John chapter 8 tells the story of a group of Scribes and Pharisees who interrupted a church service. Verse 1 tells us that Jesus had been on the Mount of Olives when He left and went into the Temple. More than likely, this is referring to the main temple in Jerusalem. In my mind’s eye, I can see Jesus as He descends from the Mount of Olives, walks through the Garden of Gethsemane, crosses the Kidron Valley, and enters the Eastern Gate on His way into the Temple. As Jesus is teaching, a woman is dragged into the Temple and cast at His feet. She was caught in the very act of adultery. What will Jesus do?

I have been guilty, as has every preacher I’ve ever heard, of saying that Jesus wrote in the sand. The Bible doesn’t say that; it says He wrote on the ground. Was Jesus in a part of the Temple that had a stone floor, or had the commotion caused them to go outside where there was sand? So many questions! But, for today, the issue before us is not whether Jesus wrote on dusty stone, as the next graphic shows, or in the sand; the issue is how God can forgive us and use us regardless of what we have done.

One of the greatest revivals in American history is remembered as “The Great Awakening.” Jonathan Edwards was one of the preachers at the forefront of this incredible move of God. There was an event in the early days of this revival that played a part in spreading it far beyond Northhampton, Massachusetts. In December 1734, he was visited by a woman he described as one of the greatest “company-keepers” in the entire town. That is a polite way of saying she was a very immoral woman. She came to the preacher to tell him she had been gloriously saved.

Perhaps because of her reputation, Jonathan Edwards was initially concerned about how this would be received, but she spoke with such joy about her conversion that Edwards saw God had given her a new heart. So much so that he said, “She was truly broken and sanctified.” As word began to spread about her conversion, many young people came to see her, perhaps some with whom she had previously kept company. What they saw convicted them of their sins, and they accepted Jesus as their Savior.

They started having services in homes and then in churches. Word began to spread to communities around Northhampton and across New England. Some were skeptical when they first came, but they soon found they could not escape the conviction of the Holy Ghost. A revival broke out that helped shape the founding of America just a few short years later.

This “company-keeper” was one of many that God used in The Great Awakening. Jonathan Edwards sermon, “Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God,” caused entire towns to cry out to God as they felt themselves sliding into hell. Oh, how we need a move of God like that in our generation.

Our testimony may not be the same as the woman in John chapter 8, or the woman from Northhampton, Massachusetts in 1734, but God can use us to touch our generation. “Oh Lord, send a revival, and let it begin with me.”