burial and resurrection here. We are going to consider our Lord's resurrection in the
eleven o'clock hour also. But everything depends upon this.
What we come to now, the reality of what happened here Everything depends upon them.
This is the reason the Apostle Paul, everywhere he went, he
made mention of this. This was the theme of his preaching. Christ crucified, yes, but risen
and ascended on high and seated reigning and ruling. This man
named Jesus Christ who lived on this planet 2,000 years ago,
this man whom we trust that he is God manifest in the flesh,
whom we believe. We believe everything he said
and everything he did. We believe him. We trust that
he is the Messiah. This one, this man, not unlike, not altogether unlike
us, a man, died Now that's a fact. He died. Nearly
everyone believes that a man named Jesus walked on this planet
and lived here for a while, and they believe he died. If you
live here, you'll die eventually. They believe he died, but he walked out of the grave. He walked out of the grave. Three days after he died, a multitude
of witnesses saw him killed, saw his side slit wide open,
all his blood drained from his body, saw his lifeless body hang
there, and saw them put him in a grave. But three days later,
this book says he walked out of that grave. Now, is that fiction or is that fact? If it is a fact, then he is who he said he was. And everything else he said is
true. All right, that's how important
this is. Is it a mere myth or fiction,
or is it fact? If it's fact, he is who he said
he is. He is who this book said he was. Everything he said is true. And all men and women now are under his reign and rule
and in his hands to dispose of as he will. Because that's one
of the things he said. He said, all authority is given
unto me in heaven and earth. All flesh is in my hands now,
he said. But it depends on him walking
out of that grave. If he didn't, if there's some bones, in a grave
over there of that one named Jesus. He was just a man. There is no such thing as this
is all a fable of Jewish fable. And what we're doing here this
morning. We are ignorant fools. Because we're basing, we're trusting,
we're devoting all this to this one who's just a man like we
are. And we've been duped. We've been
fooled. But, I love that verse in 1 Corinthians
15 says, But now is Christ risen. And become the first fruit of
them that slept. Alright, his burial. We need
to go back there. We didn't look at these verses.
Prepare to be blessed. Alright, verse 38. After this,
Joseph of Arimathea, chapter 19. Verse 38. We got to the point where Christ
was hanging on the cross and died, and they pierced his side. All right, verse 38. After this,
Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear
of 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, this Joseph of Arimathea,
over in, I believe it's Matthew, it describes him as a rich man.
He's called a rich man in Matthew or Mark or Luke. I didn't write
down which one it was. But this rich man asks for the
body of Christ and that he might bury it. And what he did was
he put the body of Jesus in his own grave. He had his own tomb,
which he had already had dug and was prepared for himself. Something just struck me. It
was prepared for himself, and he put Christ's body in that
tomb. Why? Why is it? Why does it record
this, this rich man? Well, because the Scripture says
so. See, everything from his life to his crucifixion to his
death, everything was prophesied that we might believe that he
is the Christ. In Isaiah 53, verse 9, it says,
"...he made his grave with the wicked," those were two thieves
on either side, "...and with the rich in his death." Many
people would look at that and wonder, why did it put that,
the rich, in his death? Because a rich man begged his
body. That's just Joseph of Arimathea.
Also, I believe, it's because this is a picture of him who
was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we, through his poverty,
might be made rich. A thought that just occurred
to me, John, was that grave was meant for Joseph, but Christ
took his place. We don't have to die because
he took it. He said, because I die and because
I live now, you'll never die. You'll never die. And also the
scripture says not many wise men at the flesh, not many mighty,
not many noble. To be noble, you had to be rich.
It says not many noble are called. It doesn't say not any, does
it? And we ought to be thankful for
that because everyone in here is rich and increased with goods.
But it doesn't say not any rich, but not many. Right? All right? It says, now, he was
a secret disciple. I'll read it again, verse 38. After this, Joseph of Arimathea
being the disciple of Jesus, that is, he was a disciple of
Jesus until now, secretly, for fear of the Jews. That is, and
I've always thought of this wrong. I've always read this wrong. He was a secret disciple up to
this point, but not anymore. You see, he
went publicly to Pilate, publicly before all,
went to Pilate and begged the body of Christ. You see that? He was a secret disciple of Jesus. Now, he publicly owns the Lord
Jesus Christ as his own, and becomes identified with his body. You see that? Many people may
say that they believe in Jesus and all that, but only when they
see Christ crucified. Only when, and Joseph saw him,
he saw him crucified. Only when they see Christ crucified,
only when they hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ will
they publicly own him as he is and be identified with the body
of Christ. They claim to believe this and believe this and believe
that, but only when they see and hear the gospel, Joe, will
they identify with the body and lay hold. It says he took the
body, verse 38, he came therefore, only when we see Christ crucified
will we come to him. He came therefore and laid hold
on that body of Jesus. See the picture there? He was
a secret disciple. Not anymore. I've seen him crucified,
buried, risen. My Lord, I lay hold on him by
faith. Isn't that a beautiful picture? Verse 39. You're not with me
yet. Verse 39. There came also Nicodemus. Nicodemus,
which at the first came to Jesus by night. Now he was a secret
disciple too, at first. Not anymore. Not anymore. The Lord does not have any secret
disciples. There's no such animal. When someone truly sees Christ,
someone truly hears the gospel of Jesus Christ and him crucified,
they come publicly and acknowledge him. That's what baptism is all about. It's a public acknowledgment,
a public profession that you believe this one. No matter what
persecution may come your way, no matter what you may lose from
this day forward for confessing him, you must. You've seen him.
You believe him. You trust him. Nicodemus came
publicly now. and acknowledged him. Look at
it. Verse thirty-nine, Nicodemus came, and though he was a religious
leader, he came. And now he's going to
lose his place. Sherry, he's going to lose his
place because everybody's going to find out now. He's going to
lose his standing in his denomination. But he said, I've seen Christ crucified. It
is about to see him risen. There's two, here's two classes
of men here, rich and religious. There's a rich man. Our Lord
said, how hardly shall they that have riches enter the kingdom
of heaven. And I see that in our day. Read
the article this morning. Nobody needs God anymore. got too much, too much to do. Riches, great hindrance. And
religion. Never been more religion than
in our day. So nobody needs, no sinners. Everybody's religious. Two classes
of men here, aren't they? Rich and religious. With men,
this is impossible. It's virtually impossible to
find someone today who needs God, sovereign God. They have too much, don't have
time. And to find a sinner, I mean
a bona fide Roman seven sinner who needs a gospel of God's sovereign
grace, hard to find. Why? Everybody's religious, like
Nicodemus, all fixed up. never been born again. But now Nicodemus has seen Christ
crucified, and he comes. And he too lays hold on Christ,
identifies with the body. And he took two things here.
Two things. It says here, he brought a mixture
of myrrh and aloes. Myrrh and aloes. About a hundred-pound
weight. If you want, you can turn to
Psalm 45, but you don't have to. Nicodemus came bringing these
two spices, which was the custom of the Jews to prepare bodies
for burial. In Psalm 45, why did he do this? Why did he bring these two things?
Because Scripture says so. Psalm 45, and oh, I'd love to
read the whole psalm. My heart is inviting a good matter. And when I was studying this,
my heart was bubbling up with it. I couldn't wait to tell it
because my tongue was the pen of a ready writer. And to show
you verses of Scripture just like this, in verses 6 through
9, Thy throne, O God, is forever. These are the very words in Hebrews
that spoke of Christ. The scepter of thy kingdom is
a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness and
hatest wickedness. This is speaking of Christ. Therefore
God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above
thy fellows, all thy garments smelleth myrrh and aloe." Nicodemus said, what will I bring?
I'm going to anoint his body. Let's see. Myrrh and aloe. Myrrh is a sweet-smelling fragrance,
the sweetest of all fragrances then known, and perhaps still. Myrrh, that's typical of our
Lord's fragrant life and character. The sweet-smelling Savior. And
in aloe, Allos are the healing balm. All
right, look at verse 41 back in the text. Now, so he brought
these two things as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Verse 41, Now in the place where
he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new sepulcher
wherein was never man yet laid. This was Joseph's tomb there,
and it says this tomb was located in a garden. A garden. Now this is very fitting. Since the first Adam was banished
from the garden, the second Adam was buried in
the garden. The first Adam's sin, through
his sin, we died in the garden. But now, through the second Adam's
sacrifice, we live from this garden. The first Adam planted
the seed of sin in the garden. But the second Adam, who is the
seed, was planted He himself was planted in a garden and brought
forth life. Christ is that blessed man, which
Psalm 1 speaks of, who was planted like a tree. Christ said, didn't he say, except
the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it'll bide alone. But if it does, it will bring
forth much fruit. Well, he did. He was planted
in the garden and grew up as that blessed tree whose leaves
are for the healing of the nation. It says it was a new sepulcher.
Look at this. It was a new sepulcher wherein
was never man yet laid. No man had ever laid in this
tomb before. There are a couple of reasons
for this, maybe many more that I haven't considered, but this
was a new sepulcher that he laid in. Never a man laid in this
because there would be no mistake who it was that came out of it. Had there been another body in
there, before him, then, and it was empty, they thought, well,
it was him that came out of that. No, Christ has become the first
fruit, the firstborn from the dead. You see that? The firstborn.
Listen, he laid in a virgin's tomb. So he must, of necessity, lay
in a virgin's womb. He must, of necessity, lay in
a virgin tomb. Virgin tomb, vicarious sacrifice, victorious
Lord. Virgin, vicarious, victorious. It says in verse 42, Now there
laid they Jesus. Verse 42, There they laid him,
therefore, because of the Jews' preparation day was at hand,
the sepulcher was near there, and the preparation day of the
Jews was there, so that's where they laid him. That's where they
laid him. Preparation day. That is, you
remember the preparation of the Passover. This was all at Passover
time. And in the Passover time, the
sacrifice had to be prepared. That was when Christ was crucified
and all that happened to him. And then the Jews themselves
had to be prepared. They had to be sanctified and
washed. The lamb, the sacrifice was prepared,
it was ready, it was offered, and then the Jews had to be washed
and prepared for that atonement. Now look over to 1 Kings with
me. Prepare to receive this. 1 Kings chapter 6. You see, the
Jews' preparation was at hand for the take of the Passover.
And it was the Sabbath. This was also the Sabbath day,
right? Or it was near the Sabbath day.
At this particular time, they could do no work on or about
the Sabbath. No work was to be done. They
weren't to be digging any graves. You see that? That's why that
verse said, now the preparation of the Jews was at hand, and
here was this sepulcher near at hand. It was already dug and
all that. And they weren't supposed to be digging any graves, so
that's where they put it. In this pre-dug grave. Because
they weren't supposed to be doing this work. Now this grave now, Joe, this
grave was hewn out of rock. That's what this grave was, a
cleft of rock. And the thing that rolled over
the door was a rock. The door. was a stone. Theft
of the rock, stone is the door. Now all this was prepared previously. All this was done, it was all
made ready to receive the one who lay there. Here in 1 Kings
chapter 6, this is the account of the building of Solomon's
temple. That's what this story is about
here in 1 Kings 6, the house of the Lord, where the sacrifice
was made by the high priest. And this is what it says about
this house, this temple, where the people would come and where
the sacrifice was to be made. Look at verse 7. The house, when
it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither.
No hammer, axe, or tool is going to be heard when this is built
in. God says, I don't want to hear one clink, one hammer, one
tool. No work shall be performed because
it's all been pre-made, stone-made ready to be brought to build
this house. Now Christ, when he hung on that
cross, what did he say? those three glorious words. It
is finished. This is the stone which the builders
rejected. The same has become the head
of the corner. The foundation which no man can
lay than that which is laid by God himself, Jesus Christ. And they laid him in a tomb. The word, they laid him in the
tomb. That's what you do with stone,
you lay it. The cleft of the rock. Stone made ready. Christ is called
the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. And when Christ
came, he did all that was necessary to build this church. Unless
the Lord built the house, they labor in vain that build it.
And he did it. He built this house. He accomplished
this so great salvation. When he hung on that cross, he
said, It's finished! He is the only tool which God uses to accomplish
this work. And when he said it's finished,
he means it, no tools to be heard anymore. I don't want to hear any tools
clinking. And the Scriptures even says,
we have been prepared. We are stones made ready. We
whom he hath elected and chosen and predestined to be conformed
to the image of Christ. He brings us and lays us on that
chief cornerstone, and we're built up on him. No stone ever helps chisel itself. Yeah, I did. I laid some stone
around my house, and not one of those rocks helped me. I did it all. We don't make ourselves
into good little Christians. God does it. He lays us on Christ,
the headstone, the corner. And this is the preparation of
the Jews. We have been prepared. We have
been prepared. made fit to be partakers of the
angel with the saints in light. Isn't that wonderful? Chapter 20. It says in verse
1, chapter 20, the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene. Every word is significant. The
first day of the week, Sunday, Jesus Christ lay in the grave
on Saturday. That's the Sabbath, isn't it? Christ was dead, lay
in the grave on the Sabbath. Why? It's not without significance. Look at Romans chapter 7 with
me. Romans 7. Look over there. Christ lay in the grave on the
Sabbath. Why? Because as our substitute,
he died to the law. He died by the law. He is that husband who died here
in Romans 7. Not only at the hands of the
law, but concerning the law, he was
dead to it as our representative. Romans 7, look at verse 4, and
this whole chapter speaks of this. Verse 4 says, My brethren,
you also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ. That you should be married to
another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should
bring forth fruit unto God. Look at verse 6. Now we are delivered
from the law, being dead wherein we were held. Bondage, death,
curse, tomb. Christ was held in that tomb,
wasn't he? In darkness, in the shadow, those
things are a shadow. Christ was dead on the Sabbath. Verse 6 says, And we were also
dead, wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of
spirit. Christ rose on the first day
of the week. He taketh away the first, and
may establish the second. Do you see that? Do you understand
that, people? That the law is not where we
find rest, nor in a day do we find comfort
and salvation, and do we look for our acceptance with God because
we keep a day. Sunday's not the Christian Sabbath
either. Sunday's not the Christian Sabbath. It doesn't say that anywhere.
Old Puritan said that. God didn't say that. God said,
Christ is our Sabbath. He is our rest. He is our rest. We're dead to the law. You see
the significance of that? Sam, do you see that, why we
don't observe the Sabbath anymore? Christ didn't observe
it. Oh, he kept it while he was under
the law, didn't he? Before he went to the cross and
blotted out those handwriting of ordinances against us, he
kept every jot until he kept the Sabbath. But then when he
died to that law, he arose the first day of the week and he
said, Now, come unto me, I'm your Sabbath. Don't keep a day. Lay hold on me. Rest in me. You see that? Isn't that good? Isn't that good, John? If it
weren't so, John, did you work yesterday? He's going to go to hell. Well,
why are you shaking your head? God said, if you break my Sabbath,
you're going to hell. Why are you shaking your head? Christ
is your Sabbath. Those who endeavor to keep that
day, they're ignorant of it because it's strict. Those that desire to be under
the law, they don't hear it. They don't know it. That's the
reason Paul said, they don't know what to say. Paul said,
I knew the law, and I endeavored to keep it perfectly as it ought
to be kept, but all it's slowly. All right, look at this, this
is wonderful. In John 20, it says, The first
day of the week come with Mary Magdalene. Who came? Who's the first to come? Chief
of sinners. You see, Christ came to seek
and to save the law. Christ came to save his people.
Christ came, it says, to gather his sheep. He came not to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentant. It's only fitting
that the worst sinner of them all comes to Christ first. And she's the first one he appeared
to. And all that look for him shall
he appear the second time. Who? Who's going to look for
him a second? Sinners. Mary Magdalene Sinners. That's who he's going to appear
to. Well, it says when it was dark. Do you see that? She came to
him when it was yet dark under the sepulchre. What that means
was early. Well, it says that. Come with
Mary Magdalene early when it was yet dark. She came early,
early morning, before the sun had completely arisen. She came
early. The Scripture says, they that
seek him early shall find him. This means literally, early,
come early. It also means, my son, give me
thine heart. It's good for them that a young
man bear the yoke in his youth, before the evil days come nigh.
Days that seek him early shall find him. When I was 21 years old, now,
I didn't realize it at the time, but long before that, the Lord
was seeking me. He was seeking me. But when I
was 21 years old, by God's sovereign grace now, I began to seek the
Lord. I began to seek the Lord with
every fiber of my being. I read everything I could get
my hands on. I read this book. I went every time a gospel is
preached anywhere, I went there. When I heard my pastor was going
to preach somewhere, I went there. Going to the TV station, going
to take TV messages, I was there. I sought him and I found him. Are you seeking the Lord, young
people? Seek Him early. Seek Him with
all your heart. He said, day that seek me early
shall be found. I'll be found of them. Seek Him
early. Seek Him early. And those of you, literally,
seek Him early. Come early. Prepare your hearts.
You know, I thought about sitting here waiting to bring this. You
men, you ever have to wait on your wife? Never, Rick, never. John, do you ever have to wait
on your wife? There's an honest man. I don't know what it is. Sometimes I'm sitting in that
car and we're due to be somewhere at a certain time and I'm chomping
at the bit. I know what that old saying means
now. I have horses, and I can't hardly
hold them back. Well, that's the way I am. That's what I feel like on Sunday
mornings. Now, all kidding aside, all laughter
died down. I can't wait to tell this message.
Who gets the greatest blessing generally out of all this? I
do. I've been here two hours before
service started. I've been over this probably
three or four, five times. I can't wait to tell it. I can't
wait for you to hear it. And the least you can do is get here
a little bit early, too. You'll be blessed. You're going
to see the Lord. It's so. It's so. Mary came early. Who saw him? Mary. The disciples didn't believe
it. They weren't looking for him.
Well, if the shoe fits, wear it. And read on. It says, She
seeth, she come early. She came early. Before it was
light, when it was yet dark, and seeeth the stone taken away
from the sepulcher. And I say unto you, perhaps you
young people, if you're still in the dark, if you see Christ, he will remove
that stony heart. He will remove those things that
keep you from seeing him. If you're truly seeking it, he'll
remove those things that keep you from seeing him. You will
see him. Like me, you know, I had for a while there, I only had
eyes for that girl sitting beside me in the pew. It wasn't too long until he removed
the stone. I only had eyes for him. And my wife, Mindy, thought
I was never going to ask her to marry her. You come to Christ as a sinner,
though you're in the dark, he'll remove that stony heart. He'll
remove the obstacles. He will appear unto you. Look
at verse 2. Then she runneth, then she runneth, to tell what
she knew. Now, she didn't know much, Jerry.
Young and ignorant. She loved Christ, though. She
ran and came to Simon Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus
loved and said unto them, They have taken away the Lord. She didn't know much, did she?
They have taken away the Lord. Oh no, they haven't. They can't
do anything with the Lord. They didn't kill the Lord. God did. And they didn't take
away the Lord. God raised Him. But she's ignorant,
isn't she? She said what she said. I remember,
you know, well, I didn't say lucky as a young believer. That was removed from my vocabulary
long before that. I didn't say lucky. But I said
a lot of things that I was just ignorant, didn't know what I
was saying. How about you? I went running with what I knew
and told people, and boy, I said some wild things. just like her
here. Well, they have taken away the
... No, they didn't. They did not. He walked out of the grave, just
like he said. If you understood his word, you'd
know that they don't do anything. Huh? If you'd read his word,
if you'd have been conscious of all that he said, you'd realize
they can't do anything without him. But you know what they say? Who cares on what he said? Huh? You see what it was saying there,
Steve? You'll no longer say what they say. Older and wiser you get, you
won't care what they say. You won't believe they did anything.
You'll believe that he did it all. All right, look at verse
3 and 4. So, Peter therefore went forth
and that other disciple, and came to the supper, and they
both ran both together. Here they both took off. They
heard the news and they started running. Let us run, therefore, the race
that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of every word. I told you this was for me. I'm enjoying it most right now.
Let us run, therefore, the race that is set before us. Peter
and John took off running. They wanted to see the train.
They wanted to see Christ. They wanted to see looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith. What did they find? An empty tomb. Look at it. They ran therefore,
and look at verse 5. It says that John ran faster. He's stooping down, looking in
saw the linen clothes or burial clothes lying, yet he didn't
go in. Now, all of this is a spiritual picture. Here comes John. He ran faster. The race is not
to the swift, to the strong. Well, what did he do when he
got there? He wanted to see something, so what did he do? He stooped
down and he looked in the grave And what did he see? Grave closed.
And he didn't go in. This is a picture of man, though
he runs a good race and he's religious and all that, and he
puts himself in a posture, a religious posture, you know, bowing and
this and that and the other that looks religious and all that.
If he looks within, if a man looks within himself
to find something All he'll see is grave clothes, and he won't
go in to be with the Father. You're going to have to look
from without yourself. You're going to have to see a risen,
seated Lord. You see that? Well, look at verse
6. I want to finish this at verse
6. Then comes Simon Peter following
him and went into the synagogue. That's Peter, isn't it? He doesn't stop at the door,
he just goes right on in. Our Lord has different disciples,
doesn't he? John meek and lowly and patient, Peter bold and confident
and presumptuous. The Lord uses different people. He does. Everybody's not like
I am, and I'm glad. Aren't you? All right, look at verse 6 and 7.
So he came and he sees the linen clothes lie, the napkin, and
the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the linen
clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. This is
wonderful. This is wonderful. Several things
would be seen here, all right? The clothes of Christ were left
here. Why? Why? Well, if you were going to go
steal a dead body, would you take clothes off of it? You know,
the Word of God is not without practical or proof, you know,
practical proof. If you were going to steal a
body and you didn't want anybody to find out about it, Under the
cover of darkness, you know, and you had so much time to do
it, keep from being discovered, would you take the clothes off
of it? Well, no, you'd grab that body and run. This is proof that
no thieves took his body. And the next thing, it was wrapped.
It says they were lying. The word, if you look it up,
means they were neatly folded. Neatly folded, that's what wrapped
means. It means they were wound up and folded up like a vesture and lay there. Now, if you want
to steal a body, would you do that? No. If you're in a hurry,
you wouldn't, you don't, you men, do you ever get in a hurry?
Do you carefully hang your clothes up all the time? Women, let me
ask you, do they carefully hang their clothes? No. Huh? But if you're not in a hurry, But everything's all going to
go as planned. You're in no hurry. You're just
confident that it's all on time and on schedule. You just fold
those clothes up real nice and neat and just lay them there
in your drawer or hang them up or whatever. That's exactly what
Jesus Christ did in the fullness of time. Just like he put on
that body, in the fullness of time he took it off and he folded
it up Just like he's going to do this world, like the scripture
says, as a vesture and laid it there. Now look at this, this
is wonderful. Christ, like our Joseph. This is a picture of Christ who
is our Joseph, our deliverer. Christ, you remember when Joseph
was sold by his brethren? What did they
do? They took off that robe off of
him. Christ sold for thirty pieces
of silver. They took off his robe, and the
lot decided who got it. Remember that, don't you? All
right, Joseph was laid in a dungeon. He was put in a dungeon. How many were in there with him? Two. Christ hung on the cross with
two malefactors right beside him. One of them went free. One of them was doomed and killed. All right? When Joseph came out
of that dungeon, you know what the Scripture says in Genesis
41? It says that they brought him
out of the dungeon, he shaved himself, changed his appearance,
and changed his raiment.