Didn't Jesus Tell The Woman Caught In The Act Of Adultery To Turn From Her Sins?

John 8:1-11, “Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all 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; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto 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 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: and 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 unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”

I don't see any reference in this Scripture passages about woman caught in the act of adultery, or the man who was afflicted for 38 years which we will address next, that they were saved during their interactions with Jesus. The issue was that the woman had been caught "in the very act" of committing adultery. Interestingly, the Pharisees didn't bring the man, who was also caught in the act. I think that is what Jesus pointed out to them when He wrote something on the ground with His finger. But we don't know what He wrote. We can only speculate. But the fact of the matter is that they failed to drag the guilty man to Jesus. What hypocrites!

Turning from one's sinful behavior is not required to be saved. Repentance is necessary for salvation, but Bible repentance simply means "to think differently." What must we think differently about? The Bible mentions "repentance toward God" in Acts 20:21. The Bible mentions "repentance to the acknowledging of the truth" in 2nd Timothy 2:25. Hebrews 6:1 mentions "repentance from dead works." But nowhere does the inspired King James Bible mention "repent of your sins." Christ came into the world to die in our place on Calvary's cross, to pay down our debt of sin; but He does not require that we first commit to reform our life of sin.

A proponent of the heresy of Lordship Salvation challenged my theology this week on Facebook. He asked, "Would God put His Holy Spirit in a filthy vessel?" He was alleging that God will not save a person who lives an unholy life; that God will not indwell a person who is unwilling to try to stop sinning. Sadly, it just shows that he has never been saved, and he is sinfully leaning upon his own understanding instead of trusting God's inspired Word. I replied to him that, 

"Yes, God will indwell a filthy vessel. We are all filthy. Even the best Christian is still a filthy vessel, except that we have been made righteous in God's sight by FAITH in the precious blood of Jesus that cleanseth all our sins away."

The guy kept arguing and trying to convert me over to his Lordship Salvation garbage, so I unfriended him. I don't waste my time arguing with fools. I am trying to feed Jesus' sheep. I don't mind having atheists for friends, if they want to learn and respect the truth, but I don't give space to false teachers to promote their damnable heresy. The Apostle Paul in Galatians 2:5 said that he refused to listen to a false teacher for even one hour, to protect the simplicity of the Gospel. Galatians 2:4-5, "And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you."

The Bible definitely teaches that believers should depart from iniquity. I like what Brother Lester Roloff said: "God saved you so that you wouldn't live like that anymore." But even the best saint still chooses to sin at times (Romans 7:14-25). When we do choose to sin, God's saving grace abounds, so that we can never again be in danger of going to Hell (Romans 5:20, 6:1; John 3:18). Believers call "in grace," but never "from grace." Only the unsaved person who is attempting to get to Heaven by WORKS has fallen from grace (Galatians 5:4). It is IMPOSSIBLE for a redeemed child of God to fall from God's saving grace, no matter how deep into sin we may choose to go. We are saved by Jesus' goodness, and not our own. Isaiah 64:6 teaches that even our best righteousness is total filthy to God. Even committing one sin alienates us from God (James 2:10).

Jesus Tells Man Afflicted With Disease For 38 Years To Sin No More

John 5:1-14, “After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath. The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place. Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.”

Jesus told the man whom he healed (who had been physically crippled by an affliction for 38 years), that he must go and sin no more lest a worse thing happen to him. It is my humble opinion that the man may have suffered from STD's because of fornicating, which ruined his health. It is apparent to me that whatever affliction he had, it was caused by committing a particular sin. That is speculation of course. We don't know what caused his situation, but the fact that Jesus told him not to continue sinning, to me suggests that the man had caused his own dilemma. In general biblical terms, all bodily affliction is caused because we are inherently sinful by nature and by choice. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

Jesus also exhorted the woman in John chapter 8 to “Go, and sin no more.” Obviously this didn't mean she would be perfect. It just meant that she should avoid the same situation that she had created for herself by committing adultery, likely prostitution. Some Bible students claim that this was Mary Magdalene, but we don't know. We do know that Jesus cast the demons out of Mary Magdalene and she became one of His most loyal followers. I am not saying that these people who were healed by Jesus didn't get saved, but there is nothing in either passage that says they BELIEVED ON HIM.

The Bible does teach that believer should turn away from sinful ways, because we are saved. 2nd Timothy 2:19, "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." It is important to make these distinctions:

• Roman Catholics errantly teach to be saved a person MUST do good works.
• Calvinists errantly teach that a saved person WILL do good works.
• The Holy Bible teaches that a saved person SHOULD do good works.

That is the issue, adding works to faith to be saved, which is heresy. My favorite preacher quote is by Pilgrim's Progress author John Bunyan:

“If you do not put a difference between justification wrought by the man Christ without and sanctification wrought by the Spirit of Christ within, you are not able to divide the Word aright; but contrariwise, you corrupt the Word of God, and cast stumbling blocks before the people.” —John Bunyan (1628-1688)

What a great quote! John Bunyan understood that the new birth is by faith alone without works, and that living the Christian life (which includes continually turning away from our sins) was a completely separate matter of discipleship, not sonship. The former matter is salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9), and the latter service (Romans 12:1). So, in my humble opinion Jesus told the woman taken in adultery, and the man who had been bodily afflicted for 38 years, to turn from their sins as a matter of self preservation, not to be saved.

As an Old Testament example, when the Ninevites responded to Jonah's preaching, they turned from their evil ways and God spared judgment upon their nation. Jonah 3:10, "And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not." Notice that God saw their WORKS, that they turned from their evil ways. Turning from one's sinful ways is WORKS. Also, please notice that "God repented of the evil." That is, God changed His mind about bring destruction upon the Assyrians. Here we see that repentance doesn't mean turning from one's sins in the Bible, because God cannot sin and God Himself repented. We also see that God saw their WORKS, that they turned from their evil way. Turning from sin is WORKS!!!

The main reason why churches are filled with so much sin today is because pastors no longer want to preach against sin as they ought. Most churches today are nothing more than entertainment fun centers. Most churches today are pathetic. Pastors need to preach against sin, all sin. Today's woeful lack of pulpit preaching has consequently caused churches to stop warning lost sinners about coming imminent Hell, fire and judgment.

Without Bible preaching against sin, there won't be Holy Spirit conviction and souls saved. The Gospel (Good News) is worthless without the Bad News (the truth that we are all guilty sinner deserving of death and burning in a literal Lake of Fire forever). Ungodly pastors like Joel Osteen are afraid to tell people the truth that they are all rotten, dirty, guilty, sinners. Today's dead pulpit sermons are so drastically foreign to true Bible preaching. Jesus told the woman taken in adultery, and the man who was afflicted for 38 years, not to sin anymore.

To clarify what I am trying to get across to you dear friend, we should all turn away from our sinful ways as God's children, but we must never combine and confuse living the Christian life with God's free gift of salvation. One thing has nothing to do with the other. I like how Pastor M.R. DeHaan explains it:

"There is a vast difference between coming to Jesus for salvation and coming after Jesus for service. Coming to Christ makes one a believer, while coming after Christ makes one a disciple. All believers are not disciples. To become a believer one accepts the invitation of the Gospel, to be a disciple one obeys the challenge to a life of dedicated service and separation. Salvation comes through the sacrifice of Christ; discipleship comes only by sacrifice of self and surrender to His call for devoted service. Salvation is free, but discipleship involves paying the price of a separated walk. Salvation can't be lost because it depends upon God's faithfulness, but discipleship can be lost because it depends upon our faithfulness." —Pastor M.R. DeHaan, “Hebrews”; Zondervan Publishing House; 1959 (p. 117)

Dear reader, God authored the entire Gospel of John to show us how to get to Heaven, which is by faith alone in Jesus Christ, trusting Him because of what He did through Calvary's cross to pay our debt of sin, and believing that He resurrected bodily from the dead the third day. If either the woman in John chapter 8 or the man in John chapter 5 had been saved, then the Bible would have told us so, but it doesn't.

We must never confuse the believer's sanctification (which should result in living a changed life), versus justification that saves a lost sinner by faith alone. You don't have to turn from your sinful behavior to receive God's free gift of eternal life. The misnomer that you could ever even "turn from your sins" is impossible. No one has ever turned from your sins! You may have rid your life of the worst sins, but I don't care how good of a Christian you may think you are today, you are still a dirty sinner!!! All we can do, at best, is to try to live above reproach with God's help (Galatians 2:20). Thank you for reading.

Sin Always Thrills And Then It Kills;
Sin Always Fascinates And Then It Assassinates.