promises

Jesus Only

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. – Luke 10:42

“One thing is needful.” I am glad it says, “one thing,” because a division of ends and objects is always weakening. A man cannot follow two things well. It is a great pity when a man fritters away his energies by being “everything by turns, and nothing long;” trying all things and mastering nothing. Oh soul, it is well for thee that there is only one thing in this world that is absolutely necessary, give thy whole soul to that. If other things are necessary in a secondary place, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these shall be added unto you.”

One thing is needful, and this is well arranged, for we cannot follow two things. If Christ be one of them, we cannot follow another. Is it not written, “No man can serve two masters, either he will hate the one and love the other or cleave to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Not only would it be very weakening to you to attempt to serve both, but it is absolutely impossible that you should do so. Jesus Christ is a monopolizer of human hearts; He will never accept a portion of our manhood. He bought us altogether, and He will have the whole of our personality. Christ must be everything, or He will be nothing. He does not love Christ who loves anything as well as Christ, neither does he trust him who trusts in anything besides. Christ must reign alone. “Jesus only,” must be the motto of our spirits. It is well for us, therefore, that only one thing is necessary, for only one thing is possible.

One thing is needful-let the rest go. What if we have not learning?-what if we have not eloquence? If we live near to Christ, we have something better than all these; if we abide in Him, and He abides in us, we shall go and bring forth fruit, and our fruit shall remain; if He abides in us, we shall enjoy heaven on earth, and be daily preparing of that eternal heaven which is to be our portion. “One thing is needful.” God grant it to every one of us! -Amen. ~C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1015.cfm

Only at the Feet of Jesus

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit, the unbelieving life Leave a comment

And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard His word. – Luke 10:39

Only at the feet of Jesus can the divine power be gained which works in us holiness and sanctifies us practically; therefore, as you must be purified or you cannot enter heaven, you must come to Jesus’ feet. Moreover, it is at the feet of Jesus that the soul’s ignorance is removed; and since ignorance concerning ourselves and our God must be taken from us, we must be taught of Him. God is “our light and our salvation;” our light first, and our salvation in consequence. We must have the light. The spiritually blind man cannot enter heaven, he must have his eyes opened, but Jesus alone can work that miracle of grace. Neither can we receive true light except from Him, for He is “the true light, that lighteth every man that cometh into the world;” none are ever enlightened, except by Him. “In Him is light-all light; and the light is the light of men.”

In order to enter heaven, it is necessary that our nature should become like the nature of Christ. This earth is for those who bear the image of the first Adam; but the new heaven and the new earth are for those who bear the image of the second Adam.. We must, by some means, acquire the nature of the second and heavenly Adam, and this must be wrought in us by regeneration, and developed by acquaintance with Him. By sitting at His feet, and beholding Him, we become changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. If we reject the Lord Jesus as our trust, teacher, and exemplar, we have no new life, we are not new creatures in Christ, and we can never be admitted within the holy gates where those alone dwell who are fashioned after His likeness. We must, then, sit at His feet…

Woe, woe, woe eternally to the soul that will not sit at the feet of Jesus! He shall be trodden beneath His feet in His anger and crushed in His hot displeasure. God grant that may never be our portion. To sit at Jesus’ feet is the one thing needful then. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1015.cfm

First, Attend to Your Own Salvation

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, repentance, salvation Leave a comment

And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard His word. – Luke 10:39

It is astonishing the many letters I receive and interviews I am asked to give, in order to adjust in people’s minds the doctrine of predestination and the fact of free agency; and equally remarkable is the way in which young people, and old people too, will pick out extremely difficult texts, perhaps relating to the Second Advent, or to the battle of Armageddon, and they must needs have these opened up to them before they will believe the gospel. I think it utterly useless to begin upon such things with those who are unsaved. One thing is needful, sir, and that is by no means a puzzling matter; it is plainly this, that thou submit thyself to Jesus Christ and sit at His feet. That is needful: as for the doctrines of election and the second advent, they are important, but they are neither the most essential nor the most pressing. The one thing needful for a seeking soul is that it receives Jesus and become submissive to Him, sitting as a disciple at His feet and as a servant doing His will. It is true there is the ninth chapter of Romans in the Bible, and a precious chapter it is: but the seeking sinner should take care to read first the third chapter of John, and till he has mastered that, he had better let the Romans alone. Go first to the business which concerns your salvation; attend to that, and when all is right with you, then, at Jesus’ feet, you will be in the best possible position to learn all that can be learned of the higher mysteries and the deeper truths. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1015.cfm

The Necessity

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, confession of sin, promises, repentance Leave a comment

But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part… – Luke 10:42

Our text speaks of NECESSITY-one thing is a necessity. If this be proven, it overrides all other considerations. We are nearly right when we say proverbially, “Necessity has no law.” If a man steal, and it be found that he was dying of hunger, he is always half forgiven, and charity has been known to excuse him altogether. Necessity has been frequently accepted as a good excuse for what else might not have been tolerated; and when a thing is right, and necessity backs it, then indeed the right become imperative, and pushes to the front to force its way. Necessity, like hunger breaks through stone walls. The text claims for sitting at Jesus’ feet that it is the first and only necessity. Now, I see all around me a crowd of things alluring and fascinating. Pleasure calls to me I hear her siren song-but I reply, “I cannot regard thee, for necessity presses upon me to hearken to another voice.” Philosophy and learning charm me, fain would I yield my heart to them; but, while I am yet unsaved, the one thing needful demands my first care, and wisdom bids me give it. Not that we love human learning less, but eternal wisdom more. Pearls? Yes. Emeralds? Yes, but bread, in God’s name-bread at once, when I am starving in the desert! What is the use of ingots of gold, or bars of silver, or caskets of jewels, when food is wanting? If one thing be needful, it devours, like Aaron’s rod, all the matters which are merely pleasurable. All the fascinating things on earth may go, but the needful things we must have. If you are wise, you will ever more prefer the necessary to the dazzling. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1015.cfm

Sitting at the Feet of Jesus

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises Leave a comment

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 away from her.- Luke 10:39-42

Sitting at the feet of Jesus signifies love. She would not have been sitting there at ease and happy in mind, if she had not loved Him. There was a charm in the very tone of His words to her. She knew how He had loved her, and, therefore, each syllable was music to her soul. She looked up again and again, I doubt not, into that dear face, and often caught the meaning of the words more readily as she read His countenance, marked His eyes ofttimes suffused with tears, and ever bright with holy sympathy. Her love to His person made her a willing learner, and we must be the same. We must not learn of Christ like unwilling truant boys, who go to school and must needs have learning flogged into them; we must be eager to learn; we must open our mouth wide that He may fill it, like the thirsty earth when it needs the shower, our soul must break for the longing it hath towards His commandments at all times. We must rejoice in His statutes more than gold, yea, than much fine gold. When we are moved by this spirit, we have found the one thing needful.

Martha is very busy; she is rather quick tempered also, and so she speaks to the Saviour somewhat shortly; and the Master says, “Martha, Martha,”-very tenderly, kindly, gently, with only the slightest tinge of rebuke in His tone-“Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things-but…” That wise and warning but may be very useful to many here. You are engaged to-day in business; very diligent you are in it. You throw your whole energy into your trading, as you must if you would succeed. You rise up wearily, and you sit up late. Shall I say a word that should discourage your industry? I will not; but, but is there nothing else? -is this life all? Is making money everything? Is wealth worth gaining merely for the sake of having it said, “He died worth fifty thousand pounds?” Is it so? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1015.cfm

Choosing That Good Part

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father Leave a comment

But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. – Luke 10:42

We have no difficulty whatever in deciding what the one thing is. We are not allowed to say that it is the Saviour, for He is not a thing; and we are not permitted to say that it is attention to our own salvation, for although that would be true, it is not mentioned in the context. The one thing needful evidently is that which Mary chose-that good part which should not be taken away from her. Very clearly this was to sit at Jesus’ feet and hear His word. This and nothing less, this and nothing more.

The mere posture of sitting down and listening to the Saviour’s word was nothing in itself: it was that which it indicated. It indicated, in Mary’s case, a readiness to believe what the Saviour taught, to accept and to obey-nay to delight in, the precepts which fell from His lips. And this is the one thing needful-absolutely needful; for no rebel can enter the kingdom of heaven with the weapons of rebellion in his hands. We cannot know Christ while we resist Christ: we must be reconciled to His gentle sway, and confess that He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

To sit at Jesus’ feet implies faith as well as submission. Mary believed in what Jesus said, and, therefore, sat there to be taught by Him. It is absolutely necessary that we have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in His power as God and man, in His death as being expiatory, in His crucifixion as being a sacrifice for our sins. We must trust Him for time and eternity, in all His relationships as Prophet, Priest, and King. We must rely on Him; He must be our hope, our salvation, our all in all. This one thing is absolutely necessary: without it we are undone. A believing submission, and a submissive faith in Jesus we must have, or perish. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1015.cfm

How Can You Be Saved?

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God, the unbelieving life Leave a comment

…the wrath of God abides on him. – John 3:36

Notice the word, “abides,” this is to say, it is upon you now. God is angry with you at this moment—and always. You go to sleep with an angry God gazing into your face, you wake in the morning, and if your eyes were not dim, you would perceive His frowning countenance. He is angry with you, even when you are singing His praises, for you mock Him with solemn sounds upon a thoughtless tongue. Angry with you on your knees, for you only pretend to pray, you utter words without heart. As long as you are not a believer, He must be angry with you every moment. “God is angry with the wicked every day.” Spiritual life belongs only to believers. You are now without that life, yet you exist, and wrath abides on you, and so it ever must be. While you shall not see life, you shall exist in eternal death, for the wrath of God cannot abide on a non-existent creature. You shall not see life, but you shall feel wrath to the uttermost. It is horror enough that wrath should be on you now, it is horror upon horrors, and hell upon hell that it shall be upon you forever.

And notice that it must be so, because you reject the only thing that can heal you. As George Herbert says, “Whom oils and balsams kill, what salve can cure?” If Christ Himself has become a savor of death unto death to you, because you reject Him, how can you be saved? There is but one door, and if you close it by your unbelief, how can you enter heaven? There is one healing medicine, and if you refuse to take it, what remains but death? There is one water of life, but you refuse to drink it then must you thirst forever. You put from you, voluntarily, the one and only Redeemer, how then shall you be ransomed? Shall Christ die again, and in another state be offered to you once more? O sirs, you would reject Him then, as you reject Him now. There remains no more sacrifice for sin. On the cross, God’s mercy to the sons of men was fully revealed, and will you reject God’s ultimatum of grace, His last appeal to you. If so, it is at your own peril. Christ being raised from the dead dies no more. He shall come again, but without a sin offering unto the salvation of His people. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1012.cfm