Ointment Applied

Q: What does the Bible say about Mary anointing Jesus?

Mary's act of anointing Jesus is a demonstration of love and preparation for His burial, emphasizing the importance of recognizing Christ's sacrificial death. In John 12:1-8, Mary anoints Jesus with expensive ointment, a prophetic act symbolizing her recognition of His upcoming death. This act was driven by her love and devotion to Christ, reflecting the deeper spiritual meaning of His sacrifice. While Judas Iscariot critiqued the act as wasteful, Jesus defended Mary, stating that she was preparing Him for burial and highlighting the importance of honoring Him in the moment, as He would not always be physically present with them. This underscores a central theme of recognizing Christ’s purpose and the significance of His death in the context of salvation.

Q: How do we know Jesus' death was necessary?

The necessity of Jesus' death is rooted in His role as our substitute, a truth revealed through Scripture and affirmed by the early church. Jesus' death was paramount to His mission, evidenced in the teachings of Scripture and the understanding of the apostles post-resurrection. His sacrificial death fulfills the Old Testament sacrificial system, which pointed to a need for a substitute to atone for sin (as seen in Isaiah 53). Throughout the Gospels, including His own words and actions in passages like John 12, we see Him often allude to His impending death as essential for the redemption of His people. Only by dying in our place could He satisfy God's law, redeem the elect, and provide everlasting life. This deep theological understanding was progressively illuminated to the disciples by the Holy Spirit, further confirming the necessity of His death.

Q: Why is Christ's burial important for Christians?

Christ's burial signifies the reality of His death and His complete identification with humanity's sin, essential for our understanding of salvation. The burial of Christ is a vital aspect of the Gospel narrative, confirming the reality of His death, which is foundational for our faith. In John 12:7, Jesus acknowledges Mary's act of anointing Him as preparation for His burial. This signifies that He truly died for our sins, affirming the fullness of the substitutionary sacrifice He accomplished. Without His real death and burial, the resurrection would lack its full significance. Christians hold to the fact that, through His burial, Christ engaged fully in our humanity, bearing our sins and the consequences of sin. This reality is critical for understanding redemption and the hope of resurrection that follows.

Q: What does the Bible teach about Judas Iscariot's character?

Judas Iscariot is characterized as a thief and betrayer, revealing the dangers of covetousness and hypocrisy within the church. Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, is depicted in Scripture as a tragic figure consumed by greed and hypocrisy. In John 12:4-6, it is revealed that Judas was not concerned for the poor, but rather acted out of selfishness and a desire to steal from the ministry fund. His betrayal of Jesus for thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15) exemplifies the ultimate consequence of his covetousness—turning away from the truth for material gain. The presence of Judas serves as a sobering reminder of the potential for hypocrisy within the church, demonstrating how one's outward association with Christ does not guarantee genuine faith or devotion.

Remember those who requested prayer. I don't know if anybody new has been added to the list. Continue to pray for those that are on the list. We get our worship service tonight with hymn number 118, When I Surveyed the Wondrous Cross. I surveyed the water's cross On which the praise of glory died My wages gained, I count but loss ♪ All my pride ♪ ♪ Forbidden Lord that I should boast ♪ ♪ Saved in the myth of Christ my God ♪ ♪ All the vain things that charm me most ♪ I sacrifice Him to His blood. Sleep on His head, His hands, His feet. Sorrow and love flow me around. O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, I'm going in.

Tuesday? Tuesday morning, yeah. She's going to have surgery about 9 o'clock-ish. I remember Julie, she's going in for a knee replacement on Tuesday. And I lost a cousin last night. She was 87. She had a stroke. I'm sorry to hear that. I remember that family in your prayers. What's the name of the family? Smith. The Smith family, okay. Hymn number 46, Ode for a Thousand Tongues to Sing. Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise!

The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace! My gracious Master and my God, assist me to proclaim, to spread before you all the earth abroad the colors of thy name. Jesus, the name that charms our fears, grace the power of His blood availed for me. Hear Him, ye dead, His praise ye done, Your loathsome tongues employ. Feel and behold our Savior come, and meet with lamb for joy. Glory to God in praise and love, we ever, ever give. By saints we go, and saints above, the church in earth and heaven. Yeah, your Bible's terribly pleased. John 12 chapter. We'll read the first eight verses. John chapter 12.

Then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, and he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper, and Martha served, and Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spiked iron, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hand. And the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. 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?

Then he said not that. This he said not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, had the bag, and bare what was put in it. Then said Jesus, let her alone. against the day of my burying, as she kept this. For the poor always you have with you, but me you have not always.

Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, great Lord of glory, you who rule and reign with absolute power in this world, so that none can stay your hand or even ask what you're doing. We thank you, Father, that thou hast taken power to thyself and has reigned. We praise you for your majesty and your greatness. There is no other God but thee. There is none beside thee. There is none like unto thee. Help us, Lord, to ever understand and appreciate and revere your holy name.

We pray for those of our company who are sick. Pray for Judy. She's getting ready for this operation. Also, for Cynthia to be ready for the operation next month. We ask the Lord to care for them and mercy upon them. We pray for the others who requested prayer. Lord, we ask your help for them. Pray for this Smith family who's lost their loved one. We pray for ourselves this evening as we've gathered here. We're poor and needy. We never graduate from the place of being a weak and wounded sinner, ever in the need of grace and mercy.

Would you be merciful to us tonight, Father? Grant us grace and understanding. Give us faith to believe. Help our unbelief. Teach us oral work. causes us to walk in thy statutes and look wholly and completely to the Lord Jesus Christ for all things spiritual. Help us we pray in Christ's name. Amen.

Now this is the record of the Holy Spirit further illuminating the coming death of the Lord Jesus Christ. What is spoken in Jews is concerning Mary's act toward Christ as the Spirit declared that Christ would be buried and of course being buried meant that he would have died.

It is unlikely that any of them yet grasped what our Lord's mission was, that it was to culminate in his death on the cross. It was not until after his resurrection that the truth and the reason for his incarnation incarnation was to die as their substitute.

They didn't fully understand that yet. If you study the words of the disciples after our Lord Jesus Christ died and rose from the grave, while in those days that he was not risen from the grave and sometimes after they went back to what they were doing before because they thought he was going to raise up a kingdom there on this earth. His kingdom was not of this world and is not of this world. It's a heavenly kingdom. But they didn't fully understand that.

He had spoken often of this fact that he was going to die. He had used shrouded language to do so, to tell people that he was going to die. He told it to Nicodemus. He told it to the disciples in several different ways that he was going to die. And here again, he's mentioned again for when he talks about her putting this ointment on him, it was to prepare him for his burial.

But this is a spiritual truth. And one of those truths had not been that they were not yet able to bear. And they weren't able to bear until after. The Pentecost, our Lord said that to His disciples in John 16 when He promised the coming of the Holy Spirit. In John 16 and verse 12 it says, I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot hear them bare them now. They're too big for you, too great for you.

The Old Testament was all they had and they understood the concept of substitution to some degree. hands on the head of the sacrifice to confess the sins of the people. They understood that the Lord accepted that yearly sacrifice on the Day of Atonement to put off their sins for a year. They understood the concept of substitution, but when it applied to someone rather than something, They weren't ready for that yet. And it wasn't until after Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came, and the apostles were raised up to teach the gospel, that they really began to understand this matter of Christ's death being their life. Christ's death being the substitutionary sacrifice that saved them. Now Mary, what she did for the Lord was an act of love for her master, but it was a natural thing. Natural thing. But spiritually, it was prophetic. or even he said that.

She's talking about something that's going to take place. What she's doing is about something that's going to take place in the future. Now, it was some days before the Feast of the Passover began. The wording here is kind of confusing. It was several days before that. The Passover would happen a little bit later. And this was probably a meal that was prepared for just before the Sabbath, which they often did.

But it was some days before the Feast of the Passover began that Pharisees were hoping that Jesus would show his face during the Passover. so they could try him and catch him and ultimately be rid of him by killing him. It says that in chapter 11, verses 55 through 57. It says the Jews' Passover was nigh at hand and many went out of the country up in Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. The women had to do it if they had a baby, or the women had to do it if they had a menstrual cycle, or men would have to do it, or women had to do it if they touched a dead thing. They had to purify themselves before they could take the Passover feast.

Then sought they for Jesus and spake among themselves as they stood at the temple, What think ye? That he will come to the feast? Think he's going to show up? So that was what they were looking for. So they were gathering for the Passover before they did that every year, but they were gathering to watch out for Jesus Christ. Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment that if any man knew where he were, he should show it that they might take him. So that was the desire. They were wondering if he was going to show up to the Passover. That's approaching now. This Passover is important. Because this is the Passover where he's captured. This is the Passover where he's betrayed. So this is coming close now. The clock is ticking speedily toward the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The days of our Lord's physical earthly ministry are quickly drawing to an end. He's got an eternal ministry where he sits at the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession for his people. He intercedes for us all the time. intercedes with them. But his work, his work as a man walking upon this earth, his days are numbered.

As I said, it was common to have a big meal the day before the Sabbath day, which was on Thursday, and this was probably the occasion of Christ's invitation to the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. It's reiterated in verse 1 and again and later in this passage that the Lord had raised Lazarus from the dead. This is mentioned. This was, as it were, the straw that broke the camel's back to the Pharisees.

They knew that with the news of that miracle, the world would follow Christ. That was their fear. They said it several times, and they'll say it again in this chapter. As we get on into the chapter, they'll say that all the world's going after him. We're going to have to kill this guy because he's able to raise a man from the dead. He raised a man from the dead. And that's bigger than anything that's happened so far.

But on this night, Mary did a wonderful thing for our Lord. She anointed our Lord with an expensive ointment. This ointment was generally used in the process of embalming, the elements of this, or the ingredients of this spikenard ointment. Mary R. Eddy had obtained it, however, and she wasn't about to die, so Providence had caused her to buy this ointment and obtain it and hold it, and now she uses it on the feet of Christ.

There is no indication that she knew of his impending death, though he had hinted at it, and he had talked about it in shrouded language. Nobody got it. Even Peter, when he told Peter, I'm going up to Jerusalem, and I'm going to be manhandled, and I'm going to die. Peter said, not so, Lord. Peter was one of the inner circle, one of the right hand men.

So it's not an indication she understood what she was doing. She was doing an act of love. She loved her master. And so his feet were dirty. So she washed his feet and then she anointed him with this very expensive ointment. There is no indication that she knew what she was doing. It was an expression of love for him. And it further revealed in wiping his feet with her hair how much she loved him. That's what it said, she wiped her feet with her hair.

And this ointment was called spikenard. It comes from two words, spistakos and nardos. And this word, these two words, they mean genuine. Spistakos means genuine. Nardos means very aromatic. Very aromatic. The word for costly here, which says it was very costly, means very expensive. Very expensive. The house, it says, was filled with the aroma of the spiked wine. When she opened up that bottle or that canister to put this ointment on his feet, The aroma filled the whole room. Everybody smelled this costly aroma.

It filled their nostrils with a sweet-smelling savor. That kind of language is used throughout Scripture. This act was rightly compared to the preaching of the Gospel, declaring the glory and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ is often called in Scripture a sweet-smelling savor.

Over in the psalm of Solomon, when the bride is talking about the bridegroom, the church is talking about Jesus Christ. She says this, because of the savor of thy good ointments, Psalm of Solomon chapter 1 and verse 3, because of the savor of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointment poured forth. Therefore do the virgins love thee. If you want to know who the virgins are, they're all the believers of the Lord Jesus Christ according to Revelation 14. Virgins can mean a woman who has not had sexual congress with a man, but also every believer, both men and women, are called virgins because they are pure in the eyes of God by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 12, it says, while the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.

And we know that over in 2 Corinthians chapter 2, it talks about Paul being also victorious in preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's always a sweet-smelling savor to God. It's a sweet-smelling savor to God. And in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 2, it talks about loving our brethren, and that is a sweet-smelling savor of the Lord, and the Lord Jesus Christ. So this aroma filling the room is like when the gospel is preached. It fills the room, the sweet-smelling savor of the gospel. The Word of God fills the ether with the power of God unto salvation.

But just as Paul said in one of the, or in Acts it was, that some believed and some did not. There is a detractor here in this room. There is a detractor here in this room. His name is Judas Iscariot. And though his name has not been mentioned as such up to this time, what he would do HAS been mentioned.

In verse 4 it says this of our text, verse 4 it says, Then said one of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him. Our Lord spoke of that back in John chapter 6, verse 64. He says this, but there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray him. He's talking about Judas Iscariot. We'll see him betray him in days to come as we study this passage of scripture.

He has something to say about this extravagant display. Judas is upset. that this box of expensive ointment has opened up and washed the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's extravagant to him. He can't understand why they're doing it. He had something to say about it. He is doing what would be referred to today as, in the modern vernacular, as virtue signaling or feigned empathy.

Those things are happening today. He pretends to be concerned for the poor. for the poor while lining his pockets with that which was given for the ministry. If he had been alive today, he may have built a religious theme park in Charlotte, and his message would have been, his faith ministry is for the poor, because that was the message of that outing. While they were taking from the poor, and robbing the poor, and robbing widows' houses, but saying our ministry is for the poor. And this is what Judas is saying.

She takes this box of ointment that was worth 300 pence. Now, in one passage of Scripture, I think it's Matthew chapter 11, it says that the earning, the daily earning of a person who was laboring was one penny a day. So this would be almost a year's earning that's being talked about here, being talked about.

He said that the use of this ointment in this manner was wasteful. It was wasteful. proceeds given to the poor. That's what he says in verse 5. Why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? Now, the apostle describes his true motives and what he truly was. First of all, he was a liar. He was a liar. He didn't give a hoot about the poor. He didn't give a hoot about the poor.

The apostle describes that and also he said that he What he said was to get his paws on the loot. He was a thief. Now remember, who is this guy? He's the church treasurer. That's who he is. He keeps the bag. The money, the money. John said that Judas, what Judas said, he said because he was a thief. He said that because he was a thief. And he had the bag and carried what was in the bag. He was the church treasurer and since he held the bag, Like many church treasures I've known over the years, they felt like the money was theirs. And they had a right to it, and he felt like it too.

It's interesting that he was given this office, but it's known that the Lord sometimes gives what people want and then sends lenience to their soul. Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it. Over in Psalm 106, verse 15, Speaking about when Israel desired meat and was tired of the bread that God had given them. It says, and he gave them their request, but sent lameness to their soul. This is what he did for Judah. gave him his request and sent leanness for his soul.

These words are not only a lie, but they reveal that he had no reverence or love for the Lord Jesus Christ. The other disciples weren't upset by what Mary did in anointing the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ with such a very expensive anointment and wiping his feet with her hair. They weren't upset by that, but he was. But he wasn't upset because of the extravagance.

He was upset because he wasn't going to get the money out of that thing. That's why he had the bag. He was a thief. That's what he said, because he was a thief. In due course, according to divine purpose, Judas will get some more money. He'll get 30 pieces of silver and betray our Lord with a kiss. He'll betray our Lord with a kiss. He feigned sympathy for the Lord. He feigned love for the Lord Jesus Christ. He kissed him, that's a sign of love. You kiss somebody, it means you love them. And he kissed our Lord to betray him, so he feigned love and he feigned empathy. And lust for filthy lucre is what drives this man in his heart. He's a covetous man, which is idolatry, according to what the Lord said.

The Lord told Judas to let Mary alone. Leave her alone. You can almost hear it. Leave her alone. What she was doing was a kindness. She has kept this ointment against the day of his burial. That's what he said. Now she didn't know she was doing that. But he did. Did she understand that he must die? It's not likely.

He was speaking of things yet to be discovered when the Spirit of God was to come. We just read over John 16 that there were things that they weren't ready to bear in verse 11 or verse 12 in John 16. It says, how be it when the spirit of truth is come, in verse 13, he will guide you into all truth where he will not speak of himself, but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak.

And he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine. Therefore I say that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you. That's what the Spirit's going to do. That's going to come, but it ain't there yet. But our Lord prophetically speaks of his prayer. Because she loves him, she takes his arm and she wraps his feet with it and she ties his feet with her hair. And he said, she's prepared for my birth. None of them understood what he said. But again, he's speaking about why he came.

Our Lord didn't come to set up a kingdom. He didn't come to die as an expression of God's love in some sort of Hobart moment. He didn't die as a martyr. He came to die for his people, to redeem them by his death, satisfy God's law as the man, and make them righteousness before the Almighty God. That's why he came.

But in order to do that, he must die. throughout this passage and even more so as he begins in chapter 13 all the way through chapter 16 he will tell his disciples again and again this thing this thing is going to happen and in verse 8 the Lord tells Judas the poor are always with us the poor are always with us some people might look at that and say well that's kind of a horrible thing to say let her alone the poor are always with us But this is not a comparative statement. This is not to say that the poor do not deserve anything, or the poor don't count, or the poor don't deserve the extravagance of being administered to our Lord. In fact, those who are poor in spirit are some classes saved, and many of the church people of God are poor people. There's some rich, and there's some poor, and some middle class, but many of them are poor people. Got people over, got a fellow over in Nigeria that I talk to continually online. He messages me every morning, good morning pastor. And I'll talk to him every morning.

He takes care of 10 or 20 orphans, and he is poor as gun. He goes around doing this and that and little jobs to get a little bit of money to make sure these kids have something to eat. He's a brother in Christ. Poor. He's poor. Many of God's people are poor people. Some of them are rich. Some of them are rich.

In Deuteronomy, which is a picture of going into the kingdom of heaven, as they were pictured to go into Canaan our Lord said this concerning the poor in Deuteronomy chapter 15 Deuteronomy chapter 15 verse 11 it says for the poor shall never cease out of the land Therefore I command thee, saying, thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy in thy land." The poor is always going to be there. That's just the economy of the world. That's the way things work.

Our Lord also said something about caring for the poor in Mark chapter 14. Verse 7, it says, For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will, ye may do them good, but me ye have not always. He addresses Judas for the covetousness that he has expressed.

He had the bag, you see. He had the money. The money that people gave for this ministry, to keep these apostles eating while they were going around preaching the gospel and traveling with the Lord Jesus Christ. People gave them money. Judas had that money.

Now our Lord said, you know, she'll have the poor always with you, saying to him, you haven't given anything out of that bag to the poor. You're talking about Saving money and give to the poor have you given to the poor like somebody said well if I had $50,000 I'd give it I'd give half of it to the church. How much do you have? I've got $10,000 won't you give half of that to the church?

People can say a lot of things and it don't mean a thing. That's what he said and it didn't mean anything Deuteronomy suggests that the church would be made of poor people. He says the poor among the people among the people But when God found us, we were all destitute of the Spirit and penniless in grace and mercy. We had nothing. So we were poor in what matters. But our Lord declares that He will not physically be always with you. There'll be ample time and opportunity to care for the poor, he's saying, but soon they will see his face no more.

So while he is with them, let them be about the business that attends to his honor and his glory. One person did that that day, her name was Mary. She honored him and glorified him about her act. Another woman who did the very same thing that Mary did, our Lord said, she's done a good work on me. She's done a good work on me. Mary loved Christ. We find that when Martha was covered about with much serving, there's nothing wrong with that. Mary didn't do much serving. She sat down in the feet of Christ to listen to what he had to say. Christ said she's chosen the better man. Judas represents parasaical, covetous religion. That's what he represents. Mary represents the church. That's just to understand brain function. All right.

Ointment Applied

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about Mary anointing Jesus?

How do we know Jesus' death was necessary?

Why is Christ's burial important for Christians?

What does the Bible teach about Judas Iscariot's character?

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Ointment Applied

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about Mary anointing Jesus?

How do we know Jesus' death was necessary?

Why is Christ's burial important for Christians?

What does the Bible teach about Judas Iscariot's character?

Sermon Transcript

About Tim James

Comments

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