Fears Conquest

You know, he was over here looking out to that future day when he'd have to go into Pharaoh's court and stand there and speak to the most powerful man in the world. And he was a fearful man. He was trembling about the possibility.

But once he got in there, boy, did he have grace. And if you read that story, he took... send Aaron with me. Aaron didn't get to say a word.

Moses just had so much grace on his life. He stood face-to-face with Pharaoh, told him, you know, God's going to judge you. It's like the grace of God was upon him in a tremendous way.

I don't know what happened from that point where he met the Lord and he was fearful and couldn't speak till he got to there. I know what happened. That's where the grace was.

It was over there in Pharaoh's court. And he could have worried himself sick all along the way, but then he was a different person. All right, let's look here.

We're going to continue on. I know it's been a number of weeks since we've been here in the Gospel of John. And I'd like to finish out here in John chapter 19.

We spent three weeks, for those of you who are visiting, we've been teaching through the book of John now for probably a year and a half or so, two years. And we spent three weeks on the crucifixion of Christ. And those were good time to just think about the crucifixion and all the aspects of it.

And now we've come to the time of Jesus' burial. And we're going to start reading here in verse 38 and go down through verse number 42. And then next week we'll move into the resurrection and the last two chapters that the Lord is appearing.

And then I'm going to go ahead and move right into the book of Acts, just kind of carry this thing right through. And we'll get to see the early church and measure ourselves beside the early church and see how well we're doing with reference to that. So you follow along as we do.

But here in John chapter 19, two individuals, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, are going to show up here. And that's an interesting story. I don't have a whole lot.

The Bible doesn't tell us a whole lot. I think we can learn some lessons from these two individuals and what happens here. But Jesus has been on the cross now from 9 o'clock in the morning until 3 o'clock.

And 9 to 12, there was light and everything was normal. Jesus was suffering at the hands of man. And that was when He looked down and said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

But from noon until 3, everything goes dark. And that is when Jesus cries out, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? And so in those three hours, from what I understand, Jesus is actually suffering the separation, the eternal death that humans suffer when they die and go to hell. Not only is there a physical aspect of suffering in death, but there's also a spiritual aspect of suffering in death, that being cast into a lake of fire and being separated from God forever.

And I believe that from 9 to 12, you saw the physical aspect of the suffering of Christ. From 12 to 3, you see the darkness over the land and the spiritual aspect of the suffering of Christ until you get to those last words at 3 o'clock and Jesus cries, It is finished. And we are told that the temple of El is rent into and access into the Holy of Holies is made.

And I shared with you the importance of realizing that everything that Jesus suffered for our sins occurred on the cross. He did not leave the cross and descend into hell and suffer in Hades, although He descended into Hades, but the sufferings for the sins of the world occurred on the cross of Jesus Christ. And when He said, It is finished, it was finished.

And His sufferings for the sins of humanity was done. Now, we've learned this a little bit in the past few weeks here, that the bodies on the cross at 3 o'clock, 3.30, 4 o'clock are a concern because at 6 o'clock is a Sabbath high day. And the Jews have some concern about the bodies not remaining on the cross.

We talked about this. Friday is a high day. It's a Sabbath day.

Saturday is the weekly Sabbath. So the bodies will then remain on the cross clear through till Sunday. And that's not a good thing.

And so if they're going to get these bodies off the cross, they're going to need to do so by six o'clock. Six o'clock in the PM is the beginning of another day. I know we probably don't think of it that way, but the Jewish day began at 6 PM.

Remember what the Bible says in Genesis 1? And the evening and the morning were the first day. Not the morning and the evening. And so in God's timetable, it's the evening, then the morning.

And so we do that too, we just don't know it. But our hours are a little different. We start our day in the evening at 12 in the morning.

Most of us don't start our day then. We think of a new day is at six in the morning. No, that's not a new day.

The day is already, well, six hours in. So 6 PM is the Sabbath. And they were scrupulous as you've been well aware following through the Gospel of John.

The Jews were very scrupulous with regards to the Sabbath. You couldn't certainly carry a bed as the man found out that was healed. And these men, if they're going to get their bodies, the bodies of the Lord Jesus and these thieves down, they're going to have to do it before 6 o'clock.

And so the Jewish people go to Pilate and request that the legs be broken on these three and that their death would be sped up. Remember we talked about the fact that if you break the legs, they cannot push themselves up and down and get their breath. And so they would die on the cross of suffocation.

So they went, the soldiers come, they break the legs of the two on the outside, the thieves, they come to Jesus. Of course, He's already dead. He laid His life down.

He didn't try to save it. And they did not do anything except take a spear and pierce His side. And that's when the blood and water came out.

And I think we talked about that the last time that we were talking about this subject. So we have the Lord and these two on the cross. And I'm going to pick up reading here.

And there's no timeframe exactly given. We are told that Jesus expired at 3 o'clock. We know that 6 o'clock is the beginning of the Sabbath.

Their desire is to get the body down by then. And so probably around, let's say, 4 o'clock, 4.30, the following events take place. I'm going to read them, and then we'll talk about some of the things from this passage.

Verse 38, And after this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore and took the body of Jesus.

There came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus and wound it in linen clothes with the spices as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new sepulcher, wherein was never a man yet laid.

There laid they Jesus. Therefore, because of the Jews' preparation day, for the sepulcher was nigh at hand. So let's pray and we'll ask the Lord here to help us.

Heavenly Father, we pray for extra revelation and understanding, Lord. I know as I share and just speak about the things that have been upon my heart, that others, you can teach them, Lord, and you can bring a revelation to their hearts. May you make application, Lord.

We trust in your Word that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. And so, Lord, may the Word of God be a prophet to each one of us here this morning. Help us, Lord.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, I want to focus the message this morning on these two men, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.

Joseph is mentioned in all four of the Gospels. You can go and read about him. I'm going to pick out some other things that are not mentioned here in John about this man Joseph of Arimathea.

Nicodemus is the other gentleman. He is only mentioned in the Gospel of John, and he's mentioned in John in three different places. Now, there's a lot of similarities between these two men.

Both of them are older. When I say older, probably my age, 55, 60. They're older men.

We are told that both of them are very distinguished gentlemen. They're distinguished. They're honorable people in Judea and Jerusalem.

In other words, probably most people would say, hey, there's Joseph of Arimathea, or hey, there's Nicodemus. They were rulers. They were honorable men amongst those in Judea.

Both of them seem to have fear issues. Maybe they didn't learn the principle that we shared here this morning. They seem to have fear issues.

And I think a lot of people are going to see that in Jerusalem and in Judea, we're dealing with fear, the fear of men. Something else that's similar between these two, they both seem to have a lot of money, or they both seem to be rich and wealthy individuals. Now, when I went through and thought about this passage here, I just thought it strange that none of the 11, you ever thought about this, none of the 11 disciples nor the family members seem to be concerned about getting Jesus' body off the cross.

And so I have to give credit here to Joseph of Arimathea, and he's going to be forever written in the Word of God, and Nicodemus, who desired to get the body of Jesus down from the cross. Now, I don't know how high that cross was. You know, some people picture it 10 feet high.

I don't believe it was that high. Maybe it was up there six or seven feet, but these are older men. And can you imagine older men, and distinguished men, trying to get this bloodied body off the cross, trying to take the nails out of his hands, trying to take the nails out of his feet, and trying to lower him down? These two men did that.

It's an amazing thing. I don't know who was there. I do know that Mary Magdalene was there watching.

I do know that Mary, the mother of Joseph, was there. We're told that in the Gospel of Mark, I believe it is, the Gospel of Luke. But these two men have a desire to take down the body of the Lord Jesus.

And I don't want you to be critical of these men. We're gonna see some things that they have needs of. Does anybody here have any needs in your life? Just to make sure, there's some of you here too.

So, I know that, you know, we read these, maybe some of us will cringe a little bit about a secret disciple, and some of the things, he was a rich man, and some of the things that just don't seem to line up with everything. But I believe in this whole idea of sanctification, amen? I believe that Christianity is a process, that we all don't become perfect overnight. I didn't, and so maybe you're probably following the same course that I'm on.

Well, let's look at these two men, and what the Bible tells about them. The first thing is found here in verse number 38, says this, and after this, Joseph of Arimathea being a disciple of Jesus. Now Joseph is, I didn't say this, but the Bible says it, he is a disciple of Jesus.

The word disciple here means someone who is following and learning, someone who is receiving the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nicodemus is also a disciple of Jesus. Do you remember in John chapter three, he comes to Jesus by night, and he wants to ask Him some questions.

And so both of these individuals are disciples of Jesus. Jesus had many disciples. Now when I say a disciple, that doesn't mean that these individuals are somewhere along the line gonna fall off and fall away.

I mean, Judas, the Bible says, was a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. The 5,000 who followed Him and listened to His teaching for three solid days without eating. I don't know how many of us would do that.

He finally fed them. He said, if I don't feed them, they're gonna go away fainting, fainting in the way. And so there were many, many people who followed Jesus who were considered learners or disciples, and not just those 12 that were special disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But I've talked about this already before, but in John chapter six, let me read to you what it says here in verse 59. These things said He in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum, many therefore of His disciples. Listen to this.

Many therefore of His disciples when they heard this said, this is a hard saying, who can hear it? He's talking about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. When Jesus knew it Himself that His disciples murmured at it, He said unto them, doth this offend you? What if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh, prophets nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.

But there are some of you that believe not. He is talking to His disciples. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray Him.

And He said, therefore said unto you that no man can come unto Me except who are given unto Him of My Father. And listen to this, from that time, many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him. Many of Jesus' disciples went back and walked no more with Him.

So when you read the word disciple, like Joseph of Arimathea, and I hope and I trust that if you go to heaven, you'll be able to meet Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. I trust that they didn't go back and walk no more with Him. We don't hear anything more of them in the early church in the book of Acts.

We just see them appearing, taking the body down, putting it in the grave, and then there is no more spoken of them. But they are considered here disciples. Now, there are many disciples here today.

Probably 110 or so disciples that would claim to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I've shared this with you before, I also realize that there are some disciples here who aren't going to make it. They're not going to make it unto the end.

The Bible says that we're to continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel. But just as it was in Jesus' day, there are some here whose seed is planted on very shallow ground. And as we talked about earlier, when persecution and tribulation arises because of the Word, by and by, they're offended.

Exactly what happened here in John 6. They're offended. The Word of God brings offense. And they pull back and walk no more with it.

Eli was talking about his family member. Gone. Gone to the world.

And I don't know how these two did long-term, but I do know the Bible calls them disciples. You know, I think about the Ethiopian eunuch, you know, the man that was converted there with Philip. And the Bible says they went down to the water.

Philip baptized him. He came up. The eunuch went on his way.

And Philip was on his way. And we hear nothing about the eunuch. Will he be in heaven? I don't know.

Was he converted? Yes, he was. He started down that road. The Bible talks about that seed that fell into the ground and it had life and it sprung up immediately.

But when the sun was up and it scorched it, by and by, it was offended and it fell away. So, these men are disciples. And I realize that even today, many people profess to be disciples.

There are some sitting here who probably are going to be offended. I mean, when persecution comes and you need to stand up against things like homosexuality and gay marriage and take a stand on those things, many Christian disciples are going to say, nothing for me. I'm going to pull back.

I'm going to walk away from this thing. I'm going to save my skin. A lot of it's going to happen.

The Bible says there's going to be a great falling away. You don't want to be a part of it. Some people will begin to be offended and betray one another.

That's going to happen. Jesus said in Matthew 24 that would happen. Some will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits in the last days.

You know, some even as Galatians will return to the law and they'll fall from grace. Let's go back to the law. Let me ask you a question before we go on here.

There are many disciples here, and I ask my own heart these questions, but how deep are your roots? How deep are your roots so that when the sun comes up and the difficulties come and the persecution and tribulation comes, that your faith is deep enough that you can draw from the power of God's Spirit and go through great trials and afflictions and hold to your faith? How many of you people here are ready and their faith is deep enough? Well, here's one way to get your faith deep is get deep into this book. You know, some of you are not getting deep into the book and you're loving this present world and going after those things. You're going to get wiped out.

You're going to get wiped out. There's no depth. And so these men were disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's a good thing.

Let's keep reading here because here's one of the things I think that troubles many of us. Verse 38 says, And after this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews. Now, I know we want to be critical of Joseph and even of Nicodemus, but let's remember that Peter was a denier of the Lord.

You know, Peter was afraid of this little handmaiden there that was at the door at Pilate's place, and he denied the Lord. Nicodemus also seemed to have a problem with fear. Nicodemus, I wouldn't like to be this way, but Nicodemus, the Lord tagged him with a little phrase of a couple of words.

Whenever you see the word Nicodemus in the Bible, it always mentions this, which at first came to Jesus by night. That's kind of a tag. Nicodemus.

Oh, who's he? He's the one that came to Jesus by night. It's in John 3, John 7. And here, look down at verse 39, and there came also Nicodemus, which at first came to Jesus by night. I don't want to be known as that disciple that came to Jesus in the night because I was a fearful man.

But Nicodemus had fear in his heart. And some of you have fear in your heart. I've experienced fear.

People are fearful. I understand fear. But you can overcome them.

And I hope we get to heaven and Nicodemus has a testimony of how God delivered him from fear. Amen. And Joseph of Arimathea, he's laughing about, oh man, we were so fearful, all that situation, but praise God, the Lord delivered me from the mess.

But fear is real. Jump back to John 7 just to look at Nicodemus here for a minute. I appreciate Nicodemus.

He doesn't stand like he ought to stand, but at least he throws a few good words in. Here in John 7, he's mentioned, starting in verse number 40, it says, Many of the people, therefore, when they heard this saying, said of a truth, this is the prophet. Others said, this is the Christ.

But some said, shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the Scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed of David? And out of the town of Bethlehem where David was? There's a confusion amongst the leaders. So there was a division among the people because of him. And some of them would have taken him, but no man laid hands on him.

Then came the officers to the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they said unto them, Why have you not brought him? What's the problem? Why didn't you bring him to us so we could kill him? The officers answered, Never. A man spake like this man. Then answered them, the Pharisees, Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? Now, think about that.

You're sitting in this meeting and the leaders are saying, Have any of our rulers believed on him? Do you know who one of those rulers is? Nicodemus. He's a ruler of the Jews. He's sitting right in the meeting.

Look what he says. Verse 49, But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed. Nicodemus saith unto them, He that came to Jesus by night, being one of them, Doth our law judge any man before I hear him and know what he doeth.

He had a word there. He tried to defend Jesus. Maybe he should have just stood up and said, Hey, fellas, I believe in him.

Like Peter. I believe he's the Christ, the Son of the living God. But he did make an effort to stand up and try to spare him.

And he got to rebuke. In verse 52, They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search and look, for out of the Galilee arises no prophet. And every man went unto his own house.

So there's dissension amongst the Jewish leaders about this Jesus. And Nicodemus is in these meetings and he's at least willing to say, Hey, let's not judge him until we hear the whole matter. So in some ways, he is standing up for the Lord Jesus here.

But he's a man of fear. Now, I think some of you are familiar with this. Some of you grew up in a culture like this.

But the Jews had built a culture of fear. It was a whole culture of fear amongst the Jewish people. And I'm just going to stick here in John.

But look with me to John chapter 7 and verse number 11. We've talked about this as we've gone through the book of John. But the people here were very fearful.

And look at John chapter 7, verse 11. Then the Jews sought him at the feast and said, Where is he? And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him. For some said, He is a good man.

Others said, Nay, but he deceives the people. Howbeit, no man spoke openly of him for fear of the Jews. Now, people were in bondage.

Some people wanted to say, I believe He is the Christ. But they were held in by the fear that was amongst the Jewish people not to say anything about Jesus that was positive. Jump over to John chapter 9, just another example here of the fear that was on the people in that day.

John 9, verse 18, talking about this blind man. But the Jews did not believe concerning him that he had been blind and received his sight until they called the parents of him that had received his sight. And they asked him, saying, Is this your son who you say was born blind? How then doth he now see? Now this is amazing.

These parents, this is my boy. He's blind from birth. And he sees.

You'd think they'd be excited about it. His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. But by what means he now seeth we know not? Or who hath opened his eyes we know not? He is of age, ask him.

He shall speak for himself. Now notice what it says. These words spake his parents because they feared the Jews.

For the Jews had agreed. Here's a brotherhood agreement. The Jews had agreed already that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.

Therefore, said his parents, he is of age, ask him. So an amazing miracle happens here. And the parents are in fear.

They cannot say anything. They're watching their words. They can't say anything, but the leadership of the Jewish people had made a rule that if anybody spoke or acknowledged the Lord Jesus, they would be cast out or put out of the synagogue.

And so fear was common in Israel and that many people were fearful. And I would encourage each one of us to have a fear of God but not have a fear of man. And we've talked about that already as we've gone through the book of John.

A fear of God. Do you know, and I wrote this down in my notes, do you know who you fear? Think about this. Who you fear is who controls your life.

You know that? Who you fear is who controls your life. That's why you're encouraged to fear God. Let Him control your life.

But if you fear people, you are under people's control. And I know young people have a great challenge in this area. You know young people, be encouraged when you get older.

You get a little wiser and you realize, why am I fearing my peers? Why am I fearing people? But I know young people struggle. I remember when I was a young man, I was probably 16 years old in high school. I had such dreadful fear from my peers.

I remember one incident in particular. It just haunted me. I was in the gym class and one of the young men who was kind of an ornery kid.

He was one of these tough kids and street kids. I was a small kid at the time. I grew a lot in my junior and senior year.

But I was not a fighter. I was one of these guys that I needed a big bully by my side to protect me in high school. But I saw something.

I saw one of these fighter kids throw a ball and it hit the gym teacher. He did it kind of secretly and knocked the glasses off the gym teacher, broke his glasses I believe. People were snickering and laughing underneath their breath.

The gym teacher got upset and wanted to know who did it. Nobody would say anything for fear that this one who did it was going to punish them. And so lo and behold, the gym teacher, he might have called everybody in, but he calls me in.

And he puts the pressure on me to tell him who did it. And I'm petrified because back then, marijuana was getting to be a big thing. And this word, a narc.

Anybody heard that word? A narc. A narc was someone who ratted on someone who was doing drugs or smoking marijuana. And that was a big word back in my teen years.

And so if you told on someone, everyone in the school would call you a narc. And oh, that was so dreadful. So fearful to have your peers call you something like that.

And so I sat there and I was just petrified of what would happen if I told him what happened and the truth. And I went ahead and told him because the pressure was on me. And I just was miserable.

So miserable because I knew that now he was going to get caught and they would probably try to search out who was the one that narc'd on him. And the whole school would know that I'm some sort of a narc or a rat and I'm going to be labeled for the rest of my life. And I was tormented by it.

You probably know how I felt. Just fear. And that fear was controlling my life.

And I know some of you young people, you face a lot of pressure. What do my friends think? And what if I do this and this? And you don't live life according to what you want to live it. You're controlled by the people that you fear.

And so you do things that are contrary to what you want to do, but you do it to try to fit in. And you need to break out of that. Amen.

You need to be free of that. You ought to fear God. And if you'll fear God, you'll not fear your peers.

You'll be delivered. Well, some people fear the rulers, the bishops, the leaders. But some people, praise God, they fear God.

Jesus said, fear not him that can kill your body. That's a man. But fear Him who can destroy your body and soul in hell.

And so our fear is to be directed. And so when you fear God, you allow Him to control you. You walk through life and you say, I don't want to do that because I fear God.

Oh, I don't want to do this because I fear God. And God is able to control you. If you don't fear God and you fear men, do you know what happens? This is what was happening in the Jewish religion.

You walk through life and you say, I don't fear God, so is anybody looking? Does anybody see me? Okay, I'll do it. And so you're looking this way. So you're thinking about cheating on something, and so you're looking, does anybody see me? Nobody sees me, I'll do it.

Because I don't fear God. And so fear, fear was a big thing. And can you imagine the fears that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus must have felt? Honorable men, rich men, how do you think they got rich? Their community, the Jewish people.

They were businessmen. And these who are willing to go and take Jesus off the cross, probably understand why they were secret disciples. I want you to look at one passage here in Isaiah.

This describes Israel. In Isaiah 29, Jesus actually quotes this in the Gospel of John. And it's something I think we can learn from.

Who do you really fear today? Who do you fear? In Isaiah 29, verse 13, I'm just going to jump in here and read a verse or two. Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth and with their lips do honor Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward men is taught by the precepts of men. Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder, for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

He says here that they have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precepts or the commandments and doctrines of men. When people's hearts no longer fear God, then you'll find that men move in and take control and promote the fear of man. And that's what was happening in Israel.

People feared the British leaders, the rulers. I remember Abner Kaufman. You've maybe heard me tell this story.

He was the man who came out of the Amish setting. He came into a different setting. And one day he was amongst some people and he heard a mother say to her little son these words.

And I'm just paraphrasing as I remember him saying using this illustration. He heard the mother say, Son, you better not do that because Abner might see you. And he thought about that.

Motivating your son not to do something because the elder might see you. Teaching your children to fear man and not to fear God. He says this whole system is a mess.

This whole system is teaching the fear of man and not the fear of God. And if you would have been back in Jesus' day, you would have seen a system of religion where people were taught to fear the rulers, to fear what men thought of you, and not to fear God. And I think we ought not to promote that.

I hope, I've thought about this, I hope none of you fear me. I don't see anybody shaking out there. I'm not to be feared.

Look how thin I am. I'm not going to hurt you. But you know, we ought to promote the fear of God here.

Fear of God and not the fear of men. And we could go and talk a lot about that. But the truth of the matter is who you fear is the one who controls your life.

If you fear me, if you fear the bishops, if you fear the elders, then they will control your life. And they will move things around and give commandments that will bring you under their control. But if you fear God, He will control your life.

But that's the culture that was going on in Israel. And that's the culture that these two individuals grew up in. And they struggled with the fear of men.

Both of these men were rich men. Matthew 27 talks about Joseph of Arimathea. It says, when the evening was come, there came a rich man of Arimathea named Joseph.

Joseph was a rich man. I think also Nicodemus was a rich man. Look over here in John 19.

In verse 39 it says, there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pound weight. Now I don't know, if you look at some of the things in the Scriptures, a hundred pounds. That's a lot of myrrh and aloes.

That's costly. Nicodemus was probably a wealthy man. He used his position to gain wealth.

Isaiah 53.9, Isaiah prophesies that Jesus would make His grave with the wicked and with the rich in His death. So this was a nice tomb. Nice tombs were rich man's tombs.

Actually, we're told in one of the Gospels that Joseph of Arimathea had hewn it out with his own hands. It was his tomb. So I had to think of these wealthy, well-respected older men taking down that bloody body.

And hopefully there wasn't, for their sake, a lot of people around. We're only told that the two Marys were there. And they came secretly to take down this body.

Now I want to just mention a couple of things about riches. I realize that that's not a good testimony. I mean, if God writes the Bible, or He wrote the Bible and He put in there my name and He said, Jerry was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews.

I wouldn't like that. And that He was a rich man. I don't think I'd like that either.

But, He's a rich man. The Bible says, Woe unto them that are rich. Do you know why that is? Woe unto them that are rich.

You know, if your heart is for the Kingdom of God and you're seeking the prosperity of the church, if God blesses you with finances, what are you going to do with it? You're going to what? You're going to pour it into what your heart is, where your heart is. You're going to pour it into the Kingdom of God. If your heart is into this present world and God blesses you with riches, what are you going to do? You're going to hoard it.

Or you're going to buy possessions because that's where your heart is. Where your heart is, there will your treasure be. So, He was a rich man.

They that be rich fall into temptations and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in perdition. I would not encourage you to pursue riches. It's not good for your faith.

It is harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to pass through the eyes of a needle. Now, there's not a lot of preaching on riches because we live in rich America and we like to live in nice houses, we like to eat fine food, we like to wear fine clothing, we like to drive nice cars, and you don't hear a lot of preaching on the rich, but the Bible says, woe unto them that are rich. Blessed are you poor.

Just a reminder. Woe. Well, there's not a lot of preaching on that, but we should probably do a lot more on it.

I believe this with all my heart. Some of you are probably here. I think John was probably there that night.

I've shared this story before, but I'm preaching at a tent meeting probably 15 years ago. And lo and behold, it's the only time this has ever happened to me, I'm preaching on covetousness. Talking about riches and the pursuit of riches.

And I don't know that night, Brother John, were you there that night? 400 maybe so, 500 people under the big tent. We were up in Holmes County and got to the invitation. Felt like the Lord was about ready to move on hearts.

We stood to our feet and the invitation, we started to sing, and all of a sudden, a lady in the second or the first row down here just starts to scream. And I didn't even know what to do. She just started to scream and go all over the place.

And everybody just started, what's going on? Looking up there. And it just stopped. Everything just stopped.

And they tried to minister to this woman and she was rolling around. And all of our attention was drawn to this lady. And the service ended.

I don't think there was any invitation. Anyone responded. And later on I thought, that was to me the work of the devil right there.

Oh, he knew that this was going to hit on something that was important. Covetousness. Riches.

And so she was just stirred up to just manifest an unclean spirit. And so I'm sure that this is an issue that we need to be reminded of every once in a while. I see here that we don't hear anything more of Joseph or of Nicodemus.

And I believe with all my heart that they're probably going to be in heaven and that we're going to talk to them someday. But I also remember that there's a man by the name of Paul who had great position. And I'm sure he had great wealth.

He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. But Paul came to the place in his life where he gave everything and he counted it all. All but what? Dung! I mean, this riches, this reputation, it's all dung.

And you know, God took someone like that and used him in an incredible way. Yet here are people who are struggling. The fear of man.

Riches. Position. Yes, did they do something that was good? Yes.

And the Bible records it. The Bible also records a mixture of fear of man and a desire for riches. Well, it says here that they waited.

Actually, it doesn't say here in John, but in Luke chapter 23 it says they waited for the kingdom of God. Joseph of Arimathea was one of these who was waiting for the kingdom of God. When they heard Jesus preaching and they heard Him say, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand, they, like many, were expecting a physical kingdom.

Joseph was one of those. He actually thought that Jesus would establish a kingdom. And he was waiting for it.

Well, if you'd like, turn to Luke 17. I'd like to read a passage here. Luke 17, verse 20.

Luke 17, verse 20. And when he was demanded of the Pharisees and there's a good chance that maybe Nicodemus or Joseph was there, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation. It's not a physical thing.

You won't see it with your natural eyes. Neither shall they say, lo here or lo there, for behold, the kingdom of God is within you. Now, the Lord was teaching this.

They simply couldn't understand it. They were expecting a physical kingdom, but the kingdom of God, he said, is something that God is going to do starting on the inside out. The kingdom of God is within you.

So that was the heart of the Lord to, on the day of Pentecost, send the Holy Spirit to be our king and to rule from the inside out. And you know the inside part of us is a much bigger task for the Lord than the outside. You know, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15 that one day you're going to stand before God when he returns, and he's going to change your body.

You know how long it's going to take him to do that one? In a twinkling of an eye. Like, less than a second. This is an easy job for me.

I'll change your outward things like that. You got too long a hair? I'll make sure it's the right length. You got a bunch of tattoos on your body? That's not a problem either.

We'll wipe them out and we'll give you a new body. I can take care of the outsides in the twinkling of an eye. You know how long it takes to get the inside in the right place? All the life.

It's called sanctification. And that's our job to help people on the inside. Renewing the mind.

And I'm learning more and more, something else I've learned over these 40 years is this. Is your thought patterns determine your life? And you need to build your thought patterns on the basis of the truth. You don't know the truth.

And the truth will set you free. Most people are in bondage because of their thought patterns. They think.

They think incorrectly. They think lies. They think negative.

They think opposite of what is the truth. And they build thought patterns and those thought patterns bring them into bondage. You don't need to be discouraged.

You think yourself into being discouraged. You know, one of the revelations that I had a number of years ago when I was preaching through I think it was the book of Mark, was how that doubt is also basically a thought pattern. You know, we read in the Bible that to ask the Lord, and if you will believe, you'll receive.

And so as you're trying to believe and trying to bring every thought into captivity, all of a sudden all these doubts want to flood into your mind and take control of your mind. You know, believing is a thought pattern. I am going to choose to believe what God has said.

And anything that comes contrary to it, I'm casting it out. And so many of our problems are due to the fact that we don't think according to the truth. Bringing every thought into captivity.

Well, Jesus' ministry was to that inner man. I just want to read. I'm getting close to the end here.

Just read the first sermon that Jesus gave. And He focuses on the inward man. He said, blessed are the poor in spirit.

Blessed are they that mourn. All of these things have to do with the inner man. Blessed are the meek.

Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart.

Blessed are the peacemakers. He goes on to say, you want to talk about murder? I'll tell you what murder really is. It's when you're angry in your heart towards someone.

You want to talk about adultery? I'll tell you what adultery is. It's when in your heart you're lusting after someone else. It's all about the heart.

It's all about the inside. That's the kingdom of God. I like Philippians chapter 2. He which hath begun a good work where? In you shall complete it at the day of Jesus Christ.

And so, they were thinking or looking for the kingdom of God outwardly. But God was wanting to do a work inwardly. And that's still the case today.

I mean, honestly, you're no better off than how you are on the inside. You know that? You can look good on the outside, but you're no better off than where your thoughts are and your imaginations and your motives and your affections, where those things are, is who you are. Who you are! Well, I want to finish up here with these two men.

I want to read something. I learned something this week. Maybe you won't agree with me, but I'm just going to throw this out here.

It says in verse 39 of John 19, And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new sepulcher, wherein was never a man yet laid.

Now listen to verse 42 very carefully. There lay they Jesus, therefore, because of the Jews' preparation day. Now why did they lay Jesus in this tomb? It says here, Because of the Jews' preparation day, for the sepulcher was nigh at hand.

So picture you being Joseph or Nicodemus. You're taking a long time getting this body off the cross and wrapping it up, getting all the myrrh and aloes in there. Okay, we're ready to take him.

Joseph says, Listen, it's almost six o'clock. The preparation day is almost upon us. I have this tomb nearby.

It's my own tomb. Let's just put him here, cover the stone. Now, it says here that they laid him there because of the preparation day was so close.

And there's a good chance, and I never thought about this, there's a good chance that if they'd have had time, that they would have buried him somewhere else. Maybe a cheaper place to just lay him, but because of the situation and the time frame that they had, the preparation was near, Joseph says, Let's just put him here, and then we'll throw this out temporarily. There may be a reason why Nicodemus says, Here's a hundred pounds of aloes and myrrh because we're going to come back on Sunday after the Sabbath and we're going to move him to another location.

Well, the Lord took care of that problem. He moved himself to another location. But as you read that, you wonder if they're thinking, We can't get to where we should bury him.

Let's just put him here temporarily. Cover it with stone. We'll come back Sunday.

We'll get him and move him. I want to read one passage and then I'll finish. This is not mentioned in the other Gospels, but I want to read it just to throw this in.

Next week we'll talk about the resurrection, Mary coming to the tomb. But in Matthew 27, where this information is also added, Now the next day that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, Now this would be the following day, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, after three days, I will rise again. Command, therefore, that the sepulcher remained sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead.

So the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, You have a watch. Go your way, make it as sure as you can.

So they went and made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone and setting a watch. So the next day, there's a concern about the fact that these guys, we heard him preach he's going to rise in three days. Let's make sure.

I'm wondering if these Jews who were unbelievers believed more in the resurrection than those disciples who should have believed in it. They were a little more concerned, so they set a watch, and they sealed the tomb. Men standing outside.

So that was going on Friday, Saturday. So next Sunday, we'll pick up with what happens early on Sunday morning. Mary Magdalene.

God bless Mary Magdalene. She's going to stay with him all the way through. She's going to be the first up in the morning.

She didn't have ice cream and cake that night. She's going to be the first up in the morning and come to the tomb. And a lot's going to happen.

We'll pick up with that next Sunday. Let's close.