Let's open God's Word to the New Testament, to the book of Luke. The first few books of the New Testament are called Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. So we're in Luke. And Dr. Luke not only wrote this long gospel, but he also wrote the book of Acts. And we're going to finish chapter seven today as we resume our series of expositions. And as you're opening, let me welcome any who might be watching the live stream or later on the recorded sermon. God has a purpose for us today, to hear his word and to respond to its truth. We invite everyone to prayerfully attend to the word of God. I'll be reading from the English Standard Version, translated from the Greek, and begin in verse 36. One of the Pharisees asked him, Jesus, to eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now, when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner. And Jesus said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. And he answered, say it, teacher. A certain money lender had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii and the other 50. When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now, which of them will love him more? Simon answered, the one, I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt. And he said to him, you have judged rightly. Then turning towards the woman, he said to Simon, do you see this woman? I entered your house and 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. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little loves little. And he said to her, your sins are forgiven. Then those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, who is this who even forgives sins? And he said to the woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Thus far we read in God's good and holy word, may he bless it to all who hear, believe and obey it. Amen. There's an interesting theme in literature and it shows up in movies. And I think it's probably summarized by this expression, a life debt. It even appeared in the Star Wars movies. If you remember, a couple of Jedi guys landed on a planet and they ended up saving one of the creatures of that planet named Jar Jar Binks. Don't ask me what kind of creature he is. They saved him from death when a big machine was coming. And so Jar Jar Binks turns to those two Jedi and says, I owe you a life debt. I'm yours. I'm your servant. I'm going to follow you and serve you and love you and all of that. It's that theme. That gets my interest, and that's kind of comical there. But it's even in some of the older movies that I love. A man in the war saves another man's life. And forever, the man who was saved is aware of that and tries to make good on that. A life debt. It's such an impressive concept that someone would so appreciate what has been done for them that the rest of their life is changed and it's focused upon the one who was gracious to them. In this important story in the Gospel of Luke, we have a picture of that sense of indebtedness, that sense of of appreciation and gratitude, of great depth. As a woman, she's really the main character here, isn't she? Jesus goes to an important person's house, but they talk about this woman. And Jesus would, by the preaching of the word today, set this woman in our midst. And there are some hard questions that come from the Bible to us today. We'll ask them as we go along and you don't have to answer out loud. What do you do when you see sinners? How judgmental are we? How do you feel when you see someone so lavishly loving Jesus? And do you love Jesus? That's really the big question. We'll get to that. Let's start with the context and open this slowly, if you will. Let's first start with the dinner party. Dinner with Jesus is the first heading here, and we want to understand this text, and I want to distinguish it, if you will, from the other stories in the Gospels. The four Gospels each contain a story about a woman who anoints Jesus. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, those stories, I think, refer to another event. and there are sufficient differences. And there are the stories about Judas complaining about the waste of the precious ointment. This story is unique and Jesus here is using it to teach a different point. So we don't have to flip back and forth to the other gospels to compare. We want to see what Luke has put before us. Luke, the inspired author here in God's word. He says, Jesus received an invitation to eat with a Pharisee. How did Jesus get along with these Pharisees? Well, they usually didn't grab lunch. You know, as he's walking through the town, let's do lunch. No, Jesus had his hardest words for these Pharisees. You want to know who, in Jesus' eyes, were the big sinners? It was those who had all those privileges and abused them in their self-righteousness. Not every Pharisee, but in general. But what's going on here? Jesus gets this invitation and he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. meaning it was a formal dinner of some point. It could have been the midday meal, it could have been later in the evening, probably in the courtyard of a large house and probably with many people attending. And we need to note that in the ancient world, this isn't like a private dinner party in someone's mansion. And if someone break in, you'd think about calling the police. No, this was usually a semi-private event, semi-public event. Others would know about it. People would be coming and going. Some people would come just to watch what was being done. And a lot of times these dinner parties were put on so that the show could be seen. So the host would certainly want to be seen to be a good host. So let the crowds come and let the people watch. and it says they're reclining at table. I love chairs. So if I come, I would just as soon sit in a chair at your table than recline at the table. Reclining meant that it was a very low surface in probably the middle of a very large room, or several low surfaces, and you would stretch out on the ground, and you'd probably have your elbow near the table, and your legs would go out away from the table, and many could sit around it. It's not Leonardo da Vinci's picture of the Last Supper. That's too Western. Reclining at the table, cushions and stretch. So your heads were close for conversation and eating and your feet disappeared away from the table. So the dinner with Jesus. Jesus is there. We learn the Pharisee's name is Simon. And Simon is a very common name. It's as common as we might say John or I don't know what the most common names are these days. But then comes a woman, no sooner has Jesus accepted this invitation, verse 37, and behold, meaning here's the interesting part, and behold, a woman, an unnamed woman of the city who was a sinner, she comes, she comes in. Notice a few things here, the woman is left unnamed. And I think that's part of just the way Luke's telling the story. Who she is doesn't matter. We don't know that it's Mary Magdalene. There's no evidence that it is. It's just a guess if somebody says that. If you read a commentary, be careful. What do we know about it? It says she was a sinner. Very general language. Most likely, she was a prostitute. We don't know that for sure. This is a very broad term. She could have been a thief? We don't know. But Luke leaves it broadly. But that was how she was recognized and known. You may recognize and know some people around our town by their behavior, and you may have a label for that. She was one who was labeled and well-known for her sin. So that's not contested at all. The narrator tells us that. But then it gets very interesting. What is this next phrase? When she learned that he, Jesus, was reclining at table. What? This woman doesn't just show up to watch. She doesn't show up to eat. She doesn't show up with illicit business on her mind. She is seeking Jesus. Don't miss that clue. We've got to grow up with our Bible reading, my friends. We're reading along and we're familiar and we want to get to the big event, but don't miss the details. How rich this is. I think that tells us almost everything we need to know. This woman was seeking Jesus. She wanted to get near to Jesus. And why? She doesn't bring a dagger. She doesn't bring a travel brochure. She brings a gift. Do we begin to see who she is and why she's coming? She loves Jesus, and she brings him not just a gift, but probably the most expensive thing she can get her hands on, a flask. And it is made out of alabaster, which was a special commodity. It's not just a clay pot. And it's called an ointment here in our ESV translation. It's not like a paste or a jelly, it was an oil, a perfumed oil that could be poured and easily spread. So when I think of the ointment, I think of the joint compound that I use all these times now. It's a free-flowing, perfumed oil. So she comes with this, why would such a woman with that reputation love Jesus so much? I do have some help for us here, and many who've studied the scriptures think this is the key. She had been converted. She had heard the gospel. What? Are you just guessing? Hold this place in your Bible and turn with me to Matthew 11. Turn with me to Matthew 11. It's to the left and near the front of the New Testament. And I know it's been a few weeks since we've been going through this series from the Gospels, but do you remember a few weeks back, what was our sermon on? Our sermon was on Jesus responding to John the Baptist. So if we're going chronologically, this woman in this dinner party comes after Jesus and his big teachings about John the Baptist. Hard to forget that, that was a big deal. In Matthew's gospel, and Matthew writes very chronologically, and he and Luke very much agree on the order of events, Matthew 11 begins with the messengers from John the Baptist coming to Jesus. And Jesus talks about it in Matthew's account, it's a little more brief. But what happens later on in Matthew after that event? So that's the chronology we're on in Luke. Well, Jesus has some denunciations to give. But read with me Matthew 11, beginning in verse 28. This is the timeline, and this is where I think the woman heard Jesus teach this. At that time, Jesus declared, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. Yes, father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my father, and no one knows the son except the father, and no one knows the father except the son, and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him. Verse 28, come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. A gospel invitation from Jesus, chronologically just sometime after the John the Baptist, and in Matthew's gospel, he moves on to other things, but in Luke, which didn't have that gospel message, it moves on to this event with this changed woman who comes and doesn't behave like she used to. What's gotten into her? I think she's believed that message. And maybe because of who she was, she was at the far fringes of the crowd, but she hears Jesus say, come to me, and she wants to do just that. She's changed by that gospel preaching. Voila, she is a brand new believer. She's converted and she seeks Jesus. Luke tells us back in Luke 7, when she heard Jesus was, and behold, when she learned that he was reclining at the table, she brought an alabaster flask of ointment. and she does these things. What things does she do? Let's take a look at the actions of the woman at the dinner party. Well, first action is she bravely entered that place where she would not have been welcomed. It was the house of a Pharisee. Even the servants there were probably uptight because of the rule of the Pharisee. And here comes this woman of the street, perhaps, into this building. But she's brave, and she has purpose in coming. As Phil Riken says, sinful as she was, she knew that Jesus who was in the room, Jesus was the friend of sinners. So she draws near. She stands behind Jesus. Do you remember he reclined at the table? She would be standing near his feet, not near his head. And as she stood there, she had her gift. She is emotionally overcome. Usually a fragrant oil like that would be poured on the head. It wouldn't be put on the feet. And to do anything with the feet was servant's work, not the work of a friend or a guest. But here this woman is at the feet of Jesus and she's overcome at being that close to her Lord and just in appreciation for all he said and offered her, she begins weeping and her tears fall upon his feet and he notices that and she continues weeping and then she sees that his feet are wet so she undoes her hair and leans down and washes his feet, moves the tears around, washes his feet with her hair. And as her face is near and she's washed his feet, she kisses his feet. It's a beautiful scene. Strange to Western folks like us, but oh, so beautiful. And then as she has washed the dust off his feet with her own tears and her own hair, she opens the flask and pours the perfumed oil on his feet, anointing him, if you will. And yes, anointing of the feet was not the custom, but it was something a slave might do someone unworthy to come and anoint your head. So she is modeling a great humility as she draws near Jesus. It's a beautiful thing she does. She loves him so much and she's so grateful. Her life is forever changed. We'll see more about that in a minute. But there's another person at the dinner party who reacts to all of this. That's the Pharisee, the man named Simon. And the text, the story moves very quickly to that. After we have the verse describing all that she did in verse 38, verse 39, now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he was watching. He said to himself, so he doesn't really even say it out loud. He might've mumbled it, but he says it quietly. If this man, if Jesus were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman who is touching him, for she is a sinner. So this man disparages not just the woman, but he disparages Jesus. He disparages the woman because he could only see her for her sinful reputation. And this Pharisee, you have to remember, he practiced a religion of avoidance. Have you heard of this religion? Where you're holy, not because of your godlike heart for others, but you're holy because of the things you don't do. You avoid sinful objects, you avoid sinful people. So if I'm not with the sinful people, I must be holy. Please, friends, you are not Christ-like when you isolate yourself from the world in which God has put you. Jesus himself prayed for this very thing in John 17. Lord, I do not pray. Father, I do not pray that you take them out of the world. They're in the world, but not of the world. We are different. We're not sinful any longer ourselves, but we are still in the world. And then we could go on to the teachings where salt and light in the world, we have to be in proximity. We're told to go and make disciples not wait in our ivory tower for people to come. This Pharisee disparages the woman. She would not be welcomed. He does not want to be near her. He does not want her in his home. We would not have heard of the conversion of Rosaria Butterfield. if a pastor and his wife did not invite her to dinner and threw her to open the eyes of the modern day church to the need for evangelistic hospitality that is genuinely loving and kind. If you don't know the story, look it up. This Pharisee despised the woman and his negativity fits well with his formal religion, but it really hinders the work of God. Douglas Milne asked this question, which really made me wince, but it's important. How many seekers have been offended and put off by the coldness, legalism, and self-righteousness of church-going people? That's me. I'm a church-going person. Those people pay my salary. Do you say critical things of church-going people? From the pulpit? I think that's what Jesus wants us to think about. We're his, we're Christians, we're in his church, not for what we get out of it, but we belong to him. And we owe him a life debt. The host was even angry with Jesus, And he speaks his anger, he says, what does Jesus know? He's not a prophet, he doesn't speak for God, he doesn't represent God very well because he can't even spot the sinner who's touching him. What is this man's agenda? He's saying, well, your holiness depends on avoidance and you're touching, you're letting this woman touch you. And he has this fit. Do we disparage Jesus because he was a friend of sinners? No, we sing of that. We have a hymn. Jesus, what a friend for sinners. You know why that's important? Because it means Jesus can be our friend. How dare we put ourselves above the rest of humanity? Oh, well, I wasn't really a bad sinner. I'm arrived now. Very, very dangerous way of thinking. So the Pharisee at the party disparages both the woman and Jesus, and he does it under his breath, but Jesus knows his thoughts. And so the text moves quickly on after he was secretly saying what he thought. Verse 40, Jesus answered him, Simon, I've got something to say to you. And he says, say it, teacher. So then Jesus gives us a parable, very short little parable, which is a fictional story with a spiritual truth. Usually one main truth and Jesus teaches it here. It is in verse 41 a certain money lender had two debtors One who owed him 500 denarii That's a couple years wages and the other 50. That's a couple months wages So you can convert that you can think of two paychecks or you can think of a year and a half of paychecks. I But it goes on, it's not really about the amounts at first. He says, when they could not pay, neither one could pay, he canceled the debt of both. This parable sounds pretty good. Now, which of them will love him more? There's the parable, one verse. Jesus just lays it out, two verses, he lays it out. And he asks that question, which one of them will love him more? We'll come back to that. But you see how Jesus uses this parable to call Simon the Pharisee to think. One of my favorite commentaries, it's an old one and it's pretty much freely available on the internet, Jameson, Fawcett and Brown, JFB, big name, but you can get it online. And it's just a great insight. Jameson, Fawcett, Brown, those are three people. They say, like Nathan with David, Our Lord conceals his thrust under the veil of a parable and makes his host himself pronounce upon the case. The two debtors are the woman and Simon. The criminality of one was 10 times that of the other, but both being equally insolvent, both are equally guilty. forgiven. And Simon is made to own that the greatest debtor to forgiving mercy will cling to her divine benefactor with the deepest of gratitude. I like that insight. The Lord Jesus is like Nathan with David. God's Word has that effect, doesn't it? You're listening to a parable and you see guys get together and then it asks you about love. response, as though when we hear the Bible, we're accountable to respond. Yes, we are. And what was at the heart of this parable? In verse 42, we see a glimpse of the gospel. Did you see it? In verse 42, when they could not pay, he canceled the debt of That's good news. That's a gift. Salvation is a gift. We're saved by grace, which is the language of giftedness. It's not an accommodation or a reduced payment plan. It's forgiven. As in Jesus on the cross saying, Tetelestai, it is finished. It is paid in full. That's a glimpse of the gospel. To be forgiven. Do you understand that gospel for yourself? Before we go on, can I just be clear? The gospel is about receiving God's forgiveness. It's not about learning to memorize the Bible or doing all the things a Christian does. The good news is God forgives sinners because of Christ. And so we, nothing in our hands we bring simply to the cross we cling. We receive that from God, it's a gift. You may have been going to church for a long time and still it just seems too good to be true. It is good, but it's not too good to be true. It is true. It's amazing grace. If you know the story of John Newton, who wrote Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound That Saved a Wretch Like Me, he knew his sins were many, and he was marveling at the forgiveness of God. Just weeks before he wrote that hymn in his journal, he was distressed that he had not returned in gratitude to the Lord as much as she owed. He felt overwhelming life debt type mindset. John Newton. I didn't bring the quote with me to the pulpit, but he was just wrestling with that. How can I tell God how amazing this gift is? John Newton looks like the woman here, just so lavishly loving Jesus who forgave him so greatly. The forgiven debt is a glimpse of the gospel. But the key perspective from the parable is this response. The key question is, which of them will love him more? Jesus wants us to think about, and the word for love here is agapo, agape, so it's that selfless love, it's that full love. The whole text and parable emphasizes that response to the gospel. And we know the answer, the one who's forgiven more loves more. And we should connect the dots to what's happening in the room when Jesus tells the parable. He usually tells the parable for people that are present to hear and to understand. So what does he say as he finishes that parable? He says, you've judged rightly. Verse 44, then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, And this isn't just old-fashioned way of talking. Jesus is calling his attention. He says, do you see this woman? And it's not the common Greek word for to see, blepo. I can still remember my Greek flashcard in the Omega, I drew two eyeballs. So when I looked at my flashcard, I would see eyes. It was a way, I learned it, I still know it. But it's not blepo, just to see, to gaze, to the act of looking. This is the, and I don't remember which Greek word it is, but this is the word for perceiving. You look and say, what is, oh, I see what that is. Where there's a lock on understanding. So that's what Jesus asks Simon who just heard the parable. Simon, do you see this woman? The one who's lavishly loving me? I don't think he did. He had her locked in the past. He could only see her sin. He had a label on her and could not acknowledge the grace of God at work in this woman or her response of love. This is way past sectarianism. This is just a refusal to glory in the grace of God. What do we see when we see this woman? We see a woman saved by grace. Jesus had shown her kindness and grace. He had offered it, she had accepted it, and she comes with her gift because her heart has already been changed. Don't be confused by the language here when Jesus concludes in verse 42. I tell you therefore, her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much. Jesus is just showing the correlation. Forgiveness comes first. Gratitude, joy, and action come second. She is not forgiven because of what she did. If you read a Roman Catholic study Bible, or listen to the Roman Catholic teaching on this text, they will tell you we're saved by works as well as faith. And this is one of their key proof texts. But it is not so because the context makes it clear. Forgiveness comes before the love. Forgiveness comes first. It's that way in the parable and it's that way in the summary when Jesus gets to the statement to this woman in verse 50, he says, Your faith has saved you, go in peace. Do we see this woman? She had many sins, but she was now forgiven. And she wanted to be near Jesus and wanted to love on Jesus, and she does. Well, as we're clarifying what's being taught here, we not just look at this woman, but let's look at ourself. I think when Jesus calls Simon, do you see this woman? He also puts Simon on the spot. Do you see this woman? And Jesus will begin to contrast the two. As he had just taught a parable about responding to forgiveness He says, let's look at her and let's look at you, Simon. Does Simon love just a little bit because he was forgiven a little bit? I don't think so. I don't think Simon even reaches the low bar. Let's see what Jesus says. He lays out, he painfully enumerates the deficiencies of his host. You know, if you're a house guest, boys and girls, let me just give you a clue. If you're a house guest and somebody says, do you like the dinner? Even if it's horrible, you just say, thank you. You don't have to lie, but you just say, thank you. I'm eating my dinner. Jesus enumerates, especially in the ancient world, hospitality, such a high expectation. One of the greatest taboos of the ancient world is to not be hospitable. Let's read the words of Jesus. In verse 44, after he points to the woman, he says, I entered your house and 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 of welcome, is what he's referring to. 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. Do you see yourself, Simon? Why am I here, Simon? Have you heard what I've said? In all those contrasts, we see the failure of the host to love it all, and yet the love of the woman. Philip Riken says the Pharisee was barely hospitable. This rude response shows that Simon had almost as much contempt for Jesus as he had for the sinful woman. Or Dale Ralph Davis said his lack of normal courtesies may have been a calculated attempt to demean Jesus. The dinner party, putting on stage that I'm something he's not. We don't know all his motivations, but we see his failures that Jesus points out. You have not acted kindly to me, no less with love. This man was a practitioner of Judaism. He was a layman who was highly esteemed in his community. To be a Pharisee meant you knew God's word. You had a reputation for holiness, even if it was superficial, you had a reputation. They had a self-righteousness that looked appropriate, as long as they didn't trust in that self-righteousness. The Bishop of Liverpool from the 1800s, J.C. Ryle, said this, looking at the Pharisee, it's possible to have a decent form of religion, I would put that in air quotes, a decent form of religion, and yet know nothing of the gospel of Christ. To treat Christianity with respect and yet to be utterly blind about its cardinal doctrines, to behave with great correctness and propriety at church, and yet to hate justification by faith and salvation by grace with a deadly hatred. This Pharisee was seething over what had happened. The angels in heaven, when one sinner repents, they're dancing. The angels are rejoicing in heaven when one sinner is saved. Simon, do you see yourself? I think the question for us is do we love the Savior? That was the main question of the parable. That's the great contrast between these two people that were in the presence of Jesus. One loved him and one did not. You see, love follows forgiveness and then sanctification follows as well. That takes time. Christian disciples love Jesus. And how do we love Jesus? We obey his word. And we walk in his ways. Full of truth, but full of grace. Jesus is greater than Moses. Jesus is greater than David. He's greater than Elijah or any of the prophets. He's not come simply to chasten with truth, but to embrace a leper, to pause and speak to a widow, to grant the wish of a Gentile because of his great faith. That's Jesus. Do you love Him? Test yourself in this, my friends. Test yourself. Do others see how much you love Jesus? We were singing about how much God loved us earlier, and I'm supposed to help lead the singing, but I got all choked up. I cannot tell. That's hymn number 58 in the InterVarsity Hymnal, and I was converted at 18. I went to college and hung out with InterVarsity people, and in a few weeks, they said, let's sing number 58, and I'm standing there. And I'm singing those words, and just in awe of what God has done for Dave Bissett, a preacher's kid who was very religious, very self-righteous, senior class president, But I didn't know the gospel until Christ broke through that night on my knees. I actually said something like, God, I can't be a Christian. It's too hard. You're going to have to help me here. The new birth. I can't tell why he should love me so, but he has. And I hope that my life shows how much I love Jesus. There's a lot to do yet. But that's a question for all of us. If you're not aware of your sin, if you're not really aware of how much you have escaped because of your Savior's love, you'll love little. Church becomes a boring thing to sit through, because you kind of have to. I trust that you want to be present with God's people where Jesus is in the midst of us and sing his praises and offer yourself a living sacrifice, Romans 12, one. Therefore, brothers, in view of God's mercies, present yourselves as a living sacrifice, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. We owe him that life debt. In conclusion, let me just ask these three questions. First, are you, like Jesus, a friend to sinners? How many non-Christians can you name that are a friend, not just an acquaintance, a friend? Most conversions come from either a family member sharing or a friend sharing the gospel. Secondly, do you understand you're saved by grace? Do you understand how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be? Let thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to thee. There's great grace in the gospel. You're not a Christian because you figured it out or you understand it or because of what your parents did. You're saved because Jesus gives you the gift and you have believed and received it. It's very humbling. Do you really believe you're saved by grace? That's an important question. And finally, do you love Jesus much? And that can be uncomfortable maybe for Christian men to hear. How do I love this guy? I'm not gonna kiss the feet of Jesus. I would if I was around. I like that Christian hymn that says, what will I do when I see him? Will I dance for joy or will I fall at his feet? I don't know how I'm gonna respond when I see the Lord Jesus, but I know I will love him. When I see my grown boys and all of them now wear beards, I give them a hug and a kiss because I love them so. How do we love Jesus? We put it all out there for him. You need me, Lord, I'm there for you. What can I do for Jesus today? We have to have a mindset and a motivating impulse. If you don't care about something, eh, you let it go, you don't attend to it, it's forgotten. But with Jesus, if you love him, you'll spend time with him, you'll read his word, you'll pray, you'll worship, you'll think about what would please Him when you make a choice. Are you a friend of sinners? Do you believe in grace? Do you love Jesus much? Let's pray. Oh, heavenly Father, how your word has challenged us today. Your word has pierced us and provoked us, some of us bringing out tears of joy, others asking those hard questions. Father, we pray that your word would bear fruit in us in ways that please you. We pray that we would be a better friend to sinners like our Lord Jesus, whether it's the stubborn Pharisee or the the not fully sanctified new convert from the streets. Father, may we be the friend of sinners and may we bring the gospel and may we together serve Jesus and work in your kingdom. Oh, Father, help us to love you more. We thank you for this time in your word and we thank you for the ministry of your Holy Spirit that does not end when we say amen, but the Spirit who goes with us will continue to bring these things to mind. Father, we do pray that all these things would result in your glory, in Jesus' name, amen, amen.