turning your bibles please again
to the passage we read from the book of judges and chapter 17
judges chapter 17 for a text i'm going to draw your attention
to what we read in verse 6 where it says in those days there was
no king in israel but every man did that which was right in his
own eyes In those days there was no king in Israel but every
man did that which was right in his own eyes. This text is
very much the theme of the book of Judges because it is repeated
as the closing words of the whole book in chapter 21 and verse
25 where it says in those days there was no king in Israel every
man did that which was right in his own eyes. And we have
of course a bit of an example in chapter 17 of this. The man
of Mount Ephraim whose name was Micah took some money off his
mother who had planned to give it to him and he gave it back
to her but her plan for it was to use it to make a graven image
and a molten image. And when he gave the money back
to her, that's what she did. She spent it and made a graven
image and a molten image that remained in Micah's house. And
Micah had a house of gods and made an ephod and teraphim and
consecrated one of his sons who became his priest. In verse seven,
a young man from Bethlehem, Judah, a Levite passes by comes to Micah's
house. Micah asks him where he's from
and who he is. When he discovers that he's a
Levite priest, Micah thinks this is wonderful. Can't get much
better for a priest than having a real Levite. So he invites
him in, has him stay, and thinks in verse 13 that now he knows
that the Lord will do him good because he has a Levite for his
priest. Micah did that which was right
in his own eyes. He had a sort of idea of religion. He had a desire to do that which
would approve him before the Lord God. He wanted the Lord
to do him good. But he was so confused, so mixed
up, like many of his countrymen at that time. Despite the Lord's
commands to the children of Israel, he and his mother made graven
images, molten images, which they had in their house. They
set up their own priesthood. They're very religious but very
confused in their religion. They knew however something of
the truth when they knew that God's priesthood was of the house
of Levi. So when a Levitical priest comes
their way, they recognize the worth in having a Levite for
their priest. But again, they're so confused
because they think merely having the form, merely having the man
of the right heritage would have proved them before God, even
though they still had all these graven images in the house. So
confused. Religious. but not knowing the
truth. And really this is just an example
of the sort of events that we read throughout the Book of Judges,
which is a bit of a catalogue of the children of Israel becoming
increasingly involved with the nations around them, increasingly
confused, falling increasingly into sin, and increasingly estranged
from their God. Moses had led them out of captivity
in Egypt. By the hand of Joshua they had
been led into Canaan, the figure of the promised land. Joshua,
by the mighty hand of his Lord God, led them into battle and
they knew many victories at his hand. But Joshua's gone. And without the leadership of
Joshua, the people are all at sea. They no longer have Joshua. They have the heritage. They
can speak of what their fathers did, what their countrymen did. They knew where they had come
from. but they no longer had Joshua to lead them aright. In those days there was no king
in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own
eyes. They turned from the will of
God unto their own ways, with devastating results. They didn't,
as they were instructed, completely drive out the enemies from the
land of Canaan. They'd got so far and then they
stopped. They didn't drive them out as
the Lord had instructed them. But they compromised with them,
fearful of the armies of the other tribes around them. rather than go into battle and
trusting in their lord that he would win the battle for them
they took the easy route and made deals with the nations around
them with the tribes they compromised and in compromising Little by
little, trickle by trickle, almost imperceptibly they found themselves
turning from the ways of God, turning from the commandments
of God, turning from their obedience to the law which God gave them
at Sinai by the hand of Moses, turning from God's ways to the
ways of man. Little by little they found themselves
forming strange alliances with strangers, Marrying those of
other nations when God had instructed them not to. Worshipping the
gods of the other nations when God had told them to worship
him as the only one true and living God to have no other gods
before him. And yet somehow despite the clarity
of his instruction to them, in their heads they found a way
to compromise and to find it acceptable to take on the gods
and the worship of the nations with whom they mixed. They reasoned things, they applied
their wisdom to things, and they began to see that the way in
which they walked was right. Every man did that which was
right in his own eyes. It wasn't so much that they fell
into this sin and knew that they were doing wrong, but somehow
they'd reasoned themselves bit by bit to think that what they
were doing in these things was actually right. Micah here was
a man who knew there was a God, was a man who sought to approve
himself before God. His mother likewise said unto
him that she dedicated the silver that she had unto the Lord for
her son. And yet the end to which it was
dedicated was to make a graven image and a molten image. That
which the Lord had commanded should not be. So somehow they
thought they were serving God. They thought they were doing
right. When in reality they were doing the opposite. In reality
they'd gone astray. With devastating results. They ended up worshipping false
gods. False gods. Every man did that which was
right in his own eyes. Without Joshua, they were all
at sea. Lost. Without a clear leader
to guide them. Confused. unable to discern the
truth, unable to discern right from wrong, all at sea. And yet in their eyes, all they
did was right. Every man did that which was
right in his own eyes. And that's the problem, isn't
it? If we consider our day and age, if we consider our nation,
every man does that. which is right in his own eyes.
If we consider the world at large, everyone thinks what they're
doing is the right thing. If we consider religion, every
man does that which is right in his own eyes. If we consider
that which professes to be the church of Christ, Christendom,
every man does that which is right in his own eyes. And yet everyone does something
different from everyone else. Every church does something different. The Catholics go this way. The
Church of England go that way. The Presbyterians go that way.
The Charismatics go that way. The Brethren go this way. Quakers
go that way. All sorts of churches with all
sorts of names. some nearer the truth than others.
But the majority claiming the name of Christ, the majority
claiming to use the Bible, the word of God, and yet all come
into completely different conclusions on so many different aspects.
For whom did Christ die? For all men or for his people? Who should preach? Those sent
of God or anyone that feels like they should. Who should speak
in the churches, men or women? What does the Lord's Supper mean?
What is the bread and wine? When Christ says it's his own
body and his own blood, is that literally? Or is that spiritually? How often should it be taken?
When should it be taken? What does baptism mean? Is it
a washing? Is it a burial? Should it be
by full immersion? Should it be by sprinkling? How
should we worship God? Should there be preaching or
is that for another day? Should there be music? What sort
of music? Should there be hymns or psalms
or only psalms? Should it be modern or old? Should
we dance? Should we be quiet? Which version
of the Bible should we use? There are many translations.
Should we use this one? Or should we use that one? One
that's easy to understand in modern English? Or one that's
more in accord with the original tongue? everyone does that which
is right in his own eyes. And yet everyone goes a different
way. In reality what we see is chaos
and confusion and everyone having strong-minded views, strong-minded
views contrary to everyone else. everyone I need not itemize them
but everyone has a view and everyone thinks that that one's right
and that one's wrong this is right and that's wrong there's
no unity between all of these yet they all profess the name
of Jesus Christ and the reality is is that they have no king
in Israel and every man does that which is right in his own
eyes As with Israel of old, when Joshua was no longer in the midst,
when it was not Joshua upon whom their eyes were set, the people
were all at sea. And when the professing church
no longer has its eyes set firmly upon Joshua, Jesus, the Lord
Jesus Christ, Though they claim his name, and though they claim
a heritage connected with him, when he is no longer in the midst,
when his gospel has ceased to be preached, when his truth has
ceased to be discerned, then every man does that which is
right in his own eyes, but every man is at variance with his brother. They cannot all be right, can
they? When we look at the church today,
we may well ask, just what is the church? Which is the church? If I look for a church professing
Christ and his gospel, to which do I go? Do I go to this one
that says it's evangelical? Do I go to that one that says
it's Baptist? Do I go to this one that says
it's Presbyterian? Do I go to this one that says
it's a gospel church? Which is the church? Which congregation? Which gathering? Which place?
There's so much chaos and no authority. Every meeting has
one, it has some in it who say we are right. and you go to that
place and they say this, and you go to the other place and
they say that. There's no authority, there's
chaos and confusion. But God is not the author of
confusion. And what we see as confusion
does not originate with God. Whatever right there may be in
each place, what sets them all against one another has originated
with man, and is caused by the fact that Joshua is no longer
in their midst, and their eyes are not firmly set upon Christ
alone. The more and more that the eyes
and the gaze are taken away from Christ, the more and more that
his gospel and the preaching of his gospel are sidelined in
the gatherings and assemblies of those who profess his name,
the more and more that other things are brought into worship
in the place of Christ and his gospel, the more and more man
comes in, the wisdom of man comes in and that which is right in
his own eyes comes in. God is not the author of confusion. Proverbs 21 verse 2 tells us
every way of a man is right in his own eyes. but the Lord pondereth
the hearts. Everyone thinks he's doing right,
everyone in the churches thinks that they are right. Every church
says we are the true church. The true church of course says
we are the true church. And that's what makes it very,
very difficult to discern between truth and error. Because the true church will
rightly say, we are following Christ. They will rightly say,
this is the gospel. But every false church says,
lo, here is Christ. Lo, here is the gospel. Then
how do we know? Every way of a man is right in
his own eyes. And the will of man, the will
of man, which influences him in his ways, Of course, by nature,
is that which is at the heart of sin. If man's ways are that
which is in the flesh, if we walk according to the wisdom
of man from our own understanding in the flesh, then we walk in
the way of sin. Because our will is not God's
will. And our way is not God's way.
And the will of man is that which brought in sin at the beginning.
The will and the wisdom of man is that which brought in death
when Adam transgressed God's command, disobeyed Him, and fell
in the Garden of Eden to bring in sin and death which passed
upon all men by natural generation even to our day. Natural wisdom
and the natural will of man does not lead unto God and it does
not bring grace and unity and truth in the midst of the professing
churches, it wars against it. However right it seems in man's
eyes when Eve fell in the garden and her husband was drawn into
the same deception was deceived with her They thought that what
they were eating, though God had commanded them not to eat
of it, they thought it was good. What they did was right in their
own eyes, even though God had told them, don't do it. Man's wisdom and man's will is
set against the will and the wisdom of God. And as with Adam
and Eve, in such rebellion and sin, though they fought, they
walked rightly. Though they fought, it was good.
Though they fought, they would benefit from such a pathway.
As with them, so the Israelites in the Book of Judges went away
that they thought was right, did that which they thought would
be good. Micah got a Levite for his priest. He spent money, dedicated to
the Lord, to build a graven image. Thought it was good, and yet
it was corrupt, an abomination in God's eyes. As in the garden, as with these,
so with all men. The will of man and the wisdom
of man, though he thinks he does good, is only evil continually. Because God pondereth the hearts
and the hearts of man by nature are fallen, are depraved, are
deceitful above all things. They think evil continually. They deceive us that we are walking
right when really we are walking wrong. All have sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God. All have. And all, without a
King, without Christ, without the Lord Jesus Christ, the King
of Kings leading us, all go astray. All men but one. All men but one. Because there
was a man who followed the will and the way and the wisdom of
God. There was one who knew the will and the wisdom of God. Not
just as he was instructed by others. There was a man who knew
the will and the wisdom of God and walked in the will and the
wisdom of God, not only when there was a king whom he could
follow, not only when there was that wisdom presented to him
and that way in which he might be checked from going astray. But there was a man who walked
upon the face of this earth, who knew God's will, who knew
God's righteousness from within. there was a man who walked on
this earth that you and I have walked upon who met people who
really lived in this world our forefathers there was a man who
walked in this earth who was without sin who was righteous
and perfect And who didn't do that which was simply right in
his own eyes? Who didn't do that which was
his will? But there was a man who did the
will of the Lord God and submitted his will to God's will. That man was of course the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God. God made man. God manifest in
the flesh. The Son of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who came into this world, made a man that he should come
to those who do what's right in their own eyes, but in so
doing have plunged themselves into the darkness of sin and
death. He came into this world to walk amongst such a people
with the intent of saving such as these, a great multitude,
given to him by his Father, given to him by the Lord God. There
was a man who came to save such people. to save them to deliver
them from this world and its corruption to deliver them from
the darkness of the wisdom of their own minds to deliver them
from those hearts which were within them which deceived them
and which brought only sin and death continually to deliver
them from their own wisdom to deliver them from doing that
which is simply right in their own eyes to doing that which
is right in God's eyes. There was a man, Jesus, he who
should save his people. from their sins. He who came
for the suffering of death, he who came to serve others not
himself, he who loved others and lived his life for others
and gave up everything for others, he who served not his own selfish
ways as we all have done, but he who came giving up his will,
giving up what he might desire, giving up his throne of glory
in heaven above, he who came to suffer and to die for those
who went their way, not his way, for those who loved themselves,
not him, for those who thought of their things, not his things,
for those who hated and rejected him. he came to save his people
from their sins. Do you know him? Have you seen
him? Have you heard him? This Joshua,
this king, this priest, Micah had a Levite for a priest. This
priest was of the tribe of Judah. this is the priest you and I
need, this is the only one who can make intercession with a
God whom we have offended, a God whom our sins have set us at
a great distance to, a God whose wrath burns against all our transgressions,
a God who will consume us with eternal fire if our sins are
not blotted out. This is the one, the priest,
that can reconcile his people, people like you and me, to a
holy and a righteous God. This is the king we need to have,
this is the priest we need to have, this is the prophet we
need to have to point us to the truth, to lead us out of the
confusion, to lead us from worshipping graven images and molten images
as our own wisdom would lead us to. This is the priest and
the king we need. Do you know him? This man always
submitted to the will of God this man always submitted to
the will of his father he always did as a man he had his own will
and yet he said I do always the the will of my father this is
the will of God this is the will of my father I have come to lay
down my life for the sheep I have come to save a people, to redeem
a people, to set them free. He always submitted. This man
knew there is an order and an authority, that God the Father
was over him. God is the head of Christ. Christ is the head of the man,
we read in 1 Corinthians, and the man is the head of the woman. There's an order in creation,
there's an order before God. Man is not to do that which is
right in his own eyes, but he is to seek the will of Christ
and the will of God the Father. Christ followed the order. He loved his God, he submitted
to his will. And God's people long to walk
in the will of Christ and his Father. Christ fought His inner
life, his motivations, his goals, his desires, were always in submission
to the will of his father. He did that which his father
sent him to. His thoughts were not on his
own things, but on God's things. Where are your thoughts? Where
were your thoughts yesterday? Where are they today? Where will
they be tomorrow? Taken up with what you will do,
with what you want, with where you want to go, with what you
want to be. Or are they taken up with Christ? His will, His ways, His things,
His kingdom, His glory. Are they taken up with God and
His Son? Are they? professing believer
are they? You profess Christ, we all do
if we know him, we profess him. But are the things of Jesus Christ,
the things which consume our goals and our desires, our ambitions,
our thoughts, our wills, our ways, our motives? Or does the
flesh constantly win the battle and cause us to go this way and
to that way? if we were taken up with Christ
and if the professing church was taken up with Christ and
his things and his ways There wouldn't be this confusion in
the churches. There wouldn't be one man going
this way and another going that way. All would know the Lord,
as it says in Hebrews 8. All would know the Lord, no man
would need to teach us, all would know his way and all would go
the same way. When they speak of baptism, all
would say, this is the baptism we believe in. When they speak
of the Lord's Supper, they would say, this is the Lord's Supper.
When they speak of the Gospel, they would say, this is the Gospel,
and all else is false. When they speak of the Atonement,
they would say, this is the Atonement. Jesus saves his people from their
sins. When they speak of worship they
would say it's in these terms, in this way. When they speak
of the importance of the gospel they would say it is this. It must be preached by the foolishness
of preaching. It has pleased God to save them
that are lost. When they speak of the order
in the church they would say it is according to God's order.
There would not be the confusion and the chaos. The trouble is,
is that we're all taken up with ourselves, our thoughts, our
things, our ways, and our will, and not His. But Christ was taken
up with God, the Father's will, with heavenly things and His
ways, and He walked in that way. And it's recorded of Him in Mark
7, verse 37. He hath done all things well. Christ have done all things well,
all things. Well he has, hasn't he? He's
done all things well, not some, not sometimes, not like us, perhaps
one day we do something right, the next we do something wrong,
but he has done all things well. He always sought the Lord's will. He always sought the good of
others. He always loved others, though
they hated him. He always submitted to the authority
of God, his Father. you have done all things well.
All things, oh that all things would be done well in that which
professes Christ's name, that which calls itself his church. Oh that we would see all things
done well here below. For in God's church, in that
church which Christ builds, Christ and his gospel is central. His gospel is central. He is
central. It's the church that Christ builds. I will build my church and the
gates of hell will not prevail against it. He builds it. He's
central. He's the builder. He's the preacher. He's the message. He's the subject. He's the priest, the king. He's
the sacrifice, he's the prophet, he's the one who preaches from
on high by his spirit through the mouths of those men whom
he sends to preach his gospel. He's the prophet, he's the king,
he rules over all in his kingdom, in his church. And he's the priest,
he's the one who died, he's the sacrifice which was slain by
the priest. He laid down his life for his
sheep, his people. Everyone for whom he laid down
his life, all his elect, are saved with a sure and a certain
salvation. And it's the preaching of this
message of his gospel, which is the power of God under salvation,
it's that which brings his church into being. There is no true
church except that which Christ builds and there is no true church
except that which is built through the preaching of the gospel of
Christ through the Spirit from the lips of Jesus Christ on high
by those whom he sends to preach it. his church the preaching
of the gospel is central. How may we know what is the church? Well firstly we will know it
when we hear the gospel preached in it. Any church which has sidelined
the preaching of Christ and his gospel, whatever it may say,
whatever it may call itself, whatever confession of faith
it may have on a piece of paper, However orthodox the words of
its hymns or its songs may appear to be, if they've sidelined the
importance, the dominance, the centrality of the preaching of
his gospel in the midst, they are not his church. It is not
his church. If they have swamped the preaching
of the gospel by every other thing that's conducted in worship,
if the preaching of the gospel has been reduced to 10 minutes
at the end following 50 minutes of song and dance, it's not His
church. And if they've altered and twisted
the message of the gospel, that it ceases to be the reality of
that free sovereign grace, that free electing grace of God, which
is the theme, the essence of the gospel of God. That God sent
his son to save those whom he gave to his son, that he elected
a people from before the foundations of the world, and named people
given to his son laid upon his heart all for whom he died upon
the cross that they should effectually be saved with a sure and a certain
and an accomplished salvation because of the righteousness
of God wrought for them at Calvary's cross when their sins were blotted
out when sin was destroyed and when righteousness was made to
be theirs in him. If that message that message
of the gospel is not preached then that place is not the church.
the church is that which Christ builds he builds it through this
gospel and that gospel is that message and that message alone. Any variance is not the gospel
and any church that departs from this has departed to that which
is right in its own eyes and not from that which is right
in God's eyes. in the church, Christ and his
gospel is central. This is the will of God, the
work of God, that you believe on his son. Man's will goes this
way and that way. God's will for his people in
time is that they hear his gospel and in hearing that gospel they're
given faith. to believe on his son and to
everlast in life. God builds his church. God and
his son the Lord Jesus Christ are central in his church. There
is no church except God builds it. If salvation is by revelation,
revelation that Christ is the son of God, as stated in Matthew chapter
16. Then all is at God's command
for none can reveal this except God does. Then salvation itself
is at God's command. The church is that company of
people whom God has saved and none else. then all who are in
the church are that company of people who know his salvation.
And salvation comes at the command of God on high when God says
to one, live. they live. When God looks upon
a dead soul lost in transgressions and sins, when he finds them
in the ditch and the sewer of their sin and their depravity
by nature, when they like sheep are going astray have gone astray,
when they do that which is right in their own eyes and yet they
are blind though they think they see, when he looks upon such
a one and and brings the sound of the gospel in the preaching
of the gospel to their ears and brings them to that conviction
of their sins that they cry out to God to have mercy upon them
when he looks at them and says unto them live and faith enters
the heart and they cry out and their cry is heard and they have
life poured into their heart, they know what it is to have
eternal life, to be delivered from darkness to light, from
death to eternal life, when that comes about it's solely and exclusively
at the command of God, not man's command, not at man's will, not
at man's decision, not because of man's ways, No one is saved
because of the wisdom of man, no one is saved because of cleverly
constructed meetings that persuade and affect the emotions of man. We can be easily swayed and persuaded
of many things but there's no life which enters into the darkness
of man's heart except God uses the preaching of his gospel,
except God commands it. It is at God's command that the
church is built. And the church is sustained and
built up and strengthened at God's command. Strengthened through
the preaching of the gospel. What is the church? It is that
brought into being by the preaching of God's gospel concerning His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is that people who have come
to believe on God's Son, the truth, truth embodied, and walks
in His will and His way. As Christ said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. then the church is that which
knows the way, the truth, and the life. The church is that
which is not in error but in truth, which is not in death
but in life, which is not out of the way, walking in man's
ways and man's wisdom, but that which is in the way, following
Christ. anything else is not the church,
however right it may seem in man's eyes. All is at God's command,
all that is done within the church is at God's command, there is
no chaos and confusion in it. In Corinth, in the book of Corinthians,
we read there of a church which had fallen into chaos and confusion. They'd heard the gospel, they'd
been saved, many of them, and yet Paul having departed, the
regular preaching of the gospel from the Apostle having been
removed for a time, the church gradually, like the Israelites
in the days of the judges, gradually became confused and gradually
became chaotic. The meetings were chaotic, sin
was allowed to come in. Unreproved, unchecked. All sorts
of people were doing all sorts of things in the meetings at
their will, whenever they fancied. All sorts of people were speaking,
the women were speaking, the women were teaching. Everyone
had an opinion. There was babble and confusion,
the Lord's table, the Lord's supper had been made into a into
an indulgent meal where everyone was just eating and turning it
into a meal without any thought for the meaning or the reality
of it there was chaos and yet in God's church where the gospel
is maintained and the truth is maintained there's an order an
authority as Paul makes clear to the Corinthians
that all comes from the preaching of Christ and him crucified.
When Paul deals with the chaos in Corinth he does not deal with
the individual problems, he does not go after the person committing
incest, he does not go after the people that have that are
speaking in tongues he does not try to address this thing and
that thing first of all he brings them back to the centrality of
the preaching of Christ and him crucified and it's where Christ
and him crucified has ceased to be preached and has ceased
to be central that such chaos and confusion comes in how may
we know the church it's where the gospel is there is one will
of God Not many. There is one church, one faith,
one baptism, one Lord and Father of all as we read in Ephesians
4. One church, not many churches, not every man doing his will,
not every church doing its will, not all churches worshipping
God in their ways according to their style, their wisdom, their
thought, their culture. But all churches in all the assemblies
throughout all the world having their origin in the preaching
of Christ's gospel, being united together as one people in Christ
by the Spirit, having one Father, one God that brought them into
being, all having one way, one will, one authority, one wisdom
and one unity. There's one church There's no
variation according to culture or area or fancy. There's no variation in the message
preached. No variation in the order in
the church. There is an authority in the
church. God the Father is the head of
Christ. Christ is the head of the man.
the man is the head of the woman. There is authority and the chaos
and confusion in the churches we see today is where this authority,
this order which stems from this gospel has been set aside. This is why in the churches,
why Paul rebukes the Corinthians for allowing the women to teach
in the churches, why does he make a point of that? Because
the order shows that Christ is the head of the man and the man
the head of the woman. The man and the woman are figurative
of Christ and his bride. Christ and his church. The church
is Christ's bride. As a bride she's the woman. It's
Christ who is central in the church, not the bride. It's Christ's
voice who must be heard in the church, not the bride's voice.
It's his gospel and his thoughts and his will that must be heard,
not their words. that's why we have this pattern
set forth in Corinthians for all time that God uses men to
preach the gospel not women that women are to be silent in the
church because if the woman is speaking in the church she is
as it were showing forth the bride of Christ teaching Christ
rather than Christ teaching the bride. yet the order is that
Christ is the head of the man and the man is the head of the
woman. Christ is central, his gospel is that which must be
heard. His gospel by the preaching of
the gospel, by men sent of God, as Christ preaches it by his
Spirit, the church is built. This is what saves, this is what
brings the church into being, and this is what sustains and
orders that church. This is what gives it its character.
This is that which distinguishes the true church from all which
is false. where the preaching of the gospel
is sidelined, neglected and replaced, you have chaos. Whether it's
through music, dance, women having authority, whatever the changes,
whatever the variation, it's because the voice of Christ by
those preachers he sends has been rejected and set aside. The woman, the church as it were,
has become the one who teaches, the one whose wisdom matters.
She speaks rather than him. Her will is heard rather than
his. Her thoughts are heard rather than his. So Paul says in Corinthians,
what? Did the word of God come out
from you? Did the word of God come out
from you or unto you? Was it that God preached the
gospel to you or did you preach it unto him? No, the word of
God came to you, you heard it from the preachers whom God sent
and by it you were saved. God speaks, it came to you, not
out of you. Therefore let the women keep
silent as a figure of this. No, the woman, the bride of Christ,
the church, sits at his feet. She sits at the feet of Christ
to hear his gospel. She loves to hear the preaching
of the free grace of God in the gospel. This is what the church
is. When it gathers, it gathers to
hear the gospel. It longs to hear of Christ and
him crucified. It longs to hear the saving grace
of God. It longs to. It longs to. Just like that woman with the
alabaster oil. who sat at the feet of Christ
and washed his feet with her hair and that ointment she poured
on it. She took the lowest place and
she sat and worshipped him who has the highest place. She sat
silent and adored him. She washed his feet and glorified
him. She sits and listens. And so
too the Bride of Christ the Church sits and listens. She worships. She listens and she hears the
gospel, the gospel. Well where are you? Are you where
she is? Are you sitting at the feet of
Christ as it were washing his feet with ointment? Are you taking
the lowest place seeking to hear his thoughts, his will, his wisdom? Are you seeking that your ways
might be made right, not that they might be right in your eyes,
but that your ways might be transformed to be His ways, that you might
know His will, not your will, that you might be caused to walk
in His ways and His things, not your things. Are you sitting
where this woman sat, worshipping Him who have done all things
well? Worship in him who builds his
church. Worship in the Lord Jesus Christ,
Jesus, who saves his people from their sins. Worship in the King. In your heart is there no king
in Israel? Do you do that which is right
in your own eyes? Or do you sit at the feet of
Joshua, Is Joshua in the midst? Is his gospel in the midst? Is
that that which you love to hear, that which brings grace and life
and salvation? Is Joshua in the midst? You sit
at his feet and worship and follow him, who hath done all things
well.