Our text is found in John chapter
12. And if you're taking any notes,
just know that we'll be pulling some verses from Mark 14 and
Matthew 26. They are parallel passages to
what's recorded in John 12. First nine verses. Now, Let me
just begin by saying that in Springfield, Missouri, there
is a little shop on the south side of town known as Johnny
Morris's Bass Pro Shops. It's his flagship store and there
it has a really nice museum. It's called Wonders of Wildlife
and Aquarium. Now in that museum side, there
are many displays and these are called dioramas. Dioramas, maybe
you are familiar with dioramas from school or having helped
your child with a diorama that they made for school. But in
the museum or a natural history museum, they usually have these
dioramas and what they do is they bring you into the natural
habitat of that animal. So typically in the back part
of the wall, the back wall and the side walls. It's a two-dimensional
painting. and then leaping out from that
picture, that painting of the sky and clouds and just the background,
maybe some rocks. Well, there's also in three-dimensional
form, you have rocks and trees and branches, and usually you'll
see the animal that was taken by the hunter and now stuffed
by a taxidermy leaping out over a branch, chasing after a stuffed
rabbit, maybe there's a bird. And they're all things that are
native to that habitat, whether it's desert, or you see a bison
drinking from a stream in grasslands, things like that. It's a diorama,
and it brings you right into it. Well, that's what it's like
reading these first three verses of John chapter 12. We are made
witnesses, brought into this diorama-like scene to behold
Christ and his beloved family. And so it begins in verse one.
And verse one is like that two-dimensional painting, that backdrop to the
whole scene. It says there in verse one, then
Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany. where Lazarus
was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead." Now,
there is a mention of six days there, six days. And on the sixth
day, what did God create? Well, he created man. Man was
created on the sixth day. He was formed of the dust of
the ground, and God breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life, and man became a living soul, a living soul. And the Lord comes to where Lazarus
was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. whom he gave life. And then in
verse 2 we come to the three-dimensional part of that diorama where we
meet with serving Martha and feasting Lazarus. There, verse
2, in Bethany, They made Christ a supper. It was at Simon the
leper's house. And Martha served. But Lazarus
was one of them that sat at the table with him, Lazarus also
being a guest of honor. in the house of Simon the leper.
If you look at verse 9 you see that Lazarus at this time was
somewhat of a celebrity to the degree that people wondered at
what the Lord had done for him. He was dead four days in the
grave stinking and Christ raised him from the dead. 9 Much people
of the Jews therefore knew that Christ was there, and they came
not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also,
whom he had raised from the dead. And so Simon, hosting this meal
in his house, he had Christ as the guest of honor, and he made
sure that Lazarus knew, no, don't sit down here at this low table.
You come up here and sit with us. You sit at the main table
with us. And then at last we see devoted
Mary worshiping her Lord in verse three. 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 odor of the ointment. And so we're given
to see this glorious majesty of our Lord and Savior. Him who
created the heavens and the earth, He that gave life to dust, made
Him a living soul. He that breathed into man's nostrils,
giving him life. Here our Lord sits at meet, robed
in humble flesh with this blessed family. Martha served, Lazarus
sits at the table feasting with his Lord, and Mary doing that
wonderful work of good for her Lord, upon her Lord. We see such
a beautiful sight there. our head, the Lord Jesus Christ,
with his body in the midst of his people, worshiping and praising
him, honoring their Lord and Savior, so that in this little
diorama-like scene, we're reminded of the story of every child of
God, that we all are nothing without our God and Savior. He's raised us from spiritual
death unto spiritual life. And having been given of His
Spirit, giving us life, we are raised like Martha to serve our
God and our brethren. And we, like Lazarus, sit at
the table with our Lord in His kingdom, eating the bread and
the body and the blood of our Lord and Savior. And when God
calls us home, we shall be called up to sit with Him, being called
to the marriage supper of the Lamb. feed with him and the people
of God there and like Mary in verse three we shall honor and
worship our Lord we shall praise him and bless our Lord God and
Savior both now and forevermore through eternity's never-ending
day and so that's the scene that our Lord gives us of this blessed
family Martha the elder Lazarus, the darling middle child and
son, and devoted Mary of her Lord. So we come now this morning
and we see this good work of Mary which stands, our Lord tells
us, for a memorial of her. A memorial of her. Now I'm going to be pulling some
details, as I said, from Matthew and Mark's account. So let me
just be transparent with you and say that there are commentators
that say these are not the same account. What John tells us in
chapter 12 is not the same account of what Mark and Matthew tell
us in Mark 14 and Matthew 26. So I'm going to give you, I'm
just going to clarify why it is the same account. The difficulty seems to arise
on three points. The timing the location of the
meal, and the anointing of the Lord. So let's just clarify these,
we'll clear these up. So John is telling us the timing
of when Christ came into Bethany. Christ came six days before the
Passover. And Matthew and Mark tell us
when the meal took place within those six days, which was two
days before the Passover. John tells us where the meal
took place in the town of Bethany. It happened in the town of Bethany. And Matthew, Mark, Mark 14, 3
says, and being in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,
as he sat at meat. And then Mary came and anointed
her Lord. And we're told in verse 2, Martha
served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with
him. And that's why they think, oh,
well, this took place at Lazarus's house and Martha's house. This
happened there. But is anyone surprised that
Martha was up helping to serve that large crowd that had gone
into Simon's house and helped to serve all the abundance of
people that came in to see Christ and Lazarus? And if it was Lazarus's
house, Would we need that detail to know that he sat at that head
table? It was his house. He could choose
to sit where he would, but Simon, giving a supper for Christ, also
wanted Lazarus to be there also. It was good in the eyes of the
people to have Christ and Lazarus there. So that takes care of
the place. And then the anointing. In Mark
14.3 we are told that we are not even given Mary's name, it
just says she broke the box and poured it on his head. Matthew
says the same thing in chapter 26. But John's focus isn't on
where Mary began, but being the disciple of love and overwhelmed
with the power of our God, the effect of our God upon his people,
notices for us where Mary who loved her Lord ended up at the
feet, where she always was found, at the feet of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so he says in verse 3, 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 odor of the ointment. Now
I'm going to explain the difference in this point as we go, but our
focus, brethren, is on the Lord Jesus Christ. You see here the
focus of this family and these people here is on the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's all our glory. We glory in Him. We have no covering
for our sin, but the blood of Christ. And we're satisfied with
that. We're thankful for his blood. And so this ointment that Mary
pours on Christ's head, it declares that we're one with
our Lord. It speaks to the union, the unity
between the people of God and our head, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Mary, taking that ointment,
takes that ointment and wipes Christ's feet. And when she does
that, what she's declaring is, Christ is all my glory. Christ is all my covering. I don't have any glory of my
own. I have nothing to glory in before the Lord. He's my glory.
I have no covering for my sin, no works to deliver me of my
sin. Christ is all my covering." And
when the people, beginning to smell this odor and asking, what's
going on here? What happened here? And they
heard what was done and they began to grumble about what she
did. Our Lord says in Mark 14, you
leave her alone. You don't trouble her. Don't
you say nothing to her. You leave her alone. Verse 89,
she hath done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint
my body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, wheresoever
this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this
also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of
her. And I say unto you that can hear
it, that what she has done is preached every time the gospel
is faithfully declared. What she has done is preached
in the gospel each and every time the gospel is faithfully
declared. Because rather than speak of
the corrupt words of vain flesh, talking about what man must do
to be saved, what decision he must make, no, no. we glory in
what Christ has done. We declare His blood sufficient
to save and cover all my sins. We glory in Him. We glory in Him being born again
of His Spirit so that He is all my glory, He is all my hope,
He is sufficient to save me to the uttermost. If I'm accepted
of God, it's for Christ's sake, not mine. For His sake alone. And that's what Mary has done
here. And that's what the Church does every time she stands and
declares that Christ is salvation of His people. He's our glory. He's our covering. He's everything. Amen. So I've titled this message,
Christ Our Glory and Covering. Christ Our Glory and Covering. So this ointment, I said, is
a picture of the oneness between Christ and his church. We're
told that it was a pound of ointment of spikenard that Mary had. And
I was curious, how much is a pound of ointment? And so I went online,
and I did use some conversion. And I found one that took a pound.
of ointment. I did one of olive oil and one
of coconut oil in case there's just a little difference in the
consistency. And both of them with only a
half ounce difference, both of them were right at 16 and a half
ounces and the other at 17 ounces. That's two cups. Two cups. You know what two cups is. That's
not a small amount. That's a very good sized amount
and Mark says that she poured it on his head. What a picture of the anointing
of our God to the work that he sent him to do as the Lamb of
God to put away the sins of his people, and through the abundance
of it, which flowed down his head. Can you imagine pouring
two cups of oil on someone's head? The abundance of it began
to flow down, and she stopped it. Lord, I'm giving this to
you. And she caught it with her hands and her hair, just bringing
it up there to catch it, and then having it and saying, Lord,
this is yours. This is your glory. I've given
this to you, and she stooped down and she wiped the rest of
it on his feet to give it all to him. It's all his, Lord. It's all yours. I give it to
you. I don't want nothing to be wasted.
It's all yours. It's your glory, Lord. And so
Christ, in his word, he declares that we're one with him. He says
in his high priestly prayer in John 17, verse 20 and 21, he
said, Lord, that they all may be one as thou father are to
me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world
may believe that thou has sent me and the glory. pictured in that spikenard oil,
the glory which thou hast given me, I have given them, that they
may be one, even as we are one. And so that sweet fragrance of
Christ, from the anointing oil of the Spirit, running down,
flowing over the head of Christ, running down his body, and in
measure, given to Mary as well, she took it and wiped it on his
feet. She gave it all back to him,
declaring, Lord, you're everything. You're all my glory. You're all
my covering. And that sweet, pungent, fragrant
smell filled the house. And so to smell Mary, who had
that on her, was to smell Christ. And that's how it is when we
stand before the throne of our God. He smells, not us, not our
works. He smells the sweet, fragrant,
pungent smell of his darling son. To smell Mary was to smell
Christ. But was everyone in that house
unified? Did everyone agree with what
was done? Was everyone pleased with what had been done for Christ? No, they began to smell that
and grumble, what's going on? What is that smell that I smell? What is this perfume filling
the house? And they heard what Mary had
taken a whole box of ointment and poured the whole thing on
Christ's head. What? She did what? She wasted all that oil on Christ's
head? On Jesus' head? Mary was one
with Christ. Christ was everything to Mary. And she gloried in Him. So for
her to take what was the equivalent of a year's wages seemed like
a perfectly reasonable sacrifice to give to Christ. It was nothing
for her to do that. It seemed reasonable. And that's
what we're called to do in Christ. And believers know it's my reasonable
service. Christ calls me to reasonable
service in serving Him. What is it? He's my all. He's
everything. But Judas, he didn't care for
Christ. Judas gloried in himself, just
as this world glories in its works, its decision, what it's
doing for God. That's what this world glories
in. And it says in verses 4 through
6, John 12, Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot,
Simon's son. Is this Simon the leper's son?
Is this Judas's house that is him? Simon's son which should
betray him. He asked, 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 had
the bag, and bare what was put therein. You know, when man declares,
when he's talking about what he does to save himself, what
he's done to get himself saved, he's done what God said, I've
done these things and now I'm a Christian. When he does that,
taking glory to himself, he's a thief. He robs God of his glory. When we talk about us and boast
about what we've done, we're robbing God of his glory. It's his glory. We're saved by
the glory of God. It's all His. It's all His work. We don't steal God's glory in
justifying ourselves. Man steals from God boasting
about what he's done, his righteousness, his works of sanctification,
his law-keeping, his sacrifices, his faith. That's what this world
talks about. That's what they boast in. But
Mary confessed all her glory. is Christ. All the glory is Christ. So any of that which came to
her, she cast it right back on the Lord. She gave it right back
to the Lord saying, Lord, it's all yours. Turn over to Psalm
133. Psalm 133. And here we're given
a description of the union between Christ and His Church.
We see a picture of what Mary did in pouring this oil on the
Lord. Psalm 133, it's only three verses,
so we'll read all of it. Verse one, behold, how good and
how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It
is like the precious ointment upon the head, that's where Mary
first poured that ointment, that ran down upon the beard, even
Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments. And when that ointment had flowed
down Christ, down to the bottom of his robe, Mary was right there
at his feet to catch every drip and apply it right on back to
the Lord that nothing should be wasted. She declared that
Christ is all her glory. You know, in heaven, when it
speaks of the elders, the 24 elders, it says that they fall
down before the throne of God and they cast their crowns before
the throne. We're not going to be taking
any glory to ourselves. We're going to be singing the
song of redemption, giving praise to the Lord for what He has done
for us, rejoicing in Him. The Psalmist 115 verse 1 says,
Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory
for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Verse 3 of Psalm 133 says,
As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the
mountains of Zion, you see that oil flowing down your Lord, refreshing
all to whom it touches. There, it says, there the Lord
commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. And so that oil which flowed
from Christ our head, it's that soul-quickening life of Him. Because He, the second Adam,
is made a quickening spirit. He gives life to whom He will,
and He blessed Mary. Blessed Mary, receiving that
from him, returned right back to him, worshiping the Lord.
It's all yours, Lord. It's all your glory. I've got
nothing to boast him in your salvation. And so Christ alone
is the light and life of men. He gives life to whomsoever he
will. He leads his people out of darkness
and they follow him. And in him, we have the light
of life. We don't walk in darkness, we
walk following our Lord. So Mary had the love of God in
her, Judas did not. Mary gloried in Christ, Judas
did not. When our Lord went to the cross,
he died as the substitute of his people. He died in the place
of his people, taking their place. What was our due, the punishment
we deserve for our sins, Christ took them unto himself and stood
in our place, and he took the beatings. He took the bruises.
He was humbled. By his stripes, we are healed,
and our sin is put away. by the shedding of his own blood.
And he died and he was buried according to the Scriptures.
When everything that the Scriptures said of him was fulfilled, he
died and was buried. And God raised him from the dead,
declaring that he is just and we are justified in him. And so, brethren, we're sent
to preach Christ. Christ to his people, to feed
the sheep of God, to declare what Christ has done. No sacrifice
I do can put away my sin, but the sacrifice that he gave of
himself, that put away my sin. Me and the strength of all my
flesh and all my might cannot deliver me from the justice of
God, yet Christ and the weakness of his flesh delivered me and
all his people. He did everything. If I try to
come to God in my own works, I'm a stench in his nostrils.
But those who come to God in nothing but the blood of Christ
are a sweet savor unto God, and he receives all who come to him
in the blood of Christ. Romans 3, 23 through 25 says,
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. That redemption speaks of the
purchase of His people with His own blood. We are bought with
the blood of Christ, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for
the remission of sins." And that word, propitiation, means that
Christ came and turned the wrath and anger of God which was justly
set upon us to destroy us, Christ turned it away from us on himself
to bear that wrath and punishment that we couldn't bear. He bore
it for us and shed his blood to put away, to obtain eternal
forgiveness, the remission of sins, forgiveness of sins for
us from God. Christ did that. Christ did that
because He loves His people and we are His bride. And the way
you know who are His people, it's manifest in them. Faith
is manifested in them whereby they look to and trust the blood
of Christ. That's how you know whom Christ
died for. That's how you know for whom
He shed His blood. fruit is born in them in the
appointed hour of God when he gives them life by the Spirit
and reveals fruits of righteousness in them, not the least of which
is faith, trusting in his blood, believing him. Now when Mary
did this work upon Christ and Judas and others murmured, it
says in John 12 verse 7 and 8, Jesus defending her saying, Let
her alone, against the day of my burying hath she kept this.
For the poor always ye have with you, but me ye have not always. And Matthew 26, 12 and 13 adds,
For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, head to
toe. She did it for my burial. Verily
I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the
whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done,
be told for a memorial of her." And so I said to you that what
Mary has done is indeed preached in the gospel every time the
gospel is faithfully preached, because Mary gloried in her Savior. When the Gospels faithfully preached,
we're glorying in Christ. We're not glorying in man. Judas
gloried in man. And the preaching of the true
gospel, glories in Christ. And the false gospel, glories
in man. What he must do, the decision
he makes. One glories in Christ, the other
glories in man. We only know that what Mary did
was a good work and what that good work was because Christ
told us. Otherwise, we wouldn't understand
it. We wouldn't know what was done.
He said, she came beforehand to anoint my body to the burying. And she likely only understood
that it was a good work when she heard Christ say, she hath
wrought a good work on me. I don't even think Mary knew
what she had done. I don't think it struck her at
all. And our Lord says in Matthew
25 verse 37, He says that in that day, the children of God
will say, when Lord, when did we ever do a good work on thee? When did we see thee and hunger
and thee thirsty and give you food and drink? When do we see
you naked and clothe you? When do we see you in jail or
sick and visit you? When do we do that Lord? And
he'll say, and as much as you've done it to the least of these,
my brethren, you've done it unto me. You've done it unto me. We don't see, we don't know the
good works that the Lord works in us. We don't see the good
works we do, but Jesus takes notice of them. He noticed it. He said, don't you say anything
to her. She's done a good work on me. He's the only one that
noticed it and pointed it out that it was a good work. And
so the wicked, they're always self-serving. They're always
justifying themselves, putting others down, and stepping on
them to exalt themselves and make themselves look better.
And so Judas Iscariot, being offended by Christ's rebuke,
rather than being shamed and repenting, it says in Mark 14.10
that he went unto the chief priests to betray him unto them. He turned. to the enemy, to destroy
Christ. He was more interested in destroying
Christ than hearing the words of Christ. But not Mary. How
good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in
unity. Something lost on Judas, but
Mary loved Christ and gloried in him alone. And so it is when
we preach Christ, that He is the salvation of sinners, we
declare the glory of Christ. We declare that it's His work. He's glorified in this. Don't
look to me. We didn't do anything. Look to
Christ. It's all His work. To the glory,
honor, and praise of Him. But like Judas, those who seek
their own glory, I'd like to talk about what they did for
the Lord and how they contributed to the engine of salvation. I
poured in the gasoline of faith. I pulled that cord. I fired it
up. Look what I did for the Lord.
They're glorying in self. They're glorying in self. But
true believers glory in Christ. like Mary, receive grace of the
Lord and bow before their Lord and say, Lord, thank you. Thank
you. I got nothing to boast in this.
This is all you. I don't deserve any of this.
Thank you, Lord. Thank you. And so all that glory
of his is given back to him. Turn over to First Corinthians
11. There's just one short verse there. First Corinthians 11 15.
1 Corinthians 11 15 Paul writes, if a woman have
long hair it is a glory to her for her hair is given her for
a covering so Mary took that which is her glory and that which
is her covering and she wiped it on Christ's feet and in doing
that she's declaring I have no glory but you, Lord. I don't
have any covering but your blood, Lord." Everything, all the glory
goes to Christ. She's declaring, He's my head,
He's my trust, my confidence, all my hope is resting on the
Lord Jesus Christ. I have no glory but Christ, no
covering but the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
what the church, like Mary, is doing every time she declares
the gospel. When we preach Christ, we're
glorying in Him. We're declaring, we didn't save
ourselves, we got nothing to boast in, it's all of Him. He
started it. He keeps it. It's all of His
work. And so, that ointment declares
we're one with Christ our head. And the glory which flows from
Him giving us life is all given back to Him. We cast all our
crowns before the Lord. We're made partakers of Him through
the gift of His life and the gift of the Holy Spirit whereby
we are born again. and made to see what he has done,
made to hear his voice, made to rejoice. That's the only reason
why we even give thanks and rejoice in him is because we are made
alive and given of his spirit so that we are made partakers
of his grace whereby we understand and know what our God has done.
And to the degree we see it, we just keep on giving it back
to him and praise him and thank him for it. Mary taking of that
ointment and wiping Christ's feet declares, She has no glory
but Christ, no covering but the blood of Christ. And that's how
it is with us. Everything we have rests in the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That no flesh should glory in
his presence, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus. Is Christ Jesus made unto us
wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
that as it is written, him that glorieth, let him glory in the
Lord. So, you that believe Him and
trust His blood, thank God. Thank Him. Praise His name for
His work of salvation in you. Amen.