Would you turn to Luke chapter
7? I'd like to read verses 41 and 42
of Luke chapter 7. 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. When 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 is 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 said, Behold, the man gluttonous and a wine-bibber,
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
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 Sidon,
it would have remained until this 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. Let us 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 labour 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 unto 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 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 which was a sinner. When she knew that Jesus sat
at meat in the Pharisee's house, I have 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. Do 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, the 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 the religion uses. God loves the sinner, but
he hates his sin. You can't separate the sinner
from the 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 in the view 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
know it 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. The 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 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 in 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 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 actions,
she believed this man to be God. She worshipped 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
preached it. 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, Now, 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, 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. You see, 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 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 answered
him, although the man didn't say anything. looked in his heart
and saw what she was saying, verse 40, and Jesus answering
said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat 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 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. There are differing degrees of
sin. There are 50 pence sinners, and
there are 500 pence sinners. There are differing degrees of
sin. When I read that passage in Matthew
chapter 11, remember the way the Lord said to Capernaum? He
said, now 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 than you. There 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 will be beaten with few stripes?
That tells me that there's different degrees. 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, as reference to time, when
did he forgive them? When they had nothing to pay. 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 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 don't 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 9, the premiere 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. 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 the people,
nobody would 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 Lord, because God has 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, I will
forgive you of your sins. If you did God 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. Well, 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 that he
who is 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 turns 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, 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. Now 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
when you've been in and around somebody to give their testimony?
It's a very powerful testimony. They used to be a drug addict
or a drug pusher or whatever. They talk about their past wicked
life and how God delivered them from that. Look at me now. 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 don't want you to feel that way. You see, really,
that's the problem. That's funny, people are almost
boring in their past lives, 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. If you think, am I insane 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 taking away from the reality of them. Thy sins are
forgiven. Verse 49, And David said, Meet
with him, and 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, at safety, go in peace." He didn't say, your love saved
you, did he? That's what we would think. Great love. He said nothing
like that. He didn't say, thy love has saved
thee. Not that thy love is good enough,
is it? 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. 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, That 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, by faith. He didn't say, it wasn't your
faith that saved you. He said, it's me, but it's me that saved
you. No, He said, by faith saved me. Do you believe what this
woman believed? That your faith saved you. You
want to see what it 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. 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 all He's going to give
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.