Forgiving the Sinner

Father, we thank you for the assurance of your guidance. We thank you, Lord, that you truly do care about where we go and how we live, and you have promised to lead us and guide us each and every step of the way. We thank you for that. We thank you for your wonderful work in our lives. You truly are a great and wonderful God. Today, as we study your word, we pray that you'd open our eyes, that we might see glorious things from your truth. In Jesus' name, Amen. Turn with me in your Bible to Luke chapter 7.

Luke chapter 7. Today, we are going to tackle a passage of scripture that is both comforting as well as confronting. It comforts us because we see the work of God in the life of a sinner. It confronts us because of those who are unwilling to turn from their sin and to experience the greatness of our God. But in our story this morning, we see what God does and what God accomplishes in the life of those he saves. I guess the best way to understand salvation is transformation. No transformation, no salvation.

Simple as that. The Bible says, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. All things are passed away, behold, all things have become new. That verse was written by a man by the name of the Apostle Paul who said in 1 Timothy 1 verse number 15, this is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Who, by the way, I am the foremost, the chief of all sinners. The Apostle Paul saw himself as the greatest of all sinners. When we read his epistles and understand his conversion, we see a transformation.

He is not abnormal. He is that which is normal. That is, the Apostle Paul's life is a picture of normalcy in the life of a believer. We tend to think of the Apostle Paul as this great man and all the things, man, we can't even match up. But he simply was a man who understood that he was a sinner. God saved his soul and transformed his life. So Paul becomes the man in scripture that depicts normalcy when it comes to Christianity. He was a transformed man. Salvation is about transformation. It's about translation.

Translated from one kingdom, the kingdom of darkness, into the kingdom of light. And when you are translated, you are transformed. The Lord God said this about what he was going to do in the life of Israel when he renewed them. It's part of the new covenant in Ezekiel chapter 36. He says in verse number 25, I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart. Salvation is about a new heart.

And put a new spirit within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you. So not only do you have a new heart, you have the spirit of God within you. Now listen to this. And cause you to walk in my statutes and you will be careful to observe my ordinances. The Lord God says when I redeem you, I will give you a new heart.

That new heart will be accompanied by my spirit. And he doesn't say my spirit might help you to walk a new way. No, he says my spirit will cause you to obey my commands. You see that which you don't want to do before you were saved, you now want to do. That's transformation. That's salvation. And now you have been translated into the kingdom of God's dear son and God has done a great work. There is a new direction. There's the desire to please God. There's a desire to obey God. There's a desire to follow God.

That's what a Christian is. And that in and of itself is the power in your evangelism. The transformed life is the greatest tool this side of heaven when it comes to evangelism. That what God says he actually does.

He turns the sinner into a saint. That's why in the New Testament believers are never called sinners. They're always called saints. That doesn't mean they don't sin. You do sin, but you're never characterized as a sinner. You are characterized as a saint because God sees you in a new light. He sees you as one who has now been declared righteous. He sees you as one who has been translated into his kingdom, transformed by his spirit. Therefore, you become that great single testimony to all those you come in contact with because of what God has done in your life.

The Bible says in verse number 35 of chapter 7, yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children. Wisdom's revelation is that which saves a soul. When the soul is saved, that wisdom is vindicated by the actions of the children of God. Unlike the people who would come down to the river in Luke chapter 7 and hear John's message and go through a baptism anticipating the arrival of the Messiah, yet reject him when he arrived. Or the Pharisees who would not be baptized by John's baptism because they thought that he had a demon.

Wisdom's children, those who have believed, those who according to verse number, I think it is 23 of chapter 7, yes, verse 23 to 27, who don't stumble over the words of Jesus, those who are least in the kingdom of God, who are now greater than John the Baptist, those people, wisdom's children, are vindicated by their actions. In other words, when God's word takes up a residence in the life of an unbeliever, that person is transformed and their lives prove it. Luke now transitions to show us the effect of someone who's been saved.

Luke now moves from that verse, verse 35, to verse number 36 to show us the effects of wisdom's child in a woman who was saved and how was her life was completely transformed. Folks, we must get away from the notion that when someone is saved, they somehow continue as is. That doesn't happen in the Bible. If it doesn't happen in the Bible, it doesn't happen today. When someone is saved, there is a change. There is a drastic change. If there's not a transformation of the life, there is no salvation of the soul.

It is as simple and as clear and as straightforward as that. You can call it anything you want, but you can't call it Christianity because the Bible doesn't call it Christianity. It calls it hypocrisy. It calls it phoniness, but it doesn't call it Christianity, not the genuine faith because genuine faith transforms the soul. Let me read to you the story and then we will look at seven aspects of this story.

Verse 36, now one of the Pharisees was requesting him to dine with him and he entered the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. And behold, there was a woman in the city who was a sinner. And when she learned that he was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster violet perfume and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and kept wiping them with the hair of her head and kissing his feet and anointing them with the perfume.

Now, when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, if this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of person this woman is and who is touching him that she is a sinner. And Jesus answered and said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. And he replied, say it teacher. A certain money lender had two debtors, one owed 500 denarii and the other 50. When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him more? Simon answered and said, I suppose the one whom he forgave more.

He said to him, ding, ding, ding, you have judged correctly. It's in the Greek text. You got to read between the lines there. And turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet. She was wet or she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with perfume. For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven.

For she loved much, but he who is forgiven little loves little. He said to her, your sins have been forgiven. And those who were reclining at the table with him began to say to themselves, who is this man who even forgives sins? And he said to the woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. This is one of the classic stories that Luke tells us about Jesus and how it was he would relate to all people. In our story, Jesus is doing what Jesus does. He came to seek and to save that which is lost. And this story is not about the woman as much as it is about the Pharisee.

It's about how Jesus would go to this man's house and Jesus would seek Simon. He would use a woman, a woman that Simon would despise because she was a prostitute. She was a woman who in Simon's mind was, was wretched, immoral, had no business being around anybody of religious, of the religious nature. And the Lord would use a woman who had been transformed by his spirit as a testimony to the work of God in the life of an individual who gives their life to him. The text says, having been forgiven, it's perfect tense.

So she was forgiven before she came to the house with continuing results in the future. She had already been forgiven. More on that in a moment. But this man will be given point number one, the Pharisee will go from the Pharisee to the prostitute, from the prostitute to the problem, from the problem to the parable, to the point, to the perplexity and then to the promise.

We begin with the Pharisee. The Bible says in verse 36, now one of the Pharisees was requesting him to dine with him.

Now he wasn't requesting Jesus to dine with him because he liked Jesus. It wasn't that he was pals with Jesus and wanted to have him over to his house for dinner. No, he was a Pharisee. He was a, he was a legalist. He, he was with the other Pharisees who had already branded Jesus as a blasphemer. We read about that back in Luke five, who can forgive sins, but God alone. And how is it this man comes in here thinking, thinking that he can forgive someone of their sins. So they've already labeled him as a blasphemer.

So he wasn't inviting Jesus to come to his house because he was good friends with Jesus. He was inviting Jesus to come to his house for dinner or for lunch or for whatever the meal was. The Bible doesn't tell us what meal it was. He brought him because he wanted to indict him. He wanted to, to gather information. He wanted to gather all kinds of things against him so that he could prove that Jesus wasn't the Messiah, that he wasn't the prophet spoken of in the old Testament. It wasn't because he liked Jesus the Messiah.

He had already claimed along with the other Pharisees that he was a friend of sinners. That's back in verse number 34, the son of man has come eating and drinking. And you say, behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax gatherers and sinners. So that he was already labeled by the Pharisees. He is a friend of the tax gatherers. He's a friend of the sinners. Well, well, Simon, listen carefully, was the greatest of all sinners. Yet Simon didn't know that because he was a Pharisee. He, he believed that he was righteous.

He believed that he was right before God. I mean, after all, he was going to heaven because of his inheritance. He was a, he was a, a child of Abraham. He was in the right family. So he was going to go to heaven because of what he inherited because of his family nature. And he had merited heaven because he did only good things. He had to reinterpret the law to fit his standards, but his standards were acceptable to him. Therefore, he was pleasing to God. He was going to go to heaven. He didn't see himself as a sinner, but he was the chief of sinners.

That's why Paul said in 1 Samuel 1, 15, he was the chief of sinners. Why did he say that? Because he was a Pharisee. He knew that he was a man who saw himself as worthy of heaven. He saw himself as good before God. He saw himself as a, as an individual who could earn his right to kingdom's glory. That's why he was the chief of sinners. This Pharisee was in the same boat as the apostle Paul. He saw himself better than what he truly was. He believed he could earn his way to heaven. And so this Pharisee, not a friend of Jesus, but Jesus, a friend of him, because Jesus is a friend of sinners.

He invites Jesus to dine with him. He invites Jesus to come to his house for a meal. Now, you can't confuse this story with the story that the other three gospels cover in John 12, Matthew 26, and Mark 14. Some writers confuse this story with that story. And the other three gospels, it's not the same. It's not the same because it was a different place. This happens in Galilee. The other three stories happen in Judea, in Bethany. Those happen on the eve of the cross. This happens or close to the cross.

This happens six months away from the cross. There, Jesus's head was anointed with oil. Here, his feet are anointed with perfume. The circumstances are different. The place is different. The time is different. So why do people get it confused? It's because the owner of the house had the same name, Simon. In this story, it's Simon the Pharisee. In John 12, in Mark and Matthew, the three gospels, it's Simon the leper. Simon's a very common name. You have Simon the tanner, Simon of Cyrene, Simon Peter, Simon, son of Judas.

You have all kinds of Simon, Simon the Pharisee, Simon the leper, nine different Simons mentioned in the New Testament. Simon was a very common name like John or Joe today. So don't get the stories confused. They are two different stories. The other three gospels record one story. This one, only Luke records. And he records it based on the fact of verse number 35, that wisdom is vindicated by all her children. And he wants to show the transformation in the life of someone who's a sinner. He wants to show it and its effects in what it is Jesus does when he takes up residence in the life of a lost soul.

It's a great story. So this Pharisee, he would invite Jesus to come to his house for dinner. He wasn't in favor of Jesus. He didn't like his message. He despised his message. He hated John's message as well. He'd already accused Jesus of being a blasphemer. So he's already labeled Jesus as a friend of sinners, a gluttonous man. He doesn't like Jesus, but he invites him to dine with him simply because he wants to accuse him. Hostility will soon break out in Luke 11 verse number 53. In fact, it says these words in Luke 11 53.

And when he left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to question him closely on many subjects plotting against him to catch him in something he might say. Right now they are gathering information against Jesus. But when you come to Luke 11, the hostility begins to arise vehemently against him. And so on this day they want or he wants specifically to trap Jesus. And the next says these words. Now one of the Pharisees was requesting him to dine with him and he entered the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table.

Now this isn't really a quick lunch. This is a long lasting dinner. And you need to understand what this meant in those days. Okay. When you know they would come and the table would be close to the floor and there would be this long lounge, long pillow kind of article that they could rest on and they would arrest with their, their on their left elbow. And they would all rest around this huge table and they would recline because they were going to be there for a while. You know, when you sit down for lunch today, you go to lunch today.

It's going to be quick. So you can get home, watch football game, right? Or you get home, watch CNN or do something else this afternoon. It's not going to be a long, relaxing kind of lunch. But on these days, you see, you have to understand that people would invite those of nobility, those who were popular, those who were rabbis to their house for dinner. And then they would open their doors. Think about this. They would open their doors and have the people of the village and the city come in and stand around them.

Because this is the way they would disseminate information. They would gather somebody who was renowned, someone who was a rabbi, and they would talk about maybe theological issues or, or the issues of the day. And as they would begin to discuss them, the people around would hear what was happening and get to be in the know of all that was taking place. They didn't have gossip magazines like we had today. And you can go by your, your local store and pick them up and read about all the latest gossip.

They didn't have that kind of stuff. This is the way they did it. This was a form of entertainment. This is how they disseminated information. This is how people were able to understand what was happening in their village, in their surrounding area, by having this individual come in and ask questions, talk about issues, and they would be then in the know. And this is what's happening on this occasion. He invites Jesus into dine, and they recline. And those who are poor were also able to come in because they would be looking for scraps around the table so they could take them, feed themselves, and feed their family.

See, it was open to everybody. Unlike today, when someone of renown comes to your city, they, you know, they go into a home and they shut the doors. They put guards all around them. See? It's a different time, a different culture back in Jesus's day. And this is how they did it. And so this Pharisee asked Jesus to come so that they might have a discussion. In so doing, so doing, he was looking for a way to trap Jesus. Jesus was willing to go to the Pharisee's house. He was willing to be a part of this man's hypocrisy.

But Jesus knew his heart, and Jesus knew of the woman who was going to be there because Jesus is in charge. He wants this woman there. So he moved from the Pharisee to the prostitute, verse number 37. And behold, there was a woman. Now, we told you before back in Luke chapter 2 and Luke chapter 1 that when Luke uses the word behold, it's a word for amazement. It's a shocking statement. It's a word that's to startle us. And behold, just think about this, Luke says. Imagine this. This is unbelievable.

There is a woman who is known in the city. She is in the group. She is a sinner, a word of disdain, a word that would describe a reprobate, a word that would describe someone who was unregenerate. But in this case, it describes a woman because it's used in conjunction with a woman, a woman who was in such disdain, meaning that she was a prostitute in that city. She was well known in that city. Everybody knew it. She was there. She arrived. It's not Mary Magdalene. A lot of people say, well, it's Mary Magdalene.

No, it's not. She's not introduced at chapter 8, verse number 2. If it was Mary, Luke would have introduced her in chapter 7. But Mary Magdalene isn't introduced until chapter 8. And we'll talk about her next week. But she came, and she came, and she is a woman who was marked by her sinfulness. She had learned that Jesus was going to be at this Pharisee's house. She had learned that Jesus was going to be there. Nothing was going to keep her away from that house. She was going to attend that meal.

She was going to listen to all that was going to take place. She, like everybody else, had access because all the doors and windows were open. But she had a plan. She had a plan. The Bible says in verse 37, Behold, there was a woman in the city who was a sinner.

And when she learned that he was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume. Now, this is important. Why? Archaeologists have discovered thousands of these vials in the land of Israel. These vials quarried in Egypt, carved out in Egypt, were unique vials that women would wear around their neck. Now, understand this. Rabbis permitted Jewish women to wear vials around their neck filled with perfume. Why did they do that? Well, if you've ever been to Israel on a hot summer day and ever sat in a synagogue with hundreds of people, you can really smell.

Okay? And so one of the ways to deal with that, to combat the smell, was to have these vials of perfume around your neck that once opened and once poured would be able to exude a fragrance that would would be a lot better than, you know, your natural body odor. Okay, let's just be honest here, folks. That's just the way it is. Well, this woman, who was a prostitute, would use her vial of perfume in her business. And she brought this vial with her. Now, note that which she would use in her previous business, she is willing to give it all away to the Lord Jesus.

Why? Because she has been forgiven. She's looking for a way to demonstrate her affection, her love, her commitment to the one who saved her soul. She knows what she was. Everybody else knows what she was. But now people need to see what she is. And she is looking for a way to demonstrate the reality of her life as it now is because Jesus has transformed her life. And so she arrives at this home, has this vial of perfume around her neck. And verse number 38 says, And standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing his feet, and anointing them with the perfume.

Now imagine, Luke is saying, you've got to understand this, you've got to be shocked at this. This woman, she comes in, she goes right to the feet of Jesus. She can't get to his head to anoint his head with the perfume. So she is at his feet. And as she stands there at his feet, she begins to weep profusely. And as she is weeping, she realizes something. She realizes that Jesus has yet to have his feet washed and cleansed. And as she is weeping, and the tears are falling on his dirty feet, filled with all of the dirt from the road, she realizes that they're not clean.

What a disgrace for her Savior. And so she sees his feet are dirty, and as she begins to cry even all the more, maybe because, maybe because she realized that others have yet to value him as she values him. And she weeps even more so because of that. But she knows that she's been forgiven, and as she begins to weep, these tears, great emotion, the tears of her heart begin to wet his feet. She begins now to pour that vial of perfume, very costly perfume, upon his feet. And then she has her hair down, which according to the rabbis, that would indicate that she was a loose woman, she was disrespectful, but she had her hair down, and that's all, she had no towel, so she began to wipe his feet and cleanse his feet with her hair as she cried upon those feet, and as she poured that perfume upon his feet.

She was a shock to all who were there. The Bible says, and kissing his feet, kata phileo, it's a word used of the prodigal son's father, when the prodigal arrived home and the father just kept kissing his son non-stop.

That's what she's doing. She just embraces his feet. She just keeps kissing his feet. She just keeps wiping his feet because the tears are flowing from her eyes, the perfume she is pouring on his feet, and she just keeps kissing and kissing and kissing and kissing his feet, anointing his feet. Now, just put yourself in that situation. You kind of tend to think that you'd kind of be a little uncomfortable if you were Jesus. I mean, right? I mean, if it was me and I was sitting there and some woman came in and she started pouring oil on my feet and wiping my feet with her hair, I'd tend to feel just maybe a little bit of discomfort.

I mean, after all, I mean, nobody else is doing that, and everybody else is kind of standing around, and they're kind of like, what's she doing over there, you know, pointing at her, and there she is doing what she does, but she didn't care, does she? Kind of bizarre behavior, but notice this.

Believers have bizarre behavior. Believers have bizarre behavior. The people of the world don't understand the people of the kingdom of God. They don't get it, but notice she did this without any self-consciousness.

It wasn't like she was like, I wonder what anybody else is going to think about me doing this. No, she didn't care. She didn't care because it was all about Jesus in her mind. Whatever she could do to show the affection and admiration toward her Lord, she was going to do no matter what anybody else thought. Sometimes we don't pray out loud because of what somebody else might think. We don't share the gospel very authoritatively because of what somebody else might think, see? She didn't care. Why?

Because when you've been transformed, all you can think about is the one who transformed your life. That's where she was. She kept anointing his feet, kissing his feet, wiping his feet. She's taken down her hair. She keeps touching him. She keeps embracing him. She keeps expressing deep emotion for him, which leads to the problem. Verse number 39. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, if this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of person this woman is who was touching him that she is a sinner.

Notice he says to himself, why doesn't he say it out loud? Why can't he say it out loud? No one ever accused Jesus of anything immoral. They knew of his goodness. They knew of his purity. He had the perfect opportunity to do all he could to embarrass Jesus. Didn't take that opportunity. He just said it to himself. He was thinking that if this man's a prophet, he must know who this woman is. If he knows who this woman is, why is it he is so familiar with the prostitute? And why is she so familiar with him?

But if he doesn't know who she is, then he must not be a prophet. How can you be a prophet and not know what we know? If we all know she's a prophet and you don't, then you must not be a prophet because we know what you don't know. Make sense? So in his mind, there is this problem that's erected, but Jesus, because he's a prophet, he knows everything, reads his mind. What a horrible thing to have Jesus in the same room as you, right? Because he knows exactly what you're thinking. Oh, by the way, he is here, by the way, just in case you didn't know he was here.

So he knows exactly what you're thinking. Just in case you think you can get away with something, you can't. He knows exactly. He knows the word on your tongue before you even speak it. That's a scary thought, isn't it? Because he knows what you're thinking. Well, he knows what Simon's thinking. He knows. So that leads us to our fourth point, and that's the parable. And Jesus answered and said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. And he replied, say it, teacher. Go ahead, teacher, say it because I know something you don't know.

So he thought, and Jesus having read his mind, a certain money lender had two debtors, one owed 500 denarii and another 50. When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. Wow, that's quite a story. 500 denarii is a year and a half wages, okay? That'd be like somebody coming to you and saying, you know, I know you can't make your car payment, so I'm going to pay for your car, the whole thing, not just this month, but the whole thing. If you like that, raise your hand, okay? Or someone coming in and say, you know, I know that you're about to foreclose in your home, you can't pay your mortgage, so I will pay your mortgage for you, not this month or not this year, but I will pay your entire mortgage off.

Wow, that'd be kind of unique, wouldn't it? Boy, somebody come and pay your mortgage. Jesus says there was a man, a money lender, who had given some money out, and these two guys who received the money couldn't repay it back.

So he was gracious. He forgave them both. He forgave them both. They owed him nothing. Now, when you forgive a debt, someone has to incur that debt. Somebody has to pay it, right? When Jesus forgave you of his sins, there still was a penalty for your sins. Somebody had to pay the price for your sins, so Jesus did. He incurred your debt. Philemon 18, Philemon 19, it talks about how Onesimus had a debt that he owed Philemon, and Paul says, charge his debt to my account, I will pay his debt. So if you forgive someone a debt, your debt goes away, but someone has to pay the price, right?

It's a perfect picture of what Christ himself would do for us. He would forgive us our sins, but in order to forgive us of our sins, he incurred the debt, paid the price so that we could be set free. We wouldn't have to pay the wages for our sin. And so Christ asked a question in verse 42, which of them therefore will love him more? Verse 43, Simon answered and said, oh, I suppose the one whom he forgave more. And now, why did he say, I suppose? You know, maybe he was thinking this was a trap. And so he kind of says, well, I suppose, as if Jesus is going to inject something there and he's going to be trapped.

And so he says, I suppose it was the one that he forgave more. And maybe he said that sarcastically. Are you kidding me? I suppose it's the one whom he forgave more. Of course it's the one he forgave more. And Jesus said, Simon, you just, you got it right. It didn't take rocket science to figure that one out, did it Simon? It's pretty easy, right? The one whom he forgave more loved him more. That's pretty simple. It's not hard to understand, which leads us to the principle or to the point. The whole point is those who are forgiven much, love much.

Those who are forgiven little, love little. Think about it this way. Someone who's raised in a Christian home. Unfortunately, I mean, fortunately, but unfortunately this happens. They're raised in a Christian home. They're third or fourth generation Christians.

They're saved early on in life. They go through church. They go through their whole Christian experience and their love for the Lord somehow doesn't seem to be as exciting as this person who is an adult, who's lived a wretched life and is saved from their sin. And all of a sudden their life is just absolutely on fire for God. You ever see that? Sure. They're on fire for God because they have been forgiven much. They love much. They realize the extent of their forgiveness. They realize it to a great degree and all they can do is lavish their love toward their Lord because of his great forgiveness of their lives.

Simon establishes the principle for us. He says it. Great love comes from great forgiveness. The greater the forgiveness, the greater the love. And that's what's been on display. And so Jesus says, and turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, do you see this woman?

Now we know he saw the woman. He says so up in verse number 39. He saw what the woman was doing. Jesus turns to the woman and says to Simon. So Jesus is reclining at the table. She's washing his feet, leaning on his left elbow. He turns back, looks at the woman and says to Simon, do you see this woman Simon? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet and she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but since the time I came in has not ceased to kiss my feet.

You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with perfume. Simon, you did nothing for me. Nothing. Now you go back and read the Old Testament. It was normal for someone who came in off the street to wash their feet. That was just, that was just courtesy. That was just kindness, generosity. Everybody did that. But Simon didn't do it for Jesus. He says in verse 47, for this reason I say to you her sins, which are many have been forgiven, perfect tense, already been forgiven with continuous action, continuous results.

For she loved much, but he who is forgiven little loves little. What a story. This woman, she came in and she just lavished our Lord with her love because she realizes the magnitude of her sin that Christ forgave her all of her sins. Somehow she had to repay him. Somehow she had to do something for him. Somehow she, she, she wanted to do for Jesus. So she took that, which was the most expensive possession that she had that she would use over and over again in her previous lifestyle. Well, she wasn't going to use it anymore.

That lifestyle was over. She was moving on. So she would use what she had and give it to our Lord and demonstrate her affection and adoration toward him because she loved him so very, very much. Jesus said, verse 48, your sins have been forgiven. Now, how do you know someone says they're forgiven? You can't see forgiveness, but you see the results of a forgiven heart, right? And it's joy, it's love, it's admiration, it's affection, it's enthusiasm. You can't see if someone's sins are forgiven, but you can see the results of a forgiven sinner because their whole life has been transformed.

They don't do what they used to do. They do the bizarre thing. In fact, they do what nobody else does, who is an unbeliever. They are willing to give and give and give because they love, love, love. And so Jesus makes this promise in verse 50. He said, little woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Go literally into peace. It wasn't her love that saved her. It wasn't her affection that saved her. It was her faith that saved her. She believed in what God said. Think about it this way. Here she is.

She's about ready to get dressed and to go out to find some stranger by which she can support herself. So she makes her way out of the house, into the streets, and she hears the voice of a man she's never heard before. And there's a crowd that's gathered. So her curiosity is piqued. And so she goes and she hears and she sees this man, this stranger that she's never heard before or seen before. And she hears about the saving grace of God. She goes out and as she goes, she's wrenched with conviction.

She hears the gospel. And there's this deep conviction that what she does is wrong. It's sinful. And that there's someone who will save her because they love her so. When other men looked at her, they would lust after her. But when Jesus looked at her, he truly loved her. And Jesus would speak those words of eternal life, and she would be wrenched with conviction. That conviction would lead to contrition in her life where she would be broken over her sin. And that contrition would lead then to a confession that Jesus Christ was Lord of all.

And that confession would lead to her conciliation where she would be at peace with the living God. And Jesus says to her, your faith has saved you.

You have believed what I said. You have believed all that I have said and you were saved because of that. You are able to enter into peace. A woman who had never had peace before, never had peace. Her life was in complete turmoil. But now she knows peace because her soul is at rest with God. Her sins have been forgiven. The guilt of all of her sins have been wiped away. And she has experienced the loving grace of Almighty God. And all she can do is demonstrate her love to him. No matter what anybody else says, no matter what anybody else thinks, it makes no difference to the transformed life.

The behavior from all practical standpoints is a bizarre behavior. But believers are bizarre in their own right because they have been transformed by the Spirit of Almighty God. And so what the world would look at as abnormal is normal for the believer.

Because they love himself. But I want you to notice the perplexity. Verse number 49. Those who are reclining at the table with him begin to say to themselves, who is this who even forgives sins? Who is this? You see, this was what perplexes people like you and me. They get to the point where they see this and they can't make the jump. They can't leap from where they are to believe that Jesus is God in the flesh. They can't do that. They just can't. Who is this man who can go around forgiving people's sins?

They know that only God can forgive sins. Only God can do that. And Jesus is demonstrating once again that he is God in the flesh. They were perplexed. Isn't it interesting? Nobody got saved on that day. The woman was already saved. She was the one who was transformed. She was a living testimony of wisdom's child. She was a living testimony of Luke 7 35. Because Luke wants to show it to us. He wants you to know that yeah, lots of people went down to the river. Lots of people who were baptized. But the essence of the ministry of Christ was completely rejected by the multitude.

And even though it was rejected by the multitude, there was a few here, a few there whose lives were truly transformed. Let me get, let me give you a picture of it.

Let me show you what it's like. Here she is. So she says, behold, behold, there is really someone who's transformed. There is really somebody who's saved. And this is what the saved person looks like. This is what the transformed sinner does. Their behavior is so bizarre. It's so way out there. It's in left field, but that's what transformation does. You have been forgiven so much that all you can do is love very much. See, that's a transformed sinner. How about, how about you? How is your love life with the Lord?

What's the last bizarre thing you did for Jesus? What was the otherworldly thing you ever did for Jesus? What, what thing can you point to that says, people say, you are out of your mind. You are wacko. You are crazy. What are you doing giving all that money to the Lord for? Why would you do that? You don't make enough anyway. You don't make a lot of money to the Lord. What, are you crazy? See, very few of us ever act in a bizarre way because we're just too conscious about what other people think.

But this woman here, she could care less. And that's the essence of a transformed sinner. They just, you know what, they just love the Lord so focused. Who cares what somebody else thinks? Who cares what somebody else says? It just doesn't matter. Only thing that matters is what Jesus thinks. That's all that matters. How have you demonstrated your forgiveness? How was it you have demonstrated to the Lord the magnitude of your forgiveness whereby you love him so much because you have been forgiven all your sins?

Folks, this is a great story. It's a true story. It's not some fairy tale that Luke thinks up in his mind. It's the truth. It's the truth about life as a believer. And Jesus wants Simon to see a transformed life. Simon sees it, not affected. The people around the table, they see it, not affected. But who is this guy? Who is he that forgives sinners? So I ask you this question. You read the story. You heard the sermon. What's your reaction? What's your response? Are you like Simon, the Pharisee? Well, I suppose the one who was forgiven much.

He'll love more. But yet no response. Or like those around the table, listening, hearing the interaction between Simon and Jesus, seeing this woman and what she did. What Jesus and just come away with who is this man? Who is he that forgives sins? Are you one of those people who's been forgiven much? And how is it you demonstrate that love to your God on a daily basis? I guess that's probably a better question for most of us. How is it that we just lavish upon our Lord all that we have because we love him so very, very much?

How is your love life with the Lord Jesus Christ? Measure it according to biblical standards. Measure it according to this woman and where she stood and what took place in her life. And ask yourself, do I love like that? Am I willing to give away that which is important to me so that my Lord will know I love him so? Let's pray. Father, we thank you for today in the great preservation of your word, how it explains to us the truth so clearly that we might come to grips with where we stand with Jesus Christ.

Someone's here today and they're like Simon the Pharisee or like the multitude around the house or even around the table. I pray that Lord, your spirit would convict them of their sin and cause them to turn and come to Christ. For those of us, Lord, who have been forgiven, I ask that you forgive us for loving you little. I'd ask you to forgive us for withholding back so that we can have what we want. Help us to pour forth out of a heart that loves you so much, all that we have. So you know how much we love you.

Think of Christ's words to Peter. Peter, do you love me? Lord, you know I love you. But Peter, do you really love me? Do you really love me? Will you die for me? I guess, Lord, that's the essence of our love. Will we die for you? I trust that would be the case because to whom much has been forgiven, much, much love is required in Jesus' name.