"FORGIVENESS OF TWO DEBTORS" (Lk 7:36-50) (Vr. 42)
Jan 19th, 2003
Int. The immediate subject before us is "A Sinful woman forgiven."
1. Robert Falconer tells the story of his witnessing among destitute people in a certain city and of reading them the story of the woman who wiped Jesus' feet with her tears. While he was reading he heard a loud sob and looked up at a young, thin girl whose face was disfigured by smallpox. After he spoke a few words of encouragement to her, she said, "Will He ever come again, the One who forgave the woman? I have heard that He will come again. Will it be soon?" Falconer replied. After sobbing again uncontrollably, she said, "Sir, can't He wait a little while? My hair ain't long enough yet to wipe His feet."
2. In these Oriental feasts the houses were often left open, and uninvited strangers frequently passed in through the open courtyard into the guest-chamber, and looked on.
3. "She came to Christ with ointment in her hand, love in her heart and tears in her eyes."
a. Some scholars believe that she was Mary Magdalene whom we read about in later chapters.
4. Biblical Illustrator says: "Her name is not given, but only her character. The recent miracle of restoring to life the widow of Nain’s son, had produced, in regard to its author, a deep and general impression. "There came," we are told, "a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, that a great prophet is risen up among us, and that God hath visited His people.
5. Which was a sinner (Vr. 36) :Benjamin Keach says: "She was a great sinner, a nortorious sinner, the chief sinner in the city."
6. Pliny the historian, mentions alabaster as the best material for pots or vessels intended for these precious ointments. "It was softer than marble, and easily scooped into pots or bottles. These costly unguents and cosmetics were much used by the wealthy Roman ladies. The precious ointment poured over the Redeemer’s feet had probably been originally procured for a very different purpose. The word mu-ron, translated "ointment," was used for any kind of sweet-smelling vegetable essence, especially that of the myrtle."
I. NOTICE HER DEEP HUMILITY. (Vr. 38)
A. SHE STOOD AT THE FEET OF JESUS.
1. Mary, the sister of Martha, sat at His feet, which might signify the calm, settled, and composed state of her mind. But this woman stood; a posture which denotes humility, reverence, and fear.
2. She stood like a servant in waiting, ready to put in practice what she had designed for His honor."
II. NOTICE THE HOLY SHAME OF THIS WOMAN. (She stood at his feet behind him) (Vr. 38)
A. NOTICE THAT SHE WAS WEEPING.
1. J. Swain in Gadsby's Hymnal # 162 (Mitre 8s) "The Soul Melted."
When on my Beloved I gaze,
So dazzling his beauties appear,
His charms so transcendently blaze,
The sight is too melting to bear.
When from my own vileness I turn
To Jesus exposed on the tree,
With shame and with wonder I burn,
To think what he suffered for me.
My sins, O how black they appear,
When in that dear bosom they meet!
Those sins were the nails and the spear
That wounded his hands and his feet.
’Twas justice that wreathed for his head
The thorns that encircled it round;
Thy temples, Immanuel, bled,
That mine might with glory be crowned.]
The wonderful love of his heart,
Where he has recorded my name,
On earth can be known but in part;
Heaven only can bear the full flame.
In rivers of sorrow it flowed,
And flowed in those rivers for me,
My sins are all drowned in his blood;
My soul is both happy and free.
B. SHE BEGAN TO WASH HIS FEET WITH TEARS.
1. Biblical Illustrator says: "Those eyes, which had been the inlets of temptation and sin, now become the outlets of godly sorrow."
2. "She stood weeping, and washed His feet with tears." It was not a sudden gust, but a continual flow."
3. Notice her love to Christ : "She kissed His feet, and anointed them with the ointment."(Vr. 38-b)
a. A pardoned sinner will think no expense too great whereby he may honor Christ or testify his love to Him."
4. Her tears were tears of joy for sin pardoned, as well as of sorrow for sin committed. Her ointment became a thank-offering to her Saviour.
5. Biblical Illustrator says: "That hair which she had so often gently combed, and cunningly broidered against the glass, and then spread forth as a net to catch her amorous companions withal, she now employs in the wiping those feet, which she had with her tears washed."
III. NOTICE THE UNHOLY SHAME OF SIMON THE PHARISEE. (Vr. 39)
A. SIMON THOUGHT HIMSELF RIGHTEOUS BEFORE GOD.
1. (Mt 9:13) "....
2. Biblical Illustrator says: "When the prodigal son returned home, that respectable elder brother of his was the only one who begrudged his welcome. So this punctilious Pharisee murmured at the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet."
THE WOMAN THAT WAS A SINNER.
Simon, her kisses will not soil;
Her tears are pure as rain;
Eye not her hair’s untwisted coil,
Baptized in pardoning pain.
For God hath pardoned all her much,
Her iron bands have burst;
Her love could never have been such
Had not His love been first.
But oh! rejoice ye sisters pure,
Who hardly know her case;
There is no sin but has its cure,
Its all-consuming grace.
He did not leave her soul in hell,
‘Mong shards the silver dove,
But raised her pure that she might tell
Her sisters how to love.
She gave Him all your best love can.
Was He despised and sad?
Yes; and yet never mighty man
Such perfect homage had.
Jesus, by whose forgiveness sweet
Her love grew so intense,
We, sinners all, come round Thy feet —
Lord, make no difference.
IV. NOTICE SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT SIMON THE PHARISEE
A. CONSIDER SOME COMMENDABLE THOUGHTS ABOUT HIM.
1. He was no doubt well respected in the community.
2. He was a hospitable man..(He invited Jesus in for a meal).
3. He was an open minded man...Not every Pharisee would have invited Jesus to supper.
B. CONSIDER SOME CRITICAL THOUGHTS ABOUT SIMON THE PHARISEE.
1. He was wrong about his estimate of Christ. (When he saw that Jesus did not resent this woman approaching himself).
2. He was wrong in his view of that woman.
a. She had been a sinner and was one now, only now she hated the sins of her past and was avoiding them in the present.
3. He was wrong in his estimate of himself.
a. He thought himself a very long way on in the kingdom of God as compared with that poor woman.
b. He supposed himself to be possessed of all the cardinal virtues.
c. He did not know that he lacked that which is the crowning excellence of all — love, the love that can pity, that can stoop to save.
C. CONSIDER SIMON’S RESPONSE TO OUR LORD’S SUGGESTION. (Vr. 40)
1. Biblical Illustrator says: "Thus Simon received it, so ought we.
2. Eli desired Samuel to tell him all
a. "What is the thing that the LORD hath said unto thee?
b. "I pray thee hide it not from me:......."
V. OUR LORD RELATES THE STORY OF TWO DEBTORS AND A CREDITOR.
A. JUST WHO WERE THESE TWO DEBTORS AND CREDITOR?
1. Alexander McClaren says: " "A woman of notoriously bad character had somehow come in contact with Jesus Christ, and had by Him been aroused from her sensuality and degradation, and calmed by the assurance of forgiveness. So, when she heard that He was in her own town, what could she do but hasten to the Pharisee’s house, and brave the cruel, scornful eyes of the eminently respectable people that would meet her there? She carries with her part of the spoils and instruments of her sinful adornment, to devote it to His service; but before she can open the cruse, her heart opens, and the hot tears flow on His feet, inflicting an indignity where she had meant an honor."
2. Benjamin Keach says the creditor here no doubt refers to God. The debtor that owed the five hundred pence is Mary Magdalene and other great sinners that believe.
B. LET US CONSIDER A DESCRIPTION OF A DEBTOR.
1. A man may rob his neighbour of his goods, or of his good name, and so be a criminal and a debtor
2. Man broke God's holy law, and so became a debtor to His justice.
3. Debts may be more or less; one may own five hundred pence, and another fifty.
4. Debts may be so great, that a debtor may not be able to pay them; so sinners cannot satisfy God's justice for their sins; they have not one farthing to pay.
C. CONSIDER THE GREAT DEBT ALL MANKIND OWES TO GOD.
1. Lost men are in danger of having to settle their debt every moment.
a. (1 Sam 15:32-33) "Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past. And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal."
b. (Job 21:13) "They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave..
2. Other debts may be forgotten, and so not required; but the debt of sin cannot be forgotten of the Lord
a. (Amos 8:7) "The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works."
3. Cain’s debt is as fresh in God’s mind as if it were but yesterday.
4. Neither Angels nor men cannot save us from this debt.
a.
5. (1 Kings 2:28-29) "Then tidings came to Joab: for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after Absalom. And Joab fled unto the tabernacle of the LORD, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. And it was told king Solomon that Joab was fled unto the tabernacle of the LORD; and, behold, he is by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall upon him.
6. (Rev 6:16-17) "And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
7. (Ps 139:7) "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?"
8. On earth, an Illinois Governor may commute the death sentence, but not God.
D. CONSIDER THAT ALL MEN OWE THIS DEBT.
1. All men are charged with "Original sin." (Rom 5:12)
2. The charge of "original sin" is equally charged to each of us.
3. We are not only debtors but bankrupt before God. (They had nothing to pay)
a. When you have nothing with which to pay; the size of the debt matters not.
b. No doubt they had turned out their pockets, their cash-boxes, and their lockers, and they had found nothing with which to pay their debt.
4. Biblical Illustrator says: "There is a time when pardon comes, and that time is when self-sufficiency goes."
.Conclusion: Only through Christ can one's debt be satisfied: "He frankly forgave them both." (Vr. 42)
1. By His sacrifice He satisfied God’s justice, and paid the debt of sin
a. (Gal 1:4) "Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:"
b.
(Eph 1:7) "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;"c. (Col 1:14) "In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:"
d. (1 John 3:5) "And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin."
e. The pope claims to sell pardons; God alone can give them.
f. When the war between the states had passed, the North made proclamation of pardon to the common soldiery in the Confederate army, but not to the chief soldiers. The gospel of Christ does not act in that way. It says pardon for those with little debt and pardon for those deep in debt.
2. Caesar had been at fierce war with Pompey, and at last he conquered him, and when he conquered him he found among the spoil Pompey’s private cabinet, in which were contained letters from the various noblemen and senators of Rome who had sided with him. In many a letter there was fatal evidence against the most eminent Romans, but what did Caesar do? He destroyed every document. He would have no knowledge of his enemies, for he freely forgave them and wished to know no more. In this Caesar proved that he was fit to govern the nation. But look at the splendor of God when He puts all our sins into one cabinet, and then destroys the whole.