Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. In Mark chapter 14, the Lord
said concerning that woman that had broke the alabaster box of
ointment and poured it upon his head and his feet and wiped his
feet with the hairs of her head. And the disciples criticized
her for what purpose was this waste made He replied in verse
6 of Mark chapter 14, Let her alone, why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work
upon me. Now I've entitled this message,
What Christ Called a Good Work. Much has been thought, said,
and written about good works. And indeed, good works are very
important. Paul said in Ephesians 2, verse
10, for we are his workmanship. created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. That gives us some idea of the
importance of good works. The Lord said on the Sermon on
the Mount, listen to the way he says this, let your light
so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify
your Father which is in heaven. Now, if you let your light so
shine before men that they glorify you and praise you, you've got
your reward. That wasn't really a good work.
A good work is where men glorify the Father, which is in heaven. And I think that this is so interesting. While the Lord Jesus walked upon
this earth for these 33 years that He was here in the days
of His flesh, there's only one work He called a good work. And that is the work of this
woman we read of in our text. And we know from John's account
that this was Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha that performed
this work. She took a box of alabaster,
box of ointment, John says, very costly. As a matter of fact,
by today's standards, it would probably be worth about $30,000.
Think of this, a box of perfume, the ointment in it being worth
$30,000. And she took that alabaster box of ointment and broke it
and poured it upon the Lord's head and on the Lord's feet and
wiped His feet with the hairs of her head with this precious
ointment. Now, what did the disciples do? They criticized her. These were
believing men. They criticized her and they
said, to what purpose was this waste made? This was a waste. This could have been sold for
much and given to the poor. All this for a smell? All this
for a fragrance? To what purpose was this waste
made? They spoke in moral outrage and
indignation. They didn't recognize it to be
a good work, but the Lord did. He said, why trouble ye her?
she hath wrought a good work upon me. And so highly did the
Lord view this work that he said in Mark's account, verily I say
unto you, wheresoever the gospel is preached throughout the whole
world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a
memorial of her. I am not aware of any other act
of spoken in such lofty terms. Yet this same act that the Lord
commends so highly was criticized by the disciples. One of the
things that lets me know is you and I are not real quick to know
what a good work is in the first place, but He does. And He commends what this woman
did as a good work. Now something that troubles me
when I think of the response of the disciples is I know myself
well enough to know I would have been right there with them criticizing
her. I might have been the loudest of all. Wasting this money on
this when so much good could have been done? Oh, the disciples
were so pragmatic and practical. Oh, how many poor people could
have been fed through this? And you're wasting this precious
ointment and breaking it all and using it all up. What benefit
came out of this? Yet the Lord commended her for
this. He said, you always have the
poor. Whenever you want to, you can do something for them. But
me, you have not always. Now, this act could well be said
to be the greatest act a sinner saved by grace ever performed,
and it's certainly worth our careful consideration. What Christ
called a good work. Now, what we need to do really
in considering this is first begin not with Mary, but with
Mary's Lord. That's where we ought to begin.
In John 11, we read in verse 1, now a certain man was sick
named Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. And then John says, it was that
Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment. and wiped his
feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore his
sister sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest
He's sick. When Jesus heard that, he said,
this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that
the son of God might be glorified thereby. And then we read in
verse five, now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Now here's where we begin with
this woman who broke the alabaster box of ointment. She was loved. by the Lord Jesus Christ. The fact that he loved her meant
that he'd always loved her. He said, behold, I've loved you
with an everlasting love. It means she was one who was
eternally united to him. It means she was one of the elect.
It means she was one of those that Christ came to represent.
She was one of those included in the Lamb's Book of Life of
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. She was somebody
who Jesus Christ died for and accomplished her salvation. She
was one of the us when he said, thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. When he fulfilled all righteousness,
everybody he represented, including Mary, fulfilled all righteousness. He took full responsibility for
her salvation as her surety before time began. Now, this is the
glorious one of this story. This is not about the glory of
Mary, but the glory of Mary's Lord, the one who loved her and
gave himself for her. He's the one who gave her the
grace to do this in the first place. The scripture says, it's
of God that worketh in you both to will and to do his good pleasure. The Lord Jesus Christ worked
in her both to will and to do his good pleasure. This was the
work of his grace in her. heart. This is not about the
glory of Mary. This is about the glory of the
One who was so glorious and so altogether lovely, He could elicit
such a response where she wanted to do this. This is how glorious
He is, so let's don't get off track. Let's begin where we ought
to begin, not with Mary, but with Mary's Lord. Don't get this out of perspective. Now, the first time we read of
Mary is found in Luke 10, a very interesting passage of Scripture,
beginning in verse 38. This is the first time she's
mentioned in the Scripture. Luke 10, verse 38, Now it came
to pass, As they went that he entered into a certain village,
and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary,
this is the Mary we're talking about, which also sat at Jesus'
feet and heard His words. What was Mary doing while Martha
was serving and working hard? She sat at the feet of the Lord
Jesus Christ and heard his word. Now, we read in verse 40, but
Martha was cumbered about much serving and came to him. She came to the Lord Jesus and
said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me alone
to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help
me. Now, she made two very grievous mistakes. First, she told the
Lord what to do. You bid her that she help me.
You don't tell the Lord what to do. He's the Lord. And when
she said, don't you care, she was diminishing his character. He's in absolute control. And
look at the way the Lord answered her when she comes to him rather
rudely and actually very disrespectfully. And Jesus answered and said unto
her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many
things, but one thing is needful. And Mary, this sister of yours
that you're criticizing, Mary hath chosen that good part, which
shall not be taken away from her." Now, we learned something
about Mary's character right off the bat. Mary knew that the
one thing needful was to hear the word of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the one thing needful.
Now, she realized she was a sinner. She realized that she couldn't
save herself. She knew she had to hear what
He had to say. She had learned that whatever
she thought, whatever false religion said, did her no good. She needed
to hear His Word. What he had to say to her was
much more important than what she had to say to him. She was
wanting to hear his word, that was her desire. Now, I'll tell
you who wants to hear his word, someone who sees themselves as
a sinner. Anybody who sees themselves as a sinner in the biblical sense,
they want to hear the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. I think
of what Naomi said to Ruth, lay down at his feet and he shall
tell thee what thou shalt do. That's the way she was. She wanted
to hear his word. Do you want to hear his word?
Do you see that hearing his word is the one thing that's needful? It's necessary because you're
a needy sinner and you need to hear what he has to say. I love that scripture. The whole need not a physician.
Remember, this is about need. The whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick. And the word sick there is literally
evilly sick. That's how Mary saw herself to
be. So she wanted to hear the words of the Lord Jesus. Now
the next time we read of her is in John 11. We read beginning
in verse 27. This is her sister Martha speaking. And she said unto him, the Lord
Jesus, yea, I believe that thou art the Christ. the Son of God,
which had come into the world." What a noble confession. We admire
this woman, Martha. And when she had so said, she
went away and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, the
Master has come, and calleth thee. This is after their brother
had died. And as soon as she heard that,
she rose quickly and came unto him. Now, Jesus was not yet coming
to the town, but was in the place where Martha met him. The Jews
then were with her in the house and comforted her when they saw
Mary that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her saying,
she goeth unto the grave to weep there. But when Mary was come
where Jesus was, she saw him and she fell down at his feet. What I notice about Mary is she
was always at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, her sovereign
Savior. At His feet, hearing His Word. At His feet, making this request. At His feet, wiping His feet
with the hairs of her head, she saw the excellency and the glory
of Jesus Christ, and the only place she felt comfortable was
at His feet. And then we have the story of
her breaking this alabaster box of ointment. Now we read in verse
two of John chapter 12. There they made him a supper
and Martha served, acting according to character, but Lazarus was
one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound
of ointment of spikenard, Very costly. Like I said, probably
worth about $30,000. Perhaps this was a wealthy family
and she had saved this. But she took this box of ointment,
and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair,
and the house was filled with the odor of its ointment." Now,
this took place right after the resurrection of Lazarus. Now,
before we consider this act of love, it was first an act of
faith. When she anointed His head and
His feet with this oil, this precious ointment that was worth
so much and was so costly, it was first an act of faith. Because
the Lord tells us after the disciples criticized her, she did this
a fourth time for the anointing of my body. This is what she
was doing. The reason she broke this alabaster
box of ointment upon him is because she knew that he was going to
die and he was going to be raised from the dead. The Lord said,
she has done what she could. She's come aforetime to anoint
my body for the burying. You see, this woman had an understanding
that none of the 12 had. While they were bickering over
which of them would be the greatest, she heard Jesus' word. You see,
right before this, we learn from Matthew's account that the Lord
told them that he would be crucified and that he would be raised from
the dead. For some reason, they didn't
hear. If they had heard, they would have been waiting at his
tomb, waiting for him to walk out three days later. But they
didn't hear. But she did. She heard him speak. You're on at least three different
occasions. He said, I'll be crucified. I'll be killed. I'll be raised
from the dead. And he implied it many other
times. And when she took that box and
broke it upon him, she was doing it intelligently. She knew what
she was doing. She was anointing His body to
be buried, and He was going to be raised from the dead. All
of her salvation, she saw, was in His life, death, burial, and
resurrection. And what she was doing was an
act of faith. She knew that He was going to
die, and she wanted this precious ointment to be His anointing
for the burial. Now, perhaps when she was listening
to the Lord tell them that He was going to be crucified, die,
and be raised from the dead. Perhaps the thought came to her,
I'm gonna take that box of alabaster ointment, that precious, costly
perfume, and I'm going to anoint his body with it. Now the Lord
is at Simon the leper's house, and they're having a meal for
him. Martha's cooking, and Mary comes from behind him without
a word. Perhaps she'd thought about it
for some time. Perhaps it was just that morning
when she heard the Lord say that thing that she thought, this
is what I'm going to do with this ointment. I'm going to break
it. and I'm gonna pour it over his
head, his feet, to anoint him for the burying. And she broke
the box that contained the ointment and poured it over his head and
his feet and wiped his feet with the hairs of her head. Now Matthew's account tells us
that all the disciples said this, but in John's account, we read
what Judas said, and I guess all the disciples piped in with
him after he said this. But verse four, after she had
poured this ointment on the Lord Jesus, then said one of his disciples,
Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, why
was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor?
This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he
was a thief and he had the bag and bear what was put therein. He criticizes her. And I'm not
going to be too hard on Judas because I know I would have been
criticizing her too. That's just sinful human nature. Now I want you to think of how
evil criticism is. Anytime I criticize someone,
what I'm trying to do is make their candle a little darker
so mine might shine a little brighter. That's what criticism
is. It's trying to make somebody
look bad that you might look good. It's always wrong, and
anytime I have a critical tongue, It's evil. And Judas was criticizing
this woman. He couldn't see her motive. He
didn't know what she was doing or why she was doing it. But
all he could do was criticize her for it, because in reality,
this was self-promotion. He was thinking, this money might
have been sold, and I could have skimmed some off the top to keep
some for me. But when he saw this, he said, this is a complete
waste. And one of the things I noticed
in this passage of scripture about this dear woman is she
made no effort to defend herself. I would have. Who are you to
criticize me like that? You don't know what my motives
are. I would have defended myself, but not this woman. Perhaps she
didn't feel herself to be worth defending, but the Lord defended
her. I love that. As Matthew and Mark's account
both says, she hath wrought a good work, a beautiful work upon me. Now, this work from her that
the Lord commended as a good work came from the impulse of
a loving heart. She was not told, this is what
you need to do or this is what you should do. She was not commanded
to do this. She did not think, is this my
duty? She did not think, is this my
obligation? She did not think, what if I need the money for
this next month or next year? She didn't think, do others do
this? She did it from the impulse of
a loving heart. And the woman did what she did
solely for him. The Lord said, why trouble ye
her? She hath wrought a good work upon me. Quite often when
we give, we think, well, this is to help pay the bills and
to help the ministry in some way. And that's all well and
good. But this woman did what she did solely for him. And what she did was extravagant.
Like I said, this was worth $30,000. Now I can see me selling it and
giving 20% of the value and thinking, hey, I've doubled my tithe. I've
given 20% and think I've done very well. But not this woman.
She broke that box and she put all of that ointment upon the
head of the Lord Jesus Christ, anointing his head for the burial. And I love the way she broke
the box. I wouldn't have broke it. I would have left it on my
mantel for a conversation piece. That way, when people came by
and said, what's that box all about? Well, let me tell you
what I did. I would use that to try to promote myself, to
try to toot my own horn. That's the way we all are by
nature, but not this woman. She broke the box. She destroyed
the evidence of that good work. Oh, we want people to find out,
not her. She destroyed the evidence of
that good work. And the fact that it was done
for him tells us what a good work is. A good work is anything
done out of love to Jesus Christ. That's what a good work is. Anything
done out of love to the person of Jesus Christ. This work was
premeditated. She thought about it. Then she
did it. It was done with much personal
sacrifice. David said, I will not offer
to the Lord that which cost me nothing. It was done with great
personal sacrifice, and it was done without a word. We don't
read a word, she said, no sounding of the trumpet like the hypocrites
in their almsgiving, praying and fasting. There was no self-promotion
in this. Only love to Him. And I love the way Mark's account
says she hath done what she could. Now, the word could is not the
word ability, but it's the word to have. She has done what she
had. What did she have? She had love
to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. She loved him as he was.
She loved Him in all of His glorious attributes. She loved Him as
God the Son. She loved His sovereignty, His
power, His love, His independence, all of His glorious attributes. She understood that the only
way she could be saved is through the life, the death, the burial
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what she did was an act of
faith. She came to anoint His body for the burying. And the Lord commended this as
a good work. She hath wrought a good work
upon me. She's done what she could. She
worked with what she had. Love to myself. She has come
aforetime to anoint my body for the burying. And the Lord commends
this as a good work, and this is what, by His grace, I want
to imitate. You know, I don't see anything
about this woman that I see in myself. I want to, but what a
glorious work this woman performed, and it was because of the grace
of Jesus Christ in her. So when we think of this woman
and the Lord said, wherever my gospel is preached, that this
woman has done shall be a memorial to her. We're proving that right
now when we talk about this some 2,000 years after it took place. But this is what the Lord called
a good work. Now, let me say this about good
works. If you think your works are good,
they're not. Write that down. They're not. A good work is that
which is done out of love for Christ without trying to promote
yourself. This woman broke that costly
box of perfume upon the Lord. She loved His person. It was
an act of faith, believing He was all in her salvation, and
an act of love. And may every believer be enabled
by the grace of God to be just like this woman and be rich in
good works, works of love and faith to Christ. Amen. To receive a copy of the sermon
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