 So here we are, Matthew 26, I hope you opened your Bibles to that portion of Scripture already. And what we'll do is, and you'll see this, we're going to take verses 1 through 5 together. I'll give to you an introduction, as I normally do, and give to you some background. And we'll look at verses 1 through 5, and then we'll pick up at verse 6, continuing on until we conclude this portion of Scripture today. So beginning at verse 1, Matthew chapter 26, verses 1 through 5, Matthew writes, 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 so what I'll do is I introduce this portion of Scripture tonight as I'll remind you of some of the events of the week, some of the events of the week that have taken place up to this point of to Matthew 26. You see, the last week of Jesus' ministry on earth was a very, very busy time for the Lord. It was a time that was filled with a lot of activity and a lot of ministry. And when you look at His last week, you begin obviously with Palm Sunday. And on Palm Sunday, we know the story of that Jesus entered into the city of Jerusalem and He did so for the last time. When you look at the events that relate to that and the accounts you find in Scripture, you see that Jesus had told two of His disciples to enter into a village and to bring a donkey to Him. And we're told that this was done to fulfill a prophecy, a prophecy that was made by a prophet by the name of Zechariah. It's found in Zechariah chapter 9, verse 9, and that prophecy was made 520 years before Christ. And in Matthew 21 5, it reads, Now tell the daughter of Zion, behold, your King is coming to you lowly and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the full of a donkey. And so Jesus took this colt and He rode into the city of Jerusalem. Now as we read the accounts on Palm Sunday, we know that as He rode into Jerusalem, there was a great multitude. They spread their clothes on the ground before Him and others were cutting down palm branches and spreading them on the road before Him. And so what you have when you combine the accounts of that is you have a crowd, a crowd that is pouring out of Jerusalem to meet Him and a crowd following Him as He's entering into the city. And these two crowds merge and the people begin to cry and they praise Him. They said things like, Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. They said, Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And so as Jesus is approaching and all of this is taking place, Luke tells us that Jesus approached Jerusalem and as He did so, He began to weep over the city and He said if they had realized, only realized what was happening had been prophesied. If they'd only understood that, but they didn't know the day of their visitation. And then He went to Bethany and He spent the night. Well the next day, Monday, Jesus went to the city. He went to Jerusalem and as you read the accounts on His way, He cursed a barren fig tree. He went into Jerusalem and for the second time, He cleansed the temple. He overturned the tables of the money changers, the seats of those who sold doves and He wouldn't let anyone carry any merchandise through the temple. And He said to them, it is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. Now on Tuesday, Tuesday was a very, very busy day for Jesus. After cleansing the temple, the religious leaders had challenged His authority for doing so. So He began teaching those who would listen and He gave a variety of parables. He debated with Sadducees, He denounced the Pharisees. Sometimes when people speak about Jesus and how loving He is and indeed He has His love in the flesh, they forget that He also is righteous and He has indignation. And they forget that He cleansed that temple. And they forget how He spoke to the Pharisees, how He spoke to the Sadducees. And when you read Matthew 23, there are some things that He says there that are so strong and so scathing because it shows the righteousness of God and His hatred for the things that were being done. And it shows us to us that Jesus Christ not only was He meek, mild and all of those things, but He also was righteous. And so He denounced these false teachers. He denounced the Pharisees, denounced the Sadducees, called them whitewashed tombs. Said to you are like unmarked graves that people walking fall into. He says you defile people, you travel through the world to make one convert. And once you've done it, you make them twice the child of hell. You are yourselves. Jesus spoke some strong words to them. And as this was taking place on that day, He also gave His longest teaching on the last days, on the last times. One of the exhortations that stands out is when He in Matthew 25 verse 13 said this. He said watch therefore for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. Be alert, be aware, be ready because He's going to come in a time that some will not expect. So that's as we've been going through Revelation, I've been encouraging our church to be aware of the days that we're living in and to be prepared for His coming as even at the door. Well after He had taught these things, that brings us to Wednesday. So what happened? What happened on Wednesday? Well in the tradition of the early church, Wednesday is called Holy Wednesday. It's also called Spy Wednesday because Judas arranged for Jesus' betrayal. And we're going to be looking at that as we look at this portion before us. We'll be looking at that in Matthew 26 and including another portion that I'll introduce in just a moment. So as we're looking at this Spy Wednesday, we'll begin at verse one. That was your introduction. Let's get into our study. And verse one, it came to pass when Jesus had finished all these things. So Matthew is picking up the narrative at the end of what has been called the Olivet Discourse, Matthew's chapters 24 and 25. And in those chapters, Jesus had been giving even as I mentioned a moment ago, last time conditions and He intended His followers to be warned and to be inspired, to be inspired to preach His message because He's about to be crucified. And so He's reminding His men why He came to planet Earth. And the reason that He came is clearly stated in Scripture. He came in order to voluntarily lay down His life for us. The simple truth is the heart of the ministry of Jesus Christ. The simple truth that He desired to lay His life down for us. Remember how the apostle John recorded a conversation with a man that had come to speak to Jesus? A religious man that we know by the name of Nicodemus. And the Bible tells us that He came to Jesus one night and He wanted to speak to Him. When you look at this man, Nicodemus, and you begin to piece together some of the things that Scripture says about him, you discover that this man was what is called an aristocrat. He was a very wealthy man. He was a respected Pharisee, the Bible tells us. He's also called a ruler of the Jews. When it says that he was a ruler of the Jews, this is recorded in John chapter 3. A ruler of the Jews is another way of speaking of the fact that he was part of the Jewish High Council. The High Council of the Jews was called the Sanhedrin. It was made up of 71 scribes, elders, as well as prominent Jewish men. The High Priest was the president of the assembly. And the High Priest was the one who would judge over religious issues. So this man, Nicodemus, was part of this religious group of men. The men who were overseeing the religious life of the nation of Israel. And he was obviously a very spiritual man. And when he came to speak to Christ, he had spiritual questions. And he wanted Jesus' perspective on the things that he was considering. You see, something about Jesus Christ had been keeping Nicodemus awake at night. So he finally came to see him. As you look at the story, he began by admitting that Jesus was well known for the miracles that he was performing. He and others were convinced that through his signs, Jesus was definitely from God. And Nicodemus noted. He noted that Jesus performed miracles. But we need to remember that the signs alone were not enough to save this man. And this is why Jesus began to share with him his need to be born again. So the giving of Jesus Christ to the world is the heart of the message of the gospel. Jesus speaks to him and says to him, unless a man is born again, he cannot see, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. And you remember how Nicodemus, this aristocrat, this extremely intelligent man, this individual who was well versed in scripture, a ruler of the Jews, this man began to speak to Christ and Jesus says, unless you're born again, you can't enter into the kingdom of God. How can a man be born a second time? Shall he enter into his mother's womb and be born a second time? How is it that you, a teacher of the Jews, Jesus says, don't understand these kinds of things. And Jesus began to give to him the insights into what it means to be born of the Spirit of God. A man can be born of the flesh, but he needs to be born of the Spirit. And you need to know how the Spirit moves. And Nicodemus, what you have is rules and regulations. But what you really need is the life of God within you, because the letter kills, but the Spirit brings life. And so as he's speaking to Nicodemus, he finally says to him, Nicodemus, God's soul loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life, for God sent not a son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved, the heart of the ministry of Christ, salvation. And that's why Matthew is emphasizing the reason that Jesus came to earth. And so he said again in verse one, it came to pass when Jesus had finished all these saints that he said to his disciples, verse two, you know that after two days is the Passover and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. He's had to repeat this to these men so many times. I didn't prepare for my mind is traveling right now, so I'm going to resist the temptation to go down that road with you, but these men really didn't get it. They were busy arguing constantly about who is the greatest in the kingdom even into the day that Jesus Christ is finally betrayed into the hands of sinful men. Who is the greatest in the kingdom? That was really the thing that they had apparently had the most concern for because if it's mentioned once in scripture, it's important. If it's mentioned twice in scripture, it's very important. It was mentioned more than twice about these men constantly arguing amongst themselves who is the greatest in the kingdom. And in the midst of all of this, Jesus has been teaching them that he had come to lay his life down. They had come to sacrifice his life. In Matthew once again in chapter 16, verse 21, Matthew says, from that time Jesus began to show to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised again the third day. In chapter 17 of Matthew, verses 22 and 23, when they came together in Galilee, he said to them, the Son of man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him. And on the third day, he'll be raised to life. Again in Matthew chapter 20, verses 17 through 19. Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples, as Haydn said to them, we're going up to Jerusalem. The Son of man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. But on the third day, he'll be raised to life. Jesus has been emphasizing this, and we as Christians need to remember that Jesus was very clear that he came to give his life a ransom for many. The Son of man didn't come to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom. And so he's been telling his men this, I'm going to die. Well Passover is about to be observed. And now it's time. In John's Gospel in chapter 10 verses 17 and 18, he said, therefore my father loves me because I laid down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down. And I have power to take it again. This command I have received from my father. I voluntarily am submitting myself to the will of my father and I will die voluntarily on that cross. So Passover. Passover was a time when sacrificial lambs were slain in order to remember the deliverance of the nation of Israel from Egyptian bondage. The sacrificing of the lambs were intended to point to Jesus Christ. Remember in John's Gospel chapter 1 verse 29 how John the Baptist called Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Later on the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 1 18 and 19 said it like this. He said, you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers but with the precious blood of Christ a lamb without blemish or defect. So the sacrificial lambs were slain, but they were intended to remind the nation of Israel of the deliverance that had taken place and they were to point to the Savior Jesus Christ who is the Lamb of God. And so he's making it clear the Son of man will be delivered up to be crucified after two days. Well verse 3 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 imploded to take Jesus by trickery and kill him. But they said not during the feast lest there be an uproar among the people. Well Jesus is speaking and as he's doing so a meeting is being held by the Supreme Council. We see a man here by the name of Caiaphas. He was the high priest, he was the leader of the religious authorities. Caiaphas had married the daughter of the former high priest, a man whose name was Annas. And he supervised the priestly functions in the temple. He also profited from the business that took place in the court of the Gentiles. It was in this court that Jesus had taken that whip and all and had cleansed this court two times. And Caiaphas hated Jesus Christ. He hated Jesus for a variety of reasons but he especially hated Jesus because Jesus threatened his power. And his hatred grew after Jesus had raised a man by the name of Lazarus from the dead. And so he plotted the death of Christ. In John's Gospel chapter 11 verses 47 through 50 it says the chief priests and the Pharisees called the meeting of the Sanhedrin. What are we accomplishing they said? Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this everyone will believe in him and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. Then one of them named Caiaphas who was high priest that year spoke up, you know nothing at all. You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish. In other words let's kill him. Let's put him to death. And so what is taking place here in chapter 26 is he is finalizing his plans to kill Christ. Now they are simply looking for the opportunity and it is at this point that Matthew gives us what would be called a flashback from a previous Saturday and we will look at that together because I am going to take you all the way to verse 16. So verse 6 when Jesus was in Bethany 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 she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. But when his disciples saw it they were indignant saying why this waste? For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much given to the poor. But when Jesus was aware of it he said to them shut up. Now 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. And so what we have here is a flashback. Notice how it begins with Jesus in in Bethany in the village just outside of Jerusalem and he's at the house of a man named Simon Simon the leper. And so again this is actually a flashback to the previous Saturday. You see John recorded the same event in his gospel and he gave us the day that it occurred. In John 12 1 and 2 it says six days before the Passover Jesus arrived at Bethany where Lazarus lived whom Jesus had raised from the dead and here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. So the question has to be asked as we go through chapter 26 this is out of place chronologically. Why would he add that to this? And what we're going to be seeing is that he adds the generosity love and worship of this woman. He adds it in order to contrast the evil of the Sanhedrin the greed of Judas and he wants to contrast their evil and their greed with the love of a woman named Mary. As it says here Jesus is in the home of Simon the leper. He was more than likely Simon the former leper and he more than likely had been cleansed by Jesus. We know that he's cleansed how do we know that? Because he would not have had a home in town. In the Old Testament Leviticus chapter 13 verse 46 says that a leper is unclean and shall dwell alone and his dwelling shall be outside the camp. So a leper would not be living in the city. The leper was to live outside of the city and without going into a lot of information about leprosy and what it represents many Bible commentators point out that leprosy is a type of sin. It isolates, it dulls you and ultimately ends up taking your life. It's what sin does and so the leper a person with leprosy was someone who was isolated and he would come into town he had to cover his mouth if he was coming in for anything and he would say unclean, unclean because people could not come into contact with the leper. Sometimes they would pick up stones and they would throw them at the leper to chase them away because they didn't want him near them and so that's where the concept of sin being infectious and we don't want this near us that's how that was developed and so this man whose name Simon and he was undoubtedly a former leper because he has a home in town. Now he's giving a supper and the supper may be that he's doing that for for gratitude. Why? Because it may very well be that he was once a leper and Jesus cleansed him. It also may be that he's giving a supper for thanks, thanks to Jesus for raising Lazarus from the dead. So as this is taking place and again it says in verse 7, it says that a woman came to him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil. She poured it on his head as he sat at the table. So let's take a place and I'm going to look at this with you in a little detail in just a moment but this is an act of worship. She's pouring out her costly perfume upon the head of Jesus Christ. Matthew leaves her unnamed but John says it was Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus and in John 12 verse 3 it says Mary took a 12 ounce of jar of expensive perfume made from the essence of Nard. She anointed Jesus' feet with it, wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. This perfume is imported from India. It was very costly. Again John chapter 12 verse 5 tells us that its value was a full year's wages. The value of this perfume was a full year's wage and so I asked Almighty Google. I said Google you know what is the average salary yearly salary just so I could get an idea of the costliness of this what is the average yearly salary of somebody who lives in California and the answer came back $62,356. That is today's average salary in the state of California. So when you're looking at the costly ointment that Mary poured on Christ it was worth at least in today's money $62,000. That's a huge amount of money for 12 ounces of perfume though I did look up what the most valuable perfume is in the world and the most valuable perfume in the world. I can't remember the name of it because Mary's not getting any but it's $1.2 million for a jar. Yeah $1.2 million. Actually I bought it for you honey but I broke it on the way home. But I got a gallon at the swap meet and it's very good. So Mary poured out the entire contents of a 12 ounce bottle on Jesus. Again it's a lavish expression of love. Matthew says she anointed his head. John says she anointed his feet. The anointing of a guest head was normal. The anointing of the feet is an unusual honor. And so I want to look at this for a minute because Mary was demonstrating respect and honor. She was demonstrating love and faith when she anointed him. And what we see in this anointing and the reason it's put between the verses that we're looking at is that she is actually demonstrating her love, respect and faith in Jesus Christ. What we're looking at and this is the heart of worship. In her action we see love. And love for Jesus is the heart of worship. And as we look at what she's doing we can see from the story that it was costly and that it was humble, that it was noticeable and it all came from a heart of love and faith. You see her worship was costly. We noted that it was very costly fragrant oil. An alabaster vase of this costly ointment was usually a present that would be given to a king. And the fact that she had such an oil reveals that she was from a wealthy family. And it may be that the oil that she used was purchased when her brother Lazarus had been buried. And that would give us more insight into what Jesus later says. So the first thing I look at is I look at the fact that in contrast and we'll see this in a moment in contrast to the greed of Judas Mary is an evidence of a love for Christ in contrast to the hatred of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, Mary's devotion is a demonstration of what faith actually does when it's in action. And one of the things that we come to understand is that when you love the Lord there's nothing too good to be stole on Him. You know sometimes people have a tendency of making promises to God, I'm going to do this for you, I'm going to give you this because I love you and a lot of people are prone to that. I remember the story of a man who was a farmer and his cow, he had a cow who actually produced twin calves. And so there were two. And so one of his friends was speaking to him and said to him, wow you have two calves and you were expecting one. He said that's right. He says, and you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to give one of the calves to the Lord and I'm going to keep one for myself. And so the guy he was talking to said, well that's very generous of you. And he says, yeah. I'm going to give to the Lord one of the calves and I'm going to keep the other one for myself. So a few days later the same guy approaches the man who had had the cow that had the two calves and he says, so how's it going? He says, not so good. What do you mean? He says, well the Lord's calf died. So a lot of times, I'll let that sink in for a minute. Sometimes we tell the Lord what we're going to do for him. We love him so much and all of that and talk is cheap. And so what we see here is the reality of it. The reality of worship to the Lord, which is in contrast to the Pharisees, in contrast to Judas, is that when you love the Lord nothing's too good for him. Remember the story of King David. Because in 2 Samuel chapter 24, King David's heart is revealed to us. And King David, the sweet psalmist of Israel, had what has been called a heart of worship. You see in that chapter David was commanded to build an altar. You are to build an altar to offer God's sacrifice. And he was supposed to do so in a certain location but the problem was that the land that he had been commanded to build the altar, well that land was owned by a man. It was in the possession of somebody else, a man by the name of Arana. In history we discovered that the land is actually the site where Solomon's temple was to be built and David was buying that land in order that he might build an altar. Well, David said that he wanted the land and the man who owned it, that man Arana, offered to give David the land. Not only did he say, I'll give you the land but he also said, I'll provide oxen for you, for sacrifice. And what we know is that Arana wanted to show generosity to David but I love David's response because in 2 Samuel 24, 24 when Arana said, I'll just give you it, David said this and this is something worth remembering. The king said to Arana, no, but I will surely buy it from you for a price nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing. The heart of worship. I will not offer to God something that doesn't require a part of sacrifice in my heart. I'm not going to give him something that I throw away. I'm going to give him something that means something to me. David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver and his faith was revealed by his unwillingness to give something without personal cost. David paid Arana and the price he paid was actually part of his offering to God and had David accepted Arana's offer it would have been Arana's offering and not his own. And so his action reveals that sacrifice is an essential part of love for and service to God. In the Christian life, we don't give to God when we can afford it. We give to God because of what he's done for us. We give to God as an act of worship because he deserves it. He should receive it. Worship of God is costly. And so Mary is showing us that our giving to God is an act of faith. He responds to how he loved us. First, I mean, if we don't think the giving of his son was costly, we don't understand what Jesus did. I was real upset when I was a young man. I got mad at the Lord and I went and spoke to a dear friend of mine who was a professor at the college. I was attending Biola, Dr. Moore. And, you know, I spoke to him and he didn't give me the answer I wanted so I went and spoke to another guy, a pastor in one of the churches. And I was speaking to him and I said to him I was disappointed in the Lord. And he said to me, you know, David, he said one of the things about God is God is very forgiving. He said, and though you've been injured by someone, you injured God. And yet in your sin and your rebellion, it is not something that he takes lightly and yet he forgave you. And I'll never forget my response to him. He forgave you. And I looked at him and I said, yeah, that's his job. That's his job. What an ignorant thing to say about the Lord. It's not his job. It was his love. And I didn't understand it at that time because sometimes your pain can get in front of what is true. And so the Lord had to break me and very early in my life I began to learn that worshiping the Lord exacts a cost. And that's what is part of the sacrifice. The second thing we see is that her giving was humble. You see, when she was taking care of it, the anointing and all, she was performing the job of a house servant. In John chapter 12, verse 3, John tells us that she wiped his feet with her hair. For those of us who are Americans here in the 21st century, we may not understand what that means, but the women of her day did not undo their hair. And for her hair to be undone was never done in public because it was humiliating. And so what we see in her doing that is actually a humble act of worship. And again, the only kind of service that is acceptable to the Lord is humble service. In Psalm 149, verse 4, it says, The Lord takes pleasure in his people. He will beautify the humble with salvation. And then here's something else that I note with this. And her worship was open. It was noticeable. John noted that the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Everybody took notice of the gift that had been given. Anointed worship does not go unnoticed. Anointed worship permeates the atmosphere. There's a difference when somebody is singing a song to God and when somebody is singing a song of worship to God. You know, I learned that lesson as a young person and I learned that when I would go to church and the music was playing as a brand-new Christian, I would say, boy, I'd like to be in a band like that. Boy, I'd like to be able to sing like that. And over time, the Lord said to me, you're not worshiping me. What you're doing is worshiping music and musicians. And what you need to learn to do is to offer me your praise. Because sometimes people say I won't go there because I don't like their worship. And that blows my mind because it isn't for the person who's singing. It's to the Lord who's receiving it. And sometimes we don't understand that. But her worship was very open and noticeable. The fragrance filled the house and people noted something great and wonderful had taken place. And God is being worshiped amongst His people. It is something that is very noticeable. Well, guess what happens here? It says again in verse 7 that she had ported on his head as he sat at the table, verse 8, but when his 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? And so there were various reactions. Notice the disciples saw it. They were indignant. When we begin to look at Mark and John's accounts, we get a better view. Because Mark 14 reads in verse 4, there were some who were indignant among themselves. But John tells us what happened when he says in John 12, 4 through 6, one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected. Why wasn't this perfume sold and money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages. And then John says he didn't say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. And so this indignation that we have here in Matthew's account is actually something instigated by Judas because Judas carried the money purse and he thought to himself, 300 denarii of full years, I could be pilfering. That people wouldn't even notice that and he was upset. And his sinful attitude infected other people. They thought it was an extravagant gift. It was a waste is the way they were looking at it. This is a waste. And so when they say that it's a waste, they're basically simply saying it could have been used for something else. It was unnecessary. These funds were wasted. We could have used it for better ways. So what do you do? What's the best thing you can do if you want to make your point? Well, notice what he did. Verse nine, rather, he said, this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor. So you spiritualize your sin, which is what he was doing. He spiritualized his sin. Well, by saying that the funds could have gone for the poor, he hit a chord with other people. Some of the others began to share the sentiment. They agreed with him. What had happened is Judas had calculated its value. He realized he lost a good amount of money. So he used a religious speech to give himself an air of compassion. The other disciples had no reason to think he wasn't sincere. And this is a guy, by the way, when you read about him, Judas, that he had a tremendous influence on the men. Mark 14, 4 and 5 says, some of those present were saying indignantly to one another why this waste of perfume it could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor, and they rebuked her harshly. So not only were they complaining, but they actually spoke to her and said, you wasted this by putting it on Jesus. Think about that for a minute. This way of thinking is shared with others that usually influences them. Often it's stated in a spiritual way, but it influences others to unbelief. There will always be people who think these kinds of actions, that giving generously to the Lord of whatever is an act of worship, there are always going to be people who think it's a waste. But in reality, it was none of their business how she used her ointment. And so Jesus speaks. In verse 10, when Jesus was aware of it, he said to them, why do you trouble the woman? She's 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, which we just did. To this day, 2,000 years later, we're repeating what she did. Why are you doing this? He's saying in verse 10, she did a good work. Her work sprang from faith in me. Her work sprang from love for me. And her faith and her love for me made it an excellent and beautiful work. You see, you'll always have the poor. There's always going to be an opportunity to care. They're going to be with you. But as for me, I'm about to depart. So in verse 12, in pouring this fragrant oil on my body, she did it for my burial. Again, those words were intended to cut to their hearts to awaken them. His death is certain. It's near. And so he says, Mary has anticipated my death and my burial. And in this, she's understood even more than you of what is about to occur. And Mary was blessed by Jesus. And her gift to him was small in comparison to his gift for her. You see, someone once said, where the benefits received are infinite, the praises cannot be too extravagant. And that's why Paul in 2 Corinthians 9.15 simply said, thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. His indescribable gift. I would hope that every one of us here, every one of us who are watching online right now, I would hope that you love the Lord. I was watching the news tonight. I haven't been watching it as often, and I'm actually happier now. But I was watching the news tonight. And one of the people was saying that in the American church in the last year because of the COVID, that like, churches are shutting down. They were speaking about that. Churches are shutting down. That a large percentage of churches did not make it. And that even 20 years ago in surveys taken of Americans when they were asked, do you have an affiliation with a church and do you attend a church and all? There was a time when it was like 20 to 30 years ago that you would have in the response to that question, 70 to 80% of the people responded would say, yes, I who responded would say, I have a church that I go to. They may not go every week, but they did go to church. America was still churched even not that long ago. But now it's down to 50% of people will say they have a church and 50% of those surveyed are saying that religion doesn't mean anything to them. Faith doesn't mean anything to them. And as they were discussing that they said, but the problem is, is when you do studies on those who have religious faith, those who do attend church, those who do have a belief in God, they are always in every survey, always the ones who are the happiest, the most filled with joy, the ones who have the most peace. These are people have a relationship with God and a faith in him. And their lives are actually joyful lives. And he said, and then when you look at those who don't have any of those ingredients, no faith in God, no church affiliation, no friendships with Christians and all of that believers. These are very sad and miserable people. He said, you can see it factually. This is the way their lives are without God. And so there are a lot of people who don't know the value of a relationship with God. But you know, we do. The Lord saved us, right? God sent his son Jesus to die in a cross for us. And he laid down his life for me. And he took me out of the Myrie clay and he placed me on the solid ground and he gave me, he gave me joy and he gave me peace and he gave me love and he gave me a strength in relationships. He gave me so much. How can you not love him? How can you not serve him? How can you not be grateful to him? Judas couldn't. Judas couldn't. And he influenced Jesus's boys to think the same way. Be careful who you hang around with. Be careful who you allow to influence you in your life. Be careful. Do not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. Be careful because believers sometimes are getting advice from those who don't know God. And as a result of that, oh, it's never good. It's all going to be bad. It's never going to get any better. You know what the best is yet to come. The Lord isn't on the throne. He's not done yet. I'm praying that God will bring up a revival. I'm praying for the young people to carry the gospel further. I believe that God has a plan. And I'm not going to be that person who begins to listen to the naysayers. I call them the Eorahs. Some of you don't even know who that is. But Eorah, you know, oh no, what are we going to do? I don't like to be around Eorahs. You know, I want somebody who says, you know what, my God is able. My God is able. You know, you have Jonathan. You have an armor bearer. And Jonathan's in the midst of considering whether or not he's going to go and battle with a group of enemy warriors. And he says, I wonder, what should we do? And his armor bearer is standing next to him. And the armor bearer, and I'm paraphrasing, says to Jonathan, whatever is in your heart to do, I'll do it along with you. Because you know what, our God is able to save through many or by few. Let's see what. And so Jonathan basically was saying, let's see what God wants to do today. Do you wake up like that? What does God want to do today? Well, God can use me to do some of it. I'm available, but God nothing else to do. I'm a pastor, please use me. I've been doing that for a long time. Lord, what do you want to do today? What do you want to do through me today? What do you want me to do to influence others today? What do you want to do today? You know what? Every day when you wake up with the Lord, every day is a new day, and His mercy is once again poured on into us afresh every day, and God does things. You have to start looking for opportunities. You have to look at Jesus as being worth it. You know, what He's done is worth it. He died on a cross for me. He gave me His powerful Holy Spirit. He wrote my name in the Lamb's Book of Life. He's going to call me to be with Him. One of these days I'll see Him face to face. And until that moment, I want to bring as many people as I can with me because the most selfish person is the one who goes to heaven alone. So we want to bring people with us anyway. So this is what's taking place. You got Judas going, oh no, we could have given to the poor. And he said this, he said because he was a thief. He used to take money out of the money bag. He's a liar. You know, you don't name your kid Judas. You name mean dog Judas. And so let's finish, shall we? Okay, verse 14. One of the twelve called Judas. Ascariot went to the chief priest and said, what are you willing to give me if I deliver him to you? And they counted out to him 30 pieces of silver. So from that time he sought opportunity to betray him. That's why it's called spy Wednesday. Holy Wednesday. What are you willing to give me? I lost out on 300 Denarii. So I'll give you a deal. Luke tells us in chapter 22, verses two through four, that the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him. For they feared the people. Satan entered Judas, their name, Ascariot, numbered among the twelve. And he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains how he might betray him to them. And they were glad. And they agreed to give him money. He yielded to the devil. And he sold the son of God. Never forget first Timothy six, verse 10. The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. He sold the Lord for the price of a slave. In Exodus 21 32, if the bull goers a male or female slave, the owner must pay 30 shekels of silver to the master of the slave. The bull must be put to death. He must be stoned. And so he sold Jesus. And looked at him as being the value of a servant that you would purchase as a slave. And that's in contrast to what we read a moment ago when Paul spoke of Jesus as being God's indescribable gift. So it was on a Wednesday that that took place. The Wednesday like right now where Judas was with Jesus. Someone said that Judas heard every message that Jesus gave. And yet his heart remained far from him. Judas being one of the 12 was highly respected influenced the others. Judas was given opportunity to go into preach. He also had been given a portion of the spirit where he could. He actually performed miracles and all 12 did that. He was able to participate in all of those things. But his heart was never with the Lord. And you can belong to a church and you can call yourself a Christian all you want. But if you haven't been born again, if you haven't asked the Lord to forgive you and to cleanse you of all your sin. If you haven't said God be merciful to me, I'm a sinner. Please come into my life without you. I'm nothing and I need your help. I have no hope without you. If you haven't said God, I need to be born again. That's when Jesus said unless man is born again, he cannot enter in nor can he see the kingdom of God. If you haven't done that, then you're going to die in your sins. Judas did. But I pray to God that we don't. I pray to God that we don't see worshiping Jesus as a waste. I pray to God that we don't try to profit off of other people's faith or present ourselves as an influencer taking people away from the Lord. Because Judas on this Wednesday made a decision. He finalized, Satan provoked, entered in. Judas went out and he said, I'm willing to sell him. What do you give me? Give you 30 pieces of silver. The deal is done. That's going to take place. And that took place rather on Wednesday. This coming Friday, we'll be looking at what happened on Good Friday. Father, we ask that you would work in our lives. And even now, Lord, as we looked at this event that took place on that night, I pray that we would know, we would make sure where we stand with you. And that, Father, we would be influencers for good. And Lord, that we would never see worshiping you as a waste. I ask that we might be filled with hope, love and faith. And may we be those who demonstrate in such a way that people know the genuineness of our faith. Lord, I pray for this congregation that we all would be filled with your spirit. Love your word and walk in obedience to you. May we learn from Judas' attitude in contrast to the attitude of a worshipper named Mary. And even as our eyes are closed, perhaps there's someone need to get right with the Lord tonight. If you're watching online, obviously I'm not aware, I can't see you, but you can open your heart to Christ right where you're at. If you're in this room, you can do so. And if you need prayer and you need to be right with him right now, before I close, I'd like to pray for you. And if you need prayer, would you raise your hand and let me pray for you right where you're at? Father, you see these hands that are going up in this place right now. In Jesus' name, I pray that you would reach down and touch each person whose hand is raised in Lord, that you would flood them with your presence, that you would work within them, and that Lord, they would become a true worshipper of you. From this moment on, may they be yielded to you. Lord, I ask that you would bind the enemy who is attacking. I ask now that you would fill them with your presence, and that you would use them as a testimony of your grace. We open our hearts to you, Lord, and we thank you for these things, and we bless you, Lord, and receive by faith that which you have promised us. Thank you, Lord. We thank you. You can put your hands down. And Jesus, please, keep moving in us to your glory in your name. Amen.