Please now turn in your Bibles to Luke's Gospel and Chapter 23. Luke's Gospel, Chapter 23, commencing to read at verse 50 and reading through the end of the chapter at verse 56. Luke's Gospel chapter 23 verses 50 through 56. Again, please give your careful attention as we read God's Word. Luke 23 at verse 50. Now there was a man named Joseph from the Jewish town of Arimathea. 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. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid it in a tomb cut in stone where no one had ever yet been laid. It was the day of preparation and the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. Amen. And thus far the reading of God's holy, inspired, and inerrant Word. Jesus the Christ really and truly died. And then he was buried, buried in a physical place, in a place in this world, in our world of space and time. Luke tells us back in verse 46, with his final breath, he surrendered his body to death, and committed His Spirit to His Father. And so as we come to this section this morning, verses 50 through 56, we see how Jesus' body is taken down from the cross and buried in compliance with the Jewish law concerning the Sabbath. As we think about the burial of our Lord this morning. we are going to consider four things. First of all, Jesus dead and buried. Secondly, the theological significance of Jesus' death. Thirdly, a courageous man. And then lastly, compassionate women. So first of all then, Jesus dead and buried. Verses 50 through 53. Now given the impending beginning of the weekly Jewish Sabbath day, preparations had to be speedily made for the burial of Jesus. And so after obtaining permission from Governor Pilate, Joseph of Arimathea, took down the body of Jesus from the cross, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in an unused tomb, as we read in verses 50 through 53. Now, the historical fact of which we read here, the historical fact not only of the death of Jesus, but also of His burial, was an essential part of the preaching of the gospel by the apostles. We often focus, don't we, upon the preaching of the death of Christ, and that is right that we do so. But the apostles also emphasized the burial of Jesus. The apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 15, in those well-known verses 3 and 4, says this, for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried. And of course then he would go on to say that he was risen again from the dead on the third day. But the apostles preached the burial of Jesus. That fact has been confessed by the professing church down through the centuries. In that well-known statement of the church, creed of the church, the Apostles Creed. That's where I took the title from our sermon this morning. Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. The apostles preached it. The church confesses it. Jesus Christ dead and buried. He was actually dead. He did not swoon like some claim. He was dead. He himself had said that that would happen. He himself said he had the power to retain his life or to give it up. No one took it from him. But as we see in the earlier passage in Luke here, all having been fulfilled, he surrendered his life, he gave it up in atonement upon the cross. And so actually being dead, actually having died, there was a need now for him to be buried. Again, just in case there are any modern, post-modern even, skeptics amongst us this morning who doubt that Jesus was dead and therefore needed to be buried. Let's think about the evidence here. The death of Jesus, of course, was verified by the soldiers, wasn't it? As we saw previously. Those responsible for his execution. Do you think Romans didn't know how to properly administer their death penalty? They did. They were experts at it. John tells us in his gospel they were so much experts at it and knowing how it worked physiologically that when they wanted to hasten death, it was taking too long, they actually broke the legs of those on the cross because it stopped you then being able to push yourself up and be able to breathe. You suffocated. They knew when someone was dead or not on a cross. When they came to Jesus, John tells us, John 19 verse 34, or I should say 31 and 33 first, it was not necessary to do that to Jesus. He was already dead. Do you think they had any doubt about that? Do you think they would not have broken his legs if they thought he was still alive? And then just in case one of the soldiers took his spear and pierced the side of the Savior. And blood and water came out, John 19 verse 34, a sure physiological sign that he was dead. If that was not sufficient, when this man Joseph goes to Governor Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus, Mark 14 verse 43, we read, Pilate was surprised to hear that Jesus should have already died. wasn't going to be surprised that Jesus would die on the cross. There's no doubt about that. He had sentenced Him to that. He didn't expect Him not to die. He was only surprised that it had happened so soon. But even then, He would not release the body until He was sure. And so we read on, Mark 15, 44 and 45. So Pilate, summoning the centurion, asked him whether he was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. There can be no doubt. that when they buried the body of Jesus, He was really dead. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified, dead, buried. He was really and truly dead. But that brings us this morning to the theological significance of this. What is the significance that Jesus truly and really died upon the cross and was buried? Well, the first significance of the death and burial of Jesus is it is proof of who he is in his incarnation. Jesus Christ is both fully man and fully God. Children, we've been thinking about that, haven't we? In recent weeks. And how I remind you of who Jesus is. Who is He? One person, two natures. Fully man, fully God. The death of Jesus and His burial here proves that. His true humanity is proven by His death. In order for Jesus to die, He had to be a true, real human being. And so, in His incarnation, God the Son took to Himself a true, a real human nature, a true body, a rational soul, and so died upon the cross. So, the reality of that true human nature is demonstrated by His death. So, when Joseph of Arimathea took the body of Jesus down from the cross, it was a true human body. It wasn't just the appearance of a body. It wasn't just the apparition of a body. It was a true human body, flesh and bone and blood. human body of the Son of God, whose incarnation is proved in the way that He came down from the cross. They took down His true body. But secondly here, by way of significance, the death of Jesus is the atonement for sinners so that they might be forgiven. That's the significance of the death of Jesus. Jesus not only had to become a man to save us, but He had to live the life of a man in perfect obedience to God, and then He had to offer that life as the payment, the penalty payment. He had to live as a man, and He had to die as a man. Since Adam in the garden. Adam whom God had appointed as the great representative of all humanity. Since Adam sinned against God in that capacity, all men have been under the curse of God. He represented them. We sinned in Him and therefore bear the penalty of His sin. What was the penalty? God had pronounced that, didn't He? He told Adam ahead of time, in the day that you disobey Me, Adam, in the day that you eat of the tree that I have made the focus of the test of your obedience, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, what we sometimes call the probation tree in theological terms, the great test of Adam's loyalty to God. What was the great penalty? You shall surely die. Literally from the Hebrew, dying you will die. In New Testament language, Romans 6 verse 23, the wages of sin is death. There's penalty. And so when Jesus, the righteous one, dies on the cross, He's not dying in consequence of His own sin. He is the righteous one, but he dies in the place of other sinners making payment for their sins. And so in order to secure salvation for sinners like you and me, Jesus in his humanity had to live a perfectly righteous life, the life that we could not live as sinners fallen in Adam, our forefather, He had to live that perfect righteous life to satisfy the demands of God's holy law, but then he also had to pay the penalty, the payment that we owed to God if we would ever be saved. That penalty was death. J.C. Ryle puts it this way, he says, quote, Forever let us bless God that our great Redeemer's death is a fact beyond all dispute. The centurion who stood by the cross, the friends who took out the nails and laid the body in the grave, the women who stood by and beheld, the priests who sealed up the grave, the soldiers who guarded the sepulcher, all, all are witnesses that Jesus actually was dead. And then Ryle goes on to say this, quote, the great sacrifice was really offered. The life of the Lamb was actually taken away. The penalty due to sin has actually been discharged by our divine substitute. Sinners believing in Jesus may hope and not be afraid. themselves they are guilty, but Christ has died for the ungodly, and their debt is now completely paid." Isn't that glorious good news this morning? What better news could you hear? There's bad news. The bad news is you're a sinner and I'm a sinner, and we can never pay the price. We've been found guilty in God's court, sentence has been passed, and we have no way of paying. We are liable for that forever and ever and ever and ever, and we will never pay it off. It's what the Bible calls the pains of hell forever. But here's the glorious good news, the significance of the death of Jesus. one came to pay that price. Atonement has been made. That's why Jesus could speak in those glorious words of triumph. Not dying as a victim, but dying as that glorious substitute. It is finished, our Savior said. It's finished. Paid in full. The death of Jesus is the atonement made for sinners so that they might be forgiven. When the prophet Isaiah spoke about the coming salvation that God had promised, he says, Isaiah 53, 8 through 9, that the suffering servant was cut off out of the land of the living. And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death. Or if we think about it in, again, New Testament language of the apostles. Romans 5 verse 10, Paul says, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. Or the writer to the Hebrews, Hebrews 2, 14 and 15. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he, speaking of Christ, himself likewise partook of the same things. that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery." Jesus died as a substitute so that sinners like us could be delivered from the wrath of God against sin. The death of Jesus is the atonement. paying the penalty for sinners. Thirdly, what is the significance of the death of Jesus? Jesus had to die before He or anyone else united to Him by faith could be raised again to resurrection life. One of the commentators puts it this way, quote, there could be no Easter Sunday without Good Friday. In other words, there's no resurrection without the crucifixion. No empty tomb without first the death and burial of Jesus. Notice what Luke records in verse 55, that the women who had come with him from Galilee followed Joseph as he took the body and saw the tomb and how the body was laid there and set to rest. Those women came back on the third day. We'll see that more extensively, Lord willing, next Lord's Day morning. They came back and knew exactly where the body was laid, which tomb to visit, exactly where Christ had been laid in His human nature with His body. Of course, when they did, they found the tomb empty, didn't they? The Lord had risen. But there could be no resurrection had there been no crucifixion. And so Jesus had to die before He was raised from the dead and before anyone else. Dying in the likeness of His death could be also raised in the likeness of His glorious resurrection. Christian, do you see this morning? that the hope of your own resurrection depends upon this gospel fact. Of course, most men, if not all men at some time or another, have the great question, don't they, about what happens when I die? The great question everybody has about life is in fact death, isn't it? They may have many other questions throughout their lives, but this is the one that nags them. It's always somewhere there in the back of their mind. I know I'm going to die, and what then? Many therefore seek for some guarantee of life after death. They want some assurance. They want some comfort. can't live with the uncertainty. Well, I don't know what's going to happen to me. Where can such comfort be found? Where can such assurance be found? It can only be found in the risen Christ. That's where it can be found. We can only know with certainty that Jesus rose again if we also know that He was actually dead and buried. You see how it all depends, not just upon the resurrection, it does, but the resurrection upon the death and burial first. But when we know these things for sure, when God has granted the great gift of faith that we might know of a certainty that Jesus truly died, that he was buried, that he rose again on the third day, then there is no fear of death. Yes, it may come to most of us if our Lord does not return before that appointed day, but there is nothing to be afraid of or to fear, because we too will rise even as He did on His glorious resurrection. When we trust in this great Savior, we have no need to be concerned, to be anxious, to be worried about what's going to happen to you when you die. Jesus has gone ahead of us. That's why He's called the great forerunner. He's called the great firstfruits. Those terms make no sense if He's the only one. There's no point in talking about a forerunner if nobody comes afterwards. There's no point in talking about firstfruits if there is no further harvest. But Jesus is spoken of because there is going to be many sons that He will bring to glory. And that's you, Christian, this morning. Many sons in the likeness of His glorious resurrection. Because Jesus has gone out of the grave ahead of us. He will lead us out of those graves. On that last great day when He returns in glory, those bodies will rise in like glorious resurrection. even to eternal life of reunited body and soul forever and ever and ever. You see the great significance of the death and burial of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But that brings us in the third place this morning to a courageous man. Again, back in verses 50 through 53, are some of the practical applications of this? What difference does this make in the lives of men, women, boys, and girls like you and me? We'll note here the courage, the boldness of this man, Joseph of Arimathea, a courageous man. And then in our final point, we will see the great compassion of the women. Not to say that these things were exclusive, that Joseph was courageous but had no compassion, and the women were compassionate, had no courage, but the focus is courage with Joseph and the compassion of the women. Commentator novel Geldenhuis puts it this way, he says, the gospel narrative of Jesus' passion ends on a note of exceptional beauty in the description of his burial. For in it we see how the dead body of the Savior, from the time it was removed from the rough cross by hands of affection, was cared for by no other hands than those of his faithful followers." End quote. And what was typical, what was emphasized here of these faithful followers? They were courageous and they were compassionate even as they continued to seek to serve the Lord Jesus in His burial. So we turn first of all to this man Joseph of Arimathea, a courageous man. John tells us in his gospel, John 19 verse 38, that Joseph was a disciple of Jesus but secretly for the fear of the Jews. Luke tells us here he was a good and righteous man who was looking for the kingdom of God and who had not consented to their decision and action, verses 50 through 51. And so following the death of the Lord, he went to the Roman governor Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus so that the Lord's body might not suffer the dishonor of being left to rot upon the cross. That was most often what happened when they died upon the cross. They left the bodies there. They were left to be a warning to others. Don't do what they did so that what happened to them doesn't happen to you. The Romans knew what they were doing when they invented crucifixion. Not just as a painful way to exact their death penalty, but for it to be a deterrent to others. It's often said when there were rebellions and uprisings and insurrections, when they captured at least leaders and main followers, they often crucified them up the main ways to Rome. Just to warn anybody who had any idea of thinking of doing the same thing and trying to remove Caesar from the seat of authority, think twice before you do. Because if you don't succeed, this is what will happen to you. And those bodies were often left there to rot, left to be carrion for the birds and the beasts. So Joseph here desiring that this not happen to the body of the Lord Jesus goes to Pilate and asks for the body that he might bury it properly and with appropriate honor. Now this took boldness and courage. Private individuals, certainly of subject nations like the Jews, did not simply go around and taking a body down from the cross, even if they had some interest in that person. You just didn't do that without permission. We get so used, don't we, in our modern day to thinking about rights, and particularly when it comes to the death of our loved ones, we don't think so obviously in these terms. We think, well, of course we have rights over that body and seeing that it's cared for properly. And we instruct people many times, don't we? If you're old enough, perhaps you've had that experience and responsibility on the death of a loved one in calling an appropriately qualified and compassionate organization who will come and take the body and treat it with proper respect. And you instruct them of how you want them to deal with the body of that loved one, and place it in a casket, and take it to the place of burial, or whatever is going to happen. We're so used to thinking that way, we tell others what to do with our loved ones, their bodies. And that was not the case here. You didn't just do it. You just didn't have the right to do it. In fact, in many ways, the Romans would have been suspicious of someone asking for the body. It's to be left there. But this man with boldness and courage goes to governor Pilate. Mark, in his gospel, tells us that specifically. Mark 15 verse 43, Joseph took courage as he went to Pilate. Added to that ordinarily, no Jew would want to have anything to do with a corpse on a cross. As Paul tells us, Galatians 3 verse 13. Anyone who hung on a tree was cursed of God. It was a sign of God's curse and so no Jew ordinarily would want to have anything to do with that body. We note here too it was also costly for Joseph to do what he did here. To not only courageously go and ask for it, not only to handle it and take it down from a cross, But it cost him to prepare the body. He wrapped it in the finest linen. Matthew tells us in his gospel, Matthew 27 verse 60. And he placed it, Luke does not give us this detail. Luke tells us it was an unused tomb. Matthew tells us it actually was Joseph's tomb. It is with an use for sure, but actually Joseph gave his tomb to lay the body of Jesus in. Again, something that was not an inexpensive thing to do. No doubt too in the minds and eyes of some it would cost him his reputation to take Jesus down from the cross, to bury him in his own personal tomb. He was publicly identifying himself with Jesus. We were thinking in our Sunday school hour about counting the cost. What was the cost for Joseph of Arimathea to be a faithful disciple of Jesus? And yet Joseph here had the courage of his convictions as we would say. Time had come for him to stop being the secret disciple that he'd been previously, as John reports it, and to start making the public profession of his faith. To count the cost, but having counted it, to be prepared to pay the cost and do what he was called to do. He had to understand, as all Christians have to understand, even though the faith that we express and exercise in Jesus is a personal faith, God does not believe for us. He grants the gift of faith that we might believe in His Son. It is personal. But the profession of that faith does not remain personal and private. It is to be public. And so it was at the cross here as Joseph takes down the body of Jesus that he passes from previously being this secret disciple to publicly professing faith in the Lord Jesus. Confessing Jesus in his death. Again, we've been told by the gospel writers he had been looking for the kingdom of God But now he is founded, hasn't he? Founded in the one who came proclaiming the kingdom, the royal Messiah, the King, who had given his life upon the cross. And so with noble courage, with gentle, compassionate affection, Joseph here gives honor to the Lord. He wraps his body in a linen shroud and respectfully lays it to rest in his own unused tomb. He fulfills again the prophecy of the Old Testament, Isaiah 53 verse 9, that the Savior would be buried in a rich man's tomb. Let me ask you this morning. Have you taken your stand publicly for Jesus if you profess to be a Christian this morning? Have you taken that same stand with Jesus at His cross as Joseph did here this morning? Are you willing to be identified with the Savior who died and was buried, no matter what the cost is? very helpful that Brother Lee unpacked some of that in the Sunday school hour of what the cost is. And it is to be counted. Jesus Himself told people, count the cost. There is a cost. But no matter what it is, are we willing to be identified with Jesus this morning? To put it in terms of what we're thinking here, do you have the courage of your convictions professing Christian? Or would you much rather your Christianity more or less be kept private? It's personal. I want to keep it somewhat secret. It's got nothing to do with anybody else. You see, it's one thing even to gather in a church where you feel amongst like-minded people. It doesn't cost you too much, does it, to profess the name of Christ amongst professing believers. But it's another thing to proclaim Him out in the community where there are hostile parties to God, His Christ, His gospel, His cross. There are those who cry, we will not have this king to rule over us. There are those who would demand, as the Jewish leader still said, he isn't the king of the Jews, take that title down. He may have claimed it, you can put that up if you like. Are you willing to stand and say, oh yes he is, no matter what the cost. Or are we often so more concerned about our reputation among such people, so concerned about what they will think about us that we fail to tell unbelieving family, friends, co-workers, neighbors that we are those who believe in Christ crucified to save sinners like us? Could it be sometimes that we are so ambitious to advance our careers, our callings, whatever they may be, that we don't really want anything to get in the way of that, including our Christianity? So perhaps there's some way in which I can compartmentalize my life, and my faith doesn't really have to get in the way in any way in my career. My boss doesn't need to know, my coworkers don't need to know, Human resources don't need to do it, no, when they're doing career planning. I don't need to stand up for Jesus. I'll be a Christian on a Sunday when I'm not at work. I'll give the Lord His due, His praise, but I don't want it to cost me anything in the workplace. When the commentator puts it this way, he says, do not be so jealous to protect everything you have gained in life that you will not give up for the great glory of God. That's a good way of putting it, isn't it? So often we are so, have our fingers tightly grasped around the things of this world that we want them to be a secret disciple of Jesus. But Joseph here, a courageous man. Yes, he was like that once. He didn't agree with what the Sanhedrin had come to in their judgment of Jesus. He wasn't guilty of that. And yet, to date, he had not stood up, had he? He was a secret disciple. But he came to see that that had to stop. He came to see that at the cross of Christ. Christ crucified, dead, and buried. But that brings us in the last place to the compassionate women in verses 54 through 56. If Joseph here is an example of great courage, then the women here, the focus there is upon their gentle and great compassion. These women, Luke tells us, had traveled with Jesus from Galilee, had supported him. throughout his ministry. We read of that in Luke 8, 1 through 3. Mark also tells us of that in his gospel, Mark 15, 40 through 41. And now, in great contrast to many of the disciples who, you remember, when our Lord was arrested in Gethsemane, they had fled, these women had stayed at the cross until the very end. They were faithful. And like Joseph, they too wanted to honor Jesus by making sure he received a proper burial for his body. So when they see Joseph take the body down, having received permission from Pilate to do so, they follow him to see exactly where he lays the body in his own unused tomb. And then they go home to prepare spices and ointments. that they would need to complete the embalming process as was the custom in the ancient world of the first century for the body of Jesus. The text here tells us the women finished their preparations before the approaching Sabbath, and then they rested, keeping the commandments of God, the fourth commandment, to rest upon the Sabbath day. Notice here how everything these women did commended not just their compassion for Jesus and wanting to honor him in his death, but commended their godly character in all that they did. Yes, certainly they recognized the dignity of the human body even in death and sought that it be honored appropriately and rightly according to what was possible at that time and day. And yet also, and this can be so easily missed, they also prioritize the honor of God in keeping of His commandments, particularly with regard to the Sabbath day, the day of worship and rest. Now, if ever we might think there was an exception, legitimate exception to their obligation of the Sabbath day, what we often put in those categories of well-known words of necessity and mercy. Do you think this fell into that? Do you think they could have said, but we need to anoint the body of the Lord here? I think it's a work of necessity, of mercy, And yet here they did not, did they? They gave priority, first and foremost, where it belonged, to God and His commandment. They did what they could before the Sabbath came. They certainly prepared the spices for the embalming. But when that Sabbath day came, they rested. They did not go to the tomb. They did not embalm the body. What does that tell us? It tells us that they were serious about the fourth commandment. They honored God by resting on His holy day. Now as we reflect upon that and the practice of the church in our own day and generation, It is perhaps hard to find men and women of this kind of godly character and commitment to God and His Word and His law. Many find other things to do on the Sabbath day, nowhere near the priority of honoring the Lord's body. but honoring the fourth commandment has such a low priority in so many Christians' priority list today, doesn't it? Many people, even some professing Christians, have abandoned it altogether. They have no intention of resting from their other legitimate labors of six days of the week and to set aside one whole day for God. There's a quote in Time magazine. They put it this way. They say, quote, over time, Sunday has gone from a day we could do only a very few things to the only day we can do just about anything we want. The US is too diverse. Our lives too busy. Our economy too global. and our appetite's too vast to lose a whole day that could be spent working or playing, and the last phrase is somewhat provocative, because they say, or power shopping. So you know it's written today, don't you? They wouldn't have written that in first century, 17th century. It was probably written 21st century, I think. But you see how the great contrast in how these women thought as holy disciples, faithful disciples, committed to God and His Word to the way we often think today. The women here who first lingered at the cross to the very end. and then followed Joseph to see where the body was buried at the tomb were very different to whoever the writer in the Time magazine was thinking about, weren't they? They were certainly grieving in deep sorrow at the death of Jesus. But they were not so overwhelmed by their emotions that they neglected to honor God and His words. They didn't need some therapy. to make them feel better. Their priority still was to honor what God had said. And in this particular circumstance, that was to rest from their labors until the following day. And then having given God his proper place in worship and rest, they went back to what was then a proper and legitimate thing to do. They went to honor the Lord in His death as we will see Lord willing next week with the spices early, very early. Again, they did not neglect what was proper and legitimate to do as soon as it was proper and legitimate to do it. They had each and everything in its proper place. As we close this morning, let me ask you, Christian, as I ask myself in this world of, as Time Magazine puts it, of many competing things, so much busyness, so much demand, so many opportunities that excite all of the desires we have for these kinds of things. What are we prepared to do for God and for Jesus? Are we prepared to honor God in all that he says? Now there are some legitimate exceptions. Jesus gave example of that. He criticized the Pharisees often for making up their own exceptions. He says the Sabbath is to be used for mercy. But he didn't set it aside. He didn't abolish it. He didn't abrogate it. As so many want to do today. But then what will we do for Jesus? Having prepared, having given to God in each its proper place, as we will see, Lord willing, they went to anoint the body. Finish with a quote this morning. One of the commentators puts it this way, he says, the noble men and gentle women Not to mention boys and girls who truly love Jesus do everything they can both to honor Him and to show His love and compassion." That's it, isn't it? Not in how we think it ought to be done. We've got a good idea, God. We think this ought to be the priory right now, so we're going to dash around and do this. And we know that will please you because we think it will please you. We know it will please you. It's self-evident. That wasn't the way, was it? They conducted themselves according to what God had said, each in its proper place, both with courage, with compassion, with love for Christ. And then, as we will see again, Lord willing, next week as we move into chapter 24, seeking to make that noon what they had come to find for themselves they wanted others to know. May God so help each one of us this morning. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the fact of the reality of the death and burial of the Lord Jesus. We thank you that he was truly incarnate. God became man and dwelt among us. We thank you that he lived among us that life that we could not, which satisfied and fulfilled all righteousness. And then he gave that life a ransom, an atonement, payment in full for the penalty of sin. And in evidence of that death, his body was buried. We thank you for the impact and the effect that that had in the lives of faithful followers, a courageous man like Joseph of Arimathea, and compassionate, gentle women who sought to honor the body of the Lord Jesus, but in its right order and place. Grant us to be instructed in these things this morning, O Lord. Grant us to have the knowledge of the truth, to know of conviction that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, crucified, dead, and buried. and then in the light of that to know true and lively faith, which then seeks to honor and serve the Lord, even according to all that He has commanded. Here is then we pray for Christ's sake. Amen.