A Prostitue, A Pastor and the Nazerine (Luke 7)

Joshua Kehler: Luke chapter seven.

I want to start a little series having wrapped up Jonah, I want to spend a couple

weeks and I want it to be two parts.

and that is there's certain passages of scripture that have formed me.

shaped me.

me and Andrew were talking about it this morning.

what is the one passage that like had a profound effect in your

life that, sometimes you come up against the passage or a story.

and it just rocks your world and you're not the same after having encountered it.

And it can even be something you've heard multiple times before.

It could be something you've preached, like for me.

And then all of a sudden it gets ahold of you in a brand new way.

So two parts, I want to teach on some of these pivotal places in scripture

that have formed and shaped my life, and transformed my life and, and how I

understand the gospel and, how I want to grow in that and continue to understand

and grow in the gospel as just as we were singing that last song, it is

well with my soul by Horatio Spafford.

he wrote that out of the loss when his kids died, they drowned and his wife,

the, they, he had sent them on ahead, to England and, their boat went down.

And, she wrote a telegram to him, with two words saved alone, that his

kids had drowned and, on the spot, the captain said, this is where it is.

And he composes it as well with my soul.

And I think it's so profound just hearing that song, because he starts to recount

the gospel, he's starts thinking about, Oh, my sin, the thought, not in part,

but in whole it's nailed to the crowd.

that's where he's finding comfort in this.

In the face of such tragic loss is recounting the gospel story to himself.

So we're a community.

We want to ever grow in that.

And, I want to keep growing in that.

So I, what I'm going to ask is I'm going to ask you guys to share

maybe one of you a week, what scripture, what passage, what story.

And the Bible has transformed your life, has just changed.

It has rocked your world, has not left you the same, and you can have five

minutes, you can have 10 minutes, you can have the whole time if you want.

and I'll keep preaching and we'll just feel it out.

so we'll spend a couple of weeks on this and then we'll jump into another book

and make our way through that next book.

This is one of the first places that I came to scripture and it was alive, it was

vibrant, it was like wrestling with me.

And one of the first times that I ever got the whole concept

of who are you in the story.

now I used to place myself in the story, in Bible stories,

but I was along good company.

I was like, next to David, or next to to Gideon or, I'd place myself in the

story right next to the hero and stuff.

And this was the first time that, as I, read this, it was the first

time it was, like, dawning on me.

It was like somebody rang my bell.

It was all of a sudden I realized, I'm not this person in the story.

I think I'm this person in the story.

And it changed my life to realize who I was and to really let that in

and search me and wrestle with me.

because it's one thing if you're pretty good and you just need a little, vitamin

shot to make you a little better.

It's another thing if you realize I need to be rescued like my whole

life has to be rescued right now.

I have to be rescued every single day.

I am, I need God's grace.

And I need it in truckloads.

I need it in train car after train car.

I need, and then to begin to worship.

To see that he provides that where sin did abound grace hyper abounds that

he gives himself away to you Like not holding back that he is for you and

not against you that he loves you And so I'm gonna pick up the story just to

give it a little bit of context This one has a one two punch because this also

is another one of the stories that both really impacted me and Andrea but Jesus

is ministering and Here's a little bit of what happens verse 18 The disciples

of John reported all these things to him.

John's in prison for speaking out, against sin and evil.

And so he's in jail for it.

And John calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord saying, are

you the one who is to come or shall we look for another, which is a huge thing.

A huge development in the story, right?

John the Baptist, the baptizer.

He is the one who said, I'm not worthy to unloosen his sandal strap.

that's how amazing he is.

He said, he must increase, and I must decrease.

As his disciples, who he had discipled and spent years pouring

into, begin to gravitate to Jesus.

And John's yes, that's what it's here.

I was just preparing the way he's the one who called out, behold, the lamb of

God who takes away the sin of the world.

But now he's in prison.

He's in jail for doing what was right.

And there's no rescue party.

There's no people beating down the door.

Jesus isn't leading the captives free like he promised.

And so John in that place says, In a moment of crisis, are you really Him?

Or should we look for somebody else?

Why?

Because you're not living up to my expectations of what God

should be and what He should do.

And we all have that struggle from one time or another.

Does, God does not live up to our expectations.

God just, when we think He should go right, He goes left, or he, he takes

a whole different approach on things.

And it can be really trying, and it was trying for John.

he sends two of his disciples, Shall we look for another?

And when the men had come to him, they said, John the Baptist has sent us to

you, saying, Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?

In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and

on many who were blind he bestowed sight.

And he answered them, Go and tell John.

What you have seen and heard, the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the

lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the

good news preached to them, and blessed is the one who is not offended because of me.

So what he does is he begins to heal, he begins to preach the good news.

It's all the credentials of the Messiah that any good Jewish person would know.

In the book of Isaiah they said, if you want to know what the Messiah

looks like when he comes, he's going to be doing these things.

He's going to be preaching to the poor.

He's going to be preaching good news.

He's going to be healing blind.

He's going to be raising the dead.

He's going to be doing all these things this is the Messiah.

This is the one we've been looking for.

So he doesn't just give John a message.

He backs up with John's knowledge of scripture, who

he is to have that foundation.

ever secure.

And then he says one of the greatest lines that Jesus has uttered.

He's uttered a lot of great lines.

He seems to be good at that.

But he says, blessed is he who is not offended because of me.

Blessed is the one.

oh, how happy is the one who isn't upset at the way I use

my sovereignty and your life.

Oh, how happy is the one who isn't upset at how I rule in your life as

King of kings and It's life changing.

The first time I got that, I wept for two hours straight

because that was my wrestle.

God, are you going to take my kids?

Are you going to make me sacrifice?

Are you going to lead me down this road?

Are you going to?

I was suspicious of his sovereignty.

I was suspicious of his goodness.

I was suspicious of the trials that as a young man loomed ahead because

I'd seen enough saints walk the path.

Nobody walks it, just clear sailing.

it's not our lot.

Because we're also showing the world that over any other good thing in

this life, he's our true treasure,

that he's our true satisfaction, that he is living water.

When there's all these other things that the world offers that you can drink from

all these other ways to be satisfied.

so this is the context.

Okay.

because now Jesus is going to go in and he's going to share

the gospel, the good news.

And it's so beautiful.

But let that search you and haunt you.

And it changed me to really come and go, okay, Lord, I'm going

to trust you with everything.

And I'm not going to be offended.

Sometimes I still am, but I'm not going to be upset at the way you're

writing my story and your story.

I'm going to let you be God.

And I'm going to take my hands off of my life in the sense that I can control it,

that I can, I'm going to take my hands off my life and that I'm wiser than you are.

And I'm going to lean into you as a good father.

Jesus said you being evil compared to him, know how to

give good gifts to your children.

How much more does a heavenly father give good gifts to those

who ask like he is for you.

But it's that scary jump.

It's scary for John, the baptizer who had this revelation that Jesus

was the Messiah, that he was to spend his life preparing the way

and God had not lived up to his expectations and he doesn't find out.

He goes back and he messes it.

He goes, okay.

It's rooted in the authority of Scripture in the Old Testament, the credentials

of the Messiah, but he gets beheaded.

But as soon as he goes into glory, he's oh, my eyes are opened.

I was looking for a localized Redeemer.

Somebody who would take the nation of Israel and make it whole again.

But you're trying to redeem from Satan, sin, and death itself.

Oh, you're trying to restore the world.

So the way that you, Oh, I was thinking on such a small scale

when you are actually changing and rewriting the universe itself.

So listen, he's, so he goes away and now Jesus talks John up.

I love it.

verse 24, when John's messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak

to the crowds concerning John.

What did you go out into the wilderness to see a reed shaken by the wind?

What thing did you go out to see?

A man dressed in soft clothing?

Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live

in luxury are in kings courts.

What then did you go out to see?

A prophet?

Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before your face,

who will prepare your way before you.

I tell you, among those born of women, There is none greater than John.

Wouldn't that have been nice for him to hear?

But Jesus, again, in his sovereignty, knows what John needs to wrestle with.

is the question of sovereignty and plan.

And so when the disciples go away, Jesus is Guys.

There is no greater prophet that has ever existed born of

women than John the baptizer.

There's no more dedicated There's no more person who's been righteous and who

has given their life away self sacrifice comfort living out in the desert like

just seeking God his entire life There's been nobody in the history of the world

like John and then he drops the bomb.

This is insane I tell you, among those born of women, none is greater than

John, yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

That's amazing.

And the whole crowd is going to think it's, half the crowd's

going to think it's amazing.

But what is he saying?

He's saying there is a righteousness coming your way that is given to

you and not one that you earned.

That has laid over your life a new record that is a foreign righteousness.

John, yes, is dedicated, but the least in the kingdom who believes

in me is covered in my perfection.

And so he's greater in the kingdom because you have a foreign righteousness.

let's see if the crowd gets this.

Is he picking up on it?

Verse 29, when all the people heard this, and the tax collectors

too, they declared God just.

Having been baptized with the baptism of John, and this is really important

link for understanding in that day it to become a Jewish person You would

baptize yourself You would go down to the river and you would wash yourself

clean as a way of ritual as a way of cleansing Purification and then you

would be invited into the community when John the baptizer comes on the scene

It's so my loan because he's baptizing people and his baptism and everybody's

talking about this weird baptism.

Why what is this?

He's, how did he prepare the way, he's preparing everybody's heart

for the truth that you cannot clean yourself to make yourself

acceptable for the community of God.

You must be cleansed at the hands of another.

That's how the baptism prepared their hearts.

that cleansing must come.

From outside you it must come at the hands of another and the tax

collectors when it says they declared they begin yelling They're like what?

We did it Yes, and they started there.

Yes, that makes sense.

It's amazing.

That's What we've been longing to hear, good news about God saving man,

good news about being welcomed in, good news about a righteousness that

we can't earn or present to ourself.

they, get it, and the Pharisees get it too.

Listen to what it says.

So awesome.

Having been baptized with the baptism of John, but the Pharisees

and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves,

not having been baptized by him.

And so what happens is, they're like, no.

We spend our lives being dedicated.

We've spent our lives cleansing ourselves.

We spent our lives performing.

We don't need to be cleansed at the hands of another.

We're not bad.

we might, we might, we're not perfect, but we're relatively, especially compared

to the crowd and the tax collectors and the sinners, we're the good ones.

We don't need to be washed.

We cleansed at the hands of another.

We're doing pretty good for ourselves.

Deeply offended.

deeply offended that Jesus would say you need a righteousness that

you can't produce on your own.

You need a cleansing that comes from outside of you, one that

you cannot do on your own.

And it's so fascinating because the crowd gets it.

The sinners, the broken, they're like, Yes!

Yes!

It's like good news and there's power in the news itself.

It's not about being clever.

Paul said I didn't come with sophistication and all.

I just came simply with the cross and the foolishness of the cross.

I, I didn't know like anything.

I purposed to not know anything except for the cross of Jesus Christ, right?

Because he got it, that the power is in the message itself, it's not

in the person telling the message.

Paul, by all example, is not a dynamic speaker.

People were falling asleep when he'd preach, right?

but man, he would let the lion out of the cage and people were getting saved!

the gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

It is itself the power, you just let it loose, you open the cage, you let the

lion out, and the lion does its business.

So, Jesus then tells us a little parable.

about the fickleness of the generation.

To what child then I compare the people of this generation?

What are they like?

They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another.

We played the flute for you and you did not dance.

We sang a dirge and you did not weep.

For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine.

And you say he has a demon.

The son of man has come eating and drinking.

And you say look at him, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend

of tax collectors and sinners.

Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.

He says, you didn't like John, you rejected John because

he was preparing the way.

you rejected him, then I come, and I'm drinking, and I'm eating, and

you're like, Oh, look at this glutton, look at this, and Jesus says, Wisdom

is justified by your children.

it's revealed in the fruit, That the wise that the wisdom produces

the theology right and so like People say hey, here's the wise way.

let's see what the implications of that are in a couple years, right and

Wisdom is justified so he gets all this the crowd is stirred There's, in this

crowd, a lot of broken people and a lot of people who seem put together.

And so Jesus is going to narrow the story.

He's going to go right from this preaching, this crowd, where the

crowd was just shouting just, and where he just affirmed that he

was a friend of sinners, right?

And so he gets an invitation directly from here.

He gets an invitation to a meal by a Pharisee.

One, notice that word there, the linking word.

of the Pharisees, asked him to eat with him.

And he went into the Pharisees house and took place at the table.

So one, what one, one of the Pharisees who just were in the crowd, who hadn't

been baptized with the baptism of John, who were offended at what Jesus was

saying, but his name, Simon, the Pharisee.

And he's going to be like, you know what?

I'm going to find out a little more.

I'm not just going to write this guy off.

I'm going to invite him in, but he's very suspicious of Jesus.

He's very suspicious of this teacher, this, this preacher of this foreign

righteousness, this good news that the whole other part of the crowd, the other

half of the crowd is clamoring for.

So one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him and he went into the Pharisee's

house and took his place at the table.

now in that day.

You didn't really have, the E channel or I guess we don't really have channels

anymore, Netflix or, so what you did is you went to the prominent house.

To hear the latest gossip.

And so in a town, the way that the house was arranged, there would

be like little low walls that kept people out, but the, windows were

open, to get the breeze coming in.

And so what people would do is they would gather and then they would

sit on those walls to hear what's the scuttlebutt, what's the water

cooler talk, what's happening, and then you'd have the important people.

eating dinner.

They'd be reclining at a table.

It'd be like, drinking 18 year old bourbon and smoking cigars and talking,

war and politics and, all this.

And it, it was probably, hummus and watered down wine, but, not as cool.

But, that's the idea.

And so Jesus, or, Simon the Pharisee, to do, he invites Jesus over to this

dinner that he is throwing for him.

Very interesting.

We find

out later in the story, but this Simon didn't do the most

basic hospitality for Jesus.

And that day you would walk in and the host would take off your shoes and wash

your feet and put some scented olive oil on you just to cover up the smells of the

day, being out in the sun, all the sweat,

And so it was just the most basic, take a towel, wash your feet

off and then anoint it with oil.

a little bit of a couple of drops of scented olive oil, most basic

responsibility for a host, but Jesus comes in and that's not done for him.

Ah, verse 37 and behold.

A woman of the city who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining

at the table of the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of white men.

So all of a sudden the writing style changes a little bit.

The tense and, the grammar is, look, a woman, that woman is

starting to draw near to the house.

Now, the way these stories are linked to the passage above means that she was also

in that crowd and heard the message, the good news of a foreign righteousness,

and she was one of the ones to declare God just, like she hears it, and she's

moved, and she's moved to do something.

one of the.

Most beautiful things.

and we find out in Matthew's, version that there's a little more to the story.

Matthew 11, I'm just gonna read it to you 'cause I wonder, when it

says that she's a sending a sin and atory sin, she was a prostitute.

And, and so she's out there, she would be thought of as unclean.

but she hears this message and I wonder if you grow up in this Jewish

culture and this Hebrew culture.

Maybe she's thinking of Tamar.

Maybe she's thinking of Hosea's wife.

Maybe she's thinking of these stories of how God moved and said, I want you.

Maybe she's thinking about Rahab at the walls of Jericho who hid the spies

and that, and I want you in my line.

I want you in my lineage.

And all this broken, these broken stories, from these amazing

women in the lineage of Jesus.

Maybe she's thinking, maybe there's a chance for me.

I don't know.

it's a bit of speculation, but maybe she's about to leave.

Maybe, there are, there's sinners and then there's the sinner, right?

She's notoriously known as the sinner in the city.

She's the sinner.

We're the tax collectors, we're the sinners.

She's the sinner.

Here's how Jesus ends this preaching.

Verse, Matthew 11, verse 28.

Matthew 11:28

It's the same place, and here's how Jesus ends.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,

and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

So she hears that, she responds to something and whether it's the first

part or maybe it's that part, she hears the invitation to come to him.

And something changed in her.

Women weren't allowed to sit at the table.

She definitely wouldn't be allowed in this house, but she makes a beeline

straight into the middle of dinner, straight into the middle of this party.

And let's find out what happens.

So she brought an alabaster flask of ointment and standing

behind him at his feet, weeping.

She began to wet his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair

of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

maybe she gets there.

She sneaks in.

People are beginning to look.

And again, it was like, behold, a woman!

That woman!

Look, she's coming into the house!

Oh no, what's gonna happen?

And she makes her way, and she stands behind Jesus, and

maybe she sees his dirty feet.

And she looks at Simon, she looks around for water.

Something happens in her where she begins to just be overwhelmed from the welcome.

And she begins to cry, and she begins to weep, weep.

And there's no bucket of water or tail, toilet.

And so she begins to let the tears flow from her face to wash his feet.

And she lets her hair down, which was not allowed in that day and age.

You couldn't let your hair down in public.

That was a way of vulnerability, saying, I'm completely vulnerable

to this specific person.

That could be grounds for divorce for a married woman.

And she lets her hair down because there's no towel around.

She begins to wet his feet with her tears and wipe his feet clean with her hair.

And then she begins to anoint it with the alabaster flask.

What's beautiful about this is that alabaster flask would

be the tool of her trade.

And she breaks it and she pours it out.

All of it.

See as a prostitute, you care a lot about scents and smells and covering bad ones.

And so that historically would be used.

You'd spend.

An incredible amount of money on this special ointment, this special

perfume, not only to be attractive in luring, but to also cover up

what was lurid and unattractive.

And so in a way, it's this beautiful picture of her taking her former

life and saying, I'm done with it.

She breaks it.

She pours it out.

She anoints him with it.

She gives it to him.

She says, I don't need this anymore.

I don't need this anymore.

So when the Pharisee who 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's touching him for.

She is a sinner, the sinner and Jesus answering.

I love that Jesus answers reading as much the best.

The writers of the Bible are so awesome.

And Jesus answering said to him.

Simon, I have something to say to you.

And he answered, Please say it, teacher.

Yes, let's have a conversation.

A certain money lender had two debtors.

One owed 500 denarii and the other 50.

When they both could not pay, he canceled the debt of both.

Now, which one 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.

Good job on interpreting that story, Simon.

You nailed it.

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.

You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

You Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which are many, are

forgiven, for she loved much.

But he who is forgiven little, loves little.

And he said to her, Your sins are forgiven.

Then those who were at table with him began 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.

So the classic story.

Simon.

Two debtors.

Both can't pay their debt.

One is, owes 500.

And one owes 50.

But, both are forgiven.

Which one's gonna be more stoked?

The 500.

He's yeah, you said it rightly.

Yeah, and so there's gonna be appreciation, there's gonna be

love, there's gonna be response.

It's such a magnitude of grace and forgiveness in light of that.

So what Jesus is trying to draw out, and who are you in the

story, who am I in the story?

I realized years and years ago reading this, that I'm not the

woman, I'm definitely not Jesus.

I'm Simon.

I'm Simon.

My whole life.

I'm Simon.

I'm the 50 guy.

Now what's amazing is the story Jesus tells.

I actually think Simon's the 500 guy.

Cause he tells multiple places through the gospels.

You're nearer to the kingdom of pimps and prostitutes are closer than the religious.

Because not only, we just, the broken know they're broken.

The religious have to get past all of that.

There's, it's funny because it's like the sinners, when they declared God just

for a foreign righteousness, we think the broken, the prostitute is the 500, right?

But what does God say in Isaiah?

He says, your righteousness is a filthy rag to me.

There's a something when we try to present God.

The proof that we can earn salvation or earn love from him based on our merits

or what we do is disgusting to God.

Because his standard is so high and holy.

that's offensive.

There is an offense from religious people that needs to be covered

in the blood and forgiven of.

That the broken, they don't even try to present a righteousness of

their own because they're like, pfft.

I need you to heal me, not a partnership in which I fix some of myself.

So it was so utterly shocking because for years I thought I'm the woman.

I've been forgiven so much, I've been forgiven so much and I love

and I love and I didn't realize that my life was so much more like him

because I looked at people who were broken and wanted to keep my distance.

And I could justify it by thinking, If God knew their story, He would

not be so inclined to them, but He should be inclined to me.

He should be at my house.

He should be benefiting me and blessing my house and my presence for my feast

because of the way that I've lived.

And He shouldn't spin and waste His time with the broken.

And as tragic and as painful it is to say that, that was

a lot of my life growing up.

Growing up in the church, being relatively good, keeping my nose clean is the thing,

but being full of pride, repulsive pride,

and even talking about God's grace and not getting it because I'm 50.

Yeah.

He needed to cancel my debt, but it didn't cost him that much.

It is the epitome of pride.

It's the epitome of pride and so for me, this was a dawn, a new

dawn in my life when I realized, Oh, I'm the righteous guy.

I'm the Pharisee and he's the 500.

Oh, he needs Jesus to chase him down.

But one of the beautiful things in this story is that despite the rejection,

even in the middle of his preaching.

Despite the rejection of John, the baptizer, and the preparation

for the message of the gospel, Jesus still says to him, I want to

come over today and eat with you.

I want to break bread.

I know your name, Simon.

I know your story.

I know how much you think you need a little bit from God, but you need

resurrection power in your life.

You need to be raised from the dead, Simon.

You are doomed.

And not only doomed for eternity, but doomed in a life of nitpicky good versus

bad on the scales, what a terrible life it is to be a religious person.

You're insecure all the time.

You're never sure you've done enough.

There is no real joy.

you're very jealous of everybody else who seems to be getting God's grace.

It's not a great It's not very joyous.

You're constantly earning, you're like the older brother, full of resentment,

because he gets a feast and I haven't done anything, where's my feast?

He's it's all yours, come in!

no, I can't yet.

I'm still learning.

Still trying to meet the quota.

Guys, what a terrible life.

And one of the most beautiful things in this story is oh, that clicks.

You get it.

I'm Simon.

And the thing that Jesus does and the thing that Jesus points out

is Simon thinks her reaction to forgiveness and grace is outlandish.

is crazy, is over the top, is ridiculous.

You're sitting here washing his feet, you're kissing him repeatedly, you're

making this embarrassing show of yourself, this lavish display, you're taking

thousands and thousands of dollars, your treasure, and you're pouring it

out, you're letting your hair down, you're being, you are ridiculous.

And Jesus is saying, no, Simon, you're being ridiculous.

This is what's normal.

In light of my grace, when I come in and I invade a human heart and I bring them

from the brink of Sheol and separation for all of eternity, Simon, this is normal.

This is normal in light of my grace.

This is the proper response.

Nothing else matters because you're my treasure, God.

I don't care what anybody thinks because you've saved me.

You've rescued me.

You've given me a new identity.

You've aborted the way he says you can actually live now in

peace, sweet child of mine.

you can actually live in peace now.

You don't have to live in fear and anxiousness anymore.

You're forgiven.

The guilt and the shame.

Of bad choices, of, it's gone, it's washed away.

This is the response.

This is why lame men, when they get healed from being paralyzed for most

of their life, they get up and dance.

This is why mute men, when they have their voice restored, they cry out.

this is, normal.

And I let that wash over my heart all the time.

I am in this passage so much because I constantly, it's my checkup.

Have I become like Simon again?

I default to Simon.

I drift into Simon.

I drift back to my religiousness.

I just do.

And I start to look at Simon and I start to hear myself sometimes.

I start to talk about the condition of the world and the problem in it.

And I start to hear Simon again,

instead of just being.

Like Horatio Spafford.

My sin?

Not in part, but in whole?

that's her.

It's nothing else matters.

I just got to get to Jesus.

And then I get to be with Jesus.

And I get to give him everything.

no, no gifts to suit.

do you know God calls you into a relationship with

himself that is all consuming?

You'll never run out of things to do in relationship with God.

You'll never run out of worship.

You'll never run out of wonder.

You'll never run out of awe.

He invites you into the most joyous, glorious dance with himself.

And you don't have to, You don't have to try to prime the pump.

You don't have to, I, it, there, he is the everlasting one.

He is the Holy one.

He is, whose face is like the countenance of all the sun in its glory.

You never run out of wonder and awe and majesty at sitting at his feet.

And wonder of wonders.

I hear the word many and when Jesus says your sins, which were many, are forgiven.

But Manny, because he's thinking about it, I'm going to take that upon myself.

And I will be judged in your place.

It's not light, it's not cheap grace, it's costly grace.

It's free grace from our perspective.

Costly grace from his, cost him every, everything to bring

us in and to bring us home.

And, I don't know, This passage, unlike many has shaped my spiritual formation

because I'm constantly defaulting back to Simon and Jesus invites me to

dinner and he begins to reveal that in my heart once again and I'm like,

ah, I also see when my Christianity becomes static, Where it's not warm

in relationship, then I'm like Simon again, because I'm having Jesus over for

dinner, but I don't even wash his feet.

I didn't, I'm not even thinking about that.

I'm going through the motion and then I'm warmed once again at what is normative to

the response of a foreign righteousness coming in and setting me free.

of being counted and adopted into his family, of having my sins

forgiven, of having a new record and a new perfection, and my name

written into the Lamb's book of life.

To have my name written on the palms of his hands, to have him singing

and rejoicing over me, like I am renewed once again in this story to

that simple worship that is a proper response to his grace and his mercy.

Peter says just as much.

Peter says, guys, you should be maturing and this should be happening.

And it's very, he's you should be adding to this and maturing in this way.

And this should be coming out of your life, as you're growing.

And he says, if it's not happening, it's fascinating.

His diagnosis, he says, you're short sighted into blindness, forgetting that

you have been cleansed from your sin.

He goes back to the gospel.

He says, we focus so much.

on all these things happening.

He's Nope, let's put it back.

let's again, preach the gospel to our hearts.

Let's break the ice that forms over our hearts so easily in this culture.

And in this day, in this age, and let's be melted once again into the

wonder of his goodness and his grace.

In wonder of wonders, the God man stooped into the dust of the

earth and he wrapped himself.

In meat, flesh, carne.

That's where we get incarnation.

carne asada, right?

it's carne.

He wrapped, he became, he wrapped himself in humanity.

But he didn't just stop there.

He stooped and he girded himself with a towel and he washed our

feet and he washed us clean.

he served us and he served us and he still does.

I don't know.

I hope this is a helpful story, for it.

And that's why I'm excited to hear the ones that hit you.

Cause we're all, hit differently, but this is when I, it lives

with me every single day.

And it led me to start asking.

Who am I in the story?

I read the Psalms and I was always the righteous guy, and

then I'm like, Oh, you know what?

My life's more like chaff than, I do stand in the council of the ungodly

and sit in the place of sinners.

And, and it's so amazing to read the Bible that way.

It's so freeing because guess what?

Then he rescues you.

You don't have to be the hero.

You don't have to live up because Jesus lives up.

He's the only one who can and then he rescues you.

And, yeah, so I don't know.

This is an amazing story.

let me just, let me pray.

Father, we thank you for, this beautiful section of scripture.

And so Lord, we just, we let these questions, just wash over us.

Blessed is the one who is not offended because of me.

Come unto me, all you who labor or have elated, and I will give you rest.

Rest for your souls, I am gentle and lowly of heart.

My yoke is easy, my burden is light.

Of women there is none greater than John the Baptizer,

but he who is least in the kingdom is greater than he.

I am Simon.

Thank you for loving Simons, and not giving up on us.

Thank you that you don't stop and that you change us from workers into worshipers.

Thank you for caring about the older brother who stays outside.

I pray if there's any where our hearts are acting like that toward people

looking down, I pray you'd heal us, Lord.

May we just see one another with the same grace that we've received.

May we make much of other, each other's beauty as we stand in Christ.

May we point out the perfection of the Son in each other's lives

and spend the rest of our lives doing that in one another's lives.

Thank you for first loving us.

Thank you for chasing us.

Thank you that you don't leave us.

Stuck in the same old patterns and ways.

But you really do set the captives free.

It might be a liberation we weren't expecting or even looking for.

But it's the one we needed.

We love you Jesus, in Jesus name.

Amen.