Who's ready for the word today? Wow, we got one person ready for the word today Two I'm ready for the word today. Do you realize I need the word that's preached as much as anybody? Right because you know, this isn't me just throwing them This is God speaking to us releasing what's for our body and I'm part of the body So I need this too so the things that are gonna be said today.
We're gonna talk about maybe a little challenging I'll tell you that it might make you feel a little uncomfortable and frankly, that's okay, right? Like why do we need the comforter if we're never uncomfortable? Like we talk about the Holy Spirit. He's the comforter.
He's the helper. Well, like we're gonna be a little uncomfortable But he's gonna come alongside and he's gonna bear witness to this today and he's gonna grow us. He's gonna challenge us He's gonna grow us. We're gonna we're gonna walk out of here different than when we came in so last week I had it my message last week was your faith has made you well your faith is made you well It's about blind Bartimaeus, but as I as I went home I started processing the message a little bit I talked to my father a little bit and we were talking about other times in scripture that Jesus said the exact same thing Your faith has made you well and he said it on four occasions He said it first of all is the story we're gonna look at today is the very sinful woman who came and anointed Jesus's feet and also Washed his feet with her tears.
We're gonna let Luke chapter seven. So he says to her. He says your faith has saved you Alright your faith has saved you the next the next place that he uses it is the following chapter in Luke chapter 8 When the woman with the issue of blood you remember she presses through the crowd She touches the hem of her garment and after Jesus turns around and she's exposed He says your faith has made you well The third time is in Luke chapter 17 when do you remember the story of the ten lepers and Jesus seals ten lepers one returns for To give him thanks and to give glory to God and Jesus says where's the other nine and says I'm the only guy and he says go in He says your faith has made you well So is another time and then the fourth time is of course what we talked about last week Which was blind Bartimaeus where Jesus said your faith has made you well So today or so anytime if it says made you well today's message is your faith has saved you it's the same word So there's no difference between the word made you well made you whole or saved it's the Greek word sozo It's an all-encompassing word so some translations might say saved some might say healed some might say made whole some might say made well Same word because the word sozo means to to deliver it means to rescue it means to restore it means to restore to health Return to a healthy condition it means to preserve and and to protect from danger. So it's preservation.
It's health it's healing It's all of those things all in one, but it's the word where we get the word saved And so in Luke chapter 7 I just want to launch off with this word Two of the times now four times Jesus says your faith has saved you or made you well But two of the four times he adds another phrase at the end and we're gonna see that so to this woman the sinful woman in Luke chapter 7 He says this he says your sins are forgiven your faith has saved you you can go ahead to that next slide go in peace Go in peace. So he adds that one there two other four times He does that he says your faith has saved you go in peace well when we read that at first blush We think well, okay, I'm I'm walking in in in peace right, but that's not what that means the word in Is the same word that means in two it means to walk in two piece the word go here means to pursue or to continue On the journey that you've already started and so if you think of it like this Jesus as a Hebrew man What has said go in Shalom? Shalom is wholeness completeness. It's soundness.
It's it's nothing missing or nothing broken So it's really in my mind Shalom in a Hebrew context is almost equivalent to so-doh in the Greek context It's this all-encompassing word and Jesus says your faith has saved you made you whole made you well Restored everything was broken in your life And now I want you to pursue or continue into the journey that you've already started See what happens especially when we have sinful issues in our life and we make decisions to sin a lot of times There's other things that are broken in our life It could be as a result of sin you could have a disease in your life as a result of a sinful choice You could have emotional pain in your life as a result of a sinful choice You could have a damaged relationship or a broken relationship you could have a Demonic torment and so there's other aspects that become subsequent issues that sometimes we receive forgiveness But we still have these other issues and Jesus says your faith has saved you go into walk into continue on this same journey Into this state of completeness and wholeness because Jesus did not just die to save you from your sin He also died that you might be healed and hold and set free from every type of bondage that there is and he's his death and burial and resurrection Was a complete sacrifice so he says you're saved You're made whole and I want you to walk into that and completely walk into that So as we talked today about forgiveness is really the topic today But but I thought I had to go back and look because I have preached from this passage before the main text will be Luke 7 Versus 36 to 50 I go back and I always like to say well how long ago was it that I preached from here? What was about five years ago? Although I thought it was just like a couple weeks ago, but it was apparently it's been a while So so there's some things ask God for some fresh insight on this and I think the direction he wants us to go today is this Is this story is very much a story about receiving forgiveness? It's about a sinful woman who sins are forgiven But we as believers Have a have a a standard we have a requirement to forgive the same way that God forgave us It's a standard of if Paul list in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 32.
He says this you want to go back So in Ephesians 4 32 it says and be kind let's just we could we could make a message out of that be kind one to another tenderhearted forgiving one another Even as God for Christ's sake did what? Forgave us See the standard of the forgiveness that I release into somebody else's life should be the standard of the forgiveness that I receive from God For my own see but you know I think I talked to a lot of people and and they'll say this well I'll forgive him, but he better not do it again Matter of fact I've heard that at home before I think in 32 years of marriage. I'll forgive you this time But you better not do it again. I'll forgive you But I won't well we know that that's not even scriptural That's not even scriptural and I get why we wouldn't forget I mean I know this that God chooses not to remember our sins But for some reason we continue to remember actually other people's more than we remember our own And I get that we're not God and we don't have the ability to turn off like our brain like somehow he did But how about just starting with stop talking about it?
Like I think if we just stop talking about what somebody used to do you might just find yourself forgetting about it I'll forgive you But I'm not ready yet. I Need time to process it Well, that's not scriptural either Like we add all these butts On to all forgive and it's time we get our butt out of the way Like I'll do this but I'll do this but See anytime we put a but at the end of all forgive we've conditioned it We put stipulations on it And so I really want to challenge you that today is It's time to raise the bar See grace doesn't lower the bar Grace actually raises the bar But grace empowers you to do something that seems impossible You're like well, I can't forgive like Jesus Well as long as you think that way you won't So it's time that we rewire the way that we think about it See What I've found is that you can't give what you don't have You can't release what you haven't received And I know this that if you've accepted Jesus as your savior, we've all received the same forgiveness So if we've all received the same forgiveness, why aren't we all releasing the same forgiveness? Because reception sometimes Is dependent on revelation That you may have received something but because your revelation of that subject is limited You therefore don't really realize what you have and since you don't have an understanding of what you have You can't release it into somebody else's life And so I want to I want to equip you today. I want you to see God's word on this subject today See when we see this it says even as Just as to the same degree in proportion to comparable to equivalent to Is that a tall order?
Does that seem impossible? It seems impossible Can these bones live? They can like if it seems impossible doesn't mean it is if God put it in his word He will enable you to do the very thing that's there Like he wouldn't put it in there just to pick up space And I want to I want to challenge you today So if you would we want to start out I want to read Luke chapter seven And we're going to read through verses 36 through 50 and then we'll go back and we'll make we're going to make We'll make four points today And I'll be happy to give them to you ahead of time So so our focus today is understanding The forgiveness that Christ offers Understanding the forgiveness that we have And because when I have a better revelation on what I have in Christ All of a sudden I can release that and I can offer that to somebody else So first of all the four things of this that first of all the the forgiveness that Christ offers is number one It's costless Which means it doesn't cost anything it costs him everything but but to us it's free It's free you can't pay for it. You can't earn it.
You can't work for it. It's costless Number two we're going to see today is that it is comprehensive Which means that it's all encompassing that God didn't leave anything out He didn't say well I'm going to select just a few select people or a few select sins and take care of those but leave a few out You know, do you ever I think sometimes we're a little selective in the way we forgive people Well, I'll forgive that Well, I'm not forgiving that one I'll forgive him But I won't forgive her It's just comprehensive Number two number three is going to be this it's continuous It's continuous. It's costless. It's comprehensive.
It's continuous. Which means the forgiveness that Jesus offers us There's there's no there's no end to it. It doesn't operate like the old covenant did We'll look at that a little bit today. There's a continuity a per it's perpetual And then the final thing is this it's it's catalytic And I might sound like a big word, but think of the word catalyst A catalyst is something that effects change See in chemistry a catalyst is something that creates a chemical reaction But the properties of the original chemical never change The thing that's the catalyst remains the same although it has a a profound effect on other things We're going to see today the forgiveness that Jesus offers never changes But it has a profound effect on people it changes people it's transformative And so Luke chapter 7 verses 36 through 50 say this it says then one of the Pharisees Let me just give you a little context if you read in the New Testament There's three other times mentioned that a lady brought an alabaster bottle that anointed Jesus Those other three times were just before his burial.
They are not this story the other the other three records took place at Simon the leper's house This story takes place at Simon the Pharisees house. All right, so a little different story similar though Verse 36 then one of the Pharisees asked him Jesus to eat with him and he went down to the Pharisees house and sat down to eat And behold a woman who in the city who was a sinner When she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisees house brought an alabaster flask of frankron oil So I always ask myself there how did this woman most people think she was a prostitute It is what most Bible historians would say how did she the prostitute know where Jesus was going to be in this guy's house And how did she know the way to his house And how did she just walk right in the front door Like there must have been some familiarity with the Pharisee I mean she finds it out she has this inside scoop and next thing you know she walks right in the door And nobody says a thing And so I just find it humorous that here's this lady's a uh some translators say and especially wicked sinner a prostitute She knows Jesus She's got the inside track at the Pharisees house and she shows up And verse 38 she stood at his feet behind him weeping and she began to wash his feet with her tears Wiped them with a hair of her head and she kissed his feet and anointed them with fragrant oil Now when the Pharisee had invited to him saw this he spoke to himself saying this man if he were a prophet He's not saying this out loud. He's having a conversation in his head He says he says to himself this man speaking of Jesus if he were a prophet would know who And what manner of woman this is who was touching him for she's a sinner Now what you have to realize when when they ate at a table back then they would pretty much kind of Well, they would recline at dinner Like you've seen pictures like people eating grapes and like they would lay down And so they're reclining at the table and this woman is behind Jesus And this Pharisee is sitting here And he says to himself if this man were a prophet I think it's funny because Jesus reads his man. We're gonna see this Jesus is prophet And he says if this man were a prophet he would know who And what manner of woman is touching him?
See I find it interesting that he's looking at Jesus But he's seeing a woman that he calls a sinner behind him And I think it would do us just as if we looked at people to see them through Christ Instead of looking past Christ and seeing them the way they used to live See when you're in Christ people should see him and not you And so this Pharisee because he lived under the law Discerned people based on their what they did or didn't do instead of what Christ did for them And it says verse 40 in Jesus answered and said Simon I have something to say to you and he said teachers say it There was a certain creditor who had two debtors one out five hundred denari in the other 50 And when they had nothing with which to repay he freely forgave them both Tell me which of them will love him more and Simon answered and said I suppose the one he forgave more and he said You have rightly judged then he turned to the woman So imagine as Jesus having this conversation with Simon after he he says to Simon say okay, there's a guy two people own money One person owes him 500 denari now a denari was the day's wage So this would be like a 20 month's worth of income So one person owes him 20 months worth of income and the other person owes him two months worth income And he said when they both got to the place where they couldn't pay he forgave them both freely freely forgave them both Which one would love him more and Simon says my suppose the one he forgave more and Jesus said you judge really then he turns To the woman right he because he's he's laying at the table facing Simon and now he turns to the woman And he says he says he turned the woman said to Simon Do you see this woman I entered your house and you gave me no water for my feet But she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with a hair of her head You gave me no kiss 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 anointed my feet with fragrant oil Therefore I say to you her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much But to whom little is forgiven the same loves little and then he said to her your sins are forgiven And those who sat at the table with him began to say themselves who is this who even forgives sins and he said to the woman Your faith has saved you go in peace Father we pray today in the next these next few minutes Lord that you would make your word come alive in our hearts Father I pray that that you would do the transformative work that only you can do Lord as we behold you and your glory that your holy spirit would transform us from one level of glory to another in Jesus name Amen Number one now remember We're looking from this story of forgiveness that Jesus offers so that we can in turn grow from it Have revelation of it so that we in turn can can release that and give that to other people You know, I don't know anybody that forgiveness comes easy Like it's like it's not natural right it's not why why because what do we want to do? We want to hold on to that hurt we want to hold on to that pain. We want to make people suffer Have you ever done that before? I think we all have I think we all have I think we all can grow from this today.
I'm not excused or exempt from this Number one the forgiveness of crisis costs was when they had nothing with which to repay He freely forgave them both he freely forgave them Carid so my it's it's the you've heard of the word grace before caris Caris some people say ch or as they've ever heard the word grace caris This is the verb form of caris carid so my you might think of it like this. It's grace in action It's not just the noun grace. This is the verb grace. It's it's grace in action It means to to bestow something freely To give something gratuitously to give something graciously freely so that that grace we know this that grace is undeserved Unearned favor, but we also know that grace is unearned undeserved favor that enables us Grace enables us to do things that we can never do before and so we're gonna see as we learn to release forgiveness the way Jesus does We actually equip and enable that person to live at a level and to love and serve people at a level that they never could otherwise And he says he freely forgave them both Ephesians 1 7 says this it says in whom speaking of Christ in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins According to what the riches of his Grace think about this in Christ we have redemption which means he paid our debt He purchased us we have redemption through his blood his blood was the price that he paid in him We have redemption through his blood and then Paul says that is the forgiveness of sins and the forgiveness of sins is proportionate to or equal to the Ritches the wealth the abundance of the grace of Christ That if you ever wonder how forgiven you are your forgiveness that you've received is equal to or equivalent to the grace of Jesus Like how big is that?
I don't know but it's big. It's like really big and so it's it's it's like infinite That the forgiveness that he gives us it's infinite. It's it's so big like it's so big you couldn't pay for it And since you can't pay for it guess what he does He gives it to us See it's free because the forgiveness is it's given freely when the apostle paul has his his Damascus road experience And we find in an ax chapter 9 ax 22 or 6 and also in verse chapter I think it's 26 18 go next line. Yeah, so when he's reciting this he says here's what Jesus said to me on the road He said says I'm going to call you I'm going to call you to the Jews and Gentiles that you may open their eyes See people never we talked about having your spiritual eyes open last week Eyes have to be open that the the enemy has blinded people unless the glorious gospel the light of Christ should shine under them Like it takes the gospel to open people's eyes He says that I may open their eyes to turn them from darkness to light the power of Satan to God that they may receive what?
the forgiveness Of sins like you can't get it. You can't buy it. You can only receive it and so paul says I'm going to open people's eyes So that they can receive it the forgiveness of sin and inheritance among the saints by faith in what me So the only way that you can receive forgiveness or be forgiven is to receive it But how often So I know you're like well we know that all right Let's put this you on the other foot If the only way that you are forgiven from God is by receiving what he's already provided How do you offer forgiveness to other people? And so the question I want to ask you the next slide is this do you offer forgiveness?
Or do you offer for? Sailness I actually put this into googoo AI and it said you I typed this in I said is there a difference between forgiveness and for sailness and Googoo way I said you pose an interesting question And then it logically it was amazing it kind of logically deduced the difference in the two But think about this the middle word of forgive is what give But often when we want to offer forgiveness, it's not forgive. It's for sale Like I'll give it to you, but I need a transaction to take place I'll give it to you, but you got to give this to me. I'm going to sell it.
I'm going to transact it I'm not giving anything away for free But see when Jesus gives us it's free, but somehow we get it for free and then we want to turn around and sell it I think there's a word for that but I'm not sure what it is or better not say it See it's no wonder And I it's no wonder that we do that here's why because although we've received a new covenant forgiveness We have a revelation of an old covenant forgiveness See our our reception is new covenant But our revelation is old covenant See anytime I put stipulations on forgiveness. I'm offering old covenant forgiveness See the way you got forgiven under the old covenant was you can read about it Leviticus four five and six That every time you send you had to bring an offering and every time there's an offering a term It was made and when a term it was made forgiveness took place And then you got to do the autonomy chapter 28 and says if you're a babe you'll be blessed and if you disobey you'll be cursed And everything under the old covenant was transactional. It was conditional There were conditions if you did this then God would do this and if you did not do this then God would not do that That everything God did was in response to what I did And so what happens we get this salvation for free, but then we want to turn around and transact it for for sale See anytime I put a step on forgiveness a stipulation a condition That's how the old covenant worked. It was what we call an if you hear this and if then statement If you do this then I'll do that Here's why I don't blame most Christians because we take verses out of context and use them all the time Probably the most egregious one and I'm going to step on some toes here But I really don't care is second koronical 714 Let me say it to you because remember it and I want you to listen to the if then if my people Did you hear the if if my people who are called by nine my name Will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from them wicked ways Then I will hear from heaven and what forgive their sin and heal their land I hear that in the national day of prayer.
I hear people preach on that if you do this then God will do that See that's not the new covenant as a matter of fact if you read this verse You need to read verse 13 with it because this verse is talking about a condition where people are living under a closed heaven Do you realize when Jesus came we now live under an open heaven? Look at verse 13. It says this when I shut this is God speaking when I shut up the heaven And there's no rain and I command the locust to devour the land and send pestilence among my people That's judgment for sin See when you're living under the old covenant you sin God sends judgment every one of those things are things that are mentioned Deuteronomy chapter 28 verses 15 through 68 that are the result of disobedience under the old covenant This answer that God is speaking to Solomon in this verse is the answer to Solomon's prayer in chapter 6 Solomon actually asked for this Look at chapter 6 When the heavens are shut up and there's no rain because what they sinned against you See that was a condition under the old covenant when you sin God closed the heavens God stopped the rain God sent locust God sent sickness God sent boils among the people like all those things But when Jesus died God put all that wrath on Jesus And it said that he was in God was in Christ not imputing the sins of the world to them because he put them on Jesus He says if they prayed a word heaven confession name and turn from their sin because they flipped you then hear from heaven forgive us in your servants Your people as well they may teach them the good way which they mean and send the rain right so Solomon gives an appropriate request under the old covenant He says look if people sin we know God you're going to punish them with this But if you punish them because of their sin and if they turn then i'm asking you that if they turn that you'll then and turn Respond to them and forgive it and then in verse chapter 7 God says okay great idea that lines up with my word at that time The old covenant if they sin and if I shut the heavens and if I send the locust and I send pestilence and if they turn Then i'll hear then i'll forgive and then i'll hear the land And see we get stuck on verses like this that are actually appropriate under an old covenant And what we do is we have received new covenant forgiveness, but we release an old covenant forgiveness Because old covenant forgiveness had conditions. There's nothing free about that And you can't legitimately pray an old covenant prayer living under a new covenant grace Next slide Under the old covenant God released forgiveness in response to the people's actions but under the new covenant we release our faith In response to the forgiveness that he's already given Do you see the difference?
Old covenant God released forgiveness based on what I did it in do New covenant he's already forgiven me all I do is by faith receive what's already there See when you're stipulating forgiveness i'll forgive you when you do this i'll forgive you if you do that i'll forgive you but i won't Old covenant see you don't really have a revelation of what you've received or you would be releasing new covenant forgiveness But because your revelation is stuck in the old covenant that's all you know But when you leave here today you're now responsible You will not leave here today and not know which one you're releasing You're going to know and and the next time you say well forgive you might even say it in your head all forgive them, but Stop right there. I want the holy spirit to quicken in you. Hey, what are you doing? You are not forgiving them as God in Christ.
Jesus forgave you You're forgiving them as God forgave under the old covenant And I want the holy spirit to quicken that in you I want him to stop the thought and then thought stop the words mid-sentence And think okay, god, how do I do this? I need the holy spirit to teach me Because it's not natural Number two the forgiveness of christ is comprehensive And we'll go through these next couple fairly quick. It said that one ode 500 the other ode 50 and when the neater could repay He freely forgave them both notice it didn't matter how much the how much the debt was or who owed the debt It was all encompassing that when Jesus forgives he forgives all people and he forgives all sins There's no sin too great. There's no sin too small There's no person that's not included in that forgiveness when john the baptist saw jesus coming down the road It was his cousin, but he didn't have spiritual eyes yet He sees jesus the holy spirit and lightens his brain and he says behold the lamb of god that takes away the sin of what?
Just a few people No, he removed the sin of the whole world He took it away. He didn't cover it up. He didn't just just temporarily do something he took it away First john two one says this he says my little children I write unto you that you sin not But if you sin we have an advocate with the father christ jesus the righteous Then it goes on to say and he himself is the propitiation for our sin and our sin only but the sins of what the entire world So think about this the word propitiation big word, but it really just means satisfaction It was the word that the greek juice to use when they would offer incense and sacrifices to gods with a little g it meant to appease the gods It was an appeasing it was a satisfaction that when jesus died his one death on the cross completely and for all time Satisfied the wrath of god for sin Like god wasn't satisfied for a day a week a year He's satisfied for eternity It's all people It's all sin it was an all encompassing sacrifice Like there's not one but what do we do we want to offer selective forgiveness See his forgiveness is comprehensive. Well, you know You don't know what i've been through I would venture to say jesus had been through it See all forgive that Because of the size At least in our mind we put scales on sin See all forgive this one because I can I can I think a lot of times well, well, I'm guilty of that So I'll forgive that one Oh, I'd never do that.
I you know I've No all people all sin For all time Colossians 213 so so when jesus forgave sins i've told you this before Everyone has had their sin forgiven People that go to hell go to hell with their sins forgiven See it's like if I invented a pill that took care of all the cancer in the world. It's provided for there's no cost It's free. It's already paid for But the efficacy of that pill doesn't take place until you take it Like there's a potency in that pill that requires you receive it It's paid for it's it's settled everybody agrees it cures it But you have to for yourself like my wife couldn't take a pill for me and it worked for me The moment that you're made alive in christ cautions 213 I think i put the amplified up there When you were dead in your sins in the uncircumcision of your flesh God made you alive together with christ having forgiven what all see the moment he made you alive in christ You were dead you were born separated from god But the moment that you said yes and he made you alive the efficacy of his payment for all sin is now here You're clean Regardless of how big how little how long it doesn't matter if you were involved in something for 20 years Doesn't matter if you've been stuck into your whole life Doesn't matter the size the age the the whatever It's comprehensive Number three is this the forgiveness that christ gives is it's continuous. It's perpetual See forgiveness under the old covenant was like this.
I sinned I brought a sacrifice I get forgiven And then what happens the next time I sin I sin I bring a sacrifice I get forgiven and then what happens the next time I sin later that day I sin I bring a sacrifice I get forgiven See because under the old covenant sin was just covered Like it was just a covering it was a temporary covering until the next time Because the issue the the core issue never got dealt with And see when we read this story it says he asked time and he says who would love him more Right the one who was forgiven 500 the wonders of ribbon fiddies. I'm says well. I would assume who That's when you put suppose and assume so whom yeah, I saw whom that's a supposing Hoseuming He says I suppose the one he she forgave the more And he says her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much but whom little was forgiven loves little when we read that I struggled with this verse for a long time because I didn't live a really bad life like in comparison Right, I won't say in comparison to who but I did my share of stuff I did my share of stuff but but really I never really got real high on the sin scale So to speak and so a lot of times when you think about this Well, if I haven't been forgiven of a whole bunch of big ones Then how am I going to be able to love a whole bunch because this verse seems to say whoever's forgiven of much loves much And whoever's forgiven of little loves little it's not talking about quantity It's talking about time Has nothing to do with quantity because one sin will keep you from a relationship with Jesus until you say yes So it doesn't matter if it's one or a million it doesn't matter if it's real big or little little Sin sin and sin will keep you from a relationship with Jesus until you say yes and then it's forgiven See what he's saying here. He says her sins which are many are forgiven That word forgiven is in the perfect tense and you got it.
No little Greek to understand this which means this it means that Perfect tense is this done in the past Never to be completed again in the future. It's it's one and done once and for all time never to be repeated ever again The other forgiven which is little forgiveness is like old covenant forgiveness It means that you're forgiven until the next time you sin and then what happens the next time you sin You got to make a tome and then you get forgiven again then you make a tome and you get forgiven again And this word little is the Greek word oligos which can mean small quantity But it can also mean short duration of time And so what he's saying is when you live in an old covenant forgiveness In which you think that every time you sin You've lost your salvation and every time you sin you got to get it out of the blood and every time you sin You're out of out of relationship with god You'll be stuck there your whole life and because you're stuck there in a in a present tense forgiveness The actual amount that you'll be able to love and serve people will be very minimal Because you'll spend your entire life trying to get right with god But when I realized that I've been completely forgiven of all sin past present and future that his one sacrifice took care of every sin for all people For all time and I really receive that Guess what i'm free to do I'm gonna love people in a whole different way I'm gonna serve people in a whole different way Like i'm actually graced and empowered to do things greater than I could ever do before Because now i'm not concerned with so like consumed with my condition i'm consumed with yours See it's a tactic of the enemy to keep me concerned here and insecure and worried and doubting about my relationship Because if he can keep me here he'll keep me from being outside the doors He'll keep me from serving people and loving people How does that apply to the way we forget people? See when Jesus paid for your sin He did it one time on the cross two thousand years ago Which means all your sin in relationship to the cross was future sin because it hadn't happened yet Right you didn't commit them yet two thousand years ago and there's still ones you haven't committed yet But he knew you were going to do those two and he paid for them two thousand years ago Could you do this? Could you forgive somebody if sin they haven't even committed yet?
Could you say to your spouse you know what i forgive you Till the day i die no matter what you do in advance I ain't Jesus I'm i'm just asking the questions I'm not saying i could do it But I do know that if i'm to forgive even as god and christ forgave me that's part of it Well, i'll forgive you until the next time that you do the same thing again See the forgiveness that he gives is without interruption Do you realize how special your marriage relationship could be if you weren't always worried about being forgiven If I knew that I went to my spouse and i she's already forgiven me I'm still working on that But but but that's what his forgiveness looks like I'm just trying to paint the picture. I'm growing christians growing We're working through this thing But I can tell you the ability to do the impossible is there because forgiveness is rooted in grace Which empowers me to do the thing that doesn't seem like I can do Because he gives me the ability to do it. It will change the way that you see people It'll change the way that you forgive people So you're not going to be putting steps on it. You're not going to be putting conditions on it You're not going to be putting time constraints on it Well, if he does this again in the next three days, i'm done I've said it I've said it Now, let me just put a caveat I'm not talking about staying in an abusive environment ever ever So forgiveness and separating yourself from from a dangerous toxic environment in two different things You can remove yourself or or avoid a person but still offer forgiveness that Jesus offered Right, so i'm not telling you to stay in an abusive situation by any stretch But I want to tell you that if you realize that i've already you've already been forgiven of everything You'll ever do wrong the rest of your life that once you've received Jesus And that's the way he wants us to forgive other people I can't do it.
Guess what you need the holy spirit Because you can The last thing is it's catalytic It's catalytic A catalyst Is something that produces change It's a change agent A catalyst is something in a chemical reaction that that remains its integrity of its structure stays the same But it changes everything that it comes in impact with and actually speeds the process up Because I think a lot of times that we're expecting change in other people Like why hasn't he changing quicker? Why hasn't she changing quicker? Why hasn't she changing at all? Maybe the problem's not them.
Maybe it's you Maybe the problem is you haven't released the agent of change into the relationship to give them the freedom to grow and become what gods Intend them to be Because forgiveness that christ offers transforms other people's lives it'll transform you But it'll transform other people It says I tell you so it's gonna sense or may they've been forgiven she has shown me much love see What she demonstrated didn't gain her forgiveness It was the forgiveness she received that perceived that that then was followed by a demonstration of God's love See the greater your revelation of forgiveness the greater the demonstration of his love She like why does it matter because if we're gonna love like Jesus love I first got to realize how much I've been forgiven of and when I've been forgiven of it the greater revelation I have of that then the more I can love people and the more I love people guess what's gonna happen to them They're gonna change And I'm gonna be able to release something in them that becomes a catalyst for change in their lives So it says you gave me no water. Here's what Jesus says. He says assignment. He says look I came in your house And he got to realize you got a Pharisee who lives by the law and you have a sinful woman who was a sinner Now I just want to tell you this got for that.
I tell you earlier in the beginning of the story It says there was an especially sin or there's especially wicked woman who was a sinner If you look that up the greek tense on that Means that she was a sinner, but she's no longer continuing in that action But when Simon the Pharisees or he calls her a sinner in the present tense See when you're living under an old covenant mindset You're gonna see people based on their actions or what their past actions used to be And not with the eyes of spiritual eyes where you can see that they've actually been forgiven of all that See, Jesus sees you God sees you with eyes new covenant eyes eyes of grace So Jesus says to him he says you gave me well how much water Not even a little bit so when you came into somebody's house it was customary to give them a little water Why because they wore barefoot they wore barefoot They went barefoot right their feet got dirty Didn't give them any water to wash his feet on but he said but from the moment I came in She has washed my feet with her what tears and wiped my feet with a hair of her head When I came in you gave me no kiss, but she has not ceased to kiss my feet When I came in you gave me no oil. She was common to to anoint somebody with oil This was just generic olive oil. So you didn't even give me any olive oil No, chrisco Like come on something Melod, you take some chrisco and melt it down. I don't care.
You give me an oil But she gave me this costly expensive fragrant oil See so when I came in you didn't give me any water, but she that when it says that she washed my feet This is interesting. It's the word caused it to rain Rain only came when there was an open heaven When you have a revelation of the forgiveness of God you'll walk into a situation and release open heavens over that person The same words used in James it says Elijah a man like passions as us Prayed and that the heavens would not rain And it didn't rain for space of three years and then he prayed again and the heavens gave rain See but what happens a lot of times people that are we'll call them rain makers they get arrogant This woman made it rain with humility Because she wiped his feet with the hair of her head The same words used of Jesus when he when dinner was over He took off his robe and girded himself with a servant's towel And washed the disciples feet and wiped them with the towel with which he was girded See she brought the rain but she brought the rain with humility with humbleness Recognizing where she came from he said you gave me no kiss But she hasn't ceased remember we talked about the continuity of forgiveness her affection Had no breaks in it. There was a continuity of her affection for Jesus See too often we've asked to late while I'm gonna love you today, but I don't know about tomorrow I'm gonna serve you today, but God forbid you do that one more time. I ain't doing it.
I'm not serving you again See there's a continuity Of her affection It was continuous. He said from the time I came in she didn't cease To kiss my feet He said you didn't give me any chrisco But from the moment I came in she took this alabaster fragrant oil expensive and released it Over me all says this and second Corinthians four. I'll close with this Oh, yeah, let's read that let's hold on for that second Corinthians two 14 Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in christ and through us say this through me Through me diffuses the fragrance of his knowledge in every place For we are to God the fragrance of christ Among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing God always leads us to triumph in christ and through us He diffuses the fragrance of his knowledge in every place Imagine this woman coming into a house where she probably worked for prostitution Imagine this woman coming into a home where the men sitting there knew what she did for a living And then in that place that should have been a place of shame that should have been a place of guilt She releases the fragrance of christ For the we are to God the fragrance of christ among those who are being saved And among those who are perishing See it's not just we're just not the friggest of christ to the person sitting next to us in church You know, we're saved we're being saved one day. We'll be saved And so there's a ministry of releasing the fragrance of christ among believers But there's also a ministry of releasing the fragrance of christ among those who are perishing That every situation every place we carry with us the potential it says to god we are Which means that that's the way god sees me.
That's the way god sees you he sees you as the fragrance of christ But I truly believe when we release the wrong type of forgiveness It's a different odor. It's not one that smells good It's one that's offensive I've been in other countries and you go to the airport You know people like they're crowding around you right? They're bouncing luggage And these are countries where people don't use deodorant and it's horrific And i've never really been drawn to that smell Like there's nothing about that smell that just says oh, I want more of that smell Just draws me in No, it makes me want to run It makes me want to run but when I walk in my house And my wife is just It doesn't make me want to run It draws me in And see when you release When you release the fragrance of christ, it's attractive to people Like people want like what is that is that chanel? That louis baton?
What is that? It's the fragrance of jesus Is it possible that we don't see genuine change in our own life because we've settled for a limited revelation of forgiveness When you leave today, I pray that the holy spirit opened your eyes up to what you have received That your revelation actually mirrors Or taps into what you actually have that you'll leave here with a greater revelation today than what you came with Or is it possible? We don't see genuine change in others because we're not releasing the actual forgiveness that christ has given them It's a twofold today If you've never received jesus's forgiveness, it's available It's available And if you have received the forgiveness of jesus I want you to start giving it away It's for give mess No more for sale mess Let's pray