I just wanted to read these first
verses. Then, then, after the Lord Jesus Christ had withdrawn
himself and taken his disciples away and left the religious world
vacant of his presence in judgment on them. Then, six days, just
a matter of weeks, here we are just the last week, and I want
us to note that in John's Gospel from chapter 12 through to chapter
21, which is ten chapters, are devoted to this one week. The whole world couldn't contain
the books that should be written. These things are written that
you might believe and that you might remain believing and that
by believing you'll have life with him and in him. Nearly half
his gospel is taken up with the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified
and buried and risen again. So this now, we enter into these
last days of our Lord's earthly ministry and such is the significance
of it. And such should be the concentration
of it in our lives. If the whole world couldn't contain
the books that ought to be written and John has devoted half his
gospel to this one week, how precious is this week and how
important the lessons are. And it begins this week, and
this Passover time begins with the Lord Jesus Christ coming
back from the wilderness and coming to this little town of
Bethany. Then, then Jesus, six days before
the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus, which was dead,
had been dead, whom he raised. There they made him a supper. Martha served. Lazarus was one
of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound
of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet
of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled
with the odour of the ointment. We'll go down to verse seven.
He says, leave her alone. Judas wanted to criticise her
for the waste. And if you read the other accounts
in the Gospels, you see that plenty of others joined in with
him. But he says, let her alone. against the day of my burying
as she kept this. So this ointment is a memorial
and a glorious picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. But it's a great picture, isn't
it, Bethany? What a glorious, glorious scene. What a glorious
scene. Then, Jesus, then, at this particular
time, the Lord Jesus Christ is in control of all the events
that go on in all of this world, and He always acts with purpose. His withdrawal wasn't an act
of cowardice. He set his face like a flint
to go to Jerusalem. His judgment on the wicked is
to leave them alone, and his grace and mercy and love is shown
in his presence and in the gathering of his people to him. He came
to his own, and his own received him not. He came to his own,
and his own received him not, but as many as received him. To them he gave power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. The
children of God scattered, the children of God gathered together
around the Lamb. What a blessed town Bethany was. What a blessed home and what
blessed people. What a blessing where the Lord
comes and makes his abode, where the Lord comes and reveals himself
as he really is in the glory of who he is. God incarnate. What a blessed place it is where
He comes and He reveals His love to His own. He loved them. He loved them. He came to them.
Not only did He love them, but He becomes the object of worship
and service and rest, and He accepts their love. It's a reciprocated
love, isn't it? We love Him. Why? because he first loved us. But
there is a real love relationship. And here in Bethany, there is
this house of a blessed gathering. Oh, brothers and sisters, if
you are in a place where the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed
in his glory, the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified is lifted
up, it's a blessed place. It's a blessed place. It's a
blessed, blessed place. A blessed gathering. It's a blessed
picture of the church. of the Lord Jesus Christ, where
he meets with his own. So just as I said earlier, just
three kilometres away from this, you have all the external apparatus
of religion. You have the temple, that glorious
temple that had been 40 years in building. You have the City
of David and all of its history. You have the priests in all their
finery and all of their robes. You have the Bible colleges and
the mission organisations. You have the great learning,
the great knowledge that these people had. They recited the
Old Testament off by heart. They knew it inside out and upside
down. They could quote it and debate
it and argue it. And yet when the Living Word
stood in their presence and said, I am the Living Word of all of
this Old Testament scriptures, what was their response? Let's
kill him. Even when he came to them and
did messianic miracles which were set aside, the healing of
the blind, even when he did that again and again and again and
they knew from their scriptures that only Messiah did it, their
response was, let's kill him. It is a stark picture of what
an extraordinary contrast. There in Jerusalem, they are
preparing the Passover. Tens of thousands of lambs and
doves and sacrificial offerings. Bucket loads of water of purification. So much ritual and so much religion,
and they had no idea. Not a single clue that the true
Passover, the real Passover, where's the lamb? Where is the
lamb? Where is the lamb revealed? Where
is the lamb of God's providing? The lamb of God's providing is
in Bethany, over the hill and out of sight. And he was gathered,
gathered in this house was the very lamb of God. And gathered in this house at
this feast, Mary comes and that whole house is full of the aroma
of his sacrifice. Filling the house. Religion is
everywhere, but the presence of the Lord is particular. Religion
is everywhere, all over this world, but the presence of the
Lord in glory is with his people. The Lord God Almighty passed
through Egypt, and he passed over the houses of Israel. And the God who passed over,
God Almighty was in that house. eating with them and reclining
with them at a table. Where is the lamb? Where is the
lamb of God? in the place where the aroma
of his sacrifice, the declaration of the Lord Jesus Christ and
him crucified as God Almighty, the successful sovereign saviour,
who's a substitute for particular sinners, who came and was sent
by God with a specific purpose. He came to save his people from
their sins and gather together in one the children of God. They're
all to be gathered together in him and all that gathering is
pictured here in Bethany and pictured most particularly on
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Where is he now? Where is God
Almighty now? He's in exactly the same place
doing exactly the same things that he said he was before. He
inhabits the praises of his people. He is where he gathers his people
together. There I am in the midst of you,
where his name is declared, where the character of God as absolute
sovereign, as holy, All of the character of God is
revealed on the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all of
those people around the world and all of those people that
have all of that religion and simply deny the simple declaration
that I came into this world, I laid down my life for my sheep. He didn't lay down his life for
the goats. He didn't come to make salvation
possible. He didn't come to make an offer.
Wherever his name and his character is not declared, the ointment,
the odour of him, that glorious smell that pleases God, it's
not there. He's not there. I'm sorry brothers
and sisters. We want to be polite and we want
to be nice to people and we want to be, our arms and our hearts
should be open to all of those who worship another God. But let's not. Let's not. turn away from the worship of
our true and living God to appease our own flesh. This is the glorious,
glorious picture of the Lord gathered with his people. This
Passover is a reminder, isn't it? And now we're going to celebrate
the Passover, which was the Lord's Passover in Egypt. And you know
the story, and it's really simple. Here is the Lamb of God and the
Lamb of God, the Lamb of God's providing in Exodus, which pictured
the Lord Jesus Christ was to be taken into the house of the
children of Israel. And on that night of the Passover they were
to take that lamb, and they were to kill that lamb, and they were
to take the blood of that lamb, and they were to Mark the doorposts
and the lintel of their house, their dwelling. You couldn't
go in and out of that dwelling without going under the blood.
And that blood was there. And God says, when I see the blood, I will
pass over you. And inside that house, that roasted
lamb, the aroma of that roasted lamb roasted in the fire, a picture
of what happened on the cross of Calvary, that roasted lamb,
the aroma of that roasted lamb filled that house. And those
people lived. Life came to those people because
of the life of the lamb. And the Lord went through Egypt
that night, and in every house in all of Egypt there was death. Every house, from Pharaoh's house
down to the poorest house, animals died. Every house was a house
of mourning. And in the houses where the blood
was, the houses where God passed over, there was a death as well,
wasn't there? And that's the glory of what
happened on the cross. It was a substitution, wasn't
it? For Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, died. that all of
his children might go free and be rescued and redeemed out of
Egypt and taken into a promised land. It's a glorious picture
of salvation. It's a glorious picture and that's
what the Jews were preparing to celebrate. And yet they had
no knowledge whatsoever. They had no light that the real
Passover had come. The real Passover had revealed
itself. John the Baptist's first words
to those Jews was, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world. Behold the Lamb of God. I want
us to I want us to look at the picture of the Lord. I want us
to, if possible, to take ourselves back into that house that night.
What a remarkable time it must have been. The Lord comes to
Bethany and gathers these people together. And in that house,
was Lazarus which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. A glorious picture of resurrection,
a glorious picture of life from the dead, a glorious picture
of salvation. But I do love what they did. In verse 2 it says, there they
made him a supper. They made him a supper. He allowed
himself to be served of them. He honoured their gathering. He honoured their gathering together. And Martha served, and Lazarus
sat, and Mary took a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly,
and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair.
I want us to look at these three people, I want us to look at
them in light of their various activities, but I want us to
look at them in light of them being a picture individually
and combined of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in the
very presence of God where he makes himself known. Every time you think of Martha,
it's a bit like when you think of David, isn't it? We're often inclined
to think of David and immediately you start thinking of Bathsheba,
but we forget all the glorious things. Martha was rebuked in
Luke chapter 10, but she was rebuked not because she was serving,
but she was rebuked because of her misplaced priorities and
her attitude, wasn't it? If your service allows you to
look down on other people and to look harshly upon others,
then a rebuke is good because it's not service at all, is it?
Serving is good. Serving is good, says the Lord
Jesus Christ to Martha in Luke 10. but worship is better. If your serving is worship, then
everything's fine. But worship is best, isn't it? Worship God. Serving is good,
but worship is the one thing needful. If I never do another
thing, and can never do another thing, may the Lord allow me
to worship. May the Lord allow us to call
upon his name. They made him a supper. Martha
served. There's no supper without Martha
serving. Thank God for the Martha's all
around. Thank God for the Martha's. It's
a labor of love. It's a grace gift from God to
be enabled to serve his people. We've got to be thankful for
the Marthas. They're all around, aren't they? They are around
here. There are Marthas that allow
for us to meet here. If you knew the trials and tribulations
that Cole and has to go through to allow us
to have access to this building on a permanent basis, you'd be
amazed. I'm so pleased I don't have to
do it. I'm thankful for the Martha's.
I'm thankful that we can turn up and we turn up in a way which
is so appropriate where everything is laid out for us. You're not
asked to bring your own supper. You're not asked to bring your
own wine. We come and it's laid out for us and it's a grace gift
from God. It is a privilege. It's a privilege from God to
be able to be a servant. To be enabled of God to be a
servant. Listen to what Paul says to the
Philippians. He speaks of things being sent
for his necessity. He says, Not because I desire
a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. But
I have all, and abound, and full, have received of Epaphroditus
the things which were sent from you, an odour a sweet smell,
a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God. And then he
wants us to know where it all comes from. But my God, my God
shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ
Jesus. Serving is good. Serving is good. But I want you to remember that
Martha and the other servants in that house were serving in
a house that was full of the odour of the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ. What a place to serve. What a
blessed aroma to imbibe while you are serving. This is the
Lord's family. This is the Lord's house. Service
is precious, isn't it? What are you doing? You might
say to one of the servants here, well, I'm just collecting sticks
for the fire. But what do you smell when you're
collecting the sticks? I'm taking out the trash. But what do you
smell when you're taking out the trash? I'm cleaning the dishes. What do you smell? You smell
the aroma of the Lord Jesus Christ and the most menial and insignificant
things in the world with the aroma of Christ on them in the
presence of him and with his people. Becomes precious, doesn't
it? Martha served and worshipped. Lazarus sat. Lazarus sat. They lent at those tables. It
was a U-shaped arrangement, a low table, and you lent on your left
hand and ate with your right hand, which is why John, at the
Last Supper, could lean back on the Lord Jesus' chest. Lazarus reclined. Lazarus reclined. Next, him. He reclined. It's wonderful, isn't it? Lazarus
is there, a proof of the resurrection, just like the Lord Jesus Christ
when he came back. He said, you give me some broil
fish and some honey, and he ate it in their midst to prove to
his disciples that he had real flesh and he was a real resurrected
man and that's the resurrection that all of God's children look
forward to. We shall be like him. We shall
be like him when he comes back. Lazarus reclined. Lazarus rested. his labours. And that's exactly
the rest of all of the children of God, isn't it? We rest from
our labours in the Lord Jesus Christ. We rest And we are made to sit together with
him. I spoke about these together
in Ephesians chapter 2, but I do love them. But God, who is rich
in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, we were
dead. We were dead. You remember the time when you
were dead. If you don't remember the time when you were dead,
you need to be born again. That's simply what he says. We all had
our conversations in time past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath. even as others, but God, that's
the gospel, but God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in sins has quickened us
together with Christ. By grace are you saved. And listen
to what he's done. He's raised us up together and
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Where are you? Child of God? made to sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. We've been brought near, haven't
we? But now in Christ, I love verse 13 of Ephesians 2, but
now in Christ you who were sometimes far off are made nigh by the
blood of Christ. How near? Near enough to sit
together with him. We are one with him, we are united
with him. Lazarus sat and reclined. It's the rest from our labours. There's a rest for the children
of God. There's a rest and there's a
feast in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the feast
in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ is a feast that has his
odour. So let's go and look at Mary briefly. And we'll close
with looking at her. Mary anointed. Mary took a pound of ointment,
verse three of chapter 12, a pound of ointment of spikenard, very
costly. Spikenard's an aromatic plant
that grows in the pasture lands of the Himalayas between Nepal
and Tibet. Imagine how much trouble is involved
in extracting that precious ointment and bringing it all the way from
northern India all the way across all of that desert country and
bringing it to Israel. No wonder you put it in an alabaster,
a beautiful alabaster vase, like container it's in. It was very
costly. It was a year's wages worth of
ointment. A year's wages worth of ointment.
You can do the calculations yourself. For people who have fancy jobs
these days, that's $100,000. You can imagine how beautiful.
And these alabaster bars that they're in were just beautifully,
beautifully ornate. Glorious things. Mary took a
pound of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet. of Jesus and wiped his feet with
her hair and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. Our Lord Jesus Christ lived the
most simple life. He had no place to lay his head.
He had no place to call home in this world. He lived simply. He lived without any extravagance
of any sort whatsoever. But here in this house, amongst
his people, he accepts and approved of this gift of the highest value
and the most extraordinary significance to be used on him. He who made
himself of no reputation and took on himself the form of a
servant is here anointed by Mary. Here anointed by Mary. And he tells us very plainly
what it was. In verse 7 he says, this has
been done against or in recognition of the day of my burying she'd
kept it. Did Mary know when no one else
seemed to know? Did Barry know? It appears that
she did. that the Lord Jesus Christ, he
had spent his ministry telling them that he must go to Jerusalem,
that he must suffer, he must be rejected, he must die, he
must be crucified, he must be raised again. He must. Mary believed. Mary believed. And I love Mary's posture and
Mary's worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. She anointed his feet,
the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. What do you do in the presence
of a king? You anoint his head. What do you do in the presence
of God Almighty? You bowed his feet. You bowed
his feet. You were thankful that he makes
his enemies to be his footstool because that was what you were.
But if you'd been made his footstool, you bowed his feet. Listen to
what Isaiah said of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, he says,
my people, verse six of Isaiah 52, my people shall know my name. They'll know all my character. And therefore they shall know
that in that day I am he that speaks. The Lord Jesus Christ
spoke as God. He never said the scripture said
this or someone else said it. He said, I say unto you, I say
unto you, and listen to what he says. How beautiful upon the
mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that
publishes, that declares peace. that bringeth good tidings of
good, that publishes salvation, that sayeth to Zion, to say to
the children of God that are scattered abroad, that are now
being gathered in him, and gathered in his presence, thy God reigneth. Don't you love that? That's to
publish peace to the children of God. My God reigns. My God
reigns. And listen to what the watchmen
say in verse 8. The watchmen, thy watchmen, watchmen
of his approving and his appointing and his designations in so many
ways, they shall lift up the voice. Who's the voice? He's
the voice, isn't he? He's the very word of God. They
lift up the voice. And listen to what he goes on
to say, and with the voice together. With the voice together, shall
they sing? He's singing. When God's servants are speaking,
the Lord Jesus Christ is there alongside them. You disagree
with Paul or Peter or Isaiah. You disagree with them about
the Lord Jesus Christ being crucified. You must suffer the eternal wrath
of God. You must. Thy watchmen shall
lift up the voice, and with the voice together they shall sing.
Don't you love the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ came as
a preacher? preacher to preach the gospel he is the gospel but
he came to preach himself and we just love it's what a wonderful
verse together they shall sing for they shall see I to I when
the Lord shall bring again Zion does that mean that all of God's
servants throughout all time always speak and say the same
things about the Lord Jesus Christ and crucified Absolutely. What does it say
about those who deny his deity and deny his sacrificial and
substitutionary death? They're not his watchmen. I have another message. Mary anointed the feet of the
Lord Jesus Christ, these beautiful feet. How beautiful are those
feet upon the mountain. She anointed his feet with her
hair. Now, Mary did something which
was extraordinarily embarrassing in that world. When we were in
India, one of the girls in our dorm that we were looking after,
it used to be a fashion parade going to church and we're always
trying to sort of undo the fashion parade, but one of the Indian
girls in our dorm went down to church one day and she had beautiful,
beautiful black hair, long black hair, and she left it out. An
Indian lady came up to her and slapped her in the face because
that's how disgraceful it is for a woman to have her hair It was exactly the same 2,000
years ago. In 1 Corinthians 11, a woman's
hair is her glory. Her worship of the Lord Jesus
Christ and her anointing at him is both public and exposes her
in such a way, exposes her to the ridicule of all around her.
What must Judas and many others have thought of her? Just like
the story in Luke's gospel of that woman who was a sinner,
and she wiped his feet with her hair as well, and wet them with
the tears. She took her glory, she took
her glory, and she took this anoint, this oil, this amazing
fragrance which he kept for the day of his burial, and she broke
that jar. and poured it all over the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then she wiped his feet with
her hair. She took that which was her glory
and she used it to wipe his feet. There's so much more in this
story, but we have to move on for the time. And the house was
filled with the odour of the ointment. Just imagine how beautiful
that must have smelled, that odour of the ointment was filled.
All of those gifts as you read in Philippians are an odour,
a sweet smell of sacrifice, all in the house, everyone in the
house. Mary and Martha and Lazarus and all of the others, whether
they were serving or sitting, they smelled the odour. They smelled the odour. That's
what happens in the preaching of the Gospel. In 2 Corinthians
chapter 2, you can read more of it at your leisure, but he
says, Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph
in Christ, 2 Corinthians 2.14, and makes manifest the savour,
the odour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we, we
are unto God, a sweet savour of Christ. Where does God get glory for
his son in this world right now? Where's the promise? And if you
read it in Ephesians 2, in his church where he gathers his people
together, where his name is proclaimed, that ointment is poured forth,
that's where he gets all of his glory. We are unto God, a sweet
saver of Christ. in them that are saved, and in
them that perish. Judas was in there. He smelled
that odour. He saw the raising of Lazarus.
He sat there and he ate at that table. We're a sweet savour of
Christ unto them that are saved, and in them that perish. To one we are the savour of death
unto death. and to the other the savour,
the odour of life unto life. I'm so thankful that Paul said,
and who is sufficient for these things? Who is sufficient for
these things? For we are not as many which
corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity and as of God,
in the sight of God, speak we in Christ. God is present where
his Son is lifted up. We are a saviour. The Lord Jesus
Christ, in him crucified, is the saviour of life unto life
and death unto death. And that's what this odour, that's
what she kept it for. Paul says in Ephesians, he says,
walk in love as Christ has also loved us and has given himself
for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour. That's that same word, odour.
We had a wonderful time some years ago looking at Song of
Solomon, and it's a glorious, glorious picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ and his church, of him gathering his people to
himself, and it opens with these glorious words in Song of Solomon.
He says, let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for
thy love is better than wine, because the savour, the odour
of thy good ointments, because of the savour of thy good ointments,
Thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins
love thee. It's an odour, again and again
and again, that speaks to this odour. He comes in and gathers
his church. He says of his church, a garden
enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain
sealed, thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates with peasant's
fruits, campfire and spikenard, this same ointment that Mary
had, spikenard and saffron and calamus and cinnamon and all
the trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes. with all the chief
posts, a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and
streams from Lebanon awake, awake our north wind. Come, blessed
Holy Spirit, and blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof
may flow out. Let my beloved come into his
garden and eat his pleasant fruits. Worship God puts the children of God
in a place where the people of this world, and especially the
religious people of this world, will not understand the sacrifice
that they make. They won't understand the beauty
of that ointment. The worship of God is expensive
and costly to people in terms of our public reputation. The
worship of God is expensive and costly in terms of our glory.
The worship of God is accepted. The Lord Jesus Christ uses it,
says, let her alone. You deal with me. You deal with
me. The worship of God costs, brothers
and sisters, the worship of God costs. It must cost. David finished
his days by saying, I will not offer unto God, 2 Samuel 24,
I will not offer unto God something that costs me nothing. David
bought the threshing floor and David built an altar unto the
Lord with burnt offerings and peace offerings. He offered the
Lord Jesus Christ and the plague was stopped. Here in the house of the Lord
Jesus Christ, there is serving and it's a blessing because we
smell the aroma of Christ crucified. We rest and eat and smell the
aroma of Christ crucified. We worship the Lord Jesus Christ
and acknowledge his sacrifice. under the aroma of the Lord Jesus
Christ and him crucified. I began this service by saying,
where's the lamb? Where is God in this world? He's in the house of his people,
where he gathers his people together, where the house is full of the
aroma of his sacrifice, where his name,
his name as holy where his name as a sacrifice is washed our
sins away by his own blood, where his name as the glorious righteousness
of God, our very righteousness, is held up. His obedience, his
obedience, he's magnified the law, including the Passover. He's magnified the Passover itself,
which they were going to celebrate the next week, and he's magnified
the law and made it honorable. A place where his name as king
and prophet And priest is honored. His name in fulfilling all the
words of God, which is what he's doing in this very present. His
name is glorious. His name is glorious. His sacrifice
is glorious. The blood that he shed is precious,
precious blood. The blood he shed He's called
by God the very blood of God. And what did he do with the blood
of God? He bought a church. He bought a church with his blood. The church of God, which he has
purchased with his own blood. Name above all names, glorious
Saviour, wonderful Redeemer. May He continue to make this
house a house where His ointment is poured forth, and all of His
beloved serve and rest and worship, rejoicing in the aroma of his
sacrifice. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,
we do thank you for sending your Son. We thank you for the power,
Heavenly Father, of his resurrected life and we thank you that we
have been brought to his banqueting house and the banner over us
is love and we pray, Heavenly Father, the privilege that you
have brought to us of having him reveal to us again and again
and coming and eating with us and dining with us and granting
us the glorious, glorious privilege of serving under his order, of
resting under his order, of being permitted to worship, to kiss
his feet. Oh, our Father, we thank you
for your dear and precious Son, and we pray your blessing on
us, Heavenly Father, as your witnesses in this world. Strengthen
us, Heavenly Father. Cause this ointment, this odour,
to sound out from us. Cause us, Heavenly Father, to
be famous like Mary. for bearing an ointment that
fills the house with what represents our Lord Jesus Christ and him
crucified. Bless your word to our hearts,
Heavenly Father, may we go under that anointing and live for his
glory in this world, for we pray in Jesus' name, amen.