At least I didn't fall. Would
you turn to Luke chapter seven? I'd like to read verses 41 and
42 of Luke chapter seven. I have entitled this morning's
message, When They Had Nothing to Pay. Verse 41. There was a certain creditor
which had two debtors. The one owed 500 pence. and the other fifty and when they had nothing to
pay he frankly forgave them both tell me therefore which of them
will love him most When did he frankly forgive? And that means unconditionally. Unconditionally. He frankly,
he unconditionally, with no strings attached, with no requirements
on their part, he frankly forgave them both. did he frankly forgive
them both when they had nothing to pay? Now, one owed 50 pence, the other
500 pence. Which one will love him most? Look in verses 33 and 34 of this
same chapter. The Lord is speaking, and He
says, For John the Baptist came, neither eating bread nor drinking
wine. And you say, He hath a devil.
The Son of Man has come, eating and drinking. And you say, Behold,
a gluttonous man and a wine-bibber, a friend. of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of all
her children. Now we know there was more than
that that he said from Matthew's account. Would you turn with
me to Matthew chapter 11? I want to read a few verses of
this chapter. Matthew chapter 11 beginning
in verse 19. The son of man came eating and
drinking, and they say, behold, a man gluttonous and a winebibber,
a friend of publicans and sinners, but wisdom is justified of her
children. Now he goes on. This is the same
message. He goes on to say, verse 20,
then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty
works were done because they repented not. Woe unto thee,
Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For
if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in
Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, in sackcloth
and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall
be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment
than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art
exalted into heaven, shalt be brought to hell. For if the mighty
works which had been done in thee had been done in Sodom,
it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you
that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the
day of judgment than for thee." You're going to have it worse
on judgment day than those people in Sodom and Gomorrah that the
Lord killed. Now that tells me right there
that there's degrees of punishment. There's degrees of punishment.
There's degrees of guilt. Some people are going to have
it worse than others because of certain things. Now let's
go on reading. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and has
revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in Thy sight. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father, And no man knoweth the Son, but the Father. Neither knows any man the Father,
save the Son. And he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal him, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden. And I'll give you rest. Take
my yoke upon you, and learn of me, For I am meek and lowly in
heart, and you shall find rest under your souls. For my yoke
is easy and my burden is light." The Lord never speaks to the
air. Somebody in that crowd was laboring
and heavy laden under a sense of guilt, pressed down by the
weight of their sin. And his arrows hit the heart
of whoever it was he was aiming at. Because I know when he said,
come unto me, somebody came unto him. You can count on that. And I believe I know who that
person was. Would you turn back to Luke chapter
seven? Verse 36, right after this sermon that
we just read about in Matthew chapter 11, one of the Pharisees
desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the
Pharisee's house and sat down to meet. And behold, a woman
in the city, which was a sinner. When she knew that Jesus said
it meet in the Pharisees house, I had no doubt that she heard
this message that our Lord brought. Come unto me all ye that labor
and are heavy laden and I'll give you rest. She heard that. She brought an alabaster box
of ointment and stood at his feet behind him weeping and began
to wash his feet with tears and did wipe them with the hairs
of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now this woman is described in
our text as a sinner. Most agree that this was a reference
to extreme looseness and sexual immorality. Perhaps she was a
prostitute and had degraded herself by her actions. She was a sinner
and I have no doubt that she heard the Lord's message come
unto me and she came to him. And she believed Him to be the
Messiah. And she rested in Him. She found rest in coming to Him. He said, Come unto Me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden. And she was doing that. She was
laboring under a sense of her guilt, her sin. And she came to Him and she found
rest. Do you not see much in this woman
that you can identify with? You may not have committed the
same sins that she committed. Perhaps you have, but you know
this in your heart, you have. In your heart, you're just as
guilty as this woman. And you don't have the right
in any way to look down your nose at her. You believe that? I mean, this woman had sunk as
low as you could go. She was a sinner. Now, what does the Bible mean
by this term, a sinner? Well, a sinner, my dear friends,
is the one who commits the sin. You know, really, it's worse
to be the sinner than the sin. You see, the sin is nothing without
the sinner. The sinner is the one who commits
the sin. Become a sinner when you commit
the sin. You sin because you're a sinner. I want to repeat that. You don't
become a sinner when you commit the sin. You commit the sin because
you're already a sinner. The sinner is the one who commits
the sin. I can't tell you how ridiculous
I think that statement that religion uses. God loves the sinner, but
he hates his sin. You can't separate the sinner
from his sin. That's not found in the Bible. God doesn't send
sins to hell. He sends the ones who commit
those sins to hell. A sinner. What is a sinner? A
sinner is somebody who all they do is sin. That's it. If they did it, it's
sin. Because they did it. If we say we've not sinned, we
deceive ourselves. A sinner is someone who cannot
not sin. The scripture says the carnal
mind is enmity against God, for it's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot. Do you hear that? Cannot. Please
God, because they cannot not sin. If you're a real sinner,
You can't look down at this woman who was guilty of these deep,
dark sins and look down your nose at her because you know
in your heart that you're as bad as she is, probably worse.
You know that. A sinner knows they have no claims
on God. If God saved everybody in this
room, and let me go to hell and never gave me mercy. I couldn't
say that's not fair. Couldn't say it. I'd have to
say just and right is he. I'm getting exactly what I deserve. And that's what a sinner is.
Let me tell you one other thing about sinners. And before I tell
you, would that describe you? Honestly, before God. Would that
describe you? Somebody who all you do is sin. If you do it, it's sin because
you did it. I don't care if it's a bad thing
or a good thing. If you did it, it's sin. You
cannot not sin. You really can't look down your
nose at anybody. And if God sends you to hell,
just and right is he. Do you believe that about yourself?
Let me tell you something else about sinners. Jesus Christ the
Lord is the friend of sinners. That's his title. They meant
it as a slam. But he came into this world for
this purpose. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Paul said, of whom I am the chief. Now, when this woman hears that
the friend of sinners was in Simon, the Pharisee's house,
she brought a box of perfume. Look back in our text, verse
38. She stood at his feet behind
him. Now, the way they would eat back then, they didn't set
at a table and chairs like we did. This is part of the Eastern
culture at that time. They would recline on the floor
and their head would be toward the place where they ate and
their feet would be behind them while they were reclining on
the floor. So they were eating like that. That's the way they
always ate. They didn't have a table and chairs the way you
and I do. And while he was in this man's house eating, this
woman who heard this glorious message, come unto me all ye
that labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest." She came
weeping. Now, there's a lot of reasons
to cry. You cry because you're sorry.
She was sorry over her sin. But you also cry from tears of
joy. She was rejoicing in the divine
Savior of sinners. She was crying in awe at the
greatness of His person. See, you see from her accents,
she believed this man to be God. worshiped him. She was at his
feet crying, weeping, and then she took her hair and she wiped
his feet and she took that precious ointment and rubbed it on his
feet. She believed him to be God. If somebody did that to
you, if somebody came up to you and started crying at your feet
and treated you like that, you'd say, don't do that. You shouldn't
be treating me that way. I'm a man just like you are.
But he accepted her worship, didn't he? He didn't tell her
to stop. You see, He's God the Son. And
He accepted her worship. Oh, what a high view she had
of the Lord Jesus Christ. She didn't say a word. But you
know where she was coming from, don't you? Just by the way she
treats Him. No words needed to be spoken. Look at the way she
viewed the Lord Jesus Christ. She knew she was a sinner. And
she knew He was the divine Savior. Verse 39, When the Pharisee, which had
bidden him, saw it, he spake within himself, saying,
This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what
manner of woman this is that toucheth him. For she is a sinner." The Lord Jesus read this man's
thoughts. These words never came out. He
spoke these in his heart. And the Lord heard everything
he said. And how different was his view
of the person of Christ than this woman's? This man, if he
were a prophet, if he were a prophet, why he's the very word of God.
But unbelief always makes out Christ to be lower than He is. That's always true of unbelief. And that's what this man, if
he were a prophet, he wouldn't have had anything to do with
this woman. He would have known that she's a sinner. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is utterly unique in this sense. It's the only religion
that's a sinner's religion. The gospel is essentially and
fundamentally for sinners. And good people just can't understand. Righteous people just can't understand.
People that are righteous in their own eyes. The gospel is
meaningless to them. They see the Son of God as a
man who is lower than he really is. And then the Lord answering,
although the man didn't say anything, he just looked at his heart and
saw what she was saying. Verse 40, And Jesus answering
said unto him, Simon, I have some what to say unto thee. And
he said, Master, say on. And then he gives this parable. There was a certain creditor
which had two debtors. The one owed 500 pence and the
other 50. And when they had nothing to
pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which
of them will love him the most? Now there are four or five very
important truths in this brief parable. First, there are differing
degrees of sin. There are 50 pence sinners and
there are 500 pence sinners. There are differing degrees of
sin. And when I read that passage
in Matthew chapter 11, remember the way the Lord said to Capernaum? He said, thou Capernaum, which
is exalted into heaven, because I'm here talking to you, you're
going to be thrust into hell. Sodom and Gomorrah, that place
of awful immorality and sin is going to have it better on the
day of judgment. They are different degrees of
sin. And it's with different degrees of light. Remember where
the Lord said that one who knew his will and did it not will
be beaten with many stripes? And that one who knew not his
master's will and did it not, he'll be beaten with few stripes?
That tells me that there's different degrees of sin. There's different
degrees of evil. There's 500 pinch sinners and
there's 50 pinch sinners. Which kind are you? Are you a 500 or a 50? Which kind am I? Both of these men had nothing
to pay. Nothing. That's why salvation by works
in any form is impossible. Both of these men had nothing
to pay. Now, the message that I hear
preached in Lexington, Kentucky this morning, all over the United
States, all over the world is this. God loves you. Jesus Christ died for you and
paid for your sins. God wants to save you. God, the
Holy Spirit's calling you. But you can't be saved unless
there's something that you do that makes what he did work.
Some work you need to perform, something you must believe, it
won't work. You might go to hell anyway.
Even though Christ died for you, even though God loves you and
wants to save you, you might go to hell anyway if you don't
do something to make what he did work. My dear friends, if that's true,
then you won't be saved. Because you and I don't have
the ability to do whatever it is that's required. We have nothing
to pay. In reality, there is not a drop
of good news in that message. Not even a drop. There's no gospel
in that message because I have nothing to pay. Now if you believe
you're a sinner, You understand that you have nothing to pay.
If a penny's worth of merit is required, you're done for. You
have nothing to pay. Now notice the time when He forgave
these men. When has reference to time. When
did He forgive them? When they had nothing. As long as you have anything
to contribute, he won't have anything to do with you. If you have an experience that
must count for something, he won't have anything to do
with you. As long as you have the power of free will to turn
things around when you want to, he won't have anything to do
with you. As long as you have something to pay, God will ignore
you. You hear that? As long as you
can do something tomorrow to turn things around, and you intend
to, God will ignore you. It's only when you have nothing
to pay. When they had nothing, when they
were bankrupt sinners with no contribution to make and no potential
to make any. Then the scripture says, he frankly
forgave them both. Now that word is not the word
that's generally translated forgive. It has something to do with an
unconditional forgiveness. a completely free forgiveness. No strings attached. It was a
gracious forgiveness. He didn't say, I'll forgive you
if you're sorry or I'll forgive you if you can come up with a
payment six months down the road. No, he frankly and completely
and unconditionally forgave both of them because of his own graciousness,
because of his own greatness. He frankly forgave them both.
Unconditional forgiveness. Now there's one way that you
and I can understand unconditional forgiveness. I'm interested in
this, aren't you? I want him to frankly forgive me because
if he's going to find a reason in me to forgive me, it's not
going to happen. The only way I can understand unconditional
forgiveness is if I understand unconditional election. You can't separate the two. Unconditional
forgiveness and unconditional election. Turn with me for a
moment to Romans chapter nine, from here passage of scripture. Verse 11, talking about Jacob
and Esau to the children, Jacob and Esau being not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil. They didn't have any
good works to commend them. They didn't have any bad works
to disqualify them. They didn't have good or evil.
This happened before they were born, before they had any existence.
That the purpose of God according to election might stand. What
is the purpose of God according to election? Not of works. That simple. Not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger as it's written. Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. And that's God's word. Unconditional election. He chose Jacob, not because of
good works or bad works, simply because he purposed it. He chose
him unconditionally. That's good news. You know, the
world looks at election as a bad thing. Oh, no, it's a good thing.
If God didn't elect a people, nobody'd be saved. Thank God
for election. Can you say that? Thank God for
election. We're bound to thank God always
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God had from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. Now, because of this, God can
frankly, freely, unconditionally forgive both of them. Doesn't
cost us a thing. It cost our Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, how he suffered as the sinner's substitute. But it doesn't cost
us a thing in that sense. He freely forgave them both. No strings attached. You see, this is the way forgiveness
works. Here's the way men present forgiveness.
If you do this, and if you do that, and if you straighten out
your life, and if you straighten up and fly right, and if you
quit doing that sin and start doing this good thing, God will
forgive you of your sins. If you, then God will forgive.
Man's religion, works religion, false religion, ends with the
forgiveness of sins. You do this, and you'll have
the forgiveness of sins, but do you know the gospel begins
with the full, frank, free forgiveness of sins. Thy sins are forgiven. But I want to hear the Lord say
that to me, don't you? Thy sins are forgiven. Back to our text. Luke 7. Verse 42. Tell me, therefore, which one will love the most, the one who is forgiven 50 pence
or the one that was forgiven 500 pence? That's a no-brainer,
isn't it? Even the Pharisee knew the answer
to that question. He gives it unwillingly, I suppose. but he
who was forgiven the most." He shows the attitude of his proud,
wicked, blind heart. I suppose him that was forgiven
the most. Verse 43, Simon answered and
said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And he said
unto him, thou hast rightly judged. And he turned to the woman and
said unto Simon, seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house. Thou gavest me no water for my
feet, but she hath washed my feet with tears and wiped them
with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss. But this
woman, since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my
feet. My head with oil thou didst not
anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, her
sins which are many, he didn't deny this woman's sinfulness,
Her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much, but to whom
little is forgiven, the same loveth little. Because her many
sins are forgiven, She loves much. Now you look at the difference
between how she treats me and how you treat me. You who have
been forgiven so very little because you're such a good person.
You love little. But whom much has been forgiven. That person loves much. And she was not forgiven much
because she loved much. She loved much because she was
forgiven much. You know, if you go into the
average testimony time in a religious gathering where people will give
up and give their personal testimonies, how many times have you heard
or you've been around somebody that will give their testimony?
It's a very powerful testimony. They used to be a drug addict
or a drug pusher or immoral and just they talk about
their past wicked life and how God delivered him from that.
Look at me now, you know, I'm different. And you listen to
their testimony and you think your testimony is not quite up
to snuff with theirs. You ever had that happen? You
just feel like, you know, I haven't had the same experience they
have. They want you to feel that way. You see really that's the
problem. That's phony. People almost glorying
in their past life. Look out, trying to be macho
or look out. I hate that kind of stuff. That's
a testimony of the flesh and that's all it is. Now, regarding this woman that
was a sinner, you know, if you're a sinner,
you know that you're as bad in your heart as this woman is,
worse. And you know that everything
you've ever done is sin. You're aware of the bad sins,
the sins of utter rebellion against God when you did what you knew
you shouldn't do. And you did it again and again
and again, against warnings, against conscience. You know
of those bad, wicked sins that you think, am I even saved doing
something like that? You know of those sins. But you
also know the prayer, the scripture reading. The witnessing. You have such selfish motives. Everything about you, everything
about you is sin. You have a lot of sins because
everything you've done is sin. You realize that? Her sins, which
are many. My sins, which are many. Oh, that person. Them being forgiven. by this
gracious act, by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. They have
many sins, many, many, many sins. They love much. If that's not your testimony, if you've been forgiven little,
That's not very good because to be forgiven little is to not
be forgiven at all. But this woman loved much. And you know, this is the key
to love to Christ. Being forgiven much. That's the key to love to Christ.
Do you have a little love to Christ? Do you find your love
growing cool? You know why? Because you're
not where this woman was. He that's been forgiven much,
loves much. He that's been forgiven little,
loves little. Now, look in verse 48. And He said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. What a pronouncement. Thy sins
are, oh, this is what he says to every believer. Thy sins,
he's not taken away from the reality of them. Thy sins are
forgiven. Verse 49, and they that said
it meet with him, began to say within themselves, who is this
that forgiveth sins also? What kind of authority does he
think he has? They didn't know what kind of
authority he had, but this woman did. She knew who he was. She knew he was God over all,
blessed forever, the only Savior. She knew who he was. Isn't that
what salvation is? Knowing who he is. What else? Do you know who He
is? Verse 50, And He saith to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee. Go in peace. He didn't say, your love saved
you, did he? That's what we would think. She had great love. He
said nothing like that. He didn't say, thy love hath
saved thee. None of our love is good enough,
is it? He said, thy faith hath saved thee. Now what did she
believe? She didn't say anything. I mean, if you would have tried
to pick apart what she believed by the stuff she said, you wouldn't
come up with anything because she never said a word throughout
this whole thing. But she believed that Jesus Christ
is God, the divine savior. And she believed she was a sinner. And she believed that coming
to him, there was rest. What else is needed? But, but,
but, but, she believed, she was a sinner, she believed He was
the Savior. And she came to Him and did homage at His feet as
the only Savior of sinners, the God of glory. That's what she
believed. And He said, thy faith at faith
in me that believes me to be God. You see, it was not, properly
speaking, her faith that saved, but the object of her faith that
saved, the Lord Jesus Christ. But our Lord said, thy faith.
He didn't say it wasn't your faith that saved you. He said,
but it's me that saved. No, he said, thy faith saved
thee. Do you believe what this woman
believed? Then your faith saves you. You
know what he says next? Go in peace. Where's this peace come from?
Romans 5.1 says, Having been justified, being justified. This is what the Lord does for
somebody when He saves them. He justifies them. Not merely forgiven. It's better
than that. Forgiveness is good, but if that's all there is, it's
not good enough. Not only am I forgiven, I'm justified. That means God's not going to
remember what I did and say, well, he's not going to hope.
No, I'm justified. I'm cleared of all guilt. I'm
not guilty. I have perfect righteousness
before him. And that's the only thing that
gives me peace. My sin was placed upon Christ. Christ's righteousness
is given to me. That's my personal righteousness
before God. And you know what? That gives
me peace. God's at peace with me. Hey,
God is not mad at me because there's nothing for Him to be
mad at me about. I'm justified. I'm at peace with God. I'm not
afraid of Him. I fear Him in the sense of the fear of the
Lord, but as far as that slavish fear of, oh, He's going to get
me, no. Christ Jesus is my peace with God. Go in peace. Now, in this story, I find grace
in that parable. He frankly forgave them both. I find love in this woman's response. He that's been forgiven much,
loveth much. And I see the peace that comes
from believing that he is the divine savior. Go in peace. And if the Lord says, go in peace,
you know what? You can go in peace. Let's pray.