Look now with me at the cross and see all of your sins upon Christ. Are there many sins for which you have been forgiven? Then let the love of Jesus Christ fill you to overflowing just like it did with this woman who loved much and wiped her tears with her hair at Jesus' feet. Or maybe you see that you have been forgiven little by Jesus, “whoever has been forgiven little loves little” (Luke 7:47). In other words, if we want to "love much" we need to see that we've been "forgiven much" through Jesus' sacrifice. Friend, keep looking to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, contemplating just what it cost Him and how He humbled Himself, became nothing, emptied Himself and died for you.
Debt canceled! PAID IN FULL! You are forgiven! Oh, may this cause your heart to be overjoyed! May you run and not grow weary! May you sing and shout for joy! May you serve Him will all your heart! Please do not fall into the trap so often heard, "I can forgive, but I'll never forget." This is not how we are forgiven in Christ at the cross! Through Jesus' death, our sins are "blotted out" NEVER TO BE REMEMBERED again!
"I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more." Isaiah 43:25 (NIV)
"...as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." Psalm 103:12 (NIV)
Question 5: What has God removed from you and forgotten?
Think about this for a moment with me. How would it make you feel if someone constantly brought your past sins to mind, reminding you how much you've hurt them, followed by, "I've forgiven you, but I'll just never forget!"? There can be no genuine forgiveness if there's a "but" involved in the transaction of forgiveness.
In the Luke 7 passage we're studying today, we see the following contrast between Simon and the sinful woman:
Then he (Jesus) turned toward the woman and said to Simon:
I came to your house, but you did not give me any water for my feet (v44)
I came to your house, but you did not give me a kiss (v45)
I came to your house, but you did not put oil on my head (v46)
Then he (Jesus) turned toward the woman and said to Simon:
But she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair (v44)
But this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet (v45)
But she has poured perfume on my feet (v46)
"Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little." Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." Luke 7:47-48 (NIV)
The only words Jesus said directly to the woman in this story were, "Your sins are forgiven." This woman is the one who owed the larger debt, the one who owed the "five hundred denarii" and whose sins "were many.” Now she was free and forgiven, loving the One who would go to the cross and carry all her sins and sorrow to die a man of sorrows for her. Oh, friend, have you seen Jesus dying for you, pleading on your behalf with His nail-scarred hands because of His great love for you? (Ephesians 2:4)
"When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner." Luke 7:39 (NIV)
Earlier, we saw a contrast between Simon and the sinful women, but now we see a contrast between Simon and Jesus. Simon saw this woman as a "sinner," but Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." Jesus saw her as pardoned of punishment and free from accusations, knowing He would soon be accused in her place and take her punishment on Himself! Friend, can you see Jesus turning towards you saying, "your sins are forgiven"?
Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus
Spread His praise from shore to shore
How He came to pay our ransom
Through the saving cross, He bore
How He watches o'er His loved ones
Those He died to make His own
How for them He's interceding
Pleading now before the throne
https://sovereigngracemusic.org/music/songs/oh-the-deep-deep-love/
What Jesus said about this woman could be summed up in Isaiah’s experience as well. Read the following passage, keeping the forgiven woman’s experience in mind:
"And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for." 8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am! Send me." Isaiah 6:5-8 (ESV)
This is the message we preach in the church, teach in the church and reach out to the world with. Imagine this woman (or anyone affected deeply by the gospel) coming and sharing her testimony at your church. Sharing the love of Jesus that has deeply affected her heart and therefore her life. Sharing with tears how much she’s been loved and forgiven at the cross. How she’s found help and a home, her dwelling in Christ.
As the church preaches the cross for the forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ shed blood, may we hear more and more testimonies of this incredible love, as people see and receive the love of Jesus and become filled with overflowing love for others.
Though our sins are many and run deep, Jesus' love went even deeper into the depths of death for us. Jesus removed our guilt and sin by shedding His blood and atoning for them on the cross. At the cross, "your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for" as Jesus suffered at the burning altar of the cross under God's wrath—dying as if He were the one who sinned—as if He were the guilty one.
"Be kind and loving to each other, and forgive each other just as God forgave you in Christ." Ephesians 4:32 (NCV)
Question 7: How has this lesson reminded you to forgive as you've been forgiven and love as you’ve been loved?
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Miles writes, "I have been forgiven of a mountain of sin and debt, sometimes it is hard to put full faith and belief in it because I mocked God in my rebellion and sinful choices and Satan can accuse me of being unforgivable. But the proof of God's grace is at the cross. To see my Lord there suffering and being nailed to a cross for my sin, my debt hallelujah what a saviour!!! I don't think I have anyone I havent forgiven and I don't think that I would ever not forgive someone who sins against me."