Faithful To Forgive | Marshall Townsley

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Transcript

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I want to talk to you on the subject today about how faithful God is, uh, to forgive. We celebrate in Psalm this morning. We're celebrating in September. God's faithfulness, among other things, faithful. He's been in the past. He's faithful now, and he will be faithful into the future because that's who he is. And, uh, but I want us focus today on his, uh, promise to forgive us when we fall and when we fail, and when we miss the mark. And let's, let's be honest, all of us do from time to time, and I just have five questions about it. I'm gonna go through them, uh, quickly, and then we will celebrate his forgiveness at the end, and we will pray. Not here at the front, laying on of hands today. But we will just pray before we leave. We will help you. We'll pray for you and help you if we can, uh, come to a place of being cleansed. Everybody say cleansed as part of the promise. God just doesn't forgive us, but he also cleanses us from all unrighteousness. But I'm gonna start here from one John in chapter one, beginning with verse eight. The scripture says, if we boast that we have no sin. We're only fooling ourselves and our strangers to the truth. But if we freely admit our sins, when his light uncovers them, he will be faithful to forgive us every time. God is just to forgive us our sins because of Christ, and he will continue to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we claim that we're not guilty of sin, when God uncovers it with his light, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the help of the Holy Spirit. Believe, uh, in this moment that he will, he will bring special grace upon our minds, uh, to think, uh, with you, God, uh, and also he will bring grace to our inward hearing, the hearing of the heart. So that we can not just hear these words as they're amplified in this auditorium, but we will hear them in the inner man in our hearts. We thank you that revelation knowledge will come as will, wisdom and understanding, and we thank you for it all. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. So first question is, what is sin Biblically? You know, this is not a subject I hear an awful lot. Spoken about, uh, nowadays, and when I do, I'm, I'm kind of saddened by the way it's delivered, uh, because it's delivered in a way, it seems to me to beat people, uh, in such a way emotionally and mentally that they crawl to the cross to find forgiveness. You're welcome at the throne of God. Amen. You don't have to crawl and beg for anything because of the price that Jesus paid. You can come with sorrow in your heart. You should, if you've sinned, I've sinned. But that doesn't mean it's not the same as, uh, thinking you don't belong here. Right? Or there's gonna be an unsolvable issue here. Amen. Uh, uh, something that can't just, can't be fixed. And you've gotta understand that as a pastor, we have heard throughout the years that we have, uh, ministered to people. Many come into our offices thinking that they sin to sin, for which there is no forgiveness, and therefore their life is ruined. Amen. Whatever God had planned for them is now off the table. And, uh, either God forgives them and it comes up with a different plan, or they're, they're just ruined and most of them believe they're ruined. But we're gonna, we're gonna speak to that today. Amen. And, and I believe God's truth, just like Jesus said, he said, if, if we continue in his word, we will know the truth and that truth will set us free or liberate us. Amen. Amen. And we don't know everybody in the room today. We don't know your circumstances, especially those who are guests today. But we're glad you're here to hear a message like this. Because if you're in trouble spiritually, if you're at the wrong place spiritually, if you're down in your life because of sin that you've committed, there's an answer for you today. Amen. And you'll leave the property. I'm not making an empty promise here, but you will leave the, if you respond well to the message, you'll leave this property different. Then what you came on at, you will leave this property transformed by the spirit of God. I say that on the basis of his word and what we're about to look at. So let's first of all just look at what sin means biblically, because we all can have our own idea of sin or what is right and what is wrong. But the word most often translated sin in the Bible, especially in the New Testament, a means to miss the mark. The Greek word is hamartia, and it means to miss the mark. It's used in agriculture of an archer who takes his arrow back, points it at someplace on a target, lets the arrow go, but it misses the target entirely. It's a small word, but it's a big subject and it's a really big deal. You and I should never minimize, even in the view of our redemption, never minimize the horror that sin can bring into our life. Amen. If we play with it, if we entertain it, if we don't, again, do what scripture tells us to do with it, it can, it can bring some pretty devastating effects to us. Even though we're born of God, we're in right standing with God, uh, et cetera, and those of you have been taught, well, know what I'm talking about. You know, we have a brand new life in Christ, but things can still hurt us, harm us, work against our soul. Work against the things in our soul, our mind, our motion, even our willingness to make the right choices if we, uh, allow it to hang out, hang around. So it's a small word, but a big deal in the Bible. Sin is any transgression that violates, listen to me, who God is by nature, who he is. For example, the scripture says God is love, so that when we step out of loving the way God loves. Then that's sin and it's sinning against first and foremost, who God actually is by nature. And secondly, it violates what He wills for all mankind. Sin is just not being true to who he is and who listen to me, who you are as a Christian and a follower of Jesus Christ, it is no longer listen to me. If you've truly been born again in this room. It is no longer your nature, your, your spirit nature to sin against God. You say, well then why do I sin against God? Because your soul, even though it's been purchased, has not yet been fully changed and transformed. So we're still capable of thinking the wrong things and saying the wrong things and doing, uh, things again that violate who God is and what his will is for mankind. We're capable of that even though we're born again. But hear me, you're not a spiritual schizophrenic. You're born of God, your spirit has been changed. Your spirit, the condition of your spirit will be the same now as when you get to heaven. There's nothing that needs to be added to your spirit Nature. There's a lot going on in your soul that needs to be changed, and there's a lot happening in the flesh that needs to be changed. And thank God we have God's help doing that very thing. As we walk this, as we take on this journey of faith and this walk of faith, amen. I don't want you to think, you know, I was raised thinking that there's a black dog and a white dog on the inside of me. Those were the exact words used, and the one you fed the most was the one that won the battle and determined how you lived your life. I was also taught growing up that even though I'm born again, if I feel like, if I feel, if I say feel. Yeah, if I have these emotions, if I feel like my prayers don't get above the ceiling, I'm probably not born again. Well, that's just not true. And I wish someone had told me, uh, earlier in my Christian life what was true. You can be born of God changed in nature and still have issues that you need to grow out of going on in your soul. And your soul once again is made up of your mind, your emotions, which follow your thinking. And also your will. And of course there are things appetites in the body that we've just, we've, we've trained this body. We did, as long as we were following heart after Satan and sin, we trained our bodies to live in sin and become good with it and become even comfortable with it. Listen, church, it's one thing to sin, it's another to enjoy it and to keep enjoying it. And that's one of the deceptions of Satan when he's tempting us into sin. Is he makes it a feel good situation and if it feels good, how could it be bad? We sort of think that, well, there's a lot that feels good. That truly is evil. In fact, it was prophesied by Old Testament prophets that there a day would be coming and I we're here. The day would come where we would call things that are evil good, and call things that are truly good evil. That's right. Again, we're seeing that. It's on Instagram, it's on Facebook, it's on social media, it's on the news, it's in our newspapers, and sadly it's in some of our pulpits today. We preach what we call good, and yet it's evil. And we preach what is evil and it's called good. And thank God for the Holy Spirit. Can someone say amen? Amen. Because he has come to live on the inside of us and to be that voice of truth for us, he protects us. He helps us in every way that we need, every weakness that we experience, he is there to help us. There's not a moment in your day. You're without the help of the Holy Spirit. Amen. And without the promise of his help. Just always remember that. And again, if you're down today, especially under the load, the filth, because sin has a tendency to leave some residue. Otherwise, we wouldn't need cleansing. So there's something that can weigh us down of sin that we've committed in our life that forgiving yourself won't do. You have to have God's forgiveness and the cleansing that he he promised. Amen. Amen. And don't make yourself the exception to that promise. We just read that if we are, confess it and we'll look at that, then God is faithful. He deals with our unfaithfulness, with his faithfulness. God is faithful and just to do what? Cleanse us from all unrighteousness and to help us, um, rid ourself of the weight, uh, and the damage that it has brought to our souls. Not our spirit, but to our souls. Number two, the second question is how do we commit sin? Well, very elementary, but let's mention it. You can enter into sin with your eyes wide open, or you can biblically slip into it. You can again enter into sin with your eyes wide open. Knowing what you do, you're doing about to do is wrong, but you do it anyway. Or you can slip into sin. James four 17 says this, so any person, any person who knows what is right to do, but does it not to him, it. Is sin. But first Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 33 from the Amplified Bible teaches this as well. Do not be so deceived and misled. Evil companionships, communion associations, corrupt and depraved, good manners and morals and character. So we can fall into sin by making covenants with certain people. Hanging out with certain people that hurt our faith walk, that hurt our love, walk with God, uh, e even the, the music that we listen to, you know, you should pay attention to what you're listening to. So, well, pastor, there's just no good this or that out there. Oh, there's good out there. There's some good music out there that will really build you up on the inside. Instead of try to cry with you over your seventh divorce, there's good music out there, but you're gonna have to work hard to find it and then be disciplined and the Holy Ghost will help you love God enough. That's what drives us anyway. It's the love of God. We're not doing anything to get God to love us. We do what we do because God loves us and we're learning how to love him deeper. Amen. Amen. So there's music that we just wouldn't listen to if we really practice the presence of, of God, uh, in our car or at our home or wherever we are at our place, uh, of work or business. Thoughts that we entertain, uh, form values in our heart. And sin will affect your thinking in a negative way. And if you continue that, it will form values. In your heart that are not okay. Alright, number three, question number three. You still with me? Yeah. Sin can be committed inwardly and outwardly. Excuse me. Excuse me. That's not the next question. It's the next point. Sin can be committed inwardly and outwardly. It can be invisible to others, but visible to God. It can also be seen by others in one's actions in speech, but it can also be invisible to others, but visible to God. Matthew 27, chapter five, verses 27 and 28 says, Jesus speaking, your ancestors have been taught never commit adultery. However, I say to you, if you look with lust in your eyes at the body of a woman who is not your wife. You've already committed adultery in your heart. Amen. They thought they were thinking like many of us think even in again in the Christian community, that it's when we do the act that sin actually occurs. Well, that's true, but you can do the act inwardly. Yes. Invisible to everybody else thinking you're getting away with something. By the way, nobody is getting away with anything. That's right. Nobody. And I say that because you don't need to be spending your time trying to judge other people about their sin, thinking that if you don't, they'll get away with it. Why do we create hell for people? There's enough to go around already. What in the world, whose side are you on? Whose mouthpiece have you become? Oh, I don't approve of, and that's fine. You shouldn't. But how you handle it, especially in other people, is key. Amen to your Christian walk. Amen. Not that you may be, while you're trying to fix someone else's Christian walk, you're breaking your own. That's right. So be careful how you handle that. Amen. Amen. Be careful again, Jesus said when it happens inwardly, that's how God, that's when God considers its sin. Now the third question. What's lost when we sin? Uh, again, I'll go through these, uh, quickly, but you can take, I would urge you to take the time and think about them and perhaps you are a product of, some of this is going on on the inside of you, the product of your own sin showing up in these areas that I'm about to mention to you. Are you ready? Yeah. Question number one, what is sin biblically? Number two, how do we commit sin? Number three, what's lost when we sin? Number one, fellowship, not relationship. Right? That's good. Say it out loud for me. Fellowship. Fellowship, not relationship. Relationship is a legal part of our relationship we have with God, uh, and it never changes. We don't, you know, I think about my own children, my beautiful children, Hannah and Jordan, who both love God and serve God and are examples, godly examples, uh, to so many people. I love them so much. When they were growing up, when they would misbehave, we would correct them. But how many of you know that when they did something wrong, we didn't disown them? Some of you're looking at me like I will. I did. I disowned mine. We didn't disown our children. They didn't stop being our children. They no longer carried our name, but something was affected and it was how they felt toward us and how they felt about our relationship. Something wasn't right. They didn't approach us so quickly to ask for help or or whatever. They were slower to do that. Something clearly was weighing on them on the inside. That's what happens to us when we sin against God. We are still children of God. Thank God again. Thank God for his faithfulness. He still sees us as sons and daughters. You know why God hates sin? Because he loves you so much. He absolutely hates it. He does not tolerate it. There's no sin in him at all. Of course, he is holy. But the reason he hates sin, he doesn't hate you when you sin. He hates sin is because he loves you so much. He doesn't want anything messing with the relationship that he has with you. He doesn't want it. And so one John one, six says, if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and we're not practicing the truth. Fellowship is the word koinonia in the Greek language, and it speaks of a special and unique experience that really should be considered divine. It's only used to describe the experience we can have with God and with one another who know him. In fact, it's the same thing that is experienced in the Godhead. Father to Son, to Holy Spirit, holy Spirit, to son to the Father. What they enjoy and their relationship. That fellowship is the very thing we share with God when we're walking in the light and the light still shines even when we walk out of it into the dark places, right? Alright. And when we're in that dark place, relationship has not changed, but Fellowship has changed the way we approach God, what we think of our approach to God, et cetera. Number two, our conscience is defiled. Our conscience is defiled. The conscience is a part of man's soul, and it was designed to be a witness or an echo to all that is good and acceptable to God. But according to the scripture, it can be rewritten, it can be seared. The Bible uses these words. It can be seared, it can be defiled. Cast off and ignored to do so is to remove an essential safeguard concerning the heart, and again, a witness to God's spirit in knowing, uh, in doing right. Amen. Um, I don't think there, we need to say much more about that. I think he, men that don't know Jesus. Those of us who do, God gave all of us a conscience, but we can, by again, our actions deliberately or otherwise, we can affect our conscience and it can be rewritten. In other words, things we once thought were wrong. Now we go ahead and accept. Accept, and I gotta tell you again, there are things that have been wrong in the beginning and will always be wrong from God's perspective. And I just wanna press you a little bit today to just know what God thinks about things. He's the real expert. Amen. Yeah, he's the real expert. Alright. And so if he says it's wrong, don't, don't, don't question it. Accept it, and aim your life that direction. Amen. Because to not do that is to over time is to lose. The ability of the conscience to echo anything that God is might be speaking to you. Amen. It's to, again, throw off the safeguards, so take your safety belt off. You follow, and so again, conscience can be defiled if we sin an overtime. Continuing sin. Number three, faith is. Biblically, it's shipwrecked. Say shipwrecked with me. Ship wrecked. One Timothy one 19 from the Amplified Bible says, hold fast to faith. That leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence and have a, a good, clear conscience by rejecting and thrusting from them their conscience. Some individuals have made shipwreck of their faith. It's one of the questions I ask in counseling. To Christians when they're struggling with their trust. I just have to ask that because of this verse. So, are you living in sin? Have you not gone before God and gotten that off of you? Because if you tr try to trust God, believe God received the promise of God while still entertaining sin, the Bible says your faith is shipwrecked. No. Amen. You're not, you know how many of you know when you, you're, there's a shipwreck. The ship is not going anywhere and it can't take you anywhere. The same is true of people whose conscience is defiled, they've not been cleansed. It shipwrecks Faith's ability to help them live this wonderful, beautiful life. And to receive the incredible promises and provision that God has made for us. Amen. Alright, number four, sensitivity of heart. The heart can be hardened over time by entertaining and practicing sin. Jesus prophesied that He talked about that. Again, a day would come where men's hearts, who once hot for God would become cold and callous. For God. The same people who used to chase God and chase their relationship with God are now barely alive. It seems spiritually speaking, they're going nowhere. Their faith destroyed shipwrecked because of decisions and actions that they took. What does sat in Hebrews three 13 says, this exhort one another daily. While it's called today List, any of you be hardened, sayeth. Hardened. Hardened through what? The deceitfulness of sin. Okay. The previous verse from the passion translation reads this way. So search your hearts every day. Proverbs four, guard your hearts diligently. This verse says, search your hearts every day, my brothers and sisters, and make sure that none of you has an evil or unbelief hiding within you. For it will lead you astray and make you unresponsive to the living God. You still love your wife or your husband? Yeah. Yes. Oh, that was pitiful. Woo. I hope they're not with you in church or watching online or, wow. Lemme give you another chance. You still love your husband or wife? Yeah. Okay. Whoa. The things you uncover when you preach the word. Well, why? Why do you still love them? You've done something that some don't do. You have checked your heart. Yeah. Every day, somehow in your feelings for them. Amen. You've looked at your commitment to them, even when they've missed the mark. Failed. Disappointed you put on 20 pounds that you never thought they would. Alright? And so whatever would've caused you to withdraw in your marriage life, somehow you've dealt with it. And if you've been a success, we need to hear from you. We need to know what you did to help other people because there are many marriages suffering. Day one was outstanding. They went through the honeymoon stage and then the reality hit about their marriage, and especially concerning their imperfections, what the woman looked like without her makeup, how big the man's belly really was. How he loved watching football more than coming to the dinner table, right? How she was okay with spending money shopping, but he couldn't look at the new boat or the new car. You know, we start discovering these things and sadly, we focus on them, and so the heart becomes callous. Amen. And so it's just not what it could be and not what you thought it might be. Same is true in our relationship with God. God doesn't change and he doesn't disappoint, but we can loose. Listen to me, he's perfect, but we can actually start feeling bad about that. How are we gonna ever live up to that standard? We think God's not asking you to be perfect, but he's asking for progress. He's asking you to keep your heart pointed toward him and walking toward him, regardless of the many, many distractions that would take you off path and love will keep us in place. Does that help you? Yeah. Almost done here. Confusion replaces clarity, confusion, replaces clarity. Sin yields an atmosphere of darkness, both within and without confusing the believer as to what he sees. Uh, sees and what he thinks and what he feels within himself. Confusion replaces clarity one John two 11, the passion translation. But whoever hates a fellow believer lives in the darkness, stumbling around in the dark, with no clue where he is going, where he is blinded. By the darkness. How of, you know, that confusion in any form is not of God? And scripture says that confusion is not of God. There's a spirit of confusion that works if he can't just get you to believe a lie. He just wants to create, uh, you know, uh, he wants you to create just crowded conditions on the inside of your mind. So you literally just don't know what to do. You know? Sin. Sin can do that to us. Number six, guilt in condemnation instead of confident confidence and feeling qualified guilt in condemnation instead of being confident and qualified. The word, if you don't know the word condemnation, means to declare unfit for use. I mentioned earlier people that have come into our office for pastoring or into these altars for prayer who. Uh, just feel like they've sinned the sin that can never be forgiven. And so they're, they just suffer with this guilt and with this condemnation every day of their life, they can't, even, even when something good happens, listen, this may apply to you even when you do good and you know good and you hear the applause of the Holy Ghost, so to speak, on the inside, you don't can't, you can't enjoy it very long because that. Guilt and condemnation that came as a result of sin has not been washed off of you and has not been cleansed by God's spirit from you. I hope that's not you, but if it's you, we believe you'll get help before you leave. Amen. That's right. Before you leave. I I. So I believe that and I've come ready to pray that prayer of faith this morning for all of you. Who might be suffering any of this today? So Romans eight, five and six again, and then we'll, we'll finish. It says, those who are motivated by the flesh only pursue what benefits them, but those who live by the impulses of the Holy Spirit are motivated to pursue spiritual realities for the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset controlled by the spirit finds life in peace. So. The next question, number four, what has God provided? Well, Romans eight, one, uh, eight verse eight verses one through four. Again, from the passion translation, if you have the passion translation, oh, I just urge you, if you don't like any, any of it or the way any of it reads to get these four verses and make an exception. You can go online, you can find Bibles online. You can buy this copy in your bookstore. It's called the Passion translation. Here's how it reads concerning what God has provided when we fall, when we sin, whether deliberately, or just getting, falling into a sin. Verse one says, so now the case is closed. Say it out loud. Now the case is closed, now is closed. There remains no accusing voice of condemnation. Against those who are joined in life Union with Jesus, the anointed one for the law of the spirit of life flowing through the anointing of Jesus has liberated us from the law of sin and death for God achieved what the law was unable to accomplish because the law was limited by the weakness of human nature. Yet God sent his son in human form. To identify with human weakness, clothed with humanity. God's son gave his body to be the the sin offering so that God could once and for all condemn the guilt and power of sin. So now everybody say So now. Now we're living in now. So now. Every righteous requirement of the law can be fulfilled through the Anointed One, living his life in us. And we are free. Say we are free. We are free to live, not according to our flesh, but the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit. Wow. In another place in the scripture says Jesus who knew no sin. Was made to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ. And so today we can declare the word of God is the only evidence we need. Amen. Amen. Our emotions can mislead us. Unrenewed mind. The thoughts produced by an unrenewed mind can mislead us. Right. Choices we've made in the past that we thought were right and we've become established in can still mislead us. Amen. Thank God for the evidence of God's word. And so if I wake up tomorrow and I don't feel saved, and I don't feel good about this and I don't feel good about that, even those, those feelings are strong, you can boldly declare by faith, wait a minute. There's therefore now no condemnation. Amen. There's no guilt because Jesus paid the once and for all price by His once and for all sacrifice and offering, giving himself, and now I am healed. Amen. I am made whole. Amen. So the final question is this. One John 1, 8, 9. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. We read that early, but listen, verse nine, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Listen, just like every provision that God has ever made for us, doesn't matter what it, what it might be, we receive it. How? Right. We receive it by faith. We accept it by faith. You can't understand God's goodness or his love. You have to learn how to accept it, and, and that's faith at work. The only evidence we need again, is Jesus hanging on the cross and hearing him say, it's finished. That's right. He's, he is true. Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, not a truth, the truth and the life yet, even though the victory has to be won. Listen to me. We must still receive it by faith, what is done provided by his sacrifice. Our lives still have to experience it by faith. Amen. Amen. So number one, not to say we have not sinned is, is the advice of scripture or the command of the wisdom of scripture? Any wise, honest person who has any integrity. Knows that they've sinned again, if not indeed, and thought on the inside. Um, legally, again, the sin of the whole world has been already paid for by Jesus. Did you hear what I said to you? It's all paid for. Jesus doesn't have to come again and down a cross for everybody who's not received them yet. He came once. Once. Or all. And that sin, that that forgiveness covered, excuse me, removed. There's a difference. In the Old Testament sin was covered by the blood of bulls and goats. Under the New Testament, it has been eliminated by the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Wow. That's good news. So even though it's legally been paid for, for the whole world, they still have to do what? They have to receive it by faith. That's right. Which is what we have to do too. Jesus says, Lord, whether he's your Lord or not. He's still Lord, and what's needs to be done for you to have relationship with him has already been done. That's right. The only part missing is you receiving it as a free gift. We are saved by grace through faith. Number two, John wrote that we need to confess it. We need to understand what this word means. It means to say the same thing as, or to agree with confess means to say the same thing as. Or to agree with. So first I have to confess that I have sin. Second, I have to confess that here's what I need to confess. He says it. Confess to this confessing sin is our expression of faith. Did you hear me? Confession in this sense is our expression of faith to receive what God has provided for us. By way of forgiveness. In other words, if you needed healing today, we could pray the prayer of faith for you. Alright? And the expression of your faith would be to thank God that you've been healed. Amen.'cause you're agreeing with God concerning what he says in his word. Same is true about your sin. Confessing sin is an expression of faith to receive what God has provided for us by way of forgiveness. Now listen to me. Confessing sin agrees with God. Number one, that it was wrong. God, I was wrong. I'm sorry I was wrong. You've shown me I was wrong and I was wrong. And number two, it agrees. Confession is an agreement that God is both faithful and just watch this to forgive me. Amen. That confession that we make. When we need cleansing from sin is again an expression of our faith. Number one, that it was wrong, and number two, that if I confess my sin, God will be faithful and just to cleanse me from sin again, we're taking God at his word right? But Marshall, my, my sin is so horrible. Well, God is just so great. Hall and your sin is not the exception. Trust me. That's right. I've just, it's so bad. Well, God is so good. Amen. I mean, how can you say that?'cause the Bible says it. Amen. My emotions or anybody else's judgment on my life is not the final word in my life, and it shouldn't be in yours. God's word should be the final word. So here's what happens. The result of receiving forgi forgiveness. It is cleansing again. Say that word cleansing. I've used it, say it out loud. Cleansing. It's cleansing from its effects on the heart and life. In other words, fellowship is restored. It was broken by our sin, but now it's restore. The conscience is purified and it's strengthened. Faith, confidence toward God is rebuilt. My heart is made tender. Once again, clarity replaces the confusion and condemnation is lifted from me, as is any guilt that might work to torment me. Wow. I begin to, I can thank God by faith for washing me and cleansing me, which is something, again, just forgiving myself. Can't do. I have to have God's forgiveness, the sin. I come in as a believer. S leaves us a, I call it a shameful residue on me, and I can't handle it on my own. Amen. I can't, even with your forgiveness, I, I, I need something deeper. If I've sinned against you and you forgive me, of course that helps me, but there's something I need more. I need God's forgiveness to actually cleanse me because my goal when it comes to sin is not to feel better. Right. It is to be better. Amen. And God makes that happen. Only God can make that happen. The third thing that John really does, um, address here and I'm done is to love more. Would you say that out loud with me? Love more to love, love more. Um, there's a story of a woman in Luke chapter seven. You can go read it. She was, um. A woman of many sins. The Bible describes her as am someone who was a known prostitute in that area. And Simon, a religious man, had invited Jesus over for, um, for dinner. And Jesus went and he, and he took his place at the table. And not long after that, this woman came herself into, uh, the presence of all who were there, and she. Positioned herself at the feet of Jesus, and she was already weeping and crying so hard that she could literally wash Jesus's, wash the filth from Jesus's feet, and then dry his feet with her hair. And when she was done with that, that seems like quite a bit. That's pretty extravagant. The foot washing should have been done by Simon when Jesus came into his house, he should have been kissed. By his host, Jesus should have been kissed by his host. He makes that point in this story. When he came into the house, even the, the most what? Simplest, the simplest of expressions of I, I appreciate you. I'm thankful you're here, Simon withheld, but this woman just put herself out there. She didn't care what anybody else thought, and she didn't know what Jesus would think. She was so sin laden. She could not wake up in a, a morning without peace, and somewhere she believed that if she continued doing those feel good things, that it would help her with regaining her peace and her hold is in her life only to go deeper and deeper into darkness and the residue of sin weighing heavier and heavier on her shoulders and on her neck. And she was there weeping and crying, and she was washing Jesus' feet. And then she had brought with her this expensive perfume in a, an alabaster box, uh, or a flask. And she broke. She broke it, and she poured that over his head and over his anointed, his head and his feet with that, and those who, who thought they loved God in the room. Were offended by, by what Jesus had let happen. Simon said something like this. Well, you know what, Simon? You know, if Jesus really knew he was a prophet, he would know this woman and who he's allowing to touch him. I got news for you. Jesus loves the touch of a sinner. He loves it. He loves the touch. Of those who've fallen and who need him. Amen. Loves it. Jesus is not this way. He is this way. He could have walked over to Peter and Peter was sinking and pushed him, gone ahead and pushed him under like this. That's the way that some view that some Christians hold of God, but he didn't do this. He didn't school people. Peter, for little faith. He lamented it because it was something he wanted with Peter. Jesus loves doing life with you, and when we sin, we're walking away from that fellowship and all those other things. Jesus is like this. So Jesus just told, he told, he went on and said, I got a teaching for you, and Simon said, well then teach. And he gave this quick teaching and I'll do quick as well. He said two men. Owe great debts to the bank. One's a hundred thousand dollars debt. One's a$10,000 debt. The banker feels sorry for them, has empathy for them, and forgives both of them of their debt. Who do you think, who do you think is more thankful? And Simon said, I, well, probably, I don't know, probably the one who had the biggest debt. And Jesus said, you're right. You've answered right. She realized her debt and she couldn't stop thanking me. For it or expressing her love to me for it. But you, you didn't even take care of me when I came in the room. You treat me like a stranger. He who realizes he has been forgiven much will do what Jesus said. He will love much. And did you know when you're walking in love, you're walking in the light? And when you're walking in the light? Darkness can approach, but light always overcomes the darkness. Amen. Always light is always greater than the dark. Amen. That's right. How many of you today can say, I am truly thankful Jesus for forgiving me? I, I'm truly grateful and I love you. And my plan is to love you more. Amen. Amen.'cause that's what John is after here. Let's get this other stuff outta the way.'cause it's weighing you down. It's breaking some things up. It's keeping you from loving God and enjoying God and walking the things out with him. And here's what you do. Would you stand your feet with me? I said I wanna pray with you and I do before I dismiss you today. And if you're here today and you don't know Jesus's Lord and Savior, it is a simple but heartfelt prayer that you exercise. Again, don't compare yourself to anybody else's experience. It's just you and God, and you ask Lord, the Lord to receive you as you receive him by faith. It says, if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart. That God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Pray that prayer with a man over the phone just the other day.'cause he was struggling so much with his relationship with God. So we prayed it together. So don't leave today without praying that in fact, right now. Let's just pray it with them. Okay? Pray everybody. Pray this. If you're here today and you don't know Jesus, but you want to know him, you've been walking your life independent of him. Today's a day where you turn from that and you begin a walk with him. Pray this out loud, everybody. God in heaven, I thank you for Jesus. Thank you for Jesus. I believe he is Lord. I believe He's, I believe he's alive. I believe he's alive. And today I make a no turning back decision. Return Massachusetts to let Jesus be Lord of my life. To let Jesus be Lord of my life. I receive forgiveness of sin. I receive forgiveness of. And I receive eternal life. And I receive eternal life as a gift and I gift. I determine to live my life. I determined to live my life. What's left of it here? What's left of it here into eternity. Walking by Faith after you. Walking by faith after you. I thank you for eternal life. I thank you for, for eternal life, for your love and kindness, and giving it for your love and kindness and giving. Thank you for receiving me. Thank you for receiv in making me a, a child of God. In Jesus name. In Jesus name. Amen.