All right. What do you guys look good today? Not that you don't look good every day. But there's something you look really amazing today.
I'm glad to be here. I was out last week. We had a quick trip out of the country. So I missed last Sunday.
And I always feel like I'm not at home when I'm not here. So so good to be here today. Love you guys. We're going to continue with our series on royalty.
We've been probably eight weeks on this series. And I want to pick up on the message that I preached two weeks ago called reigning in life. I just feel like God has a couple more things that he wants to talk to us about regarding rating in life. And so I'll recap just a couple things shortly.
But then we'll get into the crux of the message. Two weeks ago, I really focused more on receiving. There's two things that says to reigning in life. We have received as the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness.
So I focused more on receiving the abundance of grace. Today I want to hone in more on receiving the gift of righteousness. And just talk about that a little bit. And we'll see where it goes.
Our key verse for this is Romans 5 17. It says, for if I want man's offense, death rained through the one. Much more those that receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Father, Lord, we thank you today for your word.
God, I pray that Holy Spirit, I ask you to teach today, teach us your word, instruct us. Lord, let it resonate deep within our spirits today. And Father, I thank you that we're going to leave here better than when we came in. In Jesus' name, amen.
For if I want man's offense, death rained through the one. Much more those who receive the abundance of grace. And the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. We said last week that, or two weeks ago, that one thing we think of or two things we think of that are certainties in life, it was credited to Ben Franklin, was that he said that there's only two certainties in life, death and taxes.
I don't think we really like either one of those. But the apostle Paul says something different. He says that if by one man's offense, meaning Adam, if by one man's offense, death rained, much more to a greater degree, even some translations say, it's even more certain that those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life. So here's what he's saying.
He said, as certain as death is, what's the mortality rate unless Jesus returns? 100, you will not escape without passing away unless you've been saved unless Jesus returns and raps you while you're left. The mortality rate of sin and death is 100%. But the apostle Paul says those that receive the abundance of grace to a greater degree, it's more certain, more certain than death that we would reign in life.
And if death is 100% and it affects everybody, it should be a greater certainty that we should actually have a reign in life. And so I really ask the question, why do I see more Christians not reigning in life? Why? Sometimes because we don't know.
Sometimes we don't know. Hosea says, this is my people perish for what? Lack of knowledge. He doesn't say that sinners perish for lack of knowledge.
He doesn't say that unstead. He says, my people. So sometimes there's a thing in the body of Christ where there are certain truths that are true, but we just don't recognize them or we don't know them. And it says that we will reign in life.
There's those that receive the abundance of grace. So sometimes the reason we don't do it is because we think and we're waiting for God to reign in our life. And it's true that he does reign in my life, but he's given the responsibility to me. And so a lot of times it says those who receive the abundance of grace and they get to rise will reign.
That's you. And so a lot of times we sit there and like, well, I'm just waiting on God. And you know what? God's saying, well, I'm just waiting on you.
Right? And so you can spend your whole life waiting on God to do something and not use the authority that he's given you in a certain situation to do something yourself. See, so sometimes it's that we don't know. Sometimes that we are waiting on him.
Sometimes we think that, oh, well, we're going to reign one day in the millennial kingdom. That's true. But it's not the only truth. See, sometimes we relegate reigning till later in eternity.
But this says that we will reign now. Like we reign in life now. It's like, well, in the sweet by and by. What about the not so sweet here and now?
See that God has equipped you and authorized you to actually reign over issues and circumstances in life. And here's what happens a lot of times is when we don't recognize the source of something, we actually allow something to reign us that we should be reigning over. So it says, that's why Jesus says, he says, the thief comes not, but for to kill, to steal, and to destroy. But I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.
And so what happens sometimes we're like, well, God sent this sickness into my life. So I guess I'll just buck up and go through it because he's trying to teach me something. See, when I embrace something that the enemy meant for harm, I actually allow it to reign over me instead of saying, oh, Jesus paid for that thing, get out of my life. You have no business here.
See, we can end up embracing the very thing that we're to be standing and reigning over. That's not how God wants it to work. You have to recognize the source. You have to recognize did this come from the enemy?
Or is this part of the abundant life that God has promised me? If it's from the enemy, if it's sin, if it's sickness, if it's disease, if it's bondage, if it's perversion, if it's bad habits or any part of the curse, whether it's poverty or any of those things that are part of the curse, part of sin, you should be reigning in life over them. And you only do that when you receive. It says, those who receive will reign.
And so there's a lot of believers that have received to a measure. They've received the forgiveness of sins, but not to the point where they actually can reign in life. So I want to look at this word, reign. The word, reign means this.
It means to be king, to exercise kingly power to rule, to exercise the highest influence or to control, to be king, to exercise kingly power, to exercise the highest influence or to control. So I was kind of reviewing my notes this morning. That word influence stuck out to me. There's situations in life that the enemy brings into your life.
It doesn't mean that your life's going to be perfect. It doesn't mean that you're going to be absent of dealing with sickness, absent of dealing with death, absent of dealing with issues. What it means is I influence them, and I don't allow them to influence me. A lot of times you can go through something, and you allow it to influence you, and you respond to it.
Like if I live in response to what the enemy's doing, who's setting my agenda? He is. And that's not the way it's supposed to be. And so this word influence, I'm thinking today, what do we think about on social media?
There's every here of social media influencers. What's an influencer? It's somebody that can actually affect the buying decision of somebody else based on their knowledge, based on their authority, based on their relationship, or their position. I am looked up to so much that what I say, if I was a social media influencer, and I said, dear Park Water is the best water in the world, guess what people would do that followed me?
They would go buy this water. I want to tell you this. God told me this morning, he said, you're a kingdom influencer. Forget social media.
Jesus said that those born among men, those born among women, there was not one greater prophet than John the Baptist. But he that is least in the kingdom is greater than he. Do you realize in John the Baptist time, John lived under the old covenant, he was the greatest influencer, if you will, of the old covenant? He actually said there was not a greater prophet than John the Baptist.
He was actually the one that turned the hearts of the fathers to the kids. He was the one that actually paved the way for Jesus. And he said that he, ever, is least in the kingdom of God, is greater than John the Baptist. That tells me you're an influencer.
You're an influencer. Forget social media. I learned a new term over the weekend, Swiftie. Anybody know what a Swiftie is?
Well, you guys know that better than the Bible. I have a dinner with Seth and Edie and their kids and Gretchen's talking about Swifties. Like, is that like a fast runner? Like, what is it?
Oh no, anybody loves Taylor Swift? She's a, I looked her up. She's what's called a power influencer. Her influence is nothing compared to what you carry.
You're a kingdom influencer. You have the ability and the right to bring the kingdom of this, of God, into situations of life and destroy the works of the enemy. All right, so let's, those that receive will reign in life. The abundance of grace and the gift of the righteous.
I want to talk a little bit today about the gift of righteousness. We talked about grace. We talked about the last week, but I want to go, let's go ahead and read. We're going to read Romans, let's go to the next slide.
We're going to read 5, 17 through 21. And then I really want to hone in on what it is that we've been made. Last week's Seth said this. He says that we are not sinners, saved by grace.
I know we say that. We say that a lot. But I want to show you from scripture why what he said is very accurate. It says, if I, one man's offense for 17 death reigns through the one, much more those who reign who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.
Therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men, resorting and condemnation. Even so, through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. Whereas by one man's disobedience, many were made what? Sinner.
By one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. Also by one man, capital M, obedience, many will be made righteous. So a lot of times when we talk about sinners, we define sinner by people's actions. Well, that person's a sinner.
Well, your actions are not what make you a sinner or not a sinner. See, the apostle Paul says this. He says, by the disobedience of one man, Adam, many were made sinners. So that you actually became a sinner when you were born because of what Adam did 6,000 years ago.
That's not fair. But the good news is this. It says, by the one obedience. The obedience of one man, Jesus, 2,000 years ago, many will be made righteous.
You didn't have anything to do with that either. So you're born one way. You're born because of Adam. You're made a sinner.
But when you're reborn, or as Jesus calls it, you must be born again, when you're reborn, you're actually reborn as not a sinner, but now as you've been made righteous. And so when you go, when we're going to talk a little bit later today about this thing about sinners and things like that, but what happens a lot of times is once we've been changed, we continue to call ourselves what we were. And we continue to call ourselves what we were. We start to act out what we used to be.
And so it's very important. Once God has changed your life, once God has changed you, if you were an adulterer before, and you got saved, you're not one now. If you were an addict before, and you got saved, and Jesus transformed you, you're not one now. If you were a thief, and you got saved, and you're now made righteous, you're not one now.
Those things are what you were, not based on what you did, but based on the way you were born. But when you're born again, you get a new nature. And that new nature is the same nature that Jesus had. And it says, moreover, the law entered, the offense might have bound, but we're sinned about, and grace abounded more, so that as sin rained in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
So I want to shrink down verses 17 and 19 in the next slide. It says, those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one in Jesus Christ. Whereas by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. Also by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous.
So if it's a gift, you can't earn it. You cannot work for righteousness. You can't do anything to become or earn or grow in or achieve righteousness. You can only receive it.
If I've not been made righteous, guess what I can't do? I can't reign in life. Because if I have not been made righteous, sin still has dominion over my life. But once I've been made righteous, it says that sin no longer has dominion.
The only thing that if sin is reigning in my life as a believer is because I allow it. Not because the enemy made me do it, or the devil took a no, because I allow it. Plain and simple. All right.
So how did we get made righteous? What kind of righteousness were we made? Like what does that look like? Jesus says, unless your righteousness, I think it's Matthew 5.20, says unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you can know by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Like you can't get into the kingdom unless you're more righteous than a Pharisee. Anybody that righteous? On their end. Because you had to keep all 613 laws.
Not only really did, but they collected. You had to do it perfectly. There were no exceptions. You couldn't get a 98 or 99 percent.
You had to get a hundred. And you said unless you're better than that, you can't get in. And so here's the thing. Nobody qualified.
On their end. The only way we qualify is this. It says in 2 Corinthians 5.21, it says, for he who knew no sin, speaking of Jesus, he who knew no sin was made sin for us. So what was Jesus made sin?
He had no sin. He was righteous. He was made sin. He was made sin for me so that I might become, so that you might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
A lot of people call this the great exchange. That Jesus took all the sin from me. For God took all my sin. And Jesus took all my sin.
Jesus took all my sin. And put that on Jesus. Everything. Not just the stuff I did in the past, but even the things I haven't done yet.
Everything. All sin for all time puts it on Jesus. Makes Jesus sin so that I could be made the righteousness of God in him. So here's what righteousness says.
It's not doing right thing. It's, it's, wait and equal to Galatians 5.1 which talks about standing. Standing. Righteousness is right standing.
It's that I can stand before holy God. And I can stand before God. And I can stand before God. Righteousness is right standing.
It's that I can stand before holy God and not feel an ounce of condemnation. Not feel an ounce of guilt. And not feel an ounce of inferiority. Imagine that.
No guilt. No shame. No condemnation. And no inferiority.
Because I'm standing before God with the right righteousness he has. That's hard to imagine. As we think about all the bad stuff we do, but when Jesus changes you, he imparts the very righteousness of him in you. in you that I can stand before God.
I don't have to hang my head. I don't have to feel ashamed. I can look him right in the eye. Eye to eye, face to face.
So it's right standing before God. But according to Romans 5 17, righteousness is also ruling over the enemy. It's that I can stand face to face to the enemy and say, eh, not going to happen because I have his righteousness, because he's imparted his righteousness to me. So righteousness says that Jesus became sin.
He took all the stuff that disqualified me and gave me his righteousness, which now qualifies me. And how do we get that? How do I get his righteousness? If I can't earn it.
I can only receive it by faith. That's it. Here's a verse in Romans 3. I'm just reading this, 321 to 24.
It says, the righteousness of God apart from the law. Remember, unless your righteousness exceeds the law? Well, that's because his righteousness is apart from it's like better than righteousness, apart from the law is revealed being witnessed by law and prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who way. Now, I was thinking about this week that God was the most inclusive person in the most inclusive being in all of eternity.
He didn't exclude anybody. It's said that the righteousness of God is available on all and to all who believe. It doesn't matter how bad it was. A lot of times we've said the next part says, for there is no different for all his sin and false short of the glory of God.
See, what we do is we take this verse out of context all the time. Anybody ever, like, uh, you ever go to somebody and say, hey, what your doin's not right? And it's like, well, you know, we all fall short. Well, we've all fallen short.
Don't be pointing a finger at me because we all fall short. That's not what this verse is about. This verse is about because we've all sinned, we've all fallen short and because we've all fallen short, that's the very thing that qualifies all of us to receive his righteousness. Like, this isn't an excuse to sin.
This isn't an excuse for failure. This verse is a qualifier that we all qualify. Let me, let me, let me pick, let me pick, let me pick Ray, Jordan, let's see. And Royce, this will be great.
Come on. What I want you to do is stay right here, face grab. I want you to all jump. I want you to touch that piece of wood up there.
All right, Jordan, you're going to jump first. Give it your best shot. I want you to touch that wood. All right, pretty good.
Pretty good. Royce? Let me see. Royce is, he's going to get about two inches off the ground.
Go ahead. Give it your best. Boy, look at that. All right.
Ray, give it your best shot here. Like, really? Okay. Now, now who jumped the highest?
Jordan, who jumped the lowest? Royce. They all what? Fell shorter.
See, it doesn't matter if it's just a little bit of sin or a whole lot of sin all sin disqualifies you. See, who wants to be the best sinner that ever went to help? Well, my life ain't that bad. What doesn't matter if it's that bad?
Have you been made righteous? See, when you've been made, I'm not going to do it, but God would actually pick you up and let you touch that thing. I probably can't do it. No, I'm not picking you up.
That's right. Because then we'd have to have a healing service from my back. But see, it doesn't matter because the standard is so high, the standard is perfection. So it doesn't matter how good you've been.
You're not perfect. You weren't perfect. It doesn't matter how bad you've been. You're still not perfect, because the standard is the glory of God, which is Jesus.
And the fact that we've all sinned, the good news in that, it means that we've all qualified to receive by faith when he's already done. Like, because we can't do it. That's great news. So it says that it's by faith.
But here, I want to read real quick, because I want to read Romans chapter 1 verse 16 and 17. It says this, it says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God into salvation to all who believe, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, because as is written, the just shall live by faith. Let's go through this real quick. It says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
I'm not ashamed of the good news of Christ. What's the good news? The good news is that he did it for you. See, if you, I want to show you something real quick.
We look at Galatians chapter 1 verse 6 and 7, and then we're going to go back to this. It says, I marvel that you're turning away so soon from him who called you into grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. So in these two verses, what the apostle Paul does here, he says that I'm shocked, I'm astonished when he talks, he's reading Galatians. I love the book.
So the book of Galatians, there's people that are trying to convince those that were saved by faith and those that were made righteous by faith, that now that you've been made righteous by faith, you've got to start going certain things to stay that way. Paul says, no, he says I'm shocked that you're turning away from him so quickly who called you into the gospel of Christ to another gospel, which is not another. He said, there's only one gospel. It's the gospel of Christ.
He says, but there's people that want to trouble you, and what they want to do is pervert it and change it and make it something less than I intended it to be. And he said, I want you to stay in the grace of Christ and the gospel of Christ. So what he's doing here, he's saying that they're interchangeable. The good news of Christ, the good news of Jesus is the same as the grace of Christ.
And the grace of Christ is the same as the good news of Christ. He uses them interchangeably. So back in Romans chapter 1, when he says this, he says, I'm not ashamed of the good news of Christ. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of grace.
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power. This is miracle-working power, dunamis. The gospel of Jesus, the grace of Jesus, is the miracle-working power of God unto salvation, forgiveness, healing, deliverance, protection, preservation.
All those things that are encompassed in that word, he says, the gospel of Jesus, the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to who? To everybody that works hard enough to receive it. Now it says to everyone who believes. See, he's already done it.
Everything you need in life is available in the gospel of Jesus. It's why people say, well, we need more preaching on sin in the church. Now we don't. We need a preaching on the grace of Jesus that's already conquered sin, because in the gospel of grace is the power to overcome anything you might encounter in your life.
See, we don't need to- I guess it's so frustrating. Do you think I need to tell you that sleeping with somebody outside of marriage is wrong? No. I don't need to preach on that.
What I need to preach on is that Jesus paid for that sin. It's wrong. There's going to be consequences, but the grace, the gospel of Christ is the power. It's the power of God that will fix that thing.
So you need to know that Jesus has already paid the way, that Jesus has already provided a way. It's the gospel of the power of God and salvation for the Jew first and also for the Greek. In it, in the gospel, in the grace of Christ, in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. Now, think for a minute.
He made him, who knew no sin, to be sinned for us, that we might become what? The righteousness of God. So what did we become? We became the righteousness of God.
What is revealed in the gospel? In it, the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. Here's why you need to know the gospel because the thing that you've become is revealed in the gospel. Now, what it says?
In it, in the gospel, is revealed the righteousness of God. The very thing that I've become is revealed in the gospel of Jesus. If I want to know more about who I am, I need to spend time in the gospel of Jesus, in the grace of Jesus, because it says that it's revealed from faith to faith. What happens a lot of times is people have enough faith to get saved and born again, but then they don't move from that faith to the next faith, from that faith to the next faith.
He says, as you begin to live by faith, I'll begin to reveal more to you, your righteous standing before me. And what happens is we, well, yeah, well, we're just, we settle for, well, I'm just a center saved by grace, because we don't learn to live by faith. We don't learn to draw on grace and we don't allow the Holy Spirit to begin to convince us of who we are in Him, because that's what He wants you to know. And He says, when you get this down, I've got more.
And when you get that down, I've got more. And you know what? I don't have it all, but I got so much you're never going to talk me out of it. Like, I am so dialed into this.
Like, if the church would get this one thing where we receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness and we start reigning in life, we would be known like the first century church that it says in Acts 4, it says, they turned the world upside down. Like, we would do that. Like, that's not like something for 2000 years ago. That's for today.
Like, it's still there. As you continue to live by faith, God through the good news of grace will continue to reveal deeper truths of your righteous identity. I want to read this to you in the Passion Translation. Go to the next slide.
It says, this gospel unveils a continual, everybody say this, continual revelation, because none of us fully understand this thing about how God could take a sinner like me and just because I believe, make me just like Him. Like, it's not fair. And that's why it's grace. Like, I don't deserve it.
But there's so much more that God wants to continually unfold. He says, the gospel unveils a continual revelation of God's righteousness, a perfect righteousness, given to us when we believe. So here's what a lot of people don't know. You are as righteous this moment in time as you will be a billion years from now.
Like, you can't grow in righteousness. You can't become more righteous. You can grow in grace. You can grow, it even says that Jesus grew in favor with God and with man.
You can grow in favor. You can grow in grace. But you can't grow in righteousness. You can grow in your understanding of righteousness.
But you can't increase it. Guess what else don't have either? You can't decrease it either. You can't, it doesn't grow or just you are what you are today as perfect as you will ever be.
Who here has gotten saved in the last two weeks? Three people. I want to tell you this, you are as righteous as a person that's been walking with the Lord, living a holy and sanctified life for 50 years, as righteous. Because the righteousness that Jesus imparted to you in the last two weeks is the same that he has, it's his.
It's the same as I got 40 some years ago. It's the same as it ever will be. Like it's perfect. You can't mess it up.
All right. So what I want to do, I want to read this story. And we're going to read it quickly. I just want to, I'm not going to really teach through it because it's kind of long.
Loop chapter 7, verses 36 through 50. So I'll read them. I want to go back and make just make a couple points. There's a story I've really, I've spent a lot of time on over the years.
I like it. I like a lot of them. But I really appointed this one. But it's about a woman who is known in the city as a sinner.
And she finds out that Jesus is eating dinner at Simon the Pharisees house. And she decides to go to Simon the Pharisees house and says that she breaks up in this flask of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of her fume and starts annoying to see. Don't get this story confused with the three other versions in Matthew, Mark, and John that are talking about Simon the leper. This is Simon the Pharisee.
This is a different story. So this is the only time this one appears in the gospels. But most people think this woman was probably a prostitute just prior to this in Luke 7. It says that Jesus has this reputation of being a friend of text collectors and sinners.
So in that context, right after, you know, he's talking about that, he said, you know, you call me a wine biver and a friend of text collectors and sinners. And then right after that, Simon the Pharisee invites him to his house. And so it starts off in verse 36. It says, let me read it from my Bible because it probably is a meet-turn around.
It says, then one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him and he went to the Pharisees house and sat down and behold a woman in the city who was a sinner when she knew that Jesus was at the table in the Pharisees house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil. So when they would eat at that time, they would actually lay down on the floor. So you have to imagine that Jesus is laying here, and we find out later in the story there were other Pharisees there as well. And Simon apparently is laying across from Jesus and they're having this conversation.
It's always kind of just like the part of me that thinks about stuff that's not important. How did the prostitute, how was she so comfortable with one of the Pharisees house? Like had she been there before? Yeah.
Like Jesus walked right in. Like I said, that doesn't really matter. It says, and she brought an alabaster flask of oil and stood at his feet behind him weeping and she began to wash his feet with her tears and wipe them with a hair of her head and she kissed his feet and anointed them with fragrant oil. And when the Pharisees who had invited him saw this, he spoke to himself saying, this man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what man or woman is touching him where she is a what?
So here's Simon. He's eating, but he's looking at Jesus and he sees beyond Jesus and the woman is she's overcome with emotions. She's crying, washing his feet with her tears, drying his feet with her hair, and then she breaks his ointment. She anoints his feet with these, this perfume.
And here's Simon at Pharisee. He says, if this man were a prophet, he's thinking this. He's not saying he's thinking it. He says, if this man were a prophet, he would know who and what man or woman is touching him for she is a sinner.
If this man were a prophet, he would know who. He would know her nature. He'd know what kind of woman she would. He'd know her nature that she's a sinner.
And he'd also know what manner of woman is that she's got a reputation. Like he would know what type of woman is touching him. And as I read this this week, I really felt like God just kind of spoke to me these two words. And because a lot of times here's what happens is as we deal with the world, as we deal with people, there's certain things that we find more sinful than others, right?
In God's eyes, it doesn't matter if you can jump and inch or three feet. They all fall short before you accept what he did. But in our eyes, we tend to categorize sin, if you will. And there's certain things that we don't want to get too close to.
What I felt like God was saying is we have a selective proximity that there's certain people's sins that we don't want to let within a certain space around us. Like I've got a certain personal space that you're not welcome to be inside of. It's almost like you remember, at least when I was in high school, you're afraid of getting the kudis. Like there was always that one kid that carried the kudis, whatever the kudis were.
Like somebody carried the kudis, right? And if you touch them, what'd you get? Yeah, you got the kudis. And then if I touched, guess what?
I got the kudis now I'm going to give them the autumn. And I think sometimes we think that if we get people in this proximity, whether it's in our personal space, whether it's in our home, whether it's in our church, that somehow that's going to rub off on us. And what I see in the life of Jesus, it says that he wasn't bothered by the fact that a woman who had a bad reputation was actually anointing his feet. If you think about other people that touched Jesus, you know, in Mark 1, it talks about a leper, a guy with lepercy that says, I know you're able to heal me, but will you?
And Jesus says I will. And it says he reached out and touched him. And immediately, he was made whole. And Mark 3, it says those that were afflicted by demons, it says that many has touched him, the demons fled.
And Mark 5, we see a woman who has an issue of blood for 12 years. It says, if I may touch but to him of his garment, I will be made whole. And in Mark 6, because I guess she told so many people what happened, it says, everyone who had diseases sought to be touched by him for as many as he touched were made whole. Jesus wasn't offended by sickness, Jesus wasn't offended by demons, Jesus wasn't offended by disease, Jesus wasn't offended by sin.
It didn't bother him. But somehow we put up these protective walls where as if that person's stuff might jump on us. If I'm reigning and ruling in life, guess what's not going to happen? It's not going to jump on me.
See, I can serve people at a different level because their issues aren't bothering me because I've learned how to rule and reign in life. Would you think that you could actually serve and love people better if you didn't have to worry about that? If you were so confident in your righteousness and your right standing and that God has forever perfectly changed you, that you could walk up to anybody and lay hands on the sick, that you can cast out demons, that you can raise the dead, that you can do anything that Jesus commanded because his word is what enables you to do it. It says if he was a prophet, he would know who and what man or woman was touching him, or she is a sinner.
And Jesus said, Simon, I have something to say to you. So he said, teachers say it. There was a certain creditor that had two debtors, one owed 500 denari in the other 50. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both.
Tell me therefore which one will love him more. And Simon said, I suppose the one to whom he forgave more. And he said, you have rightly judged. So Jesus basically says this.
He says, a denariess at the time was equal to one day's pay for labor. So let's just, for easy math, let's just say, so one has 50 days worth of pay and the other owes 500 days worth of pay. We can say it's five grand and 50 grand or 10 grand and 100 grand, whatever math you want to use. But at one point, they must have been able to pay because who would learn money to somebody that couldn't pay?
Like I wouldn't. Like I'm going to learn money that somebody I know is going to pay me back. And so there must have been a time in their life when they were able to pay. And so he loans on this money, but it says when they both got to a place in their life where they were unable to pay, he freely forgave them both.
And see, that's the place you have to come to in your life. You have to get to a place where you realize I can't do it. Like I can't earn this. I can't live right enough to be made right with God.
As long as you're continuing to make payments, he's going to let you. But the moment you say, I can't do it, boom, says he freely forgave them both. And so he says, which one will love him more? He said, oh, I think the one that he forgave them most.
So it makes common sense, right? If this one owes 50 and this one owes 500 or this one owes 10,000, this one owes 100,000. The one that has the bigger debt forgiven would naturally love the credit or more because they were forgiven of a bigger debt. And so when we read this, it sounds like he's talking about quantity.
It sounds like, like, all of a sudden we're like, well, I haven't been forgiven much. He's, Kristen's done way more worse things than life than I have. And since she's done worse things, and she actually hasn't. But let's just say she had, and she's been forgiven of worse things, then logically you would think, well, then she would be able to love the guy that forgave the debt more because she had more to be forgiven.
He's actually not talking about quantity, because it's not the quantity of sins that makes you a sinner. I'm going to leave you hang in for just a minute. He says he turned to the woman in verse 44 and said, he said, do you see this woman? Now find it interesting.
Simon referred to her as a sinner. Jesus refers to her as a woman. It doesn't actually call her that. It says, I entered your house and you gave me no water for my feet, but she washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with a hair of her head.
You gave me no kiss. Like you didn't even greet me, but this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman has anointing my feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins which are many are forgiven, let me just read this and I'll go back to it.
Therefore I say to you, her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much, but to whom little was forgiven the same loves little. Then he said to her, your sins are forgiven. And those who sat at the table with him and began to save themselves, who is this? Who even forgives sins?
And he said to the woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. He says, whoever has been forgiven of much does what? Whoever has been forgiven of much loves much and whoever has been forgiven of little loves little.
Here's why it doesn't matter how much sin you've been forgiven of because all sin will keep you out of a relationship with God. So it takes faith for him to make that change. But he says, whoever has been forgiven of much, that word for given is in the perfect tense. And it means this, it means completed in the past, never to have been or be completed again.
It's one and done, one for all time. The thing of like this, whoever has been forgiven once and for all time, never to be completed again, will love much. Whoever has been forgiven of little, that forgiven is in the present tense. And here's why I think it's talking about time and not quantity.
So this word little, it means small in number. It also means small in intensity and also means small in time. Think about this for a minute. Jesus said this.
Remember when the disciples are in the boat and the storms come in and they're going, we're going to die. And Jesus gets in and the storm stops. And he says, oh, you of little faith. They wasn't talking about a small quantity of faith because later in Matthew 17, he would say this, whoever has faith the size of a mustard seed will say to this mountain be cast in the sea and it will bathe.
So it's not the quantity. It's not small doesn't mean quantity. Small means short in duration, short in time. And so he says, oh, you of faith of short duration.
You didn't stay in the game long enough. You gave up too soon. And so what he's saying about forgiveness is the same thing. Whoever has been forgiven of much, whoever understands that your sins have been forgiven once and for all time, never needing to be repeated again.
How many times did Jesus die? One. In the old covenant, you had a present tense forgiveness. When you would sin in the old covenant, when the temple, what would you do?
You'd sin, you'd bring an offering, the priest would sacrifice it, you'd be forgiven until when? Well, the next year on the day of the covenant, but what if you individually sin? I'd give another sacrifice. I'd take it to the priest.
I mean, there was a continual sacri- like nonstop because people never quit sinning. And so I'd sin, I'd sacrifice, I'd be forgiven. I'd sin, I'd sacrifice, I'd be forgiven. I'd sin, I'd sacrifice, I'd be forgiven.
And he's saying when you live with an old covenant mentality about forgiveness, you're never going to walk in the freedom to love and serve people the way I really want you to do. Because what happens is you spend your whole life trying to stay and get forgiven instead of realizing that I've been forgiven once and for all time, and I don't have to deal with that now. I'm actually free to go serve people, actually love people to a greater degree. I mean, could you imagine if you didn't have to worry about every day about getting forgiven?
Better say your prayers for your bed because you might die in your sleep. I used to do that. I would lay in bed. God, I'm sorry.
Oh my gosh, I thought of a naked woman today. I'm sorry. I cut that person off in the mall. Like, you won't, like, what if you miss one?
See, we think of sin as being these egregious things, but actually whatever is, Paul says this, whatever is not of faith, is sin. Anytime you worry down, do something that's not in faith, you're living in sin. When you know to do right, don't do it. It's sin.
When you cause a brother to stumble, that's sin. You're probably sinning right now. You don't even know it. Thank God that Jesus has made me righteous.
See, it's said that Simon the Pharisee invited Jesus into his house. And I think this is where the bulk of the Christian church lives today. We've invited Jesus into the house, but we're still living with an old covenant mindset of forgiveness. Like, if I actually could invite Jesus into the house and also live knowing that my sins have been forgiven once and for all time, I would actually serve and love people at a higher level.
I actually wouldn't be worried about people coming into my space, sitting in my seat, entering my house, coming into our church, because I ran in life. I actually bring the reality of a better kingdom to this one. Like, because we've been entrusted and assigned this. What word is in the middle of forgiveness?
Here's what I think this week. What most people call forgiveness is actually for sales. What most people call for give is actually for sale. See, when I spend my time trying to stay forgiven and get forgiven and work for my forgiveness, then I put that same burden on you.
Did you ever see somebody stuck in sin and you think, what they need to pay for what they did? Or, if you do this for me, then I'll forgive you. I've never said that to my wife. She never said that to me, but I'm lying right now.
See, but what happens when I realize that I've been forgiven of much? See, when Jesus, I'm just, God brought this to mind. It says that we forgive others because what? Because he already forgave us.
See, I'm not forgiving other people in order to get forgiven. I'm forgiving other people because I've been forgiven. See, I can actually love people at this greater degree and serve people. You can't give what you don't have.
If you don't recognize this and understand this, then if you think God's always demanding from you and you better repent. We should be repenting daily, changing your mind. But if I'm spending my entire life begging God to forgive me, then I don't realize that I've already been forgiven. I'm going to actually project that on to other people.
And when I should be giving them forgiveness, I'm actually selling them forgiveness. It makes a world of difference. It makes a big difference. Jesus looks at the woman.
The Pharisees that are sitting at the table, they're like, who's this man that forgives sins, present tense? Because that's all they know. Jesus looks at her and says, woman, your sins are forgiven, perfect tense. Your faith has saved you, perfect tense.
Go in peace. See, what Jesus wants you to know today, that when you repent and believe the gospel, he's already forgiven your sin. That part of the transaction is done. He already became sin.
But when you believe it, then that gets put on your account. His righteousness gets put on your account. And so since Jesus' righteousness never fluctuates, neither is your. He said, you have been forgiven once and for all time, never to be repeated again.
And do you realize in the entire New Testament from the book of Romans 4, we're never told to ask for forgiveness? If you can find it, I'll give you $100,000. Challenge. I'm in there.
See, all I need to do, I don't need to ask God to do something that He's already done. That He's already provided forgiveness. My job is what? All I do is receive it by faith.
I don't have to ask Him to do it. I just have to receive it. Those that receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. So I can stand before God without condemnation.
I can stand before God completely innocent. And without any inferiority, those are the ones that reign in life. Those are the world changer. You're a kingdom influencer.
Like you carry more credibility than a swiftly. We need a word. We need a word for like better than a swiftly. That's what we are.
Like you carry the influence of Jesus. I get that we're not trying to influence people because, see, an influencer changes the buying habits of somebody. We're not selling anything, but you know who is the devil? He's selling a bunch of lives.
And people are buying it. And you have the ability to influence them to reject His life and receive what Jesus has provided. Let's pray. Father, thank You today.
Lord, I thank You for forgiveness. I thank You that when we've all failed, we've all fallen short at one point in our life, but God, that's the thing that actually qualified us to receive what You did. So I'm thankful that You took the thing that was meant for harm and actually turned it into something really, really good. That we can have a relationship with You.
That we can have Your righteousness. And we can stand before God knowing that we've been made clean. That we can stand up to the enemy and say not today.