Luke chapter seven. I sometimes wonder what sort
of. What sort of impression. This
church makes upon visitors who come here for the first time. I wonder how people feel around
our folks here, people that come in for the first time. I wonder
how people feel around me when they meet me for the first time. I'll just be real honest with
you this morning. Most religious people make me sick. I'm just going
to get real frank with you. When I get around most religious
people that I meet, I really want to get away from them. I
want to avoid them. I'll just be honest with you.
They make me feel so inferior. so irreligious? I'm quite sure of this, though.
The fault's not in me. I'm quite sure that true Christianity
and true Christlikeness is altogether different from
what people make it out to be today. I'm certain of that. You see, the holy son of God
walked on this planet, and religious people despised
him. But it says many publicans and
sinners were drawn to him. There was something about him.
They just like to be around him. Now, that's exactly the opposite
of the way I feel about people who are supposed to be Christians,
you know. And I contend, based upon that,
that true Christianity somehow or another makes the average
man be drawn to you, not repulsed, not want to avoid you because
you're super piety or religiosity, but drawn to you, relate to you. I've said many times from this
pulpit that the church is supposed to be a hospital for sinners, not a clubhouse for the moral
majority. Right? It's supposed to be a
hospital for sinners. We're supposed to go out into
the highways and the hedges. find an old boy laying on the
gutter and say, we want you, you're our kind, you make a good
church member. Our sign, like I've said so many
times, our sign should read, sinners only, no good people
Shouldn't it? You've seen these signs on people's
properties that say, no dogs allowed? We ought to put on our bulletin
board, only dogs allowed. Right? Only dogs allowed in here. You
know that's the only kind of people that really worship God?
You know that? Only dogs. People who feel themselves
to be dogs. If you look up the word worship,
if you had a Greek concordance like I do, if you don't have
one, you'll just have to take my word for it here. But if you
look up the word worship, in instances like that leper came
down to... Have you ever looked at... You
and I looked it up together, Sam. That leper came down to
Christ, where Christ was, and it says fell at his feet and
worshipped him. That word worship means right there in that same
place and other places of instances of salvation. It's said, like
a dog licking the master's hand. You know that all true worshipers
of God are just like dogs at the master's feet. Dogs at the Master's feet. If
you'll look it up sometime, you'll find nearly every example of
salvation. Someone who meets the Master,
the Savior, they end up at his feet, just lying there like an
old dog, content. A dog doesn't feel bad laying
at the Master's feet. That's where he wants to be,
doesn't he? And he's content every now and then with a pat
on the head, completely contented. A dog is completely A sinner
is complete and contented at the feet of Christ. And they stay there. You never
leave that position. Once the Lord saves somebody
and reveals himself to somebody as being an old sinner and you
come weeping at the Master's feet, like we're going to see
in a minute, you never leave that. You stay there because
he's always going to be the Lord. Right? He's always going to be
high and lifted up, and we're still only going to be a sinner.
The song says, Not have I gotten, but what I receive. Grace has
bestowed it, since I have believed. Boasting excluded, pride I base,
what are you? I'm only a sinner, saved by grace. I'll never be anything more than,
but you're a preacher. Not first I'm not, I'm a sinner,
saved by grace. I've always been a sinner, and
right now I'm still a sinner, and the place for sinners is
at the Master's feet. You say, but someday we'll sit
at the Master's table. Well, that's then. This is now. Right? That's then, when I'm
holy and just like Christ and I'll sit at the table. I'm still
going to be praising him throughout eternity for saving me by his
grace. Well, that's then. This is now. What are you now?
I'm a sinner. You better stay at his feet.
That's where we belong. That's where dogs belong. Dogs
don't sit at the master's table. And the scripture says, kiss
the son, lest he be angry. And it's not
a kiss of equality up here like Judas did on the cheek, you know,
it's a kiss like we're going to see here. Now, our story is
a perfect picture. contrasts, a perfect picture
of contrast. You have on one hand, you have
this self-righteous, religious man, proud. He's pleased with
himself. He's religious. He's intolerant
of other people, especially sinners. He doesn't need a savior. He
likes having this Jesus around, though, for religious conversation,
entertainment. He likes having Jesus around
for religious entertainment, but he doesn't need him as a
Savior. He likes to call him his friend, you know. He's well-known.
Everybody calls him friend. So this man likes to have him
as his friend, but there's somebody else here. Quite a contrast. There's an uninvited guest that
shows up. Look at verse 36 with me. Now,
one of the Pharisees desired Christ that he would eat with
him. And Christ went into the Pharisees'
house and sat down to meet. Sat down. Now, back in these
days, they didn't have tables and chairs like we have. They
had a low-lying table and pillows all the way around that table.
Pillows and blankets and rugs, Persian rugs, if you will, laying
all over the place. And people would lay, would recline
on the ground, kind of lean on one elbow as they sat there and
ate, and they'd have their feet out behind them. They'd have
their feet laying out behind them like that as they rested
on an elbow and kind of, you've seen the movies, you know, where
they lay there, have their feet spread out behind them in a reclining
position. So Christ came into this Pharisee's
house and he got down on the floor and stretched his feet
out behind him and began to eat. Verse thirty-seven says, And
behold, a woman in, or that is, of the city, which was a sinner,
a woman. Now, do I need to tell you what
kind of woman this was? She was a streetwalker. prostitute, as we would call
them. At least, if she was not that,
she was a very well-known, in the strictest sense of the word,
very well-known and loose lady. Well, it says, this woman in
the city, or of the city, which was a sinner, she knew it, everybody
knew it, knew her. When she knew that Jesus sat
at meet in the Pharisees' house. When she knew that Jesus, now
perhaps, now everybody had heard of Jesus Christ. He, his fame
spread throughout the land, the scripture says, and everybody
had heard of him. And perhaps this woman had heard
him speak before. Perhaps she was there when he
spoke to those thousands of people in that sermon on the mount that
we're, that we've been studying. Perhaps she heard that message.
Who knows? Perhaps he heard him in the temple every Sabbath day,
he would get he would go to the temple and he would preach in
the people says the common people and many publicans and sinners
would would come to hear him. I wouldn't come to church otherwise,
but they came to hear him. My, my, she heard of this savior. This man that received the centers.
That's what the Pharisees were saying over on the side, you
know. Why? He received the sinners, and the sinners heard it. He
does? Well, where's this place? It's a little church or chapel
in the Wildwood down there. That's where he's going to be
preaching. Well, that's where I'm going, because I'm a sinner.
And she heard of this Savior of sinners, that he'd saved some
people, and heard about him forgiving some people. And the Holy Spirit
was dealing with this woman. dealing with this woman. She
was crying when she came in, and he was dealing with her,
and she came into this place. She had to see this woman. She
had to see him. She heard he was in there at
this Pharisee's house, and she came in uninvited. And it caused quite a stir. Nobody
asked her to come here. She was not an invited guest
to this banquet, not at least by a human. means. She didn't
seem to receive a written invitation. And I say, oh, that folks would
just have to come hear this message of Christ, would just have to.
And come in here uninvited. Don't you? Come here to hear
of Christ. And it says this woman brought an alabaster box of ointment. Now this was very costly, very
precious ointment. It was the equivalent of Chanel
No. 5. One of these real expensive bottles is a box full of it. A lot of it. It maybe represented
a year's wages for this woman. And she saved it up. Maybe it
was one of her own little extravagances. She used it for herself. Maybe
to ply her trade with it. But she used it. This was all
her worldly possessions, perhaps. She loved it. Loved the little
box. Loved the ointment that was in it. And she came into
this house where they were eating, and she saw the Lord. She came in. You picture this
scene. They're all sitting around, all these Pharisees and Sadducees
and lawyers and doctors, and they're all laying reclining
around this table and eating and carrying on a little theological
conversation. You know, I bet the Lord wasn't.
He was eating. He was waiting on somebody. And he sat there
eating, and this woman came sneaking in, you know. And she saw the Lord. Maybe around
the corner, around the other side of the room. And I got news
for you, though. He had seen her a long time before
she saw him. A long time. He had seen her
a long time before anybody else had seen her. He had known her
before the foundation of the world. He had known her with an everlasting
love, and therefore with loving kindness he had drawn this woman
to this very time, this very meeting place. He had set up
this prearranged meeting. She didn't know it. He knew it.
She didn't know him. He knew her. Well, she spied
him. And she came up behind the Lord,
verse 38, came up behind where he was laying on the ground.
And as Scripture says, and it stood at his feet. Now, stood
means she stayed right there at his feet, not stood, she didn't
stand up. She couldn't wipe his feet standing up. She got down
on the floor behind him. She was weeping. It doesn't say she was whimpering
or crying. She was weeping, sobbing uncontrollably. Weeping because she knew what
she was. Everybody knew what she was.
She's a sinner. She wasn't welcome here. And
that made her cry all the more. She saw all the stares and the
looks. She heard the whispers. What's
she doing here? She doesn't belong here. Oh,
yes, she does. She's the only one that belongs
here. But she wasn't wanted. She wasn't invited here. But
thanks be unto God, she came here. She came here. She had come to the right place,
the right place. And it wasn't the Pharisees'
house, was it? That wasn't the right place.
The right place was wherever the Master was, wherever Christ
was. It wasn't the Pharisees' house.
It wasn't the First Baptist Church of the Pharisees that she came
to. She came to Christ, didn't she? That's the right place to
come in. She was just in the right place. Rather, he was in
the right place at the right time for her. And she had to
come to the feet of the Savior. And it says in verse 38, she
got down at his feet. She fell down at his feet, weeping
uncontrollably. She was ashamed of herself, humiliated
before the public. Everybody in there knew all about
her. She was embarrassed by all these church folks in there.
That's a good woman. She's never weeping. And she got way down low. It
says she stood behind him or got down behind him where his
feet were, but weeping. She got down as low as she could
so nobody else could see her but perhaps Christ. And she got
way down. And that's where we're going
to have to come to. We're going to have to get way down. Way down. That's where the Lord brings
every sinner that He saves. Way down. Not halfway. Way down. Way on down. Down as low as His
feet. She got down there out of sight
of all these religious people, where nobody else could see her
but Christ, and she grabbed ahold of the first thing she saw. Precious feet. Precious feet. Helping feet. Healing feet. Saving feet. This was the shepherd's
feet. It's just like an old black sheep
finding the feet, you know, too humble and meek and lowly and
worn out and tired and hungry and in pain and agony, walking
along, can't lift his head up and all of a sudden it's his
feet. And he knows those feet. He's seen those feet before.
And he licks those feet. So glad to see those feet. The shepherd's feet. This was
the shepherd who had left the ninety and nine in the wilderness
to come down to where this one black sheep was to provide those
feet for her. And she got a hold of those feet.
Feet? Yeah, feet. And she, like old
Maurice would say, she hugged up to those feet. Smelly, dirty,
rotten, stinking feet. Yeah, they were feet. They were
human feet. There's more to those feet than
meets the eye. And she began to weep. Look at
this. She began to weep and to wash
his feet with her tears. Now she was weeping, man. It wasn't just a tear rolling
every now and then. She was sobbing, pouring out of her eyes. She
was wiping his feet with her hair. You see, sinners don't
wear coverings. Sinners don't wear coverings
on their head. Religious folk do. She didn't have a covering
on her head. She had nothing to hide, nothing
to cover. But that nevertheless, that long
hair that she wore, it was her glory. It was still her glory.
And she took long, great pains of combing and washing and perfuming
that hair, you know, and braiding it and so forth to ply her trade
with, to allure her customers with and so forth. She didn't
think anything about that now. All her pride and all her dignity
and everything's gone out the window now. She used that hair
to wipe those precious feet. She was down. down and out. And it says here,
look at verse 38 again, it says, wipe, she began to wash his feet
with tears and did wipe them with the hairs of her head and
kissed his feet. And kissed his feet. And kissed
his feet. And kissed his feet. And Christ said later on, she
never stopped kissing his feet the whole time she was there. Let me give you a little illustration
about this. This may bring us home to you. I don't see in any eyes the preciousness
of this feet right now. Do you know how precious Mary's downstairs? Margaret? Some of you ladies just had babies.
Do you know how precious those little feet are? Isn't that one
of the most precious parts of your children? That used to be
my favorite part of Hannah until they got big. Now they look like
girls' feet. But those little baby feet, you
know, so precious. I used to kiss them. I used to
kiss your feet. Precious little feet. Do you
know how precious those little feet are to you people? Have
you ever considered the preciousness of this man's feet? You know, we put on a pair of
shoes when we go to work. Some of you put on different
shoes. Rick puts on his work boots. Henry puts on his black
shoes, those mason shoes, whatever. I put on my Dexter's. I buy off Barbara. We put on our shoes to go to
work. God Almighty came down here and put on a pair of feet. You ever think about that? He
put on a pair of feet. They're God's feet. God's feet. And do you know what a feet he
accomplished with these feet? Huh? God's feet. Do you know that these feet,
you know these feet were probably dirty, like I said. Rick, they
were feet. They were a man's feet. Would
you would you. After yesterday we are out there
working on that building all day would you like to kiss my
feet after that day though would you. I wouldn't yours either
but. I might make a show of religion
if somebody was around and go through that. I wouldn't much
rather thought of it. His feet were dirty and stinking
and smelling. Christ's feet. Why? How do you
know that, Preacher? They had been more places than
anybody else's. They were the hardest working
feet around. They were the farthest traveling feet. Do you know how
far these feet had come? Not only had they come from Galilee
and Nazareth and Judea and all throughout the various parts
of Nazareth, and all had been walking day and night up and
down the hills looking for his sheep, but they'd come all the
way from the throne of glory, these feet had. And he got his
feet dirty, Nancy, when he got down here, didn't he? Wading
through the cesspool of sin and iniquity. Hardest working feet,
they'd come the farthest, they'd known the most labor, and these
feet were bearing the greatest load. They had calluses on these
feet, bunions, blisters. Yeah, they did. They were barren of weight. These
feet were barren of weight of all of God's people throughout
eternity, standing up under the weight of that, these feet, these
feet. And those feet were soon to be
not only blistered but pierced. with big old rusty nails, pierced. And someday, though, after that,
those feet would carry all those people all the way back to heaven. One pair of feet would do it
all. When he had by himself, the Scripture
says, purged our sins, he went back to the throne of glory with
all his people on his shoulder, on those very feet. And someday
he would come again with those same feet. Same feet. But, you know, I said they were
dirty feet, but as just outside. They were the cleanest feet you've
ever seen. They were the cleanest feet that ever walked the face
of the earth. Why? They always walked in the paths of righteousness.
They never walked a wavered path. They always walked the will of
God. They always walked in acts of mercy and kindness and grace
and love and compassion and and service always. Have you ever
thought about those feet? That woman had. And she started
kissing them. What precious feet. Precious
feet. Verse 39 says, Now when the Pharisee,
old Dr. so-and-so, with his fiddle, D.D., you know,
with his master of divinity, When he saw this, he spake within
himself, saying, this man, if he were a prophet. See, he didn't
believe in Christ, did he? He was just another teacher.
He said, if he were, he said he spoke to himself, spoke to
himself this. If he were a prophet, he would
have known who and what manner of woman this is that touches
him. What's she doing here? What's this woman doing here?
Don't you know his indignation when she walked into his house?
His house? What's she doing here? How disgusting. Look at what she's doing. She's
ruining our dinner. She's spoiling our conversation. How could he let her do that?
This is embarrassing. What's this sinner doing in our
church service? Why, she's a sinner. If he knew
that, he wouldn't have left. No, wait a minute, Mr. Farrisee.
He did know that. He knew she was a sinner. He
knew this woman. She didn't know him, but like
I said before, he knew her from before the foundation of the
world. And he knew she was a sinner,
and that's why he'd come to this house. He didn't come to see
that Farrisee. He came to see this sinner. You
see? It could be God Almighty didn't
come to this service. If the Holy Spirit's here, it
says two or three are gathered together in his name. He doesn't
come to me, to the deacons, the elders. He's not coming here
for us if we're all high and mighty and puffed up, you know,
and sitting in the place of prominence. So he doesn't come to us. He
comes to the center. There's a center here. That's
who he comes to. That's who he comes to. And verse
forty says, and he said unto himself, if he knew what kind
of woman she was, it touches him. She's a sinner. And Jesus
answered him. Like I said, he didn't speak
out loud, he spoke to himself. But Christ, the omniscient God,
knowing his thoughts, he answered him. You know, it could have been
that man was a thief. And before he got the words completely
spoken to himself, Christ said, Simon, hmm, what? I want to answer what you just
said. I didn't say anything. Oh, yes, you did. Oh, yes, you
did. Can you hear the cutting edge
and a disdain in his voice right here as you read this? And he looked at him with eyes
that could burn him to a crisp. Simon, I've got something to say to
you. And he said, Master, say on.
That's how they all talk. Say on, Master. And he'd have
wished after he'd gotten through he'd have never said on. Verse forty-one, he said, now
there was a certain creditor, Christ is telling this story,
there's a certain creditor, and by this time it was silent in
the room except for this woman weeping. You can just hear her
sobbing back there. She's still weeping, she's still
kissing his feet. All the time he's telling this story, she's
back there kissing his feet. And it's hushed silence in there.
There was a certain creditor. businessman who had two debtors,
two fellows that owed him money, and one owed him 500 pence, one
owed him $100,000, and the other owed him 50, $50. And when they had nothing to
pay, neither one of them could pay this debt, it says that he
frankly forgave them both. You're forgiven, you don't owe
me that anymore, and you're forgiven, you don't owe that anymore. Which one will love this man
the most, will be the most thankful? Sing this man's praises from
here on out. Which one? Tell me, tell me. And listen to this proud Pharisee,
verse 43. Simon answered and said, Well,
I suppose. He knew the answer without saying, I suppose. Have
you ever asked anybody a question? Some religious person, Pharisee,
got around him, you know, and they'd ask him some religious
questions. They'd say, Brother Barnard,
you don't believe in election, do you? And he wore glasses and
he'd put them down on his nose like that. And he had, like some
of us do, our necks would get red, like some named Deborah
in here. And his forehead would get red.
And he'd get mad or embarrassed. And he'd put his eyes down and
he'd say, Well, it's in the Bible, isn't
it? I do believe it's in the Bible, isn't it? This old Pharisee. Well, I suppose that it's in
the Bible. I suppose that he to whom he
forgave the most. And Christ looked at him and
said, By a man's words, you'll be justified. By a man's words, you'll be condemned.
He just condemned himself on the spot. He just sent himself
to hell. And he turned to the woman. He
turned to that woman. Still down there kissing his
feet now. Still crying. Everybody else was scoffing back
from the snicker and talking, you know. This woman was still
crying, kissing his feet. And he turned to the woman and
said, Simon, and maybe pointed at her, maybe even patted her
on the head, touched her on the shoulder. You see this woman?
And he may have been thinking to himself, oh, precious woman. My woman. My love. My darling. apple of my eye, this precious
woman, this precious sinner. You see this woman, son? I entered into your house, and you gave me no water, no
water for my feet to wash with. Now, this is a common courtesy
of the day. They wore sandals, and everywhere they went, they
got their feet just terribly dirty, you know. Can you imagine
wearing sandals around here in this Virginia clay, your feet
would get absolutely filthy. I don't think water would get
that stuff out. It won't. But they walked around dusty,
and everywhere when they'd go in somebody's house, the common
courtesy, anybody, everybody would give a pan of water is
the least you could do. You know, like asking a man in
your house and say, would you like something to drink? Well,
they would do the same thing. Water to wash your feet. Christ
said, I came into your house, you didn't even give me water
to wash my feet. This woman, do you see this woman? She has washed my feet with her
tears. And wiped them with the hairs
of her head. You didn't want to get your best
little towels dirty, Simon. They were sitting in the bathroom
all arranged. You know, dare not let the company
touch those. Little dig at you ladies. One
thing I despise is decorative towels. Wash your hands. Don't
touch those. Right? You didn't give me any
water. You didn't give me a towel to wash my feet. This woman's
been crying on my feet ever since I got here. And wiping with her
hair. Verse forty-five, when I came
in, you gave me no kiss of greed. This is common courtesy. You
give anybody a kiss or a handshake. Handshake. Does this convict
anybody? When I came in, when you came
in, did somebody give you no greed, no kiss, no handshake?
When I came in, this woman hath not ceased to kiss my feet. Look at her. She's still kissing
my feet. Verse forty-six, My head with
oil, thou didst not anoint. My head with oil, thou didst
not anoint. Now this is significant here. You see, Paul said, it's
like Paul said over in Colossians. He said these vain religious
fellows all puffed up with their traditions and so forth. Barbara,
they'll have a foot-washing ceremony, won't they? They'll go through
all this vain tradition and ceremonies and show of religion. They'll
have their foot-washing ceremony. Everybody wash their feet before
they come to church. I guarantee you that. But they'll
go through this ceremony, but they're not holding the head.
Like Paul said, they're not holding the head. They may be washing
a few feet, but they're not holding the head. Do you catch my drift? They're not holding the head
up. They don't exalt, they don't anoint the head, do they? They don't exalt and praise and
worship Christ as King, as Lord, Master, Sovereign, Ruler, High,
Holy One, God over all, worship Him and Him alone, say Christ
is all. No, Jesus is their equal. Their
equal. Actually, He's less than they
are. He has no hands but their hands. That's what they say.
No feet but their feet. Yeah, He does. He has feet. He has set feet. And, you know, one day everybody's
either going to be at his feet or under. Well, he said, you, my head,
but oil thou didst not anoint with oil. Oil is always a picture
of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures, right? The Holy Spirit. What is the purpose of the Holy
Spirit? Everybody in religion today is talking about the Holy
Spirit. They talk about, we've got a Holy Ghost-filled revival
going on here. Holy Ghost and fire, filled with
the Holy Spirit. I'm a born-again, tongue-talking,
Spirit-filled Christian. What is the purpose of the Holy
Spirit? What did Christ say in John 16 about the Holy Spirit,
the Comforter? He said, when the Comforters
come, he'll take the things of mine and show them unto you. He said he'll not speak of himself,
but he'll speak those things which he has heard. He'll take
the things of mine and show them unto you. He'll bring to remembrance
all things that I have said. You see, the Holy Spirit is the
one who anoints with Christ. If this is a Spirit-filled meeting
right now, you're hearing all about Christ. Christ. Christ. Right? If the Holy Spirit
fills you up, He'll have you full of what? Christ. Christ in you. The hope of glory. Talking about Christ. The Holy
Spirit always speaks of Christ, not Himself. He always anoints
Christ. and anoints the people with the
sight of Christ. He anoints the sinner with a
picture, with a feeling of Christ. And Christ said, this woman,
you, my head is oiled out of this not anoint, but this woman
hath anointed my feet with ointment. Not only do they not hold a head,
Henry, they're equals with it. But this woman didn't feel, she
didn't feel worthy to get above Christ's feet. get above his feet. His feet
were high enough for her. Too high, too high. Verse 47, Wherefore I say unto
thee, Simon, her sins, which are many, hear this, O religious
man, her sins which are many, and gross, and perverted, and
wicked, and obscene, and indecent, and immoral." No doubt about
it, Simon. She is a woman of the street.
Yes, she's a wicked woman, but you're worse. But her sins, though
they're many, and gross, and wicked, and perverse, are forgiven. every last one of them. Now, this may not mean a lot
to you right now, but there's one person in that room just
then that heard something that filled her heart and her soul
with joy. Unspeakable. This Pharisee. This wasn't bothering him. He
didn't care. But this woman, her sins, and
she perked up. Maybe she quit her crying about
that. which are many are forgiven. What? Forgiven? At a word? Yeah, you don't know whose word
it is, do you? That's how God forgives sins,
at a word. You don't have to quit this,
quit that, do this, do that, go here, go there, do you? They're
forgiven at a word. Your sins, which are many, believe Christ, believe what
he says, come to him, just trust him, are forgiven. Gone. Justified. As if they'd never been committed
before a thrice holy God. Forgiven. It wasn't the priest. You know, she didn't go to the
port-a-fest. Did you see that in the paper? That fellow carrying
around that port-a-John? Had Johnny on the spot, calling
it a confessional booth for people to have a portable confession
booth? Folks, this is the end. How much
worse can it get? She didn't go to a priest. She
didn't go down to church and confess. She didn't go to a soul
winner. She went right to the Savior, didn't she? She's right
at the feet where she ought to be, the only one that could give
her forgiveness of sin, right? Not me. I'm not going to have
a little thing down here at the end of the sermon. Now, you come
to me. Everybody wants to consecrate, dedicate, rededicate, cry on
the altar and let me And I'm going to notch on my belt and
report you to the Southern Baptist Convention and how many we're
going to baptize you, get a name for ourselves. No, you come to
Christ. You go home in your closet and come to the feet of Christ.
Go to the feet of Christ and say, My sins, which are many,
I'm sorry. Forgive me. Cleanse them. Wash
them. Forgive me. Because of that work he had done,
he came to establish righteousness. He had already established it
for her. And supernaturally, Rick, he
had already imputed this righteousness to her. It was hers. He knew
her. He knew she was coming. He had
a robe waiting on her. She was naked and exposed before
all these religious people. Christ had already covered her,
had her sins covered right up before she got in the door. Adam
covered, and this blood, he was about to go to the cross and
make the final payment for her sin, but it was good as done,
wasn't it, Terry? Because he was a lamb slain before the foundation
of water. She had to die for those sins, but Christ did it
for her. And he would one day come again
to receive her. Yeah, her. And you're going to
find out if you read through the Scriptures, this same woman,
I believe her name was Mary. You'll find her, every time you
see the Lord, you'll find this woman named Mary. Where is she?
and his feet. See, that's where she found the
blessing the first time, wasn't it? And she wasn't about to leave. If you're a sinner, not have
I gotten, but what I've received. If you're only a sinner saved
by grace, you're going to stay right there, aren't you? You're
not going to become puffed up and vain and religious and pious. What's she doing here? That's
how I started this message out. I wonder what people think of
me and this church when they come in here. Do they feel uneasy?
Oh, he's religious. He's religious. I don't belong
here. If the sinner... And you hear
these people call him that. Sinner, brother? Sinners and saints. Now, wait
a minute. Wait a minute. You can't divide
them, can you? All the saints are still sinners.
Still sinners. And if somebody comes in off
the street And they feel uncomfortable around me, I'm doing something
wrong. If they feel uncomfortable in
this church, we've got a church full of Simons, don't we? And her, she may be, he may be
the only one in this place that the Lord saves. I'm talking to
myself. Her sins, he said unto Simon,
wherefore I say unto thee, her sins which are many are forgiven."
She loved much. She loved much. And people, I
don't care who you are or what you have done or what you are
doing right now or where you are, if you can find yourself
at the feet of Jesus Christ, your sins, though they were scarlet,
shall be as white as snow. Oh, you'll go on sinning, not
like you used to. I'm living in it, but they'll
be forgiven. And Christ will mold you and
make you more like Him. You come to Him just as you are,
just as you are, dirty to be cleansed. He'll forgive them
all. Verse 47, But to whom little is forgiven. You see, old Simon
just thought he had a few faults. He didn't have sins. That sounds
too drastic, sins. He had a few faults, shortcomings.
Well, to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. Little
is forgiven. They won't even be forgiven.
And to be found with one spot or one blemish in that day, to
be guilty of one point of the law is to be guilty of it all. The only sinners need a Savior.
Only sinners need a Savior. Only the guilty need the gospel.
And only those that are serious about their soul will come to
the Savior. Nobody else will. Nobody else. I see it time and time again
in preaching. I see unmoved faces, and that's
what we began by reading Christ. We said, well, how are we going
to like in this generation? Piped until you haven't danced, don't
rejoice, mourn until you don't weep. Why? They don't have any
need. Rich and increased with goods,
have no need of nothing. The gospel doesn't mean a thing
to somebody that's not guilty. He or she may be a good old boy
or a good old girl, but the gospel is really not that sweet, because
they're not sinners. But I'll tell you one person
that the gospel is mighty sweet to. It's an old sinner, like
this woman. Just like this woman. And he
said unto her, and finally, in conclusion, he turned to her. He had done with these old boys.
Go on in. Play your religious games. And
he turned to that woman, and maybe, Nancy, he might have gathered
her in his arms, not him, in those arms, everlasting arms. Picked her up off the ground
where he was and snuggled her to his breast and said, Woman,
I sinned. He spoke personally to her there.
Not second to a mediator. You're sinning. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? She might have immediately started
singing this or sang it on the way out. Did you hear? Did you
hear? She might have went out and told
her friends or fellow. Wait, I've got something to tell
you. Did you hear what he said to me? They're all taken away. My sins are pardoned and I'm
free. They're all taken away. That boy, because he's the savior
of sinners, and he said to the woman, Thy faith is saved. Go in peace. Go in peace. Gave her a smile
that could win the hardest heart. Your sins are forgiven. Your
faith is saved. You came to the right place.
You came to the right place. And your sins are gone. Now you
go in peace. He didn't even admonish her first
thing, did he? Go in peace. Spoke peace to her heart. She'd
never had it before. She'd never had any peace in
that old troubled breast of hers before. She did now. Because
he said, the peace I give, the world can't take away from you,
and the world can't give it to you. Religion can't give it to
you. And nothing else out there, drug, whatever, can't give it
to you. But Christ can give it when he says that one word, Thy
sins are forgiven me. Go with me. Brother Joe, come
up here. Let's sing that song. What's
that number? What's that? One hundred ninety-nine. One hundred ninety-nine. I hope it describes you Christ
receive the sinful man saying it or if he if you feel that
he is forgiving you then you'll sing it or and or and or and
for Christ receive the sinful man and keeps it all right stand
with one ninety nine first and second stands Sinners, Jesus will receive Founders
were a grace to all To the heavenly path they lead All who linger,
all who fall Sing it o'er and o'er again, Christ, receive a
sinful name. Make the misty spirit plain,
Christ, receive a sinful name. Come and heed the deep, dear
rest. Trust him for his word is plain. He will take the simple rest. Christ will sing a simple hymn,
saying, Thank you and you're dismissed.