I'd like to direct your attention
this morning to the Gospel of Luke chapter 7. Luke chapter 7. We have before
us a story that is very familiar to most of you. And it's a story
about a sorrowful sinner, a self-righteous Pharisee, and a saving substitute
and savior. I'd like to read this story in
its entirety. beginning in verse 36, verse
36 of Luke chapter seven. And one of the Pharisees desired
him, that being Christ, that he would eat with him. And he
went into the Pharisee's house and he 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 the 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 a woman this is that toucheth him, for she's 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? And Simon answered and said,
I suppose that he to whom he forgave most, and he being Christ
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, 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
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 sit and meet with
him begin 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. Isn't that an amazing story?
It's a true story, an amazing story. Now, Luke does not give
us all the detailed particulars of this woman's life of sin. She's simply referred to in verse
37 as a woman in the city, which was a sinner. And that general
description should give each of us great hope, especially
when we see the gracious cure that Christ grants such a one.
You and I are nothing more by nature than just men and women
in a city, which are sinners. Yet how encouraging it is that
the only qualification of a believer is seeing and believing that
they are a sinner. That's who Christ came into this
world to save. If you're a sinner, there's great
hope for you. Now right off the bat, we see
some things concerning this sinner. We see something of her character.
Her title is simply a sinner. We're all sinners. One sinner
is not better or worse than another in the eyes of God. And it seems
the way this title is given to her that she's regarded as a
sinner by profession, by occupation. The Arabic word for sinner used
in verse 37 actually means a sinner and a harlot. It's as though
they go hand in hand here, and it sounds as though her livelihood
came from being a sinner. And most of the old commentators
agreed that she was a prostitute, but we must always remember that
there's no degrees of sin. We are all inwardly what she
was outwardly. just as Rahab was saved by grace
through faith. So this poor soul, grace covered
even her sins. She was a well-known sinner.
She seems to have been branded with that name. And Simon the
Pharisee, he immediately recognized her as all his friends in the
house did. She was the talk of the town.
These religious and moral folks wouldn't associate with her,
wouldn't be caught dead talking to her in the streets. She was
cut off from society much like lepers were in our Lord's day
outside of the in crowds camp. She had gone a long way in sin.
Matter of fact, she was a 500 pence debtor as compared to Simon,
who was a 50 pence debtor. She is referred to only as a
sinner in the city in which she dwelt, and her name's not even
given. And I thought about that. I can
assure you that her name was well known among Simon and those
in his house. But being forgiven, the Holy
Spirit doesn't mention her name at all. It's not important. She's a child of God, a forgiven
sinner. Her tears, her sorrow, her gratitude,
and her love for Christ proved that she was no ordinary sinner. For the Lord said, to whom much
is forgiven, much love is found. And Christ knew all her sin. All her sin was known to Christ.
And so is yours, and so is mine. You see, our God looks on the
heart. We look on the outward appearance
as they looked upon her, but Christ didn't. He looked upon
her repentant heart. I was thinking as I read these
verses, our Lord allowed her lips to kiss his feet. He knew
very well what language had fallen from them before. And when our
Lord allowed her to show love and affection toward him by touch,
he knew that her touch to men in the past had been illicit
and unchaste. Yet in all her sin, being a sinner
well known, divine grace didn't cast her out. She obtained mercy
and grace and she stands in Simon's house as a believing sinner,
as a child of the king. And you know, that's all a child
of God is until they're one day glorified with Christ in glory.
Just believing sinners, saved by the mercy and grace of God.
And how thankful I am that in Christ, I'm unblameable and unreprovable
right now in God's sight. Paul clarified that in Romans
8.1. He said, therefore, there is
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Right now,
no condemnation. Before God, I stand perfect. But until Christ comes to take
his people home, either in physical death or in the hour of his return,
whichever comes first, you and I will battle and struggle with
that old nature that resides within. We're believing sinners.
While in this life, it is our sin that constantly reminds us
of our need of Christ. I'm afraid that some have allowed
that fallen nature within them to keep them from coming to Christ. You believe that Christ can put
away sin, but you're not sure he can put away yours. I can
assure you that He can. You believe that Christ is the
only way a sinner can be reconciled to God? You're just not convinced
that He can reconcile you. This should be of great encouragement
to you, because if the Lord can forgive this woman, He can forgive
any sinner that desires to be forgiven. And yet, He is the
only one that can give you that desire. So again, we're shut
up to the mercy and the grace of God. But never forget that
God is able to save to the uttermost those who come to Him through
Christ, seeing that Christ ever liveth to make intercession for
them. Our Lord Jesus, upon His resurrection and upon His ascension
to heaven, now sits at the right hand of God. And He's got the
ear of God. And He's pleading for you, not
to you, but for you. What a comfort that should be
to you, child of God. Your salvation and your preservation
has nothing to do with you and everything to do with Christ
praying, like He did for Peter, that your faith fail you not.
You're going to be sifted. You're going to be tried. You're
going to be chastised. But if you are, it's nothing
more than God dealing with you as one of His children For whom
he loves, he chastens. You're being kept, not by your
power, any more than your salvation is by your power. We are kept
by the power of God, 1 Peter 1 5, through the faith that God
gave us. And that same faith is the faith
which Christ prays that will not fail us. Always remember
that the Lord is the author and the finisher of our faith. He gives it and He keeps it. And I have great confidence that
I'll have faith until the end. I'll endure to the end because
Christ loves His own until the end. Now, did you notice the
word behold in verse 37? And behold, a woman in the city which was
a sinner. The Holy Spirit wants us to see this. You know, a forgiven
sinner is a wonder to behold. I'm telling you it is. There's
no wonder, no amazement or miracle greater than the new birth in
God's forgiveness and pardon of a sinner. No work of creation
can match the glory of manifested grace in the pardoned sinner.
You know, it took the same power to create light in a sinner as
it did to create light in this world. God said, let there be
light, and there was light. And it's the same with a chosen
sinner. God says, let there be light,
and there's light. There's no sin that is unforgivable. God the Holy Spirit would have
us to behold this woman's character and remember no matter how fallen
you may be, the grace of God can yet save you. No sin that's
unforgivable except the sin of unbelief. And there's no sinner
too far gone that grace cannot retrieve. Now let's talk a few
minutes about the self-righteous Pharisee. Simon was his name.
Look at verse 36 again. And one of the Pharisees desired
him that he would eat with them. And that sounds commendable at
first. The Pharisee desired that Christ would eat with him. And
he went down to the Pharisee's house and sat down to meet. Now
this Pharisee invited the Lord Jesus Christ to come to his home
and have a meal with him. But why did Simon the Pharisee
invite or desire the Lord Jesus to come into his home and eat
with him? He didn't believe on him. We
know that. He didn't respect him. He didn't
wish to honor him because he didn't even extend to him the
common courtesies that were custom of that day. We read in this
chapter where the Lord rebuked him and said, when I came into
your home, you didn't give me any water to wash my feet. You
didn't give me a kiss of greeting. You didn't give me any oil to
anoint my head. None of the common courtesies
of that day were extended to the Lord Jesus when he came to
the Pharisees' house. Why did he invite him? Why did
he desire him to come? He had heard what the crowd was
saying about the Lord Jesus Christ. Look up at verse 16. They had
heard the Lord Jesus preach, and they had seen Him raise the
widowed son from the dead, and they said in verse 16, a great
prophet has risen up among us, and the Lord has visited His
people by sending His prophet. Simon the Pharisee did not believe
that. He didn't believe it at all.
He believed that Jesus Christ was an imposter. So, the reason
for inviting Christ to his home was to expose him, to disprove
and discredit him. He believed that Jesus of Nazareth
was a fraud. And Simon wasn't the only one.
You don't have to read far in scripture to know that. Folks
everywhere said he's a carpenter, he's Mother Mary and Father Joseph
we know. While we went to school with
his brothers and sisters, he's from the wrong side of the tracks.
Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? He's a glutton, he's
a drunk, a wine-bibber, he's a friend of publicans and sinners.
Simon didn't believe he was a prophet. And he proved that in verse 39
when he said, this man, if he were a prophet, would have known
who and what manner of woman that is that toucheth him, for
she's a sinner. Can you picture this scene? I
love to do that. I tell you that often. I love
to put myself in these stories and just try to observe from
the words of Scripture. Simon and all his friends are
in the house with their gifts, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see,
these dinners in our Lord's Day were not just one person eating
with another, not just a couple people getting together. Simon
the Pharisee was an important man. He was a rich man, and he
was a leader and a ruler of the synagogue. And when he had a
dinner, especially when he invited guests, there were many guests. All his friends were there. And
they set up tables that were not very elevated. It's kind
of custom in the East. Teresa and I have a couple of
those tables that her mother from Japan gave her. They just
sit barely off the floor because the folks that are eating sit
on the floor. They sit on pillows or what they called couches. Not very elevated, but sat on
those cushions. Everyone sat on the floor. And
in that dining area, there were other people sitting around the
walls, listening to the exchange of ideas, discussions and debates. That was pretty common. listening
to questions and listening to what was being said during the
meal. And it seems as though they had
just begun eating and the Lord was lying there upon one of those
cushions and couches with the other guests eating and suddenly
there's an interruption and the door opens and in walks this
woman. And every eye in the place is
on her as she walks directly toward the Lord Jesus Christ.
I can just picture that in my mind. Mouths were wide open,
but not a word was said, with the exception of an occasional
gasp, I'm sure. It's that woman. It's that woman
in the city. Great sinner. Can you see her
as she comes in? Maybe she was dressed inappropriately.
She may have smelled with the strong perfume of a harlot, but
she had her eyes on only one person in that room. She didn't
care what they said. She didn't care how quiet it
was, so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. No, sir. She had her eyes on one person.
It wasn't Simon the Pharisee, and it wasn't his friends. She
only had an interest in Christ. In the early part of Luke chapter
seven, our Lord was preaching and multitudes heard him. He
was preaching on the streets and this woman must have been
in that group of listeners. She must have been in that crowd
that heard the Lord Jesus preach. I say that because preaching
is the means that God is pleased to use to save them that believe.
It was no different in our Lord's day. Our Lord Jesus was a preacher
and what a preacher he was. I think first of that verse in
Luke chapter 24, verse 27, when the Lord Jesus, it says, beginning
in Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all
the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. That's what preaching
is. Preaching is expounding the Scriptures, telling sinners about
Christ and what He's done for them. That's what I desire to
tell you every week, who Christ is, Christ and Him crucified,
who He is, and what He's done for sinners. She must have heard
His wonderful words of life. She must have heard the gospel
that He proclaimed. She must have been moved by His
message, moved by His presence, and moved in her heart by the
grace of this man. And in verse 37 it says, when
she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house. You
see, she had an ear for anything that was about this man called
Christ. She heard someone say, I hear
he's going to eat. Her ears perked up. And when
she found out where he was, she undoubtedly first went home to
retrieve or went to a market to buy. I don't know which, we're
not told. But she went to retrieve an alabaster
box or buy one of ointment, and she wastes no time in coming
to honor the one for whom she received the words of life. She
came in, and she stood at the feet of the Lord Jesus, and she
looked down at Him. Remember now, this man Simon,
when Christ came to dinner, didn't give Him water to wash His feet.
The Lord's feet were dusty and dirty, and she stood there, and
she looked down at the Lord's feet, and her heart just broke. Here was God in the flesh, her
Lord, her Master, her Substitute, her Savior, the One who came
to earth, the One who walked everywhere to show mercy to sinners. And He was so hated and so rejected
that when she looked down at those tired, dusty, dirty, and
even calloused feet, she just fell down and started weeping
and crying. She covered his feet with her
tears, and she let down her braided hair and dried his feet with
her hair, and she started kissing his feet in admiration. Now listen, sinners, true sinners,
are always found at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn
over a couple pages, may only have to turn one to Luke chapter
eight. It tells us about a man with
a legion of devils, one who cut himself and lived among the tombs.
No man could bind him, no man could tame him, but the God-man
did. And in verse 35, after the demons
were departed, he was found sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed
and in his right mind. God's people were found. Jairus,
you remember him? When Jairus' daughter lay dying,
he came to Christ. And he came to Christ the right
way. You know there's a right way to come to Christ. In verse
41 it says that he fell down at Jesus' feet and besought Him,
that word means begged Him, that he would come into his house.
You see, he knew that only Christ could help. And He came the way that you
always get His attention, falling at His feet and worshiping Him.
Every God called sinner is made to know that. Look over at Luke
chapter 10. Martha was full of care, troubled
about many things. But in verse 39, we see that
Mary was found at the Lord's feet. You know, it's at the feet
of Christ that the believing sinner will always stay. In Luke
chapter 17, you don't have to turn there, the Lord healed ten
lepers, but I'm convinced that He only saved one. And that one
When he saw that he was healed, he turned back, and with a loud
voice, the Scripture says, he glorified God. And he came back
to where the Lord Jesus was, and he fell on his face at Christ's
feet, giving Him thanks. You see, the child of God, ashamed
of all their sin, desires to be no higher than the feet of
their Savior. But Simon, the Pharisee, he didn't
believe he was a sinner. As he watched this woman kiss
the Lord's feet, he thought to himself, I wouldn't let her touch
me. I wouldn't let her touch me.
Back in Luke chapter 7, verse 39, we're told that Simon spake within himself, saying,
if this Jesus was a prophet, he would know what manner of
man this is that toucheth him. She's a sinner. But on that thought,
Simon was badly mistaken. Why? Because Christ came in the
world to save sinners. He came to save sinners that
had nothing to pay. You remember the story he told
Simon? Two men owed the Lord. Neither
had nothing to pay. One owed 500 pence and the other
50. This woman owed a great deal. Had nothing to pay. And the Lord
asked Simon, which do you suppose loved the one who forgave the
debt? The one that owed the most. They asked the Lord's disciples
very seriously in another place in scripture, why does your master
eat with publicans and sinners? You see, the Pharisees were in
their own eyes too good, too righteous, too holy, too pure
to have anything to do with the likes of such. And Simon insinuated
that Christ couldn't truly be a prophet because he loved sinners. And yet, the fact that he loved
sinners was the very proof that he was the prophet. Christ came
into the world to save sinners. Christ came to seek and to save
that which was lost. That's what proved that he was
the prophet of God. And in verse 44, the Lord Jesus
asked Simon this question. Seest thou this woman? Oh, he
saw her all right. And he looked upon her with disgust. But I believe what the Lord was
really asking here was this. Do you see her attitude? Do you
see how broken she is? Christ had been rejected by Simon
when He should have been honored by Him. And I'm sure that her
past neglects of Him must have came to mind. She wept at the
memory of her past sins. She grieved most because she
had grieved Him. And I'm certain that the Lord
was asking Simon, do you see how repentant she is? Do you
see how much love she has for Me? Well, she didn't send the
alabaster box with ointment by someone else. She didn't give
it to one of the Lord's disciples to give him. No, she performed
the anointing with her own hand. She did the washing with her
own tears. She did the drying, the wiping
of his feet with her own hair. You see, love for Christ cannot
be by proxy. You can never be saved by another
person's love for Christ. Simon, do you see her humility? You know, we have no record here
that this woman ever spoke a word. Never said a word. Why? There was no need for her
to. This was an act of her heart.
She was too occupied to call attention to herself. She didn't
advance to the Lord's head so that she could be seen by Him.
She stood behind Him. Stood at His feet behind Him. And it seems as though the Lord
says, now Simon, look at yourself. I came to your home and you gave
me no water to wash my feet. This woman hadn't ceased to wash
my feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair. Simon, I
came into your home and you gave me no kiss of welcome. This woman
has not ceased in kissing my feet. Simon, look at yourself. I came into your home and you
didn't anoint my head with oil. You gave me no respect and no
honor. This woman has anointed my feet.
I say this to you, Simon, her sins, which are so many, are
all forgiven. And you don't think your sins are
many. You think that you owe very little. And it's the same today. When
men and women admit that they aren't perfect, they'll say that.
I'm not perfect. But they sure don't think that
they're all that bad. Let me say this to those of you
who are yet without Christ. Oh, how I pray that the Lord
would give you a good whiff of yourself. That God might show
you who and what you are and what you're capable of doing. To this woman who knew who and
what she was, our Lord said in verse 48, thy sins are forgiven. Do you think that there could
have been anything said to her that would have comforted her
more than that? She had a lot of sin. Thy sins are forgiven. And this room filled with the
self-righteous, all they could say is, who is this that forgives
sins? Let me answer that in closing. This is God. This is God. For only He can forgive sins.
You know, even the Pharisees knew that. They had said on one
occasion in the Gospel of Mark, who can forgive sins but God
only? They knew that. This was God,
and He forgave this woman's sin. And then our Lord gives her direction
as what to do. He says, go in peace. Let a holy calm rest on your
heart, dear redeemed one. You have, through Christ the
Savior, been reconciled to God. Thy faith has saved thee. But
friends, it's the object of this woman's faith that saved her.
It's the object of our faith that saves. It's not our faith. We're saved by grace through
faith. It's God's gift to us. But it's who it is that we have
faith in that saves us. Remember, Christ is the author
and the finisher of every child of God's faith. Being confident
of this very thing, that He which begun a good work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, Philippians 1-6. Now
this woman had received the blessings of salvation, pardon, Righteousness and everlasting
life from the Lord. And it all stemmed from hearing
him preach the gospel of God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the word of God. Romans 10, 17. May God give you
saving faith as you sit under the preaching of the unsearchable
riches of Christ Jesus. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved,
it's the power of God. For it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews, oh, they
require a sign, and the Greeks, they seek after wisdom, but we
preach Christ crucified. Salvation is by the substitution
of God. And it's in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ who has made sin for us that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. So let me ask you plainly, do
you love Christ? Well, you will if you see what
all He has forgiven you for. You will if He shows you that. You see, friends, To whom much
is forgiven, the same loveth much.