I'm just so thankful to our great and glorious God that in his wonderful providence and mercy and love he's brought me back to be with you all again. We just love you guys in Australia. We love the gospel that comes to us. We love the sweetness of it. And we love the fact that from a distance we have great and glorious fellowship. One day that distance will be very, very, very, very short indeed. And the communion that the saints have will be an everlasting and eternal one. And it'll be a communion in love. Communion in love. Our God is a God of love and a God of great grace. And I love to think of how absolutely sovereign and powerful and righteous our God is. We have this story because he's the one who came. And our God doesn't change. He's doing the same today. He's doing the same today, isn't he? I'm the same yesterday, today and forever. And so this is one of those stories that is just so, I don't know, it sort of captivated me last year and I just kept thinking about it and speaking on it and reminding people of it. And once again, I have the opportunity. I pray for us to go and just look simply at this story of how the Lord Jesus Christ loved one of his bride and brought her to himself. I'm sure you know Jeremiah 31 verse 3 very well. It's a glorious, glorious description of our God. It's a glorious description of our God. I must keep reminding myself that our God is a triumphant God. Listen to this triumph here. Jeremiah 31 verse 3. The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. I have loved thee everlastingly. When did his love begin? It has no beginning. When does it ever change? It has no change. Therefore, I've loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee. So this is a glorious picture we have before us in Luke chapter seven of this woman being drawn into the arms and into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so in this story, we just got a few things that I want to deal with simply, but I'd love for us to go back out into this world for this week and dealing with all the things that lie before all of us really and knowing the words that he said to her, thy sins are forgiven thee, thy faith has saved thee, go in peace. Oh, they're sweet words, aren't they? If that's the way we finish our time here this evening and you go out into this world looking and rejoicing in the peace of our great God and Saviour, then He will have done all that I've asked Him to do. And so, here we have in this passage, we have a remarkable invitation and a remarkable acceptance of that invitation. We have amazing grace displayed in amazing love. we have the sad ignorance of this this pharisee and we have revealed to us the source of true love and we have a description of the acts of love to the Lord Jesus Christ and we love him because he first loved us we've got to remember that God is the source of absolutely everything all of the time And we have, at the end of it, we have true love's reward. So here we have this remarkable invitation. Why would the Pharisee want to invite the Lord Jesus Christ to his house when all he wanted to do was to mock him? And why did the Lord Jesus Christ accept the invitation? There's only one reason that I can think of. It's because of a woman. He comes for a particular bride, doesn't he? He comes for her. This is all about him, isn't it? All about his glory, but all about his work in her life. Drawing her to him and drawing her in love to him and that love being a mutual love and drawing her to touch him. Isn't it amazing that you could touch the Lord Jesus Christ and you were touching God Almighty. And he says, after that touch, you go in peace. Your faith has saved you. The Pharisees saw themselves, their name means separated ones. They'd separated themselves from the filth of this world, and they separated themselves from the filth of religion, and they'd made themselves so separated. They thought that their religious righteousness separated them from the pollution of sinners, like this particular woman. There is a difference that God makes. We are separated ones. We are set apart, aren't we? But the big difference is who does the setting apart? If man does the setting apart, all you end up with is religion. And all you end up with in religion is self-righteousness and legalism. And always where there is legalism, there is no love. Never is there love where there is legalism. So he, this remarkable invitation is given and this remarkable invitation is accepted. He's prepared to go up to a place where he'll be humiliated before that man. And he goes there as he did in all of his going and all of his coming from heaven. He came to be humbled, but he came to be humbled in his humility. His people are saved. And here we see this amazing grace displayed in this woman's love. And behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster box of ointment. We've got to keep remembering in all these stories, he came to her first. And she heard words of grace and love. She heard words that a sinner like her could be loved and accepted by this God Almighty. And she came and she brought that alabaster box of ointment. I love to think of that wonderful story of Mary and the ointment in John chapter 12, isn't it? She broke an alabaster box of ointment. Those alabaster boxes were incredibly expensive. Some people say that it could be 30 or 40 or $50,000, the ointment. she brought what was precious and I love the fact that Mary broke the alabaster box and where God meets with his bride Don't you love the fact that the whole house is full of the aroma of Christ and him crucified? That's what we want, Gabe, isn't it? We want this house. We want the house wherever we meet, wherever the Lord brings the gospel and inspires his people in love for him, the aroma fills the house. And it didn't matter whether you're in the kitchen cooking or somewhere else in that house, the aroma filled the house. The aroma of Christ crucified. And she 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 she kissed his feet and anointed them with ointment. He says, behold. He's telling us that we need to take special note of this story. This is the story of the bride being brought into the presence of her husband. She was a notorious sinner, and we can guess what that is. But the Pharisees were very particular at discovering who sinners were. And they were, in their self-righteousness, able to look down their noses at anyone. But this was a particularly notorious sinner. We are all notorious sinners, even if we don't see them, even if other people don't see. God looks at our hearts. But she'd heard the message, the Lord Jesus Christ had come to where she was. Don't you love that? He comes to where we are. He came in love and he came and she heard words of grace and mercy and acceptance. And she knew that he was at that Pharisee's house, and so she bought what was most precious to her. And she came, she came, she came to him. Draw me, says the Shulamite in Song of Solomon, you draw me and we will run after you. If he draws us, we'll be coming to him. She brought what was precious and expensive. She came to anoint him. He is the anointed one, the Christ. She came to anoint him. She came behind him in humility. Just like John the Baptist, I'm not worthy to reach down and undo this man's shoelaces. She stood at those feet which brought the gospel to her. And she came weeping, and I wonder whether because she brought this alabaster box and because she'd come to him with it, she was weeping tears of joy or tears of thankfulness or tears of repentance. They're all mixed together, aren't they? Again and again, they're all mixed together. I get accused of not being sufficiently emotional and I try and hide my emotions so people are just hearing what God says. And often I come home and talk to my wife and say, I was just sort of so caught up about all of that and she said, I didn't see a thing. But I love the fact that we have, in our dealings with our great God, we have a God who weeps and he brings his people to weep. And he exposes and reveals himself to us. And he's very happy for us to be revealed in his presence. He sees absolutely everything. We'll see that in a minute. She came to serve, to wash his feet. She came in love, she kissed his feet. She came to worship and bow. She touched him and he touched her. Don't you love the fact that when he touches a sinner, when he touches a leper, One of two things must happen, mustn't it? Either he who is holy is defiled, or the one who is touched is perfectly holy. He's touched with the feelings of our infirmities. He comes. And he draws this love out of her. She came and she took what was naturally her glory, her hair, and she brought that low to his feet and anointed them. And here we have an example of just sad ignorance. The Pharisee spake within himself. This man, if he were a prophet, he would have known who and what manner of woman this is that touches him, for she is a sinner. How sad, isn't it? How sad to have that expressed. How thankful we ought to be that God sees everything in us all of the time. I'm thankful that God sees everything in me. Because it means that I can go to him and just say, this is what I am. This is what I am. We're not in the business of playing games with God. We're not in the business of encouraging people to play games with God. God sees into the heart. He saw the wickedness and the hatred of this man. Also, it is just the reality, isn't it, that when God comes near and he comes near in the preaching of the gospel, there are only ever two responses ultimately, aren't there? When holiness comes close to a sinner, There's never nothing happening. There is either cleansing or catastrophe. There is purification or perdition. There is mercy or misery. There is salvation or sadness. As you read through the gospels, you see again and again, the Lord made, there's a division among the people because of him, isn't there? And here we have a division among the people because of him. The gospel either makes people mad or makes them glad. It makes them bow or it hardens them. And the Lord speaks to Simon. He speaks in rebuke and we just have to... leave it in the Lord's hands to do with what his rebukes he has designed them for, isn't it? But he speaks to Simon and he rebukes Simon, doesn't he? But he tells him this story. And the story reveals the source of true love. A certain creditor had two debtors. One owed 500 pence and the other 50. And the essence of the story is They had nothing to pay. They have nothing to pay. And he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, thou hast judged rightly. These Pharisees will be condemned by their own words at the end of the day. Nothing to pay. What's the debt we owe to God? It's a simple debt, isn't it? We owe God absolute perfect holiness. From conception to death, we owe God perfect love for him. We owe to God perfect love to our neighbour. The gospel is simple, isn't it? That's what we owe God. That is the debt, isn't it? And any lessening of that debt is to diminish the glory of God and the holiness of God and the righteousness of God. We need to be as holy as God is to be in God's presence. We have a debt. The debt is enormous. And we have nothing to pay. And we have a really serious problem because in the garden when we fell in Adam, We sinned, we became sinners in Adam. So we have a problem that reaches way beyond my life. In fact, in reality, it does reach to all of my life because that's where my life began. We're born into this world, we were shaped in iniquity. We come forth from our mother's womb speaking lies. You don't have to train anyone to be a sinner. At all, we spend our lives as parents trying to make our children not to be outward sinners. He frankly forgave them both. He showed grace to both of them. The Lord Jesus Christ was denied even the common courtesies of the day in this person who thought that he was worshipping God and thought that he was honouring God and thought that he was exposing in some way the Lord Jesus Christ as someone who wasn't a prophet of God. And true love acts, and the Lord Jesus Christ commends. Just put yourself in this picture. There they are lying there, and this woman's behind. And he turned to the woman. This is his first acknowledgement of her. And he turns to the woman, verse 44, and says, seest thou this woman? I entered into thy house, and they gave me no water for my feet. She has washed my feet with tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came in has not ceased to kiss my feet. With my head with oil thou didst not anoint, but this woman has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, 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. We've been forgiven much, brothers and sisters in Christ. We've been forgiven so much. So much love from him. Don't you love the fact that we love him because he first loved us? Don't you love the fact that all of our love for him finds its source in him? And he gets all the glory for it, and we get all of the delight in loving him, knowing that he has to work that love in our hearts. Great love. She loved much, as said, she loved greatly. She loved greatly. And then he speaks these wonderful words to her at the close of this glorious, glorious event. He said unto her, these are his first words to her, thy sins are forgiven. Thy sins are forgiven. And this brings out the great question, isn't it? Who is this that forgiveth sins also? Who is this man? Who is this man who could be humbled in the presence of a Pharisee? Who is this man that came to this earth and was so much like a man that you couldn't possibly imagine that he was God Almighty? And he was at times so much like God Almighty you could hardly imagine him to be a man. And yet he is one in two, isn't he? He's the two in the one, our great God and Saviour. It's a great question, isn't it? Who is this? Who is this man? The answer to that question is a great answer, isn't it? And she's declaring it in her anointing of him. He's the anointed one. He's the anointed king. He comes as a king. And in his role as a king, he's done exactly what he's done in all of this. This is the story of a king's actions, isn't it? Just as the story of us meeting and the story of you guys meeting, the story of God saving his people and gathering his people and causing his people to come and to rejoice and to love the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the acts of a king. And our king's doing exactly the same now as he did all those years ago. He doesn't change. He has no reason to change. We have a great and sovereign and glorious God. There is not a thing that wriggles in this universe that doesn't wriggle exactly as he makes it wriggle. All things are well in the great kingdom of God. When this king is on the throne, what a king to have. What a king to have. He is our king whether you acknowledge him or not as your king, he is your king. But to have him as a king and to be able to come into his presence and to touch him and to declare him anointed. And that's what we do in the preaching of the gospel. He's the anointed king, isn't he? He's the anointed priest. He's the anointed prophet. He brings the word of God to us. He is the word of God itself. He reveals and manifests God in such a way that he creates faith and he creates repentance. He grants repentance. This is all of his work of grace in the life of this dear lady, our sister. Who is this that forgiveth sins also? He's the anointed priest. Who is this that forgiveth sins also? They acknowledge they knew that only God could forgive sins. He's declaring himself very simply to us and to this lady that I am God Almighty and I've come here to forgive the sins. You'll call his name Jesus because he will save all his people from their sins. He'll redeem them with his blood. He'll buy them back. Will he get what he paid for? Or is he trying and failing? He gets them all, doesn't he? And this is how he gets them. He gives faith, he grants faith, and he gives faith. And then he rewards faith, and he says to the faithful servant, well done, good and faithful servant. Isn't it amazing? He says, thy faith has saved thee. If God has given you faith, it's your faith. Everything God gives is the possession of the one he gives it to. Otherwise, he hasn't given it. Faith is the gift of God, isn't it? It's not of ourselves. It's not of ourselves. It's by him do we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives it all. What he gives, he blesses. And he blesses what he gives. And everything he gives becomes the possession of the recipient. She came to where he was. She came to a place where he was rejected by men and despised by this man. She came to that very place of his humility. She came into his presence and she acknowledged who he was. True faith and true love wants him honoured where the religious world just uses his name for their own ends, don't they? We want him honoured. We want to see him high and lifted up. We know that when he's high and lifted up, he'll draw all people to himself. He comes as the anointed king, the anointed prophet. He comes as the absolute sovereign God almighty. Her faith, like the faith of so many of God's children, is completely unrecognised and completely misunderstood by those who didn't have faith. Her love for him is unrecognised. His love for her is unknown. Don't you love the fact that there is this secret perfect communion between God and his children? And God's children come into his presence, like this lady did, our sister. She came as a sinner. That's how you come, just a sinner. She came as someone with nothing to pay, just a sinner. She bowed at his feet, giving all to him. She honoured him before she'd received a word of promise from him. He's worthy of honour, whether we receive it, anything or not. She came at his feet, in faith. She stood at his feet in hope. She wept at his feet in brokenness. She washed his feet in reverence. She wiped his feet in submission. She kissed his feet in affection. She anointed his feet in consecration. She found forgiveness at his feet. Don't you love the fact that when he rose from the dead, he showed them his hands and his feet? And Mary, you've just looked at it at the end of Matthew's gospel. Where did Mary, what did Mary do? She held on to his feet. Those feet that brought the glorious good news. She found forgiveness at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. kiss the sun. Where do we kiss the sun? At his feet. It's a lovely, lovely picture and I pray that the Lord will draw us, as he drew this lady, will draw us into his presence. He'll continually draw us with his love. He'll continually cause us to come again and again and again. And whether we hear those words, as verbal words as she did, which has come because there's only one place where those words are ever uttered, at his feet and in his presence. What a glorious God we have. He's touched with the feelings of our infirmities. He knows exactly what we are. He knows our frame. He knows we are but dust. love. We have a God who loves, brothers and sisters. We have a God who loves and God who draws. We have a God who grants faith and grants love. What a great saviour we have. Why would you want to talk about anything else? Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. It's been a delight to be here and a delight to talk together about our saviour. Thank you. May he continue to bless his word to your heart and may he just continue to do the drawing and you to hear the sweet words of consolation. Thank you. Thank you all.