Low In The Grave He Lay - [John 19:31-42]

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When I first met Janet, I think one of my first lines to her now keep in mind
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I was not saved and I think I said something like I'm the funniest person.
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I know You're not laughing this manifests itself sometimes at unfortunate times
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Like when I'm trying to go to sleep and the other night as I was trying to go to sleep
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But I was also like thinking about this sermon Thinking about how I was gonna preach it and you know, some of my best sermons are right before I go to sleep but on this occasion as I lay there and I would
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Don't ask me why you know you go from thing to thing to thing to thing and all of a sudden I'm picturing myself like with some famous preachers and we're getting ready to do a conference and I go to the first guy
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You know big shot preacher and everything and I say well, what are you preaching on? He says? Oh That Jesus Came to earth
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He was born of a virgin you know that the greatness of God the second person of the
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Trinity coming down and taking on flesh and living among us Like well, that's it.
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That's a good topic second guy says Well, I've been assigned to talk about Jesus perfect life that he never sinned that he did everything right?
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Isn't that amazing? He goes what's even more amazing? Isn't that life is then credited to believers?
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That's my topic. That's good third guy says well my topic is
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The resurrection the glorious resurrection without which we have absolutely no hope whatsoever
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So then they all look at me all these big shots and I go what's your topic the tomb of Jesus?
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And they just what made me laugh is they just look at me like oh you poor lad
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That's all you've got And it made me laugh and here's why
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Because as I studied this I came to recognize This is a very important bit of Scripture.
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It's a very important doctrine in fact In the
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Apostles Creed, which is the first Known kind of creed or statement of faith in church history
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The death burial and listen remaining in a state of death until the resurrection is
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Emphasized seems kind of important RC Sproul said this this testimony talking about this passage that we're looking at this morning.
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By the way, you can go to night John 19 Will be in verses 31 to 42 today
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RC Sproul said this this testimony John's testimony to the actual death of the Savior is important given that all we have said about the curse of God and the satisfaction of his wrath if There were any doubt that Jesus really died
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There would be doubt as to whether the father actually meted out his wrath on Christ Death is the sentence pronounced on sinners and death is required for atonement if Jesus had not died we would have no assurance that he met the demands of God's law and Therefore we would have no foundation for believing.
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We are at peace with the father The account of Jesus burial in today's passage then is more than just a record of historical fact
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Christ burial proved that he truly died and that he endured the curse for his people how essential the burial of Jesus Christ It's this essential.
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It's in 1st Corinthians 15 Listen for I delivered to you as of first importance
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Paul writes What I also received that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scripture
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Listen verse 4 that he was buried that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scripture
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There's no skipping the burial of Jesus Did you know?
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And I mean, I just researched this yesterday so you can look it up for yourself later if you don't trust me There are 1 .8
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billion Muslims on this earth a quarter of the world's population. What does that mean? What's the significance of that?
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Do you know what they teach? about the death of Jesus That he only appeared to die
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That he did not physically die. Therefore. He would not have been buried. This is an issue for them
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And as John writes his gospel around 90 AD Many years after the other
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Gospels have been written There is a form of pseudo Christianity, which we have many now, but there's a form of pseudo
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Christianity Coming up. We know now is Gnosticism, which is to say hidden knowledge which adopted a
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A platonic that is to say it came not that it was friendly But they issued forth from Plato from Greek philosophy that said that the spirit was good
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And that the physical world was evil so these Gnostics these pseudo
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Christians taught that Jesus was a spirit did not have a physical body and therefore could not have died
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So as John writes this gospel being aware that this is starting to gather some steam
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He emphasizes this. In fact, John writes more about the burial of Jesus and the other
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Gospels together It's important And I think there's another reason that John wrote this and we'll see this this morning.
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I Think he wanted to kind of reveal the acts of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus and we'll see them this morning
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But John writes in such a way I love John's gospel for a ton of reasons the first time
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I ever taught anything in John's gospel. I was just struck by how
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Theologically precise he was When you read John, it's like you don't just get to know
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Jesus, which is certainly what he wants But you also get the theology behind Jesus John is very good about this and he's also
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I think a very Effective writer And what he's doing here is he's setting the stage
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For that glorious moment the glorious moment of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ So let's go to our text knowing now
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That the burial of Jesus Christ is very important and those conference speakers didn't know what they were talking about. So it made me laugh
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Which is a terrible thing when you're trying to go to sleep John 19 verses 31 to 42 since it was the day of preparation and So that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the
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Sabbath for that Sabbath was a high day The Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away
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So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him
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But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs
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But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and at once there came out blood and water
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He who saw it has borne witness His testimony is true and he knows that he is telling the truth that you also may believe
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For these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled not one of his bones will be broken and Again, another scripture says they will look on him whom they have pierced after these things
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Joseph of Arimathea Who was a disciple of Jesus? but secretly for fear of the
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Jews Asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus and Pilate gave him permission
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So he came and took away his body Nicodemus also who earlier had come to Jesus by night
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Came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes about 75 pounds in weight
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So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices as is the burial custom of the
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Jews Now in the place where he was crucified There was a garden and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid
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So because of the Jewish day of preparation since the tomb was close at hand they laid
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Jesus there now before right before this we've seen
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Jesus arrested I'm completely trumped up charges, but they were brought about because Judas betrayed him
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Judas Iscariot left the Last Supper and went told the
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Jewish leaders where he could be found and They got permission from Pilate took some troops and arrested him and if you recall there were a series of Trials really mock trials sham trials illegal trials and What the
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Jews wanted they eventually got they convinced Pilate By really the force of the crowd which they worked to get the crowd if you recall to chant
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Crucify him crucify him crucify him and finally Pilate gives them what they want
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Jesus suffers The earth is darkened but when the penalty is fate is paid when he's
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Suffered the full wrath of God He says what it is finished
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Everything he came to do is done He's paid for the sins of all who would ever believe
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Suffered the wrath of God and now this morning we come to kind of the aftermath of his death and then his burial and I have a simple outline which
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I Have two points first is The cross and the second is and the seek the secret disciples
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I called it I thought about calling the message the cross and the secret disciples Sounds like a really bad novel.
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You could probably get a CBD for about 299 So the cross the aftermath of the death of Jesus look again at verse 31
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Since it was the day of preparation and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the
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Sabbath For that Sabbath was a high day Any Sabbath day was important, especially to the
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Jewish leaders, but to all Jews They were to keep the Sabbath day. Holy The Sabbath day started on Friday evening
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Remember Jesus was crucified on Friday morning He hung on the cross
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Well into the afternoon, so there's a bit of a rush to get him off the cross
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Before the Sabbath starts, which is Friday at sundown So what do they do?
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I mean, this is well, let's go back for a second the day of preparation What does that mean? It means they had a day to get everything done that needed to be done so that they could
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Fully give themselves over to rest on the Sabbath and I thought about our own lives, right?
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How rushed everything is and imagine just taking Saturday and just thinking of it as a day of preparation
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Just a day to get ready to clear our plates so they can worship the
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Lord fully on Sunday. Just a thought But the
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Jewish leaders go to Pilate and they ask that the legs of these
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Men be broken they're in a rush. Well, why the big rush? Well in a word it's defilement we would read this in Deuteronomy 21 23 talking about a dead body
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His body shall not remain all night on the tree But you shall bury him the same day for a hanged man is cursed by God You shall not defile your land that the
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Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance What does that mean? It means if you leave him on the cross your land is going to be defiled so to avoid that Since this is a day of the preparation
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They're going to make sure that Jesus and these other men are off the cross and not only is this a
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Sabbath That's coming up, but it is Pentecost or I'm sorry Passover so Passover kicks off a whole week of ceremony.
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So when it says it's a high day, it's a high Jewish holiday It's one of the highlights of the year. It's a major holiday.
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So the urgency is underscored When you think about it again, there's irony right because they're so worried with keeping the
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Sabbath as they were on many occasions But they have no problem with being complicit in the murder of Jesus murdering an innocent man, well, that's kind of That's no big deal.
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That's just another day at the office, but don't violate the Sabbath the depravity is plain here of the of the
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Jewish leadership Verse 31 again the second half of it the Jews asked pilot that their legs might be broken that they might be taken away
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Because of this urgency to avoid defiling the land on the Sabbath They want to break the legs of Jesus and these thieves these rebels these scallywags that are
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Crucified on either side of them. Well, why? Because during the process of crucifixion when you've got the nails that are actually driven in your wrists
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We like to think of them as through the hands, but through the wrists through his feet There's a little mini platform
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Where the victim and I'll call him the victim the victim of the crucifixion can sort of push himself up Why would you want to push himself yourself up because it's hard to breathe
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The way that they would generally die is Asphyxiation you can't breathe anymore the pressure is such on your chest and so you push up to get a breath and then you relax and it starts all over again
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By breaking the legs and guess what? No more pushing up it shortens the life
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Brings it to an end What's not revealed here though is the process by which they broke the legs
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They would take a giant Metal hammer and you can imagine a man who would do this would have to be quite strong and he would swing that hammer
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Viciously at the legs breaking them and in fact historians tell us that Often that was the reason that the people died
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They didn't the crucifixion then was over because the shock the blunt force That would strike their legs was enough to kill them.
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That's what they wanted to do to Jesus So we move on to verses 32 to 34 there the soldiers actually come up and they're performing what
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I I would just say is a Death check. They want to make sure that these guys are dead The Jews asked pilot pilot grants permission.
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So here come the soldiers carrying out pilots will so soldiers Soldiers came and broke the legs of the first the first thief and of the other the second thief
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Who had been crucified with him, but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead
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They did not break his legs but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and at once there came out blood and Water, I mean you can almost picture it.
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Can't you this little group of soldiers? Some of them go to the first thief some go to the second right there on either side of Jesus They break their legs.
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They meet in the middle They don't break Jesus legs. Why not? Because he's already dead why not break him anyway
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Luke helps us here Luke 23 47 now when the centurion saw what had taken place when
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Jesus says You know into your hands. I commit my spirit, you know, it is finished all those things
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Now when the centurion saw what had taken place He praised God saying certainly this man was innocent the centurion who's there
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Knows that Jesus is dead So these men come up and it doesn't take much for us to understand.
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He's just like don't waste your time He's already dead now one of the soldiers here for reasons not given to us
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Maybe out of sheer cruelty. Maybe he was got some kind of sadistic pleasure. We don't know
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Plunges his spear into the side of Jesus There are all sorts of theories about what this may represent.
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There are all sorts of theories about Why blood and water came out? But here's what we know for sure it meant enough to John to tell us about it
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It's as if John was saying this I saw his dead body. I Saw a soldier pierce his side
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No one could have survived what Jesus went through the beatings the floggings the crucifixion and then a spear
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Thrust into his side. He was obviously dead When doctor says this he says to presuppose
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That the spear pierced the still living heart. In other words that Jesus was still alive when this soldier pierced him and That's to account for the blood and water is contrary to science
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Because if that would have happened, he says pure blood would have issued forth if Jesus was still alive
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It Was the crucifixion itself that his death was to be accomplished and not a spear thrust
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By a soldier in other words Jesus was dead when this spear went into him
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Jesus laid down his own life. No one took it from him He determined the precise moment of his death and he did so in Complete harmony with the will of the
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Father full stop now. It's interesting because in verse 35
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Jesus Or not Jesus John Does something in literature or in film or in plays that they call breaking the third wall?
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What do I mean by that? It means we're watching the scene unfold and The narrator suddenly turns to us the audience and addresses us and that's what he does here in verse 35
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He who saw it has borne witness his testimony is true and he knows that he is telling the truth
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That you the reader the hearer also may believe
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I Know what I saw. I want you to believe
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Right. Why would he say that?
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Because friends Your soul rests in the balance you need to believe this
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You need to believe that Jesus actually died that he actually was a sin -bearer
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We have a hymn that probably came to mind even as we're reading through this Written by Augustus top lady where he says what?
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Let the water and the blood Used to say from thy riven side now. It says, you know from thy wounded side which flowed
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Be of sin the double cure cleanse me from its guilt and power What a top lady mean?
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Did he mean that the water and the blood flowing is what cleanses us from?
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Death, you know, it's like there's power in the blood. Is it the blood? Is it the blood and water?
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No, as Charlie said earlier What does it represent the death of Jesus?
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That's what top lady is talking about and that's what John is emphasizing here Even as I read before we got going here today
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Jesus died at the right time right at the appointed time He died for us
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While we were enemies It was the death of Christ his physical death his sacrificial death on behalf of sinners
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That paid the price for every sin Every believer would ever commit and as I thought about that as I even wrote that I thought that's a lot of Evers Every sin ever committed by every believer paid for forever
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In verses 36 and 37.
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We see scripture fulfilled For these things took place these events right here took place that the scripture might be fulfilled
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Not one of his bones will be broken. And again, another scripture says they will look on him whom they have pierced
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Now it's interesting in Exodus 12 when the first one is
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Given that not one of his bones will be broken these are directions for The Passover meal and again, where are we?
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We're at the Passover. He's the Passover lamb These are the directions for eating the
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Passover meal Says it shall be eaten in one house You shall not take any of the flesh outside the house and you shall not break any of its bones
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That's what John is addressing He says not one of his bones will be broken.
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So that's one fulfillment second one He sees fulfillment in Zechariah 1210 and I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and Please for mercy so that when they look on me on him whom they have pierced
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They shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and we bitterly over him as one weeps over a
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Firstborn as I read that I just thought
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How is it that we are really struck and crushed? By the fact when we were first saved and hopefully over and over again as we contemplate the gospel
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That it was our sin that kept him on the cross It was our sin that caused him to suffer.
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He was pierced through why? because of us We mourn
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For what we did in effect to Jesus And it's that that gives us the love for him the appreciation for what he did
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It's overwhelming to us that he would love us like that So that's my first point the cross the aftermath of the death of Jesus and now we come to the secret disciples
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Now it is almost certain. I mean it I would love to read their testimonies.
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I'd love to you know after After the resurrection, you know when all the believers started gathering together
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I mean, I imagine at first for Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus It was probably they probably got a little bit of the
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Saul of Tarsus treatment, you know You were in the Sanhedrin, bro you know, you were one of those guys chasing us around and you know, eventually arrested
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Jesus and everything and and I think there's a little bit of exoneration in this just you know,
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John wanted to make the record clear that these guys these were these were believers and And they certainly these two men
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Worked I think in coordination and they split the labor. We'll see that here first Joseph Joseph of Arimathea Verse 38 the first part of that verse after these things after the death of Jesus Joseph of Arimathea who was a disciple of Jesus but secretly for fear of the
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Jews Sometimes we joke about you know secret Christians Undercover Christians you can never tell by their life, but they say they're
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Christians. That's not what's going on here All right.
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He was afraid of the Jews. Why because they were his friends These are the people that he you know, these were his co -laborers as it were
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Who was Joseph? Well, he was wealthy Matthew 27 57 tells us this when it was evening
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There came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph who was also a disciple of Jesus So he had money, you know what right away?
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I just think well that what does that tell us? Being wealthy it may be a stumbling block, but it doesn't stop you from believing
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It's not money. That's a sin. What's the sin? It's the love of money Second thing we know about Joseph was that he was righteous
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Third thing we know is he was in the Sanhedrin listen to Mark 15 43
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Joseph of Arimathea a Respected member of the council. I mean
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I could have added respected right to that. He had prestige
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And it says who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God Took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus Took courage.
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I'm gonna talk more about that in just a moment Here's another thing we know about him.
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He dissented when the Sanhedrin wanted to put Jesus to death Luke tells us that Luke 23 51 he talking about Joseph had not consented to their decision in action.
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In other words when they said Jesus must die Joe Joseph was like I I don't agree with that.
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Our passage tells us he was secretly a disciple the idea Yeah, I looked it up.
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It's like Surreptitious, you know almost undercover like I was saying before But it's like he was at these meetings the meetings of the
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Sanhedrin. He was listening and participating But he was not his identity his
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Belongingness was not with the Sanhedrin. He was not of the Sanhedrin. He was of Christ But Joseph was afraid of the
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Jews. He knew that confessing Christ telling them Would cost him his position
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And he wasn't ready for that Now it's easy to think oh man this guy
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I don't know about him at all But let's think about the inner circle, let's think about those closest to Jesus, what did they do?
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Jesus gets arrested and they run They scatter
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Right Peter and John stick around but then Peter denies Jesus three times
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John is a good witness those men fled
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But the opposite thing happens with Joseph of Arimathea He went from coward from secret believer to stepping out in public
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Coming out of the shadows using his prestige Using his position to go to pilot and say
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I want the body. I want to care for the body When Mark tells us that he took courage courage
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The word means to be bold enough to defy Danger or opposition
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He weighed it He looked at it.
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He saw what it would cost him and he said I'll pay that price And his life could never be the same.
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It was impossible the Sanhedrin wanted Jesus dead they wanted Jesus put to shame and Joseph acted to bury him to give him honor
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Look again at verse 38 Asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus and Pilate gave him permission
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So he came and took away his body Now that Pilate gave him permission
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Also tells us something about Pilate Because as I I said several weeks ago one thing that Rome did one thing that Rome was very good at was making sure that traitors were made an example of So a pilot believed
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That Jesus was seditious if he believed that Jesus was really this political threat that the
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Jewish leaders wanted him to make him out to be if He believed these things he would leave
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Jesus up on the cross. Why? To serve as an example. Don't do this to Rome Instead Joseph comes to him and says
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I like the body of Jesus and Pilate goes sure. What do I care? In other words translation
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Pilate never believed any of that He only did it to get rid of the Jews To make them happy to make them go away
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And again, it tells us that Joseph was indeed a man of wealth and power Why because he could then just go to Pilate not anybody could just get an immediate audience with Pilate Now we turn our attention to Nicodemus While Joseph was seen to the body
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Nicodemus was also busy Look at verse 39 Nicodemus also who had earlier
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Who earlier had come to Jesus by night came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes about 75 pounds in weight
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This is just amazing to me because you know, we could have left Nicodemus in chapter 3
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But John doesn't do that. He brings it back full circle and we get to see this man.
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Let's let's just for a minute I want to read part of John chapter 3 From the beginning now there was a man of the
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Pharisees named Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews and listen This man came to Jesus by night and said to him rabbi
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We know that you are a teacher Come from God for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with them
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In other words, how do you do these things? Who are you is the question? Jesus doesn't answer that instead.
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He said and you know it. Well Jesus answered him truly truly I say to you unless one is born again
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He cannot see the kingdom of God and then he gives him a mini sermon including
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John 3 16 Tells him who he is why he's here. We don't get any sense there that Nicodemus is saved
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He shows up a little bit later. He quibbles with the Sanhedrin over what they want to do
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But now we see Nicodemus at the end and what's he doing again? Unlike the disciples the 12 or the 11 now who scatter
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Nicodemus rallies Nicodemus comes out of the shadows Nicodemus shows himself to be a believer.
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He was also wealthy the teacher of Israel a member of the Sanhedrin All the mixtures and salves that Nicodemus is bringing heavy bulky
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Because these two men were wealthy both Joseph and Nicodemus They would have had servants to help them with the body with the band with the the wrappings
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With all these spices they were bringing and Now we see them together in verse 40
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So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with spices as is the burial custom of the
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Jews Joseph provided the linen in addition to Asking for and taking the body of Jesus He'll also provide the tomb as we'll see in a moment
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These two secret disciples prepared the Lord's body for burial Not a glorious job a defiling job they did it
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Now the Jews did not in bomb like we do They did not remove blood with and replace with formaldehyde or anything like that And they also unlike the
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Egyptians Egyptians when they buried people they would remove their internal organs and their brains
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Jews didn't do that. They just wrapped the body up with all these spices and everything So we come to the place here verse 41
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Now in the place where he was crucified There was a garden and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had been laid to place him with another a
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Dead body already in there would defile him one writer says as he says decay and decomposition
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Had never entered it into this tomb This was a fitting resting place for the body of the
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Lord we think of psalm 1610 The psalmist writes for you will not abandon my soul to shield or let your
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Holy One what see corruption experience corruption Symbolically the garden setting was significance
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Matthew Henry writes this he says in the Garden of Eden Death and the grave first received their power
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Now in a garden they are conquered Disarmed and triumphed over in a garden the
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Garden of Gethsemane Christ began his passion and from a garden he would rise and begin his exaltation
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We also see in verse 42 how near the tomb was how handy it was So because of the
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Jewish day of preparation since the tomb was close at hand that they laid Jesus there
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Again the pressure to get this done before sundown To get this finished
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Joseph already owned this tomb he bought it We don't know if he if he just bought it like immediately right there or if he purchased it for some other purpose
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We don't know But he had no qualms about using it here now
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It's significant again that it was brand new that had never been used before because when they come on Sunday morning to examine that tomb
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They're not wondering why there are multiple bodies missing there's only one body missing, right
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And it also fulfills Isaiah 53 verse 9 This is that the
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Messiah would be with a rich man in his death He was buried in the tomb of a rich man.
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He was buried in the tomb of Joseph Now to go back to Verse 35 because I just thought as I was working through this
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I thought those words that you may believe John wants us to believe what that he died that Jesus died.
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Yes, absolutely But that can't be it. That's not the sum of it He wrote this gospel and he emphasized a lot of things
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In fact from the beginning of the gospel, he stresses the deity of Christ He even says
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Quotes Jesus as saying I am right referring back to Exodus 314
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He's the ever -existence one ever -existent one He's the creator of the world he's a creator of everything in it he's the sustainer of life at the appointed time
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Jesus the second person of the Trinity entered into his own creation John writes and we beheld his
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Glory why did he come to earth? to do the father's will to lay down his life for the sheep
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To be the substitute for them to take on their sins He came to redeem the people whom the father gave him before the foundation of the world he died to pay the price for those sins for the sins of those who would believe and He was crucified and buried on Friday he lay in the grave on Saturday and on Sunday morning he rose
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He rose triumphantly from the grave and is now ascended and seated at the right hand of the father
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That's what John wants us to believe. He wants us to believe in essence the gospel
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Gerhardus Voss wrote this he said by raising Christ from death God as the Supreme Judge set his seal to the absolute perfection and completeness of his atoning work
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The resurrection is a public announcement to the world that the penalty of death has been borne by Christ to its bitter end and that in Consequence the dominion of guilt has been broken the curse annihilated forevermore
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Again, that's the gospel. Our response is to believe To rest to trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ And if you've not done that My encouragement to you today is to stop
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Resting on your own works to stop thinking that maybe I'm good enough to stop thinking that even
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Jesus plus what I do Jesus plus what I give Jesus plus the wonderful person that I am whatever your
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Rationale is There is no Jesus plus it's Jesus Christ alone his life his death his burial and his resurrection
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You must trust in those things Let's pray our father.
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It is a glorious thing to contemplate Jesus Christ laid low why?
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It's glorious because he didn't stay there He told us He would raise himself from the dead and he did
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He told us that he would come back on the third day and he did
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Because his promises are true we can trust him entirely teach us to lean fully on Jesus Christ and him crucified and him resurrected
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Like us he lived Like us he died Like him one day you will raise all those who are in Christ Jesus and we praise you in Jesus name.