An Unexpected Guest

We open the word of God to Luke chapter 7, and I begin reading at verse 36 about a woman who discovered that Jesus Christ truly is the friend of sinners. 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 eat.

And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus was eating in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment and stood at his feet behind him, weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had bidden him saw it, he spoke 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. And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee.

And he said, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor who had two debtors, the one owed 500 pence and the other 50. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both.

Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. 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 hair of her head.

Thou gavest me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. 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. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. And they that were eating with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee.

Go in peace. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God. She was not invited to the dinner, but she came just the same.

And when she showed up, the host was horrified. Simon the Pharisee was a man of good reputation, and when a common prostitute from off the street came into the feast, Simon was horrified. His guests were embarrassed.

What do you say? And so they said nothing. What would you have said? Well, our Lord Jesus had no problem. In fact, he had more of a problem with Simon than he did with the woman.

And he spoke to the woman, and he received her worship and her adoration. And he said to her, Your sins are forgiven. And of course, that statement stultified the people even more than her entrance to the feast.

And they looked at each other, and they said, Who is this that forgives sins? And speaking to the woman, Jesus says, Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. This incident recorded in Luke chapter 7 deals primarily with the subject of forgiveness.

And forgiveness is a very important subject, because a great deal of the problems that people are facing today stem from a misunderstanding of forgiveness. There are people who can't get along with themselves because they don't understand forgiveness. There are people who can't get along with other people because they don't understand forgiveness.

And of course, all of this stems from an inability to get along with God. Some people can't think of their past. Some can't face the present.

Some are dreading the future. And yet, all of these problems would be solved if people would just claim and understand the forgiveness of God. And so, let's take this passage in Luke chapter 7 and discover from it four very important facts about forgiveness.

And my friend, if you will understand and apply these facts, I think you may find yourself enjoying life a lot more. Able to get along with God and able to get along with other people, able to get along with yourself, able to face the past without regret, the present without fear, the future without fear. It's a marvelous thing to experience and understand the forgiveness of God.

Fact number one, forgiveness is something that everyone needs. Now if you had been at that feast that was hosted by Simon the Pharisee and you had seen this woman come in, I dare say most of us would have sort of drawn back in horror and said, we don't want to have anything to do with her because we're better than she is. That's what Simon did.

Simon looked down his nose at her and then he looked at Jesus and he said, if this man were really a prophet, he'd know what she is. She's a sinner. Why, we see her walking the streets of Capernaum.

We know what she is. She's a sinner. You don't find Simon saying, I'm a sinner.

You don't find Simon saying, isn't it marvelous that the Savior receives people who are down and out as well as people like me who are up and out? You see, forgiveness is something that everybody needs. Now you have Simon the Pharisee who was at the top of the ladder socially, religiously, morally, financially. You have this woman who wasn't even on the ladder.

She was somewhere under the ground, under the ladder, morally and religiously and socially and spiritually. You have two extremes and yet Jesus says both of them are sinners. You see, there are sins of the flesh and there are sins of the spirit.

I'm glad that Simon was not guilty of sins of the flesh. No one should ever get up and brag and say, I have been such a terrible, dirty person. No, that's nothing to brag about.

Keep it to yourself. Hang your dirty wash in private. Don't hang it in public.

We don't rejoice because someone plunges into a cesspool of iniquity. No. Simon was not guilty of sins of the flesh, but he was guilty of sins of the spirit.

He may not have been guilty of fornication, but he may have been guilty of pride and pride is a sin. He may not have been a prodigal son, but he was an elder brother and he could pull up his skirts and fold his arms and criticize other people. There are sins of the flesh and there are sins of the spirit.

And none of us should ever say, well, I have never done that and I have never done that. Let's just look in the mirror and find what we have done. Forgiveness is something everybody needs.

There are sins of omission and there are sins of commission. Imagine how embarrassed Simon the Pharisee was when Jesus said, why are you pointing your finger at this woman? You're criticizing her for what she has done. Let me tell you what you haven't done.

You haven't given me a kiss. You haven't washed my feet. You haven't anointed me.

There you sit saying she did this. And I say to you, Simon, you're guilty of sins of omission. Oh, you may not be guilty for what you've done, but what about what you haven't done? Forgiveness is something that everybody needs.

There are sins of the flesh and there are sins of the spirit. There are sins of omission. There are sins of commission.

There are sins that people can see, like the sins of this woman. And there are sins that people cannot see, like the sins of Simon the Pharisee. Oh, you may sit in Moody Church today and you may raise your eyebrows at some of the people around you.

What they have done has been exposed to everybody. What you have done has not been exposed yet. Just wait, it will be.

Forgiveness is something that everybody needs. The moral sinner needs it. The immoral sinner needs it.

The open sinner needs it. The hidden sinner needs it. That's why Jesus told this story.

Here are two men who owed some money. One owed about $80, the other owed about $8. And the man who carried these mortgages frankly forgave them both.

That word frankly is a wonderful word. Graciously forgave them both. You see, Simon says, well, I've got the $8 debt.

And the woman says, well, I've got the $80 debt. But that's not what Jesus said. When our Lord talks about someone who says, I am tremendously in debt to God, He's not talking about the extent of their guilt.

Sin is sin. It wasn't the publicans and sinners that crucified Jesus, it was the Pharisees. It wasn't the irreligious crowd that hounded Him to Calvary, it was the religious crowd.

The proud, brittle, self-righteous, ultra-religious crowd. Now, when Jesus says one man owed $80 and the other owed $8, He wasn't talking about the extent of sin. He was talking about the extent of the consciousness of sin.

He wasn't saying this woman had sinned more than Simon. What He was saying was her sins are different, but they're both sinners and they're both bankrupt. That's the story.

The man had two debtors. One owed $80, the other owed $8. When they had nothing to pay, Simon was just as bankrupt as the woman.

The difference between Simon and the woman was this. She knew she was a sinner. She had that conviction, that consciousness of guilt.

She came and she wept and she said, I know I'm a sinner. Simon said, well, I haven't done things quite that bad. And so I say it again.

The very first fact you better get a hold of is this. Forgiveness is something that everybody needs. Now, the reason Simon did not think he needed forgiveness was because he measured himself by the woman.

He should have measured himself by the Lord. And had he put his own righteousness against the righteousness of Jesus Christ, he too would have had to fall on his face and say, I am bankrupt. I cannot pay.

Do you need forgiveness today? Fact number one, forgiveness is something that everybody needs. Fact number two, forgiveness comes only from Christ. When this woman came to the feast, she didn't have an invitation.

But you know, wherever Jesus Christ is, there's an open invitation to sinners. Simon wouldn't invite her, but Jesus would. Jesus is the friend of publicans and sinners.

In fact, just in the previous passage in Luke, in Luke chapter 7 and verse 34, the Son of Man is come eating and drinking and you say, behold, a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. You see, you want to be known as the friend of the best people. There are some people who are name droppers.

I have a friend. If I were to name him, many of you would know him. And whenever you are with him, he starts to drop names.

He saw this famous person. He saw that famous person. His only fame is in his friendships.

Jesus Christ's fame was not in his friendships. His grace was in his friendships. His love was in his friendship.

He is the friend of publicans and sinners. And so he received her. He understood her.

He loved her and he forgave her. Forgiveness comes only from Jesus Christ. She didn't get her forgiveness from the Pharisee.

He couldn't give her forgiveness. She didn't go down to the priest. He couldn't give her forgiveness.

The temple couldn't do it. The religion couldn't do it. Only Jesus could do it.

And when Jesus said to her, your sins are forgiven, it was as though an electric current went around that table. As you know, people reclined at the table to eat back in Jesus' day. That's why she could come behind him and anoint his feet and wipe his feet.

She didn't have to get under the table. His feet were right there by the edge of the table. And when Jesus said, your sins are forgiven you, an electric current went around that table.

And people looked at each other and they were completely stunned. But only Jesus Christ can look into your heart and say to you, your sins are forgiven. The reason he didn't say that to Simon was because Simon wouldn't admit his sin.

Simon wouldn't come and say, I am a sinner. I repent of my sin. And this woman repented of her sin.

And it was her faith that saved her. Notice verse 50. Thy faith hath saved thee.

Not thy tears. Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no languor know? These for sin could not atone. Thou must save, and thou alone.

In my hand no price I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. You ought to connect the word faith in verse 50 with the word frankly up in verse 42.

He was able to respond to her faith and forgive her because he frankly, graciously forgives. Now when you read this story about the two debtors, you scratch your head and say, just a minute. One man owed $80, the other man owed $8.

He frankly forgave them both. That means that the man to whom they owed the money paid the price. That's right.

You know, when you forgive somebody, you pay a price. It costs to forgive. It costs Jesus to forgive.

Rest assured, my friend, nobody is saved because of God's love. God loves the whole world, and the whole world's not saved. We're saved not by love, but by grace.

Grace is the expression of God's love towards sinners. And God in His grace gives us what we don't deserve. And God in His mercy doesn't give us what we do deserve.

And because Jesus paid the price, because He paid the bankruptcy that we owed, He's able to say to us, I forgive you. Forgiveness is something that everybody needs. And forgiveness comes only through Christ.

Now how do you know you're forgiven? Well, verse 48, He tells us so. Thy sins are forgiven. How do you know you're forgiven? The Word of God tells us.

How do you know you're forgiven? There's a peace in your heart, verse 50. Go in peace. How do you know you're forgiven? He gives you peace down inside, and you are right with God, and you're right with yourself, and you're right with other people.

God has wiped the record clean. God has put His righteousness on the record. God has given you a right standing before Him.

He hasn't just forgiven you until the next time you sin. Having forgiven us all of our trespasses, past and present and future, and so wherever she looked, there was forgiveness. If she looked back and said, oh, I remember those wicked things I've done.

God said, your sins are forgiven. If she looked around, and she perhaps saw people with whom she had sinned, and her conscience would smite her, and God would say, your sins are forgiven you in the present. And she looks ahead and says, what about next week? Your sins are forgiven you.

How do we know that we're forgiven? His word tells us. How do we know that we're forgiven? Our hearts tell us. There's that peace of God down in our hearts.

Forgiveness is something that everybody needs. Forgiveness comes only from Jesus Christ. There's a third fact that we need to lay hold of today.

That's this. Forgiveness changes your life. I meet multitudes of people in the city of Chicago who want to change their lives.

This is why adult education is so popular in this city, and I'm in favor of adult education. No need to grow older and dumber. Learn as much as we can learn.

People are saying, I've got to improve my personality, but they're dealing with the symptom, not the cause. I've got to increase my skills. That'll make me happier.

No, you're dealing with the symptoms and not the cause. If I just made more money, if I just lived in a different house, if only I could have better associates. No, you're dealing with the symptoms and not the cause.

The basic need in every heart is forgiveness. And once we are forgiven, once that sin problem has been taken care of, it changes our lives. Now look at this woman.

How would you have gone about changing this woman? Pass stronger laws against prostitution? You can do that. Wouldn't change the woman. Fine her? Wouldn't change her.

How would you go about changing Simon the Pharisee? He needed changing. He was critical, unbelieving, bitter, proud. How would you change him? Would you give to the woman what Simon had? Didn't help him any.

You see, we have to change the heart. And you and I cannot change human hearts. The law can't change the human heart.

Circumstances can't change the human heart. People can't change the human heart. Only forgiveness can do that.

When God forgives our sins, there's a new purity down inside. And that's why you find this woman coming and showing her love to Jesus Christ. I tell you, you've got to sense some holiness, some purity down inside to get that close to Jesus.

Up until the time she had been forgiven, she kept her distance. Oh, I don't dare get close to him. I'm so defiled.

He's so holy. I am so wretched. He is so blessed.

I'll keep my distance. But when she experienced the forgiveness of God down inside, she was reconciled to God. And there was a new fellowship with God, a new purity.

There was a new love. You see, when she came with that box of ointment, you know what she was doing? That ointment was one of the tools of her trade. You read the book of Proverbs about the description of the harlot, and she says, I have perfumed my bed.

And so she came to Jesus, and she brought to him, and she said, What I have been using now in sin, I will now give to you, and I will use for holiness. I'm going to bring to you my life and my love. I'm going to bring to you all that I have.

My Bible says the sacrifice of God is a broken heart, a broken and a contrite spirit. God is not going to despise. And she came with her broken heart, and she broke the ointment upon him, and she anointed him.

Her life was changed. She had whole new values, new purity, new love, new values, a new reason for living. And watch this now.

She had all new relationships. See, part of your problem is you've got some relationships that bother you. There's a relationship maybe with a husband or a wife or a child, an employer.

Who knows? And these relationships have to be changed. How do you change them? The lawyer. No, a lawyer doesn't change relationships.

He might help to define them. He can't change them. How do you change relationships? You change hearts.

How do you change hearts? You forgive them. Jesus says to her, Go in peace. That little word in is the Greek word into.

Go into peace. Not just go with peace in you, but you go into peace. Woman, wherever you walk from now on, you walk into peace.

Now, don't worry about your relationship to God. You'll have peace with God. God's forgiven you.

And don't be afraid of your relationship to other people. And she wasn't. She wasn't afraid of Simon.

She wasn't threatened by the other people there at that feast. She was right with God. And when you're right with God, you walk into peace.

Peace with God. Peace with other people. Her relationship with other people was settled.

And you know what? Her relationship with herself was changed. Up till then, she had been guilty. Up till then, she punished herself.

She hated herself. She rejected herself. But now she's forgiven herself.

The problem with some of you people is you believe God has forgiven you, but you won't forgive yourself. And so instead of walking into peace, you walk into accusation and guilt and trouble. And you say, oh, I can't forgive myself.

God's forgiven you. Are you going to make yourself greater than God? And so she had a new purity and a new love and new values and all new relationships. And from then on, it wasn't war.

It was peace. The Bible says the carnal mind is enmity against God. And she'd been a fleshly person.

And she was at war with God and at war with people and at war with herself. But now she'd been forgiven. And forgiveness changes your life.

A whole new life moved in. And she said, I'm walking into peace. Wherever I go, I have peace with God, peace with others, peace with myself.

Wouldn't you like to have that today? You can have it. The same way she received it, just come to Jesus Christ and trust him. Forgiveness is something that everybody needs.

Forgiveness comes only from Christ. Forgiveness changes your life. Finally, forgiveness may be rejected.

You can reject forgiveness. Simon did. Simon rejected forgiveness.

The story said he frankly forgave them both. There was forgiveness for the man who owed $80. There was the forgiveness for the man who owed $8.

There was forgiveness for the prostitute. There was forgiveness for the Pharisee. The woman accepted it.

The Pharisee didn't. You know why you aren't forgiven today? You've rejected it. Now, why did Simon reject forgiveness? One word.

Blindness. He was blind. I don't mean physically blind.

Obviously, that's not true. He was spiritually blind. First, he was blind to himself.

He didn't see himself. He saw the woman. She's a sinner.

But he didn't see himself. He reminds me of this little statement over in Revelation 3, verse 17, where Jesus said to one of the churches, Thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, whereas thou knowest not that thou art poor and wretched and blind and naked. The American Medical Association tells us that there are tens of thousands of people walking the streets who are diabetic and don't know it.

That there are thousands of people walking the streets who have cancer and don't know it. And being ignorant of your own condition is a first step toward death. And he was blind to himself.

You know why? He was comparing himself with the worst he could find, the woman. He wasn't comparing himself with the best he could find, the Lord Jesus. Oh, you may come to the Moody Church and look around and say, Well, I'm as good as those people.

In fact, I'm better. And maybe you are. But I invite you to look at Jesus Christ and I dare you to say, I'm better.

I dare you to say, I'm as good as. He was blind to himself. That's why he rejected forgiveness.

He didn't think he needed it. And he was blind to the Lord Jesus. He said, This man, if he were a prophet.

He looked at the Lord Jesus as the Lord Jesus was accepting the worship of this woman. And he said, Well, he's not a prophet. He'd know what she was like.

He didn't realize who Jesus was. And when our Lord said, Your sins are forgiven. Simon, who knew the Bible, should have said, Only God can forgive sins.

He must be God. If he can forgive sins, he is God. And if he can forgive her sins, he can forgive my sins.

Oh, what an opportunity he missed. I don't know why he invited Jesus over to begin with. Curiosity.

Criticism. I don't know why he invited Jesus to his house. Maybe like Nicodemus, he was concerned about spiritual things.

I don't know. I know this much. He missed his opportunity.

I wonder if some of you are going to miss your opportunity for forgiveness. Because of your blindness. You don't really see yourself.

You don't really see Jesus Christ. How wonderful he is. And that he died for you.

And that he wants to frankly, freely, graciously, eternally, permanently, forgive you. This man was also blind to the woman. Jesus turned to him and said, Simon, do you see this woman? He said, Yeah.

He said, No, you don't. You don't really see this woman. You see her past.

You don't see her future. I do. Oh, how we love to look at people and say, She did that.

He did that. Our Lord doesn't look at us in terms of the past. He looks at us in terms of the present and the future.

He saw the potential in that woman. He saw she could be saved and become a child of God and serve him. Simon, do you see this woman? Yes.

Oh, no, you don't. No, you're blind to yourself and you're blind to the Lord Jesus and you're blind to this woman. You see the outside.

You don't see the inside. It's a tragedy to be blind. Jesus said, For judgment am I come into this world that those who see might be blind and those who don't see might be able to see.

And one of the Pharisees spoke up and said, Are you talking about us? And he was. You see, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes with his offer of forgiveness. Forgiveness may be rejected.

And that's an awful thing because Simon the Pharisee could have experienced a whole new life. He could have had a reality instead of religion. He could have had God's righteousness instead of self-righteousness.

He could have taken off that yoke of bondage that he was carrying, trying to keep the law and put on the yoke of Jesus Christ, which is easy and the burden, which is light. But every time we preach the word of God and every time we offer God's gracious salvation, there are people who say no. Blind people who say no.

May I warn you, my friend, you won't have an opportunity every day to trust Christ. And if you're blind to yourself and blind to the Lord and blind to other people, one of these days God will put you in a place where you'll be blind forever. A place of darkness and blackness and horror eternally.

I said God will put you there. Actually, you'll put yourself there because you've rejected his forgiveness. And so forgiveness is something everybody needs.

The religious sinner. The gutter sinner. Forgiveness comes only from Jesus Christ.

You've got to come to him. He's cornered the market on forgiveness. He purchased it on the cross.

Forgiveness will change your life. When you're right with God, then you're right with other people. And you're right with yourself.

And you're right with your past. And you're right with your present. And you're right with your future.

And life takes on peace. And where there's peace, there's joy. For the fruit of the Spirit is love and joy and peace.

Forgiveness may be rejected. As we extend the invitation today, you can reject it. I trust you won't.

I trust you'll receive forgiveness. I trust that you'll come and receive Christ as your Savior. And then you'll be able to walk out of this auditorium and say to the next person you meet, Do you know what happened to me? He frankly forgave me.

I walked in bankrupt. Now I'm rich. I walked in guilty.

Now I'm pardoned. I walked in stained. Now I'm washed clean.

I walked in with the burden of sin. Now I'm forgiven. He frankly forgave them both.

Will you receive forgiveness today? And then learn to forgive others and forgive yourself. Heavenly Father, what a marvelous miracle is the miracle of forgiveness. It meets the greatest need that we have.

It costs the greatest price. It costs you very little to heal a body or even to raise the dead. But, oh, what it costs you to forgive us.

Thank you, Father, for this wonderful free offer of forgiveness. May there be many who will come and claim your word and experience your grace and go into peace. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.