Turn, if you will, to Luke chapter
10. I love the words of that song,
Jesus Christ is all to me. I love to hear Brother Mike sing. Sometimes I get stuck with leading
the singing down at Grace Fellowship. And my dad taught me how to sing. My grandfather had a big farm
out in the country. And every Saturday we'd get up
and go out and visit Grandma and Grandpa at the farm. And
my dad, his favorite song was on Jordan's stormy banks I stand
and cast a wishful eye to Canaan's fair and happy land where my
possessions lie. He'd sing that with just me and
Dad. And he'd throw his head back and he couldn't sing a lick.
And he taught me how to sing. And I have to lead singing occasionally.
I'm embarrassed to do it. But one day, and I always use
Mike as a benchmark. I've loved to hear Mike sing.
One day I'll be able to sing like that. Even better than that.
In the presence of our Lord, sing His praises for all eternity.
I do indeed bring you greetings from Grace Fellowship. gathering
of the brethren there in Wheatersburg, send their best regards. We love
your pastor and we know all of you. We know every one of you
and have known you for years and years and our thoughts and
prayers are with you all. Alright, Luke chapter 10 will
begin in verse 38. This past Wednesday night, we
recognized our graduating seniors down at church We had four graduating
seniors this year. And they're going to begin to
step away from home, from that safety and that confines of their
parents and that almost complete control over where they go and
what they do and what they hear and what they see. And they're
going to begin to step out into this world, this big, big world,
full of everything that's predominantly bad. And I thought as we had
been looking at this here in Luke chapter 10, and I thought
what would be good advice for these young people? What would
be good advice to give them? What would be good advice for
middle-aged people and for old people? The advice is the same.
And I thought as I was looking at this portion of God's Word,
I thought this is good advice right here. This that our Lord
taught these two sisters in this meeting in their home. This is
good advice. This is good advice for every
age. It's good advice for every day. So let's look at it just
a little bit here this morning. The Lord be pleased to open our
eyes. Verse 38, Now it came to pass as they went. Now our Lord,
in His public ministry, everywhere He went, He preached, He taught.
Crowds of people would follow Him. And occasionally, He would
take a period of time and He would withdraw Himself to the
quiet of a small community or an individual's home. recover
from that ordeal of preaching and all that was on him. And
as he went, he had his disciples with him, those that he had called,
those that he had revealed himself to. Those people traveled with
him. He had the apostles that he had
called out to follow him and to be with him. And so these
were traveling together. And he entered into a certain
village. You notice that? And I thought that caught my
eye. He went to a village. This is so contrary to what religion
does in our day. Over my lifetime, I guess I've
seen just about every crusade that Billy Graham ever went on.
And those places, I always was impressed with those places and
the gigantic crowds. And it was always in big cities. They always went to big cities.
Big cities. They went to Calcutta. They went
to Hong Kong. They went to New York and Atlanta
and San Francisco. I go down and preach sometimes
with my brother Maurice down at Madisonville, and we pass
a little town down there just before you get to Madisonville,
about five miles this side of Madisonville. There's a place
called Morton's Gap, Kentucky. It's just a dot on the highway. It's just a speck of dust beside
the highway down there. Morton's Gap, Kentucky. Billy
Graham never went to Bortons Gap, Kentucky or Benny Hinn or
any of them fellas. They go to those great big places.
They go to football stadiums and they draw huge crowds of
people and a lot of emotion and a lot of whoop-de-doo and falter-all,
you know. But our Lord, He goes to a village. He goes to this little village
that's about three miles from Jerusalem. It's just a tiny little
place. It's just a tiny little place.
And that's where he's pleased to go. And that's where he's
pleased to sit down. And that's where he's pleased
to teach those people in that place about him. Who he is. What he's come to do. Who did
he come to do it for. So he comes in and enters into
this little village. And look at this. And there was
a certain woman named Martha. Received him into her house.
Now evidently, Martha is a widow lady. Martha, this is her home,
and in this home she has her sister Mary and her brother Lazarus. We all know who Lazarus is. And
she received him into her home. Now, our Lord's traveling with
a group of men that He's called out to teach the gospel to. One
day He would send them forth with that message that He's revealed
to them. He would send them forth to go
into all the world and preach the gospel. And these people
were traveling with Him. Now Martha, this widow lady,
She's received this whole crowd. Our Lord and these that are traveling. She received them into her home.
At much expense to her. At great expense to her. And
she didn't care anything about that. It bothered her none. This
is her Lord. The Lord had revealed Himself
to these two ladies and to Lazarus in this home. He loved these
people. He frequented this place often. He went there many times. These people loved Him. They
saw Him as being the Messiah. the Christ that would come, the
Deliverer that the whole Old Testament preached of, the taught
in those pictures and types and emblems. This was Him. This was
the Messiah. This was the Christ. And they had fled to Him and
they clung to Him and trusted in Him that He was indeed the
Savior. And she welcomed them into her home at an expense to
her and at peril to her. The whole religious world at
that time, the whole Jewish economy at that time, They hated the
Lord Jesus Christ. They hunted Him and hounded Him
everywhere He went. They badgered Him. They looked
for any flaw. They looked for any slip of a
word or a phrase or any action that they could accuse Him of.
And anybody that would join themselves with Him, they were on their
list also. He was public enemy number one
to the Jewish religion. And any that would take up with
Him or would follow Him or would own Him to be Lord and Savior,
the Messiah that was prophesied. They were on that list also.
So she received Him without any fear, without any reservations
at all. She received Him into her home.
Now verse 39, and she had a sister. Martha had a sister named Mary. Now look at the way this is written.
Mary also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His Word. Now evidently,
here's the way this went. Our Lord entered into this little
village, and He went to this certain home of this certain
woman named Martha, and He went into this home. Now after the
amenities were carried out, after the greetings and the introductions,
there may have been those traveling with our Lord that was not known
to the people in this home, And the introductions were made.
Evidently, our Lord sat down. And what He did, His entire public
ministry, He began to teach. And He sat there. And these people
sat at His feet. Look at this. Mary also sat at
our Lord's feet. There was Martha and there was
Mary sitting at our Lord's feet. Right up close here. So they
didn't miss anything. Didn't miss a word. Just couldn't
wait to hear Him open His mouth. tenderness dropped from His lips.
That forgiveness and that pardon that's only in the Lord Jesus
Christ. They couldn't wait. They couldn't wait to hear that.
This is what they needed. This is what we all need. And
they couldn't wait. And there they sat. And I believe
it's not recorded here what our Lord taught these people. These
people that were in this home. Lazarus is not mentioned here.
But he no doubt was there. So there's at least three people
in this home. And probably others. No doubt there was others in
Bethany invited over. The Lord is here. The Lord has
stopped by. The Lord is going to teach. He's
going to exhort us. He's going to tell us about the
Gospel. He's going to tell us about Himself. It's not recorded
what our Lord spake, and I don't think we're in error here. As
long as we bring no injury to the Word of God, I don't believe
we're in error by using our sanctified imagination. What may the Lord
have taught these people while He was there and they sat at
His feet? He may have gone back That first prophecy of him. He may have gone back after the
fall in the garden and the Lord came and called for Adam. Where
art thou, Adam? And ultimately, our Lord turned
to Satan and He said, the seed of woman is going to bruise your
head. It's going to crush your dominion. It's going to put you
out of business. The seed of woman. And the Lord
may have said, I'm that seed. I am that one that's prophesied
throughout the whole I'm He that would come. I'm God Almighty
in human flesh. I and my Father are one. And
I've came down from heaven, not to do my will, but the will of
Him that sent me." He may have told them that. They may have
sat there and just waited to hear that. He may have gone back
to the ark. He may have taken them back to
the days of the ark. God looked down from heaven. The whole world
was corrupt. He may have said the whole world
was corrupt. Yet Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And
God said to Noah to build an ark. built an ark for the protection
and for the deliverance of you and your family and no one else.
He may have said, I'm that ark. As Noah was called into that
ark and that judgment fell and came upon the whole world, and
the whole world died except those that was in that ark. There was
deliverance in that ark. There was safety in that ark.
The Lord said, Noah, come on into the ark. And he came into
that ark and God shut the ark. And there was safety as he floated
above that judgment. He may have said to them, I'm
that ark. Come unto Me. Come unto Me, all
ye that labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest. I'll give
you peace. I'll give you comfort. I'll give
you forgiveness. He may have said that to these two girls
that were sitting there at His feet, waiting, waiting to hear
that drop of tenderness and love come from the lips of our Lord.
You remember that story. He may have taken them back to
the time of Abraham. He tried Abraham ten times, the
old writers say, ten times. And then there was a time he
spoke to Abraham and he said, Abraham, take your son, take
your only son, the son whom you love, and take him as a burnt
offering to Me upon a mountain that I'll show you. And Abraham
rose up early in the morning. He took that boy, that promised
son that didn't come until Abraham was 100 years old. God promised to Abraham that
He would give him a son. And He gave him a son. And now
He said, take that son. Take him to the mountain and
offer him for a burnt offering to Me. And Abraham rose up early,
took that boy, took the knife, took the fire, took the wood,
and they began their journey. And they went three days' journey.
And Abraham lifted up his eyes and he saw the place. And he
told them servants, he said, you stay here. He said, me and
the lad will go forward and we'll worship. And we'll come again.
And as they went along, Isaac said, Father, we've got the fire,
we've got the wood, you've got the knife. Where's the lamb? Where's the lamb for the offering?
Where's that that we approach God through and by? The lamb. Where's the lamb of God? And
Abraham said, my son, God will provide Himself a lamb. And they
went on. And the altar was built. And
Isaac was bound and laid on that altar. And Abraham took that
knife and stretched forth his hand to slay his son and to cut
him up and quarter him and lay him on that altar and set fire
to it. And the Lord said, don't do that lad any harm. And Abraham
looked and there's a ram caught in the thicket by his horns.
And he let his boy loose. Turned him loose. And he went
and got that ram, bound it, put it on the altar, cut it up, set
it on fire. It may be, it may be, the Lord
said, Isaac deserved to die. All that's born from Adam deserved
to die. All sin and come short of the
glory of God. There's none good, no not one.
He deserved to die. But Abraham took that substitute
and our Lord may have told them, I'm that ram caught in the thicket.
All deserve to die. All are worthy of death. But
I come to die for my people and give them a perfect salvation.
standing before God Almighty. It may have been that our Lord
was telling these type of illustrations, taking the Old Testament Scriptures,
which was the Scriptures that they had in that day. The New
Testament wasn't written. They had the Old Testament Scriptures.
And He took those things, maybe He took those things out of the
Old Testament to point to Him and to show these people, I'm
the fulfillment of those types and them. I'm that rock smitten.
As out of that rock flowed a life-giving stream of water and life and
hope for those people in the wilderness. So the Lord Jesus
Christ, smitten by God Almighty, and out of the Lord Jesus Christ
flows an abundant supply of pardon and peace and forgiveness and
hope. Come unto Me. Come unto Me. Is
anybody thirsty? Anybody thirsty? Come unto Me
and drink. Out of your belly shall flow
rivers of living water. He may have said that. He may
have said, I'm that manna. I'm that manna that came down
from heaven. And hear these girls say it, just like you are this
morning, to hear about our Lord Jesus Christ. If someone's talking
truly about our Lord Jesus Christ, we want to be there. We want
to hear what they're saying. Just every word. Just hanging
on every word. Now look here. Verse 40. But Martha. Oh, that word, but. That word, but, there, it looks
big as this room. Think about what's going on here.
Think about what's going on here. Our Lord has come to this little
village. And He's come to this modest
home. And He has come in. And He's sat down. And He's began
to preach and to teach and reveal more of Himself to these people.
And there these two girls sit. And evidently, in the middle
of this, Martha gets up. And she excuses herself. And
leaves the room. And she goes and becomes cumbered
about which much serving. She has on her mind, these people
need fed. There is much that needs to be
done to take care of the physical needs of these people. Our Lord
is teaching about the kingdom, about God Almighty's sovereignty
and power. He's teaching about the forgiveness
and hope a dead dog centers in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said,
I'm that hope. I'm Him that was prophesied through
the Old Testament that would come. Martha got up and left.
I've got potatoes on the stove back there. I've got green beans
that's got to be fixed. I've got bread in the oven. I've
got to do these things. Now listen, that word cumbered
about, that word properly means to be drawn away or to be distracted. Have you ever been drawn away
or distracted? There was a time down there,
Cecil was superintendent over at the hot strip, I was the maintenance
man down at the mill. This was 1988, I believe. We
was raising our family, me and Jackie had four children, and
there was never enough money. You know what, you know that's
raising a family, it's just, what do you do without? Who don't
get a new pair of shoes, you know? And there come a time,
they decided to run that hot strip mill, the middle 15 turns
a week, and they was down every Saturday and Sunday. every Saturday
and Sunday. Don Blanton, he was the head
man there over the maintenance in Hot Strip and Cecil Superintendent. Well, I knew those fellas. And
so I went over and I said, you got room for another fella? I
was working the blast furnace maintenance. And they said, yeah,
we'll take everybody we can get. And for a solid year, I went
over there in the Hot Strip every Saturday and Sunday. I worked
every Saturday and Sunday, worked 16 hours every day, every weekend
for a solid year. That's what's going on here. That gospel that I missed, that
good news that I missed in that year, I can never recover. I
can never go back and pick it up. I can never hear it the way
it was delivered. I can never hear the tenderness
and the earnestness of it and the boldness of it. I can never
pick that up. It's gone forever. I was cumbered
about. I was cumbered about. And we
do that. And Martha did that. She got
cumbered about. She was just distracted. She
was pulling away. With these things that don't
matter. With these things that don't matter. What matters? What
do you think about the Lord Jesus Christ? That's what matters.
And I thought of this this week as these young people. We honored
these young people and recognized them as they graduated and they're
going to go off to school. They're going to go off. They'll be married
in a few years. They'll begin their families in a few years.
They'll start their jobs. They'll be influenced by people
out there on those jobs. Predominantly, they've been influenced
by us all these years. Now they're going to go out there.
And our prayer is that, Lord, don't let them be distracted.
Don't let them be drawn away from this place. Don't let them
be taken away from this place. Keep their hearts and keep their
minds focused on the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Make it
a most important thing to them. Make it a most necessary thing
to them. I've got a little book at home. Henry gave it to me
years ago. Spurgeon had his preacher school over there in London 125
years ago. And those young men that would
come to that preacher school, he had in his booklet, he had
these things that he would stress. Now, not to do with the gospel. He taught him the gospel. He
impressed upon him the necessity to preach the gospel. But this
was things that a pastor would need to know. How to dress. How
to act when he goes into a sick room or when he goes to a funeral. How do you present yourself?
How does a man of God conduct a funeral? What about his library? What kind of books does he have
in his library? And those type things. But he sat in there and
he said, I want you to know this. He said, I want you to know this.
And this was 125 years ago. They didn't have work on the
weekends. They didn't work continuous operation plans. But he said,
there's only four things that will keep a man away from the
gospel, that will keep a man away from that worship service.
There's only four things. He said, one of them things is
you have a man sick and he can't come. He said, the second thing,
like your pastor this morning, it's on the service of the Lord.
He's out on the service of the Lord. He's out busying himself
about spreading the gospel. He said, now the third thing.
Oh, he said, this ought to be obvious. He's dead. He's not
here. He's gone on. And I'd say the
fourth thing, in our day, work. There was no Sunday work back
125 years ago. But it is in our day. Me and
Pete was talking about it earlier. Our son-in-law, Gene, works up
there where Pete works. And they work around the clock.
They never stop there. It's a 21-turn operation. It's
a continuous operation. But the fifth thing. And this
is the most critical thing. They just don't care. They just
don't care not to be there. And Spurgeon said you've got
to guard against those things. Guard against that. That's what's
going on here. There's no necessity for Martha
to leave the presence of our Lord in Him teaching and preaching
and revealing Himself. There's no necessity for her
to leave that place and to go out there and busy herself in
those things that are temporal at their very best. I thought
when I was looking at this, there was a time when our Lord was
out there preaching. Crowds of people would come and hear Him
preach. Five thousand of them was out there hearing Him preach.
And they'd been there all day. And He taught the people. He
preached to the people. And they began to be time to
go home. And He said, have we got any
food here to feed these people? He said, no, we don't have anything.
He said, there's a little boy here. He said, he's got some
fish and we've got five loaves and two fish. Five thousand people.
And he said, have them sit down on the ground. And he took that
bread and he broke it. And they began to distribute
it to the people. And they had abundance. Everybody ate until
they couldn't eat another thing. And they had an abundance. Twelve
baskets full left over. You think there's any chance
for our Lord here in the presence of His people that He loves,
that just in a few days He's going to go to the cross for.
He's going to die for. And He's here in their home.
And He's teaching them about Himself. He's revealing the gospel
to these people. You think there's any chance
anybody's going to pass out from no energy? Anybody going to swoon
because they haven't had anything to eat? This is our Lord here.
And yet this woman, Martha, got up and she left the presence
of our Lord and she went out. and become cumbered about much
serving. And listen to this. Not only
did she do this. Not only did she not come and
sit at his feet, she come blustering in in a huff here. Now just look
at this. Here our Lord is. He's talking
to these people. He's preaching to them. He's
teaching them. He's revealing Himself to them. And the door
flies open. Here about a year ago, Our pastor
brought just a Cracker Jack message just honoring God Almighty and
glorifying our Savior. And as soon as the message was
over, and he finished and closed his Bible, and there was a visitor
there that morning. And he jumped up. And he said,
can I say a word? And afterwards, Charles said,
I thought, well, maybe the Lord's done something for him. Maybe
he wants to tell us that the Lord has opened his eyes. He
believes the Gospel. He sees Christ in the Gospel.
He wants to flee to Christ. He said, okay, yeah, stand up. And that fellow stood up and
he said, the Lord spoke to me this morning and He told me to
have a word for you people here in this place. And Charles said,
sit down. You ain't going to have a word
in this place. He said, if you want to talk
to me later in private, okay. You're not going to disrupt what
we've had here this morning. Martha, not only, Was she not
interested in staying there and hearing the Lord Himself teach? She left and then she comes back
in a real snit here. And she comes back and in the
middle of this, our Lord teaching, and the door flies open and she
runs in and she said, Lord, this is just so me, this is just so
us. Lord, don't you care? Don't you
care? that my sister hath left me to
serve alone, you bid her to get up and leave your presence and
come out here and do these things that don't matter none." That's
what she's saying. She comes in and disrupts this
whole thing that our Lord's doing. And verse 41, you remember, this is one of
our Lord's sheep. He loves this woman. He would
die for this woman. And Jesus answered and said to
her, what these are is words on paper. Now does anybody think that He
screamed at her? Does anybody think He roughed
her up? Did she deserve being roughed up? She absolutely did.
She deserved some rough treatment. She deserved to be, as we used
to say, raked over the coals. I don't think there's any way.
You take these little ones, these little ones here, and you tell
them, and you tell them, honey, don't get around that stove.
It'll burn you. It's hot. Don't get around that
water. Don't get around that grease
when it's popping. It'll burn you. It'll burn you. And one
of these precious little ones, they wander over there when that
stove's hot. Lay that hand up there. Burn that hand. How do
we treat that little one? with much tenderness and pity
and love. We scoop them up in our arms
and we hug them. I believe that's what's going
on here. Our Lord's pitying this woman. This is a mild rebuke,
but this is someone that He loves. And this is how forgiving He
is of us. In our neglect, this is how forgiving
He is. And He said to her, Martha, Martha,
so loving, so tender, so kind, Oh, Martha, you're so careful.
You're so troubled about so many things. You're wrapped up. You're
entangled in so many things. Does that sound like me and you?
Does it sound like we're just so wrapped up? A phrase that
has become very popular in our day, especially with people that
are our age, they say, it's time to downsize. Cecil, it's time
to downsize. We don't need a four bedroom
home anymore. We don't need a half an acre yard or a two acre yard.
We don't need that. Who's going to be running around
out there playing? Certainly not me and Jackie. We don't need
all that. We don't need seven rooms when
we stay in one room. We only stay in one little part
of that room. It's time to downsize. That's what our Lord is saying
here. Martha, Martha, you're careful and you're troubled about
so many things. So many things that don't matter.
All this here, this home, Martha, this home, one day it's going
to be gone. Very soon it's going to be gone.
This village here that you live in, it's going to be gone. It's
going to be gone. This nation, Israel, it's going
to be gone. It's going to be gone. It's all
going to be gone. And you're careful and troubled
about these things. Your family that's so near and
dear to you, Martha, your sister, your brother, This community
is so near and dear to you, it's all going to be gone. You're
troubled and careful about so many, many things. Martha, one thing is needed. One thing
is needful. Just one. Just one thing is needful. All these other things will be
taken care of. All these other things will be taken care of.
Solomon and all his splendor was not arrayed like one of those
lilies of the valley. Those birds, they don't store
up. God provides for them. Won't He take care of us? Now listen, He's not rebuking
her. There's 168 hours in the week.
He's not rebuking her for the other 160 hours or 165 hours. And He's not rebuking us for
what we do. But there is a time. There is absolutely a time. When
the family of God meets, and when the Word of God is declared,
and when the Word of God is preached, surely, Martha, surely you can
make time for this three-hour visit. Surely you can make time
for me and this hour or two that I'm going to be talking with
you. Be encumbered about, be careful,
be troubled about all these things. By all means. And I told those
young people down there the other night, Chase your dream, whatever
it is. You want to be a teacher? You
want to be an engineer? Whatever you want to be, go for it. Go
to school. You've got to go to college to be an engineer. You
can't get it any other way. Go to college. Do those things.
But not 168 hours a week. And that's what Martha's cumbered
about. She's careful and troubled about
so many things. She had no time. She had no time
to sit at the Master's feet and hear about our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. He said one thing, Martha. One
thing's needful, and Mary, she has chosen that good part. She
has chosen to sit at my feet. She has chosen to learn of me.
She has chosen to set her eyes and affection on me. One thing
is needful, and she has chosen that good part. And it'll never
be taken away from her. Martha, that'll never be taken
away. All this other, be taken away. But that'll never be taken
away. I certainly think, beyond a shadow
of a doubt, that's the teaching of this Scripture. I certainly
think that that is telling us, don't get entangled with this
world. Don't get cumbered about where there was no time for this.
Don't do that. But I thought, Henry used to
always say, these Scriptures are bifocal. There is a meaning,
and there's a meaning. And the spiritual meaning of
this, I believe, I believe is this. And I thought of this as
these young people are beginning to start this journey down through
this world. Don't be drawn away. Don't be
distracted from these things that we've been taught from our
Lord Himself. Don't be distracted. It's a day
of distraction. It's a day of compromise. Don't be distracted from these
things. You young people that are beginning to step out there,
don't be distracted. God Almighty is absolutely holy
and sovereign. He sits on a throne which no
man can approach. Nebuchadnezzar learned this.
He said God is sovereign. He is sovereign in the armies
of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay
His hand or say unto Him what to do with that. There is a teaching
in our day that God has done all He can do and the rest is
up to you. Don't be distracted from the truth. Don't be distracted
from the absolute truth. God Almighty sits on a throne
of holiness and sovereignty. He does what He will. When He
will, with whom He will. Don't be distracted. Don't be
cumbered about. Don't be drawn away. That little
town down there, Morton's Gap, Kentucky, that none of the big
shots ever went to. None of the big shots in religion
ever went to. There was a fellow and his wife down there had a
little church. His name was C.D. Cole. And C.D. Cole had a dear
friend. And this dear friend and his
wife came there and lived three years in Morton's Gap, Kentucky
with C.D. Cole. That man was Arthur W.
Pink. He wrote The Sovereignty of God.
And God used that book in 1954. Henry Mahan had the first Sovereign
Grace Conference in Ashland, Kentucky. I.C. Herringdean had
published that book up in Swingle, Pennsylvania. Henry wrote, I.C. Herringdean said, can I have
a mailing list of the people that ordered Sovereignty of God?
He sent him that mailing list. Henry took that mailing list
and sent out these letters to these people all over this country.
We're going to have a Sovereign Grace Bible Conference in Ashland,
Kentucky. And people from I think 22 states came. Traveled from
all over the country. I believe John Flamming and two
of his buddies got in a car and drove 51 hours straight. Never
stopped. Took turns driving all the way
from California to come here. God's sovereign. Arthur Pink
knew it and all of God's people know it. And don't be distracted
and drawn away from that. No matter what the world says.
No matter what anybody says. Don't be distracted and drawn
away from that. Man's a sinner. Man's a sinner. No matter what
they say. God said, Adam, I've given you
one commandment. Don't eat of the fruit that's
on that tree in the midst of the garden. For in the day you
eat thereof, you shall surely not get sick. Not become lame
on one foot. Not become crippled or halt.
Not lose your memory occasionally. You take of that fruit and you're
going to die. And he did die. Spiritually. That conduit of
fellowship with God was severed. And it will never be restored
unless God determines to restore it in Christ. Don't be distracted
from that. Man's a sinner at his very best
state. All our righteousness, that best
that we do on the best day when we use the best language and
we're dressed the best. Everything we do, the best we
can do in God's sight is filthy rags. Filthy rags. Don't ever let anybody tell you
different. Man's a sinner and he's dead. And he can't do anything
to help himself. God Almighty. Third point. God Almighty. in eternity past
set His love on a particular people. Not because of any goodness
in them. Not because of anything He saw
that was worthy or of merit. But just because He would. Because
of His mercy and tender grace and love for sinners, He set
His eye on a particular people. And don't let anybody tell you
anything different. Don't be drawn away from that.
Don't be distracted from that. God elected a people. Don't be
ashamed to say it. Don't be afraid to use that word.
He either did or he didn't. I think in that first conference
back there in 1954, they had a man that was designated
to preach of the five points of Calvinism, which is nothing
but the gospel. Each man preached a particular
point. And then the keynote address was a fellow named Ralph Barnard,
and he preached a message entitled Six Stubborn Statements. Either
God elected the people or He didn't. Either man is dead or
he's not. Either God is sovereign or He's
not. And don't let anybody distract
you from that. You've heard it since you were little fellas. Don't be encumbered about and
drawn away from that. The Lord Jesus Christ came. He
came on purpose. He came at the set time. He came
to redeem a particular people. Those that God loved in eternity
past. Those that were given to Christ
as the surety of that everlasting covenant. He came at the exact
time that it was appointed. He came and He lived and He died
and took away the sin of those people. Those particular people. Particular redemption. Don't
run from it. Don't be ashamed to say it. Don't
be drawn away from it. When our Lord Jesus Christ hung
and died on a cross, He died for a particular people. He said,
Father, forgive them, every one of them that You gave Me. Forgive
them. Forgive them. And they are forgiven in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Don't be drawn away from that.
Don't be drawn away from that. Fifth point. Those for whom God
Almighty loved in eternity past. Those for whom the Lord Jesus
Christ was the eternal security for those people in that covenant
of grace, those that He came and died for, those will be called
irresistibly by the Spirit of God. They will be awakened. They will be given life. They
will be given faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They'll hear the
gospel. By the foolishness of preaching, please God, save them
to believe. That's God's method. God's method.
He's chosen preaching to save them to believe. Come and hear
that preaching. Don't be drawn away from that.
Don't be encumbered by this world and things and whatever that's
going to perish. And finally, my sixth point.
They will persevere. They will persevere. I've got
a young nephew that lives down in Kentucky, down in Lexington.
He goes to some church down there. But they had a big discussion.
They had a cookout the other night. Oh, they just about got
into the fight there over whether a man can lose his salvation.
He called me and he said, Uncle Dale, what do you think about
that? I said, well, absolutely a man can lose his salvation
if he produced it. But if God gives it to a man,
if God gives it to a man in Christ, is there any chance he's going
to lose it? Any chance we're going to lose it? Any chance
Martha's not going to be drawn back into the fold? This was
one he loved. Martha, Martha. Teach you something
here, Martha. Now sit down. You're cumbered
about many things. One thing's needful. One thing's
necessary. One thing's vital. And your sister
Mary, she's chosen that good part. Christ. Set in at His feet. Set in at the feet of Jesus.
He'll never be taken away from her, Martha, Martha. Perseverance
of the saints. We will persevere. We're kept
by the power of God. That which He's begun in us,
He'll perfect it. He'll perfect it in that day.
I believe that's what he's teaching here. I believe that's what he's
teaching. Don't get encumbered about with this world. Don't
get pulled away from it. This that we have here, this
that you have here, that God has raised up here, it's not
everywhere. There's places after places after
places that God has not been pleased to raise up a gospel
preacher and enable to stand and declare the unsearchable
riches of Christ. There's no greater blessing on
a community and when God raises up the Gospel in that community.
And we have it here in this place. We have it here in this place.
Don't be encumbered about and drawn away from this. Plan your
week around this. But I think the teaching also
is don't be drawn away from this that our Lord has taught us.
Salvations of the Lord in Christ for those for whom He died. I
hope that's been a blessing.