One Thing

Q: What does the Bible say about seeking God's presence?

Psalm 27:4 emphasizes the importance of desiring to dwell in the presence of the Lord. Psalm 27:4 expresses David's singular desire to dwell in the house of the Lord and to behold His beauty and glory. This reflects a deep yearning for communion with God, which is vital for spiritual fulfillment. David, despite his experiences as a shepherd, king, and warrior, recognized that true satisfaction comes only from being in God's presence, indicating that all worldly pursuits pale in comparison to this one thing that truly matters.

Q: How do we know the importance of dedicating ourselves to one thing spiritually?

David highlights in Psalm 27:4 that dedicating oneself to seeking the Lord leads to spiritual success. David's focus on one thing in Psalm 27:4 underscores a critical truth in Christian spirituality: dedication to the pursuit of God is essential for true success and fulfillment. The wise acknowledgment that spiritual pursuits should take precedence over life's distractions reveals the necessity of prioritizing our relationship with God. Without a singular focus on seeking Him, all other endeavors become meaningless, reflecting the truth that no one can be truly satisfied without a commitment to the divine.

Q: Why is it important to hear God's Word?

Hearing God's Word is essential as it nourishes our spiritual growth and understanding of His will. In Luke 10:38-42, Jesus teaches that Mary chose the better part by sitting at His feet and listening to His teaching, contrasting her with Martha's busyness. This illustrates that engaging with God's Word is of utmost importance for spiritual nourishment and growth. While physical tasks are necessary, neglecting the spiritual food found in God's Word can hinder our relationship with Him. True fulfillment and understanding come from abiding in His presence and learning from Him, which cannot be taken away from us.

Q: How does the rich young ruler's story illustrate the need for devotion to Christ?

The rich young ruler lacked the commitment to follow Christ, despite having worldly success. In the story of the rich young ruler found in Luke 18:18-25, Jesus points out that, despite the man's wealth and moral standing, he lacked one crucial thing: a commitment to follow Christ. Jesus challenged him to sell all he had and follow Him, demonstrating that true discipleship requires prioritizing our relationship with Christ over material wealth and social status. This encounter reveals that without this level of devotion, even those with great worldly success are spiritually impoverished, highlighting the necessity of surrendering all to gain eternal life.

Q: What should we prioritize in our Christian lives according to Philippians 3?

Philippians 3 teaches us to forget the past and focus on pressing towards the goal in Christ. In Philippians 3:12-14, the Apostle Paul exhorts believers to forget what lies behind and reach forward to what lies ahead, emphasizing the pursuit of Christ and the calling of God. This prioritization encourages Christians to look beyond past failures and achievements to strive towards the ultimate prize of knowing Christ fully. Paul’s one thing he focuses on is pressing toward further intimacy with Christ, illustrating that our spiritual journey is a continuous pursuit that requires intentionality and dedication to grow deeper in our faith.

A very easy title for you to
remember. The message is entitled, One
Thing. That's it. One Thing. I'm going
to use as a text Psalm 27, 4. I'll be using several texts.
And incidentally, if you want this message on a cassette tape,
you listen to it. If you want to hear it again
or share it with someone else, then you will receive the address
in a little while and you can write for it. David wrote in
Psalm 27 verse 4, one thing, one thing, have I desired of
the Lord, just one thing. And that will I seek after, that
I may dwell in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the
Lord, all the days of my life, to behold the beauty, the glory
of the Lord. and to inquire in his temple. Now, I don't know when David
wrote this psalm. I don't have the faintest idea.
I don't know whether he wrote it when he was a young man or
a middle-aged man or an old man, but I do know this, when he wrote
it, he was a wise man. Yes, he was a wise man, for he
had narrowed everything in this life down to one thing. That's what he'd done. That's
what he said. One thing have I desired of the Lord. And that
one thing I'll seek after. He had narrowed everything in
the world, everything in the future, everything in life down
to one thing. Just one. You know, I suppose
having been a shepherd, I thought about David. He was a shepherd.
He was a writer. He was a warrior. He was a king. He was a popular man among men. Evidently, he was acquainted
with and had experienced about all that the world had to offer,
wouldn't you say, from shepherd to throne? That he had experienced
about everything the world had to give and was acquainted with
most everything of any importance. And yet, considering all these
things, he exclaimed, one thing, just one, have I desired of the
Lord. One thing I must have, one thing
I will pursue, that will I seek after, one thing, that I, David,
may dwell, may be accepted, may stand in the presence of the
Lord, may be seated in the presence of the Lord, accepted of the
Lord in his fellowship, in his communion, in his house. to behold
His beauty, to behold His holiness, to behold His glory, and to sit
at His feet and learn of Him. That's one thing that I want.
Somebody said this one time, no man will truly succeed at
anything until he is dedicated to one thing. Now spiritually that's true,
and I'm going to show you that. I'm going to show you how that
spiritually no man or woman ever succeeds or is happy or has any
fulfillment, spiritually speaking, in anything until they're obsessed
with, separated to, dedicated to one thing. I'll show you that
in Scripture. First of all, we're turning to
Luke 18. In the 18th chapter of Luke, verse 18, a young man,
a rich young man, a rich young ruler came to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he fell at his feet and worshipped
Him, and he said to Him, Good Master, what good thing shall
I do that I may inherit eternal life? And our Lord met him right
here on the ground He chose to stand on. He met him where he
was coming from, as the young people say. And he said, why
do you call me good? There's none good but God. None
good but God. But he said, if you want to do
something to earn eternal life, and that's what he asked, what
shall I do that I may inherit eternal life as a result or reward
for what I do? Christ said, if you want to do
something to inherit eternal life, keep the commandments.
Perfectly holy. Oh, he said, I've done all that.
Christ said, watch this, one thing thou lackest. The one thing you lack. You've got riches and honor and
acclaim and popularity and morality and all these things, but you
lack one thing. Go sell what you have and take
up your cross and follow me and you'll have treasure in My friend,
here's a man who, according to the world, has everything. He's
rich, he's healthy, he's popular, he's powerful, he's moral, he's
educated, he has great influence, he's rich, and he has youth.
And these are the things that people want more than anything
else. And yet our Lord told him, That all these things were too
important to him that he must put them aside and take up his
cross and follow him. And that's the one thing that
he lacked. The one thing. Tell me what you
own. Some of you are pretty wealthy.
Some of you have houses and lands. You've got a lot of things. Tell
me what you own. Tell me what you have in this
world. You've got a safety deposit box full. You've got deeds to
land. You've got houses. You've got
rental property. You've got cars. You've got all
these things. It'll all burn. It'll all burn. There won't be anything left
someday but ashes of everything you had. One thing, Dylacchus. Tell me what you've done. The
honors you've acquired. All the deeds that you've done,
the good deeds and all the duties you've performed, all these things
that you've gone about doing, tell me what you've done. You
know what our Lord said about it? Wood, hay, and stubble. Wood,
hay, and stubble. It'll all burn. Tell me what
you know. Some people have degrees, they
have B.A.' 's, B.S.' 's, M.A.' 's, M.D.' 's, Ph.D.' 's, all
these degrees at the end of their name, the wisdom of this world.
But you know what the Bible says about the wisdom of this world?
Foolishness with God. Utter foolishness. We look back
on history two or three hundred years and look at the people
back there and say, they didn't know what we know. And I'm telling
you, one of these days they'll look back at us and say, those
folks were very dumb. They didn't know anything. Tell
me about your goodness and your righteousness. And God calls
it filthy rags. What do you do with filthy rags?
Burn them. Burn them. They'll not be left one stone
standing on another. I'm telling you this. Our Lord
looked at that rich young man, that young man, rich man, moral
man, educated man, powerful man. He said to him, you got a whole
lot, but you lack one thing. And lacking that one thing, makes
all you have useless. Useless. So, if you're wise,
you'd part with all these things to which you've given your whole
life to, and you'd follow me, because that's the one thing
you like. You see, Moses knew that. Moses, the scripture says,
esteemed the reproach of Christ greater treasures than all the
riches of Egypt. Moses' esteem, even the reproach
of Christ, following Christ in poverty and reproach is better
than all the treasures of Egypt. I warn you, my friend, and you
may not care what I think. You may not. You may think my
warnings are useless. That's all right. But I've been
here a long time, and I've preached a long time, and I've traveled
to a lot of places, I've known a lot of people. And I know this,
when I warn everybody listening to me who's taken up with the
cares of this world, and the riches of this world, and the
possessions of this world, I'm warning you, these things will
perish. The passion of this world fadeth
away. These things will burn. Follow
Christ. Know Christ, love Christ, believe
Christ, serve Christ. That's the one thing, the one
thing that you lack. And lacking that one thing makes
everything else useless, utterly, totally useless. Here's another
scripture, Luke 10, 38. There were two sisters, Mary
and Martha. Now, these ladies loved the Savior.
They knew Christ. Our Lord often visited their
home. It was a little home in Bethany.
And in that home lived Martha, the older sister, Mary, the younger
sister, and the brother, Lazarus. Remember Lazarus? Christ raised
him from the dead. Well, our Lord came to this house,
and this house was a house that welcomed Him. He visited it frequently. They fed Him. They were His friends. In fact, when Lazarus got sick,
they sent word to Christ and said, He whom thou lovest is
sick. So he was here one day visiting with them, and the scripture
tells us that Martha, Martha welcomed Christ into her home. He received the Lord, she received
the Lord into her house, and she was cumbered about with much
serving. I'll tell you what she was doing.
She was fixing dinner for all of them, for the disciples and
the Lord, and she was so busy, and she was getting flowers to
put on the table, and setting the table, and putting new tablecloth
on it, and getting the chairs around, cooking the meal, and
fixing the bread and the desserts. and all these things, she was
just going around, like they used to say in the country, like
a chicken with its head cut off, running around, and maybe her
sister was sitting in here at the feet of the Lord, sitting
there, looking up into His face, and the Scripture said, hearing
His Word, hearing His Word. And Mary came into the living
room where the master was seated with the disciples, and I imagine
she had her hands on her hips, and she was a little steamed
up, and she said, Lord, don't you care? Don't you care that
my sister sits here at your feet while I serve and work and labor
to feed everybody? Don't you care if she doesn't
help me? Now, wait a minute. And our Lord looked at her and
He said, Martha, Martha, Martha, Martha, you're careful and troubled
about many things, but Martha, one thing is needful. One thing is imperative. One thing is necessary. And it's
not your trouble and care and cumbersome ways and your service. That's not the one thing needed.
Nor the food you're preparing, nor all the effort you're putting
forward, nor the beauty of the service, nor the beauty of the
table. One thing is needful, Martha, and Mary hath chosen
that one thing. Sitting at my feet, hearing my
word, and it'll never be taken away from her. What you're doing
will come and go. What she's doing, you'll never
lose. Martha's a picture of this religious
world in which I'm living. Organized, troubled, careful,
cumbered with much service, activity, entertainment, going, doing,
social activity, ball games, potluck suppers, choir practices,
much ado about nothing, quite frankly. Census taken. Entertainment. Everybody's got
a microphone stuck in his mouth and screaming in it. And our
Lord says, oh, to all who claim to be his children, One thing
is needful, and it's not what you're doing. One thing is needful,
to sit at the feet of Christ and hear His Word. You know anybody
interested in that? You know anybody doing that?
We need to hear His Word, we need to sit at His feet and worship
Him. Can't you see maybe that? She's
just looking up into His face, adoring Him, and thankful for
Him, and listening to His instructions, and listening to His Word, and
feeding and feasting on every word, the grace that falls from
His lips. And Martha's in there running
around, killing chickens, and doing all these things you know,
and trying to take care of the temporal things, We need to wait
on the Lord, wait on His grace. We're too busy serving Him to
be served by Him. Did you know that? Nobody's hearing
anything. I remember hearing when I was growing
up about a little boy down in Alabama, a little boy walking
down the road, and he had a lunch kit and an arm load of books. He just loaded down with books.
And he's walking down the road, and a man met him and said, Son,
where are you going? He said, I'm going to school.
And the man said, what are you learning in school? He said,
I ain't learning nothing in school. I'm too busy going to school
to learn anything. I think we're too busy going
to church. I think we're too busy playing
games. I think we're too busy entertaining
folks. I think we're too busy passing
out cards and getting folks signed up and running around in buses
and going to Kings Island. I think we're just too busy going
to school. And we're not learning anything.
I warn you. I warn those who are so active
and so busy and so careful and so troubled and so cumbered about
with much care that they're neglecting the one thing needful. Sit down and shut up. And listen to His Word. Know
anything about the Word? My Lord said, the Word will judge
you. Know anything about the Word? How long has it been since
you just sat down and shut up, slowed down, and sat at the feet
of the Lord and just worshipped Him? Oh, we're serving Him, serving
the Lord, serving the Lord. He said, if I needed anything,
I wouldn't ask you. He said, I came not to be ministered
unto, I came to minister. and to give my life a ransom
for many. Thirdly, in John chapter 9, our
Lord had healed a blind man, blind from birth. And the Pharisees
got around this fellow, they knew him, he'd been blind from
birth, and they crowded around him, and they tried to get him
to deny that Christ had healed him. They didn't like the Lord
Jesus Christ, they didn't want him to have all the glory, they
didn't care who got the glory, as long as he didn't, They didn't
want his name to be praised and his name to be glorified, so
they gathered around this fellow and they said, give God the praise,
not this man Jesus Christ. Don't give this Jesus Christ
all the glory. Give it to God or give it to
somebody, but don't give it to Jesus Christ. And this fellow
looked at him and he said, one thing I know, one thing I know, and I'm going
to tell you what it is. I was blind. I was blind. I could do nothing about my condition. Nothing. I had no ability or
power to do anything about my condition. Left to me, I'd still
be blind. My parents couldn't do anything
for me. They loved me, but they couldn't help me. I was blind.
In absolute, total darkness. You religious people couldn't
do anything for me. I was blind. beyond your hope
and help and care. My friends could do nothing for
me. I was blind. And this man, Jesus Christ, came
to me and touched my eyes. And now I see. Now you can say
what you want to, but there's one thing I know. I was blind. dead in trespasses
and sin. The Bible says in Ephesians,
without God in this world, without hope, without help. And religion had been around
me all this time, and well-wishers, and loving neighbors and family
and friends, but nobody could ever or would ever help me. Couldn't
help me, and I couldn't help myself. But Christ came, the
Lord Jesus, because He purposed to do it. He came. And now, one
thing I know, He made me whole. He did it all, from Alpha to
Omega, from beginning to end. He's the author and finisher
of my life, and my sight, and my hearing, and my faith. He's
all. You see, of God, He's made unto
me wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He was wounded
for my transgressions, and by His stripes I'm healed. He died
for the unjust to bring me to God. And He came into this world
to save sinners of whom I'm cheap. And He chose me, I didn't choose
Him. He called me, I didn't call Him.
He cleansed me, I didn't cleanse Him. He converted me, I didn't
convert myself. To God be the glory. Great things
He hath done. I refuse to give any man any
glory for anything that God has done for me. How about you? One
thing, I know. I was blind, stone blind, and
He came along of His own will, by His own power, for His own
glory, and He made me see. And when I get to glory, I'm
like the elderly lady who heard John Newton speak, and she told
him after the service, she said, well, I'll tell you this, the
Lord saved me and He'll never hear the last of it. I'm going
to praise Him forever. He'll never hear the last of
it Unto him who loved me and gave himself for me and washed
me from my sins in his own blood him be the glory And we're not
gonna share it. All right Philippians 3 One thing
We've heard our Lord speak to a worldly man one thing thou
lackest We've heard him speak to a believer One thing is needful
We've heard a man's testimony whom God hath made whole. One
thing I know, he did it all. And now we're going to hear an
apostle. We're going to hear from an apostle. We're going
to hear from a man whom God chose and to whom God revealed himself
face to face and whom the Lord taught the gospel, the apostle
Paul. In Philippians 3.12, he says, Brethren, brethren, tell
you something now. You listen to me. I have not
attained. I'm not perfect. This is the
Apostle Paul talking. I'm not perfect. Don't look to
me. Look to Christ. I haven't attained. I'm not perfect.
I've not arrived. I have not laid hold upon that
for which I've been laid hold of by Christ. I'm not where I'm
going. I'm not what I want to be. I'm
not what I'm going to be. I haven't arrived. But this one
thing I do. One thing. One thing. Forgetting those things which
are behind. Oh, I tell you, this is so important. Forgetting my sins, they're under
the blood. I'm not going to brood about
them or brag about them. You with me? I'm not going to
brood about them or brag about them. Forgetting my sins, forgetting
my works, Forgetting my errors, forgetting my misunderstanding,
forgetting my falling out, forgetting any injustice. Forgetting. I'd be the greatest psychiatrist
in the world if I could teach people to forget. Paul said, I forget those things
which are behind and I reach forth. One thing I do, I reach
forth. unto those things which are before."
What's before me? His Word, His promises, His grace,
His people, His will. And I press. This one thing I
do, I'm not living in the past. I'm forgetting what's behind.
I'm turning my back on it. I'm like a runner running a race. I'm not looking to see how far
I've come or who's following me or who's gaining on me. I'm
looking to one end. I press toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ. I'm going
to cross that finish line. That's the one thing I do. One
thing. That's what I'm interested in.
That's what I care about. I don't care how far I've come.
I don't care who's with me or how far I'm ahead of somebody
else or where they're gaining on me by his grace. I expect
to finish. Cross the line. Attain the prize. Brethren, I'm an apostle, he
said. But I'll tell you this about
me. I hadn't arrived. I'm not perfect. I haven't even
laid hold upon that for which my Lord laid hold of me. But
I'll tell you one thing I do. One thing. Forgetting the past,
I reach. Reach to Christ. Reach to His
people. Reach to His Word. Reach to His
promise. And I'm pressing towards the mark of the prize of the
high calling of Christ my Lord. Because it brings me to this
last thing that David said in Psalm 27. Because one thing have
I desired of the Lord. I have no claim on it. Have no right to deserve anything
or desire anything of the Lord. It'll be a gift if I receive
it It's of the Lord eternal life his gift if I have eternal life,
he'll have to give it to me one thing I Want I desire above all
things I desire this of the Lord That I may dwell in his presence
We're not talking about an in-and-out adventure Folks run in, get saved
today and lost tomorrow, and get on the mountain today and
the valley tomorrow. David said, I want to dwell in
His presence all the days of my life. That's what I want. I want to dwell in His presence
all the days of my life because I want to behold His beauty and
His glory. Now, here's the important thing
here. One thing have I desired of the Lord, and listen to these
five words, that will I seek after. Do you desire this one
thing enough to seek after it? To go for it? Do you? Well, I'll
tell you where to seek it, in His Word, in the preaching of
the Gospel, and among His people that know it. I'm going to seek
after it.

One Thing

What does the Bible say about seeking God's presence?

How do we know the importance of dedicating ourselves to one thing spiritually?

Why is it important to hear God's Word?

How does the rich young ruler's story illustrate the need for devotion to Christ?

What should we prioritize in our Christian lives according to Philippians 3?

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One Thing

What does the Bible say about seeking God's presence?

How do we know the importance of dedicating ourselves to one thing spiritually?

Why is it important to hear God's Word?

How does the rich young ruler's story illustrate the need for devotion to Christ?

What should we prioritize in our Christian lives according to Philippians 3?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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