John 8:1-4 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. {2} And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. {3} And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, {4} They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

Our Background Is Found In Nicodemus

After Jesus presented Himself as the Messiah, the Savior of Israel and the Sender of the Holy Spirit, the Chief Priests and Pharisees sent the Temple soldiers to arrest Him for blasphemy in chapter 7. When the soldiers returned to the Temple without Jesus, they were asked “Why didn’t you bring Him?”. The soldiers replied,

John 7:46 (AP*) No one ever spoke like this Man!

As the powerful leaders of Israel condemned Jesus, and mocked the soldiers, a member of that group named Nicodemus spoke up.

Nicodemus came to see Jesus by night – we read about him in John chapter 3. It was to Nicodemus that Jesus told him in John 3:7, “You must be BORN AGAIN”. Jesus told Nicodemus,

John 3:3 (ESV) … “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

When you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, He covers your sins with the Blood of Calvary. Jesus then sends the Holy Spirit to your life to change you, to make you into a child of God. Once you are a child of God, you stand up for Jesus and for His Kingdom. You do not hide your faith, but you are “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). You cannot be an undercover Christian. When Jesus comes to you and you to Him, He saves you. You become “children of God by faith in Christ” (Galatians 3:26). You are different from the lost of the world. You are saved.

Salvation Is Like A Seed – It Must Be Planted!

When Nicodemus met Jesus in John chapter 3, the seed of salvation was planted. When Nicodemus left Jesus, he kept their meeting quiet. He told no one. But now that the Chief Priests and Pharisees are condemning Jesus, Nicodemus speaks up:

John 7:51 Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?

The Pharisees and Priests were mad at Jesus because they believed He was breaking the Law by healing people on the Sabbath. However, as Nicodemus pointed out, the Pharisees and Priests were violating the Law by condemning Jesus without a proper trial.

The basis of stability in a nation is the Law. In the Old Testament, when God led Israel out of Egyptian slavery, and He led them to the base of Mount Sinai. There was a reason for this. Israel was no longer just a family with twelve sons, but it was to be a Nation under God. To be a Nation under God Israel had to have a Law. At Mount Sinai God called Moses to come up the Mountain to receive that Law.

The Chief Priests and Pharisees claimed to live by the Law of God. They weren’t living by God’s Law, but by THEIR Law, THEIR Traditions, THEIR Feelings. This is a dangerous path for a people to take.

God’s Law demanded fair justice. He said in:

Deuteronomy 1:16-17 (ESV) ‘Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the alien who is with him. 17 You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgment is God’s. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’

The Law that God gave at Sinai was not Moses’ Law, but God’s Law through Moses. God said …

Deuteronomy 19:15 (ESV) A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.

Nicodemus reminded the Levites and the Priests that Jesus needed a fair hearing. That is what caused the events of chapter eight.

Chapter Eight Is A Picture Of Mount Sinai

John 8:1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.

The “mount of Olives” is also called OLIVET. Olivet is a ridge that runs outside the city walls east of Jerusalem (1 Kings 11:7). When King David’s son Absalom chased him from Jerusalem, the Bible says “David went up by the ascent of mount Olivet, and wept as he went up” (2 Samuel 15:30). David’s son King Solomon built an altar to “Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek, the detestable god of the Ammonites” (1 Kings 11:7). When Israel fell to idolatry, the Prophet Ezekiel (11:23) saw the glory of the Lord depart from Jerusalem and rest ON THE MOUNTAIN EAST OF IT (Mount Olivet or the Mount of Olives). The Mount of Olives was a place where God rested, and watched over Jerusalem.

The Mount of Olives was a favorite place that Jesus visited, usually to rest and talk to the Father. As Moses went up Sinai to talk to the Father, Jesus went up Olivet.

John 8:2 … And early in the morning He came again into the Temple, and all the people came unto Him; and He sat down, and taught them.

Jesus returned to the Temple, probably in an area called Solomon’s Porch (John 10:23). He taught “early in the morning”, right after His time of prayer.

– When God sent Moses to the Pharaoh, saying “Let My people go”, God always told him to go “early in the morning” (Exodus 8:20; 9:13; 24:4; 34:4).

– When God sent Joshua to fight the enemy in the Promised Land, it was often “early in the morning” (Joshua 3:1; 6:12; 7:16; 8:10).

Israel has been taken over by the false religion of the Chief Priests and Pharisees, so Jesus goes to battle it “early in the morning”. He will eventually defeat Satan and false religion on the Cross of Calvary, and rise from the grave “early in the morning” on the first day of the week. As Jesus came to teach “all the people came unto Him”. They wanted to hear a Word from God, and were hungry – not for the swill of the Pharisees and Priests, but for the “Words of Eternal Life” (John 6:68; Philippians 2:16; 1 John 1:1).

Jesus has come down from Olivet with the Word of Life, just as Moses came down from Sinai with the Law.

John 8:3-4 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

Word Study: Nicodemus has called on the Priests and Pharisees to bring Jesus to a proper trial. Instead of doing this, they set a trap for Him. They bring a woman into Jesus’ classroom “taken in adultery”. The word “taken” is the Greek katalambanō, which means “to lay hold of, to seize, to take possession of”. The word is used of the boy possessed of a demon, who …

Mark 9:18 … wheresoever {the demon} taketh katalambanō him, {the devil} teareth {the boy}: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away…

This woman was GRABBED and DRAGGED into to presence of Christ. She was forced into the middle of this group of people, probably her clothing torn, her nakedness exposed. They tell Jesus:

Master, this woman was taken in adultery,
in the very act

Word Study: They are first of all HYPOCRITES. They call Jesus “Master”, the Greek didaskalos, which means “Master Teacher or Scholarly Rabbi”. They often called Jesus “MASTER”, though they did so out of sarcasm or avarice (Matthew 12:38; 19:16; 22:16; 22:14; 22:36; Luke 19:39, et. al.). They used shock and inflection to try and get Jesus to expose Himself. Then they drop the bomb:

John 8:5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

The thing about traps and bait is that the hunter will put out something that looks obviously GOOD, hoping the quarry will take it and be trapped. The Bible says …

1 Timothy 1:8 … we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;

The Law of God is not a bad thing, but a good thing. The Law of God points out that which is SIN, and SIN is a bad thing. The Law of God said that adultery is terrible evil, because adultery tears at the civilized fabric of community by attacking Biblical Marriage. For this reason God decreed:

Leviticus 20:10 (ESV) If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

Adultery is a sin that tears up marriages. It is not a ONE PERSON sin. If this woman was caught “in the very act” there should be a man with her. The Bible tells us:

John 8:6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

These men were not seeking to give Jesus a fair trial, but were baiting Him, trying to find something, anything that would make Him look guilty. But as They spoke to Jesus, the Bible says “with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not”. In the Old Testament when Moses was with God, it was …

God Himself Who wrote the Ten Commandments with His finger on tablets of stone.

Exodus 31:18 (ESV) {and God} gave to Moses, when He had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

Deuteronomy 4:13-14 (ESV) … {God} declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. 14 And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess.

The Ten Commandments were written by the finger of God, but the rest of the Law was told to Moses by God, and Moses wrote the Law as God gave it.

Exodus 24:3-4 (ESV) … Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” 4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 31:24-26 When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book to the very end, 25 Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, 26 “Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against you.

Moses went to Sinai and received the Law from God. He wrote it down and gave it to the people. As the Scribes and Pharisees demand an answer from Jesus, our Lord – fresh from Mount Olivet – begins to write God’s Law down on the ground. As they continue to demand an answer, our Lord looks up from His writing:

John 8:7-9 So when they continued asking him, He lifted up Himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8 And again He stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

When Jesus said “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her”, He was repeating what the Law of God said. Two or three witnesses were required to put someone to death. God decreed through Moses:

Deuteronomy 17:6-7 (ESV) On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. 7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

The one who was “WITHOUT SIN” – someone who was a witness who was guiltless in the violation of the Law – was to be the FIRST to cast the stone of death. After this witness did so, THEN and only then were the people to cast stones until the lawbreaker was dead. God said “So you shall purge the evil from your midst”.

These men were conspirators. At the least, they allowed the male adulterer to escape punishment. At the most, they were guilty of conspiracy against Jesus. They were not guiltless!

Jesus returned to writing on the ground – I believe – the Law of God. The Bible says that these men departed, “convicted by their own conscience”, starting at the eldest. After they had all left, Jesus looked at the woman.

John 8:10-11 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

At this point many people misunderstand what Jesus is doing. They believe that Jesus is condoning sexual sin, looking the other way on adultery, a horrible sin. Our Lord is not doing this. The charges against this woman were trumped up, and unfairly levied. Where was the MAN? Was the unnamed woman guilty of sin? Yes, she was! At no point did she protest her innocence, nor did she declare herself innocent after her accusers left. Our Lord Jesus told her, “go, and sin no more”. Jesus believed that she committed the crime she was accused of, and at no point did He excuse her guilt. She was a sinner, a sexual sinner, else our Lord would have not said go and sin no more.

Sin Is Horrid! Go And Sin NO MORE.

Jesus told this woman, “go, and sin no more”. We are given a very DETAILED DEFINITION of what SIN is in the Scripture, and sin is NOT something a Child of God should wallow in. The Bible says:

1 John 3:2-8 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. 4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. 5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. 6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. 7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

The Bible tells us that SIN is bad – and children of God purify themselves of sin (verse 3). Sin is “the transgression of the law” (verse 4), to reject what God has said and what is written in the Holy Scripture. Sin is no trifle, but a hateful and deceptive thing. The Bible tells us that “Jesus was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin”. Jesus is not looking the other way on this woman’s sin, her hateful sin! God became Man – Perfect and Sinless Man – to take away our sins.

Jesus came not only to purge the record of our sinfulness so we might have access to God, but also came to make sin distasteful to us. Sons of God hate sin! Period.

If you can commit sin without any remorse over it, then you do NOT belong to God. We are told that “He that committeth sin is of the devil” (vs 8). Jesus came to this earth to destroy the works of the devil.

Jesus “made us alive with Him, and forgave us ALL our trespasses. He erased our certificate of debt … taking out of the way by nailing it to the Cross” (Colossians 2:13-14, HCSB). If you are yielding your lives to sin, then you are servants of sin, not sons of God (Romans 6:15-18).

You are saved to follow not sin, but the Savior. You are saved to walk with Jesus in the Light of God. The day you received Christ as Savior and Lord, He told you:

Neither do I condemn thee.
Go.
And sin no more!

Are you saved? Are you washed by the Blood of Christ, born again of His Spirit? If you are, you will not walk in darkness with the world. You will walk in the Light of God with Christ and your brothers and sisters in the Church. May God cause you to examine your lives, and be saved from sin this very day. Receive Jesus. Believe Jesus. Call on Jesus. Trust Jesus. Follow Jesus. This is the Way of the Master. Amen and Amen.