Childrens Sermon Service

Good morning! In the Gospel reading today, we heard about a
woman who came to Jesus and washed his feet with her tears and
poured perfume on his feet. Here is a picture that shows her
doing this. (Show the picture.)

After she had done this, Jesus told her that her sins were
forgiven. Now, I want to ask you a question. Were her sins
forgiven because of what she did for Jesus or for some other
reason? (Let them answer. They will probably think that her sins
were forgiven because of her actions.)

Let's see if we can figure this out. God tells us in the
Bible that sin condemns us to death and that nobody can ever do
enough to pay for their sins. So, no matter how sorry this woman
felt for her sins and no matter what she did, there is no way she
could gain forgiveness by what she did! So, there must be
something else that made it possible for Jesus to tell her that
her sins were forgiven. Any more ideas? (Let them answer.)

Look at the last thing Jesus said to her: "Your faith has
saved you. Go in peace." It was her faith that saved her, not her
actions! What she did for Jesus was a result of her faith. It was
not the washing of his feet with her tears or the pouring of
perfume that saved her; it was her faith! She believed that Jesus
could save her and he did.

It's the same for us today. We believe that Jesus is our
friend. We believe that he died on the cross to pay for our sins.
Because we have this faith, our sins are forgiven. Of course, we
try to do things that God wants us to do, but we do these things
because He has forgiven our sins, not in order to get our sins
forgiven. Do you see the difference? (Let them answer and be sure
they see that sins are forgiven because of faith, not actions.)

Dear Jesus: We know that our sins are forgiven because of what
you did for us. We can never thank you enough for giving us this
faith which saves us. Amen.