Jesus Loves Prostitutes - Part B

Do you want to know what the worst sin of all is?

Some of you have thought it's some of the lifestyles we have mentioned in this series. Oh, that's the worst sin. You know what the worst sin is? Self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is the worst sin. You know why it is? Because self-righteousness is an affront to the cross of Christ.

C.S. Lewis said, Today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip gives you a humbling look at just how far God's love and forgiveness goes. But first, we want to share about where you can hear even more encouraging Bible messages from Skip. We're in Luke chapter 7 as we dive into our study with Skip Heitzig.

Look at verse 39. He, who invited Jesus, saw this. He spoke to himself. He didn't say it out loud. He's just thinking these thoughts in his head. He's saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner. Those are his thoughts.

Nobody knows those thoughts, he thought. Jesus answered and said to him, Did you get that? Jesus answered what? Jesus answered his thoughts. It's ironic, really, because he's thinking, This guy can't be a prophet because prophets know stuff we don't know.

And he doesn't even know who she is. And Jesus knew he thought that. So he answers his thoughts. And said, Simon, I have something to say to you.

So he said, Teacher, say it. There was a creditor, a certain creditor, who had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii, the other 50. When they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both.

Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him more? Simon answered and said, I suppose the one whom he forgave more. And he said to him, You have rightly judged.

And he turned to the woman and said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet. She washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head.

You gave me no kiss. This woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with fragrant oil. Therefore, I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.

Crawl into Simon's head for a moment. I know who this woman is. Obviously, Jesus does not. I know her reputation. Evidently, Jesus does not.

Now, here's what I want you to see. Simon, the Pharisee, mistook an act of devotion, an act of worship, and an act of repentance for a sexual advance. The word used for she's touching him is a strong word of sensual, sexual touch to lure somebody into an affair. She mistook a woman's act of devotion for a sexual advance. You know, you have to be very cold-hearted to think that way. You say, it's an easy mistake. No, it's not, because she's crying, she's weeping, she's pouring out tears. That's not going to attract anybody.

That's what I want you to see. You've got to understand that Simon, the Pharisee, had a wrong estimation of everyone in that room. He had a wrong estimation of Jesus. He said, he's no prophet.

Duh. He's the prophet. He had a wrong estimation of the woman. She doesn't belong here with him.

It's exactly where she belongs. And he had a wrong estimation of himself. I think he was thinking thoughts like, well, I wish others could be as discerning as I am. And what you need to see is this. When you view life through the lens of legalism, everyone you see is distorted.

Everyone and everything is distorted through that lens. So, after Simon plays pin the tail on the sinner in his mind, Jesus speaks up. Simon, I want to say something. Simon's thinking, finally. Good. You know, you ought to defend yourself for letting this happen.

You need to rebuke her. That's what he's thinking. Interestingly enough, the word Simon, the name Simon, Shimon in Hebrew, means one who hears. He's about to get an earful from Jesus. And Jesus tells him the story that we read.

And this is what is amazing. Because we don't get the full story of what happened until Jesus talks. And when Jesus talks, now we get the full picture. And we understand from Jesus' words three things about Simon.

Fact number one, Simon's manner was inhospitable. Did you know in that day, the ancient culture, there was a protocol, if you come into somebody's house, first thing you do is you either get a servant to wash the feet of the person who has been invited in, or you give the guest water to do it himself. That didn't happen. Second, you as the host embrace and kiss on both cheeks as a formal greeting that person who has come to dinner. That didn't happen.

Third is you give them a scented olive oil to sort of set the tone for the evening. That didn't happen. None of it happened. The common courtesies, the common protocol for anyone being invited into a home did not happen. That's why I say he didn't invite Jesus because he loved Jesus. He didn't invite Jesus because he was curious about Jesus.

He wanted to trap him. Because Jesus said, you know what? You didn't even treat me with the common courtesy of a regular guest.

Your treatment of me has been discourteous and insulting. So that's fact number one. Second fact we learn about Simon is his heart was judgmental as seen in the little parable that Jesus gives. It's a very simple story and you got to know that rabbis love to tell stories and people love to hear stories. So in a very typical and engaging way, Jesus tells a story about two guys who both owed a debt to one person. One debt was 500 denarii. That's about a year and a half's worth of a wage. So let's say, let's just put $100,000 on that person. And the other owed 10 times less than that.

So $10,000. You got a $100,000 sinner and a $10,000 sinner, debtor. The creditor comes along and goes, you know what? Both of you are unable to pay this amount. Your debt is forgiven.

Now that's monumental. If you couldn't make your car payment this month, you called the bank. And the bank said, don't worry about it. In fact, we will send you the pink slip in the mail. It'll be yours in a week. You'll own the car free and clear. We're just forgiving the whole debt. That would change your life. That's an event you'd never forget.

This is an incredible little story. One owed 100 grand could never pay it. One owed 10 grand could never pay it. The guy forgave them both. Which of those two do you think is going to love the guy who forgave the debt more? Easy answer, the guy who owes more.

And he got the answer right, but he's not connecting the dots. Because what Jesus is saying is, you know what Simon? Those two debtors are you and her. She's a $100,000 sinner, but you're a $10,000 sinner. Both of you cannot pay the debt you owe to God, even though you're not as bad as she is. So Simon's heart was judgmental.

And why? Because of his religion. Hear me clearly. Religion is the world's biggest blind spot when it comes to people knowing their need for God. Ask a person, witness to a person, do you know Christ? Do you want to go to heaven? Let me tell you something. I've gone to church all my life, young man. They don't tell me that anymore. Old man. I've gone to church all my life.

I've been religious all my life. This man's religion made him inhospitable to Christ and judgmental toward this woman. So we learned two things about him. His manner was inhospitable. His heart was judgmental. A third thing we know from Jesus' words is his sin was invisible.

Oh, it was there, but you couldn't see it. Her sin was outward. It was the sin of passion. His sin was inward. It was the sin of pride. The prostitutes were sins of the flesh. The Pharisees were sins of the Spirit. Her sin, well her sin was overt and everybody knew. His sin was covert and nobody knew, except one.

And his name was Jesus. Now why do I bring this up? Because I think we likewise have blind spots in western American evangelicalism. We have sins that we would consider socially acceptable. You know, we just want not a big deal, we say. Other sins are a big deal.

They're so big, we'll picket against them, we'll have signs against them, we'll vote for legislation against them. They're bad, bad, bad sins. But other sins? Gluttony? It's a sin. That's overeating. Socially acceptable. Eat up, man. Clean your plate. Greed?

Come on, this is America, be an entrepreneur. Make more, we applaud you. Gossip? Socially acceptable. Oh, it's just a prayer request she's sharing with 50,000 people.

There are certain sins that are socially acceptable, but others that are not. Well, what Simon saw insulted him, what this woman did. But what he heard Jesus say should have convicted him. Let's go to the third and final episode, and that is the preacher and the prostitute.

Now finally, they are alone in the conversation. Verse 48, then he, Jesus said to her, your sins are forgiven. And those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, who is this who even forgives sins? Then he said to the woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Now there is Jesus standing eye to eye with a woman whose face is reddened with tears and who is riddled with shame.

One little sentence. Your sins are forgiven. Oh, the sound of those words to those ears. Now notice that Jesus is not put off by her reputation. Oh, he knows it. He is not put off by all of the years of her sinful activity. He knows her past. He's not put off by the judgment and the gossip going on by the religious elite in that room. He just says to her, your sins are forgiven. Go in peace.

Your faith has saved you. Jesus knew. He knew that her heart was breaking. He knew that she was filled with shame. He knew that she was full of remorse.

He knew that she wanted to leave that and have change. You know, I read a very interesting testimony this week about a woman who said she got involved in prostitution by watching a movie. She saw the movie Pretty Woman.

Some of you will remember that. It was a famous movie some years back with Julia Roberts. This lady said, I watched the movie Pretty Woman and I was like, well gosh, look at her. She's beautiful. She's making money. She's meeting guys and she fell in love with this guy and she's living in this nice hotel suite and has everything she wants.

And she's falling in love. That's what I thought. And so that's what I did. But I experienced nothing like Pretty Woman. It's totally, totally different. I have been held hostage at gunpoint. I have been raped. I have been robbed. I have been strangled. I've been beaten up.

Everything by customers. When I read that I thought, oh, what it would have been like for her to have heard the words of Jesus after a repentant heart to say your sins are forgiven. Now, the others in that house, they were angry at Jesus promising forgiveness. But that woman, she was hungry for that promise of forgiveness. They were disgusted. She was delighted. Why?

Simple. The love that she never found in all of the encounters, the passionate encounters she had with men. She found in a single encounter with this unique man, Jesus. And she walked away that day knowing that God has a big eraser.

That's what she discovered. God has a big eraser. He cleaned the blot of my sin away. So Simon gets his sin exposed.

This woman gets her sin forgiven. Think of all the theological training Simon had as a Pharisee. He poured over books and scrolls and had talks with theologians and mentors and all those hours, all that time in the presence of brilliance. And he didn't know about a God who can forgive. He didn't know anything about God's grace. She spent a few moments in Jesus' presence and she knew more about God's grace than most believers today. Wow. Okay, that's the story. Let me give you three quick application, takeaway points.

Here's the first. Everyone sins, face it. Everyone sins.

Everyone, even Pharisees. Everyone sins, face it. All have sinned, Paul wrote, and have fallen short of the glory of God.

Here's the deal. On God's test, you all get an F. So do I. We all get an F. In the righteousness test, we all flunk. And God doesn't grade on a curve. And yet most people I meet think God does grade on a curve. They think if they get a little religion and a lot of sincerity and work really hard at being a good person, they're going to somehow merit heaven because of that. Do you want to know what the worst sin of all is?

Some of you have thought it's some of the lifestyles we have mentioned in this series. Oh, that's the worst sin. You know what the worst sin is? Self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is the worst sin.

You know why it is? Because self-righteousness is an affront to the cross of Christ. It is telling God, I'm really not that bad. That blood would have to be shed for me. I'm good enough, thank you. I am self-righteous.

I'm a self-made person. That is the worst sin because it's so blinding. There's an old Yiddish proverb that says a scab is a scab even if you smear honey over it. Oh, Simon could see her scabs.

They were apparent. But he had his own scabs smeared with the veneer of honey. So everyone sins. Face it. Here's the second little truth. God's business is forgiveness. Seek it.

Now please notice the contrast. Simon is unaware of his need and therefore he is uninterested in forgiveness like most religious people. They're not aware of their need. They're not interested in forgiveness. This woman is very aware of her need and so she is very interested in forgiveness. This woman knew two things. Number one, that she was a great sinner. Number two, that Jesus was a great savior.

It's a powerful combination. Do you need forgiveness? Goes without saying, doesn't it?

Seek it from him. Here's the third truth and I close with this. God's word is true. Believe it. God's word is true.

Believe it. Jesus gave to her a single promise in two parts. You're forgiven and you're saved. That's the promise he gave her. Now, she had to believe that promise. She just had to walk away believing that what Jesus said was true. She didn't wait there for some overwhelming feeling.

I have to have a gushy feeling in my heart before I really believe that what that promise is is true for me. No, she just had to believe it. She didn't wait around to get that affirmed by the people in the room.

Good luck with that crowd. She just simply had to believe the promise and listen to this. The moment she said, I believe what Jesus said, that moment, she became an ex-prostitute. Once she just connected by faith with the promise that Jesus gave.

Let me close with this. I found a testimony by a woman named Tina Hoffman. She was an ex-prostitute. She said one night she was in her hotel room.

She was waiting for her next customer. He hadn't come yet so she thought she would smoke a joint and wait for him to come. So she didn't know what she did with her marijuana so she looked around and she couldn't find it and she looked everywhere and she couldn't find her joint.

So she opened up the drawer in the bureau and what's on the top drawer in hotel rooms? God bless the Gideon's. There's a Gideon Bible there. She pulled out a Gideon Bible and she actually thought maybe my marijuana cigarette fell in this Bible somehow. So she's kind of paging through.

This is what she said. She opened up to a text of scripture. She said the words leaped off the page. Those were her. They leaped off the page and into my heart and here's what she happened to turn to. God demonstrated his own love toward us Paul writes to the Romans in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. She said at that moment I said I believe that and she said I left that room a forgiven and changed person.

Now she said as I was leaving the room my customer was coming in I said have a good day and she walked out. Never to see him or that lifestyle again. And so did this unnamed prostitute in the story. And so can any of you whether you are a hundred thousand dollar sinner or you're a really wonderful ten thousand dollar sinner. We've fallen short of God's glory and the only medicine is God's forgiveness and it does no good to keep the medicine on the shelf of heaven when God says I will dispense it to you to cure you of your disease called sin. That concludes Skip Heitzeck's message from the series Jesus Loves People. Right now we want to share about an exciting resource that helps you better understand the unconditional nature of God's love. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus loves the devout and the doubters priests and prostitutes the diseased and the depressed. Jesus just loves people all people no matter what's their past or their present. Sadly sometimes it's the people who need love the most who feel the most rejected even by the church.

But if Jesus loves all people shouldn't we? We want to help you grasp God's relentless love for people by sending you the complete four booklet Jesus Loves People collection by Skip Heitzeck. These booklets look to scripture to demonstrate Jesus's love for people from every walk of life. Get all four Jesus Loves People titles including Jesus Loves the Broken and Jesus Loves Addicts when you give a gift of twenty five dollars or more today to help expand this Bible teaching outreach.

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Again, that's 800-922-1888. Thank you. Tune in tomorrow as Skip Heitzeck explains why in a fallen world there is hope for the future and where you can find it. Listen to the words of Jesus carefully. You have heard that it was said by those of old, you shall not murder. But I say unto you, if you are angry at your brother without a cause, you are guilty of judgment. Murder we find out from Jesus doesn't originate with the hands, but it begins in the heart. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast all burdens on his word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzeck is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.