Drop The Stone | “Set Free From Sin” Sermon

Series: “Drop The Stone”  Sermon: “Set Free From Sin”

“A substantial majority of Millennials (1981- 96) who don’t go to church say they see Christians as judgmental (87%), hypocritical (85%), anti-homosexual (91%) and insensitive to others (70%).”

“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.”

That person is ugly!                     I’m ugly.

That person is so stupid?            I’m stupid.

That person is so wrong!             I’m wrong.

That person is so annoying!        I’m annoying.

(Psychology Today)

People judge others to avoid reckoning with potential feelings of inferiority and shame.

Since judging others can never give a person what they really need, they feel like they have to keep doing it.

One can choose not to perpetuate the cycle of judgment.

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.

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.’

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.

Look what Jesus wrote in the sand!

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!’”

They refused to believe Jesus was The Lord, the hope of Isreal.

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.’

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

Numbers 32:23 “But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out.”

2 Kings 5:26 “But Elisha said to him, ‘Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money or to accept clothes…”

Proverbs 15:3 NLT “The Lord is watching everywhere, keeping his eye on both the evil and the good.”

In trying to trap Jesus they ended up doing me a great favour.

There abuse was turned to freedom. 

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

Psalm 32:1-5 “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!

When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long.

Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. 

Finally, I confessed (yada) all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.’ And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.” 

2 Corinthians 5:19 (NLT) “For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.”

Romans 3:21-25  (NLT) “But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago.  We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ.

And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.

For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.”

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