THE REPENTANT SINNER AT HER

SAVIOUR'S FEET.

A Sermon preached at St. Luke's, Leamington, on Sunday Evening, June 15th, 1879, by FREDERICK HARPER, M.A., Vicar of Shalfleet.

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ST. LUKE VII. 36-50.

So

SPANISH ARTIST once painted a picture of the Last Supper. His intention was to make the countenance and figure of the great Master as prominent as possible; but, unfortunately, he placed on the table some chased cups, exceedingly beautiful and conspicuous. when his friends came to see the picture, they all remarked, "How exceedingly beautiful those cups are!" Thereupon the Artist took his brush, and rubbed all else from the canvas, leaving nothing but “Jesus only." Brethren, it seems to me that artist represents what the minister of the Gospel should be. He ought to be willing that his people should forget everything, if only, they know and feel that Christ is all and in all. Forget everything, I have told you if you like, and I shall still be satisfied if you remember that I preached unto you Jesus. I do not think you could find anywhere in the New Testament a more beautiful illustration of what the Saviour is, and what the Gospel does than in the passage I have just read. This incident happened more than 1800 years ago, and yet, men and women still weep at the feet of Jesus. I daresay, if you went throughout this town, and knew all hearts in it, you would find men and women and children, who could tell you, "I too have wept at the feet of my Saviour." When the Jews heard that our Lord was dead-when He had been buried-when the sepulchre had been sealed and the watch set, they thought all was over and that the life of Jesus closed on Calvary: but, my brethren, never were men so mistaken. The Man of Nazareth, the Christ of God still lives and there is nothing like the old, old story of His Cross to touch men's hearts and to turn men's lives. Music wont do it, sacrament wont do it, priestcraft wont do it: it is the story of the Saviour's love and grace alone which the Holy Spirit uses to touch the hearts of sinners and to turn their lives. Do you (I ask everyone in this Church to-night, do you) know anything of what we have been speaking about? Have you, like this woman, wept at the feet of Jesus? If you have, you can pray, as David

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prayed: (Psalm lvi. 8.) "Put thou my tears into Thy bottle; are they not in Thy book?" It is a beautiful idea that God has a book, in which He records every tear and every groan of His people. Some of you weep in secret for your own sins and the sins of others, and you may forget your tears, but God does not forget them. He keeps a perpetual record of them in His book. Have you wept over your sins? Men must weep over their sins sometime: if they don't now, they will have to weep over them in hell. "Blessed are they that mourn," said the Saviour, "for they shall be comforted." (Matt. v. 4).

This story of the penitent woman comes to my heart. And why do you think it is so? Because I feel that I too have need to weep continually at the feet of my Saviour. I love the woman. What a contrast she was to the self-righteous hypocritical Pharisee, who sat so piously muttering against her and against the dear Saviour Himself! I abominate the Pharisee, but I love the woman. She had a broken heart, and that is the gift of God. You know how it was with Pharaoh, the proud king of Egypt. He had in his kingdom all the treasures and curiosities of the East, but there was one thing which Pharaoh did not possess, and that was a broken heart. His heart was as hard as the nether mill-stone, and what were all his treasures in comparison with this! A broken and a contrite heart is the very best thing God can bestow. He gives many gifts to others, but this is the treasure which He keeps for His own elect; and He had given it to this woman. She could have said what we sometimes sing:

A broken heart my God and King,

Is all the sacrifice I bring;
The God of grace will ne'er despise
A broken heart for sacrifice.

And sure I am that, when the dear Master saw her tears-the sigh of her broken and contrite heart, when He beheld her weeping at His feet, He saw of the travail of His soul and was satisfied.

What did this poor woman do to show her love? If you love anybody, you like to be in their society, and you like to give them, may I not say-the best you have anything? And so, this woman brought the best she had-an alabaster box of ointment. A selfish worldling might have said (as Judas did say once), "Why was this waste of the ointment made?" But Jesus received it gladly, and we may be sure, nothing is too costly for Christ. She stood behind him, weeping in deep humility, her

heart breaking with love, and eyes brimful of tears, and washed His feet, and kissed them too. What did she care that other people were looking at her! She did not mind it-she thought of no one but her Saviour, and she was glad to show her love"She kissed His feet." But what is going on in the mind of (may we not say) the hypocritical Simon? Simon is thinking, and his thoughts go very fast. In this case they are interpreted into words by Him "from whom no secrets are hid." His thoughts ran thus: "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." (v. 39). You see there lay Simon's error-he did not know himself to be a sinner-a lost, ruined, hell-deserving sinner. My brethren, if a man has not right views about sin, he has right views about nothing in religion. You cannot take too strong views of sin. This man was wrong at the foundation, and the Lord told him a little parable; "There was a certain creditor, which had two debtors, the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty." (v. 40). It is my impression, that represents what each of them thought they owed. If you had asked the woman how much she owed-" How many are your sins?" she would have answered: "Oh, I can't tell you how many-I can't tell you how much I owe-five hundred pence!" Then if you

had asked Simon, he would have replied: Well, I don't know— very little indeed-fifty pence, perhaps!" It seems to me to represent what each of them thought they owed, though in reality, I am sure it was the poor woman who owed the fifty, and it was Simon who owed the five hundred. In God's ledger, I think the figures were reversed, Simon owed five hundred pence, and the poor penitent woman owed only fifty. And what happened? When they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both." (v. 41). Nothing to pay." Have we ever been brought to feel that, and to know it? that we owe God a great sum, and that we have "nothing to pay?" Have we ever been brought to feel that all our good works, prayers, tears, charities are all "nothing?" nothing?" Have we been brought to feel that our tears won't save us-our prayers won't save us-our good works won't save us? Have we ever realised the meaning of "Nothing in my hand I bring?" Those are the terms on which the Gospel must be received: "Nothing in my hands I bring." If you have not come to Christ empty-handed, you have not come at all.

When they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both." That is the Gospel. Our Lord now asks the question: "Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most?" the argument, as I understand it is this: Even supposing that

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Simon owed fifty pence, and the woman five hundred, and they are both forgiven, which will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most." (v. 43). And here, we see our Lord catches Simon in a net which his own crafty hands had laid; "You have been forgiven less, (we will suppose it) the woman more, tell me which will love most?" Simon is caught in the trap which he had set. And now the Lord said, turning to the woman, and no doubt pointing to her, as he spoke "Seest thou this woman "-look at her well, tuṛn your eyes right upon her! "I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet; but she hath washed my feet with tears." Oh, brethren, tears are the best prayers. Sometimes, when we cannot pray, we still can weep over our sins, and over our ingratitude to our heavenly Father. There's a great deal in that hymn which says:

"Prayer is the burden of a sigh."

When some of you sit down and say, "Oh that I were different! Oh that I were saved!" I think that prayer goes up to heaven. I hope it may.

"Prayer is the falling of a tear."

As we have said, tears are the best prayers-better than words. 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," verses 45, 46. 'You did not kiss my cheek, but she has kissed my feet: you did not anoint my head, but she has anointed even my feet. "Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much," verse 47. Now, here comes rather a difficult question: Did the women love Christ because she was forgiven, or was she forgiven because she loved? or in other words, which came first-forgiveness or love? Dear friends, there can be, I think, no manner of doubt. The forgiveness must surely have come first and then the love came afterwards; otherwise you would say that her love purchased her forgiveness, which, of course, would be utterly wrong. Christ forgave her many sins and she loved Him much, and He adds: "But to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little." If God forgives you few sins, you love Him little : if He forgives you more sins, you love Him more. The greater the sinner has been, the more devoted, and zealous, and earnest, the saint will be. Saul of Tarsus was an instance, he had been forgiven much, and

all he could do for his Master, he felt to be too little. Once the "chief of sinners," he becomes chief of the apostles.

What did the Saviour say to the woman? "Thy faith hath saved thee ;go in peace," v. 50, or, as it is in the Greek Testament (eís) "go into peace," and, my brethren, if God's Holy Spirit draws you to the Saviour's feet, to weep over your sins, that same Saviour, just as loving and as true as He ever was, will say to you even this night: "Go into peace," i.e. into a peace which can never end. That will be the condition of your life-you will live in peace, die in peace, and you will be for ever in peace. This, then, is the story of the penitent woman, and a very blessed story it isteaching us what God's grace can do. If there were no other chapter in all the Bible but this, I should still know that it is God's grace which saves souls. There were many women in that city-How was it that this woman was drawn to weep at the Saviour's feet? We can only answer by saying "It was of God's grace." It was not that she was better than others. She was a lost, ruined woman, and it was God's pity and compassion that turned her feet into the way of peace. What a wonderful thing God's grace is! There are many things in this world that are powerful. "Money" (Solomon says, Eccles. x. 19), “answereth all things" though that is true only as far as this world goes. Still, money gives a wide range of influence, it will get you lots of friends-the rich man is sure to have friends: it will purchase pleasure and very often a good name. All these things money will do. Again, eloquence is a marvellous power. See a man like George Whitfield, preaching to the colliers of Bristol, till the tears ran down their cheeks like rivers. I will tell you another thing that is very strong and that is, the waves of the sea. I have talked to sailors, and they have told me how bars of iron have been doubled up like ropes of sand by the mere force of the waves: but I know of something, and I preach something more powerful than money, or eloquence, or the waves of the sea, and it is the grace of God. That can bend the most stubborn will-it can touch the hardest heart. We have had an instance of it in the story of the woman, she " was a sinner." It is the grace of God which must begin the work in the heart of a sinner, and which, when it is begun, always carries it on:

"Grace all the work shall crown,

Through everlasting days :

It lays in heaven the topmost stone,

And well deserves the praise."

Every time I preach, as long as I live, I wish to preach about