All right, brethren, Luke chapter
7. Luke chapter 7. I've titled this, Seest Thou This
Woman? A question. Seest thou this woman? And we see that in verse 44.
Here's why I titled it that. The Lord turned to the woman
and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? Our Savior would have everybody
that reads this to see this woman. Not just Simon, but everybody.
He recorded it in his word and he would have everybody to behold
this woman. Why? Why? Because this woman is his workmanship. He did everything that made this
woman do the things she did. It's his glory. It's His glory. So He would have everyone bow.
Seest thou this woman? Luke 7, verse 36, And one of
the Pharisees desired him, and he would eat with him. And the
Lord went into the Pharisee's house and sat down to meet. This
Pharisee's name was Simon. Why did he invite Christ to this
feast? Why did he invite the Lord to
this feast? Because he did not believe him. He did not believe
him. He said within himself, now in
verse 39, he said, if this man were a prophet, he didn't believe
the Lord. He didn't believe the Lord. He
didn't believe he was the prophet, priest, or king of his people.
He didn't. Christ didn't look like what
he thought the king ought to look like. That ought to be a
good lesson for us not to look on the outward appearance. Christ
didn't come looking like anything like vain religion thought he
ought to look like. Nothing like it. That's why they
rejected him. But in this same chapter, you look back up before
this, there was a widow's only son who had died. And Christ
had compassion on this woman and touched the casket as they
were bringing him out and the young man arose. And back in
verse 16 it says, Luke 7, 16, it says, and there came a fear
on all. And they glorified God saying
that a great prophet is risen up among us and that God hath
visited his people. And this rumor of him went forth
throughout all Judea and throughout all the region round about. And
so this Pharisee, he didn't believe Christ was that prophet. And
he's hearing this rumor, and he invited the Lord to his house
to expose the Lord as being a fraud. That's why he brought him there.
And the Lord Jesus knew that. He knew the heart. Now let's
consider the setting here. This was a big gathering. Big
house. Pharisees had some wealthy homes,
you know, some big homes. This was a big house. When they
would have these dinners, the VIPs, the Pharisees, and the
different guests of honor would sit at the main table. and discuss
the great questions of the day and religious things and what
have you. And the others would recline
around the walls in the room. And then people that were not
invited, they would even come and they would gather along the
walls outside of the home. The doors would be open and they'd
gather along the walls outside of the home so they could listen.
So this was a big thing happening here. Big feast, big dinner,
everybody's there. Most people came there just to
get their belly filled. Some of them came there to rub
shoulders with this wealthy Pharisee, and others were probably there
climbing the Pharisaical ladder of religion or what have you.
When people assemble to hear the gospel, no one knows the
motive except Christ. Christ knows the motives. But
among all these people, the Spirit of God tells us to behold one
woman. Among all these people, the Spirit
of God turns us to one woman. Verse 37, and behold, behold,
a woman in the city which was a sinner. I picture when this
woman walks in that room, and all these people are talking,
and I picture when she walks in that room, that whole room
went silent. Because everybody in that city
knew she was a sinner. She was a harlot, prostitute,
and they knew it. They knew it. More importantly,
the Lord made her know it. She knew it far more than they
knew it. Seest thou this woman? You see
this woman? Are you a sinner like this woman?
Do you need Christ to do all the saving like this woman? Well,
what did she do? Verse 37, When she knew that
Jesus sat at meat in a Pharisee's house, she came to him. She had heard the gospel preached. She had heard the gospel preached.
We know that because the Lord said it saved through this means,
it pleased God to save through this means. So she heard Christ
preach Christ, she heard John the Baptist preach Christ, and
the Spirit of God had given this woman a heart, and she believed
on the Lord Jesus. That's why she came there. And
when she heard he was at that house, she came to that house. She came to where he was. Seest
thou this woman? When a sinner is saved by grace,
truly saved by grace. And they have to have Christ.
And every sinner saved by grace has to have Christ. And they
hear where Christ is, where He's preached, where He's exalted,
where He's glorified, where He is. They come there. They come
there. She didn't care what the Pharisees
thought about her. She didn't care about what those
in the house, how they'd treat her. She came to where Christ
was. See a stylish woman? Hungry men
eat, thirsty men drink. Hungry men eat, thirsty men drink.
And sinners who've been made to believe on Christ come to
Christ. Sinners made to know where his
gospel is preached come to hear Christ speak. Nothing else matters. They have to have Christ. They
must hear Christ. Seest thou this woman? Verse
37, and she brought an alabaster box of ointment. She didn't come
in there without this. She'd been saving this up. This
was costly ointment, very expensive ointment. Matthew and Mark says
it was a year's wages. That's how much it cost, a year's
wages. See, the good news of the gospel
is this, salvation, is entirely free. Salvation is entirely of
God's free grace. God the Father chose His people
freely by grace. He wasn't looking to you for
anything. He wasn't looking to me for anything. He chose His
people by grace. Scripture says in Romans 3, we're
justified freely through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus. God freely forgives His child. He freely forgives His child.
He even gives us the faith to believe Him freely by His grace. Everything about salvation is
free, not of merit, not of works. Salvation is of the Lord, of
His free grace. But there was a costly price
that had to be paid to give His people this free grace. A very
high price had to be paid to give His people this free grace.
God the Father gave His only begotten Son. What a price. And our Lord Jesus Christ came
and took flesh and He gave His life to redeem His people. He poured out His precious blood. It was a must. Why is His blood
precious? It's precious because it's the
blood of the only begotten Son of God. It's God's blood. That's why it's precious. It's
precious because it's the blood that cleansed the sins of His
people. It's the blood that cleanses
the conscience of His people. It's precious because it's through
His blood that He's the propitiation of His people, through faith
in His blood. It's precious because this is
the blood by which His children have boldness to enter the holiest,
by the blood of Jesus. It's precious. Because it's the blood by which we're
saved. Entirely saved. And God gets
all the glory and all the honor. You see that? Seest thou this
woman? She saw something of the costliness
and the price that was paid, that would have to be paid by
our Redeemer to save her from her sin, and she came there with
something that was costly. She came there with something
that was of great price. You know, when you love somebody,
economics doesn't enter into the picture. When you really
love somebody, the finances don't really enter into the picture.
When your child gets sick and you've paid doctors and paid
doctors, do you just come to a point where you say, we've
spent enough? No. You keep paying until you don't
have another cent left to pay if you love that child. Brethren,
when the Lord saves His child, He puts His love in the heart.
He makes us know His love for His people. And He puts His love
in the heart. And when He does that, There
is no, there's nothing the believer will not pay to be with him and
to be near him and whatever it takes. And you know, it's like
David said. David went, he was going through
the threshing floor to offer sacrifices and the man tried
to give David the threshing floor. And he said, I will not sacrifice
unto the Lord that which cost me nothing. And he told the man,
I'm paying for it. And he bought that threshing
floor for 50 shekels of silver. You see, costly blood means that
there's no price. There's no price. You'll have
people that refuse to be where the Lord is and where his gospel
is preached for all number of reasons. Sometimes it has to
do with money. See us now, this woman. See that? She knew she was a great sinner,
but she knew Christ was a greater Savior. Nothing was too costly
for her Savior who paid so dearly for her. She would have paid
any price she could pay to be where He was, to be near to Him.
Now, verse 38. When she walked up to our Lord, She stood at his feet behind
him weeping. They were climbed at a table,
and his feet were sort of wrapped around him, you know, behind
him. That's why she comes up behind him. She stood at his
feet behind him weeping. And there's no doubt that this
woman is weeping over her sins. There's no doubt that she's weeping
over what she is. She knows she's a sinner. But
she saw his feet. She comes in there with this
costly ointment, and she looks and she sees his feet. And she
beheld those feet that brought her the gospel. She beheld those
feet that brought her salvation. She beheld those feet, and when
she saw those feet, you know what she saw? She saw his feet
were dirty. That Pharisee had not even given
our Lord the common courtesy of washing his feet. That was
the courtesy of the day. If you came in from traveling,
you had sandals on, your feet's hot, they're dirty. And when you walked in, you had
a servant there who would wash the people's feet, your guests'
feet as they came in. And it was just a cool thing,
a nice thing, or a warm thing to soothe your feet. And she walks in with this costume
on, and I just picture her just stopping and looking, and she
can't believe what she sees. There's our Lord's feet, the
one that ought to be given the highest honor in the whole room,
in the whole house, and there he is, the only one in the whole
place whose feet is dirty. Knowing Christ, giving Himself
for His people, knowing He's given us the gospel, knowing
He's given us a quiet place to worship Him. It's contempt for
Christ and neglect for Him that makes His child weep. That's
what makes His child weep. Verse 38, And she began to wash
His feet with her tears. She began to wash his feet with
her tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head. He washed her in his blood, and
she washed his feet with her tears. Scripture says a woman's glory
is her hair. She didn't want glory. She knew
she had no reason to glory. She bowed down and she laid all
at Christ's feet and gave Him all the glory. She washed His
feet with her tears and it wiped them with the hairs of her head.
And listen now, she went down lower than that. It says, verse
38, and she kissed His feet. She kissed his feet. And she anointed his feet with
that ointment. Seest thou this woman? Why did
she do this? Why did she wash his feet with
her tears and then dry his feet with her hair and then bow down
and kiss his feet and anoint his feet with her soil? Why did
she do that? She did it because our Lord said
in Isaiah 52.6, My people, My people shall know My name. They will know in that day it's
I that does speak. And how beautiful are the feet
of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that saith
to my people, thy God reigneth. Those feet brought her the gospel.
Those feet brought her salvation. All those feet were precious
to her. She bowed down and kissed his feet. Verse 39. Now when the Pharisee which had
bidden him saw it, carnal religion only sees with carnal eyes and
they're always watching for something to find fault with. That's so. That's absolutely so. So were
the Pharisees then and so Pharisees now. Now when the Pharisee which
had been him saw, he spake within himself. He didn't say this out
loud. He spake within himself. Our
Lord said, out of the heart the mouth speaks. And he said, out
of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, blasphemies. And that's
what's coming out of this Pharisee's heart right here. He thought
within himself, spake within himself, saying, this man, if
he were a prophet, ah, I've got him. They've been spreading these
rumors that he's a prophet. I've got him now. If he were
a prophet, he would have known who and what manner of woman
this is that toucheth him, for she is a sinner. Our Lord knew
who she was. He had known her from eternity.
He chose her by His grace. He knew who she was. And He knew
what manner of woman she was. He saw her when she fell in Adam.
He saw her when she was conceived in sin. He saw her when she went
from her mother's womb speaking lies and was a sinner all her
days. He saw her when she was in her
hollow tree. He saw her. He knew exactly who
she was. And He came there just for her. He knew she was. Oh, what a difference
in this woman and that Pharisee. What a difference. What a difference
in a sinner saved by grace and a proud, self-righteous religionist. The difference was she knew she
was a sinner. Simon didn't know, and he would
not dare confess he was a sinner. The difference was she knew Christ
receives sinners. She knew it. She came to the
Lord because she knew He received sinners. She heard all about
Him. The Pharisee wouldn't dare receive
a sinner. He wouldn't dare let a sinner
touch Him. He would say, stand by thyself,
come not near me for I'm holier than thou. Our Lord says the
difference was she was forgiven much, therefore she loved much. See, the grace of God made the
difference in her. Seest thou this woman? When God
makes us know our sin, oh how thankful we are that Christ receives
sinners. You can come to Him. God bid
you come to Him. He bid you come to Him. You can
come to Him. Christ receives sinners. Are
there anybody hearing this message that are sinners? Are you a sinner?
Come to Christ. He receives sinners. He said,
they that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that
are sick. He said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners
to repent. Verse 40. And Jesus answering said to him,
Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master,
say on. There was a certain creditor
which had two debtors. God is the creditor, and every
sinner is the debtor. The one owed 500 pence, and the
other 50. One owed far more than the other.
Verse 42, and when they had nothing to pay. You have nothing to pay. I have
nothing to pay. God does not want your filthy
rags of self-righteousness. He don't want them. We have nothing
with which to pay. Nothing. That's why God sent
His only Son. Our Lord Jesus Christ came and
laid down His life and our Lord Jesus paid it all. I like to sing it this way. He
paid it all, all the debt I owe. Sin had left the crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. You know what He says to us?
Over in Isaiah 1 verse 18, He says, Come now, let us reason
together. Saith the Lord, Though your sins
be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be
red like crimson, they shall be as wool, if you be willing
and obedient. If you come down to Christ's
feet like this woman and cast all your care on Christ for Him
alone to do all the saving, lay down the glory of your works,
lay down the glory of your religious history, the glory of your religious
profession, the glory of everything about you. Lay it all down at
Christ's feet and trust Him to save you. But if you, and you do that and
you'll eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel,
like Simon the proud Pharisee, you should be devoured with a
sword, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Verse 41, one debtor
owed 500 pence, the other 50. And when they had nothing to
pay, he frankly, That means he freely forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of
them will love him most? Simon answered and said, Well,
I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And he said to
him, Thou hast rightly judged. And he turned to the woman and
he said to Simon, Seest thou this woman? Do you hear Christ speaking to
you this morning? Do you hear the Lord Jesus speaking
to you this morning saying, See this woman? Are you the sinner like this
woman? Or are you the proud Pharisee
like Simon? Has Christ done for you what
He did for this woman? Or do you refuse Him like Simon
did? When Christ has done for a sinner
what He did for this woman, then by the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that sinner will do what this woman did. Now that's so
When the Lord Jesus has done for a sinner what He did for
this woman, that sinner's gonna do what this woman did toward
our Lord Jesus. Verse 44, Simon, seest thou this
woman? I entered into thy house. Thou
gavest me no water for my feet, that she hath washed my feet
with her 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. Therefore, she loved much. He's saying she did what she
did because she sees her great sin and knows how much sin she's
been forgiven. That's why she loved so much,
Simon. So Simon, why have you done what
you've done? to whom little is forgiven, the
same loveth little. The sinner that's forgiven much
will love Christ much. The sinner that is forgiven much
will love Christ much. He will not love father or mother,
wife and children, brethren and sisters, or even his own life
more than Christ. He will love Christ much. He won't let them come between
Him and Christ. He'll not be like those that
with one consent began to make excuses saying, I bought a piece
of ground, I bought a yoke of oxen, I married a wife. The sinner
forgiven much will love Christ much. That's just so. You reckon Noah
had to be persuaded to get in the ark? He'll come to where Christ is.
He'll bow down at Christ's feet weeping. He'll repent of all his works
and lay all at Christ's feet. And he'll give Christ all the
glory. That's the grace of God. When He goes through a dark season,
when He goes through a dark season, by the same Holy Spirit of our
Lord, by the same grace of our Lord Jesus, He'll keep looking
to the Lord. He'll just set His face like
a flint, keep looking to the Lord. He'll remember, I've got
His Word. I've got His Word. It doesn't
matter what I'm feeling. I've got His Word. And His Word
tells me He'll never leave me and He'll never forsake me. I've
got His Word that says, Who is among you that feareth the Lord,
that obeyeth the voice of His servant, that walketh in darkness
and hath no light? Let him stay. Let him trust in
the name of the Lord and stay upon his God. I got his word. That's what he tells me to do.
When I can't hear, when I can't see, when it's dark, and I'm
in a season of darkness, he tells me, you do, the Lord Jesus tells
me, do what he did when he came and suffered in my room instead. He said, you just bear it. And
you just keep looking to me and waiting on me. Go with me to
Psalm 73. Psalm 73, verse 25. The love of God shed
abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost is going to make His child
love much just like the psalmist who wrote this right here. He's
going to make you say, verse 25, Whom have I in heaven but
thee? and there's none upon earth that
I desire besides thee. My flesh and my heart faileth. But who, what's that? God is
the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For lo, they
that are far from thee shall perish. Thou hast destroyed all
them that go a-whoring from thee. But it's good for me to draw
near to God. See, that's what He's going to
do when His heart's failing. That's what He's going to do
when He doesn't have any strength. That's what He's going to do
when He's in a dark season. I'm going to draw near to God.
I've put my trust in the Lord God that I may declare all Thy
works. Why does the Lord send these
dark seasons? Why does He send these trials to try our faith?
It's for that very reason that the psalmist wrote right there.
He says He did this for me to put my trust in Him that I may
declare all His works." God gives you something you can't deliver
yourself out of and then delivers you out of it so you go tell
people God delivers His people out of the trial. When a great sinner beholds how
much God's forgiven him for the sake of the Lord Jesus, he'll stop judging by the sight
of the eyes like Simon was doing. Because he sees in himself that
there's not a thing about himself that ought to be saved. He'll
stop judging by the carnal sight and will trust the Word of the
Lord. He'll hate the critical Pharisee that's in his sinful
flesh. He'll just hate him. But the
Spirit of God will keep rattling in his tongue and breaking his
heart and making him stop criticizing and trust the Lord. And when
He knows He's been frankly, freely forgiven of so much sin for Christ's
sake, He's going to frankly, freely forgive others. Her sins, which are many, are
forgiven. Therefore, she loved much. Verse 48, And He said unto her,
Thy sins are forgiven. And they that said it meet with
him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins
also? Do you know who this is? He not
only receives sinners, he forgives sin also. This is the one Savior, it's
the one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
This is the one righteousness of God by which God will accept
His people. This is the one who is the way,
the truth, and the life. And there's no coming of God
but by this one. This one receives sinners and
He forgives sinners also. Verse 50. And he said to the
woman, Thy faith has saved thee, go in peace. I'm going to give
you three things very briefly that we learn from this. Three
things. Three things we learn between
this proud Pharisee and this sinful woman at Christ's feet.
We see three things plainly. Number one, look back at verse
35. This story comes right here where
it does to illustrate this very thing right here. Wisdom is justified
of our children. Look back at verse 29. All the
people that heard John preach Christ and the publicans justified
God. How? They were baptized with
the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers
rejected the counsel of God against themselves. They didn't agree
with God that they were the sinner, being not baptized of Him. And
the Lord said, Where unto then shall I liken the men of this
generation? What are they like? They are
like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling
one to another, and saying, We've piped unto you, and you've not
danced. We've mourned unto you, and you've
not wept. For John the Baptist came neither
eating bread nor drinking wine. And you say, he hath the devil,
the son of man's 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 of all her children. Men, we're here
preaching. Well, we understand Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness. Preach something else to us.
You want to hear something else? After a while, we know face the
gift of God's grace, so we won't bow. Now preach something else
to us. We know Christ is righteousness
and sanctification. Now preach something else to
us. And after a while, they end up finding fault. You're a sinner.
We can't listen to you. The curtains are gray, they're
not brown. So we can't listen anymore to
life. That's a real good reason. But
seest thou this woman, seest thou this woman, for this whole
city she justified Christ as being her only wisdom, and her
only righteousness, and her only sanctification, and her only
redemption, and nobody could run her off from the feet of
Christ because she needed Christ. She had to have Christ. Wisdom is justified over children. We see between the Pharisee and
this woman what Peter learned. God resisted the proud and giveth
grace to the humble. By God's grace, revealing Christ
to this woman, she bowed down and she kissed Christ's feet. She gave him all the glory and
cast all her care on him. And he said to her, thy sins
are forgiven thee. Thy faith has saved thee, you
go in peace. And he left Simon by himself,
to himself. And he went on whoring away from
God in his religion. And we see what our Savior says
right here. To whom much is forgiven, the
same loveth much. But to whom little is forgiven,
the same loveth little. See a status, woman? Have you been forgiven much?
To whom much is forgiven, the same loveth much. You can mark
it down. Amen.