(pt98) Matthew

Q: What does the Bible say about the death of Christ?

The Bible teaches that Christ died as a substitute for His elect, fulfilling the sovereign plan of God for their redemption. The death of Christ is central to the Christian faith, encapsulated in the principle of substitution. As John Reeves explains, Jesus died in accordance with God's sovereign will, serving as a sacrifice for His elect. This act of atonement was successful and purposeful, ensuring the redemption of those whom God has called. Scripture confirms this through various prophecies in the Old Testament and the fulfillment of these prophecies in the New Testament, asserting that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3). Thus, the death of Christ is not merely a historical event, but a divine ordinance for the salvation of God's people.

Q: How do we know that Christ's resurrection is true?

The resurrection of Christ is confirmed through the fulfillment of Scripture and divine providence, making it an irrefutable fact. The resurrection of Christ is one of the cornerstone truths of the Christian faith, supported by both divine providence and the fulfillment of scriptural prophecy. John Reeves points out that God’s sovereignty ensured that the events surrounding Christ's death and resurrection aligned with divine purpose, preventing any doubts about its reality. Historical evidence indicates that even Christ's enemies acknowledged His resurrection by attempting to seal the tomb, fearing that His followers would steal His body. Ultimately, the Lord orchestrated every detail to ensure that the resurrection was witnessed and recorded, confirming the hope of eternal life for believers (Romans 8:28-31). Thus, the resurrection stands as a cornerstone of the faith, promising that those in Christ will also be raised.

Q: Why is sovereign grace important for Christians?

Sovereign grace emphasizes God's control over salvation, ensuring that His elect are called and redeemed according to His perfect plan. The doctrine of sovereign grace is crucial for Christians as it highlights God's absolute sovereignty in the process of redemption. It assures believers that their salvation is not based on human merit but on God's will and purpose. As John Reeves elaborates, God exercises His sovereignty over all events, even using the most wicked acts of men to fulfill His plan for salvation. This understanding frees believers from the anxiety of their own efforts in securing their salvation, allowing them to rest in the assurance that God has called, justified, and will glorify them (Romans 8:30). In essence, sovereign grace offers both comfort and security, empowering Christians to live in light of God's great mercy and sovereign purposes in their lives.

Let's begin by reading some scripture. Turn to this 130th Psalm, Psalm 130. In Psalm 130, we read these words. Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, if ye should count my sins, O Lord, who shall stand?

But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning. I say more than they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope. in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plentious redemption, and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities."

If you would turn in your Bibles to the book of Matthew chapter 27, we're going to finish chapter 27 tonight, and we'll be looking in our future studies, which is only one chapter in the book of Matthew, and I know Matthew is our study for this, basically what our study is, but Matthew is very vague and has very little to say about the resurrection of Christ, and that is so important that we'll probably use what little is left in Matthew to launch into other scriptures such as over in the book of John. It gives us so much more detail. The book of Luke, which gives us so much more detail of Christ after he arose from the dead. So here in Matthew chapter 27, we pick up where we left off And I know I said I was going to cover some of the verses we looked at last week a little deeper, but I just, I got to be honest with you folks, as I read through and saw that the graves were opened in verse 52, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and I read the commentators on it, I'm just, I'm not, I'm just not prepared. And if I'm, If I don't feel the Lord has prepared me properly for study, I just can't bring it. I just don't feel like I'm capable of doing that. So we're going to pick up where we left off reading, which was in verse 57.

When the evening was come, there came a rich man of Armathea named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus's disciple. He went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out of the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher and departed."

Now, we're going to come back to these remaining verses in chapter 27, a little bit more later in this study, but I want to consider what we just read, this man, Joseph Armatheus. Now, if you would, in our handout, I want to begin with a quote from our brother Don, what he wrote about in his commentary on this section of the Holy Writ. Whenever we think about the death of Christ, writes Don, upon the cross, We should always think of four words in our minds associated with it. Sovereignty, substitution, satisfaction, and success.

Our Savior died by an act of and in accordance with God's sovereign will. He died as a substitute in the place of God's elect, His people, His sheep, those who are actually justified and saved by His blood. The Son of God did not shed His blood for nothing. He did not die in vain for the multitudes who perish under the wrath of God. To suggest that He did is to make His blood meaningless and of non-effect.

By his death upon the cross, our Lord Jesus Christ made atonement particularly and distinctly for his elect and effectually accomplished and obtained our eternal redemption. That means that his sacrifice and death were a success. He shall have all that and all those for whom he suffered and died. That is the message of the gospel. That is how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, which is stated in 1 Corinthians 15 3. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. And this is very important.

This is why the Old Testament all points to the death and crucifixion of our Savior. And in the New Testament, we see where everything came to pass exactly as it had been prophesied of in the Old Testament. We have seen throughout our studies the Lord's fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies in His birth, in His walk before men, in His sufferings at the hands of men, the false charges brought against Him, His crucifixion, His death, and now His burial. When they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulcher.

Acts 13, 29. In Isaiah 53, 9, we read this, and he made his grave with the wicked, which we saw as the two thieves who hung on their crosses next to him. and with the rich in his death." Now, remember, we just read here just a moment ago that this man, Joseph of Arimathea, was a rich man who also himself was Jesus' disciple. So we see both of those scriptures right there fulfilled in what our Lord has accomplished on the cross.

Now, page two, we know very little about Joseph of Arimathea. In fact, he's not mentioned before this incident, and he's not mentioned again after. The Gospel writers, Mark and John, along with Matthew, tell us six things about him. First is his name is Joseph, which was a very common Jewish name. His home was Arimathea, which most believed to be in the area of the city of Ramah.

And then thirdly, he was a man of considerable wealth, as we read there in verse 58 or 57. He took the Savior's dead body down from the cross, and he, oh, I'm sorry, he was a member of the Sanhedrin, which is mentioned over in Mark 15, 43. He took the Savior's dead body down from the cross, wrapped it in clean linen cloth, and along with Nicodemus, mentioned in John 19, 39, who came to the Lord by night. You will recall that Nicodemus came to the Lord in the third chapter of John, and the Lord told him, you must be born again. and buried it in his own new tomb. So to be buried with the rich is what this is talking about. And then it says he also himself was Jesus' disciple.

So we see those six things about Joseph. Joseph had been, until this time, a disciple in secret. Now we have no idea, knowing how long he had been a believer, We have no idea how he heard the gospel or why he had kept his faith a secret from others. If the Holy Spirit had intended us to know them, he would have informed us as easily as he gave us the man's name, but he did not. Could there be a lesson to be learned from this? How often we think we can read another's heart by their actions. Lord, grant us to never presume that we know the spiritual condition of others. We do not. Our Lord has disciples and friends in this world who are altogether unknown to us. There may be some true disciples living very near, perhaps even among our own families who are unknown to us.

I often wonder about the dear brethren over in the Bay Area when they tell me about the place where they worship. Are they children of God, yet they love the gospel as I do? I think of Anthony over in Antioch. I think of Brett Rice over in Vacaville. I wonder where it is that they worship over there. But should I wonder whether they're children of God?

Absolutely not. I go by what they confess. They confess to know the Lord Jesus, the same Jesus that we preach here in the scriptures. I think this is a pretty good lesson for all of us, maybe just for me, but for all of us. I realize that believers confess Christ before men, second paragraph from the bottom of page two. I realize that they confess Him and identify with Him and His people in believers' baptism. and that they are known by their fruits.

I'm aware of all those things, but that which is normally the case seems not to be in this case, doesn't it? We must take great care not to look upon someone as an unbeliever because he or she does not appear to us to be a believer. Truth is, we simply do not have the ability to look upon the hearts of other people. We do not have the ability to separate sheep from goats or wheat from tares. That is why the Lord tells us to leave them alone. Listen to this parable.

Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst thou sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath it tares?

He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servant said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay, lest while you gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. You remember that one? That was Matthew 13, 24 through 30.

Who would have named Joseph among the Lord's disciples? Remember, he was a Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin are the ones who did not believe the Lord rose again from the dead. Yet he was a man whose love for Christ would be demonstrated when none of the strong disciples dared to do what he did. Isn't that interesting? At the time he was needed, Joseph came forward to do honor to his Savior. At a time when the apostles had forsaken him, at a time when it was most dangerous to confess him, at a time when there seemed to be absolutely no earthly advantage to professing allegiance to Christ Joseph came forward with boldness, begging Pilate to let him have the body of the Son of God, that he might honor the Lord by wrapping the Savior's body in clean linens, carrying him in his own arms to his own tomb, and buried him in honor.

Not all believers are alike. Some are bold. Others are timid. Some are strong. Others are weak. Some are known around the world, others are hardly known at all. Some are very passive, others are very active. Some build up the church and the kingdom of God as zealous witnesses, preachers, missionaries, and evangelists, and others come forward only in times of specific need, like Joseph. Yet all are led by God the Holy Spirit and glorify their Master in the specific way, time, and place that He has ordained.

The fact that we are told here of a disciple like Joseph unknown to the other disciples ought to make us both loving and hopeful towards others. We should be charitable in our opinions of those who profess faith in Christ. And I'm not suggesting that religious infidels, people who deny the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ, should be embraced as other brothers and sisters in Christ. But I am saying that those who profess faith in Christ, who profess to believe the gospel of God's grace, should be received and embraced as true believers.

A time back, before we go to page four, some struggle came into our congregation. My first reaction was to ask someone to leave. I didn't want their doctrine, their error to spread in the church, and it was And after discussing many times between me and this person, and after spending some time with some of the brethren here, and them speaking with the brethren, we came to the conclusion that he wasn't going to listen. So we thought to ourselves, OK, we need to ask him to leave. And I want to be very clear about this. It was another brethren who came to me and said, now wait a minute, John.

Did not God put that man in our congregation? Did not God bring him here for a reason? And I had no answer but yes, and yes. And I thought about the book of Jude where it talks about the Lord saving some from the fire. And I thought about this very thing right here as well.

What if the Lord is teaching this person his gospel through the preaching? How could I ask somebody to leave if it wasn't causing any damage to the congregation? So I did not. And to this day, this person still attends the service here and sits under the true gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Who am I to speak or to think that I can read one's heart?

And I just think this is a great lesson for all of us because we all find ourselves sitting in our congregations at one time or another, don't we? And wondering, hey, that person who only comes once a year, are they truly saved or are they just coming to save their conscience? You get what I'm saying, folks? You understand what I mean, what this is teaching us here?

We should leave these things to our God and do the best that we can to serve him the service that we can do. I just, I hope I didn't go too far off with that. John tells us, now the Apostle Paul puts it this way, the top of page four. not to doubtful disputations.

That's in Romans 14.1. Though they may behave in ways that we find inconsistent with faith or who form associations we simply cannot grasp, Joseph's example ought to make us hopeful for those people. We are far too often like Elijah thinking that we are alone. that we are left in this world, that we are alone and are left in this world to serve God alone. This is never the case.

Matthew 8, 11, we read these words, many shall come from the east and the west and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. John goes on and tells us in his gospel that Nicodemus, another prominent Pharisee, and another secret disciple joined Joseph at the tomb. I find it interesting and instructive, don't you? Those disciples who had openly followed the Lord during His lifetime fled from Him in the end, but these two men who had kept their faith in Christ secret while He was alive came forward publicly to bury Him honorably in His death.

And we see Him providing us with two faithful witnesses in verse 61 in both Marys sitting against the sepulcher. Our God is a God of providence. He provides all what He needs. And speaking of providing, look at our next text, picking up at verse 62 of Matthew 27 through 66. Now the next day that followed, we're in Matthew chapter 27, verse 62.

Now the next day that followed, the day of the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees, notice who it is that came to Pilate. They came together under Pilate saying, sir, we remember that that deliverer said while he was yet alive, after three days, I will rise again.

Command, therefore, that the sepulcher remain sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away, and say unto the people, he is risen from the dead. So the last error shall be worse than the first. And Pilate said unto them, ye have a watch, go your way, make it sure as you can. So they went and made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone and setting a watch.

Robert Hawker, bottom paragraph, page 4, comments on Matthew 62, and his comments are excellent, so let me read these for you, if you would. Here is a precious testimony, writes Robert Hawker, and from the mouth of Christ enemies also. in confirmation of the resurrection which followed. And with respect to the story of the disciples taking away the body, it is in itself too childish and ridiculous to serve even a relation of it. that a few poor, timid disciples, who during their Lord's trial and before any danger to themselves had even appeared, had all forsook Jesus and fled, that they should project such a scheme as to come by surprise on guard of Roman soldiers who were placed at the sepulcher for no purpose but to watch the body of Jesus. And we read about that in the book of John, I believe it is, and whose military's discipline was the strictest in the page five in the world and should actually take away the body and the most extravagant subpositions which ever entered the human mind.

And to heighten the representation still more, it is added that this could be done while the soldiers were asleep. Soldiers, were centennials and centennials asleep? And so it seems that the evidence these soldiers gave of their transaction of what could happen was while they were asleep, a new way of giving testimony. He goes on to say, moreover, it is time to inquire what possible motive these poor fishermen of Galilee could have to take away a dead body. Nothing can be more plain and evident than that the disciples of Jesus, at this time of transaction of Christ's death, took place, knew not anymore that their enemies, what the resurrection from the dead should mean.

They didn't know what it was going to mean. They didn't understand it still. That's why they were told to go to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit. and the hopes they had conceived of this kingdom were over. They would in a few days have returned to their former occupation again.

In fact, they did so. Besides, where could they have put the body? Was it stolen and yet intended to be concealed? And if so, what could be then accomplished by it? And can it be supposed for a moment that when the soldiers, all of them awakened from their sleep and found the body gone and taken away by the disciples, would the Roman soldiers, aided by the whole Jewish Sanhedrin, have suffered this handful of poor fishermen of Galilee to have remained a single hour without giving up their plunder and bringing them to immediate punishment?

Closing, Robert says, he says, I have not dealt with so circumstantially on this subject for any apprehension of its necessity. For my reader's confirmation of the faith once delivered to the saints, but for the preciousness of anything and everything connected with the resurrection of Jesus. Oh, the blessedness of knowing and from divine teaching to the certainty of that glorious truth. Christ is risen from the dead, and oh, when the conviction of that glorious truth is secured in the soul by the testimony found in the faithfulness of Jehovah, then Christ's resurrection, a sure resurrection of his redeemed, is included. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath no power. Revelations 20, verse 6, page 6. In infinite wisdom, Our God foresaw the objections that unbelievers would raise against the resurrection of our Lord from the dead.

Did the Son of God really die? Did He literally rise from the dead on the third day after His death? You know, they're still asking these questions today, are they not? Might there not have been some delusion as to the reality of His death? Might there not have been some distortion of truth in reporting His resurrection? These and many other questions have been raised by men, but they are raised without any basis of fact.

Our God, who knows the end from the beginning, prevented the possibility of such accusations having any basis in fact. By the overruling providence, he fixed it so that the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord were established as irrefutable facts. And he did so by overruling the actions of those very men who most desired to stop the influence of Christ in this world, his murderers. The facts recorded in these last verses of Matthew 27 are recorded by Matthew alone. They make it evident for all to see that the Son of God literally died as our substitute, that he was buried as a dead man in the earth for three days, and that he arose from the dead on the third day after his death.

The Lord our God is so gloriously sovereign that he makes even the actions of his enemies, even the most wicked acts of men, to serve his purpose for the salvation of his elect and the glory of his great name." Sometimes God performs notable miracles. by which he alters the course of nature to accomplish his purpose for the good of his elect, the glory of his name. For instance, the flood, the plagues in Egypt, the slaying of the firstborn, the crossing of the Red Sea on dry ground, the drowning of Pharaoh, the manna that fell in the wilderness, water flowing out of a smitten rock the day the sun stood still. the fallen walls of Jericho simply by men marching around it, the axe that swam, the axe that spoke, the opening of the ground to swallow Korah, the fish to swallow Jonah, the burning bush, the fire that could not burn Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and the lions that would not harm Daniel. Page 7.

But the supernatural miracles Performed by God seem almost insignificant when compared to His sovereign disposition of all things in providence. Consider for a moment the magnitude of God's providence. The scriptures universally declare that our God rules all things everywhere at all times, does it not? Listen to 1 Chronicles 29, 11, 12.

Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and power and the glory and the victory and the majesty. For all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come of Thee, and Thou reignest over all, and in Thy hand is power and might. and in thy hand is to make great and to give strength unto all. Listen to 2 Chronicles 20 verse 6, And said, O LORD God our Fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thy hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?

Well, how about Psalms 135 verse 6? Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and in earth and in seas and in all deep places. Isaiah 46 verses 9 to 10, we read this. Remember the former things of old? For I am God and there is none else. I am God and there is none like me. declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. And at the end of the days, this is Daniel 4, 34, and 35, and at the end of days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored Him that liveth forever, whose dominion is everlasting, is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation.

And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can state his hand or say unto him, What doest thou? Page 8 The word of God is filled with example of God's sovereign providence.

And that's what we're talking about in the way the Lord moved these two men who had been in secret, disciples of His, coming out in the end with boldness and taking the Lord's body and burying it with honor. That's exactly what we're talking about when the Pharisees...

Now, our Lord could have done this in so many different ways, but consider how He did this. He had the Pharisees themselves set up this assurance that the tomb was not robbed. Remember, they came in the next morning and it was open. And the body was gone, but they had guards on it all night long, even though they fell asleep.

Our Lord provides all of this. He provided the women who were sitting there witnessing the whole thing on the sepulcher when Joseph and Nicodemus brought the Lord to bury him. All of this is provided by God. The one who rules. This is what this is a picture of. This is a picture of He who rules over every detail of everything.

Folks, there's not a dust that floats down and touches the ground that our God has not predestined that dust to be there. There's not a molecule that our Lord has not determined to be exactly where it is. Our God's Word is filled. were the example of God's sovereign providence, ruling and overruling even the most vile actions of men for the accomplishment of his purpose.

Think of Joseph and his brethren. Jacob's second youngest remember how his brethren threw him in a pit they were gonna kill him and they decided no Let's not kill him instead. They gave him to the Ishmaelites who took him down into Egypt. Was that not all by God's providential all-sovereign hand Folks, there's no accidents with God What about a limit or or or Naomi and Ruth? Do you think the famine that came upon Bethlehem was just an accident? The famine that drove Naomi and her husband and two sons down to Moab where Ruth would become a daughter, a daughter-in-law to Naomi and then return to the city of Bethlehem of bread? What about Esther and Haman and Mordecai? And here's one for you. How about David and Bathsheba?

Was our God not in control of that just as well? A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps. Proverbs 16, 9. Yet nowhere in Scripture Even though the Word of God is filled with examples, nowhere in Scripture is God's incredible and amazing providence more evident than in the burial of our Lord. It's just as amazing there as it is anywhere else in God's Word.

Every detail from Joseph begging for his body, to Pilate's agreement to the scheming of the Jews to have his tomb sealed under the protection of Roman guards, all are a testimony to the fact that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is indeed the Christ of God, our Savior, our Lord, crucified, buried, and raised again for our justification. Let all who truly are the Lord's disciples come forth in this hour when his name is used in vain to confess him in believer's baptism. As he was buried with us, we must take our place with him in the watery grave. May God give us grace both to boldly confess our Savior's name in the midst of his enemies and to calmly trust his wise and precious providence.

That's the hardest thing of all, isn't it? To trust. to trust in the Lord. You know, one of the hardest things for me to do is sit back and do nothing. But oh, how often that is exactly what our Lord wants us to do. Wait on the Lord and see what great things He do, He doeth. Listen to Romans 8, 28 through 31.

And we know that all things work together for good. to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, then he also called. And whom He called, them He also justified. And whom He justified, them He also glorified. What shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

(pt98) Matthew

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the death of Christ?

How do we know that Christ's resurrection is true?

Why is sovereign grace important for Christians?

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(pt98) Matthew

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the death of Christ?

How do we know that Christ's resurrection is true?

Why is sovereign grace important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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