God is the One who gives us peace. Peace is something you also want too, isn’t it? You probably desire eternal peace. One of the biggest hindrances to peace is our wrongdoing and the self-condemnation that follows. That can be distressing. As my wife raises our kids, she often gets upset. We have two sons. Sometimes, she ends up yelling at them when our kids don’t listen. She would yell and scold them. But later, I’d find her crying in a corner. At first, I thought she was crying because our kids misbehaved. But I found out that it wasn’t because of our sons. Rather she was upset at herself, “Why am so I unloving? Why do I keep getting angry at my sons?” She was crying in distress because of herself.

You may have had similar experiences. After doing something wrong, you become very distressed because it keeps coming to mind again and again. People usually have awareness of their wrongdoings to a certain degree. But at times, other people point out and criticize a person’s wrongdoing when he or she is already aware of it. In those times, the person does not want to admit to it but get angry instead. They might even burst out in anger because they are fully aware of what they have done and don’t need another person to point that out. In this way, people are very tired and worn out from being judged and criticized.

This kind of thing often happens in our everyday lives. Let’s say someone says, “Oh, Sister! Did you get your hair done? It looks lovely!” A normal response to such a comment will be, “Thank you!” However, in some instances, people answer, “Well, it wasn’t very expensive.” As you know, getting your hair done can be costly. But by answering, “It wasn’t expensive,” this person is putting on a defensive attitude. She is afraid of being judged for spending a lot of money on hairdos or getting her hair done too often. She is ready to defend herself at any moment. However, it is not very ideal.

Our society is so prone to judging and criticizing that it creates tension in people’s hearts. That is why people always tend to take a defensive stance even when they are not being judged. For example, someone says to another person, “Please shut the door behind you when you come in.” To that, all you would need to answer is, “Okay, will do!” But some people answer, “When have I ever not shut the door?” The reason they were asked to shut the door was perhaps because the heater was on inside and they didn’t want the heat to escape. Anyway, this kind of tension has become a part of our society which stems from the judgment of one another.

I once saw another example of this. There was a little toddler who only just started walking and saying a few words. One day, the whole family gathered together. The little boy’s mum cut some apples to serve the family. The boy forked one of the apple slices and toddled over to his grandpa. “Grandpa, eat! Grandpa, eat!” Do you know what the grandfather’s response was? It would’ve been nice if he had said, “Oh, aren’t you a good boy! You brought your grandpa an apple!” However, he said, “Listen! You need to talk respectfully to your grandpa!” This is the scene quite commonly observed in our families and around us. The boy’s intention was to show his love for his grandpa, but instead, he was scolded. He was judged for his actions. What would that little toddler know? He probably didn’t understand why he was being scolded. The grandfather wanted his grandson to learn honorifics, however, that little boy didn’t even have the concept of honorifics. He was told off out of nowhere. What’s more, the grandfather said to the boy’s mother, “Why don’t you teach your son to speak honorifics?” putting the mother in an awkward position. Having seen that, that little toddler could no longer approach his grandfather from then on. He wouldn’t be able to say anything to him because whatever he said, he might be scolded for not using honorifics. This kind of communication is quite common.

In South Korea, people are taught honorifics from a young age. Consequently, this feeling of tension is planted in children before they even get the chance to open up their hearts to have a positive and warm interaction with their mother and father, grandparents, and teachers. Although positive interactions help children develop warm and friendly dispositions, since they are not given that chance to, they develop a feeling of tension instead. As a result, they tend to be tense when interacting with other people throughout their development. This also influences their encounter with God. They can be anxious to stand before God. They are worried, “Wouldn’t God judge me?” These people’s underlying perception of God is like this: “God will rebuke me if I do something wrong. If I don’t read the Bible eagerly, will He punish me?” Hence, they are always nervous and tensed up.

When I was in university, I often went to mental hospitals for practical lessons as it was relevant to my major. And there I got a chance to see the religious status of the patients. Out of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and non-religion, which do you think was most common among mental patients? Surprisingly—and unfortunately—Christianity was the most common. Among all mental patients in the hospital, about 70% identified themselves as Christians. It’s odd, isn’t it? The reason is that they didn’t get to know God very well. If they had truly known God in full, the results would have been completely different.

At our church, we’ve seen mental patients come and be healed. This happens quite often. Because we explain to them about God soundly, they don’t have misunderstandings about God. However, many churches introduce God as One who is ready to punish and judge us, don’t they? So, people think of God as One who digs up our sins and condemns us saying, “This is sin!” That is why people are fearful to come to church. They are afraid of being judged by church members.

Take this example: an unbeliever who drinks alcohol and smokes might go to a church. He goes because he wants to know God. Afterwards, he smokes a cigarette at the front of the church. In most churches, he would get told off. “You shouldn’t smoke! If you want to come to church, quit smoking!” However, it’s not that God is pleased just because a person doesn’t smoke, nor is it that quitting smoking is what enables someone to meet Him. The important point is to meet and know God. And we have many testimonies of that in our church. Whether a person is a smoker or drinks alcohol, we encourage them to come to church and hear God’s word. They first need to know God. Once they know God, they enjoy neither smoking nor drinking.

This is another testimony. A person came to believe in Jesus, received the Holy Spirit and God’s help. When he tried to smoke a cigarette as he used to, it tasted foul to him. When he took a sip of alcohol, he almost vomited. He thought, “Why don’t cigarettes or alcohol taste good anymore?” Naturally, he was able to quit both. This kind of testimony is very common around us. The important thing is not whether you feel judged about smoking or not, but that you know God. If you don’t know God, it is meaningless even if you quit smoking or drinking. It is meaningless no matter how good a person you become. You must know God.

To know God means to understand what God has bestowed by grace. God is not trying to uncover our sins just to find fault with us or to judge us as “a bad person” or say “You deserve to be punished.” A sinner is destined to perish eternally in hell. Moreover, sin leads to trouble and suffering. But God’s will is to deliver us from the curse. Even the person whom others condemn as hopeless and worthy of death, Jesus our God wants to save. He does not say to that sinner, “You deserve to be punished! You deserve to die!” He doesn’t want the sinner to perish. He wants all men to know our God’s heart, accept His love, and be saved.

You may have heard people say, “Why do Christians behave like that?” or you may have said something similar yourself. In saying, “Why does a Christian behave like that?” one has the assumption that “Christians (or church goers) ought to be different. They must be morally and ethically upright.” And this is expected to be the case. However, the church is not an assembly of perfect people. In fact, the church is where those who believe they are already righteous and upright—who say in their hearts, “I am righteous”—do not come.

So what kind of people come to church? Those who admit they are worthy of death and deserve a worse punishment than hell, they come to church because they want to be free from this curse. Therefore, the church is an assembly of people who, by God’s help, received the forgiveness of sins and desire to have life; it’s not an assembly of outstanding people. For this reason, the church is where we see all kinds of sinners. Of course, once sinners experience the love of God and meet God, they will gradually change. They change not by their own strength, but God gives them strength. God leads them and teaches them. That is how they change. But the process may take a long time. Remember that even the most respectable person can do the wrong thing.

But how is the church different in that regard? There are no pointing fingers at someone, or condemning and judging someone for doing something wrong. Instead, it is seen as, “Ah, the sinner couldn’t overcome this time.” And the person is encouraged to overcome next time and given another chance. It is not only to others that a second chance is given, but to oneself. Let’s say I did something terribly wrong, that I feel utterly ashamed and mortified—even too ashamed to ask for another chance. In such an instance, I would want to leave everything aside and simply run away where nobody knows me and start all over again.

Yet in the church, there is no need to go to another place and start over. Why? Jesus is the One who gives us a new chance. He always gives us another chance to start fresh. This applies even to a murderer. He always gives us a new chance. If anyone asks me, “Who is god you believe in? What is he like?” my answer would be, “He is the One who gives a new chance every time!”

Our God is good at forgiving. Unlike Him, people don’t give a second chance, even though they say they forgave another person. “I’m so sorry!” “Alright, I’ll forgive you this time. But I can’t trust you anymore. I can’t give you a second chance next time. I don’t want to be stabbed in the back again!” This is what humans are like. Yet Jesus gives us another chance, again and again. In doing so, Jesus might get stabbed in the back. Our God may be betrayed. Still, if a person repents, “I’m sorry! Please give me another chance!” He will give him another chance. This is who our God is.

Jesus, who has this heart of God, said to His disciples, “Since you received such love, you ought to do likewise. If other sins against you and they ask for forgiveness, what should you do?” The disciples answered, “Should we give them about 3 more chances?” To this Jesus said, “Give them another chance seventy-times-seven times.” What does He mean by seventy-times-seven times? Does He mean 490 times since 70 multiplied by 7 is 490? Rather, He means we should give the person a new chance, again and again, without end. That is exactly what Jesus meant.

How come He is able to tell us to do that? Because this is the way God treats us. No matter what sin you might have committed, it is not fitting to think for that reason, “I don’t have the right to come before God!” If you do, it means you don’t know God. When you’re feeling, “A person like me doesn’t deserve to stand before God! I’m not worthy to worship Him!” that is the golden opportunity for you to come before God and abundantly receive and experience God’s love. If you come to God and confess, “God, I’ve sinned! I ask You to give me another chance. Although I am utterly sinful, I want to receive Your love!”, God will welcome you with open arms. He will not reject you. For this reason, we have immense peace when we are in God, and that peace is everlasting.

Jesus will not lose any of such sinners but lead them all to the resurrection on the last day. Even if we die and are forgotten by others, Jesus will remember everyone, resurrect them, and take them to the Kingdom of Heaven in the resurrected body. Therefore, since we have received this love that cannot be found in the world, we have peace. We have peace of mind. When you come to know God, you will have peace of mind—and room in your heart.

Although I may have a nice personality, driving brings out the worst in me. There were times when I swear and cuss while driving. In the early days of my faith life, sometimes I pulled down the car window to shake my fist at others and yell angrily. And I was given similar treatment too while driving. Nowadays there are many cases of road rage. Although I have never done that, I think my old self would be capable of that too. But now, even if someone bothers me, I don’t get so angry and just have an understanding stance, “Well, things like that happen.” Sometimes I might be at fault. And the car behind me might beep the horn, which can be irritating. I’m being criticized for my fault. Nevertheless, I am at peace and simply say to them, “Sorry!” In the old days, I would’ve beeped the horn back at them. The reason I’ve changed is because I received the love of Jesus. My heart is filled with an abundance of happiness and joy. Thus, in most situations like them, I am not provoked. However, it took a long time for me to get to this point. Yet during that time, what happened to me was that I became sure of God’s love. Because I was filled with the love of God, I started to have peace in my heart.

The passage we read today is a similar situation. Jesus was teaching the people when the teachers of the Law and Pharisees brought a woman to Jesus. The teachers of the Law were scholars —Bible scholars. The Pharisees were people who rigorously observed the laws of the Scripture. They were known to obey God’s law better than anyone else. These people brought a woman who was caught in the act of adultery. It is shameful enough to be labeled an adulterer, but she was even caught in the middle of the act. So how ashamed and distressed would the woman have felt? “I’m dead now!” she probably thought. In those days, if a woman was caught like that, nobody would object to her execution. The Muslims still practice that, don’t they? If a person is caught in adultery, they actually stone him or her to death. This is still practiced in Islamic countries. And the same was for the Jews back in those days. Because God’s Law commanded so.

If you have been to church, you would’ve heard about the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments were commandments which God gave to the Israelites through Moses. The Ten Commandments say, “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not worship idols. Keep the Sabbath. Do not misuse the name of God. Honor your father and mother. Do not give false testimony. Do not murder.” And one of the commandments is, “Do not commit adultery!” This shows how common adultery is in human society. That’s why it is clearly written, “Do not commit adultery!”

What was the consequence when the Ten Commandments were not kept? In the past, the people who broke the commandments were stoned to death. The man who delivered those commandments from God to the people was Moses. Now, these teachers of the Law and Pharisees brought the woman to Jesus and asked, “Moses commanded us to stone such women. What do you say we should with her?” They did that because they noticed Jesus was always concerned about saving people and forgiving them—that was always what He did. However, Moses told them to kill such people. You would think that if a person sinned, he or she should receive the due punishment so that such sins are not committed again. These people not only believed they should keep every commandment, but that anyone who breaks them must be put to death.

They came to Jesus to test Him. They wanted to see what Jesus would say to them. Would He say to kill her or to save her? If He says to kill, it is inconsistent with His own words which said we should forgive. Moreover, it would be contradictory for Him who came to save mankind to then tell men to kill.

At that moment, Jesus stooped down and wrote something on the ground. We don’t know what He wrote. But when He got up He said, “Whoever among you is without sin, pick up a stone and be the first to stone her!” He didn’t deny what Moses said. He told them to stone the sinner. But He added that the one without sin should be the one to do it. They were all sinners, so how can they stone anyone else? When Jesus said, “He who is without sin, stone her!” they stood there, holding the rocks in their hands, and pondered His words. “Whoever is without sin, stone her!”

But who would be without sin? After some thought, they all realized they are sinful. If a person were to say, “I am without sin,” what kind of person would that be? Would it be a young person, or an older one? Would someone who’s lived many years be able to say, “I haven’t any sins”? Looking back on his life, he would surely recognize that he has committed countless sins. Thus, when the men heard what Jesus said, they began to leave one by one. But Who left first? The oldest people. That is because they themselves knew very well that even though they acted righteously in front of others, they were not righteous at all. They had committed all kinds of sin. Even if others might not have known, they themselves knew very well. All that time, they had acted righteous and even brought stones with them, thinking, “That woman deserves death!” Yet Jesus’ words said, “He who is without sin, stone her!” At that, one by one, starting with the oldest and then the younger ones, they dropped their stones and left. In the end, nobody was left.

How can man condemn anybody else? So when only the woman was left standing there, Jesus asked her, “Has nobody condemned you?” “No one.” Everyone had left, and only she remained. That meant there was now only one Person who could condemn her—Jesus, God’s Son. Only He had the right to condemn her. Yet what did Jesus say? “Neither do I condemn you! Go now and leave your life of sin!” He gave her a second chance.

Jesus does not want to condemn and judge man; rather He wants to save man who is destined to perish because of sin. Jesus came like a doctor who comes to heal the sick. But if people say, “I don’t have cancer! I am not sick!” Jesus cannot heal them. That is why, at times, it is necessary to tell people, “You are seriously ill!” But the point is not to kill them, but to save them.

If you come to church and hear the words, “You’re a sinner!” there’s no need to take it as a criticism. Those words don’t mean that only you are a sinner—it’s saying that we all are. We are all destined to die. According to our deeds, we all deserve to be cursed and go to hell. However, God doesn’t want that. He wants us to be filled with His happiness. Thus, in order to accept His happiness, we have to completely bury the sinful man in us, the one that sinned. Jesus came for that. Moreover, we just need to acknowledge and accept the truth that Jesus paid the price of our sins when He died on the cross. When we do that, even though people may still condemn us, God never will.

Anyone who has come into Jesus is no longer under God’s condemnation. What is the reason I can come to church and worship God today? How can a man like me see God’s face and worship Him? I am sinful and God is holy. Although I’m a pastor, I’m sinful. Even though I am a pastor, I am unworthy to see God’s face when it comes to my deeds. Yet I come shamelessly and cry out to God again. How come? It is because Jesus is in me. I’ve been forgiven. For this, I give thanks.

So when I come to worship, I don’t think about all my sins. My sins are innumerable. I’ve done too many wrong things. If I started thinking about all that, I’d be up all night. So I lay down everything before Him and say, “God, I am unworthy to come before You. But all because of Jesus, I was able to come boldly before Your presence without fear. Thank You!” That’s how I worship. In such a heart, God is able to work, heal of any sicknesses, give peace, and bestow His power. The worst thing to do is self-condemning and not forgiving. If you condemn yourself and don’t forgive yourself, you cannot believe that God forgave you. When this gets worse, people can even end up in a mental hospital.

Dear everyone, the fact that you’ve come to our church means you’ve come into the arms of Jesus. And that means you are not condemned by God. You are not judged. Therefore, you can enjoy true freedom. When you experience that, God can freely reveal to you all that He wants to give and fill you with His happiness. In Jesus’ name, I bless you all for this to be fulfilled. Let’s pray.

Father God, thank You for sending Jesus Christ to redeem us from all our sins. Thank You for allowing us to come into Jesus Christ without fear and meet You God. Help these souls not to condemn themselves but freely come into Jesus Christ. Even when they have done something worthy of self-reproach, help them to come into Jesus and enjoy Your love. Let them understand the value of this great happiness and become those who can share that happiness to more and more souls. In Jesus’ name. Amen.