NOTHING TO PAY
Luke 7: 36-50
Three miracles are recorded in Luke 7. First there is
a great miracle, the healing of the centurion's servant. Second
there is a greater miracle, the raising of a young man from the
dead. Lastly there is the greatest miracle of all, the forgiving
and restoring of a sinful woman.
I believe that forgiveness of a lost sinner is the greatest
miracle our Lord ever performs. Forgiveness produces the greatest
results. Most of all, forgiveness requires the greatest price.
It costs very little for God to heal the sick, but it cost His
Son's death on a cross for Him to forgive sinners.
I. The MUST OF FORGIVENESS
A. There are sins of the flesh and sins of the spirit.
Maybe Simon was not guilty of immorality, but he
was still a sinner. Simon was guilty of the sin of pride. He wrapped
himself with the mantle of self-righteousness; satisfied with
his own goodness, dignity, and importance. He looked down at her
in order to exalt himself. Simon compared himself with this woman
instead of with the Lord; the common mistake so many make.
B. There are sins of commission and sins of omission.
Simon knew what the woman had done, but forgot what
he himself had not done. He had not even shown Jesus the common
courtesies of the home - the kiss of welcome, water for His feet,
and oil for His head. It is so bad that this woman fell into sin,
but it is even worse that Simon was living in sin and did not
know it. The person who does not do what God requires is just
as guilty as the person who does what God forbids.
C. There are open sins and hidden sins.
Everyone at the feast knew who the woman was
and what she had done with her life. Her sins were open. But only
Jesus (who can read men's hearts) knew the sins in Simon's life.
It is important to realize that we are sinners whether
we feel guilty or not. That is the whole point of the parable
of the two debtors (Luke 7:41-43). Both of the men were in debt
and were bankrupt. The difference between 500 pence and 50 pence
is not a difference in guilt, for if we disobey in only one of
God's laws we are guilty. The two amounts represent a difference
in their sense of guilt. The woman was not more lost than the
Pharisee. She only felt her guilt and need for mercy far more
than Simon did.
II. THE MIRACLE OF FORGIVENESS
A. Fact of the debt
B. Freeness of the discharge - “He frankly forgave
them both.”
The only person that can forgive a debt is he to whom
the debt is due. God only can forgive sin, seeing it is a debt
to him. He against whom I have transgressed is the only one that
can pronounce my pardon; but if he forgives me, how effectual
is the sentence! When the creditor said, “I freely forgive
you both,” the deed was done. His lips had power.
When the Lord Jesus Christ is looked unto by the
eye of faith, there comes a voice from his dear wounds which cries
to the poor trembling bankrupt sinner, “Your sins, which
are many, are all forgiven. I have blotted out your sins like
a cloud, and like a thick cloud your iniquities.” What an
effectual pardon it is! He frankly, he fully, he freely, he effectually
forgave them both.
1. Here is A Saviour That Favors Sinners
2. Here is a A Saviour That Forgives Sinners
III. THE MANIFESTATION OF FORGIVENESS
Forgiveness of sins always results in a changed life. The
woman's faith in Christ granted her salvation, and that salvation
gave her forgiveness of sin. The result was a changed life.
What are some of the new things that characterized her changed
life?
A. New love
An old Welsh proverb says, "In every pardon
there is love."
B. New labor
The woman was not forgiven because she loved or labored,
but she loved and labored because she was forgiven.
Conclusion
I close with a story with a story from the life of the
great British preacher, Brownlow North. He had lived a wicked
life before he was saved. One evening as he entered a church where
he was to preach, a stranger walked up to him in a hurried manner,
and said, "Here is a letter for you of great importance,
and you are requested to read before you preach tonight."
Thinking that it might be a request for prayer, he immediately
opened it, and found that it contained a detail of some of the
things he had done in the past. The letter concluded with the
words, "How dare you, being conscious of the truth of all
above, pray and speak to the people this evening, when you are
such a vile sinner."
He put the letter in his pocket and when it came time for
him to preach; he pulled out the letter and told the people what
it said. He said to the crowded congregation, "What is here
said is true, and it is a correct picture of the degraded sinner
that I once was; and oh how wonderful must the grace be that could
quicken and raise me up from such a death in trespasses and sins,
and make me what I appear before you tonight, a vessel of mercy,
one who knows that all his past sins have been cleansed away through
the atoning blood of the Lamb of God."