and to future fathers, happy Father's Day. I don't know if you ever get to be a past father, even though your children are grown and you get grandkids like I am, you're still a father. So that's one of those lifelong callings. Once you are, you are. My wife sends her greetings. She's unable to be with us today. Took a little spill and broke her foot, so she's in a walking boot. Got it propped up for a few days. So, to my wife, hey wife, and to all else who are joining us in any form of media today, as well as you present. Encourage you to take your copy of the scriptures and open it to Mark chapter number 14. Mark 14. We began this series in March, two years ago, come July. So we've been slugging our way through this gospel for a while. At the present rate, we will be through, maybe, by the end of the year. I think between now and then, it should be covered. After working our way through all of the discourse, we probably need a breath of air. So maybe in some ways this chapter is a breath of air, not quite as, I don't know, it may be more intense, honestly, because we're shifting gears. We're moving to those last hours. That's where we're moving to. Those last hours in the life of Christ. Mark 14 is the longest chapter in Mark, And I think of it as entering the holy of holies. And by that I mean we're entering now to what's called the passion of Christ, the suffering of Christ. The term inner sanctum is a term that means the most holy place. We think in the temple of the holy of holies, where God actually, his presence actually met with man. That would be the inner sanctum. Well, at Calvary we read that inner sanctum is opened. In Hebrews chapter 10 we read, Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain that is through His flesh. Tearing of the veil of the temple into from top to bottom is the opening up of that inner sanctum and our. Access through Jesus Christ into that holy place. The focus of Mark Chapter 14 and 15. Is the abandonment of Jesus? As I said, we're we're moving into what's called the passion of Christ now proper. And the. themes and the topics that we see in chapter 14 deal with his abandonment. In verses 1 and 2 of this chapter, we read about the plot to kill Jesus. Verses 10 and 11, the decision by Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus. Verses 12 through 21, the revelation of the fact that the betrayer is actually one of the 12 that is sitting at the table with Christ and the other disciples. Verses 26 through 31, we have the revelation of Peter's denial of the Lord. Jesus tells Peter, you're going to deny me. And that is revealed. Verses 32 through 42, Jesus goes to the garden to pray. He asked his friends, pray with me. And yet they are so slow they can't stay awake. Now, I don't want to get too hard on him because I know what it's like to be tired at the end of the day and just can't continue. But he asked them again and again and again. Pray with me. And the disciples can't do that. Verses 43 through 52, we have the betrayal, the arrest and the mass desertion by his disciples from him. Verses 53 through 65, we have the condemnation of Christ, the mockery of Christ. Verse 66 through 72, Peter denies Jesus. And in chapter 15, verse 34, if you want to move to the the pinnacle of the abandonment of Jesus, we have it in 1534. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? All of this is the abandonment of Christ and it's building and building and building as you move from 14 and 15. And according to the prophecy, you strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. So it was that Zachariah said and prophesied in chapter 13, seven. So we see that in 14 and 15. Now, we've made much of Mark's use of the sandwich technique It is something, it's a device, a technique that Mark employs repeatedly, and we've seen it over and over throughout our study of the Gospel of Mark. And the sandwich technique is where Mark is talking about one topic, one narrative, he's given one narrative, and he will insert another narrative in between it and then come back to the narrative he's talking about. So it's basically like a sandwich with two pieces of bread and a piece of meat in the middle. And chapter 5 is such an easy example of that where you have the miracle Well, it will be the miracle of the resurrection of Jairus's daughter, but where Jairus is talking to Jesus, come to my house, my little girl is sick. And you have that narration begun. And then Mark tells us about a woman that has an issue of blood that comes up to him and pauses that narration about Jairus's daughter. tells us about the woman with the issue of blood, then comes back, finishes the narration about Jairus' daughter. So that's the sandwich technique. And it's something that Mark uses again and again and again as you go through this gospel. In chapter 14, verses 1 and 2, the wicked design of those men that Christ has just been debating in the temple Is really taking shape because they come together and they decide we're going to arrest him and have him killed, but we're not going to do it during the feast. Well, we know man has his plans, but we know that God has his. Well, the death of Christ was part of God's plan, but it would be during the feast, actually. But they're plotting. And so Mark, the chapter begins with Mark telling us about this, this plot to arrest Jesus, and then he pauses and he gives us a narration. the narration about this anointing at Bethany, and then you go back to verse 10, you pick up at verse 10, well now Judas decides he's going to go betray Christ, so we got this sandwich. We got the betrayal of Christ on both sides, and in between, sandwiched between that, we have this narration about the anointing of Jesus at Bethany. Now, this is a it gives us a stark contrast between treachery and faith. On one hand, we have the treacherous desires and evil intentions of wicked men to have Christ arrested and killed. And kind of like going through some books of the Bible judges, for example, where you just it's just you're just in this downward spiral. Then you have this little break. You go. I needed that break. I needed a little sun here in the middle of these clouds. And so you start off and you think, well, we have a little break here. Then he's going to pick back up again on the narration. But it might not be so much as a break as we think. It's kind of like a lighthouse. I think of these verses that we're going to read this in a moment, but I think of these verses, the narration, excuse me, the anointing of Jesus at Bethany, I think of them kind of like a lighthouse. A lighthouse must be a welcoming sight if you're coming in from sea in a storm. But you also realize that the purpose of that lighthouse is to warn you of danger. There's trouble ahead, and you need to be aware of that. Well, the anointing of Jesus is a harbinger of his death, and that's what he tells us. So we think, oh, this is a nice story, and it is. But as we begin to peel back the layers, we understand what's happening is a continuation of a narration of his death. I think the primary focus of verses three through nine, and that is our primary focus for today in the anointing of Jesus, is it's one of the Bible's great and memorable stories concerning a lovely, costly, unselfish, sacrificial service and worship. It's also this harbinger. I will say as a pastor and as a believer, if I were a pastor or not, but as a pastor and as a believer. I have great appreciation for the words of Christ in this narration. Verse six, she has done a beautiful thing. Verse eight, she has done what she could. Verse nine, what she has done will be told in memory of her. Over the course of my life, I've heard several people actually, When they get to my point in life and older, health is failing. I've heard more than one person say, I don't know why God's left me here. My family's gone, my spouse is gone. I can't do what I wanna do. Why does God just leave me here? I've heard that question often. Well, I've heard it more than once. I've heard it several times. I can't say often, but I've heard it many times. And another statement I've heard people make, and this is usually made by young people and middle-aged people, and that is, I know everyone's supposed to have a spiritual gift, but I really don't. I mean, I look around me and I see all these people with all these gifts and talents and I think, gee, I can't do anything. Well, I'm not sure how Mary felt when the men rebuked her for her actions. But I think how confirming and assuring were the words of Jesus when he said, she's done a beautiful thing. She has done what she could. And what she has done will be testified as far and as long as the gospel is preached in the world. The narration is a reminder of Christ's graciousness and his tenderness with his children. I love Isaiah 42, verse 3. A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench. A reed that is so tender that has been bruised that all it takes is just the slightest pressure and it will just be gone. A bruised reed he will not break, and a candle It's flickering in the breeze, as it were. The flame is just about to go out. And a flickering candle he will not extinguish. Christ observes great and small, quiet as well as those things that aren't so quiet. Remember, we just got through with Jesus sitting in the temple observing the widow casting her might into the treasury. And it was that offering that he called attention to and said, that's the great offering. We read in Matthew 25 about Christ separating sheep from goats and saying to those on his right hand, to his sheep, come and inherit the kingdom prepared for you, for you saw me hungry and naked and thirsty and in prison. And you you minister to me. And the question is, what did we do that? And his answer is, when you did it to the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me. It's a wonderful reminder that Christ is gentle. and tender when often we are not. And it's also a wonderful reminder that your labors and the Lord, whether they be great or whether they be small or not in vain. We have the Lord's commendation. My beloved brothers, be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." Now, I reckon it's the teacher in me, but I like what I call the Kipling model. So you young people, you children, this is one good way, a good model for studying and for reading is the Rudger Kipling model. Kipling wrote, I keep six honest serving men. They taught me all I knew. Their names are what and why and when and how and where and who. And I think that's a good way to approach anything. is to use those six serving men and start asking those basic questions. So that's what I want to do today. I want to read the passage, I want to pray, then I want to use these six serving men and let's look at the passage and try to flesh it out some as we consider this portion of God's Word. So Mark chapter 14, you're there in your Bibles. We're starting with verse one. Mark 14, verse one. May we hear God's Word. It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the chief priest and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him. For they said, not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people. And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, As he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of Purnard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, why was this ointment wasted like that? Well, this ointment could have been sold for more than 300 denarii and given to the poor. And they scolded her. But Jesus said. Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you and whenever you want, you can do good for them, but you will not always have me. She has done what she could. She is anointed my body beforehand for burial. Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her." Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priest in order to betray him to them, and when they heard it they were glad and promised to give him money, and he sought an opportunity to betray him. May God be pleased to bless His Word and let His people say, and may we pray together. Father, for Your Word, we are grateful. We pray now that it will be opened before us in a good and proper and edifying, meaningful way, strengthening way. And I pray, Lord, that we will be open before it. in a good and proper way. Examine our minds. Show us, Lord, some of the depths and intents of our hearts. Encourage your people on their pathway and call those that are flippant or uncaring or light or indifferent to Christ. Lord, reveal their hearts, their wickedness, and their sin to them and cause them to cry out for forgiveness and flee to Christ, the Lamb of God, the Savior of sinners, in whose name we pray, amen. So we begin with verse 3, asking the questions where and how. So let's look at the first question, where. And the verse is very clear, where. He's at Bethany, he's at the house of Simon the leper, and he's reclining at a table. He's at a meal. So he's at the house of Simon the leper in Bethany, and he is, Jesus is, at a meal. So the where is pretty straightforward. Now the who is a little, it's not as hard, but it can be a little bit more controversial, I suppose. But turn your Bibles to John chapter 12. I think John 12 is of great help in setting the timetable for our narrative and understanding the who's that are involved in this narration. So John chapter 12, verse one, And you're going to notice right out of the gate that this is different than Mark 14 one, where it was two days before Passover. But we'll talk about that in a moment. But it begins with saying six days before the Passover. Jesus, therefore, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, he who was about to betray him, said, Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor? He said this not because he cared about the poor. But because he was a thief and having charge of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put in it. Jesus said, leave her alone so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me. So. Bethany. And we'll probably talk a little bit more about this, but Bethany is that home of Lazarus. It's where Christ raised Lazarus from the dead. And there is a dinner that's being held at Bethany in honor of Christ, even though the reading there can be, is it in honor of Christ or in honor of Lazarus? I think it's in honor of Christ who raised Lazarus from the dead. They're giving this dinner in his home and they are in the house of Simon the leper and Martha is serving and Lazarus is reclining at the table with Jesus. And that's how they would have sat around a table. They didn't sit in chairs. They sit on pillows in the floor and they recline back. And so they're sitting at this table. They're reclining. Martha is serving and Mary. The sister of Lazarus comes up and breaks this alabaster box with this precious ointment of pure lard and pours it over Christ, and Christ says she's done that. She's anointed my body for burial. Now we come to that's the where, that's the who, now we come to the when, and this kind of ties all this back together, and we go back to Mark 14.1 for a moment, and this is the more difficult question. So 14.1 starts out, it was now two days before the Passover. Now that would be a Wednesday. Now some want to make 14.1 the timing and say this is when Jesus was anointed at Bethany by this woman. And by doing that, you end up with three anointings in the Bible. This one where we wouldn't know where it is, the one in John where he is at the house of Simon the leper, and one in Matthew where he is at the house of Simon the Pharisee, where he's also anointed by an unknown woman. who pours this ointment upon him. In John chapter 12 we read that this happened, this anointing in the city of Bethany happened six days before Passover. That's before the triumphal entry, that's before the cleansing of the temple, that's before the Olivet discourse. That's before the priest and scribe meet and reach their final solution, and that's before Judas Iscariot comes up with this plot to betray Christ. Now, on at least two occasions in scripture, it's recorded that Jesus was at a meal at the house of Simon and he was anointed. And excuse me, Mark 14 three is at the house of Simon the leper. And in Luke, I said Matthew a moment ago, but in Luke chapter seven, verse 36 and following, he's at the house of a Simon called the Pharisee, the Pharisee Simon, Simon, the Pharisee. Now there's two houses, there's two different anointings, they're different towns. One is at Bethany. The other one may well be at Nain because that seems to be the geographical location when that story is given. And you remember Nain is where another resurrection occurred. That's where Christ raises the only son of the widow is at Nain. But whether it be there or not, I don't know. But one is definitely at Bethany. One's at this unknown town. He's at different homes, different hosts, different guests, different objections are raised about the anointing and different explanations are given why he was anointed. My mind, I'm satisfied that Mark 14, one, excuse me, three through nine, and John are recording the same event. Now that presents some people a problem because they look at Mark and they start reading Mark, they read, well, it's two days before the Passover and they read that and they hit verse three and they assume that Mark's just talking about the same thing, same day, same time. Ah, they forget the sandwich technique. How Mark will talk about one thing, how he'll pick something else up, stick it in that narration and loop back and pick up that same narration. The point of verses 1 and 2 in Mark is about the betrayal. Verses 3 through 9 in Mark are about this anointing. Then he picks back up in verse 10 with the decision of Judas Iscariot about the betrayal again. I think what Luke does in verses 3 through 9 at least, and perhaps even through 11, but at least 3 through 9 in this sandwich technique is he's looping back and he's picking up an event that happened four days earlier in Bethany, six days before the Passover as John records in his gospel. And in doing that, it's a reminder, and this is what he does with this technique, it's a reminder of a larger theme. And we need that theme lest we lose sight in this anointing of Jesus at Bethany. And that larger theme is the substitutionary atoning death of Jesus, the sacrifice of God's paschal lamb. And that's how this anointing, this sandwich fits in this betrayal, this plot to kill him. And now here he has been anointed. And Jesus says the reason is for my burial. So he brings to mind this greater theme, this overarching theme about his death, and that brings us to the question, why? Verse 8, I've already referred to this several times. She has done what she could, she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. Why questions can be awfully exhausting, but they're awfully important. Those of you with small children, I'm sure you know the why questions. Why, and you give an answer, or why, and you give an answer, and why. Why questions can be taxing, but why questions, I think, are very important. They help us think deeper. For example, right here, this narration of the anointing. Why does Mary anoint him? They help us avoid being presumptuous. We see something and we automatically seem to go to a conclusion like these disciples did. They look at Mary's action and they are very judgmental. But if you ask why she did what she did, then they are really rebuked for their judgmental spirit. Jesus often spoke about his death. We've looked at that in Mark time and again where he said, we're going to Jerusalem. And I'll tell you what's going to happen in Jerusalem. The son of man is going to be betrayed and he's going to be crucified and he's going to be buried and he's going to rise again on the third day. He's told that time and time again as we've gone through Mark, but he hasn't always explained why he will be crucified. Why will he be put to death? Why will he be resurrected from the dead? Passover frames the question why. Why is this? So I think that's why it's brought up in John and it's brought up in Mark, it's put in this time frame, it's put in this context of Passover and it helps us understand something of the why. Passover was not just a regular meal that a family sat around a table and just decided they'd have one day. Passover was a God-instituted, annual, symbolic meal to remind the Jews how God rescued them from Egypt. They were commanded to observe it. The Passover meal was about God rescuing His people from His own judgment. Plagues had come on Egypt. Plague after plague after plague. And now he is sending the angel of death, and the angel of death will take the firstborn in every house, and the only ones that will be exempt from the judgment of God are those who are under the sign that God gives for their safety and deliverance. And that's the Passover. To take the blood of the lamb, put it on the doorpost of the house. And when the angel of death comes through, he will see that and will pass over. And those people will be spared. So Passover is God rescuing his people from his own judgment. God redeemed them from slavery in Egypt. It's at the Passover meal. when Christ will institute the Lord's Supper. It eclipses it. It's a reminder that that is something in the past that points to something much greater, but the greater is now here. And the Lord's Supper is about how God will spare the sinner. He will give His Son and He will die a sacrificial death and His blood has atoning power. Who will be spared? All those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who call upon the Lord will be spared. Where may sinners flee for forgiveness and find refuge in the storm of God's judgment? In Christ, in Christ alone. Why did Christ die on the cross? To save me from God's own wrath and to deliver me from bondage. Why did Mary anoint Jesus? Mark 11-13, Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem as a king. He rides in as a king and the palm branches are thrown down in front of him. Hosanna! They cry out to the king. He cleansed the temple perhaps as the high priest of the house of God, this is God's house, this is my house. He goes in and he cleanses the temple, he teaches with authority in the temple as a true prophet of God, he's teaching them the word of God, he's king, he's priest, he's prophet, but he's going to the cross as the Lamb of God. And verse 8 explains the anointing, it's a prologue to the death and burial of Jesus. Jesus was hurriedly buried and it was without the normal custom. In Luke 23, verse 55, it says the women saw the tomb and how his body was laid. In verse 56, it says they returned and prepared spices and ointments because his burial was so hurried. He was not buried in the normal customary way with his body being anointed as they would anoint it. And then they observe the Passover. Then the day after, in Luke 24, it says they returned to the grave. to anoint his body, but they did not find it, for he had risen from the dead." Why anoint him? It's a harbinger. It's a sign. It's an indicator. I hate to use the word warning, but it's a warning of his impending death. Then we come to the what and how. What and how, the what, verses three and five, the what. And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask, avoidment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. This begins to answer what Mary did. She prodigiously, and that means almost wastefully, anointed Jesus with a very expensive ointment. Her actions were excessive. Ladies, when you buy perfume, how do you normally buy it? By the gallon? No, by the ounce. or a couple of ounces. Why? Well, it's very costly. Could you imagine buying a half a gallon or a quart of perfume? What would it cost you? Well, Mary comes with this very precious ointment, this pure nard, and someone has said she didn't so much anoint Jesus as she drenched him. She breaks the alabaster box in which it's contained and just pours it over him. John 12 says that she anointed his feet and wiped them with her hair. And some go, well, look, he anointed, it was pouring on his head, not his feet. I don't really have a problem with that, honestly, because when you consider what she's doing here, it's just an extravagant pouring out of this ointment and it just flows down him. I read this, I'm reminded of Psalm 133 verse two, it's like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar, on his robe, running down to the hem of his garments. That's what we have here, she pours this precious ointment and it just runs down, it just covers him. He was drenched. Verses three and five, it's a very costly, very costly what she does. Nard was a very expensive, fragrant ointment. It was so costly, in fact, that it was most often diluted. You didn't just use pure Nard as an ointment, as a as a fragrance, you would you would cut it with water, you would you would dilute it down. But we're told in verse three, this is pure Nard. This hasn't been diluted, this isn't cut, this isn't reduced in any way. In fact, it was so costly that it would often be ripped off. They would counterfeit it, like things today. You find something that's really expensive and real popular, and the next thing you know, we got 10 million of them flooding in from China or somewhere, and their knockoffs are counterfeits. Well, they do the same thing with NARD. It was so expensive, they would cut it, number one, but then they'd counterfeit it. The estimate of the value of this ointment is given to us in verse number five, and that is 300 denarii, which would be about a year's wages. So what she did was about a year's worth of work. And some have supposed that this ointment, because of its volume and because of the preciousness and the cost of it, Some have supposed that really what she had done was taken a family heirloom and breaks it and pours it on Christ. It'd be like having something that's passed down from grandmother to mother to daughter in your family, something very costly. She would basically take that and just destroy the vessel and pour out all the contents of it. Then we ask the question, so that's what she did, and then we ask the question, how? How was Mary's actions perceived? Well, verses four and five, the men were indignant and berating. You read John, record of this, and it's clear it probably starts with Judas, his carriot, who starts the thought that he's a thief, and he's thinking, man, I could have really cut roots off of that. But he thinks that then he says it and then apparently the other read Mark and seemed like all the disciples are chiming in and they're berating this woman. Verse five, it says they scolded her. Spruill writes the term scolded is a vast understatement in the English. In a bullfight, when the matador taunts the bull, the bull paws the ground and his nostrils flare in anger. That is the image that's used here. They're very angry with her. And they angrily accuse her of being foolish and wasteful, and then really the twist of the dagger, uncaring. Don't you care how many poor people you could have helped with that? Turn that dagger. That's how men responded. Verses six through nine, we have how Christ responds. Christ defends her and he praises her. He defends her, he says, let her alone. Secondly, he distinguishes her work as a, quote, beautiful thing. She has done a beautiful thing. And thirdly, he defines her work as prophetic. She has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And fourthly, he memorializes her actions, her work. He says wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her. And so here we are 2000 years later, a couple of continents or at least a continent removed from where all this happened. And we're talking about what this woman did. He memorialized what she did. And said, as long as the gospel's preached, wherever it's preached, this story will be told. Warren Rearsby writes, Mary's act of love was accepted by Jesus, criticized by Judas and the other disciples, and reported to the church throughout the world. Thus we have, basically, I think we've tried to somewhat cover this account of the anointing of Jesus using these six serving men. We've looked at that. Now we want to come to a couple of closing thoughts on this. The first is what I'll call the promisee of worship. And in my closing thoughts here, I would say one is maybe an exhortation and the second is an encouragement. The first one is an exhortation in the area of service. Now, verse number seven is often stumbled, given people's stumbling block. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them, but you will not always have me. Is Jesus saying he doesn't really care about the poor? No. Is he reversing things he taught before about our care of the poor? No. They're not in opposition. And the disciples, when they oppose Mary's actions in verse number four, they have angry thoughts. It says that they were some who said to themselves, they're thinking about what she's done. Now, the word angry thoughts here and they're thinking to themselves is the same word that's used in chapter 10, verse 41. When James and John asked Jesus and the other disciples must have heard them, they knew about it. When James and John asked Jesus, can we sit on your right hand and left hand? And we're told that the disciples were very indignant. Same word, same term. But their angry thoughts will lead them to biting words in verse number five. For this ointment could have been sold for more than 300 denarii and given to the poor. And they scolded her. So they're thinking wrongly. And then it follows up with their words and their words are biting, you know, ill will. It's like a cancer. It will manifest itself. You can harbor something in your mind, in your heart, and it's going to affect you. It's going to come out. And here they're thinking these hard, terrible thoughts against Mary, and it came out. They spoke it. Jesus said, but what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart. You're not going to keep it hid. They didn't keep it hid. Now did the disciples oppose the action because they genuinely are concerned for the poor or were they using the poor as a pretext to criticize? Now we want to be careful here, we don't want to be overly judgmental of them, but we know why Judas did what he did. Scripture tells us he was a thief. And he just used the poor as an excuse to berate her because he's upset he didn't get the money. Well, I don't know about the rest of the cycle, I don't know, I know that. Sometimes, we see it today in mob behavior. You can take one person and they can start acting irrationally before you know it. You can have a whole room full of people acting in an irrational way. I don't know if they were just blindly following her or him, excuse me, or what's going on. I don't know their motives. I'm not told their motives. But I do understand this, that their response did not only demean Mary, Their response demeaned Christ because they don't think enough of Him to realize that's not a waste. He's worth it. He's worthy. He alone is worthy. Well, Jesus was not dismissive. of the poor. His answer is not promoting passivity. He's not saying, well, you shouldn't do anything about the poor. It's neither of those. But it does prioritize, I think, our horizontal and our vertical relationships and our responsibilities. Have you ever used your horizontal responsibilities and relations as an excuse for your ignoring your vertical duties, responsibilities, and relationships? Yeah, we have. We all have. We've all done that. The Bible says that for everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven. Men objected to Mary's actions, but Christ honored them and prioritized them. That what she has done is a good thing. It's a beautiful thing. It's a thing that will be remembered and talked about in generations to come. As important, brothers and sisters, as important as your service is, horizontally, it cannot replace, nor is it intended to replace, your relationship vertically with God. Do you hear me? No matter what you do, or I do, no matter how important it may be, it is not to replace my vertical relationship, my relationship with God. And let me say this, you know, when I was, we were trying to raise our children years ago, I thought one of the best things I could do for them was to show them I love their mom, that she had priority in my life. You didn't mess with mom. And if mom said this, then that's my law too. And we had a disagreement, we didn't do that in front of the kids. So I wanted them to see me love my wife. Because I felt like if you get that right, and you understand this relationship, then the rest of these things are gonna follow. What I wanna suggest to you here is that if my relationship, if I have prioritized, pardon me, in my life, my worship of God, My love for God, these other things are going to flow out right. But if I got this one wrong, no matter how much good I do down here this way. I got it backwards. You recall in Mark chapter 12, verse 28, Jesus was asked which commandment is the most important, which is the greatest commandment of all? And Jesus said, well, you know, they're all the same. No, he didn't. He prioritized the commandments. That's what I'm talking about. He said, this is the first and great commandment to love the Lord, thy God with all thy heart, all thy soul, all thy mind. And the second. Is like it. You get this one right, this one's going to flow out of it. He prioritized it. And I think sometimes we miss that. We go, well, they're all the same. It's true if I break one, I've broken them all. I'm guilty. I understand that. But they're not all the same. Christ himself put them in order. I think God did actually in the giving of the Ten Commandments. Got these four that deal with God on one tablet stone and these six over here that deal with man's relations on another tablet. I think God himself ordered and prioritized that. So we got the tree and the fruit. The auxiliaries, the horizontal ministries, evangelism, mission, these are all important matters, but they cannot replace the PRIMARY and the PROMISY of my worship and exaltation of God. For if they do, I'm off on the wrong foot. Why do you want to raise your children in the admonition of the Lord? Why do we want to support missionaries? Why would we like to plant churches? Why evangelize? Why give of your time and your talents and your money and yourself? Why? Why do that? Well, Paul wrote this in 2 Corinthians 5. He said, verses 14 and 15, for the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died. And he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised. You hear what Paul's doing? This is the answer to the why. It's because of Christ and the worthiness of Christ and the promise of my duty of worshiping God first. And we come here to this anointing and we find men going, well, they should have given that to the poor, should have done this, that and the other. They did not realize what Mary's doing and they underestimate the value of Christ. Lastly, that's an exhortation. Examine that. Then we come to the encouragement. Let's assume for a moment that my priorities are straight. That doesn't change the reality that faithful service and worship of God can be and is exhausting and sometimes it's exasperating. We get tired. And beyond tired, we get frustrated. And sometimes, I'm not gonna say all the time, but sometimes, that's because we're not focused right. We can do things for a lot of good reasons. And yes, I do care what people think. And I do care that the poor are fed and clothed, and the sick visited, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But I don't want to do it just because I feel better about it. I want to do it in obedience to my God, who is my Lord and my Savior. And I want to ask the question, what does God think about this particular whatever it is I'm doing? What does God think? One of the great encouraging truths of the Bible is that Jesus Christ is our advocate. He is the advocate of every believer. And in this passage, Christ advocates for Mary. Men come to cut and degrade her, to scorn her, and Christ steps in the way, and he advocates. Jesus is the advocate, your advocate, if you are a believer in Christ. He advocates for you. Even my weakest, most flawed, whatever, attempts for his glory, for his honor to worship and serve God. As Jeff Thomas used to say, it's like a child going out and picking their mom a bouquet of flowers. And they go out, and they find all these weeds, and they're picking these weeds. And they're all nice and pretty for the child. And she comes and gives it to her mom because she loves and respects her mom. Here's this bouquet I picked for you. And the mom lovingly receives it, maybe addresses a little bit and fixes it up, puts it in a vase and sticks it up in the window. That's kind of the way my relationship with Christ is my advocate. I come and my prayers are jumbled and my service is mixed up and it's lame. And he takes that. And he arranges that beautifully. And he presents me before the father. That's an advocate. An advocate also is that one who stands in the gap and is my legal defender, and here he's our legal defender. He stood in the gap. Men would accuse her, and Christ said, no, it's God who justifies. There's no man that can condemn. And so he's her legal advocate. Secondly, I want to say that Christ is observant. He knows what's going on. He knows what's going on in his church. He knows what's going on in your life. He knows what's going on. Revelation 2 and 3, the letters to the seven churches, every one of those churches Christ addressed and says, I know. I know this and I know that about you. I know you did this and I know this is happening. Christ knows. Again, I've already pointed this out, but in Mark 12, he noted the widow as she came in and she cast in her might, her penny. Christ observed that. In Mark 14, Christ noted Mary's actions, and he defended and lauded her, and he says she has done a beautiful thing. She has done what she could. I'm reminded of a little saying there, and I think I've given this to you before. It's by Edward Everett Hale, and the saying is this, I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. Yeah, I wish I had more strength. I wish I could remember better. I wish it didn't take me four times longer to do the things I used to do and then exhaust me. I can't do what I once did. But what can I do? No, I don't have the gifts and talents of other men. I'd love to have some of their, I envy sometimes their gifts and talents. I'd love to have that. That's not who God made me. I have what I have. Question is, have I done what I can do? And if I have and I'm doing it for the glory of my God, it is a beautiful thing. Be it ever so small. So no, we're not all gifted alike. We're not all able to do the same things. But are you doing what you can do for the Lord? And what you are doing, are you really doing it for the Lord? And be encouraged. Your labors for the Lord are not in vain. Remind yourself of that, because there are times I think that my labors are in vain, and there are times you think your labors are in vain. There are times you look and you go, what I intended has gone to naught. It's a waste. That's not your decision. Your labors in the Lord are not in vain. Let's pray together. Father, for your word in this portion of it, thank you. Please cause it to resonate the truths of it in our minds and hearts. Help us to use the passage as a means of examining ourselves, but also of encouraging ourselves. Thank you for this great narrative of this anointing of Jesus, for the great sacrifice of our Savior, for the great hope that is ours, and the great encouragement that we have in him. Forgive us of our sins. Lord, establish our thoughts as we commit the labors of our hands unto you. And if it's pleasing to you, Lord, may we see fruit and evidence, may parents raising their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord see those children grow up and may they see a positive product of their years of tireless labor. Bless our brother Rick, our brother deacon here at the church and all of his labors, some seen and many unseen. Encourage him, Lord. Encourage, Lord, those who are leading various ministries in the church that give of themselves. We pray, Father, that you would encourage them on the way. We would constantly examine our motives, but in examining our motives, Lord, we would be encouraged. and our weakness, our frailties, and our inabilities, and our often-seeming failures, that our labors in you are not in vain. Bless, Lord, we pray, the members, the officers, the friends of Emmanuel Baptist Church, and may we do whatever we do to your glory. May that be our consuming concern. is the glory of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Through Christ our Lord we pray. Amen. Please turn in your hymns of grace.