It's the engagement of Herbert, who is from
South America, and Minky from here.
Here are the two getting engaged today.
Now, for you who don't know, engagement is
not the same as marriage.
They are two completely different things.
And as you see them standing here, there's
a girl, a man, and they are separate.
So, too, engagement and marriage is separate.
So this is an engagement.
I stand between them, there's still this apartheid,
there's still this discrimination.
But, on their wedding, I will not stand
between them.
Satan mixes things up.
They can't be close enough together.
When people are still wooing each other or
getting engaged, if they could, they would be
sitting on each other.
But, when they get married, that same couple
who couldn't get close enough to each other
are like cat and dog.
That's the devil, Diabolus, who mixes things up.
So we are saying, let it be as
the Lord has said, engagement is an engagement.
But with marriage, there is that unity.
Let everything be in its right order, in
its right way, not in stupidity and in
madness.
They are still separate.
They are not in contact.
When they're married, they are made into one
flesh.
Let me explain that.
People in the world, a
person who, in the world, you
find them meeting around dark corners and they
get married with...
One can't interpret that.
But you understand it, don't you?
This ring now testifies the fact that he
feels it's God's will and she feels it's
God's will that they should get married.
Nobody has chosen it for them.
That's their endowment, their affair.
They pray and ask God.
We are just happy about it.
Let us pray.
Lord, here are your children who feel that
they are being led in this way.
And we pray that this engagement would hallow
your name.
Till the day of their marriage, if you
have not yet returned, let this
be a time of sanctifying your name.
That all who observe may see your holiness,
whether they are Indians or blacks or coloreds
or whites or whatever type they might be.
Amen.
Now, our text, as we are drawing closer
to the Easter time, we find in the
Gospel according to Mark.
We find it in chapter 14.
Let's start from verse three.
And being in Bethany at the house of
Simon the leper, as he sat at the
table, a woman came having an alabaster flask
of very costly oil of spikenard, and she
broke the flask and poured it on his
head.
But
there were some who were indignant among themselves
and said, Why was this fragrant oil wasted?
For it might have been sold for more
than three hundred denarii and given to the
poor, and they criticized her shockly.
But Jesus said, Let her alone.
Why do you trouble her?
She has done a good work for me.
For you have the poor with you always,
and whenever you wish, you may do them
good.
But me, you do not have always.
She has done what she could.
She has come beforehand to anoint my body
for burial.
Assuredly I say to you, wherever this Gospel
is preached throughout the whole world, what this
woman did will also be spoken of her
as a memorial to her.
We'll read thus far.
At this very time where they were meeting
together in this home, there was a plot
to destroy him by the high priests in
them.
It was difficult, enemies from without wanting to
attack him and kill him.
But at that very time, Satan was coming
from within.
Attacks from without are nothing in comparison to
the danger of attacks from within.
It is there that you need grace.
And that is why Christians need to be
ever so careful and on their guard, for
if Satan cannot get it right to attack
from without, he will do something within.
For those within are of more danger than
those without.
And we can narrow that circle even more
and
say that the real enemy isn't even those
within.
It is you yourself.
Your greatest enemy finally is yourself.
Your heart.
And if Satan comes up in your heart
and he gets hold of you there, well
then you just drift with the river and
are eaten by the sharks.
Beware then, there is no enemy without or
even within, except yourself who is the real
danger.
It is you yourself who can cast yourself
into hell through your bad decisions.
The Lord said that through your own words
you can be condemned or through your own
words you can be justified.
If you give free reign to sin, to
evil thoughts, to evil deeds, well you are
killing yourself.
Now they were in the house of a
man who had leprosy in the town of
Bethany.
Now Bethany was a neighbouring village of Jerusalem
just to the east of it.
And they were very close to the time
when Jesus was to be crucified.
Simon the leper invited him and sat him
down at the table.
Then it is recorded that a woman arrived
there in the scene.
John records this woman as being Mary, the
sister of Martha and Lazarus.
Now as the food was on the table
this woman came in.
She came in with this alabaster flask of
the most wonderful scent or oil of spikenard.
Today we would say perfume.
She went to the Lord and
breaking the flask she poured it over the
Lord's head even down to the feet.
The whole house was filled with the wonderful
sweet fragrance.
Then it says, but some of the disciples
then were very upset and angry.
John records that it was Judas Iscariot.
Then it says, but some
of
the disciples then were very upset and angry.
But here in Mark it is recorded that
there were others who were indignant.
In other words they together with Judas, Judas
being the ringleader.
Now you listen to this carefully Christians.
They were siding with the opinion of one
who had a wicked heart.
One whose heart was in the money.
He was a thief.
Here we discover that even the disciple of
Jesus can be swept away and be influenced.
But a thief, a thief, Judas Iscariot, he
was the one who had a wicked heart.
He was the one who had a great
light.
He was the one who had a great
light.
And the leader of this being Judas Iscariot,
do you hear the sensitivity of this?
Do you hear what it means to be
a follower of Jesus Christ?
Judas Iscariot was indignant.
He
said
to Judas Iscariot, A
whole year's salary, even more could have been
spent on this.
It says 300 denarii, which was a year's
salary.
But you don't just use every single cent
to buy something like this, a jar of
perfume.
But instead you would use as much as
you can.
This could have been such a huge amount,
perhaps two years of salary.
Just imagine, if you make profit, it's just
a small percentage of your earnings.
So if it was a year's salary, how
many years would you have sweated to buy
such oil, such perfume?
Perhaps this was of the most expensive oil
or perfume in the world.
Judas was so angry and the others with
him sharply criticized her until the Lord Jesus
said, Leave her alone.
What she has done is a good thing.
The poor you always have with you, but
with me, I'm not always going to be
here.
But this woman had grasped hold of a
mystery for opportunities passed by.
Some opportunities come by once, and should you
not grab the opportunity, you've missed it forever.
It was her final chance to anoint the
Lord for His death.
Take note that opportunities do come and go.
If the Lord convicts you of something, make
that right immediately.
Don't delay it.
You might never get that chance again.
And these men were very upset and they
raised their different issues and their different points
as to why this could have been used
in a better way.
They said some could have been helped and
the poor fed through this money.
They criticized, condemned, their
leader being Judas, who had the purse.
Think of the financial side, how he loved
it.
Some were in agreement until the Lord Jesus
Himself spoke and defended this woman.
And said what she has done is a
good thing and throughout the whole world, this
good thing she's done for me will be
spoken of.
Not that it's wrong to help the poor,
that's good.
But in this position, in this particular moment,
it wasn't the right thing to do.
That this woman, Mary, should take this whole
bottle, not just a little bit of it,
but the whole thing and break the flask,
what caused her to do it?
She didn't say to herself, well, this is
so expensive after all, let me use an
appropriate amount and see one day later on
if I can use some more for you.
What did it do for him?
What had caused this happening?
You see, the matter of faith is a
matter of the heart.
It is a matter of the heart and
if the heart hasn't been dealt with and
has been got hold of by the Lord,
then it's all in vain.
Now this Mary came in with this flask
of oil, not wondering, not being afraid and
concerned, but knowing that it would touch everyone
in the home.
She didn't have questions like, what will these
men think of me?
Mary is free.
She just does what is on her heart
and does it fearlessly, not regarding the men's
opinion.
No one had tried to stop
her.
No one had tried to set her up
or to influence her or to even suggest
it.
This came from the Holy Spirit speaking in
her heart and it was, Jesus
deemed it to be a good thing and
the whole house was filled with the sweet
fragrance.
This was pure undiluted oil and
that's what she expressed herself with.
She expressed herself with that she withheld nothing,
she poured it all on the Lord Jesus.
What has caused it?
The heart.
Jesus was great to her.
Jesus was greater to her than this treasured
oil.
Jesus was so much greater, that's why she
just felt, I have to pour it upon
him in this manner.
But amazingly, the matter doesn't start with the
oil or the perfume.
Yes, it
does express her great love for the Lord
Jesus and the love that she has for
God.
But how great it was.
But it starts at a distance, not right
there at that moment.
The Bible says, we love him for he
first loved us.
That Mary should do this great act, this
wonderful thing for her Lord was because the
Lord had done something for her a long
time before.
And this expression, this act of hers was
because of the overflowing love from her heart.
The Bible says, he who is forgiven much,
loves much.
Remember that immoral woman who had been misbehaving
in the world and she came, sat at
the feet of Jesus?
Simon had come and said, well, if the
Lord was truly a prophet, he would have
recognized and discerned where this woman came from.
And Jesus, seeing his thoughts, said,
Simeon, when I came you didn't even wash
my feet.
But she, since I've come, has not stopped
washing my feet with her tears and her
hair.
The Lord said, why?
Because she has much more love.
Her sins are forgiven.
That's why she loves much.
There must have been the day where Mary
saw her sinfulness and realized that she was
a lost sinner belonging to hell.
She had cried to the Lord, received the
Lord's forgiveness.
And then, not knowing how she could express
her appreciation, she came with this expensive jar
and just broke it upon the Lord.
She came to the Lord Jesus for he
had come to her.
Listen to that.
The Lord Jesus had come to her, worked
in her heart and had done great things
for her.
You can't come to Jesus and do something
for him before he has done something for
you.
You can't come to Jesus and do something
for him before he has done something for
you.
I remember once a very unhappy preacher testifying
of how he felt that what he had
done was in vain and not effective.
He wanted to do something for Jesus.
He went then to a certain renowned African
preacher asking for help.
He said, show me what must I do?
I want to serve the Lord.
He was a German missionary, an old grey
haired German missionary and he went to the
old doormen.
He says, there's nothing more in this world
that I would like than to serve Jesus,
to bring forth much fruit, but I don't
see it.
The old man said, that's your mistake.
You want to serve him.
You can't serve him before he has served
you.
You can't do something for Jesus before he
has done something to you in your heart.
And Mary came and served the Lord, having
experienced Jesus filling her heart, changing her heart
and having done something there.
She came to Jesus because Jesus had come
before her and had filled her heart.
She came to the Lord Jesus because he
had come to her and had filled her
heart to overflowing.
The Bible says we love him because he
first loved us and has shed abroad his
love in our hearts.
The Lord had poured out his love in
her heart and has filled it.
Do you have an idea of that?
Do you know what that means when your
heart is filled with the love of God?
Have you experienced that?
That your sins being removed, he comes and
he pours into your heart his love.
Do you have an idea of what that
means?
Do you know what that means when your
heart is overflowing with the love of God?
Have you any inkling of what that means?
A heart absolutely overcome with and conquered by
the love of God?
Mary knew.
Finally the whole home was filled with the
sweet fragrance.
I'm often at loss as to describe and
to depict and to expound this to make
this to be absolutely clear to you and
often ask well Lord what are their hearts
made of?
What are in their brains?
Mary coming to pour this oil on the
Lord had experienced a long time before the
Lord pouring his love into her heart.
Jesus had a long time before that come
to her and filled her heart and this
love burned in her heart.
Remember the two disciples on the road to
Emmaus where they were depressed and not knowing
what had happened to the Lord and after
the Lord had spoken to them they testified
to each other.
Did you feel that heat, the warmth of
the Lord as he spoke?
They felt the fire.
Do you feel this fire?
You at school, you girl, you boy, do
you feel this fire?
And you older people and you parents, do
you feel this fire?
The Lord asked Peter, do you love me?
Asked them the second time and the third
time, going deep.
Saddam Hussein has had his bunkers in which
he has been hiding built originally by Germans
and told by those builders that even if
an atom bomb had to go off your
bunker is safe, you will not be injured
down there.
But the Americans have been using bunker buster
bombs where the first one penetrates into the
concrete, the second one goes into that very
same hole and the third one does the
blasting and the damage right down there.
And our hearts can have that thickness of
concrete but Jesus sends his bomb to penetrate
and to Peter he sent his first, his
second and his third till it struck home.
And I have been made to understand that
our SABC, the Christian Association, the government media
has been, it has removed CNN and has
replaced it with an Arabic network and they
want to hear from the Islamic point of
view.
You find all these complaints, Bush, he's got
no brains and Bush, he's only fighting for
Christianity.
And Muslims have scored a victory in this,
get your shoes off already, put on your
white clothing.
Now that I've got to this is because
of what the Lord Jesus asked Peter thrice,
that penetrative bomb like the Americans, which goes,
penetrates right through.
To believe is a matter of the heart,
the
heart that has been visited by Jesus and
worked on by the Lord and filled by
him.
My question which I've been asking in German
is, do you have any inkling, any idea
of the Lord doing that and filling your
heart?
One day, Baron von Zinzendorf was sitting with
his friends, I call them his friends and
they happen to be his age.
And they were chatting and
they were discussing among themselves
what it is that drives them, what is
their particular passion.
The passion, the thing that you love more
than anything else.
One answered, what I love more than anything
else is to hunt.
He said to hunt for a deer or
for a buck, there's nothing that surpasses it.
The second one said, well my passion is
for gambling, to throw the dice, to gamble
is what drives me.
The third
said,
none of these things interest me.
Women, that's my passion, beautiful women, you cannot
surpass that.
And Zinzendorf who was a count.
Zinzendorf, these men said but Zinzendorf why do
you keep quiet, tell us what is your
driving passion.
And he answered, my driving passion, what consumes
my heart is Jesus, it is Jesus, him
alone.
It is as if though I could stand
you up now and ask you individually, who
identifies with this of Zinzendorf?
Who experiences this passion, this which Zinzendorf was
speaking of, anything else is but an empty
shell.
You Minky and you Herbert as well, this
is to be your driving passion, this is
to be the most important thing to you.
For some it's not like that, some are
inspired by filth, like some said gambling or
pretty women, prostitution.
Their lusts, that's what they feel, that's what
they experience, that's what drives them.
But Mary is not there, she
is saying great is this one, he who
has done so much for me.
Remember on another occasion Jesus was in their
home, where was Mary to be found?
At Jesus' feet, listening to his words.
Some people are driven by excuses not to
be in the service.
Well you cooked last Sunday, let me do
it.
And any excuse to try and not be
at the service, or looking at the watch
every now and then, gazing at the watch,
when will the service end?
God to Mary, Jesus was the greatest to
Mary, she grasped hold of his words and
grabbed them and clung to them.
Like Mary the mother of Jesus, it says
of her that she stored up in her
heart the words of the Lord, so too
with this Mary who sat at his feet
not wanting to miss a word.
When did you last hear Jesus speaking to
you?
Is Jesus precious to you and his word,
wanting to be driven by him, wanting to
be led by him?
Now we met with a thing here, it's
a long time ago.
I mentioned to Catherine that there seems to
be something wrong with that person.
Catherine wanted to try and keep him because
he worked well for her.
Johann Becker was and is very patient.
And if we need to ask a person
to leave, he will ask for patience that
the person gets another chance.
A counsellor who has time for sinners.
But these days he was caught red handed,
this particular person.
Then he came to me, came to me,
I was there in my bedroom, on my
bed.
He said, Uncle Elo, I'm troubled by a
nervous condition.
I'd been
in
Zimbabwe and was badly treated there and now
here I am being badly treated here too.
He was trembling, asking for forgiveness.
He said, even though as a man I
shouldn't be crying.
He told this story, in my heart I
felt sympathy.
I saw him as being a troubled person.
Only two things that were a red light
to me of warning.
Full of criticism towards people here at Gwasisabantu,
but not one thing criticising himself.
And I thought, well
is it possible to live with people and
only find things wrong with them and never
find anything, not a single thing wrong with
yourself.
That's what it's like with people who leave
and who find so much fault but they
never find fault with themselves.
Only one, that was one red light.
I'm helping you as well.
Those people that talk about other people's sins
and criticise them, but they don't criticise themselves.
That's what
it's like.
Secondly, Secondly, In
his box, Daka was found.
Who must have planted this?
In fact, I have an idea.
It might have been that person or that
person.
It's amazing to hear such an excuse like
the common excuse if something is found.
And here in Africa, you'll find that even
for persons found with an avocado peel, this
actually happened.
In his pocket, he said, Oh, I don't
know.
Who must have put it there?
He said, Uncle Elo, I don't know you.
He said, Uncle
Elo, I don't know you.
I phoned to ask if there'd be somebody
available at the reception to take him then
back to Durban, to the Ock specifically.
It is a rehab centre, a place of
refuge for people in the area quite close
to the bay, to the harbour, and they
allowed to smoke there.
He
said, Uncle
Elo, I don't know you.
I checked it out with others, first with
Katrin, with Yohan, and they also agreed that
he just had to go, and that even
those who sleep with him in the room
would be really upset if he was allowed
to continue in that state.
I was in prayer saying, Lord, I don't
want to be guilty of sending away this
person.
I then called him and I said, well,
since there is no peace between us and
those that are with you, they say this
and you only complain about them, I think
it's better that we part, and we're going
to arrange for you to be taken down
there to the ark, and he asked when,
and I said immediately, and I'd also arrange
some money because he had been working.
I sent
him
then to Katrin to go and get some
money.
He said, Uncle Elo, don't get ideas that
she has it all.
She doesn't have it with her.
She has to only fetch it from the
bank.
Lest they go and rob her, give her
a stick over the head.
She's got no money.
If she needs money, she goes to the
bank.
All right.
Then we found Brother Thomas.
Now we have Thomas.
I got Thomas and arranged with him that
he take him, although he preferred to rather
go to the Salvation Army than to the
ark.
I said, fine.
Last night I got a phone call.
Who was it?
Thomas.
I'm in Stanga, he said.
I thought, well, maybe they've had an accident
or something.
What's happened, Thomas?
Well, we've gone into a roadblock, Uncle Elo.
The police then told us to open our
boot.
The boot or the trunk of the car.
And there they found four packets of marijuana.
I don't know whether they'd use the money
to go and buy it all.
I'm appointed.
The police asked him.
The police asked him, where did you get
this from?
He said, I don't know.
It must have been planted.
And I said, well, you climb into the
police van at the back.
He said, well, Thomas, I don't know where
you got it from.
The police asked him, where did you get
it from?
He said, I don't know.
He said, well, Thomas, I don't know where
you got it from.
He asked me what he should do because
he's now ready on his way to going
behind bars and whether he should bail him
out.
I said, forget about bail.
You just come home.
If you're not helped by my sermons, maybe
you'll be helped by the sermon of jail.
You see what was full in his heart?
I don't want
to go into even any details of the
other concoctions that they were involved in, lest
someone tries to experiment.
But you experiment and you'll find yourself landing
in jail.
That can be a person who's in the
service every Sunday and during the week as
well.
Though you're in the service, your heart not
yet dealt with.
So there are things that can be in
the heart.
What is in yours?
Before you worship Jesus, let him come and
serve you.
Let him deal with you.
And then Mary could not leave the Lord
alone, for he was the greatest one to
her.
And every action of hers was now out
of love and thankfulness and appreciation.
What was her hidden motive?
What was she aiming at ultimately?
She didn't have any ulterior motives.
She was simply expressing her love and thanking
him.
Do you love me?
Take care of my lambs.
Do you love me?
Take care of my sheep.
Out of love.
Do you love me?
Take care of my sheep.
Out of love.
Some people have the attitude of, I don't
know why I'm mistreated like this and why
others don't handle me better.
I put so much work into it, but
there was nothing, not a trace of this
in Mary.
She was just full of thanks, full of
gratefulness.
And you see, this is the heart of
faith.
There are some men who are, some women
who are true men and have manliness and
heroism about them.
We can't get away from it.
Even if you get bad women, you get
some that are very, very, very good.
Mary signed the book.
In other words, she put a seal on
it.
But those who are angry, Judas is scared
of them.
We read of them till today.
How mustn't they bow their heads in shame
and anguish at their deed?
Well, the Mary's in our midst.
Where are the Mary's?
We need them.
Let us stand to our feet.
We thank you Lord for the story.
Where you show us a woman who has
been noble, pure, clean, the highest quality.
Lord, may
she be a good example and we not
be counted in the group of Judas Iscariot.
Where you said, Lord, leave her alone for
what she's done.
Her deed is good to me.
Lord, may our lives be in this way.
With that person in the car, the police,
when they stopped him, they looked at him
and his passenger and they said, open the
boot.
We want his luggage.
They, and he asked them later on, what
is it?
They said, we see in his eyes.
Let the evidence of the fragrance of Christ
be in us.
We're at a service these days down there.
And I mentioned to
him, we're at a service these days down
there.
And I mentioned to him, we're at a
service these days down there.
And I mentioned to him, we're at a
service these days down there.
And so you'll find, as we mentioned in
the service, that birds of a feather flock
together.
A drunk person will be here, one is
troubled by alcohol, in no time he's found
somebody of similar kind.
Or an immoral boy, he'll find a girl
in no time.
What do they see in each other?
How do they get drawn to each other?
You get a love letter written to you.
What is it?
It's promiscuity seeks out other promiscuity.
I heard of young men speaking among each
other and the one was nudging the other
saying, go and flirt with that girl.
And he said, that one never, she'll never
allow me.
Let us close then in prayer.
We ask you Lord, that by your Holy
Spirit you'd continue speaking to us through your
Holy Word.
That by your grace, your words would not
just be eaten up by the birds of
the air, by the devil, but that it
would rather work in us and change us.
Amen.