Her Sins Which Are Many Have Been Forgiven
First B Jackson
2022-03-06

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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And is this thing on yet? No. Is it on? You can hear me. Good.

Welcome. I'm glad you're here today. We're gonna sing a couple of songs and then, we'll sing a couple more afterwards. But, would you stand with us and we're gonna sing at Calvary. And I'm looking forward to the whole thing today.

Like, just the whole thing. The sermon this morning hit me hard this week in a in a good way and it's just good to have that happen before getting up here and sharing it with everybody else. Right? So, at Calvary, would you stand and sing with me?

Years I spent in vanity and pride caring not my lord was crucified. Knowing not it was for me, he died on Calvary. Mercy there was great, and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. There, my guardian soul found liberty at cowlery.

By God's word, at least my sin, I learned. Then I trembled at the law, I'd spurned till my guilty soul in pouring turned to Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace was free pardon there was multiplied to me bear my burden, soul, and liberty at Calvary. Now I've given Jesus everything. Now I gladly own him as my king.

Now my raptured soul can only sing of cowardly. Mercy there was great and grace was free pardon there was multiplied to me there my burden soul found liberty at Oh, the love that drew salvation's plan. Oh, the grace that brought it down to man. Oh, the mighty gulf that God did stand at Calvary.

Amen. I'm gonna keep on singing about that. Same subject. There's power in the blood.

Would

Amen. Y'all can have a seat. It's good to see y'all this morning. I've got a few announcements. One of them is Monday nights at First Beer happen and guess when and guess where?

Monday nights at First Beer. Down the hall, fellowship hall, Carl is preaching. He kinda does a gospel conversation style. He starts the conversation by reading through the scripture, adding a few thoughts and insights, and then turns it over to the assembled crowd, the congregation to share back what they're hearing, what if they have questions or other issues that they wanna bring up, and then we just talk about it, which is great. We're doing that here in person or online.

Monday nights at First Bee, 06:00, meal, music, and a message. And if you're wondering, the meal tomorrow night, Felix Guadalupe, a little Mexican couple, are making good Mexican food. 06:00 in the evening. Meal, music, and message. Awana happens at the same time as that inside this room.

It's for kids, and we have a huge group of adult volunteers that are taking care of these kids because kids matter to God. It's a good kids club program. Starts at six and even as they register it, start out in this room, and then spread out all over the church. First b jackson.org. If you wanna sign up yourself for the Emails to church.

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If you have not yet given us a picture of yourself for the bulletin for the not the bulletin, the directory, please do so. A horizontal picture of yourself means one going this way, not this way. It's not necessarily like this or like this. Okay? You don't have to be horizontal in the picture.

You can be upright. It just needs to be a horizontal picture. You all know what the bell means up at the top. That's notifications. If you go to YouTube, you want it to let you know when Firstbee goes live.

You can click that little bell, and it will. Anybody have anything else? I ran through those quickly this morning. The If gathering was here this weekend for, it was a ladies gathering that took place all over the world. I think they had, like, 750,000 ladies in attendance worldwide.

There were, between 75 and a 100 here in this place, and we're thankful to have been given the opportunity to host it. But also, from what I heard from all of the ladies who attended, it was just a great time to be together. So the If gathering happened. Past tense, not something you can get involved in right now because it happened yesterday. But in May, down at Norison Lane, Brown's Place in Bondurant, there is going to be another similar service, same type, same outfit, same group, but it will be at the I forget what they call the ranch down in Bondurant.

We can let you know exactly where it is in May, if you want to go, May seven and eight, I think it is. You're welcome. Heart to heart. That's it. I knew it was something cute.

That's it. Heart to heart. Would you stand with me and we'll sing this is old Gaither tune. I believe in a hill called Mount Calvary. Seems to be a theme emerging this morning.

There are things as we travel this earth shifting sands that transcend all the reason be I believe in a hill called Mount Calvary. I believe whatever the cost. I believe that the Christ who was lain on that cross has the power to change lives today. For he changed me completely. A new life is mine.

That is why by the cross I will stay. I believe that this life with its great mysteries surely someday And

And if you have that story to tell, this is the way to tell it right here. Freely, freely. Hymn number four thirty six.

God forgave my sin. In Jesus' name, I've been born again. In Jesus' name, and in Jesus' name, I come to you to share his love as he told me to. He said, to share his power as he told me to. He said, freely, freely, you have received.

Y'all can have a seat. I have a little blurb here that was not really an announcement, but y'all sound like a choir today. Thank you. I appreciate it. I know we're singing off the wall, and you don't have any notes up there, but some of y'all remember somewhere in the past where you used to sing parts, and some of y'all still sing them.

So much that you convinced me to start singing my part on that first song. I was singing the baseline and got confused. I'm leading. I can't do that right now. I miss Scott sometimes more than others.

Right? But if y'all would be willing to do some choral pieces, we have music for years and years and years and years. We've got quartet music, which I know we need to do. We've got some stuff like that. If you wanna do that, just let me know that you're willing.

You know? And I'd love to put together a militia, not a standing army. It won't be a year long commitment. Okay? Just a little one to go fight the battle when we need to.

Okay? And it's operatory time. If y'all come on forward, l elders and fairy too. In Jesus name, Lord, we're thankful for for those new remembrances of your goodness and your grace. For waking up, Lord, with a little thin blanket of snow to say, though your sins be as scarlet, they should be as white as snow.

There's nothing else quite like it, Lord. In Jesus' name, Lord, I thank you for all the gifts that you have given. We wanna acknowledge those gifts, Lord, by giving back a portion to you to do with it as you will. We pray, Lord, that as a church, as elders, and the congregation that we'd be ready to do your will, Lord, in your way. I pray that you would, Lord, take this and do with it as you will, just the way you want it done.

In Jesus' name. Thankful to be a part of the process, Lord. This is plan a. There's no plan b. This is the way it works.

Your servants being obedient to carrying forward your message of love and forgiveness to a world that is not savvy of it, that don't understand that. Some of them have no idea that the peril that they are in, they're in. So in Jesus' name, Lord, I pray that we would have a sensitivity about us of souls that need rescue. Amen. Precious savior's still our refuge.

What a great great line. Good old hymn. Well, I am right here in scripture. This is where we are this morning. But before we get into the word, we're going through a harmony of the gospels.

Most of y'all know that. Most of you have come to know me for just getting up and saying whatever it says next in scripture, and I'll do that. But I'm giving you fair warning at the beginning today. I'm gonna do that for ways and then we're gonna stop and I said during the first service, I was gonna read Psalm 51. I didn't.

I just forgot about it. It it didn't come up on the screen, so I forgot. But Psalm 51 is that prayer of repentance that David makes. You know, David's a man after God's own heart and we see in the Psalms extreme pride on David's part and then we see extreme humility on David's part. And Psalm 51 is where he says, against you and you only, Lord, have I sinned.

And that that is what he felt. Now he sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah and whole bunches of other people, but he felt this great burden before God for his own sin, and then he went into a repentant mode. So there's something about repentance that's gonna come up today. In the story that we're gonna highlight, I'll go through it the way I always do, but it's rather short, comparatively speaking, and we're gonna cover that sinful but contrite woman in the Pharisees' house. And I'm saying this ahead of time.

I grew up Southern Baptist. I grew up in Georgia, and almost everybody knew it was either Baptist or Methodist. I knew very few other. I did know a Catholic family that had moved from Iraq. They moved from Iraq to Georgia, to Warm Springs, Georgia, and they moved out of Iraq for persecution because they were Catholic.

And they moved into Warm Springs, Georgia where we were Baptist, and they got a lot of flack. I remember the chant on the school bus. I'm ashamed to admit. I don't think I joined in. I pray I didn't, but go back to Iraq.

Go back to Iraq. I heard people saying that to these kids. They're Catholic. They weren't Islamists. They weren't of the Islamic brotherhood.

They just happened to be from Iraq. They believed in Jesus, but they believed in a Catholic flavor. And I remember the prejudice from that time. I also, since growing up Southern Baptist, I just I knew that we did things the right way. That's just the way that we did them, that we did them the right way and we had put aside all that popishness and we put aside all of that other stuff and we just did things by the Bible the right way and I tend to still trust what the Bible says is true and that's why I present it the way I present it but today, I'm gonna go to a liturgy of penitence at some point during the scriptures.

Okay? We're gonna stop, and we're just gonna go into that. I'll tell you right now, you don't have to say anything you don't mean. Alright? But I wanna tell the story of this Pharisee and this contrite woman because I am a recovering Pharisee, and I wanna tell the story in such a way that it precedes communion.

Because I think there's a way that we should take communion. I'm not a high Eucharistic guy where the elements are elevated and all that sort of stuff, but I do recognize that in this church, first and second services, we have about 40 something different denominations represented. Can y'all believe that? So, I'd write down when somebody told me a new one I'd not heard before. I'd write it down when I first got here and it was 40 something and there are 25 different denominations represented every Sunday.

I think that what helps us stay as close as we are as a church is because I try my best just to present what it says. That matter your flavor of Christianity, if you believe what it says, that's what I'm trying to go for. But today, we're gonna have a little bit of it's high church responsorial reading. Now, you look in the back of the Baptist hymnal, there's some of that in there. We just don't do it, but we're gonna do it today.

You don't have to if you don't want to. I can't promise that the person sitting next to you won't judge you for it. That's what the story is about. Right? But Christ's feet are anointed by this sinful but contrite woman.

Now, here's the story from Luke. It's only told in Luke right here and you actually, no, I remember that in John. I remember in John twelve three, it says, something very similar to this or in Mark 14, it says something very similar to this. I agree. It does.

The woman is unnamed in Luke, unnamed in Mark, but it's she's named in John, and it's a different woman. It's Mary. There's no doubt about it of Bethany in that second one. But we get these stories kinda blended, and throughout the ages, they've been confused over and over. And so I believe it's two separate events.

Alright? This one, Luke tells right now. Nobody else tells it in there right now. I think it illustrates a very high Christology. He puts on Christ the ability to forgive sins, which is the prerogative of God alone.

And so this is something that we're gonna see a very high Christology. After he just kinda turned a corner, he's done everything that Messiah is supposed to do, and then he announces to John that this is happening, really? It's happening? John, in prison, hears that, and then he says, John was the messenger announcing my coming, basically. And so there's this high Christology.

We've seen him heal lepers and the deaf and the blind, and we've seen him raise a widow's son recently. And now this, now, one of the pharisees was requesting him, Jesus, to eat with him. One of the pharisees requesting that Jesus come to his house and eat. And Jesus entered the pharisees' house and he reclined at the table. Now, if you haven't been to The Middle East lately and you haven't ever kinda had a meal with somebody at their house, the norm still in Morocco is to eat this way.

When we see the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, he's sitting in an upright chair like this. Right? Table's right here. He's right in the middle. Table for 26, but all 13 sit on the same side.

We this is the way that one would eat normally, and the table is right here. So it would be kind of like Carl's picture, actually, the horizontal picture of Carl up there a minute ago. On your left elbow, using your right hand to eat, you don't eat with your left hand. Breaking bread is more difficult, but you just don't eat with your left hand. It's not normal.

And so that would be the way normally that people would eat with their legs out and their shoulder here and their hand near the table, reclining at the table. So now one of the Pharisees was requesting him to eat with him and Jesus entered into that Pharisee's house and he reclined at the table. What's the preacher doing on the ground? What's going on here? Catching my breath.

That's terrible. Get winded from laying down. And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner. If we were to stop right there, there's a woman in the city who was a sinner. Well, there are lots of folks in the city who are sinners.

If we look at it, all of us are sinners. Okay. We know that from Romans. Yes. We know it from the Old Testament too.

Yes. But this one was more than that. Now it could have been, this word, could have been that she worked as a tanner, someone who worked with dead bodies, animal bodies. Could have been that she worked in collection, not just tax collection for Rome, but collection even for the temple tax because touching money is kind of a dirty business, and that could have kept her ceremonially unclean. There is a whole long list of occupations that make you a sinner that really wouldn't mean anything about your character.

But from this story, there's no doubt that she was morally compromised, let's say. She was a sinner. And it the scripture states it that way. There was a woman in the city who was a sinner. And when she learned that Jesus was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume.

This is a pretty common thing. If you remember from John's story or Mark's story, John's story and Mark's story say the value of that thing. I believe it's two separate instances. This one, it doesn't say specifically what the perfume is worth, but it's a normal way of carrying perfume. They've found thousands and thousands and thousands of these things from that time, little bottles like you see nowadays for perfume.

This this is the way it was carried back then. So she brought with her an alabaster vial of perfume. And standing beside him, that's Jesus, standing beside him at his feet. So he's reclining next to the table and his feet are out pretty easy to get to. She's standing behind him at his feet, and she is weeping.

She is weeping. There is deep emotion happening. And at this point in the story, we don't know exactly why, but she's weeping deeply, and she began to wet his feet with her tears. So she's now bowing down closer and wetting his feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head. That in itself is scandalous.

I don't know if y'all have a lot of familiarity. Again, I said I'm from Georgia. I didn't have a whole lot of familiarity with Jewish custom or Jewish people because I just didn't know very many of them. But for a Jewish lady at that time, and even still today in a traditional Jewish home, for a Jewish lady to let her hair down is a huge deal. It's scandalous.

It is to the point that a husband could righteously and rightfully divorce his wife for having let her hair down in public. So that's scandalous. But she didn't care about social mores or convention. This woman was overcome with emotion, and Jesus will tell us why in a minute. She began to wet his feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, and she began kissing his feet and anointing them with the perfume.

Wow. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, oh Jesus can tell what he's saying to himself. He knows our thoughts. He knows all of our thoughts. He knows them at the same time.

This story even says so. Now when the Pharisee that's who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, if this man were a prophet now that's subjective in English, but in Greek, there is no doubt about this. It is a contrary to fact proposition. He's saying, if this man were a prophet, but he's not. If he were a prophet, but he's not.

That's subjunctive in Spanish. Same rule. Right? If he were, he would know who and what sort of person this is. I know he's new in town.

He just wandered by. I invited him in. He doesn't know everybody in town. And if he were a prophet, he would know her. He would know what she was like.

He would know what she's done, and he wouldn't allow her to touch him. He would be separate from her. I can't believe she's even in my house. That's what he's thinking. Jesus is hearing that.

If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of person this woman is, who is touching him, that she is a filthy, dirty, stinking, rotten, disgusting sinner. And Jesus responded and said to him, Simon. Simon's actually the most common name in Judaism at this time. It's the most common by far. It's not even close.

Nothing else is close. If you look at this story in Luke, it's Simon the Pharisee. If you look in John, it says, Simon the leper, the guy who was formerly a leper, but Simon the leper. Simon Shimon. And, you know, Simon Peter.

We've got lots of episodes of Simon in the New Testament. Even Simeon is a variation of Simon. Jesus responded and said to him, Simon. He spoke to him directly. Think about this too.

He came the Pharisee invited him. He came he didn't shun him. You know, we know a lot about what he said to Pharisees because it's recorded in the Bible, but Jesus still was open to the invitation of everyone. Simon, I have something to say to you. I have something to say to you.

And he replied, say it, teacher. Now I might be adding a little bit of shrug of the shoulders, but in the gospel, especially the gospel of Luke, when someone says teacher, it's always an outsider. Everywhere else in the whole book of Luke, anytime somebody calls Jesus teacher, good teacher, his disciples say, master or lord, but go ahead and teach on, teacher. Whatever. I mean, you showed up, but come on.

You're not the prophet you're reported to be. Say it, teacher. Whatever. So Jesus says to Simon, a money lender had two debtors. The one owed 500 denarii.

That's about a year and a half. That's eighteen months salary. Think about that. Eighteen months salary. That's a lot.

And the other 50. That's about two months' worth of salary. So two months versus a year and a half. Money lender had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii, days wages, and the other 50.

And when they were unable to repay, they were unable to repay. Both of them were unable to repay. The guy who barely owed anything, 50, and the one that owed 500, when they were unable to repay, The money lender canceled the debts of both. Why'd he do that? That doesn't sound like good business.

But he did. It's just Jesus' story. Can tell it however he wants to. When they were unable to pay, he canceled the debts of both. So which one of them will love him more?

Well, what do you think? Simon answered and said, well, I assume, I guess, probably. I guess it'd have to be the one. He canceled the greater debt. And he said to him, yes, you have judged correctly.

So he came to the Pharisees' house. He had something specifically to speak just to you, Simon. And then Simon heard the parallel and then reckoned on his own. And then Jesus said, you have judged correctly. That's all good stuff.

Right? You've judged correctly. And turning to the woman, he said to Simon. So now he's looking at her. This is reminding me of another story from Luke.

Luke five. It'll get even more similar in just a minute. But Luke five, the man that's lowered through the roof, remember that story? His friends bring him. So he didn't come with an alabaster jar, but his friends came and lowered him down on the mat.

And Jesus turns in this story to the woman, but he says to Simon, do you see this woman? Well, she's right here. We're at the table, and she's right out here still at his feet, it appears. He certainly can see her. He said, I entered into your house, and you gave me no water for my feet.

I came in with dirty feet. Now, it's not an absolute requirement that you do that for anybody coming into your house. You don't have to, but it is a blessing if you do. It is a sign of welcome if you do. But he did.

And and Jesus was just telling the truth. He said to Simon, you see this woman? You see how she's acting? You see who she is right here? Right here, right now, I entered into your house.

She gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears. Now she came in with an alabaster jar of perfume that she planned on using. She came with that, but she didn't come with the towels. She didn't come with the basin. I think that her assumption was if anybody was having Jesus in their home that they would take care of his feet.

Jesus took care of his disciples' feet. On that same night he was betrayed. Right? She expected that his feet would be clean, but she was gonna anoint them with the perfume. And when she got there, and they weren't, she cries over them.

She wet my feet with her tears, and she wiped them with her hair. Like, that's a sign of extreme humility right there. Simon, you gave me no kiss. Now that's not a have to. If you come to my house, I'm probably not gonna kiss you, you know?

Almost certainly not gonna kiss you. I have been to churches, by the way. This is an aside. I've been to churches that practice the holy kiss, and one of the guys pulled me aside and he said, listen, I know y'all don't practice the holy kiss. We do.

And when you see the guys get together, we're gonna kiss each other. That's just the way it is. But if you don't want them to kiss some kiss you, when you shake hands with them, stiff arm them. Just give them a little push like that and don't pull them back because if you pull them back, they're going for it. So just push them away.

Sorry. That was an aside. I think of it all the time though. When I'm shaking hands with somebody, I'm thinking this. Simon, you gave me no kiss.

It it he didn't have to, but it would have been a blessing. It would have been a sign of welcome had he done that. He didn't have to. It's not a requirement. You gave me no kiss.

But she has not stopped kissing my feet since the time I came in. That's she has love and devotion and appreciation, and it shows you did not anoint my head with oil. Now this one is one that's more customary. It doesn't seem like it us. We're more familiar with washing feet and holy kiss because we read scripture.

We don't see this one as much, but think back to how good and pleasant it is. Right? How good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters dwell together in unity. It is like oil that is poured over the head and running down Aaron's beard. It's a blessing.

It's a sign of blessing. And you didn't do it, but she's anointed not just my hair, but she's anointed my feet with perfume. It's a act of love and devotion. For this reason, say to you, Simon, I'm saying it to you directly, her sins, which are many, I'm not disputing that, her sins which are many have been forgiven, have been forgiven. She had already been forgiven.

That extreme emotion and outpouring of love is because she had been set free and overcome with it. In the first service I mentioned that there's a guitar player from a death metal, new metal band named Korn, and they're it's a dark band, pretty dark. And they did a lot of dark things for a long time. And then one day, the guitar player was just overcome with his own sinfulness darkness, he says. And Christ saved him, and it changed his life absolutely and completely.

And he could not help but be transformed by it and just the emotion of knowing that his sins, were many, had been forgiven. It made an effect on him. Same thing for this woman. Actually, after the first service, one of the older gentlemen in the first service, you know who Tommy James is? I said, yes.

Tommy James in the Shondales. My baby does the hanky panky. Does anybody here know that? Yes. He said, you might use that one instead of corn in the second service.

Tommy James is the same way. There are a lot of people that have been saved out of a life of darkness or profligacy. You know, where you're just living your life for yourself, feeling justified, and then overcome. She's overcome. Her sins, which are many, have been forgiven for she loved much.

But, Simon, the one who is forgiven little loves little. I think that this is just like last week, just like last week, this is primarily a message for people who have grown up in the church. For people who've grown up in the church feeling like, I know how this goes. We're doing things the right way. I've got this all figured out.

Point out a sin in my life. Well, pride is the one that got the devil thrown out of heaven. The one who's forgiven little. You might think, you know what? I walked the when I was seven, eight, nine, 10, 11 for me.

I walked the aisle when I was 11. What in the world could I have been giving up at that point? Sticking gum up under the desk? You know? And that's self justification thinking that's any less than anything else.

But when a little child in Sunday school recognizes that Christ's death was not just Christ's death for sinners, but it was for them? It's the same thing as this woman realizing that her sins have been forgiven. And first John one nine, the Bible says, If we confess homo legios, say the same thing as God about our sins. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to be forgiving our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness. This woman had done that.

It doesn't say where she did it, doesn't say when she did it, doesn't say when Jesus had already forgiven her, but he says right here, your her sins which are many have been forgiven For she loved much, but the one who is forgiven loves little. I think that we tend to think, yeah, in those sinners or those people, I really didn't have that much to pay off. You still have a debt you can't pay. Right? If it's 50 or 500, what's the difference?

If you can't pay it, you can't pay it. It's outside of our resources, and it's only by the grace of God and mercy of God that he allows anyone debt to be forgiven. So here it is. The one who's forgiven loves little. It doesn't say he's been forgiven.

It does acknowledge that he might have less sin than her, but it doesn't say he's been forgiven. That's not to say he couldn't be, but it certainly doesn't say it here that he was. And so then Jesus said to her, and this is the place that reminds me so much of that that living room where the guy was lowered through the roof. It says, in order that you may know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins, I say to the para and it turns to the paralytic and says, arise and walk. And that miracle is authentication of the message that his sins have been forgiven.

Jesus right here in Simon's house says to her, your sins have been forgiven, have been forgiven. Are mine Mark two, Luke five? And then those who were reclining at the table, not just Simon, there were other people there. Those who were at this banquet with him began saying to themselves, who is this man? Who is this guy who even forgives sins?

That's exactly what they said in Luke five. It's exactly what they said in Mark two. Who is this who forgives sins? That's category three blasphemy for crying out loud. That's stone worthy blasphemy right there.

Unless it's true, and it was true. Jesus said that her sins have been forgiven. He recognized it was a fact of the matter. Indeed, you could translate it. Indeed, your sins have been forgiven.

And then those who were reclining at the table with him began saying themselves, who is this man? Who even forgives sin? And he, Jesus, said to the woman, your faith has saved you. We say a lot of times that John is the gospel of belief and it is. But Luke, if you had to say the gospel of what?

It'd be faith because your faith has made you whole. Your faith has saved your servant to the centurion. Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Remember last week?

The very last call was from Jesus. Come on to me all ye who are labor and heavy laden and I'll give you rest. That's what he's saying. You're trying to pay debt. You can't pay.

You got a burden on your shoulders that you can't pay. Bring it to me. I'll take it from you, and I'll let you rest. Take my yoke upon you. My burden is light.

He has no sin burden of his own. He's willing to take hours on. He did on the cross. And then he's offering that life where you can walk forward sinful but contrite. Sinful but contrite like that woman.

Christ allows us to be transformed by his blood. He said, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Now the whole I told you I was gonna do this. It's gonna be either pride or humility.

Either pride or humility. Now Simon, it appears in the story, was proud, and this woman, unnamed, was humble before Christ. She recognized what he'd already done, and she was overcome with it. She wasn't trying to pay him back. There's no paying back for a gift that you just have to be received by faith.

But she humbled herself to the point of letting down her hair and cleaning his dirty feet. Simon didn't clean those feet. They're dirty feet. Even if they're Jesus' feet, they're dirty feet. Cleaning his feet with her hair before anointing them with perfume.

That's a humble act to think if he knew she was, he wouldn't even associate with her. I don't. Can't believe she's in my house. That's pride. Pride versus humility.

Or another way to put that is self justification versus contrition. Contrition is recognizing that we have sinned and that there's nothing we can do about it. Now I'm not asking you to go around all the time flagellating yourself and cutting yourself and, acetic acts of starvation or whatever to try to punish the sin that is in your body. I'm not asking for that. Contrition is saying, I have sinned that I can do nothing about, and I'm thankful that God took that from me.

Contrite is not wanting to sin anymore. Repentance is, I was headed in a direction and God turned me, changed my mind, and transformed me. So self justification versus contrition. It will be one of or the other. It'll be one or the other.

Either you can think, well, I'm pretty good guy. Man, I do more good than bad, I guess, if you don't count so and so. Or it's, God have mercy on me, a sinner. Later in Luke, we'll see this again with the guys on the street corner. It's gonna be a pharisee.

Thank you that I'm not like that other guy. And the other guy's beating his chest, can't even look up to heaven and say, God have mercy on me, a sinner. It's either gonna be self justification or contrition. Which one will it be? And this is the litany of penitence.

Tanya and I went to Saint John's Wednesday night for Ash Wednesday services, and I love Jimmy. Jimmy Barts is a good friend. And I went, and as I was walking up, Jimmy goes, like this big smile, threw his hands up in the air. And when I saw him, I did the same thing. Big smile, threw my hands up in the air, and we're going towards each other, big hug.

He said, man, I'm not supposed to smile today. Well, he was just like, I know it's Ash Wednesday. Was a time where we consider our own sin, and it's but he said, I can't help it. And that's the truth. When you meet a brother in Christ or sister in Christ, it's like you've got an immediate bond because you know who's taking your sin from you.

But it's still a time to think about our sin, and I think, you know, that's a good thing. Here, I'm gonna start off. When it gets to be green, all the rest of the time, the highlighted green words are things I'm gonna tell you about. But when it gets to be green words, we're gonna say that part together. When it's white words, I'll just say it myself.

You don't have to say it. I'm not forcing your hand. I'm not twisting your arm. You don't have to. But this litany of penitence, I think it's a good thing for us to consider our way.

So this is a prayer. It's a collective prayer. When we get to the green words, you can join in. My most holy and merciful father, we confess to you and to one another and to the whole communion of saints in heaven and on earth. That's everybody who's ever put their faith in God to save them.

We confess that we have sinned by our own fault in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart and mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others as we have been forgiven. Have mercy on us, Lord.

We have been deaf to your call to serve as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit. Have mercy on us, Lord. We confess to you, Lord, All of our past unfaithfulness, the pride and hypocrisy and the impatience of our lives, we confess to you, Lord.

Notice that it changes from have mercy on us, Lord, to we confess to you, Lord. Our self indulgent appetites and ways and our exploitation of other people, we confess to you, Lord. Our anger at our own frustration and our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves, we confess to you, Lord. Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts and our dishonesty in daily life and work, we confess to you, Lord. Our negligence in prayer and worship and our failure to commend the faith that is in us.

We confess to you, Lord. It changes again right here. Accept our repentance, Lord, is the new refrain. Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs that we have done, for our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty. Accept our repentance, Lord, For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those who differ from us, accept our repentance, Lord.

For our waste and pollution of your creation and our lack of concern for those who come after us. Accept our repentance, Lord. Restore us, good Lord, and let your anger depart from us. Favorably hear us for your mercy is great. Accomplishing us the work of your salvation that we may show forth your glory in the world.

By the cross and passion of your son, our Lord, bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection. It brings us through the penitence to resurrection. Do you notice that? The joy of God's salvation. So we're gonna go in now to time of communion.

So I'd ask the ushers to come forward. And, Judy, if you would play something pretty, I'd appreciate it. And I'll pray. Would you join me? Thank you, Lord, for the opportunity today.

This litany of penitence or this liturgical piece that we did today was an outward expression of something that is an inward act where we humble ourselves before you, trust in you for the grace that you offer, for the mercy that you offer. God, oftentimes when I'm going into this, I give an opportunity for people to ask for forgiveness ahead of time because you warn us in the scriptures not to take of this remembrance unworthily. So, God, I pray that as we have just gone through an outward act of an inward state of mind and heart of humility, I pray that as we distribute this little plastic cup with a wafer and some juice in it, as a reminder, remembrance of your body and blood, that, Lord, we would take it in, that we would drink deep, and that we would just be moved and transformed by the spirit that led you and is in us to do your will. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

Great. So on the same evening that Jesus was betrayed, and with this story being fresh in our minds to see Jesus, the leader of this band, washing the feet of the disciples and then teaching them for four straight chapters in the book of John. Right? Teaching them all humbly, led by the spirit. He said to them after supper, after supper, after he'd given thanks, he said, this bread, this is my body.

Take this and eat and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Thank you, Lord, that you walked a perfect life. You walked it out in the flesh and had no sin debt of your own. Thank you for your life well lived. After he took the bread and reminded him of his body, it was broken for them.

He also said, this is the blood of the new covenant. Take this and drink and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. And Paul says that this is whenever we do this, we proclaim the Lord's death, which is an end to sin. It's an end to the penalty of sin for all who have trusted in it. He says, this is the way that we proclaim Jesus' death until he comes again.

Every song that we sang a little while ago was about the cross. Every song that we sang was about the blood of Jesus cleansing us from sin. Humility towards him and trusting in what he has said is true is so good. It's so good. It brings tears.

Would you stand with us? We're gonna sing, I think, the old rugged cross, aren't we? Okay. I have three more verses though. Y'all are standing up already.

I have three more verses. This is another illustration of Jesus' humility. Okay? What did Jesus do for a living? Everybody just hollered out.

What did Jesus do for a living? Carpenter, carpenter, builder. Anybody else? Anything else? So for twenty nine, thirty years, yeah.

That's right. He grew up with his dad doing that, and he kinda did that. But then the last three years of his life, what we know the most about, what did he do? Here we go. Soon afterwards, Jesus began going around from one city and village to another, proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God.

He did that for three years. How'd he do that? How did he do that? Well, the 12 were with him. Okay.

So now there are 13 of them. And also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses. Luke always makes a distinction. Evil spirits and sicknesses both. Jesus handles both.

Mary who's called Magdalene, that's 14, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, that's 15, and the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward. This woman was from within Herod's household, had some private means. We'll see in a minute. And Susanna and many others. So that's 16 and many others.

We don't know how many there were, but a lot of them. You ever try to take a youth group anywhere? I mean, really? They eat a lot. They take a lot of resources.

This is what Jesus did for the last three years. It says, these people who were contributing to their support out of their private means, that's an act of humility to just be a big strong man that knows what he's doing and then allow for this says women to take care of them out of their private means. That was the hardest switch for me to having grown up, had thousands of different hours of working different kinds of jobs. And then all of a sudden I'm a missionary, I'm supposed to spend God's money? That's a big difference.

It's an act of humility to start doing that. Here we go. We're gonna sing the song again. There's nowhere else that that one fits. And we also forget about it.

How many of y'all heard that lately? Unless you're reading the book of Luke, you're probably not gonna hear it. The old rugged cross, hymn number three twenty seven.

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame. Will cling to the old rugged and exchange it someday for a crown on the last. To the old rugged cross, I will ever be true. It's shame and reproach gladly bear. Then he'll call me someday to my home far away where is glory forever I'll share.

Amen. The benediction this morning is from first Peter. Oh, it's in second Corinthians 12. For he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me.

That is why for Christ's sake, I delight in my weaknesses and insults and hardships and persecutions and difficulties. For when I'm weak, then I'm strong. Thank you, Lord, that you can undo, save, that you will present us blameless as we humble ourselves before you. Amen.