Good evening. Let's stand together
and sing hymn number 51. Hymn number 51. Praise the Savior, ye who know
him. You can tell how much we owe
him. ? Gladly let us render to Him
all we are and have ? ? Jesus is the name that charms us ?
? He for God thick fits and arms us ? ? Nothing moves and nothing
harms us ? while we trust in Him. Trust in Him, ye saints,
forever. He is faithful, changing never. Neither force nor doubt can sever
those He loves from Him. Keep us, Lord, O keep us pleading
to Thyself and still believing till the hour of our receiving
promised draws fit thee. Then we shall be where we would
be Soon we shall be what we should be. Things that are not now nor
could be. Soon shall be our own. Be seated. Good evening, I'd like us all
to turn to Psalm 111 and we'll read that together. Psalm 111. Praise ye the Lord. I will praise
the Lord with my whole heart in the assembly of the upright.
And in the congregation, The works of the Lord are great,
sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is
honorable and glorious, and his righteousness endureth forever. He hath made his wonderful works
to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and full
of compassion. He hath given meat unto them
that fear him, he will ever be mindful of his covenant. He has
showed his people the power of his works, that he may give them
the heritage of the heathen. The works of his hands are verity
and judgment. All his commandments are sure. They stand fast forever and ever
and are done in truth and uprightness. He sent redemption unto His people. He hath commanded His covenant
forever. Holy and reverend is His name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. A good understanding have all
they that do His commandments. His praise endureth forever.
Let's pray. Our kind and gracious and merciful
Heavenly Father, we we bow our hearts before you. Giving you
thanks for all the great goodness to us. Thank you most of all
for our dear Savior, whom we seek to honor tonight, whom we
seek to worship, whom we seek to set forth. Whom we seek to
preach. Whom does? We seek to hear his
voice. Speak to us through your word,
we pray. Lord, our souls are weary. Our souls are weary. Of this world. Weary of ourselves,
weary of our sin. Lord, refreshing us and liveness. Give us hope. Give us light. Revive our souls. Speak to us
through your word. Lord, we were so encouraged.
Through your preaching, we heard last night. We anticipate the
same tonight. How we do thank you for this
gathering for this meeting for these preachers. Thank you for
all of our brothers and sisters. Count is such a privilege to
be numbered among your people. And we can worship in. Enjoy. The preaching of the gospel together. And encourage one another. And
edify one another. Lord, we confess our weakness. We confess our inability to do
anything for ourselves. We can't provide for ourselves.
You must provide for us. We cannot save ourselves. You
must save us. We cannot keep ourselves. You
must keep us. We cannot hold ourselves. You must hold us. We ask Lord
that you'd Be mindful of us, pity us in our weakness as you
have been and we as you promised you are and you will be. Be without preachers tonight
as they stand before us such a. Serious and weighty matter. Opening your word and preaching
from your word. Equally as serious and weighty
to hear to sit and hear your word. Lord, Save your people
as the word goes forth. Please remember our children
and our grandchildren. We pray that you'd intervene
in their lives, not let them have their will, but they would
bow to you, submit for mercy, and desire your will. Thank you for this gathering,
this time together as we worship. Honor your son in our midst.
Come and meet with us, we pray. In Christ's dear name, amen.
Amen. Amen. Amen. Hymn number 255. 255. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a poor taste of glory
divine. Heir of salvation, Purchase of
God. born of His Spirit, washed in
His blood. This is my story, this is my
song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song praising my savior
all the day long perfect submission perfect delight. Visions of rapture now burst
on my sight. Angels descending bring from
above echoes of mercy, whispers of
love. This is my story, this is my
song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my
song, Praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission, all is at
rest. I in my Savior am happy and blessed. Watching and waiting, looking
above, filled with His goodness, lost
in His love. This is my story, this is my
song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, Well, this is what we get together
for. Me and Todd was talking, you
know, what we call grace churches and grace preachers, people who
preach the gospel of grace, their emphasis more than anything else
is on preaching. Their services is geared around
preaching more than anything else. And we've been blessed
to have two wonderful preachers here. God's blessed them. and
blessed me through them through the years. And Todd, you come
on and Lord willing, you bring the Lord's message and okay. Yeah. I know why he's going to
preach, but I ain't going to tell you because I ain't heard
it yet. Before I read the scripture,
I would like to say by way of introduction, I don't know how
much I know about this by experience. And I think you'll see why I
say that after I read our text. We're going to be mainly looking
out of Mark chapter 14 and John chapter 12. about the woman breaking
the alabaster box of ointment upon the head of the Lord and
it pouring down to his feet and her wiping his feet with her
hair. But I'd like to read out of Mark
14 first. Now we know from John's account,
this is Mary, the sister of Lazarus, who did this. and being in Bethany in the house
of Simon the leper. You know, there's something particularly
touching about that. Where was he? 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 as I've tried to read up
on this, it was worth, in our day, $30,000. That's an expensive
box of perfume. And she break the box and poured
it on his head. And there were some that had
indignation within themselves and said, why was the waste of
the ointment made? For it might've been sold for
more than 300 pence and had given to the poor. And they murmured
against her. And Jesus said, let her alone. Why trouble ye her? She hath 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
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 had done shall be spoken for a memorial of her. And here we are proving that
some 2000 years later, speaking of what this woman did. Now I've entitled this message,
What Christ Called a good work. You may find this interesting
in the 33 years that Christ lived upon this earth. There may have
been many good works like this. I don't know. But as far as what
is recorded, this is the only time the Lord called the work
of good work. Now that makes it interesting,
doesn't it? good works or a good work. Much has been thought,
said and written about good works. And indeed they are very important. Paul said in Ephesians chapter
two, verse 10, for we are his workmanship created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained. that
we should walk in them. So this is a very important subject. And I love what the Lord said
in Matthew chapter five, verse 16. He said, let your light so
shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify
your father. Not you. If somehow you're glorified,
it wasn't good. that they may glorify your father,
which is in heaven. Now, the work of Mary, the sister
of Lazarus, breaking the costly alabaster box of ointment by
today's standards, a value of $30,000. Has anybody here ever
paid $30,000 for a bottle of perfume? I doubt it. Maybe you have. I doubt it though. Evidently this family was a wealthy
family, the family of Bethany, Martha and Mary and Lazarus. And she took that $30,000 bottle
of perfume and poured it upon his head. And it went down to
his feet and she took her hair and wiped his feet with the hair
of her head. And when the disciples saw this,
they criticized her. They had moral outrage. They
had righteous indignation. Now, the Lord called it a good
work, but they didn't, the disciples. They said, why was this waste
made? That's what they called it, a
waste. But the Lord said, Why trouble
ye her? She hath wrought a good work
upon me. And so highly did the Lord view
this work as we read in Mark's account, Verily I say unto you,
wheresoever the gospel is preached throughout the whole world, this
also that she had done shall be spoken of as a memorial of
her. Now, I don't know of any other
work that was commended so highly as this work that this woman
did. Yet this same act that the Lord
commended so highly when his disciples saw it, I'm not talking
about unbelievers right now. Well, Judas was an unbeliever
and he's the one that got this started, but all the others chimed
in with him. They all criticized her. And
what smites my heart is I know I would have been one of the
ones doing the criticizing. I know myself enough to know that if
I didn't say it out loud, I'd be thinking it. Who's she trying
to impress? Yet the Lord commends this, and
it could be argued that this is the greatest act ever performed
by a sinner saved by grace. Now, what a thing to think about
as we consider what Christ called a good work. And when he calls
it a good work, it's the word that is generally translated
beautiful. Christ called this a beautiful
work. Let's begin the story where we
ought to begin. Not with Mary. but with Mary's
Lord. Turn with me to John chapter
11. In John chapter 12, verse three,
we read, then took Mary a pound of ointment, a spikenard, very
costly and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with
her hair. Well, who was this Mary? Turn
back to John chapter 11, verse one. Now a certain man was sick
named Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary which anointed
the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose
brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore his sister sent unto
him saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. One of the things that I love
about that is they don't tell him what to do. They just say,
the one you love is sick. Not the one who loves you, but
the one you love. John identified himself as that
disciple that Jesus loved. I love the hymn we sing when
with the ransomed in glory his face I at last shall see. It
will be my joy through the ages to sing of his love for me. Verse five, now Jesus loved Martha
and her sister and Lazarus. Here's where Mary's story begins.
Not with Mary, but the Lord's love for Mary. You see, His love
is saving love. There will not be anybody in
hell that Jesus Christ loved. His love is saving love. You see, the fact that He loved
her meant He always had loved her. said with regard to her,
Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 3, Behold, I have loved you with
an everlasting love, a love that knew no beginning. He never began to love Mary. He always loved Mary always had
personality before him, even before time began. You see, Mary
was one of his elect. If you're a believer, you are
too. That love that he had toward Mary, he has to you. right now, present tense. You see, Mary was eternally chosen
by God the Father to be the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. Her
name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life, the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world, And he would willingly became
her surety before time began and took full responsibility
for her salvation. He did that for you, too. She was one of the us. The Lord
referred to when he said thus, it becometh us to fulfill all
righteousness. Mary was one of those in that
group. The us of whom Paul said, if
God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own
son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with
him freely give us all things? There's nothing that can prevent
him from giving all things to everybody included in that us.
Mary was. So is every other believer. She was one of those in him when
he was raised from the dead. She was one of those who he gave
spiritual life to and made her willing in the day of his power. He did that for us, too. He didn't
do anything for Mary that he didn't do for every believer. It was he who made her both to
will and to do this act, which he commended her for. There's
only one reason she did this. He caused it. This was his work
in her. This is. Him, that is so altogether
lovely that he could Get a response like this from his people. Evoke
a response like this from his people. This beautiful work that
she has performed. Why? Because of his beauty. Because of his salvation. Because
of the glory of his person. Oh, she had a love for Christ,
but it's because he first loved her. We love him. Because He
first loved us. So let's start this story where
it ought to be started. Not with Mary. but with Mary's
Lord, the one who created this response that Mary had toward
him that made her do this beautiful work. Now, the first time she's
mentioned is found in Luke chapter 11. Would you turn with me there?
Luke chapter 11. This is a familiar story. I'm
sorry, Luke chapter 10. Now it came to pass, verse 38,
now it came to pass as they went that he entered into a certain
village and a certain woman named Martha received him into her
house and she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet. and heard his word. Now let me say this. What he
has to say to me is infinitely more important than what I have
to say to him. She understood this and she sat
at his feet and heard his word. That's all she was interested
in. But Martha, now remember the
loved Lord loved Martha too, says that the Lord loved Martha
and Mary and Lazarus. This was a dear saint of God,
somebody that He loved, but I know you can identify with this woman.
I know I can. As a matter of fact, I can identify
with her a whole lot more than I can Mary, I feel much more
of a kinship with Martha than I do with Mary. I just think,
Mary, whoa, that's above me. How beautiful it is though. But
let's look at Martha. But Martha was cumbered about
much serving. Now picture in your mind, Mary
sitting there at the feet of the Lord, hearing his word. And
Martha going back and forth, getting this, getting that, getting
it started. I mean, busy, busy, busy. And you know that every
time she walked and she looked at her sister, a little bit of
resentment came up. What do you think? Okay. So she kind of, she came
verse 40 and said, Lord, does thou not care that my sister
had left me to serve alone? Bid her, therefore, that she
help me." Now, two things I see. First, all of a sudden, she's
the Lord's judge. Don't you care? She's sitting in judgment on
the Lord. How often do you and I do that? Sit in judgment on
the Lord of glory. It's very unwise, but that's
what she was doing. And she was telling the Lord
what to do. That's something I'd not ever
do. Bid her, therefore, that she help me. Don't tell the Lord
what to do. She did. And Jesus answered and said unto
her, Martha, Martha, he loved her. Thou art careful, anxious,
and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful. Now don't miss that word needful.
One thing is necessary. All these things that you're
careful and troubled about as important as they may be, they're
not needful because there's only one thing needful. One thing. And Mary hath chosen. This was a choice she made that
Martha didn't make. That's the language used. Mary
had chosen that good part. And that should not be taken
from her now. Mary. She knew this is where this comes
from. Mary knew that there was one
thing needful for her. You see, she understood that
she was a sinner. She understood that. She had
heard the words of the Lord before, the whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. And she knew she was sick and
needed the physician to heal her. He healed them that had
need of healing. She was a sinner. You know, when
Brad prayed, I'm tired of the world. I'm tired of myself. I'm
tired of my sin. Me too. all the time. And I need to hear his word to
me. It's not really important about
what I got to say to him. He knows what I need already.
I need to hear his word. That's the one thing that needs
And Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken
from her. Mary knew she was poor and she
was needy. That's why she needed to hear
his word. Do you know who needs to hear
his word? Everybody that's poor. And they have nothing to recommend
themselves to God. And they have great needs. She needed to hear His word. Don't you admire her character? How much more like Martha are
we than Mary? Oh, I want to be a Mary, don't
you? Oh, the great need she had to hear His word. Now turn to John chapter 12.
I'm sorry, John chapter 11. This is the next time we read
of Mary, this very special woman. Verse 27, her sister Martha says,
she said unto him, speaking to the Lord, Yea, Lord, I believe
that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come
into the world. Do you believe that? Yes or no? Do you believe that He is God's
Christ, the Son of God? God's prophet, the very Word
of God, God's priest. If He brings you into the presence
of the Father, you must be saved. God's King, the one who can cause
you to do that. You need Him in all of these
offices. God the Son. Oh, I love Martha. Somebody thinks ill of Martha.
Look at her glorious confession. She was confessing something
not many people confessed. And when she had so said, verse
28, she went away and called Mary, her sister, secretly saying,
the master is come and calleth for thee. And as soon as she
heard that she arose quickly and came to him. That's a good
sermon right there. The Jews then, which were with
her in the house, comforted her when they saw Mary, that she
rose up hastily, went out, followed her saying, she goes into the
grave to weep there." Well, that might've been part of it, but
she's going because the Lord told her to get there. Then when Mary was come where
Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet. That
seems to be the only place she wanted to be. at the feet of
the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, that's the only place
that's comfortable at his feet, at his feet. Here she is once
again at his feet. Say unto him, Lord, if thou hadst
been here, my brother had not died. Now her faith lacked it. No, Lord didn't have to be there
to keep her brother from dying. As a matter of fact, it's the
Lord that made her brother die and it would be the Lord who
would raise him from the dead. She had a defective faith. None
of us have a faith anywhere near as strong as it ought to be in
this glorious person. Lord, if thou hadst come, my
brother had not died. Now, go to chapter 12. This is
the same event we read about in Mark chapter 14. Then Jesus six days before the
Passover came to Bethany, that s the town, where Lazarus was,
which had been dead, whom he had raised from the dead, There
they made him a supper and Martha served. She stays true to character,
doesn't she? There she is serving once again. I'm thankful for
Martha. Wow, I'm impressed. Martha served. But Lazarus was one of them that
sat at the table with him. I love that description of Lazarus. I want to be one of them that
sat at the table with him. It can't be a better place than
that, could there? I think it's interesting, even after Lazarus
was raised from the dead, we don't read of anything he ever
said, but we read of this. He was one of them. I want to
be one of them, don't you? That sat at the table with him. Verse three, then took Mary a
pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly. and anointed the
feet of Jesus. Now, she also anointed his head. We know that from the other accounts,
but here John only mentions she anointed the feet of Jesus and
wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with
the odor of the ointment. Now, before we consider this,
As an act of love, we first need to consider this as an act of
faith. You see, you can't separate love and faith. This love she
had came from the faith that she had. Now, while the disciples
criticized her, look down in verse 7, then said Jesus led
her alone against the day of my burying. Hath she kept this? Mark's account says she's come
a fourth time to anoint my body for the burying. She had an understanding
that none of the 12 had. This very special woman, she
had a clearer understanding than James or John or Philip. Quite often, sometimes I think
the women in the New Testament were better than the men, really.
I mean, this woman would exemplify that. She had a special understanding
that the 12 did not have. You see, while they were bickering
over which one of them was going to be the greatest, And that
was going on at this time, right before this took place, right
before the Lord giving the Lord's Supper, they were bickering over
which one of them would be the greatest. At that time, he told
them, I'm going to be crucified. They didn't hear. She did. You see, this is who she is. She was trying to filter out
what they were saying to listen to what he had to say. You see,
on at least three different occasions, he told them, I'm going to be
crucified, slain, and I'm going to be raised from the dead. And
he said it right before this event took place. I mean, right
before. Now, what happened? Did Mary
hear him and think he's going to die? And I know what I'm going
to do with that alabaster box of ointment now. He's going to
die and I'm going to anoint his body with this ointment for his
burial and for when he is raised again. She heard what the Lord
said. Now, the disciples didn't at
this time. They were, like I said, busy
arguing over which one of them was going to be the greatest.
I'd have been right in there with them arguing for myself.
I know myself. But she heard. She heard. She heard something
the others did not have. And she intelligently wanted
to use this ointment on his body when he died until he was risen
from the dead. She knew that all of her salvation
was in the life, the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Do you know that? Do you know that? She did. The Lord's at Simon the leper's
house and they're having a meal for him. And true to her character,
as I said, Martha was the one who serves and Mary comes from
behind him without a word. She didn't broadcast this. She
didn't say everybody see what I'm getting ready to do. Perhaps she thought about doing
this for some time, or maybe that very morning when after
the Lord said that, she thought, I'm going back home and get that
alabaster box of ointment. I know what I'm going to do with
it. And she broke that alabaster box of ointment and poured it
over his head and his feet. and wiped his feet with the hairs
of her head." Now picture that in your mind. How beautiful. It's what the Lord called a beautiful
work. And Matthew's account says that
all the disciples said this, but we hear who said it first,
Judas Iscariot. 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? He criticized her. Now John gives
us an editorial comment. This he said, not that he cared
for the poor, but because he was a thief. Had the bag and
bear what was put there, and he thought, we could have sold
this for 300 pence, and I could have skimmed 30 off the top,
and I would have kept it for myself. He didn't have any care
for the poor. He was critical, but I want you
to think about this. Every time I criticize you, I'm
trying to make your candle a little bit duller that mine might shine
a little bit brighter." That's what criticism is. It's so ugly. Oh, what he did was so ugly. And the disciples chimed in with
him. And something that I also can't
help notice, she didn't try to defend herself. I mean, if they would have done
me that way and said, who are you to judge me like that? Who
are you to judge my motives? Who are you to, you have no business
doing this. I don't think she thought herself
worth defending, but the Lord defended her. The Lord defended her. Hold your
peace. The Lord will fight your battles
for you. The Lord defended her. And the Lord said in both Matthew
and Mark's account, she hath wrought a good work upon me. Now that's a good work. She hath
wrought, and let me remind you, this is the only time in his
public ministry that he talked about a particular work and said,
that's a good work. And he said, this is going to
be spoken of wherever the gospel is preached. Now, this beautiful
work came from the impulse of a loving heart. Do you know,
nobody told her to do this. This wasn't a command. She didn't think, is this my
duty? She didn't think, am I obligated to do this? She didn't think,
what if I need the money next month out of this? Maybe something
will happen and I need to save the money to pay my bills. She
didn't think, do others do this? She just did it. And this woman, did what she
did solely for Him. She hath wrought a good work
upon me. Quite often when we give, we
think it's to help to pay the bills and to support the ministry
in some way, and that's all well and good, but she did what she
did solely for Him. Wouldn't you love to be enabled
by his grace? When you give, you give solely
for him. No other reason. And what she did was extravagant. $30,000 for a smell. You know what I would have done?
I would have sold it. $30,000, I'd figure out 10% and
then add another 10%. I'm doubling my tithe. How extravagant,
look what I'm doing. Not her. She poured all of that
precious box of ointment upon him. It was premeditated. It was what he called a good
work. It was done with great personal
sacrifice. I love what David said. I'm not
offering to God that which cost me nothing. It was done without
a word, without sounding a trumpet like the hypocrites in their
almsgiving. There was no self-promotion going
on. And I love the way she broke
the box. I wouldn't have done that. I
would have kept it, put it up on the mantel. Waiting for somebody
to ask me about it. Let me tell you, what's that
box there for? Let me tell you about it. Not this woman. She broke the evidence. She wasn't
trying to do this to be seen of men. She wasn't trying to
do this to earn respect from other people. She destroyed the
evidence. She did this solely for him. This was not self-promotion. And Mark's account says, she
had done what she could. Now I've always looked at that
and I thought, what really does that mean? She had done what
she could, what can I do? But do you know the word could
is not the word that we use for ability. It's the word we use
for what she possessed, what she had. She worked with what
she had, love to Christ. That's what she had. She had
love to the excellency and the glory of Jesus Christ. Now, let me remind you, this
is not about Mary. This is about Mary's Lord. This
is about the glory of his person. This is about the greatness of
his grace. This is about his loving kindness.
kindness and his tender mercies. This is about the way he made
a way for God to be just and justify the ungodly. This is
that one who stood as my surety before time began and took complete
responsibility for all my salvation. This is not about Mary. This
is about Mary's Lord. And if you want to know what
a good work is, it's very simple. Anything done out of love to
him. That's it. That's the definition. Anything done out of love to
him. And this was a work of faith. She was looking to the death
of Christ as her salvation. And here we are. 2,000 years
later, fulfilling the Lord's prophecy that wherever the gospel
is preached, this thing that she's done will be spoken of
as a memorial to her. Mary's beautiful work. Amen. God bless. So good. Who's going to do the
special tonight? You all going to do it? All right. We've got to try to
have special music between the preachers. We have a strange way of doing
things around here. Todd, thank you. Boy, I've never
heard that before. That's so good. Praise Lord. Praise Lord. The form of God, prepared to
save, to God my Savior and my King. With all the saints I'll join
to tell my Jesus ? Jesus had done all things well
? ? How sovereign one ? ? Dirt full and free ? ? He is all in
His blood ? To sin for me He plucked the
eggs Of rent from them My Jesus has done all things
well. And since my soul has known his
love, Mercy's knee has made me through. Mercy's which o'er my praising
self, ? Do all things well ? ? How soft
and mild ? ? Dirtful and free ? ? Is all this love ? ? To sin
for me ? He marked me as a friend from
where I, Jesus, have done all things well. and win to that bright world
I rise and join the air that's in the skies above the rain ? This note shall swell ? ? My
Jesus have done all things well ? ? How sovereign Lord ? ? Dirtful
and free ? He's only sworn to sin for me. He plucked me as a branch from
a tree. Jesus has done all things well. Thank you. You grew up and sang. I tell
you what, they're such a blessing. Such a blessing. Well, you going
to continue with Joseph? Yes, sir. Well, we love Cody, and he's
been here lots of times. And I'm grateful you're willing
to come this time. And you come break the Lord's
message.