1 Corinthians chapter 15. I want you to keep your Bibles
near you because I will be turning to some Scripture this morning.
I want to begin reading here in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and
verse 1. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you which also you have
received, and wherein you stand, by which also you are saved,
if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed
in vain. For I declared 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 arose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
and that he was seen of Cephas, and then of the twelve, and after
that he was seen of about five hundred brethren at once, of
whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are
fallen asleep." Now Paul tells us here in verse 3 what I would
call the vital aspect of the gospel, and that is the death
of Jesus Christ. and His burial and His resurrection. And you know that when Paul began
this epistle, he said that this is all I know. This is all I
preach. I profess to know nothing among
you but say Jesus Christ and Him crucified. But when he says
that, he doesn't mean that every time that he stood to preach
or teach somebody that it wasn't that he just preached the death
of Christ. and the burial of Christ and
the resurrection of Christ. Paul preached the whole counsel
of God. He preached the virgin birth
of Christ. He preached the sinful, sinless nature of Christ. He
said, God hath made him to be sin who knew no sin. So he believed
that Christ was virgin born, that he lived a sinless life,
that he went about doing good. He preached that. But what he
means is when he says that I determined to know nothing among you save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified, it meant that no matter what
subject that he preached, this was the vital part of that subject. He preached election, but he
preached election into salvation. Brother Glenn read it to us this
morning. He chose you into salvation And when we talk about salvation,
what do we talk about? The death of Christ, don't we?
The burial of Christ. The resurrection of Christ. Paul
preached the perseverance of the saints. If we keep in memory
what we heard lest we bleed in vain. But here's the way he preached
that. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
Him endeared the cross." So He preached the cross. He preached
many other subjects, but they always led to this. It was always
in the light of the cross. Paul says a lot about giving,
the generosity of the saints, but he preached it in this light,
that you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, though He
was rich, For your sakes, he became poor, poor. He became weak there upon the
cross. So that's his meaning that whatever
subject that he was dealing with, it had its consummation in this,
the death, the burial, and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And here in verse 3, he mentions
this particular aspect of the gospel. And you and I seldom
think about this. But Paul mentions this as being
essential to the gospel, and that is the burial of Christ. He says the death of Christ was
according to the Scripture, and we find it all in the Old Testament.
The resurrection of Christ, that's according to the Scripture. And
of course when he says according to the Scriptures, he doesn't
mean the New Testament Scriptures, he means the Old Testament Scriptures.
Because the New Testament Scriptures weren't written when Christ was
crucified. But the Old Testament proves
not only the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ,
but it proves also this, the burial of Jesus Christ. And that's my subject this morning.
That's what I want you to think with me about for a few minutes,
the burial. He was buried. He died and He
was buried according to the Scriptures. Now all four Gospels record the
burial of our Lord Jesus Christ. But I want us to disprove just
for a minute what the Old Testament Scripture says concerning the
burial of Christ. I'll just mention a few places,
but in Isaiah 53, verse 9, this is a familiar scripture. Let
me quote it to you. He says, He made His grave with
the wicked and with the rich in His death. Now, some of the
commentaries don't know for sure what that means. And I really
don't either. When you look at it, He made
His grave with the wicked. As far as we know, Either of
those two thieves weren't buried with Christ in His sepulcher. Some say that it should read
that He made His grave near the grave of the wicked. And that
may be so. I don't know. Sometimes the Scripture
doesn't always explain itself to our satisfaction. But for
sure, when we read Isaiah 53.9, we see there that Christ was
buried. And that's what I want you to
see from the Old Testament. He made His grave. He had a burial
appointed to Him at His death. And then in Matthew chapter 12,
in verse 40, the Lord Jesus was talking about His burial, and
He says that Jonas, being swallowed by the whale and down into the
bottom of the ocean for three days and three nights, was symbolic
of his burial. That's what we learn from Jonah
being swallowed by the whale. And you remember that incident
when Jonah was thrown overboard and this great fish, whatever
it was, a whale or a large shark, it swallowed him and went down
into the bottom of the mountain, to the bottom of the ocean. And
Jonah was inside that fish his belly for three days and three
nights, and the Lord Jesus said, here is what is meant for us
to learn from that experience. As Jonah was three days and three
nights in the whale's belly, even so the Son of Man must be
three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. So in
that experience of Jonah, we're taught that Jesus Christ indeed
was to be buried. He had a grave. And then in Psalms
chapter 22 in verse 15, the Lord Jesus says this in prophecy,
speaking to His Father, My strength is dried up like a posture, my
tongue cleaveth to my jaws, yea, thou hast brought me unto the
dust of death. Not only did he die, but he was
brought to the dust. His body was laid, otherwise,
in a sepulcher. Now I want you to look at this
passage with me over to your left. I want to go into some
detail with this in a couple of places in Acts, in Acts chapter
13. This is speaking from A prophecy
made by the prophet David in the 16th chapter of Psalms. And I want to look at this a
minute because it proves the death of Christ and the burial
of Christ and the resurrection of Christ. David quoted this
in Psalms chapter 16. You can read it there. But Peter
quoted this and Paul also quoted this in his message. I want you
to look here beginning in verse 29 of Acts chapter 13. Verse
29, the Apostle Paul speaking here of the Jews crucifying the
Lord Jesus. In verse 29 of Acts 13, And when
they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him
down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulcher. Now Paul believed in the burial
of Christ. This is the second time that
he makes mention of it. One time in my text here, in
barren here, he says they laid him in a sepulcher. But God raised
him from the dead, and notice this, he's going to offer some
proofs now. In verse 31, he was seen many
days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem,
who are witnesses unto the people, And we declare unto you, glad
tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,
God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children, in that he
hath raised up Christ again." Now he's going to offer scriptural
proof. He said, first of all, we have
physical proof, Peter, the Apostle, James, and Matthew, and over
500 brethren, most of them are still alive. And he said, if
you'll believe their record, and there's no reason not to
believe them, they were honest men. Whatever felons Peter may
have had, and he had many, he was an honest man. And when he
says that he saw the Son of God after His resurrection, I believe
him, don't you? And if you talk to these 500
men, they were honest men, and you and I have no reason not
to believe what they told us. That they were with Him, they
handled Him, and they ate with the Lord Jesus Christ after He
raised from the dead. Paul gave us that proof, but
now in verse 33, he's going to offer us some scriptural proof
as well from the Old Testament. As it is written also in the
second Psalm, Thou art my Son, This day have I begotten thee.
I begotten thee from the dead. I've raised you from the dead.
And look what he says in verse 34. And as concerning that He
raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption. Now that's the grave ain't it?
That's the grave. When you and I think of corruption,
what do we think of? That's the grave. Because that's
where the body begins to decay and rot away. And all that's
left is the dust of the grave. He said, on this wise, I will
give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore, he said also
in another psalm, Psalm 1610, thou shalt not suffer thy holy
one to see corruption. That's the grave. That's the
burial of Christ. But look what he says in verse
36. He's going to prove that this prophecy was not concerning
the person of David, but the son of David, Christ the Lord.
For David, after he had served his own generation by the will
of God, he died. He fell asleep and was laid unto
his father. He was buried and saw corruption. But notice this, but he whom
God raised again saw no corruption. Now Peter, over in the second
chapter of Acts, and I want you to turn there. I want you to
see these two places. Peter quotes this same passage
of Scripture, and I want you to know what he says about it.
This is very enlightening and a great blessing to see this. Look what Peter says about it
in Acts chapter 2. Let's begin here reading the
very same subject. He was confronting these Jews
with their killing the Lord Jesus Christ by the wicked hand. And
he says here in verse 24, Whom God hath raised up, having loosed
the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holding of it. Now here he offers scriptural
proof. For David speaks concerning him,
I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right
hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice,
My tongue was glad, moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope. Because thou wilt not leave my
soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption. Thou hast made known unto me
the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy
with thy countenance." Now who's this talking to? And who's he
talking about? It's not speaking of David. And
Peter wants us to make sure of this, so he goes on in verse
29 and clarifies who this prophecy is concerning. Just like the
Apostle Paul did. Men and brethren, let me freely
speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and
buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore,
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
before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption." Who
is this prophecy concerning? Not David, Peter said. Because
David is still dead. David's suffrager is still with
us, but he said David is speaking in prophecy as the prophet is
speaking in the person of Christ. It was Christ. God swore to David
that of the fruit of his loins he would raise up his son to
sit upon his throne. Now we'll see that in a minute,
in just a minute, just a little bit clearer. But let's look at
this, let's look at verse 31 here, just a minute. I want to
explain this to you. I wanted, before we look at some
things the burial of Christ suggests to us, I wanted us to prove from
the Scriptures that He was indeed buried. He was indeed buried,
and it wasn't only that God raised him from the dead, but God raised
him from the grave. And that's so important. That's
so important. But here in verse 31, he's saying
this before speaking of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell. Now, the reason I wanted to clarify
this is because we have a doctrine among Catholicism that has been
around for hundreds and hundreds of years, that when the Lord
Jesus died, that He actually ascended into the torments of
hell. We want to prove this morning
that that's not so. That's just not so. Every time
you see hell in the Scripture, don't think of the place of torment. When you see this word hell,
it means several things in the Scripture. They interpreted it,
different words, in this word, hell. First of all, when you
see hell in the Scripture, sometimes it's Hades. H-A-D-E-S. And it simply means the place
or state of the dead. You remember when the rich man
died, and in hell he left up his eyes? That place there is
Hades. It simply means the place of
the dead. He was in the place of the dead.
as was Lazarus was in the place of the dead. The Lord Jesus Christ
for a time was in the place of the dead. It won't be long until
you and I will be in Hades. That's simply the state of the
dead. Secondly, sometimes they interpret
the word Gehenna as hell. And the word Gehenna is everlasting
burnings. You remember there was a place
there on the outskirts of Jerusalem for hundreds of years, the Jews
burnt carcasses, they burnt all kinds of refuge, their scraps.
And one of the reasons they had to continually burn there is
to keep disease there. Because all kinds of animals
and filth was burned there, and they called it Gehenna. And that
comes to typify hell or the place of eternal burning. And the Lord
Jesus made reference to this when He told the Jews one day,
He said, you serpents and generation of vipers, how can you escape
the damnation of Gehenna, the damnation of hell? If your eye
offends you, He said, pluck it out. It's better for you to enter
into life having one eye than enter into Gehenna, A place of
burning with both your eyes. So sometimes when you see this
word hell, it's the place of everlasting burning. Gehenna. The Lord Jesus didn't go to Gehenna. Even though He said, My soul
is in hell. His soul was in a state of death. But why would it have been necessary
for Him to go to Gehenna? When He lifted up His voice on
the cross, what did He say? It's finished. It's finished. No call for him to descend into
hell. And thirdly, sometimes they interpreted
this word, abyss, as hell. This word, abyss, means the lowest
of heavens. It means bottomless pit. Peter
spake it like this, If God spurred not the angels that sinned, but
cast them down into hell, that is the abyss, the bottomless
pit. This is where that angel of Biden
came from, the bottomless pit, that wicked angel over those
locuses of the bottomless pit. And you remember when the Lord
Jesus was going to cast those wicked spirits out of that Gadarene,
and they said, don't cast us out into the deep. Remember that?
That's this word, obese. That means bottomless pit, a
pit that has no bottom in it. And then hell, fourthly, sometimes
it's translated for the grave, but yet we call it hell. In 1
Corinthians 15, 55 is a very familiar place. O death, where
is thy sting, O grave? That word is hell. They translated
it in other places, hell, but it's the grave. So when we interpret
Hell here in Acts chapter 2 and verse 31, we keep it in its context
and then we read it like this, Thou will not leave my soul in
the state of the dead. Then it makes sense, doesn't
it? Then we know it doesn't mean, Thou will not leave my soul in
Gehenna, in the place of torment. But his soul was in the state
of the dead, just like all of us will be someday. Just like
Lazarus was and the rich man was. And he said, you will not
suffer my flesh to see corruption while it lays there in the tomb,
the place of the dead. It makes sense then, doesn't
it? You will not leave my soul. I have died. My soul and my body
have separated one from the other. I'm in the place of the dead.
But you won't leave me there. Neither will you suffer, Thine
Holy One, to seek corruption." This tells us that the Lord Jesus
Christ died in faith and He died in hope. When He said upon the
cross, My Father, unto Your hands I commit My spirit. Not only
did he commit his spirit, but he committed his body to it.
Look what he says back over again in verse 26. Here's the Lord
Jesus speaking. Therefore did my heart rejoice,
my tongue was glad, moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope. See that? He laid His body down
in that sepulcher and He said, My Father, I'm laying My body
here with this confidence in You, that You will not suffer
it to see corruption. You will not let it begin to
decay, but on that third and appointed morning, You will raise
it from the dead. Do you know the Lord Jesus lived
by faith? Do you know He died in hope?
That's why I guess one of the reasons He's called the author
of our faith. The beginner and the finisher
of it. He was indeed a man of hope. But look here in verses 29 and
30 of Acts chapter 2 again. I want you to turn to some scripture
concerning this. He makes sure here that we know this isn't
speaking of David. He says there in verse 29 that
David is dead and he's buried. But being a prophet and knowing
that God has sworn with an oath to him Now notice this, God had
sworn, God said, David, I swear to you, of the fruit of thy loins,
according to the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit on His
throne. Now that means a lot, and I want
to show you a couple of scriptures. This is such a blessing. Look
over in Psalms 132. This is where the apostle Peter,
one of the places that he was quoting from, look at this. Now
hold on to your heart that it don't leak out of your chest
when you see this. I just saw this, my heart leaped for joy
in me. Look what he says here in Psalms
132 in verse 11. Look here who's speaking. Now
this is where Peter quoted from. The Lord, who is that? If I asked
you who that is, you know what you'd say? That's Jehovah. That's the Eternal One. The all-sufficient,
self-sustaining One. This is Almighty God. The Lord
hath sworn in truth unto David. He will not turn from Him. Of
the fruit of thy body will I sit upon thy throne. Isn't that amazing? Peter says, God has sworn to
David of the fruit of thy loins, He'll set upon your throne. And
he said, that's Christ. And indeed it is the Son of God.
But now He comes here and He says, this is none other but
Jehovah Himself. And He says, David, I swear unto
you that I will set upon your throne myself. Ain't that amazing? Ain't that amazing? Who's on
the throne this morning? Jesus of Nazareth is on David's
throne. And you know something? He's
God. He's God. And He's seated there from the
dead. God raised Him from the dead. Look in another place.
Look in 1 Chronicles chapter 17. 1 Chronicles chapter 17. I would imagine the Jews, when
they first began to read prophecies like this year in 1 Chronicles
17, they probably thought it was speaking of Solomon. Because
the Lord appeared to David and He said, David, of the fruit
of your loins, of your sons, David, your sons I'm going to
set upon your throne. And they probably thought Solomon.
That's Solomon. That's Solomon. Because the Lord
kept saying forever. David, you're never going to
want a son to sit upon your throne forever. You're going to have
a son and he's never going to vacate his throne. And they thought,
man, Solomon's going to have a long road. But it wasn't long
before Solomon fell and he died. And they said, we'd better go
back and look at this prophecy again. We don't understand who
this son of David is. You know who the son of David
is? A greater than Solomon is here. I tell you, there's a lot
of people in the New Testament that knew who the son of David
was. Blind Barnabas would have never read this prophecy. He
heard Jesus of Nazareth come along one day, and what did he
say? Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy upon me. That woman
whose daughter was taken with devils, she said, Lord, thou
son of David, have mercy upon us. The Lord Jesus said to the
Pharisees, Why thank ye of Christ? Whose son is it? He's the son
of David. He's the son of David. He's the
son of David. Now look what he says in 1 Chronicles
chapter 17 and verse 11. It shall come to pass, David,
the Lord is speaking to David. It shall come to pass, David,
when your days be expired, that you must go be with your fathers,
that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of
thy sons, and I will establish his kingdom, and he shall build
me in a house, and I will establish his throne for ever. I will be
his father, and he shall be my son. I will not take my mercy
away from him as I took it from him that was before thee, but
I will settle him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and
His throne shall be established forevermore." And who is that? That's Jesus. That's Jesus. And Peter said, God has fulfilled
this oath today, in that He has raised Christ up to sit on this
throne. Raised Him from where? From the
dead. But let's be more specific. That's
what I'm talking about this morning. From the grave. Christ was buried. Christ was buried. Now, I want
you to turn to John chapter 19, and I'll finish the rest here,
John chapter 19. I just wanted to prove there,
from the Old Testament Scripture, that Jesus Christ indeed was
buried, but He saw no corruption. He lay in the grave for three
days and three nights, but saw no corruption. Now, I want to
ask some questions. First of all, what does the burial
of Jesus Christ suggest to us? Since he did indeed go to that
sepulcher, and since the Old Testament as well as the New
Testament proves that, what does the burial of Christ suggest
to our minds as we think about it? Let's read this here in John
chapter 19, and let's begin in verse 38. I want to look at some
things the burial of Christ suggests to us. Look in verse 38. Now
Christ had been crucified. He had died. And look in verse
38. He was hanging there upon the
cross. 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, and 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 his spices, as the manner of the
Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was
crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new sepulchre,
wherein never man yet laid. There they laid Jesus. Therefore, because of the Jews'
preparation, for the sepulchre was nigh at hand." First of all,
The burial of the Lord Jesus Christ suggests to us further
evidence that Jesus was indeed dead. He was indeed dead. You say, Bruce, if the Scripture
says He died, that's enough evidence for me. But if the Scripture
offers us more evidence, are you willing to take it? Don't
you need all the evidence you can find? I mean, I know the
Scripture says that He died, and that's enough, ain't it? He's given us His Word, and that's
enough. But when it comes here, and He offers us even more evidence
of it to strengthen our faith, boy, let's be willing to receive
it. And here we have more evidence, and it's in this. Here's two
friends of our Lord Jesus Christ. They loved Him, even though they
were secret disciples. Boy, when push came to shove,
they came out in the open, didn't they? Nicodemus came out and
Joseph came out, and Joseph went to Pilate. And he said, please,
I beg of you to give me the body of Jesus of Nazareth. And he
gave it to him. And he went there and took this
body down from the cross, Luke tells us, and Nicodemus with
him. And they took this linen and
they wrapped the body of Christ up in this linen tucking all
of this perfume, these sweet spices in there. Now, what I'm
saying is this. Do you think that these friends
of Christ would have buried Him if He wasn't dead? I don't think
so. Do you? And some tell us if He
had not have been dead, when they wrapped Him up tightly in
this linen, it would have killed Him. They handled Him. They were close to Him. If there
had been any life in this body, they would have detected it.
They saw the gaping hole in His side. They knew all of His blood
was gone. No doubt they examined His pulse.
They laid their ear down to His lips. They knew that He was dead. That's why they took this linen
and wrapped Him up and put Him there in that sepulcher. Jesus
was indeed dead. Friends don't bury friends, do
they? He was indeed dead. He was dead. Therefore, His burial
is further proof that Christ did indeed die. And secondly, the burial of Christ
suggests this to us, that He indeed is a true representative
of His people. I thought this was very interesting
here, because he says here, that in the place where he was crucified,
there was a garden. And in the garden, there was
a sepulcher. All of this took place in a garden. Ain't that amazing? What does
that suggest to us? Doesn't that take our minds back
to where our first representative stood up for us, to represent
us, that all took place in a garden? When God says, you shall not
eat of the fruit of this tree, else you die. And he ate, and
that's where death entered. There in the garden, the sentence
of death passed upon us. Well, isn't it very telling,
brothers and sisters, that the sentence of death was dealt with
and put away here in another garden. The sentence of death
was passed in a garden, and the sentence of death was lifted
in a garden. In the place where He was crucified,
there was a garden. And in that garden was a sepulcher
where the Son of God went down into the grave. But brothers
and sisters, when He went down into that grave, what did He
do to it? I tell you, He loosed The sting
of death. And He spoke to death in a very
bold way. And He confronted this grave,
and He said this, O death, where is your sting? And He said in
another place, O death, I will be your plagues. Now, brothers
and sisters, when we think of a plague, it's an awful thing,
isn't it? But here's a good plague. He says, death, I will be your
plagues. O grave, I will be your victory. He got the victory over the grave.
And it all took place in a garden. What a representative He is.
Our first representative in a garden where all was well, where there
was life and uprightness and holiness and perfection. Oh,
He brought the sentence of death upon us. But in the second garden,
with the second Adam, He removed death's sting. and destroyed
not only him that had the power over death, but I tell you, he
dealt grave a blow from which it will never recover. Someone
in a commentary I read, I forgot who it was, maybe one of the
dear preachers, brought this out and I thought this was very
interesting. And he's talking about this very thing. He's talking
about the fall of man and how all of that ended during the
book of Genesis. And you may have noticed this, How Adam was
upright, and the Lord spoke to him and said, When you eat of
this fruit, you will die. You will die. Man began with
life there in the garden. But if you read the very last
chapter of the book of Genesis, in the last verse, here is what
it says about it. They put him in a coffin down
in Egypt. And that is what man did through
a first representative. He brought death and they put
us in a coffin. Here the Son of God died upon
the cross and they put Him in a sepulcher. But thank God they
put Him in that sepulcher. He not only released Himself
and delivered Himself, He is going to deliver all those who
die in Him. But this tells us, in truth,
He is a true representative of His people. And thirdly, The
burial of our Lord Jesus Christ suggests to us that the bitterness
of death has been removed. I want you to notice here in
verses 39 and verse 40 again. This is something that suggests
to us that the bitterness of death has been removed. Because
you in verse 39 were told that Nicodemus brought this mixture
of myrrh and aloes About an hundred pound weight. This was all these
sweet smelling spices. Verse 40 tells us that this was
the manner of Jews for Barian. They wound him up in all of these
spices with this linen. Let me read you a verse that
tells us something about these spices when they prepared them.
It's in 2 Chronicles 16, verse 14. It concerns the burial of
King Asa. And it says that King Asa died,
and they laid him in his own sepulcher, his own grave in the
city of David, and they laid him in a bed which was filled
with sweet odors and diverse kinds of spices prepared by the
Apocathars. These men who mixed all of these
Sweet spices. They knew how to hold down the
smell of death. And they fixed all this sweet
perfume up. And they put it around the body
when they wound it up. Instead of smelling death, you
smelled all this sweet odor. And I'm telling you, when they
embalmed our Lord's body, they put a hundred pounds of weight
of sweet odors in there. Now what does that tell us? Can
you imagine going into that sepulcher? It being sealed, it being shut
up, and that aroma coming from these mixtures of myrrh and alloys,
all of this sweet-smelling perfume. Don't you imagine it filled that
sepulcher with a sweet smell? What does that tell us? Does
that not tell us the bitterness of death is no longer? Death
is not to be looked upon as something to be dreaded by the children
of God. But it's a place where you can
actually lay down and rest in hope and faith of a resurrection. There's nothing there in the
grave that will hurt you. You remember when these ladies,
these dear sisters, came to this sepulcher? And they were so fearful. They were crying. And they saw
the stone had been rolled back, and there stood those angels,
and they said to those ladies, Why don't you come down in this
sepulcher and see the place where he lay? I tell you, there would have been death
there. There would have been a stink there. If there had been
a dread there, they would have never invited those timid women
to come down there. They would have said just what
Martha said when the Lord says, roll away the stone. They said,
Lord, please don't do that. This is repulsive. I don't want
to smell my brother and nobody here wants to smell him. Please
don't roll away that stone. But when the angel said, you
come see the place where he laid, there was nothing there but sweet-smelling
perfume. Death was gone. I know who you're
seeking, they said, but He's not here. There's no death here. There's nothing to dread here
but sweetness. That's why the Scripture tells
us that blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Yea, saith
the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors. It's a place
of rest, isn't it? That's what this burial of Christ
suggests to our minds. Brothers and sisters, I'll be
honest with you. I can be very bold about death and dying when
I'm good and healthy, and I don't feel any pain. But let me go
to the doctor and he tells me, you just got a month or so to
live, you're eat up with cancer. See what that does for me then.
I may think differently about it then. Richard Baxter wrote
a little book on dying thoughts, one of the best little books
I think I've ever read on the subject of dying. And he said
to fear death is a natural thing. Some saints are afraid because
they're afraid of death. But he said if they had you up
way up high on a building, and they wrapped you up in chains
and laid you out over the edge of that building, would that
make you afraid? You're secure in these heavy chains. Change,
they're not going to break. But he said, you'd be afraid
for this reason. It's not natural to be hung out
over the edge of a high building. Death is not a natural thing,
is it? We are apprehensive about it. But brothers and sisters,
when we realize that Jesus Christ our Lord Himself was buried,
and He rose from that place, And whatever was bitter about
it, whatever was fearful about it, whatever there was about
death to make us afraid, He removed all of it. And now it's nothing
but a pleasant place to rest. When our faith takes hold upon
this, it should remove some of this torment that we have of
dying. I may have a terrible time when
it comes to death. I don't know. But I shouldn't
have. Because my Savior has gone before me. And indeed lay in
that sepulcher. And when he left there, I'm telling
you, it was a sweet-smelling place. Fourthly, this burial suggests
to us something else. Because he tells us here, in
John chapter 19, that In verse 41, Now in the place
where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden
a new sepulchre. This sepulchre was in a garden. Now what does that suggest to
you? This sepulchre was in a garden. Ain't that amazing? Of all places
for a sepulchre to be, it was in a garden. But you know what
this suggests to us, and our Lord Jesus did it Himself. This suggests fruit, doesn't
it? When you think of a garden, what do you think of? We think
of fruit. Look back over in John chapter
12. When we think of a garden, we think of fruit. The Lord was
buried in a garden. I went over to Terence's house
just the other day. He had dug about half of his potatoes. And
I mean, I don't know how many bushels he finally got. It must
have been a bunch. But he just planted a few potatoes.
And you got all this harvest. It's amazing how that works,
ain't it? You just take a few little old
grains of beans. Joe and I was talking just this
week. We have put up more stuff this
year, I think, than we ever did. And we didn't plant any more.
We planted a few hill of beans, and I think we got over 100 quarts
of beans again. We planted a few little seeds
of beets, and we got enough beets this all winter. And that's Miranda.
We have to give some to Miranda. She loves beets, and she didn't
put up with it. That's fine. She gives us stuff all the time.
But we put away peaches. We put away apples. But all of this come out of a
garden. All of this stuff we've been
putting away, this fruit, come out of a garden. That's what
we think of when we think of a garden. You put a seed in the
ground, and it comes up and produces all this fruit. Look here what
the Lord Jesus said to us in John chapter 12, and look in
verse 23. The hour Jesus said unto them,
the hour is come, the hour of my death. that the Son of Man
should be glorified. If the eye be lifted up on the
cross, I will draw all men to Me. He said that in this chapter.
In verse 24, speaking of His death and burial, He said, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the
ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, and if you bury
it, it bringeth forth much fruit. What's he saying? He's saying
basically, they're going to bury me in a garden. But because they're
going to bury me, I myself am going to rise from the dead,
and when I do, I'm going to bring forth a lot of fruit. And brothers
and sisters, ain't that exactly what happened? Here's what the
Apostle Paul said, now is Christ risen from the dead, and became
the first fruits of them which slept. For since by man came
death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For in Adam all
die, but all in Christ shall be made alive." Hebrews 2 says
this, we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels
for the suffering of death. crowned with glory and honor,
that He, by the grace of God, should taste death for every
man. It became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are
all things, to make the captain of their salvation perfect, that
He may bring many sons unto glory." What comes out of the barrel
of Christ? Fruit. Fruit. I tell you what, He could
have come to this world, and He could have lived and done
good, and went back to heaven. And you know what? He would have
been there for Himself. Without the shed and the blood,
none of us could be saved. But when He gave His life upon
that cross, and when they buried Him, He said, I'm telling you
this. I'm telling you this, out of my resurrection, from this
tomb, heaven is going to be populated with humanity. And someday you'll
see it. And someday I'll see it. And
we'll look around us and there will be a number that no man
can number. And all of it will be the fruit
of Jesus Christ. That's what this burial suggests
to you and I. And fifthly and lastly is this,
and I'll close with this. What the Lord Jesus left here
in the tomb is very suggestive to us. What He left in the grave
is very suggestive to us. Look what He says in chapter
20. And look over in verse 5. This is where Peter and John
came here to The sepulcher after the Lord Jesus had raised, the
women went and told him of his resurrection. John, he was stooping down and
looking into this sepulcher. He saw the linen clothes lying,
yet he didn't go in. Then cometh Simon Peter following
him and went into the sepulcher, and he seeth the linen clothes
lie, 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 the other disciples,
which came first to the sepulcher, and saw and believed. For yet
they knew not the scriptures, that he must raise again from
the dead." Now, what did the Lord Jesus leave in this grave? Well, He left these grave clothes.
And he left this napkin that had his head and his face bound. Now, some tell us, and this is
so, Brother Gill and some tell us, that this is another proof
that the Lord Jesus' body was not stolen away. That's what
the Jews started a rumor that somebody slipped in the sepulcher
and stole his dead body away. Well, why would they have unwrapped
it? And why would they take time to fold this linen clothes and
napkin up and lay it by itself? They'd never done that, would
they? It would have been much easier to pack him out while
he was wound up. So that's just another proof
that that was just a rumor they started. But I see something
else in this besides that. I remember in the 11th chapter
of this book, where the Lord raised Lazarus from the dead.
And you remember when Lazarus came forth, the Scripture says
that he was bound in grave clothes. And a napkin was bound about
his face. And the Lord Jesus said this,
Loose him and let him go. Now what does this suggest to
us? Lazarus, when he was raised from the dead, he came forth
bound with his grave clothes. He couldn't walk. He wasn't free. And the Lord said, get those
things off of him where he can move about. He's bound. But when
the Lord Jesus came from the grave, he left all of that there
in the tomb. Now what does that suggest to
us? Well, it suggests this, doesn't it? that just as the Lord Jesus
Christ was freed from everything of this world that bound Him
and was raised in perfect freedom, even so at the resurrection it
will be with you and I that are in Him. What is it that binds us now,
brothers and sisters? It binds the best of saints.
These old grave clothes do, don't they? This old sin. I see another law in my members.
Warring against the law of my mind. Bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin which is in my members. Wouldn't you like
for somebody to unwrap you? Say, get that old law of sin
and death. Unwrap him and let him go free.
I don't know what that would feel like. Do you? Paul said,
it's a glorious thing, I'm telling you. It's the glorious liberty
of the children of God. And He said someday we're going
to experience it. Isn't that what teaches us there? Wouldn't
you love to be free to serve God perfectly? Free to do His
will perfectly. Free to love Him unconditionally. Wouldn't you love to be free
to do that? But you can't. Why? These old grave clothes.
And this one about your head. Your thoughts are bound. Your
understanding is dark and you can't see because this old napkin
that's around your head got you bound. But this is very suggestive
because when we're raised from the dead, just as Christ left
everything in there, you and I will drop that old flesh and
its nature and its hindrances and its bondage, and oh, we'll
soar up into the clouds and for the first time in our life, we'll
say, free, free, praise God, free at last. Jesus Christ, as far as I know,
took nothing of this world with Him to heaven, but this glorious
body. That's all He took to heaven.
Why would He want to take anything? Why would He want to take those
clothes with Him? He didn't need that, did He?
Brothers and sisters, we're not taking a thing to heaven with
us. Who wants to? Who wants to? He left the perfume there in
the tomb. What's that sweet-smelling perfume? That's man-made stuff
compared with the life eternal which is in Jesus Christ. Oh,
there will be a Roma there in heaven that no man can imitate. The sweet Roma of Jesus Christ
and that life that's in Him that He's given to all of His people.
Why would you want to take these old grape cloves? We clothe ourselves
down here, but I tell you what, they'll put it on our dead bodies,
but I don't want that stuff in heaven, do you? I tell you, there's
a clothing that I cut. And it's not this old suit I
wear. It's the righteousness of the
Son of God. The robe of salvation. That's
what I want. When you and I leave this world,
I want to leave everything, don't you? We brought nothing into
this world, and it's certain we ain't going to take anything
with it. Everything is going to be new. Everything is going
to be given to us in that blessed day. He was buried. He was buried. What a hope. What a hope. He was buried. Let's
pray.