I so thank God for you and your
pastor. And as God enables me, I pray
for you regularly. Thank God for his blessings upon
you and expect more. Full of anticipation, wherever
men and women faithfully serve the cause of our Redeemer. And
I thank you for your faithfulness and serving our Redeemer with
our faithful brother, your pastor. Turn with me, if you will, to
Mark chapter 14. I believe I've got something
for you. Verse 6. Our Lord Jesus says something
here about a woman who had been a harlot Something he says about her,
he never said about any other human being. The very last line of verse 6,
she hath wrought a good work on me. Mark 14, verse 6, she hath wrought
a good work on me." We hear much talk about good works. And when people talk about good
works, they usually wind up talking about things by which they distinguish
themselves from others in their outward behavior that men see
and applaud. And usually they're talking about
either some great sacrifice they think they have made, or they're
talking about something they don't do, or don't wear, or don't
eat, or don't drink, or don't, don't, don't. Religion and good
works are almost always set in negatives. Did you ever notice
that? Almost always set in negatives. But our Lord Jesus says concerning
this woman, she hath wrought a good work on me. Now I'm interested in that, aren't
you? She wrought a good work and she wrought it on me. It's
recorded for us in all four gospel narratives. I've chosen to look
tonight at chapter 14. Let's read beginning in verse
3. Being in Bethany, in the house
of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having
an alabaster box of ointment, of spikenard, very precious.
And she break the box and poured it on his head. And there were
some that had indignation within themselves and said, why was
this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for
more than 300 pence and had been given to the poor. And they murmured
against her. And Jesus said, let her alone. Why trouble ye her? she hath
wrought a good work on me. For ye have the poor with you
always, and whensoever ye will, ye may do them good, but me ye
have not always. She hath done what she could. She has come aforehand to anoint
my body to the burying. Now, if I'm not mistaken, and
I don't think I am, the woman mentioned in this 14th chapter
of Mark is Mary, the sister of Lazarus. I personally think she
is also Mary Magdalene. I think the two are one. The
Apostle John identifies her in chapter 11, verse 2, in his gospel. She is a believer, a woman full
of faith, full of grace, full of devotion to the Redeemer.
Our Lord says of her, Mary hath chosen that good part which shall
not be taken away from her. In fact, every time this woman
is identified in the scriptures, every time you see her name mentioned,
she is set before us by the Spirit of God as a tremendous example
of faith, devotion to the Redeemer, genuine grace. In Luke 10, we
see Mary sitting at the Savior's feet. absorbing every word he
spoke, just sitting at his feet, worshiping him. Later, in John
chapter 11, Mary, along with her sister Martha, sent a message
to the master. Their brother Lazarus was sick,
and what a tremendous expression of faith it was. They said, Lord,
he whom thou lovest is sick. They didn't presume to suggest
what the Master ought to do about it. They didn't presume to ask
that the Lord do anything. They simply expressed great confidence
that they should simply tell Him their great desire, their
great need, the burden of their heart. They said, Lord, He whom
Thou lovest is sick. And then later in that 11th chapter
of John, We see Mary waiting patiently upon the Lord Jesus,
worshipping Him in the midst of great sorrow. Her brother
is now dead. And she's worshipping Him. Had
He been there, she knew as well as Martha, her brother wouldn't
have died. Nobody ever died in the presence of Him who is life.
But the Lord deliberately stayed away for three days, waiting
for her brother to die. and now she worships him patiently. Then, in our text, this is just
a short while before the Lord Jesus would die in her place
and put away her sins by the sacrifice of himself. Mary came
into the house of Simon the leper. Again, if I mistake not, Simon
the Pharisee, the same one mentioned in Luke chapter 7. This religious
man had spread a great feast, invited lots of dignitaries,
and did this in the honor of this now famous prophet out of
Nazareth. And the Lord Jesus is reclining
at the table with his disciples, enjoying this feast, and she
comes in where he was eating, quietly, slips in behind him,
and breaks open an alabaster box. containing rich, fragrant
ointment, spikenard, very precious. She breaks it open and anoints
the son of God for his burying. She stoops down and washes his
feet with her tears, kisses them, and wipes them with the hairs
of her head. And some thought she had acted fanatically. They thought she had been extreme.
They thought she had been just too excessive. And they began
to murmur within themselves. They began to murmur about this
terrible waste. And the Lord Jesus says, Why
trouble you her? The fact is, the spirit of these
narrow-minded fault-finders is all too common everywhere. Their followers are found in
every age, and wherever there is someone devoted to the Redeemer,
you will hear what they have to say. They've got to offer
an opinion. These pious, self-righteous worldlings call devotion to Christ
extreme. And they're quick to denounce
that which is considered radical in devotion to Christ. Dedication
and commitment they call fanaticism. These are people who always urge
moderation. We're at the age now where we
like to urge folks to be a little bit more moderate, aren't we?
Find yourself like that? God, keep me from that. God,
keep me from that. You want to do something for
Christ, go do it. Go do it. And don't listen to
anybody who urges moderation. If we had, we wouldn't be where
we are, would we? Go do it. I say that to my children
and grandchildren and say it to yours as well. Go do it. If
a man devotes himself to the pursuit of any earthly thing,
anything, I mean just devotes. Man, he's an aggressive go-getter. We admire him. How did he build
that business? He stayed with it. He devoted
himself to it, sacrificed everything for it. A young man or woman
is an athlete and they devote themselves to exercise and discipline
themselves and they train and train hard hoping to win the
ultimate prize for a young person, a gold medal in the Olympics.
Oh, what admiration we have for them. But take the same man or
the same young man or young woman devoting themselves entirely
to the Son of God. Oh, no, you don't want to do
that. Have you considered what that's going to cost you? Have
you considered your family? Have you considered how this
is going to affect you in the long term? I recall when God
saved me by his grace, you don't need to know much about it, but
I'd been known for other things. Had a next door neighbor who
was a government agent, and I don't know to this day exactly what
he did. But he and I had a pretty good relationship. He knew things
I was involved with. And I don't ever remember him
warning me about anything. He never warned me about anything
until he heard that I had gotten religion, as he called it. And
he called me over one day. I got out of my car. He called
me over and said, Don, have you got a minute? And we went over
and sat down in his front yard. And he said, I hear you got religion. And I said, Mr. Sturgis, God
save me. And he said, well, you know,
I just wanted to tell you, you don't want to be too extreme
in that. You don't want to go overboard
with that. Let me tell you something. I've seen
lots of folks go overboard with foolishness they call religion.
You're not going overboard with devotion to Christ. Devotion to the Son of God is
something about which there can be no extreme. There is no extreme. If ever a person comes to understand
the sinfulness of His being, and the mercy, grace, and love
of God in Christ, the price of His redemption,
he will cry from his heart, What shall I render to the Lord for
all His benefits? We have a young man and his wife
who started attending church in Danville a couple of months
ago now. And he'd come and ask questions,
take notes, and ask questions, and take notes, and ask questions,
and take notes. And one day I was getting a little
exasperated. Because he'd come right before I'd get ready to
preach. That's not the best time to visit me. And my wife sensed
I was getting a little exasperated. And she's often done such for
me. She said, you know, he reminds
me a whole lot of somebody I used to know and love. That's the kind of zeal and devotion
I pray God to give me every day. to do that which I do for my
Redeemer. And I urge you to do the same.
Our Lord then said, She hath wrought a good work on me. I can't think of anywhere else
in the Scripture He ever said that about anything a human being
did. Can you? Can't think of anywhere else.
Let's find out what she did. What is a good work? What is
this thing about which the Master says, that's a good work. That's
a good work. Number one. What Mary did, she
did just for the Savior. Just for Him. Just for Him. She was wrapped up in him, absorbed,
consumed by the Lord Jesus. She cherished him. This perfume
was meant for nobody but him. She had no regard for herself,
no regard for the consequences of her actions, and she had no
thought about what she was about to lose or what she might gain. She wanted nothing but to honor
Him who was about to die for her. The Master says, She hath
wrought a good work on me. She had no thoughts to the disciples,
but just the Redeemer. She didn't stop to ask what any
of the disciples might think about her walking in there where
she was not even invited amongst all those men. and there anoint
the master. She had no thought about those
things. She just went where he was and did what she did just
because she loved him. Some years ago, our daughter
Faith, she must have been about four, maybe five years old. I've
been away preaching, been gone for a good while, and it was
in the spring of the year, And she was expecting me to come
home back when we first got those CB radios. I'd go on top of the
mountain and call her until I'd be home and she'd have coffee
ready and something to eat. Faith was sitting out on the
porch in front of my study. She had gone around and gathered
up a whole fistful of dandelions. Y'all have dandelions down here?
Yeah. Whole fist. I wish she could
have gotten them all by the root, but she just got the tops. Got
a whole fistful of them. And she's sitting there on the
stoop waiting for me to drive up. And when I drove up, she
came running out to me and brought out her dandelions, just beaming. And when she got to the truck,
there was nothing left but just those stems. All the seeds had
grown all over the yard. And she was crying because her
dandelions, her beautiful flowers, were now so ugly. And I reached
out and took her and took them. I'd give $1,000 for one of them
right now. Prettiest flowers I ever saw
in my life. How come? Because they were just
done by my daughter for me. That's all. Our Lord didn't care
anything about the ointment. What does the king of glory want
with a little perfume? I have no benefit to him. I have no more benefit to him
than those stinking dandelions would be to me. The one thing
that he did want was Mary. Her heart. And she brought it. In her will. Just like faith
brought her heart to me with her dandelions. This was an act,
secondly, of pure love. Turn to Luke chapter 7. This is what Luke's narrative teaches. Verse 36. One of the Pharisees desired
him that he would eat with him. And when he went into the Pharisee's
house and sat down to meet, Behold a woman in the city which was
a sinner When she knew that Jesus said
it meet in the Pharisees house brought an alabaster box of ointment
and stood at his feet behind him weeping and began to wash
his feet with her tears and did wipe them with the hairs of her
head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment
now when the Pharisee which had bitten him saw it and He spake
within himself, saying, This man, if he were really a prophet,
what is he saying? If he really was a prophet, he
would have known who and what manner of woman this is that
toucheth him. For she is a sinner. And Jesus
answering said unto him, Simon, I have some what to say unto
thee. And he saith, Master, say all.
And there was a certain creditor which had two debtors, the one
owed 500 pence and the other 50. And when they had nothing
to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which
of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose
that he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, thou hast
rightly judged. And he turned to the woman and
said, Simon, seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house,
and thou gavest me no water for my feet, but she hath washed
my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
Thou gavest me no kiss, but this woman, since the time I came
in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst
not anoint. But this woman hath anointed
my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her
sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom
little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto
her, Thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at meat with
him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins?
And he said to the woman, thy faith hath saved thee, go in
peace. The one thing that motivated
her was love for the Redeemer, arising
from a heart of gratitude for the redemption he was about to
accomplish. The love of Christ constraineth
us, Paul said. The love of Christ, that's the
motivating force. That's the driving force. That's
the inspiration. That's what keeps us going and
thick and thin. That's what makes us willing
to be shipwrecked and beaten and persecuted and assaulted
and assailed and slandered and left for dead for your sakes. Because the love of Christ constrains
us. We love Him because He first
loved us. We don't talk much about our
love for Christ, and at best we don't. We shouldn't. Whenever the congregation sings,
I don't forbid it. They sing, oh, how I love Jesus.
I just sit and listen and pray, God, teach me so to love Him.
Because my love for Him is not worth talking about, much less
singing about. But of this, every believer speaks
truthfully. We love Him. Not like we want to. Not like
we ought to. Not like we shall. But we love
Him. And we love him because he first
loved us. He loved us with an everlasting
love. And his love for us is the cause of our love for him.
But loving we do. And frankly, it's an offense
to me, anytime somebody comes to me and tells me I need some
of the motive for doing something. suggest some other, some alternative
motive to inspire my heart. We love Him. We love Him because
He first loved us. When our hearts and lives are
ruled by love for Christ, they are well ruled. Oh, may the love of God rule
your heart. and govern your life all your
days. Number three, what is this work
our Lord called a good work? It was a work requiring tremendous
sacrifice, requiring considerable self-denial and sacrifice. You don't need to turn there
and read it, but you might jot down in your notes somewhere.
You notice that the disciples said this could have been sold
for 300 pence. Compare Matthew, the 20th chapter.
Our Lord gives a parable about a man who goes out and hires
servants to labor in the morning and then he hires more at noontime
and he hires more in the evening. And when they came in from the
evening's work, those who were hired in the last hour received
the very same thing as those who were hired in the first.
And they said, you've made them equal with us. And each one received
a penny. That makes this box of perfume.
And I bought my wife some expensive perfume before. Sometimes I pay
upwards of three or four dollars for it. This box of perfume is worth
300 pennies. One year's wages. Now, I'm just suspicious. I suspect this old gal, before
God saved her, kept tucking aside a little bit of spike to it every
time she'd get a chance. This is her picture. This is
her retirement. She knew she couldn't live like
this forever. And she's just tucking away a little bit for
the rainy day. And she'd been saving it, saving it, saving
it. And when the Lord Jesus called
her by His grace, forgave her sin, and taught her
that He had come to put away her sin by dying in her stead,
and she understood it. She said, this is what this is
for. This is for him. This is what
God's provided this with me all these years just for him. And
she comes with no thought or regard for herself and takes
that spikenard and breaks it and anoints him for his burial. It was a work force that involved
deliberate, thoughtful preparation. She had been planning it for
some time. She made her way to the Pharisee's house and when
she got there at the appropriate opportunity, when God in His
providence had arranged for lots of folks around, His disciples
and others, though nobody else really knew what was going on,
this woman said, this is the time for me to anoint Him for
His burial. And the Lord Jesus tells us that
in John chapter 12. He said, let her alone, against
the day of my burying has she kept this. Fifthly, this is a good work. And it had
this characteristic. I've already hinted at it repeatedly. It was done in complete silence. Just in complete silence. She
didn't talk about what she was going to do. She didn't talk
about what she was doing. She didn't talk about what she
had done. She just did. And she did it for him. Let me tell you what I did for
the Lord. Well, I reckon you didn't. Let me tell you what we used
to do for the Lord. I reckon you didn't. Because you got to
tell me about it. It wasn't for Him. This was done just for Him. Not only did she not want anyone
to know about it, she wanted them not to know about it. As
much as possible, she came in quietly, did what she did, and
if it hadn't been for the stir that they caused, she would have
walked out and nobody would have even known what was going on
except the room would have smelled better when she left. She did
it silently just for him. And this was a good work because
it's a work of faith. The work of faith involving two
things in particular. First, she believed the Master. David, when you read the Scriptures,
it seems, I may be mistaken, but it seems that this woman
is the only person walking on the earth who understood the
Lord's doctrine when he said, I'm going to Jerusalem to die
and rise again. Nobody else didn't seem to understand it. They were
astonished. They were taken back by it. Repeatedly
he told them, but nobody understood. They were too much wrapped up
in other things to hear what he said. But this woman believed
he was going to die and rise again as her surety and substitute. And she brought Everything she had. Everything she had. Everything. Everything. Unreserved. Total commitment. And threw it all away at one
time. Threw it all away at one time.
Ah, what a blessed place to throw it away. She did it for him. One more thing. This is how our Master describes
a good work. She hath done what she could. Brother Don, I'm a woman. I can't
go preach. I can't go be a missionary. Phoebe was a woman. Lydia was
a woman. This woman was a woman. And they
did what they could for the Master. But Brother Don, I'm not gifted
to preach. I can't preach. You can do what you can. You
can do what you can. And what you can do is what God
gives you the ability and the means and the opportunity to
do. That's what you can do. What
God gives you the ability, the means, and the opportunity to
do for Christ. Our local churches, each of us
are placed where we are with the means and opportunities and
abilities God's given us. each of the pastors with the
gifts and the opportunities and the means that God's given us.
And we're not in competition. I pastor a small rural congregation
in central Kentucky. And I have no responsibility
for what Lincolnwood Baptist Church and David Pledger does
in Houston, Texas. None whatsoever. Whatever he
does, I pray for God's blessings on you here. Pray for it. No
competition. Man, they're running 500 now.
Great, great. How many y'all got? Five? That's
all right. That's all right. We're not in
competition. We're laborers together. We're
laborers together. Oh, man, do you know what all
they're doing? Well, no, but I know a little.
Glad they do. What do y'all do? What we can.
But we can. And that's all God requires,
is that we be faithful over what God's put in our hands. What
can I do for the Master? Whatever God gives you the means,
the opportunity, and the ability to do. I tell you what I'd love to do. with all my heart. I'd love to do something just
for Him. Wouldn't you? Just for Him. Just for His glory. And I'll
tell you how you serve Him. You serve His people. You're not going to go somewhere
and wash his feet today. Oh, yes, you can. Oh, yes, you
can. I get my feet washed by God's
people all the time. That lady did it last night.
All the time. All the time. We serve his people. As a matter of fact, if you read
about good works illustrated in Matthew 25, Our Lord speaks of the Day of
Judgment and folks on His left hand, and He said, I was hungry
and you didn't feed me. And I was thirsty and you didn't
give me anything to drink. I was sick and in prison and
you didn't visit me. And they said, when didn't we
do that to you? Well, we've always done that. Two things characterized
the self-righteous religionist who served themselves. They claimed
they were serving the Savior and they never did anything for
him. And then these on his right hand. He says, come, blessed
is my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. I was hungry and you fed me. I was naked and you
clothed me. I was thirsty and you gave me
something to drink. I was sick and imprisoned and you visited
me. Lord, when did we do that? When did we do that? I never
did anything for you. Never did anything for you. That's
called a good work. It's never recognized as being
anything by the person who does it. Our Father. Oh God, our Father. Give us grace to serve our generation for the
glory of God, and thus to serve our Savior. Will you grant your
blessings upon this assembly? on this pastor as they labor
together in the cause of Christ. God, use them. Honor their labors. Establish the work of their hands.
Increase your kingdom and get glory to your son. I ask for
Christ's sake. Amen.