Right and True Judgement

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Zephaniah 3:14-17
• Hymn — All Creatures of Our God and King
• Prayer of Invocation
• Nicene Creed
• Scripture Reading — Malachi 2:17–3:5
• Hymn — O Lord, How Shall I Meet You
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Hymn — Before the Throne of God Above
• Sermon
• Hymn — My Faith Looks Up to Thee
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: Right and True Judgment

Scripture: John 7:53–8:11

I. Sloppy Judges

A. The scribes and Pharisees bring the adulterous woman before Jesus, claiming to apply the law of Moses

1. Deuteronomy 22 prescribed stoning for a betrothed virgin who commits adultery; Leviticus 20 and Deuteronomy 22 subjected a married woman to capital punishment as well
2. Both parties in adultery were subject to punishment — yet the man is absent, revealing a glaring double standard

B. Their use of the law is exposed as sloppy on multiple counts

1. Common practice in first-century Judaism was divorce, not stoning — they press Jesus for a judgment they themselves did not practice
2. The text says they brought her to test (tempt) Jesus — she is merely a pawn to trap him, not the subject of righteous zeal for the law
3. When their scheme fails, they abandon her — confirming she was never their true concern

C. The primary function of the law is to expose our own sin, not to serve as a weapon against others

1. Galatians 3 — the law highlights our sin
2. Romans 7 — Paul is condemned by the law and recognizes himself as a sinner before God
3. Righteous judgment requires first being humbled by the law and recognizing one's own guilt; elders in the church and civil judges are still called to render proper judgments, but must do so with humility

II. Self-Condemning Judges

A. Jesus writes on the ground — likely rendering his verdict in the manner of a Roman judge (writing first, then speaking)

1. Jeremiah 17:13 — those who forsake the Lord, the Fountain of Living Waters, will have their names written in the earth
2. Jesus presented himself as the Fountain of Living Waters in John 7:37; these judges have rejected that fountain

B. Jesus says, Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her

1. This does not require sinless perfection in a judge, but references Deuteronomy 17:7 — witnesses who cast the first stone must not be guilty of the same crime
2. Jewish tradition held that witnesses could not be guilty of the very sin for which they accuse another
3. At minimum, these men were guilty of condoning the double standard that protected men while condemning women for the same sin
4. The oldest and wisest leave first — cut most deeply by the force of their own guilt

C. Romans 2:1 — in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself, because you practice the very same things

1. The Pharisees created a heavy burden of extra-biblical laws impossible to uphold — a pattern repeated in today's globalized, social-media-driven culture
2. The antidote to self-condemning judgment is grace — the preamble to the Decalogue (I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt) establishes that the law is given in the context of redeeming grace
3. Matthew 11 — Christ's yoke is easy and his burden is light; losing the preface to the law means losing Christ and his grace

III. A Sanctifying Judge

A. Jesus is the only one truly fit to condemn her — he alone is without sin — yet he says, Neither do I condemn you

1. This is pardoning grace: real, merciful, and powerful
2. It is not grace that winks at sin — he adds, Go, and from now on sin no more
3. Just as the preamble to the law (I brought you out of Egypt) precedes the commandments, God's pardoning grace always produces sanctifying obedience

B. John 1:16-17 — from Christ's fullness we receive grace upon grace; the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ

1. Changed and righteous lives are grace-fueled lives, not law-driven lives
2. Romans 7 ends in Wretched man that I am — the law paralyzes; it is grace that energizes obedience
3. Transformed lives must first hear, and keep hearing, Neither do I condemn you

C. Pastoral application: Do those in your care hear Christ's words Neither do I condemn you through your ministry to them, or do they receive only the heavy burden of extra-biblical rules?

1. The words I love you from even a mere human have transformative power — how much more the pardoning love of Almighty God
2. Children raised under harsh judgment without love are transformed when they encounter someone who genuinely loves them — so also God's children are transformed by hearing the Father say through the Son: I love you; I do not condemn you; go and sin no more