Let's be turning to Matthew chapter
26. Matthew 26. I was telling Melinda
yesterday that I was so thankful the brethren got to come down
here with us. And it was reminding me of the
first time I ever came up here myself and I was sort of walking
down memory lane and thinking about how good it was to come
from so far away and to come to a place where There were so
many believers in one place, you know, all here to hear the
same gospel and rejoice in the same Lord. And we're way up there,
you know, in New Jersey and kind of off the beaten path. So it's
good to be around brethren. I was so excited for them to
get to meet you, you know. saying all this, and Melinda
looked at me and she said, I'm just glad that the brethren down
here get to see that not everybody in New Jersey looks like Snooky. I'm glad for that too. Matthew chapter 26. Let's begin
reading here in verse 6. Now when Jesus was in Bethany,
In the house of Simon the leper, there came unto him a woman having
an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his
head, as he said, at meat. But when his disciples saw it,
they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have
been sold for much and given to the poor. And when Jesus understood
it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye? the woman, for she hath wrought
a good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with
you, but me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured this
ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily, I say
unto you, wheresoever this gospel And it could be translated, my
gospel. Where so ever my gospel shall
be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this
woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her. The Lord said
here of this woman, this is Mary, this is not the mother of the
Lord Jesus, this is not Mary, the mother of James. This is
Mary of Bethany. Mary of Bethany. This is Lazarus
and Martha's sister. And the Lord said of her, she
hath wrought a good work upon me. And then He even says this
word, verily. And He says, Verily I say unto
you, wheresoever my gospel shall be preached in the whole world,
there shall also this that this woman hath done be told for a
memorial of her. That's amazing commendation if
you think about it. That's just amazing commendation.
This is the Lord of glory. This is God in human flesh speaking
about another sinner like us. And He said this. He commended
her so highly because what she did, the faith that she exercised
in this act and the love of her heart which was faith and love
that he had worked in her, it resembled so very much what he
did for her, what he did for her, and for all the elect of
God. And he connects his gospel with
this, with what Mary did for him, because the gospel of Christ
is the holy commandment. Apostle Peter said, some hearing
the way of righteousness and hearing the holy commandment
have turned aside. Paul tells us what that holy
commandment is. In 1 Timothy 1.5 he says, Now
the end of the commandment is charity, it's love, out of a
pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfaithful, faith
which worketh by love. And he connects this with the
Gospel because the preaching of the Gospel is the preaching
of Christ's own faithfulness. His faithfulness toward the Father
and toward His brethren is the preaching of Christ's own love,
wherewith He loved the Father and loved His brethren and came
to where we are and accomplished the work of declaring God just
and the justifier of he that believes in the Lord Jesus. It's
the faith of Christ working by His great love that is our salvation,
that is our gospel. Christ is not only the end of
the law because He fulfilled it, which He did. Completely
fulfilled it. But Christ Jesus is righteousness. He is righteousness. He is the
essence of that law. He is faithfulness. He is love. He is the essence of it. And
to be made a partaker of the divine nature is to be made a
partaker of His nature, like Brother Todd showed us last night.
And when He is formed in you, then now you believe on Him by
the faith that He's given. And now you start operating out
of love for Him. Completely out of love for Him.
Now, I want you to see here that faith which works by love is
what Christ commends as a good work. I want to look at this
in three ways. The worker, the work, and the
reward. Now, I'm going to be talking
about Mary here, but I'm really going to be talking about what
Christ did for Mary. And I want you to watch this
with me. Verse 6 says, this was in Bethany, and they were in
the house of Simon the leper, and that's when Mary came unto
him. Bethany means the house of dates, the fruit, dates. The house of fruit is what it
means. That's what Bethany means. Mary came to Him because she
believed Him and because she loved Him. That's why she came
to Him. But Mary didn't have this fruit starting out the way
she was born into this world. She didn't have that fruit. When
she was married to the Lord and she was in her flesh, as Paul
said in Romans 7.5, we were in the flesh in the motions of sins
We were going through the motions of what we were doing, trying
to pretend like we were righteous. But he said, they were by the
law and they worked at our bimbers to bring forth fruit unto death.
But now Christ has come and Christ has fulfilled the law completely
for his people. And Christ having fulfilled this
law, now we're married to another, we're married to Christ. And
when married people get married, they bring forth fruit. And Philippians
1.11 says, the believers filled with the fruits of righteousness
which are by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God. He gets all the glory for this.
Now picture when Mary comes to this house, picture all this
activity in this house. There was a lot of reason for
some rejoicing in that house. Everybody had reason to rejoice
in that house. It was the house of Simon the
leper. And I think probably that he had been healed of his leprosy
by Christ. He had a reason to rejoice. Lazarus,
Mary's and Martha's brother, Christ had just raised him from
the dead. He's sitting there at the table with the Lord Jesus
Christ. And Martha's observing and just
overjoyed at what Christ has done for her brother. And this
is a time of great rejoicing. And Mary had great reason to
rejoice herself. She did. But Mary had sat at
Christ's feet. She sat at His feet and she hung
on everything that He said. And I'm persuaded that Mary was
the only one in that house that day, sitting there at that time,
who understood that the Lord Jesus Christ was about to die
as our substitute to redeem us from the curse of the law. And
I believe Mary understood it. Way better than most of the commentaries
give her credit for understanding. Not long after this, Christ is
going to say, now is my soul troubled. And perhaps she detected,
I don't know, perhaps she detected something of it in Christ while
He sat there at that table. But she knew it was nearing the
time. She knew it was nearing the time. The Scriptures speak
of public worship as not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together
as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. So much
the more as you see the day approaching. Mary seeing the hour approaching,
having been exhorted, having been comforted, having been strengthened,
having been encouraged continually by her Savior. In this act of
faith, she's trying to show Him, to exhort Him, to encourage Him,
to do something she can for Him, to show Him the desire, the love
she has toward Him, for who He is, for what He's about to do
for her. Wouldn't you? I mean, wouldn't you? Can you
imagine if Christ was downstairs? If you went downstairs, and here
we are in this house. We've been hearing of the great
things He's done all this weekend. And we get carried away with
serving. We get carried away with being overjoyed in this
profit and that profit and these things. What if we went downstairs
and there's the Lord Jesus Christ sitting? Like this setting right
here. And you can detect His soul trouble. Wouldn't you? There's nothing
you wouldn't do. Isn't it? You that know the Lord,
you that believe the Lord, there's nothing you wouldn't do to want
to comfort Him. Do something for Him. I doubt anybody there saw her.
I doubt anybody there really paid attention to her. She wasn't
there drawing attention to herself. That wasn't what she was trying
to do. And that's just like Christ. He came into this world. He's
God in human faith. He came into this world, but
He made Himself of no reputation. He took upon Himself the form
of a servant. And being found in the likeness
of men, he humbled himself and became obedient even to the death
of the cross. He never did anything to draw
attention to himself. She wasn't doing anything to
draw attention to herself. This was between her and her
Savior. That's who this was between.
Her and her Savior. This is an act of public worship
that she's doing here. That's what it is, an act of
public worship that she's going through. I like to see some brethren
that the Lord has entrusted me to preach the Gospel to. I like
to see them in the crowd when I'm preaching. I like to see
them there. It does me good. And there's
Christ now. He's the Master. He's the Prophet.
He's the Preacher. There He is. And when we gather
to worship, it's to glorify Christ. That's what we gather for. And
it's to comfort and strengthen and help one another. We can't
do these things for Christ bodily now. But you look to the person
to your left, to your right, that's a believer. And he said,
as much as you've done it to one of these, the least of my
brethren, you've done it to me. You've done it to me. Verse 7
says, she came unto him with an alabaster box, a very precious
ointment. This alabaster box she brought,
she brought it and she broke it open. Alabaster was a stone
in Egypt. That's what I read. So it had
to be broken to get this ointment out of it. Well, that's what
Mary's heart was by nature. It was stone. It was stone. And
that heart's going to have to be removed. It's going to have
to be taken out. Scripture says, A new heart also
will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I'll
take away the stony heart out of your flesh. The stony heart
out of your flesh. And he says, And I'll give you
a heart of flesh, and I'll put my spirit within you, and cause
you to walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them.
And like that ointment was poured out on his head, Christ had poured
out into her heart this new heart He's given, this precious ointment,
this balm of Gilead. And He made her an epistle by
what He did for her. Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter
3. Look at 2 Corinthians 3.3. Paul says, Ye are manifestly
declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written
not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. Not in tables
of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. That's what had
happened to Mary. That's how she has this fruit
of faith. That's how she has this fruit
of love in her heart. It's because of what Christ has
done for her. Now you see here an example of
a believer who's walking in newness of life, not in the oldness of
the letter. She's not trying to find acceptance with Christ.
She's accepted with Him. She's doing what she's doing
because she loves Him. She's doing what she does because
nobody's constrained her to do this. She's doing it because
of the love that she feels from His heart to her heart. You've
heard the Gospel here this week. Everybody sitting here has heard
the Gospel here this week. Is there anybody here that has
heard this Gospel this week and found yourself needing mercy
from the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you heard this and found
in your heart that you need mercy from Him? You came in here, maybe
you came in here thinking you were righteous. Maybe you came
in here thinking everything was alright. Has anybody found themselves
needing His mercy? Well, go to Him. Flee to Him
if you find yourself Because, and confess to Him, own to Him
your sin, everything about you. And own to Him that even your
very best righteousnesses are seen. Vanity before Him. And ask mercy. Everybody that
comes to Christ seeking mercy finds it. They all find it. Alright,
let's look now at this work she did. That's the worker. That's
who we're talking about. You see, she's doing this work,
but Christ is doing this work. Christ is doing His work in her.
He's done everything here to bring this out of her. Alright,
here's the work now, verse 7. She came unto Him, a woman having
an alabaster box of very precious ointment. We're told in other
places this is spiked lard, very precious, very costly. And she
broke the box and she poured it on His head as He said it
may. She did this because Mary saw something of how Christ must
be broken. She saw something of how Christ
must be broken. Look over at Isaiah 52. The only
way, absolute only way to bring forth this sweet-smelling sacrifice,
well-pleasing unto the Father, was for Christ Jesus to willingly
give Himself to be broken under the justice of God in the place
of His people. Look at Isaiah 52. And look there
at verse 14. As many as were astonished
at Thee, His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form
more than the sons of men. So shall He sprinkle many nations. To heal God's elect of our sins,
to heal us completely of our sins. He had to bear our sins
in His own body on the tree. Look there in verse 4 of Isaiah
53. Surely He hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Surely He hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Matthew said when He walked up
and they brought many to Him and He cast out They healed them of their sicknesses
and healed them of their leprosy and did His things. He said it
was done that this scripture might be fulfilled. In order
for Christ to heal you of your sin and to heal me of my sin,
He's got to bear that sin in His own body on the tree. That
sin that causes leprosy, that sin that causes your body to
corrupt, that sin that causes you to decay. That sin that causes
you to eventually die. That sin that is the cause of
our spiritual death. He had to bear that sin in His
own body on the tree. Lamentations 3, verse 4 says,
He said, My flesh and my skin hath He made old. He set me in
dark places as they that be dead of old. His visage was marred
more than any other man. He said, My loins are filled
with a loathsome disease, and there's no soundness in my flesh. He's broken. They sat there and
afflicted all those wounds upon Him. All those wounds upon Him. All those wounds upon Him. It's
the height of man's arrogance. to think man can have anything
to do at all with the satisfaction of the justice of God. Something there, verse 4 says,
caused us to all of a sudden esteem Him stricken and smitten
of God. Something caused us to look at
Him and say, we didn't do this. This is something beyond what
we've done. This is something beyond what we've done. He's
been smitten of God and afflicted. He had to be. He had to be. He had to be to satisfy divine
justice. He had to be in order for God
to be just and yet show mercy to sinners. He had to be in order
for this Spirit that He's going to give in that inward man to
be made, created in the righteousness and true holiness. He had to
be in order for these bodies that are going to go back to
the grave and they're going to see corruption, but they're going
to be raised incorrupt, immortal, eternal. And in order for that
to be and to be done in complete justice, He had to bear the sins
in His body. And He had to be smitten and
afflicted of God in our room and in our state. That's what
He did. And yet, He was being wounded
for our transgressions. He was being bruised for our
iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. And
with His stripes, we're healed. We're healed. Nothing else to
be done. We're healed. Now go back to Matthew 26 and
verse 7 and look at that. Matthew 26 verse 7. So here comes Mary to Him. And
she sees something of how He had to be broken. He had to be
broken to do for her what He had done for her. And now she
comes to Him. And look what she brings in verse
7. She came to Him with very precious ointment. Very costly
ointment. You know what the good news of
the Gospel is? It's free. The good news of the gospel is
it's free. Free grace, free justification,
free forgiveness, free pardon. It's not a debt, it's not a merit,
it's not a work to be earned, it's not a work that can be earned.
The good news of the gospel is it's all of God's free grace. That's the good news of the gospel.
But what a price was paid. to give the child of grace that
free salvation. And these scriptures never speak
of redemption, ever, as being anything at all, but the very
most costly thing there is. God gave His only begotten Son.
Christ Jesus came into the world where we are and He gave His
life, His precious blood, You're redeemed with precious blood,
costly blood. Precious in the fact that it's
not given to everybody. This blood wasn't shed for everybody. Precious in the fact that this
is sin-cleansing blood. Precious in the fact that this
is conscience-purging blood. Precious in the fact that this
is keeping blood. This is precious blood. Can you
esteem? Can you try to think of anything? as valuable as something that
God describes as unsearchable? Can you put a price on anything
that God says is unsearchable, that is the unspeakable gift?
That's what this blood is. And so she comes with something
she has that's the very most precious and the very most costly
thing that she has. She brings it to pour it on Him. It's called spikenard. This is
called spike nard because it's the best kind of nard. That's
what it is. Genuine nard that's been faithfully
prepared. That's what Christ did. Christ
faithfully did this work He was sent to do and He prepared this
righteousness. He prepared this salvation accomplished
fully for her. She brings this precious spike
nard. Very costly, over 300 pence. Almost a year's wages. Almost
a year's wages. Over 300 pence. 365 days out
of the year. Over 300. This is almost a year's
wages. She brings what is her livelihood,
what is her life, the greatest cost that she has. She brings
it because He gave His life for her. He gave everything for her. It says here, He said in another
place, she did this against the day of my bearing, has she kept
this? In other words, a long time ago,
she started planning this, and purposing this, and setting this
up, and laying it up in store for this day. For this day. Just as God defiled the purpose
before the world began. to save whom He would, those
that He put in Christ. Just as Christ came into this
earth and diligently, carefully carried out this work, just fulfilling
every jot and tittle of that law, fulfilling the law and the
prophets in every regard for His people, so She purposed it. She planned what she was going
to do. She did this diligently because He meant everything.
What He had done for her, was doing for her, meant everything
to her. And then she came there in verse
7 and she poured it on His head. She didn't break the box open
and just put a few little drops on His head. She poured it on
His head. She poured it out on His head. How has Christ redeemed us? How
has He redeemed us? What has He done by shedding
His blood for us? He's poured out grace in abundance
to us. He's poured out His blood in
abundance and given us grace and forgiveness. Good measure,
pressed down, shaken together, running over. That's what He's
done for His children. Brethren, God gave the best.
He gave the very best. And Christ deserves the very
best we have. The very best we have. She brought
this ointment that showed what great value that she placed on
her Savior. Precious ointment for precious
blood. David desired a place to worship
the Lord one time. And the man that owned this threshing
floor was going to give it to him. And David said, no. He said, no. but I will surely
buy it of thee at a price. Neither will I offer burnt offerings
unto the Lord my God of that which has cost me nothing." So
he bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of
silver. You know what true love does?
True love replaces economics. Think about it. When's the last
time anybody here ever had a sick child? I mean a sick child. Somebody you love dearly? Did
you ever come to a point where you said, well, you know, we've
done a lot for her. Did you ever come to that point? Never did, did you? True love replaces economics.
Mary wasn't thinking about how she could divide up this ointment.
because her heart wasn't divided. She had unfeigned faith. Her
heart was single for Christ, just like this act of poor disointment
upon her Savior was upon Him only. Her faith was unfeigned,
opposite to double-mindedness. It was sincere love, opposite
to dissimulation. What we're willing to do for
those we love in the earth is just It's unbelievable. We do
great things for those that we love on this earth. How much
more willing ought we to be to do for the lover of our soul? His love for us is the essence.
It's the very heartbeat of our love to Him. That's what it is. The songwriter, when he hears
this melody for the first time, what Christ has accomplished
by His work, It makes the songwriter try to pick out the very best
words to go along with the very best melody to honor Him. It makes the sweeper... Somebody's
going to sweep this place up when it's all over with. Somebody's
going to come here and sweep it up. Knowing that Christ purged
our sin to where there's no sin left, it's gone. That makes the
sweeper... Look back and say, I left a spot
over there. I'm going to go get it. Just
sweep it up. Ah, knowing that He's built us
up together as living stones in His temple, fitly framed together
in precision like a master builder. It makes the carpenter out there
working in the hot summer sun measure every board just right.
It makes him to take no shortcuts. It makes him to want to be a
master carpenter. in imitation of His Master. Nobody's
got to constrain Him to do it. Nobody's got to go out there
and yoke Him to do it. He just wants to. He just wants to. It makes that businessman look
at Him who said, I must be about my Father's business and who
went about doing that which pleased the Father continually. It makes
the businessman be an honest businessman and not cheat and
try to get one over on folks. It makes the father and the mother,
look at this one who loved his children, this everlasting father,
who loved his children and raised us up and keeps raising us up
in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It makes the father
get up, go to work, to provide for her. It makes
the mother want to stay up later at night with them when they're
sick. Not to care a thing about it. It makes them love Him. Love Him even more. We love Him
naturally, but don't it make it sweeter? John said, when she did this,
that she not only poured it out on His head, but she poured it
out on the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair.
Christ came down from Heaven's glory. He came down from Heaven's
glory to glorify His Father in saving her from her sins. And
she submitted everything to Him. The glory of the woman's hair,
she put it all down at His feet. And said He deserves all the
glory, all the praise, all the honor. And washed His feet, dried
His feet with her hair. The house was filled with the
odor of that ointment, He said. You could, if you were in the
house, not the room, this is the room. The house is everything
about this building. The house was filled with the
odor of this ointment. Those that were up top on the
house, they could smell it. What Christ has done for His
people, this gospel has filled up this world with what He's
done. With this great fragrance, the odor of a sweet-smelling
savor. And it comes into His people
and it fills them up. It fills them up. And we've smelled
this fragrance all this weekend, all this weekend. And Christ's
offering that's a well-pleasing unto God and makes every believer
complete in Him, so that the sacrifices made by believers
in faith and love to Christ is going back to God, an odor of
a sweet smell and a sacrifice acceptable and well-pleasing
to God. Because it's scented in this fragrance of His. Well,
let's look at the reward. The reward. When His disciples
saw it, they had indignation, verse 8, saying, to what purpose
is this waste? For this ointment might have
been sold for much and given to the poor. I don't have to
say much about this because you already see just how silly this
sounds, don't you? After what we've just talked
about, you see how just... This was Judas doing the talking.
John said he said this not because he cared for the poor, but because
he was a thief and he had the bag and he bare what was put
therein. She was a worshiper. Judas was a thief. She was wanting
to give all the glory to Christ. Judas wanted to take it from
her, from him. She was wanting everybody there
to be looking at the Lord and have all their attention focused
on the Lord. Judas wanted to have everybody's
attention on him and on the poor. Isn't that just like false religion?
Isn't that just like it? Humanitarian efforts like crazy
and all kinds of stuff. And I'm glad they do it, I guess.
It's good. It helps out people. But whatsoever
is not done to the Lord, faith in Him, trusting Him alone, it's
vanity. Advertising prayer and almsgiving
like it's a marketing tool to try to get folks to come in.
It's the same as what the Lord said, don't do. He said, don't.
Don't pray to be seen of men. Don't do your odds before men.
And trying to market those things to get folks in, what good things
we're doing for people in the world and all that stuff. But
sadly, He led true believers to murmur against Her as well.
That's why there's an old man of sin in us, still with us. And that old man of flesh is
not good for anybody. He's self-serving, he's miserly. We ought to remember that. Try
to remember that about one another. That there's that old man within
our brethren. He's just no good. Just like
that old man still in here. He's no good. So when they mess
up, do all that, just overlook it. Now look at what they said. They said, to what purpose is
this? You see what the problem was here is they couldn't see
what the results were going to be for pouring all this expensive
ointment out on Christ. They couldn't see what the result
was going to be from it. Don't ever measure service to
Christ as successful by results. Don't ever do that. A long time
ago, when I was about 17 years old, this big fellow right here
came down to where I lived down in Taylor, Arkansas. You were
bigger then than you are now. I mean... You were littler. He was the age I am now, and
I was about 17 years old. He came down there and preached
the gospel. Just like about 10 years ago, he went to New Jersey
and preached the gospel. And I was just riding around
listening to tapes of his all down in the country, down there
in Arkansas. And they heard him on a radio
station. And now we're here. Here we are
together. From Arkansas to New Jersey. Who would have ever imagined
those kind of results? Somebody told Brother Maurice,
and Brother Maurice said, that's grace, ain't it? But you remember us talking earlier
in the weekend about Sister Judiestas. She helped pay for that. She never did live to see it. But the Lord worked the results
that He intended, even though she never did see it. You know the point I'm making
to you? Whatever the cost, there's nothing that's wasted when it's
done from the motive of glorifying Christ. And our success is not
measured by bigger and better and faster. That's not how it's
measured. If the truth is set forth, if the truth is set forth,
if Christ is glorified, it's been a success whether God saves
a multitude or whether He doesn't save any. It's a success whether
He does it in our day or He does it generations from now, we don't
ever even see. But even in this indignation,
He brought all this honor and all this glory of what He had
done out, even by this indignation, showing us that even the wrath
of man is going to praise God. He's going to bring honor to
Himself through it. But I want to show you this. I'll hurry. Matthew 26, 10. Our reward is
Christ Himself. He's our shield and He's our
defender and He's our commender. Look at verse 10. And when Jesus
understood it, that is, immediately He knew what they were murmuring
in their hearts, He said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? For she's brought a good work
upon me. For you have the poor always
with you, but me ye have not always. He knew what it was like. He
knew what she was bearing in a smaller way because infinitely
more so, the reproaches of them that reproached He fell on men.
Everywhere He went. And the Scripture doesn't say
He was despised and rejected the men. It says He is despised
and rejected the men. And He's touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. And He said right here, this
woman's given me preeminence. This woman's given me the preeminence. And our Savior honors those who
honor Him. He said, let her alone. Leave
her alone. And you know who? They did some
talking and the Lord did some talking. Mary didn't say anything. She just sat there silent. Look
at 2 Peter 2.20. This was also a picture of Christ.
Look at 2 Peter 2.20, the likeness of Him. What glory is it when you be
buffeted for your faults? You should take it patiently.
But if when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently,
this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were you called
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example
that you should follow His steps, who did no sin, neither was guile
found in His mouth. When He was reviled, He didn't
revile back. When He suffered, He didn't threaten
back. Here's what He did. He committed Himself unto him
that judgeth righteously. You see, the faith that's going
to save us is not our faith, brethren. Our faith receives
the faithful one. Our faith receives the faith
of the one who's going to save us. He committed Himself to the
Father perfectly. We were having a baptism the
other day, and this thought occurred to me. I need somebody to be
baptized for me without sin. to go through that act of being
baptized without sin, to do that perfectly for me. And he said,
it behooves us in fulfilling all righteousness. He did that
himself with no sin whatsoever. He was baptized perfectly. Just
in that outward act of water baptism, he did that perfectly.
Not to mention the immersion that he bore with the judgment
of God, which he pictures. We have an advocate with a father.
Revelation says, I heard a loud voice say, now has come salvation,
strength, the kingdom of our God, the power of Christ, the
accuser of our brethren cast down, which accused them before
our God day and night. See, He's going to defend us.
He's our shield and defender. We can just be quiet. We can
just keep our mouth shut. Well, He didn't only defend her
though, He commended her. Look at verse 12. In that she
had poured distortment in my body, she did it for my burial. And they didn't have any idea
about this, but Song of Solomon 1.12 says, this was literally
a fulfillment of prophecy. It says, while the king sitteth
at his table, that's where he was, sitting at me. It says, my spikenard sendeth
forth the smell thereof. There it is, a literal fulfillment. They didn't see any of that in
this. That ought to help us to understand. We see a brother
or sister, And they appear very zealous to do something before
we decide to say, that's too extreme. Let us consider this right here.
Think about this right here and how much they didn't see. They
tried to discourage her and murmur against her and what she did.
They didn't see all this. And God had all this purpose
in it. We're His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works which He's already foreordained
that we're going to walk in. Just like faith and love and
repentance and all these works. Every good work that we're going
to do, it's already been ordained. We're going to do it. We're going
to do it. So here's what I want to end up with. I just want to
show you that this is what I'm talking about. Faith which worketh
by love. Why did she give so much to the
Savior? Because Christ gave so much for her. We don't have anything
we didn't receive. Absolutely nothing we didn't
receive. In time, or in eternity, everything will have been what
we received, that was given to us. So she did what she could. That's what Christ said, she
did what she could. How could she give this willingly?
How could she give this bountifully? How could she do all this so
generously like she did it? Without reservation. Because
she could. She could, the Lord gave her
a heart. And when the Lord gives you a heart, He'll give you the
substance, whatever it is you need to do the work that He's
ordained for you to do. He's going to get all the glory
for it. Look at 2 Corinthians 9.8. I'll just read this to you.
Turn there if you'd like. 2 Corinthians 9.8 says, God is
able to make all grace abound towards you that ye always, having
all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. So in arranging our life around
the worship of God, in arranging our life around the worship of
God, we may have to leave our cattle and go up three times
a year, our house, our family, whatever. We may have to leave
that business partner that says our business is going to go under
if we don't do this. We're always trying to outrun God to beat
the storm home, aren't we? Next time that we try to walk
to adorn this Gospel, ministering to the needs of our brethren,
bearing witness of Christ to needy sinners, giving our money,
our time for the fervor of the Gospel, remember this, God is
able to make all grace abound toward you that you always having
all sufficiency and all thanks should abound to every good work.
I got one more Scripture, Philippians 4. Now, is that you telling me
that if I do that, If I start giving more, are you telling
me that I'm going to have a nicer car and a nicer house and things
will just all of a sudden get a lot better for me? Paul the
Apostle gave more than anybody in the New Testament. The Lord
used him more than anybody else in the New Testament. And in
the end, you know where Paul ended up? In prison. In prison. But this giving that
God gives to us is something far more than just outward temporal
thing. He'll provide those things. But
it's something far better than that. Look at what Paul said,
Philippians 4.11. He said, Not that I speak in respect of want,
for I have learned, here you go, here it is, in whatsoever
state I am therewith to be content. I know how to be abased and I
know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things
I'm instructed to be full and to be hungry. When I'm hungry and my belt buckle
is rubbing against my backbone, I'm full. Because I'm full in
Christ. I've got everything I need in
Him. And when I'm eating porterhouse steak, I'm saying, Lord, I'm
hungry for Your righteousness. Don't take Your righteousness
from me. I need Him. I need Him. And I have Him. And
I'm full in Christ, brethren. I know how to abound in the suffered
need and can do all things through Christ which strengthens me."
Now he said, you can't put a price on that. You can't put a price
on peace of God that passes understanding. That's what we're talking about.
And he says to them, verse 17, I don't desire a gift from you,
that's what he told them, but I desire fruit that may abound
to your count. Your love for Him is true. I
want to see you. I want to know that. And he said,
but I have everything and I'm abound and I'm full because I
received of Ephraim the thanks which were sent for you. And
he said, it's an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable,
well-pleasing to God. And then he reminded him again.
But remember, my God shall supply all your need according to His
riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Think about that, riches and
glory. What in the world do we have
to worry about? We got nothing to worry about. Nothing. Thank
you so much, President.