We hear this again and again. You talk to somebody about the Lord, and they say, Oh how can you know which is the right religion? There are so many religions. That is effectively what she is doing, and so often the reason why people raise these questions is to distract attention away from the more sensitive subject of their sins.
In Ireland there has just been a referendum. Two-thirds of the people have voted in favour of abortion. The result of the vote has been jubilation, people leaping in the air and cheering and crying and weeping with joy. We have got rid of God. We have got rid of ‘Thou shalt not kill’ in an area where it does not please us. We have decided what is moral, and what is right, and what is wrong. Democracy has decided. We have done away with God and his commands, and how happy we are and how jubilant. People do not believe in sin these days. It is not only Ireland. We did it in 1967, though not by referendum. What a terrible thing, but people do not believe in sin. The woman did not believe she was a sinner. What she had done in preferring first one man, then another, and having sort of light divorce and remarriage: that was alright, she was a good woman. She had no concept of her sin.
If we had lived a hundred years ago, people would have had a greater concept of sin. It was more widely taught. It is not taught anymore in society today. People do not believe in sin; only in some sins, only in some things. There should be rules against violence, and theft, and taking your property, and a few things like that which are very inconvenient and unhappy for you. But otherwise we do not want to believe in sin. We do not accept it anymore. But the conscience is still there. And so we have to speak about the need for forgiveness, and the purity and holiness of God, and his lovingkindness in making a way of salvation, and Christ suffering and dying for sinners, and belief in him being essential. We have to continue with these things. And Christ brought this back into the picture.