Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Hello everyone, this is Pastor Benjamin.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City Orlando.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: At New City, we long to see our Father answer the Lord's Prayer.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: For more resources, visit our website at Newcity Orlando.com.
Mendel Julien: Please join me in the prayer of Illumination.
Mendel Julien: Holy Spirit, open our hearts to hear your word, and through your word, create in our hearts a home at your presence that we might live for the glory of the Father and the kingdom of his beloved Son.
Mendel Julien: Through Jesus Christ we pray.
Mendel Julien: Amen.
Mendel Julien: Please remain standing for the reading of God's Word.
Mendel Julien: Today we're going to be reading in Luke chapter 7, verses 36 to 50.
Mendel Julien: One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisees' house and reclined at the table.
Mendel Julien: And behold, a woman of the city who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment.
Mendel Julien: And standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wipe them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.
Mendel Julien: Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, 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, for she is a sinner.
Mendel Julien: And Jesus answering said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you.
Mendel Julien: And he answered, Say it, teacher.
Mendel Julien: A certain moneylender had two debtors.
Mendel Julien: One owed 500 denarii and the other 50, and they could not pay.
Mendel Julien: And he canceled the debt of both.
Mendel Julien: Now which of them will love him more?
Mendel Julien: Simon answered, The one, I suppose, for who he canceled the larger debt.
Mendel Julien: And he said to him, You have judged rightly.
Mendel Julien: Then in turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, Do you see this woman?
Mendel Julien: 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.
Mendel Julien: You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet.
Mendel Julien: You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.
Mendel Julien: Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven.
Mendel Julien: For she loved much.
Mendel Julien: But he who was forgiven little, loves little.
Mendel Julien: And he said to her, Your sins are forgiven.
Mendel Julien: Then those who are at the table with him began to say among themselves, Who is this?
Mendel Julien: Who even forgives sins?
Mendel Julien: And he said to the woman, Your faith has saved you.
Mendel Julien: You go in peace.
Mendel Julien: This is God's word.
Mendel Julien: Thanks be to God.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This spring we're in a series on the parables of Jesus through the Gospel of Luke.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And one of the reasons that Jesus tells parables is to splash cold water on the face of sleepy religious people.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's one of his reasons for telling parables.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He wants to wake us up to what Dallas Willard calls the scandal of the kingdom.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now, I'm a simple man, and you can summarize this whole sermon in a simple formula, and that is this forgiven much equals love much.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Forgiven much equals love much.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's all I got for you by way of points.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If you have the Bible or a device or your guide, go ahead and get in front of you.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Let's look at Luke chapter 7, verse 36, and let's jump in.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This story uh is good enough in and of itself.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Here we go, verse 36.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at table.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now, last week, Pastor Jason showed us that in Luke 5, it's the Pharisees who were grumbling, saying, What's up with this dude eating with tax collectors and sinners?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Why does he have table fellowship with scumbags?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And Jesus responded, He said, You don't go to the doctor when you're feeling great.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He said, It's not the righteous, but sinners that I've called to repentance.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And that's who Jesus came for.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But here's what's striking Jesus eats with sinners, but in this passage, he also eats with Pharisees.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The reason why that matters is Jesus is not self-righteous toward the self-righteous.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Said differently, some of you I know were raised in religious, rigid, rule-heavy environments that kind of suffocated with you with this endless sense that you were never doing enough for measuring up.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And anything that smells like that to you, you just reject immediately.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But be careful.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You can become Pharisaical about Pharisees if you're not careful.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And Jesus wasn't even that.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, he was hospitable even to Simon the Pharisee.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So when Simon invites him to dinner, Jesus goes.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look at verse 37.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And behold, a woman of the city who was a sinner.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Pause.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Luke doesn't have to give you the details, but this is a euphemism.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, everyone at this table knew this woman's reputation.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: They knew what line of work she was in.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's all enough said in Luke's words here.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: All right, verse 37, it says this when she learned that Jesus was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster flask of ointment.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wipe them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Have you ever been at a holiday meal when someone says something and it gets real?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I want you to channel that emotion right now.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If you want to get inside this story, you gotta feel that.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Or imagine that you've invited a respectable professor or pastor or politician over to your house for a dinner, and a woman whom everybody knows is guilty of flagrant sin shows up at the door and wants to see that man.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And then as she comes in, she starts to cry and then kneels down and takes off his shoes and wipes his feet and then pours lotion on them and proceeds to give him a foot massage.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Not many people's reputations could handle that, okay?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This is uncomfortable, this is inappropriate, this is sensual, this is scandalous.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What's happening here is scandalous.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so, what's Jesus going to do about it?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Well, that's exactly what Simon wonders.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look at verse 39.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now, when the Pharisees who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself, that's important.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He says it to himself.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Going on.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman, you can almost hear the contempt, what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Notice what just happened.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Simon doesn't speak this out loud, but he draws three silent conclusions.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: One, Jesus must not be a prophet.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Two, this woman belongs in the category of people called untouchables.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And three, Simon is not like her in any way.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But listen, Jesus spilled a lot of blood and the apostles spilled a lot of ink in order to tear down the dividing wall of hostility.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And yet, the religious spirit that's always striving to rebuild divisions will name people clean or unclean, acceptable, unacceptable, who's in, who's out?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Simon's words are loaded here.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What sort of woman?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We all have a sort.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What sort of sinner feels too much for you?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's a question that's worth asking yourself.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Who do you instinctively reduce to a label?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Who would you quietly prefer stay outside of your home?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, the text gives us this clue when it says Simon said to himself, one way you can figure it out is pay attention to your inner critic.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Pay attention to that voice inside your head.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Besides yourself, who does it criticize relentlessly?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's a good way to get at who your sort of person is.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, Simon thinks he sees clearly, but what he reveals is actually his own blindness.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Because notice the irony.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He says, if this man were a prophet, and then Jesus answers a thought in Simon's head that he never spoke.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look at verse 40.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And Jesus, answering, said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, Jesus knows how to read the room.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Simon wonders what sort of woman she is.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus already knows what sort of man Simon is.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He has something to say to him, but instead of exposing him publicly, Jesus says gently, Simon, I have something to say to you.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now this is a masterful technique.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's called agreement.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If you ever have something hard to say to somebody, you just frame it like this, like you're in a disciple-making conversation.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You just frame it like this, like, hey, there's something I've been noticing, but I'm not really sure if you if you want to hear it.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And then they go, Oh, do tell.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And you're like, all right, if you say so.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus is doing that here, right?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He's he's like, hey, I have something to say to you, Simon.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And verse 40 answer says, say it, teacher.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: All right, here we go.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Here's the parable, verse 41.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: A certain moneylender had two debtors.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: One owed 500 denarii, and the other 50.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now, which of them will love him more?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's the parable right there.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Notice the genius of Jesus.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In 34 words, he says it all.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: One denarius equal to about a day of work for a laborer.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So 50 denarii is about two months' worth of work, 500 denarii is over a year and a half worth of work.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: One debtor owes 10 times more than the other, but here's the key thing: both are unequal, both are equally unable to pay their debt.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Said differently, let's say one person is an Olympic long jumper and the other person walks with a limp, they both run as fast and as hard as they can to jump the Grand Canyon, neither of them makes it.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: When they could not pay, verse 42 says, He cancel the debt of both.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Do you know that you cannot pay?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If God is your creator, then you you owe him your life simply by being his creature.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But if God is your judge, then you owe him your life by being a sinner.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's twice over.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You owe him your very existence.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So, said differently, how could you ever pay God back?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What do you have that you did not receive?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If then you received it, how could you possibly offer it back to God in the form of payment for anything?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of them both.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, Jesus is trying to dismantle any way of relating to God based on merit where you put God in your debt.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But this is a strong impulse in us still.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I had a friend named Caleb say to me one time, he said, Ben, until you give up being judge, jury, and executioner, you will never receive God's forgiveness.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The kisses, the wounds of a friend are better than the kisses of an enemy.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Listen, both debtors are bankrupt and both are freely forgiven.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Because of their merit?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: No, but because the money lender was rich in mercy.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Elizabeth Elliot was fond of saying that our main problem is that we won't let God be God.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We keep trying to pay him back.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look at verse 42.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus says, Now which of them will love him more?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And Simon answered, The one, I suppose, I love that.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He's hedging his bets.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He kind of knows what's coming.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The one, I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And he said to him, This is Jesus, he goes, You've judged rightly.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, Jesus lets Simon play every Pharisee's favorite game, judging other people.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: AW Tozer said it like this a Pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But a spiritual person is easy on others and hard on himself.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Simon had judged Jesus already.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If this man were a prophet, he judged the woman already.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He knows she's a sinner.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And Simon had judged Simon as better than both Jesus and the woman.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In verse 44, then Jesus, turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, Do you see this woman?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What a simple indictment.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Do you see this woman?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In the Sermon of the Mount, Jesus tells us in Matthew 7 that first you have to take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother or sister's eye.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Modern psychology just recently stumbled upon this and thinks it's special.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It calls it unconscious bias.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus knew about it a long time ago.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If you do not daily say, forgive us our debts, you will have an unconscious bias of judgment towards your neighbor.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You need to regularly be reminded of the fact that sin that's not owned and offered for forgiveness to God will distort your perception of other people.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus says, Simon, do you see this woman?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: No.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Simon did not see her, but Jesus saw her, and Jesus sees you.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And there's something powerful about being seen by Jesus.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's enough, even when you're overlooked by all others.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look at verse 44.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: 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.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus is so humble.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I don't think he would have made a deal, a big deal about Simon's poor hospitality if Simon hadn't expressed contempt for the woman.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But Jesus, throughout the Gospels, this is amazing.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: One of my things I love him the most for, Jesus, throughout the Gospels, always defends extravagant devotion against its accusers, especially pragmatists.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, Jesus loves the extravagant devotion of this woman.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The reason why is because this is the mark of cultural Christianity right here.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The mark of being a Christian in name only and nothing else is that Jesus is peripheral to your life, but you do not host his presence in daily life.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Said differently, maybe you've even let him into your house, but you don't love his presence.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Verse 45 says, She has not ceased to kiss my feet.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: One of the ways I prepare a sermon is I spend some like long, unhindered time just lingering over the text, asking the Holy Spirit to illumine things to my attention.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And he made me linger over these words right now.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: She has not ceased to kiss my feet.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And I wrote in the margin, I wrote, Lord, inflame in me unceasing affection for Jesus.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's not fake, it's not counterfeit.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Unceasing affection for Jesus is what it looks like to receive the forgiveness of Jesus.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus' feet are mentioned in this text seven times.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: They're kind of like a main character.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The feet of Jesus.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Why?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What's the big deal?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Well, if you read the Gospels and even Acts 20, verse 3, it becomes 22, verse 3, it becomes clear the feet of your rabbi is the place of discipleship.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But even more, Isaiah 52, 7 says this how beautiful are the feet of him who brings good news.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: There's a beauty to Jesus' feet.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: At this point, they weren't even nail scarred yet.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Our devotion poured out on the feet of Jesus with scars that still remain to this day, even as he's exalted and throned over all things above heaven and earth.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The feet of Jesus are an object of devotion for the disciples of Jesus.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Want to find people who get the gospel?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look for them at the feet of Jesus with unceasing affection.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look at those who don't mind to bow their knees, not out of obligation, but out of joy, out of delight, so they can get low where their Savior is.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But here's the thing: if we mix even a little bit of rule keeping into the gospel, we create distrust between us and God.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Put some conditions in there, and it changes everything.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We weaken the gospel's power to soften our hearts.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The freer grace is, the more powerful it is to change a sinner's heart.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But some people worry that if grace is too free, it's gonna lead to moral laziness.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But the opposite's actually true.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In fact, people use conditions and qualifications to stay distant.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Flannery O'Connor wrote about one of her characters named Hazel Moats, she said this.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He knew that the best way to avoid Jesus was to avoid sin.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, the very thing that people fear, which is free grace, is actually what changes the human heart to hate sin.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The very thing that we need, I'll just say it differently.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Maybe one of the reasons that some of you are stuck in sin today is because you're still trying to earn your way out of it.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, when the light of a free gospel shines on someone's heart, love begins to bubble up within them naturally as a response.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The deepest moral change in a person does not happen when they fear punishment.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The deepest moral change happens when they become convinced that they are saved by grace and grace alone.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And that grace compels them to give their heart fully to God and to turn away from sin.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And the result, empirically, is people who have a more hospitable presence about them.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Like, have you ever been around somebody who, whenever you see them, you feel like you kind of need to tuck your shirt in and like sit up straight and you know talk good and stuff like that?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You've been around somebody like that?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Or have you ever been around somebody who, whenever you're with them, you just feel like you can relax?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The pressure's off.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, forgiven much, love much people create a free space for other people to enter into a space where they can finally be accepted and actually change.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Said differently, I think a healthy church should look less like an HOA meeting and more like a 12-step meeting.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What I mean by that is not yet disciples are attracted to the disciples of Jesus through the hospitable presence of those very people.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: They get grace, they know it's not based on merit, they're not Simon's.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look at verse 47.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which are many.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Notice this, if you look closely at this text, Jesus is the only one who says out loud what everyone else was thinking.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: She's a varsity-level sinner.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Everybody's thinking it.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He's the only one who says it.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's important because Jesus doesn't downplay or dismiss her sins.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Let's just put on 21st century lenses here.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: She's probably got a trauma story that explains her, but it does not excuse her.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: There's a story of a pastor, of a woman who goes to a wise, seasoned old pastor.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And as she sees him and sits down before him, she begins to unpack how she's been working with a therapist for years, and she can rehearse her dysfunctional behaviors that arose from underlying relational dynamics because of her family of origin.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: She can tell him her personality type or Enneagram number or strength finders.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And when she finishes, this grizzled old veteran pastor just looks at her, gently pats her hand, and says, My dear, do you want an explanation or forgiveness?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: See, explanations may be necessary for change.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I actually believe that.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I am a therapist, in case you didn't know.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: They may be necessary, but they are not sufficient.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Our therapeutic culture pathologizes sin and thereby forfeits forgiveness.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus doesn't explain sin, Jesus forgives sin.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus doesn't dismiss sin.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus forgives sin.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's the hope of the world.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He goes on in verse 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: For she loved much.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This is important to get love does not earn forgiveness.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Forgiveness.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Love reveals forgiveness received.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Unceasing affection flows from experienced grace and nowhere else.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The heart of Christianity is not about doing good, but loving much.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: There's plenty of people who can do good without being good.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But you cannot love much without doing good.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The great love of unceasing affection for Jesus poured out on him will be evident in your life.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Notice this woman never speaks a word in this text.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But it was evident to all.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Her actions tell the story.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So if someone followed you around for a week, would they look at your life and say, Wow, she loves much?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He loves much.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Verse 47, but he who is forgiven little loves little.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So let me just ask you, what's the culture of your home or your marriage or your family?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What does it feel like?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If I asked your spouse or your kids, who's the biggest sinner in your house, what would they say?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Is your house, is your home a meritocracy?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Is it a place where you keep records of wrong?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Or is it a race to the bottom?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Is it a place where you are willing and able to acknowledge yourself as the chief of sinners in your own home?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Is it the kind of place where rapid repentance is celebrated?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Is it the kind of place where Jesus' definition of greatness is on display, which is to love God with all of ourselves and to love our neighbors as ourselves?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He's giving us a clear path how we get there.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Forgiven much equals love much.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look at verse 48.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And he said to her, Your sins are forgiven.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, Who is this?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Who do you think you are?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Who is this who even forgives sins?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now listen, that's actually the right question, especially if you don't know Jesus personally.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's a great question.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Who is this?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And Simon thought he was a teacher, maybe even a prophet.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Yes, and more than a prophet.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, this the people ask, who can forgive sins?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And the cross of Jesus Christ answers, Jesus does.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Fast forward a little bit, and some of Jesus' last words on the cross were, Father, forgive them.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If you know the story, you know that Pharisees are the sort of people who crucified Jesus.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's totally speculative.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Maybe Simon was in that crowd.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But Jesus prayed for their forgiveness.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And you must ask, on what ground?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The ground of the forgiveness that Jesus is praying for in that moment is the very cross he was nailed to.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Apostle Paul, the Apostle Paul describes it like this: what happened on the cross in the words of assurance from earlier in our worship service, Colossians 2, 13, says this, you who were dead in your trespasses, God made alive together with Christ, having forgiven all our trespasses.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: How does this happen?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: How does he do this?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: On what basis?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: By canceling the record of debt.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Hear the language from our story?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The cross is God's way of canceling our record of debt, and the resurrection is God's way of stamping paid in full across the history of this world.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus Himself is the certain money lender from verse 41 who generously gives everything to cancel your debt.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And not an ounce was wasted, which means your debt was pretty great.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But if you belong to Jesus by simple faith, then as far as the East is from the West, East is from the West, so far does he remove our transgressions from us?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I have a friend named Andrew who works in prison ministry, which is the coolest and best place to do ministry, by the way.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Many of the people there don't have to have this sermon.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: They're not the Simon of the Pharisees, they're the woman from the city.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so Andrew goes in there and he has this exercise he does about once a year, I think, where he has them write their worst sins onto a sheet of paper.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now, when they give him this paper, he folds it into a tight little square and they toss it on a cross that he has laying on the floor in this prison.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And then he collects them.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And as they toss them on the cross, they say out loud, I'm handing over my sins to Jesus who died on the cross for me.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Andrew then collects them all, puts them in a bag, and then takes them home.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And on video, he burns the bag.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Apparently, fire in prisons is not a good idea.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And then he comes back and he actually brings the video and he lets them watch the video and he said, they smile, they weep.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: One man even told him he had the most peaceful sleep he's had in ages.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, we all have slips of paper that we need nailed to the cross.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We all have chapters that we'd rather leave unpublished.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We all have those little small pockets of our life where we have difficulty believing that the forgiveness of God even reaches to that place.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But the cross of Christ reveals the unshockable mercy of God.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, either God's forgiving, redeeming, restoring touch reaches down into the darkest crevices of our soul, those places where we are most ashamed and most defeated, or it is worthless.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's either good for everything or it's good for nothing.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so there's a pastor who tells the story of how he preached a sermon like this, and a woman came up to him afterward and she said, I believe in a God of pure love who loves everybody no matter what.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus didn't have to die, he just loves everyone.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: To which this pastor very gently replied, What did it cost your God to love you?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And she said, I guess nothing.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, when the money lender cancels the debt, it means that the money lender rather than the debtor pays the debt.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Forgiveness always brings a cost.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And that cost, the perpetrator's debt is being borne by the lender.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Grace does not merely excuse sin, it pays for sin.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so, what if it's true that Jesus already paid your debt out of love for you?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What if it's true that all you need to do right here, right now, is simply receive that forgiveness?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: How do you do that?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look at the last verse, verse 50.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus said to the woman, Your faith has saved you.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Go in peace.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, forgiveness is given freely and received by simple faith, or it's not forgiveness, it's wages.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Let me ask you this question.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Which one do you think brings more glory to God?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: When you grovel over what happened last week, what you did last week, until you really express that you're sorry enough and plead that you'll never do it again.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so then maybe God will take you back, does that bring God more glory?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Or when you throw yourself at the feet of Jesus and say, Forgive my debt, I know you are rich in mercy.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So as we close, the prophet Micah has this beautiful picture in chapter 7, verse 19.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And it says that God will cast all of our sins into the depths of the sea.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And Corey Tinboom, one of my heroes, was fond of saying it like this: God throws our sins into the deepest sea and then he puts up a sign that says, No fishing.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, God has dealt with your sins.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Don't go back to feel guilty about them over and over again.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Go forward in love because he, she, who is forgiven much, loves much.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Let's pray.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Lord Jesus, we thank you.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We praise you for this good news.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Splashes with the water of grace even now.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Wake us up.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Those of us who are sleepy and self-contented, those of us who are nominal and culturally committed to you.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Wake us up to the staggering, the scandalous beauty of your grace shown in the cross.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Holy Spirit, that's your work.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Faith is a gift.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Give us the gift of faith that we in this room might all go in peace, reconciled back to our God.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We pray this in Jesus' name.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Amen.