Drop The Stone | “Help! I’m A Hypocrite” Sermon

Series: “Drop The Stone”  Sermon: “Help! I’m A Hypocrite”

“A study of people ages 16–29 in the United States found that nearly 90 percent of respondents articulated the opinion that Christians are Judgemental.”  Barna Research 

When you Judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.   Wayne Dyer

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.  Mother Terresa

Matthew 7:1 (NLT) “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged.  For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.”

In trying to trap Jesus they ended up doing me a great favour. Their abuse was turned to freedom. 

Vs. 10-11“‘Dear woman, where are your accusers?’ Looking around, she replied, ‘I see no one, Lord (FAITH).’”

John 8:12 “Then Jesus said, ‘I am light to the world, and those who embrace me will experience life-giving light, and they will never walk in darkness.’”

John 8:1-11  (TPT) “Jesus walked up the Mount of Olives near the city where he spent the night. Then at dawn Jesus appeared in the temple courts again, and soon all the people gathered around to listen to his words, so he sat down and taught them.

Then in the middle of his teaching, the religious scholars and the Pharisees broke through the crowd and brought a woman who had been caught in the act of committing adultery and made her stand in the middle of everyone.

Then they said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, we caught this woman in the very act of adultery. Doesn’t Moses’ law command us to stone to death a woman like this? Tell us, what do you say we should do with her?’ They were only testing Jesus because they hoped to trap him with his own words and accuse him of breaking the laws of Moses.

When they should have been in church they were out creeping on the bedrooms of desperate housewives. Where is the dude? 

Was he a fast runner or did he change his clothes and join the team?

But Jesus didn’t answer them. Instead he simply bent down and wrote in the dust with his finger. Angry, they kept insisting that he answer their question, so Jesus stood up and looked at them and said, ‘Let’s have the man who has never had a sinful desire throw the first stone at her.’

“Wrote” (katagraphein):— a compound word, to write against, as in framing an indictment. 

Just used once in the NT.

Jeremiah 17:13 “O Lord, the hope of Israel, All who forsake You shall be ashamed. ‘Those who depart from Me Shall be written in the earth, Because they have forsaken the Lord, The fountain of living waters.

John 7:37 “Jesus stood and shouted out to the crowds—‘All you thirsty ones, come to me! Come to me and drink! Believe in me so that rivers of living water will burst out from within you, flowing from your innermost being, just like the Scripture says!’”

Jesus had become a real problem to the religious system of the day.

He was completely undermining their weaponising of the Law.

He manifest a forgiving and loving Father, a friend of sinners.

And then he bent over again and wrote some more words in the dust. Upon hearing that, her accusers slowly left the crowd one at a time, beginning with the oldest to the youngest, with a convicted conscience. Until finally, Jesus was left alone with the woman still standing there in front of him.

There is hope for the self-righteous. If they have a functioning conscience they can still express enough self-awareness to drop the stones.    You got stones?

1 Timothy 4:2 “These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead.”

So he stood back up and said to her, ‘Dear woman, where are your accusers? Is there no one here to condemn you?’  Looking around, she replied, ‘I see no one, Lord (BELIEF – FAITH).’

Jesus said, ‘Then I certainly don’t condemn you either. Go, and from now on, be free from a life of sin.’” 

1 John 2:1-2  “You are my dear children, and I write these things to you so that you won’t sin. But if anyone does sin, we continually have a forgiving Redeemer who is face-to-face with the Father: Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Galatians 6:1-2 (TPT) “My beloved friends, if you see a believer who is overtaken with a fault, the one who is in the Spirit should seek to restore him in the Spirit of gentleness. But keep watch over your own heart so that you won’t be tempted to exalt yourself over him. Love empowers us to fulfill the law of the Anointed One as we carry each other’s troubles.”

John 13:34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you,…”

What is Jesus agenda for sinners?

Not to harm but to help

Not to judge but to justify

Not to condemn but to convert

Is he glorified in the stoning of a sinner or in the salvation of a sinner?

The only one qualified to throw a stone doesn’t .. why would you? 

Accusation doesn’t stop people from sinning it keeps them from church!

         L  – Listen Intently

         O – Offer Support

         V  – Voice Honesty

         E  – Esteem Greater

Jesus in that face-to-face encounter throws mercy, grace and the transformational power of unconditional love.    “Go, and from now on, be free from a life of sin.”

John 1:17-18  “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”  Jesus Is God!!!

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