Okay. Mark chapter 14. Notice verse 53. Mark 14, 53. And they led Jesus away. Here's this mob. This mob of
thugs coming to do harm to the Lord Jesus Christ. They, they
with clubs and staffs and swords, they came to arrest the Lord,
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 this religious rabble. Now, I'm entitled to the message
this morning, the trial of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
what we see in these verses, the trial of the Lord Jesus Christ. We see here the Lord Jesus Christ,
in whom all wisdom and treasure is hidden. All wisdom and knowledge
are in this man, in Christ Jesus, who is God Almighty. In whom
all salvation resides, in whom salvation is, in His person. Here we see the Lord of glory
arraigned as a common criminal, treated with such contempt that
they did dare spit in the face of God and take their hand and
strike Him in the face. We see Him who is altogether
lovely, who is very God of very God, for He is God manifest in
the flesh, one with whom we have to do. arraigned, tried and convicted,
and his sentence even pronounced upon him. In verse 64, when the
high priest declares, we have heard, we have heard this blasphemy,
this evil speaking, and he asks this council of religious leaders,
what think ye? And they all condemned him to
be guilty of death. Away with him. Crucify Him. We have no King but Caesar. We see the Lord's own nation
and His own people, the Jewish people, reject their own Messiah,
cast aside their only hope of salvation, coming together in
malice and hatred against the true and living God, seeking
to not only put an end to His ministry, but put an end to His
very existence. They who wrongfully judged and
condemned Him to death will one day be righteously judged and
destroyed and condemned by Him who is Almighty God. The Word declares, and it is
appointed unto men once to die, and after that, judgment. These very haters of God who
condemned the Lord Jesus Christ that day, they will answer unto
Him. The Father judgeth no man, but
hath committed all judgment unto the Son. It's a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living, true, sovereign God. Now what can we learn from these
verses today? I want to consider verse 53 down
through verse 65. What lessons can we take home
and meditate upon? And what lessons would God have
us to learn as we consider these verses? Let's just not consider
the facts of what's going on here, but what can we learn? What can we learn about our own
selves? What can we learn about the Lord Jesus Christ Himself?
What can we learn about God Almighty and who He is? I'm interested
in these things and I trust that you are as well. Well, here's
the first thing I see. In verse 53, they led Jesus away
to the high priest. They led Him away. Here we see
the Lord's willing submission to lay down His Life. Remember we read in John 10,
no man takes my life from me. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
in my Father, the Lord Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God. As the sacrifice of God was led
as a sheep to the slaughter. That's what we read in Isaiah
53, isn't it? These words, he was oppressed
and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. You remember,
the high priest kept saying, why don't you answer us? Why
don't you defend yourself? Yet he opened not his mouth.
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before
her shivers is dumbed, so he opened not his mouth. We see
the Lord willingly, lovingly lay down His life for the sheep
for his people. They led him away. And notice
where they led him to. They led him to the high priest.
Now this is significant. You say, well that's not really
significant. Oh yes it is. Yes it is. There's nothing in
God's word that's insignificant. He was led away to the high priest.
Now if you read the book of Leviticus, According to the law of God,
the sacrifice, the lamb that was to be offered, was to be
brought unto the high priest before it was sacrificed. You
see, even in this, the Lord Jesus Christ is fulfilling all Scripture. As it says in verse 49 of Mark
14, I was with you daily. I was daily with you in the temple
teaching, and you took me not. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled. They led him away as the Lamb
of God, as the sacrifice of God unto the high priest, before
he was sacrificed as the Lord's Lamb. He died for our sins according
to Scripture. Let us never forget this precious
truth. The Lord of Glory dies this violent,
gruesome, horrible crucifixion, being obedient unto death. to satisfy His own holy law and
justice for us. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for us. He died this horrible
crucifixion, not only to satisfy His own holy law, but to put
away our sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And He did. His atonement and His death was
not an attempt to put away sin, He put away all the sin of God's
people forever, so much so, and so complete it is, that God Almighty
said their sin and their iniquity will I remember no more. He put
away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. I tell you, here it
is loved, not that we love God, but that He loved us and He sent
His Son to be the sacrifice for my sin. His death, His life and
His death, and by His life and by His death, He brought in everlasting
righteousness, whereby He freely imputes that to His covenant
people. And He dies to bring those for
whom He loves unto the Father in complete justification, in
complete salvation. For we read that Christ once
suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust, that He might
Bring us unto God. Can we be brought any other way,
savingly? Can we be brought any other way,
justified by any other means than the Lord Jesus? Not at all. For listen to Him. He says, I
am the way, the truth, the life. No man come to the Father but
by and through Me. That one sacrifice. That one
righteousness that He has provided for us. So you see His willingness. They led Jesus away to the high
priest. And there He's condemned. And
then He goes to Calvary to die for our sin. Here's something
else we see in verse 54. We learn something about our
own selves. Peter here representing the believer. And Peter followed him afar. Now remember when he was arrested,
it says in verse 50, they all forsook him and fled. And as
the Lord was led away, somehow Peter followed him, but he followed
him at a safe distance, even into the palace or the dwelling
of the high priest, and he sat with Look what it says about
Peter. He sat with the servants, these
who just had arrested the Lord, the enemies of the Lord. He's
now in the camp of the enemy. And he warms himself. It must
have been a cold, cold evening. He warms himself by the fire. And the light of that fire exposed
him before these people, and it brought him great, great sorrow
of heart. Peter follows the Lord at a safe
distance, but it brings him into harm's way. The fireside of the
high priest and the company of those enemies that just arrested
the Lord was no place for Peter to put himself into. It was a
place of danger, wasn't it? It was a place he should have
avoided. For it led him to eventually
deny his Lord. Look at verse 66. It is the same
chapter, Mark 14. And Peter was beneath in the
palace, and there comes one of the maids of the high priest,
and when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him
and said, and thou also was with Jesus of Nazareth. But he denied
and said, I know not, neither understand what thou sayest.
And he went out into the porch, and the rooster started to crow. Do you remember what the Lord
told him? Peter, you're going to deny me three times, and you
read the rest of that and we'll consider that next week. Now
here's the thought. Let us be careful as God's people,
as believers. Let us watch and pray that we
enter not into temptation. Let us not put ourselves in a
place of danger. We live in this wicked world.
If we would live in this world, this wicked world, to the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ, let us beware of these warnings.
Let us beware of that sin nature that is still within us. That sin potential that is still
within this old nature. This old flesh is not eradicated. Let's be aware of the sinfulness
of this old nature and let's ask God for grace to suppress
this old man, this old nature. Let us pray for His grace to
keep us from temptation, from harm's way. Secondly, let us
be careful of the company we keep. Let us be careful of the
company. Let's not surround ourselves
in the enemy, surround ourselves with the enemy of the Lord. Now
listen to this scripture, 1 Corinthians 15, Be not deceived, for evil
companions, evil associates, corrupt your good manners. Now, I know we have to live in
this world. We have to go to work. But we don't have to be
of this world. Let us be careful who we associate
with, lest they corrupt. Lest they corrupt our thoughts,
our thinking. Secondly, or thirdly, let us strive against sin. Let
us resist temptation of the flesh and let us crucify the flesh
as we're exhorted in Scripture to put off the old man with his
deeds and put on the new man which is created in Christ Jesus
unto good works. So let's take the example of
Peter and let us be warned not to sit among those who are the
enemies of the gospel It will not bring us anything but harm. Now here's the third thing, and
mainly this is what I want to work on today. We see in verse
55 down through verse 64, we see the Lord Jesus Christ, convicted,
sentenced to death for one statement, one word. He said, I am. He speaks nothing but absolute
truth. And their response was, this
is evil. He speaks evil. And we find him
guilty. Guilty of death. The sentence
they sought against him was death. Many times they plotted and planned
to put him to death. Many times they sought occasion
to stone him, as we read in John 10. Now in order to get what
they wanted, they had to charge him with a crime that demanded
death according to the law of Moses. They intended to prove
a charge of blasphemy against him. That is evil speaking or
speaking evil doctrine that's contrary to the Word of God.
And by the law of God, that merited death. Now look at verse 55,
the chief priest and all the council sought for witness against
Jesus to put Him to death, and they found none. They sought
for a true witness to put Him to death, and they found none. Not one witness brought forth
to prove their flimsy and false charges. So these haters of God
sought for more witnesses. to bring further accusations
against the Lord. And their witness could not agree."
Look at verse 56, "...for many bear false witness against Him,
but their witnesses did not even agree." Now remember, according
to the law of God in Deuteronomy chapter 19, in the mouth of two
or three witnesses, every word shall be established. So here
come all these false witnesses to say, well, he said this, and
the other one said, no, no, he said this. There was confusion. And they could not agree. Finally,
finally, it says in verse 57, and there arose certain and bare
false witness against him saying, verse 58, we've heard him say,
I will destroy the temple, that physical building that is made
with hands. And within three days, this is
what they said, that he said, I'll build another without hands.
But neither so did their witness agree. I want you to find John
chapter 2. John chapter 2. Now, here's what
they heard. John chapter 2. Here's what the
reference is to. John chapter 2, Luke verse 18.
Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What signs showest
thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? And Jesus
answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple. He's talking
about his body. And in three days he's talking
about the resurrection. And I'll raise it up again. He
wasn't talking about a physical building. Read on, look at verse
20. Then said the Jews, Forty-six years was this temple and building.
Would thou rear it up in three days? You see, they didn't understand
what He was saying. But He spoke of the temple of
His body. When therefore He was raised
from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this
unto them, and they believed the Scriptures and the word which
He had said unto them. They did not understand what
He was saying. It wasn't that physical temple.
He's talking about His death and His glorious resurrection.
So their witness didn't agree either. Look back at Mark 14. Notice carefully verse 60 and
following. And the high priest stood up
in the midst and asked Jesus, saying, Answeredst thou nothing? What is it which these witnesses
against thee? What are they saying? But he
held his peace. He answered nothing. And again,
the high priest asked him and said unto him, Art thou the Christ? You the Messiah? The Son of the
blessed Most High God?" And he said, I am. I am. The high priest became so angry
and hostile toward the Lord Jesus Christ because he didn't seek
to defend himself against these false charges. Should he? Should
he? He didn't try refute what they said. It was false, and
he knew it. So now the high priest, Caiaphas is his name, goes on
the attack. Aren't thou the Christ, the Son
of the Most High God? I'm glad he asked that question.
Because the answer that we have, the Lord says, I am. I am. You remember in John 10, where
the Jews said to him, how long do you make us to doubt? If you
be the Christ, tell us plainly. And when he said, I told you,
I've already told you the works that I do declare I am the Christ. He said, you will not believe
because you're not my sheep. He told them plainly, I am the
Christ. Now notice the Lord's plain,
clear, direct, bold answer. I am. I am. This is the same
glorious person that speaks from the burning bush when Moses stood
before Him on... And God said, take off your shoes,
Moses. You stand on holy ground for
you're in My presence. And Moses said, Lord, whom shall
I say sent me down to Egypt to deliver Israel? And He said,
you tell them that I am. I am that I am have sent Thee
to deliver My people." The Lord answers in a direct and deliberate
way that all could understand at least what He was saying.
The Lord plainly declared that He is not only the Son of God
and the Christ of God, but more importantly, that He is God. Manifest in the flesh. to those
same Jews, when you've seen Me, you've seen the Father. I and
My Father, we are one. We are one. Without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. His answer was such. that they either had to bow and
worship Him as God, or reject Him as an imposter and condemn
Him to death. There was no middle ground. No
middle ground. Our Lord said in another place,
if you're not with Me, you're against Me. There's no neutral
place. The Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ demands complete surrender or unbelief. There's no middle
ground. No neutral ground. Either worship
Him as God or reject Him as God's Christ. Truly, the record of Scripture declares
that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. He is the Christ. Let me show you a couple of places.
Turn to Matthew 16. Are you the Christ? Yes, I am,
he says. Matthew 16. Remember the Lord
asked this question one day. Matthew 16, verse 13. When Jesus
came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples,
saying, whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they
said, some say that, or John the Baptist. or Elias, or Jeremiah,
or one of the other prophets. And he saith unto them, But whom
say ye that I am?" Then Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." And the
Lord said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh
and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but My Father which
is in heaven." Turn to one other Scripture. Is He the Christ? Is Jesus of Nazareth the Christ?
The Son of God? The Messiah? Oh yes. The Redeemer? The Savior? Oh
yes. Turn to John chapter 6. John
chapter 6. The Word of God is clear on this
point. Do we look for another? Or are
you the Christ? Tell us plainly. I am. I am. John 6, verse 65, And He said, therefore said I
unto you that no man can come unto Me except it were given
unto him of My Father." From that time, many of the Jews went
back. Many of His disciples went back
and walked no more with Him when He declared His sovereignty and
salvation. Verse 67, then said Jesus to
the twelve, will you also walk away from Me? He said, there's
the door, there's the opportunity, are you getting ready to leave?
Then leave. Then Simon Peter answered and
said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. We believe and are sure that
Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. He is the
Messiah. He is the one sent of God. So the Lord declared. Now look
at Mark 14 again, verse 62. Mark 14, verse 62. Are you the
Christ? And the Lord answers, I am. I
am the Christ. But notice two other things here.
He said, you shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand
of power, and then He says, coming in the clouds of heaven. Truly He says, I am the Christ. But secondly, He declares His
total victory over sin, over Satan, and over death. He says,
you shall see the Son of Man, the God-man mediator, sitting
on the right hand of power. What does that mean? The right
hand of God is the place where only God sits. Is that true? It's a place of sovereign power,
a place of absolute holiness, a place of preeminence. The Father
in love with the Son has given all things into His hand. When
He by Himself purged our sin, He sat down the right hand of
the throne of God, delivered for our offenses and raised again
because He justified us. What He declares here is His
victory. You shall see the Son of Man
sitting the right hand of power. This is the one to whom we have
to do. This is the one to whom we have
to answer unto. Thirdly, He declares His victorious
return. And coming in the clouds of glory. And coming. The Lord is on His
way. Behold, He says in Revelation
1, He said, Behold, I come. The Lord's victorious return. He went away in victory. And
my friend, He's coming back in victory. The Lord of Glory is
coming back for two reasons. I find two reasons in this Word
that tells us why He's coming back. Number one is this, to
receive what He bought with His own blood. God bought us with
His own blood. You're not your own. You're bought
with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your
spirit, which are His. He bought us. He's coming back
to receive us unto Himself. He says that in John 14. In my Father's house are many
mansions, dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself
that where I am, there you may be also. In Acts chapter 1, when the Lord
ascended to glory, the angels declared that day, you men of
Galilee, why stand ye gazing up and watch the Lord of glorious
Ascend to that third heaven. This same Jesus which is taken
up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you
see Him go. He's coming back for His own
to receive us unto Himself. What's the second reason? To judge and condemn the ungodly. Now let me show you that. If
you'll find 2 Thessalonians, he's going to come to receive
his own and to himself, but there's something else that's going to
take place. He's going to judge every rebel righteously. Those who believe not the gospel,
the wrath of God abides on them and one day will be executed.
2 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 7. To you who are troubled, rest
with us. when the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire,
taking vengeance on them that know not God, that obey not the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord, from the glory of
His power, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints,
and to be admired in all them that love Him, that believe Him,
because our testimony among you was believed in that day. Now
look right across the page. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse
16, For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God, and
the dead in Christ shall be raised first, shall rise first. Then
we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall
we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another
with these words." The Lord's coming back. Now stay right here. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse
1. You say, well preacher, I hear
everybody talking about this event and that event, and
this is taking place and that is taking place, and everything
is happening, and we are looking for signs in these different
things to usher in the coming of the Lord. We're not looking for signs and
wonders. We're looking for the coming
of the Lord. We're looking for Him. It says explicitly here
in the Word of God, but of the times and seasons, brethren,
you have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly
that the day of the Lord so cometh as the thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace
and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon
a woman with child, and they shall not escape." The Lord is
coming. When is He coming? I'll tell you when. think not, the Son of Man cometh.
And the hour that we think not, He comes. Behold, I come. Now,
I want you to look back to Mark 14. I'm looking for Him who is coming,
not looking for the... They talk about the... I don't
believe in a secret rapture. Nothing's secret about when the
Lord shall speak with the sound of a trumpet." Ain't nothing
secret about that. The Lord will take His people home to glory.
But I'm looking for the Lord Himself who's coming. But the
last thing I want you to notice is this. In v. 63 down through v. 65, at Mark
14, then the high priest rent his clothes and saith, what need
we any further evidence, witnesses? We've heard this. This evil speaking. What do you think? What's your
opinion? What's your judgment? What's the verdict? And they all condemn him to be
guilty of death. And they begin to spit on him.
What would you think if someone walked
up to you and spit in your face? Pretty insulting, isn't it? I
can't think of anything that's much more insulting than that.
And they started to cover his face, his eyes, and to hit him
with the palm of their hand, strike him with the fist, and
say, well, you fear the prophet? You tell us then who hit you. Here we see the natural man's
response to the truth of the gospel. You remember he declared
that same truth in John chapter 10? I give unto my sheep eternal
life, they'll never perish. I am a father of one, and they
took up stones again to stone him." What did the Lord do that
caused such vile and vicious attack upon him? What did he
do? He told the truth. He told the
truth. The Scriptures describe the reason
of his hatred toward the truth, him who is the truth. Romans
8, 7 says, the carnal mind is enmity against God, deep-seated
hatred. 1 Corinthians 2, 14, the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, they are
foolishest unto him, neither can he know them. They mock His
message. They call the message of truth
evil. That's how sinful we are. They mock His person. They spit
in the face of God. They mocked his office, didn't
they? He'd be a prophet. Tell us who
hit you. They covered his eyes with a
blindfold and hit him in the face. Later on, they put a purple
robe on him and mocked him. Purple robe. Purple is the color
of royalty. They put a purple robe on him,
those soldiers did, in Pilate's hall and gave him a staff, crown
of thorns. Hail the King! They mocked his
office as king. Now, listen to this. I'll send
you home with this. If you're a lover of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's the power of God unto salvation,
a lover of His person, as altogether lovely as the Christ of God,
as all of your salvation, to you who believe, He is precious. If you're a lover of his person,
a lover of his gospel, if you're a lover of his office, they mocked
his office. If you're a lover of his office,
his puppet to reveal the way of salvation, priest to make
atonement for our sin with his own blood, king to rule and reign
over us, it's only because of God's sovereign grace that has
made us to differ. Left to ourselves our same response,
would be just like those in that day. To clear our throat and
to spit in the face of God. We still would be among the mockers
of the Gospel instead of those who believe the Gospel. It makes
my heart rejoice in God's sovereign grace in Christ Jesus. May God help us to believe and
to continue to believe and to contend for the faith once delivered
unto the saints.