I have to say again, it has just
been a tremendous blessing for my wife and I to be here during
this period of time. We just love your pastor and
his wife. It's a pleasure to be around people that you can
feel at home with. I don't have to be on guard.
I appreciate that. It's just grand. As Brother Marvin
was speaking there about families, I don't have anyone in my family,
my physical family, that I can just sit down with and do what
we did last night. Now, when I was teaching school,
they brought up this new thing about attention deficit disorder. That didn't start in school.
That started when people started talking to their friends about
the Lord. They get fidgety and their ears close up. It's attention
deficit disorder. And it's just natural. I asked you to remember us in
prayer out there in the Dalles, Oregon. We're a long, long ways
away from here. About 3,000 miles, 2,700 miles. But we're still in the same vineyard. I was down there visiting with
Brother Moose. Still in the same vineyard. We're not in opposing
vineyards. We're not even in an adjacent vineyard. We're in
the same vineyard wherever God's people are Truth is being preached. We're in the same vineyard, just
different localities. And I will admit, out there we're
kind of on the edge of the vineyard, but we're still in that same
vineyard. And Nancy and I just want to thank you for your hospitality.
We just appreciate it so much. And pray for us. And that song
that was sang, that Fade, Fade, Earthly Joy, every time I hear
that song, or we sing it in our church, I think of your pastor.
That's how I met him. He sang that song. Out there,
and I think of him every time, so I appreciate that. All right.
Would you turn with me to the book of Matthew Chapter 26 this
morning, Matthew Chapter 26. I'd like to say a few words about
some of the things that are in this chapter. Your pastor read
that chapter, the eighth chapter of the book of Genesis. And in that verse it said that
the Lord smelled a sweet savor. Now he did that for our purpose.
He's not a man like we are, but he gives us expressions so often
in the Scriptures that allows us to comprehend a little bit
about him. He was pleased with that sacrifice. And he let us know by those words
that he smelled a sweet savor. And then he made a promise he'd
never do what he did like he did it at that time again until
the end. In the 26th chapter of the book
of Matthew, there is an account and Brother Marvin and I were
talking about this last night that in the beginning, When this
book was written, when this letter was written, whatever, there
was no chapter divisions. Now, I'm thankful for those chapter
divisions. It helps me find and make reference to passages of
Scripture. But there is a context as we
travel through books of the Bible. There's a context that these
things happen in. And in this 26th chapter, there
are a number of things that happen, but they kind of all lead up
to the next thing that happens in this chapter. And I want to
deal with a sweet-smelling Savior. A sweet-smelling Savior. In this
chapter, it's just a short time before our Lord's purpose in
coming to this earth would be reality. He would be going to
the cross. Now, He did not change His mind
after He came here and have to go to the cross. It was a purpose
before the foundation of the world. He was a lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. When he came down to this earth,
incidences and challenges did not change his mind about what
he had to do. His mind was set before the world
began. And he is the only one that ever
walked the face of this earth that knew exactly what he was
going to do in eternity before he did it upon this earth. Our
minds change. Thank God for that many times.
But his mind did not change. And it is two days before the
Passover, the last official Passover that Israel would ever have. God would have nothing to do
with it from here on out. He instituted the Lord's Supper. And that continues among his
people. In Matthew 26 and verse 1, it
came to pass when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto
his disciples, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the
Passover, and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified. Now this is not the first time
that he's mentioned this in his ministry, but he mentions it
here. He is constantly bringing it
before his disciples. But most of the time, it gives
us the idea, and it's imprinted in our Bible, they didn't understand
what he's talking about. He continues, "...then assembled
together," and it's just progression through this chapter. There's
something else happening, and that is the chief priests and
the scribes and the elders are going to meet. Now, they're going
to fulfill These people are going to fulfill as many others had
already fulfilled Psalm 2 verses 1, 2, and 3. Would you turn back
there keeping your hand right there in the book of Matthew
but in Psalm 2 verses 1, 2, and 3 we find that these religious
leaders in Israel at that day are going to fulfill one more
time this passage of scripture. Psalm 2 verses 1, 2, and 3. Why do the heathen rage? and
the people imagine a vain thing. The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
His anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder and
cast away their cords from us. The religious leaders in Israel
are doing this very thing this day as they meet together, and
it says, they then assembled together the chief priests and
the scribes and the elders of the people under the palace of
the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that
they might take Jesus by subtlety and kill him. But they said,
not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.
And the chief priests, they meet. There's a consultation going
on on how they might kill the Lord Jesus, but there's some
qualifications about this. We can't do it on the feast day.
We can do it any other day, but we can't do it that day because
of the uproar of the people. And then we have that the Lord
Jesus did something. He's done this before, but he
puts us into a home. Here, notice with me, verse 6. Now, when Jesus was come in Bethany
in the house of Simon the leper. Now, I don't know about you,
but when I read the qualification about Simon's name, can you imagine? I went into the house of Marvin
the leper. There's a qualification about
this individual. A qualification that he is a
leper. And in the Old Testament, there's many things said about
leprosy and being a leper and what was required. And most of
the time, if you had leprosy, you were called unclean. You
were not able to participate. You were not able to go. You
were not able to do many of the things that were instructed to
those that were in Israel. But there is a verse of Scripture,
and I'd like you to keep your finger here one more time. Would
you turn with me back to the book of Leviticus, chapter 13?
Leviticus chapter 13 and verse 13, there is a very interesting
verse of scripture with regard to leprosy. Now, if you had leprosy
in your hand, you were unclean. If you had leprosy in the head,
you were unclean. If you had leprosy in your feet,
you were unclean. If you had leprosy on your body. You're unclean. But this is a
very interesting verse of scripture about leprosy because it tells
us here that there is one qualification about leprosy and you could be
called clean. And I believe the Holy Spirit
is sharing with us that if we just recognize that we are a
sinner in one area or another area, you know, I don't think
the thoughts I should. I realize I'm a sinner. Oh, I've
done some terrible things. I'm a sinner. I've gone some
terrible places. I'm a sinner. But once God reveals
to us, read this with me, Leviticus chapter 13 and verse 13, a very
interesting verse of scripture, then the priest shall consider
and behold if the leprosy have covered all his flesh. Not just hand, not just head,
not just feet, not just back, not just tummy, But if the leprosy
hath covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean that hath this plague. When God
brings his people to the point that they're chiefest of sinners,
it's a miracle. For God hath made us thus. A
sinner is a sacred thing, for God hath made them thus. My,
oh, my, to be before God completely a sinner, without help, without
hope, and trusting Christ alone, he said, clean. Clean. Now, don't come and just
say, well, I've gone the wrong places. I've thought the wrong
thoughts. I've done the wrong things. I've treated people wrong.
It is sinner. by nature, sinner by practice,
and sinner by choice, he can say, the high priest can say,
clean. Now, Simon the leper is a leper,
but he's clean. The Lord is visiting him. All
right, now notice this. Go back to the book of Matthew.
Came into the house of Simon the leper. Now, in verse 7, there's
something that happens here. Somehow a lady knows about this
visit by the Lord to Simon's house. I looked at that and I
says this lady is demonstrating something the Lord only does. He's the only one that can do
this. The preacher can't do this. The
Bible class teacher can't do this. The parents can't do this.
The aunts, the uncles, the grandparents can't do this. But only Lord
God Almighty can do this. He can give a call that is irresistible
and there is seemingly no visible explanation for it happening.
This woman, why was she there? What brought her? What caused
her to be there when the Lord entered into this house of Simon
the Leopard? What caused her to have any inclination
at all to be there? An irresistible call was placed
in her heart that day to be there at the right time. Their paths
crossed. Remember what the Lord said when
he went down to the woman at the well? I must need to go through
Samaria. We could say that about the Lord
Jesus Christ every step he took. He went into this house this
day of Simon the leper, and by God's purpose of grace there
is a woman. Now she doesn't go in there without
something. She goes in there with something,
and she goes in there, it tells us, with an alabaster box of
ointment. Now, I looked this up. Somebody
studied it out better than I could because I don't understand Greek
or Hebrew, but someone studied it out and said that the amount
of this oil that she brought in, this sweet-smelling oil that
she brought in, was the equivalent of a year's wages. Now, I don't know what you make,
but if you only make $10,000 a year, that's a lot of ointment. That's expensive ointment. Now,
if you make $50,000 a year, would you spend $50,000 on an alabaster
box of sweet-smelling oil? This is valuable. I cannot put
it into even my own perspective. I would be hard-pressed to go
to my wife and I said, you know, down there in that jewelry store,
there's some sweet perfume. And it's going to cost $20,000.
We're not going to be able to eat this year. We're not going
to be able to pay our bills this year. We're not going to be able
to go anywhere this year because I don't want to go buy that alabaster
box of ointment. And I'm afraid what she'd say.
Get a smaller size. Put it in perspective. There
was a lady that shares here with us. There came unto him a woman
having an alabaster box, a very precious ointment. Now, alabaster
is a stone. Somehow, someone had the gift
to carve out of this stone a container that would hold this very costly,
precious, sweet-smelling oil. And she brought it in there.
There's no record that Simon says, well, you know, I think
the Lord's coming over today. Would you come over and join
us for dinner? She is brought by the Holy Spirit of Almighty
God to come in and do something that she was impressed to do
by the Lord God Almighty. Now, she's not going to waste
that very precious, costly ointment. Let's look here. She brought
it in. and poured it on his head as
he sat at meat." For this ointment, the disciples
then have a problem over it and we're not going to go into that,
but let's just look at this. I want to follow, in the rest
of the message today, I want to follow. this sweet-smelling
ointment. Very costly. We're going to follow
this sweet-smelling ointment for two days. I think it's oily. Have you ever had oil put in
your hair? It stays a long time. That's what I believe the Lord
intended for it to do. We're going to follow the Lord
Jesus Christ in the time we have left. Follow this sweet smelling
savor. It filled the house. The smell
of it filled the house. It was an offering to the Lord.
It was a gift to God, the Lord Jesus Christ. But there were
others in the house. The disciples realized something
had happened because now they're saying, we could have sold this
and given it to the poor. They smelled it. This was something
that was not common. Now, when I was growing up, I
had a younger sister, and she was Oh my goodness. She was my mother's only daughter,
and she had a bunch of boys. And don't you know she spoiled
my sister Virginia? And she would bring her perfume,
and us boys would just get the biggest kick out of it because
we'd read on the bottle, toilet water. What in the world? Why do you
want to wear this? You know, and that stuff would
last for about 15 or 20 minutes, and it's dissipated. But this
is not like that. This is oily. It has a smell,
and there's only one place in the world where this material
comes from. It comes from the base of the
Himalaya Mountains, and it had to be brought in to Israel, carried
in by some caravan. And then it was pounded and ground
and mixed with oil. And it was very costly, but it
was very aromatic, too. And you didn't need a whole bunch
of it to get the scent. Now, one time I'm in a store
there in the Dalles, and a lady went by, and I didn't know her
from anybody. But as she walked by, I went,
wow. You know what I did? I walked
up to her and I said, I need to know what kind of perfume
you're wearing." Oh, I said, it's very pleasant and I'd like
to buy some for my wife. Now, she was 100 yards away and
I could still smell it. It was still in the air. It was
still being carried. My friend, that's what we're
going to follow. The rest of our message is the
smell of this aromatic oil on the Savior. Alright. This lady poured it on him. She
did it, Jesus said, for his burial. This is an oil that was used
to put on dead people. It was an oil that would help
prevent the smell of decomposition. But she did it for his burial.
And he commented on that and said that as long as the gospel
is preached, it would be remembered about this woman pouring this
oil on the Lord Jesus Christ. She did it for his burial. Now,
in verse 20 of that 26th chapter, let's look here. Verse 20. Now, when the even was come,
now we only have two days between the event that just took place
and the crucifixion. Two days. So it's not a long
time. And it says here, and when it
was even was come, he sat down with the twelve. Now, as he sat
down in a confined area or out in the open, the aroma of that
oil, that very precious, very costly ointment, still in his
hair, run down his body, is still so evident among the disciples.
as he sat and began to talk with them. He is sharing with them,
physically, a sweet-smelling odor, just as God smelled in
the Old Testament. And in the book of Leviticus,
some forty times as they sacrifice, it says there was a sweet-smelling
odor, a sweet-smelling aroma. And here, the Lord Jesus Christ,
as He prepares for His crucifixion and sits down with His disciples,
they sit there with Him, and as He begins to speak, All of
that scent walks over them, and they are able to comprehend even
what he heard. Burial. What a sweet smell. And as we follow along, verse
26, it tells us here in the book of Matthew, and as they were
eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it. He just finished
the Passover, but as he brings the Passover supper out, he has
this sweet smelling odor over him. You know, throughout the
Old Testament, all of those sacrifices, All of the sheep, the goats,
the lambs, the oxen, everything that had been sacrificed in the
Old Testament was a picture directing people to the Lord Jesus Christ.
I am convinced that there were certain people among Israel that
would say, just like we hear today, they would say, now this
is my Savior. Just like people would say today,
I'm taking the Lord's Supper. This is what I'm trusting. I've
been baptized. That's what I'm trusting. There
were people in the Old Testament that would do the same thing
with those sacrifices. And yet, there were also people
in that day that said, that's a picture of my Savior. He is, as Job said, my Redeemer
liveth. They knew that. They'd been convinced
in their soul that that was there. Just as we take the Lord's Supper,
we say, this is a picture. Christ is my reality. Don't go
down into the waters of baptism. This is a picture. Christ is
my reality. He's the one that died, was buried,
and rose again. And by that, we're depicting
that. By taking the Lord's Supper, this doing remembrance of me.
We do that. But there were people in the
Old Testament, when they saw all those sacrifices, when they
participated by bringing their lambs, they could say, Oh, my
Savior ever liveth. This is just a picture. This
is just a picture. And then it tells us here, That
is, as they were eating, Jesus took bread and busted and break
it. While he's doing that, this sweet aroma, they went up into
an upper room. Twelve of them are in there,
and the sweet-smelling odor still continues to fill that room that
day. It is not something that just
passed. It is not just toilet water. This is a year's wages
poured on his head. This is a very costly ointment,
oil that had dripped down on him. And here he talks about
his death, his burial, in verse 26, and take, eat, this is my
body. And then he took the cup and
gave thanks and gave it unto them, saying, drink ye all of
it. You know, throughout the Old Testament, and there's a
message here I've been working on and someday I'll be able to
bring it out, but in the Old Testament it tells, do not drink
or eat the blood. You know why? The only time we're ever instructed
to do that, Jesus said, unless you eat my flesh and drink my
blood, you have no part with me. Now, he's not asking us to
literally do that, but if we do not know the benefits of the
sacrifice and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have no
part with him. In verse 30, it says this, And
when he had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives.
Can you imagine as they sang that hymn? That was one of the
songs I've read where it was probably, I have no proof, but
probably the 22nd song. Talks about the crucifixion of
the Lord Jesus Christ. But as they sang that hymn, that
song, oh my goodness, that sweet smelling odor took over again
as they thought on the words of the psalm they sang. They
could not help but be caught up in the scent of this, a sweet
smelling savor. Now we look back on this and
we say, my goodness, we say hallelujah for everything the Lord Jesus
Christ did for us. We can catch that sense of the
sacrifice of the Lord. Oh, he did away with the Passover.
He instituted the Lord's Supper. And now he sings a hymn to go
out. Where does he go out to? He goes
out to prayer. He takes his disciples with him.
And there he asks, and he practiced the election too. Peter, James
and John got to go a little further. And you know what? I never read
where the others found problem with it. He was pleased to reveal
certain things to certain people during his own personal ministry
that others of his disciples only got to hear about. Mount
of Transfiguration. He only took Peter, James, and
John. They saw things. Peter wrote about it later, and
we can read about it in his book, his letters. But he only showed
those things to certain. But he goes out to pray. And
then he takes three more out a little further. Three times
he comes back. And every time he brings this
wonderful aroma that has been poured on him by this woman that
was brought by the decrees of God out to pour this oil, this
sweet-smelling aroma on him. He comes back and that wafts
among the disciples. And then he goes back to pray.
And then he comes back and wafts on his disciples. They are in
constant reminder of what had happened recently by this woman
that had done this. The sin of grace as he prayed.
Now, in verse 48, something happens here. Marvin and I was talking
to him. How in the world? The Lord decreed
that the betrayer would betray the Lord Jesus Christ with the
most affectionate way that we can. But he did notice this verse
48. Verse 47, 48, 49, and while he
at spake, lo Judas, one of the 12 came with him a great multitude
with swords and staves from the chief priests and elders of the
people. Now, he that betrayed him gave
them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that saying is
he, hold him fast." Now how in the world can Judas ever get
close enough to the Lord Jesus Christ to kiss him and not smell
that sweet-smelling savor? He came up to him and kissed
him on the cheek or whatever. And as he backed off, I can just
see him. Oh, that smell again. I smelled it there in that house
with the leper. That woman came in and poured
it on him, and now I smell it again. What a reminder is brought
to him about the words that the Lord Jesus Christ had said in
that day. She did it for my burial. And
here he betrays him with a kiss. Forthwith, he came to Jesus and
said, Hail, Master, and kissed him. And Jesus said unto him,
Friend, whatever art thou, wherefore art thou come? Then came they
and laid hands on Jesus and took him away. I'm very thankful for
the other passage, one of the other Gospels that said, Whom
seek you? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
And he said, I am. Bam! They're all on the ground. I lay down my life. No man taketh
it from me, but I lay it down of myself. All right, as we go
through, Judas smelled that. The settling is long after the
person has left. Now, in verse 57, we read this.
Jesus is taken before Caiaphas. He's one of the men that's mentioned
over here in this time when they're having a consultation on how
they could get rid of him. Jesus, in verse 57, it says,
And they that sat laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas
the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled.
He comes into the place There is no way, but they could not
smell this sweet-smelling savor. Caiaphas, the high priest, supposedly
representing the religion of Israel. God had commissioned
it in the Old Testament. It had degraded so much that
it couldn't even be recognized. And here is the high priest,
and as Jesus is led in among them, what's that? That's such a sweet-smelling
savor. And then he goes on with what
he was commissioned to do. It tells us here in verse 67. So we move through this chapter
and I want to get into a little bit into the other one. Then
did they spit in his face and buffeted him and others smote
him with the palms of their hands. There's one thing about good
perfume. You work it again. Now, I used
to be a woodshop teacher. And we'd get aromatic cedar.
Now, aromatic cedar, there's little blisters in there, microscopic
blisters that contain the oils of cedar. And the kids would
make their box out of aromatic cedar and they'd come back the
next year and say, Mr. Wells, that doesn't smell good
anymore. I says, just get a little steel wool and go over it again
and you'll smell it. All you have to do is break some
more blisters. Well, here, these soldiers, Take our Savior and
with the palms of their hands hit His face. Out again comes
the sweet-smelling savor. Now, all of this is the purpose.
Nothing happened to the Lord Jesus Christ that was not purpose
before the foundation of the world. Every event, every striking
blow that happened to Him was of a purpose. And then in verse
67 of this chapter, It says this, they did spit on his face, buffeted
him, and others smote him with the palms of their hands. Now
we're going to drop down to verse 27, or chapter 27, verse 2. Pontius
Pilate, he is a Roman. He has been appointed by the
Caesar of Rome to be where he is. They're ruling over Palestine,
over Israel at this time. And it tells us in verse 2, and
when they had bound him and led him away and delivered him to
Pontius Pilate the governor, As he is brought in before the
Roman governor of the land at that time, once again the experience
that he had in that house of that leper by that woman in that
great, costly, spiked-dirt ointment, once again he represents the
great covenant of grace as a sweet-smelling odor. He's going to tell these
rulers what I'm going to say. Don't you know I can do with
you what I want to do? And Jesus responded and says,
You can't do anything that's not given you. Sweet smelling odor follows him
through all of these experiences. Verse 26 of this same chapter,
verse 26, it says here, And then released Barabbas unto them. And when he had scourged Jesus,
he delivered him to be crucified. I can just see that man with
the cat-o'-nine-tails flogging our Savior. And as he does, I've
never smelled that on a prisoner before. Where did that come from? Well, let's just follow it a
little further. In verse 27 and verse 28, the Scriptures share
this. Then the soldiers of the governor
took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto Him the whole
band of soldiers, and they stripped Him. and put on a scarlet robe.
There is one thing about this incident here in this verse of
Scripture that they could take the clothes off of Jesus, but
they could not remove his compass. He still had the sweet-smelling
odor on him. It was not in the clothing he
was wearing, it was in the person he was. The Lord Jesus Christ
still contained, carried with Him, and gave off the sweet-smelling
odor, even though they stripped Him. And then they're going to
put a crown of thorns on Him. That crown of thorns is placed
on His head one more time. Somebody said, what in the world
is that smell? To God's people, it's a sweet-smelling
odor. To God Almighty, it's a sweet-smelling
odor. To a mixed people, those who
don't know Christ, they say, what is that? That's what they
said about manna. You know what manna means? What
is it? That's what the word manna means. What is it? And that's
what the world says about the Lord. What is he? And to the
church, he's our food. He's our food. Verse 35, well,
verse 32. And as they came out, they found
a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, him they compelled to bear his
cross. Now, why did Simon get involved
in this? Now, we know it's a purpose.
One commentator, I think it was Robert Hawker, shared, these
who were so intent on crucifying the Lord Jesus Christ did not
want him to die on his way to the hill. So they captured someone
and made him carry the cross. Boy, we're going to execute somebody.
He gets sick. We want him well so we can execute
him. This man, the Lord Jesus, as he went up there. Now, they
captured Simon. Cyrene says, you're going to
carry this. I can just see him as he took that cross. And I
don't care whether it's one that goes this way or one that goes
this way and this way. You can argue over anything.
I'm not going to. It was a cross. If it's a stake,
it's a stake. If it's a cross, it's a cross.
It was intended and purposed by the Lord God Almighty before
the world began. But as he took that cross and
laid it on his shoulder, he too got a whiff of that sweet-smelling
odor that Jesus Christ had left on that cross. Everything that's
going on is a sweet-smelling savor to God Almighty. This is
how he purposed to deliver his people from sin. This is how
he intended to set them free, was by the crucifixion of his
son. And not just that, but by him
becoming sin for us, and he could pour out his wrath on him as
he should have on us. We hear these people say in their
minds, what is this smell? The two thieves. Well, they crucified
him in verse 35, and it tells us there they crucified him and
parted his garment. I can't nail a board unless I'm
close to it. And they couldn't nail the Savior
to the cross unless they got down there. And one more time.
What is that smell? Very costly ointment. Why does
he have it? Two thieves on the cross. I don't
know how far apart they were. But I know this, they smelled
something. Both of them at one time cast,
oh man, if you be the Savior, save yourself and us. Cast the
same into it. And by God's free and sovereign
grace, one of those hearts was melted. This truly became a sweet-smelling
savor to Him. Lord, When you enter your kingdom,
remember me. And when he dropped his head,
verse 50, Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice,
yielded up the ghost. He dropped his head in death. The scent was still there. A
sweet perfume poured on him for his burial when he was taken
from the cross. Oh! Those who tenderly took him
off the cross and buried him, a sweet smelling savor was there. And three days later, as they
came into the tomb, I cannot help but think that even in that
carved out rock there, they smelled that. Those two disciples that
went down into the tomb, they smelled that. Now, I know this.
God smelled a sweet savor. as his son was on the earth,
but never so much as it was at his death, burial, and resurrection."
We read that passage of scripture, or your pastor did over there
in the book of Genesis, that as Noah came off of the ark.
It was interesting to me, again, as I heard that read, the very
preciseness, the exact day is listed. How many days they were
in there, how many days it was after. And then finally, as he
came out and sacrificed, and it says God smelled a sweet savor. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Ephesians, chapter five and verse two, Ephesians,
chapter five and verse two. As we look at this great work
of grace, everything fell out according to the purpose of God.
He had it decreed this. He purposed it. He purposed that
this woman would bring that alabaster box of ointment and pour it on
him. He decreed it before the world
began. And then he decreed everybody that would smell it, his disciples,
Judas later, his disciples in prayer, Caiaphas, Pontius Pilate,
those who beat him, those who struck him, those who crucified
him, the one that carried his cross, those thieves on the cross,
and then those who tenderly took down his body and buried it,
those who entered in that third day and saw the empty tomb. There was a sweet-smelling savor
about this all, and the church rejoices in every activity that
God every did on their behalf." And then we find, Ephesians chapter
5, verse 2, these words about God and His Son, the Lord Jesus,
It says in Ephesians 5, then in verse 2, "...and walk in love, as Christ
also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering
and a sacrifice to God." What's the last words? For a sweet-smelling
savor. God smelled us all. He says,
It's finished. All those sacrifices in the Old
Testament, they couldn't even hold a candle to this. Sweet
smelling savor. God smelled a sweet savor of
rest in this sacrifice, which is the only unblemished sacrifice
and was complete, full and adequate to the demand of justice by the
sacrifice. Sin was put away, finished and
made an end of. The church was perfected forever. And even today, in the preaching
of Christ, the church takes in a sweet smelling savor. We go out in the world and we
kind of lose track of it. It's still there. Oh, how precious
it is for God's people to assemble together, two or three, a dozen,
on Sunday when the group comes together. Oh, let's smell that
sweet smelling savor.