is not that I did choose thee. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I'm going to read a passage of
scripture from Luke chapter 10 beginning in verse 38. 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 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 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 from her. I've entitled this
message, Mary's Choice. Now this very unique story that
I have just read is only told in Luke's gospel. The Lord has
come into the home of a very special family. This is the same
family that is spoken of in John chapter 11 when Lazarus was raised
from the dead. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. And this family was the object
of Jesus' love. John 11, verse 5 says, Now Jesus
loved Martha and her sister, and Lazarus. That's a very special
statement. I realize that most people look
at the love of God in kind of a general, generic way, thinking,
well, he loves all men the same, and he loves everybody alike,
and so on, and they don't look at what the scripture actually
teaches regarding his love. His love is for His elect. His
love is for those who believe. And His love is a saving love.
And He loved Martha. He loved Mary. He loved Lazarus. He knew them. He loved them.
They were His. They were people for whom He
would die and bring with Him into heaven to live with Him
eternally. Oh, to be an object of the special,
saving love of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to be somebody
He loves. Now listen to me. If you want to be somebody who
He loves, here's the evidence that you are. You'll believe
the gospel. You believe the gospel, you lay
hold upon eternal life, and you are the object of His love. Now, these women knew who Christ
was. Martha knew him to be the Son
of God. She made this great confession
in John 11, verse 27, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art that
Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. She
believed the gospel. Now there were other times when
our Lord went into people's homes who didn't really know who he
was. We read a few chapters before
this in Luke chapter 7, where he went into the house of a man
by the name of Simon, Simon the Pharisee. And Simon the Pharisee
did not really know who he was, because he said, regarding the
Lord Jesus Christ, this man, if he were a prophet, would know
who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him, for
she's a sinner. And he thought that the Lord
was not a true prophet. He didn't know he was the son
of God. He, as a matter of fact, criticized him for allowing this
sinful woman to touch him. He obviously did not know who
the Lord was, but they knew. Martha and Lazarus and Mary. You see, the Lord had revealed
himself to them and they were in Martha's home at this time. And I want you to put yourself
in Martha's place. If the Lord Jesus Christ was
going to be coming to your home today, can you imagine how you
would want everything to be perfect? You would want everything to
be in order. You'd want the house clean. You'd want to fix the
best meal you'd ever fixed. You'd want everything to be perfect. Well, Martha did, and you can
imagine how anxious she was to make sure everything went right. So now it came to pass as they
entered into a certain village, a certain woman named Martha
received him, the Lord Jesus Christ, into her house. What
a blessed privilege. What a guest to have the Lord
Jesus Christ in your home. And then we read in verse 39,
and she had a sister called Mary. which also sat at Jesus' feet
and heard His word. Now this is the same Mary who
broke the alabaster box of ointment upon the feet of the Lord. and
wiped his feet with her hair. And in doing so, she had anointed
the Lord's body for its burial. And I believe she knew what she
was doing. You know, the Lord said on at least three different
occasions, I'm going to be killed, crucified. And on the third day,
I'm going to be raised from the dead. And why weren't all the
disciples there waiting? at the tomb. They didn't believe
what the Lord said, but Mary did. She was there waiting at
the tomb, and the Lord said regarding this act, as a matter of fact,
when she did this, and she was criticized for it, and the Lord
said, she's performed a good work on me. It's the only work
he ever called a good work. She had performed a good work
on me. She's anointing my body for the
burial." This is going to be spoken of her forever, throughout
the ages. Mary, what a special woman. And
what is said of her? It said, she sat at Jesus' feet
and heard His words. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Word of God. John 1 says, In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. What a name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Word of God. Everything that's in God's mind,
everything that's in God's heart, if it comes out in words, it's
this, this is my son. He is the Word of God. Hebrews
1 says, God has in these last days spoken to us by his son. He said, this is my beloved son
in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. He is the brightness of God's
glory. The express image of his person. All you and I will ever see of
God is the Lord Jesus Christ. He said to those who found his
sayings to be hard words in John chapter 6, they said, these are
hard words, who can hear them? These are hard sayings, who can
be expected to listen to such teaching as this? He replied
to them, the words that I speak unto you. their spirit, and they
are life. Now Mary found his words to be
just that. She sat at his feet and heard
his word. Now we don't know exactly what
he said to her, but it was things that we find in the scriptures
that he said. Perhaps he said, I am the way,
I am the truth, I am the life. No man cometh
to the Father, but by me. I'm the way. I won't show you
the way. I myself am the way. I'm not going to tell you the
truth. I am truth embodied. I am the truth. I won't give
you life. I am the life. If you ever have
life before God, it'll be because you have my life as your life
before God. No man comes to the Father, but
by me. Perhaps she heard him say, He
that hath seen me hath seen the Father. And she believed what
he said. Perhaps she heard him say, All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. Perhaps she heard him say,
the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost,
and she believed what he said. She heard him say things like,
blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they
shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are
they who are persecuted for righteousness sake. Now that's not talking
about, when our Lord says that, He's not talking about being
persecuted because you do something good. When he says being persecuted
for righteousness sake, he's talking about his own righteousness.
His righteousness is the only righteousness there is. It's
why a believer is brought into glory. And he says, blessed are
they who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven. She sat at Jesus' feet and heard
his word. You know, if you're sitting at
his feet, there isn't anything to do but sit there. What can
you do for Him? He's the Son of God. Sitting. Not a place of activity, but
a place of hearing. A place of submission. Sitting
at His feet. A place of rest. Not doing anything. Resting. Hearing His Word. It's a place of humility. At his feet is the place of admiration. It's the place of all of his
person. It's the place of worship. Sitting at his feet, what better
place could there be than to be sitting at his feet? Mary sat at His feet, hearing
His Word. Oh, the Word of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Every word that proceeds from
His mouth is the Word of God. He is the Word of God. And what
he has to say is a whole lot more important than what you
or I have to say. What he says to me is more important
than what I say to him. Oh, to be like Mary, to sit at
his feet and hear his word. Now I have no doubt that she
felt unworthy and she felt so blessed to be able to sit at
his feet and hear his word. Now let's go on reading in verse
40. But while Mary was sitting at his feet and hearing his word,
Martha was cumbered about much serving. Martha loved the Lord
Jesus Christ. She knew who he was. But at this
time, and you can understand why she would have been, she
was cumbered about with much serving. She's having the Lord
in her home. It's hard telling how many people she was going
to have for guests at that time. And you can imagine all the preparation
that had gone on for this great event of the Lord coming into
her home. She knew who he was. And she was cumbered, the scripture
says. And that word cumbered means
distracted. Distracted and you can tell why
she would have been she was trying to get everything ready and there
sits Mary Doing nothing and she becomes upset She says this is
not fair. This is not right here. I'm doing
all this work and Mary is doing nothing So look what she says
verse 40. This is what happens when people
become distracted encumbered about much-serving and But Martha
was cumbered about much serving and came to him and said, Lord,
does thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?
Bid her therefore that she help me. You command her, you tell
her that she needs to help me. Now, I try to think of what she
must have been thinking. Here she is doing all this work
And Mary is just sitting there listening, doing nothing. And she becomes angry with her
sister. And I think that she probably had a twinge of guilt
deep down knowing that she should be sitting and hearing his word. And so she blurts out, Lord,
don't you care? that my sister's left me alone
to serve. You tell her what to do. You
command her to help me. Now, in being cumbered about,
becoming distracted, becoming distracted from the one thing
that was truly needful, and it's hard to criticize her for being
cumbered about with much serving. You and I would be the same way.
We understand that. But she was losing her reverence
for her Lord. And that's what happens when
I go away from the one thing needful. She was losing reverence
for her Lord. She said, Lord, don't you care?
Now how could she say that to the Lord Jesus Christ? He cared
enough to come to save her, to bear her sins in his own body
on the tree. Oh, of course he cared. She accused
the Lord of not caring. How irreverent to speak to the
Lord that way. He's the Lord of glory. He's
the creator of the universe. He's the son of God. And you
come to him and say, don't you care about me? Don't you care
about this situation? Don't you care? And she became
very, harsh toward her sister. And she actually was brazen enough
to tell the Lord what he needed to do. Bid her therefore that
she help me. Command her to. Make her help
me. You don't talk to the Lord of glory that way. How irreverent
she had become toward the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. She
lost her humility. to speak to the Lord like that,
and look at the hard thought she had of her sister. She should
have admired her sister for sitting at the Lord's feet and hearing
His words, but she became critical of her, and this always happens
with a loss of humility, a judgmental, and a critical attitude. She
became critical of Mary, and you know Mary would be criticized
again. You remember when Judas criticized her for breaking that
box of alabaster ointment, perfume, and pouring it upon the Lord's
feet? He said, this could have been sold for 300 pence and given
to the poor. He criticized her for that. She was the subject
of criticism. But this is what always happens
also when people become critical. They go back to the law. She
said, command her to help me. Make her do it. You make her
do what's right. Make her. Command her. She went
back to the law. This is not fair. And you know,
when people get into a law way of thinking, they're always more
concerned about what other people do. Make her do her part. Make
her carry her share of the load. Law. Make her. Make her. Command
her. And she lost communion with the
Lord. That irreverent spirit that she
demonstrated at that time. Now let's look at the way the
Lord answered her. Verse 41, and Jesus answered
and said unto her, Martha, Martha. He wasn't harsh with her. He
didn't correct her in a strong way. you can feel the love in
his tone as he spoke to one of his erring, straying disciples
who had become cumbered about and distracted. He said, Martha,
Martha, thou art careful, filled with anxiety, and troubled about
many things. And that's what happens when
we become distracted. We become anxiety-filled and
troubled about many things. He says to Martha, there's no
real peace with you. You're filled with doubts and
with fears. You're careful and troubled about
many things, and I'm sure things that are legitimate. There are
many things we can get distracted by, things that are alluring,
entangling. puzzling, or even desirable,
things that cause us to become cumbered about and distracted. And the Lord says to his troubled
disciple, thou art careful and troubled about many things, but
one thing is needful. One thing is necessary, and we
know from the context of this passage of Scripture what that
one thing is. It's to sit at His feet and to
hear His Word. That's the one thing that's needful,
and that covers everything. It's to sit at His feet and hear
His Word. Now, I got to thinking about
that phrase, one thing. One thing is needful. And I thought
of the rich young ruler coming to the Lord and saying, good
master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And the Lord gave
him the commandments, the commandments of the second table of the law.
And he replied, well, all these have I kept from my youth up.
He obviously was blind to his sin. He was blinded by self-righteousness. He said, all these have I kept
from my youth up. He had not, but he thought he did. Or perhaps
he was just lying. I don't know. And the Lord said,
one thing you lack. one thing you lack. And this
man was very rich. He said, sell all your riches
and give to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven and come
and follow me. You see, this man did not understand that he
was eaten up with covetousness. And this one thing that he lacked,
a new heart, a righteousness before God, salvation, grace,
this one thing that he lacked, meant he lacked everything. David
said in Psalm 27, 4, one thing have I desired of the Lord, one
thing, not two, one thing. This is what I really desire,
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 into
his temple. Now when he said, one thing have
I desired of the Lord to dwell in His temple, in His house forever,
he wasn't talking about a house made of stone. Christ Jesus is
the house of God. He is the temple of God. And
what David is saying is the same thing that Paul said in Philippians
chapter three, verse nine, when he said, Oh, that I may win Christ
and be found in him. I want to dwell in the Lord.
I want to be in him so that all God sees when he sees me is he
sees his son. I'm in his son. And that's the only place I want
to be. That's the only place I want to dwell. That's the only
place I want to be found. in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul
said in Philippians 3.14, this one thing I do, forgetting those
things that are behind and reaching forth unto those things which
are before, I press toward the mark of the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus. This one thing I do, forgetting
what's behind. If you have to look back to something
that happened yesterday to give you assurance of salvation today. You're leaning on a broken reed. It will not stand in judgment. You forget. Forget experiences
to give you assurance of salvation. I'm not saying forget them in
the sense that you're grateful for what the Lord's done for
you, if he's done anything for you. But if you look back to something
behind to give you assurance for salvation, you're trusting
it'll work. You're not trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. You're
not looking to him. There was an old Scottish preacher
once by the name of David Dickinson, and he was dying. And one of
his members of his church said, well, what's on your mind? What
are you thinking? As you know, you'll soon stand
before God. And he replied, I'm taking all of my good works and
all of my bad works, and I'm bundling them all up. I find
that I can't really tell the difference between the two. and
I'm throwing them all away, throwing them overboard, and I'm going
to go into heaven on the plank of sheer free grace. Forgetting what's behind and
reaching forth unto those things which are before. Who's before?
Christ. Colossians 117 says He's before
all things. I'm to forget behind my experiences,
good or bad, just forget it. Looking before to the Lord Jesus
Christ, looking to Him only. Martha, Martha, you're careful
and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful. And
the one thing needful is to sit at his feet and hear his word. When I think of this thing of
need, need, I need to hear his word. Might be a lot of other things
I want, but I need to hear his word. I don't need to be healthy. I don't need to be wealthy, but
I need to hear his word. I need to be found in the Lord
Jesus Christ. I need this. I need to be found
in him so that all God sees when he sees me is he sees his son. I need for God to choose me. I need for God to elect me because
if He doesn't choose me, it's over for me. I know that by nature
I won't choose Him. I need the Lord Jesus Christ
to take my sin upon Him and put it away. I need it to be successful.
I don't need Him to offer me anything. I need Him to do something
for me. I hear preachers talking about the Lord offering this
and offering that. I don't want anything offered
for me. I want the Lord to do something for me. I want Him
to put away. I need Him to put away my sins. I need Him to give
me a new heart. My heart's no good. I've heard
preachers say, give Jesus your heart. What would he do with
it? It's evil. I need a new heart. I need a clean heart. That's
why David said, create in me a clean heart, oh God. I need
for the Lord Jesus Christ to represent me as my great high
priest. I need him to cause me to do
his will. I need him to give me faith. I need him to give me repentance.
I need him to give me love to himself. All of that is found
in hearing His Word. I need Him. Now, Martha, you're
careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful. And Mary hath chosen that good
part, to sit at His feet and hear His Word. which shall not
be taken away from her." Now, what Martha was doing was good.
You would be doing the same thing. I would be doing the same thing
as far as wanting everything to be perfect for the Lord coming
into her house. But Mary saw that there was one
thing that was needful, to sit at his feet and hear his word. My joy is complete. when I sit
at his feet. May the Lord give me and you
the grace to be just like Mary, to sit at his feet and hear his
word. And that's what happens every
time his gospel is preached. That's why coming to public worship
is so important. We're sitting at his feet and
hearing his word when the gospel is preached. Now, we have this
message on DVD and CD. If you call the church, email,
right, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nyberg, praying
that God will be pleased to make himself known to you. That's
our prayer. To request a copy of the sermon you have just heard,
send your request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.