[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the preaching ministry of the Agopic Baptist Church in George, South Africa.
[SPEAKER_00]: Good morning.
[SPEAKER_00]: Good to be together this morning.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have a number of people that are not here today.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some are sick and some traveling and remember to pray for each other.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're in John chapter 19 right at the end of the chapter this morning I wanted to come back to this chapter and look at this last part here from verse 38 to 42.
[SPEAKER_00]: Can you think of a situation where you were intimidated to speak up for Christ?
[SPEAKER_00]: or maybe some truth related to the Bible, some moral issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we can probably all think of missed opportunities when we could have spoken up for the Lord and just couldn't seem to find our voice.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's a situation where we were intimidated because of
[SPEAKER_00]: the situation, the people that were there, maybe we are fearful about how what we would say would be received or maybe fearful we might hurt somebody's feelings or something like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: A few weeks ago we looked at Peter in that night when he got himself in the situation where he
[SPEAKER_00]: And one of the things that we looked at there is that instead of standing with John, we believe it was John, the other disciple that was there, instead of a standing with him in the open as one of the disciples, Peter tries to hide his identities.
[SPEAKER_00]: He wants to just stay in the shadows.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when the servant girl recognizes him, he's really not ready to take a stand for the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just too easy for him to say, I don't know the man.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, the sermon this morning is along that same theme of standing firm in our faith for the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because his believers, we must not
[SPEAKER_00]: be in the shadows in the sense of hiding our faith.
[SPEAKER_00]: God is called us to light.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's called us to be witnesses for Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we must not shy away from our identity in Christ and His Word.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so the title this morning, boldly identifying with Jesus, or the admonition to boldly identify with Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, there's thousands of people around the world that are risking their life to be identified with Jesus and a Christian faith.
[SPEAKER_00]: And many, many, we hear reports all the time of those who have been killed because simply they are believers or their Christian.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then most of us, I would say, I would doubt that there was any of us that have been under such threat of our life because we identified with Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: Most of the times the worst that would happen to us is maybe someone would laugh, or we
[SPEAKER_00]: or be kind of shunned in some way.
[SPEAKER_00]: We might even find ourselves in a situation where we would put our job under jeopardy because of our faith.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so even though we might not face life or death, it's still not easy to sometimes stand boldly for Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: We can easily find ourselves in situations where it's just easier to be silent.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just easier to remain in the shadows and not speak out, not speak up.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes we hear things that we know are not true about the gospel or about Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it does sometimes cost us something to speak up, to take a stand for the truth.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, here in this passage from verse 38, chapter 19, verse 38, at the end of the chapter, we read about two prominent Jewish men who were believers in Jesus, but have been keeping their faith a secret.
[SPEAKER_00]: They've been living in the shadows, but now, here, after Christ's death, they find boldness
[SPEAKER_00]: to be identified with him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's read together from verse 38.
[SPEAKER_00]: After these things, Joseph of Armentea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Paulett that he might take away the body of Jesus and Paulett gave him permission.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he came and took away his
[SPEAKER_00]: came bringing a mixture of murder and allows about 75 pounds in weight.
[SPEAKER_00]: So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloth with the spices as is the burial custom of the Jews.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden and in that garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.
[SPEAKER_00]: So because of the Jewish Day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, all four of the gospel accounts tell us about Joseph here going and requesting a pilot, the body of Jesus that he might give him a proper, a burial.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then John also tells us about Nicodemus and how he came in help Joseph.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so in many ways, these two men represent the elite of the Jewish society and religious life as leaders there and evidently both of these men were part of what was known as the Sanhedrin of the Jewish Council.
[SPEAKER_00]: Also from the the Gossels, we learned about more about Joseph here that he was a wealthy man, a prominent member of this Sanhedrin that he is a righteous man waiting for the coming of the kingdom.
[SPEAKER_00]: Luke also notes that he had not consented to the Council's decision and actions as it
[SPEAKER_00]: year in the crucifixion, in verse 38, John tells us that Joseph was a disciple of Jesus but secretly because of his fear of the Jews.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that creates a bit of a problem for us in our thinking, this problem of a secret disciple.
[SPEAKER_00]: The concept of a secret disciple is like a oxymoron.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't know that term, it's a figure of speech where two words with different meanings are actually opposing meanings are used together for an effect.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you said, that's awfully good.
[SPEAKER_00]: OK, so is it awful or is it good?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, it's just awfully good.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, a secret disciple is a little bit like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because in that day, a disciple was a follower of their teacher.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's not like today being a follower on somebody's social media
[SPEAKER_00]: follow them.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's not the idea.
[SPEAKER_00]: A follower of some one who physically followed someone else as a teacher, a rabbi, and they identified with them and their teaching.
[SPEAKER_00]: They were known as their disciple.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we get asked the question, if a person is not publicly identifying
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's a good question for all of us as we evaluate ourselves.
[SPEAKER_00]: Am I a genuine disciple, a genuine believer of Jesus?
[SPEAKER_00]: Am I, it's my life bare evidence to that claim?
[SPEAKER_00]: In the Gospel, John is highlighted this problem several times of the Jewish people that made the claim to believe or to be a disciple of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yet, they are not fully committed to him.
[SPEAKER_00]: They are like the, we can call a fair weather followers.
[SPEAKER_00]: They follow as long as the weather is good, or the situation is good.
[SPEAKER_00]: And John 8, and verse 30 to 32, we read, as he was speaking these things.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him if you abide in my word then you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it seems that Joseph and Nicodemus were both on a journey of coming to a point of full
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we, we see this morning from this passage, we can, we can see some of the, at least a couple I want to look at and think about this morning reasons why these men were, were in the shadows before this, why, why were they having this problem of being a secret disciple?
[SPEAKER_00]: And I believe the first reason is their fear of losing the approval or the appraisal of men.
[SPEAKER_00]: John, there's the only rider that tells us about Nicodemus, and we saw him earlier in chapter 3.
[SPEAKER_00]: And most of you remember that passage in John 3, where Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night.
[SPEAKER_00]: And He has respect for Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: He calls Him a rabbi, a teacher from God, and Jesus, you remember there, tells Nicodemus that He must be born again or born from above.
[SPEAKER_00]: And John here recalls that in verse 39 and says that this Nicodemus first came to Jesus by
[SPEAKER_00]: And John, he often uses night and day darkness and light as with the bit of a spiritual meaning to draw attention to the darkness of the world of the light that's in Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so he's many times using this as a metaphor or spiritual things.
[SPEAKER_00]: that Nicodemus at that stage he's still in the shadows.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's still keeping any connection with Jesus a secret.
[SPEAKER_00]: But later we see Nicodemus in chapter 7 where the Jewish leaders are condemning Jesus and the verse 51 Nicodemus says to them, He gets boldness to question what they're doing
[SPEAKER_00]: And he says, but our law, sorry, does our law judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so he's speaking up here to remind these men who knew the law that it's not right to judge someone without least hearing from them about what they're doing.
[SPEAKER_00]: really put Nicodemus in his place with this sarcastic answer and say are you also from Galilee?
[SPEAKER_00]: And then they say search and see that no profit arises out of Galilee.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that was a real, like an insult to Nicodemus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you also from Galilee?
[SPEAKER_00]: And it really put Nicodemus in his place and
[SPEAKER_00]: You didn't hear any more about the claim there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, this is the same kind of temptation that we saw in Peter.
[SPEAKER_00]: You remember when he was there in the courtyard and this servant girl in the people around recognized him and they say, you are not also one of his disciples, are you?
[SPEAKER_00]: There's this peer pressure and two often our voices are silenced by peer pressure or by giving too much value to what other people think.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're giving having an unhealthy desire to be liked by everyone.
[SPEAKER_00]: As believers, it's not wrong to want to be liked.
[SPEAKER_00]: but it's wrong to want what to please them more than to please God and to be to have the approval of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well I believe a second reason here that we see also for these men was the fear of losing power and position.
[SPEAKER_00]: He says, nevertheless, he's talking about the people who had rejected Christ and he says, nevertheless, many even of the rulers believed in him, but because of the Pharisees, they were not confessing him for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue, for they love the glory of men rather than the glory of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is a very sad reality, isn't it?
[SPEAKER_00]: that they value, they put more weight on what, their peers would say and think, then what the Lord would say and think, and so unless we condemn them, we need to ask ourselves, don't we do that sometimes?
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't we have sometimes an unhealthy desire for the praise of others,
[SPEAKER_00]: And among our peers, we allow a fear of what they might say or do to keep us from speaking out for the truth of God's Word and the Lord Jesus Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see, these men did have a lot to lose.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not only could they lose the approval of their peers, but also their position in this Jewish leadership of the Sanhedrin.
[SPEAKER_00]: And by their identifying with Jesus, they could also lose access to the synagogue.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we've seen this before, and as John speaks about this pressure, and to be put out of the synagogue would be the ultimate shame in their society.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then I have access to that worship.
[SPEAKER_00]: Paul speaks about this in his own testimony in Philippians 3, verse 7 and 8, and Paul was one of those religious leaders that were at, they had had so much according to their faith.
[SPEAKER_00]: He says, but whatever things were gained to me,
[SPEAKER_00]: More than that, I count all things to be lost because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: For whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ."
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, this is the perspective that we need.
[SPEAKER_00]: As believers today, we must
[SPEAKER_00]: have this perspective, this value of what is really important so that we might stand faithfully for the Lord in the times of temptation to be quite, to be in the shadows when we should be speaking for the Lord so that we would not compromise our faith, our values, our morality,
[SPEAKER_00]: And so the question comes to us this morning, what keeps you and what keeps me in the shadows?
[SPEAKER_00]: As believers, we must not live a divided life, a sacred and a secular life, a life of one kind on Sunday morning, and another kind of life on Monday, let me go to work or at home.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, we must do everything for the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: In order to please him, we work, we serve, we go about our business, take care of all responsibilities, but all of that seeking to please the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, as we think about these men, and we have to ask the question, well, what changed?
[SPEAKER_00]: They would be so bold here at the end of chapter 19.
[SPEAKER_00]: We know that these men Joseph and Nicodemus, they, to some degree, had already believed in Jesus, but what gave them the boldest now to step out into the light and by their actions be identified openly as a follower of Jesus,
[SPEAKER_00]: These men before were afraid of losing their position, their approval of men.
[SPEAKER_00]: But now the actions that they are taking really put them at risk, and only of losing favor with their peers in the Jewish leadership, but also from pilot and they actually are putting their own lives in danger.
[SPEAKER_00]: In Mark's account of this, we read that Joseph gathered up courage and went in before pilot and asked for the body of Jesus, like that phrase, he gathered up courage.
[SPEAKER_00]: It just really speaks of the word there, speaks of someone who would dare to do something.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they did need courage.
[SPEAKER_00]: Joseph would need courage to do this because he doesn't know what the reaction of politics going to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: Pollock was he had all power and here, Pollock's already frustrated with the Jewish people and this council that has manipulated the situation to get what they wanted.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so now one of them come and ask for his body.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and he's openly identifying with someone who has been crucified for treason.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so there is risk here involved.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what changed to give them boldness?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, one thing I believe we could safely say is that the evidence here of the fulfillment of Scripture, as we heard from Pastor.
[SPEAKER_00]: Daniel last week about the fulfillment of Scripture in the crucifixion.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a number of ultimate passages and illusions to the Messiah here that found fulfillment at the cross.
[SPEAKER_00]: And these men as witnesses of all of these events and having a knowledge of the
[SPEAKER_00]: And the fulfillment of Scripture would have had impacted them as they see Jesus, they see his testimony and even in his death, they note out that it could see the hand of God and even in this tragic, from their perspective, a terrible thing happening, a tragic event.
[SPEAKER_00]: But ultimately, it is the spirit of God that gives life.
[SPEAKER_00]: and brings man and women out of the darkness into the light.
[SPEAKER_00]: And his primary means, the Spirit's primary means of doing this is through the Word of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Spirit of God opens, blinded eyes, and gives understanding to dark and minds, so that a person comes to repentance and faith in the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: chapter 8, if you abide in my word, then you are truly my disciples.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so this morning we asked the question, have you been set free to live in the light, the light of the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ?
[SPEAKER_00]: and not willing to fully identify with Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: What you'll listen to Jesus warnings in Luke 12 or 4 and 5.
[SPEAKER_00]: Their Jesus says, but I say to you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body.
[SPEAKER_00]: And after they have no more that they can do.
[SPEAKER_00]: who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I tell you, fear him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so what Jesus is doing, he's showing them how much more important is the spiritual realities than the physical.
[SPEAKER_00]: And how much more we should be concerned about what the Lord thinks, than what man may think.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, as we think about these,
[SPEAKER_00]: these men and the what gave them the boldness here, what changed in their thinking, I believe that seeing Jesus Christ in his suffering and death impacted them.
[SPEAKER_00]: A couple of weeks ago, we looked at that theme of the whole demand, this statement by Palette, that
[SPEAKER_00]: really would say to us, behold, the Lord Jesus Christ and see Him for who He truly is.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think it's safe to assume that these men saw Jesus in His suffering and death and that it so impacted them that they would never be the same again.
[SPEAKER_00]: They were now ready to suffer whatever the consequences so that they might
[SPEAKER_00]: do something for Jesus, that the body of Jesus would not just be cast on the trash heap or in an open grave to gather with those that had been condemned.
[SPEAKER_00]: And some might think, well, it was a bit late.
[SPEAKER_00]: They could have spoken up or should have spoken up when he was still alive.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I don't think it was too late.
[SPEAKER_00]: It would have been better, yes, obviously, if they had found courage earlier, but they're not too late.
[SPEAKER_00]: What they did honored the Lord, and they also were instruments in God's hands that Christ would be buried as promised or prophesied 700 years before they would be buried with the wealthier of the rich, and it also prepared the way for the resurrection
[SPEAKER_00]: to be something that would be evident.
[SPEAKER_00]: It would be a means that would be used as a testimony to the resurrection, the fact that he was buried in this tomb, and that there was a stone over the opening of the tomb, and that it was sealed.
[SPEAKER_00]: All of that needed was necessary that there
[SPEAKER_00]: testimony to their faith.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so this last thing I want us to look at is that you could say the consequences of their identifying with the Lord Jesus Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was not too late.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's not too late for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're here this morning and you're thinking, well, it's kind of too late for me to go back and identify with Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, it's not too late.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's
[SPEAKER_00]: to obey the Lord, to honor Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: It might require that you go to someone and say, or confess, I have failed and being a witness for the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've failed to speak up for the Lord as a believer in Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not too late.
[SPEAKER_00]: And by that very action, you give testimony to the Lord, a very powerful testimony to the goodness and the grace of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, we don't know what happened to these men, but their actions do give testimony that they are genuine, and that they were willing to risk everything to be identified with Christ and give him a proper burial.
[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 39 in our text says, in Nicodemus, who had first came to him by night, also came bringing a mixture of mur and alas,
[SPEAKER_00]: weighing about 100 literas that comes out to about 30 kilograms of a very expensive spices and perfume that was customary to be put on the the body and the wrapping of the body
[SPEAKER_00]: is using up his wealth, maybe could have been what was he had put aside for his own use some day.
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't know how they obtained these spices or if they were on hand, or if it's some that they had kept.
[SPEAKER_00]: But they're willing to pay the price.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're willing to do whatever it is needed here for Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: Matthews account tells us that the tomb were they laid Jesus belong to Joseph.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so again, we don't know if this was a tomb that Joseph had purchased and planned for his own feature use, it's very possible that this garden also belonged to him, the spoken of, this kind of tomb that was cut out of Iraq would have been really only for the very wealthy.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so Joseph is willing to give it to Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: Christ had made an impact upon his life in such a way that he was willing for Christ to give it to him to be buried there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 42 says, therefore, because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, because of the Sabbath beginning that night, Joseph and Nicodemus would have been under some pressure to get everything ready, the take care of this burial details before sunset, before that night, and the beginning of the Sabbath.
[SPEAKER_00]: The verse 42 seems to indicate that the reason they chose
[SPEAKER_00]: uh... to use joseph tomb was because it was nearby uh... not having time for for other plans and so we don't know some speculate that this was pre-planned by by joseph the bird the tomb and everything but that doesn't seem to be what's communicated here it seems that it was it was the most it was the best decision in the moment
[SPEAKER_00]: And I can see Joseph saying, I have a tomb, he can use it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Nicodemus saying, I have spices, and I can get my men, my servants, to bring it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So these men are planning in haste to do what they can,
[SPEAKER_00]: Although, as we said, God had ordained it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, without realizing that they become a part of God's plan and the preparation stage, you could say, for the resurrection and the evidence of the resurrection.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, these men, in closing this morning, these men may have lost their standing in Jewish,
[SPEAKER_00]: society there among the leaders, but by confessing Christ on the earth, they gained eternal acceptance in heaven.
[SPEAKER_00]: They could identify with what Paul would later write in Philippians 3.
[SPEAKER_00]: We read where he said, but whatever things were going to me, those things I have counted laws for the sake of Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: And some of you would be from here with the hem Isaac Watts when I survey the wondrous cross.
[SPEAKER_00]: He goes on to say on which the Prince of glory died, my richest gain I count but lost and poor contempt on all my pride.
[SPEAKER_00]: If any rights were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small, love so amazing, so divine,
[SPEAKER_00]: my all.
[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you, Father, for the Lord Jesus Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Lord help us as we see Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we recognize the price it was paid, that we might be forgiven.
[SPEAKER_00]: Lord, we would save with Isaac Watts, such love.
[SPEAKER_00]: So amazing, so divine, demands my life, my soul, my all.
[SPEAKER_00]: May we be willing to identify with you, Father, as you give us opportunity to stand for the truth and stand for Christ and to be identified with Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Give us wisdom, Father, fill us with your spirit that we might be bold for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: We pray in Jesus name.
[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.