All right, back to Luke chapter
7. This story is a real picture
of contrast. It's a self-righteous man here. Proud. Pleased with himself.
Real religious. Intolerant. Common people. Didn't need a Savior. He only has Christ around for
religious talk. In verse 36 it says, one of the
Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. So he went into the Pharisee's
house and sat down to eat. This Pharisee, he didn't desire
Christ to learn from Christ. He didn't desire Christ for forgiveness
of sins. fellowship me. He just wanted
him around because he was a popular person, you know, at the time.
And he liked good theological talk. So that's why I had him. A lot of people attend services
for that reason. Well, it says he sat down. Now,
usually back in these days, over in the Middle East, Arabic When they ate, they ate reclining
on the ground, at real low tables. And they generally laid, they
didn't have chairs. They laid pillows and blankets
and robes and things out. And they would eat reclining.
You know, they'd lean on one arm like this with their feet
out behind them like this and eat like that. All right? And they all wore sandals, you
know. back then. And usually when they
came into a house, it was just common courtesy that, you know,
you wear sandals in a hot, arid country, feet get filthy dirty. And when you come to the house,
they give you a bowl of water or something to wash your feet
in, your hot, tired, dusty feet, wash your feet in it. They generally
take your shoes off and you go in here barefoot. And if the host is really glad
to see a friend, you know, one who delights in your company,
they give you a kiss of greeting. They still greet that way over
there, you know. Not on the mouth. Uh-uh. It never has been that
way. It's on the side like that. They do that still. Well, this
woman, it says here in verse 36. So Christ, you see the picture.
Christ was sitting, or kneeling, laying rather, on the floor at
this low table with His feet bare feet behind him like this,
eating. And it says in verse 37, Behold a woman in the city
which was a sinner. Now, I don't need to tell you. I need to tell you what kind
of woman this is. That's all that needs to be said. She was
a street lady. And she heard that Christ was
in this house of this Pharisee. Now, she wasn't wanting. This Pharisee,
we'll see in a minute, he did not want. He did not invite her.
She received no invitation. She did not receive an invitation
to there. But, buddy, she had. She had
to get to Christ. She heard about this One who
heals the blind and the lame and the deaf and the lepers. And she thought, oh, the worst
problem of all, my sin, my life. I can't. I've got to get to it. No, and
she had no invitation. So when she knew where he was,
she went in and said she brought an alabaster box of ointment. Now, you ladies know what alabaster
is. It looks like mother-of-pearl
kind of, real white shell type material. It's real costly material. And this little box was apparently
a handmade, costly, very, very costly container, and in it was full
of precious ointment. And this ointment was akin to
something, some real expensive perfume now. I remember one time
we went to, we were in Michigan one time. We went into Bloomingdale's. You heard of Bloomingdale's?
And Tiffany's. We went into Tiffany's. Ever
heard of Tiffany's? We'd always heard about these
big joints. And so we wanted to go in just
so we could say we've been there. And they had, you know, Tiffany,
they had little snuff dishes. Nobody ever snuffed out of them,
I'm sure. Fifteen hundred dollars. Fifteen hundred dollars. And
bosses, you know what a boss is, don't you? Thousands and
thousands of dollars. But we went into Bloomingdale's,
and they had little containers back then. This was nearly 20
years ago. Little things of Chanel No. 5.
You remember that? Is it still around? Well, I remember
I thought, I'd like to get something of that from India. How much
of that little bottle right there? Just a little bitty bottle about
that big. How much is that right there? And I think he said something
like $348.33. Thank you. Just wanted to know. I love her,
but, you know, let me finish the story. We couldn't afford
anything in there. Finally, my wife said to me,
she said, she hollered at me, boy, he's country bumpkins in
Bloomingdale. She said, he hollered, hey, Paul,
come here, I got something we can afford. She found a pair
of socks. She said, these are only $2.50.
I looked at her and said, honey, no, you left out a figure. They're $32.50. We couldn't even
afford a pair of socks. So why did I say all that? Because this woman had this costly
box, alabaster box. It was very, very expensive,
and it was full of Chanel No. 5, if you will, full of it. This
thing was worth a lot of money. Why she had this, I don't know.
Why do people keep expensive things? It's just so they can
say they have it, I guess. Well, she had it. And so she
came in and says she brought this box with her. and stood
at his feet, verse 38, stood at his feet behind, behind him. Evidently, you know, the men
were talking around the table, and she's a woman, wasn't invited,
and she knew who she was, and she came in, snuck in, really,
and stood, or rather hovered behind him, like had this box
in her hand. She was crying, weeping, sobbing,
you know, weeping, sobbing. Uncontrollably. And you know everybody looked at her. And finally it
says, And she began to wash his feet with tears. Well, that means
she fell on the ground. She wasn't standing. She fell
on her feet like, you know, and she came in and every eye looked
at her. And she thought, I've got to get down low as I can.
And this is the best place to be. At his feet. Fell at his feet and began to,
it says, wash his feet with tears. Now you know how much she was
crying. Where's Mr. Wet Eyes? Right here. This is a sinner. And right there's
her on that. Boy, she was weeping mourning
over her sin. And she fell at his feet and
began to wash his feet with tears. That's how much she cried. And
did wipe them with the hairs of her head. She began to wipe
his feet with the hairs of her head. Now, she didn't wear a
covering because sinners, religious folk, weren't covering. See? And that hair was what she
used to ply her trade with. That long, flowing hair used
to entice people. Now she thought nothing of it.
Women, you know, think much of their hair. They go to great
lengths to take care of their hair and fix it up and all that.
This sinner didn't give a crap what her hair looked like at
this time. But she was watching her, you know, dirty feet with
her hair. Didn't care what she looked like. Didn't care what she was doing.
Didn't care what anybody else thought of her. He says she ate his feet, and
she began to kiss his feet, and took this ointment. This
box of ointment, this keepsake ointment, you had to literally
destroy the box to get to the ointment. It was irrecoverable. I mean, if you broke the box,
it wasn't good for anything. And he said, she busted this
box. I don't want this anymore. Here's
the one that's the best of God. It's all I've got. It's all the
riches I've got. I need those feet. And then wife
then began to put that costly ointment all over his feet. Ah,
boy. I thought about these feet. You remember how much I used
to love Hannah's little feet. Not little anyway, big feet.
Bigger than her mama's feet. But those little feet, you know,
used to be so precious to me. What about these feet? You know, Scripture says much
about these feet. Helping feet. Healing feet. Saving feet. Shepherd's feet.
Shepherd's feet. She hugged those feet. She was
hugging those feet. Hugging up to those feet. She
didn't feel worthy to go up to the head. And she was crying so profusely,
washing his old dusty feet with her tears and began to wipe them
with the hair of her head and kissed his feet. You know, the feet of Christ. Oh, the feet. F-E-T-E and F-E-E-T. The feet of Christ, though, are
amazing. It's amazing that He had them.
You know what? I mean, this is God whose Spirit
You know how you put on your shoes? You men are going to go
to work, and ladies are going to put on your shoes, your work
shoes, right? Whatever you wear, wherever you
work, be it wingtips or red wings, whatever. You put on your work
boots, work shoes to go to work, don't you? Christ put on a pair
of feet. You know what? The Lord of glory
put on a pair of feet. God was manifest in the flesh,
and what feet they were. I guarantee you these were the
dirtiest feet in town. I know it. Feet that walk most places and
do the most are going to be dirty feet. Hardest working feet are
the dirtiest feet. They'd come the farthest, done
the most labor, could have been the flattest feet. One bearing the heaviest burden. The weight of His people were
carried by those feet. And those feet were soon to be
pierced. Soon to be pierced. Dirty feet. Why I brought this
up was this. Dirty feet, yet perfectly clean. Spotless and pure. Always walking
in paths of righteousness. Walking in the will of God. people
today, religious people, go through these foot-washing ceremonies. It's another thing that leaves
a bad taste in my mouth, along with all this other religious
stuff. You hear these foot-washing ceremonies?
You reckon, do you reckon, for a moment, that there's one person
that comes to that place with dirty feet? You reckon? If this one person
comes in out of the field with dirty, stinking, rotten, just
smelly feet and comes in there and lets somebody wash their
feet, too proud. Well, our Lord had
the dirtiest feet in the house, I guarantee you, but they were
the cleanest. And you can have the cleanest
feet, but they'd be the dirtiest. He that hath who shall enter
into the holy hill of the Lord, he that hath clean hands. What
about the Lord's hands? Bet you a dollar and a half to
a cow and a cat. My father always used to say
that he had more calluses on his hands than anybody. I guarantee
you. And they were dirty. Do you reckon
he had dirt on his fingernails? But they were clean hands, oil
clean hands, pure heart. Well, anyway, this
Pharisee, all those feet, we could stay right there. You know,
when the Lord rose, that's the first thing he showed his disciples,
behold my hands, look here, get my hands, my feet, it's me. Mary, it's me. Those are the feet, same feet.
Well, verse 39, it says, Now when the Pharisee had bidden
him, saw it. She saw this woman come in here
and just began to make a show, or what he thought to be a show
of herself. And he spake within himself.
Now he didn't say this out loud. He said this to himself. Well,
he said, he saw this woman coming in and he saw her. How could
he let her do that? How disgusting. kissing his feet. How disgusting. Now he said this,
if he were a prophet, a prophet. Moses one time, this fellow thought
he knew Moses didn't he? Moses said, that prophet, shall
come." Moses one time said, that prophet shall come. I mean straight from God and
him you're going to hear. The prophet to answer all prophecies. That prophet. If he were a prophet.
Oh, he's that prophet. We read on. They said, if he
were a prophet, he would have known who and what manner of woman. This
is. That's touching him. Well, she's
a sinner. She's a sinner. Ah, little did
he know, he knew this woman all right. He'd foreknown her before the
world began. He'd set his love upon her. He knew her. Before he formed her in her mother's
belly, he knew her and set his love on her. But little did this
Pharisee know, he didn't know him. He's going to say to that man
one day, I never knew you, but you ate in my house. I had you
for dinner. I don't know you. While this
one's sitting up at the table. Ah boy, did he know, did he know
what manner of woman she was? Now she's a sinner. Yes, and this is the faithful
saint. And this is why he came. This
is who he came for and why he came to save sinners. The chief This was the worst. If everybody in town, everybody
at this table, they'd ask them, who's the worst sinner in town?
They'd have said, they'd have named this woman. And here she
came. Well, speak of the devil. Here she is now. Yeah. If Christ
should have said, He said, yeah, I called her. Yeah, she came. Oh, Father, give
it to me. She shall come to me. And here she comes to me. I don't
know why she came. Yes, the truth be known, he called
her. Well, she came, verse 40, and Jesus answered. Now, this
fellow said this, you know, under his breath, said this to himself,
thinking that's in his mind, you know. And our Lord said to
this fellow named Simon, he said, Simon, I have something to say
to you. And the fellow thought, well,
he's going to be a sailor teacher. Yes, teacher, say all. He said,
the Lord said, verse 41, there was a certain creditor which
had two debtors. One owed 500 pence and the other
50. Let me put it in our language, OK? There was a certain rich
man who loaned money and he had two fellows who owed him money
and one owed him 500 dollars and the other one owed him 50.
All right, read on. And so when they had nothing,
neither one of them had a dime. They had nothing. Neither one of them had anything to pay. This man
just frankly forgave them both. Forgave them both. Wiped out
the debt. Tell me therefore, Simon, tell me, which of them
would love And Simon answered, you see,
this is a man, and he's cynical, and he's hard to convince, and
he's sure ain't going to admit he's wrong, isn't he? And he
says, well, I suppose. What do you mean you suppose?
You see that? You see that, John? Well, I suppose. I bet you this man was older
in years the young teacher that was sitting there, a 33-year-old,
30-year-old. He was this old Pharisee. Well,
I suppose. He had a long white beard. I
suppose. Yeah. I suppose that he to whom
he forgave the most, and Christ said unto him, You know, by a man's mouth, by
a man's word, he'll be justified or condemned. You know, a man
won't be held accountable for every idle word the Scriptures
say. And in this sentence, our Lord
just pronounced eternal judgment on this man. Thou hast rightly
judged. Well, look at this. Enough of
that old fellow. He turned to this woman. He turned to this woman. Evidently,
he drew attention or he pointed at her. She was still back there,
still weeping while he's talking. While he's talking to Simon. He'd been talking to Simon here,
telling him this parable. And then he turned and looked
at this woman and pointed at her. gestured toward her and
said, You see this woman? He said unto Simon, I entered
into your house. Your house. See, there's sarcasm
in everything he's saying. Judgment and everything. Thine
house. She might not have had one. But
what did he have that he had not received? I entered into
thine house. You gave me no water for my feet." She's washing my feet with her
tears, wiping them with the hairs of
her head. Thou gavest me no kiss. You didn't even greet me. This
woman, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my
feet. And my head, with oil, thou didst
not anoint. That's a good picture there.
You know that? The Holy Spirit is the oil. Those who have it, they anoint
the head. All right? And the feet. Those who
have it. This man didn't have any. He
wasn't going to waste it on Christ. But he wanted to talk religion. cease to kiss my feet, wipe them
with the hair of her head, and she hath annoyed my feet with..."
All, her all. This one, this precious one. Wherefore, now he said unto this
pharisee, wherefore I say unto thee, now he's talking to him. still pointing to her. He said,
I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. They're gone. They're gone. I'm telling you, he said to Simon,
this sinless felon in her. Her sin? They're gone. They're forgiven. She loved much. And to whom little
is forgiven, the same loves little. And then, you see, he pronounced
this man's judgment. And then, then he turns to her,
and he never turns to this fellow again. He doesn't look at him anymore.
I believe he got up and left right after that. Then he turned
to her, and I believe, I just know in the Lord, I believe he wrapped her in his arms. This
is a woman that nobody's going to get near for fear of their
reputation, you know. He wrapped her in his arm. I
know another woman he stooped down to. I believe he wrapped
her in his arm and he said to her, then he said to her personally,
personally, looking into her eyes, he said unto her, verse
48, Thy sins are forgiven. I say unto you, Her sins, which
are many, are forgiven, O religious man. Gross, vulgar, obscene,
a street woman. There's nothing a street woman
hasn't done. Do you remember that survey they did of sin? In the
Roanoke Times, they did a survey of sin. What everybody thought
was sin, you know. And boy, they listed all kinds
of things. This woman's sins are things
that people don't even, you know, vulgar, gross, obscene. I don't need to go any further. What this woman did. Outrageous, scandalous, shameful.
Many. She lived a lifetime like this. And all of a sudden, with a word, she hadn't walked an aisle. She walked the right aisle. Yes,
she did walk an aisle. And she didn't shake anybody's
hand, but she kissed the right feet, I can tell you that. She
didn't come to an altar. But wait a minute, we do have
an altar, don't we? Huh? She came to the right preacher
all right, but didn't feel worthy to shake his hand and only kiss
his feet. She hadn't witnessed. She hadn't worked. She hadn't
served the Lord. But Christ said in a word, sins
gone. Sins are gone. Had a word. Her sins, which are many, and
oh boy, I wish there was a notorious sinner in here this morning. I do wish there was a notorious.
Well, there are. I just don't know it. And you know, no matter where
you are or what you've done or what you're doing right now,
if you can find yourself at Christ's feet, He'll give it all up. All of it. All of it. Many lifetimes, it doesn't matter.
But to whom little is forgiven, they'll love much. Only sinners
need a Savior. Only sinners need a Savior. Good
people need not apply. But I bet you... Now, we talked
about dancing this morning, didn't we? He said to her, Thy sins are
forgiven thee. I know where the song came from
now. I know where it came from. I know who wrote it. Did you
hear what the Lord Jesus said to me? They're all taken away. Your sins are pardoned and you
are free. They're all taken away. She got happy. And they that
sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is
this? Who is this? This is he. This is he. This is God manifest
in the flesh. This is the sinner's lamb, who
this is. God's lamb. This is the savior
of sinners, who this is. And he forgives sin. I mean,
flat forgives them. I mean flat forgiveness right
now with a word. Just one word. Come to Him. That's
it. That's it. Just one word. And
he said to the woman, Thy faith has saved thee. Thy faith has
saved thee. What do you mean her faith? What
do you mean her faith? Do you see what faith is? Huh? Do we see what faith is? He said to another woman that
did the same thing, he said, I'm just a dog, I don't deserve
Christ. He said, great faith, great faith. He said to this
woman who'd never probably darkened the door of a so-called church
house, thy faith. You see what faith is? Faith
is coming to Christ. Faith's not making a decision.
Faith's not going to church. Faith's not living a good life.
Faith is coming to Christ as a dead dog, worthless, helpless
street person. Coming to His feet as an unworthy,
vile sinner and saying, if you don't save me, I'll perish. I'm
unworthy. Simple as that. And he said go,
he said this too, in closing. Go in peace. Go in peace. Now she had never had peace before.
Huh? Does your conscience bother you? Anything you've done in the past,
or are doing right now, bother you? What do you think this was? She never had a moment of peace. She never had a moment
of peace. She lived everybody she saw, everywhere she went. Can you imagine? Guilt, guilt,
written with guilt, guilt, in a word, in a word. Christ said, Peace! And she didn't
care what anybody said from then on out. She didn't care. She had peace. Nobody's going to take it from her. Peace is at the
Master's feet. She's looking for peace. All right, Brother Joe, what's
that? Only a center, isn't it? Is that it? One ninety-nine?
Four hundred and seventy-four. Four hundred and seventy-four
is a very fitting end of the same. Not have I gotten, but what I
receive. I believe, most in excluded,
pride I base. I'm just an old tenor played
by a grand. Let's sing a couple of verses. Then we'll sing the first from
the third stanza, the first from the third. Mouths have I gotten with what
I received. Brains have been loaded since
I left with thee. False fingers stood in, pride
I amaze. I'm only a setter, save my grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story, God be the
glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Here's the thing, the very thing
that I...