Matthew 26. What we are going to look at
is so important. It is so important. Part of me
wants this to be about a five minute Bible study. so that I
can declare this thing to you and then we can think on it and
dwell on it and not lose sight of it. This is not going to be
a five minute Bible study. But there's one main point that I
want to get across and this one point is so important. I don't
believe I've ever told anything more important than this right
here. I actually honestly believe in
my heart that this rivals the most important thing that I have
ever told in my history of preaching. So hopefully that will establish
how serious this is, how serious I am about this, how deep my
burden is for this. And hopefully the Lord will tune
us right now, tune our ears and tune our minds and tune our focus
and really let us enter into this and really let us hear this.
We need this. We need this so badly. Give me
just a minute here to set this up, okay? And then I'll tell
you what it is and then I'll prove it and then we'll be done.
In this chapter, Matthew 26, we've been going through this
Our Lord declared that one of his disciples would betray him,
and he acknowledged that Judas was the one. And then he entered
into the garden of Gethsemane, where he was made to be sin for
his chosen people. Not for everybody, that's important
to know. Christ was not made to be sin
for everybody. He was made to be sin, but it
wasn't for everybody. It was for his elect people. He was made to be the very sin
of his chosen elect people. Every person, and here's what
that means, every person that God the Father selected before
this world was created, God the Father hand-selected a group
of sinners to save. Particular names, particular
souls, particular people. out of every tribe, nation, kindred,
and tongue on this earth. And he set every single one of
those people in the hand of Jesus Christ for the purpose of the
Lord Jesus Christ redeeming them from that sin. That redemption,
and another way of saying that is that payment, a redemption
is a payment in full to the point that ownership changes hands. You walk into a store, okay,
all of the products in that store are owned by the store. You can't
just grab one and walk out with it. It's illegal, it puts you
in jail. All of those products belong
to the store until you make a payment in full for one of those products. In full, the moment that happens,
the ownership of that product changes hands, and it's now yours,
and you're free to walk out with it. That's a redemption. That's what a redemption is.
Well, God the Father selected some sinners, some souls who
were sold to sin. They were sold to captivity. The ownership of sin, the bondage
of sin. God the Father selected a particular
number of souls and put them in the hands of Jesus Christ
to make a payment for them. To make a purchasing, buying
back ownership of them. And that payment was his own
blood. That's what he made the payment
with. It was his own blood. It was his own death. It was
his own sacrifice. And the only way that death and
that sacrifice was possible was if Christ was made to be the
very sin of those people. And that's what happened to him
in the garden of Gethsemane. He was made to be the sin of
his people. It was transferred to him. And then after that happened,
Judas came here in the chapter and betrayed him like the Lord
said he would. And verse 56 says, all this was
done that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.
Then all the disciples forsook him and fled, and our Lord was
left there alone. He endured not only the judgment
of God, but he endured the judgment of man alone, by himself. Verse 57, 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 priest 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 you 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 you have heard his
blasphemy. What think ye? They answered
and said, he is guilty of death. Now there's a lot to say from
this, and there are quite a few things that I'm going to say
from this, but there's one thing in particular that is so critical,
we cannot move on until we see this. Verse 59 says, Now the chief priest and elders
and all the council sought false witness against Jesus to put
him to death. They sought false witness. They sought anything that anyone
could come up with that would cause him to be worthy of death. Verse 60 says, but they found
none. Yea, though many false witnesses
came, yet found they none. And here's the reason why. A
thing could only be established at the mouth of two or three
witnesses. One would come and would say
this against him. But no one else could back that
up. No one else would say the same thing. Another one would
come and would say that against him. But he'd be the only one,
so his word wouldn't stand. Finally, two came who said the
same thing. They said the exact same thing.
Verse 59, now the chief priest and elders and all the council
saw 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 this is what they said, verse
61. This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God
and to build it in three days. That was their false witness.
All right. According to God's word, God's
own word says it was a false witness. This is what they witnessed of
him. They said, he said that he was able to destroy the temple
of God and to build it again in three days. And according to God's word,
that was a false witness. All right, now turn with me to
John 2. This is what these two witnesses were talking about.
John chapter 2. Verse 18, then answered the Jews and said
unto him, what sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest
these things? What proof can you give us in
the authority of what you're saying and what you're doing?
How can you prove this? Verse 19, Jesus answered and
said unto them, destroy this temple, and in three days, I
will raise it up. Now, what they said he said,
he said it. Okay? This is, this is like, I just
want to, This is killing me. So important. What they said he said, he said
it. But God's word records that they
were false witnesses. Why? Here's the reason why. I'm telling
you, I've never told you anything more important than this right
here. Here's the reason why. Verse 20. Then said the Jews,
40 and six years was this temple in building and wilt thou rear
it up in three days? They said it took 46 years to
build this building. And you're gonna build it in
three days? Verse 21. but he spake of the
temple of his body. He was not talking about the
works of man's hands. All right, this is so critical.
I know what it sounded like to them, but never ever was he talking
about the works of man's hands. He was not talking in physical
earthly terms. He was speaking the things concerning
Himself. And because they could not see
that, because they only saw the things of man in it, even though
they repeated His words, because they could not see the
work of Christ in it, and only saw the work of man in it, God
said, it's a false witness. Even though he actually said
it, and they just repeated what he said, that's all they did,
they just repeated what he said, because they didn't see the work
of Christ in it, and only saw the work of man in it, only saw
man's efforts and man's results and man's energy. God said it's a false witness. If we don't see Christ in it,
if we don't see the work of Christ in it, the finished work of Christ,
it's a false witness. Now listen very carefully to
this. You are going to hear men repeat God's Word to you. You're
going to hear a man stand in a pulpit, and this is why I'm
not going to go into this, because this is not the place to do it,
but this just happened to me. And it has affected me. And it's
going to happen to you. You are going to hear men repeat
God's Word to you, and you are going to say in your mind, yeah,
that's what God said. You're going to. and they're gonna go so deep
into God's Word, you're gonna have a hard time denying what
they're saying. Well, technically, I didn't really
disagree with what they were saying. This is coming. I'm telling you,
this is coming. This is coming to us. This will
come to you. You're gonna hear men repeat
God's Word You're gonna say, yep, that's God's word, all right.
You're gonna have a hard time denying what they're saying.
But listen, if they take God's own word at face physical value
and apply it to man and the things of man, it's a false witness. It is a false witness. If we
don't see Christ in it, it's a false witness. If we don't
see Christ in it, it's a false witness. If we do not see the
work of Christ, it's a false witness. Did he say that he was
going to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days?
Yes, he did. But he was not talking about
the temple that was built with man's hands, never, never. He was not talking about the
works of man's flesh, even though they quoted his word. They said, he's talking about
the work that man has done. He said, no, I'm not, that's
a false witness. Verse 21, but he spake of the
temple of his body. In John 10, he said, I lay down
my life that I may take it again. He said, I have the power to
lay it down. I have the power to take it again. Verse 22, when
therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered
that he had said this unto them. and they believed the scripture
and the word which Jesus had said. After he was risen, okay,
after he was risen, they saw Christ in all of the scripture. That really did happen. After he arose, they saw Christ
in all the scripture. They looked to, they believed
on Christ in all the scripture. A man may say some good things, A man may even say some true
things, but if that man does not see and does not show Christ
in it, the finished, successful, victorious work of Jesus Christ
in it, it's a false witness. A man may say some things about
election, okay? You're gonna hear men get in
a pulpit and they're gonna say, God elected a people, and you're
gonna say, that's right, he sure did. They may even talk about
particular redemption and so on and so on. But if the finished work of Jesus
Christ is not the object of it, it is a false witness. It's a
false witness. When we speak God's Word, we
must be speaking of Christ. God's Word has nothing to do
with man's accomplishments. and everything to do with Christ's
accomplishment. Everything. That's the evidence
of a true witness. Turn back three pages to Luke
24, verse 25. Luke 24, verse 25. Then he said unto them, O fools
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken,
ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into
his glory? And beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the
things concerning himself." That is a true witness. That's what
a true witnesser does. Beginning at Moses, that's Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, beginning at Moses. The Lord
Jesus Christ said, Moses wrote of me. He was writing about me. Beginning with Moses and all
the prophets A true witness will expound the things of Christ
in all the scripture. Verse 44 right here. He said
unto them, these are the words which I spake unto you while
I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which
were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the
Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the scripture. They didn't know the
scripture before that. Oh, they knew it. They could
quote it. They just didn't understand it. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them,
Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer
and to rise from the dead the third day." That's Jesus Christ
crucified. If you want to know the point
in the message of every Scripture in the Bible, that's it. Thus it is written, and thus
it behooved Christ to suffer. for his people to die, to be
buried, and to rise from the dead the third day. Verse 47,
and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in
his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And he said, you
are witnesses of these things. You are witnesses of me. That's
what he's saying. We see the work of Christ in
it. It's a true witness. But if the attention is turned
to man, no matter what is said, don't listen to it. It's a false
witness. Christ is the truth. Let's stay
on him. We'll just stay right there on
him. All right, you're dismissed.