John 8:11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Some of you may know this verse comes from the story of the woman caught in adultery. If you don’t know it, and even if you do, take a minute and read it in John 8:1-11. As I read this story there are some things that really jump out at me. The first thing is what many people wonder, what did Jesus write in the sand. I have heard some pastors preach on what it possibly could be but we will never know this side of heaven.
Then there are two verses that stand out to me. The first is verse 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.” The ironic thing about this statement is that there was someone there who could throw a stone, Jesus. He was the only sinless one there and yet he didn’t. It is a reminder of John 3:17 a verse that often gets overlooked because the verse right before it…For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Jesus wasn’t going to throw a stone because he didn’t want her punished he wanted to save her from her punishment just as he wants to save all of us from our punishment of sin. That is why he died on the cross for us.
The other verse that stands out is verse eleven. Jesus stresses that he does not condemn her but then he gives her a command “Go now and leave your life of sin.” When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior this is the mindset we need to take on. For some of us who accepted Jesus sometime back maybe we need a refresher of this verse.
When we are saved our sins are forgiven but it doesn’t stop us from living in a sinful body. We are still going to sin, we are still going to mess up. The difference should be that we don’t live a life of sin. Sin shouldn’t be a part of our life and who we are. 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” The old life is gone! The sins we lived in and committed should no longer be an active part of our life. Our goal daily should be to sin no more, to leave the life of sin behind and to press forward growing closer to Christ every day.
One of the best pictures I have heard of this verse is like a jail cell. Before we are saved we live in the cell of sin, it controls us. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior the cell door is open and we are free! The problem is when people don’t leave their life of sin it is just like they are remaining in the cell with the door wide open.
If you are saved today I pray that you have left the cell of sin and if you are struggling to I pray that by the power of the Holy Spirit you will start that journey today!