Turn with me to Matthew 26. Matthew
26, verse 1 says, And it came to pass when Jesus
had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, you
know that after two days is the feast of the Passover and the
Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified. Then assembled together
the chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people
unto 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. Now when Jesus
was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, there came unto
him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment,
and poured it on his head as he sat at meat. But when his
disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this
waste? For this ointment might have
been sold for much and given to the poor. When Jesus understood
it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? For she hath wrought
a good work upon me. For you have the poor always
with you, but me you have not always. For in that she hath
poured this ointment on my body, 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 it is. We're telling it right
now. Now let's read how Mark's account
words this. Turn with me to Mark 14. Mark chapter 14. Verse 1 says, After two days
was the feast of the Passover, and of unleavened bread, and
the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him
by craft and put him to death. But they said, Not on the feast
day, lest there be an uproar of the people. And being in Bethany,
in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, There came
a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard, very
precious, and she broke the box and poured it on his head. And
there were some that had indignation within themselves and said, why
was this waste of the ointment made? Think about that. Why was
this waste? of the ointment made. For it
might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and
have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.
And Jesus said, Let her alone, why trouble ye her? For she wrought
a good work on me. For you have the poor with you
always, and whensoever you will, you may do them good. But me
you have not always. She hath done what she could.
She has come aforehand 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. All right, now let's read what
John had to say about it. Turn with me to John chapter
12. John 12 verse 1 says, Then Jesus,
six days before the Passover, came to Bethany. Matthew and
Mark said this event was two days before the Passover, and
it was. John is pointing out that our
Lord came to Bethany four days before this to preach in the
temple all week. All right? Same timeline. 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. There
they made him a supper. They made the Lord a supper and
Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table
with him. then took Mary, Lazarus, Martha,
Mary. These three, whom the Lord loved,
were among the guests at Simon the leper's house. Martha, being
the selfless person that she was, probably told Simon, you
sit down at the table with the rest of the men, let me serve. So verse two, there they made
him a supper and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that
sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment
of spikenard. That tells us how much was in
that box. A pound. Do any of you ladies have essential
oils? You can get spikenard right now,
which they say is similar to lavender. But you use essential
oils, you put a drop in something, maybe two drops, three drops,
16 ounces a pound of this essential oil. 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. Now Matthew and Mark just told
us that this was a woman. John tells us it was Mary, of
whom many of the commentary writers believe that Mary, the sister
of Lazarus and Martha, they believe that she is Mary Magdalene, who
had seven devils cast out of her. who was privileged, the Lord
gave that great privilege of speaking to him first. And, you
know, reading and understanding some of these accounts causes
me to see why it could be her. I mean, she was, she wouldn't
leave that sepulcher. She kept running to that sepulcher
while everybody else was gone, not Mary. And the Lord gave her the privilege
of being the first one to speak to him after his resurrection. But whether they are the same
Mary or not, the Lord loved this Mary. The Lord loved her. 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. Matthew and Mark
both said she anointed his head. Right here it says she anointed
his feet. What that means is she anointed his head and his
feet. Either she poured that precious
ointment on his head and it ran down upon the beard, even Christ's
beard, and went down to the skirts of his garment all the way down
to his feet. Or she poured it on his head
and then she poured it on his feet. But when that oil got to
his feet, she began to wipe his feet with her hair. You talk about a privileged individual. Oh, how beautiful are the feet.
And in coming here, this is really what I want to point out to you.
The end of verse three says, and the house was filled with
the odor of the ointment. Oh, can you imagine the smell? Can you imagine? When she did that, a sweet smelling
savor filled that house. Now I want to get to the heart
of the message of this account. Our Lord said that Mary did a
good work. And she did. If the Lord said
she did, she did. And he said what she has done
is going to be told forever for a remembrance of her and a remembrance
of her wonderful work. And I'm going to tell us right
now exactly what she did. But let me first say that this
account was not given for the purpose of glorifying Mary. Like everybody thinks it did,
like it sounds like at face value it is. What Mary did tells us why this
account was given and who the glory belongs to in it. Right here in John 12, verse
4, 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 had the bag and
bear what was put therein. Then said Jesus, you missed it. You missed it. That's what he
said. You missed it. If this account
is about our good works, If this account is about our good works,
to teach us to do good works, you see what Mary did? If this
account is for the purpose of promoting good works, then here's
the question. Why wasn't that ointment sold
for 300 pence and given to the poor? That's a good work. Judas said, if she's so honored
by you, Where are her good works? He actually said, what she did
was a waste. She wasted it. The Lord said, Judas, you missed
it. She wrought a good work, but
you missed it. Now here's the heart of the message
of this account. Our Lord started this by telling
his disciples, I am going to be crucified. And I am going
to die. And they didn't believe him. But she did. They didn't believe
him. But she did, verse seven, then
said Jesus, let her alone against the day of my burying hath she
kept this. They denied his death. Not so
Lord. I'm going to go to the cross.
I'm going to be crucified. And three days later, I'm going
to, I'm going to rise again. No, not so Lord. They denied
his death. They ignored his death. They
fought against his death. Peter drew a sword. Nope. She cast her all on his death.
She cast her all on his death. She was the one who sat at his
feet and heard the word of truth, the gospel of her salvation.
A lot of times we envision Mary sitting at the Lord's feet and
Martha serving and working. And you know, Martha gets a bad
reputation for, you know, working, working, working. Well, Martha
was serving the Lord. Martha was making dinner and
serving her brethren and such on. And Mary's sitting there
doing nothing. You're not doing anything. Shouldn't
you be doing something? Can't you see Martha saying,
Mary, get in here. Can you only imagine what Mary
was hearing as she sat there? Can you imagine? She was hearing the word of truth,
the gospel of her salvation. Our Lord told her the same thing
He told those men. Those men didn't have any male
privilege or any male prestige. Well, I'll tell the men, but
not the women. No. Our Lord came to this earth with
one message, one declaration. He gave that glorious news declaration
to every single one of His sheep. It didn't matter if they were
Jew, Gentile, male, female, barbarian, Scythian, bond, or free. In Him, He said, they're all
the same. And I can just envision Mary sitting at His feet. Oh,
to be Mary. I can envision him saying, Mary,
honey, while everybody else is running around doing these things,
listen to me. It's not what you can do for
me. It's what I'm going to do for you. Mary, you're so sad. You're so
sad over all that sin you've committed. You feel so guilty
over how your life has gone. Well, listen to this. I'm going
to take every sin you have ever committed. And I'm going to lay it on myself. And then I'm going to go to a
cross. And I'm going to hang on that cross. And I'm going to be judged by
God Almighty for your sin. And God is going to judge your
sin so greatly and so completely in me, I'm going to die from
it. But in that death, I'm going
to put your sin away forever. And when I rise three days after
I die, your sin is going to be gone. And you will be a holy, pure,
accepted member of my and my Father and my Spirit's family,
the family of God forever. Martha's over there saying, Mary,
come here. No, no. Lord, please tell her
to come help me. No. I'm not going to do it. I'm not
taking her away from the gospel. Mary, I'm going to die for you.
Mary, I have loved you with an everlasting love. I have loved
you. I created the world. Before I made the world, I loved
you. I'm never going to stop loving
you. I'm going to prove that to you
by dying for you. I'm going to prove what I'm saying
to you by dying for you. You know what she was saying
when she did that? You're my all. You are my all. You are all. You deserve all. You will do all. You will accomplish
all. I believe everything you've said. I cast my all on you, Lord. I cast
my all on everything you just said to me. What shall we do that we might
work the works of God, the good work that is acceptable to God,
the good work that will be remembered by God? Our Lord said, it is
that you believe on the one whom the Father sent. It is that you
cast your all on the death work of Jesus Christ by faith. It's that you cast your all on
him by faith. You know, all of his disciples
believed after the fact. All of them did after the fact,
when it was by sight. After the fact, Thomas said,
okay, I see the scars. After he died and was buried,
many other women on that third day, Sunday morning, many other
women came and they brought spices and they brought ointments to
anoint the Lord's dead body. Mary anointed the body of his
death right then and there. She said, I believe. I believe. I believe his death will be the
sweet smelling savor to God that I need to redeem my soul. And our Lord said, that belief
is a good work. That faith is a good work wrought
in her, credited to her. And our Lord said, because of
that God wrought work, she is going to be remembered. Lord,
remember me. Don't we all cry, Lord, remember
me. That ointment is a picture of
Christ. He is the anointed. He is the
anointer. He is the value. He is the price. He redeemed with his precious
blood, the costly, priceless blood. You know, that blood was
the most valuable thing that heaven possessed. The life was
in that blood. He is the sweet saver that fills
God's house. If this house is filled with
a sweet saver today, Christ is that sweet saver. Look at Ephesians
five with me. Ephesians 5 verse 1 says, Be ye therefore followers of
God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also hath loved
us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet smelling savor. Oh, the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ, when our Lord bowed his head and gave up the ghost
on the cross of Calvary, all of heaven went. So sweet, so satisfying. That's what the sacrifice of
Jesus Christ is, a sweet smelling savor to God, the Father, to
God, the Spirit, to all of God's people, to the law, to justice,
to holiness. That's what the sacrifice of
Christ is for the sin of his people, a sweet smelling savor.
And because of Christ's sacrifice. As he is a sweet smelling savor. So are His people. In Him, so
are His people. Look with me at 2 Corinthians
2. 2 Corinthians 2 verse 14, it says,
Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph
in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by
us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savor
of Christ, of Christ. in them that are saved, and in
them that perish. To the one we are the saver of
death unto death, and to the other the saver of life unto
life. And who is sufficient for these
things? For we are not as many which corrupt the Word, corrupt
the Word of God. But as of sincerity, but as of
God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ. That word in, if you have a center
margin, means of. We speak of Christ. Speak we of Christ. That's who
we speak of. That's who we preach. That's
who we believe. That means we believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. We cast our all on Christ. Everything. All. You mean you're going to put
all your eggs in one basket? All of them. You mean you're
going to pour all 16 ounces of that oil on Him? All of it. All of it. We've been made to do that. We've
been made willing to do that. He poured all of His mercy and
all of His grace on us. All of it. He poured all of it. And we've been privileged to
pour all of our faith, all the faith that has been given to
us. All the glory, all the honor, all of it is on Him. All on the
death He accomplished for us. When Mary poured all 16 ounces
of that costly, precious anointing oil on Him, what she was saying
was, to Him be all the glory. To Him be all the glory. I'm
telling you, that's a good work. That's not of us. That's the
gift of God to a sinner. But that's a good work. By the
grace of God, by the faith of Christ, Mary believed God and
it was counted unto her for righteousness. And what God brought in her,
the Lord said, that's a good work. My prayer is that he will
work that work in us. I pray he will work that work
in us. Lord, please create that work
in every one of us. That work that says to him be
all the glory forever. Amen. All right.