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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.
Jesus' Burial
Series Gospel of John
| Sermon ID | 212118043388 |
| Duration | 34:22 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | John 19:38-42 |
| Language | English |
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