One of the lovely things about
the call to believe is throughout the Scriptures. One
of the things I love so much about the Scriptures is that
we are taught things in in terms of just facts outlaid before
us. And then throughout the Scriptures
we have these remarkable pictures of what it is to believe. And
at the end of Luke chapter 7 there's this remarkable verse. The Lord
Jesus said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee, go in
peace. That's where I'd like us to finish
today. knowing that our faith has saved
us and that we can go in peace, go in peace into this world. Let's pray. Heavenly Father we
do pray that you might be the giver and we might be the receiver
of faith that comes from heaven. a faith that is sustained and
maintained by Yourself, our Father, faith that is fixed upon Your
dear and precious Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and faith that
is grounded and reassured in the blessed work of the Holy
Spirit, taking the things of the Lord Jesus Christ and revealing
them to us again and again and again. Heavenly Father, we once
again pray that we would just hear the words of God again,
and that you would be the one that teaches your people as you
promised from this passage of scripture. We pray in Jesus'
name, Amen. OK, so let's read from Luke chapter
7, verse 36. We'll read this story and then
we'll just look at it briefly. One of the Pharisees desired
him that he would eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's
house and sat down to meet. And behold, a woman in the city
which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meet in
the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment.
and 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 kissed his feet, and anointed them with ointment.
Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within
himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have
known who and what manner of woman this is that touches him,
for she is a sinner. And Jesus answering said unto
him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith,
Master, say on. There was a certain creditor
which had two debtors. The one owed 500 pence and the
other 50. And when they had nothing to
pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which
of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose
that he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast
rightly judged. And he turned to the woman and
said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house
and thou gavest me no water for my feet, but she has washed my
feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou
gavest me no kiss, but this woman, since the time I came in, hath
not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not
anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. 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. And he said unto her, Thy sins
are forgiven. And they that sat at meat with
him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins
also? And he said to the woman, Thy
faith has saved thee. Go in peace. Go in peace. What a glorious story. I'd like, if you have time and
opportunity this week, to read the earlier part of this chapter. It's a remarkable chapter of
Scripture, Luke chapter 7, and there are some lovely declarations.
It is the chapter which, that part of the chapter we'll look
at in a little while, Lord willing, possibly next week, because it
is the last words of the Lord Jesus to John the Baptist. We've
heard the last words of John the Baptist about the Lord Jesus,
but in Luke chapter 7 we have the last words of the Lord Jesus
to John the Baptist, and he speaks of preaching the gospel to the
poor, and he's declared in Luke 7.34 to be a friend of publicans
and sinners. And then he says that the harlots
and the others, they justified God, they declared God to be
right and just, being baptised with the baptism of John. But
here the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of all of this is invited
to a Pharisee's house. And it's remarkable, isn't it?
The Pharisee had no desire from what we read in the story to
honour the Lord Jesus Christ. It seems as if the Pharisee wanted
to have this well-known and popular miracle-working person in his
house for his own esteem. But the thing that's remarkable
is that the Lord Jesus went to the Pharisee's house And if the
Lord Jesus so readily goes to a Pharisee's house, why not ask
him into yours? Ask, ask and seek and you will
find. And he says, He says, Behold,
we are supposed to take note of this meeting. There's this
woman in the city, and that's not meaning that the woman had
a house in the city. I think it's far more in reference to
the fact that this woman lived in the city and lived off the
city and most likely was probably a harlot. But she was designated
a woman in the city which was a sinner. She was a sinner. And she had
it determined no matter what went on in the Pharisee's house
that she was going to go there and honour him. The Lord Jesus
Christ will be honoured by his people no matter what the world
does and no matter what the religious world does. He will be honoured
amongst his people and in the hearts of his people. And then
in verse 38 we see her repentance, don't we? She stood behind his
feet. What a remarkable bravery this
woman. She was very evidently a sinner. The Pharisee knew so,
everyone else knew so, she knew so, and yet she comes into this
house and she stands behind his feet in repentance. She was weeping. And there she was, honouring
the Lord. She washed his feet with her
tears. There she is honouring the Lord
with love. She kissed his feet. There she is worshipping the
Lord Jesus Christ. She anointed his feet. And there she is in humility,
she and her Lord. For her there was no one else
there, was there? It's just lovely, wasn't it?
And she wiped his feet with the hairs of her head. So obviously
she not only stood behind him, but she knelt down behind him. Verse 39, we need to be reminded
that what the Pharisee saw, he saw with the eyes of flesh, and
man looks at the outwards appearance and God looks at the hearts of
people. And the other thing we need to note out of this verse,
he spoke within himself. And here he was, because of the
Lord's association with this woman as a sinner, he was prepared
to doubt whether even the Lord Jesus Christ was a prophet. God looks at the heart. This
man spoke within himself, privately to himself, and the Lord heard
and knew every word intimately, and He does with all of humanity
at this moment now, always. We have reason always. If we
know anything of our hearts which God declares to be deceitfully
wicked and beyond cure, we have every need always to come, as
this woman did, to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and say,
You know what's going on. You know more about me than I
know about myself. Your thoughts are not hidden
from God. If you are a child of God, a
saved child of God, you'll rejoice to think that He knows all of
our thoughts, that nothing is hidden from Him with whom we
must do. Also, there is just a remarkable
picture of what it is in salvation when holiness touches a sinner. When holiness meets with a sinner
there are two outcomes always. One is that there is cleansing.
There is complete and utter cleansing. And the other one is catastrophe.
There's either cleansing or catastrophe when holiness meets a sinner.
And then he gives this parable in verse 40. He speaks to him. Verse 41. And a certain creditor
which had two debtors, two debtors, who one owed 500 pence and the
other 50, and when they had nothing to pay, nothing to pay. We have a debt, brothers and
sisters, to God of all sorts. And we have nothing to pay, nothing
to pay. We can't pay him with our obedience,
we can't pay him with our works, we can't pay him in any way at
all. She paid him. What's the payment,
isn't it? He accepted hers. But I love what it says, when
they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. To frankly
forgive means He showed grace. That's what it means. That's
what it is to be gracious, isn't it? For Him to be gracious to
us. He frankly forgave them both. How much of their debt? He forgave them all of it. He
forgave them all of it. That's what it is. That's what
it is to be forgiven. That's what it is to be a recipient
of grace. And tell me, therefore, which
one of them will love him most? See, love is the fruit of forgiveness. Love is the fruit of a union
with God. Love is the fruit of being washed
clean by him. I do love Jeremiah 31 verse 34. They shall no more teach every
man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the
Lord. For they shall all know me, from
the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. And
he tells us why you'll know him. For I will forgive their iniquity,
and I will remember their sin no more. You'll know him. You'll know
him as he is when your sins have been frankly forgiven. And love
is the fruit of forgiveness. I've got to remind you again
and again that legalism never ever produces love. Legalism
never produces love. There is no love in legalism.
All legalism ever does is look at the flesh and look again at
the flesh and look at the flesh of other men. Simon was right. Simon could
judge these things. And he said, I suppose that he
to whom he forgave most, and he said unto him, thou hast judged
rightly. And I love what happened. Just picture yourself in this
room. There are all these Pharisees and the Lord Jesus Christ, and
they're lying down. They used to lie down around the table.
And Simon, no doubt, had as many of his friends there as he possibly
could have, because in verse 49, it says that there were a
crowd of them there. They that sat at meat with him began to
say within themselves, And Simon, of course, had the Lord Jesus
there for his own benefit, to grow in the esteem of all of
these others. But look at what the Lord does.
This woman's come in. She's an embarrassment to Simon. She's an embarrassment to all
of those other Pharisees there. And she comes to the guest of
honour and stands behind him and performs this remarkable
duty in the midst of all of them. And listen to what happens in
verse 44. And he turned to the woman. Please remember that in this
whole story, as much as she is criticised by all and sundry
in this room, and no doubt deeply aware of her own uncleanliness
in their sight, the Lord Jesus Christ speaks of her and speaks
to her. And she doesn't have to say a
word. She doesn't have to say a single word. One of the points
of it is that the Lord Jesus Christ will defend himself. and
defend his own all the time. Nowhere in the parables, nowhere
in the gospel accounts is the Lord Jesus ever required of his,
ever requires his people to stand up and defend them. Every time
there's a situation, he stands between them and their enemies
and he takes over. He's doing it right now all the
time, brothers and sisters. He turned to the woman and he
said to Simon, you see this woman, we're supposed to behold this
woman. You see this woman. I entered into thine house, and
thou gavest me no water for my feet." Even the most menial things
that were done as a courtesy to anyone that walked those dusty
streets of Israel in those days, these were just common courtesies
of any guest. All the other guests at the meal
would have received all of these things. Thou gavest me no water for my
feet, but she has washed my feet with tears and wiped them with
the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss, but this
woman since the time I came in has not ceased to kiss my feet. My head thou didst not anoint,
but this woman has anointed my feet with ointment. I say unto you, Simon, her sins
which are many. The Lord Jesus Christ owned the
fact that she was a sinner. She owned the fact that she was
a sinner. The Pharisees owned the fact that she was a sinner.
Everyone knew that she was a sinner. It's good for us to come to the
Lord as sinners, isn't it? Her sins, which are many, are
forgiven. For she loved much, but to whom
little is forgiven, the same loveth little. I want to remind you again and
again, brothers and sisters, there are no little sins. There
is no such thing as a little sin. There are never few sins. James 2.10 says that if you break
one law, you have broken all of the law of God in its totality. It is a package. You can't divide
it up and say, well, I can keep these ones and others. The rich
young man thought he could do that. The Lord showed him what
was in his heart. And the sins are sins that are
ever present with us. There are no little sins. And he said unto her, thy sins
are forgiven. It's the best news she'd ever
heard in all of her life, wasn't it? Your sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. That's
his first word to her, your sins are forgiven. And they ask a question for which
she alone knows the answer. Who is this? Who is this, they
ask. They haven't got a clue who he
is. Simon thought he might have been a prophet, but the way he
behaves with this woman, he may not even be considered to be
worthy of even that title. They had no idea who he was and
who he is, but she did. It's only sinners, it's only
forgiven sinners who know who the Lord Jesus Christ is. And
he says, Thy faith has saved thee, go in peace. You see, faith
is the gift of God. If it's the gift of God, it's
the possession of God's people. It's her faith. But God gets
all the glory for it. You can't imagine this woman
going home that night to her friends and family, wherever
they might have been, and saying, I've been saved by my faith.
What is she go home talking about? If you've been saved and the
faith is yours, what do you talk about? You don't talk about your
faith and what you've done. You talk about the Lord Jesus
Christ and what He's done. It's her faith. It's hers as
a possession, as a gift. It's hers as a word from God
to her particularly, and God gets all the glory. What is required
in salvation, what is required for salvation, God gives. And
what God gives, He blesses. He blesses all that He gives,
doesn't He? And what He gives becomes the possession of the
recipient. He is sent, our Lord Jesus Christ,
and he comes to find his lost sheep, and he puts his lost sheep
on his shoulder, and he brings it home with rejoicing, and then
he says, Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Who found
Saul of Tarsus? Was Saul of Tarsus looking for
God? He thought he already knew him. He comes, he does, to all
of his own, he comes, and he carries his home. Salvation is
a response to a command. It's not a choice, is it? God
says believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's a command, and thou shalt be saved. And people want to
say, well Joshua said you choose yourself these days. People misunderstand. They just don't read what Joshua
said. We have our theology based on what we think rather than
what God actually really said. When he says, you choose, if
it seemed evil unto you to serve the Lord, you choose you this
day whom you shall serve. Listen to the choice that they
had. Whether the gods with your father serve which are on the
other side of the flood, there are a bunch of gods on that side
of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you
live on this side of the flood. You see, the choice was between
one set of idolatrous gods and another set of idolatrous gods.
The choice wasn't between the true and living God and these
other ones. And Joshua speaks as the Lord Jesus Christ here,
doesn't he? But as for me in my house, all of the Lord Jesus
Christ's house, we will serve the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. She came and she stood behind
him. She took a place of humility
and endowed with all of her substance and she's committed all of herself
into his hands. See, true faith wants him honoured. And we'll long for him to be
honoured when all of the religious world want to use him for their
ends. The Lord Jesus Christ will not
be used in that way. He won't be abused. He will be
honoured amongst his people. See, her faith, her faith which
saved her, was completely unrecognised and completely misunderstood
by all those that didn't have her faith. It's always that way
with faith. It's a mystery, isn't it, to
the world? Our love for the Lord Jesus Christ, our trust and our
reliance on Him. It's foolishness to the world,
and it's essential to life for us. So they saw Him as a prophet. She saw Him as a saviour. It's
called worship. To love Him is to worship Him. She came as a sinner. She bowed
at His feet and she gave all to Him. She honoured Him before
she had received a word from Him. She came to 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. and she found forgiveness at
his feet." Don Fortner wrote that, and it's in your bulletin,
so you can take it home and read it again and again and again. Simon couldn't receive what the
children of God freely receive. Simon had no desire in his heart
to worship Him, no desire in his heart to honour Him. You must have life from God to
see and to enter. And she touched him. She touched
him. When the Lord Jesus Christ touched
the leper, what happens? Healed completely. And the Lord Jesus Christ comes
and touches one of His own. All is forgiven, completely,
perfectly, forever. So why did she come? Why did
she come at great embarrassment to herself? Why did she come
to a place where she was going to be mocked by every single
person in that house? She had nowhere else to go. She
had nowhere else to go. She had no desire to be anywhere
else. He was there. And she'd heard
the stories, hadn't she? This man receives sinners. This
man receives sinners. She, like all of God's children,
we know our unworthiness, but we're coming. Our sinfulness
is plain for all to see, but we're coming. We're coming. like Jacob when he fought with
the Lord Jesus Christ by the river Jabbok. He wouldn't let
him go until he blessed him. He wouldn't let him go. True
faith loves much because so much is forgiven. And so much is forgiven
at such a cost. Why was so much of her attention
to his feet? Those feet that were going to
be bruised in the crushing of Satan's head. Those feet that
walked the paths that we walk in this world. See, faith is
evidenced by love. And love is exclusive. And love
is particular. And love has a focus on one. True faith pleases God. Hebrews 11.6. It pleases God.
It pleases God. But without faith it is impossible,
Hebrews 11.6, to please him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them that
diligently seek him. The Lord speaks to us, doesn't
he? He says, are you of little faith? And the disciples cry
out, don't they? I'm so pleased these things are
written in the scriptures, aren't they? Lord, I believe. Lord,
I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. See,
faith that unites us to Christ pleases God because God is pleased
with his Son and all that he's done. The eye of faith just looks
to the Lord Jesus Christ. It looks and lives. It looks
and is saved. See, faith's object was all to
her. And that's all that matters,
isn't it? She had eyes for him. She had eyes for him. The creditor frankly forgave. He showed grace. I've already
read to you Romans 10, and it was Simon's problem. He was going
about to establish his own righteousness, and he thought even having the
Lord Jesus Christ in his house might give him some esteem in
the eyes of people that he has this famous person with him. But he had no desire to honour
him for himself and for who he was. Forgiveness is the cause
of love, and you can see by her love that she'd been forgiven
much. Don't you love what the Lord
said to her? Thy faith has saved thee. Go in peace. Go in peace. I do love the story
of Naaman in the Old Testament. That's the other time in the
Scriptures where that word, go in peace, is used. Naaman came
like this woman, didn't he? He had nowhere else to go. There
was one person that heals lepers like him. And the only way he
was going to be healed was going to be humbled. He was humbled
to be healed. And Naaman was concerned about
how now does he live a life in devotion to the Lord when he
has to go back and continue his service with that king and be
taken to those temples. And I just love what Elisha says
to him, go in peace, go in peace. If the Lord's forgiven, he's
forgiven everything. The blood of the cross brings
peace, peace with God and peace with each other. He is our peace. He is our peace. The world asks,
who is this? The religious world guesses at
who is this and makes stabs at it. The forgiven sinner. at the feet of the Lord Jesus
Christ knows Him as a Saviour. How must she have felt when just
a few years later those feet were nailed to Calvary's cross
and the religious world continued its mockery of Him? May God give us the grace to
stand in love and faith in this world and to hear the Saviour
say, your sins are forgiven, go in peace. Let's pray. Our
Heavenly Father we pray that you might write those words on
our hearts, and they might be true because they are written
in the blood of your Son, that we, like that woman, might come,
come acknowledging what we are, Heavenly Father, knowing that
the world knows what we are, but coming nonetheless, and coming
to the Lord Jesus Christ in worship, in humility, coming to the one
place where sinners can find peace and rest in this world.
Oh, our Father, we pray that you would cause us to love much
because this side of the cross we see the extraordinary cost
and the depth of that amazing love of your Son. Oh, our Father,
we pray that you might bless us as you blessed this woman.
And then we might, in the midst of all of the trials of this
world and the trials that we bring upon ourselves, Heavenly
Father, we might hear from You again and again and again. Go
in peace. Thy sins are forgiven. Bless
Your Word to our hearts, Heavenly Father, and cause us to take
these elements that remind us of our Lord Jesus Christ. acknowledging who he is and what
he has done. We pray in his name. Amen.