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[0:00] So I'll be reading John 8, 1-11, the NIV version. But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.

[0:18] The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, Teacher, this woman was caught in the acts of adultery, and the Lord Moses commanded us to stone such women.

[0:36] Now what do you say? They were using this question as a trap in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.

[0:50] When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

[1:05] At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left with the woman still standing there.

[1:17] Jesus straightened up and asked her, Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? No one, sir, she said. Then neither do I condemn you, Jesus declared.

[1:30] Go now and leave your life of sin. Once again, good afternoon everyone. Now this story is very famous for everyone.

[1:49] I am sure maybe most of you know about this story. Now in verse 3, okay, verse 3, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery, which means this lady was sleeping with a man, but that's not her husband, and she was caught.

[2:17] When she was caught, she was naked, maybe hugging a man in bed. How did she feel when she was caught?

[2:29] I think one word, shame or embarrassment. I guess she had a regret, oh, I shouldn't have slept with this man.

[2:45] But I guess she was so embarrassed. Can you, can you think of any other situations more embarrassing than this?

[3:02] You are caught naked, hugging someone that's not your husband. Verse 5, verse 5, verse 5.

[3:15] Now in the law, Moses commands us to stone such women. Okay. Now those guys said to Jesus, yes, the Bible says that this lady should be stoned.

[3:32] Therefore, Jesus, you are a Bible teacher. What would you do now? And what's the response of Jesus? What's the response? He stooped up and writing something on the ground.

[3:50] We don't know what he was writing about. We have no idea. But those guys insisted, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, you are a teacher.

[4:01] What would you do? Then, finally, Jesus said in verse 7, when they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, let any one of you who is without a sin be the first to throw a stone at her.

[4:27] Then he stooped down again. Did they throw stones at her or not? No, they did not.

[4:39] What did they do? They left there one by one, which means they admitted their sins and their guilt.

[4:56] Here's an important principle here. If you try to embarrass anyone in front of Jesus, you will be embarrassed. Those guys are embarrassed in front of Jesus, in front of the lady.

[5:14] But I want to say well done to those guys because they admitted. They accepted. So they left there. They did not say, oh, we are innocent.

[5:25] We can throw stones. They did not say that. So I want to say well done to those guys. Jesus said, if you have no sins, you can throw.

[5:40] And they left. But there's one person in this story who is innocent, which means he has a right to throw the stones at her.

[5:55] Who is it? Jesus. Yeah. And Jesus was still there, which means this lady was not safe yet.

[6:06] And in verse 10, Jesus straightened up and asked her, woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?

[6:17] this is the first time he looked up at this lady. This is the first time because before he was looking down, writing something.

[6:32] First time Jesus saw the lady. Now, from this story, two points I want to talk about.

[6:43] First, forgiveness. forgiveness. Does this lady deserve forgiveness? Or was her action worth stoning?

[6:56] Okay. What does Jesus say in verse 7? Okay. Let's go back to verse 7. Verse 7. Okay. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, let any one of you who is without the sin be the first to throw a stone at her.

[7:18] Okay. Please pay close attention to what Jesus said. Jesus never said, oh, do not throw a stone at her. Don't you feel sorry for her?

[7:30] You know? Can't you show mercy to her? Stoning is a bad thing. You cannot do that. He did not say that. Rather, he affirmed stoning he said, throw the stone.

[7:47] He just added one condition. If you don't have sins, throw the stone. He never said, do not throw the stones. Then, the only innocent person who can throw the stone, that's Jesus, right?

[8:05] Therefore, Jesus has the right to do so. This lady deserves to be stoned by Jesus.

[8:17] Because that's what the Bible says. Jesus does not question the Bible. Jesus does not challenge the scripture. Jesus affirms the scripture.

[8:28] Therefore, this lady should be stoned. And Jesus, however, did not do that. Jesus gave her mercy instead of giving her a stone.

[8:45] That's wonderful. Jesus gave her mercy, showed mercy. But where is justice? No judgment? Anyone can be forgiven?

[9:00] There's a good reason why Jesus did not condemn her. The reason is on the cross. The cross is the reason.

[9:12] In a way, on the cross, Jesus was stoned in her place.

[9:24] The only person, the only person who had the right to throw stones had shown mercy by not doing so, and the same person was stoned on the cross, serving justice.

[9:47] The judgment was meted out. That's what happened on the cross. Then verse 10. verse 10.

[10:03] When Jesus asked the woman, verse 10, Jesus straightened up and asked her, woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? Now, this verse 11, the next one is so important.

[10:19] the lady said, no one served. No one served. There was no one to condemn her. Of course, if Jesus does not condemn her, no one can condemn her.

[10:34] When we come before Jesus, no one will condemn us. No one. But often, often, there's one more person who still wants to condemn us.

[10:54] Guess who? Ourselves. Myself. Okay. Often we say, I can forgive anyone who did a bad thing to me in the past, but I can never forgive myself.

[11:17] Okay. I did horrible thing in the past. I regret so much. I can never forgive myself. I said that to my child.

[11:30] I said that to my parents. I did this to my husband or wife. I did this or that. I was so stupid.

[11:41] I can never forgive myself. Although no one condemns us, even Jesus does not condemn us, sometimes we keep condemning ourselves.

[11:57] What should we do then? Okay, let's do this. In prayer, we come before Jesus. Even Jesus, who has the right to stone us, does not condemn us.

[12:13] Even the teachers of the law, the Pharisees, did not condemn us in front of Jesus. Justice was meted out on the cross.

[12:28] Therefore, we look at the cross and receive this mercy and we forgive. We choose to forgive ourselves.

[12:41] Then we thank God for the cross. We choose to say, yes, God, even you don't condemn me, I do not condemn myself anymore.

[12:54] I forgive myself and receive your mercy. Second point, restoration after forgiveness. Now, the lady was not condemned, what happened to her after this?

[13:13] Will she continue to be shamed by those guys or not? Okay. Now, let's suppose that those guys and the lady bump into each other on the street.

[13:29] Okay. Now, this will happen because their town is not like Tokyo. Okay. Now, Francesca, how many people are in Tokyo? I can't remember.

[13:41] Okay. In Tokyo, I tell you what, I never bump into my church member. Never. Okay. because the city is so big and our church is in the center of Tokyo.

[13:55] People cannot afford to live in that expensive area. So, we spend about one hour to go to church. Most of the church members spend one hour or more than one hour to come to church.

[14:12] Okay. The church is here. Some people live over there. Some people live there, there, there, there, there. We never bump into each other. But in Auckland, how many people live in Auckland?

[14:24] 1.5 million? I suppose sometimes you bump into each other, right? At Sylvia Park World. What are you doing here? Am I right? You guys do that.

[14:35] Yes? But in Tokyo, no, never happens. Never ever happens. However, in John 8, their town is much smaller than Auckland.

[14:48] it's inevitable that they meet each other on the street sometime later. Suppose they meet each other, which one of them looks away, avoid eye contact?

[15:06] I suppose those guys, not the lady. Of course, the lady may not be happy to see those guys, but the guys are the one.

[15:18] They say, oh, gosh, I saw her again. Because they are the ones who are embarrassed by Jesus, in front of Jesus and in front of the lady.

[15:31] They are the ones who had to leave their place quietly, one by one, admitting that they were also sinners.

[15:42] They knew they were no better than the lady. which means after the lady left Jesus, the lady wouldn't be embarrassed by those guys anymore.

[16:04] She won't be harassed by those guys anymore. She can live a life indignity. Without looking back, without looking over her shoulder, she does not have to be conscious of other people's stares, which means being forgiven is not good enough.

[16:37] forgiveness is wonderful enough, but if she was forgiven every day for the rest of her life, she meets those guys and she gets harassed, she gets impressed by those guys.

[16:56] What kind of life is that? Jesus prepared a new life for her. so that she does not need to look over her shoulder.

[17:13] What Jesus did is Jesus restored her, not just forgive her, but restored her by taking away her shame.

[17:30] Jesus did not just throw stones at her, but Jesus took away the shame. Now, what can we apply to our lives from this story?

[17:44] Now, we are the same too. No matter what background we might have, if we come before Jesus, we can live a life without looking back.

[18:00] Some of you, I noticed some of you are from a fantastic Christian family background. I can see that. Maybe you may not have much shame in the past.

[18:13] That's great. Let's say, praise God for that. You have a fantastic background. You are living a great life.

[18:24] You have nothing to hide. That's great. But still, let's apply this story. When you share the gospel with someone or anyone, you should have confidence that this person comes before Jesus.

[18:39] This person will be restored no matter what background. In the past six years in Tokyo, I have met many, many people whose background I thought, wow, even this person comes to Jesus, can this person live a good life or not.

[18:59] Sometimes I'm tempted to think. But after reading this story, I know anyone with any background can live a life. And this person does not need to look back anymore.

[19:21] In fact, from the beginning of this story, Jesus did not embarrass her.

[19:34] Jesus did not embarrass her from the beginning of the story. How? I told you, Jesus did not look at the lady.

[19:49] You see? She had a, she was so embarrassed. and if Jesus had stared at her, don't you think the lady would have been more embarrassed?

[20:02] Jesus was just looking down, writing something. Jesus never saw her until the last moment. Do you know that sometimes making eye contact with a person is quite scary?

[20:18] Okay? Even if you don't have any secrets, some people cannot make eye contact when they talk. Okay?

[20:28] When kids do something wrong, then they cannot look at you. But even grown-ups, they may not have any secrets, but sometimes they are so afraid of eye contact.

[20:46] Once in Japan, I took my parents to a church because they don't go to church, so I wanted to introduce my parents to a church near their house.

[21:00] So I took my parents and I went to the church and the pastor was standing in the church, so I said to the pastor, Konnichiwa. And the pastor said, Konnichiwa.

[21:14] So I said to the pastor, hey, I am looking for church for my parents. And he said, oh, that's a wonderful thing. Even the pastor cannot make eye contact with me.

[21:28] Although I am pretty sure he does not have any secrets. And later, after the service, on the way back home, on the car, my mother said to me, K-Mai, I think the pastor needs Jesus more than anyone does.

[21:48] I think my mother is right. But Jesus, okay, that lady was so embarrassed, cannot see any people's eyes, but Jesus was looking down.

[22:07] Jesus never saw her eyes, because Jesus' intention was not to embarrass her, but to take away her embarrassment.

[22:24] And did Jesus ever use the word adultery to her? Did Jesus say, are you sure did you commit adultery? How many times did you commit adultery before?

[22:39] Did you know that adultery is a sinful act? Jesus never ever says that. And verse 11, what did Jesus say?

[22:51] Can you go back to verse 11? The last one, live your life of sin. Sin no more. Jesus did not say, do not commit adultery again.

[23:06] No. Because she was so embarrassed. She knew that the adultery was so wrong. Jesus did not use the word to embrace her anymore.

[23:17] Therefore, Jesus used the word sin rather than adultery. Because Jesus' intention was not to embrace her, but to restore her, forgive her, and restore her.

[23:36] Now, how did Jesus take away her embarrassment? how did he do that? Again, the answer is on the cross.

[23:52] Jesus endured her shame on the cross. You see, crucifixion is the most humiliating form of public execution.

[24:13] You see, Jesus was half naked. Many people stared at Jesus on the cross for hours. They threw abusive words at Jesus.

[24:26] Can you think of any other forms people could die more embarrassing than on the cross?

[24:37] Jesus was stoned instead of us, and Jesus was embarrassed on our behalf.

[24:55] That's the story in John 8. Lastly, the lady admitted her sin.

[25:07] Of course she did. Of course she knew she was not right. And the scribes, the teachers of the law, the Pharisees, they admitted their guilt.

[25:19] But there's only one person who hasn't admitted guilt yet. Who is it? The man who was sleeping with her.

[25:33] Where is he now? Do you think? He thought, did he think he was lucky? Boy, it's a close call.

[25:47] You know, I escaped, I'm lucky. No, he's not lucky. Who was lucky? The lady was lucky. lucky. Even by force, she was brought before Jesus.

[26:02] She was a lucky one. For the rest of his life, this guy had to look over his shoulder and hide, conscious of people's stares.

[26:21] He is alive, hiding, being. We may have hidden sins. We may think, oh, boy, no one found out I am lucky.

[26:35] No, I am not. We are not lucky because God knows. What should we do then? We should come before Jesus and confess our sins.

[26:49] We don't need to confess our sins to anyone, but we should confess our sins. before Jesus. And if we do that, after that we can say, God, no one condemns me, no one, and even I do not condemn myself.

[27:15] Then what will Jesus say to us? Neither do I condemn you. go. Sin no more.

[27:28] And when we go, we can start living a new life without looking back, without looking over our shoulder because Jesus has already prepared a new life for us.

[27:48] Let's pray. Lord Jesus, thank you. This is your wisdom. You did not just forgive the lady, but even you just prepared a new life for her so that she wouldn't embrace by those guys anymore.

[28:13] You embrace those guys, the Pharisees and the scribes so that she wouldn't be embarrassed by those guys anymore.

[28:25] Thank you Lord for that. You did not just forgive her, but restore her. And the same way, you not just forgive us, but you restore us so that no matter what background, we can live a new life without feeling shamed anymore.

[28:50] We cannot think of any more situation more embarrassing than the lady's situation. And if she can live a life like that, certainly we can live a new life without feeling shamed, without looking back.

[29:11] So we thank you Lord for the cross because everything was done on the cross. You were punished on the cross for us, but you were also embarrassed on our behalf.

[29:26] Thank you Lord for the work on the cross. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. He .