You Without Sin Cast the First Stone - The Gospels - Bible in a Year with Jack Graham

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let us pray. And so when they continued asking him,
he lifted up himself and said, unto them, he that
is without sin among you, let him cast a stone
at her John eight seven, renew, refresh, restart. These are

(00:23):
the words that come to mind as I meditate on
John seven one through eight twelve, when I am in
a moment of remorse, when I have made a mistake,
I will remember your commands when I allow you to
take control of my situation. Jesus, through your power and
in your knowledge, you give me the opportunity to have

(00:44):
my situation altered for the better. Doesn't matter what my
punishment should be. When you alter a situation, you have
the ability to delete the sin in my life so
that I can have a fresh restart, like the woman
in today's story. Thank you that whoever is trying to

(01:06):
ridicule and parade my mistake around publicly, you will silence,
and that they will walk away and reflect on the
grace they've been given as well. Let this fresh restart
be the starting point of a repentant heart. Remove any
sin or hindrance within my life that would move me

(01:29):
backwards instead of forward into the glorious future. You have
for me in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for making
prayer a priority in your day. To learn more about
the Bible, stay tuned for today's story, brought to you

(01:50):
by Bible in a Year dot com.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
You without Sin cast the first stone. In our last story,
Jesus spoke hard truths about being the bread of life.
He spoke of how he was sent by God from heaven,
and whoever ate his flesh and drank his blood would
inherit eternal life. Although Jesus spoke metaphorically, his words caused

(02:21):
many to leave. However, the disciples stayed for they knew
that only Jesus held the words of eternal life. Now
we witness a woman caught in shame. She is treated
like an animal and drug out in public. She will
soon come face to face with the scandalous power of
God's grace. Inspired by the Gospels.

Speaker 3 (02:44):
Hello, and welcome to today's episode of the Bible in
a Year podcast. I'm Jack Graham. In yesterday's episode, we
heard as Jesus spoke very powerful words showing us that
he is the one who is sent from God, the
very bread of Heaven, who gives eternal life and satisfaction
to our hearts. Many could not accept his words and

(03:07):
departed that day, but others said, you have the words
of eternal life. To whom shall we go. The disciples
remained by his side, believing that he is who he
said he was, the Messiah, the one sent from God
to be the savior of the world. Today we'll hear
how Jesus steps in to rescue a woman caught in adultery,

(03:27):
an act that would have cost her her life. But
in the midst of the ruthless condemnation of religious leaders,
Jesus will shine the light of God's incredible grace upon her,
offering her restoration and redemption a brand new life. So
let's listen now to today's reading from God's Word.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
The woman's jaw crashed against the stony dirt. She gasped
for air as she turned to her side. Her mouth
was dripping with blood and her clothes were falling off
her body. She had been caught in the act of
adulty by her husband and then drug out of her
bed into the city streets. Half naked, hurt and afraid.

(04:07):
She looked up at the crowd staring at her. They
laughed and scoffed. Shame welled up within her. Her body
and spirit were bruised. Tears fell upon the dust as
she listened to the religious leaders behind her. The Pharisees
had drug her into the middle of the courtyard for
all to see. They made a spectacle of her. She

(04:29):
was reduced to nothing as the whole crowd looked at
her in disgust. She closed her eyes and shame. She
knew what people did to women caught in adultery. She
knew she was about to be stoned. Teacher, one of
the pharisees shouted, this woman has been caught in adultery.
According to the law of Moses, she should be stoned.

(04:52):
The woman wondered who the Pharisees were talking to, so
she opened her eyes and looked. There standing in front
of the crow was Jesus. The Pharisees had brought her
to him, trying to trap him into forgiving a woman
who was clearly guilty. One of the Pharisees grabbed the
woman by the hair and shouted, so what do you
say now, Jesus, what should be done to her? Will

(05:15):
you obey the law of Moses. Tears streamed down the
woman's face as she looked at Jesus. His eyes were
filled with concern and comfort. Yet underneath Jesus's expression was
a rumbling of anger. Not anger towards her, but the
men who would treat her like an animal. To prove
a point, the religious leaders loomed over her, waiting for

(05:37):
Jesus to speak. Instead of replying, Jesus took two steps
forward and crouched down into the dirt. He began to
write words in the dust with his finger. There was
a silence as the Pharisees read what Jesus was writing.
The woman could not see what Jesus was carving into
the dirt, but she did notice that it made the
religious leaders uncomfortable. Jesus stood his feet and looked at them.

(06:01):
He picked up a stone off the floor and walked
towards them. The woman's heart raced. Would Jesus give them
permission to stone her? Would Jesus be the one to
throw the stone first. Jesus extended the stone towards the
pharisees and said, if any among you is without sin,
let him throw the first stone. Jesus dropped the stone

(06:24):
in front of the woman and pharisees. It fell to
the floor with a thud. Everyone was silent. Jesus knelt
down again and continued writing in the dirt. The men
looked at his words written in the dust, and one
by one they began to leave. Each man, beginning with
the oldest, departed in a hurry. The woman watched as

(06:46):
the men grumbled. Their faces were filled with worry. Perhaps
they did not want anyone to read what Jesus was writing,
Perhaps it was about them. The Pharisees left in a hurry,
and the crowds left when they realized nobody was going
to be stoned. All that remained was Jesus and the woman.
She was still sitting on the floor. Her knees were

(07:07):
bleeding and her eyes were red. Her scalp was sore
from being drug out by her hair, and she was
still embarrassed by her nakedness. Jesus walked over to her
and knelt on to the floor. He took the robe
off his back and draped it over the woman's shoulders.
He looked at the woman and then looked around the
empty courtyard, My child, he said, who is left to

(07:30):
condemn you? The woman looked around. Her heart was filled
with shame and gladness. She wept her tears fell into
the dirt before Jesus. She shook her head and answered,
there is no one left to condemn me. Lord Jesus
propped up her chin so her eyes met his. Then,
neither do I condemn you. Then Jesus helped the woman

(07:53):
to her feet, Go and sin no more. So the
woman departed, feeling the full weight of hears The words
Jesus spoke to Nicodemus were proven true that day, that
the Son of God did not come to condemn the world,
but that by him the whole world would be saved,
saved from the shame that plagued humanity. Since the Garden

(08:15):
of Eden, God once clothed Adam and Eve with the
skin of an animal when they were naked. Now Jesus
clothed this woman with grace. This would be an image
of what he would do for all humanity. He would
clothe them in forgiveness and righteousness. Soon all would feel
the full weight of Jesus's love and sacrifice. This would

(08:37):
inspire people to go and sin no more.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
We begin today's reading with an unnamed woman caught in
sin adulterous sin as she is being humiliated before a
crowd of onlookers. She had been discovered in the act
of dultery, caught in the act as it were, and
the Pharisees, cruel and bitter, its seemed, were out for justice.
At least that's how they wanted it to appear. Old

(09:05):
Testament laws stated that such a woman should be stoned
to death for her infidelity. But these men really weren't
seeking justice. They were actually trying to set a trap
for Jesus. There was no denying this woman had done wrong,
but their quest was not for righteousness. They wanted to
turn the tables and regain control that they'd lost to

(09:25):
this merciful teacher, the messiah named Jesus, who had come
onto the scene. So they paraded this woman, abused, this
woman upawn in their scheme, into a public square, and
cast her to the ground, challenging Jesus to decide what
should happen to her. In so many ways, this woman
represents a deep fear many people fear, the sin and

(09:47):
the shame that people bear, and that someday our greatest
failures and falls will be brought to light in a
public matter, that our secrets will be shouted from the rooftops,
that family and friends and even strangers will know of
our mistakes and our mess ups, our grievous sins. Jesus, however,
wasn't going to play the Pharisees game. Instead, he quietly

(10:10):
knelt down and wrote something in the dirt. What he
wrote will remain a mystery we don't know, as we're
not told what he wrote or what he meant. Whatever
it was, it didn't deter the religious leaders. They continued
to press Jesus to determine the woman's fate. Jesus simply
stood and faced them and gave a challenge to the men,

(10:31):
if you are sinless, by all means, throw a stone.
It was a challenge that not even the self righteous
Pharisees could take on. But Jesus wasn't done. He knelt
again and silently wrote in the dirt once more, and
with that the men slunk away in defeat. Their plan
had failed, and eventually all that remained were Jesus and

(10:54):
the woman. I can imagine Jesus standing there with the
woman looking over her shoulder to the left and to
the right, and then asking where did everyone go? Did
no one condemn you? And the woman, who surely had
believed her death was to be imminent, looks up and
sees no one to condemn her. Timidly, she speaks back
to Jesus, saying, no one, Lord we see Jesus reply

(11:19):
in John eight eleven, I do not condemn you either,
go from now on to sin no more. Can you
imagine the weight of guilt that was lifted from her
shoulders as she experienced God and his grace. If you
have ever experienced God's forgiveness, then maybe you have some idea.
I know I do. Like her, We all stand accused

(11:41):
of sin, and there's no question as to our guilt
and even our shame. But like her, we have been
touched by the power of God through the grace of
our Lord, Jesus Christ, we have been forgiven and now
we live free from the shackles of sin. You see,
this reading is not about Jesus overlooking sin or acting
like she wasn't guilty. All have sinned, we all deserve

(12:04):
punishment and even judgment. But this passage today focuses on
the words of Jesus, I do not condemn you. So
if we read this passage and focus only on the
words I do not condemn you, then we missed the
big point. Jesus did not deny her sin or guilt.
He forgave her for it. He released her from it

(12:25):
and freed her not to sin or to live in
sin again. This is all made possible because of what
Jesus did for us, and it's the message of the
Gospel that God's grace is greater than our sin, that
what he did on the cross includes every sin by
every person. He himself paid the price and the judgment
for our sins. He paid a debt he did not owe,

(12:47):
because we owe a debt that we could not pay.
Jesus sets us free from the power of sin and
death so that we can go live an abundant and
eternal life. Let's pray. God. We thank you for today's
scripture that teaches us your amazing grace. We give thanks
to you because we have been forgiven and freed from

(13:09):
the penalty of death through your son Jesus and by
the power of his resurrection. Thank you for your love
for us. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen. Thank you
for listening to today's Bible in a year. I'm Pastor
Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas. You can download thepray dot
Com app and make Bible study and prayer the priority

(13:30):
of your life. And if you appreciate this podcast, please
share it with someone else. I also want to encourage
you to go to Jack Graham dot org. That's Jack
Graham dot org for we have resources that are free
and available for you so that you may know Christ
and grow in him. God bless you

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You Without Sin Cast the First Stone - The Gospels

Episode Transcript

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Jack Graham

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