I'd like for you to open your
Bibles again to the book of Luke, chapter 7. I'll be coming back to this scripture
in a moment. If you look at verse 11, though,
this will give you a little background for the message. In verse 11
of Luke 7, it came to pass the day after that he went into a
city called Nain, and many of his disciples went with him,
and much people followed him. As our Lord entered this city,
a funeral procession met him coming out of the city. It seems that a widow had one
son her only means of support, her only real earthly joy. And
this son had died. And the scripture tells us in
this chapter that our Lord walked over to the coffin or whatever
container this young man was being buried in. And he laid
his hand on the coffin and he said, Young man, arise. And the
scripture tells us that the young man did arise. And the people
rejoiced. And it says in verse 16, we look
at verse 16, there came a fear on everybody. And there was a
crowd of people there. Here's the master and his disciples
and much people. And this young man arose out
of the coffin and there came a fear on everybody and they
glorified God. And they said, now watch this,
this is one of the keys to my message today. They said that
a great prophet, a great prophet, or perhaps the great prophet,
you remember Moses said to Israel, God will raise up from among
the brethren a prophet, the Messiah, the Christ, him you shall hear. And then the father acknowledged
Christ as that prophet when he said, this is my son, hear him. And this is what these people
are really saying. This is what they're intimating.
That this is that prophet, that a great prophet is risen up among
us, and God hath visited his people. God has visited his people,
and the rumors spread everywhere. And then the next incident, I
believe in the same location, that John the Baptist, who was
in prison, sent two men, two disciples, to Christ. And we'll
not discuss the reason for this. It may have been for the benefit
of these two disciples, it may have been for John's benefit,
it may have been for someone else's, but he sent two men to
Christ. And in verse 19, this is what they ask him. And John
calling unto him two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, Art
thou he that should come? Are you that Christ? Are you
that prophet? Are you the Messiah? Or do we
look for another? Are you the Messiah? Are you
that prophet? And our Lord Jesus Christ told them to go back and
tell John, verse 22, tell him what things you've seen and heard.
Tell him what you've seen and heard. Tell him how the blind
see, verse 22, how the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the
deaf hear it, the dead are raised. And the poor have the gospel
preached to them. And blessed is he, blessed is
he, whosoever shall not be offended in me, shall believe in me and
not be offended. Then our Lord spoke of John's
ministry in the next few verses, the ministry of this wilderness
preacher, this strange person, John the Baptist. He asked the
people when he had spoken to these men, you go tell John how
the dead are raised and the blind see and the deaf hear and the
lame walk. And then he turned to the people and he said, what
did you go out in the wilderness to see? You went to hear John. You heard John's message. What
did you go to hear? What did you go to see? A little
straw reed shaking in the wind, that is a preacher who is influenced
by every opinion and every wind of doctrine and all the pressure
and influence of people. What did you go to see? A reed
shaking in the wind? Did you go out to see a fancy
dan dressed in satin and soft clothing? Men who wear lace and
satin and soft clothing live in palaces and castles. What
did you go out to see? A prophet? Yeah, he said, I'll
tell you more than a prophet. More than just a prophet. John
the Baptist is the forerunner of that prophet. He's the forerunner
of the Christ. But he said, this generation,
this generation, where unto shall I liken this generation? Still
talking to these people. He said, John came preaching
the gospel. And he didn't eat or drink. He
lived a simple life. He wore simple things, he ate
simple food. He was a separated man who kept
himself away from the people and away from their celebrations,
away from their common affairs of life. He came neither eating
nor drinking nor associating nor socializing in any way, and
you wouldn't hear him. He said, the Son of Man has come,
speaking of himself, and I came attending your weddings I came
eating with you, drinking with you, you call me a wine-bibber,
a gluttonous man, I came socializing with you, I came taking part
in your common everyday affairs, I came working in a carpenter's
shop, I came identified with you, and you say, behold, a wine-bibber,
a gluttonous man. You won't hear, you won't hear
the gospel no matter who preaches it to you. You not only find
fault with the gospel, but you find fault with the vessel. He
said you're like children sitting in a marketplace. And the companions
say to him, we sung happy songs to you and you won't dance and
you won't laugh, and we sung sad songs to you and you won't
cry, we can't reach you no matter what we do, happy songs or sad
songs. And Christ said, that's the way
it is with this generation. That's the way it is. You will
not hear the gospel. And our Lord preached to them
the glorious gospel of his sacrifice, of his sin offering of his mercy,
of his grace, of his love. And while he preached, and I
may paraphrase just a little bit here, but I've given a lot
of thought to this. While he preached, and while
these people heard, now here's a huge multitude, they'd seen
some things, they'd seen the dead raised. They had heard the
witness of Christ. John the Baptist sent these men
and Christ, they witnessed and he talked to them, he said You
see how the dead are raised and the blind see and the lame walk?
You go tell John that. Then he turned to the people
and he defined the ministry of John the Baptist. These Jews
weren't dumb and deaf to what he was saying. He was saying
that John was the forerunner of the king and that he is the
king. John was the forerunner of the
prophet and he is that prophet. And then he condemned them for
their dullness, for their indifference, for their carelessness, for refusing
to hear. In that huge throng of people,
there were two people. Two people that are the subjects
of this parable, this message, this war. Two people. First of
all, there was a woman standing out there listening to him preach.
You say, how do you know she was there? I know that she had
to hear Christ before she came to that Pharisee's house. I read
about her a moment ago. When she knew that Christ was
having dinner at the Pharisee's house, she looked him up and
she brought an alabaster box of ointment. He was no stranger
to her. She had already met him. She had already identified herself
with him. She had already heard him preach.
She had to. She knew about him, she knew who he was, and she
believed it. But nevertheless, this woman, her first encounter
evidently is right here. She lived in this town to which
Christ came. And she was in that group of
people that heard him. Now, what kind of woman was she?
I've heard it argued all over the country what she was. I don't
know what she was, but I suppose from the evidence given here
that she was a prostitute. You see, there are several things
said here. Look over at Luke 7. I believe it's verse 39. And when the Pharisee which had
bidden him to the meal saw this, what was going on, he said within
himself, this man, if he were a prophet, would have known who
this woman is. Everybody else knew who she was. And what's this? He didn't just
say who she was, he said what manner, what manner of woman. She was a type of woman, that's
what he said, what manner of woman. And he wouldn't let her
touch him. So it had to be something of
this nature. Anyway, here was a woman and
he keeps identifying her as being a sinner, an unusual type sinner. Out of the ordinary type center,
all men are sinners, all men are wicked, all men and women
are evil, all are fallen in Adam, all are without goodness, I know
it. But she was a particular type center. What manner of woman
she was, she was a particular type of individual. And she stood
and heard Christ preach. I'm just sure of it. And as she
listened to him, the Spirit of God took hold of her heart and
broke it. and brought her to tears, and
brought her to repentance, and I believe brought her to faith.
And this woman went to her house. She went from hearing Christ
preach, and from hearing the gospel, and being broken under
the power of God's Spirit, under the word of God as preached by
the Son of God, she went home smitten in her heart, grieving
over her sins, repenting of her sins, and believing the words
of Christ. For she went to her home to get
something. Now, in the meantime, there was
another person in that great congregation of people. This
man was just the opposite, as far as the public is concerned. Now, in the sight of God, they
were the same. They were both sinners. This woman was a common,
ordinary prostitute, a notorious woman, or what they called in
that day a fallen woman. Everybody knew it. She knew it.
But here was a man listening to Christ. And this man had a
good reputation. This man was a Pharisee. This
man was a religious leader. He was a teacher of the scriptures.
This man was a man who was very outwardly moral. He ministered
about the things of the temple and the tabernacle. He knew the
scriptures. He held the same office that
Saul of Tarsus held, a Pharisee. He held the same office that
Nicodemus held, a Pharisee. About as high as you could go
in religion. And he stood there listening to Christ. He heard,
he saw what went on, and heard the message, and he heard what
the people were saying. He heard the people say this,
that a great prophet is risen. That God has visited his people. He heard all that, and you know
his mind was thinking. Is this man the prophet? Is this
man the Messiah? Is this man the Christ? You know
he was astounded and awed and stunned by what he had seen and
what he heard. And he stood there and thought
and listened. And when it was all over, he
walked up to Christ, verse 36, and asked him if he'd go home
and eat with him. Now this man had, I'm sure, a
fine home. He was a powerful individual.
He had a nice home. It was a home where people came
and went, congregated. He didn't have to prepare this
celebration, this meal. Back in those days, they had
a low table. It was round like this, a big
table. and had a lot of servants and
a lot of food, and the Pharisee would, the head man, the master
of the house, would sit up here in a higher seat and all the
guests out there in front of it, reclining like this around
the table. They would eat reclining out
like this, their feet out behind them. And there was also beaches
along the wall. Spectators came in. People just
came in and walked out. They sat and listened to the
discussion. These were important men. These were influential men. These were great men in the community. These were religious men. These
were men who called the shots. And their invited guests would
all be around the table. And other people would come sit
around the wall and listen to him. And they would carry on
conversation. They would discuss things. They'd
settle issues and matters. That's what this man wanted Christ
there for. He wanted this prophet, who claimed
to be a prophet, whom the people thought was a prophet. He wanted
him in that dinner. at that dinner table. He wanted
this man to get around this table with him and his friends. He
was going to watch him and listen to him. He was interested. He
was concerned, too. He was troubled. He was a religious
man. He'd read about that prophet.
He'd read about the Messiah. He knew about Passover. He knew
about these things, the feast and so forth. And he wanted Christ,
and so he went up to him. He said, will you eat with me?
This woman wasn't very far away. She heard the invitation. She
heard the Pharisee invite Christ to his house. She knew where
he was going. So Christ went to the house. She went to her
home. And I'm sure she sat down and wept over her sins, over
her life, over the type of life she lived, over her past. She
wept before God. She repented of her sins. She said, like the woman of Samaria,
I found the Christ. I found the Christ. Like Philip
who found Nathanael and said, we found the Christ, we found
the Christ. This woman had found the Christ.
She knew it. Our Lord spoke with compassion
to sinners. He spoke with such love and compassion
and affection that sinners came to him. She was going to find
him. And you know what she did? She went there, she looked in
her cupboard. She wanted her most priceless
treasure. her most valuable treasure, and
she had this alabaster box of precious, valuable ointment. And she took it. She knew where
she was going. She knew where he was. She knew what he'd be
doing. And she set out to anoint him
with that ointment. See, her heart had been blessed.
Her heart had been knit to Christ. She had laid hold upon Christ
by faith. The end and objective and goal
of her life had been realized. She had found in him all she
needed. She came there to that house,
and they were already inside eating. When our Lord came to
the Pharisees' house, None of the common courtesies were shown
to him. See, this Pharisee didn't want to be identified with Christ.
His friends were there. They were all there. His neighbors
were sitting around the wall there as spectators. And when
Christ walked in the door of that house, he was already there
and those people were there. Now, the common courtesies were
to have a servant, a slave, right there at the door, and when the
guests came in, see, they didn't have paid streets and wear clothes
like this and wore robes and sandals, barefoot. And when the
guest came in the house, the common courtesy was for the servant
down there, the black slave or whoever it was, take his sandals
off and wash this foot and dry it. And then take that sandal
off and wash that foot and dry it with a big towel. And then
the master of the house would meet the guest and he would embrace
him. And he would kiss him on one
side and then the other. You've seen those fellas over at Saudi
Arabia, how the Russians, how they kiss each other. I'd rather
not do that, but they do it, you know. And that was the custom. They'd kiss him on one cheek
and then on the other. And then, as a courtesy and as a token
of honor, they would anoint his head with some precious ointment.
And then he'd escort him to the table. This man, none of that. None of that. He didn't want
to be identified with that Nazarene. He didn't want to give the appearance
that he believed in him. He didn't want to give the appearance
that he even had anything for him. So Christ came in, dirty
feet, weary, tired, and just ignored by this man, and lay
down, stretched out on that sofa or those pillars or wherever
it was. And they were eating, and all eyes were on him. They
were listening to him, and everybody was talking and so forth. And
suddenly it got quiet, awful quiet. They began to punch one another.
Through that door came who she is and what manner of woman she
is. The Pharisee knew her, the spectators around the wall knew
her, and everybody around that table knew her. Our Lord knew
her best of all. He had known her from the foundation
of the world and loved her. and made her one of his own and
revealed himself to her. She came through that door. He
didn't look at her. He was lying there eating or
drinking or whatever. He knew she was there. He knew
where she was and she was home. He knew what she was going to
do. She came in with her box of ointment and she made her way
directly to his feet. She was broken, weeping, sorrowful,
grieving over her sins. And she just fell down at his
feet, just sobbing. I can just hear her sobbing.
Sobbing because of sorrow and joy. Sorrow over her sins, but
joy for Christ's deliverance. Sorrow over her failures and
fallings, but joy and happiness over his love and mercy and forgiveness. Sorrow over what she'd done,
but rejoicing that she'd found him. I've found him whom my soul
loves. I've found him. I've found a
ransom. She's happy. She's just crying
for everything. She's crying for all kinds of
reasons. Sorrow and joy and repentance and faith. And she just, her
whole frame shook and the tears just flowed and she kissed his
feet. She loved him. She embraced his
feet. She just threw herself at his
feet. She adored him for his mercy
and his grace. And there was just quiet in there.
There wasn't a voice or a sound heard except the sobbing of that
woman, the sobbing of her convulsions as she wept and cried. Tears
just flowed. And she looked down at his feet,
dusty, but now they were covered with her tears where she'd kissed
him and wept on his feet. She didn't have a towel yet.
All she had in her arms was that little box and she laid it down.
But she started un-plaiting her hair. The prostitutes wore their
hair plaited and so forth. She began to un-plait her hair,
long hair down to here. She un-plaited slowly. She cried
a while and un-plaited her hair, cried a while and un-plaited
her hair. Kissed his feet. Not a word. Shocked. Everybody was shocked. And then
she took that hair and she began to dry his feet. all over, she
dried his feet and she kissed him again. And then she threw
her hair back and she picked up that precious, priceless ointment
and just dumped it on his feet. The best she had, all she had.
And he sat up there, that big shot, and he watched it. in all
of his austerity, integrity, morality, religion, piety, holiness. He'd been wondering if that fellow
was a prophet all the time, but this convinced him he wasn't.
He'd been wondering about that Jesus of Nazareth. He'd heard
about him, but he watched him and watched his response. Our
Lord never moved while that woman kissed his feet and washed him
with her tears and anointed him with oil. If this man were a prophet, first
of all, he'd know who she is, he'd have discernment. He'd have
discernment. They wouldn't have to tell him
he'd know her if he were a prophet. If he were that prophet, well,
he knew her. He knew her. He's the only one
who really did know her. The only one who really did.
Others claimed to know her, but he knew her. He knew her. If
he were a prophet, he would know, he said, what, who this was,
and he'd know what kind of woman she is. This is his reasoning. This is what he's saying to himself.
If he were truly a prophet, he would discern who she is and
what manner of woman she is, and he wouldn't let her touch
him. Evidently, if he does know who
she is, and he lets her touch him, then he's not a prophet. He's not a prophet. And this
is when our Lord spoke. He knew what Simon was thinking.
Simon didn't say this out loud. There wasn't anybody saying anything.
Nobody. All you could hear in that room
was sobs. But our Lord spoke. He said, Simon, I've got something
to say to you, directly to you. He said there was a man who had
two One of them owed him a tremendous
sum, 500 pence. The other owed him 10, 50, one-tenth of the debt of the
other. They both were broke. They had
nothing to pay. This master, out of the grace
and goodness and kindness and love of his heart, wiped the
debt clean. I freely forgive you. You tell me, and everybody's
listening. You tell me, Simon, I'm talking to you. Which of
these will love him the most?" Well, I'm sure he cleared his
throat. He knew he had been hung. And he said, I suppose. Isn't it hard to get an old reprobate
and a religionist to admit the truth? I suppose. It's a whirl of information there.
Instead of just saying, fall on his face and say, Master,
forgive me too. He, I suppose, that he to whom
he forgave the most. Now, our Lord said, you've judged
rightly. You've judged rightly. Now, let
me tell you something. I came in your home a moment
ago, and you didn't even show me the courtesy to wash my feet. You wouldn't have had to do it,
you could have had somebody else do it. But this woman, since
I came in, has bathed my feet with tears. You didn't give me
a kiss on my cheek. She kissed my feet. You didn't
give me any oil for my head. She took all that she had and
anointed my feet. I say this to you, Simon, her
sins, which are many, are forgiven. Now, watch this. He didn't say,
in years there are few. He just said, her sins which
are many. Now let me tell you something, when you're studying
this parable, when I told you this over and over again, don't
make a parable walk on four legs. A parable is an earthly story
with a heavenly meaning. It's a common, ordinary, everyday
occurrence that illustrates something spiritual. When our Lord said,
listen to me, when our Lord said, two debtors, one owed five hundred
and one owed fifty. That's in the material world.
That's what they owed. They owed 550. One was ten times
greater than the other. But when this is applied in the
spiritual realm, was this woman any greater sinner than Simon?
Now, come on. Was this woman any greater sinner
than Simon? They were both born in sin. They
were both conceived in iniquity. They were both brought forth
speaking lies in the sight of men, in the sight of this world. She was a more notorious person.
She was a more wicked person. But I'm talking about in the
sight of God. Were her sins any greater than his? Our Lord said
no. Our Lord said to offend in one
part is to be guilty of the whole lot. Our Master declared, thou
shalt not kill, but I say unto you, to hate in your heart. You're
already a murderer. The murderer who actually takes
a life goes to prison. But you do it in your heart,
you don't go to prison. But you're still in God's sight
a murderer. He said by them of old times, I shall not commit
adultery. This is what this woman, fornication. But our Lord said,
to look with lust and intent is to be guilty already. So let
me tell you what this is. When he says this woman owed
500, And Simon 50, it's what they themselves thought they
owed. See that, Charlie? God allows a man to keep his
own record. I ask you, how great a sinner
are you? How great a sinner are you? This is what I'm saying.
This woman was bowed down with her sins. Simon had them, wouldn't
recognize them, wouldn't admit them, and was not bowed down.
A person's love for Christ will be in direct proportion to their
own record, to their own idea of what they are. I guarantee
you. That's what our Lord said. He
said, which of them will love him the most? The one who recognizes
that he owes the most. Simon, this woman sins a many. She knew it, she knows it, she
admits it, she faces it, she confesses it, she cries out,
she loves me because they're put away. Oh, if you could see
your heart as God sees it. But you don't. You think your
sins are few, therefore you don't need my grace. You don't need
my mercy. You don't need my forgiveness.
Who are loving the most? Love to the Savior rises in the
heart in direct proportion to two things. One, the knowledge
of our own sinfulness, our own debt. And God knows what it is. The books of heaven know what
it is. The place God has to bring you is for you to know what it
is. And I'll tell you this, you'll
love him, you'll serve him, you'll worship him, you'll bow at his
feet in direct proportion to your knowledge of your sinfulness
and his mercy to you. your sinfulness in his mercy
to you." Simon's treatment of Christ arose out of a proud heart. This woman's treatment of Christ
arose out of a broken heart. Her sins are forgiven, her sins
which are many. And our Lord indicated to Simon
that his was still on his heart. to hell on his heart. And they
that sat at me," in closing, look at verse 49, "...and they
that sat at me began to inquire among themselves, Who is this
man, who is this man that forgiveth sins also?" You know who he is?
He's the Christ, he's that prophet, he's the Messiah. He's the one
the Heavenly Father sent to deliver us. He's our sin offering, he's
our refuge, he's our rock. He's our fountain of life. He's
our husband, brother, lover, friend. He's all things. Christ
is. And I'll tell you this. When I stand in the crowd and
I hear his voice through his word, his glorious gospel of
mercy and grace, I'm affected like that woman. I go home weeping
and grieving over myself, but rejoicing in him. And I want
to find his feet. I don't feel, and you don't either,
I don't feel I don't feel that I should kiss him like Judas
did on the cheek. You know, the betrayer kissed
him on the cheek. The repentant one kissed him
on the feet. Here up here is where you'll find the betrayers.
Up here is where you'll find the moralists. Up here, kissing
him on the cheek, inequality. You'll find those who have a
higher opinion of themselves, even sitting in the higher seats
above him. But those broken, repentant,
troubled, grieving sinners find their way to his feet. And that's
where they stay, Cecil. That's where they stay. I tell
you this, if God has ever shown you your sins, be as thankful
as the fact that he's shown you his mercy. Because you'll never
see his mercy until you see your sins. Now you take your place
this morning with whichever of those two people in that crack.
With your folded arms begin to debate and discuss whether or
not he is that prophet. Or you can hear him with a glad
heart and a broken heart and a grieving heart and a repentant
heart and go home and get your alabaster box and find out where
he is and come sit at his feet. And I recommend that you stay
there. That you stay there.