Much Forgiveness Much Love 1979

I'd like to read a few verses from Ezekiel chapter 11, starting at verse 17. Therefore say, Thus says the Lord God, I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and its abominations.

And I will give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh that they may walk in my statues and keep my ordinances and obey them. And they shall be my people and I will be their God.

No doubt we all would agree. At the beginning of this prophecy's fulfillment, the giving of a heart of flesh for a heart of stone takes place on Calvary. There's only one thing in all the world that is able to pull out that heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh, and that's the death and resurrection of the land.

But what bothers us is that we are followers of the land. We're gathered here today in his name. We come to partake of his body and blood.

We committed our lives to his service. We're dependent upon his spirit for our life. And yet when we look into our hearts, we still see stone instead of flesh.

Who of us here can honestly say that our heart of stone is gone and that now we are ruled within by a mercy and a kindness and a generosity and a compassion which comes from God all the time? Who of us doesn't have to admit that time and time again people who don't even know the Lord put us to shame by their kindness and their generosity and their willingness to give themselves? Lord, why am I so indifferent, so callous and so hard? I've been following you for years. I pray to you. I pray for other people.

I call on your name. And yet this rock is still here. What does it take to get it out? And what will it take for me to get a heart like yours, Lord? Surely the blood of Jesus is sufficient to give us a new heart.

It's not that it can't handle it. It can take care of this problem very well. The Son of God hangs on that cross and the blood runs down his body, gathers in a pool at the foot of the cross, overflows as a stream which soon becomes a river.

The river of blood flows out over the earth, down through the generations. People gather on its banks and gaze at this and ask, where does this river of blood come from? And the Spirit answers, from the broken, dying heart of God himself. But why is God's heart broken? Because God suffers.

Every creature of his that suffers, he bears the weight not only of the suffering but of the sin that causes it, and so his heart breaks unto death. And we have this river. But what good does it do, we ask? And the Spirit answers, anybody who plunges into this river and bathes with a contrite heart is given a heart of flesh for a heart of stone.

Suddenly the Spirit lifts you up, just like he took Ezekiel, and carries you to a place where you can look down upon a town loaded with churches, churches everywhere, and here comes this river of blood flowing right down the middle of it. You are informed by the Spirit that there's not a soul in that whole town who hasn't been baptized in that river of blood. What a wonderful town that must be, you say.

Everybody in the town has a heart of flesh for a heart of stone. Would that it were so, answers the Spirit, if only what you say were true. But didn't you just say that everybody in the town bathed in the river? Yes.

Well, doesn't that bring about the change? No, it's possible for people to bathe in this river of blood, but if the blood doesn't get below the skin to the heart, the heart still comes up stone. You mean, you ask the Spirit, that those people in their churches right now praising the blood of the Lamb may still have hearts of stone? And the Spirit answers, look at the poor in the shadows of those churches that are getting no attention. Watch how they backbite with each other, those people.

See how the ones who have food hoard it while the other ones over there starve. Their doctrines seem to be right, but their hearts are made of granite. But why, you ask? Why didn't it do anything for them when they bathed in that river? And the Spirit ends the conversation with a very strange answer.

He who is forgiven, little, loves little. Then he whips you off to another place, beyond that town with all the churches, where the river of blood flows by some rusty old railroad tracks. And there, a group of social lepers are gathered around a fire for their evening meal.

There is a sharing and a kindness and a warmth among those people, which makes clear that they have no longer the burden of a heart of stone. They've got hearts of flesh. And you're told by the Spirit that every single day that group is growing as they move out to the wilderness by the tracks and pull in more of those lepers, bring them down to the river and everyone comes out with a new heart.

How come it happened so quickly for them, so easily, you ask? And the Spirit answers. He who is forgiven, much, loves much. One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and took his place at table.

And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment and, standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with ointment. And when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him. She is a sinner.

And Jesus answering said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. And he said, What is it, teacher? A certain creditor had two debtors, one owed five hundred denarii and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he forgave them both.

Now which of them will love him more? Simon answered, The one I suppose to whom he forgave more. And he said to him, You have judged rightly. Then turning to the woman, he said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I entered your house.

You gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

Therefore, I tell you her sins, which are many are forgiven, for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little loves little. And he said to her, Your sins are forgiven.

Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, Who is this who even forgives sins? And he said to the woman, Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. And Jesus could tell just by observing this woman that she already has a heart of flesh for a heart of stone.

Her sins, which are many are forgiven, for she loved much. Much love was flowing with those tears and through those hands that were caressing Jesus feet with her hair. Love that was pure and love that was unselfconscious, didn't care what those Pharisees sitting there would think.

And that much love is evidence of much forgiveness. Well, does this mean that the Pharisee doesn't need as much forgiveness? Obviously not. His need is just as great as that woman's.

The only problem is the man hides his need from himself. On the surface, he looks okay, but down inside, he's got thoughts that would curl anybody's hair. And he has a hardness that is conveying death to the people around him.

And he knows this, but it's so easy to cover it all over with respectability. A few good deeds, forms of piety. The fact that the man loves little is evidence that he has been forgiven little.

Now there was forgiveness available to him. All the forgiveness he needs for the whole mess inside his heart was there, but he wasn't letting it happen. But let's suppose after Simon, the Pharisees see listens to Jesus words, he begins to see himself in a new way.

Suddenly he realizes that he's not Simon, the righteous, but he's a hopeless mess and he's an evil, ugly man inside. He needs help. And there in front of all his fancy Pharisee friends, Simon begins to weep.

He calls his servants and asked them to go out and try to find that woman and bring her beggar to come back so we can treat it the way we should. Then he gets up from the table, falls on his face at Jesus feet, cries out for help. Lord, help me.

Forgive me as you forgave that woman, even though I'm far, far worse. Jesus stretches out his hand and touches that man and declares him forgiven. Instantly, all his Pharisee friends, like an army, rise up from the table and stomp out.

The next day, Simon receives notice that he's been excommunicated from the synagogue. But he has one thing that really matters that makes all the difference in his life. He now has a heart of flesh for a heart of stone.

He who is forgiven much, loves much. And if there's anything that you and I need, it's much forgiveness. We Christians, we spirit filled, true disciple type Christians need much forgiveness.

And to get that much forgiveness, we don't have to go out and commit some great big sin. All we have to do is open our eyes and see what's really there. Lord, show us the shape we're in.

Help us to see that our sin is not just theoretical, something we deduce from Scripture. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Therefore, I must be a sinner.

But real sin, our sin, that grieves and breaks the heart of God. And wounds the lives around us. And leaves behind a whole trail of discouragement and desolation as we have pursued frantically our own happiness.

The Lazarus who sits by our gate right now, still full of swords, we don't even see him. The people with needs of body and soul that we have to brush by every single day. And we do it like this so we don't have to touch them.

That's what Jesus died for. Our sin. God help us.

To cry out for the much forgiveness that we need. When's the last time you admitted that you needed much forgiveness? Not five years ago when you got saved, but now. Not Aunt Susie or Uncle Ned, but me.

When we cry for much forgiveness, we get much forgiveness. When we come to the Lord's table today, desiring forgiveness, much forgiveness that we need, we get much forgiveness. This is my body given for you, as if only for you.

This is my blood shed for your sins. Not the theoretical sins, the real sins. And the real disposition that's in there.

And when you and I begin to live before God as men and women who have received much forgiveness. The hearts of stone will at last begin to melt. Our disposition, our outlook, our attitude, our thought life will change.

Our walk will change. And all that self-consciousness and that reserve will melt away like it did for that woman. And we'll break out of our shell and begin to live for God lives that are ruled by His love.

And I will give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh. That they may walk in my statues and keep my ordinances and obey them.

And they shall be my people and I will be their God. Let's rise up and just wait upon the Spirit, okay? Just ask me more than you can. Visit us now with what we need.

Oh God, how hard it is for us to come to true repentance. Help us now, open our eyes and deliver us from the things that bind us and blind us. And give us liberty now to wait upon you.