In this sermon, the speaker reflects on a televised program about the Olympics and a long-distance walking event. The speaker uses this analogy to illustrate a lesson about spending time at the feet of Jesus. The sermon then focuses on the Song of Solomon chapter 5, where the speaker suggests that the story is all about the Lord's feet. The sermon explores four aspects of a woman who came to Jesus' feet: her name, her aim, her claim, and her fame.

Shall we look this evening, please, at Luke's Gospel, Chapter 24, two verses that we looked at on Sunday evening, and it's from these two verses I want to lead off this evening. Luke's Gospel, Chapter 24. It's our desire to consider primarily the Savior's Feet this evening. Verse 39, Luke, Chapter 24. The Lord is speaking to his own, and he says, Behold my hands and my feet, that is, I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had not spoken, he showed unto them his hands and his feet. Just a brief word of prayer, please. We thank thee, our Father, for the hymns we have been singing this evening, and the choruses. We do please thee that we can indeed sing from our hearts that Jesus loves me, and we thank thee that it's thy desire to feed us with the word of the living God. And so we desire the direction and guidance of the Holy Spirit. We might be conscious of thy presence and of thy blessing as we consider once more our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In his name we pray, amen. We're looking at some of the Bible portrait of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're only scratching the surface, and that, of course, you will realize as we go along this evening. And we want to consider with you together the lesson tonight, or some of the lessons, just some of the lessons surrounding the Savior's Feet. You remember in Song of Solomon, chapter 5, the bride says he is the cheapest of ten thousand. When she finishes her description of the Lord, she says, Yea, he is altogether lovely. And whenever I read that portion of God's word, and I come to that expression, yea, he is altogether lovely, the thought that flashes through my mind is the bride describing the Lord, and as she describes him, she finally comes down to his feet giving a sort of a complete picture of the Lord, and then she seems to realize that the description is so inadequate, it's so poor, she cannot find words to describe how wonderful she is. So she ends up by saying, yea, he is altogether lovely. Altogether. So no matter how we look at him, we see loveliness in our Lord Jesus Christ. He is indeed all perfection, to say the least. Now, we do not have many snowflakes down here in the South, but in Ottawa, where we live, we get our fair supply of snowflakes, and left quite a few behind. But one of the wonderful things about God's creative work, and even the snowflake, as you know, the more you examine a snowflake, and the more you put it under a microscope and examine it, the beauty and the grandeur begins to come out. And it's just amazing. By taking a flower or a petal and putting it again under the glass and examining it and noticing all the beauty, and no matter how closely you examine it, the more beauty you find. That's the way it is with the Lord Jesus Christ. I trust, beloved, as believers in Christ, you are finding that in your daily study of the word, in your daily Christian life, that as you consider the Savior, as you meditate upon him, as you seek to walk with him, you're finding more and more beauty and delight in him. That's the way it ought to be. And the other night we were looking at the Savior's hands. We only just scratched away. There were so many other things that we could have dealt with, but that's the way it is with the word of God. May I just close that subject by suggesting to you, just for your own consideration, to develop it, that as you go through the word of God and notice his hands, among other things, apart from what we said on Sunday, we have such expressions as these in the scriptures, the hand of the Lord with us, the hand of the Lord upon us, the hand of the Lord under us, the hand of the Lord leading us, and the hand of the Lord against us. And each one of those little expressions just bring out further little lessons that the Lord would have us understand. For example, the hand of the Lord with us, it suggests as a thought, his presence. You remember in Antioch, as they preached the word, the hand of the Lord was with them, his presence there. How wonderful to sense his hand with us. In the book of Ezekiel, the word hand is mentioned some ninety times or more, and at least seven times in the book of Ezekiel we have the expression concerning Ezekiel, that the hand of the Lord was upon him, and that is his power. When his hand is upon you, beloved, that is power indeed. And then, of course, when you think of the hand of the Lord leading, that certainly is his pleasure, because he delights to lead us, as we were singing tonight, gentle shepherds, lead us. And it's the hand of the Lord that leads, so we're told in Psalm 139. You remember in the Song of Solomon, we had his hand under us. Certainly that is supporting, that is protecting, but it's a sad thing when the hand of the Lord is against us, and that happens sometimes. You remember that happened with Ruth, or at least in the book of Ruth, with Nehemiah. She said, the hand of the Lord has been against us, and what a sad experience she went through. So the hand of the Lord has many aspects, has it not, in the scriptures. But let's sing, shall we, for a moment about his feet, those wonderful feet of our Savior. There's so much in the scriptures about it. You remember in Isaiah chapter 52 and verse 7, it says something like this, How beautiful upon the mountain are the feet of him that brings the good tidings and publishes peace. Now, let me go over to Romans. We find that is applied to all who seek to present or preach the word of God. But there's one who stands out above all others in bringing the glad tidings of peace, and that is our Lord Jesus Christ, and how beautiful are his feet. Because when we think of feet, at least when I think of feet, beloved, what comes to my mind is something like this, when I think of it in relation to the word of God. I think, first of all, of walking. Feet and walking, they go together. I not only think of walking, but I think of a journey, heading for a destination, and I think finally of arriving at that destination. And it's wonderful when our feet can take us from the starting point right through to the end of the journey. It doesn't always work that way. I recall some time ago watching a program on television. It was concerning the Olympics, and this was a review of former Olympic Games over the past 20 or so years, and one of the events that they portrayed was that of the long-distance walking. And I'm sure most of you have seen that in one form or another, and they showed all the contestants, a multitude of them, all gathered together at the beginning, all excited, and when the gun went off, they started out with tremendous enthusiasm, as only these walkers can do, and off they went around the stadium, the people cheering, and out the gate, and off for their 28 mile or so walk. And then they showed the final few moments as the first walker came into the gate, and he only had one more lap to go around the stadium, but he wasn't the same enthusiastic looking gentleman as when he went out, but nevertheless he was still walking in the terrific heat, but not just too steady. And there was a hush came over the crowd because as he went around, he seemed to be slowing down and slowing down, and when he had about 20, 200 yards or so to go, he just stopped and looked up at her helplessly at the people and collapsed in a dead sink, and he lost the race. You see, his feet didn't carry him all the way to the end of the journey. At our camp in Ontario, we have a program with the boys and girls, a campcraft program, and we seek to instruct them in outdoor activity and in seeking to take care of themselves when they're out in the woods, and reading a compass, and traveling from one point to another, and so on. And after they go through this program for four years, then they have the opportunity, which they look forward to, of going out. We take them about 20 miles from camp, set them down with a leader, and then they have to find their way home, and they have to walk. They have two days, three nights to get back to their camp. Well, last year, a group of them, about five of them, went out with a leader, and they went out with tremendous enthusiasm. They said, well, why not make it 25 miles, and why not make it 30 miles? Well, they had tremendous enthusiasm when they started out, but the second day we had a desperate phone call saying their feet had given out, please come and get us. And so, their feet were not too beautiful. They were swollen and everything else. They just didn't make the journey. What a tragedy. Many things in life seem to happen that way. Perhaps you've read concerning Scott as he went to the South Pole, and the tragedy that happened after discovering the South Pole, and so on, and returning, and he and his party died on their return trip. And his diary was found, and the diary is rather sad and interesting, but in the diary, if you've read it, it speaks about that period when they were returning, having been so excited in getting to the South Pole, and now returning. He spoke on this particular occasion. He says, Captain Oaks, his feet are frozen. He's unable to pull anymore. His feet have given out. And about two days later, he speaks about another companion, Edwards, I believe his name was. He says, Edwards, his feet are gone. He's unable to carry on. And then in his last little remark, the last page, he said something like this. He says, we have decided to die naturally in the track. Our feet have given out, and they never reach the goal. Now, in contrast to that, what a delight to think of the Lord Jesus Christ, and what a journey he went through. He left the heights of glory. The object was Calvary, and he never looked back. And you recall that as he journeyed through life down here, he came to the Garden of Gethsemane. He looked into the awfulness of the cross. He looked into that bitter cup. He said, O Father, it would be impossible let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. And his feet continued on the journey. Praise be to his holy name. He went through the trial, but his feet passed him through the trial. He went his way to Calvary's hill, and the feet carry him there. And he's nailed to the cross. And they say, if thou be the Christ, come down from the cross, we'll give thee. But his feet took him all the way to the end of the journey. And he cried, it is finished. He accomplished the work that God gave him to do. Those beautiful feet. How beautiful are the feet of the blessed Savior that took him all the way to Calvary, and then back to the glory. It's rather interesting, if not, to notice in the scriptures how the Lord is so concerned about feet and about walking. For example, when you go back to Genesis chapter three, the first one we read about in the Bible as describing the idea of walking is the Lord himself. And you remember when we read about him walking in Genesis chapter three, it was after Adam and Eve had sinned, they were hiding in the garden, and they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Walking. Why was he walking? He was walking after man, seeking him, seeking him. Those beautiful feet. As you go through the scriptures, you find that the Lord desires to walk among his people constantly. Turn with me just for a moment, please, to Leviticus chapter 26. Leviticus chapter 26. This is a tremendous passage, and the danger of turning to it is to get involved in looking at it and get sidetracked a little bit. But notice, just very briefly, the Lord says in verse 12, speaking of his people Israel, I will walk among you, I will be your God, and ye shall be my people. I will walk among you. It seems that the Lord delights to walk among his people. Now, if you go through this little passage, you'll find that that is the last of seven I wills that he gives to them here. If you go back to verse four, he says, I will give you rain in due season. In other words, going to provide for them, going to give them trees and fruits and so on. He says in verse six, I will give you peace, so there's provision, there's peace. He said, I'll rid you of evil beasts, so there's protection. He goes on to say in verse nine, I will have respect unto you and make you fruitful, so there's prosperity. And he goes on to verse 11 and says, I will set my tabernacle among you and my soul shall not abhor you, and I will walk among you. And there's his presence. I will walk among you. Now, isn't it delightful as you go on to the New Testament and you go to John's Gospel and chapter one, what do you find? You find that beautiful picture of John. It says, The next day John stood and looking upon Jesus as he walked. As he walked. He said, Behold the Lamb of God. And so here is the Father walking, or at least the Lord walking in the garden. Here he is walking among his people, or desiring to walk among his people. Now we see the Savior coming to the earth walking with a view to going to Calvary. And then when we go on to the book of Revelation, what do we find? Chapter three, the Lord is still walking. This time he's walking in the midst of his church. Not just standing, he's walking, observing, looking at things. What's going on in the church of God? And then when we go on to Revelation chapter three, what do we have? We find the Lord gives a promise to the overcomer in the future. He says, Ye shall walk with me in white. Ye shall walk with me in white. So you see, walking has a lot of lessons in the word of God, has it not? Now when I think of the feet of the Savior and the lessons surrounding his feet, and my relationship to his feet, there are many, many lessons that come to my mind, as I'm sure they come to yours as well. Some of those lessons involve the idea of submission. To be at the Savior's feet is to be submissive. To be at the Savior's feet is a thought of humbling oneself. To be at the Savior's feet involves being instructed and being willing to listen to what he has to say. To be at the Savior's feet suggests that I must come and desire to come and spread my knees before him in prayer. To be at the Savior's feet involves a thought of worship. It involves so many things. In fact, as I go through the word of God and go into the New Testament and notice the Savior's feet, there are three main lessons that come to me. Lesson number one is this. Those who spend time at his feet learn about his glory. Those who spend time at his feet learn about his grace, and those that spend time at his feet learn about his greatness. And just in the time that is left, we want to consider some of those things, please. Learning some of his glory as we come to his feet. Would you turn over to Song of Solomon, chapter 5? Song of Solomon, chapter 5, please. And here I suggest to you that we see in picture some of the glories of his perfection, for he indeed is the perfect one. And the glories of his perfection. In describing the Lord here, and we're not going into detail, as I say, but notice in verse 11, take me if you have a King James version in front of you, each particular verse starts with a little word, his. In verse 11 it says, his head. Verse 12, his eyes. Verse 13, his cheeks. Verse 14, his hands. Verse 15, his legs. Now notice that his legs are as pillars of marble set upon sockets of fine gold. So now we're looking at the Savior, we're looking from his head down as we get down to his feet. What do we see? We see feet of gold. Feet of gold. Now, as you Bible students know, gold in the scriptures is invariably linked with the glory of God. You go through the tabernacle, you go through the temple, you go on into the new heaven, and you see the gold constantly dropping forth where the glory of God is being displayed and is being revealed. And here we look at the Savior's feet and we see gold, because as the perfect man down here, indeed he walked to the glory of God the Father. All his walk, his, as we trace his path, it was bringing glory to him constantly. He did always those things that pleased the Father. Glory to him in his perfection. Then you remember, we think of John the Baptist, and you recall how he said concerning the Savior whose shoe latches I am unworthy to unloose. You see, we're getting down to his feet again. He said, I'm not even worthy to unloose the shoe latch of his feet, because you see Christ is so much more above us, and yet it's his delight that we spend time down at his feet, as we'll see in a moment or two. Now, as we think of the glories of his perfection, we think also the glories of his passion for his suffering, because you remember so frequently in the scriptures, at least six or seven times, we have the thought of his feet being pierced. As in Psalm 22, and it's suggested again in Revelation in one or two places and so on, his feet are pierced. When he showed to them his hands and his feet, they looked upon nail-pierced feet, and as they gazed upon those feet, they were concerned about the size of those feet. But their hearts were moved as they saw the wounds in those blessed feet. Their occupation with his feet at that time stirred their heart to realize here was one whose journey took him to the cross, and no wonder they fell before him in worship. It brings out the glory of his love and grace toward us in dying for our sins on the cross of Calvary. But let's hurry on, shall we, and we could take time to go over to Revelation and notice the glories of his preeminence there, because when you go to Revelation, you find that when John got a glimpse of the Lord in Revelation chapter 1, he fell at his feet. Why, he was so taken up with the glory of the Lord, his preeminence. Overall, when you go on to Revelation chapter 5, the same thing is brought before us, is it not? As they see the Lamb as he had been slain, and as they sing in that tremendous chorus the praise of that worthy one, then one by one they fall at his blessed feet, and at his feet we see the worthiness of being the preeminent one overall at his feet. But let's turn, shall we, to the gospel of Luke for a few moments. Luke's gospel, please. Chapter 7. We not only learn about his glories as we examine the Savior's feet, but we see much of his greatness. I want to suggest to you, beloved, and I want to be as practical as possible here this evening, and I want to challenge you with this thought. How much time do you spend at the Savior's feet? Because, you see, it's only when we spend time at his feet that we begin to learn these things. Our knowledge of him, our understanding of him experimentally is only developed as we spend time at his feet, and at his feet I suggest to you is the time when you get alone with him, the time when he becomes everything to you. When it could be study in the Word of God, and as you meditate upon the Word, you do not just read the Word to read your chapter, but you read the Word to see him, and you're brought into his presence, and you come down to his feet. These are experiences where we learn of him at his feet, and if that is not true in your Christian experience, then you're missing out tremendously in your Christian life. Now, notice this, dear woman. May I suggest here, in connection with the Gospel of Luke, if you were to take a concordance, you would find that 16 times feet are mentioned. More than in any other gospel, feet are mentioned in the Gospel of Luke, and out of the 16 times feet are mentioned, 13 times they refer to the Lord's feet. Only three times they refer to someone else's feet. So you see, Luke is zeroing in on Christ the perfect man and the blessings that transpired at his feet. So let us look, shall we, at this dear woman who spent time at his feet. This story, beginning at verse 36 and ending at the end of the chapter, verse 50, talks about the Savior's feet seven times, and very quickly notice verse 38, because in verse 38 his feet are mentioned three times. In verse 44 to 46 they're mentioned four times, and you'll notice how they're mentioned. It's rather interesting. The first time in verse 38, it is his feet. Three times, his feet, his feet, his feet. You notice that? Now you go down, please, to the last four times it's mentioned, and instead of his feet it's my feet. It's the Lord talking. In the first part, she is talking, she's occupied with his feet. In the last part of the story, the Lord's talking about my feet, and step four times over he says, my feet, my feet, my feet, my feet. So you see, this story is all about the Lord's feet, and what happened at the Lord's feet. May I suggest to you that just four simple little things about this dear woman who came to his feet. I want you to notice her name, and I want you to notice her aim. What was her point? What was her aim? Then I want you to notice her claim, and finally I want you to notice her fame. Notice her name. You say, well I didn't think that her name was mentioned. Well, in one sense it's not, in another sense it is. Confusing, isn't it? Well, notice what it says, please, in verse 37. And behold a woman in the city which was a sinner. And then we go to verse 39. Now when a Pharisee which has bitten him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who, or what manner of woman it is that toucheth him, for she is a sinner. So I suggest to you that her name is sinner. Certainly that fits well very clearly. This Pharisee took one look at her and he said, I know who she is. She's a sinner. If you were to speak to this dear woman, she should have would have said, well you don't need to worry about my real name, but I will acknowledge I'm a sinner. Everyone knew that she was a sinner. That was her name. Well, we can all fit into that picture. That doesn't exclude any of us here tonight. Sinners without Christ? Perhaps some. Sinners saved by the grace of God? Well, no news. Her aim. What was the aim of this dear sinner? Her one aim was, and how delightful, her one aim was to get to the Lord's feet. She knew that this man received sinners and ate with them. She knew that she would be welcomed at his feet. And I want to suggest to you that all of us are constantly welcome at the Lord's feet. We're all welcome there. He loves to see you coming often to his feet. And she was not misled, because that's exactly what happened. Now notice her claim, if you will. In other words, when I say her claim, I'm suggesting this. What could she say after she left? What could she claim happened? Well, she could say something like this, I went to the Savior, I stood at his feet, I wept at his feet, I washed his feet, I wiped his feet, I worshiped at his feet, I had a blessed time at his feet. That's what she could claim. Can you claim that tonight? Can you claim that you have spent time at his feet? Can you claim that you've been there and had such an experience that as you've been there at the Savior's feet, the Lord has so touched your heart that you've even wept at his feet? One of the delightful things about this story to me is this. This dear woman, while she begins by standing at his feet, it's not long before she's prostrate at his feet. That's the way it goes, is it not? You can't spend time in the Lord's presence without you becoming less and less, and Christ becoming more and more. And that's the way it was in her case. As in that eastern country, they were, the Savior with the others, were perhaps stretched out on the couch so that his feet was protruding. So it was not a difficult thing for her to stand at his feet, as he was reclining there and perhaps eating at the table, and so she stood at his feet behind him. She began to weep, and I think we know why she wept, because we're told later on in the story, the Lord tells us this, that she loved much, and as her heart was overwhelmed with the Lord, one who receives sinners, one who forgives and blesses, she was overcome with appreciation, and the tears flowed and fell upon his blessed feet. And so she stands, and it's not long before her head begins to bow, and she begins to weep. It's not long before she goes, she bends over a little bit farther and allows her hair to cover his feet so that she begins to wipe his feet with her hair, which of course brings out a further lesson, doesn't it? The lesson that the woman's glory is in her hair, and where is it? It's at his feet. Not only in glory is the Lamb all the glory, but he's to be all the glory in our own lives as individuals. And we come to that experience when we spend time at his feet, and having wiped his feet with her hair, then she stoops even farther down. She's going down, down, down, and she kisses his feet. Protection, love. The bride said in Song of Solomon, let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, suggesting marks of the Lord's affection to us. But what about my affection for him? Truly his love does not need to be proclaimed. It is real, it's available, it's constantly flowing from him. But what about our love toward him, our devotion to him, our affection for him? He kissed his feet. What about her faith? What about her faith? Well, notice the Savior tells her, or tells, doesn't tell her, tells the host what he thought of her. One of these days, beloved, we must stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Solemn occasion, searching occasion. What will be our fame or our position at that time? What will we really hold up then? What will we have? Will it be wood, hay, stubble, gold, silver, precious stones? Notice this, verse 44, He turned to the woman and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? How delightful! You see this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet, but she hath washed my feet with tears. She didn't bring water with her, but love found a way to provide the water. And, beloved, it's the thought, is it not, of washing feet, particularly in the eastern country, is that of refreshing. After the long weary journey in the dusty road to refresh by the washing of feet, she refreshed the Savior. To think that to spend time alone with the Lord at his blessed feet refreshes him. It delights him. The fact that it delights him to cause us, apart from any other reason, to want to be there at his feet. But not only that, he talks about her devotion. Thou gavest me no kiss, verse 45, but this woman since the time I came in hath not seen the kiss my feet. There's been a constant stream of kisses from her at my feet. He said, not only has she refreshed my feet with water, she has shown devotion and love for me. Have we? Do we? And then again, verse 46, my head with oil thou didst not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. That, may I suggest, is seeking to bring glory to him, to glorify him, to anoint him in worship and in praise. And then she received the Lord's commendation in verse 47, wherefore I say unto thee her sins which are many are forgiven, for she loved much. How delightful! How thrilling! Here is the Lord. You can just see this dear woman listening, no doubt with amazement, because she didn't do these things in order to get the Lord well done. She did it because she was in love with him. But the Lord just drank him that love, and he said, I want to point some things out about this dear woman. And he said, not only has she been showing such love and devotion to me, and he said, I haven't overlooked it. He said, I'm going to bless her in return, and in verse 50 he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace. And what peace that dear woman had, I'm sure, as she left the presence of the Lord, having spent time at his feet. Beloved, what a wonderful place to stay, to be at his feet. Now, there are many other scriptures we've just touched and scratched the surface. So, gut into Mary, and may I close by saying that Mary is only mentioned three times in the Word of God, in three passages, and you remember in those three passages, where is she? Right there, at the Savior's feet, there listening to what he has to say, drinking in his Word. The next time she falls at his feet, and she's crying to him in prayer. And the last time she's at his feet, in John chapter 12, she's breaking the alabaster box of ointment, and she's worshiping at his feet. The way to his feet is to hear the Word of God and to learn it. Prayer and communion, and worship. O Beloved, may we get our eyes fastened upon his blessed feet, and spend time with him there. Our gracious Father, we do thank thee for our Lord Jesus Christ, and praise thee that indeed his feet took him all the way to Calvary. We can say, all the way to Calvary he went for me. He died to set me free. We praise that we now, through the Holy Spirit of God, can be directed to the Savior's feet, there to learn of him, there to show our love and devotion to him, there to be strengthened to go forth for his glory. Father, in these days of hustle and bustle and so much activity, may we thy people long to know the blessing and the joy of being at the Savior's feet, day by day. In his precious name we pray. Amen.