THE GOSPEL (4)
THE GOSPEL (4)
JTJr It has been said that this section of Luke’s gospel suggests the mercy-seat.
JT Quite so; very good.
LW In what way does it refer to the mercy-seat?
JTJr Because of the position of Christ in it and the forgiveness of sins. It says in Romans 3:25, that Christ is “set forth a mercy-seat, through faith in his blood”. What the Lord did and said to this woman anticipated His death and the shedding of His blood.
CAM Forgiveness was available to Simon as well as to the woman.
AR In Romans 3:23 the whole world is guilty before God, “for all have sinned”, it says. This woman knew that she was a sinner.
JT Quite so; “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”, Romans 3:23.
CAM The mercy-seat is now in the view of all.
JTJr Yes; Christ is set forth a mercy-seat, so that all may come to it.
JT Thank God that it is available even now! “As they had nothing to pay, he forgave both of them their debt”.
JTJr We should have a sense, as together now, that we have availed ourselves of the mercy-seat.
JT It is a question of having the full thought of it; having “nothing to pay, he forgave both of them their debt”. The forgiveness of sins is in view.
SCM Is not faith necessary? Those at table began to say, “Who is this who forgives also sins?”. Faith is required. The Lord says, “Thy faith has saved thee”.
JTJr Yes, that is another link with Romans 3:25; we are justified on the principle of faith; as it says, “through faith in his blood”.
[p. 405] AR In Leviticus 16 the mercy-seat is the centre of a whole system, the centre of everything.
JTJr Quite so; the Lord is in that position now.
CAM All that took place in the Lord’s holy life was in view of His death, when the mercy-seat could be “set forth” for all.
JT Quite so; all is now finished; it is the finished work of Christ.
JTJr This chapter is in view of that; He could say, “Her many sins are forgiven”, and again, “Thy sins are forgiven”.
JT Her many sins were all taken account of; none were overlooked. Redemption is a great matter.
Rem It is interesting that, as a sinner, the woman should know where the Lord was.
JTJr The woman came to where He was, as we have come together this afternoon; it is a question of what is here. The full thought of the mercy-seat is to be understood amongst us.
JT Thank God for the full idea of redemption and for those who are in the good of it.
Rem Before we can rightly appreciate the mercy-seat we need to be thoroughly convicted of our sins.
EEH Is the accessibility of the Lord Jesus seen in that this woman of the city was able to come so near to Him in the house of the Pharisee?
JTJr Yes; Simon did not recognize the position; he “spoke with himself” about the Lord in a wrong way. How prone we are to speak within ourselves in a wrong way about matters. But the Lord is the One who can administer forgiveness; He becomes the centre of the whole matter; so the woman comes to Him, as it says, “Behold, a woman in the city, who was a sinner, and knew that he was sitting at meat in the house of the Pharisee, having taken an alabaster box of myrrh, and standing at his feet behind him weeping ... .”. Something was going on in her; she came to Him where He was.
AMacd The Lord makes mention of the time: “But she from the time I came in has not ceased kissing my feet”. She was occupied with the Lord and His movements.
EAL The Lord says, “Thy faith has saved thee; go in peace”. Would it be right to say that her debt is forgiven, according to the Lord’s parable, but grace gives her credit for having faith?
JTJr And that is God’s gift. Much is made of what goes on in the woman; the Lord makes everything of that: “she loved much” and “thy faith has saved thee”.
ES She took her true place — at His feet.
JTJr What she did is mentioned by the Spirit in the narrative, but the Lord tells Simon what she did and what he did not do. There is, therefore, something for us to think about in connection with what is going on in our own souls.
JT I wonder how many of us here today have fully and absolutely a sense in our souls of the forgiveness of sins, because it is an immense thing.
AR Did she have some apprehension of the death of Christ? She brought the box of myrrh.
JTJr Well, it was precious; it was something of value.
AP Would it refer to what we have in our souls as we repent?
JTJr I would think so. The way the Lord spoke about her shows that faith was there.
JT The idea is that grace is there; Luke stresses grace: “but as they had nothing to pay, he forgave both of them their debt”.
ANW The woman’s love was the result of forgiveness; the forgiveness was not because she loved; she loved because she was forgiven [p. 407] much.
JT The Lord forgave her on the ground of redemption, which was yet to be effected.
JE The woman anointed and kissed His feet. What would that suggest?
JTJr It would probably allude to all. His service, all the way to the cross.
JT Just so; when we think of redemption it is a matter of how far He has gone; it involved the cross.
JHE “Without faith it is impossible to please him”, (Hebrews 11:6).
JT Faith is a great matter: “Ye are saved by grace, through faith; and this not of yourselves; it is God’s gift”, (Ephesians 2:8).
CAM In Luke 24:40 the Lord “showed them his hands and his feet”. Following His pathway in this gospel, the Lord showed them His feet in resurrection.
JT We have often thought of that and of His feet carrying Him all the way. She appreciated the way He had come. So, as has been remarked, faith is God’s gift; God had wrought in this woman’s soul; she had nothing to pay, but she had faith.
BW Would you say a word about the unforgivable sin of Matthew 12?
JTJr Speaking against the Holy Spirit is the unforgivable sin. There is no forgiveness for that, as the Lord says, “neither in this age nor in the coming one”, Matthew 12:31,32.
AR Mr. Darby has said that the notion of a clergyman is the dispensational sin against the Holy Spirit.
JT That is a remarkable statement!
JTJr Clericalism shuts out the Holy Spirit, and there is no forgiveness for that.
JT That is right.
ANW It shows how great and real a Person the Holy [p. 408] Spirit is.
TEH What kind of a sin is contemplated in 1 John 5:16? It reads, “If any one see his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life, for those that do not sin unto death. There is a sin to death: I do not say of that that he should make a request”. What kind of a sin is a sin to death?
JTJr It would mean something which had been done that God could not pass over and it went on to death.
ANW The sin against the Holy Spirit could not be forgiven, governmentally, in time or eternally.
JT It is a question of what God orders and if God orders it, it stands.
DP Could we say that this woman had judged the clerical system in the person of the Pharisee and came under the authority of the Lord?
JT Very good; the Pharisaical system is a real thing and we must have a judgment of it.
Rem It is remarkable that the Lord should choose to go into a Pharisee’s house, a difficult place for this sinful woman to come into.
TNW Would you think that when we come together for the preaching of the word, the brethren provide an atmosphere that is in accord with the mercy-seat?
JTJr Yes; and so in all our meetings we should be conscious that God is there by His Spirit. The cherubim of glory overshadowed the mercy-seat (Hebrews 9:5). God was represented there in the cherubim. And so here: “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself”, 2 Corinthians 5:19. God was there in Christ in the Pharisee’s house. Now it is, “in whom ye also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit”, (Ephesians 2:22). The Lord is available to all. God has set Him forth a mercy-seat.
VCL And some sense of this must have come vividly into the soul of the woman, because there [p. 409] seems to be no thought on her part that she would not be accepted; she has the liberty of one who has confidence of acceptance.
JTJr No doubt the woman would suggest how we come into the feelings that are proper to the assembly as to the Lord Jesus.
JHE You mentioned that “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself”(2 Corinthians 5:19). And Paul could say, “We are ambassadors ... for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:20). The position is the same today, is it not?
JT Quite the same.
Ques In that same passage in 2 Corinthians it says, “Putting in us the word of that reconciliation” 2 Corinthians 5:19. Does the preacher, in that way, reflect the glory of the mercy of God in his preaching?
JTJr The preacher should be in the good of the mercy-seat himself. So that the feelings of this woman should be known by the preachers; they know their own part as sinners and are kept humble by it. Paul is an example in this. He said, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first”, (1 Timothy 1:15).
DP Would the ministration of this woman to the Lord qualify her for the assembly?
JTJr I think so, she would be a suited person to come into the assembly.
WWM The mercy-seat is really a Person; it is, “whom God has set forth” (Romans 3:25). That puts everything on Christ. The mercy-seat was made of pure gold (Exodus 25:17). Everything is divinely ordered, disclosing the heart of God: “There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared”, (Psalm 130:4).
FHL In Hebrews 9:12 it says, “By his own blood, has entered ... having found an eternal redemption”.
JT Yes; His own blood, “through faith in his blood”(Romans 3:25). It is His own [p. 410] personal matter.
VCL The Pharisee missed the mark. He says to himself, “This person if he were a prophet ...” and then he says to the Lord, “Teacher”. It was the Redeemer who was administering forgiveness.
JT He did not even know that He was a prophet; he did not know that much.
RFD The Lord seems to exercise the right of the creditor in this scripture; elsewhere sin is regarded as against God.
JTJr It was against God here; the Lord spoke in a parable; all sin is against God. She was a woman in the city, and a sinner; but she took the alabaster box of myrrh; she did that, showing she had faith; and she came behind Him weeping. She wept because God was working in her. She had faith, and faith will bring out these things.
JT Faith was active in her.
JTJr I thought we may be helped to see that faith operates in our souls as to our sins, so that we come to understand the awfulness of that from which grace relieves us.
Rem So that we are justified through faith. Is that not a great principle in the gospel? Simon missed it. He would condemn the woman, but she was justified by the Lord.
LW Is that why the Lord can tell her, “Go in peace”? Is justification seen in what he said to her?
JTJr She was told to go in peace; it is the way in which she goes now. Romans 3:17 says, “The way of peace they have not known”. It is not the way she came in, but she is now in “the way of peace”.
JT Very good; it is the gospel.
ATD The One who spoke peace to her was the One who made peace by the blood of His cross.
JT Quite so; the Lord appraised the whole situation when He spoke the parable, but then He [p. 411] enlarged on what had gone on in the woman’s soul, and what had not gone on in Simon.
ANW The Lord knew that repentance was underneath, so that He could draw attention to what she did as the evidence of her faith.
SW Her broken and contrite heart was not despised (Psalm 51:17).
JTJr It is a very interesting matter as what she did was taken account of. It seems to be a full idea with her. She washed His feet with her tears — the expression of the deep feelings she had — and then she dried the tears with the hairs of her head.
VCL She showed the marks of the Spirit’s work, typically, in that she anointed Him. The Lord had said, earlier, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach glad tidings” (Luke 4:18). Typically, she had the Spirit and was trustworthy.
Ques Had she any intelligence that Jesus was to suffer in that she anointed his feet with the myrrh?
JTJr The alabaster box of myrrh has some significance; we are impressed with that. The Old Testament references to myrrh seem to suggest the idea of suffering love. She evidently appreciated the grace that brought Jesus into the suffering position.
JLeP Was not this woman the exemplification of verse 35: “Wisdom has been justified of all her children” Luke 7:35?
JTJr Yes; she was one of wisdom’s children.
TEH God had provided her with long hair in His creational rights, and she evidently honoured that. In that way her glory was used to serve Him.
JTJr Yes; her tears were well spent; they were used to wash the Lord’s feet and her hair was used in a most exalted way, that is, in wiping His feet.
Rem In Ephesians 4:32 it says that we are to “be to one another kind, compassionate, forgiving one another, so as God also in Christ has forgiven you”. Mr. Darby’s footnote links that with showing grace as Luke 7:42.
JTJr So that we begin to act like God after we have been convicted of our own sins and have realized the extent of grace that has been shown to us.
VCL Grace and forgiveness are being emphasized at the present time. Is not this an evidence of the anointing? The Holy Spirit has been given greater place in relation to administrative matters.
JT The Spirit of God has been sent down from heaven and is here in the assembly.
AR It says that “he forgave both of them their debt”. Forgiveness was available to the Pharisee as well as to the woman.
JTJr The allusion to the Spirit is helpful; the Spirit has come down from heaven and we have Him; the anointing comes into view.
Rem The coming of the Spirit was an act of grace, and the Spirit’s falling upon those to whom Peter preached in Acts 10 was so again.
AR Grace was in full sway at Pentecost when three thousand were converted.
JTJr There was the administration of forgiveness, and the gift of the Holy Spirit: “Be baptised ... for remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).
LW Romans 3 and 5 are very closely linked in that way?
JTJr Yes; not only do we receive the forgiveness of sins but also the gift of the Holy Spirit.
JT It is marvellous; the Spirit has come down from heaven, sent down from heaven.
JTJr This is a very full section of Scripture which is greatly used in the gospel preachings, and rightly so.
SCM The Lord says to Simon: “Thou gavest me not a kiss, but she from the time I came in has not ceased kissing my feet”. That is a remarkable testimony to what the woman did.
JTJr It is a question of how much we do when the Lord has come in. “From the time I came in”, He says. So that we can regard the Lord as being amongst us here today; but then, what are we doing in relation to Him?
JT What a sight it is to see so many brethren together!
JTJr It is a great sight to see so many that have been forgiven.
SCM As having been forgiven and having impressions in our souls, we are able to speak to each other in this happy way.
JTJr And so it is that the Lord refers to love here: “She loved much”; love has a great place in the gospel.
JT It is actually what has been done through the gift of the Spirit.
JTJr The pouring out of the Spirit involves the greatest thing we can think of in the way of what we have received.
JT The whole question is what has been done, including the gift of the Spirit, the coming of the Holy Spirit from heaven.
ANW Are you referring to the Lord’s work, His death, the smitten Rock?
JT Quite so; what actually has been done; what has happened at any time that is involved in the gift of the Spirit.
DMacd The Lord said to the disciples, “It is profitable for you that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go I will send him to you”, (John 16:7).
JTJr The Lord is no longer here personally, but the Holy Spirit is here, and that involves all that is connected with the mercy-seat.
[p. 414] Rem Paul wrote, in 1 Corinthians 2:3,4, “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling; and my word and my preaching, not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power; that your faith might not stand in men’s wisdom, but in God’s power”. It is evident that he was under the Spirit’s power as he served at Corinth.
JTJr The “demonstration” would suggest that there was something in evidence which was manifestly of the Spirit and was in power.
AR The Spirit being here involves a great system below. The tabernacle in the wilderness represented a great system on earth.
JTJr And now it is that we are “built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit”(Ephesians 2:22), as has been remarked.
AR So that, in testimony, the mercy-seat is set forth here today.
JTJr I think so; we should feel the greatness of the position in which we are. This woman, in coming so close to the Lord, had some sense of what these things represent. And the Lord allowed her to come so close to Him! He took up the matter of her forgiveness, which was the point in His parable and was available to both these persons.
JT “As they had nothing to pay, he forgave both of them their debt”.
JTJr From this standpoint no one has anything to pay, but as receiving the Spirit we get the ability to pay.
GVD Would you say something further as to our ability to pay as having the Spirit?
JTJr I was thinking of the type in 2 Kings 4:7, of the oil in the vessels. Elisha told the woman to pay her debt and to live on the rest. That is an allusion to a person using the Spirit and thus being able to meet every obligation. But the point here [p. 415] is that there was a time when we had nothing to pay.
ANW “... That the righteous requirement of the law should be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to flesh but according to Spirit”, Romans 8:4.
JTJr It is a question of how we are set up with the means of doing so. According to Romans 8, a having the Spirit you are able to meet everything by the Spirit.
CAM So that it has been said of the believer and his blessings, that he gets the first one for nothing, as seen in this chapter, but that he is able to pay every debt afterwards.
JTJr So that this brings out an important foundational phase of the truth — that when it is a question of the debt we owe on account of our sins against God, we have nothing to pay.
VCL Would you say something as to the one whose many sins are forgiven, loving much, and he to whom little is forgiven, loving little? Paul speaks of himself as the chief of sinners. Was it a progressive matter in his soul, so that as the work of God expanded he had a deeper understanding of his own condition?
JTJr I would think that; we have been speaking about the preaching; it is a question of how the truth is presented. The Lord says, “He to whom little is forgiven loves little”. But the woman was conscious of having been forgiven much and she loved much.
Ques How are we to view the bondman in Matthew 18 who was forgiven the huge debt but went and throttled one of his fellow-bondmen who owed him a small amount? He was delivered to the tormentors, and the Lord says, “Thus also my heavenly Father shall do to you if ye forgive not from your hearts every one his brother”(Matthew [p. 416] 18:35).
JTJr That shows the other side; that man was not really a subject of the mercy of God. He did not love much.
WWM Having nothing to pay means that we had nothing that could meet the obligation of our sins. The mercy-seat is Christ Himself: “whom God has set forth” (Romans 3:25). He has met the obligation for us and as we believe we understand that righteousness has been met, and as Elihu said to Job: God “will render unto man his righteousness”, (Job 33:26). That is provided at the mercy-seat. “Jehovah hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all”, (Isaiah 53:6). And then it says, “Their sins and their lawlessnesses I will never remember any more”, (Hebrews 10:17). So that, “having been justified on the principle of faith, we have peace towards God”, (Romans 5:1). We are free in the presence of God, but we should always remember that Christ took our place.
CFE When the Lord Jesus, on the cross, said, “It is finished” (John 19:30), He had all this in mind.
VCL Although there is this principle that he to whom little is forgiven loves little, in Romans 3 everybody is shut out before the mercy-seat is presented; “for there is no difference; for all have sinned”(Romans 3:22,23); so that it is not a question of little or much, but the greatness of the mercy-seat.
AMacd Is it not significant that although the Lord Jesus was addressing Simon, He turns to the woman and says to her, “Thy sins are forgiven”? She received a special word from the Lord at that time.