I keep a notebook up in my study
where I write down passages of scripture that I really want
to preach from, and one of them is Joshua 21, that passage you
just read. And also, I think one of my favorite
lines of the songs we sing is, what language can I borrow to
thank thee, dearest friend? I love the way the writer says
that. I can't come up with the words. You're going to have to
give them to me. What language can I borrow to thank thee, dearest
friend, for this, thy dying sorrow, thy pity without end. Oh, make
me thine forever. And should I fainting be, oh,
let me never, never outlive my love to thee. I've entitled this message Come
see the place where the Lord lay. Verse 47, and Mary Magdalene,
and Mary, the mother of Joseph, beheld where he was laid. Now I have no doubt that they
beheld as he was taken down from the cross. by Nicodemus and Joseph
of Arimathea. They were watching. They were
watching as his dead body was bound and placed into that tomb. They were watching. And they
watched the stone rolled over the tomb. And the Sabbath had
come and they went for the rest of the Sabbath. an early Sunday
morning, and when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and
Mary the mother of James and Salome had bought sweet spices
that they might come and anoint him. Now, they didn't know yet
that these were not needed. You see, he never went through
the process of decay. But they didn't realize that.
And they were coming with these sweet spices to anoint their
Lord. And they said among themselves,
who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulcher? Now, once again, they didn't
know that it had already been rolled away. We read in Matthew's
account that there was a great earthquake and the stone was
rolled away. Verse four, and when they looked,
they saw that the stone was rolled away for it was very great. And entering into the sepulcher,
and I'm sure they did so quite anxious not knowing what
was ahead of them. Entering into the sepulcher they
saw a young man sitting on the right side clothed in a long
white garment. Now this young man was an angel
in the appearance of a young man And they were frightened
by his presence. And you would be too if you saw
somebody glistening and shining. You'd be afraid too. And this
is what they saw. They saw this angel. He is included
in what Paul termed the elect angels. This is one of the elect
angels. Don't you love that term? The
only reason they didn't fall is because they were elected
not to fall. And the scripture says they were
frighted. I would be too. And he said unto them, verse
six, be not afraid. Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which
was Crucified, he is risen. He is not here. Behold the place where they laid
him. Now, in all three accounts, the
angels told them to look at the place where the Lord lay. What was there? Nothing. Now it's my prayer that God the
Holy Spirit will give me and you the grace to come see the
place where the Lord lay. Now at some point in the darkness,
and stillness of the tomb. I don't know how long he remained
dead in that tomb, but at some point he took a breath. His heart began to pump blood. He opened his eyes. He was dead. And he was raised from the dead. That's the very essence of the
gospel. He was raised from the dead.
I love to think of him taking off his grave clothes. And he
took the whatever it was that was bound around his face and
laid it aside separately. And I personally don't believe
that he had to have the stone removed for him to leave. You
know, in John chapter 20, verse 19, when he first appeared to
him, the scripture says the door was shut. Never talks about it being
opened. And I think in his glorified
body, he could move wherever he wanted to. Well, he could
have caused the earthquake to move the stone, I realize that.
But the implication in John chapter 20 is that he walked through
the door, he walked through the wall, and there he was in their
midst. The stone was rolled away for
the sakes of these women. who are going to come into the
sepulcher, and they're told to behold the empty tomb, come see
the place where the Lord lay. Now what do we see? What do we see when we behold
that place the Lord lay? Because me and you can do that.
We can't see the literal place, but we can sure enough imagine
an empty tomb with nothing in it. Maybe he had some kind of
bed of rocks or something that his body was laid upon, but now
there's nothing in that tomb where he lay. Now, what do we
see as we behold that place he lay? Well, first we see he is
risen. I am he that liveth, who was
dead, and behold, I am alive evermore, and have the keys of
hell and death. We serve a risen Savior." Look
at that place. What's there? Nothing. You know why? He got up and walked
out. I serve a risen Savior." Now, He is eternal, eternal life. Back in eternity, He was that
eternal life. He is eternal life by the life
that he lived when he walked upon this earth for 33 years.
That is my life before God. That is the life that I'm gonna
be judged for. I'm talking about a reason to
not fear judgment. When I stand before God in judgment,
that's the life I'm going to be judged for. His life. And my, when he was raised from
the dead, that is eternal life. I love what Luke's account says
to these women. Why seek ye him that liveth among
the dead? What a question. Why would you
seek him that liveth in that which is dead? Let's take a look into that place
where the Lord lay. What do we see? we see God's
eternal purpose accomplished. The Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world is the Lamb slain in time. And as he was slain
before time began He was raised. He didn't stay dead in eternity.
He was raised in eternity. And that lamb who was raised
in eternity must be raised in time. And this is God's eternal
purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. I'm so
thankful for this. Verse of Scripture in Revelation
chapter 13, verse 8, and we interpret the whole Bible. We interpret
all of God's purposes through this. He's the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world, and He's the Lamb raised from
the foundation of the world. And I love to think that when
we're given that view into eternity, it was the Lamb slain who took
the book. the lamb as having been slain. And what that means, that's not
a lamb with wool and horns, that's talking about the scars he still
has. It was as the lamb slain, he
came to him that sat on the throne and took the book. He didn't
ask for it, he took it. as equal to the Father, having
achieved the right, the scars show that. This is God's eternal
purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus, our Lord, his resurrection
and his accomplishments. Come see the place where the
Lord lay. Now, what do we see as we look
at that place where the Lord laid and we see nothing there?
We see that he is who he said he was. Ain't no doubt about it. He is
who He said He was, the Eternal Son of God. He was not a mere
man. He's the God-man. Great is the
mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Now, that empty spot where his
dead body lays, laid, testifies to that. You see, if all he was
was a mere man, his body'd still be there. But this testifies
to us that he is who he said he is, the God-man, and death
could not hold him. If he were merely a man, he would
still be there, but he is the eternal first begotten from the
dead. Now what do we see as we see
the place where the Lord lay? And we see that empty space. Well, we see the time of his
humiliation is past. You know, people have crucifixes
with images of Christ on them. He's not on a cross anymore. The time of his suffering, the
time of his humiliation is completely past. Now how he stooped, how
he stooped when he was made flesh. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
And now how the eternal God who The universe cannot contain.
He holds it in the hollow of his hand. He's stooped to take
upon the limitations that me and you have as a man. And He still is a man, and He's
eternally a man. What a stoop. And what a stoop
it was in His humiliation when He humbled Himself and became
obedient to death, even the death of the cross. What a stoop He
made when the Holy God was made sin. Nobody understands what
all that means. I realize that but the scripture
says he was made sin If you want to know what sin is look at the
cross there it is. He was made sin. What a stoop
But that empty tomb says that's over You see he achieved glory
by those stoops and And God hath highly exalted him and given
him a name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus,
every knee is gonna bow. Isn't that a wonderful thought
to think of? Everybody's gonna bow to him. And every tongue
is gonna confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. To the glory of God
the Father. That empty space where he once
laid tells us his time of humiliation is completely over. It is a thing of the past. Now, looking at that place where
he lay, that is now empty, reminds us of where he is now. I know where he is right now.
He's seated at the right hand of the Father. Now, the reason he's seated is
because whatever it was he came to do, he did. He finished the
work. And now he's seated when he had
by himself purged our sins. He sat down at the right hand
of the majesty on high, having finished the work. He's seated
at the right hand of power, ruling and reigning. I know what he's
doing there. He's ruling and reigning. He's controlling every
event simply by the Word of His power. By Him, all things consist. And I know what else He's doing.
He's there as the intercessor and great high priest of his
people. Wherefore, he is able to save
them to the uttermost that come to God by him seeing he ever
liveth to make intercession for them. When we see that empty
spot, we're reminded of where he is right now. And looking
at that empty place where he lay, He went into that tomb with my sins. Where are they? I'm even talking about the sins
I've committed today. I'm talking about the sins that
I'll commit tomorrow. Where are they? He brought them into the
tomb. Look at that place. What's there? Nothing. Nothing. Jeremiah 50, 20 says, because
of the empty tomb, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for
and there shall be none. And the sins of Judah. and they
shall not be found. Now just as there was nothing
there, with regard to my sins, there is nothing there. Now this is the great glorious
truth of the justifying work of Christ. Now let me remind
you, and I will remind you every time I preach what justification
means. When that Publican went down
to his house after beating on his breast crying God be merciful
to me the sinner when he went down to his house justified You
know what that means? He went down to his house having
never sinned That's the record with regard
to everybody Christ died for they never have sinned And my
dear friend, that's most real. You say, well, my sin's most
real. Well, this is more real. This is more real because of
who he is. They are sinless. That's what justification means.
It doesn't simply mean forgiven. It doesn't simply mean pardoned.
It doesn't simply mean that your sins are overlooked. It means
they're non-existent. You stand before God right now
perfectly just without sin. You see, that empty place means
full payment was made. Now what do you mean by full
payment? Well, the scripture says the
soul that sins shall surely die. He surely died. My sins had to
be paid for. And he paid for them. He bore
that sin in his own body on the tree, and he fully paid the penalty,
death. Now, the debt is fully paid. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who is he that condemns Christ
that died, yea, rather that's risen again? Who's even at the
right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. That empty
tomb tells me the debt is fully paid. There are no bills there
that say this hasn't been paid or that hasn't been paid. No,
the debt has been fully paid. Full satisfaction's been made.
And I love to think of this thing. The reason hell is eternal is
because no sinner can ever satisfy God for having murdered his son. And my dear friend, that's what
you and I are guilty of. Murdering your son. You can just
pretty much forget about it. I don't want you to forget about
everything, but this is by far the worst. This is why a man
goes to hell. He murdered God's son. Now, if somebody murdered one
of your children, and they came up and said, here's $10 million,
are you satisfied? You know you'd say no. There
is no satisfaction for the murdering of your child, but the son of
God is such that his death made God completely satisfied, where
he has nothing against me, though I murdered his son because of
what he did to, for me, makes it to where I didn't do it. The
only way you can be satisfied is complete satisfaction made. And Christ made complete satisfaction. He shall see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied. That empty tomb tells me that
God is completely satisfied. The debt is completely paid. The place that he lay, that empty
place, here's what we see. The side of that empty place
is a reminder of the ground of our assurance. I could have assurance that I
was saved if Christ died and was raised from the dead. Well,
I already know that. I could have assurance if I had
more victory over sin and sinned less and was more like Christ
in my life. Then I could have assurance. That's a false assurance. If that's your assurance, you
have no reason to have assurance. The only assurance There is,
is that empty tomb. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. God said I'm satisfied and my
assurance is not found in looking at something in me. Now understand,
anytime you look within, it is contrary to the gospel. That really is. Are you saying
our conduct doesn't matter? Of course I'm not saying that.
Of course I'm not saying that. But anytime you look within your
heart to find a reason to believe that you might be saved, you're
looking in the wrong place. The only ground of assurance
is the person, the death, and the resurrection of Christ. What
Peter called the answer of a good conscience toward God. What satisfies
my conscience? That empty tomb. I'm satisfied
with that. I'm not looking for anything
else. What do I see when I look into
that tomb? I see what faith is. I see what faith is. What do
you mean by that? What do you physically see? Nothing. What do you physically see? Nothing. We believe what we cannot
see. Can I see my justification before
God by sight? No. No. Can I see that I stand before
God without seeing by sight? No. Can I see that I'm sanctified
in Christ Jesus? No. How do you know you are? Faith. Faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. When I look into that empty tomb
and see nothing there, I see what faith really is. We walk by faith, not by sight. Whom, having not seen, you love. Whom though now you seem not,
yet believing. You rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory. We see nothing. Well, that's
the side of faith. We understand what seeing nothing
means. What do we see in that empty
tomb? Way back right after the fall,
God said, the seed of woman will crush the serpent's head. We see the crushed head of the
serpent. Satan completely defeated. And he thought, I love to think
of this. He thought, I've won. And he
didn't know that what he thought was the victory was his head
being crushed. I see the complete defeat of
Satan. For judgment have I come into
this world. For judgment, because the prince of this world has
been judged. Already judged and destroyed. Now look in verse 7. Behold the place where they laid
him, that empty place. But go your way, he says to these
women. Tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before
you into Galilee, there shall you see him. As he said unto
you, you know, he told them, after I've raised from the dead,
I'll appear to you in Galilee, but I love the way he includes
Peter at this time. You go tell my disciples, after
seeing this empty tomb, you go tell my disciples and
Peter. Now Peter, He was there when the Lord said,
whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I deny before my
Father, which is in heaven. Strong language, isn't it? And
all Peter could conclude from that was, he's gonna deny me. I'm not a disciple. All of this
stuff, I must have been in a dream because it's over for me. I will
not be saved. I denied him and he said that
he's gonna deny me before his father. And the Lord did say
that. You can read those words in Matthew
chapter 10. That's exactly what he said. Now, do you remember
what the Lord prayed for Peter? He said, I prayed for you that
your faith fail not. He didn't say, I pray for you
that you don't fall. Peter needed to fall. And it
was for his good. This is the glory of God that
he can take something evil and use it for his glory and bring
good out of evil. Only God can do that. Me and
you can't do it. We can't do something bad and say, well,
I'm gonna bring good out of this. No, you don't talk like that.
But he does. Only he does. Now Peter, Christ
prayed for him that his faith fail not. Now Peter did deny
that he knew Christ. He did deny that he had any connection
with Christ. I know not the man. Can you imagine the three times
he denied him what was going on in his conscience while that
was happening? He couldn't stop himself. He
knew it was wrong. He knew it was evil. He did it
once. He did it twice. He did it three
times. He was like he's carried on by a tidal wave. He couldn't
stop himself. And he thought, it's over for
me. It's over for me. But let me tell you something
I'm sure about Peter. He did not quit believing that
Jesus Christ is the son of God. Even while he was doing that,
hating himself, He never quit believing that Jesus Christ was
God the Son. His faith never failed. Oh, he
failed. Miserably. But his faith never
failed. And the reason being is Christ
said, Peter, I pray for you, that your faith fail not. And I know that that prayer of
Christ is with regard to every believer in here. Your faith's
not gonna fail. And it's not because of any native
strength in you. It's because Christ prayed for you. Now, dare I believe that he died
and that he rose for me? Now, if he did, I'm saved. Isn't
that so? If he did, I'm saved. I mean,
I'm plumb saved. I'm completely saved. It can't
get any better than that. Paul said unto him that loved
me and gave himself for me. Oh, there's assurance. Dare I
believe that Christ lived and died for me. Well, listen to
this scripture. Romans 5, 6 says, For when we were yet without
strength, not weak, without spiritual strength, in
due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Are you without strength and
ungodly? Now, I wouldn't take it that
far within Christ didn't die for you. Are you without strength and
ungodly? Would you say yes to that? Jesus Christ died for you. Rejoice. Come see the place where
the Lord lay. There's nothing there. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for privileging
us to being able to see the emptiness of that tomb and all that it
means. Give us the grace to glory in
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ in such a way that the world
is crucified into us and we are to the world. Bless your word
for Christ's sake, in his name we pray, amen.