author: Ryan Hayden Take your Bibles with me and turn again to Luke 7. Luke 7. Today we are going to be looking at a story that is found at the end of this chapter , starting in verse 36 and going through verse 50.

After the service today we are going to share a meal, as we do on the first Sunday of every month. We are going to have some soup today - I'm excited about it.

Have you ever had any really memorable meals?

• Maybe they are memorable because of where or what you ate. One time, my brother and his wife took Amanda and I into Boston and we ate at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and then went to a play. That was a very special meal I will always remember.
• Maybe it's memorable because of who you ate with: In high school once I got to eat lunch with former Vice President Dan Quayle - he ate a hamburger and fries. Another time I got to eat with one of my favorite preachers - John Geotch, and he barely talked.
• Or maybe it's memorable because something crazy happened: Maybe your family members got in a big fight at thanksgiving or something.

Today we are going to look at a story of a meal that I think everyone who is involved in would always remember.

• It was a meal were the host was being intentionally rude.
• It was a meal where their was a scandalous uninvited guest whose bizarre behavior no one would have forgotten.
• Most of all, it is a story of a meal that teaches us about grace and our own sin.

Let's read the text. Luke 7:36-50

[!bible] Luke 7:36-50 - KJV 36. And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat. 37. And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, 38. 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, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. 39. 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. 40. And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. 41. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. 42. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? 43. Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. 44. And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? 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. 45. Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. 46. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. 47. 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. 48. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. 49. And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? 50. And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.

Let's talk about what happened here. Jesus was invited to a dinner. A dinner at a Pharisee named Simon's house. So Jesus went.

But it was obvious as soon as Jesus got there that he was going to get a cold reception.

Typically, you would go into someone's home and they would give you a kind of side-hug and a kiss on the cheek and say "shalom." But Simon the Pharisee didn't do that.

In that day, it was customary to have a servant wash your guest's feet when they came into the house. Remember, the roads weren't paved, they walked around in sandals. So their feet would get very dirty. But Simon didn't do this either. Jesus had to eat with dirty feet.

It was also typical that you would give your guest a little oil that they would put in their hair. This was just common courtesy - they were freshening up for dinner - but Simon didn't do that.

So it was kind of obvious from the get go that this wasn't a friendly meal and that these hosts were determined to give Jesus kind of the cold shoulder. He wasn't there for them to honor him.

Another thing that you have to understand is that in Israel, in that day, there were two things that were very different about how they ate meals.

Typically, they ate these meals sort of outside in an open courtyard. There are a few places in the world where I've been where the weather is so nice that people eat outside as much as they eat inside. I remember a client once took us to a lovely Mediteranean restaurant in Santa Maria California and they had more outdoor seating than indoor seating - because the weather in that part of California is just about perfect 365 days a year.

Well, its that way in Israel. So the custom was they would have these meals in the courtyard, and the doors would be open, and anyone who was passing by could drop in and listen.

One more weird thing about how they ate (and this is really bizarre) is they didn't have tables and chairs like we think of them. They laid around a table on these slanted couches, propping up on one arm with their feet facing backward.

So we think of the Last Supper like this: (Show picture) but it was actually like this (Show picture.) I want to try that sometime and see what it was like.

Oh - one more thing that was weird about these meals is that typically - it was just men. The women weren't invited to these banquets. They might have been running around serving - but around the table it was just the dudes.

So are you picturing this meal with me?

• A bunch of Pharisees lying around a table in an open courtyard.
• Jesus there in the midst of them with his dirty feet sticking outward.
• People passing by on the street and coming in and out to see what was going on.
• Them having some kind of stilted and cold discussion because it was obvious they didn't really like Christ.

Well into this scene bursts a woman. Apparently she was someone who had recently become a follower of Jesus and she saw Jesus there with his dirty unwashed feet. She saw them being rude to Jesus and she was determined she was going to fix it.

So she came up the table and she just started washing Jesus feet. She was weeping. Overcome with emotion. Then, she realized this whole plan was not very well thought out. She didn't have anything to wash Jesus feet with - so she let down her hair and washed Jesus' feet with her hair. What's more - she didn't just wash Jesus' hair - she broke open an expensive bottle of perfume and poured it on his feet and then she kept kissing his feet.

Now, if this happened to one of our meals - if this happened at our fellowship hall today - everyone would stop and pay attention. This is weird. You would be able to hear a pin drop.

But the Bible adds one more detail. It tells us that Simon the Pharisee thought within himself that if Jesus was really a prophet, He wouldn't let this woman touch him, because she was a sinner.

What that means - and almost every commentary says this - is that she was almost certainly a former prostitute. And to make it even more bizarre - in jewish culture - ladies didn't let down their hair.

In fact, the talmud said that the only person a lady should let down her hair for was her husband, and if a married man heard that his wife let down her hair in front of another man, it was grounds for a divorce.

So this was a shocking - crazy event. No one is talking. Everybody is probably thinking the same thing "What. Did. I. Just. See.?"

Then Jesus broke the silence. He said to the host - to Simon "Simon, I've got something to tell you." Simon said "Ok."

"Simon, if a man has two creditors who owe him money, and one owes him 50 days wages (around $3,000 bucks) and the other owes him 500 days wages (around $30,000) and neither of them can pay him back - so he just forgives their debt - which one is going to love him more?"

"Um, I guess the guy who owed more."

"You're right. Now, when I came into your house - you didn't give me a greeting kiss - but she hasn't stopped kissing my feet. You didn't wash my feet, but she washed my feet with her tears. You didn't give me oil for my head - but she has given me expensive ointment for my feet."

And here is what I think Jesus was saying, this woman, because she was a sinner, because she had the bigger debt, had the bigger gratitude. Simon, because he thought he was a righteous man, had no understanding of who Jesus was.

So here is what I want to preach to you today. Here is the message I think God has for us in this text:

"Christ freely forgives sinners, but to receive that grace, you must first see your sin. This awareness ignites gratitude, love, and devotion."

I want to give you three points this morning as we think about that: First I want to talk about sinners, then I want to talk about self-righteousness, finally, I want to talk about worship. Sinners, self-righteousness, worship.

Let's pray and we'll get into our message.

The first thing I want us to think about as we consider this story is...

1. Christ's grace is for sinners.

This woman in this story was a sinner. That's what Simon the Pharisee called her. A sinner. But it sure seems like it was the sinner in this story that received God's grace - and not the Pharisee.

Jesus' little parable about the two debtors was meant to clarify something and bring something to Simon's attention. And it reminds us of a few things:

First,

A. Even the most righteous of us have a sin debt we cannot pay.

Both the person who owed 50 denari and the person who owed 500 denari both owed a debt they couldn't pay. They were both insolvent. They were both hopeless debtors. When you reach hopeless debtor status - the amount doesn't really matter, you have an unpayable debt.

And this is to remind us that we all have an unpayable debt. All of us have a sin debt before a holy God. Every one of us is going to stand before God and be judged for our sins.

What is a sin? Anything we do, say or think that is against God and His law.

• Every time we worship something else - that's a sin.
• Every time we fail to give Christ the honor He deserves - that is a sin.
• Every time we lie - that is a sin.
• Every lustful and angry thought we have - that is a sin.
• Every time we are jealous of what God has given others - that is a sin.

And we will be judged for all of our sins before a holy, sinless God. Listen, even if you could draw a line in the sand today and never sin again (you would fail) but lets say you could. You lived out the rest of your days and never sinned again - that doesn't account for all of the sins you've already committed.

It would be like if you could go to the bank and say "Ok, I'll never take on any more debt." They would say "um, that's' great, but you still have a mortgage and credit card debt to pay."

In the eyes of God, we owe a debt of sin. Everyone of us are sinners before God and every one of us, outside of Christ will stand and pay that debt in God's judgment.

In Bible times, if you owed a debt you couldn't pay - it was bad. They sold you into slavery. They sold your kids into slavery. So when Jesus said that this creditor forgave their debts, that was a huge thing for them. That wasn't just removing the debt, that was removing slavery.

And so this parable is meant to remind us of a second truth...

B. God graciously forgives everyone who comes to Him through Christ.

When we come to Christ in faith, our sins are forgiven. Like Jesus said to the woman here in this story "thy faith hath saved thee" when we come to Christ in faith - He forgives our sin.

We all know John 3:16:

[!bible] John 3:16 - KJV 16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

God gave us His only begotten son - God gave us Jesus - so that if we just believe in Him we will not perish in judgment, but have everlasting life.

1 John 4:9-10 puts it this way:

[!bible] 1 John 4:9-10 - KJV 9. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

God showed His love for us by sending Jesus to be the propitiation for our sins - the payment for our sins.

You see, God didn't just strike out our debt. God payed our sin debt through Christ. God put Christ on the cross and poured out the wrath that belonged to me and the wrath that belonged to you on Him.

And how do we receive this forgiveness? We receive it through faith. Again, Jesus told this sinful woman "thy faith hath saved thee." Don't get the idea that Jesus was saying she was saved because of the worship she showed here - I believe she had already trusted Christ and Jesus was just giving her assurance. She was saved by faith.

[!bible] Ephesians 2:8-9 - KJV 8. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9. Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Let me tell you today - you have a debt before God. You are a sinner before God. And it is a debt you cannot pay. You will be insolvent on that debt.

But Jesus paid that debt for you. Jesus took your sins upon Himself and bore the wrath of God that you deserved and if you put your faith in Him, you can be forgiven.

That is the gospel.

Now, I told you the first thing I wanted to talk about today was Christ's grace for sinners. The second thing I want us to think about as we consider this story is how

2. Self-righteousness blinds us to our need for God's grace.

You see, in our story, we have three main characters: Jesus, the woman who was a sinner, and Simon the Pharisee.

Simon was appalled that this woman would come in and wash Jesus feet and touch him, because she was a sinner.

But in Jesus' little parable - He pointed out that both Simon and the woman were sinners. The problem was that Simon didn't see it. Simon thought he was so good and so much better than this woman, that he totally took Jesus and the forgiveness Jesus offered for granted.

It's very likely that Simon went to his grave having never trusted Christ, and faced God's judgment: death and Hell. But the forgiveness He needed was right there. His Salvation was in his house, and he didn't accept Him. Why? because he didn't think he needed Christ. He didn't think he was in debt.

Church, the great danger most of us are in is that we are very familiar with Christ, so familiar that we do not honor Him as we ought to - and we are so caught up in our external righteousness that we don't even see our need for a savior.

We go to church so we don't ever see ourselves as sinners. We read the Bible so we don't ever see ourselves as sinners. We dress right so we don't ever see ourselves as sinners. We are faithful to our wife so we don't ever see ourselves as sinners.

And do you know what we often do? We often see other people's external sins but fail to recognize our own internal sins.

This is what the Pharisees did. They were so big on their external righteousness:

• How often they went to church
• How they dressed
• Their religious rules That they couldn't even see their internal sins:
• Pride
• Greed
• Calloused hearts to the poor
• Selfishness

But listen, what this story shows us is that both Simon and the woman owe a debt they can't pay. One might be 50 and one might be 500 - but both are unpayable debts.

And here this: Yes, Jesus died for our sins and bore our sins on the cross. Yes, we can be saved if we come to Him as sinners and accept in faith what He gives us.

But if we are so self-righteous that we never see our need for Christ - we are going to split hell wide open. If we never accept Christ's free gift - then we will be judged in our sins.

So I want to plead with you today - don't be a Simon the Pharisee. Don't be so self-righteous that you forget your need for a Savior.

author: Ryan Hayden

So we've talked about sin, we've talked about self-righteousness, there is one more thing this story teaches us that is beautiful and it is about worship.

This woman came into the courtyard where Jesus was eating. She washed his feet - doing the service Simon refused to do. She kissed his feet. She wept over Christ. She poured out probably her most expensive possession on Christ.

The whole thing was so over the top. It was so awkward. But it was also so pure. And I think it teaches us the key to worship.

So I've talked about how this story shows us God's grace for sinners. I've talked about how it shows us the dangers of self-righteousness. The third thing this story shows us is..

3. The key to worship is being aware of how much we have been forgiven.

You see, the reason why this woman could worship Jesus so purely is because she was a sinner. It was because she knew how much she had been forgiven. She knew the slavery she had been set free from. She had felt the weight of that debt of 500 pence.

And she knew that this man, this Jesus, had forgiven her. He had wiped her slate clean. And so she loved Him so much. She would give anything to Him.

Do you know why we don't worship Christ as He deserves to be worshipped? We don't do it because we have forgotten our debt. Or because we don't think much of our debt.

We are going to take the Lord's supper this afternoon - and do you know what that is supposed to remind us of? What our sin cost Jesus. My sin. My wickedness. The awful things I have done and said. My callous heart to the Lord. It put Jesus on the tree. My sin caused His precious body to be broken and His precious blood to be shed.

When your love for Christ runs cold - remember your debt. When you sing with no heart - remember what Jesus forgave. When you don't want to serve Him - remember what you have been forgiven.

to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

The problem with our worship is we don't realize how much we have been forgiven.

Conclusion

So let's wrap this up. Who do you relate to in this story?

Maybe you are like Simon the Pharisee in this story and you have been so blinded by your own self-righteousness that you fail to see your need for Jesus.

But you have a debt - a debt you cannot pay on your own - and Jesus died to pay that debt for you. Why not come to Christ? Why not trust Him?

Or maybe today you are like this woman - this woman who was a sinner - and you have trusted Christ and you need to hear His assurance - thy faith hath saved thee. Yes, God's forgiveness is real. Yes, He will still save you.

But I suspect what most of us need to see from this story is to be reminded of how much we have been forgiven, and to be reminded of how we should love God. He is so deserving. We have been forgiven much - let us love much.

Let's' stand and have an invitation and prayer. How ever God has touched you today, don't sit on it. Don't be like Simon who doesn't give Jesus what He deserves. Give Him your worship today.

Let's pray.