You will turn with me to the
book of Mark, chapter 14. And our lesson will be in verses
53 through 65. I hope you'll follow along as
I read these verses, because these verses lay the foundation
for the comments that I prepared on these on this verses here in Mark 14. Mark 14 beginning with verse
53. And they led Jesus away to the
high priest. And with him were assembled all
the chief priests and the elders and the scribes. And Peter followed
him afar off even into the palace of the high priest And he sat
with the servants and warmed himself at the fire. And the
chief priest and all the council sought for witness against Jesus
to put him to death and found none. But many bear false witness
against him, but the witness agreed not together. Each one
of them told a slightly different tale. And there arose certain and bare
false witness against him, saying, we heard him say, I will destroy
this temple that is made with hands. Within three days, I'll
build another made without hands. But neither so did their witness
agree together. And the high priest stood up
in the midst and asked Jesus, things weren't going his way
at all. He'd hired these witnesses. And it was cut and dry. They
were supposed to come and tell their story. All their stories
would be the same, but they all had variations. And these guys
were sticklers for detail. And so he couldn't use them.
And then another set, which were hired. And they came, and their
witness didn't agree. And now he's getting really upset. And the high priest stood up
in the midst, and he asked Jesus, saying, answers thou nothing?
What is it which these witness against thee? But he held his
face and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him
and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the son of the blessed?
And Jesus said, I am. And you shall 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 and saith, what need we any further witness? You've
heard the blasphemy. What think ye? And they all condemned
him to be guilty of death. And some began to spit on him,
and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him,
prophesy. Now if you read the other accounts,
what was going on here is they put a cloth over his face so
he couldn't see. And then they smote him with
their hands and they said, prophesy, tell us who hit you. And their servants did strike
him with the palms of their hands. Now the lesson this morning is
this, the road to the cross. This is what's going on. He prayed
all night in that garden. He knew the betrayer was coming
with the mob. And now they're leading him away
to the high priest. This is the road to the cross.
It's a rough road, a narrow road, a necessary road, and a road
ordained, a way ordained of God. Now let's talk about some of
the things that I've read to you here this morning. And let's
start where the Holy Spirit starts. And they led Jesus away to the
high priest. The eye of faith sees these things
that I've just read unto you in a twofold light. It's not
just narrow a vision and sees one thing, it sees two things.
And first of all, it sees these verses as the historic record
of Jesus of Nazareth being betrayed into the hands of wicked men. into the hands of religious corruption,
a corrupt priesthood. There was no, this was no random
act. This is not one of those things
that just happened. There were plans made beforehand. Read all the accounts. If you
look Usually in the margin of your Bible, when you get on a
subject like this, it'll have it, like the betrayal of Christ
or whatever it is, and you look on there and it'll give you all
the other gospel witnesses who have a record of the same account. And if you read them all, you'll
get all the details. There's no random act. There
are plans made before, details discussed, preparations made,
witnesses hired, councils convened, And tokens, even Judas Iscariot
gave them a token and said, when you see me come up and kiss him
on the cheek, that's him. That's him. Now the Lord Jesus had spent
the night in the garden praying, and when that lynch mob came,
John said they carried lanterns. If you read John's account, he
says they carried lanterns and torches. What's that mean? That means
they came before daylight. The disciples were so sleepy
they couldn't hold their eyes open to watch as Christ prayed
in the garden. You remember reading that in
the scriptures. So why is a council convened
at the high priest's palace at four o'clock in the morning?
Huh? That's not the time when that
council convened. I've been around religion all
my life and I guarantee you they don't get up before daylight.
It's 10, 11 o'clock in the day and these meetings are generally
in the early afternoon or something like that. It's convenient for
everybody. They're not gonna meet at four
o'clock in the morning. So why is this council convened
so early? Because it was planned. All the witnesses have been hired
and handy. Where could you find a witness
at 4 o'clock in the morning? They were already there. They
were paid to be there. This council was already convened
before they ever sent the mob out to get them. This whole thing
was planned, orchestrated by false religion. And they're coming
out to take the Lord back to put him to death. And here it
is. It ain't even daylight yet. Here's
all the witnesses. All the people involved in the
council, everybody was there. They had convened, the high priest
was there. They led him away to the high
priest. Peter said this, and we'll come
back to this verse in a minute over in Acts chapter two. He
said, him ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified
and slain. Now, antichrist religion is a
religion without any true knowledge of God. They don't know God.
Our Lord said to them on one occasion, these are the uppity
ups. This is the high council of Israel. This is the priesthood they're
talking to. Men who'd spent their life in
the word of God and ministering to men. renowned for their offices
and titles and positions. And our Lord told him, he said,
you neither know me nor my father. You don't know God. And you don't
know his Christ. His Christ is standing here talking
to you. They said, we have Abraham to
our father. He said, you don't have Abraham
to your father. If you had Abraham to your father,
you'd love me. God is our father, they said.
If God was your father, he said you'd love me. But you seek to kill me, he said,
this did not Abraham. Abraham didn't do this. They have no true knowledge of
God, no obedience to God, and no understanding of God's purpose.
In 2 Corinthians chapter two, Paul quotes an Old Testament
scripture. He said, for I hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath
prepared for them that love him. And Paul said this about that.
Had they known, had they known, they would not have crucified
the Lord of glory. They didn't know his purpose,
they didn't know him, and they weren't obedient to him. And
nothing is beneath their dignity when they get together to exercise
their will. In Luke 23, 25, it said Pilate
released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast
into prison whom they desired, but delivered Jesus, now listen,
unto their will. He gave them over to the will
of, what was the will of the people? They wanted to put him
to death. They wanted to get rid of him. They wanted to get rid of him.
Why? Because he was ruining their religion. That's why. He's foiling
their soup. They didn't want him around.
They wanted to get rid of him. And the unconstrained will of
man is to kill the son of man. Why? What David said in Psalm
chapter two and verse three, to break their bands asunder
and cast away their cords from us. From us who? The Lord and his
anointed. False religion is the puppet
of Satan. They're deceived by his lies,
motivated by his empty promises, and made to believe they're doing
God a service, even when they put to death a son of man. You
think about that. And especially believers. You
can read about that in John 16, one through three. Now these
things are written in the word of God and preserved for us,
Paul said, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures
might have hope. So here's the first thing. We
see these things as the historic record There's no question, people
stand up and go off, they didn't really mean that. Then why did
God the Holy Spirit testify of it in his word? This is the historic
account of exactly what they said, exactly what they did,
and exactly what was in their heart. You can't deny it. Now you're either gonna believe
God, or you're gonna find yourself an enemy of God in unbelief,
one or the other. Not just how it is. That's what
it comes down to. We either believe God or we don't. And this is God's record. No
room for controversy here. No room for doubt. But faith
sees something else. It sees something more than just
the record of man's treachery. He sees the hand of God at work. He sees these things and he sees
God's hand. in these things. Turn with me
to Acts chapter two. A preacher, what else is there
to see? Well, faith sees past the acts of evil men, and it
sees a divine hand. Acts 2.22, look at this. This is after Christ died, ascended
into glory. Peter stands up on that day of
Pentecost, And he said, you men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God, that is confirmed of God to be who God said he was. Approved of God among you by
miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst
of you as ye yourselves Also, no. Now, here's a man. Jesus of Nazareth. Here he is.
He's just a man. He don't have a halo over his
head. He don't have an aura about him. He's a man. If you were
to meet him in the middle of the street, you'd see a man.
He had Jewish features. He was born a Jew. Yet, this man walked up to a
sealed tomb and said, Lazarus, come forth. Guess what? Lazarus come out of the tomb.
He'd been dead three days. His flesh was already corrupted.
And he come out of the tomb. I don't think he come out walking
because he was wrapped in linen. He called him out of that tomb,
and when he come out, he said to the bands that were around
him, loose him and let him go. And the bands fell to the ground.
He raised the dead. Now, I'm going to tell you something.
If I saw a man raise the dead, I think I'd listen to what he
had to say, don't you? And this is what Peter tells
them, you saw this. You didn't hear this from somebody.
We didn't pay a witness to tell you this. You saw it with your
own eyes. They saw it, and you can read
about it in the book of John. They said, what are we going
to do? If we leave him alone, the whole world's going to follow
him. And then where are we going to
be? We ain't going to have a job. He raised the dead. Here's a
blind man. He gave him eyes to see. Here's
a deaf man. He gave him ears to hear. Here's
a man crippled for 38 years, had to be carried around. He
said, take up your bed and walk. Guy stands up, gets his bed and
walks. He turned water into wine. He
walked on a stormy sea. He commanded the winds and the
waves to be still, and that sea just come right down to a perfect
calm. He fed thousands with a handful
of loaves and fishes. Signs and wonders which God did
by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know. Now
look at verse 23 here in Acts chapter two. Him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. You didn't
take him, God delivered him. He was delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. You have taken them by wicked
hands, have crucified and slain. You see what I'm saying? Faith
sees God's hand in these things. Yes, man did it. Yes, man crucified
him. Yes, man hired the false witnesses. But what was behind this, arranging
this, is the hand of God. And he did this to show us the
truth behind that which evil men tried to justify themselves
and smooth over the death of Christ. But in spite of their
legal wranglings, God used them and overrode their foul intentions
and brought about the means of our salvation, the judgment,
sufferings, and death of our substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, at the beginning of our
study, I mentioned a passage in Psalm chapter 2. Now, if you'll
just turn a few pages over with me from Acts 2 to Acts 4, I want
to show you and give you a true application of this psalm. You've
read this psalm. I've quoted this psalm many times.
Well, here it tells you what this psalm is all about. Now
in Acts 4, the apostles were forbidden by the high priest,
Annas, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many was
of the kindred of the high priest. And they were told not to speak
at all, nor to teach in the name of Jesus. Not to ever do it again. Now this was Religious intimidation. The same people that put our
Lord to death. And he's telling them, don't
you preach in this name again. But Peter and John answered and
said unto them, whether it be right in the sight of God to
hearken unto you more than unto God, judge you. You make that
judgment. As for us, we cannot but speak
the things which we've seen and heard. And being let go, verse
23, Being let go, they went to their own company and reported
all that the chief priests and the elders had said unto them.
And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God
with one accord and said, Lord, thou art God, which has made
heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is. Now
I want you to listen to this. Who by the mouth of thy servant
David has said, Why did the heathen rage? That's Psalm 2 verse 1,
isn't it? Why did the heathen rage? And
the people imagined a vain thing. The kings of the earth stood
up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ. For of a truth, Against thy holy
child, Jesus, whom thou hast ordained, both Herod and Pontius
Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered
together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings,
and grant unto us, thy servants, that with boldness we might speak
That's exactly what Psalm 2, it says the Lord will laugh.
He'll laugh at you. He'll have you in derision. That
is like a man put in the public stocks and people throw rotten
eggs at him. I'll publicly expose you for
what you've done, which he has done many times over. Now the second thing I want us
to see here, this is this bifocal, that's what Barnard used to call
it, bifocal vision of faith. Faith sees that which is stated
in the scripture, and then it sees God's hand behind it, behind
it. And the second thing I want us
to see here is our savior, his submission. Never forget that
Jesus of Nazareth is God. Our Savior. This is God. He's
the God-man. How can God dwell in a man? All the fullness of the Godhead
is in him and you're complete in him. In him dwelleth all. How can that be? I don't know.
I don't know. I'm not God. I don't know how
these things be. I just know that they are. I
just know that they are. And never forget that. This is
God, our Savior. And he revealed this more than
once on this road to the cross. The first time he revealed it
is when that lynch mob came to get him. And the Lord said, whom
seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
And he said, I am. And that whole outfit fell back
in the dirt at his voice. I am is who? who God revealed
himself to be to Moses. You can go back and read about
it back there in Exodus. He said, who are you? Show me your glory, he said.
And he said, I'm going down there to Pharaoh. I can't even talk
plain. I'm going down here to Pharaoh, the greatest ruler in
the world, and I'm going to command him to let your people go. Who
am I going to tell him sent me? He said, you tell him I am. I
am that I am. And that's what our Lord's telling
these men here. I am. And the power in the words
that he spoke to them, they just went backwards on the ground.
And then he asked them again, and he said the same thing, but
they didn't fall down on the second time. And then to the high priest,
mad. His plans ain't working out.
His witnesses ain't cooperating. Nothing's working the way he
wanted it to. He wanted this thing to be cut and dry, bring
him in, hire the witnesses. They make their statement, take
him out, get him home before anybody got out of bed. But it
didn't work. It didn't work that way. And
this high priest, he's angry. And he said, art thou the Christ,
the son of the blessed? And again, our Lord. Now, our
Lord could have used any number of things. He could have said,
yes, I'm the Christ. He could have said, yes, I'm
God's anointed. He could have used any word he
wanted to. This is wisdom incarnate. But here's what he told them.
He told him in the strongest language that he could use, that
they might understand. He said, I am. And that's when
that high priest just went off. He said, what further, he thinks
he's God. What further need have we of
a witness? You saw his blasphemy? What think
ye? And he said this, not only did
he say I am, he said, you'll see the Son of Man. You'll see
me. on your way to hell, you'll see
me. You'll see me sitting on the right hand of power, every
knee bowing, every tongue confessing that Jesus is Lord to the glory
of God. You'll see me. I'll be coming
in the clouds of heaven just like I told everybody I would.
You'll see me. You may not see me now, but you're
gonna see me then, and you ain't gonna like what you see. Our Lord tells him over in John
chapter 10 verse 17, therefore does my father love me because
I lay down my life that I might take it again. We're talking
about his submissiveness to all of this. Now listen to this. No man taketh it from me. Do
you think there was a big enough company if all the Roman army
and all his counterparts All their armies and the Navy and
everybody was all lined up. Do you think that's enough power
to take the Son of God anywhere if he didn't want to go? Peter jerked that sword out because
they had swords and staves and he wasn't trying to cut that
man's ear off. He was trying to cut his head off. That guy
ducked and he cut his ear off. And the Lord put his ear back
on and he turned to Peter and he said, put your sword up. He
said, don't you think I couldn't pray right now? My father would
send me more than 12 legions of angels if I wanted them. But
the scriptures have to be fulfilled. God's will has to be fulfilled. And this is the thing, he's in
obedience to God's will. Now let me read something to
you over here in Hebrews chapter 10. The sacrificial lamb must be
brought to the high priest. He must be. Because that's what
happened. You took the lamb and you brought
it to the priest and the priest looked the lamb over to be sure
it had no blemish And then he went in and made the atonement. Christ is our Lamb. Behold, the
Lamb of God taketh away the sin of the world. Here he comes.
What has to happen? He has to be taken to the priest. And that's what happened. He
goes down that road to the cross. And he has to go to the priest
first. And the priest has to put him to death. Preachers talk about God's permissive
will when they're talking about things like Pharaoh and Judas
and all that. They talk about God's permissive
will, and then they separate it and they say sometimes it's
His directive will. Comes to Paul and forbidding
him to go here, but he has to go there, and they split the
will. They're just one will, God's
will. And the only will that I can find revealed in the scriptures
is God's redemptive will. This is God's will. Everything
else rotates around this. Will he give permission? Yes,
he does. From time to time, he does. He called Nebuchadnezzar
my servant. You know how evil that man was.
And on and on. In Hebrews 10, 1 through 6, it
speaks of the law as a shadow. This is a figure. It's just a
vague outline of what's coming. What's coming. Shadow of good
things to come. And they can picture or figure
these things, but they cannot give you a detailed image. Not the very image. That's the
language Paul uses. But in verse 7, he said, but
when Christ came, He said, lo, I come. In the volume of the
book it's written of me, I come to do thy will, O God. This is why he came. This is
what was going on when he was going down that road to the cross.
He's doing the redemptive will of God. His whole life was structured
to accomplish the redemptive will of God. He said it says
this from Genesis all the way through Malachi. It's telling
you that I come to do thy will, O God. Verse eight, above when
he said sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering
for sin thou would have no pleasure in, no satisfaction, no things
that were offered by the law. Verse nine, then said he, lo,
I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first. He
takes away the figures. He takes away the priesthood.
He takes away all those things. No need for him anymore because
reality has come. He taketh away the first that
he may establish the second, verse 10, by the which will. What will? God's redemptive will
accomplished in Christ. By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. God's redemptive will is that
our sins be paid for and righteousness be shown in his remission of
our sins so that he's just and justifier. Now this is the road
to the cross. Men are doing, if you could ask
any of those people, Pilate, are you doing, is somebody else
involved in this? No, I'm doing exactly what I
want to do. How about you Gentiles? You soldiers,
you doing what you want to do, I'm doing exactly what I want
to do. But they did what God's hand and God's counsel determined
before to be done. And I'm going to tell you something.
If you be found in the lot of God's enemies, you'll be doing
exactly what you want to do. And at the same time, he'll use
you to accomplish his redemptive will. He'll do it. He'll do it. All right, thank you.