Jack Jurgens's Ministry Library

Women in John’s gospel

[0:00] Now, thank you for being here, especially after last night. Appreciate all who have taken time to come. Now, we’re reading together in John’s Gospel, Chapter 8. Gospel of John, Chapter 8. Whenever we sing that hymn, I’m reminded of the incident told of the author of that hymn, Robert Robinson. He penned that hymn as a young man. Later in life, he was riding in a carriage, and a young woman was sitting across from him, actually singing it quietly to herself.

[0:34] And he had to confess. He was the author of that hymn, and he wished he was still in the spiritual condition he was when that hymn was written.

[0:43] So we’re reminded how quickly, how easily any of us can stray. A man that could write words like that easily, moving away from his joy in Christ and his salvation. Very solemn. John chapter 8, verse number 2. Early in the morning, he came again into the temple, and the people came unto him, and he sat down and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. When they had set her in the midst, they say to him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned, but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them not. So when they had continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out, one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last. Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he said to her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? And she said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Just drop down to the very end of the chapter.

[2:05] Verse number 57, Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old. Hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at him. But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, passing through the midst, and so passed by. Now we trust God will add blessing to the public reading of his word. As you know by now, we’re looking at the Lord Jesus encountering women in the Gospel of John seven different times. We only have time for four of them, but seven different times he encounters women and he changes their relationships. Here we see he will change the relationship of this woman from that of her sin to that of sanctity or righteousness. Go and sin no more. A life free of overt sin that had marked her to this point in time. The time that this occurred is interesting. It’s not divorced from chapter seven. Actually, chapter seven ends in chapter three with the Lord Jesus going to the Mount of Olives. In chapter 8, he comes early in the morning to the temple. What is significant, and this is right after the Feast of Tabernacles, a time of great joy, a time of great pleasure, a time of great rejoicing in God. It should have been marked by the knowledge of the Lord covering the earth.

[3:24] Picture the millennial reign of Christ is in the idea of the Feast of Tabernacles. And yet, we see the very opposite, their blindness and their refusal of the light. So the timing is significant.

[3:36] The place is significant, the treasury. We didn’t read it, but down in verse number 20, we find that these things took place in the treasury. Now, John, in a very masterful way, uses both locations and conditions to express something of spiritual need. For example, later on, the Lord Jesus will be walking in Solomon’s porch in this winter, and you see the coldness of the people of God, of the nation of Israel, towards him. Here, he’s in the treasury, and you learn the bankruptcy of the nation. They have nothing to offer.

[4:07] Likewise, he will use conditions such as, it was yet dark. Morning had not yet come. It was cold. It was night. Judas went out, and it was night, and so on. So he uses conditions and times and so forth to not only communicate literal fact, but also to give us a sense of the spiritual condition of the nation and those around him. So we have the treasury then and their bankruptcy. When I read this, I think about another woman in the Old Testament taken in adultery. Her name was Tamar. And she actually was with child by Judah because of his failure to fulfill his promise. And she is brought out, ready to be stoned. And Judah has to own, she is more righteous than I. I’m the one that really has failed. Here, this woman is before the Lord Jesus Christ. No such confession is made that she is more righteous than he, but rather he is more righteous than she. But yet in mercy and grace, brings about this wonderful occasion of forgiveness.

[5:06] Also, we mentioned the types.

[5:10] The Lord Jesus Christ in chapter six replaces the manna. Chapter seven, he replaces the water. Chapter eight, he replaces the light. Israel had manna, had water, had light for the journey. The Lord Jesus here fulfills all those types in his presentation to the nation in chapter six, chapter seven, and chapter eight. Likewise, we see, we mentioned already, the Lord Jesus replaces everything and everyone. Chapter four, we mentioned last night, art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well? Chapter eight here ends with he’s greater than Abraham. Chapter 9 there are 13 mentions of Moses up to chapter number 9 and in chapter number 9 they make their final allegiance to Moses plain we be Moses disciple as for this man we know not when he is and therefore from there that point on Moses is no longer mentioned he is greater than Moses he eclipses all of Israel’s great men Israel’s heroes and so on. So all of that is seen here. I want to just speak to you then about three things my thoughts will all be centered around three things. The guilt of the woman,

[6:13] the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the goal of salvation. Very simple. So we have the guilt of the woman.

[6:22] Can’t be contested. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, unmatched. And then finally, the goal that God has in salvation. Go and sin no more. I should mention, though, first of all, just a word about the genuineness of this account. Now, if you take time to read commentaries, you’ll find that a large number will say this is not really in the original text. There were some versions, that manuscripts, where they tore these pages out because they did not like what they contained. Others say they were not part of the original text. Others say they were. So there’s a bit of a controversy over the genuineness of what we have here in John chapter 8. I think when there’s a question, you have to ask yourself, does it fit? And to me, it seems to fit perfectly. The character of Christ, the message he’s given, the truth about light that he’s going to unfold in the verses that follow. So I would say that this fits with the grace and truth of chapter one and the light of the world that we have as well here in chapter number eight. So I would vote for the genuineness of this passage. Some were so concerned with it that it seemed to give license to sin, seemed to as though the Lord Jesus was playing very, very fast and loose with adultery and so on. But I think we see here, as we come to it, we’ll see why and how the Lord Jesus Christ could righteously forgive this woman. So then, just a look at the story together, the guilt of the woman.

[7:50] This was very likely a contrived case. Obviously, they’re trying to tempt the Lord Jesus Christ, and we’ll see what that meant and why.

[7:58] When they came to the Lord Jesus with this woman, the Lord Jesus Christ put in what in their eyes was a dilemma. If he said to stone her, as Moses in the law said, he would be going against Roman authority. You recall when they brought the Lord Jesus Christ to Pilate, the Pilate said, take him and judge him according to your law. They said, it is not lawful for us to put any man to death. Capital punishment had been taken away from the Jews, and now it was only the power of Rome could do that. So if the Lord Jesus Christ said to stone her to agree with Moses, he was going against Rome. If on the other hand, he forgave her or turned her over to Rome, he was going against Moses. So they thought they had him in the tightest possible place. How’s he going to get out of this? How’s he possibly going to find a way to get out of this dilemma? Then secondly, of course, he was full of grace and truth. Was he going to show grace to this woman or carry out truth? One of them was going to have to be sacrificed or compromised, at least so they thought. So they had the Lord Jesus Christ in a dilemma, trying to discredit him, trying to cause him to either be contrary to Moses or be contrary to Rome. They would have something to accuse him with. So here they are with the Lord Jesus Christ and this woman. She’s caught in the very act of adultery, their callousness, their insensitivity to sin, seen here.

[9:23] We see as well that her mouth is shut. The Lord Jesus is going to shut their mouths. His is the only mouth that can be opened in righteousness and in true grace. We’ll see that as we come through this story.

[9:35] Her accusers, the woman is seen here, her accusers are here. The light shines upon their consciences, right? He’s the light of the world. I’m just going to develop that in the rest of the chapter. The light of Christ shines upon their conscience, and they go out one by one as a result of their guilty consciences. Of course, it’s often asked, where was the man who perpetrated this sin? He deserved to be stoned as well, but they just brought the woman in their callousness and their hardness and their cruelty, just brought her.

[10:09] The Lord himself was the only one standing here who was free of guilt, free of any accusation to be laid against him. So we have then the woman and her guilt. I want to speak then of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice where he was. He was seated in the temple.

[10:25] Now, a very useful, a very profitable study would be to look at the postures of the Lord Jesus in the gospel of John. Recall how Psalm number one begins. The blessed man who walks not of the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. And John is going to emphasize all three of those postures throughout his gospel. The Lord Jesus will be seen standing in different places. He will be seen walking in different places. He will be seen sitting in different places. And as far as the places he sits in, he’s never marked by scorn or cynicism or callousness or hardness. You recall, he sat thus on the well in chapter four. We didn’t draw attention to that. But in chapter four, he sat thus on the well, confronting a woman who was laden with her own sin and failure. Then in chapter six, he sits upon the mountainside and he’s testing his disciples as to the crowd and giving them something to eat. And of course, was it Andrew’s overwhelmed with his sense of need, the scantiness of provision. We only have five loaves and two small fishes. And was it Philip who said, the crowd is so great. One was occupied with how great the need, the other how scanty the resources. And the Lord Jesus Christ says, just make the men sit down. No criticism, no sense of belittling them for their lack of faith. He just sits quietly in grace and kindness and meets the need. Again, here he’s sitting as well in the temple. When you come to chapter 12.

[11:53] He’s sitting at the table with Martha and Lazarus and Mary. The anointing occurs. Later in the chapter, he’s seen sitting upon the beast as he rides into the city, meek and lowly. No arrogance, no sense of entitlement, just coming meek and lowly to the people. Chapter 13, he’s sitting in the upper room, washing the disciples’ feet. And when he’d taken his garments and sat down again, he said, know you what I have done. Every place you see him sitting, it’s marked by grace, by meekness, by goodness, by gentleness, by a lack of scorn and belittling others. So gracious in every way, the Lord Jesus seated here. And so we see him now in the temple, seated, and to him come then these individuals. Then we see him stooping. Now, you may have your own ideas, just a suggestion. As I mentioned, a lot of his postures are symbolic and stooping might to us suggest his stooping grace. He’s stooping, but it also could be his total indifference to their callous accusations against this woman. Could be as well. He stoops, twice he stoops, twice he stands, twice he speaks. But as well, I think he was sensitive to the shame of this woman.

[13:08] The Lord Jesus Christ moved here as a man of sorrows. What I mean by that is not just that he felt sorrow for what occurred to him.

[13:17] Psalm 119, somewhere halfway down, it says, rivers of water run down my eyes because they keep not thy commandments. That just meant that this godly man of Psalm 119 was so in touch with God that sin bothered him. When he saw sin, when he saw the effects of sin, the fruit of sin, all that sin caused, tears ran down his eyes. The Lord Jesus Christ was a man of sorrows. He moved in a scene where everything, everything was contrary to him. Men were rebelling against God. Men were denying God. Men were belittling God. Men were living their lives of sinfulness and selfishness. The temple became a place of merchandise. The sacrifices became ritualistic. The priesthood became debased. The chief priest was appointed by the Roman emperor, no longer by heredity. Everything was out of kilter, and he moved through this world. It must have been a veil of tears for him as he moved here, as he had to see and experience and come firsthand. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a situation. I was, when this goes way back during the Vietnam War, I was drafted. I was a conscientious objector sent to work in Trenton State Prison. Prison life is hard to describe. It is humanity reduced to its lowest level. It is every man for himself. It is a place where wickedness thrives.

[14:44] One day, things were so bad there, the immorality and everything else. When I left that day, it was like I was breathing. I went outside and I just had to breathe just to get away from all of that, all the sin that was around me. That’s not being proud and self-righteous, just that it was so evident and so oppressive. Now, that was just a little picture of what life was like every day for the Lord Jesus. He was sensitive to sin. He never wanted to expose and shame anyone. He came to forgive sin. And so the Lord Jesus Christ here acts as though he does not see them, hear them, pay attention to them. He stoops silently. One of the great needs we have is being sensitive to sin.

[15:30] There’s an ordinance in the Old Testament, Numbers chapter 19. You rarely hear it preached on. It’s called the ordinance of the red heifer. Very different from all the other sacrifices. The red heifer was a, the ordinance of the red heifer concerned people who had been exposed to death. So if you were in a house, in a tent and someone died by your side, you were defiled. You needed to be cleansed with the ashes of the red heifer. If you were walking along the way and accidentally came near a grave and touched the grave in some way, you were defiled. If you touched a bone, you were defiled. Any contact with death in any form meant defilement. Now remember, defilement is not sin. All sin defiles, but not all defilement is sin. For the simple reason, you couldn’t help if someone died by your side. Sin always involves an act of my will. So I didn’t will that person to die by my side, but yet they did. And I have to be sensitive to the fact that I’ve come in contact with death. What is that teaching me? Teach me I need to be sensitive to the fruit of sin all around me. That death was the result of sin in the world. Not my fault not my doing I didn’t cause that person that I but I’m defiled because I’ve been in contact with that.

[16:48] I think I used to be more sensitive to sin than I am now. We get so accustomed to the Lord’s name taken in vain, the off-color jokes, the cursing, the swearing, the recounting of evil. Just give you one example of how guilty I am. So in my practice, I recall a gentleman who seemed to act very, very effeminate. And I was feeling uncomfortable, feeling that he was probably someone in an illicit relationship with another male. And one day he came in and told me he had spent the weekend with his girlfriend at a resort, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Really? That’s just as sinful. Just as sinful. But I had become so desensitized to that because of the awfulness of the other that I just thought that’s a relief to hear that. We have become desensitized to sin. The Lord Jesus Christ never became desensitized to sin. And the reason he wants us to be sensitive to sin is if we become insensitive to sin, we can easily fall into sin.

[18:01] Insensitivity to all the sin around us can make us targets for sin ourselves. So we’re reminded of that here in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then we have the Lord Jesus Christ writing as a scribe. Now, many and imaginative are the answers to what he wrote, all the way from writing the law to writing their sins. We don’t know what he wrote, but we do know this. He took his finger and he wrote in the ground.

[18:31] You recall that once before, the finger of God wrote in tables of stone, a law written with the finger of God. You recall again another occasion where in Daniel chapter 5 is it, the fingers of a man’s hand wrote upon the wall. So you have the law, you have the condemnation, you have grace. The Lord Jesus writing with his finger on the ground. Love to think of how interesting it is. This is the only time in scripture we read of the Lord Jesus Christ writing. And we have no idea what he wrote. And yet he has left us a tremendous legacy, even though he never wrote a book, even though he never wrote commandments. Here’s the only time he wrote that we read of in all the word of God. So we have the Lord Jesus Christ writing here, displaying grace likely, writing with the finger of God. Then you have the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. He that is without sin among you let him cast the first stone. To have first cast a stone according to the mosaic law deuteronomy the witnesses the accusers were to be the ones who cast the first stones at the individual. Now the Lord Jesus Christ shines his light upon their conscience they go out one by one and there’s no accuser left no accuser left.

[19:54] And the Lord Jesus Christ then turns to the woman and says, go and sin no more. So let me speak to you about her forgiveness, her forgiveness. We have the guilt of the woman established beyond question. We have the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ seen, now going to express herself in forgiveness. Why could the Lord Jesus Christ forgive her sin? Why could he say to her, go and sin no more? Why was that not a violation of the Mosaic law, a violation of the moral code? How could he do that and maintain his righteousness, his holiness while showing this grace? Number one, the law required the accuser to be the first to cast stones. Where are those accusers? There were none. So no accusers, no stoning. Case dismissed. But secondly, and more importantly, the Lord Jesus Christ would bear the punishment for her sin in just a few short months upon a cross himself.

[20:47] So the one who would bear the punishment for her sin had full liberty to forgive her sin. Same with each of us. That which marked us in our unsaved days, worthy of judgment, worthy of condemnation, worthy of eternal banishment. He bore that punishment for us at Calvary. So he can say, go and sin no more. Neither do I condemn thee. He was not condoning her sin, not bypassing her sin. The very fact that he said, neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more, tells us he recognized it as sin, but he was going to pay for that sin. And now he’s going to change her life altogether.

[21:27] So we see her forgiveness. We see now her future.

[21:33] Go and sin no more. So I want to speak to you now about the goal of salvation. What is God’s goal in your life? Actually, there are many, but really they kind of come together in many ways into one thing altogether. One problem we have in our English Bible, and if you knew Greek, it’s not a problem, but there are words that are different in our English language that are almost identical in the original language. For example, the word for righteousness and justification. They both are literally the same root same same words virtually because when god justifies a man he declares him to be righteous so justification and righteousness are almost identical in the original language. Likewise the word sanctification and holiness come from the very same root just a little different spelling on the end of the words and so they are they’re similar sanctification and holiness. Sanctified, set apart for God, set apart as uniquely belonging to God, as holy as well. So we see then this great truth. So let me talk to you then about what is the definition of holiness.

[22:44] If you grew up when I grew up, this is no judgment on others. Holiness meant what you didn’t do, okay you didn’t go to the bars you didn’t go to nightclubs you didn’t go to the casinos didn’t get involved in immorality. All the things you didn’t do. You didn’t wear colored shirts on Sunday you only wore a white shirt, okay? We go down the long list of do’s and don’ts but that’s but holiness is not what you don’t do. Holiness is what you do do. Holiness is what you are and what you do.

[23:17] When heaven opened and said, this is my beloved son on whom I have found all my pleasure, God wasn’t interested in what he, I shouldn’t say God, God was not praising him for what he did not do. God was delighted with what he did do and what he was. So holiness is a matter of what you are and what you do. So anything that is according to the will of God is actually holiness. That may sound strange. I’m sure that those of you with small children never think that taking care of your family is a mark of holiness. That’s the will of God for you. A man who loves his wife as he ought to, that’s a mark of holiness. He’s obeying the word of God. He’s in the will of God. He’s carrying out the word of God. So holiness really is linked with what you do do that is in the will of God and the development of character. The character that is like Christ-like in every way. So holiness then, first of all, it’s a purpose I recognize. It’s a purpose I recognize.

[24:16] God eternally, now this is, to me, I was thinking of this today, kind of overwhelming. God eternally desired a people and people who would be fit for his presence and fit for fellowship with him. And he had to make us holy to do that. Had to make us holy. There could be nothing in us that is contrary to the character of God. Nothing in us that will somehow rebel against the nature of God. So that God in his grace, we read of it in Ephesians chapter one, chosen before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. So God’s great purpose is, he wanted a people absolutely fit for his company and his presence. That occurred at conversion.

[25:01] Now, we have to separate a couple of things. We are holy and without blame before him in love right now. We are being made holy day by day. And finally, at the end, in transformation, we will be absolutely perfected and like the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. So God’s great purpose, a purpose I recognize. It’s a position I enjoy, a position that I enjoy right now. Hebrews chapter 10, by one offering hath he perfected forever them that are sanctified. In the sight of God, you could not be more holy positionally than you are right now. Now, some people get very confused with positional versus practical truth. Position means where I am by grace, where I am by grace. God has made me absolutely holy in his sight. One of the great expressions that fills the epistle of Ephesians and elsewhere as well, but especially in Ephesians is the expression in Christ, in Christ. What does it mean to be in Christ? To be accepted in the beloved. That means when God looks at me, he doesn’t see me anymore. He sees Christ.

[26:13] We are in sphere, if you can think of that expression. We are encircled by Christ. So from whatever angle God looks at me, he sees Christ. We are accepted in the beloved. God only sees Christ. So my standing, the position I now enjoy, is one of absolute fitness for the presence of God, absolute fitness for God and fellowship with him. So we have that then, a position I enjoy. But then it’s a practice that I have to pursue. That’s the practical part of it. Yes, I’m positionally holy, but God wants me to develop holiness, developing holiness in the fear of God. We’ll talk about that from 1 Peter 1 in a moment, but I want to just mention as well, it’s a perfection that I anticipate coming in a coming day. Ephesians 5, the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for us that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present us to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. His grace will eventually elevate us to a position of absolute perfection, absolute perfection. So then how do we pursue this great theme of holiness in our life? How do we become like this woman, go and sin no more? The entire Godhead is available to you for developing holiness in your life. First of all, we are reminded

[27:40] of the Spirit of God who has come to indwell us. Galatians chapter 5 reminds us that we have the Holy Spirit within and his goal is to develop holiness in my life. The Spirit lusteth against the flesh, the flesh is against the Spirit, and so on. So there are that ninefold fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance, faith. That ninefold fruit of the Spirit is his goal to produce in my life. Now, it’s obvious, isn’t it? That ninefold fruit of the spirit is the character of Christ reproduced in me. That’s what marked him. That’s what should mark me as well. So the spirit of God has come to reside within. As I mentioned last evening, the indwelling spirit of God is one of the greatest results of Calvary, that God is able to have his Holy Spirit indwell us to produce the character he wants to see developed in each of us. So the spirit of God indwelling first of all is vital. Galatians chapter five reminds us they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the lust thereof and now we walk in the spirit. You may say, I don’t remember crucifying the flesh. Crucifixion is a judgment. You might say, my flesh is still alive yes it is still alive but crucifixion is we judge the flesh. You know when you did that.

[28:59] You did it when you got saved. You recognized my flesh can do nothing at all to warrant salvation. I can’t merit salvation by my good deeds, by my prayers, by my believing, by my, no. Nothing like, so in a sense, when we gave up trying to get saved on our own, we literally judged our flesh. It can do nothing. It’s useless in this great matter of salvation. They that are Christ have crucified the flesh and the lust of it. Now we are called upon to walk in the spirit. Now that sounds mysterious. What does it mean to walk in the spirit? I mean, I wake up in the morning, I go to work, I go to school. What does it mean to walk in the spirit?

[29:35] If you read Galatians chapter five carefully, walking in the spirit just means this, the word of God controls my life. The word of God controls my life. It’s not a mystery. It’s not some saintly walk that only a few believers can attain to. It is the norm that God expects for every believer. In fact, when you come to 1 Peter 1, we are reminded holiness is not an option. Be ye holy is a mandate, a command. Be ye holy for I am holy, says God. So we have the indwelling spirit first of all. Then we’re reminded in John chapter 15, abiding in Christ, abiding in the vine. What does it produce? It produces the life of the vine and the branch and the vine is Christ. So when you come to John 15, it’s not a matter of whether or not you’re seeing people saved, seeing people added to the assembly. No, no, that’s not the fruit. The fruit is the character of Christ, the character of the vine reproducing the branches. And we all have the ability then to abide in the vine and with the result that we bring forth fruit, Christ-likeness and character, holiness in our lives. Let me ask you to turn to John 15 for one, just to clarify one thing.

[30:57] We’re going to break in at verse number 7, of John 15.

[31:09] If ye abide in me John 15 and 7 and my words abide in you you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my father glorified that you bear much fruit so shall you become or be my disciples. Now that is not a name it and claim it type of promise. What is the meaning what’s the significance of what the Lord Jesus Christ says here, if ye abide in me and my words abide in you you know what happens when you allow the word of God to abide in you and you focus your vision upon Christ? You become acutely aware of how unlike him you are.

[31:46] That drives me to God. And my desire, my prayer is not for a new Cadillac or Mercedes or a tropical vacation. My prayer is, I’d like to be more like your son. I’d like to be more like him. So we have this promise here. As we dwell in him and become aware of our deficiencies, our unlikeness to Christ, he says, you shall ask what you will, it shall be done unto you. So coming to God and actually asking, I’d like to be more like your son. Now, I have to say ahead of time, It’s a very costly prayer to make because some of the things that make us most like Christ are some of the most painful things in life, some of the most difficult trials to endure. So don’t make that request casually. Recognize it could be a costly thing to pray. But then it says, herein is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit. To put it another way, my Father’s glorified when you become more and more like me. So shall you become my disciples. You’ll become like a disciple is likeness. Likeness to Christ. You’re going to become like me by praying and asking this great request. So feeding upon the word of God, abiding in Christ leads to likeness to Christ.

[32:57] Robert Moffat was a missionary, a Scottish missionary to South Africa about 200 years ago, 1816, he went to South Africa. He was there for over 50 years. Actually, one of the side things I mentioned is he was there 12 years before he saw a single convert, but that’s not what I want to mention. On one occasion, the tribal chief’s dog got into Robert Moffat’s Bible and began chewing away at it.

[33:23] And the tribal chief came to Robert Moffat angry and irate. You let my dog eat your Bible. He said, my dog was a great hunting dog. He’s never going to be the same. Everybody who gets into that Bible, it changes them.

[33:39] I don’t know if it changed the dog, but that was his concern. Into this book, reading this book, living in the good of this book, looking at Christ in this book changes lives. So we’re reminded here then, we have the indwelling spirit. We have the abiding in Christ. But then we have one other thing as well, at least several other things.

[33:59] 2 Peter 1 tells us God has given us three things. He’s given us, number one, like precious faith, obtained precious faith. Number two, all things that pertain to life and godliness. Number three, exceeding great and precious promises. Why? That by these we might become partakers of a divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, making us holy. God has given us life. He’s given us his word. He’s given us exceeding great and precious promises. It’s as though God says, I’m giving you everything I can give you. I’ve given you everything I could possibly give you. And by these, you might become partakers of a divine nature. So God supplies all of these things. Now he says in 2 Peter chapter one, give diligence, give diligence. He says, there’s several dangers you face. Number one is bad memories. You’ve forgotten you were purged from your old sins. You’ve forgotten all that. Number two are blind eyes. You can’t see ahead. You don’t see ahead. So bad memories, blind eyes, he says you’re going to be barren right now. If you want to develop holiness in life, it will not come by accident. It won’t come just by a normal course of living. Won’t come by coming and going to meetings. Peter says you’ve got to give diligence to it. Make it a matter of a priority in your life.

[35:20] Earlier, in his first epistle, Peter pens these words, you are not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold from the vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ. Now we put all the emphasis in that verse on the precious blood of Christ, and rightly so. But just back up a few words, from the vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers. Now we don’t use the word vain in that sense, but what it really means is empty. empty life. So in your unsaved days, in my unsaved days, we had empty lives, nothing for God, nothing for eternity. I often think, you know, you’ve got the Steve Jobs, you’ve got the MVPs for the Super Bowl, you’ve got the actors and actresses, you’ve got the great names in entertainment world, and you’ve got all the heroes. If they’re not saved, when life is done, they have nothing to be remembered for for all eternity.

[36:23] You won’t be speaking in eternity about who was the MVP of the Super Bowl of 2024 or 2025. You won’t be talking in eternity about who got the Oscar in 2025. None of that will be meaningful at all. Lives are empty. Do you realize what God has done in saving you? He has enabled you to have something in your life for him, able to have some meaning in life. Instead of having an empty life, frivolous, running after all the fads and fashions of the day, being occupied with all the emptiness that people occupy themselves with. You actually can have a life that has value and has meaning to present to him back at the judgment seat of Christ. That doesn’t mean you’ll be a missionary or a preacher, elder. Just living your life in the will of God, raising your family, being the wife, being the husband, being the boss, being the employee, whatever it may be, doing that according to the will of God is holiness. And brings fruit and glory to God in your life. So we’re reminded then of the tremendous reality of being able to have a life that has value and has meaning and has character. Not only that, as far as holiness is concerned, the cost, the cost should give us diligence. For God to enable me to become holy in any measure took nothing less than everything Christ did at Calvary, everything.

[37:51] Redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. As of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Redeemed from a vain, empty life. From a sinful life. We are redeemed from our vices. We are redeemed from being vassals of Satan. We are redeemed from the vanity of life. All of that. Redemption is a tremendous subject. Tremendous facets to it. All that’s involved. But always remember it costs precious blood. We might be redeemed. And for you and I to be able to develop any measure of holiness in our lives, took the blood of Christ.

[38:25] The challenge. It begins in our minds. Now, we’re familiar with Romans chapter 12, verses one and two. We hear them, and rightly so, messages of consecration. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Mind. How does that happen? How does your mind get transformed?

[38:59] Now, I’m privileged like very, very few of you here are. I’m retired. So I can sit in my man cave all day with my computer and my books and have a lovely time. You have to work. You’re exposed to the billboards and their ads, radio and its things the internet and all of its suggestive things and and by the end of the day you’re you you sometimes feel polluted. You begin to think the way the world thinks. Well maybe i do deserve that new vacation maybe i do deserve that you know the billboards you need you deserve you should have and so on everybody’s got it you need to get it. And you begin to think like the world thinks. How do you how do you reset how do you go back to a reset back to the manufacturer’s reset? Through this book. That’s how your mind is renewed, by reading the word of God. So there is no substitute for the word of God in terms of developing holiness of life.

[39:56] So coming to this book, recognizing its value and allowing it to control my thinking, my values, to think the way God thinks, not the way the world thinks. We live in a secular society that bombards us, that floods us with its values, with its interests, with its estimations of things, and we become overwhelmed at times. The word of God is what is used as a reset, that our minds might be kept pure and kept in sync with heaven and its value system, not our world’s value system. So let me mention one other thing, if I can, from 1 Peter 1.

[40:41] Consistency with our position. If you call him father, who without respect of persons judges and according to every man, pass the time of your sojourn, be holy for I am holy. So if he’s your father, then you should be like him and you should pass the time of your sojourn here in fear. Now that expression, pass the time of your sojourn here in fear, does not mean I am afraid that if I do something that is not holy, God is going to punish me. That is not the fear of God. The fear of God is a desire to please him. It’s not a fear of what God does to me. It’s what I have done to God. I have grieved him. We can’t speak of God being disappointed because God knows everything. So you only disappoint someone who expects a different end. But if I use it in a human sense, you’ll understand. I’ve disappointed God. I haven’t been faithful. I haven’t done what I ought to have done. The fear of God then is a longing to only do what pleases God. So all of these strands come together to develop holiness in my life. The spirit of God indwelling.

[41:49] Excuse me, abiding in the vine, the precious promises of God in this book, reading this book to reset my mind and enable me to live as I ought to live. Now, what’s so important about living a holy life? Go and sin no more, he told the woman. What’s so important about living a holy life? Well, number one, it pleases God. Nothing else that pleases God, but there’s more to it than that. Maybe it’s best to read it. Come to 2 Peter, where I’m referring to.

[42:23] Now, in the first few verses, the verses one through verse number four, he takes up those three things we mentioned, the like precious fate, exceeding great and precious promises, all things pertain to life and Godliness. Then he goes to giving to all diligence, verse five, adding to our, developing our character. But come down now to verse 10. Wherefore, the rather brethren give diligence, to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you shall never fail. For so an entrance shall be administered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, as far as the making your calling and election sure, I just mentioned this offhand. It’s rather displaying the reality of your salvation to others. But what he’s saying here is this. The character you develop, give diligence. The character you develop is going to determine the entrance you have into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, Peter, of course, is the one individual who was expecting to die and not looking for the rapture. Everybody else since then has been looking for the rapture. But Peter, the Lord had told him, Peter, you’re going to die. What you wouldn’t do as a young man, you’ll do as an old man. So Peter knew he was going to die. So Peter never preached about the rapture. Always speak for the Lord’s coming to earth and the setting up of his kingdom and his glory and all of that. Now he says, a day is coming when you’re gonna enter that kingdom.

[43:47] And he says, the way in which you resemble Christ now will determine how you can represent him then.

[43:54] We are gonna be a kingdom of priests. We are gonna represent Christ eternally to the entire universe. I don’t know how it’s gonna go, what nature will take, how it will play out. I don’t know, but as a kingdom of priests will display Christ to the universe for all eternity. Now he says, your place, your role in that coming kingdom will be determined by how much like Christ you are right now. First Peter, second Peter chapter one has nothing to do with what you do, has everything to do with what you are, what character you’ve developed, how Christ-like you are in behavior, in your character. So he says, the measure in which you resemble Christ now will determine how you can represent him then. So this business of going in for holiness is not just a matter of impressing the Christians, not just a matter even of developing a better character and being free from bad habits. Christ-likeness has eternal recompense, eternal compensation. We are here to develop Christ-like character that is going to be on display for all eternity. So it is worth going in for. In effect, when you were saved, the morning you were saved, the afternoon you were saved, the night you were saved, the Lord Jesus said to you, go and sin no more. But not just a negative thing. Now we are called upon, be holy for I am holy, said the Lord. Trust God, will bless his word, challenge us, encourage us, that we might be more like his son. Shall we pray?

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