Did you say time? Yes. Well, any time you miss in that area, it's serious business. They do better on the neck than they do on the back, you know, still. It's all about going through the front of your neck. That's why she doesn't want to hurt herself. Did you ever do that? We're doing two of hers today.

Time? I didn't hear you. I was talking. I'm sorry. First mistake I ever made. It was good to see you all out this morning. I remember those of you preaching prayer. Jack Coughlin passed away. That was awful quick. Diagnosed with liver cancer earlier in the week. It was liver cancer, wasn't it? And he passed away. So I remember that family and their prayers.

And that next Sunday is the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and we will all be corpulent on Thanksgiving dinner. So there will be a lot of dinner next Sunday. We'll have the regular service in the Lord's Table, because everybody will be cruel and turkey. That's next Sunday. No afternoon service and no dinner.

Let's begin our worship service this morning with the handout, Christ is the cause.

On a hill far away, died the Christ of the cross. He healed the suffering, His praise, He died in my place The purpose of God to fulfill So I'll cherish the price of the cross And before His throne I'll bow down I will cling to the Christ of the cross For He is the King I must crown For the Christ you have bought So despised by the world ? And shout to me ? ? The unyielding Lamb of God ? ? Left His glory above ? ? To bear all my sin on the tree ? ? So I'll cherish the promise of the cross ? And before His throne I'll bow down I will cling to the Christ of the Cross For He is the King I must crown If the Christ is there at last And God is only mine ? Do you know how on this cross ? ? Stood our cherished Christ on the cross ? ? And before His throne out bowed down ? ? I will cling to the cross of my life ? For He is the King I must crown!

To the Christ, my God, I must ever give due, Each day, manly good, manly fair. For in the love of the unsurpassed, Till all shall be gained, And before He's born I'll bow down I'll cling to the price of the cross

You have your Bibles turning to Luke the 7th chapter. If you want to read a familiar portion of Scripture, you go to verse 36, reading to the end of the chapter.

And one of the Pharisees desired him and he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house and sat down Behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, and she saw that Jesus sat at me in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him, weeping. He began to wash his feet with tears, and he wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and acknowledged him with the ointment. And when the Pharisee, which had been himself, saw it, He spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner this was. This is the touch of him, for she's a sinner.

Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he said, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors. The one owed 500 pence, the other 50. 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. He said, of him thou hast rightly judged. And he turned to the woman and said to Simon, see thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet. And she washed my feet with her 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 with oil 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 love with little.

And he said to her, thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at need with him began to say within themselves, who is this that forgives sins also? And he said to the woman, thy faith has saved thee. Go in peace.

Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we are thankful that we can read such accounts as these of this poor sinner who came to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and asked nothing of Him but honored Him in every way. We are thankful for the knowledge that the Holy Spirit has given us of our sin. We are thankful for the gospel which declared that Jesus Christ went to the cross, died for our sins, was made to be sin for us. He knew no sin and we were made the righteousness of God in Him. Like a great cloud, we have blotted out our sins, buried them at the bottom of the sea, cast them behind your back, separated them from us as far as the east is from the west. And we love you, not like we ought to, not like we want to, but we love you because you've forgiven us. We deserve nothing from you but wrath and anger, eternal punishment, But you, by your grace and mercy, have brought us into the fold, made us accepted in the Holy. Call us your children, your family, and give us access in the grace we're in this day. We thank you.

We pray for those who lost loved ones. We pray for the Cochran family who lost Jack, He's passing this world today. Pray for all that will grieve for him. Pray for those of our own company who are going through trials and tribulations and sickness and sorrow. Anguish your heart. Continue to pray for Debbie's brother Randy. He's near death. I ask Lord you will be merciful to him and be with his family as they manage to do. Help us this day, Father, to worship you, to sing your worthiness, to pray and praise you for your goodness toward us. Fix our minds and hearts upon him who sits at thy right hand upon the throne of God, whoever lives to make this intercession for us. who sits there because he approached our sins, satisfied your justice, honored your law. Help us to keep in mind of why we're here. We pray in Christ's precious name. Amen.

Hymn number 129. Excuse me, 127. What a name for the Son of God who came. Ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Buried shame and scoffing grief. with His blood. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Guilty, vile, and helpless, we saw this Lamb of God was He. Full of tolerance, can it be? Hallelujah! What a Savior! what a Savior

Let's pray. Father, give me fortune in the name of Jesus Christ. Our majestic Our great Lord, who moves and reigns over all things with absolute power and strength, who came to this earth so willingly and voluntarily to dine in the room instead of his people, what a gift you have given to your people, and with him you've freely given them all things. Thank you, Father, and let us, by thanksgiving, be revealed in our giving to support the gospel here and in other places. We're thankful to understand what it is to give. What we can see in what you've given us. Help us now, we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. so so so This is one of the sweetest episodes in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ here on this earth. There's a strange element to it, the fact that the Pharisees invited him to their house to eat. And the Pharisees sought to kill him. That was their desire, to trick him, to mess with him, so we can know that automatically this is suspect.

In fact, it falls right on the heels of our Lord, berating the religious Pharisees, for some of them saying words against John the Baptist and others saying words against him. Saying John the Baptist was a hard man, a difficult man, and they would not mourn simply because he was mourning. And they said that Jesus Christ was kind of a liberty. and his messages were kind and generous. And it was kind of like somebody playing a little flute and piping. So they mocked both John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now it's not recorded what he said here in Luke, but in Matthew chapter 11, after they had done this, he explained why they had done this in a prayer to the Father. He lifted his eyes to heaven and he said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent, which were these two that mocked him and John the Baptist, the wise and the prudent. And it's revealed unto Beth, for even so, Father, it seemed good in thy sight. No man knoweth the Father but the Son, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father. He to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. So it's to these people that our Lord made that statement.

And then we find them inviting him to dinner. You can be assured when the Pharisees have a dealing with the Lord Jesus Christ, it's to get him on something. That's what they always wanted to do. They brought the woman before him and called it adultery. They'd actually seen it happen. I don't know how they did that unless they were sneaking in her bedroom to see it happen. But nonetheless, They did it, and they said they're going to catch him in the law, see what he would say about the law. Of course, they were wrong on the law. They said the law said to stone her, and the law said to stone him and her, stone the man and the woman. But our Lord simply said, well, you fellas that aren't guilty of this adultery, y'all cast the first stone, and they went away one by one out of the whole place.

They always wanted to catch him in something, and there's no doubt that this episode Though I think what happened in that day, in this hour, was a surprise to them. That their intent was to somehow get him talking and catch him in something that they could debate him or find him that he had broken the law. It says in one of the Pharisees, his name was Simon, desired him that he would eat with him and he went to the Pharisee's house. and sat down to meet.

Now when they sat down to meet, they didn't sit down at the table. They put rugs on the floor and couches on the floor and they laid down. This is how they ate. They laid down. And they still do that in many Arab countries today. They eat and recline. And as they were beginning to feast, a woman came in. It says in verse 37, Behold a woman in the city which was a sinner. Now this is not a general appellation. This means that she, the original language says she was a harlot. She was a whore. And she came into the Pharisees house. It was interesting also that she felt At least that she could go into the Pharisee's house. Maybe she had been there before, I don't know. But she went into the Pharisee's house. And it says she's a sinner. Makes it important to note that. And when she saw that Jesus was at meet at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster box of ointment.

Now an alabaster box of ointment we know in another place called 300 pence, which was The daily wage at that time, if you would change the denario of the Roman to the English penny, was a penny a day for work. A penny a day. And so this out-of-the-box abortment costing 300 pence is almost a year's wage for a whole. She brought that box in to anoint our Lord Jesus Christ.

Another one came to him and anointed his head for his burial. He hadn't died yet, but she knew he was going to die in her room instead, and she anointed his head for a burial. And the church treasurer said, we could have spent this money better. We could have used this money better. But our Lord said of that woman, and it's the only time it's recorded in all of history, by biblical history, this is the only person he ever saved.

Now he had a lot of great prophets. He had a great apostle. Did mighty and wondrous things. Preached the gospel here. Died for the cause of Christ. But he said of this woman, and only this woman, she has done good work. It's the only time that somebody said to do good work, in all the scripture, in all the books of scripture. He said, what did she do? Well, she didn't anoint his head with oil, anointing him for his burial. But he said, she's done what she could. She's done what she could.

The Lord never asked you to do something you can't do. He just asked you to do what you can. She was a sinner when she knew that Jesus was sent to meet at the Pharisee's house. She brought an alabaster box of ointment, and she stood at his feet. She didn't make eye contact with him. She didn't rise and go up to his head to talk to him. She stood at his feet, and she stood there weeping. She was a broken sinner.

How did that take place? Well, she had heard of the Lord Jesus Christ, because she had immediately recognized him. She had brought him by the Pharisee's house, and she probably heard him preach to him. Probably heard him talk, because her kind of people gravitated to the Lord Jesus Christ. Religionists hated him. They despised him. They didn't want anything to do with him. They wanted to kill him. But the wretched of the world, the unclean and the undone, the sinners, the whores, and the harlots, the publicans, and the tax collectors, these are the ones that gravitated to the Lord Jesus Christ and were received in his presence.

She stood behind me weeping. Why? Because something has happened to her. What has happened? How does one know he's a sinner? Now I'm not talking about in a general sense that I'm not as bad as the other guys or that type of sinner. Everybody knows they're not perfect and they're willing to say that. But something has happened where she knows that she's offended God. She knows that she's worthy of eternal punishment. And that only comes When God teaches a person, the Holy Spirit convicts them of the Lord Jesus Christ and what He's done.

So she came behind him and she was weeping with her tears. Now remember, this is the Pharisees' house. These are very holy guys, very righteous in their living. They kept the law or thought they did. They were extremely religious and righteous as far as humanity goes. They were as righteous as any man could be. Of course, that wasn't enough. It's never enough because in truth all men's righteousness are filthy rags. And scripture says that there's none righteous. No, not one. There's not one righteous man on the earth. But our Lord did say to them, accept your righteousness, exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, ye shall not enter in no case into heaven.

So she enters into the Pharisees' house. She stood at his feet weeping, began to wash his feet with tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head. I tried to imagine this. You know, a good way to read scripture, especially as it gives historical accounts of something, is to try to put yourself in that place. Try to put yourself in that room.

Now, in all probability, we would have been one of the Pharisees. Here it is, Jesus Christ laying down to have some food, and here comes this woman. A notorious woman. A woman who's a street walker. A woman who's a harlot. She comes in and stands at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Right in front of the Pharisees. And she begins to cry. Begins to weep. And her teardrops fall on the sand and dirt covered feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as her teardrops fall, she cries so copiously that it actually washes away the dirt. And she unbraids her hair. She braided it and got down and wiped his feet with her hair. And she began to kiss his feet. Kiss his feet. She didn't go up and kiss him on the cheek or on the lips or on the hand. She kissed him where the Lord said to kiss the Lord Jesus' feet. That is at his feet. Remember in Psalms. It said kiss the Lord lest he be angry. What are you going to kiss him? He was kissed once on the cheek by a man named Judas and that was a Judas kiss and it was a kiss of betrayal. But this woman is a sinner. Why does she kiss his feet? Because she's not worthy to even do that. She kisses his feet in anointing with oil, with ointment.

And when the Pharisees saw it, they were astonished. I probably would be too. I'm trying to think about myself. Someone come here. Our Lord was here and having dinner with us and somebody walked in that we knew was a whore. Us fine, old, good, sovereign, great, fabulous people. Knew she was a whore. What would we think? Probably just like these did. What in the world is this woman doing here?

When the Pharisees, which would have bitten him solid, The Pharisee spake within himself. That's important because the Lord answered him for his thoughts. He spake within himself. This man, you know it wasn't anything nice, but it was this man.

As he saw this woman kissing our Lord's feet and anointing his feet with oil, weeping on him and drying his feet with tears and knowing what she was. This man. This man has been going around telling everybody that he's the son of God. This man has said he's God himself. This man has been teaching that the law was not what people thought it was. Legally said, well, I haven't committed adultery. I've never cheated on my wife. And I wrote and said, you think that's committing adultery? He said, if you've looked at a woman in lust who committed adultery in your heart, you're already an adulterer. And he said, out of the heart proceedeth things like murder, thievery, That's for me. These come from the heart. They come from within a man. They defile a man.

So when you commit a murder, that don't make you a murderer. The reason you murder is because you're a murderer. When you steal something, that don't make you a thief. The reason you stole something is because you're a thief. The problem is inside the heart. This man, this man, if he knew What kind of person was it that was touching him? How can he call himself a prophet? This man, if he were a prophet, which is saying he's not a prophet. If he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman is that touches him. Because she's a soul, she's a whore. He would have known that. He did know that. And he welcomed her touch. And he welcomed her kiss. And he welcomed her anointing his feet and all. He welcomed her drying his feet with her hair.

Jesus answered him. Now all he's done is he thought in his head. Just with himself he thought, this guy. If he was really a prophet, he'd know what kind of person's touching him. And he answered me. He said, Simon, Simon, I have something to ask you. I have something to say to thee in verse 40. And Simon said, master, which is another mockery. Because the Pharisees, they like themselves to be called master and rabbi in the marketplace. They hated this man, and for him to say master is a mockery. I have something to say. Well, master, sell. Say on, say what you gotta say.

And he says, he gives him a question to answer. He says, there was this man who some men borrowed some money from. One man borrowed 500 pence from him. Another borrowed 50 pence from him. And it come time to call in the debt, and neither one of them were able to pay the debt. They was broke. They just didn't have the money. And the creditor, frankly, that means freely, automatically, without any stipulation or extenuating circumstances, frankly, forgave them of their debt. He said to these fellas, you don't owe anything. To the man who borrowed 50, he said, you don't owe anything. to the man that had borrowed $500. He said, you don't know anything. Well, that's quite a nice thing to do, to be forgiven of such a debt. And the Lord said, now think about that, Simon. Which one of these fellows would be more appreciative or love the fellow he borrowed from more? Which one? One was forgiven $50. Another was forgiven $500. Which would be more appreciative? Which would be more thankful?

Now, that's an easy question to answer. But notice the way the first he answered. Simon answered, well, I suppose. That's a really easy question to answer. Of course, the 500 guy that barred 500 was forgiven, would love the guy more than the guy that barred 50 was forgiven. I suppose, he said. that he to whom he forgave most."

Now, he's not talking about debtors and creditors. What's he talking about? He's talking about Simon of Pharisee and his whore that stood at his feet. That's who he's talking about. He uses this analogy to teach a lesson to this man. And he said, you said that right. He said to Simon of Pharisee, you got it right. The one who was forgiving more, loving more.

And then he turned to the woman. Ferris, he's watching him. He turned and he looked at the woman and then he talked to Ferris and talked to Simon behind his back. Simon's back here. He said, Simon, do you see this woman? Look at this woman. Look at this woman. I entered into your house. You gave me no water for my feet. This was a common courtesy. When you walked these old dusty roads in sandals, your feet got dirty. And it was a common practice when you had a guest come to your house, you gave him water in a basin to wash the dirt off his feet. That was a common courtesy. The Pharisees didn't even show that to the Lord Jesus Christ.

I entered into thy house, thou gavest me no water for my feet. But she washed my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss, which was another common practice several times in scripture when one of the prophets would say, go meet so-and-so, it's a greeting with a kiss. Greeting with a kiss was a common thing. Thou gavest me no kiss.

But there's a woman. This woman, look at her climbing. This woman, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. She was probably still kissing his feet when he was talking to Simon. She just kissed him and kissed him and kissed him and kissed him. Imagine that. She washes his feet, she dries his feet off, and then she just starts getting down there and just starts kissing his feet over and over and over again. What a spectacle it must have been.

And he said, you know, you didn't even give me the common courtesy of a kiss on my cheek to welcome me into your house. And she's kissed my feet a thousand times. And he said, my head with oil, now that's not anoint. Another common practice. Because dust got in your hair, and it would fly around, and they would anoint with olive oil. Put olive oil on my head, make the hair sleek and pretty, and keep the dust down. This is a common practice. A common practice. My head with oiled out, it's not an ointment. But there's a woman at the northern mountain feet with ointment. Expensive ointment. A year's salary's worth of ointment. She put it on the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Where I for, I say unto you, Simon, comparing you to her, What you did and what she did, therefore I say unto you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much. Now you might look at that and think, if I love Christ enough, how can he forgive my sins? But he does clarify what he says in the next phrase. He says, the same love of love. So she loved a lot because she was forgiven a lot. That's what he's saying in the latter part of that phrase. And he's saying to the Pharisee, you've been forgiven a lot. You haven't been forgiven at all. But remember, it's a comparative thing. This woman has been forgiven so much because she's such a sinner. And she loves me. She showed her love for me.

As every sinner saved by grace, as every sinner who's been made to know that they're actually a sinner by the Holy Ghost Himself through the preaching of the gospel and see that they deserve hell. And they deserve no grace and no mercy. They deserve nothing but wrath and anger from God for the Holy Ghost to teach you that. Then, then, you'll fly to the Lord Jesus Christ. If anybody gets in your way, he'll step on you. He won't even need to give you an invitation. You won't need for the women in the church to gang up and gang save you. You won't need to call for an altar call. You won't need to get people up front whining and crying and carrying on. You won't have to have a testimony meeting.

What will happen if Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, through the Holy Spirit, teaches your sinner, get out of that person's way, he's going to get to Christ. There was nothing stopping this woman that day. She went where she was not welcome. Where people despised and hated her, though I think most of the Pharisees used harlots because he called this generation a ghost of a generation. But she wasn't welcome. She went where she wasn't welcome. The Lord said that the children of God take the kingdom by force. Take it by force. You want to find a militant? You find a person that's met with the Lord Jesus Christ. If family's gotta go, they gotta go. If friendship's gotta go, they gotta go. Whatever's in the way, be knocked out of the way, like this woman. She'd been forgiven much, so her love is great.

And he looked at that woman and really astonished this group of men because they knew the Bible. And they knew the Bible said only God can forgive sin. Only God can forgive sin. Remember in another place, he said the same thing. And then the Pharisees called him in. Wait a minute, you can't say God's forgiven me. Only God can forgive sin. Well, what are you saying? I'm God. He said, thy sins are forgiven.

There are not hardly any sweeter words than all of that inscription. It says in Jesus Christ's vision chapter, we have possess the forgiveness of sins. That's all our sins. It doesn't say sins of omission, sins of commission, sins of drinking, sins of chewing, sins of going to the booty shop. It doesn't say that. It says our sins. What's that? That's all of them. Every sin you've ever committed, every sin you are at this moment committing, and every sin you will ever commit, Jesus Christ died in your womb and stayed. You are forgiven. God will never charge you with sin. He will never impute sin to your account. In fact, nobody in heaven or hell or upon the space of the earth can ever charge you with sin and it will stick. Why? Because your sins have been put away. So much so that God remembers your sin no matter what. You'll never forget it. You'll always remember it. In heaven, you'll remember it. You'll sing, worthy is the Lamb that was slain, that has redeemed us by His blood out of every kindred, nation, tongue, and people, and make us kings and priests under our God. Why was He slain? For our sins. You'll never forget where a sinner that God forgot I don't know how he did that. My brain couldn't give that a method. But God's thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are not our ways. And when God says, I don't remember your sins, you don't remember your sins. He actually don't remember your sins if Christ has died in your room instead. Thy sins are forgiven thee.

Wonder what it meant to that gal. He meant everything to her. I'm a whore. I sell my body for gain. That's how I make my living. He's forgiven you. Forgiven you.

And they that said it meet with him in Pharisees. begin to say within themselves. They have a little converse. They begin to gospel. They're looking at one another back and forth. Do you know what he said? Do you know what he said? Who is this that forgiveth sins also? Who is this that forgiveth sins also? Only God can do that. Indeed. And our Lord said to this woman, thy faith has saved thee. What does that mean? One fellow said faith puts the crown upon the head of the king. Faith puts the crown on the head of the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith doesn't save anybody. Faith looks to the Savior who saves. Faith acknowledges that salvation is by Jesus Christ alone. And in that sense it's called saving faith. Saving faith. What does faith believe? Faith believes that you've been saved. That's what it believes. It don't believe you have to do something. It believes that something occurred 2,000 years ago just like we sang the Christ at the cross. He died in my room instead. I'm gonna put the crown on his head. On his head. Thy faith has saved thee. And then the sweetest three words you'll ever have in the English language, and only the child of God can know what this means.

I know governments, kings and presidents and things like that are always trying to talk about world peace. They set up peace in the Middle East, they'll say. And then they say, well, it's a fragile peace. I don't want a fragile peace, to be honest with you, because a fragile peace can be broken. Our Lord said, peace. Go in peace. What does the child of God know about peace? The child of God is the only person in this world who actually knows peace. Peace that passeth knowledge. Peace that passeth understanding. And how does he know? Because Jesus Christ, in the name of Colossians 1, established peace by the blood of his cross. and reconcile us to God.

That means God's not waiting around the corner for you to mess up so he can thump you on the head. If he thumped you on the head for messing up, you wouldn't have a head. Because you're continually Nothing on his face but a smile. The old song says behind every frowning province is the smile of grace. And that's the truth.

Life is hard. Always gonna be hard. We're made to suffer and the reasons that we need to. If we didn't, we'd just be out of pocket all the time. We're named for tribulation. We need to. It brings us to the feet of Christ. With every providential pain and anguish that comes the way of child-adoption, we've all experienced many. We've all experienced many. We've lost a loved one, people we loved dearly. We've seen our friends get sick and die. We've held the hands of dear ones. We've suffered. We've suffered anguish and heartache. Some of us have suffered poverty. Some of us have suffered riches, but we've all had tribulations.

But every one of those comes from a heart of absolute, unconditional love from God Almighty. Love sends it for us, for us.

Go in peace to this woman whose life was nothing but turmoil. Go in peace. Father, bless us to understand. Pray for us. Amen. God bless you.