To Whom Little Is Forgiven, The Same Loveth Little

Read Luke 7:36–47, also read Luke chapter 15.

The story we have just read (if you read it) is much like the parable of the prodigal son. Both of these stories in Luke's Gospel are particular to the method and way in which Luke tells the story of Christ. By these two stories, we are able to see a depth into the Christ who was in Jesus of Nazareth, which is necessary to the union – expression of the Christ – life.

Jesus is on the Side of Sinners
The story in Luke 7, as well as in the parable in Luke 15, shows one considered to be a great sinner by others as well as by themselves contrasted with those who are considered to be genuinely righteous. In both cases Jesus is on the side of the sinner, and because of this, is severely criticized indirectly in the parable by the righteous elder son and directly in our story but the righteous Pharisee, Simon. Nowhere in these two stories does Jesus assert that sinners are not really as sinful as they appear to be, nor does he assert that the righteous are as righteous as they are judged to be by themselves or by others. The sinners in these two stories, one a harlot and the other a companion of harlots, are not excused by any arguments which would remove the seriousness of the moral demand.
Jesus does not excuse them by giving certain sociological explanations which might remove their personal responsibility. Neither does Jesus analyze their unconscious motives which would remove the significance of their Conscience decisions.
He does not remove their personal guilt because of the predicament which exists in a sinful world. The Scripture calls them sinners, simply and without restriction.

This does not mean that Jesus and the New Testament writers were unaware of a psychological and socialogical factors which determine human existence. They were keenly aware of the universal and inescapable dominion of sin over this world.
They were aware of the demonic splits in the souls of people which produced insanity and bodily destruction. They were aware of the economic and spiritual misery of the human race. Yet by no means, being aware of all these things, do Christ or the Gospel writers ever hold back from calling sinners sinners.

Sin is a Person as well as An Act
Today, there is a deep strain in religion which seems to be hesitant to call sinners sinners. Just because one might understand the predicament in the world does not do away with judging the world. It is a fact that the church today has more terms and psychological insights into human behavior than ever before, and there is a prevailing idea that these things soften and even alleviate sin from being sin. Because the full gospel is not generally preached in most places (the full Gospel in this instance is the gospel which declares that sinners have but one father, Satan, and they indeed having his nature and are his children), the human race is unable and even incapable of understanding what human beings are without Christ.
It is a duty of the true church of Jesus Christ to preach sin as if it were a person, Satan, first John 3:8, even as it preachs righteousness as a person, Christ.

In these two stories, sinners are seriously call sinners, and in the same way the righteous ones are seriously called righteous. We would miss the whole spirit of what Christ is saying in both these stories if we tried to show the righteous ones are not truly righteous.
The elder son in the parable of Luke 15 did what he was supposed to do. He does not feel he has done anything wrong, nor does his father tell him so. His righteousness is not questioned, nor is the righteousness of Simon the Pharisee.
His lack of love toward Jesus is not reproached as a lack of righteousness, but it is derived from the fact that "little is forgiven him."
 
Jesus is not on the side of sinners .
he is on the side of the Father .
He manifested the good will of the father towards sinners
and was the embodiment of Gods love towards all and was the provision of that love that all who would believe on Him shall not perish but have everlasting life"

His first words preached was "unless ye repent ye shall all likewise perish"
That ALL leaves no one excluded .
For God so loved the world also excludes no one .
But even as the first implies if a man does not repent he will perish .
So also the second if they do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ they too will perish.
There is a third ;
"For God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to a knowledge of the truth"
The clear implication again is that if you do not come to a knowledge of the truth you will indeed perish.

The woman caught in adultery was guilty as charged for she was caught in the very act . So too then was the man,where was he?
But while her accusers sought to be justified by the law the only thing the woman could receive was mercy IF it was applicable .
So Jesus gave them ALL time to consider their ways and what had brought them to that judgment hall.
For while he gave them time he wrote with his finger in the ground .
There are only 5 times in all of scripture where "the finger of God " is mentioned that I am aware of .
The first is in Egypt when God was judging both Egypt and the gods(so called) of Egypt also .
and the magicians and wizards who up to the 2 or 3rd time had been able to reproduce the works of God found at the next time when God "went a little further" they could not and said "This is the finger of God............................."
The next time is when the finger of God wrote the 10 commandments on the two tablets of stone . This then is the LAW .
The next time you hear of it is at Balthazzars feast when he beign drunk crossed a line and was judged and a finger of a mans
hand wrote his doom on the plaster of the wall .
The next time you hear of it was when the Lord said "If I by the finger of God do cast out demons ,know this that the kingdom of God has drawn near or come unto you "

Thus when he wrote in the ground with the his finger he was judging and finding we are of dust and if God should mark iniquity who would stand? that no matter how 'deep' the dust it is still dust and counts for nothing .
Thus both the woman and the accusers were guilty under the law .
They who sought to be justified by the law were answered according to the law and each beign convicted in his own concience left .
The woman had redeemed the time given her which the others had not ,had repented and called him Lord and received mercy.
There is grace and the law manifested and how each should be applied.

People talk of choice as if they have all the time in the world and think God is on some sort of leash to mankind and a man can repent at his leisure .
This folly of the highest order.
Man would have no choice at all if God the father had not sent Jesus to die for the sin of the world .
That men still reject and refuse the mercy of God or do not take God seriously as to His word "you MUST be born again"
Simply means men are building unto themselves a mountain of the wrath of God unto themselves and which "abides on them still"
If a man finds himself in hell (for which we all deserve) it will be cause they have rejected the mercy of God , the Will of God , the WAY of GOD and resisted Gods pull on them to repent and come to the cross.
For Jesus said "if I be lifted up I will draw ALL men unto me" No one then is excluded .
But to resist the irrisistable is to brign destruction upon your own head .
and to deny the irrifutable is to bring damnation to your own soul.

If any man doubts the implacable opposition of God to sin and the unrepentant sinner then people need to look again at cross .
For not only is it the place where a man may see and understand Gods love and commitment to the salvation of man kind and the fulfillment of His promise to man in the garden of eden .
But it also the place where God "condemned sin in the flesh " where the prince of this world was cast down and all the wisdom of this world was brought to nought .

in Christ
gerald
 
Jesus is not on the side of sinners .
he is on the side of the Father .
He manifested the good will of the father towards sinners
and was the embodiment of Gods love towards all and was the provision of that love that all who would believe on Him shall not perish but have everlasting life"

His first words preached was "unless ye repent ye shall all likewise perish"
That ALL leaves no one excluded .
For God so loved the world also excludes no one .
But even as the first implies if a man does not repent he will perish .
So also the second if they do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ they too will perish.
There is a third ;
"For God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to a knowledge of the truth"
The clear implication again is that if you do not come to a knowledge of the truth you will indeed perish.

The woman caught in adultery was guilty as charged for she was caught in the very act . So too then was the man,where was he?
But while her accusers sought to be justified by the law the only thing the woman could receive was mercy IF it was applicable .
So Jesus gave them ALL time to consider their ways and what had brought them to that judgment hall.
For while he gave them time he wrote with his finger in the ground .
There are only 5 times in all of scripture where "the finger of God " is mentioned that I am aware of .
The first is in Egypt when God was judging both Egypt and the gods(so called) of Egypt also .
and the magicians and wizards who up to the 2 or 3rd time had been able to reproduce the works of God found at the next time when God "went a little further" they could not and said "This is the finger of God............................."
The next time is when the finger of God wrote the 10 commandments on the two tablets of stone . This then is the LAW .
The next time you hear of it is at Balthazzars feast when he beign drunk crossed a line and was judged and a finger of a mans
hand wrote his doom on the plaster of the wall .
The next time you hear of it was when the Lord said "If I by the finger of God do cast out demons ,know this that the kingdom of God has drawn near or come unto you "

Thus when he wrote in the ground with the his finger he was judging and finding we are of dust and if God should mark iniquity who would stand? that no matter how 'deep' the dust it is still dust and counts for nothing .
Thus both the woman and the accusers were guilty under the law .
They who sought to be justified by the law were answered according to the law and each beign convicted in his own concience left .
The woman had redeemed the time given her which the others had not ,had repented and called him Lord and received mercy.
There is grace and the law manifested and how each should be applied.

People talk of choice as if they have all the time in the world and think God is on some sort of leash to mankind and a man can repent at his leisure .
This folly of the highest order.
Man would have no choice at all if God the father had not sent Jesus to die for the sin of the world .
That men still reject and refuse the mercy of God or do not take God seriously as to His word "you MUST be born again"
Simply means men are building unto themselves a mountain of the wrath of God unto themselves and which "abides on them still"
If a man finds himself in hell (for which we all deserve) it will be cause they have rejected the mercy of God , the Will of God , the WAY of GOD and resisted Gods pull on them to repent and come to the cross.
For Jesus said "if I be lifted up I will draw ALL men unto me" No one then is excluded .
But to resist the irrisistable is to brign destruction upon your own head .
and to deny the irrifutable is to bring damnation to your own soul.

If any man doubts the implacable opposition of God to sin and the unrepentant sinner then people need to look again at cross .
For not only is it the place where a man may see and understand Gods love and commitment to the salvation of man kind and the fulfillment of His promise to man in the garden of eden .
But it also the place where God "condemned sin in the flesh " where the prince of this world was cast down and all the wisdom of this world was brought to nought .

in Christ
gerald
I was making a point, I understand He is no respector of persons. Thanks for your input.
 
Read Luke 7:36–47, also read Luke chapter 15.

The story we have just read (if you read it) is much like the parable of the prodigal son. Both of these stories in Luke's Gospel are particular to the method and way in which Luke tells the story of Christ. By these two stories, we are able to see a depth into the Christ who was in Jesus of Nazareth, which is necessary to the union – expression of the Christ – life.

Jesus is on the Side of Sinners
The story in Luke 7, as well as in the parable in Luke 15, shows one considered to be a great sinner by others as well as by themselves contrasted with those who are considered to be genuinely righteous. In both cases Jesus is on the side of the sinner, and because of this, is severely criticized indirectly in the parable by the righteous elder son and directly in our story but the righteous Pharisee, Simon. Nowhere in these two stories does Jesus assert that sinners are not really as sinful as they appear to be, nor does he assert that the righteous are as righteous as they are judged to be by themselves or by others. The sinners in these two stories, one a harlot and the other a companion of harlots, are not excused by any arguments which would remove the seriousness of the moral demand.
Jesus does not excuse them by giving certain sociological explanations which might remove their personal responsibility. Neither does Jesus analyze their unconscious motives which would remove the significance of their Conscience decisions.
He does not remove their personal guilt because of the predicament which exists in a sinful world. The Scripture calls them sinners, simply and without restriction.

This does not mean that Jesus and the New Testament writers were unaware of a psychological and socialogical factors which determine human existence. They were keenly aware of the universal and inescapable dominion of sin over this world.
They were aware of the demonic splits in the souls of people which produced insanity and bodily destruction. They were aware of the economic and spiritual misery of the human race. Yet by no means, being aware of all these things, do Christ or the Gospel writers ever hold back from calling sinners sinners.

Sin is a Person as well as An Act
Today, there is a deep strain in religion which seems to be hesitant to call sinners sinners. Just because one might understand the predicament in the world does not do away with judging the world. It is a fact that the church today has more terms and psychological insights into human behavior than ever before, and there is a prevailing idea that these things soften and even alleviate sin from being sin. Because the full gospel is not generally preached in most places (the full Gospel in this instance is the gospel which declares that sinners have but one father, Satan, and they indeed having his nature and are his children), the human race is unable and even incapable of understanding what human beings are without Christ.
It is a duty of the true church of Jesus Christ to preach sin as if it were a person, Satan, first John 3:8, even as it preachs righteousness as a person, Christ.

In these two stories, sinners are seriously call sinners, and in the same way the righteous ones are seriously called righteous. We would miss the whole spirit of what Christ is saying in both these stories if we tried to show the righteous ones are not truly righteous.
The elder son in the parable of Luke 15 did what he was supposed to do. He does not feel he has done anything wrong, nor does his father tell him so. His righteousness is not questioned, nor is the righteousness of Simon the Pharisee.
His lack of love toward Jesus is not reproached as a lack of righteousness, but it is derived from the fact that "little is forgiven him."

Good stuff my brother. Over the years I have seen a growing problem in our churches where preachers have moved away from down to earth Bible talk and more toward a "please the crowd" talk. In other words, a watered down gospel that does not call sin, sin neither does it call hell, hell. It is a style which has now leads many to believe that the Muslim and Christian both worship the same God and if we are sincere in what we believe we all be OK in the end whether we be Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddest or whatever.

Have you experienced this taking place or is it just me????
 
Good stuff my brother. Over the years I have seen a growing problem in our churches where preachers have moved away from down to earth Bible talk and more toward a "please the crowd" talk. In other words, a watered down gospel that does not call sin, sin neither does it call hell, hell. It is a style which has now leads many to believe that the Muslim and Christian both worship the same God and if we are sincere in what we believe we all be OK in the end whether we be Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddest or whatever.

Have you experienced this taking place or is it just me????

Yes I have, Paul saw a time when there would be those "Heaping to themselves teachers, having itching ears". What I see is more in the lack of understanding and the preaching of who we are "in Christ" that cause's most of the strife and confusion. The commingling of Paul's gospel with everything else, that is rank error and can never lead to the believer renewing their mind.
We need (the born again) a gospel to go along with the new birth (Christ-nature in you), to have a compatible mind with our new nature.
That came through the wonderful apostle Paul.
 
I was making a point, I understand He is no respector of persons. Thanks for your input.

It was perhaps a bit abrupt , my apologies .
He is a respector of persons though .
But in matters of judgement he is not .
He will also have mercy on whom he will have mercy that too is not according to a persons rank or not etc .
But Peter ,James and John he made a distinction between them and the others .
What of Cain with whos offering he had no respect but with Abels he did ?
What of Ahab and Jehosphat?
Of Esau and Issaac?


in Christ
gerald
 
Yes I have, Paul saw a time when there would be those "Heaping to themselves teachers, having itching ears". What I see is more in the lack of understanding and the preaching of who we are "in Christ" that cause's most of the strife and confusion. The commingling of Paul's gospel with everything else, that is rank error and can never lead to the believer renewing their mind.
We need (the born again) a gospel to go along with the new birth (Christ-nature in you), to have a compatible mind with our new nature.
That came through the wonderful apostle Paul.

Good words! Good thoughts! Good theology!
 
Yes I have, Paul saw a time when there would be those "Heaping to themselves teachers, having itching ears". What I see is more in the lack of understanding and the preaching of who we are "in Christ" that cause's most of the strife and confusion. The commingling of Paul's gospel with everything else, that is rank error and can never lead to the believer renewing their mind.
We need (the born again) a gospel to go along with the new birth (Christ-nature in you), to have a compatible mind with our new nature.
That came through the wonderful apostle Paul.

If you mix a donkey with a horse you will get a mule .But a mule has no life in it to reproduce a mule .
So also then if you mix truth with error you will indeed get something .But it has no life in it to reproduce the fruit .
"ye have by your traditions made the Word of God of none effect" comes to mind.

When John said that if everything that Jesus had said and done had been written down then the world would not be able to contain the books thereof .
It is clear then that not all he said and did IS written down.
Nor does the Bible claim to speak about everything .
But Jesus said "The word is the seed"
A seed is not the fruit or indeed the tree from which it sprang .
But it has this property . it has all that is needed and nothing that is not needed to reproduce the fruit.
If you add to the seed you spoil it and make it lifeless and it will bring death.
If you add to the seed you will spoil it and make it lifeless and will bring death .
"If this seed abides in you ,I will raise you up in the ;last day "
We cannot reap life if we do not sow it .
and if we mix truth with error we will sow death instead.
in Christ
gerald
 
If you mix a donkey with a horse you will get a mule .But a mule has no life in it to reproduce a mule .
So also then if you mix truth with error you will indeed get something .But it has no life in it to reproduce the fruit .
"ye have by your traditions made the Word of God of none effect" comes to mind.

When John said that if everything that Jesus had said and done had been written down then the world would not be able to contain the books thereof .
It is clear then that not all he said and did IS written down.
Nor does the Bible claim to speak about everything .
But Jesus said "The word is the seed"
A seed is not the fruit or indeed the tree from which it sprang .
But it has this property . it has all that is needed and nothing that is not needed to reproduce the fruit.
If you add to the seed you spoil it and make it lifeless and it will bring death.
If you add to the seed you will spoil it and make it lifeless and will bring death .
"If this seed abides in you ,I will raise you up in the ;last day "
We cannot reap life if we do not sow it .
and if we mix truth with error we will sow death instead.
in Christ
gerald

A little poison goes along ways.
 
The gospel is so powerful that it transcends translations. The issue isn't the gospel, but the hearers and speakers. A heart that seeks will find. A heart that knocks, will have the door opened to them. A heart that asks will have answers. The gospel is the good news. I've never heard good news ever watered down.

Maybe like this: "I'm so very sorry to have to tell you this, but you no longer have cancer."
or: "It's so tragic, but you got the job you've always wanted."

Good news is good news. This is our job:

2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (ESV2011)
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.​

We're just messengers. It's up to God to fix a person and we just need to stop trying to do God's job. Why would an engine mechanic attempt to do a souffle instead of allowing the master baker?
 
The preaching of the cross is the power of God unto salvation to all that believe.

If you dont preach the cross ,then you are watering it down.
If you avoid preaching on the blood of Jesus as the only remedy for sin.
You are watering it down.
If you use the enticing words of mans wisdom you are watering it down.
If you add to the Word of God you are watering it down.
If you take from it ,you are waterign it down.
If you have man made traditions filling up the service you are watering it down .
"For by your traditions ye make the Word of God of none effect"

If you suggest that other religions are of equal merit or have some light comparable to the Word of God , you are watering it down.
If you present or preach the idea that God will accept the works of your own hands as in Cain you are watering it down.

in Christ
gerald
 
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