A Mirror of Diverse Attitudes to Christ

Introduction to Mark's Passion Narrative and Prayer for Illumination

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, January 8th, 1989, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:19 Now may I ask you to turn with me in your own Bibles to the Gospel according to Mark, Mark's Gospel and the 14th chapter, and follow as I read in your hearing the first 11 verses, Mark chapter 14, verses 1 through 11.

0:50 Now after two days was the feast of the Passover and the unleavened bread. The chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him with subtlety and kill him. For they said, not during the feast. Lest happily there shall be a tumult of the people.

1:13 And while he was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster cruise of ointment of pure nard, very costly. And she broke the cruise and poured it over his head. And there were some that had indignation among themselves, saying, To what purpose has this waste of the ointment? For this ointment might have been sold for above three hundred shillings and given to the poor.

1:49 And they murmured against her. But Jesus said, Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has wrought a good work on me.

2:03 For you have the poor always with you, and whenever you will, you can do them good. But me you do not have. Always. She has done what she could.

2:18 She has anointed my body beforehand for the burying. And verily I say unto you, Wheresoever the gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, that also which this woman has done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her. And Judas Iscariot, he that was one of the twelve, went away. And he went away unto the chief priests that he might deliver him unto them.

2:50 And they, when they heard it, were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently deliver him unto them.

3:03 And now let us again seek the face of God in prayer, that as we return to our studies in this record of the life and ministry and death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus, amen. the Holy Spirit might be present to do what I believe we can rightly say is his most delightful work, namely, to take of the things of Christ and to reveal them to the hearts of men. Let us pray that he will be powerfully present to do that work.

3:38 Our Father, we thank you that we have been enabled this morning to confess with the psalmist our delight to be found gathered with your people, our desire to compass the altars of your praise with clean hands and a pure heart. We thank you for the joy that has been ours to confess that Christ alone is our prize, the object of our trust and of our hope. And we pray as we now turn to this, your infallible word, you would send the Holy Spirit and send him, we pray, in Christ. We pray that he may do precisely what our Lord Jesus Christ said he would do when he came, to take of the things of the Lord Jesus and to reveal them to the hearts of men. O Holy Spirit, come and shine upon the face of Jesus as we look upon it in this written record of his life. Come and do that work in Satan's, and from Satan's, in that way, and at his will, and at your will, and at the work of Jesus Christ, and at the work of Satan's, and as he did for the free and powerful, and as he did for the poor, and as he did for the innocent, and as he did for the wandering, and as he did for the handicapped, and as he did for the blind, and as he did for those who are blind, and as he did for the blind, to your praise, and to the everlasting good of our souls, souls that without the knowledge of your Son,

5:03 can only shrivel and die, and ultimately be cast off forever. Come then, Lord, and show us your Son, that it may be life to our hearts.

The Nerve Centers of the Gospel: From Cradle to Cross

5:25 Now it hardly seems possible that a full five months, past since our last study together in the Gospel of Mark. However, as we resume our consecutive expositions of this Gospel, fully intending to complete those expositions within this calendar year, God willing, I believe it is a kind providence that finds us at the beginning of that section of the Gospel of Mark which takes us directly to the very nerve centers of the Gospel. Those nerve centers are, of course, the things pertaining to the rejection, the trial, the suffering, the death, and the resurrection and subsequent ascension to heaven of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I say this is a kind providence because it is rightly so. that we should come from those fresh reminders of the enfleshment of the eternal word, the matters which surround the conception, the birth, and the infancy of Jesus of Nazareth, and plunge directly into his betrayal, his suffering, his death, and his resurrection. Since the scripture links the cradle to the cross, so should we.

6:54 Since the scripture binds the incarnation to the crucifixion, so should we. Since the scripture asserts that he is Emmanuel, God with us, that he might be the Lamb of God dying for us, it is only right. It is only right that we move from the cradle, the shepherds, the angels, and the magi, into the section of Mark's gospel that takes us to his betrayal, his agony in Gethsemane, his rejection by his own countrymen, his sentencing to condemnation by the Roman authorities, the mystery of his horrible agony and suffering and dereliction, upon the cross, issuing in his triumphant resurrection and his ascension to the right hand of God the Father. And while human sentiment may linger long by the cradle, while human sentiment and mere religious emotion may feel very comfortable by Bethlehem's manger, and very exhilarated in the presence of angels appearing to shepherds,

8:18 shepherds in a Judean hillside, flesh does not long linger by the sweat drops of Gethsemane, the gore and the blood and the bruising of Golgotha. And I trust that God will help us to see very quickly whether all of our professed adoration of the babe in the manger was mere sentiment and religious slush, or whether it was indeed an outpouring of spirit wrought affection for the incarnate eternal word who became a babe, that he might die, that he might be rejected, that he might suffer for sinners. Now what I propose to do this morning as we come to this first section of the 14th chapter of Mark's gospel, is first of all to give a very brief review of the overall purpose and structure of the gospel of Mark, and then secondly, to give an overview of this section of Mark's gospel immediately before us, that is, verses 1 to 11, and then to give an exposition and application of the first two verses of this chapter.

Review of Mark's Purpose and Structure

9:43 First of all then, a brief review and overall, of the overall purpose and structure of the gospel of Mark. First of all, a word about the purpose. Those of you who have read the gospel of John, some of you have done that many times, you know that you must read all the way from chapter 1 of John's gospel into the second to the last chapter, that is chapter 20, before you find John telling you, in no uncertain time, the purpose for which, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, he composed his account of the life and teaching of the Lord Jesus. In other words, the purpose of John is not exposed and defined explicitly until the second to the last chapter, where in those well-known words of John 20, 31, we read that there are many other things that Jesus did, in the presence of his disciples, but these are written in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that, believing, you might have life through his name.

11:06 So you must, in a sense, be caught by the opening words and be carried all the way through the gospel before the author, by the guidance of the Spirit, the Spirit explicitly states his purpose. But not so with the gospel of Mark. So much in keeping with Mark's intense and active style of writing, he lays out his purpose in the opening words of his gospel. Mark 1 and verse 1, the beginning of the gospel or good or glad tidings of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

11:49 And Mark's purpose is laid out in his opening words, namely, he is concerned to set before us glad tidings concerning Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He is concerned to point us in all that he writes to Jesus of Nazareth. It is the beginning of good tidings, good tidings concerning Jesus, that historical figure who actually lived in his infant days and in much of his developing manhood in a city called Nazareth in the northern part of the area of Palestine up near the Sea of Galilee. He is concerned to tell us about this Jesus who is God's Christ. God's anointed one. God's only appointed prophet, priest and king for the salvation of his people.

12:57 He is concerned to identify the historical Jesus of Nazareth as the long-promised Messiah, the long-promised deliverer who comes to us out of the womb of all of the Old Testament, prophecies concerning the Messiah. Furthermore, he is concerned to tell us good tidings that not only focus upon Jesus of Nazareth who is the Messiah, but who is as to his person the Son of God. A term that means nothing less than that he is God the Son. He is as much God as though he were never man, as much man as though he were never God. And therefore in all that Mark sets before us he is concerned that we shall see in every narrative, in every description of the doings and sayings of Jesus of Nazareth, he is concerned that we shall perceive in every discourse, in every incident recorded that there is glad tidings for sinners

14:21 and the glad tidings focus upon Jesus of Nazareth the Christ of God who is none other than God's incarnate Son. He is God the Son. In all of our reading then and in all of our expounding of the book and our listening to the exposition we must have as our goal that which Mark had as his goal in the writing of this Gospel record. And what is that?

15:01 Nothing less than personal, real heart dealings with Jesus Christ himself. It is through the written word alone that you and I will have any dealings with Jesus Christ the Son of God before his second coming in the day of judgment. You and I will have no personal, revelatory dealings with Jesus Christ until our spirits leave our bodies and we are absent from the body present with the Lord or until he comes physically and powerfully at his second coming. Therefore, any dealings we are to have with him we will have with him as he mediates himself to us through his own written word. And though we can have no dealings with Christ in any other theatre but that of his word, it is tragically possible to have frequent, lengthy and interesting dealings with the written word and fail to have dealings with Christ himself. For Jesus said in John 5, 39 and 40 to the professional Bible students of his day, you search the Scriptures

16:27 for in them you think you have eternal life and these are they which testify of me and you will not come to me that you may have life. You see, they had dealings with the Scriptures but they stopped sharing short of the very end for which they ought to have dealings with the Scriptures, namely, that the Scriptures might lead them to have heart, real experiential dealings with Christ himself. And if that were possible when Christ was present in the days of his flesh, how much more tragically is it possible when he is no longer here in the days of his flesh but present by his Spirit who attends the ministry of the Word. So, dear people, as we come again to the Gospel of Mark, let us remember Mark's purpose set out in the opening words. It is the beginning of the good tidings with reference to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And when that very Son begins to preach as we read in this first chapter, he says the time is fulfilled, the Kingdom of God is at hand.

17:54 Repent and believe in the Gospel, that is, have heart dealings with Christ who is the great sum and substance of the Gospel. And now that the Kingdom has come in the person of the Messianic King, repent, stack arms, turn from sin and self-will and the ignorance of willful rejection of light and believe in the Gospel, that is, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and have dealings with him to whom the Gospel points and who is in reality the sum and substance of the Gospel. And that will be, God willing, my purpose as we resume our studies. Yes, we shall deal with interesting details. I found my own heart fascinated in my preparation this week as things I've read dozens or hundreds of times have suddenly come home with fresh and with expanded meaning and understanding. But ultimately, dear people, we do not come to this portion of the Word of God for any other purpose but that we shall have dealings with Christ himself.

Mark's Structure: Introduction, Ministry, Sacrifice, Resurrection

19:14 Now just a word about the overall structure. I said I would give a brief review of the purpose and the structure of the Gospel of Mark. If the purpose is to set forth glad tidings concerning Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Mark does so by arranging the materials in four very easy-to-remember categories. We have the introduction of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, chapter 1, verses 1 through 13.

19:50 The introduction of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Then from chapter 1, verse 14, all the way through to the point where we completed our exposition some five months ago, that is the end of chapter 13, we have a record of the active ministry of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Now, here in chapter 14, and all the way through to the end of chapter 15, we have the third major category of Mark's materials. We have the self-sacrifice of the Son of God.

20:27 And then in chapter 16, we have the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. So we have his introduction, the first 13 verses of chapter 1. Chapter 1, verse 14, all the way through chapter 13, the active ministry of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Chapters 14 and 15, we have the death, the suffering, what I like to call the self-sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

21:02 And chapter 16, the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Now, it's obvious, as we begin today, our study of these last two sections, the self-sacrifice and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that we are in what I called earlier the very nerve centers of the gospel. And why do I say that? For the simple reason that in 1 Corinthians 15, verses 1 and following, we have these very vital words, now I make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you received, wherein also you stand, by which also you are saved, if, if you hold fast the word which I preached unto you, except you believed in vain. Holding to the apostolic gospel is a matter of salvation or damnation. It is not a secondary or tertiary issue. It lies at the nerve centers of the well-being

22:30 of your never-dying immortal soul. And Paul goes on to say, with reference to that gospel, verse 3, I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he has been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared. And four times he says, he appeared, he appeared, he appeared, he appeared. And in a very real sense, you see, this is a condensation, a condensing of chapters 14, 15, and 16 of Mark. For there we shall see how and in what circumstances he died, how and in what circumstances he was buried. We shall see that he was raised from the dead, and he appeared and was seen. And the apostle, by the inspiration of the Spirit, says, it is these historical facts that attach to the life history of Jesus the Christ, Jesus the Son of God.

23:56 It is in conjunction with those facts and their profound significance that our eternal salvation stands before you. And so as we come then to this section of the Word of God, we come to that which is crucial, that which is vital. And while careful attention is demanded in the face of all and any of God's written revelation, to be indifferent, ignorant, or careless in these things is to trifle with our souls. You see, it's not a matter of my ego being bent. If you do not give attention to the things I preach, the issue is your soul, my friend. May God have mercy on anyone, boy, girl, man, or woman, young or old. If we come to this section with anything other than the most intense desire to grasp every gram of divine truth that will be parceled out

25:22 from this portion of the Word of God. Now having given this brief reminder of the purpose and structure of the book, now then, let us consider also briefly an overview of the section immediately before us. I want to give you an overview of the section immediately before us. And if you followed the reading with any attention, and I trust you all did, you could not help but be struck with the fact that this section in which Mark, by the guidance of the Spirit and under the tutelage of Peter as the human instrument, begins to set out a detailed record of how the Son of God was betrayed and how he died, how he suffered, that there is a record of contrasting attitudes and dispositions to the Lord Jesus right on the threshold, on the doorstep of entering in to this large room of specific details about the rejection, the suffering, and the death of Christ. The chapter begins with a very terse statement of the settled, calculated,

Overview of Mark 14:1-11: Contrasting Attitudes to Christ

26:50 murderous intentions and designs of the leaders in Jerusalem. To the terseness of Mark's description. It's as though his own soul recoils at the thing he has to write and so he chews his words with spartan tight-fistedness. He's only going to give out as many as are needed to state the case.

27:19 Now after two days was the Passover and the unleavened bread. And the chief priests and the scribes sought, literally were seeking, an imperfect verb. There was a constant activity. They were seeking how they might take him with subtlety and kill him.

27:43 Not try him, not see if he were worthy of death. They had long since passed that judgment in their own hearts. They are committed in heart and they gather in their enclave to plot how with subtlety they may apprehend him and kill him. And they said, not during the feast.

28:08 And there again you have an imperfect verb. They were saying in the midst of their deliberations this issue was constantly cropping up. Yes, but whatever we do we can't do it during the feast lest perhaps there should be a tumult among the people. And Luke tells us because they feared the people.

28:27 They had no fear to kill God incarnate. No compunctions of conscience that while the great feast remembering the great deliverance out of Egypt by God's sovereign power impelled by his sovereign grace to a band of slaves in Egypt which should have filled them with the deepest and most profound religious affection to Jehovah God of the covenant doesn't cause them any fear. That their minds are totally devoid of that. They are filled with murderous intentions and they're scheming and plotting how to carry them out in a way that will best serve their own purposes with the least amount of ruffling of their own nests. That's how the chapter begins or this section begins and then notice this section concludes verses 10 and 11. With an equally if not more horrifying statement that one of the twelve one of those who comprise the inner circle of Jesus' friends his apostles to whom he gave unique authority to whom he disclosed his heart in levels of intimacy that he did not do with others

29:55 and Judas Iscariot he that was one of the twelve went away unto the chief priests that he might deliver him unto them and they when they heard it were glad and promised to give him money and he sought how he might conveniently deliver him unto them. And so the chapter begins in this section with this terse blunt statement of the settled murderous intention of the religious leaders. It is concluded with a horrible statement of the settled commitment of Judas to betray his master for a few clinking pieces of silver. But sandwiched in between what do we find? We find an incident imported imported as far as time is concerned and I hope to demonstrate that when we come to the exposition an incident imported in many ways unique in the gospel records it has one parallel in a similar situation earlier in the life of our Lord but mark inserts between the murderous designs of the religious leaders and the covetous betraying commitments of Judas.

31:25 This touching example of such devotion to the Lord Jesus expressed in such an extravagant manner that it not only provokes the hypocrisy of Judas but as we shall see in our study and demonstrate conclusively it even provokes attitudes in the other eleven. An expression of devotion to Jesus that on the surface seemed irresponsible and prodigal to the extent that not only does Judas come forward a crit that he was as though he was really the great champion of the poor. Sound familiar? I'm the great champion of the poor! And he tries to show up Jesus as being something less than one concerned for the needy and the other disciples chime in.

32:31 So apparently prodigal and excessive was this expression of devotion that on the one hand it provokes Judas and the other disciples to criticize her and indirectly as we shall see even to criticize the Lord Jesus but in contrast Jesus memorializes that act and says wherever my gospel goes this act is so unique that it shall be spoken of throughout the whole world and wherever the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God is preached to the ends of the earth to the ends of the earth and to the ends of the earth to their people that all shall know There is not a calculating, mechanical, mathematical equation. I'll give so much of myself to take so much of him.

33:54 No, when the Spirit reveals his glory as the crucified Messiah, the heart goes out in all that it is to be joined to the Lord Jesus in unqualified devotion to his person. For Jesus said, this woman knew what she was doing. She has anointed me beforehand for my burial. How she knew, I do not know.

34:29 How she was given insight to all of his prophetic utterances about his impending death, which the others yet did not understand, I do not know. But this woman sensed the urgency and apparently had some God-given premonition. That there wouldn't even be time to give him a decent anointing before his burial. So she decided to do it in that quiet house in Bethany as an expression of her devotion to the Son of God.

35:07 So what does this tell us as we overview this section immediately before us? This section that begins with the murderous intentions of the chief priests concludes...

35:23 concludes with the betraying intentions of Judas, one of the twelve, yet sandwiched in between.

35:33 Imported chronologically from a few days earlier from the house of Bethany. Well, I'm personally convinced it's inserted here for this reason. That as we enter upon this section of Mark's gospel, in which every single line of truth, leads us to the cross, every single sentence and incident inexorably, powerfully, is drawing us to the cross. God is saying something to us on the very threshold, and this is what he's saying.

The Scripture as a Mirror: Self-Examination Before the Cross

36:15 As you read the narrative of how he was betrayed by Judas into the hands of the chief priests and the scribes, and how they, in turn turned him over to the Roman authorities and in turn they ordered him to be crucified as we do. We will find in our own hearts that we are aligned the priest and the scribes aligned with Judas or aligned with the unknown, unnamed woman who pours out her devotion in this prodigal expression of practical love to the Lord Jesus. And as I was trying to think of how to illustrate this something happened or something came to my mind that I'm sure has happened to all of us. You know what it is if you're window shopping not in a mall necessarily because this usually doesn't happen in malls they're so well lighted both within and without the store but old time window shopping when you used to walk down the street and as you walked down the street it was usually in the daytime lighter outside than it was inside

37:41 and so when you were some distance from the plate glass window you couldn't see the object inside it acted like a mirror. As I look now back on the back glass on the back wall I can see my right hand flopping. Looks like my left hand in there but the glass because it is darker there than here it's lighter under these lights is acting like a mirror and some of us can remember and perhaps you can recall now maybe even did it last week if you still go window shopping in places where shops are not in a mall but along the street and it's bright what you have to do to see what's inside is to get up very close to the plate glass and then you see through the glass and you see the objects which the glass was put there to let you see. They didn't put a shade they put a glass that you might look through and see the various objects on display with a view hopefully that seeing them you'll come in and inquire about them and upon inquiry you'll end up purchasing one of them for yourself or for another. And when you step close enough to look through and behold the objects then all you need to do in order to have that glass become again a mirror is to step back far enough to the point where the light upon you and around you is brighter than the light upon those objects behind the glass and immediately the glass turns back into a mirror.

39:09 You say, Pastor Martin, you've really left a man. Well, hang in there. Let us liken these chapters of Mark's Gospel to God's glass through which we are privileged to look upon the substantial realities of all the circumstances pertaining to the betrayal to the suffering, to the agony, to the death to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. We are not looking upon fantasies.

39:41 We are looking upon substantial historical realities as we shall see when we come to take up the first couple of verses. There is an emphasis upon days and numbers of days that we might know on the very threshold. We're not dealing with fairy stories, with fantasies with some so-called super history which is not real history. No, we are dealing with substantial realities just as when you press your nose up close to the glass in front of those commodities in the shop.

40:14 You're looking upon real sellable items whether items of clothing or whether they are appliances, whatever they may be. But you see God's purpose is not only that we should look in and understand and see and perceive the realities of all these events and circumstances which God has been pleased to record leading up to and resulting in the death, and the burial and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, God then wants us to step back. And particularly with reference to these first three incidents of the murderous spirit of the chief priest and the scribes, the devotion of this unnamed woman, and the betrayal of Judas, that we shall back off enough to have the glass become a mirror. And in that mirror to see, am I one of the Sanhedrin? Do I fit the picture of the chief priests and the elders and the scribes, those with tremendous privilege and knowledge and external religiosity that made them as attractive as a white wally wash,

41:41 but within nothing less than a spirit that would make, if you could get your hands on it. For the scripture says the carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. And the language of every human heart by nature, when that nature finds itself at home in religious knowledge and form and ceremony and ritual and morality, its language is the language of lust, of fear, of covetousness, of carrying over the audience, of desire. Whether the heart is the main thing or not, it is the main thing. It is the main thing. It is the only thing that will lead to the end of the world.

42:38 What is the first thing I can say to the people? The first first thing I can say is, just a little, just say, just say, just say, just say, I don't know. I can't say, of their imagination. Oh, they loved him.

43:03 Come on a white tar, come and he's going to make Jerusalem capital of the world. We'll be in his entourage. Our passports will take us anywhere in the world with dignity. And you may sit there and say, oh, I don't hate Christ.

43:24 Yes, you're very much in love with the Christ of your own imagination. A Christ who's cradled in Mary's arms and draws nourishment from her breast and who brings angels out of heaven to sing glory to God in the highest. A Christ who grows up and touches the leper and receives the outcasts and forgives harlots. Oh, you're very much at home with a Christ who's kind and gentle and says nice things and who, when your act is not quite together, you ask him to help you and he makes you feel so good.

44:01 But a Christ who spits in your heart and says, look, can you look in? And you see nothing but a cesspool of filth and uncleanness. A veritable, seething, rotten stench of what the human heart it is. You know what you say of a Jesus like that? Get out of my way.

44:26 You've got a murderous spirit to a Jesus who shows you what your heart is. You've got a murderous spirit to a Jesus who says, you are so utterly unable to save yourself that it takes my coming from the glory of my Father and the amazing wonder and worship and adoration of seraphim and cherubim and the innumerable host of angels. It takes my coming from that to the confines of a virgin's womb to draw my physical life from her umbilical cord.

45:04 It takes me being born in blood and cries. It takes me going to a cross, impaled at the hands of Roman soldiers, but experiencing a pain and an impaling far worse when my soul is lifted up voluntarily and freely and impaled upon the horn of God's altar in which justiciousness are the horns.

45:37 Dare to have my life's blood spilt that you might have just and righteous pardon.

45:47 In Christ's life, you want to kill him. You say, man, a Christ like that means if he does that, God becomes man and the God man dies. If you believe that, you can't hold on to your life anymore. Your money's not your own.

46:02 Your time's not your own. Your body's not your own. No way, Jose! I want a Christ!

46:08 My psyche's out of joint and give me a chiropractic adjustment. I want a Christ who, like a good mama, will chuck me under the chin when I skin my knees. But a Christ who demands, my unrivaled allegiance? No way. A Christ who says he that forsakes not all that he hath cannot be my disciple? No! My friend, it's that way or be damned. And you can go on like the chief priest and the scribes with all your religious form and ceremony, but when you back off from the glass long enough to see it turn into a mirror, you see yourself in the chief priest and the scribes. Or maybe

The Judas Heart: Idolatry and Betrayal

46:57 you're a Judas. You see, Judas was numbered among the twelve. Not only a church member, but one who made open confession of attachment to Christ. Apparently very useful in the cause of Christ. There's no indication that when the others went out on healing missions, he didn't heal likewise. No indication when the twelve were sent forth that he didn't go forth and preach as eloquently and powerfully as any of them. In fact, he even rose to a position that didn't have many offices among the twelve, but they had a treasurer. I don't know if they had a secretary, but he got elected to be treasurer. I think it indicates he showed maybe even greater gift in certain areas. He had the semblance of trustworthiness, of efficiency,

47:49 perhaps even the semblance of being large-hearted, that they would entrust the keeping of the bag to him.

47:58 But down underneath, he was the one who the scripture says was a thief. He was covetous. You see, where the scripture emphasizes in the opening description of the religious leaders their murderous intent, in the case of Judas, it emphasizes the covetousness which bound him. Lust for money!

48:25 And when he says this might have been taken and sold and the money given to the poor, God isn't fooled. Another passage says this, he said, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and he held the bag.

48:46 Betraying Jesus! Why? Because his heart was set on something that became his idol, and that's the very essence of covetousness. The scripture says we're to put to death covetousness which is idolatry.

49:01 And there's some of you sitting here today numbered amongst Christ's followers. Some of you formally, you're church members of this church. Some of you informally, in that you believe you're a Christian. You tell others you are.

49:12 Maybe your parents think you are.

49:16 And you may have, on the surface of things, some very convincing evidences. When you speak about Christ, you speak as well as anyone else who's a member of the church. Maybe even better. And when it comes to doing, oh yes, you do something special for Christ, even as Judas did. But the fact is, your heart has never been weaned from your idols.

49:39 For some of you young men and women, your idol is, I'm going to have a husband, I'm going to have a wife. Ah yes, but what about Jesus will!

49:50 I must betray him for thirty pieces of silver? I'll consider it a good bargain. If I must give up Jesus for a wedding band? If I must give up Jesus for a honeymoon?

50:04 If I must give up Jesus to change my maiden name to have a wife? I'm prepared to betray him.

50:13 There's some Judas's here.

50:17 Others, it's a career.

50:20 You started out on your career track and then God began to put you to the test. There was an issue. There was ethical honesty. And everyone around you was just rounding off the corners. Oh, not chopping them off into forty-five degrees. You know, they were ninety degrees, but just a little rounded on the corner. And you began to round them. And you began to play with your conscience. And instead of judgment day, integrity and honesty for the sake of staying on your career, and yet said what you do, do quickly. And even at that point, the disciples thought he was telling me to go out and buy some bread at the 7-Eleven. They didn't even know when Jesus told him to go out and do his dastardly deed. Still did not suspect Judas. And there are

51:17 Judases in this place with all the stats of market, friend. If you aren't changed from a Judas to a devoted woman who's in the middle of this picture, sooner or later, your convenient hour will come. And there'll be somebody willing to take your 30 pieces of silver. Then what will be known to the tragedies. You will then like Judas, go to your place. My friends, this is sobering business. We're not going to come into the arena of the suffering and the agony of Gethsemane. Into the horrible inequities and injustices of the mock trial and the kangaroo court.

52:17 And all of the spittle and the cheering. And then the agony of the march to Golgotha along the Via Della Rosa. And then the horrible abandonment of the father. We're not going to be able to look in at all of that and say, oh, that's an interesting item. Oh, that's an interesting item.

52:36 That's, oh, that's, oh, yes, I've never seen that. We're going to back off. And that very glass of scripture through which we look upon these realities will be a mirror. And when you see this Christ, you're going to find yourself among the Sanhedrin.

52:55 Blames upon me. I will not. I shall not. I will never come. Or maybe you're going to see yourself a Judas. It seemed to me that the door of mercy was still open to Judas. Even at the moment of betrayal, Jesus called him friend. Think of it.

53:35 Say, you son of the devil, filled with the devil. You cursed child of hell. He said, friend, do you betray the son of man with kiss? And I believe in that word, friend. Jesus was saying, you know, Judas, that I've known about you all along. Every time when I said one of you shall betray me and when I gave the intimations, a betrayer was in the ranks. Judas, you knew it. And though you knew it and I knew that I knew it, now that it's out in the open, Judas, friend,

54:12 you talk about mercy going the 99th mile. The door of mercy is open to some of you Judases.

54:22 Listen, the door of mercy slams shut at a given point in time. Don't you trifle. As we come into this section, if you see yourself a Judas, my friend, don't take comfort in the fact that nobody knows it but you and God. Judas tried to find some comfort that nobody even as close as friend, but the only one who really mattered knew, and that was the God, who held his eternal destiny in his soul. It doesn't matter what your pastors know. It doesn't matter what mom and dad know. But it matters what God knows.

The Devoted Heart: Reckless Love for the Dying Christ

55:05 But I trust that many of us will find ourselves as we come into this passage. We'll find ourselves, and I'm so glad there's more treatment given. Do you see the disproportionate amount of space given? It's as though Mark finds a revulsion in describing the murderous Sanhedrin members.

55:26 He only gives them two verses. He finds it repulsive to describe Judas. Only gives them two verses.

55:36 But verses three through nine, seven verses are given to describe the woman who saw in Jesus, even though she could not perceive with the understanding that came subsequent to Pentecost. Even though she could not see with the clarity with which we see when we read a passage like 1 Corinthians 15 somehow she saw that in Jesus the one who was on his way to burial. Why? Because he was going to die.

56:11 This didn't offend her. This did not become the scandal on the trap stick over which she fell and was ensnared in unbelief and impertinence. But she says in essence, O Jesus, it is in your identity as the dying one that I love you. And I love you so much that I'm going to take that which may well have represented the totality of her life savings and rather than pull out the little stopper and sprinkle a few drops on Jesus, she takes the slender porcelain neck and breaks it off and turns the bottle upside down and empties it saying, Jesus, your worthy of all that I have. Oh, my friend, may God give us such a sight of Christ crucified that no more weep of a little cork stopper and say I'll spritz out a little bit of love and devotion and sacrifice and giving and service and put it back and keep a lot more for me and mine.

57:35 Oh, that God will so give us a sight of his son that we will find ourselves not merely looking through the glass of scripture and beholding the woman unnamed in this passage, but I believe she can be named from another looking upon her, admiring her, understanding what she did, but by the grace of God and when the glass becomes a mirror to say, oh, God thou knowest, her spirit is my spirit. I see Jesus what she saw. And my friend listen, if that's so, you better be prepared for criticism. Cold devotion is threatened by white hot devotion. And even the as well as Judas exposed you say, what else can I do? What could she do?

58:43 Which demanded her all and symbolically her all were bound in that clue. Not going to be one who calculates her devotion drop by drop and save a little and drop off with the neck of the bottle pour it all out and then wipe up the residue with her hair and let the wound be filled with the fragrance of devotion, which though men criticize Jesus commends and here we are preaching about it this morning. Where so ever this gospel shall be preached, that which she has done will be spoken of as a memorial, a memorial to what? Not a memorial to some virtue in her, but a memorial to what she saw. Jesus about to go to death. Even Jesus rejected this spy.

Call to Non-Calculating Devotion

59:53 Now we'll have to leave the third head till next week and expound God willing the first two verses. But dear people, this matter is so crucial. We've looked briefly by way of review at the purpose of Mark's gospel. It is to set forth glad tidings concerning Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We've looked at its basic structure. He is, as it were, hurried onto the stage by Mark. He's gradually introduced by Matthew and Luke. And he's introduced, as it were, from eternity by John.

60:33 But Mark just thrust him right into the center of the stage. And then we have that extended section that records, his ministry. Now we stand on the threshold of that which will point to his self-sacrifice as the Son of God and his subsequent resurrection. But as we do, we dare not ignore the spirit-inspired contents of this introductory section. I am convinced that this has not been a fanciful handling of the materials. I'm convinced that the Spirit of God placed them here to cause us all to stop and ask, where do I fit as we now approach our attention to the nerve centers of the gospel? My friend, at the end of the day and in the day of judgment, only one thing is going to matter, and that is your relationship to the person of Jesus Christ in spiritual perception of who he is, in spiritual

61:45 perception of how much you need him, in spirit-wrought attachment to him, in faith and love and devotion. And it will not do to come there clad with the robes of a high priest, with all the credentials of a leader of an official religious organization, the chief priest and the scribes and the elders.

62:14 Moreover, they had externally respectable lives. They taught others,

62:21 but they had a murderous disposition to Christ. It will not do to come as a Judas, saying that I was in the inner circle. I was accepted freely and unquestionably by all my brothers and sisters at Trinity. I was even given places of honor and respect, usefulness. I carried them back. It will not do if you're an idolater whose heart is set upon any person or thing that robs Jesus Christ of the place of supreme and soul and unrivaled affection in your heart. It's only these unnamed women, be they men or women, boys or girls, it's those who in beholding Christ for what he is and what he's done for sinners, break off the neck and pour out all that they are and they have upon him. And there's some of you sitting here, you don't have a clue what I'm saying. You say, what's he saying?

63:24 Should I go empty my banking account and give it to the church? My friend, that shows you don't have a clue what I'm talking about. You see, the minute you get your religion out of that which you can put on a ledger and that which you can put on a calendar, you've got nothing left. I fear for some of you. I fear with a fear that makes me cry to God. When I come to the names of some of you in praying through our own list, there's no occasion to call the other elders and say, brethren, such, such information is to pass on to me. I believe this brother or sister, is in gross open sin and is a candidate for discipline. Let's call them in and deal with them. No.

64:08 But as I interact with you week in and week out, month in, month out, some of you year in and year out, I don't know if I've ever smelled the fragrance of that which devotion to Jesus alone can put into the air. It has nothing to do with how much religion's on your lips necessarily.

64:35 Judas' and chief priests sometimes are the most loquacious. But there's nothing of the fragrance of Jesus about your religion.

64:50 Your religion can be put into a ledger book and onto a calendar.

64:55 And that's the beginning, the middle, and the end of it.

65:03 As you're getting home, are you beginning to say, Lord, I'm backing off now. I'm looking at the mirror. The glass is now the mirror! Lord! The pastor might be talking about me, my friend. It's immaterial whether I'm talking about you. If God's using me as an instrument to get you to know what he thinks about you, then you better go home and have dealings with God. And don't rest until God gives you such a sight of Jesus as will bring you to his person.

65:44 In the holy recklessness of non-calculating devotion to the Son of God. The holy recklessness of non-calculating devotion. Devotion to the Son of God. You know what I'm talking about?

66:03 That's what this woman had. It was reckless to break the top of that off. She might have gotten some splinters in her hand. Didn't matter to her, so long as she could show to Jesus how much she loved him.

Final Exhortation: Dealings with God Today

66:21 Serious business, isn't it?

66:30 May God help us to lay it to heart as we come into this new section of Mark's Gospel, where Christ crucified will be set before us, weak after weak after weak after weak if, if God gives us another week. Don't presume, my friend. The next time I see some of you, it may be that your face will be looking up with closed eyes upon the satin pillow of your coffin.

67:05 The next time you see me, you may look at me with an upturned face from the satin pillow of my coffin. Have dealings with God today. And don't stop your attachment to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In intelligent faith and devotion to him who was willing to die for the lives of you and of me.

67:37 Our Father,

67:49 what thanks can we render to you for your holy and infallible word. O God, as we meditate upon it, we cry out to you.