Now, beloved, I want to bring to our attention that what we just sang were words out of the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ, though what we just sang was a setting of Psalm 35, which, by the way, proves again how the focus of all the Bible, including the Old Testament, is on the Lord Jesus Christ, including Psalm 35. We just sang words that would have been very appropriate for the Lord himself to sing, particularly with the matters that we consider this morning, as we turn again to Mark. And so let's go there, Mark 14. But think as you go home that you sang the words that the Lord Jesus Christ also would find great help and comfort in singing from Psalm 35. We go then to Mark chapter 14, Where we, at verses 53 through 65, consider Jesus, that's the possessive there, Jesus' word and his conviction. He is convicted by his own words. Let's consider that this morning in Mark 14, beginning at verse 53 and through to 65. They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, elders, and teachers of the law came together. Peter followed him at a distance right into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire. The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree. Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him. We heard him say, I will destroy this man-made temple, and in three days we'll build another, not made by man. Yet, even then, their testimony did not agree. Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you? But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again, the high priest asked him, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed one? I am, said Jesus. And you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of the mighty one and coming on the clouds of heaven. The high priest tore his clothes. Why do we need any more witnesses, he asked. You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think? They all condemned him as worthy of death. Then some began to spit at him. They blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, prophesy. And the guards took him and beat him. As far beloved, the glorious and perfect and always helpful word of the living God. Let's ask his most merciful help by his spirit this morning as we continue, shall we? Let's pray. Well, God of heaven and earth, we come to you again this morning, thankful for the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit, whom the Lord Jesus Christ poured out, sent, And we know that in his ministry, he takes up the word, the word he inspired, and applies that word to our hearts and minds, which is what we ask for this morning, the very thing he designs to do. And so with confidence, oh most merciful God, we pray that you would enable us to understand and to apply and thus live out your word, and we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. Well, dear congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is important in narrative, in narrative, to follow the movement, the motion that we see in the passage. This type, this category of biblical literature is called narrative. And again, we focus on action and motion. We look at words and conversation and teaching. For example, these things are narrated for us in the passages that we've been studying in Mark. And we've been able to follow, as it were, the storyline. But what we have learned in that study, all now through the book of Mark, is that Jesus, in all of this, is not passive. He is not acted upon. He acts. He does not receive actions. He does things. Well, having said that, and we've stressed it quite a number of times, There is a sense in which we come now to the place where that begins to change. It does not fully change, but in certain ways it will be now going through a process of where he is acted upon and taken places and things are done to him. People will act against him, though only according to the will of God. And his words, Jesus' words, are here still the cause which bring about the effects that we study. His words are the cause which bring about all the effects that we here study, which, Christian, are all here for your salvation. This is all for our salvation. So we find consolation that Jesus proceeds toward the cross by his own words. We find consolation that Jesus proceeds toward the cross by his own words. Well, I want you to notice, first of all, our first point, which is from verse 53, Jesus is in their hands now. But before we go any further, look at the fourth point in our sermon. You'll see, in their hands, they abuse him in ungodly ways, which we take from verse 65. I say that now to help us notice again the issue of bookends that structure this narrative passage. Verse 53, they took Jesus. Verse 65, the guards took him. But I have to make a comment about that from verse 65, because once again, here, our NIV is giving us commentary. The original Greek words of verse 65 don't say exactly the same as verse 53, but I think, again, it's proper commentary. that is, the guards will come to this later, take charge of him and abuse him. They will bring him, chapter 15, verse one, to Pilate. All of that to say that Jesus now is no longer free to move about as he wishes except by the power of his words, which we'll see shortly. Because now the enemy, Satan, the devil, has sprung his wicked trap making use of men who are charged with upholding the word of God. This is to my mind, and I would imagine to most of us as Christians, one of the saddest commentary, saddest aspects of this whole last section of each gospel, whether it be Mark, Matthew, Luke, or John, that these men, this anhedron, The chief priests, the high priests, the elders, the teachers of the law who are charged with upholding the word of God are the ones who here are used in the most devilish way. Can I make for us a very general application which the church needs to hear all the time, including in our own age? Official title does not make a person holy. Official titles in and of themselves do not make a person godly. If you look at the past 40 years in the church in North America, even if we narrow that focus down to the United States of America, in the last 40 years, some of the most offensive scandals to erupt in the church have come in the names of ministers or elders, leaders who go off the rails in terrible sins. And so we see that here clearly. Beloved, pray for the church. Can I make that a plea in terms of the ministry of ministers, pastors going forward until the Lord Jesus returns? Pray for the church. Well, Christ is under guard. He is arrested and forced to stand trial. Why? Why is he restricted, bound as it were, to remain there and accept the lies and abuse about to be unleashed on him? Why? Because he stands on the truth and for us. Had he relented at any point and rejected the truth, What would be your situation? Pause and consider that a minute. We look at the text, it's again one that we're pretty familiar with. We know sort of what's going on here. We know what's gonna happen after this, at least we know that very well. But there's some detail here we need to sort out. But what if at one of those moments Jesus would have relented, oh, it's enough, stop, I'll do what you want. Now, we think that to be a ridiculous thing to even consider or say, but had it been so, what would be your eternal destiny and mine? Damnation only. He must stand for the truth and for us, or we would be utterly lost. And so he stands. Now, beloved, we need to say something else about an application from the text. And it goes like this. He still stands for the truth today. And he does so likewise through his church. We don't believe that church offices or official titles automatically make a person right, or holy, or godly. Those officers who hold those titles, whether it be minister, or elder, or deacon, or whatever office in the broad consideration of the church, have likewise need to be considered standing on the truth, committed to that. You see, Christ builds his church on, not despite of, the truth. Satan the devil is the father of lies, and lying is his native language. And there are two opposing realities alive and well in our world right now, truth and the lie. The church must, like Christ here, be unmovable. on the truth. And you can apply that to 100 different cultural issues as your mind wanders in considering those things of our age. The church must stand, like Christ here, on the truth. We're gonna see why now as we go on. Second, factual testimony for his death is not found. Verse 53, we're told plainly that all the religious leaders are there. We see Peter mentioned in verse 54. It's a sad state of affairs. We'll come back to him, Lord willing, next week. Verse 55 reveals that the leaders, notice this, they were not interested in the truth, but in pragmatism. Young people beware the danger of pragmatism, we find it in the text here. What they were looking for, verse 55, was evidence against Jesus, read it rapidly, so that they could put him to death. The point is, so that they could put him to death. They had decided that long before. We're told of that in chapter 14 already of Mark. And even long before that, the hints are building that this is what they want to do with him. By chapter 14, they've made that their complete and only goal and purpose in life is to put Jesus of Nazareth to death. And so here, they're not interested in the truth. They just want enough to go on. enough, quote, evidence that lines up with their predetermined verdict. Jesus must die. Have you ever stopped and tried to consider the life of a priest in the old covenant? or even the high priests in the old covenant administration, or the elders, the teachers of the law in the old covenant system, how they were supposed to be by their clothing, by their mannerisms, by their life, completely sold out and dedicated to upholding the word of God in every way. That's what they were supposed to be. Have you ever stopped to consider such a person and how it is that they come to this position rather, which is the absolute opposite? How does that happen? How could they want him dead and be totally disinterested in the pursuit of truth? We could say, kind of flippantly, like has gone on in America recently, this is a very definition of a kangaroo court. We would not be wrong to say that. But why? Well, envy? Surely. Jealousy? Yes. Greed? As we'll see, by the way, this evening in a different way. But all of those wrapped up in the reality that their power base is being stripped away from them. Do you realize that it is AD 70, about 40 years later, that the whole of Jerusalem will be destroyed by the invading Roman armies? The temple will be destroyed. That is, the end of the old covenant system will come. Their time is limited. They don't know that at this point, but they do sense that things are in great flux. And this one, Jesus, if what he wants to do is accomplished, will take away their power. their wealth, their influence. Because notice, that until the very last hour, Jesus has the affection of the people. Because we've been going slowly through Mark, it seems like a long time ago that we considered the triumphal entry, Palm Sunday. It was just a few days ago in the chronology of the passage where the people were shouting, Hosanna, here comes the king. And the religious rulers do not want their get rich quick scheme taken out from under them. They hate him. Yet beloved, catch the irony, catch the irony, even with all of that, with all the power of the Sanhedrin, with all of the tries they've made, attempts that they've made to get witnesses to come in to give valid evidence, there is none. No truthful evidence is found. Now we can again make some connections with that and ask about the views of Jesus and his church today. How do those views go? How is he spoken of? How is the true biblical church addressed in popular culture, in the media, in the news, government considerations? Well, let's just say this bluntly. And beloved, these are carefully chosen words. There is no reasoned, thoughtful, neutral position on the Lord Jesus Christ or his church. In our world today, there is no reasoned, thoughtful, neutral position on the Lord Jesus Christ or his church. Because you see, the high priest and the priests, the elders, the teachers of the law, they were thinkers. They had to be able to reason. You had to be able to pore over the books, the scrolls, and then look at the evidence in the world of what was going on around them and come to reasoned positions. Now, why are we stressing this? Because sometimes we think, as the church, and we get into the era of thinking, well, the world is just dumb. The news media, the government officials, the philosophies are just unreasoned foolishness. Beloved, that's a dangerous thing to think. If I were to assign to some of you, by the way, I'd never do this, to read the works of Karl Marx, ick, you would not find it easy reading translated into the English. It is very intellectual. It is also true that other wicked tyrants in the history of the world, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, many others, and in our own day the same, have come to reasoned convictions. They've thought through things. Now we automatically know that their convictions are wrong, ungodly, unbelievably so, but the point we're making here, beloved, is that there is not a neutral position about the Lord Jesus Christ and his church and those who influence the world in the day they live in. Well, that leads us back to the question. What are people thinking about Christianity now in all of those thinking schools? They still hate the Lord Jesus Christ and his church. We cannot put it any more plainly than that. the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in America in 2024 and beyond, we must reckon with that. We cannot think differently about the world that we're living in. We could go to 1 John and make the point. We could go to Paul's writings and make the point. We can go back to the Psalms and make the point again and again and again. That those who win friends and influence people in the world of today have come to the position that to them Jesus and his church is a threat. And the followers of the Lord are to be dealt with very shrewdly, that's you and me. And if possible, put into prison, that's you and me. Now what do we know what's gonna happen? We know the text, don't we? We know the passage, we know what's coming, we know the result, we know what the Lord's final will is about all of these things. And so we don't get discouraged, but we have to live in the real world. And in that real world, there is no true evidence about Jesus being who they say he is. Remember that, young people. The true evidence is in the scriptures. Well, let's see that thirdly. Jesus is in charge through his words. So in verses 55 through 59, it goes on, the high priests, the chief priests, the teachers of the law, they seek to gin up some evidence to allow them to call to have him put to death. No evidence is found. Then verse 60, the high priest steps in. Now there are two phases to the questioning that the high priest brings. Two phases, and in phase one, He asks about all of them. That is, notice very carefully here, then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, are you not going to answer, what is this testimony that these men are bringing against you? Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. He fulfills again a portion of Isaiah 53, like the lamb before its shears is silent. So he is silent. He offers up not a word. He doesn't say anything. Why not? Because those so-called pieces of evidence were all wicked lies. And so he finds no reason whatsoever to answer them. That's phase one of the high priest's questions. But then, verse 61b, again the high priest asked him, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed one? If you can imagine the scene for a moment, all the noise dies down. All the clamoring back and forth between the false witnesses stops, and they're all turned toward Jesus, Waiting. What will he say? How will he answer? Do you think we're making too much of it if we say that in verse 62 he answers like was heard at the burning bush? I am. I am. And you will see two things now, verse 62. You will see the Son of Man seated at the Father's right hand, enthroned as it were. And this is where the Lord Jesus Christ is right now, beloved. He has enthroned his session, as it's sometimes called, at the Father's right hand. But then the second thing, and also coming on the clouds of heaven. As the room was silent until he speaks those words, the movement toward the cross then begins with great speed after that. I want you to notice this in the text. Remember we said this kind of Bible, this kind of the Bible language and genre, if we can use that more complicated word, focuses on motion, movement. And the words, Jesus' words in verse 62, Begin a series of events with verse 63. The high priest tears his clothes. He cries out, we don't need any more witnesses. Verse 64, you've heard the blasphemy yourselves. What is your evaluation? He calls for a vote. It's seconded. All in favor. He's worthy of death because of what? Because of, verse 64, blasphemy. Why does the high priest use that word? Because he understands what Jesus has said. He understands clearly that Jesus has claimed that he is God. And of course, that's exactly right. Now, it's not blasphemy because he is God and he has spoken truthfully, but the interpretation of his words brings us to only one conclusion about what the high priest understands that he has said. He's made the claim to be God. Jesus is not passive, you see. He acts, he speaks, And beloved Christian, as you think about your salvation, you must realize that this is, again, one of those places in the New Testament narrative where had he not spoken or had he said something different, which is inconceivable for us to think about, but had he said something different, what about our salvation? We're lost. But we're saved because he speaks here the truth. And because he says, yes, I am God, the Messiah. I will be seated at the Father's right hand, and I will come again as your judge. They hear him loud and clear. I want to ask us something about that in terms of evangelism. When we are reaching out evangelistically, the one thing that we want people to interact with is not our testimony. Now I'm not trying to pick on us perhaps using our life story or our testimony maybe to be of some value of engaging them in conversation. That's fine as far as it goes. But what we want our friends and neighbors and coworkers and unbelievers of all sorts to interact with is the word of God. In the back of our minds as we are conversing with them, we want to listen to their response to what the word of God says. What do people say about God's word? Maybe especially about the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ. What do they do with Jesus? That's what we want to know. Because you see, he does not hide who he is. I say this advisedly, carefully, because I hope you know what I mean. But if there were ever a time for him to be quiet about his true identity, this would have been it. But he's not quiet. This is the opposite now of being silent. Now he speaks. He must say it. He is the Lord, the true Messiah. He will be glorified. He will return in conquering power as the judge. But what do you say about who he is? That's the most important question that you have to consider this morning. If I handed you a quiz of five questions as you walk out this morning, shake the pastor's hand. Thanks pastor. And I had you a quiz of five questions about who Jesus is asking from your heart about what you believe. What would you say? How would you answer the claim that he makes? is to be the only Messiah, the Christ, the son of the living God, the savior in whom we must have all our hope. And so when we speak to friends, family members, neighbors, coworkers who do not know him, that's what we want to learn about them. What do they believe in their heart of hearts? Then fourthly, in their hands, they abuse him in ungodly ways. Verse 65 reveals the truth of everything we've been saying so far. It reveals the truth of their character. They act in gross, evil ways. The devil has their hearts, and their hands, and their spit prove it. I'm going to interact with something a minute because I need to say this from the text and the study of it. These wretches, these wretches might be thinking to themselves, well, this is the right way to respond because of what he has claimed. But I think this goes far beyond intellect. This goes far beyond just a simple intellectual assessment of the situation. And it rather reveals what's going on in their hearts. They are glee-filled as they are doing this. They're excited about the opportunity to take out their anger and contempt in physical ways. Beloved, make no mistake about it. They are filled with satanic glee to be causing pain and contempt and shame to fall upon Jesus. Can we say that again now? in a way that addresses our culture. We are very greatly mistaken if we don't think that Satan and wicked people enjoy causing pain to the godly. We are very greatly mistaken if we don't think that Satan and wicked people enjoy causing pain to the ungodly. Nothing has changed. Nothing has changed, dear church. The devil wishes for Jesus and us to suffer the most excruciating pain possible for the longest possible time. There is zero mercy in Satan, no relenting to his vile wickedness. And here we see foisted upon the Lord, but some of the smallest measures of what is yet coming, but measures of the devil's delight. and the guards. It seemed also controlled by the enemy, the devil. Take Jesus. And the text says, beat him. It's probably best guess two in the morning right now, somewhere in there. How bloody is he when He shortly thereafter is brought before Pontius Pilate, chapter 15. How bloody already. Oh dear Christian, all of this for you and for me. He suffers this humiliation and this terrible pain by his own words for us. And it must matter to us. It does, doesn't it? It must grip our hearts. It does, right? How do we view Jesus, this Jesus, who didn't remain silent when he could have? I say that only hypothetically. We know he couldn't have. He must go forward. He is already working here on our redemption. How thankful we are to be those that he has redeemed So that when the forces of evil, when the forces of wickedness move against the church or you as a Christian and tell you you must be silent about this or about that, what will you do? How will you respond? There's plenty of opportunity for the Christian in today's culture to say to somebody lovingly but firmly, because we're standing on the truth, no, that's wrong. Bring your life over here and find hope and peace and joy. Here, Christ, the son of the blessed one, our Messiah, the king of kings, the returning judge, held nothing back. And oh, beloved, all our allegiance is to him. Amen. Oh, Heavenly Father, how we praise you for the help that your word by your spirit brings to the heart and life of the believer and how we need that help. Oh, Lord, Revel in to be comforted by the reality of our salvation won by Jesus Christ and then Lord help. To live out the implications, the application in everyday life of that salvation, not. Holding back. And so Lord, thank you. That you blessed us this morning. Now receive our thanks and our praise. We offered in Jesus name. Amen. Congregation we're going to respond now from our red songbook the red songbook will begin that response at 282 standing to sing redeemed how I love to proclaim it and then our benediction and then the doxology 386 one and four in the red songbook, but let's begin 282 in the red songbook