1 00:00:02,869 --> 00:00:06,389 Luke 736 through 50. 2 00:00:06,773 --> 00:00:09,776 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, 3 00:00:10,410 --> 00:00:13,880 and he went into the Pharisees house and reclined at table. 4 00:00:14,631 --> 00:00:18,234 And behold, a woman of the city who was a sinner. 5 00:00:18,768 --> 00:00:22,038 When she learned he was reclining at table in the Pharisees 6 00:00:22,038 --> 00:00:25,458 house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 7 00:00:26,359 --> 00:00:29,362 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping. 8 00:00:29,462 --> 00:00:34,467 She began to wear his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head, 9 00:00:34,884 --> 00:00:38,221 and kissed his feet, and anointed them with ointment. 10 00:00:39,289 --> 00:00:41,758 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him 11 00:00:41,758 --> 00:00:46,830 saw this, he said to himself, if this man were a prophet, 12 00:00:47,097 --> 00:00:50,283 he would have known who and what sort of woman 13 00:00:50,283 --> 00:00:53,686 this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner. 14 00:00:55,038 --> 00:00:56,756 And Jesus answering said to 15 00:00:56,756 --> 00:01:00,243 him, Simon, I have something to say to you. 16 00:01:00,977 --> 00:01:02,278 And he answered. 17 00:01:02,278 --> 00:01:04,764 Say it, teacher. 18 00:01:04,764 --> 00:01:07,767 A certain moneylender had two debtors, 19 00:01:08,518 --> 00:01:12,272 100 500 denarii, and the other 50. 20 00:01:13,189 --> 00:01:16,226 When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. 21 00:01:17,010 --> 00:01:20,013 Now which of them will love him more? 22 00:01:20,013 --> 00:01:21,831 Simon answered, the one, 23 00:01:21,831 --> 00:01:24,834 I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt. 24 00:01:25,652 --> 00:01:28,888 And he said to him, you have judge rightly. 25 00:01:29,973 --> 00:01:34,260 Then, turning towards the woman, he said to Simon, do you see this woman? 26 00:01:35,011 --> 00:01:36,362 I entered your house. 27 00:01:36,362 --> 00:01:39,032 You gave me no water for my feet. 28 00:01:39,032 --> 00:01:43,553 But she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 29 00:01:44,187 --> 00:01:47,907 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came here, 30 00:01:48,108 --> 00:01:51,111 she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 31 00:01:51,144 --> 00:01:53,847 You did not anoint my head with oil. 32 00:01:53,847 --> 00:01:56,850 But she has anointed my feet with ointment. 33 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:02,188 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. 34 00:02:03,273 --> 00:02:05,792 For she loved much. 35 00:02:05,792 --> 00:02:08,995 But he who is forgiven little, loves little. 36 00:02:10,346 --> 00:02:13,533 And he said to her, your sins are forgiven. 37 00:02:14,751 --> 00:02:18,621 Then those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, 38 00:02:19,172 --> 00:02:22,158 who is this who even forgive sins? 39 00:02:22,826 --> 00:02:26,629 And he said to the woman, your faith has saved you. 40 00:02:26,996 --> 00:02:29,999 Go in peace. 41 00:02:31,551 --> 00:02:34,037 I want you to think, just for a second, 42 00:02:34,037 --> 00:02:37,590 about the biggest mistake of your life. 43 00:02:39,409 --> 00:02:42,212 The biggest regret, 44 00:02:42,212 --> 00:02:44,631 the thing that you've done, that you are 45 00:02:44,631 --> 00:02:47,634 the least proud of, 46 00:02:47,784 --> 00:02:51,120 the moment you wish you could take back. 47 00:02:52,622 --> 00:02:55,742 Then I want you to think about not just that moment 48 00:02:55,742 --> 00:02:59,128 or that thing, but walking into a room 49 00:02:59,128 --> 00:03:02,131 with the people who know 50 00:03:02,599 --> 00:03:06,903 going back to the place where everyone understands what you did. 51 00:03:07,854 --> 00:03:10,290 Where everyone you know 52 00:03:10,290 --> 00:03:15,595 is thinking the same thing is whispering the same thing. 53 00:03:16,379 --> 00:03:19,399 This is the marriage that ended 54 00:03:20,033 --> 00:03:23,036 because of your affair. 55 00:03:24,053 --> 00:03:25,405 The family finances 56 00:03:25,405 --> 00:03:28,491 that are ruined because of your addiction. 57 00:03:28,491 --> 00:03:33,930 The relationship that is over because of your lying and your 58 00:03:34,981 --> 00:03:37,650 betrayal. 59 00:03:37,650 --> 00:03:40,637 Can you imagine what it would be like 60 00:03:41,304 --> 00:03:44,307 to be free of that? 61 00:03:44,540 --> 00:03:47,610 I mean, I think if we're honest, we would say that that moment, 62 00:03:47,610 --> 00:03:53,483 that thing we did, the rooms we can't go in, the places we don't go back to. 63 00:03:53,483 --> 00:03:55,702 Those things shape us. 64 00:03:55,702 --> 00:03:58,338 They shape us more than we'd like to imagine. 65 00:03:58,338 --> 00:04:03,326 The weight of them shapes us more than we would like to believe. 66 00:04:03,359 --> 00:04:07,280 Can you imagine what it would be like to be free of that? 67 00:04:08,514 --> 00:04:11,701 To breathe without the weight of that? 68 00:04:11,718 --> 00:04:15,421 Can you imagine what it would be like to go back to that place, 69 00:04:15,421 --> 00:04:19,225 to be in the room with those people and not be crushed 70 00:04:19,859 --> 00:04:22,862 by what they're thinking and what they're saying? 71 00:04:23,663 --> 00:04:27,900 Well, that's what this week's passage is all about. 72 00:04:28,584 --> 00:04:33,773 In a sermon series on Jesus as a redeemer, Jesus who sets us free. 73 00:04:33,806 --> 00:04:36,926 We're talking this weekend about how he sets us 74 00:04:36,926 --> 00:04:39,929 free from shame. 75 00:04:39,929 --> 00:04:42,382 So if you have a Bible, why don't you take it out 76 00:04:42,382 --> 00:04:44,600 and open it to Luke chapter seven? 77 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:49,188 We're going to begin in verse 36 and look at the rest of the chapter. 78 00:04:49,472 --> 00:04:52,041 Take out your phone, your tablet, however you want to get there. 79 00:04:52,041 --> 00:04:56,279 And hey, if you're here and you didn't bring a Bible, you maybe 80 00:04:56,329 --> 00:04:59,215 aren't super familiar with the Bible. So glad that you're here. 81 00:04:59,215 --> 00:05:00,867 Everything that happens this week, 82 00:05:00,867 --> 00:05:05,038 and especially this, is as much for you as it is for anyone else. 83 00:05:05,038 --> 00:05:06,956 So if you want to follow along by holding 84 00:05:06,956 --> 00:05:08,908 something in your hands, you don't have to. 85 00:05:08,908 --> 00:05:09,809 But if you want to, 86 00:05:09,809 --> 00:05:13,112 there's a Bible in the pew in front of you or in the back of East Hall. 87 00:05:13,496 --> 00:05:15,181 And today's reading, it's a little tricky. 88 00:05:15,181 --> 00:05:18,901 It begins on 811, bottom right hand corner, and then quickly moves 89 00:05:19,218 --> 00:05:22,071 to page 812, the next page. 90 00:05:22,071 --> 00:05:24,991 But however you're getting to Luke chapter seven, 91 00:05:24,991 --> 00:05:29,178 let me hold out an outline to you that I hope you're going to be encouraged by. 92 00:05:29,178 --> 00:05:29,779 Three points. 93 00:05:29,779 --> 00:05:30,413 Very simple. 94 00:05:30,413 --> 00:05:33,900 They go like this. Freedom is possible. 95 00:05:35,218 --> 00:05:37,937 How to get it and how to know you have it. 96 00:05:37,937 --> 00:05:39,739 Freedom is possible. 97 00:05:39,739 --> 00:05:42,959 How to get it and how to know that you have it. 98 00:05:43,459 --> 00:05:44,877 All right, let's start with the first one. 99 00:05:44,877 --> 00:05:47,580 Freedom is possible. 100 00:05:47,580 --> 00:05:50,583 This story is incredible. 101 00:05:51,751 --> 00:05:56,089 And if you don't have the full kind of background, the cultural moment, 102 00:05:56,089 --> 00:06:01,177 it might be tough to really understand just how incredible it is. 103 00:06:01,194 --> 00:06:05,298 The story takes place at the house of a man named Simon. 104 00:06:05,298 --> 00:06:07,233 He is a Pharisee. 105 00:06:07,233 --> 00:06:07,650 Not now. 106 00:06:07,650 --> 00:06:13,773 The Pharisees were super religious guys, like the religious man's religious man. 107 00:06:13,773 --> 00:06:19,312 They were the moral elite, the social elite, the spiritual elite. 108 00:06:19,412 --> 00:06:22,348 You had to really want it to be a Pharisee. 109 00:06:22,348 --> 00:06:27,470 You had to be willing to do the work in all three of those categories. 110 00:06:27,470 --> 00:06:29,038 And so as a consequence, 111 00:06:29,038 --> 00:06:32,458 they weren't just super religious, they were super judgmental. 112 00:06:32,458 --> 00:06:33,860 They were better than everyone. 113 00:06:33,860 --> 00:06:36,779 And you knew it and they knew it. 114 00:06:36,779 --> 00:06:39,682 And so Simon, one of the Pharisees, invites Jesus 115 00:06:39,682 --> 00:06:42,685 to dinner, and Jesus goes, 116 00:06:42,802 --> 00:06:45,688 and while they're eating dinner now in this culture, that would have meant 117 00:06:45,688 --> 00:06:47,507 there was a table in the middle of the room 118 00:06:47,507 --> 00:06:49,826 and they were kind of reclining at the table. 119 00:06:49,826 --> 00:06:51,961 Your chest would be towards the table 120 00:06:51,961 --> 00:06:56,282 and your feet away from you as you kind of lay out at the table. 121 00:06:56,282 --> 00:06:59,702 And during this dinner, a woman comes in. 122 00:07:00,203 --> 00:07:03,589 Now, now, this is not just any woman that the text calls her 123 00:07:03,589 --> 00:07:08,361 a woman of the city, which is a church way of saying she's a prostitute. 124 00:07:09,262 --> 00:07:11,097 She's a streetwalker. 125 00:07:11,097 --> 00:07:14,000 And she comes in wearing this perfume 126 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:17,069 around her neck, which is a tool of her trade. 127 00:07:17,637 --> 00:07:21,140 It's like a carpenter's hammer or surgeon's scalpel. 128 00:07:21,507 --> 00:07:25,761 And she goes over to Jesus's feet and she takes down her hair, 129 00:07:25,761 --> 00:07:28,831 which in that culture, you never did as a woman. 130 00:07:28,831 --> 00:07:33,002 And she begins to sob and and so that her tears are kind of washing 131 00:07:33,002 --> 00:07:36,889 Jesus's feet, and she's using her hair to mop it up. 132 00:07:36,889 --> 00:07:37,907 And then she takes 133 00:07:37,907 --> 00:07:42,411 this jar of perfume and breaks it and pours it out on Jesus feet. 134 00:07:42,411 --> 00:07:45,832 And everyone is watching and no one can believe it. 135 00:07:45,832 --> 00:07:49,969 I mean, a religious guy's party and a prostitute comes in. 136 00:07:49,969 --> 00:07:52,321 Sounds like the beginning of a really bad joke. 137 00:07:53,973 --> 00:07:56,609 No one can believe what is happening. 138 00:07:56,609 --> 00:07:59,462 Now, with that in your mind, let me read the story to you. 139 00:07:59,462 --> 00:08:00,980 It says this. 140 00:08:00,980 --> 00:08:04,700 One of the Pharisees verse 36, asked him to eat with him. 141 00:08:05,184 --> 00:08:08,788 And he went into the Pharisees house and reclined at table. 142 00:08:09,355 --> 00:08:12,291 And behold, a woman of the city, 143 00:08:12,291 --> 00:08:16,279 who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table 144 00:08:16,496 --> 00:08:20,249 in the Pharisees house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 145 00:08:20,783 --> 00:08:23,369 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, 146 00:08:23,369 --> 00:08:28,457 she began to wet his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, 147 00:08:28,457 --> 00:08:32,812 and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. 148 00:08:33,412 --> 00:08:34,914 This is a crazy story. 149 00:08:34,914 --> 00:08:36,532 It's a scandalous moment. 150 00:08:36,532 --> 00:08:39,802 It's so scandalous that for every guy at this party, it's 151 00:08:39,802 --> 00:08:42,438 what they would have been talking about for the next couple of months. 152 00:08:42,438 --> 00:08:45,658 It's an incredible story, but I can't help when I read it. 153 00:08:45,658 --> 00:08:48,110 But ask one singular question. 154 00:08:48,110 --> 00:08:51,330 And it is a selfish question, but maybe you can resonate. 155 00:08:51,330 --> 00:08:54,166 How did this woman get so free? 156 00:08:57,270 --> 00:09:00,139 How does a prostitute 157 00:09:00,139 --> 00:09:02,191 walk into a religious, 158 00:09:02,191 --> 00:09:05,177 judgmental, masculine party? 159 00:09:05,244 --> 00:09:08,998 A room full of guys who either judge were judging her or, 160 00:09:08,998 --> 00:09:12,001 I hate to admit it, were customers 161 00:09:12,685 --> 00:09:17,690 a hypocritical, judgmental religious room full of men? 162 00:09:17,907 --> 00:09:21,928 How does a prostitute get to the place in life 163 00:09:22,044 --> 00:09:27,083 where she can walk in, walk through their whispers, through their stares, 164 00:09:27,183 --> 00:09:30,870 through their judgment, and basically fall apart 165 00:09:30,870 --> 00:09:35,508 in their presence, and then debase herself by using her hair 166 00:09:35,508 --> 00:09:41,697 and tears and perfume, which screams I'm a prostitute to wash Jesus's feet. 167 00:09:41,697 --> 00:09:44,700 I read this story and if I'm honest, 168 00:09:44,817 --> 00:09:47,820 I'm jealous. 169 00:09:48,621 --> 00:09:51,624 How did she get so free? 170 00:09:53,726 --> 00:09:56,479 Well, here's the first point I want to make. 171 00:09:56,479 --> 00:09:57,980 It's not a dramatic one. 172 00:09:57,980 --> 00:10:00,800 It's not a big one, but it's a, I hope, a poignant one. 173 00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:03,019 And that is if this woman, 174 00:10:04,620 --> 00:10:07,940 this prostitute, can walk into this party 175 00:10:08,724 --> 00:10:11,727 with that kind of freedom, 176 00:10:12,228 --> 00:10:15,231 then freedom is possible for you. 177 00:10:16,999 --> 00:10:22,371 If this woman can walk into this party totally free, 178 00:10:22,555 --> 00:10:27,109 then I really believe it must be true that for you and I, we can go back 179 00:10:27,109 --> 00:10:31,681 to that moment, back to that place, back to those people, and breathe 180 00:10:32,732 --> 00:10:34,050 free. 181 00:10:34,050 --> 00:10:37,053 Freedom is possible. 182 00:10:37,737 --> 00:10:40,323 But of course, that begs the question, doesn't it? 183 00:10:40,323 --> 00:10:42,291 And that's my second point. 184 00:10:42,291 --> 00:10:44,093 Well, how do you get it? 185 00:10:44,093 --> 00:10:46,495 How do you give it the freedom as possible? 186 00:10:46,495 --> 00:10:49,498 How do you get it? 187 00:10:49,915 --> 00:10:53,903 Well, you need to know that this story has three main characters. 188 00:10:53,903 --> 00:10:55,855 The first, of course, is Jesus. 189 00:10:55,855 --> 00:10:59,542 The second is the woman who's the prostitute, and the third is Simon, 190 00:10:59,542 --> 00:11:03,062 whose house they're at, whose party it is. 191 00:11:03,295 --> 00:11:07,900 And Jesus is going to compare Simon and this woman throughout the story. 192 00:11:07,900 --> 00:11:14,190 He actually compares them to two debtors, one who owes 50 and one who owes 500. 193 00:11:14,340 --> 00:11:19,979 And the key part of the story is that although one owes, about a month's wages 194 00:11:19,979 --> 00:11:24,650 and one owes a, year of wages, neither one of them can pay. 195 00:11:24,650 --> 00:11:26,936 And that way they're the exact same. 196 00:11:26,936 --> 00:11:30,956 The whole point of this story is to speak to both of them. 197 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:35,544 That's because the two of them, the prostitute and the Simon, represent 198 00:11:35,761 --> 00:11:38,964 the two human ways of dealing with shame. 199 00:11:40,833 --> 00:11:42,251 Let me show you what I mean. 200 00:11:42,251 --> 00:11:46,038 I want you to just envision for a second with me a swimming pool. 201 00:11:46,489 --> 00:11:47,940 I know, you know, swimming pools. 202 00:11:47,940 --> 00:11:50,943 The place where we're obviously never going to go again 203 00:11:51,293 --> 00:11:54,296 because it's going to snow and be cold forever. 204 00:11:54,930 --> 00:11:57,116 But back when we used to have sunshine 205 00:11:57,116 --> 00:12:00,536 and go to the pool, I want you to envision a swimming pool. 206 00:12:00,536 --> 00:12:03,923 And the water of the swimming pool is your guilt 207 00:12:04,673 --> 00:12:07,676 and my shame. 208 00:12:07,910 --> 00:12:09,378 A swimming pool full of guilt. 209 00:12:09,378 --> 00:12:12,114 A swimming pool full of shame. Two ways of dealing with it. 210 00:12:12,114 --> 00:12:15,117 The first is you can drown in it. 211 00:12:16,402 --> 00:12:18,437 That's the woman. 212 00:12:18,437 --> 00:12:20,239 You can be the kind of person 213 00:12:20,239 --> 00:12:23,242 where everybody knows you're guilty. 214 00:12:23,793 --> 00:12:25,428 Everybody knows what you did. 215 00:12:25,428 --> 00:12:27,179 This is when your marriage is over 216 00:12:27,179 --> 00:12:30,182 and everyone knows it's because you had an affair. 217 00:12:30,199 --> 00:12:30,866 Everybody knows 218 00:12:32,668 --> 00:12:33,919 it's when you lost your job, 219 00:12:33,919 --> 00:12:36,922 and everybody knows it's because you can't stop drinking 220 00:12:38,040 --> 00:12:39,442 for drowning. 221 00:12:39,442 --> 00:12:43,112 They're soaked in guilt and shame, even if they could somehow 222 00:12:43,112 --> 00:12:46,315 get out of the pool and walk around, there'd be water everywhere. 223 00:12:46,315 --> 00:12:47,867 They they're dripping. 224 00:12:47,867 --> 00:12:52,555 And you can reach a point in life where all that's true of you are your mistakes. 225 00:12:52,555 --> 00:12:53,789 All that anyone knows 226 00:12:53,789 --> 00:12:58,377 about your cares to understand about you is everything that you've done. 227 00:12:58,377 --> 00:13:01,380 You can drown in shame. 228 00:13:02,097 --> 00:13:05,701 The second way of dealing with it, though, is like being on a float 229 00:13:06,001 --> 00:13:08,721 in the middle of the pool. 230 00:13:08,721 --> 00:13:10,473 That's what Simon is doing. 231 00:13:10,473 --> 00:13:14,510 This woman comes in and she she washes Jesus feet and Simon says, 232 00:13:14,610 --> 00:13:17,963 well, Jesus must not be who he says that he is, because if he 233 00:13:17,963 --> 00:13:21,116 if he was, he would know who this woman is. 234 00:13:21,116 --> 00:13:25,020 And if he knew who this woman was, he wouldn't let her touch him. 235 00:13:25,221 --> 00:13:28,157 You see, Simon isn't in his guilt and shame. 236 00:13:28,157 --> 00:13:31,377 He's floating on the top on a float called comparison. 237 00:13:32,962 --> 00:13:34,797 And his philosophy is pretty simple. 238 00:13:34,797 --> 00:13:36,899 I might have done some things I'm not proud of, 239 00:13:36,899 --> 00:13:40,369 but as long as I'm better than her, I'm okay. 240 00:13:41,187 --> 00:13:44,640 Floaters find every reason they can 241 00:13:44,990 --> 00:13:48,777 to believe that their goodness outweighs their badness. 242 00:13:48,777 --> 00:13:50,913 Let me illustrate this with a story. 243 00:13:50,913 --> 00:13:53,365 This week I'm sitting at dinner with my family, 244 00:13:53,365 --> 00:13:56,218 which is a little bit like going to the circus 245 00:13:56,218 --> 00:13:59,455 and my wife Amy and I and our five kids, and then we finish dinner 246 00:13:59,455 --> 00:14:02,041 and we're clearing our our plates, going to the kitchen. 247 00:14:02,041 --> 00:14:05,778 And my eight year old son Graham decides that it would just be hilarious 248 00:14:06,212 --> 00:14:09,081 to take the bottle of Cajun seasoning off the table 249 00:14:09,081 --> 00:14:12,084 and dump it over his six year old sister's head. 250 00:14:12,501 --> 00:14:14,820 Now he thought the lid was on. 251 00:14:16,088 --> 00:14:17,940 It turns out it wasn't. 252 00:14:17,940 --> 00:14:20,426 So the seasoning goes all over her 253 00:14:20,426 --> 00:14:23,662 and gets in her eyes and it's spicy seasoning. 254 00:14:23,662 --> 00:14:27,566 And she's a six year old girl, so she sees this not just as a painful 255 00:14:27,566 --> 00:14:32,905 experience, but an opportunity to get her brother in trouble so she loses it. 256 00:14:32,905 --> 00:14:34,340 I mean, she really leans in. 257 00:14:34,340 --> 00:14:38,727 She's saying like, dad, don't worry, I remember what you look like in my mind. 258 00:14:40,312 --> 00:14:43,315 You know, I'll never see you again. But, 259 00:14:44,149 --> 00:14:46,285 I mean, she's just falling apart. 260 00:14:46,285 --> 00:14:47,636 And then Graham's losing it, 261 00:14:47,636 --> 00:14:50,723 and I'm yelling and Amy's yelling, and it's just awful. 262 00:14:51,891 --> 00:14:54,293 And so Graham gets into his room and eventually 263 00:14:54,293 --> 00:14:57,930 I get assigned the responsibility of going up to his room to talk to him. 264 00:14:57,930 --> 00:15:01,283 And so as I go up the stairs, I'm working on my monologue. 265 00:15:01,283 --> 00:15:04,637 You may not know this, but I happen to communicate for a living, 266 00:15:04,637 --> 00:15:08,691 so I'm feeling really good about the speech I've prepared for my son. 267 00:15:08,691 --> 00:15:12,711 You know, I'm going to say things like, hey, I know you didn't mean to do this, 268 00:15:12,711 --> 00:15:14,897 but this is why we don't do stupid things, right? 269 00:15:14,897 --> 00:15:18,167 Because, you know, they didn't design that bottle of seasoning as a weapon. 270 00:15:18,167 --> 00:15:21,086 So you and I've got this whole speech prepared. 271 00:15:21,086 --> 00:15:22,788 I open his door, I sit on his bed, I 272 00:15:22,788 --> 00:15:26,659 throw my arm around him, and I give him the best ever parenting speech. 273 00:15:26,959 --> 00:15:28,193 And he responds. 274 00:15:28,193 --> 00:15:30,813 He looks at me and he talks for ten minutes, 275 00:15:30,813 --> 00:15:33,682 and all he did for ten minutes was make excuses. 276 00:15:36,051 --> 00:15:38,604 Well, how did I know the lid wasn't on? 277 00:15:38,604 --> 00:15:39,538 Who, dad? 278 00:15:39,538 --> 00:15:40,773 Who didn't put the lid on? 279 00:15:40,773 --> 00:15:43,759 That's the question you should be asking. 280 00:15:46,428 --> 00:15:47,730 Ten minutes of excuses. 281 00:15:47,730 --> 00:15:53,002 Because in his mind, he had to float above the surface of his guilt. 282 00:15:53,252 --> 00:15:56,005 He's so terrified of being the kind 283 00:15:56,005 --> 00:15:59,124 of person who dumped seasoning on the head of his sister. 284 00:15:59,124 --> 00:16:03,295 He's so terrified of what might be waiting for him in the water that he has 285 00:16:03,295 --> 00:16:06,782 floating on excuses to stay dry. 286 00:16:08,717 --> 00:16:11,720 Tell me you can't identify with that. 287 00:16:12,805 --> 00:16:15,057 So the truth is, you're at church on a Sunday 288 00:16:15,057 --> 00:16:18,594 at 10:00 in the morning, there's this really cool thing called brunch. 289 00:16:18,594 --> 00:16:20,996 You might not have heard of it. 290 00:16:20,996 --> 00:16:25,801 If you're at church at 10:00 on a Sunday, you're probably a floater. 291 00:16:28,070 --> 00:16:30,723 But you see, the thing is about floaters and downers 292 00:16:30,723 --> 00:16:35,477 is that they seem different, but both of them are stuck in the pool. 293 00:16:37,613 --> 00:16:40,616 Don't you want to get out? 294 00:16:41,483 --> 00:16:43,802 See, what this story is really about 295 00:16:43,802 --> 00:16:46,789 is how to get out of the pool. 296 00:16:46,855 --> 00:16:48,173 And the woman does that. 297 00:16:48,173 --> 00:16:49,158 Simon does not. 298 00:16:49,158 --> 00:16:51,960 By the way, he's floating at the end of the story. 299 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:56,699 It's the woman who hears Jesus say later on in the story you are forgiven. 300 00:16:56,699 --> 00:16:58,200 It's the woman who gets free will. 301 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:00,619 That begs the question, then how do you get free? 302 00:17:00,619 --> 00:17:01,854 And the answer you 303 00:17:01,854 --> 00:17:05,190 you will be really glad to hear only involves three very simple steps. 304 00:17:05,190 --> 00:17:06,258 Look at what the woman does. 305 00:17:06,258 --> 00:17:09,294 First, she picks up her shame. 306 00:17:11,063 --> 00:17:13,732 When she leaves the house, she decides to grab her 307 00:17:13,732 --> 00:17:17,369 bottle of perfume, which would have been a single shot of perfume. Not. 308 00:17:17,486 --> 00:17:20,606 Not the way you and I might think of a bottle with a spray top. 309 00:17:20,606 --> 00:17:24,393 It was just a little jar that held one shot of perfume, and, 310 00:17:24,777 --> 00:17:28,047 And a prostitute would wear it around their neck 311 00:17:28,047 --> 00:17:31,050 so that when you contracted their services, 312 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:35,220 they could break the bottle, pour it over their body and smell good. 313 00:17:35,337 --> 00:17:38,424 She picks up that bottle when she leaves the house 314 00:17:38,574 --> 00:17:41,760 because she isn't just going to the dinner party. 315 00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:43,729 She isn't just going to Jesus. 316 00:17:43,729 --> 00:17:46,765 She's going to take her shame. 317 00:17:49,134 --> 00:17:50,002 See if you're a floater. 318 00:17:50,002 --> 00:17:52,371 That's the hardest step. 319 00:17:52,371 --> 00:17:54,506 No more excuses, no more blame 320 00:17:54,506 --> 00:17:57,893 shifting, no more focusing on what everyone else did. 321 00:17:58,077 --> 00:17:59,428 She picks up her bottle. 322 00:17:59,428 --> 00:18:02,431 Now. No little girl dreams of being a prostitute. 323 00:18:02,448 --> 00:18:05,000 So you and I know if that's where this woman is, 324 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:09,288 she has been sinned against just as much as she has done the sinning. 325 00:18:09,388 --> 00:18:11,607 You know that, and I know that. 326 00:18:11,607 --> 00:18:15,594 But the step to freedom isn't talking about what they did. 327 00:18:15,711 --> 00:18:20,282 The step to freedom is picking up your shame and wearing it 328 00:18:20,282 --> 00:18:23,268 around your neck. 329 00:18:25,554 --> 00:18:28,791 Second, so that you can take it to Jesus, 330 00:18:29,808 --> 00:18:32,811 not just picking it up, but taking it to Jesus. 331 00:18:32,911 --> 00:18:35,998 She is taking that perfume for a particular reason. 332 00:18:35,998 --> 00:18:39,902 She gets in that dinner party and she takes the single 333 00:18:40,102 --> 00:18:42,354 obvious implement of her trade. 334 00:18:42,354 --> 00:18:45,257 The thing that screams I'm a prostitute! 335 00:18:45,257 --> 00:18:48,076 And she breaks it over Jesus. 336 00:18:48,076 --> 00:18:52,798 She takes her shame and puts it on Jesus. 337 00:18:52,798 --> 00:18:56,001 Which is exactly what the message of Jesus is all about. 338 00:18:57,419 --> 00:19:00,472 Jesus came to die 339 00:19:01,940 --> 00:19:03,692 to get people out of the pool. 340 00:19:03,692 --> 00:19:08,247 This woman pours her perfume on Jesus so that he can metaphorically, 341 00:19:08,247 --> 00:19:12,017 if not literally, go to the cross, smell 342 00:19:13,051 --> 00:19:15,804 like a prostitute. 343 00:19:15,804 --> 00:19:17,873 Which is appropriate because on the cross, 344 00:19:17,873 --> 00:19:20,876 Jesus becomes the prostitute. 345 00:19:22,277 --> 00:19:24,596 He becomes our shame. 346 00:19:24,596 --> 00:19:28,500 He becomes the person who did that thing, who told that lie, 347 00:19:28,550 --> 00:19:30,052 who committed that betrayal. 348 00:19:30,052 --> 00:19:31,737 He becomes the addict. 349 00:19:31,737 --> 00:19:33,422 Listen, you have to understand this. 350 00:19:33,422 --> 00:19:36,408 You don't pick up your shame to drown under it. 351 00:19:36,408 --> 00:19:39,561 You don't pick up your shame to beat yourself up over it. 352 00:19:40,078 --> 00:19:44,750 You pick up your shame to pour it out on to Jesus. 353 00:19:45,834 --> 00:19:48,837 So that he can die for it. 354 00:19:48,887 --> 00:19:50,906 And then third, and if you're a drown or 355 00:19:50,906 --> 00:19:54,393 this is the hardest part, she leaves it with him. 356 00:19:56,178 --> 00:19:56,845 This perfume. 357 00:19:56,845 --> 00:19:59,848 You can't put the jar back together once it's broken. 358 00:20:00,482 --> 00:20:03,535 You can't put the perfume back in the bottle. 359 00:20:03,535 --> 00:20:08,507 You see, if you're a drown or the call of Jesus is to give your affair to him, 360 00:20:08,507 --> 00:20:13,979 let him go to the cross and be the guy who ruined his family. 361 00:20:13,979 --> 00:20:18,984 Let him go to the cross and be the woman who couldn't stop drinking. 362 00:20:19,067 --> 00:20:22,738 But he says, when you pour it out on me, I will pay for it. 363 00:20:22,821 --> 00:20:25,824 And don't you pick it back up again. 364 00:20:25,974 --> 00:20:28,260 Isn't the story he tells about two debtors 365 00:20:28,260 --> 00:20:31,263 whose debts were paid? 366 00:20:33,198 --> 00:20:34,950 You see, we think the way out of 367 00:20:34,950 --> 00:20:38,687 the pool is through death, just forever, to be marred by 368 00:20:38,687 --> 00:20:42,507 what we've done or by floating around on the pool of my religion. 369 00:20:42,507 --> 00:20:43,458 Look how good I am. 370 00:20:43,458 --> 00:20:45,594 Look at how much I give. Look at how much I serve. 371 00:20:45,594 --> 00:20:47,062 I can't really be that bad. 372 00:20:47,062 --> 00:20:48,597 At least I'm not like them. 373 00:20:48,597 --> 00:20:52,167 And Jesus says floaters and drownings are the same. 374 00:20:52,401 --> 00:20:55,470 They never get out of the pool. 375 00:20:55,470 --> 00:20:57,389 Do you want out? 376 00:21:01,310 --> 00:21:04,313 Then pick it up. 377 00:21:04,529 --> 00:21:06,782 Take it to Jesus 378 00:21:06,782 --> 00:21:09,768 and leave it with him. 379 00:21:12,988 --> 00:21:15,807 How do you know if you're ready for that? 380 00:21:15,807 --> 00:21:17,943 How do you know if you've done that? 381 00:21:17,943 --> 00:21:21,330 How do you know if you really are free, 382 00:21:21,330 --> 00:21:24,866 or if you're just floating around on the float of religion? 383 00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:26,485 Well, that's my third point. 384 00:21:26,485 --> 00:21:27,869 Not just freedom is possible 385 00:21:27,869 --> 00:21:30,088 and how to get it, but how do you know you got it? 386 00:21:30,088 --> 00:21:31,673 Jesus tells Simon. 387 00:21:31,673 --> 00:21:34,676 Look at what he says. Beginning in verse 41. 388 00:21:34,676 --> 00:21:38,330 He says, A certain money lender has two debtors, 389 00:21:39,715 --> 00:21:42,718 100 500 denarii, and the other 50. 390 00:21:42,985 --> 00:21:45,320 And when they could not pay, cancel the debt of both. 391 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:47,839 Now which of them will love him more? 392 00:21:47,839 --> 00:21:53,061 And Simon answered, the one, I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt. 393 00:21:53,362 --> 00:21:55,314 And he said to him, you have judged rightly. 394 00:21:55,314 --> 00:21:58,317 And then, turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, do you see this woman? 395 00:21:58,467 --> 00:21:59,568 I entered your house. 396 00:21:59,568 --> 00:22:01,887 You gave me no water for my feet. 397 00:22:01,887 --> 00:22:05,507 But she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 398 00:22:05,507 --> 00:22:06,892 You gave me no kiss, 399 00:22:06,892 --> 00:22:10,228 but from the time I came in, she is not ceased to kiss my feet. 400 00:22:10,379 --> 00:22:14,216 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 401 00:22:14,216 --> 00:22:18,353 Therefore I tell you, her sins which are many, are forgiven. 402 00:22:18,353 --> 00:22:22,307 You see, Jesus says, it is possible to be a dinner with God and miss him. 403 00:22:23,875 --> 00:22:26,478 And if it's possible to be at dinner with God and miss him, don't 404 00:22:26,478 --> 00:22:29,631 you think it's possible to be at church at 10:00 on a Sunday and miss him? 405 00:22:30,482 --> 00:22:33,301 You see the way to know that you've experienced freedom. 406 00:22:33,301 --> 00:22:37,105 Jesus says, is affection for Jesus. 407 00:22:38,690 --> 00:22:41,693 And of course, how could it not be? 408 00:22:41,693 --> 00:22:45,113 Were you not drowning under your guilt and your shame? 409 00:22:45,113 --> 00:22:46,398 And he pulled you out? 410 00:22:46,398 --> 00:22:50,452 Were you not floating around in a pool telling yourself 411 00:22:50,452 --> 00:22:53,455 that you were better than everybody else, knowing the whole time 412 00:22:53,455 --> 00:22:56,541 all you were really doing was staring down at the water? 413 00:22:56,541 --> 00:22:58,310 Were you not trapped? 414 00:22:58,310 --> 00:22:59,811 And he rescued you? 415 00:22:59,811 --> 00:23:02,881 Listen, some of you guys are becoming Christians, and you don't even realize. 416 00:23:05,117 --> 00:23:07,669 That's how it happens sometimes 417 00:23:07,669 --> 00:23:10,372 all of a sudden you can't help but join in in the singing. 418 00:23:12,774 --> 00:23:15,777 And you're going, oh my goodness, I love Jesus. Why? 419 00:23:15,977 --> 00:23:17,462 Because I used to be a downer. 420 00:23:17,462 --> 00:23:18,747 I used to be a floater. 421 00:23:18,747 --> 00:23:22,951 I used to be enslaved to my sin and my shame and my guilt. 422 00:23:23,118 --> 00:23:25,487 And then I realized he would take it. 423 00:23:25,487 --> 00:23:28,523 I could leave it with him, and he died for it. 424 00:23:28,523 --> 00:23:31,526 Friends, the evidence that you have experience 425 00:23:31,593 --> 00:23:35,147 the freedom of God, the evidence that you're forgiven, the evidence 426 00:23:35,247 --> 00:23:40,051 that eternity is waiting for you is affection for Jesus. 427 00:23:40,051 --> 00:23:45,841 Which is why it grieves me that some of us are so cold 428 00:23:45,841 --> 00:23:48,827 and sterile in a worship service. 429 00:23:50,695 --> 00:23:52,497 And men, I'm 430 00:23:52,497 --> 00:23:54,833 mostly talking to you. 431 00:23:54,833 --> 00:23:57,719 You know, we're becoming a church that challenges men. 432 00:23:57,719 --> 00:24:00,088 You guys have responded to that incredibly well. 433 00:24:00,088 --> 00:24:02,157 So let me lean into that and say this. 434 00:24:03,692 --> 00:24:04,676 It breaks my heart. 435 00:24:04,676 --> 00:24:05,060 How many 436 00:24:05,060 --> 00:24:08,930 men don't engage in the worship of Jesus in a church service doesn't break my heart 437 00:24:09,030 --> 00:24:10,382 because I want you to sing more. 438 00:24:10,382 --> 00:24:11,700 That's not my point, and I know. 439 00:24:11,700 --> 00:24:13,919 Listen, I know I'm excitable. 440 00:24:13,919 --> 00:24:15,620 I know that 441 00:24:15,620 --> 00:24:18,440 if you ever came to a football game I was coaching, 442 00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:22,427 you would see just how excitable when I chip in on the golf course. 443 00:24:22,444 --> 00:24:24,513 Doesn't happen very often, but when it does, 444 00:24:24,513 --> 00:24:27,833 I turn my wedge into a pony and ride it around the golf course. 445 00:24:28,950 --> 00:24:30,869 Okay, I'm excitable. I get that. 446 00:24:30,869 --> 00:24:34,773 You don't have to be like me, but if I see you doing this 447 00:24:34,773 --> 00:24:38,660 and your mouse not moving on a Sunday, let me ask you, is that how you are? 448 00:24:38,660 --> 00:24:40,078 Your son's little League game? 449 00:24:43,982 --> 00:24:44,933 Is that how you are? 450 00:24:44,933 --> 00:24:47,936 Fourth quarter of a Browns game. 451 00:24:50,755 --> 00:24:52,858 Because you see a coldness. 452 00:24:52,858 --> 00:24:53,425 Yeah. 453 00:24:53,425 --> 00:24:56,428 Touché. 454 00:25:08,540 --> 00:25:11,243 Coldness 455 00:25:11,243 --> 00:25:14,212 towards Jesus 456 00:25:14,212 --> 00:25:17,215 doesn't make me mad at you. 457 00:25:17,582 --> 00:25:20,569 It makes my heart breaks for you. 458 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:24,739 Because it just might be indicative of the fact 459 00:25:24,739 --> 00:25:28,143 that you are still drowning or floating. 460 00:25:28,977 --> 00:25:29,394 Brother. 461 00:25:29,394 --> 00:25:34,699 Sister in Christ, did you come in today full of affection for Jesus? 462 00:25:34,699 --> 00:25:37,469 Because if not, I'll tell you why. 463 00:25:37,469 --> 00:25:39,871 It's not because you're the worst, not because you're evil. 464 00:25:39,871 --> 00:25:43,074 It's because you are drowning or floating. 465 00:25:43,158 --> 00:25:46,161 And the only way out is through him. 466 00:25:47,028 --> 00:25:50,031 So three questions to end. 467 00:25:51,716 --> 00:25:54,719 Do you want to be free? 468 00:25:56,788 --> 00:25:59,791 Are you willing to get wet? 469 00:26:01,643 --> 00:26:04,646 And are you ready to sing? 470 00:26:06,081 --> 00:26:09,084 Let me pray for us, father God, 471 00:26:09,117 --> 00:26:12,270 this story would be awesome if it was just about the prostitute. 472 00:26:13,255 --> 00:26:15,624 It'd be awesome in hard, but awesome 473 00:26:15,624 --> 00:26:20,478 if it was just about Simon because half the room would appreciate it either way. 474 00:26:20,478 --> 00:26:25,133 But you and your incredible kindness, love drownings and floaters both. 475 00:26:26,117 --> 00:26:29,120 So you put us both in the story. 476 00:26:29,638 --> 00:26:33,024 God, in your infinite grace to the power of your Holy Spirit. 477 00:26:34,042 --> 00:26:37,045 Will you reach down even now 478 00:26:37,529 --> 00:26:40,081 and pull us out of the pool? 479 00:26:40,081 --> 00:26:41,750 We don't want to drown. We don't want to float. 480 00:26:41,750 --> 00:26:42,767 We just want out. 481 00:26:42,767 --> 00:26:43,668 We want to be free. 482 00:26:43,668 --> 00:26:46,671 We want to breathe fresh air. 483 00:26:47,822 --> 00:26:49,157 Do that for us. 484 00:26:49,157 --> 00:26:51,576 In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.