Randy McCarthy 

In this third sermon that Randy delivers on our Conscience, he points out that God has given us His commands regarding right from wrong in different ways, such as through  the natural law that is written on our hearts (Rom 2:5) and the Mosaic Law (Acts 13:39).  Randy points out that these forms of law condemn us, cause our conscience to accuse us, and there is no mechanism in these forms of law to bring us relief.  By contrast, the Gospel brings us relief to our condemnation when we believe on Christ and follow Him in a conversional sense.  Randy illustrated this by discussing the woman who was taken in adultery (in John 7:37 to John 8:12).  Jesus had previously cried out offering living (moving) waters to those who thirsted and came to him in faith (John 7:37).  There was much self-righteous scoffing of these words by the religious leaders (Pharisees), and the next day these unbelieving men sought to trap the Lord Jesus by casting a woman before Him who had been taken in the act of adultery, demanding whether she should be stoned in accordance with the Law of Moses.  Jesus responded by writing in the dust on the temple floor, stood and challenged that a man without sin cast the first stone at her, and then commenced to write again in the dust.  The men then left one by one, being convicted by their own consciences, until all were gone.  We don’t know what was written, but it was apparently important and led to their condemnation.  Randy suggested that Jesus may have written the text from Jeremiah 17:13 (O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.).  Randy suggested that Jesus wrote this as a warning to these self-righteous men, and because they continued to demand of Him, it is possible that Jesus began to write their names and their sins in the earth, in fulfillment of this prophecy.  By contrast, Jesus extended mercy and forgiveness to the woman, telling her that He did not condemn her, and that she should go forth and not sin any more.  This is a wonderful illustration of how Jesus, through the Gospel, cleanses us.

Bill McCarthy followed up with closing comments on how we should be meek, which means to be submissive to the will of God as we present ourselves to all men.  Titus 3:2-3; Gal 5:22.

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