This is one of those great, special,
blessed chapters of God's Word, Luke chapter 7. I call this message grace, grace,
God's grace for the guilty. Grace is for the guilty. Only the guilty need grace. Salvation
is for sinners. Only sinners need saving. Mercy is only for the miserable. Who else needs mercy? So grace
is for the guilty. And let's begin back here at
verse 19 of Luke 7. John the Baptist was in prison. had put him in prison because
he told Herod in front of all those people that it wasn't right
for him to take his brother's wife. And so he put him in prison
and would soon kill him. But John, verse 19, called unto
him two of his disciples, called them to the jail to visit with
him and to tell them something, and he sent them to Jesus. saying, Art thou he that should
come? Are you the Messiah? Are you
the Christ? Are you the one for whom we look,
or do we look for another? Why would John do that? John
knew who Christ was. John was the one who said, Behold
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. John was
the one who baptized Him, who was filled with the Holy Ghost
from his mother's womb, to whom God said, told him that the one
upon whom you see the Spirit descend in the form of a dove,
this is He. John heard that voice from heaven,
which said, This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased.
Why is John doubting? I don't think he is. I believe
John is doing this for the benefit of these disciples. He wants
them. about to die, and he knows it. He's about to leave his disciples,
his friends, those to whom he's ministering. And he wants them,
these two men, two trusted, close comrades, to go and sit at the
feet of Christ, and for Christ to tell them who he is. That's
exactly what he's doing here. So they came, they came, verse
20, unto Christ, and they said, John the Baptist has sent us
unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? Are you the
Messiah? Are you the Christ? Or look we for another?" And
in that same hour our Lord cured many of their infirmities and
plagues and evil spirits. And unto many that were blind
He gave sight. You remember in John 9 that the blind man whom the Lord
had healed made this statement since the time began. It was
never heard that a man restored sight to a blind man. Never been
done. Only the Messiah can do that.
Only the Messiah can give sight. They said, we're Moses' disciples.
Moses never gave a man sight. No one ever did. And here the
blind received their sight. And Jesus answering said to these
men, now you go your way. You tell John what things you've
seen and heard. How that the blind see, and the
lame walk, and the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear,
and the dead are raised, and to the poor the gospel is preached.
Hold that place there and turn with me to Isaiah 35. You know,
we call Isaiah the gospel of the Old Testament, the gospel
according to Isaiah. Isaiah 35. Isaiah had as much
or more to say about the Messiah than any other prophet. And I
want you to see this prophecy in Isaiah 35. Our Lord is telling
these men, the blind see, the lame walk, the poor have the
gospel preached to them, so forth. Look at Isaiah chapter 35, verse
3, "...strengthen ye the weak hands, confirm the feeble knees,
say to them that are of a fearful, doubting heart, Be strong, fear
not, behold, your God will come." with vengeance, even God with
a recompense. He'll come and save you. Then
the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf
shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap
as an heart, a deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing.
And in the wilderness shall waters break forth, streams in the desert."
That's the Messiah. John knew that. These men knew
these scriptures. Our Lord said to these people,
He said, you search the scriptures. In them you think you have life,
but there they which testify of me. This is the Messiah. And
here He said, you go back to John and tell him, the blind
see, the deaf hear, the lame leap as a heart. You go tell
him that. All right, verse 20. and blessed
is he whosoever shall not be ashamed of me, offended in me." Our Lord came as the suffering
Messiah, and the Jews expected a reigning Messiah on the earth. And He said, this gospel of grace,
of substitution, of blood, of satisfaction is offensive. Offensive
to the natural man, the natural religionist. And he said, blessed
is that man who shall not be offended, not be ashamed in me,
Christ said. And verse 24, and when the messengers
of John were departed, Christ began to speak to the people
about John the Baptist. See, John the Baptist is the
forerunner. Isaiah talks about him too, we'll read it in a few
moments. But he's the forerunner. He's the one who came preceding
the Messiah. He's the Elijah the Old Testament
talks about that should come. And our Lord said, when you went
out in the wilderness, what went ye out into the wilderness to
see? When you went, you heard there was a prophet out there,
John. You know, he wore camel's hair, cold and ate wild locusts
and wild honey. Locusts and wild honey. People
went out to hear him out in the desert. He wasn't in the tabernacle,
in the temple, in the streets of the city. He was out in the
wilderness. A voice crying in the wilderness, prepare you the
way of the Lord. He said, what did you go out
to see? A reed shaken with the wind. You went out to see a prophet,
a prophet of God. Did you expect to see and hear
a man who's like a frail, thin reed? You know, our Lord, what He's
showing here is, here's a blade of grass, a reed of grass, and
whichever way the wind blows, that's the way it leans. The
wind blowing this way leans this way. The wind blowing that way
leans that way. Did you go out, when you went out to hear God's
prophet, did you expect to see a man or hear a man saying what
men influenced him to say or wanted him to say? A reed shaken
with the wind, influenced by the wind? Now, listen, verse
25, what did you go out to see when you heard there was a prophet
speaking for God out there, and you went to see him and hear
him? Did you expect to find a man clothed in soft raiment? Did you expect to find a man
dressed in attractive, prosperous attire, rich attire? The popular
preacher catering to the prosperous, to the influential, to the powerful.
Behold they that are gorgeously appareled and live delicately
in kings' houses, not in pulpits. Is that what you expected? Verse 26, what did you go out
to see? But what did you go to see? You
say a prophet? Yeah, I say to you, I say to
you, much more than a prophet, not just an ordinary prophet,
not just an ordinary preacher, more than, yea, much more than
just a preacher. This is He, listen, this is He
of whom it's written, Behold, I send my messenger before my
face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Turn, if you
will, to Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament. This is
the prophecy fulfilled here. Oh, he said, what you go out
and see, what you go out there to see? Did you think you was
going to find a fellow that just go whichever way the wind blows,
whichever is convenient? What is popular in his day? Or
did you go to find a fellow that was rich and prosperous and catering
to the world and living in a mansion and rich attire and following
the way of the world? No, you said, we went to hear
a prophet. Well, I'm telling you, he's more than a prophet.
Here he is in Malachi 3. Behold, I'll send my messenger,
and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom
you seek shall certainly come to his temple. Even the messenger of the covenant,
whom ye delight in, behold, he'll come, saith the Lord of the host. And who may abide the day of
his coming? And who will stand when he appears?
He's like a refiner's fire, like fuller's soap, And he shall sit
as a refiner and a purifier of silver, and he shall purify the
sons of Levi, purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer
to the Lord an offering in righteousness. And then shall the offering of
Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant to the Lord, as in the days of
old." Who is this man? Ah, the Lord said, this is he
of whom it's written, my messenger. will come before my face and
he'll say, the Messiah, the Lamb, the Lion of Judah, the Son of
David has come. He's come. This whole Old Testament
says someone's coming. That's what that 39 books are
all about, someone's coming, seed of woman, priest like Melchizedek, King
like David, a prophet like Moses, the branch, He's coming. And John the Baptist is the last
prophet. He's that forerunner. He's that
Elijah that God said would come. And He'll say, He who was coming
has come. He's here. But, verse 28, you
want to see this now. Let this be established. He says here in verse 28, I say unto you, among
those that are born of woman, there's not a greater prophet
than John the Baptist, not a greater. But he that is least in the kingdom
of God is greater than he. Now my friends, here's what our
Lord is saying, lest men be lifted up, lest men be exalted above
measure, lest men be praised beyond what they should be praised. The kingdom of God does not depend
upon any man. The kingdom of God does not recognize
and does not reward the flesh nor the works of men. In the
kingdom of God, Christ is all. Christ is all. And while God
uses men, And in a great house, there are a lot of vessels, different
kinds of vessels. And God uses these vessels. But
they're everyone earthen vessels. They have nothing in themselves.
Paul said that. Paul said, I've plowed. And Apollos has watered. And Cephas has sown. God gives
the increase. And neither is he that plows
anything, nor he that watereth anything. But God's everything. So in the kingdom of God, Christ
is all. And though by God's grace, John
is the greatest of the prophets, God made him great. God made
him great. And it's not because of anything
of him or in him. And he says the least believer
is greater than he. That's right. Would you be great
in the kingdom of God? Be a servant. Be a servant. In Ephesians 2, I want you to
look at this. Ephesians 2. This is where the
glory belongs. Ephesians 2. And this is the
will and purpose of God. In Ephesians 2, verse 4. Ephesians
2, 4. Listen to this. But God, who
is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even
when we were dead in sins. John was dead too. He quickened
us together with Christ, John 2, Moses 2, Elijah 2 also. By grace are you saved. And He
has raised us all up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ, all of us, that in the ages to come He might
show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward
us. For the time being, I'm the pastor
here and the preacher here. And some of you are teachers
and elders, and some of you are prayers and givers, and some
of you are providers and so forth and so on. Everybody has his
own office and work. and labor, but there is no great,
great people here. We are all children of God. We're all children of the family.
There's no great and small, big and little, important, unimportant. Christ is all! You're about getting
across what I'm saying. And this is what our Lord said.
John's the greatest, born of woman. There's never anybody
come out of the womb as dedicated as this man is, but God made
him what he is. And God made us what we are. That's right. And always remember
that the least child is as precious to God and important in the kingdom
of God as anybody that ever lived. That's right. And lest we're
converted and become as little children, we're not even part
of the kingdom of God. What do you have you didn't receive?
Now listen carefully to what he says here. Verse 29. And all
the people that heard him, heard who? Heard John. Our Lord's still
talking about John. And all the people that heard
John, the publicans, the people, the publicans justified God being
baptized with the baptism of John. Now this is so important. This is the key to these, this
chapter. This is the subject of our Lord,
grace for the guilty. He said these people, Republicans
and sinners. They heard John. They heard the
prophet of God. They heard the message. They
heard the forerunner of the Redeemer. They heard him. And they said,
He's right. You know what he preached? He
said, Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Let the high places be
brought down, and the low places be brought up, and the crooked
places be made straight. And repent. Confess your sins. Repent before God. Believe on
the coming Redeemer. Believe on the Messiah. Confess
your sinner. Come to the baptism of repentance. When John led a person into the
water to baptize him, that person was saying, I'm a dead sinner,
and I'm buried, and I'm risen to be a new creature in God,
in Christ. It's the baptism of confession.
You don't bury live people. You don't bury robust, energetic,
breathing people. You bury dead people. And that's
what a sinner is. He confesses, I'm not energetic
and alive in God, I'm dead. God has to give me life. God
has to take me out of the grave and take me out of my dead sinnerhood
and dead spiritual condition. God has to give the blind sight
and the deaf hearing and the lame the ability to walk and
give the dead life. Baptism of John was. These people
justified God. Justifying God says they took
sides with God against themselves. That's what he said. He's saying,
God, when you say I'm guilty, you're right. When you say I'm
a sinner, you're right. When you say I'm worthy of condemnation,
you're right. You're clear when you charge
me. I justify you. Whatever you do, guilty. You know, I've always... The American people have a compassion for the underdog.
They have a sense of forgiveness for a person who
owns up. And I just wonder sometimes if
some of these folks, political and otherwise, had ever come
before the American people and say, I was wrong, I'm dumb, I
got a big mouth, I said what I shouldn't say, I did what I
shouldn't do, and I offended you, and I offended the nation,
and I'm not fit to be president or congressman or senator, and
I'm sorry. You know what I believe they'd
do? Give him another turn. I believe they would. I believe
they would. But no, it's just, they won't
say guilty. And these fellas did. These fellas
said, you're right, God. Now look at the next verse. But
the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves. What God said was so, and they
said it wasn't so. God says, you're a sinner. They
said, no, we're not. God says, you're guilty. They
said, no, we're not. They rejected it, and they refused to come
to John's baptism. And then the Lord said something
interesting here. Look at this. He says, and the Lord said, whereunto
shall I liken the men of this generation? What are they like?
Well, He said, I'll tell you what they're like. They're like
children sitting in the marketplace. Their mothers and daddies have
gone to the market. Some of you have been to foreign
countries to the marketplaces. And the whole family goes in.
They get their crops, their cantaloupes and tomatoes and radishes and
beans and corn and all these things. The family gets there,
and everybody goes to the market. And the mamas sit over here and
sell the things, and the children are all around. The children
are just everywhere. waiting on the parents to sell
their goods and then pack everything up and go home. But they spend
the whole day at the marketplace. And usually there's somebody
to watch after them and entertain them. And he said, y'all are
like children in a marketplace, calling to one another and you
say, well, we've piped under you and you won't dance. We've played happy music and
we've had a happy attitude and we wanted to play a happy game. You just sit there and pound.
And then he says, and we've mourned you, we've told you sad stories,
and weary, sad, forlorn stories, and you don't cry. We can't make
you laugh, we can't make you cry. We sing happy songs and
you don't laugh, we sing sad songs and you don't cry. It just
can't please you. Now listen to verse 33. John
the Baptist came, neither eating bread nor drinking wine. John
the Baptist was a, he was a recluse. He led a simple retired life
out in the wilderness. He never came into town. He was
an example of separation, an example of simplicity, an example
of sanctification. He was an example of severity,
solemnity. And you know what they said?
He has a devil. He has a devil. And the Son of
Man has come. The Lord Jesus Christ, eating
and drinking. Our Lord started His ministry
by going to a wedding, turning the water into wine. His mother
said, Son, they've run out of wine. Well, I'll give them some
wine. Our Lord sat and talked with
the publicans and sinners, eating and drinking, socializing, walking
down the street, talking to them, healing their sick. John never
did a miracle, not once. Our Lord healed their sick, and
their blind and lame, and raised their dead, and went into their
homes, sat around the table, and went to their weddings. Peace
came to every feast in Jerusalem." Did you hear him? No. They said
he's a gluttonous man and a winebibber, and he's a friend of publicans. What's the problem? Men are determined not to receive
God's message, no matter how it's presented. They object to
the message, and in despising the message, they despise the
messenger. And a fellow can come, a recluse, a solitary, lonely
figure, who never smiles. Arthur W. Pink is a good example.
Never socialized, never went to the door until somebody knocked.
Had nothing to do with anybody. Talked to himself, writing. Now,
we don't want him. If a fellow can come happy, greeting
everyone, glad, socializing, being friends with them, we don't
want to hear him either. Their objections to the messenger
is a cloak to cover their rejection of the message and the gospel.
You see, the gospel is for sinners. It's for sinners. It's for sinners. It's for lost people. It's for
humble people. It's for people who put their
hands on their mouths and cup their ears to hear. It's people
who are broken and contrite and say, Lord, send me a messenger.
However you send him, I'll listen. Whomever he is, I'll listen.
But give me the message. Send me the message. Don't pass
me by. Send me the message. But he said,
verse 35, now watch this, underscore this, wisdom is justified of
all her children. What's that mean? It means this,
the wisdom of Christ's gospel, the wisdom of substitution, the
wisdom of a sacrifice, the wisdom of a Redeemer is vindicated.
Justified is vindicated. The wisdom of God, the wisdom
of the gospel is vindicated It's known and shown to be divine
and true by all of wisdom's children, sons of wisdom. In other words,
when the message comes and it's preached, the sons of wisdom
see the wisdom. The wisdom of the message is
vindicated by the son of wisdom. I know what you're saying. If
I'm speaking up here this morning in medical terms, some of you
nurses say, I know, doctors say, I know what you're saying. I
speak in terms of education, and some of you teachers say,
I know what you're saying. Wisdom is justified of its children.
I talk about some other form of vocation, and somebody says,
I know what you're talking about. And when you talk about the wisdom
of God in Christ, the sons of wisdom say, I know exactly what
you're talking about. I know. I know what you're saying
here. I know just what this is saying.
And then he introduces us to two people in verse 36. We meet two people who illustrate
what we're talking about. Back yonder he said, John came,
the publicans and sinners justified God and were baptized of John. The Pharisees The scribes, the
lawyers, the religionists, the self-righteous said no. So he introduces us to two people
in the next verses. Verse 36. Now remember, he's
out here preaching. There's a whole bunch of people
listening. All of this that I've been telling you has been witnessed
by no telling how many people. Pharisees, publicans, sinners,
all these people listening to him. And one of the Pharisees
desired him that we would come eat with him. One of these religious
Jewish Pharisees, and he went to the house of the Pharisee,
and he sat down to meet. Now I'm going to tell you something
about these feasts. I never did attend one, I'm not
that old, but I know a little bit about them, I read about
them. These feasts in the Pharisees' houses were set up like this. There was a special place for
the elite company. The Pharisees, the Sanhedrin,
the fellows that were somebody, they sat here. And out here were
the guests who had been invited. And people lay about on pillars.
They didn't sit in chairs and tables like we have. They were
served on little elevated tables of some sort, and they stretched
out on pillars and ate like that. And at these feasts, here were
these Pharisees, and here were the guests out here, and people
were allowed to come in and sit and watch and listen, because
a whole lot of things went on, a lot of talk and discussion
went on. And they invited Jesus to come
to this dinner. This Pharisee, see, he's going
to show the people and his friends that this man's not a prophet.
He doesn't like what the Lord's been saying, And he's going to
expose him. You'll see that in just a moment.
He tries to expose him. But there our Lord is out here
at this dinner. And when people came, a guest
came to dinner, the man of the house, the person that owned
the house, would have a servant at the door. And that servant
would wash that person's feet. That's right. He had a basin
of water. And when the person came in, he'd take his sandals
off and he'd wash his feet and dry them with a towel and anoint
his head with oil. And the master of the house would
extend a kiss on each side of the cheek, welcoming at these
dinners. They were something unusual.
But that's the setup. This man invited him to come
to this dinner, and he came. All right, verse 37. And behold,
a woman of the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that
Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, how'd she know that? Well,
when our Lord was speaking over here, about grace for the guilty,
mercy for the miserable, salvation for sinners. She was in that
crowd. Pharisees in that crowd. That woman's in this crowd. The
whole people. She heard all that he said. She
heard all that was going on. She heard this man invite him
to dinner. And she went home and got an alabaster box. She
didn't carry that box around with her out on the street. She
went home and got it. It was a precious Box of ointment. Expensive. You remember when Mary broke
open that box, that alabaster box, and poured it on Christ's
feet, and Judas said, why this waste? Why waste this expensive
ointment and perfume? It could be sold for money and
given to the poor. You remember that? Well, this
woman went home and got her box of ointment, precious to her,
important to her, probably her greatest possession. maybe handed
down from someone to her. She put it under her arm and
headed for that man's house. And she brought a box of alabaster
ointment. And they were all sitting around
there at this dinner, and the Lord and the people stretched
out there before them, and they were eating. And she came in
and stood at his feet behind him, weeping. In order to stand
at his feet behind him, he had to be stretched out there, you
know. Had to be on pillars, and his feet extended back there.
And she stood there with that ointment, weeping, and then she
fell down at his feet. And these fellas up there in
the Pharisee's seat, they were quiet. They knew her. She was a great sinner. Everybody
knew her. The people around the wall. You
could have heard a pin drop in that place. When she opened the
door and stood in the door, you could have heard a pin drop.
Then when she made her way towards the Lord and knelt at His feet
and began to weep, all you could hear in that room were her sobs
and her cries. And she wept. Listen to the verse.
And she stood at His feet behind Him weeping and began to wash
His feet with tears and unplanted her hair. and dry wiped his feet
with a hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed
them, broke open this ointment, and poured it on his feet, and
the odor filled the room." That's what it said about Mary's ointment,
filled the room. Stunned. Literally, actually
stunned. Our Lord didn't say a word. I
don't believe He even looked behind Him. He knew her. I know
my sheep. But He lay there. And everybody's
quiet, and the Pharisees are sitting up here watching a sinner
as she kissed his feet. And when the Pharisee which had
bidden him saw it, verse 39, he spake within himself. This
is what he said in here. This man, this man, if he were
a prophet, would have known who and what man or woman this is.
You reckon he didn't know? He said, the Son of Man has come
to seek and to save the lost. I didn't come to call sinners,
to call the righteous, but sinners to repent us. The well need a
doctor, not the sick need a doctor, not the well. I came to call
sinners. He wouldn't let her touch Him.
She's a sinner. My Lord welcomes the touch of
every sinner. He came to save sinners. And Jesus answering said unto
him, Simon, Simon, now the people are going
to get an earful now. They came to see and to hear
what's going on. They're going to hear something
now. Simon, I have something to say to you. And he said, well,
master, say on. 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, Simon, which of
them were loving the most? And Simon answered and said,
I suppose. You never get them to be deafened,
can you? Never. You can't pin a religionist down,
even the master, I suppose. That he to whom he forgave the
most, And he said unto him, you rightly judged. He turned to
the woman and said, Simon, you see this woman? I entered your
house, and you gave me no water for my feet. He didn't need a
Savior. He wasn't a sinner. He didn't
need a Redeemer. He wasn't lost. He had no respect
for Christ. No love for Christ. When he came
through that door, he didn't even render to him the common
courtesy of having his feet washed. She hath washed my feet with
tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head. That's a sinner. You gave me no kiss. You gave
me no greeting at the door. No common courtesy. But this
woman, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my
feet. My head with oil you did not anoint, but this woman hath
anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, her
sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much, but to whom
little is forgiven, the same love is little." You see what
this grace for the guilty, that's what our Lord has taught him,
now he's illustrated, he's let all this happen. that they might
see that he came to show mercy to sinners." It's not the proud
and the arrogant and the self-righteous and the religionist and the noisemaker. Lord, we preached in your name
and cast out devil, did many wonderful works. No. He did many
wonderful works for us. And he said to her, your sins
are forgiven. And they that sat at meat with
him began to savour in themselves." They just weren't convinced.
Who is this that forgiveth sins also? And he said to the woman,
Thy faith hath saved thee. Go in peace. Grace for the guilty. May God
bless it to our prophets.