The sermon titled 'Religion of the Heart' by Paul Carrington focuses on John 12:1-8, emphasizing Christianity as a 'religion of the heart' characterized by love and devotion to God, unlike other religions that are transactional. The sermon highlights the event of Mary anointing Jesus' feet with costly spikenard oil as an act of extravagant worship, demonstrating her deep love and devotion. This act contrasts with Judas Iscariot's self-centeredness and false concern for the poor. The sermon further explores the theme of sacrificial devotion through the story of Robert Germaine Thomas, a missionary whose life poured out in service to Christ, resulted in a legacy of Christian faith in Korea. The sermon concludes by urging believers to evaluate their own hearts and devotion to Christ, encouraging a heart-focused worship that aligns with the heavenly chorus: 'Worthy is the Lamb.'

Our sermon text for this morning is John chapter 12 verses 1 through 8. For context, I'm going to back up and start reading in chapter 11 verse 55. Please follow along with me. And the Passover of the Jews was near and many went from the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. Then they sought Jesus and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple.

What do you think that he will not come to the feast? Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it that they might seize him. Then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom he had raised from the dead. There they made him a supper, and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him. Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.

But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray him, said, Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor? This, he said, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the money box, and he used to take what was put in it. But Jesus said, let her alone. She has kept this for the day of my burial. For the poor you have with you always, but me you do not have always.

May the Lord bless the reading of His Word. It's a great honor to be here with you this morning to come and worship with you and to sing these songs of praise to our great Savior and King, the Lord Jesus Christ. It really is a great blessing. As we get closer and as we partner more and more as two churches, as Hope Baptist and as Sovereign Redeemer, it's just a great honor. I think this is what is the first phase of what Jason Dome called the prisoner exchange program, where I'm here this week, and I think in a few weeks Michael Templeton will be over at Hope Baptist to share with us.

But it truly is an honor, it's a great blessing. And I'm so excited actually for the text that we have before us today. This text is one that's, it's searched me, It's caused me just to really consider where do I stand with the Lord? Not just what I say, but what is the direction? What is the content of my heart as I consider Him?

And I can't believe the fortune your elders have given me in being able to preach from this section. It really is something that, if nothing else, it's profited me hugely and greatly, and I pray it would be a profit for you as well here this morning. And really what I've titled this sermon is religion of the heart. Religion of the heart. And right out of the gate, I want to just make it very clear.

Think about religion for a moment. If you look at every other religion in the world, every other religion, I don't care what it is, you can pick Islam for example, And what you have is a transaction between the person who is before Allah and Allah Himself. There is no necessary love between. There is fear. There is maybe elements of respect.

But there is no love. You can go to Buddhism and it will be the same thing. There's not a love, but there's a transaction. If I do this, then I will get this result at the end of it all. Even if you go into the Bible and you look in the book of Acts, for example, in Acts chapter 18 when Paul was preaching in Ephesus and the entire economy was in shambles, Demetrius the silversmith is worried because their business is going down from idol making.

And he conjures up a riot there in Ephesus. And they begin to scream, it says, for two hours, great is Diana of the Ephesians. But when you follow it back upstream, what was it? It was just transactional religion. Their economic welfare was being impacted by the preaching of the Gospel.

And so what I'm saying is that every other religion except Christianity allows you to transact with God. But Christianity is a religion of the heart. It's a religion of love towards the object who is God. And no other religion has that. Because where there's no grace in the heart, There can't be any real love, can there?

There can't be any real adoration, but only fear, trepidation, and if I do this, will you do that for me? That's all you really get at the end of the day. And so to emphasize this, when we look at our text today, This accompaniment of faith and love, that's what we're seeing today. Where the Lord at the end of this, in other texts, in Matthew and in Mark, He says that wherever this Gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will be brought up as a memorial to her. See this marriage of not just faith, but faith and love, faith and worship between this heart that is before the Lord and all the praise that is going up towards Him and making much of Him.

So it's a great blessing to be able to speak of this text here today. And as Josiah just read, really what we've come to is the calm before the storm. That's what we're at right now. We're now within a week of the Lord's final week of ministry on the earth. We're on the threshold of Golgotha.

You could almost see the shadow of the cross looming over what we're going to be talking about today. And what happens is John, the apostle, he focuses the next eight chapters on this final six days of the Lord's life on earth. It's amazing. We're kind of brought into the inner sanctum. There's no more public ministry.

There's no more preaching, sermon on the mounts or anything like that. But he's ministering with his disciples and John is bringing us into that. And it's now the time where the Passover is drawing near. And you can imagine where Jerusalem is awash with ceremonial religion. They are getting ready, the slaughter of all the lambs, and all of this anticipation.

Because this is the highest day on the calendar for the Jews, hearkening back to the Passover when they left Egypt. That's the beginning of their calendar. But from God's perspective, this is not only the most important day or date on the calendar, but this is the most important date in the history of all the world that's coming up in six days. The death of His Son for the sins of His people. That's what's all happening as we come into this text in these last six days.

So it's not all Religious ceremonialism though, is it? There's plots that are swirling around, all sorts of things that are happening. When you look in Matthew chapter 26, it says in relation to this text, it says, then the chief priests, the scribes and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest who was called Caiaphas and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and to kill Him. We just saw earlier on in John chapter 11 you could imagine that wanted posters are pasted all over the place when you walk through Jerusalem. Outside Jerusalem there's wanted posters.

If you see this man, that's what it says, if anyone knew where he was, he should report it that they might see him. And so this is the general tenor of what's happening right now. There's rumblings, there's all sorts of things. Just as this feast is making its way to the fore. And so all of this you would ask, well what would the Lord's mind set?

And what would His heart be like in the midst of all of this stress and strain? And it's amazing, You couldn't think of a greater contrast. Where do we find the Lord? Do we find Him in a panic? Is He pacing?

Is He out there recruiting people that are going to be able to defend Him? Has He set a watch so that someone can alert Him when troops enter into the city. There's none of that. We don't find Him crafting His arguments, trying to figure out what He's going to say during the time of His trial. None of that.

We saw in John chapter 10, no one takes it from me, speaking of His life. No one takes it from me. But I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This is our Lord here.

And so this contrast, what do we do? We find him at a supper. And it's a supper where he's the guest of honor. He's here and they're putting this feast on for him. And so in verses 1 and 2 it says this, Then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom he had raised from the dead.

There they made him a supper, and Martha served. But Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him." And so, this is the setting of our text here this morning. And just as things are the hottest, it's amazing. He is not moving away from, but towards Jerusalem. Bethany is just a little village.

It's about two miles outside of the gates of Jerusalem. He had recently, in the last chapter, raised Lazarus from the dead. Right in this town. We see that here in our text today. This is what A.W.

Pink called this little home, this little village for Christ. It was like an oasis in the desert. A place where he came, he has this relationship with Martha and Mary and Lazarus, this family that he loved. And here he was in this oasis of the desert of mankind, where men really do not have that much honor and respect and regard for God because of our fallen nature, the depravity of our souls doesn't allow us to have this honor and high regard and worship for him. But here he found people that loved him.

Other gospel writers in Matthew 26, we get the sense that this was the house of Simon the leper. That's what it says in Matthew chapter 26 and Mark chapter 14. Here's a man who right now is the cross is looming. You see, you can imagine one commentator said it like this, that here he is at this supper, and on his right hand he has Lazarus, who had been dead, who he had raised from the dead, and on his other side he has Simon, the leper. This beautiful picture of those who were dead in their sins, trespasses and sins, but have been now brought to life in Christ and have been made to sit in heavenly places.

This beautiful picture. And on the other side, leprosy, all the way through Scripture, what does leprosy represent? It represents our sinful condition. That we can't do anything to scrub out, you can't take a medication for it. All that happens when you suffer from leprosy is that you have to be put outside of the camp.

And that's it for you. You can't work, you can't do anything but be a beggar as your body slowly decays and falls apart. But now Simon the Leper is also at this feast as well. And so you see this beautiful picture of redemption, of what the Lord has done. And these are undeniable trophies of God's goodness and mercy through Jesus Christ.

And so all of this is a picture of us as well, right? That's not just these two men, But it's a picture of us, even as we gather as saints together here today, all of us who are here who know the Lord, who have been born again, who have been made new by Christ. That's exactly our position with Him, that we're sitting with Him in fellowship and in communion. And so we're brought in, as it were, into the supper to partake and to sit with Him. We have no spot, we have no lot there of our own.

Sitting with the second person of the Trinity at table and communion, That's not our lot by nature, but because of His goodness towards fallen men. That's how we find ourselves today. And so, washed of our uncleanness, we're made new. We not only meet Lazarus here, but we also meet Martha. And Martha sometimes gets a bad rap.

You know, Martha, you're, you're covered about with too much business. But here she is. What is she doing? She's doing what Martha does. Behind the scenes, she's serving much like people here today, or I think one brother prayed today about the wedding yesterday.

All that behind the scenes work that has to be done. That's what Martha is doing. She's probably in a different disposition than she was when you read about her in Luke chapter 10. But here she is doing what Martha does. We also know that his disciples are there as well.

He's traveling with his disciples. Of course, one of those disciples that we'll talk about in a little bit is a man by the name of Judas, a notorious man all the way through Scripture. But we come to verse 3, and This is where I think we'll spend the bulk of our time here this morning. In verse 3 it says this, Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. Think about this for a moment.

If you put yourself in this dinner, in this event, you could imagine that conversations are happening. Maybe Lazarus literally had been dead and has been raised. But on the other side, you also might have some of the tensions and discussion around what's happening, what's going on. You know, all of this kind of going on. Just like when we gather and have a meal, there's all sorts of different conversations happening.

Well, what happens next is almost impossible to ignore. Things you can imagine grow quiet as one conversation after another begins to die. And all heads turn toward the Lord, and you see this bundle just crumpled down at His feet. And that's what we find here right now is we meet Mary. And where Martha is famous for serving, Every time we meet Mary, where do you find Mary?

You find Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus. When you look to Luke chapter 10, that's where you find Mary sitting at His feet. When Lazarus has died and Mary runs out to go and meet Him, what does she do? The very first thing that she does, she collapses at His feet. And here again we meet Mary, sitting at the feet of Jesus.

This is her place. And I think it's instructive as well for us. What's your place? When you think about your position and your disposition towards Christ. Is it like Mary?

Is it bowed down at her feet? It's very interesting. There's a time when the Lord Jesus was walking through massive crowds. There was a woman, you remember the woman who had the issue of blood in the King James Version. She had spent all her living trying to get well.

She had done everything she could. Twelve years she had suffered with this problem. And she heard that Jesus was coming through the crowd. And she crawled through. She did whatever she had to do, if only, and she's breaking the law in a way, the law, you can't really, you shouldn't be able to touch a man, but she goes through and she, if I can just touch the hem of his garment.

And she touches it and she's made whole and the Lord turns around and says, who touched me? I felt virtue go out of me. And the disciples are like, Lord, what do you mean, who touched you? Everyone's coming around you. They're patting them on the back.

They're celebrating. They're so glad that the Lord is there. But this woman came to Him with an altogether different disposition of heart. And that's what I'm asking you today, is we've all come to church today, but how have you come? And what is the heart that you've come with?

It's a real question that not only this morning, But we want to ask ourselves, just as you go into your private times tomorrow morning, or when you meet as a family, what is it that we're actually doing? Well, we're seeing that here with Mary, but this time she's not here to hear a teaching, is she? She's not here to make a request. She has one thought on her mind right now, and that is worship and adoration towards the Lord. And she wants to pour out what she's long treasured up.

This very costly Oil of Spikenard. That's what she has that she wants to pour out. And so we want to look at this verse and spend some time and break it down by what she took. Number one, you know, what she does. And then also, what is she focused on?

And you notice in the text here it says this, it says what she took was not just oil. And it says not just costly oil, but very costly oil. That's what it is. It's this oil of spikenard, this NARD that has been imported all the way from India. In those days, there's no quick way, there's no FedEx, UPS to get it over.

This is dangerous roads of transporting these very precious, precious oils. And Somehow, we don't know, the text doesn't tell us how she got her hands on this oil, but here she is in possession of about a pound of it, about 12 ounces in those days. It was not 16 ounces, but about 12 ounces. And this is the same word, this word very costly, that You see in the parable of the pearl of great price, it's the exact same word. And that text says this, Matthew 13.45.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who when he has found one pearl of great price, That word great price is the same as very costly. Went and sold all that he had and he bought it. So the equivalent of what we see here is like the equivalent of a working man's $24, 000 to $30, 000 in those days. And she takes this oil. This is what she took.

And she pours it out on the Lord's feet. This is what she does. She doesn't just throw it in the offering. But look at the manner also that she does it. Look how the oil is supplied.

And I think it's worth just thinking for a moment. This is not some emotional high, where the music was just so good, and she was just so excited, and she ran to the back of her room, and just got it and came back in a frenzy, and began to do that. That's not what it is. We don't want to cheapen what Mary is doing at all. It's not an argument.

This is not an argument for higher volumes of worship or more outward demonstrative activity and all these different things. That's not what I'm arguing for today. But on the other side, what you cannot argue for is dispassionate, heartless religion. And there's a great danger for us, isn't there? You know, especially in reformed circles, you kind of sometimes react against everything that happens in, say, a charismatic circle or some other circle, and you become stony cold.

You've got every Box checked, but the heart has gone out of it somehow. Somehow it's left the building. And this is the problem. But what this is, this is the worship of Moses. And what I mean by that is in Hebrews chapter 11, there's a reckoning that happens in Moses' mind.

When on the one side he looks to the treasures of Egypt, and on the other side he looks at the reproach of Christ. And he made an analysis. He made a calculation. And he says that the treasures of Egypt are nothing to be compared to the reproach of Christ, of following Christ. He saw that as greater riches than everything Egypt had to offer.

That's this kind of worship that we're talking about. This is the worship of Abraham. And Abraham, what did he do? He was about to offer his son. But do you know that from the time that he left where he was camped to the time he reached the base of Mount Moriah, that was three days.

This is not just a quick thing, get up the mountain at the foot of his camp, and he went up. That was nothing like that. But can you imagine what's going through your mind as you're marching through three days knowing exactly what you've been called and asked to do. But he's made a reckoning. We see that also in Hebrews 11.

This reckoning that if God has called me to sacrifice my son, That God is also able to raise him up because he's made me a promise. That through me all the nations of the earth will be blessed. And he honored Abraham. But this is the same religion. What I want you to get is that There's calculation, there's reckoning, there's a matter of worth and value and understanding that who is before Mary is worth absolutely everything that she can give.

Other Gospel writers, they focus on the anointing of the Lord's head, but what stuck out to John, what the Apostle John remembers most is not Mary standing behind the Lord and anointing His head, but he remembers this crumpled heap, this posture at His feet. And this is the other thing he notices. This is the thing that struck me the most as I was studying this and preparing. I was struck by this like nothing else. And this is what it says here.

It says, she wiped his feet with her hair. Pay attention to this detail from John. John doesn't overlook this at all, and we shouldn't at all. But as he's sitting there as an eyewitness, he's watching this unravel, this occasion happening before Him. And then He sees her not only pour and bow before Him with this most precious ointment at His feet, but as it is spread on His feet, She is taking her hair and wiping His feet.

Now Think about this. This is why it takes the breath away when you consider this and what was actually happening. Because her long hair, what does 1 Corinthians tell us? About the glory of a woman. It's her hair.

This is the glory of a woman. This is the most beautiful thing oftentimes a woman possesses. It adorns her, it frames her, and all of that. But here, what is she doing? She's taking the thing that should bring her glory, and is her glory, in the most abasing way that is possible.

She uses it like a rag. She bows before the Lord. And what she's saying is that this is not my glory. What I have up here, and I don't have much up there. But she doesn't say this is my glory any longer.

No. But He is my glory. He is everything to me. He is my great treasure. And so we've seen what she's taken, the oil, not just oil, but very costly oil.

And we see what she does with it, how she applies it. And now we look to what is she focused on most here? Well, what is she focused on is the Lord Himself. And this is the most beautiful thing, that she doesn't just pour out a couple of drops. Here's a couple drops, that's enough.

But this is something called extravagant. In other texts it says it was wasteful. Why was this wasted? It was wasteful. 12 ounces of oil poured out on this man's feet.

That was the thought in everyone else's mind. Yes, He's important. Yes, we know He's the Lord. But come on, this is a little bit over the top. Would be what's going on in the minds of so many of the others.

Just like that can happen in our minds when we come. You know, go so far and no further. Right? Because we have certain protocols and so on. But she's pouring out, not just the oil, what she's pouring out is her very self.

It's like the woman who was, you know, the Lord was sitting over at the treasury and she was watching as all these people came in with their treasures, their riches, and they were putting them into the treasury. And then a widow came in. She put in two mites. And what does the Lord say? He says, you see that woman?

Yes, yeah, we see her. She's cast in. It says all her living, All her livelihood, her very self. She's putting in as an honor towards God. Overlooked by men.

You see, God's math is different. And the way we assess things is Totally different. That's why when even David was being sought out for before he was made king, that's what the prophet said to Jesse. You look on the outside, but God looks on the inside. That's what God said to Samuel.

You look out the outside, but I look on the inside. He's looking right now, even now as we're gathered here. He's evaluating our hearts. Do we really love him? Is that the thing that brought you here today?

Or is it that it's just, hey, it's Sunday morning, this is what we do? It's really worth pondering and considering. She kept nothing back. We don't know where she got it. Was this a treasured inheritance?

Was this something that she was saving as a dowry for her wedding day? We don't really know, but all we do know is that it was supremely valuable, to the point where it was way beyond the pale of what most people would even consider possible. And what we see is that the entire house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. It's interesting, it doesn't say the room was filled, but the entire house, You could be in any corner of this house. And it was filled with the froth.

What's that smell? You couldn't deny it. Your senses would betray you if you tried to pretend this wasn't happening. It was happening right there. And what I found as I'm going through this text, I found myself marveling at Mary.

I'm looking at Mary, how did she give this? Look at her posture before the Lord. And all these different things. But what's her focus of attention? Her focus of attention is the Lord Jesus Christ.

It would be sad that we're all saluting Mary saying, wow that was amazing. And we forget what's going on. She gets the attention, but her intention is to draw attention to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that should be the object of all of our worship, is the Lord Jesus Christ. And He's exalted, and the room is filled with the fragrance of the oil.

This is a beautiful picture that if we were to exalt Christ, this is the fruit of it. This is what happens. This is also, you can even look at this, almost like the Great Commission, as the Gospel goes out into all the earth. And you see where it started, just a tiny little pinpoint on a map in Jerusalem. And then it explodes into Samaria and to other parts of the world.

And to the point where here we are, 2, 000 years later, giving thanks and praise to God. This is the fragrance filling the whole earth as it goes out into all the world. And so, I want us to stop just for a few minutes and pause. Think about this. To take in this unspoken sermon from Mary.

Just think about it for a moment. Behold worship. This is the unspeakable heart, religion, and affection of a woman who probably recognized a few things one is What she's been saved from it it it was dawning and sometimes we forget isn't that the case? Yeah, I know I'm a sinner but But we forget what we've been saved from. And we look at one another, and our love towards one another can grow cold and tepid.

Because we've forgotten what we've been saved from. But this woman was fully understanding of who she was, and the fact that right now as I am here, I've received eternal life. She's also mindful of a few days, maybe weeks before, of her brother Lazarus raised from the dead. And this overwhelming thankfulness just fills her heart. She's praising God.

She can't believe this. That here she is. And what can she do? If we pause for a moment, she's basically saying, I don't have any other way to express my love for you. But please Lord, take this as a token of all that I am, all that I possess.

Would you just, would you take this? And her posture tells us exactly how she's thinking about what's going on here. This is something more than many of the others at the table did. This is something more than even some of his most sophisticated followers today do. Right?

But this is the end of theology, isn't it? If theology doesn't lead to worship and adoration, then what good is it at the end of the day? If all it does is it leads us to having expanded heads, the ability to wax eloquent, and to talk different things and go in and parse all the different parts of the language, but it's not actually drawing our heart to God, Then what good is that at the end of the day? And here we see, this is the end of theology right here. This is what theology, understanding, I'm not saying theology is bad, please don't hear that.

I'm saying theology is beautiful, but the end of it should be hearts lifted up in worship and in praise towards God. And so I want to ask this question, is this your religion this morning? Because this is the worship of heaven. When we flip over to the book of Revelation and we get a sneak peek into what goes on in heaven. The chorus, is worthy is the lamb who is slain.

And what makes this worship so beautiful, is that it perfectly works and matches up. It says, worthy is the lamb that is slain. Is this your religion today? Are you a person who realizes what's happened to you? And I'm speaking to those who believe that you've been bought off of sins slave market.

Do you remember the pit from whence you've been dug? Do you remember the fact that, like what it's like to be dead in your trespasses and sins? Do you remember what those days were where You were looking and searching, trying to find purpose in life, all the things that go on in your heart. I talked to people all day. I was talking to a guy at work just this week.

I was up in DC and I'm talking to him and we went out for lunch with an executive. And you know, he's a life of the party type guy. And he's driving me back to the airport. And he said, so how are things really? How are things going on?

And he looks over as he's driving, he says, I said, how are things at home? Things are tough. And what I'm saying is that what people show on the face, life of the party, everything is going well, but what's really going on underneath? I'm asking, do you remember what it's like to be dead in your trespasses and in your sins? To be without hope in the world.

This might have been what was dawning on Mary's heart. Is this your religion? A religion that understands that you've inherited the promises. Like what more can God do for us than that which He's already done? Ask yourself that.

We sing that song, what more could He do that He's brought us to this place now where we're sitting with Him in heavenly places? And this is what's dawning on Mary's heart. It's the question of is this your religion as well? And I want to tell a story of a man. His name is Robert Germaine Thomas.

He was a young man. He was in his twenties. He was in a little town in Wales growing up, and he got converted. He had this burning passion to tell others about Jesus Christ. He heard about some of the work that was going on over in China.

Hudson Taylor had already been there for a few years working. This is roughly in the year 1864-1865. And he hears about all that's going on. And he can't get out of his mind. You mean there's a mass of people on the face of the earth that don't know the name Jesus Christ.

And so what does he do? Well, he quickly got a wife. He got ordained. And within five weeks, he's on a ship heading over to China. This is what he does.

He's a young man, pretty reckless, I guess some would say. And he gets there in about 1864. About a year later, his wife Carolyn, he called her Carrie, she got sick. She's pregnant. She miscarries.

And she also dies. Could you imagine all this anticipation, I'm going to be a dad, all to be brought to, not only is he not going to be a dad, but he's not even a husband anymore. He wrote this in a letter home. He says, my dear wife, sweetly fell asleep in Jesus, about one o'clock a.m. She was quite conscious at last, and her last words were, Jesus is very precious to me.

This left him devastated. It was a terrible blow. Here you can imagine he's in a foreign land, hostile foreign land. His wife is now gone. He's between and betwixt.

What do I do? Do I go back to Wales? Do I continue in the ministry here that the Lord I feel has called me to? It's a difficult time. And during this time, he hears about not just China, but he hears about what is called the Hermit Kingdom.

Whereas China was open for foreigners to come in from all sorts of different places, England and America, There was something called the hermit kingdom, which was not too far just over the bay And that's what we call today Korea. It wasn't North and South Korea in those days It was Korea, and it was called the hermit kingdom because whereas China was open to foreigners Korea was utterly closed. They were hostile even more so. They would not let even a ship come within their shores without some sort of attack. They wanted nothing to do with foreigners in any way whatsoever.

But he had this fixed determination. The Lord helped him. He sustained him. And he had this heart desire to study the language, which is what he did. He had a knack for language, he picked up Chinese quickly.

Now he started mastering some of the Korean dialect. He had this idea of any means necessary, if I could just get to these people who don't know the Lord. So what does he do? He signs up to be an interpreter on a ship, a US ship. It's a ship that was going into Korea, trying to get into Korea for a trade mission, to try to open up trade, try to see if there is a market.

It was called the SS General Sherman. This was right after the Civil War. So he is going here, this is 1866. It is kind of a desperate attempt to share the gospel. He wants to get to these people.

The only freight that he has is a little satchel and a freight of Bibles. That's all he has. Chinese Bibles. They're not even in Korean, but that's what he has. And they begin to make their way up the Tidong River.

And they're told once they reach Pyongyang, you cannot go any further. Well, these are Americans and they started firing on the Koreans, a totally unwise approach, but this is what they ended up doing. And all of a sudden, the waters recede and the ship gets stuck on a sandbar. So the ship is here, sitting in the middle of the river, and they've already stirred up a hornet's nest. Right here.

And the Koreans don't quite know what to do, but they end up coming up with a strategy. Let's get some boats, burn them, tie them together, and float them down the river. And that happens, and what goes on is that this inferno catches on the ship. The actual American ship starts burning. People start jumping off the ship.

There's about 22 sailors and Robert Jermaine Thomas. And there he is. He's on the ship. His clothes catch fire. And he takes his fray to Bibles, he throws them into the water, he has some in his hands like this.

He begins just launching them. He jumps into the water to put out the fire on his clothes. And he wades to shore, you can imagine, with a sack of Bibles. And the only words on his lips are, Jesus, Jesus. That's all he says.

And the account gets a little muffled. Some people say he got killed right there on the shore. But another account is that he was arrested. He was taken to the governor. And he gave his last Bible to his executioner.

Here he is. How old? 27 years old. He's a widower. And he's over in the place where utter hostility is there, and he's before this governor.

And the governor says, off with his head, and he bows down, conducted himself with integrity, and he bowed down and his head was removed. This is a life that's poured out for the Lord. But in human eyes, it was utterly wasted, wasn't it? He didn't even get a chance. He'd studied Korean.

He'd done all of this. And here he is. And he doesn't even get a chance like we would have in a court, at least to give final words before an execution. But nothing quite like that here. This ill-advised mission comes to an end.

No burial, no funeral, no Gospel presentation. His life just poured out on the floor. Just like this. Just much like his blood. But it turns out though that this wasn't quite the ill-fated mission that he and others might have thought.

You could imagine him there, you know, Lord Is this really happening? Is this the end right now? Did I make a mistake? You could imagine all the things might be swirling through your mind or it could have just been utter surrender and jubilation. We don't know.

There's nothing written specifically about this. But What we do know is this, that his executioner, as I said, received that Bible, didn't he? Before he died, there were no words exchanged at all, but that executioner took the Bible home. In Chinese, he was able to read it, and him and his son became Christians. They believed what they read from beginning to end that the Savior would come into the world.

The government official who was responsible for beheading Robert Jermaine Thomas, He actually covertly took a copy of the Scriptures that were picked up by the river bank. It was a trophy for him, but he couldn't let anyone see this. This was a trophy of what we do to foreigners. And so he covertly took it, and he goes back home. And Imagine what he does.

He wallpapers his house with the Scriptures. This is a trophy of my victory lest any foreigners ever come back here. This is what we do to foreigners. But later he was converted. People would come to this house and they'd just be looking up at the wall, reading the Scriptures.

And before you know it, people were becoming converted to the point where over 20 years later, another missionary, Samuel Moffat, finally things are becoming less strained. And he's able to make his way in and he comes into Korea. And he thinks he's the first one ever to step foot here. And what happens, he's talking to people. Yes, we've heard the story.

We've heard about this Savior that would come into the world. We believed, we put our trust, and He's totally confused. So they grab Him, they bring Him into this house. Twenty years later, and He can't believe His eyes as He looks around the walls and sees the Scriptures. He's baffled.

And this little house becomes the site of the first church in Korea. Twenty years later, after the death of this man, Robert Germaine Thomas. But not only that, a few years later what happens? You get something called the Korean Pentecost. This is one of the most amazing examples of what God can do.

And he brings the Korean Pentecost where thousands upon thousands of Koreans bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ to the point where Pyongyang is now at this point called the Jerusalem of the East. So many people are getting saved. And it's a total transformation of this nation that's taking place. And we know what's going on with North and South Korea. It's a mess.

But in South Korea, there's about 59 people. About 40% of them today are Christians. And after the United States, South Korea sends more missionaries abroad than any other nation in the world. And when you bring up Robert Jermaine Thomas in this room, nobody might know who he is. But when you go to Korea and you say, who is Robert Jermaine Thomas, your Eyes will light up because he's almost seen as like the founding father of Korean Christianity.

There's such thankfulness and praise because of what this man did to pour his life out in seeming waste, but the fragrance of Christ, What did it do? It filled the whole house. It filled that city. Then it filled the nation. And Jesus Christ has been glorified.

What an amazing way the Lord works. This is the fragrance of Jesus Christ. And we come here in verses 4-6. It says, But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son who would betray him, said, Why was this fragrant oil not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box, and he used to take that which was put in it.

And so while this was a fragrance to some, Maybe to others around the table foolhardy. To Judas, this was a stench in his nostrils. And while Mary's heart is overflowing its banks, another heart is smoldering. You can Imagine what's going on in his heart. This amazing contrast of this one heart, Mary, on the one side and this other heart, Judas, on the other side.

This is really the epitome of it, isn't it? We're talking today about inward heart religion. Contrasted with external religion. Religion that is content. And he's somehow been able to fly under cover, at least he thinks, for the last three years.

Things look pretty good with Judas. He's the treasurer of the group. And now he's professing such a wonderful care. And in Judas we see what might be called the world's first cultural Marxist. He's very good at spending other people's money.

He comes with this suggestion of a wealth redistribution strategy. Let's take this, or we could have taken this, and used it in a great way to alleviate poverty. But it wasn't his, was it? He wants to be generous while he's pilfering with someone else's wealth. And he uses the poor stewardship card.

He pulls it out and he says this was wasteful. This was not good stewardship whatsoever. And he might have even gone further. You can almost read into this, Almost a gentle rebuke maybe to the Lord. Lord, I know you're the Lord, but did you know that there might have been better ways to use this?

Right? There's this self-righteousness that's here as well. But of course, all it is is feigned interest, feigned generosity towards others. It's just false compassion, kind of like fig leaves of righteousness. How many people come to church with fig leaves have yet to be washed by the blood of the Lamb.

But you're here, you look good, and I'm not just talking here, all across the country. Churches might be filled, but how many are true worshipers? And how many have come with external religion? It's really worth pondering. Because it's so easy to cloak cold-heartedness, isn't it?

With religious concern or even humanitarian care, you can do this pretty well. John G. Peyton, another missionary in the 1800s, he was wrestling, he was a young man, and he was wrestling with going to the New Hebrides in the Pacific. He was warned, you'll be eaten by cannibals. You probably read some of his accounts.

On the one side, that was one means to try to discourage him from going to the New Hebrides. You'll be eaten. On the other side, people were saying things like, But you're so successful here in Scotland. He was a successful city missionary doing wonderful things. But one other ploy or attempt to dissuade him from going to the New Hebrides was this.

This idea of what about the home heathen? And this is what he says. He says, Some retorted upon me, Here are heathen at home. Let us seek and save, first of all, the lost ones perishing at our doors. This I felt to be most true, he writes.

And an appalling fact. But I unfailingly observed that those who made this retort neglected these home heathen themselves. And so the objection as from them lost all power. You see how they covered over? What about this?

What about that? We could be doing this. But the heart wasn't to further and advance the Kingdom of God. It was more so to hinder it for whatever purpose and for whatever means that was going on inside of their hearts. And so, this is like Patton.

You see the Apostle John, he's having none of it. In verse 6, this is what he says, this he said not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief. And it's really worth considering, all of us here today, that here he was, as I said earlier, he's been so called getting away with it in quotes for the last three years. He's seen people raised from the dead, the feeding of 5, 000, He's seen the Lord walk on water. He was at a wedding where water was turned to wine.

You could just catalog all the things that Judas had observed and seen firsthand, not secondhand. And all the while, what is he doing? He's pilfering. He's stealing. See, this was a pattern of his life.

A lot of times you think about Judas and something happened just one day and you hear about at the Last Supper where the Lord gives him the sop. And Satan entered him. But the ground was already sown, wasn't it? It was already prepared quite nicely for Satan. And a lot of times this is what's happened even in our lives, right?

Ask yourself this question, are there sinful patterns in your life that you don't think are leading somewhere? Things like pornography. I got that under control. I got this under control. I got this thing kind of tied up.

But what does sin do? It comes to the point where it gets so strong and it bursts out like a confetti mess all over the place and it's impossible to clean it all up. But Judas had a pattern of life. Step by step, step by step. Pilfering, looking over his shoulder, getting away with it.

Pilfering. And you could be the same. You look over your shoulder. I'm in church today. Everything looks good.

But what's the disposition and the state of your heart? Because no one gets up, let's just say for example, says you know I think I'm gonna try heroin this morning. No one gets up and says I think I'll try crack cocaine this morning, but what happens is You get gateway drugs, don't you? Habits, cigarettes, drinking, then you graduate to other drugs, and before you know it, you're looking for something, and this is the passage of time, and you end up in a place. I talked to one young man once, how did this happen?

How did you get to the point where you are addicted to crack? He was there weeping and he walked me through. No one gets up one morning and says, I think I'll try it. But it's a long series of events that take you to the point where you are just totally unraveled. And this is what has happened with Judas here.

It's a warning. It's something for all of us to consider. And everything has to do with devotion. Mary gives everything that she has. This 300 denarii.

One denarii is a man's wages for a day. So this is about a year's wages. And she pours this out in minutes. How does Judas estimate the value of Jesus Christ? Well, we find out later, don't we, that he sells the Lord for a fraction.

Not 300 denarii, but 30 pieces of silver. That's a fraction, not even a tenth of what Mary poured out in honor and worship to the Lord Jesus. In fact, it wasn't only just 30 pieces of silver, but in Exodus we find this. It's that, if an ox gores a male or female slave, if an ox in a field gores and kills a female or male slave, he shall give to their master 30 shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned." This is what Judas estimated Christ to be worth. This was the exchange that he was willing to make and give.

Her actions shout, Nothing is more valuable, but what is his action? Shouting utter contempt and even hatred toward the Lord of life. And so we want to remember something that all of us are worshippers. Every single person here is a worshiper. Everyone over there in the field is a worshiper.

We all ascribe worth to something. What is it that you ascribe the greatest worth and value for? This is not a message to say go home find the most valuable thing you have, bring it to church. That's not what this is about. This is a message about worship and value.

What do you esteem most in the heart? In many ways, that would almost be easier, wouldn't it? Because you could even do that outwardly. And maybe even be patted on the back for it. But this is heart religion.

This is something else altogether. And the question is, does reality of your heart correspond with the praise of your lips and the songs that we sing. May God make it so. I know for me as I was going through this Lord oh God how many times I've sung and how many times I've prayed and I don't even remember what I was just praying because I was thinking about my day, or I've sung the song, but I had no real regard for it. You can even talk to someone about Christ and do it in the flesh.

This is the deception of the heart. This is the danger that we live in. But may God cause us to be awakened. And to turn our hearts more to Him. And so the Lord comes in this last section.

This is the assessment of Christ. The Lord comes to Mary's defense and He actually shields her from the scorn. In Mark 14, 90, He not only shields her, but as I said at the very beginning, he says this, "... Assuredly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her. So here we are.

Not only are we 6, 000 miles away from Bethany right now, but we're 2, 000 years later. And we're talking about Mary. And what she did. But more importantly, we're talking about the object of who she poured out for and what she poured out against. And this is what she testifies, what Jesus said.

She had abased herself and was now being exalted. That's what the Lord said. He who abases or humbles himself will be exalted. On the other side, what do we see? Judas.

He that exalts himself will be abased. That's how he ends his life. On the end of a rope hanging from a tree. More debased than any man in history because of the way he conducted himself. And so, I just found myself asking this question, why did the Lord say this about this woman's act?

No other act of devotion rises to the level of devotion that hers did. She wasn't the greatest preacher, was she? In her room. She wasn't the greatest servant in the room. But what she did is she had a heart for the Lord.

And this is the religion that corresponds with the theme of heaven. He is worthy. That's the theme of heaven. And she's agreeing with that, pouring out everything that she has for this. There's nothing else more important than where our hearts are in disposition and in relationship to God.

I want you to just take a second. Think about a Christian you admire in history. Somebody you've read about or whatever. A biography. And I guarantee you the one thing that you're admiring when you peel back the layers, not so much what they did.

Take a Jim Elliot, take a Hudson Taylor, peel it back. Take a Lady Jane Grey, peel it back. Take a Perpetua, and peel it back. And I guarantee you, what you're finding yourself admiring is their heart's devotion towards Jesus Christ. As you look on that and you say, wow.

That's really what it is. It's not so much what they did. That comes out of the devotion. I'm not saying we don't do works. We do works to glorify the Lord.

But if it's not coming out of a heart of devotion, then what's it valued for really at the end of it all? And so, he ends up saying this, and she might not have known, in fact, I'm pretty certain she probably didn't understand and grasp the reality of what she was doing. But Jesus says she has kept this for the day of my burial. And what we know here is that God is providentially honoring His Son. This trip into Bethany was not a detour at all.

But the Lord Jesus Christ is being honored by His Father who is anointing Him six days before He's going to pay the ultimate price. And so for the poor, you have always with you, but me, you do not always have." That's how this whole section ends. The question is, what would 300 denarii really have done at the end of the day? When they said to Jesus, 200 denarii would not have been enough to feed all these people in the crowd. What would 300 denarii have done ultimately and eternally?

But what Jesus had come to do, what He had come to do, what His life and what His death was about to accomplish would change the course of history for all time. And change the course of eternity for all time. You see this misestimation. 300 denarii I could have fixed this problem, no it couldn't have. The poor you have with you always.

Do we not have poor people today? Even more so, 2, 000 years later when you travel around the world. And so, by way of conclusion, just ending with a few thoughts, and whether it's conclusion or application, you can take it as you will, but I think what we need and what I found myself most in need of is not another sermon or even another book or anything like that, but what I found is that Mary's example is a slap to the blissfully distracted life concerned with inconsequential nonsense. She's fixed on something so beautiful. She's not checking Twitter every second or Facebook and comment.

There's something she's captured by. And it's a question for us. Is what do you need most? I think what you need and what I need most is a rekindled heart for the object of her affection. Which is Jesus Christ.

That's really our greatest need. Think of how many problems you have, that are because of the fact that your heart is not in this disposition towards the Lord. So much stems from it. From marriage, you fill in the blank. It comes from this, that our disposition and our object of affection and ultimate worship.

Isn't where it ought to be. And so the other thing to think about is what we see here with Mary is the fruit of sitting at the Lord's feet time and time again. This is the fruit of that. And it cannot help but lead to worship. When you sit and you spend time with the Lord.

So what I'm saying is this, you don't need another sermon and a book. What you might need most is to actually spend some time at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. And listening to Him, talking to Him, reading His Word, meditating on His ways. The other thing I think that's really important, she poured out very costly oil, didn't she? But God the Father pours out Heaven's best for us and the Lord Jesus Christ.

In less than a one week's time from this event, we talked about the cross. And the one who came from the most glorious heights will be brought to the most shameful depths. Where she poured out a year's wages in seconds, the Lord pours out heaven's eternal best. But the good thing and What we talked about is this, is that the fragrance of Christ's sacrifice doesn't just fill the house, but it fills the whole earth. Jesus Christ.

Psalm 22 says it like this, I am poured out like water. This is the Lord, this is a Psalm, a messianic Psalm. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint, for dogs have surrounded me. The congregation of the wicked has enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet.

To what end though, we could ask. And it says later on in that psalm that all the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord. And all the families of the nations shall worship before you. That's the end of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. I think Another thought just to leave us with is that we saw the impression this made on Christ and how He regarded it.

And we see the impression that this makes on John how he's writing decades later. And what he's remembering is this woman at the feet of Jesus. But I want you to also consider the impression that this made on Judas. Someone said on Monday morning that this was the tipping point. That when you go to the book of Matthew, this is the thing that causes Judas to have it.

That's it. And he goes and he finds the chief priests. He says, how much will you give me? And the question is, or not the question, but really the thing to think about is this, is that as you truly and more deeply esteem Christ, it's going to bring out the hatred and the ire of those who oppose Him. Are you prepared for that?

Are you able to bear that? Do you want to have nothing more than Jesus Christ even if it brings that? Even in your own household, Jesus says, you might have enemies for following Me. And perhaps the last thing I just want to communicate is, it's not only the big things, is it? The costly, the lavish, the death-defying exploits.

You know, I talked about John G. Peyton or Robert Jermaine Thomas, but that's not the lot of most of us Here. But this is what Hebrews says. For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love. Mom, that could be you.

It could be a son caring for his sick mother or someone going to the nursing home or adopting an orphan. The prayers you lift up for the saints, the care, the service that you do in the background. It says, He is not unjust to forget your labor and your work of love, which you have shown toward his name in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. So your deeds done in his name and done for his glory and for his honor with a heart, Lord how can I please you, How can I spend myself in honor for your name? Those things are not lost on the Lord.

So may God give us hearts to worship Him and to consider what religion of the heart really looks like. Father, We bow before you here. We ask you, O Lord, to look upon us in your great kindness. O Lord, I confess how often, Lord, my heart has not been right with you. This example of Mary, Lord, is such a wake up to my soul.

And I pray, Lord, that it would be profitable to every soul gathered here. I pray that we would look to the object of Jesus Christ, the person of Christ, your very Son, Lord, the one who you now have honored even as we read in Philippians. You've given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue confess that he is God, that he is Lord. To the glory of God the Father. Oh Lord have mercy on us.

Make us a group, a gathering of people, of heart worshipers, oh Lord. We do need you and we ask you to help us. In Jesus' holy name, Amen. Amen.