The Psalm of Pious Resolutions (Psalms 101)
The Psalm of Pious Resolutions
Psalms 101
March 14, 2021
I stole the title of this Psalm from Charles Spurgeon.
He noted that such a title might better help us remember its content.
It is a Psalm that I remember having a profound impact upon me
Back when we did our “Month of Stillness” many years ago.
In our quest to seek the Lord, I was certainly moved by verse 2,
“I will give heed to the blameless way. When will You come to me? I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.”
That is still a great reminder of the reality that
If we are a people who desire the presence of God in our lives
Then certainly we must understand
The commitment involved on our end.
Because I have been married 22 ½ years, and am now an expert I can tell you some of what I have learned.
• I enjoy watching a movie or sporting event or a television program at night, most of the time to fall asleep, but I’m not gonna lie, I like to watch it.
• Carrie on the other hand detests television, movies, sports on TV, and even the dust that lands on the television itself.
• Now, because I am a marriage expert, I’ve learned that when I come home and desire a conversation with my wife; that conversation will not happen if I turn on the TV at the same time.
Others have learned that conversations with people are hard to carry on
• If you the radio is turned up loud,
• Or the other person is buried in their phone,
• Or one person is trying to watch a movie.
I’m not saying there’s never a time for those types of things in your life, but we do understand that those are not things that necessarily build relationships with other people.
And then we come to God.
Can we really expect to have our relationship with God grow if there is never time set aside to build that relationship?
Are we really expecting God to break into our TV program with one of those “Emergency Broadcast System” interruptions and say,
“Pardon the interruption, please stand by for a message from the Lord.”
You get it.
If you want a closer and growing relationship with Jesus
Then you have to commit to it too.
Relationships run in both directions.
This Psalm has always inspired and even convicted me with that truth.
But more than just that,
The Psalm is actually the great resolution of a newly crowned King.
It is “A Psalm of David” as you notice in the sub-heading
And it is a Psalm that reveals the resolutions of David
• As to what kind of king he wants to be
• And how he plans on leading the nation.
And it is a lofty goal to say the least.
It certainly would fall in line with what we might call THE CHRISTIAN AMBITION.
2 Corinthians 5:9 “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.”
Certainly in reading this Psalm we understand why David is called “A Man After God’s Own Heart”
That is certainly his attitude.
• He fears God
• He loves God
• He desires to please God
HE WANTS TO BE A GODLY KING
It sure would be nice if modern day politicians
Would adopt such passions as this ancient king of Israel.
These are commendable resolutions to say the least.
And in order to walk through the Psalm we are going to break them down into two main points.
#1 HIS PRIVATE CONVICTIONS
Psalms 101:1-4
These 4 verses have to do with David’s own PERSONAL COMMITMENTS
For his personal walk before the Lord.
And we understand that this has to happen first.
We all remember how Jesus scolded the Pharisees:
Matthew 23:25-26 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.”
Any effort to put on a public persona of godliness
Without actually pursuing godliness in the heart
Is the worst of hypocrisy.
David was no such hypocrite.
He desired purity first in his private life
So that it might spread into his public ministry.
Let me break this first point down so that we might better grasp David’s convictions.
1) HIS FOCUS (1)
He begins with:
“I will sing of lovingkindness and justice”
OFTEN times when we mention those words we are speaking of them as SPECIFIC ATTRIBUTES OF THE LORD.
• “lovingkindness” being His CHECED or loyal covenantal love.
• “justice” being His propensity to always do what is right or just.
And while they are certainly attributes of God,
That is NOT how David speaks of them here.
Rather, David speaks of them as goals to be achieved.
David speaks of them as the standard to which he hopes to attain.
• Because they are God’s attributes, David wants them to be his attributes.
• Because they are said of God, David wants them to be said of him.
David wants to be a loyal king.
He wants to be committed and loyal to God’s covenant.
And David wants to be a just king.
He wants to walk in God’s justice and goodness and rightness.
It’s as if he starts off his reign by announcing,
“May my reign be a reign of loyalty to God and justice to all men.”
It is a high mark and high ambition for any in a position of leadership.
David continues “To You, O LORD, I will sing praises.”
This is the focus of David’s reign.
He desires his reign to be a loyal and just reign
So that it might be glorifying to God.
• God is the object of his reign
• God is the motive of his reign
• God is the beneficiary of his reign
That is David’s goal; that is David’s focus.
He longs for his reign to be one of loyalty, justice, and glory to God.
2) HIS DEVOTION (2)
We might say that this is David’s
BLUEPRINT for how he plans on obtaining that goal.
“I will give heed to the blameless way. When will You come to me? I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.”
This has nothing to do with David’s outward persona
Or his public reputation.
This is all about David’s heart before the Lord.
David outlines his goal and it is “the blameless way”
David’s goal and objective is to walk in such a way
As to be blameless before God.
He doesn’t want to offend God in any way.
WHY?
Because he longs for the presence of God in his life.
Note the “When will you come to me?”
David longed for God’s presence.
• We remember David’s strong desire to bring the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem.
But David also understood that God was offended by sin
And any hope of fellowship with God
Must be accompanied by a blameless life.
After all, David also wrote:
Psalms 15 “O LORD, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, And speaks truth in his heart. He does not slander with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor takes up a reproach against his friend; In whose eyes a reprobate is despised, But who honors those who fear the LORD; He swears to his own hurt and does not change; He does not put out his money at interest, Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.”
David understood the required character to abide with God, why should that character be any different if we desire God to abide with us?
David was focused on being blameless before God.
And this included the strictest commitments to purity.
“I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.”
Someone once said, “Character is who you are when no one is looking.”
It does no good to come to church and sing “How Great Thou Art”
If I go home and look at pornography in my closet.
It is hypocrisy to put forth a pious attitude in church
if I’m a devil to live with at home.
Again you remember the Pharisees.
• Those men with lengthened tassels and broadened phylacteries…
• Those men who sat themselves in the seat of Moses…
• Those men who prayed on the street corner…
• Those men who neglected their appearance when they fasted…
And yet at the same time
• They devoured widow’s houses…
• They loved the approval of men…
• They were lovers of money…
• They kept people out of the kingdom of God…
David was no Pharisee.
He did not desire a public life of piety without a private one first.
He was committed even in the privacy of his home
Where no one but God was watching.
That was his devotion
3) HIS DISCERNMENT (3)
Here you see that David understood that
There were forces working against him in his quest for holiness.
There was an invisible force that lurked behind every tree
That sought to trip him and see him stumble into sin.
David understood what many believers today have failed to understand.
1 Peter 5:8 “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
• David knew he was being hunted
• David knew there were traps set everywhere
He knew that success in his efforts to be blameless
Would require a strict commitment
To guarding what he put into his mind.
“I will set no worthless thing before my eyes;”
“worthless” is BEL-E-YAH-AL
It speaks of what is wicked, ungodly, or unprofitable.
Paul used a form of the word in 2 Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 6:14-15 “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?”
We are talking about things that have nothing in common with Christ.
There is absolutely no benefit to them in life.
Their only purpose is to pull us away from Christ.
David said, “I’ll have nothing to do with that.”
WHY?
“I hate the work of those who fall away;”
That would be the very opposite of CHECED (loyalty)
David says, “I’m not going to even look at the vile things of this world because all they do is pull people away from God and I hate it when people fall away from God.”
“It shall not fasten its grip on me.”
So David sees that there is a constant battle raging
Which seeks to sever him from his pious goals
And David has a plan for defeating it.
David says, “I’ll stay away from everything impure and godless so that I will never join those who fall away.”
In some ways it’s applying the instruction of Jesus
Who taught us to pray that we would not enter into temptation.
Well that was David.
I’m going to avoid temptation with everything I have.
His Focus, His Devotion, His Discernment
4) HIS EXPECTATION (4)
This is what David EXPECTS TO ACHIEVE
If he faithfully maintains the blueprint he lines out in the first 3 verses.
“A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know no evil.”
We remember:
Psalms 1:1-3 “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.”
That is the truth that David is seeking to apply.
• I’m going to focus on holiness…
• I’m going to devote myself to walking in integrity in all aspects of my life…
• I will stay away from those things which tempt me and pull me away…
• And the end result is that “I will know no evil”
So those are David’s Private Convictions
That is his personal life
#2 HIS PUBLIC COMMITMENTS
Psalms 101:5-8
After getting the log out of his own eye,
David’s next objective will be to remove the specs from Israel.
As King he understand his calling.
Romans 13:3-4 “For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.”
1 Peter 2:13-14 “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.”
• It is actually one of the few legitimate functions of the civil authorities.
• They are given the sword by God for the purpose of punishing evil.
Well, David seems to understand that.
Here is the new platform of his administration.
1) INTOLERANCE FOR THOSE WHO OFFEND GOD (5)
“Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy; No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure.”
We quickly recognize on that list things that God hates.
Proverbs 6:16-19 “There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.”
Psalms 50:20-21 “You sit and speak against your brother; You slander your own mother’s son. “These things you have done and I kept silence; You thought that I was just like you; I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes.”
And who could ever forget that “God is opposed to the proud”.
Could David really be considered a faithful king
If he condoned the things God hated?
David’s calling is to punish evildoers
And David says that is precisely what he is going to do.
He will have an intolerance for the things that God hates.
2) DEVOTION TO THOSE WHO LOVE THE LORD (6)
Here is a verse for every young man or young woman.
Find someone who lives this life correctly
And watch them and listen to them.
This verse might be a summation
Of the entire message of the book of Proverbs.
“My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; He who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me.”
David was not going to listen to the wicked who have wicked desires,
But his refusal to listen was NOT DUE to some sort of pride
Where he wouldn’t listen to anyone.
David was more than happy to listen to those who are “faithful”
David sought a blameless life and so he is eager to listen to blameless people.
This is the way to ascend in David’s administration.
• If you want to be removed, then just do the things God hates.
• If you want to gain the ear of the king, then maintain a faithful and blameless lifestyle.
This is David’s public commitment.
These will be foundations of his reign.
3) REMOVAL OF THOSE WHO ARE PHONY (7)
Of course when you put out the memo that you are going to remove the wicked and listen to the godly then it only stands to reason that
INSTANTLY PEOPLE ARE GOING TO START ACTING MORE GODLY.
But what David knew is that for some it will only be an act.
They will try to deceive him in hypocrisy.
And David says, when I find that person out, he has to leave.
“He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house; He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me.”
If I find out that you are not living a life of integrity
In your private life then you will lose your position.
I’m not in the business of listening to or taking advice from frauds.
I want the pure in heart.
I want those who are truly seeking to walk in the fear of the Lord.
4) COMMITMENT TO PRODUCE A RIGHTEOUS CITY (8)
He understands that the wicked are like weeds.
They continually return and continually have to be dealt with.
And so David says:
“Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land, So as to cut off from the city of the LORD all those who do iniquity.”
• He’s gonna spray the weeds…
• He’s gonna hoe the weeds…
• He’s gonna burn the weeds…
His goal is to have a weed free lawn.
I’m going to be a righteous king who rules in righteousness
And produces for the glory of God a righteous city.
Those are DAVID’S PIOUS RESOLUTIONS.
It’s pretty impressive.
But you’re already picking up on the problem.
DAVID NEVER LIVED UP TO THEM.
I mean the GLARING ONE is in verse 3.
(3) “I will set no worthless thing before my eyes;”
Of course we read:
2 Samuel 11:1-4 “Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. Now when evening came David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king’s house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” David sent messengers and took her, and when she came to him, he lay with her; and when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house.”
That certainly doesn’t sound like “the blameless way”
That David was seeking.
David spoke of the integrity of his house and yet we know his house was filled with issues.
• We have Amon who raped his half-sister (Absalom’s sister)
• David never addressed it.
• We have Absalom who led an insurrection
Not exactly a home life to be proud of.
We could talk about him and his righteous and upright administration, but we all remember Joab.
He was the general for David that continually shed blood
And pulled underhanded schemes.
Remember him murdering Abner?
2 Samuel 3:26-30 “When Joab came out from David, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the well of Sirah; but David did not know it. So when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the middle of the gate to speak with him privately, and there he struck him in the belly so that he died on account of the blood of Asahel his brother. Afterward when David heard it, he said, “I and my kingdom are innocent before the LORD forever of the blood of Abner the son of Ner. “May it fall on the head of Joab and on all his father’s house; and may there not fail from the house of Joab one who has a discharge, or who is a leper, or who takes hold of a distaff, or who falls by the sword, or who lacks bread.” So Joab and Abishai his brother killed Abner because he had put their brother Asahel to death in the battle at Gibeon.”
David never dealt with Joab.
Instead, on his deathbed he told Solomon to do it.
1 Kings 2:5-6 “Now you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed; he also shed the blood of war in peace. And he put the blood of war on his belt about his waist, and on his sandals on his feet. “So act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray hair go down to Sheol in peace.”
That’s not exactly great conviction.
David spoke big that he would cut off the deceitful and remove the wicked and the arrogant.
• Yet, when Absalom was killed for all those things
• He wept so greatly that Joab rebuked him for wishing that Absalom had lived
and all his army had perished.
Or another big day in David’s life.
2 Samuel 24:1-4 “Now again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” The king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, “Go about now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and register the people, that I may know the number of the people.” But Joab said to the king, ” Now may the LORD your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab and against the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to register the people of Israel.”
That is clearly the kind of ARROGANCE
That David wasn’t going to condone or put up with.
Now, my PURPOSE HERE IS NOT label David a liar or a phony, not at all.
• David was a man of faith.
• David loved God.
• David strived to please God.
BUT DAVID FAILED.
This is the reason I borrowed Spurgeon’s title for the Psalm.
I like the title: “The Psalm of Pious Resolutions”
I especially like the word here “resolution”
It makes us think of our culture and the propensity to make
“New Years Resolutions”
The problem with 99% of those is what?
• No one ever keeps them.
• Most resolutions have to do with diet and exercise and very few last even a month.
• It only takes a couple of weeks before we run into the flesh and we are conquered.
And that is why we must read Psalms 101 with a gospel perspective.
In the first 4 verses David outlined his blueprint for personal holiness.
• It was to seek the blameless way
• It was to walk in integrity in his house
• It was to keep all worthless things out of his sight
• And then he would know no evil.
In short,
If I can keep all those vile things out of my bubble, then I’ll be holy.
But there is a drastic problem in that.
SIN IS ALREADY IN THE BUBBLE!
Matthew 15:19-20 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. “These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”
• Sin is not an external problem that you must hide from.
• Sin is an internal problem that you must be cured of.
And when the objective for curing sin is to work harder
Or strive more then there is always failure.
And for this I would remind you again
Of the great struggle that Paul gives us.
Romans 7:14-24 “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”
I’m telling you David could have wrote that!
• And again, you all know I’m a huge fan of John MacArthur and RC Sproul and they both disagree with me here.
• They say Romans 7 is a spiritually mature man who grieves his ongoing sin.
I DISAGREE.
This is Paul, who when confronted with sinfulness
(regenerated to a heart that sought God),
Gave it his best effort to never do it again.
Paul, like David, wrote down his pious resolutions
And went out with the best of intentions.
BUT HE FAILED
WHY?
Because the Old Covenant always fails!
Hebrews 7:18-19 “For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness (for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.”
Paul would go on to say it too:
Romans 8:1-4 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
When men took a list of the things God hates and said, “I will work like a dog to never do those things, they all failed miserably.”
Now, that doesn’t mean that David was lost.
• David did love God.
• David looked to Christ.
• David was a man of faith.
But the point to be made is that
Pious commitments were impossible in his own strength.
Where do we find the strength for those types of commitments?
THE HOLY SPIRIT!
Romans 8:5-14 “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh — for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
There you notice that all the things David desired were correct.
• Paul even tells us that we are under obligation to put to death the deeds of the body.
• We labor and strive for that.
But we do it with the power that the Holy Spirit provides.
Psalms 101 is a Psalm of perfect passion and limited power.
For David to write that Psalm under the Old Covenant was a futile dream.
But for us to read it under the New Covenant
It becomes a glowing example of the Christian ambition.
We should all sing Psalms 101!
This should be our cry!
But we do it with the strength and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit
Who sets us free from the Law of sin and of death.
We do it with the power He provides!
But this is the goal!
2 Corinthians 5:9 “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.”
The Resurrection According To Luke (Luke 24:1-12)
The Resurrection According To Luke
Luke 24:1-12
March 14, 2021
We actually are afforded here with a really wonderful opportunity.
• We are seeing a nearly 4 years study in the book of Luke come to an end and we are now arriving at the resurrection.
• At the same time in only 3 weeks we will celebrate Easter Sunday.
So instead of 1 week of resurrection, we’re going to get about a month.
That’s great for us because there’s not a more hope filled message in the world than the message that Jesus conquered death.
So this morning we start our journey in Luke’s gospel
Looking at his account of the resurrection of Jesus.
We obviously start with the ever relevant reminder that
The message of the resurrection is of extreme importance.
It is NOT an over-exaggeration to say that
If you remove the resurrection Christianity is destroyed and
If you do not preach the resurrection you are not preaching the gospel.
Perhaps no passage states that better than:
Romans 10:9 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;”
• In order to be saved Paul says that a person must believe that God raised
Jesus from the dead.
The resurrection is the UNIQUE message
Which the CHURCH ALONE POSSESSES.
And this is the message that the apostles preached to the world.
Certainly Peter’s preaching was focused on this truth.
Acts 2:22-24 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know — this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.”
Acts 3:14-15 “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.”
Acts 4:10 “let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead — by this name this man stands here before you in good health.”
Acts 5:30 “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross.”
And when the book of Acts shifts to the ministry of Paul,
We find that this message is central to his preaching as well.
Acts 13:29-30 “When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb. “But God raised Him from the dead;”
When preaching in Athens, Paul said:
Acts 17:31 “[God] has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
It was Paul who actually summed up his entire ministry when he said:
Acts 24:21b “’For the resurrection of the dead I am on trial before you today.'”
Of when Paul is on trial and Agrippa shows up and Festus is trying to explain to him who this prisoner Paul is. Festus says:
Acts 25:18-19 “When the accusers stood up, they began bringing charges against him not of such crimes as I was expecting, but they simply had some points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive.”
YOU SEE THE MESSAGE.
They preached that Jesus had been raised from the dead.
Now it was only a few weeks ago that we very adamantly said that
THE CROSS WAS THE CENTRAL POINT OF CHRISTIANITY.
And I will stand by that statement forever.
The cross is the central moment.
However, without the resurrection the cross is useless message.
• It is the resurrection that validates the cross.
• It is the resurrection that assures us of the righteousness of Christ.
• It is the resurrection that guarantees that the atoning work of Christ was indeed successful.
We hold that on the cross that righteous man
Experienced the wrath of God for sin that was not His own.
That He was in fact the propitiation for sinners.
That whole message falls apart if Jesus remains dead.
1 Corinthians 15:14 “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.”
1 Corinthians 15:17 “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.”
• Every other hero’s story may contain his glorious entrance…
• Every other hero’s story may include his mighty deeds…
• Every other hero’s story may culminate in his dramatic death…
But only Christ’s story continues with a resurrection from the dead.
The Christian message is unique.
Jesus rose from the dead in a physical body
And He promises a bodily resurrection to all who believe in Him.
The resurrection is HUGE!
And this morning we study that from Luke’s gospel.
• Now, you are well-aware that each of the gospel writers include and omit
certain facts about the story.
• They are inspired by the Holy Spirit to tell you the account from their
perspective.
• They all know more than they write.
• It ISN’T just unabridged history.
• There is a theological point.
If you want to see the entire story and the entire day weaved together, then I highly recommend you listen to John MacArthur’s two sermons on Luke 24:1-12
https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/42-291/an-empty-tomb-with-an-angelic-explanation
https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/42-292/witnessing-women-and-doubting-disciples
But you know that no writer gave us the whole story
Because they weren’t trying to give us the whole story.
They were giving us selected parts of the story to make a point.
Now, there are some facts that all 4 writers include.
• The Empty Tomb
• The Angelic Witness
• The Women Give The Report
• The Disciples Don’t Initially Believe
All 4 gospel writers include those 4 realities.
One might consider those the essential truths about the account.
However, there is ONE GLARING ABSENCE to each of their accounts.
There is one thing that none them show you.
NONE OF THEM SHOW YOU THE RESURRECTION.
None of them give that information, because none of them saw it.
They knew Jesus died (John saw it)
They knew Jesus was buried
They saw Jesus alive
But none of them saw the moment it happened,
That part of the story is not in Scripture.
That means that each of the gospel writers
Is left to prove the resurrection by a different means
Than an eye-witness account of it.
• These are men who would tell the world that Jesus rose from the dead.
• These are men who would die a martyr’s death for proclaiming that message.
And each of them give you their proof that Jesus rose from the dead
Even though they didn’t actually see the resurrection take place.
Now, for curiosity sake:
Matthew’s main focus is on THE GUARDS
• That they were stationed to guard the tomb
• That they abandoned their post
• That they returned to the city
• That they were bribed to lie about what they saw
• That they agreed to a lie that would have gotten them in trouble
Matthew 28:11-15 “Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, and said, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’ “And if this should come to the governor’s ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble.” And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.”
In Matthew’s gospel that becomes the lie that proved the resurrection.
Mark’s main focus is on THE EYE WITNESSES WHO SAW JESUS ALIVE
• Namely here Mark points out that the women saw Jesus.
• In fact Mark includes that later Jesus rebukes the disciples for their refusal to
believe the women.
Mark 16:14 “Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen.”
If this was a “made up” story
No fiction writer would have used women as his main witnesses.
These women were the only ones to see the entire story unfold.
• They saw Jesus die (John was the only disciple)
• They saw Jesus buried
• They saw Jesus alive
They were credible witnesses and to Mark that is a great proof.
John’s focus seems to be on THE EMPTY TOMB
• Specifically the fact that the stone was gone and the grave clothes were left.
• No grave-robbers are going to strip a dead body naked before they steal it.
John 20:6-8 “And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed.”
That empty tomb and the presence of those grave clothes was John’s great evidence that Jesus was now alive.
BUT LUKE USES NONE OF THOSE.
Luke mentions nothing about the guards,
Nothing about them being stationed, about them being frightened, or about them being bribed.
Luke doesn’t include that Jesus appeared to the women.
No account of Jesus’ talking with Mary, nothing there.
Luke does mention the empty tomb & that Peter saw the linen wrappings,
But Luke does not say that this fact convinced Peter.
Luke only includes that Peter “went away to his home, marveling…”
None of those proofs are Luke’s main proof.
WHAT IS LUKE’S MAIN PROOF OF THE RESURRECTION?
THE WORD OF GOD
Luke’s account is the longest, spanning some 35 verses.
• It starts with the women at the tomb
• It ends with the men on the road to Emmaus.
And all of them get rebuked in their unbelief for the same thing.
They did not believe the word of God.
(6-8) “He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” And they remembered His words,”
Or even later with those men on the road to Emmaus:
Luke 24:25-27 “And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.”
And even later when Jesus appears to the disciples.
Luke 24:44-46 “Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day,”
This is Luke’s crowning proof.
• The prophets said Jesus would rise from the dead…
• Jesus said He would rise from the dead…
• And now the gospels say He did rise from the dead…
It is, in my opinion, the greatest proof we have
That Jesus died, was buried, and that He rose from the dead;
THE BIBLE SAID HE WOULD & THE BIBLE SAYS HE DID.
• We didn’t see Jesus actually die
• We didn’t see Jesus actually buried
• We didn’t see Jesus actually rise
• NEITHER DID THE GOSPEL WRITERS (with the exception of John and His death)
We believe because Scripture says it happened.
That is clearly why Luke believed
And that is the emphasis of the story that he shares with us.
And that is the truth we want to examine over the next few weeks.
Well, let’s look at our text this morning.
There are 4 things to be seen here.
#1 A MISSING BODY
Luke 24:1-4a
“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.”
If you’ll remember the Sabbath had crept up on them on Friday evening.
• The Sabbath began at sundown on Friday and Jesus hadn’t died until 3pm.
• Then Joseph had to get Pilate’s permission to get Jesus’ body.
• Joseph then had to take Him down, wrap Him, and transport Him to the tomb.
• By the time this was all finished, it was too late to adorn the body of Jesus with spices.
• They had to wait.
Well the Sabbath ended at twilight on Saturday night,
And so in the middle of the night the woman took back up their mission
To adorn the body of Jesus.
• They traveled outside of the city,
• They were carrying their supplies.
• Mark’s gospel says they were actually worried about how they were going to move the stone.
But, when they got there:
(2) “they found the stone rolled away from the tomb,”
To them it appeared that someone had already been there.
In fact, John’s gospel seems to relate that simply upon seeing the stone moved that Mary Magdalene immediately turned around and made a bee-line to tell Peter that the body of Jesus had been stolen.
John 20:1-2 “Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”
That was her assumption. “Someone has taken His body”
That was likely the assumption of all the women.
For (3) “when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.”
And here is what is INTERESTING.
(4a) “While they were perplexed about this…”
“perplexed” is APOREO
It is the negative form of the Greek word that POREUO
Which means “to carry on” or “to go one’s way”.
APOREO then means “people who don’t know where to go”,
Or “people who are trapped or fenced in”.
In a mental sense it is people who are “stumped” or “at a loss”
They don’t know what to think or what to do with this.
• They are totally dumbfounded.
• They are without a direction.
Why do I tell you that?
• Because don’t you think it’s just a little strange that upon seeing that Jesus’ body was gone, NONE OF THEM EVEN REMOTELY CONSIDERED THE POSSIBILITY THAT HE MIGHT BE ALIVE?
That wasn’t even considered as an outside possibility…
That thought didn’t even enter their mind as what might have occurred…
They had no expectation of a resurrection at all.
To them a missing body could only mean someone stole it.
And if that’s not what happened
Then they were totally perplexed as to what it could have been.
It was the greatest of mysteries.
A Missing Body
#2 AN ANGELIC REBUKE
Luke 24:4b-8
What a great confrontation here!
(4-5) “While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead?”
• The women are at a total loss as to what has happened
• And instantly they are confronted by two glowing angels.
• And immediately they were terrified.
“terrified” is EMPHOBOS which is an intensified form of PHOBOS (phobia)
• They were scared out of their wits.
• These same angels had caused the guards to fall into a coma earlier in the morning.
• These women are “terrified”
And it is then that “the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead?”
It’s a really great question.
How many times have you ever found yourself looking for someone?
• Maybe you get separated from your spouse at Wal-Mart…
• Or you’re looking for the UPS man around Spur…
• Or you simply need to find a person to visit with them…
• You know what it is to search for someone.
How many times in that search have you said, “You know, I think I’ll go look at the cemetery, I bet that’s where they are”?
That is the sort of sarcasm that is behind this question.
“Why do you seek the living One among the dead?”
Well the obvious answer is
Because they didn’t think He was “the living One”.
They thought He was dead.
• They saw Him die
• They saw Him buried
• They figured He was like every other buried person they had ever known,
• They figured He was still here.
And it is at this point that the angel gives them
THE GREATEST NEWS THEY HAD EVER HEARD.
(6) “He is not here, but He has risen.”
It is a huge statement!
As we said at the beginning.
The resurrection of Jesus is the VALIDATION that Jesus was sinless.
Acts 2:25-32 “For David says of Him, ‘I SAW THE LORD ALWAYS IN MY PRESENCE; FOR HE IS AT MY RIGHT HAND, SO THAT I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN. ‘THEREFORE MY HEART WAS GLAD AND MY TONGUE EXULTED; MOREOVER MY FLESH ALSO WILL LIVE IN HOPE; BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT ABANDON MY SOUL TO HADES, NOR ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY. ‘YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WAYS OF LIFE; YOU WILL MAKE ME FULL OF GLADNESS WITH YOUR PRESENCE.’ “Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. “And so, because he was a prophet and knew that GOD HAD SWORN TO HIM WITH AN OATH TO SEAT one OF HIS DESCENDANTS ON HIS THRONE, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that HE WAS NEITHER ABANDONED TO HADES, NOR DID His flesh SUFFER DECAY. “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.”
We have no doubt that Jesus was innocent because God gave vindication of His life.
It is also VERIFICATION that His atoning death was successful.
Romans 4:25 “He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.”
Just as He died because we are sinners,
So also He was raised because we have been justified.
The fact that He is alive proves His saving death was effective.
It also gives us great confidence that DEATH (the consequence of sin) has been DEFEATED.
Hebrews 2:14-15 “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”
This is great news that these angels just announced to these women.
JESUS IS NO LONGER DEAD, HE IS ALIVE!
BUT THEY DON’T STOP THERE.
• ONLY LUKE includes what they say next.
• It is a simple and soft rebuke.
“Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again.”
You know how that works.
And you know the insinuation.
It’s when you do something wrong and your boss or parent or spouse says, “Remember I told you not to do that”.
It’s not just an insinuation that you are wrong,
But that you are wrong because you didn’t listen.
That is the rebuke you see here.
• Ladies, the reason you are at a loss is because you did not listen to Jesus.
• You did not listen to the word of God.
Remember right after Peter made that famous confession of Jesus:
Luke 9:21-22 “But He warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone, saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.”
JESUS HAD ANNOUNCED IT.
Matthew’s gospel includes this reminder:
Matthew 12:38-40 “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, ” An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
Jesus HAD told them.
• They had failed to listen to Him or believe Him.
• They had not listened and that is why they were “perplexed”
But now the angels straighten them out.
(8) “And they remembered His words”
• The light bulb came on.
• Jesus had said He would be raised, and now He was!
A Missing Body, An Angelic Rebuke
#3 AN IGNORED REPORT
Luke 24:9-11
So now the ladies have been sufficiently rebuked
For their failure to believe the words of Jesus.
And they are off to tell “the eleven” their new-found news.
Interestingly enough all the other gospel accounts include that
JESUS THEN APPEARED TO THEM, but LUKE DOES NOT.
It almost seems strange that Luke would omit
Such an amazing and seemingly important piece of information.
You’d think that these women seeing Jesus alive
Would have been something Luke would have wanted to include.
But he doesn’t because
Luke’s authority is not bound up in what is seen with the eyes,
But in what is heard in God’s word.
Let me remind you of another story that only Luke includes.
Remember the rich man in hades?
Luke 16:27-31 “And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house for I have five brothers — in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ “But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ “But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.'”
There Abraham helps us RANK our verifying proofs.
• And according to Abraham (in the story Jesus tells) the written word has more authority than even a visual sighting of a resurrected man.
THIS IS GREAT NEWS FOR US
Because we have never seen the resurrected Jesus.
We certainly don’t go to lost people and say, “Wait right here and let me go get Jesus to appear to you.”
No, we offer them only the word of God.
And I’ll tell you this; not only is it enough, it is the greatest proof!
It is such a great proof
That Luke doesn’t even include
The in person visit Jesus had with these women.
They had Jesus’ words, and according to Luke that is all they needed.
And these women take those words now to the eleven.
(8-11) “And they remembered His words, and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them.”
So they take this message to the eleven and unfortunately:
“these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them.”
What words?
• Well the context of Luke’s gospel indicates to us that “these words” are the same words the angel just reminded the women of.
• We read in verse 8 “And they remembered His words”
But it is “these words” that now appeared as “nonsense”.
Do you see why the disciples are terrified?
Do you see why the disciples are depressed?
It is because they have not believed the words of Jesus
And even when confronted with them again they still will not believe them.
That’s why there are more rebukes on the way.
To the eleven the promise of a bodily resurrection was nonsense.
• Today we’d call it “A Crazy Conspiracy Theory”
If you’ll remember Martha had similar logic.
• Lord you can’t move the stone, he’s been dead 4 days and he’ll stink.
If you’ll remember the Corinthians tried to apply the same logic.
• 1 Corinthians 15:35 “But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?”
The Corinthians wouldn’t believe in bodily resurrection
Because they couldn’t understand it.
The disciples are right there.
• The women wouldn’t believe what they couldn’t imagine…
• The disciples won’t believe what they can’t understand…
Both revealed a failure to believe the word of God.
A Missing Body, An Angelic Rebuke, An Ignored Report
#4 A CONFUSED DISCIPLE
Luke 24:12
When you put all the gospel accounts together you find that
• Peter had left at the report of Mary Magdalene that Jesus’ body had been stolen.
• He and John had actually run to the tomb and John outran Peter,
• But where John stopped outside the tomb, Peter went on in.
• Peter was curious.
BUT WHAT WAS HE DOING HERE REALLY?
Peter was seeking to verify what he had heard.
• These women believed the angel’s words before they saw Jesus alive
• That wasn’t enough for Peter, he wanted visual proof.
In some ways he was a fulfillment of what Abraham had said
Because he hadn’t believed the prophets or Jesus either.
He had to see for himself.
All Peter saw was an empty tomb.
And the Bible says “he went away to his home, marveling at what had happened.”
“marveling” is THAUMAZO
It means “to wonder at”
Often times it is translated “amazed” as in the crowds were amazed at Jesus.
It is used of Jesus when He saw the great faith of the centurion
IT SPEAKS OF WHAT OCCURS
WHEN SOMEONE SEES SOMETHING THAT IS UNEXPECTED.
And that sums up Peter.
He, like the rest, did not expect the resurrection.
This was all unexplainable to him.
Namely because he had not believed the words of Christ.
Now there is much more here,
• Especially as we get to those men on the road to Emmaus,
But let me simply remind you that
Our greatest proof that Jesus rose from the dead
Is that the Bible says He did!
I had a conversation with a Camp Leader several years ago who told me, “If the Bible was proved untrue, it wouldn’t affect my faith in the least.”
I asked him what his faith stood on then.
• He said, “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”
• My response was, “I doubt you’d even know of the crucifixion of Jesus were it
not for the Scriptures.”
• He then assured me that Jesus would appear to you, as Jesus had appeared
to him.
But even if I believed Jesus actually appeared to him (I’m skeptical),
• Certainly that is not the norm for everyone.
Beyond that, according to the story we read earlier,
• That is not enough to make people believe.
THE WORD OF GOD MATTERS
• Why do you believe Jesus is the Son of God?
• Why do you believe Jesus was born of a virgin?
• Why do you believe Jesus worked miracles?
• Why do you believe Jesus died on the cross?
• Why do you believe Jesus rose from the dead?
Did you see any of those things?
Did you talk to anyone who saw those things?
• No – you simply believe them because the Bible says they happened.
And that is more than enough!
We believe because God in His word says that it happened.
THE FOCUS HERE is that Jesus Himself said it would happen.
You’ll see next time that it is way more than just Jesus who said it would happen.
Often times at Easter we sing “He Lives! He Lives!” And we sing “You ask me how I know He lives…
…it’s because the prophets said He would, and Jesus said He would, and the apostles who were inspired by the Holy Spirit said He does!”
It’s more than experiential, it’s contained in the inerrant word of God!
We believe Jesus rose because the Bible says so.
There’s much more to talk about here in the coming weeks.
Entering His Courts (Psalms 100)
Entering His Courts
Psalms 100
March 7, 2021
In the late 1990’s a church called “Soul Survivor” in Watford, England had appeared to grow stale in their song services.
• In response the pastor temporarily suspended the use of all instruments and sound equipment.
• He simply asked the congregation, “When you come through the doors on a Sunday, what are you bringing as an offering to God?”
• One of the members noted the embarrassing silence to that question. This same member wrote a song seeking to express what he learned from that period. https://www.crosswalk.com/church/worship/song-story-matt-redmans-the-heart-of-worship-1253122.html
The song is called: “The Heart of Worship”
And in it Matt Redman writes:
When the music fades; All is stripped away, And I simply come;
Longing just to bring Something that’s of worth, That will bless Your heart
I’ll bring You more than a song, For a song in itself Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within Through the way things appear
You’re looking into my heart
I’m coming back to the heart of worship, And it’s all about You, it’s all about You, Jesus
I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it ,When it’s all about You, it’s all about You, Jesus
Redman’s song expresses a personal awakening
That is often needed among the people of God.
Even in the Old Testament we run up against this reality time after time;
• Namely that the people of God had forgotten God
• And their worship had become routine, apathetic, and even sinful.
The greatest error in all of that
Was not just that worship may have lost its excitement,
But that it became clear that God was actually offended by it.
Isaiah 1:11-15 “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies — I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.”
TURN TO: Malachi 1:6-14
God saw their worship as a burden, not a blessing.
• God was frustrated by the lack of honor He received
• In fact He had grown to hate worship just as much as they did.
Other times in Scripture we see a tremendous apathy break out
When the call to worship God actually
Became seen as UNWELCOMED INTERRUPTION into life.
For example:
Amos 8:4-6 “Hear this, you who trample the needy, to do away with the humble of the land, 5 saying, “When will the new moon be over, So that we may sell grain, And the sabbath, that we may open the wheat market, To make the bushel smaller and the shekel bigger, And to cheat with dishonest scales, So as to buy the helpless for money And the needy for a pair of sandals, And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?”
These people saw the Sabbath requirements
As a real interruption into their daily objectives.
One of the passages I find most interesting in this is found in Jeremiah.
TURN TO: JEREMIAH 17:19-27
• If you’re familiar with the book of Jeremiah you know that judgment is eminent.
• God has outlined all kinds of sin against His people, not the least of which was
idolatry, child-sacrifice, licentiousness, and blatant worldliness.
What is interesting is that in Jeremiah 17 God actually gives the people of Jerusalem a sort of opportunity at redemption.
Read (19-27)
Here it is all about the Sabbath, which of course was the day set aside for worship of the LORD.
Now breaking the Sabbath was hardly their only sin.
• However, God promised that if they would get that one right He would
relinquish on His threats of destroying the city.
In short, God was looking for people
Who understood the goal and purpose of worship.
He would even overlook their many moral flaws
If they would simply return in a genuine heart of worship.
Of course they did not, and they were destroyed.
That is NOT to say that God did not care about all those other sins;
• He most certainly did.
• But it is to point out that perhaps at the root of all those sins was a lack of love
for God and desire for worship.
Perhaps if they would have gotten their worship corrected
The other issues might have fallen into line as well.
WORSHIP MATTERS
It matters to God and so it certainly matters to us.
AND IN OUR WORSHIP
We must continually return to the question of our motive in all of this.
We must continually consider purpose of our appearing
Imagine a bereaved family who has just lost a loved one.
• You know the drill. People will cook food and take it to the family as an expression of compassion and love.
• Suppose you make a lasagna and take it by the house.
• Only when you get there you find they are already eating a lasagna that someone else made.
• So you say, “Well if you’re going to eat that lasagna and not mine, I’m just taking mine home. Here I went to all this trouble and y’all don’t even appreciate it.”
We might call that missing the point of why you visited in the first place.
Imagine a baby shower or a wedding shower
• And you go and buy a gift that is on the registry and attend the shower.
• And then after the mother or the bride opens the gift you give her a receipt and ask her to reimburse you for the gift you brought.
We might also call that missing the point of attending a shower.
Now imagine a worship service
• Scheduled for the purpose of glorifying God and giving thanks to Him for all that He has done.
• But you show up in a bad mood and are upset the songs aren’t the songs you wanted to sing and it takes entirely too long and the thermostat is set too high or low, and so you grumble and complain at how miserable it was to have to be there today.
We might also call that missing the point of attending a worship service.
We are talking about the purpose of appearing.
WHY DID YOU GO?
Isaiah 58:3 “Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’ Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, And drive hard all your workers.”
It is the needed reminder that worship is not about us, but is all about Him.
• We don’t come here for our glory or fame or even enjoyment.
• We come here for His glory and fame and enjoyment.
We enter this place to delight the heart of God.
We enter this place to tell God how great He is.
We enter this place to tell God how grateful we are.
We enter this place to focus on Him and give Him all our attention.
WE COME HERE TO WORSHIP.
Psalms 100 is a simple and yet profound Psalm that remarkably captures both the expression of worship and the depth of why it occurs.
It is a wonderful reminder and BLUEPRINT
For what every worship service ought to be.
We’re going to break it down into 3 points tonight.
#1 APPROACHING GOD
Psalms 100:1-2
Here we are talking about when we “Come before Him”
• Now certainly we know that God is omniscient and so in one sense we are always before Him.
• But the idea here is when we come to that point that we are setting aside our other distractions and duties that we might intentionally present ourselves before God for the purpose of worship.
There are some words that jump out at us in these first two verses.
We see the PARTICULARS.
“Shout” – “Serve” – “Singing”
And we see the ATTITUDE behind each of these actions.
“Joyfully” – “with gladness” – “joyful”
There are proper actions which occur
And there are proper attitudes when they occur.
To miss either is to fail to approach God correctly.
If you refuse to shout, serve, or sing
Or if you do it without joy or gladness then you are missing the point.
The Psalmist says:
“Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth.”
This is a famous line in the Psalms.
If you read the KJV it says, “Make a joyful noise”
Derek Kidner commented on that:
“The joyful noise is not the special contribution of the tone-deaf, still less of the convivial, but the equivalent in worship to the homage-shout or fanfare to a king.”
(Kidner, Derek [Kidner Classic Commentaries; Psalms 73-150; IVP Academic; Downers Grove, IL; 2008] pg. 388)
As Kidner point out, often times this verse is quoted as the cop-out
For the person who can’t sing on tune.
“Well you know the Bible says to make a joyful noise to the Lord,
So y’all bear with me while I sing.”
This verse isn’t a copout for justifying a minimal effort.
Rather the idea here is enthusiasm and joy and cheering!
We’ve all been in sports stadiums where fans cheer with excitement not just at a good play, but even when a favorite athlete is announced.
The political world has seen the massive Trump Rallies that have taken place with massive crowds that will impromptu start yelling “We Love You!”
If an athlete can receive it… If a politician can receive it…
Then certainly the God of the universe is worthy of it.
He deserves a joyful shout!
The Psalmist continues:
“Serve the LORD with gladness;”
We never forget that service is an integral part of worship.
Romans 12:1 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
And it is a service with “gladness” even eagerness.
We read about JACOB and his pursuit of Rachel.
Genesis 29:20 “So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.”
Should we not be able to say the same in our service for the Lord?
Or would we be more like those priests in Malachi who disdainfully sniff at the sacrifice and say “my how tiresome it is”?
We all love it as a parent
• When we ask one of our kids to clean their room or fold their clothes or do the
dishes
• And we get back that shrug and sigh as though we just asked them to rewire
the attic.
God deserves service and He deserves that it gladly done.
And the Psalmist adds:
“Come before Him with joyful singing.”
WHY?
• Because apparently God likes “joyful singing”.
• And no other reason is really needed.
• God even an inspired a song book with 150 entries so that His people would have something to sing.
It is simply what God desires.
When you put all these three together,
It essentially boils down to the attitude.
What is your attitude when you come before Him?
• Do you want to be here?
• Are you happy about it?
• Are you glad to be able to be in a worship service?
Because throughout the Scripture we find that
When the people aren’t glad to be there,
God doesn’t want to be there either.
Things like bitterness and grumbling and complaining
Are NOT things that we see God smiling upon in Scripture.
1 Corinthians 10:6-10 “Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK, AND STOOD UP TO PLAY.” Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.”
Do you notice that Paul put grumbling on the same level as idolatry, sexually immorality, and testing God?
Attitude matters to God.
When you approach God in worship, do so with a good attitude.
• Shout joyfully
• Serve gladly
• Sing joyfully
Approaching God
#2 APPREHENDING GOD
Psalms 100:3
This is such a powerful verse
And one that could be pondered and chewed on for hours.
But it carries the idea that in worship
You take a moment and contemplate who you are approaching.
• You are not standing before some athlete…
• You are not standing before some politician…
• You are approaching the God of the universe.
• The One that filled Moses with fear and trembling at Mt. Sinai…
• The One that caused Isaiah to cry “Woe is me!”
• The One that sent fire from the altar to consume Aaron’s sons…
• The One that struck Uzza dead for irreverence…
• Also the One who said “Let there be light”
• The One who delivered Israel out of Egypt with a mighty hand
• The One who met their every need in the wilderness
• The One whose glory drove the priests out of the tabernacle
• For us the One who sent His Son to die for our sins
It carries with it the perspective we gained last week
When we read “Holy is He.”
Who are you approaching?
Well the Psalmist here gives you a truth to chew on.
“Know that the LORD Himself is God;”
When we come to worship, we are approaching God.
Isaiah 44:6-8 “Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me. ‘Who is like Me? Let him proclaim and declare it; Yes, let him recount it to Me in order, From the time that I established the ancient nation. And let them declare to them the things that are coming And the events that are going to take place. ‘Do not tremble and do not be afraid; Have I not long since announced it to you and declared it? And you are My witnesses. Is there any God besides Me, Or is there any other Rock? I know of none.'”
Isaiah 45:5-6 “I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun That there is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other,”
Isaiah 45:21 “Declare and set forth your case; Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me.”
And as Isaiah also said,
• He is the God who poured out the oceans in the hollow of His hand.
• He is the God who measured the heavens by the span.
He is the God who reminded Job that
• He alone knows the storehouses of the snow and hail.
• He is the God who contains the sea.
• He is the God who holds all things in place.
One of the things we love about attending church is the fellowship.
When we come in fellowship we come as ABSOLUTE EQUALS.
Paul told us that in Christ “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.”
We are equals and we approach each other as equals.
But when we come to worship
We are approaching One who is not our equal.
WE ARE APPROACHING GOD.
Certainly there is an idea here of humility and submission.
BUT EVEN MORE SPECIFICALLY
The Psalmist points out something else we should know.
“It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.”
One of the commentaries I read pointed out the difficulty in this translation.
He points out that the word for “not” and the word “His”
Have a very similar sound in their pronunciation.
More likely the translation is “It is He who has made us and we are His; His people and the sheep of His pasture.”
Really either way, the focus is on this.
• God made us
• We did not make God
• We belong to God
• We are His possession
As our maker He holds total autonomy over
Our design, or ability, our duty, and our use.
We have often said it that He is the potter, we are the clay.
Romans 9:20 “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it?”
I shared with a person last week a passage I like to share with youth; understanding the struggles and frustrations that many youth feel.
(When you are a youth it’s tempting to think that the only thing that matters is athletics and so if you’re not an athlete you feel like an outcast)
So I like to remind youth that they were not created
To play sports or even make good grades. (Those things are fine)
They were created for the glory of God
And to accomplish the specific thing He created them for.
Psalms 139:13-16 “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.”
Every human would do well to camp in that passage for a while.
Do you see that your creation was not accidental?
Words like “formed” and “wove”.
• There was a definite method to your creation.
He says “fearfully and wonderfully made”
• Which speaks of an intentional and meticulous design.
• Are you tall?
• Are you short?
• Are you skinny?
• Are you big boned?
It’s not a mistake, you were designed.
I remember at one youth camp seeing a young man with a massive blue birthmark that covered half of his face.
• Some might even call that a “birth defect”,
• As though God just haphazardly threw a bunch of parts together without care.
Let me remind you for a moment about Moses.
• When God wanted to send Moses back to Pharaoh to save His people you
remember that Moses felt totally incompetent and argued with God.
• Most remember that one of Moses’ complaints was that he had a stutter.
Exodus 4:10-11 “Then Moses said to the LORD, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” The LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?”
Are we to believe that Moses stuttering was a “birth defect”
Or was it by design?
God knew all about Moses problem.
God created him that way.
WHY?
I don’t know.
• Perhaps it was a way in which God humbled Moses.
• God certainly humbled Jacob by putting his hip out of socket.
• Perhaps it was to demonstrated God’s great power through stuttering lips like when God gave Paul a thorn in the flesh.
• Perhaps Pharaoh knew about Moses stuttering and was amazed that he would speak?
• Maybe someone else in Israel stuttered and that made them more willing to listen to Moses.
I don’t know.
But God did, and it wasn’t an accident.
Remember this guy?
John 9:1-3 “As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
Not an accident.
Created fearfully and wonderfully for the glory of God.
Now, the sooner you grasp that the more fulfillment your life will be.
• I don’t care if you can throw a 125 mph fastball,
• YOU WERE NOT CREATED TO BE A BASEBALL PLAYER.
• I don’t care if you can run an 8 second 100 meter,
• YOU WERE NOT CREATED TO RUN TRACK
• I don’t care if you can sing like a bird,
• YOU WERE NOT CREATED TO BE A SINGER
YOU WERE CREATED FOR THE GLORY OF GOD
• Now you might play baseball for the glory of God (Jim Abbott did)
• Or you might run for the glory of God (Eric Liddell did)
• You might sing for the glory of God (Many do)
Paul said:
Colossians 3:17 “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”
But you were created for God.
YOU WERE CREATED BY HIM AND FOR HIM.
1 Corinthians 8:6 “yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.”
So that means when you come to worship,
You are approaching the One who created you for Himself.
You are coming home to your Creator.
You are appearing before Him to do what you were most designed to do.
WORSHIP
“It is He who created us, and not we are ourselves;”
“We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.”
By Him and for Him
Remember what God told the children of Israel?
Exodus 19:5 “Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine;”
God saved them to be His; to be “My own possession”
The church shares that distinction:
1 Peter 2:9-10 “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION,A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.”
We are His people a people for His possession.
Do you understand why God was so angry then when His people would go worship other gods?
• Those were His people!
• What were they doing acting like they were Baal’s people?
• That is why it is so often referred to as adultery.
• That was His wife, what is she doing with another lover?
WE ARE HIS
Created by Him
Created for Him
It is important to understand that.
• It is not about us here.
• It is about Him.
It is NOT about Him shouting over us, or singing over us, or serving us.
It is NOT about our pleasure or our purposes.
We come here before our Creator
To render the worship we were designed to give.
We are pots coming before the Potter
We are here for His enjoyment, use, and glory.
Approaching God, Apprehending God
#3 APPRECIATING GOD
Psalms 100:4-5
Here the Psalmist had an INVITATION of sorts.
“Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.”
And instantly we remember that not just anyone was allowed to enter those gates or those courts.
• There were places that Gentiles couldn’t go.
• There were places that women couldn’t go.
• There were places that laymen couldn’t go.
• There were places that no man could go.
And so when you were privileged to enter,
You should enter with “thanksgiving” and “praise”.
And especially us now because by the blood of Jesus we can draw near all the way into the most holy place.
Hebrews 10:19-22 “Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
What a blessing that now we can come near.
There are those who can’t.
Revelation 21:27 “and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
• Do we not often read about those who will be shut outside where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth?
And even the corporate worship that now occurs on earth.
Might I remind you what a privilege it is?
• Might I remind you of the protective bubble that exists over the congregation of
God’s people?
• In fact, when a brother sins, what is the most severe punishment that the
church inflicts upon that brother who will not repent?
• He is removed from the blessing of the fellowship.
1 Corinthians 5:5 “I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”
Worship is a privilege.
(IF COVID TAUGHT US NOTHING ELSE, IT TAUGHT US THIS)
“Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name.”
• You are God’s people because He chose you to be God’s people…
• You are here because He granted you the privilege of being here…
• This is not a burden, this is a blessing!
And the Psalmist reminds again of WHY God deserves such thanksgiving.
(5) “For the LORD is good;”
He is; we aren’t; and yet He still bids us come.
• He is good
• He is loyal
• He is faithful
We are none of those things
And yet He still welcomes us into His presence.
Psalms 103:8-14 “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.”
He is good to us.
The Psalmist says:
“His lovingkindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations.”
It never ends.
He never stops.
That also answers the question then of when our worship should end.
Revelation 4:8 “And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.”
Worship is the official duty of heaven.
Shouting, Serving, Singing
• In heaven there will be NO EVANGELISM for all will be saved.
• In heaven there will be NO PREACHING for all will know fully.
• In heaven there will be NO MARRIAGE for we are like angels.
• In heaven there will be NO LABOR for we rest from our labors.
• In heaven there will be NO BENEVOLENCE for there will be no poor.
But one thing remains: WORSHIP
That means that you never have a truer taste of heaven on earth
Than when you worship God.
It is that important.
And it must be done right.
So I would remind you again of why you are here.
• We approach God joyfully,
• Contemplating who He is,
• And gratefully participating in the worship He deserves.
And this is true every time we assemble together.
The Burial Of Jesus (Luke 23:50-56)
The Burial of Jesus
Luke 23:50-56
March 7, 2021
This morning we’re going to take a little DIFFERENT APPROACH
Than perhaps we typically do in our study through God’s word.
We’re going to do a little more of a thematic type study as we read our current text and then discuss for a little while the issue of the burial of Jesus.
In some ways I think it seem like the burial of Jesus
Is sort of treated like an afterthought.
It just sort of feels like JUST A FORMALITY.
It doesn’t feel really all that significant.
Burial is just sort of what you do when people die,
And so it doesn’t seem like the sort of thing
That we would really make any big deal about or spend time discussing.
Perhaps we might say that “It hardly seems worth discussing”.
AND YET
All 4 gospel accounts include, not just the fact that Christ was buried, but the details surrounding His burial.
• They show us how Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus and took Him down and buried Him.
• John’s gospel tells us that Nicodemus was also involved and helped him.
• We learn from Matthew’s gospel that Joseph buried Jesus in his own new tomb.
• And each of the gospel accounts remind us that a small group of women followed to see exactly where Jesus was buried.
All the accounts mention details regarding the burial of Jesus.
It was important to the gospel writers.
Indeed it was important to the Old Testament writers too.
We’re going to talk about it more in a minute, but you remember:
Isaiah 53:9 “His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.”
David also referenced it:
Psalms 16:9-10 “Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.”
So the burial was certainly on the minds
Even of the Old Testament writers.
Beyond that, Jesus spoke of His coming burial and its significance.
Matthew 12:38-41 “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. “The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”
• From Jesus’ perspective, the burial was an important part of the entire resurrection narrative.
• Jesus even taught us that Jonah being swallowed by that fish was in some way a prophetic type of the burial of Jesus.
There is clearly significance there.
When you get beyond the gospels into the rest of the New Testament, the burial is not omitted, but is INCLUDED AS AN ESSENTIAL REALITY of the gospel.
Remember what Paul had to say about the gospel?
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,”
• Paul doesn’t just say that Jesus died and rose again, but that He died, was buried, and that He was raised.
• The burial is not omitted, but is included as an important aspect of what occurred during these days.
Even beyond the cannon of Scripture, THE EARLY CHURCH latched on this as well.
The Apostle’s Creed states:
“I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;”
So clearly it wasn’t just the death and resurrection of Jesus,
But there has always been a focus even on the fact that Jesus was buried.
There is also, in the New Testament, A CORRELATION for us between the burial of Christ and Christian baptism.
Paul writes:
Romans 6:3-4 “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
And again:
Colossians 2:11-12 “and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”
And I just point all of that out to you
To sort of get your brain moving in the direction
Of pondering the importance of the burial of Jesus.
Clearly the burial of Jesus was more than an afterthought…
Clearly it was more than an insignificant formality…
• It was prophesied by prophets…
• It was pictured by Jonah…
• It was related by Jesus…
• It was fulfilled by Joseph…
• It was recorded in the gospels…
• It was proclaimed by the apostles…
• It is typified by baptism…
And so before we rush on to the glorious news of the resurrection,
I think it is fitting for us also to stop for one week
And consider the fact that after Jesus died, He was also buried.
And we’re going to look at our text this morning, along with some others
As we contemplate a little bit about the burial of Jesus.
Now, of all the themes that emerge regarding the burial of Jesus,
There is one that I think does rise above the rest.
There is a main point to be learned regarding the burial and it is this:
#1 THE PROOF IT OFFERS
Luke 23:50-56
When I speak of the proof it offers, we understand that the burial,
More than anything else, proves that CHRIST DID IN FACT DIE.
I don’t care to litter a sermon with heretical beliefs,
But it is enough to point out that even a quick google search will show you that there are plenty of skeptics who still hold that on the cross Jesus DID NOT actually die.
• Some think He merely fainted and was resuscitated.
• Muslims hold that He did not die there.
And of course if Jesus did not die, then we have major problems.
However Jesus did die, and the burial is the proof.
Burial is the proof that all 4 gospel writers give.
Now, as we stated last time, John gives even more proof of Jesus’ death.
John 19:31-34 “Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him; but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.”
So there are other proofs that Jesus’ died,
But still the one proof all the gospel writers agreed on
Is that He was buried.
Certainly that is true from Luke’s perspective.
• There is nothing sneaky, nothing secretive, going on here.
• There is no conspiracy brewing…
Remember, there was even a fear among the Jews that the disciples
Might try and steal Jesus’ body and claim He was alive.
Matthew 27:62-66 “Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, and said, “Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I am to rise again.’ “Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.” And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone.”
But when you read the narrative, there is no plan being hatched here.
Joseph simply wants to bury Jesus.
(50-53) “And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God; this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain.”
• There is no secret plot.
• There is no plan to carry of Jesus’ body.
• This man is just honoring Jesus with burial.
Beyond that, even the WOMEN, they aren’t behaving any different
Than if Jesus has died and is being buried.
(54-56) “It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. Now the women who had come with Him out of Galilee followed, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.”
• There is no plan to steal the body…
• There is no attempt to resuscitate Jesus…
These women just want to know where the grave is
So they’ll know where to come to adorn His body with spices.
Everything about the scene screams the same logical point.
JESUS IS DEAD
There is finality here. There is closure here.
We’ve all been to enough gravesides in our lives to know the scene.
• It is certainly not something you do to someone who is living.
The courage of Joseph…
The curiosity of the woman…
It all confirms the main point.
JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS.
Jesus didn’t just suffer and pass out on the cross, Jesus died there.
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death…”
And since the burial is the definitive proof of that,
Let us consider for a brief moment this morning,
THE NECESSITY OF HIS DEATH.
TURN TO: HEBREWS 9:15-17
That passage can be a confusing one to many who read it today
Because we are not always accustomed to “covenant” language.
The Greek word for “covenant” is DIATHEKE (di-a-thay-kay)
It is defined like this:
“the last disposition which one makes of his earthly possessions after his death, a testament or will”
Now perhaps that helps you understand a little better.
When you see the word “covenant” here just think “will”
So if you read: verse 16 “For where a will is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it.”
• That makes sense.
• No one cashes in on a relatives will before that person dies.
And we understand verse 17, “For a will is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives.”
So when the writer of Hebrews
Starts talking about the Old Covenant and the New Covenant
You understand that he is talking about the old will and the new will.
It is the disposition which Christ makes to us after His death.
Now you know why Christ made the statement at the Last Supper, “this cup is the new covenant in My blood”
His death was ushering in the execution of His will.
And certainly He had to die to make that valid.
• All of His promises of forgiveness…
• All of those truths about the inheritance…
• None of those are valid unless He dies.
But that’s not all that is in play.
See, there is first the Old Covenant or will that also has to be dealt with.
This is what the writer of Hebrews is talking about in verse 15.
(15) “For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
• There was also an old covenant promise of life and blessing, etc.
• But those promises could not be claimed
• Because the named recipients had transgressed the covenant.
That is to say, they had failed to uphold their requirements
And were thus rendered ineligible to receive the inheritance.
Did you know that even to this day in Israel there are laws that make an heir disqualified to receive their inheritance?
Things like:
• If you caused the death of the deceased
• Of if you at any time tried to kill the deceased
• If you are a murderer or suspected of murder
• If you tried to hide, forge, or destroy the will
Well you then also understand the problem
Of all those under that first covenant.
They had broken the covenant and where therefore disqualified
And were ALSO under the penalty of death by reason of their sin.
Look down at verses 19-22
(19-22) “For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, “THIS IS THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT WHICH GOD COMMANDED YOU.” And in the same way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood. And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
What was Moses doing there?
• He was laying out the stipulations for the covenant.
• He sprinkled everything with blood signifying the penalty of transgressing the covenant.
You’ve seen that before too.
Remember when God made a covenant with Abraham?
• He promised Abraham to give him the land of Canaan and then God chose to
strike a covenant so as to prove it.
Genesis 15:8-10 “He said, “O Lord GOD, how may I know that I will possess it?” So He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds.”
So God told Abraham to take those animals
And Abraham cut them in two which was a form of judgment.
And then remember what God did:
Genesis 15:17 “It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces.”
What was God saying there?
He was saying, “May such happen to Me if I do not keep My word”
The death of those animals was the symbol of the penalty.
MOSES WAS DOING THAT SAME THING.
• He read the covenant and then he sprinkled everything with blood.
• “May your lifeblood be shed if you do not keep this word”
Death was the penalty for breaking the covenant.
So what did Christ do?
HE DIED (15) “for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, [so that] those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
Christ paid off their debt!
• Their debt was death, and He paid it.
• He satisfied the requirements of the Old Covenant
• And He ushered in the benefits of the New Covenant.
And for any of this to happen, He had to die.
So you understand the significance of death and the necessity of death.
• If Christ doesn’t die those under the Old Covenant receive no inheritance.
• If Christ doesn’t die His New Covenant is never put into effect.
DEATH IS ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL.
And how do we know Christ was dead?
THEY BURIED HIM
The burial is significant because of the proof it offers.
But there is more, and I want to make sure you see that as well.
#2 THE PROVIDENCE IT DEMONSTRATES
Isaiah 53:9
You don’t have to turn there, we’ve already read it several times.
Isaiah 53:9 “His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.”
As I told you last time, Isaiah spoke of this vindicating act for the Lord.
• He died as a sinner, but He would not be buried as one.
• Christ’s humiliation ended at the moment when He said, “It is finished!”
Christ signified at that moment that
He completely satisfied the righteous requirement of God.
He had completely propitiated God’s wrath on the elect.
At that moment
• He ceased to be the whipping boy.
• Condemnation was over.
• He returned to being treated as the sinless and glorified Son of God,
And the first time we see that is in His burial.
(He had an honorable burial)
Incidentally it is also seen in the fact that His body did not undergo decay the whole time it was there, just as Psalms 16 indicated.
Psalms 16:9-10 “Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.”
After Jesus bore God’s wrath,
He was finished being treated as a sinner.
He received nothing but total glory after that.
He was buried in a glorious tomb and His body didn’t decay.
And this is where PROVIDENCE comes in.
I tend to agree with John MacArthur who says that in many ways the providence of God is a greater miracle than all the famous miracles we read about in the Bible.
Do you understand providence?
Providence speaks to the unfathomable wisdom of God.
God allows men to basically do whatever they want.
Even sinful men are free to commit sinful acts.
• Men have thoughts…
• Men examine the circumstances…
• Men ponder a response…
• Men then choose how they will respond…
• Men act on their choice…
In addition to that, other men are constantly throwing variables
Into the situation that may change the status quo.
I can decide I’m going to walk out the door,
• And have every intention of doing so,
• But someone else may holler at me from across the room,
• And change what was my plan.
There are constant variables like this going on all the time.
There are constant decisions and changes.
And yet, with all these men, and with all their decisions,
And with all the contingencies that can arise from those decisions,
How is it that God still manages to fulfill His perfect plan?
PROVIDENCE
It really is remarkable.
God had declared that Jesus would be buried in a rich man’s tomb.
Now, you should know the BASIC PROTOCOLS that would have PROHIBITED this.
For one,
• It was quite common for men who died on a cross to have their bodies stay on the cross for days or even weeks after their death.
• Those men were meant to be an example, and a decaying body, being eaten by birds was a pretty emphatic statement.
But that wasn’t the case for Jesus because the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken and them taken down off the cross for the Passover.
Another issue is that there were two options for the body of Jesus.
1. Is a Roman burial which included Jesus and the other two criminals being thrown into a ditch sort of like a mass grave.
2. Is a Jewish burial where Jesus is carried way beyond the city and buried in a field reserved for other criminals.
But Jesus gets neither.
According to the Providence of God
Joseph just happens to be a rich man with a new grave
And he determines to bury Jesus in his own new tomb.
• What caused the Jews to want the criminals off the cross that early?
• What caused Pilate to acquiesce to their request?
• What caused Joseph to find courage?
• What caused Joseph to already have a tomb ready?
All of these men made all of these decisions by their own free will
And yet it was exactly as God had promised.
It is the providence of God on full display at the burial of Jesus.
The burial shows us all of that.
The Proof It Offers, The Providence It Demonstrates
#3 THE PROCLAMATION IT ALLOWS
1 Peter 3:18-22
This is one other point I think is worth making regarding Christ’s burial.
Many have asked,
Where did Christ go for the time in which He was dead?
TURN TO: 1 PETER 3:18-20
The context of the passage is suffering like Jesus suffered.
Peter actually started the thought back in chapter 2 when he wrote:
1 Peter 2:20-21 “For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,”
• From there we learn how even when a wife is married to an ungodly husband she should imitate the suffering of Christ.
• We learn how even when a man is married to a difficult wife, he should imitate the suffering of Christ.
In fact Peter says:
1 Peter 3:8-9 “To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.”
So you understand Peter’s point.
Face suffering, face injustice, face discrimination like Christ did.
We actually read in verse 17 “For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.”
And Peter caps these two chapters off with a reminder that
If you follow Christ you will have your chance at vindication,
Just as Christ did.
And that vindication is seen during His burial.
(18-20) “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.”
Peter speaks of the atoning death of Christ and reminds that
While Christ was “put to death in the flesh”
He was always “made alive in the spirit”
That is to say He DID NOT spiritually die on the cross, only physically.
And in His death, He was on a mission of sort.
“in which He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison”
• Who are these “spirits”?
• What is this “prison”?
Well the spirits are those “who once were disobedient…in the days of Noah”
Peter speaks of them again in 2 Peter
2 Peter 2:4 “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;”
And Jude speaks of them as well:
Jude 6 “And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,”
The specific story is this:
Genesis 6:1-2 “Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.”
“sons of God” is a term for angelic beings.
“daughters of men” is a term for human women.
• What we find is that in those days there were some angelic beings (demons) who were seeking to cohabitate with human women.
• That is why Jude says they “abandoned their proper abode”.
• Jude even likened them to the homosexuality of Sodom and Gomorrah saying they went after strange flesh.
• It was detestable in the sight of God and He put a stop to it.
• Not only did God eventually kill all of those women and their offspring through the flood, but He also bound those angels in prison.
Peter calls the prison “hell” and “pits of darkness”
Incidentally you might recall the conversation that occurred between Jesus and the legion of demons that was in the Gadarene demoniac.
Luke 8:30-31 “And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. They were imploring Him not to command them to go away into the abyss.”
Matthew’s gospel adds:
Matthew 8:29 “And they cried out, saying, “What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”
So you have an idea about this prison and who was there.
Well Peter said when Christ died “He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison.”
• “proclamation” there is NOT EUANGELIZO which is where we get our word for evangelism.
• Rather the word there is KERUSSO which means to proclaim or herald.
Christ dropped into that prison and declared Himself Lord
And King of the living and the dead!
Revelation 1:17-18 “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.”
Hebrews 2:14-15 “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”
• Christ took on death.
• Christ took death’s best shot.
• Christ then put death in submission, and declared Himself Lord even of the dead.
Remember Paul’s famous statement:
Philippians 2:9-11 “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
• This was a victory lap for Jesus.
• This was vindication for the Lord.
• Jesus put hell on its knees.
Jesus died, descended into hell, and came out the other side.
His death provided that opportunity.
And there is even a POINT to be made THERE FOR US.
If you keep reading in 1 Peter…
(3:21-22) “Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you — not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience — through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.”
• “Corresponding to that” (Just like That!)
• “baptism now saves you”
And to make sure you don’t get your wires crossed
• And think he’s talking about water baptism,
• Peter adds: “not the remove of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God
for a good conscience”
We are not talking about a bath.
We are talking about your identification with Christ.
When you identify with His death, His burial, and His resurrection.
YOU ARE SAVED.
What does Peter mean?
• That just as Christ descended into hell and all hell was made subject to Him and then He came out the other side…
• So also, we in Him, do the same.
In fact Peter compares Jesus to Noah’s Ark.
• Jesus is our ark that carries us into death, through judgment, and back to life again.
Just as He died, was buried, and then rose.
So also we, if we are in Him, will do the same.
JESUS IS OUR HOPE.
• His burial proved His death
• His burial demonstrated God’s providence
• His burial gave opportunity for Him to proclaim victory over the grave
In Jesus WE WIN!
John 11:25-26 “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
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