Tonight I'm going to preach on
the subject of temptation from 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13. I've entitled the message for
this morning, What Christ Called a Good Work. What Christ Called. a good work. Much has been thought, said,
and written about good works, and I would not dare take away
from the importance of this subject. We read in Ephesians chapter
2 verse 10 that where his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto
good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. I think of what the Lord said. Let your light so shine before
men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father
which is in heaven. Now notice the way he said that.
Let your light so shine before me and let it shine in this way
that when they behold your good works, they glorify your father,
which is in heaven. If they glorify you, it's not
a good work. I think it's very interesting
that the Lord Jesus Christ, the only one who can accurately define
and identify a good work during his 33 years here upon the earth,
only referred to one action as a good work. That's interesting, isn't it?
He is the one who knows what a good work is. And he only defined
one action, this one that we just read about as a good work,
the work of Mary. the sister of Lazarus, breaking
that costly alabaster box of ointment. And in today's terms,
it would be worth about $30,000. Now you think about that. That's a lot of money for someone
to break the box and pour it upon the Lord's head and upon
his feet and wiping his feet with the hairs of her head. When the disciples saw it, they
criticized her. To what purpose was this waste
made? I know in the text, it just says
Judas said that, and I'm sure Judas was the first one to say
it, but all the disciples chimed in in agreement in Matthew and
Mark's account. It says the disciples said this,
but the Lord said, why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good
work upon me." So highly did the Lord view this work. He said
in Mark's account, Verily I say unto you, wheresoever the gospel
is preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath
done shall be spoken as a memorial of her." Do you know of any other
work commended like that? Where the Lord says, wherever
my gospel's preached, this is going to be spoken of what she
did as a memorial of her. I'm not aware of any other act
spoken of in such lofty terms, yet this same act When his disciples
saw it, they had indignation, righteous indignation, moral
outrage. To what purpose was this waste? This could have been sold for
much and given to the poor. And what I find so troubling
is I know that I would have been right there with them criticizing. It's painful to think about,
but I know myself enough. I don't know myself too well.
I think I do sometimes, but I don't know myself nearly like the Lord
knows me. But I know myself enough to know
that I would have been one of those people finding fault. So much could have been done
with $30,000 and you waste it all for a smell. Yet the Lord commends her and
it could be argued that this is the greatest act ever performed
by a sinner saved by grace. And doesn't that make this interesting? It certainly deserves our careful
attention and where I'd like to begin the story is where every
story ought to begin, not with Mary. but with Mary's Lord. Turn to John chapter 11. Verse
1. Now a certain man was sick named
Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. And look what John says, it was
that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped
his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore
his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest
is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said,
This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that
the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha
and her sister and Lazarus. Now here is where we begin with
Mary, Mary's Lord. Jesus loved Martha. Jesus loved Lazarus. Jesus loved Mary. The fact that he loved her meant
that he always had loved her. Behold, I have loved you with
an everlasting love. Therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee." She was one who was eternally united to Jesus
Christ. Her name was written in the Lamb's
Book of Life, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
She was one the Father gave to the Son in eternal election before
time began. She was one that he willingly
became surety for and took full responsibility for her salvation
before time began. She was one of the us of whom
Jesus Christ said, thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. The same us that Paul spoke of
in Romans 8 32 when he said, What shall we say to these things?
If God be for us, who shall be against us? He that spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not
with him also freely give us all things? She was one of those
whom he had given spiritual life to. She was one of those that
he made willing in the day of his power. This act she's commended
for, He cost her to do it. For it's God that worketh in
you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. So if we begin
this with Mary, we're starting in the wrong place. The one reason
for this story is Mary's Lord, What a glorious Lord that could
provoke such a response. How glorious, how altogether
lovely must he be that would cause Mary to break that alabaster
box of ointment and pour it on his head, run down to his feet
and wipe his feet. with her hair. Let's not get this out of perspective. This is not about the glory of
Mary. This is about the glory of Mary's Lord. Now, the first
time we read of this dear woman is in Luke chapter 10. Would
you turn with me there? Verse 38. Now it came to pass as they went
that he entered into a certain village and a certain woman named
Martha received him into her house and she had a sister called
Mary, this is the same Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet
and heard his words. And that is spoken of in the
original like this. She kept on hearing his word. There was not an end of her hearing
his word. She kept on hearing his word. Now picture in your mind, Martha,
busy getting the house ready, getting the dinner ready for
the Lord. Who can blame her for this care
she's giving and she had a sister doing nothing. How mad would you have gotten? She's just sitting there listening,
doing nothing. Something is wrong with this
picture and Martha certainly felt that way. Verse 40, but
Martha was cumbered about, much serving, and came to him and
said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to
serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help
me. Now, it's never wise to tell
the Lord what to do. That's something that shouldn't
be done. And it's never wise to think
something like this. Don't you care? He's the Lord
of glory. Verse 41, and Jesus answered and said unto
her, Martha, Martha, Thou art careful and troubled
about many things. How many of us could this describe?
Careful, anxious, anxiety-ridden about many things. But one thing is needful. One thing is necessary. Now,
wasn't what Martha was doing necessary? Evidently not in the grand scheme
of things. The one thing that's needful
is to hear His Word, to keep hearing His to hear his word. Now, what I gather about Mary
is she knew she needed to hear his word. That was her personal
conclusion regarding herself. I'm so sinful. I'm so needy. I'm so ignorant. Here is what
I need. I need to hear his word. at His feet, hearing His Word."
Now look what the Lord says about this, "...and Mary hath chosen
that good part." What's that good part? Hearing His Word.
Now, she made a choice. What Martha did, I wouldn't say
that it was wrong in the sense that somebody had cooked dinner,
they were having the Lord over to eat. And I get it, I get it. But Mary said, what I need is
to hear His Word. Now, I'm sure that this created
criticism on Martha's part. It did. You saw the way she talked
to the Lord, but here we get something of her character. One
thing is needful. Mary understood that. The one
thing needful is to hear His Word. That's what I need. I need to hear His Word. I know why I need to because
I'm so stupid and sinful and hard telling what I'll think
or what I'll grasp or what I'll... I need to hear His Word. That is what I need. I need to
keep on hearing His Word. This is the one thing needful.
And the Lord commended her, Mary hath chosen that good part, and
it's not going to be taken away from her. Now look in John chapter
11, beginning in verse 27, we're looking at what Mary had to say. This is Martha speaking, when
the Lord said, Believest thou this? She said unto him, Yea,
Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which
hath come into the world. What a confession of faith by
Martha here, not Mary. This is Martha. Martha was a
fine woman. I admire her. I don't want to
get on her because of what the Lord said. Look at this confession
she makes. And when she had so said, she went her way and called
Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, The Master is come. and calleth
for thee. And as soon as she heard that,
she arose quickly and came unto him. Now Jesus was not yet come
into the town, but was in the place where Martha met him. Then
the Jews, which were with her in the house and comforted her,
when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily, went out following
her, saying, she goeth to the grave to weep there. Then when
Mary was come where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at
his feet. Evidently, that's the only place
she felt comfortable. We read her sitting at His feet,
hearing His Word. Here she is again at the Master's
feet, hearing His Word. I want to be there, don't you?
Sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. And look what she
said. Then when Mary was come where
Jesus was and saw Him, she fell down at His feet saying unto
Him, If thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. Now
we see from this, she had an imperfect faith. He could have
kept him from dying whether he was there or not. And none of
us have a perfect faith, do we? We all have the flesh still with
us, just like she did. But in John chapter 12, back
to our text. Verse two, there they made him
a supper and Martha served. She stays in character, doesn't
she? Martha served. But Lazarus was one of them that
sat at the table with him. I want to be one of them with
him, don't you? That's what we considered last week. One of
them with him. That's the only identity I want
to have. One of them with him. Then took Mary. a pound of ointment of Spikener. Now evidently this family was
fairly wealthy, well off at any rate. And she had a bottle of
perfume worth $30,000. Anybody in here got a bottle
of perfume that expensive? I doubt it. I doubt it. $30,000. So where'd she get that
kind of money? I guess it was a wealthy family. But she had
it. Very, very costly, worth about
$30,000. Now, before we consider this
as an act of love, we first need to consider this as an act of
faith. When the disciples criticized
her, look what the Lord said, verse 7, let her alone against
the day of my burying Has she kept this? This was first of
all an act of faith. Mark's account tells us she has
done what she could. She has come aforetime to anoint
my body for the burying. Now the Lord says that. Here's
why she did this. She was anointing my body for the burying. You
see, she had an understanding that none of the 12 had. I don't know whether this is
the right thing to say, but you know, in the New Testament, the women
were better than men. They really were. You know, while
these men were arguing and bickering over who was going to be the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven, that's what was going on at that
time. They were arguing over who was going to be the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven. She heard something they didn't
hear. If you read Matthew's account, at that time, he told them he's
going to be crucified and raised from the dead. As a matter of
fact, on three different occasions, he told them, I'm going to be
crucified and I'm going to be raised from the dead. I mean,
there's no mistaking what he said. And they didn't listen. Somebody did though. Somebody
did. As a matter of fact, He implied
this many other times. But even during this time, He
said this. And while He said this, the disciples
were bickering over which of them would be greatest in the
kingdom of heaven. But she heard. She knew that He would die. She
knew that He would be raised from the dead. She knew the only
hope of her salvation was found in him dying and being raised
from the dead and she took this costly perfume and she intelligently
wanted to use this to anoint his body when he was dead. That
was her motive. She thought he's going to die.
He's going to be raised from the dead. I know what I want
to do. I want to use that perfume and
pour it over his body to anoint him for when he dies. and when he's raised from the
dead. That's what her thought process was when she did this.
This was an act of faith. She heard what he said he was
gonna do, and this came into her mind. I'm gonna take that
box of perfume, and I'm going to break it, and I'm gonna pour
it on him. I'm gonna anoint his body for the burial, and when
he's raised from the dead. Now, look at the house that this was done
in, it was in Simon the leper's house. It's not pointed out in
here, but it's pointed out in Matthew and Mark. He was in Simon
the leper's house. There's something very touching
about that, isn't there? Where was the Lord shortly before his
death? He was in a leper's house. Oh, I love that. Leprosy, the
great type of sin. He was in a leper's house. There they made him a supper
and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the
table with him. Ben took Mary, a pound of ointment, a spikenard,
very costly and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet
with her hair. And the house was filled with
the odor of the ointment." Now, Mary thought about this. This
is what I want to do. And she comes from behind him. Perhaps she thought about it
sometime before, or perhaps just that morning, what she wanted
to do. with that box of costly perfume. And she break the box
that contained the ointment and she poured it over his head and
feet and wiped his feet with the hairs of her head. I picture
that in my mind. Now, Matthew's account says all
the disciples said this, but it appeared that Judas was the
ringleader. Then saith, verse four, one of
his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which had betrayed
him, why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given
to the poor? And we know, as I said from Matthew's
account, that everyone was in agreement with him because they
all said it. They were all practical and pragmatic. and criticize her. Criticism. Criticism. Anytime I criticize you, I'm
trying to make your candle a little darker, so mine will be a little
brighter. There's always this self-promoting
motive in criticism. Criticism is evil. A critical
spirit is evil. And when Judas was criticizing
her, he had another motive in mind, although he sounds so noble. He was a thief. And he had the
bag and what was put therein. This, if we would have sold this
money, I could have skimmed some off the top and I would have
made some money for myself. And that is why he was criticizing
her for this good work. I can't help but notice she made
no effort to defend herself. I would have. How dare you question
me and my motives? Who do you think you are? I believe
that she didn't think she was worth protecting herself. That's how she felt about herself.
She didn't try to defend herself. She didn't try to stop this.
She just kept her mouth shut. That's the best way to handle
criticism. Don't say anything about it. But the Lord took up
for it, didn't he? Look what he says. Verse seven,
then said Jesus, Let her alone. Now, he knew why she was doing
what she was doing. Let her alone against the day
of my bearing, hath she kept this. Now, what she did came
from the impulse of a loving heart. That's why the Lord called
the work good. And the word is actually beautiful.
Lord is saying what she did was beautiful. It came from the impulse
of a loving heart. She didn't think, is this my
duty? Is this required of me? Is this
an obligation? She didn't think, what if I need
the money next week or next month? No, she didn't think, do others
do this? She just did it on the impulse
of a loving heart. Isn't that beautiful? And the woman did what she did
solely for him. This is so important. The Lord,
she had brought a good work upon me. Now quite often when we give,
we think we're doing it to help out, pay the bills at the church,
help the different various Parts of the ministry we want to give
so the gospel go out and that's well and good, but that's not
why she gave. She did this solely for him. She hath wrought a good work
upon me. And what she did was extravagant.
Now this thing was worth $30,000. She could have sold $30,000 and
then she might have given $6,000. That's double the tithe. I'd
really be generous in doing that, but that's not what she did.
She broke that entire box and poured it on his head. Oh, what
an extravagant gift. And I love the way she broke
the box. She destroyed the evidence. You know what I would have done?
I would have kept the box and put it above my man. Somebody said, what's
that doing there? Let me tell you. I can tell you all about
it. And I would want somebody to find out about it. If I did
something, listen, if I did this, I'd want you to know about it.
But this woman destroyed the evidence. She broke the box. She wasn't doing this so anyone
could see her. And the fact that this was done
for him tells us anything done out of love for Christ is a good
work. You want to know what a good
work is? Anything done out of love for the Lord Jesus Christ. That is a good work. It was premeditated. It was done with great personal
sacrifice. Like David said, I'll not offer
to the Lord that which cost me nothing. And it was done without
a word. We don't read what she said anything.
She didn't sound the trumpet before. Everybody needs to know
what I'm doing. Like the hypocrites sound the
trumpet before they give their alms or before they pray or before
they fast. Want everybody to know. What
she did was without a word. There was no self promoting in
this love to him. Mark's account says, this is
what the Lord was saying. She's done what she could. Now
that word could is not the word that means ability. The word
could is she did what she had. She had love to Christ. She acted
on that love. And the Lord commended this work. And the house was filled with
the odor of the ointment. The whole church benefited from
this. Everybody in that room benefited. from this work of this woman. And here we are benefited from
it this morning. Just like the Lord said, wherever
the gospel is preached, they're going to be talking about this
work. This is the only work that the Lord ever called good. Now that doesn't mean there weren't
any other good works during his 33 years on the earth, but this
is the only one in the scripture that's pointed out that he calls
a good works, she hath wrought a good work upon me. She hath anointed my body for
the burial." She heard the gospel while the disciples were criticizing
her, while the disciples were bickering over which one of them
would be the greatest. She took this alabaster box of
ointment and anointed the Lord's body. Now, I don't know, like
I said, if any work the Lord ever commended like this. That's
enough to make us stop dead in our tracks and think how the
Lord commended this woman. Right now, 2,000 years after
it happened, we're talking about it. Now, if there's a work that's
worthy of our imitation, it's the work of this woman. Now,
remember, this is not about Mary. This is about Mary's Lord. The
Lord is so glorious, so altogether lovely. His salvation is so complete
that it moved this woman to do this work. And remember, it was
the Lord that performed it in her. He worked in her both to
will and to do His good pleasure. And what a glorious work. May the Lord enable you and I
to do the same. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank You that You've
left this in Your Word for us to read. And Lord, we're so prone to be
critical when we don't have any idea what we're even thinking.
We would be just like these disciples criticizing her. But Lord, we
ask that you would give us the grace to be like Mary in whatever way you enable us
to be. Deliver us from ourselves. and enable us to be like this
dear woman for Christ's sake. In His name we pray, amen.