Now let's remain there in Luke
chapter seven. Let me tell you, explain to you
what I'm wanting to do in this message and kind of so that you
can sort of get mentally prepared for this. And the reason I say
that is the title of the message is what is my faith? And I took that title from the
last verse here, verse 50, this woman, who came to the Lord and
who was humbled and who expressed her love to the Lord Jesus Christ
as her Savior. It says, he said to the woman,
thy faith hath saved thee. Go in peace. Now, you and I both
know what most people do with that verse. They portray it as,
well, she was saved because she believed. That's not what it's
saying. And I'm going to show you why.
It may take me two messages because I'm going to be pointing out
some error that needs to be pointed out. I know people don't like
to hear it. In fact, it's offensive to some people. And I think about
the Lord when he spoke to the disciples and they were kind
of afraid of the Pharisees. We got a Pharisee here named
Simon who invited the Lord into his house, invited Jesus to come
and eat with him. And obviously, it's like most
of the Pharisees, they did not believe him to be the Messiah,
to be the Son of God, to be the Savior. And they thought he was
a blasphemer. They called him a blasphemer.
Remember they called him a wine bibber? Because he made wine.
They called him a blasphemer because he claimed to be God.
I'll show you that in just a moment. And so he was in the home of
this Pharisee named Simon. And Simon, the reason that many
of the Pharisees, probably except for Nicodemus, they wanted to
trap him. They wanted to expose him. And
he turned to his disciples one day and he was speaking some
harsh truth. to a Pharisee, to any unbeliever. And they come to him, they said,
Lord, you offended them. And one time he asked him, he
said, does this offend you? So I want you to think about
this. Get mentally prepared for it. If what I say offends you,
then here's what I want you to do. I don't want you to just
get mad and leave. I want you to search it out in
the scriptures. Because what I'm gonna be talking
about is this, thy faith has saved thee. What was her faith?
What exactly was her faith? Was it just in believing? Because
that's the way most people emphasize, you believe, I believe. And then it got me, well, what
is my faith? And that's the way I want you to think of, what
is your faith? You understand it, so like I said, I'm gonna
go to the time that I've got allotted here, and if I have
to cut it off and pick up on it next week, I'll do so. I hope
you can be here next week, too, if that happens, but if not,
get the tape or the CD or listen to it on the internet. What is
my faith? What was her faith? Well, let
me give you the context here that Brother Mark read in this.
This is an episode in our Lord's life here on earth, his journey
here on earth, his ministry on earth. And it says in verse 36
there that a Pharisee invited him to sit down and have a meal
with him in his home. Now that sounds kind and hospitable. This man was a Pharisee, it says. Now, do you know exactly what
a Pharisee was? Now let me tell you something
that the Pharisees, that they were not. They didn't have horns
and a tail and a pitchfork. They didn't have fangs. They
were hypocrites. But now let me tell you something
about all of us. If we don't know Christ, if we
do not believe the gospel of Christ, the righteousness of
God revealed in the gospel, we're hypocrites too. We may not appear
to people to be hypocritical. We may appear to be sincere and
dedicated, but if we don't know Christ, if we're ignorant of
the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel, which is the merits
of the glorious person and finished work of Christ on the cross,
that, now listen to me, that ensures the salvation of all
for whom he died and was buried and arose again. We're hypocrites. So understand that. But a Pharisee,
let me give you, this is in Romans chapter nine and verse 30 or
31. I could say a lot about the Pharisees.
I could spend hours talking to you about the Pharisees and what
the book says here about them. But let me give you a short summation
of what the Pharisees believed. I always tell people they basically
had three things they conditioned their salvation on. Their physical
connection with Abraham, their circumcision, and their law keeping. They kept the law of Moses. But
look at verse 31 of Romans 9. It says, but Israel, which followed
after the law of righteousness. Now what that means is they were
trying to be righteous. They were trying to be right.
These were men who were trying to be right with God. Religious
now. And Paul said in Romans 10, they
were sincere, they had zeal. And he says, but they hath not
attained to the law of righteousness. Now, what is the law of righteousness?
Well, that's the perfection of obedience in the law. But they
didn't attain it, they didn't make it. Now, verse 32 says,
wherefore, that's an Old Testament way of, or a New Testament way
of saying why. They didn't, they were seeking
righteousness They followed after the law of right, but they didn't
make it, they didn't achieve their goal, why? And he says
in verse three, because they sought it not by faith. Now, you hear that? Now, if you
say, well, now that means they didn't believe. Well, that's
true, they did not believe, but what is it they didn't believe?
They believed something, didn't they? Remember back in Genesis
4, two men, Cain and Abel? Both were believers. One believed
a lie, Cain. The other believed the
truth, Abel. You see what I'm getting at here
now? What is faith? Faith is not just believing.
You can believe till you're blue in the face. When you were a
child, you may have believed in a lot of mythology and fables,
right? You don't believe that anymore. You see what I'm saying? What
is faith in the Bible? It's not just believing. It involves
what you believe. And that's what faith is, really.
Faith itself is the knowledge of God revealed to a sinner.
But look on, he says, they sought it not by faith, but as it were
by the works of the law. Now what is it to seek righteousness
by faith? Look at the next line in verse
32. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. Now, what happens
here is the Holy Spirit, who's inspiring Paul to write this
letter to the church at Rome, or to the believers at Rome,
he's going back to the Old Testament here. And he's showing a prophecy
that has already been fulfilled. They stumbled at that stumbling
stone. Now you'll find this written
in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 28 specifically. Verse 33, as it is written, as
God wrote it through the prophet Isaiah, behold, I lay in Sion. What is Sion? That's the church.
Made up of who? True believers who believe something
that is true. They don't believe a lie. And
he says, a stumbling stone and rock of offense. And look what
he says here in the last verse, verse 33. And whosoever believeth
on him. That stumbling stone, that rock
of offense is a him. A person shall not be ashamed. That's Christ. It's not just
believing, it's what you believe. You understand what I'm saying?
So here's this Pharisee, now go back to Luke 7. He's a sinner,
but he doesn't think he is. He's trying to keep the law for
righteousness. He's trying to make himself right
with God by keeping the law, by doing good as he sees it. Now there was a lot of other
things wrong with the Pharisees, but that's basically what's being
taught here. Well look at verse 37, behold
a woman, in the city, which was a sinner." Now, aren't we all
sinners? Didn't the Bible say that? We've
all sinned and come short of it. But why would he point out
this one woman to be a sinner? What he's saying here is she
was infamous. She had a reputation like a black
mark against you. Probably a prostitute. That's
what she had been. but this is a well-known sinner. This is like the woman or the
man that everybody knows is just a wretched person. And it says,
when she knew that Jesus sat at meat, and that's a meal, sitting
down to eat, in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster
box of ointment. Now this is something expensive. One old historian said that the
prostitutes of that day, they bought this and they used it
in their trade. And she brought this alabaster
box of ointment. Now instead of using it in her
trade, what'd she use it for? She stood at his feet behind
him weeping, began to wash his feet with tears. Boy, that's
a lot of weeping, isn't it? And did wipe them with the hairs
of her head. kissed his feet and anointed
them with the ointment, this expensive ointment. Now what's
going on here? This infamous, notorious sinner
who expressed, she's expressing her love for the Lord. And here's the thing. The Bible
teaches us now that that's not natural. Did you know that? That doesn't come natural to
any sinner, any person, me, you, that if we love the Lord, it
is a miracle of His grace and power through Christ. Somebody say, well, I just choose
to love the Lord. Oh no, you didn't. Not according
to the Bible. The Bible says the natural man,
that's us by nature, Receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, neither can he know them. That means we can't love the
Lord by nature. We won't love the Lord by nature. We'll choose not to love the
Lord by nature. The problem is, in our generation
especially, is that the Lord that most people love is not
the Lord of this book, but a concoction of their own imagination. And
I'll show you that in a minute. The Pharisees, they hated Jesus.
This is the light that comes into the world and men love darkness
because their deeds are evil. And then look at verse 39. Now
when the Pharisee which had bidden him, this Simon, this Pharisee
who had invited him in, he spoke within himself. In other words,
he wasn't saying this out loud. He was just saying this to himself.
But we find out later the Lord either overheard it or he just
flat knew it. He's God in manifest in the flesh,
remember. And it says he saw, when the
Pharisees saw this infamous sinful woman crying and washing his
feet and kissing his feet, this man, here's what Simon said to
himself. This man, this Jesus, if he were
a prophet, He would have known who and what manner of woman
this is that toucheth him. What he's saying here, he wouldn't
let her touch him if he knew who she was. Because old Simon,
he wouldn't let this woman touch him, for she's a sinner. She's a sinner. Listen, you know what? This is
the pharisaical judgment of both Christ and the woman. He's not
a prophet or he would have known better and he wouldn't let her
touch him. And she's a sinner. This is the kind of self-righteous
judgment that is forbidden by the Lord in Matthew 7 when he
says, judge not that you be not judged. He's not forbidding all
judgment here. He's simply forbidding self-righteous
judgment. You know what old Simon did right
there when he said she's a sinner? Wouldn't let her touch him. You
know what he did? He condemned himself. You know
why? Because he's a sinner too, even
though he didn't admit to it. Over in verse 34, look at Luke
7, 34. It says, they were criticizing
John the Baptist and the Lord himself. And here's their criticism,
verse 34. The Son of Man has come eating
and drinking, You know, John the Baptist, he abstained from
all alcoholic beverages. Our Lord did not. Now he did not. Now he wasn't
a drunk, but they accused him of being a drunk. That's what
a wine bibber is. And my friend, don't fool yourself.
He wasn't a grape juice bibber. He was a wine bibber. That's
what they said. And he came eating and drinking, and you say, behold,
a gluttonous man and a winebibber. And look here, now this is what
we, I love this because it's true. A friend of publicans and
sinners. Aren't you glad he's a friend
of sinners? I am, because I'm a sinner. Doesn't this kind of remind you
of the parable of the Pharisee and the publican? Here's that
old publican, everybody hated the publicans. And here's the
Pharisee everybody loved and looked up to the Pharisees. The
Pharisee crowed about what God had enabled him to do. And the
publican just bowed his head and said, God, be merciful to
me, the sinner. I'm a sinner and I'm only a sinner
saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. That's my story. To God be the
glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace.
You see that? So the world says this woman
here is the worst possible of all sinners. But let me tell
you something, that's not true. You know the worst possible sinner
is one who thinks he's not a sinner and does not need redemption.
One who thinks that God is pleased with him the way he is and because
of his supposed morality and sincerity. and religiosity. That's why the Apostle Paul called
himself the chief of sinners. And think about our Lord when
he stood on the mount, in the Sermon on the Mount, and he looked
at those people, as recorded in Matthew 5.20, and he said
this, he said, for I say unto you that except your righteousness,
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you
shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Think about
that. Could you imagine what they thought?
Were they offended? Boy, they were. Well, what happens here, look
at verse 39, or verse 40. What happens here, the Lord begins
to speak a parable. and it's a parable of a debtor.
He says in verse 40, Luke 7, Jesus answering said unto him,
Simon, I have some what to say unto thee. And Simon said, masters,
teachers, say on. I'm listening. And he gives this
parable. There was a certain creditor
which had two debtors. Now, because of our fall in Adam,
because of our sin, that's what we are, debtors. One of the words
for sin in the New Testament is the word debt. We owe a debt
to God's law and justice that we could not pay. We're put in
that state, in that position. And he says two debtors, one
owed 500 pence and the other 50. One owed a lot, one owed
a little. Now when it comes to our sinfulness,
we can't think in terms of you owe a lot and I owe a little.
Don't do that. This is a parable now. He's making
a point here. He's not drawing theology here
of sin to where we can say, well, you know that old prostitute,
she owes a whole lot more than me. I always think about John
3 and John 4. In John 3, he's talking to a
Pharisee named Nicodemus. In John 4, he's talking to a
woman who'd been married five times and living with a man now.
Which one owed the most? They both were, which one was
closer to righteousness? Neither one were close to righteousness. In fact, if you want to say it
right, I think if we put it in that comparison, Nicodemus was
farther away from righteousness than the woman at the well. Because
Nicodemus was a Pharisee. One old preacher said years ago,
he said, your sin will not keep you out of heaven, your self-righteousness
will. What do you mean? Christ's blood
forgives all sins, covers all sins, but self-righteousness
keeps a sinner from looking to Him and resting in Him and believing
in Him, stumbling at the stumbling stone. You see what I'm saying? So he said they had two debtors,
one owed a little, one owed a lot. Verse 42, and when they had nothing
to pay, now that's us by nature. We owe a debt, we don't have
a penny to pay it. no works that we do, no amount
of believing we do, we'll pay that debt. Well, how's my debt
gonna get paid? Well, there's only one way, and
that's through Christ as my surety. You see, before the foundation
of the world, my debt, my sin debt, I wasn't even born then
now. I know I'm getting old, but I'm not that old. Before
the foundation of the world, God chose me and gave me to Christ
and put all of my debt to his account. He became my surety
and he willingly took it. He's like Paul in Philemon. You
remember Philemon when Onesimus the slave stole from Philemon
and ran away and then he came to Paul and the Lord saved him
and Paul went back to Philemon and he said, Philemon, if he
has done any wrong, if he owes you anything, put it on my account,
I'll repay it. That's what Christ did for his
people, God's elect. That's why the Bible says in
Romans 8, 34, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? You know, I know people who claim
to believe this gospel. They say they don't like this
issue of debtor and credit and all that, credit ship and all
of that. My goodness, that's the ground
of our salvation. Christ paid my debt. Don't we
sing Jesus paid it all? Paid what? My sin debt. Now he didn't do that for everybody.
Now I'm telling you, if he'd done it, listen, if Christ paid
everybody's debt, then they can't be charged with the debt and
they cannot perish. Read your Bible. That's a propitiation. The satisfaction of a debt. Okay,
so it says, verse 42, when they had nothing to pay, he frankly
forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them
will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose
that he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, thou hast
judged rightly. Think about it. What he's talking about? This
word, you know, when it says there in verse 42, frankly forgave
them, do you know that term there means graciously forgave them? It's a business term used for
forgiving a debt, and it's a gospel term used of the forgiveness
that God gives us in Christ. It's gracious forgiveness. But
what makes it so generous is anytime, listen, let me tell
you what happens here. Now think about this. Anytime
somebody forgives a debt, you know what happens? They themselves
incur that debt in full. If you loan money to somebody
and they can't pay you back and you say, well, just forget it,
you've incurred the debt. Because it's a debt, it has to
be paid. You're just the one who paid
it for them. If I lend you $500 and you cannot
pay and I say, I forgive you and don't worry about it, then
I've incurred that debt completely. The debt's now mine. The cost
is transferred to me. I pay it. You say, well, you
only have to pay yourself. Well, you got to pay it anyway. And this gives us an insight
into the forgiveness that God gives his people. God forgives
our sins by incurring the debt as it is imputed, accounted,
charged to Christ who died to pay it. The debt does not simply go away. It doesn't just vanish in the
air. It has to be paid, but the forgiver
incurs it and pays it. So it's not just forgiveness
and it's done, It's forgiveness as the debt is transferred to
the forgiver. Do you know that's why Christ
had to come and become incarnate? Let me read you this passage.
You don't have to turn there. Hebrews 2.17. Mark it down if
you want to. It's one of my favorites. Talking
about why Christ came and took on sinless human flesh. It says,
wherefore, in all things, it behooved him to be made like
unto his brethren. That word behooved, we don't
use that word today, do we? You don't go around saying it
behooved me or it behooved you. You know what it is? It's the
Greek word for debt. He incurred the debt. Christ
did. And therefore, he had to be made
like unto his brethren to pay the debt. that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to
make reconciliation for the sins of his people. How did he make
reconciliation? By his death on the cross. How
do you know the debt was paid in full? He arose from the dead. You see that? That's what this
is all about. Forgiveness as the dead is transferred
to the forgiver. Just like Paul said, Put it on
my account, I'll repay. That's what Christ said for all
the people that God gave him before the foundation of the
world. Now that's what the Bible teaches. We'll look back here at Luke
7. Now look at verse 44. He told Simon, you'd rightly
judge. 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 washed my feet with tears,
wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss,
that was a form of greeting back then, the kiss of visitorship
and all of that. He said, 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. This was common practice when
someone came to visit you in that day. But this woman hath
anointed my feet with oil, with that ointment. And he said, verse
47, wherefore I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are
forgiven. How many? I don't know, enough
to send a world to hell. You know that's what my sins
are. I've sinned enough to sink a world to hell. I have. That's right. but they're forgiven
for she loved much. Now, is he saying they're forgiven
because she loved much? No, her sins are forgiven and
the fruit of that realization of forgiveness, the knowledge
of that forgiveness caused her to love much. Think about it,
folks. We're not just talking about
poetry here. We're not just talking about
religion here. We're talking about sinners saved
by grace. Do you really believe what King
David said in Psalm 130 in verse three? Lord, if thou Lord shouldest
mark iniquity, who among us would stand? To know the forgiveness of God
based on a just ground in mercy. Oh, I'll tell you. And we see
people living and dying every day that are going to face a
judgment of condemnation. And yet God, in His mercy, with
no forethought concerning our works or our efforts, chose me
before the foundation of the world And they call that a doctrine
of pride? Absolutely not. Why, God, why? Because it seemed
good in your sight. And so listen, he said, for she
loved much, verse 47, but to whom little is forgiven, the
same loveth little. Simon, he didn't believe that
he needed forgiveness. He might have said, oh, I know
I'm not perfect, like most people do. And Christ, verse 48, he
said unto her, thy sins are forgiven. Whoa. Somebody said, boy, I wish
he'd say that to me. Well, if you believe in him,
that's exactly what he's already said unto you. And if you think
otherwise, you don't believe in him. You might have faith,
but you're believing a lie. You see, faith is the content,
the doctrine, the message that God has for his people, which
he brings them to believe. That's what faith is. Faith is
not just my believing. Oh, God has convinced me of the
truth of it so that I believe it. But my faith, her faith,
was not in her believing. It wasn't her believing, her
choice, her decision that made the difference. It was Christ,
the healer, the savior, the surety, the substitute. He's my faith. That's my faith. And I believe
it because the Holy Spirit has convinced me of it. You say,
I believe. What do you believe? In whom
do you believe? And when you read the Bible and
you see that word faith, that's how we're to think. You understand
that? Well, verse 49 says, they that
sat at meat, the Pharisees, with him began to say within themselves,
who is this that forgiveth sins also? Now what it is, they knew
that only God can forgive sins. And this carpenter from Nazareth
says that he forgives her sins, her sins are forgiven. He's not
God, that's what they would say. He's a blasphemer. Well, he ignored
them. In verse 50, he said to the woman,
thy faith has saved thee, go in peace. Now, what was her faith?
Are you telling me that she was saved based upon or because of
she believed? No, that's not what it means.
What was her faith? She'd already expressed it. He'd
already told her the reality. She expressed it in her love
to him because she'd already been forgiven. He told her the
reality of that. And her faith was the Lord, her
salvation, the Lord, her righteousness. What does that mean, thy faith
has saved thee? What was her faith? What's my
faith? Many think, as I said, this means that it was by her
believing that she was saved, and what comes from being taught
wrongly concerning issues of salvation by faith, that's what
that comes from. I'm running out of time, so I'm
gonna close out. I'm gonna give you this, and
I'm gonna come back on this. I knew I'd have to do that. The faith that saves. or they
call it sometimes saving faith. What is faith? We need to understand,
and I'll go into this more and show you some more scripture.
But faith is not just believing something. Faith is the doctrine, the gospel. When we read there in Romans
1, 16, 17, that this is the revelation of the righteousness of God,
From faith to faith. Now the basic word for faith
has to do with knowledge, revealed knowledge. It's from faith, that
is knowledge, truth, the gospel revealed by God to sinners, to
faith, that which is believed. And so when you think of faith,
you can never remove it from its object, biblically. Your faith, my faith. And it
doesn't come naturally. This faith is the gift of God.
Not of worst, lest any man should boast. But the reason so many
have a wrong view of faith is because they've been taught wrong. You know, there's a verse in
Jeremiah 13, 23 that says this. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? No. Can the leopard change his spots?
No. Then may you also do good that
are accustomed to doing evil. And you know what that word accustomed
is? It's taught. You're taught to do evil. And
when people read the scriptures, there's basically three things
that they've been taught wrong on. Let me give them to you and
I'll come back and I'll give you some more. Number one is
the false doctrine of universalism. What is that? People are taught
that God is trying to save everybody. God loves everybody. Christ died
for everybody. And therefore, this is the way
you're to look at God. And they'll go to words like
all and every and world in the Bible, which does not mean everybody
without exception. But that's what they're taught.
The God of the Bible is one who's trying to save everybody. And
if you don't let him, he fails. Well, that's not what the Bible
teaches. The Bible teaches that God chose a people and he intends
to save them and he will save them through Christ. I know that's
offensive to people when I tell them that, but read your Bible. The Bible says, God hateth all
workers of iniquity. Well, aren't I a worker of iniquity?
Not in this sense. He's talking about those to whom
God imputes iniquity because they don't have a savior, they
don't have a redeemer. I'm a sinner saved by grace.
Here's the second thing that people are taught wrongly. We're
all sinners, but we're not so bad that we do not retain some
spark of goodness that it gives us the ability to choose good
over evil. That's not biblical. Oh, I know we can be moral people
even in a natural state, according to the morality of the world.
But left to ourselves, the Bible teaches us, we will not choose
that which glorifies God. We will not choose his way of
salvation if left to ourselves. You see, you must be born again
or you cannot enter or see the kingdom of God. The natural man
receive is not the things of the Lord. And then here's the
third thing they've been taught wrong. Salvation, therefore,
is conditioned on the sinner making the right choice, choosing
to decide for God, choosing to accept Jesus into their hearts.
Now that's what all the majority of evangelism is aimed at, and
it's false. And what you have to ask yourselves,
and this is what I'll go into next week, are these teachings
biblical? And the answer's no. And we must
be taught of God. in order to see that. But you
see, the faith that saves is not our believing. We believe
that the faith that saves is Christ crucified and risen from
the dead. You say, well, you're just splitting
hairs. Okay, I'll split some hairs. And I guarantee in judgment,
there's gonna be a lot of hair splitting. We believe in Him as He is identified
and distinguished in this book, not as we think him to be or
want him to be. And that's our faith. And I'll
continue with this next week. All right.