DO YOU THROW YOUR STONE?

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

At dawn He appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around Him, and He sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 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. 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.” Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

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.

John 8:1-9

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Perhaps you have heard these two sayings:

“Don’t throw stones in a glass house.”

or

“That’s like the pot calling the kettle black.”

Both these well known idioms have a common meaning. Basically, one person should not be criticizing another for having faults if they have faults of their own. Anyone who does do reeks of hypocrisy.

Well, these two expressions were not around during Jesus’ time but the problem of a person condemning others when they were no better is a problem we see has existed for the ages. And as we see in today’s passage, Jesus came up with His own phrase, one that we still use to this very day. Look again at these words here from the opening verses of John 8:

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

At dawn He appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around Him, and He sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 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. 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.” Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

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.  John 8:1-9

You’ll recall that things had gotten rather testy in Jerusalem during the final day of the Feast of the Tabernacles. After Jesus had addressed the Jews who gathered to hear Him speak, some believed He was the Messiah while others dismissed Him as a mere prophet. The Pharisees rejected Him altogether in a show of stubborn disbelief which led them to want Jesus arrested and killed. Seeing the situation as the danger it was, Jesus decided to leave for the Mount of Olives with the hope things would cool off but as we see, He didn’t remain there long.

For the scriptures tell us that Jesus went back to Jerusalem where He taught a group who had gathered in the temple courts to hear Him teach. That teaching was interrupted when the teachers of the law and Pharisees, drug a woman accused of adultery in front of Jesus and the crowd, saying the following to our Savior:

“Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”

It was a blatant singling out of one woman for her sin by a group of sinful Jewish religious leaders, the kind of hypocrisy that made Jesus bristle. What made this situation even more upsetting was that the teachers of the law and Pharisees were doing it all on purpose to try to bait Jesus into doing or saying something they could build a charge around.

Well, if they expected Jesus to get fired up, they had to be disappointed in what happened next. For we read where Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with His finger, something that had to frustrate the Jewish spiritual authorities who were expecting Him to give them something to accuse Him of. After all, there certainly wasn’t a law against writing in the sand with one’s finger!

The scriptures show us that the Pharisees and teachers of the law weren’t about to give up for they persisted with their questioning. They wanted to hear something from Jesus and so He gave them something to ponder saying:

“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

And with that, He returned to writing on the ground.

With one statement, Jesus completely defused and disempowered the entire situation, raining on the parade of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. For one by one, everyone left, the older ones first followed by the younger until the only people left were Jesus and the accused adulteress.

You see, no one could throw a stone because no one was sinless. All were as guilty of transgression as the woman was. They may not have committed adultery but it didn’t matter. Sin is sin is sin and God hates anything which could be identified as an iniquity.

This leads us to several questions as we close this message:

First: Do you throw “stones” at others as if you are sinless?

Second: How could you do this when you are no less a sinner than the person you are throwing at?

and finally:

What do you think Jesus thinks about you when you are throwing your “stones” around?

Perhaps you might want to think about that. You just might just trade in throwing your “stone” for asking Jesus to help you deal with your own sinfulness.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

STUBBORN DISBELIEF

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

On hearing His words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”

Others said, “He is the Messiah.”

Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?”

Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. Some wanted to seize Him, but no one laid a hand on Him.

Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring Him in?”

“No one ever spoke the way this Man does,” the guards replied.

“You mean He has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in Him? No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”

Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing Him to find out what He has been doing?”

They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”

Then they all went home.

John 7:40-53

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

No one is forced to believe in Jesus. No one.

He doesn’t use some form of spiritual mind control to incline a person’s thinking toward accepting Him.

No, a person is allowed to choose. They have a will that they are freely allowed to exercise. They can weigh all the options of things to believe in and then opt for one of them.

Unfortunately, in exercising free will and the right to choose, some set up a mental bulwark that rejects even the notion of believing some things. And as we see in the closing verses of John 7, the Pharisees would definitely fit into this category. Look again at the many thoughts being shared about Jesus in this passage:

On hearing His words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”

Others said, “He is the Messiah.”

Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?”

Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. Some wanted to seize Him, but no one laid a hand on Him.

Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring Him in?”

“No one ever spoke the way this Man does,” the guards replied.

“You mean He has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in Him? No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”

Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing Him to find out what He has been doing?”

They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”

Then they all went home.  John 7:40-53

There is one thing we can say for sure from these verses: the people wanted to believe something.

Some felt Jesus was a prophet, nothing more than a messenger sent from God like Isaiah and Jeremiah. Others believed that He was the Messiah (also known as the Christ) the prophets had foretold would come. Still other challenged this belief because they thought Jesus hailed from Galilee, not knowing that He indeed was born in Bethlehem and carried a lineage to David through His earthly Father, Joseph.

Stating the obvious, the scriptures state that the people were divided because of Jesus but better put, they were divided by what they chose to believe and this division resulted in confusion as to how to handle Jesus. Even the temple guards, sent by the Pharisees to arrest Jesus, were unable to do so because they felt He was someone special, someone unlike anyone else they had ever heard or met.

Unfortunately, we see that the Pharisees were the only ones who were not disoriented when it came to their view of Jesus. This is because their stance was one of stubborn disbelief and it didn’t matter how the facts lined up to show Jesus was who He claimed to be, the Son of the Most High God, the Pharisees refused to consider it. They saw Jesus as a threat to their religious power and someone who needed to be eliminated. In fact, they believed Jesus had the people under some curse which led them to believe in Him as they did. Ironically, it was the Jewish religious authorities who were under the curse, the curse of sin and certain death because they doggedly refused to accept the One God had sent to save them. Most of the Pharisees were destined for doom and didn’t even realize it, blinded by their prideful religious arrogance. But there was one man named Nicodemus who was an exception.

You remember Nicodemus, right?

He was the member of the Jewish ruling council who came to Jesus one night professing his belief that Jesus had come from God. You’ll recall Jesus told Nicodemus that he would have to be born again if he wanted to enter the kingdom of God. The conversation would lead to what may be arguably the most well known scripture verse about salvation, spoken from the very lips of Jesus Himself:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Nicodemus believed in Jesus. He knew who Jesus was and he had the courage to speak up against certain opposition as we see him challenge his peers:

“Does our law condemn a man without first hearing Him to find out what He has been doing?”

Nicodemus was asking a simple justice related question. His Pharisee peers simply wanted to arrest Jesus and kill him without due process. Knowing the law, Nicodemus tried to get them to move beyond their stubborn disbelief but as we see, they were having nothing of it.

“Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”

Like many of the people, the Pharisees failed to do due diligence in finding out where Jesus was born for if they did, they too would have known He originated in Bethlehem, the city of David. It was obvious that they had their minds made up and were going to do whatever they needed to do to eliminate Jesus, period. No one was going to change their minds.

This is what happens when we allow Satan to enter into the matter of our free will. For if we decide to not allow the Lord to guide what we believe then the enemy will gladly step in and take over, and he was having his way with the Pharisees as he will with anyone else today who copies their behavior.

So this all leads to a few final questions:

What do you believe when it comes to Jesus?

If you don’t believe in Him, are you willing to at least consider changing what you believe to place your faith and trust in Him as Nicodemus did?

Or are you like the other Pharisees, so stubborn in your rejection of Jesus that you can’t find your way to change your belief, even presented with the truth that He can and will save you?

Indeed, no one is forced to believe in Jesus and therefore no one is forced into receiving salvation if they opt to not believe in Him. And so if you wish to pick eternal destruction and damnation when your life is over, you certainly have the right to choose so.

But why would you want to?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

QUENCHED

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

John 7:33-36

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Do you feel thirsty in life?

I’m not talking about a dry mouth or throat kind of thirst, the sort that makes you yearn for the wetness of water, cool or warm.

No, I’m talking about a life where you feel unsatisfied, thirsty for something you need to quench your parched existence.

I know I have been in this place before. Maybe you have too or maybe you’re there now.

Frankly, I believe everyone might find themselves in this place if they live life long enough. For when we are looking to quench our thirst with the things of the world, we may be able to gratify ourselves in the short term but we will always find ourselves becoming thirsty again. You see, the things of the world, the things that we seek from the desires of our heart, will never be able to fully quench our thirst. Like with our physical bodies, we will never go a day when we won’t feel the need to drink and our yearnings for material satisfaction will always be insatiable.

This truth has been in play since sin entered the world and separated God from His people. The devil has played on the longings of people for the ages, convincing them that they can find some form of fulfilled pleasure from the offerings of the world. But what people find is that one fulfilled pleasure only leads to a temptation for more and more and more. They never find themselves quenched.

Perhaps Jesus understood this better than anyone as He knew human nature and devoted much of His ministry life toward turning people from their own wills toward the will of the Father. Through the way He lived His life and His teaching, He hoped to show the people that they would only find their thirst fully quenched by focusing fully on their spiritual side vice the material. Look at His words to the Jews gathered for the Feast of the Tabernacles in Jerusalem:

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.  John 7:33-36

It was the last day of the festival where Jews traveled from all over Canaan to Jerusalem in obedience to God’s command. The next day, many would leave the city and return home but before they did, Jesus wanted to leave them with one important message, one He hoped would bring them to be perpetually quenched.

How could they gain a satisfaction that would never leave them in want?

All they had to do was come to Jesus and place their belief, trust, and hope in Him. For if they did, rivers of living water, the very flow of the Holy Spirit, would flow within them and they would be satisfied, not for the short term but forever. Soon, after Jesus would die, come back to life, and ascend in glory to sit at the right hand of His Father God, the Holy Spirit would be sent down to inhabit the lives of Christians from the day of Pentecost on. Indeed today, new Christ believers receive the rivers of living water and become quenched, just as Jesus promised.

I can only speak for myself but the day I accepted Jesus into my life, everything changed. The world didn’t mean as much anymore because I was living for so much more than it could offer. In fact, through Jesus and the salvation gained through Him, I received the greatest gift ever, the assurance that when this life is over, I will live with Jesus my Savior and the God who is my Maker and Master, forever. No matter what life brings my way, I have this hope and victory that cannot be taken away.

Question: What greater satisfaction could we have in life than knowing we will live forever, the eternal side of it without sin or pain or suffering or persecution or sorrow?

If you have this promise secured through Jesus, rejoice in knowing the final chapter of earthly life has a happy ending that has already been written, no matter what happens between then and now.

If you haven’t received Jesus, today can be the day when your thirst can be quenched for all eternity. Just believe in Him and receive the rivers of living water He is willing to give you through the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com