Leonard Ravenhill emphasizes the profound nature of adoration in his sermon, illustrating how true worship involves recognizing our unworthiness and bringing our gifts to Jesus, much like the woman who anointed His feet with precious ointment. He reflects on the depth of God's mercy and love, highlighting that despite our sins, we are accepted and cherished by Him. Ravenhill contrasts the genuine worship of the woman with the indifference of the Pharisee, urging believers to approach Jesus with humility and a heart full of gratitude. He calls for a deeper understanding of faith, encouraging the congregation to rest in God's faithfulness and to actively seek to honor Him in their lives. Ultimately, the sermon is a call to worship that transcends mere attendance, inviting believers to bring their gifts and adoration to the Lord.

took all our sins away a sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood than they as one has said we would never have desired to be nearer than thy cross and never higher than thy feet even though to reach to your feet as it were Lord Jesus on the cross is too high for us the dust is our place because we have offended thee in thought, in word, in deed as one hymn writer says I have long withstood his grace long provoked him to his face would not hearken to his call grieved him by a thousand falls depth of mercy, can there be mercy still reserved for me can my God his wrath forbear me the chief of sinners spare yet Lord we thank you that when we came as another hymn says perhaps we're in worn and sad or when we came waiting not to rid our souls of one dark lot recognizing the failure of religion the failure of ourselves when we came just as we were you've accepted us like the father accepted the prodigal he may have smelled of the swine he may have been dirty but he was still loved by the father we thank you that you loved us before ever we loved you there's no beauty in thee we're told but there was no beauty in us that you should desire us perhaps our very disfigurement just like a mother we're told if she has five healthy children and a crippled distorted child she loves the crippled child at least she shows more love and tenderness to that one child because of its need we thank you you did this to us you didn't say we were too far gone you didn't say we were without hope in that sense we were without hope but Lord you had hope when we had no hope and you had love when we had no love and you had concern when we had no concern and you had compassion when perhaps we were even arrogant in our sin and satisfied with it we thank you for this wonderful wonderful cross the old rugged cross so despised by the world this world gets smarter but it gets wickeder too it doesn't get any nearer God it gets further from God it doesn't seek the narrow way that leads to life it likes the broad way with its flashing lights and its flesh and all else though it lead us to destruction keep us near the cross we pray keep us looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith if we step out of line we step into danger anyhow it's never easy always easy to do your commandments and yet you said my yoke is easy and my burden is light and sometimes it seems easy to drop our load and pick another one up but it's worse for us it's easy to shake off the yoke and take another one temporary it's worse for us Lord help me and my precious friends here to understand this that you never design one evil thing for us you never design a thing for us that will hurt us eventually it may hurt our flesh right now it may hurt our feelings it may snap up some of our or break up some of our plans but we see through a glass darkly and you do not see like that our judgments are limited yours are unlimited you are so vast and wonderful that we pray again that we may not be faithless and unbelieving that somehow faith may rise afresh in our hearts even today Lord we sang in our first hymn as you heard it our praise to thee great is thy faithfulness there is no shadow of turning with thee Lord I don't believe you've ever had an afterthought you've never corrected anything you did because everything you did was perfect anyhow you didn't have to go back and say you wished you'd done this in the garden of Eden or done that somewhere else everything you did was perfect and as we were singing that wonderful hymn summer and winter springtime and harvest sun, moon and stars if you pull your power from them they come crashing to us and burn us up maybe you don't think of this often that they only stay there because you tell them to stay there they're going to fall one day we're told they're going to fall from heaven like figs off a tree that's been shaken sometimes we see the machines now as men don't take the pecans off the tree by hand anymore it's too costly but they shake the tree with a vibrator they come tumbling down in the hundreds of thousands and one day you're going to shake the heavens and the earth but you're going to shake the heavens too and there's going to be an awful display of awful power in that day it's enough to scare us but lord it doesn't scare us when we know that you're in control and you're going to let things go as far as you want them not as far as Ford's government or the British government or wicked Russian government you let men go so far and then you intervene in the affairs of men you've done this so often and our trust is in thee lord this may not give you much glory because we can't add to your glory but it gives us a lot of satisfaction anyhow to know that the master is at the wheel the storm may get worse one poet said the storm may roar without me my heart may low be laid but God is round about me and shall I be afraid his wisdom never fail us his sight is never dim he knows the way he take us and I will walk with him for it's so much safer to walk in the dark with thee than walk in the light with men we thank you that you see the end from the beginning we don't sometimes we hardly know where we begin never mind the ending but we thank you that you do know and again we rest in thee remember that word in Hebrews 2 that says there remaineth a rest for the people of God we pray lord that we should not be wearing ourselves when we should be resting as we've said often faith will do three things it reckons on God it risks on God and it rests and there is no relaxation in the world like resting in the faithfulness of God didn't you tell us lord when you left us I will never leave you nor forsake you and lord does it matter who else forsakes us or lets us down if you're faithful you told us not to put confidence in the flesh men are fallible women are fallible they surprise us they start us but lord again you didn't ask us to lean on this or follow the other one you said I will lead you into all truth and you're the leader and we're satisfied we don't know a leader that's better anyhow we don't know a leader that's wiser or a leader that's stronger lord after all we're just little visitors here on this world millions of people came on it before we were here but maybe there'll be millions when we go we're just passing down the road and there's no u-turn for us we can't go back so we pray that we may be smart in the spirit and live everyday to the best advantage we can for the glory of God first and foremost to bring honor to your name so many dishonor your name discredit your name God make us jealous to honor thee make us jealous that we'll be the best Christian we can be we live at full stretch for God as long as we can in a world that's closing in on us very fast systems all around us seem to be breaking down we hear this awful statement of the president's wife last Sunday that's truly a sad sad sad comment on the situation and they're professing a form of godliness no God we pray that it may please you very soon to disturb the nation with a prophetic voice with an Elijah with a John Baptist although I'm quite sure he wouldn't stay on the network more than an hour I think they'd turn him off before he got halfway through but it doesn't have to be that way your ways again aren't ours and your thoughts are not ours you do things in a strange strange way you like you do them so quietly you think of the sun it gets up every morning it doesn't come with a roar of thunder it just shines and that's it and until we look out we don't know it's there perhaps think of the beautiful flowers they open without the bang think of the other marvelous things that you do and we thank you for your silent workings by your spirit in us work on in us we pray Lord we tell you we do have an open invitation in our lives we want to be your love slaves we want to be devoted to thee as we come to your word again we ask that you bring out of the treasury of your work things new and old Frederictus, Medius Vias disturb us, humble us pour us down, build us up empty us fill us, do with us as you will after all you are the potter we're just the clay we want to be in your hands to be manipulatable shape, fashion and fill, and fruitful to your glory remember the suffering church again you must remember those in Russia China and elsewhere where it's conditions are bad you think of Brezhnev saying this week Russia doesn't feel bound to the treaty this he signed two weeks ago in Helsinki he's breaking it already what professional liars these men are how blindly we walk on this sign bits of paper and take them home and maybe go on to Malacca less and less can we trust men organizations, systems but more and more we can trust thee rest in your faithfulness and your love and this we do and we thank you again for this gathering you've preserved our lives this week there have been disasters, accidents on the road, in the air and elsewhere we thank you we come to it unscathed and bring it to our hearts stock us up as it were with some joy and blessing that will carry us through this week like the prophet who said he could go in the strength of this meat for 40 days Lord may this be an enriching hour and we'll give you all the credit and all the glory in Jesus name Luke chapter 7 you know right now I understand on TV a lot of reruns this is kind of a rerun but it's a friend of mine used to say he only had one sermon he said I've only one train but I've changed the engine on it now and again so this is kind of a new introduction but the Lord spoke to me this week, it seemed quite fresh to me and as I've said often a number of reasons for doing this, number one is that repetition is a law of learning you have to keep hammering the nail on the head and it goes in further and further number two we're forgetful most of us are if I asked you to tell me what I told you last year at this time about this text you may not come up too bright I don't know, maybe you would and thirdly I think it's awesome when someone asked the famous D.L. Moody well how do you really know the bible is inspired, just as quick as lightning because it inspires me I think it's one of the best arguments I've ever heard sometimes when I'm talking to preachers I say sometimes the bible explodes in my hands, I come to a text like that, it just explodes I can't take another verse I just have to ponder it, meditate write some notes on it and it was like that this week, thinking of this story again of the woman that brought the alabaster box of ointment, I'm just going to read the introduction from verse 36 in Luke chapter 7 and one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him and he went into the Pharisees house and sat down to meet and behold the woman in the city which was a sinner when she knew that Jesus sat at meet in the Pharisees house brought an alabaster box of ointment and she stood at let me not put the emphasis notice as I read this she stood at his feet behind him weeping and began to wash his feet with tears and he wiped them or his feet with the hairs of her hair and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment the thing that struck me supposedly about this was this that she's the only one in the crowd that went to meet Jesus everybody else went because it was a social gathering she's the only one that went with a gift and as I thought about this and thought about it again this morning I thought well let me see how many Southern Baptists are there perhaps the stars of heaven promoted you regardless but let's say there are 12 million of them 9 million Lutherans 8 million Methodists what have you got maybe 50 million people went to church in America this morning how many of them do you think went to meet Jesus I'm always telling the preachers I do not believe people come to church to meet God they come to hear a sermon about God and when so often they say that the spirit can have his way in this meeting I say sometimes when the meetings got wrong if he came he'd all run for the door if the Holy Ghost began to do what he wanted to do in some meetings some would run to the door because when he comes he convicts of sin for one thing he's a right to manifest himself as he likes if there was a blind man there and he suddenly shouted as some a man did in a meeting in Germany not too long ago he was sitting in a meeting and they said God seemed to be walking in the midst suddenly a man said a fellow shouted I am free well I'd shout louder than that if I were blind I couldn't see I wouldn't care whether Mrs. Smith was sitting in front of the brewer's wife or anybody else I'd just yell my head off if I suddenly felt the quickening of God like that now isn't it tragic that people go and she's the only one that went to meet Jesus the other one because it was a social gathering the others went because he was a Pharisee now it works they were the distinctive people they were the holy club Jesus had a lot of trouble with them and often I thought this man felt a sense of obligation that Jesus came to him but you know I'm turning this over this week I wonder if he wasn't getting Jesus there to take a rise out of him I wonder if he wasn't inviting Jesus there to show Jesus up because it says the Pharisees were always trying to catch him in their conversation and maybe this man was one of the smartest of the lot and he thought if I ask Jesus some questions he can't answer I'll embarrass him and we'll have no more trouble with him after this again she went to meet Jesus nobody else did she took a gift for Jesus nobody else did and she went away with a gift from Jesus and nobody else did so if you say sometimes you know I went to church yesterday and it was so empty well so did I you went empty you didn't take a gift to Jesus so he paid you back with what you got that's his way isn't it it says what you sow you'll reap with what measure you gave he gives it back to you so he went to the house of Simon a Pharisee and I say again I'm emphasizing there she did what well as that verse says she stood at his feet she washed his feet she kissed his feet all her concern was about the Lord Jesus Christ himself you know it's very interesting to think about the gifts that came to Jesus as well in fact how did he get into the world because the woman gave a body a body a slab prepared for him so the first gift was a gift of life to a woman that bore reproach it's so easy as Dr James Stewart not the one that just died the other James Stewart very brilliant Greek scholar in New College Edinburgh and he said we preachers we get a lot of stuff together it takes 20 hours 5 hours a day for 4 days to make a decent sermon anyhow so you know mine don't take as long and he said you put it all together like that and you say to the people now sit back when the choir's finished I'm going to preach open your mouth swallow that and he said they swallowed in one lump took you 20 hours to prepare it takes them 20 seconds to swallow it 20 minutes if you're a boring preacher but anyhow that's all there is to it he said and I think often we swallow the truth familiarity does breed contempt in one sense not contempt in the sense that you're nauseated or we're rude about it but so what you're going to talk about Jesus being born so what well it so happens he came into the world not riding down the sky I'd like to have seen Jesus come into the world riding on the chariot that Elijah went back to heaven in I think he'd have had a better chance of being received particularly if he'd come on the feast of Pentecost where there were perhaps 2 million Jews in the city in the holy city if suddenly they'd been coming at the evening sacrifice and oh look there you know like you see that sleigh they put on the roof of houses at Christmas with that guy that never lived but he's got some deer there. If Elijah's chariot had come with snorting horses and Jesus stepped out on the cloud and came down and said I'm the son of God everybody bowed let it be we've received him but he came under suspicion he stole into the world through the womb of the Virgin Mary she gave her body in order that he might be born and the last thing on the cross a Roman had a spear and he put a sponge on it and he gave a gift of as they say an anesthetic he wanted to ease the suffering which I don't believe Jesus took and in between that you have all the gifts that were given by different people. One man gave his house that Jesus might ride into the city in triumph another man gave the upper room without any rent so that he could meet his disciples there a woman at the side of the well gave her a cup and filled it with water for the son of God another man saw Jesus there and he said if you want my boat just get in it and go across the water. Lots of gifts little boy gave his gift of bread and Jesus blessed it and fed a multitude and this is a sign if you love people you want to give. God so loved the world that he gave a poet I can't remember his name said love ever stands with open hands and while it lives it gives and this is love's prerogative to give and give and give love gives it always gives this woman brought her gift and it's a wonderful gift because you see Jesus first of all he received the gift he recognized it it was her gift and he not only recognized it he received the gift and he not only received the gift but he rewarded her for bringing the gift I'm just wondering if it isn't really legitimate to say these days that tyranny has come back into the church lots of people don't know the first thing about giving a gift to God or the Lord Jesus and so what do you do? You say well look now you remember and this is what you have to do you must be in every time the doors open the door of the house if you're not here Sunday come to a preparation class before the Sunday night service you must be here Wednesday night so attendance is demanded and then when you demanded attendance you demand that they give a tithe and so forth and so on as though God himself ever received a cent he doesn't receive a cent of that money obviously he doesn't but the tyranny is this if you're going to attend this church you're going to tow the line you're going to be here, you're going to do that you're going to do something else and they never even touch the hem of his garment the woman didn't say if I could shake hands with Jesus I feel great can I shake hands with you? you wrote a book that blessed him, can I shake hands? say sure, what good will it do if we shake both at the same time? I wonder if you won't be any better for shaking hands, shake my feet if you will what good will it do you? but we kind of say I shake hands with the president, so what? you might be ashamed of it before long but anyhow, you shake hands with the president no she says if I can get near to him, I believe that virtue is so great in him if I could touch the hem of his, you talk about faith you know I bet I'm sorry I guess that woman got down on her hands and knees and pushed her hands through the legs of those people then said I'm going to touch him it's the chance of a lifetime and immediately she touched him two things happened she was conscious she received the gift and he was conscious he gave her the gift I've heard people say I've heard preachers say sometimes oh preaching used to bother me, it doesn't bother me anymore preach an hour or two hours I could preach one place and go and preach somewhere else, it doesn't cost me a thing I say to them well dry up and sell out and go sell hamburgers if it doesn't cost you anything to preach, any gift you give to God, if it's worth nothing, it does nothing, if it costs nothing it does nothing and it's worth nothing if Jesus perceived that virtue went out of him in order to be a blessing to somebody else if you go do some ministry for God and come home exhausted, don't let the devil get to you and say you shouldn't be like that you just say virtue went out of me, until you restock yourself you'll still feel as weak as a child, now maybe it's a sign of getting older, I don't know it cost me a lot more to preach than it used to cost me I'm not worried about it, I'm pretty happy about it I take it more seriously, I can almost hear the waterfalls they say when the fellows are in their canoes they can hear the waterfall going over Niagara Street when they watch it and now I'm turn 50 I'm getting nearer the waterfall so I'm getting more cautious about it but he perceived that virtue went out of him you see that's the whole business here, this woman brought a gift and it was a very precious gift now it's amazing isn't it the same gift was brought to Jesus when he was lying in a manger wise men came and worshipped him what did they bring? how many were there? we don't know you say three, you can't prove it there were three gifts, there may have been 33 men brought it but there were three gifts gold and frankincense and myrrh she brought an alabaster box of ointment filled with the most pungent fragrant thing that's ever been invented I think so he had it at his birth and he couldn't recognize it he had it here and he did recognize it and then in the 19th of John you get a, you see in the first place let's say this, in the first place they were kings that brought the gift in the second place a commoner, a woman of pretty doubtful reputation so kings bring it, a commoner brings it and finally a counselor a Nicodemus, a counselor a ruler of the Jews she brought a box of ointment that weighed a pound doesn't seem very big he brought a box of ointment on the shoulder of some couple of fellows that worked in his garden because it weighed a hundred pounds I'm sure he didn't carry now the first gift was to Jesus when he was a little babe and he didn't recognize it the last gift was to Jesus when he was dead and he didn't recognize that so a small American said do your giving while you're living then you know where it's going you see a lot of people are going to give Jesus things when they die, well I made up my mind when I die I'm going to leave this and that so what, maybe all you'll do is leave your friends some bills I don't know but supposing you leave a lot of money you could leave I don't believe anybody will get a dime's credit if you leave a million dollars in the bank for missions I don't believe God will give you 10 cents for it why not well what does the scripture say the Lord liveth and one you ever see a tearful couch the only reason he gave was he died if he'd been living another day it'd seem holy wouldn't it he didn't give it he surrendered it death said if he could have said death wait a minute another year he'd have kept that thousand or million dollars another year two years whatever the time was but you see you give that shall I render to the Lord I was trying to find out I found it a bit later there in the 24th chapter of the second book of kings chapter verse 24 two kings 24 24 let me read it to you the king said unto Rona nay I will surely buy to thee at a price neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which does cost me nothing nothing now this king is the king David the lesser king of the tribe says David you can have anything you want what do you want how many bullets do you want for an offering you're going to offer to God well take the best of the herd you want some other things well take them oh I'm happy but he says look you can't give God that which costs you nothing oh it's easy to give God that which costs you it's that which costs you something you know we're living in a marvelous day of computers I don't know how smart they are but anyhow they keep making mistakes too I find out one of them paid a regular check the other week for a million dollars and it was only ten I think it was she took it back that's more than a politician would have done but anyhow she took it back and said you made a mistake a computer wouldn't it be nice if you could have a kind of a little computer or do we need it to ask yourself at the end of the day and maybe you're about to try it out this week don't change your pattern of life your lifestyle but at the end of the day just sit down with a piece of paper and write how much you gave Jesus in this one day well I don't know much I'll tell you what I give him a lot on Sunday well maybe with football coming back he won't get as much I don't know but how much do we really give to him well I think this woman is a very courageous woman she went to the house of a pharisee and as I say it's ironical there's so many ironical things in she's the only one that brought a gift she's the only one that got a gift and what gift she got what did she get she got forgiveness that's the greatest thing we need this side of heaven second thing she got she got the gift of peace peace be with you those other guys came in as rich and they went out as rich so shall act so what she went to the house of Simon a pharisee well that's what it says in another in another version it gives the name of Simon but anyhow it says he was a pharisee I kind of imagine that this this man said to himself well it's going to be a great day anyhow because after all Jesus is the greatest person alive and he's causing a lot of upset politically socially the doctors are after him because he heals and the politicians are after him because he talks about the kingdom and the religious folk are after him because he says he's the son of God and it's going to be interesting anyhow we'll get some good discussion and I think he got up and said well let me see have I got the right folk here yeah I got the right folk I crossed his name up and so on so my seating capacity is very limited and when he got the right folk he got the right food that's essential ask my friend on the right when they're having a banquet you've got to get the right food oh yes delicate food and after the folk and the food I think they got some flowers to give it a nice aesthetic atmosphere all right and I think he said to himself something like this when he got up this is going to be a day I never never never want to forget and it became a day that he never never never wanted to remember you ever have a day like that everything went wrong for a moment you got up and said well I'm glad there's only 24 hours it'll be tomorrow will be as though sleep can change it it does sometimes that's a part of the reviving system that God mercifully gives us but everything went wrong I say again looking at the woman look at the carriage she no right to go into a mixed audience and certainly not a woman of her type she's no right to be there at all I think it's I'm not sure whether it's Wesley as Inseldorf has a hymn that starts with oh unexampled love oh all redeeming grace how swiftly didst thou move to save a fallen race unexampled love this woman has no pattern to go by the trouble with us we fall over each other copying the same method one church I've heard pastors say well what did you do to get that crowded I had so and so yeah yeah fill the place do you know where's the dress and right away he's after something he's going to pull a few people in all just for a shindig a happy shindig for a week and it may pass out she didn't copy anybody else I kind of figure if you'd seen her at the door there maybe you'd have seen her dress heaving like this her heart was beating that wild and she said well I I suppose I shouldn't go in and you know she must have felt no wonder she burst into tears no wonder she was so happy we used to sing a hymn in Ireland sing it o'er and o'er again Christ receive the sinful man do you remember the what they said of Jesus this man receive us sinners now remember saying that one day in a meeting the family yelled at the top of their voice hallelujah and I said to him man you shouted he said well man sure if he didn't receive sinners I'd never have got there in fact he doesn't receive anybody else he just said well just well find your way to heaven if you can all he does is receive sinners let not conscience make you linger nor of fitness fondly dream all the fitness you require at least to feel your need of him isn't that really amazing that all he asks is that you feel your need of him not only as a saviour but day by day Lord I feel I need your strength more than ever today but before I ask for it I'm going to bring you a gift I'm going to bring you an offering of love I'm not trying to plea bargain or make a deal with you but first of all if the day goes if it's as dark as hell and everybody I tell you first of all my Jesus I love thee I know thou art mine not at the end of the day when he brought me through some scrapes and someone nearly cut me in two running the red light but before I start the day to get a kind of spiritual intoxication of joy and say Lord Jesus I'll tell you this whether I make a million dollars or I sell one way stuff or anything today you'll mean more to me than have you meant and you'll mean more at the end of the day I'm sure she came with her gift she's no right to go and she went in and when she got in there she walked up to Jesus and somebody oh this man didn't do the things he should have done I'm not so sure he wasn't even snubbing Jesus right here you think I'm going to kiss him you think I'm going to let somebody wash his feet why to do that I'm giving an acknowledgement he's a somebody I let him see whether he's the greatest teacher or preacher in the world he's going to be nobody when he's around my house he'll get no recognition and then somebody whistles and the boss says well listen the mayor's coming in right now what do you want that Jesus fella you were talking about um well anyhow you know that certain woman that's been on the blacklist with the cuts and so forth lately yes well listen don't mention her name in this party because we don't want the place polluting even her name pollutes the place she's in the back room with that Jesus fella you were talking about oh don't go about putting a pin in a balloon a fella feeling that the world had dropped apart you know what he said he said he's no prophet if he were a prophet he'd know what man or woman this is that touches him he wouldn't have let that woman touch him if she'd come near him to put his boots on and get out of here touch him and Jesus says Simon just hold it a minute uh I want to tell you a little story there were two men in debt one owed 500 pence and the other owed 50 and when they had nothing to pay uh the fellow said well don't worry about it just made a pile I'll forgive you both which of them would love him most and thinking of course that he was casting stones at the woman the man said well I suppose the biggest sinner would love him most neither was the giver Jesus says you rightly judge Simon I came into thine house now listen to this three fold condemnation I came into your house I didn't ask to come you invited me thou gavest me no water thou gavest me no oil thou gavest me no kiss three horrible negatives I was trying to find a comparison for this I think one thing would be you know you set the table in a hurry and you say to the children you put that leaf in the table and say yeah we put the middle leaf in and we put the cover on mummy alright and you get everything loaded up and you get all the guests in there and suddenly the middle leaf drops out of the table and Mrs. Smith has on a thousand dollar dress and she's soup on it 57 varieties and some of his cabbage has gone over here a cold slaw and they're all saying oh my feet are wet yeah you've got beetroot on them oh wouldn't that be awful having a guest a beautiful banquet and the middle leaf fell through and all the garbage it would look like came after all they prepared or a bride coming out of the door all excited and she got a heel in her dress and it was raining and she slipped and she rolled over in the mud wouldn't she look gorgeous any calamity that you can parallel it's too small this man has all his guests there and Jesus doesn't keep his voice down and everybody's listening and he embarrasses him in front he was trying to embarrass Jesus think I'd kiss your cheeks think I'd wash your feet you nobody I hope you realize I'm giving you a little bit of a little feeding your ego here I'm giving you a lift you're in the wrong class I tell these preachers and I don't have to say that I usually clench my feet and hit the guys and say listen I want to tell you guys that God isn't looking for sponsors and secondly no man ever does God a favor you can't do God a favor the greatest favor he ever could do was take you and redeem you and put his name on you and say you're my child and that's worth a thousand million times all the Rockefellers anybody else ever had because it's an eternal benefit Simon I entered in your house you thought you were rubbing my nose in the no I entered thine house thou gavest me no water look this is all going to be you talk about replays instant replays do you realize this whole show that I'm telling you now is going to be replayed in eternity before a thousand billion people and that poor proud Pharisee is going to have to stand there with all the saints of all the ages looking on and the cherubim and seraphim and Michael the archangel everybody else and he's going to stand there shaking and say well I didn't know you were the son of God I mean I didn't understand it I had not as much chance as anybody else but you see he did not feel any need all the fitness he requireth is to feel your need of him he didn't feel any need of Jesus why did he he was a socialite why did he because he was a Pharisee member of the holiest club in the world respected people would step off the sidewalk to let him go past say he's a holy man and Jesus says I came into your house you gave me no water you gave me no oil you gave me no kiss but this woman this woman hath ceased not to kiss and you know in the Greek that's a present continuous thing she would she couldn't get over the fact if she'd gone near the Pharisee he'd go out and get a lousy thing turn the dogs on her she came near Jesus and Jesus just smiled and she knelt down Charles Wesley has a fantastic hymn on this I don't know whether he got his inspiration I think from this story I don't know the first stanza but I do know the one I want to quote and that's what matters Charles Wesley says this oh let me kiss thy bleeding feet what do you think she'd have done if she'd seen a male pregnant in those feet oh says Charles Wesley let me kiss thy bleeding feet and bathe and wash them with my tears like she did the story of thy love repeats in every drooping sinner's ears that all mankind with me may prove thy sovereign everlasting love this woman made up her mind what she was going to do she was going to take a gift to Jesus if they broke her neck if they threw her out on the sidewalk I don't know how she knew do you think one day she was standing on the edge of the crowd when she said to somebody who's that fellow standing on that rock oh I don't know some say it's Moses some say it's Jeremiah some say it's John Baptist risen from the dead I don't really know but I'll tell you one thing he says some wonderful things and she drew near and pushed in the crowd a bit nobody turned to look they were all so eager and suddenly she saw those hands go up and a beautiful face said come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden I will give you rest and I can imagine her saying my God if that's true I'm going I never heard a rabbi say that I never heard anybody in the synagogue or the temple say that does he really mean that it says then they then they drew near unto him publicans and sinners for to hear him they never drew near publicans they never drew near the pharisees or the Sadducees they said no sir that guy draws his skirts in like this lest you defile him but this man says come on everybody come Jews Gentiles Roman soldiers Greeks come come if you're weary this is the condition of coming you're weary and you're heavy laden come and I'll give you rest and maybe that's when she opened her heart and maybe somewhere behind a rock or somewhere she cried and said well I believe Jesus means that Lord I'm sorry I'm a sinner and I want to be straightened out and so forth and so on and I'm going to find him because they tell me that they're going to put him to death before long and I've got a little thing I saved up there's a lot of controversy about these Mary's in the bible this is Mary brings a box of spikenard very precious but there's another Mary a Mary in Bethany who had a brother she had a sister by the name of Martha and she had a brother and she did the like thing except there are differences in the in the amount of stuff there are differences of expression and I don't think they matter too much personally but she brought a gift she brought a treasured gift of a pound of ointment and the critics there wondered why she should be allowed to put it on the feet of Jesus you see it doesn't matter what you do for the Lord you get criticized anyhow the only thing is not to do anything then you'll be criticized for being lazy but apart from that whatever you do it's going to fall into somebody's going to think the other way but she said well I made up my mind what I'm going to do I know what the custom is the custom is when he comes in you receive him and kiss him on either cheek and you take him over here for a slave to wash his feet and then you pass him over here and call for somebody and they bring a beautiful towel and they wipe his feet and then you anoint his feet it relaxes it gives him ease and rest see they didn't wear holes they wore sandals Jesus wore sandals because John Baptist said he did I doubt John Baptist wore them do you remember the first thing almost when the prodigal son came home the father said put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet why? well the colored people before when they used to be poor like us they used to sing I got shoes you got shoes all God's children got shoes better walk all over heaven in my shoes why? because none of them had shoes hardly slaves only got shoes but were handed down from the boss and if you got a pair of shoes rather you were someone you walked all over showed everybody you got shoes and so Jesus wore his sandals but gripped no black top robes his feet would be uncomfortable and he said I know what it means to tread roads and feel exhausted and your feet are burning and I'm going to go right in there as soon as I can get in there and I'm going to get hold of his feet and wash his feet she should have washed his feet with water but she washed his feet with tears she should have dried his feet with a towel and she dried his feet with the hair of her head the very sight of a woman loosing her hair in public was a sign of reproach and that she wasn't a very good woman anyhow and then of course the apostle says that a woman's glory is her hair so in other words she takes her glory not water for those feet not a towel for those feet the hair of her head and she could have anointed and should have anointed his head but she didn't she anointed his feet she didn't feel worthy that she should put her hands on his head or she should be as intimate if you like as that in other words all the time she takes the lowly place she takes the the slave place what did she bring you say she brought a gift of ointment oh yeah but it was more than that it was a whole life saving and more than that she brought a gift of love otherwise she wouldn't have dared to penetrate that select company and more than that she brought a gift of affection and gratitude otherwise she wouldn't have been in tears and actually what did she do she ministered to him she ministered to him again I ask you how many people do you think ministered to the Lord when they went to church this morning they gave five dollars to repair the roof and the organs leaking and when they prayed the pastor he needed a dollar or two how many do you think gave a gift to Jesus today what did they give him Wesley says let me kiss thy bleeding feet as I said before in each case where people are found worshipping the Lord Jesus and after all this woman did worship isn't it wonderful I'm always playing on this and teasing you isn't it wonderful that a woman could be at the feet of Jesus all that time and never say a word I mean the silence itself is a miracle apart from the gift she brought never said a word isn't that marvelous don't you think that's marvelous why because she went to worship and you don't have to say a word to worship you may have to say a word to pray you may have to say a word or two to pray but not to worship worship is a mixture of adoration contemplation thankfulness love all the kind of we all put together and in a sense a sacrifice of a sweet swallowing savor unto God isn't it