It's so good to see everyone
this morning on this beautiful day. It's such a privilege to
be here. Every time I come, I remember
coming when y'all first got started. I asked Tony and he told me it
was around 2006 when you met over in the Renaissance Center.
It's amazing how time flies. I'm thankful the Lord's allowed
us to be here this morning. So if you would open your Bible
to Mark chapter 14, Mark chapter 14. Be looking at verses one through
11. And after two days was the feast
of the Passover and of unleavened bread. And the chief priest and
the scribe sought how they may take our Lord by craft and put
him to death. But they said not on the feast
day, they were too self-righteous for that, lest there should be
an uproar of the people. And being in Bethany in the house
of Simon the leper, as he set it meet, there came a woman having
an alabaster box of ointment, a spike nod, very precious. And
she break the box and she poured it upon his head. And there were
some that had indignation within themselves and said, why was
this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for
more than 300 pence and had been given to the poor, and they murmured
against her. And Jesus said, let her alone.
Why trouble ye her? She hath brought 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. And
right here in verse eight will be the title of the message,
She hath done what she could. She hath done what she could,
she has come to a forehand to anoint my body to the burying.
Verily I say unto you that 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 Judas Iscariot, one
of the 12, went unto the chief priest to betray him unto them,
and when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give
him money, and he sought how he might conveniently betray
him. This account, or similar accounts,
is mentioned in all four Gospels. You can find it in Matthew 26
verses one through 16. You can find it in Luke chapter
seven verses 36 through 50. Then in John chapter 12 verses
one through eight. In the three first gospel of
Matthew, Mark, and Luke, her name's not mentioned. In John's
gospel, it speaks as, because it was done in Bethany, and it
was Lazarus and Martha's sister. But you know, I just said that
it really doesn't matter her name. Because she's not the important
one, he's the important one. It's what she did for him and
for him. Here we see in this story the
setting here that this is only two days before our Lord will
be made an offering for sin, the sacrifice, the Passover.
And these two days before, here we read that the chief priests,
they wanted to take our Lord by craft. What that means is
they didn't want to do it openly. They didn't want to do it publicly.
They wanted to take him out in some back alley and kill him,
and that wasn't God's purpose. God was purposed for him to be
crucified outside Jerusalem for everyone to see. That way it
was not done in some corner. But what I want you to see is
you imagine all this is going on in their mind. They hate the
son of God. They want to kill him, they want
to destroy him, they want to wipe his name from everybody's
memory, and that's what's going on. But before they lay hands
on him, This woman, in this story, she's gonna lay hands of love
upon her Lord. She's gonna come and worship
Him. Where everybody else wants to destroy Him, she wants to
worship Him, and she comes and she does that. These men's hearts, they were
filled with malice and hatred. If men hate you, it's because
they hate our Lord. He said, in this world, you'll
have tribulation, but be of good cheer. come the world. So we see what's going on. And
while, here he says he's at Simon the leper's house. And while
he's there, she knows where he's at. And she's gonna go to where
he's at that day. So here we have this act. This
woman, you know who she was? I can tell you who she was, she
was a sinner. She was a sinner and needed mercy. And she'd been
showed mercy. Our Lord had showed this woman
grace. You know, many times it said the publicans and sinners,
the common people heard him gladly. And they came to him. Some said,
you know, this may be a man, Mary Magdalene. You know, she
was a very wicked woman. Here's what our Lord said about
her in Luke 8 too. And a certain woman, which had
been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene,
out of whom went seven devils. A very corrupt woman had received
grace. And I can tell you, grace makes
a person gracious. The grace of God does something
for a person. It changes them. It regenerates
them. It gives them life. And you that
once hated him, we don't love him like we should, but you do
love him. You wish you loved him more, and one day we will,
but you do love him. You do love him. So here we see
this woman. She had received mercy. And what
she does, she gets this, it's called here an alabaster box.
Now they say an alabaster box was a stone resembling white
marble. It was used to, where they would
put something that was very precious in, whether it was ointment or
perfumes or these oils, and then they would seal it up so it couldn't
escape, because if it would escape, it would spoil. In this alabaster
box, there was this ointment called spikenard. And if you
like plants or mess with plants, you wouldn't have paid any attention
to the spotnog plant. It was just a little scrubby
plant. But from that plant would come
this perfume that was priceless. He's a root out of dry ground.
When you see him, there's no beauty that you would desire. All this pictures him. He's the
box and he's the ointment in the box. That's the treasure. He's the treasure hidden in the
field. He's the pearl of great price. It's all about him. In Song of Solomon, that great
love story of Solomon and the Shulamite and a picture of Christ
and his church, it says in Song of Solomon 1 verse 12, while
the king sitteth at his table, My spotnard sendeth forth the
smell thereof. So what is that a picture of?
If there's anything good in you, it's what God put in you. It's
the grace of God. It is Christ in you, the hope
of God. And this is what worship is.
It's when God enables us to sit at the king's table. And every
time we come hear the gospel, we're sitting at the king's table. He's brought us to his table,
and when he sits at his table, When we worship, God enables
our hearts. We can't explain it, that they
just fill with joy. And it's like Sandy's told me
many times, she says it's like when sometimes you can sit and
listen to a message, and it's like there's nobody else in the
room. It's just between you and him. That's what she's saying.
My spot in art sendeth forth the what? The smell. And there's
no other, you cannot duplicate grace. You can't counter, now
they try to counterfeit grace and it becomes disgrace. It becomes
works. But grace has a distinct fragrance
about it. It's a fragrance of life, of
life. This ointment was very costly
because it was very precious. And it's very rare. Some of you
that I've never met before, but I know some of you've come from
far off, from different places, and you've come by a lot of so-called
churches, and there's no gospel there. What we have here this
morning, it's very rare, and it's very precious. Very rare
and very precious. She comes in, and you imagine
it's this room probably full, they're there to eat at Simon
the leper's house, and she comes in with this item, we don't know
how big it was, an alabaster box. And she comes in. She's probably unnoticed. She
may have been the only woman there. And she comes in, and
she takes it, and she's gotta break it. And she breaks it. And in John's gospel, it's said
that when she broke it and poured it on his head, it filled the
whole room with that ointment. You imagine something, when it
fills something, that means it penetrates every crevice. It
goes out. I can see everybody sitting around
talking and maybe, you know how it is when we sit around, we
eat in our minds and we're just talking to somebody probably loud and
I can see everybody get real quiet and say, what is that smell? I've never smelled that before. That's like it is when you hear
the gospel. It doesn't matter whether it's when you hear it
the first time or the hundredth time. That gets your, you know
what it does? It gets your attention. It's
distinct. And it's him, he's the one that's
distinct. He's the Rose of Sharon, he's
the fairest among 10,000. And when she broke this box,
this sweet fragrance filled the room. And you know, that's how
it is when Christ meets with his people. It's like he opens the box, doesn't
he? And you smell and you hear the
gospel. Every time you hear it, it never
gets old. It never gets old. Precious. Every time the gospels preach,
it's like opening up the alabaster box and the sweet, sweet fragrance
of Christ just fills the house. Why did she do this? Why would
this woman do this? If you turn with me to Luke's
account, chapter seven, I'll show you. Luke chapter 7, beginning in verse 36. And when the Pharisees desired
him that he would come and eat with him, and he went into the
Pharisees' house and sat down to meet, and behold, a certain
woman in the city, which was a sinner, which knew that Jesus
was at meet in the Pharisees' house, brought an alabaster box
of ointment, and she stood at his feet behind him weeping,
and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with
the hair of her head. And she kissed his feet and anointed
them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee which had
bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if
he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of
woman this is that toucheth him, for she's a sinner. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, Simon, I have some what to say unto
thee. And he said, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor
which had two debtors, the one owed 500 pence and the other
50. And when they had nothing to pay, They couldn't pay the
debt and they had nothing to pay. He frankly forgave both
of them the debt. He said, Simon, tell me therefore,
which of them will love him most? Which one of those two men will
love him most? And Simon answered and said, well, I suppose, I
suppose, he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, thou
hast rightly judged. And he turned to the woman, But
he said to Simon, I can see him looking at her, but he's speaking
to this man over there. He looked at the woman and he
said unto Simon, Simon, you see this woman? He said, you see
this woman? You see this woman that you call
a sinner? He said, I entered into thy house that you didn't
give me any water for my feet. And she washed my feet with tears
and wiped them with the hair of her head. Thou gave me no
kiss, but this woman since I came in hath not ceased to kiss my
feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint, but this woman hath
anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, her
sins which are many are forgiven, for she loveth much, but to whom
little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto
her, thy sins be forgiven thee. Why did she do this? She'd been
forgiven a much. That's it, he has been forgiven of much. He
loveth much. That's what he said. You know
why she did it? Because she loved him. No question about it. She displayed
her love for him. For him, she's not after attention. We're gonna see that. So that's
why she did this. Secondly, she wanted to honor
her Lord. You say, well how do I honor the Lord? Well first
and foremost, I think it's by faith. by believing Him, by trusting
Him. He was her Savior, He was her
Lord, and she won't, her whole mind is to honor Him, to exalt
Him, and bring all the glory to His name. That's when she
did it. And she brought the most costly
thing she had. Do you know how we find out what
this is worth? You know who tells us what it's
worth? a man named Judas. Isn't that kindly ironic? Read
John's Gospel, chapter 12. He said, this might have been
taken, this might have been taken and sold for more than 300 pence. A pence was an average person's
day's wages. So if he made minimum wage or
whatever it was, and I added this up, if you made $9 an hour
times eight hours, that's $72 a day. For 300 days, that would
be $21,600 in our day's wages. So basically what you would make
in a year is what this would cost. How did she get the money
to buy this? Most believe she earned it by
laying on her back. But some way she got this. I
don't know how long she had it, but you know, do you imagine
something? This is precious. I worked a
long, I saved a long time to buy this. And I thought one day
I was gonna put it on myself. Maybe there'll be a special occasion
and I can wear this on myself. You know what happens when women
wear perfume? Most of the time when they put it on, now they
smell it, but then they'll say, would you smell this? In about
30 minutes, they're so used to it, they don't smell it, but
everybody else in the room does. And it draws attention to who that's
wearing it, doesn't it? Here she comes. This is so costly. And she brings it to him. It
was too costly for her to wear herself. Because she said, it's
not about drawing attention to me. Worship's not about drawing
attention to you. It's about giving him all the
attention. And when she comes in, you think
about this. Here she comes. Judas knows what this is worth.
And now it says that when he said it, everybody else knows.
All they're thinking about is the worth of the perfume, not
the one for whom it's anointed. And she pours it on his head.
Now all the attention, now they're looking at her. That's how the
Satan wants to do it. Get your eyes off Christ, off
on this right here. You be looking over here. That
doesn't matter. She poured it on him. And you know what? It's
all on him. Now all the attention is upon
the one wearing it. You see the picture? This woman had this crucible
too costly for her to use for herself, but not too costly for
him. She took it and broke it and
poured it on him as a testimony of her deep affection. She says,
I love him. Basically, she's saying, I love
him more than I love myself. I can see her when she bought
it and said, this is for me. This is for mine. This is mine.
You ain't getting it. This is mine. And she says, I
can see her in her mind and say, what can I do for him? I can
see her thinking about it. What can I do for him? You ever
thought about that? What could you do for him? What
could I do to honor him? And she says, I know what I could
do. That box of ointment back there, I think I'll give it to
him. I think I'll pour it on him.
And that's what she did. That's what she did. Why'd she
do it? I'll tell you why. Because he
first loved her. Most men would have looked down
on her if she's the same one in Luke's account. You know,
Simon, he looked down. He knows she's an old sinner. If he was
a prophet, he'd know who she was. He knew exactly who she
was. Christ came to save sinners. And he saved her. How do you
know he saved her? Well, he'd give her a new heart. He'd give
her a heart. She loved him. Who was the first one, if this
was Mary Magdalene, who was the first one at the tomb that morning?
Anybody remember? Mary Magdalene. Remember, she thought he was
the gardener, and he said, Mary, she said, oh, you're my master.
He loved her and now she loves him. She knew what she was doing.
This was no spur of the moment thing. It says in John's account,
here's what our Lord said. He said, you leave her alone.
They wanted to criticize her. He said, you leave her alone. Against the day of my burial
has she kept this. She may have understood more
than the disciples did. Our Lord, I was gonna go back
and look, and I didn't get a chance. Many times, our Lord told him,
he said, I'm going to Jerusalem, I'm gonna be rejected of the
Gentiles, and I'm gonna be crucified, they're gonna bury me, and the
third day, I'm gonna rise again. It's like the disciples never
did get it. One day, our Lord's telling the disciples, and the
next thing out of their mouth is, who's gonna be the greatest
in the kingdom? Like, that matters. But she must
have understood something. She would not get the privilege
or the opportunity to anoint him for his burial, but she did
it right now. And you think about this, this
is only two days. And then you begin reading the rest of the
chapter, it talks about him, you know, he goes to Gethsemane,
and then they come to arrest him, and he's up all night, and
the chief priest, and then they sent the pilot. He probably still
smells like Spacknard. Everywhere he goes. And that's the way it is. Wherever
he's at, you smell that fragrance. And she said, she's come to anoint
my body for the burial. She knew where he would be found.
She knew what she had to do. And she did it. She knew where he was at. She
knew what she had to do, what she had planned, and she did
it. Deliberately. She did it on purpose. Now, you know, she's human. What
would have entered your mind? What would have been on your
mind the whole way there? Especially if, you know, I can
see it being all men. I can see him not inviting any
women to their little meal. Especially this sinner, and she
walks in, and she's there to honor him. I can see the thought coming
to her mind, but what will they think? One of the hardest things for
us to do, especially in front of people, is not worry what
they think. Whether it's preaching, or reading scripture, or playing
the piano, or whatever it is, isn't it? Those things enter
your mind, and you have to deal with those things. But she said,
basically she had to say, it doesn't really matter what they
think. And it doesn't matter what they think, because you
know what, this is between you and him. It's between you, and
anyway, is that not worship? It's between you and him. It
doesn't matter what anybody else thinks. It doesn't matter. She had eyes for one that day,
and that was him. She was not there to obtain the
praise of men. She didn't care what they said
or what they thought. It just didn't matter. She's not there
to draw attention to herself. She was not there to secure the
praise of men. What she did was of great sacrifice,
and it was a work of faith. We're gonna say they did not
understand. Judas said, what a waste. And the rest of the disciples
chimed right in. You imagine standing there and
you think, and nobody understands. Nobody, they're just, they're
finding fault with it. They're saying it's a waste. A waste? You know why they said that?
You know why? It's amazing. If you notice there in that text,
we see this picture. of great love and devotion for
her Lord, but also we see such great hatred. This woman's love
and affection for Christ drew out the hatred of Judas. It's
like she couldn't stand it. It's like, I can't deal with
that. You know what he does? He goes out and sells him for
30 pieces of silver, the price of a common sleigh. True salvation makes religious
people uncomfortable because salvation, grace, gives all the
attention to Christ and they want to divert, here's what it
is, they want to divert your attention away and want you looking
over here. And she was there to honor him.
True devotion to Christ always brings out the hatred of those
who don't know him. Judas said what this woman did
was a waste. Most people would look at you
and what you do, they'd say that's a waste. What a waste. Love is never wasted. Generosity is never wasted. Sacrifice
is never wasted. Love, listen, love cannot give
him too much. Here's what Paul said in the
book of Philippians. He was writing to those people
and he was encouraging them because they had sent him a gift. He
said, but I have all and abound, I'm full, having received of
Aphrodite the things which were sent for you, an odor of a sweet
smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. He said, that often you sent
to me? It was a blessing. It was an
offering of a sweet smell. Devotion and commitment to Christ
is seldom ever understood by men. Can you imagine how shocked
this woman was when she heard what these people said, that
it was a waste? But you notice what our Lord said? He said,
you leave her alone. You leave her alone. Our Lord
didn't think it was a waste. He said, let her alone. He saw
this woman, he saw what she did, and let me tell you, he saw why
she did it. I heard Henry say one time, why we do something
is probably as important as what we do. Our hearts are so deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. I would love one time in my life
to do what this woman did. Wouldn't you? One time. The only place I ever read in
the scriptures, the only place I ever say is right here where
our Lord called and said anything that anybody ever did for him,
you know what he called it? A good work, didn't he? She hath wrought a good work
on me. She hath done what she could. I can't do what you can. You
can't do what I can. God made you individual. She
said that she did what she could. You think if this was Mary and
this was Martha and Lazarus's sister. Martha, you always see
her serving. Lazarus is sitting there at the
table. But what's Mary doing? You always see her at his feet. She done what she could. He said, well, what can I do?
I can't do nothing. Let me tell you a little story.
The church I used to pastor in North Wilkes-Barre, it was about
this size building, and we had about this much grass to mow.
We had very little. And there was an older gentleman
in our church. He had emphysema. He'd smoked for years, and he
was disabled and couldn't work. But he wanted to go mow that
grass. His name was Jay, Jay Griffin. I said, Jay, I don't
want you mowing that grass. He said, no, I don't want to
mow that grass. So what I'd do, I'd find out when he was going
to go down there, and I'd beat him down there and mow the grass. And he came
in one Sunday, and he sat down. He had tears in his eyes. He
said, preacher, I can't do much. He said, I can't do much. He
said, don't take it from me. He did. You think it on or not, Lord?
I think it did. He wouldn't do it for anybody to see. Most people
never knew that he did it. But I know one that knew, and
that's something that matters. It's like the woman you think
about, the woman with the two eyes. Who noticed it that day? Who
pointed it out? He did, didn't he? He did. She had eyes only for him. She
had his approval. And that's enough. Those who honor him, he will
honor. Let me read you this in 1 Corinthians 13, verse one. Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sound
and brass and tinkling cymbals. And though I have the gift of
prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though
I have all faith so that I can remove mountains and have not
charity, I'm nothing. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor. That's what Judas said. What a waste, we
could have taken that. And this sounds good. We could
have taken that and sold it and got the 300 pence and we could
have give it to the poor. He said here, if you bestow all
your goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to
be burned, and have not charity, have not Christ, it profiteth
me nothing." She did what she could. She did
what she had the opportunity to do. She may never have another
opportunity. I think she knew that. You know,
we are the worst procrastinators that ever lived, don't we? She
said, I'm doing it and I'm gonna do it right now. And she did
it. She did what she had the God-given
ability to do. Who gave that to her? God gave
it to her. He gave her what she had. Who
gave you your job? Our God did. Who gave you the
ability to keep that job? God does. Who gave you the job? You worked for Him. And who could
take it away? He could. It's all His. What can you do? What can I do
to honor Him? Ecclesiastes 9.10 says, whatsoever
thy hand findeth to do. If he's finding to do, he was
looking for something to do. Right? Whatsoever thy hand findeth
to do, do it with all thy might. For there is no work, there is
no device, there's no knowledge, no wisdom in the grave, whether
thou goest. What you have the God-given ability
to do, God give you the ability to do that and honor him for
his glory. And our Lord honored her. He
said, wherever the gospel is preached, and we're standing
here on March the 17th, 2019. preaching from this passage.
And he said, wherever the gospel's preached, 2,000 years later, this is gonna be told for a memorial
of her. She wasn't seeking no glory. He loved her. He gave himself
for her. What are we to take some lessons
from this story? Lord, help us to do what we can
while we can. Our Lord said, I must work the
works of him that sent me while it's day. The night comes when
no man can work. Let us honor our Lord in everything
we do. The world will not understand
those who honor our God, who want to give him all the honor
and all the glory. and they will always say it's
a waste. And may God enable us not to
be so occupied with the thoughts of men. Help us to not think
of their indignation or their misunderstandings, but to pour
out our alabaster box of ointment upon the person of our Lord. God enable us to break the alabaster
box. And so the world can smell that
fragrance of Christ. Amen.