Okay, now we're starting here
in Luke 23, and what I want to try to bring to you today is
to show how, in the Word of God, The Holy Spirit sets out in distinct
descriptive language and brings forth witnesses to demonstrate
unto us that the Lord Jesus Christ actually died for our sins, as
we read in 1 Corinthians 15, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scripture. Now, I'm entitling the message,
of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now they didn't bury
him, he went back to glory. But the burial of his body, he
died a real death. Now the death of our Lord Jesus
Christ as a sinner's substitute to put away our sin by the sacrifice
of himself is the most important event of all human history. The most important event that
ever happened in human history is the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ and his dying and his glorious resurrection. All other
events Pearl Harbor, 9-11, what are those compared to this momentous
event of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord dying
for our sins. His death for our sins is the
vital and chief point of the glorious gospel truth of the
blessed gospel of the glory of God. Paul said, I determined
to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
That's all the counsel of God concerning the saving of sinners.
How that Christ died for our sins according to the scripture,
and that's what we're determined to preach, and that's what we're
determined to believe. Do you know anything? for the
forgiveness and pardon of sin, but the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ." There's nothing else but the blood. It's the blood
that make us atonement for our soul. How that the Lord Jesus
Christ, being the just one, died for the unjust, that he might
that he might bring us unto God. We're not coming any other way.
The Lord said, I'm the way, the truth, the life. No man, no man
come to the Father but by and through me. Therefore we can
confidently say all of our hope of forgiveness from our sin hinges
upon this blessed truth, this blessed fact of the substitutionary
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. All our hope of a justifying
righteousness before God focuses on this point, on this truth. All of our hope of eternal salvation
and eternal glory centers upon this fact, Christ, how that Christ
died for our sins, according to the Scripture, that the Lord
Jesus Christ didn't come to save good folks. The Lord Jesus Christ
died for our sin, and He died, the Scripture said, He died for
the ungodly. He died for sinners. This is
a faithful saying, and worthy of acceptation by all, that the
Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners. Paul said, I'm the chief
one. Salvation is for sinners, not
for good folks. If his death of the Lord Jesus
Christ, if it's not real and actual, as some would say, and
skeptics and atheists would say, that he really didn't die, he
just lapsed into a coma. Have you ever heard that? He
really didn't die. He just lapsed into a coma. They
put him in a borrowed tomb and later they brought him forth,
that he lapsed into a coma. Some would even say that he was
unconscious for three days and then later revived. If that be
so, we're of all men most miserable. If his death was a hoax, then
we are yet in our sins and face eternal judgment. God must have
an atonement for sin. Because if He didn't really die
for our sins, it would prove Him to be an imposter, it would
prove the Word of God to be false, it would prove Him to be a phony
and a pretender, not a real bonafide Savior. Now, I need a bonafide
Savior, don't you? I need one Son of God, one who's
anointed of God. I need a Redeemer who really
redeems us from our sin. who obtained eternal redemption
for us. That's why he must die to put
away our sin. There's no other way. Without
the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. The Lord
Jesus Christ actually died as the substitute satisfying the
justice of God. I believe the record of Holy
Scripture, don't you? That His death was real, He was
really and actually made sin for us, who knew no sin. We actually and really believe
that He accomplished salvation for us by the putting away of
our sin. That's what the Scripture said,
He appeared once in the end of the age. to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. And when he said, it's finished
on Calvary's tree, all salvation was accomplished, completely
so, for his covenant people. And he was really delivered for
our offenses. And he was really actually raised
again because he justified us with his blood. Now, in our study
today, our great God in his wise and overruling providence gives
unto us powerful evidence beyond all dispute that our blessed
Savior really died and was buried. Now, what do you do with dead
people? You bury them according to the
Word of God. We have here in these scriptures
three or four different witnesses that the Lord brings forth to
verify and certify and guarantee unto us that the Lord Jesus Christ
really did die for our sins according to the Word of God. Their combined
and united testimonies of these three or four witnesses, you
remember in the mouth of two or three witnesses, shall every
word be established? Their combined and united testimonies
give to us evidence beyond all suspicion that they actually
took his cold and lifeless mangled corpse down from a tree, prepared
it for burial, anointed it with spices, wound it up with a linen
cloth, and laid it in the tomb. Why did they do that? He was
dead. His body had died. His soul and spirit went back
to God, but his body was put in the heart of the earth. Now
let this truth be established in our mind, Our Savior really
and truly died to put away our sin and to accomplish our salvation. Now we believe that. That's our
whole hope. That's the hope of our salvation,
that Christ appeared, that Christ put away our sin. Now the four
witnesses that we read here in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
the Roman soldiers, The centurion, who was the captain of the host,
he had 100 soldiers under him, and he confessed that this is
a righteous man. Remember from last week's message?
He confessed that truly this is the Son of God. But this centurion
came before Pilate when Pilate asked, when Joseph asked Pilate
of that body, that centurion was called before Pilate and
said, is he dead? And the centurion said, yes,
he's dead. And then they gave the body to Joseph. So the Roman soldiers were one
witness. The many women that followed
Mary Magdalene and the other Marys who not only watched him
die there upon the tree, but they followed Joseph and Nicodemus
to the grave and they saw where they put his body. That's why
on the first day of the week, on that Sunday morning, they
knew exactly where to find that grave. And that's what we're
going to see in Matthew 28 and in Luke chapter 24. Also, we
have the witnesses of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who
buried, took his dead body, lifeless body, down from a tree and buried
it. And then the grave itself. bears
a witness and a testimony to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, hold your place here in Luke 23, and turn back to Mark
chapter 15. Mark chapter 15, verse 37. Let's go up here to verse 43.
Now when the evening was come, this is Mark 15, 42, because
it was the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath,
they were preparing for that Sabbath day, Saturday, Joseph
of Arimathea, an honorable counselor, which also waited for the kingdom
of God, came and went in boldly unto Pilate and craved the body
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that's the evidence
of saving faith, craving for Christ, boldly asking for the
Lord Jesus. In Pilate marveled, verse 44,
if he were already dead, and calling unto him a centurion,
he asked whether he had been any while dead, and when he knew
it of the centurion, he gave the body unto Joseph. So there
the Roman soldiers verified before Pilate, the governor, that yes,
indeed, the Lord Jesus Christ had died. These Roman soldiers
crucified many Jews over the previous years. They were professional
killers. They were professional executors. They knew how to kill a body,
and they knew when the body was really dead. And when the centurion
saw that the Lord had died and yielded up the spirit, you remember
what he said? Truly this was the Son of God. In John 19, we've read in previous
messages how they broke the legs of those two thieves to hasten
their death. to suffocate them. And when they
came to the Lord Jesus Christ, remember what we read, and they
saw that He was dead already, they did not break His legs,
because the Scripture had said not a bone of His body should
be broken. But when they came to Him and
saw that He was dead already, remember what they did? That
one soldier took a spear and thrust it in His side, to make
sure he was dead and there came out when they did that blood
and water that the scripture might be fulfilled. They shall
look on him in whom they have pierced. You see, all this was
done that the scripture might be fulfilled. Now this Roman
centurion says to Pilate, yes, Yes, he really did die. We made
sure we put that spear in his heart or in his side and we made
sure that he completely gave all his blood shed. He did. These men knew what death
looked like, and they said, convinced Pilate that he was dead. Let
this sure word of testimony be before us, powerful evidence. Let it ring clear and loud, and
let us be convinced by God the Holy Spirit that the Lord Jesus
Christ tasted and experienced death for us. It was real. It was actual. It was painful. It was an agony for him. He,
by the grace of God, tasted death for his covenant people, that
we might have eternal life through his death. Remember, he said
in the Revelation, I'm he that liveth and was dead. And He said, Behold, I'm alive
forevermore. I have the keys of hell and death. He's the owner of hell and the
grave. He is the owner. He gave His
life that we might live. Therefore, there is no condemnation
to those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. God, who spared
not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall
He not with Him also freely give us all things? The centurion
and those soldiers, they gave witness, didn't they? Powerful
evidence. The Lord Jesus Christ died. He's dead. He is, they said,
the Son of God. He is a truly righteous man,
as we brought the message about last week. Now the second thing
I want us to see, turn back here to Luke. Verse 23, the second
witness we bring forth that gives evidence that the Lord Jesus
Christ really died, and their testimony is this, that they
saw the Lord Jesus Christ yield out when He said, And they saw Joseph and Nicodemus
take the body, the lifeless body, down from the cross. How'd they
get those nails out? I don't know. They pulled them
out somehow. And they took his lifeless body
down from a tree. These women were beholding these
things. They watched Joseph and Nicodemus
and their servants preparing the body of the Lord Jesus Christ,
wrapping it up in that linen with that hundred pounds of spices
they brought. They came prepared for a proper
burial and then when they took that body to the grave, those
women followed to the grave and they watched them put that stone,
great stone, on that grave and seal it up to where the air could
not get in. These faithful women, notice
if you will, in Luke 23, down here at verse 55. The women
also which came with him from Galilee followed after and beheld
the sepulcher how the body was laid. They watched the Lord Jesus
Christ died and they went to the grave. The testimony of these
faithful women They followed the Lord from Galilee, as it
says, and they followed Him also to the grave. And after the Sabbath
day was over, these faithful women came back that Sunday morning. They were the first ones to come
back, and they wondered, how are we going to remove that heavy
stone? Because they wanted to further anoint and prepare the
body of the Lord Jesus Christ. These faithful women give testimony
to the fact the Lord Jesus Christ really died. Now, I've often
thought about this. What was Peter? Where are James and John and
the others? Why weren't they there with Joseph
and Nicodemus? When Peter and the rest of the
apostles forsook the Lord, fearing for their life, the women stayed
and watched the Lord of Glory put away their sin. They heard
all the words that He spoke. They rejoiced in their salvation
being accomplished. They were granted faith to believe
Him and that's what saving faith does. It believes Him and it
follows the Lord at all times in all circumstances. Saving
faith looks to the Lord Jesus Christ who provides all things
for us in Salvation. They followed the Lord. That's
what saving faith does. It looks to Christ and continues
to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember when the Lord described
His sheep? He said, My sheep, they hear
My voice, I know them, and they do what? They follow. They follow
Me. So the women, The Roman centurion,
those other soldiers, give testimony to the fact that the Lord Jesus
Christ really died. How that he died for our sin
according to scripture. The women also give testimony
that the Lord Jesus Christ really did die. It wasn't a hoax. It
wasn't fake. It was real. Sin demands death. And when he was made sin for
us, God's crushing wrath fell upon him and it brought death
and judgment for our sin. Now, the third witness we see
here is that of Nicodemus and Joseph. Joseph and Nicodemus. Luke 23 again, verse 50. And
behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counselor, and he was
a good man. The same had not consented to
the counsel of a deed of them. He was of Arimathea, a city of
the Jews, who also waited for the kingdom of God. This man
went unto Pilate, begged the body of Jesus. He took it down
and wrapped it in linen, laid it in a sepulcher that was hewn
in stone, wherein never a man was laid before." Especially
prepared for the Lord Jesus Christ. Another witness the scriptures
bring forth is that of Joseph, who before was a secret disciple
of the Lord. Now he comes boldly before Pilate
to beg for the body. No longer a secret disciple. And also we read in John 19 how
that Nicodemus also came. You remember Nicodemus was the
one who came to the Lord by night. Remember the Lord told this proud
Pharisee Nicodemus that you must be born again. Except a man be
born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Except a man
be born again, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. He told
Nicodemus that you must be regenerated by the Spirit of God. Now evidently,
Both Joseph, who one time was a secret disciple, and Nicodemus,
who was ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ, and came to him by night.
Evidently, both of these men, now no longer ashamed, no longer
in secret, but come boldly to the throne of Pilate and beg
publicly for the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. No longer
ashamed, no longer being in secret. Now, we don't know a whole lot
about Joseph of Arimathea. He only appears one time in Holy
Scripture. He completes the work the Father
gave him to do, and we never read of him again. Not one time. Through the whole book of Acts
or in the epistles. We never read his name again.
Now, we don't know a lot about him, but we know a few things.
In Mark 15, it says he was an honorable counselor. He was a
member of that Sanhedrin court. Maybe a Pharisee, maybe a Sadducee,
I'm not sure. We know secondly, he was waiting
for the Kingdom of God. He was looking for the Messiah.
Like Simeon of old, remember? In the temple, in Luke chapter
2, we studied that. Waiting for the consolation of
Israel. He prayed to the Lord, don't
let me die until I've seen the Lord's Christ, the Messiah. And
when the Lord Jesus Christ came in, His parents, Mary brought
Him in to be circumcised the eighth day. He said, Lord, let
me depart in peace. Mine eyes have seen Thy salvation. Like Simeon, he was waiting for
the coming of the Messiah. Matthew 27 says he was a rich
man. In John 19 it says he was the
secret disciple for fear of the Jews. In Luke 23 we read he was
a just man and had not consented unto the counsel of the others
to put the Lord Jesus Christ to death. Now he boldly comes
before Pilate and begs the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. They
prepare this hundred pound ointment. How did they get that hundred
pound ointment there on Calvary's Hill? They must have had some
help. A hundred pounds of ointment, they're packing up this costly
ointment, this fine linen, and wrap that body with those ointments
to perfume the body. They did all of that. to show
us that the Lord Jesus Christ gave his life for our sin. Almighty God used this man for
this specific purpose. He raised this one man up, him
and Nicodemus, for this one purpose, to prepare the body of the Lord
Jesus Christ for burial. Now generally, And normally,
crucified bodies were left to hang on the cross until their
flesh rotted away, until their bones crumpled to the ground.
That's why the place is called Golgotha, the place of the skull. Usually they were put on the
tree, the cross, crucified, and left there to rot. for the birds
and the animals to eat the flesh and eventually the sun would
bleach their bones and they would crumble and they would fall down
that hill. There was bones everywhere. There
was a graveyard everywhere. But this didn't happen to the
Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
must be buried. to fulfill scripture, how that
he died for our sins according to scripture, how that he was
buried, and how he was risen again. His body must be put in
a grave to honor the law of God, to honor the word of God. In
Psalm 16 we read, therefore my heart is glad, My glory rejoices,
my flesh shall rest in hope, for thou wilt not leave my soul
in the grave, neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption."
Now, I often thought about this. Normally, when someone dies,
corruption sets in immediately. and Carol Pruitt that came here
for a number of years. Both of them were morticians.
They prepared thousands of bodies. One of the things they always
would first do, and I asked Brother Bob about this, they would put
on gloves. They wouldn't touch a dead body
because corruption sets in immediately. Matter of fact, one time Brother
Pruitt told me a story that when he had his funeral home in Lexington,
Brother Mahan, Henry Mahan was visiting there But Pastor Mahan
said, I want to go to your place of business, and I want to watch
you prepare a body for burial. And Henry went with Brother Bob,
and he got the body out and started preparing it. Brother Henry went
to put forth his hand and to touch the body. And Brother Bob
grabbed it back and said, don't touch that body. He said, there's
corruption set in there. Now here's the point I'm making.
It's said in Psalm 16. Thou shalt not suffer the Holy
One to see corruption." Even though He was made sin for us,
He so thoroughly and completely put away our sin that His body
could not corrupt, could not see corruption, because He's
the Holy God-Man, the Mediator. Now, the Lord God always raises
up men, chosen vessels, to carry out His eternal purpose, just
as He did with Joseph here. Sometimes it's men who are the
unlikely ones. You wouldn't have thought the
Lord would have chosen that man, Joseph, to take care of the body
of the Lord Jesus Christ, but He did. I'll give you some other
examples of that. Moses, a prince in Egypt, God
made him a prophet to deliver Now, if you would have asked
Moses before the Lord showed him what he was to do, if you
would have told Moses, you're going to be a prophet of God,
he said, oh no, not me. I'm an Egyptian. No, he wasn't. How about Peter, James, and John,
fishermen, were made apostles and sent to preach the gospel.
Saul of Tarsus. A persecutor. One who hated the
Lord Jesus Christ. Did his best to stamp out the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. God chose him to be an apostle,
a preacher to the Gentiles. Just like Joseph of Arimathea. He raised him up for this particular
purpose. To take care of the body of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now what a responsibility is
put upon him. And I'm sure he did. exactly
as God purposed to do. The purpose of God is never in
danger of failure. He says, I am the Lord, beside
me there is none else. Surely as I have thought, so
shall it come to pass. As I purpose, so shall it stand.
God's will is never hindered by anything or anyone. God's
work is never overturned, never changed. God's cause is never
in jeopardy of being unfinished or reversed. He says, I am the
Lord, I change not. Now, you see how the Lord raised
that man up for this particular purpose? To take the body down
from a tree, to prepare it, and to put it in his own tomb that
he had made for himself. When he was cutting out that
quarry, quarrying that rock for his own grave, he didn't know
he was making that grave for the Lord Jesus Christ, but he
did. Now, the last testimony is this. If you'll find Luke
23-53, Joseph took the body down, wrapped
it in the linen, laid it in the sepulcher in the grave that was
hewn in stone where never a man before was laid." Even the grave
itself is a testimony, bears testimony to the actual death,
the real and actual death of the Lord Jesus Christ. They buried
His body in the grave. I've often been asked this question,
and some of you have asked me this question. Should a believer
consider having his body cremated? Now, if we are followers of the
Lord Jesus Christ, he was buried. You never read in Holy Scripture,
Abraham He was buried. Isaac, Jacob, they were buried.
You remember they took great pains about Joseph in Egypt? You remember? Joseph said, God's
going to deliver you. Someday, 400 years later, God
did. You remember what Joseph said?
You take my bones out of here and you bury me in the land of
Canaan. We studied that in the book of
Joshua, remember? You see, it's honoring to God for a believer
to believe His Word and to be buried, to have our body buried. Now, so I hope that answers the
question. The Lord was buried, and that's
what we should want to have done with our body, have it buried. Our Lord put special honor upon
the grave by allowing his body to be put in the grave. Our forerunner
has for us died, was buried, and he is risen again. The Lord
has taken away the sting of death for us. We no longer fear the
grave or being buried because the Lord Jesus Christ came out
of the tomb. It's a plain fact. It's a point
of the man wants to die after that judgment. For the believer,
death and grave has lost its victory. Thanks be to God, who's
given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. The coffin,
the funeral, the corruption of the body back to the dust are
all painful things for us right now to think upon. When a loved
one dies, we grieve. We grieve. We're men. We grieve. The Lord Jesus Christ, when Lazarus
died, He stood at the grave and He wept. But our Lord arose victorious,
and we too shall be as believers, be raised up from the dead, and
to be with the Lord forever. Now, turn back to 1 Corinthians
15, where we started. 1 Corinthians 15. How that he
was buried, how that he rose again according to the Scriptures
the third day. Now, our hope is this. 1 Corinthians
15, it's a resurrection hope we have. 1 Corinthians 15, 50. I always read this at the cemetery
when we take our loved ones to the cemetery and put their body
back to the dust. Now this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither does
corruption inherit incorruption. But I show you a mystery. We
shall not all sleep, but we're all going to be changed. In a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the
trumpet of God shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption, this mortal must put on immortality. So when
this corruption shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Verse 55, O death, where is thy
sting? Now we're gonna sleep, this body's
gonna sleep in the grave for a while. We're not going to sleep. We'll be with the Lord. To be
out from this body is to be present with the Lord. O death, where
is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
That body is coming out of there one day. The sting of death is
sin. The Lord put away our sin. The
strength of sin is the law. He satisfied the law of God for
us. Thanks be unto God, but thanks be to God who has given us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have the victory over
sin, death, Satan, hell, and the grave in Christ and Him crucified,
being delivered for our offenses, raised again for our justification.
All these powerful witnesses bring strong testimony, and they
are strong witnesses to the Lord's victorious accomplishment of
our salvation. May God give us grace to turn
a deaf ear to the skeptics, to the agnostics who deny the gospel
of the grace of God. May he be pleased to give us
grace to believe the record of Holy Scripture and to trust him
for all of our salvation and to make this publicly known.
How do we as believers make this publicly known? By confessing
the Lord Jesus Christ in believer's baptism. It pictures his death,
his burial, and his resurrection. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. That's how we confess and identify
with the blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.