We have been blessed, have we not? And the Lord wants to bless us some more. And before we open His Book, His Holy Book, let us ask the Lord to teach us and to change our hearts as we read and study His Word. Just bow your head please.

Father in heaven, now as we are going to open Your Holy Book to read it, we humbly but earnestly pray that Your Spirit will teach us the spiritual truth contained in Your Word and give us a heart to obey and follow You. We thank you. In Jesus' name. Amen.

It is always wonderful to be back home. Last Sabbath my wife and I were in Bishop, California, and we had wonderful meetings there with some very sincere believers from all around that part of the country. The week before that we were visiting my sister, her husband and family and other friends in Washington state, north and west of Spokane. And between times we traveled all over the country up there to visit other family and friends and the Lord was very good. We were able to visit many people that we had not seen for some time. But it is good to be home.

If you have your Bible, I would like to introduce our study this morning by reading to you from Matthew 26. I invite you to open it to Matthew 26. We are going to read very specific instructions from Jesus. Now this was six days before the crucifixion. This was on Saturday night--, as we would call it. The crucifixion was on the following Friday morning.

Jesus is speaking. "For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial. Assuredly, I say unto you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her." Matthew 26:12, 13.

This is very specific instruction from Jesus about what we are supposed to preach. You would think that if Jesus said, "This is what I want you to preach about all over the world, wherever the gospel is preached," you would think that this would be one of the most common subjects for preachers. But it is not.

As I thought about this, I was almost embarrassed at how few times I can remember that I preached on it myself. It is strange that when we have specific instruction from Jesus on something, that we do not do it.

Do any of you remember what Cody Francis read to you way back at the beginning of the Prophecy Seminar from Matthew 24:15? Jesus gave specific instruction to a certain Bible writer whom we were to especially study? Do you remember that? Who was it? Daniel. Remember that? Have you ever noticed that Daniel is one of the books of the Bible that many people know the least about?

Is it not strange that when Jesus would point out certain things: study this, preach about this, teach this, but somehow we do not seem to get it. "Any place you preach the gospel in the whole world, you are to talk about this." I went to church all my life. I grew up in a Christian family. We went to church every week. I have gone to church every week ever since I can remember. I was wondering this morning, when was the first time that I can remember ever hearing somebody preach on this subject?

The first time that I can remember was by a friend of mine. I was over forty years of age! And I have been attending church every week ever since I can remember. And I have not preached about it that many times myself, and I thought, Maybe we should be studying about this more often.

Evidently, this is an important subject and this is the subject that we read about. It is in all four of the gospels. By the way, there are not very many stories that are in all four of the gospels.

I had a teacher in College that said, "Ninety-two percent of the gospel of John is unique to his gospel. Only eight percent of the gospel of John is in the other gospels." So there are only a few stories that are in all four of the gospels, and if some story is in all four of the gospels, like the crucifixion, or like this, maybe that story is especially important. And concerning this, not only is it in all four of the gospels, but Jesus said, "Anywhere you go in the whole world preaching the gospel, you are to talk about that." So it is appropriate for us to study it, is it not?

What is this story about? Well, turn back in your Bible to Luke 13 and let us read a Scripture to get started. We will not read the whole Scripture. It is verses 22 to 33, but here in verse 23, "Then one said to him, 'Lord, are there few who are saved?" Are there only going to be a few people saved?

I have been interested, as I have studied the gospel story, that very few times, very few times did Jesus actually tell somebody, "You are saved." "Salvation is come to your house, today." Jesus did not say that very often. Another interesting thing is that every time that He did say it, it was to somebody whom other people thought could not be saved. That has been very interesting to me.

For instance, one of the times that Jesus said to somebody, "Today salvation is come to your house," was to Zacchaeus. Do you know who Zacchaeus was? He was a tax collector and in their society that was as low as you could go. You know they used to talk in their society about the tax collectors and the harlots. A woman who was a harlot was as low as you could go and a tax collector was as low as you could go for a man.

Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector and so they felt that his case was hopeless; and they taught in the synagogues that people who did what he did, were hopeless. But when Jesus met Zacchaeus, He said, "Today salvation is come to your house." An interesting story. Not our story today though.

Another time when Jesus gave a person an unequivocal promise of salvation, it was another person whom everybody else thought was a terrible person and would never have suspected that he could be saved. It was the thief on the cross. Jesus told him, "You are going to be with Me in Paradise." Other people around did not think that there was any hope for him. He was a thief. He was getting capital punishment for being a thief.

And a third time that Jesus said to somebody, and we read it in our Scripture, a third time that Jesus said to somebody "You are saved from your sins," was this story. We just read it in Luke 7. "Your faith has saved you. You are saved, go in peace," He said. Now this is remarkable. This is the third time that Jesus said this to a person whom other people thought could not be saved.

As we read in Luke 7, they considered her to be a great sinner. And she had been a great sinner. So this is a story about salvation. Any time Jesus said to somebody, "You are saved," that is a story that we should especially study; and this is a time that Jesus said to this woman, "You are saved. Your faith has saved you. You are saved from your sins. Your sins are forgiven."

Did you know that there will be many people in heaven whom their neighbors thought would not make it? Did you know that? Did you know that there will be many people in heaven whom their fellow church members thought would not make it? And as I have thought about this, I have though is it not wonderful that the Lord decides our destiny? Otherwise we would all be lost if we had to decide for each other.

There will be many people in heaven whom their neighbors supposed would never be there. Let me read that to you from the book, Christ's Object Lessons, 71. "Many will be in heaven who their neighbors supposed would never enter there." Often we regard as hopeless subjects the very ones whom Christ is drawing to Himself."

See, this woman was somebody that everybody else considered a hopeless case. Other people thought that her case was hopeless and she was afraid herself that her case was hopeless. Maybe there is somebody here in this room whom the devil has been tempting to think that their case is hopeless. Let me tell you, this story shows that you can be saved. The people who are hopeless can be saved.

Here is a contrary statement from Christ's Object Lessons, 72. "Many who think themselves Christians will at last be found wanting." You see, when we read the story in our Scripture in Luke the seventh chapter, Simon, thought that he was saved. He was a very strict Pharisee. But many who think that they are saved and who all the other people in the church think that they are saved, at the end they will be found wanting.

Is this not interesting? You see, God reads your heart. God knows what is in your heart and He knows what is in my heart. There is no fooling the Lord. So there are many people in the church whom everybody else in the church thinks are going to be saved. They are actually going to end up wanting in the day of Judgment; and there are other people about whom the people in the church say, "That person has had such a checkered past, there is no hope for anybody coming out of that."

That was the situation with this woman. This was a woman who was considered a hopeless subject. And she was saved! And if there is anybody here and you think that you are a hopeless subject, I want to tell you, you can be saved. You can be saved. Do not worry about what your family thinks and what all your friends and the people on your job think. They may think you are hopeless because maybe you have done some terrible thinks in the past. Do not worry about that. This woman was a terrible sinner, and she was saved. Man judges from appearance, but God judges the heart. This woman was not considered a highly educated woman. Sometimes people think that it is important to know a lot of doctrines or theology.

We believe that we should study doctrines because the Bible says that we should, and that the Scripture is given for doctrine or teaching, and that is important. But that is not the most important. You see, if your intellectual power, your ability to understand things, if your salvation depended mainly on that, do you know who would be in the first place for salvation? The devil. The devil is smarter than anybody in this room.

You see, salvation does not depend primarily on your ability to explain and understand all kinds of theology. Now I have studied theology for many years, and if I did not think it was important, I would not study it.

In the Prophecy Seminar we have studied many, many interesting things. For example, one of the interesting prophecies that you studied in the seminar was the Twenty-three Hundred Days. It is a favorite prophecy of mine. I love to study it. It is a very fascinating prophecy.

Let me tell you a story that happened several years ago. There are some places in the world where there are people who have not had much opportunity for education. Did you know that there will be people who are saved who cannot even read and write? And they cannot explain doctrine.

A lady came to one of our preachers, and they had been studying prophecy. We believe in studying prophecy because Jesus said we should study. But remember there are people in the world who have not had as much opportunity for education as people in the United States. And this woman came to one of our preachers and I do not know how many times she said she had tried, but she said, "I cannot figure out and explain the Twenty-three Hundred Days." She asked, "Can I be saved?"

Well, of course, she can be saved. It is important to study prophecy and to understand as much as we can, but we need to understand that how much we understand is not absolutely the most important thing. There is something that is even more important than that. Well, what is it? That is what this story is about.

Now we know who this woman was who anointed Jesus. If you turn to John 11 or 12, Luke 7, Mark 14, or Matthew 26 you will find it. But let us look at John 11:1, 2. It says, "Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick."

So who was it that did this? It was Mary, the sister of Lazarus, and the sister of Martha. That is who it was. And in the book, The Desire of Ages, 568, Ellen White is writing about this Mary and she says that seven times she had heard Jesus rebuke the demons that were in her. She had been possessed with demons and Jesus had rebuked the demons that were possessing her seven times.

I have thought about that so many times. What would I have done if I were there? Peter, James and John were probably there at least some of the times. What would you do after Jesus had rebuked the demons out of a woman five times? And then she got possessed with demons again. What would you do? Would you begin to think that maybe this woman was a hopeless case?

She was considered a hopeless case. This Mary who anointed Jesus with the ointment, she had had the demons cast out of her seven times. The Bible talks about this. You will see which Mary this is. Turn over to Mark. The story is in Mark 14, but look at Mark 16:9. It says, "Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons."

That same fact is also referred to in the first part of the eighth chapter of Luke. So this Mary, sister of Martha, sister of Lazarus; who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil, this was the same one whom we call Mary Magdalene; and she was the first one that Jesus appeared to after the resurrection. Ellen White said that she was the first person who greets the resurrected Christ. The disciples would not listen.

Well, as I thought about the lesson from the alabaster box, I realized that there were actually several lessons that we should be learning from the story of the alabaster box. So I listed seven. What are the lessons of the alabaster box?

1. The first lesson is that there is enough grace and there is enough love to save the chief of sinners. This woman did have a very bad past. I have mentioned about the demons. I have not mentioned everything about her past because we do not have time to go into everything, but this woman had a very checkered past. She was a great sinner and everybody in town knew it. It talks about that in Luke 7. She had been such a bad sinner that Simon questioned whether Jesus was even a prophet or not that He would allow such a woman to even touch Him!

But the first thing we learn from the story is that no matter how bad you are, no matter how bad you have been, you can be saved. There is enough grace; there is enough love in the heart of Jesus to save you--not somebody else. Oh, so often pastors have people come to them, I do not even know how many times people have come to me asking, "Have I committed the unpardonable sin? Can I be saved?" And other people think they cannot because they have done some terrible things.

Are you aware, friends, that there are going to be people in the kingdom of heaven who have committed murder? Are you aware that there are going to be people in the kingdom of heaven who have been involved in prostitution? Are you aware that there are going to be people in the kingdom of heaven who have been drug addicts? And alcoholics? And have been slaves to smoking? But Jesus loves people enough and He has enough grace to deliver them from all of that.

If you want to be saved and you choose to put your trust in Jesus, you can be saved. It does not matter how big the problem is in your life; you do not have any bigger problems in your life than this woman had. So no matter how bad you are, the apostle Paul said that Christ came to this world to save sinners "of whom I am chief." That is in the Bible. That is in 1 Timothy 1:15.

Paul said, "I am the chief of sinners." By the way, the apostle Paul was a murderer. He did not murder criminals. He murdered the saints of God. Read the book of Acts. But he was saved. He wrote over half the books in the New Testament. He said one time, "God saved me as an example of what His grace could do."

That is the first thing we learn from this story. You can be saved no matter how bad your past is--if you are willing to come to Jesus.

2. It starts out with a "but." But the only people who will be saved are those who recognize that they are sinners, and not only sinners, but also terrible sinners. That was Simon's problem. He did not think he was a very bad sinner. Jesus told him point blank that his sins were forgiven him.

Did you realize that the Bible teaches that the only people who can be saved by grace are sinners? That is all. The good people do not need salvation. They do not need grace. But how many good people are there? Let us read that in the Bible. First of all look at the words of Jesus talking to the rich young ruler.

Look in Matthew 19:17. It says, "So He said to him, 'Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.'" Jesus said, "Why do you call Me good? There is nobody good except God." How many people are good from God's viewpoint? Not from a human viewpoint, but from God's view point. How many people are good? None of us.

Look at Romans 3. Now Romans 3 is actually a quotation from Psalms 14 or 53. We will read it out of Romans. Romans 3:10 says, "There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no not one."

How many? Not one. Paul said in Romans 7:18 (and he was talking about himself after he was an apostle) "In my flesh nothing good dwells." That is what the Bible teaches. The only people who can be saved are bad people, sinners. The good people do not need it.

Look what the Bible says about our condition. Look here in Jeremiah 17:9, it says, "The heart is deceitful above all things; and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" So the good people cannot be saved by grace, they do not need grace. Only bad people can be saved; but the Bible says there are not any good people in this world. From God's point of view, we are all bad. He says, "You are so bad you cannot even understand how bad your heart is."

But bad people can be saved if they will come to Jesus. Jesus came into this world to save sinners--not in their sins--but to save them from their sins.

3. Turn back to our Scripture in Luke 7 for this one. It is not how much religion or theology, or anything else that I know, that counts most. What counts most is how much I love. Look at what it says here in Luke 7:47. "Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many (He acknowledged that she had been a great sinner), are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little."

Now sometimes people misunderstand this and they say, "Well, I love God so I can just do anything I please." Well, if you do anything you please, the Bible says you do not love God. The Bible says, "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." That is what it says in 1 John 5:3. So do not let somebody deceive you by a bunch of smooth talk and say, "Well, I love God"--and they are breaking His commandments. Oh, no, no, no.

The Bible says that the person who really loves God keeps His commandments. If you are not keeping the commandments, you do not love God. You see, the first four commandments teach you what it means to love God and the last six commandments teach you what it is to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said that is all the commandments are, just those two principles. If you love God supremely and your neighbor as yourself, you are going to be saved. That is what He said in Luke 10.

But if you really love God, you will keep the first four commandments, and if you really love your neighbor as yourself, you will keep the last six. If you love your neighbor, you will not run off with his wife and break the seventh commandment. Does that make sense? It makes sense, does it not?

Let me ask you a question. Those of you who are married, when you were courting your wife, what would you have thought if you made an appointment to see her and she was a day late, was not ready at all when you came, she was a day late? What would you think about that? Would you keep courting that woman?

That is what people do with God every week. God says I want to meet with you and I want to bless you, and they are a day late. They think it does not matter. It sure would matter if it were human beings, let me tell you. Let us go to point number four.

4. This is a really important one. Real love is always expressed, not just by words but also, especially, by actions. This woman was grateful for what Jesus had done for her. He had delivered her from the power of the devil. She was grateful. How grateful? She was so grateful that she went down where they sell perfume and do you know how much that alabaster box of perfume cost? It cost the equivalent of a whole year's wages for a working man who worked six days a week.

Just figure it out on your own calendar. The Bible said three hundred denarii and one denari was one day's wages in those times. Three hundred would be fifty weeks, six days a week.

Real love will always be expressed, not only by words, but also by actions. Notice what the Bible says about this. Many years after this experience the apostle John is writing about this principle in 1 John 3:16. It says, "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth."

Notice, let us not just love people by what we say, but we need to actually do something. Real love is always expressed, not just with words, but more especially with actions.

5. And now we come to a hard one. The experience of the alabaster box will never be understood by some people who are professed members of the church. It was not understood by the church in those days. Do you know what happened?

Do you remember what happened when she anointed the Lord with the ointment? Look in Matthew 26:8. Here it is. She has just anointed the Lord with the ointment and, of course, the fragrance is going throughout the house. You pour several thousand dollars worth of perfume on somebody and let me tell you, it will go throughout the house. This would be just like taking a huge bottle of perfume and emptying the whole thing at one time.

The fragrance was going throughout the house and notice what happened. Verse 8. "When His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, 'Why this waste? For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.'" Look what it says in Mark 14:5. It says, "'For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.' And they criticized her sharply." Or the margin says, "They scolded her." They criticized her sharply.

And remember how it is recorded in the book of Luke, chapter 7:39, "When the Pharisee who invited him saw this, he spoke to himself saying, 'This man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.'"

Notice four things that happened. Maybe we ought to read it first in the gospel of John, too. He gets very specific about who was at the bottom of developing all this criticism. John 12:4-6. It says, "But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray Him, said, 'Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred 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."

So what happened? First, the disciples said (Matthew 26), "This is a great waste. This woman does not have good judgment." Second, they said, "It is extravagant. It is a lack of economy and should not Christians practice economy?" and third, they said, "This person is a great sinner. She is not qualified to do something like this even if it were all right to do." Fourth, they said, "For what purpose is this done?" In other words, this act lacks a wise purpose. It lacks wisdom.

Do you know, friends, listen carefully. Very often the people in the church who have the alabaster box are people whom other people consider to be the worst sinners, the worst sinners in the church. Very often the people who have the alabaster box are the people whom other people think are the least qualified, the poorest, the least educated and those whose past has been checkered by the most awful sins.

And so the same thing happens today that happened in Christ's day. People say, "It is not good judgment." They say it is a lack of economy. It is extravagant. They say, "Well at least this person should not be doing it because they are not qualified, they are great sinners. It lacks wisdom and it will retard the work because this money could have been taken and put into welfare work and could have done a lot of good. Now it has just been wasted."

And so, they trouble the church members with the alabaster box. They trouble the workers. They will not let them alone. By the way, Jesus said, "Let her alone." They started a talking campaign just like Judas did, and the whole church, with all the leaders, can get stirred up against the person who has the alabaster box. Great indignation can be aroused, as we just read in Matthew 26.

What happens? The same thing that happened then. The person or persons with the alabaster box may become very embarrassed. Did this woman become embarrassed? She became so embarrassed that she was just about to sneak out if Jesus had not stopped things. The person with the alabaster box may be so afraid of the ministers, the teachers, the elders, the Marthas' and the Simons' in the church, the Pharisees that they may just slink away and disappear.

They may become terrified by their foes, the ministers, the elders, the teachers, the Pharisees and the Marthas' in the church who think that they do not have good judgment, they practice lack of economy, they are not qualified and they are terrible sinners. In fact, they may become so discouraged that they do not even come to church anymore. Do not think that does not happen.

I want to tell you something. When all the people who have the alabaster box do not come to church anymore, that church is dead. Do you know why? If you will allow me to use symbolic speech, the life of the church is in the alabaster box. The life of the church is in the alabaster box, and that brings me to point number six.

6. What is in the alabaster box? "Oh," somebody says, "there is a whole year's worth of wages in there, enough money to feed the poor for years." That is what Judas said. There is enough money in there to feed the poor. Then somebody else looks at it and he says, "Well, it is sweet smelling perfume but it is sure awfully costly and extravagant."

Well, what is in it? Is all that is in it just a year's wages? Just a lot of perfume, is that all that is in it? Oh, no, friend. If all you see in the alabaster box is perfume, you have missed the whole point. You have missed the whole point. Let me read to you from the book The Desire of Ages, 564 what is in the alabaster box:

"That ointment was a symbol of the heart of the giver. It was the outward demonstration of a love fed by heavenly streams until it overflowed."

What was in that box? In that alabaster box there was all the love in her soul. She had a lot of love for her Lord for what He had done for her. So she could not just get a little bit, she had to get a lot; because that is how much love she had. What is the price of heaven? People say salvation is free. Yes, it is a free gift but not everybody receives it. This woman received it.

We read it in Luke 7 in our Scripture. Why were her sins forgiven? Because why? Because she loved much. She did not just love a little. She loved much. How much ointment is in your alabaster box? Is it a quarter full? Half full? Or is it clear to the top? How much love do you have for your Saviour? Do you really love Him? Do you love Him enough to obey Him?

Do you know there are lots of people all over the world that say, "I love you, Lord, but they do not obey Him." Jesus said to the people of His generation, "But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do the things which I say?" Luke 6:46. Does it make sense? And that is the tragedy of the Christian world today. People say, "I love you, Lord," and they go directly contrary to what He says to do! That is not love. "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." 1 John 5:3.

7. I want to come to one of the most important points of all. The oil, the fragrant oil that cost a whole year's wages, did not stay in the alabaster box. It was all poured out. My question to you is this. Where is your oil? Or if you want it more directly, if symbolic language is hard for you, I will say it again. Where is your love? Some people's love, some people's oil, is still in the alabaster box and they open up the top of it and they -oh, it smells wonderful! It is better than anything in this world and they know it.

They will tell you how wonderful it is. Every once in a while they open up the box. It smells wonderful. If Mary had done that, we would never have had this story. For her it was not enough to have the oil. It had to be poured on Somebody to whom she owed so much, she owed a debt of gratitude, and she realized that she could never repay Him for what He had done for her.

But she wanted to show Him how she felt toward Him, and so she took this oil and she poured it on His head and it ran down. By the way, this is about twelve ounces of perfume. Now when you pour twelve ounces of perfume on somebody's head, it runs down. Now this was oil of nard. That is what you read in the Greek New Testament.

Do you know what oil of nard does when it runs down and gets in your skin? It soaks in and you do not get it out. And this is the most wonderful part of the story of all, to me. Because a little less than six days later, as Jesus was on the cross, He could still smell it. He knew that there was one person who loved what He was doing.

Are you thankful for what Jesus has done for you? Do you think we need to get the oil out of the alabaster box and pour it on people? Pour it out! It is never going to do somebody any good as long as we keep it in the box. I want to tell you, friends, there are people all around us who need some oil, who need some ointment in their lives.

Jesus said that when He comes again, He is going to say, "Inasmuch as you did it unto one of the least of these, you have done it unto Me." Do you want to anoint your Lord? Or do you want to keep the oil in the box. The way to do it is to find somebody who needs some oil, somebody who needs some anointing, somebody who needs some ointment, somebody who needs some balm, somebody who needs to be bound up, somebody who needs to be healed; and pour it out

Where is your oil? Where is your love? Is it still in the box? Or are you pouring it out? On Friday afternoon, six days after this was done, the disciples were out there late Friday afternoon, and they were pulling the nails out of Jesus' hands and pulling the nails out of His feet. Ellen White tells us what they were thinking about when they took Jesus down from the cross.

They could smell it. They could still smell that perfume. They were thinking about what Mary had done, how they had been critical and they felt rebuked. Friend, do not let anybody discourage you from taking the oil and pouring it out. Pout it out! It is not going to bless anybody or help anybody or save anybody until you pour it out.

Jesus said to this woman, "Your sins are forgiven. You are saved. Go in peace." Do you want to receive salvation? This is the way to do it. Take your oil, oil of love, and pour it out. Anoint somebody.

Let us pray while we are thinking about it.

Father in heaven, we thank you for this story. We thank you that there was one person, when Jesus was here, who appreciated His gift of salvation so much. Lord, deliver us from our Phariseeism. Save us from being hard hearted. Help us not to keep Your commandments or to obey You just for a form or ritual but to do it because we love You. Put the love of Jesus in our heart. Give us the spirit that this woman with the alabaster box had. Help us to bring some fragrance into somebody else's life. Help us to bring a sweet-smelling savor into their lives, that they may see and experience the love of Jesus from us. Help us never to give up or get discouraged but to keep pouring it out. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.