The Importance of Jesus' Death and Burial

Let's continue in worship as we pray to God. Let's pray. Lord God, by the time we get to the days of the Prophet Malachi, things in the nation of Israel really had sunk to an all-time low. Even the priests were careless in leading the people of God in the worship of God and were willing to accept any kind of animal sacrifice on the part of the people to offer before you. It was a time when you were much displeased and a time when it perhaps would have been better for the doors of the temple to be closed and for your people to have stopped giving such irreverent, casual, light-hearted worship. Lord God, you haven't changed. You haven't changed throughout the history of the world. You have not changed one little bit and you will always be the same.

Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever. It's we who change. It's we, O Lord, who lose our way. It's we who backslide. It's we who lose touch with the living God. It's we who become careless. Lord, will you please work in us this day to will and to do according to your good pleasure. Will you help us, Lord, to follow after you with a greater zeal and enthusiasm?

Will you help us to love you more and more? Will you increase our faith? Lord, we do love you. We are thankful for your great salvation, but so often our love is weak. And faint. Oh, may your Holy Spirit be at work within us. May you, O God, continue to challenge us and reform us as we read and study your word. How good, O Lord, it is to know that even when we fail you, your love toward us is still the same.

What comfort, what joy, what hope that brings to our lives. Lord, revive your church in these days in which we live, we pray. Bring reformation where it is needed. We commit this, our fellowship, to you and pray that we may be a bright light that shines for you in a world that so desperately needs to hear the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you that your church is growing throughout the world. We thank you that it's growing, especially on the continent of Africa. We thank you for the way in which many churches are being planted in the country of Zimbabwe and we thank you for the involvement that we have as a church in supporting pastors in particular in that country. We pray for William Daner this morning who is involved in helping to train and equip pastors, mainly in rural areas.

We ask that you would give him the strength that he needs. We pray that you would continue to give him a vision for the work that you set upon his heart many years ago and we pray that the result of his ministry would be the fruitful and faithful ministry of many pastors in that land. Lord, as we bow our heads in prayer, we're mindful of a number of people in our fellowship who have been unwell for some time. Again, this day we commit them to you. Ask that you would encourage them just where they are. If it can please you to restore them to a full measure of health and strength, we ask you to do that. Lord, as we bow our heads in prayer, we're mindful of a number of people in our fellowship who have been unwell for some time. Again, this day we commit them to you.

I ask that you would encourage them just where they are. If it can please you to restore them to a full measure of health and strength, we ask you to do that. It may be that your way of doing that is through the medicines that are on offer and can be made use of today. But Lord, we pray that wherever your people find themselves struggling, that they may be very conscious of your amazing grace which is so bountiful.

Lord, we thank you for your word that we have before us. We pray for the blessing of yourself to be upon the reading of your word and the expounding of your word a little bit later on. We thank you for all those who seek to faithfully proclaim the word of God. And we ask for your help to be given to each and every one up and down and across this land today. Lord, in so many places, including Crocken Hill, there is not a famine of your word. What a terrible famine it is when there is no access to the proclamation of your word. How blessed we are, we thank you. May we make the most of our time sitting under your word being proclaimed to us this day.

Help your servant as he seeks to serve you and to be faithful to you and to your people. And we ask all of these things in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. Gareth is going to come up to the front and do the Bible reading for us. Thank you, Gareth. The Bible reading is Luke 23, verse 50 to 56. In the Bibles in front of you, it's on page 1060. Luke 23, starting at verse 15.

Now, there was a man named Joseph, a member of the council, a good and upright man who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth, and placed it in a tomb cut into the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. It was preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes, but they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. Thank you, Gareth.

Let's stand and sing again. Before we look into God's Word together, my heart is filled. The words will appear on the screen in front of you. My heart is filled with thankfulness to you, Lord my King, who found the depths of my distress and gave me life again. Who has my heart so simple, blessed, and not been with His might? And who is more of righteousness than the one of my heart? My heart is filled with thankfulness to you, Lord my King, who found my weakness, my strength, and caused His fears to die. Whose every promise gives me love for every step I take.

Such faith He gives arms of love and crowning me with grace. My heart is filled with thankfulness to you, Lord my King, who sifts through His life a great feast with every good He tried. For every day I have learned His given by the King. So I will give my life for all to love and follow me.

I'd be encouraged to open your Bibles at Luke chapter 23, and we're going to be looking at verses 50. You know, we often talk about the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and rightly so. We should be talking about these things, and often. But we don't tend to talk quite as much about the burial of Jesus.

At least I don't think we do. Yet the burial of Jesus is important. In fact, it's so important that it's recorded in all the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And according to the Apostle Paul, it's a matter of primary importance. I'd never really noticed this before, but I did this week as I was preparing. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verses 3 to 5 says, For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve. And throughout the history of the Church, Christians have considered the burial of Jesus to be important. One finds reference to it in the Apostles' Creed and in the Nicene Creed. Let me read to you a part of the Apostles' Creed.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his 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. And then we read in the Nicene Creed, For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. So why is the burial of Jesus so important?

I wonder, this is a rhetorical question, can you think why it is so important? Now I will answer this question, but my plan is to answer it at the end of the sermon.

For now I simply want to say that it is important for Jesus to be buried and for his burial to be witnessed. It's important for Jesus to be buried and for his burial to be witnessed. The question is, who will bury him and who will witness his burial? Firstly, who will bury him?

Now I know that as I stand before you this morning that most of you, if not all of you, know the answer to that question. Gareth has just read a passage of Scripture that gives us the answer, but you didn't need him to read the Scripture, did you, to know the answer? At least most of you didn't. But let's pretend that we have never read these verses before.

Let's pretend that we have never read the New Testament before. Let's pretend that we are among those who stand at the foot of the cross. We are concerned that Jesus receives a good burial, but who will bury him? Who has a concern to bury him? Who has the standing or the status to go to Pilate and request his body? Who has the resources? Who has the wealth? Who has the means to bury him?

Who has the courage or the boldness to bury him? Remember, this is a very dangerous time to be associated with Jesus Christ. Even a dead Jesus Christ. Now I don't think you will be able to identify one single person.

I really don't. Now you can disagree with me if you want and have it out with me after the service over a cup of coffee, but I don't think you will be able to come up with a single individual.

But there is a man. There is a man. God has his man and his name is Joseph from Arimathea. Firstly, he is a disciple of Jesus with a concern to bury his body.

Admittedly, up until this particular point, he has been a. individual. But there is a man.

There is a man. God has his man and his name is Joseph from Arimathea. Firstly, he is a disciple of Jesus with a concern to bury his body.

Admittedly, up until this particular point, he has been a secret disciple of Jesus, but he's still a disciple. He's still a follower of Jesus. And we see from verse 50 that he is a good and upright man. As a member of the Jewish ruling council or the Sanhedrin, he did not consent to their decision to see Jesus sentenced to death, which suggests that he wasn't present at the time because the Sanhedrin were unanimous in their decision to see Jesus being put to death. Here in Joseph, we have a man who is concerned to give Jesus a good burial, a good Jewish burial. Here we have a man who does not want to see the Romans taking Jesus' body along with the other two men who were crucified and being thrown onto the rubbish dump because that is what they tended to do with crucified criminals. They weren't considered worthy of a proper burial. But here is Joseph and he is concerned that Jesus might receive one.

Secondly, he has the standing or the status to go to Pilate and request his body. He is a highly respected member of the Jewish council. He is a man of status. He is the sort of man that's used to dealing with influential people. He is just the right man who can go to the Roman governor and request the body of Jesus. Thirdly, he has the resources to bury the body of Jesus.

And in what amounts to a very small window of opportunity. Jesus, you see, died at three o'clock in the afternoon. The Sabbath began at six o'clock in the evening and there's to be no burying of bodies on the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a day of rest. This means that there is only, if I've got my maths right, 180 minutes to bury the body of Jesus. 180 minutes to seek permission from Pilate to get Jesus' body down from the cross, to wrap it in the burial clothes and to put it in a suitable nearby tomb. Friends, that is not a lot of time. And the time I put to you may actually have been less in reality. But Joseph, being a wealthy, connected man, has all the resources that are needed to do it.

He has the help, he has the servants he needs to get Jesus down from the cross. He has the money for the burial clothes and the spices to prepare Jesus' body for burial. He has a nearby tomb that has never been used before. This man is one in a million, isn't he? Fourthly, he has the courage or the boldness to bury. As I say, up until this point, Joseph has been a secret disciple of Jesus. Why a secret disciple? Well, you'd have to be, wouldn't you, if you wanted to be a member of the ruling council of the Sanhedrin.

Up until this particular point, Joseph has lived in fear of the Jewish leaders. In John 19 and verse 38, we read, Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. And yet, in the hour when his services are needed, he steps out of the shadows, so to speak, and bravely goes to Pilate and asks for Jesus' body. I wonder, I wonder, will he lose his position as a member of the Sanhedrin? Possibly, but I think I'd go further and say probably. Remember the story of the blind man in John 9? After being healed so wonderfully by Jesus, he was willing to identify himself with Jesus. What happened to him?

The religious Jews, they put him out of the synagogue. Well, you can imagine, can't you?

The religious authorities putting Joseph of Arimathea out of the Sanhedrin. What tremendous. In John 9, after being healed so wonderfully by Jesus, he was willing to identify himself with Jesus. What happened to him? The religious Jews, they put him out of the synagogue. Well, you can imagine, can't you?

The religious authorities putting Joseph of Arimathea out of the Sanhedrin. What tremendous courage Joseph shows in these verses. And you know, his courage seems to have inspired another man, a man by the name of Nicodemus. Remember the story of Nicodemus? We read about him in John chapter 3. When did he come to Jesus? He came to Jesus not during the daytime, but by night. Because you see, he too was a member of the Sanhedrin.

He too feared the Jews. He didn't want to be seen talking to Jesus. But he now joins his fellow disciple, Joseph, in helping to bury the body of Jesus.

Now, I find it interesting how one man's courage can inspire another man's courage. Let's pray, shall we as Christians, for boldness to identify with Jesus at school or at college or at work or in the community, in where we live. Who knows what impact that might have on others who perhaps have been rather timid in terms of being willing to identify themselves with Jesus. A few weeks ago now, we heard about the tragic death of a relatively young Christian man named Charlie Kirk. He was very bold in his Christian witness in colleges and universities. But what I found interesting is that his boldness inspired so many others to be bold.

In fact, after his death, there were people right at the top of the political ladder who said that his boldness had inspired them and challenged them to speak about Jesus. When they had never felt able to do before. It's amazing, you know, what the result of one man's courage can lead to. So who will bury Jesus' body?

Well, in the providence of God, there is the perfect man of the job, Joseph of Arimathea. But secondly this morning, who will witness his burial?

Who will witness his burial? Obviously Joseph and Nicodemus will witness it. They're involved in burying it. But let's remember, Paul the Apostle says that Jesus' burial is a matter of primary importance.

It would be good, therefore, wouldn't it, if there were a good number of witnesses to it? And here in verses 55 and 56, we see that there were a number of women who witnessed him being buried. Women from Galilee. We read that they followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how the body was laid in it. After seeing all that happen, of course, they went home, they acknowledged or observed, I should say, the Sabbath. And their intention was to return to the tomb on the Sunday morning to anoint Jesus' body with spices and perfumes. Interestingly, there are people who would argue that the women returned to the wrong tomb on the Sunday morning. But that won't stand, will it?

It won't stand because clearly they knew what tomb it was. They knew where Jesus had been laid. And they returned to it. But let's seek to answer the question that I raised at the beginning.

Why was it so important that Jesus' body be buried? There are two answers that I want to give to this question. And the first, and it's I think particularly complicated, to show that he had died. To show that he had died. You see, throughout the centuries, there have been people who have argued that on the cross, Jesus simply fainted. People do faint, don't they, when they experience extreme pain. But they then go on to argue that he was still alive and kicking, so to speak, when he was put in the tomb.

But that he was revived in the cool of the tomb and somehow managed to take up all his grave clothes. There have been people who have argued that on the cross, Jesus simply fainted. People do faint, don't they, when they experience extreme pain. But they then go on to argue that he was still alive and kicking, so to speak, when he was put in the tomb, but that he was revived in the cool of the tomb and somehow managed to take up all his grave clothes, escape the sealed tomb, and then appear to people.

But of course, this won't do, will it? The biblical record simply will not support this theory. Here are a number of reasons why it won't. One, when the soldiers came to break the legs of those who were crucified on this day, the purpose being to hasten their death, they did not bother to break the legs of Jesus because they saw that he was already dead. Listen to what we read in John chapter 19. Now it was the day of preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath.

Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.

Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The soldiers were 100% convinced that Jesus had already died, and therefore it was not worth breaking his legs. But just to be 110% sure, one of them pierced his side with a spear, causing a sudden flow of blood and water.

Friends, I would encourage you to go home and to read John's account of the crucifixion. And I'm persuaded that as you do so, you will see two things. That John went to great length to show that Jesus was human and that he really did die. Secondly, as we saw last week, the centurion, the one in charge of performing, not performing, but making sure that the crucifixions took place, saw Jesus breathe his last and die.

And this is what he said, surely this was, that word is important, a righteous man. And then thirdly, when Joseph went to Pilate, the Roman governor was surprised to learn that Jesus had already died. So he asked the centurion to confirm his death, which he did.

Listen to what we read in Mark 15, 44 and 45. Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Crucifixion, you see, was a very slow and painful thing. People suffered on the cross for many hours. Pilate was surprised to hear that he, that is Jesus, was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. And when he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. And then fourthly, here we have in this portion of scripture, as before our eyes today, two men who take Jesus' body down because they believe he is dead, and wrap up his body because they believe he is dead, and put him in a tomb because they believe that he is dead.

Jesus died. He really did die. This is the witness, this is the evidence of the gospels. This is what the burial of Jesus impresses upon us. And of course, Jesus died to pay the price for the sins of his people. What does the Bible say? The wages of sin is death. The penalty for sin is death.

If Jesus did not die upon the cross, then the price for sin... to pay the price for the sins of his people. What does the Bible say? The wages of sin is death. The penalty for sin is death. If Jesus did not die upon the cross, then the price for sin has not been paid. And we are still in our sins and must one day pay the penalty for our sin if Jesus did not die. Thank God he did die. And thanks be to God for his word that gives us clear and substantial evidence of his death and burial.

Yes, finished, the Messiah dies, cut off for sins but not his own, completed is the sacrifice, the great redeeming work is done. Yes, finished, all the debt is paid, justice divine is satisfied, the grand and full atonement made, God for a guilty world has died. The burial of Jesus impresses upon us, it shows us that Jesus really died. But it also shows us, it also impresses upon us that Jesus really did rise from the dead and of course you can't rise from the dead unless you die, can you?

If Jesus didn't die, then I've given Andrew a rather meaningless task for next Sunday morning because I've asked him to preach on the verses that follow which speak of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. If all Andrew is able to do is speak about Jesus fainting and then coming awake again or being revived from his unconscious state, well what good will that be to us? And the answer is it will be no good to us at all. You see, if Jesus did not die and rise again, we are still in our sins and we of all people are to be pitied. That's exactly what the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15. These verses that we're looking at this morning are not simply a link between the two important parts of the story of Jesus, that is his death and resurrection. They're fundamentally important. They impress upon us that Jesus died and rose again.

And I think God in his wisdom has seen to it that they are recorded so that we might be fully assured of our Lord's death and glorious resurrection. Friends, these are the facts as we have received them. These are the truths that the Christian believes. This is the basis of all our preaching. Christ died for sinners and rose from the tomb. We're going to stand now and we're going to sing this song that I have just quoted. Just give Jill a moment to organise herself and perhaps we can have the words please up on the screen. These are the facts as we have received them.

These are the truths that the Christian believes. This is the basis of all our preaching. Christ died for sinners and rose from the tomb. Let's stand and sing. These are the facts as we have received them. These are the truths that the Christian believes. This is the basis of all our preaching. Christ died for sinners and rose from the tomb.

These are the facts as we have received them. Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold. Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold. Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold. Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold. Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold. Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold. Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold.

Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold. Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold. Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold. Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold. Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold. Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold. Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold. Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold.

Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold. Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold. Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold. Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold. Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold. Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold. Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold. Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold.

Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold. Christ has. God is faithful, fulfilled what the scriptures foretold, Adam's offsprings have been saved, Christ with his mighty restored to life. Peace on earth and happiness we have received then, he with us taken and joy on the cross. Now hath he risen, our Jesus is with us, gives us his spirit and makes us his own.

Peace on earth and happiness we have received then, we shall be saved in the kingdom of God. Come, let your child have to face life immortal, this is the victory through Jesus' love. Peace on earth and happiness we have received then, peace in the truth and the Christian faiths, this is the basis of all our preaching, Christ, my Lord, stillness and host from the tomb. Well, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all, now and forevermore.

Amen.