Four Life Changing Words Series

Four Life Changing Words - Luke 7:36-50 - July 15, 2012

Series: Forgiven For Forever - #1

(Baptism Service)

I very much appreciate that passage we just heard from the book of 2 Chronicles. Those words are a call to humbleness and holiness, to righteousness and revival. The occasion was the finishing of the temple. This would be God’s dwelling place with His people. This is where He would meet with them and they would worship Him. This is where the heart of God would be – with His people in the temple – a testimony to all peoples everywhere of God’s glory and His goodness.

But today that temple is no longer standing. It has been replaced – not by church buildings which we tend to think of as our temples of today - but by something of far greater worth. Scripture says that if you are in Christ Jesus then you, yourself, are the temple of the Holy Spirit, the place in which the Spirit of God now dwells. He resides with you in a very real and personal way. But the call on your life is still the same as it was so long ago – a call to humbleness and holiness, to righteousness and revival as you walk in step with the Spirit of our God.

When we get right down to it we could say that everyone in the world could be placed into one of two broad categories – those who know their sin and are broken by it, who have called out to God for mercy and who have received the true grace of God, and then those who are blind to sin and proud and self-righteous in it, and who, whether they know it or not, live as enemies of God in word, thought and deed. We’re going to meet both of those people in our Scripture passage this morning so I’m going to invite you to turn in your Bibles with me, please, to the Gospel of Luke. Luke, chapter 7, beginning in verse 36. And as we hear the Word of God this day, consider seriously, which of those two categories that find yourself in, which group of people will you identify with? … Let’s begin in verse 36 …

“Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. 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.”

Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. “Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”” (Luke 7:36–50, NIV84)

This past week we wrapped up our Care Group study called, “The Way of the Master.” It’s a DVD study hosted by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron that helps teach Christians how to share their faith. If you’ve never seen it before it is definitely worth taking a look at. You’ll find it challenging, insightful, and truly helpful as you seek to share your faith with others.

One of the segments I appreciated most in each week’s study is where they filmed themselves sharing their faith with ordinary people that they met on the streets. And when I say “ordinary people” I mean people from every walk of life from gang members, to students, to fathers, to businessmen, to housewives – you name it – they just share with everybody. As they speak with each one they follow God’s precepts in sharing biblical truth in that they give the Law of God to the proud and the self-righteous and the grace of God to those humble and broken by the reality of their own sin.