"Jesus and the Prostitute"

Hi there, this is Lon Solomon and I'd like to welcome you to our program today. You know it's a tremendous honor that God has given us to be on stations all around the nation bringing the truth of God's word as it is uncompromising and straightforward. And I'm so glad you've tuned in to listen and be part of that.

Thanks again for your support and your generosity that keeps us on the radio. And now, let's get to the Word of God. Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him.

So he went to the Pharisee's house and he reclined at the table. Now you all know that the Pharisees were the religious leaders of Israel. They were a very self-righteous bunch. They were a very self-contented bunch. They believed that they could work your way into God's good graces. They had 613 rules that they believed if they kept all these 613 rules that they could earn their way into heaven and into God's acceptance.

And this sense of being able to handle it themselves made them not only a very conceited bunch but also a bunch that did not really have much use for Jesus Christ or anything he was offering. So why is it then that this Pharisee invites Jesus to come to dinner? Well, we don't know. It certainly wasn't because he believed in him or he honored him or he wanted to follow him. Maybe it was because he wanted to trap him and embarrass him or find some way to bad mouth him.

I don't know. But Jesus went. And suddenly an uninvited guest shows up.

Verse 37. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume. And so she entered his house.

We'll stop there for just a second. It's interesting to notice, isn't it, that this was a woman the entire town knew about. The Bible is very discreet in saying that it was a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town.

But all commentators are agreed and I agree with them that that's a very polite way of saying that the woman was a prostitute. Everybody in the town knew about the sin she'd been involved in. And she heard Jesus was there and she came to see him. Now, verse 38 says that when she first came into the room, she stood behind him at his feet weeping. She didn't immediately go to touching him or doing anything.

She stood there weeping. And the reason was because she wasn't sure how Jesus was going to respond to her. Would someone like Jesus let someone like her touch him? Would someone like Jesus allow someone like her to even approach and be near him? And she wasn't sure.

So she hesitated for a minute. But when Jesus made no move to object, she pressed on. And the Bible says that she stood there and then she began to wet his feet with her tears. She wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and poured perfume all over them.

What a scene. Well, the Pharisee didn't like this. Verse 39. When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself, If this man were really a prophet, if I'm right and this man's really a prophet, if he really understood who God is, if he really understood who this woman is, if he really understood holiness, if he really understood what it meant to be a man of God, he would know who's touching him. He would know what kind of woman this is. He would know that she's a sinner. He would know that she's dirty and she's unclean and she's unfit to be around a holy man of God. How can he let a woman like this touch him? I wouldn't let her touch me.

I wouldn't let her get near me. Oh, how could he do this? The Pharisee has a problem, and his problem is found right in this verse. His problem is that he was able to say very easily, she is a sinner, but he was not able to say, I am a sinner. See his problem? She's a sinner.

She's terrible. How could somebody who knows God even let her close to him? But what he wasn't able to see is that he was a sinner in the sight of God, just like she was. He couldn't see that. Jesus should have been just as concerned about letting this man get near him as this woman.

There was no difference. But the man was so hypocritical and he was so judgmental and it made Jesus really sad. And he said to the man, he said, you know, I've got a little story I need to tell you. Look, verse 40. Jesus said to him, Simon, I've got something I need to tell you. Now, this is the first time we find out the man's name. You say, oh, really? I always thought this was Simon Peter that he was talking to.

Yeah, I did too for years and years and years. I thought this was Simon Peter. And I thought this is great because he gets it right. And I thought this is the only time Simon Peter ever got anything right that Jesus asked him.

This is great. But it isn't Simon Peter. It's Simon the Pharisee.

OK? And Simon says, OK, tell me. Jesus said, well, you know, there were two men and they both owed money to a moneylender, one of them owed him 500 bucks and the other one owed him 50 bucks. But neither one had enough money to pay. And so the moneylender, just out of the goodness of his heart, his graciousness, he forgave both of them and canceled their debts. Now, he said, Simon, which of them do you think would love that moneylender more? And Simon said, hedging his bets, he says, well, I suppose I mean, I'm not going to commit myself here, but I suppose that it would be the one who had the bigger debt canceled. And Jesus said, you're right.

You're absolutely right. And he said, you know, Simon, maybe are you and this woman here? You two people are the two people I'm talking about in this parable. And maybe the woman outwardly looks like she owes God a whole lot more than you do.

Maybe she's the one that owed 500 dollars and you're the one who outwardly only owes 50. But that's not the point of the parable, Simon. The point of the story is not who owed more. The point of the story is that both people owed a debt and neither one of them could pay it, Simon.

That's the point. And that the moneylender, who, by the way, is God, agreed to forgive them both. Now, it's obvious the prostitute understands her condition. She was the one standing there weeping, washing his feet with her hair, crying over him and kissing him out of gratitude for the fact that God had forgiven her sin. But the point of the parable was to make Simon understand that he was just as needy and just as bankrupt in the eyes of God as this woman was.

But the difference is he didn't have the sense to realize that he was too stupid to realize it. Jesus says to him, you know, Simon, the reason you don't love me very much is because you haven't been forgiven very much. And the reason you haven't been forgiven very much is because you haven't asked for it.

And the reason you haven't asked for it is because you don't believe you need it. And that's tragic. Look what he said. Verse 44. Then he turned towards the woman and he said to Simon, he pointed to the woman. He said, you see this woman over here, Simon?

I came to your house and you didn't give me any water to wash my feet, which was a common courtesy in that day. But this woman has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. And Simon, you see this woman?

You didn't give me a kiss. But this woman, since I entered your house, has not stopped kissing my feet. And Simon, you see this woman?

You didn't put any oil on my head when I got here, but she has poured perfume all over my feet. Therefore, Simon, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, for she is loved much. But he who has been forgiven loves little. And in your case, Simon, he who doesn't love me at all hasn't been forgiven of anything.

Dear friends, I want to say something to you, and that is this. Doing business with God means that you have to do it according to a formula. It's a very simple formula, but you've got to do it according to the formula. And here's the formula.

The formula is this. We have all the need. God has all the supply.

Can I give it to you again? We have all the need. God has all the supply. There are a lot of people who want to do business with God, but they don't want to keep the formula.

They don't like the first half. We have all the need. They'll say things to you like, I don't have all that need. Take that sinner stuff somewhere else. Don't come here and talk to me about all this sinner stuff. Take it to the people who need it. I'm a pretty good person. I give money to the church. I do nice things for people. I'm not somebody that's in jail. I don't break the law. Take that sinner stuff where it belongs down in the gutter or take that sinner stuff where it belongs.

But not to me. I always tell people when you're sharing the gospel with somebody, one of the first questions to ask them is, how do you feel about your life right now? Are you satisfied with your life right now? And somebody who says to you, I'm satisfied with my life.

I love the way it's going. Everything's hunky dory and things are perfect with me. They are not a candidate for coming to know Christ at that moment because they don't believe they have a need. Simon was that way. What did Simon say? Simon said, she is a sinner. She is a sinner. But Simon didn't believe he was.

Simon also messed up the second half. The second half is we have all the need. God has all the supply. There are people who say, hey, look, maybe I got a little need when it comes to God. All right. Maybe so I'm not perfect.

So maybe I've done a few things wrong, but it's nothing I can't handle myself. I'll go do a few religious good works. I'll sing in the choir. I'll give some money to the church. I'll help some old ladies across the street. I'll do some nice little religious things.

And you know what? As a result of that, I'll work it out with me and God. I'll be as good as everybody else was. And I can work my way into heaven and solve this problem.

Thank you very much. That's what Simon thought. He had six hundred and thirteen little ways in which he was going to solve the problem all by himself. And may I say to you that that's the foundation of every false religion in the world. And I'm categorizing every religion as false except for true biblical Christianity. Every one of them is false because every one of them messes up the second half of the formula. The second half of the formula is God alone has the supply, not you and me.

And no matter whether you try to work your way to heaven in some ritualistic way through Eastern religions or through some kind of Protestant religion or through some kind of Jewish religion or through some kind of New Age movement or through Mormonism or through Jehovah's Witnesses, it doesn't matter. If you think you can supply what you're missing in the sight of God, then you've messed up the formula because did you hear the parable? Neither one of them could pay the debt. And you can't either. Nobody can.

Simon thought he could, but he couldn't. Friends, only people who keep both sides of the formula can do business with God. I have all the need. God has all the supply. And that's how the prostitute saw her life. And that's how the Pharisee didn't. You know, when it comes to salvation, when it comes to eternal life, when it comes to your relationship with God, you're either going to see yourself one of these two ways.

There is no middle ground. You're either a Pharisee thinker or your prostitute thinker. I mean, that's pretty much the way it is. A Pharisee thinker says, I don't really have that much need. I'm pretty much OK.

I'm a pretty good person. And the little bit of need I have, I can handle it myself. A prostitute thinker says, I owe God a debt.

I can never pay. I can handle it myself. My only alternative is to admit my utter helplessness and trust God to do for me what I cannot do for myself.

That's it. And you're one or the other when it comes to how you see yourself and how you see God. On the cross, Jesus Christ did something for you that you can't do for yourself. He paid for your sins and he'll forgive your sins and the sins of anyone else in this world who's willing to approach him like the prostitute did.

But those are the only people that he does business with. So let me ask you this morning, are you a prostitute thinker or Pharisee thinker? It's pretty important which one you are, because look what the rest of the chapter says. Verse 48. Then Jesus said to her, your sins are forgiven.

Now let's go back and read that again. Then Jesus said to who? Did he say it to him? He said it only to one of them. Then Jesus said to her, your sins are forgiven. And why did he say it to her? Because she's the only one who came according to the formula.

The other guy wouldn't do it. And the other guests began to say among themselves, who is this that can even forgive sin? And Jesus said, don't worry about them.

Don't worry what they're saying. Trust me, your sins are forgiven. Your faith is delivered you and go your way. Go in peace. My dear friend, the hardest part in coming to know Jesus Christ in a real and personal way and the hardest part of living as a Christian every day and letting him operate in your life is being willing to accept the fact that you have all the need.

And he has all the supply. That's our passage. But it still leaves us with a real important question. And that is. Thank you.

All right. Now, you know, I've already given you there's a great message, even in what I've already shared with you. But there's another great message in here that I want you to see.

And that is a message about the way God sees people. Would you notice the way the Pharisees saw this prostitute? He saw her for what she had been. And what had she been? She'd been a hooker.

Right. And he saw her for what she was. And what was she?

She's a hooker. But how did Jesus see her? Jesus did not see this woman for what she had been. And he didn't see her for what she was.

Jesus saw this woman for what she could be, what she could be with the healing love of Jesus Christ operating in her life. You know, there's a new book out. What are the title of it? It's a real book.

This is no lie. The title of the book is I'm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional. It's a great book. Isn't that a great title? It's a great book.

You know what the theme of the book is? The theme of the book is we're all screwed up. Everybody's screwed up.

You may be screwed up differently than I'm screwed up, but everybody's screwed up. And it's OK. That's the way it really is. And it's true. You know what? The world system out there loves to take people's weaknesses.

And we all have them. And the world system loves to cast those weaknesses in cement. The world system loves to make people prisoners of their faults for the rest of their lives. The world system loves to condemn people to being the victims of their problems forever and putting people in a box and saying, this is what you have been. This is what you are.

And this is what you always will be. But you know what? Jesus Christ doesn't do that to people. He's different. He knows you messed up. But that doesn't bother him.

That doesn't upset him because he also knows that his love changes people. This is how Jesus looked at that prostitute friends. He looked beyond her fault. Did she have a fault?

Yes. But Jesus looked beyond her fault and he saw what she could be for God, what she could be if she'd embraced Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and savior, what she could be if she would turn his healing love loose in her life, what she could be if she would let God begin from the inside out to supernaturally change her the way he can do in the way he wanted to do. He knew that she could become a different transformed human being. And that's how he looked at that woman. And that's how Jesus Christ looks at you. And that's how he looks at me.

And that's how he looks at everybody in this world. We all have aspirations. We all have goals. We all have dreams. But sin is a big blocker.

It gets in the way. And we can't get to those dreams. We can't be what God made us to be. And we end up being what we are and what we have been. And Jesus comes along and says, I can help make you what you could be and what I created you to be if you let me. But you can't do it yourself. You've done the best you can.

That's how you ended up here. But you give it to me and I can get you there. I'll make you what you can be. There's a great verse I want to show you. It's in the New Testament. It's in Second Corinthians, chapter five. If you're in our copy of the Bible, it's page eight hundred nineteen.

Would you turn there with me? Second Corinthians, chapter five, eight hundred nineteen in our copy. Verse 17. This is kind of like the story of my life, this verse. And I think if you know Christ, it's probably the story of your life. Here's what the verse says. Second Corinthians, chapter five, verse 17. Therefore, Paul says, if anyone is in Christ, now stop for a second. What did it say?

If what? Anyone is in Christ. Now, does anyone mean anyone?

You bet it does. Does anyone mean a guy wears five hundred dollar suits? Yes. Does it mean a lady wears four hundred dollar dresses and drives a Mercedes? Yes.

Does it mean people who sleep on a heating grate? Yes. Does it mean prostitutes? Yes. Does it mean drug addicts? Yes. Does it mean everyday run of the mill people like most of us who just doing the best we can to get by? Yes. What does it mean?

Anyone means anyone, right? If anyone gives their life to Jesus Christ and is in Christ, watch that person becomes a new creature. Old things start to pass away. New things start to come.

And they don't start to come because you and I are able to conjure them up or whoop them up in our own energy. They come because a new forces entered our life. Jesus Christ has entered our life. And the healing love of God begins to operate in our life and begins from the inside out to transform us and enable us to become the people God created us to be from the beginning.

But that we could never get to by ourselves. And I want to tell you something. There's not a person I know of who really knows Jesus Christ in a personal way, who won't stand up and testify to the truth of this verse. They will say, I may not be everything I ought to be, but thanks to God, I'm not what I used to be.

I may not be what I ought to be, but thanks to God, I am not what I used to be. The world sees people through the eyes of the Pharisee. And how did the Pharisee see this woman? He said to Jesus, forget her. She's a lost cause. She's hopeless. She's trash. Throw her away, Jesus. You don't want anything to do with a woman like this. We've thrown her away.

You should. But not God. No, no. God sees people through the eyes of this verse and God sees people not for what they are, but what he knows he can make. And my dear friend, God doesn't care how you and I look when he first gets us in care because he knows he's not going to leave us the way he finds us. He's going to transform our lives. And that's the I think the best part about knowing Jesus Christ is he doesn't leave you where he finds you. And dear friend, I don't know what your background is or your situation is, but I can tell you, no matter what you've been or what you are, Jesus Christ sees you for what he can make you.

If you'll let him. And I think that's kind of special. Years ago, someone gave me a little poem. I don't really like poetry. In fact, I almost didn't graduate from high school because of poetry.

Can any of you relate to that? I had an 11th grade English teacher who said to me, Mr. Solomon, you are going to learn poetry or you will never graduate from Woodrow Wilson High School. And she made me her personal project. I learned some poetry.

I still don't like it, but I learned some. But I love this poem and I filed it away. It's kind of old and yellow. Can you see that? But I've always wanted to use this poem.

And this seems like a great time. The title of it is The Touch of the Master's Hand. It goes like this. T'was battered and scarred in the auctioneer thought it scarcely worth his while to waste much time on that old violin. But he held it up with a smile. What am I bid, good folks?

He cried. Who'll start the bidding for me? A dollar, a dollar. Now two, only two. Two dollars and who'll make it three? Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three.

But no. From the room far back, a gray haired man came forward and picked up the bow, then wiping the dust from the old violin and tightening up all of the strings. He played a melody, pure and sweet, as sweet as the angel sings.

The music ceased in the auctioneer with a voice that was quiet and low. Said, Now what am I bid for this old violin? And he held it up with the bow. A thousand dollars and who'll make it two? Two thousand and who'll make it three? Three thousand once, three thousand twice. And going and gone, said he, the people cheered. But some of them cried.

We don't quite understand what changed its worth. And the man replied, T'was the touch of the Master's hand. I think there's a lot of Christians who are determined that they can work it all out themselves and be everything God wants them to be by their own energy and their own effort.

You can't. It's the touch of the Master's hand. Whether you're Christian or you're not, that's the solution. May God help you reach out this morning and grab it. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, I'm so grateful in a world that steps on old violins and sells old violins cheap, throws them on the trash pile and says, forget them.

They're no use. And some of us know what it's like to be treated like one of those old violins. I'm so glad, Lord, that there's you.

I'm so glad that there's the touch of your hand, for there is no violin anywhere in this world, no matter how battered and beaten, that your hands can't take and that you can't play a great song from that violin for your glory. Lord Jesus, I pray today that you'd speak to the hearts of people who are here, many of whom I think feel like an old violin. Speak to the people here who've never trusted you in a real and personal way as their Savior and their Lord. Lord, show them that their dreams and their aspirations, they can't achieve them in their own energy. Sin is too powerful in their lives.

But you can make them everything they were created to be if they'll just give you a chance. And for those of us who are Christians, I pray, dear Father, that you would remind us that even as Christians, it's still the touch of the Master's hand that makes us the people that you want us to be. Forgive us for our self-sufficiency, even as Christians.

Being so sure we can hack it out ourselves. Teach us what it means to be like the prostitute who simply confessed she was helpless and turned to you for the supply. And if you're here this morning and you feel like there's some things that you need to tell God, that you need to humble yourself and ask for His touch, I'm going to give you just a minute of silence so you can pray to Him this morning. Father, I ask you to take the prayers that you've heard this morning, people humbling themselves before you and asking for help, and I pray you would be swift to help them. Thank you that in a world that throws old violence away, there is still the touch of the Master's hand.

And thank you for giving us the privilege of not only experiencing it, but telling other people about it. Make us faithful to do so, we pray. In Jesus' name.

Amen. You've been listening to So What with Dr. Lon Solomon. So What is an outreach of Lon Solomon Ministries. To listen to today's message or for more information, visit our website, lonsolomonministries.org. Thank you for your support. If you would like to contact us, please visit our website or call us at 866-788-7770. We hope you will join us next time when Lon seeks to answer one of life's most important questions, So What.