Two Debtors - Luke 7:41-43

which of them will love him more,

Well, the answer is pretty straightforward. It's clearly the one who owed the greater debt. So this parable functions as an analogy by translating this earthly reality of debt to sin. So the debtor who owes 50 denarii corresponds to people like Simon, who think little of their debt to God, who think little of their sin. But on the other hand, the debtor who owes 500 denarii corresponds to people like the woman, who do understand their deep sinfulness and who do see their deep need for God's forgiveness. So the point here is not that Simon is just a little bit of a sinner who just needs a little bit of God's forgiveness and this woman is a really bad sinner who really needs a lot of God's forgiveness. No, the point here is that Simon's subjective understanding, his sense of his own sin was small. He didn't think of himself as very much of a sinner. He thought of himself as a pretty good, a pretty righteous person. He didn't think he needed God's forgiveness very much, and that's the reason why he loved little. But this woman, she understood her deep sinfulness, but she also knew God's great forgiveness of her, and that's the reason why she loved much. So again, the point of this parable is that if you don't realize how much forgiveness you need, you will never love God as you should. Now, a lot of this parable will cover application under three areas. We'll consider, first, our love for God, second, our debt to God, and third, our forgiveness by God. First, love. What is your love for God like? Let's read verses 44 to 46.

Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

Look at this great contrast in the actions of the woman and Simon. She shows much love for Christ, but Simon shows little. And her great love for Christ is not the reason for her forgiveness, but it's the evidence of it. So I ask, does your love look like someone that has known this same forgiveness? Are you devoting your all to Christ? Or are you satisfied to sacrifice little for him? To just serve him here and there? to pray and worship every now and then. Are you more like the woman who shows such great love and affection for Jesus? Or are you more like Simon, who's content to invite Jesus into his house, but unwilling to give him water or give him a kiss? To love God is to fear him too, and we see this in the way the woman feared God more than she feared men. because for her to do what she did here was very shameful and borderline scandalous in this culture. But she wasn't intending to make a scene. It's just that when she saw Jesus, she couldn't help but fall down on his feet and weep and worship him in this spontaneous act of devotion. And she didn't care that she had a public reputation as a sinner. No, she wasn't concerned that all the Pharisees were staring at her and condemning her. Here was Jesus, who had forgiven her of all her sins, and it was just as if everyone else in the room disappeared. So do you find yourself pleasing people at the cost of pleasing God? Are you afraid of sharing the gospel because of what others may think of you? What we see here in this woman, the solution to this fear of man is not to clench your fists, to try to build up this courage in yourself, but it's actually in great humility that the fear of man is displaced by an overwhelming love for God. But this overwhelming love for God is impossible without first a right understanding of our sin. Again, if you don't realize how much forgiveness you need, you'll never love God as you should. So we need to first understand the depth of our sin, which brings us to our second point, our debt to God. The question is, do you think little or much of your debt to God? The woman thought much of it, but Simon thought little of it. And I think more often than we admit, we're like Simon in the way we view sin. See, the problem is Simon viewed sin by human standards instead of God's standard. By outward appearance, by human standards, he was more respectable and righteous than this woman. But all sin is ultimately against God and is judged according to His standard of perfect holiness. And see also how Simon in his heart, he condemned the woman for her sin, but he was blind to his own. Are you the same way? Are you quick to notice the sins of others and make light of your own? Quick to consider yourself spiritually superior to others? Do you look down on certain groups of people outside the church? and think of yourself as more righteous, as if you're a little more deserving of God's mercy than them. As long as you're looking down on others, you can never look up to God. So turn your gaze up to him and ask him to show you your hidden sin that you've become blind to. Ask him to help you see your sin against his standard of perfect righteousness, that you would truly see your sin for what it is. And we can know the seriousness of sin by looking at the cross as well, because on the cross we see what our sins deserve. On the cross we see Christ, the perfect son of God, crucified to pay its penalty. And the cross shows us what our sins deserve, but it also shows us God's great grace and mercy to forgive us. And that's our third point, our forgiveness by God. Because yes, we do need to properly understand our debt to God, but if we just stop there, well, that would do us no good. Because if we appreciate our great debt, but we aren't aware of our great forgiveness, well, that would leave us with no hope. We'd just be condemned sinners then. So even as we consider our sin, we must never lose sight of God's forgiveness. Only when we have understood our debt before God can we properly comprehend and appreciate his great cancellation of it and rightly respond in love. Great forgiveness leads to great love. Forgiveness doesn't give you a license to carry on living sinfully, but it's actually what enables you to love God in the first place. Think about how foolish it would be if the debtor, who after being forgiven of so much, he continued to recklessly accumulate debt. Or think about if after being forgiven of so much, he kept on doing the exact same things that got him into debt in the first place. How foolish would that be? God's forgiveness doesn't work that way. It should produce in us a transformed life and great love for him. So if you're here today and you're not a believer, receive God's forgiveness. Trust in Christ, who has paid the sin debt that you can never repay on your own. Your debts are never too great for him to forgive. We come to Christ just like the debtor, with nothing, unable to pay, and yet he freely forgives us. But see how he doesn't just stop there. See how kind of him to not just forgive the woman, but to assure her of that forgiveness, to comfort her, and to say to her,

your faith has saved you, go in peace.

See, when we've come to a sense of our great debt, when we've come to a sense of our great sinfulness, there are no sweeter words we could hear than the words of Jesus to the woman,

your sins are forgiven.

Brothers and sisters, may we rejoice in this great forgiveness, and may we respond to it with great love. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, how we praise you and thank you that you have canceled our debt by nailing it to the cross. Help us who have been forgiven much to love you much. In Jesus' name, amen.