John 8 · September 20, 2026
Not on Parole
Brady Boyd · Legacy Pastor · 6 min read
Jump to a moment
14 chapters
Key takeaways
- 1Jesus never shamed anyone. He confronted, challenged, loved, forgave, and restored, but not once did he shame.
- 2Shame changes behavior, but it also convinces a person there is no hope of changing. Courage is what actually frees someone.
- 3Condemnation is a final sentence. The gospel says you are guilty and not condemned.
- 4Parole is release with a record that follows you. A pardon is release as if it never happened. Jesus pardons.
- 5The real battle is in the mind. Set it on the Spirit, and you start treating people as forgiven instead of guilty.
A woman, a crowd, and no man in sight
John 8 opens at dawn. Jesus comes into the temple courts, and the first thing worth noticing is that he sits down among the people to teach them. He does not hover over them or lord over them. He gets in the middle of the room.
Then the teachers of the law and the Pharisees interrupt him with a woman caught in adultery. They make her stand before the group. Pastor Brady paused right there, because something is wrong with the picture. It takes two people. Where is the man? The law they were quoting said to stone both. They were being selective with the law and selective with the punishment, and they were not looking for grace. They were looking for a way to trap Jesus.
That is what a religious, Pharisaical spirit still does in church today. It nitpicks minor things into major accusations. It looks for condemnation instead of forgiveness.
John 8:7
Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.
The older ones walked away first
Jesus bends down and writes in the dirt. Twice. Nobody knows what he wrote, and Pastor Brady was clear that anyone who tells you otherwise is guessing. It could have been names, sins, a Hebrew scripture, or nothing at all.
What we do know is what happened next. The accusers left one at a time, the older ones first. Brady’s take is that they had more history to review. A longer rearview mirror shows you more times you deserved condemnation and got grace instead. That is one of the gifts of getting older.
Then it was only Jesus and the woman, which was not even allowed in that culture. Her accusers were gone, and the only one left standing beside her was the one who could have condemned her and chose not to.
Jesus will stand by you until the condemnation leaves you.
John 8:10-11
Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? No one, sir, she said. Then neither do I condemn you, Jesus declared. Go now and leave your life of sin.
Never use shame language
They made her stand before the group. We still do this. We take someone we disagree with, drag their sin into a group chat or a social media thread, and tell everyone to shun them. It is one of the most common human interactions there is.
Jesus never did it. You cannot find a single instance in the gospels where he shamed a sinner. So Pastor Brady gave the room some direct advice for parents, spouses, and friends: get the words “you should be ashamed” out of your vocabulary entirely. Shame will change someone’s behavior, but it also convinces them they will always be this way. If all you want is behavior modification, fear and shame will get you there. If you want to grow a good human being, they will not.
Shame also robs people of courage, and courage is what an addict or anyone stuck needs most. The first step toward help is believing change is possible. Once a person believes that, they raise their hand and say, “Over here, I need help.” Shame keeps that hand down.
Guilty, but not condemned
From John 8 the message moved to Romans 8, and Brady slowed the room down on the first verse. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Not a little. None.
That only lands if Jesus is actually Lord of your life. Not your mascot, not your life coach, not a good guy you admire. King. If that is settled, accusations still come, but they bounce off. And if it is not settled yet, the Village is a safe place to wrestle with it, questions and doubts and church hurt included.
Condemnation is a final sentence. When you condemn someone you are acting as their judge and declaring them guilty for good. The gospel turns that around. The woman in John 8 was guilty. She was not condemned. She was forgiven and given a new start.
Romans 8:1-2
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Paroled or pardoned
Brady told a true story about a man he met after a service, a former college basketball player who at eighteen got into a car with strangers, walked into a liquor store robbery he did not plan, and in a heartbeat shot and killed the owner. He served twenty years. Because of good behavior he ended up cooking for the governor every day for eight years, riding from his cell to the governor’s mansion and back. At the end of the governor’s final term, the governor signed his pardon in front of him and slid it across the table.
The man was careful about the words. Parole sets a person free for good behavior, but the record never changes and follows you the rest of your life. One slip and you are back. A pardon is different. A guilty person is set free and absolved as if never convicted. The consequences of the past do not vanish, but the record does.
Some believers live like parolees. God let me out, but if I mess up I am back in Jesus jail. Good day, out. Bad day, back in. Brady called that an awful way to live and said it plainly: you have not been paroled. You have been pardoned. There is no record of your wrong.
When you are swimming in oceans of grace, you can pour a cup of water on somebody else.
Where the real battle is
Romans 8 goes on to say that those who live according to the flesh set their minds on what the flesh desires, and those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on what the Spirit desires. The battle is not out there. It is in the mind, and it is decided each morning.
What you set your mind on shapes how you treat people. A parolee treats everyone else like a parolee, pointing out guilt for a cheap hit of feeling better. Someone who knows they are pardoned starts forgiving. If you have been forgiven that much, you have plenty of grace to give away.
None of us in the room is innocent. Every one of us is guilty of something. And Jesus came to pardon all of it.
Salvation starts with belief, not behavior. The pardon has already been signed and slid across the table. All that is left is to receive it. And if you already have, be kind to yourself this week. You messed up. You have also been pardoned.
Questions for the week
- 1Where has shame language shown up in how you talk to yourself, your kids, or your spouse this week?
- 2Do you live more like a parolee or like someone who has been pardoned? What would change if you believed there is no record of your wrong?
- 3Who around you needs grace poured out this week, and what would that look like in practice?
- 4What is your mind set on when you wake up? What would it take to set it on the Spirit first?
A prayer
Father in heaven, I am a sinner. I am guilty. I have tried to save myself, but I cannot. So today I receive salvation. I confess Jesus is Lord of my life. Come now and fill me with the Holy Spirit, and help me follow you all the days of my life. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Brady Boyd
Legacy Pastor
More messages
Keep listening.
Weekly email
A new message every week.
We will never share your email. Privacy policy →