Mary and Martha (Quality: Poor, Incomplete)

[0:00] This is again that I want you to get to 10 in the gospel according to St. Luke comments reading at verse 4.

[0:15] The 10th chapter of St. Luke from verse 4 That Martha was candid about much serving and came to him and said Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?

[0:49] Bid her therefore that she help me And Jesus answered and said unto her Martha, Martha Thou art careful and troubled about many things That one thing is needful And Mary hath chosen that good part Which shall not be taken away from her We do not propose, dear friends, to Give a resume Of the discourse this morning But rather to immediately By the grace of God Proceed In delivering to you That which we believe to be truly profitable

[1:52] From this sacred, searching, holy, blessed portion Of holy writ Let us take up then the point here We have this divinely inspired Weird portrait And analysis Of the spiritual condition Of the two sisters at this time Loved by the Lord Jesus It is a beautiful picture That we see In the case of Mary Sitting at the feet of Jesus And I am persuaded that

[2:56] Every child of grace Would live there Were it possible If you know what it is To come to the place Of his feet Which is first of all God's meeting place With sinners God and sinners Are reconciled there Brought into communion And fellowship with him Then this is the place Of repentance Of divine worship And of the adoration Of his glorious person And it is also the place Of the scholar Where the great prophet Of the church Teaches his beloved people

[3:56] And it is evident That Mary was completely Completely absorbed As she beheld the beauty Of his divine person And as she heard The blessed words Proceeding from his lips For remember That his words Are eternal life To his people His words are the bread And water Of life To their souls And it appears From this From this Presentation Of the subject That for the time being She was Totally incapacitated For domestic duties

[4:58] And all mundane things Well if the glory Of Christ Is made so visible To your soul You will be so Transported from this earth That I am persuaded That for a while You will know Nothing of this earth And your immediate surroundings In fact You may even be If sufficiently favoured Like our own apostle Paul When he said Whether in the body Or out of the body I cannot tell God knoweth He's caught up To the third heaven I hope once or twice In my life I have felt Just a measure of that

[6:00] Once in particular Where for a while In a prayer meeting And I trust It was when The Lord anointed me For the ministry I can witness And testify Before you That I was Entirely unconscious Of my body For a season Now such then Is the beauty The attraction Of the person of Christ That if he lets A beam of his glory Penetrate your soul You will be gone From this world And for that season Will be incapacitated For all earthly Duties I am suggesting to you

[7:01] For a moment That knowing the place Of his feet Of his feet That sweet spot Where you're Saved with a broken Spirit With liberty In confession With a broken And contrite heart With the grace Of repentance With his love Flowing into your spirit When you feel That your sins Are pardoned When you can say It is well When you have the comfort Of a living hope And the blessed expectation Of eternal rest And peace And joy In glory You know the place Of his feet When

[8:01] In some Affliction Or trial The Lord Comes And you fall At his feet In the sweetest Experience Of filial Submission Fall into His hands Outright And lose Yourself In Jesus Quite What a blessed Place This is Now You would love To live there To remain There And Certainly To die There What a wonderful Blessing It is If By the Holy Spirit's Gracious Aid When we Retire To our Rest at Night We are

[9:03] Enabled To Lie Down As it Were At the Foot Of his Cross And feel Well Come Life Or Death It is Well With Nice Soul So I am Just Then Seeking To Demonstrate This Point The Living Family Of God Blessed With Gracious Desernment Understand The Meaning Of Sitting At Jesus Seat In That Sweet Repentant Humble Childlike Spirit Of Worship And Adoration And You can Understand Just

[10:03] How Mary Was But I Pass On For a Moment To The Case Of Martha And May I Remind You Of What I Suggested This Morning That You Will See The Two In Your Self You Will See The Martha And I Hope You Will See The Mary But I Do Want To Draw Attention Now To The Sister Martha It Is Evident From This Narrative That She Was The Mistress Of The House Probably Her Natural Temperament Was To Be Domineering And We All

[11:03] Have A Natural Temperament That One Thing Must Be Said Immediately About That That Where The Lord Grants The Treasure Of His Grace And The Deepening Of His Work And Brings Us Into Fellowship With Himself There Is That Mellowing And Ripening For Heaven That Is Evident That Is Conspicuous And There Is A Conforming To His Blessed Image And Lightness Well Here Is Martha But I Want To Deal With Her Condition At This Time She Was A Noble Soul

[12:04] Here Was The Royal Visitor The King Of Kings And The Lord Of Lords And Her Efforts Were Laudable She Was Speaking To The At Most Of Her Ability To Do What She Could To Give Of Her Best To Entertain Christ That Is Highly Commendable And The Lord Did Not Fail To Recognize This Himself If I Put This In Very Simple

[13:04] Domestic Terms What She Was Really Doing Was Seeking To Prepare The Best Meal Possible For The Lord So Let Us Remember That He Loved Her She Was A Noble Soul And This Was Very Commendable This Desire In Her Heart To Do All That She Could For The Dear Lord She But She Was Caught Up And Turned As We Often Are She Was Diverted She Became Over Anxious Careful And Troubled About

[14:04] Many Things The Earthly Things The Domestic Things The Mundane Things And Is Not That A True Picture Of Us Often But I Want To Look Now At The Description In This Forty Three Things Are Named There That The Lord Saw In Her And That She Was Guilty Of The First She Was Spiritually Clogged Or Tundered With Much Serving Clogged It Is This That I Shall Hope To Deal With A Little You Know That

[15:06] The Things Of This Life So Very Quickly Clog Your Spirit And Instead Of Sweet Liberty There Is Bondage And Blessing Is Withheld And So We Need This Gracious Reproof She Was Clogged Next She Was Rebellious She Registered Her Rebellion That Was A Very Solemn Thing With The Lord She Registered Her Complaint And If If You Look Into This Scripture You Will See That She Not Only Registered A Complaint About Her Sister That A Complaint

[16:07] About Her Lord Does Not Well Hear That My Sister Has Left Me To Serve Her Love So Poor Dear She Was Rebellious And She Complained She Seemed To Be Irritated I Really Know Not How To Harmonize This With A Gracious Character Although It Is So Evident Sometimes That When Some People Are Blessed Some Seem To Be Irritated Instead Of To Rejoice With Them One Would Anticipate That Motherly

[17:08] Mother Would Cast Her Loving Eye Upon Her Dear Sister And See Her Down There At The Feet Of Christ Saved And Blessed And You Would Anticipate That Tears Would Run Down Her Cheeks And That She Would Sing The Praises Of God That He So Blessed Her Sister Instead Of That She Is Rebellious These Things Are Truth Alight I Remember In My Simplicity When The Lord Granted Me Deliverance Pardon And Peace I Thought As I Got To The House Of God All The Saints Will Rejoice With Many But I Was Sadly Disillusioned When I Gave Expression In

[18:08] Praise And Gratitude To The Lord For What I Believed He Had Done In Granting Forgiveness I Found That Many Would Not Even Receive It And Seem To Be Farily Aggravated Oh What A Cruel Crafty Fowl The Devil Is You May Meet With Opposition From The Quarter That You Least Anticipate I Reiterate I Would Have Thought A Gracious Person Like Mother In Arthur Would Have Rejoiced To See Her Dear Sister So Blessed Instead Of That She Is Thinking More Of The Preparation For The Meal And Concentrating On The Fact That Her Sister Is Left Here

[19:08] To Serve Alone And So She Is Rebellion You Know Rebellion Is A Part Of Our Fallen Corrupt Nature I I I At At One Time Thought That Rebellion Was A Foreign Intrusion That It Was Something From Without From The Paths Of Darkness That Invaded Our Spirits That I Had Learned That Rebellion Is A Part Of Man's Corrupt Nature We Have A Rebellious Nature You Can Finally Dress It You Can Give It Refined Names And Perhaps Be Unacquainted With The Fact That Before God It Is Start Rebellion

[20:09] Well How The Lord Saw This In Her And How She Was Bold To Register This Another Man of God In The Scriptures Said I Do Well To Be Angry I'm Sure He Didn't Die There You Can Never Die In Such A Condition As That If You Are A Child Of God Now Number Two That Is Then First She Was Clogged Then She Was Rebellious And Thirdly She Was Dictatorial She Told God

[21:09] What To Do And He Will Never Take It From Any Creature Oh My Friends May We Never Be Left To Dictate To The Lord To Tell Him What To Do He Will Attably Reject It And It Is Offensive To His Divine Majesty That A Puny Worm And Even One Of His Children Should Ever Deteriorate Into Such A Condition As To Dictator Him Telling Him What To Do For Now You Can See The Analysis Of Her Condition At That Time And

[22:12] We Must Bow Our Heads We Are Verily Guilty If I Have Help I Shall See To Take Up The Three Points For A Few Minutes She Was Cumbered Or Clogged Spiritually How May We Open This Section Of The Subject First It Would Appear That Personally And Collectively There Is A Measure Of This In Our Day I Am Sure You Are Gravely Concerned With The Condition Of The Churches Here In This Great City You

[23:12] Have The Central Church And You Go Outside Of That And Probably You Know Something Of The Forcity Of Nandis And We Go Out Into The Provinces And Apart From A Few Exceptions We Are Looking Today On A Most Pitiful Site Dying Churches And It Just Seems As Though The Lord Is Withholding Blessing Do Not Think That I Am Speaking Now Universally I Am Not There Are Exceptions Multiple Blessed Exceptions But Generally It

[24:12] Would Appear That God Is With Bolder Blessing Now I Want You To Ponder This In Your Mind You Do You Do Many Probably Many Hours In The Night And In The Day It May Be Almost Subconsciously Sometimes You're Pondering This And You May Be Saying Lord What Is The Course You May Be Answering This Is There Not A Course You May Be Brought To Feel There Is A Clogging There Is That That Corrodes And Clogs And Inhibits And Binds There

[25:13] Is That That Prevents The Blessing Of God Do You Think This Is True Everything Everything That Pleases The Flesh Dends The Spirit Everything That Is Contrary To The Royal Statutes Of The Law Grieves Him And He Withholds His Blessing There Is This Condition Of Being Clong But I Pass Now To The Personal Aspect Of This What Is Your Understanding And Discernment Of Your Own Spiritual Condition On This Very Lord Side If

[26:18] You Come To A Diagnosis Would You Say My Soul Is In A Healthy Favored Sight I Near The Lord I Believe I Had A Closer Walk With God And My Affection Is Set On Things About More Than Perhaps I Had Known For Years Would You Be Able To Say That Would You Be Able To Add I Found The Sweetest Access In Prayer Blessed Liberty In My Soul In Praying For My Minister And The People For My Family Would You Say That Do You Feel A Living Appetite An Appetite That Has

[27:18] Its Edge Sharpened For The Ever Lasting Word Or Do You Feel That There Are Things That Have Clogged You Well We Are Guilty To Some Degree Without Doubt Whatever It Is That Encumbers The Soul That Clogs Our Spiritual Life And Activity Day Oh How We Need The Law Reproof And How We Need The Spirit Of Repentance Confession And Forgiveness So That We May Be Disentangled And Unencumbered And Brought Into A Place Of Blessed Health And Liberty And Peace I Wonder What

[28:18] Your Immediate Reaction To This Is She Was So Clogged With These Earthly Things But I Feel That I To Make Just One Other Point Here It Was Bad Enough To Be Cumbered In This Way That There Is A Condition That Is Worse She Was Cumbered With Legitimate Things So Long As Those Legitimate Things Were In Their Right Plight There Is A Worse Condition And That Is To Be Clawed By Things That Are Unlawful That Is Far Worse You See You Have The Adversary You Have A Wicked And Deceitful Heart And Everything Even

[29:19] The Lawful Things The Things That God Has Given Us To Enjoy In This Life The Adversary And The Wicked Heart Will Endeavor To Turn Us Aside So That They Have An Ascendancy Over The Things That Are Divine Ended Eternal I Can Look Back And I Can Demonstrate This To You In A Very Simple Way I Go Back To A Period Of Time That I Spent In This Great City In 1932 And In The Beginning Of That Year Studying In London I Was In Much Trouble And Affliction But My Soul Was Free Completely

[30:21] Free I Used To Turn In Here On A Tuesday Evening And Usually Attended Beulah On The Lord's Day Notting Hill And I Was Absolutely Free And Blessed In My Soul Now When I Came To The End Of The Third Term I Think It Was I Was Greatly Helped In My Work And In The Examinations The Terminal Examinations And I Was In A Condition Exactly Opposite To That That I Named Concerning The First Part Of That Time I Was Some What I Think Carried Away With Success With The Result

[31:21] Of The Examinations And So On And I Remember Sitting In The Chapel And Thinking Solemnly I I'm Sitting In This Chapel Tonight And I Hadn't A Scrapper Epis To The Truth Now You See What Had Happened I Was Shocked But Mercifully It Didn't Last Many Days Because God Brought Us Into A Very Heavy Affliction A Matter Of Life And Death So That I Was Very Quickly Brought Out Of That But I Demonstrate To You What I Mean Riches Success Anything Can Be Turned Into An Idol And It Just Has A Deadening Effect Upon Your

[32:21] Spirit So She Was Cumbered With Much Serving I Would Think Also Here That You Could Name A Poor God Fearing Mother Or Father Knowing What It Is To Have A Build Up A Real Build Up Of Responsibility On The Earth Such As A Dear Mother Perhaps With A Large Family Not Knowing Which Way To Turn Every Moment Being Occupied And This Take May Of Time Cumbered With Not Serving What Was The Concentration On The

[33:21] Domestic Duties And The Build Up Of The Whole Thing Cumbered With Not Serving And I Would Think To This Will Apply To Godly Men Especially In The High Pressure Of Industry And Trade Today And Competition You See You May Have Such An Accumulation Of Things On Your Desk Or In Your Work But Poor Sout Poor Dear Man Or Woman You Get Completely Candid With It You Get Into The House Of God And You Are Thinking About The Problems Of The Next Week The Pressing Things That Are Upon

[34:21] Your Mind And Not Wittingly But Unwittingly You May Be Cumbered With Much Serving And As You Come To The House Of God You May Say Oh How Barren Is My Soul My Leanness My Leanness The Treacherous Dealers Are Dealt Very Treacherously I Can Remember And This Is A Rather Homely Observation But I Think It Was Old Mr.

[35:01] Kent Bindon Who Speaks About At One Time He Thought That He Must Have Some Diversion Something To Interest Him Apart From His Ministry And I Think He Started To Keep Pigs And Then At Another Time Started To Repair Clocks Or Something Like That And He Said When He Got Into The Poopit All He Could Hear Was These Clocks Going And These Pigs And You See The Whole Point It's A Very Simple Thing But You're Just Cumbered Overloaded And It Seems Almost As If Your Spiritual Life Well You Wonder If You Have Any At All Wonder If You're Dead Poor

[36:02] Dear Martha The Lord Looked Upon Her With Such Loving Compassion And pity And In His Own Wondrous Way Gave Her That Fatherly Word Of Admonition And Reproof Very Loving And Tender Reproof It Was Even In The Toe Of His Voice Martha Martha Just The Tone Of His Voice Very Tender Reproof Wasn't There She Knew The Very Way He Said Her Night It Was Sufficient Martha Martha This Brought Her At Once To Her Right Mind This Arrested The Deterioration This Was Was The Means Of Restoring

[37:03] Her To Health And Derivatory Spiritually The Way He Addressed Her Oh How He Full Of All Compassion Looked Upon This Poor Noble Yet Over Burden Soul Who For The Time Being Had Been Diverted From Her True Course There Is A Little Word In The Context That Should Be Observed It Is This She Had A Sister That Is After Martha Is Name She Had A Sister Called Mary Which Also Sat At Jesus Feet Also And That Word Also Is Very

[38:04] Revealing And It Can Be Taken Two Ways It Can Be Taken This Way That Mary Did Help Her Sister But She Also Sat At Jesus Feet It Can Be Taken This Way That Martha Sat At Jesus Feet And So He Says Also Mary Also Sat I Feel That Word Of Divine Inspiration Also Reveals A Tremendous Amount You're Not Just To Look On Martha And Think Oh It Was All Domestic Matters No Also She Knew What It Was To Sit There You're Not To Look At Mary And Think Well Now She Neglected Her Duties And Didn't Assist Her Sister At

[39:04] All She Did But Now She Was There And She Was Held Just One Word Can Reveal The Whole Matter Very Clearly When I Come To This Second Part This Rebellion Only The Lord By His Spirit Can Reveal To Us The Form And The Degree Of Our Rebellions It Is Possible To Live In A Rebellious Spirit For A Long Time It It's A Barren Land The Sweet Spirit Of Christ Is One Of Filial

[40:04] Submission Hagar Fled From Her Mistress Sarah The Lord Told Her To Return And Submit The Lord Will Not Have Rebellion He Will Give His People Submission You Will Have Times When You Feel Like Fleeing That He Will Say To You Consider Him That Endured Such Contradiction Of Sinners Against Himself Lest You Be Weird And Faint In Your Mind This Will Do It This Will Remove The Rebellion From Your Spirit And Fill You With Submission Some

[41:07] May Advise You To Assert Yourself But If The Lord Comes You May Know What It Is To Be Done With Silence And Be Still And Know That He Is God For You Have No Need To Fight In This Battle The Battle Is The Lord's And So How Important It Is For Us To Be Saved From Doing Doing Things As They Appeared To Mortal Eyes Making Comparisons Often Comparisons Are Odious So She Was Reproved For Her Rebellion And The

[42:07] Dictatorial Attitude I Feel That One Could Justly Say That I Know Perfectly Well That We Shall Carry Our Body To The Grave That We Shall Carry Our Temperament But I Feel That I May Say That This Dictatorial Attitude Was Largely Eradicated Because As I Said This Morning We See Here With Mary Six Days Before The Passover She Was Serving The Sapphire Mary Was Anointing Him There Was Perfect Harmony She Had Learned Her Lesson She Knew Now Other Lord But Him He Can Extirpate

[43:07] Something From Your Spirit That May Have Troubled And Perplexed You And Grieved The Lord For A Long Season They Can Remove It They Can Make You As A Little Child So He Analyzes Her State And Then Commences To Reprove Her Mother Mother I Believe In That Word Calling Her Name And In The Tone Of His Voice She Knew That He So Loved Her That She Felt The Wound Of Conviction And

[44:09] She Felt The Pair Of His Repose Went Right Home To Her Heart What Does The Lord Say I Wound And I Heal He Wounded Her Mercy For He Wounded Her To Make Her Whole He Wounded Her To Disentangle Her He Wounded Her To Restore Her To Spiritual Health And Thy Care Oh The Wonder Of This This Is Often A Surgeon's Work To Wound To Heal It

[45:10] Is The Lord Work Pre-eminently He Wounds Us To Heal Us This Is His Divine Method And Is Nasa Nasa Thou Art Careful Over Overanxious And Troubled Distracted About Many Things True Isn't It Many Things What is It One Two Three How Many Things Are You Careful And Troubled About If You Have A Family You Go Here And There And There And There And There You You Have So Many Things That Come Into Your Path You're Careful And Troubled About Many

[46:10] Things But Of Course Here We Are Taught To Get Our Priority Right One Thing Is Needful I Cannot Preach A Better Sermon Or As Good A Sermon Upon That One Thing Is Needful As We Have In The Closing Hymn This Morning Very Beautiful Hymn Because I Judge That This One Thing Is Needful Suggests To Our Mind The Lord Himself And Every Blessing Of The New Covenant That We Stand In Need Of Eternal Life Union With The Lord Communion A Gracious Spirit Whatever Is Needed And

[47:12] All Is Comprehended In Him To Be Like Him To Be Near Him To Have The Treasure In Heaven And The Treasure In Our Hearts Of Grace One Thing Is Needful Do In To Know I In All I Easy In I