A True Story

Q: What does the Bible say about humility before God?

The Bible teaches that humility is essential for receiving God's grace and mercy. In Luke 7, we see a powerful illustration of humility through the woman who came to Jesus in a Pharisee's house. She demonstrated her humility and devotion by washing Jesus' feet with her tears and anointing them with precious ointment. Jesus remarked how she exemplified true love and commitment, contrasting her humility with the pride of the religious leaders. Scripture consistently affirms that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble, emphasizing the importance of approaching God with a contrite heart and recognizing our need for His mercy.

Q: Why is repentance important for Christians?

Repentance is crucial as it acknowledges our sins and turns us towards God for forgiveness. Repentance is a central theme in the Christian faith, as illustrated by the woman in Luke 7 who recognized her sinful state and sought Jesus for forgiveness. She exemplified the first step in true repentance: acknowledging one's sinfulness. Our Lord came to save sinners, and without acknowledging our sins, we cannot experience the fullness of His grace. Repentance involves a heartfelt turning away from sin and toward God, which signifies a restored relationship and a commitment to live according to His will. This connection to repentance highlights how integral it is to the Christian life and understanding of God's grace.

Q: How do we know God's grace is sufficient for sinners?

God's grace is demonstrated in His willingness to forgive all who come to Him in faith. In Luke 7, Jesus affirms that the woman's sins, which were many, are forgiven, showcasing the abundant grace available to those who seek Him. The passage highlights that God's grace is not limited by the magnitude of our sins but is rather a demonstration of His mercy toward the humble. Jesus remarked, 'her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much.' This illustrates that grace is extended to those who recognize their need for it. The assurance comes from the nature of God, who delights in showing mercy and is always ready to forgive those who turn to Him in repentance and faith.

There are two sisters in Chiapas,
Mexico that I wish all of you could meet. It's hard to guess a woman's
age, and she doesn't want you to anyway, but I would say they're
in their forties. one about 38 or 39, one about
41 or 42. But both of these sisters, over
the last 15 years, having listened to Brother Milton Howard preach
the gospel, have been delivered out of the bondage, darkness,
and slavery of Catholicism with its images and statues farm and
ceremony and slavery. And they're so excited
about the gospel and have been for a long time. And they want their friends to
hear the gospel. They're the most unusual witnesses. One of them has succeeded in
having a a church building built on her property where the family of God meets
every week and Milton preaches the Word of God. The other one is a strong member
of the congregation in Julian. Her name is Marta. Well, Marta knew that we were
coming back this year for a visit. And she invited Brother Howard
and his wife and Brother Gruber and his wife and Darcy and I
to her home for supper. They have a chicken ranch. They
have several thousand chickens. They raise for so many weeks
and then they sell them By Mexican standards, they're a little better
off than most of the people around the community, but they're respected
and admired and loved people in that community. She invited
us to her home for supper and for service. She wanted all of
her relatives and her friends to hear this gospel she loves. So she spent the last several
weeks getting the word out that she was going to have a service
in her backyard. Brother Groover would be preaching
and the gringo preacher would be preaching too. And she would
have treats for the children. And she wanted everybody to come.
Well, we drove out there Tuesday night a week ago, last Tuesday
night a week ago. And they had brought every chair
and box and bench available and put in that backyard. And I counted
the people, just for my information, that this one dear lady had gathered
together to hear the gospel she loves. There were 110 people
there that night. 110 people, everybody she knew, for
Walter to preach to them and for me to preach. And she had
treats for the children. She made tamales for everybody.
Had her whole family cooking. And she gave all the ladies that
came a little Tupperware dish. But they heard the gospel that
night. The reason I'm telling this is when You got people there,
you know, Marta and her son. Her son is the elder at the church
at Julian. He's about 21 years of age. He
conducts the services when Milton's gone. Her daughter, her mother,
and others love the gospel, know the gospel. They were all there,
but there were people there that had never, ever heard the gospel. There were people from down the
road, there were people from Tuxla, there was a school teacher
there that she'd invited from Tuxla. There are 110 people,
I would say 75 of them, had never heard an evangelical gospel message
unless they heard us last year when we were there. And I sit
over there, Walter preaches in Spanish, and then I preach in
English, and Milton translates, and he's the most gifted translator
I've ever known. But I sat over there waiting
for Walter to complete his message and looked at this crowd of people
and I thought, how do you present the gospel? How do you put it
down in their language? How do you get it in their realm
with no background? You don't get up and say, I believe
in tulip. They say, we like flowers too.
Or I believe in election. They say, who's running? But
it's got to be a way. So I got up in front of them
and just had a little podium there, and I just walked around
and stood in front of them. The children, a lot of two dozen
children down here, and I said, how many of you enjoy hearing
a story? A story. A lot of them raised
their hands. All the little kids started hollering,
see, see, see, see, you know. They like stories. I said, well,
I've got a story for you. I love stories, don't you? I
told them that. I love stories that are true.
That's the stories I like, that are true. And I'm going to tell
you a story this morning, a story that's true. Our Lord preached
in parables and stories. The gospel is a story. It's the
old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Write on my heart every word.
Tell me the old, old story. I'm going to tell a story this
morning. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 7. Luke chapter 7. What story did
I tell them? That night I talked about Manoah,
Manoah and the sacrifice, the birth of Samson. They knew who
Samson was. And I talked about that, how
our Lord Jesus Christ is the angel of the Lord who appeared
to Manoah and his wife. But my story this morning begins
with an invitation. an invitation to dinner. Let's
look at Luke 7, verse 36. My story begins with an invitation
to dinner. Verse 36 says, and one of the
Pharisees, you know what a Pharisee is, a very religious fellow,
a teacher of the scriptures. A fellow that wore a certain
uniform of religion with the broad phylacteries and stood
on the street corner and read the scrolls and prayed in public
and was very law-abiding and very moral and went about the
services of the tabernacle temple. One of the Pharisees desired
the Lord Jesus Christ that he would have dinner with him, that
he would eat with him. And so the Lord Jesus went into
the Pharisee's house and sat down to meet. Now, why did this
religious Pharisee invite our Lord to his house for dinner?
Why did he do that? He certainly didn't believe on
him. You remember I read a while ago that he thought within himself,
if this man were really a prophet, he would not allow this woman
to touch him. He would know what type of person she is. He didn't
believe on him. He didn't invite him to his house
because he believed on him or even because he wanted to hear
what he had to say. He didn't respect him. He didn't
respect Christ. He didn't even give to our Lord
the common courtesies of that day. In that day when you invited
someone to have dinner with you or to visit your home, you see,
people wore sandals. in the desert on the dirt, and
it was a hot, humid country. And when anybody came to your
house to the door, you had a servant sitting inside the door with
a pan of cool water. And when they entered the door,
the servant would take their sandals off and wash their feet. You know, your feet would be
dusty and dirty and hot and tired, and they'd wash this foot, then
wash that one, wipe it with a towel, and then the host would be there
to greet you. And they'd anoint your head with
oil. You know, you're getting ready for supper. You know, on
the airlines, they'll hand you a hot towel to wash your face
before they bring your food to you. On the overseas airlines,
you know, they'll bring you a warm, wet towel, and you wash your
face and your hands. And the host would have someone
anoint your head with oil, and you feed a wash, feel refreshed,
and then they would greet you with a kiss on this side and
on that side, glad to have you. When Christ came in this man's
house, he didn't afford him any of those common courtesies. That's
what our Lord said, you didn't do these things. I'll tell you
why he invited him. Look back at chapter 7, verse
11. He had heard what everyone else
had heard about this Jesus of Nazareth. This Pharisee knew
what was going on in religion. And he had heard about this man
healing people and raising the dead and all that. Look at Luke
7 verse 11. Here's something that happened
just before this dinner. It came to pass the day after
that Jesus went into a city called Nain. And many of his disciples
went with him, and much people. And when he came now to the gate
of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only
son of his mother. She was a widow, and much people
of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he
had compassion on her, and he said, Weep not. And he came and
touched the coffin, touched the coffin, and they that bear the
dead man stood still. And Jesus Christ said, Young
man, I send to thee arise. And he that was dead sat up and
began to speak, and he delivered him to his mother. And there
came a fear on all, and they glorified God, saying, watch
it, that a great prophet, that great prophet that Moses talked
about in Deuteronomy, 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 thing was known everywhere. Everywhere. And this man had
heard it. This Pharisee had heard it. But he didn't believe Jesus
Christ was that prophet. He didn't believe. You see, they
looked for the Messiah to come, but not as a man, especially
a poor man, followed by a bunch of fishermen. They expected him to be born
high and to come in satin and silk and crowns and glory and
restore Israel's glory under Solomon and David to them and
deliver them from the bondage of Rome. They weren't looking
for a lamb. They weren't looking for a sacrifice. They couldn't
see Christ in all these sacrifices of the Old Testament, the priesthood,
so he wanted to expose him. This is not that prophet, this
is not the Messiah, this is not the Christ, and he figured in
his town, at least in his town, he'd invite him to dinner and
expose him there in front of all his friends as a fraud, as
an imposter. Now this type of dinner, you
who know something about these things know that this type of
dinner was not one-on-one, he didn't invite Christ This was
an affair. This Pharisee had a large home,
and at these dinners like this, when these men, philosophers
and religious people, met for dinner and to discuss things,
the Pharisees and the people of dignity sat at a table, or
a place up here, and the dinner guests were out here. And then always people from the
town were sitting, they didn't partake of the dinner, but they
sat along the walls to listen to the discussion of these men.
Everybody just fell at their feet and listened to them discuss
these great earth-shaking issues. And that's the setting here. The Pharisee was here. It wasn't
a private one-on-one dinner. The woman wouldn't have come
in. It was sort of a public thing. But it was a dinner and a discussion,
and he brought this Jesus Christ here to expose him. And here
sat the Pharisees with his dignified friends, you know, and he spake
to those that were with him, you know, concerning this man.
And there were the people around the walls, and here were the
guests out here, and they reclined to eat. They didn't sit at a
table like this and talk about how she got to the feet of Christ,
because his feet were out behind him. They ate reclined on pillows,
and much like they did in Japan many years ago. But they reclined,
and that's the picture. Invite them to dinner, and that's
the picture there. All right, my story continues
now with an interruption of the dinner. There was an invitation for Christ
to come to the house for dinner, and then there was an interruption.
And verse 37, a woman in the city which was
a sinner. When she knew that Jesus sat
at meet in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster box
of ointment. Now, there are no accidents with
God. All things are in his divine will. Our God moves in mysterious
ways. He has glorious wonders to perform. It's fascinating to to watch
the providence of God. The other, last week, Walter
and I went down to the, I'll tell you more about it tonight,
but we went down to the motorbike shop to buy a motorcycle for
one of the preachers, one of the elder preachers in one of
the Pueblos. His motorcycle's worn out. He
drives from around preaching the gospel. We went down to get
him one. And when you do that, when you buy something like that,
you attract a crowd. We were out there in front of
that motorbike shop, and the mechanic was there, and Luis,
the owner, was there, and we were getting a discount, and
we got that brand new bike out there, and they were putting
oil and gas in it and cranking it up, and this little boy blow
preacher was standing there waiting to ride his bike home, and naturally
people come around, and they watch and listen. And I was standing
there, and this nice-looking young man came up, one of the
Mexican, a Mexican, had on a ball cap and dressed real neatly,
and I stood about 30 years of age, and he spoke a little bit
of English, enough for me to know what he was saying. He said,
you're from America. Yes, I said, I'm from Kentucky.
He said he had friends in North Carolina. He said, I'm a Baptist
preacher. And I said, I am too. And I'm
down here visiting. That pleased him, you know. He
said he had a church in Compeche. That's 7,500 miles from MÃ©rida.
And I said, well, I want you to meet my missionary friend
here, Brother Groover. And Brother Groover came over
and they started talking in Spanish. And so when we bought the bike
and left and started home in the truck, he turned to me and
said, that Baptist preacher that you was talking to invited me
to come to his church and hold some meetings. And he said, I'm
going over there to pray. Do you suppose there's an accident
that we went to buy that motorcycle at that time of day? That that
young man was walking down the streets? Or that he saw me standing
there, a gringo, and came up and started... Something's going
to happen in that meeting. I expect it. God's... Look for it. Look for His providence. And this woman, there's no... This was a woman who was a sinner.
Everybody knew her. I don't know what she was like,
but she just said she was a sinner. And she had heard, evidently
she had heard our Lord preach. Otherwise, she wouldn't have
been attracted to Him. She wouldn't have been interested
in Him. She wouldn't have gone to see Him. She had heard Him
preach. She had listened out there somewhere
when He was preaching. And she had at home an alabaster
box. A precious ointment. Expensive, valuable ointment.
And she went home and got it. After she heard him preach. And
she heard that Pharisee invite him to dinner. She heard him
invite Jesus Christ to dinner. She knew where he would be. So
she went home and got that box of ointment. I know she went
home and got it because she wouldn't have been carrying it around
on the streets with her. She went home, it's so precious and
valuable. She went home and got it. And she came to that Pharisee's
house. Now this is a woman who is a
sinner, well known, a great sinner. And this man is the very representative
of religion and morality. Think what it took the grace
for her to come to that man's house, knowing the harassment,
knowing the kind of greeting she would receive, knowing the
things that would be said, but she had to get to Christ. I know
people that won't go to certain churches because they don't like
certain people. If Christ is preached there, I'll go there.
I know of certain people that won't come here because they
don't like me. Well, I'll go hear the gospel. I don't care
how you part your hair, or what kind of car you drive, or where
you live. This woman was willing to go
to the home of a man who represented everything that she didn't. And she came there and brought
her little box of ointment in her arms. And look at this, verse
38, she came in, don't you, when she walked through that door,
and they heard the door squeak, and she stood in there with that
box of ointment in her arms. I bet a hush fell over that place.
People started whispering, what's she doing here? Pharisee's eyes
got big. There she stood, every eye on
her. I bet you every eye in there
was on her except one pair of eyes. I bet the Lord didn't raise
his head. He knew she was there. He knew where she was before
she came there. She was one of his own. He didn't have to look
to see her. I bet he never moved. He was
looking down at his food and everybody else was looking and
there she stood. And she looked around and she saw him and she
came, verse 38, and stood at his feet behind him. See, he
was reclined there, weeping. Was she weeping over? I think
she was weeping over her sins. I believe she was weeping over
her sins. I believe she was weeping over her lack of peace and rest
Weeping over the confusion of religion, weeping over the state
of all things, but I think also she wept over the neglect that
he had received. She stood there and looked down
at his feet, and they looked so dusty. Everybody else's feet
were washed. She wept over the neglect the
Lord had received at the hand of this religious devil. She saw his hair was dusty, dry,
and his feet were dusty. And she just knelt down there
over his feet and opened that alabaster box and poured that
ointment on his feet. Just drenched his feet with that
valuable, precious ointment. That's what I think of him, she
said. Then she began to weep, and the tears just dropped down,
mingled with the ointment, and she had no towel. Mary's feet
were covered with ointment and drenched in her tears and her
hair was plaited, which was a mark of her trade, they tell me. And
she un-plaited that hair, that long hair, and she literally
took the glory of her womanhood and dried all the dust and the
dirt and the mud and the ointment and the tears off those feet. Oh, my. And then she started kissing
his feet. That's what it says. She stood
at his feet weeping and began to wash his feet with tears and
wipe them with the hairs of her head and kissed his feet and
anointed them with oil. This is a sinner who knows a
Savior. This is a sinner here, this woman,
who loves the Savior. This is a sinner here who has
nothing and He's everything. is nothing and he has all things
to give, everything, her life. Wouldn't it have been dreadful
if she had brought him her tithe? Alright, my story continues now. My story continues with an insinuation. An insinuation, verse 39. How
did the Pharisee react to all of this? Here was this woman
at his feet and washing his feet with tears and drying them with
the hair of her head and kissing him. How does he respond to all
this? How does a religious man respond to this? This love for
Christ, this devotion, this compassion, this affection for Christ, He
responds like all religious people do to love for Christ. Verse 39, he insinuated things. So the Pharisee, which had bidden
him to dinner, saw it. He spake within himself, saying,
this were his thoughts. This man, if he were a prophet,
if he were that prophet, if he were the Christ, the Messiah,
he would have known who this woman is. He knew. He would have
known what manner of woman this is. He knew. But here's where he was wrong.
He wouldn't have let her touch him. My friends, this man didn't have the slightest
understanding of the person and work of Christ Jesus. Our Lord
came. into the world to save sinners.
Our Lord didn't come into this world to reward the righteous. He came to redeem sinners. He
sent them to seek and to save the lost. Your sins will never keep you
from Christ, but your righteousness will. Your sins will keep you
from religious approval. And your righteousness will gain
religious approval. But Christ is the contrary. He
said, I didn't come to call the righteous, the good, the moral,
of which there are none, but they think they are. But I've
come to call sinners. This is the very person our Lord
came to save. The well don't need a doctor.
Sick people need doctors. And sinners need a Savior. The
songwriter put it this way, come ye sinners poor and needy, weak
and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you. He's full of pity, love, and
power. Come ye weary, heavy laden, bruised
and mangled by many falls. If you tarry till you're better,
you'll never come at all. And let not conscience make you
linger, nor fitness fondly dream. All the fitness Christ required.
is to feel your need of Him. Well, that's his insinuation.
And you know, I see a lot of us in that right there. I see
jealousy. I see envy in this religious
man. I see pride. I see haughtiness. I see him sitting here in his
religious seat. This prevails in religion. You
know it does. That old sickening, sorry, Pharisee-ism
holier than thou, and he saw this woman, she had no right
to be there as far as he was concerned, she wasn't welcome
there, and here this key guest, this Jesus, this so-called prophet,
and she makes a beeline for him, and sits down at his feet and
kisses his feet, and this is just repulsive to this religious
man. repulsive. But I'll tell you
this, that's where sinners are found at the feet of Christ,
in devotion and commitment and everything else. Well, okay,
here's an inquiry. Our Lord, verse 40, and Jesus
answering said unto him, He didn't say this out loud. He thought
it within himself. Our Lord knew his thoughts. He
said, Simon, I've got something to say to you. He said, well,
Master, say on. He said there was a certain creditor which
had two debtors. And brother, I tell you, we're
all debtors. We're all great debtors too. And one owed him
500 pence and one owed him 50, but they both owed him and they
both had nothing to pay. And he frankly, freely forgave
them both. Now, which of them will love
him the most? I tell you, people are spending
a lot of time debating doctrine and duties and arguing about
laws and rules and regulations and sanctification and all these
things. But I tell you, this matter of
conviction, conversion, repentance, faith, Devotion to Christ is
a heart matter. That's where it all is. It's
the heart. To love Him. You know, a preacher brother
and I were talking yesterday. In Acts chapter 8, don't turn
over there. You know both stories. There
are two men. Acts chapter 8. Two men. Both of them heard the gospel. One heard Peter. One heard Philip. Both of them believed the gospel. Up here. One was named Simon
Magus and one the Ethiopian eunuch. Isn't that right? Simon Magus
heard Peter and said he believed and was baptized. Isn't that
right? Ethiopian eunuch heard Philip,
believed and was baptized. One of them The Apostle said,
you're in the gall of bitterness. The other, he freely baptized
him and went on his way rejoicing. You know the difference? One
word. One word. Peter said to Simon Magus, your
heart's not right with God. Know what he said? Your heart.
Philip said to the eunuch, if you believe in your heart, you
may. Here's where it is. We can have
all these religious duties and doctrines memorized. It's not
very difficult to learn doctrine. But this woman and this pharisee
poles apart. The issue wasn't doctrine. The issue was not doctrine. It's
a heart issue. This woman, in her guilt and
sin and inability, and humility and lowliness came to Christ
and prostrated herself at his feet seeking mercy. And this blooming doctrinalized
intellectual religious pharisee went to hell. Isn't that sad? With all of his
knowledge of Moses and the prophets and the kings and the laws and
the tabernacle and the sacrifices and everything else, he had his
head chopped full of that junk. And that's what it is. If Christ's
not in it, it's junk. But if Christ is in it, it's
precious. I use the word I want it. If Christ's not in it, it's
junk. If Christ is not in it, religion's
junk. And that's what most religion
is in 1990s, junk. It's rubbish. That's what Paul
called it, didn't he? He said it's rubbish. I count
it as rubbish. But they were a million miles
apart, and yet there was one thing. Her heart was at the feet
of Christ. His wasn't. That's where it was. And that's what Christ said.
He said if he forgives a man who owes him a whole lot, and
a man owes him a little, who's going to love him the most? He
said, well, listen. And he said in verse 43, and Simon answered
and said, I suppose he to whom he forgave the most. He said,
you've rightly said. You've rightly said. Now I close
with an indictment. An indictment. And our Lord turned
to the woman, still at his feet, and he said to Simon, he turned
to the woman and he said to Simon, do you see this woman? You know
what he said? Do you see this woman? And I
ask myself and you this morning, do you see this woman? Do you
see her attitude? Do you see her attitude? Do you
know what it took for her to come through those doors? Do
you see her attitude? Do you know what it took for
her to humble herself like this? Do you see her attitude? Do you
see her humility? Do you see her love and devotion?
It's probably her greatest treasure was that alabaster box. And she
broke it and dumped it on his feet. Do you see her commitment? Kissing
his feet? Do you see any of that in you? That's a good question. Simon,
do you see this woman? Henry, do you see this woman? Steve, do you see this woman?
Jim, do you see her?" And we sat around arguing about
the tithe and the Sabbath and the law and all this stuff. You see this woman, I came into
your house and you didn't give me any water to wash my feet. She washed my feet with her tears
and dried them with her hair. You didn't even give me a kiss. We debate the son but we don't
kiss him. This woman since I came in has
not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil, you didn't
anoint, but she's anointed it with ointment. I say to you,
Simon, it's all right. Swallow what you want to. Her
sins, which are many, are forgiven. Oh, I tell you, what else can
be said? How would you like to hear the
Master say this morning? Your sins are all forgiven. Think
about it. Well, you know where forgiveness
is found? At His feet. That's right. You see this woman? I see her, but I'm not going
to join her. I am. She's my kind. And He's kind to my kind. That's
all right, isn't it? The religious will is not, but
he is. He delights to show mercy. Her sins, which are many, are
all forgiven. For she loved much, but to whom
little is forgiven, the same will love little. And
he said to her again, he said, are forgiven. That's my story. That's a true story. That's a
delightful story, isn't it? That's an encouraging story. The proud, he rejected, giveth grace to
the humble. I do, as a result of reading
this and dealing with it this morning, I hope I pray that every
one of us, the grace of God will bring us
down. Come on down. The gifts of God
are not on the higher shelves, they're on the lower shelf. Come
down. Zacchaeus, come down. Naaman
went down. Saul on the right road to Damascus
went down. This dear woman here went down,
and that's where you find the mercy of God, when He strips
us of all our pretense. And you know this side of the
grave, everything is pretense. We dress up this flesh. Someday
we will be found naked, unless we're dressed in His righteousness.
All that we're dressed in now is going to fade away. All our
religious claims and decisions and duties and claims and materialism
and all these things will pass away. And we're going to stand
naked unless we're clothed in His righteousness. And if this
tent be the Tsar, we have a building not made with hands, eternal
in the heaven. Not that we would be unclothed,
but clothed upon with his beauty. He'll give them beauty for ashes. Beauty for ashes. It's in Christ. But I tell you, and I tell me
while I'm telling you, it's the road of commitment and
humility. That's where it's found. All
right, we're going to sing 219. Okay.

A True Story

What does the Bible say about humility before God?

Why is repentance important for Christians?

How do we know God's grace is sufficient for sinners?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

A True Story

What does the Bible say about humility before God?

Why is repentance important for Christians?

How do we know God's grace is sufficient for sinners?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book