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‘Go, and sin no more.’
Joh_8:11
I. Christ’s method with the accusers.—Remember what they were, and in what spirit they came. They were hard, proud men. They were, each one, from the eldest to the youngest, as guilty, and more guilty than the woman, whom they so severely charged; and they lay, and prosecuted the charge without mercy. Their motive, too, was utterly bad: they wanted to place Christ in a dilemma, ‘that they might accuse Him.’ They knew His gentle and loving spirit; and they wished to push it to a conclusion which would make Him contradict the law of Moses—that is, the law of the land—and so bring Him in guilty of contumacy, or treason. That was the line of the Pharisees.
(a) Sinners are more severe to sinners than good men are. The holier a person grows, the more tender and the more sympathetic he is with sin.
(b) When a man’s own conscience is lashing him, he will assume a sterner aspect towards the same, or any other sin, in another person.
Christ’s desire all along was to bring both the Pharisees and the woman into a state of salvation. And, as a necessary step to salvation, He desired to convince them all of sin. But, though the object was the same—with the Pharisees and with the woman—the means He used were most different.
II. Christ’s method with the sinner.—To save her soul was evidently our Lord’s one thought. And He proceeded to do it in His own strange, loving way, as only He can do it. What that sin of hers was to Him, the Infinitely Pure, accustomed to the chastenesses of heaven, only the purest among us, can, in the smallest measure, see!
(a) Mark how sin affected Him. It did not alienate Him for a moment. It did not separate Him. She was never despised. She was not degraded. She was not even reproached.
(b) He would bring her to penitence, that He may bring her to peace. And how will He do it? By love; all love. The past is not mentioned. He raises her. He expels sin by virtue; an old feeling by a new affection. He makes Himself attractive and lovely to a heart lonely, as only sin can make us lonely. ‘Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?’
(c) Observe in her answer a confidingness; a ray of good; an awe. She said, ‘No man. Lord.’ And then, so instant, so free, so generous, so good, so like Himself—‘Neither do I condemn thee; go, and sin no more.’ See what Jesus would be, at that moment, to that woman! How she would love Him! How she would be always trying to please Him! How she would draw close to Him!
(d) Throw refinement into your dealings with gross sin. Where sin is the greatest, be you the gentlest! And treat everybody hopefully.
—
Rev. James Vaughan.
Illustration‘When a man has been kept from all open and flagrant acts of sin by the Hand that held him up, he is apt to grow self-righteous and self-satisfied; he slowly enters into the family of the Pharisee. The sins we do speak speak for themselves, and the danger is light compared with that self-esteem, or at least that self-content, that prevented men from coming to the Baptist, and at last prevented them from coming to our Lord. There are truer measures for sin than those which the law has laid down. The use of sin is to convince us of our sinfulness, to bear witness with the Word of God that we cannot win heaven by our own goodness, nor deserve the good things which the Lord provides.’