Text:
John 8:3-11
Memory Verse:
“She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Neither do I
condemn you; go and sin no more'” (John 8:11).
The past can and is hunting many people, holding them down from making progress in life and spiritually. Guilt, inability to forgive oneself, accusation of men and the Devil are contributors. The Scribes and Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman caught in adultery and said to Him, ‘Teacher,… Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?’ Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
Following their persistence, He instructed that any of them that was without sin should cast the first stone at her. When, subsequently, Jesus raised His head up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, ‘Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?’ On the woman’s response that none had condemned her, Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
When the man healed by Jesus Christ by the pool of Bethesda after 38 years was found in the temple afterward, Jesus said to him “…See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you” (John 5:14). Encountering Jesus comes with the assurance that Christ has forgiven you and requires avoiding going back to your past sins (2 Peter 2:20-22). You can rise above your past as you “Go and sin no more.” Those words could be rephrased, “Go, and because you have had an encounter with Jesus, you can rise above your past.”
Prayer Points:
1. Father, deliver me from the grip of my past.
2. Father please let as many as are struggling with rising above their past encounter Jesus today.
