Go with me back to Mark chapter
10. Mark 10. Our Lord here in this chapter
just told His disciples about the things that would happen
to Him when they got to Jerusalem. Verse 33. He said, Behold, we go up to
Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be delivered unto the chief
priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn Him to
death, and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles. And they shall
mock Him, and scourge Him, and shall spit upon Him, and shall
kill Him, And the third day he shall rise again. I'm going to
rise victoriously. I'm going to rise as king of
kings and lord of lords. And when James and John heard
him say that, verse 35, and James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
come unto him, And over in Matthew's account, it says their mother
came to the Lord. They all three came. They all
came and they asked him in verse 35, saying, Master, we would
that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire. That was their first mistake. They said, we have something
that we want you to do for us. Can you imagine? Yes. Have we ever listened to our
own prayers? They didn't say, not our will,
but thine be done. They didn't say that. They said
at the end of verse 35, Master, 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 knows everything. He already
knew what was in their heart, didn't He? But He said in verse
36, What would ye that I should do for you? We ought to be very careful what
we ask for. He might give it to us. He just
might give it to us, and we don't know what's best for us. We just
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. If the
Apostle Paul said that, I don't. I don't know what I should pray
for as I ought. But verse 37, 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. That's what they said. You're
going to sit in your glory. We acknowledge you to be the
king. We acknowledge that the throne
is your throne. But could we have a seat on either
side of you? That's what we're asking. Could
each of us sit on either side of you? Whenever you're handing
out the places, Lord, we know that you order everything and
you're going to tell us where to sit. And when you dole that
out, could you pick us to sit on each side of you? Turn with
me over to John chapter 14. I want to show us here in John
14 that our Lord did say. Look at verse 13. And 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 in my name. What is his name? Savior. Call his name Jesus. It means
Savior. Lord, because you are the Savior. Would you have mercy on me? Lord, because you are merciful,
would you show it to me? He said, you ask anything in
my name. I'll do it. I'll do it. James himself penned, James is
the one who penned, you draw nigh to God and God will draw
nigh to you. That's what he said. But James
and John coming to the Lord and asking this question, our Lord
knew their hearts. He knew their hearts. He knew
their motive in this. He knew that their wanting to
sit right next to Him was not them drawing nigh to God. Does
that make sense? They wanted to sit right next
to Him. And God knew that is not drawing
nigh to God. And He told them back in our
text, if you'll look with me at Mark 10. Verse 38, But 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. Jeremiah wrote, Seekest thou
great things for thyself? Seek them not. Seek them not. Verse 38, But Jesus said unto
them, 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. That's what he's asking them.
Everything that he just described to them concerning his own death. He said, are you going to drink
out of the same cup of suffering that I'm going to drink out of?
And are you going to be immersed in the same wrath of God that
I'm going to be immersed in? He said, you want to sit with
me? Are you going to suffer with me? Verse 39. And they said unto
him, we can. They were speaking ignorantly.
At this time, they did not understand his death. He told them over
and he told them over. Even at the moment he died, they
didn't understand his death. Didn't they all go back sorrowing,
weeping, crying? Peter gave up. He said, I'm going
to go be a fisherman again. I got my boat still right over
there. They did not understand his death. And it was not until
God sent his Holy Ghost And this was interesting to me.
It was not until God sent his Holy Ghost that Peter said he
stood up at Pentecost just before they were in the upper room.
And he said everything he did was for the fulfillment of scripture. Everything it just hit him. He died to redeem Israel, the
scripture said. And then a lightbulb came on. And then they went and they preached
Christ crucified. We know why he died. It takes God's Holy Ghost to reveal
that, even if you're an apostle, walking with him for three and
a half years. It takes God's Holy Spirit to reveal that. But even though they said this
in ignorance, they still spoke our gospel. They still spoke
our gospel. Verse 39, they said unto him,
we can, and this is about the greatest thing a sinner could
read. 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 going to take place when I suffer. Every bit of it. You are going
to be immersed in God's wrath. You're going to suffer that baptism
in me. Yes, you can. Thank God. Yes, you can. 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. Humility. And he's going to start
by teaching us through his own example. He said, they asked
him this question and he said, that's not mine to give. That's
humility. That's not mine to give. The
Father has prepared all of that, and I'm going to wait on Him.
Lord, can this happen? We're going to wait on God. We'll
wait and see what God does. Verse 41, 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. They wanted the exact same thing.
They were so mad that James and John beat him. I never thought
to ask him that. If they did not have the same
heart of wickedness that James and John had, they would have
been happy for him. Yeah, you guys sit up there and
we'll just sit down here. They would have been thrilled
for him. Our Lord said this flesh fights
for the chief seats. It loves the chief seats, loves
the glory of the chief seats. God brings his people to a knowledge
of the truth, but this flesh is just still fighting, still
working, isn't it? We know the truth. We do. We have seen through eyes of
faith, we've seen the Savior. We know that salvation is not
in our hands, don't we? We know that. We know that everything
is in His hands. We look to Him, don't we? But
this flesh still says, can I be your number two? That's what
it says. Can I be your go-to man? Can
it be me? Jealousy. I think he's being
more blessed than I am. I don't like that. I don't care
for that. Verse 41 says, When the ten heard
it, they began to be much displeased with James and John. But Jesus
called them to him and said 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 so shall it not be among you. It's not
going to be that way among my people. That's just not how I
have ordered it to be. It's not going to be that way.
Verse 43, so shall it not be among you, 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." And I'll point out that He didn't
say all. He didn't say all, did He? But thank God He said many. He said many. Glory is going
to be made up of an amazing number of people. And when we get there
it's a number that can't be counted and the only thing you can say
is God is so merciful. You look around and turn and
turn and everywhere you see you can't see the end of people and
you say God was so merciful. I never dreamed he would be this
merciful. So thank God he came to save
many. He came to lay down his life a ransom for many. 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? That's what the whole account
is about. Where are we going to sit? How do I rank in my sitting? And our Lord told them, your
priorities are all wrong. That's what He's telling them
in all this. You have it all wrong. Every bit of it. You're
looking at it all wrong. So what I want to do here is
through the scriptures. We're going to look at a few
scriptures. And through the scripture, I pray the Lord will reveal to
us where the greatest place to sit is. That's what I want us
to see. I want us to find out, come the end of this, where the
highest honor is to sit. All right? Here's the title,
The Greatest Place to Sit. Go with me over to Luke chapter
7. Let's see if we can see this and if we can attain it. Luke
chapter 7. Luke 7 verse 36, And one of the
Pharisees desired our Lord that he would eat with him. And the
Lord 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." Everybody
knows this woman. Woman of the street, woman of
the night, that woman is a sinner. And Jesus said unto him, he answering,
now this man said that in his heart, the Lord answered his
thoughts. Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat
to say unto thee. And he said, 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? What he's saying is, after the
work was done, after the forgiveness was over, after they were notified
of it, which one will love him most? Verse 43, 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 loveth 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 meat with
him began to say within themselves, who is this that forgiveth sins
also? And he said to the woman, thy
faith hath saved thee. Go in peace. Go in peace. This woman came to the feet of
Jesus Christ. The feet. All of her object was
the feet. That's the only thing she focused
on. The feet of Jesus Christ. All of her motive was love for
the master. And her humility did not bring
her to the master's cheek, Judas said. I'll betray him with a
kiss. I'll go up and I'll kiss his
cheek. This woman, in all of her humility, she came straight
to his feet. Straight to his feet. And she
was highly honored and highly favored. What a place to be. What a place. You want the favor
of God? Get to his feet. Run straight
to his feet. Look right here at Luke 8 verse
26. 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. If that doesn't describe
man by nature, I don't know what does. He has no covering. He's
evil on the inside and he lives in the tombs. Verse 28, 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 break 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 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 what 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. This man
who was a raging lunatic. I mean a rebel against everything. The kind of man that when you
see him you think it just, that can't be. God can't have mercy
on him. I don't even see how that man
could first of all be put in his right mind. As soon as that man was brought
to the feet of Christ, Christ came to him, Christ dealt with
him, Christ brought him to his feet. That man sat down at the
feet of Jesus Christ and he rested right there, fully clothed and
in his right mind. When we stand before God, do
you know what we want to be? clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. We want to be in our right mind
about who we are standing before, how we are standing before Him,
and what our only hope is. We want to be in our right mind,
clothed in the blood and righteousness of Christ. Do you know where
that robe is awarded? Do you know where a sinner can
find that covering? At the feet of Jesus Christ.
Look right here in Luke 8 at verse 41. And beholding, there
came a man named Jairus. He was a ruler of the synagogue
and 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 dying. But as he went, the people thronged
him. We know this man's story. We
looked at it not too long ago. Did Jairus get what he came for?
He came and he fell down at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we need the blessing of mercy
from Christ, there's one place to find it. If we need help,
there's one place to find it. There is only one place to find
it. It's at his feet. When we come before Him crying
and begging on behalf of our children, we must fall down at
His feet. Verse 49 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, and he put them all
out. and 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 something
to eat, give her some meat. You know, the only place where
a sinner can go to find help in time of need, there's going
to come a point in a sinner's life when that sinner is going
to find himself or herself in need. For so long you go and
you have no idea you're in need. If God in mercy will open our
eyes to our need, run to the feet of Jesus Christ. There's help. There's help. Look with me at Luke 10. It won't
be much longer. Luke 10. Luke 10 verse 38. Now it came to pass, as they
went, that 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, we come, here we are today, And
we came to hear from God, didn't we? We came in the hopes that
we might hear from God. If we want to hear from God,
do you know where we will hear from God? At His feet. at His feet. If God will cause
this heart and this mind to come into this place and as soon as
possible get to the feet of Jesus Christ. Come in here humbly bowing
down. Straight to the feet of the Lord
Jesus Christ. What a blessing that comes from
hearing from Him. Walking out of here saying, I
heard from Him. He spoke to me. I believe He
spoke to this heart. What a blessing it is to hear
from him, hear his voice through his word that comes from sitting
at his feet. Look with me at Luke 17. Luke
17, verse 11. And 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. Do we
have a heart to glorify God? Do we want to glorify God? Do you know where a sinner can
glorify God? At the feet of Jesus Christ. That's where a sinner glorifies
God. If we truly want to give Him
thanks, He's been so good to us. Not only eternally, but materially,
spiritually and physically. And if we want to give him thanks
from the heart, Lord, thank you so much for cleansing me, making
me whole. All of that thanks is given at
his feet, every ounce of it. Here's why. Go to Luke 24. Luke 24, verse 36. 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
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. 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 he showed them his feet." Here's
what he told them. You want to glorify God? You
want to thank God? You want to find comfort? You
want to find peace? You want the reason for worship. Let me show you my hands. Let
me show you my feet. Take a good look at my feet. God's children, his believers,
his followers want to become well acquainted with the feet
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that true? We want to become
well acquainted with his beautiful feet. How beautiful are the feet
of the one who has brought glad tidings? You know what's in those
feet? Nail prints. How beautiful are
the feet of Christ? Those feet led him all the way
up to that cross. I quote it. We sing it up Calvary's
mountain. One dreadful morn walk. How beautiful are the feet. Walked
Christ my Savior, weary and worn. Now, I'll close with this. Let's
take a really good look at them. All right, let's get a really
good look at them. Go with me to Revelation 1. God gave to the apostle John the revelation of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was revealed to
John. And in Revelation 1 verse 12,
John 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 girt 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 scripture where
a furnace burned? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
they got to know one pretty well. They got to know one a little
too well. When Nebuchadnezzar threw those
men in there, he looked and he said, didn't we throw three men
in there? He said, I see four. And he looks just like the son
of God. And he looks just like the Son
of God. Right here John said, I saw his
feet. I fell down, I took my seat right
at his feet. They were right there. I saw
them. He said they looked like fine
brass as though they burned in a furnace. They looked like they
endured the fiery furnace for me. That's what they looked like.
If a sinner ever sees that, that sinner will fall down before
Christ crying, thine the glory, amen. Thine the glory, amen. He'll say, away with my own vain
glory. I don't want my own seat. I don't
want to sit alone in heaven. I found my spot. found my seat. I want to sit right here under
his blessing. I want to sit right here where
he laid his robe on me. I want to sit right here where
I can hear his voice. I want to sit right here where
I can behold the prints of these nails. And see the brass from the furnace. I found the greatest place to
sit. I found it. I found the highest honor. Anyone who sits down right there,
anybody who says, that's the seat I want. Lord, would you
do something for me? That's the seat I want. Any sinner
who sits down right there will hear the same thing Mary heard. We didn't read it when we were
over there, but do you know what the Lord told her while she was
sitting there? He said, it will not be taken
from you. Martha said, make her help me,
make her help me. He looked right at her and said, it's not going
to be taken from you. You can stay there as long as
you want. How about forever? Forever it is. May God give us
a heart for that seat. May God give us a heart for that
seat. And may God give us that seat. That's where we all need
to sit, highest honor we can receive, the feet of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Okay, let's all stand together.