The Bible teaches that justice is an attribute of God. We read of him in Deuteronomy 32, four, that his work is perfect for all his ways are just. He is a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is he. He embodies faithfulness, righteousness and justice and decrees that all people uphold the same. We read in Micah 6.8, He has told you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you, that you do justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. God both commends and commands justice and righteousness, and He abhors and hates wickedness, evil, and injustice. This is why God ordains government to be, the Bible says, a minister of God for good, Romans 13.4. At its most basic function, government exists to restrain evil and to reward righteousness. And it does…it is to do so justly out of the fear of the Almighty God. However, Israel's religious government had been repeatedly warned and rebuked and judged for their perversion of justice. In fact, this is a major theme in the prophets in the Old Testament. But for all of Israel's wickedness and their leaders in the past, for all of their injustice and perversion, abuse, greed, and power-hungry lust, nothing compared to their gross, sinful mishandling of justice in the trial of Jesus Christ. And yet, Despite their treachery, it is all fallen within God's perfect plan to save His people from their sins through the substitutionary death of His only begotten Son on the cross. And so this morning, we're gonna begin looking at the proceedings of the first of several trials that would eventually condemn Jesus to death. And so if you would, turn in your copy of scripture to Matthew chapter 26. We're getting toward the end of Matthew 26 here. At this point in Matthew's gospel, the chapters get a lot longer. There's more verses to cover, but today we'll look at verses 57 through 68. The end of Matthew 26 brings us to the late evening hours of Thursday night, of the night of Passover. After finishing the Last Supper with the disciples, Jesus ventures out into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, after which he is betrayed by Judas Iscariot and arrested by Jewish and Roman soldiers. The Jewish authorities, known as the Sanhedrin, they had been plotting to rid themselves of Jesus for over a year, and now they finally have their opportunity to do so. But they have to be careful. Were they to arrest him during the daytime, the crowd might start to riot and protest. Well, why? Well, because most of these people in Israel worshiping at that time believed that Jesus was at the very least a prophet. So to do so, to rid themselves of Jesus, the Sanhedrin had to hatch a scheme in the dead of the night in the hopes that in short order, they will be able to rid themselves of their greatest opponent. With Jesus gone, they'd be able to continue their abuse of power, their spiritual slavery, and their financial capitalization on the backs of the Jewish people. And so Jesus is their only and final obstacle. And so we read in Matthew chapter 26, starting right in verse 57, Those who had seized Jesus led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together. But Peter was following him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest and entered in and sat down with the officers to see the outcome. Now the chief priest and the whole council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus so that they might put him to death. They did not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward, but later on two came forward and said, this man stated, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days. The high priest stood up and said to him, do you not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against you? But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to him, I adjure you by the living God that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the son of God. Jesus said to him, you have said it yourself. Nevertheless, I tell you hereafter, you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest tore his robes and said, he has blasphemed. What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy. What do you think? They answered, he deserves death. And they spat in his face and beat him with their fists. And others slapped him and said, prophesy to us, you Christ, who is the one who hit you? Well, once the soldiers have hauled Jesus away from Gethsemane, the next step is to bring him before the scribes and elders to be tried. Now, the next several hours begin to unfold and the narrative gets a bit confusing. You really have to read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all together synoptically to sort of see how this all plays out. We know that Jesus stands trial before several people. He stands before Caiaphas, he stands before Annas, the Sanhedrin, Pilate, Herod, Pilate again, but it all seems a little bit erratic when you're looking at it point blank until you piece together the convoluted process. But I want you to keep in your mind here, remember this, that the goal of the Jewish authorities is to put Jesus to death. They have one goal. It is to kill Jesus. They've been wanting to do this for a long time, but they've lacked the opportunity. Now they have a chance. but they don't want to mess it up and so they have to jump through several hoops in order to get what they want. Here are just some of the hoops. First off, as an occupying power, Rome, what is relatively diplomatic about letting conquered nations govern themselves, but only to a point. in capital cases seeking the death penalty, Israel was not allowed to carry out death sentences, only Rome could do that. Rome's the only one who could bear the sword over Israel. And so they had to convince Rome that Jesus deserved to die. However, Rome didn't just kill anybody. Israel would have to convince them that Jesus was both a criminal according to their own law and a threat to Rome's power as well. So they would have to hold both a religious trial to prove that Jesus had broken God's law and then force a civil trial to prove to Rome that he was a threat and deserved to die. And each of these trials had a process. In most cases, the process would take several days, if not, at some points, weeks. But the Jews are trying to do all of this in one night. One night they have. Why at night? Again, we've talked about this, because they feared the crowds of the worshipers. So they're trying to accomplish this massive feat, two different court systems, all at night at the same time, at one day. And so they're going to attempt a religious trial, which would occur in three phases. and they were also gonna attempt a civil trial in three phases in one night. All of this at night because it's the busiest festival of the year. Here's another kicker, they have to do this before the Sabbath. They're not allowed to put someone to death on the Sabbath, and so they have to do all of this from Thursday night all the way before Friday evening at 6 p.m., which is technically when the Sabbath rest began, the next day began in the previous night. So they have to do this in a 24-hour period. They would need a satanic miracle to pull this off, which is what they accomplished. According to John 18, John 18, the trial begins actually by bringing Jesus before Annas, who is the former high priest. Annas, the former high priest. Why do they bring him to Annas, if Caiaphas is the high priest? Well, previously, Annas had been appointed the high priest over Israel, A high priestly appointment was a lifetime appointment. So Annas is the high priest as long as he's living. However, at some point, the Romans, they depose Annas, and they pull him out of their recognition, they're running, and his son-in-law, his daughter's husband, his son-in-law Caiaphas is selected as his replacement. And so officially, Caiaphas is the high priest, But every Jew in Israel would have recognized that Annas is still the true high priest. And so naturally, they consult him first on all these matters. The Sanhedrin, they go to Annas, and as soon as Annas gives the word, then yes, they go to Caiaphas. But more than this, these two men are interrelated. Annas and Caiaphas, they would have lived in the same residential compound. In fact, it was not uncommon for wealthier families to build whole wings for family members to live, and they would connect them with a courtyard in the middle. So you had a family compound. You all basically lived together on the same piece of property. So Jesus, he arrives at the home of Annas, who briefly examines him, rashly determines he should be put to death, and then he sends him next door to his son-in-law, the high priest Caiaphas, for the so-called trial to begin. And so at that point, Annas has delivered him over to Caiaphas to begin the official proceedings. At that point is where Matthew picks up his narrative In verse 57, those who had seized Jesus led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together. And so now, for the first time, the Jewish leaders represented here by the scribes, which is the theologians of Israel, and then the elders of the people, they have Jesus right where they want him. They've been waiting for this moment for a long time. They have him, he's bound in chains. and now they can fast track their conspiracy plot into action. But then Matthew also here notes another detail in verse 58. But Peter was following him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest and entered in and sat down with the officers to see the outcome. Now only a few hours earlier, Peter had pledged to follow Jesus even to prison, even to death, But now after the arrest, he, like all the other disciples, they flee in the garden. They all run away. But now he has found his way back quietly, secretly, cowardly. Peter was following Jesus at a distant. at a distance, I should say, just far enough away so as not to be implicated with Jesus in the whole process. We know here from John's gospel that Peter was able to get access to the courtyard because of a connection that the Apostle John had. Some even believe that John, the Apostle John, was somehow connected to the high priestly family. Maybe he was a cousin or a nephew or something like that. That's certainly possible, but we do know that both Peter John, they get in and they're somewhere in the vicinity of Jesus as this is happening. But Matthew here is focusing on Peter because of what's about to take place next. He's focusing on Peter and he notes here that Peter is camping out in the courtyard and he's quietly seated. sort of incognito, with the officers, and he's warming his hands by a fire, waiting to see what the outcome of the trial is going to be. And at that point, the kangaroo court is in session. Verse 59, now the chief priests and the whole council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus so that they might put him to death. Gathered together now you have in the dead of night the whole council, the whole council. This is what's known as the Sanhedrin. Now I've used that word a lot over the last couple of years. The Sanhedrin is the religious body, the leaders of the religious system in Israel. They consisted of 70 key leaders with the addition of the high priest making 71. They represented all of the Pharisees and the scribes and the Sadducees and everybody, all the religious leaders in Israel. This was the ruling and governing body and they presided over everything, all religious matters in Israel. Now, we know that it says that all the whole council was together, but we do know that not every single member of the Sanhedrin was present that night because not every single member was against Jesus. For example, we know that Nicodemus, amongst many others, did not consent to put Jesus to death. So later on, when they do all condemn him, and Mark says all of them condemned him, we know that at least some were not there. But here's the thing, the governing laws of the Mishnah allowed that a quorum of 23 members was allowed to be there to be viable as a ruling body. So at least 23 members of the Sanhedrin were there, most likely more, But here they are, the governing body, gathered together in Caiaphas' home, conspiring to kill the Son of God. And so their task now is to try to obtain false testimony against Jesus specifically so that they might put him to death. They weren't weighing and evaluating evidence and then trying to reach a verdict. You see what I'm saying with that? This is not an open court where they're just looking at everything, innocent until proven guilty. That is not what they're doing. They are trying to manufacture evidence so that they could kill him. This is a setup. And so to do this, they bring in, the Bible says, many false witnesses, many. Where do they find these many false witnesses in the middle of the night? Well, most likely, if you think this through, most likely they've been building a case for months. We know that they were. They're building a case for months and every single time somebody said something about what they heard about Jesus, they would have taken note. They likely had a witness list. And once they had Jesus in custody, they would have sent their officers out into the city to go knock on doors in the dead of night and drag all the witnesses out and come to the home of Annas and Caiaphas to testify against Jesus. The problem was, it wasn't going very well. Mark tells us that out of all their witnesses, this massive case they've been building for months and even potentially years, none of their testimony was consistent. They couldn't get anybody to agree and validate. They couldn't corroborate anything. Add to that, nothing about the trial was legal. According to one scholar, the Sanhedrin violated over two dozen of their own laws in trying to convict Jesus. Of the many violations, according to their key governing document called the Mishnah, The Mishnah forbid night trials. You weren't allowed to try somebody at night. Well, this trial took place in the wee hours of the morning, so the dead of night, right? They were also required to give the defendant two days to prepare. They didn't even give Jesus two minutes. The defense was also to be given the right to interrogate the witnesses beforehand. The Sanhedrin simply stacked the deck and marched them all in one at a time without being questioned first. From a legal perspective, this trial was a disaster. Far from keeping God's laws, they couldn't even keep their own laws. Adding to that debacle, none of the witnesses could agree. There was no way to validate. Scripture declares in Deuteronomy 19.15 that all testimony must be confirmed by at least two or three witnesses. But they were finding that impossible. They were finding it impossible. And I want you to think about this for just a second. Imagine this. In three years of teaching, three years of teaching, thousands of sermons and lectures and messages, dozens of encounters with the religious leaders, and no one could verify anything he said wrong. I preach all the time. I get an email once a month, hey, pastor, you might have missed this. I make mistakes all the time. If it's viable, I correct it. But I'm not above correction. Every teacher is in the same boat, by the way. But Jesus's ministry was so preeminent, so tight, his logic so sound, so perfect, Nobody in Israel could even conspire with somebody else to prove he had said something wrong. They were always mad at him, but they couldn't prove that he was wrong. It's remarkable. Who could do that? Do you know why this was the way it was? Because his teaching was perfect. And it was perfect because it came from God. Jesus spoke the very word of God, and the Bible says he did so with authority. That was really the reason they didn't like him. They loved wisdom, but as soon as he says, you have heard it said, but I say to you, they got their bees in a bonnet. Couldn't deal with that. And then when he came for them, they really couldn't deal with it. How is this possible? How is it that Jesus is able to speak the Word of God with authority? Because He is the very Word of God, the living God. The incarnate Word. And no one can question anything that He has to say. And yet the court pressed on, trying. Finally, verse 60. Finally, they find two witnesses that could agree together in some kind of accusation. What is their accusation? Look at verse 61. The witnesses come together and they said, This man stated, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days. Now, at this point, they find two witnesses who can agree to some sort of error or crime that Jesus has committed. And what is the crime that they're accusing him of? What is the thing that he said or did that was so wrong? They claimed that he said that he would destroy the temple and then rebuild it in three days. And so the question is, okay, is that what he said? Turn over to John chapter two. Just a couple of books of the Bible ahead, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, John chapter two. The event in question had taken place three years earlier in Jerusalem. So they have to go back three years to find something. Three years earlier, Jesus, he goes in at the beginning of his ministry, he enters the temple on Passover, and the problem he runs into is he doesn't find people worshiping God, engaging in prayer, confessing their sins, behaving righteously. That's not what he finds when he gets there. He finds a marketplace. He finds what the people called the Bazaar of Annas. Annas, the former high priest, was presiding over this grand marketplace that was a money-making scheme to go to the Sanhedrin. Now you know why Annas is mad. that Jesus dared to enter his bazaar, his temple, his proceedings and mess anything up. This is personal, this is financial. And yet Jesus enters into the temple court, he finds the merchants buying and selling and profaning the worship of the temple and he makes a whip. a cord of three strands, and he drives them all out, he cleanses the temple, purges it, he upholds tables, he upends everything, he casts them all out, and he gets angry. And how do the leaders of the temple respond to this? John chapter two, verse 18. The Jews then said to him, what sign do you show us as your authority for doing these things? Again, the issue is authority. Verse 19, Jesus answered them, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. Look at the words he uses. Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews then said, it took 46 years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three days? But he was speaking of the temple of his body. So when he was raised from the dead, the disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scriptures and the word which Jesus had spoken. So this is the accounting question. Notice a couple things. Notice what Jesus says in verse 19. He does not say, I will destroy the temple of God. He doesn't say that. Rather, he says, destroy this temple to them, and I will rebuild it. That's what he's claiming. He's claiming that he can rebuild the temple in three days. And so the witnesses, they've misquoted him from three years before. But beyond all this though, it's very clear, even them, that he's speaking metaphorically. He's not talking about destroying the physical bricks and mortar of the temple. He's not talking about that. And here's the thing, if the Jewish leaders at that time had thought he was talking about waging war and actually destroying the temple and tearing it down, there would have been further inquiry. There's nothing. They dismissed it. They went about his business. But what's remarkable is he, beyond this, but beyond the metaphorical, beyond all this discussion here, Jesus is speaking prophetically. He's prophetically speaking to the Jewish leaders, and he's saying, destroy this temple. He's talking about his own body. Destroy this temple, and then three days later, I will rebuild it. What is he doing? He's predicting his own death and resurrection. Three years before. In the temple, to the leaders, to their face. They missed it, they totally missed it. The disciples get it later, they figure it out later. Oh, that's what he was talking about, wow, right? And here's the thing, exactly three years later, on Passover, that's when they would destroy his temple, the human temple of the living God, and amazingly, in three more days, he would rebuild it through resurrection. Of course, that's not what they're thinking about at all. Go back to Matthew 26. So the accusation here is that Jesus plans to destroy the temple. Mark, if you read Mark's account, Mark says that Jesus adds to that and he says he's gonna destroy the temple, or they say he's gonna destroy the temple without human hands and rebuild it without human hands. And so they're just adding more and more to this. Oh, he's making this very grandiose claim. So what's his plea to this accusation? How does he respond? Does he say, listen, you guys misquoted me. That's not what I meant at all. Does he pronounce judgment, woe to you again? Does he correct them? Does he say actually it's about the resurrection? Does he say anything at all? No, look at verse 62. Jesus says nothing. He says nothing. The high priest. who remains seated, generally speaking. Why does the high priest remain seated? It's the posture of authority. The high priest was always seated in authority over the presiding body. And yet Caiaphas breaks the quorum, he stands up and he demands that Jesus answer. But Jesus kept silent, verse 63. He kept silent. Why? Why did Jesus remain silent? Several reasons. Number one, because he didn't want to bear witness against himself. No witness should be allowed to incriminate themselves. That makes sense even according to our law, right? If they're gonna convict him, let it be on their evidence and not at his own words. Let his death be on their heads, not his. I'm not gonna say anything. That's number one. But second of all, his reply isn't gonna do anything anyway. No matter what he says, it doesn't matter. It's a rigged trial. They're already going to kill him. It's inevitable. He knows this. Even if there was any question in the room, Jesus himself has already prayed to the Father at Gethsemane. He knows what's coming. He has resolved to submit himself to the divine will. He knows it's happening. There's no point to say anything. But there's another reason that Jesus remained silent. It was to fulfill the scriptures. Isaiah 53, 7 prophesied, he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so he did not open his mouth. His silence was both a bold declaration of innocence, again there's nothing to defend against, There's no charge that he could refute. There's no false charge that he's even able to refute. What's there to refute? You're making up evidence against me. What am I going to say? But his silence was also in submission to the Father. In this way, he fulfills the words of David in Psalm 38, I am like a mute man who does not open his mouth For I hope in you, O Lord, and you will answer, O Lord, my God. God is in control, and Jesus knew it. And that did nothing but anger Caiaphas. And in verse 63, you see a shift here. Caiaphas, he just dispenses with the whole proceedings at this point. They're not even going after Jesus for the possibility of destroying the temple. They don't even care about the temple anymore at that point. He wants to get to the meat of the matter, what's really on their minds. So verse 63, the high priest said to him, I adjure you by the living God that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God. That's what he's after. Tell us who you are. Say it, just say it. That's what he wants. He wants to hear it. And with this phrase, Caiaphas here, he's invoking the most solemn oath a Jew could utter. I adjure you, which is a legal term, by the living God. He's using the name of God for his purpose. bringing down the authority of Almighty God to condemn Jesus. That's what he's trying to do. So now Jesus, according to the court, is legally bound to respond. He's required to respond once he's been adjured by the living God. You have to see the irony here. This man who is designated as the high priest is invoking the name of the living God, who by the way is standing right before him. The living God is standing there in chains and he has the audacity to invoke the living God to condemn him. And this condemnation is a false charges that have been manufactured by men, the very men that he had created and given life. They have no idea that at any point in time, the man who's in chains in front of them could stop their hearts and kill them. And yet, I adjure you by the living God, Caiaphas would say, no, the true high priest, was being questioned and accused by the false high priest, are you the Christ, the Son of God? Jesus answers, verse 64, you have said it yourself. You've said it yourself. Mark adds that Jesus actually affirms along with that statement, he says, I am, I am. Oh, they didn't like that. He uses, he invokes the very name of I am, God. And so he is the Christ, the Messiah. He is the Son of God. He affirms it. You've said it rightly. You've said it yourself, of course. But that's not all. Jesus goes a step further. He intensifies his answer. He's more than the Christ of God. He's more than the Son of God. He is God himself. How does he express this? What does he say? He adds to this, nevertheless, as if to say, oh, there's more. Nevertheless, I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. He quotes here two of the most iconic messianic verses in the whole Bible, Psalm 110, verse one, and Daniel 7, 13. These were power-packed, supercharged messianic verses that he employs here to give his answer before the court. Again, both are Messianic passages speaking about the Anointed One coming from God the Father. Both are laced with divine language. And so here, let's look at this together. Jesus first refers to himself not just as the Son of God, as the son of man. Well, what is that? We've seen this title repeatedly in the expositions, haven't we? This has been, he uses this title all the time. The son of man refers to the godlike human that Daniel beholds in his vision of heaven. Daniel sees heaven opened up and he sees one like a son of man in the throne room of heaven where a man doesn't belong. This is a heavenly being, a divine being who looks like a man. Well, who's that? It's Jesus. Furthermore, Jesus says that the Son of Man will be sitting at the right hand of power. What does that mean? Well, Caiaphas had been seated in authority over the religious realm of Israel. Jesus declares that he will be seated in heaven over all creation. You're gonna see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of all power. Because at the right hand of God's power, that means he's granted equality with God. You don't sit at God's right hand, the hand of power, unless you are co-equal with God. They knew this, no human could be seated at the right hand of God. and employ his power? This is a divine attribute. This is equality with God, which they've already gotten angry at him about several years before. So Jesus is now claiming divinity and total authority, but it gets worse. He then says that one day he will be coming in the clouds of heaven. This is nothing short of the Lord's return in judgment at the end of the age. And so you have to see the juxtaposition here. Caiaphas claims to be ministering on behalf of God, employing and enduring by the name of God, Jesus declares himself to be God. Caiaphas has seated himself in authority over all Israel. Jesus assumed power and authority over everything. Caiaphas is presiding over a fake trial to judge the Son of God. Jesus has declared that he would return and judge the whole world. The whole world's gonna be put on trial and I'm gonna judge. That's the scene in this kangaroo court now. That's what Jesus has just said to the entire religious elite of Israel. Furthermore, he tells them that after the trial, after the sentence, after the death has been carried out, he says, the next time you're gonna see me is going to be on the last day, the day of judgment, when he would appear on the clouds of heaven. You think you're gonna get rid of me? Yeah, you'll put me to death. You'll put my body in the grave. I'll resurrect, but I won't appear to you. My disciples will see me. Paul will see me eventually. You're not gonna see me. No, the next time you're gonna see me is coming on the clouds of heaven with your name on my sword. Remember the scriptures. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of a living God. So did Caiaphas repent? Did he bow the knee to the true high priest, the living God? No. Verse 65, then the high priest tore his robes and said, he has blasphemed. What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have heard now the blasphemy. Tearing one's clothes in that culture was a sign of angst and distress. It was a sign of deep mourning. However, according to Leviticus 10.6, the high priest was not allowed to tear the priestly robes, but he does so here. He violates that law. He tears his robes and he accuses Jesus of blasphemy. Blasphemy is the sin of defiling the name of God and sinning against the name of God. But Jesus doesn't even say anything in the name of God. If you look at the text, if you see what he actually says, he never even utters the name of Yahweh. Caiaphas doesn't care. He doesn't even, I don't care what you say. He's blaspheming. He accuses Jesus of this awful sin of blasphemy. And then he quickly dispenses with the rest of the judicial process, and he says, what further need do we have of witnesses? Dismiss the witnesses, we don't need any more witnesses. As if they were doing much for him anyway, right? We don't need any more of that. He directly brings the charge himself. Then he says, this man is guilty of blasphemy. And then he calls for a verdict from the whole Sanhedrin. Verse 66, what do you think? He implores all the people who are standing with him. What do you think? Because at this point they're angry too. And what do they say? Verse 66, they answered, he deserves death. Two more ghastly ironies here. First, the high priest of Israel accuses the living God of lying and blasphemy because he rightly identifies himself to them. Yet Caiaphas himself, he's the one who sins against the Lord by denying the very name of God who's standing before him. If anyone is guilty of blasphemy, it's Caiaphas. He has just cursed the name of God by the living God in front of him. Secondly, the Jewish Sanhedrin, they're full of hypocrites and liars and thieves. You've already seen this from Matthew 23. I mean, Jesus says, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, and he lists off all of their sins. You guys rob widows' houses, you abuse the poor, you're hypocrites, you're sinners, you do all the things that you tell us not to do. They're the worst men in Israel, and yet they have the audacity to determine that Jesus is deserving of death. Look at the word here, deserves. He deserves to die. He's earned death. That too is a blasphemy. To claim that a perfect God deserves to die a sinner's death, that's the greatest injustice of all. Jesus Christ is the only sinless person in history and does not deserve to die. And yet he would give himself up for all those who did. And then to add insult to injury, we read in verses 67 and 68, what does this dignified counsel do? They spat in his face and beat him with their fists and others slapped him. Mark adds that they then blindfolded him and said, prophesy to us, you Christ, who is the one who hit you? Now they make violent sport of him. This is further than just the mishandling of justice. These supposedly holy men devolve into this demonic behavior of common thugs. They insulted him by spitting in his face. They abused him by slapping him and beating him. And then Mark, again, telling us that he's blindfolded him and they mock him by saying, they slap him and they say, all right, which one of us hit you? Which one? They mock him. They mock him. It was a disgusting, demeaning, demonic display carried out by the religious leaders of Israel. And when you look at it in your mind's eye, get the words off the page for a bit and get them into your mind, get them into your heart, put yourself in the room, see what's happening. When you stand there in your mind's eye and behold it, it's more than I can bear. But what did Peter later write? Peter, who was standing far off, doesn't want to be part of it, later on he sees, and later on he writes in 1 Peter 2.22, he who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth, and while being reviled, he did not revile in return, and while suffering, he uttered no threats, but he kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously. That's what Jesus did. He suffered. He was reviled. He was mocked. He was spit upon. He was punched and slapped for us. Why? What was the purpose? Jesus died on the cross to save sinners. He died to save those who would repent and confess their sins and trust in him for eternal life. And yet you read a passage like this, because many people, millions, billions of people have read this very passage. And it's easy to look at this violent, aggressive, terrible behavior and say, well, I didn't do that. I'm not that bad. I would never slap or punch Jesus. I would never murder Jesus. And yet even in this passage, if you take every other passage of the Bible and just set it aside for a minute, even in this passage here, there is enough sin to condemn all of us. What do I mean by that? because there are abusers, those who openly persecute Christ and seek to kill him. That's those who slapped and hit and spit in his face. That's those who even today, alive today, persecute the bride of Christ. They kill Christians, they attack the purposes of God, they are vehemently abusing, they're against God in every possible way, and every single Christian on the planet, and guess what? Jesus died for sinners like these. And then there are the accusers. The accusers who lie and blaspheme and attack everything the Lord says. And there are those today. And such were some of you, by the way. Who when you heard the gospel, you said, ah, it's not true. And you built up all the arguments against it. And you accused Jesus essentially of lying. And not being faithful to his word. And not doing what he said he was gonna do. And not able to save, not needing to save. Accusers, guess what? Jesus died for some of those as well. And then there are the refusers. Well, who is that? That's those who hide like cowards from the Lord, like Peter in verse 58. They stand just far enough back and they say, I don't really know. I don't wanna weigh in. I don't understand, I don't care, it's fine. I'm just gonna live my life and hope it all turns out and they distance themselves as far enough as they can from Jesus. Maybe they'll get close enough to just sort of see him from far away. Yeah, maybe I'll own a Bible. I'll go to church a couple times a year. I'll do a good deed, whatever it may be. Or even worse, they'll talk a big game and yet they will not stand for Christ and they won't submit to him. Good news, my friends. Jesus died for those sins too. He died for abusers. He died for accusers. He died for refusers. What about you? What are your sins? What sins, beloved, have you been forgiven of? Do you see that even our hearts are just as guilty as the ones who nailed Him to the cross? Our sin is what put Him there. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God, and yet, while we were still sinners, while we were enemies, God demonstrated His love for us. by sending Jesus to give his life as a ransom for many. I adjure you. I call you by the living God. If you have never put your faith or your trust in Jesus, or even if you've been pretending for years, get right with him today. Turn away from your sins. Confess them. Don't carry them around. like a dead man on your back, be forgiven. He's offering to remove your burden, remove your death and give you life. You can have life in Christ. He didn't deserve death. He earned life for you. Turn away from sin. Trust in Jesus Christ and he will save you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we lift up our hearts before you in praise and thanksgiving. And Lord, we recognize that even though these proceedings, this trial was abhorrent, it was egregious, it was awful, yet this is the means by which you delivered your own son to the mouth of death. and you laid him in the ground, and yet you resurrected him to life for us and for your glory. God, we see your glory displayed on every page and every verse, on every syllable of the scriptures. You are so marvelous, oh Lord, that you would do such a thing. And so we plead with you, Lord, that your word would have its effect on our hearts. And as we examine ourselves, maybe we have abused your name. Maybe we have built accusations against you and blasphemed you, oh Lord. Or maybe we have just refused to come stubbornly, willfully, like spoiled children. We have not come to you in submission. And so Lord, whatever our sins that we bring to the table, would you, oh Lord, minister forgiveness for repentance and comfort and strength and life. Call us to yourself, oh Lord. I plead with you for those who don't yet know you, unbelievers, those who are lost, those who are condemned to die if they're not saved. Lord, please save them now. And Lord, for those who you have saved, the bride of Christ, the beloved of God, who has been seated in the heavenly places in Christ, yes, Lord, we still need grace. We still need your mercy. We still need your tenderness, oh Lord, ministered to our troubled hearts. Please do so this morning, even right now. And as we who belong to you turn to your table this morning, Would you minister comfort to us and remind us that our eternal life is free to us, but costly to the Son. Remind us, O Lord, of how precious this salvation really is. We pray all these things in Jesus' name, amen.