Let's be turning to Luke chapter
nine. One of the primary lessons that
is taught to us here is that Christ is the one thing needful. He's the one thing needful for
his people. Without Christ, we can do nothing. We can add nothing. No stature
can be added by us to our spiritual life. We can increase ourselves
and gain acceptance with God, and we need Christ. He is the
one thing needful, and our Lord teaches us this lesson more and
more over and over. Not only do we have this example
here in Luke chapter nine and Mark chapter nine, and I think
it's Matthew 14 or 17, but not only do we have this example
here, But in a little bit, our Lord will be speaking to his
disciples and say, in John 15, verse 5, he says, I am the vine,
ye are the branches, he that abideth in me, dwells in me,
and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit. That's how
we bring forth fruit unto God, in and by Jesus Christ. For without me he can do Nothing. Nothing. So today I want to bring
three points from our text. It begins in verse 37. Three
points from our text that'll demonstrate this truth that Christ
is the one thing needful. That without him we can do nothing. And that's because this is a
truth we must learn. It's a truth that we will learn
over and over again. So let's pick up in verse 37
and read verse 38 as well. It came to pass that on the next
day, when they were come down from the hill, much people met
him. And behold, a man of the company
cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son, for he
is mine only child. So our Lord and three of his
disciples are coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration.
It's a picture of something we experience when the Lord glorifies
Christ in our hearts and shows us something of Christ that's
made precious to us, that glorifies Christ in our hearts. And that's
what's been done for these disciples. And we refer to it as a mountaintop
experience. And so they're coming down from
that great experience with the Lord. And they come down again
to earth, as it were. And what we find is that there's
a commotion going on. There's trouble going on. There's
questions, disputings, fighting, arguing. There's sickness. and
it can't be healed. There's trouble going on down
here, and that's something that is made plain to us. Here on
this earth, we're going to have trouble. I don't even have to
tell you that. You know that we have trouble. From all various areas and directions,
it's all coming at us. We have a lot of trouble because
of depravity, our depravity and sin. And there's a picture here
that even when Christ is formed in our hearts, a lot of people
who come to an idol Jesus and come to religion without Christ,
they think that everything's going to be fine. Life's going
to get easy now. Things are going to be all better,
and I'm not going to have this trouble. But no sooner do we
come down from our experience than we realize, wait a minute.
there's a lot of trouble. The same troubles I had before
are happening to me now, and I'm still being tried, I'm still
being persecuted, I'm still having difficulties and sicknesses,
and people I care about suffer, and I suffer, and we see that
there's trouble. And here in this text, our Lord
comes down, and there's all this trouble. Not only is it a picture
of just how Sinful and depraved things were when Christ came
in the flesh, but it's a picture of what we experience after that
Christ is formed in the heart. And after that, there's times
of refreshing. There's still trouble. Not everybody
has had that same experience, and these things will bring us
right back down to earth as it were. These troubles remain,
but there is one thing different. We have Christ. We have Christ. And many believer has expressed
to another believer how thankful they are for Christ. And they
said, could you imagine if we didn't have Christ? The things
going on in the world, the trouble that's going on. Could you imagine
if we didn't have Christ? You have Christ. You have one
whose breast you can lean upon. and take comfort in Him, and
take solace in Him. And though everything be taken
away from us in this life, they can't touch our treasure in heaven. They cannot remove Christ from
us, nor us from Christ. That cannot be touched or shaken. And so we see this here. Now
I want you to turn over to Mark chapter nine. You can leave a
mark in Luke, but I'm primarily going to go through this message
from Mark chapter nine, because Mark actually gives us more details
that I think are relevant to what the Lord laid on my heart
about this passage that I want to bring out to you. So Mark
nine, it begins in verse 14. I'll still quote some from Luke
9, but mostly things are going to come from Mark here. And when
he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them
and the scribes questioning with them. Now that word questioning,
it's also interpreted in the scriptures as disputing. There
was arguments going on. I don't know if they were mocking
the disciples or if they were just trying to get involved and
help figure this thing out, why this thing couldn't be resolved,
what was going on. And they were arguing about something. And our Lord is showing us that
disputings and questions and trouble is going to continue
in this life. When we come from out there,
we're coming from a world of questions. and disputations and
arguments and all manner of troubles and sicknesses and things that
demand our attention, try to get our attention. But the one
thing needful in all of that is Christ, because when Christ
comes, all that noise is shut down. All the arguments, all
the questions end when Christ comes. That all gets put away
and Christ deals for it. He's the one that settles all
disputes. If I come in here and I talk
to you about the world, You can argue with me. You can have a
different perspective than me. You can see things differently
than me. But the one thing needful that
silences both our mouths is Christ. Jesus Christ. He's the one thing
needful. He's the antidote to every sorrow,
every sickness, every question, every trial. It's Christ. Christ. Now in verse 15 we see him begin
to address the needs of the people. This
is what he's doing for you here. I want you to put yourself in
this man's room. I want you to see yourself in
this man and in his need. It says, in straight way, he
sees this questioning and commotion going on, in straight way, all
the people, when they beheld him, when they see Christ, were
greatly amazed and running to Him saluted Him. Isn't that a
beautiful picture of why we come here? You don't want to hear
me talk about the news or other things of the world. You want
to hear Christ. Because you run to Him. You're glad to hear Him. You're thankful that Christ has
come because all that other noise gets put away in and by the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that's a profitable thing
for us with all the sufferings, all the trials. Our Lord, however,
calls us out of that. He gathers us together out from
all that noise and all the problems going on out there. He assembles
us together as his body to hear him speak, to hear his words. And that's impressed upon me
that we must preach Christ. We must preach Christ. I had to learn that, and I had
to learn how easy it is to get off of Christ. But Christ is
able. to teach his people and he makes
Jesus Christ precious to us because he is the one thing needful and
he is the one that silences all questions and problems. Christ
is the one who clothes the naked and Christ is the one who feeds
the hungry and Christ is the one who heals the sick through
his word and he puts everything in perspective as it ought to
be. as it ought to be in Him. Paul
was very wise being determined not to know anything among the
Corinthian church save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He told them that I purposely
didn't want to know nothing but Christ crucified among you. because
he's the one that's going to provide everything you need.
These things, our Lord said, I have spoken unto you that in
me ye might have peace. Now in the world, he says, ye
shall have tribulation. In the world, you'll have tribulation,
but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. I've overcome the world. And
so we'll go out these doors and we'll continue to see that this
very truth worked out. We'll go right back into tribulation
and trouble and questions and hardships, but Christ is the
answer. And you have Christ in your heart, you that believe
Him. And He puts everything in perspective. And He keeps you
and provides for you in Him. So who's going to give us peace?
Christ is. Christ is. Who's going to deliver
us from all the commotion and trouble in this world? Christ
is. Jesus Christ is. He's the one
thing needful. He's why you're gathered here
this morning to hear Him. To hear Him. And in preaching
Him, you hear His word. Not me. I'm nothing. Christ is
all. all to you. Next, our Lord reveals
our need by His word. He's making known His need. First
we see He's the one, and then He makes known our need by His
word. And we see this pictured in this
man and his son. And this man and his son were
given a picture of our need as ruined sinners in the fall who
cannot save ourselves or provide for ourselves. So there's this
commotion going on. And back in Luke 9, 38, and we'll
look at 39 together, back there, this cry, this voice goes rising
up over all the problems and commotions. Master, I beseech
thee, look upon my son, for he is mine only child. This is this man's very real
need. And lo, he said, a spirit taketh
him, and he suddenly crieth out, and it teareth him, that he foameth
again, and bruising him hardly departeth from him. It's very
difficult for him to leave him. That word bruising him says it
shatters him. It breaks him into pieces. when
this happens. Mark's word says, he pineth away. And that word is that man that
was in the synagogue that Christ went into early in his ministry.
It says there was a man whose right hand was withered. That's
the same word, pineth away. It's withered, sapped of all
its moisture, all its strength. It's shriveled up. And that's
what this spirit was doing to this man. Now, there's a number
of details, and I want to go back to Mark, that as we go through
these details, when you read them slowly and you look at them
yourself and you consider what's being said, you'll see this is
a description of me. This picture is me and my need. This is what I am by nature in
Adam. We're told in verse 17 of Mark
9 17 that the son had a dumb spirit. A dumb spirit meaning
that he was unable to speak. Later on he's called a dumb and
deaf spirit. And that is a picture of us by
nature. We don't know how to worship
God in spirit and in truth. We think we do, but we don't. We need Christ because otherwise
we're just worshiping a figment of our imagination, an idol god
that we've made up or that others have made up and we've taken
to ourselves. We have a dumb and a deaf spirit
so that we cannot worship God in spirit and in truth. We're
told that a spirit taketh hold upon him. It takes him at will. The Son doesn't decide when this
thing is going to take him. It's taken him at will. It lays hold upon him suddenly,
and when it does, out come all these very deadly and destructive
behaviors. A picture of our sin. When we
open up our mouths, sin is not lacking. It's right there. A
lot of the things we think and do and think to do are full of
our sinful thoughts and our ideas and our ways that are corrupt
and ruined by the fall. He says in verse 18, He teareth
him, and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away. And so that's us. And just as
this son couldn't save himself, you don't think this boy would
have wanted to get rid of this spirit forever? I'm sure he did,
but he wasn't able to. And you don't think the father
would have delivered his son if he could have? Absolutely. The father loved his son. It
was his only son. And so he would have done it,
and he tried to. He even tried to get help for
him in taking him to the disciples. He said in Luke 9 40, I besought
thy disciples that they should heal him, that they would cast
out the devil, and they could not. And again, there's another picture
of us in religion for years. How many years have we spent
in religion trying to get ourselves right, trying to deliver ourselves
of that evil, foul spirit in our works? that cause us to gnash
out with our teeth, to lash out at others and turn to the flesh
and do the things that we do in the flesh to get our way and
overcome another. We tried that. There's a lot
of people that know there's something wrong with them, and so they
turn to religion to try and get themselves straightened out by
that, hoping maybe a little religion will do me good. Maybe it'll
help me fix my ways and write my ways. Or they think God will
reward them for trying, for their efforts in it. We've all done
it. I'm guilty of it. We've all thought
it. We've all tried to write ourselves. And Mark even exposes this, I
believe, when When Christ came down from the Mount of Transfiguration,
the Father said, Master, I have brought unto thee my Son which
hath a dumb spirit. But Christ wasn't there when
that man came. He came to his disciples. He
sought his disciples to cast out the spirit and they could
not. And so what does this show us? It shows us exactly what
we do in religion. We think that in our coming to
church that that is coming to Christ. Don't we? When we change
our behaviors and we start doing things differently and doing
what the church tells us to do and doing what we perceive or
think are religious things that'll be good for us, we think that's
coming to Christ. We think that's my life now.
I'm a Christian now. I got myself saved. I gave my
heart to Jesus. I let go and let God. And all
other fancy sayings that men speak of, but we don't do anything
of the sort. Those people are coming to, more
often than not, coming to a false idol. false religion. Because we think that in my coming
to religion, in my coming to the church, in my opening this
book, that that is coming to Christ. And that's not salvation. That's not coming to Christ.
That's coming to religion. That's getting religion, but
that's not coming to Christ. And so in Luke 9 41, Jesus answering
said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I
be with you and suffer you? Bring thy son hither. You come
here to me. When Christ saves a sinner, we're
brought to Christ. not just the front door of the
church, not just inside the church, not sitting in the pew and doing
religious things. We're shown our need and we're
brought to Christ. Christ is going to bring us to
himself to see that Christ is all. And so the coming of this
man When he came, we're seeing the sovereign hand of Christ
in this. We're seeing the Lord do something for this man that,
though he tried to do things for himself, weren't sufficient,
but Christ is now there, and he's drawing this man and calling
this man to himself. And so, first things first, this
man's attention was turned away from the disciples, wasn't it?
It was turned away from what he was doing and failing in,
and he was turned to Christ. As soon as Christ came, his eyes
were fixed on the Lord. He began to hear the Lord speak.
Mark tells us verse 16 that the Lord spoke saying what question
you with them and then all their attention was whoa the Lord is
here all right and this man then cried out saying master I beseech
thee look upon my son for he is mine only son and when I read
that I think I'm saying this this is a picture of you and
me This man, if it was our voice, we're saying, Lord, look upon
my soul, my only soul. I have one precious soul that
lives forever. And I'm diseased. I'm a sinner. I've offended holy God and transgressed
his law. Save me, Lord. Have mercy on
me, because everything I'm doing isn't cleansing my hands, isn't
cleansing me. I can't save myself. And that's
what we hear in this. And Christ says, come to me.
You come to me. Broken, weary, worthless, dejected,
rejected, sinful, ruined, come to me. Come to Christ. All that are weary and heavy
laden, come unto me, our Lord said. Now look further in Mark
9 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. And so our Lord has engaged this
man. He's called this man to him.
By his word, he's called this man to him to bring his greatest
need. That's our greatest need. We're
sinners, dead in trespasses and sins, and the Lord calls us to
himself. By his power, we come. Otherwise,
dead people don't move. We're not going anywhere. Christ
by his power draws us to himself, makes us to hear his word. And
while he's coming, the Lord allows this foul spirit to keep attacking
him through his son. He's still attacking him and
doing harm to him. But while that trial continues,
while it's going on, Christ is speaking to him. Christ is speaking
to him. He continues to speak his word
to that man. And the Lord's done that. All
his people can testify, yeah, when I'm going through the trial.
and I'm coming to hear the word, Christ is speaking to me. He's
ministering his word to me. I need to hear his word. I need to hear from my Lord. And this man is made to hear
Christ, and this man is made to speak to Christ. Look at verse
21, and Christ asked his father, the boy's father, how long is
it ago since this came unto him? And he said, of a child. And
oft times it hath cast him into the fire and into the waters
to destroy him. But if thou canst do anything,
have compassion on us and help us. Isn't that a picture of how
the Lord ministers His word to us and draws forth prayer? Lord, anything, please. I don't even know how to pray.
I don't know what to ask for. But if you can do anything, Lord,
have compassion on us. Give us what we need, Lord. We need your salvation. And the Lord's graciously drawing
this man who had been nothing but a dead religionist, and a
man broken, and a man ruined with his son. And Christ is drawing
him, drawing him nearer and nearer and nearer to himself by his
word, by his word. And remember, this is about our
soul, our eternal soul, your soul. Your soul is precious,
it's eternal, and it's either going to dwell in the presence
of God and all the hosts of heaven, glorying and glorifying Christ,
or it's going to dwell apart from Christ and his people in
hell, in ruin and wrath. But we have a soul, and so Jesus
said unto him, verse 23, if thou canst believe, all things are
possible to him that believeth. And isn't that a picture of Christ's
word brings forth faith in this man? There was no faith in this
man, but Christ spoke this word, and faith was wrought in him. Just like we see, faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So when Christ spoke
his word, faith was wrought, and straightway the father of
the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe,
help thou mine unbelief. Do you see how Christ wrought
faith in this man? It wasn't this man's flesh. It
was Christ. It was His Word. It was His Word. And this is why we preach Christ
crucified. This is why we declare Christ,
because it's His Word that shows you your need. It's His Word
that calls you. It's His Word that speaks to
you and ministers to you in the trial. It's His Word that brings
forth faith where there is no faith. It's his word that does
everything. Christ is the one thing needful
for the salvation of our souls. It's Christ. And so we see the
grace of God in this. Our Lord tells us in his scripture
that all of us are sinners. There's none of us here that
is not a sinner. Even the youngest one of us to
the oldest, we're all sinners in need of the grace of God.
And you have a soul, an eternal soul, and you must hear Christ. And so we declare Christ. And
I pray, I beg the Lord that you hear His voice speak to you. And that you hear His grace.
Galatians 3.22, the scripture hath concluded all under sin
that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to
them that believe. We see by one man, speaking of
Adam, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned. comes, and when he comes,
we're just walking according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, but for this
purpose, for this cause, Christ, the son of God, was manifested
that he might destroy the works of the devil. This boy was under
the power of the devil, taken by him at his will, bringing
forth all manner of evil. And that's us. But Christ has
come and he has destroyed the works of the devil so that he
breaks that power in us to deliver us out of darkness and death
and to give us life in himself. Now this setting free from the
power of the devil and the life that Christ gives to his children,
let's look at verse mark 925. 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 no more into him. 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 lifted him up, and he arose. And in Luke it says that he delivered
him unto his father. He was whole and he delivered
him unto his father. And it's a picture that Christ
reconciles us to the father. He's healed us. He's cast out
the foul spirit that ruled over us. He's delivered us out from
the law. He's given us life in himself.
And he's reconciled us to his father. He came as our surety
and accomplished our work, bringing us back to the Father, saying,
Behold, I and the children which thou hast given me. He's accomplished
our redemption. So in these three points, we
see that Christ is the one thing needful. He did the whole work
of salvation for this man and this man's household. We see
first that as people, we have all kinds of questions and arguments
and disputations and issues going on, and there's no relief in
it. There's no end in sight to it. It just keeps on going. And if one question seems to
be satisfied, they'll just bring up more questions. It's just
always going on. But once Christ has come, then
wisdom has entered, and there's light and life, and a settling
to all that trouble is in Christ. And you may have trouble out
there in the world, but you have Christ now, and he is the one
thing needful. Then second, we saw a son who
was powerless to save himself. We can't by our works, by our
will, save ourselves. And this boy's father couldn't
save him. Religion couldn't save him. None
of that was any good to this man or his son. Just like none
of it's any good to us in our soul. But Christ is the one thing
needful. Christ came and called him by
his word, drew him to himself, ministered his word through the
trial, and wrought faith in that man. And that's what he does
for each one of you through the preaching of Christ, through
the preaching of his word. I can talk about dead things,
but if I speak of Christ, there's life wrought in the heart of
his people. Because faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. And then finally, third, we saw
a son who had been dead, but was made alive and delivered
to his father. And that's what Christ has done.
We were dead in trespasses and sins. We've been made alive by
him and have been delivered unto the Father, where we're seated
right now in heavenly places, in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. So brethren, that's the lesson
there. Without Christ, we can do nothing.
He is the one thing meaningful. I pray he bless your hearts and
bring forth faith in your hearts and in mine. Amen.