if you would, to Deuteronomy
chapter 15. The name of the message is, The
Lord's Release. The Lord's Release. I got pretty excited as I put
this message together today. And what I saw here, I've read
this portion of scripture many times, and it just was not the
time to have that portion illuminated and what we'll see in scripture
tonight is absolutely marvelous. And oftentimes we'll read scripture
and we'll read scripture. And then when it's the Lord's
time in here, show us something that's just glorious through
the scripture. And it always, always, when he
does that, when the Holy Spirit does that, it always glorifies
Christ and Christ alone. And I'm not saying that that
this is the only time studying. I get blessed all the time in
the study, and then I come and I preach to you all what the
Lord's showing me, and I'm blessed by preaching. I get fired up
by studying, but this message really, really touched my heart
deeply, and I pray that it'll be a blessing for you. I hope
that the Holy Spirit will take it and just minister to you,
because it's absolutely incredible what we're seeing here tonight
and how the Lord's release concerns all of us who are his people,
every one of his blood-bought people. And so I just pray it'll
be a blessing. It'll give you strength through
the week and something that you can carry out of here and comfort
you for the week and maybe for months to follow too. Deuteronomy
chapter 15, let's read the first 11 verses here. Our text will
be found in Deuteronomy 15 verses 1 and 2, but first let's read
the context of the verse. So we'll look at verses 1 to
11. Now, we could read the whole
chapter, and there's even more involved in this chapter, but
for tonight, we'll just read this section here. At the end
of every seven years, thou shalt make a release. And this is the
manner of the release. Every creditor that lendeth ought
unto his neighbor shall release it. He shall not extract it of
his neighbor or of his brother, because it is called the Lord's
release. of a foreigner thou mayest extract
it again. But that which is thine with
thy brother, thine hand shall release. Save when there shall
be no poor among you, for the Lord shall greatly bless thee
in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance
to possess. Only if thou carefully hearken
unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe, to do all these
commandments which I commanded thee this day. For the Lord thy
God blesses thee as he promised thee, and thou shalt lend unto
many nations, but thou shalt not borrow, and thou shalt reign
over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee. If there
be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of
thy gates in thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee,
thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy
poor brother. But thou shalt open thy hand
wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need
in that which he wanteth. Beware that there be not a thought
in thy wicked heart saying, the seventh year of release is at
hand. So every seven years, the debtors were to be released from
their debts. And so what Moses is gonna bring
up here by commandment of the Lord is that if you're lending
the money in the seventh year, don't say, well, it's the seventh
year. I'm not gonna get that money back. Beware that there be not a thought
in thy wicked heart, saying, the seventh year, the year of
release is at hand, and thine eye be evil against thy poor
brother, and thou givest him not. And he cry unto the Lord
against thee, and it be sin unto thee. Thou shalt surely give
him, and thine heart shall not be grieved, when thou givest
unto him, because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall
bless thee in all thy works, and in all thou puttest thine
hand into. For the poor shall never cease
out of the land. Therefore I command thee, saying,
Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor,
and to thy needy in thy land. So we have here in this chapter
a continuation of Moses' discourse from chapter 14, where Moses
was bringing forth some of God's laws on clean and unclean animals,
and at the end of chapter 14 also on tithing. And here in
this chapter, he brings forth what the order for the release
of debtors is every seven years. And he cautions again, we stopped
at that one portion, he cautions the people not to withhold lending
to their needy brother on account of the year of release being
at hand. So just because it's the seventh
year, they're told, don't hold back and say, well, it's the
seventh year, if I lend this guy the money, I'll never get
it back. They're not to do that. They're not to do that. They're
to help out the poorer brother. So he cautions them not to withhold
that to the needy brethren on account of the year of release
being. Then he brings forth in the latter part of this chapter
particularities respecting the Hebrew servant. We won't look
at that tonight, but how they have their ear bored. And also
particularities concerning the offering of the first things
of cattle to God. Now tonight I'd like us to focus
on verse 1 and 2, where we see that at the end of every seven
years the Israelites were to release every man who was his
debtor from the debt which they had accumulated and they owed
him. So the lender would lend money
to the poor brother and they would either accumulate more
debt or they would have that debt, that sustained debt. Look at verses one and two, and
again, I pray the Holy Spirit of God will teach us gospel truths
here, which are here in shadow. And they find their fulfillment
in the Lord Jesus Christ, who has released us, has released
his people from a great debt. Think of the great debt we owe. Oh beloved, we've been released
from a great debt. And you know what? This debt,
the sin debt, it was us who accumulated it, wasn't it? We're the ones who sinned against
God. We've accumulated a debt in our natural state against
God. And the law of God demands to be fulfilled. And we can't
pay that which we owe. We can't even pay for one sin,
let alone the billions that we owe for. Oh, what a great debt. What a great
debt we owe. Let's first consider the release
the Lord would give, would have His people give. Look at this
in Deuteronomy 15, verses 1 and 2. At the end of every seven
years, thou shalt make a release. And this is the manner of the
release. Every creditor that lendeth ought
unto his neighbor shall release it. He shall not extract it of
his neighbor, so he won't go and say, you owe me this money.
He won't do that. No, no. Or of his brother, because
it's called the Lord's release. The Lord's release. Now note
this, this release, this wonderful transaction in verse two is called
the Lord's release. And it came at the end of every
seven years. It was according to the gracious
law of God for Israel that there should be, first of all, a rest
one day in seven. We know that from scripture.
Next, there were feast days, one month in seven. And then
there came every seventh year, a year of rest for the land,
in which they did not till it, but left it to lie fallow, and
then after seven sevens were completed, at 49 there came on
the 50th year, the year of jubilee. The year of jubilee. An extraordinary
year of rest. In addition to the usual one,
this was called the year of jubilee. But two things happened here
we see at the end of every seven years. The land was to lie fallow
as a symbol, and what this symbolized was God's ownership of the land.
It's his. It's his. Just remember that,
even with our loved ones. They're his. He's the creator. I tell Vicki all the time, she's
just on loan to me. She's just on loan to me. And
our kids, too, right? This is the truth. The land was to lie fallow as
a symbol of God's ownership, as well as his care for his people. He'd take care of them. He'd
take care of them. And the second thing we see here
is fellow Israelites were released from their debts. They were released
from their debts. Now we know seven is a perfect
number because of the six days of creation. And on the seventh
day, our Lord rested. Now think upon this. I want you
to think upon this too. This command, this command here, was not intended for the Moabites.
It was not intended for the Edomites. It was not intended for the Egyptians.
It was not intended for the Philistines. It was not intended for anyone
else but Israel. Only Israel. was for God's chosen
people, this release. And his people would have delighted
to do this, to do as God commanded. Now we see here that this passage
teaches us that the Lord commanded the Israelites that the creditor
is to release at the end of every seven years the debt that his
neighbor owed. And they were not to extract
it, from them, the debtor was fully released. Fully released,
beloved. Released from the debt that they
owed because it's called the Lord's release. The Lord's release. And let us look and see here
in Types the release which the Lord Jesus Christ himself gives
to us, his people. Oh, what a release we have through
Christ Jesus our Lord. We who are his blood-bought,
born-again people, what a release we have from all our debt, all
our sin debt, because Christ paid all that
was demanded for. The lawgiver himself fulfilled
his own law for us. The lawgiver himself fulfilled
His law for us in the place of His people, fully releasing us
from all the demands of the law. His holy law had demands upon
us. We're fully released. He paid
the price that it demanded for our sins. He was the sinless
one dying for sinners, the just one dying for the unjust. He
shed His precious blood as a remission for the sins of all His people.
So we see here in our text that the Israelites were to forgive
their debtors. Those who have lended out money are to forgive
their debtors at the end of every seven years. And they were to
fully release the man from the debt. Fully release him. Even the debt they had accumulated.
If they had accumulated more debt, they were to release him
from all that. Oh, what a picture of grace there. Because we who
are sinners by birth, nature, and choice, we've accumulated
a lot of debt. And again, God's law demands
to be satisfied, doesn't it? And it will be, either in the
Savior or in the sinner. It will be satisfied one way
or the other. So all this debt that they had
accumulated, that they owed, was forgiven. Contrast that with
the absolute forgiveness that every one of God's blood-bought
people have in Christ. Oh my. And I mean absolute. We are fully discharged from
the penalty of our sin. It's wonderful news. This is good news for sinners.
Wonderful news for sinners. I pray that if God hasn't showed
you you're a sinner, that He will. Because this is wonderful
news. Absolutely wonderful news for
sinners. The debt was wiped out. Note
in verse 2, he shall not extract it of his neighbor, or of his
brother, because it is called the Lord's release. It's wiped
out. The debt is wiped out. And this
was according to, remember, this is according to divine command. And therefore, there would be
no extracting of this debt, because it's gone. At the end of seven
years, it's gone. And what loving kindness is here
on display? And we'll see later how, again,
how it pictures the forgiveness we have in Christ. We'll see
that later on. Now at the end of the verse 2 here, they are
to do this for the Lord's sake. They're to do it for His sake.
This release is called the Lord's release. They were to do this
because God commanded them to do it. And they were to do it in a right
spirit with a pure motive because it's the Lord's release. They
are not to give the release in their name, Because this release pictures
the great release which Christ Jesus has accomplished for his
people. The great debt which we owed. We've been released from that
in Christ Jesus. So they are to do this because
it's a picture of what Christ would do for his people. They
are to do this in the name of the Lord. They're to do it in
the name of the Lord. And they're to do it for His
glory, and for His honor, and for His praise. Because He's
the only one who's deserving of all that. He's the only one. And it pictures in type the great
redemptive work of Christ Jesus our Lord, who paid all our debt,
beloved. All of it. We do our work and
labor in this life. Whatever we do in life, we who
are His blood-bought people, we labor again in this life and
we give God all the glory for giving us the strength and the
knowledge to do our jobs. And we do them to the best of
our ability, don't we? And we do them unto the Lord,
even when it's tough. We do it unto the Lord. We do
it unto Him for His glory. Just remember, all the knowledge
you have in whatever you do, God gave you that knowledge.
It's amazing. It's absolutely incredible. So
he gets all the glory. We glorify our great God and
King. And we do what we do to the best of our abilities to
glorify him. Think of this, the most powerful
motive that a Christian can have for forgiving the debts of others
who have sinned against us is we forgive them for Jesus' sake.
for Jesus' sake. Can you forgive someone who's
wronged you for Jesus' sake? If you can, then this is true
charity, beloved. This is true charity. This is
brought about by the work of the Holy Spirit of God within
us. And we let the words of 1 John
ring in our ears. We love Him because He first
loved us. So in light of the great debt which we've been forgiven
and released from, it's the love of God for us that bought our
Lord from glory to come to this sin-cursed world, to live the
perfect life we never could, and then to die on the cross
to pay the great debt that we owe. My, we could never pay it. And we've been released from
this great debt. And our love towards our fellow
brothers and sisters in Christ and towards men in general, when
it flows out of the act of mercy and deeds of kindness, they spring
from the fact that Christ first loved us and gave himself for
us. When we're born again, we're different people. We're new creatures
in Christ. Turn if you would to Luke chapter
24 verses 25 and 27, just quick, but keep your finger, we're going
to go right back to Deuteronomy. Keep your finger there. Now we
know Moses is speaking here and we know from our great God and
King that Moses, who did he speak of? He spoke of Christ. He spoke,
and we see that here. We see that here. Look at this
in Luke chapter 24, verses 25 to 27. It says, O fools, and
slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken,
and this is the master speaking, ought not Christ to have suffered
these things, and to enter into his glory, and beginning at Moses,
and that's where our text is Moses speaking tonight, and beginning
at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all
the scriptures the things concerning himself. Oh my. Oh my. Absolutely amazing. Let's go back to Deuteronomy
chapter 15. The second point I'd like us to look at is the
release the Lord gives to His people. And I hope this comforts
our hearts. I hope it just warms our souls,
beloved. Let's look at chapter 15 verses
1 and 2. At the end of every seven years,
thou shall make a release. And this is the manner of the
release. Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbor
shall release it. He shall not extract it of his
neighbor or of his brother, because it is called the Lord's release.
Oh, how the mercy of God is set forth to his people in these
wonderful verses right here before us. As I said before, this command
is not for the Moabites, it's not for the Edomites, it's not
for the Egyptians or the Philistines, it's not for anybody but Israel,
not for the Syrians or any other nation around them. This is for
God's people and them alone. Turn, if you would, to Galatians
chapter three. Truly, truly, as Paul wrote,
the law is our schoolmaster. And what does it do? The law
shuts us up to Christ and Christ alone. We have nowhere to go. The law condemns us because we're
sinners and we have nowhere to flee but Christ and Christ alone.
Galatians chapter three, look at verses 22 to 26. But the scripture hath concluded
all under sin. Everyone's a debtor. Everyone's
a debtor to God, everyone. Because we've all broken God's
law in our natural state. Here it is. All under sin. That
the promise by the faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them
that believe. But before faith came, we were
kept under the law, shut up unto faith, which should afterwards
be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster. To what? To bring us. To bring
us, beloved, unto Christ. It shows our desperate need.
When God, the Holy Spirit, reveals Christ to us, we see our other
inability to free ourselves and to pay
for our sins. And we see the mountain of sins
before us, the great debt that we have accumulated. And what
do we do? We flee to Christ, don't we?
And it says here, wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring
us unto Christ that we might be, what? Justified by faith. And that's in and through Christ
alone. But after that faith has come,
we're no longer under a schoolmaster. The debt's paid, beloved. Jesus, what? Paid it all. All
to him I owe. All sin that left the crimson
stain, he washed it white as snow. But after that faith has come,
we are no longer under school, Master, for ye are all children
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Again, the release in our text,
let's go back to, well actually hold on, let's go to Luke chapter
4. The release in our text, think of this too, the release in our
text is the release of poor bankrupt debtors who cannot pay the debt
they owe. They can't pay it. They can't
pay it. And think of that in light of
how we were born into this world, spiritually bankrupt, beloved.
Spiritually bankrupt, in debt to God's law, and utterly incapable
of paying what we owe to the law and justice of God. And it's all through the infinite
mercy of God's covenant love in Christ for his people That
His people are justified from all things and fully and freely
forgiven, beloved. Fully and freely forgiven. Though
we're still sinners, we are set free. We're set free, beloved. Though we still struggle in this
world, we're set free. The penalty for our sins is paid
for. The great debt we owe has been
paid for by another. And all our sins, they were imputed
to Christ. And Beloved, when He cried, it's
finished, it means it's finished. The debt's paid. It's paid. Oh, what a Savior. Fully and
freely forgiven through Christ and Christ alone. And we've been
released from the great debt of all our sins. What a deliverance
this is. And freedom. Look in Luke 4,
verses 17 to 19. And think of this. It was at
the end of every seven years, right? Think of that in light
of this acceptable year of the Lord. Look at this. Luke 4, verses
17 to 19. And there was delivered unto
him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book,
he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me. Because he hath anointed me to
preach the gospel to the poor. The poor, bankrupt sinners. And where was our Lord found?
Amongst the publicans and sinners. I thank God He was found there,
because that's where I was. Oh my. And I'm still a sinner,
but I'm a safe sinner now. Oh my. Look at this though. preach
the gospel to the poor, He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. At the end of every seven years
thou shalt make a release. Take note here also, let's go
back to our text in Deuteronomy 15 verses 1 and 2. Take note
also that the man who was here set free at the end of the seventh
year paid nothing for his liberation. He had nothing to pay. He was
bankrupt. He did not pay for his freedom.
He did not pay for his discharge. It was fully and freely given. Oh, what a picture, beloved. What
a picture. And think of this, too. He didn't
seek it. He didn't seek it. And not having, although not
having bought his liberty, he set free. Set free from the great
debt that he could never pay. Grace, grace, marvelous grace,
beloved. The full, free, mercy of God
on full display. And it's on display in Christ's
forgiven sinners. Paying the debt they owed. And
that's pictured right here. Let's read our text again. At
the end of every seven years, thou shalt make a release. And
this is the manner of the release. Every creditor that lendeth ought
unto his neighbor shall release it. He shall not extract of his
neighbor or his brother, because it is called the Lord's release.
Again, when the Lord sets poor souls at liberty, when a bankrupt
sinner is born again by the Holy Spirit of God, they are, as Spurgeon
brings forth, sent away full-handed. Full-handed. How? How can this
be? Because they have all spiritual
blessings in Christ, beloved. This always goes back to Christ.
It always goes back to Him. We are rich. We who are His people
are richer than the richest person who ever lived on this world. My. And think of this. Just let it
sink in. We have all the spiritual blessings
in Christ, we who are His blood-bought people. And our debt is wiped
out. Obliterated. Gone. Turn, if you would, to
Hebrews. How do we know that? Turn, if
you would, to Hebrews chapter 10. How do we know that? And
they are so wiped out and so obliterated that God will remember
our sins no more. Isn't that wonderful news? That
is absolutely wonderful news for sinners. See, gospel preachers
have good news. We have good news. Salvation
in Christ, forgiveness of all our sins in Christ alone. And
this is who we proclaim. This is who we proclaim. Look
at this in Hebrews chapter 10, verses 16 and 17. This is the covenant that I will
make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my
laws into their hearts. They're born again in their minds.
Will I write them? And now remember, remember this
too in our text. He shall not extract it of his
neighbor or of his brother because it's called the Lord's release.
Now think of that. in light of the great, again,
the great sacrifice of Christ on the cross and how we are released
from all our debts. And we are so released from all
our debts that look what the text says here in Hebrews 10,
17. And their sins, and this is God, and their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Oh, that's wonderful news. Oh,
that's wonderful news. And this is all in Christ, in
Christ alone. Nowhere else, beloved. Nowhere
else. This is what the believer has
in Christ, the full, free forgiveness of all our sins. All of them. It's wonderful. Because of the
all-sufficient sacrifice of our great Redeemer, the Lord Jesus
Christ, all sins shall be forgiven and remembered no more by God,
because the debt is paid in full by the precious blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We who are God's blood-washed
saints Oh, we see this pictured in our text, because look, go
back to our text. We see this pictured. The fact that God will
not remember our sins no more. Hear not, bring him up again.
How do we see that in our text? Look at this. He shall not extract
it of his neighbor. The debt's gone. So the creditor
will not go back to the debtor and say, I got a long memory. No. It's gone. New Testament again, and our
sins and iniquities will I remember no more. No more. We're bought and paid for, beloved.
And what a great release. We've been released from the
penalty and the power of all our sins. And one day we'll be
released from the presence when we go to glory to be with the
Lord. We still have the presence of our sin, but one day we'll
be released from that, too. What a glorious day that'll be.
What a glorious day. He shall not extract it of his
neighbor nor of his brother because it's called the Lord's release.
And this release is followed up by a non-extracting penalty,
non-extracting of the penalty forever. And again, we looked
at that in Hebrews 10, 17. Their sins and iniquities will
I remember no more. Gone. The debt's paid off. And then think of this. Our Lord
Jesus Christ cares and protects and watches over every one of
His people. Those who have been set free
by Him. Those who have had their debt
discharged by Him. And He knows us even when we're
dead in trespasses and sins, beloved. And the Holy Spirit quickens
us and then we know Him. But He's loved us with an everlasting
love. Oh, what a Savior, beloved. What
a Savior, what a Redeemer we have. He's absolutely wonderful. And remember this, too. Remember
this. This release, which we've looked
at tonight, was appointed and commanded by God. Bring that
home, beloved. Our release was appointed and
commanded by God. Oh, that makes my heart sing. Is it yours? What a Savior! What a Redeemer! Oh, how gracious
and merciful our great God is to the poor in spirit, to the
bankrupt sinner who's pictured here. And again, the great debt
of all our sins has been wiped out, forgotten, paid for, and
washed clean in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is His blood that was shed,
and it is His blood that has paid for the great debt which
we owe. It is not the releasing from
the debt we see here in our text again, a picture of the Lord's
great release of our debt through His death on the cross. Because
that's when our sins was bought and paid for, beloved. when he died upon that cross. The just one. Giving his life
and shedding his blood. For me who is the debtor. I owed a debt I could not pay.
He paid a debt he did not owe. And he set us free. He set us
free. Our spiritual debt is wiped out.
Wiped away by the redemption which we have in Jesus Christ
our Lord. And we saw earlier, all men are
debtors, right? We saw that. In Galatians chapter
3, we saw that all men, the law condemns all men. All men are debtors to fulfill
the law of God, but we're bankrupt to pay that debt. Again, we could
never fulfill even one point of the law. And all we can do is fail in
our natural state. So in that state, we're bound
to receive the punishment, right? We're bound to receive the punishment
of the debt of the broken law of God, which we have absolutely
no ability to pay. What a picture is here before
us, beloved. What a picture is here before
us for the believer in Christ. And oh, how much greater is the
release of our debt that we owe for all our sins. Again, we are
set free from the guilt of our sins and the penalty of our sins.
And we are set free from the obligation to fulfill that debt. Because Christ did it all. We
couldn't, we were, because the law demands to be satisfied,
right? We couldn't even fulfill it. We're set free from all that. Christ paid it all. That which
is demanded as payment for my sins and for yours as a believer,
was paid for by the Lord Jesus Christ. Paid for in full. We're free from the condemnation
too, and the punishment of that great debt which we owed, which
we could never pay, and Christ has paid it all, my friends.
He's paid it all, beloved. And we have full forgiveness,
freely given to us. Full forgiveness of all our sins. We preach a Savior who's accomplished
salvation. And He paid the great sin debt
for all His people, the sinless one. Again, dying for sinners. He paid all that God demanded
and our sins are covered and blotted out, wiped out. And again, we've been fully released
from that debt we owe. And that's a debt we could never
pay. And we've been released from it. Again, we have a great debt and
the law demands payment. And we know the payment for our
sins is death. And our sins are committed against
the holy God of the universe. And only he can forgive us for
our sins, right? Because it's against him we've
sinned. And only He can release us from
that debt, but it comes at a cost, right? The law, He can't compromise
His law and His holiness. The law has to be satisfied.
Praise God it is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It's fully paid. It's fully paid. Let's close
with a passage in Luke chapter 7. We are freely, fully forgiven. in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. All who trust in Christ have
their debt forgiven. And the forgiveness of all their
sins in and through Christ and Christ alone. Let's again close
with this in Luke chapter 7. Look at this. Starting in verse
36. And one of the Pharisees desired
him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's
house and sat down to meet. And behold, the woman in the
city which was a sinner." That's you and I, beloved. We may not have been doing what
she's doing, but we're sinners just like her. And so is everybody
in this world. When she knew that Jesus sat
in the Pharisee's house, bought an alabaster box of ointment,
and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash
his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her
head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. She's probably not even looking
up. Now when the Pharisee which had
bidden him saw it, he spake within himself. Now remember who the
Lord is. He's God incarnate in the flesh. He knows the thoughts
and intents of man's hearts. Look at this self-righteous Pharisee.
This is just, this is the epitome of self-righteous religious people
right here. Now when the Pharisee which had
bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, this man, if
he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of
woman this is that touches him, for she is a sinner. I told you when we lived in Oregon,
I used to love to go down to the gospel mission and preach
to the men down there who were, they had lost everything. And one of the reasons I love
going down there, main reasons to preach the gospel, but also
it was a reminder for me, there go I, but for the grace of God.
I'm just a sinner saved by grace, and so are you. So we see, though,
how this self-righteous Pharisee wanted absolutely nothing to
do with sinners and publicans. And where's our Lord? He's in
the midst of them, isn't he? Oh, what a savior we have, beloved.
And Jesus answering him said, Simon, I have somewhat to say
unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. Now look at this. There was a certain creditor
which had two debtors. The one owed 500 pence and the
other 50. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them
both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose
he that to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, thou hast
rightly judged. And he turned to the woman and
said unto Simon, seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house,
and thou gavest me no water for my feet. Now it was customary
for them to give them water if someone entered your house, to
give them water to wash their feet. He didn't even do this. But she hath washed my feet. She's humbled herself before
the almighty God. And wiped them with the hairs
of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss, but this
woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not
anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore
I say unto thee, her sins which are many are what? Forgiven.
Forgiven. What a word. Forgiven. And her
sins are many, just like our sins are many. Many are forgiven, for she loved
much. But to whom little is forgiven,
the same loveth little. That man was a self-righteous
religious Pharisee. And here's this woman, this sinner,
and she knows what she is. She's had revealed to herself
what she is. And she goes to the master's
feet and look at the words to her from our master's lips. And
he said unto her, thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at meet with
him began to say within themselves, who is this that forgiveth sins
also? And he said to the woman, thy
faith hath saved thee, go in peace. We who are God's blood
bought people who are born again by the Holy Spirit of God to
be granted faith and repentance to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and to trust in him and rest in him. And I hope that
as we leave here this evening that we will remember the great
debt that we've been released from, the Lord's release. And he did that for us, for we
who are his blood-bought people at Calvary's Cross. What a Savior. What a Redeemer is Jesus Christ,
our Lord. Heavenly Father, again we thank
Thee for allowing us to gather together We thank Thee for Thy
Word, and oh, how comforting it is to us, to we who are sinners. We who have cast ourselves upon
Thee, and as we saw tonight, oh, the great release, the great
payment for all our sins, which You accomplished at Calvary's
cross when You cried, It is finished. The payment is done. Oh, Lord,
what a great debt we owe, the debt we have accumulated by our
own sinfulness. A debt that we could never pay,
but you paid it all, Lord. Praise your mighty name. May
we leave here again rejoicing and thinking of this wonderful
truce that we've looked at tonight in Jesus' name. Amen.