And let's stand together for the reading of God's Word. Again, it's John 19, verses 38 to 42. And after these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take down the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave him license. He came then and took Jesus' body. There came also Nicodemus, which first came to Jesus by night, and brought of myrrh and aloes mingled together about a hundred pounds. Then took they the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen clothes with the odors, as a manner of the Jews is to bury. And in that place where Jesus was crucified was a garden, and in the garden a new sepulcher wherein never man was laid. There they laid Jesus, because of the Jews' preparation day, for the sepulcher was near. And that ends the reading of God's word, and let's pray. Father, we ask you to be with us now as we look at these verses. Instruct us and bless us with understanding. In Jesus' name, amen. And please be seated. Well, Jesus' death had been verified by the Roman soldiers by the piercing of his side. Remember, the Jews didn't want these bodies to hang on the cross, so they wanted the legs to be broken so that the men would suffocate, but when they came to Jesus, he was already dead. They pierced his side, and blood and water came out the result of either pericardial or pleural effusion, that is, A low blood pressure condition from the flogging the Romans had given him causes the accumulation of water around the lungs and around the heart. And that results, the resulting low blood pressure and blood loss is the cause of that. And so those medical results of the flogging and verification of death were present in the body. But as we said, the cause of death was a purposeful separation of spirit and body, a conscious act of Jesus in yielding up the spirit. So nobody put him to death, he gave himself, and that comes right down to the death, that is, the departing of the spirit from the body. When he saw that all things were fulfilled concerning him, he yielded up the ghost. And we ought to have that in our understanding. Well, it's at this juncture that two rich disciples of Jesus take care of his burial. And in verse 38, we're introduced to Joseph of Arimathea. After those things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, but sought Pilate that he might take down the body of Jesus. and Pilate gave him license. He came then and took Jesus' body. Matthew tells us in Matthew 27 at verse 57, and when evening was come there came a rich man of Arimathea named Joseph, who had also himself been Jesus' disciple. So Matthew tells us he was a rich man. And then Luke 23 and verse 50, Behold, there was a man named Joseph, which was a counselor, a good man, and a just. He did not consent to the counsel and deed of them, which was of Arimathea, the city of the Jews. Okay, Joseph was a counselor. Bouliotes is the Greek word there, and it signifies one of the Sanhedrin. It's used that way. So he is a counselor. That is, he's one of the council of 70. So that makes him a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin. or council of 70, and Nicodemus, who in a minute will bring spices, we had met in John 3, who came to Jesus by night, he was also a disciple and also a member of the Jews' council. That means at least two of the Sanhedrin were disciples of Jesus on a level of non-confrontation with their counsel directly, but nevertheless disciples and believers. Both of these men, therefore, were Jewish leadership, and we'll call them secret disciples, we could use that term at least, who had feared the scorn and reprisals of their colleagues, and yet believed upon the person, teaching, and miracles of the Lord Jesus. So you've got in this council of 70 who condemned Jesus to death at least two disciples and believers. Now John Calvin frames the issue this presents us in what I think are succinct terms. He says, whence therefore do they derive such heroic magnanimity that when affairs are at the lowest ebb they fearlessly come forth to public view? I say nothing of the great and evident danger which they must have incurred But the most important point is that they did not scruple to place themselves in a state of perpetual warfare with their own nation. It is therefore certain that this was affected by a heavenly impulse so that they who through fear did not render the honor due to him while he was alive now run to his dead body as if they had become new men. I like that commentary. He lays it out. So how do you account for this? How do you account for the fact that they were secret disciples, that they never openly took Jesus' side and said, we are disciples, and yet when his body is there, suddenly they appear as the one, we'll take his body and we'll prepare it for burial and so on. Now, there's no question that this is a heavenly impulse, to use Calvin's words. and that it's the work of the Spirit of God. Of the same power that had given them faith upon the preaching of Christ. They didn't believe because of some power in them. The faith to believe is the gift of God in Jesus Christ. So, yes, it's a heavenly impulse. And that is something that's given them by God. But that moved them at this time to take sides publicly. And this change in their posture is significant and really ought to be accounted for. We ought to be able to say, well, how is it? How is it that there were secret disciples here, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, and then suddenly, okay, well, please, Pilate, give us the body. We'll take it. And they bestow such labor upon it. Well, let us try to account for this using the biblical material. And we can link this in the first place to the spirit of God in regeneration. In Romans 1 and verse 25, which turned the truth of God unto a lie and worshiped and served the creature, forsaking the creator which is blessed forever. See, honoring the creature in the place of God is a form of idolatry, and it is the propensity of every sinner who is the child of Adam's fall. Men are not immediately cognizant of the circumstances of this until time and events make them self-conscious. And so what I'm saying is every man that comes from the womb who exists in Adam's fall is a creature worshipper. and on some level will honor men rather than honor God or put men in the place of God. Now, linked closely with this is the desire to maintain our estates and position. Now, in a healthy way, that's the application of the Sixth Commandment. And it makes men desirous to influence others rather than just setting themselves at odds with others. So rather than rebuke a man, you might scold him. Rather than try to reject him, you want to persuade him, and that's an aspect of man's fallen nature, but it's probably also an aspect of the Fifth Commandment. Nicodemus took this position in John 7, John 7 verse 48. And so notice Nicodemus here, John 7 verse 48, Doth any of the rulers or Pharisees believe in him that this people which know not the law are Nicodemus said unto them, he that came to Jesus by night and was one of them, doth our law judge a man before it hear him and know what he hath done? They answered and said unto him, art thou also of Galilee? Search and look, for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. And every man went to his own house. But you understand, Nicodemus is not saying, look, I'm his disciple, you men are all wrong. He's dealing with them in the council, saying, well, look, does our law judge a man before it hears him? So he's a dissenting voice of their condemnation, really, without exposing himself to their anger. Well, I mean, he gets a little bit of their anger, but without exposing himself as a follower of Jesus. And so he could excuse cutting himself off from having any influence and hope to see a change in the posture of the counsel toward Jesus. He could even work with others like Joseph to affect that change, but again, without just openly declaring himself a disciple. Now, however, the acts involved with Jesus' betrayal and murder mark a fixed purpose in this council. Having now acted supremely in opposition to the one that these men embraced, who Joseph and Nicodemus and the other disciples embrace, There's now no going back upon these events. And so, in other words, any hope that Nicodemus and Joseph might have had of influencing the council is now abortive. I mean, it's done. They've crucified him now. So the idea that maybe we'll have an influence, maybe we'll be able to speak, maybe we'll be able to draw them into understanding and to our side, that's all gone. They've punished and murdered the one who is truth and love. the one whom these two men have heard and believe. And the force of this in the psychology of men is to draw out indignation. You know, and so, you know, you've got to sort of understand that aspect of it. It draws, in other words, it draws out the indignation of the man who was trying to influence them for good, trying to influence them in a positive way. Well, they're going to do that, that's it. And it's this kind of a thing. Look at Philippians 1, and you'll see the same phenomena in Philippians 1, verses 12 to 14. I would ye understand, brethren, that the things which have come unto me are turned rather to the furthering of the gospel, so that my bands in Christ are famous throughout all the judgment hall and in other places, insomuch that many of the brethren in the Lord are boldened through my bands and dare more frankly to speak the word." Now that's the same phenomenon. You see what they're doing to him? You see that? Well, you know what? I'm going to spout, you know what? It's sort of an indignation that comes as a result of what you see happen to the one you share your position with, the one in whom you believe, or the one that you're united to, or a brother with. You're going to do that to my brother? Well, you're going to have to do that to me, too. You know, and it's this kind of reaction in men that I think we're seeing in Joseph and in Nicodemus, finally. See, they held on to their position, they stayed in the Jewish council, they didn't really disclose where they were and what they believed, they may have been voiced against the plans of the council at more times than even are revealed in the Gospels. They were dissenters, they didn't go along with the thing, they didn't believe like these other men believed, and they hoped to be an influence in the council to turn them from their purpose of crucifying Jesus. But when that's all done, when the deed, when the ugly deed is done and when the council has taken its stand and done its dirty work, that's the time when men say, you know what, you're going to have to get me too. Well, in this case, that manifests itself by them caring for the body of Jesus. So the boldness of our two brothers here in obtaining the body and preparing it for burial is a logical application of these truths. It shows the sincerity of their faith and love, and they spare in this no expense Joseph dedicating his own new sepulchre, and that's in one of the other Gospels, it was his sepulchre which happened to be near at hand, and Nicodemus bringing costly spices to embalm the body. And so it's the death of Jesus, the murder of Jesus on a cross that is riveting enough in the sensitivities of these men to say, you know what, here's what we're going to do. And at this point, they seek the body and want to embalm it and bury it in a respectable way, in a way that shows their love and concern over the thing. And so that's, I think, the mechanism of what we're seeing here. You know, I was surprised. I thought, well, The commentators are going to be rough on these guys being secret disciples. Only Hendrickson mentioned them as sinners or whatever. I was glad for that. Matthew and Henry didn't treat it that way. Calvin didn't treat it that way. I read to you Calvin's interpretation of the thing. So what accounts for this? Well, it was a heavenly impulse. It was a divine impulse in them. And you may fault them and say, well they should have been more forward earlier or done something else. Men don't always just want the conflict with other men. Men don't always just enter into it with zeal and belligerence. They try to seek and they try to move and they try to accommodate men and so on and so forth. So here we're at the point of the division. And that's what we're seeing in Nicodemus and Joseph. And so I don't have, I mean, I understand them. I don't, I don't have a lot of scorn for the secret disciple aspect of this thing at this point, you know, or say at that point in their experience. Well, the application of this in scripture is direct and self-conscious for us. because we are not in a time where the elements of this are unknown or uncertain. So how to apply these things in our lives is a little bit different than how to apply them in the life of the disciples at that time, in that we are called to a more mature application than Nicodemus and Joseph or other disciples living at the time were called to. And so for this, for the application of these things for us, we can turn to Matthew 10, beginning at verse 24. And these are Jesus' words. The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple to be as his master is, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more them of his household? Fear them not, therefore, for there is nothing covered that shall not be disclosed, nor hid that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light. What ye hear in the ear, that preach on the houses. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing, and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father? Yea, all the hairs of your head are numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on the earth, but the sword. For I am come to sit a man at variance against his father and the daughters against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. and he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me." Well, in the first place, this helps to set some level of expectation. We may experience the same kind of opposition as Christ's disciples, as Christ himself experienced from men. So if they call the master of the house Beelzebub, what will they call the servants of that master? Well, the same kinds of names. And so we can expect that there will be opposition of men. Of course, that has the promise of a blessing in Matthew 5, verses 10 to 12. Blessed are they which suffer persecution for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed shall ye be when men revile you and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you for my sake falsely. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." And so yes, you as a Christian will experience the same kind of opposition from men with the promise of a blessing in it. And we are not to fear, therefore. Secondly, the open requirement is that we confess the Lord Jesus before men, and that is a reciprocal promise in Matthew 10. In other words, 32 to 33 here, you know, whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. So the requirement to confess Jesus before men is clear and open. And we have all of the circumstances of the final results of what happened in these times that we can talk about. So that's something that is, what do you want to say, elevated. It's an elevated responsibility. It's a responsibility that is clear to us. And of course, that extends then to our nearest relations in family with verses 34 to 37. You know, and that's, it's important that we understand the, what do I say, the scope of the requirement to confess Jesus before men. We confess Jesus before men in the face of all opposition, even opposition of the ones who are closest to us. husband, wife, son, daughter, parents, and so on, all of these things. So Jesus before men, Jesus in primary relationship to us, we make confession of. Now, our posture towards men is an aspect of the fact that we are identified with Jesus. But our situation is not one underdeveloped. You know, it's not one that's being developed here. It's not like the scribes and Pharisees, well, what do you think of Jesus? What should we do? And Nicodemus and Joseph, you know, being influenced by his teaching. It's not that. It's open, it's completed, we have the full revelation of God. So it's fully differentiated now. And so again, we're called to a higher standard than they were at that time, Hebrews 13. verses 11 to 14. Here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. Let us therefore, by him, offer the sacrifice of praise always to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, which confess his name. To do good and to distribute, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. And again, go forth to him therefore out of the camp bearing his reproach. So again, we are to be prepared for that as the people of God, we are to be prepared to go to him, go forth to him bearing the reproach that men want to put on us, but that's our posture towards men. It's an aspect of the fact that we're identified with Jesus, that reproach will be placed upon us, that people will speak against it, against what we believe, against us, as a result of being identified with Jesus. Now, we also have to have this in our mind, this identity, and that's one of the applications of this, is identifying ourselves with Jesus. And so if Nicodemus and Joseph were slow to identify themselves with Jesus, if they hoped to influence the people and they didn't just want to take that upon themselves, there's a point of time in which all that goes away and we are openly identifying ourselves with Jesus and bringing the scorn of the multitude upon ourselves in doing that. Okay. We have to have this view of being identified with Jesus. And for us, that involves a particular calling and a particular life. And so how is it we identify ourselves with Jesus? Romans 12 and verse 1, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye give up your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable serving of God. The Authorized Virgin says, present your bodies a living sacrifice. And that's identification. That's what our reasonable service of God is. So the first point of identification is we're not our own. We present ourselves to God as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, to do His will. And of course, that's what Paul is going to talk about as he introduces the way we are to live with that verse in Romans 12, 1. We go back to Romans 6, 1 to 14. What shall we say then? Shall we continue still in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live yet therein? Know ye not that all we which have been baptized into Jesus Christ have been baptized into his death? We are buried then with him by baptism into his death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead to the glory of the Father, so also should we walk in newness of life. For if we be planted with him to the similitude of his death, even so shall we be to the similitude of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Wherefore, if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall live also with him. Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died once to sin, but in that he liveth, he liveth to God. Likewise, think ye also that ye are dead to sin, but are alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither give ye your members as weapons of unrighteousness unto sin, but give yourselves unto God as they that are alive from the dead, and give your members as weapons of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace." Now again, that's an identity thing. Just like Christ died, we are to count ourselves dead to sin. He died to sin once, he rose from the dead, we are to count ourselves dead to sin and put it to death in our lives so that we might live unto God. And that's point of identity. So this is how we identify ourselves with Jesus. Nicodemus, they were in the throes of this, of what do we do, how do we come out on the side of Jesus? Well, it manifests itself in the taking of his body and embalming him and preparing him for death and wrapping him and spending money on expensive spices and this kind of thing. We're told how to identify ourselves with Jesus. by putting sin to death because he died to sin once, by living to righteousness because he rose again from the dead. Okay, then Colossians 3, beginning at verse 1. If then ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Set your affections on things which are above and not on things which are on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, which is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are on earth. fornication, uncleanness, and inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry, for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience, wherein ye also walked once when ye lived in them. But now put ye away even all these things, wrath, anger, maliciousness, cursed speaking, filthy speaking out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his works, and have put on the new, which was renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. And again, you got the idea. This is how it is we identify ourselves with Jesus. We count ourselves as dead to sin, our life hid with God in Christ. When He appears, we'll appear with Him in glory. And that requires of us the putting of sin to death. and a righteous life, a living in a righteous way. And again, these are always defined for us in the New Testament, how we identify ourselves with Christ. They're lined out for us. They're not optional things and they're not things that are the result of the circumstances of the moment. And again, in the circumstances of the moment, two true disciples, who up until that point had been secret disciples, found the way to identify themselves in their care of the body of Jesus in its burial. This is all revealed for us. We're not in that moment or circumstance. We now have a programmed, revealed way of identifying ourselves with Jesus lined out for us in the scripture. So it's not now a matter of men choosing to identify themselves. Now, I will say, look, there are opportunities in life that present that kind of circumstance. I'm not saying all of that is forever done. There are opportunities in life that present circumstances for testifying that we are identified with Jesus Christ, that we are the disciples of Jesus, and that we give ourselves to him. But the basic outline of our lives, the basic points of identification are lined out for all Christians as a result of the gospel that's revealed and that we have. And that's a common calling for us to this kind of a life as Christians. It's the same in one Christian as it is in the other. All Christians are called to put sin to death. All Christians are called to obey the law of God and integrate that into their life and their lifestyle, to repent of their sins and to seek the power of a righteous life in God himself. And so we're all called to the same thing as a manifestation of testifying our identity with Jesus. It's a common calling, it's a common lifestyle, and again, all revealed in the New Testament. And let's pray. And Father, we do ask that you would be with us in these things, that we might recognize the points of identity to which we are called in the gospel, that you would give us grace, that we might repent of our sins, all of our sins, and the things that we have done that are contrary to your word, what we might recognize and repent of. and that we might recognize the glory and the beauty of your law, your commandment, and seek to integrate that in our lives in all things that we do. That you would bless us in it and lead us by the power of your spirit, and be pleased to manifest the life calling that we have as Christians through the power of Christ. And we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.