The Gospel according to Mark, chapter 14, starting in verse 53, the grass withers, the flower surely fades, but it's the word of our God that remains forever. Please do give your full attention to its reading. And they led Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire. Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. And some stood up and bore false witness against him saying, we heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands. And in three days, I'll build another not made with hands. Even about this, their testimony did not agree. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you? But he remained silent and made no answer. Again, the high priest asked him, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed? And Jesus said, I am. And you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. And the high priest tore his garments and said, what further witness do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision? And they all condemned him as deserving death. And some began to spit on him and cover his face and strike him, saying to him, prophesy. And the guards received him with blows. And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, you also were with the Nazarene Jesus. But he denied it, saying, I neither know nor understand what you mean. And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. And the servant girl saw him again and began to say to the bystanders, this man is one of them. But again, he denied it. And after a little while, the bystanders again said to Peter, certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean. But he began to invoke a curse upon himself and to swear, I do not know this man of whom you speak. And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. And he broke down and wept. Thus far the reading of God's word. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Beloved in the Lord, with each passing moment at this phase in Mark's gospel in these chapters, with each passage, we sink deeper and we go further into the pit of darkness, suffering, and humiliation that our Savior endured. Each passage highlights in its own way for us the suffering, anguish that Jesus Christ, the perfect, remember that, perfect, unblemished lamb who committed no sin, receives false testimony now, and he sits and silently and trusts himself to the one who judges justly. You remember his enemies? His enemies were dead set on putting him to death, but they wanted to do it quietly. They wanted to do it in great haste. And so they would go out by night. You see, they had come out walking in the darkness of the night in order to secure the light of the world. Wielding swords, that they would by force subdue the prince of peace. It was with a kiss that he is betrayed. But our sovereign God, would ensure that this would happen at a time that all would see, right? This happens at the time of the Passover. The time of the Passover when the pilgrims of Israel had gathered up to Jerusalem and they had gathered to sacrifice, to feast, to celebrate, and to remember God's deliverance from bondage in Egypt. This was the time it would happen. In other words, God was sure he'd arranged it, that it would be a public display where Christ would hang for all to see, contrary to what the enemies would have. You see, in our passage this morning, We see the suffering humiliation of our Savior by way of contrast. What Mark is doing, he's set up for us. Did you notice it in the structure? He starts with Peter, gives us Jesus, and then he goes back to Peter. He's contrasting the false witness of Peter with the true and living witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we're seeing is a contrast. We see a foe or a group of foes And a friend bear false witness, both claiming to be of God and they break the ninth commandment by not bearing witness to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we see the true and living son of God and power. And what does he do? He speaks the truth. He obeys God. He witnesses obeying the ninth commandment, saying, Yes, I am here. The time for concealment is over. This is the Messiah proclaiming who it is that his intentions, his position and what he will eventually do. So in Mark 14, 53 through 72, we're seeing a contrast between false witnesses and the true and living witness. And here's what I want you to take away from today. Because you and I, with Peter, we'll get to this, have received the truth of witness or the true witnesser in Jesus Christ, because we've received him and his truthful witness, we can now open our mouths and witness to the truth by the strength of the Holy Spirit carried along as we're restored in the ways that we've failed and also empowered by his spirit to do as much. I was a long way of saying what I really wanted to say is that we've received Christ who bears witness, therefore you and I, we can witness and hold fast to the confession that's been placed in our hearts and upon our lips. That's what we see in Mark's gospel. So three points then. The false trial. First, and then a friend on trial. We're gonna skip a little section in the middle. We're gonna go down to a friend on trial with Peter, and then we're gonna see the bigger picture of the divine trial. Those are our three points. So first, the false trial. As we come now to verse 53, Jesus is taken into custody by a crowd of religious leaders there at Gethsemane. You remember, betrayed with a kiss, a group of elders and scribes. and chief priests, they've come out by force to subdue him that the scriptures might be fulfilled. You remember what he's doing while they're scheming? praying, seeking his father in prayer, seeking the strength of the Holy Spirit who is going to empower him. He's anointed by the Spirit, remember, to take up his work, not only in his life and ministry, but also in his sin-atoning death, seeking the Spirit in prayer. So he stands ready, watching. Remember, he was the watchful one A couple of weeks back when the disciples are falling asleep, he's watching. He sees them coming. The hour of betrayal is at hand. This must happen for this is why he came out. He's not taken by surprise. Seems like Peter kind of is. But he's not. He knows what is to come and he knows for why he came and now he's led. Look at verse 53. He's led to the house of the high priest. This is Caiaphas. We see Caiaphas come up in a number of occasions, especially in the Acts of the Apostles, which we'll consider later on in the sermon as Peter proclaims. But it's Caiaphas, the high priest who Jesus is brought to now, where the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, they all come together, and what have they come to do? They've come to silence Jesus of Nazareth once and for all. Here's their shot, they're going to take it. He's now standing before them, well, sitting there above him, the light of the world, the king of kings upholding them by the very word of his power, and he's on trial. The irony of the situation is quite remarkable. But what I want you to notice from our text, but then also some external sources, that there are several oddities about this entire situation. Is it a trial? Well, the religious leaders don't have the jurisdiction to put him to death, the Romans will need to do that. It's surely an interrogation, but I think all pieces are in place to say they're putting him on trial here, but here are some of the oddities that I want you to take note of. When does the trial take place? It's at night. Remember, it's still deep into the night. They take him in the shadows of the darkness and they place him there. What happens in the dark shadows? It's wickedness, it's evil, and it's according to the law that's inscribed later in pharisaical law. We don't quite sure know if these are the practices that they followed at this time, but later it was inscribed that crimes that would have to do with capital punishment were not to be carried out at night. And the judgment rendered should not be carried out the next day, especially on the day of a festival. These religious leaders aren't concerned with justice. They were to be the ones to uphold the law and they're evaluating the very practices that they say they hold to their hypocrisy, their wickedness, and their evilness is right on the face of the passage. Their evil is as dark as the night in which they bring Jesus on trial. But there's a little bit more. Which night is it? That should give us more indication of what they're doing that's improper. It's the night of the Passover. Jesus is praying and what is he doing? He's watchful, he's watching. It's a night of vigil as God had delivered his people out from Egypt. His people were to stay up and they were to feast and watch. Why in the world aren't the religious leaders practicing the festival that they had been called to practice? Why aren't they watching? That's a question we should be asking while Jesus was, they're not. Here's the irony again. It's that through their wicked hands and their wicked scheming, they're not watching. He is, God is about to bring upon them. He's busy bringing upon a second Exodus where his son is going to deliver his people from sin and death on this very night of Passover and the religious leaders and their hypocrisy and their wickedness and their evilness. They miss it. They don't see it. That's the first oddity that it happens at night and in haste. A second detail that you should notice from the text is that the verdict was already determined. That's quite important here. I look at verse 55. You see, they take him to the high priest. But they are set, the chief priests and the whole council, they were seeking testimony for what? To put him to death. They're not seeking testimony to see what really happened. They're seeking testimony that would agree with their plans. They wanted to slay him. They wanted to silence him. So they want to find testimony that is going to give them the right to be able to carry out those plans. They were dead set on putting him to death. This was to fulfill the scriptures. Yes, we see the almighty plan of God at play, but we also see their wickedness in carrying out the scheming. So that's the second detail. The trial was already determined. The verdict was already rendered before he even goes to trial. They're saying he's guilty. Nothing would have changed in this case as they unfold the trial. The third oddity about this whole trial is that the testimonies that are given are all inconsistent. Mark makes a point to mention to us that there are testimonies after testimony after testimony. You would think at least one, maybe they would scheme together and they would corroborate their stories before they would get up on the stand. But no, none of them were consistent. None of them would be upheld in a lawful court. Therefore, the high priest should have stood up and said, this man surely is not guilty according to the testimonies that you give because none of them are actually making sense. They're all false, but that's not what the high priest does. The high priest presses further because he is determined to incriminate, have Jesus actually incriminate himself, which we'll get at in just a moment. So these technicalities, they're, they're quite important at one level or another, but here's the main point that I want you to hear from this first point in the false trial that it was decided previously that Jesus would be put to death. They had already made the determination, their mind was not going to be changed, and here was their motive. Envy and fear. Envy and fear. What does that mean? Well, all along in Jesus's ministry, they are fearing the crowds. This man speaks with authority and people are following him. They're envious that he seems to have authority that they wish they had and they don't. He's speaking as one who has come from God and they fear the crowds that they'll follow Jesus. What's more though, he's condemned their very idol. Which idol was that? The den of robbers, the temple where they're making their living, right? They're stealing from widows and they're devouring their households. And Jesus says, woe to you, your hypocrisy. And so they fear him and they're envious. And so they want to put him down. It's a false trial. But there's a charge that Mark mentions that is intriguing, nonetheless. Testimony after testimony, why does Mark include what he includes? He includes one testimony. Which testimony is it? It has to do with the temple. Time and time again, people are coming and saying certain things about Jesus, and Mark chooses to place here for us that one stands up and says, oh yeah, by the way, I heard him talk about the temple. Why does Mark include that? Well, because along the way, you remember, Mark has been emphasizing for us that there is a displacement of temples. He's recalling us back to chapters 11, 12, that little intersection in 13, and now in 14 and 15, we see that the true temple, who is Jesus Christ, is being put down while that, Temple made with hands has been made desolate. So Mark would have us recall this temple displacement. And when Jesus speaks, well, first let's back up. What is leveled against him, the accusation isn't actually true. Jesus didn't from his lips say, I will destroy this temple and I will raise it up. in three days. No, in fact, Jesus spoke prophetically about God's judgment that was coming upon the temple. He never said that I will destroy this temple. Instead, he stands in the line of prophets and he brings a covenant lawsuit against the religious leaders in Israel to tell them, because of what you have done, the wickedness that you have engaged in, the way that you have made desolate this house of prayer for the nations, God's bringing judgment upon you. The temple's going to be destroyed, but it's your doing. You're the ones that have destroyed it, and God is going to stamp that with his judgment. He does speak of a temple being raised up in three days, and that's the temple of his very own body. He's speaking there of the resurrection that's going to constitute a new and living house. What is that living house made up of? His people, filled with the Spirit, given over to prayer, a house of prayer for the nations, we can call it, bringing the gospel to the ends of the earth. That's what Jesus is busy doing. And so Mark lets this hang while the statement on the face is false. There is a deep and true significance to the false claim. This is actually going to happen. And Jesus actually is going to rise up and he's going to constitute a new people. So take note that Mark includes that to recall this temple displacement. So first that is our false trial. The scribes and the elders and the high priest are dead set on putting him to death. We're gonna shift now and look at the end of our passage where there's this follower on trial. Simultaneously, one walks along with Jesus. We know that it's Peter, a follower of Christ, and he is also placed On trial, the scene is set up by Mark to inform us that while Jesus was led to the house of the high priest, Peter follows at a distance. Notice that language. He follows with just enough space between he and Jesus that he also wouldn't be captured. He goes to the courtyard and he's warming himself by the fire, but he's close enough that he can see the trial taking place. While he's in the courtyard, He's approached by a servant girl. And this is where we see him on trial. The servant girl says, hey, you, I recognize you. You're with Jesus. You have come from Galilee. Well, the bystanders say that, but I recognize that you're with him. Excuse me. I recognize that you've come and you're following Jesus. You are one of his followers. And Peter, his response starts, Basic response, he is innocent at some points. He says, actually, no, you've got the wrong guy. I don't think you really know what you're talking about. Let's just move on from here. But then the servant girl persists. No, actually, hey bystanders, this one is surely, he's come with Jesus. And Peter, again, chimes up. Remember just a couple of passages ago, he says, I'll do anything for you, Christ. I'll go to my death for you. He's denied him once and now he denies him twice. Nope. No idea what you're talking about. Watching the very trial take place and he denies him a second time. Maybe he's out of the woods. Standing in the gateway and the bystanders recognize this one is surely a Galilean. His very tongue gives him away as a parallel passage would tell us. You are a Galilean. Why in the world would you be here? but as one who is following the Christ. You are of Jesus. You are with him. His response is no longer one of innocence. He invokes a curse upon himself. He's motivated by fear and anxiety, and he seeks to preserve his own life. That's what's happening here with Peter. seeking to preserve his own life, his own reputation, bellying up from his guts comes forth this curse that he invokes and says, I don't know the man. I don't know him. And it's upon that third denial that the rooster crows. It's a second time that the rooster crowed. And upon that, what happens, Peter? He remembers the words of his savior. He remembers the truth bearing witness of Christ. Before that second crow, you're gonna deny me three times. All that Jesus has said comes to pass. The truth of his word is upheld. Peter, you're going to fall away. No, I won't, Lord. You'll deny me three times. No, I won't, Lord. And now here he does, and he breaks down and he weeps. He's full of sorrow, Peter is. When placed on trial, he doesn't bear witness to the truth. He knows the law of God. He knows that he should be a truth speaker. He knows that he should bear witness to all that is true. But you see, his life is on the line. Don't you feel for him? His life is hanging in the balance. His reputation is to be smeared right here. How does he respond? He looks at the followers, says, I would rather be identified as a wicked man than with him because he is going to his death. I don't want my reputation or my life to end. He's self-preserving. Do you feel the tension? We're there. Right, we are pulled into this event, we're pulled into this narrative as we see Peter preserve his own life and not wanting to have his reputation squandered. We find ourselves in that same state of wanting to preserve our own lives, wanting to preserve our own, or wanting to preserve our own reputation or how people will perceive us and how often that motivates us to bear false witness. to not uphold the truth, to not speak as God would have us speak if our life is on the line. And we're accused as being those bigoted Christians, for example. Maybe you're wondering, how would I respond? Would I also do what Peter does here? And maybe you have. Maybe you have found yourself in situations where you're asked, are you one of those Christians? and you've responded maybe negatively, maybe positively, but in either way, you might have responded positively knowing that you might gain something from that response. They might like that response, the ones that you were bearing witness to. Though he fails and he breaks the ninth commandment, and he doesn't do what he ought, Notice that Peter's following, he's there, he's in the midst, he's watching Jesus as it unfolds. And what's more is he recognizes his failure. So he's driven to weeping and to being sorrowful as he hears the rooster crow, Lord Jesus, I know you said this would happen and I'm so sorrowful. And the question is, if you found yourself in that situation and you've failed there, What's your response? Is it sorrowful for the way that you have not bore false witness, or as you have bore false witness and not spoken to the truth as Peter is sorrowful? Peter must learn, in other words, exactly what you and I must learn. And that is, if one wants to follow Christ, they must lose their life and take up their cross. This is what Jesus has been teaching them along the way. He told Peter that previously. He said, I'm going to die. I'm going to the cross. And Peter rebukes him, you remember. This is foolishness, Lord. No, you're not. You have a kingdom to set up. And Jesus says, get behind me, Satan. For one to follow me, they must pick up their cross and come on this life of suffering. He says it, for whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul? You see, Peter is in the midst of learning that. and you and I have to learn it over and over again because we don't bear witness to the truth as we should. We find ourselves as those who do preserve our own life and our own reputation. Peter is soon going to learn what it is to be identified with the suffering of Christ and what's more, to be identified with the glory of Christ. And we have to continuously learn that the Christian life is the cruciform life. It is shaped by the cross, shaped by suffering, bearing witness to the truth when it is not popular. The question is, are you identified with Christ and his sufferings? Are you sorrowful for the way that you haven't bore witness to the truth? Have you surrendered your life for the purpose of taking up your cross and walking with the Lord as Jesus would have us? Or do you find yourself this morning as one who just follows just with enough distance that you wouldn't be captured as Peter initially does? See, we can say yes to both. We desire to follow close by, but at times we put a little distance there that we wouldn't be captured by the enemies of Christ. Do you have a striving desire to denounce your own will as Peter fails to do here? But Jesus speaks truly to lay aside your own tendency to self preservation and to be shaped and molded by the cross. We must be asking ourselves, do we have that desire? This, it runs against the grain of our sin. It runs against the grain of our nature, conceived and born in sin. So we have to learn it over and over again. And the only way we can say yes to those questions, the only way we can say yes, I desire, Lord, is by the grace of God, by the grace of God who works faith in our hearts and continually shows us our need for forgiveness and declares to us that we are restored and empowers us to then speak the truth in the future where we failed in the past. These questions expose more and more our need to ask the Lord for forgiveness. They expose our need to come with penitent hearts, but they also they cause us. They cause us to seek the Lord in prayer, asking that we followers of Christ would follow closer and more and more. We would pray for the grace of the Holy Spirit. that he would cause us to walk with the Lord in a way that is glorifying to him. And that is to love and to delight in God's ways, to love and to delight in God's law, to walk according to loving the truth that God has revealed to us most clearly. to never stop striving and praying for the grace of the Spirit, knowing that we've been renewed, we've been restored for our past failings, and we are now yet being empowered to walk with Him in grace and in truth. That's what we learn from the follower on trial, seeing ourselves there. Let's take a step back and look at the divine trial then. After hearing from the false witness, and receiving the testimonies that were conflicting, the high priest, back to the center section of our passage, he stands up. He stands up and he calls Jesus. He places Jesus strictly on trial by the living God, Matthew tells us. Have you no answer for yourself? All of these false witnesses are coming. Are you not gonna give an account for what they are saying? Jesus doesn't answer the fool according to his folly. Proverbs 26, four. He sees no need. He can see quite clearly that the witnesses are conflicting in their response, and he sees no need to respond. And so he is silent, opening not his mouth. Remember, Peter's in the courtyard watching. And so listen to what Peter says in his first epistle and think about this scene. This is how Peter can truly write what he writes in 1 Peter chapter 2. As he watches Jesus, he says, he committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, it's being reviled, Peter's watching, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten. Is he suffering now? false testimony coming against him, and he's suffering. But he continued, the Lord Jesus did, entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He entrusted himself not to the justice of the high priest, but to God Almighty. See, the high priest then asks the question, he makes the claim, you're the Christ, the son of the blessed? Implied question. And then in perfect wisdom, what does Jesus do? answers the fool according to his folly, which is Proverbs 26, 5. I am. I am he, the time for concealment is over. I am the one who you have claimed that I am. I am the promised Messiah. He's now standing before the high priest in this false and unjust trial, the one who has the most religious authority in Israel, and he claims to be the Messiah. And he says, here are the implications. you'll see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power coming on the clouds. You see, it looks like Jesus is on trial, and on the face of it, he is. But there's another one who's on trial. It's the high priest and all the religious leaders. They're standing in God's courts, and Jesus says, I am the Son of God in power, and I'm coming in judgment. Who will be your witnesses? Who will be your advocates, O high priest, is what Jesus is saying. He uses language from Psalm 110, that high and lifted up, exalted language. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. He's sitting below them. physically, but they are below him under his feet as he is almighty God and he also uses language from Daniel 7 coming with the clouds Daniel sees a son of man who was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all nations will serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion. Not only are the high priests and the religious leaders on trial, but all of humanity stands in the courtroom of God. They all stand in this divine trial. And you and I must ask the question, who is witnessing for us? You see, Jesus Christ, he steps in the place of that divine trial and he witnesses for his own people while he was sinless, innocent, unblemished, he is made to be sin. Who is our witness? It's the Lord Jesus standing testifying for us. Who is our advocate? It's the Lord Jesus who God lays his wrath upon in this divine courtroom. The verdict is rendered. High priest says guilty. God says guilty, but it's his son because of our sin. The wrath of God satisfied in Jesus Christ who stands in the divine courtroom. What blessed news. Who knew better and more intimately than what it was to stray like a sheep? Because Peter goes on in that first Peter passage. He says, as he talks about not being reviled, he bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd, the overseer of your souls. Who knew that better than Peter? denies him three times. Jesus said previously, I'm going before you to Galilee. He restores Peter. He renews Peter. What does he do with Peter? He gives him a mouth to witness, to proclaim the truth. And that's what Peter does at Pentecost in Acts 4 and Acts 5. He stands up before who? Caiaphas. The high priest Caiaphas says, by what name do you proclaim these excellencies? That's not what Caiaphas says, but that's what he's proclaiming. By what name? And Jesus or Peter says, by the strength of Christ and the Holy Spirit, the name, let all of Israel know it's the name of Jesus Christ. who has healed this man who walks before you. We must obey the word of God, then of man. There is no salvation outside of Jesus of Nazareth. How is Peter able to witness in power? Because he's been renewed by Christ and he's been filled with the Holy Spirit in this redemptive, historic, glorious moment that he becomes the witnesser where he previously failed. And with you, with Peter, rather, you and I, as we close, need to realize that with Peter, we've received Christ, who is the truth speaker, and we've been filled with that Holy Spirit. Our hearts now have that confession to which we hold fast. Our mouths now speak that confession because he is witnessing in and through us. The role of the Holy Spirit is to testify to all that Christ has done and will do. Also, though, to testify to your spirit that you're a child of God. It's the twofold witness of the spirit, and we've received him as a down payment. So take comfort, dear beloved. He's the seal and the witnesser because we've received the truth speaker then. We can hold fast the confession placed in our heart and we can open our lips knowing that confession has been placed upon our mouths. Trusting Christ for all that he is and all that he's done and all that he will do in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let's pray.