The sermon, titled 'The Adoration of Jesus,' focuses on Matthew 26:1-13, where a woman anoints Jesus with costly oil. The speaker emphasizes the importance of adoration, worship, and fervent love for Jesus, highlighting that actions are a result of being saved, not a means to salvation. The sermon explains Jesus' prophetic announcement of His crucifixion during Passover and describes the religious leaders' vain plotting against Him. The speaker contrasts the religious leaders' actions with the woman's act of worship, urging believers to use their resources for Jesus' adoration. The sermon also touches on Jesus' intentional sacrifice, His role as the Lamb of God, and the sovereignty of God in His crucifixion. Believers are encouraged to demonstrate visible, unashamed adoration for Jesus, and to avoid a critical spirit when witnessing others' acts of worship.

Our sermon text for this morning is Matthew chapter 26 verses 1 to 13. Now it came to pass when Jesus had finished all these sayings that he said to his disciples, You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. 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 kill him. But they said, not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people. And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil.

And she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. But when the disciples saw it they were indignant saying, why this waste? For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor. But when Jesus was aware of it he said to them, why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for me.

For you have the poor with you always, but me, you do not have always. For in pouring this fragrant oil on my body, she did it from my burial. 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. Oh Father We pray that you would have mercy on us, the hearers of your word, and have mercy on the lips of James as he brings forth the message that you have prepared for us. We praise you and thank you in Jesus' name.

Amen. So what an honor not just to stand before you and a humbling privilege to stand before you to preach, but that I get to begin a new chapter in chapter 26 and 27 and 28 where we will see the heart of the gospel played out before us for the next several weeks. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, His death, burial, and resurrection, where we get to be part for several weeks. What a privilege that we will have this before us for many weeks. I've titled this passage, this sermon, Matthew 26, 1-13, the adoration of Jesus Christ.

When we talk about adoration, we talk about the action of paying honor, the action of worship, The action of fervent and devoted love to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And let me just, as we go through this, you're going to hear a lot about actions like we've heard the last few weeks. And it's not the actions, just want to preface this, it's not the actions that save anybody. What you will see are the actions of a woman that are a result of being saved, a result of wanting to worship God. Because the Holy Spirit has come upon her.

May that be the focus of our actions. In verse 1, we see, now it came to pass when Jesus had finished all these sayings that He said to His disciples. So when he says all these sayings, he's going back to the Olivet Discourse, where we have just been, where Jesus was prophesying about the destruction of Israel, where he was prophesying about His second coming, where He was telling them to watch and be ready for 70 AD, where he's telling us to watch and be ready for his coming again. And where he also tells us that he, as the great judge, as the king, will gather everyone that has ever lived together, he will gather them together, and then as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats, he will separate us. And he will put his sheep on his right hand and his goats on his left.

Here we have him still talking to his disciples. And he says in verse 2, you know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. So Jesus is still in this private conversation with the disciples and he tells them in two days he's going to be delivered up. Two days as the Passover, he's going to be delivered up to be crucified. So let's just look at where we are here.

In two days as the Passover. This week leading up to the Passover started in Matthew 21. For us, it's been six months. And so, to them, this is still very fresh, everything that's happened this week. To us, it's been stretched out, thankfully, that we've gone through the Word of God very carefully over this time.

We cannot study it too much. But for them it's been very short. So just as a reminder where we've been, Jesus arrives in Bethany, maybe the previous Friday or Saturday, where his home base is. And then you have the triumphal entry that happens on what we call Palm Sunday now. He curses the fig tree, he cleanses the temple, he's teaching the temple during the day, the word says, and he's rebuking leaders, and he had the Olivet Discourse that we just went through.

So this is Passover coming up and they've been celebrating this for 1500 years, right, this Passover. And the point here is it always pointed to Jesus. Passover always pointed to Jesus, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And this was going to be a completely different Passover than they've ever seen before, when it's all said and done. And Jesus is getting him back focused on his purpose for being here.

His purpose as the Son of Man, which is the title that started in Daniel 7 that talks of Jesus' deity and his humanity together. He uses it very often. And he's getting focused back on his purpose of coming to Jerusalem to conquer death, to rise again from the dead, that we may be saved. And This isn't the first time he's been preparing them for this. He's been preparing them for this.

You can read the other gospels and it's mentioned more often. But the last time we saw it was in Matthew 20, 18, and 19 as they're getting ready to go up to Jerusalem. And this is what Jesus told them. Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes and they will condemn him to death and deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify and the third day he will rise again. So Jesus is stating, he's stated there, he's stating here, he's stated in other places in the gospel, when the crucifixion will happen.

And this will not be as a result of vain plotting that we will see. No trickery will be the result. It's not the result of religious leaders, not the result of Judas. This is Jesus intentionally going up to be crucified. This is the sovereign hand of God playing out.

As we, John 10, he says, no one takes it, no one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of myself. He is being delivered up intentionally. It's being delivered up intentionally, delivered up to be crucified, to be betrayed, to be put into custody, to be judged, to be condemned, to be punished, to be scourged, tormented, put to death by spikes being nailed through him. Why? To save you.

That is why he's headed up. That is the purpose of why he's in Jerusalem. That is the hinge point of all of history. That is the heart of the gospel. And as I mentioned, it's not these religious leaders or Judas that delivered him up.

It's God that delivered him up. We see in Acts 2 in Peter's sermon after Pentecost. This is what Peter says in Acts 2, 23 and 24. Him, that is Jesus, Him being delivered by the determined purpose and for knowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death, whom God raised up having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it." This was going to be unlike any Passover they have ever had. As faithful Jews, they have observed the Passover every year, their whole life.

They have observed the Passover for the last few years with Jesus. And they're going to observe it again. And they're going to observe it in the right fashion. And Jesus is going to open their eyes a little bit more when he institutes the Lord's Supper. And unlike any other Passover, at the end of this one, full atonement will be made for sin.

There will be no need anymore for these sacrifices. Full atonement will be made and that's what he is preparing them for. That they would see the purpose of this and if this didn't happen, if this Passover didn't happen, if full atonement didn't happen, there would be no wise virgins, there would be no servants putting the resources into play for the king, there would be no sheep. You would not be here, I would not be here. We'd have no reason for it.

There would be no sheep, there would only be goats, and everybody would be headed to hell where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. So Jesus was willingly and joyfully crucified to glorify God that you may be saved. And let's go back to Matthew 26 now and let's look at verses 3 through 5 of what these religious leaders are doing while Jesus is preparing his disciples for this Passover coming up. 3 through 5 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 kill him. But they said, not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.

So here we have the Brutal Vipers all gathered together to plot trickery against Jesus. And they are gathered at the palace of Caiaphas. Now this is the first time we've seen Caiaphas in Matthew, But he has been involved the whole time. He's been a high priest since 80, 18. So he's been there for all of Jesus' public ministry and even before that.

And Caiaphas was a wicked high priest. How he became a high priest, what he did as high priest, he was wicked. You can go back and study it. He was wicked. He shouldn't have been there.

He married into the family and he was a wicked high priest. And they're all gathered together. He's got all the religious leaders gathered at his palace. Now during the time of the Passover, preparing for Passover, a lot of people, maybe two million or more, are coming in Jerusalem. These religious leaders should not be gathered together, right?

Obviously, they shouldn't be gathered sinning to plot trickery against Jesus, but also they shouldn't just be hanging out here together. They should be in the temple. That's where the high priest is supposed to be, is in the temple with the people and preparing them. So they're all gathered together at Caiaphas Palace, where they shouldn't be, but this isn't the first time that Caiaphas' name comes up in the gospels. In John 11, 47-53, I'm going to read that in a moment, Caiaphas is mentioned.

And the context here is Lazarus was just recently raised from the dead. And they've all gathered together to figure out what do we do about this? Some of the commentators think that Caiaphas may have been a Sadducee, which would add more information on why they might be so angry about Lazarus rising from the dead because he doesn't believe in a resurrection. So they're together and wonder what do we do about Lazarus? They want to kill him.

What do we do about Jesus? They want to kill him. Let me read to you what Caiaphas says or what happens here in John 11 47 through 53. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, what shall we do? For this man works many signs.

If we let him alone like this, everyone will believe in him. And the Romans will come and take away both our place and the nation. And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish. Now this he did not say on his own authority, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation and not for that nation only but also that he would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad then from that day on they plotted to put him to death. Caiaphas has great blindness here.

He has prophesied truth. He has prophesied truth about Jesus, and he doesn't even know it. The Holy Spirit can use evil men for his purposes, right? And we're seeing that here. We're going to see it through Judas.

We've seen it throughout history. God puts evil kings in high places. He puts good kings in high places. And Caiaphas has no idea what he just said here. He thinks he knows.

He thinks he's smart, but he's foolish. He's very foolish here in his own wisdom. To remind us, I want to read to you Romans 1, 18 and 21 and 22. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Because Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Professing to be wise, they became fools." That's the heart of Caiaphas. That's the heart of these religious leaders. Professing to be wise, they became fools. This has been a very tough week to be a religious leader. At the beginning of the week, Jesus comes in and overturns their money-changing system.

In Matthew 23 alone, listen to what Jesus says about these religious leaders. Just in one chapter, he proclaims woes on them. He rebukes them, calls them hypocrites, devourer of widows' houses, blind guides, fools, whitewashed tombs, lawless, dead, unclean, serpents, brute of Vipers, and murderers. They are angry. They don't like this rebuke.

May we not respond the same way they did to these kind of rebukes. May we welcome rebukes of our sin, but they're angry. They're going to be persistent in their evil and they are all gathered together to plot trickery against Jesus, which they can't do because God is sovereign. And This unholy alliance is plotting a very vain thing. Please turn to Psalm 2.

This is a prophetic Psalm about Jesus. Psalm 2. I'm going to read all of Psalm 2 to us. Psalm 2 says, Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed saying.

Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall hold them in derision. Then he shall speak to them in his wrath and distress them in his deep displeasure. Yet I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion.

I will declare the decree the Lord has said to me, You are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, you shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. Now therefore be wise, O kings.

Be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way. When his wrath is kindled but a little, blessed are all those who put their trust in him." So they are a nation raging, they're plotting a vain thing. And how is God going to reply to this?

And how is he replying to them right now? And how would he reply to if we were in this situation with laughter, with derision, and then pouring out his wrath upon them. That's what God would do. People have been trying, vainly trying to kill Jesus his whole life, along with the Messianic line. It started back in the garden, or outside the garden actually, sorry.

It started with Cain and Abel. Cain kills Abel, And Satan may think, I've taken out the line now. No, doesn't happen. And then we can fathom it happens throughout the Messianic line, throughout the Old Testament. But then you fast forward to the New Testament.

Herod trying to get rid of God by killing all the boys two years age. Think of that mass murder. We studied that. So it's been happening, right? But Jesus says, God says in John, therefore they sought to take him, but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come.

It was only, Jesus being delivered up was only going to happen and does only happen like everything else through the sovereign hand of God. God's timing, God's planning. And just like we'll study in Judas in the next couple weeks, and just like we're seeing here, God is ordained to use their evil purposes to crush Jesus, that Jesus may have a pure, spotless bride. God's going to use their evil purposes for his good. And that might remind us also, so thankful for a man on a Monday morning helping us with this, might remind us of Joseph.

Joseph and his brothers. At the end of Genesis in chapter 50, Jacob, their father, had died and now the brothers are concerned. They're saying, Jacob's gone, Jacob's dead, Joseph, he might come and have vengeance on us now, now that his dad's not around. And what's Joseph's response? With loving care, he tells him, you meant it for evil against me, but God meant it for good.

God can use the evil. He not just can, he does use the evil intents of man's heart for his purposes to bring about his good will, his perfect will. We may not have vain plottings like these. Jesus has died, we're not vain plotting against that, but we have other vain things. We have other vain plottings.

We have other plottings for vain things. May God help expose our hearts against plotting to enjoy, as it says in the hymn when I survey the Wanderers' Cross, plotting to enjoy the vain things that charm us most. The vain things that charm these religious leaders most was their own status. Their own status, their palaces, where they were, what they did. That's what charmed them most.

What charms us most, that is vain. That we should be looking in our hearts, our hearts should be exposed, and we say stop plotting to enjoy those vain things. May we flee from that. Their plan was not to take Jesus yet as we see in verse 5. But that wasn't God's plan.

Their plan was not. Why? Because they feared the people. We saw in John that they feared the people. They feared what might happen.

We see here they fear a riot. They fear an uproar by the people. And they also fear the Romans. If there's a riot now, the Romans might come in as we saw in John and take us out and put their own leaders in and they might harm the nation. They're fearing instead of doing what is right, They have God right before them, Jesus, the Messiah right before them.

Instead of doing that, they say, let's not do this now. Let's plot in secrecy. Let's try to take them in secrecy. Because Jesus is also very popular. Right?

Just a few days before was the triumphal entry. And all these people are there, a great, a very great multitude, says Matthew. They were crying out saying, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. Jesus is healing people.

He's raising people from the dead. Blind can see, deaf can hear, lame can walk. Jesus is very popular, and not just popular, A lot of people are believing in him as the Messiah and are being saved. The religious leaders are scared. They are acting in fear because of the multitudes.

They're acting in fear and they've allowed the pressures of life. They've gone down this road, as we saw in Romans 1, they've gone down this road of sin and they will not back out of it. They just continue down that road and now the pressure of life come upon them and they're acting, yes we can see that they're acting foolishly, but their heart has been darkened, their heart has been given over. They are futile, and they're going to be persistent in this no matter what happens. Not a single one of them, not a single one of them in this gathering stand up and say, this is wrong, this is foolish, this is not right.

Look at what's happened. Men have been raised from the dead. People have been raised from the dead. People are being healed. Let's take another look at this.

Let's think about this. Let's pray about it again. Let's seek the Lord on these matters. No, nobody. Nobody does.

They fear, the fear of man is so strong in their heart that they will not do what is right. Listen to what J.C. Ryle says. They would rather commit a murder than throw down the arms of rebellion and confess themselves in the wrong. May that never be us.

May that never be us. If God was to rebuke us, if God was to reveal our sinful hearts, no matter what they are, would we lay that down? Would we lay down the arms of rebellion, seek forgiveness, repent, and run to Jesus? Would that be our hearts? Would it please?

We run to Jesus with complete adoration of him. Now let's go to Matthew 26 verses 6 through 9. And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil. And she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. But when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, why this waste?

For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor. This narrative is similar to a narrative that's seen in all four gospels. And I believe that Matthew, Mark, and John record the same one, and Luke records a different instance. It's very similar. Now you have two Simons as an anointing.

Now it's Simon the Pharisee, Simon the leper. Simon was a common name. You have Simon Peter. You have Simon the zealot, the other apostle. Simon the siren, Simon the Sorcerer, Simon the Father of Judas Iscariot.

Simon was a popular name, a common name. So that shouldn't surprise us. And also, this happens, now Matthew is taking us back to an event that happened earlier in the week. So we're not chronological at this point. He's taking us back to a time earlier in the week because Matthew isn't as concerned with chronology in this area.

He's concerned with telling the Jews, telling us Jesus is the King of Kings. And this is where God had him put it in the narrative, after the Olivet Discourse right here with this anointing. And then after this, we'll have the rest of 26 when we go into Jesus' death, burial, resurrection. And so this is an earlier event that's happened. And he's in Bethany.

That's about two miles from Jerusalem. It's the home base for Jesus this week, but it's also a very special place. Very special place. This is the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha, who are dear friends as we know, dear friends of Jesus, special place. This is where Lazarus was raised from the dead.

Can't get much more special than that. Lazarus was raised from the dead. And then this is where Jesus' ascension was as well. So this is a very special place near Jerusalem that Jesus is at and spends his week, his base camp for the week goes into Jerusalem during the day. And he's in the home of Simon the leper.

And we must think of Simon, scripture is right in saying Simon the leper, but we must think of him as Simon the former leper. There is no way that Jesus and these disciples and everybody else can be in his home and still uphold the law of the God with him still having leprosy. That can't happen. It wouldn't have happened. Now we don't know why, we don't know how Simon was healed.

We don't know if he was one of the lepers that Jesus may have amazed and astounded the people and touched and healed, while Jesus spoke him in the healing, or while he was healed just miraculously while he was walking by the way or just in his house praying to God. Don't know. But no matter what, it was miraculous. And Simon's having a supper for him. There wasn't even a cure, there wasn't even a consistent cure for leprosy until the 1980s.

So this was very miraculous. And Simon the leper's having a supper in his house, it tells us in John, to honor Jesus. And that's why they are there. And we have Martha serving, right? Great, fantastic Martha serving.

Mary anointing, we're going to focus more on that here in a little bit. And Lazarus is there at the table with him. Those few words should amaze us. He's at the table with Jesus. He was dead for four days in the tomb.

Now he's sitting at the table with Jesus, eating and drinking and conversing, similar to what Jesus does later on after his resurrection, proof of the resurrection, eating and drinking. People are touching Jesus, proof of the resurrection. And the religious leaders hated this. It tells us in John that while they were There, the people from Jerusalem were coming out to Simon's house, they were coming out to Bethany to see Lazarus and Jesus together. They wanted to see this man that Jesus had raised from the dead.

They wanted to see the proof of Jesus being God and raising man from the dead, and people were being saved. Religious leaders could not stand that. Couldn't stand that. Some of them are Sadducees, So definitely they hated that. Here's proof against what I believe.

But they're going to stand steadfast in their belief that resurrection doesn't happen, resurrection doesn't happen, doesn't happen. There's Lazarus. He was dead four days. There's his tomb. We had a funeral for him.

And there he is. Sadducees, you've got to be wrong. No, no, no. We just need to murder him. We just need to murder him.

Then it will be better. Then he won't be around anymore. Let's murder Jesus as well and it will be better. Isn't it great, though, that here's Jesus intentionally going to Simon's house, not only knowing what would happen, but he's orchestrating these events to save people on one hand. He's orchestrating these events to save people that are seeing him and Lazarus together.

And he's also orchestrating events to expose hearts. We're going to see the heart of Mary. We're going to see the heart of disciples. Maybe we see our own heart and where it may be. So here they are in Simon the leper's home and Mary has this perfume.

Now it's not uncommon to have perfume in home to use for guests, just like washing the feet. They had sandals, you're walking two miles from Jerusalem, you get dirty, you get sweaty, and here's some perfume, right? They're not having deodorant, not air conditioned, right? And so here they are, they have perfumes. It's not uncommon to use a few drops, a few drops on people just to help with the ambiance of the dinner table.

And, but, but, but it is uncommon to do what Mary did. Mary has this flask of oil, very expensive oil we'll talk about, Very expensive oil. She breaks the top off, we see in the other gospels. And here, and in Mark it says she poured it over his head. And John says she poured it over his feet.

So we get this picture of Jesus having this expensive, very fragrant, very good fragrance all over from head to toe. It's the picture you should get of this anointing, complete anointing. And Jesus is the focus here. Jesus is the focus, not Mary. Jesus is the focus here.

The one that we are being conformed to. That is the focus of what's happening here. And the Gospels don't record if Mary said anything. She may have, may not. But God said, I'm not going to record any words if she did say them.

We don't see any words. What we do see is faith in action. We see Mary's faith in action. And isn't this what we've been learning in chapter 25? The wise virgins, they're waiting by faith and their actions show their faith.

The servants, the profitable servants, their actions show their faith in their master Jesus Christ. The sheep, as we heard last week, They're not commended, they're not given inheritance for the words they said, they're not given inheritance for the preaching, for the words they said, for the great family worship they had, great things, but for the actions they did. And that's what Mary has here. Her faith is in action. The Holy Spirit has come upon Mary and given her faith.

Jesus has provided this to her. And that's the wonderful thing. That is just the awe-inspiring, make your head spin thing about the Gospel. God tells me to obey, and I can't do it unless He makes me obey. Unless He puts His Holy Spirit in me to do these things.

Not only does he command it, but he gives the ability to do it. And that's what's happened here to Mary. And I don't know what she might be thinking. I have no idea what exactly she's thinking. Was she symbolically anointing Jesus as the King of Kings, Lord of Lords?

Maybe. Maybe she was. Very likely she understood that. Was she doing this out of a great gratefulness because her brother who's right there was brought back to life. Very likely that's in her mind somewhere, somewhere in this.

All right, her brother's right there. I am very, here's Jesus. I'm going to worship him and give him great things. Could be, I don't know. Was it for his burial, as we'll see in verse 12?

I don't know for sure either there but this is what we do know by this that she was having deliberate worship. She was intentional of her worship of Jesus Christ. She had all-in worship of Jesus. She had pure, unashamed, loving, intoxicating adoration of her Lord Jesus Christ. Her faith was showing her adoration of Jesus Christ.

It was showing the honor, the worship, the fervent and devoted love she wanted for her Savior and that her Savior deserved. That's what she was doing. We know that. That's the key here. Maybe she was thinking of these words in Psalm 63, it should make us think of these words in Psalm 63, my soul thirsts for you.

My flesh longs for you." That's what she was demonstrating. How much does your soul thirst for Jesus Christ? How much does your flesh long for Jesus Christ? This much? More?

It's not a comparison, but look at your heart. How much do you thirst and long for your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Matthew Poole says, love seldom underdoes in an act of kindness. And it cannot, it cannot, love cannot overdo where Christ is the true object of it. You cannot overdo in your adoration of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Impossible. Impossible, you cannot count His worth. You cannot, it can't be done by money, can't be done by actions, I can't do enough, I can't spend enough, I can't earn enough to spend enough, I can't do enough, I can't be at the abortion clinic enough, I can't be at Griffin's enough, I can't be at church enough to express my complete adoration for Jesus Christ. But don't let that stop you from what God has given you, the resources God has given you to put in play for the adoration of Jesus Christ. And how do disciples respond to this in verses 8 and 9?

They're indignant. They're saying this is a waste, a waste of resources. And Matthew says it was the disciples that said this. Mark said it was some of them. John says it was Judas that said this.

So what we do know is although Judas may have been the spokesman, had no problem exposing his heart in public, all the disciples were probably thinking this. They were all probably thinking this. And that's like Matthew, isn't it? Matthew tends to put himself in the narrative, especially when sin's involved to say, my heart's here too. He'll put himself in the narrative when he talks about tax collectors.

And so he's put himself in here. And they're indignant over this. Why? They're saying this could have been used for the poor. This costly oil that's worth 300 denarii.

300 denarii is about a year's wage. So at minimum wage that's $15, 000 roughly. But men, most of us here, are making more than $15, 000. So kind of picture this. You're pouring a year's wages over Jesus, anointing him from head to toe.

Now, my self-righteous heart may say, yeah, sure, I could do that if I had it, just oil on the shelf. Picture somebody else doing it now. Somebody else is doing that. Where might your heart go seeing that spent on Jesus Christ? Or just spent in the adoration of Jesus and the worship of Jesus maybe in other ways?

Might we? They are publicly criticizing Mary with self-righteous, public piety, self-indignation, or righteous indignation. They are criticizing the worship of Jesus. They're criticizing the use of Mary's resources that she's put in play for the adoration of Jesus Christ, calling it a waste, the worship of Jesus Christ with all she had, she's calling it a waste. They're criticizing her, they have a critical spirit, might that also be us at times?

We have a critical spirit of how people, that God is blessed with resources, We have a critical spirit of how people, that God is blessed with resources, we have a critical spirit of how they use the resources they've been given by God in the worship and adoration of Jesus Christ. Could we easily be there? Think about it. Do you have a critical spirit in your heart or maybe even vocally on when you see people that you think are spending too much money or too little money on spreading the gospel or discipling their family? And this is not about money.

This is absolutely not about money. Might you have a critical spirit on how little or how much time they spend. Time is a resource you've been given. Might you be critical of how little or how much, too little, too much time that people spend in the adoration of Jesus in various activities. Might you be critical of how little or that they pray too little or pray too much in public worship or on Wednesday nights or other places?

Might you be critical of that? Might you be critical in worship here that people's expression in worship is too little or too much in the way they worship God? Might you? These are all resources that God has given us to put in play for His glory, for His adoration. And here the disciples have a critical spirit, and that very easily can be us having that critical spirit.

This is about the public adoration of Jesus Christ. I'm not telling you, By no means am I telling you how to worship Jesus. All I'm saying is that if you're a Christian, you have a changed heart, there is a public, visible effect of worshipping Jesus that should be seen, should be noticed. And it's different. It's gonna be different for my two-year-old than it is me.

Right, absolutely it is. It's gonna be different. And we have different personalities. Right, for a software developer versus a salesman, it's gonna be different. For a mom versus a dad, it's going to be different.

God has given you resources to put in play for His adoration, for His glory. And let's, instead of being critical how that is done, let's have joy. Let's be thankful. Let's be encouraged when we see that happen. Our desire for the public adoration and worship of Jesus Christ is to draw attention to Jesus.

Not to me, not to you, it's to draw attention to Jesus. And yeah, is there sin involved in everything I do? Absolutely. Absolutely. But brothers and sisters, let's have much joy and thankfulness and be encouraged when you see people use the resources God has given them to have full all-out worship and adoration of Jesus Christ.

Let's be a thankful people. Let's be a joyful people, especially amongst the brethren. Mary treasured Jesus way more than money. She was storing up in heaven. That bottle, her moth and rust destroyed, a child can come around, knock it off, and there it is.

It's all gone. It's all gone. Be intentional about the resources God's giving you, especially when it comes to worshiping Christ. May people see us worshiping Jesus Christ. Jesus gave everything for us, right?

He put everything into play for us. His humiliating death as a criminal, the wrath of God he took on, so we cannot do too much for Jesus. Jesus paid it all, and all to him I owe. And Jesus responds to the disciples in verses 9 through 13. He says, For this fragrant oil might have been sold for mutt, or sorry, verses 10 through 13, but when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, Why do you trouble the woman?

For she has done a good work for me. For you have the poor with you always, but me you do not have always. For in pouring this fragrant oil on my body, she did it for my burial. 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 Jesus delivers a strong rebuke.

Don't trouble her and Johnny says leave her alone. Why? Because she has done a good work for Jesus. Sink that in. She's done a good work for Jesus.

Don't let anybody tell you you cannot do a good work for Jesus. That you cannot please Jesus. That Jesus cannot be pleased by your actions when the Holy Spirit fills you with full adoration of Jesus Christ. Don't let anybody tell you that can't be done. Yes, we're imperfect.

Yes, none of our praise is perfect. Yes, Jesus could have easily called out her sin here, and rightly so he's the judge, but he says she's done a good work. Listen to what the Second London Baptist Confession, just some pieces of it on the chapter of good work. This is what it says about good works. It's done in obedience to God's commandments.

Are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith, they adorn the Profession of the gospel and glorify God Are your good works evidence of a true and lively faith that glorify God is that your adoration? Is that the purpose for your adoration? True and lively faith Jesus Christ By the work of the Holy Spirit, you can please Jesus. By His work, you can please Jesus. And here's Mary.

She got to hear good work by her Savior right now. Tell her this right now. We're still looking forward to that. We're still looking forward to well done. We're still looking forward to inherit.

Mary got to hear that there. How precious of her. How precious. Jesus encouraged her right there, exposed the disciples hearts, and hopefully exposes our hearts as well. But how great and precious is that?

And he says, the poor you have, you always have, and you don't always have Jesus. Jesus won't always be there, he's told them. It reminds us of when the disciples, when John the Baptist's disciples came to Jesus and said, why don't they fast? Why don't your disciples fast? And Jesus said, can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?

But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them and they will fast. Jesus is not condemning the care of the poor. We know that from Deuteronomy especially when he says the poor will never cease from the land and he commands us saying open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy and your land. So you always have the poor with you to care for plenty of opportunities to help them and you should do it. Jesus didn't condemn him, he says you should do it, right?

But in this case, few people, very few people had the opportunity To adore and worship Jesus in person, that's still a day we're looking forward to. And Jesus is saying, take advantage of this right now and directs him back to the cross that's coming. I'm not going to be here. I'm not going to be here. This is a good work, what he says.

If we really want to help the poor, if you really, really, really have a heart for the poor, do much for Jesus. Do a lot of adoring Jesus Christ. You really want to help them do that because Jesus is the only one that can truly help them truly help me poor or rich Anything in between and save them that they may be in glory where they're not poor They are not poor you truly want to help the poor Jesus exposes their hearts and it's not about money. Their sin is that they did not adore. They had no adoration for Jesus Christ at that moment.

What else does Jesus say? He says, it's a good work because she prepared it for my burial. For burial. Now, I don't know if Mary knew that or not. Some people say she did, some people say, but we don't.

The text tells us for sure that she knew she was doing it for the burial. But this is what we do know. The Holy Spirit used her actions, used her actions. She desired to worship God, and the Holy Spirit took those actions. And through the words of Jesus said, this is the good that's coming out of this.

It's for my burial. Again, getting their attention to His crucifixion that is coming. It's a good work. It's for His burial that's coming. Jesus is focusing again on why He came and what He's doing there in Jerusalem this week.

And He also says this gospel, let me just go back and read verse 13. 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. This gospel. And I'm going to take this at its face value. This gospel is the gospel that we preach.

That we still preach. That will be told forever. Right? The Gospel. I'm a sinner.

I'm conceived a sinner. I'm born a sinner. I cannot be before God. I cannot stand before Him. I need a perfect sacrifice.

So Jesus Christ comes, He is God, He comes as a man, lives the life I couldn't live, dies the death I deserve, takes on the wrath of God that I deserve, and then conquers death by rising from the dead that I had no hope of conquering. That's the gospel. And attached to this gospel, see this, attached to this gospel is a visible adoration of Jesus Christ. That's attached to the telling and the spreading of the gospel. It's not a heartless, just fact telling of the gospel.

Let people see that you adore Christ. Let people see that you understand that you've been saved from incalculable wages, 200, 000 years of wages. Let them see that through your love, through your care, through your compassion. Let them see that by your words, the words you say, by what you think, how you pray, all these actions, how you care for the poor, how you care for widows, how you care for the unborn, how you care for your church, how you care for your families, husbands and wives, how you care for them. Your marriage is a great example of the gospel.

And let the world see this visible adoration, all-in worship of Jesus Christ. And this is a memorial. God says a memorial for her. Wherever the telling of the gospel is, her name is being mentioned, and here we are 2, 000 years later, and we're talking about Mary. How wonderful.

A woman, right, in that culture of all people for God to prop up to memorialize, right? Mary. Mary, who may not have even really by culture should have even been in that room at that time, she maybe should have been with Martha. But that's not what God says. It's not what Jesus says.

He says she did a good work. What's the best that we might attain? The disciples even, the disciples, they get some churches named after them, some children named after them maybe, fantastic. Maybe a building's named after you someday. Moth and Rust will destroy and we'll be left.

Two thousand years from now nobody will remember me. They won't remember me at all. Lundquist's name may continue but they're not going to remember me. My name, even if it's attached to a book somewhere, somebody's name attached to a book or a building that may stand for thousands of years, it's nowhere close to your name being attached to the Gospel. So that may that be where our name is attached to, similar to Hebrews 11.

That faith chapter, what are all those people there? What are their names attached to? By faith, by faith, by faith, by faith, they did this. They went. They did this by faith.

Their actions are attached to their faith. And yes, the disciples' hearts are being exposed, but we also know where the disciples hearts go. Right? God is so gracious to expose their hearts and they take that and they run with it and they're murdered, they're martyred, they're put to death brutally. Right?

Our name's not remembered with the Gospel, but may our family's names be attached to the Gospel. When the people see each of our families, May they not see the Lundquist, may they not see the Johnsons, the Domes, the Breggies, the Santles, the Orres, the Coles. May they not just see that. May they see the Gospel. May they see our love for Jesus Christ.

May they see our all in adoration of Jesus Christ. May that be what we are known for, for as long as we live. Not for a building somewhere, a book somewhere, something like that. May that be what we are known for. Three concluding remarks and applications here.

One, let's seek God's will for our lives, for the plans we make, and make sure they are not a vain plotting. Let's seek God's will. Let me read to you what 1 Corinthians 15.58 says. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Be steadfast, church.

Be immovable, brothers and sisters, even in the face of criticism, be steadfast in immovable, knowing that your work is not in vain in the Lord. Know that. Pray. Seek the Lord that He would show where Any of your plotting is vain against his will. Sinful plotting.

May that not happen. Our work is not in vain in the Lord. Number two, Be careful of the critical spirit, whether it's in your heart, especially if you vocalize it on how others put their resources in play for the worship and adoration of Jesus Christ for the spreading of the gospel. And instead, let our first response, please let our first response be one of joy, of thankfulness. Be encouraged and even encourage your brothers and sisters as you see that happening.

Encourage one another and build each other up, right? That's what we're told. That's an opportunity. Look at these opportunities. Not to be jealous even, not to be critical, but to be joyful, thankful, and encouraged.

Number three, do you visibly, unashamedly adore Jesus with fervent and devoted loving worship? Listen to Romans 1, 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. And also 1 Corinthians 1, 18. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.

But to us, who are being saved, it is the power of God. It is the power of God that Jesus would take an enemy and save them and cause this foolishness in the world's eyes. This foolishness that is all in loving, lavish adoration of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's foolishness to the world. It's foolishness to the world that men would spend time preparing for a sermon.

It's foolishness to the world that husbands and wives, that fathers and mothers would spend all that time discipling their family and family worship. It's foolishness to the world that we would gather here for several hours on a Sunday. That's foolishness to the world. It's foolishness to the world that we would gather every week for prayer. And it's foolishness to the world that our elders would desire to see that so much that they keep encouraging us in that way.

That's foolishness to the world. Good. Let it be foolish to them. Their hearts are not our hearts. They are goats, I am a sheep.

And may they become sheep. May that be God's desire to take an enemy like he did with you and save you. Be a fool in the world's eyes in your adoration of the Lord Jesus Christ. A fool to the world, not a fool to your brothers and sisters. And I say that from, I should not see it as foolish.

Be encouraged, be joyful, be thankful. So church, this is my prayer. That the Holy Spirit would replace our fear of man with a never-ending gushing, leaving no doubt visible love and adoration of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Oh God, oh Jesus, I cannot adore you enough.

I can't pay back the debt. I can't come close. My works, my actions, my acts of worship and love and adoration can't even come close to the debt that you have forgiven me. So God, out of a love, out of a Knowing what you have saved me from, out of a knowing of what we know as brothers and sisters you have saved us from, Father, our resources, our lives that you have given us, Father, please let them be in play for you. Let them be in all in worship, loving, gushing, adoration of you, Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and let us know the vain things in our hearts that we would be forgiven, that we would repent.

And Father, may the world see our love for you because you have loved us. May the gospel and may your kingdom be built for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.