Now when the Pharisee which had bidden Him saw it, he spake
within himself, saying, This man, if He were a prophet, would
have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth
Him; for she is a sinner.--_Luke 7, 39._
Our Lord was reclining at a social meal in the house of Simon the
Pharisee, when, unbidden, a woman enters the room, and, standing
at the feet of Jesus, bursts into tears. She had not come for that
purpose, but stationed aside of the Lord, she was so overcome
that she could not restrain her emotion, and as the tears fall
thick and fast upon the feet of her Lord, she wipes them with her
hair, and kissing them, anoints them with costly ointment. The
whole transaction is so simple and touching that we feel at once
interested in the stranger. It is a question much discussed by Bible
students who this woman was. It has been said it was Mary Magdalene,
but that is a mistake; nor was it Mary, the sister of Martha and
Lazarus of Bethany. Her name, for wise and kind reasons, is withheld
from the Church. But we are not left entirely in suspense about her
history.
From several incidents in this chapter we infer that she lived
in the City of Nain where our Lord raised up the widow's son.
Furthermore, we are told that she was a sinner; that means here,
she had abandoned herself to a life of sin and impurity, and
finally, it seems quite probable, judging from the precious quality
of the ointment used, that she was a person of some wealth and
fortune. What fixes our attention most is that she was a sinner,
and a penitent sinner at that. What was the precise character
of her transgression we are not told; but whether she had been
an adulteress, or, being unmarried, had yielded to her depraved
dispositions, and was leading a life of criminal voluptuousness,
one thing is certain, she had reason to weep and lament. If she
was guilty of the former,--adultery, unfaithfulness to her own
spouse,--what opinion must a woman form of herself that has
committed this offense? And if she was guilty of the last-named
transgression, prostitution, no tears could have been too bitter.
Human words fail to describe the condition of a woman who has
arrived at such a depth of dissoluteness as to eradicate every
degree of modesty, hand herself over to infamy that overthrows the
whole social life, and converts mankind into a state of putrefaction
and decay. If there is one offense that is calculated to become a
perpetual source of sorrow, piercing the heart with thousand arrows
of sad reflection and remorse, fixing daggers in the souls of loving
parents, and covering one's family with public disgrace, it is the
offense which defiles the most sacred and inviolable relation of
human life. And however it may be done, we ought never to speak of
such crime in the way of extenuation. Holy Scripture characterizes
such not as pitiable, but as criminal, not as imposed upon, but as
deceiving, not as corrupt, but as corrupters, the only course for
whom is to do as this penitent, prostrate themselves in tears at
the feet of Him who will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the
smoking flax.
These introductory remarks point to us the topic which shall employ
our further contemplation this morning. We have considered the first
great enemy of our souls, the devil, that wicked spirit who walketh
about seeking whom he may devour, and the second, the world, and
now we come to the third, the flesh, in contemplating which _we
shall note a few of the most prevalent forms in which it manifests
itself_, and secondly, _how we may overcome it_. May God grant His
divine blessing!
There are topics, my beloved, which if a minister treats of them,
he will be regarded indelicate and forward, and which if he does
not treat of them, he will be charged with timidity and neglect of
duty. His course, however, is clear. As a faithful steward of divine
truth, he must declare the whole counsel of God, irrespective of
criticism and fear, lest any man's soul be required at his hands. No
diligent attendant of God's house will have failed to have marked
the reigning note in the Epistle readings of the last Sundays.
That note is a call to purity and sanctity of life. "Abstain from
fornication,"--"But fornication and all uncleanness, let it not
be once named among you, as becometh saints, for ye know that no
whoremonger nor unclean person hath any inheritance in the kingdom
of Christ and of God,"--solemn words, and not superfluous words
either, as little now as then, or since the beginning of man's
sinful career. We turn to the pages of Holy Writ,--what is it that
brought on that most terrible calamity, all except eight persons
going down in the waters of a universal flood? The sacred volume
answers: "When man began to multiply on the face of the earth, the
sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and took
them wives of all which they chose. Then it repented the Lord that
He had made man," and the judgment was let loose for destruction.
What was it that caused Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities of the plain,
to go down in fire and brimstone? The still gurgling sea of salt
and death gives back the answer of its brutality and uncleanness.
What caused the twenty and three thousand to perish in one day,
their white carcasses to strew the wilderness sand? Moses tells us:
fornication, sensuality, and impurity. And who is not bent with
grief as he reads of David and of Solomon? And the hearts of mankind
are as full of impurity now as then, in thoughts, words, deeds,
and dress. There are spectacles to be seen in places of amusement,
there are reports to be read in our public prints, which indicate
little or no improvement, though decking themselves with the name
of Christian and moral. What St. Paul wrote: "It is a shame even to
speak of these things which are done of them in secret," is still
true and too true, alas! of some professed Christians.
Fire, my beloved, is a most valuable, an indispensable agent of
the human race. What would we do without it? But fire must remain
within bounds. Woe if it overleaps them! Then it becomes a terrible
and destructive power! Man's body, likewise, is a great and noble
instrument, a fine handiwork of God, with powers for good; but it
must remain within its bounds, it must always be kept as a servant
in subjection. Woe to man's happiness and the welfare of others when
it overleaps its legitimate bounds, and the servant becomes the
master, a tyrant, and a destroyer! "I keep under my body and bring
it into subjection," says Paul. Our great business as Christians is
to learn to control our body, its lusts and desires; to subdue and
master it, to bring it into a pure and honorable service, above and
beyond its own miserable gratification. "Dearly beloved," writes
St. Peter, "I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from
fleshly lusts which war against the soul." Yes, back in the days of
Mount Sinai, God voiced His will in words of fire and thunder on
stony tablets: "Thou shalt not commit adultery," which means we are
to lead a chaste and decent life in word and deed, and each curb,
guard, and control the sinful desires of the flesh.
Nor is this unchastity, the overstepping of the proper relation
between the sexes, the sinful indulgence of man's lower nature,
the only temptation that comes from the flesh. From the long list
enumerated by the Apostle in his letters we shall select one other.
That is _intemperance_, the too free indulgence in stimulating
drinks. Nor can it be questioned that a word in this respect is
occasionally in place. The history of strong drink is the history of
ruin, of tears, and of blood. It is perhaps the greatest curse that
ever scourged the earth. Other evils have slain their thousands, but
this has slain its tens of thousands. It is simply impossible to
picture the crime of which it is the cause. It is the Mississippi
among the rivers of wretchedness. It is an evil which is limited
to no age, no nation, no sex, no period and call of life. It has
taken the poor man at his toil and the rich man in his palace, the
statesman in the halls of legislature, and the workingman on the
street, the preacher in the pulpit, and the layman in the pew, and
plunged them into a common ruin.
Since the time that Noah came out of the ark and planted vineyards
and drank of their wines, nearly five thousand years ago, we see
the foul and murderous track, destroying some of the mightiest
intellects, some of the happiest homes, some of the noblest
specimens of man. It has supplied every jail, penitentiary,
almshouse, and charity hospital with inmates, and flooded every city
with bestiality and crime. It empties the pockets, disgraces the
character, brutalizes the affections, brings disease to the body and
poison to the intellect. It does infinitely worse,--it bars the soul
out of heaven; for thus it is written: "No drunkard shall enter the
kingdom of heaven."
Such is the result of appetites indulged, what it means when the
flesh gains the supremacy, when a person turns himself over to
become a slave of his lusts and excesses. Nor let any one say as he
looks upon such a miserable victim of this vice: "I shall never be
like him." God grant that we may not, but "let him that thinketh
he standeth take heed lest he fall." The drunkard once thought the
same. No one can be certain that he will not yet fill a drunkard's
grave, unless he learn and employ the lessons which God has given us
to overcome this enemy, the flesh.
And which are these lessons, and how may this enemy be overcome?
We shall mention two. The first is this: "Keep thy heart with all
diligence." Our enemies are not only without, they are within. It
is our Savior who remarks: "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,
murders, adultery, fornication," and other shameful sins. And the
enemies within are the more dangerous, just as a traitor in our
city is worse than the enemy without the walls. So, then, our first
attention must be given to that. Keep, _i. e._, watch, garrison the
heart.
How? Keep from thoughts and purposes of sin. As long as we live
in this sinful body, in the midst of a perverse generation and
unchastisement, our eyes will behold scenes, our ears hear language,
our imagination suggest pictures that are impure and lewd, but it's
for the Christian to watch that such gazes of the eye do not become
purposeful, not to permit the imagination loose reins and range,
that unvirtuous thoughts are not indulged in, but repressed; as Dr.
Luther expresses it: "You cannot prevent the devil from shooting
arrows of evil thoughts into your heart, but take care that you do
not let such arrows stick and grow there."
The young Christian, who buys a ticket to the average theater,
with its abounding sensualities, has no right to complain if his
imagination is impure. Can any one take coals of fire into his bosom
and not be burned, handle pitch and not be soiled? The man and woman
who delight in reading lewd books, sensational, spicy newspaper
reports, who gaze upon indecent pictures, suggestive sights as they
are euphemistically termed, who listen to smutty stories, evil
communications, foolish jestings, as St. Paul calls them; the woman
who mixes in loose company, dresses indecently, and allows the
thoughts to dwell upon any subjects which connect with such sin,
need not wonder if the heart is invaded and influenced with unholy
sentiments, and fleshly appetites run riot. Guard your heart, what
transpires therein, and what enters in, with all diligence.
It was a wise man, in fact, the wisest of all men, one who, speaking
from own sad experience, gave this advice. Heed it, my dear hearer,
heed it!
And, again, the second lesson furnished by the holy Apostle is this:
"Walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the
flesh." There is a mine of wisdom in that. Our religion not only
tells us what not to do, it also tells us what to do; it is not
only negative, it is positive. There are two ways of dealing with
temptation. The one way is negative, the other is positive. "Thou
shalt not commit adultery," that is negative. We are to eradicate
vice, that is positive.
The effectual safeguard against drink is not prohibition. Neither
the most cunningly devised laws, nor the most unrelenting
persecution of liquor dealers, nor any other device of man can
arrest this terrible evil. To successfully combat it, to make the
poor victim a worthy and honored member of society, requires some
stronger and firmer basis, some more controlling motive than mere
earthly considerations. "Put on the Lord Jesus," is St. Paul's plain
direction, "and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the
lusts thereof." The eye that has gazed upon the cross of Calvary
with penitence and faith, the heart that has been regenerated by the
washing of the Holy Ghost, and in whose soul is diffused the Spirit
of God, and who strives to walk in the Spirit, he, and only he, can
escape the temptations of the dreaded serpent of intemperance. And
so, whatever the habit, you cannot wrestle successfully with a
vicious habit, unless you cultivate a higher and different taste, a
love for the things of God's Spirit. Life, to be safe, must stand
for something, not simply against something, must express itself in
the spirit, not simply suppress itself in the lust of the flesh.
From away back in the past comes to us a voice, the voice of a young
man who, when tempted by the dark-eyed adulteress in Egypt, said:
"How, then, can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?"
Oh, that the young and the old would let these words of Joseph
incessantly ring in their ears! A positive attachment, devotion to
God will prompt us to be and to do what He wants you to be and to
do, and as it inspires you to do what is right, it keeps you from
doing that which is wrong.
And here again, to conclude, in our combat against this enemy of our
soul we cannot stand upright unless we have some mightier power to
sustain us. We know as Lenten Christians whence this power flows.
How can any one who has looked up to that divine Sufferer in faith
crucify Him anew by unholy living? The thought of what He has done
for us, the love that prompted Him to shed His holy, precious
blood for our sins, will restrain us from falling a victim to this
insidious and wicked enemy. The Lord grant us repentance over past
falls, gracious forgiveness, and strength!
Plenteous grace with Thee is found,
Grace to cover all my sin;
Let the healing streams abound,
Make and keep me pure within.
Amen.