Would you turn back to Mark 14? I've entitled this message Mary's
Beautiful Work. Look in verse 9 once again. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus. And he says, Verily I say unto you. Where so ever This
gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world. This also that
she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her. Now we don't read where the Lord
used that language with regard to any of the 12, do we? Yet this woman, is there ever a commendation
like this given to any son or daughter of Adam other than this
woman? Not that I'm aware of. And I
believe that by grace, this is the greatest work ever performed. by a sinner saved by grace. This is the only work that the
Lord ever commended as good. That's quite a resume, isn't
it? Mary's beautiful work. Now, the word here, good, means
more than morally good. It means beautiful. Beautiful. Mary's beautiful work. Now, a diamond is set on black
velvet to increase its luster to those who see it. And this
story, is set between two of the darkest events that have
ever taken place. Look in verses one and two, after
two days was the feast of the Passover and the unleavened bread
and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might
take him by craft and put him to death. And then after this story, verse
10, and Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, evidently this precipitated
this with Judas. And Judas Iscariot, one of the
twelve, went unto the chief priests to betray him unto them. Now in between these dark, dark
events, the planning of the murder of Jesus Christ, and the betrayal
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have what the Lord called a beautiful
work. I don't believe, as I said, there is any work better than
this. And if there was someone that
I would want to imitate in the scripture more than any other
person, it would be this woman. This woman was a woman of faith. You know, the Lord said she did
this to anoint his body for the burying. Did she know what she
was doing? Of course she did. She heard
the Lord speak of being crucified and being raised again. She believed
when the 12 didn't. And she did this as an act of
faith. You see, you can't separate love
to Christ and some view of his death and what it accomplished
and his resurrection. Those two things cannot be separated. And she did what she did as an
act of faith. Now we know from John's account
that Judas was the one who initiated this criticism, but all of the
disciples joined in with this criticism. Matthew's account
says when the disciples saw, I believe it's all 12 of them,
12 of them, they had indignation and said, to what purpose was
this waste made? You know what just kills me? I know I would have been one
of them. I don't think it, I know it. I would have been one of
those people criticizing her for the great waste. All of this
for a smell. What a waste. Now we know from John's gospel
that it was Mary who did this, the sister of Martha, the sister
of Lazarus. Mary performed this action and
was done right after the Lord had raised her brother from the
dead. And I know this much about Mary. She knew that Jesus Christ
was the Son of God. There wasn't any question with
her with regard to that. She knew him. I love that story
in Matthew chapter or Luke chapter 10, I think it is, where they
were having a feast for the Lord and Martha and Mary and Lazarus
at their home. And Martha was busy about getting
the house ready for this. And can you blame her having
the Lord over? I would want everything to be
perfect. And Mary, the scripture says, this same Mary sat at his
feet. That's where I wanna be found.
She sat at his feet and she heard his word. Well, Martha got aggravated
about it. She said, Lord, don't you care
that I'm doing all this work and my sister isn't doing anything?
Martha, Martha, you're careful and troubled about many things,
but one thing is needful. One thing is needful. Right now,
one thing is equal. Amen? One thing is equal. And Mary hath chosen that better
part, and it shall not be taken from her. Turn with me for a
moment to John chapter 11. Now a certain man was sick named
Lazarus. of Bethany, the town of Mary
and her sister Martha. It was that Mary which anointed
the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose
brother Lazarus was sick. John lets us know this was Mary
who performed this act. Therefore, his sister 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. Don't you want to be in that
group that he loved? Now in our text, back to Mark 14, Verse three, and being in Bethany. Remember, Bethany is the town
that Martha and Mary and Lazarus lived in. Being in Bethany, in
the house of Simon the leper. Now we're not given any information
about Simon, but this, he was a leper. And you know, the Lord
had a love for lepers. You remember that man who came
to Christ full of leprosy, the scripture says, in Luke. That means every square inch
of his body was covered with leprosy. He came into the Lord's
presence and said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. The scripture says, and Jesus
moved with compassion. reached forth his hand and touched
him. And I can't help but wonder how
long it had been since he'd experienced any kind of human touch. He was
a leper. He was made to put a cloth over
his mouth. And if somebody came toward him,
he would say, unclean, unclean. But here the Lord moved with
compassion, touched him. You know, there are two chapters.
in Leviticus dedicated to the cleansing of the leper. And this
is so interesting. The only time you could be pronounced
clean by the priest is if you came completely covered with
leprosy. And if you come into Christ's
presence completely covered with sin. no soundness, nothing but
sin, you will be received. And if you come any other way,
you will be rejected and sent back to the leper colony. The
only person who was pronounced clean was the man, you can read
about this in Leviticus 12 and 13, that was completely covered
with leprosy. Now, Being in Bethany, in the
house of Simon the leper, as he said it meet, there came a
woman, Mary, having an alabaster box of ointment, of spikenard,
very precious. And she break the box and poured
it on his head. Now we know from the other account,
she also poured it on his feet. And she took her hair, I imagine
her hair was long, obviously, and she took her hair and wiped
his feet with that ointment. And I love the way John points
out the whole room was filled with this odor. Everybody benefited
from this action of hers, but she wasn't thinking about anybody
else's benefit. That wasn't even in her mind. She did this, this thing which
the Lord called a beautiful work, and this alabaster box of ointment
would have been worth about, in today's vernacular, $30,000.
That's a lot of money for a box of perfume. And she broke that
box. She left nothing. She poured
it all upon Him, and the point I want to make, as the Lord called
this, a beautiful work. Now why? She had one motive. She loved
His person. That's it. She loved Him for
who He is. She loved His holiness. She loved
his sovereignty. She loved his power. She loved
his humility. She loved his independence she
loved his majesty every attribute that he possesses as the god
man in him dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily she recognized
that and she loved him for who he is and you know the only person
that experiences that is the that can understand that is the
person who does love him for who he is Only the believer loves
Him for who He is. And every believer loves Him
for who He is. That's what she did. She did
this out of the impulse of a loving heart. It came into her heart
to do this, and that's a gift of His grace. And she didn't
think, is it my duty to do this? Am I obligated to do this? Are
others doing this? I didn't see any of the disciples
doing this. What will it cost me to replace this? What if I
need the money down the road that this could bring me? How will I be recognized in doing
this? What will other people think?
Do you know none of those things even came into her mind? She
did this. from the impulse, and I have
no doubt where that impulse came from, God the Holy Spirit. She
did this as an impulse from her heart that he gave her, that
loved him. She loved him for who he was,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And she did what she
did solely for him. That's what the Lord recognizes
about this. You see, the disciples criticized this, and I am sure
I would have joined in with them. That's one of the things that
make me so sad about this passage of scripture. I wish I could
preach it the way it ought to be preached, but I know which
one of the people I would have been. I would have been right
there with them, criticizing her for wasting this money with
all the good things that could have been done with it. They
were pragmatic, they were practical. How many poor people could have
been fed with this? You know, we always have some
end in view in what we do, don't we? We have some end in view. Good reason, so we think. How's
this going to make me look? How's it gonna help my testimony?
How's it going to help those in need? But this woman had a
higher end than any of these things. She was doing what she
was doing. solely, solely for him. No other motive. She didn't think what a good
person I am for doing this. She didn't think the world needs
more people like me who will do this for him. I'm setting
an example. She wasn't thinking about herself
at all. Listen, if you think about you, you've ruined it.
You've ruined it. The moment you think, well, I
did this. You've ruined it. This woman did what she did solely
for him, and there is no better reason, there is no more sublime
motive than this. And what she did was extravagant. If you spend $30,000 for a bottle
of perfume for your wife, and used it all up at once, and broke
it and poured it on her, and you had no motive of what you
had gained from it, stand up, I want to see you. I want to see you. And once I
did see you, I'd criticize you. You know, the church could have
used that money. We got bills to pay. There's missionaries
that could have benefited from that. I mean, this is a waste
of money. I mean, this is extravagant.
There are other needs. I mean, I admire you on some
levels, but I think you're stupid. That is the way I would respond
to something like this. I know myself. Well, the disciples criticized
her for her extravagance, and even called it a waste. A waste. Now that is a strong word. It's
only found 20 times in the New Testament. And let me give you
the other translations that King James gives of this same Greek
word. Perdition. Destruction. Damnable. perishing, perdition. And we know from John's account,
Judas was the initiator of this. He said, why was not this ointment
sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? And John gives us
this statement on it. This he said, not because he
cared for the poor. but because it was a thief, and
had the bag and bear what was put therein. He just thought,
I'm losing money out of this. But boy, he had a good reason
for criticism, so he thought. And you know what I love about
what this woman did? She broke the box. She broke it. What happened to
it? I guess she threw it away. You
know what I would've done? Somebody comes over, what's that?
Well, I can tell you about it. She broke it. She destroyed the
evidence. She destroyed the evidence. Question. Considering who Jesus
Christ is, and what he's done for us, is there anything we
could do that would be too extravagant? Is there any sacrifice too great? And let me put that in another
way. Is it a sacrifice in the first place? I like what Paul said. I suffered
the loss of all things and do count it but dung. That's what I sacrificed. Oh,
I've sacrificed so much for Christ. Done? Oh. Oh. This was an act of faith. Verse six, Jesus said, let her
alone. Why trouble ye her? She hath
wrought a good work on me, for you have the poor with you always,
and whensoever ye will, you may do them good, but me you have
not always. She's done what she could, she
has come beforehand to anoint my body to the burying. Now, interestingly, and I don't
know why, but just about every commentary says the Lord's given
this comment, but she didn't really know that. Yeah, she did.
You know, the Lord told them on at least three different occasions,
I'm going to die. And she knew his hour was come
and I'm going to be raised from the dead. And she came to anoint
his body for the burying. She had some understanding of
his death. And that is why she did this. You see, you can't think of the
Lord Jesus Christ, not truly, not spiritually, not as God enables
you. You can't think of the Lord Jesus
Christ apart from thinking about the accomplishments of his death.
I mean, he can't be separated. The person and the work of Christ
cannot be separated. Somebody says, I love Christ. Well, I'm glad you do. Do you
love his work? Somebody says, I love his work. I'm glad you
do. Do you love him? These two things cannot be separated. We preach Christ crucified. And this woman was taken up with
his death. Did she understand what he would
accomplish by his death? Well, in some measure. As far
as that goes, I don't understand everything, do you? I mean, his
death is so glorious, it's so mysterious, it's so powerful.
Of course you didn't understand everything, but neither do you
or I. God does, though. And that's what counts, God's
estimate of his death. And she did this to anoint his
body for the burial. She was conscientiously anointing
his body for this burial. How'd she know? How'd that one thief know? He knew the Lord would come back
as a mighty reigning king. The other didn't. How'd he know?
Was he smarter? No. The gospel was revealed to
him. And this was revealed to her. And anything you and I know is
because he revealed it. It's not because you figured
it out. It's because he revealed it. And that was the case with
this woman. Now look what the Lord says,
and I think this is very interesting. After they'd murmured against
her, Jesus said, let her alone. Mind your own business. Why are
you troubling her? She hath wrought a good work
on me. For you have the poor with you
always, and whensoever you will, you may do them good, but me
ye have not always. She hath done what she could. I remember, Joe McSherry used to spend so
much time out here. You all know that. He was out
here 40 hours a week for 25 years. And I remember this fella coming
in, was wanting to do something, and it was interesting to watch
him. I mean, he'd be right on their back, you know, looking
over, watching them, everything. And this guy started, he said,
well, I can't do this, and I can't do that, and I can't do that.
And Joe said, I'm tired of hearing what you can't do. What can you
do? The guy was just, you know, he was, Well, that's a good question. Now the word she hath done what
she could is not the word that we use for ability. It's not
that word at all. It's usually translated what
she had. She has done with what she had. let her alone, she hath wrought
a good work upon me." Now what is a good work? Now listen to
this real carefully. This is real simple. Anything
done out of love for Christ. That's the criteria. I don't
care what it is, if it's not done out of love for His person.
And I'm talking about knowing who He is. I'm not talking about
somebody saying, I know Jesus. No, I'm talking about someone
who knows who He is and loves Him for who He is. Anything done
out of love for Him is a good work. And anything that's not
done out of love for Him is an evil work. The plowing of the wicked is
sin, the scripture says. Now, plowing seems like a wholesome
activity, but the scripture says the plowing of the wicked is
sin. The only work that's a good work is that which is done out
of love for him. You have the poor with you always,
and whensoever you will, you may do them good. You can do
something for the poor anytime. But me, you have not always.
She hath done what she could. She has come aforehand to anoint
my body to the bearing. Now what she did was by grace,
but she had done what she could. She did with what she had. Well, what'd she have? She had
love to Christ, she had an alabaster box of ointment. That's what
she had. And she did what she could. I heard someone say once, if
I had money, I'd be generous. Doesn't count what you do with
what you have if you had it. She did what she could. This was an act of faith. And what does the Lord say? Verily, I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall
be preached. Now, this gospel is the gospel. This gospel is the gospel, the
only gospel, the gospel of God, the gospel of Christ. The gospel
of the grace of God. The gospel that saves. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am the chief. She was one of those
sinners Christ came to save. You know, one of the things I
love to think about, you know, he came to save sinners. You know
what? He did it. That's the gospel. He did it. When he said it is finished,
everybody he died for was saved. Period. She was one of those sinners. Now, wherever this gospel is
preached, we have this memorial of this woman that shows us what
takes place when one of those sinners are saved. They become
lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now when I talk about love to
Christ, please don't start thinking about the strength of your love
or the greatness of your love because there ain't much to it.
You know that and I know that. You think of who he is. That's what draws out the love.
who He is and what He did. And the only motive you desire
to have, and I can say this to every believer, this is what
you want more than anything else, you want your only motive to
be love to Him, don't you? Love to His person. Now this is what the Lord called
a beautiful work. And we want to be like this one
who sat at his feet and heard his word and did what she did
out of love and gratefulness to him, not for reward, not for
recognition, but because she saw the beauty of His person
and the sufficiency of His salvation. A beautiful work. Let's pray.