All right, good evening. Brother Joe isn't feeling well,
so I'll be leading the service, the singing tonight. Let's do hymn number two, Love
Divine, hymn number two. Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of heaven to earth come down. Fix in us Thy humble dwelling,
All Thy faithful mercies crown. Jesus, Thou art all compassion,
Pure, unbounded love Thou art. Visit us with Thy salvation,
Enter every trembling heart. Breathe, O breathe, thy loving
Spirit into every troubled breast. Let us all in thee inherit, let
us find that second rest. Take away our bent to sinning,
Alpha and Omega be, End of faith as its beginning, Set our hearts
at liberty. Come Almighty to deliver, let
us all Thy life receive. Suddenly return and never, nevermore
Thy temples leave. Thee we would be always blessing,
serve Thee as Thy hosts above, pray and praise Thee without
ceasing, glory in Thy perfect love. Finished then Thy new creation,
pure and spotless, let us be. Let us see Thy great salvation
perfectly restored in Thee. Changed from glory into glory,
Till in heaven we take our place, Till we cast our crowns before
Thee, Lost in wonder, love, and praise. Let's turn to Psalm 25. Psalm 25. And we'll read down
through verse 14. But we'll pick up in verse 1. Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift
up my soul. O my God, I trust in thee. Let
me not be ashamed. Let not mine enemies triumph
over me. Yea, let none that wait on thee
be ashamed. Let them be ashamed which transgress
without cause. Show me thy ways, O Lord, teach
me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth and teach
me, for thou art the God of my salvation. On thee do I wait
all the day. Remember, O Lord, thy tender
mercies and thy loving kindnesses, for they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth,
nor my transgressions. According to thy mercy, remember
thou me for thy goodness' sake, O Lord. Good and upright is the
Lord, therefore will he teach sinners in the way. The meek
will he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his way.
all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, unto such as
keep his covenant and his testimonies. For thy name's sake, O Lord,
pardon mine iniquity, for it is great. What man is he that
feareth the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way
that he shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease,
and his seed shall inherit the earth. The secret of the Lord
is with them that fear him, and He will show them His covenant. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank You
for Your grace and mercy. Lord, to how You bless us in
love, in peace, in perfect righteousness, Lord, that we may know you and
fellowship with you and rejoice in you, our God. Lord, we thank
you for this salvation which you've given to us freely in
the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for holding us up,
for setting our feet firmly upon the rock which is Christ, the
sure and firm foundation, that stone that you chose, to build
as a foundation to build your church upon, your house, your
temple upon, your place where you are pleased to worship, where
you are pleased to gather your people to worship you. Lord,
thank you for your grace and mercy. Thank you for the peace
we have with you through the Lord Jesus Christ. Help us, Lord,
in our infirmities and in our weaknesses. in our foolishness,
in our failings and folly. Lord, remember us in Christ. Look upon us always in Christ. Help us and keep us, Lord. It's
in Christ's name. We pray and ask, and Lord, we
pray that you would be with our brethren who are sick and ill
this night and not feeling well. Lord, remember them, help them,
strengthen them, heal them. Remember all your people. Bless
them, Lord. We pray that you would indeed
establish this work here, that you would pour out your spirit
upon us, that you would give us that faithful gospel word
always to preach and to declare, to set forth that bread and wine
of the Lord Jesus Christ that your people may feed upon him. And Lord, if it please you, we
ask that you would give us a place, a permanent place, which we may
set up permanently and be ready to worship you and to serve you
and to serve your people there. Lord, we know you can do all
things. And so we bring it before you and ask you to please provide
a place for us. We know that with us, it's impossible. But with you all things are possible.
It's in Christ's name we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right, brethren. We're going
to be in John chapter 19. John 19. We're going to be at the end of this chapter,
picking up in verse 38. Now, this is after our Lord died.
on the cross when He willingly gave up the ghost, yielding it
to the Father, having accomplished that work which the Father sent
Him to do. And now that He's died, this
passage shows us that it did not take long at all for fruit,
the fruit of our Lord's death, the fruit which He wrought, when
he died, to be accomplished, to begin to be formed in the
hearts of his people. He began immediately to produce
fruit. Now this account here from verse
38 through 42, it gives us a picture. It's the reality of a thing.
It's a picture of what's happening, but there's a picture in it of
this truth that the death of our Savior is what has wrought
great mercy and grace for us. It's through his death that God
is gracious and merciful to us. All spiritual blessings in heavenly
places are given to us, to his people in Christ, for Christ's
sake. So, after our Lord was dead,
there were two disciples, two disciples of Christ who moved
very quickly, they moved very quickly to secure the body of
Christ from the Romans that they might bury it properly. Things
don't happen the way they happen today, where there's someone
to counsel the family and make arrangements for what's going
to happen afterwards. They just did things very efficiently.
And since he was crucified as a malefactor, There was no thought
or care for the family or what would happen to his body. And
the reason why they had to move so quickly, we're told up in
verse 31, John 19, 31, the Jews, therefore, because it was the
preparation that the body should not remain upon the cross on
the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath day was in high day, it was a
special Sabbath day, we saw a pilot that their legs might be broken
and that they might be taken away. Why is that? Well, because
their days weren't like our days. Our days start from midnight
all the way till 1159, 59, p.m. That's our day. Their day
starts the evening before. It would start evening a little
bit earlier than what it is now. So their Sabbath day was beginning
soon, and so they had to move very quickly, according to the
law, to take the body and to prepare it and bury it very quickly. We're told of two rich men, two
rich influential men here that have rare means to do the things
that they were able to do for the body of our Lord. Their names
are Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. And these two men were secret
disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were secret disciples of
the Lord until this day. And the scriptures tell us a
few things about these men. First, in verse 38, we read of
Joseph of Arimathea. It says, after this, Joseph of
Arimathea being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly. For fear the Jews besought Pilate
that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave him
leave. He came therefore and took the
body of Jesus." Now Matthew, Mark, and Luke also record some
things about Joseph of Arimathea. They include the fact that he
was rich. They say he was an honorable
man, a good man, a just man. He waited for the kingdom of
God. And what that means is he looked
for redemption. Just as that prophetess Anna,
when Christ was born, she spoke of those things concerning Christ
to those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. That's what the
people of God do, they look for redemption. And we're told that
he didn't consent to the crucifying of Christ, and ultimately he
went to Pilate, and Luke tells us he begged the body of Jesus. Mark says he craved the body
of Jesus. It was very important for him
to get the body of Jesus, because had he not done that, had he
not used his influence, and his position of power and his wealth
to get the body, they would have just taken that body down and
thrown it in the place where they threw the bodies of the
malefactors when they were dead. They just pitched them on the
side and no care was given for them. But sovereign God moved
this man, Joseph of Arimathea, to plead for Christ's body. And after a centurion confirmed
that he was indeed dead, Pilate gave him permission to take that
body. So he went back to where the
crucifixion had taken place, and they took that body down,
and then it was on him to handle and to take that body away. Now,
the next man, John, John is the only one that tells us something
about Nicodemus. And Nicodemus' part was to assist
Joseph of Arimathea. He came to assist him. And it
says in verse 39 and 40, there came also Nicodemus, which at
the first came to Jesus by night. and brought a mixture of myrrh
and aloes about an hundred pound weight. So these were very costly. Some of these are called the
chief spices. This is very costly. A hundred
pound weight was a lot of spices to use on one dead body. It was a lot of weight. And so we see they spared no
expense and then took they the body of Jesus. They probably
had servants. helping them and they wound it
in linen clothes with the spices as the manner of the Jews is
to bury. And some have suggested these
two men were brothers. I don't know. I don't have access
to the historical documents to really know. It's possible. It's
possible. They obviously were doing this
together. One going for the body, the other
one getting the spices and meeting up there at that time. Now what's
remarkable to me about these two men is that they've been
secret disciples up to this point. None of the Jews. These are well-known
men who were in the council of the Jews. They were in the Sanhedrin
of the Jews. They were wealthy men, powerful,
influential men, and no one knows this until now that these men
are disciples of Christ. John telling us Joseph was a
disciple of Jesus but secretly for fear of the Jews. And what stands out to us about
Nicodemus? What do we know about Nicodemus?
Well, the first time we meet Nicodemus is back in John chapter
3. And why don't you turn to John
chapter 3 and put a marker because we'll come back and look at a
few verses from that chapter. But in John chapter 3, in verse
1, in the beginning of verse 2, it says, there was a man of
the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same
came to Jesus by night. And then, the next time we hear
of him is in John chapter 7. This is when the Jewish council
wanted Christ to be arrested, and so they sent some of their
guards down to arrest him, and they didn't come back with him,
of course. They never heard any man speak like they heard the
Lord Jesus Christ speak. And the Jews were upset about
it, and Nicodemus tried to reason with them, saying, does our law
judge any man before it heareth him? And it says about Nicodemus
in verse 50 that he said that, and in parentheses there about
Nicodemus, it says that he came to Jesus by night, being one
of them, one of the Jews. And so we're constantly reminded,
as in our text once again, that this man Nicodemus is the guy,
and John tells us here, which at the first came to Jesus by
night. by night. All three times that
he's mentioned, and he's only mentioned by John, all three
times that he's mentioned, there's always this epithet which is
attached to his name. It always follows his name, just
like Richard the Lionhearted, Catherine the Great, Attila the
Hun. These are names, these are epithets
that are attached to their names. Well, his is Nicodemus, he that
came to Jesus by night. all three times. This is the
fellow who came to Jesus by night. And as I thought about this,
I don't believe it's simply meant to disparage him. I don't think
it's meant to disparage Nicodemus at all, but rather When you think
about it, it glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. It shows us the
grace and the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ for His sheep. How patient, how gracious, how
tender He is with His flock, with His sheep. He delivers them. He graciously delivers this man
out of his darkness, out of the night which he dwelled in by
nature. John calls him now, if you notice
it, he says he's Nicodemus which at the first came to Jesus by
night. But now, that's not him. He's
here in full view. joining up with Joseph before
all the remaining, all and any remaining observers that might
have been there at the time. He came to the cross to collect
the body of Jesus from the Romans and to bury it properly. And
it shows. Why is this man showing care
for this Jesus? He's one of us. What's he doing?
This man was crucified as an insurrectionist. Why is he there
burying the body of Jesus? And so that epithet reminds me
of William Huntington, he was a gospel preacher back many hundreds
of years ago, and any work, any letter he signed, any work he
wrote, anything he did, he always signed it, William Huntington,
S.S., meaning Sinner Saved. He always signed it, Sinner Saved. And so if you knew William Huntington,
you knew this man is a sinner saved. Saved by the grace of
God. What do you mean you're a sinner
saved? And he could declare to them the grace of God who saved
a sinner, a wretched sinner, like him. And if you knew Nicodemus,
then you knew Christ delivered this man out of darkness. This ruling Jew, Christ, mercifully,
graciously delivered this man out of darkness, who was afraid
to come into the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
But Christ, drew him out of that darkness into the light, the
light of Christ. And so Nicodemus went away. When he met Christ that first
night back there in John 3, he went away from Christ, a disciple. But he was weak. He was weak. And he was struggling and perplexed
and thinking about those things which he heard from the Lord. And he continued to stay in darkness
for a time. And Joseph too, he was a disciple
of Christ, but secretly for fear of the Jews. What changed? What changed in these two prominent
men's lives, what changed that they would suddenly come out
of darkness and publicly declare their love, their fellowship
with Christ? What changed? It was the death
of Christ. They never came out of the darkness
until Christ died. And then they came out of darkness
into the light. It took the death of Jesus Christ
to deliver these men from that darkness that they were bound
and kept in, where they feared and trembled and hiding, being
afraid of what other people thought of them. They were trying to
save their lives. And we know that's death. As
our Lord said, whosoever shall save his life shall lose it. And whosoever shall lose his
life for my sake shall find it. He shall have life. And they couldn't deliver themselves
from death. They wouldn't give up their life
to save it. They didn't know how. They didn't
understand. They didn't know what to do.
They were afraid and they lived in fear and in trembling. and
lived according to the law, trying to save themselves, and they
couldn't do it. And that's true of every one
of God's children. None of us can deliver ourselves. None of us can save ourselves. And the only way that we come
out of darkness, the only way that we're delivered from the
bondage of sin and death in Adam is by the grace of God who gives
his people the power to become sons of God. That's how we come
out. Just like our Lord said, what
did He say there in chapter 1, John 1 verse 12 there, it says,
but as many as received Him, because no one did, But as many
as received Him, how did they receive Him? Well, it's because
to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on His name. Who are the sons of God? Those
that believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. God gave them
that power. God gives that faith. to whom
he will to deliver them out of darkness, to deliver them out
of the bondage of sin, verse 13, which were born not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God. And so, it's a work of God that
does this. And the death of Christ is what
delivered them out of that darkness. It was through that death And
it was through that picture. And that's what the Gospel declares.
The Gospel that we preach declares Christ crucified. Through the
death of Christ, we are delivered. We're brought out of death. We're
brought into the light of God to know our God and our Savior. He delivers us from spiritual
death and darkness. When we speak of His death here,
just so you know, I'm talking about His death, burial, and
resurrection according to the Scriptures. He had to die. He
had to be buried. He had to rise again according
to the Scriptures because of our sins, according to the Scriptures. We're all polluted from head
to toe, ruined in Adam. Christ had to die. Christ had
to deliver us. We're not saved unless we're
saved by the redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
God sovereignly chose these men. He gave them everything that
they had. He gave them their wealth. He
gave them their influence. He gave them their position.
He gave them their power. And He's the one that stirred
their hearts as they saw and heard of the miracles that this
Jesus of Nazareth did. And they heard Him speak with
those words that no man ever spoke. And they were astonished
at His doctrine. And they heard and beheld the
gracious words which he spoke. And he stirred their heart. He
moved their heart. He delivered them out of the
hardness of this natural flesh that we all have. And just as
he did it for these men, that's what he does for us. That's what
he does for every one of us. And we're humbled because we
see, you know, I'm a lot like Nicodemus. I'm a lot like Nicodemus. I hide in the shadows and in
darkness and... All my life I had lived trying
to hide and keep down that faith and hope I had in the Lord Jesus
Christ until He delivered me out of darkness. Until He made
me unashamed, unafraid to be identified with the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so that's what He does for
His people. And that first time back in John chapter 3, In verse
2 there, that first nighttime meeting, Nicodemus said unto
him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God,
for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be
with him. And our Lord said to him, the
first words he said to Nicodemus here is, verily, verily, verse
3, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God. I think he was saying those words
in a very gracious manner. He's saying, Nicodemus, if you
know that I'm from God, if you see these miracles and you know
that these are of the Father that sent me, that these are
His works that I've come to do and I'm doing them before you,
you can't know that except you're born of God, except you've been
born again, Nicodemus. Now, there's a lot of ignorance
in Nicodemus. There's a lot of darkness in
Nicodemus. And Christ continues to reveal
the truth of his salvation more and more and more to Nicodemus. And so, that's what he did. He
preached more and more to him exactly what our God does for
all his sheep by grace. And you think of it, the Lord
brings his sheep to a place where they hear the gospel. This is,
I know you, this is not the first time or first place where you've
heard the gospel, and yet the Lord has been pleased where you
were to gather you here to hear it, to continue to hear it, and
to firmly establish you in the gospel, to grow you in the grace
and knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He's given
you that graciously. He didn't leave you. He didn't
abandon you. He brought the gospel to you.
And he continues to feed you with the gospel week after week. And so he brings his sheep to
a place where they hear the gospel, where the bread and the wine
of Christ is brought forth to the hungry and the thirsty, to
the needy and the poor, to the trembling and those that are
afraid. And the bread and wine is brought that you might eat
the flesh and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. all who eat this
bread and drink this wine, they're weary, weak, sinners, sinful
prisoners of darkness, afraid to own him in the light. And
yet God says to his servants, don't you hold back that that
the most precious thing you bring to them who have nothing, who
can do nothing for me, nothing for themselves, who have nothing
to give, you give them the very best. You hold nothing back. You bring to them the Lord Jesus
Christ. Don't beat them with the law.
They're fearful and they're afraid. Don't beat them with the law.
They've lived in darkness. Be kind and be gracious, even
as the Lord has been kind and gracious to you. be merciful. Declare to them the salvation,
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Shine forth that light of Christ
to them, and He's the one that draws His people out of darkness
by His power, by His power. And it's a comfort to see just
how long it took for Nicodemus, who came to Him here and remained
in darkness all the way until his death. And sometimes it takes
a long time. But trust the Lord. You continue
to preach the gospel. Continue to share the gospel.
Continue to declare what Christ has done for you in grace and
in mercy. And the Lord will take that bread
and wine and nourish his sheep with it. And they'll be stirred
with it. and in time, in the day of His grace, they'll come
out of their darkness. And so our Lord declared our
need for God's grace. He didn't turn Nicodemus away,
but rather he expounded unto him the gift of God, how that
God gives life to sinners like Nicodemus, like you and me. And he said in verse 7, then,
he told Nicodemus at the very end of it, he said, ye must be
born again. And when he said that, he's saying
to all his people, he's telling us, you've got to be born again. You can't come to God. You don't
know these things without the Spirit of God. We don't know
how to worship God. Our works are sinful works. The works of darkness, when we
try to come to God in our good works, by ceremony, by form,
by religion, by doing this and not doing that, those works are
wicked works. Those works of righteousness
that men do are wicked works. because they're not done in faith,
in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. We need a new birth, a heavenly
birth, and only God gives that birth. Only God can give us that
heavenly birth, and He gives it to whom He will. And so you
look at Nicodemus, and Nicodemus was a learned man. He was a teacher
in Israel. He knew the scriptures, and yet
he didn't know these things. He knew the form and the religion. He knew the ceremonies. He knew
the sacrifices, but he didn't know Christ until God revealed
it to him. And that says a lot to us. It
says a lot to me, and it says a lot to us that it's not being
in the Christian religion. It's not knowing the hymns, it's
not knowing scriptures, it's knowing Christ. And we can do
a lot of good things that the Lord uses means, and we can come
and hear the gospel, and we should, we ought to, we ought to pray,
we ought to read, we ought to come and hear the gospel. But
We need God to bless it to our hearts because Nicodemus was
steeped in it as well and didn't know it until God blessed it
to him, until God gave him a new birth by the Spirit. And so the
Lord preached regeneration, the regeneration of sinners by the
Holy Spirit, verse 5 and 6. Jesus answered, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of
the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit. Alright, our birth in Adam, we
don't know God. We are bound in darkness, bound
in sin, imprisoned, shut up from God and from the truth and from
the light. We don't know until we're born
of the Spirit. And so when our Lord came, and
He gave His life for His people, and He died and was buried, and
rose again, He went to the Father, and the Father and the Son sent
the Holy Spirit to seek out the lost sheep of Christ and to turn
them, to remove that veil that's on the heart, and to turn us
to behold our Lord, to behold our God in the face of Jesus
Christ. to behold Him, to see Him, to
worship Him, to cry out to Him and to believe on Him, as He
works that faith, because He works faith in us. And so it's
Christ that sanctifies us, giving us His Spirit, regenerating us
from death, making us alive unto Him, through that new birth,
born of the seed of Christ, and now we understand the things
of God and believe His Son. And Christ preached, then, redemption. He then preached the need for
our redemption, that the way where our sins are put away are
by the death of Christ. Look at John 3, 15, 16. That whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Christ had to die for His people. Sin must be punished. And so God sent His Son as the
Lamb of God to bear the sins of His people, that He might
justly punish that sin, that He might be justly gracious to
His people. Without that death, we have no
life. Without the death of Christ,
we do not have the forgiveness of sins. Without the death of
Christ, we don't have fellowship with the true and living God.
We just continue in darkness. Romans 5, 8, 9 says, God commendeth
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, yet in darkness,
yet unknowing of the true and living God, Christ died for us.
Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through him. And so God is just to forgive
us our sins because He justly punished Christ by making Him
to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. That God might be just in justifying
us. And He did all of that work. He justly punished His Son and
justly forgives us who believe His Son. And whatever took place
there was exactly what needed to take place that God might
be just and perfect and holy and righteous in all that He
does. And so we may rest in Christ who loved me and gave Himself
for me. And every one of His people rejoice
in that very truth. And then Christ preached to Nicodemus
the blessings of God in Christ. Look at verse 19, 19 and 20 there,
and this is the condemnation, that light is coming to the world,
and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds
were evil. For everyone that doeth evil
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved. And so, that's why men remain
in darkness. That's why men remain hidden
from coming to Christ, because they love their wicked deeds. They love their wicked deeds,
and they remain there if left to themselves, if left to their
choice, if left to do their work to please God. We can't change
ourselves. We can't do it. We must be born
again. Now Nicodemus had to have thought
on those words. He had to have thought on those
words that Christ said. It was up through verse 21 that
Christ was speaking to Nicodemus. He had to rethink about that
a long time as he was remaining in among the Jewish leadership
there, and it probably stung. It probably stung as he remained
hidden, a hidden disciple of Christ. God would be gracious
to him. Yet God was very gracious to
him and drew him more and more to himself. And so, here's the
effect of God's blessing him for Christ's sake. In verse 21,
John 3, 21, But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that
his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. You know, how often in our lives
can we look back and say, I hid there in that moment, I could
have said something, I should have said something, and I said
nothing, I did nothing, and I remained hidden in the darkness. Just
like Nicodemus. You know, a lot of times we want
to be harsh and critical and judgmental of Nicodemus, but
in reality we're being harsh and judgmental and critical of
ourselves. and the Lord's showing us that
that's how we all are we're all in hiding we all lurk about in
the darkness until God is gracious and draws us into that light
and it takes the death of Christ and and when we behold his death
for us and we die to self in the flesh then we come to light
then we come to the body of Christ, are drawn to that body of Christ
to worship our God, to fellowship with the saints of God, just
like what we see as a little microcosm there between him and
Joseph of Arimathea. They were drawn to the body as
the body of Christ and met in fellowship over that body of
Christ who loved them and gave himself for them. I was thinking of Isaiah 49,
verse 9 and 10, where Christ says, to the prisoners, go forth. To them that are in darkness,
show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways,
and their pastors shall be in all high places, safely out in
the open. They don't care who sees them.
They're safe in Christ. They shall not hunger nor thirst,
neither shall the heat nor sun smite them." That's because we
can, in Christ, we can stand before the throne of holy God
who sees all things and not be destroyed or burned up. We're
covered with the righteousness of Christ. We could stand before
the burning, glorious righteousness of God as if we were right on
the surface of the sun and be safe and protected by the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's how precious, how sufficient,
how complete you are, how full your salvation is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he says, for he that hath
mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water
shall he guide them. you won't feel the heat of God's
wrath because you'll be drinking of those cool, refreshing waters
that flow up from the belly, the Spirit of God which has regenerated
you and given you life evermore in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so we see here the gracious work that God did for these two men
after Christ's death. And then fruit was manifest in
them publicly. showing that He was their hope.
He was the hope of their righteousness. They believed that He was the
Christ, the Son of the living God, whom they slew and hung
on a tree. But it was necessary. His death
was necessary for their salvation, just as it's necessary for our
salvation, all that believe on Christ. Our Lord had said previous
to this in John 12, 24, barely, barely, I say unto you, except a corn
of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. I have little seed packets from
the garden, and those seeds sit there in those packets alone.
They're not dead. They're just sitting there alone.
They don't do anything. They don't produce any plant
and no fruit on it until they fall into the ground and die. But that's what he says, but
if it die, if it go to the ground and is buried, it bringeth forth
much fruit. much fruit. And that's what we're
to understand about the death of Christ. In this little picture
here is that his death brought an abundance of fruit in all
his people. Without that death we cannot
be saved because there's no commandment that God had given us that but
whereby we could be saved. There's just no commandment.
That's how ruined, how sinful, how dark, how dead we are in
trespasses and sins in Adam. And so Christ died, he was buried,
and raised again. And we'll close with John 19
verse 41 and 42. Now in the place where he was
crucified, there was a garden. This is probably about a hundred,
maybe 130 feet away from where he was crucified, they think. There was a garden, and in the
garden a new supplicar wherein was never man yet laid. There
lay they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day."
It was basically evening and they had to get it done. But
the supplicar was nigh at hand. And this is the grave where our
Lord was laying and where he rose from. And that's when he
accomplished our redemption in his death, burial, and resurrection.
We thank God for that, and we bless him because we're no better
than Joseph, and we're no better than Nicodemus. We might think we're rich in
ourselves, but we're poor men who need the grace of God and
the riches he gives us in Christ. Amen. Our gracious Lord, we thank you
for your grace. We thank you for this view of
Christ, this sight of your servant whom you sent, who performed
that glorious work as the servant of God for his people. The King
laying down his life for the life of his people. Lord, it's
so beautiful, it's so glorious and wonderful to behold the love
of our Savior. Thank you. Lord, we can never
repay you. We thank you for giving us life
by your life, through your death, and putting us to death and giving
us life in Christ, sanctified and justified and holy and righteous
in him. Lord, thank you. We pray that
you would continue to help us, draw us out of darkness more
and more as you did for Nicodemus, revealing to us, revealing in
us that faith and that hope, that knowledge and understanding
in the Lord Jesus Christ that you give to your saints. It's
in Christ's name we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right, we're going to close
with hymn number 75, Abide With Me. All right, hymn 75. Oh, hold on.
I got a frog. Abide with me, fast falls the
eventide. The darkness deepens, Lord with
me abide. When other helpers fail and comforts
flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me. Swift to its close, ebbs out
life's little day. Earth's joys grow dim, its glories
pass away. Change and decay in all around
I see. O Thou who changest not, abide
with me. I need Thy presence every passing
hour. What but Thy grace can for the
tempter's pow'r? Who like Thyself my guide and
stay can be? Through cloud and sunshine, O
abide with me. Hold thou thy word before my
closing eyes. Shine through the gloom and point
me to the skies. Heaven's mourning breaks, and
earth's vain shadows flee. In life, in death, O Lord, abide
with me. Okay, you're dismissed.