May it please the Lord to bless
us together this evening. As we consider his word, let
us turn to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 7, and reading verse
50. The last verse in the Gospel
of Luke, chapter 7. And he said to the woman, Thy
faith hath saved thee. Go in peace. This was a wonderful word to
this woman. We're not told who this woman
was. And this account is the only place that is recorded in
the Gospel of Luke. There are some similar accounts
but not the same one as this. And the account is very instructive
really. A number of wonderful points
are revealed in it. We're told that there was a Pharisee. Pharisees, we know, were proud
people. And one of the Pharisees desired
him, that's Jesus, that he would eat with him. and he went into
the Pharisee's house and sat down to meet. What a wonderful
blessing it is that we see here an invitation, a request that
the Lord Jesus would come and eat with him. And the Lord graciously
went into the Pharisee's house and sat down to meet. You may
be surprised to read such a statement as that. I think that without
questioning the Pharisee, he went into his house and sat down
to meet. We therefore should never be
discouraged, as it were, to invite the Lord into our hearts What a blessing if the Lord should
come in, come into our house, our spiritual house. I wonder perhaps how often we
might be found with a real desire like that, to invite the Lord
into our heart. We might perhaps think, well,
the Lord will never come and meet with me, he'll never come
and dwell with me. Well here was a Pharisee, we might say
an ungodly person, that the Lord graciously went and into his
house. Now we know of course that there
was a divine purpose and we know not in our lives what purposes
the Lord will have for us in our lives. What a blessing it
is when the Lord uses us for His honour and for His glory. So we're told then that there
was a woman in the city which was a sinner. Well, we're all
sinners, aren't we? And when the Spirit of God shines in our heart, we won't
look around for worse sinners. We won't think, well, that person's
worse than I am. because it would be like perhaps
it was in the life of David when the Spirit came and through that
prophet Nathan and David was told, thou art the man, don't
look around for anybody else. And it would be a blessing if
therefore the Lord speaks in that way and applies his word
to our heart. Well here was this woman who
described which was a sinner And when she knew that Jesus
sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box
of ointment, stood at his feet behind him weeping, began to
wash his feet with tears and to wipe them with the hairs of
her head, and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Well it is surely quite an amazing
account to read of this woman who was a sinner coming in this
way. But what has she done? What has
she heard? Well, we're told that when she
knew that Jesus sat at meat, clearly there had been that voice,
that speaking, that words that she was made aware by one another
that this blessed Jesus was here at this place. Well, what made
her come in this way? What made her come into this
Pharisee's house? She would have been someone who
was despised. She wouldn't have been someone
who would have been looked upon with any admiration. And yet she came. She came and she stood at his
feet. behind him, weeping. You know, of course, in these
days, people didn't sit on chairs like we do, and they sat on the
ground. And therefore we have the picture
here of this woman coming behind the Lord Jesus. She didn't come
in any bold or brash way. But she wanted to come and to
meet with Jesus. And she wanted to show her gratitude
and what Jesus meant to her. And therefore she brought an
alabaster box of ointment. We don't know what else she had,
but we know that This would have been a reasonably valuable thing
in this day in which he lived. And therefore this unknown woman,
as far as we're concerned, came to Jesus. And she stood behind
him, at his feet, weeping. You see the attitude. It wasn't
any pride, was there? She was a broken-hearted woman.
And she'd come to see Jesus. She'd come to meet with Jesus. And she'd come to evidence really
her love to Jesus. And so we see what she did. What she did, she began to wash
his feet with tears. Must have been a real weeping,
wasn't it? It wasn't just the odd tear,
it was a true weeping that she had come to Jesus. And she desired
then to wash his feet. She wiped them with the hairs
of her head and kissed his feet. Feet are a very low position,
aren't they? Perhaps the last thing we would
naturally think of kissing or washing wiping with our hair. But we might think nothing was
too, as it were, menial for this woman. Yes, she wanted to come. She wanted to come to Jesus.
She wanted to do that which she was able to do. And then she anointed his feet with
the ointment. What a wonderful view we have
of this love of this woman. And then having done this, we
have the Pharisees' thoughts on the matter. We're told when
the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spoke within himself. He didn't speak outwardly, but
he spoke within himself. Sometimes we might be just like
that. speak things within our heart, not good things perhaps,
because we may have formulated a judgment in our own heart. That's what this Pharisee had
done, because we're told that 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 man or woman this is
that touched him, for she is a sinner. And with a view like
that, we should recognise that if the Pharisee had been touched
by this woman, he would probably have had to have spoken that
he was unclean, because he had been touched by such a situation. But Jesus knew his thoughts. Jesus knows our thoughts. And
there's no thought in our heart which we can hide from our God.
The Lord knows everything. And this man, you see, was prejudging
the situation. He didn't really know what the
true position was. No doubt he was surprised to
see her weeping and carrying out that which he had done. And
yet he formed this judgement in his own mind. But Jesus knew
the situation. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Simon. This Pharisee was called Simon. And so that he
wouldn't misunderstand who was being addressed, the Lord spoke
to him in this way, Simon, I have some what to say unto thee. And
he said, Master, say on. And then so often, the Lord Jesus
Christ gave an example of what he intended to drive home. And
he spoke in this way, and he said, a certain creditor had
two debtors, the one owed 500 pence and the other 50. And when
they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Well, we're like that, are we
not? We can't pay the debt we owe. We owe debt to the Saviour,
don't we? We can't pay the debt of our
sin. We're just like this. We have
nothing to pay. And yet, we read these words. He frankly forgave them both. Yes, the 50 pence sinner and
the 500 pence sinner. And we should recognise that
sin is sin. It doesn't matter if we committed
one sin or a million sins. We are still a sinner. And we
still need the same forgiveness. Of course, we are far greater
sinners than a one sin sinner. I just give that as an example
so we may have some understanding that every sin committed is sufficient
to damn us to a never-ending eternity in hell. We cannot hide, we cannot think
that we are not a very bad sinner. One sin sufficient to condemn
us to eternal death. So what a blessing it is to be
given that faith to believe that whatever our situation, however
bad we are, believe you me, when the Spirit of God works in our
heart and continues that work, we'll have discovered all manner
of sins which we never knew existed at one time. We'll never be able
to claim that we're anything else, but truly black all over. And he asked the question, Tell
me, therefore, which of them will love him most? It's a very
easy example, isn't it? A creditor had two debtors. The
one owed a lot, the other owed less. They were both forgiven. Who would love the most? Simon
answered and said, I suppose that he whom he forgave most
Jesus said, thou hast rightly judged. It puts things, doesn't
it, into a good picture to realise therefore that if we are indeed,
if we feel indeed to be and are a great sinner, oh may we know
much love to the Saviour in all that He's done, in giving His
life for us and forgiving us frankly forgiving us. It wasn't
a great inquisition. There was a frankly forgiving.
That's the gospel. Tell me therefore, which of them
would love him most? And then he turns to the woman. But he spoke to Simon. He turns
to the woman as though he was addressing her and speaking to
Simon. And in this way, Simon, seest
thou this woman? Of course he saw this woman,
of course he knew. I entered into thy house, thou
gavest me no water for my feet, but she hath 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,
that is 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." Clearly
the example is here, isn't it? That this woman loved much. And there was a very clear outworking
of that love towards the Lord Jesus. It's a very blessed account,
is it not, to observe what occurred and the effect that true love
does. The love to the Saviour. You
see, as soon as she knew Jesus was there, She came into the
house, as it were, in the background, behind the Lord Jesus. But she
did that which she could. And she evidenced her love in
this way, by washing and wiping his feet and anointing them with
the ointment. That was how she displayed her
love. I'm sure that will be so in our
lives. The Lord has looked upon us and
shown us something of His great love, so that our love responds
in this way, that we will do what we can when opportunity
presents itself. The opportunity presents itself
here, perhaps in an unusual way. to think that Jesus had gone
into a Pharisee's house to eat. But it was the appointed place
and the appointed way that Lord would enable this woman to come.
Perhaps she wouldn't have been bold enough to have entered into
a, perhaps into a synagogue or a place like that, knowing her
reputation, the situation that she was in. But, oh, she came. She came where he was. She came
where Jesus was. And the Lord said, Wherefore
I stand to thee. Don't forget he was addressing
Simon, just to tell him the situation. I stand to thee, her sins which
are many. The Lord didn't minimise sin. The Lord does not minimise sin.
I don't believe you and I would minimise sin when the Holy Spirit
convinces us of it. We won't think we're a small
sinner. We recognise we're a great sinner. But the truth is, she
was told, in this way, as he addressed Simon, her sins which
are many are forgiven, for she loved much, but to whom little
is forgiven the same loveth little. He said unto her, thy sins, he
now addressed her in a personal word, thy sins are forgiven. What a statement. This woman
hadn't in this account specifically asked for this revelation. Clearly she had her confidence
and her hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. that he would not turn
her away. We might think and say that she
had come boldly, bolder than Jesus, but yet in a humble way. And there is a distinction, and
there is a bringing those two truths together, to be bold and
yet humble. It wasn't a brash boldness, it
was a humble boldness. She needed to come to the Lord
Jesus. She needed to display her love for the Lord Jesus. What a good thing that is, isn't
it? How important it is that you
and I might be blessed with that urgency, as it were, that real
desire to display our love to the Lord Jesus. And as that was displayed then, you might say she was rewarded.
Well, that may not be a particularly good word, but the Lord looked
upon her in a specific way and said to her, thy sins are forgiven. No greater blessing than that.
No sinner, no unforgiven sinner will enter into glory. Thy sins are forgiven." And then
there was this amazement. Then they that sat at meat with
him began to say within themselves, who is this that forgiveth sins
also? They weren't aware, were they,
of who the Lord Jesus was. You can believe that this woman
did realise. You may say, well why can we
assume that? And he said to the woman, Thy
faith hath saved thee. Go in peace. She possessed God-given faith
to believe that the Lord Jesus was the only one that could forgive
all her sin. And so the Lord speaks in this
way to her, Thy faith hath saved thee. Clearly she believed that
the Lord Jesus Christ was the saviour of sinners. The Lord
Jesus was her saviour. Her hope was centred upon Him. And the Lord therefore tells
us in this way, Thy faith hath saved thee. Go in peace. Well, it would be a wonderful
blessing if you and I possessed that living faith. to come to
the Lord Jesus Christ. This woman came to Him. Yes,
she came to Him. She would have heard of Him.
She must have heard of Him. She must have known some of the
things which He said and done. And there, in the Lord Jesus
Christ, clearly was her hope of the salvation of her soul
Because if it had not been there, the Lord Jesus would not have
spoken in this way. But he spoke in this way. Thy
faith hath saved thee. She had received that great and
glorious gift of faith. My friends, how essential it
is for every one of us to receive that gift of faith. And that
gift of faith then will enable us to look out of ourselves,
as women, she was out of herself, she looked to the Lord Jesus
Christ, and she came in a humble way, weeping, no doubt because
of her sins. Weeping, she came to the Lord
Jesus Christ, and weeping so much, with her tears fell down
that they were sufficient to wash the Lord's feet. Well, Let's look into our lives
this evening and to see if we have an experience
like this, when we have wept over our sins and over the Lord
Jesus Christ. or whether our sins haven't been
very heavy upon us. The Lord said, Thy sins are forgiven.
And he said, For she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven,
the same loveth little. Well, we are all great sinners. We are all great sinners. And perhaps many of us have sinned
against light and knowledge, which makes it doubly worse. So we can't claim any righteousness
ourselves. And where are we to go? Where
can we go? We can only go to the Lord Jesus
Christ. That one who has paid the price
to take away our sin, all our sin, every sin. Thy faith hath saved thee. And so, if the Holy Spirit has
shown to us something of that sin that we possess, well, my
friends, we've been directed through the Lord Jesus Christ. and with desire to go to Him. Those words are very beautiful.
I came to Jesus as I was. That's how this woman came. She
came as she was. She was a sinner. She came to
the Lord Jesus. Sinners can say, And only they. How precious is the Saviour.
By that I mean a sinner convinced of sin. A sinner who feels himself
to be a sinner. Not someone who just has a theoretical
knowledge of sin. Someone who is under conviction
of sin. The Holy Spirit convicts us of
sin. And shows us there is no good in ourselves. We are sinners. And we understand what the Apostle
Paul said, when he exclaimed in me, that is in my flesh what
is no good thing. Oh, he was sad, wasn't he, the
Apostle, of his state. He wasn't content with it. My
friends, I'm sure when the Spirit of God applies His work in our
hearts, you know, we're not satisfied with our lives, we recognize
how bad we are, and we understand indeed what the apostles said
when he was convicted by the holy law of God. The law of God
doesn't become holy until we're convicted by it. And then we
recognize it's a righteous law. And we are under the law, and
we're sinners under the law. and we are convicted by the law. The Apostle speaks in a very
clear way, because we know that his conviction specifically came
in this way. He tells us, What shall we say
then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I have not known sin, but
by the law. For I have not known lust. Except
the Lord said, Thou shalt not covet. The Lord convinces us
of our sin in various ways, and he puts his finger on a certain
thing, and we're convicted by it. And then there's something
else he puts his finger on, and we're convicted by it. And so
it goes on. I believe it goes on throughout
our life. We find that conviction of sin
which is not comfortable for our flesh. But what does it do? I believe it does what it did to
this woman. It sends us to Christ. And so the apostle comes and
tells us that sin taken occasion by the commandment wrought in
me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law, sin was
dead. For I was alive without the law once." Yeah, he was going
on in his own strength. But when the commandment came,
when the conviction came, sin revived and I died. Yeah, so
then he was a different man. and the commandment which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin taking
occasion by the commandment deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and
the commandment holy, and just, and good." You see the effect
of conviction of sin directs us to see the holiness of God's
law and the justness of it, and we don't complain, and we don't
rebel against it, and we recognise that God is just in dealing with
us and convicting us. We come really into that position
and we have to say, and if my soul were sent to hell, thy righteous
law approves it well. We're not a small sinner in that
situation. And when he comes and tells us,
was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid, but
sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which
is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. Sin becomes like that. Sin perhaps
at one time is not exceeding sinful. We may indeed give ourselves
leeway to continue in a sinful course. But you see when the
Spirit comes and applies his word and directs us to the holiness
of God and his righteous law, then it is that sin is a real
agony and something which really makes us cry out to God and desire
then to come to Christ. For we know that the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal, sold under sin. So we are. We are fleshly. We have an old man, old nature.
A sinful nature. When the Lord comes and converts
us, and we possess that new nature, and we bless God for it, which
desires holiness, we still possess the old nature, which is carnal. which is fleshly, which is sinful. For that which I do, I allow
not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that
I do." Isn't that amazing? Some people think, well, Paul,
you don't really understand what you're saying. Really, these
things are impossible. The convicted child of God understands
what the Apostle wrote. and they're thankful. There is
such a record. Otherwise there would be no hope.
If then I do that, which I would not, I consent unto the law that
is good. Now then, it is no more I that
do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. And it is, my friends,
sin that dwells within us. But we shouldn't be satisfied
and we shouldn't sit down comfortably with that idea that it's that
sin which dwells in indwelling sin and it's there and we can't
do anything about it. Our new nature will strive against
it and we will strive against it because we will realise that
our sins cause the Lord Jesus Christ to suffer and to bleed
and die and agonise because of our sins. So he says, for I know
that in me, that is in my flesh, but if no good thing For to me
a will is present with me, but how to perform that which is
good I find not." Again, this is a deep thought, but it is
a very true thought. We may have that will, that desire
to really turn and come to the Lord Jesus, in and of ourselves,
we fail, we don't have the ability because of the strength of our
evil flesh. So he says, but how to perform
that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I
do not. Isn't it amazing? But the evil
which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that, I would not,
it is no more either do it But sin dwelleth in me. I find in
a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For
I delight in the law of God after the inward man. That's our new
nature. That's the God-given nature.
That's the pure nature. That delights in the law of God. But I see another law in my members,
warring against the law in my mind and bringing me into captivity.
for the law of sin which is in my members, and then he comes,
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death?" Now, we might think, OK, Paul, that's fine. Do you stop there? No, the apostle
did not stop there. And my friends, this woman didn't
stop there. And neither will you and I stop there. I thank God, through Jesus Christ
our Lord, So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God,
but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no
condemnation. To them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit, the law
of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from
the law of sin and death, for what the law could not do, in
that it is weak through the flesh. God sending his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and forcing condemned sin in the
flesh. Well, so we could read on into
this wonderful 8th chapter of the Romans. But do we have the
view there that this woman, sinner as she was, a convinced sinner,
had come to the Lord Jesus because she had been blessed with living
faith to come. All my friends, you and I need
living faith to come to the Lord Jesus. Did He turn away? Did He say, no, I'm not going
to look upon you? Oh, He spoke beautiful words, didn't He? We
may fear, perhaps sometimes, of the reception. We need not
fear the reception. We come to Jesus as we are. Yes,
the beautiful words that the Lord said, Come unto me, all
ye that labour and are heavy laden. This woman was no doubt
heavy laden. But I will give you rest. Take
my yoke upon you and learn of me. This woman had done just
that. She had come to the Lord Jesus.
She had revealed her condition, her heart was as it were unveiled. She testified the Lord Jesus
meant something to her. Indeed she testified she loved
the Lord Jesus much. What a testimony that is of the
Lord Jesus. Yes, she loved much. Oh my friends, what a blessing
it is and how we might covet such a blessing, that we might
love much, not little. We have been forgiven much, haven't
we? That we might therefore love
much, and we might realise the blessing then we have here. Thy faith has saved me. It wasn't a faith that she worked
up herself. It was a faith that God had given
her. to believe that the Lord Jesus
Christ was her Saviour, the Saviour of sinners. Thy faith has saved
me. Go in peace. My friends, there's
a blessed peace as we've come to the Saviour. As we've been
blessed with that realisation of what Christ means to us. Because
of the debt that he's paid for us. The price that he's paid. The cost of our salvation. What does it bring when that's
made over to us? When the Lord speaks to our hearts
via faith and saving. It's all of grace, isn't it?
It's all of grace. We didn't have a hand in it.
The Lord drew us. The Lord drew this woman to us.
to Him. She came in this Pharisee's house
and came to the Lord Jesus. So I gave her that living faith
and she was blessed with this word, go in peace. Because we
have peace with God. What is it? Peace by His cross,
as Jesus made. Yes, that's how it is. Peace. As you and I look at the cross,
we see the Saviour there, suffering and dying for us. There, then,
is that peace. Because, as we read, there is
therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
My friends, blessed with that faith to believe, Oh then, go
in peace. We have peace with God through
the blood of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. So as we ponder
this little account tonight, may we be encouraged by it, may
we be able to look into our own hearts and find there that there
has been that conviction, bad and sinful as we are, And we
have fled to Christ as the only refuge for sinners. And now we
have found that refuge. And now we are blessed with this
peace and the wonderful favour of the word of our Lord. And
he said under her personal word, Thy sins are forgiven. Thy faith hath saved thee. Go
in peace. Amen.