Sermon Quotes: "Forgiven Much"

“Luke’s depiction of the wiping, kissing and anointing with imperfect tenses, which he often uses, allows the narrative to run in progression from one act to the next: ‘She was wiping, kissing and was anointing.’ The impression is that each step took some time. One can imagine the impression it made at the meal.” Darrell Bock

Our friend Mark Dever writes of a conversation he had with a Muslim who agreed with Mark that all people sin, “but he had a more optimistic imagination than I do about his ability to defend himself before God. He thought that if he lived a life that was ‘good enough,’ God would forgive him. He had the idea that if his sins were not ‘so bad’ or ‘so many,’ then he could act virtuously enough that his sins would be out-weighed or even erased. But that is not the picture presented in the Bible. You cannot simply ‘erase’ past sins. The damage has been done. If you could erase them, there would be no justice in the universe. You cannot save yourself from the guilt of your sin, but you do need to be saved. How can you be saved? You must begin by acknowledging that your sins require God’s justice, and that he must exact that justice either from you or from some substitute who will pay on your behalf. The bad news is, if you try to pay the penalty, you will spend eternity in hell doing it. Your only hope is to look to Christ and see what he has done by living a perfect life and dying on the cross to pay the penalty for the sins of all those who ever repent and trust in him.” Mark Dever

“I hope you don’t underestimate the forgiveness of sins. For many years I did. I had gotten the impression that forgiveness was rather preliminary. Rather than preliminary, the forgiveness of sinners-providing reconciliation of God and man, and man with God-is the most exciting thing of which the Bible speaks, and we never get beyond it.” Dick Lucas

“It is affecting to think how ignorant I was, when a young Christian, of the bottomless, infinite depths of wickedness, pride, hypocrisy, and deceit left in my heart.” Jonathan Edwards

“The extent to which we realize and acknowledge our sinfulness, and the extent to which we realize total forgiveness and cleansing from those sins, will determine the measure of our love for God.” Jerry Bridges

“As the story unfolds, it will become clearer that this forgiveness does not come cheap. The one who is forgiven should love much because it cost so much to the one who forgives so much.” Dave Garland