Your Sins Are Forgiven

Well, we do approach the Passover season in just a little bit, so our message is going to continue to turn our focus on to that. With the title of our study today, Your Sins Are Forgiven. Your Sins Are Forgiven. That is the pronouncement, that is the truth to which we will endeavor to explore today. I invite you to open your Bibles with me. Let's turn to Luke 7.

We're going to begin reading the passage in verses 36-50. This will serve as our launching off point here. Luke 7 verses 36-50. As we come to what is the incredibly impactful story recorded by Luke of the woman who came to wash Jesus Christ's feet with her own tears. In recording this Gospel account, it has come to be one of the most impactful recordings of forgiveness in all of the Bible, culminating with the words that Jesus Christ declares to this woman, Your sins are forgiven.

It's an incredible passage. Let's take a look at this. Luke 7, beginning in verse 36. Then one of the Pharisees asked him, Jesus, to eat with him. And he, Jesus, went to the Pharisees' house and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner—I'm going to stop there for a moment.

That's a polite way of saying, I believe, that this is a woman of the street. It is a description of a woman who has checkered circumstances. Continuing, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table of the Pharisees' house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil and stood at his feet behind him, weeping. And she began to wash his feet with her tears. And she wiped them with the hair of her head. She kissed his feet and anointed them with fragrant oil.

Now, when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, This man, speaking of Jesus, if he were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who's touching him. For he she is a sinner. And Jesus answered and said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. So he said, Teacher, say it. There was a certain creditor who had two debtors, one owed five hundred denari, the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him more?

Simon answered and said, I suppose the one whom he forgave more. And he said to him, You have rightly judged. Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, Do you see this woman?

I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet. But she has washed my feet with the tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven.

For she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. Then he said to her, Your sins are forgiven. And those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, Who is this who even forgives sins? And he said to the woman, Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Let's stop there. Well again, we're going to talk about forgiveness today. So forgiveness certainly one of the primary truths for a follower of Jesus Christ to focus upon as we approach the Passover season.

And in beginning this discussion, I think it would be fair to say that perhaps the most striking thing about biblical Christianity is the fact of forgiveness. Because from the very beginning, from the time that you open the Bible, all the way to the end, we're introduced to a God, the God, the only God, who at every point is willing and ready to forgive.

If you've done any comparison religion, which some of you have, I know, you will find that there is nothing like this in any of the other religions of the world. Buddhism, Hinduism, with their law of karma, they know nothing of forgiveness. Hinduism, for example, there is no forgiveness.

You don't worry about it. You just move on and you come around again in an endless recycling or reincarnating process. In the harsh justice of the Islamic religion, there is no significant place for forgiveness at all. Only retribution, you will find, retribution for justice, only the cutting off of hands and such. No notion of forgiveness. And so it can be said that the distinguishing feature of true Christianity is centered in the belief statement, I believe in the forgiveness of sins.

And we sitting here as a church, we believe in the forgiveness of sins. The Psalms have a lot to say about forgiveness. The Psalmist says, For you, Lord, are good and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon you.

We won't turn there, but that's Psalm 86 verse 5. If you want to turn there later, Psalm 86, 5. You, O Lord, are good and ready to forgive, abundant in mercy.

And that's a wonderful word to take with us as God's children, every day to work, to school, to take that word of a forgiving God to those who wonder who God is, the truth of forgiveness to those who wonder how He can be known, what is He like?

What we want to acknowledge today before the end of the study is that the forgiveness of God is the key in helping mankind understand God. Forgiveness is the key truth in helping God reveal Himself to us. That's how He can be known. He's a good God. He's a forgiving God. He's abundant in mercy. Moses says of God that He will show His mercy, His love, to a thousand generations. That's actually in the second commandment. You can actually look that up later. Exodus 20 verse 5 and 6, the second commandment regarding idol worship.

Now, in that second commandment, He says that God visits the iniquities of the fathers, the sins of the fathers upon the children, to the third and fourth generation. People say, oh wow, God visits the iniquities, the sins of the fathers, to the third and fourth generation. Then Moses follows up and says, yeah, but He shows mercy and love to a thousand generations. So do the math. You see, He's a good God. He's a forgiving God. He's a merciful God.

And it is the reason that we come to Psalm after Psalm. This is what the Bible wants to reveal to us. It's a major theme. It's the theme. The Psalms, of course, written by a man, David, who in many ways discovered God through forgiveness. One commentator says of the Psalms, one must have a dull ear not to hear the voice of personal experience in the Psalms. It throbs with emotion. It's a burst from the heart of one who tastes the sweetness of the new joy of forgiveness. That was David. The Psalms are him expressing himself as he tastes the joy of forgiveness. The joy of forgiveness comes out loud and clear in the Psalms, in the commandments, and certainly through this woman here. So let's take a look at this woman. Now, throughout Luke's Gospel recordings, he's been describing the way in which God's Word has been spreading. Often it's with Jesus Christ wandering from town to town, and he's mingling, and he's getting down into the circumstances of those men and women. He's eating with them, and on those occasions, Jesus Christ addressed the crowds. He called for repentance and faith, and there would be those who would come to embrace his love and forgiveness. And I mention that because when we come to this story of this woman, this sinful woman who anoints Jesus Christ and bathes him with her tears, we may find ourselves wondering when was it that this lady first was impacted by Jesus Christ in this message of forgiveness? When was it that she first was impacted to move so deliberately up to Jesus Christ at this dinner party? Did she live around the area? Did she live in Ty or Sidon? Did she live on the coastline? Where did she live? When was it first for her to hear this message? Was there a previous occasion in which she stood in the background, perhaps in the shadows, so as not to be seen by the people who would have known her for her notoriety, who would have said, at least by their glances, what are you doing here?

Why would you come here and listen to the rabbi, the teacher of Israel, the great teacher, you of all people, go back into the shadows?

Well, somewhere along the way, we don't know when or where, in the midst of one of those interactions, perhaps a separate encounter with Jesus Christ, we don't know, she began to hear, and she began to understand this message of forgiveness, forgiveness that was being offered by Jesus Christ. And it moved her. It moved her so deeply, she was willing and found the strength to face down all the glances, all the stares, all the murmurings which would have accompanied her coming to this particular dinner party. So let's paint this scene. Let's paint this scene here. We're told in verse 36 that one of the Pharisees had invited Jesus to the dinner, kind of a dinner party. Perhaps in looking at how this scene unfolds, it was probably outdoors here. It was customary for the homes at that time to have to be built with open courtyards attached to the house. Often they would be decorated elaborately with gardens. They would have fountains in the middle, elaborate fountains in the middle, often that it's recorded. So in the warm weather, it had been customary to eat outdoors. And when someone of significance, like Jesus Christ, was invited to a dinner party, there would have been those who would have been eager to stop by and to move into the courtyard to see what was happening. Perhaps those that were attached somehow to the host. Even those who were complete strangers, wandering in and out to see what was happening. And it's in that context as this woman appears. We're told who she is, not by her name, but by what she's done in the past. She's a woman with a past. We all have pasts. She's designated in verse 37 as a woman who lived sinfully in that city. She would have had some notoriety, no doubt. When she went to the market, walked down the street, there would have been those who would have nudged each other and said, oh, there she goes. We know who she is. We know what she's known for.

But something moved her to look past all those things.

Now, common courtesy in a context like this would demand for the host of the dinner party to provide certain courtesies to those whom they've invited to the dinner party. Simon, the Pharisee, was the host, we're told, and would have provided certain courtesies to Jesus Christ when he arrived. Simon would have been expected to place his hands on the shoulders of Jesus, kiss him on each side of the cheek. It was an extension of offering of peace. Simon would have arranged for Jesus Christ's feet to be washed. Sandals were loosely attached with a strap, a leather strap, and they could be easily removed. There would have been the accommodations there to wash the guest's feet. In that posture of being washed, Simon would have made accommodations to have the guest anointed. He would have had all or incense added to generally the head of the individual. But we see toward the end of the story, as it begins in verse 44 there, that none of this had taken place. None of those proper social things. So why is that? Why didn't Simon, the Pharisee, offer these things to Jesus Christ would have been the normal at that time? Was it simply a missed social cue? Perhaps. More than likely, it was something else. The Pharisees of that day, they made it a sport to try to catch Jesus in lies or to catch him in a breaking of a law, their laws of course of some sort, trying to trap him. So perhaps missing these common courtesies was no accident. May tell you something of Simon's heart.

Nevertheless, here they are. Jesus is reclined at the table. If you've seen some of the Roman pictures of the tables at that time, it's pretty interesting. They didn't sit like we sit. We sit at a table and we put our feet under the table and the plates in front of us and we sit that way. At that time, the tables were lower. And generally, the practice was to sit at the table and kind of almost lean into the table a little bit. So if you're right-handed, you might lean in on your left elbow. That allowed you to take food with your right hand. I guess if you were left-handed, it would be the reverse in that way. So you can kind of start to see the scene as Jesus Christ set at the table here. And in that posture, it would have had the individual's bodies and their feet kind of going out, pointing into the courtyard. So this was more than likely the posture at the dinner table here when the woman arrives with a sinful life and approaches Jesus. Now, it wasn't uncommon for a lady like this to wear a vial of perfume.

Perhaps a little uncommon, knowing her likely profession. Often, a jar made of alabaster would have carried the good stuff, as it's mentioned there in verse 37. We don't know how this lady came about that, but she did have it. And she comes determined to face down the stairs of contempt, disdain for her, as she's prepared to be despised for the sake of what she has to do.

She's prepared to be despised by all those around for something she knows in her heart that she has to do. So she stoops at the feet of Jesus Christ to do for Him with Simon the Pharisee failed to do. Verse 38, she arrives, stood at His feet, weeping, behind Him weeping.

This is the scene. She's not a professional mourner, although there were those at that time. There's nothing here to suggest that these tears were planned here. The vial, the alabaster vial, maybe was, maybe she was wearing it for just as just a time as this.

She begins to weep, outpouring here. Her tears mix with the dust and the dirt and run onto the feet of Jesus Christ. Why does she cry? I feel like this isn't her first encounter. I think we can assume that, like was mentioned. Maybe this is she realizes this is the moment that she's able to approach the individual whom she had been listening to, whom had made such an impact. And now she's here at this moment. There he is, reclined at the table. This is her moment. It's now come to fruition to make it clear to him just how amazed she is by his teaching and by his love. So you can almost see the quivering hands. You know, she's trying to get the the vial undone, pouring tears, tears running down her face.

She's a mess at this moment.

And I want to mention that this is not a particularly nice scene.

Now it's never nice when someone cries. Men or women. It might not be politically correct to say that as a man it's not particularly nice to see a woman cry. Perhaps there's mascara involved. I don't know. A disheveled hair. It's not a scene that any man wants to see.

And I mentioned that solely for the purpose, you know, when you start to dig into some of these stories you will find you got to be careful what you dig into. There are actually some commentators that try to make this scene an erotic scene of some sort. Can you imagine? This is not an erotic scene by any means. She's a disaster, if you will. She did come from that background, undoubtedly. But that is not this. She's emptying herself at this point. This is a life-changing moment for her. This is a posture of repentance. I don't know if you've ever been so overtaken by the acknowledgement of how sinful you are and you're approaching Jesus Christ. We, in God the Father, we approach them in our prayers. Here she has the opportunity to approach Jesus Christ in person and it just releases. That's the posture here. Deep desire for rescue.

No one shows up with a towel. So she does the unthinkable, the absolute unthinkable. She lets down her hair. Now, in the Talmud, it is said that a woman could suffer no greater offense than the offense of letting down her hair. Every married woman at that time on the night of her marriage would put up her hair the next morning, would not take it down in public only for her husband. So imagine this scene. This woman approaches, this woman of notoriety. She's crying. She begins to anoint Jesus Christ with the oil and then she reaches and lets down her hair. It begins to wipe his feet with her hair.

The picture of a woman's glory rubbed into the feet of Jesus Christ is an expression of complete surrender, complete devotion. The kisses, evidence of her adoration. There's no indication of Jesus Christ pushing her away. And I'll have you know all this is described at this point in complete silence. There's actually no dialogue mentioned at this point in the scene. And the only dialogue that comes is not an outward dialogue. I actually think that Simon says this to himself. It's actually an inner dialogue which emerges from verse 39. Simon, the host watching this scene, says to himself, it says in verse 39, this man, if he were a prophet, you know, I invited him, perhaps he's thinking this, I invited him to expose him. If he were a prophet, he would know who and what manner of woman this is who's touching him, for she is a sinner. In other words, this proved out maybe, you know, as to why I invited him here. He's proven who I knew he was to be. He's letting her do this. Doesn't he understand?

Well, who doesn't understand here, of course? The Pharisee doesn't understand. He would have been gratified if Jesus Christ would have kind of kicked her away, you know, and he would have said, presumably, that's the way to go, Jesus. Get her out of here, you know.

I'm so sorry she was allowed in here. I'm going to talk to the house managers later. She should have never gotten in here. I'm not going to do it right now. I don't want to make a fuss, but just know I'll take care of this later, Jesus. I'm glad you pushed her away. Nothing less than what she deserves. No, that's not how he responds. In fact, Jesus Christ breaks the silence in verse 40. Verse 40, Simon, I have something to tell you. Tell me, teachers say it.

I'll summarize this parable. Two men are in debt, one to the tune of 500 days' wages, the other to the tune of 50 days' wages, a lot of money. Neither one of them can pay. It doesn't matter how much you can pay. If you can't pay 50, you can't pay 500, you can't pay. Neither one of them can pay. And he says to Simon, let me ask you a question. When they are forgiven their debt, when their debt has been canceled, who do you think loves the canceler more? Simon's trapped. You know, this is such good technique. Paul did this. Christ did this, of course. There's a way of asking questions, setting up a scenario where the other person only has one answer to say. So, of course, Simon reluctantly, well, I suppose the bigger debt that is canceled, he would love him more, the one whom he forgave more. Suppose nothing, of course. Of course that's the answer. So what Jesus is actually saying here, in our terms, you have a $500 center versus a $50 center. They both get released of their debt, the debt of death, the debt of condemnation. Who do you think is more grateful for the life that's been given back to them? Answer the $500 center, of course. And what he's pointing out is she knows herself to be a $500 center. You, Simon, you think of yourself to be a $50 center. She understands it. Therefore, she cries, you don't. She anoints, you don't. She washes, and you don't.

You see, verse 47, Christ continues, those who have known themselves to have been forgiven the most, love the most. That's the point. Her sins, which are many, they are forgiven. She loves much.

I see, Simon, that you only have a little bit of sin. You know, it's a little forgiven. Therefore, you'll love little. Makes sense. So let me ask you today, do you know yourself to be in debt? And if so, how much do you owe?

That's the question to ask as we prepare for the Passover season. Do you owe a little, or do you know yourself to owe much? Spend time preparing for the Passover season, determining your debt. It is a painful exercise. We don't want you to stay in that posture, but you got to start there. You got to start acknowledging. One thing we know for sure, some of the biggest sinners in the history of the church have been the greatest saints, have been the greatest ones that have been most useful to God. Why is that, you think? Why is it that God can do so much to those who once were great sinners? Well, perhaps it's because they start with the proper understanding of just how much they've been forgiven. And they know God is a God of grace. God doesn't push us away from the table, even though we deserve it. And when I ask myself, in preparing for the Passover, why do I show such little love to God?

Why am I not filled with this kind of adoration, this kind of submission to God? Is it because I haven't faced up to my sin?

And, you know, some of you know my story. I did hit rock bottom, and there was grace given. And I personally, I can go back to that, and I can access, I can tap into that, those remembrances, those emotions very easily, and it gets me reset very quickly. But you don't have to be taken into the depths of depravity. You don't have to go to the depths of sin in order to love God this deeply. In fact, if you start to practice this now, this can keep you from going into the depths of sin. You don't have to learn the hard way. You don't have to hit rock bottom. It's the practice of being brought in the consciousness of our sin, the awareness of who we are actually and realistically, the awareness of who we are habitually, and even the awareness of who we are potentially.

Very important exercise here. To be brought to the understanding that we have this debt, and therefore we will be brought to the understanding we're in need of debt, forgiveness. This is the contrast here. In all these stories that we study Sabbath in and Sabbath out, often you have a contrast. You have this person over here and this person over here. And often if you read the Scripture and try to read it with fresh eyes like you don't know the end ending, if you're like me, you end up almost associating yourself with the wrong person at first. You almost start, oh, I want to associate myself with Simon here, you know.

How can I associate myself with this woman who's a sinner? And often the Bible, in its countercultural thinking, flips the tables and says, no, be this one, not that one, you know. Because here, Jesus knew that here in this moment, verse that Simon here had no need for debt forgiveness here. And therefore, in verse 44, here's the moment he turns to the woman and he says to Simon, you see this woman? All you failed to do, she has done. All of her expressions of love are an indication she knows she's in the presence of the one who can alleviate her guilt, forgive her of her sins, and restore life back to her. She knows she's in the presence of the one that can give her a new life where it's all wiped clean, all wiped clean.

That's the posture that we need to get in for Passover preparation.

Because the posture of Simon here, the Pharisee, it's a posture that we see promulgated in contemporary psychology today. We see it's becoming a part of society's posture.

If you're introduced to any psychology today, they will tell you that guilt is something that you shouldn't deal with, that notions of sin are simply a Christian neurosis. So rather than deal with the guilt, sit in it for a while, allowing that to move you to the one who will eliminate and relieve you of the guilt, there's a great effort to manipulate the conscience so that the guilty conscience is silenced. Therefore, it goes away, and you're able to move on with your days like Simon the Pharisee. Often when we're first starting off, there's a proper, godly guilt, sorrow, however you want to say it, that pokes and prods us. But the more we push it down, the quieter it gets. In the Native American culture, particularly the Navajo tribe, they came to describe their conscience as a little triangle that resides in the heart of men and women, and it spins. So when you do something where your guilty conscience evoked, the little triangle spins, and it begins to poke and prod the man or the woman. And the saying goes that as you ignore it, the edges of the triangle are worn down, so it doesn't prompt the man or the woman. That's a false notion, of course. I like images that can kind of help us understand a little bit better, but that's just mankind's mind trying to explain the supernatural, incorrectly, of course.

But the guilty conscience is silenced. Therefore, it's very dangerous, because if there's no prodding, if there's no guilt from sin, then there's no need of rescue. And if there's no need of rescue, there's no need of a rescuer. And if you don't need to be saved, why would you need a savior? So you see where this goes.

That's where the Pharisees lived our lives. That's where we can live our lives if we don't respond to the prodding. Simon, if you will, the triangle of his conscience was all dull. It's a good study. Worldly sorrow versus godly sorrow. Godly sorrow moves us to the one that can eliminate it and help us get back on our feet. This is what this woman had. Simon had no desire for an outpouring of tears, had no desire to stoop at the feet of Jesus Christ, had no need for the forgiveness of sin. You see, because he knew himself only as a $50 sinner. And I'm here to tell you, on the strength of scripture, God cannot do much with a man or a woman who's a $50 sinner, who knows himself as only a $50 sinner, if you will. God can't do much with that man or woman. But to the woman who knows she has a debt so large she cannot repay it. Therefore, she needed Jesus Christ in this moment, pours out upon Jesus Christ's feet. God can do a work with her.

And I just think here, man, I wonder what God did through this woman. I want to know the rest of the story here. What happened to her? It's a powerful thing. When I became pastor, I told myself, I'm going to be purposely vulnerable and I'm going to share things. Past stumbles. And I found it's a powerful thing because we're all stumbling. I'm still stumbling. But it's a powerful thing to be able to share. This is what Jesus Christ, this is what God the Father has done for me. So there's hope. I wonder what you're going through. It's a powerful thing. What a powerful gift Jesus Christ gives her. This pronouncement, verse 48, he says to her, your sins are forgiven. The inference there, your sins, not Simon.

Wonderful phrase here. And I think, speaking of the public vulnerability and what we can do, there's a reason Jesus Christ says these things publicly. She knew he could have said to her in a quiet moment, your sins are forgiven. And he might have even looked at her with an acknowledgement, even though I know you know. I'm going to say it so all of them hear it. Your sins are forgiven.

I just want everyone to understand. I want them to hear it. Wonderful pronouncement here. And in verse 49, the guests begin to talk amongst themselves, and they ask themselves, who is this who even forgives sins? This moment in verse 49, if you think a lot has happened up to this point, none of that's actually been the climatic moment. This, in fact, is the climatic moment of this whole passage here. This question anchors the whole narrative. When these men and women are stirred to ask, who is this who even forgives sins? All of a sudden, a little door to their hearts opened. A seed is planted. They're curious. Who is this who forgives sins? You see, forgiveness is the key in bringing men and women to the knowledge of God.

It's really the message in which Jesus Christ came to reveal. He came to reveal the Father, and in so many ways, the primary message of his revealing is, this is a forgiving God. He's a good God. He's merciful, ready to provide forgiveness on those who call upon his name.

Your sins are forgiven. Wonderful pronouncement here.

See, they knew that God is the only one who could forgive sins. So, all of a sudden, the wheels start to turn. Who is this prophet? Is this God incarnate? Is this the Son of God? Is this Emmanuel, God with us?

So, Jesus Christ uses the most unlikely person to spread his gospel of the good news. And if you feel yourself to be unlikely, you are. I am. We're all are. And that's a good position to be in, because that's who God uses most often. Those who know themselves to be the most unlikely.

So, Jesus Christ is doing all these wonderful things. Raised from the dead, blind or seen, lame as walking. This lady walks, a lady from the streets, he comes to her circumstances, and he says, your sins are forgiven. Again, who can forgive sins except God? The Son of God in the flesh walking amongst them. That's what's truly being pronounced here in the recording of this little passage. It's the pronouncing God as the forgiving God. And then the blessing. Jesus says, verse 50, he said to the woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Saved by grace through faith. Go in peace.

In other words, go live in the peace that I'm offering to you. The bondage that you've been in in sin. That's not peace. That's not freedom. I'm now unchaining you, and I'm releasing you. I'm releasing you to live in the righteousness that I'm offering you. The true peace.

Jesus Christ on other occasions, go and sin no more. Don't go back to that old way of life. I have to stand up, straighten your shoulders, go. You're a new woman. You're not that old woman anymore. She got it. Peace. The blessing to live in righteous living. To have the power over sin, to have a way of escape. Peace, not the absence of strife. We don't have the absence of strife and struggle. Peace, the presence of God. That's what it is. Jesus Christ would be with her.

How many nights do you wonder? She went to bed at night, tangled and knotted up all inside. No peace. And now this is what is being offered to her. The guilt that she must have been carrying around, lifted from her. I wonder if you know this kind of peace. How much guilt are you carrying around?

Is your sin any more heavy than hers or any of the other examples in the Bible? No. Did you know God wants you to know the peace of forgiveness? Do you want you to know the personal experience of forgiveness? Not just a notion or a concept of forgiveness? I was thinking about this.

Some of us may be prepared to acknowledge that God has forgiven us. Maybe we haven't forgiven ourselves. I bet she's had to go through a process here. Of all those in the society would have looked at her in the same way. They wouldn't have seen immediately a new woman, but she would have to show them through her example and her word that she was a new woman. This wasn't an act. She had to forgive herself and relieve, not be reminded of all those old miseries and drudge up all those things. Christ died for sins, not just those whom he used in the Bible in great ways. Saul of Tarsus didn't just just forgive his sins. Christ died for all sins, your sins. But the God's gift will not become yours until you accept it, stand up, and live in the power that he will give you to overcome all those old ways. Again, receive the gift. Maybe you're holding on to it. So tonight, if you haven't, bow your head, repent, take your sins to God the Father, place it at the feet of his throne, his son's atoning sacrifice, and on the strength of Scripture, I'm here to tell you once you ask for forgiveness, access it, the blood, the covering blood of Jesus Christ. For as far as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his mercy toward those who fear him. For as the east is from the west, so far he has removed our transgressions from us. That's a big distance. Do you believe that? That's Psalm 103. That's a good Psalm to read later, if you'd like. To be forgiven by God is to know oneself forgiven. It is truly the great discovery of the Christian experience. That's why we take the Passover year after year, those who have been baptized and committed to God the Father through Jesus Christ and have been lowered in the waters as a public acknowledgement of this new relationship. To be able to observe the Passover, to take in the cup and the bread year by year. What we're acknowledging is the fact that we believe in God's forgiveness through God's sons. Are you forgiven today? Have you gone to God the Father and said, please God, forgive me of my sins? Release me from that bondage so I'm not drawn to it? I need released from it because I'm in this cycle. I want you to release me to live in righteousness. That's the key, and God will grant that gift to you.

Well, let's conclude. It's going to be wonderful to come into contact with some of these men and women, this lady here in the world to come, hear their testimonies and to share the stories of God's transforming power. So when we take the privilege of taking in the bread and cup, this upcoming Passover, let's be reminded of this story. Let's be reminded that we serve a good God, a forgiving God, and let's pray that one day we will hear these words spoken to us just as Jesus Christ spoke to the woman. Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.