Followed By Mercy

Faith Working Through Love

• W. Austin Gardner • Season 2 • Episode 18

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Have you ever felt like you had to earn God’s love? In this episode, we explore how liberating it is to discover that God’s love isn’t something we earn. It’s who He is.


We walk through Luke 7 and the moving story of a woman known for her sins who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears. While others looked at her with judgment, Jesus saw her with love and forgiveness. His parable of the two debtors reminds us that those who know how deeply they’ve been forgiven also learn how to love deeply.


This conversation challenges performance-based religion and points us back to grace. God’s love isn’t dependent on our behavior. It’s unconditional, unchanging, and meant to flow through us into the lives of others. As Galatians 5:6 says, what really matters is “faith working through love.”
If you’ve ever wrestled with guilt, shame, or the pressure to “do more” for God, this episode will encourage you to rest in His love and let that love shape how you see yourself and others.


Listen in, and then share this with someone who needs to hear that God already loves them completely, unconditionally, and forever.

Thanks for listening. Find us on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Austin Gardner:

Like almost 12,000 feet there to survive.

Robert Canfield:

I preached there many times. Well, it's a wonderful thing. By the way, you know, people all over the world don't know about God's love. They think they've got to work to get God to love them. They honestly believe that what they do merits God's love.

Robert Canfield:

And I know we're in the study on Ephesians and we'll get there today, but I need you to understand that the reason the gospel is so important is people don't understand that salvation is completely and totally a God thing by grace, undeserved, and, above all, that God's not asking anything of you. He's only offering you a gift. The wages and sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, the Lord. He gives it to you. It was God that loved the world, because God is love. That's why it's so important that we set up preaching points and why we get out this radio that Take the Lights doing, because they've got enough religion. They've got enough performance-based religion. They need to hear about a God who loves them. Whether they do good or do bad, it doesn't matter. God already loves them. They can't do anything to get more love and actually can't do anything to get less love, nor can you. So I challenge you to know the God of the Bible. Just open your eyes and understand. He already loves you. Go ahead, amen. No.

Austin Gardner:

I have nothing. That's what, that's what our goal is, and so we we've been running. We've been, actually, like I said, probably in podcasts before, we've been renting out a secular radio station, uh some spots, and some secular radio stations, uh, stations that aren't Christian, and so, um, that's the word for secular, just not Christian. So we ran out spot time and people are preaching and talking about God's love there. We've actually had eight callers from the Chivay region or area department there.

Robert Canfield:

I can't remember how many people live in Chivay.

Austin Gardner:

So in the town there's 7,000. But in that, I guess, that area, I don't know, I don't think it's a state, we call it a district. Okay, in that district I think we read somewhere between 70,000 and 80,000 people or a province.

Robert Canfield:

You know, according to the way they used to do statistics, if you've got eight callers, you may have as many as 8,000 or 10,000 listeners.

Austin Gardner:

So that is a magnificent response. And so, yeah, we were excited, so we went there and we met with a young believer. Yeah, we were excited, so we went there and we met with a young believer and man. He got saved when he was 18 years old and he's been trying to follow the Lord ever since then and he basically begged us. He was asking us to start a ministry there, and so I'm excited to sit down and talk with David and you a little bit more and see what the possibilities are. Might maybe see a church start out there or something that we could have those people there. It's a beautiful little town. The only thing is.

Robert Canfield:

it's cold and it's hot. It is hot and not a lot of breathing.

Austin Gardner:

It is hot, but we were only there during the daytime. You could see the terraces all around. There was some serious farming going on.

Robert Canfield:

Those are andes and that's why it's called that, and dennis anden is a. The word in spanish is the andy and dennis or which is the place where those terraces are. That's why they're called the andes mountain, because they were full of terraces built by the Inca Indians and others before them.

Austin Gardner:

I didn't know that.

Robert Canfield:

That's incredible Because, like when you were, when you drive right outside at the time to buy, Well, on the side of a mountain where there's nothing, nothing where it would be really good agriculture they built a terrace.

Austin Gardner:

It was impressive and you saw, you saw these terraces going up these mountains, and we're talking about 13, 14 000 feet above sea level, but there's so many of them. They must have been producing some food for a serious amount of people there.

Robert Canfield:

Oh, definitely, definitely, and it's what a wonderful thing. All right, we were just talking chewing the fat, because I'm in ephesians and once you read that, that verse in ephesians that you started with, and I think, I think people will be excited to hear how faith and love work together, as you read them all ago.

Austin Gardner:

Yeah, ephesians 15. Chapter one, verse 15. Yes, sir, it said wherefore I also. This was Paul speaking to the church there at Ephesus. He says after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints and I was just talking to Austin about I was just in Thomasville, georgia. After we arrived there on Friday, then I had a missions conference there. So I drove up there that Saturday morning and preached at a missions conference and I preached on was it Luke, chapter seven, and I was talking to Austin about how faith and love it's almost like it's interchangeable. It seems like In the New Testament, maybe not interchangeable but like Well, if you have faith, you're going to love.

Robert Canfield:

If you love God, that's based on faith.

Austin Gardner:

Yeah, and I was telling the story there at the church, a sweet church there in Thomasville, a good friend of mine, sean Jacobs. He's doing a wonderful job, and I was talking to the people there and basically I don't know. I want to say a proof of your faith, like a proof or something that demonstrates that we have a saving faith is a working love. I believe it was in the book of Galatians, galatians, chapter 5. And I need to pop that up real quick so I'm not misquoting anything because I don't want to misquote stuff. But Galatians, chapter 5, is it Galatians 5? Yeah, 5, verse 6. He says this not verse 9, galatians, chapter 5, verse 6.

Austin Gardner:

Paul says Galatians, chapter 5, verse 6, paul says For in Jesus Christ, neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, and so he's dealing with people that were striving and working and trying to earn favor with God. And his whole point was is there's one gospel? David preached on that wonderful last night at the service that we were at on Thursday night. But there's only one gospel and that gospel is Jesus has already done it and it's only by faith through grace. That's the only way we get right with God. But he says this, he said but circumcision or uncircumcision, it doesn't do anything for you, but faith which worketh by love, and so the faith that we have is worked, it's exercised by love. And it reminded me of a story, and you just need to interrupt me here.

Robert Canfield:

Let me just say this before we go on.

Robert Canfield:

You know, faith is when you realize and understand and accept and believe that God loves you. So faith in God is actually faith, trusting that God really does love me, that God loved me so much that he gave his only begotten son, that God loved me so much that he sent Jesus to pay the price of my sin. God loves me and he doesn't love me. Here's the faith. He doesn't love me because of what I do. If it was based on what I do, then it'd be faith in me. It's faith in God. I'm believing that God loved me of himself, nothing good about me. He loved me just because he is love and he loves me just like I am.

Robert Canfield:

And if you're listening, I want you to know I don't care how many times you messed up, I don't care how many times you've ruined your life, I don't care if you've never trusted Christ. He loves you, he loves everybody. And faith would be you accepting that love. And then we're going to go to what Robert said, which was beautiful, it was before he discussed it a little bit, but you need to understand this that when you accept his love, that his love is in you, and then his love is shed abroad, out of us Go ahead, robert.

Austin Gardner:

It works, yeah, when we have a saving faith, it works. Love, and I think what you said was so good. Sometimes we don't understand, like we might believe in Jesus and believe these doctrines but we don't believe he loves. Yeah, but the doctrines were motivated. The doctrines were brought about because of a loving god, like god coming to the earth. Why did god come to the earth? Because he said I love the world. And why did god die on the cross? Because I love the world. I was giving them a way to escape the, the penalty, the, the, the punishment that comes with sin, the consequences that come with sin, and so I think all that was motivated by love. So, in my mind, I might not have known. I knew that God loved me, but I didn't really know it. Does that make sense?

Robert Canfield:

Especially, I think I dealt hard with he may love me, but does he like me? Yeah, I know theoretically and biologically he loves me, but does he like me? Yeah, Well, he doesn't really. I know theoretically and biologically he loves me, but I don't feel that love.

Austin Gardner:

Well, I think that's because of the stinking thinking that we often bring into our lives. But I mean, you've got to like somebody, You've got to love somebody a whole lot in order to give your only son.

Robert Canfield:

Yeah, and that's what John 3.16 says. We kind of missed that verse up, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. So much love God had for the world that God gave his son, because God didn't want anybody to perish, but he wanted all of them to come to repentance or an understanding that God's not this tyrant, this bad guy that the devil's made him out to be. He's your loving father and he's seeking to have that relationship with you. Amen, amen.

Austin Gardner:

All right, you were going to tell us a story, oh yeah, well, yeah, that story that that we went through while I was there in Thomasville, uh, was found in Luke, chapter seven. You said you probably already hit on it, but, um, jesus was bid and he was asked to go to uh, to a dinner by a Pharisee. I think it's Luke, chapter seven, verse 36. And he, jesus, goes in there and he sits down and he's having this dinner with the Pharisee and we're not told why the Pharisee asked Jesus to come in. I don't think he was trying to set a trap. I don't think he was. I think he was just inquisitive about this.

Robert Canfield:

Even religion, performance-based religion. It just shocks them that there is love that's unconditional, undeserved, and I think he was probably like I just want to know more about that. I can't admit, I accept it, but I want to know more.

Austin Gardner:

Yeah, he had Jesus in his home.

Robert Canfield:

By the way, that's an interesting fact Jesus was in his home. See, Jesus would love you and deal with you if you were a tax collector or a prostitute or a greatly religious guy.

Austin Gardner:

Well, that's who he loved to commune with, wasn't he? That's what the Pharisees said about him. He likes to sit with sinners and that's why he went into the Pharisees' home, because they were sinners, because he loves them, that's right. And he sits there and as he's sitting there, luke records that there's this woman in the city and he points out the fact that she was a sinner, which would mean a prostitute. Yes, and Jesus points out the fact. Later on, he says her sins, which were many, and it wasn't just a sinner that, like we say, we're all sinners. It was a sinner that everybody in the town knew who she was, she would have been despicable.

Robert Canfield:

Nobody respected her.

Austin Gardner:

Everybody looked down on her, trashed her. It was a bad reputation. She was on some list, she was on something I don't know what it was, but she was a sinner and when she knew that Jesus was at dinner in this Pharisee's house, the scripture says that she brings in an alabaster box and she stands at his feet and she's weeping. Now, when I think of that story, man, it's just such a like. That's a lot of that's a lot of courage. Yep, like you just interrupt.

Austin Gardner:

You crashed a party and she was hungry for some love. She was hungry for some love. She knew that there was something different about this man they called Jesus. She knew that, even though she had a reputation that people avoided her and people would like we don't go around these people, we don't let these people touch us. She was encouraged enough or had enough boldness enough, I guess you could say, faith, or enough love, that she walked into that room and the scripture says she was weeping and so there was an emotional response and the bible says that she began to wash his feet with tears. There was so much. Think about this as a preacher or somebody that you like to talk, right, I mean, we always have something to say in a conversation, down sit down meal we're going to, we're going to converse, we always have something to say, but this woman had nothing to say. And one one famous preacher said that. When that, when words fail, tears come, and everybody speaks, everybody understands, everybody understands, everybody understands the language. Which are tears, do they not?

Robert Canfield:

There is something that I don't know. Sometimes I find that very frustrating. My wife starts crying.

Austin Gardner:

Can we use our words? Go ahead, I'm sorry. Well, you know, something's bothering her whenever she's crying or something.

Robert Canfield:

My wife. It could be good or bad, she just likes to cry.

Austin Gardner:

Well, something's going on in the inside of this woman and she has so much tears which is impressive when you think of someone's face like the tears. She has so many tears coming out that it's actually washing the feet of Jesus. And then the Scripture says she takes her hair. And for those people that in my thoughts I think back to other Scriptures, how the hair was the glory of a woman and she takes something that was whatever she had, that glorious.

Robert Canfield:

The one glory maybe she had yeah.

Austin Gardner:

And she uses it at Jesus and she kisses his feet and then she anoints him with that ointment, that alabaster box, and this is going on. And then the Pharisee, the guy, the homeowner, the guy that the the over the party, he sees it and the scripture says that he says within himself that means he's talking to himself. He has that inner monologue, yeah, and he says this man, if he were a prophet he would have known who and what manner of woman this is that touches him, for she is a sinner. And so he, in his mind, he's going through this, this, this conversation I don't know if it's a conversation he's making this statement, he's watching and thinking about it. He's watching and he's talking to himself and he's like, if this man was a prophet, if he was somebody that was of God, he would know.

Austin Gardner:

If he really knew God, he would know that this is a sinner that's touched on. And the crazy thing that Luke brings up is that Jesus answers the man's thoughts.

Robert Canfield:

There you go, because God in human flesh, god in human flesh, knows exactly what they're thinking.

Austin Gardner:

He knows what everyone's thinking and he wasn't going to let that guy sit there in disbelief. He wasn't going to let that guy sit there and not know who he is and what love he's brought and what he's doing. Does that make sense? Sometimes, when we know that people are against us, we're like, okay, I'm done with that person, I'm not going to talk to them, they don't need my help. But Jesus knew what the Pharisee was, which goes back to the point we were talking about your podcast name right, followed by Mercy oh yeah.

Robert Canfield:

Mercy comes after the Pharisee. My grandson joked today, didn't he? Yeah, he did. He said that's all Granddaddy says every day.

Austin Gardner:

Followed by Mercy. That's a great thought to think of, that's a scriptural thought. And the mercy came after the guy that was having the wrong thinking. And he says to him. He answers this man who had this thought, that's against Jesus. He says I have something to say to you. And then the Pharisee says teacher, master. He says say on.

Austin Gardner:

And then Jesus goes into this story and he talks about a creditor that had two debtors and one owed 500 pence and the other was 50. And I don't, I don't get into all like how much, all but one owned like a year and a half or a half a year salary and one owned like less than a couple of weeks or something like that. And this creditor, he forgives both of them. And then Jesus asks the question. He doesn't make a statement, he's not browbeating this guy. He says tell me which of them loved the most, which one of these people, the one that owed 50 pence or the one that owed 500 pence, who loved the most? And Simon said I suppose that the person that he forgave the most. And Jesus says you have rightly judged person that he forgave the most. And Jesus says you have rightly judged Correct. You're correct, simon. And then he goes into the statement of like Simon, I entered your house and you didn't.

Robert Canfield:

You didn't do anything. He didn't do anything for me, which was not because Jesus was acting like he was somebody. It was custom in their homes to wash the feet, anoint the hair to help somebody feel refreshed and comfortable in their house.

Austin Gardner:

It would be like us having someone come in there and say can I take your jacket? You can go into this and get refreshed. Can I get you something to drink? Yeah, need a bathroom. Yeah, it's just hospitable.

Austin Gardner:

He said, simon, I come into your house and you offer me no water. Yep, you didn't even offer me water to wash my feet, he said. But this woman with her tears has ceased to wash my feet and you didn't give me a kiss when I came in. But this woman stopped. She hasn't stopped kissing my feet and she, you, didn't put any ointment on my head, but this woman anointed my feet, the lowest part of me, and she's a nasty as well. Yeah, and she's just.

Austin Gardner:

And he says this. He says, simon, I say to you he's talking to the pharisee her sins, which are many, they're taken care of. Yep, they're forgiven. Why? For she loved much. That's what he says in verse 47. He says, for I say unto her, or say unto thee, simon, her sins. He's talking to Simon talking about another person, this woman who's at his feet. He says Her sins, which are many, are forgiven For because she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven? Forgiven the same loveth little, he says to the woman, he says thy sins are forgiven. And everyone at that place that sat in the meat they're going to say who is it that can forgive sins? And jesus says to the woman this is very interesting. He said that she loved much. He said this thy faith hath saved thee. Go in peace. And so we're talking about like this faith and love, right, how like they go together. It's like they're glued together. You can't have faith and not love.

Robert Canfield:

You can't meet the God of love and not demonstrate the love right, and so like she realized that there was something different about this and not love.

Austin Gardner:

You can't meet the God of love and not demonstrate the love. Right, that's right. And so, like she realized that there was something different about this Jesus and it caused something totally different. She sees the love. I don't know why she was kissing his feet. It doesn't tell us other than she was loving.

Robert Canfield:

But she also has recognized that he is God in human flesh. She's come to the—.

Austin Gardner:

She does for other people. Yeah, this is not. She didn't do it for the Pharisee. Yeah, but she sees who Jesus is. She sees the God, the God of love, right, and she is expressing love. And Jesus says that love. It's just been motivated, it's been worked by because of faith.

Robert Canfield:

Yep. So the point being that faith and love are like maybe almost like, two faces of a coin, yeah, they're inseparable.

Austin Gardner:

Yeah, it's like when you meet the god of love, you know what you become. You'll have faith. Yeah, you have faith. You believe in him. And when you believe in him, you love. And you know what happens when you love him. You just don't love him. You love others.

Robert Canfield:

Yeah, I mean that's Well, that's the whole point. And so many Christians we've lost that Christianity today, especially American-made performance-based religion, is like we're like the judge. We're more like the Pharisees than the believers.

Austin Gardner:

We're sitting around our table and we're watching other people and we're comparing their acts with our acts, so I can feel a bit good about myself. And then, after we compare their acts with our acts, then we categorize them. This is a less person, this is a higher person, this is a person. That that's the Phariseeism, that's the religion aspect, that's the ugliness.

Robert Canfield:

I would like to take a little turn on that. You know we've got what 50 pence and 500 pence. You know, folks, as you listen, the idea is some have sinned a little and some have sinned a lot. Some owe a little and some owe a lot. But maybe I should remind you that everybody owes, everybody owes, that's everybody owes, everybody owes. That's the problem. Everybody owes, it's true. So the 50 guy owes and the 500 guy owes, they both owe and they couldn't pay and they couldn't pay.

Austin Gardner:

There is no way they can pay, and you?

Robert Canfield:

can't pay. Yes, god doesn't love you based on you. He loves you based on him. That's what I want you to remember. God doesn't love you based on you. He loves you based on him. That's what I want you to remember. God loves you because God is love and no one has ever loved God. That can't say what John says. The first time we love him because he first loved us. Go ahead.

Austin Gardner:

No, that's a great point. We think that if I have less sins, then God will love me more.

Robert Canfield:

Yeah, that's not true. And the whole point that you bring up, it's always about what I do.

Robert Canfield:

Exactly, and it's like if I'm a good church member, god loves me better. But the whole message is is God is love period. That's the period. That's it. God is love. So see, too much has been based on your performance and the fact is, maybe what you're living right now is too much on it. But if I dress right, talk right, walk right, if I do all these things right, then God will love me more. Not true, not possible. Let's think about it as a child. Do you love your children more because they can walk or they're learning to walk? Do you love your children more because they're aquatic traders and every parent listening is going? Well, you're ridiculous. Well, aren't you ridiculous? That's right, because you're basing God's love on your actions and that's the closest.

Austin Gardner:

That's the closest picture that we can give. Jesus said when he was here and I think it was in getting this messed up, I forget which passage he said this. He said which of you, when you have a child, when they ask for a piece of bread, are you going to give them a stone, and if they ask for a piece of fish, are they going to give them a serpent? And then he says if you, men who are evil, know how to give good things to your kids, how you, men who are evil, know how to give good things to your kids, how much more should your father in?

Robert Canfield:

heaven give them. How can you be a better father than the heavenly?

Austin Gardner:

father. That's his point. Like the closest thing that Jesus says you can get is like your kids. You're going to love your kids, you're going to provide for your kids, you're going to try to take care of your kids, you care about your kids.

Robert Canfield:

And so why does religion, performance-based religion? Why is it turned everything into what you do? It ought to be about what Jesus did for us. That's where the focus needs to be at. It's all on what you. So why do we worship? By the way, I know this podcast is going on. We'll end it and you can come back for more later, but uh, you know, the whole point is, we come to worship in church not to gain points, but to say, man, you are so good. I'm here to adore you and worship you because of who you are, I'm here to adore you.

Austin Gardner:

I'm here to love you. I'm here to learn more about your love, because you love me. Yeah, I'm here to learn more about that love you have for me, and I'm here to love those that you put in my life, that I care about, I'm not trying to gain your branding points here. No, it's a love fest, right? It's just like you come up there and it's just like I'm learning, I'm growing, I'm showing, I'm demonstrating, I'm just producing love.

Robert Canfield:

There ought not be any guilt or manipulation going on in church. It ought to be. We're here to talk about how our Father loves us and how we that were sinners and deserving of punishment have been freed and given eternal life. We're here to worship the God of heaven.

Austin Gardner:

We're here to worship and that worship is always demonstrated by acts. Yeah, that's true, it's always demonstrated. Faith always produces works, and the works is this woman was loving God in Luke 7. In Ephesians 1, verse 15, paul says about your faith in Christ Jesus and then your love towards the saints. That's right.

Robert Canfield:

When you have faith, you love your brothers.

Austin Gardner:

And 1 John makes that clear too. And Jesus states he's like the way you're going to determine who my disciples are. See how they treat the brother. That's true. Are they loving? Yeah, he's like the way you're going to determine who my disciples are. See how they treat the brother. That's true. Are they loving? Yeah, that's true, are they loving? And so that revolutionized my mind. It's been working on me.

Austin Gardner:

It's like every day we're going to grow in grace, every day we're going to learn more and every day I'm trying to ask myself Lord, am I loving people like I should?

Robert Canfield:

Am I loving you? You know it really sounds like you're struggling to do that. It's about you letting Jesus live his life in you. It says I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I. Christ lives in me In the life I live. I live in the faith of the Son of God. I let God do God in me, and God in me is going to love them, like God out of me loves me. I just got to step out of myself sometimes. That's right. Let God be God in you.

Austin Gardner:

Let us be blessings to others. That's what I need to worry about.

Robert Canfield:

Because God wants to love everybody and God wants to bless everybody. He does love everybody and he is blessing everybody and he does that. And and now you're the focus, for you're the point where, you're the light point where god says step out there, robert, step out there, awesome, because through you, I'm going to love everybody around you and like when you're saying that he does that even in the least little things, yeah, do you know?

Austin Gardner:

I mean like somebody, how you treat the waitress, even how you treat the waitress, even how you treat the waitress. I've seen Christians just say something that I was like. That meant a lot to me. I don't know if they realized what they were doing at the time. It might have been something small, it's not always a gift, but it's like someone I'm praying for. I really think about you. How's your family doing? How's your wife doing? Why would they care other than they have a god that lives in them? That's love, and they demonstrate love through us. And so I think christians oftentimes think that they have to do some big, huge religious act in order to do something that's favorable, but a lot of times it's just the love and others well, I tell you what.

Robert Canfield:

I hope that you have been listening in as we chat just two friends chatting about the love of God and our love and faith. Ephesians, chapter 1 and verse 15. And the truth is we are followed by mercy, Surely goodness and mercy does follow me, does pursue me, all the days of my life, and God is behind you right now, chasing you in front of you, leading you inside of you, living his life. God's doing the work and if you're not a believer yet, he's already doing all that for you. So I want to thank you for being with us today. I hope it has been a blessing to you and I hope you have gotten some value from it. If you have, I want to ask you to share it with others. I'm invited to be a part of Followed by Mercy and I thank you for the chance to talk.

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