Services | Jesus’ Burial in a Tomb

Bulletin

FBCWest
March 28, 2021

“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and truth.”

Praise and Worship
SCRIPTURE READING – Psalm 106:1 - 3
“Your Love Awakens Me”
“Your Promises”

Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“The Earthly Life and Ministry of Jesus the Messiah”
“Jesus’ Burial in a Tomb”

PRAYER TIME / Time of Reflection
“Were You There (Hymn #108)”


Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
“When I Survey this Wondrous Cross”
OFFERTORY PRAYER
SPECIAL MUSIC – By Pru Hungate

Continued Praise and Worship
“We are the Free”
“I Know You’re There (Casting Crowns)”

Benediction “Egypt”

Acknowledgements and Announcements


Sermon Notes

Matthew 27:57 – 61 Jesus taken down from the cross and buried in Joseph’s tomb
Mark 15:42 – 47 “ “
Luke 23:50 – 56 “ ”
John 19:38 – 42 “ :
Matthew 27:62 – 66 Jesus’ grave is secured by guards and
Sealed for three days

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Scritpures

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Transcript of Service

We have been going through the series that has been titled.

The earthly life and Ministry of Jesus.

The Messiah.

And based on last times message you would think OK. Well the story is over.

And this week we'll be discussing his burial. You might think? Well, that's kind of the epilogue.

However.

When it comes to Jesus, the Messiah, this is not the end of the story.

But I want to spend just a brief time about the.

Burial because oftentimes is quickly overlooked and I want to look at, but I'm going to also. Before we do that, take what seems to be a.

Wild goose chase off into a different direction and hopefully by the time I'm done you will see that that it is relevant both for this message and for the week that we are going to be experiencing through.

It has to do with tradition.

Now what I'm going to say about tradition, you may think I'm against it, so I'm going to give you 3 various.

Aspects of tradition.

That I like, and then I agree with so that you think that I'm not anti traditional.

Especially in our culture, where if there's something traditional values, we throw them out because after all their tradition. So the first tradition that I want it is not mine. My son and my daughter went to a high school.

And.

At that high school my son played varsity football and my daughter was on the song cheerleading type thing and so I had an opportunity to spend a lot of times at football games at that high school.

And the defense at that high school had a tradition of what they call standing tall and what that was was that between the play that was run and the next play. After the defeat, Denver defense had their assignments of what they were going to do. They would stand in their position with the laser and their hands on their hips.

That tradition had a couple of reasons.

That was.

A reason for their tradition number one the automatic.

Reaction to people who are exhausted physically is to bend over, and if you see runners or whatever, their first thing is to do is bend over. That's exact wrong thing to do physiologically because it cramps up the diaphragm. So if you stand tall you can breathe better.

So standing tall had a physiological.

Component too, but it also had a psychological component.

That psychological component was that as the defense is standing tall and the offense is trying to.

Get their breath. They're saying we can do this all day and all night.

We got this.

And so it gives a psychological advantage to the defense over the offense, because they're saying you're tired. We're not. We're standing tall.

But there's also a psychological aspect to it. For the players themselves, on defense it was.

We're a team we're proud of us, and the score may be to your advantage.

But the time simply runs out. We are not going to be defeated.

And so I like that tradition. I don't know if they still have it. I haven't been to one of their high school games in a long time, but I thought that that was a very good tradition.

Second tradition is within our family. My wife developed a tradition during Thanksgiving or after the Thanksgiving meal. We usually would have not only own accord or immediate family, but the extended family and church, family and church. Family is family, so it's just family. So we have all these people on Thanksgiving. After the meal, we would go around an everybody had to say at least one thing that they were thankful for.

Now my wife is the type of person who.

Let's keep going and I'm kind of like. Well, you know I I kind of get tired of of.

The younger people, an people who, whatever will they always say. Well, I'm thankful for my family.

I'm going OK. We heard that four times. Can you be thankful for something else and you know, I find it particularly interesting 'cause they're always kind of shy and bashful. I'm thinking this person who is loud enough obnoxious dress at the time is all of a sudden shy and bashful 'cause they gotta say one thing that they're thankful for in all the years we've done it.

I've never heard one person say now their Thanksgiving I will because I'm going to say 'cause this is the type of family we have.

But I've never heard one person say I'm thankful for my cell phone.

Because quite frankly, they look at their cell phone more than they do me.

An after they say I'm so thankful for my family as soon as they can get out there going to go see my friends.

So why don't they say I'm thankful for my friends?

But it's a good tradition because during Thanksgiving we ought to be thankful and we ought to express that Thanksgiving.

Now my personal.

Tradition.

And I adopted this tradition from my mother when my mother would go to a body of water she had never been to before. She would put her feet in it.

Now I don't know where she got that tradition. I don't think it was from her family 'cause her family didn't much go anywhere 'cause they were in the country of Virginia, Ann.

Yeah, maybe a Creek was a body of water, but it was no big deal. It's not like they went to Lantic Ocean all that often.

So she might have got it from my dad, her husband. She might have just did it herself, but she would go and put her feet in the water. So I kind of adopted that Ann and my wife for instance. Better with me 'cause we drove extra hundreds of miles so I could put my feet in the Lake Superior.

I'm going to want to go though it's too cold. It doesn't matter we I've never been to this body of water. I want to put my feet in it about a year and a half ago.

I had the opportunity to go to Lima, Peru and from my hotel room was the Pacific Ocean.

About 15 blocks.

Close enough to walk. However, the problem was where I was was a tremendous Bluff. Drop off and you either had to walk miles down and around or you had to go up these really steep steep stairs. An I'm at the age where I recognized my mortality and the last thing I wanted was a heart attack halfway up the stairs. So I hired a driver to take me to the Pacific Ocean.

Now I live on the West Coast and I've been to the Pacific Ocean. Yeah, I don't even have my feet in it. I've been dumped by it, but I've never been in Pacific Ocean South of the equator.

So I hired the driver went.

Rolled up my took my shoes off, run out there and stood in the water and let it whatever and did it for few minutes. Maybe four or five. Even recorded it on my cell phone that I'm thankful for and.

And when I was done, it didn't take very long. So I come back in the driver who doesn't really speak English.

Had no clue why I was doing what I was doing, especially since I was done so using his cell phone. He did a translation app and he said why did you do that? So then in this phone I said because that's what my mother did. I've adopted this tradition and to do that plus the honor her I kind of put my feet in bodies of water.

And so I could tell on the look of his face that that touched him, so he said we'd like to go other places like sure. And so he drove me all around.

Lehman taking me to these different sites that nobody else would have taken me too so, but I fell in front. So So what I'm saying is tradition has its place.

There are some people who love the musical.

We're on roof and there's a strong tradition.

I think it's very sad movie. I don't care for musicals all that much. I personally think it's a sad movie.

So I'm not against tradition.

However.

I am opposed to tradition when it's contrary to the Scripture.

And so we are now come to a time in our discussion of Jesus, His life and ministry. And during this particular time.

This week where people will celebrate Good Friday.

Well, in my perspective it was neither good nor Friday.

Looking at the reason they call it Good Friday and good was that some say, well, good means that it was good for us.

Lucy, I'm tired of us Christians. Being so egocentric is always about me. It wasn't so good for Jesus.

So wasn't good. You might call it redemption. You might call it ransoming. You might all the types of things that Jesus performed by his sacrifice. You could call it.

But the caller good or other say, well, we call it good because this holy then call it holy whatever day you're saying it is.

But by tradition, we've called it good.

And then we call it Friday.

And we call it Friday because people are took a.

I look a quick look at the scriptures and said Oh well, they're having to Bury him quickly because the next day is the Sabbath, and so the Sabbath is Saturday, and so he must have died on Friday, though, so it's Good Friday and wrong.

You read the scriptures throughout his crucifixion. They were saying it was a day of preparation.

For Passover, so Jesus was sacrificed on the cross during the time when the Lambs were being sacrificed for Passover, and the Scriptures say that this particular next day is a high Sabbath, which means it's a holy day, which means it's passed over one of those three days that all the Jew Jewish men were required to come to Jerusalem and to worship because that was a high holy day.

So therefore it was, and the reason for it being honest. Sabbath next day after Passover is another high holy day.

It's called unleavened bread, the first day of unleavened bread was considered a holy kanvas convocation, and you were to do no work.

So it was a Sabbath, so we had the Sabbath of Passover. You had the Sabbath of.

Of unleavened bread.

And then.

There's the Sabbath.

Saturday

Jesus said.

When people were saying, well, give us a sign that you are who you say you are and he said this generation would receive no except the sign of Jonah in the sign of Jonah was Jonah was in the belly of a fish for three days.

Now if you put Jesus on a cross Friday, you have to wrestle your mind to think that you can get three days out of Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday when you're trying to basically use the Jewish time system and the Roman time system to come up with three days.

Especially if you view the Scriptures as I do.

The Jesus didn't raise from the dead at sunrise.

The women showed up.

He wasn't there.

I believe, although the scriptures do not specifically state this.

That the day after the Sabbath.

After Passover.

Was another holy day called first fruits.

Ann, when the sun goes down on Saturday and when it's no longer daylight or Jewish reckoning, it is now Sunday.

And what the priest would do is when the sun finally rested, they would wave a sheaf of grain as a offering to the Lord, acknowledging that this is the first fruits of the harvest.

And I believe Jesus and we're getting ahead of ourselves here. A little bit was raised.

Then

and so I want you not to take a.

Survey of what the scripture says. We need to see what the scriptures say and especially when Jesus says I want to be there 3 days.

And even if you say, OK, well, maybe it was.

Two days and on the third day he rose from the dead, then again the time one day.

Passover 2 days.

Unleavened bread, which may have fallen on a Saturday and then Sunday, he rose from the dead, but it's certainly not from Friday night to sometime before Sunrise Sunday morning.

And what I'm just why I'm discussing this. Is it bugs me?

When we take our traditions and place them before the Scripture.

If your scriptures say one thing and your tradition says another, then you throw out their tradition and you keep the scripture.

One of the worst reasons to ever have a tradition is because that's the way we've always done it.

And sometimes that's the only reason we have. We we've not always done something because that's always the reason we've done it. That's a lousy reason to do it.

Now I don't know if the church.

I think it's because they haven't.

Didn't pay attention to the scriptures 'cause they don't want to spend time in the Old Testament. Is it sold?

But there ought to be a clue when it says the day of preparation and Sabbath and High Sabbath. All these things that it ought to bring questions.

I know for instance, when we're when we come.

To what even in the church called Easter, which kind of again bugs me as a religious holiday? Because Easter comes from a star which is a Pagan God and all that other stuff.

I don't mind people celebrating Easter.

You can have your little XGN whatever. It's not contrary to Christianity, and it's not supplementary to Christianity. It's kind of like in today's world. In today's culture, Halloween doesn't have anything to do with ghouls, and Goblins has to do with candy.

And the secular part of Easter doesn't have anything to do with this goddess of fertility. It has to do with candy and finding aids.

In coloring them and doing all those things.

But that's why I like to call the secular part of that time, Easter, 'cause that's what it is. But the time that we celebrate as Easter is first fruits when Jesus rose from the dead.

Now I give some 'cause I know some people just they just give up.

Nobody understands, so we'll just keep calling it what it is.

I don't like that as an example.

If if Scripture says one thing is one thing.

Now, if your justification is the world just doesn't know what we're talking about with the first fruits, we say Easter.

But there are other options you can call Resurrection Day and call all kinds of various things rather than Easter.

But the church still keeps calling it Easter and we keep calling it Good Friday when again, it's not good and it's not Friday.

So I found these traditions out for you to consider, but I also want to as I've just talked about 3 traditions that I spoke of. The reasons that I had them and none of them violate Scripture. So maybe you should look at the traditions that you hold and say are they good?

If they are good now, I don't expect anybody in my future generations start putting their feet in water.

The tradition that can die with me, it's OK.

Being thankful and going around the table.

I hope that continues after my wife and I are no longer here.

But I can't rule from the grey.

Their their traditions that are good for families and their traditions that are good for people, but the tradition doesn't have to keep. You know. It's kind of like the woman who kept cutting the ham off because that's what her mom did. You know, and later to find out it's because her mom didn't have a big note pen. We do things not knowing why we do them.

I want you to know why you do what you do, but I also want you to make sure that it doesn't violate Scripture.

Now, why have I said all this?

Because now we're going to talk about Jesus's burial.

Which wasn't on a Friday.

So if you take a look at Matthew Chapter 27 starting with verse 57, it says this when it was evening there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. Now no one knows quite where air Mathea is at present, but it's probably suspected kind of northwest of Jerusalem. So he's up maybe in the territory that would have given to efrim. So he's up that area so he's not a native if you will, of Jerusalem.

And this man went to Pilate an ask for the body of Jesus.

Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him now.

Why I'm going to be going through all four of the Gospels on his burial? There is only some slight nuances added information.

But there it's short, so I want to cover all.

But I want you to understand something.

Isaiah says.

That the Messiah's grave was going to assign to wicked men.

But that he was buried in a rich man's tomb.

This is showing even in what seems to the disciples the most dark time for them that God is not just in control, he is sovereign.

Because when a person was crucified first, they didn't have much of a burial, 'cause there wasn't going to be much of a body left because the buzzards were going to eat it.

But because of the Passover coming up, they couldn't do that. They had to bring the bodies down. So second basically where criminals ended up in Jerusalem was in a place called Gehenna.

The trash heap.

Or Jesus kind of compared it to hell, saying it kind of smolders and burns. And there's.

Worms and whatever, and basically that's where the criminals would have been buried.

But Prophecy said not so for Jesus, and also if Jesus's body had been dumped in the.

Trashy

there have been no place for them to discover.

He wasn't there.

And so God intervenes.

To make sure that we have a constant tracking of the body of Jesus, he just doesn't just disappear somewhere in a trash heap. He is buried in a specific tomb in that specific tune is in a rich man's tomb.

And that rich man was named Lazareth. I mean, I'm sorry was named Joseph.

So we went to pilot and he asked for the body. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him, and Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb which had hewn out in the rock and roll the large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away. So he quickly performs this because Passover is coming, it can't do work soon as the sunsets Passover starts, so he's gotta do it quickly.

So in but it tells us it's not in the ground in the sense of dirt.

You see some of these history channels and they say, oh here's here's yahshua, which would have been Jesus is name and whatever, and there's this actuary. Jesus wasn't buried in Oshu Airy wasn't buried in the ground. He was buried in a tomb.

So all these crazy people have all these crazy things. Have no idea what they're talking about, so he's placed in a in a. I want you think you have to be a rich man to be buried this way.

Is this hewn out of a rock?

Not just buried out of dirt.

So hewn out and then a stone was placed.

Over it.

Prevent any corruption of.

Animals.

To keep it secure.

Suzanne Mary Magdalene was there and the other Mary sitting opposite the grave and we're going to see later in one of the other why they do this, and so let's now look at Mark.

Up

chapter 15.

Starting with verse.

42

I get it there, right?

When evening had already come because it was the preparation day, that is the day before the Sabbath. So that's where they get Friday, and it's wrong. It's Passover. The scriptures have clearly been saying, it's Passover.

Joseph of Arimathea came, if prominent member of the council. He was a part of the sand hedron.

You know the the first trial that Jesus had after he went to speak to Caiaphas? Was there they are the ones who wanted to condemn Jesus to death, who himself was waiting for the Kingdom of God, and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus so.

Joseph did this not because he was bold, not because he knew he was asking for something from pilot that was protect potentially dangerous for him to, especially since he was a member of the San Hedren, who wanted him dead.

And so it brings courage.

To ask Pilate for the body. And again, God is intervening.

Impala wondered if he was dead by this time.

And so many of the surgery and he questioned him as to whether he was already dead. An ascertaining this from this, ensuring he granted the body to Joseph.

So again, those people keep saying, well, Jesus moon, we have varicad verification after verification, even by pilot, that Jesus is dead.

There's no question he's dead.

And so, after ascertaining, because again, usually it takes quite some time for someone to die on a cross. But Jesus gave up his spirit.

And therefore didn't need that particular time. And if he hadn't had broken his legs would have been contrary to scripture.

So Joseph brought a linen cloth, took him down, wrapped him in the linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb which he had hewn out in the rock. They rolled the stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the Mother Mother of Joseph.

We're looking on to see where he was like, so now this tells us.

The other gospels said it was very Madeline, another Mary. This gospel tells us which other Mary it was, and it tells us why they were there. They wanted to know where the body was because they knew there wasn't enough time to treat the body properly, and this is a man that they would love. This is a man that they thought was the Messiah. This is a man who loved them more than any other person had ever loved anybody, and the idea of quickly dumping his body in a tomb just did not sit well with them and they wanted to make sure.

That their last act of love for him was to make sure that his body was properly treated, which again tells us something.

There is no expectation.

Other than his dead.

And going to stay that way and as soon as all the various Sabbath end, they're going to go, and they're going to prepare his body properly.

And they're going to go early. They're going to go before the sun rises. That's how much they care about. If they can't wait to do what they need to do to show their love for him.

The next gospel, Luke.

Tells us this.

And a man named Joseph who is a member of the Council, a good and righteous man. He had not consented to their plan in action.

And a man from Air Mathea a city of the Jews who is waiting for the Kingdom of God.

So we're told here that he was a part of the Council, so apparently he must have abstained from the vote.

As he didn't vote to condemn Jesus.

But the scriptures previously said that the Council was somewhat in a unanimous agreement, so apparently he just remained silent.

Because he was afraid of them.

But he didn't consent to the action and he asked.

For the body, and so 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 tune, cut into the rock where no one had ever laned

It was a preparation day. Anna Sabbath was about to begin.

So again.

The scriptures keep telling us when these events happened and the need for them to act with haste.

Because they can't work.

On a holy day, especially a day.

Of Passover.

The last gospel that will look at is John.

Looking at verse 19 mean chapter 19, verse 38.

After these things.

Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus but a secret one.

Or fear of the juice.

I think we can probably relate.

To Joseph of Arimathea.

There have been times that we've probably had a little fear and tribulation to let people know that we're a believers.

So we we do what we do.

In secret.

'cause our friends may not like it. They may ridicule us.

May not have that job.

Promotion because we're one of those Jesus freaks.

And Joanne.

Joseph, after all, saw what they did to Jesus and Jesus. Teaching was you're not above me. They treat your master one way. They're going to treat you that way. Well, they treated Jesus by condemning him to the cross.

Jesus said.

Carry on cross and follow me. So maybe he's literal.

Yes, but Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus and Pilate granted permission.

So he came and took away his body.

Nicodemus and now we've had a little more information. Nicodemus, who had first come to him by night, and we remember that when he said, how can I be born again in Jesus says, wait a minute, you're a teacher. You're asking me these basic questions.

Also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 100 pounds weight, so they're bringing these things because they understand number one. Everything's gotta be quick.

And by the time all of the.

Sabbath

are completed.

Their concern just the way Mary and Martha were concerned when Jesus was going to raise the body of.

That they said, wait a minute, he's been dead 4 days he stinks.

And so they're going to cover up the smell of a decaying body by the myrrh and aloes, so that when they come to do the burial properly, they can deal with the.

Air.

So they took the body of Jesus and bounded in linen wrapping.

With the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.

Now, in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden in the garden and you tomb, in which no one had been laid. And so we see now.

I'll keep reading therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation again.

We just read the scriptures you would see.

They have since the tomb was nearby. They laid Jesus there.

So not only was he laid in Joseph Avera, Matthias Tomb.

Because that's what God had intended because of the prophecy and we needed to track the body at all times.

Time is of the essence.

So his tomb.

Was nearby in a garden.

And so it's not like they had to cross rusalem to get there, they go.

A very short distance.

With his body in place it in a tomb.

In latest body there.

But that's not the final part of Jesus's burial.

We go back to Matthew Chapter 27, verse 57. It says this.

Now, the next day, the day after preparation, the chief priest and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, and said, Sir, we remember that when he was still alive, notice, still alive, not spoon.

That the deceiver said after three days, I am to rise again.

Now I love this.

Here the guys.

Or Jesus is enemies.

Here the guys who reject everything that he says here. The guys who don't understand his teachings and Jesus quite frankly teaches in parables so that it might not understand, but the most clear and obvious teaching that Jesus does they get now. They don't believe it's going to happen, but they believe that Jesus taught that after three days he's gonna raise his body, which is interesting because during the trial they said oh one of the accusations was he said he would destroy the temple in three days and rebuild it in three days. He would destroy this temple in three days. Rebuild it.

They knew that they were lying. They knew he was talking about his body.

And so they said.

That's what he taught.

Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, the disciples may come and steal him away to say to the people he has risen from the dead and the last deception will be worse than the 1st.

So they come to say, we want you to guard the grave.

We don't want anybody stealing the body.

Had not entered their mind that Jesus might do what he says. They just don't want the deceiver to have his disciples deceive further.

Hey Pilot said to them, you have a guard goal. 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.

So.

Not only have we tracked the body that has gone from the cross to a garden grave tomb that was Joseph of Arimathea is where Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus knew where it was where Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother just knew where it was so that it might come and that the.

Religious leaders knew where it was because they went and put a guard there and then sealed it so they put the seal on so that you would know that if ever was opened because the seal would be broken.

So they were been given orders to secure the body.

And if Jesus

was, and is not who?

He said he was and is.

This.

Would be the end of the story.

It kind of like.

When they were honoring.

Bearing Caesar, because we did not come to honor Caesar, but to Bury him.

His disciples wanted to honor him, but there was in time.

The religious leaders did want to honor him. They wanted to Bury him.

And they wanted to make sure he stayed buried.

Now I don't want to talk too much about what takes place in three days. We'll talk about that next time.

But I want to concentrate.

This last few moments.

These things took place.

Almost 2000 years ago.

We can argue the dates.

Some say 28 something 33. Some go in between a D.

Or, as is common now, see common era.

It was long time ago.

You, you and I were alive. Although some of you look like you might have been there, but most of us you know we weren't.

Except.

We may not have been there physically.

But our sins were there.

Our sins were placed on his.

On him

and he was crucified not because he was evil, but because we are.

He took all the sin and the shame of you, and have me and bore it on that cross.

He gave up his spirit.

For you and me.

And he was buried for you and me. And that's where we will end this.

But we're going to sing in a moment.

Were you there when they crucified, my Lord?

Were you there?

When they nailed him to the tree.

Were you there when they laid him in a tomb?

And the answer is, my sins were.

And praise God.

Then he said.

It is finished.

And I bear them no more.

Satan may buffet me. Satan may accuse me. Satan may lie about me and Satan may even tell the truth about me.

Jesus said.

I have demonstrated my love towards me and you.

In that while we were yet sinners.

Christ died for us.

He never.