Luke 7:44-50

Luke chapter 7, reading from verse 36 to the end of the chapter, our focus this morning, verses 44 through 50. And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisees’ house and sat down to meat, and behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat, in the Pharisees’ 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 said, master, say on. There was a certain creditor, which had two debtors, the one owed five hundred pence and the other fifth, 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, and said unto Simon, seest thou this woman. I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water from 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 with oil, thou didst thou did. it’s 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. They that sat at meet with him, began to say within themselves, who is this that forgive us sins also? And he said under the woman, thy faith have saved thee. Go in peace. God blessed to us his sacred and holy word this morning. Once the well-known missionary, Hudson Taylor, was interviewing some Christian young people who showed an interest in going to the mission field. And he asked them several practical questions to find out how well suited they would be for the mission work. And one of the questions he asked was, why do you wish to go as a foreign missionary? And the two basic answers that these young people gave were these. I want to reach others across the sea because Christ has commanded us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And the other one was, I want to go because millions are dying without ever hearing of Jesus Christ, who is the only way of salvation. Now Hudson Taylor looked at them thoughtfully for a moment. He said, you know, these are good reasons. But I think. fear they will fail you in times of severe testing and tribulation. This would especially be true, he said, if your life were in danger. If you were confronted with the problem of being martyred for your testimony. And then Hudson Taylor said this, the only motive that will cause you to endure is stated in 2 Corinthians 514, Christ love, constraining you, will keep you faithful in every situation. In the count before us this morning, this morning, this previously sinful woman, has done much more for Christ than Simon the Pharisee. Jesus, tells you this converted woman loved much, as we see in verse 47, because she was forgiven much. Love was the motivating factor behind all our behavior. And it’s still the secret to serving Christ faithfully in this life. Those who truly love truly love Christ are willing to serving Christ. to go to great lengths to serve their Savior. Jesus is now going to give us the application of this little parable that he has spoken about the two debtors. Let me begin this morning by saying this, Gratefulness for forgiveness causes you to do much for Christ out of love. In verses 44, through verse 47. Now you find here a great contrast between Simon and this woman and their treatment of Christ. And he turned, verse 44, says he turned to the woman and said to Simon, seeest thou this woman, I entered into thine house, thou gave us 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 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, loveeth little. This woman directs Simon’s attention, excuse me, the Lord directs Simon’s attention to this woman. But he’s still speaking to Simon, but he sort of points her out. He is not understood the significance of her actions. Simon just sees her as a terrible sinner, someone with a reputation. at least in the past. And without experiencing salvation, he can’t understand the motivation of this woman and why Jesus sees it as very important. At this point, Christ now begins to compare her actions toward him and Simon’s actions toward him. He starts with the washing of his feet here in verse 44. Now, it was a customary token of hospitality in these days, so that if you had a visitor to come to your house, you would wash their feet. That’s sort of a way of refreshing. A lot, you know, most people were walking to get to the house and so forth. And so it was a very common custom when you arrived at their home, that they would wash your feet. You remember the old man at Gibia and the old text. and Judges 19 who housed the traveling Levite and the concubine as they were returning home. And he washed their feet. You remember when Paul spoke to Timothy about the church taking in widows. And one of the qualifications was, did she wash the saints’ feet? In other words, where it’s not as she hospitable, but did she show the kindness of washing her? their feet when she put them up. In the case of Simon, Christ was not given this common courtesy. It showed a lack of hospitality on Simon’s part, an inconsiderate neglect, if you would. However, this woman, whom Simon is frowning upon, washed my feet with her tears and and white them with the hairs of her head. What humility she showed in, not just washing my feet, so to speak, but the way she did it. Then he goes to the welcoming kiss here in verse 45. It was a form of greeting in biblical time that you would kiss the face, maybe the cheek of, or the neck of someone who you would greet and meet and perhaps have at your home. You remember when Esau met Jacob after he had been gone a long time, we read that he fell on his neck and kissed him. When Jacob met Rachel, a relative of his, for the first time, she came along with her flock of sheep, we read that he kissed her. Now, that wasn’t the romantic kiss that later he would want to give her, but it was a greeting kiss. when Judas greeted Christ in the Garden of Gassimony, remember when he brought along with him those that were going to arrest Christ? He said, Hail master, and he kissed him. Jesus said, you’re going to portray me with a kiss? Your master with a kiss. Scripture speaks of greeting one another with a holy kiss in 1 Thessalonians 5. 27. But this customary act of respect and greeting was not given to Christ. Not by Simon. It showed neglect again. He didn’t show the usual and expected greeting by kissing Christ on the face of the neck. Yet this woman didn’t feel that she was worthy enough to kiss Christ on the neck or the face or the face. She kisses him on the face. She kisses him on the face. the feet. Again, what a sign of humility here in the fact that she would welcome Christ in his presence. And then verse 46, he talks about being anointed. The use of oil generally would be olive oil that would be used, the common oil, to anoint the body, particularly the hair, was anointed. and it was very common at that time. This was done to honored guest at feast. David, in speaking of the goodness of God to him, in Psalm 23, speaks of this custom. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies, to get the feast, and thou anointedest my head with oil at the same time. Like, I’m a special guest. Simon failed to do this. to not anoint Christ’s head here, but this woman again filled this need abundantly. She anointed, though, his feet. Again, maybe not feeling worthy to do the head. Guess what? She didn’t use the cheap common olive oil. She used the expense of ointment that she had, very priceless ointment. and she used that to anoint Christ with. The bottom line is that Simon’s reception of Christ was rather cold, discourteous, patronizing, but not very low. The Lord shows that in all three respects, he had received the opposite treatment from this woman. And Jesus declares that though this woman’s sins were many, she is fully forgiven therefore she loves much. Now, we have to be careful here to suppose that her loving conduct was the reason why she was forgiven would be to draw the wrong conclusion. You get the cart before the horse here. Don’t forget the whole gospel of our scheme of acceptance with God is through Jesus Christ and his sacrifice. The point is this, she loved much because she has been forgiven, in which I think verse 47 indicates to us. It’s her faith in Christ that saves her, not her actions toward Christ per se. The actions are a result of the salvation that she has been granted. It was evidence of being pardoned. Simon didn’t show Christ the love that he deserved because, he was not a forgiven sin. That’s the problem. This woman showed Christ’s great love and appreciation for the great forgiveness she has received. So you find a great contrast here between Simon and this woman in their treatment of Christ. With that in mind, consider this this morning. Consider how much you have for you have for me, been forgiven and how much do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? Isn’t that really the point of what he’s teaching us here in this scripture? Why does Simon show his guest Jesus Christ a little love because he felt little obligation to do so? Those who are self-righteous who think that they’re going to find acceptance with God in their own efforts, why would they be loving toward Christ? In other words, he didn’t feel a sense of the great debt he owed Christ because he didn’t see the need for forgiveness. And those who don’t see the need for forgiveness do not see an obligation to love Christ. Now, here you are as a Christian today. You are claiming you have redemption through Christ. blood and the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. Ephesians 1.7. That’s what you’re claiming. If that is so, are you more like the woman? or are you more like Simon the Pharisee? How would you evaluate your love for Christ? how much you meditate upon your obligation to Jesus Christ? I read the psalmist in Psalm 116 verse 12, saying, what shall I render under the Lord for all his benefits toward me? Are we thinking in that direction? Paul explains his motivation for the great sacrifices he made, the great dangers he endured as a missionary to the Gentiles. He says, for whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God, or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. For the love of Christ constrained us. Paul was accused of being a religious fanatic. You are mad, you are crazy. Doesn’t matter. He says whether I’m crazy or sober, doesn’t matter. He explains here the driving force of Christ, his love for Christ here, for his work. It was the love of Christ for him that irresistibly impelled him to serve the Savior. was motivated by this. The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me, who gave himself for me. That constrains me. That motivates me to serve the Lord. Fannie Foster was a brilliant writer. She was greatly admired by many. She was looked upon as like a queen of society in her day. And then she was, married Adonarim Judson, the missionary. She became a pioneer missionary with him to Burma. The hardships of this missionary work would be so enormous that it took real dedication to do this work. The way he was received, the treatment he received, he received. Fannie had to learn a strange language. to live in a very dreary and hostile climate. The people around her were not very receptive to what they were trying to do as far as the missionary work was concerned. They were uncivil toward Judson’s wife. In fashionable circles back home, people were saying, she’s out of her mind. What is she doing over there? But she wasn’t out of her mind. It was simple. that she loved the Savior who had saved her from her sins, and therefore she was willing to sacrifice. She was willing to work with Adoniram and try to bring the gospel to this area of the world that was so dark. So her service in Burma was due to her gratitude toward Christ and her desire to honor the Savior. How do you respond to the love and the sacrifice that Christ has given you? That’s a good question for us to consider. Does your gratefulness motivate you to serve Christ any way that you can? Even in the most humble fashion, even at great sacrifice. My wife and I were once witnessing to a Lutheran couple we had met, and we had gotten together with them, and they’d come over to dinner, and we were trying to witness to them and give them the gospel. And they were very troubled. When I use such a simple phrase as, well, we’re all servants, we should all be servants of Christ because of the sacrifice that was made and so forth, they were troubled by this idea of being a servant for Christ. That bothered them. It was beneath their dignity to look upon themselves as servants or as slaves. But if we say we are… that Christ is our Lord, aren’t we saying that we are servants of the Lord? We’re going to serve it? Look at all the writings of Paul. You know, he’s a servant of Jesus Christ, you’re a bond slave, if you would. You can’t help but read any of the epistles, and that seems to come out as a very important concept. He talks about us as the people of God of being servants of Christ. But they had trouble with that. Friends, we shouldn’t have any trouble with that. That should be a basic. common thing. Why did a bond servant get his ear pierced? Because he loved his master. And he was willing to serve him for the rest of his life. That’s what we’re talking about. Loving our master. Jesus Christ. So gratefulness for forgiveness causes you to do much for Christ out of love. The second thing we see here is that Christ is that Christ can provide you with the full assurance of forgiveness and salvation. Let’s look at verses 48 through 50. And he said under her, thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at meet with him began to say within themselves, who is this that forgiveth sins also? And he said under the woman, thy faith has saved thee. Go in peace. You find here the preciousness of having all your sins forgiven. My friends, what a wonderful blessing it had to be. They hear of these words from Christ’s lips to you personally, your sins are forgiven. That is a pretty wonderful thing to have stated. And publicly, before all those at the feast. To know this is how Christ views you. To to see yourself as one whose sins have been washed away. That is a tremendous blessing to know that. You were told how this came about your faith. Your faith in me has brought about this forgiveness of sin. through my sacrifice this has made possible. Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ is the way of salvation, the way of forgiveness of sins, and you’ll notice here he says here, go in peace is the way of peace with God. Remember what the psalmist said in Psalm 32, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquid. Now, it’s a way. wonderful thing to have our sins covered, have our transgressions forgiven. But what even more wonderful thing is to realize it’s not even going to be imputed to you. It’s Christ saying, the slate is clean here. The psalmist sees that. Your sins are forgiven. Your slate, you know, these sins are not imputed to you. I paid for them. What a precious assurance this woman joy of the salvation of her soul. What would you give to hear those words spoken from Christ’s lips to you? Well, all I can tell you this morning is do what the woman did. Repend of your sins and believe in Jesus Christ and his work on the cross. Trust in him as the Savior of sinners. Now, today, you and I are not going to hear the audible voice of Jesus Christ, but we hear the voice of the words of Christ and the words of God in the scripture telling us that if we believe in Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven us. Now sadly, many at the feast were offended by what Christ said. They were taken back. Who is this person that forgives? They don’t know who he is. Just as the Pharisee didn’t know, oh, he must not be a prophet because he doesn’t even know that this woman is a notorious sinner. He’s more than a prophet. He knows exactly who this woman is. you don’t realize he’s the Savior. How much greater than any prophet you would think of. They didn’t understand that Jesus Christ came into the world of the save sinners. He was going to die the saved sinners. Can you imagine a peace that this woman had when she left the Pharisees house? What a wonderful experience that must have been. Being justified by faith, she had peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5-1 tells us we have the same thing. Now the Roman Catholic religion, you’ll know, does not allow for the assurance of salvation. You’re always working toward your justification. You’re always working to be accepted in God’s sight. You never can have the assurance of self-aging. That would be a presumptuous thing. They take this precious possession from you that Christ would have you know. He wanted this woman to know our sins were forgiven her. He wants us to know that we have forgiveness of sins. He wants us to have the assurance of that promise. That’s the motivation for serving him. We take that away. We’re still not sure where we stand. And how’s that going to affect our service? Why, it would always keep you fearful. It would always keep you never in a position of comfort. You can never have peace. in that situation. My friends, Christ would have his people have peace about these matters. That we are assured that our sins are forgiven and that we are accepted in the beloved the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s a precious thing to have. Years ago, there was a Scottish village in which a Christian doctor lived. He was known for his godliness in his skittal. in the medical field. And after his death, his ledger was examined and was discovered across many of the names of the patients that came to see him. He had written in red ink, forgiven, two poor to pay. Just forgave the day. His widow was of a different disposition. And she thought, I’m going to collect on all these unpaid. bills. So she takes the people to court, and she wants to get the money out of them. She was demanding that these past forgiven debts be paid in full. The judge asked her, is this, your husband’s handwriting and red ink? She admitted, yes. Yes, it is. And the judge said then, there is not a court in the land that can collect money of these accounts over which your husband has written forgiven. In the similar way, when Jesus Christ died on the cross, in blood, he wrote over our sins, forgiven, and there’s not anyone that can hold that against us. Who can condemn us? It’s Christ that died. All scripture declares and their sins and their iniquities, I will remember. no more like in Hebrews 1017. That’s what the promise of Scripture is. You find the preciousness of having your sins forgiven here. You find, secondly here, under this second heading, every sinner may find forgiveness with God. Now, she was the 500-pent sinner. Okay? Others may be 50-pent sinners, as he mentions in the parable. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. They all need forgiveness. One sin will cast you into hell. Whatever your case, you’re in a dreadfully dangerous position if you don’t find forgiveness of sin. Let no man deceive you with vain words but because of these things, these various common sins, cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. When we break God’s law, that’s why the wrath of God falls upon us. It is good, then, for someone to be under spiritual conviction. It is good for someone to be touched with the sense of the depravity and the danger that confronts them. You can be certain, though, that as this woman found forgiveness and the blessing of peace, you can too in the same way, but you must seek it in the same manner that she did through faith and Christ. I want you to look at First Corinthians. and chapter 6 verses 9 to 11 1st Corinthians chapter 6 and verses 9 through 11 know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolers nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revowers nor revowers nor extortioners or inheriters shall inherit the kingdom of God. But, and such were some of you, but ye are washed, but you are sanctified, you’re set apart, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit. What is he saying? These are the sins that will keep you out of the kingdom. You once were in this category. You’ve been forgiven. You’ve been justified, declared righteous. Set apart by the spirit’s calling. Saved by God’s grace. There’s hope for every sin. There’s a lot of bad things in this list. We have to appeal to the mercy of the Lord because he can forgive all these sins. Scripture says, I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their in their iniquities will I remember no more. I’ll be merciful. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near the scripture says in Isaiah 55, 6. Don’t set aside your convictions for another time. You are convicted. Now is the time to seek the Lord. There is forgiveness with the Lord that he may be feared. There was a group of people that were meeting by a river and one of the group fell into the water, fell off the edge and into the water. And it was obvious that this poor man couldn’t swim. He’s thrashing about in the water. One of the men in the group was a very accomplished swimmer and so they suggested to him, want to, you know, do something, jump in there and get him. Save the man before he drowns. But the strong swimmer didn’t jump in right away. He waits. Here’s this man thrashing around in the water for a while. He waited until the thrashing was more subdued. And then he dove in and he saved the man that was drowning and pulled him to the shore. When they were was over, the rescuer explained to the other people, why he waited. And here’s what he said. If I had jumped in immediately, he would have been strong enough to drown us both. But I waited until he was too exhausted to try to save himself than I could save. If you’re like the Pharisee, you can be thrashing about and you’re trying to get enough self-righteousness to be accepted before God. You can’t be saved in that condition. It’s a person. when you cast yourself upon Christ, I can’t save myself. I’m done. I’m finished. That is when the Savior can save you. That is when we can have assurance that he will accept us. Give up trying to save yourself, you see. Rely upon Christ and Christ alone to save you. Well, the well-known missionary Hudson Taylor believed the best motive for Christian service is that the love of Christ’s constrange you. Christ love as a motivating factor behind your service to Christ is important. How grateful are you and I to Christ? Consider how much you’ve been forgiven. Consider how much you do for Christ. Let us close with the word of prayer.