I'm going to ask you to take
your Bible and turn with me to the Gospel according to Luke.
Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. I'd like to preach this morning
on the subject of one thing needful. One thing needful. Luke 10. Let's read together, and then
ask our Lord's blessing. 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 house. And she had a sister
called Mary, which also said to Jesus, heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about
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." Let's pray together. Our Father, this morning, we
ask you to bless your Word. Have mercy, oh for Christ's sake. Lord, would you bless the Word
to the honor of our precious Savior and for the good, comfort,
salvation of your people. Lord, we ask these things for
Christ's sake. Amen. The passage of Scripture
this morning deals with our Lord and two women that the Scripture
sets forth. that the Lord loved. John 11
5 says this, now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Oh what a precious, precious
passage of scripture. The Lord loved them. Now I know this, since he loved them right then,
according to that scripture, I know that He always loved him,
because Almighty God doesn't change. I've loved you with an
everlasting love. Therefore, knowing that He loved
them, I know that He was surely going
to show them mercy. Jeremiah 31.3, Yea, I have loved
thee with an everlasting love. because I love you. Therefore, with loving kindness,
have I drawn thee. No man can come except the Father,
which has sent me, the Lord Jesus Christ said, drawn thee, affectionately,
lovingly, making that man, that woman, willing in the day of
God's Oh, I asked myself this morning, has He drawn me? I think He has. And therefore,
having drawn me, I know, according to His Word, that He's everlastingly
loved me. It's my hope that He would set
His love upon me. Deuteronomy 4.37, And because
He loved thy fathers, Therefore he chose their seed after them,
and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of
Egypt." Well, loving his people, I know that the Lord in time
shall cross their path with the glorious gospel grace in time. Well, the scripture says, verse
38, 39, came to pass. I wondered how many times that
phrase, it just interested me. It came to pass. And I looked
it up, just from my own understanding, 687 times. In the scriptures, it says he
came to pass. You know what that says to me?
God's got a purpose. Almighty God does what he does
on purpose. He came to pass. He had eternally
willed it. He had eternally purposed it. they went, that is, as the Lord
Himself, those that were with Him, here He was doing only,
always those things that pleased His Father. That the Scripture
says He entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha
received Him into her house. Oh, the our blessed Lord, going
to a certain town, meeting certain people, distinguishing grace. You notice how in the Scriptures
when we read God's Word, how it's just the setting forth of
God's sovereignty and God's purpose and God's will, it just permeates,
just permeates everything that is
said in his holy word. Distinguishing grace. How I thank the Lord that God
has chosen to show mercy. Certain village, certain time,
certain woman. I want you to just look at the
same chapter, Luke 10. Look at verse 8. Luke 10, verse 8, talking about
Martha receiving him into her house. Into whatsoever city you
enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before
you, and heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The
kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. but into whatsoever city
you enter, and they receive you not. Go your ways out into the
streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust of your city,
which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you. Notwithstanding,
be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come now unto
One, the kingdom of God came nigh unto them in mercy and grace
and power. And by the grace of God, they
received Him. But if they received Him not,
in the day of judgment, the very dust that cleaved, the Scripture
said, on the ones that preach Christ, the very dust that came
and hailed to cleave to them on their shoe, will be brushed
off as a witness. The dust itself will rise up
and say, I was there. I was there. These preachers
came. Oh, the miracle of God's grace
that the kingdom of God would come nigh unto a person And Almighty
God would move in power and grant a new heart. And they perceived
Him. Scripture says that that's what
happened. Came to pass, He entered into a certain village and a
certain woman named Martha received Him into her house. By the grace of God. Come in. Welcome here. And the Scripture says in verse
39, And she had a sister called Mary. which also sat at Jesus'
feet and heard his word. Here we find Martha's sister,
Mary. Again, we find the grace of God
in a very humble posture, one that is of a needy soul. and heard His word, desiring
to learn, desiring to hear, listening to the voice of Him who is life
itself, as the Lord is pleased to teach.
May we, by God's grace, be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow
to wrath, ready to receive and be resigned to whatever he has
to say, whatever he was going to say that day, whatever it
was, that's what she wanted to hear. Lord, what will you say
today? The very blessing of this speaking
has never been done away with. The Lord absolutely still speaks. Boy, I know how easy it would
be to say, I could think this myself. Boy, wouldn't that have
been wonderful? Just to be able to sit at his
feet and to listen to what he had to say that day. Wouldn't
that have been wonderful? He still speaks right now. That's
never been done away with. The Lord Jesus Christ still speaks.
Paul the Apostle said in 2 Corinthians 5.20, Now then we are ambassadors
for Christ as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you
in Christ's name be you reconciled to God. The Lord speaks just
as surely as he spoke that day. And Mary sat at his feet and
heard him speak. Paul said, we're ambassadors.
We pray you in Christ's name, say in Christ's words, my sheep,
hear my voice. I understand she heard something
with the corporal ear. I know that. But she heard more
than just the corporal ear. She heard with ears that he had
given her, that longed after his word. And whatever he had
to say that day was according to his purpose and will. And
whatever he says this morning, as we search these scriptures
and look in his word and seek after his guidance and direction,
whatever he has to say, that's what we want to hear. May the
Spirit of God bless it to our hearts. The message of God's
preachers must be regarded. that which He has said. These
are not our words. This is not the gospel of my
origination or any other preacher of the gospel. This is the glorious
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're spokesmen. It's God's word. It's God's truth. It is God that
speaks. And what we say according to
His word and in His name according to His authority should be received
with the respect that is due a message directly from Almighty
God Himself. That's the seriousness of what
we hear. The seriousness of what we preach.
Mary said that Jesus is speaking. He's listening. He's hearing. Whatever He has to say, that's
what we want to hear. about much serving. I came to
him and said, Lord, does thou not care that my sister has left
me to serve alone? Bitter, therefore, that she helped
me. Martha, first of all, I know this, she was just too busy to
hear what the Lord had to say. And I can truthfully say if she
was too busy, too distracted, and she was just too busy. The Lord had come to serve. He's
the servant of God, the servant of His Father. He had come to
serve, and Martha, according to the Scripture, was just too
taken up with stuff to hear what He had to say. In this verse
I see three things that are apparent. Therefore, they manifest what
happens when someone, and we are all like this, what happens
when someone has become distracted from hearing the word of the
Lord. Here is the first thing. We are
forgetful. of God's promise. When we are
too busy, when we hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Spirit of God takes this Word and blesses it. It's food to
our soul, and we hear God's Word to His people, and the Spirit
of God takes the glorious gospel and we feed upon the bread of
heaven itself. But because of the frailty of
our flesh, and oh how quickly we recognize we're all distracted,
she was cumbered about my serving. Every child of God will readily
admit Oh, how I see that in myself. She's come to me. Here's the
first thing. We're forgetful of God's promise.
Lord, dost thou not care? Not care? The scripture says,
1 Peter 5, 7, casting all your care upon Him, for He careth
for you. Lord, Does thou not care? Because she was so comfortable,
so busy, so distracted, and the Lord loved her. The Lord loved
her. Here is a picture of the struggles
that we have with the flesh and spirit Lord, do you not care
when the cares of this world, whatever they are, health issues,
money issues, family issues, when they press upon us and we're
distracted because we start looking at those things, those things
that we're taken up with, those things that we're comforted with, we forget. We forget His promise. Lord, do you not care? The Lord
Jesus Christ, the Scripture says, set forth, loves His people. Affectionately cares for them. He's loved them from the beginning.
I've always loved you. And He loves them. The Scripture
says, I loved them to the end. Thanks be unto God. There is no end to them. Who shall I say sent me? Moses
said, you tell them I am the eternal, the I am sent you. Oh, how distractions, cumbered
by much serving. How these distractions are such
a hindrance to us, aren't they? We forget. Hindrance in prayer,
hindrance in study, hindrance in hearing right now. Now let's
all be honest about it. I wonder how many things have
passed through my mind while I've been preaching right here,
and we just forget them. We just start looking at that.
I forgot. I forgot. I forgot. Secondly,
we become self-centered. Martha was comforted about much
certain, came unto him and said, Lord, dost thou not care, and
listen to this, self-centered, that my sister hath left me. to serve alone. There's no doubt that what Martha
was doing, I'm sure, had some merit. Here was the Lord, and
Martha knew Him, and He knew her, and knew her affectionately. But what she was doing was not
the priority. I'm not saying that what she
was doing wasn't a good thing, but compared to what she was
doing and leaving the other undone, made what she was doing to be
a hindrance to her. But seek ye first the kingdom
of God and His righteousness, in all these things shall be
added unto you. Is there ever anything that is
more important than hearing God speak? Hearing the Lord of Glory speak,
mark this down, when the hearing of God's Word plays second fiddle,
self is exalted. Thirdly, when we're distracted,
we're prone to forget our place. Be it heard therefore that she
helped me. I mean, who was she talking to? You remember, when the Lord had
gone to the wedding at Cana of Galilee, the scripture says that
Mary The mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, woman,
what have I to do with thee? Now here's what he said to her.
What I do, what part of that do you have? None. None. That's what he said. As I said
before, he wasn't being disrespectful. He was telling her. My action, you have no part in
it. Mine hour is not yet come, and
his mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you,
do it. Failure to consistently hear
his word causes us to focus upon our problems. And I will tell you this, whenever
we're cumbered about much serving, we ourselves, absolutely, we
forget our place. Lord, you speak. Luke Samuel says, Thy servant
here I am. Lord, I'm here to hear you. I've
come today to hear what you have to say. Lord, would you bless
this word to my heart. Lord, I don't even know what
my need is, but I do know this, that you're a supplier. You are
the supplier. I know you're the Lord. Lord,
I don't even know what to ask for, but whatever I need, I know
that the scripture is set forth. And almighty God shall supply
all of my need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Really. Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Does he not
know best? We've just come this morning
just beggars, beggars, servants, servants of the Most High God.
We've come today for no other reason, I pray, I pray for myself,
I pray this is so, than to hear what He has to say and be fed
by Him. much serving and came to him
and said, Lord, why does thou not care? Or no, does thou not
care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore
that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto
her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful. You're just anxious
and troubled. You're disturbed about many things. Oh, the tenderness of our Lord
to remind Martha of her frailty. I need to be reminded of this.
I need to be reminded of His tenderness and His long-suffering
toward me. I need this. Lord, help me. Lord, forgive
me. Oh, how Martha Mary's desires
truly us of the struggle between the flesh and the spirit within
every believer. Martha was learning a lesson,
it was hard. And we need to be learning this every day. Lord,
remind me of this. Marvin, Marvin, you're careful and troubled about
many things. Settle down. Settle down. Don't forget, I've always loved
you. I will surely do you good. You're
just anxious and disturbed about things that I shall take care
of. Yeah, but Lord, what about this?
Settle in. Settle in. It's okay. Oh, if I could just It just seems
like every once in a while, just for a moment, and I mean a fleeting
moment, as if I truly, for a second,
thought I could settle down, and then I find myself struggling
again. Struggling. Settle down. The flesh is ever
restless, it's ever uneasy, it's always concerned that everything
except Accept His Word. Accept God's
honor and God's presence. This flesh is never satisfied.
It's never happy. It's what Apostle Paul spoke
of in Romans 7 when he said, I delight in the law of God,
the gospel of God's grace after the end of man. But I see another
law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Lord, help me. Lord, thank you for your tenderness.
Thank you. That was a tender thing. That
was a loving word from our Lord. Martha, Martha, I'm careful and
troubled about many things, but one thing's new. the word from the lips of Him
who is Almighty God, one thing is needful. Oh, Lord, as I see
the frailty of my flesh, and I'm reminded, Lord, of Your love
to me, that You would teach me of Yourself, that You would call
me out of darkness, Lord, that You would give me a heart that
does want to hear from You. that does want to follow you,
that does love you. Lord, and I see the cumbersome
of my struggles. I see that. One thing's needful. One thing is needful. And Mary
had chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from
her. What Mary was doing tells us what that one thing made for
me is. That good part that shall not
be taken away from her. Everything else except hearing
Him. Everything else except keeping
close company with the Lord is cumbersome. We travel through this veil of
tears. Oh, may the Spirit of God remind
us of the one thing that's needful. I need His Word to my soul. I need for Him, who is the good
Lord, to speak to me. Mary sat there, and she heard
what He had to say. And thanks be unto God that God
Almighty has sent His Word to His people. That's what these
scriptures are. This is the Word of God to God's
people. The Lord is spoken. He's not
silent. He's not silent in 2012. He's
not silent. He speaks. And in His infinite
wisdom, He sent preachers, and the world kind of says it's foolishness,
just foolishness. No. This is the wisdom of God. This is God's wisdom. And we're
sitting here as needy people. I want to hear what God has to
say. And the Lord has spoken. Spoken through His Word. One
thing is needful, the enjoyment of the Lord's presence.
Lord, if you're here, everything's okay. Lord, if you speak, all
is well. He is that one good part that
every regenerated saint longs for, and thirsts after, and must
hear, must hear. Mary chose the good part, not
because of anything that originated with her. I know that. The Lord
told me, He said, You've not chosen me, I chose you. We love Him because He first
loved us. We call upon Him because He first called on us. Salvation
is all of grace. But there is an evidence of that
which the Lord has done. We want to hear it, and we agree
with Almighty God when we see the frailty of this flesh, and
we're comforted with it, aren't we? We're comforted with this.
Much serving. It's important to us at the moment, but it's not the priority. Seeking first God's kingdom gives
righteousness. The Lord has made this girl.
with him in the day of his power. She was there to receive from
the Lord and she did. And here's the wonderful thing.
The desire that she had for him, the hunger that she had for his
word, the realization that he alone is the one that's worthy
to be heard. He said that's not going to be
taken away. Oh, the grace of our God that
preserves us in Christ. I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. Oh, in closing, let me ask you
this. In the day of our departure from this world, in the day of
our Lord's second coming, what will be the one thing needful
that day? Whatever that is, that's the one thing that's needful
right now, because we are here, but it's not needful. We have
no promise whatsoever that we'll take another breath. One thing
needful. William Mason wrote this, where,
O my soul, canst thou find peace in all thy troubles Christ's
word can only bring release. Sit at thy Savior's feet. May the Lord bless these words
to our hearts for Christ's sake.