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Neither Do I Condemn You • Luke 24:1-12 · HBCWestminster

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  If you have your Bibles open, if you would, Luke chapter 24, Luke chapter 24, I've already read our text this morning, Luke chapter 24.
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  And so allow me just to pray one more time. We'll commit our time to the Lord now as we study the resurrection in detail.
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  And then we'll continue to sing when we're done with that.
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  Would you pray with me, Lord of heaven and earth, we come into your gates with thanksgiving and into your courts with praise.
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  We are your people, the people whom you love and for whom you gave your son.
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  And we rejoice in his resurrection because it means that we worship a living God.
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  And it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen.
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  Well, first John chapter two says it this way.
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  My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin.
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  But if anyone does sin, let me ask you real quick. Does anybody sin?
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  You're like, Hey, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin.
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  I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin.
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  You're like, that sounds nice. It's kind of fairytale ish.
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  I sin. Do you sin?
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  If anybody happens to sin, you're like, well, that's everybody.
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  He's if anybody does sin, listen to what it says.
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  We have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous Jesus Christ stands in our way of the wrath of God.
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  If you imagine the wrath of God, like a great locomotive, Jesus Christ stands on the track.
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  Train tracks in front of us.
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  He protects us, shields us from the wrath of the father.
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  It says he is the propitiation, the full satisfaction, the full good news for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
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  You know what I love about this passage is that it is a reminder that Christ is not the accuser of the brethren.
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  Jesus is not standing in heaven, angry, frowny face, pouting and pointing at you.
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  That's not what he's doing.
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  He is not our accuser.
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  Rather, this says he is our advocate.
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  He is not our prosecuting attorney.
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  He is our defense attorney.
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  And I don't know about you, but I'm kind of tired of that heresy that continually bounces around in my head that I can't come to Jesus because of what I've done.
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  I've sinned too much to come to the Lord.
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  When I sin, I typically hide from God rather than running toward God.
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  My sin actually drives me away.
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  From the very answer to my problem.
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  If you're anything like me, you might struggle at times with, I don't know, maybe, maybe call it spiritual paralysis.
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  Because of guilt, because of shame, because of a feeling of condemnation, a feeling like you owe Christ something because he died for me.
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  What am I willing to do for him?
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  Like I've got to pay back some kind of eternal heavenly debt, but I've got great news this morning, church.
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  You don't.
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  You don't owe God anything because God doesn't give loans.
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  God doesn't give loans.
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  He didn't give us his son in order that we would pay him back.
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  Isn't that great news?
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  If he did, it wouldn't be a gift.
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  That's the whole point of a gift is that you don't have to pay it back.
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  On one particular day in the life and ministry of Jesus, he was joined by a group of Pharisees and scribes.
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  Now, these guys had proven to be his enemies.
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  And their purpose was clear.
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  They wanted to trap Jesus.
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  And so to accuse him.
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  And so they put together this whole plan.
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  And the plan was relatively simple.
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  Catch a woman in the act of adultery.
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  Bring her before Jesus.
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  And if he truly was the rabbi, he claimed to be in their minds that he, they thought that he was.
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  If he truly was that rabbi, then you know what?
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  We're just going to allow him to throw the first.
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  Rock.
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  And they had no interest in a trial.
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  They wanted a public lynching.
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  That's what they wanted.
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  And they wanted Jesus to pass the judgment.
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  They didn't care anything at all for the woman involved.
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  She was in their minds, an expendable pawn in their scheme to indict the savior.
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  But Jesus turned that scheme on its head.
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  When, as they demanded her execution, he encouraged anyone among them who was sinless to do what?
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  You first.
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  Like this woman deserves death.
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  You can imagine Jesus saying, you're right.
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  We should stone her.
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  Okay.
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  You first.
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  If you're without sin, you guys remember the story.
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  If you're without sin, you throw the first rock.
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  And then you remember what Jesus did?
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  Kind of took a step back, squatted down, got down on his knees, started scribbling something in the sand.
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  Nobody knows.
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  Scripture doesn't record what he was writing down.
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  There's all kinds of theories.
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  There's all kinds of theories about what it was, their names, their list of sins, right?
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  Because he was all knowing.
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  Maybe he was looking around.
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  Oh, yeah, that guy is here.
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  Writes his name and then just starts writing the big three for him.
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  Oh, yeah, I recognize you.
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  And starts writing his mistresses down and other things, right?
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  There's all kinds of theories about maybe what he was writing in the dirt.
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  But you can imagine him saying, yeah, yeah, let's do it.
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  You first.
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  Whatever.
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  Whatever.
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  Whatever he was writing in the dirt that day had its desired effect because one by one,
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  the woman's accusers began to drop their stones and leave the scene.
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  And you can imagine Christ eventually standing up with a rock in his hand,
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  ready to participate in the justice that was being so mercilessly demanded.
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  And according to the law, should have actually been carried out.
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  She was, after all, a lawbreaker.
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  So Jesus stands up, now suddenly aware that it was just she and he left.
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  He's standing there, you can imagine, with a stone in his hand, and for the first time he spoke directly to the woman, asking, where did they all go?
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  Where did everybody go?
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  Is nobody left to condemn you?
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  He was in no way in that question condoning her sin.
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  He never declared her innocence.
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  In fact, I picture him standing there with a rock in his own hand, just asking, where did all the other rock throwers go?
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  And she replied with,
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  And she just says, this is all recorded in John chapter eight.
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  She just says very simply, no one is left to condemn me, Lord, except for you.
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  Where'd everybody go?
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  Where'd all the condemners go?
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  There are no more condemners, Lord.
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  You are the only one left.
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  And his response to her was absolutely life changing.
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  He just said, neither do I condemn you.
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  No one is left, Lord, to condemn me except for you.
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  And you can imagine him setting his stone down.
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  And just looking directly at her.
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  That simple statement ushered the woman into forgiveness from Christ, through Christ.
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  She was being given new life.
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  Easter, as we know, is the celebration of life.
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  Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ died on the cross.
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  He was buried.
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  That is what we celebrated Friday night at Good Friday as we were taking communion together.
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  And then he rose from the dead.
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  And this is why when I say he is risen, you reply with,
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  He is risen indeed.
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  He is risen.
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  He is risen indeed.
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  Amen.
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  He is not in the dirt anymore.
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  But let me just take us back for a moment to that scene with Jesus and the woman.
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  Consider for a moment what it means that Christ said this statement.
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  Neither do I condemn you.
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  What was he saying?
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  Why was it such a huge?
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  Statement?
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  Why was it such a big deal that he was standing there with this woman?
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  He says, not even I, I'm not going to condemn you either.
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  We know from scripture that God is a righteous judge.
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  Because he is a righteous judge.
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  He has to punish every single sin that has ever been committed in order for him to retain that righteousness.
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  He has to punish sin.
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  He can't just let sinners off the hook.
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  That would not be a righteous judgment.
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  He has to punish wrongdoing.
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  And so in order for Jesus to say, neither do I condemn you.
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  He was also voluntarily condemning himself.
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  The sin still has to be punished.
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  It's not like he was saying, I'm just going to overlook this one.
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  He can't overlook sin.
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  And so for him to say, neither do I condemn you.
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  Christ was also saying instead.
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  I condemn me.
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  Can you imagine all she was hearing is I'm no longer condemned.
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  I'm being set free, but in Christ's own mind, he was saying, okay.
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  And maybe there was even a conscious decision saying, okay, if I set down this rock.
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  If I let her go free, I am in essence throwing that rock at myself.
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  Well, how did he do it?
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  And for the answer, we look at Luke 24.
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  How did, was he able to make that statement?
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  Neither do I condemn you.
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  And instead I condemn you.
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  And me, we have the answer in Luke 24.
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  Notice the very first word, the very first word of the very first verse is what word.
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  But do you guys see that?
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  But that's a weird word because in the last chapter, what happened?
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  You guys can look, it's an open book test.
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  Luke 23.
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  What happens at the end of Luke 23?
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  You guys will see it.
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  It says, Jesus is buried.
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  Jesus dies and is buried.
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  What two words?
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  We're supposed to follow.
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  Jesus is buried.
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  There are only two words that make sense.
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  The two words are the end.
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  That's what Luke 24 should have been.
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  Luke 24 verse one should have been two words long the end, but instead we have the word, but.
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  The end should have been the end of the story.
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  Death is always the end of the story.
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  Death is always final.
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  Death is a period.
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  Death is the last event.
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  But not in the gospel story.
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  The gospel story does not end with the end.
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  The gospel story begins with the word, but, but there is more to the story, even after death and burial.
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  And you may be here this morning feeling like that woman caught in adultery.
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  You might feel guilty.
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  You might feel the shame of your own sin.
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  Maybe you feel like you've just sinned too much that you've failed too much.
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  That God cannot accept you.
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  That God's people, the church can't accept you, but take heart.
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  There's a, but for your story to a failure doesn't have to be the end of your journey.
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  In fact, I think the Lord actually specializes in bringing dead things back to life.
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  The bringing hope where there previously was no hope and bringing light where there was only darkness.
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  And if you only hear one thing,
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  this morning, make sure it's that one word, but, but he can do that in your life too.
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  You continue reading on the first day of the week. Now this would be Sunday. The last supper was
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  Thursday. Christ was crucified and buried in the tomb on Friday. Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath.
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  And so no work was being done. Christ rose on Sunday, the first day of the week at early
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  dawn. Honestly, I love 8am service on resurrection Sunday. You guys do too,
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  right? I won't say this at nine 30 or 11 cause they don't like it as much.
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  I love it. Honestly, if there were a 6am service, I would come. You know, the reason we don't do
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  that is because the choir would have to be here at like three 30. That's the only reason we don't
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  do it. I've honestly thought about reorienting the whole sanctuary facing that way, having a
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  sunrise service, opening all of those windows so we can watch the sun rise. And I think that's
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  the sun come up directly into our eyeballs. I've thought about doing it, but again,
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  we can't figure it out with the, you know, sound guys and the worship team and everybody else,
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  there would be a mutiny. Okay. Against pastor Danny, if we did that, but early in the morning,
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  you can imagine before the sun even comes up, they went to the tomb, taking the spices
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  they had prepared. Just as the sun was beginning to peak over the horizon, the woman who had
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  attended to Christ's body after he died, went to the tomb to finish their work.
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  Jesus would have died Friday afternoon, right around 3pm. That's when he was declared dead.
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  He was taken down from the cross. The Sabbath would have begun around 6pm. That only gave them
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  three hours to get his body off of the cross prepared and in the tomb before the Sabbath
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  began. And so you can imagine that was hastily done. It was respectfully done, but they could
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  not do all of the normal ceremonial things. The, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the,
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  the cleaning, the cleansing, the wrapping, all of those things, the linens, the spices, which
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  honestly helped with the decomposition of the body as well as with the smell. And so these women were
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  coming back now to finish what they had begun and notice verse two, they found the stone rolled away
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  from the tomb, but when they went in, they didn't find the body of the Lord Jesus. And so you can
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  imagine these women probably assumed the worst. The stone was meant to protect Christ's body from
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  intent. The stone was so large in fact, and heavy that moving it would have proved impossible. The
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  women even discussed in one of the other gospels on the way to the tomb, how they were going to
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  manage rolling the large stone away. How are we going to ask to help us to move this thousand
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  pound rock? John's gospel records that Mary Magdalene was the first to reach the tomb before
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  the sun even rose. She went there when it was still night.
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  Mary Magdalene was first mentioned in the gospels as a prostitute. She had, when she met Jesus the
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  first time, she had seven demons living inside of her. Jesus cast out the demons, forgave her of her
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  sin, and Mary Magdalene had faithfully followed Christ around his apostles ever since, serving
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  them, helping them. It was her that was the first to reach the tomb.
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  Seeing the stone rolled away, peering inside, she assumed that grave robbers had broken into the
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  tomb, had stolen Christ's body. So she ran back to report to the apostles what she'd seen and
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  imagine her distress for just a moment. Perhaps she felt like I couldn't help him in his life.
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  Maybe now I can help him in his death. Finding the tomb empty, her mind must have erased. Her
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  imagination is running wild. She was imagining that the men who destroyed his body were now
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  seeking to save him. She was imagining that the men who destroyed his body were now seeking to
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  desecrate it. Like they were going to parade his dead body around. This is the man who claimed he
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  would come back from the dead. And so they had broken into the tomb, had stolen his body, and
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  we're going to do Lord knows what to it. She was imagining parading him through the streets of
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  Jerusalem as a symbol of those who crossed the Jewish and Roman authorities. And you know,
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  Mary may have been the first to draw that conclusion, but she would not be the,
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  the last. In fact, the number one, the number one theory as to the empty tomb, even today,
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  2000 years later, why was the tomb empty that day? The number one theory is that the body was
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  removed by Jesus's enemies. All of this Christianity nonsense, if you believe it to be nonsense,
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  could have been stopped at any time. Had the authorities simply done what? Just produce the
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  body. If they had stolen the body,
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  they wanted to put down Christianity. All they would have had to do was show the body,
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  but they didn't show the body. Why? Because they didn't have the body.
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  They could deny his teachings. They could deny his claims of deity. They could deny his miraculous
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  power. They could deny the testimony of the father and of his disciples, but they could not deny the
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  empty tomb. While Mary was away, another group of women recorded here in Luke found their way to the
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  tomb. They all had to go to the tomb. They all had to go to the tomb. They all had to go to the tomb.
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  They also found it empty and pick up in verse four. Now, while they were perplexed about this,
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  behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces
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  to the ground, the men said to them, why do you seek the living among the dead? He's not here,
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  but has risen men who are clearly angels appeared at the empty tomb.
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  They are the ones who issued the very first. He is risen in church history.
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  It was the very first time. And then they began to remind the women that Christ had been predicting
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  his own resurrection all along. Look at verse seven. Oh, sorry. Remember how we told you the
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  end of verse six. Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee, that the son of man must
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  be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified. And on the third day rise, and they
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  remembered his words no fewer than three times. If you guys were here on good Friday, I recited
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  those three times from Matthew,
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  his gospel three specific times. Christ had foretold his own death and resurrection as he
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  was one, as he was walking back, leading that processional disciples up to Jerusalem for his
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  crucifixion. He was telling them in detail what would happen. I'm going to be flogged. I will be
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  mocked. I will be spit upon. I will be crucified. I'm going to be handed over to the Gentiles. He
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  even knew who was going to do it. I'm going to be handed over to the Gentiles. I'm going to be
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  crucified. And on the third day, I will rise.
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  Three times. Christ had foretold his own death and resurrection. And now finally, when these
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  angels are standing here, he said, they say he's been talking about this for months. And verse
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  eight, they finally remembered his words. The verse nine continues returning from the tomb.
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  They told all these things to the 11 and to the rest.
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  Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary, the mother of James and the other women with them
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  who told them.
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  They told these things to the apostles. And so the women naturally did what they should.
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  They reported back to the apostles, to the supposed heroes of the faith, to the chosen 11,
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  to the men who had performed miracles in Christ's name,
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  to the men to whom Christ had entrusted the reins of the first generation church.
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  Right? I mean, these are the guys.
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  They were the big 12.
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  One of them bailed. So we'll call them the big 11. I mean, these were the guys
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  and Christ had been teaching them for so many months leading up to this point,
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  exactly what was going to happen. And that on the third day he would rise and they were sitting
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  there listening intently, astutely, nodding along, pretending like they understood.
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  Listen, if they anticipated the resurrection, where would they have been? You guys all right?
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  I know I said, you shouldn't,
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  you shouldn't talk during good Friday. You're allowed to talk on Easter Sunday.
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  Where should they have been? Can you imagine? They should have been sitting there waiting for
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  the fireworks, but they weren't there. And so nobody was there. Mary Magdalene shows up.
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  She goes back to angels appear. All of these women show up. They hear the tomb is empty.
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  He's been talking about this. They go back and report to the heroes of the faith. And what was
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  their response? Look at verse 11. These words seem to them.
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  They did not believe them. I don't know if you ever see those yellow signs in your neighborhood
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  that say slow children at play. Yeah. See those. I always think that's funny. Cause it can be taken
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  two ways. Like, should I drive slow because there are children at play or are the children
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  themselves slow? You're like, that's not very nice. Those signs, right? I always think it's
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  funny. I chuckled to myself. Hallie doesn't think it's as funny, but I'm like, man, I just, every
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  time I'm like, you shouldn't have done that. I'm like, you shouldn't have done that. I'm like, you
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  shouldn't call your kids slow. Do you ever feel like you're one of those slow children at play
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  when you pick up your new Testament and you read and you come across a verse and you're like, man,
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  that verse is life changing. Where has that verse been? Has that ever happened to you?
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  I have never seen that verse before. And then you realize it's already underlined
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  from last year's Bible reading. Wait, I've had this epiphany before.
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  Wait, where's that been the whole time? You know how many times we make announcements in church
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  and then our own people claim they have no knowledge of the events that we've announced
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  six times. Like I've never heard anybody say that. You're like, it has been in the
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  announcements for six consecutive weeks. I'm telling you, I think sometimes the announcement
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  to me, to others, it just needs to be slow children at play. Honestly, that's what it was
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  like for the apostles. Where were they? Where were they? Where were they? Where were they? Where were
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  these guys? Where were the supposed heroes? They're getting these reports back. Now the tomb is
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  empty. The stone is rolled away. I love verses like this verse 11 seemed to them an idle tale.
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  They didn't believe because it really does bring a sense of encouragement.
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  I have been so spiritually dense at times in my life.
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  Like things just don't click like they're supposed to. I feel sometimes like I'm behind
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  where I should be. I don't understand things maybe like others do, but take heart. There was
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  nobody thicker than our heroes of the faith. Jesus had said it so many times. And honestly,
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  if Christ's kingdom has room for them, it has room for us. Amen. Amen. Verse 12. Another pot.
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  Our text began with a butt. Here it ends with another butt. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb
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  and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves. And he went home marveling
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  at what had happened. You may recall that just prior to the crucifixion, Peter had denied his
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  savior three times. He denied his friend and Lord three times. And on the third time with cursing
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  and spitting on his lips, he screamed. He swore that he had never even met the Lord. He swore that
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  he had never even met Jesus. And just as the rooster crowed, Jesus caught his eye from across
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  the courtyard and was being led out to his death. And the other 10 apostles didn't believe Mary's
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  report. But Peter, but Peter, no doubt holding on to the slightest hope that it might actually be
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  true, decided to go and investigate. He ran to the tomb, hoping beyond hope that indeed he was
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  going to find his resurrected friend.
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  And Lord, he wanted to apologize. He wanted forgiveness. And so he rose and he ran. And may
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  I encourage you, if you are far from God, maybe there have been times where you've walked with
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  the Lord, but now you're estranged from him. Can I encourage you to rise and run to Christ?
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  Even if you've denied him like Peter did, even if you turned your back on him, the way that he did,
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  if your heart weighs heavily within you, if you feel the same type of shame and disgust with
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  yourself that Peter did, then you're not alone. You're not alone. You're not alone. You're not
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  alone. You're not alone. You're not alone. You're not alone. You're not alone. You're not alone.
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  Then rise, run to Jesus. Listen to these promises. Hebrews chapter seven. Consequently, he is able to
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  save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him. He is able to save you even to the
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  uttermost. Love this promise to all that the father gives me. Jesus said, we'll come to me
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  and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. Jesus will receive you no matter what you've done.
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  He will not turn away. He will not turn away. He will not turn away. He will not turn away. He will
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  not turn away. He will not turn away. He will not turn away. He will not turn away. He will not
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  turn his back on you. If you in humility and in faith come to him. Verse 12 concludes, he looked
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  in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves. He went home marveling at what had happened. And honestly,
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  this is my hope and prayer for each of you that you too, this resurrection weekend will marvel
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  at what was done for our sin.
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  And maybe you feel like that sinful woman caught in adultery.
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  You feel like you've been condemned and you're just waiting for someone to throw the first stone,
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  but there is such good news today. Jesus dropped the stone. He does not condemn you. He refuses
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  to condemn sinners who want to be forgiven. And by doing that, he condemns himself. He dropped the
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  rock.
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  Forgave us by moving a much larger rock, the stone, which blocked the exit from the tomb. He does not
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  condemn you, but offers instead forgiveness through his own condemnation and death. And there's no need
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  to feel like you owe him something because it was a gift. It was not a loan. It's not even something
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  you can pay back if you wanted to, because he doesn't give loans. Jesus was crucified. He was
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  buried. He rose to new life.
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  And he offers that free gift of salvation to any and to all who will receive it, who will believe
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  in his name. Lord, thank you for your resurrection. Thank you, Lord, for a reason to rejoice, a reason
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  to have hope. Thank you, Lord, that after Friday night, there are so many reasons to turn all the
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  lights on and to open all of the windows and to sing joy to the world. Indeed, he has risen.
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  Hallelujah. He has risen. And we thank you, Lord Jesus. And it's in your name we pray. Amen.