I have about three scriptures
I want to turn to, if you want to follow me, if you do have
your Bibles. Over in 1 Corinthians chapter
15, but I want to say this, there were so many people, even that
I know, that wanted to be here today. I know if everyone that
wanted to be here was here, we wouldn't have had room on this
parking lot, that's for sure. But this is the way God would
have it. His servant that was faithful in his kingdom to preach
his grace, his sovereign and free grace for all of these years,
this is the way God would have it. A few people, a very small
number, gathered here upon this earth to say goodbye to our pastor,
our brother, but to be received by a great cloud of witnesses
in heaven. I too thank God for Don. He has been a dear friend, a
counselor to me, stood by me, encouraged me. But I thank God
for this congregation. Week after week, month after
month, decade after decade, this local church has gathered here
in faithfulness to maintain the public worship of our covenant
God. And I thank this congregation.
You've sent the gospel out all over this world to needy sinners. The gospel of redeeming love,
and I thank you for that. I thank God for you. And Shelby,
I thank God for you. What an example, dear sister,
you are, and I don't mean to embarrass you, but what an example
of grace, what an example to all of us to follow, of faith
and love. What an example of a spouse,
a loving spouse, faithful to her husband. What an example
of a laborer in the gospel with her pastor after all these decades. And I know that Shelby probably
realizes this, but I don't know if you knew the number the last
few years of people that were anxious when Don traveled. Here in this congregation, but
everywhere, when we found out that Don was going out of state
or overseas, we all became so anxious. Will he make it back?
Will he be in the hospital? Will he get sick? And we were
so anxious, but I've heard so many say, Lindsey has said it
to me, Shelby is with him. Shelby is with him. That removed
a great degree of the anxiety. Shelby is with him. If Shelby
is with him, Don will be fine. Shelby, the Lord bless you, dear
sister. In the days ahead, and your family,
whatever you may go through in sorrow, what a husband you have
left. You've lost a husband. But Christ
is your husband. I want to preach today, just
for a few minutes, on a subject I think may be appropriate for
this time. I notice you'll know behind me
is the grave of our dear brother. This is very unusual, isn't it?
Usually we have a funeral service and we take someone out and bury
them. This time we've buried our dear
brother and now we've come here to preach his funeral. And I
think this is a very appropriate scripture to read at this time.
In 1 Corinthians 15, the Apostle Paul said in verse 3, I delivered
unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He
was buried, and that He rose again the third day according
to the Scriptures. And my subject that I want you
to think with me on just for a few minutes is, and He was
buried. And what an inappropriate thought,
I think, looking behind me and seeing the grave of our dear
brother. He was buried. You know, we know and we often
dwell upon the critical issue of the gospel that Christ died
for our sins. He suffered for our sins and
we often dwell upon the resurrection. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. And we see the miracle in His
death and the resurrection. But you know, there are some
miracles in His burial. His burial is just as critical
as His death and His resurrection. And the Apostle Paul said here
that He died according to the Scriptures and He was buried
according to the Scriptures. And there are several Scriptures
that would tell us, for instance, He made His grave with the wicked. Now, I don't know the depths
or the full meaning of that passage, but one thing it does tell us,
He had a grave. He made His grave with the wicked.
And as Jonah was three days and three nights in the heart of
the whale, so must the Son of Man be three days and three nights
in the heart of the earth. Jesus Christ truly was buried. I have a couple of scriptures. One is over Acts chapter 13 the
Apostle Paul preached this message to this group in Antioch and
he mentions Something about the burial of the Lord Jesus Christ
and what a miracle this is Here in verse in and in Acts chapter
13 in verse 28 He says and though they found no cause of death
in him yet that they desired Pilate that he should be slain
and And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him,
they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulcher,
but God raised him from the dead. And then down in verse 34, as
concerning that he raised him from the dead, now to die no
more, or to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will
give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he said also
in another psalm, and he quotes psalms chapter 16 and verse 10,
Thou will not suffer thine holy one to see corruption. For David,
after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep,
and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption. But he whom
God raised again saw no corruption." This is the miracle concerning
the burial of the Lord Jesus Christ. You and I know that as
soon as a body dies, they have to do something with it. I had
a cousin that refused to be embalmed and they said, well, we'll have
to bury you within 24 hours. Your body is going to begin to
break down. It will begin to decay. That's
what happens. That's what's happened to our
dear brother's body behind me. It's breaking down. It's decaying. But here we're told in this scripture
that the Lord Jesus Christ died He was buried and for three days
and three nights he lay in the tomb in his sepulcher and he
saw no corruption. Now isn't that a miracle? He
took our sins, all of our sins. Every sin God gathered up of
all his elect people Put them in the bosom in the body of our
Lord Jesus Christ. He took them and claimed them
as his own hung up on Calvary's tree and all the Results all
the consequences of sin was given to him. He not only took our
sins He took all the guilt of our sins All the wrath of God
for our sins. He took the frowning face of
his God. He took the wrath of his God.
He took the corruption. Every consequences that belonged
to sin, he took it. And yet it had no effect upon
him. Isn't that amazing? The scripture
says he offered himself without spot to God. Isn't that amazing? His merit, his worth was far
more exceeding great than all the sin that he had took to himself. But here's a miracle just as
great as that one. He went into the grave for three
days and three nights. And he saw no corruption. And the Apostle Paul tells us
here why he saw no corruption. Nobody was born like Jesus Christ. Nobody lived like Jesus Christ. And nobody died like Jesus Christ. And while he was in the grave,
he was called the Holy One. The Holy One. The Holy Fang when
he was born, he lived holy, harmless and undefiled, and the grave,
the grave could not corrupt him. Truly, he is the Holy One of
God. Isn't that comforting? He was
buried, but unlike our dear brother, he saw no corruption. What a wonderful thing. Three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth, and the grave
could not corrupt him. The Son of God was holy in his
humanity, as holy as he was in his divinity, and nothing can
affect absolute holiness. Nothing. When death gaped upon him, he
swallowed it up in life. When the bars of the grave enclosed
in upon him, he destroyed it. And he said, O grave, I will
be your destruction. And that he was. The Apostle
Peter quoted this same verse that the Apostle Paul quoted
in Psalms chapter 16 and verse 10 on that great message on the
day of Pentecost, but he added another Psalms to it, Psalms
132. Let me read what Peter said,
just thinking of the burial of our Lord Jesus Christ and saw
no corruption. Peter was quoting David and he
said, Therefore David being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn
with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according
to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne.
He, seeing this beforehand, spake of the resurrection of Christ,
that his soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh see
corruption." But when you turn over and read that Psalms that
Peter quoted, let me read it for you and look just a little
bit of difference how David wrote it. The Lord has sworn in truth
to David and will not turn from it of the fruit of thy body will
I set upon thy throne the Lord said to David the eternal Lord
said to David the self-sufficient self-existent Lord Jehovah said
to David of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne
what does that tell us that tells us when Mary conceived in her
womb that was God in her womb When He walked upon this earth
without sin and knew no sin, that was God incarnate. And when
He went to the cross, hanging on the cross of Calvary, that
was God incarnate hanging upon that tree. And when He raised
and ascended and seated on the throne, that's the incarnate
God seated there. And listen, when He was buried,
that was God in the grave. And God went to the grave and
it's had a profound effect upon the grave. It'll never be the
same again. God has been there. And that's
what's comforting to you. And that's what's comforting
to me this morning. And He was buried. And what a
profound effect that had upon the grave. I got one more passage
I want to read to you. It's over in John chapter 19.
This is where the death of our Lord had just happened. And now
the experience of His burial is given to us here in John chapter
19. And I want you to turn over there
if you have it. If you don't, you'll remember this. It's very
familiar. The Lord Jesus was buried, but here is some things
concerning His burial that is very comforting and very sweet
to us. This is why the grave has no
fear for God's children. This is why the grave can even
be a sweet resting place for God's children. Let me give you
the experience of His burial. These two men took Him down from
the cross. Here in verse 38. And after Joseph of Arimathea,
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, and
he came therefore and took the body of Jesus. And then came
also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night,
and he brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound
weight, Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen
cloths, with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.
Now the place where he was crucified, there was a garden, and in the
garden a new sepulcher, wherein never man yet laid. There they
laid Jesus, Therefore because of the Jews preparation day the
sepulchre was nigh at hand." Now these verses suggest some
very sweet things to our thoughts. The burial of our Lord Jesus
Christ and the first one it suggests here to us Mr. Gill said is a
father evidence that our Lord was indeed dead when they buried
him. These two men They took him down
from the cross. They handled him. They examined
him. They saw the gaping hole in his
side. They saw all of his blood had
been poured out beneath the cross. They wound him tightly in those
linen clothes. They put a napkin tightly around
his face and they said he's dead. And they took him and laid him
out of their sight in the sepulcher. Now I am willing, if the scriptures
just said one time that Christ died, I'm willing to accept that.
But if God is willing to give us more evidence, I thank Him
for it, don't you? And here we have it. His two
friends knew that He was dead. There's something else though
that suggests something very precious to our thoughts, and
it's this. Where He was buried, there was
a garden. He was buried in a garden and
this suggests to our thoughts that Jesus Christ our Lord was
truly a representative of his people. Where was it that death first
entered the human race? It was in a garden, wasn't it?
In the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die." Adam was
in a garden when he disobeyed God and died. And we all died
in him. In Genesis, the first man died
spiritually. We have it recorded and we all
died in him. And the very last verse in the
book of Genesis said that Joseph died and they put him in a coffin
down in Egypt. The first man died, and the last
man that we read about in the book of Genesis was buried, and
that would be our history, brothers and sisters, if we had to stop
there. We'd face sin and death and a
dark eternity if someone else had not come and represented
us in a garden. The second man undid what the
first man did and it was all in a garden. Isn't it very fitting
that death entered in a garden and death was turned out in a
garden? Death took its throne in a garden. Death reigns and death was dethroned
in a garden. Death got the victory in a garden
and death was defeated in a garden. Oh death, I will be your plague. Oh grave, I will be your destruction. And it all took place in a garden
by our representative. By man came death and they put
him in a coffin. But another man died and was
buried and rose again. And because he lives, we live
also. And he was buried. The third
thing that this passage here of our Lord Jesus experience
in Burroughs suggests to us is this, that the bitterness of
death, the bitterness of the grave, and the fear of the grave
is past. Here in verse 39 and verse 40,
they took 100 pounds of this precious ointment and spices
and they put it around the body and wrapped it up in these gray
clothes. Can you imagine? what a sweet
aroma filled that little tomb where our Savior laid. It said
as the manner of the Jews were. Let me tell you about King Asa
when he died. It said that they buried King
Asa in his own sepulcher in the city of David and they laid him
in a bed which was filled with sweet odors and diverse kinds
of spices prepared for the apothecaries. Can you imagine how it must have
smelled, the sweet aroma that went up in that little sepulcher
where our Lord Jesus lay? Not only was there no smell of
death or decay, but it was only a sweet aroma. that they smelt
within that tomb. And doesn't this suggest to us
that not only is there no bitterness in the grave for those who are
in Christ Jesus, but it's even a place desired for one to lay
his weary body down to rest for a season. We don't have to be afraid of
the grave. Our Lord Jesus has been there already. and what
a sweet place it was when he lay. There's no fear in the grave
anymore, Brother Gene. The angels said to those timid
women, come see the place where he lay. You mean we can do that? There's no fear there? There's
no bitterness in that? None at all. It's sweet aroma. I have no fear for our dear brother.
Not at all. I have no fear today that he
is suffering, that he is some sort of in bitterness. No. No. He's resting. His body that
he gives to the service of his Master. An example to all of
us. He's laid that laboring body
down and now it's resting. Resting where the Master was.
I can't think of anything more encouraging to my heart than
to thank every situation that you can find yourself in. No
matter if you're in the darkest valley of the shatter of death,
or if you're climbing the hill of difficulty, no matter where
you're at in your Christian experience, you can find the footprints of
the Lord Jesus Christ there. You can look around and say,
my master was here. And there's nothing that you
can experience that will harm you, not even the grave, because
He's been here before us. Isn't that a wonderful thought?
We lay our dear brother today down to rest his body with this
confidence. There's nothing there to hurt
him. Our Master has been there. And what a sweet place the grave
is now. Fourthly, consider this with
me. We're told here that He was buried in a garden. Doesn't that
suggest to us fruit? I think it's very telling that
our Lord Jesus died in the spring, just about the time that you
and I are ready to plant our gardens. And here He is in the
grave, in the tomb, in the heart of the earth. I'm ready now to
plant my garden. Every year I plant a garden.
I'll take a few potatoes out and put them in the ground and
I'll get five gallon buckets of potatoes. A few bean seeds
and it just produces so many beans. My wife and I usually
go into the winter with maybe a hundred quarts of beans. And
you just sow your seed and up comes all of this fruit. And
here the Lord Jesus said that he was as a grain of wheat that
he fell into the ground and he died. And then what happens?
He brings forth much fruit. And I'm looking at that fruit
here today. And that fruit is from Him. It
came from His dying. It came from His burial. It came
from His resurrection again. You're His fruit. That's a blessed
thought, isn't it? He was buried in a garden. What a wonderful thought. Lastly,
consider this with me. Here in the 20th chapter of John,
concerning the burial of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here in verse
8, here is what the Holy Spirit says. Or in verse 5, when Peter
and John came here to the sepulcher, and stooping down and looking
in, he saw the linen clothes laying, yet went he not in? Then cometh Simon Peter, following
him, and went unto the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lay,
and the napkin that was about his head, not lined with the
linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went
in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre,
and saw and believed." Now what a wonderful, wonderful thought
this is, suggested here to our minds. They had wrapped the Lord
Jesus tightly in these grave clothes. He was greatly hindered. A living
man could not get around in these grave clothes. He had this napkin,
he could not speak, he could not see. And you remember Lazarus? When the Lord Jesus told Lazarus
to come forth from the grave, remember what he brought forth
from the grave with him? His grave clothes. And we don't
know how he got out of the grave, we don't know if he floated out,
if he paddled his way out, but he was greatly hindered by these
grave clothes. He could not run to the Lord
Jesus Christ. He had these grave clothes on.
He couldn't embrace the Lord Jesus. He had these grave clothes
on. He couldn't even see Him. If he saw Him, he had to peep
underneath the napkin. He was greatly hindered by these
grave clothes. And the Lord Jesus said to those
standing by, take those grave clothes off of Him and set Him
free. Loose Him. What does it mean
when we think of the Lord Jesus leaving His napkin and leaving
His grave closed in that tomb? What does that suggest to us?
That He's free. What He took in that grave, He
come out without. He ascended to heaven with nothing
but a glorified and free humanity. And I thought of my dear brother
as I was thinking upon this. He's free. Don had as much trouble as I
did when it comes to understanding the scriptures.
Somebody said, why does he read all the time? I said, because
he won't know it if he doesn't read all the time. And he told
me one day, he said, the more I find out of what the Bible
says about God, the less I realize I know about God. He saw underneath this napkin. He saw little bits and pieces. That napkin has been removed.
Now he's seeing face to face. He's not looking through a glass
darkly anymore. He's not pouring over his Bible.
He doesn't need to. He knows now as he's known. No,
he's worshiping. Oh, how many times did he complain
with the rest of us. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? Oh, I tell you,
the Apostle Paul counted it a great joy just to think of being released. He said, the time of my release
has come. Released from what? These grave
clothes. This napkin that blinds my mind. I want to be free, don't you?
John the Clarence said, down within sight of every regenerate
man is this longing to see the face of Him who created him. and worship Him with undimmed
eyes and a non-sinned heart. And just as our Savior is free
from His grave clothes, our dear brother is free from His. And
we wait till that resurrection day when body and soul shall
be joined together. Now, now, each of us, I may be
the next one, to say they buried Him. He was buried. All of us
are going to be buried. But here's the blessing. That's
not the end of it. That's just the beginning of
it. The beginning of life eternal. And we don't have to face the
grave, brothers and sisters, with anxiety, with fear, because
our Master Himself was buried. Let us pray. Oh, our Father, our merciful,
merciful Father in heaven. We thank you for the Lord Jesus
Christ. Thank you for sending us a Savior,
a great one, and what a fine job He has done of redeeming
your people. Lord Jesus, we bless you today
that you came to this world, experienced everything that we
would experience, and you conquered everything. You took all out
of it that would harm us, and you ascended back to heaven where
our brother now is and where we soon hope to be. Bless dear
Shelby in the days ahead lead her and use her still in your
service in your kingdom. Keep faith and Doug and these
sweet children and watch over this dear congregation, our Father.
Lead them in the days ahead, Lord, in your will. May this
continually be a place where God is worshiped, where Jesus
Christ is exalted, and where men and women that are in Jesus
Christ love one another. And we praise you and we thank
you for it all in his wonderful name. Amen.