you safe. I'm the health man.
• 4:05
  Just follow what I say, follow my restrictions, do as I say,
• 4:08
  and you will be totally fine. And then that one picture went
• 4:11
  on the news of the world, across the whole world.
• 4:14
  And everyone said that doesn't look like social distancing to
• 4:17
  me. And then, you know, I'm very
• 4:20
  good at pointing the finger. But what about myself?
• 4:23
  When I was 19 years old, I hadn't been a Christian for very
• 4:26
  long and I was going out with a, a Christian girl.
• 4:29
  Very sadly, she dumped me. Now don't feel sorry for me.
• 4:32
  You know, I got an upgrade. She's in the other room.
• 4:36
  But you know I was I was sad and I thought against my better
• 4:39
  judgement I'll go and see my non Christian friends, friends I
• 4:43
  used to get into trouble with. So that night I went to see
• 4:45
  them. I can't remember if we were
• 4:47
  drinking or if we were smoking. But I do remember one thing.
• 4:50
  I just looked at my phone and that night my ex-girlfriend had
• 4:53
  sent me a text. Are you OK?
• 4:56
  Just looked at it and put my phone in my pocket.
• 4:59
  That night these lips said the most vile, the most shameful,
• 5:03
  disgusting things I've ever said.
• 5:05
  And as the night went on I just thought, I've just checked the
• 5:07
  time and to my horror I'd accidentally rang my
• 5:11
  ex-girlfriend and she'd heard everything that I'd said and she
• 5:16
  was crying on the other end. You see, sin does that to us,
• 5:20
  doesn't it? It promises us a level of
• 5:22
  secrecy. It says if you do this, it's OK,
• 5:25
  no one will find out about it. But when we cross over into the
• 5:29
  devil's territory, there's no guarantee that these things
• 5:32
  won't come out. But do you know what I think?
• 5:35
  It's crazy. Sometimes it can actually be a
• 5:38
  bit of a blessing when we get caught.
• 5:40
  Sometimes it can be a mercy if these things come out.
• 5:43
  I mean, imagine if this woman here in John 8, imagine if she
• 5:46
  was never caught. Imagine if Jesus never found out
• 5:49
  about this. She'd just continue in that
• 5:51
  pattern of adultery over and over again.
• 5:54
  It is better, isn't it, to be shamed in this life than to be
• 5:58
  damned in the next. But am I the only one?
• 6:02
  When I look at this, I can sort of smell a rat here.
• 6:07
  I don't mean to be flippant, but in this sexually immoral culture
• 6:10
  that we live in, how often have you and I ever said that we've
• 6:13
  ever walked in on someone and caught someone in the very act
• 6:16
  of adultery? And yet here it happened all the
• 6:19
  way back then. It does make you wonder, doesn't
• 6:22
  it, What happened to this man? Was this man in on this scheme
• 6:26
  and was this all a big plan just to try and catch the Lord Jesus
• 6:29
  Christ out? So I know you know the story
• 6:32
  well, but let's let's go back to it.
• 6:34
  Here we have these Uber religious men and here we are.
• 6:38
  Jesus is preaching A sermon. It's a bit like if I'm preaching
• 6:40
  now, suddenly a scene is thrown in front of him.
• 6:43
  Suddenly this woman who's been caught in the act is thrown in
• 6:46
  front of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Pharisees say, now
• 6:51
  Jesus, what are you going to do? The law says we are to stone
• 6:55
  this woman. What will you do, Jesus?
• 6:59
  Well, there were rights. In Leviticus 20 verse 10 it says
• 7:02
  such a woman should be stoned. In Deuteronomy 22 verse 22 it
• 7:06
  says both parties should be stoned, both the woman and the
• 7:10
  man. So Jesus was in a bit of a
• 7:12
  predicament. If he said yes, yes, pick up the
• 7:18
  stones, lads, this woman needs to be stoned.
• 7:21
  If he did that, suddenly this man who'd captured Israel's
• 7:24
  hearts, this man who turned the world upside down, this man who
• 7:27
  the people loved, would seem harsh, unfeeling.
• 7:31
  People would say, well, Jesus, if that's how you're going to
• 7:33
  treat that woman, what will you do with me?
• 7:36
  Because I too have committed a multitude of sins.
• 7:39
  But on the flip side, if Jesus said no, no, let's just let her
• 7:45
  off, suddenly it would seem like he was contradicting the word of
• 7:49
  God. Suddenly Jesus would seem like
• 7:52
  this man who was an ambassador of sin, an ambassador of
• 7:55
  iniquity. It was a lose, lose situation.
• 7:59
  And to quote Elvis Presley, he was caught in a trap.
• 8:04
  Except for this, you cannot pull a fast one over on the Ancient
• 8:09
  of Days. You cannot trick the one where
• 8:11
  all wisdom, all knowledge, He's the source of everything that is
• 8:14
  wise. You cannot trick the Lord Jesus
• 8:16
  Christ. So what did he do?
• 8:19
  Well, just look at verse six to seven because that brings us to
• 8:23
  our our second heading, the finger in the dirt.
• 8:25
  What did Jesus do? He began to doodle in the dirt.
• 8:30
  Look at it verse six to seven. This they said, testing him,
• 8:37
  that they might have something of which to accuse him.
• 8:41
  But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger,
• 8:44
  as though he did not hear. So when they continued asking
• 8:48
  him, he raised himself up and said to them, He who is without
• 8:52
  sin among you, let him throw a stone as Sir first.
• 8:57
  OK, OK, I know exactly what you're thinking now.
• 9:00
  You're thinking you, Joe, are the man at the front.
• 9:03
  You are the preacher. Now we want you as the preacher
• 9:06
  to tell us. What do you think Jesus was
• 9:09
  writing in the dirt? What do you think he was writing
• 9:11
  down? That's the big question.
• 9:14
  Again, I remember when I'd first become a Christian, and I was on
• 9:17
  one of those Richard Branson trains, you know, those Virgin
• 9:20
  Trains that go really fast at the speed of light.
• 9:23
  Well, here I was. I was on this train and it was
• 9:25
  the first time I'd ever read my Bible in public.
• 9:28
  I was a little bit nervous, thinking, is there no one going
• 9:31
  to laugh at me? Is anyone going to tell me to
• 9:33
  stop reading it? And sure enough, the man next to
• 9:36
  me did notice I was reading the Bible.
• 9:39
  Was he angry? No, he was actually quite
• 9:41
  encouraged. And he asked me, what is your
• 9:44
  favorite passage in in the Bible?
• 9:47
  I can't remember what I said at the time.
• 9:48
  I probably made myself seem like some Bible scholar, even though
• 9:51
  I've been only a Christian for a few weeks.
• 9:53
  But he said to me, mine is John 8, because I always want to know
• 9:58
  what was that? What was it that Jesus wrote
• 10:00
  down in the dirt? But the fact of the matter is
• 10:03
  this, we just don't know. Anything that anyone says is is
• 10:08
  just pure speculation. But let me give you a few sort
• 10:12
  of things that people suggested. My good friend Vinnie Commons.
• 10:16
  Vinnie says, I think Jesus was writing down the Scriptures
• 10:20
  because it's very likely that this woman, she's been cast in
• 10:23
  front of Jesus, she would be dressed immodestly.
• 10:26
  And could it be that Jesus was writing down the scriptures to
• 10:29
  keep himself from temptation? Jerome and Ambrose, two Saints
• 10:35
  of the past, they say he was writing down a famous quote
• 10:38
  which goes like this. The earth accuses the earth, but
• 10:42
  judgement is mine. Whilst others say that Jesus was
• 10:47
  quoting from Jeremiah 17 verse 13.
• 10:51
  What does Jeremiah 17 verse 13 say?
• 10:54
  It says this, those who depart from me shall be written in the
• 10:59
  earth because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living
• 11:04
  waters. Now I wonder if I should tell
• 11:08
  you this right now, But if you really push me in a corner, if
• 11:12
  you really said, come on, Joe, just tell us what?
• 11:15
  What do you think it is? Just give me a little stab in
• 11:17
  the dark. If you really pushed me, I'd say
• 11:20
  I believe that this is possibly the most compelling option.
• 11:24
  I mean, what if he did write down the Pharisees names?
• 11:28
  The accusers in the dirt? These aren't their names.
• 11:30
  But imagine he might write things like Brandon Robbins on
• 11:34
  November the 1st. Ran off with his neighbour's
• 11:37
  wife. Paul Neal.
• 11:39
  Defrauded his boss in a great big scheme.
• 11:42
  Michael Jones is a secret atheist who uses religion as a
• 11:47
  way to gain power. If that was true, I can promise
• 11:51
  you this. It does explain why it says from
• 11:54
  the oldest to the youngest. Suddenly these Pharisees all
• 11:57
  realise they had somewhere they had to be.
• 12:00
  Whatever he did right in the ground, there's one thing we do
• 12:03
  know. It was very powerful.
• 12:06
  Here is the same finger which drew the borders of the earth.
• 12:11
  Here is the same finger which carved out the mountains that we
• 12:14
  see. Here is the same finger which
• 12:16
  laid the foundations of the earth.
• 12:18
  Here is the same finger which turned up at Belshazzar's feast
• 12:21
  and said, you have been weighed in the balances and found
• 12:24
  wanting. This same finger pulls back the
• 12:26
  trigger and aims at the Pharisees and says he who is
• 12:30
  without sin lets him cast the first stone.
• 12:35
  The Bible says about the Holy Spirit that He is there to
• 12:38
  convict the world of sin. And could it be in that very
• 12:42
  moment that Jesus Christ, operating through the power of
• 12:45
  the Holy Spirit, convicted these Pharisees of their sins?
• 12:50
  And suddenly they realised maybe this man is exactly who he said
• 12:55
  he was. Maybe this really is the Son of
• 12:58
  God, God in a flesh who can see right through me, can see right
• 13:03
  into my inner being. And in that moment, he flipped
• 13:06
  the accusers into the accused. There was a Baker and there was
• 13:15
  a farmer, and they had a sort of understanding every day that the
• 13:20
  Baker would bring 1 LB of flour to the farmer and in return the
• 13:24
  farmer would give 1 LB of butter.
• 13:27
  Now one day the Baker decided to just weigh out just how much
• 13:31
  this this butter is, just to make sure it really was a pound.
• 13:35
  And as he puts it on the scales, to his horror he'd been undercut
• 13:39
  quite a lot. So he decided to take the farmer
• 13:42
  to court. As the farmer stood before the
• 13:45
  judge, he said, your honour, I'm just a simple poor farmer.
• 13:51
  And the way I know exactly how much butter to give the Baker
• 13:56
  every day is I take my old fashioned pair of weighing
• 13:58
  scales and I take the Baker's flour.
• 14:01
  I put it on there and then I measure out the exact amount of
• 14:05
  butter. So if anyone's telling porky
• 14:08
  pies today, it's the Baker. You see, God hates hypocrites
• 14:14
  and these Pharisees, they were hypocrites.
• 14:17
  They were very good at seeing the speck in other people's
• 14:20
  eyes, but they'd missed the plank in their own eyes.
• 14:24
  You see, Jesus is in the business of grace, but these
• 14:28
  Pharisees were only in the business of throwing stones.
• 14:32
  And it's no accident. If you keep reading in John
• 14:34
  chapter 8, you'll find someone else with stones in their hands.
• 14:38
  This time it's the Jews, but they're ready to stone Jesus
• 14:41
  Christ. Take all of this into your mind
• 14:44
  and then picture this. Here we have Pharisees and they
• 14:48
  start to empty their pockets of rocks and suddenly that woman is
• 14:54
  left alone with the Rock of Ages.
• 14:58
  Because last time I checked there was someone who was
• 15:02
  qualified to throw a stone that day.
• 15:05
  Last time I checked there was someone who was without sin.
• 15:09
  Who am I talking about? Jesus.
• 15:12
  So why didn't he throw a stone at the woman?
• 15:16
  This is really important, so you might want to catch this.
• 15:19
  You see, Jesus knew it in that moment.
• 15:21
  Yes, this woman has committed a sin.
• 15:23
  Jesus wasn't being passive on sin, on this, not my words.
• 15:26
  Jesus knew that sin was dark more than anyone else.
• 15:30
  Jesus knew the vileness, the depth of of the horrors of sin
• 15:33
  more than anyone else because it would tear him to pieces on the
• 15:35
  cross. But he also knew that that
• 15:38
  woman's debt could be paid for in full.
• 15:42
  He also knew that that woman could be forgiven because He
• 15:45
  died in her place on the cross. Did you know something else?
• 15:50
  You also paid the price for your debt too.
• 15:53
  Why? Because God is the God of second
• 15:56
  chances. And not just second chances, but
• 16:00
  third chances, fourth chances, fifth chances.
• 16:03
  As many times as you turn up and ask Him for forgiveness and you
• 16:06
  are sincere, He won't cast you away.
• 16:10
  OK, thirdly, the past in the dirt.
• 16:13
  Just look at verses 10:50 with me.
• 16:18
  When Jesus had raised himself up and saw no one but the woman, he
• 16:22
  said to her, Woman, where are those accusers of yours?
• 16:27
  Has no one condemned you? She said no one Lord, and Jesus
• 16:32
  said to her, neither do I condemn you.
• 16:35
  Go and sin no more. OK, here's a question for you.
• 16:40
  How would you feel if I said to you, right, that's it the the
• 16:43
  sermons over. OK, that's the end of the
• 16:46
  message. Everyone needs to remember, you
• 16:47
  know, where he used without sin. Let him cast the first stone.
• 16:50
  God is the God of second chances.
• 16:52
  It's time for us all to go home. How would you feel about that?
• 16:57
  Perhaps you'd say, well, that's quite an encouraging message.
• 16:59
  Thank you for that Joe except for this.
• 17:02
  As ministers of the gospel, we are called to be honest and I'd
• 17:06
  be missing out a very key parts of this passage.
• 17:10
  What would I be forgetting to say?
• 17:12
  Jesus also said go and say no more, didn't he?
• 17:18
  In other words, Jesus was saying your sin has been noticed.
• 17:23
  This isn't a green pass for you to just carry on.
• 17:25
  No, you must turn from this. And what is interesting, it's
• 17:29
  almost as if Jesus lays out a pattern.
• 17:31
  There's it's laid in a particular order.
• 17:33
  You see, Jesus first offers the woman forgiveness.
• 17:36
  His first priority is cleansing, but then he asks for repentance.
• 17:42
  You see, God's first priority with us is that we come to him
• 17:46
  and we get forgiven. But then he wants us to turn.
• 17:49
  Jehovah wants a Sinner to turn and live.
• 17:55
  Now there's something that I think is really important if you
• 17:57
  are a Christian in the room. I think this is really important
• 18:01
  because I believe one of the biggest tragedies in the modern
• 18:04
  church is this. I believe there's a lie that has
• 18:07
  come out of the very bowels of hell.
• 18:10
  And it goes like this because there's a sin that you've once
• 18:13
  struggled with. Because there's a sin that is is
• 18:16
  so big and it's got a grip on you and you've lived in it for
• 18:19
  so, so long, You think because the sin has held you once, it
• 18:23
  will always hold you. You think it's too powerful,
• 18:25
  it's too big that you cannot turn from it.
• 18:28
  One day a tourist was in Indonesia.
• 18:33
  And as he entered into Indonesia into a little village, he saw
• 18:36
  these huge, big Asian elephants, mighty big things.
• 18:41
  But as he looked down at their feet, he saw something very
• 18:44
  interesting. He noticed on the feet of these
• 18:46
  elephants was this thin piece of rope, these thin cords of rope.
• 18:52
  And so the the tourists said to one of the village men, do they
• 18:55
  not know these elephants that these ropes are so thin, they're
• 18:58
  so small that just one stretch of their leg and they'd be free?
• 19:03
  This is what the man of the village said.
• 19:06
  When those elephants were booked calves, when they were babies,
• 19:09
  we tied them with those exact thin pieces of rope.
• 19:13
  And because they were so little back then, those ropes held
• 19:16
  them. And as those elephants got
• 19:18
  bigger and bigger, they looked down at their feet and they saw
• 19:22
  the ropes that once held them, and they believed they would
• 19:25
  hold them forever more. My dear precious believer, just
• 19:30
  because something held you once doesn't mean it will hold you
• 19:34
  forever more. And we have to stop these
• 19:37
  limiting beliefs that we hold in our minds because what does the
• 19:40
  scripture say? We are dead to sin because the
• 19:44
  Lord Jesus Christ went into a tomb flatline gone dead.
• 19:50
  Something happened, didn't it? On the third day, he rose from
• 19:53
  the dead. The power of the Holy Spirit
• 19:56
  brought the Lord Jesus back, back to life.
• 19:59
  And because there's a power in the resurrection, there's also a
• 20:01
  power in you and me that we can conquer these sins and we do not
• 20:05
  have to keep turning to the back to these sins.
• 20:07
  We can have victory over these things if we really do want it.
• 20:12
  But just remember this. Jesus offered mercy first to the
• 20:16
  woman. You see Jesus work in this era
• 20:19
  right now that we're in is forgiveness.
• 20:23
  But tomorrow, in the next era, it'll be judgement.
• 20:26
  The Lord Jesus Christ is coming back to judge the living and the
• 20:29
  dead. And perhaps as I've been
• 20:31
  speaking now, perhaps the very finger of God that we've been
• 20:34
  talking about, the very finger that the Holy Spirit has, has
• 20:38
  laid his hand on a particular issue in your life, a particular
• 20:42
  sin that you've held onto for so long.
• 20:45
  And perhaps as I've been speaking, he's been convicting
• 20:48
  you and saying it's time. It's time.
• 20:53
  How much longer will you live in disobedience?
• 20:56
  How much longer will you hold on to this sin?
• 20:59
  Turn and live, turn from it. Perhaps as I've been speaking,
• 21:03
  maybe you have sat under sermon after sermon, you've heard the
• 21:07
  gospel many, many times, and yet you're still not saved.
• 21:10
  Perhaps as I've been speaking, the very finger of Christ which
• 21:13
  wrote in the dirt, you can see Him beckoning you, calling you
• 21:17
  home, calling you to come to Him.
• 21:20
  See him there, the righteous Son of God, the one who was the
• 21:24
  substitute for your sin on the cross.
• 21:27
  The one who hung there, who was stripped naked, who bled and
• 21:31
  died, had a crown of thorns smashed into his skull, died
• 21:34
  there, hung there between two thieves so that you could be
• 21:37
  forgiven. See Him there dying there,
• 21:40
  Because when He was on that cross, do you know something?
• 21:43
  He thought of you when He was on that cross.
• 21:46
  Your sin was laid on him and He knew all about you before you
• 21:50
  were even born. And today there is a sacrifice,
• 21:53
  There is an offer there of forgiveness if you want it.
• 21:57
  The same Son of God who went into that tomb rose from the
• 22:00
  dead. And today he offers you eternal
• 22:02
  life if you really want it. But the question is, do you want
• 22:07
  it? And will you come?
• 22:08
  Will you turn and live? Let me leave you with one final
• 22:11
  thoughts. Robert the Bruce was a bit of a
• 22:16
  maverick. He was a Scottish man who was
• 22:19
  one day in the 14th century fighting for independence of
• 22:22
  Scotland against US guys, against the English and the
• 22:26
  English, US English guys, we had a bit of a secret weapon.
• 22:29
  We had these bloodhounds, these terrifying dogs, and we got the
• 22:32
  sense of Robert the Bruce. So we chased Robert the Bruce
• 22:35
  and his men all the way through the forest.
• 22:37
  At one time it looked totally hopeless.
• 22:40
  And Robert the Bruce's servant just whispered in his ears to
• 22:42
  hide him behind some bushes. That's it, Sir.
• 22:46
  The hounds have got our sense. That's it.
• 22:47
  With no hope we're going to die. Robert the Bruce didn't give up.
• 22:52
  He saw in front of him there was a Deep River.
• 22:56
  So he ran up. He plunged into that river and
• 22:59
  he began to wash himself. He then climbed out onto the
• 23:03
  other side and ran through the forest.
• 23:06
  Sure enough, those bloodhounds, they got the trail and they
• 23:08
  sniffed Robert the Bruce all the way up to the river.
• 23:12
  And then they lost the train. Why the scent had been broken,
• 23:17
  because all that was Robert the Bruce, if you like, had been
• 23:20
  washed down that river. Robert the Bruce, as I said, he
• 23:24
  climbed out, he got to Scotland and he wore the crown.
• 23:27
  It's a bit like that for you and me.
• 23:30
  We've got those dogs, haven't we?
• 23:32
  Those hounds that the devil's hounds that would condemn us.
• 23:35
  They were worthless. Say we've got no hope.
• 23:38
  And yet the trail can be broken because there is a river, a
• 23:42
  river of forgiveness that flows with the blood of the Lord Jesus
• 23:45
  Christ. And any Sinner that plunges into
• 23:48
  that river will lose all of their guilty stain.
• 23:50
  And then they can climb out onto the other side.
• 23:53
  And one day you will wear a crown if you put your faith in
• 23:56
  the Lord Jesus Christ. Not because you're a king.
• 23:59
  There'll only be 1 king in heaven because the King himself
• 24:03
  will give you a crown of righteousness.
• 24:06
  Will you have a crown one day? You see, the cross repairs the
• 24:10
  irreparable, and perhaps today you came into this church
• 24:14
  feeling a bit like that woman caught in adultery, like the
• 24:18
  Pharisees. They'd smashed her to pieces.
• 24:20
  You feel smashed to pieces, like you've got no hope.
• 24:23
  And yet, what did Jesus do with that woman?
• 24:25
  He went, and he picked up all the pieces of that woman.
• 24:30
  He put her back together and He restored her dignity and He gave
• 24:35
  her hope. My dear friend, Jesus is waiting
• 24:39
  to do that for you. If you just come to Him, He'll
• 24:42
  give you hope and He'll restore your dignity.