Book of Luke - Ch. 7, Vs. 36-50 (04/19/2020)

Park Meadows Church

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Okay, I'd just like to begin by telling you how much I appreciate being able to be here this morning.

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We do have a storm blowing through again, and we were afraid that if I broadcast from the house, I would lose my connection.

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So we came to the church and set up, and I just looked around, and it's just empty.

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But I know that you all are there, and that we're all together apart.

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And that's a good thing, because we'll always be together, even when we're apart.

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And again, I want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to come into your homes and visit with you and present our lesson today.

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I think we should begin with a prayer. Most gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for all that you've given us.

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We thank you for the blessings that you have for us, even in these times of hardships, because your blessings are always more than we deserve and more than we need.

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We thank you for giving us the technology to meet together, even though we're miles apart.

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We thank you for everything that you've given us, for protecting us, for keeping us.

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We thank you for giving us your Son to die for us and to redeem us and to pay for our sins.

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And we pray for the Holy Spirit, which will guide us in our study this morning. All these things we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

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So our lesson for today is going to be out of Luke chapter 7, verses 36 through 50.

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That's a reasonably short passage, and we will get through it if I don't spend too much time preparing.

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But we always need to take a little time to set the context. And so about half of this time that I've been given, we'll be setting up the context in which this

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Pharisee makes his request that Jesus dine with him.

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So the first place I would like to look, and go with me on your devices, on your Bibles, is to Luke chapter 6, verse 6.

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And I'm going to read a little bit, and then we're going to ask a question. And it came to pass also on another

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Sabbath that he entered into the synagogue and talked. This is Jesus. And there was a man whose right hand was withered, and the scribes and the

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Pharisees watched him. Now, the Bible put a comma there.

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I put a period so I could just wait a second. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him.

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What are they watching him to see? They're watching to see whether he would heal on the

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Sabbath day, that they might find an accusation against him.

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So we already know the mindsets of the Pharisees and the scribes at this point of view, at this point of time.

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They are concerned about finding a way to accuse Jesus of some sort of wrongdoing.

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Now, look on down a couple of verses to Luke chapter 7, verse 29.

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I'm going to read that verse, and I'm going to stay here a while. Luke 7, verse 29.

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And all the people that heard him, and the publicans justified God being baptized with the baptism of John.

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Highlight or underline the word that. All the people that heard him.

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That implies that some did not hear him. Now, my first question that I would like to be, present to you is, who is it that heard him?

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Now, one group of people that we know that heard him were the publicans justified

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God being baptized with the baptism of John. So those publicans that were in the, those tax collectors that were in the crowd that had been baptized with John's baptism, heard him.

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Who else heard him? Does anybody have a comment or question to who else might have heard him?

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Okay, so I can't get the messages again. So I will just go through and.

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Reuben says tax collector. John says the believers. Believers, tax collectors.

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Mm -hmm. Not all tax collectors, just the ones, actually just the ones that belong to Jesus.

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Just those tax collectors that had been in the group, having been baptized by the baptism of John.

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But yes, the tax collectors. Who didn't hear him? Who did not hear him?

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Pharisees and lawyers. All of them? Pharisees.

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Not all, just some. Pharisees, not all, just some.

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We're going to go to another passage. And this one will be, oh, long.

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I didn't put the title on it. Glenda says the non -elect, the non -elect didn't hear him.

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This is the parable of the sower and the soils. And I apologize to you. I normally have the citation verse in the chapter.

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I didn't do that here, but I'm just going to read what I've got. And maybe somebody can tell me where it is.

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And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that when he entered, so that he went into a ship and sat, and the whole multitude stood on the shore.

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And he spake to them many things in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow.

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And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up.

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Some fell on stony places where they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprang up.

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Because they had no deepness of the earth, because they had no root, they withered away.

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And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, and some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.

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Now, okay, I now can tell you where this is. This is in Matthew chapter 13, and that was up through verse 8.

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And now we're going to get to the answer to the question, who heard Jesus? We're going to get there because one of the disciples asked him.

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Jesus finished off that saying by saying this, Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

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That was verse 9. Now verse 10 says, And the disciples came and said unto him,

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Why speakest thou unto them in parables?

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And he answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

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For he shall have more abundance, but for whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance.

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But whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken, even that he hath. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing hear not, neither do they understand.

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And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which said, By hearing you shall hear and not understand, and seeing you shall see and not perceive.

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For this people's heart is grown wax, has wax gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their hearts, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

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But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they shall hear.

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So the question is, who heard Jesus? Those that had ears to hear.

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Who saw Jesus and perceived what they saw? Those who had eyes to see, and who understood, those to whom he gave understanding.

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And that would be the elect. The elect, even before they knew they were elect, had the ability, have the ability to see and to hear.

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And that's the only way they can gain anything through the word, is that the

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Lord has given them understanding. You're going to see later on that the Lord will give his disciples some understanding.

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Now, down to verse 29 of Luke 7, and we're getting ready almost to start.

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And all the people that heard him and the publicans justified God being baptized with the baptism of John.

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That's the first that we read to start this discussion. All the people that heard him,

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Jesus, even the outcast tax collectors who also heard

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John the Baptist preaching, acknowledged that what he, John, required by the way of repentance was from God and was righteous.

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So John is not asking them to do anything that the Lord had not already asked them to do. But the

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Pharisees, here we go, the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him, not baptized of Jesus, and not baptized of John.

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And the Lord said, whereinto then shall I liken the men of this generation?

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And what are they like? They're like unto children sitting in the marketplace and calling one another and saying, we have piped unto you and you have not danced.

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We have mourned to you and you have not wept. For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine.

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And you say, he hath a devil. The Son of Man is come eating and drinking.

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And you say, behold, a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.

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But wisdom is justified of all of her children. And what he's telling them is this.

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John came as an austere man living in the wilderness, preaching repentance.

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Repentance. I came as a shepherd guiding his flock.

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You rejected us both. You rejected him saying he had a devil. You rejected me saying

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I am a drunk and a friend of publicans and sinners. The one thing that they got right is he is indeed a friend of even the publicans and sinners.

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And now we are to verse 36. And one of the

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Pharisees, we'll find out later his name is going to be Simon, desired him that he would eat with them.

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And Jesus went into the Pharisees house and sat down to meet. Now, another question.

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Why do you think he wanted Jesus to come and eat with him? Anybody got a comment on that?

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Why do you think Simon wanted Jesus to eat with him?

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You guys can just put your answers right there in the chat box. To examine him is one of the answers. To examine him.

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That is a good answer. Not necessarily to accept him, to receive him, to examine him.

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I like that answer. Someone answered saying he wanted to impress others.

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He wanted to impress others. Why would he want to impress others by calling Jesus to eat with him?

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Why did he think that his calling Jesus into his house to eat with him might impress his other brethren?

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To show the religious leaders. That's one of the answers.

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He wanted to show the religious leaders. Probably thought he could catch Jesus. To catch

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Jesus off guard, I think is what is meant there, perhaps. I think so. Let me tell you a couple of things that I wanted to bring forth.

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Number one, I just jumped to a different place.

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Number one, of the things that he saw.

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He was in the multitude. He was in the multitude following Jesus. He wasn't in the multitude necessarily following Jesus that he might learn from him.

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But following Jesus that he might trap him into doing something wrong. But while he was there, here's some things that he saw.

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Luke 7 verse 9. We're going to go there and read it. Luke 7 verse 9. When Jesus heard these things,

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I need to preface that, don't I? He has just been met by the centurion.

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The centurion sent for him to heal his sick servant.

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And we did a couple of weeks ago a lesson on that passage. And when he came near to the house of Simon, Simon said, not

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Simon, the centurion said, you don't have to go into the house. I'm a man of authority. If I tell my soldiers go, they go.

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If I tell them to stay, they stay. If I tell them to do, they do. If I tell them not to do, they don't do.

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You are a man of even greater authority than me. If you say be healed, the servant will be healed.

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You don't have to go into my house. And we talked about last time what it might have, what might have happened had

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Jesus actually gone into the centurion's house because the Pharisees considered the centurion's unclean because he was a

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Gentile. Now that's what's going on here. And when Jesus heard what the centurion told him, he said these things.

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He marveled at him and turned him about and said unto the people that followed him. I say unto you,

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I have not found so great a faith.

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No, not in Israel. And they that were sent returned to the house and found the servant whole that had been sick.

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So Simon saw Jesus healed at a distance. He also saw this.

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And it came to pass the day after that he went into a city called Nain. And many of his disciples went with him and much people.

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Now when they came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother.

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And she was a widow. And much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, weep not.

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And he came and touched the fire. And they bare him and they that bare him stood still.

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They were in shock. They were in shock because Jesus touched the coffin of the dead man.

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It was unclean. And Jesus said, young man,

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I say unto thee, arise. And he that was dead set up and began to speak.

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And he delivered him unto his mother. That's the young man. We talked about that a good bit last time.

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Now among biblical commentators, the two most prevalent positions concerning the

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Pharisee Simon were these. Number one, he wanted to learn more about Jesus. There's a whole slew of commentators that take it that maybe the

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Pharisees weren't all hardened against. Maybe there's a group of Pharisees that just wanted to learn more about Jesus.

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Or number two, he wished to discredit Jesus. So there are two positions supported by commentators.

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Some think that he wished to learn more about Jesus and some wish, think he wished to discredit

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Jesus. I tend to believe that number two is more likely. As Dave Huber mentioned that somebody said he wanted to investigate.

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He wanted to test Jesus. He wanted to see if he could find Jesus doing something that he ought not do.

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Like touch the coffin of a dead man. But I do know this.

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Whatever the case, we're going to find out that Simon was not only a pharisee and the host of this dinner, but he was also a rude host.

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Now one more piece of information before we go on. This is in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6.

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For God, who has commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

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But we have this treasure, this knowledge of the glory of Jesus Christ in the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

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We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of power might be of God and not of us.

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So now we have dealt with Simon's request that Jesus sit with him for dinner.

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And I believe that his intent was to entrap

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Jesus, to catch him doing something that he ought not do. So now we're going to go to verse 37.

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The next verse in this passage, and a place where I'm again going to stray away.

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And behold, a woman in the city which was a sinner. I stopped there. Behold, a woman in the city which was a sinner.

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Now you've all heard brother David talk about brother Otis. This is one thing that brother

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Otis was very adamant about. You hear many people say, I am but a sinner saved by the grace of God.

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Otis wouldn't let you say that unless you were very gentle in the way you approached it with him.

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And he drew his understanding about that from Romans six, starting at verse one.

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I'm going to do that. It's a good bit of reading. So I'm going to read a little bit. Then I'm going to rest and ask questions.

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And then I'm going to read a little bit more. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

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Well, we don't need to worry about what Paul said. Paul said right away, God forbid.

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How that we that are dead in sin live any longer therein. I've heard brother

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David do many sermons about if you are dead, you are past being tempted by sin.

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You're past being tempted by anything. You can't be tested by sin because you're dead.

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So if you're dead, you can't be tempted by sin.

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How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?

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Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

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Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism unto death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the

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Father, even so we should walk in the newness of life. Now, brother

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David spent a long time preaching this very next verse.

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I'm going to spend a little bit of time on it, but I'm going to read it first. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also in the likeness of his resurrection.

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If we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.

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Now, planted. When were you planted?

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You were planted when the old man died.

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When did the old man die? The old man died when you were notified, when you knew that you belonged to him.

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The old man is dead and yet he is still alive. There is a new man that is alive and is alive, but I would like to add something to brother

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David's messages. When you look at this, the first part, we have been planted together.

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That's past tense. That's already happened. All of us today that are here have been planted together in the likeness of his death.

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We were buried with him. We died with him on the cross.

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Our sins were pinned to the cross. He paid the price on the cross. He redeemed us. That has happened and we are planted in the likeness of his death.

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But now look at this next part. We shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.

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I got two questions. One is easy and one is maybe a little bit harder.

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First question, when was Jesus resurrected? First answers are coming in on the third day.

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On the third day after his burial. About 2 ,000 years ago.

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Is that right? Yep. Okay, I can now see these things popping up a little bit, but they're small.

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Thank you, Jeff, for that comment. The third day after his burial, he rose from the dead and last week we celebrated that resurrection.

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Now, let's look at the second part of that. After the comma, it says, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.

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When was he resurrected? 2 ,000 years ago. Are we resurrected yet?

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Jeff V says to everybody, no. No, we're not. When will we be resurrected?

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At the rapture, they say. At the rapture. Has that happened yet? And the answer to that is no.

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The answer to that is no, it's not happened yet. So until then, we have both the old man and the new man.

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The new man, yes, but he is not the only man there.

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Until the new man. Until our resurrection.

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Sometime in the future, I might say softly to Otis, until then, our new man does not rest in a heavenly glorified body.

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Until then, he resides in an earthen vessel. So knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that we will henceforth not serve sin.

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And I added in my notes, but sometimes we do. When do we serve sin?

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When do we serve sin? When we are in unbelief.

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Dave Hubert had a comment for me and I didn't quite get that in time. Yeah, we got, could we say spiritually we are resurrected?

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That was a question. The question is spiritually we are resurrected.

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Yes, but we are not in our glorified bodies yet. And therefore, even though the father sees us as pure, he doesn't see our sin because Jesus has paid for it, shifted our blame to him.

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We see it, people around us see it, Jesus sees it. We serve sin when we allow the old man to be the dominant measure in our life.

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We can not serve sin if we allow the new man, who does not wish to sin, to control our activity.

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So we have some control over whether we serve sin or not. And all of us, at least

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I, sometimes do sin. For he that is dead is free from sin.

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Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe we shall also live with him. Notice again, that's in the future.

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Oh, we're living with him now, but not totally, not in our glorified body. Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him.

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For in that he died unto sin, he died once. But in that he lived, he liveth unto

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God. Likewise, reckon yourself to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto

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God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body.

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That mortal body is the earthen vessel. You have a choice of who reigns. You have the choice of whether you want to allow your old man to reign and follow his whims or the new man to reign.

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That he should obey it in the lust thereof, the new man can and should reign.

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Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness and sin, but yield yourself unto

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God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto

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God. For sin shall not have dominion over you. For you are not under the law, but under grace.

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What then? Shall we sin because we're not under the law, but under grace? Paul again answers,

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God forbid. Know ye not that to whom you yield yourself as servants to obey, his servants you are?

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That's a little stronger word than the word that we have for servant. That word is translated doulos and is a bond slave.

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So his slaves, to whom you yield yourself, you're his slaves.

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Whether sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness, but God be thanked that ye who were servants, slaves of sin, but now have obeyed from the heart, that form of doctrine, which was delivered unto you, being then made free from sin, ye became servants or slaves of righteousness.

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I speak after the matter of men because of the infirmity of your flesh, your earthen body, your earthen vessel.

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For as ye have yielded your members, servants, unto uncleanness and iniquity unto iniquity, even so now yield your members, servants, slaves, to righteousness unto holiness.

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For when you were servants, slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness. What fruit had you then in those things whereof you are now ashamed?

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For the end of those things is in death, but now being made free from sin and become servants, to God ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end is everlasting life.

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For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God through Jesus is eternal, through Jesus Christ our

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Lord. Now, one more little side note.

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Romans 3 .10. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.

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There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. We are all gone out of the way.

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They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one.

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So here's what I would say if I were speaking to Brother Otis this morning. I would say we are all by nature sinners, and we're totally dependent upon the grace of God, who sent his son to assume and pay in full the sin debt of his elect, and at the same time to cover his elect with Christ's righteousness.

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That doesn't mean that you won't occasionally slip and fall.

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One of the greatest Christians of all time, certainly one of the greatest

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Christians in the New Testament, was Paul. And here's what Paul said about himself, and the fact that he also, like the rest of us, reside in an earthen vessel.

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The old man is there. Romans 7, verse 18. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.

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For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not.

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He knows that he wants to do good, but he can't find it in him to do it.

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For the good that I would do, I do not. But the evil which I would not, that I do.

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And then he goes on to describe his condition. And then he comes to verse 24, and he asks the salient question.

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O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

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And then he answers it. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind,

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I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. So our struggle with sin will continue until our death.

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After our resurrection, we will no longer have that treasure in an earthen vessel.

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Instead, it will be housed in our new glorified mortal bodies, liberated from,

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I'm sorry, our new glorified bodies liberated from our mortal bodies.

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And I saw another question pop up and I missed it. Another question, another comment.

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David said, the real me is the new man, and he is resurrected. However, I, like Paul, find myself still living in a carnal body.

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And the old man can gain control when we allow it, sadly. But this is God's will. We have this treasure in earthen vessels that he would receive the glory.

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That's exactly right. And so we are going to struggle with sin. When will our struggle with sin be over?

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When we are no longer living in this earthen vessel. When we are resurrected. And that will be at the rapture.

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Until then, we will struggle. And nobody, I don't think that Paul struggled more than anybody else.

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He was just more keenly aware of how much he struggled between what he wanted to do and what he could do.

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And then he called on the only person that could relieve him, ease him from that pain.

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And that was Jesus Christ. So now we are ready to go on to verse 37.

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Well, we started verse 37 with the phrase, and behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus said at meet at the

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Pharisee's house, brought in an alabaster box of ointment. Now, this is similar in many ways to the events that were described in Matthew 26.

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Verses 6 through 13. But that's clearly a different incident. That took place in Bethany near Jerusalem during the week before the crucifixion.

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In the anointing at Bethel, it was Mary, the sister of Martha, and of Lazarus who anointed

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Jesus. This incident takes place in Galilee.

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Probably, and involves a woman identified only as a sinner. There are some commentators who identify this person as Mary Magdalene, but that's probably not who it is.

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And she stood at his feet, the woman, weeping and began to wash his feet with tears and then wipe them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.

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Now, a couple of things. Whoops. A couple of things that I wish to say.

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I did it again. Okay. It would have been shocking for all, for a woman of such low reputation to come into a

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Pharisee's house. Now, such dinners involving dignitaries were often open to spectators, but no one would have expected a prostitute to come.

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Her coming took great courage and it reveals the desperation of the, by which she sought forgiveness.

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Her weeping was a expression of just how deep that repentance was. Now, something to consider.

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Jesus informs her, is going to inform her in verse 48, your sins are forgiven.

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My question is, when were they forgiven? When were her sins forgiven?

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Were they forgiven when Jesus said they were forgiven in verse 48 or they considered some other time?

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When was this? When were these sins forgiven? Jeff says 48. Jeff says 48?

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Verse 48. Rob says before. Before? What do you say?

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The moment of repentance when she was truly sorry, says Rodney. As I say now,

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John says, actually, they were forgiven in the beginning. We are in time.

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He is not. In God's eyes, that's the question. That's the answer I was waiting for.

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In God's eyes, we were forgiven from the time he selected us to be his before time began.

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She didn't know that she was forgiven when she first felt that serious need for repentance.

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And came and risked all to see Jesus in the Pharisee's house. She didn't know she was forgiven then.

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She didn't know when she sat at his feet and wept and applied ointment on his feet and dried his feet with her hair.

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She didn't know then. She only knew in verse 48 when Jesus told her, your sins are forgiven.

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But they were forgiven long ago. Okay. So let's go on.

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When was the sins forgiven? When were the sins forgiven? Before time began, the sins of the elect are in God's eyes forgiven.

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They were paid for at the cross when Jesus died for us. And now he is satisfied.

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Now when the Pharisee, which had bitten him, saw it, he spake within himself saying,

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This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that touches him, for she is a sinner.

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Now he knows this. He knows she's a sinner. He knows what she's done. He knows she's unclean.

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She knows that she is touching Jesus in his house of all places. And he said, what

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I would have said, had she been doing that to me, I would have said, get away from me, woman. I don't want you to touch me and make me unclean.

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The Pharisee, all the Pharisees, many of the

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Pharisees, showed nothing but contempt for sinners. Simon was convinced that if Jesus knew her character, he would have sent her away.

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That's what he would have done. He would have sent her away for touching him was presumed to convey uncleanliness.

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Now, we addressed a few weeks ago that when

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Jesus touched an unclean thing, he didn't become unclean.

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What did happen? When Jesus touched something that was unclean, what happened? Anybody know?

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Well, I'd say, oh, here we go. Jeff answered, he cleansed it. It became clean.

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It was whole. The unclean thing became clean. The dead thing became alive. The withered hand became whole.

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The leprosy was healed. When Jesus touched an unclean thing, he didn't become unclean.

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The unclean thing became clean. Simon should have known this. Simon's been walking around following for a while.

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He's seen him raise the dead. He saw him touch the casket. He saw him raise the man from the dead.

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He saw the centurion's slave be cured at a distance.

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He should have known that Jesus was a special kind of a guy, but he didn't.

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And Jesus answered, saying unto him, now, you see, he didn't say any of this stuff.

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Simon didn't say a word. He just thought in his head. If this man were a prophet, he would know what manner of woman this is, and he wouldn't let her touch him.

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And Jesus answered, saying unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee.

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And he said, Master, say on. Simon, Jesus knew

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Simon's thoughts, and he is demonstrating to Simon that he was no ordinary man that was, that needed to be told by Simon what

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Simon was thinking. He was demonstrating to Simon that he was more than a mere man, and to everybody else listening in.

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And here's what Jesus said. There was a certain creditor, which had two debts.

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The one owed 500 pence, the other 50. Now, together, that's 550 pence.

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A pence is how much money you earn for a day's work. So that's 550 days work, almost two years work that's on the table.

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And what's the creditor going to do? And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both.

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Tell me, therefore, which of them will he love most? Now, before Simon answers his answer, don't go ahead and read what

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Simon says. I want to ask you a question. Which credit, which of the debtors did

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Simon love most? And I do want some answers on this one. Which of the creditors, which of the creditors did the, which, which of the debtors did the creditor love most?

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I tried to get that. Anybody got an idea? They're both forgiven.

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How much were they both forgiven? The one who owed more.

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Someone who owed more was forgiven more debt. And the one that, that had less debt was, that was given less debt.

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They were both forgiven 100%. They were both forgiven 100%.

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The question was, which one did the lover love most? Did the creditor love most?

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Which did the creditor love most? Jeff says neither.

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Neither. I would say, Jeff, I agree with you, but I would say both.

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He loved them both. He loved them both the same amount. He forgave the entire debt of both of them.

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His love is not like our love. He is a, this creditor is a model of Jesus.

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What kind of love does Jesus have? Jesus has agape love.

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Jesus has a love that does not depend upon what we do for him or what we fail to do.

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It has to do only with him. Now, the question, which of, which of them will love the creditor most?

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That's the question that Simon answers. Which of the debtors will love the creditor more?

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And Simon is going to say, I jumped way down in my notes.

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This is really tricky to work with. I apologize to you. I'll kill a little time as I'm going through and I'm going to get back to my question.

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And the question was, tell me, therefore, of them, which will love him most?

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Now, what kind of love are they going to have? What kind of love are the debtors going to have?

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They're going to have brotherly love. They're going to have a different kind of love.

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They're going to have a kind of a love that will depend upon what the creditor did for them. The more he did for them, the more they'll love him.

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And that's what Simon says. Simon says, I suppose he to whom he forgave the most.

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And Jesus said unto him, thou hast judged rightly. Now, notice he didn't say, which one will the creditor love most?

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He said, which one will the debtor love most? Now, the kind of love that's being talked about here is phileo.

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And Jesus turned to the woman and said unto Simon, see this woman,

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I entered thine house and thou gavest me no water for my feet. That's like somebody comes and knocks on your door and says, may

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I come in? And you don't offer to take their coat and hang it up for them.

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It's a matter of rudeness. In the olden days, in the days when they walked around in open -toed shoes, the first thing the host would do is he would give a servant and a water for the servant to use to wash the feet of the person that came in.

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That's what Simon should have done had he been a good host. He would have had a servant there to wash

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Jesus' feet the very moment he entered the building. He said, thou givest me no water for my feet, but she washed my feet with tears.

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He's talking about the woman. And wiped them away with the hairs of her head.

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Not to offer a guest water for the washing of feet was an insult. So he has, in the very first place, insulted

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Jesus. Thou gavest me no kiss, but this woman, since the time

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I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.

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Wherefore I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

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Now, that's not to say that she was forgiven because she loved so much.

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The parable pictures a forgiveness that was unconditional. And her love was the result.

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Therefore, to make the woman's love the reason for her forgiveness would be to distort the lesson that Jesus is teaching here.

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Jesus is teaching that Christ's love is unconditional.

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And then in verse 48, he says, unto her, thy sins are forgiven. And verse 49 says, and they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, who is this that forgives sin also?

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And the question I have for you is who can forgive sins? Who can forgive sins?

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God. God can forgive sins and only God. So if Jesus can say your sins are forgiven, then

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Jesus is either blaspheming or Jesus is God. The Pharisees accused him of blasphemy.

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But what he really was is just identifying that he was God. And in verse 50, it says this.

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And he said to the woman, thy faith has saved thee, go in peace. Now, actually, whose faith is it that she has that saves her?

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Is it her own faith? Is it a faith that she built up by following and watching Jesus and seeing him heal and cure other people?

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Or is it a faith that Jesus put in her? It is the faith of Jesus residing.

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It's Jesus's faith residing in her. And so he says unto the woman, thy faith has saved thee, go in peace.

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Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. And thank you for all of your many blessings. Thank you for giving us the technology to come together while we're yet apart and serve you and worship in your house.

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Bless us and keep us and go with us through the rest of the service. In Jesus's name we pray, amen.