Jesus Came for Adulterous People

John 8:1-11

The sin of anger can often be very respectable. We become angry against injustice. Sounds good. But anger, even though it may be a righteous cause, can turn sinful. The sin of covetousness is so common - people want bigger, better, brighter. It’s the respectable sin. And we downplay it. We laugh it off. But adultery, fornication, and sexual sins - these are things we want to hide away - because they’re embarrassing, taboo, done behind closed doors. It’s shameful. But it’s also true that fewer people are hiding it today. Pornography, OnlyFans, and hook up apps like Tinder and Grindr show that people are more comfortable with sexual sin. Anger is normalized. Covetousness is normalized. Sexual sin is normalized. Today, we see what the sin of adultery is. God hates sexual sin. Now, God doesn’t hate sex. After all, he created it. Romance between husband and wife is a very agreeable thing to God. When Adam was created, God said it was not good for him to be alone. That’s why he created Eve out of Adam’s side. This was so Adam would have a spouse - a companion. He would have marital relations with her. And this was very good in God’s eyes. And if God doesn’t hate sex and romance, neither should we.

But we should hate sinful sex. Whatever sex is not within a monogamous, heterosexual, marriage is sin. That’s the 7th commandment. We see in Q108 that God hates all unchastity. It’s not just adultery - where a married person has an affair. It’s also called unchastity - meaning, an illegal sexual activity. So while lust, porn, pre-marital sex, extra-marital affairs, and homosexual acts aren’t illegal in Singapore, these are all illegal before God. And we remember too that God’s people are also guilty of such unchastity. God gave this commandment to Israel after she was redeemed from Egypt. As a delivered people who worship God, they struggled with this sin. It’s the same with us today. There are 3 points in this message: Firstly, the deadly laws concerning adultery; secondly, the adulterous nature of the self-righteous - or religious people; and thirdly, the clarity and compassion of the Lord.

Firstly, the deadly laws concerning adultery. We learn in this account that a group of Pharisees and Scribes brought to him a woman who was caught in the act of adultery. They’d brought her to the temple in front of Jesus when he was sitting down to teach the people. Right there, in the middle of everyone. And they quoted him the law of Moses; verse 5 - “Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?” So the Pharisees and scribes, experts in the law, were referring to several Old Testament texts. Leviticus 20:10 - “And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.” Deuteronomy 22 speaks about how they are put to death - “Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die.” Here we see such deadly laws for adultery. Why? It’s to tell us that this sin was heinous before God. Marriage was a creation order. It was very good for man and woman. It was the means by which God would have a godly seed. Marriage was a building block instituted by God. And adultery destroys God’s purposes for humankind.

Also, this commandment was especially given to believers. Before entering the Promised Land, God told his people to reflect his character of holiness. In ancient Egypt, rape was a completely acceptable thing to do - for the higher ranking to take advantage of the lower ranking (but not the other way around). Which is why Mrs Potiphar felt she could do what she wanted with Joseph. And why Sarah thought she could give Hagar to Abraham. This was the same with the Canaanites. Sodom and Gomorrah were famous for their attitude of sensuality. But God didn’t want his redeemed people living as the Gentiles did. So these laws were given. And to commit these sins, was in effect to say, that despite him redeeming them from Egypt, they were going to behave like Egyptians. The Egyptians, whose first born God slew to redeem Israel. So if his people didn’t want the privilege of being God’s people, then they should receive the penalty of the Egyptians. That’s why there were deadly laws. Adultery murders marriage. It destroys the goodness between man and woman. It destroys the family. And there are great social consequences to adultery. But more than that, it’s a rejection of the gift of God and his redemption.

That’s why such deadly consequences were attached to adultery. Now, actual adultery could only be proven when the couple was caught in the very act - like in John 8. And according to Deuteronomy 17:6-7, it would’ve be the very witnesses that caught them who’d cast the first stone. It says the sin must first be confirmed by 2 or 3 witnesses. Then they’d cast the first stone. Then everyone else - the whole community - would be involved. It destroys God’s community. We assume that adulterers weren’t caught very often, but this law and penalty were still given to show God’s hatred of it. But it’s not just its deadly consequences in punishment but its deadly consequences in life. God warned against adultery. Proverbs 5 and 6 tell us that adultery brings loss of honor and power, a ruined reputation, self-destruction, and jealousy. It’s dangerous. It enslaves - those who commit adultery, watch pornography, have pre-marital sex all find it very difficult to get out of it. That’s why the Bible condemns unchastity. Q108 says that sexual gestures, words, thoughts, desires, and anything unchaste, is hated by God. Christ said - anyone who looks to lust at another has committed adultery in his heart. There are deadly consequences in life. But also for your soul. In 1 Corinthians 6:9, Paul said that unrepentant adulterers will not inherit the kingdom of God - “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind.” The wages of sin is death.

But adultery is not only sexual in nature. Secondly, we see the adulterous nature of the self-righteous. We see again in John 8 how the Pharisees and scribes brought a woman to him. She was caught in the very act of adultery. They quoted Moses’ law to see his response. They did this, as verse 6 says to tempt him - so that they might have something to accuse him. Now, the Pharisees and scribes were the religious teachers of the day. But they didn’t like Jesus. His teachings contradicted theirs. In fact, they hated him because of his following. We saw this last week - they were envious because multitudes flocked to him. So they tried to trick him - to destroy him. That’s why they questioned him. And there are basically two motives to trick him.

The first was this - so they could accuse him of going against the religious elite. They thought they followed the law of God. They were the custodians. But in reality they didn’t. Jesus had rebuked them before for this. In Mark 7, he accused them of honoring God with their lips, but their hearts were far from him. They taught their own commandments as if they were God’s. And by so doing, they were putting aside God’s commandments. They were creating loopholes so they could obey God according to their convenience. For example, Rabbi Hillel taught that divorce was permitted when the wife burned the husband’s food. Rabbi Akira taught that a man could divorce his wife if he found a more beautiful woman. They were justifying adultery. But Jesus taught what the Bible said - that only on the grounds of adultery could a man divorce his wife and vice versa. So how now, Jesus? This woman has committed adultery, are you going to follow your teaching? The second motive was this - so they could accuse him of breaking Roman law or Jewish law. At this moment, Judea was under Roman rule. They allowed the Jews to govern themselves on some things - that’s why the Sanhedrin ruled on religious law and there was also King Herod, but not when it came to capital punishment. Jewish law said that the adulteress should be stoned. But Roman law didn’t execute adulterers. If Jesus had pronounced the stoning sentence, they could accuse him before the Roman governor as being a revolutionary and going against Roman law. But if he told them not to stone her, they’d accuse him before the Sanhedrin as breaking the Law of Moses.

Now, in wanting to trap Jesus, they broke the seventh commandment. How? They used her adultery for their gain. Notice how they dragged her before Jesus after they caught her in the very act. But where was the man? Adultery isn’t a solo act. Witnesses had see them. But where was he? The Pharisees didn’t seem to care about that. If they were so concerned about righteousness, why not drag him as well? The Bible doesn’t say. But all plausible reasons suggested don’t excuse them. One scholar suggested they were afraid of the man - he was a man of status or influence. Well, if they were so afraid, why bring the woman who could accuse him before everyone? Another suggested that this act of adultery was framed. They didn’t take the man because it was conceived by them; he was their accomplice in order to trick Jesus. So they weren’t going to hand him over. Yet another similarly wrote that because of their low view of women, marriage, and justice, just the woman alone would suffice. This not only showed their low regard of the law - as Q109 says God forbids all unchaste acts and whatever entices us to unchastity - but they weren’t upholding God’s law. Rather, they were using this adultery to promote their cause. They needed this adultery for their satisfaction. And that’s ironic because they appeared to be upholding God’s law by bringing this woman caught in adultery with witnesses. But in actual fact, they wanted this adultery to take place. They needed it.

This is why Jesus called the Pharisees and scribes an evil and adulterous generation in Matthew 12:39. They had prostituted themselves to the world and the devil. You see, Jesus came and demonstrated he was God himself. Even Nicodemus exclaimed no one can do the miracles he did unless he was from God. He was their God. They had to be faithful to him. But they had sought comfort in their laws, their own righteousness. Their laws had become their idols, so much so that they were willing to trick and kill Jesus to keep up their adultery. They would not submit to him as their God and Savior. They wanted pleasure and satisfaction gained from their own self-righteousness. And they used this woman in her adultery for their advantage to justify their spiritual adultery. So this was the adulterous nature of the self-righteous. How would Jesus address the adultery and the spiritual adultery?

We see thirdly, the clarity and compassion of the Lord. After the Pharisees pose their question, Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger. When they continued to ask that question, he then said to the witnesses - “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” And he returned to write on the ground. But they who heard this were convicted by their own consciences, and they left one by one from the eldest to the last, until Jesus was alone with the woman. Of course, he was not alone - others were there - but her accusers were not there. And he stood up and asked if there was any man who could condemn her. And she said no. So he told her, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” What do we see here? We see Jesus’ clarity. He judged both the woman as well as the accusers. How did he judge her? He judged her as guilty. She was guilty. To be very clear, Jesus didn’t stone her, but he didn’t say she shouldn’t be stoned. What did he say? “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” She was guilty and under the law of Moses, she deserved that deadly punishment. Our Lord agreed with the Law of Moses. Our Lord was very clear. We’ll see later that he showed her compassion. But it doesn’t prevent him from judging her as having sinned and deserving the deadly consequences. Don’t ever go away with this idea that the Lord Jesus ever overlooked her sin. That’s why he appoint her executioners.

But this is also where he judged these accusers. And this he also did it with clarity. After their question, he stooped down to write. Only when they asked again and again, Jesus told the accusers that the sinless one should cast the first stone. And he continued to write. And then one by one they left. What did he write? In some Greek texts, the word translated “write,” can also be translated as “write against.” He was writing against these accusers by listing their sins. And this would be mere speculation, except we see this in the Old Testament and both the Talmud and the Mishnah. The Talmud was the oral law of the ancient Rabbis and the Mishnah was the commentary on the oral law. These explain to us the customs of the Jews at that time. When a couple was caught in adultery, they’d be brought to the Nicanor gates at the temple to be accused. The priest was supposed to write on the dirt, the law that had been broken along with their names. These accusers hadn’t done that. So Jesus did this to show that they weren’t keeping their own laws. But more than that, Christ was demonstrating that these self-righteous adulterous Pharisees had departed from God. Jeremiah 17:13 says, “O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.” From the oldest to the rest, Jesus likely wrote their adulterous names on the ground and the sins they were guilty of. As God of the universe, he accused them with utmost clarity. In guilt, they departed.

But Jesus also showed compassion to this adulteress. Jesus showed her mercy. Could Jesus have stoned her? Yes. As God, our Lord sees all things and was witness to her adultery. And only he is without sin. He could’ve cast that stone. Make no mistake. The woman was mistaken when she said not one of her accusers was left. Jesus was there. Being God and judge, he could’ve stoned her. In fact, the stoning of her would’ve been lighter than the brimstone in hell where she’d suffer for her sin. But our Lord showed compassion. As God, he showed mercy on whom he’d show mercy.

Dearly beloved, we remember that the Lord Jesus also had mercy on us. We are all guilty of this sin. Our thoughts, gestures, actions, have not been chaste. We live in such a generation where adultery and unchastity are celebrated. But Jesus was born into a time where this sin was also celebrated. This was part of pagan culture of the Greeks and Romans. The Pharisees found religious ways to justify their sins. King Herod himself had 10 over wives. He was indiscreet. Doctors today think he suffered and died from Fournier’s gangrene. They were all unrepentant. But he came to forgive those who would come to him for forgiveness. He forgave that Samaritan woman - who had 5 husbands and was cohabiting with another. The prostitute who came washing his feet was received by him. And this adulteress was shown compassion. Let us rejoice in our forgiveness. We are all guilty before God - guilty of stoning, guilty of brimstone in hell. But because Christ came, to be born for us, and to die for us, we’re saved. Let us forsake our sins. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind…shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”

1. The Deadly Laws Concerning Adultery

2. The Adulterous Nature of the Self-Righteous

3. The Clarity and Compassion of the Lord