"There is no God else beside Me, a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside Me" (Isa. 45:21).

There is in all persons a certain knowledge of good and evil; such and such things they say are good, and such and such things are evil. But perhaps no two persons follow exactly the same standard of either good or evil. What people do is to set such a standard of good as they can come up to themselves, and such a standard of evil as shall just exclude themselves and include others. For instance, the drunkard thinks there is no great harm in drinking, but would consider it a great sin to steal. The covetous man, who is every day perhaps practicing some cheating or deception "in the way of trade," satisfies himself by thinking, "It is necessary and customary to do so in business, and at all events I do not get drunk or curse and swear as others do." The profligate person prides himself upon being generous and kindhearted to others, or, as he says, "I do nobody any harm but myself." The upright, moral man and the domestic, amiable man satisfies himself with doing what he calls his duty, and looks around and pities the open sinners that he sees; but he never considers how many an evil thought, how many a sinful desire he may have cherished, unknown to others, in his mind; nor does he consider that God judges the heart, though man looks only at the outward conduct. Thus each congratulates himself upon his not having done some particular evil, and compares himself with someone else who has committed the sin, which he thinks he has managed to avoid.

Now all this proves that men do not judge themselves by one common standard of right and wrong, but just take that which suits themselves and condemns others. But there is a standard with which all will be compared, and according to which all will be judged_a standard of righteousness; all who fall short of this standard will be eternally condemned. This is no less than the righteousness of God. When a person begins to find that it is not by comparing himself with others that he is to judge, but by comparing himself with God, then his conscience begins to be awakened to think of sin as before God, and then indeed he finds himself guilty and ruined. He will not then attempt to justify himself by trying to find out someone that is worse than himself, but he will be anxious to know whether it is possible that God, before whom he knows himself condemned, can pardon or forgive him.

Now the scribes and Pharisees, mentioned in John 8, were very moral and religious people, and were greatly shocked when they found out a wretched woman taken in open sin, and very indignant against her. Justice and the law of Moses, thought they, demand that she should be made an example of_it is not fit that such a sinner should live. It comforts and quiets the depraved heart of man if he can only find a person worse than himself. He thinks the greater sin of another excuses himself, and while accusing and vehemently blaming another he forgets his own evil. He thus rejoices in iniquity.
But this is not all; for not only do men thus glory and exult in the fall and ruin of another, but they cannot bear to see, or think of, God exhibiting grace. Grace_which means the full and free forgiveness of every sin, of every evil, without God demanding or expecting anything from the one so forgiven_ is a principle so opposed to all man’s thoughts and ways, so far above man, that he dislikes it; his own heart often secretly calls it injustice. He does not himself deal in this way, and does not like to think of God doing so. It is very humbling to be obliged to own that we are dependent upon grace entirely for salvation, and that nothing we have done or can do will make us fit subjects even for grace. Our misery and sin and ruin are the only claim we have upon grace. The scribes and Pharisees could not understand this; and not liking to own that they were themselves sinners, they wished to perplex Jesus. If He acquitted the woman they would say He was unjust; or if He condemned her, they would say He was not merciful. "Such should be stoned," say they, "but what sayest Thou?"

Such is still the gracious message to the ruined sinner, pronounced by the very Judge Himself. But it is only to the ruined sinner, standing consciously convicted before the Judge, that it is spoken. The righteous Pharisees heard it not. They were indeed convicted; but they had no desire to confess their sin, and they sought to get rid of their convictions, to bury them in some good works of their own. They would not put themselves in the same condemnation with the wretched woman, who got this blessed word of peace. And so it is still. If you desire to have God’s full and free pardon, it must be your place to stand first as the guilty sinner; to be alone with Jesus, consciously self-condemned; to have no one else to trust, no one else to compare yourself with; not to try to get better first before you come to Him, but to be brought to Him by your very sins, to stand in the very place of condemnation, and before the very Person who has the power to condemn; to make your very guilt the reason of being alone with Him.
Notice that the Lord gave her no conditional pardon. He did not say, "Neither will I condemn you if you will not sin anymore." No, He gives her full and complete forgiveness first, and that He knew would enable her to avoid the sin in the future. If you desire to have power over your sins, you must first know them all pardoned by God through Christ. But if you try to master your evil before you know the forgiveness of God, you will obtain neither the one nor the other. Through faith in Jesus you must be justified freely from all things before you will ever be cleared as before God.