Well, good morning. Turn with me to Luke, if you would. Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. And we'll look at verses beginning in 38. And these verses here in Luke, when you get there, you'll see they tell us of a visit Jesus made to two sisters in the circumstances which transpired at that time. The Lord Jesus is in the midst of remarkable events, world-changing events at this time. in his earthly ministry, and he comes to this small village and turns aside into this home of Mary and Martha. Small and unimportant, it might seem, but it's full of the good part which Jesus speaks about in this narrative, and I would like to direct our thoughts to that this morning. Just, what is the good part? Let me just read those verses. I'm sure every one of you here today are familiar with this story. It's a real blessing. And beginning there in Luke 10 verse 38. Now it happened as they went, that is Jesus and his disciples, it happened as they went that he entered a certain village and a certain woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore, tell her to help me. Jesus answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed. Mary has chosen that good part which will not be taken from her. Well, let's begin by considering what is the primary point of this story. What is it that the Lord has to teach us? I always find that helpful for myself to ask that question when I look at a passage. we're presented with a contrast between Martha and Mary. And as a result of that contrast, the Lord speaks these words to Martha when he says, but one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part. Now, we're familiar with this story, and we may tend to think Mary is representative of some believers, and Martha is representative of other believers. But that's not really true, is it? Martha and Mary together are representative of the Lord's people. Sometimes we listen to Jesus, and sometimes we're distracted and worried by many things. Sadly, I tend to fall in that second category more often than the first, I think. We listen to the things that distract us from hearing Christ, hearing Jesus. And the Lord says to Martha and to you and to me, choose that good part. Well, what is the good part? It's hearing Jesus. It's hearing Jesus. That is the good part. To have that great and glorious honor and privilege to be spoken to by Christ. and to hear His words, to sit at His feet and listen to what He says. I think that's the primary point of the story. I really do. Mary chose the good part and it will not be taken from her, Jesus says. This is the part that's needed. This is the part that matters. This is the part that's eternal and will be yours forever. To understand and fully appreciate the teaching found in a word or a verse or a portion of scripture, it's always important to consider the context. That's something that is vital if we're ever to understand the Word of God. Don't take something out of context. What comes before? What's happening? What is the Lord revealing to us? So let's ask that. What were the circumstances leading up to this village by Jesus, to this little village of Bethany? Well, just look back for a moment to the beginning of this chapter and let's just think of some of the things that had taken place. They were momentous events. Look there in verse two, the Lord sends out 70 disciples to go into every place he himself was about to go. And in verse two, he says, the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Now, This has always been true in every age. The laborers are few, but the harvest is great. This has been true in every age. And it's one of those spiritual mysteries. The harvest is great. The laborers are few. Yes, but the harvest is always brought in. And not one is lost. It's true today. We were talking about this. It's true today. But the harvest is always brought in. The Lord will do it. He'll do it. We know that everything that God does is good. Everything. And so it's particularly significant then that Jesus calls attention to something which his Father does is being good. This is something that brings special joy to Jesus and he prays to the Father with thankfulness. Look down to verse 21. Verse 21, In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight." What does Jesus rejoice in? That He sets as special good. He rejoiced in the sovereign electing grace of God in salvation. God chose a particular people to Himself before the foundation of the world. And Jesus sees this as something to rejoice in. The religion of man hates this truth with a relentless hatred. I'm sure you all at some point have experienced this yourself. Man hates it, but Christ sees it as something that is good. It's wonderful. It's something to rejoice in. Something that is good in the eyes of his Father. This is good in the eyes of Christ. And so it's good in our eyes too, isn't it? Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent and revealed them to babes. And then in verse 22, look there, he continues, all things have been delivered to me by my father. And no one knows who the son is except the father and who the father is except the son and the one to whom the son wills to reveal him. Well, Jesus, having just made this statement, when what occurs, look in verse 25. One of the wise and the prudent stand up, and behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him saying, teacher, what shall we do that we may inherit eternal life? Now you see, it's a good question, but it's not coming from the right motive. Jesus, the word of God tells us, he stood up, not out of a heart desire to have the answer to this question, but to test Jesus, to test Jesus. And Jesus, we're not going to go through this, but Jesus answers him. And then in verse 30, wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus another question. And Jesus faced this continually, didn't he? We see this again and again. He's harassed by these Pharisees, the scribes, these lawyers, and Jesus answers. But well, who are they? Who is this man, the wise and the prudent that Jesus was speaking about? But where are the babes? Where are the babes? Where are those whom the father has willed to reveal his son? Well, right here, look in verse 38. This is what, here are the babes now, you see? He dealt with the wise and the prudent, but now he, I find it just interesting that at the end of the chapter, here are the babes, here are the babes. Now it happened as he went that he entered a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha welcomed him into her house, And she had a sister called Mary who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his words. There are the babes. Now he comes, he enters into this house in this small town of Bethany. And who is it? Who is this man who has come to visit these two sisters, Mary and Martha? Why is he there? Why is he there? Why does he care about these two women? Just keep your place here, but just turn over to Psalm 8 for a minute. Psalm 8, because here in this Psalm, David marvels at this very question. What is man that thou art mindful of him? That's the question. David can't hardly believe it. And when you and I think about it, we can't hardly believe it either. What is man that thou art mindful of him? Think of the unfathomable grace and love and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ for his particular people. What is man? Look there in verse 1. What does David say? Oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth, who have set your glory above the heavens. Then jump down there to verse 3. When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained, What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit him?" Well, why do these heavens exist? How is this universe sustained? Well, we know, don't we? The Word of God tells us, in terms of Christ, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for by Him were all things created that are in heaven, that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or powers, all things were created through Him and for Him, through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, Not only is He the Creator, He's before all things, and in Him, all things consist. Without Him, nothing consists. Think of this. Every new thing that man learns about life, about this world, about the universe in which we exist, shows him that it is greater, and more glorious than we can ever imagine. What does this tell us? It tells us that Christ, this alone tells us that Christ is greater and more glorious than we can ever imagine. He's the creator. He's the sustainer. He's the one in whom all things consist. And we're in a day where knowledge is abounding, isn't it? And I find it interesting, particularly with the advances in understanding of science. They're continually showing that what was known before was wrong or didn't fully understand everything that was known at that time. But there's no humbleness. No acknowledgement that we actually know so little. So little! And yet, the arrogance of man in the little knowledge that he has to speak as if he knows all things. The science, oh, the science is settled. Oh, is it? Really? Like the science of when the earth was flat? and then the science that our solar system was all that existed. But now we know with the advances of knowledge which have been given by God and his general goodness to man, the advances, we know that the universe is filled not just with thousands of galaxies, but with hundreds of billions of galaxies. Not only that, but wonders the eye has never seen. And consider that in this incomprehensible universe, can you comprehend a universe of billions of galaxies? But in this universe, in this incomprehensible universe is one galaxy, the Milky Way, which consists of hundreds of billions of stars, that one galaxy. And around just one of these hundreds of billions of stars circles a tiny world we call Earth. This is the world in which we live and move and have our being. Here on this world, the creator and the sustainer of the whole universe The incarnate God comes to a small village called Bethany. He comes to visit Mary and Martha. Why? Why? What is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that you would visit him? Why is the Lord there visiting Mary and Martha? Why? because the Lord has loved these two women before that universe was ever created. The wonder, I can't read this story without thinking, the wonder that the Almighty God would be mindful of us, would even think of us, in any way, that he would love us with an everlasting love and create an unimaginable wonderful universe and the world in which we dwell for the express purpose of bringing us to God. That's why it's all created. Do you understand that? The entire universe was created to bring us into being. That the Lord would have mercy upon us and bring us to himself. That's what he's interested in. But the work of bringing us to himself was so much greater than that work of creation. The work of creating the universe was done by what? What does David say? What did we just read? The work of the universe was done by the work of his fingers. The work of his fingers. That incomprehensible universe He doesn't even need the strength of His arm to accomplish that. He doesn't even need the lift of His shoulder, just His fingers. But the work of the new creation is a work of such power and might and wisdom and strength, a work so wonderful and so full of glory, it took far more than a work of his fingers. It took his blood. It took his life to bring us to God. Now think of this. Think of this. He who inhabits eternity, dwelling in unapproachable light, striding among the stars. I think at one point I preached something on that to you all here. What a picture. striding among the stars, calling each one by name. What does he do? He walks into the dwelling place of Mary and Martha. What a wonder! Now, turn back to Luke. As we read this, we see that Jesus didn't come to cast out demons. to make the lame walk or the deaf hear all these things that he had been doing prior to arriving there. He doesn't come to heal the sick, as he did so many times, or even to raise the dead to life. No, no. The Lord comes with a far greater purpose. He came to speak to Mary and Martha. He had a message for them. That's the reason he's there. He came to give them words of life. Words which would be a rich blessing to these two women. And after Mary, Martha welcomed Jesus into the house, the first thing we read is that she had a sister, Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. And perhaps he spoke to them, we don't know. What was his message for them? The word of God doesn't say anything at all. But that's always the case, isn't it? Personally, even now, this morning, as you're hearing God's word, you're hearing what the Lord has to speak to you. I don't know what that is. Only you do, you know? And that's always the case. That's always true. The Lord, yes, His word is proclaimed in general, but the message that He has for you is something that only you and He know. And nothing is told. What did He speak to them about? Well, we can maybe surmised, in general, things that he might have spoken to them about, about his coming death, possibly. He often did that with his disciples, to prepare their hearts. No doubt he spoke to them of things that would increase their faith, there's no question about that, and give them great hope. It's likely, too, that the Lord may have spoken to them about Things that he knew would prepare their hearts for the coming death of their brother Lazarus. Truths which would strengthen them and comfort them. But what his message was, we're not told. Now these circumstances are only recorded in the Gospel of Luke, but we can know too that the words he spoke were full of grace and truth, as Christ's words always were. We could say, too, that these were words that prophets desired to look into, kings desired to look into, as the Word of God says. Think of that. The prophets of the Old Testament. Kings desired to look into these things. And here he is speaking these things to these two sisters, Mary and Martha. Well, Martha is sitting and listening along with her sister Mary. Whose feet do they sit at? We were talking about this. There were times in Israel when the Word of God was rare. And there was no widespread revelation. What a tragedy. How tragic that was. Well, here are Mary and Martha. They're sitting at the feet of the Word of God. They sit at the feet of the entire revelation of God to man. They sit at the feet of the Word made flesh. He's come to them, and he has come because he has something to reveal to Mary and Martha. He's come because He cares for them. He has a message for them. And He sits down and is speaking to them. And they're sitting at His feet listening. What would we say? Christ has come because He's prepared a gospel feast for these two sisters, Mary and Martha. Well, what is Martha thinking about? Not His words. Not his words. Why? Because she's distracted and thinking about many things. And at some point she gets up, she leaves that gospel feast, and goes about preparing a meal for the Lord. How sad and how tragic. But you and I do this all the time. All the time. Now consider that Martha was not distracted with something that was wrong or even with something which is neutral. She's distracted with something which in and of itself is good and commendable in many ways. Martha is serving others, serving others But she's not only serving others, she's serving Christ. Out of a desire to honor Him, thinking here He has come to our home and she's concerned about welcoming Him, showing her love for Him, honoring Him, feeding the disciples that had come with Him. All these good things, good things. But this is not what is needful for Martha. This is not the good part. This is not what she needs. What does she need to do? She needs to hear Jesus. She needs to be taught of Christ. She needs to feast upon Him. And when Martha becomes annoyed and frustrated with her sister because she's not helping, she comes to Jesus and says, Lord, What? Don't you care? Look, I'm working. I'm preparing a meal and she's left me alone. Tell her to come and help me. And the Lord might have responded. He might have responded. The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. But no, no, he doesn't. He doesn't rebuke her. Listen. He responds so lovingly and so kindly to Martha. And he rebukes her gently. Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part which will not be taken from her. What is the one thing needed? What has Mary chosen? She's chosen to sit and listen to Jesus, to be taught of Him. This is the good part. And if you're taught of Christ, can it be taken from you? Never can. Never can. Never will. The wonder of God's grace is that Christ doesn't just come into into our home, as it were, of His people. He comes into our hearts, doesn't He? He dwells in our hearts. We're given the gift of the Holy Spirit who gives a new heart, gives a new mind, enlightens our understanding to see Christ, to know Christ, to be able to hear Him. Think of the wonder of that. You know, when your ears were opened, when your eyes saw Christ, and the glory of the salvation that's found in Him. And the Holy Spirit takes the words of Christ, and reveals them to us. These are the words of the Holy Scriptures, and it's through these words that the Lord Jesus speaks to his people. You know, we might think, well, look, Mary and Martha, Christ is there in their home. Physically, he's present, he's speaking to them. And oh, if we could have that. But we do have that in a much greater measure. In a much greater measure, we have the entire revelation of God's redemption worked out through the life and death of His Son, portrayed before our eyes in these scriptures that have been given to us. We have the entire revelation of the words of Christ in the New Testament scriptures. The Spirit of God, as the Word is preached, as we read it, as we think about it, The Spirit of God takes those things and speaks to our hearts. Who's speaking to us? Christ. In this revelation of the New Testament, think of this. What does it do? It enlightens the entire Word of God in the Old Testament. And we see Jesus. We see, that's why the prophets and kings desired to look into the things that we have, that we have. We see things that they had not seen and hear things that they hadn't heard. Where do we hear Christ speak to us, just practically? Where do we hear, how do we hear Christ speak to us? Well, as I said, when we're reading and meditating upon the word. Isn't that true? You know, you're reading and suddenly a portion of scripture that you have read maybe a hundred times, and the Lord speaks to you. And it might not even be something new, but it's, he impresses it upon your heart. And it's a help to you. It's a blessing to you. You rejoice in it. How about praying? you're praying to the Lord, and it just, these truths of God's Word come to your mind, don't they? It's just, I find such rich blessing in that. When I'm praying, and these thoughts of, good thoughts, that the Spirit brings, that's Christ speaking to us, teaching us. As these two women are sitting at Christ's feet and he's speaking to them, well, this is how Christ speaks to us. Every day. When we have fellowship with one another and the things of the gospel, you know, before the... this morning before the service where Mike and Norm and Robin and I and Nancy are just sitting at the table sharing, about all kinds of different things, but sharing about the things of the Lord. And the Lord speaks to us through those things of our brethren. When we have fellowship in things of the gospel, when we sing psalms and hymns, I know you've experienced that. Again, you might be singing a hymn that you've sung a thousand times, and then it just takes on a greater meaning as you're singing it. It's like those disciples on the road to Emmaus. Your heart burns within you. What is that? That's Christ speaking to you. The Lord promised that to His disciples, didn't He? He said, at that time particularly, He said, there are things that I speak to you that you can't receive at this point in time. But He said, when speaking about the promise of the Holy Spirit, what did He tell them? He said, these things I have told you, that when the time comes you may remember that I told you of them. Well, let me just finish there. There's a lot more I could say, but how blessed we are to have Christ speak to us from his word in all of these different ways that I've spoken of and to have that experience of having our hearts burn within us as the Lord speaks to us. Well, what is the message of Mary and Martha? Well, listen to Jesus. Listen to Jesus. That's the good part. Put yourself in a place where these things, where you can hear him speak to you. Isn't that the message to us? Don't be like Martha. distracted by many things, and troubled about many things. And doing this and doing that when we can be in a place where we can hear Christ speak to us. That's the good part. And it will never be taken from you. Ever. Forever. That's the good part. Amen.