In the Garden of Gethsemane,
when the Lord Jesus Christ suffered, it was not a suffering of mental
or of physical affliction. When He went to the cross, though
He did suffer physical affliction, there was more soul affliction. There was the affliction that
caused Him to sweat great drops of blood. This affliction that
our Lord suffered was more than any kind of a fleshly agony. The affliction He suffered was
the agony of the Lord laying on Him the iniquity of all His
people. It was the suffering the Lord
endured as He bare our sins in His own body on the tree. It
was the suffering our Lord endured when this One who is light, this
One who gives the sun and the sky its light, was engulfed in
great darkness for three hours that He might deliver His people
from the power of darkness. This One who is the light was
engulfed in darkness of soul agony and then finally cried
out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Two things
that are the most unparalleled things in the history
of this world. God in infinite justice forsaking
the mediator on the cross And yet, as he's being separated,
the mediator crying out in perfect faithfulness, my God, my God. And when he had accomplished
everything that he was sent to do, when he had satisfied himself
by the travail of his soul, He said, it is finished. And after
that, he voluntarily, of his own will, not being killed by
the cross, not having his life taken from him by men, not having
suffered and gasped in agony until he finally just couldn't
stand it anymore and he just wilted away like a flower. No,
he released his spirit from himself, saying, Father, into thy hands
I commend my spirit. And he gave up the ghost. And
when he had done this, by his willing obedience unto death,
having made complete satisfaction for his particular elect people,
having effectually obtained eternal redemption for them, having suffered
and died in their room instead, the Lord Jesus Christ was laid
in a tomb. He was buried in a grave. His body was buried in a grave. Now, it's a great mystery for
us to consider our Redeemer incarnate, that God came in human flesh. It's a mystery that faith receives,
that faith says, I believe. We can't put it into terms that
you can make any man. If you could put it into terms
that you could make a man logically believe it, somebody else would
come along, a better persuader than you, and make them logically
not believe. Faith says, I believe. It's a
great mystery that our Lord Jesus Christ gave His life as our substitute
and surety, was made sin and satisfied justice on the cross. He was made flesh that He might
put away sin. It's a great mystery. But faith
says, bless God, it's so. I believe it. It's a great, great
mystery, equally as mysterious, that our Lord, our Savior, our
Master was resurrected from the dead. If Christ be not risen, then
is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. It's a great
mystery, but faith believes. Faith sees Him seated in glory,
and we believe. But still, Our God doesn't take
us from the cross to the resurrection of Christ. That's not where He
takes us. He takes us from the cross, from Christ giving up
the ghost, and He takes us to a grave. He takes us to a tomb
where Christ was buried. where he was buried. But by doing
so, the Spirit of God going to great lengths to declare to us
that Christ Jesus died, that he really died. Using friend
and foe to declare to us plainly through the scriptures that he
really died. In this we behold a greater light,
we behold that He having really died, we have a greater hope
when we behold Him really risen from the dead. We've got to see
Him first in the grave, and then we can enter into this great,
great glorious truth and see ourselves with Him in the grave.
And then we can glory and rejoice. We'll find out what that means.
We'll find greater reason to rejoice when we find out what
it means that He's risen from the dead. So let's see that this
morning. Turn with me now there to Matthew
27 verse 57. I read this verse to you, verse
66. So they went and made the sepulchre
sure, sealing the stone and setting a watch. Now let's work our way
down to that verse and see our Savior in the grave. Let's see
what we can learn from this. Christ's death and His burial
through his burial was witnessed by his disciples. First of all,
verse 57, it says, when the even was come, this is when our Lord
had been crucified, there came a rich man of Arimathea named
Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple. The scripture
tells us in John that Nicodemus came as well. Nicodemus was the
one who came to him by night and spoke to him. Nicodemus came. Nicodemus believed God. He trusted
the Lord Jesus, was indeed the Messiah. So did Joseph of Arimathea. Verse 58, he went to Pilate,
Joseph did, and begged the body of Jesus. You see this? He doesn't go to Pilate and beg
Jesus. He goes to Pilate and begs the
body. He wants the body of Jesus. Then
Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. The body. The body. Pilate knew there was
no life in this body. And so he gave him the body to
be delivered. Alright? What do you do with
a body that has no life in it? You have to prepare it for burial.
Look at verse 59. And when Joseph hath taken the
body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth. John 19, 40, he
says, they took the body of Jesus and wound it in linen clothes
with the spices as the manner of the Jews is to bury. They
got his body ready to bury. It means he's dead. There's no
life in it. He's gone. The life's gone out
of that body. Now look here in verse 60. And they laid it in his own new
tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock, which Joseph had made
in the rock. That tomb there, brand new. And
he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher and departed.
There were no other remains in this tomb to pollute it. No dead
body in there. There was no other body there
so that anybody could say it was another that was risen. It
was a tomb of rock, so there was no way anybody could dig
in it from any other side and come into it. And there was a
great stone put over it to cover the door of it. This was a grave. It was a grave. He was buried.
And the Lord provided some other faithful witnesses. Look at verse
61. And there was Mary Magdalene
and the other Mary sitting over against the sepulcher. Mary Magdalene
is the one out of whom the Lord cast seven devils, and this other
Mary is the mother of James. Josie, the mother of Zebedee's
children. I went home this past week. While
I was there, I got in my sister's vehicle and I drove around some
of the old roads out by my parents' house. One of the things I did
was I went down to the family cemetery. And I can remember,
it just seemed like I was with my grandfather just yesterday. It seemed like I was with my
great-grandparents just yesterday. But I went down there, and there's
their grave. There it is. And it's, they're
dead. No, their bodies are there. They're
dead. They're dead. That's what we
see here. The Lord God is recording in
the Scriptures. He's making it very clear to
us, the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures, that there was no life in Christ.
His life was gone. His body was lifeless. Totally lifeless. And it was
buried. It was completely buried. Well, his foes bear witness to
this as well. Look at verse 62. Verse 62. Now, the next day, the day that
followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees
came together unto Pilate. Now, unbelief never rests. Unbelief never is content, never
rests. These men had rejected the Sabbath,
Christ the Lord, for a day. These men had rejected the lawgiver
in a pretense of keeping the law. These men had rejected Christ
our Passover in pretense of observing a ceremony. But here they are,
these ones who accused the Lord of of breaking the Sabbath because
he healed somebody. He made men every whit hole on
the Sabbath day and because he fed the hungry on the Sabbath
day. And they said he's a lawbreaker, not fit to live. And here these
very men are who said this, and they're breaking the very precious
day they claim to be honoring by going to Pilate and asking
him what they're about to ask you. And they're doing it in
a pretense that, let's don't let greater error be committed. Religion. Two kinds of people,
two kinds of people were at the foot of the cross, crucifying
the Lord. Two kinds of people. And these
two kinds of people are the same kind of people. They're not an
out of difference between them, and they make up everybody in
this world outside of Christ. They're profane sinful people
who could give a hoot about religion whatsoever, have no care for
it whatsoever. It's just a murder and bloodsport to them. And the
other kind were people who were trying to keep the law, come
to God by righteousness in the law. And you know what the problem
was in the heart? They weren't holy. They hadn't
been sanctified. And everything they did was unrighteous
thereby. Well, here they are. But they
bear witness that Christ truly died. Look at verse 63. This
is what they said. Sir, we remember that that deceiver
said while he was yet alive. You see that? He said this while
he was yet alive. After three days I'll rise again.
They claim they didn't know what he meant when he said that when
he was living. But now that he's dead, they say, we know exactly
what he meant. He meant he was talking about
himself. But they admit here, he was alive. When he was yet
alive, this is what he told us. Look at verse 2. Next, the Lord's
going to use his enemies to secure that tomb. Verse 64, this is
what they say, command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure
until the third day lest his disciples come by night and steal
him away and say unto the people he's risen from the dead. So
the last error shall be worse than the first. There's something to be said
about these kind of people worried about error, isn't it? Something
to be said about about the crucifiers of the Prince of Life worried
about error. If we truly trust He is the Prince
of Life, we ain't got to be worried about error. The Prince of Life
rules in the hearts of His people. He'll take care of the error.
He will. Verse 65 says, Pilate said unto
them, Ye have a watch. Go your way, make it as sure
as ye can. So they went and made the sepulchre
sure, sealing the stone and setting a watch." The sovereign hand
of God is amazing, isn't it? Now make no mistake, there is
a lifeless body laying in that tomb. But He is still the Son
of God. He is still the second person
in the Trinity. He is still God. And God the
Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are still
reigning. God is still moving everything just according to
His purpose. Just as much as those sinful
hands crucified Christ on the cross and fulfilled His purpose
by His Oh, by His taking the reins off of them and allowing
them to do so, by His taking the reins off of them here and
putting it in their heart to go and make sure that sepulcher
and seal it, and they're doing His bidding right here just the
same. Just the same. He pours contempt upon princes,
the Scripture says, and weakens the strength of the mighty. The
Proverbs said, Surely He scorneth the scorners. but He gives grace to the humble.
You know who it is that's going to end up telling the lie? You know who it is that's going
to end up saying that the disciples came and stole His body? These
very ones who've made it sure. These very ones who've sealed
it up so that they know there's absolutely no way anybody could
have come and stolen His body. Look there at the end of verse
28. Verse 11, I'm sorry, end of chapter
20, verse 11. Now when they were going, behold,
some of the watch came into the city and showed unto the chief
priests all the things that were done. And when they were assembled
with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave large money
unto the soldiers. This was after Christ had risen.
Saying, Say ye, his disciples came by night and stole him away
while we slept. And if this come to the governor's
ears, we'll persuade him and secure you." So they took the
money and did as they were taught. And this saying is commonly recorded
among the Jews under this day. These very ones who went and
made sure the sepulcher, sealed it, were staying wide awake to
make sure there wasn't a soul could come in there, ended up
going back and telling the Jews, he's risen. He's risen. And they said, here's the money.
You go tell people somebody stole his body away. You go tell them. So, the Holy Spirit here teaches
us, brethren, by friend and foe, just as real as the Holy Ghost
moved upon the Virgin, and that thing that was conceived of her
is called the Son of God. Just as real as Christ is Emmanuel,
God with us, walking this earth in human flesh. Just that real. Christ died. He died. He gave up the ghost and there
was no life in that body in the tomb. Just as real as Christ
was manifest to be holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,
in that when He was reviled, He reviled not again. He did
no sin. There was no guile found in His
mouth, but He committed everything unto Him that judgeth righteously.
Just as holy as He was, just as real as He is, holy, harmless,
undefiled, Christ died. He laid down His life. No man
took it from Him. He laid it down of Himself. Just
as real as man's depravity is manifest in the fact that His
visage was marred more than any other man. Who did that? Man
did that. Man did that. Just as real as he was despised
and rejected of men, he laid down his life and he really died. Life went out of him. Just as
the Lord's cry of separation on the cross because the Lord
was pouring out wrath upon Him. He was enduring the hell that
all His people deserved. Just as real as He cried out
and said, it is finished. Just as real as the sun refused
to shine for three hours. So our Lord was really and truly
cut off out of the land of the living. He really and truly was
buried in a grave, and he really truly lay there in that grave,
his body, his body for three days. This is what Charles Spurgeon
wrote. I like this. He said, though
some in our own times would reduce redemption to something shadowy
and unsubstantial, That's what I'm trying to say to you. There's
nothing shadowy and unsubstantial about our Redeemer. He came in
flesh. He's holy in flesh. He went to
the cross and bore the sins of His people in the flesh. He satisfied
justice in the flesh. He gave up the ghost in the flesh.
He was buried in the grave in the flesh. And He rose from the
dead in the flesh. Well, what does this mean to
you and me? Turn over to Romans 6. What does that mean that He
just... Second hour, we're going to talk
about Him being risen. But this hour, we're going to
talk about that lifeless body. What does it mean that this one,
that His body was there, buried? What does that mean? Look over
at Romans 6. I want to show you just the first
portions of some Scripture. Romans 6. Look at verse 3. Know ye not
that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized
into His death? What did you say when you went
in the watery grave? What were you saying? Verse 4. We're buried with Him
by baptism in the death. We're saying when He was buried,
died, I died. I died. Look down at verse 6.
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the
body of sin might be destroyed. The old man, the body of sin,
is dead. It's crucified. It's dead. You know what that is? That's
everything that separates, everything that keeps a believer from God
is dead. It's gone. Everything that would
separate us from our God, it's gone. It's dead. Look down at
verse 10. For in that he died, he died
unto sin once. What happened for everybody he
represented when he died? They died unto sin. They died
unto sin. Look at verse 11. Likewise reckon
ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. How much sinning you reckon you
gonna do when they take you in a long black limousine down to
the graveyard and dump you in there and cover you up? None. How dead you gonna be to
sin then? Completely dead to it. You know
how dead the believer is to sin now? Just that dead to it. Just that dead to it. Just that dead to it. Well, what
about sin that's still in my members? What about sin that's
still... I see it, I feel it, I hate it, I despise it. What
about that sin that's still with me all the time, every day? Look
down at verse 14. Sin shall not have dominion over
you, for you're not under the law but under grace. If the Spirit
of Christ dwells in you, if you've been made alive by the Spirit
of God, if Christ dwells in you by His grace, You know who's
going to keep you from sin, from overcoming you and your members?
You know who's going to deliver you from this body of death?
You know who's going to deliver you out of the captivity of your
sin and your members? Even right now while you live
in this body of death? He is. Why? Because He's already
delivered us from it entirely. From the condemnation of it,
from the guilt of it. And He's going to deliver us
from the... He's delivered us from the dominion of it. It's
not going to have dominion over His people. Now look at Romans
7. That was dealing with that, just
that lewdness and sinfulness of the flesh. Remember I said
there's two kinds of people sitting there at the cross. Two kinds
of people, one just profane, sinful, just loving what they
were doing, murdering the Prince of Life. Wouldn't you say that's
just bad? You could just name any sin that's
just open, profane sin, wouldn't you say that'd be about the worst?
Crucifying the Prince of Life. All the sin is broken, right? Just everything that you could
think of, the very lubeness you could think of, right there broken.
And other kind of people sitting there was doing it, calling on
God and saying, oh, it's good to be righteous and holy. Oh,
let's don't trust Christ too much. Now we might take the holiness
out of man's hand, take righteousness out of man's hand and put it
all in God's. How about we do that? How about we do that exactly? Look at Paul now. We're going
to deal with those kinds of folks too. Verse 7, know ye not brethren,
for I speak to them that know the law. Chapter 7, Romans 7. How that the law hath dominion
over a man as long as he liveth. For the woman, it gives the example. Now this is what, this is really
and truly what the law of adultery is teaching us. This is the true
meaning of the law of adultery. It will keep, it will to some
degree curb in the flesh whoremongers and harlots, but not really.
Not really. It won't do a thing about the
eye and the heart. But this is what God does when
he comes and teaches you what the law is, and this is how he
truly brings us into subjection. Watch this now. This is the meaning
of the law of adultery. The woman which hath a husband
is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. But if
the husband be dead, she's loose from the law of her husband.
You understand that, don't you? Understand that law? This is
Paul's teaching, using the law lawfully. Using the law as it
ought to be used. If a woman's married to a man,
she's lawfully bound to that man as long as that man lives.
So that if she's married to another while he lives, she's called
an adulteress. The law states that plainly. What about that
woman called an adulteress? What about those who are adulteress?
Does that mean I can't ever come to God anymore? Because I was
divorced and married somebody else. What's that mean for me?
So then if while her husband liveth, she be married to another
man, she be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she's
free from that law, so that she's no adulteress, though she be
married to another man. Verse four, wherefore, my brethren,
ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ. That you should be married to
another. even to him that is raised from
the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Are you dead to the law? Are you dead to the law? Has the law been satisfied and
you laid in the grave so that you're dead to the law and the
law is dead to you? So that now you can actually
and truly are married to Christ who is your husband, who has
provided all for you and provides all for you and leads you and
guides you and protects you so that you can bring forth fruit
unto Him who fills you with the Spirit, inseminates you with
the Holy Spirit of God, and causes you to bring forth children unto
righteousness, fruit unto holiness, true children, true life, true
fruit. Are you still saying, now we
can't tell people that, because you're wanting to come to Him
in that old husband. That old husband's going to be
glad. That old husband's going to meet you. And that old husband,
you're going to find out, is going to be God Himself who you
can't satisfy. You're going to find out it's
the very law of God, the very righteousness of God that you
can't satisfy. And He's going to say, alright,
let's take your obedience, let's take your righteousness, let's
take everything that you said I'd be proud of, and let's set
it up right here. Now here's the man I'm pleased
with. Now who are you? Now who are you? Who are you? Oh, that today we might behold
in that tomb, we might behold all our sin, all our body of
sin, all our so-called righteousnesses, all our so-called holiness, all
satisfaction to the law, everything that is required of us. God says,
I'm satisfied. You're dead to sin. You're dead
to the law. that we might truly cease being
those two men, that outward profane sinner who is all self-righteousness
and all legalism and all lawless, and he's always trying to constantly
teeter between the two and balance the tight rope and come to God
that way. May God kill that man in every one of us and make us
behold that when Christ died for us, we died. And now we may
become one new man in Christ Jesus and truly bring forth fruit
unto righteousness. Be dead unto sin and alive unto
God. Dead to the law and alive to
Christ Jesus the Lord, married to another. You know why they killed Christ?
Because He told them that. He told them that. He told him
that's who he was. That's what he was coming to
do. That's what he came to accomplish. And so they killed him. What
will you do? What will you do? I can assure
you of this. You will do nothing but accomplish
that which God has purposed from the beginning to be done. And
yet if it's against God and his Christ, the wicked hands will
by no means be justified in crucifying him afresh. Theirs wasn't and
ours won't either. But if we can lay down everything
and latch hold of Christ and say, praise God, I believe you,
it is finished. And Christ says, Flesh and blood
didn't reveal that to you, my Father which is in heaven. And
he purposed to do it before he made the first grain of sand. Amen.