Psalm chapter 27. We'll begin
here, but we'll be looking at several passages of scriptures
this morning, so I want to begin here. The title of my message is, Only
One Thing. I know that sounds strange, coming
from a preacher, only one thing. I only have one message, don't
I? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. So I promised to preach that
to you this morning. Only one thing. Look at this
in Psalm 27 verse 4. David said, one thing have I
desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell
in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold
the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple. Only one thing. I want to begin
this morning by asking you a question. What is the one thing you desire
most? If you would be honest with yourself, be honest with God who knows
your heart, what is the one thing you desire? Do you desire the perfect family? Is your desire to have perfect
children, perfect spouse, to live a troubled free life,
is that your desire? To be healthy, happy, rich? What? What is your one desire? Is it to have your pleasures
fulfilled? Is that your desire? Whatever your heart desire is,
listen very carefully, whatever you desire, that my friend is your treasure. Whatever it is you want. the
most is your treasure. Jesus said this, lay not up for
yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust doth
corrupt, where thieves break through and steal, but lay up
for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither Moth nor rust doth
corrupt, nor thieves break through or steal. For where your treasure
is, where your desire is, there will your heart be also. So whatever
it is you desire, that is where your heart is. That is where your heart is.
Wherever your treasure is. Whatever you value the most,
that's where your heart is. If your one desire, the one thing
that you want the most is of this world, I tell you it is
fleeting. The things of this world are
passing away. They cannot give you any satisfaction. You believe that? You believe that if you had a
perfect family, you think that would satisfy you? I tell you
it wouldn't. Because if you didn't have a
perfect family, you sure as heck didn't have a perfect job. What
about then? That's the next goal. You got
my family straight, now I'm going to work on my job. Man, if I
just had the perfect job. Perfect job comes along, perfect
family, what else? Well, if I just had money, there
it goes, you got all the money in the world, now what? There'd
be something else. There's always something else
because nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing in this world is going
to satisfy you. Nothing. This world is fleeting. Vanity
of vanities. All is vanity, empty. There's no new thing under the
sun. The thing that you want is the thing the generation before
you wanted. They didn't get it. They weren't
satisfied with it and you won't be satisfied with it. If you desire anyone in this
world or anything in this world, you'll find only grief, only
sorrow, only pain, only strife. There's nothing good that comes
of this world. It's fleeting. Ecclesiastes 1, Solomon says,
all the rivers flow into the sea and the sea is not full.
Have you noticed that? All the rivers flow to the sea
and the sea is never full. He says that's the same way with
your eyes and your ears. Your eyes are never full. Have
you noticed that? I know we all have seen circulars
this weekend with all the specials and Black Friday. I know everybody's
eyes aren't full. You just keep looking. You keep
wanting. You're not full. And if you had
all that, you wouldn't be full either. It doesn't satisfy. The lust of the flesh and desires
of the sinful mind will never be satisfied. Why is this true? Why is it that the perfect family,
the perfect house, the perfect car, the perfect thing is not
going to satisfy? Why is that? Why is that one
thing that I want? Why is that not going to please
me? Because you lack one thing. Lack one thing. Go over to Luke
chapter 18. Gospel of Luke, chapter 18, verse 18. And a certain ruler asked him,
saying, Good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why
callest thou me good? None is good save one, God. Thou knowest the commandments.
Do not commit adultery. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do
not bear false witness. Honor thy father and thy mother.
Notice the arrogancy of him. Notice the pride of this man. He says, All these have I kept
from my youth up. What a liar. What a liar! But he believed it. He thought
it. And now when Jesus heard these
things, He said to him, Yet lackest thou what? One thing. You're lacking one thing. What is that? Sell all that you
have, give it to the poor, and follow Me. And when that man heard this,
he was very sorrowful, for he was very rich. And Jesus saw that he was very
sorrowful and said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter
into the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom of heaven. And when they heard it, they
said, Who can be saved? And Jesus said, these things which are
impossible with men are possible with God. This rich young ruler
had it all. And yet he knew it was not enough. He knew his life was wasting
away. He knew that he had to deal with this matter of eternity.
He had to deal with death. And so he comes to Jesus with
a good question. What must I do to inherit eternal
life? And Jesus, knowing this man's
heart, he says, well, obey the law. And he said, well, I've
done that. What else? Oh, yeah. Jesus says to him, sell all you
have and follow me. That's the one thing you're missing.
Me. Why is it that the human nature
is never satisfied? Because it's missing one thing.
It's missing Christ. It's missing the Lord Jesus Christ.
This man was deceived to think he had righteousness, but Jesus
was telling him, you lack righteousness. You lack righteousness. This
man loved his riches and his life. He loved the things of
this world more. than to follow Jesus Christ. The one thing that all men by
nature lack is righteousness because we are full of sin. Full of sin. All our desires, passions, and lusts We're just full of sin by nature. All we desire by nature are the
things of this life. This world is temporary, and
yet we are going to a world that's eternal. Our eternal state in
the world to come will be determined in this world. As Jesus told this rich young
ruler, you lack one thing, you lack me. Give up all you got
and follow me. This morning, this is the gospel
to you. You must have Christ. Nothing else matters. He alone is salvation. You must be washed in His blood
for the forgiveness of sins. You must be robed in His righteousness
and born of the Spirit of God. Oh, that God would open your
eyes! Because if God opens your eyes, you'll see These things
that I'm talking about will no longer be a mystery to you. They'll
be understandable. Open your eyes to see that eternity
is more important than time. Heaven, more important than anything
in the earth. The Apostle said, set your affection. Not affections, but affection. Believers in Christ have one
affection one heart one love one Desire it is the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is to be found in him and
him alone This is all our hope. This is all our desire in this
life. There is nothing else but him
Jesus said but seek ye first and Above all things, the kingdom
of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be
added unto you. Don't worry about these things. You just find Me. In Me, that's the only thing
that matters, is Him. He's the only thing that matters. What shall it profit a man if
he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? What is it going
to profit you if you desire the world and you get the world?
What does that do you? Does your soul no good? You must
have Christ. That's the thing you lack. That's
the thing men lack by nature is Christ. They must have Him. The only thing you need is Christ.
Sinner, repent and turn from your sins. Drop everything in
this world and flee to Christ now! You who have fled, flee now. Run to Christ. He's the only thing we lack.
We must have Him. Second of all, one thing is to
be desired. What is the one thing that will
give us lasting joy, peace, and contentment? It is only the person
of Jesus Christ. That is the only thing that will
give you any lasting joy, peace, or contentment in this life.
He alone. This treasure must not come from
earth. It must come from heaven. The
psalmist said, I have one desire. One thing have I desired. And
if you'll notice in that text in Psalm 27, if you'll notice
that, that word thing is in italics. It means it's not there in the
original language. In other words, the psalmist
said, one desired. One, I have desired. Not one
thing, one person. One person. Behold, the only one that the
saints of God desire is the Lord Jesus Christ. We, by nature,
lack righteousness, lack the ability to redeem ourselves from
the justice of God, and we all fail to set our affections on
Christ. But God, there's the gospel, but God, who is rich
in mercy, who is great love, wherewith He loved us, Son, is
that not the greatest show and display of love that there ever
was? That God would send His Son for
such a worm as you or me? God would send His Son. God is rich
in mercy. He comes to all His chosen people,
to all He purposed to save from eternity, all who were put in
Christ, all who were redeemed by Christ, He will come to you! He will give you faith, you will
believe, and He will be your one desire. He gives us a new nature, a new
life, and we come to see our depravity and need of Him. Have
you not seen him to be the pearl of great price? Lord Jesus gives that parable. He said there was a merchant
man, and when he had found the pearl of great price, he sold
all his other pearls. To believe on Christ is just
to be a sellout. You sell out everything for Him.
That's what it is. I must have Christ and nothing
else. He is everything to me. Believers in Christ, we desire
Him and He is a treasure. He is our treasure. And I know
this, if you believe in Christ, let this be a comfort to you,
you are His treasure. Where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also. Do you realize that you are His
treasure? And He sold everything He had
to buy you? Is that not a blessing? Does
that not make Him even more desirable? His great love. Is Jesus your
one desire? Yes. He is the pearl of great
price. And the things of this world
cannot be compared to the glory that He gives us, the glory He
gives to us, and the glory He shall reveal to us in heaven. We're like the psalmist, we cry
the one we've desired. That will we seek after. You
who believe, is that not so with you? You not seek Him. You do
not desire His presence. If He's gone from me and I feel
His presence is missing, I am sick with love. I miss Him so
much because He is the object of my desire. If Jesus is the desire of your
heart, you will seek Him. Because He said, seek my face. And we said in our hearts, thy
face, O Lord, we will seek. Believers in Christ seek after
Him, seek after constant communion with Him. We seek His face in
private and public worship. We seek His face by faith, looking
toward the beauty of His righteousness, His blood, His resurrection.
We desire to be instructed and taught of the Holy Spirit. This
morning, do you desire to be taught of God? Or do you have
it all? Do you know it all? This is our desire and glory
on this earth to dwell in Jesus Christ. Paul said, I count all things
as done that I might win Christ, that I might know Him and be
found in His righteousness. It is Jesus Christ alone that
we find peace with God, contentment in this world, and one day we
will find the fullness of our salvation. Rejoice, believer. Rejoice, because
you who desire Christ, you will have Him. You will have Him. You have the righteousness of
God in you. You have a full pardon. But yet
there is something coming. There is something that we are
waiting for. We are waiting for the full revelation
of His glory. I desire that. We should set
our hearts more in tune, being ready to be with Christ. Every day we live, we should
set our face toward Him Waiting for him to come He's the only thing we desire
third there's one thing that is needful One thing that is
needful Believers in Christ though we have all the blessings of
God in Christ and though we find all our salvation in Christ and
one day it'll be revealed but until then until then We still
must live in this world. So in this world, there's one
thing needful. One thing needful. We still are
burdened with this old nature. We are still weighted down with
this old man of sin. And there's a war constantly
being fought in our own hearts. Isn't that right? The flesh lusteth
against the spirit and the spirit lusteth against the flesh. And
these two are contrary one to another so that you cannot do
what you want to. I want to be righteous. There is this old nature in me
that is dragging me to the ground, constantly struggling in my heart. And so what is needful? What
do you need in this warfare? I tell you that Christ said there's
only one thing you need. Go to Luke chapter 10. It is necessary that we keep
this in mind that there's only one thing needful. Look at verse 39 of chapter 10.
Luke chapter 10. This is Martha. She was busy
cooking a meal for the Son of God. Now you talk about a, that'd
be kind of neat, wouldn't it? I mean, I like to have guests,
but wow! She had God to prepare a meal for. I think she was under quite a
bit of pressure. don't you? I think she was under quite a
bit of pressure to make this meal the best thing she could.
And then she says this, and she had a sister called Mary, which
also sat at Jesus' feet and 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 alone to serve? Bid her
therefore that she come and help me. Jesus answered and said unto
her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many
things. Are you not careful and troubled
about many things? Doesn't it seem like there are
many things always coming in, always troubling us, always Just
a whole bunch at one time just coming in on us. Oh, Christian. Christian. You are troubled about many things. You're anxious. You're troubled. But, one thing is needful. One thing. You're troubled about
many things. There's only one thing you need
in this life. One thing is needful. And Mary
hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from
her. Martha was doing a good thing. She was doing something very
useful It seemed needful. Everybody
needed to eat, don't they? That seemed needful. It seemed
useful. Believer, if Jesus is our one
desire, and we hope to grow in grace and knowledge of Him, then
let us beware the cares of this life. Beware. Beware the cares of this life. they will stunt your growth. Someone said this, it is not
open and flagrant breaches of God's commandments alone that
ruin men's souls. Far more often than not, it is
undue attention to legitimate cares of this life which destroy
the souls of men. We all have a natural tendency
to worldliness, to love this world, against which we must
diligently guard. If you love life, you must hold
the things of this world with a very loose hand. Oh, believer, let us count all
things but done. And that means all those cares, if they interfere with your sitting at the feet
of Christ, let them go. That not make life a lot simpler,
doesn't it? That make it simple? one thing. What did Mary choose? She chose
to sit at His feet. Believer, there's one thing needful
for you in this life. Sit down at the feet of the Lord
Jesus Christ and be taught of Him. What else is there? Is there anything else? If there's
anything else, you're too careful about many things. You're too
anxious about many things. There's only one thing needful.
R.C. Ryle wisely observed, a little
earth on the fire will soon make the fire burn low. Is that not
so? A little leaven leaveneth the
whole lump. Believer, let us see that there
is nothing more necessary than to hear Christ. Mary preferred
the one thing needful, to sit at his feet and find mercy. I need mercy. And the moment
I don't think I need mercy, I should be at his feet needing mercy. It is here we may bring our broken
and contrite hearts It is at the feet of Jesus we may completely
surrender our souls and find absolute rest. Absolute rest. Peace. We fall at his feet in faith,
trusting our souls to him. This is the place of worship
and praise. This is the place where our service
is made useful. Oh, may God open our hearts this
morning and fix them to fall down and to hold fast His feet. Lastly, well, fourthly, one thing
I know. You remember that blind man who
was born blind? By the grace of God, Jesus Christ
came and saved him from his blindness. and we know this is a picture
of us how that we were born blind and how that Christ gave us sight
and how he we were cast out by the law and he had found us just
like he found this blind man but when this blind man made
his confession before the Pharisees they were asking him some tough
theological questions that he had no idea and he just said
this I thought this is great I don't know I don't know much,
but there's one thing I know. One thing's needful for us to
sit at his feet, and there's one thing that we need to know. Once
I was blind, but now I see. I don't know much, but I know
this. Once I was blind, but now I see. This is my confession. I was
blind. I was altogether depraved. You know, it's altogether a different
thing to know the theology of total depravity than to know
our own total depravity, isn't it? I know this. I was blind. I know
my nature. I know who I am, but now I see. I see that the holy demands of
God could never be met by me, and I see they have been met
in Jesus Christ. I know that. I don't know much,
I know that. I know this, in Him mercy and
truth are met together and righteousness and peace have kissed each other. I see God as both just and the
justifier of the ungodly. I see that Jesus Christ is the
truth of God's justice, and He has satisfied God's justice by
His blood, and now then God is just to show me mercy for it.
I know that. I know that. Now I see that all
His salvation is imputed to me by the Holy Spirit and imparted
to me in the new life, new birth. I see that God saves sinners. I know that. You know that? I
know that. There's one thing I know. Jesus
Christ come to save sinners. How do I know that? He saved
me. He saved me. I see that God saves sinners
by free. and sovereign grace. That's the only way God saves
sinners. I know that. You don't have to be a theologian
for that, do you? Not if you were blind and now
you see. You know. Jesus said, Verily, verily, the
hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice
of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. blind sinners. Jesus Christ came to give the
blind sight. This is the revelation of the
gospel that is preached to you. Jesus alone can give sinners
faith and love to desire Him and seek Him and to embrace Him.
And believers, let us therefore rejoice because we know this
one thing we know. I was blind. Now I see. And the last thing,
one thing that I do. Go to Philippians chapter 3.
One thing I do. One thing we lack, we lack the
righteousness of Christ and we need Him. One desire, we believe
on Christ long after Him and seek Him. One thing is needful and that is to hear his word
and this one thing in verse 13 of Philippians chapter 3 he said
brethren I count not myself to have apprehended but this one
thing I do forgetting those things which are behind And reaching
forth to those things which are before, I press toward the mark
for the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ. Believers in Christ, we have
experienced wonderful things, have we not? I have. I've experienced some wonderful
things. But this one thing I do, I leave those things back there. I leave those things back there.
I can remember them. We are encouraged to remember
some of our experiences. We trust none of them. Trust
none of them. You ever seen a runner in a professional
race? You ever see him look back? No. Why? The goal's that way. It's not behind them. It's the
same way with us. Believer, our goal is ahead of
us. Our goal is not behind us. What
are you looking back for? Paul said this one thing I do,
forgetting those things are behind, and I reach forward. I'm pressing
forward. Believers in Christ, this one
thing we do, we press forward. We press forward. We should not forget those things
that God has done, but this one thing we should do, forgetting
those things we press toward the mark. Friends, if we are believers
in Christ, you and I must persevere. We must. Jesus said, but he that endureth
to the end, the same shall be saved. Jesus said in Luke 9, 62, no
man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit
for the kingdom of God. Hebrews 3, 14 says, for we are
made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence
steadfast unto the end. Do you know men in Scripture
who have failed to persevere? I do. Demas. You remember, Paul
said Demas was a fellow workman, a fellow laborer in the gospel
of Jesus Christ. And next thing we read is, Demas
having loved this present world. Gone. Ananias and Sapphira. They seemed
to be good Christians, didn't they? And yet they coveted the
fame of religious people. They wanted to be praised by
the religious people and lied to the Holy Spirit and died in
their sins. What about Lot's wife? Didn't
she make it out of Sodom? Wasn't she rescued by the angels?
Yet where was her heart? It was back. Her heart was in
Sodom. Believer, we have not yet seized
upon the prize. I have been apprehended of Christ,
haven't you? I've been seized of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He arrested me the same way He
arrested the Apostle Paul. He saved me. He gave me His love. He gave me His grace. He gave
me a new heart. He gave me a new life. He gave
me His righteousness. I have been arrested by Him.
But I have not yet arrested all that He has for me. I've not
seen it all. I've not experienced it all.
I've not yet apprehended. I have not yet obtained what
He promised. Therefore, I press, I press forward,
seeing only one goal, one prize. It is Jesus Christ and Him alone. I press to Him. Our righteousness are still filthy
rags, our goodness is still sin, our knowledge is still ignorance,
our strength is still weakness, and our flesh is still flesh.
I've got something greater. I'm pressing towards something
greater. The glory of God. An old writer said, I am nothing,
I have nothing, can do nothing, am good for nothing. And if I
come to nothing, nothing will be lost. I'm nothing. But I tell you,
I'm pressing towards something. Something much greater than anything
here in this life. Believer, let us look not in
the past, but press toward reaching for the goal that is before.
I am seeking Christ, desiring to know Him. Let us seek Christ daily, for
our race is nearer to its end than it first began. Is not your
race nearer to the finish? Are we not nearer the finish
line today than we were yesterday? We are. No looking back. I must have Christ, and I must
have Him alone. All my desire is found in you. Let us seek
Christ daily and press toward the mark. May God graciously
compel us to be obsessed with Jesus Christ. You've heard of an obsessive
compulsive person. I want to be obsessive compulsive
about him. I do. I desire him. An old missionary who faithfully
served the Lord in a remote desert island made a statement that
expresses this. He said he had buried his wife
and three children on that island and when he had come back finally
home after his body had worn out, couldn't do it anymore. He was said, he was quoted to
say this, if I had my life to live over again, I would walk
the same path trust the same Savior, weep the same tears,
visit the same graves, and preach the same gospel. For all that
I have lost on earth is gained in glory." That man had one thing that he desired. What about you? What do you want? To us who believe, we know there's
one thing lacking, salvation. Jesus Christ is our one desire. The one thing we know is that
He is all our salvation. The one thing needful is to sit
at His feet. The one thing we do is press
toward the mark. One thing. Jesus. Only. I pray that God blesses to your
hearts. Let's stand and be dismissed.