In the sermon 'How Big Is Your Debt?' by Peter Allison, the story from Luke 7 is used to explore themes of sin, forgiveness, and love. It begins with Jesus dining at the house of Simon the Pharisee, where a known sinful woman anoints Jesus' feet with her tears and fragrant oil. The Pharisee is judgmental, questioning Jesus' prophetic knowledge for allowing the woman to touch Him. Jesus responds with a parable about a creditor forgiving two debtors, one with a large debt and the other with a smaller one, illustrating that those who are forgiven much, love much. The sermon emphasizes that all humans have an infinite debt of sin they cannot repay, regardless of the perceived magnitude of their sins. It stresses that only Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, can satisfy God's justice and offer forgiveness. The key message is the transformative power of recognizing one's own sinfulness and accepting divine forgiveness, leading to genuine love and gratitude towards God.

Luke chapter 7. I'd like to begin reading at verse 36. Luke 7, 36. Then one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went to the Pharisee's house and sat down to eat. And behold a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant 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 the fragrant oil. Now when the Pharisee 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.

And there was a certain creditor who had two debtors, one owed five hundred denarii and the other fifty. 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 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.

And 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. And Jehovah is near, and His commandments are truth. Almighty Father in Heaven, we ask that this word, Your Truth, may come to us this morning in the power of the Holy Spirit with much assurance and with power.

And I ask that these sinful lips, that you might sanctify them, that they may speak what is holy and what is true. May you cause the chaff to blow away. We ask in Jesus name, amen. I'm sure at some point in your life you've heard of integers. Maybe it's a long time ago in high school.

Maybe it's recently if you're still studying math. That's just a big name for numbers like one, two, three, and so on. We call them integers. How many integers are there? How many numbers like that are there?

Well, we don't know because we haven't finished counting them yet. And so we say, we just say, well, the number is infinite, which means we don't know. They go on farther than we can count. Well, let's take our little collection of numbers and let's take a few out of that collection of numbers. Instead of having 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, let's remove all the even numbers.

The 2, 4, the 6, the 8. That means in our collection we're going to keep 1, we're going to throw out 2. We're going to keep 3, we'll throw out 4. We'll keep 5, we'll throw out 6, and so on. If we take away all the even numbers from our little collection of numbers, which we don't know how big it is, so we call it infinite, How big is the collection that we have left?

Is it bigger or smaller than the one we started with? Well, you would think that if we start with a collection and we take a bunch out, in fact we take an infinite number out, that what we would have left is smaller. But if you ask most mathematicians today, they'll say, no, no, it's not smaller. It's actually the same size, they'll tell you. It's the same size.

It has the same number of numbers in it. What? I thought it took an infinite number out. How come it's the same size? Think about that.

Keep that little fact in mind as we go through this account with Simon the Pharisee. Simon the Pharisee invited Jesus to eat at his house. We don't know what his motive was. It may have been honorable. Maybe it wasn't.

We know that Pharisees often sought to trap Him. It may have been an effort to do that. We do know that He was respectful. He addressed Him respectfully. He addressed Him as Teacher.

Teacher, he said, say it. That was the words and the discourse of polite conversation. Jesus came to Simon's house. Jesus went to many different houses and he was willing to go to house of sinners and he is willing to go to the house of those that didn't think they sinned. So he went to Simon's house and he sat at the table.

That word is actually to recline at the table. So he would have laid on cushions on his arm with his feet extending out away from the table in a table that was relatively low to the ground. And that is how guests or that was how people ate in formal settings, reclining. And that's what that word means. That word sit there is the word for recline at a table.

Head up against the table, eating with one hand, feet extending away from the table. Some people think that That was just a western way of eating, and that the Orient, where the Jews were, they would have done it by maybe kneeling. Either way though, if Jesus was kneeling or lying, his feet are extending out away from the table. So don't imagine that Jesus is sitting at a table like we eat at and His feet are under the table. His feet are extending away from the table.

He's reclining. This house would have had, if it was typical of wealthy homes in that time, would have had a courtyard. Even smaller homes had courtyards. They were open. That was where many things happened.

You may have entertained there. You may have had your well in that courtyard. This may very well have been where Simon was hosting Jesus. The rooms and the house would have gone around it. That courtyard may have been entirely enclosed or may have had an opening.

So in a meal like this with a wealthy prominent citizen having a formal dinner with a honored guest, because that's how Jesus was, That's the nature of a meal like this. It's a meal you serve to people you wanted to honor or show some respect to. Other people may have come in and stood around the wall. It wouldn't have been uncommon for that to happen. They may have wanted to come in just to listen to the conversation that happened, to be in the presence of somebody who was a special guest.

Here Jesus would have been like a visiting rabbi in town, invited over by one of the rulers in the church in that community. In any event, this woman, this woman hears that Jesus is there, And when she knows that He's there, she comes into this room. And she is standing at Jesus' feet. We don't know anything about her. Luke does not even name this woman.

He just describes her as a woman. A woman who was a sinner. That's how Luke describes her. In fact, that's how all the people describe her. Simon thinks of her and calls her a sinner.

And even Jesus acknowledges that she is a sinner. He concedes, as it were, this point. She's a sinner. That's how we know her. A woman who is a sinner, she may have been a prostitute, we don't know.

I don't think we can assume. But whatever she was, it was something that was known. She was known as a scandalous sinner in that community. That's how she was seen. She stands at Jesus' feet and she's weeping.

Now this isn't just a little sobbing, a little sniffling. This is a significant gusher. Luke uses the word for a rain shower. This is a drenching rain, A downpour. Can you relate to this woman?

This woman who was a sinner. Have you ever been so overwhelmed at the sheer magnitude of the undeserved favor that Jesus has shown you in forgiving your sins, that the tears just gushed out like a five gallon bucket being dumped over. I know I have. When peace like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll, Whatever my lot you have taught me to say, it is well with my soul. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, let this blessed assurance control That Christ has regarded my helpless estate, and has shed his own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not impart, but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. If you've experienced this then you can understand the emotions that must have been welling up in this sinner's heart, this woman's heart. And as her tears begin to fall, a downpour, They fall on these muddy feet that hadn't been washed because Simon hadn't bothered to either do it or set out the water to do it.

And she sees that as this water is rushing down upon Jesus feet, that they're muddy and they're dirty. And so she lets down her hair, her long hair. This is her glory. As a woman, this is her glory. And some would even consider it scandalous for a woman to let down her hair in public like this.

But that's all she had. So she lets down her hair and she begins to wipe Jesus' muddy feet that have been made muddy with her tears and dirt from the road. She begins to wash Jesus' feet with her tears and to wipe them with her hair. You might imagine this is beginning to create a little bit of a drama at this stately dinner that Simon, the not so sinful person, is putting on for the visiting Rabbi and all the community that's bothered to stop by. But then on top of all this, this woman, this sinner, begins to kiss Jesus' feet.

And the word that Luke uses here is an intensive form of the word to kiss. It's used to describe the father's kiss of the prodigal son when he returns. It's used to describe the other time, it's used to describe the kiss of the elders of Paul when he's about to depart to Jerusalem where he would be arrested. Remember how they fell weeping on his neck and they are kissing him as he's about to leave. This is the one who is their father in the faith.

He's just counseled them, exhorted them on how to shepherd the flock at Ephesus. This is the word Luke uses to describe what this woman is doing with Jesus' feet. And it's not just one kiss, this is going on and on. Jesus says, she hasn't stopped to kiss my feet. The imperfect in the Greek that's used demonstrates that as well.

It's an ongoing activity. This woman is, her tears are washing her feet, her hair now matted with mud is drying them and she is kissing Jesus' feet. It would be hard to ignore all this going on at the dinner table. And Simon's a little uncomfortable at this scene that's playing out at his table. Jesus doesn't seem embarrassed by it at all.

This woman, this sinner that everybody knows is some great sinner, is down there kissing his feet and washing them and drying them with her hair. Jesus didn't tell her to stop, doesn't waver away, doesn't give any indication that he has any idea what sort of woman is down kissing his feet, pouring her heart out. Simon begins to be ashamed of this man at his table, in the company, in the attention that this man is attracting, this person who is supposed to be a great rabbi, a prophet. You see, Simon not being a sinner himself or not thinking of himself that way, he has no understanding of what is going on in the heart of this woman. He is a Pharisee, he believed he was pretty good, not too shabby.

And he's obviously mortified at Jesus' failure, or his apparent failure, to discern what kind of woman is down there at his feet, kissing them. And so he wasn't appalled at the conduct of the woman itself, he's certainly even more appalled at Jesus failure as a prophet, as a posited prophet, to know what kind of woman this is. He's so he's thinking to himself, is this person? If Jesus knew he was really a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is down there and he wouldn't be letting her do that. He would be sending her away.

So he's judging Jesus in his heart. He hasn't said anything yet. He's just thinking these thoughts in his heart. And Jesus, who Simon doesn't think, knows even what kind of woman this is, something everybody knows. Knowing what Simon is saying in his heart says to him, Simon, I have something to say to you.

And Simon says, say it, teacher. Say it. So Jesus tells him this, gives him this example of a money lender, a banker, who makes a loan to two people. One loan for 50 denarii and one loan much bigger, 10 times bigger, 500 denarii. 50 denarii is just a little less than two months wages and 500 denarii would be a little bit less than two years wages so you might think of this as a car loan and a house loan car loan you know you pay for a car about two months of wages, a house two years or less.

Car loan and a house loan. And neither of these people can repay, neither of these debtors can repay their debt. One a big debt, one a little debt. And so the creditor, the banker forgave them both. Something that would be completely, completely unexpected on the part of a banker.

They don't make money by forgiving debts. The stereotypical banker is somebody like Shakespeare's Shylock, who wants to exact one pound of flesh from the debtor who could not pay his loan. That's a banker, somebody who wants justice, somebody who demands repayment. This, after all, is how they live. But this banker forgave both of these loans.

And Jesus asked then, Simon, who do you think, who do you think will love more? And Simon gives the obvious answer, well, well, he says, I suppose, I suppose the one whom he forgave more. And Jesus says, that's right, that's right. Now some might think from this that, well, if we don't love the Lord enough, it's because we haven't been forgiven enough, we haven't sinned enough. But that's not the story that Jesus, That's not the example that Jesus told.

In the example that Jesus told, both were debtors. Both were debtors. Both the one who owed the big debt, the $500 debt, the house debt, and the one who owed the little debt, the car debt, the mansion debt, and the car debt. Both are sinners. The law of God has been broken.

They're both debtors. It doesn't matter how many laws or how few laws have been broken. One broken law brings us under condemnation. God's law has been broken. It doesn't matter how many times.

For as in Adam, all die. So also in Christ all will be made alive, for as in Adam all die, without exception. If you look at Romans 5, verse 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19, we see that Paul repeats this theme in every single verse. For if by one man's offense many die, for the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation. For if by one man's offense death reigned through the one, therefore as through one man's offense judgment came to all men.

For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners." Notice this, the mere fact that we are in Adam Makes us under condemnation. By one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. I'm just reading the one phrase out of each of these verses. What about babies, for example, that have never been born yet? They've never done anything on their own.

They've never sinned themselves, but they are descendants of Adam. And Adam's sin, as our federal head, is imputed to all men who are in Adam. And that includes unborn babies. The mere fact that unborn babies die indicates that they too stand condemned even though they have never sinned themselves. They are sinners.

For by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. Through one man's offense, judgment came to all men. By one man's offense, death reigned, for the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation. For by one man's offense, many died." Both of these people, in Jesus' example, both are debtors. Both are debtors.

And secondly, neither of these debtors could repay their debt. One had the house debt, the mansion debt, the other had the compact car debt. Neither. Neither could repay their debt. It Doesn't matter whether you're the high dollar sinner or the low dollar sinner.

Nobody can repay their debt of sin. You see, if we could repay our debt of sin, then Jesus would not have to die. If we could suffer or do something, if we could suffer long enough, or do something on our own to pay for our sin, to satisfy the wrath of God, then Jesus would not have to die. We could pay the debt ourselves. You see, Jesus is not an alternative way.

He's not the fast way to satisfy the wrath of God. He's the only way to satisfy the wrath of God. Neither debtor could repay their debt. No one can come to the Father except through Him. Jesus is the only mediator we read this morning.

For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. If we could suffer, if we could do something in our own strength for a long enough time to repay the wrath of God, to satisfy the wrath of God, then Jesus wouldn't have to die. Psalm 49 speaks of those who trust in their wealth and boast in the multitude of their riches. It says, none, the psalmist says, none of them can by any means redeem his brother. None, nor give a ransom to God for him.

Nobody can. For the redemption of their souls is costly, and it shall cease forever." There's no person, no matter how much money you have, no matter how much you're willing to suffer, no matter how long you're willing to suffer, there is nobody that can make a ransom to God for their sin. Peter said, knowing that you are not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by the tradition of your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish or spot." See if The offering for our sin is anything less than the perfect Lamb of God. It would have to be repeated, be offered. It would have to be continually offered.

Hebrews points this out. For Christ has not entered the high places made without hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Not that he should offer himself often, as The High Priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with the blood of another. He would then have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world. If we had to suffer, we would have to suffer eternally and still could not make atonement for the wrath of God.

Jesus said that if Jesus was like the Old Testament high priest, he would have to suffer often since the foundation of the world. But now once at the end of the ages, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. See, if the offering is anything less than a perfect sacrifice, it's not good enough. Jesus is the perfect Lamb of God. He's the only sacrifice that is good enough.

Remember the constant emphasis throughout the Old Testament that what was offered to God, the lamb, the sacrificial lamb, had to be perfect without blemish. You couldn't offer something that had disease or that was ill or imperfect. It had to be a perfect sacrifice. Of course, there is no Son of Adam that is without sin. And so there is no Son of Adam that can begin to make a sacrifice, to make atonement for their sin.

No imperfect sinner can offer an acceptable sacrifice to satisfy the wrath of God. Only Jesus can offer a sacrifice that can satisfy, that can appease, that can propitiate the wrath of God and reconcile us to Him. You see, neither debtor could repay their debt. Both debts in that sense are infinite. You cannot repay it.

We are physically unable, no matter what we do, no matter how long we suffer, we are unable to repay our debts. You see herein is, I think, the answer to those who love little and those who love a lot. Yes, Jesus acknowledges that this woman was a great sinner and that her sins were many. He said, therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many? Jesus concedes that this person, this woman, had sinned greatly and she had many sins.

And she had a mansion debt that she couldn't repay. But it's an infinite debt. She can't repay it. But if you take away a bunch of sins out of her collection of sins, you could take an infinite number of sins away, you still have what? An infinite debt.

And so this other person in this story, this one who has the compact car debt, the little debt, it doesn't matter, the $50 debt. It didn't matter if it was $5 or 5 cents. It's still an infinite debt that he can't repay. So is it true that there are different levels of judgment, different levels of sin? Absolutely.

Jesus acknowledges that. He talks about her sins that are many. He talks about judgment being less to those who have less culpability. But at the same time, it's a debt that nobody can repay. It's like the integers.

We can't count how many there are. And yes, we can talk about two different collections of integers, and one obviously would seem to have less than the other set of other collection of numbers, but they're both beyond our ability to count. And That's what Simon didn't realize. He didn't realize that his sins, which he thought were few and not that many, were actually infinite. He couldn't repay them.

Yes, they were less than this woman's. But you see, that fact is totally obscured by the fact that he had a debt that he couldn't repay. It's like the numbers that we can't count. A debt that we can't repay is like an infinite debt. You can suffer for all of time and you still can't repay it.

That's what it means, you can't repay it. That's what it means when we say we can't count the numbers. Both these debtors had a debt they couldn't repay. And both then were dependent, absolutely dependent, on the unmerited favor of the one to whom they were indebted. And so regardless of whether you've been saved from a sinful past and your sins are many like this woman's, or you've been saved from a reformed Christian home and your sins are few, maybe even less than Simon's.

You can't repay your debt. It's beyond your ability to repay. You see, when you realize the magnitude of your debt, regardless of what your background is, whether you have the mansion debt or the little debt. You realize that it's an infinite debt that you can't repay and that Jesus has paid it, then you can love much. You can love just as much as this woman did.

Jesus said, blessed are those who are not offended because of me. Remember he said that just a few verses earlier in his closing comment to John. Blessed, he said, and tell John this, the things you've seen and heard, the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of me. Blessed is he who is not offended because of me.

Simon was offended. He was offended because of Jesus. He was offended because of the company that Jesus was keeping. Sometimes today, it's a temptation to be offended at God, at Jesus Christ. To be offended at the justice of God.

People are offended at the justice of God. That God would require a vicarious substitutionary atonement, that He would require a penal sacrifice to appease His wrath. People say, what kind of a God is that? I don't want to worship a God who is exacting and demanding. They are offended at the justice of God.

Some people are offended that God would impute Adam's sin to all mankind in the covenant of works. They say, how can that be a just God? Jesus, but who are we? Who are we to assert that our standard of justice, and what we think is just, is the true justice. To do that is to be offended.

It's to be offended at Jesus. It's to be offended at His attributes, some are offended at His poverty, some are offended at His suffering. Jesus is not offended by us. We're the ones, we're like this sinful woman. Our sins are offensive, but Jesus is not offended by us.

He died for us. He died for us. Died for us because He loved us. Who are we then to be offended at His justice, at His mercy? Remember the prodigal son was offended at the mercy of his father.

He was outrageous that his father would kill the fatted calf for the prodigal son who had returned, who had been lost and was found. Like Simon, he couldn't love because he didn't realize that he had a debt that he couldn't repay that was just as big, even though he never ran off and wasted his father's inheritance with prostitutes. All of us, descended from Adam, have a debt that we cannot repay. That only Jesus, only Jesus, the perfect lamb of God can satisfy the wrath of God. Jesus said to the woman, your faith has saved you, your faith has saved you, Go in peace.

You have cast yourself on the mercy of Jesus Christ. And you, your sins are forgiven. The debt that you could never repay has been forgiven you. Go in peace. May God grant to us that kind of saving faith to put our trust in Him, to not be offended to not be offended at Jesus and to recognize the infinite depth of sin that we have been forgiven.

Almighty Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word and for its truth. It is light, and it is in your light that we see light. For Lord, we cannot understand the things that are above us. For your thoughts are not our thoughts, and your ways are not our ways. Your thoughts are far above our thoughts, and your ways far beyond our ability to comprehend or understand.

We cast ourselves upon your mercy this morning. And ask that where we see ourselves more as Simon, that you would enable us to see ourselves more as this sinner, who have a debt that we cannot repay. And that makes it infinite. And Father, we ask that you would give to us a love for you like this woman had. A love that was not ashamed of you.

A love, Lord, that is abiding. Father, we Confess how thin and cold and distant our love is so often. We thank you for those times, those precious times, by your grace, that we are able to experience and drink deeply of your love, of your forgiveness, of your mercy, to see ourselves truly as you see us. And we Thank you Lord for the peace that you give that truly does pass our ability to understand. We thank you that there is now no condemnation to those who are in you.

And we do wholly give ourselves to you as a living sacrifice, and ask that you would receive our offering through Christ's name, and for His sake. Amen.