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Take our text from the book of
John chapter number 19. John chapter 19, there's two
verses we want to read there that caught our attention. But
really there's going to be four texts that we're going to use,
four verses for text. And they all speak about the
same thing. One's in the book of John, then the book of Luke,
the book of Mark, and then in the book of Matthew. We're gonna
speak on the subject, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Here are two men, both Jews. We'll speak about Joseph of Arimathea
first, and then Nicodemus, he only appears in the book of John,
in this case. John 19, verse number 38, and
verse number 39 says this, And after this, Joseph of Arimathea,
being a disciple of Jesus, and then the Bible says this about
him. But secretly for fear of the
Jews. He was a disciple of Christ,
but secretly for fear of the Jews. Here's the way it is. Besought
Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate
gave him leave. He came, therefore, and took
the body of Jesus. There came also Nicodemus, which
at the first came to Jesus by night. That s in John 3. and
brought a mixture of myrrh and alloy, being about a hundred
pound weight. Verse number 40, Then took they
the body of Jesus, wound it in linen clothes, with the spices,
as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Let's go, Lord, in a word of
prayer, if you would, as we begin. Our precious Father, I thank
you, Lord, that you're able, Lord, to have us preach again. Thank you for it. Lord, I pray
that the message will not be Just a bladdering of words. I'd
rather, Lord, that it might mean something to us. Lord, I pray
that you might help us understand what you're teaching us out of
your Holy Word. I pray you just watch over us now. God, Lord,
bless us as only you know how. Forgive us for our sins. For
it's in Jesus' name that I pray. Amen. Here in the book of John, this
is the only gospel that speaks of both Joseph of Arimathea and
Nicodemus. It's the only one. Now let's
read again in the book of Luke chapter number 23. Luke chapter
23 and verse number 50. Luke 23 beginning in verse number
50. talking about when Jesus Christ
was dead. And behold, there was a man named
Joseph, a counselor, and he was a good man and a just. The same had not consented to
the counsel and deed of them. He was of Armathea, a city of
the Jews, who also himself waited for the kingdom of God. This
man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And he took
it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a scepter that
was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. The same
day was the preparation, and the Sabbath grew on. Luke doesn't say anything about
Nicodemus. Third, let's look in the book of Mark chapter 15. Mark chapter 15, verse number
42. Mark 15, 42. Now when the even was come, because
it was the preparation, that is the day before the Sabbath,
Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable counselor, which also waited
for the kingdom of God, came and went in boldly unto Pilate,
and craved the body of Jesus. And Pilate marveled if he were
already dead. And calling unto him the centurion,
he asked him whether he had been any while dead. And when he knew
it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. And he took
fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen,
and laid him in a sepulchre, which was hewn out of a rock,
and rolled a stone upon the door of the sepulchre. Verse 47, Mary
Magdalene married the mother of Joseph, beheld where he was
laid. Nothing is said there about Nicodemus either. Number four,
in the book of Matthew chapter 27, Matthew 27, verse number
57, Matthew 27, verse 57, And when the evening was come, There came a rich man of Armathea,
named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple. He went
to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus, and Pilate commanded
the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the
body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his
own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock. And he rolled
the great stone to the door of the sepulchre and departed. Verse 61 says, There was Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary sitting over against the sepulchre. You know, when you read all four
of these texts together, and put them all together, in your
mind at least, you can understand that there is much said about
the simple burying of Jesus. There is much said about it.
You can't just take one scripture and get the whole picture at
all. Sometimes I think we try to do that, but if we just take
the whole scripture together and find out all those places
where the subject is talked about and read about those things,
we can have a great more understanding about what's really being said.
I think it's a good thing to do just to keep us from I don't know how to say it. From
being stale, I guess, is the right way, or doing something
wrong. Just put it all together. But
we discover here that the four Gospels, all four of these, Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, show that Joseph of Arimathea was instrumental
in burying the body of Jesus, and only in one Gospel, John,
That shows that Nicodemus took part of the burial. But who is Joseph of Arimathea? Who is this guy? Notice what the Bible says in
the book of Luke 23. Luke 23. This tells us who he
was. Luke 23, verse number 50. The
Bible said there was a man named Joseph, a counselor. A counselor? Today, that's someone that gives
advice, that gives, try to help someone. But in that day, a counselor
was much more than just someone that gave advice. counselor is a member of the
Sanhedrin. You remember what the Sanhedrin
is? That's that group of 70 Jews that give their counsel or their
advice to all the Jews. It's a religious body. So Joseph
is a member of the Sanhedrin just like Nicodemus is a member
of the Sanhedrin. The Bible goes on further with
this, and it says that in verse 50, and he was a good man, so
he was a very good man, the Bible says, meaning that he was a man
who lived as he believed, or he He was an honest man, an
upright man, and a man that you could listen to. The only thing,
the Bible says in verse 51, he was a just man, verse number
50 says he was a just man, a righteous man. But in verse number 51,
the Bible says, the same had not consented to the counsel
and deed of them. Now here is Nicodemus, understand
that Nicodemus was a man who did not agree with him at all
either, but Joseph was another one that didn't. It's amazing when you think about
it. Joseph, when it came time to take care of the physical remains
of Jesus, he had to do something. The Bible says he was a secret
disciple, you might say. The same had not consented unto
the counsel and deed of them. It makes me wonder. Sometimes what people really
think makes me really wonder what the secret thoughts of a
person really is. You can't ever tell by looking
at them sometimes, and sometimes you cannot ever really tell exactly
what they're thinking. You might think you know what
they're thinking, But sometimes you can't tell at all. And sometimes
the things that you're thinking is different at all together. The Bible said that in Luke 23
and verse number 51, that he had not consented to the counsel
and deed of them. And so here, Joseph had, Because he was a member of the
Sanhedrin, Joseph would be wary of all the deeds that was going
on. He would know what they were
thinking. But think about the time when
Nicodemus himself in John chapter 7 when he Mentioned that doesn't
man judge. We don't judge anybody before
we know what he's doing what he's saying We got to understand
him more But he was rebuked by that but
Joseph didn't say anything at all if he was there, I don't
know But the Bible says that In verse
51, he was of Armathea, a city of the Jews, who himself waited
for the kingdom of God. That's a wonderful thing. He's
waiting on the kingdom of God, and yet he is a Jew, a member
of the Sanhedrin, Do you think that Joseph knew
any of the Jews that betrayed Christ? Do you think that he
knew any of them by name? It's obvious that he did. I mean, we're not limited to
just knowing the names of people that we're acquainted with. But
we know a lot of lost people. We know a lot of saved people. There's a lot of different things
that we know. And so, it was the same way in that day. With
Joseph, he understood a lot of different things. But the Bible says that He was also afraid of the Jews,
or fear of the Jews. But when it came to the burial
of Christ, Joseph cast it all aside. You might say it's a little bit
too late. I'll tell you this. Where did we read about Joseph
of Arimathea? We read about this man in four
different Gospels. The Gospel of Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John. All four of them talked about
Joseph of Arimathea. And all of the places that we
read, there was never a place at all that degraded him, or
that looked down upon him, or that said, you should have stood
up earlier than that. Not a one. There was also not
a place where the Bible records that anybody looked down upon
Nicodemus as well. Perhaps Nicodemus and Joseph
of Arimathea should have stood up more, I don't know. But I know that the only thing
we can do is what we can do. I mean, I know that. That's all we can do. But look here in verse number
52 of Luke 23. The Bible says that this man
went up on the pilot and bagged the body of Jesus. The Bible says about this as
well in the book of Mark chapter 15. Let's read this one. Mark chapter 15. And verse number 42. Mark 15,
42. And now when the even was come,
because it was the preparation, that is the day before the Sabbath. That is the day before the beginning
of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable
counselor. Look what the Bible talks about
here. He's an honorable man. He had honor bestowed upon him. He was a follower of Christ.
A secret disciple, the Bible says in the book of Matthew,
John, but he is still a believer. Verse number 43, Mark 15, 43,
Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable counselor, which also waited
for the kingdom of God, came and went in boldly unto Pilate,
and craved the body of Jesus. So here, the Bible said this
man went in boldly, went in openly, he was not afraid now, this man
had made up his mind, that he'd gone far enough. And
there comes a time in there where everybody has to, there's a deadline. You may not know where it is,
but there's a point that you will not go over. Every one of
us have that. Whatever it is, or wherever it
is, we all have that point that we will not pass over that point. That's a good thing to do. It's
an excellent thing when you know what the truth is and you're
gonna stand for it. And this man knew the truth. His point
was not the same place as the apostles. Their point was further
down the line, up the line, you might say. But now, Joseph's point is later
on. But you can't fault him for that.
But when it came time to bury Jesus Christ, he was the one
that went in boldly unto Pilate and asked for the body of Christ
because he knew that he was dead already. Now, no sis, that Joseph
of Arimathea knew about the death of Jesus Christ before Pilate
did. He knew about the death of Jesus
before Pilate did. He was well aware of what was
going on. He was well, it was fixed in
his mind. That this is wrong. I don't know, I don't know this
at all. But I know that Jesus Christ
had a cruel, illegal trial at night. I know that. At least that's what the Bible
says. I wonder if Joseph was able to
sleep at all. I don't know. If he was able
to rest that night knowing that his Savior was being tried. I don't know. Maybe he just woke up the next
morning and found it all out. But remember that he was a member
of the Sanhedrin, the 70 elders that ruled the religious aspects
of the nation of Israel. He was a part of that. It seems to me that Joseph came
to the place of knowing that it was time to
stand up. It was time to stand up for the
truth. And this is what he did. He would stand up and be counted.
Today, there's probably a lot of people in this world that
are a lot like Joseph of Arimathea. Where the people think well of
them, but they won't stand up. Until you think it's too late. Until you think that you can't
do anything else. But when it came time to really
stand up, Joseph of Arimathea, he did stand. And he was one
that approached Pilate to get the body of Jesus in order to
bury him. Today, it is important that we
stand up for the cause of Christ. It's important. That we don't
just sit around on the seat of do nothing and do nothing. It's
important that we stand up for whatever God wants us to do and
be true unto Him. Turn to the book of John chapter
number 19. John chapter 19. The Bible said in verse number
38, John 19, 38. After this, Joseph of Arimathea,
being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of Jews. How did he do this? How did he
do this? How was he a secret disciple? and yet had a fear of letting
anybody know. The Bible says that in verse
38, he was a disciple of Jesus. That's what the record states. But secretly, for fear of the
Jews, he would not stand up and be counted at all Because of fear. I think in verse 38, that's talking
about the days before the death of Christ. But when he understood,
really, that Jesus Christ had given his life for the cause
of Christ, for the cause of holiness in God, that he just cast all
that aside. And those people that he knew.
I don't think I'm thinking that he was acquainted with the other
man that was innocent here. I'm thinking it had to be a part
of that group. But he finally just came to the
place and said, I'm just I'm just done. I'm done with this. I cannot do this anymore. I CANNOT
HANDLE IT ANYMORE! I'M THROUGH! And then he came
and he saw Pilate that he would release the body unto him. And
by the way, I'll say it again, that Pilate found out from Joseph
that Jesus had died already. That's how he found out. The Bible said in John 19 and
verse number 38, that he besought Pilate. That means he requested
Pilate, or he asked, or he bagged the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave him leave. But look in the book of Mark.
In the book of Mark, chapter number 15. Mark chapter 15 and verse number 43, the Bible
here said Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable counselor which
also waited for the kingdom of God came and went in boldly unto
Pilate and craved the body of Jesus. The word BOLI means that he acted,
he asked in such a way that Pilate understood that he was not afraid
of the consequences of his actions at all. There is no doubt in my mind
at all about this, that Joseph had probably spent the past night
in much anguish because he knew the outcome before it ever happened. He knew what the Jews had on
their mind. He knew that they were the Sanhedrin
especially was going to kill Christ. He knew that. He knew
also that he was innocent of what they accused him of. He
had inside information, inside information about what would
happen. He knew this, that the Jews were
not interested in finding out the truth. They wanted to kill
Christ. He knew that. They were only
interested in shutting up the truth. That's all they wanted
to do. They would not see themselves as sinners at all. Rather, they
would see themselves as honorable. They would see themselves as
what they were doing was right, good for the Jewish people. They would justify their own
actions, even if they had to kill Jesus, whom the common people
loved. They did not understand the future,
just as we do not understand the future at all. We don't have
a clue about it at all. We can, you say, I can read the
signs. We don't know how it's going
to turn out. We don't know. In just a few years, if my calculations are anywhere
near right, in about 30 years, 35 years, from the date of Jesus' birth,
the date of Jesus' crucifixion. It'd be about that long when
Rome would come in and wipe Israel off the map and take the people
and scatter them throughout the world. Just a few years, that's
gonna happen. But the Jews that killed Christ,
they were interested in retaining their nation. They would lose
it all. But look at Mark 15 and verse
number 44. This is why I said twice already
that Joseph knew before Pilate knew that Jesus had died. Mark 15 verse 44, and Pilate
marveled if he were already dead, When I can think about the conversation
that Joseph had coming up there and saying, I want the body of
Jesus, because He's already dead. And Pilate would say, What? He's dead already? Are you sure? Look what the Bible said here,
and in verse number 44, And calling unto him the centurion, this
is the soldier that was over that, he asked him whether he
had been any while dead. And when he knew it of the centurion,
he gave the body to Joseph. Remember that? Because The soldiers came to kill the
people, the three people that's on the crosses, because of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It
was not because of the Feast of the Passover, I wasn't even
thinking about that. But that's what Jesus Christ,
He paid the price for them on the Passover day. But they were
more interested in serving the Feast of Unleavened Bread than
they were the Passover, altogether more interested in that. And when the centurion told him,
he said, he's dead already. He hadn't been on the cross very
long. Sometimes a person stayed on the cross for three days,
dying slowly. But they sent soldiers to kill
them quickly, to break their legs. When they came to Christ
though, and they saw he was dead already, Then they took that
spear, put that spear into his heart and blood came out in water. And so the Bible says that when
that was all said and done, it's amazing to me that Pilate did
not know that Christ was dead already, but Joseph knew it.
He was keeping up with it. And Pilate was not so keeping
up with it at all. In verse number 45 of Mark chapter
15, And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to
Joseph. And Joseph then, in verse number
46, He brought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen,
and laid him in a sepulcher which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled
a stone upon the door of the sepulcher. Amazing story that it tells here. Pilate marveled that Jesus Christ
was already dead. The word marvel means he was
totally amazed that Christ had already died. Then, the Bible said, when Joseph
took the body, he took fine linen. It wasn't just old, ordinary
linen. Rather, it was fine linen that
he wrapped Jesus in. It was not old, it was not used. Rather, I think this, this is
my opinion. It was linen suitable for Himself. You know why I think that? Because the Bible says that He
placed Him in His own tomb. Verse number 46 says that He wrapped him in linen and laid
him in a sepulcher which was hewn out of a rock and rolled
a stone upon the door of the sepulcher. Here's an amazing thing. The
Rock of Ages was buried in a rock. It's an amazing thing. And a
rock was rolled upon the opening of the tomb. It's an amazing
thing. You would think this would be
a long and tedious effort to build this tomb out of a rock. How would you go about doing
that? Well, it would take a long time. But how would you, before
the days of pneumatic tools, like hammer and chisels, chip
it out? Not a little place, rather the
tomb was rather large. I think it was big enough, the
rock itself was big enough to contain the outstretched body
of Jesus plus there was enough room on
either end for an angel to sit. Because that's what Mary saw
when she went in there. Amazing that this tomb was hewn
out of a rock. So that would take him a long
time to do that. Maybe or maybe he had servants. But look at
this. In the book of Matthew chapter
27. In the book of Matthew 27. And
verse number 46. Verse number 57. Matthew 27 verse
number 57. The Bible said, when the even
was come, there came a rich man of Amorthea, a man named
Joseph, who also himself was Jesus disciples. So he was rich. He had the wherewithal to pay
someone to hew out a place in a stone,
in a big rock, which is, I would think would take a while, big enough to place the body
of Jesus in it, to lay it down, and then an angel on either end,
that's what Mary saw. So, I think it's a pretty good sized
place, and then, to hew another stone to roll over it, and that
stone was very good, was very good. I think that Joseph was a wealthy
man. He gave the best he could. This is why that in the book
of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, that the disciples that wrote
these books were not led of God to write down that he should
have stood up at a different time. Where were the disciples
when all this was going on? Where were they? Why didn't they
do it? According to John 19, the disciples on the resurrection day in John 20 and verse number 19. The same day at evening, being
the first day of the week. So on the first day of the week, what day of the week is that?
What day, what do you call that first day of the week? We call
it Sunday. The Bible says, When the doors
were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the
Jews. Where were the disciples? They were afraid. John, I think, was the only disciple
that was there at the foot of the cross with the women. He was there for a purpose. Because Jesus told John, you
take care of mother. You take care of mother. And
I think he did. I think he did. He took care of everything that
needed to be taken care of. I think one other thing I want
to mention before we close. I don't find any passages in
the Bible at all. There may be some, but I don't
find them. Where Joseph received any ill will from any of the
unbelieving Jews. I don't find he had any repercussions
whatsoever. It might have been that he had
to change jobs. I don't know. I don't know. But there's no doubt that the
unbelieving Jews had enough on their mind because they had to
guard the gravesite for three days
because they was afraid somebody would steal the body of Jesus. didn't claim to have been resurrected. They had enough to do. They had
enough to worry about. The women on the way to the tomb
are the next morning on Sunday morning. They wondered and spoke
among themselves about how they would get the stone rolled away
from the entrance of the tomb. When they got there, the stone
was already gone. But this tonight has just been
a short study about Joseph of Arimathea. But let's read back
in the book of John chapter number 19. And we'll see here that Nicodemus
also played a part in this. Nicodemus, the Bible said that
Joseph supplied the garment that Jesus was buried in. He supplied
many of the other instruments that was necessary to be used,
probably the people to do all that with. But in verse number
39 of John chapter 19, and there came also Nicodemus, which at
the first came to Jesus by night and brought a mixture of myrrh
and oil, about a hundred pound weight. And they took the body
of Jesus and wrapped it in linen clothes with the spices, so that
as a matter of the Jews is to bury." So Joseph had a major
part in this, but in the book of John, it's the only place
that mentions Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a true man. There's
no doubt that Joseph was too. No doubt. I don't find any record
at all where either one of these men are spoken against in the
scripture. I don't find any record at all.
So here's the thing. People may not do as we think
they ought to do. But if God has led a certain
thing on our heart to do, we need to be careful to do it.
we care to do it. After all, we're going to be
judged individually, not collectively. We'll stand before God as an
individual person. And we'll give an account to
God. And so it's our responsibility to do what God wants us to do.
And not to do as somebody else wants us to do. And we should
not compel anybody else to do what we do. Because I'm compelled
to do this. So that's why I'm doing it. I'm your pastor, because I'm
compelled to be. I'm compelled to be. I love being
compelled. I love it. I'm glad that God has called
me to preach. I'm glad that God has called
me into the ministry. I'm glad that God wants me to use my life
for him. I wish I could do it. I really
wish I could do it the way He wants me to do it. That's the
lesson for tonight. If you're lost tonight, we pray
for you that the Lord would bless you. We trust that the Lord would
grant you salvation. I can't save you, but I know
Jesus can. But Jesus won't if you don't
come to Him, if you don't ask Him. I pray that you would. Let's go, Lord, in a word of
prayer again. Our precious Father, I thank you, Lord, that you let
me preach tonight. Lord, I pray that you might cause
your words to be effective in order that might be heard, in
order that might be listened to. I pray, Lord, for those who
are lost, that you might bless them. Help us, Father, to be
the kind of people we need to be in your sight. that we might
be full of grace and love for you. I pray you just keep us
from harm. Bless us, Lord, tonight. Forgive
us for our sins. Grant salvation to those who
are lost. For it's in Jesus' name that I pray. Amen.
Joseph of Arimathaea
| Sermon ID | 112252211427537 |
| Duration | 45:46 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - PM |
| Bible Text | John 19:38-39 |
| Language | English |
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