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00:00 John chapter 8, starting at verse number 1, and it says, "But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
00:08 Now early in the morning, he came again into the temple." Somebody say, "The temple."
00:12 Now say it with your chest. Say, "The temple."
00:15 - The temple.
00:16 - Where was he at?
00:16 - The temple.
00:17 - Yeah. "And all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them." This was the custom
00:24 of the day, which I want to try one day. Back in the day, the teacher would sit and everybody else
00:29 was staying. I'm going to try that one Sunday. Somebody like, "No, my feet hurt now.
00:34 Can you hurry up?" And then, "The scribes and the Pharisees brought to him a woman
00:40 caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to him, 'Teacher,
00:45 this woman was caught in adultery in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us that
00:51 such should be stoned, but what do you say?' This they said, testing him that they might
00:56 have something of which to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the
01:02 ground with his finger as though he did not hear. So when they continued asking him,
01:09 he raised himself up and said to them, 'He who is without sin among you,
01:15 let him throw a stone at her first.' And again, he stooped down and wrote
01:19 on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience,
01:25 went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left
01:30 alone and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised himself up and saw no
01:34 one but the woman, he said to her, 'Woman, where are those accusers of yours?
01:39 Has no one condemned you?' She said, 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said to her,
01:46 'Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.' Then Jesus spoke to them again,
01:55 saying, 'I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk
01:59 in darkness, but have the light of life.'" Can you say amen?
02:04 - Amen.
02:05 - Oh, that's so good. So good. And just to add, just a little something,
02:10 just for kicks and giggles, John 1, verse 14, maybe one of my favorite
02:16 verses of Scripture. It says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
02:21 and we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father,
02:26 full of grace and truth." Can you say amen?
02:31 - Amen.
02:32 - I want to preach today at Toyota Music Factory Lawrence for about three hours,
02:38 using this as a title, "Keep the Tension." Keep the tension. I need you to help me
02:47 preach. Look at your neighbor, whichever one you like the best.
02:50 And just say, "Neighbor, oh, neighbor, it's important that you keep the tension."
02:58 Just in case that neighbor was stuck up, find another neighbor,
03:00 find another neighbor. Come on, say, "Other neighbor, I'm telling you,
03:05 it's so important that you keep the tension." If you believe God's going to speak
03:12 to you, give Him some praise in here. You may be seated in the presence
03:18 of the Lord. Keep the tension. The title that I've tagged this text with today
03:31 doesn't necessarily emanate from the text. It actually comes from something that a
03:40 personal trainer said to me some years ago, a personal trainer that I used to have,
03:48 emphasis on used to have. I don't even do personal one-on-one training anymore,
03:52 I do group exercise now. That's my jam. It used to be Orange Theory,
03:56 now it's Berries. I like group workouts because if I'm going to die,
04:00 I want to die in community. Somebody die with me and I need the motivation
04:04 sometimes. Say, "Well, you're still running and you're 85, let me go ahead and keep
04:09 running myself." But I used to have this personal trainer and this is how it
04:13 happened. I'll never forget it. We started that first session.
04:15 You know how the first session is. I was so excited. He's like,
04:17 "What's your goals?" I said, "I want to look like The Rock.
04:20 It's easy. That's the goal." And we started the workout and I believe
04:24 it was chest and shoulders that day. And this man offended me. He offended me
04:30 because he brought over this little, just little skimpy dumbbells, lightweight.
04:36 And he said, "Take that." I said, "Bro, I said I want to look like
04:39 The Rock. What are you handing me? I need bigger weights."
04:42 He said, "No, no, no. Take this." I took these little skimpy weights.
04:46 He said, "I want you to do some raises." And so I did the raises.
04:48 I was like, "This is dumb. What are we doing? This weight is too light."
04:52 Then he said, "No, we're going to do something else." And he pulled out a piece
04:56 of exercise equipment that I don't know if you've seen it before,
04:59 but it's very powerful. It's not big, but it's very powerful.
05:03 In fact, I have it on me right now. That's how small it is.
05:06 It's...have you seen one of these before? The people that didn't make a reaction,
05:15 they never worked out before. "What is that? A scrunchie?"
05:18 "No, no, no." He pulled out one of these, and I had the lightweight in my hand.
05:24 And I'm still laughing. I'm still laughing because I'm like, "Bro,
05:26 what are you talking about? Come on, man. I could do this all day.
05:30 This is nothing." He said, "No, no, no, no, no.
05:33 I want you to do it, but keep the tension." And so now I got a lightweight.
05:42 I got the scrunchie on my wrist. And when he told me to keep tension,
05:50 I was doing it. I'm four reps in. I felt like I was about to have a heart attack.
05:55 I had pain in muscles I didn't know I had. And then I started bringing these in.
05:59 "No, no, no, no. Keep the tension." And I kept doing it, kept doing it.
06:06 The next day, I was dying. I was dying. I got back to the workout.
06:09 I said, "Hey, bro, no bands today." He's like, "We ain't got bands."
06:11 I said, "Good," because I didn't like that yesterday.
06:13 He said, "We're going to do regular curls today." I said, "Cool.
06:17 I already know how to do that. About time." And I've got big old dumbbells.
06:20 I was ready for the curls. And I started doing how I do the curls.
06:23 Like that, he said, "Again, that's too heavy." He said, "You need lighter weight."
06:28 I said, "Bro, I'm trying to look like The Rock." He said, "Lighter weight."
06:32 Got the lighter weight. Then I started doing the curls.
06:35 I said, "Bro, come on, man. This is too easy." He said, "No, no, no."
06:40 He said, "This time I want you to do one second up and then four seconds down."
06:49 So I started going, "One, two," he said, "Slower, three, four."
06:59 Before you know it, my biceps are now sore. And I said, "Bro, I don't think this little
07:03 one-on-one training relationship is working out. I'm going to do something different."
07:08 I said, "Because I'm trying to get big. I'm trying to get like The Rock."
07:12 He said, "I don't think you understand how working out works."
07:15 He said, "You don't just grow muscles by the amount of weight that you have."
07:22 He said, "You also grow your muscles by the amount of time your muscles are
07:27 under tension." And it was intriguing to me that growth and tension were connected.
07:36 That if I actually want to grow and get bigger, that it's important that the
07:40 muscles have some time under tension. Isn't it crazy that growth and tension
07:48 would be intricately connected? Isn't it crazy that in order to build your
07:53 muscles up, you actually got to break the muscles down?
07:56 That's why you sore the next day and want to quit. You had to rip those muscles apart.
08:00 And as they heal, they get bigger, but growth is connected to tension.
08:05 So, I came to tell somebody today, you've got to keep the tension.
08:10 Tension is necessary for you to grow and to become who God has called you to be.
08:15 As a matter of fact, as I'm encroaching upon 40 years old, I feel my wisdom about
08:19 to kick in. I am learning as I get to 40 that there are some things in life that
08:25 are problems that have to be solved, and there are other things that are actually
08:29 tensions that have to be managed. Ooh, that was so good.
08:34 I'm going to watch this again tomorrow. There are some things in your life,
08:38 hear me, that are problems that need to be solved, but there are other things in your
08:42 life that are actually tensions that need to be managed. And those tensions are not
08:48 going away. You have got to grow up, go deeper, and learn how to manage the
08:53 tension. Is there anybody in here that's old enough and mature enough to realize
08:57 there are some things in your life that are just a tension that has to be managed?
09:02 All the parents should be giving God praise right about now.
09:05 If you have ever had a child in the middle of the night crying and keeping you awake,
09:10 you realize, "Ooh, this is not a problem to be solved," even though the sleepless
09:14 night is making me Google adoption agencies. This is a tension that has to be
09:21 managed. Even our church, this organization, there are so many things I
09:24 could go all day talking to you about tensions that have to be managed.
09:28 I'll give you one. Here's a tension. We like to do things with excellence.
09:32 I believe if you're going to do it in Jesus' name, you ought to do it
09:34 with excellence. You ought to do it big. I believe the body of Christ ought to have
09:38 the most creative things in the world. How dare we leave it to Beyonce to be
09:43 creative? We serve the creative creator. I want to do things as big as we can,
09:49 and as awesome as we can, and as excellent as we can. That is a tension that's put
09:54 against financial responsibility. Amen. Because we do have a budget, amen,
10:00 and some of you all don't have, amen. So, the tension is doing things with
10:06 excellence in Jesus' name, but also having fiscal responsibility.
10:11 It is a tension that has to be...man, I don't know who this is for,
10:15 but I'm already preaching to you because you are praying away a tension in your
10:20 life that God is actually using to grow you, that God is actually using to mature
10:25 you. And if he takes away the tension, you're going to lose the strength that
10:29 you need. I know, I know you want to be in a job where everybody has your
10:33 personality, and they walk in playing worship music, and you don't have to
10:36 fight anything, and you all get along. But that's not growing you.
10:40 That's not taking you deeper. You know what's growing you?
10:43 It's having to work in that environment where your co-workers are heathens,
10:47 and having to go in there and have a whole prayer meeting before you walk in and say,
10:51 "Holy Spirit, help me to keep my mouth shut," because they think just because I'm
10:54 saved, I'm soft, and I do know some other words that ain't in the Bible,
10:58 "God, help me as I walk in here." There's something every day of you walking
11:03 into that job in the tension that is growing you and keeping you stronger.
11:09 Look at your neighbor and say, "Keep your tension."
11:11 Now, elbow them real good and say, "Keep your tension."
11:15 Cheers me out because John, as he writes his gospel, he has the nerve,
11:22 he has the unmitigated gall and the audacity to define our God in terms
11:30 of attention. I love the gospel of John. John is different than Matthew, Mark,
11:34 and Luke. He is not a synoptic gospel. He is an eyewitness account.
11:38 I love the gospel of John. You know John. He's the disciple.
11:41 I've told you, he always had his head on the chest of Jesus.
11:43 He knew his heartbeat. Even in his gospel, he doesn't even refer
11:46 to himself as John. He's so gangster, he refers to himself as
11:49 the one who Jesus loves. He's just letting people know for all
11:53 of eternity, I was his favorite. I don't care what Peter said.
11:56 I don't care what anybody else said. I am Jesus' favorite.
11:59 And I love John because he's not so much concerned with the activity of Jesus.
12:03 He's more so concerned with the identity of Jesus.
12:07 He wants you to know who Jesus really is, that he was not just a good man,
12:12 but he was a God man. He was God in the flesh.
12:16 This is what John is trying to do. He's trying to let us know that in the
12:19 beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
12:23 All things were made by him. He does not start off with Jesus'
12:26 earthly lineage. It's like he's retweeting the book of Genesis,
12:29 letting you know who Jesus is. It is only in John's gospel that Jesus
12:34 gives you seven statements of disclosure that let you know who he is.
12:38 He says, "I am the bread of life. I sustain you." He says, "I am the light
12:44 of the world. I can light up whatever dark situation that you are in."
12:48 He says, "I am," whoo, "the door of the sheep." He says, "I am the resurrection
12:54 and the light. Death does not have the final say." He says, "I am the good
12:58 shepherd, and my sheep know my voice, and a stranger they will not follow."
13:02 He says, "I am the way, the truth, and the light." He says, "I am the true vibe."
13:06 Is this too much for a Sunday morning? He gives all these statements letting you
13:12 know who he is, but those words come straight from Jesus. But when John declares
13:17 who Jesus is, he refers to him in a term that has some tension.
13:23 Look at what he says. He says in verse 14, "That the word became flesh and dwelt
13:30 among us." If I had time, I would spend a whole lot of time on that right there
13:35 because I love that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. That Jesus knew that
13:41 he could not redeem us from a distance, that he had to come down to where we are.
13:46 To me, the incarnation of Jesus is the epitome of empathy because Jesus knew,
13:52 "I've got to be able to feel what they feel and go through what they go through.
13:56 I've got to come down to where they are." And far be it from the church to think
14:01 that we can do anything opposite of what Jesus did. You think you can redeem and
14:05 reach out to people from a distance? No, no, no, no, no. Our Savior knew that he
14:10 had to put on human skin and feel what you feel. If you face rejection,
14:14 he faced rejection. If you've ever been lonely, he was lonely.
14:18 If you ever had people betray you, how many of you know he had everybody
14:21 betray him? There's not a single thing you've been through that our Savior has
14:25 not been through himself. The word became flesh and dwelt among us.
14:31 He said, "We beheld the wonder of his glory, the only begotten of the Son,
14:34 full of grace and truth."
14:40 - Excuse me, Dad.
14:42 - Maybe you should have left who Jesus was to what Jesus said and just stuck
14:46 with the "I am" statement. What do you mean talking about Jesus is
14:50 full of grace and truth? Grace and truth, y'all, that is a tension.
15:04 He defines who Jesus is with two words, grace and truth. Think of all the adjectives
15:13 that we could ascribe to Jesus. How many of you know we could go all day talking
15:16 about who our God is? We could say he is a healer. We could say he is a protector.
15:20 We could say he is a provider. We could say he is a waymaker.
15:23 We could say he is a miracle worker. We could say he is the truth.
15:25 We could say he is the light. We could go on and on and on,
15:28 and there would be a whole lot of commas. John says, "Forget the commas.
15:32 I'm giving you a conjunction." You want to know who Jesus is?
15:36 He is full of grace and truth. It is a tension that he describes the
15:44 character of Jesus in. It's a tension, grace and truth, a tension of grace.
15:56 And John, one of these things is not like the other. What you mean he's full of grace
16:01 and truth? Them two things don't go together? Come on, can you consider just
16:06 for a moment the grace of God, if you can, to think about the grace of God,
16:12 to think that no matter what you've done, no matter where you've done it,
16:16 no matter who you've done it with, that God's grace can still reach you.
16:19 Oh, see, I got some bougie people in the room right here because you act like you
16:23 floated in here and you had communion for breakfast. But there's some people in this
16:26 room that know I needed so much of God's grace. If you knew what I did last week,
16:32 if you knew what I did last summer, if you knew my real testimony,
16:35 not the cute one I tell you in church, I am in need of the grace of God.
16:41 No wonder the songwriter wrote "Amazing Grace," how sweet the sound,
16:46 that saved a wretch like me, my version, saved somebody as wretched as me.
16:51 Don't act like you ain't never needed the grace of God. Think of His unmerited favor,
16:58 His undeserved kindness. That is the grace of God. Grace is the basis
17:03 of our salvation. You can't even come to Jesus unless you
17:06 understand grace. Come here, Ephesians. It is by grace through faith that you have
17:11 been saved, not of your works that any man should boast. But come on,
17:14 how many are thankful that it was His work, it was His grace that was just a gift?
17:19 He gave it to you. You didn't worship enough, you didn't praise enough,
17:23 you didn't read Leviticus enough, you weren't saved enough,
17:26 you just needed the unfathomable grace of God. Oh, I'm thankful.
17:33 For His grace. Over 185 times in your Bible, you see the word grace.
17:38 The first time you see the word grace is actually in the book of Genesis,
17:42 and it is with Noah. And they start talking about grace,
17:45 and it says, "And Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord."
17:51 That's the first time grace makes a cameo appearance. And what a place for grace
17:54 to show up. The Bible story where we tell these little kids, "Jesus, God,
17:59 took out everybody." Sounds crazy, doesn't it? Do you understand that Noah found
18:06 grace even in the midst of a culture that was so wicked, and God called out Noah
18:12 and used him to build an ark? The ark was God's grace. The fact that there was a
18:16 place that He said, "If you would just respond, I have a place of protection
18:21 for you." Do you know it was 75 to 100 years between the time God told him to build
18:25 the ark and the flood actually came? That means your God was given almost 100
18:29 years of grace just trying to tell people, "Come on, come on, repent.
18:33 Turn back to me. I don't know who this is for. You think you've gone too far?
18:36 I'm telling you, you cannot outstand God's grace. He is quick to show grace."
18:43 So, on one hand, you got God's grace, and right when you think that you can relax
18:47 in His grace, and you're taking a bath in His grace, and you're chilling in His grace,
18:53 and you're like, "Let me turn up some more." He got grace. Then you got truth,
19:00 His standard, His holiness. His holiness is so high. It would be like us having a
19:12 contest today and saying, "Who can touch the top of the Toyota Music Factory?
19:17 Let's have a contest. How many know I might get higher than you?
19:20 You might get higher than me? LeBron will get higher than all of us."
19:25 But look at the gap. Look at how far off we would be. This is God's truth,
19:31 His standard that cannot be changed, the truth of God. That's why whenever He was
19:38 on earth, He agitated people because He was walking truth. He was truth personified.
19:44 And every time He ran to religious people, He revealed who they really were,
19:47 and they couldn't stand it. Because, you know, people don't like truth.
19:51 People can't handle the truth. That's why we tell ourselves lies,
19:54 and we deceive ourselves. We don't like truth. Truth is the pill that we like to
19:59 give everybody else, but we don't like to swallow. Oh, we can't handle truth.
20:06 And yet, your God says, "I am the perfect amalgamation of grace and truth.
20:14 I am not 50% grace, 50% truth. I am 100% grace and 100% truth."
20:23 Ladies and gentlemen, I'm telling you that the gospel flies on grace and truth.
20:31 And if we are to reveal who Christ is in the earth, we must live in the tension
20:37 of grace and truth. And that is hard to do. Because some of you in this room,
20:43 some of you all are more grace people. Where are my grace people at?
20:47 Look at them. They're like, "Yeah, it's okay." See how slow it took you to raise
20:52 your hand? Because everything's cool. Grace people, they're so kind.
20:56 They're like, "Let's just love everybody. It's all right. It's okay."
21:00 Grace people are the people that are 60 social, they keep talking.
21:04 Because they just love grace. They're just, "Can't we all just get along?"
21:08 Grace people, you all are amazing. The problem with you grace people,
21:12 sometimes in your effort to give grace, you feel like you have to lower the
21:15 standard of truth. Then you got the truth people.
21:22 Y'all can't stand 60 social. I'm like, "Hurry up. I didn't come here for all that.
21:26 I came here to get the word. Why worship so long? Okay, enough.
21:31 Let's get the word." Oh, y'all love the truth, don't you?
21:34 Oh, that will tell you the truth. Truth people will shoot you and not wait
21:37 to see you fall. Truth people will come on your page,
21:40 ain't never said nothing kind, but they got something salty to say.
21:44 All of us... Oh, truth people will, ooh, point that finger so quick.
21:49 Say, "Oh, you're just mad because I'm telling you like it is.
21:51 See, that's why you don't like me." But they forget, and they point that finger.
21:58 Oh, you got something pointing right back at you. Finish the message.
22:04 They also forget that you're loud about your truth now, but there will come a day
22:08 when you will need the grace that you refuse to give to other people.
22:13 So, it is a tension of grace and... How do you keep the tension?
22:23 Churches struggle with this. This is why it's important that preachers preach the
22:28 whole counsel of God because there are some churches... Ooh, y'all going to hell
22:32 every Sunday. And people like love to hear it. "Yeah, tell me how messed up I am."
22:41 Every Sunday, they got a preacher saying, "Get it together.
22:44 You can do better. What's wrong with you?
22:47 Showing up at 10.15, you obviously don't level enough to come at 10 o'clock."
22:52 Personality, truth, true truth. And then you got some churches that are
22:55 strong on the grace. "It's all right, bro. I'm glad you came in at 10.30, man.
22:59 I'm just glad you're here. Did you get coffee? It's all right, man.
23:05 You just love. Do what you want." Even churches are trying to balance the
23:13 tension of grace and truth, and yet your God says, "I am the perfect tension,
23:22 tension between grace and truth." And we don't see it better, hear me,
23:27 than in John chapter 8. In John chapter 8, something crazy happens.
23:32 Y'all, Jesus was where? Was where? In the temple.
23:40 And as he's preaching early in the temple, the scribes and the Pharisees kick open
23:47 the back door, drag in a woman who has been caught in the act of adultery,
23:53 throw her in the middle of the church, and say, "Jesus, stop the sermon.
24:02 We just caught this woman in the act of adultery." The law of Moses says,
24:08 "She should be hit. She should be stoned." What do you say?
24:13 You want to talk about some tension. Can you imagine what the church service
24:18 felt like that day? Just imagine it now. Can you imagine me preaching and somebody
24:23 comes through those doors and bring in a woman who'd just been caught in adultery
24:26 and say, "Pastor Robert, we just caught her in the act.
24:31 What you got to say about it?" "Security, I really...
24:36 Thank God for the modern-day church." Can you imagine the tension that was
24:42 in the room? I don't know what Jesus was preaching, but I know that he lost the
24:45 room when she came in. I know that everybody was honed in in that moment,
24:51 but maybe she wasn't an interruption. Maybe she was an opportunity for him to
24:56 show them that I know how to live in the tension of grace and truth.
25:06 Every communicator will tell you that if you're going to keep a tension,
25:08 you better have some tension in the room. And they burst in the temple, say,
25:15 "Jesus, caught her in the act. What do you have to say?"
25:19 Can you imagine the shock? This is different than what I preached
25:22 about last week with the dude that came through the roof, because, come on,
25:24 when a paralytic comes through the roof, everybody's like, "Let's go, let's go,
25:27 let's go. Come on, Jesus, do healing." Come on, when Spline Bartimaeus
25:30 interrupts Jesus and says, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me."
25:33 Everybody's like, "Oh, he about to see, he about to..." We can handle those
25:36 interruptions. We don't know how to handle scandals. She's still got the sheet wrapped
25:44 around her. She is in a holy sanctuary. And I bet you could cut the silence and
25:52 the tension with the knife, as the scribes and Pharisees say,
25:57 "We finally got him." And what you got to say about this?
26:03 Can you imagine the gasps that were in the air? Can you imagine the people that,
26:08 "I can't believe what I'm seeing." Church people are so funny,
26:16 because although they were shocked, they shouldn't have been that shocked.
26:20 It's not like they hadn't seen adultery before. I'm willing to bet there were
26:25 those in the room.
26:27 That were doing the same thing. What made tension in the room is now somebody's
26:37 private issue has gone public. And there is nothing like a private issue going
26:43 public that makes us start scrolling and looking and go, "Ooh, how could that?"
26:50 Because it takes the light off of you. And we all watch because they become the
26:55 social experiment for all of us to see, "Well, how are they going to treat them?"
27:01 "Let me know how you all are going to treat." "Oh, you all want me to mess
27:04 with you all today." Can you imagine how many people were shocked in the room,
27:11 but I came to tell you of all the people that were shocked in the room,
27:14 there was one person that was not shocked. There was one person that did not gasp
27:19 for air. There was one person that didn't go, "OMG." It was Jesus.
27:23 I want to pause right here and tell somebody, Jesus is not shocked by your
27:27 sin. Jesus is not intimidated by sin. As a matter of fact, He came from heaven
27:32 to earth to die and defeat death and defeat sin. He is not shocked by your sin.
27:39 I know you're shocked about it. I know you're shocked about what you did,
27:42 but I want to pause and thank God that He is not intimidated,
27:46 nor is He shocked by anybody's sin. Oh, see, the Pharisees thought that because
27:52 this was a scandal, they were going to get a reaction out of Jesus.
27:55 Because they thought that He...oh, they were like doing like a TMZ,
27:58 "Oh, it's a scandal. We're going to get a reaction." Because they were reducing Jesus
28:02 to humanity. Because you know how we do, let's be honest. We see sin in categories.
28:08 Come on, y'all. You know we see sin in categories. We see big sins and little
28:13 sins. We see sin in categories. You're like, "Oh, they just did that?
28:17 Oh, it's not that big of a deal." But God does not see sin in categories.
28:21 We see it in...you know how ridiculous it is to see sin in categories?
28:24 It's like this one time, my dad and I, I'll never forget it. We were trying to be
28:27 healthy and we were trying to do right. And he was traveling with me one day,
28:31 and we said, "Hey, we're eating clean this week, eating clean this week."
28:35 And we had an amazing meal, good little kale salad, and everything was good.
28:39 Then we're about to get the bill, and I get up and I go to the bathroom.
28:42 And I come back, and my dad has a whole piece of pecan pie. I said, "Dad,
28:49 what are you doing? Didn't we say we're going to eat clean this week?"
28:51 My Nigerian father did his only...he can only do. He said, "Don't worry about me,
28:54 okay? Worry about yourself." I said, "I thought we were doing good."
29:00 He's sitting up here eating pecan pie. The waitress comes, she says,
29:03 "Sir, did you want some dessert?" I said, "No, I'm saved,
29:06 and I know how to keep a commitment." I said, "So I ain't doing no dessert."
29:11 She said, "Are you sure you just want to see the menu?" I said, "Let me just look
29:14 at it. Let me just look at it." I look at it, and y'all,
29:17 they had this cheesecake on the menu, this fresh cheesecake that they had.
29:23 And I said, "You know, I'm going to go ahead." I said, "Just do a little slice,
29:26 little slice, little slice." And so my pops has the pecan pie,
29:30 and I got my cheesecake, and I'm eating cheesecake, he's eating the pecan pie.
29:34 I'll never forget it. How dumb would it look for me to be judging my father about
29:42 his pecan pie and feeling good about myself because I got cheesecake?
29:47 Well, at least mine has a strawberry on it. I'm getting my fruit for the day.
29:53 How ridiculous does that look? That's how we look, judging other people's sin,
29:58 seeing it in a category. My body does not care whether it's pecan pie,
30:03 cheesecake, or key lime pie. My body is not counting the flavor,
30:06 it is counting the calories, and it's still affecting me the same.
30:11 And that is what God is saying. He said, "I don't see sin in categories.
30:16 I see sin, the sins of the flesh," which you're bringing this woman in for,
30:22 "and the sins of a filthy, self-righteous, religious spirit that hides itself
30:28 in religious activity." He said, "They're both detrimental,
30:34 and they're both affecting your body." And so they thought they could get Jesus
30:38 on the shock factor. We caught them in the act.
30:41 What do you have to say? The Bible says that Jesus, I'm sure he looked at them and saw
30:51 the hatred in their eyes because they loved their position more than they loved
30:57 God's presence. They didn't even care about her. She was just a pawn to trap him.
31:07 I'm sure he looked at the woman who had to be embarrassed.
31:13 Surely she wanted to meet Jesus, but she didn't want to meet him like this.
31:18 I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where you're like, "God,
31:22 I wanted to encounter you, but I didn't want to encounter you this way."
31:28 And the shame is covering her face. Jesus, the law of Moses says she should
31:35 be stoned. What do you have to say? Oh, they had him.
31:41 They were doing this to trap him. And here's how I'm telling you this was
31:45 a good trap. It was a great trap because the Pharisees were right.
31:52 The law of Moses was clear in Deuteronomy that the act of adultery,
31:57 if you caught somebody in the act, they were to be stoned.
32:00 They were right. Oh, because the Pharisees knew the word.
32:03 They knew the word. They knew the letter of the law,
32:05 but they had forgotten the spirit of the law. Isn't it crazy how you can be right
32:10 and still be wrong? They thought they were so right in their
32:13 act. "We know what the word says." Do you? Do you know what the word says?
32:18 Because it actually says in Deuteronomy that if you happen to catch somebody
32:21 in the act, which was actually hard to do, because if you don't catch somebody
32:25 in the act and... If you catch somebody in the act,
32:31 I'm trying to be careful because kids are in the service.
32:35 What that means instead of like, "You up here." That's what you got to do
32:43 with your free time? Checking on other people?
32:48 You don't got anything else with purpose to do? See, some of y'all need some
32:50 purpose and you wouldn't be so worried about what other people are doing.
32:53 If you have purpose, you ain't got time to be looking at windows.
33:01 How you can...Deuteronomy says if you catch somebody in the act,
33:05 first of all, you got to catch them in the act, then you got to bring the woman
33:08 and the man. So my question is where if we're really trying to uphold the law?
33:18 Where to do that? See their hypocrisy. And they say, "What do you have to say?"
33:26 But they thought they had him. They thought they had him.
33:29 They didn't know that he was the Word made flesh.
33:32 They didn't know that you can't stump a God who is omnipotent, all-powerful.
33:36 You can't stump a God who is the Word. You can't stump a God who is omniscient,
33:41 all-knowing, infinite in all awareness, understanding, and insight.
33:46 And they said, "We got him. We got him." They thought they had him backed up
33:50 against the corner. Because think about it, if he says, "Don't stone her,"
33:55 he is now trampling on the very law that he said he came to fulfill.
34:00 And you know them, they had his podcast download. "Oh, you said you didn't come
34:04 to abolish the law, you came to fulfill it." So on the other hand,
34:09 if he says, "Stone her, let the stoning begin, get a big rock, knock out."
34:17 Now the message of the Savior who is full of love and compassion,
34:23 now the message is not come to Jesus and find grace. Now the message is come to
34:28 Jesus and get stoned to death. And so now he is in this predicament.
34:34 And they're like, "We got him." "Jesus, what do you have to say?"
34:39 The Bible says, he just turns, stoops down, and starts doodling in the dirt.
34:57 Or where they're standing in interrogation mode. "Ah, the law of Moses says she
35:02 should be stoned." What do you say?
35:05 Did he hear us? Say it again, maybe he'll say something. "Jesus, we're serious now.
35:18 We got her." And we got you. "The law of Moses says she should be stoned."
35:26 What do you say? He acted like he didn't hear. I don't know who this is for,
35:36 but I want to parenthetically pause right here and say, stop giving a response and
35:40 a reaction to every single thing in your life. This is actually a trick of the
35:44 enemy. The enemy does real good in bringing chaos in your life because he
35:49 wants a reaction. Is there anybody in here that knows what it's like to have
35:53 the enemy throw something in your temple just to get a reaction out of you? You
35:58 don't have to say something all the time. You don't have to reply to every
36:02 negative comment. Some stuff you need to just be quiet. Some stuff you need to
36:06 shut your mouth. Some stuff you need to let God defend you. God knows how to
36:10 defend you, but if you keep stepping in the way, he can't defend you. Sometimes
36:15 you need to know the gift of shutting up. He didn't say anything at all. He just
36:22 wrote in the dirt and left them in the tension of thinking he didn't know what
36:30 to do. He's doodling in the dirt. Somebody come play real soft. Yeah, Will,
36:37 make this sound real spiritual. I can see everybody waiting to see what is he
36:45 gonna do. They caught Jesus. They caught this woman, and he's not saying anything.
36:54 He's kneeling down, and he's writing in the dirt. Do a Google search when you get
37:04 home, and you will see all kinds of scholarly essays of people trying to
37:09 figure out what he wrote. This has got to be on the top ten list of questions in the
37:16 Bible. What was Jesus writing in the ground? People for ages have made all
37:23 kinds of guesses postulating what the powerful Savior wrote. Some people say he
37:30 wrote Jeremiah 17 3. Some people say that I heard one of his old-school preachers say
37:39 he wrote "Amazing Grace." How sweet the sound. I'm thinking, "I think that song came
37:47 later." It's all kinds of theories. There's one theory that says he wrote the names
37:57 of all the men that gathered the rocks that day and their sin next to their
38:06 name. They were getting ready to throw it, then they looked down and saw their name
38:11 and what they did. They're like, "You know what? I ain't want to be here anyway. I have
38:15 stuff I have to do." I don't know what he wrote. I don't know. I don't know.
38:25 I got a little guess. I got a guess. I do know this is one of the only times that
38:33 we see the finger of God writing a scripture, writing anything actually.
38:40 You know, the other time we see the finger of God, it's actually in Exodus 31,
38:46 verse number 8. It says, "And when Moses had made an end of speaking with him on
38:51 the mountain," that is God, "he gave Moses two tablets of the testimony, tablets of
38:56 stone written with the finger of God." I don't know. Maybe he wrote the Ten
39:05 Commandments. Instead of stone, he's now writing in the dirt because hearts of
39:16 stone can never keep the law. The law is not sufficient. I can't get to truth
39:24 until I have an encounter with grace. I don't know what he wrote, and I won't
39:31 pretend to know. Matter of fact, I don't care. I don't want to be distracted by
39:38 what he was writing that I'll miss what he was doing because when these
39:45 religious Pharisees brought this woman in the presence of Jesus and threw her
39:51 down on the ground, when everybody else was standing up while she was on the
39:59 ground, the first reaction and response of your God and my Savior was to come
40:06 down on the ground where she was. I don't want to miss what he was doing by
40:13 focusing on what he was writing. I'm thankful for a God that when this woman
40:18 was caught in the act that she was guilty and religious self-righteous men
40:22 stood above her, it was only the King of the universe that came down to where she
40:27 was. He put his fingers in that dirt. I don't know what he wrote in that dirt. I
40:32 do know he's the same God that reached down in Genesis and started forming and
40:36 shaping some dirt. I do know that God has never been intimidated by dirty things.
40:42 That's the beauty of his grace, that he can take dirty broken things and still
40:47 get the glory out of it. Is there anybody in here that is thankful that when you
40:51 were caught in the act of your sin that your God was willing to come down to
40:58 where you were? That's the power of the gospel, is that when the law had us caught
41:05 in our sin, the Savior of the universe chose to come down where we were. I don't
41:15 have a profound message for you today. I do have the simplicity of the fact that
41:20 you serve a God that will come down to where you are. You know where the
41:26 Pharisees messed up? They thought they were bringing this woman to Jesus to
41:30 shame her. They didn't know they were bringing her to Jesus and he was about
41:35 to change her. That's the one thing I got to give the Pharisees promise for. They
41:39 didn't have the right motive in doing it but they brought her to the right person.
41:42 And I don't know who this is for today but you ought to come to Jesus with your
41:46 pain. You ought to come to Jesus with your issues. See the enemy wants to keep
41:51 you away but you ought to come right to the presence of God even in all your
41:55 dirt, even in all your issues. They brought her to the right person. He rode
42:03 in the ground and they demanded an answer because that's what the law does.
42:07 The law demands an answer when you're caught. Hear me, there was no doubt she
42:14 was guilty and the Bible says that Jesus raised himself up and looked at them and
42:24 in one sentence, "He who is without sin among you, throw a stone at her first."
42:31 Didn't even wait on their response, turned right back around and went right
42:35 back to doodling in the dirt. "He who is without sin among you, throw a stone at
42:42 her first." Oh, look at the genius of Jesus. He's not denying the law of Moses because
42:53 truth is truth. You can't deny truth. We live in a culture that wants to change
42:58 truth to give grace. You can't change truth. He said, "I'm not denying the law of
43:02 Moses." You're right. The law of Moses says she should be stoned. He said, "But by the
43:06 law of Moses, I'm just denying that any of y'all are worthy to do the stoning." He
43:11 said, "I'm not saying she's guilty. She is guilty. I'm just saying if there's
43:15 nothing on you, then you be the first one to throw the rock." Do you know what he's
43:19 saying? He's getting to the heart of where they were. He's saying, "I see you." He said, "I
43:24 know you don't have any desire to uphold the law, otherwise you would have brought
43:29 the man. You are in on this and you set her up. And in your self-righteous,
43:37 pompous, arrogant pride, you don't realize you're not different than the woman
43:43 that's on the ground." Do you know why people always pick up rocks? It's because
43:48 you see yourself different than the other people that are going through stuff.
43:53 But when you know that you need grace, you're never the first one to pick up a
44:00 rock. He is who thou sent among you. Throw a stone at her first. And the Bible
44:06 says one by one, they dropped their rock. Can you see this woman? She's thinking
44:16 surely he's gonna uphold the law. I'm about to die.
44:21 She was so covered in shame, she didn't even realize that Jesus took care of
44:28 what she was worried about. How do you know that? Because once every single one
44:34 of them dropped their rock, Jesus finally comes to her and says, "Woman, woman, hello,
44:41 where are your accusers?" Why would Jesus ask that question? He would ask that
44:48 question because her head had to be so covered in shame that she didn't even
44:53 notice that Jesus had dismissed the people that were trying to kill her. I
44:58 don't know who this is for, but you've had your head down so long that you don't
45:03 even realize that Jesus has dismissed and taken care of the thing that you've
45:07 been ashamed of. Do you realize you are already forgiven? If he has forgiven you,
45:11 why do you keep replaying all your past mistakes? This is a trick of the enemy to
45:16 keep you to still feel the weight of the guilt and the shame, but I came to tell
45:20 you there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in
45:24 Christ Jesus. Stop feeling the shame about the thing that your God has
45:28 already dismissed. This is your moment to lift up your head and do what that woman
45:33 had to do and look around and see that the only one that was actually sinless
45:38 enough to throw the rock chose not to throw it and dismissed every single one
45:42 of her accusers. I need somebody to give God some praise if you're thankful that
45:48 he has dismissed your accuser, that he has dismissed the one that always comes
45:54 with condemnation. I just gotta walk and hold my head up high and remember that I
45:59 am forgiven and remember that I am loved and remember that his blood washed my sins.
46:09 Stand to your feet, I'm done. He says, "Woman, where are your accusers?"
46:17 She looked around finally and said, "I have none, Lord. Are you gonna condemn me?"
46:26 "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way and sin no more."
46:35 This woman got an encounter with grace so that she could walk in the truth.
46:44 This is why in the tension, grace comes before the truth because I have to be
46:57 swept away by his grace and it is as I see the grace of God that my heart
47:08 desires to walk in the truth. See, church people get it backwards sometimes and
47:15 they think Christianity is about keeping the rules and the truth and the truth
47:20 and I got to do this and what can I not do and you're trying to come to the
47:23 truth first but often it is opposite. You have to have an encounter with his grace.
47:28 This is not something about what you do. This is about what has been done for you
47:33 and once you get a revelation of what he has done for you, the grace, you walk in
47:40 truth and you live in the tension. See, grace without truth is meaningless.
47:51 Truth without grace is mean. But grace and truth is medicine. You serve a God
48:04 who says, "I am the tension." When you come to me, you'll see that I'm full of grace and
48:14 truth. I love you enough to take you just the way you are but I also love you
48:21 enough to not let you stay where you are. I don't know who this is for today but
48:28 you need an encounter with the Savior who is full of the grace and the truth.
48:36 I'm going to ask heads to be bowed and eyes be closed. I'm talking to somebody
48:41 today who maybe you feel like this woman and the enemy has just flooded your mind
48:47 with shame and all the mistakes that you made. You think that Jesus is ready to
48:57 take a rock and throw it at you. But look at the character of our Savior. He who was
49:07 without sin among you throw the first stone. He was the only one that was
49:11 qualified to throw the stone and he chose not to. And hear me, that doesn't
49:17 mean that there was no consequence. Oh, somebody was going to pay. Somebody's
49:23 body was going to be beaten but it was not that woman and it was not the
49:26 Pharisees. It was his body. He said, "I'm going to pay the price."
49:34 And some of you are beating yourself up for a Savior whose body was broken for
49:41 you. So with heads bowed and eyes closed today, if you're in here today and say, "I
49:48 need to encounter this Savior. I need to give him my life." This is just the
49:56 simplicity of the gospel. He is full of grace and truth. He is the perfect
50:04 tension. That's you today. You say, "Pastor Robert, I need to give him my life. Today
50:10 I've been running." Maybe there's a season of your life you were walking with the
50:15 Lord but you've turned away maybe because of some Pharisees that gathered some
50:19 rocks. You said, "I have nothing to do with the church." And you have projected the
50:24 character of church people onto our God and he is not that way. He is full of
50:29 grace and truth. That's you today. Would you just lift up your hand high enough
50:33 and long enough to where I can see it saying, "Today's the day. I need to give
50:36 him my life. I need to come home." Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. I see hands
50:41 going up all over this place today. Thank you, God. I'm talking to some of you who
50:44 maybe you've been walking with the Lord but I just believe that there is
50:48 power in this place today to break the stronghold of shame. Shame has just kept
50:53 you down. If that's you, I want you to lift up your hand high enough and long
50:56 enough to where I can see it. God wants to break that off of you today, today,
51:00 today, today. Thank you, Jesus. You do not have to keep beating yourself up over
51:05 what you did five years ago. You've got to walk in the fullness of your new
51:11 identity. Thank you, God. Anybody else lift it up and put it right back down. Thank
51:15 you, Jesus. Thank you, God. Here's what I want to do. This is not to embarrass you.
51:19 I just think it's something powerful about leaving where you are and coming
51:23 to a new place. How many of you know this woman did not want to come to Jesus that day.
51:28 She was brought there in front of all those people but she left that place
51:31 after she had an encounter with grace and truth. She left with her head held
51:36 high and so I'm just gonna ask this when I count to three, if you lifted up your
51:39 hand or you should have, I'm gonna ask you to be so bold and so brave and just
51:43 come up here to the front. And you are saying the old me is staying in that
51:46 seat but the new me is ready to step into my new identity, not full of shame,
51:52 not condemned, but knowing that I'm an overcomer. Come on, some of y'all are
51:56 already moving. One, this is your moment. Two, don't worry about what anybody else
52:00 gonna think. Three, three, I want you to come. Come on, this is your day. This is
52:04 your moment. Have an encounter with this Savior who is full. He is full of grace
52:09 and truth. Come on, church. Don't stop clapping till people stop coming. This is
52:13 a big deal. This is a big moment. Come on, come on, come on. God, I thank you that
52:24 your grace is stronger than shame. God, I thank you that your truth is stronger
52:28 than the lie. God, I thank you that you're calling your sons and your
52:31 daughters home. God, thank you that no matter what we've done or where we've
52:35 been, God, your grace is still can reach us. Come on, come on, I don't care if you're
52:40 all the way in that top balcony. This is your moment. This is your day. This is not
52:45 an accident. You had to be at Toyota Music Factory today because your Father's
52:49 calling you home. Thank you, God.
52:55 Thank you, Lord. Anybody else, I want you to come. Yeah. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God.
53:07 Anybody else?
53:10 This message is not just to the woman caught. It is also to the church to not
53:20 be a church that has rocks in our hands, but to be a church that will get down in
53:26 the dirt with people. Jesus was the only one that was willing to go down to where
53:31 she was, and I apologize if you had somebody in a church throw a rock at you.
53:40 Even if they were touting truth without the grace, come encounter a Savior who has
53:52 always been the perfect tension of grace and truth. Anybody else? Thank you, God.
53:58 Thank you, Lord. I'm gonna wait a few more moments because I know how the enemy
54:02 works, and I'll try to get in your mind and say, "Don't come all the way down
54:05 there. What are people gonna think? Who cares what people will think? This is
54:09 your Savior." He says, "When you hear my voice, don't harden your heart. You know
54:13 when He's calling you." He's calling you. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Anybody else?
54:22 Yeah, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on. Come on. Thank you,
54:28 church. Come on. Matter of fact, I want to exercise. I want to exercise something
54:35 that we should do as the body of Christ. Would you do me a favor if you're in
54:39 your seat, and would you ask the person to your right and to your left, "Do you
54:41 need to go down?" And if they say yes, go with them. Go with them. Ask them, "Do you
54:45 need to go down?" Because I'll go with you. Ask them, ask them, and if they say yes,
54:49 walk down with them. Walk down with them. Come on, that's why we've been having
54:52 these All Together Sundays. You need somebody. You cannot do this thing by
54:56 yourself. You need the church. You need community. Is the church perfect? No, but
55:01 it's still His bride that He loves, that He died for. Come on, come on. Yeah, yeah. I
55:06 see you coming. Ask them, "Do you need to go down?" Because I'll go with you. I'll go
55:10 with you. Come on. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, God.
55:17 Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God. Anybody else? Anybody else? Thank you, Lord. Yeah,
55:37 yeah, yeah. Come on, come on. Come on. It's not too late. Come on.
55:44 Can we sing, "Fear is not my future. You are." I just wanted to sing this over you
56:02 just before we pray. He came to give you a hope and a future.
56:10 Father, break shame off of us.
56:16 Thank you, Jesus.
56:31 Thank you, God.
56:33 Thank you, God. I have a hope and a future.
56:42 is not my future you are you are is not my future you are you are
56:55 is not my future you are you are is not my future you are you are
57:08 is not my future you are you are
57:14 death is not the end
57:16 death is not the end
57:18 you are you are
57:21 you are you are
57:28 thank you Jesus
57:29 believe it's not my future you are you are
57:35 can we just lift up our hands
57:38 can you lift up your hands all over this place today
57:41 this is a sign of surrender
57:47 to a savior who is full of grace and truth
57:51 I'm gonna give you the words but you just say this from your heart today
57:54 especially those of you who responded
57:56 you say this say Jesus
57:59 I need you
58:01 I cannot do life
58:04 without you
58:06 Lord I know
58:08 that you are full
58:10 of grace
58:12 and truth
58:14 thank you Jesus
58:16 for your grace
58:18 that I didn't earn
58:20 that I don't deserve
58:22 thank you Jesus
58:24 for the truth
58:26 I refuse
58:28 to live in the lie
58:31 from this moment forward
58:34 I'm walking with you
58:36 forgive me of my sin
58:39 wash me clean
58:42 all that I am
58:45 is yours
58:47 in Jesus name
58:49 amen
58:51 amen amen amen amen