Good morning. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 355. 355. From every stormy wind that blows
From every swelling tide of woes There is a call As your retreat
is found beneath the mercy seat. There is a place where Jesus
sheds the oil of gladness on our heads. A place that all,
besides more sweet, It is the blood-bought mercy seeks. There is a scene where spirits
blend, where fringes fellowship with print. The sun, earth, fire,
by faith they meet, Around one common mercy seat. Ah, whither could we flee for
aid when tempted, desolate, dismayed, For how the hosts of hell defeat,
At suffering saints no mercy see. Of their own eagle wings we soar,
And sin, and sin's molest no more, And hem comes down, Be
seated. We'll sing hymn number 222. 222. There is a fountain filled with
blood Drawn from Emmanuel's veins And sinners plunged beneath that
flood Whose are their guilty stains? Whose are their guilty stains? Whose are their guilty stains? And sinners plunged beneath that
flood Lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day. And there may I, O Valisee, ?
Wash all my sins away ? ? Wash all my sins away ? ? Wash all
my sins away ? ? And there may I go while I sleep ? Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious
blood Shall never lose its power. Seal all the ransomed Church
of God, Be safe to sin no more. Be safe to sin no more. Be safe to sin no more. Till all the rents of Church
of God He's safe to sin no more. E'er since, by faith, I saw the
stream Thy flowing wounds supply, Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die. And shall we till I die? And shall we till I die? Redeeming love has been my theme
And shall we till I die? When this poor lisping, stammering
tongue Lies silent in the grave, When in a nobler, sweeter song
I'll sing thy power to save, I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing thy power to save. In an old blue sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save. Mark 15, my favorite verse in
that song is, thy blood shall never lose its power. All the rest from God be saved
to sin no more. Yeah, that's what I'm looking
for, to be saved to sin no more. Go back up to verse 35, and let
me start there and read to the end of the chapter. And some of them that stood by,
when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elijah. And one ran,
and filled a sponge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave
him to drink, saying, Let alone Let us see whether Elijah will
come to take him down. Our Lord cried with a loud voice
and gave up the ghost. The veil of the temple was rent
in twain from the top to the bottom. And when the centurion
which stood over against him saw that he so cried out, gave
up the ghost, he said, truly, this man was the son of God. And there were also women looking
on afar off, among whom was Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother
of James the less and of Joseph and Salome, who also, when he
was in Galilee, followed him and many other women which came
up with him unto Jerusalem. And now when the evening would
come, because it was the preparation, that is the day before the Sabbath.
Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable counselor, which also waited
for the kingdom of God, came and went in boldly unto Pilate
and craved the body of Jesus. And Pilate marveled if he were
already dead, and called unto him, and the centurion, he asked
him whether he had been dead, any while dead. And when he knew
it of the centurion, he gave the body, to Joseph, and he bought
the fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in linen,
and laid him in a sepulchre, which was rewned out of a rock,
and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre. And Mary Magdalene,
and Mary the mother of hoses, beheld where he was laid. Oh, our blessed God in Heaven,
our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you that you shed your
blood that washed us from our sins. We thank you that you make
us acceptable to God, our Father. And Lord Jesus, we bless you
that people are safe among us and we're all safe in our homes,
and got through all this weather you sent our way. You kept us
and preserved us, and we bless you for that. Please ask for
your mercies upon those who were killed and those families that
lost and the homes that were lost. Please be merciful to them,
provide for them, meet their needs. And our blessed Savior,
we pray for the lost among us. God, please cause the gospel
to run well here today. And, Lord, we need you. Oh, how we need you. We need
your presence. We need your power. We need your
love. We need your grace. We need your
mercy. We need your longsuffering. We
need your faithfulness. We need your patience. Oh, Lord,
we need your forgiveness. We need your righteousness. We
need your justification. Everything, Lord God, human being
don't have, we need it from you. God, we always need your presence
and power in our lives. Please forgive us of everything
that's unlike you and have mercy, oh God, deal with our lost children,
our sons and daughters, our grandchildren, our grandsons, grand-grandchildren. Oh Lord, they don't know you,
don't seem to be interested. But, O Lord, please be merciful
to them, creating them a great need. And, Lord, meet with us
today. Bring glory to yourself through
the gospel. In our Lord Jesus' name I pray.
Amen. Let's stand together as we sing
the hymn of the day in the bulletin. A refuge for sinners the gospel
makes known, Tis found in the merits of Jesus alone. The weary, the tempted, the burdened
of sin, are never excluded from entering in. This refuge for sinners God's
love did ordain In Jesus the Lamb from eternity's flame In
Christ the Redeemer, who lived and who died, God's law and His
justice are now satisfied. Here's refuge for sinners whose
sin shall appear, as black as the borders of endless despair,
whose Mary, we're on to rely, are taught
by the Spirit to Jesus to fly. Should conscience accuse us,
as oft times it may, Here's blood that shall take its defilement
away. In Jesus the Savior the sinner
shall prove. The Savior of refuge, the harbor
of love. How firm a foundation, ye Saints
of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent Word. What more can he say than to
you he has said, to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled? Be seated. I pray the Lord will bless us
together this morning. There's something the centurion
said here in verse 39, where I won't get my subject. And the
centurion which stood over against him or stood close to him, saw
that he so cried out. Christ cried with a loud voice. That was astonishing that anybody
dying in such physical pain and bloody from head to foot, his
ribs were showing from his back and heard him cry so loud and
saw him die, gave up the ghost, he said, Truly, really, absolutely,
this man was the Son of God. And this is the same people that
were hot, you know, as the Roman soldiers. He took a band of them
and went and took the Lord Jesus Christ. These were the people
who crucified Christ. Nailed Him to the tree. These
Roman soldiers, these centurion. He was the one who was Boss over
him, he's the leader of them. He was the captain or colonel,
whatever you want to call him, he was a centurion. And you know,
he made such a bold confession of Christ as the Son of God.
And over it, you know, you keep Mark, and I want you to look
in Matthew 27. I want you to see what it says about him over
here in verse 50. 56, excuse me. 27, 50, 50, 54. Got it. Got the wrong number down. And Matthew 27, 54. Now, when the centurion, and
listen to this, and they that were with him watching Jesus,
they watched it. They watched a They watched him
dying here. The things that he said, how
he acted as he was so mistreated, how he reacted to them when they
nailed him to the tree, how he reacted when they beat him with
the thongs and beat him to a bloody pup. They watched him. They were
watching him. And they saw the earthquake.
And those things that were done, and they feared greatly, and
even they said truly, this was the Son of God. They were watching
the Lord Jesus Christ. They were watching him. And there
was another centurion, there's two centurions that's mentioned. having dealings with our Lord
Jesus Christ, there was this centurion that sent and said,
my servant is sick unto death. He's nigh unto death. He's sick.
And he said, would you ask the master to please do something
for him? And our Lord Jesus started that
way. And he said, Lord, I'm not fit
that you come under my roof. He said, I'm a man of authority.
I know when I tell somebody to do something, they do it. I say,
go, they go, come, and they come. And he said, all you have to
do is send your word, and my servants shall be healed. And
he got to the house, and when he got back, the centurion got
back. His servant was well from the
time, Jesus. But that's what he said. And
you know what our Lord said about that centurion? I've never seen
such great faith in all of Israel, in all of Israel. So two centurions,
one said, all you got to do is send your word. You don't have
to come. You don't have to come into my
house. I'm not fit to come under my
roof. But you speak and it'll be done. And that's this centurion
here made such a bold confession of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
oh my, he says, truly, truly, this is the son of God. Back
over in our text. You know, when he says, truly,
this man was the son of God. Was he a believer? Did he become
a believer? I don't know. I don't know. But we do know He observed the
Lord Jesus Christ. They watched Him. And they mistreated
Him just like everybody else did. They were gambling for His
clothes at the foot of the cross. But they watched Him. They watched
His calmness. They watched His quietness. They
heard the things that He said from the cross. The first thing
He said, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. The
second thing was, I thirst. And so he heard all the sayings
that he said on the cross. And then he cried out with a
loud voice. Everybody could hear him. They're
watching him. They've seen how he's acted and
reacted to how he's been treated. And they saw every time, and
then they finally, when he lifted up that voice and died, and gave
up the ghost and died when he willed to die, at them centurions
watching him, said, truly, truly, this was the Son of God. Truly,
this was the Son of God. You know how important it is
and how a person cannot acknowledge Christ to be the Son of God without
God revealing it to them? Without God making them know
it? You remember when Simon Peter, our Lord asked his disciples,
said, who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? They said,
well, some say you're Jeremiah. Some say you're Elijah. Some
say you're one of the prophets. But he said, but who do you say
that I am? Simon Peter answered, says, thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And he said, you're
blessed, Simon Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that unto you, but my Father, my Father revealed that unto
you. And I tell you, I don't know
if this man knew God or not, but I know that he recognized
that there was something about the Lord Jesus Christ. He said,
this is the Son of God. This is the Son of God. You know,
and Isaiah 7, 14 says this, a virgin shall bear a son, and thou shalt
call his name Immanuel. You know what that means? God
with us. God with us. You know, when our
Lord was tempted of the devil, the first thing he said, if thou
be the Son of God, if thou be the Son of God, And that's why
a lot of people want to understand, do I believe the Son of God? If you are the Son of God, you
command these stones to be made bread. Cast your death down from
this, if you be the Son of God. And all my, you know, look over
here in Mark, Mark 15, look in Mark chapter one, look what it
says here. How important is it to understand
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? How important is it? Well, I'll tell you what, our
salvation depends on it. Every man's salvation depends
on what you believe about Christ as being the Son of God. And
look what he said in verse 1. The beginning of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Son of God. John 1.18 says
this, that no man hath seen God. The only begotten Son hath revealed
Him. Revealed Him. You know, look
over and keep mark now. I want to show you a few things
here about Christ being the Son of God. Look in Acts chapter
8 first. Acts chapter 8. You'll see how
important it is here. You know, when I was lost, and
when I was back in what they called the hippie days, and all I thought about Christ was
he was a great, great teacher. And I thought maybe he might
have been a prophet. But I never understood anything
about him being a savior or being a son of God. I did not know
anything about his power and his glory. He was no more important
to me than somebody else that I considered a prophet or something.
I mean, he meant nothing to me. I just, I thought about him and
I'd hear people talk about him and I'd say, yeah, he's, he's
a, he was a very unusual man. There's no doubt about that.
He was probably a great, great teacher. But we need more than
a great example and a great teacher. We need a savior, and there ain't
but one person that can save a sinner, and that's the Son
of God. And look what it said here in Acts chapter 8, and look
at verse 35. This is when Philip was with
the Ethiopian eunuch, Acts chapter 8, 35. Then Philip opened his
mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus.
And as they went on their way, and they came unto certain water,
and the eunuch said, see, here's water, what doeth hinder me to
be baptized? Now that's a good question. I'd
ask you, if you've never been baptized, you've never confessed
your faith in Christ, what doth hinder you from being baptized? But look what he said, and Philip
said, if thou believest with all thine heart, and listen to
what he answered, he said, he answered, said, I believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He said, if you believe all your
heart, when he preached unto him, he understood that Jesus
Christ was the Son of God, the Son of God. look over in Acts
chapter 9 verse 20 Paul's first message after God saved him on
the Damascus Road and he went into Damascus he's in Damascus
in Syria and then sir he was there certain days with the disciples
at Damascus and look what he said here in verse 20 this is
this is the You know, he was a rebel and God saved him on
the road to Damascus, and he's inside Damascus. And he was with
the disciples there, and straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues,
listen to this, that he is the Son of God. That he is the Son
of God. Oh my, let me give you four reasons,
four reasons why he must be the Son of God. The Son of God. You think about that, the son
of God. I'm the son of Don Bell and Edna Bell. The grandson of
William Bell and Gaither Bell. I can go back year after year,
I can go back generations on my side of the family. I'm a son of man, I'm a son of
Adam. A sinner from the top of my head
to the sole of my foot. Inside and out. But let me give
you four reasons why Christ must be the Son of God. He had to
be the Son of God, born the way He was. God said He should be made of
a woman. He'd be the seed of a woman.
And why was He the seed of a woman? Why was He born of a virgin?
Why was He born of just a woman without a man? Why was He called
the Son of the Highest? Why did He say, Thou shalt bear
the Son of God? It was because if He had any
of our blood in Him, any of Adam's blood in Him, He could have never,
ever been a Savior. So he had to be born the way
he was. He had to be born the son of
God. Or else he'd have been a son
of Adam, and he couldn't have saved one soul. Couldn't even
save his own. That's the first reason why he
had to be the son of God. The second reason he is the son
of God, because he was the only one that had the power of God
while he was on this earth. Nobody else had the power that
God did while he is on this earth. You know, when we talk about
the power of God, what power did it take for our Lord Jesus
Christ to speak to a storm and waves and the wind and say, be
still? What kind of power is it that
the Lord Jesus Christ would call a dead man out of the grave,
and been dead four days, and all he had to do is call his
name and tell him to come out? What kind of power? What kind of power did our Lord
Jesus Christ have when He would tell us, when a leper would come
to Him, and He would say, I will, be thou clean. What kind of power
did he have that he could touch men that was unclean with leprosy
and not himself ever become unclean? What kind of power did our Lord
Jesus Christ have that he could walk, come out walking on the
sea in the middle of the night? That's why he had to be the Son
of God. You all remember when they had this man that was paralyzed
and they couldn't get to Christ because he was in this house
and he was a multitude in the house. So they climbed on the
roof, tore the roof off and everything and led him down by ropes into
the presence of Christ. That's the only way they could
get him to Him. And you know the first thing the Lord said
to him? He said, Son, be happy. Your sins are forgiven you. You know what the first thing
them fellas said? There ain't nobody got power to forgive sins
but God only. You know what our Lord said?
And listen, I'm telling you something, if that man had never walked,
the fact that his sins was forgiven, that's all that matters. Having
your sins forgiven is the greatest thing God can do for a man in
this world. forgive him of his sins, then
if that man had never walked, just had that encouragement,
had that word from Christ himself, thy sins be forgiven thee, that'd
be enough. But they said, oh, ain't nobody
got power to forgive sins but God only. He said, that you may
know. that I've got the power not only
to forgive sins, which is easier to say, son, thy sins be forgiven
thee, or to rise up and walk. He said, I'm going to show you
something. Not only do I forgive his sins, but get off that couch
and get up and walk out of here. And he got up and walked out
of there. That's why he is the son of God. He's the only one
that's got the power of God to save a sinner in this world.
He got the power to keep us, and we need to be kept. We ain't
got the power to do anything. Oh my, here's the third reason
why he was called the Son of God. So God could be seen. No man, you know, look at John
1 18. You keep Mark 15. Look over in
John 1 18. Look in John 1.18 with me. Oh my, I love talking about these
things, enjoy these so much. Look what it said here in verse
18, John 1.18. No man hath seen God at any time. No man. The only begotten Son,
which is in the bosom of the Father, he declared it. He come and said, you know, that's
one thing they said. They gonna stone him one time.
Why you gonna stone me for? For what good work? He said,
I'm not gonna stone you because you being a man, make yourself
to be God. And what happened was, is why
he was the son of God, to make God, who is invisible that no
man's ever seen, where we could see God and God was in Christ. He was the Son of God. Everything,
every attribute of God was manifested in Jesus Christ. Holiness was
manifested in Him. Mercy was manifested in Him.
Grace was manifested in Him. Forgiveness is manifested in
him, long sufferings manifest, faithfulness, holiness, righteousness,
obedience, everything, every attribute of God was in Jesus
Christ. In him dwelt the fullness, the
fullness of God in his body. You know, when we get to heaven,
when we get to glory, and I've told you this time and again,
the only God we'll ever see is the Lord Jesus Christ. Philip
said, Lord, show us the Father and we'll be satisfied. He said,
Philip, have I been with you so long and you've not seen me?
He that has seen me has seen the Father. You know, to see the Lord Jesus
Christ, They saw him physically, but oh bless his holy name. I've
seen him. I've seen him as well as anybody
that's ever seen him. When Paul saw him on the Damascus
road, when they saw him on the cross, when they saw him when
he's walking on this earth, I've seen him as well as anybody that's
ever seen him because I don't need a physical sight of Christ
to know that he is. And the fullness of God dwells
in him. And I'll tell you, that's why
he says, no man comes unto the Father but by me. And they shall
all be taught of God, and he that hath learned of the Father,
learned of what? Learned about me. He that's been
taught of the Father hath learned of the Father. You know what
he said? He'll come to me. God teaches one man one thing,
that this is the Son of God, this is my Son, this is my Beloved
son. He's the only one that God said,
this is my beloved son. I'm pleased in him. And here's
the fourth reason why. Only the son of God, only the
son of God can make us acceptable to God almighty. Who else can make a man acceptable? Who else could stand for a multitude
of people and say, come unto me. When they was offering the
sacrifices and the water was watered, in John chapter seven,
and they said, oh, they offered the sacrifice and the water was
poured and everything. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, if
anybody's thirsty, let him come to me. Went to that woman at the well
and said, if you knew the gift of God, you would ask of him
and he'd give you a drink of living water. Well, I know that when the Messiah
cometh, he'll tell us all things. He says, sir, you got nothing
to draw with. You can't pull up no water. He
said, I'm the water. Oh, my. How in the world can
we come to God? How can we approach God? How
can God in his holiness, in his righteousness, have anything
to do with us? Because Jesus Christ was the
Son of And if the Son sets you free, you know what you are? You're free indeed. You're free indeed. All right,
let's go back. Anybody here believe that He's
the Son of God? And then look what it says here
in verse... 40 back over in our text. And there were also women, looking
afar off, among whom was Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of
James the Less and of Joseph, and of Salome, who also, when
he was in Galilee, followed him and ministered unto him. And
how many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem. Many other women which came up
with him from Jerusalem. You know, you think about this.
It says not only they named these women, these women followed him
up there. The only other man that we understand
that was standing close to Christ and the cross of Christ was John,
the beloved. And you know when our Lord says,
behold thy son, Behold thy mother, you know, and so these women
ministered unto him. And it names three of them. And
it also says many others. Mary, his mother, was at the
cross also. But I tell you, it says they
ministered unto him. Now, Mary Magdalene, we know
who she was. She is the woman who had seven
devils. Mary, the mother of James, you know, Mary, the mother of
James. There was two James. There was
John and James. Salome was their mother, John
and James. John and James, the ones that
wanted to sit on the right hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
this Mary here was the mother of the other James. They call
him James the Less. And then there's other women
that followed him. Now let me tell you some things
that women did for him. First of all, you know, Mary
and Martha. After Lazarus was raised from
the dead, Mary and Martha made a supper for the Lord Jesus Christ. What do you think about making
a dinner, making a supper, and the Lord Jesus Christ your guest?
And you know, he said he loved Mary and Martha, And he had raised
Lazarus from the dead. You know what the first thing
they did? We're going to fix the dinner. We're going to fix
supper. Lazarus is alive now. He was dead. And he's alive. We need to have a meal. They
had a meal. And can you imagine fixing a
meal for the Lord Jesus Christ? And he was so welcomed there,
so well loved there. And you know, he ate just like
you and I have to eat. And oh my, they made him a supper. Oh my, made him a supper. And then here's another woman
that ministered unto him. That woman that went into Simon
the leper's house and she began to wash the feet of our Lord
Jesus Christ with her tears. She got down at the feet of the
Lord Jesus Christ and was weeping so profusely and so much that
her tears were so great that they fell all over the feet of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says she washed them with
her tears. And then her hair, you know,
she took her hair and dried his feet with her hair. Oh my. And then there's the Mary
that took that $300, $30,000 in today's money, took that balabaster
box of ointment and anointed the Lord Jesus Christ and poured
that ointment all over his body. Started his head and it run down
his body. Why was this waste made? He said,
he come to anoint my body before my burial. That's what she come
to do. And you know what he said? This
act will be a memorial for her, everything from memorial on. And I've done priesthood on her
three or four times. And then, oh my, and this is one that I
like very much. Barry sat at his feet. And they said this about him.
When he come to raise Lazarus, he said, Lord, we know whatsoever
you ask of God, he's gonna give it to you. We know that. And
oh, Mary said at his feet, Martha said, Lord, why don't you get
up and help me? Martha, Martha, Martha, leave
her alone. Leave her alone. So these women,
and let me show you something and keep Mark and look over in
Luke chapter eight. I'll get on with this here in
a minute. When I say a minute, I mean, you know, the preacher's
minute. Look in chapter 8 and verse 3,
what it says here. And Joanna, the wife of Cusa,
Herod's steward, Husserl worked for Herod the King, he was the
steward for Herod the King, and Susanna, and many others which
ministered unto him of their substance. Of their substance. Oh my, what a wonderful thing. All right, now let's go back
over here again, and let's look at the burial of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Start again down at verse 42.
And now when even was come, because it was the preparation, that
is, the day before the Sabbath, preparing the sacrifices, and
Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable, a counselor, which also waited
for the kingdom of God, came and went in boldly unto Pilate,
and craved the body of Jesus. And Pilate marveled if he were
already dead, And called the centurion, he asked him whether
he had been dead, any while dead. And he knew it of the centurion,
he gave the body to Joseph. And he bought fine linen and
took him down and wrapped him in fine linen and laid him in
a sepulcher, which was a rock hewn out of stone and rolled
under the stone. You know, The Lord Jesus Christ, being
dead, must be buried. He must have a funeral, if I
could say it like that. Well, who buried him? Who buried
him? Joseph of Arimathea. That's who
buried him. This man was named Joseph. You
never heard him speak of before. He never has been mentioned in
the Bible ever again. Never before and not after. And it says here that he was
an honorable man. an honorable man. He's a counselor. He is one of
the Sanhedrin out of the 70, out of the 70, elder in Israel. And that's what he's called,
a counselor. And he's also called him a counselor. And over in
Luke, it says this about him, a good man, a just man. An unspotted man, a man with
a great reputation, an upright man. And let me tell you something,
that family never said that about him. He didn't say that about
himself. You know who said it about him? God said it about
him. If God says he's a just man, he's an honorable man, he's
a good man, believe me, he's what God says he is. And that's
what God said about him. Now, me and you can say that
about ourselves, not Malcolm, but it's what God says about
us. And oh my, look what he goes on, oh my. It's like Simon. He was told about when he was
a old man to go in and see about Christ. God said he was a just
man and a devout man. And oh my. And over in Luke,
it says here, there that he had not consented. He had not consented
under the counsel of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
did not agree with them. He told them, I do not agree
with you. I'm not going to get in this business of crucifying
this man. I'm not going to condemn him to death. You all do what
you want to do. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to agree
with you in condemning the Lord Jesus Christ to death. And Nicodemus
didn't consent to it either. either. Nicodemus, two men out
of the 70. Two men, Nicodemus and Joseph,
and Joseph. And oh, my. And look what else
it says about him there in verse 43, waited for the kingdom of God. Oh, my. He is waiting for the
kingdom of God. What kind of kingdom was he waiting
for? He wasn't waiting for a king to sit on a throne. He was like
that man, that thief is on the cross beside him and said, Lord,
when you come into your kingdom, remember me. So that thief knew
he had a kingdom. And this man knew he had a kingdom
and he know it was a spiritual kingdom. And he wouldn't be here
Burying Christ if he didn't believe there was a kingdom to come.
Look in Isaiah with me, chapter 35. Isaiah 35. What it says here
in verse 4. Isaiah 35, 4. Say that them are of a fearful
heart. Be strong. Fear not. Behold, your God will come with
vengeance, even God with a recompense, who will come and save you. The
eyes of the blind shall be opened. That's one thing about the kingdom
of God. The ears of the deaf shall be
unstopped. Then the lame man shall leap
as a heart and the tongue of the dumb sing, for in the wilderness
shall break forth streams in the desert. So all those were
evidence of a kingdom. And he was kind of a kingdom
he was looking for. These men, this man, Nicodemus
and Pilate, I mean, Nicodemus and Joseph went and begged Pilate. That's what he says. He went
boldly unto Pilate. boldly under Pilate, and crave
the body of Christ, gave the body of Jesus. And I know I'm
having you look a lot. Look in Luke, John chapter 19. You know, this is the way we
learn things. This is the way we find out. You know, the thing
is, is I could quote these things and tell you these things, but
when we look at them ourselves, you see it. Look in Luke 19,
38. He was a secret disciple up to
this time. After this, Joseph of Arimathea,
being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, Secretly, for fear
of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body
of Jesus. And Pilate gave him leave. And
he came, therefore, and took the body of Nicodemus. And look
in verse 39. There came also Nicodemus, which
are the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture
of myrrh, aloes, about a hundred pound weight. He's not a secret
disciple anymore, is he? Oh my, and I tell you, he took
some courage for him come and do this with all these Jews that
hated Christ. And you know, there are those
whom God knows, and there's the ones he uses, and you know, he
uses the least likely. Here this fellow never been heard
of before, but here he's the one that God called to take Christ
down and bury him. to have a funeral for the Lord
Jesus Christ. God said, I'm going to choose
one man here, and I'm going to have this man to take Christ
and bury him. You know, that's it. According to human law, according
to Roman law, criminals are not supposed to be buried. That's
why they take the skull, the hill of the skull, because they
just throwed him out, throwed him out. And oh my, you know,
when our Lord, when they come looking for, when Elijah said,
Lord, ain't nobody but me. I'm the only one left. I'm the
only one left. There's one person, Nicodemus,
Elijah said, I'm the only one left. God said, oh no, that's
not true. I've got 7,000. 7,000. So God uses the most unlikely
things. And then look what it says here.
In verse 46, and he bought fine linen, bought
it, the best linen money could buy. And listen to how it says
this. Hook him down. Hook him down. You know what it took to take
Christ off of a cross? Take him down. The nails had to be taken out
for his hands to pull through. They had to get the nails out
of his feet. They had to get them out of his
hands. And somebody had to reach up
there and get that body and take it and either lay it across their
shoulder or put him in their arms and take him and lay him on this
fine linen. Now remember, he's got blood
everywhere. Take off that crown of thorns
and they got to, you know, they've got to prepare his body. Everybody has to, when they die,
somebody has to prepare their body. Have to prepare their body. And
they took him down, and they had to wash all that blood off
of him. Wash all that blood off of him.
He's covered in blood. They got to wash his face. Wash his hair. Wash his arms. Wash his chest. Wash his back. Got to wash his legs, got to
wash his feet, got to clean his body up. It was a mess. They laid him on this linen cloth,
this bought linen cloth. They started washing him off.
I don't know how long it took, but it took a long time to prepare
his body. It took a long time. His eyes were closed. He was
dead. He didn't feel it. Oh, can you imagine how tenderly
and lovingly and graciously and they were so tender with him,
watching him so softly, watching him. Oh, my. They had to wash it. They had
to clean that. You know, his sweat became these
great drops. They had to wash the sweat off
of him, the blood off of him. They washed that body. And Nicodemus brought a hundred
pound weight, a hundred pounds weight, all kinds of spices to
put over his body. to wrap over his body. They took
them spices and they put it all over his arms, all over his body. 100 pound weight. And then they
probably put it on what they was going to bury him in and
probably packed it all over that. And then they took his body and
over it. Well, just look at it with me
in Luke 23. Look in Luke 23. Let me show
you what they did. Look what they did now. Look in verse... No, John 19. I'm sorry. I was in the wrong place. John
19. John 19 again with me. I want you to see this. I don't do this, preach like
this and deal with things like this, but this, when you start
thinking about all the things that happened, what it took to
prepare his body for burial, all the washing, all the blood
and how long it took him to prepare his body, turn him over, wash
him all over, and oh my, and look what it says here in verse
39. of John 19. And there came also
Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, bought
a mixture of myrrh, aloes, about a hundred pounds. Listen to this. Then they took the body of Jesus,
wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of
the Jews is to bury. Is to bury. After they washed our Lord, they
took these linen clothes, and they covered Him up. And you
know how they'd done it. You remember Lazarus, when he
come out of the grave, he was bound with grave clothes. He
was bound with grave clothes. And when they put the grave clothes
on, they wrapped them around their arms, around their legs,
and then they wrapped their whole body, just kept wrapping their
body. Spice here, wrap it. More spices, wrap it. More spices,
wrap it. And then it says here, then they
wound the body up in linen clothes, and where it was crucified, there
was a garden. And there in that garden, a new
sepulcher, where is never man laid, all alive. Never more man was laid. Oh,
my. They wrapped him in his grave
clothes. And you know, everyone has to be dressed in something. You know, if a man wore overhauls
all his life, he should be buried in overhauls. If a man wore a
suit all of his life, he should be buried in a suit. Whatever
was his common ordinary dress, that's what he ought to be buried
in. But here's the thing. Our Lord Jesus Christ was buried
in these grave clothes. And then it says back over in
our text, they laid him in a rock, which was a sepulcher, a grave,
which was hewn out of a rock. You know, nobody, nobody, had
ever laid in this grave before. And I, you know, I'm just going
to give you an illustration of what it's like. You know how
many people have been buried on top of other people after
they've disintegrated? The caskets and things rotted
and they just dig right back to where one body was. And in
Mexico, in Mexico, They buried the bodies and then, you know,
they got so little ground down there to bury people in, they
bury them and then they dig them up, put their bones in a box
over here, set them out of the way so they can bury somebody
else in. But our Lord Jesus Christ was
in a grave nobody had ever been in before. And I don't believe
anybody else was ever buried in it. Just him. God made a special
grave just for his son. Bless his holy name. And oh my,
these saints could attest to the fact that Jesus of Nazareth,
the Christ, was dead. He was dead. They laid him in
a grave. The death of Christ is reality
for the saints of God. Reality for his saints. And you know, Boy, what time is it? Am I preaching
too long? Uh-huh. They knew he was dead. They saw him dead. And I'll tell
you something. We sung there is a fountain filled
with blood. Without his death, there is no gospel. Without his
death, there's no payment for sin. Without his life, without
his message, without his parable, without his miracles, without
his sinless obedience to the law would avail nothing had he
not died. And bless God that our Redeemer's
death is a fact. Multitudes, multitudes deny it. And oh my, they said, said to
watch somebody steal his body and say he raised from the dead.
But our Lord Jesus Christ, they buried him in a huge stone. And I tell you, everyone would
know that one man was in that grave, Jesus of Nazareth. And
then it says they placed a stone in front of it. Placed a stone. But when he arose, when he arose,
it could only have been him. And look what it says now. The
women followed him, and look, it's Friday evening. Mary Magdalene
and Mary, the mother of Joseph, beheld where they laid him. I
want to know where he's buried. Why do they want to know where
his grave was? Because they want to go back. Want to go back. I know an old man one time, bless
his heart, everybody loses somebody they love, husbands, wives, sons,
or daughters. I know an old man that when his
wife died, he took a chair and went out there and sat at her
grave almost every day. Long, long, long time. I don't understand that, but
evidently that's what he wanted. But they wanted to know, see
where they laid him, now to see where they put him. Follow them,
see where they buried him. There's this big stone around him. Oh my, look what happens. They done prepared his body,
and look what it says, and when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and the mother
of James and Salome had bought sweet spices that might come
and anoint him. They come right back to the grave
where he was. And then we'll deal with that
stone being gone next week. Ain't you glad that he died to
put away our sin? But he rose again for our justification. Well, I am sure thankful for Jesus
Christ, dying for us. I bet you never thought about
him having to be going through so much trouble to get him off
of it. They took him down. I just, I just, I seen that he
took him. Didn't say took a body down,
took him. Our Father, in the blessed, blessed
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for your gospel. Thank
you for your precious truths and the light and understanding
you give us. You're the only one that can
open our understanding. And Lord, thank you for opening
our understanding, showing us things, Lord, that are so real
to us, so living to us, so precious to us, such a blessing to us. God bless the gospel to the hearts
of those here today. Cause it to be an encouragement
to them, a blessing to them. And may it cause us all to look
one more time to our Lord Jesus Christ and the blessedness, blessedness,
blessedness of his body broken for us, his blood shed for us. We thank you for it. Keep your
people, bring glory to yourself through us all. For Christ's
sake, amen. Jesus Christ is made to me. All I need, all I need. He alone is all my plea. He is all I need. Wisdom, righteousness, and power. Holiness forevermore. My redemption full and sure. He is all I need. I'll see you tonight, six o'clock,
God willing.