Let's turn this morning to Matthew
chapter 27. This will conclude our study
in Matthew 27. It seems like we've been in this
chapter for a long time, but there's so much in it as well
as in the final chapter. Now, this is Matthew's account
of the burial of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said the Gospel
that he preached, which he himself also received, and which those
who heard him received, the one he preached, and the one his
hearers believed, and the one they continued to rejoice in,
was how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures
and was buried. and that he rose from the dead
on the third day according to the scriptures. Our Lord's burial
was as important as his death and resurrection. He did nothing
by accident. There was a reason for his burial. His burial is proof of his death. It's evidence of his death. His burial is his identification. with all those of His body who
were buried already, and all those who shall be. And the burial
of Christ is so important that He left us an ordinance to keep,
which we're going to do this morning, the Lord willing, following
our worship service. That which pictures our burial
with Him. The Scripture said, buried with
Him in baptism. Isn't that what that says? wherein
also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of
God, who hath raised him from the dead." Now, let's read these
verses here in Matthew together, beginning with verse 57. Matthew
27, verse 57. When the evening was come, there
came a rich man of Arimathea named Joseph, who also himself
was Jesus' 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 a rock, and he rolled
a great stone to the door of the sepulcher and departed. And there was Mary Magdalene
and the other Mary sitting over against the sepulcher. Now the
next day that followed, the day of the preparation, the chief
priests and Pharisees came together under Pilate, saying, Sir, we
remember that the deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After
three days I will rise again. Command, therefore, that the
sepulcher be made 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 ever shall be worse
than the first. Pilate said unto them, you have
a watch." In other words, I'm going to send with you a centurion
or more than one. Go your way. And here's the subject
of my lesson this morning. Make it as sure as you can. So
they went and they made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone and setting
a watch. Now, I believe we have three
things demonstrated to us which surround the burial of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. We have a strong and bold declaration
of faith by the most unlikely of men. And we have also a manifestation
of God's providential dealings in the hearts of His enemies.
When we think about God dealing with men, we think about God
dealing with His elect, dealing in the hearts of His elect, dealing
with those whom He has chosen, whom He has called. But God deals
in the hearts of unbelievers too. He deals in the hearts of
kings as He did in Pharaoh. I know it says Pharaoh hardened
his heart, but how many times before that did it say God hardened
his heart? And then thirdly, we have a mocking
gesture to all who reject the Son of God. So let's look first
at this strong declaration of faith by two. Actually, there
were two of the most unlikely of his disciples. This one who
had raised the hopes of Israel that he was their long and sought
after Messiah, now lay dead on a marble slab in the court of
the governor of Rome. And the Jews seemingly had won
the day. That's how it appeared. They
had won the day. Jesus is dead. Their thorn in the flesh was
finally removed. And with their master gone, No
man dare lay claim on Him or identify themselves with Him.
He was the buffer between them and those Jews. They trusted
in Him. They trusted in His relationship
to God to keep these men at bay from them. He was their protection. He was their security. All of
this was in the fact that He was the Lord's Christ. But now
He's dead. Now He's dead. and his person
is not there. And then out of nowhere comes
a man that is virtually unknown before now, and is not after
this, as far as I know, ever mentioned again. This is the
only time that Joseph of Arimathea was ever mentioned. In Matthew's account, we're told
that he was also a disciple. In Mark's account, he's declared
to be one of the High Council of Israel. He's one of those
who were appointed, who waited on the coming Messiah, which
is what the Sanhedrin was all about. And then in John's account,
in John 19.38, we're told that he was a disciple of Jesus, but
secretly for fear of the Jews. Now what I want you to see this
morning is that God would not allow him to continue on, this
man Joseph of Arimathea, in his secrecy. Both he and Nicodemus
walked in the shadows for a little while. For a little while. And I also want you to see this.
Being a disciple does not mean you've been saved. Don't put
those two things together. Judas was a disciple, wasn't
he? He had obtained part of this
ministry, that's what our Lord said. He was a disciple, but
he certainly wasn't a saved man. And the whole multitude that
left Christ in John chapter 6 were called disciples. Listen to this,
in verse 60 of John chapter 6, it said, "...many therefore of
his disciples When they heard this, they said, this is a hard
saying. Who could hear it? And then in
verse 66 it said, from that time many of his disciples went back
and walked no more with him. You can be a disciple. A disciple
simply means you are a follower. And you can be a follower of
the Lord Jesus Christ and not be a saved man. Everybody who
comes in and professes faith in Christ professes to be a follower
of Christ. And I'd say you'd be hard-pressed
to find anybody out here who is not a follower or at least
a professed follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have no reason to believe that
either Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea were converted but
continued on in some kind of secret discipleship. You remember,
Nicodemus came to him at night, and he began to tell him what
all he believed. No man could do the things that
you do. And he had a lot of good things
to say, and our Lord just stopped him right in the middle of that.
He said, Nicodemus, you have to be born again. Huh? He wasn't a saved man. Not yet.
Not yet he wasn't. And I have no reason to believe
that the same thing. And both of these men were members
of the Sanhedrin. Both these men were Pharisees
and members of the High Council of God. And no doubt they conversed
together. No doubt they saw some things.
No doubt about it. I saw some things. You saw some
things before the Lord ever converted. You begin to hear some things
and to see some things about God's sovereignty and reading
in the Word these things and those things which the world,
this religious world at least, just bypasses and goes over. You begin to see some things.
So did they. So did they. But this is the
kind of thing that universalism promotes, a work contrary to
the Scriptures and contrary to the examples set before us in
the Word of God. Both he and Joseph had been followers
of Christ in secret, but something happened that brought about a
great change in these two men. And I believe it was the same
thing that happened to the thief on the cross. He saw the glory
of God in the face of this one hanging on that tree. I believe
that's exactly what happened. I believe all of a sudden they
saw what they did not understand. They saw the glory of God in
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. So I hope you will at least consider
the possibility of what I'm saying. Does their actions now at this
critical time speak of some timid, neutral, religionist hiding in
the shadows? I don't think it does. Especially
Joseph of Arimathea, who came in broad daylight and in front
of the whole Sanhedrin into Pilate's court to beg the body of Jesus
and lay Him in His own tomb. That wasn't an act of timidity.
Where were the eleven disciples when all this was going on? What
I'm saying to you, this was a great, a great manifestation of faith
in this man. Where were his disciples? Where
was Lazarus? Where was the lepers he cleansed,
the dead he raised, the blind he gave eyes to see? None of
them were there. Just Joseph. His very presence
at this time painted a bull's eye on his back just from him
being there. Our Lord in Matthew 10 told how
things would be. He said, faith is fathers are
going to sell out their children, and brothers are going to be
against brothers, and children against fathers, and fathers
forsaking their children. Hated, he said, of all men for
my name's sake. Persecuted from city to city.
And in light of all those statements, he says, now listen to this,
whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess
before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny
me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is
in heaven. I don't know about disciples,
but our Lord has no secret believers. He doesn't have any secret believers.
You deny Him before me and He will deny you before the Father.
To me, that's pretty clear. That's pretty clear. Mark 8,
verse 38, Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of
my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also
shall the Son of Man be ashamed when He cometh in the glory of
His Father with His holy angels. And then think about this second.
Joseph identified himself believing in and coming to a dead Messiah. We're talking about great things.
Now the disciples saw him who lived. They saw him who walked. He walked with them. He ate with
them. He counseled them. He watched
for them. He cared for them. This man came
when he lay dead on a chunk of marble in the enemy's camp. He wasn't raising the dead and
cleansing lepers and curing all manner of diseases now. He laid
lifeless on a piece of stone. So I see in this thing of Joseph
of Arimathea a bold and a great manifestation of faith. This
man did what nobody else would do. And then the second thing
I want you to see here in our text is the providential dealings
of God in the lives of even His enemies. And as I mentioned before,
God moved in the heart of Pharaoh. And I know that false religion
and a fallen nature result in rebellion and idolatry, but it
also says God sent them strong delusion that they might believe
a lie and be damned for believing it. And then in Romans 9 it says,
Hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will,
He hardeneth." He hardens. And in the same way, He uses
the thoughts and minds of men to accomplish His purpose of
grace in Christ. The battle is over. Now listen. Christ is dead. And then along
comes Joseph of Arimathea, takes home the body of Christ, And
as their twisted minds began to contemplate what might come
to pass, they hurried themselves down to Pilate and said, his
disciples are going to come at night and steal away his body.
They are going to steal away his body. And then they are going
to tell everybody that he rose from the grave on the third day.
And that error is going to be worse than what we had to deal
with before, which is exactly What they did say, after Christ
did rise from the dead, even though they had the watches set,
even though they put the Roman seal on the tomb, after He rose,
they spread that rumor everywhere. His disciples come. But what I'm laboring to point
out to you here is that the Lord put these thoughts in the minds
of these men that that tomb might be made sure, that when they
did spread their rumors about the disciples coming, everybody
sloughed them off because they knew better. That tomb was sealed. That stone was sealed. Now whether
it was sealed in mortar or had a royal seal on it, which you
mess with that, you're a dead man. But for sure it was sealed
with a watch. It was sealed with a watch. And
then the third thing I want you to see is a kind of mocking gesture
that comes from the lips of their own governor. I remember what
had taken place. The sun was darkened for three
hours. Just right at noon, boom, no
sun till three o'clock. The earth shook with a mighty
earthquake. And then Pilate said unto them,
in the light of all these things, he said, you have your watch.
You go and make it sure as you can. You make it just as sure
as you can. I give you both my seal and my
soldiers. Now go your way. It's always
been in the mind and heart of Satan that he could somehow prevent
or overturn God's everlasting purpose of grace in Christ Jesus. He's always, in his mind, thought
he could accomplish that. That's what he's been doing since
the fall of man. That's what he does in false
religion, that's what he does in his lies, that's what he does
in his temptations of men, that's what he does in all of these
things. Natural men walk according to
the course of this world according to the prince of the power there.
And His working is always to this end. It's to prevent those
things, to prevent the glory of God from being manifested
in the redemption of a people in Christ. And so it is in the
minds and hearts of those who walk according to the Prince
of the power of the air. They thought they could kill
Him as an infant, didn't they? You
remember that? And just to be sure, we're going
to kill all infants in the place where he is to be born. We're
going to get rid of all of them. Not all of them. God preserved
one, didn't He? They thought they could destroy
him by condemning his person and work and bad-mouthing the
Son of God to everybody that had given them an ear. They thought
they could totally destroy, just destroy everything he was doing
just by spreading rumors and lies about it. But God confirmed
him in their midst, Peter said, with miracles and wonders and
signs. They thought they could destroy
his ministry with foolish questions, which he wisely used to expose
their ignorance. They thought by buying off one
of his own, they could bring an end to his influence upon
the people. But all they did when they hired
Judas was fulfill the Scripture. They thought by putting Him to
death on the cross, they could be rid of Him forever. And all
they did was to do what God's hand and God's counsel determined
before to be done. And now in a last desperate attempt
to overturn the Son of God, they begged the help of this little
peanut governor in Rome to seal up the tomb of Christ and prevent his resurrection.
What utter ignorance and pride and self-esteem in all who would
set themselves against the living God. Not all the demons in hell
put together, not all the antichrists who have ever been put together,
not all the people and governors and kings and principalities
combined could prevent the least promise of God from coming to
pass. all those who would think by
their works and wills, by their decisions and determinations
to alter the work of God in Christ, I say to you what Pilate said
to them, make it as sure as you can. Make it as sure as you can. Go your way and make it as sure
as you can. Listen to what our God says of
all those who try by any measure to remove themselves from the
rule and dominion of the Mediator King. Listen to what He said.
He said, I'll laugh. He that is in the heavens will
laugh. You'll laugh. Surely the God
of glory laughed as that bunch of worms went out to the tomb
of Christ with a man and a sword and a spear to seal that tomb
against the promise of God and the power of God that would raise
His Son on the third day. Surely the Creator of the universe
laughed at these rebels as they sought in their own power to
seal in Him who must rise the third day. Isn't that what He
told His disciples? I must go to Jerusalem. I must
there suffer and die on a cross. And I must, on the third day,
be raised from the dead. And beloved, just apply this
truth to everything and everybody who oppose your Lord and His
promises. Paul applies this even to the love of God over in Romans
chapter 8. He said, who is going to separate
you from the love of God which is in Christ? Who is going to
separate you? Things present, things to come, things past.
What? Angels, principalities. Nothing shall be able to separate
you from the love of God which is in Christ. Nothing. He applies
it to the inward work of grace in Philippians 1.6. saying his
confidence was not in them, but his confidence is in this very
thing, he said, that he which hath begun a good work in you
is going to perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. And then
in Jude, verse 24, he applies it to our preservation in Christ,
saying, Now unto him who is able to keep you from falling, and
to present you faultless before the presence of his glory, be
honor and majesty and dominion and glory both now and forever. Will you come to Christ and rejoice
in Him? Then rest assured in this, He'll
do all He's promised. But if you're determined to go
on defending that old false profession, defending ungodly religion, defending
the lies and falsehoods of antichrist religion, I say what He said
to them. Go your way and make it as sure
as you can. But I tell you this, you can't
make anything sure that's opposed to the living God. That's absurdity,
isn't it? But that is the very evidence
of a man who don't know God.