Jesus Prepares for His Death | Sermon on Mark 14:1-11

in our time in god's word gracious heavenly father lord what amazing songs it's to be reminded of the fact that one day we will see you we will be with you forever and ever and all of that is possible because of the redemption accomplished by your son the lord jesus christ father this morning we are reminded once again that in anticipation of that wonderful time when we will be with you and we will no longer live in a broken dying world we still do exist in this world and father we don't only want to exist we actually want to be people who are used by you in a mighty way to be a testimony for christ here in this world and yet father there are many trials that we face there are many hurts and pains that we have there is much baggage from our experiences lord dying loved ones sick loved ones those who have passed away and are now with you father this past year we're reminded of the fact that you have taught us much through all of these things but we pray for your encouragement and your comfort upon your people this morning or for all of us to some extent or another we feel and we experience the weight every single day of a broken world so father help us to trust you help us to rely not on our own circumstances being favorable but help us to rely and rest upon you help us to be reminded of the fact that because christ has died and paid for our sins sufficiently and he has risen from the dead and he's ascended to your right hand that we have hope regardless of our circumstances help us to live well under those help us to rejoice in the midst of our trials remind us of our great hope even this morning as we look at your word and we continue to glean and learn from the life of our lord and savior jesus christ we want to be reminded of his greatness his wondrous glory how he lived how he was resolved to glorify you and go to the cross and pay for our sins and father this morning i pray for those of those who are here who don't know christ as lord and savior that lord today would be the day of salvation that today would be the day where they were called upon a gracious god who offers free forgiveness reconciliation forgiveness from their rebellion and sin because of christ and what he has done on the cross who has paid for their sins risen from the dead conquered sin and death may they trust him may they find a gracious god and may they go from enemies of you to children of god this morning we pray in jesus name amen amen we'll open your bibles to mark chapter 14. mark chapter 14 verses 1 through 11 is our text this morning yes we will get through 11 verses i know last week you were shocked that we got through 10 of them mark chapter 14 verses 1 through 11 and if you're able to stand with me for the reading of god's word in honor of god's word please stand mark chapter 14 verses 1-11 always remember that this is god's word amen mark 14 verse 1 now the passover and unleavened bread were two days away and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to seize him by stealth and kill him for they were saying not during the festival otherwise there might be a riot of the people while he was in bethany at the home of simon the leper and reclining at the table there came a woman with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume of pure nard and she broke the vial and poured it over his head but some were indignantly remarking to one another why has this perfume been wasted for this perfume i'd have been sold for over 300 daenery and the money given to the poor and they were scolding her but jesus said let her alone why do you bother her she has done a good deed to me for you always have the poor with you and whenever you wish you can do good to them but you do not always have me she has done what she could she has anointed my body beforehand for the burial truly i say to you wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her then judas iscariot who was one of the twelve went off to the chief priests in order to betray him to them they were glad when they heard this and promised to give him money and he began seeking how to betray him at an opportune time may the lord bless the reading of his word you may be seated the title of this morning's message is jesus prepares for his death jesus prepares for his death as you know this last year has been a year of transition for many people some people have transitioned from one job to another because of obviously opportunities that have presented themselves or maybe they've lost their job and picked up another one so they've transitioned from one job to another other people have transitioned from you know a living situation to another and speaking of transitions by the way today and this young man has a special place in my heart is a day of transition for one particular young man by the name of adam barnfather adam will is with us today but he's going to be moving to idaho some of you know about that and so tonight is going to be a special time at the barn fathers his parents john and becky's house this evening just saying goodbye to adam so please make sure that if you are able to stop by you do that but this is a time of transition even for him and for many people right in the midst of everything that's been going on well today in the gospel of mark is a time of transition in the narrative of mark as well where we transition today from the olivet discourse to a sermon by jesus by our lord where he has pulled back the curtain and he showed us the future things the end of days he's shown us what will transpire in the last days culminating in his second coming that's been all of chapter 13 of mark and now we transition from that from being reminded and learning that we have a sure and wonderful hope to now back to the present where we are reminded what makes those future things those future promises that will be given to us at the arrival of christ what makes those promises possible namely the death of christ his suffering his death his resurrection we transition into that for there is no future glory for us beloved no future glory for the believer by faith in christ exists if jesus doesn't go through his passion through his suffering through his death on the cross and so this is now the focus of mark chapters 14 through 16 that we transition into now remember this is passion week passion week a very critical monumental time in the life of israel this is the time of the great feasts in palestine where thousands of people jews from all over the place outside of palestine and proselytes from all over the place are are pouring into jerusalem to celebrate to worship to offer their sacrifices and give their alms to the lord in the temple the atmosphere is busy the atmosphere is energetic the atmosphere is electric you can hardly move around you have to move very slowly because i'm not how much people traffic there is in palestine there's a lot going on and it's been a full week for our lord on sunday if you remember jesus finally arrived to the great city of jerusalem not in great pomp proud as a human king but in great humility and in fulfillment of zechariah chapter 9 and verse 9 jesus arrives to jerusalem enters the great city seated on a donkey that's in fulfillment of zechariah chapter 9 and verse 9 in great humility the king arrives then on monday if you remember jesus after having peaked into the temple on sunday night after that arrival into jerusalem he peeks into the temple on sunday night and then monday morning as he and his disciples head back from bethany about two miles away into jerusalem he curses a fig tree on the way to jerusalem on the way to the temple symbolizing his judgment of israel as a nation for their idolatry and their false worship and then he goes right into the temple and what does he do he boldly cleanses it right because the temple had become a circus somewhat of a circus a house of merchandise rather than a house of worship a center for worship tuesday then was a full day from morning until night jesus is continually engaged in heated discussions with the religious leaders controversies and heated discussions over authority and the nature of his authority who do you think you are they would ask of him doing all of these things and then controversies over politics and controversies over government and our responsibility to government controversies over worship and the nature of worship controversies over marriage in connection with the theological matter of the resurrection from the dead that the sadducees did not affirm because they rejected the supernatural on and on and on these discussions and controversies are going all designed by the religious leaders to to discredit jesus and to find something wrong with him so that they might kill him put him at the cross and kill him finally toward evening on tuesday evening jesus himself even after all of this goes on the attack after repeatedly being leveled with questions aimed at discrediting him and then it was after all of that on tuesday night at dusk on tuesday while overlooking the temple from across the kidron valley that the lord jesus preached his olivet discourse foretelling his disciples of the last days culminating in the second coming that's the context leading into mark chapter 14. and now the lord transitions as i mentioned from future things back to the present his suffering his death and his resurrection that is going to make that future hope possible as he goes to the cross to pay for sins take note that this is now wednesday of passion week wednesday of passion week now as i've told you as we look at this passage verses 1 through 11. as i've told you before mark loves sandwiches no not food okay and i know in danger of making you guys hungry right now already don't think about food or sandwiches but i'm talking about a a literary device mark loves to take two similar accounts and put them together and in the middle of the two sandwich in something that he desires to emphasize something that he desires for us to walk away with especially and that's what we have here in this particular passage verses 1 and 2 and then verses 10 and 11 the bread parts if you will at the beginning and the end speak to the enemies of jesus the conspirators and the conspiracy if you will in verses 1 and 2 and 10 and 11 and then sandwiched in the middle in verses 3 through 9 is this great commendation of a devoted woman of one who offers worship to jesus so as we look at this wonderful passage in our lord's preparation for his death i want you to consider first and foremost jesus's foes jesus is foes in verses one and two jesus's enemies his comp conspirators are here mark wants us to know that they've been behind the scenes the whole time and here they are again in the aftermath of the olivet discourse here are jesus's conspirators and they come during a very strategic time don't they look at verse 14. now the passover and unleavened bread were two days away never just bypass those details in a passage okay because mark in verse 14 pinpoints for us the specific strategic timing of the events leading to jesus's betrayal he says two days away this tells us that this is now wednesday and we know this because the passover animals were all to be slain by 3 pm on friday of passover week and then paso the passover meal was to be eaten at sundown of friday so this is wednesday of passion week now and again you have to understand just how strategic all of this is this is according to the great foreknowledge of god that this is happening exactly at this time during this time when jews and proselytes poured in from everywhere to the great city of jerusalem in commemoration of god's great deliverance of israel from egypt back in exodus 12 and 13. if you remember it's at that time at the angel of death passed over at hence passover he passed over the the households of the israelites and slayed all the firstborn of egypt both human and beast and if you remember it was at that time after that slain of the egyptian firstborn that pharaoh initially let the people go and so the israelites as instructed by moses who was instructed by god then left egypt hastily they left egypt in a rush they didn't have time to make adequate preparations for example for to allow for the yeast in their bread to rise for even their bread to develop so only unleavened bread was what they took at the time well because they left in a rush and in great haste and in order to commemorate that swift and rush departure god instructed the israelites in deuteronomy 16 verse 3 to celebrate what is called a feast of unleavened bread in remembrance commemorating their departure their swift and rushed departure from egypt the feast of unleavened bread was so interconnected by the way with the passover that they were often thought of as one feast that's the reason why they're mentioned together in verse 14 if you notice so this is a a very strategic time when jesus begins preparing for his death but listen for the sanhedrin the sanhedrin is the ruling body of the jews this is the worst possible time for them to get rid of jesus the text says that the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to seize him notice by what stealth by stealth and kill him by stealth means secretly none of this was openly every all of this was subtle behind the scenes plotting scheming conspiring campaigning why because they know what's at stake look at verse two for they were saying the religious leaders the sanhedrin not during the festival let's not go after him during the festival otherwise there might be a riot of the people this speaks to their motives just a bit doesn't it see they know that jesus is popular with the fickle crowds we've seen this before they're aware these religious leaders that though the multitudes don't believe jesus to be god they have a wrong understanding of who jesus is they did consider him to be some great prophet some great teacher some compassionate man some great wonder worker and so they're worried about the reactions of the crowd should they openly get rid of him that's what they have in their minds furthermore take note of this these cowards are concerned that if a riot happens they're going to bring negative attention to themselves and that they cannot control the jewish people rome will take notice rome has entrusted to them to these to the sanhedrin this ruling body of the jews a delegated authority over the jewish people in matters of laws and all of that to rule their own people within certain parameters under rome and so if a upheaval takes place amongst the jewish people because they go after jesus they know that they're going to lose control of their rome given authority they're going to lose that so they're worried on two fronts the possible of hebel of the people two losing control from rome and so here are these high ups the jewish aristocracy plotting conspiring secretly to do what notice in verse 2 to kill him to kill him boy i underlined underlying that in my bible the first time i read mark i mean it's one thing to inwardly hate someone it's one thing to inwardly be bitter at someone but you don't want to do them physical harm it's a whole other level to get to the point where you so hate somebody you're so in bitter towards somebody in this case jesus that they actually want to murder him they actually want to kill him this was the extent and the intensity of their disdain and hatred toward our lord they've had it with jesus they want to end his life these are his enemies these are his foes and we'll meet one other later on but not every everyone hated jesus right look secondly beloved that jesus friends jesus friends and really one friend in particular in verses three through nine becomes the focus and the one who mark highlights here is the stark contrast in verses three through nine of these hateful conspirators okay now this is very important so you need to pay attention okay because what we have here in verses three through nine and later verses ten through eleven so verses three through eleven is a flashback moment in the narrative of mark in other words verses 3 through 11 are out of sequence as mark is telling the story of jesus going to the cross we've all seen those movies right or all of a sudden you're watching this movie and and there's a scene in the movie where you're you're transported to the past to a moment or a situation in the life of one of the characters maybe the main character in the movie that took place in the past well listen that's what you have here in verses three through eleven mark inserts verses three through eleven out of sequence to make a particular point and you say how do you know this pastor how do you know that this is out of sequence and that this happened before verses 3 through 11 well we know this because of john chapter 12 verses 2 through 8 it that particular text john 12 2 through 8 is the exact same episode that we have here and there in john chapter 12 verse 1 we're told that this particular scene the special meal that took place that mark is telling us took place ready for this six days before the passover six days before the passover passover is on friday so what does that mean john 12 1 is telling us that this scene took place last saturday if we're following the narrative of mark verses 3 through 11 happened four days ago last weekend one day before jesus's triumphal entry into jerusalem on sunday very key you ask pastor why would mark and matthew 2 by the way does this place this account out of sequence why would he do that and the answer is that the gospel writers often do this in order to meet the purposes of their particular gospel sometimes they'll insert something out of sequence in their gospel narrative always keep that in mind as you're reading through the gospels because people point out supposed contradictions in the gospels and they're not paying attention to these kinds of details right in this case verses one through two and ten through eleven later speak about the conspirators and the conspiracy to kill jesus but sandwiched in between in verses three through nine mark wants to show us and in search these verses in this scene to show us the stark contrast to the friends of christ and especially of one commendable woman who has a wholehearted devotion before the lord we'll see her so here we go flashback from the past right verse three while he was in bethany again this is four days ago on saturday at the home of simon the leper and reclining at the table mark is essentially telling us let me tell you readers here's a stark opposite of the hypocrisy and the hatred of the religious leaders let me tell you about someone who really understands and understood the significance of who jesus is and what he was about to do last saturday there's a special meal in the home of a man by the name of simon the leper obviously by the time the man hosted the meal he would have already been healed right otherwise he would have been separating himself away from people not inviting people over his house for a meal where they're going to be close together and simon simon's house note is in bethany bethany remember that since his arrival to jerusalem last saturday bethany has been jesus's headquarters of operation for passion week as he heads to the cross bethany was about two miles away from jerusalem so jesus has been going back and forth from bethany about two miles away through the kidron valley and then ascending to the temple of jerusalem this has been his headquarters of operation well last saturday something amazing happened at this special meal it was over this meal notice that in the home of a man by the name of simon the leper there came a woman in the midst of that meal sometime in there meals for the jews were long there was a lot of conversation they used to recline and so that they could have this prolonged conversation and they were not rushed sometime in this meal there came a woman we don't know why but mark doesn't name the woman but again we know from john chapter 12 and verse 3 who this woman is her name is mary let's call her mary of bethany because there's a lot of mary's in the gospels mary of bethany and she's the younger sister of martha of bethany we know this from the end of luke 10 verse 39 that she is the younger sister of martha and listen to this she is the the sister of the infamous lazarus of bethany whom jesus has raised from the dead in john chapter 11. so it's mary martha lazarus all family members and all special friends of jesus are there at this meal and so picture it you have those individuals there you have the host simon the leper maybe some of his own family members we don't get the details in the text it may be that some of his family members were there you have the lord jesus who is the was the guest of honor you have jesus's disciples all of them his friends minus who judas iscariot who is definitely not jesus's friend he's there at this meal you have martha and lazarus of bethany and who knows who else but the one who takes the spotlight after jesus is this woman named mary look at verse three there came a woman with an alabaster vial this alabaster vial was a flask sort of like a a flask which was made of clear marble-like stone she comes with this with this flask that is designed to to store and preserve precious fragrant oils and she comes with this flask full of the texas very costly perfume very costly perfume of pure nard nard was a a plant that was native to india many expensive precious fragrances were imported at the time from india and notice it's pure it's a very costly perfume of pure nard in other words unadulterated not fake not imitation we understand that right have you ever gone to look for your favorite perfume or cologne in a fragrance store in the mall and it turned out that it was an imitation how many of you have done that okay all of you are not as dumb as i am right many years ago i had this favorite cologne to escape in the 90s how many of you wore that men you guys are lying come on thank you thank you brother i love that cologne escape eventually they discontinued it and i couldn't find it anywhere and i remember one time going to the mall and going into this fragrance store and um and i'm i see the bottle escape run over to andrea she's like why are you so excited about this purchased the bottle went home turned out that that thing was so diluted it was watery it just wasn't the same it was an imitation look that's not what we have here this is authentic pure fragrance this is expensive precious perfume that this woman has and so sometime during dinner as jesus and everyone is reclining at the table over a meal here enters this woman with her precious flask of expensive precious perfume that is authentic and watch this this is the she does the unthinkable and she broke the vial and poured it over his head now this is huge this is huge what she does here and at first glance this is really excessive and over-the-top kind of behavior at first glance i mean just imagine just imagine i know that this is not a parallel kind of a example but just imagine one of you ladies who purchased an expensive perfume not one of these imitation deals i mean a legit expensive perfume and you spent a lot of money buying this perfume and let's just say for a minute that one of the pastors comes over for dinner let's say pastor alex will throw him under the bus because he's a good sport so pastor alex comes over for dinner and his precious wife cindy is there and as you guys are hanging out with pastor alex and just having a great time chatting and all of that here comes one of your kids ladies and they are carrying your precious costly perfume and that little rascal proceeds to take the cap off and they pour it all over pastor alex's head and it flows all the way down to his whole body down to his toes because he's wearing flip-flops while he's there at dinner right it's all over the place what would be your reaction you say oh come on pastor can't be that way never happen that's ridiculous and unrealistic i know okay just go with it for crying out loud indulge me i know it's not quite a parallel right but it would be audacious behavior for you well listen the custom what this woman does here wasn't completely from left field like that the custom of the day was to honor people and guests to show courtesy to to people and guests by doing things like washing the feet of your guests pouring ointment on someone's head etc remember this is a time when personal hygiene items were not as readily available today they couldn't just go to walmart get some deodorant get some perfume get some colombe etc they couldn't just go to the mall and buy some perfume from macy's all right so you couldn't do that at this time so it was customary and it was a a kind gesture for a host to do this but this woman goes way beyond what was expected way beyond rather than using this perfume in moderation what does she do she pours the whole thing on jesus everything every last drop now you can tell that this is excessive this was an excessive act and it was uncommon because look at verse 4 but some probably to some extent jesus disciples are whispering to one another this but john chapter 12 and verse 4 makes it loud and clear who this really came from judas iscariot john 12 4 judas iscariot one of his disciples who was intending to betray him speaks up why was this perfume not sold for 300 daenery and given to the poor john 12 5. those were the words of judas now think about this as a side note this is a flashback of last saturday since last saturday judas was already contemplating how to betray jesus that's how hostile this man was that's how hateful he was since days ago why was this perfume not sold for 300 daenery and given to the poor same here in mark 14 4 why has this perfume been wasted they were saying for this perfume might have been sold for 300 daenery and the money given to the poor good way to justify yourselves right oh we have the poor in mind they're expressing their disapproval and judas with a sense of evil hatred is saying this they viewed this act by mary as a waste 300 daenery by the way was one year's wages for a common blue-collar worker one year's wages this is why they're saying what a waste this is excessive this is over-the-top kind of behavior i mean what if this woman had potentially used up all of her savings at minimum she could have sold this bottle this very costly perfume and set it aside for the future i mean a woman's livelihood was very much dependent upon her husband what if mary wasn't married and she needed to save this money in order to have a somewhat of a future and be able to care for herself well all of this highlights the reason why notice at the end of verse 5 and they were scolding her they were scolding her imperfect tense verb they were continually scolding her continually berating her continually expressing their outrage at her what she did makes no sense to them they're more focused brothers and sisters on the materialism on the possession on the waste of the money rather than on devotion to christ but jesus said in verse 6 let her alone our lord his evaluations and assessments and all of these accounts are always authoritative in the final word right he corrects them verse six let her alone imperative verb that's a command with urgency he orders him leave her alone why do you bother her and here's his verdict she mary has done a good deed to me do you notice by the way that jesus doesn't correct her he doesn't correct her behavior hey lady what do you think you're doing i'm just a man i'm just a man i'm jesus of nazareth i'm just a man he doesn't ever correct her no here is yet another support beloved for the deity of christ right that jesus is god and he's worthy of all worship including what this woman does you see in the jewish culture anyone who dared attribute such lavish devotion to a mere man like this was considered blasphemous if jesus was just a man he should have shut this lady down but jesus isn't just a man he's god he is the god-man he is the king and he's worthy of everything that she's doing for him amen worthy of all worship but there's also another significant thing here reason why she does this notice in verse 7 jesus says for you always have the poor with you and whenever you wish you can do good to them he's not downplaying the poor here for years i read people who were who would say things like you know it seems like jesus is downplaying this here and that christians downplay the importance of caring for the poor because of what jesus says here that's not what he's doing he's stating a historical fact that you always have the poor you've always had poor people in a broken and falling world they're always going to be around and you will have opportunity to help them continually but here's the reason why what mary's done is significant but you do not always have me you do not always have me what's he referencing he's alluding to his suffering and death that would soon come right he's been speaking of it to the disciples for a while i'm going to jerusalem and i'm going to be delivered to the hands of godless men i'm going to suffer i'm going to die i'm going to rise from the dead he's been talking about it over and over and over again mark chapter 8 mark chapter 9 mark chapter 10 he's been telling his disciples about this he's going to the cross and this little lady mary a humble woman knows that jesus is going to die she won't have jesus around for very much longer so you know what she does she seizes upon the moment to honor the lord and to help prepare him for his impending death that's how much he loved them verse 8 jesus says she has done what she could she has anointed my body beforehand for the burial normally washing and anointing happened after a person was dead but here she does this beforehand out of devotion to jesus and is now certain especially from a human perspective as she believes that he's going to the cross that he's definitely going to go to the cross right prepares him for burial now look at the commendation that she receives in verse 9. truly i say to you wherever the gospel is preached to the in the whole world what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her what an affirmation what a commendation wherever the gospel the gospel is the good news concerning the person and the work of jesus wherever this gospel is preached this woman what she has done will be a memorial this is the ultimate commendation wherever and whenever jesus is preached people will hear of the great act of honor and devotion performed by this humble what woman commendation and we should ask what motivated this woman to such a lavish and sacrificial act brothers and sisters what was her motivation for doing this she concerned about pleasing people around her was she concerned about what other people thought i'm sure it went through her mind that if she does this the reaction of the people who are there is probably going to be most likely very negative and indeed it was i'll tell you what motivated this lavish and sacrificial act by this woman it was love for her lord love for him because she loved and treasured jesus listen to me she held nothing back from him nothing to her jesus was worth every last drop of her precious possession her most precious possession by the way this is not the la the first time that mary of bethany has shown such devotion at the end of luke chapter 10 you remember the mary and martha scenario where for the first time they host jesus in the home of martha and martha's running around sir preparing everything to host jesus and his disciples and she's jesus says she's worried and just running around with this preparation she's worried and anxious about all these things and jesus essentially in a loving indirect way corrects her attitude and what does he say about mary mary has chosen the good thing right what is that sitting at my feet listening to my word mary is a devoted woman and so what mark wants us to know here is that sandwiched in between here is a woman who loved and understood to some extent or another jesus is impending death and she wants to be devoted to him she shows the ultimate act of devotion and brethren how about us today how about us today granted we don't have the opportunity to pour out a whole flask of precious perfume upon a physical in the body savior as mary did having jesus there physically present but the principle of wholehearted devotion applies to us doesn't it it does what place does jesus have in your heart this morning is he highly esteemed how lavish and extravagant is your love for and devotion to christ is he worth it all can you say all i have is christ like that great song hallelujah all i have is christ can you say that christ is enough that were you not to have good health that were you not to be healed physically that were you not to be in a better financial situation and a better job situation that were you to stay in heathen california and never have the opportunity to move away from california that if none of those things change jesus is enough could you say that this woman could see we hold back so much from christ don't we we hold so much back from him we hold back our private devotion and worship we hold back even worship on sunday mornings we might show up on sunday morning maybe that's you this morning just distracted you've heard nothing about the message you've heard nothing about the songs you've heard nothing about body life through the announcements maybe you've just been so distracted so preoccupied by the worries and the anxieties of life that i mean you couldn't even sing you couldn't even utter those beautiful words of worship to your savior because you're so fixated by the things that are taking place in our world and in your life and those trials we hold back a lot from our lord we hold back our time and resources some of us don't even give to the lord financially out of the first fruits some of us withhold from him service if you are a believer this morning he's giving you gifts and abilities spiritual gifts and even god-given abilities talents that he expects you christian to use for his glory to use for the edification and the building up of the people of this body to experience a supernatural sense of fulfillment that the spirit of god gives you to know man i use my spiritual gifts abilities talents boy there's a sense of satisfaction that comes knowing that i glorified my great savior and i built up and edified my brethren as i'm using my gifts why are you holding back wholehearted devotion in these areas we hold back from him by holding on to our sin we hold back wholehearted undivided devotion to jesus by holding on to our sin secret sin you know what those are public sin that everybody can see you hold back from jesus by holding on to your sin cuddling sin in private not repenting of it and what you need to realize this morning is to not repent of your secret sin means that you are loving and elevating that sin or sins above jesus you're putting that sin and that pleasure sinful pleasure above jesus in your heart and the only one who belongs on the throne chair of your heart is christ jesus and see it's not just about focusing on the externals but those outward things point to an inward problem of the heart don't they they point to to a deficiency of love for christ they point to our love growing cold beloved perhaps indifferent to jesus and that's what god is most concerned about what's going on in our hearts and so what we glean from this woman's wholehearted devotion is that we must not be okay with complacency and be content with giving god half of us half of ourselves part of ourselves we must never be content with giving god the scraps from our lives with giving him the bare minimum with being status quo christians hear me there is no such thing as a radical christian and then other types of christians if by that you mean radical christians people who spend time in the word who love christ who are struggling with their own sin but seeking to live well under their trials and repenting and putting on christ every single day if you're talking radical about somebody who's following jesus who even in the midst of their weaknesses and struggles seeks to serve christ knowing that by his grace they do what they do and in the power of the spirit if you're talking about that type of a person and you call him a radical christian there is no such thing that is a believer struggling people who live by the grace of god amen weak people who is adequate for these things who is adequate to live the christian life in the midst of these difficulties and trials that we live in today none of us are our adequacy comes from who from god a radical christian you're either a christian or you're not and all of us are struggling to some extent or another we live by the grace of god amen do you remember how jesus answered back in mark chapter 12 verse 30 when asked about the greatest commandment what did he answer you shall love the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind and with all your strength in other words i want all of you says god i want all or nothing no competitors no rivals that's what god wants from us oh beloved this this little lady is a is a picture of that isn't she a sinner herself struggling woman with her own weaknesses flesh and blood just like us but captivated by jesus sitting at the feet of jesus at the end of luke 10 listening to his word that was the most important thing for her and she's willing to put aside materialism and possession and a sense of her future security to pour out all of this perfume upon jesus symbolic of where her heart devotion was right does she love christ above anything listen if this is a lesson for us this morning it's this that god wants us to be sold out for him and for doing his will and that sense of self-abandonment is not to be reluctant or drudgerous it's out of a heart of love and gratitude because we understand who jesus is and what he's done for us amen it's out of a heart of worship and so note sandwiched in the middle of the conspirators and the conspiracy is this commendation of this woman who is the ultimate friend of jesus a wholehearted devoted worshiper but we've seen jesus foes jesus is friends third now notice jesus's fate in verses 10 and 11 jesus is fate and i realize that when the you hear the word fate when the world speaks of faith it's speaking of something left to chance left to some impersonal force outside of a person's control jesus faith his future his determined future is far different than the world right he's going to the cross but far from out of god's control it is exactly beloved what god intended and pre-planned that jesus would go to the cross but he chose to use a human instrument and his name is judas look at verse 10 then remember this is a flashback scene immediately following that dinner sometime in there still on wednesday then judas is scary at verse 10 who was one of the twelve i find it interesting that he highlights him as one of the twelve we know that we know judas is one of the twelve it would have been sufficient for him to just say judas by name and that would have been enough who doesn't know judas but mark is doing this he is singling out judas isn't he he's singling them out it's like when you when you're inside of the house parent and you know that your kids are playing catch outside baseball and all of a sudden you're inside of the house and you hear a loud noise of shattered glass oh and you run out and see that one of the kids has broken a window thankfully everybody's safe nobody got hurt and you ask who did it and what typically are the siblings doing they're yelling he did it everybody's pointing one direction to the guilty party right he did it throwing their sibling under the bus this is the idea here mark is saying he did it judas iscariot who was one of the twelve don't miss this he's the traitor he's the one who would be the ringleader of the greatest conspiracy ever mark will continue and over and over again to highlight and to pinpoint for us the guilty one judas is scary and remember from a human perspective who is giving him a lot of the information peter peter verse 10 judas went off to the chief priests in order to betray him to them he goes to jesus arch enemies what a traitor what a spineless man verse 11 they the chief priests were glad when they heard this i mean this is the moment that they're looking for right their moment has indeed come this is way too good to be true here is their moment and they're so happy about this that notice they even promised to give him money 30 pieces of silver to be exact for 30 pieces of silver he betrayed the eternal son of god think about that and he began looking or seeking how to betray him at an opportune time we're going to have a chance to get deep into how all of this goes down but think about this this man judas iscariot this man judas iscariot i mean who names their kid judas by the way nobody does right judas iscariot who had been around jesus for three plus years listening to life-giving words by jesus witnessing life transforming works and miracles he had been around to see jesus in the midst of this he was taken care of personally by jesus fed by jesus spiritually and physically there was spiritual food imparted to him he cared for all of judas's needs judas experienced jesus's love and his kindness he had the opportunity in an array of circumstances and interactions that jesus had with people to see the lord's compassion and his tenderness towards all kinds of people who are in need jesus had held nothing back beloved from judas iscariot but none of that exposure to jesus made a difference to judas when push came to shove 30 pieces of silver to be exact he betrayed jesus proof that you can be so close to the truth and so far away right so close to the truth and yet so far away some of you are there this morning some of you are judases in seed form you're traitors against christ you've heard about christ you've heard about his wondrous glory you've sat down over the years under awana teachers and children's teachers ministry teachers and and sunday school teachers and preaching from various men in this pulpit maybe now you're grown up maybe you're even older and you are a traitor at heart you've never trusted in christ you've never submitted your life to the lordship of christ you've never confessed your sin acknowledge that you are a sinner who needs to be saved and you put your trust in jesus you've never done that you love your sin you cherish and treasure not christ but you cherish and treasure your priorities your sinful pleasures you're living life for yourself you judas and every time i read this account of judas iscariot and the other gospel accounts every time i read and reflect on this man judas i'm filled with fear and trepidation i'm sure you are too right lord help me help my heart to not grow cold like that to not go through the motions help me to be real lord help calvary bible church to not be full of judases but to be full of little humble devoted mary's help us to be that kind of a church a church full of mary's lovers of christ wholehearted devoted to christ obedient loving sitting at his feet listening to his word cherishing and treasuring the savior not ashamed of christ when we share with other people may the lord help us to not be judases but mary's amen now listen some people look at this whole account and the narratives that follow this regarding the death of christ and everything that leads into that and say wow what a tragedy what a tragedy what these evil people did to poor jesus and from the human perspective yes what a tragedy the jewish leaders and later the roman leaders were evil men and responsible for the death of christ from a human perspective but on the other hand and most importantly you need to realize that we're not for god none of their plans would have succeeded right because god is sovereign and has all authority over all events big and small under his creation nothing can thwart the plans and the purposes of god and so i wanna what i wanna leave us with and what we're gonna look into next week most of all is that we need to remember that jesus is suffering and his death was according to the foreknowledge and predetermined plan of god amen acts 2 23 peter says there that jesus's death was the predetermined plan and knowledge of god and yet jesus was put to death by the hands of godless men they were responsible for what they did to jesus absolutely the blood of jesus is on their hands and on us who have not trusted in christ but ultimately it was the foreknowledge and predetermined plan of god that put jesus on the cross it was his will the will of god hear me that jesus suffer and die on the cross and so let me ask you a question who killed jesus in an ultimate sense god that's right god put jesus on that cross why did he do it why did he do it first and foremost to glorify himself but he chose to do it in the salvation of sinners right think about that god could have chosen to glorify himself and bring maximum glory to himself in an array of ways but the maximum way that he chose to bring glory to himself is in sending his son jesus to live the perfect life that we should live but never can to die on the cross for our sins paying for our sins rising from the dead on the third day conquering sin and death god chose to glorify himself by sending his son jesus into the world to do that so that by faith we might have salvation i find that just amazing amazing jesus died first and foremost to glorify god but how did god choose by his grace to chiefly glorify himself it's through the salvation of sinners the greatest of sinners such as you and i that is just amazing isn't it that's amazing titus 3 4 but when the kindness of god our savior and his love for mankind appeared how did it appear well through the person in the work of christ when the kindness of god our savior and his love for mankind appeared he saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness but according to his mercy to god's mercy oh some of us have tasted beloved of this mercy whereby god has withheld his punishment from us and put it on christ that is mercy withholding his punishment aimed in our direction and instead god has given us grace undeserved favor undeserved blessing because we've trusted in jesus christ forgiveness eternal life and part of a new heavens and a new earth in the future everything that pertains to life and godliness the spirit of god was the down payment of our redemption of our inheritance rather so many blessings he's given us instead some of us have tasted of this all of this in christ but others of you have not come to believe in the lord jesus and my prayer for you for some of you this morning is that you would not be like judas but you would not be like this man a hearer of the truth but not a doer who didn't receive by faith god's salvation and the very one that could give him salvation was standing before his very eyes and for three and a half years he was close to the truth the personified truth of the lord jesus repent and believe in the lord jesus christ this morning trust christ put your trust in christ today is the day of salvation if you are not saved call upon the name of the lord that he might save you put your trust in jesus alone let's pray father oh lord we really tread upon the holy of holies when we enter these passages about your son because this was why he came he came to give his life as a ransom for many that by faith in christ we can actually be forgiven of our sins and receive eternal life be reconciled to you our maker our creator and live out our purpose to glorify you and enjoy you oh lord i pray that that would be impressed upon our hearts again and again and again and for those of us who are christians or followers of christ who are resting in christ maybe we may be reminded once again lord of our great salvation that we might be like this woman mary a devoted wholehearted worshiper of you people who want to make christ known to this world and that we would do it both in word and by the way that we live in our devotion and our great sense of rejoicing in the future glory that is to come may the world see this in our lives father both as individuals as families and as a local church here at calvary we pray in jesus name amen

Channel: Calvary Bible Church

Views: 125

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Sermons, Christian sermons, Bible, Bible sermons, Free sermon, Sermons on the bible, Preaching sermon, Exposition, Bible study, Calvary Bible Church, Burbank church, Burbank Christian church, Calvary Bible Church sermon, Calvary sermons

Id: Ja8uF6bLDWk

Length: 60min 55sec (3655 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 01 2021