Matthew chapter 26, moving right along. We only got three chapters left. I don't know how that's one year, two years, I don't know. Something, we'll figure it out. Matthew chapter 26, we're going to start in verse 1 here today. So a lot of the, not all, obviously, because there's doctrine all throughout, obviously, the book of Matthew, but a lot of the heavy doctrinal, you know, the parables and the teachings of Jesus, a lot of those are past. There's still a couple things to come, but a lot of what's remaining is just, it's historical. So there's a lot of just events that took place, timelines. We're going to emphasize some of the timeline stuff here this morning. We started that kind of a couple months ago just to emphasize in the the crucifixion week because there's a lot of there's a lot of confusion around it. A lot of it comes from a misunderstanding or misreading rather of some of the the representations in the various Gospels. So you'll get different you know obviously many of you guys if not everyone has heard of the idea of Good Friday you know where the Catholics teach and believe that he was crucified on Friday and That just it that one is just doesn't even make sense because they'll also agree that he was three days in the tomb and rose on Sunday I don't care what kind of common core math you were brought up in, that you can't get three days and three nights between a Friday and a Sunday. So we'll take a look at all that stuff in time as we get there, but we'll hit on some of that here today just to kind of reestablish where we're at in the crucifixion week moving forward. So before we read the text, we'll go ahead and open up in prayer and then get going here this morning. Heavenly Father, Lord, we love you. Lord, I just thank you for the time to just open up your word, Father. And I ask that you'd help myself, Lord. Just give me the right words to say, Lord. And I know, God, I'm just simple and dumb at times, Father. So I just ask that you'd help me and just help me to understand what's being taught. And Lord, just help me to be able to properly communicate it to the folks here, Lord. And Lord, I ask that you would just get all the honor and glory from it. And I just ask you in Jesus' name, amen. Alright, chapter 26 starting verse 1, it says, And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, the Olivet discourse and all that stuff that we just read in Matthew 24 and 25, when he had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the Passover, and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified. Then assembled together the chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety and kill him. But they said, not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people." All right, so we're looking, obviously, it shows here in verse 2 that after two days is the feast of the Passover. So we are two days prior to that time. Just ask that you take my word for it at this point. We'll get into more details later on. But Thursday of crucifixion week is that feast day. Okay, that's the Passover feast. That's the high Sabbath, the day of holy convocation as it calls out in Exodus and Leviticus. That is that day. It's not your typical once a week Sabbath. It's an annual Sabbath. because it's tied to the days of the month. We're going to run those references here in a little bit as well. But you've got the 10th day of the month, Nissan, if I remember correctly. You've got the 10th day, you've got the 14th day, and then the 15th day. Those are specifically called out, and that has nothing to do with the day of the week. So every week they had the standard, the regular Sabbaths, right, once a week every seven days. But then these feasts, some of these key feasts in the Old Testament, they're tied, they have these holy convocations, these holy Sabbaths that are also associated with them and has nothing to do with a particular day of the week. All right, so after two days is the Feast of the Passover. So that Passover feast is Thursday. So that puts us, this is Tuesday evening before 6 p.m. If you remember a few months ago, we started kind of emphasizing the days of the week. He had that, Jesus Christ had the triumphal entry. That was the first day of the week. That was Sunday during that week. So that took place there. You had the events of Monday and Tuesday that were the chapters to follow. You had the various, the parables that were given, all that discourse that was on Tuesday of that week. And everything that has taken place since we read through that, I think it was chapter 21, if I remember correctly. Yeah, chapter 21, triumphal entry of Christ. That from 21 on is Sunday, Monday, and then now we're on Tuesday, okay? So after two days, this is that annual Sabbath that's going to take place from what we would know as Wednesday 6 p.m. through Thursday 6 p.m. That's when that day would have taken place, those Jewish days tied to the evening and morning. They start at 6 p.m. So a lot of that gets confusing when you try to just logically apply it, because we understand things in Gentile time space, and midnight starts the day and all that. So the hours that we're going to start getting into, not this morning, but as we advance through crucifixion week into specifically Wednesday, crucifixion day, those hours are going to be key to understand what time of the day those are. When is the sixth hour? When is the ninth hour? That kind of stuff. So just kind of trying to set the stage there. So that Holy Sabbath, that annual Sabbath, is going to take place Wednesday 6 p.m. through Thursday 6 p.m. So you can see here in verse 5 when the high priest and those that were gathered there, they said, not on the feast day lest there be an uproar among the people. So they know that that's supposed to be a day where no servile activity is done, no work is to be done. That feast will take place on that Thursday, on that Wednesday 6 p.m. to Thursday 6 p.m. The feast will take place in a lot of the the holy kind of Celebrations and activities but no servile work is to be done. So that's why they had to get it done beforehand He had to be taken off the cross. You got the story of Joseph of Arimathea, you know, he's like hey, you know with tomorrow being that day, you know We need to go ahead and get him off and let me take him and put him in the tomb and all that stuff All that happens on Wednesday before 6 p.m. As you and I would understand that that time to be right So that's kind of what Jesus is talking about there after two days. So that's when that is. And notice you'll see the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified. I kind of see that as he's already been betrayed. And we'll look at the next few verses here, starting in verse six, kind of go back in time until the event where it kind of, it tripped Judas into his little mode where he went to start interacting directly with those high priests and chief priests and working on that betrayal process. So Jesus says after two days the Feast of Passover and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified Then assembled verse 3 then assembled together the chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people Unto the palace of the high priest who was called Caiaphas. This is the same Caiaphas that's mentioned early on in the book of Luke He's also mentioned in I think it's book of Acts as well that high priest There's there's two high priests going on at this time that are specifically called out Annas and Caiaphas and Annas is his I think it says his father-in-law But there's two high priests going on. So there's a little bit of confusion sometimes about who the high priest and when and all that kind of stuff. There's two high priests that are in place here. Go ahead and look at Luke chapter 3. Luke chapter 3 and verse 2. Luke 3, 2 says, Annas and Caiaphas, being the high priests, plural, the word of God came unto John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. So that's that same Caiaphas there. You can look at Acts. So Acts chapter 4, this will be after the crucifixion. Acts chapter 4 and verse 6, you'll see both of them called out again, but you see And it came to pass on the morrow that their rulers, and elders, and scribes, and Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest were gathered together at Jerusalem." This is Peter, he's retelling the story of Jesus Christ to those Jews there and basically going to cast the blame directly on them and put it on them. So this is that same Caiaphas, this is the one he's seen, basically he's been around all through the life of Jesus Christ. And that's interesting, right? You're the high priest, and I don't like to equate them to the Pope, but that's probably the closest thing that we can easily, tangibly understand. He's like a super high up dude in their religious circles there. He is the head dog, makes all the final decrees. If there's disagreements in the law and all that kind of stuff, he's the one that's supposed to go into the Holy of Holies and the holiest of places there and interact, interface directly with God Almighty himself. Obviously, you can tell if he's been around during the whole life of Jesus Christ, what sort of interaction have they really been getting with God Almighty, if they don't understand who Jesus Christ is, the Son of God. So that's just kind of a simple little way of seeing the Jewish religion as a system has long gone and separated themselves from God and from his ways and from his teachings. They are not in communion with God Almighty there. Otherwise, Caiaphas would not have even begun to entertain the idea of crucifying the Son of God. They would have seen him. They should have seen him based on their understanding of the law as well, how he's fulfilled the prophecies to be the Messiah. So anyways, not in my notes, just kind of throwing out there who this Caiaphas was and just because he has the title of high priest doesn't mean he has any sort of actual spiritual authority or spiritual wisdom or understanding. So, you know, easily we can apply that to ourselves here. Just because a man is of a stature or status in a church, in a congregation, in an assembly, whatever, just because they have that position, does not mean that they are in communion or in a good relationship with God Almighty. Don't take that for granted. One of the challenges that we started seeing, my wife and I, in previous churches that we were in, was the man who we believe that God put in charge of that particular church at the time, began to not really think that he could be taught anything new. Not saying that I was trying to teach him something, but They've got everything figured out. You can't show them anything else that goes contrary to how they've been brought up and how their doctrinal understandings are. They've got all the answers. It doesn't matter what amount of scriptures may be out there to support a different understanding or different belief or different way of seeing a particular doctrine. It doesn't matter how much scripture is there to support that. If it goes cross-grain with them, they're not even going to entertain it. Not even going to entertain it at all. If you find yourself with a pastor like that, or a teacher like that, who basically, he'll never come out and say it, but if you can kind of read between the lines and see something in there, and the Holy Spirit's showing you, like, this man's got a pride issue. This man has a, I know all the things already, and I can't be taught from anyone else. There's pride that slipped in there and says, I am the man in charge. No one underneath me can possibly know more than me to teach anything. because that easily spills over right into scripture. That's a dangerous place for a man of God, for a preacher, to find himself in. All right, so verse three. Actually, verse 4 says, and they consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety and kill him. You've got to watch out for those that work subtly. They work in subtlety. They're doing things in private. They're doing things in secret. The vast majority of the time that subtlety or subtleness or that word, most of the time that that's used in the scriptures, it's negative. It's tied with the devil. It's tied with his actions or his activities or his influences. Not every time. I think it's I'm going to butcher his name. Is it Jehu who kills all the prophets of Baal and all them? Jehu? The Bible says that he acted subtly as well. He was doing the Lord's work in that thing. So not every single time, but most of the time in the scripture. And obviously here you can see the work of Satan here and its type, Judas is involved and all that stuff. Watch out for those who are gonna work subtly around you, even here in your daily life. They may just have the devil on their side. Look over, obviously, the first place, Genesis chapter three. You guys know where we're going with this one, but Genesis chapter three in verse one. You've got the first time this subtlety or subtle shows up in the Bible, and look who it is. Genesis chapter 3 verse 1, Now the serpent, obviously we know that's the devil, that's Satan, was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, and it goes on there, Yea, hath God said, and he deceives the woman. You can see it again in I think it's 2nd Corinthians 11 where Paul is talking about how Eve, how she was beguiled by the subtlety of the serpent, by the subtlety of the devil there. Look also over in 2nd Samuel, 2nd Samuel, sake of time we're not going to read all these stories but just to kind of remind folks what's going on here, 2nd Samuel chapter 13 You've got Amnon, Absalom, Amnon's friends. This is where Amnon has that issue with his sister and all that good, wicked awfulness. But you'll see here, 2 Samuel chapter 13, look at verse 3. But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimea, David's brother, and Jonadab was a very subtle man. And what did Jonadab tell Amnon to do? Verse four, and he said unto him, why art thou being the king's son, lean from day to day? Wilt thou not tell me? And Amnon said unto him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister. And Jonadab said unto him, lay thee down in thy bed. And you guys know the story there, it continues on there. Jonadab, a subtle man, influences Amnon into doing something absolutely wicked and horrible and completely contrary to Scripture, completely contrary to the law. But the Bible says that he was a subtle man. Look at Proverbs chapter 7. Proverbs chapter 7. Proverbs chapter 7, you've got... really kind of, I think it starts roughly in Proverbs 5, then moves on, and all throughout the book of Proverbs as well, she's brought back up. You got this strange woman, okay, this wicked, whorish kind of woman, this harlot woman that's in type, in type, but I think there's a very specific, something specific on Solomon's mind here whenever he's telling this story. Obviously this happened, you could see exactly this happening out in society, it's been happening for centuries and thousands of years. But anyways, Proverbs chapter 7 and verse 10, excuse me, It says, and behold there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot and subtle of heart. So if you've been reading, you know, the book of Proverbs at all for very long or do your chapter a day, you'll have read through that multiple times there where how does this woman get this man, this simple minded man who's not, you know, staying true to the law, not, you know, keeping, you know, righteousness and all that stuff, not keeping God first, right? He's, he's a beguiled, he's persuaded, he's, deceived by this strange woman, by this harlot-type woman. But the Bible says that she is subtle of heart. It's not obvious. It's not obvious. Gentlemen, if you guys are, you know, we believe that those kinds of things are wrong, and looking at the wrong images, and how you interact with other ladies out in the world, it's certain, they're all lines that are very easy to understand and see. But then there are lines that start getting a little bit muddy, and the lines start thinning, and it starts getting a little bit, I don't really know exactly where this line is. You've got to be able to take a step back and look kind of, you know, from a bird's eye view and see this thing, you know, out of your, where you are, because you'll get tied up in motion, you'll get tied up in whatever. There's a line that gets crossed and sometimes it's done subtly. If it's a blatantly obvious thing, you're walking down the street and you see someone dressed how the world, you know, would try to, you think of some overt way that they're dressed and all that kind of stuff and Hollywood and all that, that's obvious. Oh, this is bad. I should turn it off or should never, you know, approach that thing. You know, there's certain TV shows I know that will never be turned on no matter what kind of cleaning up can be done to the thing that's not worth putting on just because of all that, There's some things that are very obvious and overt about it. But what Solomon, what the book of Proverbs here is warning us about is the subtlety of it. So this strange woman here, this harlot here, she has a subtle heart. And that's how the devil works. That's how he's going to get into families. He's going to separate and divide and just split apart families, good Christian godly families. And you have no idea how the thing even got started. You have no idea because it's done subtly. And I use men as the illustration, the example there, but ladies, y'all are not exempt from this. The devil knows that for whatever reason, there's something unique, special, spiritual, arguably, about intimate relationships. And the devil knows that. He absolutely knows that. And he will use that. And it'll destroy families. It'll absolutely destroy them. So be careful. Look for those lines. And they're not always going to be very obvious. They're going to be blurred. And it's going to come across very subtly. Those are the dangerous ones you've got to watch out for. All right. And then lastly on this subtle idea, look at Acts 13. Acts chapter 13. Acts 13 and verse 8. So you've got Paul here, you've got this sorcerer that shows up. Verse 8 says, But Elimas the sorcerer, for so is his name by interpretation, withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, who also was called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him and said, O fool of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? It goes on and on there, but the sorcerer here, this man who comes in, he didn't just come in overtly. He slipped into the mix. And Paul says, there's something different about you. He's filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit says, keep your eye on that guy. There's something different, something off about him. So Paul looks at him and sees it and recognizes it. The Holy Spirit helps him out and says, you're subtle, you're full of mischief, and you're a child of the devil. So it's very often in the Bible, all throughout, with very few exceptions, very, very much often tied directly to the workings of the devil. So be careful of those who work subtly. Verse 5 here, back in our main text, Matthew 26, verse 5. It says, but they said, not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people. So you see, obviously, these chief priests here, they feared the people. And we've seen that all throughout the book of Matthew as well. A lot of the Pharisees, a lot of the things that they do, the way they interact or don't take action against Jesus Christ is because of their fear of the people. But this is also a good reminder, too, that 100% of the Jews during this time did not reject Jesus Christ. Now, I know they're tied directly, this is specifically called out in talking about the feast. If they were to do this thing on the feast, then they would have a lot of people in an uproar. They needed to get it done and over with quickly. But there were multitudes there that always followed Jesus Christ. There was always a remnant of people, to use that term intentionally, there was always a remnant of the Jews that believed in Jesus Christ and followed him and his teachings. They followed him around and they tried to live the way that he was trying to get them to live and to believe the gospel of the kingdom and all that. It wasn't just his 12 or 11 disciples. There were multitudes as well. And those multitudes carried a lot of power and a lot of weight with those religious leaders. They feared those people there. But they also knew that they had to have the support of the people in order to get this thing done. So what happens when you are forced into making a decision real quick? If you're not careful, you make a rash decision. You make an emotional based decision. You get swayed by, for us, a lot of the media hubbub and nonsense that gets thrown out there. Oh my goodness, you get thrown up in an uproar. Look at all the things that are going on out there. It's awful. It's terrible. Switch the channel. you'll find the complete opposite on a different channel. It's like they're just trying to prey on your emotions so you can make a real quick snap judgment decision based on your emotions and not based on what you actually in your heart believe. So be careful even today about all these executive actions and all this kind of stuff that are Our Savior Donald Trump is in the office now taking all this. That's cool and great and all, but be careful about that thing. Don't get caught up in the emotional swing of all of it. Take a step back and look at everything logically. The Bible says to prove all things. The Bible says to try the spirits, whether they be true and whether they be right. That doesn't just apply to scripture. That applies to your daily life. Prove all things. Don't just jump on bandwagons and let the world take you for a ride. But these priests here, they feared the people, but they knew they had to do something to sway their hearts good enough to get the action done so they could crucify Jesus Christ. All right, verse six. Verse 6 says, 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 sat 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, when Jesus was well intentioned. 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 shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this that this woman hath done be told for memorial of her. So this passage here starting in verse 6 through verse 13 and maybe into 14 and 15. I'll have to look at it a little bit more. But this is back in time. Turn over to John chapter 12. This is before the triumphal entry. It's a parenthetical passage. The dinner, the meal that they're at at meat here is not taking place on Tuesday. They don't have This is where a lot of the misreadings and misunderstandings come in, where you start getting the dates for the crucifixion pushed out to like Friday and all that kind of stuff, is because they see, oh, we agree that this is Tuesday, but Tuesday he didn't eat the Lord's Supper, so therefore, because he's in Bethany, so therefore it must have been maybe Wednesday, and then crucified. It's ridiculous. A simple cross-reference reading here, look at what I say, John chapter 12, look at verse one. John 12, verse one. Then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany. Well, didn't Jesus just say over here in Matthew 26 that we were two days before the Passover? All right, so now we are six days before the Passover, and look what happens. They came to Bethany where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper, and Martha served. But Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of 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. Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. Then said Jesus, let her alone against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you, but me ye have not always. And then look down at verse 12. On the next day, much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, and there's the triumphal entry. So this is the day before the triumphal entry. do some quick math here. If the feast of the Passover is on Thursday, and that's day 14 of the month, the 14th of the month. We'll run these references again, but I just want to get the days laid out here. So I'm going to use four to represent the 14th, because I don't have 14 fingers. So Thursday is the 14th of the month. That's the day of the feast. Excuse me, that's actually the 15th day. I apologize. That's the 15th day. The 15th day, that's when they eat the feast. The 14th day is when the lamb is killed, the lamb is slaughtered, according to the law. So the 14th day would be when Jesus Christ is crucified, that's Wednesday. Two days before this is Tuesday, so Wednesday and then Tuesday is the 13th. That's the Lord's Supper. That's the day that we're at here in Matthew chapter 26, the first few verses, okay? That's the 13th, two days before the feast, okay? I messed up the math at first. Everyone tracking? 15th. Now we're on the 13th, that's Tuesday. Six days before this would be the ninth day, correct? All right, so six days before the feast of the Passover is the ninth day. So this is Thursday, Wednesday, Tuesday is the 13th, Monday, Sunday, you've got the 10th, right? The day before, my fingers are all messed up now. Sunday is the, excuse me, Sunday is the 11th day, okay? The 11th day, Thursday, my goodness. All right, Lord, I need your help here. Need more fingers. Okay, 15th. Start over. Forget I said all that. 15th. It's Thursday. That's the feast. 14th is the day the lamb is killed. We're going to run the references that will help clear it all up. That's Wednesday. Thursday, two days before, Matthew 26, that's Tuesday. Tuesday, the 13th. Then you've got Monday, the 12th day of the month. Sunday, the 11th day of the month. That's triumphal entry. The day before is the 10th day of the month. We'll run the references, take my word for it, as trustworthy as it is right now with my map. The 10th day of the month is the day that the Lamb is chosen. That Lamb is chosen on the 10th day. That's the day before the triumphal entry. Follow me so far? The day before the triumphal entry, we just read in John chapter 12, and here in Matthew 26, is when Jesus is in Bethany. That's six days. Six days before, that's when they get to Bethany. That next day, that is when that is taking place. So on the 10th day of the month, Christ is chosen Right? He's prepared for his burial now, is what he says. She has done this thing. She's washed his hair and washed his feet, poured him with this oil. It's because of his burial. So Jesus Christ as the Lamb is chosen right there. All right, so that's in type and picture of the feasts of the Old Testament, that Passover feast, the ceremonies and all the days of the month there. So that's the day. We're on this 10th day now when the lamb is chosen, and that takes place here when Mary washes him with this, the spikener, this ointment, the very precious ointment in the alabaster box. Okay. That was awful, I apologize. But I think we got it, I think we're there. Alright, so before we get into too much detail there on that, verse 6 talks about how we're in the house of Simon the Leopard. Now, this is also where some of the confusion in doctrine comes into play, because some of the other churches, they'll go to John chapter 12, and they'll read that and say, oh, they're with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. So in Bethany, that's where they live, they must be at their house. It doesn't say they're at Mary and Martha's house. It just says Mary and Martha and Lazarus were there. Okay, so it doesn't say it was, it also doesn't say it wasn't. But here, and in Mark chapter 14, the other passage, it says that they're at Simon the leper's house. Okay, so Simon the leper invited the friends over, right? So how many times have you guys had someone come over and someone else even prepares the food at your house sometimes, right? So don't let all that confuse you. The event is the exact same. You can see the wording in John 12 compared with Mark 14 and then Matthew 26. It's the same event and the same time period as well. It's the day before the triumphal entry. Dr. Ruckman's got a good point here, and I don't see any reason why to refute it, but this Simon the leper, who is this guy? I've also heard taught that Simon might be Judas's father, because it calls out in John that this is Simon's son. I don't believe that for a second. If I remember correctly, Simon, Judas's father, was a Pharisee, or there was another Simon? I don't know, that's what it is. In Luke, the passage that gets confused is that Simon there, that house, he's a Pharisee. So he wouldn't be a leper. He was a Pharisee there. He's never called out and connected to be a leper there. But I don't think it's Judas's father at all. The picture there, it doesn't fit, and the personality of the individual that doesn't fit there. I don't think that's Simon, Judas's father. And obviously Simon is a pretty common Jewish name during that time. Peter was called Simon, and there was another Simon that shows up in Acts. All right, but look at Luke chapter 17. Verse 12, this is what Dr. Ruckman thinks who this guy is. So you've got, remember the ten lepers? How many came back to thank Jesus? How many actually knew what Jesus did and cared enough about what Jesus did? One. Luke chapter 12, or Luke chapter 17, verse 12. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go, show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God. Look at verse 18. Jesus says, there are not found that return to give glory to God save this stranger. This man, he's not even, he's a Samaritan. This man's of Samaria, and he's the only one that comes back. So I don't see any reason why this couldn't be the case. I think it would be a really neat connection if this leper, Simon the leper, comes back one more time and says, I'm going to give Jesus Christ glory one more time. I'm going to do what I can. And there's where Mary does all that she could with the alabaster box. Alright, verse 7, back in our text, verse 7 says, There came unto him a woman, you can look at Mark 14 and John 12, this is Mary. There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment and poured it on his head as he sat at meat. It's this alabaster box of precious ointment John 12 3 says that it's a pound of ointment of spikenard Very costly is what it says I've heard it put this way and taught that this ointment was very likely a year's salary or a year's wages That's significant imagine giving up a year's worth of your family's income a year's worth of and just giving it to the Lord. Imagine giving up a year's worth of your time that the Lord has given you and just giving it to the Lord. Imagine, just one year. That's crazy. We can't even fathom that. Can't even fathom it. given of yourself so much that it's worth a year's worth of wages to you, and you just give it wholeheartedly to the Lord. Just dump it on his feet, dump it on his head, just give it to him to do something with. So that's why those disciples there, and Judas leading the way, says that this is wasteful. How dare she? Who is this foolish woman? We could save how many poor people? And what's interesting is Jesus puts himself ahead of the poor people. So that thing gets flipped over on top of its head and confused in so many religions today. Oh, your fellow man. Jesus wants you to care for your fellow man. Take care of the poor. Give him alms and all that kind of stuff. And I think it's in the Mark passage. Jesus says, when you have time, do that. That is important. So he doesn't say, don't do those things. But he accepts the worship, and he says, it's better that she's doing what she does to me. It's in preparation of my burial. So Jesus puts himself over how we treat the common man. How you treat each other is very important, especially the brethren. We were talking about it recently, charity. Charity is love in action. It's love manifest, specifically in the New Testament, specifically to the brethren. That's that charity there. And so how you treat your fellow man, especially your brethren, is very important in God's eyes. How you treat the poor out there is very important in God's eyes. The ones that have no hope. They're the ones that are, the Bible even says in Revelation that the church of Laodicea was poor and blind and naked. The church itself gets that way. Taking care of the poor is good and it's important, those that are maybe less fortunate than you and I, but it should never trump what you do for Jesus Christ. It should never trump your positioning of Jesus Christ. He should always be number one, always be the head of everything. So don't let that thing confuse you. Don't let other religions and denominations confuse you on that thing. What you do, fellow man, if you did nothing for Christ or you'd never accepted Christ, that will be worth absolutely nothing in eternity. Absolutely nothing. What you can do best and most importantly for the lost and for the poor out there in the world is doing what Christ would want you to do, being a witness, converting them to Jesus Christ. That would be the absolute best. That's taking care of the poor because now as a child of God, God is obligated, according to scripture, God is obligated now to provide all their need according to Jesus Christ. So they get Jesus Christ, they'll get their needs fulfilled. They'll get their needs fulfilled. All right. All right, let's see here. Verse 8. Verse 8 says, but when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, it's like resentment or anger, saying, to what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poor. It says, when his disciples saw it, John 12.4 states that this specifically was Judas Iscariot. He's the one that spoke the words. But I believe that the text in Matthew and in Mark chapter 14 shows that Judas's comment spread indignation. It spread resentment among the rest of the disciples. Maybe not all of them, but more than one. Bible's true, Bible's right, there's no error in the Bible. So I believe Judas led the charge and there were other disciples there that were able, they allowed themselves to get swayed by Judas's comment. There was some selfishness, some pride, some indignation that got stirred up there. Go ahead and turn over to Mark 14. I keep talking about Mark. But Mark 14, the first few verses there, is this same passage. You can see Mark 14, verse 3, being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper. Okay, so this is the same event. But look at Mark 14 in verse 5. For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, that's how wasteful she was, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her. So more than one disciple. So Matthew and Mark point out that there's multiples here. So Judas, I believe he stirred the pot there and the rest of the disciples, many others of the disciples, began to get indignation. They were murmuring against Mary. So be very careful. Be very careful of murmuring and complaining because your bad attitude just may cause others to fall. Your bad attitude, you misunderstanding a situation or just allowing the devil to slip in there and let some murmuring and disputing and indignation start and bitterness start to get in there and take root. Your complaining about someone else or some other situation may just cause or allow someone else who's on the fence to fall as well. Be very careful about that thing. We've got to keep our emotions in check. We've got to keep our complaining in check even, especially if you don't know the whole picture, the whole story of whatever it is that's going on there. All right. Verse 10. Verse 10 says, When Jesus understood it, understood what? Their indignation, their murmurings. When he understood the heart of what was going on, 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 with you. Let's see here. He says that she, verse 10 says, she hath wrought a good work upon me. Mark 14 says that she hath done what she could. So there's a few things worth pointing out from this event. There's some good notes that Dr. Ruckman had in his commentary and Brother Hoffman as well in his Bible notes. But there's a few things worth pointing out here from this good passage. The Lord Jesus Christ, number one, first and foremost, never refused worship. All right, so been talking a lot about soul winning and door-to-door and interacting with people out there. JWs and a few others, they believe that Jesus was a created God or created being. He is not God. They'll even go so far that the scriptures never say that he claimed deity, which is just complete lie. Just read through the gospels. He claimed deity outright, but he also never refused worship. So here, Mary is worshiping him, and he says, she hath wrought a good work upon me. She's doing right. She's doing good. Secondly here, Mary did what she could. If you haven't done what you could, if you haven't given all that you can and done all that you can for Christ, then you have no room to complain or criticize. You have no room. I like to put a earthly kind of illustration to this thing. Even in the Bible-believing realm, there's a lot of folks who, you know, elections, do I vote or do I not? You do what the Lord has laid on your heart. You do your conscience, okay? Here's my thing. If you choose not to vote because you think it's wrong or you think it's not going to matter, if you choose not to vote and do your part, do what you could, you have no right to complain and to criticize. Zero right. Because you didn't even do your one little bitty thing of showing up for five minutes at a polling booth or send it in the mail. You have no right. So same thing in the terms of a church, a local church. Oh, we like to complain. We like to talk about, oh, I wouldn't do it this way or I think this would be better. We like to just run this. And I say we, royal we, across the body of believers out there, not pointing any fingers here, just saying we'd like to do this and complain about how we think they ought to be run. Have you done all you could? Have you given what you could to Jesus Christ? If not, you have no room to complain, no room to criticize, none whatsoever. Mary hath done what she could. And you've got Judas and the other disciples who are complaining, saying, oh, we need to give this to the poor. They're not doing what Mary did. They're not giving Jesus. They haven't wrought a good work. He's rebuking them, actually. He says, look at this woman, this silly woman, as we like to say. She hath done the good thing. And you guys are over here complaining about what she's doing, and you're murmuring, and you're getting angry about it. Thirdly here, proper worship is going to cost you something. And this one, I've heard this one preached so many times, and most of you guys probably have as well. But proper worship is going to cost you something. Something first has to be broken before it can be used. Okay? So Mary gets in there. That alabaster box of ointment would have done no one any good. knowing any good until she broke that box open and then poured it on Jesus Christ. So proper worship is going to cost you something. If you're comfortable doing what you're doing or you're comfortable giving what you're giving and you're comfortable just the amount that you're doing and giving for the Lord, if you're good and comfortable and you think that's easy, it's not costing you anything. I don't care what the situation is, it's not costing you anything. There's got to be an element of sacrifice. It's going to cost you something for it to be considered proper worship. And then fourthly here, Jesus puts himself, already mentioned, but Jesus puts himself higher than the poor. You could donate to every single charity that the world has to offer, every government program that's out there, you could give money and give time to that thing. The poor you have with you always, Jesus says, he puts himself higher than the poor. If you don't put Christ first, it's all in vain. And lastly here, the death of Christ is far more important than his birth. Far more important than his birth. There are ordinances given to the church, both in the baptism and in the Lord's Supper. They are both tied directly to his death, his burial, his resurrection, and his second coming. Not his birth. We are not once as a church told to remember his birthday, celebrate Christmas as a holy day. We do, and that's a good thing. There's nothing wrong with putting Jesus first in terms of his birth as well. He had to be born so he could die, but the purpose of his birth was his death. The Bible puts so much emphasis prophetically, doctrinally on his death, much more over his birth. Look at Romans chapter six. Romans 6, verse 3. Romans 6, verse 3. Know ye not that so many of us, as we're baptized into Jesus Christ, we're baptized into his death. That's what it's connected to. Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. There's your death, your burial, and your resurrection. Now look at 1 Corinthians 11. So that's the baptism. That's one of the two ordinances that we believe were given to the church to continue. It has nothing to do with your salvation. It has everything to do with pointing you and reminding you of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The second ordinance is the Lord's Supper. First Corinthians chapter 11, look at verse 23, it says, For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he break it and said, Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood, this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. Okay, what are we supposed to be remembering? keeping in mind, verse 26, for as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. So we're supposed to remember his death, his burial, his resurrection, his death again in 1 Corinthians 11, until he come. So now you've got the second coming of Jesus Christ. For us, it's going to be the rapture, and then that second coming is just a handful of years afterwards. But it's all connected to his death, every bit of it, not his birth. Alright, Jesus says we're gonna wrap up here in a minute. It says that he says you have the poor always with you government programs talked about that you can look up Deuteronomy chapter 15 and verse 11 that basically restates what Jesus was saying how the Take care of the poor, but the poor is not going anywhere. There's always going to be poor among you There's always going to be those that are less fortunate among you take care of them Yes, but it never is supposed to supersede the position above Jesus Christ or God Almighty never supposed to supersede that All right, last couple verses here and then we'll close. Verse 12 of our text, Matthew 26 verse 12 says, for in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. So his burial's right around the corner, roughly 24 hours out at this point, okay? That's how close he is to his burial. Jesus perfectly fulfills the requirement for the Passover lamb. Now, I did the whole finger game with you guys and probably should've just waited till this point, but let's look at the text real quick. Look at Exodus chapter 12. Exodus chapter 12, and if you get there super fast, you can go ahead and grab Leviticus 23 as well. We'll read the first few verses here in Exodus chapter 12. Exodus chapter 12 and Leviticus 23. Exodus chapter 12 and verse 3 says, Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. Jump down to verse 6. and ye shall keep it, that lamb, up until the fourteenth day." So you don't kill it on the tenth, you keep it up, you keep it alive, you take care of it, you dress it. "...shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening." So Jesus Christ is chosen on the 10th day, that's this alabaster box, the ointment. 14th day is when he's crucified. And notice there's a whole congregation of folks that gather there. And the whole nation of Israel is put at blame for the death of Jesus Christ. The whole congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. So Jesus Christ is crucified, he's dead, he's buried, evening of that 14th day, that Wednesday. All right, now look over in Leviticus chapter 23. So Exodus 12 is an account of when that requirement was given. There was no king supposed to do it literally like that because that was the Passover when the death angel came down, all that kind of stuff. Exodus 23 is now the law being given out, the law, the Levitical, the ceremonial side of it. Leviticus 23, look in verse five. It says, in the 14th day of the first month, at even, is the Lord's Passover. And on the 15th day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Unto the Lord seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation. That's that feast day. That's that Thursday, okay? Ye shall do no servile work therein, but ye shall offer an offering made by fire. unto the Lord seven days, and the seventh day is in holy convocation, ye shall do no servile work therein." So it's interesting, you've got the lamb is chosen on the tenth day, the lamb is slain on the fourteenth day, and on the fifteenth day it's offered as an offering of fire. Where did Jesus Christ go after he died? Where did he spend three days and three nights? He didn't just spend it in some cave, in some tomb somewhere. He went to hell for you and I. He took our sins, your sins, the whole world's sins, and cast them down into hell, into fire. He was made a burnt offering at that point on the 15th day. So 10th day, we said it, the lamb is chosen, Christ is prepared for his burial. John 12, 12 talks about that, but it says it's being the day before the triumphal entry on Sunday. The 14th day, the lamb is slain, Christ is crucified on that Wednesday, that's the 14th day of that month. 15th day is the high Sabbath, that's the feast day, it's the offering made by fire. Christ's body is in the tomb, and he is that offering made by fire as he takes our sins down to hell. If you're taking notes and want to write these down, just real simply, and then we'll close. Take your time, we won't run there, but most of you guys are familiar with it. Ephesians chapter 4, verses 8 through 10 talks about who's he that ascended first, but that he also descended. Paraphrasing that one, but it talks about how he didn't just go up into glory, he descended first into hell. That's where he preached to the spirits there in prison. He led captivity captive. Acts 2.27 also describes that. I believe that's the passage where it talks about, you know, will not leave my soul in hell. So the soul, David, is where that prophecy, that type was given. But it talks directly about Jesus Christ there. And then 1 Peter 2.24 as well. Alright, so we'll go ahead and close there. I'll finish with just a thought, no more scripture, but just a thought here. Verse 13 says that this woman did something for the Lord. Everywhere this gospel will be preached, she will be remembered for what she did. So in closing, as we go through the rest of the services here today and throughout this week, What is something that you have done or will do for the Lord that can be remembered? Not for your own glory. Who gets the glory of what Mary did? Yeah, her story is told, but it's all for his glory. So don't do something that you'll be remembered by man. Do something that you can be remembered by God. Jesus said that this woman hath done what she could, not what she felt comfortable doing. Have you done all that you can do? And do you even want to? Do we even want to? Let's close in prayer. So I apologize for going a little bit over. I wanted to get those last little