Well, I would greet each one of you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I want to invite you to turn in the gospel according to John chapter 19. So we'll pick up here in our continued exposition of the gospel according to John here in chapter 19. We're picking up right after following the death of Christ, and we close out the chapter with the burial of the Lord. And let's begin reading in John 19, beginning in verse 31. Therefore, because it was the preparation day that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath was a high day, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true. And he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. For these things were done that the scriptures should be fulfilled, not one of his bones shall be broken. And again another scripture says, they shall look on him whom they pierced. After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave him permission. So he came and he took the body of Jesus. And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. When they took the body of Jesus, then they took the body of Jesus and bound it in strips of linen with the spices as the custom of the Jews is to bury. 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 there they laid Jesus because of the Jews' preparation day for the tomb was nearby. Names of interest. I would ask you, why do we have this in the scriptures? Why do you think this narrative is found here? Why doesn't it go straight from, it is finished, to his burial? To, um, a much shorter narrative, and it's interesting that the other Gospels have a shorter narrative here, for the most part. They have a shorter narrative here when it comes to following the death of Christ. And let me ask you this question. Somebody tell me, what comes after this? Yes, the resurrection. So before there's a resurrection, there has to be a death. And I would submit to you that this passage is all about our certainty and our assurance that Christ was indeed dead. that that is why this is here, that we in our minds are convinced that there was no breath, there was no pulse, there was no indication of life whatsoever because it was, he was dead. And then we rejoice in the glories of the resurrection, don't we? And this passage is indeed the assurance for us to the reality of our Savior's death. The glories of the resurrection are built upon the foundation of the certainty of his death. Think about that. The glories of the resurrection are profoundly hours to enjoy because we know for certain that he had died and that there must have been a miraculous power for him to come forth. In order for there to be a resurrection, genuinely a resurrection, there had to be a certain death. You see, it's not that unusual, is it, for men to die. We've been doing it for 6,000 years. It's not unusual for someone to die. It was obviously the goal of the crucifixion for these three men to die. There was no expectation that Christ would survive the cross. There was no expectation of that. It was expected that he should die, but it is what occurred on the third day after his death that throws importance back onto these details. And in Romans Romans 1 and verse 3 it says this way, you don't have to turn there, but I'll just read this for you. Romans 1 and verse 3, Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. you know it was through the resurrection that his identity is forever sealed it is forever clear to us that the Lord Jesus Christ is Lord indeed and that he was the Son of God by the power of the Spirit through the resurrection that is that his identity is forever sealed in our mind we we have this we have this established but what if someone would say to you Well, but there's a conspiracy. He wasn't truly dead, you know. But the importance of the doctrine of the death of Jesus Christ to our salvation cannot be overstated. You cannot overstate how important the doctrine of the death of Jesus Christ is for our salvation. Because you would not be saved without the blood of Christ. Interesting, it wasn't the life of Christ that saves us from our sins. It wasn't His... He had to be perfectly holy and righteous in order to save us, but it was His death. And we'll look at some New Testament passages later. It's His death that brings us, reconciles us to God. It is the blood of His cross that gives you and I the hope of our salvation. It just cannot be overstated. You would not be saved if Christ would somehow not have died here. And so when it says that, as we closed last time at the end of verse 30, so when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. And for our sakes, God in His sovereign plan proves to us that He did indeed die. It is us who need to be convinced that He did die. You know, it is, the record is here. He gave up His spirit, that means He did die. And that word finished is the same word as verse 28, accomplished. And we know that the redemption, the reconciliation is accomplished. We're brought nigh. Reconciliation is to be brought back into a relationship with the Father. And it is through the blood and the suffering. The blood specifically, the death of His Son. Not necessarily the suffering even. It is the death. Christ that brings us back and so when we think about the amazing kindness as brother Chris pointed out earlier the amazing kindness is that he gave himself for us and he gave the ultimate that is his life for us so I want to Look at this passage in light of that. Was he truly dead on the evening of that fateful day? All of our hope for time and eternity rest on this truth. Let us consider this passage today in light of the importance of his death. Let's look here. What we notice first of all, verse 31. Therefore because it was the preparation day that the body should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath for that Sabbath's worthy high day so if we know that the Romans executed him, but it was through the instigation of the Jewish mob and the Sanhedrin it was through the motivation of that but why Was there not a longer period that the bodies hung in public? Because that was the normal thing, that was the normal practice that the Romans would leave the bodies of those crucified for the vultures. And you might say, well, there must have been something they were hiding. There must have been some reason why they took him off the cross within just a few hours after he was crucified. Which I think it's interesting that the details of why that is so are here. for a victim or a, yes, a victim of capital punishment or one who was executed, they forfeited their right to a burial under Roman law. And under Roman law, they could not necessarily be expected to be buried, but their friends could implore you know the Roman authorities to give them the body and sometimes they would you know just to to and that is why we see here where Joseph of Arimathea being a disciple he asked Pilate for the body is not necessarily that he was obligated to give it to him and Matthew Henry makes the point that the body of Christ was begged for and we see here that pilot would have had to give it to him he was asked and so that was how that went down and but the motivation here for having The body so soon removed was because that it was the Sabbath, or it was the preparation for the Sabbath. It was Friday evening. The Sabbath would start at 6 p.m. or sunset, somewhere right around that time. That's when the Sabbath started in the evening. And so there was not a lot of time here for Joseph and Nicodemus to get their act together, to get their plans made, and to go ask. And it's very possible that Joseph was going after a pilot to ask him permission, and Nicodemus was going about bringing the spices. that he was in charge of bringing the spices because that's what we see in the text here is that it was him who came bringing the spices but Joseph did the legwork of going after Pilate and finding out if they could have the body or not so this was not a regular Sabbath but rather it was a high day. Notice that it says that the body should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath for that Sabbath was a high day. Now what does that mean? It seems to mean that in the normal flow of the calendar that the Sabbath came out on the Passover and it was a Passover remembrance Sabbath, and so it was a unique Sabbath from the normal Sabbaths, even though it was a Sabbath, but it was also the Sabbath that was leading into the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was the Passover was kept, and then it led right into the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was to be a seven-day feast. So, the removal of the bodies in such a short time is not a conspiracy, but it is because of Jewish law. Now, it states in Deuteronomy that if somebody was executed for their crimes, that they were not allowed, the Jewish people were not allowed to leave the body on the cross or on the tree overnight. So, I don't fully understand the significance here about it remaining on the cross on the Sabbath, because they were not supposed to leave it on the cross overnight, period. But here in John it does indicate that it was about the Sabbath. But, if a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree. His body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but that you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. For he who is hanged is accursed of God." It's amazing, isn't it? That here we have the hypocrisy. Can you believe it? The hypocrisy of people who were willing to bring an innocent person, they had no qualms about crucifying an innocent man, but they were determined that, oh, we should not break the law by leaving him on there overnight. Isn't that amazing? How do we justify these things? But we do because we have this, this is how we've, we have this law, and the law is of all importance. His body on the cross overnight, that must not be. And then notice that even to the point of further brutality. So they came and asked Pilate, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, that they might be taken away. You know, their desire was that they would hasten the death of these three men. Let's go ahead and get them out of their misery. But you notice that breaking the legs of these men is not a quick work. It's not a quick work for, it doesn't have the immediate result of them dying. Hastening the death of these three men would have been more efficiently done with a sword. Their goal was not to you know necessarily give them a painless death but rather that they would just hasten the cruelty of their existing reality. They crushing the bones of the leg with an iron mallet. That's what they did. Can you imagine the brutality? And they were asked to do that. The Jews were asking Pilate that they would hasten the death of these three by just taking a big, I have a 12 pound sledge at home. That's probably what they used. and they hammered the leg into, they broke the bones of the leg, whether it was the lower or the upper leg, I don't know. But what that did was that they could no longer support the weight of their own body, And because that's how they would breathe, they would have their hands out nailed, of course, and their feet nailed. But in order for them to breathe, they would have to push up with their legs to alleviate the pressure on their diaphragm. And with the legs broken, now they were suffocating. And literally, the difficulty of breathing, it was so difficult to the point that it was at the point of asphyxiation. They died of the lack of being able to breathe. That is the whole thing going on here. with the breaking of the legs. It was to hasten their death, but it was by no means gracious. It was an incredible, brutal way for them to hasten their death. Notice this came from the desire of the Jews. Secondly, we have the soldiers here as we think about the reason for the short time between the crucifixion and the burial. We have the attending soldiers, the four soldiers who had execution duties that day. They were still on the scene. The soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, in verse 32, and of the other who was crucified with him. I mean, these roughnecks were They were tasked with finishing the job. And these guys knew what death looked like. You can only imagine how their hearts must have been hardened for someone to do what they had to do. To have a suffering, crucified criminal and then coming along and crushing his leg bones so that he would die. So we have these soldiers who know these things. They did not treat Christ with the same treatment as the other two men, but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. So we have here the official executioners who noticed the death of Christ and were amazed that he was already dead. they did not break his legs his death was noted by them and breaking his legs was obviously not needed and what motivated one soldier to thrust into the body of Jesus we don't know we don't know why he was motivated to do that but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and immediately blood and water came out and this What's amazing is the uniqueness of the way they treated Christ and how it coincided with the prophecy of Scripture. And so I want to suggest here to you that verse 36, for these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled. Before I go there, I guess I should talk about verse 35, "...and he who has seen has testified, his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. Who is this he who has seen has testified?" Well, it seems to me that it must have been John. It must have been him because he was right there. The disciple whom he loved, behold your son, remember that? In Woman, Behold Your Son back in verse 26. Then he said to the disciple, behold your mother. So we know that John was right there within hearing distance of the Savior. And now we see that he makes the statement that I did not have this second hand I what I saw I know what I saw he makes this point in 1st John in the epistle of 1st John that the things which we've seen and touched and handled that which we have you know been very well acquainted with we have declared to you that you might have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the father so here he's making this claim and he who has seen has testified in his testimony is true and he knows that he's telling the truth but why is he doing this what is the motivation here what it is truly so that we may believe I mean let me ask you this question what is it going to take for you to believe what is it going to take for me to believe we have this testimony of the truth of his death and we're we're called upon to believe the eyewitness testimony and now we have the record here of the very eyewitness we have this straight from the one who's seen it so that you may believe so that I may believe these things to be true and let me just flip back to verse 30 and 31 of chapter 20. I want to point this out. I've gone here before because it gives the reason why John recorded these things. John 20 in verse 30 and 31. And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. And so we have this great motivation here of John is that you and I may believe his words, that we may believe the record that is given us here in this passage on the death of Christ. For these things were done, as verse 36 says, that the scripture should be fulfilled, not one of his bones shall be broken." Now, this is specifically in reference to the Passover lamb. Two places, one is in Exodus 12, 46, and the other is in Numbers 9, 12, both of these make this reference here that not one of his bones shall be broken. There's two places in the Old Testament that records that. But it's applied to the Passover lamb. Now, I would submit this to you as one of the greatest reasons why we should believe this passage. Because this text that I'm using is the very Word of God. The very word of God made the prediction. How many thousands of years earlier had made this prediction that not one of his bones shall be broken. And now this word, this text, this scripture is saying, is applying these truths to that prediction. And so we can, that is what you might call a... not an extra-biblical but an inter-biblical reason to believe. It's just proof of the scriptures being accurate is that the scripture made a prediction and then the scripture says this is the fulfillment of that prediction and we see it applied in a most beautiful way that the typology is perfect here. that how was it possible that we had So the Jews who were given this prophecy and this direction that the bones of the Passover lands should not be broken, they hated Christ. They compelled Pilate to murder him. And we have the Romans who had no care for Christ. And if anybody was motivated to hold up the prediction and to apply it to you know to expect this to be fulfilled would have been the Jews and they hated Christ they had no reason to and the same way with the Romans my point is that this could not have been coerced or manipulated to make it happen this way because the parties involved didn't believe it They had no intent to make sure that the scripture was fulfilled, but God was intent on making that happen. It was God who orchestrated the events and made it come out this way. not one bone shall be broken and that's how it happened and in two places as I mentioned and then in verse 37 they shall look on him whom they pierced is out of Zechariah 12 and verse 10 and again it is a it is a miracle it is a an amazing sequence of events that allowed this to happen. So these are all reasons that we consider the death of Christ to be a reality here, a certainty that this indeed, when Christ came forth from the tomb, that he was the first fruits of the resurrection. And so here we move now to verse 38 and following. And I want to talk a little bit about Joseph. And we have other accounts, some of the other accounts. All four Gospels mention this man, this Joseph of Arimathea. And I want to read from Mark 15. Mark 15, 42 through 45. Now, when evening had come, because it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, and notice, this is not a nobody. It is somebody who is well known. a prominent council member you know it was someone who was prominent in the community he was one of a hundred in the whole nation of Israel he was one of a hundred in the Sanhedrin Joseph of Arimathea a prominent council member who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God coming and taking courage went into Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus Notice what we see later, right here now, Pilate marveled that he was already dead. And summoning the centurion, he asked him if he had been dead for some time. So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. So now we have the official, almost like the official, this amounted, this giving over the body amounted to official Roman death certificate. Because they would have never handed over the body of Christ without making sure that he was dead. And that's exactly what Pilate did here. He was amazed, because sometimes it took days for these crucifixion victims to actually expire. And here was Christ died within, what is it, maybe three or four hours. And so Pilate was amazed, he marveled that he was already dead. And summoning, you know, he basically called in the centurion who was responsible for the crucifixion, for the execution. Called him in, said, is he dead? And yes, he is. He confirmed that he was. And so when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. I found that really interesting that we have that civil authority also being called upon to testify that indeed there's no reason for them to deny his death. And then in Luke 23, 50 through 52, again, Speaking here more about it shows us a another another side maybe of of this man this Joseph Now behold there was a man named Joseph a council member a good and just man He had not consented to their decision indeed see see there. He he had pushed back When the council voted I guess to Condemn Christ he had not consented to their decision And he was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who himself was also waiting for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. So we see that he was a prominent member, he was a good and just man, he was a follower of Christ in secret. He was not open with his faith or with his interest in Christ, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, as it says in our text, for fear of the Jews. And notice he says also, this is supported by this in Mark 15, where he says, coming and taking courage. So this man had to summon some courage up to actually out himself. This was where he came out and it became obvious who and where his allegiance lie here at this crucial point. Interesting that it took, and I think we even see this happening today following the assassination of Charlie Kirk. We have people who are more bold following his death than they were before his passing. They were more willing to align themselves with him after his death than they were before his death. And I think this is a similar principle, is that this Joseph of Arimathea was summoning up courage and saying, you know, he's seen how he died, he's seen him giving his life, and that he was an innocent man, and that it must have brought courage into him for him to say, well I can, you know, the least I can do is give him a good burial. I don't know, but it does say, He came and was taking courage, went into Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. That is this Joseph of Arimathea. Now, earlier, and I think it's John 12, there's some negativity involved about those who love the praise of men more than the praise of God. And that's in reference to the Jewish leaders. Some of them, some of them give, you know, give... assent that they were you know the I don't know that they would actually have said that they were followers of Christ but they secretly and there it says that they were they were more worried about what men thought of them than what God thought of them but here now I don't think we should be I don't think we should be critical of Joseph here, because he did come out. He did show his faith. He did at the crucial point of this need. And think about this. God is well able, is he not, to provide a burial for Christ and to bring a man out of the woodwork, so to speak, who was hiding. as a follower of Christ and give him the courage to come and take down the body of Jesus and to bury him, giving him a burial. And then also, as we look at, so we have this man who would testify readily that he's seen the body of Jesus, he's seen his, he was a prominent member of the Sanhedrin, and now we have Nicodemus, who was a coworker or a cohort of him, he was a peer to Joseph of Arimathea. He would have been in the same council, two council members here, he joined Joseph Nicodemus did and it describes him here as who had first came to Jesus by night he also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes about a hundred pounds and they took the body of Jesus so We already have had Pilate and the presiding centurion confirming his death, and now we have these two prominent council members also confirming his death. And so we have this as a mark of the certainty of the death of our Lord. So, they bound him in strips of linen, I guess there's a custom, the myrrh and aloe they think was probably in powdered form, or maybe it was like an anointment, but it wasn't. Somehow they were able to put it on the strips of linen with the spices and they wrapped the body of the Lord in these linen cloth and as the custom of the Jews is to bury. And one commentator said, would it even have been possible if there would have been any life at all for someone to survive the wrapping of this cloth? And the answer of course is no. There is no reason to think that someone bound in these strips of linen would be alive. Now in the place, there in verse 1, 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. Isn't it interesting to see that it was also in the garden that the power, that death had first got its power over us? It was in the garden that Adam sinned and brought death into all of humanity. And death had power over us until this garden, this grave. And it's amazing that it was in the garden here that a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid and this Maybe it's of interest that it was not, no one had ever been laid in here. And it may be because there's no question that there was anybody like the bones of Elisha or Elijah, that what was it not that there was a burial, a hasty burial, and they contacted the bones of the prophets and they were brought to life. No, there's no question about that in this account. There was no one else ever been buried here. The power that raised up Jesus, as we will see in the following account, is simply by the Spirit of God that brought Jesus from the dead. But it was close by. This garden was close by. It needed to be in close proximity to the crucifixion because they had limited time. Another passage indicates that it actually belonged to Joseph. and that He had prepared it for His own use, but that He ended up putting Christ in, burying Him in this garden tomb in which no one had ever been laid. So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews' preparation day for the tomb was nearby. Now, isn't it interesting that the corpse, the body of Jesus, was still called Jesus? You know, it was still Jesus. I mean, it was still it. It was the body of our Savior. He was. I'm not sure the significance of this, but it is interesting that that there they laid Jesus, whatever we can make of that. It was not. It was not some other. It's not a mysterious or mystic thing. It was the body of Christ that came back to life a mere three days later. I want to, as we think about all of these details that are given here, I want to point back again to verse 35 where he's saying, so that you may believe. Do we recognize the immense importance of us believing these truths, these details, and why they are important? Because if this is denied, then our salvation crumbles. I have got quite a number. I want to just go through a few of them here. I've got quite a number of passages. And you won't have to turn with me. I just want to read through some of these. Why is the Apostle John so intent on bringing us these details? Well, in Colossians 1.22, I'm going to start here, but it's by no means exhaustive. It's just a number of these passages that have really blessed me. In verse 21 of Colossians 1 it says, "...and you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh." How are we reconciled? In the body of His flesh through death. "...to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in His sight." This is, if you back up to verse 20, "...and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross." There had to be a bloody cross. There had to be a death for us to be brought near. Even in verse 14 we have it, "...in whom we have redemption through His blood." The forgiveness of sins. The absolute necessity of the death of Christ is brought out in these passages. Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations? See, if Christ died and you died with Him, from the basic principles of the world, why would you impose worldly regulations on yourself. That's the argument here and so we see that the death of Christ has all these implications even for our sanctification. and how we deal with the flesh after this. Philippians 2.8, he was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 3.10 of Ephesians, I'm sorry, 3.10 of Philippians, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death. And then in 1 Corinthians 15, this is a beautiful passage where Paul says in chapter 15, verse three, for I delivered to you first of all that which I also received. And what was the first thing that he said? That Christ died for our sins, according to the scripture. He goes on to say, that he rose again and he describes this moreover brethren he opens this thought in verse 1 of chapter 15 moreover brother I declared to you the gospel which also preached to you and the gospel is that Christ died for our sins according to the scripture that he was buried and rose again on the third day according to scriptures And we can just go on, Ephesians 1, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. Ephesians 2 13 we're brought near by the blood of Christ We have over and over and over again through the epistles this argument of the necessity of the death of Christ is Supported by the narrative account at these details and indeed he did die and why is it recorded so that you and I would believe these truths and You see, we need information. We need details in order for our faith to grow. Sometimes I think we do not understand how these things happen to us. But the more that you see the Bible corroborating the Bible, the more your faith becomes secure. You're determined that this is indeed what I believe. And that the truths about the efficacy of the death of Christ, and we rest in that. We have no other hope and no other plea except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. What does Paul say? I am determined not to boast in anything except the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ. Over and over here I have got probably 12, 10, 15 more passages that just directly speak about the blood of Christ through the cross. Through him we both have access. He gave Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God. We have it in 1 Peter 1, 18 and 19. We're redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. We have reconciliation by Christ in 2 Corinthians 5, 14 and 15. We have Titus 2, 14 who says He gave Himself for us. 1 Peter 2.24, who himself bore our sin in his own body on the tree. And 1 Thessalonians 5, 9, and 10, who died for us. Romans 3.25 goes even further and says, whom God set forth as propitiation. It was God who set him forth. It wasn't our idea. Galatians 1.4, who gave himself for our sins. And a really interesting phrase is in Galatians 2.21 where it says, then Christ died in vain. Now how would Christ have died in vain? Christ would have died in vain if you could somehow employ your flesh to get right with God. That's what he's saying. Galatians 2.21, it says, And so we have all of these glorious truths about the necessity of the death of Christ, and we have the narrative account where it actually happened, the historic account by someone who's seen it, and that is our text in John 19, 31 through the end of the chapter. Let's come before the Lord in prayer. Father, as we look at this account of the gospel according to John and how John, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote these things, these things that he himself seen, and among many others who've seen these things, Father, we are humbled by these details and the desire that you have that we would comprehend these things. Lord, I pray that these would build faith in us, that the doctrine of the death of Christ would truly be our only hope, our only plea, and that we would have no other God but You, no other Savior but Christ. Father, we ask that You would just cement these things into our hearts and minds through Your Word, and we ask these favors and blessings through Christ. Amen.