Your Sins Are Forgiven

We do have an opportunity to open our Bibles and to allow God's Word to flow over us today and to be changed. Every Sabbath that we should be changed fundamentally by God's Word, and so that'll be our endeavor today. And today, for this sermon, we are going to look at one of the most beautiful aspects and results of Christ giving Himself to us. When you think of what are some of the most beautiful aspects that emerge from Christ's sacrifice?

Well, you might think of a few, but today we're going to focus on one that is absolutely beautiful, and it is the aspect of forgiveness. The title today that I've given is, Your Sins Are Forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. And I invite you to open your Bibles, and we're going to turn to Luke chapter 7. Luke chapter 7, we're going to read this passage that is recorded in verses 36 through 50. Luke 7 verses 36 through 50. Here, as we come off of the great Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread season, we now come to the story of a woman who came and washed Christ's feet with her own tears.

And in doing so, it would come to be one of the most impactful recordings of forgiveness in all the Bible with this encounter between this woman and Christ, concluding with Jesus Christ declaring to this woman, your sins are forgiven. Why turn our focus onto forgiveness at a time like this? Well, the spring holy days, the Passover season, it certainly is a time of rejoicing because Jesus Christ sacrificed for the forgiveness of our sins, enabling us to then go forward and live a new life cleansed by sin, lifted from the wages of sin, that of death, forgiveness from Jesus.

And the forgiveness that Jesus gives and extends to this woman was absolutely just the catalyst to a new life for her we're going to see today. So when we read this, I want us to ultimately apply it to our lives and I want us to be lifted up, lifted up to and to go forward with a inspire to a new life in Jesus Christ.

So here it is, Luke 7. Let's begin in verse 36. This is a recording of a dinner. So Luke records this wonderful scene here, very intriguing scene. Luke 7 beginning in verse 36. Luke records, then one of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he, Jesus, went to the Pharisee's house and sat down to eat.

And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, so we could say a woman of the streets, if you will, she was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and she stood at Jesus's feet behind him, weeping. And she began to wash his feet with her tears and wipe his feet with the hair of her head, and she kissed his feet and anointed them with fragrant oil.

Now, when the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he spoke to himself, this is the Pharisee saying, this man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner. And Jesus, verse 40, answered and said to the Pharisee, Simon, I have something to say to you. So Simon said, teacher, say it.

And Jesus says this parable. There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii, the other owed 50. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he, the creditor, forgave them both. Now tell me, therefore, which of them will love the creditor more? And Simon answered and said, I suppose the one whom he forgave more. And Jesus said to him, you have rightly judged. Then he turns to the woman and says to Simon, do you see this woman?

I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet, but she washed my feet with the tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You, Simon, gave me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time she came in. You, Simon, 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 all those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, who is this that forgives sin? And then he said to the woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. What a scene! What a scene! And I know Luke, who's a doctor, you know, doctors are very, they take close attention to detail. You know, I'm sure he was getting every detail in there to make sure he recorded it just right.

And so again, we are talking about this whole notion of forgiveness today. And again, forgiveness is one of the primary truths for a follower of Jesus Christ to focus on as we move on from this Passover season.

And in beginning this discussion, I want to bring your attention to the fact that 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 all the way to the very end of the Bible, we are introduced to a God, the God, who at every point and at every place is ready to forgive. I wonder if you believe that. And it is that only through God's forgiveness that any real knowledge of God can come. In other words, forgiveness is the key. The forgiveness of God is the key in helping us understand who God is. I wonder if you thought about that. And it's so unique. If you've ever done any comparative religion, you will absolutely see, and what will emerge is the fact that there's nothing like this in all the religions of the world. There's nothing like this in Buddhism. There's nothing like this in Hinduism with their law of karma. It knows nothing of forgiveness. Hinduism, for example, there is no forgiveness. You just repeat. You just get in this cycle of reincarnation. No notion of forgiveness. And in the very harsh justice of the Islamic religion, no significant place of forgiveness at all. Only retribution from justice. Only the chopping off of hands. Only the chopping off of even heads. No notion of forgiveness. And so again, just to punctuate the fact here, the distinguishing feature of true Christianity revolves around our credo statement, which is, we believe in God's forgiveness of sins. It is the foundational truth that we stand upon. And when you begin to believe that and you begin to acknowledge that, you will see, of course, forgiveness just is the great symphony that is sung throughout all the Bible. You can pick up the psalmist, and the psalmist will say, For you, Lord, are good and ready to forgive, abundant in mercy to all those who call upon you. For your notes, that's Psalm 86 verse 5. Psalm 86 verse 5. So, you're good, you're ready to forgive, abundant in mercy for all those who call upon you. So, what a wonderful word to take with us each day. This word of forgiveness. I want you to take forgiveness with you after this message and after this focus. I want you to take forgiveness with you every day. I want you to take it to work. I want you to take it to school. I want you to take it with you when you move around each day. I want you to take the truth of forgiveness with you when you encounter someone who's wondering about God. I want the truth of forgiveness to be at the forefront of your mind. I want you to take the truth of forgiveness to those who wonder how they can know God. So many people are wondering how can they know God. It starts with the truth of forgiveness. Forgiveness. What is he like? What is God like? Well, the psalmist says he's a good God and he's a forgiving God. And his mercy and love abound to all that call upon him.

In fact, to really punctuate this fact, there's a moment in Scripture in which Moses is speaking of God. He's speaking of God and he's been with God there at Mount Sinai. God has revealed to him the Ten Commandments, which are kind of these relationship guidelines. You want a relationship with it. Here's some guidelines. Here's ten guidelines so we can have a successful relationship. And what Moses then gives this understanding, he said, you know, God does. It is true. God visits the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation. Okay, that's true. God visits the sins of the fathers to the children of the third and fourth generation. Oh, okay, that doesn't sound too great. But then he says, yeah, but he shows love to a thousand generations. Let me show you this. Keep your marker here. We'll come back to Luke. But look at Exodus 20. I want to show you this. This great explanation of God's mercy. Exodus 20, verse 5 and 6. Well, actually, we might begin in verse 1 here. Let's begin in verse 1. Exodus 20, very familiar passage of scripture. It contains the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20, and look at beginning in verse 1. So we said how forgiveness is really the means to understand a God and it's how He reveals Himself. It's right here. It's right here. Exodus 20. Let's begin in verse 1 and read through verse 6. God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. So I brought you to have a relationship with me. I freed you. So here's some relationship guidelines or commandments, if you will. Verse 3, you shall have no other gods before me. You know, for us to have a successful relationship, you should have no other gods before me. Verse 4, you shall not make for yourself any carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or earth below or that is under the water of the earth. So don't make any image to get in the way between you and I. Verse 5, you shall not bow down to them, to these images, or serve them. For I am the Lord your God and I am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, visiting the sin of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. Verse 6, but showing mercy to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandments. Let's stop there. So yes, he visits the sins of the children of the fathers to the children to the third and fourth generation, but he loves a thousand generations to those who love him there. He's a forgiving, loving God. And just as a side note, whenever you read about the jealousy of God, resist the temptation to attach to it any of the ugly jealousy that you and I display here on the earth.

It's not that kind of jealousy. The jealousy of God is a perfect jealousy. How could I describe this? It's kind of like the jealousy that a man would have for the purity and the protection of his wife. You know, I'm jealous of my wife. I want to protect her purity and her protection. You know, it's that kind of jealousy. Or mothers. It's like the jealousy of a mother who's jealous for her newborn child, you know, so that no one else should have her precious little baby. You know, I'm jealous for her. My little baby. I want to protect her and cherish him. You know, it's that kind of jealousy. I remember when Jennifer and I first had our baby, we were a little apprehensive to bring the baby to church because not many people at that point have held our daughter, our son, and it's just like, oh, okay, here. But it's kind of that love, that jealousy. You know, God has that beautiful love and jealousy for us. So much so, he has so much jealousy for us, he wants to remove us from the clutches of death. You see, he's jealous that he wants us to have life and remove us from anything that would bring us death. So he's like, here's the commandments. Keep them because this will keep you in my loving embrace. I'm jealous for you. I love you, you know.

And so, Psalm after Psalm. Let's just turn to one psalm before we get back to Luke here. Look at Psalm 32 verse 1. Man, we could go to so many passages of Scripture that just sing the beautiful hymn of forgiveness.

From a forgiving God. Look at Psalm 32 verse 1. One more verse before we get back to that beautiful story of the woman who was forgiven by Jesus. Psalm 32 verse 1, very clearly but beautifully stated. Psalm 32 verse 1, blessed is he or she whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. One verse. So, I just want you to know that you being in Christ, you are blessed. Blessed. Blessed are you. One commentator said, quote, One must have a dull ear not to hear the Psalms which throb with emotion and burst from the heart, tasting the sweetness of new joy, the joy of forgiveness. Unquote. So, this is the cleansing of forgiveness. This is the joy of forgiveness to which we come. So, let's go back to Luke 7. If you kept your marker there, you'll be helped. Luke 7, again, it is the truth which comes out loud and clear here with this woman. And here in Luke 7, here's this woman. She's a sinner. And, you know, when you read a story like this, you wonder, man, what was the build-up to this? How long did she or when did she first hear about Jesus? When did she come to him? How long did she listen to him before this climatic moment there at the dinner table? Did she follow along for a while? Was she watching other people be forgiven and be healed? And I wonder when that began. We'll have to ask her, perhaps, after Christ's return. When she finally began to embrace what Jesus was offering, love and forgiveness, certainly she followed along for some time as she was viewing and listening to Jesus. She would not have come close, though, likely, because she was a woman with notoriety. They knew her as a sinner. So if she followed too closely, no doubt, as she followed the crowd following Jesus, either whether they verbalized it or whether they just spoke it with their discouraging eyes, disapproving eyes, the notion would have been there. Why are you following Jesus of all people? You're a sinner. You're a woman of the streets. Why are you following Him? Why are you following the true rabbi? Why are you following the great teacher? He has nothing for you. Why don't you just go on your way? You know, you can imagine that going through her mind, am I deserving? Is this message for me? Is this offer for me here of cleansing and forgiveness? But at some point, she must have believed that it was available to her. And she's able to find the inner strength to push through all those glances and all those murmurings to enter into that courtyard and approach the very one who was making this offer for her. And here in verse 36, we're told that it was this dinner party where this occurred. And it was a courtyard. Those who had the means to put on a banquet like this, often they would have a house. They would have a courtyard attached to the house, elaborate gardens in the courthouse. They usually had a huge fountain right in the middle of it, and they would have tables surrounding it. It was just a beautiful scene. And no doubt that's what was happening here. In good weather, they would eat outside. It would have been bustling. You would have had those who were friends with the the Pharisee who was hosting this to stop by and say, who are you hosting? Oh, you're hosting Jesus Christ. And they would have been looking in to catch a glimpse. Perhaps some of them would have been invited to it. You would have had others also just curious bystanders peeking in, you know, to see the scene of this, quote, honored guest, you know, that Simon had now brought in a parent celebration here and to host a dinner for him.

So this is the scene. If you can picture that in your mind's eye there.

And here she approaches, pushing by the crowd here. It's in that context that this woman appears. And again, verse 37, everyone knew that she lived a sinful life in the city. A sinful life in the city. So they would have said, there she goes, you know. Now, a common etiquette or common courtesy would have been when you have the invitee coming to this banquet. There would have been a couple of things that would have occurred. Simon, the one throwing this banquet, would have approached Jesus and done a number of things. First of all, he would have offered to have his feet washed. That was very common. They wore sandals, and so those guests arriving would have loosened their straps so as to have easily removed so they could wash their feet.

Custom would have said for Simon to come and kiss Jesus on the cheeks, greet him, welcome him in. That would have occurred. Also anointing with oil, like a fragrant oil, on the head, typically. That was just common, basic etiquette. But verse 44 begins the recording that none of that happened. We read it earlier. When Jesus turns to Simon, beginning in verse 44, he said, you see this woman, you didn't wash my feet. You gave me no kiss. Verse 45, you didn't anoint my head. Verse 46, this woman did. This woman. It makes you wonder, then, with the absence of basic etiquette, what was the actual intention of Simon? Was he actually inviting Jesus, this Pharisee, honoring him? No, probably not. He couldn't even bring himself to provide the basic etiquette. So, if you read some of the Gospel narratives, this is what the Pharisees did. They had this strategy to invite Jesus or put him into positions that would lead him to compromising positions. So, they could catch him in a sin. They had all these additions onto the beautiful law of God. God says, honor the Sabbath, keep it holy, delight in me on the Sabbath. All that's beautiful and proper. But then the Pharisees came and said, you can only walk only this amount of distance on the Sabbath. You can't go through a grain field like Christ did and pluck the heads off and rub them in your hand. You can't heal on the Sabbath. So, they added all their own ugly additions to make the Sabbath a burden and to turn it into something it wasn't. So, Christ came and he rebuked the Pharisees very strongly about that. The Pharisees would have been happy to leave that man who had a shriveled hand. Christ healed him on the Sabbath and the Pharisees would have been happy to leave him shriveled and crippled on the Sabbath. That's how ugly it was. They made the Sabbath ugly. The Sabbath is supposed to be beautiful. The Sabbath, we enjoy one another. We eat. We heal on the Sabbath. In other words, we provide healing words. We encourage people on the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a joy, but the Pharisees always tried to put them in situations. They didn't want forgiveness for this lady, you know, so they wanted to catch him in breaking one of their man-made laws. No doubt that was what was happening here and not granting him the basic courtesies here. But nevertheless, here they are. So Jesus is sitting at the dinner table. If you've ever seen any paintings, they didn't sit with their feet under the table like we do. They sat in a reclined position. So often, let's say they were right-handed, they would lean with their left elbow on the table, and their feet would actually flow outward from the table into the courtyard, and they would use the right hand to eat in this way. So that's kind of the posture, no doubt, that was happening here, leaning into the table as they would eat there. So here's this woman, a sinful woman. She arrives and walks to Jesus Christ. She has a little vial. Verse 37 mentions the alabaster, the best of the best, perfumes were kept in an alabaster there, so this is the best. She had, no doubt, you know, murmurings, stares, and as she approaches Jesus, she stoops down and was prepared to do what the Pharisee was not prepared to do. The religious entity of the day wasn't prepared to show this humility, but this woman was. Verse 38, she stood at his feet. She stood behind him at his feet. Verse 38, weeping, weeping. So she kneels, she's weeping. This is not some little weep. I mean, the tears are mixing, are flowing down, mixing with the dirt and the dust on Jesus's feet here. Why is she crying?

I can relate. I know you can. You know, everything was building up to this moment. This was the man, the Son of God, who could offer life to her, who could save her from the life she had, who could rescue her, all by the means of forgiveness. And she believed that. And I know many of you here have been in those moments, I'll say moments or moments, where you have nothing except God's mercy to call upon. And mercy is just like undeserved forgiveness. We don't, it's just like, here I am, Father, committing the same sin that I've asked for forgiveness. Who knows how many times I've lost count? Here I am again. And I come to you with no excuses. I come to you just asking for your undeserved grace and mercy. Would you forgive me? And I am going to call upon that, which is this free gift. And I know that free gift can be the means by which new life can come. I don't want to be a slave to sin anymore. I want to be a slave to righteousness, you know. And you start to pick up on all these biblical notions and ideas that are so beautiful. A new life. Forgiven. Forgiveness is the means to change your life from this point forward. So there she is. I don't know if her hands were quivering. They probably were, you know, trying to open this bottle here. Tears running down. And at this moment, she does the unthinkable. The absolutely unthinkable. She lets down her hair. She lets down her hair.

If you read the Talmud, the Talmud is like recordings of Jewish traditions and different things. You can read in there that on the night that a woman is married, that she enters into a marriage covenant, she would put up her hair and she would never have her hair let down in public. And she would only let it down for her husband. So they had that beautiful bond with each other, that relationship, the intimacy.

And so this beautiful picture, if you were painting it, you know, I'm not an artist, but someone letting you know that moment where she lets down her hair. I would love someone to paint that and just see the beauty of that and the impact of all those viewing this scene. She lets down her hair. It's entangled and she untangles it. The picture of a woman's glory, the picture of a woman's glory, her hair as she begins to rub it into the feet of Jesus Christ and just kissing his feet in utter commitment and devotion to her creator, her creator.

And what a scene! In this moment there's silence. You know, probably all the murmuring and everything just went completely silent at this point as you could hear a pin drop, you know. And then you have this dialogue that begins in verse 39, but you'll notice, perhaps you notice this, it's an inner dialogue. Verse 39, for Simon, when he saw this, verse 39, spoke to himself. It says, maybe he was muttering to himself, maybe he was just thinking it.

This man, he says, if he were the prophet, if you were a prophet, he would know who this woman is, who's touching him. She's a sinner. She's a sinner. There. Doesn't he know who she is? So he doesn't understand, but so he thinks Jesus doesn't understand, but it's Simon that doesn't understand. Here. Simon would have loved it if Jesus would have pushed her away, get her out of here. Simon would have been like, oh yes, let's get her out of here. Good, good call Jesus, you know, who let her in? You know, that's what he would have wanted to happen. But that's not the response that Jesus gave here. By the way, keep putting yourself in this narrative. When you come to Jesus, a sinner, and you're releasing to him, he will not push you away. He will not push you away. So into the silence, I don't know if Jesus was reading his mind, his thoughts here, but he then beginning in verse 40, he says, Simon, I have something to tell you. So here's the first words here. There's a certain creditor, verse 41. One owed 500 denarii, the other owed 50 denarii. Neither one of them could repay. Tell me when the creditor forgave them both, which of them will love him more? In verse 30, in verse 43, Simon, perhaps begrudgingly, said, well, I suppose the one whom he forgave more.

Powerful little story here. And this little parable is, I hope, it's going to give you insight to help you from this day forward. This is one of the most helpful moments in Scripture for you and I today. Once we get this, it'll really help you from this day forward. I think it'll be with you the rest of your life. So here's Jesus Christ. You got two men. They're both in debt. One owes 500 bucks, if you will, for our purposes. One owes 50 bucks, right? Neither of them can pay. They're both forgiven. Both debts are canceled. Who do you think loves the canceler the most? And Simon gets it right and says the one who has the bigger debt that was canceled. So let's really think about this. What is Jesus saying? Here's what Jesus is actually saying. You have a $500 center and you have a $50 center, right? Both are released from their debt. The wages of sin is death. Both are released from that debt. Who do you think is more grateful? Well, the answer is the $500 center. That's what he's pointing out. And Jesus is saying she knows herself to be a $500 center and you, Simon, you know yourself and thank yourself to be a $50 center. But the fact is, loved ones, they're both $500 centers. And in fact, them both and every one of us here owe an immeasurable debt that can never be repaid. Never. Unquantifiable amount. She understands it. Simon, you don't. So therefore, over her sins, she cries, she washes, she anoints. And so you see, she's been forgiven. The one who know themselves, forgiven the most, will be the most loving and grateful once the debt has been canceled. So let me ask you today a few questions. Do you know yourself to even be in debt? You know, one of the journeys that I go through in baptizing someone is to bring the man or the woman to the knowledge of the debt owed. Unless you know that you need to be saved, why would you need a savior? So the first step is to know that you need to be saved. To know that you're hopeless without this savior. So do you know yourself to be in debt? If so, how much do you owe?

And are you blown away, then, by the fact that all of your debt can be forgiven? I hope you're blown away by that.

This is the question, and these are the questions that just really emerge from this Passover season. And the ones that know themselves to need the most saving often are the greatest workers and make the biggest impact for God. That's why you find Jesus Christ going to what we would deem the biggest sinners. Because God can do something with them. If they acknowledge that they're nothing before God, and it's all grace, and they then come to God in that humble posture, then Christ can pick them up, dust them off, give them new clothes, and send them out to do a tremendous work. Because that kind of individual, then, if anything good comes out of their work for God, they give God all the glory. It's never self-acknowledgy. So when you come across a man or a woman where you'll say, hey, thank you for that, and they're always pointing back to God, well, what they're saying is, I know who I am. God, you know, and I'm nothing. Man, I'm just a hopeless sinner. So anything good coming out of me, that's just God. So He gets the glory. He gets the glory. God can do a work with that individual. Man, can He. And that's where we need to be. That's where we need to be. Start with a proper understanding of how much we've been forgiven. Don't allow that to weigh you down. Allow it to lift you up and to move forward to do a work for Him. And part of that work is eliminating that which He had to die to forgive. So I want to grow. I want to keep growing. I want to make progress. I want to be a clean vessel for Him to do His work if He so chooses.

Go to God in that posture, and on the strength of Scripture, He will not push you away. Come to His table. Come to the table, the marriage table, if you will. Make a recommitment to God the Father through Jesus Christ. And who knows? Sky's the limit. Heaven's the limit for the amount of work we can do in this upcoming year. Be brought and allow this story of this woman to be and to ignite you to a greater work. So as we begin to conclude here, verse 44, He makes sure that He turns to the woman, but He talks to Simon. Notice that He turned to the woman, but He said to Simon, do you see this woman, Simon? Making sure her sins are forgiven. Simon, her sins are forgiven. She knows herself to have a debt, and she knows that I'm the one. So verse 48, He says to her, your sins have been forgiven. Your sins have been forgiven. Incredible. What a pronouncement. And in verse 49, they begin to talk amongst themselves. Who is this that even forgives sins? So you see, that's how God, Jesus Christ, revealed the Father through a sinful woman through forgiveness. So that's how we can make God known to the world, is through forgiveness. And you can start off and say, I've been forgiven, and you can too. You can too. It's how God reveals Himself. And then He finishes this whole story with a blessing. Verse 50, He says to the woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. So if you're up at night, brethren, you don't have peace, maybe learn from this woman. Learn from this encounter. And perhaps you haven't fully given Him all of your debt so that He will forgive it. And perhaps that'll be the catalyst to where you can have a peaceful sleep at night, and you can have peace with God the Father through Jesus Christ. Well, if you've truly repented and taken your sins to God, believe that the Son sacrifices that atoning sacrifice, and believe it's done, your sins will be forgiven. May we all hear these wonderful words today, and for every day, your sins have been forgiven. Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.