Matthew 26. I was sitting here
looking at Isaiah on my notes. Matthew chapter 26. The title
of this message is this. The Lamb being led to the slaughter. That is what is about to happen. He's being led to the slaughter.
In the verses before us, we will see Isaiah 53 being fulfilled. When you go home today, take
time to read Isaiah chapter 53 and you'll see you'll see what
I'm talking about. We also will see in these verses
the true feelings of man toward God. You would have thought that when
he came into the world, as it says there in John, he came into
the world and the world knew him not. He came to his own,
his own received him not. You would have thought that when
the creator came into the world that he made, that it would rejoice,
that we would shout for joy. But when the creator came into
the world, the world didn't know him. When he came to his own
people, the Israelites, the one he had chosen, they received
him not. And he said, we will not have
this man to reign over us. They received him not as the
Messiah. They received him not as the
son of God. They received him as an imposter.
They believe him to be an imposter, a blasphemer. And so we see here the true feelings
of man toward God. When man was given the opportunity
He stood before God and he spit in his face. That's exactly what
he did. He spit in his face. He mocked
him, made fun of him, and he slapped him. But they didn't
do anything that was not ordained of God. They did everything they
did according to the scriptures. How many times have we read,
they fulfilled the scriptures, that the scriptures be fulfilled.
They were fulfilling the Scriptures and didn't even know it. But we'll also see that men did
what their wicked hearts wanted to do, but at the same time they
did what God purposed to be done. This whole situation is under
control. It's under the control of Almighty
God. Now in verse 1 we see this, here's what we see, the binding
of the sacrifice. In the Old Testament, when the
Passover lamb was to be offered, they would bind it to the altar. They would bind it. Over in Genesis
chapter 22, turn over there, I want you to look at this. You are familiar with this story, Abraham and Isaac. And over here, you know, in chapter
22, God told Abraham to go offer up his son Isaac. And in verse
12, look, in verse 12. Let me see here, wait a minute. In verse 9, and they came to
the place which God had told him of, told Abraham of, and
Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order and
bound Isaac, his son. He's binding the sacrifice to
the altar. And you know the rest of how
that story goes, how he took that ram and bound it to the
altar in Isaac's place. Well, here we see Here we see
the sacrifice. Here we see the Passover lamb
being bound. He had been taken and he'd been
bound. It says in verse 1, "...they
led him away." They came to get him. If you go over and read
the incident in the Gospel of John, when they asked... When the Lord asked who they
was after and he identified himself as I am, he said, I am. It says
they fell backwards on the ground. Our Lord literally had to give
them the strength to get up and finish the job. But they led, they took him and
they led him away. They didn't drag him away. He
did not go away screaming and kicking, trying to avoid it.
He went away willingly. They did as the Scripture says
in Isaiah 53, 7. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. Listen, he is brought as a lamb
to the slaughter. That's what the crucifixion of
Christ was. It was a slaughter. Isaiah said
his visage was marred more than any man. He was unrecognizable
by the time they got done beating Him. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth
not His mouth. We see here that in the fulfillment
of Psalm 22, look over in Psalm 22. In Psalm 22, in verse 12, "...many bulls have compassed
me, strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round." And then look
down in verse 16, "...for dogs have compassed me, the assembly
of the wicked have enclosed me, they've encircled me, they've
pierced my hands and my feet." This is what's going on. The
fulfilling of Scriptures is going on. They led him away, and they're
going to take him to the judgment hall. You know, it says in Isaiah
53 that judgment was taken away. His judgment was taken away.
They brought in false witnesses. There was no judgment in there.
There was no justice in there. They brought in false witnesses,
as we'll see. But as they take him, Peter follows
him afar off. This is the one who said, though
all forsake you, though all the disciples forsake you, I will
never forsake you. And then when they laid hands
on him, all the disciples scattered. It says they all scattered. Because
the Scripture said, I'll smite the shepherd and the sheep will
be scattered. But Peter and John are the ones who turn back. And
Peter, it says, follows him afar off. Let me tell you something,
a far-off always leads to trouble. Following Christ a far-off leads
to trouble, as it did here. He followed Him
a far-off and then you notice what He did? He sat with the
servants, those wicked servants, those ones that captured Him,
those ones that came after Him. He sat down with them. He sat
down with him. That always leads to trouble.
That always leads to trouble. But Peter followed him afar off
also because he was afraid. This is the one who said, I'll
die, I'll die. Though all these other disciples
forsake you, I'll die for you. And here he is afar off because
he's afraid, fearing for his own life. I thought of Samson
over in the Old Testament. You know, I watched a movie that
was made of him a long time ago. Of course, they had this real
body builder, this muscled up guy, you know, playing the part
of Samson. And, you know, he was strong
and all that. But when you go back and you
read the story of Samson. The only time you read of Samson
being strong is when the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. Every
time you read of Samson doing something strong, some great
exploit, you always read that the Spirit of the Lord came upon
him. The only time we are strong is when the Spirit of the Lord
is with us. Apart from him, we are weak cowards. Really, we're
just weak cowards. But Peter followed him afar off.
He wanted to see what would happen to him because it says he sat
with the servants to see the end. The Lord had said to Peter
that he was going to die. He was going to be denied and
be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and be crucified.
So Peter, he sat down here, he's going to watch this thing play
out. Curiosity had gotten a hold of him also. And that'll get
you in trouble. It'll get you in trouble. But
in verse 59, I want you to notice, we have in verse 59, we have
the supposed best among men looking for false witnesses. These are
the ones who are supposed to be the upholders of the law.
They are looking for false witnesses to lie on him so they can execute
him. What we have here is this. Religion without Christ is nothing
more than the gathering of devils. I'm telling you, it's nothing
more than the gathering of devils. They were as crooked as the people
they condemned. They were. Listen to Romans chapter
2, verse 21 through 23. I'm going to read it to you here.
The Lord's speaking to the Pharisees. Thou therefore which teachest
another, teachest thou not thyself, or do you not take the lesson
yourself? Thou that preachest, a man should
not steal, dost thou steal? You know what he's saying to
these men? You preach that a man should not steal, but you steal.
That's what he's saying to them. He said, but you steal. He says, thou sayest a man should
not commit adultery. Dost thou commit adultery? You
say that a man should not commit adultery, but you commit adultery. He knew their hearts. He knew
their lives. He knew them. He said, you're
telling these people, don't steal, but you steal. Don't commit adultery,
but you commit adultery. He said, and thou that abhors
idols, you say you hate idols, but at the same time you commit
sacrilege. He said, you're just like them.
Thou that makest thy boast of the law, you say we keep the
law. We're law keepers. Remember that
young man came to the Lord, asked him what he must do to inherit
eternal life. The Lord said, keep the commandments.
He said, all these I've kept from my youth up. thou that makest thy boast of
the law through breaking the law." You break the law. He said,
you break it on every turn. You've never kept the law. They
boasted of keeping the law. We know that through Paul. Paul
said, as touching the law blameless. Paul felt that he never broke
the law, that he kept that law. And yet when God saved him, he
realized he never kept one thing of the law. Defending one point
of the law is to defend the whole law. We can't pick and choose. We
say, I can keep this and I'll keep this. No, we don't pick
and choose. God says, you keep all of it
or none of it. That's how strict God is. Our
Lord did keep it all. He kept the whole law of God.
And that is our righteousness. His obedience is my righteousness. My obedience is the work of His
grace. That's what that is. Our obedience
is the work of grace. His obedience is the work of
righteousness and it's given to us, those who believe. Now, they're out there looking
for three witnesses. Because the law, this is amazing,
they're looking for false witnesses. The law said you can't condemn
anybody. You cannot have any kind of capital
punishment without two or three witnesses. So what are they doing? They're trying to keep this law,
so what do they do? They go out and try to find false
witnesses. Isn't it amazing how blind we
can be? how blind and dead and dark human
nature is, trying to keep a law, but yet breaking a law by trying
to get false witnesses. And they went out and they couldn't
find any. He said, they found none. Over in Mark, they finally
found two, but it says in Mark, but neither so did their witnesses
agree together. They couldn't get together. You
know, it's tough to keep a lie straight, especially if two different
people are telling it. You get two people telling a
lie, it's tough. That's why they separate them when they, you
know, you get in law, they put them in two different rooms,
because, you know, they can't get there and put it together.
It says their witness didn't even agree. They could not find
one. It says in verse 60, they found
none. They found no true witness. You
know why? Here's why. Our Lord is the spotless
Lamb of God. Here is another proof. Here is
another proof of the purity of the life of Jesus Christ. They
could not find a witness through the whole realm that knew anything
negative about Jesus Christ. Because He's the spotless Lamb
of God. This is God's Lamb. Behold the Lamb of God. He's
the Lamb of God's providing. God provided this Lamb. This
Passover lamb, God provided this one. Nobody else provided this
one. God provided this one. And he's a spotless lamb of God.
He knew no sin, the scripture says. Man could find no fault
in him. Satan, he said, came and found
nothing in him. There was nothing in Christ that
Satan could get ahold of. There's plenty in me he can get
ahold of and in you. but nothing in Christ. And God
found no fault in him. He said, this is my beloved Son
whom I'm well pleased. However, for redemption to be
accomplished, the Lamb of God must be slaughtered. He must
be put to death. His blood must be shed for atonement
for my sins, your sins, and all those for whom He died. For the
atonement to be made, His blood's got to be shed. It's got to be
shed. But notice what these witnesses,
these false witnesses do. The very thing Satan did. They
twisted His words to say what they wanted them to say. there
in 61, this fellow said, and you notice how derogatory that
is, this fella, this fella, that's why they look at him, it's like
this fella, said, I'm able to destroy the temple of God and
build it in three days. He didn't say that, he didn't
say that. But that's what Satan does, that's
what his workers do. They take the word of God and
they twist it. They just put a twist on it.
If you put, let's say this, just for example, let's say this cup
is full of truth. You put one drop of poison in
it, it's not truth no more. Put one little drop, put just
a little teeny drop of a lie in it. It's not truth no more. Truth is only truth when it's
absolute truth. You know, I've often thought
in court they say you swear to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth to help you God I've often thought I'd
say I will if you will Because I know you're not going
to that's the last thing gets into courtroom is a truth They twisted his words You know,
one of the reasons I believe that we have so many translations
of the Bible is because men are trying to get it to say what
they want it to say. That's why you have... How many
translations does it take? Listen, I don't care how simple,
I don't care how plain in language they put it, if God doesn't reveal
it, you're not going to get it. Salvation comes by revelation.
God has to reveal Himself through His Word to your heart. And it's my responsibility, standing
here, to keep it simple. It's my responsibility to keep
it simple. It's my responsibility to preach here every week the
simplicity of Christ. That's the reason I believe we
have all these translations. They're just trying to get it
to say what they want it to say. But look here in verse 62, And
the high priest arose, and he said unto him, Answer thou nothing? what is it which these witness
against thee? Are you not going to respond?
He was astounded at the silence of the Lord Jesus Christ. It
amazed the high priest. that he wasn't speaking. What
he didn't realize is that Christ's silence was
fulfilling the Scriptures. His silence fulfilled the Scriptures. It says in Isaiah, He opened
not His mouth. Even in silence, our Lord fulfilled
the Word of God. Nothing that Christ did was wasted. When He spoke, He spoke the Word. When He spoke, He spoke wisdom.
And when He kept silent, He was fulfilling the Word of God by
keeping silent. And the high priest said to Him,
I adjure you, here He takes an oath, I adjure thee, or I command
thee, by the living God, tell us now." See, he wasn't going
to answer these witnesses, these false witnesses. He wasn't going
to deal with that. He's not going to get into a spitting contest.
You don't get in a spitting contest and win. You don't win in that. But when that high priest said,
I adjure you by the living God, and not realizing the living
God is standing in front of him. I adjure you by the living God.
Tell us, if thou be the Christ, the Son of God, well, first of
all, He didn't believe that Christ was the Son of God. He believed
that Christ would be inferior to God. He was just gonna be
a man who, he would be a man who had special powers. He was anointed of God to be
the Savior, but he didn't believe him to be God. But here, he's
saying, if thou be the Christ, the Son of God, because if he
says yes, then I got it for blasphemy because he's saying he's God.
He's trying to trip him. He's trying to trip him up. And our Lord answered that one.
Oh, He answered that one. And He answered that one for
us. He answered that one for us. Thou hast said, or thou hast
rightly said, you said it, I am the Christ, the Son of God. Nevertheless, I like what He
says here, but nevertheless, in the face of all that you see,
what did they say? They saw a weak man. They saw
a poor man. They saw a captured man. They
saw a beaten man. But nevertheless, God. He was
nevertheless God. His power standing there is nevertheless. It was nevertheless. Remember
he said, I can call 12 legions of angels. His power was never
the less. His authority as He stood there
and He allowed them to slap Him, spit on Him. He allowed them
to do what they did. His authority is never the less. It was never the less. This is
not going on because His power was less. It was never the less. And His victory in this is never
the less. Never the less. Oh, he said, you rightly said
it. You're right. I am the Christ,
the Son of God, equal with God. I am God. I am the living God that you
just swore by. I adjure you by the living God.
I'm that God. But nevertheless, he says here
in verse 64, I say to you hereafter, shall you see the son of man
sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds
of heaven. I can imagine when he said that,
he just, you know, he just looked him in the face and he just said,
I'm telling you what you're going to see after this. After you
get done doing your part, after you get done spitting in my face
and slapping me, and beaded me, and you crucify me. Let me tell
you what you're going to see. This is what you're going to
see. You see, our Lord stood there. He stood there before
that chief priest and those elders, and they did not see that this
man is God manifest in the flesh, the Holy One of Israel. They
did not see that He is the true High Priest. The Messiah, the
Lamb of God, the Atonement, the Lord our Righteousness, the Redeemer,
our salvation. They didn't see that. But you
do. Never get over that. If you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, never get over that. As the Lord said
to Peter, He said, flesh and blood has not revealed this to
you. When He asked Peter, He said, who do you say that I am?
Thou art to Christ, the Son of the living God. Flesh and blood
didn't reveal this to you. You didn't learn this from flesh
and blood. My heavenly Father has revealed this to you. My
heavenly Father has revealed to you who I am. Peter, that's how you know this.
And that's why you believe. And that's the same for all of
us who believe. But here's what you're going
to see, he says to this high priest and those people standing
there. Here's what you're going to see hereafter. You're going
to see the Son of Man. This man who's standing here.
This man and you're going to slap, spit in his face, you know,
this man. You're going to see this man
again. You know when that man died and those people that captured
him, when they died, guess who the first person they saw? Christ. The Son of Man, this despised man,
you will see sitting victorious. He said on the cross, the last
thing he cried, he said, it's finished. It's finished. And
he went back to glory. And you know what he did? He
sat down. He finished the work. He's sitting
reposed at the right hand of power. And you're going to see
Me. He speaks of His second coming.
He said, I'm coming. After you all get done, after
you get done doing what you're going to do, I'm going to go
back to glory. I'm going to be seated at the
right hand of power. I'm going to run all things. I'm going
to bring all things to pass. And then I'm going to come back.
And you're going to see Me coming in the clouds of heaven. You're not going to defeat me.
I'm not defeated. You will see the victorious man,
the glorified man, the reigning man, the conquering man. You
will see the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's what you're
going to see. But have at it right now. It's your day. And he's always said it's the
hour of darkness, the power of darkness. It's your hour. It's
your hour. And that's all you got is an
hour. I've got eternity. I'm on the throne. And let me
tell you what you're going to see. You're going to see me. You're going to see me one more
time. After this is over, you're going to see me one more time. And when you see me, every knee
is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Every person
on this earth With all the rebellion we see going on, with all the
different religions we see going on, all the different things
that happen, the different things that people believe in religion,
it is all coming down to this. Every knee, every person that's
ever been on this earth is going to bow and they're going to confess
that I am the Lord. That's how it's going to end.
It's not going to end me standing here in this hall and you put
me to death. It's going to end with you bowing before it's over
with. Well, actually when it's over with. When it's over with. Every knee is going to bow, every
tongue is going to confess. That's Philippians 2 verses 9
through 11, Isaiah 45 verse 23 and Romans 14 verse 11. That's
where it's quoted at. Our Lord assures them of His
victory by saying this. You know, it's written over in
Isaiah 42, verse 4. He shall not fail. Speaking of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged, till He hath set judgment in
the earth and the isles. The Gentiles shall wait for His
law, His word, His gospel. That's what we do this morning,
sitting here, Everyone will see this Son of
Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming in the clouds
of heaven." What do you see? Seriously, you've
looked at this with me. What do you see? Do you see a
weak man? Do you see an imposter? Do you see a blasphemer? Or do you see God in human flesh
working out your redemption? That's what I see. That's what
I say, my Savior, my Lord and my God. And the high priest there
in verse 65 and 66, the high priest, he says, What think ye,
is he guilty? Is he guilty or not guilty? Does
he deserve to die? You know, guilty means responsible
for wrong. It means having committed an
offense. Is he guilty? Is he guilty to die? Of course,
they all said yes. Did he blaspheme? Did he sin? No! No, he did not. He said the truth. I am the Christ,
the Son of the Living God. That's who I am. How could God
let this happen to his son? As a substitute, he became guilty. When he was made sin, he became
guilty. When the sins of God's people
were laid on him, he became guilty. I heard Henry say this one time,
and this is one of those nuggets I never forgot. Henry said, he opened not his
mouth because all the charges were true. Because he was standing
there as my substitute, and all the charges were true. And then
in verse 67 and 68, now I close. This is a picture of the whole
human race. Then did they spit in his face.
Do you know what all rebellion is? All rebellion throughout
this world is nothing more than spitting in the face of God.
That's what it is. Then did they spit in his face
and they buffeted him. And others smote him with the
palms of their hands, saying, prophesy to us. See, they had
him blindfolded. They put a blindfold on him because
he couldn't, you know, they said, tell us who smote you. They slapped
him and said, tell us which one did it. Oh, they spit in the Creator's
face. They slapped him. They said, prophesy to us. There's coming a day. Now listen,
and I'm going to close. There is coming a day when all
will be gathered at the great white throne of judgment, and
He will tell who slapped Him. I'll tell you who slapped me,
not the day, but in the end. In the day of judgment, I'll tell
you everyone that slapped me. For some, the hereafter will
be glorious, And for others, it will be a day of reckoning.