First of all, I'd like to thank
the tremendous hospitality that Melinda and I have received at
your gracious hands, Marvin, Glenda, and I guess I need to
mention Glenn. Oh, there he is. We've thoroughly enjoyed our
visit. This is just icing on the cake,
except for I've got to stand up here and say something, a
wonderful message. That last hymn says, My desire
for us this morning, that we would hear what he's got to say. Whoever's speaking the gospel,
if the gospel's preached, Let us listen. May He give us ears
to hear and desire to obey. We're going to look at Luke chapter
10. We're going to see another visitation
from our Lord to His precious people. We're going to look at
the two sisters, Martha and Mary. Martha and Mary. And we're going
to start in chapter 10 in verses 38 through the end of the chapter.
Let me read this to you. Now, it came to pass as they
went that he, that is Christ, entered a certain village. And
a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
She had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet
and heard his words. But 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, but one thing is needful. And Mary hath
chosen that good part. which shall not be taken away
from her." Now, in order to... I really want to look at Mary,
but in order to get to Mary, we need to talk about Martha
a little bit. And let's not be mistaken. The Lord loved Martha. Okay, because what we're going
to see here in a little bit is astonishing, shocking, but it's
the old flesh that rears its ugly head. And the Scriptures,
they don't hide that. In the best of believers, the
Scriptures do not hide what we are. And we own up to that. But
I want to make no mistake here. She worshipped Christ. She was
called by His rich grace. And you remember when her brother
Lazarus had died, Mary stayed in the house, and Martha was
the first one to run out to meet the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's make no mistake, Martha
loved her Lord and the Lord loved her. Yet in Martha, we see much
of ourselves in her. As the scripture says, sin is
still present in the believer. Look at what it says in verse
40. Martha was cumbered, that word
is she was distracted. Now, in this world, and especially
religious world, of activity, doing things, there needs to
be less activity. We do too much. The world is
distracted, and how easily we fall into such distractions as
well. Did not Martha receive Christ
into her house? Was she not preparing a meal
for the Lord Jesus Christ? What she was doing was commendable. But when she, religious or irreligious,
or non-religious, she allowed these things to distract her. Was cumbered about with much
serving. She's serving the Lord, yes.
But look at the next few lines. This, this is me in a nutshell. Lord, dost, do you not care? Stop right there. Stop right
there. Does that sentence even look
right? Lord, do you not care for me? I just, it's amazing. We, to whom the Lord has said,
I will never leave you nor forsake you, could say such a thing. We, to whom the Lord has spoken,
are you not much more than a sparrow? Could think such things. And
yet, when we complain, When we murmur about so many things,
we are saying to our beloved brother, our darling Redeemer,
our compassionate friend, do you not care? I ask for myself that the Lord
would bring me, would bring us low in repentance for such wayward
thoughts, to question our Lord's care for us when he has done
so much for us. It's amazing. But all sin will
rear its ugly head whenever it can. Look at the next thing she says. Her sister, she has a name, doesn't
she? It's Mary. You would think that
she would go to Mary and say, come on, but she goes to the
Lord and says, that woman, my sister, she's got a name, fellow
believers in the grace of God. Now she's telling the Lord what
to do. Bid her. Bid her. I don't know if it was
Gil, but one of the writers of old, he said, Mary came and sat. Martha came as one. She came standing as one that
was one instructing. Ordering about. And then she
was still standing, she came as one standing, speaking and
then was intending to leave. Not listening. But telling her
complaint. So how do we deal with such things? Just like our Lord did, and he
says, Martha, Martha, can you not hear the love in that? Exchange the compassion, the
forbearance, the tenderness, the gentleness, Oh, Lord, teach
us to address the saints of God with such long suffering and
tenderness. Because and I've been struggling
with this very thing where I work. It's just I get, you know, you
wake up and you just think, well, you know, what's the day going
to bring? Is it going to be good? Is it going to be bad in our
own sense of speaking? And then I have to step back and say, He cares. He cares. He cares
for his sheep. And then when somebody else flies
off, then I'm quick. Get back in line or try to...
No. Martha, Martha. Let us learn
from our Master to deal with one another, because
really, This is all we got. This is all the believers got.
We just have one another and it may be my thousands of miles
away and maybe 12 hours away and maybe right next door. But
the believer, the household of faith, this is all we really
have. Let us not. Take his grace for
granted. Your former pastor taught me
many things, and I loved him dearly, and I'm loving this one,
this pastor, your pastor, more and more. And I remember Donnie
Bell telling me when there were some things going on, he said,
don't ever burn any bridges. And if you're going to stop talking
to me, it's going to be you. I'm going to assume the low road. By God's grace, God helping me,
I'm going to assume the low road. and let us walk together and
see our Lord magnified among sinners. Well, I really wanted
to get through that to get to Mary. But Christ says she has chosen that one thing needful. What was this? Well, first of
all, I don't want to be found not doing this. I want to be
found doing what Mark Mary did. I want to be found seeking and
adoring Christ, and I don't want to miss Him. I told Marvin when
he came down to Cape Girardeau, to Jackson, I believe it's in
1 Corinthians 9, that passage scares me to death, that I could
be preaching to others and be a castaway. I myself, preaching
and then not being found in His righteousness. That scares me
to death. I ask the Lord to keep me, to
keep you, to know our hearts. The believer is not afraid. Lord,
search me and try me. Here I am. See if there be any wicked way
in me. I do not want to miss. Christ,
we're gathered together to hear of him. We don't want to miss
him. And if I don't say anything very
well, that was it. Well, you heard the gospel already
this morning. But let's look at what he said
to Mary. And this is what I want to do, and this is what I want
for you. I want to, as we talked about
before we came up here, comfort you, comfort you, my people,
and I pray that there would be some comfort in here. and God
would be honored among us. The first thing it says is that
in verse 39, she sat at Jesus' feet. Well, to me, this shows
that she's in total subjection to Him and His Word. Total subjection. Total subjection to His rights
over her. To His lordship and utter control
over her life. owing to the fact that he is
high and that she is low. It's almost as though she's saying,
Lord, do with me as you see fit. There is a true story. Sovereign Grace preacher, you
know who this gentleman is. I'm not going to mention any
names. But he was out hunting one morning and he came across
a dog that had been captive in a coyote trap. And he felt sorry for the dog,
so he was going to try to release it. Well, it was snapping at
him. Nature's snapping. And he's like,
well, so he got, he said, well, he's going to walk away. But
no, I need to free the dog. He got a stick and he jammed
it under the dog, under the dog's jaw, neck and couldn't move.
And he released the lever. and set the dog free. Picked
up his gun, and he went back hunting. Well, a couple of hours
later, he thought he heard something. He turned around. There's an
old dog. Just kind of following him from
a distance. So he finished his hunting, went home. Dog's a little
closer. Apparently, he fed the dog, kept
the dog. He was his faithful companion.
until that dog finally died years later. Mary saw what she was,
realized what the blessed Redeemer had done for her, and she followed
him for the rest of his life. It's as simple. Salvation is
all of grace. has a work. And His people hear
His voice, they sit at His feet, they hear His Word, and they
follow Him. Now, we get into details of each
and every one of our lives. How to follow? You simply follow
Christ. You follow Christ. We won't turn there, but in Matthew
chapter 15, Well, I'm going to turn there
real quick. Matthew chapter 15, and verses 21 through 28. Then
Jesus went, dancing the part of the coast of Tyre and Sinai.
And behold, a woman of Canaan came out the same coast and cried
unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. But Christ answered her not a
word. And his disciples came and saw
her and said, Send her away. She cries after us. He answered and said, I am not
sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then she
came again and worshipped him. Now we're going to look at that
word worship, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered her and said,
it is not me to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs.
And she said, truth, Lord. She said, I'm a dog. I am a dog. Truth, Lord. Yet the dogs eat
of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Then Jesus answered her and said,
O woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou
wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour." That
word, worship, I don't know Greek, Hebrew, but
I've got tools that tell me what things are. That word, worship,
in most places in the New Testament, it means to lick or kiss the
hand like a dog. Isn't that right? This is why we were created.
To worship our glorious God in the person of Jesus Christ. Oh,
to do so. And if we're taught of God to
see ourselves as we are revealed in this book, And to see Him
suffering, bleeding, and dying for us, we will indeed prostrate
ourselves gladly. Worship, licking, kissing the
hand of the Master. Well, the second thing that she
says, she sat at Jesus' feet and heard His Word. Here's the living Word. Speaking to her from the written
word, the gospel, the good news, we used to say the three R's
back in the day, ruined by the fall, redemption by the blood,
and regeneration by the Spirit. What did he say? I don't think
we really have to guess here. He spoke of those things that
were written of him in the book of Moses and the prophets and
the law. Because they didn't have the
New Testament. So he's Old Testament references. I can only imagine,
speculate to some extent, what he said. But I know that she
was sitting at his feet in total subjection, owning herself as what she was
before a thrice holy God, and heard his word. He says the scriptures are they
which testify of me, he said. Lo, in the volume of the book
it is written of me. He may have spoken, he may have
went to Jesse, he may have spoken about the ark. I'm that ark.
Those who are inside the ark are safe. Those who are on the
other side are experiencing the wrath of God. He may have brought her to Jacob's
ladder and said, I am that ladder by me, through me, upon me is
the only way to heaven's gate to glory. He probably said, I'm that everlasting
covenant our brother spoke about when he spoke to David, I am
that everlasting covenant ordered in all things ensure that was
David's only hope, only desire and only salvation. And she just
sat there and listened to beautiful illustrations, listened to truth. He may have mentioned that he
was that near kinsman redeemer and the one who had the right
to redeem. And he chose to redeem. He chose that right. And he redeemed
a number which no man can number is the same in the sea. He may have told her, he said,
I'm that one who stood firm with Adrach, Meshach, and Abednego
in that fiery furnace. And therefore they came out unscathed. Unscathed. Sin weighs heavy on
the believer. But rest assured, brethren, we
will cross over Jordan. We'll make it. We surely will.
Because our Redeemer is the mighty God. the everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. He may have told her that I'm
the one that freed Daniel from the lion's tent. But I know,
he said, before Abraham was, I am. Oh, the depth of the riches,
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are
his judgments. And His way is passed by me now. And because our Redeemer first
loved her, she loved Him, and believed Him, and believed these
things that she heard. She knew that in Christ she had
all things. I love this passage in Genesis
chapter 33. Turn there with me. Let's take a peek here. Genesis chapter 33, we have two
brothers, not two sisters, we have two brothers this time. Esau and Jacob. Jacob lifted up his eyes and
looked, and behold, Esau, and with him four hundred men, and
he divided the children unto Leah, and to Rachel, and unto
two handmaids. And he put the handmaids and
their children foremost, and Leah and her children after,
and Rachel and Joseph hindermost. And he passed over before them
and bowed himself to the ground seven times until he came near
his brother." He was afraid. He didn't know what was going
to go on. And he saw, "...ran to meet him, and embraced him,
and fell on his neck, and kissed him, and they wept. And he lifted
up his eyes, and he saw the woman and the children, and said, Who
are those with thee? And he said, The children which
God hath graciously given thy servant. Then the handmaidens
came near, and they and their children, and they bowed themselves.
And Leah also with her children came near and bowed themselves.
And after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves.
And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I have
met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my
Lord. And Esau said, Esau said, verse 9, I have enough, my brother,
keep that thou hast unto thyself. Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee,
if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my hand. For therefore I have seen thy
face as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased
with me. Now look at verse 11. Take, I
pray thee, my blessings. that it is brought to thee, because
God hath dealt graciously with me." That's what Mary knew. God had dealt graciously with
me. But look on, read on. And because
I have enough, he urged him to take it. Now, verse 9 says Esau
said, I have enough. And in your English, this translation
in verse 11, Jacob says, I have enough. They're saying the same
thing. No, they're not. No, they're
not. The words are different. He said, I have abundance. And isn't that what the people
of the world say? I've got enough. I'm doing fine. I may not have
as much as this neighbor, but I've got more than this neighbor.
And that's where we get into problems. We start comparing
ourselves one to another, and oh, that's not our standard. is the righteousness, the holiness
of God himself. And unless we got that, we've
got nothing. We'll be found wanting. But do
you know what that word is? That word enough? It looks like
they're saying the same thing. If Marvin walks down the street
and then the pastor of this meat church, I think is what it's
called. What a wonderful name. If they walk side by side, I
can't. It looks like the same, you know, friendly, nice, whatever,
but the believer Understand, he's been taught by the gospel,
he's been taught by the grace of God. The difference is, that
word, I have enough, I have all things. I have all things. And that's what our brother read
in 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Now, you can have abundance,
and if you're happy with that, then I pity you. Or, in Christ,
you have all. His grace is, or is it not, sufficient. Sufficient it is. All God has for and provided
for the sinner is found in Christ Jesus. Outside of Him, nothing. Absolutely nothing. You've heard
maybe some of the older ladies say, you've got all your eggs
in one basket. You've got all your eggs in one
basket. That's usually a negative connotation.
Militarily, It would be economically. They say diversify, diversify.
It would be. Spiritually. God has all his eggs in one basket. And that's the one I want to
be counting, I want to be, I want to have, I want if you have Christ,
you have all. Now, this can't be learned through
confirmation classes. It can't be learned through self-will
or self-worth or by any means of education. It must be learned
by grace, through faith, and that is not of yourselves. It
is the gift of God. It is the gift of God. It's the
unconditional, free, unmerited favor of God Almighty. In Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Pilgrim learned this. He had
that burden on his back, strapped to his back, and he went to the
law, and it got worse. It got heavier. And then when he entered through
that wicked gate, and as he looked up and beheld a blood-stained
cross with Immanuel, God with us, on it, then and only then,
that burden fell off. He turned around and watched
it roll away. Oh, to simply, eagerly, constantly,
consistently sit at our merciful Savior's feet
and hear Him day in, day out. one to another, encouraging one
another. Well, Mary understood this. She had, verse 39, a sister called
Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. What maketh thee to differ? Now,
I'm not talking about her, between her and Martha, because Martha
loved the Lord and the Lord loved her. That's just us. But like
Jacob and Esau, who maketh thee to differ? Now, I've given an
illustration, and I'm sure you've heard this. I haven't heard this
in a long time, but I love this illustration. There was an auction, and at
that auction to be sold an old, ragged, worthless violin. And the auctioneer stood up and
said, who will give me one dollar, two, three, maybe four? Nobody bid on it. So I'll give
you one dollar. One dollar. One. Going once,
going twice. Stop! It was heard in the back
room. And some old gentleman came up,
took the fiddle, tuned the strings, and started
playing it. The most lovely melody that was
ever heard. And everybody sat in awe. He walked back. And the auctioneer
said, Who will give me a thousand?
Two thousand? Three thousand? Four? Four thousand
dollars, said the gentleman. Going once, going twice, sold. Four thousand dollars. And at
the end of the auction, everybody was milling around. They said,
what was the difference? What made the difference? The
touch from the master's hand. He'll take old, no good, ratty,
self-willed, bigoted, self-righteous, ungodly, vile sinners. and call him unto himself, so
he may get the glory." The Master. A touch from the Master's hand.
And I close. I want to believe, and I'm just
speculating, I want to believe after this was said and done,
we don't know, it finishes in verse 42. But I would like to believe that
after everything was said and done, that Martha, took off her work apron and sat together with Mary at
the Master's feet. Kind of like we're doing right
now. Kind of like we're gathered together. You know, there's enough
differences in us that we probably, you know, we may not hang around
with one another outside of the gospel. But what brings us together? is Christ and Him crucified.
And that's why I believe so firmly that Paul, when he said, I declare
not to know anything among you, said Christ and Him crucified,
it wasn't just a statement, just to fill up words. Because the gospel will meet
every need that we have. The comfort of Christ and Him
crucified, the blessed substitutionary death of Christ for us, will take care of all our needs,
all our needs. Psalm 122 says, I was glad when
they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord and
let us magnify and praise and worship him evermore. Marvin.