Because He First Loved Us
A Sermon on Luke 7:36-50
Originally preached Sept. 19, 1954
Scripture
36¶ And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat. 37And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s …
Sermon Description
There is a difference in knowing Jesus and simply know things about Him. In this sermon on Luke 7:36–50 titled “Because He First Loved Us,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones examines this statement by looking at the life of Simon the Pharisee. Jesus was invited to dine with Simon, but Simon had not believed that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. This is unlike the woman who washes Jesus’s feet with her hair and anoints him. She is a sinner who recognizes Jesus for who He is and treats Him as such. Those who know they are the greatest sinners are driven to come and worship at the feet of Jesus while those like Simon do not submit to Christ Jesus as Lord of their lives are ignoring the only source of forgiveness. This is because true religion has Christ at the center. It is one that is concerned with loving God and others because they have been transformed and made new in Christ Jesus. They see themselves for who they are and come to Christ for salvation and cleansing from all sin and unrighteousness. It is God’s law that drives sinners to see their need for salvation and it drives them to Jesus Christ who alone can save sinners from judgment and condemnation.
Sermon Breakdown
- The ultimate test of our Christian profession is love.
- The proof of our love is provided by our lives, if you like, by our actions.
- What is it that creates this love? The test of our profession is love. We show the reality of the love in our actions. Yes, but what is it that produces the love?
- The first thing is the realization of who he is.
- The second thing that always produces love is a consciousness and a realization of our own sinfulness.
Other Sermons
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.