This is the last message from the book of Mark. The next time I preach, we're gonna start going through Colossians. I mentioned a while back that I think there's a logical sequence of looking at a gospel, whatever that gospel is, And then following that, looking at an epistle. For the simple reason that when you get to the epistles, words really, really count. Because in the epistles, they jam together theological truth in a very narrow way. Four chapters, five, six. You move a lot more slower through an epistle than you do a gospel, which is basically narrative. So I've chosen to do that. We're going to look at the last part of Mark. And the last part has to do with Jesus is buried and then the resurrection. There's another part, actually, that's a part of the text here, but it says some of their earliest manuscripts did not include 16.9 through 20. I've chosen just to stop with verse 8 right there, and it's not that when I taught this in Sunday school, we did the whole thing. I'm really anxious to get into Colossians, so it's kind of a selfish motive on my part. Jesus is dead in the text that we've come to. It's mid-afternoon on Friday of Passover, and Jesus had to be buried, and he had to be buried soon. So there's a sense of urgency here. And we'll read and see how that's played out. I'm going to pray first, and then I'm going to read to you verse 15, 42 through 47. And then the next part has to do with the resurrection. And I'm going to take the time to read the first eight verses of chapter 16, but I'm going to take the time to read you the first eight verses of first Corinthians 15. Because when we get to the resurrection, this is a cardinal truth. And what you're going to see is you're going to see how Paul There's a sense of urgency here to get this message across. And he's going to get his message across by telling us that it wasn't just a few who were aware of this. There were many. There were many. So we're going to do both of those. Let's pray first. Father God, I want to thank you for the truth of your word. Thank you for the fact that you have given your word to us. We have free access to that. And we have complete freedom to meet here this evening to look into your word. And I also want to thank you for that. So I pray that you would enable me to be clear, accurate, and above all, speak in the unction and power of the Holy Spirit. Unless the Holy Spirit works, Father, nothing will happen. The words of men will not convince anybody. It's God, the Holy Spirit, who applies it. So I thank you for that in Jesus name. Amen. Let me read what the ESV says. Jesus is buried. Those who have ears, let us hear. And when evening had come, since it was the day of preparation, that is the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. And Joseph brought a linen shroud and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in the tomb that had been cut out from the rock. and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joseph, saw where he was laid. How were bodies typically disposed by the Roman government after someone was crucified? First of all, they didn't release the bodies of executed prisoners. The bodies were not given to families or to others for burial. What the Roman authorities did, they took the body and threw it in Gehenna. That was the garbage dump close to Jerusalem. And they did that as a point of contempt for the person who was crucified on the cross. In the sovereignty of God, God raised up a man who was called Joseph of Arimathea. He was a prominent member of the Sanhedrin. Now the Sanhedrin, if you remember, when Jesus was arrested there in the garden, they took him to the high priest's home and the Sanhedrin met to hear testimony against him. Joseph of Arimathea was a part of that. And what this passage says is this, not everyone who was a part of the Sanhedrin was opposed to Jesus. What is so interesting to me is how God raises up people and plants them. When Paul was chained there in prison, God brought certain men that they be there to guard him. Do you know what happened? They heard the gospel. They probably were not planning or even anxious to have that task, but God saw to it that certain people were there, certain men were there to do that. This is true of this man right here. Luke tells us a little bit more in chapter 23, 50 and 51. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man who had not consented to their decision and action. And he was looking for the kingdom of God. In other words, this man was a believer in Jesus. And he was determined serve in a particular way. We're going to talk about that at the end. He was determined. Mark says this, he took courage and and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. As I was going over this text, I thought about the time when that Sanhedrin met and they took a vote. Is Jesus guilty? Now, I don't know how they did that. A show of hands, a voice, Joseph of Arimathea stood alone. You ever stood alone? when everybody else was doing something and you were going against the tide as it were. That's what Joseph of Arimathea did. How did Pilate respond to this? Verses 44 and 45 say this, Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died and summoning the centurion He asked him whether he was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted him the corpse, the corpse to Joseph. This is the same centurion who said this, truly this man was the son of God. See how he was affected. And that was also under a sovereign God. That particular centurion had that duty at this particular time. Not just anyone, but God operates in minute detail in our lives. He did it here. Pilate was surprised. And Pilate had already washed himself of the whole responsibility of what has happened. He stepped back now. And by his actions, we see what he thought of the whole situation. What did Joseph Arimathea do? Verse 46 says, and Joseph brought a linen shroud and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of a rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. In other words, he saw to it that Jesus had a proper burial. and honorable burial. He put him in a magnificent tomb carved out of a rock. And did this stop? Oh, it's okay? Okay. For some reason, it sounded like it. Okay. John tells us that the tomb was in a garden close to Golgotha and it was brand new. And Joseph was not able to anoint Jesus' body with spices. He simply didn't have time because sunset was coming and that would have been the Sabbath day. Now, you're going to hear tonight some of the same thing you heard this morning. Okay? That's because Phil and I are using the same Bible. Okay. Mark says that there were two women looking on. And what is interesting here, and this causes some people problems, and it really causes problems of men who don't believe the Word of God, because they say, look, these guys are contradicting each other. One says this, another one says this, it's different. No, it's simply what we know is that they wrote what they were supposed to write. It says, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where they laid him. So Joseph of Arimathea served in a particular way. The centurion served, he served by order. And now these women who we already know were serving Christ, a long time. They made it their business to serve him. Are not done yet. Now let's read chapter 16, one through eight. And this is the resurrection of count according to Mark. When the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James and Salome brought spices so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, Sunday, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb and they were saying to one another, Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?" And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back. It was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, And they were alarmed. And he said to them, do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He has risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him, but go tell his disciples and Peter, that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him just as he told you. And they went out and fled from the tomb for trembling and astonishment had seized them. And they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid. Now I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the first eight verses. Now I would remind you brothers of the gospel I preached to you, which you received in which you stand. and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. that he was buried and he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. And that he appeared to Cephas and into the 12. And he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. And then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles, and last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. and by His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Rather then, it was for they, so we preach and so you believed. I read more than eight verses. God raised up a man called Saul who persecuted the church, who was vehement against the church, who stood by and watched Stephen stoned. And Sinclair Ferguson said, Paul never forgot that. He never forgot it. But that's what God can do to a person. There is nobody beyond the scope of the gospel when God the Holy Spirit works in their life. And He surprises us continually. I bet there's a person that you could bring to mind that's a believer and he's the last one you would ever think would be a believer. Greg Ross, his testimony is to that effect. He worked with a guy who witnessed to him. And when Greg was saved, he went to work. And the man could tell there was something different by his countenance. That's something. But you see, God does that all the time. Now, the statement we can make is this, without the resurrection, there is no gospel. Without the resurrection, we are a joke coming to a church without the resurrection. It would be an absolute joke, but it's not a joke. It's truth. It's biblical truth that we have given to us. And the evangelical church meets for corporate worship on the first day of the week rather than the seventh. And this is because Jesus rose on Sunday. Now let's begin going over the text right here, verses one and two. When the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome brought spices so they might anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week when the sun was risen, they went to the tomb. And as I mentioned, there was no time to do this prior to this. It was important for these women to anoint the body of Jesus. And this was a custom and it was practiced not to preserve the corpse, but to show respect and devotion to the one who had died. We heard this morning, these were the same women who watched Jesus being crucified. And they were eager to serve again. Now, earlier in the gospel of Mark, to show you how we can be so confident of the things that we read in the word of God, Remember the woman that brought a flask of precious ointment? And she took that flask of precious ointment and opened it and poured it on the head of Jesus. What did the disciples do? They condemned her for doing that. They said, you're wasting money here. That money could be used for the poor. What did Jesus say? She has done what she could. She has anointed my body for burial. She has anointed my body for burial. That went right over their heads. They didn't get that. And by the way, I'm not sure these women got it either. Verse three, and they were saying to one another, who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb? Let's talk about the graves that were typical in that day. The typical grave was not like this one right here. This was a special grave. I think it belonged to Joseph of Arimathea himself. He would have been a wealthy man. The grave that Jesus was put in was hewn out of a rock. Normal graves were in caves. And what they did, they put the body in there and then they took rock and stack them on top of each other to cover up the opening. They didn't do it to this one. There was a huge rock. Now, Joseph of Arimathea had to have had help. There's too many things in here. He just didn't by himself show up and take Jesus off. He had men working for him. I think he brought them along. He certainly was not able to push that large stone. The women were worried. How are we gonna get the stone? They didn't plan for that. They didn't bring any men. And by the way, that was the way God wanted it. You see, everything that is happening is happening for a specific reason. God has ordained it to be this way. And what they would have done with that rolled stone is, they would have made a ditch. If you just put... We don't know whether it was level, but if there was not a ditch there and you go to push something round, it might get away from you. You ever had that happen before? Where you've been pushing something and all of a sudden it starts going in a direction you didn't want it to go. I got some rounds from my neighbor and They were some of these this big across. And so I was able to get them up and by getting them up, I could roll them. Oh boy. I was a little nervous on some of those. Because if they would have gotten away from me, they would have started going down the hill and they would have ended up on pony express. That's not good. And so here. they dug a ditch, they pushed the round stone across the opening of the cave. And it says, the women looked up and saw that the stone had been rolled back and then it adds this, and it was very large. Now, I don't have any evidence to this that is typical, but I think women are, they're more in tune with finding out about things. When I had prostate cancer, I found out I had it. I came home and I didn't go on the internet. Who did? Bonnie. By the time she finished, she knew all about. And then you know what she did? She told me. They go in, what happens? Entering the tomb, they saw... Now, listen to the details. Listen to the details. They saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe. and they were alarmed. Here, the language is describing an angel. And Mark tells us they were alarmed. The word used here indicates great fear and distress. You see, they weren't expecting this. They were expecting that stone there. And then when they get in, they were expecting to see the body of Jesus. He wasn't there. There was this young man, this angel, they weren't expecting that. And so there's great fear and distress. This is the same word used to describe the inner conflict that Jesus experienced in the garden of Gethsemane when he knew what was going to happen. He knew he was going to experience the wrath of God, his father, for sin. They are extremely distressed. And then verse 6 says this, And he said to them, Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him. This is the greatest announcement the world is aware of. This is the greatest announcement. It was made by an angel and three women heard it. Isn't that ironic? The greatest announcement heard by three women. Phil talked about this this morning, not the disciples, Three women. You know, we live in a media, we live in a time of media, and there are great things going on all the time, but nothing compares to this, the greatest announcement ever. The angel continued, and here's what he said, go tell the disciples, And Peter, why in the world did he add Peter? This is the angel speaking. That he is going before you to Galilee, there you will see him just as he told you. Now, they're gonna see him before that. But here's an example of where Mark, and by the way, Jesus does go back to Galilee. But Mark tells us that. Why Peter? Because the angel wanted Peter to know that he was not rejected. Jesus. That's why. Remember I told you when Peter is standing in the courtyard and he looked up and saw Jesus, he was wondering, oh no, what is he thinking? And I told you that Jesus looked at Peter with compassion. But now, in the sovereignty of God, in the providence of God, these women are to tell Peter specifically that Jesus is resurrected. And later, John's gonna tell us. You're gonna get there, right? He's shaking his head, yes. John is gonna tell us about that. It's one of the greatest things to let us know that God never, never forsakes us. We forsake other people. God never does that. He never does that. If you are a true believer, you can even sin heinously but he will never ever cast you aside if you're a true believer. And we have evidence, scriptural evidence in the word of God of men that that happened to. And that's why I think those evidences are there in the word of God to let you and I know that's the truth. What did these women do? It says in verse eight, and they went out and fled from the tomb for trembling and astonishment had seized them. And they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid. And this lets me know that they hadn't quite put it all together yet at all. They were afraid. Isn't it good when sometimes we're afraid? God does something to let us know it's okay. It's okay. When I found out I had cancer, prostate cancer, I was really afraid, I'll just tell you that. And then, Bonnie started giving me the information. Oh, if there's a good cancer, it's that, prostate cancer. You can get, that can be taken care of. So, my whole attitude just changed right there. Now, I think Phil used the same commentary that I did because women were not called to be witnesses. Their word didn't amount to a hill of beans in that day. And this is during the time of Jesus and years immediately afterward. Their testimony didn't count. They were put on the same level as slaves and criminals. So you wouldn't dare choose a woman to tell this, but that's what God did. And that's not by accident. And notice the details. He's sitting on the right, dressed in white. And then when I read to you what Paul wrote, 500 eyewitnesses were eyewitnesses to Jesus being alive. Look, in a court of evidence, if you can get two to agree, what is the church to go by? Two witnesses, right? You're not accepted unless there's two witnesses to the fact. This is 500 witnesses. That's why it's trustworthy. That's why nothing is left out. God takes care of it all. So Mark is communicating biblical truth, and it's the women who do it. I wanna read to you a closing statement, and then I wanna read to you one verse in Mark that I think what Mark is all about. R.C. Sproul says this, it is crucial that we believe and trust in these accounts. For scripture says that Jesus was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification, Romans 4.25. We have seen that on the cross, our Savior satisfied the demands of the righteousness of God. He remitted a payment for us vicariously. God did not have to accept that payment, but when he was raised, but when he raised Christ from the dead, God declared to the whole world that our justification has been secured. For he had accepted completely the atonement that Jesus offered for his people. The Father who sent Jesus to the cross also brought him out of the grave for our justification. By the power of God, Jesus is alive. By the grace of God in Christ, so are we. I mentioned to you last week, when God looks down, on you and on me. We are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's our position. That's why He can have something to do with us. We're clothed and it's all by the grace of God. Now, what's the verse I want to leave with you? It's Mark 10, 45. I believe this is the theme of the book of Mark. For even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. You and I are called to serve. Okay. These men that were up here prior to me coming up to preach have been gifted in the area of music. They've been gifted. So they have chosen to use the gift that they have to serve. I'm going to tell you what I really like about what we just heard. Gordon Free says this, you show me what people sing in their churches and I'll tell you their theology. I believe that. And what we sang coincides with our theology. So that's the first thing I liked. Here's the second thing that I liked. We sang these songs in a contemplative way. I had time to focus on what I was singing. We were ripping through it in breakneck speed. You can't concentrate on the words if you do that. And that's, I love it that way. We are not here to have arousing good times we sing. We are here to sing truth. That's why we're here on that part. So these men do that. And then you can look out on the congregation and you can see others who have adopted a mentality of serving. They went to visit Don. And what astounds me is the number of people who are doing things in this church that nobody even knows about. And by the way, that's the way it ought to be. They just do it. They just do it. We are meant to serve. And I've said this before. We are meant to serve, starts in our home and it just goes out and it happens every day of our life. Because every day of our life, we're gonna be around usually people. But you see, we can serve if there's no here. You could come to this church and there's a list of jobs, right? That people could do. Nobody may be aware of that, but you're serving. See how that works? And that's what we're meant to do. And I believe we're meant to do that till we take our last breath. We need to be busy. Busy. Not busy bodies, but busy. Just serving. And there are some people who God in his providence has physically prevents them from being here. But you know how they can serve? They can pray. They can pray. My mother prayed. That's what she did, especially in the latter part of her life. She was the most grateful woman I've ever known. She could make do in any situation in life and she did. So we are called to serve. I'm gonna give us just time to focus on what you want to, we're at the end of Mark. What I wanna take is that this guy is to serve every day of his life in some fashion or another. Let's pray. Our God, thank you for this book, The Gospel According to Mark. Thank you for the truth of your word that we have. And thank you for our church, because every time we gather together, we can count on hearing the word of God. And that's what the church is all about. So thank you for that. Thank you for the people of this church who choose to serve in all kinds of ways for your honor and for your glory. Thank you that you're patient with us. At times we get off track, we forget and start majoring in the minors. No, Father, help us to focus on you. Help us that you would be supreme. Help us to be single-minded and not double-minded. So the week that lies before us, Father, may we look to it expectantly, eagerly, and with great joy, that we can call you our Father. We ask it in Jesus' name.