Good evening. If you will, let's
turn to John 12. Look at the Lord's call to repent
there in Hosea 14. I wish I had to follow that today
when I was studying. It goes well with what we'll
see here in a little bit. John 12. We're going to turn
a little bit tonight, but that'll be good. Keep us engaged, I hope, are
some things that I won't apologize for, but it might be kind of
hard to hear. Needs heard. Needs to be heard, especially
as young people. Somebody's got to tell them.
Send me, I'll do it. We'll turn a little bit, but
hopefully the Lord will be with us and show us some things. Just
a reminder this weekend, have one message on Sunday at 10.30. Services start at 10.30. We'll
meet here at the end and we'll have a meal following and bring
what you like. And I'm sure there'll be plenty. John 12, Tyler's message
is a sheep and a goat. A sheep and a goat. We see this
so clearly here and what the end state is of both. Of a sheep
and of a goat. Everybody wants to be the goat
in our generation. And people say, oh, you ain't
nothing but sheep. Isn't that fitting? Isn't that
just anti-Christ? It's so. I'm going to be the
greatest of all time. I'm the goat. So says you. Oh,
what sad things. Here in this we'll see the sheep,
a sheep, one sheep of the Lord's. There's commitment and contentment. There is commitment, not the
word of commitment. There is the verb of commitment. There's committal and contentment. You'd be happy. Happy is the
man that do these things. Is he lying? He wasn't lying,
was he? He's happy. She's happy. And there's a goat here. Contentious. Button. The Lord wasn't joking on that
either, was he? I say things, people go, but, but. I'm just telling you what he
said. There's contention and division. There's contention
and division. The sheep, there's commitment,
contentment with a goat, there's contention and division. Let's
read these first eight verses here. Then Jesus, six days before
the Passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus, which had been
dead, whom he had raised from the dead, 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, 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. When someone's worshiped the
Lord, and they know him, at great cost. You can smell it in that
house. That odor, it permeates, not
religion, not quoting much about scripture and drowning people
in religion. The odor of forgiveness and love
and contentment and happiness, it fills that house. That's the
theme. That's what that house smells
like. Verse four, then saith one of
his disciples, a chosen disciple, one of the 12. This ain't on
accident. This one didn't slip through
the gates, okay? Well, we didn't know that, wasn't
a sheep. That didn't happen, this was prophesied. Then saith
one of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray
him, why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given
to the poor? All the commentaries pretty agree
that this would have been a year's wage for. How much is it? Well,
however much you make in a year, it's that much. That ought to
put it in perspective to us, didn't it? How much you make
at your given occupation, that's how much this was spiking, very
costly. And he says, why? But what are
you doing? Why? It was not this one, but
sold for 300 pence and given to the poor. We could have done
something better with it than glorify God with it. This, he said, I could have stopped
there, I'll get to it, I don't want to get ahead of my notes.
That's the first point that comes to mind. Why is he getting all
the glory? You're acting like that's nothing.
You're acting like 300 pence. That just sounds like, we hear
English, don't we? Pennies. He ain't worth 300 pennies. To most people, he's not. To
most, most, most, to most people, he's not. We could have gave
that to the poor. I know something better we could
have done for that. And this he said, not that he cared for
the poor. Here's the second, the true point of it, because
the Lord tells us. This he said, not that he cared for the poor,
but because he was a thief. He was a thief. Is that what
it says? It says he was a thief and he had the bag. He was the
treasure and bear what was put there in. He had it all. carried
it. It was his possession. Possession's
not in the law, isn't it? We'll see that in a minute, too.
Then said Jesus, let her alone. You sheep. You ain't got no defenses. Your
defender comes and says to your enemy, leave her alone. Leave her alone. She's mine.
Don't you touch her. Don't you talk to her. Don't
you say nothing bad about what she's done. She's mine. Leave
her alone. Leave her alone. Leave her alone. You get that?
Touch not mine anointed. Do my prophets no harm. That
means his prophets anointed might be two separate people. Might
want to be careful. That's the Lord's property. He said leave
her alone. Shut your mouth. That's what
he said. Let her alone against the day of my burying hath she
kept this. Six days left. That's all it
was. Wasn't it six days of the Passover? He, our Lord came in
human flesh and he's going to be on this earth six more days. What if you had six days left
to live? Did you get an oil change in
your truck? Who cares? Did that spot guard cost a whole
year's salary? What kind of interest rate do
I have on my mortgage? Who cares? She had her savior with her in
human flesh for six more days. And she wasn't going to be there
when they buried him, so she went ahead and anointed him anyway.
Nicodemus was going to come then. We'll get to that months down
the road. But he said, let her alone against the day of my burying. That's what was on her mind as
she kept this. For the poor, those poor you
say you care about, he's talking about the financially poor. Lots
of spiritually poor. Judas was. The Lord says, for
the poor always you have with you, but me, you have not always. That's a word to the believer,
too. We'll have our brethren with us always. We'll always
be a brother or sister with us. If we're his, he'll gather us
together. He'll fitly frame us together if he's telling the
truth, and I think he was, so I tell you that. We'll always
have this. Boy, it's a special time if the
Lord's with us. He's with us always, but boy, if he meets
with us. here on a Wednesday night in Hamoul, California.
Wouldn't that be precious? I don't know, Honda's got a new
SUV coming out. The foosball game's on. Leave us alone, we'll go hear
about the Lord anyway. Leave her alone. The poor you
always have with you, but me, you have not always. That's what
he's telling Judas. Mary was committed to Christ
only. And with that commitment, when
she committed against that day, because he first committed to
her, when she saw that, what he's done for her, she was in
lock, stock, and barrel. That's what we looked at last
week. And there was contentment. She's happy. She didn't care
what Judas was saying. She said, the Lord was right
there. Well, she cares. She don't care.
Turn over Mark chapter 5. Mark chapter 5, this made me
think of. Another man that the Lord worked in. And this same
thing happened to Mary. It wasn't no different. Nothing's
happened different between me and you. Here in Mark 5 verse
1. And they came over into the other
side of the sea and into the country, the Gardeens. And when
he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out
of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit who had his dwelling among
the tombs. He was living among dead folks.
Is that you? And no man could bind him. No,
not with chains. You ain't gonna stop me from
doing what I want to do. Because that he had been often bound
with fetters and chains and handcuffs and chains. And the chains had
been plucked asunder by him and the fetters broke into pieces.
Neither could any man tame him. Nobody talked sense in this fellow.
And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the
tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones. But when he saw
Jesus so far off, he ran and worshipped him. Every knee, is that utmost? Every knee, and cried with a
loud voice and said, what have I to do with thee, Jesus? Thou
son of the most high God, I adjourn thee by God, that thou torment
me not. Who was speaking? An unclean
spirit was speaking. Fell down and worshipped him.
What did a demon do? Worshipped him. Why? That knows
he's God. He has to. What did Satan do? He reported like a private to
a general to the Lord. He showed up, Lord asked a question.
He wasn't asking a question. Lord was running a show. He wasn't
running a show. He was bound. That's his devil. That's his
dog. And he said, well, I can't do
nothing unless you let me. Verse eight, for he said unto
him, come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked
him, what is thy name? And he answered and said, my
name is Legion, for we are many. Have you ever acted like you
was worshiping God before and you were just full of nothing
but a whole bunch of unclean spirits? Would you play in religion? And he besought him much that
he would not send them away out of the country, that we still
got work to do here. Now there was there nine of the
mountains, a great herd of swine feeding, and the devils besought
him saying, send us under the swine that we may enter them.
And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. He said, go. And the unclean
spirit went out and entered into the swine, and the herd ran violently
down a steep place into the sea. They were about 2,000. and they were choked in the sea,
they were drowned. You ever had a couple of unclean spirits?
The Lord came to this earth to save sinners. Sinners, I'm chief,
I got more than 2,000 running through me. And they that fled the swine
fled, and told it in the city, and in the country, and they
went out to see what was done, and they come to Jesus to see
him that was possessed, and see him that was possessed with the
devil, that had the legion, And he was sitting and clothed in
his right mind. Where was Mary? She was sitting,
seating at his feet, clothed. He was naked, wasn't he? Well,
did the Lord have a suitcase with him? He rode him in righteousness. If he rode him in righteousness,
he can scrounge up some clothes, I'm sure. Clothed, sitting, in
his right mind. Not in that crazy mind that was
worshiping some man, fella named Jesus. This is almighty God in
front of him. He was just sitting down. Y'all
want a hot dog? Believers can eat hot dogs. Believers can be
vegan too. It's okay. He's just sitting there at the
campfire waiting on them. And they were afraid. Oh, they're
scared to death. And they that saw it told them
how he befell to him that was possessed of the devil and concerning
the swine. And they began to pray him. Oh,
they prayed to God, didn't they? They began to pray to him to
depart out of their coasts. What rebellion? What stupid thinking? That's us by nature. Get away
from, there's the one, this man can heal the sick and raise the
dead. That's just the physical stuff.
Good common sense ought to think let's keep him near. They said get away from us. Get
away from us. Verse 18, when he was coming
to the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed
him that he might be with him. Lord, I'm gonna be I'm gonna
go wherever you go. A house ain't worth nothing.
A family ain't worth nothing. Forsake my mother and father
and my wife and my children, and who cares? I know you, you
are eternal life. I'm gonna be where you're gonna
be. Take a little bit of work in
that, man. That's a sheep. See the difference? Howbeit Jesus
suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends,
and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee,
and how he had compassion on thee." Compassion. How could
he have compassion? I was in a sore state of affairs
and I didn't deserve it. I was full of 2,000 demons is
what I was. But God, who's rich in mercy,
can't have compassion on me. Cast him out of me. Gave me a
robe of righteousness and a life and a heart. I desire to be with
him. Verse 20, and he departed, he
obeyed. If there's true faith, there's obedience. Go hand in
hand with it. North, south. He departed and began to publish
in the capitalists how great things Jesus had done for him. And all men did marvel. I bet
they did. People marvel in this county. I tell them what Jesus
done for me, what the Lord Jesus Christ does for his people. Not
what I did for him. People say, well, you served
the Lord. Oh, man, that must be great. You've done so much
for God. I ain't done nothing for him.
Nothing. I ain't done nothing. Tell you
what he's done for me, though. That's something. There's one
thing needful. He's that one thing. We have
needs in this world, too, don't we? The Lord gives us clothes. We put them on. The Lord gives
us food and we scoop it to our mouth, don't we? He gives us
air and lungs and a heart that breathes and we go, and we breathe
his air, don't we? We have to pay the lot bills.
We have to keep food in the fridge. We have to render unto Caesar
that which is Caesar's. Tax time's coming. Don't cheat
on your taxes. Lord covered that, didn't he?
That's Caesar. Give to Caesar what's Caesar's.
It ain't nothing. Caesar's just holding the Lord's money, isn't
he? Mary worked hard. She worked real hard. Because
it said in our text, it was very costly, wasn't it? That's Spocknard. She went out for a whole year
and worked and took everything she earned, saved up, got that
Spocknard, and just poured it on his feet, every last drop
of it. Lord, you were worthy. This ain't nothing but old. Whoop-de-doo. You were everything. It's good
to work. Did you know that? Turn over
to 2 Thessalonians 3. 2 Thessalonians 3. Paul was writing at that church
of Thessalonica. They had been there before, visited
with them, and he was just reminding them of everything he said before.
2 Thessalonians 3, verse 6. Now we command you, brethren,
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. that ye withdraw yourselves
from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the
tradition which he received of us." Paul got up and preached
and said, this here is just plain, okay? And people said, I'm doing
the exact opposite of everything that comes out of his mouth.
If he says wear blue, I'm wearing red. If he says turn left, I'm
turning right. He said, be careful, just distance
yourself from them. Distance yourself, that's strong,
isn't it? Our Lord said that, let them alone. Oh, what a frightening
thing that is. For you yourselves know how you
ought to follow us, for we behave not ourselves disorderly among
you. We weren't there acting a fool in front of you. Neither
did we eat any man's bread for nothing, but wrought it with
labor and travail, night and day, night and day, that we might
not be chargeable to any of you. So you didn't hold nothing over
our heads. You didn't think we was out for profit. We're gonna
see all this building. I'm laying a foundation here. Night and
day. All night long. We studied all
day long. We made tents, we worked. And then to they work to provide
a message. Didn't they? They labored for
a message. They studied for a message. To have to give those people.
And if somebody gave them bread, I'll tell you what, they earned
it. Some travail at night. Everybody else was sleeping tight
in their beds and they was dreaming about it. They labored night and day
that we might not be chargeable to any of you, not because we
have not power. We can just say, you're going
to give us enough to eat because we're preaching to you, but to
make ourselves an example unto you to follow us. And what good is an example if
nobody follows it? One or two will follow, won't
they? For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that
if any would not work, neither should he eat. if they want work. It doesn't say if they can't
work. There's a whole lot of people that can't work. In the body,
what we call a given occupation, they physically can't do it.
I'll tell you what, they work. They pray. Sheep pray. They listen. They cry out to God, don't they?
They cry with their brethren. They rejoice with their brethren.
That's a lot of work. A lot of work to do those things,
isn't it? But those that would not work, don't feed them. Don't
feed them. That's just plain. If they won't
work, don't feed them. If you don't work in my house,
you forward, I ain't gonna feed you. Forward movement or no more
beans and rice. That's just right. Now them that
are such, we command and extort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that
with quietness they work and eat their own bread. And eat
their own bread. I'm sorry, verse 11. For we hear
that they are some which not walk among you disorderly, working
not at all. What happens to those but our
busy bodies? They just sit around and talk about it. I don't want
to talk about doing stuff, I want to do stuff. I don't want to talk
about going fishing, I want to get on a boat and go fishing.
I want to do this, get after it. Get after it. Mary got after
it. She didn't talk about getting
a thing of Spacknard to anoint our Lord's feet, did she? No,
she went and worked and got a thing of Spacknard. That's so. We work until we die. We work
until we die. We do the works of our father.
That's what our Lord said. He said, if you don't do the
works of my father, you ain't got no life in you. But his children, they
do righteousness. They believe Christ. They love
brethren. Love's a verb. They do it. until they die. They don't stop
doing it. Like I said, I'm laying a foundation.
They don't retire from the gospel. Well, that's over now. That was
a season. They do it till they die. One more. I saw this. Turn to Genesis 3. Well, we set
funerals. Everybody knows that. If I stop
somebody, it's five people on the street, you think four of
them can tell me, well, you set funerals. Well, from dust to dust, right?
From dust to dust. That's the second half of the
sentence. Look here in Genesis 3, verse 19. The Lord told Adam,
Genesis 3, 19, "'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
till thou return unto the dust of the ground.'" You're gonna
sweat. to have bread till you die. What's one of the most popular
things in our culture right now? Fire. Financial independence,
retire early. That's our goal, isn't it? Quit
working. Work so hard you ain't gonna
work no more. Lord said you're gonna work till you return to
the ground. That's a continuation of thought
there, isn't it? Semicolon, for out of that was all taken. For
dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return. We are dust,
ain't we? And a gospel that cost you nothing
ain't worth nothing. There's gonna be sacrifice. There's
gonna be sacrifice. What our brother just read, there's gonna be a sacrifice
from idols. That might make a little bead
of sweat roll. I've been doing that my whole life. There's gonna
be a little sacrifice of our righteousness. Well, now, I did
good things when I was little. Ooh, there's another little bead
of sweat starting. You're going to eat Christ. You're going to
sweat out all them demons that was in us, ain't we? Until we
die. And you ain't going to get over
it. People think they can just get so holy that they're above
things. No, we're not. We're dust. We're
dust. Christ is all. We're dust. Abraham
said, I'm dust. Jacob says, I'm dust. What'd
David say? He's dust. Isaiah said, oh, I'm
nothing. Look at me. I'm like a molecule
of dust. Peter, Paul, Mary. Where was she at? In the ground.
where the dust is by his feet and ever, ever sheep everywhere.
We're just dust. That's all we are. And we'll
Paul was probably a sports fan. Everything was boxing and racing
and wrestling and wouldn't we press towards the mark we run
the race. Detain Christ. Anything it takes. Abraham answered,
said, Behold, now I've taken upon me to speak in the Lord,
which I am dust and ashes. I'm nothing. Serve my Lord's
nothing. Mary served. She worshiped. She
anointed. She believed. And it wasn't at a something
more important. Do you know that? Those six days
left. What if she had a soccer game going on? What if family
was coming in town? What if something more important
like a land she'd bought or oxen she hadn't ever seen or a spouse? Well, I got to take them and
get them fitted for some new clothes. No, she was there where the Lord
was, wasn't she? That's where she was. That's not what Judas was doing.
Judas wasn't going to do that. That's the sheep. That's what
sheep do. If you're going to copy them, that's all you're
going to do. That's a good thing to copy. That's what sheep do. Judas wasn't
going to do that. Back in our text there in John
12. Here's the goat. John 12, verse 3. Then Mary took
a pound of ointment of spike and herb, very costly, and anointed
the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house
was filled with the odor of ointment. Then saith 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?
And he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he
was a thief. Why are we spending the church's
money on this? He's a thief. Thief. That's somebody that steals stuff.
That's not good. A thief. Had the bag and bear
what was in over Mark 14. It says there was some that had
indignation within themselves and said, why was this waste
of ointment made? She's wasted that. That was serving
and anointing our Lord. The heart said, that's a waste.
Why are you doing that? You know how much printer ink
costs? We got bulletins back there,
stacks of them, don't we? A lot of black ink. That's a waste
of money. Why y'all do it? Can't you just email it? That's
a waste. They said it was a waste. The Lord said, I'm the Lord. I change
not, therefore, because he doesn't change. Therefore, ye sons of
Jacob, And we Jacobs are not consumed. Even from the days
of your fathers, you're gone away from my ordinances and have
not kept them. Return unto me, repent, he says. And I will return
unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. The chief said, where shall we
return? And the Lord said, will a man rob God? You gonna rob
him? Says Judas was a thief, didn't
he? A man robbed God, he said, yet you have robbed me. But ye
said, where have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. and
sacrificial support and in love. That's how we robbed him. Well,
you gotta give 10% and then you have to kill two lambs a year
and those things. I ain't what he's talking about
isn't mine. No. Merit Widow went and threw two mots in. The Lord
sat there and watched her. How much she gave. No, that's
not what it says. How she gave. How she gave. How she gave. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for ye pay a tithe. You pay a tithe of mint and of
anise and of cumin. Cumin's pretty popular in this
culture, around this area, isn't it? It tastes delicious. It's
so tiny. It ain't big as a minute, isn't
it? They pay tithes of that. Scoop out a tablespoon, you take
one-tenth up, put it over there, that's for the house. Boy, they
watch that small stuff. They mine their pennies, don't they?
And have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment,
mercy, and faith. You've skipped over that part.
These all you have to done and not to leave the other undone.
Do both of them. But you're blind guides. There's
people that's guiding folks. They've got the nerve to stand
up and tell people and instruct people and turn their minds to
things. He says you're blind. Which strain, I love this, strain
at a gnat and swallow a camel. They see a little gnat flying.
How many wings they have? I don't know. You can't see him.
He's squinting. What's that little tiny stuff? You see that little
tiny stuff? And the whole time they're swallowing a whole camel. Why was Judas so concerned? Why
was he straining at this gnat? Well, first off, why is the Lord
worth that much? Because it says over Mark, it's
a waste, isn't it? It's a waste. He didn't thank highly of the
Lord. He valued worldly things more than he valued heavenly
things. And the heavenly thing, that holy one of Israel, is sitting
right there. Mary sat at his feet this whole time while he
said, it's a waste of money. Why was he so concerned about that
300 pence? I'll tell you what it was. It messed his
retirement plans up. I'm not joking. I'm serious as
cancer on that. He had a plan. He had a rolling
balance in his head. You know, I had 30 pieces of
silver. It was providential. It fulfilled the scriptures.
That's how much he needed to get his retirement place. That's
what it was. That's why he was so mad. He
was a thief. He was stealing. And he had an exit strategy from
this gospel work. Melchizedek. That's who our Lord's
a high priest after the Lord Melchizedek, who has no beginning
and no ending. There was no ending. To typify that, the Levites,
they had a high priest. The Lord appointed a high priest
that year. And that was a lifetime appointment. What now? A lifetime
appointment. The servants of the Lord that
preached his word, his prophets, it was a lifetime appointment.
Is anything different nowadays? If I'm the Lord's, I have a lifetime
appointment. I'll do it till I physically
can't do it anymore, or I die. I thought of Gene Harmon first
thing. That man preached till he couldn't stand no more. Scott
Richardson had bags on him and everything else, all kinds of
surgeries, half his insides was on the outside, and he preached
till he couldn't stand no more. That was a lifetime appointment,
not Judas. He had an exit strategy. He's
going to sell the Lord, sell anything he could, and then he's
going to go off in the sunset and buy him a good patch of land,
probably lease some of it out, you know, make good living, go
on vacation every now and then. He's going to leave the gospel,
retire from the gospel to serve himself. Turn over Acts chapter
one, I'll show you this. Acts chapter one. Acts chapter one, verse 15. And
in those days, Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples
and said the number of names together were about 120. Men
and brethren, this scripture must needs be have been fulfilled,
which by the Holy Ghost, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of
David spake before concerning Judas, which was God to them
that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us and
had obtained part of this ministry. Part of it. Part of it. He got
to stand up and talk. He got to be seen to men. He
hadn't entered into it. He hadn't experienced it. He
received part. Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity. Scriptures say those children
of Baal, they love the wages of unrighteousness. He had a
reward of iniquity, what he thought was doing good. And falling headlong,
he burst asunder in the midst, and his bowels gushed out, as
he tried to hang himself. And it was unknown unto all the
dwellers in Jerusalem, insomuch as the field is called in their
proper tongue a keldma, that is to say, the field of blood.
Turn over to Matthew 27. People said, well, now there's
something else. He threw the money down, didn't he? Well, let's
see. He did. Peter said he bought that field.
That's what the money was. He earned it. He went and earned
that money, and that money he earned by doing something with
wicked hands was used to purchase something.
Matthew 27, verse 3. When Judas, which had betrayed
him, when he saw that he was condemned, He said, oh man, I'm
in trouble now. Repented himself. Did the Lord repent him? Did
the Lord turn him? That's what was over in Hosea, wasn't it,
Bob? Did the Lord give repentance? No, he repented himself. He turned
inside and said, oh, like Esau went to his daddy and said, ain't
there a blessing for me? Oh, bitter tears he wept. He
didn't go to the Lord. What did that prodigal son say?
He didn't say, daddy, please take me back. He said, I sinned against
the holy God and you watched me do it. Against thee and thee
only have I sinned. No, he repented himself and brought
again the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders.
I'm gonna give this back. I'm gonna make repentance of
my own, penance of my own. I'm gonna fix this. And saying
I have sinned and I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they
said, what's that to us? What do we care? The world don't
care. Do you know that? They don't
care. They said, seed out to it. And
he cast down the pieces of silver of the temple and departed and
went and hanged himself. And the chief priest took the
silver pieces and said, well, it's not lawful for us to put
that in the treasury because it's blood money. It's the price
of blood. Well, how holy and good they
are, isn't it? And they took counsel and bought within the
potter's field to bury strangers in. You know what? He was talking
about that field. We ought to go ahead and buy
it. There I got it settled down to how much money, and out there
lays the money. We'll just bury dead folks in it. Therefore, the field is called
the field of blood unto this day. He came to those people
and he said, I've done something bad. I want you to take this
money. Help me undo the wrong I've done. And he had no defender. No defender. He wanted to retire
and buy this patch of land. He saw, oh, this was terrible.
I've done something wrong. I'm going to fix this. I'm going
to make it right. And they said, what's that to
us? We don't, we ain't taking sides with you. You're on your
own. Do what you want. Judas sought the pity of religious
folks and he repented himself. That's what he did. And then
we see that the Iscariot Psalm, some theologians call it Psalm
109. The king betrayed and there was
30 curses listed in Psalm 109. One for each piece of silver
wasn't there? It was prophesied. It couldn't be undone. Did Judas
cry out to the Lord? Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.
I'm sin, that's all I am. Forgive me, Lord. He didn't. He went to the organized religion,
didn't he? Judas would have condemned Mary
if she'd only poured half that. Don't forget that. There's jealousy
and envy. He didn't want her to have it. He wanted what she
had, and he didn't want her to have it. If he couldn't get it, if
she'd have poured half that, he'd say, well, now, that's the
Lord. You should have used all of it. Self-righteousness, that's
our flesh, isn't it? Isn't that what we are? Are we
that way? Good, bad, or ugly, no matter
which way you turn it, no matter what the situation, what kind,
or what the smell is, if I'm left to myself, I'm nothing but
pure evil and wickedness. Is that you? But God, but God, who's rich
in mercy. Brother Dom had wrote this years
ago, one sentence. He said, I can see only one real
difference. Judas betrayed the Lord once.
Now he popped off at the mouth several times, got told to hush.
He betrayed the Lord once, didn't he? Peter betrayed him three
times before the crow squawked, didn't it? The only real difference
I see between Peter and Judas is the blood of Christ. Who maketh
thee to differ? Now, where does that leave us?
Do we get on our high horse and say, well, no, we got the right doctrine.
Now, we got the right thing. Oh, that's a new heart he gives.
A humble heart. You can't fake humility. C.S. Lewis said the most self-righteous
thing a man could do is strike the pose of humility. Well, I'm
just, I'm so humble, hogwashed. We need the Lord, don't we? We
need to be at his feet. Who cares about this world? He's the one
thing needful. Whether I'm working, if I'm at
work, he's the one thing needful. Or I'm studying, he's the one
thing needful. No matter what we're doing. Judas looked for
a defender, couldn't find one. What's our great shepherd do? He defends the sheep. He defends
the sheep. He said unto him, let her alone
against the day of my bearing hath she kept this. Don't you
touch her. Did Mary say, Lord, defend me?
No, she's just worshiping. I'm sure there's a day she's
done that. She's cried that too. He defended her. She didn't have
to say a word. Isn't that good? Isn't that good? That mankind's
nature is to go to other men and women and seek for them to
give us comfort and them to give us assurance and them to give
us hope. No, go to him. He's our assurance. He's our
defender. He's our great hope, isn't he? And while the door
opened, our tender and gracious Lord gave..." No man can accuse
him. I was thinking that the other day. He went there and
Mary fixed him dinner. Do you think he was a good house
guest? Do you think he thanked her for cooking for him? You know better. We ought to
just sit and listen to him and just say what he says, shouldn't
we? Whatever he says is right. He's so gracious. That was an
open door to him. He's told Judas, he said, for
the poor, the poor always you have with you. He turned, he
put it right in his lap, didn't he? He says it for the poor.
He said, the poor, you always got with you, but me, you have not
always. Bow, Judas. I say those Judas's
that still possess 2,000 demons, bow to him. Come to this great
defender, this great shepherd of the sheep, bow to him. Call
on him while he's near. Seek him while he may be found.
That great shepherd, he laid down his life for the sheep. Turn over to Mark 14. Mark 14. Verse six says, and Jesus said,
let her alone. Why trouble ye her? She hath
wrought a good work on me. For ye have the poor with you
always, and whensoever ye will, ye may do them good. You can
do that any time of the week you want. But me, ye have not
always. She hath done what she could,
and that was a lot, wasn't it? Very costly. She has come aforehand
to anoint my body to the burial. Barely, 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." I saw something just so precious. We've looked at this
and faithful pulpits throughout the world, those that the Lord's
made faithful, they look at this, they see what Mary's done, don't
they? Do you know that she has been, she was here, and she will
always be spoken of? Because she's the objects of
the king's love. That's just amazing to me. She
was an object of the king's love. And he said, look what she's
done. And we talk about this for eons. How could that be? He looks at us as my good and
faithful servant. Because the father looks at Mary
and sees Christ. And this was prophesied. I know
that was She loved him because he first loved her. But this
is a picture of that bride of Christ spoken of. Spoken of throughout
time. His bride loves him because of
what he's done for his bride. And she serves him. She has hope.
He's her only hope. Hope in him. Faith in him. Trust in him. Because he's everything. And that's what's going to be
talked about. Why did the bride love him? Because he first loved
her. Judas fulfilled all that the
scripture said about him. Every jot and tittle, it was
fulfilled, wasn't it? Mary fulfilled, and you Marys,
and you Martha's, and you Lazarus's, fulfilled everything that the
Lord put in the scriptures, you know that? Song of Solomon. It
says, if thou knowest not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way
forth by the footsteps of the flock and feed thy kids beside
the shepherds' tents. I have compared thee, O my love,
to a company of horses and Pharaoh's chariots. Thy cheeks are comely
with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold. We will
make thee borders of gold with studs of silver. Oh, he just
gushes over his bride. Oh, we're gonna talk about this
bride forever. He says, while the king sitteth
at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof. What,
where'd Mary come up with all this Spacknard? The Lord declared
it in Song of Solomon 1 verse 12. Where'd she get that? Where do you think she'd have
told you? Now I worked, I worked for 18 months because I had to
have six months of money put back so I could buy food so I
could save 12 months. Oh, she said Lord gave it to
me. He gave me a job and gave me the motivation to get up on
time and get there and work hard while I was there, keep the boss
happy. He made the rain when it rained and sunshine when it
sunshine, kept me the whole time. That's his all. So what I put
it on his feet. That's what the Lord said. And
that's what his sheep say, isn't it? He said, while the king sat
at his table, my Spacknard, the king Spacknard, send forth the
smell thereof. Send forth the smell. Hmm. Do we get mad at him? Do we get
mad at the Lord's people whenever they worship God and they give
him all the glory and all the praise and the tithes and the
offerings, the praise and lips? That's all we can give him. saying
his praises, saying his names. The world gets mad. Why in the
world they down there? It's a Wednesday night. You know
how much gas is? And they had to get there on
time and shift their day back and do their grocery shopping
a little bit earlier so they can get there. And then, boy, it's gonna be dark when
they go home. That's dangerous. That's dangerous to drive. Lord
will keep me forever. I think he can keep me through
two hours of driving, can't he? The world gets mad. Goats get
mad. Lord's people say, boy, it smells
good down there. Well, whose oil is that? Did you work hard
for it? I didn't do nothing. It's his. He's gave it all, hasn't
he? He's gave it all. Judas, I was talking to him.
I won't keep him no longer than I have to. I was talking to my
pastor today. I said, Judas was looking out for himself. He had
a retirement plan when this gospel gig was over. I don't get that. If I retire from my occupation,
I wouldn't divorce Kimberly and quit talking to my children.
That's family. That's who you love. You don't
leave people you love like that. I'm of you. I ain't going nowhere.
But I said, you know, all these things that the world looks for
and, well, don't give up on this. And you can experience that.
What about your experiences in this life? And yolo. Hop washed
up. I have lacked. The Lord said,
what have you lacked? Have you lacked anything? I haven't lacked
a thing, ever. I may have to get bigger pants,
because he's just fed me so much. I haven't lacked anything. Boy,
he provides for us. And that smells good. That smells good. It smells good to believers.
It don't smell good to goats, does it? That's pretty good. Father,
thank you for this hour.