Turn your Bibles this morning to John chapter 19, beginning there in verse 38.
! After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus.
Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds in weight.
So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloth and with spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.
Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been lain.
So because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
Let's pray.
Father God, this morning as we take the Scriptures in hand, we are mindful
that what we have in front of us, that which we read,
that's which we rely upon, is the very words that you have chosen to reveal yourself to us,
to help us understand the glory of your salvation,
to help us gain a better affection and deeper appreciation for our Lord Jesus Christ,
to help us have confidence in the life that you've called us to live as children of the Heavenly Father,
to give us courage and faith that we,
growing from glory to glory,
through the working of your Spirit and the Word,
may become more like Jesus today
and in the days that follow.
And we pray that you would give me your strength to speak
as an oracle of God
and that your people would receive the Word with gladness
and that the Spirit of God would bear fruit
in the lives of those that are here today
that know Christ
and that those that are here today
that do not know the Lord Jesus,
that today, by the power of the Spirit of God,
would be drawn to the cross to understand
there is no hope and no salvation apart
from our Lord Jesus Christ.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Let me start our passage this morning
by reminding you of the reason that I generally begin by reading Scripture.
It's not something that I was coached, per se, to do in seminary,
and it is not something that the deacons have appointed and said,
Pastor, whatever you do when you get started,
please read the passage of Scripture,
and I want to be careful that I communicate
that it's not the necessary and automatic way
that every pastor should always begin a sermon.
But for Tim Knoyer,
I like to remind you from the very beginning
that the thing that has put me here
and has put you here
is the Word of God
that is infallible
and absolutely reliable
and sufficient,
and that the starting point
and the center point of our attention
is what God has chosen to reveal to us.
In relationship to that,
I began reading in John chapter 19,
but I want you to turn over
to John chapter 20, verse 31
to frame another little piece here
as we get into a reasonably complex passage.
John chapter 20, verse 31
tells us why this is written.
Incidentally, if you don't have a Bible,
there's one in the pew
or there's one in the chair by you,
and we have those there
so that you can follow along.
It helps to actually look at the text.
So grab a Bible
if you don't have one
and at least go through the exercise
of allowing that Word
to interact with your thinking.
John chapter 20, verse 31,
but these things are written
so that you may believe
that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God,
and that by believing
you may have life in His name.
I remember reading at one point
and I'm not positive
of the one who said it.
I think it was Zane Gray.
Someone asked him
at one of his, you know,
author conferences type of things.
They said,
so why does it take the hero
five shots to kill any man?
And Zane Gray,
the author that he was,
who wrote just a number of Westerns
and pretty well redundant
in every one of them,
he said,
well, because I get paid
five cents a word.
Do the math.
One bullet's five cents.
Five bullets is always better.
And I bring that to your attention
because when you look
at the Word of God,
you are not looking at a document
and you're not looking at words
that were just put down
either for entertainment
or for some kind of economic value.
They are given to us
that you and I
might be transformed
by the power of the Word of God.
I think about 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18,
where it says,
we are changed from glory into glory.
And namely, that happens
as we see the Lord Jesus Christ
in the Scriptures
and growing to understand Him
and His love for us
and His wisdom,
we are slowly being transformed
to be like Him.
And so, this morning
as you take John chapter 19 in hand,
we are looking at a passage
that if you were just skimming along
and speed reading,
you probably would step over
and not think very much about.
To amplify that characteristic,
I want you to recognize
that if you were to take
all of John chapter 19
and think carefully about
how much of John 19
actually has to do
with the physical suffering of Christ
in His crucifixion,
you would be stunned
to recognize
John 19 has very little to say
about His suffering.
Far more attention
is given actually
to the related materials
surrounding Christ's crucifixion
and the effect
that what was taking place
had on those
who were watching it
and were witnesses to it.
And so, this morning
as you look at this passage,
we are actually looking
at the very concluding moments
of that evening on Friday
when Christ actually died.
You remember up in verse 30
when Jesus had received
the sour wine,
He said,
it is finished
and He bowed His head
and gave up His spirit.
Now, what we are dealing with here
in verse 38 through 42
is further information
that the Holy Spirit
has chosen to give to us
and to inform us
about the nature of our Savior
and the phenomenal work
of His grace in saving us.
So, I want you,
as you look at this passage,
to recognize, first of all,
that what we find here
is Christ's power to change men.
Christ's power to change men.
As we take up the text,
we can't miss some of the detail
that John provides.
We're given the names
of two men
who willingly risked
their reputations
and their standing
in the Jewish community
to show an exceptional care
for the body
of our Lord Jesus.
Generally, the bodies
of individuals
who were crucified
were treated
several different ways
in Roman law
or Roman discipline.
Individuals that were crucified
for some relatively
common crime
could be expected
to be taken off the cross
after they'd suffered
and died
however long it took
and they would be thrown
in a common grave,
you know,
kind of a hole in the ground
and that's where
irrelevant pieces of trash
in the bodies
of criminals went.
Individuals that were
actually executed
for sedition
or rebellion
against the Roman government
were treated
a completely different way.
They were dragged out
unceremoniously
into a field
and left there
to be consumed
by vultures
and jackals.
And if you were
to think with me
just for a moment
back through the Old Testament,
you'll remember
one of the despicable
treatments of a body,
God wants us to treat
the dead
with a certain amount
of decorum
and one of the despicable
treatments of those
who died exceptionally
bad deaths,
disobedient, etc.
Remember it says this,
the son who is disobedient
and rebellious
against his father,
what will happen?
The vulture will pick out,
the eagle will pick out
his eye,
an indication
he's going to die
a pretty tough death.
And so those who died
as criminals
treated one way,
those who died
as rebels
were treated another way.
And so you find here,
here are two Jewish individuals
who come to Pilate
and they ask for a favor.
Remember earlier
when the Sanhedrin,
the high priest,
came to ask
that Jesus be crucified,
they wouldn't come in.
Why would they not come in?
They didn't want
to violate themselves
and not be able
to have the Passover.
And so here are
Nicodemus and Joseph
actually coming
into Pilate's presence
and they're asking
for the privilege
of burying Jesus
and caring for his body
properly.
I would imagine
that if you had asked
the Sanhedrin,
the high priests,
if they were approving
in any way
of this level of respect
that was being shown
to the man
they so vilely hated,
they would have objected
very strongly.
Remember,
they wanted him crucified
as a rebel
and they also really
were upset
when Pilate put
what sign over
the head of Jesus?
King of the Jews.
They said,
don't do that.
Just say he thought
he was the king
of the Jews.
They hated him
and the idea
of Jesus being shown
any respect whatever
must have been
highly offensive to them.
So, imagine
and understand
that against the backdrop
of the hatred
of the Jews,
two men
of exceptional rank
came to bury Jesus.
Joseph of Arimathea
came directly
to Pilate
into his presence
and asked for permission
to remove
Jesus' body.
We know also
from the text
here in John
that Nicodemus
was involved as well.
So, let's stop
and think just a little bit
more about these two men,
Joseph and Nicodemus.
For one,
we know from the
Synoptic Gospels
and will not turn there
this morning,
but we do know
from the Synoptics
that both of these members,
these men,
were members
of the Sanhedrin.
They were the actual,
kind of like the court
of Israel
and involved
in making significant
religious
and practical
political decisions
that were outside
the venue
of the government
of Rome.
We also know
previously
that Joseph
and Nicodemus
had been unwilling
earlier
to stand up
and let their faith
and relationship
with Christ be known.
The text here
in John chapter 19,
and look at it
just for a moment,
it says this,
Joseph of Arimathea
was a disciple of Jesus
but secretly
for fear of the Jews.
He had believed
to a degree,
but he had not been willing
to make his faith
known publicly
and take a stand
for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Remember what Jesus said?
You who will not
take a stand for me publicly,
I will not take a stand
for you.
And here were individuals
who had been drawn to Christ,
were interested in Christ,
oh man,
he's pretty spectacular,
but they'd not been willing
to make a public stand
at this point.
Now we also know
about Nicodemus
and we find there
in the passage,
Nicodemus in verse 39,
who earlier had come
to Jesus by night.
Here was a man,
interested,
knew he was a prophet,
knew that Jesus
was somebody special,
but again,
he really didn't get,
did not understand
who Christ was
or what he had come for.
And so now here we have,
at the end,
after the cross,
after Jesus' death,
anyway,
we have Joseph
and Nicodemus
both coming boldly
and publicly
to Pilate
and asking for the privilege
of giving honor
to the body
of the Lord Jesus.
What had happened?
I think it's important
for us to ask that question.
What brought the change?
Now I do want you
to recognize,
and it's fair to say,
that we have no
clear indication,
ah,
that Nicodemus
and Joseph specifically
in the construct
of the cross
had come to faith,
but it would seem
that at one time
they had been afraid,
we do know that,
they'd been afraid
to take a stand for Christ,
now they were ready
to do it.
They were no longer
intimidated
by the thought
of being thrown
out of the synagogue.
They were no longer
afraid of what
other people thought
about their readiness
to be identified
with the Lord Jesus.
You remember,
when Jesus healed
the blind man,
they brought the parents
in and said,
so what happened?
And they were afraid
to bear any kind
of testimony
because they knew
that the Jews
had said,
if you will confess Christ,
you'll take a stand
for Him,
we're going to kick you
out of the synagogue.
We'll disfellowship you.
And so how
do these two men
come to this point
of making this
significant change?
Well,
it is evident
as you look
at the text
that the death
of Christ
had had some
kind of effect
on these two
high-ranking individuals.
And I would propose
that it was only
faith in Christ
that could have
drawn them out
of the shadows
where they had been
kind of hiding
and interested
and curious
and respectful.
Now they were ready
to step out
and boldly make a stand
and indicate their faith
and confidence
in the Lord Jesus.
They had come
to the place
where they were
willing to risk
all they had
for Christ.
I want you
to recognize this
as you think about this.
Faith actually
brings change
to a person's life.
Do you understand that?
Faith brings
genuine change
to a person's life.
And one of the things
that is important
for me to draw
to your attention,
particularly in a fellowship
like this,
where there are some
of you that have grown up
learning the vocabulary,
hearing the Bible stories,
knowing all about
the facts of Jesus,
but you've never
really come to the place
where the grace of God
and the power
of the cross
has drawn you
from darkness
into light
and your life
has been radically
and forever changed
by the power
of salvation.
Paul said this
in Romans chapter 1,
I am not ashamed
of the gospel.
Why?
Because it is the power
of God unto salvation.
And I think we need
to recognize
that those who trust
in Christ,
those who trust
in Jesus,
begin to think differently
and act differently.
It's a fact.
You look back earlier
and Jesus made the statement
in John chapter 12,
verse 32,
He said,
and I,
if I be lifted up
from the earth,
I will draw all men
to myself.
And the result
of being drawn to Christ
is that your life
ends up being different
than it was before.
I want you to think
with me just for a moment
to another passage
in relationship to this.
And I can't help
but kind of tag along
with what John
was referring to earlier.
Turn in your Bibles
to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5,
verse 17.
Let's look at this passage.
Turn in your Bible
to John chapter 5,
verse 17.
Put your finger
on it.
Therefore,
if anyone
is in Christ,
he is a
new creation.
The old
has passed away,
behold,
the new has come.
If any man
be in Christ,
he is a
different
person.
You're different.
You have
different affections.
You have
different abilities.
You have
different interests.
There is
a significant
change
in the life
of those
that have been
genuinely converted.
And as you look
at the life
of Joseph
and Nicodemus,
you see two
illustrations
of individuals
who in the
proximity of the
cross
had their lives
changed
by Christ.
Let me remind you
of one other
before we move on.
You remember
the thief on the cross?
There he hung
with Jesus,
actually one thief
on one side
and another
on the other.
And at the outset,
both of those thieves
speaking ill of Christ
and later,
one of them
comes to faith.
He rebukes
the companion
on the other side
of Jesus
and says,
listen,
we're suffering
justly for what
we've done.
And this man
between us,
he is not suffering
as a criminal.
He's not suffering
for anything he's done.
And he says,
remember me
when you come
into your kingdom.
And what does Jesus
say to him?
This day,
those are sweet words,
aren't they?
This day,
you will be with me
in paradise.
I tell you,
that was an encouraging
word for the man
that he was suffering
there.
You are going
to be with me.
So,
I ask you a practical
question as you think
about the issue
of the Lord Jesus Christ
in this moment
of his death.
Do you see
the changes
of salvation
in your life
as well?
That's a practical
question.
You sit here
this morning
thinking about
Jesus dying,
dead,
on the cross
and in the
immediate proximity
of what had taken
place in that
moment in history,
we find the thief,
we find Nicodemus,
we find Joseph
whose lives
had been touched
by the power
of the cross
and their lives
were not the same.
And I want to touch
on that
and have you think
seriously about it.
those who know
Christ are not
the same
as they once
were.
Let's look at
something else
as we look at
the passage.
It says there
in verse 40,
so they took
the body of Jesus
and bound it
in linen cloths
with the spices
as is the burial
custom of the Jews.
Now in the place
where he was
crucified,
there was a garden
and in the garden
a new tomb
in which no one
had yet been
laid.
So let's ask
the question,
what is the significance
of this historical
detail in the
immediate
surrounding
information that
we have
regarding Christ's
death?
Why is it there?
And let me
encourage you,
in your Bible study,
probably one of the
most important
questions you can ask
with the enabling
of the Holy Spirit
over and over
and over again
is why did God
choose to put it
there?
And if you're not
asking those kind
of questions,
the fact of the
matter is,
you're probably
just kind of skimming
across the top
of things and not
getting much of the
substance of what
God has there for
you.
Why is it there?
Well, I want you
to take a minute,
keep your finger
there in John
chapter 19,
but turn back
to Isaiah
chapter 41.
Isaiah chapter
41.
I love this
passage.
Isaiah chapter
41.
Beginning there
in verse 21,
here is one of
the things that
Isaiah loves to
do, or loved to
do, he's not
doing it today,
but he loved to
do was kind of
have smack down
with people who
believed in idols,
you know?
I mean, do you
understand how dumb
idol worship is?
I mean, we're all
illuminated.
There are none of
you that walk into
your house and bow
down to a copy of
Buddha and say,
oh, Buddha, you
know, we're way
beyond that.
We're not into
idols, right?
Okay?
Anyway, here we go.
Yeah.
Anyway, verse 21.
Set your case, set
forth your case, says
the Lord.
Bring your proof,
says the king of
Jacob.
Let them bring them
and tell us what
is to happen.
Here's God saying
to idolaters, why
don't you have your
God show up and
tell me something
that's going to
happen in the
future?
Tell us the
former things, what
they are, that we
may consider them,
that we may know
their outcome or
declare to us the
things that are to
come.
Tell us what is to
come hereafter, that
we may know that you
are gods.
What's he saying?
Isaiah is
challenging idolaters,
why don't you have
your idol go ahead and
tell us what's going to
happen tomorrow?
How many of you really
know what the weather is
going to be?
Just a second, check,
check, check.
How many of you
actually looked at your
cell phone to kind of
get a prognostication of
what the weather was
probably going to be?
How many of you
looked?
Look, look, raise your
hands.
I mean, you know, we
all checked it out.
How many of you have
learned that weather
prognosticators are
people that get to lie
50% of the time?
I mean, I don't care
what it says is going
to happen.
I remember a couple
weeks ago, Greg and I
were planning on a
work day.
Remember that?
Where are you, Greg?
You're out there
somewhere.
And we had it all
planned and we were
going to be working on
the ditch out there
and there was this, I
mean, ugly looking
cloud that was moving
towards Columbus and
it was just coming
right along and we
called it off at the
last minute and within
minutes of us calling
it off, guess what
happened?
I was out in the
parking lot actually
working on something
and we got about
little three or four
spritzes enough to get
my glasses wet and it
stopped.
Can you predict
tomorrow?
No.
But God can.
And what we find in
this passage going back
to John chapter 19 is
that we find that God
has the power to make a
prophetic utterance and
to fulfill it.
God intends for you to
pay attention to the fact
that he can make prophetic
statements and that he can
fulfill them.
First one is in the book
of Isaiah chapter 53 verse
9 and I'm just going to
refer to it in broad terms
but in Isaiah chapter 53
verse 9 we find Isaiah
the prophet about 700
years before Christ's
coming and his
crucifixion predicting two
things in relationship to
the death and burial of
Christ.
One is that he would die
with criminals.
Did that happen?
Yes.
He would die with
criminals.
Number two that while he
would die with criminals
it also tells us where he
would be buried.
And so understand this
the scriptures predicted
who Jesus would die with
and where he would be
buried.
Only a sovereign God
can predict with that
kind of accuracy with any
kind of accuracy at all.
And so we have to
recognize that that as
you read the text the fact
that it is here is given
to you to remind you of
the God that is our
God and Savior and the
one that we have to do
with.
Now the fact of dying
among criminals probably
the probability of that
happened is probably
higher than the idea of
Jesus being crucified
with print criminals and
yet being buried with
rich men.
That really kind of
stretched the thing.
And I want to remind you
of what had actually
happened number one that
in Christ's death his
disciples had done what?
Where did they go?
They all disappeared.
They ran away.
And furthermore none of
Jesus' disciples could be
categorized as being
exceptionally rich.
We know that.
Fishermen and whatever
else they were but being
rich was probably not
high on their list.
And yet we see here the
hand of God working in
such a way that we find
an exceptionally rich man
coming by faith and
asking for the body of
Christ so that Jesus
could be buried in the
tomb of a rich man.
I want you to look at
another passage.
Matthew chapter 12
verse 20.
Matthew chapter 12
verse 20.
The first passage that we
recognize is here is Jesus
crucified with wicked men
buried with a rich man.
But look at Matthew chapter
12 verse 20.
What had happened is here is
Jesus in conflict with the
scribes and Pharisees etc.
And they ask for a sign.
And what does he say?
Verse 40.
For just as Jonah was
three days and three nights
in the belly of a great
fish so will the son of
man be three days and
three nights in the heart
of the earth.
Now what if Jesus treated
as a common criminal had
been thrown in just a
shallow depression in the
ground?
What if he had been
dragged out as rebels were
normally treated and just
left with his body lying
out openly in the public to
be eaten by jackals and
and vultures?
No.
In Matthew chapter 20 or
12 when Jesus is asked a
question about a sign he
goes on record and he says
let me tell you something
the the son of man is going
to be three days in the
ground and raise again.
And so here we have Jesus.
He died on Friday.
And he had to be buried by
sundown in order for the day
to count.
And so here we have remember
isn't that strange how the
Jewish leaders were really
concerned that the body of
these the bodies of these
criminals were not left on
the cross and so they check
and Jesus is dead.
The others are are have their
legs beaten and crushed and
they die.
And so Jesus has Nicodemus and
Joseph ask for his body and
he is in the tomb by Friday
night.
He is in the tomb Saturday and
what happens on Sunday?
We have the resurrection don't
we?
So I want you to recognize here
is Jesus back there in in
Matthew prophesying that he
would be dead for three days
and he would rise again.
Now I want to remind you again
that neither you nor I can
predict anything.
I mean we try.
Well we think this is going to
happen or we think that's going
to happen but the truth of
matter is it's probably wise
whenever we say we're going
to do thus and so to remember
what it says in James.
If the Lord wills.
But here we have the Lord
Jesus and we have Isaiah the
prophet under the prompting of
the Holy Spirit saying literally
hundreds of years before Christ
that certain things were going
to happen.
And the fact that fulfilled
prophecy should take make us
take his promises for the future
seriously.
Let me make that point and have
it settle in your mind.
The fact that God shows his
power both to make a prophecy
and bring it about should prompt
us to take his statements
seriously.
Why do I say that?
Because here is what the
scripture says.
Whosoever believes in the Lord
Jesus shall have what?
Everlasting life.
That is essential to understand.
And what does it say?
Those who refuse him, what is the
outcome and what is the
consequences?
Those who reject the offer of God
of salvation through the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ will be
judged forever and suffer for all of
eternity.
And so here you sit this morning as
believers, some of you, and you are
saying, wow, I am so thankful that the
God I know, the one who's drawn me to
the cross, is the one who makes
promises and keeps them.
And there's so many things that we can
thank him for in advance because we
know how the story ends.
I happen to love what it says.
Different places in Philippians, but
one of the things it says, he who has
begun a good work in you will, he's
going to pull it off.
How many of you looked in the mirror
this morning and thought, well, I wish
you'd do it a little sooner?
Fact of the matter is, if he began a
good work, he's going to finish it and
trust him to get it done.
There are others of you that are
sitting here this morning that do not
know Christ, and I want to appeal to
you on the basis of the fact that the
God we serve is the one who makes
promises and keeps them.
It says this, it's appointed unto man
once to die, and after that, what?
What?
Come to grips with the darkness of
your soul and understand you can't
save yourself, not by works of
righteousness, lest we all think we
can pull it off.
We can't.
It comes, faith comes by hearing the
reality of the gospel, and faith
brings us to believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ in whom alone is salvation.
Let me close in prayer, and John come
to lead us in singing.
Our Father God, this morning, as we
consider the reality of the power you
have both to predict and then to
fulfill, and we realize the power of the
Lord Jesus Christ to take broken and
ruined sinners and change them by grace
to be saved and delivered from the
burden of sin.
We revel this morning, we who know the
Lord Jesus, we rejoice in the power of
the cross, and we're thankful that you've
saved us.
And Father, this morning, those that are
here that do not know the Lord Jesus
Christ, my prayer is this, is that this
morning your spirit would draw them to
see that the bankruptcy of their soul has
no remedy, no hope, apart from crying
out to the Lord Jesus Christ and asking
him to be their God and Savior.
We ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Let's stand together as we close, and if
you're here today and the spirit of
And this.