Thank you, Pastor. I love you
too, very much. Love your wifey, your girls,
your father-in-law and your mother-in-law. I love you guys, all of you that
I know, I love you. And appreciate you. One of the
reasons I wanted to come here, I wanted to see this building. I've heard people talk so much
about it. The Lord's blessed this congregation with, it's
amazing. Talking to Tony just a little bit earlier, you talk
about coming from humble beginnings to having a place like this that
the Lord is pleased to give you folks. I wanted to come here
to see some old friends, but mainly I've come here to
preach the gospel. That's what God has called me to do, is preach
the gospel. I love to eat, I love to socialize,
but that's not my calling. I come here to preach the gospel.
So with that being said, I want you to turn to Luke's gospel,
chapter 24. Very familiar passage of scripture.
I have a few texts I want to look at, but I won't have you
to turn to all of them. It will take too long. Some of
them are very familiar and we can look at them without turning
to them. Here in Luke's Gospel chapter 24, and let's read verse
36 through verse 40. Luke's Gospel chapter 24, verse
36. This is the risen Lord. As they
thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them. and said
unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted,
supposed that they had seen a ghost, a spirit. And he said unto them,
Why are you troubled? Why is your heart troubled? Why
is your mind so disturbed? Why do thoughts arise in your
heart? Why is your imagination running
so wild with you? Behold my hands and my feet,
that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for spirit
hath not flesh and bones as you see me have. And when he had
thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. These poor apostles. And disciples
of the Lord had never found themselves in a situation like they were
in now. For the last three and a half
years, they had walked with the Lord Jesus beside. He had guarded
them, kept them, protected them. Now he had been crucified, been
buried, and They had shut themselves away
in a room so fearful of what the Jews might do to them. They
were so troubled, troubled because they feared man. It had brought
them into a horrible snare. They went upstairs, locked the
doors and thought to themselves, if they killed our master, If
they treated him like they treated him, they won't hesitate to kill
us. They were scared to the point
they were paralyzed. Their fears were well grounded
in a sense. They were so guilty in their
conscience. The Lord that they truly loved
One of them, the traitor, had sold the Lord Jesus, betrayed
Him to death. He had now gone out and hanged
himself, went to his own place. Another had denied the Lord Jesus. Three times he denied Him, cursed
and swore that, I don't know that man. They all forsook Him. They had made that statement
sometime before when they saw multitudes leaving the Lord Jesus. And he asked them this question,
will you go away? And they said, Lord, where could
we possibly go? If we left you, where could we
go? You've got the words of eternal
life. We will never leave you. Peter
said, I'll go to death with you. And now they're eating those
words because they left him. Now they were afraid. But can
you imagine, not just the fear of man, but these men had guilty conscience. It's one thing to grapple with
men. It's another thing to be afraid
you're going to have to grapple with God. We forsook the Son
of God. In the midst of His trouble,
we forsook Him. One of our own company sold Him,
betrayed Him. I have denied Him, Peter said,
and we all forsook Him. How is God going to deal with
us? And I'm just saying to you, brothers
and sisters, these men were paralyzed with fear. And one of the things
that confused them was the ladies had gone to the sepulcher. Angels
had appeared to those ladies and said, Christ is risen. Go
tell his apostles. And they came and said, John,
he's risen. Peter, he's risen. But they were
so darkened in their understanding, those ladies' words seemed as
idle tales, and they believed them not. They ran to the sepulcher. His body wasn't there, but that
disconfused them no more. Where is he? What has happened
to him? What trouble these men were in.
How paralyzed they were with fear. How hardened their hearts
had become. They had hope. This was the redeemer
of Israel. But now he's gone. He's dead. We saw him buried. But suddenly
the Lord Jesus comes here to these people, these disciples
and these apostles, and He says something to them and he does
something that would dispel their heart trouble, would relieve
the pain of their conscience. And here is what it was. Behold
my feet. Isn't that amazing? Here's what's
amazing about that. He stood there for a few minutes,
no doubt. They could see the scars of the
thorns on his brow. They could still see where his
beard had been plucked from his face. They could still see the
hole in his side. They could still see the fingerprints.
They could still see the scars of the prints of the nails in
his feet. He said, behold my feet. But you know something
they couldn't? Now this is a mystery. When the
Son of God is standing before them with all the scars still
in his body, and he said, behold my feet, but I'm telling you,
they could not. They were so overwhelmed, distraught
with unbelief and darkness and guilt, they could not see. So what did he do? He showed
them. Now there's a difference. brothers and sisters, I come
up here tonight and I tell you about the Lord Jesus Christ,
and I tell you to seek Him, I tell you to believe on Him, and you'll
be saved. And I know all along you cannot,
you cannot, you cannot believe on an unrevealed Christ. I can tell you about Him, encourage
you to look unto Him, and be ye saved. But you cannot look,
you cannot see, except He shows Himself to you. Behold My feet. And it's almost
like we could say, Lord, they can't, they're not. So He shows
them His feet. This suggests some things tonight
to our minds, and I want to look tonight at his feet. And I hope,
as we do, that he'll show us, not just in our heads, not just
in our intellect, but in our hearts of heart. I hope he's
pleased to show us his feet. This is the way he identified
himself here to his apostles. Behold my feet, that it is I
myself. It's me. How did he identify
himself? By his feet. What did his feet
speak of? The cross. His feet spoke of
his agony, his death. When he appeared to the apostles
in the upper room, Thomas wasn't there with them. The Lord showed
them his hands and his side, and they were glad when they
saw the Lord. But Thomas wasn't there, and
eight days later, Thomas had said, you remember what he said,
if I don't put my fingers in the prints of those nails and
thrust my hand in, I'll never believe. I gotta see him. And eight days later, the Lord
Jesus said, Thomas, put your fingers here in these prints
of these nails, thrust your hand into my side. What did he say?
My Lord and my God. How did Christ identify himself?
His wounds in his body. What if, what if, then, then,
imposter had been standing there what if somebody had came into
the room and said Thomas I'm the son of God I've risen from
the dead and Thomas looked and there's no wounds on his body
you know what Thomas would have said you're not my Lord you're
not my God And I'm saying to you, these wounds in his feet
are the very way the Son of God revealed himself to his apostles. When somebody preaches the gospel
to us, if it's the true gospel, how do we know it? You look for
his wounds. He's a holy Savior. He has holy
feet. His feet never walked in the
counsel of the ungodly. His feet never stood in the way
of sinners. His feet went about doing good
and healing all that was oppressed of the devil. Those holy feet,
but those holy feet have scars in them. They have wounds in
them. Because this holy man with holy
feet and holy hands suffered the death of the cross. And that's
the way we identify the Savior. If I come here or any of these
men come here and preach a Christ to you that was not crucified,
that's not the Christ of the Bible. The Christ of the Bible
is a bloody Christ. He's a suffering Christ. He's
a crying Christ. He was a groaning Christ. He
bled and gave his life for the sins of his people. We preach
Christ. Yes, we preach Christ. But we
preach Christ crucified. Nobody ever suffered like the
Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody ever suffered from his
friends like he suffered. Nobody was ever sold, betrayed,
and forsaken of all of his friends. Nobody ever was blasphemed John
like his enemies blasphemed him. No man's ever been tempted and
tormented of devils as he was, and nobody has ever been afflicted
and forsaken of God like he was. No man knows what hell is while
he's living, but Christ did. You know what hell is? My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That's hell. And he suffered
it, didn't he? Is it nothing to you who pass
by? Behold and see if there's any
sorrow like unto my sorrow, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in
the day of his fierce wrath. What does these feet tell us? that he was not an afflicted
Savior. He was a suffering Savior. He was a dying Savior. Nobody
ever suffered like Jesus Christ. No man ever suffered for the
cause and reason for which he suffered. You know why he suffered? To save his people. We call that
a vicarious death, don't we? That means it's in the room of
somebody else. He stood in the place of somebody
else. Never did anything for himself. His sufferings were not for himself. It was for his people. You're
a believer in Jesus Christ tonight. Behold his feet. And what do
you see there? You see him taking the responsibility
away from you and taking it to himself to satisfy the justice
of God on your behalf. Oh, Lord Jesus, show me your
feet. Because when I see your feet,
I know my sins have been punished. We can't be saved by the love
of God at the expense of holiness. We can't be saved by the mercy
of God at the expense of our sins going unpunished. Sin must
be punished and thank God sin has been punished. How do we
know? Behold my feet. Is the holy law of God satisfied? Behold my feet. Has God been
reconciled? Behold my feet. That's the way
that we identify him. And I'm telling you, brothers
and sisters, I don't know where you're at tonight. I don't know
how troubled your heart may be. I don't know what you're going
through. But I'm telling you, there's something here that will
give you peace and remove the trouble from your heart. And
that is this, behold his feet. And you say, Bruce, I've tried
and can't. Then ask him to show you. Lord, show me your feet. That's the way you'll know him
when he shows you his feet. Another passage of scripture
that suggests something to our minds regarding his feet. And
this is a very familiar passage so you don't have to turn there.
It's in Luke chapter seven and you'll remember this lady that
the Bible called a sinner in the town. Remember her? Don't
tell us what she lived like. Don't tell us what she'd been
doing. She was a sinner and everybody knew her. Simon the Pharisee
had invited the Lord Jesus for dinner. They were sitting at
dinner and here comes this sinful woman and she stands at his feet
for just a moment and she begins to weep. And then she can stand
no longer so she falls down at his feet and begins to wash his
feet with her tears. She wipes his feet with the hair
of her head. She dries them with her hair.
She anoints his feet with ointment. Simon the Pharisee made this
statement, he said, if this man were a prophet, he'd know who
this woman was. He'd know what kind of woman
this was. He did know what kind of woman she was. He knew what
kind of man Simon was. And Simon didn't know it, but
the Lord Jesus Christ came all the way down from heaven, took
our humanity to himself, not only to save that woman, but
other people just like her. And the Lord asked him, he said,
Simon, can I ask you a question? There was this debtor, and he
had two creditors. One owed him a fabulous sum,
500 pence, and the other owed him 50 pence. And they had nothing
to pay. And when they saw they had nothing
to pay, he freely, he frankly, forgave them both. I told John Davis, he's here
someplace. I remember a few years ago, Paul,
when John made that wonderful statement. He said, I don't know
how much I owed. I just know I couldn't pay. How
much do we owe? Oh, we can't count the cost,
can we? But we had nothing to pay. He
had to freely forgive us. And Simon, he said, who's going
to love the Lord the most? He said, well, I suppose. The
one that he's forgiven most. He said, I come into your house.
You didn't have a kiss for my face. This woman's kissed my
feet. You didn't offer me a towel.
She's dried my feet with her hair. You offer me no water for
my feet. She's washed my feet with her
tears. Simon knew nothing about that,
did he? He had his religion. Can you imagine if this woman
had gone to Simon, that Pharisee, and asked him for instructions
on what I should do? Can you imagine how he would
have instructed her? Well, you need to forsake that
old life you're living. You need to come and join the
synagogue. And you need to start paying tithes at all you possess.
And remember to reform your life. Remember to do that. and fast
twice a week. It don't take much to satisfy
a Pharisee, does it? But this woman had a problem
the Pharisee did not have. She had a weight of guilt upon
her conscience and nobody could do her any good but the Lord
Jesus Christ. So down at his feet she went. And he looked at Simon and he
said, her sins which are many are forgiven her. And then he
looked down at the woman and he said, woman, your sins are
forgiven. Go in peace. My soul, I reckon. Go in peace. What would it mean
to you tonight? You come in and you're sinners
and you're so conscious almost every moment of the working of
sin. And if the son of God spoke this
word to you, go in peace. All your sins are forgiven. How
would you feel? Oh, your heart would be flooded
with peace. Your mind would be filled with
joy. They're all taken away away. They're all taken away. And Jesus told me so. Your sins,
which are many, are forgiven you. And where did this take
place? At his feet. You want forgiveness? Do you want mercy? Then come
at His feet. That's the place to find it.
And if you come there, you can bet this, He will show you His
feet. And when He does, you'll feel
in your heart of hearts, my sins are all forgiven. And that old tormenting guilt
and fear that you've bore so long will all be gone and you'll
have peace with God because you've beheld His feet. Look over in Ephesians. Chapter
1. His speech suggests to us something
else. You're in Ephesians chapter 1
and look in verse 19. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse
19. This is a prayer of the Apostle
Paul for this church and for us. He prayed for them that they
might know what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us
who believe. And how do we believe? According to the working of his
mighty power. And what power is he talking
about? Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead,
and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places, far
above all principalities. What is that? Well, that's these
angels. He set far above all the angels,
the holy angels and the unholy angels, the elect angels and
the fallen angels. He's far above all powers, spiritual
powers and physical powers. He rules over all the animal
world, all the natural world. He rules over the flesh of men,
that corrupt, miserable, fallen thing the scripture calls flesh. He's got power over it all. All might, all dominion, all
political peoples, all political systems and kings and despots
and presidents, and every name that is named. What are these things? Verse
22, and he hath put all things under his feet. Have you ever beheld his feet?
When you behold His feet, you'll see everything under them. If somebody is preaching to us,
a little Jesus who has lost control, they're telling you that He wants
to and can't, that He's tried and He's failed, that He's wringing
His hands. Things are all out of control.
You tell them they need to go and see His feet. Because when
you see His feet, you see everything, without one single exception,
under His feet. Under that nail-scarred feet. The Son of God, the Son of Mary,
reigns in heaven right now. And everything is under Him. He's the King, isn't He? You seen that? Every name? Where's the great Pharaohs? Where's Alexander the Great? Where's mighty Nebuchadnezzar? Where's Herod that they shouted,
this is a god? Where are all these great names?
Where's the Beatles? I remember Ringo Starr said,
Ringo Starr said, remember when he said, we're more famous than
Jesus Christ. Oh, where's the Beatles now?
I think there's what, two of them left in their 80s, wrinkled
up old men. And where is Jesus Christ? He's
on his throne. and still has the dew of his
youth, and he'll never grow old, and he'll outlive all of us.
Have you seen his feet? Everything's under him. It's
all under him. He sent his apostles out to preach
the gospel, and he said, just go everywhere preaching. Don't
be afraid. I know you're going to be apprehensive. I know you
don't think you know anything. You're going to be troubled.
You're going to be persecuted. Some of them they're going to
kill. Don't be afraid. All power is given to me in heaven
and in earth. And now we found out what that
means. It's all under his feet. Sometimes when they used to fight
wars in the Old Testament, They'd get the victory over their enemies,
and they'd bring the king or the captain of the host of their
enemies, and they'd make him lay down, and they'd put their
foot on his head. That's where the feet of Christ
is. He's on his enemy's head. You
used to be his enemy. He brought you to his feet and
conquered you, didn't he? Fourthly, this suggests something
else, and quickly, and I want to just quote this to you too,
to save time. I'm just talking about beholding
His feet, Him showing us His feet. And when you see His feet,
you'll be forgiven. When you see His feet, you'll
know everything's underneath them. And this suggests to us
that at His feet is a place to rest. You remember the maniac of Gadara?
He lived in the tombs. Nobody could tame him. They put
chains on him, put ropes on him. He'd just break them. Lived in
the tombs, left his family, left his wife and his kids. Had 2,000
devils in him. Hide out in the tombs. He'd lay
his arm up on a tombstone and take a rock and cut his flesh. day and night in the tombs. Nobody ever seen him sitting.
Nobody ever seen him when he wasn't crying out. You couldn't
go visit your loved ones in the cemetery. He'd jump on you and
whip you. He was a wild, crazy man. The Lord Jesus went where he
was, right to the graveyard, called the man to his feet, and
cast all the devils out of him into swine. and the people scared
them to death and when they come to see him they saw him clothed
where he got his clothes I don't know but he was clothed and he
was in his right mind but here's the thing that was such a marvel
to them he was sitting and where was he sitting? at Jesus feet
and I'm just saying to you brothers and sisters this is a place of
rest There are some people, you've seen people, they're crazy. We've
got a bunch of crazy people in our day, haven't we? But you
know there's hope for crazy people? There's somebody that can conquer
a crazy person. I preached a funeral not too
awfully long ago. A man had filled his mouth full
of pain patches and then started drinking alcohol.
and drank himself until he died. And I told the folks there, I
said, this is not natural. This is crazy for a man to do
this. Just like this man in the tombs.
And then I told them about a savior who can conquer any man and give
rest to his soul. There's rest at the feet of Jesus
Christ. Brothers and sisters, you may
be like this. If you are, I hope this helps you. Please take my
advice. People are absolutely torn up. There's believers who
are so anxious today because of the man that's in the White
House. I had one of my sons to call
me after this particular fellow got in the White House, and they
said, these fellows think God has vacated his throne. Are you torn up about what's
going on in our political world? Are you so anxious you can't
sleep? Do you sit for hours with your eyes gazed on the TV, so
anxious you can't think about anything else? Are you tore up
about all of these moral issues of our day? What's troubling
you? I'm not saying we shouldn't be
concerned about what's going on today. I'm not saying you
shouldn't vote. I would encourage you to vote.
I would encourage you to pray. But I would encourage you to
come here to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and find rest
for your anxiety. Oh, what an awful place this
world has become. No, no, no. It's always been
this way. It hasn't become anything, it wasn't. The day our father
fell into sin and one quarter of the population was killed. Murder. This is a perverted,
dark world that we live in. And don't become so anxious that
you can't even worship the Lord and have peace and rest in your
soul. Forget about the world. Come
to his feet and rest. And if you see his feet, if he
shows you your feet, you'll rest. You'll rest. Another place, turn to this place
with me in Matthew chapter 15 and I'm almost finished. You
know all of these scriptures I'm going to anyway. Matthew
chapter 15 and look in verse 29. Matthew chapter 15 in verse 29,
and Jesus departed thence and came near unto the sea of Galilee,
went up to the mountain and sat down. Great multitudes came unto
him, having with them those that were lame, and blind, and dumb,
and crippled, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at
Jesus' feet, and he healed them. insomuch that the multitude wondered
when they saw the dumb to speak, the lame to behold, the lame
to walk, and the blind to see, and they glorified God. They cast them down at His feet,
and He healed them. Another place said He healed
all manner of sickness and disease. Another place said He healed
them all. They never brought anybody to Jesus Christ and cast
them down at His feet, but He healed them. All of them. This is a place of healing. And do we ever need it? I wish I didn't have to say this,
but I do. Because this is my experience.
Many of God's children, many times in their life, get sick
in their souls. They get sin sick in their souls. Have you experienced that? They
leave their first love. Could a man do that? Could a
man get so cold and indifferent that he's lost his first love?
He's left the Lord Jesus Christ? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Let every man's conscience bear
witness. Is there healing? Brothers and
sisters, there is, and I'll tell you where you'll find it, at
the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. I will heal their backslidings. I will love them freely. Are you sick? Man, I've been
so sick. You ever been sick, Paul? Sick
in your soul? When I was a young Christian,
I got so sick in my soul. I never had experienced anything
like that in my life. You may be here, and you're a
young Christian. I'm telling you, you're going to experience
some soul sickness. And here's the place to come.
Don't worry yourself. Just come to the feet of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And there is where you'll be
healed. Isn't that so? He healed all
manner of sicknesses. There's not a friend like the
lowly Jesus. No, not one. No, not one. No one else can heal all our
soul's diseases, but he can. He knows them and he can heal
them. Sixthly, and quickly, this suggests something else
to our minds as we read the scriptures. At Jesus' nail-scarred feet is
the only place really to be taught. Remember when the Lord Jesus
came to Lazarus' house? And Martha was cumbered about
so many things, but Mary sat at his feet and heard his word. I don't have time to tell you
what I think he taught her, but I'm just telling you, brothers
and sisters, this is the place, the only place to come and be
taught. John Calvin said there's one
condition for us to grow in knowledge, and that's the growing grace.
If we grow in knowledge without growing in grace and humility,
we'll get so proud. Our hearts and minds, we think
we know something, we've learned something, and where did we get
it from? Some commentary, or got online
and somebody's promoting some new thing or something, and we've
learned something, and now we've got our head stuffed so full
of knowledge and so proud, and we split churches. and break the hearts of God's
children. The only place to avoid getting
lifted up in pride is to be taught of the Lord Jesus Christ. Come and sit at His feet. How could you be proud when you
see the nail scarred, the feet that was crucified for our foolishness? suffered for our pride. Oh, the poor preachers. How many
preachers have been ruined going off to the seminar? And they
fill their head full of stuff. And they come and preach to us
all this stuff. Lord, give us men that have sat
at the nail-scarred feet of Jesus Christ and have been taught of
Him. That's who we want to listen
to. And then they can come and tell us what He has taught them. It may not be deep, but if He's
taught them, it'll be a blessing. They'll stand up here just as
I've stood up here and just as John stood up here with trembling
in our souls. Well, let's close with this one. At his feet suggests to us a
place of adoration, of appreciation, and thanksgiving. John chapter 12, the Lord Jesus
came back to Lazarus' house just a few days after he had raised
Lazarus from the dead, and Mary, took a very costly box of perfume
and got down at his feet and poured that perfume on his feet
and wiped his feet with the hairs of her head and the sweet aroma
filled that room. Why did she do that? Oh, she
loved him. She wept over the death of her
brother. She grieved for days and she
couldn't stop weeping. And the Lord Jesus Christ came
there and raised him from the dead. And her heart was so full
of love and appreciation and adoration. She went and spent
her money and bought this precious box of ointment and got down
at his feet and poured it on his feet. You say, Bruce, we
don't have anything to pour on his feet. Oh, yes, we do. We've
got praises, don't we? Don't we have thanksgiving? What
has He did for you? Answer that for your own self.
What has the Lord Jesus Christ did for you? Sometime I think it would be
good just to take a piece of paper and a pencil and just write
down. Begin with the natural things,
the things for our body. How were you even able to come
here this evening? You've got your health, you've
got a job, you've got means, you've got a vehicle. What about your soul? What's
he done for your soul? What about burying your sins?
What about being punished for your sins? What about coming
to you when you were dead in sins and giving you his life?
What about giving you rest for your soul? What about working
everything for your good as you walk through this sin cursed
world? What has Jesus Christ did for you? And when you start
thinking about that, you know where you'll wind up? At his
feet. Lord, thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you for dying for me. Thank
you for choosing me. Thank you for calling me. Thank
you for giving me a new heart and a new spirit. Thank you for
putting up with me, for healing my backslidden. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. I praise your name.
It's a place of worship. One of the things I love about
our services, we can just be what we are. We're nothing but
no good sinners, just dead dog sinners. And we can come and
get right down at our Savior's feet and worship Him. When the Lord had raised from
the dead, those women had left the tomb and He appeared to them, and He said, They said, it's my Lord, it's
the Lord. And they came and held Him, where? By the feet. And what did they
do? They worshiped Him. That's the
place of worship, brothers and sisters. That's where I want
to come to tonight. That's where I want you to come
to. All of us come to the feet of this exalted, redeeming Lord
and worship Him. I'm not concerned with anything
else. Nothing else is important. Nothing. The Lord is great in Zion. He
is high above all the people. Let them praise his glorious
and terrible name for he is holy. Exalt ye the Lord our God and
worship where? At his footstool. Have you ever seen his feet?
Do you need to see them again? And you can't? It seems like
your poor eyes are blind. Then say to the Lord Jesus, show
me your feet. And when you do, you'll experience
just about all of these things that we've talked about tonight.
Thank you, Pastor. That was good preaching. Wasn't that good preaching? That's
good preaching, Brother Bruce, I'll tell you.