Matthew 26, we're going to look
at verses 59 through 68, and you'll know what's going on when
I read the first verse. Matthew 26, starting in verse
59, Now the chief priests and elders and all the council sought
false witness against Jesus to put Him to death. but found none. Yea, though many false witnesses
came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses,
and said this fellow, said, I am able to destroy the temple of
God and to build it in three days. And the high priest arose
and said unto him, Christ, answerest thou nothing? What is it which
these witness against thee? But Jesus held his peace, and
the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee
by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ,
the Son of God. Jesus said unto them, Thou hast
said. Nevertheless, I say unto you,
Hereafter shall you see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand
of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest
rent his clothes, saying, He has spoken blasphemy. What further
need have we of witnesses? Behold, now ye have heard his
blasphemy. What think ye?" And they answered
and they said, He is guilty of death. Then did they spit in
his face, and buffeted him, and others smote him with the palms
of their hands, saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ. Who is
he that smote thee?" Now, perhaps verse 59 sums up our sobering
narrative. They sought false witnesses and
false counsel the religious leaders, and were dead set on terminating
our lovely Lord's existence. However, they, the Pharisees,
the scribes, the Sadducees, all these that were involved in this,
they knew not that for this purpose Christ came to redeem a people. They thought they were doing
what their will, what they thought was right, He knew all things were happening
according to His purpose. He must die a representative's
death. Christ set His face like a flint
to His cross. He had a baptism, it says, to
be baptized with. And He knew He must fulfill all
the law and the prophets concerning Himself as the great martyr Lamb. Truly, verse 60 is An accurate reading. But found
none. They accused and accused, but
they found none. Yea, though many false witnesses came, yet
they found none. They found none. That is an accurate
reading. No wrong. No sin. He was pure, holy, harmless,
undefiled was He. Yet here we see the very best
that human depravity can achieve. Falsely accusing. a pure, holy,
and undefiled man. This is the best that we can
achieve. Crucify him. False accusations,
a corrupt court, and verse 65, an overreaction by the high priest,
blasphemy, blasphemy, and a sentence worthy to condemn all of our
fallen race. They said, he's guilty, but we're
guilty. We're the ones who are guilty.
But in all this, we have a sovereign, a supreme, and purposeful answer
from the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want you to notice two
words, and this is what we're going to look at in verse 64. Nevertheless, and hereafter. Jesus said, this brow-beaten,
this broken man, God-man, before His accusers,
false accusers, He still has the wherewithal, because He knew
all things. He still answers to His chargers. Nevertheless,
I say unto you, Hereafter shall you see the Son of Man, that's
me, sitting on the right hand of power, God's throne, and coming
in the clouds of heaven. Nevertheless, and hereafter. Nevertheless, or that word could
be now, or notwithstanding, or all that is to befall me. Nevertheless,
right now, this is what you see. This is what is going on. Here
we have our glorious Sovereign made to stand as a lowly criminal. And humanly speaking, all the
cards are stacked against Him. He's falsely prosecuted, falsely
charged, and falsely crucified, humanly speaking. His humiliation
is nearly complete. And when I read this, I always
say this, but who can bear to continue to read ahead as this
charade plays out? When I read the crucifixion of
our Lord, It just crushes me. One, holy indignation, and sadly
two, if I was there, I would be yelling the same thing. I
would have worked my way as close as I could to punch him, to grab
him, or spit on him. He is led as a lamb to the slaughter. He opened not his mouth to defend
himself. They spit upon his face. The
spitting upon His face is a constant reminder of our natural hatred
of all things God and grace. Turn to Proverbs chapter 22. Proverbs chapter 22. Verse 16, "...he that oppresses the poor
to increase his riches, he shall give to the rich and shall surely
come to want." Surely come to want. Foolishness. Verse 15,
"...is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction
shall drive it far from him." The Lord Jesus Christ suffered,
and His physical sufferings were just part of it. He suffered
and bled and died. This is the nevertheless. Right
now, in this time historically, we look back at it. Indeed, the
natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are spiritually discerned. They're foolishness, says 1 Corinthians
2. And we know only by divine grace
in our heart that we too would have said, take Him away, crucify
Him, we would have said, we will not have this man to reign over
us. And yet, reign is exactly what
He does to all flesh, even here in His lowest servitude, His
greatest condescension in the world, in this world which He
spoke this world into existence. He came into His own and says
in His own knew Him not. this condition we now see our
Lord in, still could not hide His holy foresight, His knowing
and predestinating all things for His glory. For He says, now,
but then He says, hereafter. And that literally means, away
from now. Away from now. Right now, this
is what you see. You're going to see in a little
bit, he's already been slashed with the cat-of-nine-tails. He's
being spit upon, ill-treated. He's going to have that crown
planted on his head, pounded on his head. This is what's going on now. But in supremacy and sovereign
grace, he says, hereafter. Hereafter, you're going to see
me descending. Nevertheless, Christ was to endure
suffering, scorn, endured temptation, was made to endure the unmitigated
wrath of God. Justice would be fulfilled. The
law honored. He would bleed and die, buried
in a borrowed tomb. But hereafter, He would raise
from the grave. He would leave captivity captive.
And here in our text, He was to be seated at the right hand
of power. Nevertheless, this must come
to pass. But our Lord, sovereignly, knowing
all things, He looked past this. endured the suffering, despised
the shame. He looked past this. And as difficult
as this is for us to read, we need to read it. Because it shows
our inhuman nature. But He's able to look past this
and see Him with His Father in glory. Because He said and He
cried from the cross, it is finished, or in the Greek, it is finished,
or it is ended, or it is completed, or it is concluded, or it is
accomplished. All those are accurate. Does
that sound like somebody who's weak and effeminate and can't
do what he said he was going to do? He crowed with a loud
voice. I think it was Paul Walmsley
there at Don's church, the doctor, or was a doctor or is a doctor,
He said, given all the things that happened to him, asphyxiation,
you don't cry with a loud voice. Physically, you don't do that.
He cried with a loud voice. Define even nature itself. It is accomplished. The salvation is done. Or as one author penned, redemption
accomplished and applied. Hereafter. Hereafter, all of
His bride and all of His church and every one of His elect fully
atoned for and really actually redeemed. Turn with me to Hebrews
9. Hebrews 9. Verses 14 and 15, 24-28, Hebrews 9. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God? And for this cause, this cause,
this is why He suffered, He is the mediator of the New Testament,
that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions,
that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive
the promise of eternal inheritance." Verse 24, For Christ is not entered
into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures
of the truth, but into heaven itself, now, to appear in the
presence of God hereafter. nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest entered into the holy place every
year with blood of others, for then must he have often suffered
since the foundation of the world. But now, once in the end of the
world, hath he, Christ, appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. Nevertheless, I will endure all
things for my Father's glory and for my sheep." And as it
is appointed unto men once to die, but after this to judgment,
so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And unto
them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without
sin unto salvation. Yes, we, as vile as any, yes,
we, as sinful as any, yet for reasons found only in Himself,
He chose, He called, and He quickened a people unto Himself, all for
the glory of His purpose of grace. This, nevertheless, that Christ
endured, did not dim Christ's splendor or glory in its essence.
He still wore the crown, the golden crown, though perhaps
it was hidden from our eyes when He was suffering and bleeding
and dying. His face, though covered with blood and spit, did not
truly remove His beauty as our Creator. He is still and always
will be styled in Scriptures and songs of Solomon, the altogether
lovely one. Moses, Abraham, Jacob, Isaac
still knew Him as that Balm in Gilead. The King with His golden
scepter, though He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised
for our iniquities, yes, you, O Lord, must still be more exalted
and honored because of your sufferings. Nevertheless, and hereafter."
But what does this do for us? What about you and I, here this
morning, at this place, at this time? What of us, His people
here upon earth, We too will have our neverthelesss. Bruce
talked about that this morning in 1 Peter. What perfect bringing
things together. We will suffer persecution. We
will have our neverthelesss. Nevertheless, I've got to go
to work. Nevertheless, I've got to put
up with my neighbor. Nevertheless, the neighbor's
got to put up with me. We too can be mocked and ridiculed
over His person and His gospel in our lives. We've experienced
this hatred and trial for what and whom we believe. Dear brethren,
right here, you've told me, you've talked to me, I know your struggles,
because I'm a sinner just like you. And we'll have our neverthelesses.
We sure will. Perhaps our gracious God is weaning
us from the delights of this world, or chasing us as we need
it, as we are often wayward children, nevertheless. Or we are being
sifted from these fleshly habits or lusts. And you know you have
them, and I know I have them, and I know I have my wants. They're
not needs, they're wants. I don't need that, I want it. Present tribulation will have
her perfect work in all His chosen sheep. Scott Richardson said,
the believer has got three phases. He's either going into trial,
or he's in trial, or he's just come out of it. That is our lot. We are filled with neverthelesses. Yes, the affliction and pains
are needful for us. We must not get too comfortable
here. So we will look, as Christ did,
for our hereafter. Nevertheless is all around us.
Every day. Always. But so too shall be our
hereafter. If we are a child of God, we
will have our hereafter. from trial to glory, from fire
to refinement, from earth to heaven, from cosmos to Beulah
land, or as Mr. Bunyan says, from Vanity Fair
to the Celestial City. He has promised us that where
He is, we shall be with Him. I pray that the Father and that
the Son and the Eternal Spirit would cause us to look heavenly,
We get too concerned with what's going on. And I think about this
a lot in my own situation, in my own life. The disciples, they're arguing
amongst themselves, who's going to be greater? And they even
bring their parents into it. And Christ simply says, what
is that to thee? Follow thou Me. if we would be more concerned
about following Christ and in helping one another and encouraging
one another, cause us to look heavenly by faith, a faith that
He has provided, and to see this life as very short, and to redeem
our times while here. All the while knowing, hereafter
awaits this frail, and weak soul." Turn with me to 1 John 3. 1 John
3, verses 1, 2, and 3. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons and daughters of God. Therefore the world knows us
not, nevertheless, because it knew Him not. Hereafter, beloved,
hereafter, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear
what we shall be, but we know when He shall appear, hereafter,
we shall be like Him, For we shall see Him as He is. And every
man, every woman, every boy, every girl who has faith in Christ,
that hath this hope in them, purifies themselves even as He
is pure." Think on things above. Hereafter,
Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Romans 8 and verse 18. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present
time, nevertheless, are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us hereafter. Nevertheless,
hereafter. Hereafter, eternal comfort, peace,
endless love, and complete satisfaction we will have with our elder brother. Let me close by reading a verse
of a hymn that I really, I think this is one of Moose Parks'
favorite hymns as well. Matter of fact, I know it is. if I can, don't get all choked
up. The bride, that's us, eyes not
her garment, but her dear bridegroom's face. And I will gaze at glory,
I will not gaze at glory, but on my King of Grace. Not at the
crown He gives, but on His pierced hands, the Lamb, is all the glory
of Emmanuel's land. Nevertheless, and he says it
in another place, suffer to be so now. Oh, sin has done so much
destruction. Sin has done so much harm. Sin
is the enemy of grace. And we are there. But oh, if
he has called us, if he has quickened us, And if we love Him because
He first loved us, there is a hereafter. And may we have to do with that. As we gather together, as we
encourage one another, may we continually dwell upon Him. Because
the Lamb, He's the glory. And there's not going to be any
need in light, because He is the light of heaven itself. He is truly the altogether lovely
one with whom we have to do. Brandon, this Brandon, would
you close us please?