I want to talk about, you know,
I brought a message for Christ before his enemies. Here he is
before a high priest. There's two high priests, one
that the Romans appointed, one that the Jews appoint. One is
kind of a legal thing to appease the Romans, and the other one
is for the Jews to go to. And Caiaphas, you remember, he
reminded them that if this man, this Lord Jesus Christ, this
God man, the Lord Jesus goes, continues the way he is, that
they'll end up taking their nation, the Jewish nation away from them.
Because he was, they said, he claims to be king. And if they
find out he's the king, they'll take our nation away from us.
And he said, well, it's expedient, it's profitable for all of us
that one man should die for all the people. One man. And that's
what's going on before us, this one man. And this is what's so
blessed about the gospel. One man is so glorious and so
virtuous and had such worth and merit that he was able by his
life, by his death, by his sacrifice and sin offering. To make a multitude
that no man can number acceptable before God. Make them righteous,
make them as righteous as God himself. Make his obedience,
theirs obedience. His death, their death. His judgment,
their judgment. His resurrection, their resurrection. And oh, what a glorious gospel
we have. What a glorious gospel. Oh, I
saw a thing on the way over here this morning, down by where we
live. A sign that said, if you have a broken... He can heal your broken heart,
but don't break His. Don't break His. That's the concept that people
have of the Lord Jesus Christ. Know nothing about how glorious
He is. And as He stands before those
who intend to kill Him, already had it made up in their minds
that He's going to die. They already have a trial. It's going to be a mock trial.
It's going to be a put-on trial. It's going to be a made-up bunch
of witnesses. And the main reason that they're
killing him is because they hate him. And they say, we will not
have this man reign over us. But here we have before us the
beginning of this mock trial of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
it's not by the rebel rousers. It's not by lowlifes. It's not by men and women who
are just love to fight and be mean. This is the highest religious
authorities. These are the people that's esteemed
the highest, regarded the highest, have the highest seats, have
the greatest power. And it was religious people,
the highest of the religious authorities of those days, that
had him apprehended. And what then in apprehended
then they started an inquisition on him. Even though the outcome
had already been determined. They said it's profitable that
this one man should die. They had already decided how
this thing is going to come out. How it's going to come out. And
though it was determined by man to do this. But it was also determined
by his father. Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. God did this. God made his soul
an offering for sin. God wounded him for our transgressions. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. But yet it says you with wicked
hands have taken and crucified the Prince of Glory. And so you
see man is doing exactly what he wants to do but they are carrying
out God's will and carrying out something that is going to profit
us by more than we can imagine what the death of Christ is profiting
us. And oh beloved but it is the
highest religious leaders those that are in position of great
authority Those that were highly esteemed, they were the ones
that hated and despised and rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's
the same today. You know, I put that little article
in the bulletin by Todd. There is a Jesus that people
don't hate. But I've been called to task
too many times over the gospel that I preach and other men have.
Because the Christ that we preach and the Lord Jesus we present,
He is absolutely opposite to what they present and what they
believe and how they worship Him. Entirely different. They've
got one that depends on you. We have one that you depend on
Him. They have one that you have to
do something for him. We have one that has to do something
for you. They have one that it's up to
you by your free will to make a choice and not break his heart.
We have one that it's his will and his choice of saving whom
he will. They've got one that's got no
power unless they give it to him. We preach one who has all
power in heaven and in earth. Is that not right? We're not
preaching a beggar, we're not preaching a pretender after the
throne, we're not preaching somebody that can't do anything unless
you let him. We're preaching one who already
did everything that needed to be done before this world was
ever created. He was the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. He did it before the world ever
began and he come in time to accomplish what God gave him
to do from eternity. Bless his holy name. Ain't you
glad that's the one we worship? So this is the highest, highest
people. They hate and despise our Lord
Jesus Christ. But look what the question this
high priest asked here in verse 19. He asked the Lord Jesus a
question. The high priest then asked Jesus
of his disciples and his doctrine. Just asked him a question. about
his disciples and about his doctrine now here he doesn't there's no
charge against the Lord Jesus Christ there's no bunch of witnesses
waiting in line to prove some charges they've made up against
him and Anastas is here acting as the inquisitor and asking
questions to snare the Lord Jesus Christ And here's the first thing
he asked him about, he says, where's your disciples? And he asked him of his disciples. He asked him of his disciples.
Well, there was two of them there that night. Two of them. Simon Peter was one, we don't
know who the other one was. But he asked his disciples, where
are they? Where's his disciples? Why aren't
they here to defend you? Why aren't they here to stand
up for you? Why aren't they standing here beside you? Why aren't they
here telling what kind of person you are? Why aren't they here
telling about what all you've done for them? And about all
that you've taught them? Why aren't they gathered around
you right now? Why aren't you got all of them
gathered around you? Where's your disciples? Where's your
disciples? And when they say about your
disciples, how many of them do you have? I know two or three
times they said the whole world's going after him. They ask, how
many disciples do you have? How many disciples do you reckon
our Lord Jesus Christ got all over this world? He's got a bunch of them. How
many do you have? Why didn't you call for him?
Why didn't you call for him? But he didn't call on any of
his disciples to testify on his behalf. Then look what he asked
him about him. And of his doctrine. Of his doctrine. And that word doctrine just means
teaching. What did you teach? What's your
doctrine? What is it you teach? And when he asked about his doctrine,
he's asking about, is this something new? Is this something you yourself
started? Is this something that just you
yourself came up with? Is this something that you started
yourself? Is this kind of an insurrectionist thing that you
have here going on? And His disciples are mentioned
as His followers. Is this a party, a sect that
you've got? And that's what they ended up
calling it later, a sect or the way. But ask about your doctrine. What's your doctrine? What is
it you teach? They never read the Old Testament
to tell what he's going to teach. The Lord Jesus Christ, you go
through this book and you can find out all the things that
he's going to teach and what he's going to say and how he's
going to say it. And he said himself, the words that I speak,
they're not mine. They're not mine. My father taught
me what to say. My father put words in my mouth.
I'm telling you what God said. The words that come out of me
is the same thing that would come out of my father if my father
was here. That's what he's saying. And
all they ask about is doctrine. His doctrine to them was as a
heresy. It was dangerous, a dangerous
thing. And that's why they asked him over here in John 7. Look
over here in John 7. Let me show you this. Just thought
of it. Let's look at this in John 7.
Over here. The Jews sent a bunch of people
to go get Christ, to apprehend Him. To apprehend the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it says in verse 44, and
some of them would have taken him, but no man laid hands on
him. John 7, 44. Then came the officers to the
chief priests and Pharisees, and they said unto them, Why
have you not brought him? We sent you to get him, why have
you not brought him? Don't you know we got the authority,
and why didn't you bring him? The officers answered, Never
man spanked like this man. He captivated us by his words
by his message Now listen to what these fellows say. This
is what the high priest would say This is what all those who's
gathered around Christ would say then answered them the Pharisees. Are you also deceived? You're
deceived by this man. You're deceived by his doctrine.
You're deceived by his heresy. I Have any of the rulers or the
Pharisees believed on him? Has anybody that's anybody believed
on this man? But this people who knoweth not
the law are cursed. None of us believed on him. What's
the matter with you all? How many times have we heard
that over the life? Well, I've never heard anything
like that in my life. I didn't either until God taught
it to me. His doctrine. They said, oh,
it's heresy, it's dangerous misleading. And these were ultimately the
charges that they accused our Lord Jesus Christ of. Insurrection
against the Roman power by his followers. And blasphemy, blasphemy
because he, he, claim to be God and they believe
that he dishonored the Lord he was against the Jewish power
he was against their power but now listen to what our master
said oh what a and our Lord Jesus he don't get angry he didn't
get upset he didn't rail back on them our Lord answered him
oh listen to what he said I speak openly to the world I spoke openly. Everywhere I
went, I spoke openly. I spoke openly. I spoke to everybody. I spoke to people. I spoke openly. It's not my doctrine. My teaching
isn't for Jews only, but for all. My message is universal.
My message goes to everybody. It deals with every soul. It
deals with every sinner. It deals with the truth. He said,
I'm the way. Adam lost the way. I'm the truth. Adam denied the
truth and lied. And I'm the life. There's no
life apart from me. And our Lord Jesus Christ spoke
that openly over and over and over. And He spoke openly to
the world. Let me tell you something about
truth. Truth is bold. Truth is bold. It's not afraid
of the light. And that's why our Lord Jesus
Christ says, Men that love darkness won't come to the light. Why
won't they come to the light? Because if they come to the light,
their evil deeds are going to be made manifest. They're going
to be exposed for what they really are. And that's what God does
when He turns on the light. I mean he exposes what's in there. It's like going in an old dark
basement and there ain't nobody been in there for years and years
and years full of spiderwebs and all kinds of junk and stuff
in there and you can't see any of that stuff. nastiness in there,
rats in there, mice in there, snakes in there, and then you
don't see any of it. Turn on the light and you see
it all. And that's what God does. He turns on the light, and when
that light hits your heart, you say, oh my soul, is my heart
that dark? Is my heart that evil? Is my
soul that sinful? Is my mind that much imaginations
in it? Do I really think like that? Is my heart that wicked? Is my
heart that deceitful? Yes, it is. And you say, oh listen,
not only me, but you realize that everybody's in the same
boat you're in. Spoke openly. Men, do you know
truth is bold. It's not afraid of the light.
And when the Lord Jesus Christ turns on the light, Oh, He turns on the light. I'm
telling you what, that darkness and things. You don't know what
darkness is until He turns on the light. You didn't realize
it was even dark until the light come on. You didn't realize what
was in your mind, in your heart, in your soul until the light
come on. And I'll tell you something about
this light. The more light you get, the more light you get,
the greater the circumference of darkness around you. And the
more light God gives us, the darker we see this world. And
the darker we see how things are in this world, the darker
we see how religion is. The circumference of darkness
just gets bigger. And how dark things are. And
look what our Lord Jesus said. speak openly to the world. And
this is why I said, I ever taught openly, I taught in the synagogue
and in the temple where the Jews always resort, where they always
go, the temple or the resort, or the tabernacle, in the temple
and the synagogues. And what our Lord Jesus Christ
did, he taught in the established places of public worship. They
had, you know, the first place our Lord Jesus Christ preached
was in the synagogue in Nazareth. He got up there in Nazareth,
he took the scriptures, opened them up, and began to teach and
preach. He said, this day is the scripture fulfilled in your
ear. So wherever the Jews resorted, whether it was in the temple
or whether it was in the synagogue, our Lord Jesus Christ, that's
where he taught. He went to where they were and
he taught where they were. He taught in the established
places of worship. And he's telling this man here,
he's telling this high priest, I'm not a lawless separatist.
No, no. He honored the places that God
had established and acted as God's prophet while he was there.
He told them the truth. You know, you remember when our
Lord Jesus was in the temple one day, you know, you find him
so many times sitting down in the temple teaching. And he was
in the temple teaching, setting down. Crowd gathered around him. You remember when those Pharisees,
they caught a woman taking an adultery. They brought our Lord
Jesus teaching, a crowd gathered around him. They took this woman,
just interrupted him, moved through the crowd and brought this woman
up and stood her right before the Lord Jesus Christ. Said,
we have taken this woman an adultery, in the very act. And I've always
wondered, and I know you have too, where was the man? Why didn't
they bring him? Because he is a member of the,
probably a deacon or something in the church, that's probably
why. They want to cover his sin up, but they want her, and they
bring her in exposure. Crowd through the crowd, and
this woman's brought up there and stood right in front of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And here's what they say. First
thing they say is Moses in the law. Moses in the law says she
got to be stoned. She got to die. That's what they say. Got to
kill her. Got to stone her. Well, our Lord Jesus ignored
them. He ignored him. He got up. This is his doctrine. This is
how he teaches. This is the way he taught the Jews. He got up.
He wrote down, got down and wrote something in the ground. Wrote
something in the dust or something in front of him. Now I'm going to tell you what
I think he wrote. Now I may be wrong, but I think he wrote,
Love the Lord thy God with all your heart, mind, body and soul. And he raised up. And He said, He that's without
sin among you, if there's one among you that ain't got any
sin, you pick up that rock and throw it. Them old men standing up there
at the front, they just started hacking up. They had sense enough,
they needed to get out of there. Them younger fellows stood around
just a little longer. Our Lord stooped down and wrote
again. And you know what I believe He wrote this time? Love your neighbor. as yourself.
And he raised up and he did both those things. And when he rose
up that second time, he's standing on resurrection ground. And beloved,
when he looked up, there was nobody around but him and that
woman and the people he was teaching. All that brought him was God.
And our Lord Jesus looked at him and said, Woman, where are
you accusers at now? She said, I don't see anybody
Lord. Where's our accusers? Where's our accusers? Where's
the law at to accuse us? Where's Moses at to accuse us?
And you know what our Lord said to her? I don't accuse you either.
Go. Go. Oh my, that's the doctrine. That's what he taught from these
Jews. That's what they couldn't stand. They couldn't stand that. And look what he said. I spoke
openly in the synagogue and in the temple where the Jews always
resorted. And then look what he said. And
in secret, and in secret, have I said nothing. This is what's
so blessed about the truth and about the doctrine of Christ
and what our Lord taught. See, he didn't have two doctrines. He didn't have a doctrine for
all the multitudes that he taught. And then when he got along with
his disciples, he had another doctrine. He didn't have two
doctrines. He didn't have a yea and nay
gospel. And there's people that are like that. When they're with
certain people, they'll espouse certain doctrines. And then they
get with these other people, and they espouse another doctrine.
Well, our Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel is not that way. We
have one truth, one gospel, one thing to say. And our Lord Jesus
Christ didn't have two different doctrines. And people that can
believe, if you can believe, and I heard a fellow say this
one time, I believe in free will and God's sovereignty. I said,
it's impossible to believe both of them. He sat right in there
in my office and told me that. I said, it's impossible for you
to believe both of them things. It's impossible. You can't believe
God's sovereignty and believe man's got free will. You can't
do that. Because if you believe God's
sovereign, you believe His will is the one that's always done.
Never not done. And if you believe free will,
then you believe that God cannot do His will without your will.
It's impossible to believe both of them. Now you've got to believe
one or the other. It's either going to be all of
works or all of grace. It can't be grace for a while
and works for a while. And somebody said, how do you
fall from grace? Oh, you know all you have to do is fall from
grace. It's add one tiny thing to the grace of God to what Christ
did and you fell from grace. You don't have to go out here
and sin to fall from grace. You don't have to be somebody
that's under Catholicism and you deny the doctrine and you
fall from grace. All you've got to do, if I could
fall from grace today, if I got up here and preached that you
had to do something to satisfy God. That'd be falling from grace. I'd be denying the work of Christ,
and the accomplishment of Christ, and the blood of Christ, and
the sin offering of Christ. To fall from grace? Now these
people that talk about falling from grace, they never had any
grace. You can't fall from something that didn't belong to you anyway.
That God gives it to you. How do you fall away from what
God did? How do you undo a new birth? How do you get rid of that heart
that God put in there? How do you get rid of that that
God put in there? How do you get rid of that new nature that
God gave you? How does that happen? That's what they say. That's
why our Lord Jesus Christ, He didn't have... And preachers
don't have two different Gospels. Oh, I don't know. I'm used to...
Look over here. I want you to see 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. I remember fellas years ago that
I used to run around with. They would get up and preach.
And they would, they'd go, they'd hit on this thing, that thing,
and another thing until they found out what people would start
amenin' about. And whoosh, away they'd go. It's
like a dog running a rabbit. You know that dog will round,
round, round, round circles and he don't make a sound, but just
as quick as he hits rabbit trap, whoo, away he goes. And that's
where these preachers were. They'd be out here chasing rabbits,
and when they hit one rabbit, where'd it go? And they'd just
find out what they just... And that's why, you know, at
the last service I was in with a preacher like that. He started
bad-mouthing Henry Mahan. And I didn't know Barry Henry.
All I've done is listen to preaching. I've never met him yet. But I
heard enough of his preaching and enough of his messages that
I knew what that man said was a lie. And I told him flat footed
before he got up and preached. I said, that's a lie. You just
lied. That's not true. I don't know
him, but I've heard him preaching. What you're saying about him
is not true. Never, never, never, ever went around that kind of
preaching ever again. But I'm telling you, when you
hear the truth, when you hear the truth, you'll defend it.
You'll defend it and you'll defend the people that preach it. You'll
do that. And that's why our Lord said, I taught openly. I didn't go out here in secret
and do something. I didn't go over here and hide
somewhere and say, listen, y'all gather around me. I want to teach
you something that I can't teach the rest of the people. No, no. What he said publicly, he said
privately. And look what he said here in
2 Corinthians 4. 1 and 2. Therefore seeing we have received
this ministry as we have received mercy. That's where you get this
ministry. Mercy. We don't faint. But listen to
what he said now. Same thing our master said. But
we've renounced the hidden things of dishonesty. Those things that
you hide. Those things that you manipulate. Those things that you say, well,
the people ain't able to bear it. So we've renounced the hidden
things of dishonesty. Not walking in craftiness. Not
trying to slip up on somebody's blind side. Not handling the
Word of God deceitfully. Not taking and changing the Word
of God. Let me give you an illustration. He that cometh to Christ, I will
in no wise cast out. A lot of people quote that. But that's not what it says.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And he that
cometh to me. And they'll take that over in
that 2nd Peter, where it says, you know, God's not willing that
any should perish. Well, that's handling the word
of God deceitfully. It says God is long-suffering
to us-ward. Who's us-ward? His elect. His
people. God is long-suffering to us-ward.
Not that any should perish, but all of them are going to come
to repentance. And then you know John 3.16.
Listen, well you know they'll take John, they'll just go on
and on with John 3.16. But they forget this, that the gospel's
not in John 3.16. That's the cause of the gospel.
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. The
gospel is this, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. That's the gospel. The cause of that gospel is because
God so loved. But the gospel has to do with
Christ being lifted up. Christ dying. So you see them
there get on one thing and that's what I'm talking about. And that's
what the apostles said. We don't have the word of God
deceitfully. But now listen to this. But by manifestation of
the truth. Preaching the truth, manifesting
the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience. Am
I telling you the truth? Am I being honest with you and
your conscience in the sight of God? That's where it counts,
in God's sight. And our Lord Jesus Christ said
in John 45, 19, He said, I did nothing, nothing in secret. I held back nothing. And our
Lord Jesus, though He gave a brief answer about His doctrine, He
never said a word about His disciples. He answered about His doctrine.
I spoke openly. I taught in the synagogues. I
saw in the temple. I didn't do anything secretly. But He don't
say anything about His disciples. You know why He doesn't do that?
Because He protects them. They can't stand with me here. I've got to suffer by myself.
I've got to face this judgment myself. I've got to go through
this myself. Not them. Not them. He protects
his sheep. He protects them. He's the shepherd.
Then our Lord asks him a question. I've got to hurry up. Our Lord
asks him a question. Why askest thou me? Why in the
world are you asking me these questions? Why are you asking
about my disciples and my doctrine? You know exactly what I believe.
You know exactly who I am. You know exactly what's going
on in my... in what I've said and done. You
know why you're taking me. You know why you all have brought
me here. And our Lord's just quite dignity.
He's not bowed by these. He's not cowed by these people.
He isn't afraid of them. This is His hour. It's time for
Him to do this. And what He does, He turns around
and challenges the judge. Why are you asking me this? Why?
Why? Why do you, the high priest,
pretend to be ignorant of what is common knowledge among the
people? Why do you claim to be ignorant?
You know everything that's going on here. You know exactly what
I've taught and what I've preached. And you know that I've probably
had many opportunities to hear you myself. You probably have
heard me yourself. And our Lord's question pierces
right to the heart. Why are you asking me? Why are
you asking me? And then here's the light. Here's
the light exposing the hidden things of dishonesty. Here's
the light shining in darkness and even condemning the judge
and bringing the judge right out before him. And I love this
right here. Listen to this now. Why askest
thou me? You want to ask somebody? Ask them that heard me. What I said unto them. Oh, they
know what I said. Ask them which heard me. You
want to find out what a preacher preaches? Ask them that listen
to it. Oh my. What a rebuke. What a rebuke. Ask them that
heard me. What I said unto them. Oh, they know what I said. What
a rebuke. Here he exposes the malicious
intent of these leaders who through fear of the people come and got
him at night. Didn't come in the broad daylight.
They come in the dark to get him with a great, great crowd.
And notice what our Lord didn't say. He didn't say call the deaf,
call the lame, call the blind, call the lepers unhealed. He
didn't say call Lazarus up here who I raised from the dead. Hear
witness to me. And bring him up here and question
him. Bring the deaf that I cause to hear. Bring the blind that
I cause to see. Bring the lame that I cause to
walk. Bring Lazarus and that young
man that I raised from the dead. Bring him up here and question
him. They know what I said. But you know what he said? He
didn't say, do any of that. He said, just ask them that heard
me, heard the words that I said. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the word of God. It was the word itself that was
challenging me. And that's how God saves his
people, by what they hear. That's how God teaches his people,
by what they hear. Oh, the wisdom of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the wisdom of God. He spake with such dignity, such
authority, and in such a wondrous blessed way. What our Lord is saying, I will
not defend my life, I will not defend my doctrine before you.
My life and my doctrine testify me. Ask them that heard me. They know what I said. They know
what I said. And then look what an awful,
awful reaction. Verse 22, and when he had thus
spoken, one of the officers, remember them officers that come
to take him said, never man spake like this man. These are not
Roman officers, they're their officers, they hold offices in
the priesthood, they got all kinds of service. And when he
had spoken, one of the officers which stood by, struck Jesus
with the palm of his hand, saying, enters now the high priest So, see the enmity of the natural
man against God? Here, God's manifest in the flesh,
here right in the very present. Our Lord answered them, not harshly,
not meanly, not cruelly, very quietly, very calmly, very meekly,
mildly questions, which they didn't deserve an
answer. And all he received in turn was a cruel cowardly blow
from a mean cruel man. Now let me tell you something.
If this high priest would have been what he should have been,
he'd say you had no business to slap him. You had no business
to. That's not the way we treat prisoners.
But the high priest didn't do that. He gladly done that. That shows you how to die. You
don't talk to me back. You don't ask me no questions.
I ask the questions around here. He didn't rebuke him for this
violence toward his prisoner. Unable to handle the truth. They
used force. When you can't handle the truth,
you got to use force. And this is the first blow. This
was the first blow. First time on which our Lord's
blessed body received from the hand of sinners. And not from
a Roman soldier, but from a Jewish officer. A blow on the face. Men will treat preachers, they'll
treat priests with more respect than they will the Son of God.
And that's what he said. Do you gonna answer the high
priest like this? You can't talk to the priest
like this. You can't talk to him like that.
And look what our master, how he answered that staff. Oh, and
he said, answers the high priest so. They done the apostle Paul
the same way. He was answering the high priest
and they slapped him. They hit him. Cause don't you
know you're talking to the high priest? Paul called him a whited
wall. Jesus answered him and this is
what our master said. If I have spoken evil, bear witness
to it. If I spoke an evil, tell me the
evil that I said. You just smote me for answering
the high priest some way that wasn't satisfactory to you and
him either one. So what evil did you hit me for?
What was the evil that I did? Huh? There was no anger. There was
no anger. No spirit of resentment among
our Savior. Our Savior here again shows His
glorious, glorious perfections. The only one in this world that
was ever without sin was Him. And they treated Him the cruelest
and the vilest. And I tell you, Christ never,
ever had to retract a single word. Never. He never had to say, I did something
wrong. He said, if I've spoken evil,
if I've said the wrong thing at the wrong time to the wrong
person, Somebody stand up here and tell me what evil I said.
Tell me. I'd like to know it. Huh? Oh
my. But he goes on to say this. But
if I have well, but if well, and I haven't said anything evil,
why are you smiting me? Why? But if well, if I've not
said nothing evil, but if well, why? Still he was the son of
God. He questioned the questioner.
What a judgment. What a judgment upon those who
judged him. And here's something, all these
people that judged him are going to face him as judge one of these
days. As judge. And then look what happens. He
gets, he gets, he says, oh listen, I've had enough of this. I've
had enough of him making a fool out of me. And that's what, that's
what our Lord Jesus Christ did to him. Made a fool out of him.
Made a fool out of him. Why in the world are you doing
this? What have you got to say? You know good and well what I
preach and what my doctrine is. And then it says here, Now Annas
sent him bound, still bound, unto Caiaphas the high priest.
Still had him bound. Annas had heard enough to know
he couldn't win. You can't win. He got to get
out of this situation before his reputation is damaged. But
he ignored Christ our Lord's piercing, piercing question.
Which why askest thou me? Why are you asking me these things?
Why are you asking me these things? And that blow of the altar for
our Lord's rebuke. He turns around. He's been bound
now. They let him bound. He's standing before these people
bound. They got him bound up. Got him
hands tied, arms tied down. I don't know how they got him
bound, but they got him bound. But our Lord can take his enemies,
take his enemies and show the absurdity of their questions,
the absurdity of their accusations and the foolishness of Oh, he's the wisdom of God. Thank
God, thank God that he overcome the enmity that was in me. Slew
that enmity in my heart, done away with it. I'm so thankful
for that. Our Father, oh gracious God in
heaven, thank you for your great and abundant mercy given us in
Christ before the world ever began. Thank you for grace. Thank you for the truth. And
Lord, bless the word this morning. Bless it to our hearts. Bless
it to our understanding. Bless it to the salvation of
a soul. It's your word. You said it never returned to
your void. It would accomplish what you sent it to do. And so
Lord, we rest in that and believe that, that it will accomplish
what you sent it to do. And Lord Jesus, we thank you
and bless you for your great and glorious perfections. that
you never, ever had to retract a single word. Holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners. Our great high priest is passed
into the heavens and still makes intercession for us. We thank
you and bless you and praise you. In our Lord Jesus Christ's
name. Amen. Amen. Let's turn to 258
in the hymn book. Same couple of verses as this,
and I'll tell you, Don't go back there until them women call you. You'll get me in trouble.