Your Future
gtcotr/ss070906
This morning we will be taking our text from a passage of scripture in the Gospel of John, Chapter 8. While you turn there allow me to read a key scripture to set the tone of our morning.
Key Scripture: Matthew 11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (NIV)
You know:
Our future does not depend on what we did yesterday nearly as much as on what we do today.
Imagine living in a society governed by a self appointed town counsel on religious and moral affairs. Imagine this counsel having such authority that if any two people were willing to give public testimony against you, you could be convicted of any crime whatsoever. Not only convicted, but sentenced and immediately punished, with punishment ranging from fines to public beating and even death.
It must have seemed like a bad day when this woman was caught in the very act of adultery by members of the counsel. She had broken one of the foundational laws and was certain to be executed.
Arrested and dragged through the streets to the public square where people were gathered listening to a man talk. Her accusers ready to give testimony and be the first to condemn her, decide to use this opportunity and catch another community menace - one Jesus of Galilee - whom many were asserting that He is Messiah. Since He is a gentle man who preaches love and forgiveness, perhaps they can trick Him into a religious argument and condemn Him also.
But what these accusers meant for harm would be turned for good.
And what this woman would receive from Jesus was not punishment for her past, but positioning for her future. Jesus was the key to her future, not the whip for her past.
John 8 NKJV
2 Now early in the morning Jesus came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.
3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst,
4 they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.
5 "Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?"
6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first."
8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?"
11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."
Wouldn’t you like to know what Jesus was busy writing. Some say that it was all the names of the women these accusers had committed adultery with in the past. Or perhaps it was the violations of other commandments which these accusers had perpetrated.
Whatever, it is sure that these writings had purpose. And by the way, where was the man who she was caught with? If she was caught in the very act, why was not the man also dragged before the judgment?
Leviticus 20:10 … the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death.
Well, we will save that for another time.
We have no power or authority to condemn sinners because we have all sinned.
Jesus has no desire to condemn sinners, but rather separates them from their sin.
Jesus did not come to punish us but to position us.
Jesus did not come to push us down, but to lift us up.
In this passage Jesus is showing the compassion of the Father. God is not interested in punishing people, but rather He desires to set people free from their bondage, free from their prisons, free from their pain.
Perhaps Jesus had extra compassion on this woman because of His Own family history.
Leah Genesis 29
Tamar Genesis 38
Rahab Joshua 2
Ruth Ruth
Bathsheba 2 Samuel 11
All of these, women who found themselves in very difficult circumstances of life, each one making hard choices, right or wrong, they were doing their best to survive. At one point none of them had a bright future. However, things changed.
Each of these women hold a special place in Jesus’ family history. They are all grandmothers of our Savior.
And what about Jesus’ mother, Mary? Another woman in a very difficult position in life. Found evidently pregnant out of wedlock, engaged to a man with whom she had never laid with --- who was the father? Who would believe this story? What a difficult burden to bear. At one point her future looked pretty bleak.
You don’t have to be wrong to be burdened. We don’t have to be guilty to be condemned. But God still offers us a bright future.
Perhaps you are in a difficult place today. Maybe you caused it or perhaps life had dealt you some unexpected challenges. Whichever, you have an Advocate with the Father. His name is Jesus.
Your appeal today is to the One Who holds the keys to your prison. He will not judge you or condemn you. He died to set you free from your bondage, free from your past, free from your pain.
Won’t you come to Him today. Bow before Him and humble yourself at His feet. He knows you are sorry, He knows you are ashamed, He knows you are burdened. He has a plan and purpose for your future.
Though others may condemn you, He never will. Today, it can be just you and Him, no one else here to accuse you, to give testimony against you. Just you and Jesus.
Come to Him with all your heart. Let Him heal your pain. Let Him have your future.
Hear Him say “you are forgiven, rise, go your way, and sin no more.” That’s what Jesus said to the woman caught in her past … “You can have a better future!” It begins right here, right now, today.
Come to Jesus today.
One moment of His favor is worth a thousand days of labor.
Your future is not nearly so dependent on what you did yesterday as it is on what you do today.
Give God His chance. Just ask Him to take control of your life.
