It's good to remind ourselves that
when Luke wrote these two books, he wrote one, he wrote them both.
to a man called Theophilus, it says in Luke chapter one, he
says, in as much as many have taken in hand to set in order
a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us,
just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers
of the word delivered did them to us. It seemed good to me also,
having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first,
to write an orderly account of our most excellent Theophilus. writes the same man, he said,
the former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began to do
and to teach. Here in this remarkable story
before us, we actually have another one of these accounts that God
the Holy Spirit had caused Paul to write to Theophilus. And maybe they were both written
as some believe. They were written as a defense
before the courts of Rome for Paul. Both Luke and Acts are
about the size of a scroll. And it's really good to remember
too that much of Acts is a history and then somewhere in around
chapter 20 or 21 of Acts, and I did have it a little while
ago and I'm not going to go looking for it now, but if you look again
you'll see that Paul talks about what happened to Paul and to
Peter and to other people and then about in Acts 20 or 21,
he says, now we, and the rest of Acts is we, we, we. It's Paul
Luke writing as an eyewitness. He's actually gathered these
accounts together. The reason I say that is that
it's my contention, and I think it's really, really clear from
the Scriptures, that when these men were putting down these Gospel
accounts, they were writing in the context of the Church having
gone through the shocking problems at Galatia, the awful things
that happened in Corinth. And they write again and again
to show us that it is the Gospel that is the power of God unto
salvation. And to turn back to law-keeping,
to turn back to the law-keeping self-righteousness of the Pharisees
is a dangerous, dangerous thing. And again and again we see in
these accounts of how when the Lord Jesus comes into a situation
He exposes people. He exposes their hearts. And it's the prayer of every
person who stands behind one of these pulpits and speaks in
God's name to people. The one prayer is that God will
come. In Luke chapter 7 at the end
of the story of the raising of the young man in Nain. They glorified God saying a great
prophet has risen up among us and God has visited his people. May God visit us this morning. And as Luke 7 goes on, we actually
have the situation of John the Baptist in prison, probably not
far from being executed by Herod. And the disciples of John are
sent to the Lord Jesus. And I do believe that they weren't
sent by John because John had any doubt about the Lord Jesus. I do believe that they were sent
that they might go and give their allegiance to Jesus and look
to Him and see Him. I think John didn't have doubts
in prison. He was a man who was full of
the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. He sent these disciples
who were so loyal to Him to a place where they would find peace and
comfort. I thought we might just read
on from verse 22 of Luke 7. We'll read down to verse 50.
We'll spend our time looking at these last 10 verses or so. Then Jesus answered and said
unto them, Go your way and tell John what things you have seen
and heard, how the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are
cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and to the poor
the gospel is preached. Blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me. And when the messengers of John
were departed, he began to speak to the people concerning John.
What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the
wind. But what went ye out to see? A man clothed in soft raiment,
behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled and live delicately
are in king's court. But what went ye out to see?
A prophet, yes, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet.
This is he of whom it is written, behold, I send my messenger before
thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. For I say
unto you, among those that are born of women, there is not a
greater prophet than John the Baptist. But he that is least
in the kingdom of God is greater than he. And all the people that
heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized
with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and the lawyers
rejected the counsel of God against themselves, not being baptized
of Him. And the Lord said, Whereunto
shall I liken the men of this generation? And to what are they
like? They are like unto children sitting
in the marketplace, calling one to another and saying, we have
piped for you, and you have not danced. We have mourned to you,
and you have not wept. For John the Baptist came neither
eating bread nor drinking wine. And you say, he has a devil. The Son of Man has come eating
and drinking. And you say, behold, a gluttonous
man and a wine-bibber. a friend of publicans and sinners,
but wisdom is justified by her children. Jesus is the wisdom
of God. and his activities are justified
by what he does and what happens to all the children. And let's just read this story
of wisdom being justified and people justifying God. And one of the Pharisees desired
him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's
house and sent 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, she 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 the ointment.
Now when the Pharisee, which had bidden him, saw it, he spake
within himself, and said, This man, if he were a prophet, would
have known who and what manner of woman this is that touched
him, for she is a sinner. And Jesus answering said unto
him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto you. And he says, Master,
say on. There was a certain creditor
which had two debtors. 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, See this woman, Simon. 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 has not ceased to kiss my feet.
My head with oil thou didst not anoint. But this woman has anointed
my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto you, 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 meet 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." What a beautiful
picture of wisdom justified by all of her children. Spurgeon was once asked, is it
your sins that keep people out of heaven? And he answered very
quickly and very correctly, no, it's not your sins which keep
you out of heaven, it's your righteousnesses that keep you
out of heaven. People sit on a throne that they
were given by their master, Satan. And while ever they sit on that
throne, while ever they sit on that throne, They will feel in
their hearts that they are like God. And like this Pharisee,
they will be the ones that know and judge good and evil. How very, very different it is
and how wonderful it is to see the way the Lord dethrones us. What a wonderful thing to be
cast down from that throne that we sit on. A throne that we have
no right to whatsoever. Let's look briefly at this beautiful,
beautiful picture. This beautiful picture of a sinner. This beautiful picture of the
Lord Jesus revealing himself and His saving ways, and being
that one that divides humanity, wrapped up in these two people,
is all of Adam's race, every single last one of them. The Pharisee, no doubt having
heard of these remarkable things in verse 36, sought outwardly
to honour the Lord Jesus. And what is remarkable is that
the Lord Jesus came to his house. The Pharisee desired that he
would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's
house and sat down at the meal with the Pharisee. And here in
verse 37, we have this beautiful picture of this woman. Why did
he go to the Pharisee's house? Why did he go there? Why did
he go to the well in Samaria? Why did he just happen to be
outside the city of Nain at the ceremony? Why did he happen to
cross your path at a time that you wouldn't have chosen, but
a time that he calls the time of love, the time of his love? He says in verse 37, it says,
Behold, a woman of the city which was a sinner. And the meaning
behind the word is that behold, a woman in the city who was a
whore, a prostitute is what she was. She was a notorious woman
in this city. But this remarkable woman is
led by God in this day to do some amazing things. She came
to where Jesus was. And she who was a notorious sinner
comes with a box, an alabaster box of ointment. It's just a
stone box. that preserved this special ointment,
ointment that she may have used to make herself more attractive,
but the most valuable thing that she had. And she brings it to Jesus. Verse 38, she stood
at his feet behind him. You see, they sat down in like
an oval shape with their elbows leaning on a cushion and the
food in the middle so they could reach with their right hand and
take the food. So the place behind them is the
place of the servants, the servants operated around the outside. So we have a picture of a wealthy
Pharisee. A man clothed, as verse 25 says,
in soft raiment and living delicately and sitting there like a king
in his court. And he had a trophy guest this
night, that he had another guest in there who would have absolutely
horrified him. You see, for the Pharisee to
allow this woman to even touch him with her cloth was for him
to be defiled and to need cleansing. He would have had nothing whatsoever
to do with her. If he saw her on the street,
the Pharisees were obligated to go and cross the street and
walk as far away from her as they possibly could. But she
stood, this lady, she stood there in this room. You see, The thing
that's remarkable, isn't it, is that there she came to the
one place in that city where she was most likely to be judged
and had been judged most harshly. You see, she's an exposed sinner. The desire to come to the Lord
Jesus will not allow her to even be troubled about the shame that
her presence there brings upon her. And she took the place of
a servant. She was in an exposed place,
and she took the place of the servant, knowing what the Pharisees
thought of her from daily experience, and knowing what the Pharisees'
friends sort of thought of her. She stood behind him, she stood
at his feet, behind him, weeping. In fact it says, she stood behind
him and it was like showers of rain. See, this is all the Spirit's
work in her life, isn't it? When God the Spirit comes, He
convicts the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. She stood behind Him, weeping,
and she began to wash His feet with tears, with floods of tears. And then she must have knelt
down and she whitened them with the hairs of her head. According to 1 Corinthians 11.15,
she took what is her glory and used it as a means of honoring
the Savior. You see, in that world, as we
lived in India, to have your hair exposed and undone is a
shocking thing. We took our girls, we used to
have to escort our girls to church on Sunday mornings, and one Sunday
morning we were taking our girls to church, and they were a mixed
group of Indian girls and Western girls, and one of the Indian
girls that day on the way to church was slapped in the face
by a woman in the street. She was only a little girl, she
was 13 or so. She was slapped in the face in
the street, and do you know why? because she didn't have her hair
tied up. Because to have your hair undone
is the sign of prostitute in India. And she was slapped. This woman here, she wiped them
with the hairs of her head and she kissed his feet. And she anointed them with ointment. This is for repentant sinners. And God works in our heart. This
is the best and safest place of all to be, isn't it? To be
in the presence of the Lord Jesus. To be at His feet, weeping. to take whatever it is that you
might think is for your glory and just have it to be shamed,
to be exposed and be honest before Him as a sinner, and to be exposed
in a sense and be honest before the world as a sinner. Now when the Pharisee which had
bidden him saw it, he spoke 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. See, in the world of the Pharisees,
in the world of external religion, The external things matter most. Boasting about the flesh matters
most. This story is a beautiful commentary
on 2 Corinthians 5. You can take any of the what
seem to be heavy theological and maybe complicated things
in the scriptures and you go back and find the stories of
Jesus and look for Jesus in them and you will see how clearly
it is. The Gospel is in the Gospels
and the Gospel is in the rest of the Scriptures. Look to Jesus
and you will see things clearly. See, in verse 12 of 2 Corinthians
5, for we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you opportunity
to boast on our behalf that you may have an answer for those
who boast in appearance, but not in the heart. In Philippians 3, there is just
a wonderful, wonderful description. of what it is to be a believer,
for we are the circumcision who worship God in spirit, rejoice
in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. You see, the Pharisee was still
the judge. He'd actually made a judgment
about God. He says, He's just a man. Not only is he just a man, he's
a man who is ignorant, and he's a man who is prepared to be defiled
by touching sinners. You see, the Lord Jesus goes
on to expose Simon. You see, he outwardly sought
to honor him. But where was his heart? Let's
just read this beautiful way the Lord answers this man, answers
the self-righteous Pharisee, the self-righteous Pharisee that's
in all of us. How often do we need to have
the Pharisee that lives in Angus Fisher exposed and dealt with
and put in his right and proper place yet again. If you don't
have a Pharisee lurking within you, then just ask the Lord to
show you. He's there. He is there, strong
and proud. Verse 41, the Lord Jesus says,
there was a certain creditor who had two debtors. The one
owed 500 pence and the other 50, 10 times as much as the other
one. And when they had nothing to
pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which
of them will love the most? See, there are debtors, aren't
there? We are all debtors. We are all as human beings as
Adam's children. We are bankrupt. We owe God a
debt. We owe God a debt because of
our sins. And the point of the story is
in verse 42. You owe a debt. I owe a debt
and we have nothing to pay. Absolutely nothing to pay. People think that they can pay. As Michael says in verse 6, With
what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the
high God? Shall I come before him with
burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be
pleased with thousands of rams? Ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for
my transgression? the fruit of my body for the
sin of my soul. You cannot give of the fruit
of these hands for the sins of our soul. The soul that sinneth,
it must die. We have nothing to pay, brothers
and sisters. We are insolvent bankrupts before
God, and we have nothing to pay. So here are two men out there.
Here we have Simon, who is so proud, isn't he? He can stand
in judgment of God himself in his own house. He can stand in
judgment of this woman. And how does he do it? He does
it because he sits on a throne of his own righteousness. The question is, if you'd ask
the Pharisee, do you love God? Do you love the God of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob? Do you worship Him? Do you serve
Him? Do you really love Him? What
would the Pharisee say? He would say, look at what I
do. Look at my life. And he would
say, look at my life compared to that life over there. I might have, as some of our
friends have said, a few slip ups, but she is a whore. God. must smile upon me. In fact, God has smiled upon
me because I am wealthy and I can have these servants and I can
give this feast. Do we love God? Who will love him most? Which of them will love him most?
Simon was wise enough to know the answer in verse 43. Simon
answered and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And the Lord Jesus commended
him. Thou hast judged rightly. And now with her exposed before
all these people, the Lord exposes Simon. Verse 44, well then he
turned to the woman and said unto Simon, see this woman. Just look at this woman, Simon.
Look at her. I entered into your house, you
pretended to honour me by having me come to your house. I entered your house and you
didn't give me the simplest thing which would cost you nothing,
the common courtesy demands. People in those countries wear
chapels, sandals, and they walk on dusty roads. And when you
come into the house, your feet are dirty. They are always dirty,
and it was just common courtesy to wash your guests' feet. And especially in this situation,
where Simon obviously was having a large meal, putting on a show. And there, this man's heart is
exposed, isn't it? His honour was just an outward
honour. I entered thine house and thou
gavest me no water for my feet. But she has washed my feet with
tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave me no kiss. A common
greeting. You see the Arabs doing it today
in that part of the world. But this woman, since the time
I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil,
thou didst not anoint. It's remarkable, isn't it? Here is the anointed one of gold
in this house. And Simon, who is rich, could
not anoint him. But this woman has anointed my
feet with ointment. See, she was led by God to give
the honor due to the Savior. There is this Pharisee who sits
in judgment of the Lord, and sits in judgment of this woman. And then the Lord says these
beautiful words to her. He speaks to her. He speaks to
Simon. He wants him to know. He wants
him to know that he had revealed himself in this last little while,
in that same day, speaking a word to the centurion and a disease was healed, speaking
a word to a dead man, and he was raised from the dead. He speaks of her. Her sins, which are many, are
forgiven, for she loved much. She loved much, because she had
been forgiven much. but to whom little is forgiven,
the same loveth little. Why is there so little devotion
to the Lord in the lives of so many people who profess Him? Why is there so often such a
mingling of the things of this world and such a delight in them
in the hearts of people? How much have you been forgiven,
my brothers and sisters? How much have you been forgiven? How much does it matter? You see, it's only God the Spirit
that moves in the hearts of people to show them what sin is. To
show them that sin on the outside is just the exposing of what
we are. Sin is what we are, and because
of what we are, sins are what we do. This is where love comes from,
doesn't it? You see, the gospel brings forgiveness. The gospel
shows people the glories of the Lord Jesus. So what's happened
in this man's life? What has the law done? What has
law keeping done for this man? You are told at school, aren't
you? Obey the Ten Commandments. Do this, do this, do this. Law
and judgment do but harden. All the time they work alone.
but the sense of blood-bought pardon soon dissolves the heart
of stone. Love comes from meeting a Saviour. Devotion comes from meeting a
Saviour. Humility comes from meeting a
Saviour. Service comes from being with
a Saviour. It's the pure. that serve. It's the pure that love, that
those that know that their sins, which are many, are forgiven. And the Lord Jesus, whose words
are the words of God, makes sure that she gets the lesson. And
he makes sure that Simon gets the lesson. And the rest of those
people there get the lesson. He wants to say, as he does in
the Gospels again and again, I am God. This woman certainly
has sinned against men, and against women, and against children in
this town. She has sinned openly, she has
sinned grievously. But she has sinned, all those
sins were sins against the Lord Jesus. They are forgiven, he
says to her. They are forgiven. How much are they forgiven? How perfectly are they forgiven. Why doesn't he say to her, they'll
be forgiven on the basis of you doing something. They are forgiven because love
and forgiveness and grace and mercy are gifts of God. Isn't it remarkable, he says
to her, the sins are forgiven. When were they forgiven? Could
he have not said that those sins will be forgiven in a little
while and I am hung on that tree? They certainly were. And he says to this woman, possibly
a couple of years before that happened, your sins right now
are forgiven. What a word for sinners like
us. We know what the verses say,
don't we? We know what God says. It is
remarkable how hard it is in our flesh to say it with conviction
to our souls. There is therefore now no condemnation. for those who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation right now. See, God's children have hearts
of flesh and not hearts of stone. Philippians, I mean Colossians
2 says that as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord. How did you receive Christ Jesus
the Lord? God's children received him like
this woman, exposed and broken hearted. having met a Saviour
who has melted our hearts, having had the sentence of the law come
down upon us, guilty sinner, and having that sweet balm of
the Gospel take away all of that condemnation. As you have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. Just keep walking in Him. And the Lord Jesus knew the hearts of these people. He knew
Simon's thoughts. he exposed Simon to himself. And they began to say within
themselves, all of these fellows of the Pharisee. Who is this
that forgiveth sins also? The same question had been answered
again and again, hadn't it? To the paralyzed man, who is
this that forgives sins? Who is this that forgives sins? There is no one else that forgives
sins. He's claiming to be God. As simple as that. The miracles
are just proof of the power of His words and the truth of them. And He said to the woman, My
faith has saved thee. Go in peace. What a word from our God for
His children. who come weeping, come broken. Your sins are all forgiven. When the Pharisees accuse you,
your sins are all forgiven. When Satan accuses you, when
troubles come, when the Pharisees come again and again, your sins
are forgiven. Go in peace. Isn't it remarkable? He says
to the woman, thy faith has saved thee. Go in peace. And if you
interviewed the woman, what would she say? Who saved her? Did her faith save her? Just like the woman who had been
bleeding for that 14 years, your faith has healed you. You see, these are grace gifts
of God. The root of it, the foundation
of it, is the work of God in the lives of His people. The
fruit of it is faith. The fruit of it is repentance. It is God who saves and saves
to the uttermost. Peace like a river. attains the souls of God's people. How does Paul put it in 2 Corinthians
5? For the love of Christ compels
us, because we judge thus, that if one died for all, then all
died. And he died for all that those
who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who
died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard
no one according to the flesh. Go home, Pharisees, and go away. Even though we have known Christ
according to the flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer. Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ. He is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become
new. What a wonder! this lady came,
what would she have done that evening? She might have met the
widow of Nain and her son. What rejoicing. What a remarkable
thing, isn't it? What a remarkable thing that
God in Christ Jesus would treat sinners like that. What an amazing
sight. What an amazing salvation. We're
now going to have the Lord's Supper, which reminds us again
of our Saviour. That His life, represented by
that bread, is our life. That blood represented by that
wine is the blood, that precious blood that cleanses us and cleanses
and cleanses and keeps on cleansing and brings that new creation
to look to Him again and not to look to ourselves. Let's pray.