Lucas 7

Lucas 7

Morgan - Luke 7:47 - A Hundred Pounds Lorenzo Dow was an eccentric Methodist whose long hair, peculiar clothing, and sharp manner caused him to be called “Crazy Dow.” But as he traveled thousands of miles on foot and horseback, he won multitudes to Christ. As a teenager, Dow had been greatly troubled over the doctrine of predestination, and at one point became so convinced that he was among the condemned that he nearly took his own life with a pistol. But about that time, Methodist evangelist Hope Hull came through Connecticut, and his message pierced the youth. Lorenzo was so overcome with conviction that he had to hold to his cousin to keep from falling off his seat. People were being converted all around him, and Lorenzo was almost beside himself with a desire for peace with God. On his way home, he fell down on the road several times and hardly knew where he was. Reaching home at last, he prayed till exhausted, then fell into a slumber in which he experienced a nightmare of being in hell. He awoke in terror, and, oh! how glad I was to find it was only a dream. He resumed his earnest prayers. “Lord! I give up; I submit; I yield; if there be mercy in heaven for me, let me know it; and if not, let me go down to hell and know the worst of my case.” As these words flowed from my heart, I saw the Mediator step in, as it were, between the Father’s justice and my soul, and these words were applied to my mind with great power: “Son, thy sins which are many are forgiven thee; thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” The burden of sin and guilt and the fear of hell vanished from my mind as perceptibly as a hundred pounds falling from a man’s shoulder. My soul was so happy that I could scarcely settle to work; and I spent the greatest part of the day in going from house to house through the neighborhood, to tell the people what God had done for me. (From This Verse) Beautiful Scars Read: Luke 7:36-49 Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. —Luke 7:47 A number of years ago I was hiking along the Salmon River and came across a grove of pine trees that had been partially stripped of their bark. I knew from a friend who is a forester that the Native Americans who hunted this area long ago had peeled the outer bark and harvested the underlying layer for chewing gum. Some of the scars were disfiguring, but others, filled with crystallized sap and burnished by wind and weather, had been transformed into patterns of rare beauty. So it is with our transgressions. We may be scarred by the sins of the past. But those sins, repented of and brought to Jesus for His forgiveness, can leave behind marks of beauty. Some people, having tasted the bitterness of sin, now loathe it. They hate evil and love righteousness. Theirs is the beauty of holiness. Others, knowing how far they fall short (Rom. 3:23), have tender hearts toward others. They rise up with understanding, compassion, and kindness when others fail. Theirs is the beauty of humility. Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me— All His wonderful passion and purity! O Thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine, Till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me. —Orsborn A forgiven heart is the fountain of beauty. Luke 7:48 Then He said to her, "Your sins have been forgiven." KJV And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. Thy Matthew 9:2; Mark 2:5 Luke 7 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Luke 7:36-50 How to Love Jesus Fervently - Steven Cole Luke 7:36-50 The Transformed Sinner - John MacArthur Then He said to her, "Your sins (hamartia) have been forgiven (aphiemi) - As in the previous verse again Forgiven is in the perfect tense which means her sins had already been forgiven in the past and this forgiveness is permanent! Ryle on Your sins have been forgiven - We are not, of course, to suppose that these words mean that the woman’s sins were now forgiven for the first time. Such an interpretation would overthrow again all the doctrine of the story of the two debtors. The woman was really forgiven before she came to Christ. But she now received a public and authoritative declaration of it before many witnesses, as a reward for her open expression of love and gratitude. Before, she had hope through grace. Now, she received the assurance of hope. (Luke 7)