Good morning. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number one. Number one in our hymnals. Oh, worship the King, all glorious
above. gratefully sing his power and
his love. Our shield and defender, the
Ancient of Days, pavilion in splendor, anchored in with praise. O tell of his might, O sing of
his grace, Whose robe is the light, whose canopy space, His
chariot's a fret the deep thunderclouds form, And darkest is path on
the wings of the storm. Thy bountiful care, what tongue
can recite? It breathes in the air, it shines
in the light. The hills it descends to the
plain, And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain. Frail children of dusk, and feeble
as frail, do we trust, nor find thee to fail. Thine mercy sounds hinder, thou
firm to the end. Thou maker, defender, redeemer,
and free. be seated we'll sing hymn number
84 number 84 Come thou long expected Jesus,
born to set my people free. From our fears and sins release
us, let us find our rest in thee. Israel's strength and consolation
? Of all the earth thou art ? Dear desire of every nation ? Joy
of every longing heart ? From a people to deliver ? Born a
child and yet a king ? Born to reign in us forever ? Now thy
gracious kingdom bring ? By thine own eternal spirit ? Rule in
all our hearts alone ? By thine all-sufficient merit One good thing about this time of
year that people do, honestly, even unconverted people think
of the coming of Christ and His incarnation, which I'm
very grateful that they even think about it. And it is a blessing. Had He
not come, had He not come, and of course it was at this time
of year He came, it was cold when He was crucified because
Peter was standing by a fire. They had a fire. keeping warm. He stood by that fire and kept
himself warm. So it was a cold, cold time when
our Lord was crucified. And if He lived 33 and a half
years, that would have made Him be crucified in October. He would
have been born in April. So, just to give you an idea
of what things really are like. But it is a good thing. that
our Lord did come, and why He had to be born of
a virgin is very, very plain for those of us that understand.
If He had been born naturally like you and I had, He couldn't
have possibly ever saved anybody. We can't even save ourselves,
but He was born of a virgin. So that made of a woman is what
the scripture said. Seed of the woman. And He was
that so that He would not have any of Adam's blood in Him. He
was a sinless, holy, harmless Son of God. And He came into
this world. And that's why they said unto
us this day is born in the city of David a Savior. A Savior. And that's what I'm glad, I'm
so thankful that He came to be a Savior. A Savior. I need a Savior. I need saving. I need saving every day. I need
saving. I need saving. All right, let me read the first
nine verses of this and hopefully bring a message from it. After
two days was the Feast of the Passover and unleavened bread,
and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might
take him by craft and put him to death. But they said, Not
on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people. And
being in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat
at meat, there come a woman having an alabaster box of ointment,
of spikenard, very precious, and she broke the box and poured
it on his head. And there were some that had
indignation within themselves and said, why was this waste
of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for
more than 300 pence and have been given to the poor. And they
murmured against her. And our Lord said, Let her along.
Why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work
on me. For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye
will, ye may do them good. But me, ye have not always. She hath done what she could.
She has come aforehand to anoint my body to the burial. Verily
I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached, and
throughout the whole world, also this also that she hath done
shall be spoken of for memorial of her. Our Lord Jesus, our great, glorious
God in heaven, we bow our hearts, our very souls before you to
offer you our praise, to offer you our thanksgiving, and to
bless your holy name. For Lord, we're so thankful that
you came to save your people from their sin. and your people are forgiven
of all their sin because of what you did on that blessed cross.
And then you rose again from the dead, said it's your father's
right hand, and there you stand as our justification. You justified
us from everything. And Lord, we ask this morning
that you'd be our defense You'd be our rock. You'd be our shield. You'd be our refuge. You'd be our high place. You'd
be our hiding place. You'd cover us with your wings. That you'd cover our heads with
your holy, blessed presence and power. Lord, we want you to be
everything to us. Everything that you could be
to us and are to us, things we don't even know, we ask you to
be that to us. Lord, we need shelter. We need
comfort. We need refuge. We need a hiding
place. We need defense. We need to be
defended. Need to be covered. Need to be lifted up. Need a place to hide. So Lord,
be all those things to us. Be our shield, be our buckler,
be our truth, be our bread, be our water, be our light. Be all
to us. And Lord, help us to glorify
your holy name. And oh, blessed Savior, would
you be pleased to open a heart that had been closed, that you'd
open it and save your people, save sinners. from their sin
and do it for Christ's sake. Please meet with us today. Amen
and amen. Let's stand together for the
hymn of the day in the bulletin. Great Father of Glory, how rich
is Thy grace! What wonderful love is displayed
in Thy face! with brightness revealed. home to be found in their blackness
of youth. Oh, wonders of wonders, astonished
I gaze to see in a The ancient of days, from sin
to release, a stag yolk so long-born. My God, my Creator, of Perry
was born. For unworthy sinners thy Lord
bowed his head. For unworthy sinners he suffered
and bled. ? Thy spirit rejoices ? ? The
work is all done ? ? My soul is redeemed ? ? My salvation
is won ? ? Great Father of grace ? How rich is thy grace. What wonderful love is displayed
in thy face. In Jesus, beloved, we're washed
in his blood. With hope we appear at the throne
of our God. Be seated. Play some more. So, When I see All right, look with me back
here, Mark chapter 14. I had this message ready last
week and brought that other one. So it made it easier on me this
week. But, you know, this is, it starts
out saying after two days was the Feast of the Passover. Now the day after this, when
the day the Passover was, was the evening that they took our
Lord Jesus Christ. So it was on the Passover, in
the evening of the Passover, that they came and got him out
of Gethsemane. But the Feast of the Passover
was something that they had to do every year, called the Unleavened
Bread. They'd kill a lamb, and then they would roast that
lamb, and then they'd eat that lamb with bitter herbs. and it's
called unleavened bread also because they would have seven
days in their home where there could be no leaven in their house
at all, none whatsoever. But so anyway, after two days
was the Feast of the Passover of unleavened bread. But now
look what Nelson says here now, And the chief priests and scribes
sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. But they said, Not on the feast
day, not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people. You know, our Lord talked about
His hour. He said, Mine hour is not yet
come. But now His hour is swiftly coming upon Him. But also at
the same time, here s all the religious people. The chief priests,
the scribes, the elders, figuring out a way to kill him, figuring
out a way to take him by craft, wanted to be crafty about it,
wanted to be subtle about it, didn't want everybody to know
what they was intending to do because it would upset the people.
And they didn't want that to do, they plotted our Lord's death. And this is not something that
they just started here. You look, keep Mark 14 and look
over in Mark chapter three. Look in Mark chapter three. And
look what it says over here, what they said about our Savior. Our Lord was grieved at the hardness
of the hearts. And look what it says in Mark
3 and verse 6, And the Pharisees went forth and straightway took
counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him. I mean, he was just getting started
and they wanted to figure out a way to destroy him. And when
our Lord was first born, and Herod sent soldiers down to Bethlehem
and had every child who's under two years old slaughtered trying
to kill the Lord Jesus Christ. So they've always, always plotted
to kill him, always decided to kill him. And you know, here,
and I want to show you also this, look with me over in Luke 22
with me. keep Mark 14, look over here
in Luke 22, verse 22 with me. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ,
they were plotting His death, and they were figuring out a
way to kill Him, and do it in a way that wouldn't upset everybody,
so they had to get people on their side. And here it says
this, Our Lord said in verse 21, Behold, the hand of him that
betrays me is with me on the table. And listen to this, this
was determined, God predestinated the death of Christ, and truly
the Son of Man goeth, listen to this, as it was DETERMINED. He told these fellas time and
time again, I'm going to Jerusalem, and men are going to get ahold
of me, and they're going to crucify me, They're gonna kill me. They're gonna destroy me. And
those men did not understand it, but he was determined, but
woe unto the man by whom he is betrayed. And you know, so many
times they picked up stones to stone him a couple of times.
And he said, for what good work do you stone me? He said, we
don't stone you for a good work. We don't care about your work.
What we care about is that you being a man, you make yourself
to be God. So it was always in their mind
to destroy him. You remember when our Lord talked
about the parable of the vineyard and how he sent everybody to
the house, everybody over to get fruit from his vineyard in
Mark chapter 12. And finally he said, I'll send
my son, they'll reverence him. And they said, this is the heir,
come let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours. And
our Lord Jesus Christ, it says there that the Pharisees and
the Sadducees understood that He spake this parable against
them, and they SOUGHT to destroy Him. So this idea, this has been
going on since the Lord Jesus was born. Every way they could
possibly figure out, they're going to get Him. But they ARE
going to get Him! He IS going to be taken! He is
gonna be taken by craft. He is gonna be put on trial.
He is gonna be killed. They're gonna take him and he
is gonna be killed. Finally, their plot comes to
a place where they can actually get him. They can actually get
him. And they're gonna take him. They
plotted his death and it was decreed by God. In one place
it says, you know that they, and you know where they all plotted
this at? I won t read it to you, but over in Matthew 26, verse
3 and 4, it says over there that they all gathered in the high
priest s house, in the high priest s palace. He lived in a palace,
kind of like these preachers today. They live in palaces,
make hundreds of millions of dollars a year, but he lived
in a palace, and all of them got together. They all met at
the high priest s house, and they plotted Plotted away the
scribes the Pharisees and the elders they plotted away To get
him met in the preacher's house Met the priest That's why you
know you can't Religion is is hellish Hellish and if I Lord
and I've said this again. I've said this so if our Lord
came again and and He came into this world again, and He was
holy and harmless and undefiled, separate from sinners. If He
come into this world like He did the first time, He would
STILL be hated and despised. The only way He can be loved
and appreciated is to for Him actually to make Himself known
to you, reveal Himself to you as the Savior, as the Redeemer,
as the Lover of your souls, the One that came not just to be
crucified but to be raised again for our justification. And His
death is what put our sin away. His blood is what washed our
sins away. His righteousness is what He
accomplished for us. So, oh my, they plotted His death,
but they was doing just what God determined to be done. All
right, but while they're plotting our Lord's death, while the hatred
for our Lord Jesus was being manifested by them, there was
a woman, and you know who that woman was? Mary of Bethany, Mary
of Bethany. And there she was, they'd been
in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper. Now Christ had healed
this leper, and he was still called a leper, and he said,
meet with them. They were in there eating. As they was plotting
his death and hated him, she shows her love for Christ, her
commitment to Christ, her need of Christ, and what a contrast
to their hatred. While they were seeking opportunity
to kill Him, she was looking for a way to honor Him, glorify
Him, and bless His holy name, and do something for His glory,
do something for His glory. And you know, she did what she
could. Look what it says down in verse
8. She had done what she could.
She had done what she could. These fellas was plotting to
death, but she come and she said she's come beforehand to anoint
my body for the burying. You know, this is the same Mary
that sat at our Lord Jesus' feet and listened to Him. When Martha
came and said, Lord, don't you care that I'm servant? Won't
you tell her to get up and help me out here? She says, Mary hath
chosen that good part and I ain't gonna take it away from her.
I'm not gonna take it away from her. And what a powerful testimony
that she has. And if we have any testimony
for God, it comes for us having secret and closet communion with
Him. But let me tell you something.
She, you know, I'm gonna talk about her and what she did, but
she's reacting, what she's doing, she's reacting to what the Lord
had done for her. You know what our Lord done for
her? She sat at His feet, she raised her brother Lazarus from
the dead, and He wept with them. Remember, they stood outside
the tomb, and He wept with them. And you know, keep this and look
in, I think it's John 11, look in John 11, look in John 11 with
me and look in verse five, talking about, you know, what she's doing,
she's reacting to what the Lord's already done for her. Oh, she
loved to set at his feet. She raised Lazarus from the dead
and he stood outside that tomb and he wept with him. But look
what it said here in verse five. Now Jesus loved Martha and her
sister and Lazarus. He said that he loved them. Oh my, he loved them. She's there
because he loved her. She's there reacting to the love
that Christ had for her. She's reacting to what Christ
had already done for her. He loved her. Oh, how He loved
her. How He loved Lazarus. How He
loved Martha. He loved these people. And I'll
tell you what, she's reacting to what the Lord done. And let
me show you, first of all, what happens here. Look down in verse
six. Down in verse six. I'm gonna
just go down through here and make a few comments about it.
He said in the last part of verse 6, She hath wrought a good work
on me. She hath wrought a good work
on me. You know why she wrought a good work on him? It was a
work of love. She s loving him because he first
loved her. And she took this box of ointment
and said in verse 3, And being in Bethany in the house of Simon
the leper, they set at food. They had a meal there. And there
come a woman, she come in, and she had this glass box. I was
reading about it, and it's not a glass box, it's a porcelain
kind of a thing, very expensive box. And then the ointment that
was in it, Todd preached on it here recently and said it's worth
$30,000 in today's money. Now, I can't imagine something
being worth that, but I'll tell you, she had this box of ointment,
and the scripture says she broke it. She broke that box and then
she started pouring it on the Lord Jesus Christ. And she break
the box and poured it on his head. And when she poured it
on his head, it run down his head, run down his face, run
down his body, run all the way down to his feet. I mean this,
and let me tell you something, when she opened this box of oil,
everybody in that room smelled it. And that's the way it is
with the gospel. People that love Christ and know
Christ, when you preach the gospel, He's a sweet smelling savor to
them. And she broke that box, and I'd
love to have been in that room and smelled what that is. I don't
know what Spikener smells like, but I sure would have loved to
have been in there. I'd love to have been there when she opened
that box and she poured it over Christ's head. Oh my, oh what
a, what a, you know, our Lord Jesus said, it s a good work
that she did on me. What she did for me, putting
this ointment on me, pouring this ointment on me, she done
a good thing. This is a good thing that she
done. And oh my, it was expression of her heart. You know, David,
King David went to, to, to, to offer a sacrifice to the Lord.
And he come to a threshing floor that belonged to a fella named
Arana. And he said, listen, Arana said,
listen, King, take anything you want here. Take anything you
want and you offer the sacrifices. He says, no, no, no, I'll pay
you for it. He said, I don't want anything
that costs me nothing. When I offer a sacrifice, I don't
want anything. And that's the way this woman was. She was not
interested in how much it cost. She wasn t interested in how
expensive it was, wasn t interested in the box it was in. She was
interested in putting it on Christ. Opening that and making Christ
smell wonderful. Making Christ in that room smell
wonderful. And that's what we're interested
in. We're interested in making Christ known and have His sweet
fragrance. Listen, I'll tell you what, some
people, they smell and it's death. It's death. It's the smell of
death. But when people open the Bible
and we're talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, oh, God said it's
a sweet smelling savor and it is to me. It is to me, it really
is to me. And you know, how does this thing
work? Faith worketh by love, and she
loved Christ, and her faith was centered on Christ, and she wanted
Him to have this. Our Lord Jesus Christ, because
she loved her, she turned around and showed her love for Him.
But now our Lord Jesus Christ, that's Simon, Simon denied the
Lord three times, and he asked the Lord three times, Simon,
do you love me? Yes, Lord, I do. Simon, do you
love me? Yes, Lord, I do. Simon, do you
love me? Oh, Lord, oh, Lord, oh, Lord,
you're the only one who knows. You really, really do know that.
And ain't you glad he's the one that knows? That's why he said,
she's done something for me. What she did, she did it for
me, for my good, for my good, for what she did for me. And
then there's the work of sacrifice. They said it was very, very precious. Very precious. Don't just say
it's precious. Say it's VERY precious. And I'll
tell you what, it was so precious that it cost 300 pence. And that's
like Todd said, it was $30,000 in today's money. And you know, our Lord Jesus
Christ talks about things that's precious. Talks about things
that's precious. You know, there's several things
that's precious in the Bible. Christ, the cornerstone, is a
precious cornerstone. HIS BLOOD IS CALLED THE PRECIOUS
BLOOD OF CHRIST. FAITH IS CALLED PRECIOUS FAITH. AND YOU KNOW WHAT THE MOST PRECIOUS
THING IN THE SIDE OF THE LORD IS, BESIDES HIS OWN SON? PRECIOUS
IN THE SIDE OF THE LORD IS THE DEATH OF HIS SAINTS. He said, This is PRECIOUS! Well,
God kind of thinks PRECIOUS! You know why He said it was PRECIOUS?
Because HE'S PRECIOUS! And it's a precious thing, He's
precious to us, and I can't keep stressing this, that what she
was doing to Him was reaction to what He did for her. And oh,
my! She come and brought this very,
very precious stuff. And oh my, and I tell you there
are some folks that was upset about it, upset about it. It says there in verse five,
it might have been sold for more than 300 pence. Now I guess that
was a pile of money back in those days and have been given to the
poor. They didn't care about the poor.
They didn't care about the poor. It's very, very precious. Oh
my, it might have been sold for 300 pence. And I'll tell you
what, most people today, they give God their spare moments.
He gives their spare time. You know, do y'all remember years
and years ago, and when I first come down here, I didn't know
any of this stuff happened. But they'd had penny marches for
kids. and gather up pennies from kids.
So the kids would feel like they was doing something for Jesus
and they give their pennies to the Lord. Oh, let's let these
kids do their little penny march. They go through the church and
everybody gives them a penny and then they got a whole offering
plate full of pennies that they give it to the Lord. Yeah, let's
give him our spare change. Let's give him our spare time.
Let's give him the dregs of our life if we can. And that's what
most people do, they give him the dregs. But oh my, if you
know him, you couldn't do that. We cannot give him the dregs
of our life. Especially after he took the
cup of God's cup and drunk the dregs out of it. The dregs of
our sin, the dregs of God's wrath, the dregs of God's judgment.
Oh my, not give him the best, the most, the most precious?
He was very, very precious, very precious. And then look what
else it said. Here's a work of faith. Like I said, everything she'd
done here, she'd done as reaction. Everything she'd done, she'd
done concentrating on Christ. Everything she did here was concentrated
on Christ. Everything she did she even went
into that supper. She wasn't invited to that supper You know if you show up somebody's
house, well, where's this big sit down for supper grab you
I'll get you a plate sit down here with but that's not what
happened. She interrupted that supper they Christ was in there
having supper and This woman come in there interrupted his
supper And all the other disciples were
there with them It was Christ and His disciples. And I'll tell
you what, she interrupted that man's meal, and they were sitting
in there, and she walked up behind Christ, broke that box of ointment,
and started pouring it down over his head. While he's eating,
she's sitting there, they reclined, and she poured that on his head.
And oh my, it was a work of faith. Look what it says in verse 8.
She had done what she could. She's come a forehand to anoint
my body to the burying. What is she talking about? How
does she know that he was close to his death? How does she know
that it wasn't just a little while before he would be taken
and crucified? How does she, she's come a forehand
to anoint my body for burying. I'm going to be buried. And she's
come a forehand He knows he's gonna be buried. She anointed
his body. She anointed and poured that
oil all over him. And I tell you, how did she know
that his death was so close to death? Oh, she believed. Y'all remember when our Lord
Jesus Christ went to raise Lazarus from the dead. I LORD JESUS CHRIST SAID UNTO
HER, I AM THE RESURRECTION. OH, I KNOW MY BROTHER LIVED AGAIN
IN THE LAST DAYS AT THE RESURRECTION. I LORD SAID, I'M THE RESURRECTION.
WHEN HE SAID THAT, THAT MUST MEAN TO HER, AND SHE UNDERSTOOD
CLEARLY THAT FOR HIM TO BE RESURRECTED, HE FIRST HAD TO DIE. YOU CAN'T
BE RESURRECTED UNLESS YOU'RE DEAD, AND THAT'S WHY SHE'S UNDERSTANDING. SHE BELIEVED THAT I LORD JESUS
CHRIST COME TO BE minister and make his ransom, his life a ransom
for many. Look over here at Mark 10, verse
45 with me for a moment. She came a forehand. You know why she come a forehand?
God sent her. God sent her. God sent her. Look
what it said here in verse 45. Mark chapter 10, for even the
Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to
give His life a ransom for many, a ransom. And oh my, she believed
that He came to minister and was going to give His life a
ransom for many and she knew that He was going to die. And
our Lord himself said, she's come to anoint my body. She's
come to anoint my body for burying. You know, we don't do that in
this country, you know, where they take you and they, and if
you want to be buried without being embalmed, Why do they do, why do they call
that? Anyway, they, you know, if you
want to be embalmed, you want to last a long time, you know,
they, they, they, they shoot just from out of your hide and
all that. But if you want, if you don't want to be like that,
you know what? You can be buried in a pine box
or anything as long as you're in the ground within 24 hours.
You know that? And our Lord Jesus Christ, they
come and you know, when they took our Lord and they wrapped
him up, get him ready to go, his body was already had the
ointment on it. I believe when they come to get
him in the Garden of Gethsemane, I still believe he had that smell
on it. I still believe he had that smell
on him. That smell was so precious and
so valuable that it was still on him. I still own him. You
know, they come to get him. Boy, he's got an odd smell to
him. What is that? What is that? Oh, my. And I'll tell you what,
it's like how Lord Jesus Christ, in Luke 7, there was a woman
that came in. The Lord Jesus Christ was in
there having a meal. And this woman came in, and I
believe that was Mary Magdalene. This wasn't to say Mary Bethany,
but she came in and she started weeping, she started crying.
And she got down before the Lord Jesus Christ, and she wept so
profusely and so much that her tears covered his feet. Her tears
just wet his feet. They just covered his feet. She
got down at his feet and began to weep at his feet. And his
feet was just covered, covered with her tears. And then she took her hair and
pulled it around. It was so long, she pulled it
around and she began to dry. She said, oh, let me dry them
off. Let me dry them tears off. And she took the hair of her
head and began to dry his feet. And all that Pharisee saw was,
he said, this man, if he was a prophet, he'd know this was
a sinner. Thank God she was a sinner. Thank God she came to Christ.
Thank God she come to the feet of Christ. Thank God she weeped
at the feet of Christ. And then Simon said, if he was
a prophet, he'd know what kind of woman this. And our Lord looked
at him and said, Simon, Simon, Simon. He said, you know, you
could have washed my feet. You could have anointed my head.
You could have done a lot of things for me. But this woman,
this woman, though her sins are many, Many of them. She is forgiven. She is forgiven. And I'll tell you what. That's what Mary did. She said,
and this is another Mary that came. But oh, look what happened
to her now. And I'll tell you, look at the
different reactions that people had. Oh my. She break that box
and poured it on his head. Oh, my pure nard, or liquid nard,
I don t know what it is, I don t have any idea other than just
if I was to look it up, but anyway, it was a box of ointments, very
precious. She broke that box, started pouring
it on the head of our Lord Jesus Christ, and look what somehow
people reacted, and there were some that had indignation within
themselves. They got upset Over in Matthew
it says that he who had the bag, Judas Iscariot, the fellow who
had the bag, he s carrying all the money for the whole group
of these men. And I tell you what, some had
indignation. One place it said ALL of them
were indignant about it. And oh, why would they get upset? Why would they get angry? Why
would they displease? Why would they get angry? Why
would they be grieved? SHE IS DOING THIS FOR CHRIST!
THEY ALL UNDERSTOOD THAT WHAT SHE'S DOING, SHE'S DOING FOR
HER MASTER, SHE'S DOING FOR HER LORD! OH, THEY HAD INDIGNATION! AND
I TELL YOU WHAT, YOU KNOW WHAT THIS WAS? THIS WAS NOTHING BUT GREED AND
COVISHNESS! Greed and covetousness, that's
all it had. You know, listen, it didn't cost
these men that got indignant, it didn't cost them a penny.
They never spent a penny on that box of opium. They didn't have
nothing to do with it. They didn't have no money, they
didn't have anything, they didn't have any money involved in this
situation. But they act like it belonged
to them. They act like they were spending their money. Listen she wasted that money
she wasted that That's a lot of people feel like
that said oh that was a waste You don't spit the money on that
y'all spit the money on this y'all not spits money on something
else And that's what they're doing with her. They didn't they
didn't have anything to do with that box. They didn't have thing
They didn't have a scent involved in this business Not one thing
involved in it And oh, my, God! They were so self-interested,
you know, and oh, my! The only thing they're interested
in is what they can give for themselves and put to the right
use. And I tell you what, a lot of people think that the way
other people do things, it's a waste, it's a waste of time,
it's a waste of money. But oh, my! The old hymn writer
said, The whole realm of nature mine that were present far too
small. Where the whole realm of nature
mine that were present are far too small. Look what our Lord
done now. He defended. Look what he goes
on to say there. Why was this waste made? What
was wasted? Anything that you have due for
faith in Christ, is it wasted? Do you all ever waste any time
when you're in here? Do you feel like you wasted your
time? When you put your money in the offering box, do you feel
like you're wasting your money? Huh? When you read the Bible, you
feel like you're wasting your time? What was this waste? They called
it waste. Our Lord called it precious. They called it waste. They said,
This is a waste. Our Lord said, It's precious. They said, It's precious. Oh,
my. Oh, look what they began to say. And we might have been able to
sell this. It wasn't thirst to sell. It didn't belong to them. That'd
be like me coming in your house and listen, you need to sell
that right there and give it to the poor. There was another
fellow one time, I'm all over the place this morning, but let
me tell you this. You remember that rich young ruler that came
to the Lord Jesus Christ? And he come running and he come
kneeling. And he said, What good thing must I do to have eternal
life? The first thing he said was,
Sell what you have and give it to the poor. Now, see, what he
had belonged to him. And our Lord never told him,
He said, He never told him, I'll take it away from you. He said,
no, you sell what you've got and then you take and give it
to the poor. He went away grieved because he was very wealthy. And the scriptures tells here,
why in the world we might've sold this for more than 300 pens. Why they want to sell her property
for? It belonged to her. Don't you
understand that, that this, I come in your house and say, listen,
sell that right there. Give that money to the church.
Let's have a, Shirley makes this wonderful bread. Everybody knows,
everybody has some of her bread. Let's have a, let's everybody
in here start making bread and we're gonna, we'll start selling
bread and we'll bring the money into church. Boy, you know how
much money we get. No, that's listen. That's what
they that's what they wanted. They said It might have been
sold for more than 300 pence and listen to this and have given
to the poor Given to the poor Hmm. Oh Our Lord defended her
Look what our Lord said to her they murmured against her They
wish went around murmuring against her murmur, murmur. Us, the Jews, are so bad for
murmuring. They murmured against her. Oh, this woman, what in
the world she thinks she's doing? Why does she take all this thing
that's worth so much money and do it like this, pour it on his
head? And we could have sold that,
and we could have helped the poor. We could have done so much
for the poor and have been given to the poor. And they murmured,
murmured, murmured against her. You know what our Lord said?
Let her alone. You let her alone. Don't you dare bother her. You
let her alone. Let her alone. Who in the world do you think
you are interfering in somebody else's life? What do you think
you're doing here? And then look what it says, why trouble her? Why are you troubling her heart?
Why are you troubling her soul? Why are you troubling what she
did? Why do you want to trouble her heart? Why do you want to
trouble her mind? Why do you want to trouble her? Make her
feel bad for what she's done. And oh my, she said, oh, he said,
she's wrought a good work on me. Oh, she wrought, wrought
a good work on me. And I tell you what, and I tell
you, you know, they're getting against her. And our Lord Jesus
said, why in the world are you bothering her? Why are you bothering
her? And that's what, Boy, we get
when we get our when we stick our nose in places and in our
business in place I'll not be the Lord said let her alone Let
her alone Let her alone You know, I've I heard Henry
say this one time That Folks You know, say, well, it won't
be in service. I've got company coming this
weekend. I won't be able to make it to church. You know, and he
said, well, don't anybody ever have any company that comes to
church? Leave the company at the house.
They'll be all right. They come to visit you. They
feel at home. So leave them alone. But oh, my goodness. The Lord
says, you don't let her alone. Let her alone. And I'll tell
you what, let's let each other alone and let our worship of
the Lord be for ourselves, not impose our beliefs or our feelings
or our opinions or our convictions on somebody else. The gospel's
enough, just dealing with the scripture's enough. Oh my, and
I'll tell you one, He said, why trouble her? Then verse six,
let her alone. She wrought, she wrought. What she done here was a work
and that work was on me. It was on me. What she did, she
did for me. She's interested in her relationship
with me. she wanted to be involved in
MY life, she wanted a relationship with ME, and she wanted that
relationship to be precious. Oh, I remember setting her at
my feet, and now here you want to let her alone. And look what
our Lord said to her, For ye have the poor with you always, Do y'all get this stuff in the
mail, said, boy, send us so much money so we can feed the poor
this year and feed the poor there, you know, send us this much money
and we'll, you know, buy this food, that food, and all this
other stuff for people? Oh, my, and all you gotta do
is be somebody, be somebody, and go stand in a bread line
and start dishing folks food out for somebody, and the next
thing you know, they'll have your picture in the paper. Do
you see what a good work they done? They was over there helping,
that woman's worth millions and millions, she's over there helping
people feed the poor. And our Lord says, you got the
poor, always, the poor's with you always. There'll always be
poor people. Always be poor people. Always
be poor people. And look what he said, and whatsoever
you will to do them good. You can do something good for
them if you want to. You can really do something good
for the poor if you will. You can do them good. But listen
to what he said, but you don't always have me. You don't always have me. You don't always have me. And
that's the awfulest experience in the world is not to have Christ,
not to have his presence, not to have his power. But me, you
have not always. You've not always done what you
could. And our Lord defended her, and He said, Oh, she hath
done what she could. She hath done what she could.
Let her alone. And oh my, you know what it says?
It's God that justifies who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect. Oh my. And then look what he
says, she had done what she could. She come beforehand to anoint
my body to the burying. And you can read about that in
Matthew 26. And then look what he says, he gives, you're talking
about a commendation from Christ himself, what the Lord said about
her. He said, truly, that word verily
means truly, I say unto you, where this gospel is preached
throughout the whole world. I wonder if somebody else is
this morning in China, or in Russia, or in Mexico, or in Peru,
some other place. I wonder if somebody else, or
someplace here in America, if somebody else is preaching on
this same thing this morning. Look what he said. Wherever this
gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, you know why
it s going to be done? Everybody s going to remember
what this woman did. I want everybody to understand
what she did. You always got the poor. She
had known in my body beforehand, and I tell you, this shall be
spoken of for memorial for her. Everywhere you go, remember that. She said, oh my. And he rewarded
her and blessed her and prospered her. And you know where she is
right now? She went from his feet to anointing
him and she's in glory right now. And here I am talking about her.
You know, and I'm gonna close with this one statement. The
memory of the just is blessed. The memory of the just is blessed. You think of the people that's
gone on, and then you remember them. That's what our Lord's
saying about this woman. Wherever you preach this gospel,
this woman's gonna be mentioned. This woman's gonna be mentioned.
I want it mentioned. She anointed my hands. I want you to remember
that you got the poor but you don't always have me. I want
you to remember that. But the memory of the just is
blessed. You think about the saints that's going on and you
start remembering them. Start remembering them. There's
people that's going on that every memory I have of them. It's absolutely
perfect. That's not a thing in the world
I can remember negative about it. Ain't that the most wonderful
thing? Her memory is blessed. May God, when we leave here,
may our memory be blessed by those we leave behind. Our Father, in the blessed name
of Christ our Lord, We ask you to help us to always remember especially what she
did for you. She just reacted to what you
did for her. And Lord, our faith works by
love. And Lord, we cannot love you
enough, commit ourselves enough, need you enough, think of you
enough, call on you enough, understand you enough. But Lord,
we do love you, we do need you, and we do understand some of
the things that you teach us. So Lord, bless the dear saints
this morning. Save your sheep in this place. Cause the gospel to do a work
in the heart and the mind and soul. Bring glory to yourself
in doing it. And Lord, forgive us of everything
that's so unlike you. Please, blessed be your holy
name. Amen. 118 in the hymn book. We'll sing that in a little bit.
We need to go. 118. What is I need thee every hour? 318 or 118? 318. All right. Let's
stand together and sing this and you'll be at liberty to go. I need thee. ? Most gracious Lord ? No tender
voice like Thine ? Can peace afford ? I need Thee, oh I need
Thee ? Every hour I need Thee Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour, stay
Thou nearby. Temptations lose their power,
when Thou art nigh. I need Thee, O I need Thee, every
hour I need Thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour in joy
or pain. Come quickly and abide or life
is vain. I need Thee, oh, I need Thee. ? Oh bless me now my savior ? I
come to thee ? I need thee every day Most holy one. ? Most holy one
Oh make me thine. Now, blessed Son. I need Thee,
oh, I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior. I come to Thee.