THE TURNAROUND
by
Tony Alamo
In the time of Christ and the Apostles, the Sanhedrin was the supreme Jewish court of "justice." The high priest was its head. He and the Pharisees knew the law of God. The Sanhedrin was abolished after the destruction of Jerusalem 70 A.D. Yes, they knew very well the law of God and that it would never ever, throughout eternity, change. They knew also that Jesus came preaching this same immutable law of God. God is incapable of changing His law.
Jesus (God the Son) said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" (Matthew 5:17-18).
The Sanhedrin and Pharisees devised a plan to destroy the credibility of Jesus, a plan they felt was flawless. Their plan was to put Jesus between a rock and a hard place. They would ask Jesus a loaded question that, to them, would catch and do away with Jesus' credibility, no matter which way He answered it. The question had to do with a woman caught in the very act of adultery. Now the law of Moses required that she be stoned to death, and of course, her soul would spend eternity in hell. The penalty of everlasting hell never goes away unless this sin has been repented of and forsaken completely and forever. "And the scribes and the Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, they said unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?" (John 8:3-5).
If Jesus would have said let her go, He would have been saying that the unchangeable, eternal law of God does not apply any longer, and there would not be a Jew in Israel who would ever believe in Him again. Thus, His ministry would have been over. He would have been a false prophet, a false teacher, and a hypocrite, not from God, because He had always taught that the law was eternal and unchangeable. Jesus preached, "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:19). Now if Jesus would have taken a rock and stoned her to death, He would have been tried for murder by the Romans and executed on the Roman cross. This same Roman penalty would have applied to the Pharisees, if they picked up rocks and stoned her, and they knew it. For the Pharisees knew very well the worldly Roman laws and penalties, as well as the Jewish law of the living God (the hypocritical Pharisees and scribes broke every one of God's commandments on a daily basis). Jesus knew these facts and reversed the situation.
Jesus stated, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her" (John 8:7). Not willing to be hung on Roman crosses, and because "they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last" (John 8:9). They were afraid of Roman "justice." To the Roman heathen, adultery is not sin or punishable by death, because they acknowledged not God's holy law. This Roman, pagan disregard of God's commandments has influenced most of the world into unashamed, open rebellion against Almighty God. They make up their own laws as you see them do today. When Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees to cast the first stone, He was mockingly, but sincerely saying to them, are you not from the Sanhedrin? Are you not the authoritative voice of the high priest of Israel, the high priest of God? Are you not righteous? Are you not the ones to carry out this justice which is clearly written in the law of God by Moses? If you are righteous and holy, stone her to death as the law commands for you to do. Keep the law! Stone her! But make sure you're righteous, without sin yourselves, for this also is the law of God, that ye be holy, that ye be righteous! (I Peter 1:16)
Thus, Jesus never denied the law or the law's penalty, making Jesus the righteous keeper of the law, and the Pharisees and scribes, dogs. The Pharisees were sinners because they kept not the law. The woman knew that she was a sinner, and became convicted of her sin and afraid for the law's penalty of her sin. She then fearfully repented by crying out to God for mercy and received the merciful forgiveness of her sins from God, the Father, by faith in the atoning blood of Jesus. She was immediately taught by her merciful Saviour the instruction for continuous peace and assurance of her salvation. And those instructions are, "Go and sin no more," which means, she must give her entire heart, soul, mind, and strength to God from then on, to love her neighbor as herself, and to never break another commandment. She did go and sin no more. She was Mary Magdalene, who washed the Lord's feet with her tears.
The law of mercy for repentance is only found through faith in the powerful, atoning blood, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of this world. We must go to the cross repenting in order to receive merciful forgiveness for our sins, through Jesus, God's sacrifice who mercifully took our place.
Don't delay. Take your place now at that cross before it is everlastingly too late. We live in a very dangerous world. Life is uncertain — death is certain. The physical act of repentance must be accomplished while we are still alive. The truth of this is written in Scripture, "As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). So before an unexpected last breath, before the silver cord of life is snapped, and before you go away forever, cry out unto the Lord. "Behold, now is the accepted time behold, now is the day of salvation" (II Corinthians 6:2).
Prayer
My Lord and my God, have mercy upon my soul, a sinner. 1 I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God. 2 I believe that He died on the cross and shed His precious blood for the forgiveness of all my sins. 3 I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit 4 and that He sits on the right hand of God at this moment, hearing my confession of sin and this prayer. 5 I open up the door of my heart and I invite You into my heart, Lord Jesus. 6 Wash all of my filthy sins away in the precious blood that You shed in my place on the cross at Calvary. 7 You will not turn me away, Lord Jesus, You will forgive my sins and save my soul. I know because Your Word, the Bible says so. 8 Your Word says that You will turn no one away, and that includes me. 9 Therefore, I know that You have heard me, and I know that You have answered me, and I know that I am saved. 10 And I thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving my soul, and I will show my thankfulness by doing as You command and sin no more. 11
You've just completed the first step in a series of five steps which are necessary to receive salvation. Your second step is to deny yourself and take up the cross daily for the purpose of mortifying yourself, that is, for putting to death your own will, your soulful self, and the world with all of its lusts. All these must be baptized into the death of Christ.
Step three is your resurrection from the satanic life of Adam unto the sinless life of Christ. Step four is your ascension into a position of authority to reign for God on earth, and the fifth step is to reign for God on earth to the end for the purpose of bringing about the kingdom of Heaven on earth. You must learn the Word of God, then submit yourself and do what the Word says, so that the Church and the world may see evidence of your submission to God's Word, His order, and His authority in and by you.
Praise the Lord. May God reward you abundantly.
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"Prayer" Footnotes:
1. Psa. 51:5, Rom. 3:10-12, 23 return
2. Matt. 26:63-64, 27:54, Luke 1:30-33, John 9:35-37, Rom. 1:3-4 return
3. Acts 4:12, 20:28, Rom. 3:25, I John 1:7, Rev. 5:9 return
4. Psa. 16:9-10, Matt. 28:5-7, Mark 16:9, 12, 14, John 2:19, 21, 10:17-18, 11:25, Acts 2:24, 3:15, Rom. 8:11, I Cor. 15:3-7 return
5. Luke 22:69, Acts 2:25-36, Heb. 10:12-13 return
6. I Cor. 3:16, Rev. 3:20 return
7. Eph. 2:13-22, Heb. 9:22, 13:12, 20-21, I John 1:7, Rev. 1:5, 7:14 return
8. Matt. 26:28, Acts 2:21, 4:12, Eph. 1:7, Col. 1:14 return
9. Matt. 21:22, John 6:35, 37-40, Rom. 10:13 return
10. Heb. 11:6 return
11. John 5:14, 8:11, Rom. 6:4, I Cor. 15:10, Rev. 7:14, 22:14 return
12. John 14:6 return
13. Acts 4:12 return