Well, that was such a blessing.
Thank you, ladies, for that. Go back to that passage Ron read
to us in Luke chapter 7. Luke chapter 7. As we read through the gospel
narratives, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we love to read and
think about those instances that the Spirit of God has left a
record of where a person received from the very lips of our Savior
a great assurance of their salvation. I think of the believing thief.
I preached about him last Lord's Day morning. I know that man
was an object of divine grace. There's no question about it.
The Savior saved him by sovereign mercy. The Lord Jesus was giving
his life in the stead of that man, paying his debt of sin.
I know he was one of God's because he heard these words from the
Savior's lips, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. No question about it. We learn
quite a bit about conversion as we read about that man and
what the Savior had to say to him. And then those words of
grace that today thou shalt be with me in paradise." I think
about the man who was sick of the palsy. He was lame. He couldn't get to the Savior,
but he did have a few friends, five friends, who brought him
to the location where our Lord Jesus was preaching. And they
couldn't get in, so they took the man up on top of the house
and proceeded to disassemble a section of the roof. And then
they lowered their dear friend down in front of the Savior. And the Lord said to that man,
He said, Man, be of good cheer. Thy sins are forgiven thee. I know he was forgiven. There's
no question about it. The Savior said he was forgiven.
What a blessing, forgiveness of sins. And I think about that
woman in John 8. Scripture says the Pharisees
caught her in adultery. And in the very act, And they
brought her to the master. And, of course, they were tempting
him and they cast her down at his feet and said, Moses says
that she needs to be stoned. She ought to be stoned. What
do you say? And, of course, they were testing
him, hoping they could catch him and he would slip up with
his words, which, of course, was impossible. But here's what
they were thinking. If he says, go ahead and stone
her, then they'd say, aha, he's not a man of mercy at all. He's
not gracious. He's not forgiving. But if he said, let her go, then
they'd say, he's not for justice. He is absolutely set against
the law of Moses. Well, the scripture says our
Lord Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground as if he was paying
them no mind. Then he stood up and he said,
which of you is without sin? Well, you go ahead and start
throwing stones again." And then he bent back down and started
writing something again. Somebody said he was writing
their names. I don't know. We're not told. But they began to leave from
the oldest down to the youngest. The scripture says their consciences
were smitten. And the woman heard the master
say to her, woman, where are those thine accusers? She looked
around. He said, no man, Lord. And then he said, neither do
I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Discontinue this lifestyle. Neither do I condemn thee." Well,
those are very precious words. Because there is no condemnation
to those to whom the Savior says, I don't condemn you. There's
no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. These stories
presented to us in the gospel narratives, they give us great
hope. They're a blessing to us. These people were forgiven. These people were received by
the Master. These people were going to glory. These people were going to be
with Him in paradise. Why not me? Why not you? They believed on
the Lord Jesus Christ. They were objects of God's grace.
The Scripture says He is plenteous in redemption. He's gracious. He's merciful. He's forgiving. There are people who are going
to be with Him in paradise forever. Why not you? Why not me? I love these passages. Because
there's no doubt as to what the outcome is going to be. The mercy is given. The grace
of God is shown. And sins are forgiven. based
upon the substitutionary sacrifice that the Lord Jesus would offer
up. David said in the Psalms, blessed
is he whose transgression is forgiven. What does transgression
mean? Rebellion. Rebellion. Whose transgression is forgiven,
taken off of them, and taken away. Where did our sins go? The Savior took them. with him to the cross of Calvary,
and he buried them in the deepest sea." Are you a blessed person? Are you highly favored? Are you
one to be envied? All of those definitions of blessed. And then David said, Blessed
is he whose sin is covered. What is sin? Missing the mark
of perfection. What does it mean for sins to
be covered? Covered by the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's a blessed person. Have
your sins been covered by the blood of Christ? Out of the sight
of God? Put away forever? Concealed. And then David said,
and blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. What are iniquities? Well, they're inequities. Blessed is that person whose
inequities not equal to those demands of God. Blessed is that
person whose inequities are not charged to their account. Blessed is the person whose inequities
were imputed, reckoned, charged to the account of the Savior,
while his slate was absolutely spotless and clean. Ours was
nothing but defilement, and sinfulness. But in an act of sovereign grace
and justice, God took our sins and He charged them to His Son.
And He took His Son's righteousness that He established for sinners
and He put that to our account. That's a blessed man. People
today say, oh, God has really blessed me. Well, I'm thankful
for physical mercies, thankful for those things. But are you
really blessed by God? Blessed to this degree, your
transgressions are forgiven. Blessed to this degree, all of
your sins have been covered. Blessed to this degree, God doesn't
charge you with your iniquities. He does it now, and He never
will. He never will. Well, we have
this morning before us another account of a woman that we know
who was forgiven of her sins because the Savior said this
to her. Look at verse 50. And he said, who said? The Savior
said. The Master said. He spoke words of mercy, words
of grace. And he said to the woman, thy
faith hath saved thee. She's a saved woman. And therefore, he said, go in
peace. Go in peace. I think there's a lot involved
in that, but I'll tell you right up front, I believe one of the
things involved is that you go ahead and leave these self-righteous
people. Get away from them. Go! Go! Don't hang around these
people anymore. You've come to me, and I've blessed
you. Your sins are forgiven. Now go
in peace. Go in peace. Well, here's where
I'm gonna take my text from. And it's kind of an unusual title,
I suppose, but look at verse 44. He turned to the woman, the
scripture says of the Savior, he turned to the woman and spoke
to this Pharisee, Simon. And he asks this, seest thou
this woman? That's the title of the message.
I want you to focus on this woman who focused on the Savior. Seest
thou this woman? Now, several things. Number one, seest thou this woman? She came
to Christ knowing exactly where He could be found. Now, first
of all, our Lord Jesus received an invitation from Simon, who
was a Pharisee. He was somebody. He's hoo-hoo
in the ranks of the religious people. And this man invited
the Savior to come and eat with him. Now, we're not told specifically
why he came. I have in my mind several reasons
why Simon invited him and why the Lord Jesus accepted that
invitation. Which shows that he would eat
with anybody. Anybody who invited him. Anybody who showed an interest
in his presence, why, he would join them. Even though our Lord
knew this man, this man had wrong motives. Why did Simon invite
him? Well, number one, because God's
purpose ordained it. This has all been providentially
arranged by our God. This is the time when our Savior
is going to have this woman come to Him and worship Him from whom
we can learn valuable lessons. And heaven and earth may pass
away and will pass away, but the words of our Savior, the
Word of God is here forever. This is on record forever and
ever. So this is arranged by our Lord. That's the first reason why Simon
invited him. He didn't know that divine providence
was moving him to do this. Simon had no love for the Savior. He had no interest in the Master.
He showed him no respect. In fact, Simon wouldn't give
the Master any of the common courtesies of the day. He even
said, you didn't anoint my feet. You didn't wash my feet. You
didn't anoint my head with oil. You didn't do these things for
me that you've done for everybody else who's here, but you didn't
do them for me. Simon didn't believe him. Simon didn't worship
him. While Simon is amongst those
of whom our Lord said this, if you would look back up here in
chapter 7, look back up in verse 34. Simon was among the people
who in verse 34 would have been saying, the Son of Man has come
eating and drinking. And you say, here's what Simon
and all of his buddies were saying, Behold a gluttonous man and a
wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. Yet Simon invited Him. He has
no interest in the Master. But I think here's the main reason. Our Lord Jesus, and it is recorded
here in Luke chapter 7, He had interrupted a funeral procession. And there was a young boy who
had died. And our Lord brought him back
to life. And look at verse 16. And there
came great fear on all. And they glorified God. Luke
7, 16. And they glorified God, and this
is what they said, that a great prophet is risen up among us,
and that God hath visited His people. The people said, God
has raised up a great prophet, and God has visited us. He has
visited this woman in her time of mourning and comforted her
by raising her son from the dead. Word gets down to the Pharisees. Well, the people said, a great
prophet has come. God has visited us. I think he
invited the Savior, the Master, over for a meal to prove to himself
and to others that this is not the prophet. This is not the
prophet that Moses spoke about in Deuteronomy. This is not God
visiting us. That's the reason he invited
the Savior. But I want you to focus more
now on the woman. Because she came to the Savior
knowing where He was. Why did she come? Well, I believe
she had been amongst the multitudes who had been listening to Him
preach. She never heard such words of grace. Such words of
mercy. Words of forgiveness. They said
of Him, and she would have said essentially the same thing in
her heart, never a man spake like this man. Why, drops of
mercy just come off his lips so easily they just flow out. He's so full of love for the
unlovely, even for me. And I tell you, the grace of
God got a hold of her heart. So she runs home to get an alabaster
box, literally, a jar filled with precious ointment, and she's
gonna come back and anoint Him. Thank Him. Thank Him. Tell you
what, when God does something for you through Christ Jesus
the Lord, you wanna thank Him. You wanna adore Him. You wanna
worship Him. That's what she wanted to do,
and she came back and He's gone. And she said to the people, where
did he go? Who? Jesus of Nazareth, who raised
that boy from the dead. Where did he go? Well, I heard
that Pharisee Simon say, come over to the house for supper.
She said, I know where he lives. So she went there to worship,
knowing where he was. May I ask you a question? What
are you doing here this morning? Why did you come here? I hope it was because you know
in your heart that's where the Master is going to be by His
Spirit. The preacher's going to get up
and he's going to talk about that one who's the Savior of
the lost, the one I love, the one I want to hear about. He's
going to talk about grace. He's going to talk about mercy.
He's going to talk about sovereign salvation that God gives to undeserving
sinners. I'm here because I want to worship
and adore and hear again the old, old story. of our Lord Jesus,
His death, His burial, and His resurrection, He died to save
poor sinners like me. Oh, she came there seeking the
Lord. So, well, the scripture says,
no man seeketh after God. Well, now, hang on a minute.
No, by nature does. But if the Lord seeks you, He
will put it in your heart. to seek Him. That's the reason
the Scripture says, seek ye the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near.
Are there any seekers here? Are there any needy sinners here
this morning? Out there? What about you? You're
watching, looking at your computer screen. What about you? Are you
needy? Are you interested in God's salvation,
forgiveness? Do you want to know how to be
righteous in the sight of God? Only in the Lord our righteousness
can you be righteous. She came to Christ knowing where
He was. She knew He was going to be there.
And I'll tell you, when you came this morning, you knew He was
going to be here, didn't you? You know you're going to hear
about Him. Why every time these doors have been opened for however
many years this place has been in existence, the message is
essentially the same. The text may be different, the
preachers may be different, but the message is never different.
It's always the same. Always the same. I remember we're focusing on
this woman. Seest thou this woman? I see
her, don't you? I see her, Bill. I see her. In
my mind's eye, I see her. Secondly, as I focus in on her,
I know she came to honor Christ. Picture the scene. Simon and
his buddies authorities on religion, they're seated at an elevated
place in his house. They have the positions of honor.
Others come in and they're seated around the walls. And it was
even typical back then that people could come in having not even
been invited. They could come in and they could
eat. And Simon had a lot of money. All the Pharisees did, because
they were crooks and thieves, had lots of money. They could
feed the whole neighborhood. And those people who came in,
they'd usually sit somewhere around the walls. And they'd
say, go ahead and get you something, get you a plate, go ahead and
eat. So there they all are. They didn't eat at a dining room
table or a kitchen table like we do. It was a low table and
everybody kind of cozyed up to a short-legged table and stretched
their bodies out, their heads facing the table. Usually their
head could be resting on their fist with their elbow on the
table or on the cushion that they were laying on, and their
feet then were out behind them. And they would discuss things. And I'm sure that Simon had some
theological questions he wanted to ask Jesus of Nazareth. They
were always looking to trip him up. So everybody's eating, having
a good time. Food's good here, isn't it? Yeah,
it's good. Pass the roast beef, will you?
And the potatoes. This is a wonderful meal, Simon.
All of a sudden, door opened. And this woman walked in. Everybody went. Because they knew her, she was
a notorious sinner. This is not Mary Magdalene, by
the way, and it isn't Mary of Bethany who did essentially the
same thing, anointing him, that is, in John chapter 12. She's
a sinful woman. It would be wrong to say she
was a harlot or a prostitute. We're not told that. So don't
draw that conclusion. She's just a sinful woman. as
all women are. Isn't that right? As all women are, and men just
as much. But she came in. She knew where he was, and she
came to honor him, and she didn't care who saw her there. She had an alabaster box or jar
and filled it. It was filled with perfume, precious,
expensive ointment. And she began to weep at the
Savior's feet. Remember, His feet are stretched
out behind Him. And she just stood there. Notice
how it's worded here. Look at verse 38, and stood at
his feet. Literally, she took her stand
there as if I dare any of you to try to make me leave. I'm
taking my stand here at the feet of Jesus. Hear me now, that's
the best place to take your stand. That's the best place to take
your stand, at his feet. She stood behind him and she
started weeping. Why was she crying? Maybe because
she was a great sinner. Maybe because her heart was smitten
over her sin. Maybe these are tears of joy
that she's at the feet of somebody who can do her some good. And
maybe she's weeping because as she looked at the Savior's feet
without sandals, they would have taken their sandals off. She
looked down at his feet, his feet were dirty. What is this? How can this be? The common courtesy was for one
of your servants to take a basin of water and wash every visitor
who came in, wash their feet and then take a towel and wipe
them off. And she looked down, the Savior's feet are still dirty.
Maybe that's why she's weeping because he wasn't even shown
common courtesy. Simon had no respect for it.
But this woman loves him. And she began to cry. And as the tears ran down her
cheeks and dripped on his feet, you know how drops of water get
on something muddy or dirty and then you see that little dirt
run down? She said, oh no, I gotta wipe
his feet. And she did what a woman never
did in public. She took down her hair and she
got down with her long hair and wiped his feet with her hair. Got them dried off. But she just
kept on weeping because this is the tense of what she was
doing. She just kept on crying, kept on wiping, kept on anointing
his feet with perfume. She's there to worship. I love
to sing the songs out of the black folder. I hope you do too. And one of them that we sing
is, we have come into this house and gathered in His name to do
what? Worship Him. That's what we,
we've come into this house and gathered in His name to worship
Him. Not to be seen, but to worship
Him. Seest thou this woman? Are you
watching her? Paying attention to her? Look
at how she treats the Savior. This is not a passing fancy. She has become the object of
her heart's worship. She has come to honor Him. And
she takes her stand. I dare you, Simon, try to make
me move. I'm not here for you, Simon.
I'm here for the Master. Here's the third thing. She continues
to weep and wash his feet and anoint his feet with this fragrance. And then she hears the Savior
tell Simon a story. The Savior said, Simon, I've
got something I want to talk to you about. And Simon said,
I'm listening. Go ahead. Savior said to this
man who lended money, he had two debtors. Two debtors. One of them owed 500 pence. Understand this, a pence was
a common laborer's day's wage. So it took a working man or a
working woman 500 days to earn 500 pence, but this was in debt. They're in debt 500 pence. And another one, he was in debt
50 pence to this lender. But neither one of them had any,
ability to pay. And so that creditor, he frankly,
freely, fully forgave them both. He looked at Simon and says,
now, which one of them loved him the most? Well, Simon's been
backed in a corner. It's only one obvious answer.
He said, well, I suppose, I guess, I guess the one who owed 500
pence. And he turned to the woman, but
he spoke to Simon. Simon's up here. He turned to
the woman, and when he looked at the woman, who's still washing
his feet, wiping her feet with her hair, and anointing his feet
with this perfume, he looked at her, but he's talking to Simon. He focused in on this woman,
and the Master He said, Simon, you see this
woman? I came to your house. You didn't
give me water for my feet. But ever since she came in, she's
been weeping at my feet. Martin Luther had it. He coined
these two words. He called it heart water. I like
that. Heart water. He said, she wiped him with the
hairs of her head. You didn't have my feet washed.
You didn't have them wiped off with a towel. And you didn't
give me a kiss. Look at her, Simon. She's still
kissing my feet. A kiss of adornment. She adores me. She honors me. You didn't kiss me on the cheek.
You did that for all your buddies up here. You didn't do it for
me." She's been kissing my feet. She's
still kissing my feet. Adoration. He said, with my head with oil,
common olive oil, you didn't anoint my head even with common
olive oil. But this woman, she anointed
my feet with precious, expensive perfume. Wherefore, I say unto her," he's
still speaking his words to Simon, but looking at the woman, her sins, which are many, are
forgiven. She loved much, but to whom little
is forgiven." And I expect then he turned around and looked at
Simon. There he is, elevated above everybody
else. I'll tell you something, Simon.
Her sins are forgiven. I bet you he was just seething.
Simon in his heart said, if I get ahold of him, And eventually
they did. And He said unto her, Thy sins
are forgiven. And she rejoices. What's the basis of the forgiveness
of our sins? The blood of the Lord Jesus.
Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. He had to die for her. For her
sins to be put away, for her sins to be remitted without the
shedding of blood is no remission, no remitting of sin. He had to
lay down His life for her to satisfy justice. There's both
grace and justice involved in this, and it always is in the
matter of forgiveness. Grace and justice. Justice has
got to be satisfied. Grace has to be shown. It was
in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And our Savior then said to her
in verse 50, Thy faith hath saved thee. Go in peace. I made a statement one time,
and I've made it several times, I'm sure, but in a message, and
I got kind of a disagreeable email. I said, I asked the question,
do you have saving faith? And I got this angry email after
the message that says, faith doesn't save! God saves! I know that. I also know what
the Savior said. You going to rebuke Him too?
You see, faith, faith is that which receives this salvation,
receives the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no salvation apart from
believing on Him. Now understand this, It wasn't
that her adoration and worship of Christ saved her. It wasn't
the weeping, the wiping of his feet, or the expensive ointment
that saved her. You see, love works. Works don't
save though. You see, adoration and honor
That's doing something for Him. That's the result of faith. But
faith does nothing. It's a receiver. That's what
faith is. Faith receives. So therefore
He says to her, Thy faith hath saved thee. Go in peace. Do you believe Him? Do you rest in the Son of God? The evidence of that is worship. The evidence of that is loving
Him, being thankful for Him. It's faith that receives Him,
prophet, priest, and king. And I'll tell you, if you believe
Him, Go in peace. Go with peace in
your heart that all is well between you and God because of Christ
Jesus the Lord. Well, let's sing a closing song.
Look at number 216. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Number 216.