complete dependence upon the
Lord for all needed help this evening. I wish to direct your
very prayerful attention to the chapter that was read in your
hearing, namely Luke's Gospel, Chapter 10, and the last verse,
verse 42. Luke's Gospel, Chapter 10, verse
42, "...but one thing is needful
and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken
away from her." "...but one thing is needful and Mary hath chosen
that good part which shall not be taken away from her." William Gadsby certainly knew
the very message of this text because he writes in 574, what
a precious needful thing is the Lord and Savior Zion shall His
mercy sing, now henceforth and ever. In Him a rich fullness
dwells, and is freely given. Law and conscience Jesus quells,
crooked things made even. But this is it. He is needful
as our all. May we ever cleave unto Him.
Every blessing, great and small, flows to Zion. through Him. Happy is the man indeed who has
such a Savior, every blessing he can need dwells in Him forever."
Now, it perhaps has become a cliche to say that Jesus is the one
thing needful, but That should never be a cliché. A cliché is defined as something
that is used so often, the word or the term becomes meaningless. This should never be meaningless. But that Christ is the one thing
needful is our very theme. Now you might say to me, But
that's always your theme. Well, I hope it is. I hope it's always the theme
that we preach. Because anything short of that
is insufficient. Mr. Grace, who was the pastor
at Osset, one of my predecessors who died in 1965, said, and was known to say, very regularly,
that I must never leave a sinner short of Jesus Christ. And this is what we have. Even
in this last paragraph here before us. Now, before we venture into
the text, it's necessary for us to actually examine the context
a little bit. very often when we are dealing
with our Lord's ministry it's sufficient to simply observe
that it was our Lord that is speaking that perhaps that whether
it was at the beginning or the middle or the end of his public
ministry where he was in his life and who else was present. But here it's necessary to examine
a little further, because we are dealing here with a particular
house, a particular place, which is not simply exclusively found
in this chapter, but you would note, most of you, if not all
of you are aware, that everything that we need to know about this
house here at Bethany is found not only in Luke's Gospel chapter
10, but in John's Gospel chapters 11 and 12. That will give us
the full picture for this place. And we see at verse 38, the paragraph
break. Now, the paragraph breaks are
very helpful for us. It's also very helpful if we
pause when we are reading, when we come to such a paragraph break,
because it's indicative of a new situation, or it's indicative
of a new line of argument. And we see here that they, that
is the Lord, and his disciples went into a certain village. And thus here we read of Martha
being receiving the people into her house. Now, there's one thing that we
must understand here which sets everything into context theologically. In John chapter 11 and verse
5, we read this, Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. It doesn't say that the Lord
loves all mankind. Didn't say that the Lord loved
all people in Bethany. He may have loved others, we
don't know. Almost certainly he did. But we know for sure
the Lord's intentions to those three people. Martha, Mary, and
Lazarus. And here we can see that Martha
received, not only did she receive the disciples on this occasion.
There were other occasions. It was a commonly visited place. But here we read of this particular
occasion which is recorded for us. And it's recorded for a particular
reason. It's recorded for his church.
It's recorded for us that we may benefit, that we may be edified
from such a fact today. And it was no small thing It's
not only 12 or 13 or 14, there's probably 16 people plus Martha, Mary and
Lazarus here were to be entertained. This is a wonderful expression
of Christian hospitality. And just noting this, they didn't
do these things because they had their arm twisted, as it
were. Martha's heart was open, Mary's heart was open, and the
house was open. And thus, the people came in. They did these things because
they desired to do. And once more we have to come
back to this gospel principle. If we undertake anything in the
Lord's name and for His cause for any other reason than a love
to the Lord Himself and His people, it's a poor reason. It really
is poor. But here we see there was a desire. There was a desire that the Lord's
name would be honored. There was a desire that His people
would be not only edified spiritually, but edified physically, because
if we are physically strong, then we can be edified, of course,
spiritually all the more easily, when the mind is clear, when
the body is healthy, are we not all the much more use in the
Lord's work, relatively speaking. And so we see here, in verse
39, and she had a sister called Mary which also sat at Jesus'
feet and heard His word. I want us to notice that the
first thing that took place when the Lord and His disciples came
to this house, the Lord Jesus opened the Scriptures. He preached
unto the people. That was the first thing that
took place. Now, we can often gauge a person's
spiritual state by their keenness, by their desire to hear the Word
preached. Not only to hear the Word preached,
but to hear the Word preached clearly. To hear it preached
faithfully. and to hear it preached directly. This was no ordinary preacher,
of course. This was the only infallible
preacher. This was the Lord Himself. There's
a man in Rome men say is infallible. Dear soul, there's only ever
been one infallible preacher. Only one. And you see, there's
been good preachers, there's been faithful preachers, there's
been exceptional preachers, like the Apostle Paul. But this was the only infallible
preacher. They sat at Jesus' feet and heard His Word. What a scene this must have been. A crowded house, but still There
is this hunger and this desire, more than anything, to hear the
preaching of the Gospel. And then we come to this, that
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. Excuse me. And so here, we can see Martha
was, she was diligent. Martha was someone who was sensitive
to the needs of others. And, of course, many of you will
know that Eastern hospitality has always been of the most exceptional
standard. And this is what would be desired. That the people would have the
very best. And so, Martha being cumbered
about much serving would be preparing here an exceptional, if not even
an elaborate, meal. And so, has Sister Mary been
not of the same mind in respect of the serving? In respect of
being busy about doing things? Martha looks to the Lord. Looks
to the Lord for confirmation. Looks to the Lord to seek approbation
on what she said. But the response is very interesting,
as well as been flawless, because the Lord says, Martha, Martha. Now, here we have something that
is essentially lost in translation. Because the original, Hendrickson
presses upon us very strongly, has not only a note of rebuke,
that's very definitely there, but also a note of sympathy. He sees her state, he sees her
predicament. The Lord is mindful of how she
read the matter, as it were. He says, thou art careful and
troubled about many things. That was her nature. And you
know, all men, all women, have their nature, they have their
natural inclinations. This was how she was. And you know, we have to accept
people as they are. You know, it's not a good thing
if we go about trying to change others all the time. And so the
Lord deals with her as she is. He says they are careful and
troubled about many things. But one thing is needful. And this is what we come to. One thing is needful. Just one. Just one. One thing is needful. Now, There
are certain things here we must also observe. That is, that the
Lord had opened the Word. He had opened the Word there,
for our present. And we see here Martha had only
just heard the Word. Like the others. Yet, she was
mindful about serving immediately it would see almost going about
the things the natural things the physical things that were
required now you might say to me this evening well how could
that be she just heard the Lord expand the scriptures and immediately
she goes about doing that Well it's indicative simply of this
that just like you and I Martha here had a sinful nature. That's what it comes down to.
Can we in any way throw stones as it were? I've been in the
pew much like you and there may be excellent sermons preached
But there's those things that press upon us, those things that
come in upon us, distract the mind and it can be taken away. None of us are exempt from it.
It's there. But here we see a difference.
We see a difference in this. Mary was in a good place. because he says, one thing is
needful and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not
be taken away from her. Now, here we are getting, getting
to the very crux of experiential religion. Once again, it's here
before us, because Experiential religion is not an apostolic
experience. Experiential religion is not
using our doubts and fears as a mark of grace. Experiential religion is to know
a person. And that's what we have before
us here. What's the difference here between Martha and Mary? Mary here is conversing with
the Lord. She was desirous to see Him physically,
as they did, yes. But it's more than that, isn't
it? It's to walk with Him. It is to commune with Him. it is to walk the narrow way. And so here, one thing is needful, only one
thing. Now we know, what is the Lord
saying here? We know that the kingdom of heaven
is not found in meat and drink, is it? And when we say that,
we're not those that advocate starving ourselves. We're not
those who advocate going to great extremes. We know Martin Luther,
when he was under the hand of Rome, was one who would engage
even in a flagellation and there would be that wearing of a more
uncomfortable garment. The whole idea being that Those
things, physical discomfort, in that sense, brings us nearer
to the Lord. That is a religion of works. And he had to be delivered from
it. And when he was delivered from it, completely delivered
from it, what took place? Glorious liberty! And thus we
read in his commentary to the Galatians, stand fast in the
liberty of which Christ hath made you free. Free! That's the difference. Free. Martha here, like all of us,
going about, going about busy, about many things, good intentions. good intentions but you know there's too much
in religion that presses upon what you do what you do and you're always
encouraged to be doing more real religion is not do real religion
is done Done. Done. And that's what we have
here before us. You know, real religion, experiential
religion is rest. It's rest. It's rest in this
person of whom we have before us. It's rest in this person
of whom Mary found so much liberty. And you know, that's the reality.
There's always something else to do. There's always something
else to do. But Mary hath chosen that good
part. What does that mean? That good
portion, as we might say. Well, it also has something else
here, that is lost in translation, as it were. And that is, that that good part
is spoken of as something that is incredibly rare. Rare. It's a rare thing. It's a rare thing. It is. Grace is a rare thing. Communion
with Christ is a rare thing. When we look at Once again we
look at the whole populace of the area. Look at Portsmouth,
the city, many people here. But how many have communion with
Christ? How many present in our Lord's
day had communion with Christ? There were many that came for
the loaves and fishes, There were many that came to
see the spectacular. As many people come to chapel
and they sit in the pew and they simply want the preacher to confirm
them as to where they are, either to exhort them to more good works
or that they may have an apostolic experience under the ministry.
Dear soul, we have it here before us. One thing is needful. This is not an inanimate object.
This is a person. And this is something that we
have to press every single sermon. Every time we preach. But one thing. One thing. And here There's certainly a
liberty to it, isn't there? We compare the two here, as they're
found. We know, and we had this discussion
earlier, some of us, that every believer's reward in heaven is
the same. The four and twenty elders, they
all cast their crowns before him. To say anything else is
to put the Lord under obligation to us almost as a payment to
a debt. Our reward is to see Christ himself
and that's the same for every Christian. But we have to say this, don't
we? There are those who see things much clearer than others here
below. And Mary here She saw things
clearly. She saw things and was favored
to see that of which Martha didn't hear. And it's all principally
around this rest. One thing is needful. Here the Lord is addressing the
matter of the heart. The heart. A sinful heart has
and requires but one antidote, a great Savior. And thus, communing with Him,
in the way that Mary did, had that lasting effect. And I'm sure, there are times,
if we profess the Lord's name at all, There are times when
communion with Christ has been so real. So real. It's been like that good part.
And nobody, absolutely nobody can take it from you. Nobody. And is that, has that
not proved to be the case down the years? The martyrs, many
of them who'd suffered great things, and there are those today
in various parts of the world who suffer greatly for the cause
of Christ. There's no strict Baptist chapel
to prop them up then, is there? There's no outward trappings
of religion to prop them up then. We are shut up, as it were, to
ourselves and the Lord. And that's what we have here.
Mary hath chosen that good path. She's walking here in communion
with the Lord. It shall not be taken from her. It shall not be taken from her
because the Lord does not abandon his people. If we have grace,
grace makes itself manifest. It makes itself manifest inwardly
and then it makes itself manifest outwardly. In other words, we
have to speak of those things that the Lord has done for us
and walk not, either fearing the frown or courting the smile
of men. But one thing is needful. Now it's this, was it not, that
kept David in his dying days. All manner of chaos going on
around him. You might say he brought much
of it on himself and we know there's a side to David that
that was indeed, like all men, sinful. But despite all that
was going on, he could say this, "...though my house be not so
with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things, and sure." What we have before us here is something
that is so real It is that of which I am desirous to possess
and I'm desirous for you also to possess it. It's that which
is known by grace, that good part, to know communion with the Lord. And what is that? What is that? Well, it's despite
all of our sins, despite all of what we are, despite all of
what we have done, all that we have said, and all that we have
thought, there is liberty. Where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty. We quoted that on Thursday night,
but there's something else here. This man receiveth sinners and
eateth with them. communion with Christ is the
most glorious thing a person can know. It brings peace, it
brings joy, it brings a strengthening, it brings establishing, it brings
a settling in the Gospel, in this person. And all I can say
in conclusion is this, If we know anything of what Mary has
experienced here, in walking with the Lord, then it will take
us to heaven at last. But one thing is needful, and
Mary hath chosen that good path which shall not be taken away
from her. Amen.