In Mark chapter 14, beginning
at verse 53, we see the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, him
in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, arraigned
as a common criminal in the court of Caiaphas the high priest.
He stands before all the chief priests and the elders and the
scribes, accused of horrible crimes worthy of death. No words can more accurately
describe the scene before us than those that Solomon gives
in Ecclesiastes. Listen, the wise man said one
evil I have seen upon the earth is when folly is set in great
dignity. and the rich sit in low place. Here, folly is set in great dignity. All the religious political leaders
of the Jews, all of them, are gathered together against the
Lord and against his anointed. They are in complete agreement
on one thing. Just one thing. They're enemies,
naturally. These fellas, you think Democrats
and Republicans are partisan? They don't hold a candle to these
fellas. These fellas couldn't get along
about anything. I mean about anything except one thing. They
despise the Christ of God. That's all. That's all. And here
they're gathered in absolute unison for the purpose of killing
the Son of God in the name of God and in the name of righteousness. folly set in place of great dignity. These trusted, upstanding leaders
of the nation, political and religious, deliberately sought
even to bribe false witnesses against the Son of God, so they'd
have a pretense of an excuse for putting him to death. They got together and they're
so determined, so resolute about putting to death this man, about
stopping his voice and stopping his message, the message of God's
free grace in him, that they said, fellas, we can't get anything
on him. We've been watching him for three years now. We can't
get anything on him. I tell you what, I believe these
fellas here. If we can get them to agree,
these fellas over here to agree, we'll have at least a pretense
of legal grounds. And they tried to bribe false
witnesses and still couldn't get them to say the same tale
twice. They couldn't get them to agree. Here are puny, petty,
sinful men sitting in judgment over the very God who made them,
calling God Himself before their bar and their judgment. There's
a sermon in that, Ron. This religious age in which we
live dares, dares to call into question God's right to be God
and to do as he will. They set in judgment over him
who soon will come to set in judgment over them and over all
the world. In this passage of scripture,
in this inspired historical narrative, We see folly sitting in great
dignity, and he who is rich, for he is God himself, sitting
in a low place. When we've left this passage
today, as we meditate on it, we might well say with those
disciples and those people in Luke chapter 5, after they observed
the Lord's teaching and his works, we have seen strange things today. Strange things. Here are these
peanuts daring to set in judgment over God Almighty. Let's begin
in Mark chapter 14 and verse 53. And they led Jesus away like
a lamb to the slaughter as a sheep before her shivers is So he opened
not his mouth, they led him away. This one who just a little bit
before said to them, who are you looking for? We see Jesus
and Nazareth, I am! And they fell away as dead men.
He said, now do you understand who I am? Who are you looking
for? And now he submits to them, willingly. And they led him away. They led
him away to the high priest. And with him in Caiaphas' palace,
were assembled, all the chief priests and the elders and the
scribes, everybody, everybody, anybody who was there. And Peter
followed him afar off, even to the palace of the high priest.
And he sat with the servants and warned himself at the fire. Now here's the first thing to
be learned from this text of Oh Bobby, I hope you're listening. I hope you're listening. Listen careful now. Great falls
are almost always preceded by lesser, smaller, seemingly insignificant
inconsistencies. Did you get it? Great falls are
almost always preceded by small inconsistencies. So pastor, what
on earth are you talking about? We know that God's saints in
this world are sinners. We don't need anything to prove
that to us except just a moment's reflection upon our own hearts. Love from eternity chosen by
grace, redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, called by the
power of his Spirit, and kept in his grace by his own hand.
We are all of those things. We are robed in his righteousness,
made righteous before God, and given a new righteous nature
in Christ. But we know we are sinners still.
While we live in this body of flesh, We carry with us that
adamant nature, that old man Adam, that is always opposed
to everything righteous and good and noble and worthy of being
called righteousness. And therefore, because we are
sinners, we are warned repeatedly to watch and pray and beware. And if you don't, you're courting
disaster. watch, pray, beware. If we would honor the Lord our
God in this world, if we would live for the glory of Christ,
we must beware of the sin that's in us. We must pray for grace
to keep us from temptation, and we must watch over our souls
with great care, resisting the world, the flesh, and the devil. In our text, Peter illustrates
just how foolishly, however, we usually act. And we do. Most of the time,
we live and behave terribly foolishly, refusing to take heed to our
master, refusing to beware of ourselves. refusing to beware
of the temptations into which we put ourselves, willingly running
headlong into temptation. Our Lord warned Peter plainly
that Satan desired to have him, that he might run him through
his sins. He warned Peter plainly that he was, before the night
was over, going to deny him three times. He told Peter plainly
that he was about to forsake him, that all the disciples were
about to forsake him, and that he was about to deny him. And
yet, even after the first warning came to pass, they'd all forsaken
him. They'd all forsaken him. Peter,
he comes sneaking back. He seems to think, even after
he had forsaken the master in the garden, he seems to think
that really there wasn't any danger. Not with me. Might be
for you, but not with me. There's no danger here. I'm strong. I'm strong. I shake when I hear
somebody say, I believe I'm strong in the faith. I believe I'm strong
in the Lord. I shake. I shake. I really do. I fear
for such folks. Peter says, he's going to be
all right. Numerous red flags have been put up in front of
him. The Lord told him Satan was after him. His rashness and
his pride, once exposed by the master, should have humbled him.
Fleeing from the Lord Jesus in the garden in fear, forsaking
him in his hour of trouble, ought to have made him aware of his
own weakness. But now, just before his denial of the Savior, We
see Peter in verse 54, look at it. He's following the Lord. That's dangerous business. That's
dangerous business. He seems to be saying to himself,
I realized I shouldn't have forsaken him. And I'm going to follow
him. But I don't want to risk too
much. I don't want to risk too much. And following the Lord far off,
he's sitting in the company of the Lord's malicious enemies, acting as if he were one of them. Letting them think, I'm one of
you fellas. Warming himself by their fire. I'm convinced that Brother Lott
would never have wound up living in Sodom had he not made his
first choice towards the south, looking at those well-watered
plains of the south, based purely upon carnal desire and purely
on lust after this world. He gave no regard to what was
in Sodom or what he was forsaken. All he saw was green pastures.
That's all he saw. And I have no question, I don't
have any question at all, that in his old age, when Brother
Rock sat with broken heart and wept
over his wife in hell, and his sons-in-laws and his
daughters in hell, and his daughters with their
bastard children fathered by him. He wooed the day when he separated
from Abraham because of a few cattle. Just ain't worth it. David would never have taken
Bathsheba, committed adultery. and wound up murdering his faithful
servant if he hadn't lingered in the palace in comfort and
ease when there was a battle to fight for the glory of God
in which he should have been engaged. And Peter would never
have been tempted to deny the Lord Jesus as he did if he hadn't
followed the Lord afar off, sat down with the Lord's as one
of them, and warmed himself by their fire. The children of God, my brothers
and sisters in the grace of God, don't ever be afraid of being
too particular, of being too strict, of being too straight-laced
for yourself. But ever resist temptation, strive
against sin, crucify the flesh, say no to ungodliness. But once
we give in to petty inconsistencies, we're starting on a slick slope
downhill, and we're paving the road to our own misery. Secondly, our Lord Jesus Christ willingly
endured indescribably great and horrible shame and humiliation
in order that he might be our great savior. Look at verse 55. And the chief priest and all
the council sought for false witness against Jesus to put
him to death, and found none. For many bear false witness against
him, but their witness agreed not together. And there rose
certain and bare false witness against him, saying, We heard
him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands,
and within three days I will build another without hands.
But neither so did their witness agree together. And the high
priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest
thou nothing? What is it which thee witness
against you? but he held his peace, and that's
nothing. Again, the high priest asked
him and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? He understood teaching Old Testament
Scripture to some measure. He said, we know that he who
is the Christ is just one Christ. That one spoken of and promised
since the days of Adam's fall in the garden in Genesis 3.15. And we know that he who is the
Christ is himself God Almighty, the Son, the only one like him,
of the blessed. And Jesus said unto him, 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. Now, try
to picture it. For decent, honest men, for sincere
men, it's almost impossible to imagine this. But you picture
this. Now, he's the holy papa of the
land. He's the most reverend father.
He's the holy father. He's the high priest in Israel.
Boy, he's a good priest. This crook, this dishonest man
who is bought, his influence can be bought for a penny. This
deceiving, corrupt, wretch of a man, proud in his smug self-righteousness,
dressed finely in his religious costume. This man who had been
seeking false witnesses against this fellow standing in front
of him. Now, he just, boy, he is filled
with righteous indignation. Look at the text. Look at it. When the Lord Jesus said that,
the high priest ripped his clothes. And he said, What need have we
any further witness? You've heard the black sinner,
what think ye? And they all condemned him to
be guilty of death, and some began to spit on him, and cover
his face with their spit, and to buffet him, and beat him,
and say unto him, Prophesy, prophesy. and the servants did stalk him
with the palms of their hands. Even the slaves came along and
slapped him. Now these things are not easily
endured. We would, none of us, willingly subject ourselves to
these things and being subjected to them. I don't know of any
men who would tolerate it. I don't know of any. The one
preaching to you sure I wouldn't tolerate it, I know it. But here is the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who though he was rich, yet for your sakes
he became poor, that you through his poverty might be made rich.
When he was made our substitute, back yonder in the covenant of
grace, when he stood as He agreed to suffer all the shame, ignominy,
and reproach to be heaped upon him that ought to be heaped upon
us because of sin. And here stands the Son of God
before his enemies with Peter sitting at the table warming
himself by the fire with the Lord's image. covered with the excrement that
these wretches could cough up from the depths of their sepulcher
throats and spit on him. Oh, holy humiliation. This is why our Lord stoops to
be the lowest, and he now has ascended to be the greatest in
the kingdom of heaven. He did so for us. And this was
just the beginning of the stoop. He humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Our Lord
Jesus was at last, as he was here, covered with spit, beaten,
slapped, buffeted, humiliated. Soon he made to be sin, and suffered
the terrible vengeance of God's holy law as our substitute. Learn this as well. Here who is our great Savior
is the Christ, the Son of the Blessed. The high priest, in
verse 61, asked the Lord Jesus, and art thou the Christ, the
Son of the Blessed? And our Lord gave him an immediate,
unrehearsed, unmistakably clear, pointed, powerful answer. He said, now you've asked me
a question. And I know who you are. I know
why you're asking. You're not curious about knowing
me. You just want an accusation. You want something to say. You
want some reason to condemn me. And this is how he deals with
this rebel. And he teaches every preacher a lesson. Our master
did not gratify Caiaphas's brilliance. His imaginary brilliance. He's
so smart. So smart. He didn't show the
least tinge of respect for his position. Not the very least. Caiaphas asked him, are you the
Christ? And our Lord could have pointed to this proof and that
proof, this miracle and that miracle. I mean, things about
which Caiaphas was clearly, clearly informed. You've heard me raising
the dead. You've heard how I caused the
blind to see. You've had witnesses watching
as I caused the loaves to multiply and the loaves and the fishes
to feed five thousand. You've seen all that. But he
didn't point to one evidence. He didn't give one proof. He
didn't offer one argument. He simply stated the fact of
who he is and who he was. that this proud sinner bow to
him or perish. One of the two. Look at our Lord's
statement carefully and hear it clearly. He said to Caiaphas,
the high priest, I am. Now that's no small statement.
He could have said to Caiaphas, yes sir. That would have been
sufficient. He could have said to Caiaphas, The scriptures testify that I'm
the Christ. He should have answered in a
number of ways. But here is this man who is confronting him about
his praise as the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the Blessed. He said, are you saying that
you're God Almighty? And he takes that name by which
God reveals himself and he said, I'm not only saying that, I am. I am. I am that I am, the name
of God himself. And thus the Lord Jesus confronts
this high priest and the elders and the scribes with himself. And then he goes on and says,
not only am I, be Christ the son of the blessed, you're going
to soon see me, this sort of man, this piece of human flesh
standing here in front of you that you so despise, this man
now covered with your skin, this man, you're going to see me coming
again in the clouds of glory and I'm going to judge you. He came into this world once
to save his people and he says to care for us now, I'm getting
ready to send up the glory. Your work here is only the work
of my Father's hands. This spirit, this being, this
covenant, these strifings, this arraignment, this trial, this
romance. It's all come to pass just because
it's part of the way I have ordained by which I'll ascend into glory.
But I'm coming again, and I'm going to get you. You're going to answer for this. You're
going to answer for this. And then our Lord Jesus gives
us another lesson. I want you to hear me now. A
stern warning is given. One day soon you're going to
stand before God in judgment. You're going to be arrayed before
the tribunal of the thrice holy God at his great great white
throne. Some of you here yet persist
in your obstinate unbelief. I want you to understand something.
Your unbelief is not a matter of indifference. Your unbelief
is not something that's, well, you know, it's not so bad. It's
not so bad. It's the most hideous crime in
the world. For your unbelief is a willful,
deliberate choice and decided declaration that God Almighty
is himself a liar, and that Jesus Christ deserved to be put to
death, and that this book, the Word of God, is a horrible hoax
upon men, a delusion intended to deceive immortal souls. Like
Caiaphas, you who believe not, have been once more confronted
with the claims of Christ. You must either bow to his claims
or perish under the wrath of God. I'm calling for a decision
from you right now. I'm calling for a decision. You're going to make one. You're
going to make one. You're going to decide right
now. One more time, you're going to decide. Will you or will you
not bow to the Son of God? Will I or will I not believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ? One of these days you're going
to bow. Sooner or later. Either in the day of judgment
when you say amen while God casts you into hell or now. One of
the two. One of the two. If you say, nah, not me. Then you're saying God's a liar.
Oh, I wouldn't say that, preacher. You're saying Jesus Christ is
an imposter. He deserved to die just like
he did. Oh, I wouldn't say that. You're saying this book, shoot,
it's a hoax. So, oh no, no, no, no. I just didn't believe it in God
and believe it in Jesus and believe it in the Bible. Oh, I wouldn't
say that. Let's see. Turn to 1 John chapter 5. 1 John
chapter 5. I didn't pull this out of the
air. I'm telling you what God says your unbelief is. Folks argue about the Bible and
argue about doctrine and argue about Christ and argue about
God. I had a fellow look at me a while back, he was trying to
convince folks, he said, send me some stuff on grace, send
me some stuff on grace. The man is a thief, a liar, an
adulterer. He would sooner, he'd sooner
climb a ladder and tell a lie than stand on ground and tell
the truth! I mean, he's just a con! I wrote it back, I said,
please, please, please, don't ever tell anybody you believe
these things. Don't ever tell anybody! Because
it's a joke with you! But I'm telling you, your unbelief's
not a joke with God. 1 John chapter 5, verse 10. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath to witness it himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, because he believes not the record God gave of his
son. Will you today, one more time,
dare stand here and clear your throat? and spit in God's face? That's what your unbelief is. Or will you bow to the Son of
God and kiss the cheeks once covered with your spit and the
head once made to be sin for you? God helped you to believe
for Christ's sake. Amen.