Good Morning and welcome in everybody. Today we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture from the book of Luke.
Luke 7 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.
In order to obtain forgiveness, we must first accept responsibility for what we are, sinners.
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Romans 3:23
Romans 3 ⁹ What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; ¹⁰ As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
In our passage, this woman felt overwhelmed with sorrow for the sins that she had committed. She wept openly before them all, completely ashamed of the things that she had done. She was filled with a contrite and penitent heart, which is a quality that one must possess in order to obtain forgiveness with God.
“The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” Psalms 34:18
When you wrong God or others, it should result in self-reproach and regret. True contrition is to possess a broken heart. Weeping is the outward evidence of this condition. Take for example, the following passage.
Luke 18 ¹⁰ Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. ¹² I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. ¹³ And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
The heart of the publican was filled with genuine sorrow, resulting in an outward display of his own grief. In order to find forgiveness with God or others, one must also possess this quality, and humbly admit fault.
2 Corinthians 7. ⁹ Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. ¹⁰ For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
There are two types of sorrow; one that comes from the mouth, and one that comes from the heart. You can say that you are sorry, or you can feel sorry, but only one leads to salvation.
James 4 ⁸ Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. ⁹ Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
God will bless those who are genuinely sorry for the wrong things they have done.
Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.” Luke 6:21
“Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” Matthew 5:4
When you are filled with Godly sorrow in your heart, it will result in works of repentance. You will possess a fervent desire to abandon your sinful life, and display outward works of goodness, righteousness and truth. Faith without works of repentance is dead, and those who abide in that state will ultimately be punished by God.
Matthew 3 ⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
In our study passage, the woman was so sorry for what she had done, she openly wept, which was then followed by numerous works of repentance. The Apostles Paul referred to himself as the chief of sinners, but look at all the works of repentance that he had! Works prove the status of one’s heart before God. This is exactly what the Apostle was preaching, a Holy directive, and a Holy direction.
Acts 26 ¹⁹ Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: ²⁰ But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.
Genuine repentance will result in works of love towards God or others. If you wrong a brother in the church, your apologies need to be backed up by doing something loving towards them. If your friend is upset because you wrecked his shirt, works of repentance dictate getting a new one for him. After all, isn’t this the way that you would want to be treated? These are loving works that prove we are sorry.
In our study passage, Jesus completely forgave the woman, because of her contrition, her change of heart, and her works of love. These are all outward signs of….
….. A Repentant Heart
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
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