{The seed thought for this lesson is from Rev. Scott Phillips, In Him By Him Through Him Ministries.}

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We understand that all of the scripture is the inspired Word of God because the Holy Ghost moved upon the writers and told them what to record. But especially powerful are those parts of scripture where the actual spoken word of God is recorded. For instance, when God speaks directly to the prophet Isaiah, or when the actual words and phrases of Jesus are recorded in the Gospels. A song came out a few years ago that said "there is truth and life in the red letters." How true that song is and any study of the Words of Jesus Christ is certainly profitable. But in this lesson we want to look at the relatively few times that Jesus did not respond verbally to someone. We want to look at the times that God chose to be silent.

In our Old Testament text we read a verse composed by David which illustrates an important principle to remember when studying God's silence:

We will find that God was only silent to those who were traveling a road that was eternally lost. David knew that if the Lord was silent to him, then he would be just like those people. So as we look at the times when the Lord was silent to people, remember that we want to learn the lesson of the silence so that we do not make the same mistakes. Whatever you do, you do not want the Lord to be silent toward you. Probably everyone here knows the power of the Word of God being spoken and obeyed in your life. It has the ability to bring faith, to bring hope, and to bring salvation. If that is true, then when the Word of God does not go forth, we have the exact opposite. Whatever it is that causes God to respond in silence we want to avoid those things at all costs!

There are at least four instances where the scriptures say that the Lord chose silence rather than response. Let's take them one by one and look carefully tonight at a tremendous lesson that is taught by them:

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The first such instance occurred in the story that we read about in our text in John 8. The Jewish religious leaders were trying to set Jesus up to do something for which they could arrest Him. One morning as Jesus was teaching in the temple, they found a woman in the very act of adultery and literally dragged her from the adultery bed to the floor of the temple at Jesus' feet. According to the laws of Moses, which they were still under, the lady was to be stoned. There was no question of guilt and there was no gray areas as to the laws of God for that time. The question was, "what would Jesus do?" Rather than take her outside the city and giver her the punishment that she deserved under the law, the Jewish leaders decided to tempt Jesus with the situation. So instead of taking her to her death, they threw her down at His feet and then said "Moses says to stone her, what do you say?"

The issue here was not that the woman was not guilty or deserving of death, but that the Jewish leaders really cared less about Moses' law being followed and more about finding something to accuse Jesus Christ whose teaching and preaching had exposed their inconsistencies and their own sin. Jesus looked beyond the black and white situation of sin and saw their motives and intentions. There are many things that He could have done and said here. And all would have affected how we live today. The interesting thing is that Jesus bent down and begin to write and draw in the sand that covered the floor of the courtyard. The scriptures say that He did it "as though He heard them not." Simply put, God chose to be silent.

When we are judged at the end of our lives, it is not going to be God or man that judges us, but rather our own actions and deeds that judge us. Her own actions proved that the woman was guilty and she needed no pronouncement from Jesus or any other person to seal that fact. Jesus did not condone her adultery. This story is not about teaching us to promote, ignore, make place for, smile on, or wink at sin. Peter told us that now the time has come that "judgment must begin at the house of God." In other words, we need to preach against sin and it's consequences and stand openly and boldly against such actions in our own lives. There should be no question of that in true believers minds that sin is sin and we want to avoid living in such actions. But this story is about more than sin, it is about mercy and it is about a powerful lesson taught to us by God's silence.

It's about mercy because even though the woman was guilty by all charges, Jesus simply told her after all the accusers were gone "I don't accuse you, go and sin no more." In other words "I know you sinned and you know that you are guilty, but I'm giving you a second chance at life. If that is not the message of Jesus Christ, then what is? How many of us have received second and third and even more chances to choose life, when our own actions clearly declared our guilt and our deserving of eternal death!? God hates sin, and He does not condone it in any way, yet Jesus Christ in flesh showed us the proper attitude of mercy toward sinners. No matter how holy and righteous you are it is not your place to accuse or kill others because of their sinful actions. We must preach and teach and live against sin, but always remember when you begin to point out to others their personal faults, that you have them too.

Jesus didn't answer her accusers. In fact, the scriptures say that he bent and began to write in the sand. When pressed about His decision, He simply said, "alright go ahead and stone her, but let you who have no sin cast the first stone." One by one, the stones fell to the ground and the accusers left until only Jesus Christ and the woman were there. I have often wondered what is was exactly that caused the Jewish leaders that were ready to stone the woman to leave. It had to be more than just that simple statement. The Pharisees prided themselves in their outward holiness, it would have been nothing for them to say, "well, we are holy enough to stone her." There was something extra going on here.

One of the extra things within this story, is that obviously the Jewish leaders knew the woman and had known of her adultery for quite some time. That is shown by the fact that they knew where and when to catch her in the very act of adultery at the exact time that Jesus just happened to be in the temple. I do not think it was coincidence. Surely the act of adultery was taking place behind closed doors. Surely the parties involved were trying to somewhat hide their actions. The fact that the Jewish leaders could conveniently find her in the very act right when they needed to indicates that many of them had known about the sin for some time, and perhaps even some of them had the same kind of relationship with the woman.

Another of the extra things about this story is that whatever Jesus was writing in the sand obviously caused enough conviction for the accusers to leave. The scriptures do not say what He was writing, but I have often wondered if it were not the hidden sins and faults of the accusers. Could it be that there were adulterers standing in that crowd that stood there defiantly because they thought that their sins were hidden, only to look down and with astonishment see Jesus write their hidden life out on the floor!? Something happened beyond Jesus' words that caused them to get out of there as quickly as possible.

So you see the problem with the Jewish leaders' accusations was not that the woman was not scripturally wrong, the problem was that they had inconsistencies in their lives that the preaching and teaching of Jesus had pinpointed, that they did not want to change and so it was easier to make them feel better by publicly decrying the faults of someone else. Their accusations proved that they too had faults, because the only one there who was perfect, Jesus Christ, refused to publicly accuse the woman.

Jesus was not okaying adultery, He was not blessing the woman for her lifestyle, He was not saying as some have interpreted, that the woman could live as she wanted because of God's great grace. But the reason and lesson behind Jesus' actions toward this woman is found in the words that He spoke after the silence.

The lesson that Jesus was trying to teach us. The lesson of the silence was this: "walk in the light." Light is a soundless energy that illuminates the area around it. You cannot turn up the volume on Light. It is not loud. It does not verbally accuse with sound, but it still reveals the truth nonetheless. There are times in our life when the greatest witness to wrong is the right that you do. Quietly doing right in a situation is light. If your motives are right, then there is no need to point out the faults of others, because they will be obvious in the revelation of the light of your life. Jesus did the right thing, and He did so without speaking.

As you walk with God, you are going to confront situations of obvious sin in people's life just as this woman had. Remember that the greatest light that you can do is by silently obeying the Word of God in front of them. It is a characteristic of some Christians that they tend to openly and vocally criticize when others struggle with something over which they have gotten deliverance. If you have the revelation of something, and God has dealt with you in a certain area, then live in that light. Walk in that light. Let Jesus shine through that light. Don't compromise that light. Allow the light of that truth to shine through you for all to see.

But what you cannot do, is to become like the Jewish leaders that accused that woman that day. While standing for truth, we must avoid that spirit of accusation of others faults just as avidly as we resist compromise in our message. There are some that get deliverance of a particular area in their life and they then verbally hammer everyone about it. They get delivered from alcohol and then they feel as if it is important to tell everyone that drinks about how evil they are. They go out of their way to point out the evils to the unbeliever, but do so in a condemning way. The problem is that they do so in a way that comes across that they are "better" than the person that they are condemning. Remember that when you accuse, you are essentially being prideful because you are lifting yourself up above that person. Get the mental picture of that day in our text: the guilty woman is on the floor, and the Pharisees are all standing over her with rocks in their hands. Jesus quickly stooped to the floor. He did not want to be identified in any way with such a prideful spirit. Yet Jesus never sinned. He did not condone adultery. Yet He is in the business of patiently and mercifully converting sinners to righteous lives. To do that you must get off of the accusing position and be willing to bend down in love to the person who is guilty.

Thank God for truth. Thank God for the Message of our salvation. Thank God for the truth of Jesus' name baptism and the difference that it brings in our life. Thank God for our outward holiness and the purer lives that God calls us to in every area of our life. Thank God that He gives us deliverances from every vice that destroys our bodies and brings so much pain and hurt into our life. Thank God that He gave us the Holy Ghost and though it begins to convict us of the weights and sins in our lives that so "easily beset us." Thank God for the life changing, out-of-the-world bringing, power of the Holy Spirit working within our lives. Thank God for all of that. And I as your pastor am ordained and commanded by God to preach those things and not worry about being politically correct, and you as saints are commanded to "let your light shine." We know who Jesus Christ is, I'm secure in my scriptural knowledge of what I believe and I'm thankful for you who are getting the revelations of truth in all of these areas, but at all times we also ask ourselves in what spirit do we present the truth!?

When a town in Samaria rejected Jesus' message, and James and John asked Him if He was going to call down fire from heaven, Jesus responded:

Ask yourself the question "what manner of spirit" do I witness in? Do I present the truth in a way that causes others to be hungry for more, or do I present it in a way that turns people away!? My wife and I have definite beliefs that we follow in our life. I have studied the scriptures thoroughly and not just read certain scriptures that some book told me to read. The doctrinal stands that I take, I know why I believe them. I'm not trying to sound arrogant, but I want you to know that if I'm not sure on something, then I'll tell you, but the areas that I take a definite stand on, I do so because I know what the scriptures say about it and I have taken the whole counsel of God. I didn't take somebody's word for it. Everything that you see my wife and I do that is different from this world, we have scriptural reasons for doing so. I know that Jesus Christ is the only true God and that the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost are simply titles that refer to different ways that the one God has revealed Himself. I can go verse by verse through ALL of scripture and prove that. I know that the only way anyone is saved according to Jesus and the Early Apostolic Church is by repenting of their sins to God, having faith that He can help them, being baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of their sins and receiving the Holy Ghost with the evidence of a changed lifestyle and at the moment of reception speaking in a heavenly language. I know that God calls us out of a world of sin to a life of separation and holiness. I know that we must be holy (pleasing to God in our everyday life) to be saved according to scripture. I understand that if a person allows the Holy Ghost to work freely in their life, that it will convict us and change the way we talk, walk, dress, and act. I believe that. My wife and I live everyday to an extent, and probably stricter than any other person in here. I'm not saying that to build myself up, but just to point something out to you:

Everyone of you walked first walked into this church with something about your life against the Word of God and against what my wife and I stand for and preach and teach. Not one of you can stand tonight and say that I hammered you to change those things, or that my wife accused publicly and announced those faults to others in this church. I preached the truth, and I taught on certain subjects as I felt led by the Holy Ghost. When the Holy Spirit has begun to convict some of you about certain things, or when you have had specific questions on why I lived a certain way, my wife and I have been completely open to you and have answered you with "the scriptures say..." We have not treated one of you differently because you were struggling with a certain area of your life, regardless how serious a sin it was or how much we could not imagine ourselves struggling in such a way. We have always tried to present the truth to you in the attitude of "yes, what you are doing is wrong because of this scripture and this scripture, but God wants to set you free, and help you and we want to help you." Not once have we been condescending to you or anyone else that did not believe as we do and publicly bring attention to such a trait. Yet at the same time, we have not changed one thing about what we believe and still believe everything even more strongly than I did when I came here.

My point is the lesson of the silence of Jesus is that when you take it upon yourself to verbally point out the areas of struggle in other people's lives that you have gotten victory over in an effort to force them to change, you become of the spirit as those men who were standing around with stones. You are doing so to cover your own weaknesses, and are placing yourself in a place that even Jesus does not want to partake of.

We must preach against sin and we must live according to the work that God has done in our lives, but realize that it is obvious the pain that sin and living according to this world brings. Everything that we teach and preach in this church, is a better way to live. That woman caught in the act of adultery was publicly humiliated, her family was embarrassed, her marriage was ruined, her name forever tainted, and her humiliation and pain would last for the rest of her life because of her willful sin. Deep in her heart, she knew that what she was doing was wrong. It was her decision to live against the written Word of God. But Jesus understood something that the accusers did not: if this woman is ever to be won and reached, I cannot stand as an accuser, but I must show mercy and offer to help. You will never win anyone by preaching the truth to them in the spirit of those men in our story. You will never win anyone by presenting the truth of God in a condescending way. You will only push them away and make them more resolute to continue in sin. But Jesus showed us the way to win them: don't condone their sin, but walk in the light. Don't prove to them by words only, but by action, by your life, by walking in the revelation that God has shown you!

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It is a fact of scripture that God uses imperfect vessels to lead people to purity. God uses men with partial knowledge of truth to lead people to a place of complete truth. We must never compromise the truth of God's Word and what we stand for, yet we must realize that when someone has not been taught the whole truth, means that God wants us to take them to the next level. That is a tremendous responsibility. To whomsoever much is given, much is required. If you sit in this church and you know the truth of this precious message, and have a revelation of God's plan that is not partial, then you have much. \

Acts 10 and 19 are perhaps the best records of this principle in action. In Acts 10, we read of Cornelius who was a sincere man walking the truth that he had knowledge of at the time. He fasted and prayed. He gave tithes and offering. He attended church. He was a "just" man or, in other words, a good, religious person. He lived at the level of repentance. He had never been baptized at all; He had never received the Holy Ghost. Those things are essential for salvation and they are very necessary according to scripture, we know that. But notice what happened in Cornelius' life: he was hungry for God, and so God directed him to Peter who had a complete revelation of truth. Before the week was over, Cornelius and all of his family members were baptized in the name of Jesus, and filled with the Holy Ghost just as happened on the Day of Pentecost. But before that could happen, God had to teach Peter a lesson about how that he wasn't as spiritual as he thought he was, and that he was not to think of himself as better or above the Gentiles.

What would have happened if Peter would have gone into Cornelius' house with the attitude that "I walked with Jesus and I have the Holy Ghost and so I'm better than you are, and you are beyond me, and you are doing this wrong, and this wrong and you need to change this and this...?" But Peter did not do that. He went in there with the attitude, God is no respector of persons, let me show you the change that He made in my life and that He can also do for you. Let me show you what else God has waiting for you.

In Acts chapter 19 we find the same principle in place. Disciples of John the Baptist were at Ephesus trying to start a church based upon half truth. They believed in Jesus Christ and yet had not been baptized in His name and had never even heard of the Holy Ghost. When Paul ran into them, he simply asked them "have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" Then he asked about their baptism. He then looked at them and said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance saying that they should believe on Jesus Christ. In other words, Paul presented the truth to those people, not "you are going to hell because of this and this missing in your life." But rather "John had part of the truth, now the next step is this!" Before the day was over all twelve of the men had been baptized in Jesus' name and were filled with the Holy Ghost, and certified tongue-talkers! What made the difference? The Spirit in which Paul approached them. They could tell from his life and ministry and anointing that there was a difference, and that made them want the difference!

Just as the woman could tell a difference between the actions of Jesus and her accusers, so must people be able to see the revelation that we have in the way that we live. Our outward dress is very important because the Bible says it is, but even more important is our attitude toward others who are guilty of sin and are behind us spiritually. You can have your doctrine right and your dress right and you lifestyle down, but give an attitude of arrogance and cockiness and pride that turns a world off from truth! Your attitude toward others can be the determining factor of whether or not they are lost or saved! Live the word and allow the man of God, and the Holy Spirit to point out the areas that need to change in others life. And even if you are kin to them doesn't cause you to be above this principle. You worry about living in the light and walking in the light yourself, and do so with an attitude of mercy that causes your light to reach even the darkest regions!

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Two of the other times that Jesus was silent were before these same accusers with the same spirit. They were more concerned with proving how "righteous they were" than reaching others with truth.

Verse 59, says that the accusers "witness did not agree together." In other words, it was obvious that they were lying and that they had impure intentions from a careful comparison of their words and their lifestyle. And to that Jesus refused to answer.

Let me ask you a question. Does your witness agree together? To people hear you adamantly crucify certain sins and yet see something in your life in which you struggle with!? Are you quick to point out the faults in others, but would rather not have Jesus show up and start revealing your secrets in the sand!? If your witness doesn't agree, then it will be obvious to the people that you are trying to win. And most importantly, it causes God's silence. It causes God to be silent toward you.

I want you to notice Pilate's response. Jesus never said a word in response to the accusers, and yet Pilate knew that He was innocent. Your power of convincing others of truth lies not in how loud or adamant or quick you are to point others faults, but in whether or not in the worst of times you live and walk in the light. There were people who had never believed in Jesus Christ's ministry that became believers because of simply how Jesus Christ conducted Himself during His death: Pilate, Pilate's wife, the Roman soldiers at Golgatha...

I close with this, the last incident where God was silent. It occurred when Jesus was on trial with Herod:

There was more to this story than just Herod wanting to see miracles that caused God's silence. John the Baptist had been the man of God in Herod's life. John the Baptist had pointed out that Herod had committed adultery with his brother's wife and then married her. In order to get right with God, John the Baptist said, Herod needed to correct the situation. Such preaching got him on the bad side of Herod's wife and eventually Herod gave in to the pressure to have John the Baptist beheaded.

God anoints and gives the authority to men of God to preach and teach the truth with boldness. Yet in personal witnessing and everyday encounters, we must not assume such a stance. I will never apologize for my bold preaching of what God has anointed me to say, because it is my office as the pastor of this church to take a stand for truth over this pulpit. But understand that being called to witness is not the same as being called to preach. There is a difference in even my approach in a Bible Study and over the pulpit. I do not compromise my message, but I cannot afford to have a condescending attitude toward others either.

The point here is that Herod killed the man of God in his life when he did not like what the man of God had to say. So when Jesus Christ stood before Herod, He refused to say anything. The lesson of the silence here is "when you refuse to listen to the man of God in your life who has spoken in truth, then God will be silent." If you cannot hear God's mouthpiece, then you will not hear the direct voice of God either. You need a man of God in your life to be saved.

As the man of God in this church, I have preached to you what thus saith the Lord. God wants to use you all to win souls to the kingdom of God. But we must "walk in the light." We must avoid God's silence. We do that by living as we should according to the Word of God and never compromising our doctrine that is based upon truth. But we also "walk in the light" by living in truth with the attitude that is not condescending or that does not publicly point out the faults of others around us. We must be so confident of truth that we are not intimidated by someone who has only partially received it, so that we can reach them. We walk in the light by listening to the spiritual direction that the man of God gives us no matter whether it is what we want to hear or not. We cannot afford to be as one of those to whom God is silent!