Matthew Pt. 109 - The Buried King

Matthew 27. We're going to read from verse

57. When it was evening, there came

a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph who was a disciple of

Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for

the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be

given to him. And Joseph took the body and

wrapped it in a clean linen shroud, and laid it in his own

new tomb, which he had cut in the rock.

And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and

went away. Mary Magdalene and the other

Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

The next day, that is, after the day of preparation, the chief

priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said,

Sir, we remember how that imposter said while he was still

alive, after three days I will rise.

Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the 3rd day.

Blessed his disciples, go and steal him away and tell the

people he has risen from the dead and the last fraud will be

worse than the first. Pilate said to them, You have a

guard of soldiers, go make it as secure as you can.

So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and

setting a guard. Heavenly Father, thank you so

much for your powerful word that's living and active, able

to divide between our souls and our spirits, able to clarify

things, able to reveal things, able to heal things, able to

apply things. God, I pray that you would help

me as I preach to your precious people, the flock that you love,

to point out what you want them to see.

That they would be able to eat the good food of the Word, that

they would be able to take action because of it.

That they would have deeper devotion because of it, and they

will walk in greater freedom because of it.

Greater holiness, greater maturity.

And that they would be more equipped to do the work of the

ministry, to preach the gospels to all nations and to baptize

everyone, to teach them to obey all that you've commanded.

Thank you for your word, Thank you for revelation and light.

In Jesus name we thank you, Amen.

We have walked through the crucifixion of our Lord and seen

his sacrifice, seen his suffering.

That was all necessary because of my sin.

All necessary because of your sin.

What a savior, what a friend. Jesus cried out with a loud

voice from the cross. Not as a man who is whispering

and suffocating in his final moments, but as a man with great

strength at the end, yelled out it is finished.

And then he said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

And then Jesus gave up his life, still not extracted from him,

even in his final moments. Jesus gave up his life for you.

And now we have the burial of Jesus.

Matthew introduces to us a man named Joseph of Arimathea in

verse 57. When it was evening, there came

a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph who was also a disciple

of Jesus. He's a rich man.

He's a disciple of Jesus. From the other gospels we know

that he is a honored member of the council.

The other gospels also tell us that he had been a disciple of

Jesus in secret for fear of the Jews.

So Joseph of Arimathea has taken some heat over the years because

people said he's a disciple in secret.

He's part of the Sanhedrin, that group of guys.

He was not a part of that earlier this morning, but the

group of guys who was punching Jesus in the face and having the

fake trials and ripping out his beard and harassing him and

spitting in his face. Joseph is a part of that group

of men. Obviously, he no longer

identifies with that group of men.

He is clearly cast his vote finally, thankfully and clearly

today. But Joseph has a lot to lose.

He has position, he has reputation, he has authority, he

has influence, he has access. And because of all that, he has

comfort. And that's the thing that most

people are seeking after. I like comfort.

Do you like comfort? It's not wrong to like comfort.

It's only wrong when it becomes a priority above our devotion to

the Lord. So comfort is fine.

I like, I'm thankful that we have air conditioning running

right now. And as it's going to get warmer

today, we'll still be thankful for our air conditioning.

And yet the people in the Blue Zones don't always have air

conditioning. So keep that in mind.

But he had been a disciple of Jesus in secret for fear of the

Jews. So we could focus on the secrecy

that Joseph has had in the past, and we could blame him for it.

But Matthew shows us something beautiful here.

He shows him. Once Jesus dies, Joseph's

loyalty is fully revealed. He becomes bold.

And when it seems like now is the time to give up on Jesus, if

there was ever a time to not follow Jesus, it would be after

he's dead. And this is the moment when

Joseph double S down and says I can no longer follow him in

secret. Check this out.

This is a guy who doesn't wait for the resurrection to follow

Jesus. A lot of people are waiting for

the resurrection. And what's wild, even after the

resurrection, the disciples still go into hiding.

Remember, they're hiding in the upper room for fear of the Jews.

When the Holy Spirit comes, you've walked with Jesus for

three years. You saw him die.

Oh no, it's all over. He comes back from the dead.

We are so back and you would think they'd be filled with all

the boldness that they would ever need.

They walked with him for 40 days and enjoyed the fellowship of

the risen Jesus, and then they watched him leave the mountain

and fly into heaven. You would think that these guys

would be bold. But now, over the period of 10

days, fear of the Jews creeps in again.

Really dudes? Seriously, Joseph of Arimathea,

Jesus is dead on the cross and Joseph goes I'm all in, I'm all

in on Jesus now bro, this might not be the wisest time to make

your move. Like you don't have to show your

hand right now. Joseph, his devotion shows up

big time. Where are the 11?

Where's Matthew? Why are the disciples not taking

him down from the cross? John tells us of course that

they they still are are fearful and worried.

But here's Joseph, the once secret disciple becomes the

faithful disciple. His boldness increases when

everything else looks most hopeless.

That is some faith. That is some endurance.

That is some love. That is some devotion.

What do you have to gain, Joseph?

Have some wisdom, man. He is no fool who gives up what

he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

Jim Elliott, a martyred missionary, said that he is no

fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot

lose. God has given you certain

advantages and certain gifts in your life.

The purpose of all those is to serve Him.

Some of those, you were born with them, so they feel so

native to you. They feel so common and so

familiar to you. You can think, oh, that's just

me, dear friend, where did you come from?

God built you. God designed you.

You do have gifts. You do have strengths.

You do have things that came preloaded from birth and yet

they were still loaded. If they were loaded, there had

to be a loader. And God is the loader.

He is the gift giver. He is the one who gave you

whatever thing you have, whatever thing you're like, oh,

that's just me, right? Right.

And where did you come from? Did you make you?

Of course not. God built you and God built you

the way He wanted to build you for His purpose and for His

Kingdom. He uses all things.

He wants to use all things for His purposes.

For Joseph, he uses this man's wealth and his prominence.

Joseph is a rich man. Every gospel writer who

references Joseph references that he was a rich man.

Why did that matter? Well, prophecy is also plainly

being fulfilled here from Isaiah 53, so we'll get into that

later. But also they're pointing out

this is who he was, and this was the gift that he had to bring.

You've got gifts to bring. For Joseph, it was his wealth.

For Esther, it was her beauty. For Paul, it was his Roman

citizenship, his Jewish training, and his sharp mind.

For a little boy, it was his bread and the fish that he had

for lunch. You've got something, but will

you surrender it to the Lord is the question.

You've got a lot of somethings. Well, I don't think I've got

this. I don't think I've got that.

Don't compare. Don't wish for somebody else's

gift, don't wish for somebody else's blessing.

Be faithful with what you've been given and then give it to

the Lord. All I have is this tiny little

lunch. The Lord will use it.

The Lord will use it and it could go down in history if

you'll surrender it to the Lord. But your priority should not be

to go down in history. Your your priority should be to

surrender it to the Lord. Lord, I'm genuinely yours.

I'll genuinely be whatever you want me to be.

I'll genuinely do whatever you want me to do.

There was a long season of life. I haven't prayed it as regularly

I should. There's a long season of my life

where I would regularly pray the prayer.

Lord, I'll do anything you want me to do.

I don't care if you want me to clean septic tanks with

teaspoons. I'm yours.

And I meant it. I meant it.

I meant it. I meant it and I still mean

that. If the Lord want to say no more

salt church, no more family, Captain, I want you to just

vanish and no one ever hears from you again.

If that pleases you. What else would I want to do

anyway? You will be most pleased when

you love the Lord and you're walking to fellowship with him.

You'll be most pleased to please him.

When you're not most pleased to please him, then you do get in

the problem, in the trap of measuring.

And what might others think? What might others expect?

What are my dreams? Well, my dream is to please him.

And if my dream is to please him, then that's always going to

be satisfactory to me. You got gifts.

They are here for you to worship with.

That is the point of the gifts that God has given you.

Look in verse 58. This man brings his gift, his

strength, his influence. He's an influential man.

He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.

We don't know if Pilate would have given the body to just

anyone, asking any other disciple, asking if a fisherman

comes up, if a tax collector who's actually turned against

Rome now and not working for them and come.

We don't know what would have happened.

But maybe, maybe Joseph, Joseph's influence is making a

difference in this moment. He knows he's a powerful man.

He's a part of the Sanhedrin. He can come with some

prominence. He can come with some influence

potentially. We don't exactly know why.

Maybe Pilot is still a bit spooked by the whole occasion

and he's going, yes, that's fine, I'll let you do that.

You can honor this Jesus. Not because Pilot is a

compassionate or kind man. He's neither.

The pilots in Jerusalem because of Passover, people are going to

know exactly what Joseph is doing.

He can't do this in secret anymore.

He's done being a secret Christian.

You should be done being a secret Christian pilot.

Joseph is done being a secret Christian.

He's all in on Jesus. By asking for for the body of

Jesus, Joseph is publicly identifying himself with the

crucified Christ. He's willing to sacrifice his

reputation, his standing, his future, and maybe his safety

because he wants to honor the Lord Jesus.

This is loyalty. This is devotion.

Even when Jesus looks defeated, Joseph's not done with Jesus.

I'm still in for Jesus. That has always been the

attitude that I've sought to to convey to my own family and my

sons in particular. That's also been the attitude

I've always wanted to convey to you as a church.

If it's not Jesus, it's nobody and it is Jesus.

But if it ain't Jesus, it's nobody else.

If it's not Jesus, it's nobody else.

It's nothing else. It's got to be Jesus and

thankfully it is Jesus. I was talking to somebody this

week. If you guys seen the news cycle

about, hopefully not because you're not watching the news.

So this is how I had to find out about because people have to

call me and tell me stuff. That's the best way to get the

news instead of hearing it from the news shows.

But the White House released information about the UFOs and

all this stuff and all this nonsense.

Short version from your pastor, it's demons.

OK, spoiler alert, it's just demonic.

Do you have an explanation for all the details, pastor?

No, I do not. And still I stand with

confidence. Before you say it's just demons,

Christians, we've dealt with demons for a long time.

They're not a formidable foe. Christ has crushed them and

conquered them. But this person was sharing with

me. They were saying, by the way, I

don't subscribe to anything I'm about to share with you.

And if you do, I can live with that.

That'll be all right. But this person was saying,

here's what's going on. And the demons have been

working. And they're, they're trying to

like create bodies so that they can inhabit because demons want

a body to control. And I'm going, OK.

And they're like. And so they're like trying to

manufacture human bodies or some sort of body that they can

present to the world. And there's these group of

pastors apparently who met with some officials.

And like, at this point, you're like, this rabbit hole is kind

of going farther, in my opinion. And but these pastors are really

concerned because they're saying these demons are going to

present like in the sky. And they're going to have like a

being in the sky. And they're going to say, like,

this is Jesus and he's come to return.

And they're saying that many Christians are going to be

deceived by this. And I was like, well, first of

all, I think that's a stretch. And I don't think it's going to

happen. Second of all, if it does, I

ain't following no Frankenstein demon critter in the sky, it's

only Jesus. But Jesus even warned us about

nonsense like this. He says if they say he's out in

the fields, do not believe it. And if they say come, he's in

the inner rooms, do not believe it.

What are you getting at, Pastor? I just want you to be faithful

to the real Jesus. And if you know your Bible,

you'll always know him that you won't have to be worried about

any. What if?

How will I know if you'll know? It'd be like, what if somebody

else comes into my house? How will I know if it's Natalie

or not? I'll know.

I'll know. I know her in the biblical sense

as well. I know her all the way.

And if you know Christ, you'll know Christ.

Will many people be deceived if some nonsense like that

happened? I bet they would, because it'd

be like, wow in the sky. He's saying these things like, I

don't know how any of that nonsense could work.

The world's weird and it's getting weird fast, even weirder

by the minute. So sure, anything could happen.

And yet I just want you to keep your eyes focused on the actual

Jesus of the Scriptures to stay devoted and to stay grounded in

the word of God. And if you will stay grounded in

the word of God, you're safe and secure because the book of God

is safe for the common man to pick it up, to read it, to

believe it and obey it and be super secure.

God wants that kind of simple faithfulness.

You can, you can go to the Forrest Gump University for your

theology and you'll be safe. You will, you will land in the

eternal Kingdom and you'll go, God is, I'm not a smart man, but

I know how to read and I have basic reading comprehension.

And that will keep me grounded. That will keep me faithful, that

will keep me secure, that will keep me from all kinds of winds

of doctrine or all kinds of Christian fads.

Did you know they're Christian fads?

There are things that spiral in the body of Christ and they just

come back around every few decades.

And when it happens again, people think this is an

incredible new thing. But for those who have been

around for a couple of decades in the body of Christ life,

we've seen this before and it'll make its pass through again.

But we've got to just stick faithful with the simple basics.

That'll keep us safe, that'll keep us secure.

Y'all got to hurry up and listen.

This is loyalty. This is devotion from from

Joseph. So what's going on?

Remember Jesus crucified on the Friday, He is the Passover lamb,

the final and the true Passover lamb, whose sacrifice for the

sins of the world so that the death Angel will Passover you

and I and we will be spared and we will enter into the promised

land. Remember, the whole Bible's

about Jesus. So all that's been preaching

about Jesus, but you've got to be ceremonial ceremonially.

You know what I'm trying to say? Like I said, Forrest Gump

University over here, you've got to be ceremonial.

Ceremonial ceremonially. Thank you.

There. There was a syllable.

I was missing that word. You've got to be clean to be

able to participate in the Passover.

The same thing is true for the Sabbath.

So the Jewish Sabbath is Saturday.

So the day of preparation is Friday, the day before.

So you're preparing. The day of preparation is

Friday. You're getting ready.

Hey, we got to get ready for Friday night because Friday

night at sunset, Sabbath begins, and Sabbath goes from Friday

evening at sunset until Saturday evening at sunset, and that is

the Jewish Sabbath. But we've got to do all kinds of

preparations because there's certain things we're not going

to do during the Sabbath. So doubly though, because it's

Passover and because of the Sabbath, there's all kinds of

stuff that we wouldn't do. Touching a dead body is a big

no, no. You will be ceremonially unclean

if you touch a dead body. What's?

What's Joseph doing? He's not going to be able to

participate in the Passover. He's not going to be able to

properly participate in the Sabbath.

Oh my goodness, he's breaking some rules, isn't he?

He's willing to give up religious comfort.

He's willing to give up social acceptance and personal

convenience. Why?

Because Joseph has chosen the true Passover lamb.

Earlier in the morning, many in the Sanhedrin, they didn't want

to, the scripture told us they didn't want to divide, defile

themselves. Remember, they wouldn't even

enter into the headquarters where Pilot was.

So Pilot's like, I got to go outside and talk to these guys

because like we, we cannot go inside where Pilot is because we

want to be ceremonially clean, because we're such a man of

holiness as we crucify the Son of God.

Joseph's not worried about that. He goes into Pilot's

headquarters and meanwhile, while the rest of the Jewish

people, others are gathered at this time of the evening, Jesus

dies. At 3 O clock, Joseph goes to

pilot. This is all walking.

This is not Uber. This is not any kind of fast

trip back and forth, back and forth.

We don't know what time it is in the evening, but he goes to

Pilot and he asks for the body of Jesus entering into pilot's

headquarters. While others are gathering and

eating the dead lambs of Passover, Joseph is with the

true Passover lamb, and he's handling the body of the Lamb of

God. What opportunities do you have

to be like Joseph? Make it plain for yourself.

Where do you have an opportunity to be more loyal, to be more

faithful, to be more sacrificial, to be more devoted,

to be more bold? This is bold.

I love the boldness of Joseph, of Arimathea.

This is boldness. Where are the 11 apostles of the

lamb right now? Maybe they're around, but the

Scripture doesn't name them as being around.

We know John was at the cross because Jesus told Mary and John

to care for one another. But we don't get the sense that

the disciples are caring for their rabbi, their master, and

their Lord. Who?

Peter said You're the Son of God, Peter.

Where are you, man? Joseph's got him.

What does it cost you to follow Jesus?

I've told you before, if you have not left something to

follow Jesus, then you're not following Jesus.

If you have not turned away from something to follow Jesus, then

you are not following Jesus. You cannot follow Jesus and you

can only follow Jesus only. So to follow Christ means other

things fell off and other things ended and other things stopped.

It might be relationships, it might be people, it might be it

certainly will be sins, but there are all kinds of things

that Jesus would say give it all up.

Not even sinful stuff. The rich young ruler comes to

Jesus and goes, come follow me. And he goes, oh, I got all these

mini possessions and he goes away sad because he wouldn't.

He wasn't willing to give up. It wasn't sinful in particular

necessarily, but Jesus said it was something that he asked for.

What have you left behind? What do you need to leave

behind? Joseph's leaving the Sanhedrin,

this power, this prominence, this position, and what's going

to happen with this whole Jesus movement?

Now Jesus is dead. Where the where's the 11?

What's Joseph banking on? What's he counting on for the

future? What's your Sanhedrin, what's

your power that the Lord is asking you to surrender to him?

Joseph also gives him his tomb. So Joseph has prepared for his

own burial. He's paid someone to dig out a

tomb. Most likely, probably not,

probably didn't dig it out himself.

So he's paid for his tomb to be created and now he's gone,

giving that to Jesus as well. Of course, Jesus just borrowing

it. But a tomb could not be used by

multiple people. Jewish law would have prevented

that Jewish tradition and customer to stop that.

The disciple of Jesus should be able to point to things in their

lives and say, yes, I walked away from that to follow Jesus,

not to brag, not to say I've earned something or I've done

something special. The attitude should be, of

course I turned away from that. I got Jesus instead.

Of course I walked away from that relationship.

Of course I walked away from that sin.

Of course I made this thing in my life available to the Lord.

It was always his And when I, when he saved me, I finally

realized that was always its purpose.

We've told our sons, even when they were younger and, and they

were less refined, you might think, Joe Michael, they still

got refinement to go well, don't we all?

But even when a child is less refined, you can start to see

their strengths and you can start to see their weaknesses.

But even a strong willed child, and we've had a couple of those,

we've had a few of those, I don't know where they get it

from. So even if you have a strong

willed child, that's not something that you want removed

from that child. That's something that you want

guided. And that's something I've told

my son, Son, you are strong willed.

You have this strength inside of you and that is to be harnessed

for the Kingdom of God, because you will need to turn against

the world and the whole world and the current of the river

will be pulling and you will need that strength to walk in

under the authority of the Lord. There are authorities that you

should disobey, my son. There are social authorities

mostly that you should disobey. But all this strength is to be

guided towards the Lord. Do not use this strength against

me and Your Mama. That would be devastating for

your life. That would be disobedience to

God. But this strength will be

needed. So we don't want to remove that

from him. But it does need to be guided.

It doesn't need to be harnessed. And he doesn't need the fear of

God in him. A young man, a young girl, they

need the fear of God in them to go, hey, everything you are and

everything you have needs to be cultivated, shaped and

sharpened. This is a sword, but you're

foolish with it, and it's not even very sharp.

I need you to train with it and become skillful with it, and

then we will sharpen it even more.

And then it can be useful for the Kingdom of God and you can

be dangerous against the devil. That's the purpose of your

strength. That's the purpose of your

abilities. Of course, everything I have,

the disciples should be able to say is available to the Lord.

Some would call it sacrifice, but how could I call it

sacrifice? I've gained so much.

Paul said it best. He said everything I have, which

was a lot. Paul is so brilliant.

The apostle Paul was a brilliant, brilliant man.

We kind of can potentially lump all Jesus's apostles and

disciples being like, yeah, we had fishermen in there.

Like if they weren't all fishermen, like Peter was not.

Peter was not trained until he got to Jesus.

His training was under Jesus, which is the best training,

obviously. But Paul had a lot of education.

He was very brilliant, very intelligent, spoke multiple

languages. How many anybody know?

It was multiple. I want to say 5.

I think we, we've been able to determine.

Tell me if I'm wrong so I can look it up at some point.

But Paul says everything I've got, everything I am.

All my success, all my power, all my authority.

I count it as a pile of dung compared to the greatness of

knowing Christ. That's what it is.

And he and he showed it all the way through.

All the way through. He's like the prophets even told

him. Paul, here's how you're going to

be tied up. Here's how you're going to be

LED away. You're going to be killed.

They're going to cut your head off.

And Paul's like, yeah, it's all good.

I'm looking forward to the crown that I'm going to get from it

all. Joseph is that kind of man.

Joseph is the man who found the treasure in the field.

When you find a treasure in the field and nobody knows that it's

buried in the field, you might look like a fool celebrating all

by yourself. But you know what's there even

if it's buried. Somebody Googling right now.

Siri, shut up. Joseph knows what he's got.

He found the treasure in the field, which is Jesus.

Joseph buries the treasure, Jesus.

He sells everything that he has his power, and Joseph's treasure

is going to be resurrected in three days.

He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he

cannot lose. Verse 59 And Joseph took the

body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud.

We actually know that Joseph is not alone here.

The book of John tells us that Nicodemus is with him.

Remember that Nicodemus John 316 Nicodemus Nicodemus also came to

Jesus in secret for fear of the Jews.

He came to him out. Can I meet with you at night,

sending a message? Can we come talk privately?

Jesus, what's going on? I think you're the one.

But ma'am, I don't know what to make of all of it.

Jesus, who wasn't super gentle. Nicodemus, you're supposed to be

a leader of Israel, and you don't understand these things.

Correcting him with firmness. I expect more.

I expect better. You ought to recognize me.

It's me, the one that you're supposed to be waiting for.

Nicodemus, you must be born again.

And Nicodemus goes, what do you mean?

Can a man be born a second time? Can a man go into his mother and

be born? No, Nicodemus, that which is

born of the flesh is of the flesh, but that which is born of

the spirit is of the spirit. You're born once out of your

Mama. The second time you must be born

again. You're born out of the Holy

Spirit. That is the new birth.

It's that Nicodemus that joins Joseph here.

Nicodemus is also saying I'm done with the Sanhedrin, I'm out

on them and I'm all in on Jesus, but they're all in on the dead

Jesus. What do they believe?

I don't know. I don't know if they're really

expecting the resurrection. I'm not sure.

But I love them for it and I'm thankful for it and they're

fulfilling the prophecies. I don't think they're doing it

on purpose. I think it's the foreknowledge

of God told us what would happen, and these men are

walking out what seemed right and good to them in that day.

And the Lord prophesied it through the prophet Isaiah that

this is how it was going to happen.

So now Nicodemus comes. Nicodemus brings costly spices

to honor the crucified Christ and to care for his body.

Joseph and Nicodemus, both men who had reason to be cautious,

now publicly identify with Jesus when it looks like there is

nothing left to gain. This is real faith being brought

into the light. They had come quietly before,

but now their loyalty is going public.

Jesus looks defeated, and they are more willing than ever to

honor him. This is what Christian baptism

is all about. I want to publicly identify.

I want to publicly declare. I want to publicly say I'm

identifying with the Lord Jesus Christ.

I love him, He saved me and now I follow him.

Usually crucified men would be left on the cross to decompose

as a warning and as a threat. Deuteronomy told the Jews and

gave Moses, the Lord gave Moses as a law.

If any man is killed and hung on a tree, he has to be taken down

before sundown because he's a he's cursed by God.

So maybe that's their motive is here as well as like we want to

take care of Jesus. But often times the the Romans

don't care about any of that. The Romans would often leave

people on the cross like it's just extra work for them.

Let these bodies decompose. The birds just come pick it.

I mean, it's a it's a horrific and filthy thing.

So you don't just have to hear this guy dying on the roadside

or wherever they've crucified him.

But no one's allowed to touch him and the Romans just leave

him up there and you're not going to tell.

This was a most likely an awful criminal in many cases.

Sometimes if the Romans removed them they would throw them into

a mass common grave, but many were left to be devoured by wild

animals. Here.

What do we have? Nothing like that.

Instead, Joseph and Nicodemus. They took the body and they

wrapped it in a clean linen shroud.

Linen was expensive. Jesus died the death of a

criminal, but these two men would not let their Savior be

thrown away like garbage. They were going to honor Him and

care for his body. Scripture fulfilled again,

Matthew meticulously shows Isaiah 53, nine.

And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in

his death, although he had done no violence and there was no

deceit in his mouth. So his death with the wicked

being he's dying with men on the cross and a rich man in his

death He's placed in the rich man's tomb.

Just another reminder about prophecy.

It's always easier to interpret it after it happened.

I always give you that reminder because I know end times is an

exciting subject. You should be excited about the

return of the Lord. But again, all the verses that

how would how would you and I have applied that Would you have

been able to read Isaiah 53 nine and go he's going to die on a

cross between two sinners and then a rich man will bury him in

his own tomb. I don't believe that you would

have been to come to that precise of a conclusion.

That's my suspicion about the return of the Lord as well, that

some of our conclusions aren't can't be as precise as we may

think. His body sees no decay.

That's another prophecy fulfilled from the Psalms.

And remember, Jesus didn't have to make any of this happen by

micromanaging his disciples. Hey guys, make sure after I die

this happens, this happens, this happened.

So all scripture can be fulfilled.

Jesus is remarkably at ease, especially looking at

knuckleheads right up to his last few minutes when they're

still getting it wrong. And even at his last meal with

them, he comes in and he sees that no one has washed anyone's

feet. And he goes, OK, let me teach

the boys again. Like I would think as a leader,

if I'm getting ready to, even if I still don't, even if I don't

have to die, if I'm like resigning from my company as CEO

and I'm appointing someone else and I'm never going to come back

again. Like I would hope at that last

meeting, I would look around and see mastery and excellence,

right? I would hope, like everybody is

so squared away and this thing is in awesome hands and Jesus is

looking at these twelve. Wow.

I mean, that's crazy. They got this, Jesus, another

three years would be really good.

Another 30 would be even better. I, I don't, I don't know if, if

we're really there yet. Of course he knows he's coming

back in three days and he knows he's going to be there for 40.

And then he knows that he's going to send the Holy Spirit

and he knows his plan is perfect.

His plan is enough because the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus.

The Holy Spirit's just like Jesus and you and I are sitting

here today because of those 11 who were then faithful.

So Jesus doesn't have to micromanage his disciples.

He doesn't have to say, please make sure this prophecy gets

fulfilled. No, we praise God who sees the

beginning from the end. Man does what man freely does,

and God fulfills every word that he has spoken.

Verse 60 And he laid this body, He laid it in his own new tomb,

which he had cut in the rock, and he rolled a great stone to

the entrance of the tomb and went away.

Joseph gives Jesus the best. He gives them his own tomb.

This was costly, this was personal.

What does that look like for you?

What do you have reserved for yourself?

That's, that's mine, that's mine, that's mine, Lord, that's

for me, Lord and Lord's going. Could I have it?

Is there anything you're keeping for yourself that the Lord is

still asking for? Spoiler alert, the answer's yes.

The Lord's always going to call you to deeper surrender, more

maturity, and further growth. So now there's a stone in front

of Jesus. But of course, man can't really

put anything in God's way. The stone will be rolled away.

God will reveal openly that nothing can stop His plan.

If death itself cannot beat Jesus, then this boulder is not

going to be a problem. Verse 61, Mary Magdalene and the

other Mary where they're sitting opposite the tomb.

So this other Mary is one of the mothers of one of the James's.

So we've got of the 12 disciples, there's 2 James and

there's James the Greater and James the Lesser, as they're

often called, probably the mother of James the Lesser as we

put all of our context clues together.

Not the brother of Jesus who is not one of the 12, another

James, lots of James's to keep up with.

That's the James who's the pastor, ends up being the pastor

in the Church of Jerusalem. So these women, though they

stay, they're watching, they're grieving, they're near the body

of the Lord as they go through a great test.

There are great, there are great tests to your faith.

There are great tests to your faithfulness.

Joseph is being tested. We see how Joseph responds.

We see how the women respond. How do you respond when things

don't go your way? That is the measurement of my

maturity. That is the quick test to tell

me exactly where I'm at, not how much knowledge do you have, John

Michael? How do you respond when things

don't go your way? The way you wanted them to go,

the way you prayed for him to go, the way you were trusting

for them to go in the timeline that you thought they were going

to go. We're finding out where you're

really at in this moment, John Michael, what happens in your

heart when your prayers are not answered in the way that you had

hoped or in the timeline that you expected?

What happens to your faithfulness?

What happens to your obedience? What happens to your walk with

the Lord? We saw what happened with Judas.

I'm out of here. This is not what I thought it

was going to be. This is not what I signed up

for. I thought our plan looked

different. I had a different Savior in

mind, so no thanks. Let me see what I can get out of

this. Let me line my pockets while I

destroy my soul. Do you think the Lord is being

cruel to you? Or do you actually know that God

is truly good and that the bad things that are happening in

your life happened because the world is broken, the devil is

bad, and sowing and reaping exists.

There are consequences for my actions.

There are consequences for your actions, even decades long.

There are consequences decades long, and God is still good, and

God still loves you, and he's still with you, and he's still

forgiving. And also consequences can ask,

can last decades. Ask David, the man after God's

own heart. And God loves David, and God

loves you, and sowing and reaping is still a thing.

Whatever a man sows that shall he also reap.

God will not be mocked. Many Christians become

shipwrecks, and they seem to be shocked when their lives go

through storms. And it ought not be that way.

We ought to suffer better than anybody.

We ought to suffer well. For some reason, many Christians

think that they'll never have storms, but it's because they

misunderstand the goodness of God.

They think every single thing that happens to them is what God

wanted to happen to them. But we know that that cannot be

true. Does God want you to sin?

Say no. Do you ever sin?

Say yes. Wait a second, I thought God was

sovereign? Of course God is sovereign.

God rules and reigns with all authority everywhere and he is

established and built things to function in the way that he is

chosen for them to function. And that gives me the ability to

make stupid decisions, not pre programmed, not orchestrated by

him. Don't good things sometimes come

out of that? Oh, I'm so glad you brought that

up. Yes, they do, because God is

good. That is the principle of

resurrection. When Joe Michael creates death

in his life with his sin, with his stupidity, with the

brokenness of the world, not even things that I've done

wrong, just things that happen, tragedies that happen.

Can God bring good out of them? Of course he can.

But that's the principle of resurrection.

It's not that God did the bad thing to create the good thing.

If that was the case, why would why would there not be bad

things in heaven? Come on, Forrest Gump Seminary

here, simple stuff. Why are there going to be no

tears in heaven if tears are somehow such an important part

of my sanctification? Why will there be no sickness

and disease and tragedy in heaven?

If it is such an important teaching tool of the Master and

it's such an important sanctification?

Does he use it? Can he use it?

Yes and yes, of course. And of course, full agreement.

But does he create it? Your pastor will always found

the pulpit on the subject. God is good and the devil is

bad. And a 7 year old knows the

definitions of those two words. Christians ought to as well.

We have a neighbor in our neighborhood.

How many years ago was it thinking about?

We have a neighbor in our neighborhood.

Most, most folks do. Greg.

Yeah, How many years ago did that tragedy happen to him?

Yeah, six years ago. Anyway, we, a guy moved into our

neighborhood, amputee, quadruple amputee.

And, you know, we got to meet him.

Hey, man, nice to meet you. And he's got a great sense of

humor. Like I was, I don't know what I

was doing with him when they helping him with something.

I was like I said, can I give you a hand?

He said, I'll take two. And it's like, that's my best.

Yeah. Walked right into that one.

But he, he went into the hospital, you know, six years

ago or so and he was sick to know what's going on.

He went unconscious and he woke up and they had to amputate.

He woke up with no arms and no legs.

And they had to do that to save his life.

There was this whole complicated thing in it.

And people go, why would God do that?

My friend? God didn't do that.

The world is broken because of sin.

If Adam had never sinned, do you think God would have just said,

I want Greg to lose his limbs? No, how do we know?

Well, we also look at Jesus. Jesus is perfect theology, and

we can always know what the Father wants as we look at the

life and ministry of Jesus. So we just ask ourselves, how

many people did Jesus amputate? How many got?

How many eyes did he gouge out? How many hands did he cut off?

He talked about doing that figuratively.

You should be willing to crucify sin in your life.

You should be willing to follow Jesus to the point that it feels

like you're gouging your eye out, that it feels like you're

cutting your hand off. Has God done good things in

Greg's life? He absolutely has.

But that's the principle of resurrection.

You can see the bad things in your life, but I don't want you

to have the faulty logic that says I'm so glad that happened.

Because, dear friend, you're glad that God is good and you're

glad that He produced resurrection out of what the

enemy meant for evil. The Lord has turned it for good.

You'll see it all through the Scriptures.

God sees the beginning from the end, because yes, He is

sovereign, but He is also good. God does not want you to sin,

but that also happens. So do you blame God when you

sin? Of course you don't.

God is good and God is for us. God is moving on our behalf.

I don't want you to turn away when things go dark, when it

seems like your life is in the tomb, if it seems like Jesus is

in the tomb, no matter what it seems like or feels like to you.

I don't want you to have the kind of Christianity that

falters because I can't believe it's raining on me.

I'm a Christian. Why would there be rain and wind

and floods coming against me the way the rain and the storm, it

comes against everybody. But if you're built on the rock,

you'll be there when the storm is gone.

That's the difference. We're not living for temporary

motives, we're living for eternal motives.

And that changes how we can endure everything.

God is moving on our behalf even when we cannot see it and cannot

feel it. He is working in this broken

world. He is not weak, He is not

limited. But sin is broken things, the

curse is damaged things. There are consequences in a

fallen world, but thankfully greater is He who is in you then

He who is in this broken and fallen world.

So Jesus is a healer, Jesus is a restorer.

Jesus is a savior. So what happens to your loyalty

and your devotion in dark times, even when all your hope is

sealed behind a stone? Stay faithful, stay near Jesus.

Give up other things and other places and other people for the

one who matters most. The loyalty of Christians to

their Savior should be total. It should be complete.

God loves us with a jealous love.

We should also love Him with a jealous love.

You should be jealous for the glory of Jesus.

When we talk about jealousy, we don't mean you want His glory.

We mean you should be eager for nothing else to get credit

except for Him. That's why you would never

worship some sort of Frankenstein demon critter in

the sky. People listening on the podcast

have no idea what we're making reference to because that came

before the sermon. I said it during the sermon.

I thought it was pre. Oh, it was in.

I don't know. Either way, people listening

online don't worship any Frankenstein demon critters in

the sky. Now you're also secure.

You should be jealous for Jesus honor.

But how do you get to that place to actually care about him and

to actually be jealous for his honor?

By knowing the scriptures and by knowing your God through prayer.

If you do not know the Word of God, you will be tossed around

by winds of doctrine, by fads, by Christian trends, by the news

cycle, by your frustrations, by your own heart sickness, by your

own disappointment. Hope deferred makes the heart

sick. Anybody feel like man?

That's been my life first. But a desire fulfilled is the

tree of life. Where do we go in those dark

moments, though? You need a real walk with the

Lord. Not a little bit of Bible

awareness, not a little bit of reverence, not a little bit of

affection for Jesus, but a living walk where Christ truly

is your life. So you're always anchored.

The storm is blowing other ships into the rocks.

But if you really are walking with God because you know His

Word and because you're walking with Him in prayer, what a

stabilizing force it is for you. Life will have ups and downs,

but your walk with God does not have to.

I'll say it again, your life will have ups and downs, but

your walk with God does not have to.

My life has had ups and downs, ups and downs, but I can tell

you, year after year, my marriage with Natalie has gotten

better and stronger. My life has had ups and downs,

but our marriage, our relationship, our fellowship,

year by year has gotten stronger and stronger.

Life still gets a vote, but this is so good, this is so secure.

What a blessing, what a gift, what a foundation that becomes.

How much more your walk with Christ, your life has ups and

downs. I didn't say your life doesn't

have ups and downs. Of course it does.

But your walk with the Lord can be continued growth.

It can be continued faithfulness, it can be, it can

be increasing glory. Glory to glory was His plan for

you. Verse 62, the next day, that is

the day after preparation. So now we're on the Sabbath,

we're on Saturday, the chief priest and the Pharisees

gathered before Pilate. Sir, we remember how that

imposter said while he was still alive, after three days I will

rise. Therefore order the tomb be made

secure until the 3rd day, lest his disciples go and steal him

away and tell the people he has risen from the dead and the

fraud and the last fraud will be worse than the first.

Pilot said you have a guard of soldiers, go make it secure as

you can. So they went and made the tomb

secure. Oh, it's secure now.

This tomb is secure, everybody. They sealed it with a stone and

they set a guard. So the chief priests and the

Pharisees, they go to Pilate. They've probably heard now about

what their boy Joseph Arimathea of Arimathea has done and what

Nicodemus has done. They're like they were with

Jesus. That explains why they gave us

pushback here and there. And there was they buried him.

The disciples are going to set up to steal his body.

So they're going, we got to go. We got to go to work now.

We got to go meet with Pilate. This is so important to them.

The disciples heard Jesus say that Jesus would be raised.

The religious leaders heard it too.

They're more concerned about it than the disciples.

It seems. They call him the deceiver.

These men have prideful hearts. They cannot be reasoned with.

There's no amount of explanation, patience or

evidence or clarity that will provide, that will persuade a

heart that is determined not to believe.

Some hearts have determined not to believe.

Oh no. Do we give up on them?

Of course not. But you do give up arguing with

them. You do give up the the

reasonable dialogue that you have attempted many times and

you labor for them in prayer. Has it come to that?

Pastor Chris Morgan used to say that whatever you I've tried

this. I'll try this, brother.

I guess I should pray about it. Has it come to that?

Wow. Oh no, I guess.

I guess it's time to pray. Things are really getting tough

around here. Man, if only I'd started there

and not been an idiot and tried to solve things on my own.

These men claim that they're going to prevent some kind of

fraud. All they did was help our case.

All they did was help everything.

They put more witnesses there for the resurrection.

Again, they thought that God was going to be useful in their

scheme. Instead, they were useful in

his. The devil is always afraid of

Jesus, by the way, even in his death.

So they seal the stone and they post the guard.

And of course, now Jesus is really stuck, right?

There's a big rock. They use a clay seal.

So they would put a big lump of clay around it, maybe around the

whole thing, and then they would seal it.

So it would like be big time illegal to break the seal of,

you know, of the Romans. And there's trained soldiers.

So there's a Roman guard here present that pilot made

available. The Lord of Glory was going to

rise from the dead, but now he's really stuck, man versus God.

What an epic showdown. No, of course not.

This is foolishness, and even the foolishness of God is wiser

than the wisdom of man. Nothing will stop your God,

Christian, Nothing ever has, and nothing ever will.

Be bold and be joyful for him. And when you face those that are

full of unbelief, pray for them and tell them why you have the

hope that you have inside of you.

And let me remind you, you do not have the hope within you

because you studied the Shroud of Turin.

You have hope because God placed that hope within you.

He brought light, He brought revelation, and He brought

freedom. You're allowed to look into the

shroud if you'd like to. It's interesting.

But that's not what brought you to Christ.

And we're closing. So what are you supposed to do

today? You're supposed to keep

believing your God. Believe that nothing can stop

him. And remember that your faith

matters. Your faith has to engage with

the Lord. Everything that the Lord wants

to happen does not automatically happen.

Do you have evidence of that? Good grief, yes, I do.

Go read your whole Bible. Let me ask you something.

When the Israelites marched around the walls of Jericho and

they shouted, was it their shout and the reverberations of their

voice that hit the wall and then somehow made those walls

crumble? It wasn't.

What was it that made the walls of Jericho fall down?

It was the power of God though, right?

God made the walls fall down. It was like the Lord shoved the

walls into the ground. Would those walls have come down

if the people of Israel had not marched around and obeyed the

Lord? Of course not.

Over and over. You see this pattern in

Scripture. Can the Lord do anything He

wants? Yes.

Has the Lord chosen to interact with our faith?

Of course, absolutely he has. Jesus came down off the mountain

of Transfiguration after being talking with Elijah and Moses

about his death, about his crucifixion, about his

departure. He comes down, the disciples had

not been able to drive a demon out of a demon possessed boy.

And he says, Lord, if you can do anything, please help.

And Jesus didn't go, Oh my goodness, yes, I can and I'm

here to help. He corrected the man immediately

and said if you can believe all things are possible for those

who believe instantly. It's no if on me buddy.

Your ifs in the wrong spot. God, if you can help stop that

prayer. Lord, help me believe.

I am struggling with unbelief right now.

Take that prayer to him. I don't have I don't have a

prayer of faith. OK, then take that prayer to him

and let him massage it and work it and reform it and turn it

into a prayer of faith. Like David, like your Psalms,

they start with, Oh God, where are you?

You grind my teeth, you fill my mouth with gravel.

You know, all this doubt, unbelief and fear, and then we

end in gospel proclamation, trusting in the Lord.

If you can believe all things are possible for one who

believes, God will keep his word.

And your faith matters. Your faith counts.

Which is it? Is God going to do what He's

going to do no matter what? Well, I can tell you at the

resurrection that day, Yes, yes, and yes, there are still things

where God will just do in His mercy and in His greatness.

He's just going to do it no matter what.

But that is not His normative instruction in your Bible.

You don't get to pick when He does what He's going to do no

matter what. His normative instruction is to

interact with our faith and our obedience.

Of course, you have a part to play.

God is powerful. Your God is moving.

Your God is faithful, and God has chosen to interact with your

faith. He delights in your trust.

He delights in your obedience. He delights in your loyalty, and

he rewards it. So when your hope looks buried,

when you have stones that seem like they're sealing your life,

and when the enemy says that it's over, stay loyal to Jesus

because nothing can stop the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is the resurrection and he is the life.

Heavenly Father, thank you that we get to read this story from

this side of history. We get to look back knowing that

our King is raised, the victorious king who has already

won the victory, who has already conquered sin, who has already

conquered death. In his death, he conquered

death, and in his resurrection he reigns forever to live.

He lives forever to reign over us.

God, I thank you for courage. Pray that you would continue to

encourage us. Fill us with courage,

expectation, and faith, not just for ourselves, but for others.

God, send us as missionaries now that we would carry boldness,

that we would carry prayers of faith, that we would not only

see our difficulties and trust you, but we would see the

difficulties of others, and then we would lead them closer to

you. God, I pray for those who are

walking with you that you continue to boldly send them out

as workers in your harvest. And for those who are not yet in

the Kingdom, God grant them repentance now that they will

call upon your name, that they would love you, that they would

seek you, that they would walk with you, that they would enjoy

you. Now make us like Joseph of

Arimathea, make us like Nicodemus.

Make us like the women, the Marys at the tomb, loving,

devoted, loyal and faithful. Keep us as close to you as we

could possibly get. In Jesus name we thank you and

now the Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face shine down upon you and be gracious to

you. The Lord lift up his countenance

upon you and give you great peace in Jesus name, Amen.