Well, congregation this evening, let's return to Matthew 27. And we continue at verse 57 and through the end of that chapter or 66. Surprising things to note here, things that. We see in terms of God's providential care and direction over these events, which is Indeed, a primary reason why they are recorded in the way that they are in Matthew's accounting of things. So then, chapter 27, and at verse 57 through the end of the chapter. As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb. The next day, the one after preparation day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. Sir, they said, we remember that while he was still alive, that deceiver said, after three days, I will rise again. So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead This last deception will be worse than the first. Take a guard, Pilate answered. Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how. So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard. Thus far, dear congregation, God's glorious and perfect word. Let's seek that help which we do receive by the Spirit in prayer. And so let's do that tonight, shall we? Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your love for your church and that love worked out by the Spirit's application of the truth to our hearts and minds. This is not merely nor even primarily a human occasion. It is rather divine, spiritual, And so, Lord, we seek help from you, that you would enable us, having open ears, a softened heart, a ready mind, enable us to grow in the truth. Give to your people tonight, O Heavenly Father, what it is that we need, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Dear congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the hours leading up to his crucifixion were the most difficult for the Lord. He had to press through terrible things. He is determined to come to the cross. Then, there, he dies for us in our place. his blood covering over and washing away all our sins. Now, at verse 57, are the beginning moments and hours after his death, and the difficulties continue. As before, the enemy wished to keep him from dying on the cross, now Satan will take a new strategy. People of God, the chess match, the chess match of this text reveals the effects afoot to disprove and dismiss the upcoming fact of his resurrection. Yet, like against Herod at the time of Jesus' birth, God's plan is perfect and at the ready. God's providence prepares a two-part proof of his resurrection. God's providence prepares a two-part proof of his resurrection. Notice it from the text, part one, Joseph speaks to Pilate, and then part two, the enemies speak to Pilate. God's providence. And beloved, make no mistake about it, What we see in our text tonight is God's good providence. Preparing then a two-part proof of his resurrection. Part one, Joseph speaks to Pilate. First of all, Joseph used his influence to secure Jesus' body. Time, the clock. It has been an important feature in the events surrounding the cross in Matthew's presentation of these things. We remember from this morning that at high noon, darkness covered the land until Jesus' final loud cry at 3 p.m. and he dies. We should then understand verse 57, the beginning of our text, verse 57, where it says, as evening approached, as not that much later, not that much after Jesus' final cry, 3 p.m., and the light comes back, and it is immediately a light that is beginning to dwindle. For you see, this particular situation is being pressed upon by the arrival of the Sabbath. And the Sabbath did officially begin, that sundown, And so there is a significance of movement here that indicates this text saying, as evening approached, there's a bit of a hurry going on here. Not very much later then, and we would say it again this way, at just the right moment, God calls up his pre-planted agent, a rich man named Joseph. who is from Arimathea, who we are told is a disciple of the Lord. The way the text puts that at the end of verse 57 is sort of a surprise, and that continues to be sort of a surprise in the grand scheme of who are the ones who inherit salvation. They are largely not, largely not, the rich and powerful in any particular society, culture, and time. Now that's just in God's economy, the way he has worked it out. So we are to be a little bit surprised, that's the intent of the language here, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Why that? Why surprised? Because he is a rich man. He is therefore an influential man. I think another thing that is very common about different times and different situations is that normally wealth and influence go together. You might say, well, of course. Well, of course. And here we see it. Why do we put it that way? And I belabor this a little bit, beloved, because we are so very familiar with the text. But you see verse 58, going to Pilate. The common man or woman wouldn't dream of going to pilot the head Roman ruler, governor of a region. That's like going into the governor's office, going into the places of power in your local area or in the state or even to the White House. You wouldn't think of doing something like that. You wouldn't have the standing to do something like that. But Joseph does. He goes straight to Pilate. The text doesn't talk about any kind of deliberation, doesn't talk about Pilate wondering if it's the right thing to do, but he simply hands over the official rights of the body of Jesus to Joseph. He hands him over. Joseph is a man of standing. Now there's another thing to consider in regards to this. that Joseph goes to request the body, one of the other things to consider is that all of the other male men disciples, other than John, it seems, have run. They've abandoned him. We're told in John's capturing of these events that John is there with the women, and notice, by the way, We're told in verse 61, just like we were told at the end of our last section, verses 55 and 56, that the women are there. Now we'll have to approach that another time, but I think it is significant. And then in this regard, that the Lord moves his man, Joseph of Arimathea, onto the scene. Again, listen, onto the scene, so that Satan is not able to swoop in and steal the body of the Lord. The Lord has his man preset, and when the moment occurs, Joseph goes, he speaks to Pilate, Pilate doesn't waver, doesn't wait, the body is handed over to Joseph. The situation has provided for, again, the situation here provides for the resurrection. This is a necessary contingent step. These things must happen. for the resurrection. Dear people of God, rest assured that God has planned from birth to death for the complete work of Jesus Christ to be validated, for the complete work of Jesus Christ to be validated by his resurrection. Well, this opens the door then to a bigger thing, a deeper and richer truth, which, in view of this text, we need to consider and be encouraged by. And that bigger and richer, broader truth is this, that the faith given to us is a precious faith, Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 state, this faith given to us is a faith based on facts. It is a faith based on facts, worked out by God's actions. This glorious salvation needed God, for instance, you remember this, this glorious salvation that we have inherited needed God warning the wise men to not return to Herod, but to go back by another way. This glorious salvation needed God warning Joseph and Mary to take the baby and flee to Egypt, remember that? And so we are thinking of these things in terms of the bigger picture of what God has done, these facts, these events, to secure a salvation for us. Included in that list of the things that God needed to do in time and space is him tapping Joseph of Arimathea, a rich and influential man, on the shoulder and saying to him in some way we don't know about, go to Pilate and secure the dead body of the Savior. These things, oh church, must comfort us. They must encourage us that our God's plan of salvation is not gonna be thwarted by anything at all. So be confident, church. Be confident, church. God's plan is not in doubt, and his work is the perfect foundation for the church moving forward in troubling times. And I don't think we have to spend much time this evening convincing ourselves that we do live in troubling times. It is God's work which is the perfect foundation for the church moving forward in these troubling times. Well, then we consider this, that Joseph used some riches to secure Jesus' burial. Joseph of Arimathea is rich. As we've said before, riches and influence go together, no surprise there, but he is a disciple. Here's what sometimes surprises us, but really shouldn't, that this disciple of the Lord uses some of his riches given to him by God in a glorious kingdom cause. Now the text gives us some very interesting detail about the accounting, and I'm thinking of an accountant. looking at the receipts and sitting down with the one who hired the accountant and looking at the receipts together. And the accountant says to the one who has hired him or her, looking at the receipts, now you've just spent a great deal of money on this endeavor and on this cause. I've got the receipts, I've calculated it out. When you look at the text, that is indeed the conclusion to which we come. But it is for the protection of Jesus' body. This use of a lot of money sets the stage for verses 62 to 66. Because thinking of it now in bank terms, Jesus' body needs to be put into a vault so that it can be locked away by a rolled stone. Only a stone tomb grave would do. And when you look at the detail of the text, you come to the conclusion about how much money Joseph of Arimathea must have spent. It says here, took his body, verse 59, placed it in a clean linen cloth. That in and of itself would be an expense for most normal people. That would be pretty extravagant, not cheap in and of itself. But then we go to a much more significant extreme in verse 60. Now follow this. placed Jesus' body in, what does the text say, his own, Joseph's own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. Now we're not meant to think here that Joseph went with a pickaxe or whatever and began swinging it and he himself did the work, just like we're not supposed to think that Joseph himself muscled all of his energy and pushed by himself that stone, as the text will go on to say, over the entrance, no. He hired the work done. and to hire an expert stonemason to go in and hewn out a portion of the rock face of whatever that was, was something done at great expense. And beyond that, not only did they have to make the opening and create the internal space, they had to then fashion a stone that would flow in a channel over the opening of the tomb. That is something of great detail and comes only at great expense. That alone tells us how significant was the cost to Joseph, but then there's more. Once Jesus' dead body is placed within that stone tomb grave, it cannot, that grave cannot be used again. And so Joseph of Arimathea is gonna have to go to the expense of doing that all over again in some other place, you see. Beloved, there was great cost involved of placing Jesus' body in this locked vault, which we'll see why that's significant in a moment. Well, dear people of God, dear people of God, this disciple of Jesus Christ held his wealth with an open hand for God's use, for God's glory, and opened the way to preserving Christ's body for resurrection on the third day. Now, we might be thinking right now, well, that's what rich people do. They've got the funds, they should use those funds, but it is not to be missed. that those funds are used to the glory of God, and we see significant things other places in the scripture that prove this same point. Think, by the way, of Priscilla and Aquila, wealthy businesspersons, who funded a church to meet in their own home, Romans chapter 16, verse five. We won't spend any time with that beyond simply saying it wasn't just that they gave free rent to a group of people to meet in their house, but that they provided all those things necessary for that church's functioning in their house. That comes at great expense. Think of Lydia, the seller of purple cloth, who did similar things. Yet we remember that money, often used for evil in those days, just like money is often used for evil in our days, can also be God's instrument of much good, as it is here. And that need not, must not, be limited to the so-called wealthy people. Right? We all have a role to play. Isn't that true? of an aspect of what it means to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ is to give faithfully. It's part of being his disciple. Go back to that word in verse 57, a disciple of Jesus. But we shouldn't lose sight of the main thing in our text. It is wealth used to secure his body from what would have been the worst grave robbery ever. People of God, the Lord directs his servant to spend money to protect the body of the one who spent himself to save all his disciples. Well, part two. Joseph of Arimathea came to Pilate and spoke to him. And so now do the enemies come to speak to Pilate. Notice, by the way, an interesting detail in the way Matthew conveys things here. Verse 62, he says something that seems a little strange. It sounds odd. We don't normally talk this way. The next day, and here's the phrase I'm concerned about, the one after preparation day, If you go down to verse 1 of chapter 28, you'll realize that what he means is the Sabbath. But he doesn't say that. I believe that's probably a tipping to the hat that the Sabbath day is going to change. That the significance of Sunday is going to replace the significance of Saturday, which still Saturday here is the Sabbath. The Lord Jesus Christ is gonna be raised on Sunday, which then replaces it, becomes the new covenant Sabbath, the Lord's Day, and I think this is probably a tipping of the hat of that. Well, interestingly, as interesting as that is, there's a different link that we need to look at here. And it is to beg the question. Is there a link between the actions of Joseph of Arimathea, the section we just looked at, and the actions now of the efforts of the chief priests and the Pharisees? Yes, there is an ironclad link between these two sections. You know what it is? Jesus' resurrection. That's the link, that's the matter in play in both contexts. The enemy wants to cause some sort of problems, cast some doubt, bring about some possible failure to the truth that Jesus spoke about himself, that he would rise again on the third day. But did you notice something, by the way? They are so, the chief priests and leaders, the religious elites, are so gripped by their fear, by their anger, by their desire to overturn Jesus, that they have, notice it here, no qualms, they're not bothered at all by violating the Sabbath. They come to Pilate, which means they go into the praetorium, which means they go into Gentile turf on the Sabbath. It's something they wouldn't do before. They didn't even allow that to happen before they made Pilate come to them, and we're told that in the other gospel narratives. But here, they're running over themselves. They're not concerned about the violation of the Sabbath, whatever. What is pushing them to their extremes here? What is pushing them is Jesus' own words. Now stop and ponder that. We said this many times, we have noticed it several times in working through the book of Mark, that Jesus leads, that Jesus presses, that Jesus pushes, that he's not the follower, but he's the leader. Well here, beloved, we see it in an amazing way, that even from the grave, he is causing the events. They heard his words. Now, if we hold that up, let me give you something else to ponder at this same moment. Do you find it amazing that the words that Jesus spoke several times to his disciples That somehow, in a roundabout way, the religious leaders heard about what he said many times to his disciples. What he said to them pointedly and clearly again and again, they didn't get. But here are those religious elites who heard it on the side, off to the edge. They heard, and they're acting upon what Jesus said. Because he said it many times. I will die, but on the third day rise again. You see it here in the text. Sir, verse 63, we remember that while he was still alive, that deceiver, what a terrible thing to call him, that deceiver said, after three days I will rise again. That's what's causing their action. They're being driven by the word. What concerns them is they think the disciples might come and steal his body. The disciples, however, are broken and terrified. You see, what's really going on here is that the enemies are being pushed also by the enemy. But Satan has picked now that opportune time. He wants in some way, however possible, to stop what it is Jesus said was going to happen, the resurrection. People of God, the enemy tries using political and governmental power in a futile effort to halt the inevitable resurrection of Jesus on the third day. We need to say this again. This is an incredible truth, which is so important for the church today. To wrap our minds around the reality that this absolutely crucial event of the resurrection is never in question, even though Satan is pressing with all of his might to overturn it, it is never in question. But it also teaches us that the enemy, Satan, is never neutral in the forward movement of the gospel. In the movement of the church against the gates of hell, Matthew 16, 18, and 19, against that forward movement of the church, Matthew 16, 18, and 19, the enemy is always fighting back. He is always strategizing, always laying traps, always watching to derail, if possible, a gospel witness of a ministry, of a preacher, of a church, of a denomination. Think of how many have fallen in the history, even the recent history of the church in our current day. Don't ever be surprised how much hatred Satan has against the church. And against gospel ministry, we see it here, especially, particularly, in terms of Christ glorifying forgiveness, proclaiming, preaching. He hates that. Dearly loved by God, dearly loved by God, our struggle in true church life and ministry has clearly shown to us here is a struggle in spiritual categories. The devil hates the gospel. Well, however, but the enemy provides perfect proof that he, Jesus, rose from the dead. You see, beloved, Satan is blinded by his hatred. How serious is his stupidity, and I use that word advisedly, how serious is his stupidity cannot be understated from this event. Do you see what he, the devil, has succeeded in doing? It is now impossible for the disciples to steal Jesus' body. He has strategized in such a way that they couldn't possibly come in, the disciples, and get past the guards. Matthew 28 tells us there are at least two of them because it speaks in plural about the guards. The seal that Rome would have used would have been a wax seal, perhaps an entire length of rope covered in wax with the emperor's impromptu on that wax seal around the whole opening of the stone cupboard. That's at least a reasonable possibility. so that now it's humanly impossible for the disciples to come in and do what it is they were afraid they were going to do. We might say, well, thank you for that. Because, beloved, it proves now that only divine superhuman intervention could possibly bring Christ out of the grave. And when we come to resurrection morning on Easter Sunday, that's exactly what we will see. We can even preview it now, something that we made much of this morning in Matthew chapter 28, verse 2. The Lord came down from heaven is the way Matthew puts it there again. Oh, beloved, we need to understand the glories of the secret, perfectly wise providence of our God. He has Through the machinations, the chompings, the bitings of Satan, he has locked away in the tomb his only son, and military types are on sentry duty at the door. Only divine intervention could set him free. Dear people of God, be comforted. God's perfect plan allows for and makes use of, allows for and makes use of the plans and actions of the enemy in accomplishing a great event in our salvation, Christ's resurrection. There is no competition. There is no struggle. There's no question and no doubt as to what will be the outcome of this cosmic dilemma. We said a few moments ago, a previous fill in the blank. We use the pronoun our, O-U-R, before the word struggle. And that's true. The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter six at verse 12 that our struggle is against the rulers and against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. But wait a minute, whose struggle is against them? Our struggle. You get the point? Not God's. He doesn't struggle against Satan. There's no question, it's not something that's waiting for an answer, what will be the outcome? This whole text is a Psalm 2 passage where the God who is in heaven looks and he laughs, he scoffs. It is a glorious reality to remember. that God is working something because God desires to work at it. It will come to exactly what God desires to have happen. It is in Isaiah 40 passage. The one enthroned above the circle of the earth looks down and the people are like grasshoppers. Oh dear church, fear not, nor doubt, The Lord God has planned each and every detail as a singular glorious presentation of the power of Christ's resurrection. And the confidence then, the great delight, is for the church to revel in what God has done. Amen. Oh Lord, we praise you. for the wonderful working of your power by which Christ will be raised from the dead. We thank you that we might look and see with some delight and confidence building these facts that we have just studied this evening. But Lord, in the midst of that, we pray especially that you would remind us of the necessity of Christ's resurrection as the validation of salvation, that effective working and cause in our justification, Lord, that we might take great delight and joy in these things and be blessed as a church and be strengthened as Christians, whether in hard times or easy. Oh, Lord, bless your church now, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. We'll sing then, congregation, a song of God's providence at 407. Guide me, O thou great Jehovah. And after the benediction, 493. Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. So let's begin in worshiping our God in song, standing