In humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. James 1:21-22 
They searched the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so. Acts 17:11 The Sinful Woman Preface I would like to start out this lesson by drawing your attention to the writing of Luke in Lk. 7:36-48; --- ?Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. --- And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, --- and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. --- Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, ?If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him that she is a sinner.? --- And Jesus answered him, ?Simon, I have something to say to you.? And he replied, ?Say it, Teacher.? --- ?A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. --- ?When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?? --- Simon answered and said, ?I suppose the one whom he forgave more.? And He said to him, ?You have judged correctly.? --- 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 she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. --- You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. --- For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.? --- Then He said to her, ?Your sins have been forgiven.? Somewhere along the way I get the notion that maybe today, many of us are overlooking the real mission of our Lord Jesus Christ in our preaching and in our practice. And yet when you turn in your Bibles and look for instance at Luke the 15th chapter, you will find where Jesus gave at least three examples which paints a picture of His mission as well as our mission here on this earth. First of all, the Lord told a parable in vs. 4-7; --- ?What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? --- When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. --- And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, `Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' --- ?I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.? So here, we can plainly identify the mission of Jesus Christ, which was to seek and save the lost. And after that the Lord continues on in vs. 8-10; --- ?Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? --- When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, `Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!' --- ?In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Thirdly then, we have the much discussed account of the ?prodigal son? which takes up from vs. 11 through the remaining of the chapter. Jesus tells of the young man who went out into a far country and frivolously wasted all of his inheritance on loose and rebellious living. And finally afterwards coming to his senses, he returned to the safety and comfort of his home. In vs. 19 we read; --- ?I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.? The father had much compassion for his son and hugged him and kissed him, then called for his servants to bring out the best robe and put it on him, and placed a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet; then called for the fatted calf to be slaughtered for this was a grand occasion for much celebration. Why? Vs. 24 says; --- ?for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.' And they began to celebrate.? Back in vs. 20 it says; --- ?But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him.? This is quite evident that the father had been looking and hoping for his son to come home. Which points out once again the mission of Jesus; --- to seek and save the lost. Lesson While keeping in mind the Scripture reading of Lk. 7:36-48, I would like now for us to go back and make a few conclusions. Notice that there are stated three different characters as represented in the text. 1. The Woman: Let us observe a few characteristics concerning this woman. First of all, the Bible does not give her name. The Bible just simply states that she has heard about Christ and is identified as the woman. But if you would notice further, you can see that she was identified as a sinner. Now let me point out something about the word of God concerning sin. God does not overlook sin. God does not overlook or cover up the wrong doings of any individual regardless of their statute in this life. When you read your Bibles you will read about the great men of God and how that their sins were pointed out; i.e. Noah, Moses, David and Peter just to name a few. I repeat, God does not overlook sin and when a person is guilty of sin, the Bible identifies it as sin. Sin is the transgression of God?s law, or as the apostle John says in 1 Jn. 3:4; --- ?Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.? And David declared in Ps. 51:3; --- ?My sin is ever before me.? Sin is the transgression of God?s law, and this woman was a filthy sinner. Her soul was soiled by sin. She had sinned willfully. And not only did she sin willfully, but if you will notice in the text; she was guilty of many sins. How many we do not know, but the Bible says she had sinned more than a few times. It has been pointed out by some that from the Pharisee?s perspective, she was a woman of notoriously bad reputation and therefore an outcast of society, an outcast of religion and had reached her lowest point. But whatever sin this woman committed, the Bible says she was guilty of many sins. But as we look at this woman a little closer, we see that she is a woman of courage. I doubt you could read anywhere in the Bible of another woman with more courage than this one. Evidently, this woman went into the house of this Pharisee totally uninvited. The point is, she heard that Jesus was going to be there and she wasn?t going to let anything or anybody stand in the way of finding Jesus Christ. She was absolutely resolute in finding Jesus Christ and this took a great deal of courage. Now not only was she marked as a woman of courage, but this woman was distinguished by love. Dear friend, if you sometimes want to define the definition of love (aside from the love of God), let me suggest to you that you take a good close look at this woman; and her actions reveal true love. She revealed love in the attitude she had when she found the Lord. The Bible says that when she found Jesus she fell at His feet. Please observe; she did not stand up in the face of Jesus with some haughty high-minded and ungodly attitude saying; I?m just as good as you. No sir. Something else she did not do, she didn?t come before Jesus and say; --- ?I may be a sinful woman, but let me tell you one thing, I?m just as good as some of the hypocritical followers of yours.? ?Why you take that fellow Judas, he?s not worth a dime and one of these days he?s going to betray you. He?s crooked as a snake and I?m just as good as he is.? No friends; this woman did not boast that kind of attitude. The Bible plainly says that when she found Jesus, she placed herself at His feet demonstrating humility, love, and remorse. Now then, I would suggest you take a good look at this beautiful woman as she unveils herself at the feet of the Master. The word of God says she started crying, and she shed enough tears that she could literally wash the feet of Jesus. Can you imagine a woman who could shed that amount of tears? Now we?ve all been to funerals or in many ways witnessed someone?s broken heart and grief upon losing a close friend or relative and have watched with sadness as so many tears came flowing down their cheeks. --- But this woman was not crying because she had lost a mother, father or someone close. She was crying because she was a sinner and she was at the feet of the Son of God. Now you talk about a beautiful picture of love and adoration. You don?t have to ask this woman if she loved Jesus; her love was manifested by her attitude. Here she is shedding enough tears that she can literally wash the feet of Jesus. And then the Bible says, she took His feet and dried them with the hair of her head. What an absolutely beautiful scene. But not only did she wash the Lord?s feet with her tears of sorrow and dry them with the very hair of her head; but then she anointed His feet with her very expensive perfume. Then my Bible tells me that she kissed His feet. --- You talk about humility, you talk about love, this woman demonstrated pure and unadulterated love. Love for Jesus and deep sorrow for her sins. She repented with godly sorrow. The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian brethren in 2 Cor. 7:9-11; --- ?I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. --- For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. --- For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.? --- Get a good look at this woman, don?t ever forget her and we?ll come back to her later. --- But for now, I would ask you to consider the second character in this spiritual scenario: 2. Simon: This second character we need to examine is what the Bible calls a Pharisee by the name of Simon. So let?s take a good look at this man. Simon, being a Pharisee was by definition a religiously minded man. We recall that in the days of Christ there were basically two sects; --- The Pharisees who believed in the resurrection, and the Sadducees who did not. The apostle Paul was a Pharisee. In Acts 26:5, Paul says; --- ?I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of our religion.? A Pharisee was an individual who believed in the keeping of the law, to the dotting of the ?i? and the crossing of the ?t?. The Pharisees were what you might call a ?conservative? people. They demanded the law and the law is what they stood for. And this Simon was a religious conservative; but his religion wasn?t worth a red cent. Why? He said in his heart that; --- ?If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him that she is a sinner .? --- Can you imagine a religion that would not touch the heart of a sinner? This man?s attitude was strictly ?holier than thou?. This man would demand book, chapter and verse and the dotting of the ?i? and the crossing of the ?t? until the day he died and he would lose his soul in hell because his attitude wasn?t right toward sinners. --- Simon was a devout religious man, who believed in God and the resurrection, but he took a hands-off policy toward the sinner; and that kind of religion is no good. This is the second character we shall talk about, so take a good long look at him and don?t forget his attitude. But for now we need to move on and look at the third character mentioned in the text; --- 3. Jesus: I wish I had the time to go into many of the misconceptions concerning our Savior, but right now I feel this thought to be more conducive to this lesson. That so many people get the idea in their head that Jesus was some kind of sissified, meek individual who walked around never rebuking anybody or condemning anything, and that the Lord Jesus just overlooked every man?s sins. But on the contrary my friends, He did not do this. This was not His nature, nor was it His mission. If you look at the text closely you will see that Jesus gave this Pharisee the tongue thrashing of his life. And this is how He went about it; ---First He said (paraphrasing); ---?Simon, I would like to put a question before you to consider.? Then the Lord said; ?Two men owed a money lender some money. One owed 500 denarius, and the other 50. Neither one could pay it back, so the good man said, ?I?ll just mark it off and forgave them both.? ?Now, let Me ask you a question Simon; which one would you say, loved him the most?? Now when it came to money, Simon well knew how to handle that. He said; ?Why, the one who he forgave the most, I would think.? --- In response, the Lord said; --- ?That?s exactly right, now let Me bring something to your attention; --- When I came into your house, you offered Me no water for My feet.? (Etc.)
Do you know what the first act of hospitality was in New Testament times when a traveler came into a man?s house? Mostly they traveled by foot, they wore sandals and the very first act of hospitality was to draw a container of water so the guest could wash his feet. But if he wanted to show humility, he would wash the traveler?s feet himself. --- But Jesus brought it to this religiously-minded man?s attention; --- ?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.? Jesus continues, ?When I came into your house, you didn?t anoint My head with oil nor kiss Me.? ?You didn?t give Me the greeting which is commonly given to one entering your home.? --- ?but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet.? --- In other words, what Jesus was telling this pious and self-righteous Pharisee, is that his attitude made his religion one hundred percent wrong. --- Then Jesus said to the woman; --- ?Your sins have been forgiven.? Your sins have been forgiven! --- ?Your faith has saved you; go in peace.? Now, take a good look at what we have here. We have the woman, the Pharisee and Christ Jesus. You fit in here somewhere. Where, I do not know, because unlike Jesus I cannot read your heart. But never the less each of you fit in this scenario somewhere. It may well be that you identify with the woman. Don?t misrepresent what I say, that when you venture out in this world and violate God?s law, there?s not but one word for it; --- SIN! And if you have not made your life right with Christ you are a sinner, and if you die in this condition you are going to die CONDEMNED under the perfect law of God; as the Bible says in Mk. 16:16; --- ?--- he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.? --- Every man, woman boy or girl who is of the age of understanding needs to be aware of the fact that if you are not right with God, you are a sinner. It may be the sin of fornication, lying, stealing, etc; or it may be many sins. It may well be the sin of just not doing good when you know you ought to (sin of omission). (Js. 4:17) Dear reader, SIN IS SIN! There?s no use in me trying to cover it up and pretending like you?re not a sinner by tickling your ears, for that is not my purpose and certainly not my mission. I?m simply trying to appeal to your heart and convince you and convict you that you are a sinner. That?s the true mission of Christ and His gospel. Hopefully you have understood what has been said. Now it?s quite within the realm of possibility that you would fall under the category of the Pharisee, and if you want to know the truth of the matter; --- This is what concerns me mostly. I would hazard a guess that we have far more that fit in this category, than we do who might identify with this woman over here with all the love, humility, courage and a repentant heart. Now let me go on record as saying, we must have book, chapter and verse for everything we do in our religion and in our worship. The word of God says plainly in Col. 3:17; --- ?Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus--.? If we do not have the authority of the Scriptures, we have absolutely no business being involved what-so-ever. A church may be Scriptural in its teaching and demanding book, chapter and verse, while opposing every institution and recreational gimmick this world has to offer; --- and still their religion not be worth a toot, so long as they maintain the same kind of attitude this Pharisee had. Allow me to offer an example, and let?s be honest; --- How many of you are really trying to go out and convert sinners to Christ? I mean sinners of the lowest sort. Drunken, filthy, soiled of heart and soul sinners. I?ve been in some congregations (and some of you have been too), who have manifested such a ?holier-than-thou? attitude that if a sinner was to walk into one of their assemblies some of them would go into deep shock. ?Why, we don?t want those people in here, we are God?s people!? Now isn?t that just like the Pharisee? I wonder sometimes, just how much of a real viable effort many of us put forth in converting the sinner to Christ. How much brethren? --- Now don?t get me wrong; --- I?m not advocating we go out and make all the drunks off the streets our ?bosom buddies?, I said convert them. Help them to bring about change in their lives in order they might go to heaven. --- Have you ever thought it possible that some drunken scalawag might be brought to an understanding as to the great need of God in his or her life, obey the gospel and go on to be a faithful, loving servant of the Lord? It has happened you know. A good number of years ago, I knew a man who was as dedicated as anyone you might want to see. You just wouldn?t believe how dedicated this individual was. The Only problem was that his devotion was grossly misguided. You see, he was dedicated to rot gut booze in any shape, form, fashion or volume. He was dedicated to just about any form of black sin you might imagine (short of murder), and even that was a gnawing temptation to this chiefest of sinners; this son of Satan. --- But then someone recognized that even this miserable sin sick sinner possessed a soul worth saving. So in demonstrating much compassion, mercy, patience and great faith in the power of the gospel of Christ, set about teaching this drunkard (who by the way had managed to dry out), and convicting him of his terrible lost condition and his desperate need of a Savior. Dear friends, this same unworthy sinner while writing this editorial stands before you with all thanksgiving before God and with all humility saying, let us never, never take on such a ?holier-than-thou?, hands off policy that we are afraid to touch the sinner; for when we get to that point we become the most miserable of failures in the true mission of Jesus Christ. --- So friend, if you happen to find yourself tending to lean toward this condition, then you had better take a good look at this Pharisee and remember how the Lord severely rebuked him. Do you know what else happens? That same attitude worries me when it comes to our young people. I?ve heard people say on occasion; --- ?Wonder what?s happening to our young people?? Or, ?I wonder what?s causing so many of them to go astray, what?s wrong with them?? --- Might I suggest one thing that?s caused many of our dear young ones to go astray; --- It?s that holier-than-thou Pharisaic characteristic presented to them by some adults who ought to know better. We?ve all seen those types of individuals where it seems as though their day just wouldn?t be right until they found some way of insulting one of our young people. And simply because some young people don?t happen to dress like we used to dress, or wear their hair the way we used to wear our hair, then we?ve got to come along and say something sarcastic and demeaning to them in a hateful manner. Consequently, instead of teaching them with love and patience and converting them to Christ, we end up driving them away. My Bible says in Rom. 14:1, we are to; --- ?accept the one who is weak in the faith,--?And in vs. 13; ?Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this?not to put an obstacle or stumbling blocking a brother?s way.? --- And in entirely too many of the churches the weaker brother has been driven out; and that?s very shameful. Too many brethren seem to have the idea that every member is strong and sound, but Paul said some are weak. ---This should be one of our greatest lessons we might learn. Just because some younger brother didn?t conform to our personal liking, we just tell him he needs to get up and get out. When did Jesus Christ ever tell anyone to get out before He had a chance to teach him the truth, both by word and example? Now, before I close this lesson let?s consider another aspect of the mission of Christ. Let?s talk a little bit about mercy and compassion. Just how often do we demonstrate mercy and compassion in the church? Or the home either for that matter. --- What a shame it is when maybe I?ve done something wrong or made a mistake of some sort, that I would much rather have made this mistake before the world because they would show much more mercy than some brethren I know. I?ve been in some places that if some of the brethren ever get you down, they would psychologically sit on you and try to keep you down, and maybe dig a little deeper just to see you squirm from embarrassment. --- These same people would demand book, chapter and verse for everything, but when it comes to mercy and compassion to a sinner they simply fall short. --- This manner of religion is wrong, it?s false and it smells in the nostrils of God. I heard of one church where the elders and the preacher got together and decided that whenever a brother did something wrong and repented of it, they would write his name in a log; and if he didn?t break probation for six months then they would use him in serving the Lord?s table, or let him lead in prayer. Now, that?s some kind of religion isn?t it? What compassion, what mercy! Now don?t go getting the idea that I?m saying we don?t have to have book, chapter and verse for all we do in religion. I?ve already said such two or three times. --- We must demand Scriptural authority in everything where the church is concerned. But when we begin acting like the Pharisee, mark my word, we will drive people away rather than draw them to Christ. --- And I dare say if Jesus were standing before us today, He would say exactly the same thing He told the self-righteous Pharisee. But then, turning to the woman; --- ?He said to her, ?Your sins have been forgiven.? Note please; Jesus didn?t forgive her sins because she didn?t do anything. She came to Him in tears and fell at His feet to show how sorry she was, and Jesus forgave her. There was no probation period. --- Did she deny the grace of God when she cried and washed His feet? NO! She was accepting the grace of God by doing something to show her godly sorrow. And Christ said, her sins had been forgiven. Now hear this, I do not care how black your sins might be, or how often you?ve sinned, or how ungodly you may have lived; --- some people might not forgive you, but dear friend, the sinless blood of the Son of God can and will forgive you. --- And that?s the beautiful story of Jesus, His love and His mission. Most humbly submitted in that love
Earl Wilburn
Questions and comments more than welcomed: ewilburn@austin.rr.com Please don't delete this from your files, as who knows that while you may not at this time be moved by these scriptures, but perhaps in time you might want to refer back to this and come to know better the love of the Lord. --- EW 
|
