me this evening to Matthew chapter 27. Matthew chapter 27. Just hold your Bibles there for a few minutes. In our study of Matthew's gospel, we have seen from this inspired narrative, Matthew's declaration of the gospel. How that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, as I have told you many times, died for us as a voluntary sacrifice. He died as a vicarious sacrifice and substitute, and he died as a victorious Savior. That means that our Savior has, by the sacrifice of himself, actually put away the sins of his people and accomplished eternal redemption for us.

Whenever we think about the death of Christ, whenever your mind goes to Calvary, and I hope it does frequently every day, always try to associate with your thinking on the death of Christ these four words, sovereignty, substitution, satisfaction, and success. Our Lord Jesus Christ died according to God's sovereign will. according to God's sovereign purpose, by the hands of wicked men who did only that which God from eternity ordained must be done. He died for us by the will of God and by the hand of God.

Always understand that our Lord Jesus, in his sacrifice, bled and died as our substitute. He died for somebody in particular, not for everyone in general. And we insist upon this. We insist upon it as a crucial point of gospel truth. Because to suggest that Jesus Christ died as a substitute for those who ultimately perish under the wrath of God in hell, is to declare that Christ died in vain, that his blood is really meaningless, and that he accomplished nothing in his day. That's blasphemous. That's blasphemous.

Our Lord Jesus laid down his life for his sheep, not for goats. He died for God's elect, not the reprobate. He died for those who ultimately are saved by his blood, those who ultimately stand before God, robed in his righteousness and washed in his blood.

And when our Lord Jesus had finished his work at Calvary, he had made complete satisfaction to the justice of God. Our Lord Jesus, by his death, fully, completely, infinitely, perfectly satisfied the justice of God for us, so that there is therefore now no condemnation left for us, no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. There is no possibility of wrath. against those for whom the Son of God has shed his blood. He with one tremendous draught of love drank damnation dry. He has in his own holy soul barren and swollen up the avenging sword of divine justice as our substitute.

And our Lord Jesus shall be successful in all that he has come to do. He shall save his people from their When we say that his death is a success, we are simply declaring that everything Christ came to do shall be done. Everything for which he died and everyone for which he died shall be his at last. He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied, and by his knowledge God's righteous servant shall justify the many whose iniquities he bore upon the cursed tree.

So when we speak of Christ's death, understand that our Lord Jesus Christ, sovereignly as our substitute, satisfied the justice of God, and shall have the success of his souls to avail when this world is finished. This is how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.

Now tonight I want to talk to you about the fact that he was buried. Our Lord's burial is usually passed over quickly in the commentaries, sermons, theological works. It is usually passed over very quickly and looked upon as being a necessary event between his death and his resurrection, and there's very little said concerning it. There is a strong tendency to ignore the burial of our Redeemer. We look upon his death as an amazing thing, and truly it was. We look upon his resurrection as an astonishing wonder of grace, and truly his resurrection is an astonishing wonder of grace.

But I want you to understand that our Savior's burial is equally amazing as is his death and his resurrection. every detail recorded in our text, every detail recorded in the scriptures with regard to our Lord's burial, including the very scheming of his enemies, was divinely ordered. That is, it was ordered and brought to pass by God's hand in providence, and brought to pass to be a testimony. of living, standing witness to the fact that Jesus Christ is exactly who he said he was. He is indeed the Son of God who was crucified by the hands of wicked men. He is indeed the Christ of God spoken of in the Old Testament Scriptures, the King whom God sent into this world, the Savior of the world.

Now, you have our text here in Matthew 27, beginning at verse 57. Let's read from there to the end of the chapter. When the evening was come, that is somewhere between three and six o'clock, that's what the Jews considered the evening of the day, 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 in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre and departed. And there was Mary Magdalene and the other Mary sitting over against the sepulchre.

Now the next day that followed, the day of the preparation, that is, the day before the high Passover, the day before the great, great holy Sabbath day the Jews called their Passover that was instituted by God back when he brought Israel out of Egypt. The day before the day of the preparation, the chief priest and Pharisees came together at the Pilate saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver, notice their contempt, their utter contempt, even when he's hung on the tree and dead, they still refused to even call him by his name. They said, sir, that deceiver said while he was yet alive, after three days I will rise again.

They understood what they had heard him say a long, long time before. He said, no sign shall be given to this adulterous generation but the sign of Jonah the And as Jonah was three days in the heart of the earth, in the belly of the whale, in hell, so shall the Son of Man be three days in the heart of the earth, and on the third day he shall rise again." They remembered it. They understood exactly what he said. His disciples somehow missed it. His disciples, they didn't quite get it. The only one who seems to have gotten it was Mary Magdalene, who anointed him for his burial in anticipation of his resurrection.

But these Jews understood exactly what he said. He said, after three days I will rise again. Command, therefore. Now these fellows come to Pilate with significant boldness. But Pilate, you remember, was a wimp of a man. Pilate was a politician who was scared that something was going to get reported to Caesar that was going to cause him to lose his job. And so these Jews come to him and they said, Command therefore that that 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 that the last error shall be worse than the first. I said, now, you put him to death because he was an insurrectionist, at least that's what we said he was. Now, if you think that was trouble, you wait until his disciples get word around that he is indeed king, and that he has been raised from the dead, and they have no obligation to Caesar, then you sure enough want to have an insurrection on your hand. And I can see Pilate, oh, we don't want that. We don't want that. And Pilate said unto them, you have a watch. That is, you've got a Roman guard, Roman sentinels. You have a watch. Go your way, make it as sure as you can. Make it as sure as you can. Be sure he don't get away. So they went and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone and setting a watch.

Matthew's account of the burial of our Lord contains two very important lessons that I want to set before you in this message. The first is a lesson about the people of God, and the second is a lesson about the providence of God.

First, the Holy Spirit gives us in these verses a lesson about the people of God. Here we're introduced to a man called Joseph of Arimathea. I read through the scriptures, and I try today to go back through the scriptures and find those passages where Joseph is mentioned. Do you know he is never mentioned in the Bible until you get to this event? And he's never mentioned afterwards. Never mentioned again. All we know about Joseph is what's written in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, connected with him and the burial of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know very, very little about him. The gospel writers tell us these six things. His name was Joseph. Nothing very significant about that. It was a common Jewish name. His home was Arimathea. Now, we don't really have any idea of where Arimathea was. We have no indication of it anywhere, unless perhaps the name Arimathea was another name for the city of Ramah, which was about ten miles south of Jerusalem. He was a man of considerable wealth, a rich man, a very, very wealthy man. This man, Joseph, was a member of the Sanhedrin. That is to say, he was a member of that body of Jews who condemned the Lord Jesus Christ and desired him to be crucified. I don't mean to imply by that that Joseph was a participator in that, but he was a member of the Sanhedrin, and it is in all likelihood that as these Sanhedrin met together, Joseph was at least aware of what they were doing, and yet he was silent.

it off. Simon threw it off. Another one was Nicodemus. He likely was a member of the same body. This man Joseph of Arimathea, being a member of the Sanhedrin, was one who waited for the kingdom of God, and when it came time to hear that the Lord Jesus had died, we're told that Joseph took the Savior's dead body down from the cross. wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and carried it to his own tomb, and buried the Lord Jesus in a tomb that he had recently hewn out of the rock. And then we're told he also himself was Jesus' disciple. Well, you reckon Joseph was saved? I reckon. I reckon. You reckon Joseph was a child of God? I reckon he was. God said he was. He also was Jesus' disciple. Until this time, Joseph had been a secret disciple. We have no way of knowing how long he had been a believer, or how he heard the gospel, or why he had kept his faith a secret from others. We're not told. Many speculations have been made by men concerning those things. I'll not add to the confusion. If the Holy Spirit wanted us to know the answers, he could just as easily have revealed those things to us as he did the fact that the man's name was Joseph. So when the Holy Spirit leaves things in silence, let's not try to fill in the gaps. Let's just leave them alone and bow before God's Word.

This man, Joseph, had been a secret disciple, a disciple of the Lord truly, but a secret disciple up until this time. Now there's much to be learned from that. The fact is our Lord has disciples and friends in this world who are altogether unknown to us. This is so important, so very important.

I realize that believers, all believers, are commanded of God and they do confess the Lord Jesus Christ before men. They confess him and identify with him and with his people in believer's And they're known by their fruits. I am aware of those things. I recognize that. But that which is normally the case, that which is normally the case, is not always the case. And Joseph says so. Joseph says so.

We must take great care not to look upon someone as an unbeliever, or to disdain someone as an unbeliever. Because he or she does not appear to us to be a believer. That's important. That's so very, very important. We are not to set ourselves up as judges of another man's spirituality. We are not to set ourselves up as those who determine who is saved and who is lost. I have folks ask me all the time, do you think so-and-so was spiritual? Do you think so-and-so was saved? My soul, I don't have any way of knowing, especially because I didn't even know the man. I don't have any way of knowing. I would not dare make that presumption. But I wouldn't make that presumption about Larry Criss. I wouldn't make it about him when he appears hot or when he appears cold. Wouldn't make that assumption. Never. Never. If I do, I'm dead wrong. I'm dead wrong.

I recall several years ago I was preaching for a man. He got the idea that somehow he could determine whose sheep and whose goats. He could tell the difference between wheat and pears. And his wife said to me with regard to one of the couples in the congregation, Speaking to the man's wife, she said, if that woman's a Christian, if she's saved, my dog's saved. Let me tell you something. The woman of whom she was speaking persevered to the end. She's with the Lord in glory tonight. That preacher's wife and he have split up a long time ago. Neither one of them have been going to church anywhere. Nowhere.

You see, we can't tell the difference between sheep and goats. We don't have the ability to distinguish between tares and wheat. That's the reason our Lord said, leave him alone. Leave him alone. You don't know the difference. You and I cannot perceive what's in the heart of another human being. It is not possible. Somebody's like, well, I can inspect fruits. Yeah, but you've got a bad eye. You've got a bad eye. You don't know how to inspect the fruit. You don't know what to look for in someone we always judge by the outward appearance. That's the reason our Lord tells us not to. He tells us plainly not to.

You see, not all believers are the same. No one would have named Joseph among the Lord's disciples. Go ask Peter, James, and John. Tell us who the Lord's disciples are. What about Joseph? Don't you know? He's in the Sanhedrin. Man, don't you know where he goes to church? He's with those fellas who are conniving against the Son of God.

But Joseph was a man whose love for Christ was demonstrated when theirs wasn't. Did you hear that? He was a man whose love for Christ was demonstrated when theirs wasn't. He was a man whose faith in Christ was evident when theirs wasn't at all.

At just the time when it was needed, Joseph came forward to do honor to his Savior. At just the time when the apostles had all forsaken him, at just the time when it was most dangerous to confess him, at just the time when there seemed to be absolutely no earthly advantage to say, I belong to Him, when everyone else departed from Him, Joseph said, He's my master. He's my Lord. I love him. Pilate give me his body."

You see, it was the custom. It was the custom with the Romans when they crucified a man to just throw him into a pit. Sometimes to just throw him into a pit that was constantly burning outside the city, just in a garbage dump. Usually not even to bury them, but leave them open to the scavengers and to the vultures of the earth. Leave them open for whatever the animals would do to men's bodies. They just left them there in utter disgust and disdain.

And Joseph comes. And he says, Pilate, give me his body. Give me his body. And he identifies himself not with a living Savior, who's standing on the bow of a ship and saying to the storm, peace be still. Not to the miracle-working Savior who's distributing loaves and fishes to feed the thousands. Not to him who speaks a word and causes a dead man to live. But he identifies himself with a crucified, dead Savior whose body was hanging on a tree.

He took the Savior's body, wrapped it in clean linens, carried it in his own arms to his own tomb, and gave it an honorable burial.

I repeat, not all believers are alike. Some are bold, others are timid. Some are strong, others weak. Some are known around the world, others are hardly known at all. Some are very passive, others very active. Some build up the church and kingdom of God as zealous witnesses, preachers, missionaries, evangelists. Others come forward only in times of special, specific need, like Joseph.

I can name many. I can name many. I've observed many over the years that you look at them and you What's their position? Where do they stand? They seem to be just to themselves. They never speak a word. They never say a thing. They never make any comments concerning the message. They never make any observations. You wonder, what really is their relationship? Oh, when time comes. They're there. They're there like the rocket you brought. They're there to confess the Savior.

This man Joseph was like that. When a specific need arose, he was there to meet the need. And yet, all, both the timid and the strong, both the very useful and those who appear not to be useful at all, all are led by God the Holy Spirit And they're led by God the Holy Spirit to glorify their master in their way at God's appointed time.

Now this fact ought to make us both charitable and hopeful. We should be charitable in our opinions concerning those who profess faith in Christ. And let me be perfectly clear. I'm not talking about religious infidels. I'm not talking about free willers and Arminians and liberals. who openly deny the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ. I'm talking about those who, while professing to believe the gospel, behave in ways that we find inconsistent with faith, or who associate themselves in such associations that we simply can't fathom. Why'd they do that? Why have that association? Why be involved with this crowd? Why get into this?

Let us not set ourselves up in judgment against men and women who profess faith in Jesus Christ according to the revelation of Scripture. That's not good. Not good. I know folks look at certain specific things and they say, well, now I don't believe a man can be a Christian and do that. You know what? There are times when I think I'm pretty strong. And I think I'm doing pretty good. And in my self-righteous opinion of myself, I have the haughty notion, well, how on this earth could Pam Wood possibly be a believer when she read some of this?

There are times when we get our Our sales are starting pretty high, and we think, well, we're, you know, we're doing great! And somebody who we recognize is doing what's wrong just as well is altogether wrong! We look at them and say, well, you can't be a Christian. You can't possibly be a child of God and behave like that. Have those associations. Be in that crowd.

Let us be charitable. Be charitable. Be charitable. in our judgment of men. Be lenient. All be lenient. We have a terrible tendency to be very lenient in our assessment of ourselves and in our judgment of ourselves. Very lenient. Well, you know, if Lindsey just understood what kind of thing I'd had, he'd know why I threw off the handle. If he'd been where I'd been, he'd know why I do what I do. What we ought to do is be very severe with ourselves and very lenient with each other. Very lenient.

Well, we don't want to be too lax now. I tell you what, that ain't our problem. That ain't our problem. Among religious folks, being too lax just is not the problem. The problem being too severe, too doggone mean, too blasted ugly. Most religious folks are so mean you can't even think about getting along with them. Let it not be said of us.

Joseph's example ought to make us hopeful too. We are too often like Elijah, thinking that we alone are left in this world to serve our God. Lord, I alone have not vowed to me to fail. Nobody here with me. Nobody here with me." The old boy said, I'm about convinced nobody's saved but me and you, and I doubt you. No, no, that's never the case. Never has been, never will be. Our God has not left himself without a witness in this world, ever. He hasn't left anyone alone to serve him, ever. Many shall come from the east and from the west, and they shall yet sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Many whom we never dreamed were among us. Many.

John tells us in his narrative that Nicodemus, another prominent Pharisee, you'll remember, the one who came to Jesus by night, kind of sneaked up and asked him, said, Master, we know. Nicodemus joined Joseph at the tomb. I find that interesting and instructive, don't you? Those disciples who had openly followed the Lord during his lifetime Those disciples who followed him while he was walking on the earth and preaching and teaching and performing miracles and demonstrating his power, those disciples, every one of them fled when he was hanging on the tree. Every one of them. But the two disciples of whom the Scripture says they were secret disciples, these two who never before confessed the Lord. These two disciples who never before identified themselves with Christ, his church, or his gospel. These two disciples who never made any public commitment of any kind. When the chips were down and the master was dead, they came and said, where he is, where he is. They came to take the Lord's body and to bury it honorably. These two, who were his secret disciples while he was alive, came forward when his body was dead to bury him.

All right, secondly, in these verses we're given a very important lesson, a lesson about God's providence. In infinite wisdom, our God foresaw the objection of unbelievers to the message of the gospel, that is, to the facts of the gospel. He recognized that infidels, atheists, and unbelievers would raise objections to our Lord's resurrection and to the doctrine of his death and his substitution. People would raise questions like, well, did he really die? There are many who have taught over the years, he didn't really die, but just appeared to have died. In other words, did he really rise from the dead? You know that the disciples could have just spoken those things in a moment of deep passion and being deluded, they thought they saw the risen Christ. Is it true that the Lord Jesus really, really rose from the dead bodily? There are many, many other questions of the kind that have been raised in a distortion of the gospel, in perverting the gospel. raised by infidels around the world throughout the ages of history.

But God, who knows the end, by his overruling providence, predicted the possibility of such cabals having any basis in fact. So that if you read the scriptures with an open mind, anyone, anyone, read the scriptures with an open mind, and read the facts recorded here in this book, the scriptures they're witness of themselves, this is the word of God, and the facts of history, not the distorted reporting of men, but the facts of history clearly attest to those things that are written in this book concerning our Lord's death, burial, and resurrection. By his overruling providence, God fixed it so that the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ were established irrefutably as facts that cannot be denied by an honest man. And he did so by overruling the actions of those very men who most desired to destroy our Savior's influence. He took the actions of the Pharisees and the chief priests. He took the actions of Pilate, those very men who desired most to stop the influence of the Son of God. He took their actions and used their actions to establish as irrefutable facts The fact that Jesus Christ died, that he was buried, laid in the tomb for three days under the seal of a Roman guard, and then on the third day he arose while those guards stood astonished with fear. He arose, triumphant over death held in the grave.

Now the Lord our God is so gloriously sovereign that he makes even the actions of his enemies, even the most wicked acts of men, to serve his purposes for the salvation of his elect and the glory of his own great name. And he does whatever is necessary to accomplish his purpose, whatever is necessary. And really, we shouldn't use the term necessary or whatever is necessary, because there are no necessities with God. They just appear to be necessary to us. Sometimes God performs notable miracles by which he alters the course of what we call the laws of nature. He alters the course of nature to accomplish his purpose for the good of his people. Let me give you some examples. When God brought the flood, the scientists say, well, you cannot explain You cannot explain on any scientific basis, any scientific data at all, you cannot explain a universal flood. No, you can't, but the facts of it are everywhere. Everywhere. They dig up, a fellow told me in Texas one time, he was a driver, taking me to the airport, and he was talking to me about fossils of saltwater fish being found way up in the inland part of Texas. said, you know, that's just an indication of how things have evolved. I said, no, it's an indication of that in the Ark of His Mercy, which pictured Christ Jesus our Lord.

All the plagues in Egypt were performed by miraculous intervention. Those flies didn't just gather there at one time. Those locusts didn't just come at one time. Those frogs didn't just come at one time. The Nile River didn't just have a bunch of fish to die in it and suddenly fill up with blood. God in judgment performed miracles. And when God brought the firstborn to death, it was an act of God's miraculous hand that every firstborn son in the house of Egypt died that night because God would show his judgment. And yet at the same time, God was accomplishing the salvation of his people. While he was performing judgment against Egypt, God was fixing it so that Egypt would push Israel right out of the land.

And when it came to the Red Sea, God opened it up. And the walls of the Red Sea stood like a great wall. Not only did God cause the seas to part, but He dried up the riverbed so that Israel walked through dry shod. And then when they were on the other side, They looked back at the pursuing armies of Pharaoh in Egypt, and God broke down the wall. Swallowed them up.

I told you before, I'm sure, about the young lady who was in our high school English class. After God saved me, we went back to school, and we had this fellow teaching English who took every chance he got to undermine the faith of the And he said, now you've heard the story about the Red Sea. He said, now really, really class, that was the Reed Sea. He said it got its name because it was a reedy marsh. He said there was only about 12, at most, 18 inches of water in that sea at any time. He said it wasn't some great sea like that. And this little girl, she was a little smarter than the rest of us. She said, whoo! He said, what's that? She said, that's bigger than I thought it was. He said, how do you think? She said, God Almighty took 12 inches of water and found an experienced Egyptian army, the whole thing at one time. That's something else.

But what I'm telling you is God, by a miracle, a miracle, a miracle of omnipotent power, opened up the sea. Now, I could go on and on talking to you about those miracles. And we look at the miracles and we say, boy, that's a demonstration of greatness. I'm going to tell you something. The providence we don't see makes the miracles, if anything, appear to be insignificant. Did you hear me? The providence we don't see, the secret hand of God, moving through the world, moving through time, accomplishing his purpose, directing even the thoughts of a man's heart, directing every word, every path of a snowflake. God in his secret providence is exercising wisdom and power that would make the miracles pale into insignificance by comparison.

Let me give you a few examples. I could give you numerous, numerous scriptures, but the scriptures are just replete with testimonies to God's sovereignty and providence. Listen to this, Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in heaven and in the earth is Thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as head above all. both riches and honor come of thee, and thou reignest over all, and in thy hand is power and might, and in thy hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all."

Job said he is of one mind who can turn him. While his soul desireth, even that he doeth. The psalmist said, Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath wilt thou restrain. Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased, whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, and in the seas, and in all deep places.

Listen to what the wise man says in Proverbs 16. The Lord hath made all things for himself. Everything? Yes, sir, even the wicked for the day of evil. A man's heart deviseth his way. But the Lord directeth his steps. I don't hear much from news commentators, it's worth repeating. But I heard Jim McKay the other day talking about John Chancellor, a fellow who used to be a news anchor man for one of the networks. He said he used to have a saying, and it's worth repeating. He said, if you really want to make God laugh, tell him what your plans are. You want to make God laugh, just tell him what your plans are.

Man directs his thoughts, a man's heart deviseth his ways, but the Lord directs his steps. The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Man rolls dice, and one of those tables in Las Vegas, or out here on the street, he rolls Gambling for a million dollars or playing a game of Monopoly. Rolls his dice. Well, what's gonna happen? Dice are rolled and God determined the number before the world began and brought it to pass. It's exactly right. Now you can talk about lady luck if you want to. I worship God Almighty. Don't talk to me about good luck or bad luck or any other kind of luck. Our God rules everything, everywhere, at all times.

There's no wisdom, no understanding against the Lord. He says, Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am God, there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times of things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. Even King Nebuchadnezzar after his season of insanity, when his six is returned to him, declared, At the end of the day, as I and Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and prayed, and honored him that liveth for ever and ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay in his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things to whom be glory for ever."

The Apostle Paul summarizes the whole thing like this. He worketh all things Got a little drop of sweat in my eye right there. Makes that page a little blurry. He did it so I could illustrate this. He worketh all things, everything. Bob, can you get hold of that? Everything, everything, everything, everything, after the counsel of his own will. And his will is the salvation of his elect for the glory of his name. Let's see if we can find some illustrations of that.

God determined that he would take Abraham's sons down into Egypt to sojourn for 400 years. He'd take them down to Egypt. How are they going to get down there? And how are they going to be preserved amongst those Egyptians who despise them for 400 years?

One of Abraham's sons, Joseph, was anointed particularly of God to be an imminent type of the Lord Jesus Christ, and his brothers, because of their jealousy against Joseph, wanted to kill him. Finally, they were persuaded to set him, and they thought they were done with him. And Joseph went down to Egypt, and he was finally made a servant in Potiphar's house. Fine, fine, good man, good master. Potiphar gave him the rule of his house, and Potiphar's wife wanted to entice Joseph into an act of adultery with her. Joseph wouldn't concede. She cried rape, and Joseph was thrown into the prison. And they said, Well, Joseph, now what about your dream? And how are you going to have your brethren come bow down before you? And at last God sent a vision to two men, a baker and a butler, I believe it was, and Joseph interpreted their dreams. Finally, Pharaoh, he got Pharaoh's attention, and he came and interpreted Pharaoh's dreams. And Pharaoh made him prime minister of the whole land.

God sent famine everywhere, everywhere. And there's Isaac. and Joseph's other brothers, all the brothers and all their wives and sons and daughters, grandchildren, starving to death, starving to death. But Joseph was on the throne in Egypt, and God arranged for Joseph to bring Isaac and all his sons and all his daughters and all his children's children back with him down into Egypt. And Joseph provided well for his family at Egypt, on a picture of our Savior.

And so Joseph speaks to his brethren, who would have crucified him if they could have. He said, You meant it for evil. God meant it for good, to bring it to pass as it is this day. I'm in the place of God to save much people alive. Will you hear me? The Lord Jesus Christ speaks to Rex Bartlett, Merkinson, and Don Fortman, who have crucified You said you meant it for evil. God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save our people, if it were to happen.

Elimelech, in a time of great famine, saw trouble coming to the land of Judah, and Elimelech was a wealthy, wealthy man. His name means, God is King, my God is King. But he didn't live up to his name. Elimelech took his wife and his sons, and he's down into Moab. A terrible, terrible transgression. The one man in Bethlehem, Judah, who could have helped somebody, takes what he's got, and he's going to save it all up in Moab. But while he's down in Moab, he lost his life and his sons, both of them, died. But he got a son-in-law for Naomi. His name was Ruth, the Moabitess. And Ruth was brought back with Naomi to Bethlehem, Judah. And it was no accident that Ruth was brought there. No accident. It wasn't just a stroke of luck. It wasn't just some fortune there. But rather, God took Elimelech's seed and brought Ruth back to Bethlehem, Judah to marry Boaz. And from Ruth and Boaz came the Son of God into this world. That's right. Had it not been for Limelech going down to Boab, Ruth would never have met Boaz. But that was God's ordained means by which Christ would come into this world.

David stayed at home when he should have been in battle with his men. And he took Bathsheba. And God judged his sin. The thing that David did displeased the Lord. But God's purpose was not frustrated. God's purpose was not hindered. God's purpose did not even pause. This too. the Lord God overruled to bring to pass our everlasting salvation.

For the scripture tells us that Solomon, the child of that union between David and Bathsheba, Uriah's wife, Solomon is he through whose lines the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world.

does God grow everywhere? Everywhere. Does God call him in the wrath of man and the wrath of demons themselves to praise him? Everything praises him. Everything works together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

I don't care how often the haven of hell, Satan, builds his gallows to hang God's Mordecais, God will hang him on his own gallows. it'll come to pass exactly as God has ordained.

No wonder Jeremiah said, O Lord, I know that the way of a man is not in himself. It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. But it's not within me. It's not within me to determine what's best I can preach that pretty good, but buddy, I have a hard time living it. That's just fact. It's not within me. It's not within me to choose what's best for me.

A friend of mine called me yesterday. He said, somebody said, well, you, what's your teaching? And what Pastor Thornton is preaching, he said, that just makes us puppets on a string. He said, well, to God, I was just a puppet on a string. That's exactly what I want. Oh God, not my will. Your will be done. It's not within me. It's not within me to choose what's best for me.

And yet, having said all that, nowhere in scripture is God's incredible, amazing providence more evident than in the burial of our Lord. Every detail from Joseph begging for his body, to Pilate's agreement, to the scheming of the Jews to have his tomb sealed under the protection of Roman guards. Every detail is given as a testimony of the fact that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is indeed the Christ of God, our Savior, our Lord, crucified, dead, and raised again for our justification. There is no human explanation for what is recorded here except God did it. God did it.

Let all who truly are the Lord's disciples identify themselves with Christ, with His name, in this hour when His name is so maligned in this world. If God's given you faith in Christ, Confess Him in Believer's Baptism. Identify yourself with Him. Oh, I could almost wish to be baptized again just to identify myself again with Him who was buried for me. I'm buried with Him.

May God give us grace to trust his wise and good prophetess always, in everything, at all times. We know, Lord we do know, that all things work together for good to them that love God. to them who are the called according to his purpose. And this is what everything is going to accomplish.

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he also glorified.

What shall we then say to these things? The number one thing to say? God give me faith to believe it. If God be for us, who can be against us?

Let's stand together for prayer.

have we blessed and praised your holy name for your wise, adorable providence. Thank you for this manifestation of the fact that the heavens do rule, that all things indeed work together for good, for the saving of God's elect in the glory of the name of our Triune God. Thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ who loved us who died for us, was buried as a dead man in the tomb, and who rose having put away our sins. Thank you for him, and thank you for the blessed, blessed knowledge of your free grace and your glory in him.

Now teach us, our Father. Teach us by your Spirit. Teach us by your grace. according to your will, to trust you. Oh, for grace, oh, for grace to believe God. We confess, I believe, oh, but help thou mine unbelief. For Christ's sake I pray. Amen.

God bless you.