seven guys so being uh for those that are first time visitors what we do is we go through the
bible chapter by chapter on sunday mornings so uh we're up to luke chapter seven and we
try to go through the whole chapter as much as we possibly can so luke chapter seven if
you look at verse number nine luke chapter seven verse nine the bible reads when jesus
heard these things he marveled at him and turned him about and said unto the people that
followed him i say unto you i have not found so great faith no not in israel the title of the
sermon this morning is so great faith you know jesus christ was surprised he was amazed to see
so great faith and i hope that we can work toward being those kind of people that jesus
christ can look down on us and say hey look at that great faith look at new life baptist
church look at that so great faith that i see on the sunshine coast so if we start with verse
number one luke chapter seven verse one the bible says now when he had ended all his
sayings in the audience of the people he entered into capernaum and a certain centurion
servant who was dear to him was sick and ready to die so here we have yes jesus christ
and i've been mentioning this in some of the previous chapters we have jesus christ yes primarily
focusing his ministry on the israelites primarily on the jews but here we have a roman centurion
a gentile you know the jews would see him as a heathen even right he's a centurion what
does centurion mean does anyone know it's kind of like how we use have the word century century
right when we talk about a century we're talking about a hundred years aren't we
so centurion was a man who had about a hundred people under his authority okay he was a roman
soldier with about a hundred people under his command we get to verse number three and look at
this when he heard of jesus he sent unto him the elders of the jews beseeching him that he
would come and heal his servant so verse number three tells us a lot about this roman centurion
tells us a lot that he heard of jesus and he calls out to jesus christ do you think his faith
was in the right place absolutely right we see that this man was already a man who was already
sort of aware of the god of the god of israel even though he was a roman and then he says he
sent unto him the elders of the jews so even the jews the elders those that were respected
those that were honored heard his command you know so this was a man with a good reputation
even amongst the elders of the land even as a non-jewish man and then we see that he
beseeches christ is calling upon christ that he would come and heal his servant so we see the
heart of the man there as well that he cares for his servants you know yes he's a man of
authority yes he's a man of power but you can see that pride has not gone to his head
he loves his servant so much that he would call on jesus christ to come and heal him so all
around we see this centurion as far as the goodness of man is concerned he's a pretty decent guy
he's a pretty good guy he's well respected he's well liked verse number four and when they came
to jesus these are the elders of the jews when they came to jesus they besought him instantly
saying that he the roman centurion he was worthy for him uh he should do this and then
look what they say about him for he loveth our nation and he have built us a synagogue so there
we have it now we know why this man trusts in jesus christ now we know why he knows that
jesus christ can come and heal his servant because he loves the nation of israel he loves
their nation now i don't want you guys to confuse the nation of israel in the time of
jesus christ with the nation of israel today all right we can't confuse these two things we
need to transport ourselves back to this time right there was still the temple worship you know
by and large we had the ministry of john the baptist beforehand preparing a generation
for the coming of the lord jesus christ right and the god of the nation of israel was of
course the god of abraham isaac and jacob the true god of the bible all right and so when
we see that this man loved the nation what did he love about the nation did he love the
sin of the nation was that what he was what he was enjoying was that the uh you know the
tourists tourists that's places that he can go and visit was it the scenery that he loved
about the nation no we see there that he have built us a synagogue what did he love about
the nation what was the synagogue used for it was used on the sabbath day for people to go
into into that place and hear the reading of god's word and the preaching of god's word so
we see what he loves about the nation of israel he loves the scriptures he loves hearing the
word of god that's what he loves about israel okay now we need to understand this because there
are those that say well we have to and this is so unusual in christianity today we have
people that say you have to love the nation of israel today the modern day nation of israel
today now let me say a couple of things here i love every ethnicity every race equally
okay equally everybody without the lord jesus christ is going to eternity in hell and we ought
to love everybody so much for it to drive us as a church to go out there knock doors and
preach the gospel all right and if there are brethren in other nations and they're doing the
same job praise god we ought to be praying for them and blessing them and encouraging them
all right so please don't misunderstand but do you think the centurion today
the centurion that we're reading about could love the nation of israel today
do you think loving israel today as a as a man and building them synagogues today would
lead him to believe on jesus christ the way he called on jesus christ to come and heal
his servant i'm talking about today absolutely not all right today unfortunately the nation
of israel have turned away from the scriptures all right they do not believe on the lord jesus
christ in fact they hate him they reject the lord jesus christ so do you see the centurion
today going and building a synagogue for the false religion of judaism of course not all
right now if the nation had received christ i could see him today yeah building the synagogue
or building a building where they can meet for church or what have you all right but we
need to understand guys what we see in the bible we can't necessarily um associate with today
because israel today the jews as a whole have rejected christ they hate christ they blaspheme
his name and they believe their works they believe their good works they believe their
uh descendancy will get them saved and that is not true jesus christ said i am the way the
truth and the life no man cometh unto the father except by me okay so we need to understand this
guys as we read through the scriptures uh you know the times of of jesus time were very
different to the times that we see today in that land all right now another thing that i
want you guys to realize and i've been thinking about this and i've been saying this to you
guys a few times a lot of people ask the questions you know obviously there were people
saved in the old testament okay obviously there were people saved and in the old testament days
it was the same way it was salvation by grace through faith their faith was on god the god of
the bible okay and we see that in in the old testament days a lot of what they did was
picturing christ you know the sacrifices the daily sacrifices of the animals you know was
ultimately picturing the ultimate sacrifice of the lord jesus christ all right and and the
priests in the garments are being washed represented the righteousness of christ and
and and jesus christ being our our great high priest in the new testament but remember the
new testament days did not begin until the death of the testator until jesus christ was
crucified and rose again from the dead that's when the new testament day started but of
course people were saved in the old testament okay so the question comes those that were saved
in the old testament did they have to believe on jesus to maintain their salvation or you know
could they lose their salvation or anything like that i mean what are your thoughts we'll see
sooner i'll show you something a couple of examples here but this is what i believe and i
think this is what we see in the scriptures as you read through it is those that were saved
under the old testament as soon as they heard of jesus as soon as they knew the messiah was
here as soon as they recognized him as the son of god it was immediately yep that's the man
that's the one we've been waiting for that's the messiah that's the son of god and they
would follow him and listen to his preaching okay so it wasn't so much that they had to
believe on jesus christ to be saved because they were already saved but because they were
saved they immediately recognized the messiah to come and they followed after him okay and this
is what i believe we see here we see in this centurion man a man who was already loving the
scriptures a man that i believe was already saved because jesus christ talks about his faith
and then when he hears of jesus christ he goes yep that's the man that's the guy that
i need here to come and uh and heal my servant now just to give you another example of this
a little bit more clearer keep your finger there and turn to acts 18 keep your finger there turn
to the book of acts acts 18 and i've really preached about this guy before but i think it's
relevant now um it's about apollos apollos in uh in acts 18 verse 24 acts 18 verse 24
we're going to read this slowly and understand what's going on here acts 18 verse 24 acts 18
verse 24 the bible says and a certain jew named apollos born in alexandria an eloquent man and
mighty in the scriptures came to ephysis now let's just stop there if this man apollos
is mighty in the scriptures do you think you're saved absolutely right because the scriptures are
spiritually discerned you can only understand the scriptures if you're saved if you have the
holy ghost in you and living in you all right so we see if this man's mighty in the scriptures
he is already saved okay now look at verse 25 this man was instructed in the way of the lord
and being fervent in the spirits was he saved yes right fervent in the spirit he
spake and taught diligently the things of the lord but look at this knowing only the
baptism of john so his knowledge of the scriptures only got up to the baptism of john
right and what did john preach about you know to he preached about the one that would come
after him right the lord jesus christ to believe on the lord jesus christ but all he
knew of at this point was the baptism of john so obviously he heard some preaching i assume he
was baptized in the baptism of john as well but that's all he knew okay verse 26
and he began to speak boldly in the synagogue whom when aquila and priscilla had heard they
took unto sorry they took him unto them and expounded unto him the way of god more
perfectly so quill and priscilla these people know of christ they've heard the preaching of
paul as well they take him they take apollos and they expand unto him the way of god they
expansive the scriptures more perfectly okay more fully the things that he was missing
he only got up to the baptism of john all right now look at this verse 27 and when he
apollos was disposed to pass into achaea the brethren wrote exhorting the disciples to receive
him who when he was come helped them uh much which had believed through grace now look at this
for he mightily convinced the jews and that publicly showing by the scriptures that jesus
was christ so what was he missing before he was missing the whole point of jesus christ he
knew jesus was coming he knew the messiah was coming he knew how to follow and put his faith
on him but he only knew up to the baptism of john he wasn't aware of very all the the
three years of ministry of christ he probably wasn't aware of everything that had happened
but he was still preaching the scriptures powerfully okay so this was a man who was saved
already but he wasn't aware of everything that had gone past with jesus christ i don't know
where he was you know if he was from alexandria maybe he was in other places maybe he was a
traveler a bit okay but then you see a quill and priscilla they take him aside and say by
the way this is what you're missing the messiah has come and his name is jesus and he's like all
right yeah absolutely and then he continues preaching on jesus christ as a messiah so we see that
we see those that were saved under the old testament when they hear or see the works of
jesus christ then they would believe on him and follow him but they're already saved it's just
a natural consequence during this transitional period between the old testament to the new
testament so i thought that was something interesting for us to know
if you can go back to luke chapter 7 luke chapter 7
luke chapter 7 verse 6 luke chapter 7 verse 6 so we have the centurion man calling on christ
verse 6 then jesus went with them and when he now sorry and when he was now not far from
the house the centurion sent friends to him saying unto him lord trouble not thyself for i am not
worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof this man was a man of humility we see this in
the centurion man right a powerful man with authority okay and yet when he comes to faith
he recognizes who jesus says he goes look i'm not worthy i'm not worthy to have the messiah
under my roof okay verse seven wherefore neither thought i myself worthy to come unto thee
i'm not even worthy to come to you jesus but say in a word and my servant shall be healed
wow that is great faith jesus you don't even need to be here you just say it you just
will it and i know my servant will be healed right verse number eight for i also am a man set
under authority having under me soldiers and i say unto one go and he goeth and another come
and he cometh and to my servant do this and he doeth it so he says look i know what
authority is i know if i say things things will happen it says of jesus i know if you just
say things it'll happen because i know who you are right verse number nine when jesus heard
these things and loved these words he marveled at him every time i see jesus christ marveling
i marvel because jesus christ is god in the you know in the flesh he's the son of god
and he's perfect and he knows all things and even then he can still be marveled right
he can still marvel at some of the things that we accomplish and do for him right he
marveled at him and turned him about and said unto the people that follow him i say unto you
i have not found so great faith no not in israel this was a faithful man
a gentile and i believe this would picture ultimately what would happen in the times of
israel yes did israel have some faith absolutely there are still many that believed on him many
that followed after christ but by and large it would be the gentiles that would receive christ
okay by and large as a nation of israel as a whole they would choose to reject him but
jesus christ to the gentiles would be received and this was prophesied guys and i just you
won't you don't need to turn there i'll just read it to you isiah 49 verse 6 it says and
he said it is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to write raise up the tribes
of jacob and to restore the preserved of israel i will also give thee for a light to the
gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth so this was prophesied of
jesus christ already that he would also be a light to the gentiles and that the gentiles
would follow after christ and i believe this is just the a picture of the spiritual state of
israel they were lacking in faith but yet the gentile the gentile man who was fresh to the
scriptures built the synagogue great faith he was someone that was ready to just believe on christ
verse number 10 luke 7 10 and they that were sent returning to the house found the servant
whole that had been sick so absolutely you know the servant there is healed so we see the power
of prayer there you know that we we when we pray when we bring our request before the lord
even in sickness you know we ought to have this great faith as a centurion knowing that all
god has to do is say it and and we can be healed our prayers can be answered
verse number 11 and it came to pass the day after that he went into a city called name
and many of his disciples went with him and much people and when he came night to the gate
of the city behold there was a dead man carried out the only son of his mother and she was a
widow and much people in the city was with her so we see jesus christ turns up at this uh funeral
okay and it's it's uh the mother she lost her only son who's dead and she's a widow
what does that tell you about her she's got no one else she doesn't have a husband to
provide for her she hasn't got any children that will look after her now so what do we see in
verse 13 and when the lord saw her he had compassion on her wow the great compassion of
christ that he would come and see this funeral see this woman who was lonely you know who would
provide for her and yet we see christ filled with compassion filled with compassion and again
guys we need to understand as a church as individual people you know again we don't have
the power to raise the dead like jesus christ did okay but we do have the power to take the
words of god the gospel and preach it and see people saved okay we do have the power in a sense
to raise the dead not because we have the power but because of the words of god because of
the gospel of the lord jesus christ and you know we do it week in week out i understand that
you know we're probably going to do it for the rest of our lives and sometimes there's going
to come a point in your life where you're just going through the motions you're just doing it
because that's what we always do okay but i don't want you to lose your compassion
it's what jesus christ had if you say i don't have the compassion then get some compassion
all right because these people need more than a son being raised from the dead they need
their souls saved from hell they need to hear the good news of the gospel we need to
feel something when we go out there we need to maybe shed a tear because we see these
souls saved without jesus christ you know how many people out there believe they're going to
heaven and yet they're still trusting in their works they're still trusting in their own
righteousness and they've not put all their faith on jesus christ alone that should bring us
to tears that should bring some compassion into us all right verse number what am i up to 14
fifth uh 13 sorry verse number 13 and when he's when the lord saw her he had compassion on
her and said unto her weep not and he came and touched the beer by the way that's just a
it's not a coffin it's a it's like a wooden uh stretcher sort of thing so you could see
the dead body there and they that bear him stood still and he said young man i say unto
thee arise and he that was dead sat up and began to speak and he delivered him to his mother
and there came a fear on all and they glorified god saying there is a great prophet uh sorry that
a great prophet is risen up among us and that god have visited his people how true are those
words by the way that god have visited his people now i don't know if these people know
what they're really saying all right but they are saying that god has visited his people what
does that make jesus christ it makes him god right he's god the son is god in the flesh and
this reminds me of psalm 8 you don't you can turn there if you want some eight we already
preached through psalms but the bible says there in psalm 8 verse 3 when i consider thy
heavens the work of thy fingers the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained what is man
that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him for thou has made
him a little lower than the angels thou hast crowned him with glory and honor and we know
the secondary application to this is to jesus christ that god would visit man and this is
essentially what they're saying when they see these great miracles the great works of god
they realize man god is visiting us whether they realize jesus christ himself is that god
or just that he's doing the works for the power of god it doesn't really matter but you
know people are starting to wake up to the fact wow this is a great prophet you know they
can even raise the dead right we've seen him we've seen him heal the sick we've seen that
we've heard the great fame of him but here he is this guy being on his way to his burial
and he can raise him from the dead and it was compassion it was compassion that drove
jesus christ to do that all right and as i said we need a bit of compassion i think sometimes
we can get a bit hardened you know it's just another door you know it's just another week
of soul winning and we need to turn you know change that about ourselves if that's how we feel
okay verse 17 luke six seven verse 17 and this rumor of him uh went forth throughout all judia
and throughout all the region roundabout so all the news rumors of jesus christ going throughout
all of judia for the great works that he's done and the disciples of john show him of all
these things so this is speaking of john the baptist the disciples of john the baptist have
heard of all the great things that jesus is doing so if they take it to john and if you
remember i'll read to you from matthew maybe keep your finger there turn to matthew chapter 11
matthew chapter 11 because this is a time when john the baptist was actually in prison
he was not a free man you know he preached um and he was uh then arrested and put in
prison go to matthew 11 verse 2 matthew 11 verse 2 we'll go back to luke 7 in a minute
but matthew 11 verse 2 it says now when john that's john the baptist had heard in the prison
the works of christ he sent two of his disciples and said unto him are thou he that should come
or do we look for another okay so that's matthew 11 verse 2 and 3 go back to luke 7
go back to luke 7 verse 19 luke 7 verse 19 it says here and john calling unto him
two of his disciples sent them to jesus saying are thou he that should come or look we for
another i mean these are strange words of john the baptist right strange words because if
anybody knew who jesus christ was it was john the baptist it was john the baptist that
baptized the lord jesus christ it was john the baptist that heard the voice from heaven
from god the father saying this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased it was john the
baptist that saw the holy spirit descend like a bodily like a dove upon jesus christ
right so he saw these amazing things and it's john the baptist that pointed to christ and
said behold the lamb of god that take off away the sin of the world it was him the same guy
you know and as we'll soon see jesus christ calls him the greatest the greatest prophet the
greatest man and yet what do we see with the greatest man this great man that pointed people
to christ we see doubt in him right we see doubt arise and say why is that it's because
he's gone through persecution he's been arrested he's in prison he's not having a great time he's
having a hard time and all he's done his whole life was dedicated to being that uh faithful
servant that would bring forth and and uh prepare the way of the lord all right my point
is guys is that uh if you go through times of doubt you know is this really the word of god
is am i really saved this you know has jesus done it all you know i want you to just think
about john the baptist for a minute okay doubt is okay it's okay to have some doubts
you know i would expect probably someone that's been saved recently someone that's a new convert
will probably have a few more doubts than someone that's been in the faith for a while
i'll say to you right now i'm at a point now i just have no doubts whatsoever i mean if
there's anything in this bible that i question like i'm like what's what's that about it's like
oh it's me i can't work it out it's not that the bible is wrong it's not that i'm doubting the
word of god it's just that i need more wisdom all right but that comes with time
okay but i just want to encourage you if you ask someone that has gone through doubts in the
faith you know it's not completely unnatural okay it's common it's normal we see even john
the baptist okay but how does jesus christ respond to john the baptist there look at verse 20
luke 7 20. when the men were come unto him they said john baptists have sent us
unto thee saying art thou he that should come or look we for another
now this is how jesus responds he doesn't respond to that question immediately look
what he does verse 21 and in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues
and of evil spirits and unto many that were blind he gave sight
then he answers then jesus answering said unto them go your way and tell john what things you
have seen and heard and how the blind see and the lame walk the lepers are cleansed the
deaf hear the dead are raised to the poor the gospel is preached so go back to john
and talk to him about the great works that i've done in the lives of all these people that
you've seen that will convince him for two reasons two reasons right number one
obviously the great works but the second reason obviously we know that they had the book of
isiah back then that day that time all right this is a prophecy of jesus christ what he's
speaking about is found in isiah 29 verse 18 i'll just read it isiah 29 verse 18 which says
and in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book and the eyes of the blind shall see
out of the obscurity and out of darkness the meek also shall increase their joy in the lord
and the poor among men shall rejoice in the holy one of israel what jesus christ was doing
was a fulfillment of scripture hey what's going to get you uh out of your doubts
and and and assured is fulfillment of scripture knowing the word of god trust in the word of god
jesus christ says i'm saved eternally i can never lose it then you rest on that promise
and once you can rest on the words of god once you can rest on scriptures then those doubts
will start going away you'll start believing the promise that god gave you that he would
eternally save you through the death burial and resurrection of jesus christ by faith on him
okay and we see this that jesus christ is essentially saying
he is the holy one of israel he's the one that was prophesied to do these amazing miracles
and this basically uh what's the word i'm looking for uh confirms to john the baptist was
that he would be that one coming in the spirit of elijah preparing the way of the lord
and then we see jesus christ he he now confirms about john the baptist verse 24 luke 7 24
and when the messengers of john were departed he began to speak unto the people concerning john
what went ye into the wilderness to see a reed shaken in the wind so he says like why did you
go into the wilderness was it to see a wheat being shaken in the wind did you go and see
a weak preacher did you go see a weak prophet that gets tossed to and fro with every wind
is that what you went to see someone that gets shaken and no by the wind no
okay what was their purpose to go out into the wilderness verse 25
for what went ye out to see a man clothed in soft raiment did you go to just look for a man
that's you know dressed very uh pretty you know very soft in his expensive clothing in the
wilderness is that what you expect to find in the wilderness someone that's dressed in rich
nice clothing no behold they that are gorgeously appareled and live delicately are in the king's
courts that's not where you went why you went to the wilderness they're in the king's courts
verse 26 but what went ye out to see a prophet yea i say unto you and much more than a prophet
so what do we learn about john the baptist a man who's living in the wilderness a man that
didn't have soft apparel we know that he had a leather belt a girdle around his uh his loins we
know that he was dressed in in camel's hair we know that he was a rough man living with us
living off milk sorry of honey and and locusts i mean the guy ate insects right right and
yet people came looking for him all right they weren't looking for the soft preacher
and let me tell you guys we don't want soft preaching all right now sometimes i have to you
know preach of it forcefully sometimes i have to push myself because i don't want to be that
reed shaking in the wind either you know if we erase preachers in this church i don't want
you guys to be that reed shaking in the wind right you know doctrine you stand on the word
of god and i don't want anyone here being tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine
that's not what we're coming to see all right i want this to be wilderness baptist church
not king's court baptist church hey king's court is a time in the millennium when we
rule and reign with christ for a thousand years but then i know it's perfect because
christ is in charge right he's made us kings and priests and that time is to come
all right but right now we need a bit of rough preaching we need a bit of camel's hair all
right instead of nice silk clothing you know the preaching that comes from the word of god
whether good or bad we need to hear it all and we see that people came flocking into
the wilderness to see that rough man to see that hard preacher the one that would stand true
on the word of god so you see jesus christ yeah john the baptist had some doubts
and in case anybody else was doubting about john the baptist jesus christ says no
this man is much more than a prophet he's a great man verse 20 what are we up to
actually let me read to you quickly from first corinthians 2 4 very quickly speaking of paul
what kind of preacher was paul paul the apostle right it says and my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom i don't come here trying to impress you with
man's wisdom says paul but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that's what people
want when they come and hear a preacher they want a man filled with the holy spirit and with
power okay you might say i'm not good with my words i'm not eloquent you know i trip over as
i read or i mess it up it's okay you know if you're being rough that's fine as long as
you're filled with the holy ghost and you can preach god's word with power that's what
we're looking for that's what people want when they hear preaching that's what's going to
change people's lives the soft stuff the fancy stuff the intellect higher intellectual stuff
doesn't change people's lives okay it's not what people want people want the hard preaching even
though the flesh does not want it i know the flesh does not want it the flesh wants the
stuff that tickles your ears but if you're saved the new man the spirit wants to hear
the word of god without compromise all right luke 7 27 luke 7 27
speaking of john the baptist this is he of whom is it is written behold i send my messenger
before thy face which shall prepare thy way before thee okay now jesus christ is quoting
malachi 3 1 which says behold i will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before
me the way before me this is god speaking and the lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to
his temple even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in behold he shall come say if the
lord of hosts so john the baptist came preparing the way of god jesus christ is god we see
as we go through this chapter how many times you know just those little uh what is it the
little hints have been dropped of who jesus christ is and so this confirms christ but it
also confirms john the baptist jesus is saying look john the baptist is the one that malachi
prophesied of he's a fulfillment of scripture as much as i am verse 28 luke 7 28 for i say unto
you among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than john the baptist
but he that is least in the kingdom of god is greater than he so i don't think this is
hard to understand was john the baptist a great prophet absolutely was he the greatest man
that's ever lived absolutely that's what jesus christ says but you know what it doesn't matter
how much greatness you achieve in this life okay i'm not talking about achievement in the
world i'm talking about even achievement achievement um serving the lord even achievement
that doing the things that god wants you on this earth doesn't matter how much how great
you are of a man or a woman of god you know what's greater than that just being the least
in the kingdom of god just being saved all right if you're saved and you do nothing
what do you have you're born again you have the new man right and when you're in heaven guess
what you're without sin you're without the sin nature and it's better to be that way than to
be a man who has great success on the earth now is this passage saying that john the baptist
would be least in the kingdom of heaven no it's saying his earthly ministry in comparison
to just being in heaven that's least it's better to be sorry to be the least in heaven
it's greater to be that way all right and so you know our desire as we go in and see souls
saved these people may never come to church now i hope they do these people may never be
baptized these people may never even read the bible again they may never do anything
that has eternal value but if their souls are saved you know they're going to be greater
in heaven than the greatness that you can achieve on this earth okay but that's not
saying that john the baptist would be uh you know uh less than those people no absolutely
because john the baptist had great works he had a great mission and he fulfilled that in
his life and he lost his head preaching the word of god okay john the baptist in heaven will be
a great man no doubt about it okay but something that we can take from this guys as well
is that not everybody in heaven is equal we don't you know heaven is not a socialist communist
place where god just takes all his riches and divides them equally no hey when it comes to
equality in heaven we're equally saved because we all have the righteousness of christ imputed
upon us we're all righteously deserving to be at home in heaven forever but you know what
there is a rank in heaven depending on how much you've done for god and if you've lived your
life serving the lord you're um laying up treasures in heaven and there are going to be
authorities in heaven there'll be kings and people under them and so on and so forth
you know the more you do for god in this life like a john the baptist the greater you will
be in heaven the greater rewards the greater responsibility the greatest uh you know honor
in christ obviously that you'll have and so there's this this big misconception that
everybody in heaven is just equal no it's not equal okay the more you do for the lord today
the greater you be rewarding heaven so keep that in mind especially the young guys especially
the children you've got your whole life ahead of you to earn all the rewards you can or
you can be the least in heaven and do nothing for the lord it's still good
but you can be doing so much more for him okay uh luke seven luke seven verse 29
and all the people that heard him and the publicans justified god
being baptized with the baptism of john so we see certain people the publicans
they were baptized in the baptism of john which was to believe on the lord jesus christ
so there was a group of people like that that justified god meaning that what we heard
was just what we heard was right what we heard was correct and we believe on christ but
then look at verse 30 but the pharisees and lawyers so the so-called spiritual leaders
the lawyers those that knew the word of god they rejected the counsel of god against themselves
being not baptized of him so they rejected john the baptized baptist they did not get
baptized they did not believe on christ verse 31 and the lord said where unto then shall
liken the men of this generation and to what are they like they are like unto children
sitting in the marketplace and calling one to another and saying we have piped unto you and
you have not danced we have mourned to you and have and and ye have not wept to be honest
i kind of struggled with this saying a little bit until i started to understand like the rest
of the verse there i might just read it very quickly verse 33 and 34 for john the baptist
came neither eating bread nor drinking wine and you say he hath a devil the son of man is come
eating and drinking and you say behold a gluttonous man and a wine bibber a friend of publicans
and sinners so i think if we understand verse 33 and 34 we can understand the verse 32 but what
what jesus is saying is that john the baptist he was a wild man he was he was in the wilderness
you know he he uh you know wasn't he wasn't festive he wasn't you know feasting and
celebrating and the pharisees and lawyers would look at him and condemn him and say well
this man is of the devil this man has a devil look at him look look at the way he lives
he's of the devil but then verse 34 you have jesus christ who does uh you know attend uh you
know feasts and and is uh you know um he's not in the wilderness so much but he's amongst the
people and he's eating and he's drinking and the pharisees look at him and say well look
at this man he's gluttonous and he's a wine bibber he's a wino he's a drunkard is what
they're saying about him and i think this is where the saying comes you know you're damned if
you do and you're damned if you don't no matter what you do you know in the in the in the eyes
of certain people they're not they're never satisfied you know and i think that's where
we get verse 32 i'll just read it again and they being the pharisees are like unto children
sitting in the marketplace and calling one to another and saying we have piped unto you and
you have not danced and we have mourned to you and you have not wept so when we want you to
dance you're not dancing and when we want you to mourn you're not mourning it's kind of like
john the baptist we want you to eat but you're not eating you're in the wilderness and to jesus
we want you to to stop celebrating but you keep celebrating and being festive and and eating
with people when you don't you know so it's kind of like the pharisees are just being critical
of both john the baptist and jesus christ no matter what they do it's not so much that
they're against these men they're just against the scriptures they're just against god and they
want their way and they don't want to humble themselves and accept the people that god has
our sense now verse 34 i do want to address this very quickly
because i believe drinking alcohol is a sin i believe the bible teaches that quite clearly
all right and i've heard people use this verse to say well hold on
here we have evidence that jesus christ drank alcohol because in verse 34 it says the son of
man referring to jesus
is come uh eating and drinking all right and you say and you say so jesus saying and you say you
pharisees you say behold a gluttonous man and a wine bibba so wine bibba is an alcoholic
a wino a friend of publicans and sinners all right so here it is well here it is like look
they're saying see jesus christ is a wine bibba he's drinking alcohol
now they'll say well maybe he wasn't drunk but you know we can see clearly that he was
drinking alcohol because they're accusing him of being a wine bibba
i mean this is how far people go to justify their drinking of alcohol is jesus saying this
is what he was doing no he's saying this is what the pharisees are accusing jesus of doing
in other words it's a false accusation all right and look look at it again verse 34 the son of man
is come eating and drinking and you say behold a gluttonous man do you think jesus christ was
a gluttonous man of course not because jesus christ was without sin and gluttony
is a sin okay eating too much is a sin and then and our wine bibba okay so if jesus was
not a gluttonous man do you think he was a wine bibba do you think he was drinking alcohol
no it's a false accusation it's an amazing it's amazing thing it bogs my mind when people
would take a false accusation of the pharisees and say well this proves that jesus was drinking
alcohol then you're making the same accusation that the pharisees are making of jesus christ
it's crazy anyway that's not the point of this sermon let's move on verse 35 but wisdom is
justified of all her children and one of the pharisees desired desired him that he would eat
with them with him and he went into the pharisees house and sat down to meet so there we have
jesus christ yeah no worries you invite me to come and eat with you jesus christ was there
eating eating at the table even though this pharisee as we'll soon see later
was not someone that believed on christ okay verse 37 so this pharisee his name is simon
he was not a believer of christ but still he invited jesus christ to come and eat with him okay
verse 37 and behold a woman in the city which was a sinner uh when she knew that jesus sat
at meat in the pharisees house brought an alabaster box of ointment by the way when
the bible says which was a sinner we we're all sinners you know for all have sinned and
come short of the glory of god but when the bible specifically wants you to know this
person was a sinner it means that person was exceedingly sinful okay everybody knew
this was a rotten person okay and uh so she brought an alabaster box of ointment um
verse 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 so this this this woman a lot of people say she may have been a prostitute
i don't know she may have been a heart the bible doesn't actually tell us okay uh just
so you know maybe maybe she could have been that way for people to have recognized her as a
sinner uh one thing i just just for your information i want you to realize this is not
the first time what sorry this is the first time but it's not the only time a woman comes
to jesus with an alabaster box and and puts like perfume on him okay the other time you
don't need to turn there is in matthew 26 verse 6 so whose house was jesus in right now in luke 7
in a pharisee's house and by the way this this pharisee his name is simon you'll soon
see why you'll see jesus causing simon later on but in matthew 26 this is later this is
toward the end of his ministry in luke 7 we're still near the beginning of his ministry
in matthew 26 we're near the end of his ministry verse 6 it says now when jesus was in bethany
in the house of simon so yeah simon simon the pharisee no simon the leper okay this is a totally
different simon there came unto him a woman having alabaster box with very precious ointment
and poured it on his head as he sat at meat so the second time the woman actually pours it
on his head whereas this time as you saw she puts it on his feet okay does that make sense
he's both at he's at simon's house but they're different simons so i just want you to be aware
of that i've seen people get that confused and they're using these same stories interchangeably
but they're not they're totally different stories anyway we see this woman a great
sinner come in washing the feet of jesus christ kissing his feet obviously showing great
love and great service to jesus christ obviously there's something about jesus that she greatly
appreciates verse 39 now when the pharisee which had been in him saw it he spake within himself
again he's just these are thoughts saying this man if he were a prophet now do you see the
lack of faith there this pharisee was not a believer of christ says if he were a prophet in
other words he's not a prophet he's not of god if he were a prophet would have known who
and what manner of woman this is that touch with him for she is a sinner okay uh verse 40
and jesus answering said unto him i love it because jesus just reads his thoughts
you know proving that he's god reads his thoughts and jesus answering said unto him
simon i have somewhat to say unto thee and he saith master say on there was a certain
creditor which had two debtors the one owed 500 pence and the other 50 now let me just stop there
for a minute a pence is the value of a penny okay so if you've got one pence you've got one
penny now if you've got 500 pence it doesn't mean you have 500 pennies but the money that
you have in your pocket is valued at 500 pence if that makes sense all right um and if you
remember we've covered this before but a penny was roughly a day's wage back in those days
you you you worked a normal job you know a full day's job you get paid a penny so to understand
this story let's just convert that a little bit let's keep the math easy let's say the
average worker gets 100 bucks a day i know it's more than that but let's just keep the math
easy let's say you you work a full full-time job you get 100 bucks a day all right so if you
work out what 500 pence is that would be 500 times 100 a day that would be roughly 50 000
so there's one guy owing 50 000 a big amount all right and the other was 50 50 pence so 50
times 100 you get 5 000 right five thousand dollars so just so you get the idea of the
picture of the values someone owns about owes about five fifty thousand dollars someone owes
about five thousand dollars verse 42 and when they had nothing to pay so neither of these
guys that owe money can pay he frankly forgave them both tell me therefore which of them will
love him the most i think we all know the answer to that right the one that owed the most
verse 43 simon answered and said i suppose that he to whom he forgave most and he said unto him
thou hast rightly judged you're right simon the one that's going to appreciate the one that
forgives would be the one that um owes the most against him and we see this woman this
great sinner and now we understand a little bit of her mindset why is she spending this
expensive ointment on the feet of jesus why is she washing his feet with her hair
it's a disgusting thought really you know people's feet they're not the most nice things
you know they're dirty or whatever and you're washing it with your hair that's what this woman
is doing we can see she's had a lot forgiven of her okay she's like this woman owing fifty
thousand dollars maybe next to simon owing five thousand dollars okay regardless though they
both owe and they can't pay they're both sinners needing the salvation of the lord
and verse 44 and he turned to the woman and said unto simon seeest thou this woman i entered
into thine house thou gave us me no water for my feet but she have washed my feet with her tears
and wiped them with the hairs of her head thou gave us me no kiss but this woman since the
time i came and hath not ceased to kiss my feet my head with oil thou didst not anoint
but this woman have anointed my feet with ointment wherefore i say unto thee her sins which
are many are forgiven for she loveth much but to whom little is forgiven the same loveth little
and he said unto her i love this thy sins are forgiven all right this woman sins are forgiven
now i just want you to notice a couple of things here we're near the end are her sins
forgiven because she wept and and washed his feet with tears is that why her sins are forgiven
is it because she came kissing his feet is that why she's forgiven
i just want you to think about i'm not telling you to answer that right now because there are
some that will say in order for you to be saved and have your sins forgiven you have to
serve the lord you have to do uh you have to love and serve him in order to be saved
but is that is that what god had forgiven well let's read on let's read on the answer is
coming up verse 49 and they that sat at me with him began to say within themselves
who is this that can forgive that forgiver sins also look at this verse 50 and he said
unto the woman thy faith have saved thee go in peace thy faith have saved thee
so let's get this right the woman comes to jesus christ what saved her what had her sins
forgiven was it the service to the lord the crying and the tears jesus no it was your faith
you believing on me you trusting me you knowing that i would forgive your sins that's what got
you saved all right and then because she was like this person that owed like fifty thousand
dollars in that sense a great sinner who had her sins forgiven she was someone that just could
not help but serve the lord she could not help but kiss his feet and wash his feet with her
hair because she had a lot forgiven for her right so let's understand these two things these
two concepts over here i'm unsaved let's pretend i'm unsaved here this pulpit represents salvation
and this over here represents me as a saved individual i'm saved now
so in order to be saved let's get this right thy faith have saved thee i trust on the lord
jesus christ that's who i'm trusting in that's what's going to get me saved it's my faith on
christ so i cross this barrier here okay i'm now saved i'm now saved now i can be the least in the
kingdom of god right here i'll be like you know what i'm saved i can live now however i
want i can do whatever i want i don't need to go to church i don't need to preach the gospel
i don't need to live in accordance to the commands of god yeah you'll go to heaven you'll
be the least in heaven good all right but if you're like the woman who's had much forgiven
you're going to be driven to serve the lord you're going to be driven to to love him and
appreciate him and do great things but whether you do the service of the lord over here
or whether you're just the least in the kingdom of heaven that does nothing you're
still saved right to cross the salvation barrier you must have faith on jesus christ once you
have believed in the lord jesus christ you are saved right john 3 16 for god so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish
but have everlasting life okay the gospel is salvation by grace through faith now before we
end just the last three words there guys in verse 50 the last three words go in peace go
in peace jesus christ once he saves you he wants you to be in peace he wants you to relax
take it easy you're saved you're saved you don't need to doubt your salvation anymore once you've
placed your faith on christ you can go in peace all right but i recognize a few things probably
in this woman anyway and just like anybody else that's committed sins in your life and maybe
you're still carrying the consequences of those sins i'm not saying you're not forgiven okay
once you believe in christ all your sins are forgiven your past present and future sins are
forgiven but unfortunately in this life there are certain sins that you've committed and you're
still going to be carrying the weight of those sins all right it's just the way it is it's life
maybe the broken homes or the or the fornication or or you know abortions or
just just the wrong things that you did before okay and you even wrong things that you might do
as a believer you might still carry those sins with you okay but you need to understand just
because you're still carrying the consequences of those sins does not mean you've not been forgiven
you have been jesus christ wants you to go in peace all right and this is what i see is that
yes even myself okay even myself we're still carrying the consequences of sins that we've done
in the past okay still the consequences but you can be of one or two people you either say you
know what the lord's forgiven me i have to now forgive myself and move on and go in peace that's
what's going to get you serving the lord when you can do that or you're going to just bog
yourself down with the consequences and be like oh my life's ruined this and that no
that's not what christ wants because that's not going to give you peace god wants us once we're
saved to rest in him have peace put those things behind us you've been saved you've been
forgiven if you still commit sin you have the lord jesus christ you can go to ask for forgiveness
and you can live in peace that's what christ wants from you guys all right so please
stop carrying the baggage of your past sins there are consequences that's life you're gonna
have to deal with it but you have to just remember that christ has paid for them god has
forgiven you you need to forgive yourself in order to move on with your life okay let's pray