Well, I hope that you know that we are committed to proclaiming the whole counsel of God. That's one of our ambitions is to preach God's word as it stands from beginning to end and not avoid texts that are inconvenient or difficult or ones that we don't like. They still deserve our attention. And so that's why most Sunday mornings we gather together and we spend time just working sequentially through a book of the Bible, and at the moment we've been working through the book of Exodus. And we've made our way all through the first 19 chapters, and we're kind of at a turning point in the book because the law is about to be given in Exodus. And I'm very eager and looking forward to diving into that portion of Scripture with you. I think it will be instructive for all of us, and I'm looking forward to diving in, but I'm not diving in this week. And so, give that preface because we'll be in another text this week, and just kind of a one-off time to look into the Word of God, and we trust any time we open God's Word and we look into it, it's going to be profitable for us. And so this morning, we'll be looking at Luke chapter 7. Luke chapter 7. This really has nothing to do with Exodus or preparing for Exodus. It's just a wonderful passage that will deserve our attention this morning. Luke chapter 7, beginning in verse 36. One of the Pharisees asked him, that's Jesus, to eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. And behold, a woman of the city who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisees' house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisees who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, if this man were a prophet, He would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner. And Jesus answering said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. And he answered, say it teacher. A certain money lender had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii and the other 50. When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now, which of them will love him more? Simon answered, the one, I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt. And he said to him, You have judged rightly. Then 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, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little. And he said to her, your sins are forgiven. Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, who is this who even forgives sins? And he said to the woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for wonderful passages of scripture like this one. So rich in your mercy, of your wisdom, the salvation that you gave to us through Christ Jesus. And now, Father, we would ask you that you would let us glimpse a little bit more of the riches that are in our Savior. We know that in Him, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and we see here someone who is so distinct from anyone else that we would ever meet. Help us, Father, to glory in His name, to rejoice in the forgiveness that He's given. Help us, Father, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Debt forgiveness is a controversial topic these days. I've had the issue come up with the cancellation of student loans, wondering if that's even allowed and why it should happen and is it good, is it bad, what's with this that's going on. Some people are for it, some people are against it and I'd be, I'm mistaken if I was to try to wade into that debate right here and now and give you my opinions on it. It's not my intention for that. But if you just pay attention to The Times, the idea of canceling someone's debt, very controversial topic. It gets people riled up on both sides of the spectrum. Some think it's a great idea, it's merciful, it's kind, it's loving. Some people think it's unfair, it's not just, it's not right. Those, I've heard and read, who have worked through schooling and have amassed a certain amount of debt, and then they get out into the workforce, and they are conservative with their money, and they pay off their debt, and now they hear that there's a potential for student loan forgiveness, get kind of indignant, and think that's not fair. I worked hard, I earned this money, I used it to pay off my debt, and now other people are gonna get it canceled for free. And other people who have taken on a massive amount of money in debt for their student loans and can't quite get a job that will pay their bills think, oh, this would be such a relief. I can't shoulder this burden. And for them, it sounds great to have $10,000 just wiped off of the ledger sheet. It would be a huge relief to them. So to those who are indignant and those who would find relief there, Again, my desire is certainly not to get in trouble by adding commentary about that. I don't want this to be taken as some commentary on what's happening in our society. That's not the point of this. I simply want you to observe that forgiveness is controversial and has always been controversial. Forgiveness is something that stirs up people's ire at times. And it's also something that drops people to their knees in gratitude and love. Now, if you just move for a moment from the economy of the United States to the grandest economy of the universe, which is the economy of sin and righteousness, an economy that's so much greater than an economy that has to do with mortgages and student loans and car payments, you have to ask yourself the question, in the economy of sin and righteousness, Where do you stand? How is your ledger sheet doing in that regard? How are you doing with the presence of the debt you owe for your sin? How are you doing with the need to have an economy of righteousness in your bank account? How do you do with that? Have you brought yourself to a point where you feel you've earned the standing that you possess before an almighty God and judge, having earned his acceptance based on being a relatively good person, have you come to a point where you feel that because of the life that you've lived, you should be accepted to God, accepted by God? Or, do you think that, yeah, I've messed up a little bit here and there, I'm certainly not as good as I could be, certainly haven't lived the life that I should, but God's a loving God, he'll forgive me and I can just keep on living however I want because he's forgiven me and I can treat myself like king and one day I'll get to go to heaven too. Or, are you the kind of person who absolutely loves forgiveness. Do you love forgiveness so much that it produces a deep abiding love in you for the one who has forgiven you? Forgiveness is easy to understand and it's hard to receive. It's hard to receive because it entails you admitting that you have a debt that you cannot pay. But when you cross that line and acknowledge that and you find someone who can forgive your debt, your life can be so full of love that you can let go of all the past and live in the light of the forgiveness you've received. And so really the question that's before us this morning personally is, do you love forgiveness? Do you love forgiveness? This passage in the Gospel of Luke is a familiar one to many people. It's a wonderful and lovely story of a woman who comes to Jesus and finds forgiveness. There are similar passages in the other Gospels, in Matthew, Mark, and John, and yet it seems that they are recounting two different events. There is another event in the life of Jesus where a woman comes to him and anoints his feet, but they all seem to happen at a different point in Jesus' ministry. Luke alone seems to record this account, and so this is a unique event in Jesus' ministry. In the context of the gospel of Luke, The question being asked at this moment is basically, who is this? Who is Jesus? That's the question before the audience of the Gospel of Luke. Who is Jesus? And in the most recent events in this Gospel, beginning really in chapter seven, we see that Jesus is someone who's unlike anybody that the world has ever seen. He's so unique and so distinct that at the beginning of chapter 7, a Roman centurion, that's a soldier who's in charge of about a hundred soldiers, has a sick servant and wants Jesus to come and heal his servant. And Jesus heals the servant and proves that he is a healer. This is an amazing work because Jesus is able to heal someone who is sick just by the speaking of a word. Next, we find that Jesus has the power of life over death. He goes to a funeral where a widow has her son being carried in a funeral procession because he's died and he's being carried. And Jesus tells the woman, do not weep. And then he speaks to the young man in 714, I say to you, arise. And the dead man sat up and began to speak. And of course, all the people who see this are gripped with fear. And they say, a great prophet has arisen among us. And God has visited his people. And a report about him spreads throughout the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country. And so the people are provoked, trying to identify who this is, and they identify him as a great prophet, but still there seems to be a level of uncertainty. John the Baptist, who's now imprisoned, sends some of his disciples in chapter seven, verse 18, after hearing all that's going on with Jesus, and asks his disciples to go ask Jesus. In verse 19, are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? And Jesus basically says, look at what's being done. And so even John the Baptist is asking this question, who is this? He doesn't fit the mold. of the people's expectations for a king or messiah. And so in chapter 7, verse 31, Jesus describes the generation that he's with, what are they like? In verse 32, he says, And Jesus is basically saying that the people are trying to mold Jesus into their expectations, but he doesn't fit what they expect. And so he describes the way people look at him. He says in verse 34, the Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, look at him, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Who is this? And at the end of our passage, the people around, having seen all of the work that Jesus did in that moment in forgiving this woman, says, who is this who even forgives sins? For all of these people who are wondering, who is this? What is this guy? You have this woman come on the scene, whose name we don't know, who seems to know better than everyone else who this is. This is a wonderful display to us of how someone who knows their need and sees that Jesus is the one who can address that need is the kind of person who can know who this Jesus is. This woman teaches us several lessons and as we work through this story kind of piece by piece give you some headings to try to wrap your thoughts around. And the first thing that we learn here is I want you to learn about the love that forgiveness produces. The love that forgiveness produces. The story kind of works backwards. At the end of this story, Jesus pronounced to this woman, your sins are forgiven. And he says, your faith has saved you, go in peace. But when this woman comes on the scene, she's already kind of working under that assumption that Jesus is the one who forgives sins. And so all of her actions and what she does is under the heading of a love that is the result of something that has been done for her by Jesus. It's a responsive love. And so this is the love that forgiveness produces. The setting is a dinner at a Pharisee's house. Jesus has been invited to a dinner by a Pharisee named Simon. And this wouldn't be an uncommon event for one teacher or Pharisee to invite another traveling teacher over for a meal, and at that meal they would be engaged in theological discussion, sitting around a table that was low to the ground, and the men there would be reclining, there wouldn't be and it wouldn't be a table like we would think about it. It'd be a Middle Eastern dinner where there might be cushions and they're lying on their left side on their elbow and with their right hand they're dipping into the food and eating and while they're doing that they're conversing about the theological topics of the day. And surrounding the table would be the most important and then around the perimeter of the room there'd be others who are just there to listen in to the conversation about what's going on. head would be directed towards the table, and the feet of the person would be away from the table. And they're having this meal, and it would be a meal of the elites, because Jesus is gaining this reputation, and here you have Simon, a Pharisee, who no doubt thinks of himself to be somebody, and so he invites somebody else over to dinner. That's the way it works. And they're having this high-privilege meal, in a sense, with an elite audience. And in the midst of this comes this uninvited guest coming into the room. There's all these men sitting around a table, and then verse 37, it says, Behold, a woman of the city who was a sinner When she learned that he was reclining at a table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alamaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. This is a major interruption to the meal. She's not been invited. She wouldn't be invited. To have a woman enter into a meal of men would have been just out of this world inappropriate at the time. She's described as a woman of the city. And then here's the description. Who was a sinner? Think of the kind of ways that you would like to be labeled. the descriptions you would like to have if you show up on the scene and an account is written about you, and it describes you coming uninvited to dinner, and it says, this person who is of city, a sinner. And that's all you get as far as who you are. There she is, breaking up this dinner. And she came, it says, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house. This was perhaps a quick response to the news that Jesus was around, but it wasn't an impetuous one. I don't think that all of a sudden she just heard, oh, there's Jesus, you know what, maybe I'll go. I think this entails that there was a plan that had been in her mind for some time. Remember, there have been reports that have been spread around about this Jesus. Reports that have gone out throughout all Judea and all the surrounding country about this Jesus who is so different. And even reports that are going around in a derogatory way that says that he's a glutton, a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners, he eats with these people, he cavorts with them, they use it as slander, but Jesus himself says that he is one who came not for the righteous but for the sick. He's the same one. who said, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. She's clearly heard of this Jesus. And the reputation precedes him that he is a friend of sinners. But anyone paying attention would notice he's a righteous friend of sinners. There's no one like this. He's healing the sick. He's raising the dead. Demons can't do this. This is someone who is righteous and a friend of sinners. And so when she learned that he was reclining at table, it prompts, no doubt, this thought that she needs to get there. Why? Well, because her reputation is one of being a sinner. And she's heard that the righteous man who eats with tax collectors and sinners is there. And just to show that this is a plan, not only does it say when she learned, but she was intentional about her trip. She brought an alabaster flask of ointment. Clearly she has a plan in mind. An alabaster flask of ointment would have been basically an inheritance that somebody has received worth about a year's wages to the owner of it. The most valuable possession that she would own was no doubt this flask of ointment. And so when she grabs it, It's not just that she needs to grab a shawl before she goes out of the house. She grabs that which is most precious to her of all of her possessions and goes to see Jesus. Clearly she has a plan. Clearly she has thought this out to some degree. And there she comes into the room with that alabaster flask of ointment. And it says in verse 38, that she was standing behind him at his feet, weeping. Of course, Jesus' feet would have been the first thing that she encounters because of how he's reclined on the floor, but she doesn't seem to get any further than his feet. She comes up to him, weeping, and stops at his feet. She's overcome with emotion. And you read the rest of the passage and you can begin to put together the picture for why she's so overcome with emotion. The rest of the passage ties together the presence of sin, the presence of faith, the presence of a righteous man, and the presence of the Son of God who has authority on earth to forgive sins. And you put all of those together in a blender of the human heart, and you have a response that is full of emotion. I hope that as you read about a woman like this, you feel that you can relate to her to some degree. We don't know what her sins were. It's often concluded that it was sexual in nature, that she was a prostitute, very well could be, and that's probably the most likely scenario, but we don't really know what it was. The only reputation that she has is that she is a sinner, and don't think she doesn't know that. The reputation that she has precedes her, and so she walks into the room and everybody looks at her, at least Simon does, and he immediately knows her, and he thinks in his mind, here's a sinner. Even Jesus knows she's a sinner. Everybody knows this woman is a sinner. That's the label that she lives with, the label of being a sinner. We don't even know her name, but we know that she was a sinner. This is not necessarily a reputation that you've been given in your day. Maybe it is. Maybe you were known that way. Maybe others don't know it about you, but you know it of you, that even though other people might say of you, oh, he's a good person, oh, he's got a great family, or he does well in school, or he runs a good business, or he dresses well, or speaks well, or whatever it is that people have thought about you, you know in your heart that if all of the vileness in your heart got spilled out before somebody, you would be quickly labeled sinner. Even if you just took the first half of this day and you let the vileness of your heart be spilled out from somebody, they would recoil from all the heart-level evil thoughts or deeds or words that nobody else knew or saw but you. Or give it a week and you add up all the things that you've done over the course of the past week that were ungodly, unrighteous, unloving, selfish, and you let that spill out in front of you, clearly you'd get the label of a sinner. Or you break it, pull it back a little bit further, you go back to the past month, how much would spill out of your heart? Past year, past decade? and you add year upon year to the account of your sin, and anybody who got to see it would have to label you sinner. We don't like to think about that. And it's not always good to dwell on that. But from time to time, we need to be reminded of the kind of people that we are. The kind of people that's full of anger, bitterness, lust, covetousness, deceit. Those types of things that have marked our hearts from the very beginning. And we need to remember that For every one of those violations of God's holy standard, we deserve the penalty, which is death and eternal condemnation. And so in your ledger, in your economy, you don't really have a whole lot of merit to put on your account, but you do have a whole lot of debt amassed over a lifetime of living with disregard for God's ways. And every one of those sins that could be individually kept in a book of your life would have next to it a debt that is owed, which is death. Then you have page after page after page of your life full of all of the accounts of your sins. And next to that, all of the payment that is due to it, death, death, death. And you know what forgiveness is, don't you? Forgiveness is taking that ledger book and having the Lord Jesus Christ with His own pen strike out the debts that you owe and write, paid in full. And so that that book can be closed and never opened again. and everything that you had ever done that was wrong is paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ. And so that when God looks at you, he doesn't look at all that you owe any longer. He sees what his son paid for you. And when you begin to grasp the seriousness of what happens with your personal debt cancellation, you begin to understand why this woman who has had the label of sinner plastered over her life can finally come to somebody who can do something about it and is overcome with emotion being in his presence because finally someone is not going to label her as a sinner, but somebody who is righteous can do something about her sin. Jesus interprets what she does for him as the love that forgiveness produces. So this woman, weeping at Jesus' feet, has heard, has brought an alabaster flask, stands at his feet, and then weeping, she begins to wipe his feet and wet her, wet his feet with her tears. Being a woman in the midst of those men at that meal would be scandalous enough, but now she lets down her hair, which would have been a violation of the standards of the day, uses her tears to wet Jesus' feet, begins to wipe off his dirty feet with her hair, kisses his feet with reverence. Jesus says she's not ceased kissing his feet. It's a term of reverence and respect. And then she anoints him with that ointment that would have been the most precious thing that she owned and puts it on the dirtiest part of the body, the feet. This woman puts many of us to shame by the lavish love that she shows her Savior. Notice the kind of love that she has. It was a humble love. She didn't get past His feet. She didn't say, stand up Jesus, let me look at you in the eye. She couldn't get past his feet. She probably thought the same thoughts as John, the Baptist who said that this is the one, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. Then her humility is expressed further by untying her hair and letting it down and using it as a towel. She seems to treat herself as though she was not worth more than a water basin and a towel in comparison to the worth of the one that she is washing. It was a humble love. It was a fervent and emotional love. She kissed his feet fervently. She was weeping. Don't be afraid of expressing emotion to your Savior who has rescued you. We don't live by our emotions, but neither ought we to ignore them, neither is it wrong to feel a fervent and affectionate desire for our Savior. It was a sacrificial love. She took that which was most valuable to her and spent it on worshiping Jesus. It was a valuable commodity. And other people looking at that probably would have thought, what a waste. In fact, they did that with another woman who did the same thing. But if you were to ask that woman, was it hard to give up that flask of ointment for Jesus? Was it a waste to you? Could you have used it for something better? She probably would have looked at you in shock and thought, a waste, hard, no. This is the one who's forgiven me everything. There's not too much I can give to him. Where would I better spend it than on him? And it was a love that was rooted in faith. She was convinced that this one would receive her. She believed in him. She believed it was better for her to go through the humiliation of entering that room than to stay away from Jesus. And it was a bold, faithful love because she was willing to transcend or transgress that invisible border around the Pharisee's house that said sinners stay out. And she was willing to go in because the one who welcomes sinners was there. That's the love that forgiveness produces. But there is the forgiveness that self-righteousness rejects. The forgiveness that self-righteousness rejects. It did not thrill everyone that this woman was there. Not everyone was pleased that she showed up, and so we shouldn't be surprised in the story about Jesus and the Pharisees that there's a verse that says, verse 39, now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, we're just waiting for that, aren't we? We're waiting, okay, what's the Pharisee thinking about this? How does he respond? So he saw all that was going on, And notice that it says, he said to himself, isn't that the way of a Pharisee? Just keeps it inside. He doesn't let others know what's really in there. On the outside, looks clean. Looks painted, looks fresh. But Jesus describes this kind of person as someone who has dead man's bones in him. And we see that here because what's going on inside of this Pharisee in his heart is a revulsion towards this woman. And so he said to himself, If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner. Notice that he speaks inside himself. We don't get any of the inner workings of this woman. We only see what's in the outside, the weeping, the coming. She's sincere, but he's a hypocrite. He's self-righteous. But he makes some assumptions as he evaluates what's going on. And his assumption is this. that prophets should know what kind of people they are associating with, that they should have a clairvoyance about the situation. Not necessarily an incorrect assumption, but there's a second assumption that he makes, which is that prophets, true prophets of God, would not associate with sinners. And then he makes these observations. that there's a woman that he knows who is to be sinful touching Jesus, and he observes also that Jesus is not resisting this. And so he comes to the conclusion this, and it's good logic, but it's built on faulty assumptions. His conclusion is Jesus does not know what kind of woman is touching him. Jesus is not a prophet. And he also concludes that all that defines this woman is that she is a sinner, and that's it, and nothing more. And so, the self-righteous Pharisee is contrasted with this woman, a woman who comes to Jesus needy, and a self-righteous Pharisee who condemns Jesus because he receives the needy. And so, he rejects Jesus on the basis of his standards for what a prophet should and shouldn't do. And in doing so, reveals how little he actually knows about God. Simon and this woman really couldn't be farther apart even though they're in the same room. Both are focused on Jesus and one says that he's worthy of lavish love and the other says that he's a false prophet. One makes the assumption that he's a true man of God and welcomes the repentant. The other says that a true man of God wouldn't have anything to do with the sinner. And so the self-righteous Pharisee rejects forgiveness. But now we see the rejected one who grants forgiveness. The rejected one who grants forgiveness. Remember that one of the assumptions that the Pharisee makes is that Jesus would know what kind of people he's dealing with. He would have this clairvoyance about him that could kind of see and penetrate into the hearts of the people that he's dealing with. And the Pharisee thinks that therefore he shouldn't be dealing with this sinner, but notice what happens. This Pharisee is thinking to himself. He doesn't say it out loud, but then in verse 40 it says, Jesus answering said to him, If you think something in your heart that you don't say out loud and somebody answers you about that, you're in trouble. And it just debunks the whole assumption that he made that Jesus doesn't know what's going on here. Oh, Jesus knows the heart of everyone in that room, especially Simon's. He reads his heart. And so Jesus displays once again that whatever room he enters into, he's always the one in charge. Simon thought that he was inviting Jesus over to dinner and that he would be the host, but Jesus has really invited Simon into his world and Jesus is the host and Simon the guest. And so Jesus speaks. Simon, I have something to say to you." And who knows how Simon responded, say it teacher. Maybe he's trying to be respectful. But Jesus goes on to speak in such a cutting way by this sharp analogy or sharp parable. And it divides the thoughts and intentions of the heart of Simon. And he just gives this simple parable, which we can all understand. A certain money lender had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii and the other 50. When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. And now here's the question. Which of them will love him more? 50 denarii is about two months' wages. 200 denarii is about two years' wages. Both are a substantial sum, one substantially more than the other. Both of them get canceled, just totally wiped out. They're not owed any longer. And Jesus asks Simon the question to draw the conclusion. Now Simon has been wrong this whole time. Simon hasn't had one right thought about him. He hasn't been lucid in his assumptions. And it takes the words of Jesus to paint Simon into a corner so that the only right answer he can give in this moment is produced by Jesus' words. And so, Simon answers, verse 43, the one, I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt. He had nowhere else to go. Of course, that's the answer. Of course it is, and so Simon is right in this moment, but really in spite of himself and because of Jesus' words. And Jesus says, you have judged rightly. And this unlocks everything about the scenario because it shows that this woman has been forgiven the greater debt and therefore she has a greater love. This is a bit of a nightmare for Simon. Not only has he just been forced to concede the truth of the situation, now Jesus turns towards the woman and is looking at her, but speaks to Simon and says, do you see this woman? It may have been that Simon would not even lift his eyes to look at this woman. because he's so disgusted by her. He doesn't want to look like he gives any approval, but now he's forced by Jesus to look at this woman because now in that room, this woman is the example that Simon needs to learn from. Oh, poor Simon. Simon stares now at this woman. as Jesus teaches. And Jesus goes on. Do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Notice here, that Jesus observes every act of love that this woman did for him. Every detail of it. It doesn't go unnoticed. He sees all that she did for him. But notice also, he notices everything that Simon didn't do. Is Jesus less observant now? Does he see less from his perch in heaven at the right hand of the Father? Does he know less now than he did then? He's described in Revelation as the one who has seven eyes, the one who sees everything, knows everything. Be encouraged. He knows everything that you do for him. He sees it all. But take caution as well. He sees everything you don't do. The conclusion that Jesus draws is verse 47, therefore I tell you, her sins which are many are forgiven, for she loved much. He's not saying there that her love gained the forgiveness. He's saying that her love proved the forgiveness. That's the conclusion he's drawing. Her love is produced by the forgiveness he gave her. And then he gives this axiom, he who forgives is forgiven little, loves little. And you may think that he's ascribing that to Simon, that Simon's just been forgiven a little bit and so he loves little, but Jesus says that basically Simon's done nothing for him at all. Simon and the self-righteous like him don't see a need for forgiveness. And then Jesus speaks directly to the woman. Verse 48, he said to her, your sins are forgiven. Jesus now becomes the first person who is not seeing this woman with the label of sinner any longer. He sees her with the label of forgiven. Forgiven. Verse 49, this provokes the people there to ask among themselves, who is this who even forgives sins? Because as we learn from Mark, only God is able to forgive sins. And of course, that's the point. Jesus is God the Son who has authority on earth to forgive sins. He speaks one final thing to the woman in verse 50. Your faith has saved you. Notice he doesn't say your love has saved you. It is faith that brings us to Jesus. It is trust in Him, that He is who He says He is, and He does what He says He will do. That brings us to Him to receive the blessings that He gives us by His grace, and then love comes. It's grace received by faith. And now this woman is given the final charge by Jesus, go in peace. Why can she go in peace? Because she's saved, she's forgiven. Her life is brand new and she can live now in peace. Of course, so many applications to us, and I trust that you can draw many of those yourselves. Let me encourage you in two ways. First of all, if you feel the burden of your sin and your guilt, and you don't know what to do with it, You can't forgive yourself. You can't go to us in this room to have us absolve you of your sins. There's only one who can forgive you, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ, the friend of sinners who died for sinners. Come to him and find the forgiveness of sins. Second, is if you feel your love for the Lord just kind of diminished, lacking, Listen to what Jesus says. The one who is forgiven little loves little. And remember his parable. Who's the one who is going to have greater love? The one who's forgiven less or the one who's forgiven more? Search the scriptures for God's standard of righteousness. See how short you fall. Remember that God through Christ forgives you. Be amazed that he forgives you and let that spur you on to great love for your Lord who notices every act, great and small, of love for him based on the forgiveness he's given you. Let's pray. Father, we apart from Christ, would be condemned for all eternity, and yet you have given us hope in Christ Jesus, the one who has forgiven us of our sins. Well, Lord, I pray that you'd fan into flame freshly for each of us the love that we should have for our Savior because of what he has done for us in forgiving us of sins. Lord, I pray that these truths will be on our heart this week. We come humbly and thankfully to you with great joy and serve you with great and lavish and bold love. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.