Okay, enough prelude. Let's read. Let's turn to the reason we're here, to turn to God's Word this morning. So Luke chapter 6, verses 36 through 50. I don't know if you guys are accustomed to this, but at his place, if you're willing and you're able, would you stand as we read God's Word this morning? And this will help me feel a little more at home if you guys are not accustomed to this. Luke chapter 7, starting verse 36. It reads, One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he, Jesus, went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. And behold, a woman of the city who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, if this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner. And Jesus answering him, answering said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. And he answered, say it teacher. A certain money lender had two debtors, one owed 500 denarii and the other 50. When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now, which one of them will love him more? And Simon answered, the one, I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt. And he said to him, you have judged rightly. Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, do you see this woman? I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much, But he who is forgiven little loves little. And he said to her, your sins are forgiven. Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, who is this who even forgives sins? And he said to the woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Let's pray. Lord God, we are so thankful for your word. Lord, we are so thankful that we can trust and believe your word. Lord, we thank you for, we thank you for your word most because it shows us Christ, our savior. Lord, this morning, as we go to your word, we long to hear from you. Lord, we long this morning to see Jesus. Lord, I ask that you would give each of us eyes to see Jesus this morning, Lord. Lord, that you would give us eyes to see ourselves and to respond appropriately, Lord, with worship and love for Jesus Christ. Father, I am but a man imperfect. But Lord, your word is perfect. You are perfect, lacking nothing. Lord, would you feed us from your word this morning? Lord, that you would be glorified now and forevermore. Lord God, we love you. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, as we begin here, I wanna just give a little story. First of all, before I go any farther, this is my lovely wife, Jessica. She's awesome. We're thankful to be here. Okay, story time. So in the winter of like 19... 1995-1994, somewhere in there, one of my roommates introduced me to snow sports, specifically snowboarding. And I hope nobody holds that against me, snowboarding. But snowboarding kind of changed my life. Not like Jesus, but nothing was the same after I was introduced to snowboarding. And over the few short years, my friends and I became really accomplished snowboarders. We could go anywhere, any way we wanted. We were invincible. And kind of back then, helmets were not a great big deal. They were kind of coming onto the scene, but they were expensive and we thought kind of nerdy, so we didn't wear helmets. We didn't see them as necessary. The danger wasn't real to us. But there came a day that opened our eyes And one of our friends, who also a very accomplished snowboarder, took what was just an insignificant little jump, a little hop basically, onto icy surface. His board slipped out from underneath him, he fell back, whacked his head, and he jumped right back up. Went back to snowboarding, we thought, everything's cool, everything's fine. But very shortly, he and a couple of our friends began to realize that something was very wrong. Something was very wrong. He had a very serious concussion. And so after that, for about two weeks, our friend was like, it was almost like he was drunk. His speech was off, his thinking was off, his balance and coordination was off. He was confused easily, which actually we took advantage of. I mean, what do friends do, right? But it was very serious and there were long-lasting consequences, longer-lasting effects from that injury. But that incident was a wake-up call for us. That incident was a wake-up call. We were made clearly aware of the very real danger that existed for us in snow sports. We all went out after that and we bought helmets. All of us, right? And all of our friends that went with us, when they didn't wear helmets, we kind of knuckled them and made fun of them a little bit. You know, it's like, hey, you should wear a helmet, right? Like something was different and it affected how we interacted with people. We all went out and bought helmets. Something had changed. We'd become aware of the real danger to ourselves and to our heads. And the evidence was the helmets that we wore from then on, right? And our interaction with people with it. Well, much more serious than helmets, much more, when we come to God's word, we see in God's word the response, the examples of people who have met Jesus and have left forever changed. And the evidence is their lives, right? The evidence of their lives says that they have met Jesus. We see Levi, the tax collector, or Matthew, who leaves his booth to follow Jesus. He throws this big feast for Jesus where many sinners and tax collectors come as well, but he throws this feast for Jesus. We see Zacchaeus as he meets Jesus and meets with Jesus. Zacchaeus' response to having met Jesus is to give away everything he owns, to the poor, and he pays back fourfold whatever he has stolen or deceptively taken from people, dishonestly taken. We see a man who is freed from a legion of demons. When Jesus frees him from this legion of demons, he's desperate to follow Jesus, to go with Jesus, and Jesus sends him as a missionary to the Gentiles. We see the woman at the well as she meets Jesus and she runs to the village and she says, come see a man who knows everything I ever did. She's so enthusiastic for people to meet Jesus. She's a changed woman. We see Saul of Tarshish as he meets Jesus on the road to Damascus. Changed, transformed from a persecutor of Christians. to a faithful, apostle missionary of Christ, whose writings have contributed to the salvation of millions across the ages. All throughout scripture, we see the evidence of lives that have been transformed, redeemed, rescued by the gospel of Christ's salvation. And today, as we look at this account of this sinful woman of the city, We see that she's the focus, she's the primary focus of this passage, of this encounter. She's not the only one in this encounter. There's Simon and Jesus. We know that this event takes place in the home of Simon the Pharisee, who has invited Jesus to eat with him. We know this because that's what it says in verse 36. Very simple. But we don't know exactly where this event takes place. It appears that this is happening in the region of Galilee, just to kind of set the stage in the region of Galilee. Since the events before this and after this are coming into or out of the region of Galilee. This event also is somewhat similar, if you're familiar, with another instance of Jesus being anointed. And I hold, fairly certainly, that these are two separate anointings of Jesus. One, the second, the other occurs far down in Bethany, far to the south of where it seems that they are right now. This also, that second event also occurs in the week before Jesus' crucifixion. So just as a, just kind of setting the stage, right? This, that second event also, it takes event in the home of Simon the leper, not Simon the Pharisee. A Pharisee would not have been a leper, or a leper could not have been a Pharisee. They would have viewed him as unclean and sinful. This also occurs with Mary and Martha and with Lazarus after Lazarus has been raised from the dead. And so I hold and I think pretty certainly that there's two separate events here. But here we are in the home of Simon the Pharisee. And if you'll remember, the Pharisees are a very influential a religious sect within Judaism known for their staunch adherence to the Torah and all of the 600-plus laws of the oral tradition. The Pharisees had accepted the Old Testament, the Torah, and the prophets as inspired by God, but they also additionally counted their oral tradition as inspired by God as well, which is wrong, right? They should not do that. And we see this kind of thing in some denominations today. But this practice, the point is, is the Pharisees, right? Very righteous, very religious. And so this is in the home of one Pharisee, Simon the Pharisee. And as Jesus pointed out in what we read just a moment ago, that even though Simon has invited Jesus to eat with him, it doesn't appear that Simon has any real genuine interest or regard to honor Jesus or to love Jesus in any way. He doesn't even treat Jesus with the typical and common courtesies of hospitality, a kiss of greeting, water for dirty sandaled feet, a fragrant oil for his head. So it kind of begs the question, why has Simon invited Jesus? Well, it could be Jesus is pretty popular right now. He's the talk of the town, so perhaps Simon just wants in, right? Maybe he wants to be able to say, hey, Jesus ate at my house. But I think maybe more likely, because this is on the heels of Jesus healing a man with a withered hand on a Sabbath day, You can read of that in Luke 6 and Mark 3. The Pharisees and the scribes at that point were filled with fury against Jesus. And they began to plot with the Herodians how they might destroy Jesus. So I think it's probably more likely that Simon has actually invited Jesus into his home so that he might observe Jesus and try to put his finger on something that they might be able to use against Jesus to discredit Jesus. But whatever the actual motive, again, Simon seems uninterested in honoring and loving Jesus. And then enter the woman of the city, a well-known sinner, probably a prostitute. She's an immoral woman. Some have supposed this to be Mary Magdalene, but it doesn't say in this instance, so we don't really know. But this woman has at some point learned that Jesus is at the Pharisee's house. She intentionally brings this alabaster flask of ointment. And it's my understanding that women often would have had something like this, a fragrant oil, sometimes worn around their neck. But that this is in an alabaster flask implies that it's expensive. This is the good stuff, right? And it's apparent from the rest of this narrative that this woman has met Jesus before in some way, right? Jesus has been moving around the area. He's been preaching to very large crowds. Large, large crowds have gathered around him as he's proclaiming the gospel. The time is fulfilled, Jesus says in Mark, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the good news. Believe in the gospel. So far in Luke, just in this book, this account of the gospel, Jesus has been to many towns, many synagogues. He's healed many, many people, casting out demons from many, many people, cleansing lepers, healing the lame and the blind and the deaf and the paralytic. He forgives the sins of the paralytic. demonstrating by the healing of that paralytic that he has the authority and the power to forgive sins. Thousands of people he's interacted with. And it's likely that this woman has been in one of those crowds. Perhaps there's been a personal interaction with Jesus in this time, but whatever the interaction, she has heard Jesus. She has believed Jesus as the promised Messiah. She has experienced the forgiveness of her sins by faith in Jesus. And now here she is and her actions are this lavish display of love for Jesus. Jesus is precious to her. And no action for her will be too humble, too low, too despised. and no gift will be too extravagant in her demonstration of her love for Jesus, of how precious Jesus is to her. And perhaps in noticing that Jesus has not even given him common courtesy, common hospitality, to honor Jesus as the Savior, as the Messiah, perhaps she's overwhelmed with grief and sadness that her Savior would be treated so lowly, so casually, with such disregard. Jesus is precious to her. And likely these tears that she sheds are tears of contrition for a life of sin. mixed with tears of exultant joy. Jesus is precious to her. She has seen the glory of God in the face of Christ. Her sin has been made all the more apparent and grievous to her as she has believed and received forgiveness from Jesus. Jesus is precious to her. And it is worth noting here, just as we think about the Christian life, that we're a people sort of caught in the, between two realities, I guess, right? We're broken and contrite sinners. In salvation, we're broken over our sin. We're increasingly aware as we gaze upon Christ, as we learn Christ. We're increasingly aware of just how completely sin has corrupted us. But we're also increasingly joyful. As we see just how much Jesus has done for us, right, is our realization of how righteous and good and holy Jesus is and just how totally depraved we are in our sin, we can't help but for Jesus to become all the more wonderful to us and our rejoicing to grow all the more as we see just how much Jesus has done. As we rest in the truth that Jesus has indeed paid for every sin. all of it nailed to the cross. Jesus has cleansed us by his blood, as we've sung this morning, as we demonstrated in communion. And so this woman who, for whom Jesus is precious, she's determined to see to honoring and loving her savior, with the lowliest of tasks for servants, to wash his feet, and with no water, her streaming tears are enough, perhaps more than enough. And with no towel, her hair will suffice." Now, also note that for a Jewish woman to let her hair down in public, she might as well have just undressed in public. It was a shameful thing. Scandalous. Even considered immoral. And if this humble act of love isn't enough, she anoints Jesus with expensive perfume. It's as if with her actions. I love some children's church songs, right? Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Because he first loved me, right? It's like she's proclaiming with her actions this love that she's come into. It's as if with her actions she's proclaiming, demonstrating the words of Isaiah 52 7, how beautiful upon the mountain are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, your God reigns. Jesus is so precious to her. But Simon, on the other hand, Simon in seeing the humility of this woman, she does not see, he does not see her love for Jesus. He says, if this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him. for she is a sinner, but again, Simon sees what everybody else sees, but he doesn't see her love for Jesus. All he sees is a woman who is a well-known sinner, scandalously letting down her hair and touching Jesus. You see, according to their law, this woman was unclean because of her sinfulness, and coming into physical contact with her would have made anyone else unclean. And so because Jesus is accepting of this sinful woman to touch him, Simon concludes wrongly that there's nothing special about Jesus, that he's not even a prophet. But then Jesus speaks. Jesus speaks and demonstrates to Simon in those presence that he is so much more than a prophet. He is the divine Son of God who knows what is in the heart of man. who has the authority to forgive sins. Kind of in this, it's as if Jesus is saying, not only do I know who she is, Simon, but I know who you are as well. I see what is in your heart, Simon. Jesus knows what is in the heart of man. And Luke chapter 5, 22 tells us that Jesus perceived the thoughts of the scribes and the Pharisees when he healed the paralytic. John 2 25 tells us that Jesus needed no one to bear witness about man for he himself knew what was in man. And here Jesus answers Simon unspoken and self-righteous in credulity. Let's read from verse 40. And Jesus answering him said to him, Simon I have something to say to you. And he answered, say it teacher. A certain money lender had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii and the other 50. But when they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now, which of them will love him more? Jesus, in asking this question to Simon, puts Simon on the spot to, in a sense, condemn himself. Simon answers, the one, I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt. And Jesus said to him, you have answered rightly. Then Jesus puts on display, brings to the front for Simon and those around, the contrast between Simon and the woman, which we've already read. I'm gonna read it again, the words of Jesus. Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, do you see this woman? I entered your house and you gave no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much, but he who is forgiven little loves little. Now, before we go further, I kinda wanna spend a moment to address a common misconception about verse 47. It's often read It's often read that because this woman loved Jesus much, her sins were then forgiven. But we know, as we read through the rest of the New Testament, through the rest of Scripture, that this cannot be the order of things. Throughout Scripture, we know that faith, justification, salvation is by faith alone, not by our works. I'm gonna read from Romans chapter three, starting in say verse 20 Romans chapter 3 starting verse 20 Paul writes for by works of the law no human being will be justified or declared right in God's sight since through the law comes knowledge of skin, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, it is this, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And Paul goes on and two more times he says, that justification is by faith, not by works. And so we know from the whole of Scripture that that can't be what Jesus is saying, that because she loved much, then I will forgive her sins. But we don't even have to go outside of this passage to know that that's not what Jesus is saying. First, we have the parables. Jesus gives this parable of the moneylender and two debtors. The debt that is forgiven is forgiven apart from any work of the debtor. They cannot pay the debt. They are helpless to pay. They're at the mercy of the moneylender who chooses of his own will to forgive their debt. The love the moneylenders, or the debtors, rather, have is a result of the forgiveness, the mercy, and the kindness of the moneylender, not a result of. of their work, right? It's not a prerequisite for the forgiveness. Second, there's the order of Jesus' words in verse 47. Jesus says, but he who is forgiven little loves little. He doesn't say that the one who loves little is forgiven little, right? But the other way around, the one who is forgiven little loves little, and that would be true of the greater. He, the one who loves or is forgiven much, loves much, right? And lastly, we just see the words of Jesus to the woman, your faith has saved you, go in peace. It's not her actions of love that has saved her, it's her faith in Jesus that has saved her. Her lavish, lavish display of her love for Jesus, of how precious Jesus is to her, outpouring of the work that has been done in her. She loves Jesus. She loves Jesus. Another problematic reading of this passage can sometimes lead people to believe that in order to love Jesus much, that a person needs to have lived some great life of obvious and ruinous sin in order to be able to love Jesus much. that if you've, the opposite, that if you've somehow grown up living a life of outward obedience to God without much obvious or ruinous outward sin, that you can't come to a full understanding or appreciation of the love of Christ for sinners, and therefore can't love Christ to the fullest extent, and that's just not true. Neither of those things are true. Remembering that no matter who you are, No matter what kind of outward morality or immorality you've lived, when a person rightly glimpses the glory and the holiness of God, as he's revealed in his word, the only right way to think of ourselves, apart from the work of Christ, is as totally, utterly corrupted in and by sin. That he is holy and I am not. all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And often I think, I'm guilty of this, perhaps others too, often I think we try to compare our sin to the sins of others. Our little stack of sin compared to the great stack of sin of someone else, like some reverse poker game. But our sin is not to be compared to the sin of others. Our sin is to be compared to the perfect holiness and righteousness of God. God is the standard of holiness. It is a perfect standard. And we must not forget that any sin deserves death. Any sin. That we are born into sin. deserves separation from God, no matter how small or an amount or seemingly insignificant, all have sinned, and the wages of sin is death. What is owed the sinner is death. All sin an abomination to God and worthy of His righteous wrath, His just wrath, His justice against sin. And if we are viewing our sin as God views our sin, then each of us should view ourselves as the greatest of debtors. The greatest of debtors. But returning to this account, we see Simon, blinded by self-righteousness, cannot see his sin. Simon does not think he's even the lesser of the two debtors. He likely doesn't think he's a debtor at all. He's a good Jewish boy. He grew up as a Jew, grew up in synagogue. He has learned the Torah. He has followed and obeys the 600 laws, the Torah and the oral tradition. He doesn't smoke, drink, or chew, or go with girls that aren't Jew. He's likely a very successful businessman, well esteemed in the community. He has no need for forgiveness. In his mind, he has no sin. In Luke 5.31, as Jesus is dining at the feast of Matthew, the tax collector, Levi, the tax collector, the Pharisees and the scribes are there and they're like, who is this guy eating with sinners and tax collectors? In their mind, the worst of sinners. Jesus says this, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. See, in Simon's eyes, he is a righteous man. In Simon's eyes, his sin isn't grievous in his sight as it is in God's sight. In Simon's eyes, he has no need of a physician. He is a righteous man. Jesus is not precious to him. But Simon's pride in his self-righteousness is sickness. It is sin. Simon is unwell. And in God's sight, Simon's pride, his self-righteousness, is as grievous in his sight as this woman's sin. Simon knows nothing of the forgiveness of Christ, no love for Christ, and he continues in unbelief in his sin. See, if you have experienced forgiveness through faith in Christ, your sin must be seen for what it is in God's economy. If your sin becomes trivial and no big deal, then so will your love for Christ and your worship of Christ. It will become trivial. But when your sin is made grievous in your sight, Christ becomes so precious. Simon's sin is not grievous. Christ is not precious. But for this woman who has glimpsed the glory of God in Christ, who has seen her sin is terrible in God's sight, has believed on Jesus the Messiah, her sins are forgiven. She is forgiven. free from her sin. Christ's love for her now poured out as love for Christ. It's the evidence of her forgiveness that she has realized by faith in Jesus. Christ is precious to her indeed. When sin is made grievous, Christ will become precious. Is he precious to you? Jesus, who has eternally existed in perfect love relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit, who is himself God, who is himself creator. Colossians 1, 15 through 20, that he has created all things. All things were created by him, for him, through him, and all things hold together. This Jesus, the divine Son of God, who needs nothing, humbled himself to become a man, humbled himself, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped and used to his own advantage, but humbles himself to become a man. Jesus, who is God himself, became what he was not, man, without ever giving up what he's always been, God, fully man, fully God. He did this to become a servant of man, to pay the penalty for sin. Oh, what love is there in Christ that he would do this. Jesus, who did not deserve the penalty of death, did not deserve to suffer the wrath of God against sin, becomes the payment for sin on the cross. Jesus is the propitiation for sin, which means that he has satisfied God's wrath against sin and sinners. By faith in Jesus, that payment is applied to the believer. By faith in Jesus, the wrath of God has been turned away, it's been satisfied. And in hearing that news, there are two options that remain. We can either remain in our sin, we can take that wrath upon ourselves, or we can believe that Jesus has satisfied the wrath for us on your behalf and mine. Is sin grievous to you? In your sin, are you saddened by your sin? Isn't there a peace for you in your sin? Believe on Jesus. Trust Jesus. Bend your knee to King Jesus. Be forgiven and Jesus will become precious to you indeed. And then we're able to live lives that demonstrate the love of Christ, as we love one another in the church, as Sam read earlier and commented on earlier. They will know you are my disciples by your love for one another, as we love the church. I'll say that there is a direct correlation between your love for Christ and your love for the church. And we love the world, the world that is lost, just as Jesus has loved and offers peace to all who would come to him. And for the one who is forgiven, there is peace. Jesus says, your faith has saved you, go in peace. Peace that you are no longer under the wrath of God for sin, righteous wrath against sin. Peace that your sins are no longer counted against you. You are no longer enemies of God, friends, children of God by faith in Jesus. That is gone. Righteousness in its place. Perfect righteousness is now credited to your account. And the realization of this peace, there is love, there is adoration, there is rejoicing, there is enjoyment of Christ. Declarations of your love for Jesus. I kind of think of the song by Horatio Spafford, the hymn, It Is Well With My Soul. And I think it's the last verse of it. It says, my sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul. When sin is made grievous, Christ will become precious. And I pray that all who look on your life and mine would be able to say, look at their love for Christ. They truly belong to him. Oh, how precious Jesus must be to them. That they would see your life, they would see my life to God's glory, right? That they would one day glorify God on that day. I pray that Christ is precious to you and your life will be a demonstration of his love for you and your love for him. Let me pray. Father, we are so thankful again and again for your word. Father, we are so thankful for the love of Christ, that he humbled himself to become a man, humbled himself even to death on a cross, a criminal's cross, which he did not deserve, that he bore with joy, that our sins might be forgiven, that we would one day stand in your presence forever worshiping at your throne. God, I pray that Christ would be precious in our sight, that we would turn from sin and glorify God, glorify Christ. We rejoice to know you, oh God. In Jesus we pray, amen.