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Thank you for all he's done, thank you for the grace that he has so freely given. Oh, thank you Lord. I'm taking off the heaviness. I'm dancing out of my regrets. I'm throwin' caution to it. No, I am not ashamed to praise like this. So much day it's gonna change. But I say it's worth it. I can't care what Jesus said. No, I am not ashamed to praise like this. But the world holds chains I want to see. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My city is gone and I'm kidding. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. Look at what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way of us. I'm sitting out and it's been out of you. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. Thank God I'm free. I've felt a prayer that never counts. No other love is good as this. And I don't care what anyone says. I've never been ashamed to praise like this. But the world holds chains I want to see. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My city is gone and I'm kidding. I'm free, I'm free. I'm free, I'm free. Look at what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way of us.

I'll see you on Christmas, I'll be there. Thank God I'm free. You took the cross and you broke your body. You said you're blood now the sinner can't see. My dead is pain and my record is pain. I couldn't do it so you did it for me. You took the cross and you broke your body. You said you're blood now the sinner can't see. My dead is pain and my record is pain. I couldn't do it so you did it for me. You took the cross and you broke your body. My dead is pain. I couldn't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. There are those chains that I want to tell me. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My city is gone and I'm kidding me. I'm free, I can't do it. I'm free, I can't do it. I'm free, I can't do it. I'm free, I can't do it. I'm free, I can't do it. I'm free, I can't do it. I'm free, I can't do it. You took the cross and you broke your body. You said you're blood now the sinner can't see. My dead is pain and my record is pain.

I couldn't do it so you didn't have my life. You took the cross and you broke your body. I couldn't do it so you didn't have my life. You took the cross and you broke your body. I couldn't do it now. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it.

Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. Oh my God can't do it. ♪ Gathered at the high strong ♪ ♪ Welcome by a melody ♪ ♪ An anthem I have always known ♪ ♪ A song that's always been in me ♪ ♪ Oh, glory, glory, glory to me ♪ ♪ In power to me ♪ ♪ The angels hold ♪ ♪ Face down on the floor ♪ ♪ All to echo holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ I can't help but see ♪ ♪ We've got a heavy run ♪ ♪ Gathered at the holy is the Lord ♪

♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Gathered at the holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ Gathered at the high ♪ ♪ In return ♪ ♪ Every lifted voice I call ♪ ♪ Gathered at the holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ All glory in the Lord ♪ ♪ I'm giving in power to you ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Always knew it wasn't ♪ ♪ We're bound to know ♪ ♪ That we're here ♪ ♪ A melody just won't ♪ ♪ Face down on the floor ♪ ♪ All to echo holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ I can't help but see ♪ ♪ We've got a heavy run ♪ ♪ Gathered at the holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Gathered at the holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Gathered at the holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ Gathered at the holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ I play the end of time ♪ ♪ There before the throne of grace ♪ ♪ I just eat before my eyes ♪ ♪ Let it take a breath away ♪ ♪ Just won't ♪

♪ Face down on the floor ♪ ♪ All to echo holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ My heart can't help but see ♪ ♪ We've got a heavy run ♪ ♪ Gathered at the holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ A million angels born ♪ ♪ Face down on the floor ♪ ♪ All to echo holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ My heart can't help but see ♪ ♪ It's all a heavy run ♪ ♪ Gathered at the holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Gathered at the holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Gathered at the holy is the Lord ♪ (audience applauding) Come on, let's give the Lord a shout-up praise this morning. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. You guys realize that our God, y'all. Everything that you're afraid of, that stuff is afraid of him. Think about that. What I know about the Lord is that He's all-powerful, all-knowing, and I know that today He has ordained your presence in this service. So I just want to thank you. If you're a first-time guest with us, you've stumbled on to the best church in America. And I really believe that God has a word just for you. One of the things we pray every Sunday is that the Lord would speak to you as an individual. That through, no matter what set up here, that the Holy Spirit would communicate to you as an individual person in this place. And we know God does it all the time. So I just want to thank you for being here. And also, Lord Jesus, thank you for being here. Thank you for your presence. Thank you, Lord. You guys can be seated. Just got a couple things I want to run by you guys. The first thing is, does anybody know what

this Wednesday is at 7 p.m.? Worship night. So if you guys have an opportunity, make sure to clear your schedule. Be here at the broadcast campus, 7 p.m. And I know the Lord's going to show up. The last worship night we had was absolute fire. I mean, it's so good. And I know God is going to do it again. Amen. Also, if you didn't get a chance to attend Connect 1 the last time, by the way, which was record setting. Also, I just want to let you guys know, almost 50 volunteers injected into this ministry from last time. Incredible. Incredible. It's actually, that's a record. So we've never done that before. And it's incredible what God's doing. And I'm expected pastor for what's going to happen this time. So next Sunday, Connect 1, if you haven't signed up, you can do that on our website, on our app, and make sure that you seal your spot. You'll get to meet Pastor Pacer and Connie, along with a lot of staff members here from the church. We would love to connect with you. We're not stuck up. Whoo. Amen. So make sure you do that. And then this next Sunday coming up will be the last sermon in our series, No Empty Seats. So make sure that you guys are inviting because you don't want to miss what God's doing. In fact, we got a fire message today, too, from Pastor Pacer. So so excited for what God's doing. Lastly, this is our time of giving and giving back to the Lord. Do you guys know that your giving is an act of worship to the Lord Jesus? Really God, God wants your whole heart. He wants all of it. I want to share just a Bible verse with you just real quick. It's Luke 6, verse 38, and it says, "Give, and it will be given to you." A good measure, press down, shaking together, and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Listen, what the Lord is saying today is your generosity, the measure that you use will be measured back to you. And honestly, this isn't just a scripture verse for me. I've seen this actually in my life. The more I give, have you guys ever heard the term you can't out give God? I heard a story this weekend where a lady, she had $20,000 to her name, and she felt like the Lord told her to give it all after a pastor preached about it, and she approached the pastor about it, and he was all nervous. He was like, "Wait a second. Maybe we should go back and read those Bible verses just to make sure you're hearing God correctly." She ends up giving this $20,000, had nothing to her name. Did you know that she got a phone call from a uncle in a state that she never even realized she had a uncle in, and she inherited $600,000 after doing that. Incredible, insane. It doesn't always happen like that, but let me tell you something. The reason it happened like that for her is because she

gave everything she had, and so that measure was given back to her, pressed down, shaken together. And so, whatever your gift is today, whether it's your tithe, which is different than your offering, by the way, whether it's your tithe or your offering, give it like you're giving unto the Lord. The Bible says that the Lord loves a cheerful giver, somebody that releases it without any hesitation. And I don't know about you, but if there's anybody that I can trust with my money, it's the Lord. Also, this is a great ministry to sow into. Have you guys seen what's going on around here? It's insane. Like the last two months, God's presence has been poured out and He's using your gifts and your offerings to make us more impactful, not only in our community, but across the United States. I think Pastor, we have over 800 prisons watching our services. And it's because of your giving that that's happening. So, I know this is probably not normal, but we are a church that really believes in giving to our community. In fact, we have given over a million dollars every year to our community. Is that not incredible? (applause) And I am also grateful to be a part of a church. I may be sharing too many details, but some of y'all need to hear this, all right?

Because we need to break up the enemy's lies. This church, the percentage of staff to our budget, is only 31%. I want you to just take a second. Do you guys realize that most churches, their staff salaries are like 80, 90% of their budget? We don't work here to get rich. We don't work here to make the moolah. Come on, somebody. Every staff member in here should be praising right now. (laughter) What we do is we come under the umbrella of what God's doing here. (applause) It's incredible, honestly. (applause) And because of your giving, we are able to give more to our community. So, here's how this works. As you trust God with your finances and your ties and your offerings, we are able to do double, triple, quadruple what we did the prior year. You see what I'm saying? So, as you release those funds to him, not only are you blessed, but the people around you are blessed. And that's what we do this for. Why are we so weird about money? We give it to Netflix.

(laughter) I mean, goodness gracious. We give it to Burger King for cancer, right? (laughter) That stuff ain't good for you. (laughter) So, I'm going over a little bit. (laughter) But I really believe in tithing. I really believe in giving a sacrifice to the Lord. That's what we're doing. We're worshiping him with our gifts that he's already given us. And so, we're not giving him anything that isn't already his, you know? And also, he doesn't need your money. He doesn't need your finances. He actually doesn't. What he needs is your obedience. And you guys have heard me preach about that my last sermon. Your obedience matters in your finances. Some of you guys are in debt because you have never given to the Lord. Honestly, you've never trusted him with your finances. And listen to me. It doesn't matter what you believe. You serve one of two masters. Either God has reign over your finances.

Come on, somebody. Or Satan has reign over your finances. And I got a question to ask you today. Who are you going to trust? So, maybe some of you have never given before. I want to encourage you. We have several ways to give. We have tap tags on the back of the seat. If you don't know how that works, it's just like your debit card, right? Or your credit card. You can lay it on it and it just reads it. And that'll take you to our website. It'll take you to our app. And you can give through that. We have buckets in the back. We don't pass the bucket. Come on. Right? We're not trying to coerce you. We want you to give freely. And so, but also, we want to break the lives of the enemy off your life when it comes to this stuff. Because you are actually missing out on a blessing by not giving, honestly. And I say that from a staff member who I tithe. I give, right? And in the secular world, pastor, that would be like you work in your job and then saying, "Hey, job, just take like a whole chunk of my stuff

that you just gave me," right? So, but I believe in it so much. Y'all need to get this. And we don't listen, we're doing the church is being blessed. So I'm not up here because we don't have the finances or we don't have whatever. I'm doing this because honestly, when we get this principle, God is able to take every area of our life. This is one of the last front tiers, honestly, in most of our lives, for we don't trust God. So let's pray today. I want everybody to stand. Let's give reverence to this worship, this time of worship with the Lord. Our giving is worship. And so Father God, we pray to you today. We give you all, all of our life. We give you all every area God. We give it to you, even our finances. Lord, some of us today only have a dollar to give. Lord, we want to give it to you. Lord Jesus, we know that you can bless us and bless us indeed. And Lord, I just pray right now that every lie that has been spoken over every individual in this place and online right now about finances, about tithing, about giving. Lord, show them, Lord Jesus, that is in a baseless principle, but it is a principle you talk about a lot through the Old Testament and the New. And Lord Jesus, I just pray right now that you would break off the yoke of slavery in the financial area of everyone's life in this room today and online. God, I pray that you remove the pressure, Lord, from the financial burden over their lives. God, I pray that you bless their families, you bless their homes,

you bless their businesses, you bless everything about their finances. God, I pray that as they release to you today, that you would in turn release a blessing that they cannot contain. In Jesus' name we pray, and everybody said, amen. Good morning, Revolution Church. We are so glad you're here with us today. I'm Amy. This is Amanda. We have a lot going on. If you miss anything or need more info, you can scan the QR code or visit our church website. Absolutely, yes. And we have Connect One next Sunday for you to come to. And if you need to register online or scan the QR code again, you are more than happy to come. This is a beautiful one where we get to meet Pastor Pacer and Connie and hear their heart for the church. It's really wonderful. We are so excited for that. This Wednesday is worship night. We are so excited for this one. Yes, that's wonderful. We also have the launch. The group launch coming up September 13. I'm so excited. This is when we have the big tent where we set up tables about the different groups. It's very, very exciting. And we'll be launching the John Brevere book. You are called. So everybody, I'm really hoping we get big participation with this. It's very, very exciting. We're looking forward to that. This Thursday, it's a busy week here at Revolution. Tennessee Kids Belong is hosting our fan panel, September 3. This Thursday is six o'clock in the pavilion. There's still time to register. You can visit the website for that church. We are so glad you're here with us today. We hope you enjoy the message. Well, good morning. How's everybody doing today? Glad to be in God's house. Come on. Make some noise if you're glad to be here today. He's worthy of our praise. Amen. The Bible says he inhabits the praise of his people. That means when his people come together and start worshiping and praising him that he's there. Amen. And so good to see all of you here today. Also, let's give it up for our first time guests one more time. Come on. Let's welcome them to Revolution Church. So glad you're here. All of you there streaming the 892 correctional facilities. Grab your devices. It's time the words coming into the correctional facilities here in just one minute. Can I hear them into that? Amen. So man, I'll tell you what, God is moving. And I'm so grateful for a church that gives, that serves, that does all of that. You know, I just heard Mike Shambling. He does the mowing out here on the property. And I talked to him earlier this morning and he said, "Hey, you know something I thought was pretty cool." I said,

"What's that?" And he said, "This week I was out here just after daylight." And he said, "I was on my mower." And he said, "I saw one of the church members in the golf cart driving around the property picking up trash just after daylight this week." And I said, "Are you kidding me? That's awesome." And it was Roy that greets us out at the road. Come on, can we give it up for people that serve? I mean, that is so awesome. I want to give you a quick story that I didn't plan on doing, but you know, why people serve? Why do you come here? Why do you there's different reasons. A lot of people like the community outreach, but I honestly, I think it's, there's a lot of factors that people are interested in drawing to the church. But I was thinking back about Roy. A few years ago, I don't know, maybe six, seven, eight years ago, I remember meeting Roy in our connect luncheon. And for the first time, I met him and we were talking. He enjoyed being, being there. He come up to me and he had a, I would say a unique request, one like that I had never heard before. Now, you know, pastors, you think you've heard it all. But I never heard this one. And here's what he asked me. He said, Hey, do we have a seamstress in the church? A seamstress, I thought I don't know, I had never heard that ask. And this is first time I'm just now meeting him, meeting Roy. And I said, I don't know. Why's that? And he said, well, he said, you know, I'm not very tall and I can't buy blue jeans that fit me, my leg. And he said, I have to, they have to be hemmed. And he said, my wife passed recently. And she had always done that. So I don't have anyone. So if you have any want anyone, would you let me know? So I got to word out, told the staff, the team and and it was crazy. But yeah, we had a seamstress in the church. And this, this, this young lady, one of our members, Debbie, she stepped up and she said, yeah, just tell him to bring the blue jeans. I'll, I'll hem him, I'll take care of it. And she did. Now, I want to fast forward a

little bit beyond that. I remember the day that Roy come to me and he said, Hey guys, listen, I am so excited because I have just asked Debbie to marry me and she's gonna be my new wife. And yeah, and they married. I mean, what's the chances of that? Is that not crazy? So I mean, only God. So when we talk about people, that's the reason he smiles when he's out at the road waving the cars is because you guys provided him not only a church home, but a wife. And so Debbie, Debbie has went on to be with the Lord since then. And Godly woman, but God's good. Amen. And just so grateful for all the people that serve in the church. As a matter of fact, the first service, there was several people serving up here on the front row. And what happened was worship's going on. I'm fired up. I'm excited. I had brought a mega cup of coffee in here this morning and brought it from home. And I fix it just the way I like it. And I don't do sugar, but I do have to have my half and half, four half and halfs, Duncan coffee. I've got it sitting right here on the front. I'm jumping evidently, and I knock it over. There's a full cup that's in the floor. And listen to me, it looks like we've got a miniature lake up here. And we can call it Lake America or Lake Ontario, whatever you want to call it. But we had Lake up here in the front and see. And here's the crazy thing is my wife, which I love her to death, she runs back. I'm going to get something. She said, No, you got to go up and preach. And she goes up and she gets a roll of towels and then Melanie and say it didn't only affect the front row. Second row, third row, it went on back. So it's what had an impact. But I just took it as this. Today is going to be a day of overflow. Can I hear that man? This is going to flow out. Look over to neighbor and say get ready. Overflow is coming. Amen. We are

we're in week four of the sermon series called no empty seats. And I wanted to reference week two. There was there was a few things said there that really touched me. Pastor Chris did a great, great message. And he titled it an unexpected invitation, an unexpected invitation made several good points. But he basically used the parable of the great banquet. And and how that the host had went out and invited all of these people in. And they they had they had invitations, but everyone had an excuse. And you talked about the valid excuses. They they sounded like valid excuses for the most part. But as a result of that, the host being upset because these people weren't coming. He sent out. He said, I want you to go the highways and the hedges. I want you to go out all around and compel people to come. And basically, he said that my house may be full. How many of you realize that God has an open invitation for all of us? Amen. His grace is an open invitation. So today, week four, I'm going to tell the message. No RSVP needed. No RSVP needed. God's grace is open to everyone. Can I hear an amen if you believe that? Amen. So what I want to do in today's message is I want to look at a story in the Bible. Jesus was invited to a mill. He was invited to a gathering or you could say a banquet. And so he had the invitation. It's held at Simon's house. Now, this is Simon the Pharisee. If you're Take a note. that's at this gathering. Also, at this party, there's an uninvited guest that shows up. The uninvited guest becomes the central theme of the entire story. So today our focus is gonna be really on Jesus and the uninvited guest.

If you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn. We're gonna look at Luke chapter seven. We're actually gonna go from verses 36 through 50. I'll kind of break them up in the message and then at the end, we'll wrap it up and see what we can learn. So verse 36. It said, "Then one of the Pharisees asks him," this is Jesus, "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 Pharisees 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 in today's culture and today's sottie, that may seem strange, maybe awkward, and it probably would be. But it wasn't during this time. And so I wanna take you back to the setting. The setting is actually in Simon, the Pharisees house. And so he's having a meal. Jesus has the invitation. Simon also has friends there. There's other Pharisees that have joined and we see that, we read that in some other books of the Bible.

But what do we know about Pharisees? We've heard a lot about Pharisees and Sadducees. And one thing that we know is they're deeply committed to the Jewish law. They are all about the law. They believe in the Torah, they read it, they study it. They had memorized it. The Pharisees were very diligent when it came to the Torah, the law. They also believed in the resurrection. They believed in angels. They unlocked the Sadducees. Sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection or the angels. So that was the difference in the two. Both the Pharisees and the Sadducees were established during Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament and the first book of the New Testament, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, those parties were developed or invented. And I've often said this. God didn't speak during that 400 years. And so when God wasn't speaking, man came up with their own ideas of how government should be ran, how the church should be ran, laws and rules and all of that. And so we come up with the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Now, we also know that the Pharisees, they're influential teachers. They're religious leaders in the community.

Everybody recognizes them for their knowledge of the Torah and the Bible. Many times Jesus, when he addressed them, he addressed their hypocrisy. He would look beyond their outward appearance and he would recognize what was truly in their heart. And so many times throughout the New Testament, you're gonna see Jesus calling out their hypocrisy. This setting here, obviously it included Jesus who had the invitation, were not told why Simon invited Jesus. Him being a Pharisee, why did he invite him? Did he wanna learn more about Jesus? Did he, what was the real reason for him inviting him? But if you look at the chapter before this, we're gonna see that the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the Bible says, we're watching Jesus that they might find an accusation against him. Do you understand? So their purpose, they were looking for something wrong in Jesus. So I would guess that that's probably the reason that Jesus had this invite. Now he could have turned it down, he didn't. He cares about everyone. He cares about the Pharisees, the Sadducees, everyone there. But also in this story that we're gonna talk about today, there's a third party. The third party is the woman who is not invited. She did not get the invitation.

She is described as really one word, a sinner. She's known as a sinner and she has no seat at the table. She has no RSVP, but she shows up there. And so a couple other things that I find interesting when we read this, we're also gonna find out that we don't know her name. The Bible doesn't tell her name for whatever it is. to the fact that she was a harlot or a prostitute, the fact that they would call her a sinful woman. So we don't know her name, but perhaps everyone there, they didn't know her name, but they knew that she was a sinner. So a couple things that she came with, she came with her expensive perfume, her fragrance, and she came with her pain. Perfume and pain is what she brought to this party. So anyway, when we're going through that, I was thinking first of all about pain and how that when you look at a room this size, you look around in our neighbors, there's a lot of pain in this room. There's a lot of pain in our lives. We deal with a lot of different things, but we have become experts at hiding our pain. We don't want you to see our pain. We want we want you to see us with the big smile on our face, and everything is great in our life. I just build a pot of coffee up here in the front row, but everything's great, and I'm looking back and I'm trying to preach and I'm seeing this massive puddle. You know, we just put on a good face. Do we not? Especially in the church. And honestly, when we look here with this lady, she came with a lot of pain. She was hurting, and she came to Jesus. Now, a couple other things I want you to notice about this setting is that in ancient Israel, it's common. People would be invited to a banquet. A lot of times they would be held outdoors, a patio-like area. If you can imagine that. So it was common for the people that had the invite, they would come and they would have a seat at the table. In this case, most of them were reclining. The table would have been lower, so they would have been reclining as they gathered around the table. But it was common for people to come and gather out around the fringes of the banquet. That was okay. People did that. And these individuals would come to just observe, to listen to those influential people, those people that had the RSVP, the invite, to listen and see what's going on. So this was common. This happened during that time. So what was not common was for someone who's out on the fringes to approach the party, to come into the center, to come to the table. And so we see here this lady,

she is outside. She's a sinful woman. All those people knew it. And she didn't say there, she comes to the table, she approaches Jesus. And what she does is she kneels behind Jesus. She bows down there and she begins washing his feet with her tears. She lowers her hair, she drops her hair and she's wiping his feet off. She's drying the feet off and she's kissing his feet and anointing them with expensive oil. So if you look at this, you know, a thought could be, was this like a sexual advance? Was this something sinful that she was doing? No one in her past? What is she really doing? What does she mean by all of this? When really it had nothing to do with that. It was all about the fact that she just wanted to get to Jesus and worship Him. She was so full of shame. She was so full of pain. She didn't know what it was like to truly be loved. And here she's found someone that was going to love her unconditionally. It's called grace. Amen? And so I want you to move on now and let's look at verse 39. Verse 39 says, "Now when the Pharisees who had invited Him saw this, He spoke to Himself." I've highlighted that. I want you to pay close attention to those words. He spoke to Himself saying, "This man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who's touching Him. For she is a sinner." Do you see, in the eyes of these Pharisees, if you were touched by a woman who was sinful, who was known as a harlot or a prostitute, that would cause you to be unclean, considered unclean. And so right here at this point, Simon the host, I want you to notice something. I just picked up on this actually just in the last couple of days as I'm reading this story. And I'm praying, God, give me something new, something I've not seen in this story before. And here's what He showed me. That when this, this uninvited guest approaches the table, I want you to notice that Simon didn't immediately, He didn't do that. And I want you to understand why he didn't do that, I believe, is because I think Simon, watching this sinful woman approach Jesus, he now looks at it as a possibility of a way to confirm that Jesus is not who he says he is. Because these guys all know her, but maybe Jesus don't know her, he evidently don't know her,

or he wouldn't be letting her touch him. So instead of having her removed, he just lets it play on. He lets it play on, and he's letting it play on, because again, this is confirmation that he is not a prophet. He's not who he says he is. He's not all powerful. He's not the son of God. He's just a human being like all the rest of us. And he doesn't know, and now I've called him. And now there's the flaw. So he's sitting here, and he's watching all this, and he's letting it happen. And now I want you to notice what happens. The Bible says that in his mind, he's thinking all these thoughts. Like if Jesus was truly a prophet, she wouldn't be touching him. If he was truly who he says he is, that wouldn't be happening. Now, I want you to notice closely what happens next. Verse 40, "And Jesus answered and said to him," Look closely, "Simon, I have something to say to you." Whoa. Nothing's been said. Only thought. Simon, "I have something to say to you." Now everybody in the room knows what Simon's thinking, because none of us are omniscient.

None of us are all knowing. Jesus is. And so what Jesus is doing, number one, Simon didn't ask Jesus a question. Are you with me? I've got something to say to you. I'm getting ready to answer your question, Simon. Oh, but hold on, I didn't ask a question. But yes, you really did. It was in your thoughts, it was in your mind. You say, "You question who I am." You question who's I am. You question my ability. You question the fact that I'm the son of God. And so I've got something to say to you, Simon, and I need you to listen. Now he probably wasn't rude. Gorgeal, here's what he said. Jesus answering his thoughts, look at verse 41. Here's what he said. There was a certain creditor, he's talking to Simon, there was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed 500 denari, the other 50. When they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave both of them. Tell me, Simon, therefore, which of them will love him more? Man, can you imagine Simon's heart racing? I mean, this is beating out of his chest because Simon knows that he knew my thoughts. This guy is no joke.

He's legit, look over at your neighbor and say he's legit. He's legit, he knows my thoughts. He's answering my thoughts. Now, I don't know what to say. I'm caught, busted. I don't even know how to respond here. He said, tell me, Simon, which one's gonna love him more? The one with, and these denari's, this is equivalent to, I'm gonna say approximately, let's use $100,000 today. One debt is $100,000, the 500 denari, the 50 denari is equivalent to $10,000. So you've got the $100,000 debt, you've got the $10,000 debt. Who's gonna love him more? Tell me, Simon, tell me, Simon's response is this. He answered and he said, well, I suppose, I can imagine, well, I suppose the one whom he forgave more. He said, you have rightly judged because he judged himself, because he judged the situation, because he understood that there was one person in that room who, I wanna use it like this, had a $100,000 sin debt, had a lot of sin, so much sin that everybody in the town knew it, They just call her, oh, there's the harlot. Oh, there goes the prostitute. Oh, that's the sinful woman. The world is great at labeling people. Did you understand me?

The world is great at labeling certain sins. And we'll talk a little bit more about that when it comes to the Pharisees right here. So what we have here, we've got a party, we've got a Pharisee, we've got a prostitute, and we have a parable. Okay, so I don't want you to be confused about this parable. This is not one big parable. A parable is where Jesus, he would give an earthly story that had a heavenly meaning. That's a parable. I don't want you to confuse this with just one big parable because it's not. This is actually happening. Are you with me? But in the middle of the story, Jesus and Jack's a parable. And here's the, and the parable is really referring to when you look here, the two debtors is the Pharisee and the prostitute. And he's referencing the prostitute. Everyone knows her sin. Jesus is not saying they're okay. They're obviously sin and there's a lot of them. She has a multitude of sin and everybody knows it. And so again, we're comparing that to the $100,000 center if you want to use those terms. But he's also referencing Simon. Simon is not a sinless individual. He's just really good at hiding it.

Jesus said to the Pharisees, he said, "You guys cleaned up the outer outside of the cup really well." But he said inside, it's stained. It's nasty and it's dark. And I don't, I never ever want us to be referenced that way as a church, as a pastor. I mean, I don't want to be viewed that way. I want people to just see us who we are. I want to be the same tomorrow as I am as I'm standing on this stage today. If I see you out on the street, out at the restaurant, on the workplace, wherever, we want to be the same people. Because hypocrisy is what Jesus called out. And so I think it's important that we really strive for that. So I want you to watch how Jesus follows up this parable. Check this out, verse 44. Then he turned to the woman. Here's the woman, on her knees, weeping with her hair down. He turns to the woman and then he's, and as he turns to her then he speaks over to Simon. He's looking at both and he says this. He said, "Do you see this woman? "I want you to take a good look." I entered your house and you gave me no water for my feet. But she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair, 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 didn't anoint my head with oil,

but this woman has anointed my feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, he looks back to the woman, check this out, therefore I say to you. Or no, he actually is speaking to Simon. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, help me with those nice two words, are forgiven for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. Then he looks over and he says to her and never forget these words. He says to her, "Your sins are forgiven." Forgiven, done, finished, and all your sins, many sins. How many of you remember when Jesus forgave you your sins? How did it feel? No, how did it feel? Incredible, it felt amazing. I remember when I raised up from that driveway in Townsend in my twenties and I prayed a simple prayer and said, "Lord, if you'll forgive me, "I'll live for you for the rest of my life." I remember that day I lifted with a huge burden off my shoulders. I had plenty of problems. Before I kneeled and after I kneeled, okay? But I had to wait lifted. I knew I was forgiven. I knew the Lord had forgave me. And so can you imagine how this woman's feeling right here? She's forgiven. So three things that we can learn from Simon here.

I want to touch on three things and I want you to pay close attention. Number one, Simon, he was unwelcoming. See, I want you to notice something, during this time it was customary for a guest or for a host, if you're entering a host house, that they would at least have a bowl of water or a bucket there to wash your feet off. Most people wore sandals and it's dirt and it's dusty roads. So most people would expect that. Jesus said to Simon, "When I showed up with the invitation, you didn't provide that for me." There was no bowl there, there was no water there, and then in some cases, in many cases, they would have a servant. The servant would be there with their towel and they would wash the feet and dry them off when you come in. That was just a way of welcoming. He said, "You didn't do that, but this sinful woman, she washed my feet with her tears." I want you to think about this. The next thing he said, he said also, he talked about the kiss. You see, it was customary during that time when you walked into a home, you were greeted by the host or the owner of the home, you were greeted with a kiss on both cheeks. It was customary. How many of you know some countries still do that? If you visit Argentina, expect to get a kiss. They're going to kiss you, usually on both sides. Matter of fact, we have a church that's planted over there, and I took Connie on a mission trip. I said, "Connie, don't freak out. But you're going to get kissed a lot while you're in Argentina." And that's what they do, that's their custom. I remember when Pastor Sierra, Oliver Sierra and his family came over here, they were used

to that, and they were like, "Man, that's one thing I really miss." It's just that greeting, that kiss, and it's not really necessarily a big kiss, it's more of a pucker on the side. Now here is a problem, so we took a building team down to Argentina, and Thomas Pickens was on the trip, and I said, "Thomas, make sure your timing's right." Don't mess up with the pastor and give him a smack of a roof right in the lips. Ask him about the rest of that story. But during this time, again, that was what they did, they would greet you with a kiss. Well, Jesus said, "When I come into your house, Simon, you didn't welcome me with a kiss." No one here did. Jesus came in and took my seat, but he said, "Since I've been here, she has not ceased to kiss my feet," and I want you to understand something. This was the ultimate show of gratitude, of honor to kiss his feet. It wasn't, again, it was no, it had nothing to do with the sexual advance at all, it had everything to do with the heart after God. And so we see that. Now, I want you to also notice this, that when you went into a house during this time, again, it was customary for them to have oil fragrance perfume at the door, and that would be to offer you. You've been traveling, maybe you need to be refreshed, you've got water, you've got this perfume, and they would offer that fragrance, and that would set the tone of the party, the meeting. Jesus said, "You didn't offer me any of that," but she brought her best, her expensive perfume. And I've heard some people say, "Well, maybe that was one of her tools of her trade, the perfume." I don't know, but what I do know is this, is that she laid it all out for Jesus. She gave him her heart. She didn't hold back anything, and that spoke volumes to Jesus. And so then another thing that we see here is that the sinful woman, she still referred

to at this point as the sinful woman in the story, the sinful woman, the Bible says she let her hair down and she dried his feet. During this time in this culture, if a woman let her hair down in public, that could mean that could give them the husband the right for divorce. If they just simply let their hair down and put it, it sent a message. The message she was sending. I'm turning. I could never experience love in this world. It left me empty every single time. I felt used and abandoned and lonely and shameful and terrible and I don't know this, but maybe she had children and she was embarrassed for her lifestyle. But she said, I know, I'm yours. I'm gonna love you with all my heart. For the rest of my life, I give it all to you. You're talking about giving today. You're talking about giving our resources. This is known as a very expensive act that she did. She brought it all. She brought it all. I want you to know as a result, she left with her sins forgiven. The second thing that we see here that we learned from Simon is he was judgmental, not with his outward words, but in his mind. He judged Jesus and he judged her with his thoughts. What does that tell you today? Be careful what you think. God knows every single thought that's in this room right now.

He knows every single thought in those correctional facilities right now. He knows every single thought that we think, he knows that. And so he was judgmental. And then the third thing that I see, the last thing that I can learn from Simon here is his sin was invisible. Okay, couldn't see his sin. It was hidden. He looked good. He said the right things. He quoted the right verses. He knew the Torah. He had all that damn pat. He looked great on the outside. But he had hidden sin because all humanity has a sin problem in these Jesus. It doesn't matter how big. Do you know what sin is? Do you know how sin is defined in the New Testament? We need to know what sin is if we're gonna not do it, right? Sin is very simple. It's simply missing the mark. That's the definition of sin. It's missing the bullseye. It's missing the target. You know, a couple, maybe a month ago or a little over, I did the chapel here for RCA, Revolution Christian Academy. And I had the students, middle school students in here

in the room. And I was gonna speak on sin. So I brought my bow and my arrow. And I had it here on stage and I was showing the kids. I was explaining to them what sin is. And I told them that sin is simply missing the mark, the bullseye. And I gave them a little story with myself. I shared with him. I was in Bruton, Alabama. I was in a tournament. I was leading it. I only had a few targets left. And I was interviewed. ESPN had a camera in front of me and a camera behind me and Wayne Pearson with outdoor trails. He said, these words, "Pacer, do you understand "or you realize the magnitude of this tournament?" My heart started pounding. The pressure was on. I drew back with those cameras and I missed the target. I didn't hit the bullseye. And I explained that to the kids and I said, "Do you know why I missed the bullseye?" I said, "Because the pressure was so great." But I want you to understand something. That Jesus hit the bullseye. When the pressure was on him at his highest point in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Bible says that his sweat became like

great drops of blood. I want you to know something. He didn't miss the target. He hit the bullseye. He nailed it. He defeated death, hell and the grave. And now sin no longer controls my life. Do you understand it doesn't control your life because Jesus didn't choke under pressure. I shared that with the kids. Our principal, Phil Cox, came to me afterwards. You guys, I shared it a while back. He was a Hall of Famer for Vanderbilt, basketball and for Kentucky in high school. I shared with Phil Cox or Phil came over to me and he said, "Pacer," he said, "I can relate to that story so well." I said, "How's that?" And he said, he said, "When I was in college playing for Vanderbilt, I was leading the NCAA in free throw percentage. I was leading it." And he said, "I was playing." I think he said to play in Duke. Key shot, pressure on. He said, "I choked. I missed it." And I never missed it. Can you imagine leading the NCAA? Missed it.

And then he went on and he said, "And again and again, it took a while to get over that." I shared with the students. And I said, "I went from leading that tournament to finishing, I think, fifth." And I was so disappointed because I choked under pressure but the good news is, again, Jesus did it. He nailed it. And because he nailed it, listen to me. See, here's the good news. I'm not here to, I don't want you to look at me as somebody that's up here in the spiritual walk, because I'm just like all of us. We all serve a sinless God, amen? But we get up every day and we have to say no to sin every day, and sometimes I may have one of those thoughts that I shouldn't have. I'm talking about a sinful thought, but here's the thing about it. You don't have to live condemned now. If you are born again and saved because Jesus hit the target, now I'm hit the target. Yeah, I know I messed up, but so come on, some praise the Lord, that's good news. That's great news, that is the good news. I don't have to live under that condemnation anymore. I used to think, okay, I gotta go repent. So I'm saved again, I gotta go repent. So I was getting saved maybe 20 times a week. It's like, man, I must have my theology

twisted here a little bit. Then you realize that, wow, Jesus hit the target. He did it, so I don't have to do it. Now, here's what happens now. So when I sin, how do I respond? You repent. Do you continue in that sin? Absolutely not, we don't continue in it. As a matter of fact, this lady that was known as a sinner, her name was changed. At this point, she no longer was the sinful woman. Now, some people will always label you and you'll never get away from that label. That's okay, but listen, in the eyes of God, she had a different name, hey, something else. How many of you are saved today? Let me see your hand, if you are saved, hold up your hand. Come on, hold it higher if you're saved. The Bible says that if you are saved, you have a new name. Charlie, your name's not Charlie, in the kingdom of God. How many of you, I don't know what your name is, we'll have to find out when we get there. My name's not gonna be Pacer when I get to heaven. It might be Racer, it might be something else. I don't know, but it's not gonna be Pacer. It's gonna be different. Why is that the Bible says that when you're born again, you get a new name, there's a new name written down in glory, and it's mine, it's mine.

Come on, I can't sing, but I felt the Holy Spirit when I tried. So we have a new name, we have a new name, and that's good, she had a new name. So her sin was known by all, his sin was known by Jesus. And so verse 49, wrapping this up, verse 49, and those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves in their own little huddle, who is this, who even forgives sins? Who can forgive sins? I'm gonna tell you something, there is confirmation now, not that Jesus is a fraud, there's confirmation that he truly is God in the flesh. Who is this? This is the Son of God, and they knew it, they couldn't deny it. I think that's the reason Jesus entertained the invitation and showed up even knowing he's going into a hostile environment. So who is this that can even forgive sins? Simon and his buddies are bumfuzzled, verse 50. Then he said to the woman, your faith has saved you, now, go in peace. Go in peace, is that not good news? Your faith has saved you, go in peace. And so it was her faith. So the woman entered the house full of pain and shame, she exits with peace knowing her sins are forgiven. She's the central focal point of this story. This is what we can expect when we enter the presence of the Lord, when you enter here today.

Maybe you showed up today with some pain. Maybe you showed up here today needing forgiveness. I don't know what it is you need. We all need something, can I hear an amen to that? Come on, if you believe that, say amen loud. Amen, we all need something. That's why we come to the house of the Lord. That's why we study, that's why we pray, that's why we do these things. And so we can expect now that we're in his presence, his word is preached. He said, my word won't return, boy. His word, he said, will accomplish what it's set forth to do. It will do what it's designed to do. It will bring peace to a broken world. It'll bring forgiveness, peace, purpose, and joy. So real quick, I'm gonna leave you three takeaways and we're going home, okay? You guys ready? Don't forget these three takeaways. Number one, everybody's sins, know it. Everyone's sins, know it. Look over to your neighbor and say, know it. Know it. Number two, Jesus forgives, receive it. Say, receive it. Number three, God's word is true, believe it. Say, believe it. Let's stand. Prayer team, I'd like to invite you to come up if you would.

(soft music) How many of you will come out of the fringes, the outside, and say, "You know what? I do have some pain, and I do have a need, and I want to get to Him today. Here's what I'm going to ask you to do. We're going to sing one song. If you don't have to leave, please stay seated for just one minute." It's an important time. If you have pain, if you need Jesus, if you have a prayer request, if you need healing, if you have a prodigal, whatever the list goes on and on, I want you to respond today. We have a prayer team here, and they've been praying. These guys and these men and women are some of the most incredible people you'll ever meet. They love Jesus, and they love you, and they're here to pray for you. We're going to sing this last song. I'm going to ask you to come if you need prayer, worship, if not, and let's leave no one. Our sins are forgiven, and we have the peace of God in our lives. Does that sound good? Let's do it. Let's worship. [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music]

[music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] But not even then, it's so good, hold you down Heroes to life, touchin' on some good So mighty war, so holy, so wonderful Such an awesome guy, so selfish So generous, so faithful you are Such an awesome guy So mighty, so mighty, so wonderful Such an awesome guy, so selfish So generous, so faithful you are Such an awesome guy, yes you are Such an awesome guy Yes, you are Such an awesome guy Jesus, thank you for what a God that you are God, you have prepared us in ways that we could never imagine You have blessed us with families and gifts and a church such as this And Jesus, we want to steward and house everything that you have for us as well as we can Jesus, you have our yes and it's all Lord Whatever you need from us, we are here Whatever you call us to, we are there And God, just help us to continue to steward what you've gifted us with And what you've allowed us to live in because there's not places like this everywhere Jesus, I pray that we never take this time or this place for granted

And God, I just thank you for the things in this place that you've blessed us with We couldn't thank you enough and God, I just asked that you would purify us in this room To be like the woman that sat at his feet And gave the most precious thing that she owned And willingly gave it to him Lord, I just ask that you would purify our hearts to where we have no doubt on our mind That there's nowhere else in the entire world that we would rather be than at your feet Giving you everything we have And Jesus, we just thank you for today I pray that you would bless the words that are spoken But we're here and while we leave And Lord, all of this be for your glory We thank you so much and Jesus, name you pray (gentle music) [MUSIC PLAYING]