When You're Weary with Sin #1

I know that you're like me and that your own sin has a way of wearing you out. You get weary of the struggle with temptation. You get weary of realizing that you've fallen short yet again. Hello and welcome to The Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, where Don teaches God's people God's Word.

I'm Bill Wright. As believers in Christ, we often view our lives through the prism of our failures rather than through the prism of what Christ has done for us by His death and resurrection. Today, Don will remind you that we must overcome this false way of looking at our walk with God in order to more fully enjoy the abundant grace He has bestowed upon us. Friends, you're not going to want to miss a second of this brand new series called When You're Weary with Sin. Just before we begin, Don, reversing a lifelong pattern of self-flagellation over our sins and failures isn't going to be easy, but it's not impossible with God's help.

Isn't that right? Well, you know, Bill, there are no answers for sinners who are looking inside themselves in order to find forgiveness for their sins. We must look outside of ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ. My friend, in love, the Lord Jesus laid down His life at the cross to give forgiveness and new life to everyone who believes in Him.

And that includes you. The offer goes to you. And so, my friend, I want to assure you today that you can have the gift of salvation. Stay with us to find that out as we begin our series titled When You're Weary with Sin.

Thanks so much, Don. And friend, right now, let's join our teacher with part one of today's lesson here on The Truth Pulpit. Because we come to communion today, we come to an opportunity to refresh our joy, to come perhaps weary with sin, but through the teaching of God's Word and through this remembrance that the Lord has appointed, to be able to walk out refreshed because we understand what Christ has done for us.

And we're going to do something a little unusual here today, at least for our pulpit. What I want to do today is we're going to look at three sinners from the Gospel of Luke, whom Jesus forgave, and use those three sinners as pictures of how completely He has reconciled us to God through His life, through His death, and through His resurrection. And along the way, we're going to answer three questions about your sins in relationship to Christ to give you confidence about the forgiveness that you have in Christ. I know that some of you, perhaps more than I realize, struggle with the issue of assurance, and you're not sure whether you belong to Christ, and you don't walk through with a confidence day by day that I belong to Christ and all of those things have been settled. Well, all of those perspectives are answered by the Scriptures that we're going to look at today. And so we're going to answer three questions about your sins here today as a believer to give you confidence that you can approach God through the Lord Jesus Christ with bold and confident access, confident that you are reconciled to God and that all of your sins have truly been forgiven at the cross of Christ.

And then we will receive communion with grateful hearts, having had our minds refreshed in this way. Here's the first question I'd like to answer about your sins here today. If you're here as a Christian and you come and you're conscious of the struggles of the past week and we think about what Christ has done, you might ask yourself this question, are there too many? In other words, have I committed so many sins that Christ is finally going to refuse me and not receive me any longer? Perhaps you're here and you know that you're not a Christian.

I know that there are some like that in a room of this size. And as you're contemplating the cross, you think, no, I've committed too many sins and I've sinned my way out of grace. Well, what would the Scripture say about that? As we read the Gospels, as we read what our Lord did as he interacted with sinners, we find that the Bible delights in telling us about unworthy men, unworthy women, just like you, who found complete forgiveness from God through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's start with one picture of this kind of forgiveness in Luke chapter 7. We're going to look at three examples from the Gospel of Luke here today. Luke concludes his Gospel in chapter 24 saying that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in the name of Christ.

That's Luke's version of the Great Commission. Well, before he got to that capstone, he gave us several illustrations of individual sinners who found forgiveness from Christ even despite their unworthiness. And so as we answer the question, are there too many sins in your life so that Christ would not receive you? The answer is no.

That's not the case. Look at Luke chapter 7 verse 36. Now one of the Pharisees was requesting him to dine with him and Jesus entered the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner, probably a prostitute. And when she learned that he was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume and standing behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and kept wiping them with the hair of her head and kissing his feet and anointing them with the perfume. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, 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 sinner. From the Pharisee's perspective, you would not let a sinful woman touch you because it would contaminate you.

Her uncleanness would convey ceremonial uncleanness upon you. And he said, if Jesus were a prophet, he would understand this. He would know who this woman was. And the fact that he is letting this woman deal with him in this way to the Pharisee was a sign that Jesus was not who he claimed to be. Well, the Pharisee was looking down on this woman because of her past, what was known. And he said, look at this sinful woman, look at what she's done in the past. If Jesus were a prophet, if he were the son of God, this woman would not be able to approach him. Well, what did Jesus say about that?

What should we say about this Pharisee? This Pharisee was missing the whole point of repentance. He was missing the entire nature of God's salvation being on display right in front of him.

Though he was a religious man, he completely misunderstood and had no clue as to what genuine salvation was like. Jesus did not miss it. Jesus instead displayed to him his own ignorance and in the process confirmed this woman in her faith. Look at verse 40. Jesus answered the Pharisee, knew what he was thinking, and said, Simon, I have something to say to you. And he replied, say it, teacher.

And Jesus told him a parable, gave him an illustration for him to think about. He said a moneylender had two debtors, one who owed five hundred denarii, which was approximately a day's wages, and the other fifty. There's two debtors here, Simon. There's one who owes over a year's worth of wages, almost two years worth of wages to a moneylender and another who owes fifty, maybe almost two months worth. When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which one of them will love him more? Simon answered and said, I suppose the one whom he forgave more. And he said to him, you've judged correctly.

It's an obvious point, isn't it? Those with a lot of sin, who come to Christ and find forgiveness, have a great love for Christ in response, because they realize the great debt that has been forgiven to them. And so as we consider the question, kids, is it possible to commit too many sins so that suddenly Christ won't receive you?

No. If you're here and you're not a Christian and you are conscious of all of the sins that weigh down on your conscience, realize that Christ calls even you and says, yes, I will receive you. I will forgive you. Christ invites you to come. He says, the one who comes to me, I'll never cast out. Perhaps you're here today as a Christian and you've wandered away. You've strayed from God's Word.

You've been mediocre and lifeless in prayer. And you come and you're just mindful of that and it just seems like you are a thousand miles away from God today as you come. Well, realize that all the more you come and you realize that this cross, which we celebrate at communion, this cross was for sinners just like you. Christ would not have you away. Christ would not have you stay sunk in your sins. He would have you come and rise and realize that the cross was for you and complete full and free forgiveness for your sins is found at the cross and that you would use the occasion of the recognition of your sin to be that which draws you in love to Christ just like it was for this woman who was weeping and cleaning Jesus' feet with her tears and with her hair.

Look at how Jesus applies the parable in verse 44. Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, he said, do you see this woman? I entered your house and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with perfume.

Now let's stop right there for just a moment. What Jesus is describing was a gross violation of hospitality in that day. The streets were dirty, often muddy, and so it was a common courtesy for hosts to provide for the washing of his guests' feet, to greet them with affection with a kiss on the cheek, to anoint their head and to give them a drop of oil to sweeten their aroma as they shared time together. Simon did none of that, and by his refusal of the common hospitality of the day, manifested the hostility in his heart, showed that he did not love Christ, that he did not give him even the honor due to a common house guest.

He had insulted Christ richly by his failures of the attention of the cultural customs of the day. But what about this woman? Jesus says, you didn't give me water for my feet, she washed them with her tears. You didn't give me a kiss on my cheek, she hasn't stopped kissing my feet since she came. You didn't anoint my head with oil, she anointed my feet with the expensive perfume that she had, she's extravagantly anointed me in a way that you showed not even the slightest inclination toward me.

And what do we say about this? Look at verse 47. For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much, but he who is forgiven little loves little. Then he said to her, verse 48, your sins have been forgiven. Jesus was not saying it's because she's loved me that I forgive her sins. Her sins were a manifestation of her true repentance. Her repentance and her faith in Christ, as shown by the love that she demonstrated toward him, were a manifestation of the reality of her inner faith.

They were an outward expression of an inner faith and an inner love, and Christ says, I see that love, I see that repentance, and her many, many sins as the town prostitute, I have freely forgiven by my authority as the Son of God. Notice what he says in context of the way that we're setting this up here today. Notice the offhanded way that he says in verse 47, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven. He acknowledges the sin.

It's not that he ignores it or says that it's not an issue. He acknowledges it, but he says, she has come to me in repentance. She has come to me in faith.

She has come to me in love. I gladly forgive her of everything that she has ever done. Do you realize as a Christian that that's exactly the way that God has dealt with you?

Let's be clear about something here. You and me, your sins, whether you realize it or not, your sins are many. Your failure to love God with all of your heart, soul, strength, and mind, your failure to love him and to be earnest and to be sincere, your willingness to accept a mediocre spiritual life is sinful.

It's wrong. It's an affront against God. But Christian, what we see, what we're mindful of today is not the guilt of our sins, but the grace that says yes, I am aware of all of that sin and when you come to me in repentant faith, I forgive it all. I let it go.

I will not take it into account in my dealings with you. All of those sins in your life, Christian, through faith in Christ are no longer a barrier to you approaching God freely and in love with the assurance of his forgiveness of all that you have done. The grace of Christ is greater still. Look at verse 49 here in Luke 7. Those who were reclining at the table with him began to say to themselves, who is this man who even forgives sins, they knew that only God had the prerogative to forgive sins and here is Jesus in their midst saying, I forgive you of all of your sins.

It was an assertion of a divine prerogative speaking to the fact that he is God incarnate and he has the authority to do exactly what he had just said he had done. He said, woman, go in peace. Your sins are forgiven. Verse 50, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Christian, today as we come to the table, as your faith in Christ is renewed and restored and we bring this back to remembrance in the same way as we come to the table as believers here today, Christ speaks to us and says your sins are forgiven. Christ comes to us and says your faith has saved you.

Go in peace. And so as we come today to the table as Christians to partake of the elements, we do so with a conscious knowledge based on the scripture, not on our feelings that God has forgiven all of our sins in Christ. Our many, many sins have been wiped away. Now perhaps sin has caught you in a web of lies and shame and there's no way out.

You've broken trust with those who are closest to you. Yes, your sins are many. But if you've looked to Christ with repentance and faith, here's the key for today.

Your many, many sins, they're not too many in the sense that they now exclude you from Christ, that he now will reject you, that he won't receive you. You see, that's not who Christ is. He is a gracious, merciful Savior who gladly receives those even with many sins and says the arms of forgiveness are open wide to you. I came into this world in order to save sinners just like you.

And so we take him at his word today. When he says your many sins are forgiven, we come and we accept him at his word and we receive communion with a sense of gratitude and assurance that that is true. Jesus Christ forgives sin. The Apostle John said in 1 John 1.7, the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. There is no sin that you've committed that excludes you from this table if you're a Christian today. And if you're not a Christian, I've got good news for you. There's no sin that you've committed that keeps you from coming to Christ right now for free, complete, immediate forgiveness. Christ invites you to come and he will forgive all of your sins through faith in him. That's how great a Savior we have.

It's wonderful, isn't it? And so, beloved, I say to you based on the authority of Scripture, rest in Christ as we come to the table today. Jesus gives us this remembrance so that we would remember that his blood was intended for a full and complete cleansing of your sin. That there would be no stain on your account with God. That there would be nothing that would hinder your full and free access to him.

Why? Not because there's a little bit of redeemable good in you, no. It's because there's a perfect good in Christ, and his sacrifice for sin was perfect. It was complete.

It was once for all, never to be repeated again. And so, 2,000 years before you were born, Christ paid the price for your redemption in a way that you can now come and rest in. Praise be to his name. Now there's another question we should ask about your sins.

Just trying to deal with the questions that come up in confused and broken hearts and those that Satan has confused with false teaching over the years. Are your sins too many? No. No, they're not too many. The prostitutes whose sins were many was freely received, freely forgiven. Well, what about this question? Point number two.

Are they too bad? Are your sins so severe, so horrible that Christ would not receive you? Perhaps there's that one dark sin in your past. Perhaps in order to cover up one sin, you committed other sins. You lied to cover up other sins.

You know, perhaps you aborted your baby in order to cover up other immorality. And you know that, and you know that God knows it. And you feel the weight of that. You feel the pressure of that.

What can we say to you? Jesus forgives many sins, but does he forgive the worst of sins? Or is there a classification and you get into that one class and you know, it's a mortal sin and there's no forgiveness for that. Well, that's not true.

No, no. To suggest that is to diminish the cross, to say that the cross didn't cover all of the sins that could be committed. It denies the completeness of Christ's work on our behalf to say that there were some sins that even if we can still get to heaven that we're consigned to an outer room where we have to sit in a corner and reserve the sweetness of close fellowship to God with those who haven't done the bad things that you've done. Are your sins too bad so that you can't come to Christ?

No, they're not. Now let me clarify as I say that, because there's an important point to understand here. Your sins, every one of them, are infinitely evil. Your sins are very, very bad. Because in every sin is treason and rebellion against an eternal and holy God. And when scripture testifies about us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, that there are none who seek God, that there are none righteous, no not one, we'll realize that that is serious and that it is bad. The question isn't whether they're bad though.

The question is a little more precise. The question is whether your sins are so bad that Christ will refuse to receive you if you come to him in humble repentant faith. The answer to that question is no. Praise be to God, your sins are not so bad that Christ says, uh-uh, not a sinner like you. He doesn't deal with us that way. He doesn't deal with humanity that way. Beloved, on the authority of God's word I can say to you with complete assurance it is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus receives and forgives sinners just like you.

No exceptions. Jesus showed that sinners can find forgiveness through faith in him. Let's look at a parable that Jesus taught in Luke 18 to drive that point home. Luke 18 beginning in verse 9. Luke 18 verse 9. Remember, remember that that the gospel of Luke is teaching us the exact truth about what Jesus did and taught and that Jesus said at the end of at the end of the gospel of Luke that repentance for the forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in my name going forward. Well what you have in Luke leading up to that climactic statement is a series of in part is a series of stories some actual historical events others of parables all designed to illustrate and reinforce that truth so that you would have the sense that if you would only come to Christ in repentance that he will receive you and forgive you and not hold your sins against you any longer.

That's the whole point that that Luke is trying to convey. What does that repentance look like? What kinds of sinners will Jesus forgive and receive? Luke 18 verse 9. He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt. Jesus said two men went up into the temple to pray.

One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself. God I thank you that I am not like other people swindlers unjust adulterers or even this tax collector I fast twice a week I pay tithes of all that I get boasting in his righteousness boasting in his works and in doing a particularly wicked thing in comparing his righteousness to that of others and congratulating himself and commending himself to God based on a comparative human righteousness that he thought that he had. Amen and may each of us have the same view of ourselves as this tax collector. You've been listening to the Truth Pulpit with Don Green and we pray you've been blessed today and that you'll join us next time for the conclusion of a message called When You're Weary with Sin from the series of the same name. If you'd like to share this message or this entire series with a friend or loved one simply go to thetruthpulpit.com. That's thetruthpulpit.com. I'm Bill Wright and we'll see you next time as Don Green continues teaching God's people God's Word here on the Truth Pulpit.