Just for clarification, I think it is an utterly despicable thing for you to be on your phones and looking at messages during the church service, but I'll be doing that today. In light of our family concern and care, I want to be in tune. So if in the middle of my sermon, I pick up my phone and start looking at the text, you will understand. But don't you do it. We are in a We're going to finish chapter 19 of the Gospel of John. We have been through such a hard chapter to see our Lord arrested, led away to be brutalized, to be facing unjust trials and before religious trials and civil trials. We've seen the crowds calling for his crucifixion and choosing, given the choice between choosing from a murderous terrorist and the Holy One of Israel. They chose the terrorist to be freed. Jesus condemned to the cross. We've seen him crucified. And in the midst of the crucifixion, we see him thinking of others, offering a prayer, speaking words of encouragement and dispensing his grace. There at the cross, when one cried to him, you know, Lord, remember me in your kingdom. His words today, today, today you'll be with me in paradise. There at the cross in the midst of his pain, in the midst of his sufferings, under the wrath of the father, seeing his mother and caring for her needs, arranging that John would care for her. What a display of grace and mercy toward us. Today we will look at his burial and at the evidences of his death. And there are lessons, John made a point of recording these things. So there's lessons for us to learn. Our text is John chapter 19 verses 31 to 42. I'm going to start at verse 30 though. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. 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 scripture 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 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. 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 lay Jesus because of the Jews preparation day for the tomb was nearby. Verse 31 again says, Therefore, because it was the preparation day that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for the Sabbath was a high day, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the Jewish leaders had gone to Pilate from the beginning and arranged their plot so that they might get the soldier contingency that would arrest Jesus. And then after they had done their religious trial, violating many laws of their own to do it, they brought Jesus before Pilate that he might condemn him because they wanted him crucified specifically. Now they come back to Pilate with another request. that says the next day, which begins at sundown, is a holy day. So that's one thing we have to think. When we think of days, we think of midnight to midnight. In the Jewish and Old Testament way of thinking of the day, it was from sundown to sundown. So at sundown, the Sabbath would begin. Now you might remember the whole process here from noon to three is the time of darkness when Jesus was under the wrath of the father. But at sundown would be the Sabbath, you can do no work, you cannot carry anything let alone a body. And so we're told it was a high day because the day of preparation is preparation with the Sabbath but it was a high day because after the Passover is the beginning of first fruits and so that too is a high holy day. And so because it was an especially sacred day they didn't want to leave the bodies on the cross. They don't want to desecrate things and that goes back to something that we read in Deuteronomy 21. verses 22 to 23. In Deuteronomy 21, 22 to 23 it says, if a man has committed a sin deserving of death and he is put to death and you hang him on a tree, so they're saying as a way of this kind of a further punishment after he's killed they would put the body on a tree. His body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but 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." And so the law required that in the event of a crucifixion or something, They had to bring the body down because to leave it up on a tree or on a cross would defile the land and they didn't want to defy the land. And so they asked Pilate to break their legs. We might think, what is that? What's the point of that? Breaking of the legs hastened death. Because when you're hanging on a cross like that and already scourged and all the other things that go with it, it's very hard to fill up your lungs. continue on breathing, they would press their legs up. And remember, they were nailed, sometimes on a little platform in the center of the cross. And we also see in the Israel Museum, you can see where they actually discovered an ankle bone with a nail through it. So sometimes they would nail them to the sides of the cross. But either way, that became a a help to the sufferer that he could breathe. By breaking his legs, they would die more quickly. They called this chrurifragium. Fortunately, that's more than five letters, so I don't expect to see it in Wordle. But let me read to you one commentary. This crurifragium, or breaking of the limbs, was done by a heavy mallet. And a terrible as such blows would be, if inflicted on a man in health and strength, they would be merciful if they ended quickly the torture of lingering death of crucifixion. So actually, as brutal as that is, considered a mercy because you were making their cross-suffering shorter. But they didn't want it for mercy. They wanted it so those bodies could be dead and taken off so as to not defile the land. I continue to be amazed at these Pharisees and Sadducees, the members of the Sanhedrin, how careful they are about proper purification. Remember these are the ones that criticized Jesus because his disciples didn't wash their hands according to rabbinic tradition. These are the ones who didn't want to go into Pilate's quarters into his palace to make their appeal and deal with the court case and accuse Jesus because to go into a Gentile dwelling would defile them. And now they don't want to leave these bodies on the cross because that would defile the land. Meanwhile their hearts are defiled. They're in grievous rebellion against the Lord God of Israel. So grievous that instead of hearing, following, obeying the Messiah for whom they pray they rejected him and called not just for his not just to ignore him or even banish him but to crucify him. So all worried about this outward conformity is missing the point and that's a lesson for us. It's possible to be very religiously precise. Some churches are very big on every carefully laid out calendar. These are sacred holy days. And you can eat food on these days and not on these days. And whatever it might be, you can be careful about this ritual or that ritual. The proper way to come into the church, the proper way to say a prayer, the proper way to hold your fingers when you do the cross on yourself. You can go through all these outward religious things and a heart that is dead and in rebellion against God. And that's what will fool us. It's very possible to be very religious and sometimes I think it's especially when the heart is dead that it tries to find comfort in the externals. Well I'm okay with God because I've done these things. Are you okay with God because you've turned from your sin and received salvation? Don't think that the rituals are going to do anything if they come from a dead heart. The Old Testament talks about the wretchedness of dead works. In Isaiah we read, all your righteousness is as filthy rags. What righteousness? The externalized righteousness, the religious righteousness. Mr. Spurgeon has some thoughts on this, not surprisingly. On this passage he says, their consciences were not wounded by the murder of Jesus, but they were greatly moved by the fear of ceremonial pollution. Religious scruples may live in a dead conscience. Alas, this is not the only proof of that fact. We could find many in our own day. So one lesson from that is do not be deceived by the outward religiosity of others. More importantly, do not be deceived or satisfied by outward religiosity in yourself. Mr. Ironside said this, here we have a peculiar evidence of the perversity of the human heart, yours and mine. The very men who had shown their utter indifference to the one who came to be the savior of sinners, those who in fact had not only been indifferent to him, but hated him and insisted upon his crucifixion were now very punctilious to carry out the letter of the law. I mentioned the quote from Deuteronomy 21. In Deuteronomy 18 they said, when God sends the one to you, another like Moses, listen to him. They reject that one and worry about the body's issue. They did not realize that their rejection of Jesus was far worse than leaving his body upon the cross on the Sabbath. They had already committed the greatest crime anyone could commit. In the sight of God there is nothing worse than rejecting his son. How many there are today who pride themselves on their loyalty and responsibility who are guilty of this most terrible of all sins. And I just have to say again we can condemn the Sanhedrin for what they were doing. We can condemn our neighbors and family for that religious conformity from a dead heart but we're making a mistake if we don't examine ourselves and say does that apply to me? is going through the motions. Okay, I don't go to a church that has all of those, you know, various rituals that they do. We have no incense and we have a candle. Okay. But maybe your religion is reading through the Bible and checking off. I got it done. I got it done. Or whatever else it might be. I've done these things. I'm not saying that's wrong to read your Bible. Please don't take that out of it. But if it's just an outward conformity instead of an act of the heart, we need to examine ourselves because we see in here a problem not of the Jews or the Gentiles or the Romans or those on the Sanhedrin, we see on this a problem of the human heart that you and I have, that religious activity can anesthetize us, I wasn't sure I could say that word, it was a lot easier than Kru-ru-fragrium, but it can anesthetize us to a guilty conscience. Don't trust in those outward things, trust in the Lord from a genuine heart. Well, they came and asked, please, you know, break their legs so they will die quickly and we can get those bodies off the cross. Pilate granted their request. The soldiers obeyed. They broke the legs of the other two and they came to Jesus and realized he was already dead. Why bother? Frankly, you know, that mallet and all that, that was a hard process. So why bother? One soldier picks up a spear and lunges it into the side of Jesus. And believe it or not, it's a question in history, was it his right side or his left side? I don't see reference to that in scripture, so I will remain silent with scripture. But he picked up that spear and lunged it into his side. Why did he do it? Well, it may have been, let's just make sure he's dead. It may have been just one last mockery to the king of the Jews. Yeah, I speared the king of the Jews. John describes what happened when he did it. He says, immediately, blood and water came out. Now, again, there's been a tremendous amount of discussion on this and I won't trouble you with it. First of all, discussion on what is the significance of it. Some suggest the water and the blood teach us about the two sacraments, baptism and the Lord's Supper. That's one of the things you look at and say, hmm, I don't think I saw that in there. I don't think it was in there. Another one says this is evidence Jesus died of a broken heart. His heart may have broken but he died when he yielded his spirit to the Father. That's the whole point. No one took his life from him. He gave it to the Father. Father into your hands I commend my spirit. Some suggest that the water represents the cleansing of the Holy Spirit, the cleansing by the blood of Jesus. I may be rather simple minded but it seems to me that the water and blood show that Jesus was dead. And I don't know, and there's questions about the anatomy. It may be that in the Lansing, that the pericardium, the sac around the heart was opened and some serum came out as well as the blood. One author I read suggested maybe the stomach was punctured. It doesn't, but I think the issue is I don't think we're supposed to read too much into it. I've spent too much time on it already. What John is telling us is, I watched it, he was dead. He was dead. The death of Jesus, God's Messiah, is such a shocking thought it causes problems to religious people. In the history of religion and the history of the Christian faith there was a cult that denied that Jesus was actually a human. One group that was like that was called the docetists, it comes from the Greek word dakeo which means to seem or appear like. So they thought Jesus was fully God but he only appeared to be a man, in other words that was all an illusion. Well this does not sound like an illusionary death does it? So this is evidence that he was fully, truly man as well as truly God. Okay, so this confirms that truth. And again, in the book of Hebrews, chapter 2, it talks about the fact that Jesus had to become a man to die for man's sin. He didn't die for angels' sin. He didn't die, you know, and a goat and a bull can die and can be sacrificed as a sin offering, but that doesn't really deal with man's sin. It must be a man who dies. for the sacrifice to be appropriate, but it must be God for the sacrifice to be sufficient. And so the docetists are wrong and heretical. They're not part of Christian faith. The Muslims, they call Jesus a prophet and say, God would never, never allow one of his prophets to go through the shame and disgrace of the cross. Well, what do you do with this? And so their answer is that at the very last moment, God made a swap. He made them take Judas and made him look like Jesus. So it was Judas that was on the cross because God would not do that to a prophet. The Jews, your Jewish friend, that's their big struggle. I think Jesus is the Messiah. Well, where's the kingdom? And if he's the Messiah, Why did he die on the cross? That's not what Messiah is to do. Of course if you really read the scriptures, the Hebrew scriptures, actually that's what the Messiah was to do but that's a struggle for the Jews. How can he be Messiah if he suffered? You'll notice if you read through the book of Acts again and again and again, when Paul goes to the synagogue, whenever he went he always started to the Jew first, then to the Gentiles. He would go to the synagogue and he would preach Christ. And one of the first things he would run to the scriptures, the Hebrew, the Old Testament scriptures, and show them, Messiah has to suffer. Because they don't see that. I've told you before that there were actually some rabbis that speculated there were two messiahs, the son of David and the son of Joseph. The son of David is coming to reign, the son of Joseph is coming to suffer because they saw those passages like Isaiah 53. Not two messiahs, one messiah coming twice. But here we see that he had a real body. And he really died. And we see now in verses 35 to 37, starting verse 35, and he who has seen has testified, his testimony is true, and he knows he's telling the truth so that you may believe. So John is using the strongest possible language and saying, I was there. I saw it. And just the way he describes it and even the language makes it very clear, not sought. I'm the one who sees this thing. It is burned on his mind and heart. He will never forget what he saw at the cross. And so you can just hear his passion. I was there. I did see. He wrote as an eyewitness to the details he described are forever there in his mind. Now the testimony of the verse is to underscore the reality of the events and a certainty of the details. Not because we need a graphic account because notice he was merciful. He spared us so many of the details. But he wants us to see that they are true. And I've said it again and again and again. The Christian faith is a historical faith. Often I think of 1 Corinthians 15 there. Paul says, if Jesus is not risen from the dead, We are wasting our time. We are dead in our sins. There is no hope. There is no future. We are under God's wrath, period. It's a historical faith. It's real people, real events, a real Savior who really died and rose again. So John wants us to know it's real events. historical fact, but then he also wants us to see some significance in why he's repeating these specific details. Verse 36 he says, for these things were done with that the scripture should be fulfilled, not one of his bones should be broken. The Jews requested that their legs be broken. Pilate ordered that the legs be broken. They went to one, they went to another. You can see them getting ready to break the legs of Jesus and someone says, wait a minute, he is dead. Don't waste your effort. That wasn't just a coincidence and it wasn't just a nothing thing. John sees it as very important biblically. And he even quotes, not one of his bones shall be broken. One aspect of the fulfillment is the Passover lamb. The Passover lamb, remember what's the first thing John the Baptist said when he saw Jesus publicly? Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Paul will in 1st Corinthians 5 talk about Jesus, he is our Passover. Numbers chapter 9 verse 12, Israel was given instructions about the Passover meal. They shall leave none of it, none of the lamb that they ate until morning, nor break one of its bones. According to all the ordinances of the Passover, they shall keep it. They were specifically told, do not break the bone of the Passover lamb. It would dishonor it, I suppose. And you're saying, this lamb died to save me from the wrath of God. Because remember, they took that blood and put it at a doorpost. And God said, where I see that blood of that lamb, I will pass over that home. The firstborn will not die there. So there's a sense, I think, of respect and dignity for the sacrifice. Well, that sacrifice doesn't begin to compare to the sacrifice of Jesus. He is the ultimate Passover. It was a picture of Christ. And so Jesus' bones were not broken. There's another passage that is described, not just the Passover fulfillment, but in Psalm 34 verses 19 to 20, we read this, Psalm 34 19 to 20. Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He guards all his bones not one of them is broken." God's protection of the righteous servant and Jesus was the righteous servant. And so John looks at that and says look at that the Lord God sovereignly worked that Jesus bones were not broken. There's another way that John points us to Old Testament prophecy in verse 37 he says, again another scripture says, they shall look on him whom they pierced. Notice by the way if you look at your Bible that might have quotation marks or at least it might be in italics that's telling you that's an Old Testament quote. He's quoting Zechariah chapter 12 verse 10, the Lord God Yahweh says this, I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication. Then they will look on me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son and grieve for him as one grieved for a firstborn." In Zechariah 12.10. First of all, you have to notice something absolutely stunning in Zechariah 12.10. It says, they will look upon me whom they pierced. Who's speaking? Yahweh, Jehovah, the Lord God. The Lord God says they will look on me whom they pierced and they will mourn as one mourns for his only son. Zechariah writing 500 plus years, around 500 years before the time of Christ. is here predicting the return of Christ, the second advent, when Israel will come to national repentance and conversion. So right now, there's always a remnant of believing Jews. Paul talks about that in Romans 9, 10, 11. There's always a remnant, but they're the minority. The nation has redacted Jesus, but there's always a remnant. Paul was an example of that. In the end times, at the return of Christ, the nation, the majority nation will repent and believe and trust in him. When he returns, that's the context there. It says, they will look on him they have pierced and mourn. Israel's eyes as a nation will be opened and they will realize We rejected the Messiah. We crucified the Messiah. We might say, well who crucified him? Well, the Jews did and the Romans did and we all did. But they're going to look on him and say, this is what we did. We reject. They will look upon me whom they pierced. The Romans were acting on behalf of the request of the Jews. They're all guilty of his death, but Israel will mourn him in repentance. It's been said, and I've mentioned this a number of times, that the prayer of repentance is Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 is where they express, what have we done? We esteemed him stricken, smitten of God. We thought God's curse was on him, when in fact, he was bearing our curse, our guilt. By his stripes we are healed. Healed from condemnation from their sin. So it's interesting. The broken bones, the non broken bones, look back to the exodus 1500 years before Christ. We call that a type where the sacrifice was a picture of Jesus. It pictured what he would be like, the spotless lamb, the unbroken lamb. Zechariah is looking at least 2,000 years past Christ. And if you want the exact number of years, I'll tell you if you come up to me in heaven and say so. Now we don't know exactly but it's at least 2,000 years. But isn't that amazing? Right in the cross we see predictions that are separated by at least 3,500 years that point to Christ. That's one of the reasons we spend the time on the Passover Seder that we do because it is such a picture of Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We just passed through the Passover season. The Jews right now are in the week of unleavened bread. And how we should pray every time that rolls across the calendar that God would open eyes that they might behold the Lamb of God, truly behold him in faith. But amazingly, and I think that's why John, I don't know if he fully got it there, but eventually he came to understand because remember that Jesus had to take the disciples and go back to Moses and say, let's go over this again and I'll show you. The Messiah had to suffer and he laid it out and he went from Genesis to Malachi in our Bible. He walked them through. But John says I saw those things with my own eyes and right before my eyes he's telling us God was fulfilling prophecy hundreds of years old and I saw it fulfilled right in my very presence. I think that's the picture John's painting for us. And so that's the astonishing thing and so the cross is fulfilling God's purpose and plan. The cross was predicted. Not just predicted though, it was the plan and I've often said it wasn't plan B. If I can speak of another religious group, the Unification Church, Sun Myung Moon. You know, one of the things they when they try to get churches, they try to pull churches into the fold and say, we worship the Messiah. We worship Christ. Oh, wow. We honor Jesus. Wow. But you need to get rid of that cross because the cross is a symbol of failure. Jesus failed his mission. That's why God had to send a second Messiah to be born in Korea, Sun Myung Moon. To them, the cross Says failure. But what did Jesus say about the cross? Tetelestai. Mission accomplished. Paid in full. Victory. Success. Glory. But those who do not know Christ cannot comprehend God's grace at the cross. John and Mary and the women did not understand God's grace at the cross at the time. But when Jesus came back and opened their eyes. John's writing from that perspective. I was there. I saw the horror. And I saw God's glory. And at the time I didn't even know it. Well, we go on then to Christ's burial, also significant. Verses 38 and 39, 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 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 100 pounds. After the death of Jesus, Joseph and Nicodemus went into quick action. Joseph went to Pilate and said, I'd like to get his body. Now he couldn't ask until Jesus was dead. And in fact, the other gospels tell us when he asked, Pilate said, someone go and confirm. And they said, yes, sir, he is dead. The centurion reported back. He is dead. Now, again, if you look at it, we showed last Sunday night some of the layout of the land. It's not very far from, say, the Antonia Fortress to Calvary or from Herod's Palace to Calvary. It's quick, but it looks to me like Joseph and Nicodemus split up. Joseph was to get the body, Nicodemus to get the herbs and spices. Now, again, they are under a real time crunch. because when the Sabbath hits, it's over. You can't buy, you can't carry, you can't do. Now, remember the darkness went till three o'clock in the afternoon. Sundown, we're in the Passover season right now, and so sundown in Jerusalem is about 7.15 p.m. this week. So they had about four hours to scramble. And there's some back and forth but that tells me they already had a plan. Now they got approval to take his cross and bury it. You need to understand normally that's crucifixion was an execution of shame. I mentioned if you're a Roman citizen it was illegal to be crucified. It would bring shame on Rome. And so they continued. Normally the Romans left the bodies on the crosses. A continuing spectacle for days. And then the last thing they wanted was an honoring burial. Sometimes the body was just discarded, sometimes put into a pauper's grave. But an honoring grave, Joseph wanting to bury the body with honor, Pilate approved. I think of at least a couple of things. One more way to stick it to the Sanhedrin. You want him dishonored? Get him a nice grave. But the other thing is, he knew all along Jesus was innocent. He knew all along that he was condemning an innocent man. He did everything he could, and so he knew he didn't deserve the dishonor of the cross. The least he could do is approve not being dishonored in his burial but honored in his burial. So he approved. Now there I'm assuming but those are some things that might have moved him. By the way, when it says 100 pounds, that's 100 pounds in the original text. By our measuring, that'd be about 75 pounds of spices. Have you ever gone to a store recently and bought spices? And they usually get them in this little bottle. And because that little bottle is, you know, lots of money. And perfume, you know, some of you guys may buy your wife this perfume. It's by the court. But they're really expensive stuff, you know. Half an ounce, you sell your car and you can buy it. Perfume was expensive, 75 pounds. The Jewish leaders in the Sanhedrin pretended they were righteous while they were violating the law and rejecting the Messiah. Joseph and Nicodemus were pretending that they were rejecting the Messiah with them while secretly believing in him. They were secret disciples. I think something of what is happening here is, remember Nicodemus, he came at night so no one would see him. One time we're told in John that during the day we're talking about arresting Jesus and Nicodemus very discreetly said, in our law, can you condemn a man without a hearing, without hearing from him? You know, so he just, he would just ask a discreet question and they jumped on him. Are you one of his disciples too? No answer. Joseph, both of them were in the Sanhedrin, both men of honor. Joseph never said anything, but now they're out. Everyone's going to say, did you see that? Joseph went to Pilate. And by the way, I suspect it means he went into the praetorium. It doesn't matter about this defilement issue. I'm talking to Pilate. And he got that permission. And off he went. Yet, you know, he's out. Now they know. Not only that, the tomb is his tomb, on his property. He is so exposed right now. Nicodemus, ride along with him. Again, they're scrambling, it's the Sabbath, and so Nicodemus had to gather up those spices, carry it along. If you're in Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, at least when I was living there, man, a siren would go off. I literally watched where taxis would just go over and stop. Can't go any further. It's over. You know, you can't buy anything. You know, my first week there, I went in the summer, coming from America, you know, I got used to going to the store anytime you want. Forget it on Sabbath. And so it's kind of funny to watch the newbies that were there. They were hungry the first Sabbath. And maybe some kind friends that knew better had purchased more and said, here, I'll let, you know, I'll give you some of my food. But it's, you can't get anything. So they were scrambling. And what they're doing is says in verses 40 to 42, they took the body of Jesus, they bound it in strips of linen with spices as the custom of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden in the garden, a new tomb, which no one had yet been laid. And so there they laid Jesus because of the Jews preparation day for the tomb was nearby. Now it was convenient, it was close, it was available. Again, typical Jewish burial at the time, wrapping in strips of linen. Now the other Gospels talk about they put a sheet of linen around him. They may have torn that up, but that's what you would do is strips of linen and mixed in with it all the spices that would cover up. They did not do embalming. The Egyptians did, but not the Jews. By the way, that's one reason the Jews still to this day, they want a burial within 24 hours. The place of the burial was in a garden. I showed you last Sunday night pictures of the garden tomb, that's what's interesting. Archaeology demonstrates that garden tomb of Calvary's Gordon, of Gordon's Calvary, there was a garden by the tomb carved out of the rock and apparently that all belonged to Joseph. Verse 59, when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his new tomb, which he had hewn out of rock, and he rolled a large stone against the door. of the tomb and departed from there. That's what Matthew 27 verses 59 to 60. That's what tells us it was his tomb in which he laid Jesus and it was new. No one had laid there before, that seems weird. What do you mean no one's been in that grave before? We don't usually think like that. In the pauper's grave, you know, dug into the ground, that would be one thing. But this was a rich man's grave. It was carved into the stone rock, into the stone mountainside. And there were chambers in this, sometimes multiple chambers. I've actually wandered around some of these famous family tombs in Jerusalem area where there are multiple chambers. And in each chamber, there's like a ledge, a shelf. And what they would do is they would go in there and there was actually an antechamber. There was a chamber outside those little chambers inside the tomb where that's where they would prepare the body. And then they would lay it out on one of the shelves in one of the rooms. And there it would sit for a year. And then they would come back in and they would collect the bones. This is probably more than you wanted to know. And they put them in a box called an ossuary. which is also easier than, say, Kruri Fragim. You can see pictures of those in the Israel Museum. I remember looking into one area, and there were these boxes in there. I thought, I wonder if there are bones in there. So that's what they would do. And then that shelf is available for the next family member. So it was a family tomb. But he's saying this is a family tomb, but no one's ever used it. It was brand new. And that was appropriate, you know, with royalty, they didn't get, you didn't, royalty didn't buy a used car. Remember when Jesus came into Jerusalem, he rode a colt that had never been ridden before. Normally, the last thing you want to do. is ride a horse that's never been ridden before. But that's a sign of honor. This isn't some used colt. This isn't some used grave. In fact, often when nobles would come to a town, they would make a new road just for him. This is your road. And so he went into a new tomb. And once again, we see prophecy fulfilled. Isaiah 53 9, they made his grave with the wicked. His plan was to be thrown out with the wicked but with the rich at his death because it does no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth. Isaiah 59 says he was buried even though he was condemned as the most vilest of criminals he was buried with the rich, with honor. And once again fulfilling prophecy, prophecy after prophecy. And you notice these prophecies literally fulfilled. About 20 of them right around the time of the cross. Just some closing thoughts and as we consider this passage. Jesus died. He was truly human and he truly died. In doing that he paid the penalty of sin and the penalty of sin is, Romans 6 tells us, the wages of sin is death. He paid the price by dying in his humanity. The unjust sentencing, the torturous death, the honored burial were all predicted in the Old Testament. It's absolutely stunning. Hundreds of years before it happened, Isaiah says, what other God can predict the future? Now, people can make predictions, right? Because you can always guess. I remember watching the video of one of these online preachers, and he had predicted various things that were going to happen, how the election was going to turn out. And at the end of the year, he kind of did a year in review. And he said, boy, I missed that one. I can't understand. Well, if you missed it, then you were guessing, you weren't prophesying from the Lord God. God's not in heaven thing. I thought for sure that was gonna turn out that way. That's not how it works. God is right 100% of the time and God's prophets are right 100% of the time. And so we see that all of these events are fulfilled in scripture. And that again tells us Not just he was telling us what would happen but it was his plan, it was a plan. God was not caught by surprise, he didn't fail, he didn't stumble, he accomplished his purpose. It's a sad thing to me to read about Joseph and Nicodemus being secret believers. Back in chapter 12 of John we read this, in chapter 12 of John, 42 and 43. Nevertheless, among the rulers, many believed in him, the rulers like the Sanhedrin, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue. Verse 43 is hard. For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. They feared man instead of fearing God. They wanted man's approval. And can we be honest? We all do. We want man's approval. You want proof of that? Look at the clothing people wear. It's kind of funny, especially some of you who have grayer hair or less hair than when you were young. You look at some of the pictures of what your hair did back then or your clothes and say, how in the world did I leave the house wearing that stuff? From some of the older ones, how could I walk without stumbling over those bell bottoms that were four feet wide, you know? How impractical, how foolish, how uncomfortable. Why did I wear it? Because everybody was doing it. We want man's approval. Wow, those are groovy bell bottoms. Well, that's not an evil thing, but that's a picture of the fact we all want man's approval. Boy, we go to work, we like an employer that's going to say us, job well done, especially if there's a check right next to it. Go and buy an island with this. We're really happy with you. We want man's approval. But if we want man's approval more than God's, and too often we do, what will people think if I let them know of my faith in Christ? Because these two strong men, Nicodemus is called the teacher of Israel. Usually we think of a man of wealth and prestige as he fears no one. Joseph was afraid. What will people think? I don't want to get kicked out of the synagogue. I have my seat. Everybody knows that's my seat. What will they think if I'm kicked out? Because of that fear they missed the opportunity to spend three years with Jesus. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? That, I think, filled their hearts with regret. And so in this time, they probably said to each other, let's do what we can. We were fools to be afraid to be identified with Jesus. Well, I'm not going to be a fool now. Nick, let's go. You get the spices, I'll get the body and we're going to show Jesus that we know he's the Messiah and worthy of our love and honor even if it's late. But notice they did it together. One way we can have victory over the fear of man is if we're standing together with each other. If we're standing together with each other. Have you heard the word encouragement? Just look at what the word means. Take away the E-N, courage. To encourage is to build courage into one another's lives. Come on, we can stand together here. Let's do this thing. Let's stand together, encouraging one another, praying for one another. So Nicodemus and Joseph were probably conspiring when they're talking, oh, we can't, if we, oh, we can't, what would our families think? What would the community think? But finally, they got, they encouraged one another and did what was right, but what they missed. John is writing these things that were absolutely incredible that are etched on his mind. The 10 missed it because they were afraid. They weren't at the cross. Judas wasn't there because of the betrayal of the ten because of their fear. John was there. And as hard as it was. Those were some of the most sacred moments in John's life. And that was his gift to the Savior. You want to talk about dangerous. Identify yourself with a man that's being crucified. What's to keep you from being next? But he did it and he was so grateful. So two thoughts that especially come out of this passage to me. Please be warned of the danger of religious conformity. of outward expression. Jesus again and again, he kept talking about, don't look at the outside. What's in the heart? He said, it's not the food that goes in to you that makes you unclean. It's what comes out of your heart, your words. When he was talking about in the Sermon on the Mount, you know, he's talking about, you know, you've heard, you know, don't murder. And you're saying, I haven't killed anyone. In your heart you have, in your mouth you have with your angry words. And so what he was just saying, it's a heart issue. Don't be deceived by someone who goes through lots of motions. Oh, how pious, how religious. I remember one time a friend saying, well, at least you got to give it to the Muslims. They pray five times a day. You want to talk about devotion. But to what? Going through those motions, that doesn't mean anything to God. What's in our heart? What's in our heart? It's a heart relationship with the living God. And then I think we can learn from Nicodemus and from Joseph of Arimathea the blessings we miss if we allow the fear of man to stifle our expression of our faith in Christ. or walk with him and the importance of encouraging one another. Doesn't it encourage you when you come to church to know that you're going to see some others that you know there? Have you ever walked in just a little discouraged to see lots of empty pews? For those of you who were flooded and couldn't come, I'm not talking to you this Sunday. But it is such an encouragement to come in and see together the body, to hear together the singing, to share together with one another. It can be a discouragement to be alone on a pew and two pews between you and the next person. Let's encourage one another. by our presence, by our participation. We're going through a very hard time with grace right now and the encouragement that has come from the body of Christ is strengthening, is comforting to know that we're not alone in our love and concern for her. That's the body of Christ. So savor the opportunity, don't miss it whether it be from fear of man or fear of schedule or fear of missing a game. May the fear of the Lord, the loving fear of the Lord, delight in his presence and share in the joy with his saints. Father, thank you for these sacred moments recorded by John. I can hear his voice as he shares how sacred those sites were to himself, as painful as they were, and yet that he could be with the Savior in his pain and not leaving him alone. Father, how I pray that we might know the joy of communion with you, the joy we bring to you as we gather with the saints, as we gather with you. How I pray, Father, your mercy to any here who might be deceived by going through the motions of religious action instead of walking with the living God. Father, if any here has been deceived by that outward religion, how I pray you'd open their eyes to see and believe. And Father, for those of us who know the Savior, keep us strong and help us to give courage to others. I pray in Jesus' name.