She Loved Much

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. Thank you for the welcome. We have personal friends here, Dean and Marilyn Baer, that date back to 1972. In our experience, I had the privilege of pastoring them back in those days. I think they probably think we're a bit nuts becoming Mennonites, but we'll each forgive each other. [00:01:00] Anabaptist, Anabaptist, Anabaptist, Anabaptist Again, I would like to direct your attention to Luke chapter 7. Luke chapter 7. Beginning at verse 36. [00:01:47] And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with them. 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 sat at 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 [00:02:20] 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 and said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat say unto thee, and he saith, Master, say on. [00:02:55] There was a certain creditor which had two debtors, the one owed five hundred pence, the other fifty. 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? [00:03:29] 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 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. [00:04:00] 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 sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? And he said unto the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee. Go in peace. Before we look further into the Word, let's come to prayer. [00:04:37] That's Brother Dale Heatwall to lead us. Let's stand together as we pray. This morning, Father, we rejoice in your goodness to us. We thank you for this privilege of meeting together as your people. We worship you and we desire that our worship might be acceptable in your sight. We thank you for your word that you have chosen to make known your will to us through your word. We pray that you might be with Brother Paul as he would expound your word to us. We might grant him the utterance that you might make it easy to understand. [00:05:13] That we would be able to profit from the reading of your word this morning. We pray for those of your children who are met in other places around the world. Those who may have to do so in secret. We ask that you would be with them. You might bless their meeting together. We desire that your name would be honored and praised from all parts of the world. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. 1 John says, We love him because he first loved us. [00:05:54] We don't love him because we are good, or even because he is. The love that we have for God and for Christ in particular is a response to His love, His mercy, His grace for us. [00:06:28] The passage before us talks about loving more. or less. And may I say for all of us who have been raised in Christian homes and particularly those of us raised in Christian homes For those who have not been involved in a grossly sinful lifestyle, we probably do not know by personal experience what it is to love Christ more. [00:07:28] in the context of this passage. And because of the fact that we can consider ourselves basically good as compared with those who have lived in a grossly sinful lifestyle, Because we can consider ourselves basically good comparatively, [00:08:00] we have some fairly serious problems in dealing with the grace of God and the love of God. Now, if I stop there, However, it would seem that to know the love of God in depth, one needs to sin more. And that is not what the Scripture teaches. Romans 6.1 is very clear. [00:08:35] Shall we sin more that grace may abound? Paul says, God forbid. That is not the answer. The answer is an examination of what sin is. And it would seem to me that one of the greatest needs in, quote, Christian circles, [00:09:08] Mennonite circles, is to examine this question that is opened here in the account of this woman who anointed the Lord's feet. Because it would seem on the surface that the Lord clearly says, Simon the Pharisee, you don't know what love is [00:09:40] because you have not been in the depths of sin. This woman, yes, she knows what love is because she has been in the depths of sin. That's the surface, the initial look. But I believe it goes way beyond that. And if we stop there, then we would be in violation of the sentiments of Romans 6. 1. I believe that we as Christians must come to understand, even if our lives have been very, basically within godly circles and we didn't have a huge amount of rebellion as young people and so on, that we need to come to understand the depths of our sin in order to exhibit the depth of love that God calls for us to exhibit. [00:10:37] This is confused by theologians, and we have said before that in the days of our personal Presbyterian experience, What was commonly said when a baby was baptized? [00:11:11] Commonly said by the minister. A charge to the parents. Rear this child so that he never knows a day when he didn't know the Lord. There's a fair amount of heresy in that statement, if you examine it carefully. But some of that has crept into our own mindset as Anabaptists as well. [00:11:44] That there are the good children who reared in a Christian home, processed through the steps of faith and baptism and membership, and never know a day of deep rebellion. And those are the good children. Then there are others from the other side of the track, so to speak, who really need to be saved. Now, we probably wouldn't be quite as bold as to say that that way, but that is what we mean. [00:12:23] And it's very important that we understand the intense error in that set of thoughts. that we come to understand that the person who is reared in a Christian home and that's commendable. We should never make an apology for that. But the person who is reared in a Christian home follows along in obedience to the issues of Scripture and so on. [00:12:55] is just as much a sinner, I say that again, is just as much a sinner in the eyes of a holy and righteous God as the pervert. Until we grasp that fact, we do not fully understand what the gospel is all about. [00:13:26] And Simon, here in our account, did not, as far as we know at this time, though he answered the questions correctly, did not at this time come to understand what the gospel was all about, and the woman, on the other hand, did. And that's what we would like to notice here. Simon was a Pharisee, as you'll notice in verse 36. He's named later in the passage. One of the Pharisees asked the Lord to come and eat. And he went to the Pharisee's house and sat down to meet. [00:14:00] And a woman came in. The Pharisee was a religious person. He was, in the line of what we've been saying, a good person. With a good heritage. with good child training, likely, and with a religious position in the community. The Pharisee did not view people as God does. [00:14:39] If he did, there would not have even been this exchange. The Pharisee viewed people unequally. There were the good people and there were the bad people. And he was one of the good people and this woman that came in was one of the bad people. That's how he would have seen it. Have you ever thought that way? [00:15:14] The us and them mentality. There's us who have a good heritage, good upbringing, and then there are them. They're different. That's how the Pharisee looked at it. And there was the total denial of what the Scripture says when it says that if you are guilty in one point of the law, you are guilty in all. [00:16:07] Paracy didn't catch that principle. Didn't know it yet, or however you want to particularly frame that. And saw himself as comparative. And in the comparative picture, he was certainly better than this woman. She was a woman apparently of ill repute. A street woman, likely a harlot. He was certainly better than she. [00:16:40] In fact, she didn't have any business being here, in his view. This was a Pharisee's house. We don't accommodate ourselves to that filth. I hope we're not overemphasizing the point, but I want us to see the issue that is at the core of this passage. Simon did not see himself as needing salvation, and he saw the woman as nearly unsavable. [00:17:18] But God's view is that Simon, as much as the woman or any other sinner, needs to be saved. Needs to understand their sinfulness. We should understand that they are in rebellion against God, no matter how good they may be. And thus the prophet writes that all our righteousnesses are as filthy, stinking rags before God. So even in our goodness, in our good upbringing and all the rest of it, [00:17:52] We are hopelessly lost apart from the grace of God. Now the woman, it says, stood at his feet, verse 38, behind him. Since we are used to sitting in chairs at tables for a meal, this let me remind you of the situation there. It would have been at least customary that the table would have been in a sort of a horseshoe arrangement [00:18:24] with couches, what we would call a couch, up to the table on the outside of the horseshoe. And you reclined in those days to eat. Normally on your right elbow, feeding yourself with your left hand. And so your head was at the table, and your feet were away from it. And thus it can say she came up behind him and started washing his feet. [00:19:01] So she wasn't under the table and so forth, as we might think of it if we were to try to envision what was taking place here. Notice there, she stood at his feet behind him weeping, began to wash his feet with tears, and had wiped them with the hairs of her head, kissed his feet, anointed them with the ointment that she had brought with her. That's what the woman did. She was weeping, apparently broken. [00:19:36] We're not told a lot in this particular text. Beyond that, we know what the Lord's response was to her. And therefore, on the basis of His response to her, we can understand that she was responding to Him in faith. Because He says, Thy faith has saved thee. In the brokenness of repentance, I believe you'd have to understand that as a part of this proceeding. [00:20:14] In the brokenness of repentance and turning to the only one who can really heal her soul, she persists in that outward display from her heart. of looking to him alone for help. Now Simon, the Pharisee, has some problems with this. [00:20:51] We've already suggested them. This woman shouldn't even be here. We don't have that kind of woman in this house. If the Lord were truly a prophet, he would know that this is a woman of ill repute. Isn't it interesting also that Simon seems to ignore the sorrow of the woman. The possibility that this woman can change and be changed. [00:21:26] Just we don't have that kind here. And if Jesus were truly a prophet, he would know who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him, for she is a sinner. Verse 39 Now, let's look at our own lives and our own thought process. I think I know us well enough. To know that most of what we have said this morning you understand and agree with. [00:22:05] But have we truly, not just in our heads come to understand these things, but have we truly from our hearts applied them to our lives? Or do we still engage in a certain dichotomy? That one is a debtor. That one is a prostitute. That one is a homosexual. [00:22:37] They are those people. We sometimes think are better than that. As you examine the scriptures, who was it that left this meeting saved? And who was it that apparently left this meeting lost? The prostitute, or shall we say former prostitute, left this meeting saved. [00:23:19] The Pharisee, the good man, apparently left this meeting lost. Now, isn't that interesting? Let me hasten to say once again, that doesn't mean you ought to go out and prostitute yourself in order to get saved. Okay? That's what Romans 6, 1 is about. You don't do that. But it does mean, no matter how good a person you may be, you are just as lost as a prostitute until you come and recognizing your sinfulness, your utter sinfulness, and trusting only in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. [00:24:12] Not trusting in your heritage as good as that may be, not trusting in your denomination as proper as that may be, not trusting in your family as good as that may be, but trusting only in Jesus, only in Jesus and his shed blood for you. plus nothing else. [00:24:46] Until you come to that point, no matter how good a person you've always been and no matter how good a person you may be, you are lost. You are going to be in the position of Simon the Pharisee. Let's notice the Savior's response to all this as He responds to Simon. Simon's thoughts now. I hope we recognize the fact and the experience that God knows our thoughts. [00:25:22] You know, you can hide your thoughts from me, I can hide my thoughts from you. You can hide your thoughts from each other, but you never hide your thoughts from God. Jesus responding to Simon's thoughts said, I have something to say. And then he gives this story about, this illustration about a creditor and two debtors. This is different from the other account that the Lord gives in another place. [00:26:01] The money is not as much. It is more of a normal debt. Revealing of the equivalent of less than $100 on the one hand and several hundred dollars on the other. As opposed to some lifetime savings as you would find in the other illustration that the Lord gives. So, these two creditors owe the money. They can't pay. [00:26:36] Verse 42, they had nothing to pay. He frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon gives the logical answer. He said, I suppose the one whom he forgave most. And then the Lord makes the application. This woman has been demonstrating her love for me far more than you, Simon, with all your means. [00:27:16] Why? Because she has come from the gutter and has a real sense of her own sinfulness and looks for forgiveness of that huge debt. What's the implication? The implication is that Simon doesn't know the love of God of which Brother Keith read this morning because he has not come to see his utter sinfulness [00:27:51] even though he is utterly sinful. We need to avail ourselves of the forgiveness of God as the woman did. The story is told of an Irish nobleman many years ago who got saved [00:28:21] and who went about preaching the gospel. He was called the crazy nobleman, I believe, by the locals. And the day came when he sought to illustrate something about forgiveness. And in his hometown where many of the farmers owed him money, he announced that between the hours of 10 and 12 o'clock, he published this in print, and it was announced, between the hours of 10 and 12 o'clock on a given Saturday morning. [00:29:16] He would forgive all debts of those who came and asked. And ten o'clock came, he and his secretary arrived at the office, and the local farmers were gathered in the street who owed him money. Wondering whether this could possibly be true and hesitating to go into the office. [00:29:52] And about 10.30, an elderly couple shuffled down the street and went into the office. Asked him if this were true. He said yes. And he wrote off their debts. People stayed in the street, and he did not allow the old couple to go out into the street to give the news. Kept them in the office. [00:30:26] No one else came into the office. At 12 o'clock, the older couple shuffled out, and the people in the street said, Did he forgive your debts? They said, Yes. Now we can retire in peace. And of course then, the people in the street wanted their deaths forgiven, but it was past 12 o'clock. [00:31:00] And the noblemen took the opportunity then to preach the gospel using that as an illustration. Forgiveness is there with God. For the worst of sinners, it has but to be received. We have to do business with God, trusting Him alone, not in our goodness. [00:31:34] It is there for the worst of sinners, and in the eyes of the world, the best of sinners. It is there for all sinners. As you look at this passage, we need to understand the grace of God, which reaches down to us, whatever our station, however sinful we may have been, [00:32:12] For we are all sinners, Romans says. Are we all as sinful as we could be? No. Are we totally sinful? Yes. We are all totally sinful. That is sinful in all our parts. Not as bad as we could be. But before a holy and righteous God Where one breach violates the whole, we are sinful, and we're miserable, lost, hopeless sinners, apart from the grace of God. [00:32:52] And God reaches down to us in grace. He does not overlook sin, for our sins are borne by another. So he doesn't overlook sin. But he looks down to us in grace and gives us the exact opposite of what we deserve. And that's actually a definition of grace. [00:33:24] To receive the opposite of what we deserve. We deserve death. By grace we are offered life. There's something else in this passage that I would like you to notice as we bring these things together. As you look at the end of the passage, he talks about faith. [00:33:58] Thy faith has saved thee, verse 50. Go in peace. We are saved not by faith plus works. We are kept not by faith plus works. In spite of clever illustrations, a boat with two oars and all of that type of stuff that's out there, [00:34:32] it is not true that it's faith plus works. It isn't. It can't be. Because if works is involved, then it's not a faith, as the Scripture so clearly says. On the other hand, let us remember that faith is exhibited. It is not possible for faith to be silent. It is not possible for faith not to produce fruit. [00:35:07] A silent, workless faith is impossible. So faith will produce responses. And that's what you see in the account. Here is the woman weeping, washing the Lord's feet. Responding to him [00:35:40] So it is impossible for one to say I have faith and go on living like the devil That's not possible But on the other hand faith or salvation is not faith plus works Because true faith produces fruit And results And so as you look to this passage, he does not say your faith and anointing my feet hath saved thee. [00:36:23] He says your faith hath saved thee. Let's underline that in our thinking. We live in a day when that is very blurry in the Christian world. It is faith plus nothing. But faith is qualified in the Word of God as an item that grows and bears fruit and responds. [00:37:04] And so the person, and as I reflect again on our Presbyterian experience many years ago, the person who says, I believe the creed, I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, I believe that he died for my sins according to the scriptures and all that. In other words, the person that intellectually says, I believe all these facts and then goes on living as anything but a Christian. [00:37:40] That is not saving faith. That's intellectual faith, intellectual assent. It may be a first step for some. But it is not saving faith. Saving faith is a life-changing faith that will bring you to the feet of the Savior, ready to wash His feet and anoint Him as your King. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank You for the Scriptures and this account in the earthly ministry of Jesus. [00:38:19] We pray that you will guide us in further understanding it and applying it to our own hearts and lives. We ask these things in his name. Amen.