Mercy triumphs over judgment. In this lesson, I explain how mercy positions you to receive God’s grace so that you can be empowered to walk free in the light of truth. Watch my full Strong Course on MessengerX: https://go.MessengerX.com/Strong

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when God starts something in our life it

usually begins with forgiveness but it

doesn’t stop there it moves beyond that

moment of forgiveness into the fullness

of freedom

hey friends so I’m super excited about

this one I’m going to be talking about

strong in Mercy Grace and light now this

woman I’m about ready to introduce you

to she does not have a name but she has

ended up being one of my most important

women in the Bible to observe to observe

she is an incredibly strong woman I

don’t know if you’ll see this right away

but it is the story of the woman caught

in adultery from John chapter 8 and I’m

going to read all of it because I want

you to hear all of it now why I loved

her so much and just before I even start

is I need to know what Jesus says to

obviously guilty women because I am and

have been an obviously guilty woman so

it’s important for me to watch his

interaction John chapter 1 and I’m going

to read all the way through to verse 12.

it says Jesus returned to the Mount of

Olives but early the next morning he was

back again at the temple a crowd soon

gathered and he sat down and taught them

now first of all I want you to see that

Jesus wasn’t one of those that was

standing he sat down he sat down among

the people so he’s sitting on the ground

the people are sitting at the ground

it’s Dawn the sun’s just coming up and

it says that as he was speaking the

teachers of religious law

and the Pharisees brought a woman who

had been caught in the act of adultery

they put her in front of the crowd so

think about this everybody is seated and

on the horizon you’re seeing some

religious leaders struggling with

possibly a half-clothed woman she

probably has a sheet wrapped around her

her hair is tousled it’s obvious that

she has come from a bed of Shame and

they are grabbing her and they stand her

up in front of Jesus

and they say teacher they said to Jesus

this woman was caught in the act of

adultery the law of Moses says to Stone

her what do you say

and Jesus I love this Jesus is standing

up because we hear him say they were

trying to trap him into saying something

they could use against him not against

her they didn’t really care about her

they were trying to trap him but Jesus

stooped down so he obviously it stood up

when they brought her stooped down and

wrote in the dust with his finger they

kept demanding an answer so he stood up

again and said all right but let the one

who has never sin throw the first stone

then he went back down again and wrote

in the dust

when the accusers heard this

they slipped away one by one beginning

with the oldest

now I want to pause there

they went away one by one the oldest

ones

first

as a woman who is older hey it’s what

happens when you turn 60 this year as an

older woman

I know why they went away the oldest

ones first

because the longer you live the more you

know you need mercy and the more you

know you need Mercy the quicker you will

be to extend mercy and then it says

until only Jesus was left in the middle

of the crowd with the woman now right

there

I find it really fascinating that this

woman

remained

and it says Jesus stood up again and

said to the woman

where are your accusers

didn’t even one of them condemn you

know no Lord she said and Jesus said

neither do I go and sin no more now I

want to tell you why I love this woman

I like to think of myself as Sitting In

This Crowd where Jesus was teaching

and I would imagine if I was that woman

as soon as the woman caught in adultery

not the crowd woman as soon as the last

person who could have stoned me had left

I’d be like thank you Jesus I am out of

here

but this woman

remained

she stood as an object of scorn until

all of the accusers had left and waited

which made me think

why

you know women who have lived their

lives in the shadow

come to the place where they’ve heard

what religion says

but this woman was not content to just

have her accuse her sleep

she wanted to hear Jesus speak directly

to her so she waited and when Jesus

spoke to her he said hey

I don’t condemn you either now you and I

both know that he was the only one who

could have condemned her but he didn’t

do that and he said go and sin no more

now it’s interesting people tend to

highlight the whole

I don’t condemn you you are without sin

cast the first stone

but I don’t think we realize the

incredible

power in what Jesus was saying here he

was saying I don’t condemn you but I’m

not stopping there in essence he told

her your past is not your future your

past was godlessness but your future is

godliness bondage was in your past but

freedom is in your future

shame was in your past but dignity is in

your future nakedness was your past but

garments of Splendor are in your future

Jesus does so much more than just

forgive this woman he sends her away

free when God starts something in our

life it usually begins with forgiveness

but it doesn’t stop there it moves

beyond that moment of forgiveness into

the fullness of Freedom I’ve been

actually Empower you to live a life free

from sin when he said go and sin no more

it was not a threat you know my son

Alexander he he he was he was a wild

thing and he did so many things so often

and one of the things he did I remember

that was a a landmark thing is he

thought it was a good idea to kick a

hole in the wall he kicked a hole right

outside of our master bedroom wall he he

just was like I just wanted to see how

strong I was and so we had this big hole

in the drywall and

thankfully we were still there’s a newer

house we had something else happen a guy

came along he fixed the drywall for free

we’re like that was the mercy of God

Alec that got that got fixed for free

but then a couple weeks later

he put his foot on the wall again in the

exact same place and

re-kicked a hole in the wall I remember

thinking why so we sat down and we said

Alec why would you have done this why

would you have kicked a hole again in

the wall right after you’d been shown

mercy and he was like Mom and Dad these

spankings they’re just not working I

just keep doing things well you know

what the law doesn’t work and I’m not

saying don’t spank your kids I’m not

saying that but the threat of if you do

this again you’re going to be under a

rock pile that’s not what Jesus was

saying he was saying I am showing you

Mercy Mercy is what triumphs over

judgment in our life Mercy is when we

don’t get what we deserve but I’m not

going to just stop with the mercy I’m

going to empower you with grace and

grace means that you and I can walk

free in in the ability that Mercy has

purchased for us and then what’s really

interesting to me a lot of times we just

stop right there but that’s not where

the passage stops it goes on to say that

Jesus next thing he said

I am the light of the world I am the

light of the world and he said he who

walks with me lives with me has

fellowship with me no longer walks in

darkness but they have the light of life

so when we hear God say go and sin no

more which is wonderful it’s permission

to walk in Freedom we also need to hear

that we have permission to leave behind

Shadow and shame and walk in light I

don’t know where you may feel like an

obviously guilty woman I I know that as

a young mother I felt like an obviously

guilty woman every single day when I

yelled when I wish I wouldn’t have

yelled maybe it’s a point of contention

with your husband maybe it’s something

that you just say I just feel like I

just keep doing it and you know Jesus is

going to put me under a rock pile no

he’s not he’s not he’s actually saying I

don’t condemn you

I’m also going to empower you to leave a

life of Shame and Shadow all of us have

areas of our life where the enemy grabs

us and throws us into the presence of

God and tries to accuse us

but Jesus refuses to say that our

present condition is our permanent

situation he is always going to speak

better things of us so I want to Echo

what he is saying to you

I want to give you full permission to

leave behind a life of guilt

and shame I want to give you full

permission to stand in the presence of

God until Jesus speaks directly to you

it’s not going to be enough for you to

be strong in what I say I want to give

you permission to bring that one thing

that the enemy is always accusing you

about into the presence of Jesus that

I’m going to challenge you to remain

there until he speaks to you until he

speaks Mercy until he speaks Grace until

he speaks light and then I’m going to

celebrate that you’re going to leave the

shadow realm and you’re going to walk

forward in the light and the strength of

his word and his freedom I believe this

is the time again that God wants to

speak very very pointedly and very very

intimately to areas in our life that

have just come under the sway of Shadow

because of busyness because of

distraction and because to be quite

honest we just didn’t think it was

important to deal with it

I’m going to challenge you to go into

the presence of God and let him speak I

do not condemn you go

sin no more leave this place of Shame

leave this place of accusation sin no

more and walk in the light of my love in

Jesus name rise up strong

[Music]