Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I would like for us to look this
morning at Mark chapter 10. We're going to look at a subject
that I believe is very important for all men and women to see,
but especially those who claim to be believers on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Right here in Mark chapter 10,
our Lord told His disciples about the things that would happen
to Him when they got to Jerusalem. He told them that He was going
to be betrayed and delivered into the hands of the Romans.
And he told his disciples that they were gonna mock him and
scourge him and spit on him and ultimately kill him. And then
he told them the third day he was gonna rise again. He said,
I'm gonna rise victoriously. I'm gonna rise as king of kings
and lord of lords. And when James and John heard
him say that, verse 35 says, James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
came unto him. And over in Matthew's account,
it says their mother came with them. All three of them came
to him. And they said, Master, we would
that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire. And I'll tell you, that was their
first mistake. They said, we have something
that we want you to do for us. Instead of saying, not our will,
but thine be done. That's what they should have
said. That's how every man and woman should approach the holy
God. But they didn't say that. Like
most of us, they didn't say that. The end of verse 35, they said,
we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall
desire. And he said unto them, what would
ye that I should do for you? Now he knows all things. He already
knew what was in their heart. But he asked them, what would
ye that I should do for you? You know, we ought to be very
careful what we ask for. He might give it to us. And we don't know what's best
for us. The Apostle Paul said in Romans 8, we know not what
we should pray for as we ought. This flesh does not naturally
know what to ask God for, so we pray thy will be done. But
verse 37 says, They said unto him, grant unto
us that we may sit one on thy right hand and the other on thy
left hand in thy glory. They said, we acknowledge that
you are the king. The throne is your throne. But they said, could we have
a seat on either side of you? When the places are being established,
could you pick us to sit right next to you? We want to sit right
next to you. Now look with me if you would
over in John chapter 14. I wanna show you here in John
14 that our Lord did say in verse 13, John 14 verse 13, he said,
whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do that the
father may be glorified in the son. If you shall ask anything
in my name, I will do it. Now what is his name? His name
is Savior. Call his name Jesus, it means
Savior. Lord, because you are the Savior,
would you have mercy on me? Because you are merciful, Would
you show it to me? Lord, would you put me in Christ? I want to be in Christ, the Messiah,
the Savior. James said, you draw nigh unto
God and God will draw nigh unto you. Truly draw nigh to God and
God will draw nigh to you. But James and John coming to
the Lord and asking this question, our Lord knew their hearts. He
knew their motive. in this. He knew that they're
wanting to sit right next to him. Lord, could we be on each
side of you? He knew they were not drawing
nigh to God. And he told them back in the
text, back in Mark chapter 10 verse 38, Jesus said unto them,
you know not what you ask. You don't know what you're asking. You don't understand How far
that motive will take a soul away from me? People have it in their mind
they are asking things in God's name, asking things for themselves
in God's name, which in reality many are just asking things for
themselves. Not in the name of Christ. Not
in the glory of Christ. For the glory of Christ. Truly,
if they get honest, it's for their own glory. Jeremiah wrote,
Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. Seek them not. Our Lord said
right here in verse 38, You know not what you ask. He said, can
you drink of the cup that I drink of and be baptized with the baptism
that I am baptized with? He's talking about the sacrifice
of himself. Everything he described to them
concerning his own death, he just described all that to them. And he said, are you gonna drink
out of the same cup of suffering that I am gonna drink out of?
Are you going to be immersed into the same wrath of God that
I'm gonna be immersed into? You wanna sit with me? He said,
can you suffer with me? Verse 39, and they said unto
him, we can. They were speaking ignorantly.
He said, you don't know what you're asking. They were speaking
ignorantly. Because at this time, they did
not even understand his death. They didn't understand his death
when he died. They all said, we're going back
to fishing. He's gone. It was not until God gave the
gift of the Holy Ghost that Peter said, you know, everything he
did was the fulfillment of Scripture. He died to redeem Israel. We see that now. But even though they said this
in ignorance, they still spoke our gospel. Verse 39, they said
unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, You
shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of, And with the
baptism that I am baptized with all, shall you be baptized. All of your suffering is gonna
take place when I suffer. That's what he told them. You
are gonna suffer that wrath. You are going to be immersed. into the wrath of God because
of your sin, but you're gonna be immersed in me. Verse 40, he said, but to sit
on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give, but
it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared. Our Lord
is about to teach them and he's about to teach us humility. And He's gonna start by teaching
us through His own example. He said, that's not mine to give.
The Father has prepared all of that. I'll wait on Him. That's what He's saying. Verse
31, and when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased
with James and John. Why were they so upset with James
and John? It's because they all wanted
the exact same thing. All of them. And they were mad. Because James and John beat them
to it. If they didn't have the same
heart of wickedness that James and John had, they would have
been happy for them. Yes, you guys sit up there. We'll just sit down here. Oh, our Lord said, this flesh
fights for the chief seats. This flesh loves the chief seats,
loves the glory of them. God brings his people to a knowledge
of the truth. He does. But this flesh is still
working. It is still warring. God's people know the truth.
God's people, by faith, have seen the Savior. God's people
know that salvation is not in their hands. It's all in His
hands. And if we are God's people, we
look to Him. But this flesh still says, can
I be your number two? Can I be your go-to man? This flesh says, now wait a minute,
wait a minute. That other fellow over there,
that other follower, he seems to be getting a leg up on me.
I don't like that. God seems to be blessing him
more than he's blessing me. I don't like that. I don't like
that at all. Verse 41, and when the ten heard
it, they began to be much displeased with James and John. But Jesus
called them to him, and saith unto them, you know that they
which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship
over them, and their great ones exercise authority upon them,
but it shall not be among you. It's not gonna be that way among
my people. He said, But whosoever will be
great among you shall be your minister. And whosoever of you
will be the chiefest shall be servant of all. For even the
Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to
give his life a ransom for many. He said, I came to start and
finish the work for my people. Now our Lord is teaching them
and he's teaching us where the greatest place to sit is. This whole account is over where
are we going to sit How do I stack up in this? And our Lord told
them, your priorities are all wrong. You have it all wrong. You're looking to the wrong thing. Now, for the next few minutes,
I want to just go through the scriptures. We're going to turn
to a few scriptures. And through these scriptures,
I pray that the Lord might reveal to us where the greatest place
to sit is. I pray he might truly burn into
our hearts where the highest honor is. The first one is in
Luke chapter 7. Luke chapter 7 verse 36 says,
one of the Pharisees desired the Lord that he would eat with
him. And he went into the Pharisee's
house and sat down to meet, And behold, a woman in the city which
was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meet in the Pharisee's
house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his
feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears. and did wipe them with the hairs
of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. 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. And Jesus
answering said unto him, Simon, I have some what to say unto
thee. And he saith, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor
which had two debtors. The one owed 500 pence and the
other 50. And when they had nothing to
pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which
of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose
that he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, thou hast
rightly judged. And he turned to the woman and
said unto Simon, seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house,
thou gavest me no water for my feet, but she hath washed my
feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou
gavest me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came in hath
not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not
anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore, I say unto thee, her
sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much, but to whom
little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto
her, thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at meet with
him began to say within themselves, who is this man that forgiveth
sins also? And he said to the woman, thy
faith has saved thee, go in peace. Go in peace. This woman came
to the feet of Jesus Christ. All of her object was the feet
of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of her motive was love for
the Master. And her humility, it didn't bring
her up to his cheek. Judas, when he came to the Lord,
in his arrogance, in his sin, he came straight to the cheek
of the Lord. He told that mob, you're going
to know him, I'm going to kiss him. He walked right up to him
and kissed him on the cheek. But this woman, in her humility,
she came to his feet. And she was highly honored. She was highly favored by the
Master. What a place to be. That place
is a place of favor and honor. His feet. His feet. In Luke chapter 8, verse 26 says,
They arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over
against Galilee, And when he went forth to land, there met
him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time,
and wear no clothes, neither abode in any house but in the
tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out
and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What
have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God, Most High? I beseech thee, torment me not. For he had commanded the unclean
spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught
him, and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters. And he
broke the bands and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.
And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said,
Legion, because many devils were entered into him. And they besought
him that he would not command them to go out into the deep.
And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain,
and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into
them, and he suffered them. Then went the devils out of the
man and entered into the swine, and the herd ran violently down
a steep place into the lake and were choked. When they that fed
them saw that was done, they fled and went and told it in
the city and in the country. Then they went out to see what
was done and came to Jesus and found the man out of whom the
devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed
and in his right mind. And they were afraid. They were
afraid. Here this man who was a raging
lunatic, I mean a rebel against everything, As soon as that man
was brought to the feet of Jesus Christ, he sat down. He rested there at the feet of
the Lord Jesus Christ, completely clothed and in his right mind. When we stand before God, do
you know what we want to be? We want to be clothed. We want
to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. We want to be in our
right mind. That mind of God's repentance,
knowing who God is, knowing who we are, knowing what salvation
is. We want to be clothed in the
blood and righteousness of Christ. And do you know where that robe
is awarded? At the feet of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Right here in Luke 8, verse 41
says, Behold, there came a man named Jairus, And he was a ruler
of the synagogue, and he fell down at Jesus' feet, and besought
him that he would come into his house, for he had one only daughter,
about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying. But as he went,
the people thronged him. He went to ask the Lord to heal
his daughter, who was dying. Did Jairus get what he came for? You know, if we need the blessing
and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ, if we need Him desperately, do
you know where we need to come? We need to come to His feet.
When we come before Him crying and begging for our children,
we need to fall prostrate at His feet. Verse 49 right here
in Luke chapter 8 says, while he yet spake, there cometh one
from the ruler of the synagogue's house saying to him, thy daughter
is dead, trouble not the master. But when Jesus heard it, he answered
him saying, fear not, believe only and she shall be made whole. Verse 54 says, he put them all
out, he took her by the hand and called saying, maid, arise. And her spirit came again and
she arose straightway and he commanded to give her meat. You
know where a sinner can find help in time of need? right there
at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Right there at the feet
of Christ. If you're turning with me, look
two more pages over at Luke 10. Right here in Luke chapter 10,
verse 38 says, It came to pass, as they went, he entered into
a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him
into her house. And she had a sister called Mary,
which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word. If we want to hear from God,
do you know where we're going to hear from Him? sitting at
His feet. Oh, the blessing that comes from
hearing from Him, hearing His voice, hearing Him speak to us,
that comes from sitting at His feet. That's where it comes,
sitting at His feet. Over in Luke 17, I'll give you
a few more. Luke 17, verse 11, it says, It
came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst
of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain
village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood
afar off. And they lifted up their voices
and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw
them, he said unto them, Go, show yourselves unto the priest.
And it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. And
one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back and
with a loud voice glorified God and fell down on his face at
his feet, giving him thanks, and he was a Samaritan." If we
want to glorify God, do you know where we do that? at the feet
of Jesus Christ. That's where God is glorified,
at the feet of Jesus Christ. If we truly want to give him
thanks, oh Lord, thank you. Thank you for cleansing us. Thank
you for making us whole. All of that thanks is given at
his feet. Here's why. Over in Luke 24,
Verse 36, now this is after our Lord has risen and the disciples
are assembled together. It says in Luke 24, 36, our Lord
came into the midst of them and said unto them, peace be unto
you. But they were terrified and affrighted
and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And He said unto them,
Why are you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in
your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet. Behold My hands and My feet,
that it is I Myself. Handle me and see for a 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. He said you get
a good look at My hands and at my feet God's people God's children believers,
true worshipers, true followers, they want to become well acquainted
with the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. How beautiful are the
feet of the one who has brought glad tidings. Oh, how beautiful
are the feet of Christ that led him all the way up to that cross. There's a song that says, up
Calvary's mountain, one dreadful morn walked. Christ my Savior,
weary and worn. How beautiful are the feet. I'm
going to close with this one over in Revelation chapter one. Revelation 1 verse 12, John is
speaking and he said, I turned to see the voice that spake with
me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. And in the
midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the son of man,
clothed with a garment down to the foot. and gird about the
paps with a golden girdle, his head and his hairs were white
like wool as white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire,
and his feet like unto fine brass. as if they burned in a furnace. Can we think of an account in
the Word of God where a furnace was burning? Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego, they got to know one pretty well, didn't they?
Nebuchadnezzar threw those three men in there and he looked inside
that furnace and he said, now wait a minute, didn't we throw
three men? He said, I see four walking and one is like unto
the Son of God. Right here, John said, I saw
His feet, His beautiful feet, and they looked like they burned
in a furnace. They looked like He endured the
fiery furnace for me. If a sinner ever sees that, he
will fall down before Christ crying, Thine be the glory. away with mine own glory. I don't
want my own seat. I found my seat sitting right
here at the feet of Christ. That's the greatest place to
sit. Whoever sits in that seat will
be told the same thing Mary was told. It won't be taken from
you. May God give us that seat. You
have been listening to a message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport
Sovereign Grace Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like
a copy of this message or to hear other messages of Sovereign
Grace, you can write to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin
Street, Kingsport, Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website
at kingsportsovereigngracechurch.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next Sunday morning
at 8.30 for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.