If you turn in your Bibles to
Mark chapter 14, last week we looked at verses
53 and 54. The Lord Jesus has been taken captive
in the garden, betrayed by Judas. John's Gospel says that he was
taken bound to Caiaphas's palace. Now the chief priest and all
the council sought testimony against Jesus to put him to death,
but found none. For many bore false witness against
him, but their testimonies did not agree. Then some rose up
and bore false witness against him, saying, We heard him say,
I will destroy this temple made with hands, and within three
days I will build another made without hands. But even then
their testimony did not agree. And the high priest stood up
in the midst and asked Jesus, Do you answer nothing? What is
it these men testify against you? But he kept silent and answered
nothing. Again the high priest asked him,
saying to him, Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? Jesus
said, I am, and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the
right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. Then
the high priest tore his clothes and said, what further need do
we have of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy.
What do you think? And they all condemned him to
be deserving of death. Then some began to spit on him
and to blindfold him and to beat him and to say to him, prophesy. And the officers struck him with
the palms of their hands. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we thank you for the testimony of what happened to our Saviour. You have given us these things
for our learning and our instruction, our Father, and we pray that
you would bless us, that these would be a cause for us. to worship
our Redeemer this morning. In Jesus' name we pray that you
would grant that to us, our Father. We pray in His precious name.
Amen. Last week we saw that all of the chief priests and the
elders and the scribes, the Sanhedrin, gathered together. The religious
leaders of the Jewish nation all gathered together and last
week we saw what a danger it is for God's people to be in
a place where they warm themselves with the fire that's lit and
inflamed by the enemies of God. I think in this passion narrative
of our Lord Jesus, we see him going through the agonies of
his soul in the garden. And as it were, his heart was
broken within him and he sweated great drops of blood. But he
was comforted by angels and he was heard in heaven. and he who is our substitute,
suffered agonies in his soul, agonies which we can only barely
enter into for him anticipating what was going to happen to him.
He said he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Surely He has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. That soul anguish was so intense,
as I said earlier, that great drops of blood came from a crushed
heart. And He said, My soul is exceedingly
sorrowful even to death. the Lord has cast a veil over
Satan's assaults on the Lord Jesus in the garden. But no doubt
Satan was part of that temptation and part of that soul distress.
It says at the beginning of the temptation that Satan left him
for a season and waited for an opportune time. But he said In
the garden before his arrest, he said, it is enough, as if
those sufferings of his soul had finished in a sense for a
time. Obviously there is much, much
more for him to go through. But now in Caiaphas's palace,
We see the Son of Man suffering before the courts of men. Men that God says were children
of the devil and that they had come to do their father the devil's
work. He was a liar and a murderer,
the devil. And before these self-righteous
religious men, the Lord Jesus conducts himself in the most
extraordinary way. He who is our substitute bore
all the wrath of satanically led and inspired men. They sought by money and by deceit
to find a way to keep the appearance of their righteousness, while
in their hearts they had nothing but murder planned for our Saviour. And it is remarkable that they
sought all this testimony, but they found none. As we said last week, it's just
so incredibly important for us that the Lord Jesus is examined
as a spotless Lamb, and He is found in this court, this court
of these evil men who had had three years and Judas to help
them. They found none. for many, verse
56, bore false witness against Him that their testimonies did
not agree. They couldn't bring any charge
of sin against our Saviour, even when He challenges them earlier
in John 8. Who of you can accuse me of any
sin? And then in verse 60, the high
priest stood up in the midst, just imagine Caiaphas there in
all of his robes and all of his finery, surrounded by the 70
with all of their soldiers outside, stands up and asks Jesus, questions
Jesus, In fact, he was seeking an opportunity, as they had so
many times before, to cause the Lord Jesus to be entrapped by
his words, to make him his own accuser. Do you answer nothing? There was no legal case to answer. What is it these men testify
against you? There was no testimony against
him under the Mosaic Law. There was no legal case for our
Saviour to answer. But he kept silent and answered nothing. As Isaiah
53 says of him, he was led like a lamb to the slaughter. So he opened not his mouth. He had done no violence, nor
was there any deceit in his mouth. Brothers and sisters in the Lord,
the salvation of God's children must be in accord with all aspects
of divine justice. It must be legally correct before
God himself. The only one who is spotless
of any sin could be a sin offering before God. The lamb must be
spotless. He alone who is God the Son can
represent His own before God. He must be their righteousness. Remember that this is an examination
by wicked men of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus. This is an
intense examination. It had been going on for three
years. Our sin-bearer must be perfect
before the courts of men, to bear their sin as his own, for
justice to punish him for justice to find satisfaction in punishing
him, he must be spotless. And as much as this is a horrible
and wicked activity by sinful men who have hatred and malice
in their hearts toward God, we must be thankful that he was
examined so intensely and he has nothing to answer. He kept silent because there
was no accusation to bring against him by men. So this trial establishes
the Lord Jesus as sinless. This trial establishes the Lord
Jesus as faithful. And there are lessons for us
in our Saviour's suffering, aren't there? Because this age, this
time we live in, this time between here and when we meet the Lord
in glory, is not necessarily a time for justice for God's
children, especially before men. All the apostles and tens of
thousands of our brothers and sisters have suffered injustice
at the hands of men because of their testimony for the Lord
Jesus. And around the throne in heaven they cry out, How long,
O Lord, until we have vindicated them? They have had to wait for
a long time. Abel has had to wait for a long
time. Justice is not something that
God's children will meet with in this world. The Lord answered to nothing
that He might set us an example. Set us an example of patience. Set us a lesson that silence
is not necessarily weakness. God knows what's going on. God has sovereignly orchestrated
these events. It is just but the fulfilment
of prophecy. We looked at Isaiah 50 last week
and Isaiah 53, and we see that all of these activities are just
laid out so clearly before us. Read Psalm 22, all of those famous
psalms. God ordained before the foundation
of the world all of what would happen here, and He holds these
men responsible. But for God's children, there's
a call on us throughout the Scriptures to be people who wait. We'll wait for God's time. The Lord waits, Isaiah 30, 18
says, therefore the Lord will wait that He may be gracious
to you. And therefore He will be exalted,
that He may have mercy on you. Because the Lord is a God of
justice. Just because it doesn't seem
to be happening as we would want it to happen, does not mean that
God is not just. Blessed are all those who wait
for Him. It is wise and good for us to
wait on the Lord. 1 Peter talks about Christ suffering
for us as an example in 1 Peter 2.21 that you should follow in
His steps who committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth,
who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not
threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. He himself bore our sins in his
own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live
for righteousness. by whose stripes you were healed. Lord Jesus came as that servant. If you turn to Exodus 21, in
the prophecy that's before us here in Isaiah
50 being fulfilled and Isaiah 53, we have a description of the servant,
the servant whose ears were opened. Isaiah 50 verse 5 says the Lord
has opened my ears, I was not rebellious. And the reference
is back to Exodus verse 21 where God had given the Ten Commandments
and He gives clear instructions about worship. You'll worship
God in God's way and you'll worship God because of what God has done
alone. You will not worship God when
your works are mixed with God's activities. You can read about
that in the last two and three verses of chapter 20. And then
the very next word. The very next word from God is
about something that seems almost insignificant. in the history
of a nation and especially in a world where slavery was extraordinarily
common. If ye buy a Hebrew servant, he
shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free
and pay nothing. If he comes in by himself, he
shall go out by himself. If he comes in married, then
his wife shall go out with him. If his master has given him a
wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her
children shall be her masters. He shall go out by himself. But If the servant plainly says,
I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go out
free. Then his master shall bring him
to the judges, and he shall also bring him to the door or the
doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl, and
he shall serve him forever. That servant is the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is that servant. Isaiah 50
verse 5, the Lord has opened my ear. I was not rebellious. I did not turn away. You see, it's God, our Saviour,
who is sovereign in Caiaphas's palace. I gave my back to those
who struck me, and my cheeks to those who plucked out the
beard. I did not hide my face from shame
and spitting. Who will contend with me? These
wise religious men were there examining God himself. Let us stand together. Who is
my adversary? Let him come near. See, the Lord
Jesus, as that suffering servant, did what verse seven and verse
nine did. He sovereignly gave his back
and gave his cheeks. He didn't hide his face from
shame and spitting because, verse seven, the Lord God will help
me. Therefore I will not be disgraced. Therefore I have set my face
like a flint and I know I will not be ashamed. Verse nine, surely
The Lord God will help me. See, the Lord Jesus is our substitute. We are one with Him and we were
in Him as He bore the false accusations of men. He was not rebellious. He didn't turn away. He gave. He gave His back, He gave His
cheeks to those who plucked out the beard. He did not hide His
face from shame and spitting. The Lord Jesus was our substitute
in all of these things. That's why He did it. He did
it for us. See how the patient Jesus stands,
insulted in His lowest case. Sinners have bound the Almighty's
hands and spit in their Creator's face. You see, the Lord Jesus,
as this suffering servant, came into this world and humbled himself. And he had to be humbled. He
had to humble himself as a servant to as low a place as you can
go as a human being in this world. He went where no man would ever
go voluntarily. He bore the greatest ignominy
that man could throw against him. Betrayed by a close friend. Abandoned by his friends. Left all alone. All of this is
experienced by the Lord Jesus. that we would know the depths
to which he would go. I love my master. I love my wife. I love my children. I must go. to where they have
gone. Philippians reminds us that He
made Himself of no reputation, taking on the form of a bondservant,
and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in the appearance
of man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point
of death, even the death of the cross. Why did He do it? He did it as our substitute. He did it
as our servant. He did it to show us that in
this world, we who are God's children, And we who proclaim
the gospel of His grace are going to be misunderstood just like
Him. And He wants us to bear it with
the same grace that He bore it. Only let your conduct, says Philippians
1.27, be worthy of the gospel of Christ. Stand firm, brothers and sisters,
with one mind, striving for the faith of the gospel, and not
in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to their
Messiah a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation and that
from God. For to you, brothers and sisters
in Christ, it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only
to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake. And again the high priest asked
him, in fact in Matthew's Gospel it says in verse 61, I put you
under oath by the living God. Are you the Christ? the Son of
the Blessed. Jesus said, I am. He could have said so many other
things. He said, I am God. And then he quotes from two messianic
passages of scripture. All of the scriptures are messianic.
but these two speak so powerfully of Him coming. The first one
is, you will see a prophecy and a promise from God. You will
see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God. The reference
is to Psalm 110. The psalm that just a little
while beforehand the Lord Jesus had led these people to contemplate,
to see if they could understand what God was saying to them.
The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make
your enemies the footstool. Of course, when the Lord Jesus
sits, as he's pictured in Hebrews 1, sitting, it means that he's
at rest. And the work is done. The work is finished. And the second reference the
Lord Jesus takes them to, verses that they would have known. And
it'd be good to read it in context if you're leisure when you go
home. But in Daniel 7, one like the Son of Man, sitting at the
right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven. Daniel was watching in the night
visions in Daniel 7.13, and behold, one like the Son of Man, coming
with the clouds of heaven, he came to the Ancient of Days,
and they brought him near before him. And to him was given, to
this Son of Man was given dominion is ruling this situation and
ruling this universe right now. Dominion and glory and a kingdom
that all peoples, nations and languages should serve Him. His
dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and
His kingdom the one that shall not be destroyed. His kingdom is the kingdom of
God. Their kingdom, the kingdom of
these proud men, is described in Isaiah 50 verse 9. Who is he who will condemn me?
Indeed they all grow old like a garment. And the moth will
eat them up. An insignificant thing in God's
creation will destroy all the kingdoms of men. So Lord Jesus
makes a promise, and the promise is of His second coming. The
second coming when He will be revealed as He really is, as
Almighty God. who rules over this universe,
he's saying to us and to these people, there is a time prepared
by God for justice to be seen, to be perfectly done. There is
a time prepared by God from eternity when all of his works of redemption
and providence will be vindicated, and he will be seen to have been
God over all of it. There is a time prepared by God
for God's saints and all creation to see perfect justice done. There is a time prepared for
God's judgment to be done. There is a time when these men
who mock their Savior and spit on Him, when they ask Him who
hit you, prophesy to us, He who has perfect knowledge, will cause
them to own who they are and what they do and what they have
done. There is a time coming very soon
when the Lord Jesus will be revealed to all creation as God Almighty,
the judge of all men. And he's saying as he does in
Romans 12, He's saying to us, just wait. Wait for God. Wait for God. Bless those who
persecute you. Bless and do not curse. Don't repay evil for evil. have regard for good things in
the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as
it depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not
avenge yourselves. We have no reason to avenge ourselves. It's a faithless activity. But
rather, give place to wrath. For it is written, vengeance
is mine. "'I will repay,' says the Lord. "'If your enemy is hungry, feed
him. "'If he is thirsty, give him
a drink, "'for in doing so you'll hit coals of fire on his head.'" We can wait. We can wait, God's
children, for His time. No matter how painful it is,
no matter how unjust it seems, right now we need to put on the
glasses of faith and the glasses of eternity to see clearly. Then the high priest tore his
clothes and said, what further need do we have of witnesses? They had no need of witnesses.
They had none at all. They couldn't find a witness.
They had three years and a multitude in Judas and they had no witnesses
at all. You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think? And they all
condemned him to be deserving of death. So here again we have the Sanhedrin,
this body responsible for Israel's spiritual and temporal well-being. And again we see, as we've seen
all through the Gospel, that when Jesus Christ is revealed
as God Almighty, He reveals the hearts of men. They are exposed
before Him. They are exposed such as God's
people and all creation will say, God's judgment is just. It is just. All of these activities,
the horror of what happens in verse 65 when they spit and blindfold
him and beat him. All of that is just unbelief
on display when unbelief is confronted by God as he really is. Unbelief revealed is just evil
exposed. And once the whitewash of religious
refinement is taken away, these men who hold the law in such
regard are prepared to do the opposite to what the law commands. Where in the law is there any
condoning of this treatment of someone who is condemned? Where
in the law do you stand by and encourage others to spit, to
blindfold, to strike? to mock. Those who seek to establish
their righteousness by the law will be exposed and be shown
to have hearts that really hate God. And all of this the Lord
Jesus suffered as a willing servant. All this shame In all of this
wicked behaviour, there was no sin, no sin in our Saviour at
all. Not a sinful thought, not a sinful
word, not a sinful action. As I said earlier, His righteousness
is tested by Satan and men most wicked. Remarkably our righteousness
has just been tested by Satan and men most wicked. His faithfulness
to his Father has been tested by Satan and men most wicked. And remarkably according to God
Our faithfulness has been tested because it's the faithfulness
of the Lord Jesus. Turn in your Bibles to Jeremiah
23. There's a prophecy of the Lord coming.
In Jeremiah 23 verse 5, It says, Behold, the days are
coming, says the Lord, that I will raise to David a branch of righteousness. A king shall reign and prosper
and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In his days, Judah
will be saved and Israel will dwell in safety. Now this is
his name by which he will be called. Lord our Righteousness. 33 In those days, and at that time
I will cause to grow up to David a branch of righteousness. He
shall execute judgment and righteousness on the earth. In those days Judah
will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell in safety. And this
is the name by which she shall be called. What's the name of
God's children in this world? What's the church's name? The
Lord Our Righteousness. The Lord Our Righteousness. As Simon showed us earlier, He
and us are one. Our righteousness was tested. and found faultless. Our faithfulness
to God was tested and found faultless. And just in closing, I'd like
to take you back to Exodus chapter 21 again. And let's just think
about the person who's not mentioned much in that story. Imagine you're
in that situation. You're a slave. You don't own
your own life. Others control what you do. There
you are. You've been given to a man. But you know that you've only
been given to him for at most seven years and possibly less.
And you and that man have had children. And the day is coming
and you mark the calendar. he can be set free. He can be
set free. And on that day, when by law
he can be set free, this servant says, I love my master. I love my wife. And I love my children. I will not go out free. How would she have felt that
day? How would she have felt that
day when he says, love constrains me to stay as a servant to you
forever. We're often asked about how we
get Christians to respond appropriately. So much of Christian activity
is geared around getting Christians to act like Christians. It's
called application in sermons. And they'll use the law, and
they'll use stories, and they'll use other things. What about
this woman? Would she need some rules to
live by? Would she need the motivation
of rewards in heaven or threatened punishment to cause her to live
in love and obedience and respectively? What would she say when she went
down to the marketplace that next morning, what would she
say to her friends about her husband? What would it be like
for her to be working in the field or working in the kitchen
that day with that husband? Everything changes when love
rules. We love Him because He first
loved us. And He loves and loves and loves
unchangeably. He loves because of who He is
and what He sees in us. He loves us, according to John
17, as he loves his dear son. That love is the motivation for
Christian living. That love is the motivation for
Christian witness. And she, for the rest of her
days, would look to her husband and she would see that he is
wounded He has a scar where his ear was opened, scarred by love's
devotion to his bride. Our Lord Jesus is scarred by
love's devotion to his bride. That's the motivation for Christian
living, for Christian service, for Christian witness. If love's
not the motivation, then don't do it. We have a great God and
a great Saviour. Let's pray.