[0:00] Well, please take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 7, Luke chapter 7 and verse 36. This is a beautiful, sweet story from the life of our Lord, full of hope for us.
[0:13] Luke chapter 7, verse 36. Now, one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, and so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table.
[0:23] When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume.
[0:35] And as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. And then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and poured perfume on them.
[0:48] And when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, If this man were a prophet, he would know who was touching him and what kind of woman she is, that she is a sinner.
[1:03] Jesus answered him, Simon, I have something to tell you. Tell me, teacher, he said. Two men owed money to a certain moneylender.
[1:15] One owed him 500 denarii and the other 50. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, and so he canceled the debts of both. Now, which of them will love him more?
[1:29] Simon replied, I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled. You have judged correctly, Jesus said. Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, Do you see this woman?
[1:43] I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
[1:55] You did not give me a kiss, but this woman from the time I entered has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.
[2:10] Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.
[2:21] And then Jesus said to her, Your sins are forgiven. The other guests began to say among themselves, Who is this who even forgives sins?
[2:34] Jesus said to the woman, Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
[2:49] Amen. Who forgives all your sins. When David was counting his blessings in praise to the Lord, the first thing out of his mouth was this thing called forgiveness of sins.
[3:04] That God, the judge of all mankind, had forgiven all his sins. Have you been forgiven of your sins? Is this right at the top of your praise list, the thing that keeps you coming back to the Lord Jesus, filled with wonder, love, and praise?
[3:26] Well, today in this passage that was just read from Luke chapter 7, we get to meet a lady, a woman who would agree wholeheartedly with David that this indeed is no small blessing to have all of our sins forgiven and remembered no more.
[3:43] I'm going to give you the timeless truth right up front. What the Lord Jesus is teaching us in our text is this, that having your sins forgiven ignites love in your heart for the one who forgave you.
[4:00] Having your sins forgiven, and knowing it, ignites love in your heart for the one who has forgiven you. Now there's three main characters in the story. Let me introduce them.
[4:12] First of all, it's Pharisee, and we're told his name was Simon. He belongs to the most strict religious sect, the party of Pharisees.
[4:24] They were experts in the law of God. They had added their own laws. And they appeared to be the most holy people in Israel. Indeed, it was thought that if anybody got into heaven, the Pharisees would.
[4:40] And Simon agreed wholeheartedly with that, you see. He was self-righteous. He flattered himself too much to detect or hate his own sins to realize that he too stood in need of forgiveness from the Lord.
[4:55] So he looked down his nose at others who weren't on the same level as he was. And he lived a separate life from sinners.
[5:08] Didn't want to get too close to them lest they defile him in some way. So he keeps his distance. And Simon is the host of a dinner party. The second person we meet is the Lord Jesus, the eternal Son of God.
[5:22] Become man. Like us in every way except one. He was without sin. Holy, blameless, and pure. And yet, he was the friend of sinners.
[5:38] The friend of sinners. He ate with them. He talked with them. He lived and died for them. He rose again for them. Ascended into heaven for them.
[5:48] In fact, the very reason he came from heaven was that he might seek and save that which was lost. So when this self-righteous sinner, Simon the Pharisee, invited him to dinner, Jesus went and ate with him.
[6:08] He cares about all kinds of sinners. Not only down and out sinners, but even religious, well-respected sinners like Simon the Pharisee. That's Jesus.
[6:21] And then thirdly, we meet a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town. Now that's Luke's kind way of saying she was a woman of the street.
[6:32] A prostitute. And everyone in town knew her. How could they not? They knew the life that she had lived. The marriages she had spoiled. But what they did not know is that she had recently come to put her faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and had been forgiven all of her sins.
[6:54] According to the religion of the Pharisees, she needed first to clean up her life and be holy like them if she's ever to be forgiven and enter heaven at last.
[7:06] That salvation is a reward for good religious people. That was the message preached by the Pharisees and it held out absolutely no hope for this woman. But then she had heard Jesus of Nazareth preaching.
[7:19] And what a different message it was. He was offering free forgiveness on the spot. And that for the worst of sinners who would come just as they are to him, renouncing their old way and trusting in him to forgive them for their sins.
[7:40] whatever they had done, it could all be forgiven. Now this was good news for this woman. And so she believed on the Lord Jesus, was saved and forgiven all of her sins.
[7:54] And that's why she's now so happy. And that's why she's so thankful that when she hears that Jesus was eating at this Pharisee's house, she showed up to pour out her love and her gratitude for the Savior.
[8:09] So there's the three main characters. Let me set the scene at Simon's house a little bit further. We have here Simon then, the holier-than-thou Pharisee, the forgiven woman who has been a notorious sinner in the past, and between them is Jesus, the friend of sinners, who's come to seek and to save that which was lost.
[8:31] Now there's food on the table with the dinner guests gathered around. But this table is only a foot off the ground.
[8:43] It's just way down here. It's just high enough to get the food off the floor, we might say. And they're not sitting around the table in chairs like we do, but rather they're lying on cushions and mats.
[8:58] And so their faces are up by the table and then their bodies and feet are hanging out behind them. And this woman is there behind Jesus standing over his feet.
[9:14] And she's weeping. Tears perhaps of regret. Repentance for her past life. But also mingled with tears of joy for the forgiveness that she's come to receive from Jesus Christ.
[9:29] Tears of love for the one who forgave her. And it's not just a few tears welling up in her eyes, but they fall off of her cheeks and splash onto the feet of Jesus beneath her.
[9:41] Enough water to actually begin to wash his feet. And then lets down her hair and wipes his feet dry and then pours out expensive perfume on his feet and kissing them over and over.
[9:57] A sign of reverence in that day for one's teacher. And none of this has gone unnoticed by Simon.
[10:10] He's taking it all in and he's having a conversation with himself. He's talking to himself. And what he says is, if this man were a prophet, now that's what the people were saying about him.
[10:23] Remember, Jesus asked his disciples, who do people say that I, the Son of Man, am? Or they think that you're John the Baptist or Jeremiah or one of the prophets, Elijah. You're a prophet.
[10:35] Jesus spoke with such authority. He spoke about things that only God knew. Obviously, he had this unique relationship with God as a prophet, receiving direct information that only God would know.
[10:49] Certainly, he must be a prophet with this supernatural knowledge. but Simon's thinking to himself, no, can't be.
[11:00] He can't be a prophet. If this man were a prophet, then he would know who was touching him and what kind of woman she is.
[11:11] That she is a sinner. A sinner. Never once considering that Jesus might know exactly who she is and everything that she has done and that his whole purpose for being in the world was to seek and to save sinners like her.
[11:31] Then Luke tells us that Jesus answered him. We say, answered him? He hasn't said anything. Yes, that's right. Jesus answered his inward thoughts, showing that he really was a prophet and more than that.
[11:49] Do you realize that Jesus knows everything that you're thinking? And thinking about him. Nothing in all creation is hidden from him. Everything's uncovered before his eyes to whom you must give an account.
[12:03] So what are your thoughts of Jesus? Do you think of him as God, the creator, heaven and earth, for whom all things were made, by whom and for whom all things were made?
[12:17] Do you think of him as a prophet, the prophet, to teach you how to live, to teach you the way of salvation? Do you think of him as the savior, whom you need for forgiveness of sins?
[12:31] Do you think of him as being worthy of your worship, your trust, your obedience, your love, indeed of your whole life? Or, are you thinking, there's nothing about him that I can't do without, without, like Simon was thinking.
[12:53] And though Simon hadn't said anything, Jesus answered him, Simon, I have something to tell you. And it's the same thing he has to tell us this morning as he still speaks to us through his word.
[13:04] Tell me, teacher, he said. And what Jesus gives him is a little story with an important lesson. We could call it a parable, a brief parable. And I've done the math and tried to change the denarii into dollars, the currency that we're used to.
[13:20] And so here's the little story. Two men owed money to a certain money lender. They had borrowed money from him. One owed him $50,000 and the other $5,000.
[13:32] Neither of them had the money to pay him back. So he canceled the debts of both. He forgave the debt.
[13:43] He said, you don't owe me anything. And now the question, Simon, which of them will love him more? And Simon replies a bit casually as if he's not all that interested.
[13:57] Well, I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled. And Jesus says, you've judged correctly. They will love him more.
[14:11] This is the point of the parable and let's be sure we get it straight. Which came first? Their love for the money lender or the forgiveness of their debt by the money lender?
[14:25] Well, it's the latter. Their love did not cause him to forgive their debt. Rather, his forgiving their debt freely caused them to love him for it.
[14:44] Forgiveness of the debt is the cause. Love for the forgiver is the effect. And the more you're forgiven, the more you love the one who forgave you.
[14:55] Because, you know, somebody had to suffer and pay for that debt, had to suffer the loss of that money. That money wasn't just kind of poof, the debt went away.
[15:06] No, the money lender had to assume that debt himself, didn't he? That was $50,000 and $5,000 out of his own pocket that he had to pay for those who had nothing to pay.
[15:20] And so they loved him. They loved him for having forgiven the debt. Now, it's interesting, there's two debtors in the parable and there's two people standing before Jesus.
[15:35] And now he's going to apply the same lesson from the parable to these two. Simon, the self-righteous, holier-than-thou Pharisee, and the woman with a sinful past.
[15:50] They both were in debt to God and neither of them had anything to pay for their sin debt. And in what follows, what we're trying to learn is whose sin debts are forgiven.
[16:02] whose sin debts have been forgiven. Well, how can we know? You see, forgiveness is a transaction on the books of heaven, where some people's sins are blotted out, canceled, paid in full, gone, and other people's sins remain on the books to be paid.
[16:25] That's in heaven. How can we know down here on earth whose sins have been forgiven up in heaven? what we've just been told in the parable.
[16:36] You'll know who the forgiven are by the effects produced in them. They love their forgiver. They love their forgiver. And that's the timeless truth.
[16:49] Having your sins forgiven ignites a love in your heart for the one who forgave them. So Jesus is going to compare these two and to compare the love that they have for him in order to reveal just who is forgiven here.
[17:08] So kids, I'm going to ask you to help keep score with me. Maybe you'll take a piece of paper and you'll draw a line right down the middle and on one side you'll put Simon and on the other you'll put the woman.
[17:21] Here's what we're after in keeping the score. Who loved Jesus the most? who loved Jesus the most?
[17:32] Now there's three rounds of comparison. Jesus will compare them in three ways. Round number one. Jesus turned toward the woman and said to Simon, do you see this woman?
[17:49] I came into your house and you did not give me any water for my feet. Now we call a time out here and pause a moment to understand Middle Eastern hospitality of the day.
[17:59] It was common courtesy. It was an expected expression of love for one's guests, for the host to provide water, for them to wash their dusty sandaled feet.
[18:14] This is desert climate. This is heat. And if they'd walked any distance, the sweat from their legs would have rolled down onto their feet and as they're walking those dusty paths, they've got muddy feet by the time they get to their host's house.
[18:29] And so, out of love for them, the host would provide this refreshing act of loving kindness, a pitcher of water, a basin and a towel that his guests might wash their feet before they eat.
[18:46] Simon, when I came into your house, you didn't give me any water for my feet. You withheld from me this common expression of love. love. But she, she wet my feet, not with a canteen, but with her tears.
[19:04] And she dried them, not with a towel, but with her own hair. Way beyond the call of duty, far exceeding ordinary hospitality.
[19:16] So, scorekeepers, round one, who loved Jesus the most? I'll let you know I'm giving one to the woman and a big zero for the Pharisee.
[19:28] Round two, verse five, verse 45. Simon, you didn't give me a kiss. And again, this was the common greeting. Maybe when you came today, you got a handshake or a hug.
[19:41] Maybe you got a kiss. But in many places in the world, that is still the common greeting to give a kiss. It's what caused Peter to say to the church, greet one another with a kiss of love.
[19:56] And it's what made Judas' act so treacherous when he took what is an expression of love and he turned it into an expression of hatred. And Jesus says, do you betray me with a kiss?
[20:08] It was a common greeting of love. And Jesus is here calling Simon out, when I came into your house, you didn't give me a kiss.
[20:20] Not so much as a peck on the cheek. But this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet.
[20:36] So, kids, mark your scorecard. Round two, who loved Jesus more? The woman or Simon? And then the last round, three. Verse 46.
[20:46] You did not put oil on my head, Simon. Again, this was a soothing oil to refresh the dry, cracking skin in the dry heat under the sun.
[20:59] A way to refresh your guests as they entered your home. You didn't put any oil on my head. But she has poured perfume on my feet.
[21:12] perfume, more expensive than the common oil, olive oil. And she's not deemed that my feet are unworthy of having perfume put on them.
[21:29] Not just my head. So, kids, mark your scorecard for round three. And that finishes the comparison. Add up the numbers.
[21:39] Who loved Jesus more? What do you have? I've got three for the woman and still the big fat zero for Simon.
[21:51] She completely outstripped him in showing her love for Jesus. Simon doesn't even have the slightest expressions of love for him.
[22:03] He doesn't even make it onto the love meter, we might call it. And so, we now come to Jesus' conclusion of the matter. His personal application of that timeless truth to these two before him.
[22:19] First, the woman with the sinful past who had nothing to pay. What does her love for Jesus tell us about her? Well, it tells us she's been forgiven much.
[22:32] That's what Jesus says, and it's in the past tense. Verse 47, Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, for she loved much.
[22:46] Now, again, let's not confuse the cause and the effect. That's what the Roman Catholics have done. And they've said, well, it's because she loves so much that Jesus forgives her.
[22:57] You've got to earn that love. No, no. Not at all. Her great love for Jesus did not cause Jesus to forgive her.
[23:08] It's just the opposite. She's already tasted Jesus' free gift of forgiveness for her many sins, and that caused her to love him much. It's the same lesson that was taught in the parable.
[23:19] The debtors did not first love their money lender, and that caused him to forgive the debt. It was just the opposite. Free forgiveness forgiveness ignites love in the heart for the forgiver.
[23:36] And that is so consistently true that it can point who the forgiven are. Even though we're still on earth, we can't peek into the books of heaven.
[23:47] So that's the woman. You can tell she's forgiven. Look how she loves him. Behold how she loves him. Now, Simon, the other debtor with nothing to pay.
[24:00] We found him lacking even common courtesies for Jesus, let alone real love for him. And what does his absence of love for Jesus tell us about him?
[24:12] Well, it tells us his sins have not been forgiven. He who has been forgiven little loves little. And Simon, who struck out in love for Jesus altogether, reveals that he who has been forgiven none loves none.
[24:26] No real love for Jesus is proof that this man was not a forgiven man. If he had been forgiven, it would have been seen in his love for Jesus. That's what he's saying. So what was wrong with Simon?
[24:40] Well, he'd never really seen himself as a sinner who needed forgiveness. Had he? A sinner was never a label that really fit him.
[24:52] No, she's the sinner. Not me. But according to Jesus, no one can be forgiven unless they come to him as a sinner.
[25:04] And cry out, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Me, the sinner. Not her, the sinner. Simon had never been humbled at a sight of his sin before God.
[25:18] He'd never seen the number of his sins, much less the seriousness and offensiveness of them. He was blinded by his own self-righteousness and pride as he looked down on everyone else around him.
[25:31] He was blinded as well by the God of this age, who is Satan, who not only blinded him to the gospel of Christ, but blinded him to his own sin and need for Christ in his gospel, for forgiveness.
[25:47] In his own eyes, he'd earned his place in heaven. He was not a sinner like others. But you know, there's more than one kind of sinner, is what Jesus is saying.
[26:04] And for all his religious and outward morality, his self-righteous pride was an abomination in God's sight. This is what God says in Isaiah 65, 5, about all these who are like Simon.
[26:22] You say, keep away. Don't come near me, for I am too sacred for you. I'm holier than thou. Jehovah says, such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day.
[26:38] Yes, there is more than the woman on the street sinner. There's the sinner in the church sinner who self-righteously despises other people and thinks himself good enough for God.
[26:57] And so his sin debt remained unforgiven. Now, though the woman had already been forgiven by Jesus, Simon and his guests still consider her an immoral woman.
[27:11] They still look at her through the lens of the past. Again, we don't know how long it had been she'd been converted, how long ago it was that she heard the gospel and believed on the Lord.
[27:21] But they're still considering her as the same immoral sinner that she had been. So Jesus here publicly announces. To the woman, your sins are forgiven.
[27:35] She already knew that. That's why she's pouring out her love for Jesus. But he's saying it not only to reaffirm her own heart, but he's saying that for the people that they might realize that this woman with the immoral past has had all of her sins forgiven.
[27:51] She's a different woman. She's not the same woman that she had been. She's received this free gift of forgiveness that has made her a new woman. And that's what the gospel does.
[28:03] It sets us free from our past, whatever we were then. And it gives a new life to live and a new love to pour out our love upon the Lord Jesus who has forgiven us.
[28:18] And the other guests get the point and they start saying among themselves, who is this that even forgives sins? You see, they didn't hear that from the Pharisees' message.
[28:32] But now they're hearing it. Who is this? Oh, we'd love to shout, he's Jesus. God's son come from heaven to reveal the heart of God that's full of grace for the worst of sinners who will trust in his son.
[28:47] Now, these things were written for us. The parable, it was meant to teach Simon a lesson and it was applied to the woman and to Simon.
[29:00] But these things were written down for you and for me now. We don't just have a historical interest in some Pharisee of old and some sinner of old.
[29:10] No, no. This has to do with us. Does your love for Jesus reveal that you're one whose sins have been forgiven by him?
[29:24] Well, we start with the fact that every sin incurs a debt with God. All our breaking of his commands add to our debt before God.
[29:38] Doing what he says don't do. Not doing what he tells us to do. Duties left undone. Not loving him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.
[29:49] Not loving our neighbor the way we love ourselves. These are our sins. Not just outward things, but heart sins. Sins of the thought, the things that pass through our minds, our desires, what we want.
[30:04] Our motivations for what we do. All of it, you see, adds up our sin debt before God. And the fact is, friends, that there is no little sinner that exists.
[30:19] There is no $5,000 sinner. Except in the minds of people like Simon, who think they are without sin.
[30:32] Or just have a little bit to deal with. No, we're all $50,000 debtors. Deep in debt to God for our many sins. The second truth is that our sin debt to God is a debt that must be paid.
[30:45] It must be paid. Just as in the parable. The debt had to be paid. Not by the debtors. Then the creditor had to pay it out of his own money.
[30:57] He was out that money. And so our sin debt to God is a debt that must be paid. God's too holy to just ignore it. He can't do that. He's too righteous to just sweep it under the rug and pretend, you know, that never happened.
[31:11] We'll just pretend. You know, his justice demands that every single sin must and will be paid for. And yet the Bible teaches us, as Jesus does here, that we have nothing to pay.
[31:26] We have nothing to pay off the debt. Nothing we can do to get rid of this sin debt. No amount of good deeds and religious acts, as we sang in our songs this morning, could ever make up for even one of our sins, let alone pay God back for the whole mountain of our sins.
[31:44] And then the Bible teaches us that the ultimate penalty and payment for our sins comes after this life. There is a hell to pay for sin, where the sinner is forever making payments, but never, ever out of debt.
[32:04] Suffering God's infinite wrath, but never making the last payment to cancel the debt, to be free from it.
[32:15] Now, if that's our situation outside of Christ, and the Bible teaches it is, then how can our sins ever be forgiven? How can they ever be canceled?
[32:29] Well, let's follow Jesus from Simon's house. Jesus, it's just two, two and a half, maybe three years later, and we're outside of Jerusalem, and we come to a hill called Golgotha, and there on the middle cross, is the same Jesus, God's eternal Son made flesh, stretched out, nailed to a cross, bleeding and dying.
[32:54] And we say, what's he doing here? Why is he here? Why is he suffering so? Why is he dying? Why is he crying out, my God, my God, why have you abandoned me in the midst of darkness at noon?
[33:12] Why all of this? And the answer, of course, is that he is paying the debt of that woman to whom he said two to three years earlier, your sins are forgiven.
[33:29] How can they be forgiven? They can't just be written on. No, someone must pay. And the reality is that there's only two ultimate places where sin can be paid.
[33:42] One is in hell by the sinner who pays forever and never gets done paying. The other is the cross where Jesus, the infinite, eternal God, the Son, suffers the wrath of God in the place of every sinner who trusts in him, repudiating their path and looking to Jesus for forgiveness.
[34:06] He takes the debt upon him and he receives the punishment himself. You see, Jesus' words alone can never forgive sins.
[34:18] The Bible's clear. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. None. There's none to be had in the whole world without the shedding of blood.
[34:30] Jesus could say, your sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. But that alone will not forgive them. They must be paid for. And that's why Jesus is on the cross.
[34:42] And it wasn't just that woman's sins. It was my sins. It was many of your sins. For the love that he has for sinners. That he was paying for in full.
[34:56] As hell came to Calvary that day and exacted the payment for our sins from our substitute, our Savior, Jesus. For the blood of Jesus, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin.
[35:14] Every last one. Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.
[35:26] And since he paid it all for his people, that means there's nothing left for us to pay. So when this woman comes to the day of judgment and the books are open and her page is found, there will not be found one sin under her name.
[35:46] Because Jesus paid for every single one. And they were marked paid in full, blotted out by the blood of Jesus, forgiven, the whole debt forgiven.
[35:56] and remembered no more. So I ask you as I began, are your sins forgiven? There's no more important question in the world than that.
[36:08] Do you know that your sins are forgiven? Because if not, they are still on the books in heaven and still calling for judgment, payment by you.
[36:26] Are you saved? Saved from what? Saved from your sin debt. And the penalty that must be paid.
[36:37] Because at any time, God could call for the debt to be paid. You breathe your last and that's it. No more opportunity. You must pay now.
[36:48] Because you despised the one Lamb of God that he sent to pay the sins of all who will trust in him. Well, how then can you be saved?
[37:00] Well, Jesus parting words to the woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Would you notice he did not say what he did not say? He did not say your love has saved you.
[37:13] Go in peace. No, it wasn't her love that saved her. The gospel is not for by grace are you saved through love. But rather, for by grace are you saved through faith.
[37:27] And faith is nothing but the empty hands of faith held out to receive Jesus and every benefit in him like the forgiveness of sins. Faith is coming with nothing to claim for ourselves but to say I believe what Jesus said is true.
[37:44] That he suffered in the place of sinners and if I will come and turning from my past come and put my trust in him right now on the spot, I can go home a forgiven man right with God because Jesus paid it all.
[38:02] Go in peace. What a way to go. She came weeping. Yes, tears of regret and love to the Savior but she sent in peace.
[38:14] Peace with God. Just reassuring. You're at peace. You're good with God. and the peace in her own heart. The joy and peace that comes from believing on the Savior. Knowing my sins have been paid in full.
[38:30] You ask me why I'm happy? I'll just tell you why. Because my sins are gone. They're gone. They're underneath the blood of the cross of Calvary as far removed as darkness is from dawn.
[38:46] In the sea of God's forgetfulness. that's good enough for me. Praise God. My sins are gone. Remembered no more.
[38:58] Sinner friend, where in the world will you find such a Savior as this? Someone to forgive all your sins freely. Yes, he's compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love, keeping his covenant of love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin.
[39:23] Hallelujah. What a Savior. And believers, how's your love for Jesus? Does it show? Does it represent to this world, to anyone who knows you, just how much you've been forgiven by Jesus and how precious the forgiveness of sins is to you?
[39:41] forgiveness of sins ignites love in the heart for the forgiver. And the more you realize the greatness of the mountain of your sin, the more you love the one who forgave it.
[39:53] Yes, we're all great sinners. Oh, but we who are in Christ have a greater Savior with grace that is greater than all our sins.
[40:04] It was J.C. Ryle, I believe, who said, when we get to heaven, there'll be many wonders and one that will puzzle us is why we did not love Jesus more. When we see him face to face and all things become clear and we see the real value of having our sins forgiven in that day, we'll wonder that we didn't love him more when we were here.
[40:31] Well, no doubt you would you would wash his feet. You would greet him warmly with a kiss. You would show your love for him but he's no longer here bodily, is he?
[40:46] He's in heaven. But you know, his church is here and they're called the body of Christ. And so Jesus is saying to us, if you love me, love them.
[40:59] If you love me, wash their feet, serve them, help them, greet them, refresh, encourage them and as you do, I'll consider it as something you've done to me and I'll not forget to reward you for it.
[41:16] Love for Jesus now poured out in love to his people. And further, Jesus says, yes, we want to love you but you're not here.
[41:27] And so Jesus would help us and say, well, if you love me, then keep my commandments. Would you know how to speak love to my heart?
[41:38] Then embrace my commands and keep them. Well, you say, like what? Well, like go and leave your life of sin, which is what he says to the immoral woman in another place.
[41:51] Or like, forgive as you have been forgiven. You know, we are taught to pray, Heavenly Father, forgive us our debts just in the same way that we forgive our debtors, those who have sinned against us.
[42:13] Do we remember what we're asking when we say that? Forgive as you have been forgiven. Are you canceling the debts of others?
[42:24] Paying for it yourself? Is some pain that that feel, you feel because you're not getting even? Or are you still holding the debt and making them pay? Oh, no.
[42:38] He's not held the debt over our head. He's forgiven it. He's paid it. And we are to do the same to others. You canceling debts or making people pay.
[42:50] How about the command repent and be baptized? You say, I've repented. I am repenting. Have you been baptized? It's a command. How about the Lord's Supper?
[43:01] Do you love me? Do this in remembrance of me. It's a command. Amen. Because what we're doing tonight is we're looking again at what it cost Jesus to say to us, go in peace.
[43:17] Your sins are forgiven. For the love of Jesus who forgave you, obey his commands. And if you love me, spend your days with me.
[43:29] Draw near to me and I'll draw near to you. Walk with me. Talk with me. Listen to me. Live with me. And as we close this morning, here's another way that we love Jesus.
[43:40] We tell him, my Jesus, I love you. I know you're mine. For thee all the pleasures of sin I resign.
[43:54] Why? Because you love me first and you purchased my pardon on Calvary Street. You paid for my debts in full. Well, take your hymnal. We're going to sing that.
[44:04] And it's a way for us to pour out our love at Jesus' feet even as this woman did. 547. And if you don't know that this Jesus is yours, do you know that because of what he's done on the cross, he sends his preachers into all the world to announce that if you will come to him, he will forgive you.
[44:27] If you will trust in him and receive him, he will wash your sins away and remember them no more. Trust in him even as we sing of our love for the Savior.
[44:39] It's 547. Let's sing to Jesus. Jesus. William Featherstone, the author of those words, not a 60, 70-year-old man, but a 26-year-old, when he was converted, wrote down these words.
[45:05] You see, it wasn't a special deal that Christ cut for that woman that day. It's what Acts 10, 43 says, all the prophets testify about him, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
[45:24] And this 26-year-old, by faith, laid his hands upon the head of the Lamb of God and saw his sins put upon Christ and him bearing them to the tree where he suffered and died and now is singing for joy with peace in his heart and peace with God because everyone who believes, young, old, receives forgiveness of sins through Jesus' name.
[45:57] Thank you, Father, for this account of Simon and Jesus and this woman. We think of the things and the difference it made for her, but we also thank you that these are words for us, so speak them to our hearts.
[46:16] We do love you, Lord. We wish we loved you more. Please work in our hearts and remind us again that it's seeing how much we're forgiven that ignites love. So keep us near the cross.
[46:28] We ask in Jesus' name and for his glory. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.