["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Good evening and welcome to Verity Baptist Church.
Can I please have everyone find their seats and grab their songbooks and turn to page
number 22.
We're going to start the service off singing, Are You Washed in the Blood?
Please find your seats and grab your songbooks and turn to page number 22.
That's page number 22.
We're going to sing, Are You Washed in the Blood on the first.
Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
Are you fully trusting in his grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the lamb?
Are your garments spotless, are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
Page number 22, let's sing it out on the second.
Are you walking daily by the Savior's side?
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
Do you rest each moment in the crucified?
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the lamb?
Are your garments spotless, are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
When the bridegroom cometh, will your robes be white?
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
Will your soul be ready for the mansion's bright and be washed in the blood of the lamb?
Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the lamb?
Are your garments spotless, are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
Let's sing it out on the last.
Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin,
and be washed in the blood of the lamb.
There's a fountain flowing for the soul unclean,
you'll be washed in the blood of the lamb.
Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the lamb?
Are your garments spotless, are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
Great singing, let's open up with a word of prayer.
Father God, thank you so much for this church, Lord.
Thank you for these people who come out here on a Wednesday evening to serve you.
I pray that you bless the singing, I pray that our singing will glorify you, Lord.
I pray that you bless the preaching and the service to come.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
All right, if you'll flip a couple pages back and turn to page number 19,
we're going to sing There is a Fountain.
Page number 19, There is a Fountain.
Page number 19, and let's sing it out on the first.
There is a fountain filled with blood, gone from Emmanuel's veins,
and sinners clutched beneath that flood, lose all their guilty saints,
lose all their guilty saints, lose all their guilty saints,
and sinners clutched beneath that flood, lose all their guilty saints.
Page number 19, let's sing it out on the second.
The dying thief rejoices to see that fountain in his day,
and there may I, though well as he, wash all my sins away,
wash all my sins away, wash all my sins away,
and there may I, though well as he, wash all my sins away.
Dear dying lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose its power,
till all the ransomed church of God be safe to sin no more,
be safe to sin no more, be safe to sin no more,
till all the ransomed church of God be safe to sin no more.
There since by faith I saw the stream, thy flowing wounds supply,
redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die,
and shall be till I die, and shall be till I die,
redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.
All right, let's go ahead and sing it out on the last.
And in a nobler, sweeter song, sing thy power to save,
when this worthless being's hammering done, thy silence in the grave,
thy silence in the grave, thy silence in the grave,
when this worthless being's hammering done, thy silence in the grave.
Great singing.
Amen, and we want to welcome you to this very special midweek service here at
Verity Baptist Church. We're so glad you're with us,
and of course we've got a special service today
with the taking of our Lord's Supper. And let's go ahead and take our bulletins.
We'll look some announcements real quickly.
If you do not have a bulletin, just raise your hand
and one of our ushers can get one for you. If you need a bulletin tonight, just
put your hand up and we will get one for you. The verse
this week, Acts 2 36, Therefore let all the house of Israel
know assuredly that God hath made that same
Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ. And that's a good
verse there. We like that. If you open up your bulletin, you'll see our service
time Sunday morning service 10 30 a.m. We do invite
you to be with us of course on Sunday morning on the Lord's Day for
church and especially this Sunday. I mean this is the Sunday to be in
church. Of course we'll be celebrating Easter
and we'll be celebrating the resurrection of
the Lord Jesus Christ. So we of course encourage you to be with us
for that. And then of course our Sunday evening service at 6 p.m.
and our Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 p.m. If you look at our soul winning
times, our main soul winning times on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m.
and then this week we have a special push that we're going to be having on
Thursdays and on Thursday and Friday at 6 p.m. as well. So we'd love you to
join us for that. If you are a first-time guest, if it's
your first time here at Verity Baptist Church, we're glad
you're with us. We have a gift we'd like to give you as you walk out of the
church building tonight if you go out our main foyer
or if you go out our secondary foyer you'll see a little table set up and on
that table you'll see these little gift bags. Please grab one on your
way out as a gift from us to you for being our guest tonight.
There are several resources in this bag that we'd like you to have.
The one I like to highlight is this documentary that our church made. It's
called Being Baptist. It's very well made, very interesting, we
think you'll like it. Want to give this to you as a gift so please make sure
that you do not leave here tonight without grabbing one of these gifts on
your way out and if you are a guest we'd ask that you please take a moment
to fill out the communication card in your bulletin and we would love to have
a record of your attendance. When we're done with the announcements we're going
to sing a song. When we're done
singing we'll receive the offering and as the offering plate goes by you can
drop this card in the offering plate or you can hand it to me after the
service. I'll be standing at the main door
greeting people on the way out. If you look at the announcements there we of
course are a family integrated church. What that means is that children
and infants are always welcomed in the service. We do not separate children from
their parents for any reason. We do have mother baby rooms and daddy
rooms available for your convenience. All of those rooms have comfortable
seating. They've got monitors set up so you can watch the service and listen to
it. So if you have a child that's being distracting during the service
or if you need some privacy we would encourage you to please use the mother
baby rooms and daddy rooms as needed. If you're not sure where the
rooms are you can look at the back of the bulletin
and you'll see a layout of our church building. It'll show you where the
restrooms are, where the mother baby rooms are and
where the daddy baby rooms are and during the Lord's
Supper we will be serving communion even in the mother baby rooms.
They'll be giving you the cups and the bread there so you don't have to worry
about missing that. If you need to be baptized
please let us know. We'd love to baptize you
and you can let us know on your communication card on the back of the
card. There's a place for you to check off that you'd like information about
baptism and we'll follow up with you in regards
to that. If you look at the announcements and upcoming events of course
last Sunday we had our vision offering and we want to again say thank you to
everyone for the generous giving. It was a great success.
If you've not heard about our vision offering you can look at the back of the
bulletin and see the results for the vision offering and of course we
had a goal to raise a certain amount of money
and we completely bypassed that so praise the Lord for that
and we appreciate your faithfulness with that. Tonight of course
is the Lord's Supper so we're going to be participating and partaking of the
Lord's Supper at the end of the service. Normally on
Wednesday nights we do a prayer sheet and we pray through
our prayer sheet but we'll be passing this out tonight
here in a few minutes but we won't go through the prayer list tonight. I'll
be preaching of course from the Gospel of Luke but I'll
preach a shorter sermon and then we'll spend the end of the
service in the Lord's Supper and then of course
on Sundays Easter like I've already mentioned
and that is on Sunday April 9th. We want you to make plans to
be with us for the Easter service. We have about
220 over 220 people here tonight for the Lord's Supper
and that's a great number and I only say that to say this let's make sure all of
you come back for Easter all right and be here for the Easter service and
bring a friend you should have in your bulletin
these invitations there you'll notice there are Easter invitations there's
three of them paper clipped together and we're asking
that you would go out sometime this week and
invite three people to church invite three people to Easter it could be
a friend a co-worker a neighbor a family member that would be the best but if you
say I don't have any friends that's okay too
you can just hand it off to a stranger at a grocery store or at a gas station
whatever but we want you to be thinking about
who you can invite to Easter on Sunday and bring somebody with you and then of
course we have our Easter soul winning push
on Thursday April 6, Friday April 7th both at 6 p.m. and then on
Saturday April 8th at 10 a.m. we want you to be here for that I'll be preaching
on Saturday morning and we'd love you to join us for our big
soul winning rally and then if you'd like to volunteer to help pass out
any leftover Easter invitations after Saturday soul winning
in the afternoon we'll have a group that goes out and whatever we have left
hopefully it's not much but whatever we have left they'll put it on cars and
things like that after Sunday these cars are no good
anymore so we want to get rid of them if we can
if you'd like to volunteer to help with that oftentimes the young people help
with that and we appreciate that we'll get you a Starbucks drink for
helping all right so we'll bribe you with that
and we'd appreciate your help for getting
those cards out and then you'll notice there there's some other announcements
all the ladies are invited to a baby shower for Miss Karen Jimenez on
Saturday April 15th at 3 p.m. Miss Karen is having a boy
she's registered on Amazon it is a potluck so if you can please
bring a dish to share and if you'd like to attend you can sign up on your
communication card and then of course we have our men's
preaching and pizza night coming up on Friday April 21st at 7 p.m
all the men of the church are invited for an evening of preaching and pizza
and fellowship you don't have to preach to come to the men's preaching night you
can just come and listen to the guys preach and enjoy
it we usually have about eight guys that'll preach for about 10 minutes
if you'd like to sign up for the men's preaching night to preach you can do
that on your communication card make sure you read through those rules
there and you're aware of that choir practice they had practice of
course on Sunday they'll be singing along with the orchestra
we'll have special music for Easter children's choir practice will begin
on Sunday April 16th at 5 15 in the play room they'll be meeting and
they'll be practicing for Mother's Day the children's choir will be singing on
Mother's Day it is open to ages 4 to 12 years old
so please make note of that homeschool group they've got PE class on
Thursday April 13th there's other things there for you to look at please don't
forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the
service so that they're not a distraction to
anybody if you look at the back of the bulletin birthdays and anniversaries for
this week we had Johnny Cervantes III had a
birthday on April 2nd Anthony Coffney had a birthday on April 2nd Joshua
Gastelum Sr had a birthday on April 2nd and then
later this week we have Miss Tanstucky that has a birthday on April 7th and
Brother Luke and Miss Angel Vincent have an anniversary on April 7th praise
report money matters all those things are there for you
to look at and like I said normally on Wednesday nights we take time to
pray through our church's prayer list and we're not going to do that tonight
because of the Lord's Supper but we do want to hand it out
and we'll just go ahead and do that right now if anybody did not receive a
prayer sheet on your way in and you'd like one please raise your
hand and we'll have our ushers come through
and get one for you just keep your hand up nice and high we've got several over
here as well if you could help us if anybody can help us i think are we
out okay so i'm sorry i guess we're all out of those but we'll try to get some
um for you at the end of service if you'd like it just
talk to one of the staff guys and we'll get you um a prayer sheet
okay i think that's it for all of the announcements so let's go ahead and take
our song books and we're going to go to page number
270 page number 270 and we're going to sing just as i am
as we prepare to receive the offering this evening just as i am without one
plea but that thy blood was shed for me let's go ahead
and sing it out on the first 270 sing it out on
the first just as i am without one plea
but that thy blood was shed for me
and that thou bids me come to thee
o lamb of thought i come
come good 270 sing it out on the second just as i am
waiting not to rid my soul
of one dark blot to thee whose blood can
cleanse each spot o lamb of god i come
i come
just as i am though tossed about
many a doubt findings and fears within
without o lamb of god i come
i come
just as i am
and blind
yay all i needed be to find o
lamb of god i come
come good sing it out on the last just as i am
thou wilt receive wilt welcome pardon
quench relief because thy promise
i believe oh lamb of god i come
i come amen good singing we'll have the guys
come up and help us with the offering at this time
and let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer
heavenly father lord we do come to you tonight asking that you bless the
offering the gift and the giver lord we pray that you'd
bless the time set aside for the preaching of your word then of course
the receiving of the lord's supper the partaken lord's supper we pray that you'd
bless this time of communion lord that you
would use it in our lives to draw us closer to you
because we of course remember and honor the death of our savior in jesus name we
pray amen
so
please open up to luke 23 luke chapter number 23 if you need to buy
you can put your hand up and i'm not sure if i bring your bible
luke chapter number 23 if you need to keep your hand up and she'll come by
luke 23 we read verses 50 through 56 luke 23 verses 50 through 56
luke 23 beginning verse number 50 and behold
there was a man named joseph a counselor and he was a good man and a just the
same had not consented to the council indeed of them
he was of arimathea the city of the jews who also himself waited for the kingdom
of god this man went as a pilot and begged the
body of jesus and he took it down and wrapped it in
linen and laid it in a sepulcher that was
hewn in stone wherein never man before was laid and
that day was a preparation and the sabbath drew on and the woman
also which came with him from galley followed after and beheld the sepulcher
and how his body was laid and they returned and prepared spices and
ointments and rested the sabbath day according to
the commandment let's pray heavenly father thank you for this evening
god i thank you for your word for our church for everyone that's here
as he please give us all the tender hearts of the message tonight as he
please read the passage to strengthen him and for their spirit we love you in
jesus name pray amen
amen all right we're there in luke chapter number 23
and of course we have been going through a sermon series called journey with
jesus and it's a verse by verse study through
the gospel of luke and if you remember on sunday night
we dealt with the crucifixion excuse me on sunday
we dealt with the crucifixion of the lord jesus christ
and of course on sunday morning we'll be dealing with the resurrection of the
lord jesus christ we'll be in luke chapter 24
the last chapter of this book we'll spend
three services there sunday morning sunday night wednesday night
and then we'll be done with this verse by verse study through the gospel of
luke we dealt with the crucifixion on sunday
and we'll be dealing with the resurrection on
sunday this coming lord's day and tonight of course we are partaking in
the lord's supper so i want to preach a sermon of course we always want to
preach the god's word open up god's word and
and learn from god's word want to preach a shorter sermon tonight
because of the fact that we are partaking of the lord's supper
and there was this little section of just seven verses luke 23 verses 50
through 56 that we had not yet covered of course we
dealt with the death of christ we'll deal with the resurrection and in
between we've got the burial of christ and i want to just speak to you
for a few minutes tonight on these few verses regarding
the burial of the lord jesus christ as we prepare
to receive the lord's supper tonight and one thing that i want you to
understand when it comes to the burial of a crucified
person in the ancient world during the roman empire
is that their burial was not a foregone conclusion in fact history tells us
that often those that were crucified by the roman empire would be
not buried they would not be given a proper burial oftentimes their body
would be allowed to stay on the cross and rot and be picked apart by wild
animals and when it was buried they would be
thrown into some sort of a mass unnamed grave
so luke under the inspiration of the holy ghost
gives us these details about the burial of the lord jesus christ and
it's only seven verses from verse 50 to 56
but you'd be surprised how much there is to learn in the word of god and i want
to give you just some several thoughts tonight in fact as quickly as possible
because we do have the lord's supper i'd like to give you three thoughts
regarding these verses what we can learn from the burial of christ
and maybe you can jot these down on the back of your course of the week there's
a place for you to take down some notes and these are statements or points or
headers that you could use the first thing i'd
like you to notice here in verse number 50
is the boldness of some the boldness of some and if you want to jot down the
points you can write down the boldness of some notice
there in luke 23 in verse 50 the bible says
and behold there was a man named joseph a counselor and he was a good man
and a just now when the bible says that you're a good man you must be a pretty
good man and not only was he a good man but the
bible says that he was just meaning that he was saved he was a
believer look at verse 51 the same had not consented to the
council now we're told in verse 50 that he was
a counselor meaning that he was part of the council
which was actually part of the council of the jews
that had decided to put jesus to death but here luke tells us in a
parenthetical statement that the same referring to joseph of
aramathea had not consented to the council and
deed of them so though the council of the jews had
put jesus or sentenced jesus to death joseph of aramathea
went against that he had not consented now either he voted against it
and his voice was not heard or maybe he was not present
but we're told that he did not consent to the council
and the deed of them look at there verse 51
he was of aramathea a city of the jews which is why he's
referred to as joseph of aramathea other passages call him joseph
of aramathea who also himself waited for the kingdom of god
notice verse 52 this man went unto pilot and begged the body of jesus now the
reason that i had you write down as the heading
as the first point that we can learn from here the boldness of some
is because in other gospels we are told of joseph
that he was bold at this moment at this moment he was bold in the begging
of the body of jesus the requesting of the body of jesus
and real quickly i'd like you to just look at these passages you're there in
luke that's obviously our text for tonight
but if you would go with me to the gospel of mark just one book
back if you go one book back from luke to mark mark chapter 15 we'll look at
the parallel passage of course we know that the synoptic
gospels matthew mark luke all have the stories of jesus
uh lined up often those stories are parallel
john is a little different the gospel of john but when it comes to the death
of christ and certain stories they we find parallels there as well
mark chapter 15 and verse 42 notice what the bible says
and now when even was come because it was the preparation that is
the day before the sabbath this is of course a reference to the
crucifixion of christ he has he's he's died on the cross and
even 6 p.m has come and the next day is the sabbath day so
if he's going to be taken off the cross and given a proper burial
this needs to happen quickly the bible tells us here in verse 42 and now
when the even was come because it was the preparation that is the day before
the sabbath look at verse 43 joseph of aramathea
an honorable man excuse me an honorable counselor
which also waited for the kingdom of god came notice how
mark describes it and went in boldly unto pilot and crave the body of jesus
so here we have this man joseph of aramathea
which as far as characters in the bible go
is not one of the most well-known characters of scriptures of course if
you know the new testament if you read the gospels
you're familiar with joseph of aramathea but he's not just someone
that people would name as a very well-known character in the bible
but we are told that he was bold when he went to pilot and he craved the body of
jesus and luke were told that he begged the
body of jesus and of course we can understand why that would require
boldness because jesus had just been put to death
and jesus had not been put to death because of his own crimes or his own
sins we know that he was innocent of course
but not only do you and i know that jesus was innocent as
believers today but the people that put him to death
knew that he was innocent and the reality is that jesus had been put to
death because of envy and because of a
conspiracy between the temple and the empire between
the jews and the romans they have conspired together to put
jesus to death because his message was offensive
because his message put their power in danger that was the reason
that he had been put to death so in order for joseph of aramathea at this
time to kind of raise his hand and say well
i'm with jesus i i'm a believer i'm a follower i'd like
to give him a proper burial in order for him to do this at this
time of course required boldness because he's identifying himself
with someone that the romans just put to death he's identifying himself as a jew
with someone who the temple and the temple system
just put to death and for him to go to pilot
and say i would like the body of jesus and he begged for the body of jesus
and he craved for the body of jesus would require
some boldness on his part which is why march says that he went
in boldly unto pilot and craved the body of jesus so we see that joseph of
aramathea here is described as being bold when he
goes and requests the body of jesus to give
a proper burial now you might be asking why you're making a big deal about that
and why is that so important i'd like you to notice notice something
if you don't know it already about joseph maybe you're thinking this already
but i'd like you to notice it if you go to john chapter 19 you're
there in mark you flip past the book of luke into the gospel
of john john chapter 19
and when you get to john chapter 19 i'd like you to do me a favor put
just put your finger there and and keep your finger right there because we're
going to leave it and we're going to come right back and i'd like you to be
able to get there very quickly john chapter 19
it's interesting to me that the gospel writers decided to let
us know about this man joseph i mean they could have easily remember we
talked about it on sunday when it came to the crucifixion of christ they gave
us four words and there they crucified him there they
crucified him they simply in four words and one
statement told us about the crucifixion and they could have easily done the same
thing regarding the burial of christ then they buried him they could have
easily just told us that he was buried and put in a sapphire
and that was it but the holy spirit decided
to tell us and identify for us this man named joseph of aramathea and not only
to tell us about this man joseph but to tell us about the boldness that he had
in asking for the body of christ it's interesting
when you do a biography of these short mentions of joseph
in the bible you find that he had not always been
bold in fact the word that you might use to describe him
is the opposite of bold it's timid notice there in john 19 verse 38 the
bible says and after this joseph of aramathea john 1938
being a disciple of jesus notice what it says
but secretly for fear of the jews
remember he was a counselor he sat on the council
of the jews he sat on the council of the people who despised and hated and
rejected jesus more than anyone else and joseph of aramathea
himself being a believer joseph of aramathea
himself being a disciple during the life of christ
had not been characterized by the word bold like we're told in mark if anything
we would have said that he was timid about his faith he was a disciple of
jesus the bible says but secretly for fear of the jews
he was a secret service christian he was undercover
that's how some of you are at work
he was a believer nobody knew it he was a follower of jesus but he kept it
quiet he kept it under wraps he was not bold
in his christianity he was not bold in his testimony he surely was not
bold in his soul wedding like paul tells us
that i might open my mouth boldly and make known
the mystery of the gospel he never opened his mouth boldly to make known
anything about jesus during the life of christ but now when
jesus has died now the bible tells us that he went in
boldly unto the pie unto pilate and crave the
body of jesus now you might think that i'm making a
big deal about this and maybe i am i don't know i don't think there's
anything in the bible that is coincidental
and i think the fact that the bible tells us that he went in boldly
in mark 15 but john tells us that he was
before this a disciple of jesus but secretly for fear of the jews i think
the bible's trying to tell us something but if you don't agree with me
if you keep reading verse 38 it becomes so obvious that god
is trying to make this point that i think it's it's silly
to not see it notice 38 verse 38 and verse 39
john 1938 after this joseph of erimathea being a disciple of jesus notice the
words again but secretly for fear of the jews you
could write in the margin of your bible there
timid the soft pilot that he might take away the body of jesus
and pilot gave him leave he came therefore and took the body of jesus
in verse 39 we find out that joseph was not working alone
joseph of erimathea was not alone in his begging of the body he had an
accomplice in his accomplice with somebody
that you might recognize as well verse 39 and there came also
nicodemus we haven't read about this guy in a while
and there came also nicodemus remember nicodemus
john chapter 3 what does the bible tell us about nicodemus
and there came also nicodemus look at it verse 39
which at the first came to jesus by night isn't that what the bible tells us
in john 3 that nicodemus came to jesus at night or by night why
did he come at night he came in the cover of darkness why
because he did not want anybody to know
and here you've got these two men and the bible does not tell us that
nicodemus a just man does not tell us an easy believer we don't know
if he was saved i would assume that nicodemus was saved otherwise i don't
think he'd be helping joseph of erimathea to bury the body of jesus
but we know this that nicodemus comes to jesus he has that
amazing conversation that famous conversation where jesus
to nicodemus he must be born again but here's what we know about nicodemus
that he came at night he was timid and shy i would guess i would assume
that he got saved at some point because he's here helping
to bury the body of the lord jesus christ but we never saw him again why
because he was timid
why because he was scared why because he and joseph of erimathea
during the ministry of christ excuse me and i don't mean this
in a rude way but they were cowards they were scared they were afraid they
were not willing to take up their cross like jesus
taught and followed jesus publicly
but when jesus died they got bold it's interesting to me
because the disciples would follow jesus publicly
at this time during the death of christ are scared and hiding
and the disciples during the life of christ who were scared and hiding
are now coming out with boldness the boldness of some as they come
to beg for the body of jesus to crave for the body of jesus
to give jesus a proper burial we see first of all in these short few verses
the boldness of some you say what are the takeaways what can
we learn from this let me give you a couple of takeaways
number one not everyone arrives as others do as others do to bold
discipleship for some it may take a little longer you
know we we as believers need to be careful to not be so
judgmental obviously our goal is we want people to
grow our goal is we want people to mature our goal is we want people to to
do the most the best they can for god after
easter once we're done celebrating easter i'm
going to begin a brand new sermon series on sunday mornings
called helping you reach your full potential
and we're going to be talking for several weeks on how to reach our
full potential that god has given us and that's our
goal our goal is to help every single believer reach their full
potential in the will of god but at the same time
we have to realize that not everyone arrives as others as
others do to bold discipleship in the same way
some people just take a little longer some people require a little more time
some people and we should just be we should be patient with them
because the joseph of arimathea and the nicodemus is out there
who are maybe a little more shy a little more timid hey maybe one day
god can transform them and here's what we can learn
it's never too late to take a public stand for jesus
they never did it while he was alive but at his death and by the way
joseph arimathea and nicodemus they don't know that in three days jesus is going
to resurrect
but what we learn from these two men is that if you've been timid and
cowardly if you've been shy and a secret service
christian it's never too late it's never too late
to take a public stand for jesus so we saw first of all in these few
verses the boldness of some like you notice secondly in verse 53
and if you're taking notes if you'd like to jot down a heading
you can write this down we saw number one the boldness of some i'd like you
to notice secondly the borrowing of a tomb
notice the bible tells us here that jesus borrowed a tomb
in verse 53 the bible says and he joseph of arimathea if you go back to luke 23
in verse 53 and he joseph of arimathea
took it down referring to the body of jesus
and wrapped it in linen we're going to come back to that here in a minute
and laid it in a sepulcher that was hewn in stone how much time do
you think it takes to carve out a sepulcher to carve out a
room inside of a stone probably required a lot of work
probably required a lot of workers this was a nice place to be laid
and laid it referring to his body in a sepulcher
that was hewn in stone wherein never man before was laid
it's interesting to me that jesus does not like to share
he comes in a virgin's womb where never any man had been born and he's laid
in a new sepulcher wherein never man before was laid
what the bible is highlighting for us here and you may
have already made the connection is this go to matthew 27 if you would
matthew 27 remember i told you to keep your place in john 19 we're going to go
back to john 19 here in a minute but keep your finger in
matthew 27 as well because we're going to come back to
matthew 27 we're going to go to john 19 then we're going to come back to matthew
27 so i'd like you to get there quickly when the bible tells us that these men
joseph of arimathea and then we learned that nicodemus his accomplice was there
as well when the bible tells us that they laid him
in a sepulcher that was hewn in stone wherein never
man before was laid what we learn about these guys
is this that these guys were prosperous
they were financially prosperous the bible says it this way they were
rich look at verse matthew 27 verse 57 when
the even was come there came here matthew just flat out
says it there came a rich man of arimathea
named joseph we're told that joseph is a good man
we're told that joseph is a just man we're told that joseph is a counselor
we're told that joseph is a believer we're told that joseph is a disciple
and we're also told that joseph was a rich man
there came a rich man of arimathea named joseph
who also himself was jesus' disciple go back to john 19 we're going to come
back to matthew 27 here in a minute so keep your finger there go back to john
19
notice that these guys are prosperous these guys are rich you've got to be
rich to own a sepulcher that's been hewn in
the stone wherein never man before was laid
because it was joseph's tomb it was meant for joseph
he'd already carved it out it was already prepared and ready
and he's giving it as an offering he doesn't know jesus is going to resurrect
he's giving it to jesus now it's a borrowed tomb he doesn't know that
but jesus just needs it for a few days and he's going to give it back
it's a borrowed tomb but this man joseph of arimathea
is gifting and donating this tomb to jesus that's not it look at john 19
verse 39 remember nicodemus and there came also nicodemus which at
the first came to jesus by night and brought notice what the bible says
a mixture of myth and of myrrh and aloes about 100 pounds weight
i don't know how much that cost but it just sounds expensive
they brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes about 100 pounds weight
verse 40 then took they the body of jesus
and wound it in linen clothes with those spices
as the manner of the jews is to bury and here's all i'm saying is that these
guys obviously the bible tells us they were rich
these guys are obviously rich they're prosperous but they obviously have
resources i mean the the death of jesus happened
fairly quickly he was arrested in one night and the
next morning he's being crucified and that caught these guys by surprise
joseph may have had a little bit of a heads up since he was
a counselor that sat on the council but it's not like they had weeks to prepare
these men watched jesus die and when they realized that he was dead
they said it's about to be 6 p.m it's about to be even
tomorrow's the Sabbath day we need to give jesus a proper burial we need to
take him off off the cross these guys had read they
had resources i mean he was able to go in and talk to pilot
i don't know how hard it is to get an audience with pilot but he got it
they got linen clothes they got linen uh uh clothes to to to to put his body in
they got these spices the mixture of myrrh and aloes about 100 pounds weight
i mean these guys were men with resources
not only are they helping each other they probably have servants that are
helping them they're probably telling their servants
you go uh get some linen uh garments you go get some myrrh and you go pick up
go to the storage and pick up that those aloes and and you three
go take that the stone off the tomb we're gonna have to open it up
and these were men that were prosperous men
i want you to understand something go back to matthew 27
i want you to look at verse 59 and 60 matthew 27 59 and 60 and when jesus
had taken the body he wrapped it oh excuse me when joseph had taken the
body he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth
here's where the bible tells us it was joseph's own tomb verse 60
and laid it in his own new tomb which he had hewn
out in the rock and he rolled a great stone to the door of the separate current
departed why is this emphasized why is this
documented in all the gospels i asked you to keep your place in
matthew and i asked you to keep your place in john you can lose your places
there but i'd like you to go to the old testament book of isaiah isaiah
chapter 53 in the old testament towards the end of the old testament you've got
those major prophets isaiah jeremiah lamentations ezekiel
daniel isaiah 53 do me a favor when you get to
isaiah put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there because we're going to
leave it and we're going to come back we're going to be done
in about five minutes all right maybe less but i want you to see this
we see the borrowing of a tomb we see these two men who were prosperous
men but these guys were not only prosperous i
want you to understand something these guys were prophesied
this this story this whole event joseph of
just out of nowhere finally growing a little bit of a backbone and getting
some boldness finding his friend nickademus and say
you come with i know you're a believer too
you come with me and they go and they ask pilot for the body and they go
and get the sepulchre ready get the linen clothes ready get the myrrh and
the aloes ready all of this had already been predicted
isaiah 53 and verse 9 we saw isaiah 53 last week
i'm not going to go through the whole chapter it's one of the most famous
messianic prophetic prophecies of the lord jesus christ
in isaiah 53 and verse 9 the bible says and he referring to
jesus referring to the messiah made his grave with the wicked
that's a reference to the thieves on the cross and don't miss it
with the rich in his death you say how do you how do you how do you
make his grave with the rich in his death well he got
laid in a rich man's sepulchre
he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death
because he had done no violence neither was any deceit
in his mouth i want you to understand that these men were prosperous
but these men had been prophesied we see this borrowing of a tomb because
of the fact joseph of aramathea and nickademus
decided to give jesus a proper burial so here's the takeaways
the good news is this god is no respecter of persons
the gospel comes for the rich and the poor
we see this overwhelming emphasis in the gospels of jesus dealing with the poor
but you notice that the rich weren't left out
there was a place for them as well and we see here that god's providence
is at work all of the time and everywhere
wow you see you and i we we get these complexes and we think
look how amazing i am look how amazing we are if god's gonna use anyone it's
going to be me and if god doesn't use me then he has
no one else to use let me tell you something
you're important and i'm important and god wants to use us and if god
if we quit then we are hurting our own potential and the potential of this
church to reach the gospel but don't ever forget that there are
7000 who have not bowed their knees to bail and if you quit
and if you give up someone else will step in
joseph and nickademus were not willing and ready to serve and to be part
of the program when the disciples were there but when the disciples got scared
god said i'll just use these guys and when god needed someone with money
he found someone with money because god owns the cattle on a thousand
hills and the gold in every mine
i mean you can simply just look at our vision offering
you ask yourself how can a church like this
literally meeting next to a methadone clinic
produce the type of things that are produced around here
i will tell you it is because god is not in need of anyone
god has what he needs these guys were prosperous
and these guys were prophesied let me give you one last very quickly
one last thought go go back to luke 23 we saw in verses 50 51 and 52 the
boldness of some we saw in verse 53 the borrowing of a tomb i'd like to just
real quickly i'd like you to notice in verses 54 55
and 56 the body of christ the bible says in
verse 53 and he joseph of erimathea took it the body of jesus down and wrapped
it in linen and laid it in a sepulcher that was
hewed in stone where never man before was laid
and that day was the preparation and the sabbaths drew on and the women
also which came with him from galley followed after
and beheld the sepulcher and how his body
was laid and they returned and prepared spices and ointments
say why are they doing that joseph and nicodemus just did that
and they're doing it because joseph and nicodemus just did it
and these women obviously i don't know in my opinion are looking at it and
thinking no that needs to be redone
now in joseph and nicodemus defense not only were they men but they were in
a rush they had to get it done before 6 p.m
but these ladies thought i don't know and they returned and prepared spices
and ointments and rested the sabbath day according to
the commandment we see here that the body of jesus
was laid it was put in a tomb for three days and three nights
go back to isaiah 53 if you would i'm out of time i'm just going to read a few
verses to you while you turn to isaiah 53 let me read to you from acts
the bible says in acts 13 35 wherefore he
saith also in another psalm this is a axe quoting psalms that's a prophecy of
jesus thou shalt not suffer the word suffer
means allow thine holy one to see corruption
the term holy one is a reference to the messiah the anointed one the chosen one
the christ in acts 2 31 we're giving the we're
giving the commentary what does that mean
thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption
in verse 31 we're told he's seeing this before spake of the resurrection of
christ that his soul was not left in hell
neither his flesh did see corruption i want you to
understand that the body of christ was buried and it resurrected
three days later and it did not see corruption
meaning it did not begin to decay sometimes people ask the question why
three days and i'll be honest with you i i don't know if i had to
guess i would say that maybe it has something to do with
one day for every member of the godhead that's my best guess
but honestly it probably has to do with the fact
that any more than three days and the body would have began to corrupt
if you remember the story of lazarus the bible tells us that he had been dead for
four days and they said of his body that it stinking
so three days were the amount of days that were
chosen before his body would see corruption his body was taken care of
joseph of eremithea and Nicodemus made sure of it they put in a sepulcher
where it would be taken care of and it would not see corruption
but that is not the end of the story the soul of christ was somewhere in acts
231 we're told he's seeing this before spake of the resurrection of christ that
his soul was not left in hell now i realize that
what i'm about to say is controversial and i don't
understand why because i'm just reading the bible to you
i actually didn't make a comment i just read the bible but it's controversial
today to say that his soul went to hell when
acts 231 says that his soul he's seeing this before
spake of the resurrection of christ that his soul
was not left in hell neither his flesh did see corruption
for three days and three nights the bible tells us and not only the bible
jesus himself said that that he said that as jonas was three
days and three nights in the wales valley so shall the son of man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth
which is hell you say well why why did his soul go to hell because if you
understand the fact that jesus was paying for the sins of the world
and there's a dual payment for sin it brings physical death
yes which is why jesus physically died and he will resurrect to show
his power over death but there's also the second death
hell the lake of fire and he paid for that as well
as they have 53 verse 10 let me just give you the verses we'll finish this up
as they have 53 10 remember the most famous masonic
prophecy of christ yet it pleased the lord to bruise him
he hath put him to grief notice this phrase
when thou shalt make his soul an offering
for sin study the offerings in the old testament you know what they all
were what was done with all of them they were all burnt
and especially the burnt offering the difference between the burnt offering
and all the other offerings is not the fact that it was burnt because all of
the offerings were pretty much burnt the difference between the burnt offering
is that they didn't get to eat any of it the whole thing was burnt
but every offering was burnt with fire and then isaiah tells us when thou
shalt make his soul an offering for sin so the bible tells us
his soul went down to hell seeing this he spake before of the
resurrection of christ that his soul was not left in hell
neither his flesh to see corruption then isaiah tells us that
god made his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed
he shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the lord shall prosper in
his hand verse 11 he shall see of the travail don't miss it
of his soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many for he shall bear their iniquities
not just on the tree in his body but also as a sacrifice for sin in his
soul look at verse 12 therefore will i divide
him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the
strong because he hath poured out his soul
onto death
see jesus died a physical death to pay for our sins but he also died
the death of hell his soul was not left in hell neither did his body see
corruption look at last part of verse 12 and he was
numbered with the transgressors that was fulfilled on the cross when he
hung next to two thieves and he bare the sins of many
and made intercession for the transgressors
so what are we doing tonight we are remembering
the death of christ but don't don't think that it was just a physical
debt he paid the wages in his debt
a physical death but that includes the second death
he didn't just save me from a physical death
he saved me from having to go to hell and that sacrifice is what we are
remembering tonight let's bow our heads and have a word of
prayer heavenly father
lord we thank you for the great sacrifice of the cross
we thank you that you sent your son to down the cross to pay for our sins
but that wasn't it his soul went to hell his body was buried
and like we will celebrate on sunday he resurrected conquering death
conquering hell proving to all that he truly was the son
of god the messiah the chosen one the anointed one the christ
god in the flesh
we thank you for that i pray that you bless the next few moments as we
partake in the lord's supper in the matchless name of christ we pray
amen at this time we're going to partake of the lord's supper now i'm
going to step down and give you some instructions
as we prepare to get started
so
as we begin tonight
to partake of the lord's supper i want to begin by giving you some
instructions first of all of course we're going to
partake of lord's supper and i just want to remind you that this
should be a reverent time it should be a somber time in which we
remember the death of christ as we pass out the
cup and the bread you'll have time and i would encourage
you to spend some of that time in prayer thanking the lord for his sacrifice and
communion communing with god i would ask that to
the best of your ability you would help minimize distractions
try to not be fellowshipping and talking during this time
or getting up if you can avoid it obviously we're
family integrated if you have a baby you need to step out we understand that
but if you could help us minimize distractions
we would appreciate that i want to give you some instructions
regarding what to do when you receive the bread in the cup
you will receive both the bread and the cup before we begin
please do not drink or eat until you are instructed to do so
we want to do the lord's supper and receive the lord's supper
in the same order and fashion that the lord jesus christ did
for that reason we are going to follow the process
in which he did it so we're going to first
pass out the bread in the cup please hold it
and don't participate don't partake in it
until we instruct you to do so once everyone has been served the bread in
the cup the way that we will receive the lord
supper partake in the lord supper is first with the bread
i will read a scripture from the word of god regarding the bread
and then we will pray a blessing on the bread
and then we will partake or eat of the bread together
then i will read a scripture regarding the cup
we will pray a blessing on the cup and then we will partake
and drink of the cup together then we will end
by singing a hymn and being dismissed in prayer
exactly the way that jesus ended the first
lord's supper as he sang a hymn with his disciples
let me say this that we do not police the lord's table
meaning that we are not going to tell you you need to take the lord's
supper or tell you not to take the lord's supper
the bible says in first corinthians 11 27 wherefore whosoever shall eat the
spread and drink this cup of the lord unworthily
shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the lord
but let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread
and drink of that cup so we are not going to stop anyone from receiving it
but we do want you to take it seriously we hope that you have taken time to
prepare your heart be ready for this it's something that should be taken
seriously and we would encourage you if you're not saved
this is not something that you should be participating in
if your children are here and they are not saved and this is not something that
i would allow them to participate in but that
will be up to you we'll begin by passing out the cup
and then the bread let me read a scripture and begin
to pour out the cup in luke 22 verses 14 through 18 the bible
says and when the hour was come he sat down
and the 12 apostles with him and he said unto them with desire i have
desired to eat this passover with you before i suffer
for i say unto you i will not anymore eat thereof
until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of god the bible says in verse 17
and he took the cup and gave thanks and said
take this and divide it among yourselves for i say unto you all
i will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of god
shall come at this time we'll begin to hand out the cups
so
okay
so
okay
so
thank you
so
luke 22 19 says and he took bread and gave thanks and break it and gave it to
them saying this is my body which is given for you this do in remembrance of me at this time we'll begin to break and pass out the bread
so