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Knowing I AM: Gospel of John “Living by Grace” John 8:1-11 Kevin Haah

June 29, 2014

I. Introduction

[Reminder: Please turn on the timer]

[Slide 1] We are in the middle of a series on the Gospel of John called Knowing I

AM. Last week, David Guyer preached a great sermon on being thirsty for God.

Thanks, David!

[Slide 2] The title of the sermon today is “Living by Grace.”

There was a conference on comparative religion in England and experts from all

over the world were debating what belief, if any, was unique to the Christian faith. The

debate was going on for some time when C.S. Lewis wandered into the room and asked:

“What’s the rumpus about?” When told that they were trying to figure out Christianity’s

unique contribution among world religions, Lewis responded, “Oh, that’s easy. It’s

grace.” And after some discussion, the conferees agreed with him.

We hear that term a lot. We sing about it: Amazing Grace, How Sweet the

Sound! There’s even a U2 song called Grace. It goes like this:

Grace

She takes the blame

She covers the shame

Removes the stain

It could be her name

Grace

It's a name for a girl

It's also a thought that

Changed the world

She travels outside

Of karma, karma

She travels outside

Of karma

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Knowing I AM: Gospel of John “Living by Grace” John 8:1-11 Kevin Haah

June 29, 2014

U2 lead singer Bono said this about grace in an interview: "[Grace] is a powerful

idea. It really is, and, we hear so much of karma and so little of grace. Every religion

teaches us about karma [that] what you put out you will receive. And even Christianity,

which is supposed to be about grace, has turned [it] into good manners, or the right

accent, good works or whatever it is. I just can’t get over grace—[it’s] so hard to find."

Sometimes, we say grace before a meal. I heard about this 6 year old kid saying

grace at a restaurant: "God is good. God is great. Thank you for the food, and I would

even thank you more if Mom gets us ice cream for dessert. And Liberty and Justice for

all. Amen!”

So, what is grace?

There are so many passages in the Bible that tell us about grace. In fact, the entire

Bible is the story of God’s grace to us. I believe in this so much that I married Grace!

But today, I want to look at a passage, a snapshot in a moment in the life of Jesus,

and see what we can learn about grace.

Let’s go to John 8:2-11. Just want to comment on this passage before we read it.

Most of your Bibles should have a footnote or maybe the whole passage is italicized.

That’s because the best and the earliest manuscripts of the Book of John do not contain

this passage. So, John probably didn’t write this. But, we have some manuscripts that

included this story in John and in some manuscripts, in Luke; Eusebius, a 2nd Century

historian, talks about this story; it is consistent with the stories of Jesus; so, it was

probably something that actually happened and in other sources but got inserted into John

later. It goes to the heart of our faith and consistent with the Jesus that is revealed. Let’s

go to the passage:

[Slide 3] 2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people

gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law

and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand

before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act

of adultery.

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Knowing I AM: Gospel of John “Living by Grace” John 8:1-11 Kevin Haah

June 29, 2014

[Slide 4] 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do

you say?” 6 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. 7 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.” 8 Again he stooped

down and wrote on the ground.

[Slide 5] 9 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. 10 Jesus

straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned

you?” 11 “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of

sin.”

[Slide 6] This passage tells us three things about grace: (1) what grace is not, (2)

what grace is, and (3) how to live by grace.

II. [Slide 7] First, this passage tells us what grace is not.

• In this passage, teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought a woman who

was caught in the act of adultery.

• Can you imagine the embarrassment and shame? Imagine your most painfully

shameful moment being broadcast all over the Internet. The private affair has

now become a public spectacle.

• Everyone is ready to condemn her, and under the OT Law, they’re right.

Leviticus 20:10 says: “If a man commit adultery with another man’s

wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress

must be put to death.”

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Knowing I AM: Gospel of John “Living by Grace” John 8:1-11 Kevin Haah

June 29, 2014

• Admittedly, there are some irregularities here—where’s the guy?

And the law says nothing about stoning. Nonetheless, the crowd

is generally right under the law.

• The law and justice say you should get what you deserve. But, grace says

something different.

• Don’t we all feel this way at times?

o If we see some injustice done, a crime or some wrong, we believe

from the bottom of our hearts that the criminal should get what he or

she deserves. There should be justice.

o Think about all the action movies, like Kung Fu movies, the theme is

always the same: you killed my brother and I am going to kill you.

o When someone cuts us off, we want the cops to catch him.

o If someone hurts us, isn’t our first instinct to fight back and try to hurt

him?

o If our spouses say something that hurts us, aren’t we trying to hurt

them right back. We give them what they deserve! If he doesn’t

remember my birthday, I’m not going to remember his birthday. It’s

only fair.

o He didn’t invite me; why should I invite him?

o I really don’t like the way he treats me. I’m going to give him a dose

of his own medicine.

o Eye for eye; tooth for tooth. That’s justice! That’s what they deserve.

o Even when we do something wrong, we often have a sense of justice.

We expect God to punish us because we believe that God is the God of

justice. And when we do something right, we expect God to reward us

because we believe that God is the God of justice. So, when things go

well, we think we are getting what we deserve (and therefore, become

self righteous) and when things don’t go well, we think that we are

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Knowing I AM: Gospel of John “Living by Grace” John 8:1-11 Kevin Haah

June 29, 2014

also getting what we deserve (and therefore, become bitter that God is

punishing us). Either way, the focus is on us and what we deserve.

o BUT, it’s not grace.

Then, what is grace?

III. [Slide 8] Let’s see what this passage tells us about what grace is.

• The idea here was to trap Jesus. Would he uphold the law? If Jesus did, then

he would have been in trouble with the Roman authorities because Jews did

not have the right to carry out executions (that’s why the Jewish ruling council

had to bring Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor, to carry out the execution).

In addition, if Jesus upheld the law, he would have undermined his own

teaching on grace and mercy of God.

• Jesus’ answer was ingenious: He who has no sin may cast the first stone.

Many people just focus on how clever this answer is but Jesus is not someone

who sidestepped controversy if he really thought the issue was important.

Later in Chapter 8, for example, he openly claimed to be God. They wanted

to stone him right there. Talk about not avoiding confrontation!

• But, Jesus was being more than ingenious. There’s something more going on

here.

• Jesus got involved.

• Imagine how this woman felt. She was shamed; she feared for her life;

she probably already felt condemned. Maybe she was even condemning

herself.

• Somehow a miracle happened. This Jesus got people to back off. Then,

he forgave her and told her to sin no more. If there was anyone who could

justifiably condemn her, it was Jesus, God himself, but he chose not to.

This is a revolutionary point. He chose to demonstrate grace. He gave her

a second chance. He didn’t give her what she deserved!

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Knowing I AM: Gospel of John “Living by Grace” John 8:1-11 Kevin Haah

June 29, 2014

• She experienced grace, the notion that God loves us unconditionally even

when we’re messed up and even when we turn against him and curse him,

that God doesn’t give us the punishment we deserve but gives us the love

we don’t deserve.

• And do you know what?

o Grace prevailed over law.

o Love prevailed over justice and punishment.

o Giving her a gift that she didn’t deserve prevailed over giving her

what she deserved.

o He didn’t give us what we deserved; he gave us the gift of life.

This is at the core of the gospel.

• The principle of grace is at the core of why Jesus died on the cross.

o Let’s look at Isaiah 53:6: “We all like sheep have gone astray and

each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him

(Jesus) the iniquity of us all.”

o Let me use an illustration from the Alpha course. [This illustration

also answers a question some of you might have. That is, what

about justice? Shouldn’t there be punishment?] Suppose this hand

represents you and me. What the verse says is: All we, like sheep,

have gone astray—we’ve all done things that we know are wrong.

Let this book represent the things in our lives that we do wrong.

Those things cut us off from God.

o Let this hand represent Jesus Christ. He never did anything wrong.

He lived a pure, sinless life. There was nothing between him and

his Father in Heaven. What the verse says is: All we, like sheep,

have gone astray—we’ve turned, everyone, to our own way; the

Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (move the book to the

other hand)

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Knowing I AM: Gospel of John “Living by Grace” John 8:1-11 Kevin Haah

June 29, 2014

o That’s why Jesus on the cross cried out: “My God, my God, why

have you forsaken me?” At that moment he was God-forsaken, he

was cut off from God for you and for me. The wonderful news is

this.

o Do you see where this leaves us? It leaves us free to have a

relationship with God.

o It is the cross that makes this grace possible to us because it is on

the cross that Jesus paid the penalty of justice.

o So, it is grace that compelled Jesus to die on the cross to pay for

our sins.

• This principle of grace is not only at the center of the gospel and why Jesus

died on the cross, it is at the center of the teachings of Jesus Christ.

• If you look at his teachings very carefully, there’s a shift from the

principles of law to the principles of grace.

• Matthew 5:38-41: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and

tooth for tooth.’ [the principles of law and justice—it’s fair] But I tell

you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right

cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and

take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to

go one mile, go with him tow miles.” [this is the principle of grace—

giving to people not what they deserve but even more]

o Note: Martin Luther King Jr. got the non-violent direct action

principle from here. It is the principle of grace. It’s not about

passively taking it and being a doormat; it’s about responding

directly in grace. It might be the strongest thing that you do.

• Matthew 5:43-48: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor

and hate your enemies.’ [here’s the principle of law and justice—it’s fair

to do this] But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who

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Knowing I AM: Gospel of John “Living by Grace” John 8:1-11 Kevin Haah

June 29, 2014

persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” [here’s the

principle of grace—loving your enemies and those who persecute you]

• How about the story of the prodigal son? That story is a contrast between

the attitude of the older brother on the one hand [who wants fairness and

justice—He believed that his little brother should get what he deserved for

blowing the family estate on wild living], and the attitude of his father on

the other hand [who demonstrated grace—he waited for him day and

night, ran to him when he saw him from far away, hugged him, kissed

him, killed to fattened cow to celebrate his return, and restored all the

rights of a son; the father didn’t give him what he deserved].

• How about the parable of the workers who got paid equally in Matthew

20:1-16? This landowner went out to hire people at 6 am to work on his

vineyard and promised them 1 denarius each. He went and hired more

people to work at various hours of the day even at 5 pm. Then, he paid

everyone 1 denarius. People who started at 6 am complained. They

thought it was unfair. [Here is the principle of law—getting what you

deserve] But, the landowner demonstrated grace by paying equally [He

gave the late workers more than they deserved]

• It’s not just his teachings; it’s his life was also centered on grace as well.

• He reached out to and fellowshipped with tax collectors, prostitutes, and

sinners (Luke 5:27)

• He ministered to Gentiles--outsiders (Luke 5:17)

• He spent the entire day on a boat to go across the lake to free a gentile

person possessed by demons in Gerasenes, and immediately after the

healing he came back and nearly got shipwrecked (Luke 8:26-38)

• We can go on and on.

Here’s the bottom line: The movement from law to grace is at the center of the

life of Jesus, teachings of Jesus, and at cross of Jesus: It was the reason he came

to this world and the reason he died for us.

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Knowing I AM: Gospel of John “Living by Grace” John 8:1-11 Kevin Haah

June 29, 2014

-Apostle John put it this way (John 1:17): “For the law was given through Moses;

grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

IV. [Slide 9] Let’s go on to the third point: This passage also tells us how to live

by grace.

• Initially, when I first looked at this passage, I divided up the application point

on how we can live by grace for two types of people: for those of us who

identified more with the woman (in other words, sinners among us) and those

of us who identified more with the crowd and the teachers of the law, and I

was going to talk about how we can experience grace if we identify with the

woman and how we can demonstrate grace to sinners among us if we identify

with the crowd. However, I got this all wrong!

• What did Jesus say to crowd and the teachers of the law? He said: “If any of

you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” What does he

mean by this?

o He is essentially saying to them that all of them are sinners.

o No one is righteous!

o They are all in need of grace!

o You are all in the woman’s shoes!

o Maybe their sins are hidden but they are all sinners.

o Some scholars speculate that what Jesus was writing on the ground

was the hidden sin of the condemners.

• Philip Yancey, in his seminal book and best seller, “What So Amazing About

Grace” comments that this incident illustrates that the world is not divided

into righteous and unrighteous people but into sinners who admit that they are

sinners and sinners who deny that they are sinners.

• So, how do we live by grace? Let me suggest two steps.

o The first step is the same as the first step in this story. We must

heed the words of Jesus and realize that all of us are in need of

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Knowing I AM: Gospel of John “Living by Grace” John 8:1-11 Kevin Haah

June 29, 2014

grace. None of us can afford to get what we deserve. We have all

sinned. Many of us assume that we are in the shoes of the crowd,

but what Jesus is saying is that we are in the shoes of the woman,

who desperately needs grace.

§ You see, only those who are self-righteous want to live by the

law. If you believe that you are self-righteous, you can’t live in

grace. You don’t think you need grace. You just want to get

what you deserve. You earn your reward.

§ But those who realize their sins are desperately seeking to live

in grace. We take what Jesus said to heart: we are sinners in

need of grace.

§ Now, I know some of you are saying: I’m a pretty decent guy.

I don’t cheat on my wife or beat up anyone, I try to be nice to

everyone, and I don’t cheat on my taxes.

§ But what is the standard?

• Here’s another Alpha course analogy: This one pastor

explained it like this to someone who said I live a good

life.

• He would ask, suppose there is a scale of everyone

whoever lived.

• Who is at the bottom? Hitler, their boss.

• Who’s at the top? Mother Theresa, their mother.

• All of us fit somewhere in between. Maybe you’re up

there and I am down there. He’ll say, yes, that sound

right.

• What do you think the standard is? Maybe the ceiling?

• No, it is the sky.

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Knowing I AM: Gospel of John “Living by Grace” John 8:1-11 Kevin Haah

June 29, 2014

• Paul says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory

of God, as revealed, of course, in Jesus Christ. And

compared to him, all of us fall a long way short.

• Also, the standard is not the law, but grace. Remember

the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus already taught us to go

from the ethics of law to the ethics of grace. One of the

purposes of the Sermon on the Mount was to teach us

that we can’t live by the law. We have no choice but to

seek the grace of God through Jesus Christ.

§ So, the first step is to acknowledge our need for God’s grace in

our lives.

§ Jerry Bridges, in a book called Transforming Grace, says this:

"We tend to give an unbeliever just enough of the gospel to get

him or her to pray a prayer to receive Christ. Then we

immediately put the gospel on the shelf, so to speak, and go on

to the duties of discipleship. The grace that brought salvation to

you is the same grace that teaches or disciplines you. But you

must respond on the basis of grace, not law."

§ You see, we need grace not only to become a Christian, we

need it for everything in our lives.

o The second step to living by grace is to allow the grace of God to

work through you to every part of your life through the Holy

Spirit.

o In cartoon strip, “Peanuts,” Lucy is seen saying that if she were in

charge of the world, she’d change everything. Charlie Brown says,

“That wouldn’t be easy. Where would you start?” Lucy looks directly

at him, and without hesitation, points her finger at him and says, “I’d

start with you!” In many ways, we want to see grace work in other

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Knowing I AM: Gospel of John “Living by Grace” John 8:1-11 Kevin Haah

June 29, 2014

people first. But, God calls us to allow grace to flow through our lives

first.

o I’ve often wondered how we are supposed to live by the ethics of

grace that Jesus taught us to live by in the Sermon on the Mount. How

are we supposed to love our enemies or turn the other cheek? I believe

that the only way to do so is to fully immerse ourselves in the grace of

God, and through the power of the Spirit of God, emulate the giver of

grace

o Luke 6:36: after commanding us to love our enemies and do good

to those who hate us (in other words, show grace), Jesus says: “Be

merciful, just as your father is merciful.” Just as, Just as your

father is merciful.

o One preacher put it this way: “Not justice, but just as”—meaning it

is not about justice—giving them what they deserve, but showing

grace “just as” God showed grace towards us.

o You have to remember, you can’t do this unless you first

experience God’s grace, and you know what’s the most amazing

thing about grace is? God give us grace even when we are not

repentant. There is no condition whatsoever! But, when we

realize I our sins, his grace overwhelms us.

• So, how do we actually do it? Instead of explaining this more, let me try

to paint it by giving you a couple of examples. One is from everyday life

and the other is a dramatic once in a life time thing.

o When Kaetlyn, our daughter was 4 years old, was taking too long to

get ready. So, Grace, my wife, said: “Kaetlyn, if you don’t hurry up,

we’re gona leave without you.” Then, she was ready to go, but Grace

was not ready to go. Kaetlyn said to Grace: “Mom, that’s okay. I

won’t leave without you.” Grace experienced grace.

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Knowing I AM: Gospel of John “Living by Grace” John 8:1-11 Kevin Haah

June 29, 2014

o I heard this story from one of you. He grew up in a pretty rough

neighborhood. Then, spend some time in jail. When someone

disrespected him, he beat that person up. That was how he lived. It

was the code by which he lived. Then, he became a Christian. And it

happened again. Someone openly disrespected him, and his automatic

response was to let that person have it. He and I talked about what it

means to live by grace. He begin to reflect more and more on God’s

grace in his life. Later, someone disrespected him again. In fact, he

was openly cussed out. But, this time, he walked away feeling a sense

of compassion for him. That’s grace in action.

o Corrie Ten Boom and her family secretly housed Jews in their home

during WW II. Their activity was discovered, and Corrie and her sister

Bessie were sent to the German death camp, Ravensbruck. There,

Corrie watch many, including her sister, die.

o After the war she returned to Germany to declare the grace of Christ.

o After one of her talks, she came face to face with a man who was a

guard at Ravensbruck. He was one of the crudest guards. He didn’t

remember her specifically. He had since become a Christian. He

acknowledged how cruel he was and asked her for forgiveness.

o And I stood there—I whose sins had again and again to be forgiven—

and could not forgive. Betsie had died in that place. Could he erase her

slow terrible death simply for the asking? It could have been many

seconds that he stood there—hand held out—but to me it seemed

hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do.

o For I had to do it—I knew that. And still I stood there with the

coldness clutching my heart.

o But forgiveness is not an emotion—I knew that too. Forgiveness is an

act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature

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Knowing I AM: Gospel of John “Living by Grace” John 8:1-11 Kevin Haah

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of the heart. "Jesus, help me!" I prayed silently. "I can lift my hand. I

can do that much. You supply the feeling." And so woodenly,

mechanically, I thrust out my hand into the one stretched out to me.

And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my

shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then

this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to

my eyes.

o "I forgive you, brother!" I cried. "With all my heart!" For a long

moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and the

former prisoner. I had never known God’s love so intensely, as I did

then. But even then, I realized it was not my love. I had tried, and did

not have the power. It was the power of the Holy Spirit.