I like to keep things simple,
and we're not trying to impress anybody. We're not here to stimulate
the intellect. We're here to worship God. We're
here to honor the Lord by setting forth the gospel of His grace. sets forth what the Lord has
already done for sinners, unworthy sinners, sinners that merit everlasting condemnation,
but were destined for glory, those who are the Lord's people,
by his everlasting grace, through that righteousness established
by the Lord Jesus. And we're here to worship God
through the announcement of some good news. Good news of a work
already done. I'm not here to speak to you
about what you've got to do for God. I'm not here to lay upon
you a burden of some work that you've got to
establish, some laws that you've got to keep. I'm not here to
put you under some bondage, some commandment that will be
burdensome to you. Peter said to those Jews over
there in the book of Acts, He said, why do you seek to do that? He said, nobody can keep those
laws. He said, we believe by the grace
of God, we shall be saved even as these who are saved by the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm so thankful we're free from
the law in Christ Jesus, aren't you? And our message today to
you, my message, indeed the message of the gospel of free grace.
And in this first session and in the second session, the message
is not sinner do, but sinner it's done. It's done by the Lord
Jesus. and oh that God would enable
us to enter into this blessed rest of resting in the Savior
and finding in him that glorious rest for our souls and the joy
and the comfort and the bliss of knowing him in the power of
his resurrection. So I'm going to keep it simple
and we always must keep it simple. The singularity of the gospel
is a wonderful thing. And as you look through the scriptures,
we're often reminded of the oneness of the things of God. You can't
get any more simple than one. One. If you look back in the
Old Testament, we're reminded there's one God. Deuteronomy
6.4 We read here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, the
Lord who is our covenant God, the God of his people. He is
but one Jehovah. He is the being of all beings. He is the originator of all things. He is the self-existent one,
the everlasting God. He is the immutable one. He is
one in his nature. He is one in his essence. Our
Lord Jesus said in John chapter 10, I and my Father are one. In 1 John we read, there are three
that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy
Ghost. And these three are one. There is but one God, one eternal
God. One God. And then the Bible talks
about one man. This is simple. One God, one
man. One man. Wherefore as by one
man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, And so death
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. In Romans chapter
5, the Spirit of God again tells us, by one man's offense, death
reigned by one. Again in Romans chapter 5 we
read, for as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners. This one man we know was Adam. That's not very complicated.
One God made one man. who was himself a representative
man, that is, the representative man of all the human race. And when that one man sinned,
we all became sinners. His sin was imputed to the entire
human race, and we were alienated from God in that one man. Now watch. One God, one man,
and then the Bible talks about another one man. By the righteousness of one man,
the free gift of grace came upon all men under justification of
life. That is, there's another one
man, another representative of his race, that is an elect race
given to him before the foundation of the world. Again, in Romans
chapter 5, we read, by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous. That is the many that God gave
him. Oh, the simplicity of the scriptures. One God, one man, another one
man. The Bible speaks about one man
who is the representative of the human race, another one man
who is the representative of God's elect race, that is, those
God chose unto salvation before the foundation of the world,
who were given to one, even the Son of God, Jesus Christ himself,
who is that one man that one special, unique man who came
into the world and by his righteous obedience unto death, he established
a righteousness by which God accepts all of those who were
given to him in the covenant of grace. Is that complicated? No. That's very simple to those
whom God gives understanding. One God, you with me? One God,
one man, another one man. Now listen. We go a step further. There's one God and one mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. How many gods are
there? One. How many mediators are there? One. Mary is not a mediator. A dead saint is not a mediator. There is only one who is the
mediator between this one God and sinful men. Who is that? He's the God-man. He is this
other one man that we just spoke about, the Lord Jesus. Now, what
did this one mediator do? Well, Hebrews chapter 1 says,
and remember we're talking about the simplicity of the gospel. This one mediator, this other
one man, he offered one sacrifice for sin forever. And then he sat down on the right
hand of God. Now why did he offer this one
sacrifice for sin forever? That God might be just and justifier. that God might be a just God
and a Savior. And so we read, by one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. So that
when he died, our sins died. When He died, all those in whose
stead He died, our sins were died or they died with Him. They were buried with Him and
when He arose from the dead, they were gone. Buried in the
depths of the deepest sea. We read in Romans chapter 6,
for in that He died, He died unto sin. What's the next word?
Once. once, oh the simplicity of the
gospel. But then in that he liveth, he
liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye yourselves
also to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. You who are God's people are
dead to sin's condemning power. It has as much claim over you
as it has on Christ Jesus himself. Zero. Zero. The law is satisfied. One offering,
one sacrifice for sin. You with me? One God. One man. Another one man. One mediator. One sacrifice. One Lord. One Lord. On the basis of this another
one man offering one sacrifice for sin which put away the sins
of God's people forever. God has made him Lord. We don't
make him Lord. God made him both Lord and Christ. It's what Peter said there in
Acts chapter 2. We read in Romans, for to this
end, for to this reason, Christ both died and arose, that he
might be Lord of the quick and the dead. He was obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God has exalted
him, given him a name which is above every name. That in the
name of Jesus every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess.
What? That Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father. One Lord. One Lord. And everybody is going to bow
to Him. Everybody is going to kneel to
Him. In this life, if we can honestly,
sincerely, truthfully say from the heart, he's the Lord of glory,
and I love his lordship, I love his reign, and I love to worship
him, that's by the power of the spirit. Everybody else at the
judgment, though, is going to say he's the Lord, by the power
of his scepter. But everybody's going to acknowledge
his lordship, One Lord. One faith. Just one
body of truth. There's just one Gospel. Not
many Gospels. That's the reason we read so
often the New Testament about the Gospel. The Gospel. The Apostle Paul warned about
another Gospel. Gospel of works. Gospel of self-righteousness. He said that's another Gospel.
Another Gospel. The gospel of grace is a gospel
that says it's finished. It's a gospel of substitution. It's a gospel of satisfaction.
It's a gospel of peace. It's a gospel of Christ Jesus.
It's a gospel of grace. One gospel. It's a gospel that says sin's
been put away. Sin is gone. But Lord Jesus has brought in
this everlasting righteousness. He has established the way whereby
justice and peace have kissed each other. Whereby God can show
mercy to us without compromising His holy law. God is not going to lessen His
standards in extending His salvation to us in forgiving our sins. The holy commandments of God
are not going to be relaxed. If God saves us, He's going to
save us by honoring His law. And His law has been honored
and kept and fulfilled through the doing and the dying of His
blessed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The law is satisfied. God is
honored, and Christ is exalted, and all for whom he died, they're
saved. Is that right? That's the gospel,
you see. That's the good news, isn't it?
Requires no contribution on the part of the sinner. That's this one faith, one body
of truth. One faith. One spirit. Who regenerates us. And who brings
us to believe this gospel. Then the Lord says, I'll give
you one heart. One heart. To believe this truth. To believe this gospel. He said,
I'll put my spirit within you. He says, I'll take away from
you that heart of stone. I'll give you heart flesh. And he says, one baptism. Confess
your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in the waters of baptism.
So there are a lot of ones in the Bible, aren't there? Oh,
the singularity of this. And here's one here in Luke chapter
10. In Luke chapter 10. Look here
in Luke 10, look at verse 38. It came to pass. Luke 10, 38.
It came to pass as they went. that he entered into a certain
village. And a certain woman named Martha received him into
her house. And she had a sister, and her
name was Mary. And Mary also sat at Jesus' feet. And she also heard his word. But Martha was comforted about
with much service. That word cumbered means distracted. She got distracted. She came to him and said, Lord,
dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?
Bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said
unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled, You're
divided about many things. But one thing, he's bringing
them back to one thing. I've been emphasizing here for
the last few minutes, the singular things. And our Lord said, you've
been worried, you're worried, you're divided. Your interest, your attention,
You were sitting with Mary. Because there's a key word here,
back up in verse 39. She had a sister called Mary,
which also sat at Jesus' feet. For a little while, Martha was
sitting with Mary. That word also is kind of a key
word. Because sometimes we tend to
think, well, Martha, she's been busy doing other things while
Mary has been at Jesus' feet. Martha was there, but she has
left. The word also indicates that
Martha was there, but she has, she's been distracted and she
has left the preaching of the gospel. She has left the preacher of
the gospel, the Lord Jesus. And now she's troubled about
many things. And he says, one thing is needful. He didn't say, Martha, now get
out a notepad, I'm going to give you a list of things that you
need to jot down. You need to get all the priorities
in your life straight. He said there's one thing that's
needful. One thing that's needful. David mentioned something about
one thing. Go back, I want to show you two
verses just real quick and I'll come back to this and you can
follow up on on this later. Psalm 27 verse 4. I just want to show you this
real quick. Psalm 27 4. I feel like I'd be doing an injustice
if I don't direct your attention to these. Psalm 27 4. David said, one thing have I
desired of the Lord. Not several things, but one thing.
have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after." We have all our prayer requests. He said, I got one prayer request.
Most of our prayer requests are selfish. A lot of our prayer
requests, I'm afraid, concern physical things, temporal things. Listen to what David says. One
thing if I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I
may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life
to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple.
David's prayer request It involved dwelling in the house of the
Lord. And somebody says, well, I believe this is talking about
David wants to go to heaven when he dies. He's talking about all
the days of this life down here. I believe this has got something
to do with worship. This has got something to do with sitting
under the sound of the Word of God. This has got something to do
with beholding the beauty of the Lord. Where is it and when
is it that you behold the beauty and the glory and the majesty
of the Lord? It's when you're sitting under
the sound of the gospel of His free grace. When you're hearing
of how He saves sinners by the substitutionary work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's when you're beholding
the glory and the beauty of the Lord. I'll give you one other
passage. It's in the book of Philippians.
The book of Philippians. And you can study that one further
there in Psalm. But look at Philippians chapter
3. I'll give you this and I've got
to go quickly back to the text because I certainly want to deal
with that. But here in Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter
3. Look at verse 8, verse 7, he
says, but what things were gained to me. He's talking about thinking
about his days in false religion when he was seeking to establish
a righteousness of his own. What things were gained to me,
I count it a loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, I count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of all things and do
count them but dung. that I may win Christ and be
found in him. This is his great desire. Well,
Paul, I thought you saved already. I want to be found in him, that's
what he says. Not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God, that's what I want,
he said. Is that what you want? That's
what I want. the righteousness which is of God by faith, that
I may know Him. I want to know Him. and the fellowship
of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death, if
by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead,
not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect,
but I follow after that if that I may apprehend that for which
also For which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I
count not myself to have apprehended. But this one thing I do. This
one thing I do. Forgetting. I forget. I forget those things
which are behind. I forget and reach forth. Forget and reach forth those
things which are before. I am forgetting the past and
reaching forth. Can you forget the past? Just
forget it. Forget your false religion. Forget
those works of what you thought was righteousness. Forget it.
They counted for nothing. Forget it. I prayed so much. Forget it. I went to church so much, forget
it. I tithe regularly, forget it. Can you do that? You better. This one thing I
do, forget it. I pressed forward. You better forget it. Had you? You better forget it. You better be done with it. You
better do like the Apostle Paul counted, but done. Because that's
all it is. Reach forth unto those things
which are before. Press toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God. Go back to our text. One thing. One thing. This is significant. It's significant. One thing.
One writer said this. He said, divided aims and divided goals. Here's what
they do. They tend to distraction and
weakness and disappointment. Divided aims and divided goals. Here's what they do. They tend
to distraction and weakness and disappointment. Martha, she's got some, she was
alright, but she's got divided here. Now she's got much things
on her mind. This is where she got into trouble.
This is where she got into trouble. I'll go back up to verse 38. Our Lord passed through a certain
village. He's in Judea, outside of Jerusalem. Now he's in a little
town called Bethany, two miles from Jerusalem. Our Lord didn't
stop at every little village and town he passed through. Why'd he stop in Bethany? Well,
he's got some of his chosen people there. Mary and Martha and Lazarus
are there, and a few more are there. John 11 verse 5 says,
Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. You know what Bethany means?
It means a house of misery. That's our condition. That's
our condition. But he stops in Bethany, even
though it's a miserable place. You see, the Lord has a certain
people. in a certain village, but he's going to stop and find
them wherever they are. If they're in Albany, Georgia,
if they're in Almont, Michigan, if they're in Bethany, in Judea,
or wherever they are, he's going to find them. He's going to find
them. I don't know where they are,
and you don't know where they are, but he knows where they
are. And He's going to find them with His Word. The shepherd knows
where the lost sheep are. And we preach His Gospel. We
preach the Gospel of His free and sovereign grace, and the
Word of God will find them. It will find them. He said, I
will both search out my sheep and find them. The good shepherd
goes forth with his word, and he'll search them out, and he'll
find them, and he'll bring them back on his shoulders rejoicing. And he'll find them with this
gospel. That's who he'll find them with.
Alright, now read on. And a certain woman named Martha
was there. Martha was there. Martha's name
means rebellious. So she lives in the city of misery
and her name is rebellious. So Miss Rebellious lives in the
city of misery. That's us, isn't it? We're rebellious
and we live in the city of misery. Rebellious sinners who live in
misery. And yet the Lord Jesus comes
to us because he's the friend of sinners and publicans. Because this is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came in the
world to save sinners of whom I'm chief. And it says she received him
into her house. He came unto his own and his
own received him not. But as many as received him,
to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name. She received him as her prophet,
to teach her, as her priest, who would offer to God the sacrifice
that put away her sins, and who was not only the priest who would
offer the sacrifice to God, but he was himself the sacrifice
that was offered to God that put away her sins. He is her King. And she received
Him as her King. And she received Him because
the Lord gave her faith to receive Him. Because faith is a gift
of God. She received Him. And verse 39
says, she had a sister called Mary. And Mary's name means bitter
and disobedient. But you know what? He saved the
disobedient. He broke her heart. He saved
her. And she also sat at Jesus' feet
and heard His Word. To sit at Jesus' feet and hear
His Word means to hear Him with interest. to hear His Word. Because never a man spake like
this man. Out of his lips poured the Word
of God. Oh, how wonderful! Oh, how glorious
it was as he broke open the Old Testament Scriptures and preached
the Gospel to them that day. No sooner had he come into the
house of Martha than he began to preach the Old Testament Scriptures. Fragrance of the gospel coming
out of the lips of Christ Jesus as he set forth those Old Testament
types and talked about himself. Can't you just hear him talking
about that Passover lamb? And he said, that lamb that's
put up those four days, that lamb was me. I'm the lamb of
God. And I'll lay down my life. I'll
give my life a ransom for many. And I'll establish that righteousness
by which God accepts you. Your sins have been charged to
me. Your sins, which are many, are all put away. I'm responsible
for your salvation. Rejoice, you children of God. God holds me accountable. God
holds me responsible. You are saved by God's free grace.
He just goes through the Scriptures. They sat at His Word, just rejoicing,
just like we rejoice in the Gospel. But they sit there listening
to Christ Himself preach. Oh, how wonderful that was! Like
we are going to hear Him preach someday. We rejoice to hear men
who are frail, men who are sinful, men who just... give it a good
effort at preaching the gospel, but we're corrupt men, we're
sinful men, we're frail and faulty and feeble, but oh how wonderful
it will be to hear Him speak who is the gospel, who is the
fullness of the Godhead, in whom is all the wisdom of God and
the grace of God, to hear Him preach the gospel. Mary and Martha
sat at his feet as he preached the word of the gospel. To sit
at his feet indicates submission to his word, interest in his
word, faith in his word, worshiping him, delighting in his word. And they sat there and he preached
the gospel. Oh, what a priority he put on
declaring the word of God. They heard his word. They was
hanging on every word. But in verse 40, Martha got distracted. And you ladies, now you can kind
of understand this now, he's got He got 12 apostles, but as
I'm going to show you in the next message, he's got 70 disciples. They might even be with him.
I'm not sure, but they were certainly with him a little earlier in
this chapter. But there are several people
that are over, and now she just got... And I'm sure your mind
never wonders during a worship service. I'm sure your mind never
wonders, does it? You never think about anything
else during a preaching service. But Martha's there listening
as the Lord Jesus Christ is preaching, and suddenly she says, I've got
so many people here for supper! What in the world are we going
to eat? She's just saying, we've got,
well, let's just say our Lord and his 12 apostles. I got 13
men here, plus there's Lazarus and Mary. So she just kind of
slips out and she goes to the back and she opens the cupboards
and she gets a couple of servants and they start stirring around.
And you women, now you can begin to to imagine how she's feeling,
and she is in a rush, and she is getting frantic, and she looks
in there, and she kind of peers around, and there's Mary, and
Mary is still there sitting in front of the Lord Jesus, and
Martha's just getting, and she just, it's just all she can take. It's like Mary just doesn't have
a care in the world. And she doesn't because she's
just hanging on the Lord's every word. Martha's distracted. Now listen,
Martha's thinking about hospitality and feeding guests. It's a wonderful
thing to show hospitality, isn't it? That's a good thing. The
scriptures encourage us. That's a wonderful thing. The
Bible tells us to show hospitality. Good things can oft times distract us from
the one thing. Do you know that? Things that
are in the right order can be okay. When they take the position
of the one thing, of the worship of God through Christ Jesus,
when they take the place of the one thing, been there, then it's
wrong. And she came to him and she dared
to rebuke. Now you think of this. You think
about what she did. Our Lord's preaching the gospel,
and she comes in and she interrupts his message, his teaching of
the word, and she says, Audacity here, then. Lord, dost
thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her that she should help
me. Tell Mary to come help me. I need her back here in the kitchen.
And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art
careful in trouble. You're divided now. About many
things, now you've got many things on your mind. But Martha, just
one thing is needful. Martha, what's really necessary
right now? Here I am, preaching the word
of God. Martha, you just stop and think
about it. Stop and think about who's in
your house and what I'm doing. What's the one thing that you
need to be doing right now? Mary, that you've just rebuked,
she's chosen that good part. Martha, here's what you need
to do. You need to come right back down here and sit down. And you need to listen to this
gospel again. You need to just take your position
right here. Come right back to my feet. Because you see Mary, she's chosen
the good part.