0:00

Hi everybody, welcome to your move where we

0:02

help you make better decisions and live with

0:04

fewer regrets. I'm Andy Stanley and I'll be

0:06

your guide. And here's a question for you.

0:08

Have you ever forgiven someone without being asked?

0:11

You just decided and you forgave and then

0:13

you moved on. And the next time you

0:15

ran into that forgiven person, you

0:17

were fine, even if they weren't. Did

0:20

you know that is exactly what God did

0:22

for you? Not so sure, I get it.

0:24

And that's why we're talking about it right

0:26

here on your move. Have

0:30

you ever forgiven someone without being asked? Like

0:38

you just decided, you know what? I'm not gonna

0:40

carry this. I'm just gonna forgive them. You

0:43

just decided without them knowing, without

0:46

telling them, you just decided, I

0:48

just, I'm gonna forgive you, I'm gonna forgive

0:50

them. Then you just, you moved on. And

0:52

they didn't even know. And

0:54

then maybe you ran into them later and they kind

0:57

of had this awkward moment and then you remembered, oh

0:59

yeah, I already forgave

1:01

you and you could smile and act like nothing

1:03

happened. Or maybe they didn't even know anything had

1:05

happened that they needed to be forgiven. But you

1:07

realize, oh, I'm kind of

1:09

lighter. I'm kind of fine, right? Or

1:12

have you ever forgiven some, you've just decided to

1:14

forgive somebody and didn't tell them, you just decide,

1:16

I'm not gonna carry this. And then

1:19

later, and this isn't as usual, later they

1:21

came back and apologized and owned it. And

1:23

if that's the case, do you remember what you said or do you remember

1:25

what you thought? You may have said it, you may have even said, well,

1:28

actually, I forgave you the moment it

1:30

happened or I've already forgiven you or I've already

1:33

forgotten about that because you've just kind of moved

1:35

on. But

1:37

now the relationship is reconciled. The relationship was

1:39

still broken because they knew what they did,

1:41

but you had forgiven them and you were

1:43

kind of waiting for them to recognize

1:45

it. Maybe they'd never recognize it, but you were

1:48

fine. But then they came back and apologized and

1:50

the relationship was reconciled. There was

1:52

a sense in which you were just waiting.

1:55

So I wanna go ahead and start today's message

1:57

with some advice, okay? This is just, this is-

1:59

This is just advice. Then we're gonna kind of

2:01

jump into the main part of the message.

2:04

My advice is this, just go ahead

2:06

and forgive. Don't

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wait. I mean, why not?

2:11

And I know what you would say. Well, let me tell you why not.

2:13

Then you would tell me your story and I would be like, okay,

2:16

nevermind, you get a pass because yeah, that's like

2:18

the worst thing I ever heard, right? If I

2:20

heard your story, I'd probably give you a pass.

2:22

But why not just consider, just go ahead and

2:25

forgive them. And you would say, well, because they don't

2:27

deserve it. And that's true, they don't deserve it. And

2:30

you did not deserve what happened to you

2:32

either. So absolutely, you have kind of

2:34

two reasons not to forgive. But

2:37

why not go ahead and forgive because otherwise,

2:39

you're kind of leaving them in charge. You're

2:42

kind of waiting for them to do something. You're

2:44

kind of hell hostage waiting for them to either

2:46

ask forgiveness or confess what they did. So why

2:48

give them that much power over

2:51

you? Just forgive. Forgive

2:53

before they ask. Forgive if they

2:56

never ask. Now, if

2:58

you're a Jesus follower, here comes

3:00

the hard part. If you're

3:02

a Jesus follower, we're required to

3:04

do that. Jesus insisted that we

3:06

forgive. But to be clear, Jesus

3:08

doesn't insist that you stay in

3:11

a dangerous or unhealthy relationship. In

3:13

fact, Jesus would probably insist you get out of

3:15

a dangerous or unhealthy relationship. But then he would

3:17

turn right back around and say, okay, now that

3:19

you've got some separation, you

3:22

still have to forgive.

3:25

And if you're not so sure about that, you're

3:28

not alone. Because one of Jesus'

3:30

closest friends wasn't so sure about that, Peter,

3:32

the apostle Peter. Imagine this, who sat around

3:34

campfires with Jesus and traveled with Jesus, heard

3:37

everything Jesus had to say. And at one point,

3:39

Jesus was talking about forgiveness and Peter is thinking

3:41

like we do. He's like, well, okay,

3:43

yeah, I kind of get that. But he kind

3:45

of sides up to Jesus and says, okay,

3:48

we need some parameters. So I need

3:50

you to be more specific. So Lord,

3:53

exactly how many times shall I forgive my

3:55

brother or sister who sends against me? The

3:58

implication being, what if I just... I just

4:00

keep doing the same thing over and over and over.

4:02

I mean, how many times? So what about the

4:04

perfect number three? I'll even take it even

4:06

further. The other perfect number seven,

4:08

up to like seven times because Jesus, I mean,

4:10

come on. I mean, I heard what you said,

4:12

but there's a limit, right?

4:16

Jesus smiles and says, no, there's not. I tell

4:19

you not seven, but 77 times.

4:25

77 times the implication being forgiveness

4:28

should be limitless, which

4:31

sounds ridiculous, especially if I was

4:33

to hear your story or you

4:35

were to hear my story. Now,

4:38

we're gonna leave this thought here for now because

4:40

this is the setup for a very interesting

4:42

question. I think this whole thing of Jesus

4:44

teaching other people to have limitless forgiveness, I

4:46

think this begs a question. This surface is

4:49

a question that we should all wrestle with.

4:51

And today as we wrestle with it, this

4:53

is gonna feel a little uncomfortable for some of you.

4:55

In fact, if you were raised in the kind of church that

4:57

I was raised in, this is gonna feel

4:59

a little uncomfortable. In fact, you may find

5:01

yourself pushing back, but I want you to

5:03

just go with me into these three narratives

5:05

in the life of Jesus. All

5:08

three are very familiar. In fact, for some of you,

5:10

as soon as I begin the narrative, you're gonna be

5:12

like, oh, I know how this ends, but I want

5:14

you to resist that temptation to rush ahead. For some

5:16

of you, you may have heard of one of these

5:18

or two of these, but maybe not all three of

5:20

these. But the question is

5:22

that I want us to wrestle with, if

5:24

Jesus insisted that there

5:26

be unlimited forgiveness from us,

5:30

that he insisted we forgive people, even if

5:32

they don't ask or never ask, and if

5:34

Jesus came to represent God, it's

5:39

God like that. I

5:41

mean, is that how this works? Limitless

5:44

forgiveness before you ask?

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If you never ask, what

5:50

if God has already forgiven

5:52

you for all of

5:54

your sin, and he's just

5:57

waiting for you to recognize it, or if

5:59

you're a Christian, recognize the

6:01

full extent of his forgiveness

6:04

for you. So

6:08

one day Jesus is teaching and he's in a very large

6:10

home and there are a lot of people there, in fact,

6:12

the text, Luke, who knew all these people, Luke knew Matthew

6:14

and Peter and James and John and

6:16

the brother of Jesus, he knew them all

6:19

and so he puts together this orderly account.

6:21

He says one day Jesus is teaching in

6:23

a very large home and describes and Pharisees

6:25

and Sadducees from Judea, Galilee, from the city

6:27

of Jerusalem. They are all converging to listen

6:29

to Jesus teach because he's creating so much

6:31

trouble, he's drawing such large crowds, they're trying

6:33

to decide is it a rumor that he's

6:35

the Messiah? Has he claimed to be the

6:38

Messiah? You know, what's going on with

6:40

this guy? So they gather in this

6:42

very large home and Jesus is teaching

6:44

and they're jealous, they're suspicious, you know,

6:46

they're curious and while Jesus is

6:48

teaching, this is the story probably most of us

6:50

are familiar with. Suddenly there's

6:52

a commotion on the roof and

6:55

then there's debris falling down on everybody's hair

6:57

and then next thing you know, they're peeling

6:59

back the roof and you see the silhouettes

7:01

of some heads up there and then the

7:03

sun is blotted out and down comes this

7:06

mat with a man on it lowered slowly

7:08

to the ground and Jesus steps back and

7:10

here's a man on a mat and clearly

7:12

he can't move, he's paralyzed. Remember the story?

7:14

And Jesus stops the teaching and at this

7:16

point, the crowd is so excited because

7:19

they didn't come for a sermon. They

7:21

came for the tricks, they came for the magic show,

7:23

they came for the supernatural. And he's like,

7:25

oh good, good, good. This is the moment we all came for

7:28

because maybe he's gonna heal this

7:30

paralyzed man and

7:33

Jesus looks at the paralyzed man and

7:36

he says the most unusual thing, friend,

7:40

your sins are forgiven. Wait,

7:44

all of them? Like just

7:46

like that? I mean, that's

7:48

not even what he came for. He didn't

7:50

ask, he didn't ask because that's not what

7:53

he's here for and how

7:55

can you forgive a stranger sins? I mean, wait, Rabbi,

7:58

this guy didn't even Sin against you. You.

8:00

Don't even know what he's. Done.

8:02

Besides forgiveness, I mean you gotta ask

8:05

first, right? I mean, and

8:07

affair season, those lawyers are all putting

8:09

their eyes at each other. They're all

8:11

think in the same things. Oh, is

8:13

this fellow goodness? Who is this fella

8:15

who speaks blasphemy wise of blasphemy Be

8:17

says who to forgive sense. But

8:20

God alone, Who does he think he is?

8:22

He's playing God. Besides, everybody knew that God

8:24

didn't forgive until he was asked in. There

8:26

was a sacrifice In the sacrifice had to

8:29

be made of the Temple in Jerusalem, not

8:31

length in a mat and debris in Galilee.

8:33

I mean, everything about this is wrong. Or

8:37

perhaps they had it wrong. Perhaps.

8:42

We. Have it wrong. Jesus.

8:44

Looks at the fair season, the teachers of the

8:47

the lawyers in the eye. And

8:49

he says. Why? Are

8:52

you thinking? These. Things in

8:54

your heart, Surgery. Be careful

8:56

what you think about. Run seizes right. Why are

8:58

you thinking these things Okay he says. let me

9:00

ask you questions. You're

9:02

the smartest guys in the room. Which

9:05

is easier to say. To.

9:07

Dismiss your sins are forgiven which I've already

9:09

said. Or. Said get up. And

9:12

walk which is easier. Now

9:15

you're A for this case. For. Is this

9:17

or by watching from home business? Is.

9:20

What he says he says

9:22

but I want you. To.

9:25

Know. I

9:27

think he wants us to know these other

9:30

he wants us to knows. That's why Luke

9:32

included this narrative and he talks to the

9:34

people who were there and saw this looks

9:36

knew this was it just for them. that

9:39

this was for us is why he included

9:41

it's Jesus As I want you to know,

9:43

I want you to notes here. I want

9:45

you to know something. This is why is

9:48

included. I want you to know that the

9:50

son. Of man. check this out

9:52

i want you to know the something i want you you

9:54

know that you don't know there's something that perhaps you don't

9:56

know that i don't know that we miss because of how

9:58

we were raised and how he had and all this

10:00

interpreted for us. I don't know what your religious background

10:02

is or what you think about Christianity. Jesus says, there's

10:05

something you don't know that I want you to know.

10:07

I want you to know that the son of man talking

10:09

about himself, taking a title from the book

10:11

of Daniel, the title of the ultimate judge

10:14

and arbitrator among men, arbitrator among men. I

10:16

want you to know that the son of

10:18

man has authority on

10:20

earth to forgive sins at

10:24

will without being

10:26

asked without anyone's

10:29

permission. I

10:31

want you to know I have that authority. And

10:34

they're like, yeah, well, that's what you're

10:36

saying. And then Jesus is

10:38

gonna basically say this, and

10:40

to demonstrate that I have the

10:42

authority to forgive sin, I have

10:44

also been given authority over

10:47

sin and over

10:49

the consequence of sin. I

10:51

have authority over illness and sickness

10:54

and I have authority over paralysis.

10:56

And the reason I have been

10:58

given that authority, look up here,

11:00

is that you would know with

11:02

certainty that I have the authority

11:05

to forgive your sin.

11:09

Do you know why Jesus healed? Was

11:13

to demonstrate he had the authority to

11:15

forgive the sin behind

11:19

all illness. So

11:21

he said, to the paralyzed man, I

11:23

love this, I tell you,

11:25

get up, take your mat, get

11:28

out of here, go

11:30

home, and he did. And

11:33

the people were filled with awe and

11:35

they said, we have seen a remarkable

11:37

thing to things today. Actually, they had

11:39

seen a remarkable person that day. Someone

11:42

with the power to

11:44

just wave away and cancel and forgive sin.

11:47

No temple, no priest, no net, it's

11:51

just a word. He

11:54

forgave a sinner who was

11:56

literally powerless to do anything

11:58

to redeem him. Just

12:03

like that. A

12:05

few days later, Jesus is invited to Simon's

12:07

house. Simon is also a Pharisee. Simon throws

12:09

a banquet in the middle of the day.

12:12

Big home, leaves the windows and doors open. This

12:14

was common. It was common for people to stand

12:16

in the doorways and to stand in the windows

12:18

and listen to conversations if they were invited. And

12:21

this was the nature of this banquet. Because Simon

12:23

thought when he and his friends conversing

12:25

with Jesus, perhaps Jesus would trap himself. Perhaps

12:27

he would trip himself up. Perhaps the people

12:29

would walk away and go, Ah,

12:32

not a prophet, not from God. So

12:34

the doors are open. They're all reclining around the

12:36

table. And people begin to move in and sit along

12:38

the wall. So listen to

12:40

the conversation. And a woman from

12:42

the town who lived

12:44

a sinful life slipped in

12:47

and sat against the wall. Because she

12:49

heard that Jesus was visiting Simon's home.

12:53

And suddenly Jesus feels something at his feet. And

12:56

suddenly there's an aroma of perfume that

12:58

fills that large banquet room. And

13:01

he realizes that she is cleaning his

13:03

feet. But she's cleaning his feet

13:05

with her hair and her tears

13:08

and this expensive perfume that has now

13:10

filled the room. The

13:12

host, Simon, realizes this

13:14

is so awkward. But

13:18

the silver lining was it confirmed

13:20

his suspicion. Clearly we

13:22

haven't even gotten to the main course yet. And

13:24

my question is already answered. This is not a

13:26

man who has come from God clearly. I

13:28

mean now I already know the answer to the question. I

13:31

wish I had figured this out before I spent all this

13:33

money and invited all these people into my home. Clearly if

13:35

this man, if this man was a

13:37

prophet, if this was somebody that God sent,

13:40

he would know who was touching

13:42

him and making him ceremonially unclean.

13:45

He would know who was touching him and what

13:47

kind of woman she is. That she's a sinner.

13:50

Now when he says she's a sinner, he doesn't mean she's a

13:52

sinner. You say we're sinner. No, he means that

13:55

she is steeped in sin. She is

13:57

characterized by sin. She didn't just do

13:59

sin. She is a sinner. She

14:01

is unacceptable to God. She is outside the

14:03

covenant. She doesn't get to visit the temple

14:06

and everybody knows that. And Simon's

14:08

like, wow, at least I got my question answered but I'm

14:10

gonna have to have the whole house cleansed now

14:12

that I know that this woman has

14:15

been here. Jesus just

14:17

keeps eating. Never acknowledges this

14:19

is happening. Now, I want you to

14:21

be in the room and I want you to experience this with

14:23

us. They're

14:26

just eating and chatting and Jesus says, hey, Simon,

14:28

and to all of us, yes, Simon, I want

14:31

to tell you a story. And Jesus launches into a

14:33

parable. No set up, no context, just, I don't

14:35

know where to say, hey, Simon, I want to tell

14:37

you a story. There are these two

14:39

merchants and they both were borrowing

14:41

money from the same money lender. And

14:44

both of them got in a situation where they

14:46

could not pay the money lender back and the

14:48

interest had mounted and mounted and mounted. And one

14:50

of them owed the money lender 50 denarius, which

14:53

is about 50 days of labor for

14:55

a common laborer or a soldier. It was a

14:57

soldier's daily wage. So about a month and a

14:59

half. He's behind about a month and a half. The

15:02

other guy owes the money lender 500 denarius.

15:05

This is about a year and a half's worth

15:07

of daily wage. So they're both in debt. Both

15:09

of them, neither of them can pay and they

15:11

come to the money lender and they both explain

15:13

we're forever behind. We don't know what to do.

15:15

And Jesus says, this money lender decides, you know what, I'm

15:18

just gonna cancel your debt. I'm gonna cancel your

15:20

month and a half's worth of debt. I'm gonna cancel your year

15:23

and a half's worth of debt. And

15:25

then just cancel the debt, which would be so unusual. In

15:27

fact, the people around the table would kind of murmur like,

15:29

oh, that would never happen, right? They all probably owed somebody

15:32

money. And of course, Simon,

15:34

the host is thinking, where's this going? And

15:38

then Jesus asked a simple question. Now

15:41

he says, which one of them will

15:43

love him more? It's

15:46

like, oh, merchants and money

15:48

lenders love. There's no love,

15:50

love him more. And Simon

15:53

replied, you know, dismissively, but carefully,

15:56

he senses a trap. Well,

15:59

I... I suppose the

16:01

one who had the bigger debt

16:03

forgiven would be the one who loved

16:06

the moneylender more. If anyone could

16:08

love a moneylender. To

16:10

which Jesus says, you're exactly right. You have

16:13

judged correctly. You have judged correctly, Jesus said.

16:16

And then something remarkable happens.

16:19

We miss it. But she

16:21

didn't. For the first

16:23

time. For the first time, Jesus

16:27

turns toward the

16:29

woman. He's on

16:31

his elbow. He turns toward the woman who's kind

16:33

of behind him. And she speaks to

16:35

Simon. So picture it. He's

16:37

talking to Simon. He's

16:39

looking at the woman. If

16:44

you think you have sinned so much

16:47

that God may love you but could never

16:49

like you. And

16:52

you've heard the story and you know God forgives and you've

16:54

heard, you know, Jesus and the cross and God, all that.

16:56

But done

16:58

a lot of stuff. The

17:01

story's for you. Simon,

17:05

Jesus is so brilliant. Simon,

17:07

he says. Do

17:10

you see this woman? He's

17:13

looking at her talking to Simon. Do you see this woman?

17:17

Simon, I

17:19

do. You

17:21

don't. You despise her.

17:24

She's outside the covenant. She's

17:27

ceremonially unclean because of the life

17:29

she's lived. But

17:32

Simon, just so you know, she's been a better host to me than

17:34

you have. Because when I

17:37

came in, you did not offer any water for my feet to

17:39

wash my feet. And she's washed my feet with her tears. Dried

17:43

my feet with her hair. And

17:46

you didn't give me a kiss of greeting and she has

17:48

kissed my feet as she's cleansed my feet. And you

17:52

did not give me any oil for my hair.

17:54

And she has opened this expensive

17:56

bottle of perfume and poured perfume on my

17:59

feet much less. She's been a better,

18:02

she's been a better host. Therefore

18:06

I tell you, her

18:09

many sins have been still looking at her.

18:11

Imagine this moment. Forgive

18:15

me. She's

18:18

stunned. Simon and

18:20

all of his deaths are confused. But

18:22

wait, forgive it. And in the

18:25

Greek, it's the perfect tense, which means she

18:27

is in a forgiven state. She is

18:29

in a state of forgiveness. I'm not

18:31

forgiving a particular sin. I'm forgiving all

18:34

of the sin, all of her sin. She

18:36

is now a forgiven person. And everybody in

18:38

the room is like, wait a minute. But

18:41

how? There's no temple, there's no altar, there's

18:43

no priest. She didn't even ask. She hasn't

18:45

repented. And of all the people in this

18:47

town, she is now a forgiven

18:51

person. She has some kind of

18:53

right standing with Yahweh, of her,

18:55

of all people. And the woman, of course, Jesus

18:57

is still looking at her talking to Simon about

18:59

her sin. She's wondering,

19:03

did I hear this correctly? And

19:07

Jesus smiled and he looks at her, looks

19:10

at you, looks at me. He

19:13

says, yeah, you heard me correctly. Now he's talking

19:15

directly to her, not her sins.

19:18

Your sins are

19:22

forgiven, all of them. Because

19:29

Jesus had been given the

19:31

power to forgive sin on

19:34

earth at will,

19:36

without permission, without being

19:38

asked. What

19:46

if he's done that for

19:49

you? The

19:52

people in the room, they all respond correctly.

19:55

Who is this? That's the right question too, right?

19:57

And when it comes to Christianity and Jesus, this

19:59

is... Who is this? Who

20:02

even forgives sin? I

20:04

mean, once again, he's playing the role

20:07

of God. And one of the most

20:09

fascinating things about this encounter, according to Luke, who brings

20:12

it to us, the

20:14

woman never utters a word as

20:17

she leaves, forgiven.

20:22

But that's a problem. Because

20:24

if Jesus kept going on like this, it

20:27

was going to undermine the entire

20:29

religious establishment. If folks believe that

20:31

God just forgives everybody, they're

20:33

just going to run wild. What's going to

20:35

keep them from running wild? If God is announcing

20:37

forgiveness ahead of time, if this is Jesus'

20:40

message, what's

20:42

going to happen? What

20:44

will people do with that? Will

20:46

they be responsible with that? Of course

20:48

they won't be responsible. They're going to

20:50

abuse that privilege. This has to

20:53

end. But

20:56

if it's true, if

20:58

what Jesus did for the woman, He

21:01

did for you, and for me,

21:03

for you, for you, for you, and for

21:05

us, you

21:08

know what that will be?

21:15

Good news. That's why

21:17

it's called the gospel or the good news

21:19

of Matthew, and the good news

21:21

of Mark, and the good news of Luke, and the good

21:23

news of John. It's why the angel said when Jesus was

21:25

born, I have good news

21:28

of great joy for all the good

21:30

people, for

21:32

all the select and elect people. I

21:35

have good news of great joy for all

21:38

people. Because today in the

21:40

city of Bethlehem, a savior is born.

21:43

He's God's final king. He's

21:45

the Lord. And He is

21:47

born with the authority to

21:50

forgive sin at will without

21:52

being asked. That

21:56

wouldn't just be good news. That would be the best possible.

22:03

Fear of God, don't miss this, fear

22:06

of God would be replaced

22:09

with gratitude for God and

22:11

love for God which was the point

22:13

of the parable and is the point

22:15

of Jesus. But

22:20

the problem is this, those

22:22

who benefit most from the status quo are

22:25

least inclined to let it go.

22:28

So they have Jesus arrested. They

22:31

accuse him of all kinds of things, claiming

22:33

to be a king, accuse him of subverting

22:35

the nation trying to bring down the Roman

22:37

Empire, refuse killing people not to pay their

22:40

taxes. They lie, they pay people to lie.

22:43

Pilate questions him and Pilate decides, okay,

22:45

he's a little unorthodox but goodness, he

22:47

doesn't deserve the death penalty. I'll just

22:50

have him beaten and released. They're like, no,

22:52

he has to die because he claims to

22:54

be a king. He is competing with Caesar

22:56

even though Jesus never competed with Caesar. He

22:58

continued to say, my kingdom's not of this

23:00

world. But they convinced Pilate, Pilate washes his

23:02

hands and condemns Jesus to death, condemns

23:05

him to be crucified.

23:11

And when they came to the

23:13

place called the skull where crucifixion took place, they

23:17

crucified Jesus there. As we've said

23:19

so many times, there's no description given because no

23:22

description is necessary. Somebody that read this or heard

23:24

this had seen one. They'd

23:26

seen the aftermath of

23:28

one. And as he hung there, here's

23:31

the part we rushed through that maybe you've been a

23:33

Christian a long time like me and maybe

23:35

it's time for this to resettle in on you. Maybe you

23:38

walked away from faith and it's time for this

23:40

to resettle on you as well. Maybe you've never

23:42

embraced any kind of faith and this is for

23:44

you. As

23:47

he hangs there, pushing up on the one nail

23:49

through his foot that allows him to push himself

23:51

up painfully to breathe and exhale. He

23:54

says, Father. Forgive

24:02

them. Because

24:07

I have the authority to

24:09

forgive anybody on earth.

24:12

I want you, Father, to forgive

24:14

them. And who is them? Luke

24:17

would tell you, them is anyone Jesus

24:19

chooses to forgive. What

24:22

if that's true? What

24:24

if you are in a state of perpetual

24:27

forgiveness and God gambled and

24:29

announced it ahead

24:31

of time? What do

24:33

you do with that? Years

24:36

later, a Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, who

24:38

becomes Paul, the apostle Paul, who

24:40

writes half the New Testament, a few years

24:42

later he looks back. Now, he was alive during all of this, but

24:44

he wasn't a part of it that we know of. He

24:47

looks back and he contextualizes it and he

24:49

puts words around it. And here's

24:51

what he said happened. And

24:53

Saul was a man with many sins. Saul was

24:55

a man who was guilty of the deaths of

24:57

innocent people. Saul had so much guilt and so

24:59

much shame that he would carry around. And

25:04

here's how he put it together in a document that

25:06

he sent to Christians living in Rome. He

25:08

says, look, you see, you see, in other

25:10

words, think with me, you see, at just

25:13

the right time when

25:16

we were still powerless or you could

25:18

fill in this blank or replace powerless

25:20

with clueless, while we were powerless and

25:22

clueless because this happened during his lifetime.

25:24

That's why it's present tense. In other

25:26

words, while I'm doing my own thing,

25:28

you know, hurting people and being so

25:30

judgmental, while I'm doing my own thing,

25:33

when I wasn't even aware of what

25:35

was going on and I was powerless

25:37

to find forgiveness with God, when I

25:39

was powerless and clueless, while I was

25:41

doing that, Christ died for me, Christ

25:43

died for all the ungodly. And

25:46

Saul, who was a Pharisee, would say, and I'm in that

25:48

group. And he

25:50

died for the ungodly without our permission.

25:54

He died for the ungodly without us asking

25:56

him to. He died for the ungodly

25:58

when we didn't think anybody needed to. before

26:01

we were aware, before we even cared. And

26:05

he says, now every once in a while,

26:07

somebody will die for a righteous person. He

26:09

says, now, you know, I'll be honest, very

26:11

rarely will anyone die for a righteous person.

26:14

Although, you know, every once in a while,

26:16

for a good person, someone might possibly dare

26:18

to die. But

26:20

he would say, but I'm not a good person. And

26:25

then he says this, that

26:27

at Calvary, God

26:29

put on a demonstration

26:33

that should change everything

26:35

about everything. But God

26:37

demonstrates, God demonstrated his

26:40

own love for all

26:42

of us. The man

26:44

on the mat, the woman in the room, the

26:46

people gathered around Jesus as he died. Paul

26:49

says, I realize now, this was an all

26:51

skate. This was for the whole world. This

26:53

was for all of us. He

26:56

demonstrated his own love, his brand

26:58

of love, his whether you like it or

27:01

not, whether you want it or not, whether you're

27:03

even aware of it or not brand of love

27:05

for you, me.

27:11

Listen to this, while we were

27:13

still sinning, this was present tense, it

27:15

was in real time, while

27:17

we were still sinners. Christ

27:20

did something none of us would do. He

27:22

died for unrighteous, uncaring,

27:25

unknowing, unaware,

27:28

ungrateful. He

27:34

died for you, paid for all

27:36

your sin, forgave you without

27:38

asking, which was risky.

27:41

Philip Yancey, I quote this all

27:43

the time, it's just so powerful to me. He got it

27:45

exactly right when he said this, that

27:47

God took a great risk by

27:50

announcing forgiveness in advance, that

27:53

God took a great risk by

27:55

announcing forgiveness in advance,

27:58

knowing that we might ignore it. knowing

28:01

that we might take advantage of it, knowing

28:03

that we may discard it, knowing

28:05

that we would dip into it when we needed

28:08

it, but God announced forgiveness in

28:10

advance so that we

28:13

would love Him, be grateful to

28:15

Him, and be reconciled

28:20

to Him. So

28:22

here's the question, what do you do with that? What

28:26

have you done with that? What

28:28

have you done with that lately? For

28:31

some of you, you've been Christians a long time and

28:33

you just take it for granted. Oh

28:35

dear God forgive me of my sins, oh dear God just forgive

28:38

me of my sins. Wait, wait, wait, wait. He already did

28:42

and you continue to sin anyway. He

28:45

already did and you continue to

28:47

sort of throw that back up at Him.

28:51

Maybe you've never understood it this way before. Maybe

28:53

you just had some vague notion that God is

28:55

good and God forgives, but did you know that

28:57

Jesus had the authority to forgive sin and He

28:59

has forgiven you ahead of time and

29:02

He's just waiting for you to recognize that in

29:04

order to reconcile with

29:06

Him. He left

29:09

us with the freedom to accept it

29:11

or reject it and

29:14

even if you don't, one wouldn't be willing to admit

29:16

that you need forgiveness. Actually you know that you do

29:18

and the reason that you know that you do is

29:20

because you know what you do and

29:22

you know what you've done. So how

29:25

do you respond? How do I respond? How do

29:27

we respond to that kind

29:30

of love, the gift of forgiveness?

29:36

Thanks for listening, but before you

29:38

go I wanted to take a

29:40

minute to thank everyone who supports

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