I'm just so thankful to our great
and glorious God that in his wonderful providence and mercy
and love he's brought me back to be with you all again. We
just love you guys in Australia. We love the gospel that comes
to us. We love the sweetness of it.
And we love the fact that from a distance we have great and
glorious fellowship. One day that distance will be
very, very, very, very short indeed. And the communion that
the saints have will be an everlasting and eternal one. And it'll be
a communion in love. Communion in love. Our God is
a God of love and a God of great grace. And I love to think of
how absolutely sovereign and powerful and righteous our God
is. We have this story because he's
the one who came. And our God doesn't change. He's doing the same today. He's doing the same today, isn't
he? I'm the same yesterday, today and forever. And so this is one
of those stories that is just so, I don't know, it sort of
captivated me last year and I just kept thinking about it and speaking
on it and reminding people of it. And once again, I have the
opportunity. I pray for us to go and just
look simply at this story of how the Lord Jesus Christ loved
one of his bride and brought her to himself. I'm sure you
know Jeremiah 31 verse 3 very well. It's a glorious, glorious
description of our God. It's a glorious description of
our God. I must keep reminding myself that our God is a triumphant
God. Listen to this triumph here.
Jeremiah 31 verse 3. The Lord hath appeared of old
unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. I have loved thee everlastingly. When did his love begin? It has
no beginning. When does it ever change? It
has no change. Therefore, I've loved thee with
an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. So this is a glorious picture
we have before us in Luke chapter seven of this woman being drawn
into the arms and into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so in this story, we just got a few things that I want to deal
with simply, but I'd love for us to go back out into this world
for this week and dealing with all the things that lie before
all of us really and knowing the words that he said to her,
thy sins are forgiven thee, thy faith has saved thee, go in peace. Oh, they're sweet words, aren't
they? If that's the way we finish our time here this evening and
you go out into this world looking and rejoicing in the peace of
our great God and Saviour, then He will have done all that I've
asked Him to do. And so, here we have in this
passage, we have a remarkable invitation and a remarkable acceptance
of that invitation. We have amazing grace displayed
in amazing love. we have the sad ignorance of
this this pharisee and we have revealed to us the source of
true love and we have a description of the acts of love to the Lord
Jesus Christ and we love him because he first loved us we've
got to remember that God is the source of absolutely everything
all of the time And we have, at the end of it,
we have true love's reward. So here we have this remarkable
invitation. Why would the Pharisee want to
invite the Lord Jesus Christ to his house when all he wanted
to do was to mock him? And why did the Lord Jesus Christ
accept the invitation? There's only one reason that
I can think of. It's because of a woman. He comes
for a particular bride, doesn't he? He comes for her. This is
all about him, isn't it? All about his glory, but all
about his work in her life. Drawing her to him and drawing
her in love to him and that love being a mutual love and drawing
her to touch him. Isn't it amazing that you could
touch the Lord Jesus Christ and you were touching God Almighty. And he says, after that touch,
you go in peace. Your faith has saved you. The
Pharisees saw themselves, their name means separated ones. They'd
separated themselves from the filth of this world, and they
separated themselves from the filth of religion, and they'd
made themselves so separated. They thought that their religious
righteousness separated them from the pollution of sinners,
like this particular woman. There is a difference that God
makes. We are separated ones. We are set apart, aren't we?
But the big difference is who does the setting apart? If man
does the setting apart, all you end up with is religion. And
all you end up with in religion is self-righteousness and legalism.
And always where there is legalism, there is no love. Never is there
love where there is legalism. So he, this remarkable invitation
is given and this remarkable invitation is accepted. He's
prepared to go up to a place where he'll be humiliated before
that man. And he goes there as he did in
all of his going and all of his coming from heaven. He came to
be humbled, but he came to be humbled in his humility. His
people are saved. And here we see this amazing
grace displayed in this woman's love. And behold, a woman in
the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat
at meat at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster box
of ointment. We've got to keep remembering
in all these stories, he came to her first. And she heard words
of grace and love. She heard words that a sinner
like her could be loved and accepted by this God Almighty. And she came and she brought
that alabaster box of ointment. I love to think of that wonderful
story of Mary and the ointment in John chapter 12, isn't it? She broke an alabaster box of
ointment. Those alabaster boxes were incredibly expensive. Some
people say that it could be 30 or 40 or $50,000, the ointment. she brought what was precious
and I love the fact that Mary broke the alabaster box and where
God meets with his bride Don't you love the fact that the whole
house is full of the aroma of Christ and him crucified? That's
what we want, Gabe, isn't it? We want this house. We want the
house wherever we meet, wherever the Lord brings the gospel and
inspires his people in love for him, the aroma fills the house. And it didn't matter whether
you're in the kitchen cooking or somewhere else in that house,
the aroma filled the house. The aroma of Christ crucified. And she stood at his feet behind
him weeping and began to wash his feet with tears and did wipe
them with the hairs of her head. And she kissed his feet and anointed
them with ointment. He says, behold. He's telling us that we need
to take special note of this story. This is the story of the
bride being brought into the presence of her husband. She was a notorious sinner, and
we can guess what that is. But the Pharisees were very particular
at discovering who sinners were. And they were, in their self-righteousness,
able to look down their noses at anyone. But this was a particularly
notorious sinner. We are all notorious sinners,
even if we don't see them, even if other people don't see. God
looks at our hearts. But she'd heard the message,
the Lord Jesus Christ had come to where she was. Don't you love
that? He comes to where we are. He
came in love and he came and she heard words of grace and
mercy and acceptance. And she knew that he was at that
Pharisee's house, and so she bought what was most precious
to her. And she came, she came, she came
to him. Draw me, says the Shulamite in
Song of Solomon, you draw me and we will run after you. If
he draws us, we'll be coming to him. She brought what was
precious and expensive. She came to anoint him. He is
the anointed one, the Christ. She came to anoint him. She came
behind him in humility. Just like John the Baptist, I'm
not worthy to reach down and undo this man's shoelaces. She stood at those feet which
brought the gospel to her. And she came weeping, and I wonder
whether because she brought this alabaster box and because she'd
come to him with it, she was weeping tears of joy or tears
of thankfulness or tears of repentance. They're all mixed together, aren't
they? Again and again, they're all mixed together. I get accused of not being sufficiently
emotional and I try and hide my emotions so people are just
hearing what God says. And often I come home and talk
to my wife and say, I was just sort of so caught up about all
of that and she said, I didn't see a thing. But I love the fact
that we have, in our dealings with our great God, we have a
God who weeps and he brings his people to weep. And he exposes
and reveals himself to us. And he's very happy for us to
be revealed in his presence. He sees absolutely everything.
We'll see that in a minute. She came to serve, to wash his
feet. She came in love, she kissed
his feet. She came to worship and bow. She touched him and
he touched her. Don't you love the fact that
when he touches a sinner, when he touches a leper, One of two
things must happen, mustn't it? Either he who is holy is defiled,
or the one who is touched is perfectly holy. He's touched with the feelings
of our infirmities. He comes. And he draws this love
out of her. She came and she took what was
naturally her glory, her hair, and she brought that low to his
feet and anointed them. And here we have an example of
just sad ignorance. The Pharisee spake within himself. 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. How sad, isn't it? How sad to
have that expressed. How thankful we ought to be that
God sees everything in us all of the time. I'm thankful that
God sees everything in me. Because it means that I can go
to him and just say, this is what I am. This is what I am. We're not in the business of
playing games with God. We're not in the business of
encouraging people to play games with God. God sees into the heart. He saw the wickedness and the
hatred of this man. Also, it is just the reality,
isn't it, that when God comes near and he comes near in the
preaching of the gospel, there are only ever two responses ultimately,
aren't there? When holiness comes close to
a sinner, There's never nothing happening. There is either cleansing
or catastrophe. There is purification or perdition. There is mercy or misery. There is salvation or sadness. As you read through the gospels,
you see again and again, the Lord made, there's a division
among the people because of him, isn't there? And here we have
a division among the people because of him. The gospel either makes
people mad or makes them glad. It makes them bow or it hardens
them. And the Lord speaks to Simon.
He speaks in rebuke and we just have to... leave it in the Lord's
hands to do with what his rebukes he has designed them for, isn't
it? But he speaks to Simon and he rebukes Simon, doesn't he?
But he tells him this story. And the story reveals the source
of true love. A certain creditor had two debtors. One owed 500 pence and the other
50. And the essence of the story
is They had nothing to pay. They have nothing to pay. And
he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore which of them
will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose
he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, thou hast
judged rightly. These Pharisees will be condemned
by their own words at the end of the day. Nothing to pay. What's the debt we owe to God?
It's a simple debt, isn't it? We owe God absolute perfect holiness. From conception to death, we
owe God perfect love for him. We owe to God perfect love to
our neighbour. The gospel is simple, isn't it?
That's what we owe God. That is the debt, isn't it? And
any lessening of that debt is to diminish the glory of God
and the holiness of God and the righteousness of God. We need to be as holy as God
is to be in God's presence. We have a debt. The debt is enormous. And we have nothing to pay. And
we have a really serious problem because in the garden when we
fell in Adam, We sinned, we became sinners in Adam. So we have a
problem that reaches way beyond my life. In fact, in reality,
it does reach to all of my life because that's where my life
began. We're born into this world, we were shaped in iniquity. We
come forth from our mother's womb speaking lies. You don't
have to train anyone to be a sinner. At all, we spend our lives as
parents trying to make our children not to be outward sinners. He frankly forgave them both. He showed grace to both of them. The Lord Jesus Christ was denied
even the common courtesies of the day in this person who thought
that he was worshipping God and thought that he was honouring
God and thought that he was exposing in some way the Lord Jesus Christ
as someone who wasn't a prophet of God. And true love acts, and
the Lord Jesus Christ commends. Just put yourself in this picture.
There they are lying there, and this woman's behind. And he turned
to the woman. This is his first acknowledgement
of her. And he turns to the woman, verse
44, and says, seest thou this woman? I entered into thy house,
and they gave me no water for my feet. She has washed my feet
with tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. Thou gavest
me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came in has not ceased
to kiss my feet. With my head with oil thou didst
not anoint, but this woman has anointed my feet with ointment.
Therefore, wherefore, I say unto thee, her sins, which are many,
are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven,
the same loveth little. We've been forgiven much, brothers
and sisters in Christ. We've been forgiven so much.
So much love from him. Don't you love the fact that
we love him because he first loved us? Don't you love the
fact that all of our love for him finds its source in him? And he gets all the glory for
it, and we get all of the delight in loving him, knowing that he
has to work that love in our hearts. Great love. She loved much, as
said, she loved greatly. She loved greatly. And then he
speaks these wonderful words to her at the close of this glorious,
glorious event. He said unto her, these are his
first words to her, thy sins are forgiven. Thy sins are forgiven. And this brings out the great
question, isn't it? Who is this that forgiveth sins
also? Who is this man? Who is this
man who could be humbled in the presence of a Pharisee? Who is
this man that came to this earth and was so much like a man that
you couldn't possibly imagine that he was God Almighty? And
he was at times so much like God Almighty you could hardly
imagine him to be a man. And yet he is one in two, isn't
he? He's the two in the one, our
great God and Saviour. It's a great question, isn't
it? Who is this? Who is this man? The answer to that question is
a great answer, isn't it? And she's declaring it in her
anointing of him. He's the anointed one. He's the
anointed king. He comes as a king. And in his role as a king, he's
done exactly what he's done in all of this. This is the story
of a king's actions, isn't it? Just as the story of us meeting
and the story of you guys meeting, the story of God saving his people
and gathering his people and causing his people to come and
to rejoice and to love the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
the acts of a king. And our king's doing exactly
the same now as he did all those years ago. He doesn't change. He has no reason to change. We
have a great and sovereign and glorious God. There is not a
thing that wriggles in this universe that doesn't wriggle exactly
as he makes it wriggle. All things are well in the great
kingdom of God. When this king is on the throne,
what a king to have. What a king to have. He is our
king whether you acknowledge him or not as your king, he is
your king. But to have him as a king and to be able to come
into his presence and to touch him and to declare him anointed.
And that's what we do in the preaching of the gospel. He's
the anointed king, isn't he? He's the anointed priest. He's
the anointed prophet. He brings the word of God to
us. He is the word of God itself. He reveals and manifests God
in such a way that he creates faith and he creates repentance.
He grants repentance. This is all of his work of grace
in the life of this dear lady, our sister. Who is this that
forgiveth sins also? He's the anointed priest. Who
is this that forgiveth sins also? They acknowledge they knew that
only God could forgive sins. He's declaring himself very simply
to us and to this lady that I am God Almighty and I've come here
to forgive the sins. You'll call his name Jesus because
he will save all his people from
their sins. He'll redeem them with his blood.
He'll buy them back. Will he get what he paid for?
Or is he trying and failing? He gets them all, doesn't he?
And this is how he gets them. He gives faith, he grants faith,
and he gives faith. And then he rewards faith, and
he says to the faithful servant, well done, good and faithful
servant. Isn't it amazing? He says, thy faith has saved
thee. If God has given you faith, it's
your faith. Everything God gives is the possession
of the one he gives it to. Otherwise, he hasn't given it.
Faith is the gift of God, isn't it? It's not of ourselves. It's
not of ourselves. It's by him do we believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives it all. What he gives,
he blesses. And he blesses what he gives.
And everything he gives becomes the possession of the recipient. She came to where he was. She came to a place where he
was rejected by men and despised by this man. She came to that
very place of his humility. She came into his presence and
she acknowledged who he was. True faith and true love wants
him honoured where the religious world just uses his name for
their own ends, don't they? We want him honoured. We want
to see him high and lifted up. We know that when he's high and
lifted up, he'll draw all people to himself. He comes as the anointed
king, the anointed prophet. He comes as the absolute sovereign
God almighty. Her faith, like the faith of
so many of God's children, is completely unrecognised and completely
misunderstood by those who didn't have faith. Her love for him
is unrecognised. His love for her is unknown.
Don't you love the fact that there is this secret perfect
communion between God and his children? And God's children
come into his presence, like this lady did, our sister. She
came as a sinner. That's how you come, just a sinner. She came as someone with nothing
to pay, just a sinner. She bowed at his feet, giving
all to him. She honoured him before she'd
received a word of promise from him. He's worthy of honour, whether
we receive it, anything or not. She came at his feet, in faith. She stood at his feet in hope. She wept at his feet in brokenness. She washed his feet in reverence. She wiped his feet in submission. She kissed his feet in affection. She anointed his feet in consecration. She found forgiveness at his
feet. Don't you love the fact that when he rose from the dead,
he showed them his hands and his feet? And Mary, you've just
looked at it at the end of Matthew's gospel. Where did Mary, what
did Mary do? She held on to his feet. Those
feet that brought the glorious good news. She found forgiveness
at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. kiss the sun. Where do we kiss the sun? At
his feet. It's a lovely, lovely picture
and I pray that the Lord will draw us, as he drew this lady,
will draw us into his presence. He'll continually draw us with
his love. He'll continually cause us to
come again and again and again. And whether we hear those words,
as verbal words as she did, which has come because there's only
one place where those words are ever uttered, at his feet and
in his presence. What a glorious God we have.
He's touched with the feelings of our infirmities. He knows
exactly what we are. He knows our frame. He knows
we are but dust. love. We have a God who loves,
brothers and sisters. We have a God who loves and God
who draws. We have a God who grants faith
and grants love. What a great saviour we have. Why would you want to talk about
anything else? Thank you. Thank you so much for having
me. It's been a delight to be here and a delight to talk together
about our saviour. Thank you. May he continue to
bless his word to your heart and may he just continue to do
the drawing and you to hear the sweet words of consolation. Thank
you. Thank you all.