DISCOVERY OF THE FACTS
1. A Curious and an Anxious Seeker, vv. 36–39
Who invited our Lord to eat with him? What was the purpose of the invitation? Did He ever on any other occasion receive an invitation to eat from this class? (11:37; 14:1.) Did He ever receive invitations from a different class? (Mark 2:14, 15.) How many of these invitations did He accept? How many of us can have Him at our table?
What unexpected guest came to the Pharisee’s house? What sort of a woman was she? What drew her there? What gave her the courage to come to our Lord? (Matt. 11:28.) Did He like to have such persons come where He was? (5:30–32.) What did she bring with her? What for? What did she do when she got where He was? Why did she weep? Is it a good thing for sinners to weep? (Ps. 51:17; Joel 2:12, 13.) Is sorrow for sin repentance? (2 Cor. 7:10.) What was it moved this woman to penitence? Would Pharisaic treatment have done it?
What did the Pharisee conclude from this scene? Where was he right in his reasoning? Where was he wrong? According to his idea how is righteousness to be shown? According to Christ’s idea how is righteousness to be shown? Are there any people who hold the Pharisee’s idea today? Did our Lord know this woman was a sinner? Was that to His mind a reason for rejecting her? (1 Tim. 1:15.)
2. A Critic Rebuked and a Penitent Commended, vv. 40–46
How did our Lord prove to this supercilious Pharisee that He could read hearts? What did He say first to him? Why did He have something to say to Simon? Has He anything to say to each of us? In this parable who is represented by the creditor? By the two debtors? By representing both the Pharisee and the woman as debtors, what does our Lord aim to teach him? By picturing Himself as the creditor of both, whom does He assume to be? In what second point does our Lord represent the Pharisee and the woman as being alike (v. 42)? How many men and women are alike in these two respects? (Ro. 3:22, 23.) Had the Pharisee realized it? Do moral, respectable sinners today realize that they are just like drunkards and harlots and thieves and murderers in these two respects? Ought they to be taught it? When men have “nothing to pay” what does our Lord do? Before they enjoy that forgiveness what must they do? (Luke 18:13, 14.)
With what question did He conclude His parable? What was the purpose of this question? (To show the Pharisee that if this woman had been a greater sinner than he, she was now a more loving saint.) According to this, what must there be before there can be any deep, intense love for Christ? Why is it some of us have no deeper and intenser love for Him? Will those forms of Christianity that minimize sin and have little to say about pardon, produce a very ardent love for Christ? How many of us have sinned enough to put us in the class of those who have been much forgiven? Why is it then that we do not love more? Did Simon see the purpose of Christ’s question? What was the second question our Lord put to Simon? Did he really see the woman? What was all he saw in her? What did our Lord see in her? What is all the Pharisee of today sees in a redeemed man or woman? What does our Lord see in a redeemed man or woman? What contrast did He draw? Who appears in the better light in that contrast, Simon or the woman? Who appears in the better light in His eyes today, the redeemed outcast now filled with intense love to his Redeemer or the cold moralist? With whom was our Lord better pleased, Simon or the woman who had been a sinner? With whom is He best pleased today? Does He mark the dishonor shown Him today as He did that shown by this Pharisee? Does God? (Heb. 10:28, 29.)
3. Forgiveness, Love, Peace, vv. 47–50
What was the conclusion our Lord drew from this woman’s act? Was she forgiven because she loved much, or did she love much because she was forgiven? What will be the proof that we are forgiven? What did He say to the woman? What does “forgiven” mean? Does He say that to any today? To whom? (Acts 13:38, 39.) Had she a right to say she knew she was forgiven? How did she know it? Has the believer a right to say he knows he is forgiven? How does he know it? Did Jesus say: “Thy sins shall be forgiven”? If the woman had questioned whether she was forgiven, what would she have been doing? What did the hearers say? What is the right answer to that question? What did our Lord tell the woman had saved her? What ground had she for her faith? (Matt. 11:28.) How had her faith saved her? How many will faith save? (Ro. 1:16.)
What were Christ’s closing words to the woman? Why could she “go in peace”? How alone can we “go in peace”? (Ro. 5:1.)
CLASSIFICATION OF TEACHINGS
1. Our Lord
His humanity, 36; deity, 40, 41, 42, 48, 49; compassion for sinners, 38; attractiveness to sinners, 37; knowledge of sinners, 39–47; power to forgive sinners, 48; desire for and appreciation of the love of sinners, 44–46.
2. Sinners
Drawn to our Lord, awakened by Him, 37; received by Him, 39; forgiven by Him, 48; when saved, devoted to Him, 44–46.
3. Forgiveness
Free to, needed by all sinners, great and small, 42; our Lord the giver, 48, 49; faith the condition, 50; peace and love the result, 47.
4. Faith
Comes to our Lord, 37; begets love to Him, 44–46; enters into His peace, 50.
5. Simon and the Woman
Moral, 41.
Immoral, 37.
Honored, 26.
Despised, 37, 39.
Unloving, 44–46.
Loving, 44–46.
Censorious, 39.
Penitent, 38.
A debtor with nothing to pay, 42.
A debtor with nothing to pay, 42.
Rebuked by our Lord, 44–46.
Commended by our Lord, 44–46.
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R.A. Torrey (1856 - 1928)
An American evangelist, pastor, educator, and writer. Called by D. L. Moody to head Bible institute in Chicago (now Moody Bible Institute). Dean of Bible Institute of Los Angeles. Pastorates included Chicago Avenue Church (now Moody Memorial) and Church of the Open Door, Los Angeles. Worldwide evangelistic meetings with Charlie Alexander. Founded Montrose Bible Conference, PA. Wrote more than forty books.Torrey held his last evangelistic meeting in Florida in 1927, additional meetings being canceled because of his failing health. He died at home in Asheville, North Carolina, on October 26, 1928, having preached throughout the world and written more than 40 books. Torrey-Gray Auditorium, the main auditorium at Moody, was named for Torrey and his successor, James M. Gray. At Biola, the Torrey Honors Institute honors him, as does the university's annual Bible conference.
Reuben Archer Torrey was an American evangelist, pastor, educator, and writer. Held evangelistic meetings around the world with song leader Charlie Alexander. Called by D.L. Moody to head the Bible Institute of the Chicago Evangelization Society (now Moody Bible Institute); Dean of Bible Institute of Los Angeles; pastorates included Chicago Avenue Church (now Moody Memorial Church) and Church of the Open Door, Los Angeles.
Besides his obvious gifts in all these areas, he was also a man of prayer, a student of the Bible, and an outstanding personal soul-winner. It is said that he daily read the Bible in four languages, having a good working knowledge of Greek and Hebrew. Some students of church history feel he did more to promote personal evangelism than any other one man since the days of the apostles. His prayer life has seldom been equaled in the annals of Christendom.
Reuben A. Torrey wrote some forty books and his practical writings on the Holy Spirit, prayer, salvation, soul-winning, and evangelism are still favorites of many Christians.