FORGIVE YOURSELF

PASTOR RYAN LADEN – DEVOTIONALS

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In our continuing study of forgiveness, we come to the incredibly challenging command to forgive ourselves. As hard as it is to lay down our anger and bitterness against those who have hurt us, we are also called to the equally challenging task of learning to accept responsibility for our own actions and move away from the sin of constant self-condemnation. 

Grace

In the encounter that follows, we hear how Jesus Christ dealt with a terrible situation created to do damage to all parties. As you read, listen for the grace of God that is expressed in this encounter. 

2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 

5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 

6 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.

7 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.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9 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. 

10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

(John 8:2-11 NIV11)

The Trap – Verses 2-5

This is a terrible situation. Here we have a group of hypocritical religious leaders using a woman as a weapon against the Messiah in a perverse attempt to force Jesus into a terrible choice. 

These hypocrites are breaking the law of Moses while they are attempting to use the law of Moses to trap Jesus into either condemning a woman to death for her sin of adultery, or to have Jesus declare that the law is dead and should not be applied. 

These hypocrites know that Leviticus 20:10 says, “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife — with the wife of his neighbor — both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.” They are intentionally breaking this law by not including the man that this woman was said to have been with while they demand that Jesus uphold this law as he condemns her for her sin. 

This is why Jesus Christ constantly condemned those who acted in such hypocritical ways. God hates this kind of two-faced behavior and will not put up with those who use his word to needlessly abuse others.  

Jesus Responds – Verses 6-8

What did Jesus write in the dirt? No one knows. Since I am not a fan of those who add to the plain truth of the Bible to further their agendas, I will not give into the temptation of speculation. 

I can tell you what Jesus’ calm and unbothered demeanor teaches me as a man who routinely has to deal with competing opinions and complicated moral situations. Jesus kept his cool and did not allow the sin of those around him to lead him into saying or doing anything that he would regret. 

Jesus allowed the hypocrites to say all they wanted to say and in so doing, they exposed their true motives. I would do well to follow this example and not rush to express my emotions in such charged and challenging situations. 

What we can and should spend time on are the actual words Jesus spoke in response to their question. In verse seven we heard Jesus say, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

In his reply Jesus does not excuse or dismiss the sin of adultery in any way. Instead, Jesus’s question exposes the hypocritical nature of the woman’s accusers. From the sin of trying to trap the Messiah by breaking the law themselves to every one of their envious and lustful thoughts, the accusers were exposed in this moment. 

To pick up a stone in reply to Jesus’ challenge would be to claim perfection and in so doing, expose the sin of lying to all around them. Well done Jesus! 

Convicted – Verse 9

Jesus reversed the accusations of these hypocrites in such way that by leaving emptyhanded, they were confessing their own sin and their own need for forgiveness and mercy. The woman was indeed guilty of sin, but so were those who sought to use and abuse her for their own gain. 

Go and Sin No More – Verses 10-11

After all the accusers dropped their stones and walked away being convicted of their own sin by the work of the Holy Spirit, the woman stood before Jesus Christ awaiting his verdict over her. Technically, Jesus had no worldly authority and his opinion of her would not and could not be used against her but she stood before Jesus, awaiting his verdict because his word mattered to her. She seemed to care about what Jesus had to say and so she waited. 

Jesus challenged the woman to see that none of those who sought her downfall were able to stand up against the conviction of the Spirit and the authority of the Christ. All of her accusers admitted their own sinfulness and left her without further condemnation. 

Then the Lord said to her, “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

She was not condemned by Jesus, rather she was set free. She was free to move forward, to move on, to let go of her past and seek a new life thanks to Jesus Christ. 

In no way did Jesus ignore or make light of her sin, instead he acknowledged that she needed to repent and turn from that sin as she lived in the gift of grace from that moment forward. 

Application

•  What is it that you are struggling with from your past from which you cannot seem to move on?
•  Can you identify with this woman as she stands unaccused by God but still unable to let go?
•  If you can see yourself in her situation, then you need to see yourself in her freedom. 
•  As she was set free by the grace of God as given through Jesus Christ, so have you been set free. 
•  If Jesus does not condemn you, then why should you condemn yourself any longer?
•  Turn from that area of sin, commit it to Jesus, and go in freedom. 

Textual Issues – Tomorrow’s Devotional

In our next devotional, I will discuss the textual problems that surround this passage. It might not be something that you would normally find encouraging, but I assure you that it is worth your time. Until then… 

In Christ, 

Ryan Laden

PASTOR RYAN LADEN

Works at MTN. CHURCH

Former Senior pastor at Warnbro Community Church

Studies at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

Studied at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

Studied at Baylor University

Studied at Texas Tech University

Went to Castle Hills First Baptist

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