Brother Roy Baldwin said to me,
we just heard wonderful messages yesterday morning. He said to me how much of a blessing
it was and how blessed he was by hearing Brother Gabe preach
and how the Lord blessed his preaching. He said, you know,
it doesn't matter who's preaching, does it? It's the same message.
I said, that's true. So true. I love it when there's
a dilemma of which text to preach which hour. Both the same message,
and sometimes I just don't know which to preach when. But Matthew
27, read verses 57 and 58 with me. When the evening was come,
there came a rich man of Arimathea. named Joseph, who also himself
was Jesus' disciple. He went to Pilate and begged
the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body
to be delivered. A rich man begged him. A rich
beggar. And the thing he begged for was
a most unlikely thing. The body. The dead body. of the Lord Jesus Christ. A rich
man came. Now, this is recorded in all
four Gospels. It must be a blessing. It must be necessary. This rich
man comes begging, and one of the Gospels says craving. He
craved, desired the body of Christ. Now, this body is not just any
body. This is the body of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God who was manifest in the flesh.
A body, as thou prepared me. Scripture said, that body which
bore our sins in it on the tree. That body of which Christ said,
this is my body which is broken for you. This was a precious
body. This is the only Lamb of God. This is a sacred body. This is
a pure and sinless body. Sinless flesh. The only one that
had ever been on this earth. Sinless flesh. In my flesh and
in your flesh dwelleth no good thing, but in His flesh. spotless
Lamb of God, you see, the Passover Lamb, which the high priest took
once a year to be slain. And that blood was kept to be
poured on the mercy seat. But that body, he said, don't
break a bone of it. Roast the whole body, complete,
whole. And that Lamb of God was special,
it was precious, it was vital. If you don't have a Lamb, you
don't have atonement. It was sacred, it was holy, it
was consecrated, it was for God. God said, you offer that to me,
to me. This lamb, this spotless lamb
of God was offered to God. And that precious body, that
precious body of the Lord Jesus Christ, was to be treated with,
like that lamb, treated with great respect, great reverence,
and great honor, and with care, and with love, and with tenderness. And at this time, the whole world
had abused this body, with wicked hands had taken and marred his
body beyond recognition. had abused his sacred body, but
they did what God determined before to be done. And they were
about to take that holy thing when the child was born. When God was manifest in the
flesh, the angels, that's what they said. They'd never seen
anything like it. That holy thing, that child that is born with
the Son of God is in this body. That holy thing. And that holy
thing, holy flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ was about to be
like they did to all malefactors that were crucified. They were
about to take that precious body and throw it in a common grave
with the rest of these criminals, so that you couldn't recognize
His body from the rest. That's what they did. They threw these worthless criminals
into an open grave, those dead bodies. It was just going to
be one more vile body, they thought. Amongst many. The bones of one
amongst many. Back in the Old Testament is
the story of the death of King Saul and Jonathan. Three sons
actually, Jonathan and two others. What the Philistines did was
they mutilated their bodies. They killed King Saul and cut
his head off like they did John the Baptist. And they hung the
bodies of Saul and his sons on a wall to be picked by the flesh
clean, picked by the animals and the birds and so forth. And
the Scripture says, valiant men. Valiant men arose and went all
night long, journeyed all night long and took the bodies of Saul
and Jonathan, took them away to afford them an honorable burial. And always throughout the years
in every God-fearing nation on this earth, any nation, every
nation where the truth is preached of God's Word down through the
years, every nation, the bodies of our slain in war, in battle,
have always been recovered. Always been recovered. The motto
of the Navy SEALs to this day is, no man left behind. We're
not going to leave their dead bodies behind. These men have
laid down their lives for us, and we're going to get their
bodies and afford them a burial, a hero's burial, an honorable
burial. And so they do. The one who died
for them. And so after the enemies of God
and the enemies of Christ had abused and marred the body of
God's Son and would have thrown that precious body into a common
grave, God said, no, no. No, no. You've done enough. And this body is going to be
buried by itself in such a way, in a place where you know that's
the only one in there, and when you go looking for it, you won't
find it. There will be no denying who
it was in there and who is not in there. who was in there but
came out. And God had a chosen man. God
is going to have His Son, the body of His Son, treated with
great honor and respect. And what does this say about
the Catholic mass? What does this say about people,
false religion, how they treat the body and the blood of our
Lord Jesus Christ? It's an abomination to God. He
was offered once, not to be slain again. And we remember Him, don't
we, in His burial. And God said that He's going
to bury His Beloved. Like He did Moses, remember?
God buried Moses Himself and didn't tell anybody where it
was. So they wouldn't worship Him. And this was a private ceremony
between God and Moses, His friend. God is going to enshrine His
only Son. And so it was, God had a chosen
man for this job, to do what needed to be done, while a few
women were witnesses. Just a few poor women got to
witness this, and you are this morning. We've got very few here
this morning. Oh, I hope you'll witness. A
wonderful thing, and I hope you'll be like this rich man, begging
the body. All right, a rich man came begging.
Every word is significant. Every line is God-breathed. Like
my pastor preached this morning, the Word of God. It's the Word
of God. Verse 57, when the evening was
come, when the evening was come, this was the end of the day.
The day is almost over. The sun is set. And the Scripture
says these are the last days, aren't they? The very last day
when Christ came, it was the last day. This generation, our
Lord says, shall not pass away. All these things beautifully
fulfilled. It was the end of the day and now is the last day.
This is the evening of the world. We are in the evening of the
world. The sun is set right now at the
right hand of God, is it not? And he's getting ready to rise
again. The sun has set. We're in the last days, and while
it is called today, if you will hear his voice. Harden not your
heart. Christ died. One of the old preachers,
I think it was Martin Luther, said, we ought to preach as if
Christ died yesterday, was buried today, and is coming again tomorrow. That's how vital this is. That's
how true it is. And for all we know, He just
might. We don't know. He might be coming
today. Oh, I hope He comes today for
us in the Gospel, don't you? I hope the Lord will find a beggar
in here this morning begging the body of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, blessed are they that hunger and thirst. Christ said, this
is my body. Blessed are they that eat my
body and drink my flesh. These are the last days. There
came a rich man, verse 57, there came a rich man of Arimathea
named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple, like these
women, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Salome and others. But there came a rich man and
begged, pleaded, craved, had to have, was not going to go
away without this body. You see where we go on with this?
Where the Lord, why He wrote this? Number one, that the Scriptures
might be fulfilled. Isaiah 53, He made His grave
with the rich, chapter 1, verse 9. But also is a picture of every
believer, every one whom God has chosen and called, He makes
them beggars. They beg for one thing, needful,
the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And He came begging and would
to God. He would make us beggars today
and bring in somebody rich. Brother John prayed that. You
know, add, Lord, reveal Yourself to someone. He would bring somebody
in here that was rich. Not materially, but religiously. Think they're rich and make them
poor. Or bring in somebody that's poor and let them go out of here
rich. Silver and gold we don't have, but such as we have, we'll
give them the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Would
to God that he would bring in somebody high and make them low.
Somebody low and make them high. It says, there came a rich man.
Why did he come? Why was he a disciple? Because
God said. All that the Father giveth me
shall come unto me. And not many wise men of the
flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God has
some, not many. It was one of the old queens
in England that once said, I thank God for the letter M. Somebody
said, What do you mean? She said, well, the Scripture
doesn't say not any noble are called, but not many. I didn't come to call the righteous,
but sinners. It doesn't say that there won't
be any of these self-righteous. Saul of Tarsus was very glad
that he called a few Pharisees. Rich man, chosen of God like
the rest, born of God, born of His Spirit, a disciple, a follower
of the Lord Jesus Christ. John 19 says, and this is necessary
to hear this. John 19 said he was secretly
a disciple for a while. He was secretly a disciple for
fear of the Jews. But now, after seeing Christ
crucified, after hearing what He said on that cross, after
hearing Him say, Father, forgive them, forgive this coward, this
secret disciple. He knows not what he does. After
witnessing Him be silent for him, for his salvation, while
he was silent in denying the Lord, like we do. But finally,
after seeing Christ crucified and hearing His voice, He's got
to come out now. He's got to speak now. He's got
to confess Him now. Seeing Him die on the cross for
Him, this man who was a secret disciple before is secret no
more. Not more. And he comes, boldly
it says, to the Pilate. It doesn't matter. And he risks
his reputation. He risks his riches, his influence,
his seat on the Sanhedrin. He was a member of the Sanhedrin.
One of the Scriptures says that he was a counselor. He was on
that Sanhedrin. And he risks his place. You know
good and well they kicked him off after that. But he was like
that blind man kicked out of the synagogue. He didn't care.
He's now in the kingdom. He's not going to sit with those
scorners anymore, is he? You know, faith cometh by hearing.
Joseph of Arimathea heard the Lord speak. And obviously, he
heard Him before. You know, this thing wasn't done
in a corner. Everybody had heard of Jesus
of Nazareth, and they all went from far and wide, came from
far and wide to hear Him preach. Sermon on the Mount. Thousands
of people heard Him preach. Every town, it says He went into
every village and every city, didn't it? Had they not all heard,
yes. But all of them had ears, but
they all didn't hear. But bless God, some did. He said, My sheep hear My voice.
I know them. And they'll follow me. Not many,
but some. And he heard, Joseph heard the
gospel through Christ himself, but secretly for fear he wouldn't
acknowledge, wouldn't confess the Lord until after he saw Him
on the cross hanging there for him. And it says in Luke 23,
it says, he did not consent unto the counsel. Luke 23 says that
he was on that council when they all met together to conspire
against the Lord, to destroy Him. It says he didn't consent
to that. I know no part of this. That's what he said. Why is that?
Who made him to differ? Now, no doubt he had rejected
Christ before. Everybody does. Right? All of
us did. We did despise Him and reject
Him. Every person in this room. We
weren't born a believer. We rejected the truth, all of
us. To be not interested is rejecting. To treat the Gospel with indifference
is to kill Him. It's to say, I don't care if
He lived or died. I don't care if He hung on the cross or not.
And so did Joseph of Arimathea. But there came a time in God's
time where He said, you're going to believe. God said, you're
going to believe to this fellow. You're not going to be part and
parcel to these God-haters and these Christ-haters. You're going
to be one of My Son's disciples. You're going to hear My Son.
You're going to see His glory, and you're going to follow Him.
Or He wouldn't have, would He? Salvation is by command. Salvation
is by election. Salvation is by call. Salvation
is by God's choice, not ours. Salvation is by the sovereign
power and drawing power of the Holy Spirit of God. And every
one of God's sheep are going to come, rich, poor, young, old,
black, white, male, female, Jew, Gentile. He has them out of every
tribe, a mixed multitude from all over. And they're coming,
buddy, and they're going to follow Christ. And they're going to
beg for the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. So though He was an unbeliever
at first and secret at first, He's coming out, buddy. And all
of God's people do. If you don't confess Christ publicly,
you're not one of His disciples. And He's going to confess before
all, I believe. I don't care anymore what anybody,
what they think about me. I don't matter anymore after
seeing Him die for me. In fact, I want to be just crucified
with him. He's going to confess him. He's
going to base himself and he's going to honor God's Son. Now,
this man was a miracle, as we said, as Scripture said, not
many wise men, not many rich men. Our Lord said that. Our
Lord said, how hardly shall they that have riches enter the kingdom
of heaven. Why isn't this building full
right now? I'm preaching the unsearchable riches of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and we do it every time. Why aren't our churches – all
the churches are just like this, with the exception of one or
two, and yet, still, two or three hundred is nothing in modern
religion. They have two or three thousand,
and millions that watch them mar the body of Christ. While
we uphold and glorify and hold up Christ and Him crucified every
time, Preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. Anybody poor? Because this is what we're preaching.
Blessed are the poor in spirit. What have you got for us? What
have you got for our kids? Not silver and gold. That won't
redeem your bodies. Your soul, I mean. Not fun and
games. Such as we have given to you.
Anybody who is poor in spirits, the blessing of the poor, theirs
is the kingdom of God. Blessed are they that mourn.
They'll be comforted. If you're hungry, oh, people
aren't hungry. They've got more food than they
know what to do with. They've got more clothes than they could
wear the rest of their days. But if anybody is naked, guilty,
sinful before God, we preach a robe that will cover the chief
of sinners. Anybody? No? Yeah? Just a few. I'm preaching this
like there's a thousand in here. Preaching like you've never heard
before. Why? Because God's got one thing to
say to poor sinners. Our Lord says to the rich, weep
and howl for the misery that's to come upon you. You're more
interested in stuff than the Son of God. And God is angry. And every one of us in here are
not only rich materially. We're rich materially. We all
need to go to Mexico. Don't we, brethren, those that
have been? We need to go to Mexico. Every American needs to go down
to where the Mayan Indians lived, don't they? Where our brethren
live. Still live, some with grass roofs
and dirt floors. Under a corrupt government. But
they've got a smile on their face. And the one thing they look forward
to and crave more than life itself, and they'll get in the back of
a pickup truck, 20 of them at a time in a Toyota, and drive
for hours in the hot heat of Mexico to sit in a hot building
with no air conditioning and mosquitoes and fly to hear about
the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're rich. There are those
that have riches and have nothing, the Proverbs say, but there are
those that are poor and have it all. Oh, beware, church of Laodicea,
lest we become rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing
and become lukewarm. God will spew us out of His mouth.
And we are not hungry and thirsty for this same old gospel, begging
the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. So here this rich man came. What
a miracle! He is just as much a miracle
as Mary Magdalene. He's just as much a miracle as
that thief on the cross. How hardly shall they that have
riches enter the kingdom of heaven. It's impossible with man. To make a man more interested
in God that he can't see than gold he's got in his hand. Ask
old Levi. Ask old Matthew. The publican,
he'll tell you, if he hadn't come where I was, if he hadn't
called me by his grave, if he hadn't looked on me with mercy
and grace, I'd still be counting my gold. I'd have died and my
head would have fallen over in the midst of that money. I'd
have died and split hell wide open. Bless God for His sovereign,
electing, calling grace. It made me poor to make me rich. He came begging the body of the
Lord Jesus Christ, craved the body. He must have Him, the One
that died for him. He must confess Him, the One
who had been silent for him. And at the scene, Christ crucified,
hearing his voice, he thought, I've been silent too long. I
will not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. I will not stand
with sinners. I will not sit with scorners
anymore. I must confess Him. before kings. And he went in
boldly to Pilate. And as I said, he risked it all.
In fact, I guarantee you, he lost it all. Oh, what did he
gain? Those things that he thought
were gain, he counted lost for Christ. Just like Moses, he esteemed
the reproach for Christ greater riches than all the treasures
of Egypt. God's got to open a man's eyes to see that. What about
you? What does the body of Christ
mean to you? The body of Christ is His person and His work. The
body of Christ is that Lamb that was slain to put away the sins
of His people. The Lamb that every sinner must
have. What does the body of Christ mean to you? What does the blood
of Christ mean to you? The body of Christ is His church.
Where the head is, the body is. You can't separate the two. If you love Christ, you must
be identified with His body. with his church, with his people. Don't you know that Pilate thought,
what do you want with this dead body? Don't you know that? He came
in begging, sir, would you please let me have the body of Jesus
of Nazareth? And Pilate said, why? Oh, I've got to have it. Please let me have it. What do
you want with the dead body? What good is that dead body to
you? That dead body meant nothing to Pilate, did it? It was just
another malefactor to him, just another man to him. It meant
nothing to him. It meant everything to this rich
man, didn't it? Pilate said, it's just a dead
body. Hang on, Pilate, you're going to see. There may be a dead body to you. But this is the very tabernacle
of my Lord. And He's going to come back.
He's going to enter that body again. And the world looks at what we
do here. And they'd come in here. If anybody came in here this
morning and said, this place is dead, isn't it? No, we once were
dead. Dead and trespassed in sin. We've
been quickened together with Christ. What are you all talking
about this morning? About the dead body of Christ.
That's what we talked about last week. What we're going to talk
about again this morning and Wednesday night, that's what
we're going to talk about. But we're not going to leave it there.
The body's coming out of the grave. But we do talk about His
body. This is my body broken for you,
the gospel and His church, though it may seem dead to the world.
Oh, Christ is life. And these little places, these
little bodies, these little wells of salvation here and there,
this is life. This is no place like it, no
place I'd rather be. Lift up Christ and Him crucified
again and again. And so Pilate commanded. Look at verse 58, Pilate commanded
the body to be delivered. Who told Pilate to do this? God
did. The King's heart is in the hands
of the Lord. Now, later on, you know, they're going to come to
him and say there's a conspiracy around. They're going to hide this body.
And they're going to say he arose and that Pilate, you know, the
King, the highest office of the land, saw to it that this body
was given to this man and saw where he put it and had witnesses
to see that that stone was rolled on the door. There was no denying. The king saw this. King Herod,
pilot, ruler, governor. He saw this. He gave commandment. And you know, the Scripture says
that God's given commandment to save me. And the way He'll
save you and me is to give us Christ and Him crucified. Given
commandment. Give Him my Son. Give Him what
He asks. You know, the Lord will give
you whatever you ask for. He'll give the commandment. Whatever
you ask. Ask, He says, you shall receive. Seek, you shall find. Not much. Knock, it'll be opened
unto you. Beg, and it'll be given to you. The commandment will come. Whatever you desire. The Lord
will fulfill the desire of them that fear Him. Lord, would you
please give me Christ and Him crucified? I'll be delighted
to. And He'll command the man whom
you sit under to preach Him, to deliver Him. Preach Him. And look at what He did. Now
listen to this. Listen carefully. If I've lost you, come back,
alright? Because this is marvelous. As
if that wasn't. Dad used to say, you know when
you preach, everybody, every word is marvelous. Verse 59,
when Joseph had taken the body, he laid hold of that precious
body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his
own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock, a cleft of rock,
and rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre and departed."
So he had taken, laid hold on that precious body, and so do
all of God's people, and wrapped it in linen cloth. Now this body,
when it was born, was wrapped in swaddling clothes. When there
was a babe in Bethlehem's manger, all they could find was rags. And wrapped this baby in swaddling
clothes. Poor child, poorest of the poor. And now at the end of his life, after doing his so great salvation,
as our great high priest, God said, you wrap him in linen.
What's linen? The high priests wore linen. A linen epaulet. And God said, don't put him in
wool, don't put him in rags. Find the finest linen garment,
a white one, and wrap him in it. This is our high priest. This is our high priest, wrapped
in linen. And that linen garment that was wrapped over his dead
body and laid in that tomb, a little while later, they're going to
find it folded. His vesture folded, laying over
the side, and John, there's not a mark of dirt on it. It's not
soiled. It's perfect. Just like he's
wrapped up here, like the righteousness of Christ. We'll find it full,
clean, though buried, and so shall we, people. These vile
bodies that are soiled, the Lord's going to put them in the soil,
and they're going to come out spotless. Why? Because our great
high priest was buried. Put in a new tomb where no man
had ever laid. Christ our Lord died, and His
body was buried, and so shall we be. And the reason he was
buried in a rich man's tomb was to fulfill Scripture. Isaiah
53, 9. And also because this man could
afford a new tomb wherein no man had laid. Down in Mexico
again. You know what they do? They borrow
the tombs that they're buried in. You want to talk about poor,
they can't afford a box and a hole in the ground when it's all over.
And they take their bones. Don't they, Dad? Don't they,
Mom? Years on, they leave them in the ground and make sure the
flesh is gone, and they dig them up, the bones, and put them in
a little box and set them over to the side and put somebody
else in that hole. But this rich man was rich enough
to have a new tomb, a brand new tomb where no man had laid, and
there's a reason for that. It's an unused tomb. Because
Christ is the first one in there. They're going to say He's the
only one in there. And when they go looking for Him, they know
there was only one person in here, and He's not here anymore. Don't look for the living among
the dead, the angel said. He's not here, he's risen, and
everybody's going to know it. And also, because he's not only
the firstborn among many brethren, the only begotten well-beloved
Son of God, but everyone else is born through him. And he's
the first begotten from the dead. He's the first to rise from the
grave. You say, well, didn't Lazarus?
Well, yeah, but he went back in. to stay until Christ came. But our Lord was the first begotten
from the dead. He came out of that grave three
days later. He's coming out and so shall
we. And it says here in verse 60, he laid it in his own
new tomb. Joseph's, this was his tomb.
Christ went there first. But he's going to follow him. In Isaiah 53, 9 it says he was
buried with the rich. With the rich. We got to be crucified with Christ
and what? And what? What else? Buried. That's what baptism is. And if
we are, you know what? If you're crucified with Christ.
If you beg the body of Christ, that Christ was crucified, you
beg God, let Him be my perpetuation on the mercy seat. Let it be
so that Christ died for me. Let me be His disciple. Let me
follow Him. If He is, if He does that for
you, you'll confess Him. And you know what? You'll go
in that tomb, the tomb that He went in, and you know what else?
You'll come out. If you're crucified with Him,
you'll be raised again. If you're buried with Him, you'll
be quickened together with Christ. Remember, when Christ, after
He arose, it says, many of the saints arose and went into the
city. And old Joseph, buddy, he's coming out. And so am I. A great rock was put on that
door, and people, there was a great rock in it. In the cleft of the
rock, rock was in the cleft of the rock. And a great rock, and
we're going to see real soon that Pilate says, make it sure. Have you made it sure? You found
the biggest stone you can to seal that? Now better get off
of that. Oh my, so great a salvation.
There's a great person in that tomb who accomplished a great
salvation. He is that great stone, that
great foundation that's laid that no man can lay but God.
And you wait. Wait, I say. Wait, I say. In just a few days, you're not
going to see. It's coming out. And we're coming
with Him. And the next verse says, look
over there watching all this. There's Mary. There's Mary, and
we're going to see her from now on, at the foot of the cross,
at the tomb, and come looking for Him, that body, to anoint
it. He's going to call her.