Let's open our Bibles now to
Luke 7. I'd like to go back just a few
verses. John the Baptist, who was the
forerunner of Christ, who came before the Lord Jesus, began
his public ministry. When John the Baptist's ministry
was over, he was the forerunner of Christ, the messenger announcing
The Messiah has come. And when our Lord began to preach,
John's ministry was over. He's in prison now. And in verse
19, he called unto him two of his disciples and sent them to
Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? Are you the Christ?
Are you the Messiah? Or do we look for another? And
when the men were coming to him, they said, John Baptist, had
sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come, or
look we for another? And in that same hour, when the
Lord Jesus cured many of their infirmities and plagues of evil
spirits, and unto many that were blind he gave sight, then Jesus
answering said to these messengers, Now you go your way, and you
tell John what things you have seen and heard. How doth the
blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf
hear, the dead are raised, and the gospel is preached. And that's
physical illustrations of what our Lord spiritually came to
do. He came to give the spiritually blind sight, and he came to make
the spiritually lame walk, and those who are dead in trespasses
and sin live. And he said in verse 23, and
blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. And when
the messengers of John were departed, our Lord began to speak to the
people who were assembled about him. Now John the Baptist's ministry
was prophesied in the Old Testament. I want to show you this just
a moment. Turn to the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi,
the very last book. which was completed 400 years
before the Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem. And in this book,
the last two verses of the last chapter of Malachi, the end of
the Old Testament, the scripture says, Malachi 4, verse 5, Behold,
I send you Elijah the prophet. I send you a prophet like Elijah.
Elijah has already served his day and ascended back to heaven.
But I send you a prophet like Elijah, before the coming of
the great dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart
of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children
to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."
Before the Messiah comes, the prophet like Elijah will come. Now who is this? Well, it's John
the Baptist. How do you know, preacher? Christ
tells us that. Turn to Matthew chapter 11. identifies this prophet prophesied
by Malachi in Matthew 11, verse 12 and 13, 14. Here he's talking
about John the Baptist again. Now listen. Matthew 11, verse
12. And from the days of John the
Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffered violence,
and the violent, or the sincere, the energetic, take it by force.
for all the prophets and the law prophesied unto John. Now listen. And if you receive
it, this is Elias, Elijah, which was for to come. John the Baptist
is that prophet. He came announcing, prepare you
the way of the Lord. Behold, the kingdom of God is
among you. John the Baptist. Now he's in
prison. And he sent his messengers to the Lord, and he said, Are
you he that shall come? Are you the Messiah? Look with
one another. And then in verse 24 of our text,
Luke 4, Luke 7, when these messengers were departed, our Lord began
to speak to the people concerning his servant, John, and all of
his true servants. John, no question in our mind,
John's a true servant of God. prophet of God, who was sent
on purpose by God to prepare the way of the Lord Jesus. And
then our Lord Jesus began to say to these people, what did
you go out in the wilderness to see? John's minister was out
in the wilderness. Herod the king went out to Herod.
Now John the Baptist has been portrayed in most movies out
of Hollywood as some kind of nut. When they picture John the
Baptist in these religious films, they picture him with long hair
that hadn't been carried for her. You've seen those pictures.
And dressed in some kind of ragged garb and screaming and wild looking. John the Baptist was a prophet
of God. John the Baptist was a man who
walked with God. John the Baptist was a man who
ministered in the wilderness and people went out to hear him.
The king went to hear him. David went to hear him. He admired
John. He admired him so much He did
many, many things to try to please John, the prophet of God. He
was a prophet of God, true prophet of God. And our Lord still has
his true prophets, true preachers. And he sends them before he comes
and deals with the sinner. They come with the Word, that's
true. These people knew about John, and they had heard John
preach. And so our Lord says to them,
now when you went out to hear John, a true prophet of God,
What did you go to hear? A reed shaking with the wind?
Is that what you expected when you went out to see God's prophet?
Did you expect to find a weakling? Did you expect to find a compromiser? Did you expect to find a man
who bends with every wind and every pressure that people put
upon him? Who says what men want to hear? Who says what they approve? what says what they think themselves,
or did he deliver God's message unbending, uncompromisingly,
boldly and bravely? What did you go out to hear? You went to hear John, the prophet,
the true prophet, the prophet God sent, who came to announce
Christ and his ministry. What did you go to hear? Then
he asked him again, in verse 25, what did you go to see? When
you went out there to see that prophet of God, what did you
expect? Did you expect to find a man
clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that are gorgeously
appareled live delicately. They're in kings' houses. They're
not out preaching the gospel. Did you go expecting to find
a man gorgeously appareled, living delicately, as in kings' courts,
promoted by the politicians? as many preachers are today,
recognized by the state leaders, honored by the powers that be,
promoted in the press. Is that what you expected to
find? Know you not, James wrote later, James the apostle wrote
later, know you not that the friendship of the world is in enmity with God? And those
preachers and prophets that will be a friend to the world are
enemies of God? What are you looking for, Christ
said, in a preacher? A weak man blows the way the
wind's blowing where he's standing at that particular time? Or a
man who's covetous, compromiser, wants to get along with everybody?
wants to be rich, increase with goods, use you to promote himself. Is that what you expected? We
asked him a third question. He said, when you went out to
see God's prophet, this preacher, representing Almighty God, what
did you go out to see? A preacher? Yes, I say unto you,
and much more than just a preacher. My friend, the world is full
of preachers. I was preaching out in Oregon two or three years
ago, and the fellow that played the piano and I got along real
well. He was an inventor. He'd invented
something that they were going to put on the market over in
Europe, having to do with farming, this farming area where I was.
And he listened to me preach for four or five days, and we
got along real well. But he was one of those studious
fellows that didn't know much about the common Southern sayings. And I was preaching along this
line, and I said, you just don't listen to every preacher. The
words are full of preachers. After the service, he came up
to me and he said, there's something you said in your message that
I don't quite understand what you're talking about. The words
are full of preachers? What are they doing in the woods? But I'm simply saying there are
a lot of them. A lot of them. But our Lord says, what did you
go out to see? Just a preacher? Just anything that represents
religion? A preacher? But I say unto you,
John is more than just a preacher. He's my preacher. He's my prophet. This is he, verse 27, of whom
it's written, Behold, I sent him. I sent him. this generation and all generations.
God has never left himself without a witness. There are not always
a lot of them. Sometimes there are very few.
But he always has a witness. And there is always a preacher,
a prophet, a man that God sent. It was said of John the Baptist
that there was a man sent by God. He was not that light. He was sent to bear witness of
that light. He's a humble man. He's a bold man. A truthful man. A sincere man. A compassionate
man. But he loved God. He intended
to glorify God. And I sent him, verse 27, before
my face, and he'll prepare the way. He'll prepare the way for
me. And that's what a preacher does.
You see, when the Ethiopian eunuch was reading the scriptures, and
he couldn't understand them, God sent him a preacher. He sent
him Philip, and Philip stepped up in the chariot beside the
man, and he said, do you understand what you're reading? He said,
how can I except some man show me? And Philip began at that
same scripture and preached to him the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ
is coming into this man's heart. Christ is doing a work of grace
in this man's heart. Christ is revealing the gospel
to this man, but he does it through a preacher, Lydia. a businesswoman, a seller
of purple out of Phyre Tower. It was down in Philippi, on business. She's a religious woman, but
she doesn't know God. She's very religious. And she
went down by the riverside where a group of women met for prayer,
and she met with them because it was the Sabbath day. She's one of God's own. The Lord
Jesus is coming into Lydia's heart, but he sends Paul down
there to preach to her the gospel. And while he was preaching to
her, the scripture said, God opened her heart and she attended
unto the things spoken by Paul. This is what our Lord is saying,
I send my preacher. Peter went to Cornelius, Ananias
went to Saul of Tarsus. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. But how are they going to call
on him if they don't believe in him? And how are they going
to believe in him if they haven't heard of him? And how are they
going to hear of him? Let somebody God sends with a message tell
something. How shall they hear it without
a preacher? And throughout the New Testament,
invariably, angels didn't preach the gospel. Men did. And the
scripture tells us plainly throughout the New Testament that the Lord
is pleased by the foolishness of preaching. Not by the preaching
of foolishness now. but by the foolishness of preaching."
Well, why do you call it the foolishness of preaching? That's
what the world calls it. To the world, the preaching of
the cross is foolishness, sheer nonsense. But unto us, what you
call the preaching of the gospel is the power of God, the wisdom
of God, the grace and love of God, the truth of God. And there's
always a preacher, always a preacher. And here in verse 28, he talks
about these preachers. I say unto you, among those born
of women, there is not a greater preacher than John the Baptist.
There is none greater, but he that is least in the kingdom
is greater than he. You say, I wish I could have
heard John the Baptist. You don't have to hear him, just hear any
of God's preachers that are true preachers. preaching the true
gospel, because our Lord said he's the greatest man born of
woman, but the preacher, or the servant of God, or the child
of God, or a simple believing witness is greater than he in
the kingdom of God. There are no degrees in glory.
All of God's children are loved the same, blessed the same, rewarded
the same, because Christ is their reward. There's no high up and
low down. There's no important and unimportant.
We have four children in our home, no difference in them. You've got two, three, four,
five, there's no difference. They love the same. Love the
same. Actually, sometimes the weakest
one gets the most attention. Actually, sometimes the one that
maybe is a little more rebellious, maybe they get more love because
they need it more. In God's family, there's no There
is no big and little. Verse 29, how do people respond
to John? And all the people that heard
him, the people that heard him, the common people, the publicans
and sinners, they heard him. See what it says about these
people? And all the people and the publicans that heard him,
they justified God. What's this justifying God? Vindicating
God. They vindicated God. They justified
God. They acknowledged that the law
of God and the justice of God in calling them sinners. That's
what God's justice does. It calls us sinners. It tells
us plainly there's none good, no, not one. There's none that
seeketh after God. They all together become unprofitable.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. By one man,
sin entered the world, and death by sin passed upon all men. And
these common people, these publicans and sinners, they acknowledged
that God was telling the truth. I'm a sinner. That's what David
said. The Lord said, You're justified
when you condemn me. You're righteous when you condemn
me. I'm just what you say I am. I'm
a sinner. These people, they heard John. He preached repentance. He preached
faith in the coming Redeemer, and he called on them to be baptized. What is that? That they acknowledge
they are sinners, acknowledge they deserve death, and that
they die and they are buried and they rise by the power of
God in faith to walk in newness of life. And these people justified
God, being baptized with the baptism of John. These common
people. God calls them sinners and pronounces
judgment upon them and calls them to repentance, and they
say, true Lord, true Lord, that's what I am. They vindicated God,
they justified God, and they came to the baptism of John.
They said, we're sinners. We need mercy. We need grace.
We confess it. And they were baptized, baptism
of repentance, seeking mercy of God. But, listen to verse
30, but the Pharisees, these religious leaders, these men
who felt that they were righteous in themselves and that their
deeds and duties and their works and their rituals and their ceremonies
and their keeping days, they felt like that that justified
them before God and made them righteous before God and God
should accept them. But the Pharisees and the lawyers,
they rejected the counsel of God against themselves. They
said, we'd be not sinners. We'd be not unclean. And they
wouldn't be baptized with John. They refused it. John came, the
common people, publicans and sinners, justified God, vindicated
God, acknowledged that God was telling the truth when he called
them sinners. And they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But the religious fellows, they
said, we're not sinners. We're not sinners. We don't need
mercy. We don't need grace. And they rejected confession
of faith. And the Lord said in verse 31
now, he said, when too shall I liken the people of this generation? And to what are they like? These
people that John preached to and now that I'm preaching to
and people today, our Lord says, what are they like? Well, He
said, I'll tell you. They're like children sitting
in the marketplace. You who have been to other countries
where they still have the marketplaces, having them in Mexico and down
in the islands and Puerto Rico and other places where I've been
and the The people raise their watermelons, and their tomatoes,
and their beans, and their peanuts, and just have some of the most
beautiful marketplaces you've ever been in. And just row, and
row, and row, and row of people bringing their wares to sell. Well, all of them have children,
have large families, and they bring their children. The women
come in, they run the stands and all, and bring their children.
And the children go over here to gather, and somebody takes
care of them, entertains them. Keep them running around all
over the marketplace and getting lost, somebody entertains them,
children in the marketplace. And somebody entertains them.
Our Lord said, this generation is like children sitting in the
marketplace. And they call one to another and say, we've piped
under you, and you've not danced. We've played music to you, told
you happy, funny stories, and entertained you, but you won't
laugh. You're just sitting pat. You're not responsive. You don't
receive what we're doing. You just pay no attention to
us. Happy stories do not move you. And then he says, and we have
mourned for you. We've told you some sad stories
and some real life stories, and you haven't cried, which can't
please you. No matter what we do, happy stories
you don't laugh, sad, solemn, serious songs you don't move.
And he said in verse 33, now listen, John the Baptist came
neither eating bread nor drinking wine. John the Baptist was a
serious, solemn prophet thundering against sin, thundering against
the unrighteousness of his day, greatly moved and disturbed by
the way that the politicians were behaving and the people
and the magistrates and the soldiers and all. He just singled them
out one at a time. He said when King Herod came
to hear him, he said, Herod, it's not right for you to have
your brother Philip's wife. That meant his death. Herod had
him killed. He was a thundering, serious,
solemn creature. And how did they respond to him?
Well, John the Baptist came to eat and drink, and he said, he's
got a devil. He's a regular devil. You don't want to hear him. Verse 34, And the Son of Man,
the Lord Jesus, is come eating and drinking. Our Lord Jesus
came preaching tender, warm. The first place he went when
he began his ministry in Cana of Galilee was to a wedding.
And he ran out of wine. And his mother came to him and
Mary said, they're out of wine. That was a social blunder. And
our Lord said, what did I do with thee, woman? Thine hour
is not yet come. She said, but they're out of wine. Well, he
said, bring some jugs of water. And he turned the water into
wine. And all the guests drank it. They said, this is the best
I've ever tasted. Most folks served the best wine
first, and after everybody's so dull of taste they can't tell
what it's like to serve the worst, you've saved the best for last.
Our Lord made the best wine. He ate with publicans and sinners.
He was friendly, sociable, tender, sat with the children on his
lap, just John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus. characteristically
and humanly speaking with the same message, but they were different. How did they react to our Lord?
They said, He's a drunk! He's a winebibber! He's a gluttonous
man! You can't please them. You know why you can't please
them? They're not in trouble. They're not in need. They're
not sinners. They're like those Pharisees
that justify themselves and reject the counsel of God against themselves. And they're just not interested.
You can sing to them and they won't laugh. You can be mourned for and they won't
cry. They're just rebellious, self-centered, pouting, know-it-alls,
satisfied with nothing and no way. And no, that's what our
Lord says about them. But I tell you this, he said,
verse 35, watch this now, but wisdom is justified of her children. What does that mean? It means
this, wisdom, true wisdom, true message, the true gospel,
the truth of God, wisdom, the wisdom of God. What is wisdom?
What is wisdom? To know God, Jesus Christ whom
he has sent. That's wisdom. True wisdom is
justified, it's vindicated, it's recognized by those who have
it. That's what he's saying. True
wisdom, the true message is vindicated by those that have it. In my
Father's name, you receive me not. Let another come in his
own name, him you will receive. I come with wisdom and truth
and hope and eternal life. Another comes promoting himself,
self-righteousness, nothing. They receive him. But wisdom,
it's heard, it's received, it's vindicated by those who are children
of wisdom, children of God. Now then, here's the big illustration. Our Lord's taught sinners need
mercy. God sends the message of mercy
by his preacher. Most of them don't hear it. Some
do. Most of them are self-righteous
like that Pharisee. Don't need it. Some of them are
like this woman. Now listen. One of these Pharisees
desired him that he would eat with him, come to his house for
dinner. Why did this man invite the Lord
to his house? He's a Pharisee. He's religious. He doesn't believe Christ is
the prophet. He doesn't respect the Lord.
That's true. You saw that a while ago. He gave him the water to
wash his feet. That was common courtesy. Everybody came into
your home in those days, a servant washed his feet at the door.
They wore sandals. They walked through the deserts
and the dry streets and no pavement, and they washed their feet. And
then the host would meet the honored guest. and embrace him
and kiss him on both cheeks. You've seen them do that in oriental
places. And then they'd give him oil to anoint his head. Welcome. The man didn't do that. He didn't
respect Christ. He didn't honor him. He didn't
wish to honor him. I'll tell you what he was intending to do. Bring the Lord Jesus to his house
and expose him as a fraud. Now, he heard what was said back
here. You look back at chapter 7, verse Listen to this, verse 15. This
man heard this. And he that was dead sat up and
began to speak. And the Lord delivered him to
his mother. And there came a fear on everybody. The Lord Jesus
raised the dead man. And there came a fear on everybody.
And they glorified God, saying that a great prophet is risen
up among us. And God has visited his people.
And this rumor of him, went forth throughout all Judea and throughout
all the region round about this rumor, he's the prophet of God. Well, this Pharisee heard that.
He invited Jesus Christ to his home. Now, here's the way those
feasts and dinners were set up. Up here were the dignitaries,
the Pharisee with his friends sat up here in a special place.
Around the walls, people came in. to listen to these men. The
guests all lay out here on pillars. They stretched out to eat. They
lay on pillars, their feet extended, and these Pharisees and rulers
and religious fellows and those guests down here, they'd banter
back and forth. They'd ask questions and discuss
things, and the people just sit around in silence listening to
them. It was quite a situation, quite
a feast. And this man invited Jesus Christ
to go and expose him as a fraud. They came in and had dinner.
That's the invitation. But there was an interruption. Look at verse 37. Right in the
middle of this speech, here's our Lord out here with the guests,
Pharisees up here and the people around. And behold, a woman in
the city which was a center When she knew that Jesus sat at meat
in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster box of ointment.
Now listen, she'd been among those people that heard him out
there preaching what I read to you and preached to you a few
moments ago about John the Baptist, about repentance, about mercy
for sinners. She heard all that. She heard
that Pharisee invite him to dinner. She knew he was going to that
Pharisee's house. She went to her house and got
the most precious gift she had. a box of alabaster, an alabaster
box of precious perfume, fragrance, ointment, put it in her arm and
started toward that Pharisee's house. And as they were sitting
there at dinner, the door opened and she walked in. And I just
know it every time I look back there. And that door opened and
that woman began to walk in that place with that box of alabaster
ointment. A notorious woman, evidently.
Pharisee knew her. He knew she was a sinner. He
knew she was a notorious person. She walked in, and she came to
where our Lord Jesus was lying there upon pillars, his dirty
feet stretched out. There are no accidents with God
now. This is all on purpose. And she stood behind him, behind
his feet, there weeping, a sinner. There is the Savior. There's
the one who can show mercy to her, can raise the dead like
he did that dead man, can heal the disease of sin and forgive
her. And she stood there weeping.
And then she stooped down and saw those dirty feet, and that
made her weep more. She's weeping over her sins and
weeping over the neglect her Lord received in that Pharisee's
house. And her tears fell on those feet.
It says she began to wash his feet with tears. And she uncladded
her hair, long hair, and she dried his feet with the hair
of her head and kissed his feet. This is repentance. This is what
those people acknowledged at the baptism of John. I'm a sinner.
Born a sinner, lived a sinner, and if God has no mercy for me,
I'll die a sinner. I'm a sinner. Her life was that
of sin, and she was weeping over it, weeping at the feet of her
Lord. And then she took that precious ointment and just dumped
it on his feet. Fragrance filled the house. You
could have heard a pin drop. A pin drop. And that old Pharisee sitting
up there in his religious, self-righteous arrogance, He said within himself, I knew
he wasn't a prophet. I knew he wasn't a prophet. If
he was a prophet, he'd know who this woman is. He didn't. He
knew her from the foundations of the world. She was one of
his own. How do you know she was one of
his own? He acted like one of his own. That's how it's revealed. How do you know the Pharisee
wasn't one of his own? He didn't act like one of his own. He didn't
love him, didn't need him, didn't repent. But his woman, he knows
her. If he were proper, he'd know
what kind of woman this is. He knew every thought she'd ever
thought, every deed she'd ever done, every step she'd ever taken,
every sin she'd ever committed. That's right. He knows this.
But he came to save those kind of people. One of those Pharisees
one time, our Lord was eating with some of these sinners and
publicans, and he said to the disciples, why does your master
eat with people like that? And the Lord Jesus said, now
you listen, the world, more people in the world don't need a doctor,
but people that are sick, they need a doctor. And I'm not come
to call self-righteous people to repentance, I'm come to call
sinners. The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
This is the kind of woman he came to save. Sinners! He died
for the ungodly. She's seeking mercy. He shows
mercy to everybody that seeks it. Everybody that needs it,
everybody that wants it. And this little Pharisee said,
if he was a prophet, he wouldn't let her touch him. That guy wouldn't,
but our Lord would. He loved sinners. He came to
save sinners. He told his disciples, reach
out and touch me. Reach out and touch the Lord
while he's passing by. He won't be repelled at your
touch. He welcomes it. Reach out and
touch the Lord while he's passing by. You'll find he's not too
busy to hear your hearts cry. He's passing by this moment,
your needs to supply. Reach out, touch him. She did.
That woman with the issue of blood, she said, if I can just
touch his garment, I'll be made whole. And she did and she was. And our Lord turned to that Pharisee
and he said, Simon, I've got something to say to
you. I've got something to say to
you. You self-righteous hypocrite. I've got something to say to
you." He said, well, say on. He said, there was a certain
creditor that had two debtors. One owed him an enormous sum,
like this woman, enormous sum. One owed him a sum he couldn't
pay, no matter little or great, two cents or two billions. To
offend in one part of the law is to be guilty of all of it,
all of sin. And when they didn't have anything
to pay, he freely forgave them. Now, who's going to love him?
Know him, believe him, love him. Now, that old Pharisee said,
I suppose. You never can pin one down to tell the truth. You've
got to suppose. He knew good and well who would
love him most. The simplest child, the youngest
child here knows who will love him the most. Well, he said,
I suppose one, he forgave the others. He said, you rightly
judged. And I'm going to tell you something. You see this woman?
You see this woman? You see her humility? You see
her repentance? You see her grief over sin? You
see her faith? You see her devotion? You see
any of that in yourself? No. I came into your house. And you gave me no kiss, no greeting,
no respect, no honor. I came into your house. You gave
me no consideration. My feet, dirty and tired and
hot. You didn't supply any water.
She's washed them with tears of her grief, dried them with
the hair of her head, and anointed them with the most precious ornament
she'd been saving for a special occasion. In my head with awe you did not
anoint. She anointed my feet. I say unto you, her sins, which
are many, are all forgiven. But him, and my closing remarks
this morning is to me and to you. Do we see this woman? And do we see any of this in
ourselves? Can I really, at his feet, kneel down and take my
place as a sinner? Me and you. And know that he's
my only hope. I'm not embarrassed. There's
a whole town around here, all these leaders, and here she is,
down on her feet, kissing, down on her knees, kissing the feet
of the Son of God. David said in the psalm, you
kiss the Son, lest he be angry. Judas kissed him on the cheek
and went to hell. This woman kissed him on the feet, unto
glory. Kiss his feet. Kiss his feet. Come to his feet as a mercy beggar.
She was a mercy beggar. She said like that, like that
leper that met him when he came down from the mountain. He said,
Lord, here I am, scaly, rotten, putrid,
diseased. If you will, you make me whole." And the Lord said, I will, be
thou clean. And that's what this woman received.
Her sins, which are many, are all put away. Boy, I tell you,
that's the best news you ever heard. Your sins, which are many,
are all put away. All right, let's sing a closing
hymn.