in your Bibles to the Book of Luke, if you would please. The Gospel According to Luke. The Gospel According to Luke is a rather interesting book. It's a little different than the other Gospels in that it has stories that are repeated, implications and lessons that are said over and over again. Luke seems to have much more in mind than merely telling you and me the life of our Lord Jesus. And it appeals to me that there are so many unusual ways you can read the book. If you tried to just make yourself an outline of the Gospel of Luke, it might be difficult. But when you look at Luke in a different manner, you see some of the words. There's more than one hundred words in Luke's Gospel that no one else uses. Now, he doesn't make them up. He just was a man with a rich vocabulary, and he blended together expressions to convey a very accurate historical record of the life of our Lord Jesus. But he also had another technique, whether it was inspired or just his way, or whether it was merely coincidental. It would be hard for me to determine. But in Luke's Gospel there are five people that sing songs. In Luke's Gospel there are five rich men. In Luke's Gospel there are five miracles of healing that portray the whole deliverance of a soul. In Luke's Gospel there are five widows. And in Luke's Gospel there are five people that purposely put themselves at the feet of the Lord Jesus. Now it's those five people that we'd like to talk a little bit about and see what appears to be not only the historical record of five people coming to the Lord, but they're given to us in their order in the Gospel, which seems to be a spiritual order to teach you and me a valuable lesson. The lesson is the posture of devotion. Sometime in your life and mine, as a child of God, we will have to come to the feet of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, of course, we can't do that physically, can we? It's not possible for us to accomplish that. But we do it in our mind. What the people did in the life of our Lord Jesus, they did physically and literally, out of an exercise of heart, they sensibly came and put themselves at the feet of our Savior. to show and demonstrate their attitude of soul and relationship to him now it's hard for me to know many of you as individual so I'll have to kind of trust your own integrity have you ever really in your life come to the Lord Jesus humbly in the posture of real devotion to acknowledge that you're a sinner and that you need to be freed from the guilt of your sin Luke and Luke chapter seven if you would Luke chapter seven is a picture of a woman A woman that comes to our Lord, and she is labeled by Luke as one of wisdom's children. One of wisdom's children. Verse thirty-five says, Wisdom is justified of all her children. And here is the first of wisdom's children. It's the wise woman that decides to come to the Lord Jesus and acknowledge that He can save your soul. One of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him, and he went into the Pharisees' house and sat down to meet. Now the pronoun he refers to our Lord Jesus. And behold a woman in the city which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meet in the Pharisees' 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 in the Pharisees which had bidden him sought, he spoke within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of womanness is that toucheth him. For she is a sinner. If this woman was known to be a sinner, we might presume to think what her profession was, what her life was like. She was known to be a sinful woman. The Pharisee would not have her. But the Lord Jesus was willing to accept her attention. If you're here this evening and know the guilt of your sin and are aware of your distance from God and don't know what to do about it, this woman teaches us a very valuable lesson. This woman teaches us a lesson of appreciation, appreciation for the forgiveness of sins. Of the five people, as the Lord allows us to look at these five people, they're going to teach us five spiritually progressive lessons. And we've just attached a little word to them. The first is appreciation. The second will begin with the letter A and end with A-I-O-N, and it'll be good for you just to jot down the little word, maybe in the text next to it, and it'll bring the whole lesson back to you when you look it over. But may God speak to your heart and challenge you. Here is a woman who came with a gift to the Lord Jesus. We know little or nothing about her. We mustn't presume, but if you allow me to venture, here was what might have happened. She had heard the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. Convinced by the Spirit of God, she put her trust in Christ that he could forgive her sins, that he was the Son of God, and she had nothing. What can I give him? How can I show my appreciation and love? She heard he was at the Pharisees' house, and so she takes up this choice ointment that she had invested her money in, one of the ploys of her trade, and would be of great value, financial worth, and she comes to give a gift. Very likely, I should imagine, she came to give him this gift in order that he could turn it into money and finance his travels. She felt that her sins had been forgiven. She knew that Jesus Christ could forgive sins. She had heard his teaching. She believed his message. She came with a heart filled with appreciation for what the Lord had done. And she comes to the house, and there is the Lord reclining on the floor on a mat. His feet are toward the doorway. All the others are around in the house. And she looks in, and she's not been invited. She wouldn't be welcome. And she looks down and she sees the dirty feet of our Lord. That doesn't mean much to us. But you see, it was just common courtesy that you would welcome somebody to your home, particularly if invited them into a feast. And you would welcome them and wash their feet. Make them feel at home and comfortable. and they're spontaneously welled up within this tender sinful woman the deep appreciation of the Lord care and goodness her trust in him and she could say in her own soul why haven't they even been cordial to this man they've not even bathed his feet how could they treat him thus and with her feeling so close to the feel to the surface she began to cry and the tear would streak down her cheek she ventured in closer to the feet of our Lord attending to give him the gift but instead the tears struck his ankle and traced down over his foot and that conceived an idea and she took that expensive gift opened up and poured it out upon his feet and poured out that box of ointment of tremendous financial worth what a sacrifice why did she do that because she loved him Her sins had been forgiven. And the only way she knew of that was to just say, Lord, I want to thank you. Here is something that I can do for you. And she poured out that ointment upon his feet. Then, looking around, looking at her skirt, she has nothing. How could she dry his feet? Has she made a social blunder? The Lord doesn't think so. Nothing that comes from the heart that's expended upon God is ever wasted, for it's never socially wrong. And she reaches up and brings out those long pins that held up that beautifully coiffured raven black hair. And that hair cascaded, fell down to her side, and she then kneeled down and took the hair of her head and wiped his feet. And while there the humble step and gesture of love and devotion, she touched her lips to his feet. an expression of veneration of homage of self-sacrificial love the Pharisee doesn't know what's happening and he speaks in his heart what manner of this woman is that's why if he knew that and this is a sinful woman she's touching him why he can't be a prophet and the Lord perceiving his thoughts has accepted all of her devotion and then he says Simon I have somewhat to say unto thee. Say on, master. This is a Pharisee, whom he calls by name, which immediately implies that this man has a relationship with God. He's not the softest spirit. He's not the most gracious of men. He does not really perceive the true position of our Lord, but God knows his sheep and calls them by name. Simon, I want to tell you something. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors. the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most? And Simon answered, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most, thou hast judged rightly. That parable would have no meaning if Simon had not been forgiven by God, and the woman had been forgiven by God. The woman, obviously, is a five-hundred-pence debtor, a grave sinner with a large debt against her, and God has frankly forgiven her. And this man, a self-righteous Pharisee, a religious man of great discipline, living as best as he is able under the law and vindicating himself and being declared right by God, and yet with no real heart or understanding, He's the fifty-pence debtor. He said, who will love him the most? The one that's been forgiven the most. I wonder how much I love the Lord Jesus. I think he's been telling me ever since I was saved as just a boy and exposing me to the idea that I'm far greater a sinner than ever I understood. As a little child, I accepted Christ as my Savior and understood his sacrificial work at Calvary as having laid down the payment for the guilt of my sin and all the sins that I had or ever will do. And yet I never really understood how sinful I was. And yet as life has gone on, God has shown me that I indeed am one who should be considered a five hundred pence debtor, and I should surely love him much. Do you know what it is to have your sins forgiven? It's a tremendous blessing to be sure your sins are forgiven. Not far from New York, in a cemetery loan, close guarding a grave stands a simple headstone, and all its inscription is one word alone, forgiven. no sculptor's fine art has embellished its form, but quietly there, through silent and storm, it bears out this word from a poor fallen worm. Forgiven. And when from the heavens the Lord shall descend, that stranger shall rise and to glory ascend, well known and befriended, he'll sing without end. Forgiven. When I get to heaven, I know I'll be able to praise the Lord without anything encumbering me because he has forgiven my sins. Luke wants to impress upon you, are you appreciative for the forgiveness of your sins? Is there any sacrifice on your part to give him praise? Is there anything that you have denied yourself to beautify the Lord Jesus and to magnify him? Have you ever taken your stand boldly and said, I've accepted Christ as my Savior? Johnny led in prayer. and he urged the Spirit of God and requested our concern, that if God speaks to your heart today, and you know that you have never been forgiven of your sins, and that your soul is lost on your way to a dark eternity, I don't want you to leave this pavilion before you talk with me or one of the conveners about how to know for sure your sins are given. It's a tremendous blessing. In Luke chapter five, God implies with a story through the author Luke that to have the forgiveness of sins means a humbleness of soul. And a fisherman said, Oh, depart from me. I am a sinful man. And God gave him forgiveness. Another man stood in the temple, bowed his head and struck his breast, and God be my propitiation. Vindicate me and make me my meeting place. Save my soul. And that man went to his home, justified. That's the attitude. And if you have any of that spirit tonight, you know that you're a sinner. You know you need salvation. Give him your heart. Put your trust in Christ. Give us the chance of showing you from some of the New Testament verses how you can bathe your faith and know your sins are forgiven. But the first woman that Luke talks about is at the feet of the Lord Jesus because of appreciation for the forgiveness of sin. That's first. Then the second step is in the next chapter, the next person that's drawn to our attention. In verse twenty-six, and this is an altogether different situation. The disciples and the Lord arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which was over against Galilee. When he went forth to land and met him out of the city, a certain man which had demons long time. he wore no clothes neither abode in any house but in the tomb and when he saw jesus he cried out and fell down before him with a loud voice what have i to do with thee jesus thou son of the most high i beseech thee torment me not for the lord jesus 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 he break the bands and was driven of the demon into the wilderness Jesus asked him, saying, what is thy name? And he said, Legion, because many demons were entered into him. They besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. Do you see the importance of the Lord Jesus Christ? The demons respected him. The demons venerated Him. They knew that He was the Son of God. They wanted to magnify Him in some way to assuage their guilt, to escape their judgment. Don't know. But there are clean demons in this world that try to give testimony to God, and the Lord Jesus refuses them. And there's all too many men and women. inhabited by demonic power and under the influence of the evil one, slaves and captive to evil, oppressive influence. But the Lord Jesus can deliver. And He can deliver you. There's nothing that you're into. There's nothing you've experienced that the Lord Jesus does not have the power from which to deliver. And this poor wretched man, driven by these demons, and they hunger and crave for some recognition. And then they want to be spared. Don't throw us into the bottomless pit yet. That was their cry, actually, using the same word as used in the book of Revelation. They knew that that was their ultimate destiny. And they said, Don't command us to go into the deep. And instead the Lord saw a herd of swine feeding on the mountain. And babies saw him that they would suffer them to enter into them. And he allowed it. He allowed the demons to leave that man and to enter into a whole herd of swine to see apparently these demons crave a vehicle. You have been given a body, a body that has been situated and designed by God to defend you against the evil spirits of this world. And when you were indwelt by the Holy Spirit when you have been forgiven, God gives power over the things that enslave and oppress and capture us. The demons left the man, entered into the swine, ran violently down the steep and drowned and choked all the herd of swine. When the people saw what was done, they just asked the Lord to leave. couldn't tolerate that kind of excitement, that kind of uniqueness, the destruction of their business. But when they came out to see what was done in verse thirty-five, they came to Jesus and found the man out of whom the demons were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. What's the lesson? Associations. Out of appreciation for the forgiveness of sins, the woman came to the feet of the Lord Jesus. That's the posture of true devotion. And after we have been forgiven, many of us individually have experienced the power of our Lord Jesus Christ delivering from oppressive habits, attitudes, dispositions, inclinations. And when we have been forgiven, we know what it is to be delivered. And we should come to his presence, to his feet, to the posture of devotion, out of appreciation for the forgiveness of sins, and out of a desire just to be in association with him, just to spend time with him, to sit in that chair and to read his word and muse and contemplate him, and allow our soul to feed upon him and enjoy the fact that we have been delivered. But I dare say you'll never be there until you've been forgiven. And until we appreciate the forgiveness of our sins, we won't really enter into the value of His delivering power. But once you have been delivered from something that oppresses you and binds you, whether it's the flesh in your life or whether it's some aspect of habit or some other internal conflict or difficulty, whatever it is that comes to your mind now, that you know you're enslaved to and you need deliverance. You know that you want to do the right thing and you cannot. And you try to do that. You're constantly failing. And it's a struggle within. And the principle of the flesh operates within us. God can deliver you. And out of appreciation, then he wanted to be in association with the Lord. And sit at his feet. Just to enjoy his company. And realize he's set free from that wretched thing that oppressed him. But just a little bit farther on in the book in verse forty-one. Behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue, and he fell down at Jesus' feet, and besought him that he would come into his house, for he had one only daughter, about twelve years of age. She lay a dying. It's the first thing in our life. is to appreciate forgiveness of sins, and then to be associated with the Lord because of the power of His delivering enabling, then the thirding in our life is the experience of prayer. And beloved of God, we will not pray until we have been delivered, until we know the power of God in our lives, freeing us working through His Word and the enabling of the Holy Spirit, to free us from habits, whatever it is, binds us, we will not really be men and women of prayer. But once you have experienced that, then you'll know to whom to go to bring down the blessing and the power and the enabling. And that shall make us men and women of prayer. Here is a ruler of the synagogues. The Jewish man of no small position, recognized in the community, influential. And he doesn't just send a messenger, he comes himself. And he comes himself and humbles himself publicly in the dirty, dusty, rocky streets. Down he goes into the dirt, something that few of us would do. But this man plunges himself down at the feet of the Lord Jesus, all religious paraphernalia, all other precedents, all other thoughts swept away. Now he has a concern. And what is his concern? His little daughter. I thank God for fathers that care for the spiritual welfare of their children. care enough to pray, care enough to be concerned, care enough to be publicly evident. That takes strength. That takes character. That takes commitment. And here is a man. The little word will attach to him for our convenience is anticipation. Why was he there? He anticipated that the Lord Jesus would be able to help his girl. She was raised. She was brought back with the power and the influence and the real origin of it all with the anticipation of answered prayers. Have you ever been to the feet of the Lord Jesus asking God for the blessing of a loved one? I pray so. I pray that you haven't even yet in your life been so callous that you can't pray for your friends. that you have no realization of the evil working in this world around us, the seductive power of sin, the turmoil it's in so many lives. And you know what God has done for you. Don't identify yourself with the loss. Identify yourself at the feet of the Lord Jesus. Come to his presence. Ask him for blessing. Anticipate. that He will touch lives and save souls and help those that are in need. At Jesus' feet, the posture of devotion. And when I have been forgiven, and when I am delivered, I become a man of prayer. And as a result of that, look if you would at chapter ten. And verse thirty-eight. The next step in spiritual progress, the fourth person that's in the posture of devotion, this one is there out of appropriation. That's our little word. Remember our words now? The first one, what was that first one again regarding the forgiveness of sins? Appreciation. And the second one was association with him. And the third was anticipation. And now the fourth is appropriation. Now it came to pass, as they went, they entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. She had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him and said, Lord, thus thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help me. Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things. But one thing is needful. Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Here is communion, the appropriation at the feet of the Lord Jesus. Now I know that it's very difficult for some of us to visualize and maybe project ourselves through a little word story. But can you see the home, the crowds of people gathering around, the Lord is seated, others seem to fill up the room around and they're very interested. And after helping for a little bit, for us I think as implied, Martha was serving, but the Lord Jesus also sat at Jesus' feet. She had worked a little bit and helped a little bit, then left her sister and then went and sat at the feet of the Lord Jesus to hear His word. And that just agitated Martha a little bit. How can I fix this stew? And how can I boil that? And how can I prepare this? That's just unsettled. She was careful. She was just preoccupied. She was a natural hostess. Very likely it was her own house. And she was the hostess in this home. And her sister was there. She just... It should have been helping out. You know the feeling. You've had people come to the house. You've wished your sister or older one would have not been entertaining or come in and give an assistance a little bit. Or your daughters just don't seem to rise to the occasion. We all get that little unsettled feeling. Not everybody is cooperating for the welfare of this lovely little meal. And she comes out and tries to tell the Lord. Now the Lord would never have told her anything about the way she ran her house. and how things were going. He would never intrude himself into the important order of another home. But once she tried to correct him, then he advised her. Martha, the things of this life, your stew and your setting and your napkins and your china and the wear. It's all very nice and it's very valuable, but you mustn't, that's a part of life, but you mustn't pick at this one that chose to sit here now and listen to my words. She's chosen a good part, a good thing. She is there out of a desire to appropriate the Word of God. Do you ever come to a conference with the thought of hearing God speak? Do you ever go to your local church recognizing that maybe the person that's going to speak is not the most gifted, but I have come to hear the Lord speak. Do you ever open up your Bible at home and quietly pick a chair that's removed from the television and other distractions and maybe not rock just get over a desk and lay out your dictionary or your extra help there and a pad to make some notes and then open up your heart and ask the Lord to speak to you? Do you hear his word? It's an important facet of your life and mind. It's an absolute imperative. And after you've gleaned something, you can move through life. You can meditate and reflect upon it. But you must appropriate. But it's so nice if you would choose the feast of the Lord Jesus. Intelligently go to His feast and ask Him to speak to you, to feed your soul. You'll never go away impoverished nor disappointed. Appropriation. This is a posture of devotion. It's hard for us to humble ourselves. Hard for us to put ourselves down enough to venerate another. And yet that's so important that we're going to express our real heart of devotion to our Lord Jesus. Appropriation. Then if we're right, and it seems like the text at least conveys this idea to me, If we've gone through some spiritual progress, we come now to chapter seventeen. The last of five people to be at the feet of the Lord Jesus. Verse eleven, 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. Leprosy is a dreadful disease. Leprosy ran rampant, apparently, in this particular time in the Holy Land. What a dreadful experience, the gradual loss of members, the inevitable end of separation from loved ones, the required in religious circles to at least cup your hand over your mouth and call out that you were a leper, that people had to stay away from you, a very solitary, lonely, disease-dying life. ten lepers, the only company they could keep. 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 priests. And it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. He gave them his word. He told them what to do. And in response to the word of God, that's what faith is, when you hear the word of God and respond to the word of God, In response to the Word of God, there was a miraculous cleansing. And they looked at their hands or their members that they had lost. They saw their bodies. They felt the freedom from the wretched disease. They knew that life was theirs to go back with their loved ones. And on they went merrily and happily. But one. One out of the ten. And one of them, in verse fifteen, 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. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? There are not found that we turn to give glory to God save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. Here is adoration. After we had our sins forgiven and experienced deliverance, become men and women of prayer, enjoyed communion and feasting upon the Word, it is bound to create within our hearts a desire for worship, to honor and magnify the Lord Jesus. Do you ever come to his feet to worship him, to express your adoring heart? amusing of your soul you may be riding a public transportation you may be on a bus you may be out in the field on a tractor maybe it's just sitting in a gym room and everybody else is cleared out there's no no specific spot where you are confined where you cannot just quietly raise yourself up at the feet of the Lord Jesus and thank him for what he has done and offer him the adoration of your soul are you a worshiper here are the five steps a simple pattern for us of the posture of devotion. Why Luke records it in this way, if there's real significance to us, we leave that to your thought. But the value of the lesson is that the Lord Jesus, who is deity and humanity, who alone could bear the guilt of your sin and your sins at Calvary's Cross, he who is going to establish that great kingdom, he who has opened up the doors for us into a great spiritual inheritance, He wants our genuine, chosen devotion to Him, where we humble ourselves, literally humble ourselves to magnify His name. Be appreciative for the sins that God has forgiven. Anticipate what God can do for you. Enter into it with a heartfelt reality. Associate yourself in communion fellowship because he has freed you from that habit, the desire, or pattern of life. Make spiritual things real. Have the posture of devotion. Shall we pray? These quiet moments, our gracious God, we ask you to speak to our hearts. Bring those that are unbelievers for the conviction of their unbelief, their wretched condition, and their deep knees in the fact that they know that they have rejected our Lord Jesus Christ. Through thy quickening work, we pray. And Father, for those of us who are thine own, warm our hearts and help us intelligently to choose the feet of our Lord Jesus, to express our deep thankfulness for all of the spiritual good that he has brought into our lives. And this we pray in his holy name. Amen.