We turn back to Luke chapter
7, verse 36. A religious Pharisee had invited
Christ Jesus to have a meal with him. The Lord Jesus accepted
the invitation and he went to the proud Pharisee's home. Now it was the custom in those
days that when a guest came to your home, that he was met at
the door by a servant. And that servant would have a
pan of water, cool water, and a towel. And when the guest came
into the home, he would take his sandals off and the servant
would kneel down at the feet of the guest and bathe his tired
dusty, hot feet in the cool water and dry them with the towel.
And the host would greet the guest and give him a kiss of
welcome, and also anoint his head with ointment. But when
the Lord Jesus Christ came to this proud Pharisee's home, none
of these common courtesies were shown him. The Pharisee went
to the head of the table, and there he took his place in the
seat of honor, the seat of the guest, or the place of honor.
And the Lord Jesus took his place with the other guests around
the table. When they ate in those days,
they reclined to eat. The table was a round table in
the center, and the guests would be seated in a reclining position
with their feet outstretched behind them, propped up on pillars,
seated at the table. And while the Lord Jesus was
sitting there at the table and at the meal, there
was a woman who was fairly well known, I'm sure, because later
on the Pharisee who knew her, and I assume that the guest knew
her, he called her a sinner. He said if this man were a prophet,
he would know that this woman is a sinner. We know she's a
sinner. We know she is a notorious character. She's well known about the city.
Well, this woman, who knew that Christ was there having a meal
at the Pharisee's home, came in. She walked in the door. And evidently, the first thing
that she saw, she was looking for Christ. There's no question
about that. She came to see him. And the first thing that she
saw when she entered the door of that Pharisee's home and stood
there, and I suppose every eye must have turned and looked at
her wondering why she was there and what she had in mind, but
the first thing she saw was those tired, dusty feet of the Lord
Jesus Christ extended in her direction. And as she looked
at Him, the Master, the Lord of glory, the One whom God had
sent to this earth, the Holy One of Israel, and she saw those
feet and the dust upon them, the dirt, and knew that He had
not received in that home the right kind of treatment. He had
not received the common courtesies that were afforded guests who
usually came to this home. He was being mistreated. He was
being humiliated. That's what the Pharisee was
doing. He was humiliating the Lord. And when she saw those
tired, dusty feet, she fell down beside his feet and began to
I think she wept over her sins. I feel sure that that was one
of the things that caused her to weep was her own sins and
her guilt and her wickedness in the presence of the holiness
of Christ. I'm sure in the presence of those
men she didn't feel unholy or wicked because she knew them
and they knew her. But in the presence of the Lord
Jesus Christ, before His awesome, immaculate holiness. She felt
her guilt and she wept over it. But I don't think that that's
the only reason that this woman wept. When she came into that
home, it was evidently a wealthy home. It was evidently a comfortable,
luxurious home. And I imagine that the other
guests had received the courtesies that were usually afforded guests.
I'm sure this Pharisee's friends were not mistreated, not humiliated,
but the Lord Jesus Christ was a nobody. He was a nobody. He was despised and rejected,
and evidently they had him there to mock him. They had him there
to try to trap him, as they were always trying to trap him in
his words. They had him there that they
might make fun of him. They had him there that they
might hear some of his words of wisdom. And these courtesies
were not extended to him. And I'm sure I believe, I believe
this, I believe that this woman wept over the treatment that
Christ had received. It's enough to make an angel
weep. Here was the one who ought to have reverence humiliated. Here was the one that ought to
have the greatest respect of men ignored. Here was the one
that ought to be feared, but rather he was rejected. Here
was the one who ought to have us at his feet worshiping him,
but instead he was placed at the end of the table and his
feet left dusty and hot and tired and humiliated and ignored. And
this woman was weeping over the treatment that the Lord Jesus
Christ had received at the hands of these evil-minded men. And she fell at his feet and
she began to weep. And the tears flowed so freely
that they just covered his feet. She sobbed and she wept. I believe
she wept for us. I believe she wept for all mankind. I believe she wept for all Adam's
race. I believe she wept for every
slight that's ever been given to the Son of God by the sons
of men." She wept, and she wept. And she began to dry his feet
with her hair. She sat there at his feet, and
the tears were streaming over his feet. And she began to un-plait
her hair. The plaited hair, I am told,
was a sign, a token of prostitution. When a woman was seen seated
in front of a tent with plaited, braided hair, it was well known
that she was a woman of the street. She began to unplait her hair,
and she began to take the glory of her womanhood, and she began
to dry these now muddy feet with her hair. That's devotion. That's humility. That's love. And everybody was silent. I'm
sure there wasn't a word spoken. All you could hear in that hall,
everybody stopped eating, everybody stopped talking. All you could
hear was the sobs from this woman who was washing the feet of Christ
with her tears and then drying his feet with the hair of her
head. And then when she had dried his
feet, she opened an alabaster box of precious ointment. I'm
sure she was not wealthy. There were probably those who
were made wealthy by her, but she wasn't wealthy. I'm sure
she had nothing, but she did have this box of precious ointment. And she took that precious ointment
and just covered his feet with it. And the soft ointment began
to fall over the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I imagine
one of the Pharisees gasped at the waste of this precious ointment
as it bathed the feet of the Son of God. Everything was still
silent. The woman sat there and held
his feet in her hands and kissed them. She had bathed them with
her tears, she had dried them with the hair of her head, and
now she began to kiss, not his lips and not his hands, but his
feet. And after a while somebody said
something. I don't know whether he said
it out loud or whether he said it to the man next to him or
whether he just said it under his breath. But he said it, verse
39, when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he watched
all of this, he spake within himself, saying, This is all rather disgusting.
This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what
manner of woman this is that toucheth him. For she is a sinner. He spoke critically. He spoke harshly. And he said
if this man were a prophet, as he claims to be, he wouldn't
let this woman touch him. He would avoid her. He would
rebuke her. He would drive her away. He wouldn't
allow her in his presence. Now that's what he would have
done. And the Lord Jesus Christ knew his thoughts. He heard his
words, if not with the natural ear, the omniscient Son of God
knew what he was saying. And he said, Simon, I have something
to say to you. And Simon said, Master, say And the Lord Jesus said there
were two creditors which had two debtors. One owed him 500
pence, the other owed him, he didn't owe him that much, he
owed him 50. And when they, both of them, had nothing to pay,
now he's talking about this woman being, Simon said she was a great
sinner. Probably she was the one indebted
the most. And Simon was in debt too. This
woman had nothing spiritually to pay, and he didn't either.
She knew it, and he didn't. But they had nothing to pay,
and he frankly, or freely, is the word, forgave them both.
Tell me, Simon, which of them will love him the most? And Simon answered and said,
I suppose it he to whom he forgave most. And he said, Simon, thou
hast rightly judged. And he turned and pointed to
the woman while he was speaking to Simon, the religious Pharisee. He said, you see this woman,
I entered your house and you gave me no water for my feet.
You didn't extend to me just the common courtesies extended
to any guest that comes into an oriental home or an eastern
home. This woman hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped
them with the hair of her head. Simon, I came into your home,
and you gave me no kiss. This woman, since the time I
came in here, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. And Simon, my
head you did not anoint with oil, but this woman hath anointed
my feet. I say unto you, her sins, which
are many, are forgiven. Our Lord said three things to
this woman, and this is the heart of my message tonight. I want
to enlarge upon this and pray that the Spirit of God will bless
it to my understanding and also to yours. Three things He said
to this woman. First of all, in verse 48, He
turned to her and He said, Thy sins. And the Lord Jesus said
they were many. and the Pharisees knew there
were many, and the woman knew there were many. But our Lord
said to her, Thy sins are forgiven." Forgiven. There is no blessing
that is known to man. There is no treasure that even
God can give worthy to be compared with what our Lord gave right
here to this woman. If God would give me anything
under heaven, if He would permit me to choose anything I wanted,
I'd ask Him for redemption. And that's exactly what Christ
gave this woman right here, redemption, atonement, forgiveness. Blessed is the man And David
said, happy is the man above all men to whom God will not
charge his sins. The man who has a clean slate
in glory is a happy man. The man whose transgressions
and iniquities and sins are all wiped away is a happy man. He might have patches on his
britches. He might have holes in the soles
of his shoes. He might not have a place to
live or a job to go to or a morsel of meat to eat. But if he has
a clean slate washed in the blood of Christ and his sins are forgiven,
I covet that man's place. In Psalms chapter 103, I want
to show you something here, and it's something that We usually
pass over if we're not looking for it, if we're not burdened
about it, if we're not troubled about it, we'll overlook it.
But in Psalm 103, it says, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all
that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O
my soul, and forget not all his benefits. What's number one? who forgiveth all thine iniquities. Now there are others, he healeth
thy diseases. Today the divine healers won't
put that first. And he redeemeth thy life from
destruction, he crowneth thee with lovingkindness, he satisfies
thy mouth with good things, he executeth righteousness and judgment. But all of that is secondary
to forgiveth thine iniquities. That's it. That's it. That's the treasure. That's the
blessing. Thy sins are forgiven. All of them. It doesn't matter
what you've done. It doesn't matter what you've
said. It doesn't matter what you've It doesn't matter how
deeply into the mire you have fallen. It doesn't matter how
far in the darkness you've gone. It doesn't matter how far away
from God you've strayed. He said, Thy sins are forgiven. That's it. And I'll tell you in verse 49,
one of these boys that sat around the table, one of these religious
leaders, one of these Pharisees said, Who is this that forgiveth
sin? Who is this? He knew the value of what our
Lord had just said. He knew the greatness of what
our Lord had uttered. Thy sins are forgiven. That's why the priest went into
the Holy of Holies every year. That's why thousands and thousands
of bullocks and rams and lambs and turtle doves were slain.
That's why all the washings and fastings and feast days, they
were seeking forgiveness. And here, in a moment, in a twinkling
of an eye, Christ turned to a woman and said, Your sins are forgiven. And that parish, she said, Who
is this? Who is this that forgiveth sins? I'll tell you who he is. He's
the only one who can forgive sin. The priest can't do it. The church can't do it. The law
can't do it. The water can't do it. The ceremonies
and sacraments can't do it. But he can. You know why? Turn
back to Matthew 1.21. Here's the first reason why he
can forgive sin. It's because he's the one whom
the Father sent to forgive sin. That's his mission. That's his
task. That's his work. When he announced
the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, he said, verse 21, Matthew 1,
"...and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his
name Jesus, Saviour, for he shall save his people from their sin."
That's why he came down here. He didn't come down here to set
an example, though he did. He didn't come down here to preach
sermons, though he did. He didn't come down here to reform
the lives of people, though he did. He came down here to forgive
sin. That's why the Father sent him.
He came down here to save his people from their sin. Who is
this? He's the one whom the Father
sent. Who is this? Turn to II Corinthians 5. He's
the one who himself As the federal head and representative of his
people, he's the one who for us was made sin. The transference
of sin from me to him. You know how he could forgive
this woman's sins? Her adultery, her lying, her
thievery, her covetousness. You know how he could forgive
it? Because all her sins, by God's mercy, transferred to him. That's how. He didn't do it by
snapping his finger. He didn't do it by erasing a
record. He didn't do it by some form of magic, because her sins
were laid on him. For 2 Corinthians 5, 21, for
God the Father hath made him, Christ, to be sin for us. He didn't have any sin. He didn't
have any sin. He took my sins in his body on
the tree. That's how he can forgive sin.
He's the one the Father sent. He's the one who was made sin.
Now turn to I Corinthians 15, and he's the one who, because
that sin was laid on him, was punished for that sin and died
for that sin. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul said,
here's the gospel I preached to you. Verse 1, you received
it, you stand in it, you're saved by it. Verse 3, for I delivered
unto you, first of all, how that Christ died for our sins. That's my message, Paul said.
That's the first thing. It's not straighten out society.
It's to preach how Christ died for our sins. He's the one who
died. He's the one who rose again.
He's the one who intercedes at the right hand of the Father.
Who is this? Who is this that forgiveth sins? He's the only one who can. I
can't do it. Brother man, pray for me. Okay.
But my prayers have no effectual saving merit at all. But brother,
I'll tell you when Christ prays for you. He said, The Father
always hears me. Peter, Satan hath desired thee
that he might sift thee as wheat, but you don't have anything to
fear. I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not. I can't forgive sin. You can
come to the church and cry all night, but the church can't put
away your transgression. You can read the law and memorize
it till you can say it coming down the stairs at midnight on
your hands, but it won't save you. He's the only one who can
forgive sin because he's the one whom the Father sent. He's
the one who was made sin. He's the one who died under the
penalty of sin, under the penalty of God's almighty justice. He's the one who was buried and
rose again and ascended to the right hand of the Father where
he ever lived to make intercession. That's who he is. That's who
he is. Second thing he said to this
woman, verse 50. He said, Woman, thy faith hath saved thee. Saved thee from the penalty of
thy sins. Saved thee from eternal condemnation. Save thee from a certain death
at the judgment. Save thee from eternal hell. You're a saved woman now, and
it's because of your faith. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 89
says, For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves. It is the gift of God. It is
not of lest any man should boast, thy faith that saved thee." When
I looked at this statement, I said to myself, this is what I want
right here. I want to be saved. I want what
Christ said first to her, thy sins be forgiven. And I want
this. I want the kind of faith that
saves. I don't want the kind of faith
that makes me religious. I don't want the kind of faith
that makes me think I'm different from everybody else. I don't
want the kind of faith that gives me a phony piety. I don't want
the kind of faith that says I'm going to heaven while I'm on
my way to hell. I don't want the kind of faith that deceives
the natural heart. I want this faith right here.
This faith the Lord commended. This faith the Lord held up as
an example. This faith the Lord Himself said
that saved people. That's what I want. Want to look
at it? Let's see what kind of faith
it is. It is a faith that acknowledged
sin. That's the first thing. This
woman, the one thing about it, she was what she was. And she
knew it. The Pharisee was what he was
and didn't know it. She knew it. She knew she was
a sinner. It wasn't in doubt in her mind about it. Her tears
reveal she knew she was a sinner. Her humility revealed she knew
she was a sinner. Her taking her place at the feet
of Christ revealed she knew she was a sinner. She knew it, and
everybody else knew it, and the Lord knew it, and it was something
that was true, and she admitted it. First of all, faith will
acknowledge sin. Turn to I John, chapter 1. Now
the Scripture says, He that hideth his sins shall not prosper. And 1 John chapter 1 says, verse
8, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. I didn't
say mistakes, S-I-N. I didn't say errors, I said S-I-N. I didn't say shortcomings, I
said S-I-N. If we say we have no sin, you
got any sin? You got any sin? This woman was
a sinner. Verse 10 of I John 2 says, If
we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and His word
is not in us. The first thing that faith will
do, it will acknowledge sin. It won't cover it up, it won't
justify it, it won't alibi for it, it won't excuse it. It will
just come right out and say, Oh God, be merciful to me, a
sinner. Faith that saves will say, My
sins are ever before me. Faith that saves will cry, I'm
a man of unclean lips, dwelling among a people of unclean lips.
Saving faith will say, I bore myself, I hate myself, I repent
in sackcloth and ashes. This woman was a sinner. The Pharisees knew it, and the
Lord knew it, and she knew it. Secondly, faith that saves not
only acknowledges my guilt, but faith that saves seeks the Lord. It says in verse 37, And behold,
a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that
Jesus sat at in the Pharisee's house, she came to see him. Faith that saves seeks the Lord. It'll look him out. It'll find
him. Blind Bartimaeus sat by the wayside,
and he said, Who's passing by? What's all the commotion? Somebody
said, It's Jesus of Nazareth. He began to cry out. He began
to seek the Lord. Jesus, thy son of David! Have
mercy!" The woman with the issue of blood who had been sick for
twelve years, when she heard that Jesus Christ had come to
the town, she began to seek Him out, and finally she found Him,
and she touched His garment and was made whole. Zacchaeus the
publican, when he heard that Christ was coming that way, he
skedaddled ahead and climbed up a sycamore tree so he could
see the Lord. He sought the Lord. Scripture
says, Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call on him while he's near.
You'll seek me and find me when you search for me with all your
heart. Are you seeking the Lord? Are you doing everything you
can to hear the gospel? Are you? This woman, I don't
know how far she walked, I don't know how far she came. I don't
know what difficulties she passed through, but she found out the
Lord Jesus was going to be in this house, and she made herself
available. If I was lost and on my way to
hell, and I found out that somewhere there was a preacher who was
preaching the gospel, I'd go hear him. And I'd sit there till
God saved me or sent me to hell, one or the other, but I'd seek
the Lord. I wouldn't sit on my front porch
and rock my way to hell. I'd go seek the Lord. And faith
that saves is a faith that acknowledges sin, and faith that saves is
a faith that seeks the Lord. If I knew somewhere there was
a preacher preaching the gospel who wasn't trying to build an
organization and strengthen a denomination and defend the traditions of
religion and prove a doctrine, but he was lifting up a Savior
for a lost world and calling men to faith in that crucified
Christ, I'd go listen to him. And I'd pray that God Almighty
would open my deaf ears to hear his voice. in my blind eyes to
behold His Son. I'd seek the Lord. And then I'll
tell you another thing about this woman's faith that saved
her. It was a faith that acknowledged
her sin. It was a faith that sought the
Lord. It came where Christ was. And thirdly, it was a faith that
was born of a broken heart. She stood at His She didn't belong up there at
the head of the table where the Pharisee had seated himself.
She didn't belong looking eyeball to eyeball with the Son of God.
She belonged on her knees in the floor at his feet, and that's
where she was. The Bible says, Pride goeth before
destruction, and a haughty spirit before the fall. humble myself,
preacher." All right, that's okay. The Pharisee wouldn't either. I'll never come down and humble
myself. I'll never sit at the feet of
Christ. I'll never come down there in
the dust on the floor. I'm somebody, that's all right.
You're privileged to do what you want to do. But you remember
one thing, the sacrifices of God are a broken heart, a broken
and a contrite spirit. I'm not telling you what to do.
If I told you what to do and you did it, it wouldn't do you
any good. It's got to be born out of willingness. It's got
to be born out of desire. It's got to be born out of your
own soul. It's got to be you coming to
the feet of Christ because you know you don't belong anywhere
else but at his feet. That's the reason I don't stand
up here and tell people what to do. Now you come down this
aisle and you shake my hand and you do this and you do that.
You do what God leads you to do. If God leads you to sit there
like a stump, you sit there. If God leads you to refuse to
bow your proud neck, you sit there. If God Almighty lays it
on your heart to ignore his gospel, you ignore it. But you do what
God leads you to do. because it won't be any good
unless it's motivated by the Holy Spirit. And this woman came
in this house where Christ was, and her reaction was, her natural
reaction, what she felt in her heart to do, was to fall at His
feet, and that's where she fell. And that's where God found her.
She didn't belong anywhere else. She belonged at His feet. She
belonged at His feet. God resisteth the proud, and
God gives grace to the humble. The six things God Almighty hates,
Proverbs 6 declares, and the first one listed is a proud love,
a proud love. And the next thing I find about
this saving faith is it recognizes Christ's Lordship. Not only did
she weep and bathe his feet with the tears of repentance, and
dry them with the glory of her womanhood, her long tresses. But this woman took this alabaster
box of ointment and opened it up and anointed the feet of the
King. Anointed the feet of the King. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine heart that God hath
raised him from the dead, and highly exalted him, and given
him a name above every name, thou shalt be saved." That's
the doorway to the kingdom of God, is the Lordship of Christ. You don't make Him Lord. God
beat you to it. God made Him Lord. You just submit
to Him. This woman didn't come in there
and say, I'm going to make you Lord. She came in there and anointed
him who was the Lord. He was born King. Another thing about this faith,
in verse 42, the Lord said they had nothing to pay. He said,
Woman, you've got nothing to pay. And faith acknowledges that
it has nothing to pay. In my hands, no price I bring.
Simply to the cross of Christ I cling. Could my tears forever
flow? Could my zeal no longer know? These, for sin, could never atone. It's Christ that saves and Christ
alone. I'm empty-handed. I've got an
empty bucket. Christ has got to fill it. I've
got an empty heart. Christ has got to fill it. I've
got an empty life. Christ must fill it. I've got
an empty mind. Christ must fill it. He is made
unto me wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
I'll tell you another thing about this faith. It had nothing to
pay, and this faith was a loving faith. Oh, it says in verse 47,
Christ knew her heart. He said in verse 47, She loves
me. She loves me. You don't love me, Simon. You
wouldn't even have your servant wash my feet. She washed them
with tears. You don't love me, Simon. You
wouldn't waste one of your clean white towels on my feet. But
she took her hair and dried my feet. You don't love me, Simon.
You wouldn't spend a quarter To anoint my head with a little
bit of sweet-smelling ointment, she gave me all she had. She
loves me. And I'll tell you, faith that
saves is faith that loves Christ better than it loves your wife
or your husband. It's faith that loves Christ
better than you love your children. It's faith that loves Christ
better than you love mama and daddy. It's faith that loves
Christ better than you love your own life. And when you get that
kind of love, Christ will save you. And I'll tell you something else
about this woman's faith that impressed me. It was a faith
that didn't say much. Finally, one word she spoke.
Oh, Pharisee was up there popping off every five minutes. He was
just talking up a storm, you know. He knew all the answers. He was a theologian, and he was
an orthodox doctrinalist. He knew everything, and he's
up there just blowing off at the mouth, and this woman wasn't
doing nothing but crying. Saving faith is silent faith. Now you put that down. These
people that pop off all the time about how much they love the
Lord, I don't know whether they do or not. These people that
pop off all the time about how much they know and How far along
they've come, what they've given up for Jesus. This woman just
sat there and cried. That's all. She never said anything. She proved by her actions she
loved Christ. That's how you show whether or
not you love Christ, by your actions. You're not heard for
your much speaking and your words don't mean a thing. You prove
your love for Christ by your actions. Simon said a whole lot
and went to hell, and this woman never said a word and went to
heaven. But she proved she loved Christ. The third thing he said
to her, and I close, he said, Woman, go in peace. Now, I want to show you something
here that I learned. Where was she to go? Well, first of all, she was to
go from the presence of these quibblers. That's the first place. Simon and the Pharisees were
full of objections. They were full of argument. They
were full of pride. They questioned the character
of the Lord. They humiliated him. In their
arrogance and pride, they rejected him. They provide no fit company
for you, my dear lady. Leave them alone. Get out of
their presence. Don't you stay here to be tormented
by them. Let them argue with one another.
You seek your fellowship among those who love your Lord. You just get out of the presence
of these people and leave them alone. Let them sit in their
high and mighty seats and argue with one another. Let them argue
and debate and quarrel. You just go and leave them alone. And second place she was to go,
go away from the publicity that you've unwillingly found. You
know, if Christ had been like most religious leaders today,
he would have put this woman on display. He would have said,
Stand before these men now and tell your experience. He would
have said, put your hair on display. Look here, everybody, everybody
come next Sunday. The woman's going to be here
whose hair touched the feet of the Lord. Think of it. Everybody
come and bring a friend. We're going to have the woman
here next Sunday whose tears bathed the feet of the Lord.
Just think about it. She's going to be right here
among us. Her tears fell on the body of Christ. What a splendid
person. She's going to be at all the
meetings and give her testimony. Christ said, Woman, go in peace. You'll have those to whom you
can witness, but your witnessing is going to be not showmanship
and not a display of these natural things, but your witnessing is
going to be the beauty of your character. And your witnessing
will lie in the quietness of your life. and the confidence
you have in your Lord. That's what impresses people.
They're not impressed by these people from prison to pulpit,
from dope addict to gospel singer. That doesn't impress anybody.
What impresses men is the broken heart who knows the Lord, who calls attention not to Isn't it distressing to hear
a man call himself a man of God? It calls attention to themselves.
I'm afraid so many singers and preachers today are calling more
attention to themselves than are to their Lord. And then he
said, Go in peace. And I want you to listen carefully
to this. This helped you. It did me greatly. Go from that
high moment and that high ministry which for once in your life you
carried out. You've done what God called you
to do, now go. Charles Spurgeon said this, The
woman in Luke 7 washed the feet of Christ with tears and wiped
them with the hair of her head. It was an action of love that
arose to a great passion. It was a deed that would be told
everywhere. It was an action that we might
well imitate. Her love for Christ drew the
recognition and praise of her Lord. But at the same time, we
cannot always be doing some heroic deed. Life is mainly made up
of common deeds. The difficulty, he continued,
with some people is they always want to be practicing the sublime,
always the great, always the miraculous, always the magnificent,
always the mountaintop. That's ridiculous. They're always
straining after some religious effect or applause. My friends,
there are times when we have the opportunity to speak for
Christ. There are times when we have the anointing of the
Holy Spirit and God is pleased to use these frail creatures.
There are times when God anoints even the least of His children
and they rise to the occasion. But tomorrow we must go home,
go to the job, go to the yard, go to the dishes, go to the dirty
clothes, go to the unmade beds. go to the greasy task, the common
task, and you make a big mistake," he continued, "'if you cannot
glorify God in your common deeds of life.'" She had been on the mountaintop
for a few minutes. God had used her as he used nobody
in that hall. She was God's messenger for that
moment, but tomorrow she was just a mama. Tomorrow she was just a dishwasher.
Tomorrow she was just a maid in a home. Still belonged to
the Lord. And many of her tomorrows, she'll
never come back to this place again. Never! If she tries to
do it next week, it becomes a mockery. You see that? Suppose everywhere
Christ went after that, here's that woman busting in the door
to wash his feet. Mm-mm. That'd have made a mockery of
the whole thing. That'd have made a show-off of the whole
thing. That's what we're doing in religion today. We're expecting
every time we get up and open our mouths, the power of heaven
falls. Well, it won't do it. We're expecting
every time we sing a song that God Almighty's got to blow a
silver trumpet and the angels tune in to that channel. It won't
do it. once in a while, once in a while. If you remain faithful once in
a while, if you do what God leads you to do with that broken heart
once in a while, if you walk in the light He gives you once
in a while, if you continue in that spirit
of humility once in a while, you're going to be where God
needs a messenger. And he's going to anoint your
lips, and you're going to say the right thing. And he's going
to anoint your heart, and you're going to think the right thing.
And he's going to anoint your life, and he's going to use you
right there. Now, don't make a mockery out of it and try to
do it every day. You go on about your task. Go
in peace, he said. Go on. Go on. If I need you,
I'll call on you. You see what I'm saying? You
remain faithful in few things. I'll make you ruler over many.
I'm liable to use you again. Go in peace. Go in peace concerning
your sins. They're all taken away. Go in
peace concerning those about you. Yes, these men are going
to talk about you after you leave. Oh, I'm telling you, they cut
her to pieces after she left there. Christ said, You go in
peace. It's all right. Never mind what they say. You
forget all the unkind things that are done and all the unkind
things that are said. God take care of your cause.
You don't need to go out cursing these Pharisees. They're going
to talk about you, but don't you give them another thought.
Don't you do it. You go in peace. In peace. And then you go in peace about
what you've done. This woman had done a bold thing.
She had done a bold thing. She had dared to approach the
Lord of glory and cover his feet with her tears. And I imagine
when she got off by herself, she thought, what in the world
have I done? I made a spectacle out of myself. And we get up and try to sing,
Ronnie, and try to preach. We go away and we think, what
have I done? I failed, I struck out, I tried
to say something, didn't have the words to say it. The Lord
says, you go in peace. I'll use your fumbling, stumbling,
faltering words for my glory. I'll bless somebody with it,
somebody looking for a blessing. And I'll bless those that are
seeking the Lord. Our Father, take the Word. and bring us down
to the feet of Christ with a broken heart. Grant, O Lord, we may be delivered
from shame and false religious acts and ceremonies and duties,
that our tears might be tears that spring from a broken heart
and a contrite spirit. Our love for Christ might not
be an obligation but a real heartfelt, sincere compassion. Our interest
in Him might drive us to seek the Lord, seeking Him to find
Him, and finding Him to love Him, and loving Him to always
be at His feet. In His name we pray. Amen.