Changed By The Word

John 8:1-11

The word of God activated in our lives through faith and obedience has the power to change every situation that we find ourselves in.

We have in the 8th chapter of John, the story of a woman who was caught in the very act of Adultery. She was brought forcibly before Jesus by the religious hierarchy of her town. Adultery is, voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and another who is not the lawful spouse, it is a terrible sin in the eyes of God. The religious said to Jesus that the law commanded such a person to be stoned to death, but that they wanted to know what He had to say about this law. I want you to note that the casting of stones at people when caught in sin is the religious way of doing things, it says: you deserve to die and be punished for your sin.

Jesus answers these leaders in verse 7 and says: “He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone, the Bible goes on to say that one by one, the people that wanted to stone her began to leave until the woman was left alone in Jesus presence.

I want to get to the meat of this message and believe that it will be of blessing to you. What happened next in the life of this woman would change her for ever, the word that she would hear, once activated by faith and obedience would totally transform her life.  Notice that He said unto her, “neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more”. He did not rebuke, cast out or lay hands. The word condemn means: judge, sentence, put to trial. This was the word of grace to this woman.

The word Go means: to depart, to remove oneself from, and to walk away from. Jesus was saying, depart and walk away from the sin of Adultery. I do not condemn you, so now leave behind the life style of Adultery. He goes on to say  “and sin no more” the word sin means: To miss the mark, trespass, go astray, do wrong etc.

This was the answer given to the woman, a WORD. This put the responsibility upon her, she was free from her past, but in order to have a future she was going to have to obey in faith the word given.

It is interesting to see in the Bible that when a demon possessed person came to Jesus he would cast the demon out. When a sick person came to Jesus He would lay his hands on them and command the sickness to go. But when this woman came to Him bound by sin and adultery He gave her a WORD of faith.

In the body of Christ we want to lay hands on every person in sin and bound by strongholds of the flesh and cast the sin out and sadly many times it changes nothing in the person’s life. Now there are times when the situation demands laying hands and praying for a person, and we must do it. However, when we teach and preach the word and people put their faith into action and obey the word, their minds will be renewed and change will come.

Pastor Esteban San Martin

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