Hi, I'm Marty McKenzie with His Love Ministries. Welcome to the Least of These Podcasts. We reach out to those the world has forgotten. If you'd like to know more about us and how you can donate to help us fulfill our mission, go to hisloveministries.net. Thank you very much and God bless you. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Do thy faith despite forsaken. Take it to the Lord in prayer. In His arms you'll rest. Amen. What a friend we have in Jesus. All of our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to take everything to God in prayer. He says, oh what needless sorrow. Oh what needless pain we bear. All because we don't take everything to God in prayer. That's straight out of Philippians 4-6 where he says, be anxious for nothing. But by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make your request known to God and the peace that passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds. Or there's an easier one in Isaiah 26 verse 3 where he says, Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusts in him. So if you trust in Him and you keep your mind fixed on the Lord, you will be in perfect peace. Sometimes that's hard to do, isn't it? With all the things that go on, but that's what God calls us to do because we trust in Him and believe in Him and know that He does only good things. into things that happen in our lives he allows for a reason and for a purpose. Well we're back in John chapter 12 again today and we remember last week we started talking about the fact that this chapter is really the culmination of Jesus' ministry totally and completely in the public. He's going to be finally and fully rejected. It's kind of the culmination of love and hate. For 11 chapters we've been seeing people, seeing Jesus tell people that He's God. that He came in human flesh. He was sent by the Father, He says specifically 42 times. And we don't know how many more times He said that He came from above and He was sent from above, but He said He was sent by the Father 42 times just in the book of John. 42 times. That's a lot of times, isn't it? You think Jesus wants us to know that He was from heaven? that He was sent by the Father, that He came down, and He is God's representative to save us and to forgive us of our sins. So, we see that He goes to Jerusalem three times, He goes to Galilee three times, He performs seven signs, seven miracles, miracles with a message. Because there's a specific word that John uses, simeon, that means a miracle with a message. And every time Jesus does one of those messages, he's saying, one of those miracles, he's saying that I'm God. When he stills the storm, when he walks on the water, when he heals the paralytic, when he heals the young boy, when he turns water into wine, when he brings Lazarus back from the dead, when he feeds the people with the loaves and the fishes. Every time he does that, he's proving he's God. Then he uses seven I Am statements. Goes to Jerusalem three times. He goes to Galilee three times. All three times in each place, they basically reject him. And so he comes back one last time and performs this last miracle, this last sign and raises Lazarus from the dead. And instead of people being excited and happy, they want to kill him. So there's two things in life. You either love Jesus or you hate Jesus. You know, I mean, people like the name Jesus, but they don't like the Jesus of the Bible. They don't like the fact that Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one, absolutely no one gets to the Father but by me. And they say, well, that's narrow. That's arrogant. That's prideful. I didn't say that. God said that. God who created us made one way. And if there's one way and He made it, that's the way we need to go. There's not a bunch of ways. There's only one way. Jesus said, and if you trust in me and me alone, you'll make it to heaven. We saw in the first three verses, the last time I was here, we saw that Mary, there was a supper at Simon the leper's house. He's apparently been healed. They're reclining around the table, Lazarus is with them, and then Mary pours out this extravagant love. She sacrifices a year's worth of wages, $20,000 to $25,000 worth in our day and time worth of money to break open this bottle of Nard, this expensive perfume. And she pours it on Jesus' head and it goes down to his feet. She wipes his feet with her hair and then she does it because she loves Jesus so much. Every time you see Mary, she's worshiping Jesus. But then, Judas. We're going to see Judas today. We're going to start in verse 4 today and we're going to see Judas. We're going to see the first words that Judas speaks in verse 4. Let's read through about verse 10. But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son who would betray him, said, Why was this fragrant oil not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the money box, and he used to take what was put in it. But Jesus said, let her alone. She has kept this for the day of my burial. For the poor you have with you always, but me you do not always have. Now a great many of the Jews knew that he was there and they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus whom he'd raised from the dead. But the chief priest plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on the account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus." The first words we see out of Judas' mouth here in John chapter 12 verse 4, it says, that Judas, that one of his disciples who would betray him, said, verse 5, why was not this fragrant oil sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor? Denarii was one day's wage. People only worked 300 days. because of weekends and all that. And so basically, this was a year's worth of wages, like I said, $20,000 to $25,000 in today's terms. That's a good bit of money just to pour on somebody's head and feet, right? But the question is, is Jesus worth it? Jesus is worth it, right? Judas, these are his first words, and then the last words we hear from Judas is in Matthew, I think it's chapter 27, and he goes on and he says, he threw the money down and he went out and he hanged himself. And so basically, Judas It says here that he was going to betray Jesus and he says, why was this not sold and given to the poor? And then it says, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and he had the money box and he used to take what was in it. So he really doesn't care about the poor. He is doing what? Wanting to lie in his pockets, right? Apparently all this time, we talked about it last week, it says in Matthew 10, that even Judas, he had the right, he had the ability to cast out demons, to heal people. He had the same ability to do miracles and signs and wonders as the rest of the apostles. The signs and wonders of an apostle were to cast out demons, to raise people from the dead, and to heal sicknesses. Those are the powers that Jesus gave them. That was in Matthew chapter 10 when he first commissioned them. And so they go out and they do all these things. Judas has that same power. Judas is riding Jesus' coattails because he thinks Jesus is going to be this political messiah. He's going to be this political person. He's going to be the big dog and he's going to get all this money. If he's in charge of the money now when there's only a few of them, What's he going to be in charge of one day when Jesus is in charge of all the Jewish empire and overruns the Romans? That's what he thinks. So he thinks, I'm going to get my money. But then he's starting to realize because of the way things are going, the way things are happening, he realizes that this trade is going nowhere. This train is going nowhere. And Judas says, I'm getting off this train. Because guess what? He realizes the fact that Jesus keeps saying more and more things, driving people away. The Jewish authorities want to kill him. And Judas is trying to get this money. And he just wants to lie in his pockets. But we're going to see in a minute that Jesus takes up for Mary and says, leave her alone. She's doing this for my burial. And so it says here, we've got information here that we don't see in any of the other Gospels. It says, not that he cared for the poor, verse six, because he was a thief and had the money box and he used to take what was put in it. Now you see Jesus, he knew who Judas was and yet he chose him as one of the 12, because he knew he would be the one who would turn him in. Can you imagine that Judas was this close for three years to Jesus Christ. He saw all the signs, the wonders, the miracles. He saw all the things Jesus did. He heard all the things Jesus said. And yet he was still a thief. He still never trusted Christ. And you know it's a wonder to me how you can on one hand see the love of Mary and the love of the disciples and the fact that they trusted in Christ and believed on Christ and realized who He was. Remember we saw back in a few chapters in chapter 6 that Peter says, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and to know that you are the Christ and the Son of the living God. And Jesus kind of rebukes them at that point and says, did I not choose you to twelve and one of you is a devil? And he spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray him. being one of the twelve. Judas was picked because Jesus knew he would betray him. See God sent his son to die on the cross right? If Jesus didn't die on the cross If there was no reason for Jesus to die on the cross, that's where He paid for our sins. And if we can do something to earn heaven, then Jesus coming to earth and dying on the cross was the biggest blunder God ever made. But because Jesus was God, and He was the only one who could pay for our sins, He had to come to earth. He had to die on that cross. Judas realizes He's trying to get this money. Man, that would be a tidy commission to get in your pocket. A year's worth of wages, get a bunch of that out of your pocket, right? But he says, why aren't we selling this and giving it to the poor? And if you read the other Gospels, you find out. that Judas kind of instigates this and we see this here but if you read the other gospels you find out that the other disciples jump in too and they kind of rebuke Mary and in a sense they are kind of rebuking Jesus and telling Jesus to stop her from wasting all this expensive perfume because you know we can use this money, these are resources, we can use these resources. In a way, that's what they're doing. But guess what? The reason she's doing it is because she knows she may not get another chance to anoint Jesus for his burial. And that's what it says here in verse 7. But Jesus said, let her alone. She has kept this for the day of my burial, for the poor you always have, but me you do not have always." So Jesus says to Judas and the disciples, he says, leave her alone. Don't mess with Mary, she's worshipping me. It's significant that when the rest of the disciples go to the tomb after he's been laid there to anoint his body, guess what? Mary doesn't show up at that time. She's already anointed his body with this perfume and it's amazing. I don't know how she does it. She is smarter than these other disciples because she's figured out that Jesus is going to die and she's kind of like instead of sending flowers at the funeral She's sending flowers before the funeral. She knows that Jesus is going to die on the cross. And so she's anointing His body before He dies. She's giving her best to Jesus. And so Jesus has led her along. She's kept this for the day of my burial. Now you could contrast her love, her sacrifice, her giving against Judas' hatred. And Judas's stinginess and all these things. And it's amazing because Judas is a monster really. Because you think of a man who could be that close to Jesus and never trust Christ. I think the hottest place in hell is not going to be reserved for Osama Bin Laden and all his people, but it will be for those people who sat in church all their life and have heard the Word of God and heard it over and over and over again and never trusted Christ. Because the Bible says to whom much is given, much is required. If you've heard over and over and over and over again that you need to trust Christ and you've never done it, then I think hell is going to be worse for you or whoever it is because they have never trusted Christ. Judas was right there for three years with God Himself and he never trusted Him. It's a warning to all of us that we can get that close to the truth and never come to a knowledge of the truth. And so Jesus rebukes him and says, you've kept this, she's kept this for the day of my burial. And then he says in verse eight, for the poor you have with you always, but me do not have always. So what does he say here? He said, get your priorities in order. She's doing this for me because she loves me and cares for me. She's worshiping me. And guess what? You're always going to have the poor, right? Jesus is not being cruel. Jesus is not being mean. He's not being nasty. But what Jesus is telling us, and the Bible tells us over and over and over again, Jesus spoke a lot about helping the poor, doing for the poor, helping the poor, taking care of the poor. But what he says here is get your priorities straight. I'm not going to be here very long. Spend your time worshiping me while you can. Spend your time with me while you can. That's something we need to do too. We need to get our priorities straight. We need to make sure that we're prioritizing life. Does God come first in our life? Or do all these other things come first in our life? Do we worry about the things of this life? Or are we got our eyes fixed on Jesus? The Bible says to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. This is a decisive moment. And this is the place where Judas, he knows he's discovered because Jesus doesn't even address the issue of the money. He just says, leave her alone. At this point we see in the other Gospels that Judas goes out and he says, well how can I sell Jesus? and they give him 30 pieces of silver and then all that's left to be done for Judas is to find the right time, the right opportunity. But Jesus says that you don't always have me with you. So worship Me while you can. Our time on earth is short too, but we need to worship Him while we can. And then it says in verse 9, it says, Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there, and they came not only for Jesus' sake only, but they might also see Lazarus, whom they had raised from the dead. You might call these the curious people. There was Mary who was worshipping. There was Judas who was hating. Think about Judas. He fit kind of right in with the rest of the disciples, didn't he? Because what were they doing at one point? They sent their mother and they asked Jesus. And then they sent their mother and said, can we sit on the right hand and sit on the left hand? And Peter was cut off Malchus's ear and they were all vying for first place in the kingdom and all these things. And so Judas probably fit right in because They didn't really understand what Jesus was really truly all about until after it was all said and done and then they understood. But guess what? It says here, there were many of the Jews. They came to that feast, not only to see Jesus, but to see Lazarus, whom he raised from the dead. This is about the third time he says that. And guess what? They just come to see Jesus. They come to see Lazarus. You know, here's this curiosity. Oh, here's this man that was raised from the dead. Let's go see him. Did it really happen? Is he really there? And they go to see Jesus. All the way through the whole crowd. The last chapter ended with them going to the feast and they say, do you think he'll show up? Do you think he'll come? Do you think he'll be here? And they're wondering. They're curious. They want to know. And many times, I think a lot of times in the church, people are like that. They're just sitting in their church and they're watching what's going on. And they're Jesus watchers. They're watching the ceremonies. They're watching the singing. They're watching the preaching. But they never really truly trust Jesus Christ. Because they're curious. And they sit there and they watch. And I think it's in the end of the book of Matthew, at the end when Jesus is hung on the cross, and it says, and they sat down and they watched Him. They watched Him while He was on the cross and they just sat there and watched Him die. The same people who are watching him now, watch him die. The same people who are watching later on are going to be the ones who cry out, crucify him, crucify him. They came to watch. They came to see the man who had been raised from the dead. And it says in verse 10, But the chief priest plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus. Think about that. Many of the Jews went away and believed because of Lazarus. And they wanted to kill him. Guess what? These people are in trouble. The people who are the chief priests, they are these people called the Sadducees. And one man said it this way, they were sad they didn't believe in the resurrection and that's why they were sad you see. Basically they were sad because there was no resurrection. They didn't believe in the resurrection. But guess what? Here's a man raised from the dead and they don't believe in the resurrection. What are they going to do about it? And then two, they're losing their popularity. They're losing their power. They say in the previous chapter, the world's gone after him. What are we going to do? And so what do they do? If there's evidence, these people don't want to believe, and they're not going to believe. Jesus has already proved that. He tells them over and over and over again, and they refuse to believe. Finally, what happens? They decide they want to kill Jesus to get rid of the evidence. They kill Lazarus to get rid of the evidence. They want to get rid of the people who are causing them problems. It says they wanted to kill him because many of the people went away and believed in Jesus. They believed that Jesus was the Christ. They got saved. They trusted in Christ. And so they want to kill him. I just want to give you a few lessons on Mary and her worship and then we'll see if we can move on to the next section. So first of all, Mary is a picture of the true Christian worshiper. She worships and adores Jesus. And if you think about it in Revelation in chapter 4, it says that we will cast our crowns at Jesus' feet and we will worship Him. The angels sing what we sang this morning, Holy, Holy, Holy. You know, they don't say He's good, good, good. They say He's holy, holy, holy. And one day, those of us who know Christ will be worshiping at His feet. And that's what we're supposed to do. We have to be at the feet of Jesus, worshiping Him. And so Mary is a picture of that. And if that's what we're going to be doing in the future, we should do that now. First, her worship is spontaneous. It's not commanded. She wants to do this because she loves Jesus. And she just flat out just busts this bottle of perfume open and says, bam, here, I'm pouring it on Jesus. This is yours, Jesus. I love you, Jesus. Secondly, her worship is extravagant. She gives her best. The best thing she has, she gives. She worships in her own way. Sometimes we criticize people for the way they worship, the things they do. But when you're doing your best for God, don't let nobody else condemn you. Don't let nobody else criticize you. And then also, she does this in a way that doesn't attract attention to herself. You know, Mary does this because she wants to. She's not looking for attention. She's not looking for, hey that was real good Mary, let me pat you on the back. She does it because she wants to. And then maybe she had an impact on the Apostle Paul where he says in Philippians chapter 4 verse 18, for I have received all things and I have plenty. I have all I need because I received from Epaphroditus your gifts. A fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, very pleasing to God. And then it also shows us that whether we're men or women, God wants all of us to worship Him, right? Sometimes women get put down and saying we're our second best, but God loves all of us. Notice who the first people he appeared to after he came out of the grave was the women, right? The first people that knew that Jesus was being born was the shepherds. They were the outcasts of the society. The first people he peers to after he comes out of the grave is women. They were treated as second best. So remember, love doesn't count the cost when you're given to God. Nothing done for Christ is ever wasted. You know, Judas wasted his whole life. Did you know that? He wasted his whole life. So we have the sacrifice she made, the example she portrayed. There was a fragrance that she produced. That smell went out through the whole house. And it spills out into today because people see and there's a message she preached because guess what? Jesus said that what she did would be preached throughout all generations and everybody would know what this woman did. It was a message of love and it was a message of grace. But you know, think about this. Mary gave her best. But have you ever thought about this? The Bible says that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten, His only, that word begotten is the word monogony, it means His only beloved, His one of a kind, unique, most loved son. God so loved the world that he gave his only beloved, his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish. God gave his best when he sent his son to die on the cross. And if he gave his best, his son, to die on the cross, what should we do? What should we do? We should give our best, shouldn't we? Think about it. God gave His only begotten Son. He loved us so much. One man said He loved us this much, right? When He hung on the cross. He loved us that much. Think about that today. How much do you love Jesus compared to how much He gave you? You know, on one hand you got the people who love Jesus, the disciples, and Mary who exemplifies that love and that sacrifice and that worship. And on the other side you see Judas representing that hate, that anger, that dislike for Jesus. And wherever you go in the world, you find those two extremes. Jesus said, if you're not for me, you're against me. And if you're against me, you're not for me. He said it both ways. And so the Bible says, whoever believes on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. And so today, we need to make sure that we're not like Judas, and we get that close to heaven, that close to God, but we don't quite make it in because we've never really trusted in Jesus Christ. We've heard the truth, we've read the Bible, we've been in a church, but we've never just stopped and said, oh God, I can't make it to heaven on my own. Please forgive me because I'm a sinner. That's hard to do, isn't it? Please save me, because I can't get there. You said you're the way, the truth, and the life. And no one gets to the Father but by me, by you. And then lastly say, God, I'm trusting you to get me to heaven. That's called faith, right? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. and thou shalt be saved. And so that's what God calls us to do and then to live our life for Him because we love Him, we worship Him, we adore Him, and we know that unless He sent His Son, we would all be headed to hell. Every one of us. Because God didn't have to send His Son, but it says He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. that whoever believes shall never perish. So today, if you've never made that decision, trust in Him. If you've made that decision, remember the example of Mary and her worship. What have we done for Jesus lately? Because He's done so much for us. Let's pray. Father we love you, we thank you, we praise you for who you are and we ask today that you would just be with us as we sing this last song. We pray Lord that you would help us to have the love and mindset of worship that Mary had. Lord, if there's even one that doesn't know you today, that they would cry out and say, Lord Jesus, save me. And you'd hear from heaven and answer their prayer because you said, whoever calls shall be saved. Father, we love you. We thank you. We praise you for who you are and what you've done in our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Hi, I'm Marty McKenzie with His Love Ministries. Please help us reach out to those the world has forgotten. Everyone we minister to is locked up in some way, shape, or form. Those in the nursing home facilities are locked up in bodies that do not work, in a wheelchair, or in a bed. We minister to children and youth who are locked up because of behavioral problems. Some have told us we want to have a real family because their parents have lost or given up custody of them. Other kids are locked up because they've committed crimes. We also minister to those locked up at the jails and the prisons, to those locked up in addictions to drugs, alcohol, depression, and suicidal thoughts, to those locked up in a variety of other things that keep them from becoming who Jesus wants them to be. He came to give us abundant life, joy, and set us free. And these people that we minister to are not free. Our desire is to show them whatever their background, no matter what they've done, to see how much God loves them. We seek to help them receive forgiveness and freedom from their sin in Jesus Christ. We minister in the local area of Savannah, Georgia and surrounding Effingham and Chatham area. We have recently expanded our ministry to the Lexington, Columbia, South Carolina area. We do over 2,000 services every year. We hope and pray that you will support us in some way so we can continue our mission. Go to HisLoveMinistries.net and click on the Donate Now button or send it via regular mail to Post Office Box 1881, Lexington, South Carolina, 29071. We hope and pray that you will do that. Thank you and God bless you. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. John 8 32.