Mark 14, 53 through 65, and I will tell you that those of you who are very studious as you hear God's word proclaimed will note this morning that although we'll read verse 54, it's not my intention to talk about Peter at all this Lord's Day. Next week, we will consider verse 54 in the light of Peter's denial of our Savior. But Mark is setting the stage for us to let us know that Peter is present during the ongoing trial of our Lord, so please note that. And now pay good attention as we read God's word together. 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 he was warming himself at the fire. And 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. 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 will build another not made with hands. Yet even about this their testimony did not agree. 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, he made no answer. Again, the high priest asked him, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed? 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. High priest tore his garment and said, what further witness do we need? You've heard his blasphemy. What's your decision? And they all condemned him as deserving death. And some began to spit on him, to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, prophesy. and the guards received him with blows. Father, as we ponder this portion of your word this morning, we would pray that as we consider our Savior who silently suffered, the true Messiah in the midst of unjust, wicked men, that we would recognize that he did these things for us, we too who are deserving of his death. And we thank you that we have the opportunity to consider these things this morning and we pray that your spirit would guide us in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Please be seated. Proverbs 17.26 tells us, it is not good to punish an innocent man. Proverbs 17.15 says, he who condemns the righteous is an abomination to the Lord. Proverbs 18.5 says, it is not good to deprive the righteous of justice. Proverbs 28.5, evil men do not understand justice. And as a veteran of four trials, four jurors in my lifetime, I will tell you, when the jury agreed with me, I thought justice was done. But there were two times when we had hung jurors. And I did walk away saying, evil men do not understand justice. And I suppose you can fill in the blank with some other court cases that you may have heard. It's called the justice system, but sometimes we think of it probably more likely as the injustice system. And I suppose the biggest example, the clearest example I remember in my life, and I did read this from one of the lawyers who was a board member of our school at the time. And he said, I can't believe this. I just have to share this with all of you. saw in her Winnebago manual, her owner's guide, that there was such a thing called cruise control. So she thought that was a wonderful innovation in driving. So she pushed the cruise control button and went back to make her own sandwich in the back of the vehicle, thinking that the car would just do its own thing. Well, when it went into a ditch and caused substantial damage to the Winnebago, she sued. And sadly, she won. justice, I do not believe at that point, was served. And yet that's incredibly frivolous compared to what we face before us this morning, is it not? Because before us we have the same Jesus who was brought foolishly and wickedly before men as he was betrayed and as he was arrested now faces the trial before the Sanhedrin or the council, the religious rulers of Israel. Justice clearly is not served. We have before us this morning the unjust trial of the righteous Messiah. We see here the great contrast between the wicked high priest not identified by Mark but identified in Matthew and Luke as Caiaphas and we know that they met not in the temple but rather at Caiaphas' house in the middle of the night. Caiaphas, along with the other three members of the groups that make up the Sanhedrin, identified for us in verse 53, the chief priests, the elders, the scribes, they came together for this unjust trial. All these chief priests, elders, scribes, in great contrast to the righteous Messiah. So let's consider then, first of all, three ways that this trial was an unrighteous and unjust trial this morning. And we begin, as we've already said, with our unjust judge or unjust judges, because the 70 men who made up the Sanhedrin had determined not to have a fair trial, not to consider the evidence fairly, but notice what verse 55 tells us. The chief priests, the whole council, were seeking against Jesus to put him to death. And as we said, it was an abnormal time to be meeting in an abnormal place in the middle of the night, Caiaphas' house, but that didn't matter to them. They'd already arranged the arrest in Gethsemane, and so now they're ready to condemn Jesus. for whatever charge they can find against him. Some believe that when it says the whole council, that is all 70 members of the Sanhedrin were present. Others don't believe all 70 were present. But either way, all who were present. And by the way, it only took 23 to make a quorum. So it really wasn't that substantial a number. for the Sanhedrin. I've often wondered why we allow just one-fourth to be a quorum in our book for congregational meetings. And I'm not so sure that the Sanhedrin ought to be our yard mark for President, but nonetheless, be that as it may, whoever was present at that point had already determined that they were seeking to put Jesus to death. One has said, and I think sadly rightfully so, ecclesiastical tribunals too often have been prone to decide first and then seek for evidence later. And so we have that happening, sadly, here. And this shouldn't surprise us. We've heard about this at least three other occasions in the book of Mark. If you want to turn back a few chapters with me to Mark chapter 3, where at the very beginning of Jesus' ministry, when he heals a man who has a withered hand on the Sabbath day, The same group of people have a wicked reaction to him. Verse 6 of chapter 3, the Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him how to destroy him. They don't leave it there, of course. Monday of the week before our Savior dies, as he has cleansed the temple and condemned the wicked men among the Pharisees and the Sadducees who have been profiting from the temple work, he says this in Mark 11, 18. Mark 11, 18, the chief priests, the scribes heard what Jesus was doing and were seeking a way to destroy him. They feared him because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. Chapter 12, verse 12, after Jesus tells the parable of the tenants, where the wicked tenants are very clearly compared to the Pharisees of Jesus' day, the ones who were destroying the prophets, the one who rejected Jesus as the chief cornerstone. Here's what they then do as a response to Jesus' teaching. Verse 12 of chapter 12, they were seeking to arrest him. They feared the people. for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So at that point they left him and they went away. People following Jesus, the Pharisees, could not stand that. The one who frequently condemned their hypocrisy, the Pharisees and the rest of the Sanhedrin, could not stand that. We don't have to guess their motive. Even Pilate knew what their motive was. Matthew 27, 18 says, for he, and that is Pilate, knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. So we have unjust judges, wicked men seeking the destruction of Jesus. The same envy that caused Cain to seek to kill Abel, that caused Joseph's brothers to throw him in the pit, that caused Saul to seek after David's life, now comes before us in the trial before our great Savior. The unjust trial has at its head unjust judges. Well unjust judges do whatever they have to to make things happen and I have no doubt that they arranged for the false witnesses who were there on standby again in the middle of the night. So the unjust trial continues now with those false witnesses. One more proverb this morning, Proverbs 19.28, a worthless witness mocks at justice. And we have now not just the judges, but the witnesses ready to mock at justice, ready to mock at even the just son of God. But even the Sanhedrin. seek some semblance of legality. They know, Numbers 3530, no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one person. Deuteronomy 17.6 reinforces that by saying there must be two or three witnesses. And so they look and they contrive and they think they have false witnesses who can testify together. But verse 56 tells us many, we don't know how many, but many bore false witness against him, but much to the Sanhedrin's chagrin, their testimony did not agree. They did not have it completely right. And I must confess, I can't think of false witnesses without recalling two students of mine in my years as principal. These two actually were often on the playground in trouble for getting into physical altercations. And as a young principal, I didn't realize the folly of doing this at first, and that is having both of them in my office simultaneously so they could, you know, Say, oh, yeah, that was right. So I learned, you bring them in one at a time. By the way, interesting thing is the younger of the two siblings always beat up the older one, which is a fascinating thing to me, because the older one was actually a lot bigger. But nonetheless, I realized my mistake. So I brought one of them in. He told me all that happened. I dismissed him, and I brought the other one in. And he looked at me straight in the face and said, you've never done it this way before. I have no idea what to say now. So I'll just agree with whatever my brother said. False witnesses foolishly don't get things right. And so we have these false witnesses who were not able to verify their stories. And then false witnesses, no surprise, when they do try to be specific, give false testimony. And we have one very specific false testimony before us. Matthew tells us that there were two who came forward at this point. Verse 57, some stood up, and they 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 will build another not made with hands. Now, you have that verse right in front of you, and I would encourage you to keep your eyes on that. I'm gonna read to you John 2, verse 19, which is the basis upon which they make this false allegation. But notice before you the difference between what you're reading and what Jesus actually said in John 2, verse 19. destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up. See two details that they got wrong? Jesus never said that he himself would destroy the temple. Jesus also never said anything about human hands destroying one and non-human hands building up the other. Now those are small details, and that's not the heart of the matter. The heart of the matter is this. These wicked, unjust witnesses desired to say that our Savior was wishing to come to desecrate the temple, and that was the capital crime. for the Jews, just as it was throughout most of the Roman world. If you were to desecrate any religious structure, you could be put to death. And so it's a serious charge that they're making against Jesus, but what an absurd charge. When did Jesus ever desecrate the temple? No, our Savior cleansed the temple, didn't he? And he didn't just do it once. At the beginning of his ministry, in John chapter 2, we read of him, as we just referenced John 2, 19, cleansing, not desecrating the temple. And then just a few days before the account that we have before us, on the Monday as he came after Palm Sunday and saw what had happened in the temple, he said, my house shall be a house of prayer. not a den of thieves. So it's really fascinating. Jesus is cleansing the temple by condemning those who are desecrating it. And four days later, these people are leading a charge saying, you're the desecrator. No, our Savior is not the desecrator. Our Savior is the one who even as a 12-year-old, remember, said, I must be about my father's business in the temple. So Jesus is cleansing and renewing the temple. even as Jews did say the Messiah would. And he, of course, would ultimately be the perfect temple, his resurrected body, the cleansed temple for us. So what a ridiculously false charge, an abomination, as Proverbs said, that these false witnesses would seek to bring this kind of false testimony against our dear Savior, against the righteous Messiah. So the unjust judges, the false witnesses, the false testimony, unable to do what they desire to do. Pilate at this point, I'm sorry, Caiaphas at this point becomes a desperate man and is ready to try anything. And so as he tries in his unjust in his unjust manner to bring condemnation to Jesus. We see Jesus not as one who is unrighteous, but rather as the righteous Messiah. And we see this in three ways. First of all, we see this because he is the silent sufferer. He is the silent sufferer. Verses 60 and 61, the high priest stood in the midst and he asked Jesus, have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you? But he remained silent. He made no answer. See, he realized verse 59 was true. Not even about this did their testimony agree. Jesus could have straightened out the record. He could have explained all of the things that they had said that were wrong. He could have said, no, I've not come to desecrate. I've come to make it holy, to cleanse it. I ultimately am the great temple. But we read these words earlier this morning. He recognized now was not the time or the place to defend himself. Now was the time for him to, as a silent sufferer, be ready to die for the sins of his people. And turn back with me, if you will, to Isaiah chapter 42. I'll give you a minute to turn back. there or if you want to turn to your bulletins I guess they're right there in the middle of the bulletin but Isaiah 42 reminds us that Jesus the Messiah would come and he would not be one who would proclaim all of his rights at all times but there would be times when he would silently suffer, silently allow false accusations to be made against him. He would be gentle in the midst of wicked men and so we read these words in Isaiah 42. Behold, Jehovah speaking, my servant whom I uphold, my chosen in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the nations. And there's the contrast. He's being accused of being a wicked, unjust man. But these unjust men don't realize that they are looking at justice right in the face as personified in our Lord Jesus. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street. He won't even hurt a breed. it won't break. In a faintly burning wick, he won't quench. But he will faithfully bring forth justice a second time. And yes, verse 4 ends with the proclamation that he won't always be silent. He won't grow faint. He won't be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth. And the coastlands wait for his law. And so Jesus now, of course, is indeed proclaiming forth his righteous law. And he is reigning at this point. But he first was that suffering servant for us. And if we say suffering servant, most of us would not have said Isaiah 42. We'd have said Isaiah 53. And Isaiah 53, verse 7, reminds us that our Savior, when he was oppressed, And he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. And like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people." The silence may not have been understood at that point, but we recognize that Jesus had to silently suffer for his people, and he'll be facing greater suffering, of course, on the cross, but it begins here in Caiaphas' house with this trial of these wicked men. We ended last week with 1 Peter chapter 2. We read these verses again this morning, but Peter, who was there, remembers that Jesus never did sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. See, when he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten. But he continued entrusting to himself. To whom? To the one who judges. Justly, that's what Peter told us. And so the wicked unjust Sanhedrin and counseled before him seeking to condemn him to death, he does not entrust himself to them. He entrusts himself to his great father in heaven, the great Jehovah, the one who always will judge justly. And so as we turn back to Mark, we recognize that Jesus silently suffers, needing no vindication from the unjust Sanhedrin. And here is where Caiaphas tries another tap. In the middle of verse 61. Again, the high priest asked him, are you the Christ? Are you the Messiah? Are you the son of the blessed? Are you indeed God himself? Are you the Messiah? And it's interesting, Matthew's account tells us that Jesus responds with, you said it. simple paraphrase you got that right I am as Mark says and some wonder if when Jesus says I am he's invoking the divine name perhaps he is but we don't have to doubt at all that when he says I am the great Messiah, I am the son of the blessed. He is proclaiming that yes, he is the true Messiah. He's not backing down from that. He is the son of God indeed. Second Corinthians 11 31 connects the God and father of the Lord Jesus Christ who is blessed forever in Paul's words. And in Ephesians 1 3, we know these words well, blessed be the God and father. of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Romans 9.5 makes it very clear that Jesus himself is not just the Son of God, but he is indeed God himself. Because Romans 9.5 tells us, to the Jews belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, the Messiah. So yes, Paul confirms what Jesus testified. Who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. And Jesus could have ended it there and said, yes, I'm the true Messiah. I am the son of the blessed. I am a great God himself. But he goes a step further and he reminds the people before him, no doubt, of Daniel 7, 13, I am the son of man. His favorite name for himself, a name that often, even to the Jewish mind, would indicate that this is indeed the Anointed One, promised in the Old Testament, the Great Messiah. So the righteous Messiah suffers silently, but he certainly does not back down from the fact that he is the true Messiah. He is the Son of the Blessed. He is the Son of Man. And then Jesus goes on the offensive. No longer the silent sufferer, he says this. You will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power, coming with clouds of heaven. Daniel 7, 13 and 14. Behold, I saw in the night visions with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man. He came to the ancient of days, he was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion. He shall not pass away. His kingdom is one that shall not be destroyed. Certainly echoing words of Psalm 110, verse one, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make all of your enemies sit under your feet. Dispute, perhaps, is Jesus talking about his ascension? Is he talking about the judgment cloud in 70 AD? Is he talking about the ultimate judgment day? Brothers and sisters, at this point, I would contend with you, it really doesn't matter a whole lot, because what Jesus is saying to the Sanhedrin is, you're claiming to be my judge, and I'm letting you know that a day is coming when you will see me in all of my great power and my great authority, and I will judge you. The tables are completely turned here. The righteous Messiah will bring justice in his time. But in the meantime, yes, you ask me if I'm the Messiah. Indeed, I am. You ask me if I am the Son of God. Indeed, I am. I am the true judge. I am the true Messiah. But at this point, the Sanhedrin really only have two choices, don't they? They either believe what Jesus says, and they recognize the great peril that they're in, and they heed the words of Psalm 2, they tremble before Jesus, and they kiss the sun, lest he be angry and they perish in their way. But sadly, that's not what these unjust men did. They chose to continue to deny his testimony, to deny that he really was the Messiah. And they proceed to condemn him to death. And they bring about that unjust conviction of blasphemy against our great God, our great Savior. The Lord Jesus. The high priest tore his garments and said, what further witness do we need? You've heard his blasphemy, what's your decision? And they all condemned him as deserving death. Obviously, the tearing of clothes, an outward sign of grief over sin, but Caiaphas, I have no doubt, is inwardly rejoicing. glad that they finally got him. And now we can very clearly say this Jesus is proclaiming to be the Son of God. This Jesus is proclaiming to be the Messiah. We don't even need to call any more witnesses. You religious leaders, you've heard them with me. Whether there were 70, 23, or anywhere in between. It's far more than the two or three needed. What's your decision? And once again, it's a unanimous decision. They all condemned him as deserving Well, if these wicked men had any decency in them, they would have ended the trial there. And so we've got the conviction, that's what we wanted. But these are not just men. These are wicked, abominable men, even as we read in Proverbs. And so they begin the unjust mocking and beating of our Lord as well. One thing to convict him of blasphemy and that on top of that mock and beat the son of God. Isaiah 53 again said he'd be oppressed. He would be despised. He would be afflicted. All this of course meets its culmination in the cross. Yet it starts here in the high priest home in the middle of the night. And note, Here, the high priest and his cohorts are the real blasphemers. They've already accused Jesus of being empowered by Satan. They've already committed blasphemy, but they continue that now by spitting on the great son of God. of God. Notice it's not the Roman soldiers that begin this, it's some of them, some of the Sanhedrin, and I'm convinced it's not any of their officials, as some would rather proclaim. It's pretty clear to me that these dignified, righteous, religious rulers perform this despicable act of spitting upon the great Son of God. Wicked irony again, though, those who've been blinded by their envy now mockingly blindfold the Son of God. They spit him and they cover his face and then they strike him and they say, prophesy, which one of us is hitting you? And yet. It doesn't end there. The guards then join in and they received him with blows, whether they use open fist or they actually, or open hands, or whether they use rods. Either way, the beating occurs. And once more, may I remind you of what Peter said, because even though our text ends there, it's important for us to remember our suffering servant Our Savior, when He was reviled, He did not revile in return. And when He suffered, He did not threaten, but He continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly." 1 Peter 2, 23. Even in the midst of the most wicked unjust trial in the history of mankind, Jesus knew justice would ultimately be served. He would die at the hands of these wicked men, but his father would vindicate him, and he would be resurrected from the dead. He'd ascend into heaven. He would have his kingly reign now, and one day he will come and judge wicked men, including those who condemned him to die in Caiaphas's house. Well, Christ endured all this, not merely for his own vindication. He did this, of course, for you and for me, who are his people. And I would encourage you to turn to 1 Peter 3, and I know sometimes I encourage you to turn to passages, and then I'm wisely, righteously accused of not giving you time to turn there. Let this be a poignant silence opportunity for you to turn to 1 Peter 3 because I want you to see something that's incredibly precious as God's people. 1 Peter 3 verse 18. For Christ the Messiah also suffered four sins. ESV says righteous for the unrighteous, so those of you who have the words that we've been using this morning, the just for the unjust. See, Jesus kept his mouth quiet, Jesus faced the spitting, Jesus faced the mocking, Jesus faced the beating at the hands of wicked men for those of us who are unjust. The just Messiah did that, not for others. but for those who are his people. He did that for you, he did it for me. Ultimately, even though we in righteousness can look in anger at what the wicked men did to our Lord in Caiaphas' home, we really are no better than they are, we but for the grace of God. we too are unjust, and so the just Messiah dies for unrighteous ones like you and like me. Why? So that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but he was made alive in the spirit. We have a resurrected Savior. We have one who has overcome sin and death for us. And so our simple two-fold closing application this morning, very simply, marvel at the love of our Savior once more, one who willingly suffered and died for you. But as you marvel at his love, may I also encourage you to rejoice in the reconciliation that he brings. He has brought us, who are dead in our trespasses and sin, back to God. Marvel at his love. Rejoice in his reconciliation. We have the elements before us in the table to remind us that it was for love that Jesus died and he did bring us back to God. I've put in our prayer list under the praise section and I would encourage you to use this this week. Remember each morning as you arise, marvel at the love of Jesus. Rejoice in the reconciliation we now have with God. because of Christ's death for us. And in conclusion this morning, let's turn to a passage that's very familiar to us. But in light of what we've read this morning, may it enliven us and refresh us yet again. Romans chapter five, verses six through 11. Romans chapter five, verses six through 11. For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would even dare to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, the just God. for the unjust. Since therefore we have been justified, made right, declared righteous before God, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, Much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have received reconciliation. Christ's love was demonstrated while we were sinners. He's brought us back to God. We ought to be those people who rejoice. The just Messiah before wicked men, the wicked Sanhedrin, has brought us back to God. What else can we do but marvel at his love and rejoice in his reconciliation? Amen? Let's pray together. Father, we've heard, many of us, because we've been blessed to be in covenant homes all of our lives, about our Savior dying for us, about our being helpless in our sin, And yet, Father, when we consider some of those details surrounding even before he died, as his suffering began, we are made aware once more very clearly that apart from the Lord Jesus, there is no justice, there is no righteousness. And father, we thank you that because Christ undertook our sins, we are made right with you. And so father, we pray that we would love you and love our savior and that you would cause us to rejoice throughout our lives. in being reconciled to Christ. And we recognize that we who are reconciled have that glorious privilege of calling others to reconciliation as well. And so we pray that indeed by the power of your spirit, we would be those who live before the world in a just manner. who live before you in a way that demonstrates we are grateful for our great Savior who died for us so that we would be brought back to you. And we pray in Jesus' name, amen.