We turn in the word of God this morning to Matthew 26. Matthew 26. Our text is going to be found in verses 57 through 68 of this chapter. And we won't read those again afterwards. But we're going to start reading in verse 47. Verse 47. Jesus had just spoken to his disciples by the brook Kidron, and this was right after, of course, his suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane. Now we have a band of men coming to arrest him, so we're taking off at that point in the account. Verse 47, and while he yet spake, this would be to his disciples, lo Judas, One of the 12 came and with him a great multitude with swords and staves from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he, hold him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus and said, Hail, master, and kissed him. And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid their hands on Jesus, and took him. And behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priests, and smote off his ear. Then said Jesus unto him, put up again thy sword into his place. For all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my father, and he shall presently give me more than 12 legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be? That same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hand on me. But all this was done that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him and fled. Now here begins our text this morning. And they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. But Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest's palace and went in and sat with the servants to see the end. Now the chief priests and elders and all the council sought false witness against Jesus to put him to death, but found none. Yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses and said, this fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days. And the high priest arose and said unto him, answerest thou nothing? What is it which these witness against thee? But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the son of God. Jesus saith unto him, thou hast said. Nevertheless, I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, he hath spoken blasphemy. What further need have we of witnesses? Behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. What think ye? They answered and said, he is guilty of death. Then did they spit in his face and buffeted him, and others smote him with the palms of their hands, saying, prophesy unto us thou Christ, who is he that smote thee? Now Peter sat without in the palace, and a damsel came unto him, saying, thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee. But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him and said unto them that were there, this fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. And again, he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. And after a while came unto him they that stood by and said to Peter, surely thou also art one of them for thy speech bereath thee. Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out and wept bitterly. This far we read the word of God this morning. As I mentioned, our text is made up of verses 57 through 68, and that deals with the trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin. It was Thursday night of the Passion Week. Jesus was finished with his three agonizing prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane. Judas Iscariot had now led a rather large band of ruffians who came to take Jesus captive to the house of Caiaphas. And to that multitude of men, Jesus had surrendered himself willingly. He did so without a fight. And he did so without a fight because Jesus, now at this point, was actively walking to the cross and that to suffer and die for his people. That's the only way that his kingdom after all could be won, was through the cross. This band of men we find in verse 57 of our text led Jesus away to the house of the high priest at that time, Caiaphas. Before taking Jesus directly before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin, Jesus was taken into a particular room in that house of Caiaphas to stand before Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas. And although we do not learn in this passage exactly why he was taken to that house or to that room with Annas, it could have been because Annas was curious as to what was going on. But anyway, we read of that in John's account. We don't find that in our account. In John 18 verses 12 and 13 we find that then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound him and led him away to Annas first for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year. More than likely, Jesus was brought before Annas, before or first before Caiaphas, because the Sanhedrin had to have time. to be called out of their own homes and gathered together in an adjoining room in that house of Caiaphas. So while Annas was speaking there to Jesus, we find that the rest of the Sanhedrin was gathering together at this particular point. Now that house of Caiaphas form the setting of the scene of this trial that Jesus was placed before in the room of Caiaphas. The house really was not a palace. It was called that in verse 58 of our text, but it really was not a palace. It didn't even compare to the palace of Herod the Great, of course, who was sitting on his throne in his palace. It was a large house, however, two-story house, and evidently the house was in such a shape that it surrounded a courtyard that was in the middle of that house. On the top story, there was a balcony, and that balcony was on the inside of the house so it could look down on the courtyard of Caiaphas' house. In the courtyard, Jesus was led through a gate and into that house, and Peter followed him. And there's one verse of our text that we won't be treating again tonight or this morning, but in that courtyard, Peter mingled with the servants of Caiaphas and eventually denied our Lord three times. The Sanhedrin themselves, they met in a large hall, probably hidden from the courtyard. Trial was going to be done in secret, and the Sanhedrin wished, of course, at this point, to secure Christ's condemnation. In that room, our Lord was condemned, and he was sentenced to death by the Sanhedrin, and we're going to consider that trial now before the Sanhedrin. We do so under the theme, Jesus' Condemnation by the Sanhedrin. In the first place, we want to take a look at the trial that took place. Then secondly, we're going to consider the ground for Jesus' condemnation. And then finally, the sentence that was pronounced upon him by the Sanhedrin. Sanhedrin itself was the ruling body of the Jews, highest Jewish tribunal before and at the time of Jesus. Every nation was subjected under Roman rule, but they were allowed to have their own body of men that could rule over their own particular people. The Sanhedrin, however, was answerable to Rome by means of Rome's governor or procurator that was stationed there in Judea and in particular in the city of Jerusalem. And we well know who that Roman governor was. That was Pontius Pilate. So this ruling body of the Jews was really, at least as far as Rome was concerned, powerless in itself. but it was considered by the Jews as the highest body of authority that ruled over the nation. Sanhedrin was made up of 71 different members and most of them were probably present now at this trial of Jesus. From verses 57 and 59 of our text, it is evident that this body of men consisted of scribes, chief priests, and elders of the people. These were the religious and the wealthy and the influential elite in the nation of Israel. The elders were probably made up of a couple of different sects, Jewish sects. One being the Pharisees and the other being the Sadducees. So all of these men took part in that trial of Jesus. At the head of the Sanhedrin, in a position of highest authority now in the nation of Israel, was the chief priest or the high priest. That year, we find that Caiaphas, a man named Caiaphas, had been appointed to that particular position. Caiaphas was himself a Sadducee and had been chosen to replace his father-in-law, Annas. Annas was actually deposed from his office by the Roman government. And he was so because of his crooked dealings with Rome. But Annas still had quite a bit of influence in that Sanhedrin, being that he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who now had been chosen to replace Annas in the Sanhedrin. Caiaphas had proved himself to be a fit replacement of his father-in-law, too. His father-in-law was crooked, and we find that Caiaphas was no different. That, people of God, says much concerning the Sanhedrin itself. The entire body of men here was given over to all kinds of political wrangling. The Jews had always been a sore spot in the side of Rome. And they were constantly attempting to connive different ways to break away from Rome so that they could be the leading nation in all of the earth. And they were looking for a messiah eventually that would lead them to that particular position. So, so much did the Sanhedrin involve themselves in these matters. that there was very little or probably no time at all to involve themselves in the spiritual development of this kingdom of God on earth. This body of men should have been leading the people of Israel, the nation, spiritually. We take a look at that, the constituency of that Sanhedrin once. Chief priests, what did the priests do? What was their task? They were to be busy in the temple every day, making sacrifices for God's people, leading them to Jesus Christ, their Messiah. it through those sacrifices. The scribes, well the scribes had given themselves over to the study of the Old Testament scriptures. Copied them over meticulously and they studied to see what those Old Testament scriptures were teaching God's people, the Pharisees. That was a sect that had arisen prior to the time of Jesus and were now the teachers that were found in the temple, teaching others to be good teachers of the people. The Sadducees, another religious sect, although we find that this religious sect was really apostate. It denied the resurrection and denied miracles, but they too were supposedly the religious leaders. All of these men were the religious leaders. And the decisions that they would make on behalf of the children of Israel, the nation of Israel, should have been founded upon the scriptures, and they should have been leading them in the way of the scriptures. Instead, they were given over to all kinds of political wrangling. And the instruction that they did give? Work righteousness. You're saved by means of those sacrifices that you're offering in the temple, all outward formal worship. So that was the way that the Sanhedrin was now leading the nation of Israel. The trial. The trial was clear-cut evidence that the Sanhedrin had already rejected Jesus as their Messiah. They wanted nothing to do with Jesus. From the very start, they wanted nothing to do with Jesus. They hated him. And they tried over and over and over again to trip him up in the Jewish faith, which we know they could not do. But as his life progressed and ministry progressed, they hated him more and more, and they now plotted to kill Jesus. And this trial? That was finally a result of all of their plotting. The verdict had already been set before this mock trial even took place. The purpose of the trial, of course, was only, well, only to make things appear righteous to the people while, of course, they were covering up the dark intent of their hearts. That the Sanhedrin had already condemned Jesus is evident from a number of considerations from the Word of God that we read this morning. First of all, it's obvious from the place and the time of that trial. The trial took place at night, during the night. By law, by Jewish law, all acts of justice were to be held during the daytime and openly so that any of the members of the nation of Israel could come and witness the proceedings of that trial. But this trial was held while everybody was sleeping. In addition to this, the trial took place in, well, an enclosed hall there in the house of Caiaphas, while all Jewish trials really should have been done in the council chamber in the temple. That in the first place. In the second place, Jesus was put on trial even though not one accusation had been leveled against Jesus. Not one. And usually, we well know, a trial is initiated only if there has been well-founded evidence or accusation leveled against the person. Then he's brought to trial. But even the preliminary examination of Jesus before Annas himself, even before that, it failed to produce any accusation against Jesus. Now Matthew reveals to us in verse 59 of our text that they could not find any witnesses to accuse Jesus, but they had to seek false witness against Jesus to put him to death. There was no complicated courtroom procedure. There was no defense attorney. There were no witnesses brought in on Jesus' behalf that could testify of all of the good deeds that Jesus had performed every day of his life. Instead, the Sanhedrin had a bridegroom to come in. and to give their witness against Jesus. And all of this reveals not only in the evil intent of these men, but also the fact that really no justice was being accomplished by this trial before the church. Concerning those witnesses, we read of this in verse 60. But they found none, yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. Couldn't find any. There was probably no charge leveled against Jesus that was really serious enough to put him to death. And then those who did bring some kind of a charge against Jesus contradicted one another. So Jesus was innocent. It was obvious, of course he was. How could a man who was perfectly righteous have done anything wrong? So Jesus was innocent. But then, of course, they finally brought two witnesses to this trial, and they said this. This fellow said, Am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days Liars Jesus had never said that Jesus never said, I'm going to destroy the temple and then build it again in three days. He said, you're going to destroy the temple and then I'll build it in three days. Besides that, as we well know, and they well knew then too, Jesus was not referring to that temple in Jerusalem. He was referring to the temple of his own body. Destroy the temple of my body, and I will build it again in three days. So we find then that the account before us reveals that even these false witnesses could not testify against Jesus. In fact, Mark says in his gospel account, but neither so did their witness agree together. Now, how that witness contradicted the witness of the other is really rather hard to say, but obviously it did. Their witness had failed. So, Christ's condemnation before the Sanhedrin was not going to be secure by means of these witnesses. There had to be another way. But this reminded Caiaphas of one thing that Jesus had done repeatedly through his earthly ministry. He had claimed to be equal with God. In other words, Jesus had claimed to be divine. There it was, oh yeah. The very thing that Caiaphas now could use to condemn Jesus. Blasphemy, no man can make himself equal with God. Somehow Caiaphas was determined to get Jesus to admit that he was the son of God, somehow. So he says, well, what are these men witness against you, Jesus? You said this, that in three days you would destroy the temple and build it up again. What did you mean by that, Jesus? Jesus knew that Caiaphas was attempting of course to ensnare him so He remained calmly silent Didn't answer him at all He knew the evil intent of the wicked heart of that man And he knew that Caiaphas was attempting to ensnare him once again, so That silence now spoke volumes already. Jesus was innocent. Why did he need to defend himself? He didn't. Everyone knew he was innocent that was sitting there. Everyone did. In sudden anger and frustration, Caiaphas now places Jesus under oath. You can almost hear the passion of Caiaphas. I adjure thee by the living God, there's the placing him under oath, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Now knowing full well, of course, that this Caiaphas had every wicked intent in his heart, To accuse Jesus of blasphemy, he knew that. And knowing that the purpose of God and our salvation must be accomplished, Jesus answers him under oath. Now I said, you said it, Caiaphas. I didn't have to say it. And you said it because you know it. In other words, if anybody is going to be a witness on my behalf, you, Caiaphas, have been my witness. I am the Christ, the Son of God. And it was on that ground, that particular ground, that the Sanhedrin now condemned Jesus to death. I am the Christ. I am the Messiah. who has come as a fulfillment of all Old Testament scripture. I am the one who has come to fulfill the promises of God's covenant to his people. I am the one to whom all Old Testament scripture points. I am the long-awaited hope of Israel. I am the one chosen. I am the one anointed by God to accomplish the salvation of my people. In effect, that's what Jesus was now saying when he said, I am the Christ. Christ Jesus. That was Jesus, of course, official title. And that meant the anointed one, our Savior, was appointed by God and anointed with the Holy Spirit unto a threefold office of prophet, priest, and king. He was that king who was going to reign over the spiritual house of Israel. He was that great prophet who would make known unto God's people the gospel of salvation by means of his own death and his resurrection. And he was that priest who would lay down his life for his sheep and make atonement for them in his blood in order that they might be reconciled to God. All of that, you see, implied in the name Christ. I am the Christ. But that's not the type of Messiah we mentioned that earlier. That's not the type of Messiah the Sanhedrin wanted. They did not seek after a heavenly prophet, priest, and king that would deliver from sin. They sought after an earthly Messiah who would aid and assist the nation of Israel to become the great nation over all nations of the world. They wanted that earthly kingdom of David reestablished. And if Jesus, well, if Jesus did not fit that bill, if Jesus did not cater to their desires as the Sanhedrin, then he could not be the promised Messiah in their eyes. They didn't want this kind of a Messiah. And to say that he was a Messiah against what they defined their Messiah as, well, that meant that Jesus was guilty of blasphemy. Even though Jesus had proven, of course, that he was that Messiah. But people of God, that was only the half of it. I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. And when Jesus said the words thou sayest it, not only did he confess that he was the Messiah, but that he was exactly the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. Co-eternal, co-essential with the Father and with the Spirit. I am that eternal, divine Son of God. And you want to anger the high priest and the Sanhedrin. Those words angered them. But then people of God, Jesus had to be that divine Son of God in order to be the Messiah. He could never accomplish as the Messiah what he was sent to do unless he was that son of God. In order for Christ to atone for our sins, he had to be sinless. He had to be divine. And not only that, he had to be divine if he was going to carry the full burden of God's wrath and anger against your and my sins on the cross. and deliver us from them. A man alone could not do that kind of thing. Only as the Son of God could Christ rise from the dead. Only as the Son of God could Christ bestow upon you and me all the blessings of salvation that he earned for us at the cross. But it was for that reason that the Sanhedrin hated him and despised him. Sanderson probably would not have cared if Jesus claimed only to be a man. But put yourselves once in their position. They were unbelievers. Here comes this man, Jesus, and he's calling himself the Messiah. Well, do you know how many other men at that time and before had called themselves the Messiah, and they were trying to gather a bunch of disciples and a group of men under them and claim to be that Messiah who was going to deliver Israel? The Sanhedrin had to put these guys down all the time, all the time. Now here comes Jesus, makes the same claim. It was all in their mind an insidious attempt on the part of this man to gain himself a following and run slipshod through the nation of Israel once again. But hadn't they seen the miracles of Jesus? Had not he proved in the casting out of devils and of rebuking nature itself, healing people, hadn't he proved that he was the Son of God? No one but the Son of God could do these types of things, you know, but they were blinded. Unbelief is like that, you know. It's blindness. You can't see the things of the kingdom of heaven, the things that seem so clear to you and me as believers. The unbelieving world, they can't even comprehend those things. They cannot even see those things. And Jesus, a little earlier on in his ministry, actually talked about that, too, in Matthew 13. It is given unto you, he said to his disciples, to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but it's not given to them. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaias, which saith, by hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their heart and should be converted and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear. Sanhedrin was blinded to all of those things, you see. And if an angel would have come down from heaven, or if Moses would have returned to the earth and told them that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah, they still would not have believed him. To them, Jesus was not the Son of God. But we ought to see, beloved saints, the irony in the trial that we have before us. There was no way possible that these evil men could condemn Jesus. He was perfectly innocent. And now they condemn him exactly for who he was. He was the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and the very ground for Jesus' condemnation before the Sanhedrin was actually the truth about him. They sent him to death for being the true Messiah, Son of God. Can't help but think, though, that Jesus now rubs some salt into the wounds, especially of Caiaphas, but also the Sanhedrin, because not only did he say, thou hast said, but he followed it with this, nevertheless, I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. You will see the Son of Man Returning in power, huh? He now calls himself the son of man. Son of man. That was necessary too, wasn't it? For Jesus to be the Messiah. Not only should he be the son of God, but he had to be the son of man too. But that only verified the fact that Jesus was the Messiah. As the Son of Man, He was born into the very heart of the line of the covenant. As the Son of Man, He was able to suffer and to die on the cross. As the Son of Man, He was able to represent you and me there at that cross. And as the Son of Man, He would pay the price for the sins of mankind and redeem us from death. You will see, Jesus says, you will see the Son of Man at the right hand of power. Right hand of power. Now that word power is none other than God himself, because God is all powerful, sovereign in his rule. You will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of God. And you will see that son of man returning in the very power of that God who will send him. But when would they see that power of Jesus Christ? Obviously, they did not see the power of Jesus Christ at the cross. Powerfully Jesus Saved you and me from our sins there at the cross. It was a display of Christ's power They're not weakness not weakness. That's all they saw in their blindness but it was a display of God's power and the power of our Savior to save you and me from from the Condemnation and the punishment that we deserved they didn't see that They didn't see the power of Jesus Christ in his resurrection from the dead. I They sent the guards all around through Israel with a lie. Oh, the disciples came and they stole his body. Really? It was the power of Jesus Christ in raising himself from the dead that was evident there, blind. Obviously, they didn't see Jesus Christ ascend into the heavens, but they didn't see the power of Jesus Christ in the pouring out of a spear on the day of Pentecost either. None of that, none of that. So when would they see this power of Jesus Christ? And would they see that power with their own eyes? That's the question. Would Caiaphas, would the Sanhedrin with their own eyes see Jesus in all of his power? Rather revealing verse in Revelation 1. Verse seven, behold, Christ comes with clouds and every eye shall see him. And they also which pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even those who pierced him, the Sanhedrin, Caiaphas, they would see Jesus Christ. they would see Jesus Christ when you and I see him, when he returns at the very end of time in power as the very Son of God and as the great judge of heaven and earth, they would see him. And in effect what Jesus was now telling these men is this, although now I appear before you bound and helpless. Although now you look upon me with contempt and with hatred, rejecting the very testimony that I give to you. Although you will persecute me and you will kill me in the cruelest manner, you will see my power in it all. And someday, you who are now standing over me in judgment and condemning me to death, someday You're going to be standing before me, the great judge of heaven and earth. And I will judge you and the evil that you have done. And I will judge all of my enemies and the enemies of my church in that day. And I will reign victorious in the heavens. Jesus had left no doubt as to who he was, none at all. What do you think of Christ, Sanhedrin? What do you think of the Son of God, Caiaphas? The response of the Sanhedrin to Jesus' testimony is revealed in the actions, first of all, of Caiaphas himself. He now rends his garment and piously accuses Jesus of blasphemy. It appears, of course, it appears as if Caiaphas is beside himself with this righteous indignation. And yet we know that was an act of unbelief. The high priest was never allowed to rent his high priestly garment. And yet it's fitting that he did so. From a prophetic point of view, this action reveals that there would no longer, from this day on, be a need for the office of the high priest, or for any priest. By means of the very condemnation of the Sanhedrin itself, the way is opened for the high priestly sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. Through Christ's death, The one sacrifice for sin is now offered. And that would fulfill all of the Old Testament sacrifices and the office of the high priest as well. But Caiaphas, now, Caiaphas had now accomplished exactly what he wanted. He had gotten this Jesus to admit that he was the Messiah, the Son of God. In the eyes of unbelief, Words of blasphemy. Ye have heard his blasphemy. You've heard it. All of you men sitting here, you have heard the blasphemy of this man. There's no more need for witnesses, is there? What do you say, men, concerning the blasphemy of this man, Jesus? And the entire Sanhedrin unanimously say he's guilty of death. Now their true nature comes out. Men of dignity act in the most base of manners. They spit in Jesus' face. They, together with their servants, they spit in Jesus' face. We learned that they buffeted him and, you know, if we were to put it in our language, they punched him. They were socking him. They were punching him with their fists. And then they blindfolded him, and they slapped him some more, and said, tell us, Jesus, if you are the Christ, who is it that slapped you? So they mocked Jesus. What a shameful, shameful trial. What a way to treat our Savior. Let's not be too quick to point the finger at the Sanhedrin. They represented the church at that time. The church, through this trial, had rejected Christ. They represent the sinful flesh that you and I find in ourselves too. And if not for God's work of grace and salvation in our hearts, we would have rejected the Christ too. We would have. Every mouth is stopped, ours too, and all the world becomes guilty before God. of the death of our Savior. And we too, we too, if we had been left by God in our own unbelief, we too would have condemned or would have been condemned before the tribunal of our God. We thank God for our salvation and that he has given us eyes to see. We give God thanks this morning that he has saved you and me through the blood of that Savior and has now given us eyes and hearts to understand who Christ is, to know our sin, to know our shame, and to confess that before God. Our eyes and our hearts are open so that when we look upon that suffering servant of Jehovah, we see him as the Christ, the Son of God. We who are the enemies of God, are covered in the precious blood of our Savior who was condemned and who died for us. That is truly what we learn this morning. Our Savior now reigns in power, and in that power he has saved his own, his elect people out of every age. Thanks be to God for our salvation. Let's confess it together then. We believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Amen. Our gracious Father in heaven, we are thankful unto thee that thou hast worked by thy grace in our hearts something that we didn't deserve because we too would otherwise be lost in our unbelief. We were enemies of thine, thou hast shown us thy grace and thy mercy in the blood of our Savior who suffered there on the cross in order to deliver us from our unbelief and our sin. And we give thee thanks too in this day that we might be able in this morning hour and in this afternoon hour to worship thee as that God of our salvation. Grant to us now thy mercy. Be with us in this day, especially as we share in fellowship with one another. And grant unto us thy spirit to lead us in that way that leads to life everlasting. For Jesus' sake, we ask.