marriage part 4 — Luke 7

0:01 Well, I'll just take a quick survey. You may feel free to raise your hand. Has anybody ever in your marital years had conflict in your marriage? Anybody? No, really?

0:17 Seriously? Two hands. There's one for you and one for your wife? Smart man. Definitely experienced.

0:28 We all have had conflicts, right? Now let me ask you this way. How many of us have had conflict in our marriages in the last twenty four hours? No one raises their hands, don't know, expect you to. Let's ask the harder question.

0:44 Are you ready? How many of us have had conflict in our marriages and we resolved it? That's a harder question, Steve. I know. Because sometimes we don't resolve it, we just tolerate it.

1:00 Big difference. I would like to talk today a little bit about bringing conflict to a final closure. If we had time, which is actually another three hours, we would we would go through where the sources of conflict come from according to the word of God. Now one of them we talked about last night, by pride comes nothing but strife. That's just one of them.

1:24 There's foolish words that does the same thing. There's self centeredness that does the same thing. And the many things in the book of Proverbs tells us where conflict comes from. And that alone is a very heart searching pondering of how we even get started. Don't you hate it when you get started?

1:41 You almost say, I don't wanna fight with you. Right? I remember I said that once or she said that once and I said, but I want to. Didn't go well. Alright, so when we have conflicts, we have to come to a point where we recognize we've gotta deal with this.

2:00 We have to resolve it. Now I've met some couples, do you mind if I walk a little bit? Okay, there we go. I've met some couples that they'll have conflict and they never commit to resolution, never commit to dealing with it. And so what happens is you have a blow up on day one and day two we act like nothing happened.

2:22 Maybe that was your home. I can tell you that that's an unsustainable model. You will not be able to survive that. Eventually, those things get put in this closet which says do not open and we'd open that door one day. And they just come tumbling out and the next big conflict is bigger than any of the others because it's a whole closet full of emotional baggage that should have been dealt with by one word, forgiveness.

2:52 And so we have to first of all understand that there will conflict. The second thing we have to understand is there's a commitment to resolve. And the third thing, which is the topic of our discussion today, is forgiveness. Now there's a final subject, which we won't have time to do today unless you wanted to extend the conference, and it's this idea of restoration. Okay?

3:14 But we're gonna deal with forgiveness today. And we're gonna try to deal with it in a, how do I say, a biblical fashion. Now, in the course of today's message, you might say, oh Steve, I heard this one before. I know. But you've also heard the gospel before too.

3:31 Does that bother you? No. Because what we're doing is we're taking a concept from salvation. Soteriology, I love to use that word. It makes me sound so smart but I had to look it up just before I got up here.

3:45 And the idea is it's a concept of how God saves you and what we're doing is we're gonna lift it from the pages of God's theology and we're going to apply it to this thing called marriage. And I would submit to you that by the grace of God and your obedience to his teaching, your marriages will be different. Now, you're young in the room, you might not know that you end up storing up stuff in your little closet and bring it out one day twenty years later and it's really nasty. It's got a little stench by that time. And if you're older in your marriage as you go, I know so, but boy do I know about this.

4:59 Simon was a Pharisee. And in those days, the Pharisees are notable people in society, those who had clout and recognition. Those who are wealthy would invite others over to their house who were maybe celebrities. And in this case, Jesus was becoming a fast celebrity. He was one who was healing the entire northern region of the land of Israel.

5:21 His reputation had spread so far that people from other neighboring countries, cities of the Decapolis would come and bring their sick to him. And I would too if I had a family member say with epilepsy and they were always in danger of hurting themselves. I would bring them to the savior if I had somebody that was confused and and emotionally upset in a mess. I would bring them to the savior and Jesus had this reputation. Not to mention the fact that he on a regular, somewhat regular occasion would just feed everybody.

5:55 No, it wasn't just 5,000 men, it was their wives, so we're gonna assume 10,000. And if they had an average family like mine of nine, we're like 60,000 people. Now I don't know if you've ever served for 60,000 people, but it's not easy. He's got 12 guys to help

6:13 with it. So you can

6:15 tell that Jesus' notoriety, his fame, his celebrity ness, just not even a word, was really quite abundant. So Simon, the Pharisee wants to have Jesus, the rabbi over for dinner. Now you may not know this, but there's a little town in Northern Israel called Sapphoris. If you go on the Israel tour which we had to cancel because of this thing called the war but if we did, we would have gone there and in that little synagogue there, you would have seen this mosaic from about a 100 and thirty AD that had a u shaped table on the floor and people around it and you realize that was their way of dining large gatherings. And so you would invite the celebrity and his entourage to your house, you would serve them at a U shaped table, the U, the part that was open on the U part, the open ended was where the servants would come in.

7:05 They would serve across the table. You would be lounging on the other side and when I say lounging, I mean like reclining on your elbow and you and you would then eat kind of like, I hate to say this but it was like my cat. See, my cat is about that big. Wide. White.

7:23 And she was laying down by the dog's water bowl on her little paw. And she wanted to drink. So you know what she did? Didn't move. Just got moved her head over to the wall.

7:40 I said, get up off the floor. She said, you wanna catch your own mice? I said, stay on the floor. You see, that's the idea. It was a very kind of comfortable setting.

7:51 Your feet obviously would be towards the perimeter of the room. Now what was done in that day is people would come in and you know you got to brush shoulders with the rich and famous. There used to be a show like that back in the many decades ago, last millennia. And you know, brushing shoulders with the rich and famous. Remember that guy from England?

8:08 He used to host it and we'd watch all these famous people. That's the idea. You get to go to Simon the Pharisee's house, you get to outline the perimeter and you get to see how the rich and famous eat. Well, Jesus wasn't rich but he was sort of famous and so Simon was featuring him. Now Simon, you'll find out was an arrogant man.

8:29 And really his purpose of having Jesus was not to be nice but to take him out. I don't mean for dinner, I mean to like humiliate Jesus. And so during this course of events, a lady comes in who was not really respected in society. It's hard to say exactly what she did or didn't do, but the implication is that she was a prostitute. That was the implication.

8:56 I have no idea how Simon would know that. Makes you wonder. Nonetheless, she came in. Now let's just pretend that's us today. That this room is u shaped and we're all having dinner and the public is around us and they're going oh and ah.

9:11 And all of a sudden, somebody walks in the door and there is a hush. And every eye looks to that exit sign and the whispers begin. What's she doing here? Right? Can you just hear that?

9:27 The moment, if you will. And she doesn't hesitate, which I think she would have, but she doesn't hesitate. And she makes her way through the crowd who had been talking behind and back and whispering about her, all the way over to the feet of Jesus because his feet were sticking out towards the wall, the perimeter. And she just stands there. And as she's standing there, her eyes begin to water.

9:53 Not because they were serving onions, but because she was overwhelmed at those beautiful feet. Our sister just sang about them, by the way. And as she was pondering those beautiful feet, her tears became heavier and heavier as they trickled off of her chin, hung on the corner of her jawline until the mass was so heavy that it would just drop to the floor and no doubt landed on the feet of Jesus. Now let's read the text. I've described it to you to sort of help with the dramatic moment, but I want you to see it in the text.

11:24 Maybe she had been one of the crowd in which her family and her and her sister's family and her mother's family was all fed that day. They listened to the teaching of the lord Jesus about the sermon on the mount. They had been around the countryside and sort of trailed him through various rocks and ridges and and now, she has a moment to actually be face to face with Jesus and all of the teaching and all of the effects that have affected the community, perhaps her family directly. Maybe she had a son that was diseased and he had healed her, now was just boiling up, sort of simmering in her soul and she crumbles in his presence. And those tears, heavy with the weight of the aqueous fluid of her tear glands, drips down, all the way down, and lands on a dusty foot chasing the dust away.

12:17 And to her horror, she recognized that one of the most simplest honorable things done for a guest was never done. And in fact, it is indicated later in the paragraph that it was purposely overlooked. It was meant to be a snub. She wouldn't stand for that, would she? Not when your heart is overwhelmed at the savior.

12:43 Not when your heart is overwhelmed about Jesus and I'll tell you why she was overwhelmed in just a minute But she sees that dust bunny, that dust sort of spread out like we see when we are gonna wash our cars and she just couldn't believe it. And now the tears started to flow. For the gratitude of her soul was of such a high magnitude, she produced her own water faucet from her own eyes. And as that happened, she crumbled in his presence, stooped down, and began to take the aqueous fluid of her tear ducts, tear glands, and used it as if it were water from a faucet. She then began to need to dry them and scour the dirt away and dry them.

13:28 And the only thing she had apparently was a fairly beautiful set of hair. I find that very odd, don't you? Say, I don't have that kind of hair and think it's getting thinner. But you ladies have hair. It's beautiful.

13:48 Would you ever take your hair and use it to clean the windshield on the car? You know, at the gas station, we're filling up. Hey sweetie, why you come out bitch? Put your hair on the windshield. We'll get it cleaned.

13:57 Get those bugs off. Right? Now, I guarantee if you say that to your wife, you might be homeless that night. Just saying. Then you should be writing this down.

14:10 Now, that would be kind of the idea here. Taking what is really, really beautiful and using it on something so un beautiful. I don't know men, have you ever tried to, you know, after your wife has spent a little bit of time getting their hair just perfect and you go up and you touch your face and you're about to touch your hair, she's

14:34 Don't touch my hair!

14:36 Right? Does anybody have this experience except me? Yeah, you too, Yeah, I know I'm saying it. You touch the hair, you'll lose a finger. The hair is that important, isn't it?

14:50 But she takes what is perhaps, we would say, most glorious to her person and uses it on the most inglorious anatomy of the human body. You see, when you're overwhelmed at the savior and his forgiveness, which we'll find was motivating her, you find that you're not hesitant to take whatever it is, no matter the value, no matter the glory, and use it in a manner that speaks to the need of Jesus Christ and in this case, his human body was in need of having his feet cleansed. But nothing will stop you. She begins to then break this flask of fragrant oil. It is thought that it was probably a year's worth of salary, which if you earned a denarii a day, denaris a day.

15:39 Now think about that. Do you ever, men, do you ever put on a little of that cologne? You know, and you walk out and see your wife, she goes, woah, hey, hey cowboy, that's a little strong. Ever happened to you? Then so, come on.

15:56 Yeah, I know. Me too. Me too. I thought little's good, lots better. She goes, lots worse, little's great.

16:04 Great, you young men should be writing this down. Now, can you imagine the room? Picture our room and the fragrance aroma, fragrant aroma is just sort of rippling through the room, bouncing off the walls and you may be talking to your friendly rabbi about the next business deal that we're gonna have with the Romans and suddenly, what is that smell? And the silence in the room begins to ricochet back and the eyes fall to a weeping woman. That's what was happening.

16:44 Here's the point. When you're overwhelmed at the forgiveness of the savior, as she was, you really don't care what anybody thinks. You're happy to do whatever it is and whatever it is, which is a heart of gratitude and worship, permeates the entire facility. Don't you wanna be a church like that? I do.

17:29 Maybe I watch too many movies or something but this is how I see it. It's in verse 39. Now, when the Pharisee who had invited him to saw this, he spoke to himself. That's what you do when you want to critic ize somebody and not, you know, not make it known. You say, oh, say there, this man, if he were a prophet, would know what kind and manner of woman this is that is touching him, for she is a sinner.

17:59 How'd it do? Good. Okay. I got a call from Sony records last night. No, just kidding.

18:07 Alright. So the Lord Jesus here's what he's thinking. Don't you hate that when Jesus hears what you're thinking? And then he talks to you, answers you like he heard you. You go, oh man.

18:21 Right? And so he says, and Simon answered and said, Simon, I have something to say. I can just see Simon. Oh yes, yes your royalness. Yes, you have a question for little ole me.

18:32 And he says, teacher, please go on. Please, please, please, you are the rabbi. And Jesus said, well there was a creditor. I think I'm off on my slides. Let me just catch up here so I don't feel like I'm losing you.

18:50 Oh yeah, we're right here. And there. Simon, I have something to say to you. And Simon said, please say it. He said this, a man owed a certain amount of money, a 100 or 500 denarii, which is about a year and a half's worth of salary.

19:09 And the other man owned 50, which as you could imagine was about half a year's worth of salary. Alright, but the difference was 10 times, right? There was 10 times the difference. And when they, that's plural, meaning the 500 debtor and the 50 debtor, they couldn't pay. They both had a common problem.

19:27 They both could not repay the debt. Notice what it says, he freely forgave them. Now freely is an interesting word. It has an article with it which is and polis. So you heard of like poly sigh or you know it means a lot.

19:42 So it's and it's almost used in a noun like way. It means and he the lot, the many, he forgave them. Now, the word forgive is the word, ephi ami. Ephi ami. Ephi ami.

20:01 That's Now it's a word that is used in many different, or it's used to be translated in several ways, but in this way it's translated forgiveness. And I'm gonna tell you another meaning of it in just a second, but I need you to notice that word because remember I started out saying we're going talk about forgiveness. I've set the stage and now he's telling this parable and he says, listen, they're both in a bad way. They both cannot pay even though one owned 500 and one owed only 50. There was a 10 times difference.

20:31 They both were undone. They both had no ability to rectify the debt. So what did the creditor do? He forgave them both. And so now, they both couldn't pay.

20:40 They both are forgiven. They both have their debts sent away. That's the word, sent away. And they have a common denominator. Jesus said, Simon, which one will love him more?

20:53 I see our dear British friend. Well, see. The one who forgave more. Jesus said, you've answered correctly. You answered it correctly.

21:07 I can just see that. Simon, you know, patting himself on the back doing a victory dance.

21:15 Nailed it!

21:18 Jesus then answers and says, well, have, you have judged rightly. You're correct. You're absolutely correct. And then he turns to the woman and he says to Simon. See that?

21:59 Do you notice how specific Jesus is? How he notices every detail and that's the beauty of Jesus Christ when you pour out your heart to him. He notices every detail. And she wiped her feet with the hair of her head. He actually says the specifics of her activity.

22:17 She gave, you gave me no kiss, a normal greeting of that day and culture, but this woman has not ceased and the Greek comes through in the English translation, has continuously not ceased to kiss my feet. It's still ongoing. And you did not anoint my head at oil. That's sort of freshening the countenance. Oh, but she's anointed my feet for the most expensive of oils.

22:44 You see Simon, her sins, and I can just see her, which are many. And that's why I put this graphic in because now she's really weeping and that's how I think it would have gone down. She was washing her feet, tears slowly at that point. But when he says to her, her sins in my child, I know they are many. I know about everyone.

23:09 I know where you were last night. Are forgiven. I can just see her bawling even more. That's why I like this picture because that's what happens to me. Forgiven, what does that mean?

23:26 Well, I'm in I mentioned it to you earlier. The idea of to send away and it's similar to this concept of when the lord Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law and he walked into the room a great this is where's my brother? We would love to do this in our practice of medicine, would we not? Walk into the room, guy septic, we say fever be gone. And the next thing you know, you're losing your license, right?

23:49 That's what's happening. Anyway, the Lord Jesus walks into this patient's room of his mother-in-law. She's got fever. She's getting septic perhaps. And Jesus walks up and says fever be gone.

23:59 And the fever left her. That word left her, that's the word sent away. F e m I is its basic form. And what you're doing is you got the patient and you separated the patient from the disease. When you're a sinner and he says your sins are forgiven, he's separating the sinner from the sin.

24:21 It's sent away. Now, in the old testament there's an illustration of this and it's the day of Yom Kippur which is in the fall and involves the tabernacle. You can see behind me the tabernacle where we have, you see the menorah, the candelabra with its seven arms, that's in the holy place. And behind that, we have a cutaway where you see the smoke, the white smoke ascending, that's coming off of the ark of the covenant. And according to God's word, God would dwell between the two cherubim who were looking down, not at each other, looking down at the surface of the Ark of the Covenant called the mercy seat.

24:58 And what would happen is once a year the priest would actually change clothes, not according to this picture, but he would change clothes into white linen. He would take two goats, this is for the people, and the first goat they would sacrifice. Now you may not have ever been in an animal sacrificial setting but I was in Africa. We did a medical missions there They said Steve, we'd like to have a feast. I said great, I thought we were gonna order out from McDonald's.

25:21 They don't have McDonald's out there and so they took a goat and I watched the butcher slice the goat's neck and as a result he was lathered in that animal's blood from neck to to pelvis from forearm to forearm. Very graphic what was happening. Covered in the blood of another. You take that blood, the high priest would take it into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle it on and before the ark of the covenant seven times which was a box covered laid with gold that house three things all of which spoke of the rebellion of mankind. There was the jar of manna that was born out of complaint where the people accusing god of being not being able to provide.

26:31 You see, crimes of our doing require a life to be given. It would be your life, but God has this ingenious idea that it would be better if it was a life of a substitute and so he pictures it on the day of Yom Kippur. Now there was a second goat involved and the second goat, they would go and confess, oops, sorry, they would go and confess the sins of the nation of Israel upon the head of the goat. The priest would put their hand and confess... I wonder how long that took, hours maybe, and then they would take that goat after confessing all the iniquities and transgressions on that animal.

27:04 They'd let him out in the wilderness so that that goat would never be found again. Do you see it? One animal is sending the sins away. The other animal is losing its life because without the shedding of blood, there can never be forgiveness of sins. God is showing this to you and a graphic demonstration and he's showing us what exactly he meant when he spoke to the woman by talk by as when he looked at the woman and said to Simon, your sins which are many are forgiven.

27:36 That would bring back to that Jewish culture. This whole picture of Yom Kippur where the sins were confessed on one animal, the other animal lost its life and when the day is done, it was called a place of mercy, not a place of judgment. Now, that's your forgiveness. The Bible talks about it in in various ways but this is this is what was done. He punished us according...

27:59 He punished Christ according to our sins, not according to what we deserved. It says in in Psalms that he separated as far as the east is from the west. What that means is they will never meet up again. That's the idea. Now, that's how you've been forgiven by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, right?

28:17 That is a picture, a depiction of forgiveness. And whether you know it or not, that's how the Christian, that's how a saved person stands before God right this minute. So if you were to bring up my crimes to God, and you certainly could because I've got a lot

28:32 of them. He's gonna say it's

28:34 a funny thing. I just don't find them here anymore. They've been sent away and I've never been able to find them again on purpose. See that? You hear that?

28:46 That's very impressive, isn't it? The bible talks about a guy named the accuser of the brethren. That is not a good title for, and don't name your dog that title. That's actually Satan. And he is depicted in the book of Revelation as coming to the court of God and almost like in a lawyer setting, your honor, I have evidence to bring this man under conviction again.

29:12 He's mine. The ancient of days opens the books, checks the record and finds that on the line that houses my name is a dot of blood that is so blotted out my sins, he totally rejects the accuser and commands the bailiff of all eternity to remove the accuser from his courtroom because Hick's courtroom stands on the blood of Jesus Christ. Now, I tell you this because that's how you've been forgiven and how do you think we are to forgive each other? Let me think. Just like that.

29:52 So in our marriages, we may have a storehouse of various things that have been offensive and we've tried to overlook them. We've tried to do the forgetting, but you never really do that, do you? You know that psychology thing, write up a list of all the things that you have against your spouse and wad it up and take it to the backyard and dig a hole and bury it. Funny thing, they always grow roots, you know. And that doesn't work.

30:16 It's gotta be different. You see, you've had your crimes paid for. And it's been sent away, never to be found again. And God is saying to you, when you forgive your spouse, you send them away and make it your goal never to find them again. You see, I found this to be, I've discovered this to be the golden truth for a couple to make it right.

30:46 They they've fought, they've argued, they've got so many things and you'll hear these eternal words. You always do this. In reality it's like maybe three times, right? You always do, every time this happens you know, it sounds like it's been a 100,000,000 and it's not. Well you do this and you do that and you always say and you embarrass me and it's just all these inflammatory eternal words that seem to indicate that I've been storing up your crimes against me, the ones that have been offensive to me for a long long time and alright, now we're gonna go.

31:19 It's gonna come out now. And you know what God says? Is that how you've been forgiven? Do I do that to you? Do I open up a closet or storeroom and say, here you go buddy.

31:29 Does that happen to you? Ask yourself, when has God ever done that to you? Well, he's never done that. But he did open up the storehouse one day and he nailed him to the cross so you'll never have to see them again. And that's how we forgive because that's how we've been forgiven.

31:48 So before we just rush off from this marriage weekend, we really have to ask ourselves, am I portraying myself in the same way as I've been treated. And if you find that you're not, then you know what you need to do? You need to go back to the cross. You need to go back to where salvation began. You need to go back to where forgiveness was forged on an anvil of the head of Jesus Christ.

32:31 Oh, great. I want you to think with me about this verse here. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. That's Romans eight one. Paul goes to Romans seven and he's talking about, oh man, I can't do this.

32:45 Everything I want to do the right thing and I don't do the right thing and the things I don't want to do, I do do, the things I do want to do, I don't do and it's just a mess. It's like I'm I'm crazy here. I can't get it figured out. What am I gonna do? I'm a wretched man.

32:56 Oh oh

32:57 oh oh Verse one chapter eight. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. That's really precious. No condemnation. You know that's a legal word too.

33:09 You know, we don't say that. We don't say that to our children. In this day, I condemn thee to sweeping the floor for eternity. We don't talk like that. We say sweep the floor.

33:19 Right? But this is the word. Now, no condemnation, the negation of that word is really profound. Now, as I was thinking this through, I I I recall a story that was true to me, for me. Young people, there was a time in my life in which I was called an aggressive driver.

33:45 I like to think that those years have passed because my wife tells me to speed up all the time. But back in that day when I was aggressive driver, was headed into the sunset watching the sun blind me and apparently, although I don't think so to this day, I ran a red light. The officer who stopped me was on his little motorcycle and he must have been having a bad hair day. Because he said to me, Sir, you ran a red light. License and registration.

34:13 That must have been his last quota of the day. I said, you know officer, I think that was yellow. Sir, it was red. Okay. Give him the thing.

34:25 Comes back, I said, you know, I think it was, sir, it was red and I'm writing you the ticket. Okay. If you don't like it, you can contest it in court. I said, you mean I can fight this thing? He goes, absolutely.

34:39 I said, give me the ticket. It says on the back, you know, plead here, sign your name, pay your money or show up in court on this date. I showed up in court on that date. It was just like a church hall. Pews, pews, pews, pews, lots of crying pieces of humanity ever ever around and there was this person called like the district attorney.

34:56 She was like a pit bull. I mean, foaming at the mouth and I'm in the back row there, I'm scared to death. And I think, you know Steve, you're kind of stupid. Just go and pay the stupid ticket. So I get up, I put my phone in, and I get, I turn towards the door and they go, number 462 case price.

35:16 I go, I was so close. So I take my little sorry person up to the front and there's the judge. He's like on this podium that reaches to the heavens and he's got the bifocal things. That is very intimidating by the way. He's not even looking at me, he's just looking at his paper.

35:35 And he goes, Mr. Price, the person who issued you the citation is not here today. Can you wait fifteen minutes while we text him and see if he can show up? Oh, wanted to say, hey, if you don't have your act together, I'm out of here. It's on you buddy.

35:48 You don't say that, right? You plop it down, you look humble and you just greet the holiness. Yes. Yeah. And man, that's what I did.

35:56 Fifteen minutes goes by to the clock. He calls me back up. I stand in front of him and you look humble, you go. And he goes, mister Price, done to look at me. The officer who issued a citation texted and he can't be here today.

36:10 So I'm throwing your ticket out. And I'm telling you, he took that gavel. I don't think he hit it all day. And he wrapped that podium and it sounded like a shot out of a gun and I went, oh, phew. And he said, case dismissed.

36:25 I don't think he said that ever in his life. Okay, I am dumbfounded. I'm looking at the podium like this. He notices me. And it's a funny thing, when people think you're stupid, you don't understand, they speak louder.

36:41 When they think you're stupid, they speak louder. He did both. He looked at me and said, Mr. Price, Yes, your loveliness. You can go now.

36:54 Don't I have to pay something? So he speaks louder and slower like I don't know English. The exit. That way. Opens the door.

37:07 Get your little self out of my courtroom. I go, okay. I go past the little pit bull person. You know how you... I didn't do it.

37:17 I wanted to. I really wanted to. I didn't. I go through that door, said exit. On the other side it says cashier.

37:24 I hand her my paperwork. I say how much do I owe you? She looked at me like the judge. It's okay. I think I speak Spanish or something.

37:35 I don't know. I don't know. I get my paperwork and go out to the car. I am high fiving my back.

37:42 You did it, man. You did it. You beat

37:44 the ticket. You paid nothing and you're still alive. Man, I was so happy. I was gonna call my wife on the phone. And I can't say I heard a voice, so don't get this wrong.

37:53 But it was like somebody tapped me on the back. I go, yes Lord. Wasn't that cool? It's like the Lord said, I didn't hear a voice. Like the Lord said.

38:14 I said, No, wasn't. Yes, you were. You had a trial, you're in the defendant's seat and your case was open and shut and God opened the books and all he looked at was a document in ink and it was closed the books and says, you're gonna die. And just about the time he was gonna raise that gavel and condemn you, somebody opens a back door and walks right in. He's well tailored, he's well dressed, he comes with matching cuff links and a document in his hand and he approaches the judge and he says, your honor, I have evidence today in my very hand that will pardon my client.

38:44 May I present it to the court? He says, you may approach the bench. And instead of unfolding the documents, he actually stands between the chief justice of all time and my place, totally hiding me from view as I watch him begin to undo his shirt and his collar and his cuff links. And I watch him as he begins to let the shirt fall off his shoulders. And I look beyond his head and I see the eyes of the ancient of days, the chief justice of all time.

39:14 And when he sees the back of this, mysterious attorney of mine, my advocate, he actually raises his gavel as his eyes widen. And he says, your evidence is accepted in this court of law. I now declare Mr. Price, pardon from all iniquity. And the gun goes off when that gavel impacts the podium.

39:38 And I have no condemnation. I was never so happy to leave that courtroom that day. I thought I was gonna end up in jail. I thought I was gonna have to call my wife and she was gonna have to find me attorney and it would always be on my record and you know none of that happened. None of that happened because there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

40:00 Now why do I tell you that story? Why do I tell you this scripture? Because that's how you've been forgiven and that's how we forgive our spouses. Not only do we send their sins away, we don't hold them in contempt either. We don't continuously continue the concept of condemnation.

40:19 I'm gonna make you suffer for what you made me suffer. Oh, I'll do it quietly. I'll do it subtly. I'll do it passive aggressively, but you will know it. You know what?

40:28 That's continuing condemnation, not ending it. You see, that's what we have to do. The you you understand the concept of debt. You can't pay it back. Don't expect it to be paid back and don't you expect to pay it back.

40:43 It's got to be wiped clean by the gracious act of an individual. God started the domino effect and he wants you to continue the domino effect And if we could do that, I'm telling you, your marriages would be absolutely a beautiful aroma to the glory of what God has done. There's one final one. It's this concept here. See if I can get to it.

41:11 Does God forgive or forget? There's this verse here. Their sins and lawless deeds I'll remember no more. That was part of our first meeting. Now, I'm gonna ask you something.

41:22 If you are blessed to know everything in the universe, how do you not remember something? I'm trying to forget it. I just can't forget it. Is that how it works? No, you don't forget.

41:34 God's not talking about forgetting something like he's absent minded. I'm absent minded. I lose my car keys, can't find them. I don't know where they are. I misplaced them.

41:42 God doesn't have that problem. So what does he do? Well, I think he does what this picture depicts. I think he takes his all powerfulness and he allows it to eclipse like a a solar body phenomenon. So that is all power overshadows, is all knowing, and in the process what is what is seen from your perspective is you cannot see your sin.

42:08 That's what I think happens. And why is it that if we've been forgiven that way, we remember each other's sins all the more when he remembers our sins never more. You see that? Do you see how this is working? We're taking how we've been saved and we're depositing it in our marital relationships, in our church relationships, in all kinds of relationships.

42:35 And when that happens, now you can go forward. Because it's not like we just buried it to be found again by accident. It's really gone. And the only way you can do that is if you've experienced that yourself. Now, I'm gonna end here.

43:06 And if you do not know Jesus Christ as your savior and you've never experienced the three most important words in the universe, which are you are forgiven, then you need to meet him today. This is your moment. This is your time. This is a time when you can see a holy God and how you are condemned and how he changes the narrative. He changes your story.

43:27 That's life changing experience for you and me. And now we begin to act just like we've received, not like Simon.