John chapter 12, follow with
me as we read. Six days before the Passover,
Jesus therefore came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus
had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him
there. Martha served and Lazarus was one of those reclining with
him at the table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment
made from pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his
feet with her hair. The house was filled with the
fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of the
disciples, he who was about to betray him, said, Why was this
ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?
He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he
was a thief, and having charged the money bag, he used to help
himself to what was in it. Jesus said, Leave her alone,
so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor
you will always have with you, but you do not always have me.
When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there,
they came not only on account of Him, but also to see Lazarus,
whom He had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans
to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of Him, many
of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. I'm going
to stop there, because I really want to hit mainly the first
eight verses again. As I read through this, and as
I've read through this, and as I've read through this, There's
a lot to say. Specifically, I think the key
here, of course, is Christ. The key to all Scripture is Christ. The main theme is worship, which
is the purpose of the Bible, the purpose of the Scripture
in itself. And so as we look at John's account
of this meal, we see that here's Jesus after raising Lazarus from
the dead, He goes back to Bethany and he is at this home. Many
scholars have tried to say this is the home of Simon the leper,
whom we see in the synoptics is also here with Lazarus. But
there's nothing to say that Lazarus and his family did not own this
house. That's speculative at best, in my opinion. So historically, we know that,
of course, women were not allowed to recline at the table. They
had to be either serving or sitting behind the men. They were not
allowed to be at the table. And we have Lazarus here with
Jesus. On any account, we see that the
reason for this meal is, and we don't even know who they are.
They is sort of ambiguous there in the grammar. It's not necessarily
talking about Lazarus and his family, but it's just they. They
had this dinner for Jesus. It is actually a celebration.
Because Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead, it was most likely
an honor for Christ. He seemed to be the guest of
honor, if you will. So we know that these individuals who were
worshiping Christ, who followed Him, who loved Him, they were
willing to face persecution and prosecution to have Him in their
home. They did not care. They knew
that He was supposed to be arrested for the edict had come down from
the Pharisees. He was supposed to be arrested. And many people were looking
for him there at the beginning of the Passover to see if he
would come, some out of spiritual interest, some out of awe and
wonder. Here's this miracle man, and I wonder if Lazarus is going
to be there too. And now we have this dinner. And this dinner
is unfolding with this small little detail. I imagine a lot
was said, and I imagine a lot was done, and many things had
happened at this dinner. It probably lasted four or five
hours. at best, or at minimum, and yet all we see is one action. All we see is one action. So
if God saw it fit through the inspiration to John to record
this at the age of 100, and to record this in a way that all
he talked about was Mary and Judas, There's a significance
here. So I've been digging, and I've
been looking, I've been praying. I'm like, God, give me the significance.
And here's what I've entitled. As a matter of fact, this has
sparked me to write, not a book on this necessarily, but I do
want to write a series of thoughts. And I want to write it, entitle
it, and entitle it, The Aroma of an Extravagant and Eternal
Affection. Because I think that's what we
see here in John's Gospel. We see an aroma of an extravagant
and eternal affection. And now we have Mary, who actually
has always had this type of affection for Christ. We see her in prior
examples where, or in other examples where she and Martha are with
Jesus, and of course, Martha's busy, and so Mary has done what
is right. Yet again, now here's Mary. And
there's a lot. I mean, there's just so much
here. We won't get through all this tonight, but prayerfully
as we keep moving, there's some responses, there's reactions
to Jesus. And I believe what this is is
a reaction to Jesus' claim when He says, I am the resurrection
and the life. I am the resurrection and the
life. And He proved it through a miracle. And then he meets
with the people who believed in him in that way. And yet,
now's the test, and here's one woman. Here's the man whom he
raised from the dead sitting next to him. And they're excited
that Jesus is there, but at the same time, there's nothing said
about any of their dialogue. I want to hear what Lazarus had
to say to Jesus. That's what I want to hear. I
want that conversation. The Lord wills when I get before
Him, I'll say, can I talk to Lazarus? I'm not going to say
that. Yeah, get in line. Honestly,
I'm not going to care about Lazarus because Christ is there and I
think that's what we see with Mary. She didn't care what Lazarus
had to say. Christ was there. And quite honestly,
Lazarus wasn't the one that was the most impressive. It was Christ.
But yet, what would we do? What do we want to hear? We want
to hear from the Don Pipers of the world who supposedly went
to heaven and wrote a book this thick about it. But yet, not
anywhere does he talk about the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. It's about joy, and about worship, and about beauty, and
about loved ones, and all the stuff that he longs for on the
earth being fulfilled, and yet not one thing, just a small little
smidgen. You know, I think Don Piper ought
to take the guts out of his book and put Don Piper's book, Desiring
God, in the middle, and then you've got something to read.
Then you can say, okay, that man's been to heaven. It's a joke. Lazarus, obviously,
was in the bosom of Abraham. He didn't have anything to say.
Nothing. Why? Because God brought him
back. And God brought him back to the
presence of God in the flesh at His house. That's a good place. That's the only thing that would
have kept me from being extremely angry for being raised from the
dead. Is being raised from the dead by Jesus to be with Jesus. But it was only a few more days.
It was only a few more days. And so here we have these reactions
to Jesus saying, I am the resurrection. and the life. And the first reaction,
of course, is intimacy. There's intimacy that breaks
out because many people want to have this dinner for Him there.
And we know it's for Christ, because it says so in verse 2.
So they had gave a dinner, prepared a dinner for Him, for Christ,
who is the object of that, in that regard. Jesus came to Bethany,
so they gave a dinner for Jesus there. There was a celebration. The man had been dead. Jesus
showed up. I am the resurrection and the life. Let me prove it
to you. Lazarus come forth. Unbind him and let him go. Let's
celebrate. We do the same thing. And we
call that intimacy koinonia, if you will, fellowship. We have
time together. We spend time together. So Jesus
goes to this home and He is dining with these people who have just
seen the impossible. And then there's Mary. And this
is the trouble. There's not enough time to get
through verse 3. I'm telling you. And I know it's
not there. It's not like the text. There's
not a whole lot to expound upon. We could get a whiteboard and
we could diagram this sentence very easily and say, OK, this
is the main point. But the main point has theological
foundations and it has severe Christological implications that
we can't just see we must meditate. We must meditate and we must
think of the whole eleven chapters of John's Gospel. We must contemplate
what it means to be sitting with the resurrection and the life
and know without a shadow of a doubt in our hearts that that
is who He is. Some people say that Mary had no idea that Jesus
was Christ. I disagree wholeheartedly. I
disagree wholeheartedly. Now, maybe she didn't know the
ins and outs of the technicalities of the doctrine. She knew him. She knew him. She knew him not
just because of what he'd done. This wasn't just a response,
thank you for raising my brother. But yet a continued response
that we see that she wants to be at the feet of Christ. Why
Mary and nobody else? Why not? Is it because she's
so special? No, it's because of God's sovereign
affection and God's sovereign election. She of all, the twelve
weren't there. I mean, could you imagine? And
here she is, and she pours out, and I talked about this a little
bit last week. Now, she's at the table, and if you notice,
John focuses on the feet as an act of humility. But the synoptic
say, and you think about a pound of ointment, oil, the synoptic
say poured it over his head. And so some people say, well,
there's a contradiction there. So Matthew, Mark, say head. John
says feet. See, this Bible is a bunch of
garbage. No, it's not a bunch of garbage because he wanted to
focus on the washing of the feet. Not the fact that she anointed
the body with oil. She anointed the head with oil.
She anointed His body with oil. She poured the whole thing out. It was a sealed container. She
broke the cap off and she poured the whole thing out on Jesus'
head and then took that, pointed it out on His feet, and then
wiped His dirty feet with her hair. And what does it say there? that the fragrance filled the
house. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
That's why. There's a lot. Mary. And yes, it was prompted by gratitude. You can't say that it wasn't.
Here's Mary who, just a day before, had gone to Jesus when He shows
up in Bethany And Martha had been talking with him. And Mary's
in the house weeping, remember? And they sent to Mary. Jesus stays outside. They sent
to Mary so that the Jews would come with her. And Mary says,
had you just been here? She almost rebukes Jesus in a
subtle way. Had you just been here, our brother
would not have died. I am the resurrection and the
life. Come out, Lazarus." And now this
woman has a forever image of what Jesus can do. And he had
already said that he would die. He had already predicted his
death. So I believe, now this is of course a nobody speaking,
I believe that Mary knew Jesus intimately, supernaturally. as the Christ. And not only that,
but I think she had full revelation that He was going to die. And
so this gratitude motivated her. It motivated her. And so she
had an opportunity to do something. And Jesus had mentioned His death.
He had mentioned His resurrection. And some people say Mary seemed
to have not grasped this. I don't know. Maybe not. But
I think in any way, just as Caiaphas spoke without his knowledge,
Mary worked and operated in a prophetic way of doing what she didn't
know maybe she was doing, but she was doing it out of a pure
heart. And she did it in this idea that to some extent, she
anointed Jesus because of His anticipated death and burial.
I believe that. And she loved him, she was grateful
for him, but she knew that he was going to die deep in her
soul. Why the disciples could not see it, even though he had
said it, is beyond me. But yet, here's Mary. And Mary
pours this oil out on Jesus. It is symbolic of the anointing
of a dead body. And she knows something, even
if she doesn't know. She's been made aware. And last
week, I sort of stopped here with about what I'm going to
say. And I'm going to camp on this for a little bit tonight.
And Lord willing, I'll make sense of it because that's the sad
thing about Sunday nights is I don't write it out. In Mary's affection, some people, and I love historians.
Don't you love historians? How they're able just to read
a couple of sentences and go, OK, well, that was given to her
as a gift. Really? Where did you get that? Well,
you know, it's obvious. It's obvious. It's obviously not there.
And so I don't believe we ought to put that in there. What we
have is we know it didn't belong to anyone else for Mary to not
steal it. Jesus says don't take it from
her. It's hers. So the only assumption we can
have is that she bought it. She possessed it as her own.
Now, yes, she could have inherited it. She could have done all sorts
of things, but why would we put that there? What's the significance
of that? It's Mary's. It was very pricey. As a matter
of fact, I also did some research on that. The journey just to
get that oil because of the specific area that it came from could
take months. That's why it costs so much.
Just to get it. And so here she is taking a year's
wage. And she pours it completely out
on Jesus. Now, wouldn't a small amount
have done? Yeah, a small amount would have done. But a small
amount is not enough to express certain affections, is it, men? Give a small diamond to your
fiancée. Now, the best one you can give, but if you can afford
more and you give less, you're done. You know what I'm saying?
And I'm not even going to go there, ladies. You're off the
hook tonight. But the point is, we love someone, we go all out. Not so that they might approve
of us, that we might show our affection. We might show what
we're willing to sacrifice. I talked about this last week
in comparison to the rich young ruler. Here's Mary, pouring out
a year's salary. on Jesus' head and feet. And
so it was lavished on Jesus. It was regal, if you will. It's
not calculated. It's not measured. She's not
thinking, now this costs a lot of money. What's a good amount
to give to Jesus? Let me take a few drops and that
will be so pleasant. The house will smell so good.
Had she done that, that would have been a celebration. Judas
would have commended her on frugality. The other disciples would have
jumped up. Simon the leper. Oh, this is so wonderful that
you pull out this expensive perfume and you put a little bit on Jesus
for it. And maybe you've even put a little bit on His face
and maybe rubbed His feet a little bit with the aroma of what was
left on your hands. And it smells so good. Isn't
this such a worshipful time? And now we're able just to celebrate
this. But she doesn't do that. She
doesn't think about the fact that it's expensive. She doesn't
go through and calculate. She takes the whole thing breaks
the lid off, dumps the whole thing on top of Jesus' head,
and then she gets down into a slave position and she cleans not with
a towel, but with her own hair, the feet of the Lord. This is
an extravagant example of what supernatural affection really
is. And all the while, she can't hide any of it, for she's doing
it right there at the table where everybody can see. And the whole
house is filled with the aroma of the perfume. Friends, that
aroma was not just the smell of that perfume, but that aroma
was indicative of an extravagant and eternal affection that we
as God's children ought to have for Christ. And that we are willing
and doing and able to walk away from everything that the world
has and lay it at the feet of Jesus. Guys, I'm telling you, this is
important. Because of all the people who
responded to Jesus as the resurrection and the life, Mary is the only
one that responded correctly. And we always go about, this
isn't a message on stewardship by the way, but we're always
fussing and fighting about stewardship. Why do we need that? That's a
good question to ask. Every time we spend a penny.
But when we come as stewards and become frugal at the expense
of worship... Now, keep in mind, I'm not talking
about worship services. Or cathedrals. Lord willing. How I'd love to
have a really beautiful mahogany cathedral. How awesome that would
be just to stand in here. I'd never leave. It's not. It's not what we want. It's not
what we need. But what I'm talking about is our affection toward
these things. God calls us to give Him what
we aren't willing to give Him. Christ demands of the world a
full and final dying to one's own affections. And Mary is the
only one who did this. She already criticized Jesus.
You didn't come and my brother would have lived had you come.
And he calls him out and he lives. And now in some way, some theologians,
some commentators say that this is even like an expression of
repentance. God, I give you everything. I
give you my most valuable possession. I will give this to you. I will
pour it out. She doesn't see it as a waste,
but an expression of worship. An expression of repentance. An expression of coming and seeing
Christ as He really is. And so Mary is the epitome of
a true believer, if you will. And this supreme believer sacrifices
everything for the worship of Christ. Friends, that's why I
think this is pivotal. This is an incredible passage
of Scripture. And it has inflamed my soul,
if you will. Either that or the neck pain
is inflaming my soul. But the Lord has just given me
something here personally to come and look at what... I said
this the other day, I think I said it to Dave, and I might have
said it to another. I think about what I do have,
and I think about everything that I could do with what I have
if I didn't have it. Now think about that for a minute.
What could I really do for the cause of Christ with what I have
if I didn't have it? With my time, with the treasures,
with the stuff, the junk, what could be done? Are we walking, holding on to
that fork and lightly walking, treading and carefully calculating
the risk? Are we worshiping with a fullness? This is what belief really is. This is what true repentance
is. This is what true love and belief in Christ looks like,
I really think. This is it. Because isn't this
what Jesus told over there in Luke? Isn't it what He said to
the rich young ruler? The rich young ruler calls on
God, worships Him on his knees, and says, I want eternal life
and I love your law and I keep Him as best I can. And Jesus
says, there's one thing you lack. Go and sell all that you have
and give it to the poor. And then come and follow Me and
you will have eternal life. He wasn't willing to give up
what he had. Mary is the opposite picture of that. She gave it
up. She walked away from it. What does Jesus say there in
that dialogue after the young man walks away dejected? He says
it is impossible. It is difficult, rather, for
a rich man to enter heaven. It is easier for a camel to walk
through the eye of a sewing needle than it is for a rich man to
get to heaven. And the disciples say, well, then who can be saved? And Jesus says what is impossible
with men is possible with God. What is impossible to the eyes
and the heart of men. Why would Mary do what she did?
Because God made it possible because she had been reborn.
This is the point. She'd been reborn. She was no
longer a slave, even to her brother. She's not pouring it on his head.
She's not worshiping. She's not even concerned with
him. Matter of fact, I would have bet you when she gets around
there to the front of the table and she's trying to wash his
feet that Lazarus has to get out of the way. Amazing. And the timing of this
sacrifice was perfect. Lazarus had been raised from
the dead. Simon had been cured from leprosy. And Jesus was about to walk into
the darkness of the Passion Week. He was about to walk into the
darkness. And it made this deed beautiful. But then look at the
responses of this deed. This just blows my mind. The responses. Four. Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve,
who was about to betray Jesus, said, Why was this ointment not
sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor? You know, I begin to think about
that, and I've actually mulled that over in my mind several
times in the last three or four weeks. And I've asked God to
reveal opportunities for me to see how many times I've ever
said that in my life. Why have we done this? Why has
that been done? Why do people do this? Why couldn't
they use that money in a better way? Why do we have to do it this
way? Why do we have to do it that way? Why can't people see that
I'm right? And it's just been a humbling
experience. I thank God for His discipline. Because in verse
6 he says, he said this not because he cared about the poor, but
that he was a thief and having charge of the money, he used
to help himself to what was put into it. And so we see here now
with this hypocrite, this apostate betrayer, responding in criticism
and complaint. Isn't that the way a lot of times
people respond to us in our worship? Like I said this morning, even
in the message, and some of the things that I use and some of
the phrases that I said are the exact things that I've heard
people say. Some of them even members of this church. There's
more things to do than deal with Jesus. I've heard people say
that. There's more to the Christian faith than just learning and
talking and worshipping Jesus. Really. Are you serious? Well, I'd like a list of those
things that I might rip these pages out of my scripture and
I might interject those. Because Jesus Himself, as the
Father, is seeking worshipers who worship in spirit and in
truth. He's not seeking anybody else. You know what that means? Nobody else will be saved but
worshipers. No one else will be saved but
worshipers. And those who are worshipers
have been born again by the Spirit of God. 1 John 5. For all who believe that
Jesus is the Son of God have been born of God. And so this hypocrite He criticized Mary, the very
one who had the right thing. She's chosen the better, Jesus
said. She's done what is right. Judas
has the audacity, knowing in his heart he's a thief and a
hypocrite, and he has the audacity to criticize Mary. Not because
it was worth criticizing, but because he saw an opportunity
for his own benefit pouring out. I'd like to have been there.
I'd like to have been there and seen Judas as a way of sort of
repenting. And this is highly fiction. But
I bet it could have gone something like this. I'll help you clean
up. And him getting some kind of
a spade and scooping that oil up off the floor. Hey, Jesus,
can I wring out your hair? Can you imagine? That's money you're pouring out
that could be in my pocket. I could buy me another field.
I could buy me another house. I could buy me another... We
could do something else with that. You could do something
else with your life. See, it's very few times that
we... I mean, in the church and sometimes with business meetings
when we've got doors and windows to talk about, that can get frustrating. But most of the time, it's you
can do something better with your life than throw it away
for Jesus. It's okay to be spiritual. It's
okay to be a Christian. But don't waste your life walking
after spiritual things to become a pauper, or a bum, or a homeless
man, or a pastor. That's a good word. Eat it. It's ridiculous. The pastor part's
a good word. Throw your life away for Christ. Dreams. Four children have dreams. I'd love to see them succeed. But to me, my dreams of success
are that they love the Lord and they suffer with joy. I want
to see that. I don't care if they go to school
and become doctors. I hope they don't. I honestly
hope that my children are not wealthy. Sorry. I hope they're not, because I
know me and wealth doesn't work well for the ministry. It doesn't work at all, really.
Few pastors can really get into the Word of God and learn how
to pray, because they got it made. They got it made. And I've got it made. What am
I talking about? In comparison, I have no complaints. None. Friends, he's complaining. He's criticizing. He is looking
at the speck, which is not even a speck, in the eyes of Mary
while this redwood forest is sticking out of his face. And he's looking for selfish
gain. How many people actually come to us and criticize our
walk with the Lord and criticize us by saying, oh, you're too
holy. You're too pious. You're too
prude. You're too this. You're too that. You spend too
much time in the Word. You spend too much time with
the church folks. You spend too much time doing this. Why wouldn't
you do this? Why did you throw away your life
in this? Especially young people, I hear it all the time. Why would you do that? Why not? What's a wasted life? A life
of riches and wealth and glory when you turn 90 and you die. That's a wasted life. A life
of curing cancer. A life of benevolent affection
toward the world. A life of generosity. That's
a wasted life. A wasted life is any life that
doesn't sell itself out for the gospel. That's a wasted life.
And it's not too late to start wasting yours for Christ. It's amazing, Jesus himself said,
you must take up your cross and follow me. He also says, if you
look to save your life, you will what? Lose it. If you lose your
life for my sake, you will gain it. Here is the glorious example
of that. This is why I believe Mary was
a born again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ by supernatural
means of the Father. She took her life, everything
she owned per se. I know it wasn't everything,
but she took a very valuable piece of her life and she emptied
it. She poured it out on the head
of Christ and she gained her soul. And Judas saw it as a waste,
for he was looking to save it, for in salt, and he lost his. See, you always want to see practical
implications of theology. That's a practical implication
of theology. If you want to lose your life, you'll gain it. If
you want to gain it and keep it and save it, you'll lose it.
Judas lost his through gaining. And Mary gained hers through
losing it. I don't see... I mean, there
are other pictures, but I'm telling you, in the context of this,
in John's Gospel, I'm the resurrection of life. You must believe in
the Son of Man and be saved. This is proof that it happens
in the midst of unbelief. And ironically, Judas worked
for Jesus. Isn't that ironic? He worked
for Jesus. Look for it. Lazarus was there
and there were people coming. Look at that. There were people
coming and saying, hey, I'm going to go back and pick up some of
those verses. But there's some people coming and saying they wanted
to see Jesus and they wanted to see Lazarus. A spectacle,
if you will. This is seeker sensitivity. This
is apostate gospel, false gospel garbage. This is what most churches
do in America. Hey, I know what we do. Let's
get Lazarus to come and talk to the church. Let's do a whole week of Lazarus
messages and get Lazarus to come and Martha will come and she'll
cook. Don't invite Mary. She's too
much of a fruitcake for Jesus. She'll just get in the way. She'll
cause emotional problems with some of the people. Because she'll
be standing outside talking about repent, believe, Jesus is the
Messiah. She'll be trying to preach to people. And we don't
want to run them off. We want to get them here first. And so,
Lazarus is raised from the dead. And so let's get Lazarus because
people want to see the miracle. People want to see the promise. They want to see the end result.
They want to see the straitjacket come off. They want to see you
get it out and escape. The Houdini was born this month.
They want to see the escapology that can almost kill you. They
want to see you get out from the death chamber. Bruce Lazarus. And you know what? As they put
all that together, see, then Judas could manage ticket sales. Not anything big. Maybe five dollars at the door.
Just to cover the expenses. Because, you know, coming from
heaven back to earth was an expensive plane ticket. People, look, they had this sincerity. Oh, I can't wait to go to church
and worship God, because Lazarus is going to talk about what it
was like to be in heaven. And I can't wait to go. I can't
wait to see this man who was there. Now, notice the disappointment. In March of 2000, I said this very thing to a church
of about a thousand people, or something like it. And I said, many of you today
would stay here for all sorts of things, but if I told you
that Jesus was in the back room and that I dismissed Him in prayer,
by the time I opened my eyes, half of you would be gone. Even with a $5 cover charge,
if Lazarus couldn't make it, but Jesus was there, people would
want a refund. I came to hear Lazarus. That's the problem with unbelievers
running the church. Unbelievers teaching the gospel.
Lazarus was proof. How do we know Lazarus was proof?
We see it. And I tell you, who knew he was proof? I tell you
who to love not to see Lazarus is the Jews. They came to see
Lazarus, and the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to
death as well, because on account of him, many of the Jews were
going away and believing in Jesus. So Lazarus, and what Jesus had
done, and they believed because they saw. And the Jews were believing
and turning away. from Judaism and believing in
the Christ, the fulfillment of all that there was. And so these
religious people were turning and becoming followers, but then
yet there were those who were also opposed to Him. And here's
what I've learned about that. People hated Lazarus because
Lazarus was proof of Jesus. Hear what I just said? People
hated Lazarus because Lazarus was proof of Jesus. You know
what I said this morning about shame and being ashamed of the
gospel? And we're ashamed of the gospel when we think it shouldn't
cause shame? And when we shut our mouths and we change our
lives and we change our course because we don't want to be ridiculed?
Here's the deal, church, is when Jesus is reflected in our lives,
people hate us. The superiority of it is that
they were willing to kill a man who'd just been raised from the
dead. Well, they think if we kill Lazarus
and Jesus, this is over. That's it. This is over and done
with. It's a done deal. It's a two-for-one
sale. Then we can write a book, and
then Judas and I, we can all do well. So that was her plan. But now
I want to close out in the next ten minutes or so with what Jesus
said. That's what Jesus said. Jesus said to leave her alone. Look
at verse 7. Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the
day of my burial. Boy, there's a lot of creative controversy
here. Oh, I thought she poured it out. She did pour it out. There's an expression here that
Jesus is saying that proves the point that I think she knew Jesus
was about to die. She poured this out. And Judas criticizes her, and
abuses her, and shames her, and mocks her for being that stupid
zealot. You could love Jesus in a cheaper
way, okay? And Jesus says, leave her alone.
It's hers. And she gave it. And she spent
it. And it's a reflection of her
adoration for me. And it's a reflection of the
new life that I've given her. Because this is what people do.
when I saved them. Let her keep it. The irony there,
just think about it for a minute. She could keep it. Jesus even
said she could keep it. But what does the Gospels teach
us? She emptied the jar. She's pouring the stuff out.
She empties the jar for the poor. You will always have. You there
is plural. He's not speaking to Lazarus
directly. He's speaking to the group plural,
like y'all. Y'all will always have the poor,
but y'all won't always have Jesus. I will not be here for long. And we know that that's true.
We see this as a reality. And yet, all the while, we look
back on our own lives and we have to ask ourselves this. Is our affection for Christ like
Mary? Or do we make excuses for why
it's not? Do we make excuses for why our
affection is not like Mary's? Well, I'm just not like that.
Why? I'm just not that type of personality. What kind of personality does
it take to give everything up for Christ? I don't have much to give. What
do you have? And this isn't a message on giving. I'm not asking. I'm
taking an offering. We don't do that. This is a message on
believing. This is a text that teaches about
regeneration. This is a text that teaches about
repentance. This is a text I may very well
preach next Sunday. I'm definitely going to be referring
to it, but I didn't want to let the cow out of the bag before
we did it tonight. This is a text. that proves Jesus
is the resurrection and the life. This is a text that proves that
even those who walk closely with Him and work for Him don't know
Him and don't love Him. Judas hated Jesus. Hated Him. And that's not my opinion. That's
proof of history. And what's ironic is that Judas...
You know what I do believe? I believe if anybody else in
that house had rebuked him, it would be here. I believe Judas
in some sense was saying what everybody else was thinking. Maybe even her own sister and
the old man. I mean, can you imagine? That woman is going to be the
death of me. She's pouring everything we got down in the floor. I'm working by myself. I didn't
have to go get Jesus. She didn't even want to come
out of the house. I'm doing everything. I'm doing all the laundry. I'm
cleaning everything. I do it all right here. Nobody
cares about what I'm going through. And all she's going to do is
sit down there and listen to Jesus teach every time it comes over. Now
she's done it. She's cost me everything. The
only thing we had of value in the whole house, that was our
savings. And Mary says, pour it out. I'm with you, Judas. The other disciples, what were
they thinking? We know where their affection lies. We know
that their unbelief keeps them in turmoil because we see it
at the arrest of Jesus. We see them run away from the
conflict. We see Peter, the zealot, going,
I don't know who you're talking about. I don't know Jesus. I have no idea what you mean.
You say you saw me with Him. Not me. Three times. And these others go and they
follow suit. John at the cross. Something happened with John
from the arrest and the trials up to the cross. Something happened. Something happened that God did.
And John was there. That's why when I mean to tell
you, when you see the prologue of John's epistles, especially
the first one, and y'all who were a part of this message series
in 1 John, you know what I think about it. I believe when we see
him using the abstract nouns and the impersonal nouns, and
using those things like the eternal life, that which we have seen,
he calls Jesus of that. That which we have touched with
our hands, we've heard. I believe John. knew what it was like to be intimate
with Christ. And somewhere deep in my soul,
I believe John knew what it was like to have the blood of the
Savior on his hands and face. The blood of the very God that
created him. So why not John? Why not John
here, standing up and going, hey, leave it alone. Because I believe John right
here would have disagreed with Judas. But the 100-year-old John,
who's sitting here facing death, had poured his life out like
a drink offering. Remember how he says that? John saw what it was he was supposed
to see, and so that's what we have here. We have an aroma. How many days did that smell
fill the air of that home? How many weeks? After Jesus'
death, did the aroma of that worship stay? I promise you,
certain oils don't leave that quickly. And you know what's
ironic? Why do I say that? You know what's
amazing? Is that Mary didn't care that
her love for Jesus would be an aroma in that home for a while.
She did it anyway. To public shame, to scorn, to
ridicule, even by her own family. Because that's what belief is.
We face the shame. We face the reproof. And we worship
Christ, for He is the greatest treasure. Do you know how you
can pour a year's salary out over the head of Jesus? Because
He's worth more than that. Would you not trade a dime for
a hundred dollar bill? Would you not trade a rock for
a gold brick? And why wouldn't we trade all
the gold bricks in the world for the Savior? When we wouldn't,
it's because we don't see Him for who He is. We can't see the
Kingdom because we haven't been born again. We haven't been born
again because God's Spirit hasn't moved upon us. And He might not
have moved upon us yet because we haven't heard the Word. For
hearing is how one comes to faith. What does the aroma of our lives
smell like? What does our faith look like?
What are we willing to face for the gospel? As I tell you, it's
gotten all over me. This text has gotten all over
me. I love to see it. And I love to look at the mirror
that it places before me and go, Tippins, you're not there. So where's my hope? Where's your
hope? In the saving grace of Jesus
Christ. Alone. Alone. God, take away my living
affections for dying things. That should be our prayer, church.
That should be the prayer of every person that sits in these
pews. Every person. that they're a
part of our congregation, that should be the prayer of every
Christian and every person that calls themselves a follower of
Christ. Because these comparisons that
we see just in this text, just in the people, just in Judas
who was willing to try to save something valuable and in turn
loses his life, and Mary who could care less about the value
and pours it all out and gains hers. This, I pray, has been
an eye-opener for you. And that as you close your eyes
and as you consider your life tonight when you lay down, that
you would just pray maybe this prayer, God, I pray that the
aroma of my affection would fill the world for You. God, help me in my unbelief.
Help me to pour my life out. Friends, there are many people
who claim Christ, who don't even want to hear this message. See,
that's the danger. It's one thing to realize, man,
I need to pray for God to give me a deeper affection. I need
to be in the Word. I need to worship. And we look
for that and we long for that. It's another thing to go, I'm
so sick of hearing this. I pray that's not your heart tonight,
that you're sick of hearing the Gospel. I pray that we are willing to
let our lives be poured out for Christ. And that we don't have to hear
the words that we'll hear soon from Isaiah's writings. He's
blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they see with
their eyes and understand with their heart, in turn, and I would
heal them. Don't harden your heart and close your eyes to
the truth. For Jesus is the resurrection and the life. and nothing that
we do and that we give for His glory is a waste. Let's pray. Oh Lord, we thank You so much
for such a wonderful opportunity to feel You through the pages
of Your Scripture. Father, I thank You for just
an amazing The power that comes, the grace that comes through
a text like this. An unbelievable, supernatural,
transforming grace that gives its hearers, that
gives us something to chew on for a long time. Lord, may our teeth be ground
to nubs as we eat this. And may our hearts become lovers
of Christ like they've never been before. Help us to smell what it was
like in Lazarus' home that day. Help us to see the tears as Mary
cleaned the dirt off of the Savior's feet. at the cost of a year's wage. Lord, help us to become more
undignified and more ashamed. Not of the gospel, but of ourselves. For, Father, the gospel that
shames man empowers them not to be ashamed. As we look at our sin and we
see that Christ willfully got on the cross so that we might
be saved. God, what else are we to do but
give our lives away as a sacrifice? God, I pray You would prepare
Yourself a people, a people here at first, who would sacrifice their lives
for the Gospel. And God, I pray You'd start with
me That Christ might be truly the
treasure of all who are a part of this church. And that maybe,
if it be your will, you send us to the four corners of the
world to preach that same gospel to a bunch of deaf, dead ears.
And that by your power, you would help them to hear it and bring
them to life And we pray this in the name
of Christ. Amen.