Your sins

Now I'd like to read with you in Luke's Gospel chapter 7, Luke's Gospel chapter 7 and verse number 47. Luke's Gospel chapter 7 and verse number 47. Wherefore I say unto thee her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much but to whom little is forgiven the same love of little and he said unto her thy sins are forgiven and they that sat at meet with him began to say within themselves who is this that forgiveth sins also and he said to the woman to the woman thy faith hath saved thee go in peace.

The forgiveness of sins obviously is important because without it no one is going to get into heaven and here we have a case of a person that had received the forgiveness of sins. If we had read in an earlier portion in this same gospel in chapter 5 we would have read about a man that was brought into a house and he was needing the forgiveness of sins and in that case he left the house that day with the forgiveness of sins. In this particular case we have a woman that came into the house and she had already received the forgiveness of sins and that's really I guess involved in the grammar of the verse when it says her sins which are many have been forgiven her and it says for she loved much but to whom little is forgiven the same of love of little etc.

I think we have the Lord Jesus speaking to her the assurance of the forgiveness of sins when he says in verse number 48 after his defense of her to Simon he says thy sins are forgiven and so it's a wonderful thing to have the forgiveness of sins. In the case of the paralyzed man that was brought to the Lord Jesus in Mark's in chapter 5 of this gospel it is interesting there that the Lord Jesus looked on their faith and I believe that faith is involved in the forgiveness of sins. In fact it was the case here where the Lord Jesus when he sends this woman away he says thy faith hath saved thee.

We know that it's not so much her faith being the Savior but it was her faith in the Savior that procured for her the forgiveness of sins which of course is synonymous with being saved. If you have the forgiveness of sins that means that you are saved and so that's an interesting point. I believe with a paralyzed man in chapter 5 that when the Lord Jesus looked on their faith that he was not denying the fact that the paralyzed man also was coming with an anticipation and a hope and he was looking to the Lord Jesus.

He was a willing participant in this great pursuit to obtain the forgiveness of his sins and so he was brought in of course born by his four friends that brought him in on that on that stretcher that lured him down through the roof. I suppose you could say that both of these individuals were brought into a home uninvited. We don't read really of any reaction on the part of the owner in chapter 5 but I've always wondered what he must have thought as he saw the roof torn up and this man that was lured down in the presence of the Lord Jesus.

Not to mention what the rest of the multitude must have thought as the discourse of the Lord Jesus was interrupted and the Lord Jesus sets everything aside because he has none other understood the priority and the urgency for a man and a woman to have the forgiveness of sins post haste and so he sets aside his discourse and he deals with this man and he says unto him son or in the language of our gospel here man be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee. It's interesting that the man in the in the stretcher he didn't begin to protest. The Lord Jesus as he said to him thy sins and as he actually says here in this case about this woman it says thy sins.

Two individuals that both got the forgiveness of sins and in each case they are confronted with the fact that sins in their life is a personal matter. It's an individual sin. It's an individual thing.

He is not saying to them your sins in a plural sense. He is saying to the individual thy sins. Thy sins he says to the man and to the woman here he says thy sins.

So it's not only individual but I want you to notice it's it's something that is possessed and that tells me of the indictment because that is precisely why there is a problem is because the sins that are possessed by you in your life are putting you into great jeopardy are putting you into great danger and therefore the one that wants to rescue you from that danger is going to highlight the cause of that danger and he's going to remind you that the sins that are the problem in your life and the sins of over which there is the great priority that they become forgiven post haste are the very same things that are putting you into this great predicament of great danger you are in a great risk because to perish without the sins of your own possessing forgiven means that you will pay for those sins eternally sins unforgiven in time will never be forgiven in eternity and so the Lord Jesus says thy sins they're personal and they are possessed but I want you to notice that they are also plural and this is a wonderful surprise to my mind did you know that the majority of the times in the New Testament when the Bible speaks about the forgiveness of sins whether discussing it as a doctrine whether it's something that the Lord is commanding his disciples to begin in Jerusalem as it says in this gospel and to go on to the uttermost parts of the earth to preach the forgiveness of sins do you know that the majority of the times it never says how many do you know why because it doesn't need to do you know why it doesn't need to because God understands that for the forgiveness of sins to have any sense to have any significance to result in the salvation of any sinner it has to be them all what good would a 75% forgiveness of sins do for anybody when the same Bible already tells us that not one sin will get into heaven so if you had a hundred sins and Christ came up to you and said guess what I'm gonna forgive you 99 99 of those sins on the basis though one sin you'd be barred from heaven so it'd be a kind of a fictitious offer it would be a wrong-headed offer it would do you absolutely no good and therefore because of the logic that's involved because of the God the the understanding that God has of the very nature of what has to be involved in the forgiveness of sins it's assumed that you're gonna know because God already knows that when it comes to the forgiveness of sins it has to be all of those sins being forgiven or it's as good as if none of them were forgiven so he says thy sins I know sometimes the word sin is used in a singular sense to be kind of referring to the whole package and that's true too and sometimes we talk about it as being sin is the root and sins are the fruit but I don't think the Lord Jesus here is really making that kind of a that kind of a difference I think that he's looking at the individual and as he's looking at the individual and he is pronouncing to that person the forgiveness of sins it is not only plural it's personal it's dealing with both the root and it's dealing with the fruit and the whole thing is implied even if it's not specifically described he is saying your sins plural what a wonderful comfort that is to every heart here this afternoon and if you are in this meeting and you are worried and troubled and while you might be if you are not saved how wonderful to be able to tell you tonight this absolutely shocking and staggering truth that there is a Savior tonight there is a Savior at this very moment and he is predisposed to give to you the complete cancellation of your entire debt of sin and I want to just take it a little bit further here so we understand the scope of what's involved in the forgiveness of these sins because they're not only personal they're your own and it's an individual business you don't need to worry be worried about my sins nor do I need to be worried about your sins it is it is not only something that is personal and therefore you are it's possessed it's therefore you're responsible for those sins nobody else is to blame for them you can't blame your parents you can't blame your neighbor you can't blame some system that has failed you are responsible for your own misdeeds for your own misconduct but I can tell you as well that when he says thy sins plural that he's talking also about sins that haven't been committed yet so he's talking about prospective sins because as we learn here the people that begin to complain in chapter 7 the same as they do in chapter 5 they're saying who can forgive sins but God only and they're right it's always interesting to look up the study it's an interesting study to look up all the complaints of the critics of the Lord Jesus who unwittingly were stating wonderful truths and so they say who can forgive sins but God only what they're really meaning is how presumptuous how absolutely blasphemous that this mere man this mere mortal man in front of us would have the audacity to turn and tell this person that their sins are forgiven absolute nonsense if he's not God he's just trafficking in fantasies you know it would be it would be absolutely ridiculous and if this woman and that's what I think is really interesting I like the lack of defensiveness on the part of of both the paralyzed man and Luke chapter 5 and this this woman that's a sinner in chapter 7 because you know in neither case as the Lord Jesus in the first words that he says to both individuals as he begins to talk about thy sins to each one there wasn't a single one of them I was gonna say the paralyzed man didn't rise himself up in the bed and say no no no don't tell me about my sins you don't even know me no he couldn't get off the bed to protest but I'm gonna just tell you he didn't he didn't react negatively he didn't in pride react and reject you know he didn't say hey are you accusing me he didn't turn around and say well boy that's a pretty audacious statement number one you don't even know me and if you if you really could take off five seconds and think about it I'm a paralyzed man for goodness sakes what kind of sins am I going to be guilty of a paralyzed man can't raise my finger to hurt or flee in my life and you're gonna say your sins in addition you're actually going to even assume that I'm depressed about it and you're gonna say son be a good cheer my sins you know what what the Lord was this man is understanding and that's what I love about the scriptures is sometimes there was so much that is left unsaid that is so eloquent because do you think these people are so like with no brains do you think that they didn't understand the same thing the Pharisees are saying that only God can forgive sins so when the Lord Jesus says to the man be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee and when he says to this woman thy sins are forgiven you do you do you think that they both looked at him and raised their eyebrows and said you've got to be kidding I didn't know you were God so the lack of defensiveness when he says thy sins tells me of their humility and the paralyzed man after the Lord healed him he packed up his little cot and walked out the door happiest camper in Capernaum what was that all about his act his acceptance of what the Lord said thy sins are forgiven thee implies that he only understands that God alone can forgive sins but he takes the forgiveness of sins from this man and acknowledgment that this man is God so that is a tall statement of truth this man has come to a tremendous discovery this woman here doesn't protest in pride and she doesn't protest in ignorance salvation and the insight and understanding that God has given to both of these people results in a happy enjoyment of the forgiveness of sins what a wonderful thing it is and you know if we have met either one of those people after after they've left the house we intercept them at the street corner how you doing today I'm doing fantastic there's there's somebody here I just saw him walk in and you know one of the things whenever we chatter I say how you doing you know quite often he will say fantastic I would say that if either one of these people if you had met them after this little encounter with the Lord Jesus likely wouldn't surprise me if that's what they would have said fantastic really well boy you sure didn't look fantastic when you're going in here you were bawling your eyes out and and you Charlie over there in that stretcher you didn't look too much of a happy camper man I tell you you were glum down in the mouth like whoa you know like the whole world was on your shoulders yes it's not the most pleasant experience to be stretched out in that car all the time no you know what he's gonna say yeah I I was very depressed about my sin so when the Lord said to me son be of good cheer he understood the condition of my heart emotionally nothing more depressing nothing more discouraging nothing more daunting than to have to live day after day with not only the sins that are yours unforgiven but the specter of where those unforgiven sins are taking you but what a joy it is when all of a sudden they've got your sins forgiven so why are you feeling fantastic I just got all my sins forgiven you're shitting who told you have whoever told you that well they don't have any doubt about it in their mind because of the identity and the perception of the deity of the person that's pronounced the forgiveness of their sins but listen let's stop and ask him so how in the world would you know that you've got the forgiveness of serious let's ask either one the man or the woman because you know a man needs the forgiveness of sins and according to Luke 7 so does a woman so it's you know it's not gender-specific all people need to be forgiven and we're gonna ask either one of them both of them how would you know that you're the first how would you know how does anyone here know that they are forgiven how does anyone know that they are saved and going to heaven we all got the same answer there's only one reason for it there's only one secure and solid and sure basis for our assurance of the forgiveness of our sins and a future in heaven is because he said so Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so and in this particular verse in these both stories they only had one solitary source of information about the personal dismissal of the problem of their sins and it wasn't even emotional exciting exhilarating it was not something that you know just wow you know just calmly they've got the word of the Lord Jesus Christ and that settled it for them that settled the score and that satisfied all of their fears and worries that's what gave them comfort that's what gave them good cheer that's what allows the Lord Jesus Christ to send both of them away because he wouldn't send them empty away and that's what allows the Lord Jesus to pronounce the forgiveness of sins and he wasn't dressed in the garments like the priest was dressed over in Jerusalem that day but he was doing something that no priest however nicely he was dressed in the priestly garb could have done he pronounces not only the forgiveness of their sins but it almost seems to me like he is giving them an echo of what the priestly benediction was you never heard the priestly benediction well you ever been at a wedding that's when they normally do it they talk about it's way back in the Old Testament the book of Numbers chapter 6 where it says the Lord bless thee well that's what the Lord wanted to do to both of these people that's what they were coming and really saying and it's interesting that neither one of them said anything you know because if you want the forgiveness of sins I'm always a little nervous of somebody that says to me well you know the reason I got saved why well you know one day I asked I'll ask the Lord Jesus to for you know to forgive me my sins and I'm always going like hello what because if you asked him to forgive your sins that would mean that you're assuming you don't have it right and you're asking him for it so there's some good there's some merit in that you're recognizing he's the only one who can give it to you so you're asking him to forgive your sins right but if that's where it stopped how'd you know he gave him how'd you know he did it what made you think he did it like you think you've got the forgiveness of sins because you asked him I don't know I'm not saying God can't save you but I'm always puzzled about just what does a person understand both of these individuals got the forgiveness of all of their sins in a split second of time and neither one of them said a single word so there's no special formula no special magic no special prayer so what's what's the priestly benediction he's to lift up his hands I don't think the Lord Jesus necessarily lifted up his hand he says the Lord bless thee and keep thee the Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee and this is the one that is being gracious do you know why he's being gracious because every single sin that both the man and the woman had committed against I just gave it away against the Lord Jesus they sinned against him imagine how absurd it would have been if one of the disciples John walks in and says to this man oh don't worry your sins are all for him and you he can't do it why because the sins weren't done against him yeah you imagine if I came in and and I smashed all the windows out of your car and I stole the stereo and everything else and then your neighbor come over to me and said hey Chad don't worry about it I'll forgive you I forgive you it's all good you know if I believed him I'd be an idiot and I would soon find out how much of one I was next time I saw you right you would say hey you know what's going on you know please come to my door you'd be a host you'd all annoyed all in a tither about it right so here is the Lord and he is causing his face to shine upon these individuals in their darkness he's causing his face of compassion and mercy to shine upon them when he had every right he was totally entitled to punish them for their sins and he's going to give them the forgiveness of it the Lord is making his face to shine upon him the Lord is being gracious to thee and then I like it the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give the peace isn't that what he says son be a good cheer I'm going to give you hope I'm going to give you comfort and in the case of the woman what's he saying well he says to her you know I like the way that it's done sort of almost casually he's defending this woman and he's saying to Simon and he's talking all about her and he finally comes down to it and he says so Simon I'm going to tell you something as if it made any difference to Simon but that's all right it's kind of like the Lord is talking to Simon and he's got this third party this woman that's sitting there listening and the conversation is all about her and all about her sins he says Simon I'm going to tell you you know what her sins which are many have been forgiven her Simon gulps the point I'm only saying it about her sins hint not yours two people in this house were right in close proximity which one of these two people are getting the forgiveness of sin Simon what do you think okay and after he's done he then turns to her I don't think it's being discourteous but you know he's been he's been defending this woman and he describes the forgiveness of her sins her sins it's personal sins are plural which are many they're plentiful have been forgiven it's passed it was a specific occasion when it happened maybe it happened when she heard his announcement in Matthew 11 and 28 come on to me all you that labor in a heavy laden and I will give you rest and by faith she responded to that offer and the Lord says that thy faith saved thee but then the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace that's what he says thy faith has saved thee go in peace all these rabble-rousers troublemakers these boys here that are all complaining criticizing trying to say this whole thing has nothing no validity absolutely preposterous you just calmly go now home in the happy comfort of his face shining upon you he's been gracious to you he's lifted up his countenance you've seen my face and I've given you peace he turns to the woman and he says your sins are forgiven you and then they start to complain and like I just said he then says to her again that you don't need to wait around anymore you already got you've got it it was nice to nice to see you I'm going to be seeing you again thy faith has saved thee go in peace as we come to the close of this conference I just want to remind my audience today and just on the outside chance that there's someone here I got saved at a conference 19 well no I'm lying I got what happened was there is this very tall gangly long-armed kind of snarky preacher and he preached at the sunny school and he embarrassed me to tears when he asked me in front of everybody if I was saved like I don't like I never liked anybody asked me that question in just one-on-one and then he did it right in front of everybody but you know because of that that was a Sunday on Wednesday is when I received the forgiveness of my sins that was my happy day when Jesus took my sins away you know what he actually wants to do with you today he wants to do the same thing wants to take your sins away that's actually one of the words that's used for the forgiveness of sins in the New Testament it's the idea of loosing and sending away it's the idea of a dismissal and he dismisses this woman in peace because he has previously dismissed her sins in a forgiveness that was comprehensive and compassionate and it was real so today I don't know if you got the forgiveness of sins but there's a priest and he has made a tremendous sacrifice he not only has the right to forgive her sins because she's the one that she has sinned against him he not only has the right to forgive sins because as judge only a judge can forgive sins but he has this overwhelming right to forgive sins because he as Peter says in his his own self bear our sins you could put a why your sins in his own body on the tree he has gone to the cross and at this hour he wants to lift up his countenance he wants to let his face shine upon you he wants to he wants to be gracious onto you and he wants to give you the priestly benediction a farewell at the close of this weekend wants to dismiss you but he first of all wants to dismiss your sins loose you from the stranglehold of those sins upon you free you forgive you fully and forever if only you'll allow it god help you to adapt the attitude of the man that was paralyzed in the cot and the attitude of this woman you know what happened to her after she got the forgiveness of sins couldn't stay away from him came uninvited broke the rules of courtesy bowed at his feet anointed him with fragrant perfume so overwhelmed you know Simon looked at her and he thought this is absolutely ridiculous this whole effusive display of emotion anointing his feet kissing his feet he actually twisted in his mentality read into it something that was impure but the lord understood the sanctity of that sacred moment and he says i'll you why i know this woman has received the forgiveness of sins how if you had understood the forgiveness of sins you would understand why she's forgiven as well you know why because to whom much is forgiven the same loveth much her sins which are many have been forgiven her for she loved much she didn't get the forgiveness of sins because she loved much she loved much because she'd been forgiven much and so will you and god grant it to be true even now as we close this meeting in prayer