Luke

[0:01] Thank you, Lord, sir. I'd like to your attention this evening to the Gospel according to Luke, reading from chapter 10 and verse 42.

[0:14] Gospel according to Luke, chapter 10 and verse 42. But one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her.

[0:35] But one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her.

[0:53] What a favoured household they were, that eternal Son of God himself should come into their midst and make one with them.

[1:18] He wanted to be there. And they wanted him to be there.

[1:29] Jesus loved them and they loved him.

[1:42] We see the Lord here in this verse teaching Martha. There was in the heart of Mary a hunger.

[2:06] She could and did lay aside everything to sit at Jesus' feet and listen to his words.

[2:19] but Martha also had some precious things. She could say as she did she had been brought for that one thing needful the words of Christ to her here had entered her soul and she communed with him in love.

[2:59] The Lord had put it in her heart by faith she had a sight of whom the Son of God was.

[3:11] She knew him as the great King of Kings and Lord of Lords. and there was locked in her heart that one thing needful.

[3:28] Her sister Mary who sat at his feet brought that precious ointment for his burial for the love that drew her to him and him and him to her.

[3:47] And what a mercy it is when God by his Holy Spirit enters our souls with divine power and brings us by living faith to understand and to desire that one thing needful.

[4:13] Look back in your experience tonight and ask yourself this searching question where when how by what means did the Lord bring me to understand that one thing needful.

[4:41] Do I understand that one thing needful? Has have my eyes been opened and my ears and have I been brought like these dear people were to love and to know the Lord Jesus Christ?

[5:04] Has he revealed to me his love? Has he spoken that love into my heart? And have I known what that love truly means?

[5:19] The Lord said to Jeremiah yea I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Apostle Paul says not that we loved him but that he loved us and gave his son to be a ransom for our sins.

[5:43] The love of Christ is to be known in our hearts as these dear people knew. There is a command here Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things.

[6:01] oh when the Lord speaks as he spoke into her heart there was fruit, blessed fruit.

[6:14] There was a coming to him and an understanding and a knowledge of that love. She was brought to the same place as her sister was brought to.

[6:31] One thing is needful. I say to you tonight as the Lord laid that in your heart and it may be you have your doubts about whether you know that one thing needful, whether you know it in all its reality and power, whether you see it, understand what it is.

[6:59] There's much religion about it. One thing is needful. What is it? It's what these dear people have faced in the eternal Son of God.

[7:13] A knowledge of his love and his blood in their soul. A walking in that peace peace when those everlasting arms of love and mercy were about them and they knew it.

[7:32] They knew the love of Christ. He loved them, they were aware of it, and they felt a love to him. The top lady said in that little hymn loved of my God.

[7:50] Him again with love intense sideburn. You see when the love of Christ is known in the soul, oh what a broken contrite heart there will be.

[8:05] What a weeping at his mercy see. What confession of sin there will be. Then there will be access to him.

[8:18] There will be no barrier between your soul and your God. Then you will know those everlasting arms of love and mercy about you. If the love of Christ is known in your soul, you will have liberty, freedom, hope will be raised up in your soul.

[8:40] Then you will know peace. That peace which I believe these dear people knew and the Lord was with them in trouble.

[8:55] Has he been with you in trouble? There were things they couldn't understand. He abode still two days in that place.

[9:08] He did not immediately answer their call to come. He did it with a divine purpose because he loved them. He would reveal his glory to them.

[9:19] This is how the Lord works. He brings these dear people into deep valleys. He gives them immense crosses. He gives to them thorns in their flesh, weaknesses in their body.

[9:33] They have to walk through much tribulation to enter the kingdom. But it's the Lord's purpose in doing this that they may know his love. They may know his mercy.

[9:46] they may know that those everlasting arms are underneath. They may prove the sweetness of the promises. I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee.

[9:58] But they have to walk the path out. And we read that tonight. The solemn path of the death of Lazarus.

[10:10] And their faith, if thou hadst been here. they both said it. Our brother had not died. Oh, what faith they had in him.

[10:23] How they were brought to him in their troubles. How afflictions brought them to Christ. And how he came at the moment they needed him.

[10:40] And that was at the moment when he raised their brother from the dead. We solemnly read of those who went their way to the Pharisees. Not so Martha and Mary.

[10:54] They both had entered into this sweet truth. They could not live their life without him. They needed him in so many ways.

[11:07] In providence and in grace. They were dependent upon him like little children. They were like Moses underneath the everlasting arm.

[11:21] They are all with him now. They worship before his throne. But they commune with him in this time state.

[11:34] Now in glory. the dear saints of God, including Martha and Lazarus and Mary, sing that blessed anthem which they learnt in this earth under him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood.

[12:00] Perfect love, says scripture, that's the love of Christ, cast it out for fear. They had a hope. When they came to the end, they were brought to rest in peace in their garden.

[12:19] They knew him themselves, personally, individually. He had taught them. This was his teaching to Martha.

[12:35] I love the words of the Lord to Martha here. They are full of compassion, full of tenderest pity. Martha, Martha.

[12:52] You may have noticed when I read the account in the gospel of John. When Mary anointed his feet with that holy ointment.

[13:09] We read here, Martha served. She was serving here in our text. the Lord was teaching her.

[13:25] Oh, how we see here the Lord's teaching in her soul. There were things to be left. There were things to be got in the right order of priority.

[13:43] She was to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Then the Lord was drawing her to himself in divine purposes, working in her soul.

[13:59] I say to you here tonight, have you got your priorities right? Think on it.

[14:12] Think on it. Martha, Martha, who are careful and troubled about many things, one thing is needful.

[14:30] You know that is to sit at his feet in humble submission and obedience, listening to his commandments, his words, his teaching.

[14:56] And you see acting. There is a path to be walked on and we see it with Mary.

[15:09] when she anointed his feet. Oh, in that solemn hour, when she did it for his burial, how there were those who had no understanding of what she was doing.

[15:30] The Lord had. The Lord knew. delay in her activity love. But there was action. Oh, not to her honor and glory.

[15:46] But the Lord permitted her. You know, I'm reminded of John the Baptist when he baptized the Lord in Jordan. And the Lord said to him, suffer it to be so now.

[16:00] You think of those words of John the Baptist whose shoes latch it, I'm not worthy to unloose. What a glorious honor and privilege it was given to Mary that she should anoint his body for his burial.

[16:19] That sacred solemn scene in that hour, that Bethany. And you see, there were others like her who were privileged to take part in that solemn holy hour when the eternal Son of God would offer himself a sacrifice for sin.

[16:54] I think of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. There is a sweetness in the visit of Nicodemus to Christ, of the teaching the Lord gave him.

[17:15] He was pointing him to that one thing needful, Lord, art thou master of Israel, and knowest not these things. But he was to carry the body of Christ to the grave.

[17:33] There was ordered events in his arrival that night, inquiring, just like Mary who was to anoint his body.

[17:48] Nicodemus was to be the instrument to carry his body to the grave. So for it to be so now, poor, fallen creatures they were.

[18:04] Nicodemus came to him by night for fear of the Jews. How remarkable it was that it was to be two secret disciples who in that hour came out into the open to confess him.

[18:30] No longer ashamed of him. But he was merely not ashamed of him. There was love.

[18:42] She knew this one thing needful. Tim writer says one thing needful dearest Lord is to be one with thee.

[18:53] Do you know that oneness spoken of in scripture in the figure flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone.

[19:04] Spoken of by Christ in his prayer at the last supper I in them and thou in me that they may be one in us. It's love that constrains these dear people.

[19:21] They walked with Jesus poor fallen creatures that they were but they knew his love the love of the eternal son of God manifested to them.

[19:37] And I do ask you here tonight do you know anything of that love? Has the Lord drawn near to you and you have felt his love?

[19:54] You'll feel it when he applies his precious blood heart and conscience. When he speaks peace and pardon into your soul. When he answers your prayers.

[20:08] When he speaks his seeding great and precious promises into your heart. And love brings with it divine strength. Oh how there is a union.

[20:23] Takes away fear. Takes away unbelief. And there is a walking in the peace of God. Tim rightly says when peace like a river flows over my soul.

[20:40] Oh have you ever known in this sanctuary of God under the preaching of the gospel here what it has been for peace like a river to flow over your soul.

[20:53] And to know that the Lord loves you. and you have walked in the precious nature of that love. And you have known something of the mercy of your God.

[21:06] One thing is needful. Nary has chosen that good path. you know chosen.

[21:25] What was the ground of that choice? Where lay the foundation of that choice? I don't think we shall disagree certainly not in her human nature her fallen nature.

[21:55] Where then was the ground of that choice? I tell you this. It was in the work of grace in her heart. The God who had opened her eyes.

[22:08] We know nothing of the past. We do not know how Mary or Martha or Lazarus were called by grace. We have the evidence of the fruits of it here.

[22:21] Mary has chosen that good path. God. Oh I ask you have you the Lord granted you the grace to choose that good God to be one in him in him forever.

[22:44] To be brought into union with him. To know him at the throne of grace.

[22:55] to know him at the mercy sin. To know him as that God who has heard and answered your prayers. To know him upon that blood sprinkled mercy sin.

[23:14] To know his love and blood in your own heart and to know what scripture speaks of. The peace of God which passes all understanding.

[23:28] Mary has chosen. Why? Because she wanted him. Oh she saw a beauty and a blessedness in Christ.

[23:42] She wanted him as her savior. She saw that she needed him. Then when it came to you an article of death to face the king of kings and lord of lords she needed an advocate.

[24:00] Do you need one? The world has no need of Christ. Mary had.

[24:11] One thing is needful and Mary has chosen that good part. The lord had opened her eyes.

[24:25] He had planted the seed of divine grace in her soul. Just as her dear sister. She knew who the eternal son of God was.

[24:43] She had a sight of him by faith. she bowed at his mercy seat. Do you? To bow there in formality there will be no knowledge of the love of Christ.

[25:01] To bow there in need, in wrestling prayer, to bow there as a convinced sinner, to bow there in a broken and contrite heart, to plead for mercy, to come like this, the psalmist came and he said, pardon, mine iniquity, O Lord, for it is great.

[25:21] And if the Lord draw near and answer you, and you prove that law and terrors do but harden all the while they work alone but, a sense of blood brought pardon, soon will melt the heart of stone.

[25:36] Then there will be communion with the eternal son of God. Mary and Martha and Lazarus needed cry. They saw in him their whole hope of salvation.

[25:53] They saw in him their great advocate in the courts of heaven above, one who would plead for them on high, one who would die for them.

[26:06] these dear saints that surrounded Christ. Oh, when we look at Peter and John and Thomas and so many of them, we hear from their lips their love to Christ.

[26:25] My Lord and my God, said Thomas. Oh, when we look at Peter, thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

[26:41] When he fell, denied his Lord with oaths and curses in the high priest's house, Jesus turned and looked at him. Oh, what a look that was.

[26:53] I pray for thee. That's what echoed in Peter's heart. It was compassion to a guilty sinner. It was mercy. It was an entrance into the glory of Christ, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful, gracious, long-suffering, plenteous in goodness and truth, forgiving in iniquity, transgression and sin, will by no means clear the guilty.

[27:24] What a blessed revelation, what a truth dear Peter had. John the divine. Like Lazarus and Martha and Mary were told Jesus loved them.

[27:41] And when we read the gospel of John, he refers to himself, the disciple whom Jesus loved. He knew him. Do you know him?

[27:52] Oh, do you know him? How precious is that love? How blessed are those everlasting arms underneath.

[28:04] Have you walked in the love of Christ at any time in your life? love? Have you known the sweetness of that precious love?

[28:18] Look at it in this way. One thing is needful. Mary has chosen that good path. And then the scriptures go on, which shall not be taken away from her.

[28:35] Once in him says the hymn writer, in him forever. Thus the eternal covenant stands.

[28:48] All God's dear children who have known something of his love, may yet in days to come walk and mourn an absent God.

[29:00] Walk in darkness and have no life. Yet they trust in the Lord. But they mourn their and absent God. Many reasons for it.

[29:12] Their own sins. The Lord's determinate purposes, as it was in Job's case, that he should walk in darkness. But the Lord has his purposes in granting to his people a hunger and a thirst for his presence.

[29:29] And there is nothing when they've known it once in this world. they know there is nothing they desire more than to walk in his presence.

[29:41] The Imreiter says, in thy presence I'm happy. In thy presence I'm secure. In thy presence all afflictions I can easily endure.

[29:56] These dear saints walked, communed with Christ, and there was an unbreakable bond, an eternal bond between him and them.

[30:10] Though they might walk in temptations and fears and darkness, yet could not be taken from them. The Lord's work is indestructible.

[30:25] His word cannot be broken. But Christ has said, must be fulfilled on this firm rock believers build.

[30:35] And so, what has he said to you? What has he spoken in your heart? What word of his are you resting upon?

[30:48] Cannot be taken from you. You may have many doubts and fears. Human nature is full of unbelief. But oh the Lord in rich mercy will come over those mountains of unbelief and rise the son of righteousness with healing in his wings and come into the path and the hearts of his dear children.

[31:20] One thing is needful. the words of Christ to Martha and be certain of this.

[31:32] They went home. The Lord did not speak in vain. One thing is needful. Mary has chosen that good path which shall not be taken from us.

[31:50] I say again they are the words of Christ and they apply to the whole church of Christ the whole Israel of God. Blessed mercy then to have something.

[32:07] Blessed mercy to have known something of the love of Christ in our soul. there will come that day in eternity to come and one by one we watch those who pass that river to be with Christ forever.

[32:32] They then have learnt in the paths of experience the anthem of glory here below.

[32:44] they are ready and prepared to sing it out of the sweet experience of their heart in this life. They sing that anthem unto him that loved us and washed us from his sin our sins in his own blood.

[33:04] Will you ever be able to sing that anthem? What hope have you? I will you that you will one day be able to sing it.

[33:20] Time is but an empty vapor. Our lives are passing away coming away.

[33:32] How vital that we are searched in our souls that we have something that will not be taken away from us.

[33:49] Amen. are that I You