Turn with me to the book of Luke,
chapter 7. The book of Luke, chapter 7. I would like to read just a few
verses, a part of a story that we find here in this chapter
this morning for a starting place for our message today. I will
begin with verse 36 and read down through verse 39. verse 36 of Luke 7 through verse 39. And one of
the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. That is,
that Christ 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 Pharisees 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. Let's look to the Lord in a word
of prayer. Our Father, it is with solemn hearts that we come
to you this morning. We're reminded so much this morning
of the sufferings of our Redeemer, of His crucifixion, and how we
praise Thee that He was willing to come into this world to seek
His bride, willing to come into this world to seek and to save
that which was lost. willing to come down here into
this world that men had made into a cesspool of sin, iniquity,
and filth. We thank you that our Redeemer,
the Lord Jesus, came here and that he lived in this world and
yet was never tainted. Never did he sin. He did no sin. Neither was there any guile found
in his mouth. He was holy, spotless, separate
from sinners. But yet he loved sinners. Yet
he fellowshiped with the publicans and the harlots. Yet he fellowshiped
with those that were, as it were, shut out of the religions of
this world. And He, our Father, delivered
them and saved them with a mighty salvation. And how we thank Thee
this morning for the work that You've done in the hearts of
these that are Thine. How we praise You that You have
been so merciful. We thank You for Your free grace,
for Your free love towards Your people. And now, Father, we ask
today that you might indeed do a work in our hearts this morning,
prepare us for the time when we share the Lord's Supper together. May our hearts be knit together
in love toward thee, in the fellowship of the gospel, and in love toward
one another. And Father, we ask today that
there would be victories won, in the hearts of those that are
strangers to your grace, that they might be brought to feel
and to know and to understand the glorious gospel and the power
of God today. Lord, we pray also for your people. There is the cry out of the hearts
of your people, I'm sure, beings there's a cry in my own heart,
that our hearts might indeed be warmed that they might become
inflamed, Lord, with holy ardor and love toward our Redeemer,
the Lord Jesus. We do thank Thee that Thou hast
been pleased to nurture us. Thou hast been pleased, our Father,
to keep us. Thou hast been pleased to sustain
us in this world and to keep us in the way. And we thank Thee,
we praise Thee for Your mercy. your unending mercy toward us. Lord, we just ask now that you'll
receive glory today. Honor thou worthy to receive
it. We're very poor creatures to
be offering it, but Lord, we would do all we could to honor
and praise thy name. And we would do this in the name
and with the help of. our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose
name we pray, Amen. In the 38th verse we see three
words in the first sentence of this verse that I'd like to speak
about this morning and those three words are, At His Feet. At His Feet. For the most part, we think very
little of outward postures when it comes to the worship of our
God. It is a matter of indifference
whether we pray like Abraham did standing, or whether we,
like David did, sit down when we pray, or whether we kneel
as Elias did. It's a matter of indifference.
It really doesn't matter. While we think little of the
position of our bodies in worship, let us pay this morning all the
more attention to the posture of our souls as we worship. One of the best positions in
which our hearts can be found in worshiping of God is at Jesus'
feet. Here, beloved, we may fall, we
may sit, we may kneel, and it will be well with our souls,
regardless of what we do. It'll be well with our souls
if we find ourselves sitting at Jesus' feet. Now the first
thing that is necessary to spiritual life is to recognize the realness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to have a life-changing a life-altering
living union, a life-giving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this woman believed in a
real Christ. She knew he was real. She really
did. I do not believe that this woman
would have come in and stood behind him and in that posture
our Lord Jesus was, as it were, kind of lying down and his feet
was out behind him. And she came in and stood behind
our Lord at his feet. And our Lord Jesus, now remember
this, remember this, he wouldn't have had any feet. if it had
not been for the mission of love that the Father had sent Him
on into this world. If it had not been for His redemptive
work, if it had not been for the fact that He came into this
world to save God's people from their sin and to die on a cross,
if it had not been for that, He wouldn't have been there.
He wouldn't have had a body. He wouldn't have had any feet. This
woman knew that Christ was real. She knew he was the Son of God. She knew that he was one that
would have compassion on sinners. She knew he was on a mission,
and she believed in her heart that the Lord Jesus Christ had
the answer for her problem, that he could deliver her, that he
could save her, that he would have mercy upon her, that he
would deliver her. Now, beloved, he's the living
Christ. and he has life, and he's the
life-giving spirit. John 5 and 26 says, for as the
Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to
have life in himself. So the Lord Jesus is the life-giving
Spirit. And so if we have a real, if
we believe in His realness, and if we believe in Him as the Son
of God, and if we trust Him as the Savior, then, beloved, we
have a life-giving relationship, a relationship that has brought
life to our souls. John 3 verse 14, 15, and 16 says,
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. There
is life. glorious, eternal life connected
with our Lord Jesus Christ. He is real, beloved, and if you
want life, everlasting life, if you've got a desire in your
soul, a will in your heart this morning toward Him and toward
eternal life, I want you to know He's real, and I want you to
know that He can save you, and if you be in Him, then you can
say, I have passed from death unto life, and there's no condemnation
awaiting me anymore. My sin was laid on him, and he
bore it to the tree in order that he might bring me unto God. And so, beloved, Christ is real. Now after we've come to realize
Christ, and believe on him, we're described in the scriptures as
being in various positions with regard to our Lord. We're in various positions. Let
me make mention of two or three. Number one, we're said to be
in the Word of God on his heart. were on the heart of the Redeemer. Now we believe that our Lord
Jesus Christ had us in mind and that he had us on his heart from
the foundation of the world. And we believe, no mistake about
it, we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ was identified with
every member of his body from the foundation of the world.
That when the Father made covenant with the Lord Jesus and made
him the surety of the covenant, and the Holy Ghost of God that
we were on his heart. Just as the priest of old carried
the names of the twelve tribes of Israel upon the breast, so
does Jesus carry all of his people on his heart and in his heart. Now the second thing I'd mention
is that we're on his bosom. Now, there are favored times
when, like John also, we feel his heart beating with true affection
for us. Now, we don't only believe in
his love, but there is a kind of spiritual sensitiveness which
causes us to feel the love of our Lord Jesus Christ indeed.
What is his love? Well, one answered, none but
his loved one knows. None but those that he loves
really knows what his love is. But we rest on his bosom. Now, oh that we could with holy
John forever lean our heads upon the bosom of our Lord. It's wonderful
to be able to do that, whether you've ever done it or not, ever
experienced it or not. But to spiritually be able to,
being exhausted as we are so often, being so troubled, being
so cast about on life's stormy seas, to be able to, as it were,
to rest our weary heads upon the bosom of our Lord Jesus Christ. when we look around us and see
all the world coming apart at the seams and when it seems that
there's no comfort to be had anywhere to be able to, like
holy John, to be able to lean our heads upon the bosom of our
Lord. Well, thirdly, we're described
as being in the hands of Christ. All his people are in his hand. Do you ever think about that?
In the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. What good hands we're
in. He gives them eternal life, John
10 tells us, and they shall never perish for he says, none shall
pluck them out of my hands. And so we are in the hollow of
His hand. God's people are safe in the
hollow of God's hand. Then fourth, too, we are described
as being on His shoulders. Does not the good shepherd, when
he finds one of his sheep, and thank God he's looking for his
sheep, thank God that he is, and thank God that he finds them
too. Isn't that glorious? Couldn't we say hallelujah to
that? That he finds his sheep, he goes out seeking them, and
he finds his sheep, and then he casts them upon his shoulders,
and he carries them safely home. carries them, brings them safely
home. You remember reading about the
ninety and nine who didn't stray, but that one sheep strayed, and
the Master went seeking and brought him home. So Christ carries us
on, number one, the heart of His love, number two, in the
security of His hand, and number three, on the shoulders of His
power. He carries us on the shoulders
of His power. So we're perfectly safe. As God's
people, Peter put it this way, kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Just waiting, waiting, waiting
until the King comes. Waiting until the Lord from heaven
sends down a word. saying come up hither until he
brings us or draws us up home to heaven. We're waiting, ready
to be revealed. His salvation is ready to be
revealed in the last time. The Lord has got his people and
they're safe. You see then where we are. You
see, as God's people, we're in various positions in our Master,
in our Lord. And don't forget it, because
it's for your soul's comfort that you reflect on these things
and that you think on these things day by day. Now, but for a while
this morning, I want to urge you to seek to be at His feet,
at His feet. Now you can keep the other positions
and this too, because let me say this, this is possible for
the soul to be elevated to a place and position of security and
assurance and realness about their eternal life and their
experience and at the same time to be at the feet of our Lord
Jesus Christ in all lowliness of heart and mind. The highest
joy and the fullest assurance are consistent with the lowliest
reverence toward God. Did you get that? The highest
joy and the fullest assurance is consistent with the lowliest
reverence. Now we can know and rejoice in
the great truths of the gospel and yet still at the same time
be lying at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, conscious of our
unworthiness and bowed into the very dust under a sense of his
magnificent, marvelous love. Well, I have two remarks that
I'd like to make this morning and attempt to do so very hurriedly
in the time that I have. First of all, I want to say that
at his feet is a very becoming posture for us all. And then
secondly, say a few words about at his feet is a very helpful
posture for certain people. For certain people. First of
all then, at his feet is the coming posture. Well, first of
all, I believe it's becoming because of the majesty of His
person. The majesty of His person. As He is divine, at His feet
is the creature's becoming place. Jesus is God over all, he is
God blessed forever, and so at his feet is a becoming place
for all of his creatures. Now Jesus is our brother, but
remember this, that he is the firstborn among many brethren,
and on his head are many crowns. He took upon himself our nature,
but that nature is in union with his Godhead, and we cannot think
of him without bowing lowly with a spirit of adoration before
him, yea, at his feet, to think of him, the God-man, that he
became one of us, and that he was willing to take upon himself
our very natures. He did not take upon him the
nature of angels, but he took upon himself the very nature
that we have sin accepted. And he was willing to live in
this body and to suffer in order that we might be succored in
the time of our temptation and suffering as well as being delivered
everlastingly from the woe of sin. Now every tongue, the scripture
says, shall confess that he is Lord and every knee shall bow
before him and confess that he's Lord to the glory of God the
Father. He is indeed King of Kings and he is Lord of Lords. I'm talking about the majesty
of his person and it's a becoming posture for all of his creatures
to be at his feet because he is God Almighty. Now, secondly,
we may bow at his feet when we remember the unworthiness of
ourselves. Should we not be bowing at his
feet if we consider our own unworthiness to stand in his presence? Now,
we are insignificant creatures. Well, that's not saying much
at all when I say that. Should we say more? Well, I think
that we indeed must say more. We're sinful creatures. We're loathsome maggots of the
dust. And even though we've been redeemed,
that is, his children, even though we've been redeemed by his precious
blood and never will come into condemnation. That is, if we're
indeed believers, yet we were by nature at one time, we were
by nature at one time the children of wrath even as others. Can you think of that just a
moment? We were by nature. Oh, there was not two seeds.
The Lord's people being so different in that by nature. No, no, no. There was no difference. No difference. It was the same lump of clay,
but the Lord took it and made a vessel unto honor. But we were
children of wrath, even as others. Now that means that we were worthy
to receive the wrath of God, but that's what we deserved.
That was our deservings, just like everybody else. By grace
are you saved, my friend. By grace are you saved. Now then,
brother, sister, undeserved mercy have made us what we are. Would
you agree with that? Undeserved mercy has made us
what we are. And if even now, Mike mentioned
this in his prayer downstairs earlier, even now if his grace
were withdrawn from us in less than an hour, We'd be fit fuel
for the fires of hell, every one of us, if God would withdraw
his grace from us. I say, by grace you're saying,
there's nothing in ourselves of which we can glory. And when
we come near to Jesus, Our place is where? At His feet. That's
where it is. As God's living family, our place
is at His feet. Now would any of us aspire to
any higher position than this? at his feet, when we think of
who and what we are with our history, with our history, I
say, and might your mind immediately go back and think just a little
bit with our history, our history, our history about what we've
been, about all of our failures, about all of our shortcomings,
and all of our wonderings, and all the coldness of heart towards
him. I mean, could any of us say,
well, I should have a little higher position than that? I
should be above where this woman is. I should be above that. No,
my friend, if we're absolutely honest, and honesty is called
for here. We're talking about the master
and we're talking about where we ought to be in our soul's
posture before him. That is, at his feet. And I know
that I can take no higher place than this woman. I must be at
his feet. And I think if you were right
this morning, you'd agree. That's where I ought to be. Preacher,
I ought to be right there at his feet. I ought to be weeping. tears of repentance for what
I've been, what I've done, the things that I've thought, the
things that I've been involved with in my life. You know, God
sees the end from the beginning. Our lives are just little short
things out here in the middle of an endless eternity, and God
sees all, and He knows all. And so we need to be remembering
and thinking a little bit. Think about that rock from which
we were hewn and the pit from which we've been digged. Think
about it. We're admonished in the Word
of God to do that. So I know that I can take no
higher place than at His feet. And oh, if I may but sit forever
at His feet. If I may only look up and bless
Him that He loved me and gave Himself for me, it shall be an
everlasting heaven for my poor soul, if I can just sit at His
feet for all eternity. Well, we're less than nothing.
We're worse than nothing. And you know, our Lord came,
and when He came and created all things, The blank that was
here when he came to create gave him no problem. Just a blank. and he created the heavens and
the earth, spoke them into existence out of nothing. But when you
think about when he came to you and when he came to me, there
wasn't just a blank, brother, sister. I mean to tell you there
was resistance, there was rebellion, there was sin to overcome, there
was defilement, there was this condition that we were in by
nature that had to be dealt with by Almighty God. and thank God
he dealt with it. So we're less than nothing but
he has triumphed, has he not? His own right hand and his holy
arm has gotten him the victory in some of our lives. He has
brought us in deep humiliation to lie at his feet, just to be
at his feet. Perhaps I'm speaking to someone
here this morning who longs for salvation. You got a deep longing
in your heart. to have a relationship with the
Master. Oh, you would be forgiven of your sin. Oh, you would have
assurance in your heart that God has blotted out all of your
sin and put it away and that He's hugged you to His bosom
and that He's taken you as one of His own. He's accepted you
and that you're in Him. Oh, my friend, this morning if
I'm speaking to you and if you desire eternal life, you come
And you lie at his feet. Just come and lie at his feet.
Never depart! from his feet until he speaks
peace to your heart. You're not far from finding peace
in the Lord Jesus Christ when you're satisfied that you cannot
find it anywhere else. And if you come to the place
where you know in your heart, I can't find it anywhere, there
it isn't to be had anywhere else. The preacher said that as the
father hath life in himself, so has the son been given to
have life in himself. And so my friend, this morning
there's no life anywhere but in Him. And if you're satisfied
that you can't find it anywhere else, you're close to having
it in Him. when you're weaned from every
hope except that which is found in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ, then you'll soon have hope in Him. It'll come. You'll
soon have hope in the Lord Jesus. You come and lie prostrate there
and say, if I perish here, I'll perish at His feet. But beloved,
none perish there. Isn't that wonderful? Here's
this woman and everybody knew she was a sinner. Everybody knew
what she was, but she's not going to perish at the feet of the
Lord Jesus Christ. She'll never perish there. And
so I say to you, come and lie prostrate there and say, if I
perish here, I'll perish at his feet. And it won't happen. You will never. At Jesus' feet,
I lie. In despair as to all else, I
come in despair of all else. I have no other, no other place
to turn, no other place to go. Resolved, I'm resolved never
to go away from Him. I'm resolved with Him to live
or die. at his feet. That's where I'm
going to stay until he speaks peace to my troubled soul. Now,
beloved, don't you see how this is a very becoming posture to
us all? It really is. Now, the second
and the last thing, and I'll be as brief as I can. It'll take
me just a little bit, but follow with me. It is a very helpful
posture, I think, to some people, some peculiar people. You will
recognize them as we begin to talk about them a little bit.
It seems to me that at Jesus' feet is the place where the brightest
and the best and the most useful and the most loving saints of
God are to be found. It seems to me that way. John
on the Isle of Patmos, that is called Patmos in Revelation chapter
1, and I would invite you to turn there if you would. Revelation
1, just turn there briefly. I want you to see that if such
a one as John the Divine, if he lay at the Master's feet,
that is high enough place for you and me And so let us get
there. But in chapter one, let me read
beginning with verse 10 of Revelation. I was in the spirit, John says,
on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a great voice as of
a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the
last, and what thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the
seven churches which are in Asia. And in verse 12, And 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 the 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 what did he do?
Now, I esteem John the Beloved. I esteem this man to be a holy
child of God, one who reverenced the Lord, one who was filled
with awe, was awestruck at the presence of the Son of God. And
I want you to see what happened here in the next verse, in verse
15, "...and his feet like a fine brass, as if they burned in a
furnace. His voice is the sound of many
describing Christ. And he had in his right hand
seven stars out of his mouth with a sharp two-edged sword,
and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his stream." I
don't have the eloquence to be able to set here the picture
or to paint the picture of our blessed master the Lord Jesus
as John saw him, but in verse 17 he said, and when I saw him,
and when I saw him, I fell at his feet. as dead and he laid
his right hand upon me saying unto me fear not I am the first
and the last I'm he that liveth and was dead and behold I'm alive
forevermore amen and I have the key so John fell at his feet
John to be indeed a true child of God, and we believe that his
posture here is a correct one for the highest and the brightest
and the best and the most useful among the Lord's servants, falling
at his feet at every manifestation of the Son of God to us. So,
beloved, the word is down, down, down. proud heart, down legal
hopes, down self-confidence, away with everything that would
lift up the flesh in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
may Christ alone be exalted while we lie at his feet. Now the Lord
has put all things under his feet. Let us put ourselves at
his feet. So it will keep us humble, brethren
and sister. It'll keep us humble. I want
you to look back in Luke 7 again, and there in the 38th verse,
I want you to see how that being at his feet will help us to repent. It'll help us to repent. You
know, we are never, we never get past repenting. Never get past having a broken
heart. We never get past mourning over
our sin and our failures and our weaknesses. Just because
we're forgiven, you know Paul was forgiven, but he said, I
was a blasphemer. He said, I obtained mercy. I
obtained mercy. I obtained it. I couldn't get
it any other way except God give it to me as a free gift. And
the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ was exceeding abundant with faith
and love toward me. The Lord gave it to me. He gave
me pardon. But the Apostle Paul, while he
said, I am what I am by the grace of God. I'm a great sinner. But
he went on, you know, to magnify the grace of God and said, I
am what I am today as an apostle, as a preacher to the Gentiles.
I am what I am by the grace of God. But he never got over. what he was by nature and his
condition and what he got involved in crucifying, killing off the
Lord's people before he got saved. But then this woman, she stood
at his feet and she was weeping. She was weeping. Wonder why?
Wonder why? Why would she be weeping? Well,
I'm sure she was weeping tears of repentance. Now you see, beloved,
don't go to Moses' feet and start weeping. Moses ain't gonna have
no mercy on you. He will not. Gospel, true gospel
repentance must be done at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. She wept gracious tears at the
feet of the Lord Jesus. Now if you want to repent genuinely,
true gospel repentance, then come to Him, come to His feet,
and weep at His feet. And so this posture will help
a repentant one. Are you one of those peculiar
ones? You know, a sinner, as the old preachers used to say,
is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made them
so. Not too many people believe themselves
to be as we pictured them a little while ago, wiggling maggots of
the dust. Not too many people are going
to believe that. God called Jacob, you know, He said, you're a worm,
Jacob. You're a worm. Well, not too
many people are going to take that kind of talk from a preacher
or even God Almighty Himself. They're not going to take that
kind of talk. But I'll tell you what, this woman was repenting
of her sin. Her tears were being shed because
she was a great sinner before God and she was washing the feet
of the Lord Jesus. Gracious tears here being shed,
tears of repentance. All right, now then, the next
is in Luke 8. Look with me in Luke chapter
8. And look at verse 26. We'll begin with verse 26. And
here you have the best position, the best posture for a new convert. Somebody just got saved. Somebody
just got delivered. You see, I'd like to know how
to act. I mean, the Lord just done something
for me, preacher. I believe He's done something
in my heart. Now, how am I supposed to act?
What am I supposed to do? Well, let's look at this individual
here. And they arrived at the country
in Luke 8, 26, 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 a devil a long time, had devils a long
time, and wear no clothes. Neither did he live in a house. He lived in the tombs. And when
he saw Jesus, he cried out, and he fell down before him with
a loud voice and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus? Thou
Son of God, most high, I beseech thee, torment me not. See, this
was the devils in him talking. For he commanded the unclean
spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes he caught him,
and he was kept bound with chains and fetters, and he would break
the bands, and he was driven of the devil into the wilderness.
Awful condition! And I asked him, and Jesus asked
him, saying, What is your name? And the devil spoke for this
man, and said, Legion, because many devils were entered into
him. Lots of people in this world
today that the devils are talking for. The devils in them are doing
the talking, loud mouth, cursing, swearing, taking the name of
the Lord in vain. The devils in them are doing
the talking, and doing the singing, and doing all the communication
work for them. The devils are doing it. And he said legion because of
devils. And so they besought him, the
devils did, that they would command them to go out into the deep.
And there was there a herd of many swine feeding on the mountain,
and they besought him that he would suffer." What did we say
the other night in a young people's meeting that the word suffer
means? Can any of you young people remember what we said that word
means? Huh? What is it? Allow. Absolutely. She remembered
allow. And so they besought him that
he would allow them to enter into the swine. And he suffered
them, he allowed 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. Three thousand dead
hogs and no hot water. When they that fed them saw what
was done, They fled and went and told it in the city and the
country. But look at this, verse 35. Then
they went out to see what was done, the people around in the
area that owned the hogs. They went out to see what was
done and came to Jesus and they found the man out of whom the
devils were departed doing what? Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
clothed and in his right mind, And they were afraid of such
a sight. Isn't that amazing? They were
afraid of it. But I want you to see this new
convert just delivered from the power of the devil. The devil's
driven out of him. Oh, he's calm. He's at rest. And here he is, he's at risk,
and he was sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ because
he felt the devils couldn't get him there. Ain't that a safe
place to be? I mean, ain't that a safe place,
I say, is sitting at the feet of Jesus for a young convert. It's a place of safety. The devils
were afraid of Jesus. He had set them away in the swine,
and this man had courage and strength when he was at the feet
of Jesus. Oh, to find rest in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And if you're a young convert,
there's no rest like resting at the feet of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Here it is, I find my heaven.
One poet said, while upon the cross I gaze, I look upon the
cross, this is where I find my rest, my heaven. Now look in
verse 41, and we'll keep moving here, and we find that at Jesus'
feet in this instance, very helpful posture for a person who is praying
for others, praying for somebody else. And behold, there came
a man in Luke 8, 41, named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue,
and he fell down at Jesus' feet. He was a a religious man, and
he was a ruler in the synagogue, a very important individual,
and he fell down at Jesus' feet. And it 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
Christ, and he was delayed somewhat by the woman that had the issue
of blood. But a little later, our Lord,
he came into the ruler's house, In verse 49, it says, While he hath spake
there cometh one from the ruler's house saying to him that thy
daughter is dead. Don't trouble the master any
more. But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear
not, believe only, and she will be made whole. And when he came
to the house, he suffered, that's that word again, allowed no man
to go in save Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother
of the maiden, and all wept and bewailed her. But he said, Don't
weep, she is not dead, but she just sleeps. And they laughed
in discord, knowing that she was dead. And he put them all
out, took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise. And her spirit came again. She
rose straightway, and he commanded to give her meat. Her parents
were astonished, but he charged them that they should tell no
man what was done. Now then, when your heart breaks,
like this man's heart was breaking, When you feel that you do not
deserve the mercy that you're seeking and asking for, like
this man, then you should do exactly what he did. You remember
when Abraham was praying for Sodom and Gomorrah and the righteous
people there? You remember what he said? He
said, I've taken upon me to speak unto the Lord which am but dust
and ashes. It's then, beloved, when you
get down. Like this fella did, he come
and fell down at Jesus' feet. He said, I've got a daughter.
She's my only child. And Lord, she's dying. And I
want you to do something for her. I want you to heal her.
I want you to raise her up. Fell down at his feet. You see,
if you're gonna pray for somebody, you better humble yourself. Humble
yourself! Lie at Jesus' feet. Plead with
your whole soul for your daughter. for your willful son, for your
wife, for your husband. Pray for the congregation. Fall
down before the Lord and pray for the young people of this
church. You say, I don't have much time to pray, Preacher.
Well, take one a day. Make a list of all the young
people in this church that attend here. Make a list of them. Take
one of them a day. and pray for them before the
throne of God. Humble yourself! Listen, let
me tell you, the future of the voice of the gospel in this town
is right here in these young people. That's where it is. I
don't ever look for any of you older folks to be getting up
here and preaching very much. You might preach a little. But
there are some young people here that if God Almighty ever gets
a hold of their hearts and sets them on fire, I'll tell you what,
they can preach the gospel. You think they can't? Somebody
said, oh, they're most of them all backwards. It won't make
any difference. Somebody told me the other day, a young fellow
told me the other day, he said, I'm just bashful and backwards. I
can't talk. Well, if the Spirit of God ever
gets a hold of you, you will talk. You will talk. You will
speak up. You'll talk. And I was the most
unlikely fella living on the face of the earth that would
ever open his mouth and proclaim the gospel of God's grace. The
most unlikely. And so God can raise up some
of these. Write down their names and pray for just one of them
a day. one of them a day. Plead with God for them. Humble
yourself. Get down off of your high horse
and begin to pray and we'll see things happen. Because at his
feet you're near the fountain of help. You're very near the
fountain of help when you're at his feet. So Jairus, if your
daughter is sick, pray for her. Pray for her. But do it at Jesus'
feet. That's how you do it. That's
how you do it. Well, look further with me to
the 10th chapter. I'm not trying to wear you out,
I'm just trying to help you a little bit here. The 10th chapter in
verse 38 and 39. Here we find that at Jesus' feet
is the fitting place for a willing learner. Fitting place for a
disciple. Chapter 10, verse 38 and 39. Now most of you are familiar
with this story. And she had a sister called Mary,
which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. Now, as we
said, this is a very fitting place for a willing learner at
the feet of the Lord Jesus. We need to be blessed, my friend,
with a lowly sense of our own ignorance. so that we do not
dare to sit higher than at his feet that we might learn of him.
A believing confidence in his infinite wisdom so that we do
not dare to sit any higher than at his feet as we're attempting
to learn the truth about him. I heard about this particular
upstart of a young fella, he was so conceited, thought he
knew so much, couldn't learn anything in school. Couldn't
learn a thing. He just couldn't, he didn't know
nothing. But he became his own teacher. I thought about how many of the
people have gone that way. They don't know anything, but
they're conceited, you see, and they're proud. And they won't
sit at Jesus' feet. They forget the fact that Jesus
said, except you humble yourself and become as a little child,
why you won't enter the kingdom of heaven. You must humble yourself. You must come to that place where
you trust His infinite wisdom. Now, we're not to follow any
man, any doctrine of religion, Charles Wesley, John Calvin. No, we're not to follow them.
No man as such, we're not to follow them. But there may come
a man around sometime that God will use to speak to your soul
and you ought to listen to what he says. We may follow a man
as far as he follows Christ, but not one inch further. Not
one inch further. If he don't follow Christ, you
don't follow him. But if he follows Christ, you
follow him. We must sit at his feet and learn
of him. That's a good position for every
one of you that says, I just want to know. I'd just like to
know more about this thing. I'd like to know the gospel.
Sit at his feet. Sit it like Mary did. Well, lastly,
you look at Luke 17 with me. I'm keeping you in the book of
Luke. I mean, it's no big deal. Big problem we're staying right
here where it's real easy to get hold of these scriptures.
And I want you to look. Here we find the Samaritan who
had been healed and he fell down on his face at his feet giving
him thanks. So we see that this is a position
that is most helpful to every grateful worshipper of God. Every
grateful worshipper. Look at verse 17. Verse 16 and
17. Well, maybe I should back up.
Let me do that in honor of the Word of God. 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 to them, You go show yourselves unto the priest.
And it came to pass, as they went, they were cleansed. And
one of them, when he saw that he was healed, he turned back,
and with a loud voice glorified God, and what did he do? In verse
16, And he fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks,
and he was a Samaritan. So you see, this is a very helpful
position to every grateful worshiper of God. Now in my imagination,
I hear the mighty throng, the thundering voices of the people
of God that are assembled in eternal heaven. And they begin
to sing. That song that Brother Randy
read to us out of the fifth chapter of the book of Revelation this
morning, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to redeem us to God.
He's worthy of glory and honor and power for he's created all
things and for his pleasure they are and were created. They sang
a new song unto heaven and you can hear them as they commence
the victorious strain, their notes
how sweet, how seraphic. As they praise the Eternal Father,
the glorious Lamb of God, they worship, and as the song rises,
they begin to bow. As it rises higher and higher,
they bow lower and lower and lower, their voices, like many
thunderings, Alleluia, Alleluia, unto the Lord God Almighty, they
sing. And they bow and cast their crowns
at his feet. At his feet. And in glory we'll
still be in this position. At his feet. At his feet. Listen
to the words of the poet. Low at his feet with awful joy,
the adoring armies fall. With joy they shrink to nothing
there before the eternal law. Can I read it one more time?
I'd like to. "...Low at his feet with awful
joy, the adoring armies fall. With joy they shrink to nothing
there before the eternal law." Father, in the name of Jesus,
give us a blessing. Enable us, our Father, to worship
at your feet as we take the Lord's Supper. And may this message
never be forgotten by these dear ones. And may there be somebody
today who will weep gracious tears of repentance at the feet
of Jesus, and they'll be saved today, delivered. Make us more
prayerful, more useful, but keep us humble before thee. We pray
it in Jesus' name, and for his sake alone, amen.