Now we're looking today to Matthew
chapter 26, and we'll look at verse 1 down to verse 13. I would encourage you these next
few weeks to repeatedly read Matthew 26, 27, and 28. These
are the last days, the last two days of the Lord's earthly life
as He goes about setting his face like a flint to be crucified
for our sin. I'm taking the title for the
message from what the Lord says of this woman in verse 10. Matthew
26 verse 10. Why trouble you the woman? Why
do you trouble her? For she has wrought a good work,
now notice this carefully, upon me. Now it doesn't say she had
done a work for me, the Lord had done a work for her. But
because of that, the Lord Jesus Christ had done a work for her
of mercy and grace, she comes to honor Him and to worship Him. A good work done upon the Lord
Jesus Christ. This humble woman, a believer,
A sinner saved by the grace of God came to worship the Lord
Jesus Christ, and of all people was criticized and condemned. Look at verse 8, Matthew 26,
verse 8. But when the disciples saw it,
that is, she took this alabaster box, a very precious ointment,
and just dumped it, all of it, on the Lord Jesus Christ. And
when they saw that, they had indignation and saying, to what
purpose? To what purpose was this waste? The Lord Jesus Christ immediately
come to her defense, doesn't he? He quickly comes to her defense
as her advocate, as her mediator. The God that we worship, our
Lord Jesus Christ, is still today. He's our advocate. He's our mediator. When Satan would accuse us, he's
called the accuser of the brethren. When Satan would accuse us, the
Lord Jesus Christ ever lives to make intercession for us. John writes about it in his epistle,
1 John. He says, little children, these
things I write unto you, that you do not sin. But when you
do, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous. There's one God, one mediator
between God and men, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. We have that blessed, blessed
mediator. Those who seek to honor and worship
him, the Lord Jesus Christ will defend them and protect them. The scriptures teach those who
honor him He will honor. We're going to see that in a
minute. Now notice, it says in verse 1, it came to pass when
Jesus had finished all these sayings unto His disciples, He
said, you know that after two days, after two days is the Feast
of the Passover. You remember the Feast of the
Passover, what that was about? When they were in Egyptian bondage?
And they were delivered through the blood of the Lamb, put the
blood of the Lamb on the door, and God said, when I pass through,
when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Christ is our Passover
Lamb. But He says, in two days here
is going to be the feast of the Passover, and the Son of Man
is betrayed and crucified. He not only knows
he's going to die, he knows how he's going to die. He knows who's
going to put him to death. These are the last few days of
our Lord's earthly ministry. And as he goes about, what's
he going about to do? To accomplish our salvation.
to accomplish our salvation. We have seen the Lord Jesus Christ
in our study in the book of Matthew as the great prophet of God,
teaching the gospel truth of salvation that's in him. He is
that great prophet that Moses said, God will raise up a prophet
from among the brethren. He is that prophet, son of God. So we've seen him in that role
as a great prophet. We've seen him as the great king.
He's the king of all the earth. raising the dead, healing all
manner of diseases, casting out demons, giving sight to the blind,
calming the troubled sea, stopping the wind. Only God can do those
things. He is the king and God over all
the earth. Now we see him in these last
few chapters in the book of Matthew. We see the Lord Jesus Christ
going about with great authority and power to act as our great
high priest. What does the great high priest
do? He makes atonement for our sin, and that's exactly what's
going to happen here in a few days, according to the record
here of Matthew. He's going to make atonement
for our sin, but not with the blood of bulls and goats. Typical
Old Testament priest came that way, didn't he? With the blood
of bulls and goats. The Lord Jesus Christ obtained
eternal redemption for us with His own blood. Peter called it,
we are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. He obtained
for us eternal redemption. Think about it. He obtained for
us eternal redemption with His own blood. He bought us. He chose us, and bought us, and
called us, and saved us, and He's going to take us home to
glory forever, and enjoy us forever, and we're going to enjoy Him.
Now look at verse 1, and it came to pass. Now it just didn't happen. It wasn't blind fate, lady luck,
or mother nature. It came to pass because God Almighty
ordained it to come to pass. You see that? And it came to
pass when the Lord had finished His public ministry, finished
all these sayings, that's when He said, it's time for me to
die for your sin. And it came to pass. All things
that come to pass in time are ordained by the sovereign, eternal
purpose of God from all eternity. Certainly this is true concerning
the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. He worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. Of him, and through him, and
to him are all things. When the Lord has finished his
public ministry, preaching the gospel, he goes about to lay
down his life for the sheep. Remember he said, no man takes
my life from me. I have power to Lay it down. I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of my Father. It's no accident
that the Lord Jesus Christ dies to fulfill the feast of the Passover. At the time of the Passover.
He's the fulfillment of that Passover. Paul writes about that,
doesn't he? In 1 Corinthians 5, verse 7,
he said, Christ our Passover is sacrifice for us. We have
a Passover. And that day when God saw the
blood on the door, all those inside that house, they were
saved from the wrath of God, from the judgment of God, all
those in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ having put away our sin
by the sacrifice of Himself, shedding His blood, there is
therefore now no condemnation to those who are in our blessed
Lord Jesus Christ. It's still true today. When God
sees His sheep covered with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
that cleanses us from all our sin, no condemnation, no judgment
to those who are in The Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at verse
two. He says, you know that after two days we have this feast of
the Passover. And it was a high time in Jerusalem.
People came from everywhere in Judea. to Jerusalem to observe
the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of the Passover.
You know, those Jews, even today, are still observing that Old
Testament Passover. They don't see Christ as their
Passover, as we do, but they still are observing this Passover
that goes all the way back to Exodus chapter 12. But the Lord
Jesus Christ came to fulfill that type and picture, being
our Passover lamb. And the Son of Man is betrayed. He knew exactly who would betray
Him. Look down to verse 21 in this
same chapter. We're going to see this when
they were ready to eat the Passover. As they did eat, he said, verily
I say unto you that one of you shall betray me. The Lord knew
exactly who would betray him, and the Lord knew exactly the
hour of his appointed death. He knew when he would die, and
he knew how he would die. He said, I must be crucified.
Our Lord's complete foreknowledge of everything that's going to
take place comes because God's foreknowledge is based upon his
decree of all things. He knows all things that come
to pass because he has decreed all things of him, through him,
and to him are all things. There is the elect according
to the foreknowledge of God. The elect are known of God because
God had decreed their salvation from all eternity. Knowing the
God are all his works from the beginning. He knows that he must
die for our sin to fulfill all scripture. Nothing takes the
Lord Jesus Christ by surprise. How long has he known this? We
read in the book of Revelation, he's a lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Turn back to Matthew 16. The
Lord had told them repeatedly that he must go to Jerusalem,
that he must die. You remember back in Matthew
16, verse 21, from that time forth, Matthew 16, 21, to show
Jesus, he began to show his disciples how that he must go to Jerusalem,
He must suffer many things of the elders and chief priests
and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day.
And Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, Lord,
be it far from thee. This shall not be. Peter, Peter,
what are you saying? He didn't understand, did he?
The Lord turned and said to him, get thee behind me, Satan. Thou
art a phantom to me, for Thou savest not the things that be
of God. Christ crucified is the appointment
of God Almighty. Turn to Matthew 20. Here's another
time the Lord told them that He was going to die for them. In Matthew 20, verse 28, even
as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister
and to give His life a ransom for many. Remember in the book
of Job, God said, have found a ransom, I will pass
over you. Christ is our ransom. The Lord Jesus Christ died for
our sins according to the Scripture. According to the Scripture. He
couldn't die any other way but to be crucified. Crucified for
us. Cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree. Remember? Now, look at verse
3, 4, and 5. then assembled together the chief
priests and the scribes and the elders of the people under the
palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted
that they might take Jesus by subtlety or by craft and kill
him. These are the self-righteous
Pharisees and scribes, and they had one thing in their heart,
murder. Murder. But they said, no, not
on the feast day. They were trying to be politically
correct, weren't they? Not on the feast day. We won't
upset the people on the feast day. But we're going to make
plans to kill him. Kill him. Kill him. We see the
wicked design of these evil men and desires of this self-righteous
crowd, but even the wicked plans of evil men are used of God to
accomplish his eternal purpose. Did you catch that? God uses
the evil designs of wicked men to accomplish his own purpose. Psalm 76 10 says, the wrath of
man shall praise thee And the remainder of the wrath He will
restrain. Now, turn over here a few pages
past. Look at John. Find Acts chapter
2. Acts chapter 2. I'm saying the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ was no accident. He died on purpose, didn't He?
God planned the cross. God not only planned it, but
presided over the cross, and He participated in afflicting
the Lord Jesus. Look at Acts chapter 2. We see
something of this. Ye men of Israel, verse 22, hear
these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you
by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by Him in the midst
of you, as you yourselves also know, Him being delivered, now
watch it, verse 23, by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain
whom God has raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because
it was not possible that he should be holding of it. I turn a couple
pages, or one page, to Acts chapter 4, Acts chapter 4, verse 25,
who by the mouth of David Thy servant David hath said, and
this is from Psalm 2, Acts 4, verse 25, Why do the heathen
rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the
earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against
the Lord and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed both Herod, Pontius Pilate, the
Gentiles, the people of Israel, were gathered together for to
do whatsoever thy hand And that council determined before to
be done. So they plotted and planned,
but they were only doing what God determined before to be done. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ,
he dies on purpose, God's purpose. to redeem us from all our sin. This is not the first time that
these Jews sought to kill him. Turn back over here to Matthew
chapter 12. It's not the first time. Matthew
chapter 12, when the Lord had healed a man on the Sabbath day,
in Matthew chapter 12, Verse 10, it talks about the man with
the withered hand. And they said, it's not lawful
to heal on the Sabbath day. And the Lord healed this man.
He said to him, verse 13, stretch forth the hand. And he stretched
it forth, and it was restored whole like as the other. Now
look at verse 14. Then the Pharisees went out and
held a council against him how they might destroy him. It wasn't
the first time they sought to kill him. You remember in the
beginning of his ministry, we read about it in Luke chapter
4, when he came to his hometown, Nazareth, and stood up to read
from Isaiah 61, he said, This day is this scripture fulfilled
in your ears? And then he gives us an example
of Elijah and Elisha, how God showed mercy to Gentile sinners,
and they were so angry that they took him to the brow or the cliff
of the hill and would cast him off headlong, but he passed right
through their midst. You see, they always had murder
in their heart. And we see something about our
own depraved, sinful nature, don't we? You say, well, I can't
identify with that crowd. You don't know who you are if
you say, I can't identify with that crowd. We are most sinful. And apart from restraining grace
of God, apart from Him restraining grace, there's nothing you would
not do. Apart from His restraining grace
now. So we see all of this takes place
to accomplish our salvation. Then we have a little interlude
here. We have this story of this woman
in between the Lord meeting with the Twelve and Judas betraying
the Lord Jesus Christ and him being arrested. We have this
little nugget that's given to us here in verse 6 down through
verse 13. Now when Jesus was in Bethany,
in the house of Simon the leper. There came unto him a woman.
We don't know her name. Some speculate it was Mary. There
came to him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious
ointment and poured it on his head as he was sitting there
and eating. Now what a beautiful scene. This
woman takes this precious ointment that's worth a lot of money.
As she comes to the Lord Jesus Christ and anoints His body because
she knows He's going to die for her sin. But look what these... Can I call them stupid? We're
just like them. We don't understand. But when
His disciples saw that, They had indignation, and that
word is a strong word. They were very displeased, saying,
and look what they say, to what purpose is this waste? This woman
is worshiping the Lord, anointing his body unto death and burial,
and they think it's a waste. How dull and dumb are we? and then the Lord come to her
defense. For this ointment might have
been sold." And here's their argument. This ointment might
have been sold and given to the poor. Now if you read John chapter
12, six days or four days before this, The Lord is in Bethany
in the house of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. And Mary there takes
ointment and anoints his feet there. And Judas is the one who
says, well, you shouldn't have done that. We could have sold
that for some money. So he was the instigator here.
Satan had entered into his heart. And he's seeking to betray the
Lord Jesus Christ. And here we have this woman.
who's seeking, and it's a beautiful story, isn't it? It's a beautiful
story how she comes to honor and worship her Lord with what
means she had. The father seeketh such a worship
him in spirit and in truth. Surely this woman set before
us a remarkable example for us to follow about worship and faith
in Christ. Her name is not given. Most believe
that it was one of those Marys, maybe the sister of Lazarus who
lived in Bethany. We don't know. But the Lord of
Glory is in the house. First of all, we see the Lord
of Glory is in the house of a leper. Now, that's amazing, isn't it?
Turn back to Matthew chapter 8. Some people think it was this
man right here. In Matthew chapter 8. Look at verse 1. Matthew chapter 8
verse 1. When he was come down from the
mountain, great multitudes followed him, and, behold, there came
a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, you can make
me clean. And Jesus put forth His hand
and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately
his leprosy was cleansed. Now here's this man. I believe
it's the same man here. where the Lord Jesus Christ was
in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper. And here's the point.
The Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners. I'll give you another
example of that. There was another man who was
told to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. His name was Matthew,
Matthew the Publican. Remember, turn over here to Matthew
chapter nine. Matthew the Publican, And the
Lord said to him, Mrs. Matthew 9 9, when Jesus passed
forth from thence, and he saw a man named Matthew sitting at
the receipt of customs, he saith unto him, follow me. And he rose
and followed the Lord. And it came to pass, as Jesus
said it, meet in the house. Behold, many publicans and sinners
came and sat down with him And when the Pharisees saw it, they
said to his disciples, why does your master eat with publicans
and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he
said to them, they that behold need not a physician, but those
who are sick. Go ye, learn what that means. I will have mercy,
not sacrifice, for I'm not come to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance. Now think about this. The Lord
healed that leper. went home with him. The Lord
called Matthew and went home with him. And there's another
man, another publican named Zacchaeus, remember? Zacchaeus up the tree
wanting to see the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember what the Lord
said to him? Make haste, Zacchaeus, make haste
and come down. Today I must abide at your house. You remember they criticized
the Lord and said he's a friend of publicans and sinners. Thank
God he is. Thank God the Lord Jesus Christ
is. The Lord goes in and dwells with
those whom he heals. Those to whom the Lord calls
and quickens in regenerating grace, he takes his abode up
within them, for Christ in you is a hope of glory. Christ lives
in the hearts of God's people. He said, I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you. Lord, I'm with you always. We're
going to see that last promise in the book of Matthew. Matthew
28, verse 20, I think it is. Thereabouts. He said, go and
preach the gospel, knowing that I have all power. And Lord, I'm
with you always. Even to the end. Even to the
end of the world. Now, here's something else we
want to see. in verse 7. This woman, like all believers,
had experienced saving mercy, the mercy of God in her heart,
and she comes with loving gratitude to serve the Lord, to worship
her. It's the love of God that motivates
believers, not bondage of the law, not the strictness of church
rules, but out of love. She's doing this because she
loves her Lord. She's doing this because she
believes the Lord Jesus Christ is her Messiah, her Savior, Her
righteousness. Those who have been forgiven
much, they love much. They love much. Her devotion
and zeal, her zeal to serve the Lord and to worship brought unexpected
criticism, didn't it? But when the disciples saw it,
they were full of indignation. They were very displeased. And
I thought about this, oftentimes our best intentions to honor
and worship Christ out of zeal and devotion to him, to serve
him, oftentimes is misunderstood by others, especially unbelievers,
those who do not believe the gospel. How can anything given
to the cause of Christ and done for the furtherance of the gospel
be considered a waste?" To what purpose is this waste? How can
anything be done for the Lord, for the furtherance of the gospel
and the glory of God, how can that be considered a waste? It's
not a waste at all, is it? Not at all. To what purpose? Is there not a purpose? Yes,
there is. It's glory. Wholehearted devotion. Complete
selling out for the cause of Christ, forsaking all past religious
idols, will expose a half-hearted hypocrisy
and condemn those who are lukewarm in their zeal. Royal commitment
to Christ and full devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ is sure
to be criticized by those who don't know him. Many of you remember our missionary
to Mexico, Walter Groover. Walter and Betty Groover. Walter
has been here many times and preached for us back these last
almost 40 years that this ministry has been here. But in, I think
the year was about 1965. In 1965, Brother Walter and his
dear wife Betty, they had five children. He quit his job, sold
his house, moved to the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico that he might
preach the gospel to those little Mayan Indians. I've been there
many times. I've preached in many of those
churches. He was criticized by many of his friends and family
for quitting his job and moving to Mexico to preach the gospel. He preached there, stayed in
Mexico for more than 55 years, and the Lord has abundantly blessed
his efforts. There's many churches that are
still there in the Merida Yucatan area. 60 years later, the gospel
churches that he established there and the Lord has raised
up there, pastors, native pastors in this, today, right now, are
preaching the gospel that we preach here. That's a miracle,
isn't it? He gave his life to preach the
gospel in Mexico. His dear wife, Betty, still lives
there and is involved in missionary work. Brother Walter started
these many years ago. I remember one time when I was
down there and we pulled up to this one church that we're going
to preach in, Tisdentun, Tisdentun. And we got out of the car there,
and some of the people were out front. And he told me then, he
said, pointed to this cemetery right over here. He said, Brother
Tom, he said, I'm gonna be buried right over here in that cemetery.
He went there and lived and preached the gospel and died there. And
he's buried, his body's there. He's not there, he's in glory.
He's in glory. Some of our preacher friends,
Brother Nybert recently went down there to preach in the gospel
church there in Manitoba. I've been there. at least twice,
and preached in that church. But he was criticized for doing,
and some would say, to what purpose was that waste? There was no
waste, was there? You see how the Lord uses, don't
despise the day of small things. But notice what happened here.
How the Lord comes to defend her. And this is so sweet. For
this ointment, they said, might have been sold for much and given
to the poor. Judas here is covetous. Judas
here wants the money. Judas was the treasurer of the
bunch. He was holding the bag. He sold the Lord Jesus Christ
out and betrayed Him for 30 pieces of silver. But look, here's what
I want us to see in this. How the Lord comes to defend
this woman. He jumps to her defense. The Lord Jesus Christ does that
for us. When Jesus understood it, he
said to them, why do you trouble the woman? For she hath wrought
a good work upon me. For you have the poor always
with you, me but me you don't have always. For in that she
hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. This woman knows that I'm going
to die for her sin. Verily I say unto you, whatsoever
this gospel shall be preached in all the world, the whole world,
this also, this, that this woman hath done be told for memorial
for her. Now, did you bookmark Mark chapter
14? Turn over there to Mark chapter
14. Those that honor the Lord, he
will honor. 1 Samuel 2 verse 30. They that despise me, the Lord
said, shall be lightly esteemed. But notice as you turn to Mark
chapter 14, what the Lord does here in verse 6. And here we
see the Lord's defense for this woman. The first thing He says,
you leave her alone. If you've got an argument, you
come see me. You leave her alone. Don't trouble her. She has a
lot of good work on me. Leave her alone. What a blessed
truth to know that our Lord ever lives to intercede for us. And
then he said, don't trouble her. Don't trouble her. Why would
any criticize someone for serving the Lord only out of ignorance,
pride, and jealousy, and dislike? Our Lord said, those are not
with me or against me. And then he said, she had done
a good work. She'd done a good work on me or upon me. It's not
the person who claims to have many good works that is recognized
by the Lord. We read that from Matthew 7.
Those who said, Lord, we preached in Your name. We cast out demons
in Your name. We've done all these wonderful
works. And He said, I never knew you, depart from Me. But here
this humble woman comes with this one faithful act. And the Lord honors that. She
had done what she could, verse 8. She had done what she could. Now she couldn't do much, but
she gave all she had, this whole precious bottle of ointment,
a year's wages, and she gives it out and anoints the Lord. It's not the person who claims
to have many good works that's recognized by the Lord, but rather
those who love and honor Christ in a most humble, simple manner. To believe Him. Abraham was strong
in faith, giving glory to God in that he believed Him. She had done what she could.
What strong words of commendation from the Lord. Like the poor
widow woman who gave all she had, this woman truly did all
she could to worship her Lord. Her hope of salvation was in
Christ only, dying for her sin and being raised up again. That
was all of her hope. That was all of her hope. May
God help us to do what we can for His glory. It's all about
His glory. Paul writes about it this way
in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 31. Whatsoever ye do, do all to the
glory of God. Again in Colossians 3 he said,
Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, giving thanks unto our God. In closing, look at verse 9.
Mark 14. Truly I say unto you, Wheresoever
this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this
also that she hath done shall be spoken of her for a memorial
unto her. She hath anointed my body. God
hath ordained the preaching of the gospel, the gospel of God
concerning his concerning the Lord Jesus Christ to call out
his people. He said, wherever this gospel
shall be preached, it'll be for a memorial for her and for everyone
who believes the gospel. This gospel should be and will
be preached in all the world for a memorial of his redeeming
blood. This gospel shall be preached
in all the world as a memorial of his saving grace, of his sacrificial
love, We who preach the Gospel of Christ, who tell sinners how God saves
sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ, He makes us willing to
do so. Willing to do so. We preach not
ourselves, but we preach the Lord Jesus Christ. We want you
to look to Him for all salvation. For He is the only Savior of
sinners.