Thank you, Joy. Tom, we're going
to begin with the hymn on the back of your bulletin. Would
you please stand? For our scripture reading this
morning, if you would turn to the book of Corinthians, 1 Corinthians,
chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 at verse
18. It's my hope this morning from
the heart that what we're about to read describes me and you, citizens of Israel. Verse 18. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, But unto us which are saved,
it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not
God. it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require
a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness,
but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness
of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger
than men. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty. and base things of the world,
and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things
which are not, to bring to naught things that are. Why, that no
flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye, this is about
you, in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and
righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according
as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Beloved, the reason why the message
of the cross is precious It's because that everything
that was described in verse 27, 28, the Lord Jesus Christ, who
knew no sin, took upon Himself our sin, your sin, and my sin.
That when that happened, He was the base. He was the weak. And God the Father despised Him
and buried His sword of justice into His heart. And in verse
29, and when God saw our sin on Him, no flesh shall glory
in His presence, and the Lord killed Him. We love the message
of the cross. Paul said, I determined to know
nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is a confession of every
citizen of Israel. There's no such thing as dual
citizenship. We come into this world in Egypt,
and it takes great power and love to call us out into Israel. There's no such thing. You're
either in Egypt or you're in Israel. I pray the Lord will
bless that to your heart and encourage you as we pray. Lord, we're so thankful this
morning that the message of the cross, the preaching of the cross,
is not foolish to us. It is our hope. It is our all
in all. That this morning we can confess
that not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto you is all
the glory and honor and power. Lord, this morning may we be
found in you. Being all our wisdom, all our
righteousness, all our redemption, all our justification, Lord,
our all in all will be found in him. And when that day comes,
that you come a calling, that we may be found in him. Pray now that you'd bless the
preaching of your gospel. And Lord, if there are those
who are foolish this morning, Lord, may you be pleased to save
them that they may believe. For we ask it in Christ's name.
Amen. Open your Bibles with me to Luke
chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. I can say with absolute confidence
that I know what you need more than anything else right now. You say, you don't know what
I need. Yes, I do. Yes, I do. There is one thing
that is needful. One thing. And every so often, somebody will market a cure-all.
And the snake oil salesmen are still alive and well. You see
them on television and, you know, you've got diabetes, you've got
heart problems, you've got cancer, whatever you've got, you know,
you take this medicine and it'll solve the problem. And generally
those cure-alls are short-lived because in time they prove not
to be effective. And then someone comes up with
another one and everybody blocks to that and someone makes a few
million dollars and then, you know. What if there was a cure-all? I mean really. A physician that
you could go to with any malady at all. And he would have one prescription
for you that would heal you completely. There is. There is. One thing. You have your Bibles
open to Luke chapter 10. Now it came to pass in verse
38, I'm sorry, verse 38 of Luke chapter 10. Now it came to pass
as they went and he entered into a certain village and a certain
woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary,
which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. And Martha was cumbered about
with much serving, and 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 about many
things, but one thing is needful. and Mary hath chosen that good
part which shall not be taken away from her." What Mary chose
to do was to sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and
listen to what he had to say. And what the Lord said about
her was that she did the one thing that was needful and in
hearing from him She would be blessed by God with things that
nothing could take away from her. Now that's the one thing
that you need more than anything else. That's the one thing that
I need more than anything else, to hear the voice of God. To sit at the feet of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He really, truly is. the cure of all our ailments. All of them. Whatever they are. He's the answer to every need.
You do not have a problem that he's not the answer to. I speak with the authority of
God's Word when I say that. You do not have a problem that
the Lord Jesus Christ is not the answer to. Everything in
every way, all the time. All the time. He's the everlasting
remedy. And yet, so often times we're
like Martha. encumbered and troubled with
many things and looking for someone to help us. Know what we do? Running about
trying to fix everything. Trying to fix our kids, trying
to fix our marriages, trying to fix our jobs, trying to fix
ourselves. Encumbered with many things. and not doing the one thing that
is needful. Sitting at the feet of the Lord
Jesus Christ and hearing His words of life, they solve every
problem. He solves every problem. Every
problem you've got. He's all our supply. He's all
our hope. He's all our comfort. Paul said
He is all and He is in all. His grace is sufficient for you. I don't care what it is. He's
the physician who writes one prescription and that prescription
is Himself. Do you know Him? You know Him. I'm not asking you are you outwardly
religious. I'm not asking you about Nicodemus,
you know. recognized by everybody. Do you
know Christ? Is He your hope? Is He your life? Is He the answer to all your
needs and all your problems? Are you poor? He's rich. His storehouses are full. His
grace is sufficient. He became poor that through His
poverty we might be made rich. I've never ever seen the righteous
forsaken. David said that. I've never seen
their seed begging bread. If you, being evil, know how
to give good gifts unto your children, You have a child that
comes to you and asks you for a loaf of bread, are you going
to give him a rock? You ask him for a fish, are you
going to give him a serpent? No. Why? Because you love your children.
You give them what they need. And if you being evil know how
to give good gifts unto your children, how much more will
your Heavenly Father give to you those things that
are needful? Are you sick? He's the balm of Gilead. The
leaves of the tree of life, the scripture says, are for the healing
of the nation. And Isaiah put it like this,
by His stripes we are healed. And when I get sick, I pray.
I don't like being sick. And I know that if I'm going
to be delivered, God's going to have to do it. He's going
to have to touch my body. I pray for you. Sickness is a horrible
thing, especially if it's a chronic illness that you deal with all
your life. But you know the believer's hope is that one day this body
is going to be afflicted with a sickness that it won't recover
from? Is that your hope? Is that your hope? That one day
your body is going to be afflicted with a disease that it won't
recover from so that your mortal body can be put into the grave
and that you can have a resurrected body, a redeemed body, an immortal
body, an uncorruptible body? He's the answer to that. Oh, we get so encumbered and
careful about many things. Do you lack understanding? Knowledge? Bert, you just read, God has
made Him to be for us our wisdom. If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask it of God, and he will give it liberally, and he upbraideth
it not." He never rolls his eyes at his children, he never looks
at them in disgust and says, oh no, not you again. He delights
in showing mercy. We sit at his feet, we'll get
the answers. His wisdom is more precious than
silver or gold, Solomon said. Seek Him as a hid treasure. Oh Lord, open the eyes of my
understanding. When our Lord was being interrogated
by Pilate, Pilate said, Are you the King of the Jews? And the Lord said, For this end
was I born, and for this cause came I unto the world. Now I want to know what end was
He born for? And what cause did He come into
the world? And here's the next thing He
said, That I might bear witness to the truth. They that are of
the truth hear My voice. They sit at my feet and they
hear the truth. You're not going to hear the
truth anywhere else. Our politicians don't have the answers. Our philosophers
don't have the answers. Our educators don't have the
answers. They don't. Your greatest need
is to know the truth. And you'll know the truth if
you know Christ, for He said, I am the way, the truth, and
the life. I came into this world to bear
witness of the truth. You're not going to hear the
truth anywhere else but from Him. We get our families in a mess,
don't we? One thing I know about sinners is they can cause some
They can cause some problems. And our relationships with our loved
ones, He's the answer to that. He's the answer to that. Oh, what love. The Father hath bestowed upon
us that we could be called the children of God." The children
of God? You mean I can go before God
Almighty? I can present myself before His
throne of grace and find mercy in my time of need? I can talk
to Him and cry from my heart? Abba Father? and never be turned
away by him? Mary has chosen that one thing
that is needful and it will not be taken away from her. Martha,
you are careful and concerned and encumbered with many things. You can't fix it. You can't fix
it. Sit at his feet. ask him to speak. Lord, would
you bid me to come unto thee? Lord, would you open my ears?
Would you give me the spirit of Mary? To quit being a control freak and
try to fix every problem and just sit at thy feet and listen
to thy voice and hear what you have to say? We have children on self-destructive
paths. We have marriages falling apart.
What are we going to do? Well, let's see if we can fix
it. Mary has chosen that one thing
that's needful. Have you? Have you chosen the
one thing that's needful? Are you lonely? The Lord Jesus Christ is a friend
to sinners. He said, I'll in no wise cast
you out. I'll never leave you. I'll forsake
you. I'm a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Are you
fearful? You don't know what to expect
in your future. You got fears and trepidations
about your future. Sometimes we hear, sometimes
we say, well that was God's providence. Let me give you a little word
study. The word providence means pro
video. Pro means before and video means
a picture. When we say that it's in God's
providence, what we're saying is that God already sees it before
it happens. He's already in your tomorrow. He's there. And He says, I'll work everything
together for good for them who love me and those that are called
according to His purpose. I've got nothing for you but
good. Oh, if you could pro-video your future, you'd change it. If you could see what God's got
in store for you, but just because you would change it doesn't mean
that it's not what's good. If He's ordained it for you,
it's good. It's necessary. It'll be to your
salvation. And one day in glory we'll know
that He really did work all things together. The Lord said, let
not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in Me. For in My Father's house are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I would have told you. I haven't hid anything from you. I go and prepare a place for
you. That's our future. That's our
future. Oh, we're so short-sighted. We're
so much like, you know, we chuckle at the three-year-old who thinks
five minutes is like an eternity, don't we? We do. We tell them, you know, sit there
for five minutes. And five minutes to them is like
forever. But you know, we're the same
way. We're the same way. And God must look at us like
we look at that little three-year-old and think, oh, you can't see
that you're not going to be there much longer? You don't know that a thousand
years is as a day? That your life is a vapor? It's
a flower that just blossoms for a little while and then the heat
of the sun comes and it dies. You're not going to be there
much longer. Just be patient. Just be patient
and wait and listen to what I have to tell you. My words are words
of life and your life is not in this world. It's not in this
world. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is your life. Mary has chosen that one thing
that is needful and it shall not be taken away from her. Martha,
Martha, you're careful and encumbered with so many things, running
around trying to fix everything. My peace I leave you. My peace
I give unto you, not as the world gives. You need peace? He's the answer
to that. You need happiness? Let me tell you one sure way
to remain unhappy. one sure way to remain unhappy
in your life, and that is to make happiness the pursuit of
your life. Wait a minute. Wasn't that the Bill of Rights,
the Constitution, the pursuit of happiness? Isn't that an American
right? You pursue happiness, and I promise
you, you will remain unhappy. Happiness is the byproduct of
knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. Happy are they, when the scripture
says blessed are they, happy are they who are poor. For theirs is the kingdom of
God. Happy are they who mourn. Happy are they who come before
God poverty stricken over their inability to save themselves
and listen to Christ and look to Christ. Theirs is the kingdom
of God. Happy are those who are broken
over their sin. They shall be comforted. Happy
are the meek. They shall inherit the ends of
the earth. Happy are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness,
they shall be filled." Happy are the Marys who sit at the
feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and listen to His voice. That's
where happiness comes. You pursue happiness anywhere
else and you will remain unhappy. Are you weak? He's strong. His strength is made perfect
in our weakness. Paul said, when I'm weak, then
I'm strong. Lord, I can't do it. I can't do it. Good. That's why I afflicted you with
that trouble. I brought that very thing into
your life to bring you to the place to where you finally realize
you can't do it and to sit you down and to open your ears and
open your heart. To move you from Martha to Mary. And that's mercy. That's mercy that God would do
that for us. Are you sinful? I mean full of
sin. You look at yourself, you don't
see anything but sin. He's righteous. Your righteousness
before God. He's the fullness of the Godhead
bodily and you are complete in Him. He's given us His name. The Lord
our righteousness is the name of His church. He is our righteousness,
all our righteousness before God. There's no condemnation. No condemnation to them who are
in Christ Jesus. Not having their own righteousness.
Men go about trying to establish their own righteousness, but
it can't be done. Why do they do it? Because they're
ignorant of the righteousness of God. In Him there is no sin. I said, but Sim seems so powerful
in my life. He's the answer to that. You're being encumbered. You're
pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. You're renewing your commitment.
You're determining to do better. All you're doing is setting yourself
up for failure, putting yourself under the law. Sin shall not
have dominion over you. Why? Because you're not under
the law, you're under grace. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself
is the only power against sin that you'll ever know anything
about. He's the only power. And He has to work in you in
order to cause you to will and to do of His good pleasure. Is sin a problem for you? He's
the solution. There's one answer. There's one prescription for
every problem. I open this up by saying, I know
what your greatest need is, because it's exactly the same as mine.
And we all have different circumstances that God has ordained for us,
but it doesn't change the prescription. Mary hath chosen that one thing
that is needful, and it shall not be taken away from her. You say, where do I do that?
Well, you're doing it right now. When this word is opened, and
when the Lord Jesus Christ is lifted up, He said, and if I
be lifted up, I will draw all men to Me, And as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted
up, looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, the only power over the
serpents of sin that there are." He's the only one. Turn with me to Psalm 2. Burt just read from First Corinthians, God's pleased
to use the foolishness of preaching to save them which believe. When man by wisdom knew not God. Oh, let the philosophers and
the religious men of this world pursue their dreams. They're not going to discover
God. God through the foolishness of preaching. Look at Psalm 2,
verse 1. Why do the heathen rage and the
people imagine a vain thing? We ask that. We ask what Isaiah
said, Lord, who has believed our report? This world's in a
mess. My life's in a mess. The kings of the earth set themselves
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
the anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder and
cast away their cords from us. We'll not have this man reign
over us. Listen, the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord over the living
and the dead. Somebody starts talking to you
about making Jesus Lord of your life, they have no idea what
they're talking about. Because the truth is, He already
is. Whether you believe Him or...
That's what He's saying here. Why do the heathen rage? Why
do they say a vain thing? Why do they say, well, let's
cast this cord asunder. We're not going to... They're being
foolish. Why are they being foolish? Look.
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall hold
them in derision. My creatures are raising their
fist at me? As if they can control me or decide
for themselves what I'm going to do? How silly. Then shall He speak unto them
in His wrath. Oh, I don't want Him to speak
to me in His wrath. I want to be like Mary. I want to hear
His words of kindness. I want to hear words of mercy.
I want to hear words of grace. I want to hear words of forgiveness.
I want to hear words of hope. But those who stand in opposition
to Him are going to hear His voice. But it won't be any of
that. He'll speak in His wrath. and vex them in His sore displeasure."
Verse 6, "...yet have I set my King upon
my holy hill." Zion! That's where we're at right now.
This is Zion. This is where the King is sitting
upon His throne. He said, "...where two or three
are gathered together in My name, there I am in the midst of them."
This is where he's pleased to make himself known to us. He
said, I inhabit the praise of my people. John saw him walking
among the candlesticks. We're sitting at his feet right
now. That's why you don't have to
manipulate and entice and shame believers to come to service.
They want to be here. If you've tasted of the heavenly
gift, if you've heard His voice before, you want to hear it again.
If you've had the privilege that Mary had sitting at the feet
of Christ and having that one thing that's needful met in your life, you can't get enough. I know if a person has no love
for public worship and for preaching of the gospel, it's only because
they know nothing of the love of Christ. David said in Psalm 50 verse
2, Out of Zion the perfection of beauty God hath shined. This is where he shines forth
his glory. Well, I tell you, I know you do too. I look forward
to being here every time we get together. This is where the Lord Jesus
Christ speaks. This is where He speaks. Oh,
He speaks in private prayer and in private devotion. And if we've
had the joy of experiencing that, we just want to come back to
that too. He speaks through the fellowship of believers as we
encourage one another in Christ. That's where we sit at His feet. I want you to notice in our text, will you go back
there with me please? Verse 38. Now it came to pass as they went
that he entered into a certain village and a certain woman named
Martha received him into her home. I love that story in Luke chapter
24 when the disciples on the road to Emmaus The Lord speaks
to them after the resurrection and reveals Himself to them through
the Scriptures. And when they got to their home
in Emmaus, the Scripture says that He acted as if He would
have gone on, and they persuaded Him to stay. They compelled Him
to come into their home. Why? Because their hearts had
burned within them. He had put into their hearts
a desire for more of Him. And when he came in, the breaking
of bread and their eyes were opened and they saw him for who
he was. Coming to Christ is not a choice.
You won't come to Christ unless he shuts you up and leaves you
without any place else to go. But when you come to Christ,
you come because you want to. He makes you willing in the day
of His power. He causes us to long for Him,
to hunger and thirst after Him. You see that in verse 42? The
one thing that is needful, Mary hath chosen the good part. If you choose Him, it'll be because
He first chose you. If you love Him, it'll be because
He first loved you. But that doesn't mean you don't
choose or you don't love. And you don't plead and you don't
ask and you don't come. If you're thirsty, it's because
He fed you the salt of the gospel and made you thirsty. But you
run to the well of water and drink freely. If you're hungry, it's because
He caused a hunger and thirst for righteousness in your very
soul. But you come and you eat. Mary
hath chosen the one thing that is needful. You see, the fact that we would
have a desire for Christ is evident that he's done a work
of grace. Listen to the words of John Newton. "'Tis a point I long to know. Oft it causes anxious thought. Do I love the Lord, or no? Am I His, or am I not? If I am, why am I thus? Why this dull and lifeless frame? Hardly sure can they be worse
who have never heard His name. Could my heart so hard remain? Prayer, a task, a burden to prove? Every trifle give me pain if
I knew the Savior? When I turn my eyes within, all
is dark and vain and wild, filled with unbelief and sin. Can I
deem myself a child? If I pray, or hear, or read,
sin is mixed with all I do. You that love the Lord indeed,
tell me, is it so with you? Yet I mourn my stubborn will,
Find my sin a grief, a thrall? Should I grieve for what I feel
if I did not love at all? Could I joy His saints to meet? Do you enjoy being around God's
people? Choose the ways I once abhorred? Are you uncomfortable in those worldly settings? I
feel out of place. Find at times the promise sweet,
if I did not love the Lord. Lord, decide the doubtful case. Thou who art Thy people's Son,
shine upon Thy work of grace, if it be indeed begun. Let me love Thee more and more,
If I love at all, I pray. If I've not loved before, help
me to begin today. Now John Newton had a friend. His name was Daniel Herbert.
And Daniel read the words to that song and he wrote these
words back to John Newton. What is this point that you long
to know? Methinks, I hear you say, tis
this, I want to know I'm born of God, an heir of everlasting
bliss. Tis this the point that you long
to know? The point is settled in my view, for if you want to
love your God, it proves that He first loved you. I want to
know Christ died for me. I want to feel the seal within.
I want to know Christ's precious blood was shed to wash away my
sin. I want to feel more love to Christ.
I want more liberty in prayer. But when I looked within my heart,
it almost drives me to despair. I want a mind more firmly fixed
on Christ, my everlasting head. I want to feel my soul alive
and not so barren and so dead. I want more faith, a stronger
faith. I want to feel its power within.
I want to feel more love to God. I want to feel less love to my
sin. I want to live above the world
and count it all but trash and toys. I want more tokens of God's
grace, some foretaste of eternal joys. I want, I know not what
I want, I want that real special good. Yet all my wants are summed
up here. I want to love. I want my God. Is this the point you long to
know? The dead can neither feel nor see. It is the slave that's
bound in chains that knows the worth of liberty. So where a
want like this is found, I think I may be bold to say that God
has fixed within your heart what hell can never take away. Mary hath chosen that one thing
that is needful. however small thy grace appears,
there's plenty in thy living head. These wants, you feel,
my Christian friend, were never found among the dead." Do you want Christ? I mean really
want Him. You want Him. Do you believe
that He is the one thing that's needful? Mary hath chosen that good part. If God puts into your heart that
desire for Him, to choose Him, to seek Him, to want Him, that's the evidence of His grace. Sit. Listen. It will never be taken away.
Ever. If the Lord ever gives you an
interest in Christ, it will be forever. Eternity. All your wanderings and waverings, you won't be able to get away
from. If you can leave, if you can
leave the gospel, you will. You will. If you can, you will. If God's given you the Spirit
of Mary, you're just going to keep coming and sitting down. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, We look within and we see so
much doubt and unbelief and so much fretting and being encumbered
with so many worldly things. We wonder if we know Thee at
all. We ask, Lord, that You would
shut our mouths, sit us down, open our ears, cause us to hear
Thy voice. Lord, you said, for this cause
came I into this world, to bear witness to the truth. They that
are of the truth hear thy voice. Lord, would you be pleased to
make us of the truth and cause us to hear thy voice? We ask it for our soul's sake,
for Christ's sake. It is the one thing that is needful. Amen. Tom, would you come please? Number
374 in the hardback temple. Let's stand. Cheese!