In the sermon titled 'Your sins are forgiven... go in peace,' Steve Hopkins explores the narrative from Luke 7:36-50, where a sinful woman anoints Jesus' feet with oil, demonstrating deep love and gratitude for the forgiveness she has received. Jesus contrasts her actions with those of Simon the Pharisee, who failed to show hospitality. Through a parable of a creditor forgiving two debtors, Jesus illustrates the concept of forgiveness and the resulting love it inspires. The sermon emphasizes that forgiveness comes through faith, not by works or emotions, and that those who are forgiven much love much. Hopkins connects this scene to broader theological themes, affirming that believers are justified by faith, resulting in eternal peace with God. He encourages the congregation to live in the assurance of their forgiven state, liberated from guilt and motivated by love to serve and worship God. The sermon closes with a call to embrace God's promises and live with a renewed sense of peace and gratitude for the grace extended through Christ.

Good afternoon again. If you would turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke, the seventh chapter where we will be standing together and reading verses 36 through 49 together. The plan is to return to the book of Romans 11th chapter next week and to then alternate between one week and the next between the book of Colossians and the book of Romans. But today we are in Luke chapter seven. If you would stand with me for the reading of the word of the Lord, follow along as I read verses 36 through 50.

May the Lord bless the reading of his word. Then one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him and he went to the Pharisees house and sat down to eat. And behold a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of vagrant oil, and stood at his feet behind him, weeping. And she began to wash his feet with her tears and wipe them with the hair of her head and she kissed his feet and anointed them with with the fragrant oil. Now when the Pharisees who had invited him saw this, he spoke to himself saying, this man if he were a prophet would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.

And Jesus answered and said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. So he said, Teacher, say it. There was a certain creditor who had two debtors, one owed 500 denarii and the other 50. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell me therefore which of them will love him more?' Simon answered and said, I suppose the one whom he forgave more.

And he said to him, you have rightly judged. Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet, but she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time I came in.

You did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. Then he said to her, Your sins are forgiven. And those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, Who is this who even forgives sins?

Then he said to the woman, Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Let's pray. Our most gracious Father in heaven, as we consider this text from your infallible and errant and all sufficient Word, Our hearts are lifted to heaven with praise and gratefulness for our Lord Jesus and the eternal salvation that we have received by grace through faith in His name. And Lord, we ask this afternoon, oh God, for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit to overwhelm every one of us here today with a renewed sense of the magnitude of the love of God for us in Christ whose love draws broken-hearted sinners, overwhelms them with grace and mercy, assures them of their forgiveness and pardon, and then sends them on their way in peace.

Granted, O Lord, For we ask it in the most blessed name of our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's be seated. There are no more comforting words that have ever been spoken to anyone than the words we just read from the lips of our Savior. Your sins are forgiven.

Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. The scene that has just unfolded before us here in chapter 7 has its roots back in chapter 5 where Jesus heals a paralyzed man who had been let down on his bed through the roof in the house where he was teaching. And Jesus had said to that man that he had just healed, man your sins are forgiven. And this set the scribes and Pharisees on on a war path when instead of recognizing Jesus' deity in doing things that God alone can do, they charged him with blasphemy.

They said, who can forgive sins but God alone? And the charges continue in chapter six where Jesus recounts how they have called him a glutton and a drunkard and a friend of sinners. And as the story picks up here one of the Pharisees invites Jesus to a gathering at his house and Jesus goes into his house and sits down to eat. And as they are eating, a woman from the city who is a notorious sinner, probably a prostitute as the word was used of women at that time who were engaged in the trade. And this woman who had heard that Jesus was there shows up uninvited.

And we aren't told how this woman heard about Jesus, only that she knows that he's there. The gossip around town has been that Jesus is the friend of sinners. It was a mock, a taunt, And the condemning taunt the Pharisees used when they talked about Jesus in public was, this man receives sinners. But the very words that they used to mock Jesus, this woman knew to be true. And here she comes to this supper that she was not even invited to.

She wasn't on the invitation list for Simon's party, but she knows Jesus is there, so she's coming. If There's one thing that stands out so beautifully and so clearly in the Gospels. It's this. Sinners knew that Jesus was approachable. Here's a woman of the city who knows that she has a reputation, and she knows that everyone else knows it too, but she doesn't hesitate to approach Jesus.

Charles Spurgeon once said, Jesus draws sinners to himself by the magnetic force of his love. You remember how sweet it was that first day his love broke through for you? That day when you were first broken over your sin and you were first drawn with cords of love to Jesus? Well, here was love walking on the earth with arms wide open. And he's been saying to anyone and everyone, come unto me, all you who are heavy laden, burdened with guilt, and I will give you rest.

And the one who has given her rest is at the party. And she says, I'm going to him. And she shows up again, uninvited and unannounced. And she comes with a gift, with a gift of fragrant oil, not to win Jesus' love, but because of it, to show her love in response to his. Friends, Jesus is full of mercy and compassion and tenderness and forgiveness and he heals the brokenhearted over sin.

And he binds up all their wounds. And it's clear from the text that this woman has already experienced a sense of it because her acts of love are in response to his forgiveness. Jesus will later in a moment he will tell Simon, he who is forgiven much loves much. Forgiveness came first and then her response of love. And so she's going there to show her love for the one who has lifted her burden of guilt and flooded her heart with a sense of grace and mercy and forgiveness, the likes of which she had never known.

John Newton once said that the goal of all his preaching was, quote, to break a hard heart and to heal a broken heart. Jesus knew there was both a hard heart and a broken heart in that room when this woman came through the door with tears in her eyes and a box of alabaster oil in her hand. And Simon is sitting there at the table and he's watching everything unfold and he's making all kinds of judgments in his mind As this woman comes in and her tears begin to fall on on Jesus feet as he's reclining at the table. The custom of the of the day was that they would recline as they ate around the large table on these couches and so their feet would be extended. And here's this woman and she's standing there and her tears begin to fall on Jesus' feet.

And maybe she doesn't know what to do. And there's maybe there's no towel in sight. The towels were probably already taken out that they used to wash the feet of the guests, which was a custom. But Jesus' feet hadn't been washed. So she lets her hair down.

The custom for women at that time was to keep their hair up in public in the presence of men. Only a woman of ill repute would let her hair down in the presence of a man. But Here are her tears falling on Jesus' feet. And so she lets her hair down. And she gets down on her knees.

And starts wiping his feet with the hair of her head. And Simon is disgusted with the unfolding scene. He doesn't say anything about it aloud, but he's thinking these things in his heart. Maybe he doesn't say anything aloud because like the other Pharisees, he's looking for an opportunity to trap Jesus. Let him go a little bit here and let's see if I can trap him.

So he's just sitting there watching along with all those guests that are reclining around the table. But Simon is making judgments in his mind all the while. And He's thinking within himself, I can't believe he's letting this woman even get near him. If this man were a prophet, like everyone is saying, he would know what kind of woman this is and he wouldn't even let her touch him. Simon is a Pharisee and Pharisees don't like or don't let the outside of the cup get dirty because of what people might think.

The Pharisees care more about what people think about the outside of their cup than what God thinks about what is on the inside. But Jesus knows Simon's thoughts and he says, Simon, I have something to say to you. He says, teacher, Say it. And Jesus begins with a parable. There was a certain creditor who had two debtors, one owed 500 denarii and the other 50.

And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell me therefore which of them will love him more? And of course the answer was obvious to everyone in the room, Simon answers and says, I suppose, I suppose, the one whom he forgave more. And Jesus said to him, you've rightly judged. Then Jesus says to Simon while he's looking at the woman.

He's looking at her and he's talking to Simon on the couch. Simon, Do you see this woman? You didn't set out a pail of water and a towel for me to wash my feet when I came in. You didn't greet me with the customary kiss on the cheek when I came through the door. You didn't anoint my head with oil, but this woman has washed my feet with her tears and dried them with the hair of her head and anointed them with fragrant oil and she hasn't stopped kissing my feet since she got here.

And then Jesus says to Simon, he's still looking at the woman and he says to Simon, her sins are forgiven. Her sins, which are many, are forgiven. And the evidence of it is her love for me, is what he's saying here. See how much she loves me because I have forgiven her. Jesus wasn't saying that it was her love for him that saved her, no, in verse 50, he says your faith has saved you.

And those who are forgiven much, love much. Simon had gotten the answer to Jesus question right, but there is there's no love for Jesus because Simon hasn't been forgiven and he doesn't even think he needs to be forgiven. Simon doesn't think he even needs to be forgiven. Then Jesus pronounces his forgiveness to her. She's already been forgiven, but now he pronounces his forgiveness.

And to the comfort of that pronouncement, Jesus proclaimed, your sins are forgiven, your faith has saved you, go in peace. Your sins are forgiven, Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Paul says in Romans 5-1, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And here's the note in my Bible, this peace is not a guarded truce subject to new warfare, it is a permanent peace.

Marking not only the absence of hostility but also the presence of fellowship and communion with God." Close quote. Brothers and sisters, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And we can go on in our sojourning here on earth in peace and joyous fellowship with our Lord. Jesus said, My peace I give you, not as the world gives, so I give you. There is no greater gift anyone has ever been given than the free forgiveness of their sins.

No greater gift, and that gift, of course, is Christ. Peter says in Acts 1338, to him, to Christ, all the prophets bear witness that whosoever believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name. When we place our trust in our Lord Jesus we're declared just in His sight, God's sight, and have entered a state of peace with God through him. We who are in Christ are bound to Christ in an indissoluble union with him. Colossians chapter 2 verses 13 through 14 says, you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him.

God made us alive together with Christ, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross, nailing it to the cross. Brothers and sisters, in Christ we are sin debt free, sin debt free. Our sin debt has been canceled and I want you to understand this, really take this to heart. Our sin debt has been canceled who are in Christ by faith and union with Him by faith, no matter what our feelings may be saying to us at any given time.

Jesus said to the woman, your sins are forgiven, your faith has saved you, go in peace, go in peace. And I want you to think about that for just a moment. If someone goes to your bank and pays off the loan on your house, the debt is paid, you don't owe it anymore. And if someone were to pay off all your financial obligations and liabilities, you would then be debt free. And it wouldn't matter if you woke up the next morning and you felt really strongly that maybe you still had a house payment to make or any other financial debt to pay because you don't.

You're debt free. You're debt free. And in the same way, brothers and sisters, we can't live day to day on our feelings. We have to live on the promises of God. And we should go on our way with a sense of that peace that we actually have, With consciences freed because we've been forgiven.

Our sin debt was paid off by our blessed Lord Jesus Christ when he died for our sins and his resurrection from the dead proves it. The guests reclining at the table with Jesus said, who is this who forgives sins also? Answer, not merely a man, but the God man, the second person of the Holy Trinity, He by whom all things were made, and He for whom all things were made, and He by whom all things consist are held together, the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, our merciful, loving Savior Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose again. That's who. That's who forgives sins also.

If we indeed have faith, being justified by faith, no matter what we may be feeling at any particular moment in our lives, we have peace with God. It is an objective reality, not affected in any way by our subjective moods or feelings at any time. God made us, we just read it, God made us alive together with Christ, with Christ having forgiven us all our trespasses. It's good news by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with all its legal demands. And this he set aside, nailing it to the cross of Christ.

Jesus told the woman in our text, Your sins are forgiven, your faith has saved you, go in peace. Sproll. Forgiveness is something that God does, and when he does it, it's an objective reality. It is not dependent on my feelings. What Satan does is he hones in on our feelings, right?

He tries to make you a sensuous Christian in this respect so that you will only be as certain of your forgiveness as you are of how you feel at the moment. That's why faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. It is as we read the promises of God and embrace them into our lives that we become free. And we can read the apostle Paul with the apostle Paul who will lay any charge to God's elect. We understand that Christ is our righteousness.

Spurgeon, speaking of faith, Faith is the hand of the soul stretched out and laying hold on the salvation of Christ. And so by faith we're saved. This is in a message he entitled, Your Faith Has Saved You. Spurgeon labors the point. Jesus didn't say that your love has saved you.

He didn't say that your repentance has saved you. He didn't say your humility has saved you, or your reverence has saved you, or your prayers have saved you. He said your faith has saved you. Faith is the great instrument of salvation. Saving faith doesn't come with righteousness in its hand.

It lays hold in humble repenting faith on Christ's righteousness and leaps for joy in the presence of saving grace. The penitent woman wept. She was a mourner, yet she also had deep joy. I know she had, says Spurgeon, for every kiss meant joy. Every time she lifted that blessed foot and kissed it, Her heart leaped with the transport of love.

Her heart knew bitterness for sin, but it also knew the sweetness of pardon. What a mixture. Faith made the compound. Saved sinners ought to be rejoicing saints. The First it says, imagine the poor penitent woman turning around and saying to the Savior after he said, your sins are forgiven you, your faith has saved you, go in peace.

Imagine her turning around and saying, Lord, I humbly hope that it's true. If you have believed, you are saved. Do not talk as if you were not. But now, down from the willows, take your harp and sing unto the Lord a new song. The Lord has done great things for us, whereof we are glad.

And if the Lord has done great things for us, it is our right to be glad. It is our right to be glad. Close quote. I could just see this woman on the way out of the door of Simon's house. She's got this bounce in her step.

A radiant joy beaming from her face. Like the lame man that Jesus healed, She's walking and leaping and praising God. She's left the past behind and she's pressing forward to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Love and mercy found her and there the bright and morning star shed his beams around her, and basking in an ocean of divine love and forgiveness. All she wants to do now is just praise the one who saved her and forgave her.

She just wants to praise Him and worship Him in gratefulness for His grace and love and mercy that He's shown her. All she wants to do now is just lovingly obey her Lord's every command. I can just see her springing out of bed the next morning. I don't care what anyone in the city thinks about me now. I'm new.

I'm clean. I'm a new creation in Christ. My sin debt has been canceled. The ledger of my sins erased. Jesus has forgiven me all my sins.

Now all I want to do is serve him in holiness and gratefulness all the days of my life. Jesus told her your sins are forgiven, your faith has saved you, go in peace. There is no greater gift that the Lord can give any one of us than to cancel our debt, to erase the ledger, and to forgive us for every sin we've ever committed. This is Froal. And the more we understand this, the greater the love we have for him because beloved, he who is forgiven much loves much.

Froal goes on, So I say to you this morning what Jesus said to her, if indeed you have faith, that faith has saved you and you can go in peace, go in peace. John Gill says, go in peace of conscience and serenity of mind. Let nothing disturb you, not the remembrance of past sins which are all forgiven, nor the suggestions of Satan who may at one time or another present them to your view, nor the trials of this life that can make us so uneasy. Brothers and sisters as we close, in Christ having been forgiven all our trespasses, We have been set free to serve Him and to obey Him, to love Him, to worship Him in loving, gratitude, and thankfulness without fear of future condemnation all our days. Jesus said, He who believes is not condemned.

We thank you, O God. We thank you, O God, for the great love wherewith you have loved us. Love divine, all loves excelling. Joy of heaven to earth come down, manifested to us supremely in the cross of our Lord Jesus. And Lord, we thank you, God, for that love from which nothing in all creation can ever separate us.

Thank you, God, that being justified by faith, we have peace with You through our Lord Jesus Christ, who purchased our peace, who purchased our pardon, who purchased our forgiveness, who purchased us with His own blood. O God, may every blood-bought child of God in this room today, Lord, be assured of your forgiveness and of your pardon for God, for Christ's sake. And may we go in peace, O God, assured that our sins are forgiven, having been saved by your marvelous grace through faith in Christ, and may we go in peace because Jesus is our peace, because Jesus is our peace. And may we do so, God, praising you and thanking you and serving you with humble gratitude, all our days until that day we enter into your presence with joy, unspeakable and full of glory. Thank you you