Appreciate Bill leading the singing
tonight. I believe that's the first time
that I've ever sung that first hymn that we sang. Both of those
hymns were very good. Let's look tonight in Luke, in
the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 7. And let me begin our reading
in verse 36, and we'll read to the end of this chapter. One
of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat meat with him,
or eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's
house and sat down to meet. And behold, a woman in the city,
which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus said, meet in
the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash
his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her
head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within
himself, saying, 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. And Jesus answering said unto
him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith,
Master, say on. There was a certain creditor
which had two debtors. One owed 500 pence and the other
50. And when they had nothing to
pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which
of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose
that he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, thou hast
rightly judged. And he turned to the woman and
said unto Simon, seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house,
thou gavest me no water for my feet. But she hath washed my
feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou
gavest me no kiss. But this woman, since the time
I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head withal,
thou didst 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 loveth little. And he said unto
her, thy sins are forgiven. And they that said it meet with
him began to say within themselves, who is this that forgiveth sins
also? And he said to the woman, thy
faith hath saved thee, go in peace. I want to speak to us
tonight from the last words in this chapter, the words of the
Lord Jesus Christ in verse 50, when he said to this woman, thy
faith hath saved thee. Now we know that the true church
of God down through the centuries has used the watchword alone. The true church of the Lord Jesus
Christ has used the watchword alone to defend itself against
error. It is the scriptures alone. Christ alone. grace alone, and
faith alone. The Lord Jesus told this woman,
thy faith hath saved thee. He didn't say thy faith plus
the church, thy faith plus baptism, thy faith plus anything else,
other. He said, thy faith hath saved
thee. The Lord Jesus told her two things
that are true of a person being saved. First, her sins were forgiven. Every person who is saved by
faith. He said to this woman, thy faith
hath saved thee. And every person who is saved,
that's one thing that's always true. Thy sins are forgiven thee. We see that in verse 48, He said
unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. And the second truth that we
see here that is always so, of everyone who is saved, we have
peace. And He said, Go in peace. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. One of the Puritans, Thomas Watson,
I read this many, many years ago, and it has stuck with me
over the years. I think I've used it a few times.
But he gave this illustration about saving, about faith rather,
faith saving us. In his illustration, he said
something like this. Imagine a precious stone. A precious
stone, maybe a ruby, maybe a diamond, makes no difference. But a precious
stone that had healing power. This stone has healing power. No matter what disease a person
has, this stone has healing power. With this stone, a person may
be healed. Then he said someone takes the
stone and sets it in a ring. And it would be natural and normal
shortly before people would be saying, the ring has healing
power. The ring has saving power. It wasn't really, it isn't really
the ring, it's the stone. And the same thing is true about
faith. Thy faith hath saved thee. The Lord Jesus Christ, by His
death, He atoned for our sins. The Lord Jesus Christ alone reconciled
us to God. The Lord Jesus Christ alone,
His blood alone cleanseth us from all sin. And the Lord Jesus
Christ, His righteousness alone justifies us before God. So you see, faith is like the
ring, the setting for the stone. The stone, He that heals, He
that saves, is the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone. The scriptures alone, Christ
alone, grace alone, faith alone. Now I want to point out to us
tonight seven things that I see about this woman's faith. And
we know that she was saved because the Lord Jesus Christ told her,
thy faith has saved thee. So I want to point out to us
seven things in this passage of scripture that I see about
her faith, which saved, thy faith hath saved thee. The first thing,
her faith had knowledge. If you notice in verse 37, we
read this, and behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner. Now Matthew Poole commented upon
these words, which was a sinner. And I quote, this is, or that
is, a remarkable sinner. It is a word generally so used
and applied to women, signifies a prostitute, or at least one
of ill report as to chastity. Was, this woman was a sinner,
was referreth here to time past. Though lately past, she had lately
been infamous and notorious. but it appeareth by what followeth
that she was now otherwise than in the opinion and vogue of the
people. Simon knew what manner of woman
she was because we see in verse 39, he said, if he knew, he's
not a prophet because if he were a prophet, he would have known
who and what manner of woman this is. We know from the Lord's
words in verse 47 that her sins were many, but whose are not? Whose are not? The truth that
I point out to us in verse 37 is that we read this woman in
the city, which was a sinner when she knew when she knew that
Jesus set at meat in the Pharisees' house. Her faith had knowledge. She knew. And her knowledge concerned
the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you see that? This is true
of faith that saves. There's knowledge, and the knowledge
concerns the Lord Jesus Christ. She knew, the scripture here
tells us, that Jesus said it meet in the Pharisee's house. Now, think about it. Either she
heard that the Lord Jesus Christ was in the Pharisee's house,
or she saw Him enter into his house. Those are the only two
ways that I can think of how she could have had knowledge
that Jesus Christ was in the Pharisee's house. She either
heard from someone else telling her, giving her this knowledge,
or she saw him, herself, enter into his house. And of course,
I want to believe that she heard, that someone told her. And I
say that because in Romans chapter 10, the apostle Paul said, how
shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And
then right after that, he said, and so faith, so then faith cometh
by hearing and hearing by the word of God. This woman had faith. Our Lord said, thy faith hath
saved thee and her faith had knowledge and the knowledge that
she had concerned the Lord Jesus Christ. A lot of people have
knowledge who are not saved, all kinds of knowledge. You know,
I was reading, or yes, reading the other day about a Bible that
was going up for auction. And it was being auctioned because
Einstein had written an inscription in the Bible. And they thought,
they were convinced at the auction house it would sell for between
$200,000 and $300,000, but they got no offer. They got no offer of $200,000,
so they took the Bible off. There's another document that's
coming up for sale. They believe it'll fetch over
a million dollars that Einstein wrote concerning God. There was a man who had a lot
of knowledge, but it didn't concern Jesus Christ. It didn't concern
Jesus Christ. And the Bible didn't sell, no
one wanted it, because evidently, this is what I figure, because
he commended the Bible. But not as a book where you learn
about salvation, but a book that has good advice for living. No, her knowledge concerned the
Lord Jesus Christ. And all knowledge, it's not just
knowledge per se, that true faith has. But it is knowledge of the
Savior. It is knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Such knowledge as who He is. A person has to know who He is
for their faith to have faith that's saving faith. Who He is. Why did He come? What did He
accomplish? And where is he now? This is
the knowledge that faith is based upon. The second thing about
her faith, I want you to notice this. These seven things, I think
they're very important. This is what I see in this passage. Second, her faith had an object. Just like that ring that I mentioned
a few minutes ago in that illustration, had the stone in its grasp, in
its clasp, so her faith had an object. And true faith always
has an object, and that object is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
when she came in, There were many people there, we read that.
There were more than just the Pharisee who invited the Lord,
but we read on further down, there were men there who said,
who is this that forgive us sin? So we don't know how many people
were there. But in my mind, I think of this. This woman, which was a sinner,
she heard where the Lord Jesus Christ was and she came And when
she walked in that room, she wasn't interested in the color
of the paint on the walls. She wasn't interested in the
decor of the place. She wasn't interested even in
the food that was on the table. Her interest was focused on one
object. And that one object was Jesus
Christ, our Lord. The object of saving faith is
always the Savior. Paul again in Romans 10 said,
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. And just as I said it's not just
knowledge per se, so the same is true of faith. It's not just
faith per se, but it is faith in Jesus Christ. Thy faith hath saved thee, thy
faith in him, in his person. The third thing that I see about
her faith, her faith had reverence. Reverence. And I see that because
in verse 38, the first thing we are told is, she stood at
his feet. Her standing at his feet is a
sign of reverence. You know, the fear of the Lord,
the scripture says, is the beginning of wisdom. And the fear of the
Lord that has reference to is not that slavish fear that some
people have, no. But it is that reverence of Him.
And saving faith, true faith, always has this reverence of
the Savior. There's a recognition, a person
who has true faith, there's a recognition in that person of who he is and
who I am. There's a recognition that there's
such a distance between who he is as the holy son of God and
who I am as a person who has true faith. committed sins against
God, who drinks iniquity, as the scripture says, like water. There's a reverence. Turn back
to Luke chapter five, just a moment. In Luke chapter five, this is
what we see here in this case, beginning with verse four. Now when he had left speaking,
the Lord Jesus Christ was preaching, and he was preaching from Peter's
boat, his fishing ship. When he had left speaking, he
said unto Simon, launch out into the deep and let down your nets
for a draught. And Simon answering said unto
him, Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, now notice, at
thy word You see, the foundation of faith is the Word of God.
This knowledge she had. But the knowledge that saving
faith has is knowledge that is based upon the Word of God. Nevertheless,
we worked all night. We're fishermen. We know something
about fishing on this lake. We've earned our living here
for years and years. And we worked all night. We didn't
catch a thing. Nevertheless, at thy word." That's
faith, isn't it? Faith based on his word. You
say, let down the net. I know better. But nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net. And when they had this done,
they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net break. And they beckoned unto their
partners which were in the other ship, that they should come and
help them. And they came and filled both
the ships so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw
it, he fell down at Jesus' knees saying, depart from me. For I am a sinful man, O Lord."
Does anyone believe that Simon Peter really wanted the Lord
to depart from him? To leave him alone? To pass him
by? Of course not. But he was so
impressed, he was so moved, recognizing that he was not worthy to be
in the presence of this God-man, this God-man that he had just
seen bring those nets full of fish. That's what I'm talking
about, this woman. There's always that reverence
with true faith, reverence of God, reverence of the Lord Jesus
Christ. True faith always has reverence. Here's a fourth thing I mentioned
about her faith. Her faith had repentance. Her
faith had repentance. Verse 38, we read, she began
to wash his feet with tears and dry them with her hair. Now,
tears, listen, tears are not a sure sign of repentance. But repentance does many times
have tears along with it. There's that sorrow over sin. But one thing is sure, one thing
is sure, and that is that repentance is always present where there
is true faith. It would be impossible to have
true faith like this woman had, faith that our Lord said, thy
faith has saved thee, and not also have true repentance. Because
when she turned to Christ, she turned away from her sin, from
her sinful life. Some of the old writers point
out that prostitutes at that time And I believe there's some
scripture in the Proverbs maybe to support this, but they use
their hair. They use their hair along with
other parts of their bodies to attract men. This woman, if she had been a
prostitute, and I believe the evidence is that she had been,
and she had used her hair in committing sin, that particular
sin, now we see that she uses her hair no more for that purpose,
but now her hair as all of her body is dedicated to honor and
to serve her savior. There's true repentance here. And fifth, her faith had humility. Verse 38. Again, she kissed his
feet. Have you ever kissed anyone's
feet? Probably not. Probably not. Well, you're mothers,
I know you have your little baby, your little darling baby, maybe
you have. But think about a man, a grown
man, and they wore sandals, didn't they? But she kissed his face. She had humility. She had genuine
humility. And it's only natural that she
would. And it's only natural that every
believer have humility. Every child of God, everyone
that has true faith have humility. A proud Christian, someone said
that's an oxymoron. A proud Christian. That's impossible. That's impossible. Now, do people,
do Christians sometimes grow proud? Of course they do. But
it's in spite of their faith. It's not because of their faith.
This woman, I say it's only natural that she have humility because
remember when our Lord said, come unto me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden, And I will give you rest, take my yoke upon
you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly." The Savior,
He's meek and lowly. Then it's only natural that those
who come to Him in faith and take His yoke upon them, that
we too have humility. I am meek and lowly in heart,
and you shall find rest unto your souls. The object of true
faith is lowly, humble, and true faith always, always, true faith
will always have humility. And the sixth thing about her
faith, her faith had love. You see, in verse 47, the Lord
Jesus told Simon, she loved much. She loved much. In Galatians
chapter five and verse six, the apostle Paul wrote, for in Christ
Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision.
You see, that was the issue, wasn't it? Some were coming among
those believers there in Galatia and they were saying, except
you be circumcised, you cannot be saved. Paul said that's a
non-issue. Circumcision or uncircumcision,
that's not the issue. And did you know, friends, how
many times when you try to speak to someone about Christ, how
they bring up issues just to get you off track? Whether, you
know, where did Cain get his wife? Things like, what difference
does that make? That has nothing to do with you,
your sin problem, your relationship to God. The issue is not these
peripheral things. The issue always is Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. That's the issue. Paul said circumcision availeth
nothing. Uncircumcision No more, nothing. But listen, he said, this is
what is important. Faith, which worketh by love. And you know, I thought as I
looked at this passage again, this is a good test for you and
I. Our Lord said, he that's forgiven
much, loveth much. Do we love much? We say, we confess
that we've been forgiven so much. But do we love much? She did. And the last thing that I want
to say about her faith, seventh, thy faith has saved thee. It was her faith. Did you hear
what it said? It was her faith. You say, yes,
but faith is a gift of God. I know it is, but it's your faith. God doesn't believe for you.
It's a gift from God, but it's our faith. Thy faith, he told
this woman, thy faith has saved thee. Go in peace. Well, I pray the Lord would bless
these thoughts to all of us here tonight. Seven things about her
faith. And I'm sure there's much more
maybe that could be said about her faith from this passage of
scripture. But these are seven things that
stood out to me about her faith. And I want to have that kind
of faith, don't you? Because her faith, the Lord said,
thy faith has saved thee. This is the kind of faith I want.
And I know you do as well. I pray the Lord will bless his
word to those of us who are here. Let's sing a hymn, Bill, before
we're dismissed. What number? 359. Number 359.
359. Let's stand.