Thank you, Celeste. That was
very beautiful. Thank you for having us. It's our joy and pleasure
to be here to minister the bread of heaven to the saints of the
Lord. And we're thankful to be invited
back here again. And I pray the Lord would bless
you and keep you and comfort you and provide all that you
need in our savior. Trust him. He's able. And he's
working and he's doing it right now. Turn with me to Luke chapter
nine. Luke chapter nine. And just so
you know, we're gonna also be looking in Mark chapter nine,
which is a companion scripture to this. Luke nine and beginning in verse
37 is where the text will be. Now, one of the primary lessons
in this text that our Lord is teaching us is that Jesus Christ
is the one thing needful. That's true of you that don't
know him. He is the Savior. He is the very
salvation of God. And that same truth is ever so
much true for It continues to be very true for us our whole
lives. Christ is the one thing needful,
and he's going to be teaching us that very truth our whole
lives. He's going to make us to know
that over and over again, that Christ is the one thing needful.
He will soon tell his disciples, in John 15, verse 5, he said,
I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye
can do nothing. Nothing. And our Lord will continue
to teach his children that very truth. As often as we need it,
and even when we don't think we need it, we are going to learn
that he is the one thing needful and that without him we can do
nothing. And I believe that's taught to
us here in this passage of Luke 9 and then in Mark 9. And I want
to bring three points to you from this text, which demonstrate
that very truth that Christ is the one thing needful. Now let's
begin in verse 37 and 38. It says, and it came to pass that
on the next day, when they were come down from the hill, Much
people met him. And behold, the man of the company
cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son, for he
is mine only child. Now you think about this. This
is right after the Mount of Transfiguration, where our Lord was glorified
before three of his disciples. They saw him in heaven's glory. And they're thinking of these
things. Their minds are still racing,
and they're wondering about the things that they had seen and
heard. And they come down from this
mountaintop experience, if you will, and immediately all the
troubles, all the sorrows, all the pains of this world come
flooding right back in. And they hear their Savior being
called upon to help. to help someone in great need. And it's times like this that
I'm reminded of our need, of we can have great experiences
and wonderful times of refreshing, but it's not going to be very
long before we're reminded of our weaknesses, of our infirmities,
of our sins, and our sorrows, and our troubles. And these things
come flooding right back in, and we see again, Lord, save
me, Lord, help me, Lord, I need your grace, Lord, your people
need your grace. Now turn over with me to Mark
9, so hold your place in both texts. In Mark 9, and this one
begins in verse 14. It says there in Mark 9, 14,
and when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about
them and the scribes questioning with them. Now this word questioning
is sometimes translated disputing. There was some arguments going
on. There was some questioning. There
was some debating going on. And the disciples were trying
to heal this man's son. They were trying to cast the
devil out. of him and they were not able
to do that. And I don't know if these scribes
were there mocking them. I don't know if they had an interest
in the man that brought his son to them and they were trying
to figure out what's wrong, what's going on here. I don't know exactly
what was going on, but there was some disputing and questions
and arguing going on and nothing was being settled. There was
no resolution. There was no help to this man
or his son. And I believe there's something
very precious, something needful for us to see in this very thing. There's a lot of disputes and
questions and commotions and troubles going on in the world. This is true at all times. And when we're out there, we
can talk amongst ourselves and we can bring up things and say
our opinions and what we think and what we think should happen.
But notice that when Christ came, all those questions were put
away. It ended. They all were drawn
to Christ, to hear him, to ask him, Lord, what's going on? We've brought this boy here and
your disciples can't cast him out. And all that disputing ended. We don't hear any more of there
being questions or disputations any longer, and it shows us that
the one who settles all debates, the one who silences the questions
and the arguing amongst us is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the
one thing needful. He's what our Lord gathers us
together here this morning to hear, is to hear Christ, not
the opinions of man, not what I think, not what you think,
because we can argue over those things. But the one thing we
cannot argue over is the Lord Jesus Christ. He makes us to
know how precious he is, how needful he is. And he answers
our questions. He deals with us in our sorrows,
in our trials and troubles and tribulations. That's who the
sheep of God want to hear. They want to hear the Lord. Lord,
I need your grace. I need your help this morning. And so that's a precious thing
for us to see here that every question you have, whether you
believe Him or you don't believe Him, every question you have,
Jesus Christ is the one who answers every question. He'll teach you.
He'll lead you and guide you and instruct you in all things
so that your questions and sorrows are put to rest in Him. Believe Him. Believe Him. Verse
15, Mark 9, 15, we see him meet the needs of his people. It says,
straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly
amazed and running to him, saluted him. And so all the questioning
and all the debating stopped when that occurred, when our
Lord came and he assembled him. And so what we see, What I see
more and more, and what you see too, is that we are to preach
Christ. You don't want to hear me get
up behind this pulpit and speak of anything else but Christ. Why is that? Because by nature,
we're naked. We're unclothed. And the preaching
of Christ, he's the one that's going to dress you in his righteousness. He covers our nakedness. We're
hungering and thirsting for righteousness. We see our sin. We know our guilt. We know our shame. But Christ
is the one who satisfies us, who fills our bellies, who fills
us with water that ever flows of his spirit and of his grace. We're sick with sin's diseases. We're full of sin and sorrow.
of iniquity, transgressions, trespasses, and Christ is the
one who provides all that we need and heals our wounds and
our troubles and makes us to know his grace, his care, his
compassion, his patience, his long-suffering with us, that
he's forgiven us and provides all that we need. We're shut
up in prison by nature, in dark locked up behind solid bars that
we cannot free ourselves of, but Christ comes through the
preaching of the gospel and he shines the light of his grace
into the darkness and he opens that door and says, sinner, come
forth, show yourselves. Don't be afraid to come into
the light. I've clenched you. I've put away all your sin to
stand before my father's throne, faultless, and to be received
of Him in grace for what Christ has done for us on the cross
and shedding His blood and putting away our sins and reconciling
us unto the Father, that we may be received of Him and have fellowship
with Him in truth, not as liars, not as saying, well, I didn't
mean that, I didn't mean to do that, and that wasn't that bad.
Yes, it was. We are guilty sinners, but our
God receives us for Christ's sake. We don't have to lie. We
don't have to come in the darkness and pretend like things didn't
happen or that's not what we meant. We did. We did mean it. We're sinners. And by his grace,
we are received of him. He is the one thing needful. And so he settles all the disputes,
all the troubles, all the complaints. The Apostle Paul was very wise,
being taught of the spirit, that when he came to the Corinthians,
said, I determine not to know anything among you, save Jesus
Christ and him crucified. You don't think Caesar was doing
some very suspicious and troublesome things, taxing the people heavily,
and things going on, and all kinds of events going on? Sure
they were. But there, in Rome, and under
the kingdom of Rome, Paul preached the gospel and knew nothing among
them save Jesus Christ and him crucified. These things, our
Lord said, have I spoken unto you that in me ye might have
peace. In the world ye shall have troubles,
but be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. Nothing
that's going on in the world can touch our inheritance. that
we've received of Christ's hand. We're in his hand, and nothing
can pluck us from Christ's hand. And we're in the Father's hand,
and nothing can pluck us from the Father's hand. We are safe
and secure in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let that word be a comfort
to your hearts, you that are troubled, you that are perplexed,
you that are worried and fearful. Rest in Christ. And that's why
he gathers you here. this morning, to hear him, to
rejoice in what he's done. He's the one thing needful. Next,
our Lord reveals to us our need. Now we're gonna look at this
father and his son. And I believe that the father
and the son together are a picture of our need. Each one of us individually
here, it's a picture of our need. And we see this a lot in scripture,
whether we're looking at the centurion and his dear servant,
or we're looking at this father and his son, or we're looking
at the Syrophoenician woman and her daughter, they're one. Lord, this is speaking of me
and my soul, my precious soul that is eternal. I have one soul. Help me, Lord. Save me. I need your grace. And that's
not to take anything away from the precious things that we see
in a man and his son, because the Lord oftentimes uses our
children to pierce our hearts and to humble us and to show
us our infirmity. Sometimes we're so hard, you
can't get to us by us, but you can get to us through our children.
And so the Lord uses these examples because it shows us just how,
how the Lord is able to touch us with this finger and just
such a way that we are touched and we're shown our need of him
again and again. And so this man and his son are
one, and they show us our need as ruined sinners of the grace
and mercy of Almighty God to do for us what we cannot do for
ourselves. So I want to read a few details
from Mark's gospel that when we go through them carefully,
we find that this is what our Lord does for us in salvation
at the first and throughout in keeping us, in keeping us. So verse 17, there at the end,
it says that the son had a dumb spirit, meaning he was unable
to speak. He couldn't speak. And that's
talking about my inability and your inability to worship God
in spirit and in truth. We don't know how to approach
God who is spirit We're flesh, and by nature, that's all that
we know is fleshly things. That's why we think salvation
is by works, that salvation is by the things that I do or don't
do, by the things I say or don't say, and how committed I am to
them. Thank God it doesn't come down
to what we do or don't do or say or don't say, because everything
we've done and said, we've earned our place in hell for those things. And that doesn't lift us up.
Anything we do or say doesn't lift us up out of that into heaven. Only Christ raises us up. Only
Christ gives salvation. Only Christ gives life to his
people. And so we, by nature, have a
dumb spirit. We, by nature, are in darkness. It says here, well, back in Luke
39, but you can stay where you are, we're told that a spirit
taketh him. The Spirit is able to lay hold
on this boy at any time. Outside of this young man's control,
this Spirit takes hold of him and does with him what he wants. And it's described here as, in
verse 18, Mark 9, 18, we see destructive behaviors, foolish
things coming out of this boy. It says, he teareth him and he
foameth and gnasheth with his teeth and pineth away. And what that's saying is he's
reduced to a broken, frail, wretched creature. That word pineth away
is the same word that's used of that man in the synagogue
in the beginning of our Lord's ministry, where I believe it's
Luke that says it was his right hand that was withered. Now,
most of us are righties, and so you understand this. If you're
working for a living and your right hand is withered so that
it has no strength, you can't even pick up a bucket or hold
a paintbrush or do anything with that hand. You're powerless.
You're not profitable in that by nature. And that's what we
are in ourselves. We don't have the strength or
the ability to provide salvation for ourselves, to provide a righteousness
for ourselves. We are withered, weak, and frail
by nature. That's what the Lord is showing
us here. This boy pineth away. This boy is shattered and brought
to nothing in himself. Now, this boy couldn't deliver
himself under his own power, nor could his father. You don't
think this father, if he was able, would have done something
for his son, his only son? Seeing him thrown down, gnashing
his teeth. Again, it's a picture of what
we are by nature. When we're left to ourselves,
anything might come out of our mouths. Any thought, any idea
might come from us. We're liable to do any foolish
thing and harm ourselves and be destroyed. And so this father
here, he couldn't deliver him, and he tried. He tried. In Luke 9, 40, it says, I besought
thy disciples to cast this spirit out of him, and they could not. Now, when I read that and thought
about that for a while, I realized that's speaking of all the years
I spent in religion. going from this denomination
to that denomination, going to hear this man preach and that
man preach. And if anybody seemed like they
had things together and were happy and joyful, because I wasn't,
I was afraid. I was full of guilt. I was often
trembling at the thought of God. And so I went and I'd speak to
anybody that seemed like they had it together. And if they
were the sort to lay hands on you and pray, I'd say, could
you please pray for me? Hoping that something would release
this guilt that I felt and the shame that I felt and was carrying
around with me from day to day. And I thought I was doing what
I was supposed to do, going to the right people and asking them,
do you know what's wrong with me? Is there anything that you
can say that will help me and release me of this burden? Everything
I did and went through and did what they said I should do, none
of it helped. None of it could free me of my
guilt. And I was doing religious things,
getting baptized, taking the Lord's Supper, doing this thing,
getting to services every time they met, putting on the right
clothes. I did any and everything. And nothing helped me. Nothing
could free me of this burden of guilt that I had. Because
that's true of so many people. We know something's wrong with
us, and we think, well, if I just go and get a little religion,
that'll help straighten me out. But the longer we go through
it, the more we see, I've got problems. I'm worse off than
I realize, because everybody else is happy. Everybody else
is doing well. Many people are probably hiding it, but we don't
know that. We just think they seem to have
it all together, and I can't figure it out. I went to your
disciples, Lord, and asked them to cast out this burden of guilt,
but they weren't able. They weren't able to do it. Something that Mark says about
this, I believe exposes this false idea that we have. And
it said, right when our Lord came down from the mount, in
verse 17, Mark 9, 17, the father says, master, I've brought unto
thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit. But that's not exactly
true. When this man came with his son,
Christ wasn't there. He wasn't there. He didn't bring
him to Christ. He brought him to his disciples,
and they were unable to free his son, to deliver his son of
that foul spirit that he had. I besought thy disciples to cast
him out, and they could not. And I believe that exposes something
about us. Because men come to church services,
thinking that in coming to services, in coming to this place, that
this is coming to Christ. And coming to church, coming
to the worship service, is not coming to Christ. But naturally,
we think that is coming to Christ. If I just do these things, that
God will receive me. And God will heal me. But all
we've done is come to a form of religion. And it might even
be where the truth is preached, where the saints of God are gathered.
But until the Lord does a work of grace in our hearts and shows
us that Christ is Christ, not coming to the church, that's
not Christ. Coming and doing religious things, that's not
salvation. Christ is salvation. He is the
Savior. He and he alone is able to remove
that burden of guilt. And if we're weighed down with
guilt year after year after year after year, In spite of all that
we do, praise God, that's actually a good thing, because he's not
let you deceive yourself and go on thinking that that darkness
is salvation. He's drawing you to himself to
see, Christ, I need you, Lord. I need you. You are salvation. You are my only savior. And it's
not the things that I do or don't do that save me. Lord, you, I
need you to save me, help me. Help me, because I go to your
disciples, wherever they are, and they can't help me, because
we can't. Christ is the Savior. He alone
saves His people. So getting religion is not coming
to Christ. It's not believing Him by faith. It's coming to a form of religion. In Luke 9, 41, our Lord responded
in this way. Jesus answering said, O faithless
and perverse generation, How long shall I be with you and
suffer you? Bring thy son hither." In other
words, come to me. Bring your son to me, not to
my disciples, not to the church services. Come to me. When you're coming, come seeking
the Lord. Lord, I need your grace. Just
coming here to hear and participating in the service, that's not coming
to Christ. That's not believing Christ.
Come. begging the Lord to reveal himself
to you. Come begging, Lord, I need to
hear you. Lord, speak to me. I need your
grace because I cannot save myself. So our Lord says, bring thy son
hither. He's the one thing needful. Now,
the coming of this man is clearly of sovereign God, and we see
what the Lord is doing here. The Lord has called this man's
attention to him. He asked the scribes, what are
you questioning with my disciples about? This man raises up his
voice saying, Lord, have mercy on me. Have mercy on my son,
mine only son. And we would say, look on my
soul, mine only soul. Have mercy on me, Lord. And the Lord says, bring it to
me. You come to me with your need. with your precious soul. You
have one soul, brethren. One soul. And we need the salvation
of Christ. Because this soul is eternal.
Without Christ, we don't have life. We don't have any acceptance
with God. And so we come to Christ. Now
let's look further in Mark 9, verse 20. I want to show you
some other precious things. Verse 20. And they brought him
unto him. And when he saw him straightway,
the spirit tear him and he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming. So our Lord has engaged this
man. He's called this man effectually. This man has been called effectually
by the Lord. Come to me, bring him to me.
And he's come, we shall be made willing in the day of his power.
Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causes to approach
unto thee that he may dwell in thy courts forever. It is an
effectual call here that the Lord is drawing this man to himself. And yet in the calling, we see
that the Lord has allowed this foul spirit to continue to attack. this man through his son. He's
been called, he's coming, and the spirit takes him again, throws
him on the ground, and keeps troubling him. What's going on,
Lord? I'm bringing him here, and here's
this spirit here troubling him. And it speaks to us in our trials
right now. I've no doubt that many of you,
all of you, are going through some kind of trial, some difficulty,
some hardship, some affliction. And we go through these things
and manifold temptations. And yet, in coming here, we continue
to have that trouble. We continue to be thrown down
and cast down and troubled by these trials. And the Lord is
speaking to this man, and this man is taught to speak to the
Lord in the midst of the trial. Christ says, he asked the father,
how long is it ago since this came unto him? And the man replies,
of a child. As far back as I can remember,
I've been a sinner. As far back as I can remember,
I've had trouble and difficulties, Lord. Because by nature, we're
born of Adam, meaning we're born of sinners. We're born ruined
and corrupt, having no spiritual life in ourselves. You know,
to be born again, what that's speaking of is that by nature
I'm born of Adam's seed, which is corrupt and defiled. But when
Christ saves us, we're born again, that is born of his incorruptible
seed, so that we are new creatures in the Lord Jesus Christ. But
we see that troubles come, and trials come, and difficulties
continue to come. And he's brought here, as the
Lord's speaking to him, he cries out, but if thou canst do anything,
have compassion on us, and help us. And so we see here how the
Lord is doing something for this man very precious that he wasn't
doing for anybody else there at that time. He's in the midst
of his trial. The Lord is speaking to him and
he's drawing him just like you that come here with your trials
and your burdens and your difficulties. And the Lord sets you down and
he declares his gospel to you. that He is the precious Savior,
that He is the one thing needful for you, and He's speaking to
you through His word. And you're speaking to Him, Lord,
I need that grace. I need your help. Lord, I'm suffering. I'm going through various troubles. You know, some trials, some things
pop up quickly, and they get resolved very quickly. But I
can't tell you what any of those are, because they've come and
gone. And those aren't the ones that
stay with me. But those trials that last for weeks, months,
years, some decades, that we continue to be burdened with,
that we've continued to seek the Lord. Lord, would you please
remove this from me? Lord, would you please help me?
Lord, I need your grace. But he doesn't take it from you.
And yet he keeps bringing you in here, and he keeps ministering
that word to you, and speaking to you, you're mine. You're mine. My strength is perfected in weakness. Trust me. Lean upon me. Because those things that come
and go quickly, we don't think much about them. We can't even
tell you what they were, because they meant nothing to us. But
we can tell you the things that we've borne long with, in the
Lord's grace and what he's done for us, even with those trials
continuing and going on, how he's been gracious and compassionate
and long-suffering and so patient with us and continue to provide
his grace and continue to give us the word and feed us and nourish
us and clothe us and give light unto us in spite of all those
trials. And that's what we see here,
because I always wondered, why is the Lord allowing this to
go on? Because he allows the trials to go on in us for our
good, to draw us nearer to himself. And that's what he's doing for
you, brethren. He's drawing you to himself and showing you over
and over and over, he's the one thing needful. He's the one thing
needful. He's your savior. He's your salvation. Not being free of this thing
or that thing in life. Christ is your salvation. He's
your deliverer. He's your freedom. You're all. You're all. because you're going
to be with him for all eternity, you that are his. And that's
a blessed hope, a blessed hope in him. And he's with us right
now, feeding and nourishing us and keeping us. And so remember
this in the midst of your trials and these things that concern
your eternal soul. Our Lord replied in verse 23,
if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believe
it. Now you and I know by the grace
of God that flesh is not a product of this flesh. I'm sorry, faith
is not a product of this flesh. This isn't born from the flesh.
It's not born from our spirit by nature, which is a foul spirit. We don't know these things by
nature. This is of the Lord's producing. This is fruit of the
Lord as he's speaking his word, as he's ministering to this man,
he's bringing forth He's going to manifest and reveal his grace
in that man in bringing forth that fruit of faith from him. So he's speaking the word, just
as the Lord is speaking the word here to his people. Faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. That's where he's
teaching you. In the midst of your trials,
in the midst of your troubles, he keeps gathering you and keeps
giving you his precious word of his Son, And straightway the
father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I
believe, help thou mine unbelief. And you see there how the Lord
wrought faith in that man. It didn't come from his flesh.
Christ, in speaking his word, wrought faith in that man. And though it was weak and imperfect
in itself, yet the Lord blessed him. The Lord gave that faith.
And the Lord continued to draw that man to himself. And that's
what he does for us. Because we see, I'm weak in myself. I don't believe or see things
as I ought to believe or see them. Lord, help me. Keep me. Lord, teach me. Lord, be gracious
to me. And he keeps showing us he's
the one thing needful. So as we would see them in the
flesh, we're not going to see them in the flesh. That would
be a scary thought to see everything the way we think we should see
them in the flesh. But he does it in just such a
way and keeps us humble and low in ourselves so that we're always
looking to Christ. And that's for our good. That's
for our eternal, lasting, everlasting good is being right there at
the feet of Christ. And so we see there's faith. There was no faith by his religious
works at first, but now there was faith through the word of
Christ speaking to him, and he cries out to the Lord. And the
Lord didn't just immediately take it away. He did it in such
a manner that was gracious and merciful to this man and for
his good. And so it's the Lord Jesus Christ
that brings forth life and salvation. You know, Christ was sent of
the Father for this very purpose. This is why the Son of God came
and humbled himself and came in the likeness of this very
flesh, yet without sin. And he came and laid down his
life, willingly going to the cross, being taken and led by
men of wicked hands, with wicked desires, wanted to do with him
what they wanted to do with him, and the Lord worked the whole
thing by his determinate will and counsel to to make his son,
and the son made himself willingly the sacrifice of his people,
the sin-bearing sacrifice of his people, to put away the sins
of his people. We have a debt that we cannot
pay. We cannot work it off. And we
cannot and will not save ourselves, but that's why the Son of God
came. to destroy the works of the devil, to do the very things
that we couldn't do for ourselves by the sacrifice of himself,
bearing the sins of his people, and we dying with him. And when
he was buried, we were buried. When he died, we died. When he
was buried, we were buried. And when he rose again, all his
people in him rose again in him to the praise, honor, and glory
of his name. And so he works the salvation
in his people for our good. It's a patient work. Sometimes
we wish it would go faster, but the Lord is doing everything
well, perfectly well and righteous. Now this setting free We see here the setting free
from the power of the devil and the life that our Lord gives
to his children. Look down in Mark 9, verse 25. When Jesus saw that the people
came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto
him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him
and enter into him no more. And the spirit cried, and rent
him sore, and came out of him, and he was as one dead, insomuch
that many said, he is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand,
and lifting him up, and he arose. And Luke tells us, he delivered
him again unto his father. And it's a picture of what our
Lord does for us in grace. By nature, we're dead in trespasses
and sins. And the Lord is going to strike
that man, that old man, dead. and make us to know he's dead
so that we see we can do nothing in and of ourselves. But he raises
us up and he reconciles us and delivers us into the arms of
his father. A picture of what he does, it's
such a glorious sight when we read of what our savior said,
behold, I and the children whom thou hast given me. Our savior
saves all his people and none are lost. And all that we need,
he's going to provide it perfectly. And he's going to deal with each
one as he's purposed to deal with us as trophies of his grace
to the praise, honor, and glory of his name. So in these three
points, we see that our Lord Jesus Christ is the one thing
needful. First, we saw the people questioning,
disputing, arguing, but Christ silenced all those questions.
And it's a reminder. that he is the one thing needful.
The one thing that brings peace and rest to our souls is the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what we're gathered
here to hear is Christ himself. Second, we saw a son powerless
to save himself, a father powerless to do for him what he would do
for him. Even religion could not set this
boy free and save him. Christ is the one thing needful. Come to Christ. Don't just come
to, don't come to religion. Don't come to do the things in
the service and think that that's salvation. Come to Christ. Come begging the Lord, have mercy
on me. Save my soul, Lord. I'm the sinner. I'm the needy sinner. Save me. Cleanse me of my sins. Have mercy. And that's what the Lord does
for us. And finally, we saw a son dead,
who had been dead and was made alive and delivered by the power
of Christ. That's how we're all saved. We're
raised from sin, death, darkness, in prison. Christ raises us up. He is the Savior. He's the one
who has all power and authority given unto Him. Believe Him.
He is the one thing needful. Amen.