John chapter twelve and verse one. John twelve and one. Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethlehem, where alas was one which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper, a martyr served, But Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then Mary took Mary a pound of ointment. Will you have it summed up? Martha served. Lazarus sat. Mary took a pound of ointment and spiked down very costly and anointed the feet of Jesus. And wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Then saith one of the disciples, Judas. Escariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor? This, he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag and bear what was put there in. Then said Jesus, Let her alone. It's much nice to have the Lord on your side, Lord God, before us who can be against us, and so the Lord comes to the defense of Mary. Let her alone, against the day of my burial, for bearing hath she kept it. For the poor always he have with you, but me he have not always. Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there, and they came not for Jesus' sake only. but that they might see Lazarus also whom he had raised from the dead. But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death, because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus. Last week we were speaking on the dedication, the devotion of Mary, Her consecration. Consecration is a wonderful thing. I love to see people who are dedicated, they're consecrated to something that is worthwhile, some are dedicated to something that's not worthwhile. But there's nothing so important. There's nothing that will bring such a rich harvest and such wonderful eternal dividend like dedication to devotion to and consecration to our Lord Jesus Christ. It simply means it supplies life, for it is the management or leaving the management to him. In other words, it simply means this of a person is fully consecrated to the Lord Jesus Christ. He leaves or she leaves the management of her life. For his life to the Lord Jesus Christ. Can you think of anything better? Just to turn over everything to Christ. You're so consecrated to him. You're so devoted to him. So attached to him. You have all the confidence in the world in him. And thus you turn all the management of your life over to him. This simplifies your life. Then again it unifies your life. When you're consecrated to Christ, because it blends all your activities and all your motives into one channel to please Him. So consecration is a wonderful thing. It purifies life. It dispels all that displeases Christ. It amplifies life as we seek to uplift Him. Also it glorifies life, in seeking to reach others for him and to praise him. That's what glorifies a person's life. How wonderful then to be, like Mary, dedicated, consecrated to the Lord Jesus Christ. Are all Christians consecrated? No. I'm sad to say they're not. Do all desire to be? I hope so. Why are only two actually consecrated? Because they are not willing to hand over and hands off. Hand over and hands off. If I hand over my light to him and then take my hands off and let him take it from there. that consecration to the Lord Jesus Christ, that you see in Mary, and how wonderful it was. Now we come to our subject of this chapter. We have a circle, a very important circle of individuals. You know, there's a variety of truths in your Bible. Your whole Bible has five wonderful areas of truth. First of all, the gospel area. Then you have prophetic truth, books like Daniel and some of the minor prophets and also the major prophets and the book of Revelation. You have prophecy. That's a wonderful body of truth there. Then you have doctrine. There are many doctrines in the Bible, the doctrine of the deity of Christ, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, and so on. So that's another area in itself. Then you have an area of practical truth, how the truth of God affects the practical life and living of the child of God. And then you have devotional truth. And that's where Mary comes in. I believe, although the Lord loves to hear his gospel preach, and he loves to hear prophecy proclaimed, he loves to see God's and declares, He loves also to have practical truth being effective in the life of his people. But what the Lord loves most is devotional truth. Ah, yes, that's it. Devotional truth. When you have the gospel circle in first Corinthians fifteen, there were five hundred brethren that believed on the Lord Jesus Christ his resurrection. There you have the circle of faith. Then you have the circle of prayer in Acts. You have a hundred and twenty in the upper room praying. So there you have a circle of prayer. But then you have a circle of testimony. He sends out seventy souls, seventy men to preach the gospel. There you have a circle of testimony. But you also have a circle of companionship. He selected twelve. And it's quite a variety. If you read the history of all proud men, they're different in their temperament, their personality. But here the Lord has selected this group of men to be his companions. But there's a special favor group, Peter, James, John. Yes, she seemed somehow to have selected those two, and he showed special favor in their selection. But then there's another circle that I think he would like to have us all in. That's the circle of true affection, true devotion, and true thanksgiving. And this circle includes one. John, my what's devotion? He leaned on Jesus' bosom. He was always right next to the Lord at the table. He leaned on his bosom. There you have a circle of complete dedication. And then devotion, here's Mary. Ah, yes, she's right there in that little circle, Mary. What devotion. When you remember the leper, he was one of ten who got healed, but he was the only one that came back to thank the Lord for healing him. And the Lord says, were there not ten cleansed, where are the nine? Is this the only one that's come back to be thankful for my cleansing him? What about this circle of Thanksgiving? You don't find five hundred there. You're at a hundred and twenty. One leper out of ten. Isn't it nice when we get into that one circle? And here's a circle the Lord loves. the circle of devotion and of affection and of thanksgiving. Remember, Gideon had quite an army of thirty-two thousand, but God says, Gideon, that's too many. You've got to reduce that to three hundred. Now, when the Lord begins to whittle away at the faithful, he gets down to a few. Recently one day I began thinking about this. When I have to stand before Christ at the judgment tree and His presence begins to concentrate on my life, my Moses, all that I've done in fifty-some years, I'm afraid a lot of it is going to shrivel up and there'll be very little left. that which was pure, unsullied, devotion, attachment to the Lord Jesus Christ. God wants us to do that exercise before him as to the reality, the genuineness of what we do for him. Gideon's army was reduced, and God has to reduce us. What does he want? He doesn't like too much fanfare, excitement. He's looking for something that delights him. And he was delighted at this feast. He was weeping in chapter eleven, but here he's rejoicing. Rejoicing with men that do rejoice. What does a man want for a wife? A good housekeeper, or a lover? A lover. What does a good wife want than a husband? A bedwinter, or a lover? A servant, or a wife? He wants a lover, and so does she. For love is the only thing that endures the turmoil of strife. of married life. Love never failed. The Lord has said there they made him a supper. The Lord Jesus was facing the most critical time in his life. He's been here now thirty-three years, thirty years in seclusion, now three years in public ministry, and everything now was zeroing in on what? what he came into the world to do, to take your sins and mine and suffer for them on that cross. Here is where he was going to face an angry God with your sins and mine. Here is where he was going to feel the fury of eternal justice. Where can he go for a little quiet, a little comfort? a little understanding before that awful ordeal to the little poem in Bethany. That's where he went. Must have been a wonderful place when he went, and it tells you that he came to Bethany six days before the Passover. Nice when he knows where to come and gets some thanksgiving. devotion and attachment from when he's facing the sorrows, the darkness, the death of Calvary. But here you find me. Has he, for the moment, forgotten Calvary, has he for a little while, feels at home, and there he sits happy at this table? A wonder. There they made him a supper. Right there in Bethany in that little home. Reminds him another text. There they crucified him. There they made him a supper. He says, and after I'm risen, you go to Galilee, and there will I meet you. See the three points. One was before the cross. There they made him a supper. One is at the cross, there they crucify, the other one after his resurrection, where will I meet with you? These important places in the Bible and the stopping places of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, these characters in this incident are quite interesting. Martha, sir, we notice that in verse two. There they made him a supper, and Martha served. Yes, she's a busy woman, serving. But you know there's something dangerous about this service. She was standing up. She was above him. She was looking down. Lazarus sat at the table with him. Lazarus was on the same level. Mary was below. she was at his feet looking up. The danger of service exalting the man, and the man is looking down. Master, in all her service she was looking down, she was above the Lord. And oh, the danger of service exalting the instrument. What have I that I have not received, and if I have received it, why should I go with it, if God has given it? I rejoice in it, but I can't go with it. Service has a tendency to exalt the man. But then here is Lazarus, and he sat at the table with him. He's on the same level. Here is relationship and fellowship. Yes, the Lord said, for us to enter into our relationship with him and the fellowship with him. But Mary, at his feet, she's looking up. There she is worshipping. She's in her proper place, at his feet. And when we're worshipping him and at his feet, we're extolling him and not ourselves. These are some very interesting lessons relative to... These three have their peace in Bethany, the home in Bethany. You know, the Lord wants a place in our lives. Place, prominence, preeminence. Three wonderful words. He wants a place. What kind of a place? A large place? Yes, you'd like that. A small place? Almost Christians alike to give them a small plate, maybe Sunday morning for a couple hours. But a secret plate. Some people give them a secret plate. In fact, right in this chapter you find those who gave them a secret plate. What does it say in verse forty-two? Nevertheless, among the chief rulers, also many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess them lest they should be put out of the synagogue. Here are people leaders who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, but they wouldn't confess it. They feared the Pharisees, the fear they should be put out of the synagogue. There are people today and their secret disciples. Yes, they believe on the Lord Jesus, but they're not going to tell anybody about it. And some people don't tell all they know about the Bible because they may get put out of that church. They don't agree with all that's going on in there, but they won't say anything. He has a very secret place. When the Lord comes, such will go to heaven, but they'll go to heaven with a blush on their face. Because they didn't take their stand. They didn't confess Christ, nor did they stand up for the truth that God had given us to them. What kind of a place did he have? A large place? small place, a sacred place. Are you a Christian? No one else knows it. You haven't told them? You don't see much evidence in your life either. Sadness. A prominent place. That means he is prominent. I love to think of Christians being prominent for Christ. The Lord is prominent in their life. That's not enough. In all things he must have the preeminent. He wants to be preeminent. He can have a place in my life, but I have a place there too. Yes, and he may be prominent in my life, but that still means that there's still some of them either. When he is preeminent, I'm not there. He is preeminent. He has it all. what he wants. Notice this feast, a wonderful feast. There they made him a supper. And you have those who sat at the table with them. If you were to go to the Old Testament, you would find a feast or a table of grandeur, greatness, and abundance. I turned over to that a couple of days ago and read about that table of grandeur by Solomon. When it was the genus of his power, This is what you read. How would you like a menu like this? And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and three score measures of meal, ten-packed fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pasture, and a hundred sheep beside harts, roe-bucks, and fallow deer, and patted fowl. And those officers provided vittles for King Solomon and for all that came unto King Solomon's table. Every man in his month, they lacked nothing. Now, you read that over in I King's fall, if you want to read it. There you have certainly a grand feast. They lacked nothing. I'll tell you they were coming and going, according to reading this verse. They may have had... A certain group from a certain air, they came one day, another another day, and all around the year round. What a table of grandeur you have yet. But you have a table of grace. To me is more important than you think of it over in Second Samuel nine. And here is Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, who was the son of Saul. And Saul was trying to kill David. And now David's on the phone, and Saul is dead. And here's Jonathan. And he died too. He died with his father Saul on Mount Gilbo. But there's one left. His name was Mephibisher. David said, well, I'm going to kill that rascal. He's one of the last ones of old Saul, mine enemy. David says, no. You bring Mephibisher, and he's going to sit at my table. I know he's a lame man. He's an invalid. But when you think of what you read in the word of God concerning this table of grace, David says, And to Joseph the Jehoshaphat of Ephesus dwelt in Jerusalem, for he did eat continually at the king's table, and he was lame on both his feet. His lameness was not seen. His link with Saul was not even mentioned. David says, every time I come to this table with my royal regalia, I want to see Mephibosheth there. What great. And it really reached Mephibosheth's heart and said, why should thou be concerned about a dead dog like I am? After what my father tried to do to you, and you're going to be gracious like this to me, that's it, David. For the rest of your life, Mr. Bishop, you're going to sit at my table, and I won't see your lameness. That will be under the table. What a gracious table. Nice when we have a gracious God, and he doesn't see those old crooked things that we were guilty of before we were saved. That's under the table. That is a table of grace. Here you have a table of gratitude. There they made him a feast. And here you find this table. What were they talking about? I presume we were talking about what happened to Lazarus. And there was Lazarus sitting at the table. And they were prepared because of their gratitude for what the Lord had done to Lazarus. A table of gratitude. Every Sunday morning we meet here at a table of grace and gratitude. There may not be any great grandeur associated with it, and that grandeur of Solomon passed away, but not this table. It'll perpetuate forever. But there's another table, too, you read about. It's a table of glory. Here you have a table of grandeur, a table of grace, a table of gratitude, a table of glory, the millennial glory. Listen to what you read over in Luke twenty-two, twenty-nine. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father has appointed unto me, that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on phone judging the twelve tribes of Israel. That's the great table. And that's the table of coming millennial glory. But there's another table. In Revelation nineteen, it's the marriage supper of the Lamb. What a table that's going to be. And that will feast on forever and forever. On that table will be sin forgiven, peace with God, everlasting life, will never perish. Of all the glory to the person of Christ, that will be our peace forever. It never stops. A table of glory. These are some of the wonderful things you find in your Bible. Now let us notice some of the interesting people at this table. First of all and foremost, Jesus was there. He was the prominent one. He was the hope. Jesus was there. least be looked upon as the Supreme One. You know, his life began and ended with a feast. He began his public ministry at the wedding in Cana of Galilee when he turned water into wine. That was the beginning of his public ministry. And just a few days before his death, he is a feast. At Bethany. So he began his public life with a feast. And he ended his public life with a feast. That's nice, isn't it? But Lazarus was there. I wonder why people came. They came to see Lazarus. My, we don't want to see this man. We've heard about it. We want to see this man, Lazarus. You think they'd come to see Christ first? No, but they wanted to see Lazarus. This is a miracle. Never... As anything like this happened before, they came to see that. Here you find more or less curiosity. And he was worth seeing, the man who lived again after been dead four days. And he was a friend of the Lord Jesus because the Lord Jesus loved them, and the Lord Jesus wept at his grave. Suppose you saw on TV some notable character in the United States had died and President Carter was weeping at his grave. They say, well, that's something. He must have thought on all of that man. Here's a king of kings weeping at Lazarus' grave. The Lord did take them out of him. Yes. And so he was a friend of the Lord Jesus. And the Lord Jesus was at his funeral. and wept to this grave site. Only so this man Lazarus was subject to the subject of the greatest miracle that had ever been performed when the Lord Jesus raised him from the dead. And to his resurrection, Lazarus' resurrection jeopardized the very life of the Lord Jesus Christ. these tribes and Pharisees, the Sanhedrin had gotten together and they'll say, we'll not only kill them, we'll kill Jesus Christ too. We'll kill Jesus Christ and we'll kill them. So closely were they linked together. So the Sanhedrin had decided they were going to kill not only Jesus, but less. So he was quite a character. And here you find him at this banquet. You know, it must have been something exciting for Lazarus to see all these people coming. They came as it drove to see Lazarus. This is another remarkable thing about Lazarus. There's no record in the Bible that he ever spoke a word. You can read and read and read. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, don't mention it. John's the only one that mentions this remarkable incident. And there's no record that Lazarus said anything. Now we find Mary and Martha talking, but not Lazarus. Lazarus was silent. I thought, before I'm reading this incident, my Lazarus had lived today. That would have been, it would be something today. You know what a man like this would get? all kinds of attention and have them on radio, have them on TV. He could travel all over the country, draw great crowds, you have to pay a good sum to get into the audience to see this man, Lazarus, to hear his poor story. Why, he would be a millionaire. If Lazarus was living today, he would be a millionaire. Some big publishing company would offer him a huge sum just to get the story of his life. Those kind of material things didn't occupy the mind of God's people back in those days. Lazarus was perfectly content to sit there and say nothing. He was just, I believe he was happy. There sat the Lord Jesus. Oh, how wonderful. He wasn't interested in money, popularity, worldly possessions. No. He was a remarkable character. So we have the Lord Jesus, we have Lazarus and Martha. And she couldn't sit still. She had to be on her feet all the time. We have another character, kind of like the fly in the ointment, Judas. Judas is here. Heavenly, there wasn't any money in the bag. And he was the secretary of the Lord's cabinet. There was nothing in the bag. He watched Mary break down a basket of blocks and pour it on the feet of the Lord Jesus. He says, why was this waste of the ointment made? It should have been sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor. Why some people who said, listen here, compassionate man, he's worried about the poor. He wants that money to give to the poor. The poor fellow didn't realize the value of worship. He didn't see the significance of Mary emptying that valuable box of ointment on the feet of the Lord. Oh, no. He's thinking about the poor. Or what is? John takes the mask off that character, and in verse six, he says, not that he cared for the poor, but he's a thief. And he wants to put that money in the bag. He wants it for himself. Nice to see how the Lord took John unveils the hypocrisy of Judah. He was trying to give the impression he wanted to help the poor. John said he didn't want any such thing. He wanted to put that thing in the bag of three hundred and ten feet of thief. Later on he was willing to sell the Lord for thirty pieces of silver. So here is Judah. Any wonder he went out and hung himself when he saw he was caught. Then you come to Mary, another lovely character and her beautiful act. And of course, John was there. Let's get back to Mary. Mary was criticized. Judith criticized her. Why did this woman want to give all that precious oil and pour it on the feet of this man? And wipe his feet with her hair. That's a lot of waste. Let's like to see how the Lord comes to Mary's defense. And he does. And he makes it very plain. She knew her motives. And so did the Lord Jesus know her motives. I could care less if I'm criticized as long as I know my motives. And as long as I know, he knows my motives. What Judith said didn't pay his marriage. She knew what she was doing. Although Judith criticized her, wasting all that ointment, she knew her motives. And it's a grand thing when we know our motives. And it's a better thing when we know he knows our motives. And he comes to a defense. You let her alone. You let her alone. And God before us, who can be against her? The Lord will indicate his own in more ways than once. And this is what he said that you want to read Mark's account, fourteen and eight. She has done what she could. Isn't that nice? Some people try to do more than they can, try to over-exchange their abilities. and make fools of themselves. Some don't do what they could. Mary, she did all that she could. She knew her limitations. She wasn't a Martha able to go back in the kitchen and cook up a good meal. She did what she could. And I love to see people who will do what they can, whether it be more or less. Much religious. She has done what she can do. Christian, be sure you do what you can do. Don't make excuses. There is something you can do. And be sure you do it. It's an awful thing to haunt your mind when there's something you could have done and you didn't. The Lord said, she has done what she could. How wonderful. And he said, she did it well. She hath lost a good work on me. Well, that's a nice compliment, isn't it? She hath done it well. Oh, she did a good work. One time a member of British Parliament had got high up in the British Parliament, and there was a seat left vacant because of the death of the previous man, and so there were those who volunteers or campaigned to occupy that seat and it boiled down to two members of the parliament. This one man got up and he lauded his own capabilities and what he could do and this and so on. And his one remark of the other man who was also going to try to win that seat, he said, as to my and the fellow cabinet member, he didn't have an education. He knows nothing about line of politics that I know I was brought up in a family. Politics, statesmanship was all we heard. I was brought up in that outfit. I'm what you might call, I'm a natural politician and stigma. But this fellow... He didn't have that background and he didn't have that education. All he did knew was a boy who was trying to shoot. He just found shoes to get money to put on suits on it. When he sat down, this man, target of his attack, he rose graciously. And his reply was, well, he said, my friend, so-and-so is right. He said, I didn't have the background he had. I didn't have the education that he had. And I did black boots, black shoes, to make money to go to college. But I'll challenge him to do one thing, to deny that I didn't black those shoes well. I did it well. And if I black Jews, well, I'll do in this Parliament the best I can do. I do it well. And he'll get elected. That's the point. Do what you can and do it well. He says she has not a good one for me. And she did it now. He says, me ye have not always. Referring to what Mary did. He says, the poor ye have always with you. But you don't have me always. And what you're going to do for me, you better do it now. Mary's not even going to wait till my funeral to give me the flowers. She's not going to wait till I die to pay me her tribute. She's doing this with a view to my burial. She's doing what she can do right now. She did what she could. She did it well. She did it now. And Christian, what you're going to do for Christ, you better do it now. Because the way this world is going, your chance is to do much to get enslaved. The world we knew ten years ago is gone and won't return. Things are deteriorating just that bad. I intended to. There are going to be sinners in hell forever who will say, I intended to accept Christ. I intended to be saved. That was my intention. But death caught me before I did. I'm in hell. I intended to be saved. But you didn't. And you only get one chance in this life. The Son of Man has power on earth, if it is in sin. Not in heaven, not in hell. What you're going to do about salvation, you do now. I ask the Christians, how many Christians will say at the judgment seat of Christ, I intended to. I intended to pray more. I intended... to read my Bible more. I intended to witness to that person about his soul, her soul. I intended to. I intended to get baptized after I was saved, but I didn't. I intended to remember the Lord, but I didn't. Lost opportunities. Intention never fulfilled. Mary, you did what you did, and you did it now, when you had the opportunity. And whatever we're going to do for Christ, we better do it well, and we better do it now. Because the day is coming when the opportunity is gone, and we missed it forever. Think of this woman's reward, Mary's reward. The Lord says, what this woman has done for me shall be told wherever the word of God goes, wherever the gospel treats it. It'll include the story of Mary. What a reward. I think in reading this passage last night, I'm going to look up Mary when I get to heaven. Of course, there's some others I'm going to look up. I want to see the Lord first. But I want to shake the hand of Mary a better one. Mary, you're very popular. You've been popular for nineteen hundred years. And the Bible's told, wherever it's gone, what you did when you broke your alabaster box and poured it on the feet of the Lord Jesus. Mary, I'm glad to meet you. Yes, you did what you could. You did it well. And you did it when the opportunity arrived. You didn't let it slip. It would be nice to talk to Mary more. And will some say, Mary, I wish I'd have done the same thing. But I didn't. Shall we pray? Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we come into thy presence. We ask thy blessing upon thy word. Church the hearts of us who are saved. about our responsibility in this life. So we only have one life to the soon be passed, and only what's done for Christ. For last, a week hence, someone in this audience may be a corpse. Having missed our opportunity today to settle matters with God. We pray to remember those here who do not know the Savior. Holy Father, may They receive of the day. They intend to. The day is fly fast. May they settle at this morning. Except Christ. They'll never regret it. Oh, has been thus to do, we pray. In our Lord Jesus, precious name, Amen.