John chapter 19, and we are at the
last phrase of verse thirty, and we're going
right through to the end of the chapter.
Now, there are many, many special things in
the chapter this evening, and indeed there are
some very deep truths that we must touch
on tonight.
Now, we shall begin by talking about the
uniqueness of our Lord's death.
He bowed his head and gave up the
ghost.
We shall be talking about the uniqueness of
our Lord's death.
Then I shall go on to say a
word or two about the blindness of our
Lord's enemies, how the priests and the pharisees
and sageses could remember the letter of a
word, and yet forget the law of the
letter.
Then we shall get into the depth when
we come to think about the awfulness of
our Lord's suffering, because I believe that John
emphasizes something here, that he wants all the
believers to take note of.
In fact, it almost seems that John gets
excited about this blood and water that poured
forth.
And so we're in the depths when we're
talking about the awfulness of our Lord's suffering.
Then I shall take time just for a
moment to underline for you the wonderfulness of
our Lord's word, for indeed this is the
word of the Lord we handle, and how
wonderfully right through it has been fulfilled everything
that was foretold.
Then we shall end the chapter with the
thoughtfulness of our Lord's friends, Joseph and Nicodemus,
and we shall see the kingliness of our
Lord's burial.
The Jews meant to bury him as a
criminal, but God saw otherwise, and he was
buried actually as a king, as we shall
see this evening.
Now, it's a big chapter, so we'll not
talk any more about the bone.
Those are only the bones, and we've got
to put the meat on them.
Now, let's get down to it.
Last week we finished at verse 30, when
Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said,
it is finished.
And we finished the message last week talking
about the finished work of the cross, and
I went into the details of that for
the meeting last week.
The finished work of the cross.
On one occasion, when I conducted a Bible
class where the members were allowed to ask
questions, one very learned gentleman stood up and
asked this question.
He said, when our Lord Jesus Christ Christ
finished, and the work of the cross was
finished, why did he need to go on
and die?
If the work's finished, why not leave the
cross?
So, I think that we need to understand
this, that what we call the finished work
of the cross is where our Lord Jesus
Christ gave himself as a purgatory sacrifice to
God.
He made an offering that satisfied every demand
of a holy soul.
And not only did he do that, but
he put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself, and when I'm talking about sin, I
mean what I'm talking about.
Yes, I am.
I'm not talking now about sin, and don't
have a mixture.
I'm talking about sin, the thing that's inside,
the thing that every baby's born with.
Well, our Lord Jesus Christ dealt with it,
the old nature, that sinful nature, that thing
that condemns us already.
He dealt with it in its totality, our
salvation for eternity.
He was the Lamb of God that bareth
away the sin of the world.
But he not only made a purgatory sacrifice
towards God, and made the sacrifice that bareth
away the sin of the world, but for
every believer, he bore our sin in his
own body on the tree.
And when you go through your New Testament
and get those phrases, our sins, they belong
all the time to believers.
He dealt with every believer's sins, and in
their totality, and for eternity.
You see, my dear believer, if there was
one sin that you've committed, or you're ever
going to commit, that wasn't dealt with at
Calvary, then you're damned.
If you can produce one, one sin that
any believer is guilty of, or will be
guilty of, that wasn't dealt with at Calvary,
then he's damned.
Finished, there'll be no more sacrifice for sin.
And this purgatory, reconciliatory, redemptive, atoning work
is the finished work of the cross.
But you know, our Lord Jesus Christ had
to meet other enemies.
He must meet death.
Death is our enemy, and he must step
into death and actually test it for every
man.
But beyond that, he must go into the
realm where Satan had absolute authority, and by
death he must defeat him, paralyze him, who
had the power of death.
Just with the finished work last week, and
we're going to see your blessed master step
into death this evening, and deal with death,
and abolish death, and make a pathway through
death for every believer, and defeat and paralyze
him who had the power of death, which
is the devil.
Now, I want you to see the uniqueness
of this.
That's the point we're at this evening.
Now, watch how this is worded.
Verse thirty, When Jesus therefore had received the
vinegar, he said, It is finished, and he
bowed his head.
You know, there's something wonderful about that, and
gave up the good.
I want you to get the hold of
this, that up to this point, it seems
that our Lord Jesus Christ had kept his
head relaxed.
Now, I want you to get the hold
of this, that he actually bowed his head
before he died.
Usually, men die, and then their head falls
in death.
Well, this is just the other way around
this time.
This is a very definite, yet, I must
say, a wonderful act.
For on the cross, in all the torments,
and pain, and agony, and shame that was
upon him, he actually bowed his head, and
then he gave up the good.
That's a very, very, very wonderful thing.
One of the other Gospels says, He dismissed
his spirit.
That's how it's put in one of the
other Gospels.
There's an old translation that says, He bowed
his head and dismissed his spirit.
Now, that is something that none here can
do.
Not one.
You'll never be able to do this.
You cannot dismiss your spirit.
You may try, but you can't do it.
Now, that brings us to a tremendous fact,
that our Lord Jesus Christ actually stepped into
death of his own willingness.
Do you remember when he was talking about
his death in John 10?
He said, I lay down my life, no
man taketh it from me.
Listen to this, we were.
He said, I have power to let us.
Now, that was a special promise.
That is not given to any of his
disciples.
Why, there are some dear old kids tonight,
and they're lying on bed repeating.
And if they have power to dismiss their
spirit, they would actually do it this evening.
But they never got that power.
God never entrusted any believer with that power.
This is a special power, and it belongs
to Christ.
I have power to let us.
Well, that brings us to face a tremendous
fact.
You see, in our everyday language, we talk
like this.
We meet each other, and we say, so
-and-so died this evening.
I'm sure I said that to some of
you about our brother Macallum.
He died this evening.
Now, actually, so-and-so didn't die this
evening, because what really happens is that some
disease grips the body, and so-and-so
fights as long as they can.
But at last, the disease overcomes them, and
they become dead.
That's what happens, they become dead.
You don't die, you become dead.
But our Lord Jesus Christ actually died.
Nobody else ever did this, and nobody will
again.
You see, death had no claims on him.
Why, death came because of sin, but he
was sinless.
Death had no right to put a clammy
hand on him, but he had got to
face it.
And so very nobly, when the right moment
came, he bowed his head and stepped into
death on this mess, and he did that
for you.
That's a mighty thing.
You see, right along the whole pathway, he
had this power.
I want you to get that.
When they were ripping his back into the
purge with the Roman lash, he had the
power to step into death and go and
leave, but that wasn't the moment to do
it.
The work wasn't finished.
And so, although he had that power right
along the whole pathway, why, the Lord Jesus
waited until the work was finished, and now
he tackles death.
He slaps him, and I'm sure the devil
smiles.
You know, the devil, why he really believed
this was his realm, so it is.
God is not the God of the dead,
he's the God of the living.
And you know, he's actually believed that once
Christ would step into his realm, that he
would hold him.
Ah, but he didn't.
Death couldn't hold it, say.
Jesus, my Savior, and don't sing the next
line, he told the bars away, there's no
carrying the bars away here.
That's breaking out of somewhere.
Do you think he broke out?
Not at all.
He stepped into death, and then he abolished
death, and took the keys of death from
the devil, and hung them at his desk,
and stepped out of victory over death.
Don't ever see it any other way.
He tackled it, and he defeated it, and
he paralyzed him who had power through it.
It was a wonderful thing.
Jesus and all other folks become dead.
But, you know, there is something more wonderful
than that here.
I want you to get the hold of
it.
You see, the actuality of the thing, he
bowed his head and gave up the ghost.
You can see the authority, I have power
to lay it down.
Not the reality, because some people question the
reality.
There are modernists, in our ransomite, in our
pulpits, who actually question the reality of Christ's
death, because they don't want to have to
face the reality of the wonderful resurrection.
Oh, they don't like these miracles, and anything
that looks miraculous, they put it out, and
this is how they get around the miracle
of the bodily resurrection of Christ.
They say, you know, he was only in
a swoon on the cross.
He went into a swoon, and they thought
he was dead, and they buried him, and
so he came alive again.
That's the modernist.
Oh, but the Bible puts it beyond us.
Do you see the soldiers coming out here?
Verse 33, But when they came to Jesus,
and saw that he was dead already, were
they persuaded?
Mind you, these were no fools.
There were four soldiers placed in charge of
every crucifixion.
They were his executors, and the man who's
in charge of an execution at Cumberland prison
must be absolutely sure that the criminal's dead.
These four soldiers came and examined him, and
when they saw that he was dead, because
I would never only hang my hat there.
When our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to John
in the book of the Revelation, chapter 1,
he said, I am he that liveth and
was dead.
You'll have to call him a liar if
you're going to go on with the modernistic
thing.
My dear friends, we needn't bottle that.
There's nobody here worried too much about it.
But not only do we see the actuality
and the authority he had as he's put
into death, and the reality as the soldiers
looked upon him, but in scripture, you know,
the type is a wonderful thing, and we
must never forget about typology.
The Ark, the Ark of the Covenant, of
course, I'm talking about, was a wonderful type
of Christ.
I'm thinking of maybe picking up some of
the types in the later part of the
year, and if I take the Ark of
the Covenant, I shall be showing you how
it was a type of Christ.
It was made of gopher wood, of course,
a wood that could not have any disease.
It was absolutely pure as far as wood
was concerned.
Then the wood was covered with gold, and
the wood would speak of his humanity, and
the gold would speak of his deity as
something that's everlasting.
And on the top of the Ark was
a crown of gold, which would speak of
his royalty.
Inside the Ark was ten commandments, which would
speak of his purity, because he always kept
the law.
And in the Ark was also the pot
of manna, which would speak of his sufficiency,
able to feed the children.
And if I went on to all the
details, I could show you something of the
type.
Now, this Ark is a perfect type of
Christ.
Now, when Israel came to Jordan, and Jordan
is always a picture of death.
You know, the only way the children of
Israel find a pathway through Jordan was when
the Ark went in first.
And the Ark stepped in with the priest,
and then a way was made right through.
My, that's actually what happened.
He stepped into death, and he abolished death.
He has taken the skin out of death
for the believer.
My, there's a pathway through the valley of
the shadow that makes us fear no evil.
He has done a wonderful job.
But I think we shall have to look
at the second one.
Now, watch this one.
It's 1 Samuel, and it's chapter 5.
First book of Samuel, and it's chapter 5.
Now, this is so wonderful that I want
the younger ones to follow it.
Now, the Ark that I've been talking about
was on one occasion taken prisoner.
It was held in the hands of the
Philistine.
It's just like the ram that we saw
on Sunday morning, held by the horns in
the thicket.
The same thing again, but here's the Ark.
Verse 1, 1 Samuel, chapter 5, verse 1,
of the Philistine.
The uncircumcised Philistines took the Ark of God
and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod.
When the Philistines took the Ark of God,
they brought it into the house of Dagon.
You see the capital D there?
That's their god.
Dagon was their god.
Dagon was one of the gods of the
Philistines.
Dagon is actually the fish god.
You see, the under parts of Dagon was
made like a fish, and the upper parts,
of course, like a man.
And all the priests of the Philistines that
attended at the house of Dagon, they wore
long hats with the fish's mouth on the
top.
And when you see the Pope of Rome,
you'll find he's got the same hat on,
fish's mouth.
And when you see the Archbishop of your
wonderful Canterbury, he's got the same thing on
too.
Because they're all as popish as can be,
all crowded.
And they're taking you back to Popery too.
And this fish's mouth on the top of
the Pope's head is admitted by the Roman
Catholic Church to go back to the age
of paganism.
In one of the newest books, The Externals
of the Roman Catholic Faith, one of the
fathers writing there, sir, that the mitre on
the Pope's head goes back to pagan days.
They have to say it openly, they can
say nothing else, because you couldn't find any
of your nonsense in the New Testament.
But never mind, I mustn't get into Popery
too much.
Firstly, and when they of Ashdod arose early
on the morrow.
You see that?
On the morrow.
That's the second day, isn't it?
Behold, Jagan was fallen upon his feet to
the earth before the Ark of the Lord.
And they took Jagan and set him in
his place again.
And when they arose early on the morrow.
What day is that?
That's the third day.
Behold, Jagan was fallen upon his feet to
the ground before the Ark of the Lord.
And the head of Jagan and both the
palms of his hands were cut off upon
the threshold, only the stump of Jagan was
left.
My, do you see?
Do you see?
This is typology with us.
And when our Lord Jesus Christ stepped into
death, tasted death, he abolished death.
But he not only did that, he prayed
upon him who had the power of death.
And he cut the serpent's head, cut off
the palms of his hands, left him powerless.
On the third day, we're looking at the
uniqueness of our Lord's death.
Yes, you saw the reality and the actuality
and the authority.
And you're reminded in John again of the
necessity except the corn of wheat to fall
into the ground and die if abided alone.
You see, our Lord Jesus Christ had to
abolish death for us.
He had to step on the serpent's head,
had to make us show principalities and power.
That's why he died.
Wonderful Savior, that's the uniqueness.
Now, let's get on, because it gets deeper
as we get on.
Verse 31, John 19, 31, 31.
The Jews, therefore, because it was the preparation
that the body should not remain upon the
cross on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath
day was on high day, besought Pilate, they
came and besought Pilate, that their legs might
be broken, and that they might be taken
away.
You see, these Jews were thinking very, very,
very seriously.
I have been struck by these sorts of
things in the scriptures.
You remember there was another one in John
18, that they brought the Lord Jesus from
Caiaphas, and it was early, and they brought
him to Pilate's judgment hall, and then it
said, but they themselves went not into the
judgment hall, lest they should be defiled.
So, the hypocrites, my dear, you see them
coming down the roof with their long religious
robes on, and they're pushing the Lord Jesus
into the door to unbuckle, if they would
be defiled, the hypocrites, and they call it
out for the blood of God's Son, and
they're going to murder God's Son, and they're
talking about not being defiled.
I hear the letters again.
They're remembering a certain scripture that's in this
book.
My, it's wonderful how people can remember the
letter at times.
Here's the scripture that was in their mind,
it's Deuteronomy chapter 21.
You wouldn't think they could have thought way
back there, but they can, you know.
Deuteronomy 21, and it is your last two
verses.
Deuteronomy chapter 21, verse 22, And if a
man hath committed a sin worthy of death,
and he be to be put to death,
and thou hang him on a tree, his
body shall not remain all night upon the
tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury
him that day.
For he that is hanged is accursed of
God, that thy land be not defiled.
You see, in one case, they're worried about
themselves being defiled, and in the other case,
because it's the preparation of the Passover feast,
they were just about to start the long
feast of unleavened bread, 49 days, and it
was a high day, and they didn't want
the land to be defiled.
We must get the body down, we must
bury it, we must keep to the book.
You know, it's wonderful how people can talk
all week about religion and have no time
for Christ.
Some people can sing in the choir for
years, and they have no time for Christ.
Some people would fight for confirmation, and there
are church, and this and that and the
other, and they have no time for Jesus
Christ, a Savior.
So, in other words, we read, boys, my
people can be terribly blind, you know.
Oh, they can turn up the verses in
the book, all right.
They know the letter, but they're blind as
to the Lord.
They've never met the Lord, they don't know
the Lord.
Powerful one.
But let's go on from there.
We're back at John 19 again.
Now, this breaking of the legs was a
terrible thing.
You see, when men were hung upon the
cross, you see, not one single vital of
their being was touched.
The nails were through their hands.
That caused excruciating pain, because the nerve center
was there, and the nails were through the
feet.
And as they hung in the burning sunshine,
sometimes they lasted for four days.
Some are probably known to last five or
six hanging there.
But when they wanted them to die quickly,
they sent the soldiers along with a great
long club or hammer.
And it's not a matter of breaking their
legs, it's a matter of buttering them from
the middle down, buttering them into pulp.
These religious boys were crying out for how
cruel.
But you can see how the Lord was
overruling everything.
Now, watch.
Verse 32.
Then came the soldiers and broke the legs
of the first and of the other which
was crucified with him.
But when they came to Jesus and saw
that he was dead already, they broke not
his legs.
There's been an argument about this, you know.
Dr. Bullinger and many other scholars believe that
there were four thieves crucified with Christ.
They believe that, but that doesn't matter.
They believe that they came to these two
first.
When they came to the first and came
to the other, then they came to Christ.
Do you see how it's worded?
That's what makes them think like that.
They then came the soldiers and broke the
legs of the first and of the other
which was crucified with him.
But when they came to Jesus.
Now, I don't think it was like that.
I think it was like this.
I think the four men who were in
charge of the crucifixion, two of them began
at that side and two of them began
at that side.
And they buttered this fellow's legs into pulp,
and they buttered this fellow's legs, and then
they came.
Now, watch what happens.
Verse 33.
But when they came to Jesus and saw
that he was dead already, they break not
his legs.
But one of the soldiers with a spear
pierced his thigh, and forthwith came there out
blood and water.
What's John getting excited?
And he that sought their record, and his
record is true, and he knows that he
saith true, that ye might believe.
John really got excited about this.
Now, this is the deep bit of the
subject this evening.
I want you to try to picture the
Savior on the cross, and I want you
to see the soldier coming along at the
front and having a look, and he's dead
already.
And it seems to be out of pure
mud, envy, wickedness, whatever you like to put
in, he takes the sword.
I believe that every Roman soldier was trained
to use the spear in his right hand.
You see, they had the shield here, and
this eye was always over the end of
the shield, and the spear is here.
And if he uses it in his right
hand, it will be in the Caesar's left
eye.
You're going to see what I mean, aren't
you?
You've got to follow this through.
And just as he stands here in his
madness, he plunges into the side of the
Savior, and immediately forthwith came there out, poured
out blood and water.
Now, that doesn't mean much to me.
Now, there have been great debates and arguments
about this down through the ages, and I'll
try to lead you into them all.
Many, many great scholars believe that this is
just symbolical of something.
They believe that the blood coming out and
the water coming out is symbolical of the
fountain that was opened for sin and uncleanness
of the place called Galilee.
Yes, the blood would speak of the efficacious
life that was laid down that can cleanse
us from all sin, and the water would
speak of the words that will deliver us
from the power of sin.
And they talk of this being symbolic.
Now, others believe that there is nothing symbolical
here, but that it's really a physical wonder.
And this is where I stand.
Now, I don't believe that when John looked
at the cross and saw this, he was
taken up with symbolism at all.
John's standing there in the shadows, and this
man plunges with fear in, and forthwith came
there out blood and water.
And I believe John knew enough about the
physical frame to know that this is a
wonder.
And it is.
To me it is.
Now, I spent the last three or four
days reading five or six of the greatest
heart specialists writing on this very subject, because
after all this is not a theological thing
now, it is a medical thing.
And as I went out to Brother McCallum,
who is the doctor tonight, I questioned the
doctor up and down, and he told me
all that he knew about it.
You see, I try to put it out
that the youngest one in the class will
get what I want, leaving out the medical
term.
You see, this great, wonderful organ that we
have inside here, our heart, well, it's really
the pump, isn't it?
And it pumps the blood through every part
of the body.
It's really a muscle hanging inside that pumps
your blood continually and unceasingly.
Now, that heart, that muscle is encased in
a little bag that is called by the
medical faculty the pericardium.
That is a little bag of water.
You see, it doesn't bump against your ribs
at any time, and you can stand in
your hands and it won't fall up to
your shoulder.
You see, it's in this little bag which
is called the pericardium.
Now, medical men who are authorities on heart
trouble, they all believe that when anyone is
made to bear great mental agony and pain,
the pericardium around the heart fills with more
water than at any other time.
The heart is made to do more in
that period of agony and pain and suffering,
and therefore it is getting more protection.
Now, I believe John must have known.
Now, if that is the case, and our
Lord has gone through a time of extreme
suffering, then the pericardium is filled right round
with water.
In fact, it would be close up beside
the ribs.
And if this man plunges the spear in,
in the ordinary sense, water ought to be
first, because it will pierce the bag first,
and the water ought to come.
But that's not what your Bible says.
Your Bible says the opposite.
Your Bible says that John noticed that it
was blood and water.
And in the ordinary sense, it ought to
be water and blood.
But it wasn't.
Now, that makes us think deeper.
What happened?
Now, here's something that I think you need
to take notice of.
Go back to the 69th Psalm.
These Psalms are really wonderful.
Psalm 69, which is one of the old
messianic psalms.
And you know, when I say messianic, that
it refers more to the Savior than to
anybody else.
Sometimes the Psalm of David wrote as a
prophet, and he really saw the Lord before
him.
Take one or two things out, and you'll
not be puzzled.
See verse 2?
I think in deep mire where there is
no standing.
Exactly where the Lord was, going into the
depths of the sufferings of salvary, and there
was actually no standing.
See verse 4?
They that hate me without a cause are
more than the hairs of mine head.
And it's perfectly true that they hated Christ
without a cause.
Verse 7?
Because for thy sake I have borne reproach,
shame hath covered my face.
Yes, there was a spittle on his face,
and he was stark naked now on the
cross.
The book says he despised the shame.
Here's one for the Roman Catholics to think
about.
Verse 8?
I am become a stranger unto my brethren,
and an alien unto my mother's children.
And if they think the Virgin Mary had
no other children, they would need to learn
the Psalms.
Because this is the Lord talking, and he
says, I'm become an alien unto my mother's
children.
Of course, Mary had other children.
I know that Jesus was her firstborn.
But Roman Catholics don't like you to say
that.
But the psalm maintains it.
But you can see, you can see that
this, this psalm belongs to Christ.
Here's another one.
Verse 21?
They gave me also gall for my meat,
and in my chest they gave me vinegar
to drink.
Sure, you can see the psalm belongs to
the cross.
Now, here's the one that I'm after.
Verse 20?
Reproach hath broken my heart.
Isn't that very wonderful?
I noticed today and yesterday that four of
these great heart specialists, one from America and
one from London, four of them, they maintain
that when a man is put into extreme
pain and suffering and anguish and mental agony,
that it is possible for the heart to
rupture.
What they call a heart rupture.
And if the heart ruptures, the blood from
the heart fills the pericardium.
And if the side is open, then it's
not water.
First it's blood and then water.
Are we getting into the depths?
Did our Lord Jesus Christ suffer so much
that his heart actually ruptured?
Now, don't be too hasty here.
Don't just snap it up like that and
then go out and sing that he died
of a broken heart because you can't.
Oh no, no, no, no, no.
You can go out and say that he
died with a broken heart if you like,
but don't go out and sing that he
died of a broken heart for he didn't.
Remember the tremendous facts that are in the
other parts of the gospel.
It's true that he went through so much
anguish and so much pain and so much
agony that his actual heart ruptured.
But he himself stepped into death willing.
I think John saw this.
I think this is what John saw.
Blood and water.
He says it's true, it's true, it's true.
What I like is true.
That ye might believe.
That ye might believe what?
Christ.
That ye might believe from this night forward
that God's lovely Son went through such agony
for you that his heart ruptured, but that
he willingly stepped into death to defeat your
every enemy.
What a faith.
Ah, brethren and sisters, there are tremendous things
there.
I don't believe that's on the symbolical or
allegorical side at all.
I believe that this is on the physical
side, and the doctor tonight agreed with what
I had in mind.
Now, let's get on still further.
I think you can see from that the
awfulness of our Lord's suffering.
Why that door in his sight only let
us look at the hearts that have suffered
so much for each one of us.
Now we come to something else that's really
wonderful.
Verse thirty-six, for these things were done
that the scripture should be fulfilled, a bone
of him shall not be broken.
And again, another scripture says, they shall look
on him whom they fear.
Oh, do you remember how we gathered up
the fragments last week?
You know, we saw him being led out
of Pilate Hall.
And I said last week that it was
no accident that he was led, because Isaiah
had said, he shall be led as a
lamb to the closet.
And as he was led, he was bearing
his cross.
And I said it was no accident that
he was bearing his cross, for Abraham the
father had placed the wood on the shoulders
of the son many years ago, a perfect
sight.
And you know, friends, we went into all
the detail.
It was no accident that they did garments,
and for his vesture did they cast lots,
because this armistice said that many years ago.
It was no accident that the men who
were sent by Pilate to break the legs
of these dying men on the cross, it
was no accident that they didn't break Christ,
because the scripture had already said, a bone
of embers shall not be broken.
This man in his temple, in his fine
wickedness, plunging a spear into the Savior's thigh,
it was no accident.
My, the scripture had already said, they shall
look on him whom they fear.
And all the powers of Rome under Pilate
couldn't break up all of them.
And even the wickedness and the wrath of
man is only taken by God to praise
him.
My dear friends, no matter what happens down
here, every little detail is being worked together
by our great wonderful God for our good
and his glory.
Oh, the wonder of this book.
The wonder I love this book, with God's
infallible words.
Even the temper of a wicked Roman soldier
will only have to fulfill it.
My, you can depend your life on the
book.
Let's get on further, because I think this
is very beautiful.
Verse thirty-eight, And after this, Joseph of
Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly,
for fear of the Jews, he thought to
Pilate that he might take away the body
of Jesus.
And Pilate gave him leave.
He came there for him, took the body
of Jesus.
You see, this said that Joseph of Arimathea,
he was afraid of the Jews.
He was really a disciple, a follower of
Christ.
You know, I want you to get these
two things together, because I want you to
see this.
Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.
Do you see verse thirty-nine?
And there came also Nicodemus, which at the
first came to Jesus by night, and brought
a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an
hundred pound weight.
I want you to see these two fellows
appearing on the scene.
You know, the first one, he was a
coward.
But you know, as he gazed at the
cross, it made this coward courageous.
It put the cowardice out of him, and
it made him so courageous that he went
in before Pilate and demanded the body of
Jesus, pleaded for the body.
And the cross not only made this coward
courageous, but the cross made this other brother
bold.
He was always sitting in the bottom of
the shadows, you know.
He said, well really, come out into the
open.
Oh, I love to play away in the
dark.
But the cross made the coward courageous before
the Gentiles.
And the cross made the brother bold before
the Jews.
You see, our Lord Jesus Christ ordained before
he went away, that every Lord's day morning
that comes, his people should be found remembering
him at the cross.
I wonder, do you think that he instituted
this table, and he said, this do in
remembrance of me, and as after ye eat
this bread and drink this cup, ye do
show the Lord's death till he come?
I wonder, do you think that he went
to all the pains to institute the table
that you might be brought to the cross
every Sunday morning for you to wipe your
feet on it?
Do you know why some of you are
not very much used to it?
Because you are never at the cross.
Well, you just wipe your feet on it,
don't you?
Maybe you can go to some meeting on
Sunday morning where they haven't got a table.
You should brush.
You should brush now.
Your Lord, I beg you to listen.
Your Lord, for you to remember his death.
You get to the company of people where
they really get into the cross work.
And you gaze at the death, and the
crucifixion, and the finished work, and the propitiary
sacrifice, and all that was accomplished at Calvary.
I tell you this, it will do more
for your soul than all the preachers.
See these two men?
My, they are just brought out of their
trousers.
They are just brought out boldly into the
front to take their stuff.
Mind you, it must have surprised Pilate when
Joseph of Arimathea, a rich man, the Bible
says, when he walked in, said, I want
the body of Jesus.
I think Pilate must have looked him up
and down.
He must have been amazed.
This fellow had taken his tongue with him.
I think it must have shook the whole
Jewish Sanhedrin, for Nicodemus was a member of
the Sanhedrin, and it must have shook the
whole Jewish Sanhedrin when he brought down all
these wonderful scriptures to anoint the body of
Jesus.
Mind you, it was no small offering.
It says a pound, a pound weights here,
and it's a tremendous cost.
In fact, it's so large and so big,
I was weighing it up today and other
days, that I've come to the conclusion that
Nicodemus had this prepared long before this hour.
He was in the Sanhedrin in John chapter
12, when they determined from God they ought
to put Christ to death.
I believe it.
I wonder, have we been so enthused at
the cross that we're prepared to take our
stand before the world for Jesus?
Do you ever surprise anybody for standing up
for Christ?
Does the world marvel at your stand?
Why, if you keep close to the cross,
you'll not be afraid to take your stand
for Christ.
The thoughtfulness.
Now, let's get on to the last bit.
Verse 40, Then took they the body of
Jesus, and I want you to notice that
once or twice it's called the body of
Jesus.
In verse 38, he came therefore and took
the body of Jesus.
Then in verse 40, they took the body
of Jesus and wound it in linen cloth.
Now, that word cloth is not just correct,
because you can see that the word wound
is governing it.
It's wound it in linen cloth.
Cloth.
You see, when they buried the king in
the Far East, or anybody of authority, here's
how they did it.
They got beautiful long strips of linen cloth,
fine, fine linen cloth, and they dipped these
in a wonderful ointment, and then they started
at the toes, and they began to wind
these right round the body, right round.
Then dip another one, and go on.
And then they wound it right on, and
right on, and right on, and right off,
and then just tucked it in at the
neck.
And then got another piece and dipped it
in, and they wound it round the head,
and that's the neck.
That's what they did with our Lord.
If you go to the museum just now,
you'll see an old mummy in there, wrapped
up the very same way many, many hundreds
of years ago.
She must have been somebody.
He was being buried.
And then this new grave.
Oh, it was a virgin grave.
My wherein never man had laid.
There was nobody in this.
You see, the Lord was being very particular
that when the resurrection took place that there
could only be the one come out.
He was protecting his son from being buried
with a bunch of criminals.
He was doing it very wonderfully.
These two men were just the men that
God needed for that particular moment.
You know, God can always get his man,
and he got them.
But they laid him in this new sepulcher.
But I want you to notice that they
put these spices in, as the manner of
the Jews is to bury.
You see, when one of the old kings,
I haven't time to go back, one of
the old kings was being buried in the
Old Testament, they laid him on a bed
of spices.
And that's exactly what happened to our Lord
Jesus, and that the demons thought about.
And he was buried in a garden.
That was just where they buried kings.
And he had gone by, Nicodemus and Joseph
of Arimathea, who was giving our Lord, in
the eyes of the whole world, the burial
of a king.
Friends, there's one wee word in Isaiah, he
made his grave with the rich in his
death.
Oh, I know that Isaiah, he was numbered
with the transgressors, of course he was.
He was in between two thieves.
That bears that out.
Oh, but here's the other bit coming up.
He made his grave with the rich in
his death.
Friend, I want you to get the hold
of how perfect the Word of God is.
But you know, I'd like you to get
this bit.
That our Lord Jesus Christ stepped into death
willingly, and dismissed his spirit, and was in
the realm of death, and he did it
with a heart that was ruptured because of
the pain and anguish he suffered for you.
And if you gaze at that long enough,
and you take it in, and you see
something of what it cost him, the Holy
One, to bear away your sin, I believe
you'll be found out in the open, taking
your stand with Christ, and crowning him king.
Let us just dispel for a moment.
Oh God our Father, we feel like saying
tonight, when I survey the wondrous cross upon
which the Prince of Glory died, my riches
gain I count but loss, and poor contempt
on all my part.
Oh God, we gaze at his head, his
hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled
up.
Did there such love and sorrow meet, or
thorns compose so rich a crown?
And we would come to the foot of
that cross tonight, and we would say, where
the whole realm of nature mine, that where
an offering far too small, love so amazing,
so divine, demands, oh God, deserves
my soul, my life, my all.
Bless this for thy name's sake.
Amen.