This is both a Training and Archive Document resource.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is both a Training and Archive Document resource.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":9560,"menu_order":22,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"resource-type":[184],"class_list":["post-8628","resource","type-resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","resource-type-gospel-topics"],"acf":{"content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"module_section","row":[{"column_gap":"","column":[{"module":[{"acf_fc_layout":"rich_media_block","image":false,"header":{"":null,"title":"J.N. Darby","heading_level":"h2","header_styles":{"":null,"background_colour":"","background_image":false,"text_colour":"black"},"make_separator":false},"content":"
John 8:<\/span>\u00a01\u201311<\/strong>; But Jesus went to the mount of Olives.<\/p>\n And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came to him; and he sat down and taught them. And the scribes and the Pharisees bring [to him] a woman taken in adultery, and having set her in the midst, they say to him, Teacher, this woman has been taken in the very act, committing adultery. Now in the law Moses has commanded us to stone such; thou therefore, what sayest thou? But this they said proving him, that they might have [something] to accuse him [of]. But Jesus, having stooped down, wrote with his finger on the ground. But when they continued asking him, he lifted himself up and said to them, Let him that is without sin among you first cast the stone at her. And again stooping down he wrote on the ground. But they, having heard [that], went out one by one beginning from the elder ones until the last; and Jesus was left alone and the woman standing there. And Jesus, lifting himself up and seeing no one but the woman, said to her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Has no one condemned thee? And she said, No one, sir. And Jesus said to her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.<\/p>\n There is in all persons a certain knowledge of good and evil; such and such things they say are good, and such and such things are evil. But perhaps no two persons fix exactly the same standard either of good or evil. What people do is to fix such a standard of good as they can come up to themselves, and such a standard of evil as shall just exclude themselves, and include others. For instance, the drunkard thinks there is no great harm in drinking, but would consider it a great sin to steal. The covetous man, who is every day perhaps practising some cheating or deception \u2018in the way of trade\u2019, satisfies himself by thinking \u2018it is necessary and customary to do so in business, and at all events I do not get drunk or curse and swear as others do\u2019. The profligate person prides himself upon being generous and kind-hearted to others, or, as he says, \u2018he does nobody any harm but himself\u2019. The upright, moral man and the domestic, amiable man satisfies himself with doing what he calls his duty, and looks round and pities the open sinners that he sees; but he never considers how many an evil thought, how many a sinful desire, he may have cherished, unknown to others, in his bosom: and that God judges the heart, though man looks only at the outward conduct. Thus each congratulates himself upon his not having done\u00a0some<\/span>\u00a0evil, and compares himself with someone else who has committed the sin which he thinks he has managed to avoid.<\/p>\n Now all this proves that men do not judge themselves by one regular fixed standard of right and wrong, but just take that which suits themselves and condemns others. But\u00a0there is<\/span>\u00a0a standard, with which all will be compared, and according to which all will be judged\u2014a standard of righteousness, all who fall short of which will be eternally condemned; and that is no less than the\u00a0righteousness of God<\/span>. When a person begins to find that it is not by comparing himself with others that he is to judge, but by comparing himself with God, then his conscience begins to be awakened to think of sin\u00a0as before God<\/span>, then indeed he finds himself guilty and ruined; he will not then attempt to justify himself by trying to find out someone that is worse than himself, but he will be anxious to know whether it is possible that God, before whom he knows himself condemned, can pardon or forgive him.<\/p>\n Now the Scribes and Pharisees, mentioned in this eighth chapter of John, were very moral and religious people, and were greatly shocked when they found out a wretched woman taken in open sin, and very indignant against her. Justice and the law of Moses, thought they, demand that she should be made an example of\u2014it is not fit that such a sinner should live. It comforts and quiets the depraved heart of man if he can only find a person worse than himself; he thinks the greater sin of another excuses himself; and whilst accusing and vehemently blaming another he forgets his own evil. He thus rejoices in iniquity.<\/p>\n But this is not all; for not only do men thus glory and exult in the fall and ruin of another, but they cannot bear to see, or think of, God exhibiting\u00a0grace. Grace<\/span>\u2014which means the full and free forgiveness of every sin, of every evil, without God demanding or expecting anything from the one so forgiven\u2014is a principle so opposed to all man\u2019s thoughts and ways, so far above man, that he dislikes it; his own heart often secretly calls it injustice. He does not himself deal in this way, and does not like to think of God doing so. It is very humbling to be obliged to own that we are dependent upon grace entirely for salvation; and that nothing we have done and nothing we can in future do, has made us, or will make us, fit subjects even for grace; but that our misery and sin and ruin are the only claim we have upon grace. The Scribes and Pharisees could not understand this; and not liking to own that they were themselves sinners, they wished to perplex Jesus and if He acquitted the woman, then say He was unjust; or if he condemned her, then say He was not merciful. \u201cSuch should be stoned\u201d, say they; \u201cbut what sayest thou?\u201d<\/p>\n True, the sentence was just, the proof of the woman\u2019s guilt was undoubted, and the law was clear; but who was to execute the law? Man may easily condemn, but who has a right to execute? \u201cHe that is without sin\u2026 let him first cast a stone at her.\u201d Who could say \u201cwithout sin\u201d? And if not one of them could say, \u2018I am without sin\u2019, there was not one of them but was under the same sentence as the woman, that is,\u00a0death<\/span>, for \u201cthe wages of sin is death\u201d.<\/p>\n Here, then, was a strange situation\u2014the accused and her accusers alike involved in the same ruin\u2014criminals all. Not now\u00a0such<\/span>\u00a0should be stoned, but\u00a0all<\/span>\u00a0should be stoned. From the eldest to the last, all convicted sinners.<\/p>\n Have you thought of that\u2014that you and all the world are guilty before God? It is not what your amount of sin, in man\u2019s account, is; but can you say you are \u201cwithout sin\u201d before God? If not, death, then, is your sentence. \u201cThe soul that sinneth it shall die\u201d. And in this sad condition what have you done? Perhaps the same as the Scribes and Pharisees did, when they were convicted by their own conscience\u2014left the presence of the only One who can pronounce the forgiveness. Adam in the garden had done the same before; he went and hid himself from God when he knew himself guilty; he turned away from his only Friend just when he most needed His help. And so it is still. Man is afraid of the only One who is ready to pardon. You may be able to persuade yourself that you are not so bad; you may find others manifestly worse; but\u00a0are you a sinner at all<\/span>? What is God\u2019s thought concerning you? Does not even your own conscience say, \u2018I am not\u00a0quite<\/span>\u00a0without sin\u2019. Well, then,\u00a0death<\/span>\u00a0is the sentence. God cannot lie. It is\u00a0His<\/span>\u00a0sentence. And if we only heard that God was\u00a0just<\/span>\u00a0there could be no hope. But He is \u201ca just God and a Saviour\u201d. He has condemned, and He has also the power to execute; the only question that remains is, Can He pardon?<\/p>\n \u201cAnd Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst\u201d. She was standing before One who could say, \u201cWithout sin\u201d, and who therefore could cast the stone. She was alone with One whom she owned as Lord; and what would be\u00a0His<\/span>\u00a0sentence? The law had already condemned her; would He execute it? What a moment of intense anxiety must it have been for her! How all surrounding objects must have been as nothing in her sight! She was alone with One who had the power of life and death. Everything rested on His word. What would He say? Man had not dared to cast the stone; now what would God do? \u201cNeither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more\u201d.<\/p>\n Such is still the gracious message to the ruined sinner, pronounced by the very Judge Himself. But it is only to the ruined sinner, standing consciously convicted before the Judge, that it is spoken. The righteous Pharisees heard it not. They were indeed convicted; but they liked not to confess their sin, and they sought to get rid of their convictions, to bury them in some good works of their own; and they would not put themselves in the same condemnation with the wretched woman, who got this blessed word of peace. And so it is still. If you desire to have God\u2019s full and free pardon, it must be your place to stand first as the guilty sinner. To be\u00a0alone<\/span>\u00a0with Jesus, consciously self-condemned. To have no one else to trust, no one else to compare yourself with. Not to make resolutions of amendment, not to try to get better first, before you come to Him; but to be brought to Him by your very sins, to stand in the very place of condemnation, and before the very Person who has the power to condemn. To make your very guilt the reason of being\u00a0alone<\/span>\u00a0with Him.<\/p>\n And the Lord gave her no conditional pardon. He did not say, \u2018Neither\u00a0will<\/span>\u00a0I condemn you, if you will not sin any more\u2019. No, He gives her full and complete forgiveness\u00a0first<\/span>, and that He knew would enable her to avoid the sin in future. If you desire to have power over your sins, you must\u00a0first<\/span>\u00a0know them all pardoned by God through Christ. But if you try to master your evil before you know the forgiveness of God, you will obtain neither the one nor the other. Through faith in Jesus you must be justified freely from all things, before you will ever be cleared as before God. Now, some who really believe on Jesus do not clearly see this, and they are seeking to have peace by\u00a0holiness<\/span>\u00a0of life, or the fruits of the Spirit, instead of first acknowledging themselves as ruined sinners fully and freely pardoned, and then letting their life and conduct be guided by the knowledge of that pardon, and the love of God which the knowledge of His mercy must necessarily create. Begin with, \u201cNeither do I condemn thee\u201d. Let your peace come from faith in the blood of His cross, by which He\u00a0has made<\/span>\u00a0peace. God\u2019s knowledge and estimate of your sin is much deeper than your own, but He has provided the blood of His Son. He says\u00a0that<\/span>\u00a0blood cleanses from\u00a0all<\/span>\u00a0sin. The more I see and know my own sin, the more I shall value that precious blood by which it is put away; and the more anxious shall I be not to grieve the heart of Him who, in His own love, has provided such a wonderful sacrifice on account of my sins. Hence, the deeper I know my own guilt, the more secure will be my peace; for the greater will be my value of the blood, through which peace has been made.<\/p>\n May you know the peace and joy of having all your sins forgiven through faith in the blood of Jesus, and the consequent victory over the power of those very sins by which you have been led captive.<\/p>\n