Luke chapter number 7, the gospel of Luke, chapter number 7. Thank you, Luke. But he's not the writer of our text today. Does a lot of things, but he doesn't write the Bible. Luke chapter number 7. We've been studying the parables of the Lord Jesus from the gospel of Luke. Luke records more parables of the Lord than any other gospel writer. There are a number of unique parables that are unique to Luke's gospel. We're going to look at one of them this morning. We've learned that a parable is basically an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Jesus didn't tell stories for the sake of telling stories. They were life-changing spiritual truths. He used an earthly situation or incident or event happening in order to bring spiritual truth to bear upon people's lives. He told parables to great crowds, large multitudes of peoples, to small groups of individuals, whether it be a group of Pharisees, whether it be his disciples privately, But it's interesting, the story we're going to look at this morning was told to one individual. We're going to meet him this morning. He's a man by the name of Simon. Now he's not Simon Peter. You're going to find that he's Simon the Pharisee. Look if you would at verse number 40 of Luke chapter 7. And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have some what to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor, a moneylender, which had two debtors, two individuals that owed him money that he had lent them. The one owed five hundred pence, about a year and a half's wages. and the other fifty, about fifty days of wages. And when they had nothing to pay, both of them are bankrupt financially. They have no ability to pay back their debt. He frankly, He freely, that's what that word means, He freely forgave them both out of a heart of grace, out of a heart of mercy, out of the goodness of His own heart, He forgave them. Now Jesus is going to drive the point home. He says, "...tell me..." He's talking to Simon, "...therefore, which of them of the two debtors will love him, the creditor or the moneylender, most?" Which one's going to have the most love for the one who canceled their debt, who forgave them? Look at verse 43. Simon answered and said, I suppose..." Now he's really not wanting to answer the question. "...I suppose that he to whom he forgave most, and he, the Lord Jesus, said unto him, Thou hast rightly forgiven." judged. What a powerful parable. Before us this morning, this story is a story of grace and gratitude. It's a story of mercy and love and forgiveness. It was meant to show Simon his greatest need. This man's need, he was a religious man. No doubt people would say he was a good man. You're going to find that he was a wealthy man. He was a man of status in society. He was a man that was looked up to, but yet Simon had a need, and it was the need to be forgiven. You realize that Simon's greatest need is yours and mine greatest need today. No matter the individual, no matter whether they're a man, a woman, a boy or a girl, no matter their station in life, no matter their ethnicity, no matter what country or region of the world they live in, no matter the language they speak, no matter the culture that they share, whether they even realize it or not, Every person's greatest need is to be forever forgiven by God. Can I tell you that's your and my greatest need today? To be forgiven forever by God. I want to preach to you this morning on this thought, forever forgiven, or lessons from a dinner party. Let's pray together. Father, I thank You for Your Word today. I thank You, Lord, for the truth of Your Word. I thank You, Lord, that the stories that You tell are not just to entertain us, they're to change us. They're to teach us of You and what You want to do in our lives. I pray, Lord, that we would hear today with open hearts and minds, that we would allow the Holy Spirit, Lord, to do His work in our lives today. Thank you for the wonderful music, the sweet spirit of your people today. Lord, it's just a joy, every service, to be at Calvary Baptist Church. And I'm so glad to be a part of this wonderful church family. I'm thankful, Lord, for all that You're doing for us. Now God, do something for us and in us this morning, and I'll thank You for it. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Well, we're going to find that this parable is part of a larger or greater context. The story itself revolves around three individuals. The moneylender, the creditor in the Lord Jesus' story is a picture of himself. You're going to find the first debtor that owed 500 pence is going to relate to an unnamed sinful woman that you're going to meet very shortly in our verses. And then the second debtor who owed the paltry sum of 50 pence is a man by the name of Simon the Pharisee. I want us to meet first a sinful woman. Look if you would in verse number 36. We're going to move over and understand why Jesus tells this story to Simon. And one of the Pharisees, this is Simon, desired him. He invited the Lord that he would eat with him. He's invited him to a banquet, a dinner party at his house. He's going to feed him in his large banquet hall. And he went, this is the Lord, and he went into the Pharisee's house and sat down to meet. And so Simon the Pharisee invites the Lord Jesus into his home for a meal. We don't know why he did that. We don't know if it was out of curiosity to learn more about the Lord. It might have been notoriety. Any time a great teacher came through an area to invite them into your home was to give you social standing in that community. It may have been a more sinister motive. It may have been that he looked upon Jesus as a blasphemer. He opposed Him, maybe even hated Him, and he was looking for an opportunity maybe to entrap Him, to discredit Him before the people. Whatever his reason, what we do know is this, that Jesus accepted the invitation because He didn't just love publicans and sinners, He loved Pharisees too. And he comes into Simon's home, and then look at verse number 37. The two words are very important. And behold. Here's what Luke is doing. He's setting us up. He's preparing us for what's getting ready to happen because, see, you and I aren't there. You can't feel the shock. that gets ready to go through this room when this particular woman walks in. And behold, did you see what he said? A woman in the city which was a sinner. When she knew that Jesus sat at meat, that He was there at the banqueting table in the Pharisees' house, brought an alabaster box, of ointment. So here Luke has set the stage. The dinner guests have arrived. They're sitting at the table. They're eating. And then they're shocked by a woman who intrudes on the dinner party. She's carrying an alabaster, an Egyptian, excuse me, it comes out of Egypt, out of the quarries of Egypt. It's a marble box that's been created into a vase. It carries a very costly fragrant perfume, and this woman is coming for the purpose to anoint Jesus. Now listen, don't make a mistake. Don't think that this is the same woman of Mary of Bethany in John chapter 12. You're going to find there are two different women that will break an alabaster box of ointment that will anoint Jesus' feet at two different times. This anointing takes place in Galilee, probably in the city of Capernaum. The other anointing in John 12, Mark writes about it, is an anointing that takes place in Judea in a town called Bethany outside of Jerusalem. We don't know this woman's name. We don't know anything about her. We know that Mary, who breaks the alabaster box in John 12, is the sister of Lazarus and Martha, who are dear friends of the Lord Jesus. This anointing takes place early in the Lord's ministry. We're probably about 15 months into His ministry. It's the end of His Galilean tour as He's went through Galilee for the very first time. And the other is going to take place at the end of His ministry right before He goes to the cross. This anointing takes place in the home of Simon the Pharisee. The next anointing that will take place at the end of his ministry is in the home of Simon the leper. Simon was a very common name in the Lord's day. And so Luke is careful under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to differentiate between these different Simons so we know exactly who he's talking about. And so this woman comes into the banqueting hall. She has an alabaster box of ointment. It's a vase of ointment. And she stands behind the Lord. Now why does she do that? Because Simon, being a Pharisee, was no doubt a wealthy man. He had a large house. No doubt he was in a large banqueting hall. There were many guests. And the doors would be left open in that banqueting hall to catch the evening breeze. When a rabbi was invited or other important dignitaries, Uninvited guests were actually allowed to enter the banquet hall. They couldn't eat. They couldn't participate in the banquet because they could enter the banquet hall and they would stand alongside the wall so that they could hear and listen in on whether it was a theological conversation, political conversation, whatever it was that was being talked about there at that banquet, they could hear what was going on and what was said. That helps you and I to understand how this woman, this uninvited woman, is going to enter this dinner party. And the shocker is this. The Bible says she was a woman, did you see this? Verse 37, in the city. Now, how did they know that? They all knew her. She was a notorious woman. She was well known to everybody in that room. She had a reputation, but it wasn't a good one. The word sinner here was more than just a common sinner. We understand that this woman was probably like the Samaritan woman at the well that Jesus leads to Himself in John chapter 4. She was promiscuous. She was immoral at best, a prostitute at worst. She was despised. She was looked down upon. She was avoided. She would be in that group of people that in social circles would be considered an outcast. Jesus is at the banquet table. The guests didn't sit in chairs, they reclined on pillows. They leaned on their left elbow as they would lay on these pillows and their chin would rest in the elbow. They would eat with the right hand. Their feet, for sanitary reasons, I would much rather somebody's feet be pointed away from the table than toward it. How many would say amen right there if they're barefoot and dirt dusty? And so his feet are pointed away, and the guest's feet are pointed away from the table. Now we understand the setting. This woman walks in, she's standing behind Jesus, and now she stuns everybody, because she didn't just enter the banquet hall, she's standing behind the Lord, and verse 38, she is so overwhelmed, and so overcome with emotion of what Jesus has done in her life, she weeps uncontrollably. Look, if you would, verse 37, "...and stood at His feet behind Him weeping." I mean, the word here is the idea of the Bible said that washed His feet. It didn't mean that she intended to do that. No, it means to rain. She wept with such uncontrollable emotion that Jesus' feet was drenched with her tears. Seeing what she's done, realizing her tears had soiled the precious feet of the Lord, she begins to let down her... She does the unthinkable. It's improper what she's getting ready to do in public. She lets down her hair. It's enough that she was a woman of reputation. It's enough that everybody in the city knew what she was. But now she does this. She lets down her hair. No woman of dignity would do that. And she begins to get down on her knees, and her hair, like a towel, she begins to wipe his feet. Look at verse 38. And she stood, and stood at his feet behind him, weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears. That means she drenched his feet with tears, and it wiped them like a towel with the hairs of her head. But she doesn't stop there. Notice the Bible says, "...and kissed his feet." Did you see that? She's so overcome with love and emotion and gratitude that she begins to kiss the feet of the Lord. And that word kiss means to kiss and keep on kissing. It's the same word used that we saw in our story of the prodigal son, where the son comes home and the father runs and he falls on his neck and he kisses him. He didn't just kiss him one time. No, he smothered that son with kisses. And here's this woman smothering the feet of the Son of God with kisses. And then she does what she came to do. She breaks the alabaster box or the vase of ointment. Look what Luke says, "...and anointed them with the ointment." This costly perfume, the fragrance filling the banquet hall. Can I just stop and say something? She didn't just show her love, she shared her love. Everybody in that room knew this woman loved Jesus. They could sense the gratitude. They're stunned by her very actions. It is a picture of grace and gratitude. The thankfulness that flows and is expressed out of her heart in this moment of worship for all that Jesus has done for her. Frank, can I tell you, nothing was too much for her to do for Him. It's a picture of love and forgiveness. She loved him because he had first loved her. I don't know at what point she was saved. I know that it's before this event. She's already been forgiven. The Lord's already going to give her some words of assurance. It's probably taken place at another time of teaching in the city. And she's heard His Word. She has believed His truth. She's been saved and forgiven by God. And He loved her. She realized the love that God had for her. And now she's going to love Him back. Church, I'm just going to tell you something. We can't love Him until He first loves us. It flows out of what He said. And the more I understand His love for me, the more our love can flow back to Him. Friend, that's why we need to literally bathe ourselves in the love of Jesus. Here's the lesson. Are you ready for it? The greater the forgiveness, the greater the love. Isn't that what the story was about? Which one will love Him most? And here's this woman pouring out her love to the Lord Jesus. It's a picture of humility. She's down on her knees washing His feet with tears and wiping them with her hair. Listen, people would give you water to wash your feet, but they didn't wash your feet when you came to their home. You did that yourself. If anybody, if you went into the home of a wealthy person and your feet was washed, it wasn't the wealthy person doing it. It was the lowliest slave in the home that did the task of washing the feet. And here she is on her knees washing the feet of the Lord Jesus. It's not something she had to do. It was something that she got to do. And church, can I help us understand something? We've been forgiven. If we're saved this morning, we've been forgiven by God. What we're doing this morning is not what we have to do. It's what we get to do. Everything we do for Jesus is a privilege. Everything. She's got a new master. You're going to see it. She brings this alabaster box of ointment. You say, preacher, what's going on here? Here's what I think, okay? This is what I think. As I've studied and studied this text, this alabaster box of ointment, where Mary, who is a pure young woman, she was saving it for the day of her marriage. This woman used it to lure men. And she's bringing what was significant in her past life. And she's giving it to the Lord. And she's breaking it. And she's pouring it out. And she's saying, I'm not what I used to be. I'm no longer enslaved to this former life. The shackles have fallen off. The chains are gone. She has a new master. She has a new love. No longer is she looking to be loved in a lustful way by men to fill some void in her life, in the brokenness of her life. Now she knows the love of God. No longer is she a slave to sin. She's free in the Lord Jesus. She has a new life. 2 Corinthians 5.17, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. I'm just saying, dear child of God, we don't have to be what we used to be. And as the perfume filled that room, she was saying to Jesus, because of You, I don't need this anymore. I don't have to be what I used to be and go where I used to go and do what I used to do. It's different now. I'm glad to say the day I got saved, it's different now. Christian, I want you to listen to me this morning. Let this woman speak to you and never lose sight of what Jesus has done in your life because of Calvary. Don't ever do that. You see, the danger, the longer we're saved, the further we're removed from the day that Jesus forgave our sins, the less it overwhelms us. Peter even said it's possible to get to the point that you forgot. I'm afraid there's some Christians sometimes that you've maybe forgot what He's done for you. It's a picture of sacrifice and commitment. What was true of this woman ought to be true of us this morning. We ought to be a people of grace and gratitude. I'm just going to tell you, you can't thank Him enough for what He's done in your life. of love and forgiveness, to be overwhelmed by His love, and then to overwhelm Him with love. Humility and service of bowing to His Lordship, of submitting to His will, of sacrifice and commitment, of giving ourselves. This woman was fully giving herself to the Lord, and in giving ourselves to the Lord Jesus, we think it too much at times that the Lord would ask us to be faithful in our worship. We think it too much that He would ask us to give a portion of what He's given us in tithes and offerings and missions giving back to Him, to give of our time and abilities and the gift that He's given us to serve Him with our lives. There are times that we just get the idea that He's asking too much. Frank, can I help us understand something this morning? We can never give Him enough for all He's given us. This woman unashamedly gave it all to Jesus. He's worthy. Somebody sitting here, preacher, maybe you were saved as a child. Maybe you never knew deep, terrible, horrible sin. I just want to stop and say hallelujah. I thank God for that. But I tell you what you ought to do. Instead of thinking maybe that somehow you're a little special, Maybe you ought to slip down here and bow on your knees before God and then go home and jump up and down on your bed and thank God for what He's kept you from. That you don't have the scars of sin like this woman had and that other people have in this room. We ought to love much because we've been forgiven much. We move now from a sinful woman to a self-righteous Pharisee. Let's move to verse 39. Could we very quickly? And when the Pharisee which had inbidden had invited him saw it, he's watched in horror. That's probably not even a strong enough word. What Jesus is allowing this woman to do, and I want you to understand, everything this woman is doing is pure worship. That's what it is. this Pharisee would have nothing of it. Notice, he's going to talk to himself. He utters no words. Now, when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, talking about Jesus, if he were a prophet, if he were who he claimed to be and what everybody thinks he is, would have known who and what manner of woman this is a touch of them, for she is a sinner, Let me tell you what's the matter with Christianity in America today. We've got this eww syndrome. Somebody comes through the door a little bit different from us. Or maybe they don't fit the profile of an independent fundamental Baptist. We eww. Let me just tell you something. But for the grace of God, every one of our lives right now sitting in this room would be an absolute disaster. Absolute disaster. If God let us have our way, thank God for the work of the Holy Spirit that convicts us and God dealing with us, keeping us from our sin, letting our flesh have its way. If God allowed us as saved people to let our flesh have its way, every one of us would destroy our own lives. We don't even understand the depth of sin that lurks in our own heart. The Bible says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. That's your heart and my heart, Christian. Who can know it? We don't even know what's there. We need to be a little more like Jesus and a little less like Simon. So he's talking to himself and he said, if Jesus were really who he claimed to be, he wouldn't have anything to do in his pharisaical mind. I think it's sad that God's people can sometimes have a little too much pharisee at times in all of us. And I'm not talking about condoning sin. I'm talking about loving people. And so Simon thinks this and he doesn't understand that the Lord knows every thought going through his mind. And by the way, the Lord knows every thought going through your mind and my mind this morning. And Jesus answers his thought. He said, I really am who you think I am, Simon, and more. Look at verse 40. And Jesus answering. He's answering not his words, but his thoughts. Said unto him, Simon, I have some what to say unto thee, and he saith, Master, say on. What in the world would you say to me? And Jesus tells the story. There was a certain creditor, a money lender, had two debtors. Verse 41, the one owed 500 pence, a large amount of money, a year and a half's worth of wages. The other 50, just a small paltry sum in comparison. And when they, both of these two debtors, had nothing to pay, they're both bankrupt, he freely, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose. Now, can you imagine the conviction? The Lord has stabbed him at his heart already and he doesn't want to answer, but he does. And I suppose he to whom he forgave most. And he said to him, Thou hast rightly judged. The creditor, out of the goodness and mercy, has freely forgiven both their debts, what they owed him. He forgave unequal debts. The first debtor owed ten times more than the second debtor. But they received equal forgiveness. Can I help us to understand something this morning? Whether in our minds we're big sinners or little sinners, it's equal forgiveness. Because you're getting ready to learn something. There's no such thing as big sinners and little sinners to God. We're all just sinners, and all sin carries the same penalty, and that's separation from God in a place called hell. And see, Simon thinks he's a little sinner. And this woman's a big sinner. And he doesn't really need what this woman has. And I'm going to tell you what, I've met a lot of people I've met a lot of people and I've never met anybody that's too bad for the Lord to save. But I've met a parcel of people that think they're too good to be saved. And there's going to be a parcel of religious people in hell because they think that they're just little sinners and somehow their goodness of their life is going to outweigh that little sin and they're going to get in. And friend, nobody gets in by what they do. And that's what he's trying to teach Simon. Simon the Pharisee answers the question and then the Lord exposes his heart. Look at verse 44. And he turned to the woman, he's pointing to her, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thy house, thou gavest me no water for my feet. Simon, not just for you to wash my feet like this woman, but for me to wash the dust off of my feet. You gave me not even the slightest of hospitality. and she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss." The Lord wasn't wanting Simon to smother him with kisses. That's not the point. It was a kiss of greeting, much like our handshake today. I was preaching for one of our Bible college graduates that pastors in Moxville years ago, and we had a guy that I knew that came to that revival meeting. He was an Egyptian national pastor. He wanted to meet me in that service. After the service, I went over and I spoke to him, and first thing he did He grabbed me and he laid a big, wet, juicy kiss on my cheek. I sort of just stepped back, stunned for a moment. He said, I shouldn't have done that, should I? And I said, no, we don't kiss, we just shake hands in America. That will suffice as men. But in that culture, they would do a kiss on the cheek. It was a sign of greeting. He said, you gave me not one kiss of welcome. Look at verse 46. My head with oil thou didst not anoint. Just a lot of times when you would go into a home, even of people that weren't wealthy, they would have a little bottle of olive oil or sack of olive oil and they would hand that to you so that you could take it and just sort of that dusty, arid environment, you could anoint your head and it had a refreshing, benefit to it, and feeling, he said, you didn't even give me any oil for my head, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment, with fragrant perfume. Look at verse 47, "'Wherefore I say unto thee, her sins which are many are forgiven, for she loved much.'" Now Jesus didn't forgive her because she loved Him. What He's saying is that they've already been forgiven and it's demonstrated by the depth of her love. "'But to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.'" Did you see that? You know what He was saying, Simon? You don't love me because you've not been forgiven by me. He's reaching out to Simon. Can I tell you, Jesus loved Simon as much as He did this woman, and both needed His forgiveness. Just like everybody in this room today. And now thirdly, we're going to meet very quickly a saving Lord. Look at verse 48. And He said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. I'll tell you what, those are the sweetest words anybody can hear, aren't they? I like that. He's already used that phrase back in, I think it was Luke 5 or I think it was, where He's going to heal the paralytic and He says, Son, be of good cheers. Thy sins be forgiven thee. What a wonderful statement. There's nothing that can bring joy to the heart than being forgiven by God. Let me just give you some lessons real quick and I'm going to be done. Are you ready? Jesus forgives all who come to Him for salvation. You say, Preacher, how do you know that? Because in verse 48, He didn't differentiate. He didn't push her away. He knew exactly who she was, what she had done, the depth of her sin, and yet He forgave her. I just want you to know both Simon and this woman owed a debt. Simon thought he was a little sinner. She was a big sinner. We've already learned there's no such thing in the eyes of God. All are sinners. We all owe a debt and everybody needs to be forgiven. Nobody is born saved. Everybody needs to be saved. And everybody that comes, He didn't push her away. He didn't turn her away. She came and He received her and welcomed her. And friend, if you come to Jesus today, He'll receive you and He'll welcome you. Jesus alone has the right to forgive sins. How do you know that? Well, look at verse number 49. And they, these are the other guests that sat at meat. They're at the table with Him, began to say within themselves. Now they're talking to themselves. Who is this that forgives sins also? He's healing people. He's casting out demons. He's causing the blind to see, and the mute to speak, and the deaf to hear, and He's doing all of it. And He forgives sin. Who is this? By the way, they were donning on them the claim that Jesus is making because every Jew knows there's only one individual that can forgive sin, and that's God. I might can forgive you for what you do to me, but I can't forgive you for what you do to Him. You may forgive me for what I do to you, but you can't forgive me for what I've done to Him. Only God can do that. God alone has the right and the authority to forgive sin. And Jesus is forgiving sin. Then He must be God. That is the claim that He is making. It is a claim. He didn't come out and say, hey everybody, I'm God. He didn't have to. The moment He said, thy sins with an Affirmative word of assurance, thy sins are forgiven. At that moment, he was claiming to be God. He was claiming to be their Messiah. He was showing himself with the right to forgive sins, something that only God possesses. Let me give you another thought. Jesus' forgiveness can only be obtained by faith. Look what happens in verse number 50. And He said to the woman, Thy faith has saved thee. Not her love, not her weeping, not her tears, not her hair wiping His feet, not her kissing His feet. It's not what she did for Jesus. No, that was in response for what He's already done for her. Thy faith. She had received Him, but as many as received Him, to them gave you power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name." Preacher, how do I receive the Lord? By believing on Him. By receiving Him as Savior. By recognizing that... and I'm going to show this here in just a moment, that He alone can forgive our sin because He alone bore our sin. You see, Simon had the mistaken idea that you were saved by what you do, religious things. This woman shows us that salvation, the forgiveness of sin, is a gift to be received. It's not what we do. It's what the Lord has already done. And it's shown in the story of the creditor. Because the creditor freely forgave the debtors, those that owed him a debt. How did he do that? He paid what they owed. He bore their debt himself. He took upon himself. And Jesus can freely forgive our sin today because He paid what we owe. He took the debt that you and I owe for our sin. that we might receive His forgiveness. He died. He paid it all, friend. He said it is finished. Paid in full on the cross. Friend, that's what the cross is about. It's not about being a good example. It's not that Jesus did some good things and then sadly they crucified Him. He wasn't dying as a revolutionary. He was dying as the sacrifice for the sins of the entire world. God that taketh away. You cannot and I cannot take away our sin, but thank God Jesus through His cross did take away our sin. Salvation is always by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Apart from any human effort. For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Nobody's going to boast in heaven of how they got there. And then Jesus' forgiveness is forever. I love verse 50. The last three words, go in peace. Can you imagine the turmoil in this woman's soul? Can you imagine what her life must have been like? You see, there's pleasure in sin only for a seasoned young person. It doesn't last. It doesn't last. After a while, you see, you have the sin and then the sin has you. And this woman probably didn't start out to be who she became. But one sin led to another sin until it ultimately devastated and destroyed her life. And she didn't have any peace and she didn't have any hope. And her heart and her life was turmoil and everything was a disaster. Jesus said, I want you to know it's different now. Go in peace. You're forgiven. Your sins are gone. I like that. Your sins are gone stuff. Don't you? That's what that word means. Saved. That saved thee. That's ongoing results. Salvation, forgiveness of sin lasts forever because Jesus canceled the debt. It's paid in full. You can't help yourself out by keeping yourself saved. Salvation is of the Lord. It's paid in full. What a lesson that this woman teaches us today. Oh, the greater the forgiveness, the greater the love. And everybody needs to be forgiven. Isn't that wonderful? That we can be forgiven today. Friend, you may be here today and you've never been forgiven. You've never received the Lord. Why don't you make this that day? Let's bow our heads in prayer. Can we do that? Our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and nobody's looking around. And maybe your greatest need today, you thought that your greatest need was something else. Your student loans to be paid, or maybe a new house, or a new car, or a new this, or a new that. But really, truthfully, your greatest need today is everyone's greatest need. It's the need to be forgiven, to be saved. Do you know for sure if you died, you'd go to heaven? Do you know right now that if you left this life and you met God, that your sins, your debt has been paid? You see, you can't pay it. You're just like these debtors. We're bankrupt before God. There's nothing we can give to Him. Not one thing. And He's going to invite you today to come to Him. If you're here this morning and you say, preacher, if I died right now,