Turn with me to Matthew chapter
28. While our Lord walked this earth, 2,000 years ago, God walked on this
earth. And while He walked on this earth,
the New Testament was being written. They only had the Old Testament.
And it was at that moment in time being observed and being
recorded, being written. And the disciples then, he had
apostles, he had other disciples that followed him. And the disciples
back then, they did not understand what we understand now. We have the last page. We have the New Testament Scriptures,
and they didn't have that. Our Lord told His disciples over
and over and over again, I must be lifted up. He told them, didn't
He? I am going into the grave. He told them that, didn't He? Where I'm going, you cannot come." And his disciples hearing that
would respond with, what's he saying? We cannot tell what he's saying,
and then he would plainly tell them. We cannot understand what
he's saying. And the disciples walked with
him, and different things happened as they walked. And men tried
to lay hold on him, and they tried to throw him over a cliff
after he stood up and said, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me
because I'm here to give sight to the blind, and open the prison
doors, and heal the brokenhearted. And they said, we're going to
throw you off a cliff. Why? But he passed right through them,
didn't he? Because his time was not yet. How many times did they
try to lay hold on Him and He'd just walk away? Well, one moment came when all
the disciples were there with Him and a man named Judas brings
a mob up and they take Him. They lay hold on Him and they
take Him. And the Lord of glory is brought before a judge and
He's put on trial. Now imagine this through the
eyes of the disciples at that exact moment in time, not having
the New Testament Scriptures that we have now. They see Him in there standing
before a man. Wondering why is he allowing
this to happen? And they talk amongst themselves,
I'm sure, waiting on this verdict, saying they have to let him go. They don't have anything on him.
What has he done? They can't convict him of anything. Did you hear what they just said?
Pilate has told everybody, I find no fault in this man. Well, surely
they're going to let him go. And then the conviction comes. The verdict comes. And they hear,
he has been convicted. He's been convicted. And they
see how he is beaten and tortured. And they watch soldiers strip
him and humiliate him and nail him to a piece of wood. And then they hear the words
come out of his own mouth. They hear him say, My God, why
hast thou forsaken me? What? Think about it from their point
of view. Forsaken by God? And then the one that all of
their trust was in, and all their hope was in, bows his head and
gives up the ghost. And then they watch those soldiers
pull the nails out of his hands, and they pull the nails out of
his feet, and they take his dead body down. And a man from Arimathea
named Joseph takes his body, puts it in a tomb, and then they
put a big rock in front of it to seal it up. This happened on a Friday. That was the day it happened.
It happened on a Friday. And His disciples went home and
they were so shocked. Can you imagine? They were so
sad. They were so heartbroken. So distraught. So lost. Where do we go? What do we do?
I don't know. Well, let's go home. I don't
even have one. Lost. They said, we trusted that it
had been He which should have redeemed Israel. We thought He
was going to redeem us. That's what we thought. Well, they all stayed home on
Saturday, the next day, because Saturday was their Sabbath. And
they were commanded to rest on the Sabbath, not realizing that
their Sabbath is laying right over there in that tomb. Also on that Saturday, Pilate
decided to station guards outside of the tomb. He said, I want
you to make it as sure as you can So they took mortar and they
cemented that stone in place. They didn't want anybody going
inside. Could it get any worse? Could it be any worse? No hope and without God in the
world. That's where they were. The song
says, as poor wretched sinners, no God and no hope, it seemed
there was no one to help. Peter said, I guess I'll just
go back fishing again. Psalm 107 says, their soul is
melted because of trouble. But watch what happens on Sunday
morning, the third day. Look at Matthew 28, verse 1 says, In the end of the
Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week,
came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. And
behold, there was a great earthquake, For the angel of the Lord descended
from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door
and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning,
and his raiment white as snow, and for fear of him the keepers
did shake and become as dead men. And the angel answered and
said unto the women, fear not ye, for I know that you seek
heaven. That's not what it says, is it? That's what this world wants. Fear not ye, for I know that
you seek mansions and golden streets, healing from all your pain and
suffering." That's what this world wants. Look at very carefully
what verse 5 says. The angel answered and said unto
the women, Fear not ye, for I know, I know, I was sent with a message
from the throne of God directly to you, and because of that I
know, that you seek Jesus which was crucified. What do we seek? What are we here for? You seek Jesus which was crucified. He said, I know you need Him. I know you want Him. I know that. Because of that,
I have a message of good news for you. Verse 6 says, He is
not here. He's not here. For He is risen, as He said. Could they have ever dreamed
of hearing greater news at that moment in time? He is not here. For He is risen,
as He said. Now, He was there. He was there. They knew that He was there.
Those two women, the two Marys, knew that He was there. Let me
show you something in Luke 23. Luke 23, look at verse 55. And the women also which came
with him from Galilee followed after, and beheld the sepulcher,
and how his body was laid. Those two women followed Joseph
of Arimathea and Nicodemus. and whoever else was with Him,
and they saw them put His body in that tomb, and they saw exactly
where they laid Him, exactly how they laid Him. The women
also, which came with Him from Galilee, followed after and beheld
the sepulcher and how His body was laid, and they returned and
prepared spices and ointments and rested the Sabbath day. according
to the commandment. They knew the truth. They knew that He was there.
Thank God He was there. Thank God He was there. Had He never been there, there
would be no gospel to tell. Had He not been there, I wouldn't
be here. There would be no gospel to tell.
There would be no good news for the sinner against God. That
sinner is me. Had he not been there, there
would have been nothing to stop me from running straight into
hell. Had he not been there, my sin
debt would have never been paid. But he was there. He was there. Just not anymore. For He is risen. He is alive. He is the living
God right now. You know what this means. It
means judgment has been met and the law satisfied and mercy has
been born. I love that line, a ransom was
found. We know that song, don't we?
A ransom was found. Judgment was met, the law satisfied, and
mercy was born when a ransom was found. That's the moment
mercy was born. It means they're all taken away,
away. My sins are all taken away. God in these last days has spoken
to us by His Son. And that song says, Did you hear
what the Lord Jesus said to me? What this means is absolute righteousness
and peace kissed each other. He is not here, for He is risen
as He said. Everything that happens happens
as He said. Everything. He cannot lie. So every promise that He has
made to you and me, right here in this book, some of these promises
are too good to be true. Seated with Him. Reign with Him. That's what this flesh says,
that's too good to be true. Oh no, it's not. It's too good,
alright, but it's true. He cannot lie. Every promise He's made must
come to pass. It has to. He cannot lie. He
is going to raise up His chosen people. He raised us up when He arose.
He's gonna come back and He's gonna raise us up. We're gonna
raise up to meet Him in the air. He is
going to bless us with all spiritual blessings. Every one of them. We are going to inherit Him. We're going to get Him. He said, because I live, you
live also. Here is our gospel. He is not
here. For He is risen, as He said. That's what we preach. That's
what he just got finished preaching. And then that's what he preached.
And that's what you preach. Lord will and I hope and pray
with all my heart, I'm about to get in my car and drive back
to Kingsport. We're gonna have a service tonight. And I hope
I preach this right here. He's not here. He's risen as
he said. It is good news of a finished
work. from a sovereign God. That's
what it is. Now, let's take just a minute
to enter into our gospel. Just a minute to enter into what
Christ did for us. I want us to smell the savor
of it and feel the joy of it and see the beauty in it. So
beautiful. Here is our title. And this is
all I want us to do for the rest of this message. The end of verse
6 in Matthew 28 says, Come see the place where the
Lord lay. Come see the place where the
Lord lay. I want us to just for a few minutes, with eyes of faith,
see this place where the Lord lay. It is a very precious place. Do we not love this place? Is
it not the center of our being? This place, this glorious place
where the Lord lay. We're going to turn to a few
scriptures. The first one I want us to see is where the Lord lay,
where He actually lay, where His tomb was located. Turn with
me to John 19. John chapter 19, look at verse
41. It says, 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 place was inside a beautiful
garden, That's where his tomb was located. It was inside a
beautiful garden. This whole thing started in a
garden, didn't it? The whole thing. God made a garden. God made man in a garden. God breathed life and man became
a living soul in a garden. And then man sinned against his
God. He sinned against his good and
loving and kind God in that same garden. The Garden of Eden. Man died
in a garden. So God came down. And God went
to a garden. He went to the Garden of Gethsemane. And in that garden, he kneeled
down and he prayed, Father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. And that was not possible. And
he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood in that garden as the
sin of all of his people was pressed into him. As that sin
was pressed into him, great drops of blood were pressed out. And
then He took that sin to Calvary. He took that sin to the cross. And right there at Calvary was
a garden. And He laid in that garden for
three days, separated from God. And He did that to end the sin
that man started in the garden. Man died in the garden, so God
died in a garden. Life was given to man in a garden,
so new life, eternal life was given in a garden. I couldn't
help but wonder as I was reading over this this morning. I wonder,
you know, nobody knows where the Garden of Eden was located.
We're never going to know and it doesn't matter. But I wonder
if Christ came to the exact spot where Adam died and gave him
new life right there in a garden. This was a beautiful, beautiful,
life-giving garden. Beautiful. Verse 41 right here
says, 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. No man had ever laid in this
sepulcher. Our Lord went to a place to accomplish
a work that no man before Him could ever accomplish. Man has
tried. He has tried, He has tried, He
has tried. But all He does is leave His
stench on the place. That's all He does. He leaves
His filthy, rotten, vile stench there. They used to make these
tombs big enough to lay about six bodies in them. They would
carry the body in and there was usually about six places to lay
these bodies. Can you imagine the stench? They
didn't all die at the same time and they'd have to carry another
body in there. Can you imagine the stench? But no man had ever
laid here. No man. It was a beautiful place. without the stench of man's dead
flesh. Man's dead flesh had no part
in this. Look at Luke 24 with me. Luke 24 verse 1 says, Now upon
the first day of the week, very early in the morning, They came
unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared,
and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled
away from the sepulcher. And they entered in, and found
not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they
were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them
in shining garments." Angels were in that place. They went
in there and angels were in that place. And their garments were
shining. Our Lord went in, in darkness,
but light sprang forth from that place. This beautiful, light-giving
place. This is the place where the Lord
lay. This is where they brought His precious body. Now turn with
me over to Psalm 16. This is our Lord speaking of
those three days in the place where He laid. Psalm 16 verse 10 says, For thou wilt not leave my soul
in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to seek corruption. His body never saw one drop of
corruption. Not one drop. Not one drop of
decay. When He was in Gethsemane, that
sin was pressed into Him and all of sin's effects came on
Him. rot, wrinkles, spots. Every disease that sin brings,
the effects of that disease came on him to the point that no one
could even recognize him. All of its effect was on him.
He was marred more than any man. He was forsaken by God, wounded,
bruised, beaten, stricken, smitten, afflicted. But in that place
where the Lord lay, let me show you what happened. Go to Job
33. Job 33. Verse 21 says, His flesh is consumed
away that it cannot be seen, and His bones that were not seen
stick out. Yea, His soul draweth near unto
the grave, and His life to the destroyers. If there be a messenger
with Him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto
man His uprightness, then he is gracious unto him, and saith,
Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom. Now watch this. His flesh shall
be fresher than a child's. He shall return to the days of
his youth. He shall pray unto God, and he
will be favorable unto him, and he shall see his face with joy,
for he will render unto man his righteousness. He looketh upon
men, and if any say, I have sinned and perverted that which was
right, and it profited me not, he will deliver his soul from
going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. Lo, all
these things worketh God oftentimes with man, to bring back his soul
from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living."
This place where the Lord lay was a beautiful place that magnified
the light and the life of God. and inside this place laid the
body of the incorruptible Holy One, and His flesh was fresher
than a child's." This is the death of every believer. That's the death of every believer. Sin and all of its effects has
marred this body, But as soon as we lay this sinful body down,
did Paul not say, in a twinkling of an eye, we're going to be
changed. And this corruptible is going
to put on incorruption. And this mortal is going to put
on immortality. Our skin is going to go right
back to the skin of a child. The dew of youth on our brow.
all conform to His image. And the reason is because His
righteousness has revived us, redeemed us, rejuvenated us. This is the death of every believer. It is not a fearful thing. I know it is, because we don't
understand it. We've never seen it. But as soon
as you see it, you're going to say, that's the greatest thing
that's ever happened to me. It's life-giving. It's beautiful. It's absolutely beautiful. Turn
with me over to Mark chapter 15. Mark chapter 15 verse 45 says, And when 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 the linen and laid him in a sepulcher which was hewn
out of a rock and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulcher. The body of our Lord was wrapped
in fine, beautiful, rich linen, the clothing of kings and priests. Those were his grave clothes.
That's what he was buried in. Royal, priestly robes. Honor and glory and majesty was
inside this place. To see what he was wrapped in,
if a person came in and saw it, they would have to say, this
must be the king. This has to be the king. You
see what he's wearing? That's the priest. Turn with
me one more time back to John 19. John 19 verse 38 says, And 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. And there came
also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night,
and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound
weight, Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen
clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury."
Inside that beautiful linen was a hundred pounds of sweet-smelling
myrrh. A hundred pounds of very sweet-smelling
myrrh. They brought myrrh to our Lord
when He was born King. Gold, frankincense and myrrh. This one is sweet smelling to
God. They brought myrrh to our Lord when He died King. A hundred pounds of it. And it
was all sitting there fumigating this wonderful smell to God when
He arose King. The smell of that place, this
beautiful, wonderful, life-giving place, the smell of that place,
the sweetest fragrance poured out of this place. It was so
beautiful, with no corruption, with a fragrance that was so
sweet-smelling, it satisfied God Himself. Everything about
it was a sweet-smelling savor. Look right here at John chapter
20 verse 6 says, Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and
went into the sepulcher, and seeth the linen clothes lie,
and the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the
linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Peter went
into that sepulcher, and just like Lazarus and Martha, when
he ran in, that's not what he was expecting. I was afraid to run into that
place, but as soon as he went in, And he saw the grave clothes
still there. He saw those royal, glorious
grave clothes. Why did our Lord leave those
grave clothes there? Not needed anymore, are they?
Just don't need those anymore. The napkin that was around his
head, it was wrapped up. And the linen that was around
his body, it was wrapped up. Christ is our head. We are His body. And the grave clothes for the
head and the body were left in the same tomb. Never to be needed
again. My grave clothes were left in
the same tomb His grave clothes were left in. I don't have any
grave clothes. They were left back there. Never to be needed again. Verse
11, right here in John 20, But Mary stood without at the sepulcher
weeping. And as she wept, she stooped
down and looked into the sepulcher, and seeth two angels in white
sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet, where
the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman,
why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because
they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have
laid Him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back,
and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus
saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? Is that not what He asked each
one of us? When He comes to us, who do you seek? Who do I seek? He said unto her, Woman, why
weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing
him to be the gardener, said unto him, Sir, if thou have borne
him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take
him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. And that's what he said to me
one day. And I don't have any idea what day it was. But one day, and I hope and pray
today and every day until I get to pass through this beautiful
garden, I hope he says, Gabe. He said, Mary, she turned herself
and said unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master, That song says, near the cross,
a trembling soul, love and mercy found me. Jesus saith unto her, touch me
not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brethren
and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father. You tell them, I signed the paper,
the adoption is complete. I'm ascending to my Father and
He's just as much your Father as He is my Father now. And to
my God and your God, Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that
she had seen the Lord and that He had spoken these things unto
her, Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week,
when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled
for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and said
unto them, Peace be unto you. And when He had so said, He showed
unto them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again,
Peace be unto you. You know, that's why I come here
every time. I want to hear Him say, Peace
be unto you. He said, As my Father has sent
me, even so send I you. And when He had said this, He
breathed on them and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.
Whosoever sins you remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosoever
sins you retain, they are retained. But Thomas, one of the twelve
called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other
disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But
he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of
the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails,
and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after
eight days again, his disciples were within, and Thomas with
them. Then came Jesus, the doors being
shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. I can't help but wonder if when
I finally get to see Him face to face, when I finally get to
see Him face to face, if He's going to hold His hands up, and
the first thing I hear the voice I've always wanted to hear say
is, Peace be unto you. Verse 27, Then saith he to Thomas,
Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands. Reach hither
thy hand, and thrust it into my side. And be not faithless,
but believing. And Thomas answered and said
unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas,
because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they
that have not seen, and yet have believed. And many other signs
truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not
written in this book. But these are written that you
might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that
believing, you might have life through His name. Thank God He
wrote it down. Thank God. We believe it, don't
we? He's the Christ, isn't He? That's
the Son of God. Thank you. May the Lord bless
His Word.