Turn your bibles. Luke, chapter seven. We're marching through the gospel of Luke, looking at different encounters people had with Jesus to better know and love and follow our savior, better learn about who he is and what it means to follow him. Now, question for you. How do you think you would respond if you had an encounter with Jesus Christ like the ones that we've been reading about in Luke? How would you respond? Maybe if you were sitting front row of the teachings of Jesus and you heard some things that he would say, how do you think you would respond if he raised your son from the dead? How would you respond if he gave you sight, if he healed an illness in your life, like, if some kind of miracle from Jesus personally, like, was impacted you? How do you. How would you respond to Christ? Or. Yeah, you can give me an amen anytime. There you go. Let's bring it home a little bit more. How are you currently responding to Jesus Christ? And what is the right way to respond to Jesus Christ? Or how do you have a successful encounter with Jesus? And by successful, I mean you leave changed. It transforms your life. Like, you're different because of that. Or how do you avoid a counterfeit encounter with Jesus? And what I mean by counterfeit is it's just empty. Like, there was an interaction, but it led to no transformation or no change. And perhaps that is a real present threat for a lot of us here, because you're at church, and you come to church and you sing songs and you open your Bible, maybe you serve, maybe you put some money in the plate, like, you participate in the worship, but maybe you're looking to get something from Jesus, but you're not being transformed by Jesus. Like, there's no impact. There's no change in your life. And I see it. I'm not, like, I'm sort of judging. I was gonna say I'm not gonna judge, but, like, there's people in this room that are all, in all different places. And some people, you know, you come and we're singing a song like, I surrender, all talking about the holiness of God, and you got people just goofing around with each other in the service, and it's like, listen, I'm not trying to be that, you know, stick in the mud pastor. Like, never smile at church, but maybe we fail to grasp the holiness of God, and maybe you come so often to church that you're just kind of numb to it and you're missing it. And maybe you're having a counterfeit encounter with Jesus where there's enough proximity but there's no power. There's no transformation. And we're going to look at a story at the end of Luke chapter seven. Which is entitled. Sinful woman is forgiven. And I think it's an unfortunate title. Because it's not just about this sinful woman. In fact, you might say it's not even primarily about this sinful woman. It's really an encounter of two types of sinners. That they have with Jesus. And it's a contrast of two types of responses to Jesus. And get this. They're both for Jesus. They're both showing an interest in Jesus. But one gets saved and one gets rebuked. So let me read the whole account. And then we'll kind of look at it. Not in order, because I want to see, like, how does Jesus interact with this pharisee? And then how does Jesus interact with this sinful woman. And what we can learn from each of those. So, Luke seven, starting in verse 36. You guys ready to go? All right. One of the Pharisees asked him. This is Jesus, asked him to eat with him. And he went into the Pharisees house. And reclined at the table. And behold, a woman of the city who was a sinner. When she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisees 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 wipe them with her hair of her head. And kissed his feet. And anointed them with ointment. 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. And Jesus answered and said to him. Simon, I have something to say to you. That's never good. And he answered, say it, teacher. Careful what you wish for. A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii. And the other 50. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now, which of them will love him more? Simon answered, the one, I suppose, for whom he counseled the larger debt. And he said to him. You have judged rightly. Then, turning toward the woman. He said to Simon. Do you see this woman? I entered your house. And 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 has loved much. But he who has forgiven little loves little. And he said to her, your sins are forgiven. Then those who are at the table with him begin 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. Now, how many of you guys are familiar with this story? Ever heard this account before? It's a pretty well known account in the Bible. And oftentimes we can read this story and kind of grab hold of some surface things, but I want to try to get a little bit deeper and better understand what's happening here. And Luke is in this mission, in his gospel, to present to us Jesus the real, true identity of Jesus and Simon the Pharisee. I'm going to say Simon because that's his name. But don't get confused with Peter that we just talked about. Simon, Peter, Simon. This Pharisee points out, if he was a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. Like, he would know this. And there's this kind of investigation of Jesus. Like, I want to know who you are, and if you're a prophet, you should be able to get this. But what Luke has made clear is he's not just a prophet. This is more than a prophet. This is somebody who forgives sins. Now, who can forgive sins. God. Jesus is Emmanuel God with us. And this is what Luke is kind of presenting. Like, you need to see the real Jesus. So if Jesus is not just a prophet, if he is Emmanuel God with us, how then should we respond to Jesus? Like, what would be an appropriate response to Jesus? And let's look at the contrast between the Pharisee and the prostitute. I'm gonna call her a prostitute because I think that's what she was. She's called a woman of the city and a sinner. And there's some other indicators to that in the story as well that we'll see. But two people encounter Jesus, two very different outcomes. And it's not that one was for Jesus and one was against. Both are showing interest in Jesus, but one gets saved, and one kind of has a friendly, yet unsaving, untransforming encounter with Jesus. And the shock of the characters is part of the message. Like, you can't have two more opposite characters in the story. You have an elite, respected leader in society and then a despised sinner of the town. And they're brought together in an unusual circumstance. And both have an encounter with Jesus. And the one you think would be the hero is not. And the one you think would be the villain is not. And there's this twist that's part of the point. Being right with God is not about who is the most moral. Now, I'm not saying morality doesn't matter. Don't hear that. I'm saying morality doesn't save us. So if you're somebody who might more easily identify with the woman in the story. That you have a past, or maybe you have a present. And you got that list like you're more of the despised group. And you got a lot of sins. And you're like, you don't know where I've been or what I've done. And it's shameful. I want you to lean in because there's hope in this story. Or maybe if you're more like the Pharisee. Where your past is more respectable, your present is more honorable. Like, you don't have those baggage stories. I want you to lean in because there is a warning in this text that we need to hear. So let's look at verse 36. And we'll kind of look at different verses throughout here. We're going to hit them all. Because they all got stuff to tell us. Verse 36. One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him. Jesus got an invite from a Pharisee. Now, don't fly by that too quickly. Because this is a bit of a risk on this Pharisees part. If you remember another Pharisee that Jesus interacted with, it was Nicodemus. And when did they have their interaction? At night. Because those two groups didn't get along too well. The Pharisees weren't too fond of Jesus. Yet there's curiosity. And Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night with some questions. Well, Simon, this Pharisee, he invites him over. So there's a bit of a risk of you're coming to my house. I'm showing interest in you. I've heard of some of your miracles. Perhaps I've even seen some of your miracles. I've heard your teaching. And you have my attention. I'm curious and I'm listening here. Let's talk. But he's playing it safe now. Safe. That is a very popular word in our society right now. And I hate it. I want to punch myself in the throat every time somebody says it. But it seems like it's elevated to, like, the highest virtue is your safety. And you just always have to be safe. Now, we find safety in Jesus, but you cannot play it safe with Jesus. This is the Jesus that says, come and die, take up your cross, follow me on the narrow road. Like he's asking people to step out in faith in risky endeavors. But this Pharisee seems to be playing it a bit safe. He's not rejecting Jesus. It's just on his terms. Like, I'm not worshiping you. I'm not following you. I'm not one of your disciples, but why don't you come over for dinner? Why don't you come over for dinner? And I know you raise people from the dead, and I'm not going to say that's not cool, but I'm going to cut some flack at work for this, okay? You're not too popular with my people. And it's Jesus on his terms. It's what he's comfortable with. We're going to stay in my comfort zone, and maybe you could relate to that. Maybe that's where you find yourself. You're not against Jesus. You just want to stay in your comfort zone. And I'm going to do this, but I'm not going to do that. And I'm willing to do this, but I'm not going to do that. I mean, I'm going to come to church, but I'm not going to sing because that's just weird, right? And I'm going to volunteer, but not with them because they're crazy, right? Or I'm going to give some money, but I'm not going to, like, give some money. Like, check the purse or the pockets. I'm going to do this as far as my comfort zone allows. I'm going to engage with Jesus on my terms. Well, let's see how that goes. Look at verse 44. We're going to look at Jesus addressing those pharisees. Then we'll look at the woman. Then turning toward 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. And you did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Now, this had to be awkward because Jesus gets invited to this prominent figure's house and critiques his hospitality to his face. It's like, yeah, this hosting thing, you're not good at it. You didn't give me any water for my feet. You haven't shown me no honor. You haven't treated me like a good guest at all. Like he is critiquing his hospitality to his face. Now his hospitality doesn't even seem to be up to par with normal guest standards. There was no water offered to his feet. There was no seem to kind of welcome him into his home in that way. He's treating them a bit like an equal at best. Like, I'm just having another guy over my house. Now this is not directly connected, but a little bit of a sidebar is I want to just warn us a bit against the Jesus as my homeboy theology. Like you're just going to go up and fist bump Jesus and we lose a reverence and a holiness for who he is. And just because he is a friend of sinners doesn't mean that you should lose a reverence we have for him as our lord and savior and our king. And this pharisee, Simon, is inviting Jesus into his house, but showing no honor to Jesus, not even normal guest standards, not even just an honored guest. I mean, Jesus is Emmanuel. He's God in flesh in his home, and he's missing it. Now how weird might this sound to Simon, verse 44. Then turning toward 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's not stopped, ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Like this is the critique that Jesus is giving Simon. How might he hear this? What do you want from me? You want me to, like, kiss you? You want me to bow down and wash your feet? You want me to kind of anoint you with oil? Like, what are you looking for? Just like, yes, yes. Like, what do you want from me, Jesus? You want me to take up my cross and die? Yes. Yes. Is he ready for that? See, Simon, you think you're into me because you had me over for dinner, but you're not. Not in any kind of saving kind of way. And maybe the same could be said of you. Like you think you're into Jesus because you come to church or you're in a connection group or you give some money, but you're not. Like not in any kind of saving way. It's Jesus in your comfort zone, it's Jesus on your terms. Now, let's look at how the woman responded to Jesus. Look at verse 37. And behold, a woman of the city who was a sinner. When she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisees 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 wipe them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now, I've often pictured this story like, because we tend to read biblical stories and kind of try to picture how they happened, but we only know what we know. So when we look at the scenario, we try to like, well, how would this play out in our context? What might this look like? And I've kind of pictured this story before of Jesus is at Simon's house, and they're at the table, sitting in their chairs. And this woman kind of barges in in this very kind of bold disruption of their dinner, and kind of bows down under the table, washing Jesus feet, making this big disruption. But they don't have tables and chairs. That's not how they were eating. They were sprawled out, probably leaning on their left elbow, eating food with their right hand, with their feet behind them and their sandals off. And this banquet would have been much more of a public event than what we're used to. Not at the table. At the table is where the invited guests are. But it was more of an open air dinner, where, as people would walk by, they would kind of eavesdrop or come and listen in on. You got these two prominent figures having a dinner discussion. And this is like nightly entertainment. Let's kind of listen to what's happening. And you would have a lot of people walking around, more than just the servers, listening to this meal and this conversation happening at this meal. And most likely, she was probably not noticed for a while, says that she was standing behind him, probably listening in. And I'm guessing this was less of a public act than we might picture it, or less of a public act than what she intended it to be. She's standing behind him. His feet are extended towards her. His sandals are off. She's impacted by what she's hearing. And she kneels down and begins to clean his feet. There's no water. And she's obviously emotionally moved. She's crying, she's kissing his feet, wiping them with her tears. And to wipe his feet with her hair would have been a big no no in that culture. For a woman to let her hair down in public could be seen by some rabbis as grounds for divorce. Now, we hear that from our cultural context, and we think, how strange, how oppressive. That's not right. And we can have some discussions on those kind of cultural implications. But before we kind of get too culturally arrogant, like, it wasn't just about, you can wear your hair any way you want to wear your hair. Like, what you did in public said something. And what that was saying in that culture was shameful. When a woman would let her hair down, that expressed vulnerable openness sexually. Even today, if you're watching a movie and there's a scene and there's a guy and a girl, and she kind of lets her hair down and flops it around, you're like, oh, get ready to fast forward. We know it's coming right. Or maybe your hair was already down. Maybe that was part of the profession in the vibe that she was giving out. But this adds to the shock of the event, because Simon even says, do you not know what kind of woman is touching you? Like, it's clear, like, what kind of prophet are you? Like, you can't even discern what's obvious to everybody else in our culture. Well, you're a terrible prophet. You're blind. If you were a prophet, you would obviously know this. But there's huge irony in that statement in Luke's writing here, because who's more blind, Jesus, who said to can't see what type of woman is touching him, or Simon, who can't see, who's actually dining at his table with him? Is it Jesus that doesn't know what type of woman is touching him? Or is it Simon that doesn't know that it's God in his living room? Like, he's the one that's missing this. And what Jesus is saying is like, listen, it doesn't matter what kind of person you have been in the past. If kissing the feet of Jesus is the type of person you are being in the present now, that's not to say that her lifestyle didn't matter. Like, don't make that conclusion. That's just a cheap way to give permission to your own sinfulness. And that's not what the story is about. And some people can take that and think, it doesn't matter how I live Monday through Saturday, as long as I'm at church Sunday, singing my heart out, loving Jesus. But that makes. That's like a counterfeit encounter with Jesus. It's not transforming. It leaves no impact. You're not changed. And this is changing this woman's life. Like, you can see it. It's in the details, but you kind of have to know what you're looking for. So let's look at what's happening here. She had this Alabaster flask. We think of a flask, it's like, you know, it's like something small enough put in your coat pocket. People put alcohol in it. But this flask is something a little bit different than that. We hear that she has this anointment that she brings and breaks over his feet. So we're thinking, like, this large bottle of perfume or something like that. But most likely this was a small flask that she wore around her neck. And a flask. The way they would make these flasks is they had such a long, thin opening that it was tough to even get anything out. Like, even just a drop. So think of, like, a tabasco jar. We use tabasco sauce. Like a good american. Okay. All right. Like, you gotta shake that thing pretty hard just to get some drops out. Like, that's kind of like this flask that she had wearing around her neck. And she probably had to break it to get enough of that ointment out to anoint his feet with it. And the purpose was to serve as perfume. It wasn't for the ointment. It was for the aroma. Now, it would have been extremely expensive, perhaps the most valuable thing she owned. But let's be good bible students and good bible students ask questions. What's she doing with that? Like, why does she have something like that? Why is that the most expensive thing that she owns? Think of it like this. If you're a golfer, you're going to have expensive golf clubs. And if you're a prostitute, you're going to have really nice perfume. This is an investment into her career. This is part of her work. This is part of her lifestyle. And what she is saying when she is breaking that open to pour it over the feet of Jesus is, I am done with that life. I don't need this anymore because of Jesus. This is no longer the most important thing that I have. It's not the most valuable thing that I own because I have Jesus. Like, she's connecting some dots here. What's the most valuable thing that you own? Would you break it for Jesus? Like, this act says a lot. Everything that I'm looking for in this lifestyle, my value, my belonging, my security, is now found in Christ. She's definitely not playing it safe. Like, she takes some risk in expressing the. This devotion and passion for Jesus. Like, there's some public shame here. To let her hair down like that, to wash his feet, to kiss her feet, to break this. Like, this is pretty extravagant. She's not playing it safe here. Like, when you try to contrast Simon's encounter or response to Jesus and this prostitute's response to Jesus, like, maybe the best way to. And we've talked about this before, but maybe the best way to see it is, like, I think, guys, you'll especially get this, but everybody will get this. Guys, has there ever been a girl that you've really liked, like, really liked, and you're going to take the risk to kind of express your feelings to her, let her know how you feel, and you go up and kind of do that, and what she tells you is, well, let's just be friends right now. When you hear that, you don't run back to your buddies and be like, she wants to be my friend. That is like the most polite rejection you can get. And it's done so well. And women, you're so good at that. Like, you've mastered that. Like, you can walk away. Like, I don't know if I just got rejected or not. Like, are we still in this? No, that's a rejection. Okay, just to be clear, that's a rejection. You put yourself out there. It's like, I don't want to be friends. I thought we already were friends. I'm trying to go beyond friends. I want to be more than friends. But you get this rejection of, let's just be friends. But it's put so nicely, it's put so friendly that you don't see it as a rejection. And Jesus comes, it's like, I'm not looking to be your friend. I'm not looking to be your colleague. I'm not looking to be your homeboy. I'm God, and I'm looking to be worshipped. But Simon's response is kind of like, well, let's just be friends. You can come over for dinner, but it's on my terms, and we're going to stay within my comfort zone. But the woman, she's all in. I'm responding to who you are. I'm responding to what you're offering. And there's freedom in an all in relationship with Christ. Surrendering to Jesus, she finds that she's freed from all else. She's freed from what other people might think of her. She's freed from the social constraints. She's freed from being made fun of or condemned by others. It doesn't matter anymore. Look at verse 48. This is Jesus finally, up until this point, he's only addressing Simon. He finally addresses the woman. He says, he said to her, your sins are forgiven. Then those who are at the table with him began saying among themselves, who is this? Who even forgives sins? And he said to the woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. What faith? She hadn't said anything the whole time. She didn't say anything. She didn't make any kind of proclamation on what she believed. But what did she do? What she did. Said enough. Like, she worshipped Jesus. She showed her faith. Remember, we just got done going through the book of James. You know, faith without works is dead. You show me your faith apart from your works, and by my works, I'll show you my faith. Like your actions say something and her actions declared her faith. You know, it's one thing just to say, I believe in Jesus. You know, I'm a Christian, or kind of, whatever kind of words you put to it, it's another thing to live like it, to live like it where other people can make an accurate conclusion of your faith. And that's what's happened in this story. She didn't say anything, but her faith was evident to other people. Is your faith evident to other people? Would it be clear? Because God gets no glory when we live just like everybody else. God gets glory when our faith in him impacts every square inch of our life. It shapes the way we parent, it shapes our marriage, it shapes the way we handle money, it shapes our calendar, it shapes our behavior, our emotions, everything. Then your faith is evident. And I love her last word, his last words to her, he says, go in peace or go into peace. Like peace is now your journey in life. It's going to be defined by peace. Now, what was her journey in life before this? Strife, opposition, shame. But now you have a different path. Go into the peace that I give you. So listen, church, here's what I want us to remember. Those who come to Jesus as worshippers in need of grace find peace now and forevermore. Now and forevermore, those who come to Jesus as worshippers in need of grace. And those two things are crucial. It's not just that you see your need. You're a worshiper of Jesus. And not just that. You're a worshiper of Jesus. You see your need. And when those two things are together, you find peace now and forever. And the reason that I say forever is he's talking about the forgiveness of sin. Sin is an offense against God. It's a rebellion against a holy God. And when that is forgiven. When that is dealt with, when that is paid for, then reconciliation back to God is possible. And a relationship with God that lasts forever is now given to us. So he's saying this peace is forever. And the analogy of salvation that he's using is the canceling of debt. But listen guys, debt is never just canceled, no matter what the government tells you. It doesn't work that way. You can't just cancel debt like somebody's paying for it, okay? And in this situation, it's either the person who owes the debt pays or the one who it's owed to absorbs it and eats it. But the debt exists and it has to be dealt with. So either you're going to pay it or the one you owe it to is going to absorb it. They're going to take it, they're going to eat it. And we've said before, like the way you read the gospels, you read them backwards, right? Remember I was talking about that, that everything you read in the gospels needs to be read in the shadow of the cross. And what he's saying to this woman is like, I'm going to forgive your debt. You know how I'm going to absorb it. I'm going to pay what you owe and you can't pay. You have a debt you can't pay. I'm going to pay it on the cross. I'm going to take your shame, I'm going to take your guilt. I'm going to take your offense. I have the power to forgive sin because I'm going to take it. Those who come to Jesus as worshippers in need of grace find peace now and forever. Forever when your sins are forgiven. Church, get this, you have forever peace. And the type of debt canceling or the type of forgiveness Jesus offers is complete forgiveness, eternal forgiveness, complete payment. His grace is sufficient for you is what Paul says. It's sufficient to cover your debt. Think of your debt before God. The grace of Jesus Christ is sufficient to pay it. It lasts forever. But the reason I say now that those who come to Jesus as worshippers in need of grace find peace now and forever. It's because seeing Jesus for who he is, our lord and savior, our king, and receiving grace and forgiveness from him has now impacts. It has. This is going to change my life now. This means the most valuable thing to me I'm willing to break now. This means I'm going to go in peace now like it has a now impact on your life. Look at verse 40. And Jesus answering said to him, simon, I have something to say to you? And he answered, say it, teacher. A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii and the other 50, when they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now, which of them will love him more? Simon answered, the one, I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt. And he said to him, you have judged rightly. Now, it's clear in this parable who's who, right? When he's telling this story to Simon. It doesn't take much to figure out who represents who in this parable. So the guy that just owes 50 denarii, who do you think that is? The tax collector or the prostitute? Tax collector or, I'm sorry, the Pharisee, not the tax collector. Different story. Also a really good story. We should cover that one sometime as well. So who owes the 50? The Pharisee or the prostitute? All right. Who owes the 500? Prostitute. Okay, you get it. It's obvious right? Now. Simon could hear this story and he could think like, oh, Jesus gets it. I'm better than she is. Like, he knows it. I'm not as bad as she is. He understands that I'm much better of a person. And he can make that conclusion. But he would be missing it. Look back at verse 41 42. A certain moneylender had two debtors. Who do you think the moneylender is? In the story? Yeah. God. He owed 500 denarii. One debtor owing 500 there. And the other 50, when they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Underline they. When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. That's an important word in this story. They both could not pay. Now, when you have a debt and you cannot pay it, does it matter if it's 50 or 500? You can't pay it. It can be 5000, it can be $5. You can't pay it. That's the point. Now, we have a hard time getting that because we think in amounts. And we're like, no, I would much rather be in $50 of debt than 500. Like, we think that way. It's like, no, it does matter. But think of it like this one. Let's say somebody dies in their sleep. Goes to sleep one night, just never wakes up, dies in their sleep. Another person gets mugged, shot 17 times and decapitated. Who's more dead, right? That's what he's saying. It's like you're both in debt. You both can't pay it. At this point, the amount doesn't really matter. You are both in the same situation. You're just blind to it. Simon, you are more similar to this woman than you realize, and you can't see it. That's your problem. That's your problem. So, yeah, her debt is big, but she knows it. She knows she can't pay it, so she clearly sees her need. But the size of your debt, it's blinding. It's blinding you to your need. You are just as dead as she is. You are caught in a debt you can't pay. And if you knew it, you would be kissing my feet, too. Then he says this. 47. Therefore, I tell you her sins, which are many, I'll give you, that are forgiven. For she loved much, but he who is forgiven little loves little. Now, is the point that Jesus is trying to make. Hey, if you want to be a better lover of people, go sin more. No. So what is the point he's trying to make? What is he getting at in that statement? Now, we understand this principle of the amount of your gratitude is probably connected to the amount of the forgiveness that you receive. If somebody owes you $5 and they're like, ah, don't worry about it. You're like, oh, thanks. That's super nice. Right? But if he, like, owes you a car or how. And you're like, no, on me, a little bit more gratitude, right? Like, we understand what he's saying. It's not complex here, but notice Jesus is connecting the size of the debt you think you owe God and your belief in the forgiveness of that debt to the capacity of your love. Now, so let me ask you a question. How much do you think you owe God? Do you believe you have been completely forgiven of every sin and offense that you have had against a holy God? And if so, what kind of impact is that having on you right now? See, if we would know how bad we are, we would be better worshipers. And maybe that's your problem. You don't know how bad you are. I mean, we know we're sinners. I bet if we sat down and we just had a conversation, you would know that you were only human, and nobody's perfect, and you wouldn't even pretend to be perfect. But maybe you forgot how bad, how offensive your sin is. And, Grace, isn't that amazing if you don't think you really need it? I mean, not as much as other people. You are worse than you realize. And I know I say that, and you're saying, like, I'm already struggling with self esteem. I already think I'm bad enough. You didn't need to say that. I don't think you think you're bad enough. You are worse than you realize. Your sin is more offensive than you can comprehend. But at the same time, you are more loved than you could ever imagine. And it's those two things together that's the key to christian freedom and joy. When did this woman, the city, had this profound awakening of her own sinfulness in need of a savior? Was it during the walk of shame after a night of sin? No. It was standing at the feet of Jesus, listening to his teaching. If you want to know how sinful you truly are, don't look in the mirror. Look in the Bible. Look to the holiness of God, and you will have a profound revelation of your brokenness. And that revelation will be so helpful for you and the beginning of real joy and freedom. This is interesting. We're all looking for joy. We're all looking for peace. We're all looking for contentment. We're all looking for freedom. And so often today, the pursuit of those things is connected to a push towards self esteem. You need to understand how awesome you are, how special you are, how unique you are. But that's not what Jesus does like. He sends her in peace. But Jesus says, if you want real freedom and real joy and real peace, you need to start by knowing how sinful you are. You need to know how in need you are. You need to know how helpless you are. You need to know how much you've offended a holy God. Because, listen. A joy or a freedom or a peace built on your own self esteem will crumble in this life because you will fail. And when you fail, if that's what your joy is built on, it's going to crumble. But a joy and a freedom and a peace built on God's grace will be a firm foundation. Because where you fail, the grace of God will never. Your standing with God will never fail. His grace will always be sufficient for you, and you will always be loved by him. His grace is amazing. It's amazing. Do you know you need it? Do you know how desperate you need it? Do you know how available it is to you? Has it changed your life? Has it made it made you a worshiper of him? Are you more like the Pharisee in the story, or are you more like the woman? And when I say more like the Pharisee, I'm saying you're not against Jesus. You would love to have him over for dinner, and you would love to have a relationship with him within your comfort zone, on your terms. Or are you more like the woman who is absolutely broken by her sin, sees her savior and falls down in worship because one of these characters gets saved and the other gets rebuked. Which one do you want to be? Guys, God is canceling debt. How much do you think you owe? And if you understood the size of your debt and how big it is, would you begin to better understand how big God's forgiveness is? If you could better understand how big God's forgiveness is, the size of your gratitude grow and the size of your joy grow and the size of your worship grow. And as we remember communion, we don't think about this often because we go through a routine, but communion is a very violent, disgusting remembrance. We're remembering somebody's body who was hung on a cross and his blood that was shed and were commanded to eat and drink it. What communion is supposed to say is like, hey, hey, see your sin. See how awful your sin is. See how severe your sin is. See the cost of your sin. Be disgusted by your sin. Know what the forgiveness of your sin took. And see that somebody took it. See the gratitude, the grace of God, and how his grace is sufficient for your sin and that you are loved and forgiven by God. And those two things together is what leads us to go in peace. Amen. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you would not let us be like Simon, who just tries to stay friends with you and just tries to pursue you on our own terms, in our own comfort zone and misses out on the freedom and peace that only you could give. Make us be more like the woman who is absolutely broken over her sin and overwhelmed at the grace found in Jesus Christ, that we would be people who break the most valuable thing to us because it is no longer the most valuable thing because you are. Change our life. Change our life because of worship. Help us see our sin and our savior and be full of gratitude. We pray this in your name. Amen.