Greg Laurie - How to Start All Over Again (12/09/2018)
- Watch
- Donate
- Become Partner
Pastor Greg Laurie tells the powerful story from John 8 of the woman caught in adultery, whom Jesus forgave and transformed instead of condemning. He shows how God offers mercy, forgiveness, and new life to anyone caught in sin—including sexual immorality—and invites us to turn from sin, find true satisfaction in Christ, and change our eternal destiny from hell to heaven.
A Life-Changing Encounter with Jesus
The Bible says if any man be in Christ he is an altogether different kind of person. Old things have passed away. Behold everything becomes fresh and new. I want to tell you the story of a really messed up woman. She got caught having sex with some guy. The people who found her wanted her put to death. And they drug her and threw her down on the ground in front of Jesus. And what could have been the worst day of her life turned out to be the best. And she was transformed.
And I want to tell you the same could be true for you. Maybe this has been a tough night so far. Maybe things didn't go well getting here. But I am telling you this can be the best night of your life if you listen very carefully to what I am going to share with you. Because you tonight can change your eternal address from a place called hell to a much better place called heaven by your response to the message I will share with you in just a moment.
If you are messed up God can intervene in your life. He did it for this girl. And He can do it for you.
The Woman Caught in Adultery – John 8
So as I already said here is this girl caught having sex with some guy. The religious leaders grab her. Throw her down in front of Jesus. A crowd quickly gathers to watch this drama. And here is what the Bible says in John chapter 8. They said to Jesus, “This woman was caught in the very act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”
They were trying to trap Him into saying something they could use against Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with His finger. They kept demanding an answer. So He stood up again and said, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” Then He stooped down and wrote in the dust. And when the accusers heard this they slipped away one by one. Beginning with the oldest only until Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman.
Then Jesus stood up again and said to her, “Woman, where are your accusers? Didn't even one of them condemn you?” She said, “No Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” That is a great story, isn't it?
Understanding Adultery and Sexual Sin
So here is a woman who committed the sin of adultery. What is adultery? Heard about a little boy. He was in Sunday school. And he heard a talk from a Sunday school teacher on the Ten Commandments. And the teacher focused in on the Seventh Commandment. A little guy didn't quite understand it. So driving home with his dad he said, “Dad, what does it mean when the Bible says, ‘Thou shall not commit agriculture’?”
He got a little confused. It was, “Thou shall not commit adultery.” But he thought it was, “Thou shall not commit agriculture.” There is hardly a beat between the father's response to the boy's question. He said, “Son, that means you are not supposed to plow the other man's field.” A little guy was happy with that answer. Pretty good.
What is adultery? Adultery is being unfaithful to your wife or your husband. It is called extramarital sex. Then there is another word the Bible uses, fornication. That speaks of premarital sex. And by the way, both extramarital sex and premarital sex are classified as a sin before God. So much so they made God's top ten. In fact the Bible tells us that God will surely judge those who are immoral or commit adultery.
The Consequences of Sexual Sin
Oh, I know what you are thinking. You will say, “Oh, Greg, please give me a break. Sex doesn't hurt anyone.” Really? Have you ever heard of something called AIDS? Did you know that AIDS is the leading killer of people globally between the ages of 25 to 44? 25% of all HIV infections are found in people under the age of 22? And then there are all these other sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis, herpes, gonorrhea. They have reached epidemic proportions.
Sex doesn't hurt anyone. What about teenage pregnancies? Each year more than one million teens become pregnant. Many of these babies never make it to term because they are aborted. One out of every five abortions is performed on a woman under the age of 20. And four out of every ten teenage pregnancies ends in abortion.
You don't think that hurts someone? I will tell you who it hurts. The unborn child made in the image of God. That is what hurts. You don't want to go there. Psalm 139. The psalmist says, “You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They are innumerable.”
You know, we call children born out of wedlock illegitimate. Listen to me tonight. There are no illegitimate children. Everyone is legitimate in the eyes of God. And everyone is loved by God. He loves you.
Jesus' Mercy in the Midst of Judgment
Well, here's this girl caught in the act of immorality. Pharisees didn't care about her. They were trying to trap Jesus, so they throw her down on the ground. Now, in a way, Jesus was in sort of a dilemma. Because if He said stone her, that may have been an accurate thing to say, but that would have been so harsh and heartless. But if He said, “Oh, let her go. It is no big deal.” Then some would have thought, well, He is disregarding what the Mosaic Law says.
So Jesus was sort of on the horns of a dilemma. The way He handled this is quite interesting. You see He used it as an opportunity to show God's forgiveness and God's mercy.
Now I don't know what kind of girl this was. She was probably a pretty loose girl. Maybe she had a reputation for being easy and sleazy, you know. And so here she was now facing the consequences of that.
The Woman at the Well: Searching for Satisfaction
Reminds you of another woman that Jesus talked to who also was immoral. We call her the woman at the well. She had been married and divorced five times and was living with a guy at that moment. And Jesus came to her. She was drawing water from the well. And He said, “If you drink of this water you will thirst again. But if you drink of the water I give you will never thirst again.”
See He was using that well and her water pot as a metaphor for life. He was saying in effect, girl, let me tell you something. You are never going to find satisfaction in relationships with men. You are never going to find fulfillment in sex. You could broaden that statement. You are never going to find the fulfillment you are seeking in accomplishments. Or in a career. Or in possessions. Or in anything else. If you drink of this water you will thirst again.
See this poor girl, the woman at the well, was always looking for that right guy. And all of her princes turned into frogs.
Stories of Brokenness and the Need for True Love
He heard about an old guy that was out fishing. Threw his line in the water. He was waiting for a bite. And he heard a voice say, “Hey you, pick me up.” Looked around. Didn't see anyone who said that. Just went back to fish and heard the voice again. “Hey you, pick me up.” The man looks down and there floating in the water was a little frog. And the frog said for the third time, “Hey you, pick me up and kiss me. And I will turn into a beautiful woman. And all your friends will envy you.”
So the old guy reached down. This is a true story by the way. So the old guy reached down, picked up the little frog and started to put it in his pocket. And the frog said, “Are you crazy? I just told you if you kiss me I will turn into a beautiful woman. You will be the envy of all of your friends.” The old guy said, “You know at my age I would rather have a talking frog.”
So that woman at the well would fall in love with the guy. He would get what he would want from her. Probably sex. And he would dump her. Listen to this. Men give love to get sex. Women give sex to get love. If a guy says to you, “If you love me you will have sex with me,” that guy is a loser. Don't go any further.
But she was used and abused by men. And back to this woman here. Caught in the act of adultery. She was probably feeling the same way. She wasn't happy.
I heard about a Brooklyn couple that hosts a self-help radio program called The Pursuit of Happiness. On the show this husband and wife team would offer callers advice on how to lead happier lives encouraging them to think positively and trust their intuition. But apparently this couple, they were the ones who needed help because they both committed suicide. I guess they didn't find that happiness they were pursuing.
Desperate Searches for Meaning and Love
Have you ever contemplated suicide? A Paris Jackson, the daughter of Michael Jackson, attempted suicide in June of this year. She swallowed an entire bottle of Mochen and also cut her wrist. Thankfully she failed. Before her suicide attempt, Paris Jackson reached out to her 1.1 million Twitter followers with a series of desperate messages. And one of them quoted the Beatles song yesterday. And she wrote in her tweet, “Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away. Now it looks as though they are here to stay.” And then she did that suicide attempt.
Listen, Paris Jackson lost her earthly father. She needs to know there is a Father in heaven who loves her. And you need to know there is a Father in heaven who loves you too. Maybe your father walked out on you. He abandoned you. I never had a father. I never had a dad in my life for the most part.
I read an interesting story in the newspaper about a rich heiress who was raised in the very lap of luxury. She hung out with other heiresses like Paris and Nikki Hilton. While other girls were playing with Ken and Barbie dolls, she was dressing up for real. She got her first Chanel bag at age 10. At 11 she was wearing snakeskin pumps. And at 16 she had her own luxury car. At 18 she got breast implants.
She once posted, “I got whatever I wanted. That is except a stable family and a loving father.” See all this rich heiress wanted was the love of her father. And she never got it. And so her life began to unravel. She got into drinking. She got into drugs. She was looking for purpose and meaning in her life.
The Heavenly Father's Unfailing Love
She loved dogs and thought of them as her babies. Carrying them around in her 12,000 Hermes Birkin bag. She partied hard and drank and took drugs to ease her pain. She thought having a baby would satisfy her. So she went out and adopted the baby. And one day she decided to take that baby to her fathers home and introduced him to his grandchild.
And she pulled in the driveway. She was met by her father's new girlfriend who turned her away. And the rich, young, heiress said, “But this is my father's house.” And the girlfriend said, “No, you get out of here now.” And the girlfriend called the police. And they showed up. And at that time the father pulled up into the driveway. He saw his daughter. He saw the granddaughter. And he turned them away. And he said, “I never want you to come back again.”
This poor girl just sunk deeper into despair. She would write love letters. Send them to her dad. Send voicemails. But there was no response in this part. In addition to her drinking and drug use, she had diabetes and needed to take her Insulin. But instead she was eating junk food and swigging NyQuil in order to sleep one night.
And she sent a tweet out to her followers and Facebook friends. And what would be her last message? She said, “Sweet dreams, everyone. I am getting a new car. Any ideas?” She fell asleep and she never woke up. The young heiress who had been both living a Cinderella fantasy and a living hell was pronounced dead on the scene.
All she wanted was to be loved by her father. Maybe you feel that way. But I want you to know you have a father in heaven who will never turn you away from his house. There is always room for you. Jesus said, “There are many rooms in my father's house and I am going to prepare a place for you. If it were not so, I would tell you. When everything is ready I will come and get you so you will always be with me and where I am.”
So maybe this girl caught in the act of adultery. Didn't have a dad. I don't know. But here she is. And she is before Jesus. But He was going to rescue her from her accusers and from her fate and from her sin. Do you need to be rescued?