Main Theme: By God’s grace we can be pleasing to God.
Read in Class: Luke 15:11-32. Have the class summarize this story.
Study: What does the parable of the prodigal son reveal about God’s compassion and love? What warning does it provide for those who, like the other son, remained home?
Apply: Interesting is the reaction of the other son. Why was this reaction such a human reaction, based at least in part on fairness, and so understandable, as well? What, however, does his part of the story teach us about how human concepts of fairness don’t capture the depth of the gospel or of God’s love for us?
Share: Your friend says young people will never appreciate being in the church until they have first gone out into the world and experienced sin. After all, people who have stayed in the church all their lives don’t have any amazing conversation stories to share. What do you tell your friend?
Study: How does Zephaniah 3:17 shed light on the parable of the prodigal son? What does Ephesians 5:25-28 say about the love we should display as well?
Apply: When you hear that someone who has left the church has returned, what is your first reaction? Rejoicing and celebrating or skepticism? Exactly how should we celebratee when soneone returns to the church? Throw a party like the prodigal son’s father?
Share: Your friend is very upset because her church is having a baby shower for a 15 year-old unwed mother. The 15 year-old girl is sorry and wants to come back God and raise her child in the church, but really? Why should the church reward this girl’s sinful behavior with a shower? What do you tell your friend?
Study: What do these passages tell us about God taking delight in His people?
Apply: Think about how closely tied heaven and earth must be that God, the Creator of the universe, can be so intimately involved, even emotionally, with us. What hope should this amazing idea give you, especially if you are going through a hard time?
Share: Your friend says he hears people in the church talking bad about the youth and how worldly they dress and act. Everyone seems disappointed in them. What do you tell your friend?
There is a saying, “kids who are loved at home come to school to learn. Kids who are not loved at home come to school to be loved.” Is it any different in Sabbath School? Is it also true that God’s children (ages 0-125) who know they are loved come to Sabbath school to learn, and those who don’t yet know they are loved, come to Sabbath School to be loved?
I can still remember sitting at my desk in my 4th-grade classroom at Tulsa Adventist Academy, listening to my teachers, Miss Fisher and Mrs. Krueger, lecturing us about something. I don’t really remember exactly what it was about, but we must have been struggling with our grades, because all I remember is, both teachers told us, “If you only learn one thing this year learn this. We love you!” Now we were loved at home. We were loved at church and school, but as educated as my teachers were, they knew the most important thing is not money or a degree. It’s love. Without that nothing else matters, and when you know you are loved, nothing can stop you!
For the love of Christ controls and compels us, because we have concluded this, that One died for all, therefore all died (2 Corinthians 5:14 Amplified Bible)
So while humanity tries harder, and reads self-help books and tries 12-step recovery programs, Paul says it is by looking at the cross and knowing we are loved that we get all our power to succeed. I remember John the Baptist telling everyone to “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. John 1:29. He didn’t tell them to try harder next time. He told them to look at the Lamb. Let His love soak into you.
As legalistic humans we are always wanting to promise to try harder next time. But the answer is not promising to try harder. The answer is letting yourself be loved.
In Jeremiah God mentions how Israel had not kept the promises they had made, so He was going to make a better promise. His promise would be better because He is the the One making the promise instead of them. He is the perfect Promise-maker while we are lousy promise-makers!
“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. (Jeremiah 31:33 NLT)
So God promises to do for us what we could never even promise to do for ourselves, much less even try harder to make happen. God is the One promising, and He is the One who is accountable to make it so. Please notice something very important though. Its in Jeremiah 31:3 NLT, several verses before He promises to write His law on our hearts.
I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.
Just like my teachers realized all the book knowledge in the world doesn’t mean a thing without love, God feels the same way. Knowing all the laws and having them memorized in your mind and knowing them all by heart doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t know how much God loves you!
Friends, there is no reason for you to promise God you are going to try harder and do better next time. He has already promised you! We don’t need to promise God what He has already promised us! What? I don’t have any work to do myself? Well yes, and I will let Jesus tell you Himself, exactly what your work is.
Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” John 6:29 NLT
Our work is to believe God’s promise that He loves us with an everlasting love, and He will place the principles of His love (also known as His law) in our hearts!
This is why John never told us to try harder! Just look at the Lamb and let His love soak into your heart till your heart is saturated with His love, which is also His law. You don’t need to promise God anything. Your work is to believe the promises God has made to you!
In 2017, I don’t need too many self-help books. I don’t need to try harder. I just need to look at the Lamb in 2017 and fall in love with Jesus! His love will change me in ways I could never change myself. After all, all the self help books and promises of better performance don’t mean a thing without love!
So just how good is God at keeping His promises to love and save us? For brevity, let me share one example. You can read about it in Joshua 9-10.
The Gibeonites used deceit to trick Israel into letting them in on the covenant God had made with them. Even though Israel was not supposed to make a covenant with anyone living as close as the Gibeonites, they did. Later when the Gibeonites were under attack, they called upon Israel to save them, and even though the Gibeonites had used deceit to secure this covenant, God was so relentless in keeping His promise of love, that He caused the sun to stand still until the Gibeonites were all rescued! God fought for Israel as Israel fought for the mischievous Gibeonites. Let that soak in. The Gibeonites were in no way worthy of any of God’s blessings, but God was still so loving and faithful to His promise that He made the sun stand still until they were all rescued! Talk about a love that moves heaven and earth! And this powerful love was given to the most undeserving people! So, scientifically speaking, the greatest power in the universe is not gravity or the suctioning power of the black hole. God’s love overruled all those powers and made the solar system stand still. Imagine what this love can do in your heart!
God’s powerful promises and love are also for you and me. In Hebrews 13:5 God promises to never leave us or forsake us, but the Amplified Bible is the only English version that even begins to grasp what God is actually promising.
for He has said, “I will never under any circumstances desert you nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless, nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you- assuredly not!” Hebrews 13:5 Amp version.
If we know we are loved we can come to Sabbath School to learn, and we can learn while we are loved, but we can’t learn without love.
If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:2 NLT
People talk about how hard life is because they got married and had childen so early, or did not even get married at all and had children young. Or Life is hard becuase they did not get to finish school and get thier degree. The list goes on for reasons people say their life is hard. Here is the thing though, even if you don’t marry young, even if you get your degree, life is hard. And no, I am not saying its okay to have children without getting married first. What I am saying is, no matter what route we take in life, life is hard. Some trials and tribulations we bring on ourselves, while other trials and tribulations have nothing to do with our choices. At the end of the day, either way, life is hard. The question is, what helps us carry on through the storms of life til we get to sunnier days? The answer is love.
I have always been amazed at the trials and tribulations some people survive. I have read about people who survived concentration camps in world war 2. I have read about people who were lost at sea or in a jungle for days but still survied. I have read about people who endured and survived after an abusive relationship. What I have found is the people who surived did so because they knew they were loved. This love gave them the purpose to survive. Many times we think we are in the pursuit of happines when in reality we are in the pursuit of purpose. Fact is, we can survive uhappaniness as long as we know there is a purpose. It is love that gives us purpose. Many say they survived the concentration camps because they knew someone else was depending on them for hope and meaning. People have found ways to survive lost in the elements of nature, knowing someone was longing for them and searching for them. People have survived abusive relationships so they could love and protect someone more vulnerable than themselves.
On the other hand those who gave up, did not give up because life became too hard or difficult. Again, life is hard and difficult for us all, even for those who survive. Many have given up because they did not realize how loved they were. The crux of the great controversy between Christ and Satan is love. God is love, and the biggest lie in the universe has nothing to do with which day is sacred or what happens when you die. Satan’s biggest and most dangerous lie is that you are not loved. Everything hinges on this one Truth and that is that you are loved. Satan wants nothing more than to cast a huge cloud over you, so you can’t see God’s love shining on you or feel its warmth. If he can do that then it really doesn’t matter which day is sacred or what happens when you die. If Satan can make you feel unloved then all other Bible facts are meaningless. Life has no purpose without love. Think about it, God is kove. Without love God has no purpose. If Satan can convince you that God does not love you then He has just asassinated God in your mind. By convincing you God does not love you, Satan has just accomplished his purpose of removing God from the universe. Friend, it is very important not just to you but to the whole fabric of the universe that you understand that huge cloud hanging over you making you feel unloved is nothing more than a big fat lie! Love is not only the foundation to your personal wellbeing it is the foundation of the universe.
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV
If there is no love then there is nothing to have faith in or hope for. If there is no love then there is no purpose not only for you but for the entire universe. This is why babies born prematuely need to be held. Love gives purpose to survive without the baby even being counsiously aware of the fact. This is why my fourth grade teacher had to tell my class if we forgot everything else we learned that year she wanted us to remember she loved us. She knew that love was the motivation for learning. Without love knowledge has no purupose. In 1977 Reggie Jackson hit three home runs in a world series game for the New York Yankees. Later he said he never felt loved in New York till he hit those three home runs. I think its rather sad he felt like you have to hit three home runs in a world series game in order to feel loved.If that is so, then a lot of us are unloved! I also find it interesting that after several championship rings and millions of dollars, he was still talking about whether people loved him or not. This just reminds me there is no purpose in the universe without love.
Well I have good news for Reggie Jackson, my fourth grade class, every baby born prematurely and for ever person in the world. You are loved!
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:31-39 NKJV
When trials and tribulations cast a dark cloud over you, making you feel isolated and unloved, remember that dark could is nothing more than a big fat lie! You are loved. You are beyond loved. God sacrifed all He had for you. There is nothing God spared in this entire universe to make you know you are loved. Not only does this love give you purpose it gives God His true identty back. Without love not only is your life all out of whack, the entire universe is out of whack. Do you see why God’s love is so crucial to the great controversy between Christ and Satan? God is love, and God exists to shower His love on His creation. By making you feel unloved not only is Satan robbibng you of purpose, He is robbing God of His purpose! I want to make this clear. By making you feel unloved Satan is not assasinating you, He is assasinating God’s character and purpose for exisitng.
Thankfully love conquers all. Because of love we have the purpose to survive anything Satan throws our way. Because of love babies born prematurely not only can surive, but grow up to do such amazing things you would never guess they were once premature babies. Becuase of love my 4th grade class not only surived 4th grade but are barrelling into 2025 with all kinds of accomplishments and contributions that make those huge speed bumps in 4th grade look like little pebbles in the road, too small to even notice or remember. To be honest with you, I don’t even remember what we were struggling with that day our teacher had to lecture us. I can still see the look on her face and remeber there was a serious issue at the time, but for the life of me all I can remeber now is that we were loved. Whatever it was we survived, because here it is 2025 and we are not in 4th grade anymore. It’s amazing what you can survive and go on to accomplish when you know you are loved.
Remember the biggest fattest lie in the great controversy is that you are not loved. It doesn’t matter if you know what day is sacred or any other doctrine. With that one lie that you are not loved the entire frabric of the universe is thrown off kilter. There is no greater truth that needs to be preached right now than the truth that God is love. Without this one truth no other truths have purpose. Don’t let your fear of rejection keep you from showing love. Don’t let the fear of your love being unreturned keep you from showing love. Don’t let the fear of your love being unnapreciated keep you from sharing love. Keep sharing love until God has won the great controversy. God is love.
You may study this week’s Sabbath School lesson here.
Study: What do these passages teach us about God’s desire to save everyone?
Apply: How should we show our love and respect for every human being?
Share: Your friend asks, if God’s love is unconditional then why will some people be lost?
Read in Class:Deuteronomy 7:6-9. Ask the class to identify the main idea of this passage.
Study: What do these verses teach about the relationship between God making covenants and God’s lovingkindness?
Apply: What are ways that you can constantly keep the reality of God’s love in your thoughts? Why is it important to do that?
Share: Your friend says a certain man keeps coming by the church asking for money to buy food for his family, but only uses it for his drug addiction. How can we help free people from their bondage and addictions when they won’t even help themselves? What do you tell your friend?
Read in Class: 1 John 4:7-20. Ask the class to identify the main idea of this passage.
Study:What does this tell us about the priority of God’s love?
Apply: Think about what you have been forgiven and what it cost you to be forgiven by Jesus. What should this tell you about forgiving others?
Share: Your friend says she can never forgive her aunt for what she did to her and her family. It is beyond forgivable. What do you tell your friend?
Study: What do these passages teach about the relationship between God’s love, our love for God, and love for others?
Apply: What specific steps can you take to love God by loving others? What could you do today and in the coming days to show people God’s love and (eventually) invite them to enjoy what it means to have the promise of eternal life?
Share: Can you think of someone in your community who needs to be shown unconditional love? How can you show them God’s love this week?
Study: What do these verses reveal about God’s steadfast love for His people, now and before the world existed?
Apply: What does the fact that God continues to bestow love on this world, despite its fallenness and evil, tell us about His love and character? How should this truth cause us to love Him in return?
Share: Your friend says since God’s love is unconditional and everlasting, everyone will be saved no matter what. What do you tell your friend?
Read in Class: Matthew 22:1-14. Ask the class to define the main idea of this passage.
Study: What is the meaning of this parable?
Apply: What about your life reveals that you have accepted the wedding invitation and have come appropriately clothed?
Share: Your friend asks, “What does it mean that Many are called but few are chosen?” What do you tell your friend?
Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.” Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?”Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.” John 21:18-22 NKJV
Jesus’ gentle reminder to Peter is a reminder for us as well. How often do we as humans, get distracted by what is going on with other humans, when we are supposed to be following Jesus? In John 5:1-15, a man is distracted by the pool, and those getting in before him, and wondering why no one would help him. Finally he takes his eyes off the pool and those around him. He casts his eyes on Jesus and finds healing. In Matthew 11:1-11 John the Baptist begins to doubt when his faith could not see beyond the prison walls. John may have wondered, “Am I going to be left here to die? Why doesn’t God senfd a chariot of fire to come pick me up like He did for Elijah? Surely I deserve to be lifted up above the crowd in the same fashion as Elijah? Why wouldn’t God do for me the same as He did for Elijah? “Granted, I don’t know if John the Baptist ever thought that or not, but it sure seems he could have. If so, he would have just been human like the rest of us, including Peter, who was wanting to compare his fate to the fate of the other disciple. Thus Jesus’ simple yet profound reminder to Peter and the rest of us, “What is that to you? You follow me.”
When I was young, you never even heard the term “turnover rate” used for pastors. If someone was a pastor you knew they would be a pastor for life. Now there is such a thing as a turnover rate for pastors. With respect for the office diminishing, (Some of which is deserved but that is another lesson for another time.) increased conflict arises between congregations and pastors. Overwhelming stress, lack of support and feelings of isolation, like I am sure John the Baptist felt, have many pastors leaving for greener pastures. Now I have no doubt God may lead some pastors into another realm of service, but in most cases could it be the pastor is looking at greener pastures instead of looking to Jesus? Could it be the pastor is looking at the conflicts in the church instead of looking to Jesus? Could it be the pastor is comparing the respect given to pastors years ago with the respect he is given today? Could it be the pastor simply needs to do what the man in John 5 did and take his eyes off the pool and everyone around him, and place them on Jesus? Jesus, who was spit upon, beaten and crucified, does not tell us to compare ourselves to other pastors. He tells us to follow Him. Where did Jesus go? He went to the cross. Again I do not know what John the Baptist was thinking while confined by those prison walls, but I sure hope he was not comparing his ministry to Elijah and that chariot of fire that came and took him away. I hope he was looking to Jesus, as John did in a real sense follow Christ to the cross.
I know I am not telling you anything new, but today you may just need to be reminded, when you were baptized you did not give your heart to man, you gave it to Jesus. If people are letting you down in your ministry, rest assured people were never meant to be your solution. Has the church let you down? No worries, the church was never promised to be there for you. Psalm 46:1 tells us God is our ever present help in times of trouble. Don’t feel betrayed if the conference did not come through for you on a benefit you thought you were entitled to. The conference did not call you into ministry, God did, and the only benefit He promised you was a cross. You work for God and not for man. See Ephesians 6:7. When you were baptized Jesus did not promise you a chariot of fire. He did not promise you special honor and privilages, He did not promise everyone would love you. On the contrary He told you all would hate you for His sake. See Matthew 24:9. When Jesus asked you to follow Him the only thing He promised you was a cross.
Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.Luke 9:23 NKJV
You may be reading this thinking, “But I am not a pastor” but you are! The New Testament teaches the priesthood of all believers, and you have been called to pastor in some realm, which could be an actual church, or classroom, workplace or neighborhood. Wherever God is calling you to serve, please take your eyes off the “pool,” take your eyes off that other disciple who you think may have been given a better deal. Take your eyes off the people who are not cooperating and supporting you as you think you deserve. Place your eyes on Jesus, the Lamb who was freshly slain, and as He becons you with His nailed scarred hands, drown out all the noise from the crowd around you as He pleads, “Follow me.”
Main Theme: In this, our last week in John, we will look at some of this Gospel’s key points, which can help us move beyond the mere head knowledge of Jesus to, instead, knowing Him better and more closely abiding in Him and in His Word.
Read in Class: John 21:1-25. Have the class define the main idea of this chapter.
Study: What crucial truths are revealed here, especially about God’s grace—and human humility?
Apply: Why is humility so key in anyone seeking to know the Lord? In light of the Cross, what do any of us have to be proud of?
Share: Your friend points out that people jumped to the wrong conclusion about what Jesus meant in John 21:20-23. Your friend asks why people sometimes misunderstood Jesus’ words. What do you tell your friend?
Read in Class:John 1:4-10 and John 8:12. Ask the class to define the common thread of these passages.
Study: What great contrast is present here, and why is this contrast so foundational to understanding truth?
Apply: Read John 8:42-44. How does Jesus describe the false foundation on which the religious leaders of Israel had based their faith?
Share: Your friend asks you, “How do you respond to truths that “step on your toes,” as opposed to how you should respond to those truths?” What do you tell your friend?
Read in Class: John 4:46-54. Ask the class to define the main idea of this passage.
Study: What problem brought the official to Jesus, and what was the real underlying issue here?
Apply: What is the relationship between our love for Jesus and obedience? Why is any kind of “obedience” not based on love in danger of being legalism?
Share: Your friend asks you if you believe in Jesus because you have seen signs and miracles, or because of what the Bible says about Jesus. What do you tell your friend?
Read in Class: John 12:32 and John 15:1-11. Ask the class if there is a common thread in these two passages.
Study: What is it that draws people into a relationship with Jesus?
Apply: What is the secret of spiritual growth and health?
Share: What are some fresh and new revelations you have gained studying this quarter’s lesson, “Themes in the Gospel of John?”
Main Theme: John presents the Cross as the enthronement of Jesus, particularly tied to the idea of the hour, which is referred to numerous times throughout the book (John 7:30; John 8:20; John 12:27). This idea of enthronement is an ironic picture since crucifixion was the most ignominious and shameful way to die that the Romans used. This contrast points to the deeply ironic depiction that John presents: Jesus is dying in shame, but it is, at the same time, His glorious enthronement as the Savior.
Read in Class: John 18:33-19:5. Ask the class to define the main idea of this passage.
Study: What did Pilate and Jesus talk about? How did Pilate try to persuade the people to ask for Jesus’ release?
Apply: How scary—a pagan ruler wants to release Jesus while the spiritual leaders of the nation, who should have recognized Him, wanted Him crucified instead! What lessons can we take from this for ourselves?
Share: Your friend asks you, “how do you understand the idea of Jesus as the Truth?” What do you tell your friend?
Read in Class: John 19:25-30. Ask the class what the main idea of this passage is?
Study: What touching scene regarding Jesus’ mother happened at the cross?
Apply: When Jesus said, “It is finished,” what does that mean for each of us? What was finished, and how does that apply to our lives?
Share: Your pastor friend says he wishes he had time to help his ailing mother, but his ministry just keep him so busy that he can’t be there for his mother. What do you tell your pastor friend?
Read in Class: John 20:1-10. Ask the class to define the main idea of this passage.
Study: What was the meaning of the folded face cloth?
Apply: What is the importance to us about what is depicted in these verses?
Share: Your friend asks, “when Jesus was resurrected wouldn’t it have been more advantageous for Him to have gone at once to appear before all the leaders back in Jerusalem, instead of just appearing first to a woman who had been fighting addictions?” What do you tell your friend?
Read in Class:John 20:11-18. Ask the class what the main idea of this passage is?
Study: What happened here that shows why Mary Magdalene still did not understand the meaning of the empty tomb? What changed everything for Mary?
Apply: Read 1 Corinthians 15:12-20. According to Paul, what good is our Christian faith if Christ had not been raised from the dead?
Share: Your friend asks, how you know for sure that Jesus was really resurrected? What do you tell your friend?
Noticing that John 8:1-11 was not included in the current quarter’s study on Themes in the Gospel of John, I thought I would reshare an article I contributed in the past on the subject.
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1 NKJV
He told her he loved her. Said she was beautiful. Promised her she would be special. Next thing she knew she was being dragged out of bed by the friends of him who had dragged her into bed, and he who had praised and flattered her just stood and watched her being dragged away.
Now she was kneeling half naked, humiliated before Jesus. Eyes closed, not wanting to see the stones that would soon be crushing her head, she waited in terror. It seemed like eternity. When would it be over?
Barely peeking through one eye she sees Jesus doing something in the sand. Not sure what. She hears footsteps as men walk away. What is going on? Then she hears a word she had not heard in years directed at her.
“Woman…”
Jesus didn’t call her a “slut,” or “whore.” He called her “woman.” He was addressing her with the same title of respect that He gave to his own mother, who spoke with angels and gave birth to the Son of God.
“….where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” John 8:10 NKJV
She opens her eyes and looks around. They are all gone! She makes no accusations against the men. We know little about the background of this woman. She may or may not have been a victim of sex trafficking. But we do know that, terrified as she was, she was ready to face the consequences without blaming anyone else for the choices she had made, and the role she had played, which now brought her half-naked and humiliated into the presence of Jesus. Yet incredibly, as guilty as she was, it was her accusers who slunk away. As she lay helpless at His feet, there was no one to condemn her! When we fall helplessly at the feet of Jesus, there is no condemnation for us either.
He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” (John 8:10 NKJV)
What was next? A sermon? A lecture? Nowhere is it recorded, but I can imagine Jesus placing His coat over her near-naked body.
The Holy One Who would be hanging naked on a cross in front of the entire universe one day, takes off His robe and covers this woman, protecting her human dignity more than just covering her sexuality.
He doesn’t preach to her. He ministers to her.
Did you know you don’t have to be a preacher to be a minister? Ministering to sinners doesn’t always have to include a sermon. An-ill timed sermon can do more harm than good. Jesus could preach with the best of them, but He knew when to preach and when not to preach. He also knew when to minister.
He called her “woman.” He placed His coat over her near-naked body and gave her the sense of dignity she had been promised by the man who betrayed her trust. Then He did not preach to her with words, He ministered to her with words.
“Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” John 8:11 NKJV
His words were brief and clear, yet somehow we get them mixed up. Have we ever told someone “Go and sin no more, and then I will stop condemning you?” That’s not what Jesus said.
Jesus said clearly, “Neither do I condemn you.” Present tense.
“Go and sin no more.” Future tense.
Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” What Jesus did not say was, “If you go and sin no more then I won’t condemn you.”
The world told her they would stop condemning her once she stopped sinning. Jesus promised not to condemn her, so she could stop sinning.
They called her a whore and a slut. Jesus called her a woman.
A man promised her she would be special, and then humiliated and betrayed her. Jesus gave her dignity back and made her special.
There was no condemnation for this woman at the feet of Jesus, and there is no condemnation for you, when you kneel at the feet of Jesus.
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1 NKJV
Jesus does not condemn us, so we too may walk in the Spirit instead of the flesh.
You may Study this week’s Sabbath School lesson here.
Main Theme: This week’s lesson looks at how the Gospel of John presents the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but now within the context of the farewell discourse (John 13:1-17:26).
Study: How does this reveal the breach that sin caused, and what does it mean that it was God seeking them out, not vice versa?
Apply: These verses present the Father in close connection with Jesus Christ, His Son. The Father has intimate contact with our world and a deep investment in our salvation. What does this truth teach us about God’s love for us?
Share: Your friend says, “Jesus made the greatest sacrifice to come and die for us while all the Father had to do was watch from heaven.” What do you tell your friend?
Study: What do the following texts teach us about the relationship between Jesus and the Father?
Apply: How would your life be changed if your thoughts and actions were fully an expression of God’s will for your life? That is, how can we better live out what we know from Jesus is God’s will for our lives?
Share: Your friend asks how do we get to know God now that Jesus is up in heaven and no longer with us? What do you tell your friend?
Study: What do these passages teach us about the importance of the Holy Spirit for conversion?
Apply: How have you seen the Holy Spirit working in your conversion process?
Share: Your friend says that the Holy Spirit convicted her that the Sabbath is no longer binding. What do you tell your friend?
Read in Class: John 17:1-26. Have the class define the main idea of this passage.
Study: What words or phrases in this chapter express the desire of Jesus for a close relationship of love between Himself, the Father, and His disciples?
Apply: How can you better reflect the love of God, such as exists between Jesus and the Father, in your own life?
Share: Your friend asks how your church family reflects the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What do you tell your friend?
In Light of The Cross 
