What page was it, Phillip? 836. 836 in the Black Bibles. Now I wrote on the board for you Matthew 26, Luke 22, and John 18 because I'm going to be pulling from the other accounts. 836. Give me a couple of references in those other books. Wait, Mark what? Mark chapter 14. All right, it's good to be with you to study God's Word together. Let us read starting in verse, maybe we'll just go 53. starting in verse 53 through the rest of the chapter. Remember, Jesus had been praying. He woke up the apostles that were with him. And Judas was there with the Roman army and the temple officers to arrest him. And this is where we pick up. After they had bound his hands, now they're gonna lead him away. So verse 53 says this. They led Jesus away to the high priest, and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes gathered together. Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest, and he was sitting with the officers and warming himself at the fire. Now the chief priests and the whole council kept trying to obtain testimony against him, against Jesus, to put him to death, and they were not finding any. For many were giving false testimony against him, but their testimony was not consistent. Some stood up and began to give false testimony against him saying, we heard him say, I will destroy this temple made with hands. And in three days I will build another made without hands. Not even in this respect was their testimony consistent. The high priest stood up and came forward and questioned Jesus saying, do you not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against you? But he kept silent and did not answer. Again, the high priest was questioning him and saying to him, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed one? And Jesus said, I am. And you shall see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. Verse 63. Tearing his clothes, the high priest said, What further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy. How does it seem to you? And they all condemned him to be deserving of death. Some began to spit at him and to blindfold him and to beat him with their fists and say to him, prophesy. And the officers received him with slaps in the face. Verse 66, as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, you also were with Jesus the Nazarene. But he denied it, saying, I neither know nor understand what you are talking about. And he went out onto the porch. The servant girl saw him and began once more to say to the bystanders, this is one of them. But again, he denied it. And after a little while, the bystanders were again saying to Peter, surely You are one of them, for you are a Galilean, too.' But he began to curse and swear, I do not know this man you are talking about.' Immediately a rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, before a rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. And he began to weep." Let's pray. Father, creator of heaven and earth, who holds the earth in the palm of his hand, who numbered every star and named it and put it in its place, the sovereign one. In one word, God, we come to you in the name of your blessed son, Jesus. who has come blameless as a witness to men of the light. But men love darkness rather than the light, lest their deeds be exposed, for men love sin rather than God. And they change the glory of you into corruptible things made with hands of stone and wood. And we too are guilty of this. because we're ignorant of what the scriptures reveal you as. Today, Father, may you reveal yourself to us in a greater way so that we know you more. As the song said, while we try to preach the word, things too high for us, especially me standing before these people. Father, I just pray that people understand your love for them, your pity that you had on us, your mercy, something we did not deserve. And you offered up all these things we just read. Willingly, he gave himself to die for me, as the song just said. He gave himself to the spits in the face and the slaps and the false trial, the setup. Father, may we see you in a greater way. May you send your Holy Spirit to awaken us from a slumber of loving this world too much. The deception of loving riches. The deception of loving our own selfish kind. Lord, we long for these days in which we can meet with the saints and worship you together as a church. Father, may you unite us in the bonds of love in this way. Father, I thank you for the testimony that Bob gave to the non-believer that said, have we lost you? Yes, you have. The world has lost us. We are yours. And Father, I'm thankful for Kyle, who just uttered that quickly. Yes, I will give up all and follow Christ. Father, may this be the theme of this church. Give up all to follow Christ. Father, we surrender all. Father, we want to surrender all. Please cleanse us this day in the blood of Christ. and may your name be made known among the Gentiles. Amen. All right, thank you, Andrew. All right, so our text in Mark says in verse 43, I'm sorry, verse 53, they led Jesus away to the high priest. The high priest at the time, it's a little complicated, is Caiaphas, but in John's gospel, John 18, it says this, they led him first to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas. Now what's happened in Israel is Rome came in and is occupying, is supervising Israel. Biblically speaking, the high priest is a descendant of Aaron, and is to be high priest for life. Rome came in and decided that if they don't like something, they'll just install a different guy that they can tolerate. They're okay with you doing your thing, just don't cause a disruption, and if you do, you're done, quickly. So Rome had established Annas as high priest, And he was high priest from 7 to 14. And then Caiaphas, he was fired, and then Caiaphas took over, his son-in-law. Annas had five sons who, they're going to be in the history of the high priesthood too. They go in and out all the time. But Annas, to this generation, was deemed as the high priest of the people. although he was fired by Rome. So that's why you're going to have two different... It's a little confusing. I'm trying not to confuse it. Maybe I'm confusing it more. John says they first took him to Annas, the high priest, in John chapter 18. And I think there's a reason for this. I think Jesus is giving a witness to every possible leader in Israel. If you remember back in Mark chapter 1, you have a leprous man who is cleansed of his leprosy. He says Jesus, having compassion on him, said, I'm willing to be cleansed. Don't tell anybody. Go show yourself to the priest. And it says, if you, I mean, I can read it. I better read it so I don't screw it up. It says this. See that you say nothing to anyone. This is verse 44 of chapter one. Show yourself to the priests and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded as a testimony to them. As a testimony to them. As evidence to them of my miraculous power, you are a leper and now you're cleansed. Jesus wants to make sure that there's a testimony given. In Mark chapter six, the same thing happens. He sends the apostles out to preach. If they don't receive you, shake off the dust. And it says the same thing, as a testimony against them. Matthew 23, this is where he's denouncing the religious leaders. And he says this, fill up the measure of your sin. Fill up. God has patience with the unbeliever. God has patience with us, and we can all give testimony to that. He gives men plenty of evidence, plenty of revealing of his divine nature. Some would say, what about those who have never heard of Jesus? That's the common argument, right? How do we, we better be prepared to answer that. If you're a Christian, what do you say? What about those who never heard of Jesus? Well, you can think of this. What do cultures do? Naturally, what do they, what does every culture in the world do? They make a God in their own mind. and then they carve them out of wood and say, here's our God, look it, now let's worship this thing. Or they make them up, well, yeah, it's a, the volcano's a God, or the lightning bolt, that's God, or, you know, we need the God of war, we're gonna worship Ku. That's what cultures do, you know why they do that? Because they know that there is a God, and that they are without excuse, because God has revealed himself to man through creation. We look at a tree and we know, well, that just didn't happen. Somebody made that, just like, you know that somebody wrote on the board today. What's the evidence that somebody wrote on the board, that there's writing on the board? The ink didn't fall from heaven and organize itself Make all them words. Creation is a testimony. In the Bible, you have Asherah, Baal, Shemash, Nilkal, Dagon, Marduk. In Hawaii, you have a whole bunch of gods, right? We just passed the Heiau and Kauai. You should research that. That's the altar of Ku. Thousands, thousands of human sacrifices, the blood was spilled all over the rocks right there. Not far from here. Oh, you can go down to South Point and see the same thing, right? Bloodthirsty men trying to offer sacrifices to appease a deity. Kamehameha kills his own cousin out of trickery. Here, the war god, here's your sacrifice. Now I, quote, unified the islands. Didn't unify them, he conquered them by worshiping false gods. Romans 9 says this, what if God, although willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make his power known, endured with patience vessels of wrath? prepared for destruction. Why did he do so? The Lord answers it. Why is God so patiently allowing King Kamehameha to slaughter thousands of human beings? He did so to make the riches of his glory upon the vessels of mercy. That would be us. which he prepared beforehand for glory. God gives a witness in this world so that nobody is without excuse. We know there's a God. God reveals himself through his word. Jesus goes to Annas first and then to Caiaphas and the whole Sanhedrin and all of the Jewish leaders as a testimony to them. Sadly, they rejected him. So we're gonna pick it up with that information that he went to Annas first, 53, then they led Jesus away to the high priest and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes gathered together. When you see that chief priest, high priest, elders, scribes, that's what's called the Sanhedrin. That's the council of the religious leaders. Every time that's there, that's what they're talking about, the Sanhedrin they met. Remember, it's super early in the morning, could be 1, could be 3. And it's cold, we know that because of the fire. And when he gets there, when he gets there, what do they do? Verse 54 is talking about Peter following at a distance. right into the courtyard of the high priest. He was sitting with his officer. We'll look at that in a little bit. I'm going to end with Peter's story there. Peter ends up going in. Verse 55, now the chief priest and the whole council kept trying to obtain testimony against Jesus. Looks like the verdict's already in, right? Is that what you read right here? What's the verdict already? They're trying to get testimony to put him to death. Is that how that court injustice is supposed to work? Well, he's deserving of death. We just got to find enough evidence to prove that our verdict is just. See how unjust this trial is? Jenny, are you asking a question? Yes, sir. Which God would you serve? I would serve the living and true God. How about you? Same, good. I'll serve him with you all your days, okay, Jenny? They're desperate for anything they can find. They're trying, they're bringing testimony from anybody they can to put him to death. And you know what it says there? They didn't find any. They didn't find any. So then. Verse 56, many were giving false testimony against him, but their testimonies were not, their testimony, their evidence for putting him to death was not consistent. That means they were contradicting themselves. One person would say this, and then the other guy would come up and they'd contradict, and they'd be like, oh, okay, we can't use them too. You know, the irony of it all, you have the Jewish leaders who are zealous to keep the law, because they know they need two or three witnesses, or for one are having a trial at night and that's forbidden in the law. They're complete hypocrites. They're erasing the practicality of the law for the letter of the law and the ones they want to pick. We've got to be careful. We don't do that to just choose out the verses we like and ignore the ones that we don't. Well, they're giving false testimony. Verse 57, some stood up, began to give false testimony, saying this. Verse 58, we heard him say, now get this, this is their best they got. We got them with these guys. We found two guys that are consistent, and here's their charge. We heard him say, I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands. You know where this came from? John chapter 2. Three years ago, when Jesus said, destroy this temple and I'll raise it up in three days, and he's speaking of the temple of his body, John chapter 2. the first year of Jesus's earthly ministry. Not only the first year, but the beginning of his ministry. The best they got was from three years ago on something that, well, they didn't even get it right, but they're close. How about you? How about you? How about me? I'm on trial. I got three years of life that I've lived. And here I stand before a judge that wants to condemn me to death. You think they're gonna find enough? You bet they will. They don't need three years. For me, they got enough on me in three days, maybe three minutes if they can see my mind. Maybe even three seconds. You know what this says about the blessed Jesus? 100% blameless. 100% sinless. They had nothing they could bring on Him. Nothing. Amazing. Well, they're getting mad because He doesn't answer them, right? Verse 59 says they weren't even consistent with that, but it's close enough for them. not enough to condemn them, but they're getting closer. Verse 60, the high priest stood up, that's Caiaphas, came forward, questioned Jesus, do you not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against you? He could have said, what do you want me to say? What's the question he's asking? What is it that these men are testifying against you? Verse 61, he kept silent. Isaiah 53, fulfillment of Isaiah 53, he kept silent like a sheep to the slaughter. Well, this is irritating to the high priest. By the way, it's a good idea to keep your mouth shut when you're being accused of things and let them talk, especially if you're innocent. The high priest is obviously getting irritated. So he questions him this way. Verse 61, the second part, after it says, he kept silent, did not answer. Again, the high priest is questioning him. and saying to him, we're going to break this one down. Are you the Christ or are you the Messiah or are you the anointed one? There's one question. Maybe I'm just combining them, just breaking it up. Are you the Christ, the son of the blessed one? Well, I think it's Matthew's that puts it a little harsher. I adjure you by the living God. That's what the high priest says. Oh, when Jesus heard that, this is why he answers. Ego mei. If you were here last time I spoke, we went over that. It's funny, they fell to the ground and all that stuff. Ego mei, I'm the light of the world. Ego mei, the bread of life. Ego mei, the resurrection and the light. Before Abraham was ego mei. Same word. I am. Okay, so what is he asking? Let's break this up. To the Jewish mind at this time, I know that you've probably heard this and you probably know something of this. If I were to ask you to describe to me, what is it? What is the Messiah? Or who is the Messiah to be? What is the identification markers of the Messiah? Could you give me some? Anybody want to try right now? What is the Messiah to be according to the Old Testament? I don't know. I'm not sure. She said without sin. I'm not sure if that was prophesied. Probably something similar. Yes. Okay, I can see where you're going. I want a specific thing, like he's to be born in Bethlehem. Something like that. Any more? Born to a virgin. Okay, these things are in the mind. In fact, there are over 300 prophecies given or in typologies in the Old Testament about Jesus, 48 specific prophecies with details like that one, born of a virgin, born in Bethlehem, those sort of things. We could go on, of course, there's a lot. There's identification markers to that. So in their mind as they're asking, are you the Messiah, Jesus? Why does he add the Son of the Blessed One? That could have been one that you gave. Psalm 2, today you are my Son, today I have begotten you, right? Psalm 2, the Messiah was to be the Son. They would say, Son of David. And I'll read you a quote by the Jewish writers here in a little bit. 48 prophecies with specific details. Anybody know what this number is right here? Like, what, what, how do you even say that? Like, I get this, this is a million. That's a billion. That's a trillion. Anybody know what that one is? I don't even know what it is. It's a massive, it's 10 to the 17th power. Make up a word, we'll just, what's the word? What's the word you just made up? Okay, what's the word? Tell ya. What's the word? Okay, gazillion. We're going with gazillion. Okay, think of this, listen to this. For one person to fulfill in one person's lifetime, eight, eight of those prophecies, one in 100, what is it, gazillion? Whatever cadence. Remember, we got 48. 48 is 10 to the 57th. The board's not long enough. 57 zeros after it. That one person can fulfill this. You think that the Messiah is a supernatural being? You know what this number is? 2018 megabillion lottery to win it. 1 in 302 million. 1 out of 302. You could have a chance at winning. You could be a billionaire. Look at the comparison. For Jesus of Nazareth to fulfill eight specific prophecies, born of a virgin, born from Bethlehem, those two sort of things, 10 to the 17th hour. It's an impossibility. Yet with God, all things are possible. He did it. He's the man. We're not looking for another Messiah. He did it. If you were to hollow, take a shovel and hollow the earth out like this. The earth's like this, you understand what I'm saying? Dig out the earth just so it's like a cup. The earth, this earth that we're standing on, and you took a little tiny dime and filled that up. 10 times. 10 times. Then you paint in one of those dimes, through it in the middle, and a blind person, out of the 10 earths full of little dimes, picks out the red one. That's the chances that one person can fulfill the 48 prophecies about the Messiah. through any doubt that Jesus himself is divine God himself. Turn over, if you want, to Isaiah 9.6. Here's a prophecy about the Messiah. says this, for a child will be born to us, a son will be given, that's why, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed one? At least they got that right. And the government will rest on his shoulders. Here's his name. The name of the Messiah is this, wonderful Counselor El Gabor. Mighty God. Mighty God. Al Gabor. You want a proof that Jesus is God? You don't need to wait until John 1. The prophecy is that He is Mighty God. Jeremiah 23. given a prophecy. This is interesting. I might just turn there and read this one too because I think this is going to come up in the rabbinic writings. Jeremiah 23. I'm going to read verse 5 and 6. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, that's the son of David, and he will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. Verse six, in his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name, I just saw the name is mighty God and all the other things, counselor, all that, prince of peace, all that. This is the name by which he'll be called the Lord That's Yahweh, if you're looking at your Bible. Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. Here's the name of the son of David who's predicted to come. The Yahweh our righteousness. Sid Canu. That's the technical name. The Lord Yahweh our righteousness. Now, what does it mean to be the Son of God? This is what I want this church to understand. I wish we could grasp this. That should be enough. Mighty God, the Lord our righteousness, the Messiah is to be God. Turn over to John chapter 5. I know that Caiaphas is ignorant of this. And I know the Jehovah's Witnesses are ignorant of this. And I know the Mormons are ignorant of this. That's why they have a corrupt Jesus. They have the wrong Jesus. Look at verse 18, John chapter 5. I'm sorry, boys, I'm going a little fast, but you'll get there. John chapter 5 simply says this, for this reason, therefore, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him. because he not only was breaking the Sabbath, and why'd they want to kill him? One, didn't keep the law, because they believed that the Messiah, I'll read it, read it, the statement in a second, the Messiah had to be blameless in the law. That's their main argument against Jesus, you're a breaker of the law, you didn't keep the Sabbath, but also was calling God his own father, That's Him saying, I'm the Son. He's the Father. God's my Father. I'm the Son. The Jews are seeking all the more to kill Him because of this. Why? Because what does the Son of God mean? What does it mean to say that I'm the Son of God? For Jesus to say I'm the Son of God, what does it mean? What's the verse say? Yes, Terry. Thank you. Amen. It makes him equal with God. The Mormons can mouth it, and the Jehovah's Witnesses can mouth it that Jesus is the Son of God, but they don't mean the same thing as what the Bible does, because Caiaphas is the same way. Jesus saying, I am the Son of God, is to make himself equal with God. Mighty God, the Lord, our righteousness. Caiaphas in Mark 14 asks Jesus this question, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed one? Jesus says, yes, I am. Then he says this, this is where Caiaphas gets knocked off his rocker. I'm sorry, let me read you this. Let me read you this, this is a rabbinic, rabbinic reading here from their website. Meshiach. I can't use Christ anymore because the Christians have corrupted it. That's why they're going to call it Meshiach. Will be a great political leader. Descended from King David. Know what he quotes? Jeremiah 23, 5. Interesting that the Jews are quoting Jeremiah 23 5 I read for you 23 5 and 23 6 23 6 is the one that calls the Messiah what the Lord our righteousness Yahweh our righteousness. His name will be Yahweh our righteousness Here's a Jew and I'm not saying all Jews believe this. It's just from their website If you reject Jesus, you don't believe this if he were to just read the next verse Yeah, he's a descendant from the king of King David. He's also God. The Mashiach, the Messiah, is often referred to as the Mashiach ben David. He will be well-versed in Jewish law and observant of its commandments. He will be a charismatic leader, inspiring others to follow his example. He will be a great military leader who will win battles for Israel. He will be a great judge who makes righteous decisions. But above all, he will be a human being, not a god, not a demigod or other supernatural being. That's Judaism. That's oneness Pentecostals and other oneness denominations, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons. They cannot see it, there's a veil. There's a veil on their eyes. It has been said that in every generation, listen to this, this is their idea. A person is born with the potential to be the mishyach. 10 to the 17th power. The possibility is yours. You're telling me there's a chance. Unbelievable. Okay, so anyway, sorry about that. Thank you, Bob. Terry laughed, too. If the time is right for the messianic age with the person's lifetime, that person will be the Meshiach. But if that person dies before he completes the mission of the Meshiach, then that person is not the Meshiach. That's deep. Boy, I'm glad we have a testimony of Jesus written and recorded, the fulfillment of all those prophecies for us. We don't have to believe like that. Okay, what knocks Caiaphas off his rocker? This statement by Jesus in 62. You, here's a prophecy, you shall see the Son of Man, remember he's talking to the entire Sanhedrin, the council of all the elders, scribes, and all that. You, You will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. Where's that from? Why is that such? Why does he react in the way that he does? He's gonna tear his clothes and everything and announce blasphemy on that statement? Because it might mean more than we think it means. We might have a little disagreement on what it means. I believe he's referring back to what he had already said. Mark 9, this is on Mount Hermon, on the Mount of Transfiguration. There are some standing here who will not see death until they see the Kingdom of God coming. We're in the Olivet Discourse that we went over for a long time in Mark 13. twice, you will see, and he quotes the same exact passage out of Daniel 7. You will see it. You guys will see it. Verse 30 and Mark 13, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. I would say that this is a fulfillment in AD 70 on the enthronement of Jesus in judgment upon the temple. The prophecy is you will see it. This causes Caiaphas to lose his mind. How dare you speak in such a way? He's also quoting Psalm 110. Verse 63, Caiaphas tears his clothes, and the Greek word is both, outer and inner. Ripped. He is ticked at this. Rips him. Which some say is not lawful for a priest to do. I don't know. I don't really think so. I think it's okay. I think he's over-exaggerating for drama effect, but he honestly thinks that this is blasphemy. He tears his clothes. We can look at some stuff in the Old Testament, but I'm gonna spare you from that. I don't think it was wrong. to tear clothes for blasphemy. Well, he also tears his clothes, Caiaphas. What further need do we have witnesses? He's playing the drama out here. You heard it, look it, he just said, I'm the Son of God. And you know that thing about Daniel 7 and Psalm 110, that's talking about me and I'm going to sit down at the right, I'm going to go to the Father. They have a wrong view of the Messiah. I just read that they want them to fight for Israel in war on land and establish all the sacrifices and stuff. Verse 64, you've heard the blasphemy. Sanhedrin, you've heard it. What did it sound like to you? What does it seem to you? They got it. They got it. Here's food for thought on the tearing of the clothes. In 1 Samuel 15, 27, Saul grabbed Samuel's garment and ripped it. And then Samuel used that against Saul to say, how you rip my clothes right here, this is how the kingdom is gonna be ripped from you, Saul. 1 Kings 11, you have a prophet, Ahijah, with King Jeroboam. Jeroboam, Solomon's son, is king in Judah. And the prophet tears his garments, tears them into 12 pieces, and hands 10 of them to Jeroboam. He said, this is the kingdom. This is the tribes. Here's 10 for you, and I'm going to give Jeroboam two. What do we have here as a typology? Maybe I'm reading into this too much. You can tell me at lunch. You have the high priest Caiaphas, hired by Rome to be the high priest, carrying his clothes. Jesus is standing here like this, tied, bound, the real high priest. We read it in Hebrews 9. Jesus, the high priest, standing before the fake high priest, the true high priest, the fake high priest. The tearing of the clothes is a picture just like what else is torn upon Jesus' death. The veil is torn from top to bottom. And here's the true high priest standing before the earthly priest, demonstrating the kingdom is torn. And that's what all the parables are about. I will take it from you and give it to a people bearing the fruit of it. They got him in his statement. Remember, the Sanhedrin is the same scoundrels in the book of Acts. The same guys. They didn't stop at Jesus, they kept going. And when they heard the testimony given to Him, you will see the Son of Man, tears His clothes, what further need do we have? Verse 14, you've heard the blasphemy, they condemned Him to death, verse 64. And here comes the cruel beatings and the malice of man. They spit at Him. I don't know if you've ever been spit at in the face. Remember, Jesus is standing there tied. and they spit in his face. These refined, well, citizens of the country. The diplomats. Yes. Didn't they also blind him and punch him and beat him with their fists so he didn't... Yep. Pulled his beard out. Yeah, the crown. They're gonna do that later. Right here, the refined citizens of the land spit in his face. Then they blindfold him, that's what it says. They took the time to take a piece of cloth, walk up to Jesus, hide around his face and eyes. With spit running down his face in his beard, it's disgusting. The cruelty of men. They beat him with their fists. That's what it says, 65. They beat him with their fists. And then they're mocking him. They're a bunch of mockers. Prophesy, that means give me a prediction, Jesus. Who was it since you're blindfolded? Who's the one who hit you? They're just making fun of him. Remember, I should have maybe said this, remember at the garden, there was a whole Roman cohort. I'm guessing the Roman court did their job. They brought him back and then they just turned him over to the Jews. I don't think the Romans are here. This is the Jews. This is the quote, chosen people of God acting in this way. It's not enough just to condemn the guy to die. We gotta torture him too. Why? I don't know. Ask Richard Wurmbrand why. 14 years in a communist prison. Hung by his wrists. What's the crime? Not conforming to the state church. Every day. meetings. Three years of solitary confinement. Why? Because he's a Christian. How about Lorenzo Ruz, tortured by the Japanese, hung by the ankles in a pit filled with excrement in the bottom. The cesspool, hung down. Two days. Sometimes they would slit the temple so they'd bleed out so they could last longer. What's the crime? Christian. How about our Islamic state? Raping. Killing. Butchering. Mutilating. Why? Christian. Well, then what happens? We have the story of Peter. I'm going to jump a little bit here and look at these scoundrels before pilot because it's kind of going back. 66 through 72 is kind of going on at the same time. Here's some things that they We're not looking at the trial before Pilate in verse chapter 15, but here's some of the things that these guys keep saying. When they get to Pilate, their charge is, we found this man misleading our nation. We found this man forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar. Well, that's not true. We know that Jesus told Peter to go fish and get the coin out of the mouth, pay the taxes. Our charge is this, he was calling himself a king. That was out of Luke. In Mark's account, the chief priest began to accuse him harshly before Pilate. The chief priest stirred up the crowd, and that's when they yelled, crucify, crucify, it's the chief priest. It's the refined of society. It's the educated and the well-off. John says this, what accusation? That's, that's Pilot talking to them. They say if he were, if he were not guilty, we would have not brought him to you. Just trust us. Just trust us. We're nice guys. Then they call for Barabbas. Then they call to crucify him. Their charge is this, we have a law that by that law he ought to die because he made himself out to be the son of God. Then they go this far. The Jews cried before Pilate, which we'll look at in a week or two, two weeks. If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. Everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar. Bunch of liars. Pilate knew it, and Mark and Matthew, it says Pilate knew they handed him over because of envy. Envy's a terrible sin. It's one of the fruits of the deeds of the flesh, right, in Galatians 21. Envy's more than jealousy. Yeah, I want what you have, but I'd rather I not have it and you not have it too. I just don't want you to have it at all. That's the sin he did. Well, our brother Peter, here we go again. Reactionary with no patience. Again. After he had tried to cut off the guy's ear against a 700 man in a walled garden. Here he is in part two. Or wait, is this part 12? In John's account, They're going from the garden to the high priest's house. They stop at Anna's. There's a servant girl that says, hey, you're one of them too, aren't you? I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know what you're talking about. That's one. Remember the prophecy is what? You will deny me three times before the roaster crows Twice. Twice. There's one. Now he gets to Caiaphas's house. Peter, the writers make it, they try to paint it in this way. Where does it say it? Sorry. That's in the other account. It's in one of the other Gospels where it makes it a point to say that Peter was sitting with them. With the same guys that arrested Jesus, here's Peter warming himself by the fire with them. The servant girl comes in and says, hey, to the bystanders that were with Peter, this is one of them. Number two, this time it goes like this. Look at what it says. Verse 71, he began to curse and swear. Know what that means? I swear on my mother's grave that I don't know him. I swear by God that I don't know him. Cursed me. Damn me to hell if I am telling you a lie right now. I don't know him. That's the curse. I promise I don't know him. It's not just a little denial here. I don't know him. Stop following me. That's two. At some point, the first rooster crowed. Please, Peter, remember the rooster! The first time! You think the thing crows and you're like, oh yeah! Number three, Luke says an hour passed. The bystanders again ask him, I do not know this man you are talking about. 71. Matthew has it stronger. I don't know the man. I don't know the man. May we, church, when confronted to deny Christ, may we not deny Him. Stand for Christ, even if they kill you. He was okay with fighting 700 men in a garden like two hours ago. Verse 72, immediately the second crow sounded. And it says, Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. He began to weep. Turn over to Luke's account, Luke 22. Luke 22. Verse 60, "...the Lord turned and looked at..." I'm sorry, "...but Peter said, Man, I do not know what you are talking about, immediately while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed." That's the second crow. Verse 61, "...the Lord, Jesus, turned and looked at Peter, Peter's in the courtyard standing with people he should not be with. By the fire, Jesus is on trial with his hands bound, spit on his face, blindfold probably around his neck at this time after the beating he just got. And he takes the time, he hears the rooster crow, and he turns. and makes eye contact with Peter who just fulfilled the prophecy that he gave. This is a look that we're all going to receive one day. Someday we will stand before the Lord of Glory and He's not one to have a conversation and not make eye contact with you and talk like a coward. Jesus is a man who will look you straight in the eyes and speak truth to you. In the penetrating eyes of Jesus, you and I will not escape. It's gonna come one day. He turned and looked at Peter. No wonder why Peter wept bitterly. That's what we're going to do. You cannot see holiness and stand there proud. There's something else that happens during this time. Judas has left the picture. In between this trial, when he's condemned and before Pilate, Judas goes off And it says he had remorse and threw the money back. And then he went and broke the sixth commandment and murdered himself. Acts 1.25, Judas says this of Judas. He turned aside and went to his own place. He killed himself. He committed suicide. Do you know that there are 170 suicides in Hawaii every year? There's like 48,000 deaths by suicide by murdering yourself in the US every single year. It hasn't surpassed the 1931 suicide rate yet. That was the Great Depression. 1.1 million attempts. 50,000 successes every year. Why? There's no hope. Judas has no hope. He went to his own place. That's what the Holy Scriptures, the inspired text says. He went to his own place. I don't want to go to my own place. That should cause fear for you to ever commit such things on yourself. Listen, saints and people that don't know yet, you are valuable to God. You are made in His image. You have worth. You have a job to do. Glorify Him in everything you do. And to take yourself out, you're following the line of Saul, of Bimelech, Judas. This is real in our culture. It scares me. Adults, we need to be aware of this. Let's give these children hope that they can be saved from this wicked and perverse generation as a culture of death. You guys are told all the time that this is just an accident, this ink just fell from the sky and landed on this board. This is just a product of evolution and we have no meaning. You're just a descendant of monkeys and all this stuff. No! You're made in the image of God and you have value and He wants you to glorify Him in everything you do. What Judas did is not right. Imagine this. Judas betrays the Son of God, murders himself, breaking God's commandment, and stands before God in the next moment. The next moment. There he is. And Judas is in hell, or in his own place. I don't know what that means. It's too scary for me to even... I don't even know what it means. I can't even describe it, what it means. He's still there. He's still in his own place. along with the rest of them. If there's any struggle in this area, talk to somebody about it. Best thing I ever did was confess it, that I had a problem with it. Don't be fake. All right, next time we will look at the trial before pilot In chapter 15, so if you want to read ahead, that's where we're heading. Let's pray and then I'll take questions or any comments after. Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus, who is our substitute. Three years without blame on earth as a man tempted at all points yet without sin. We know he's at your right hand. making his enemies a footstool for his feet. May you empower your church by the word of God, not in strength of arms, but in the power of the spirit, which blows like the wind. No one can tell where it comes from or where it goes. Thank you for men like Abram preaching on Fridays. be willing to sacrifice a day to invest in the lives of these people. Thank you for Coach Bob at baseball all the time, and Fred at team night, and Terry picking kids up to work. Father, may we be eternal investors. Lord, we're scared of the day in which we'll meet Jesus face to face and ashamed of our sin, We trust in the Bible which says, our sins are cast into the depths of the sea. And he is our sin canoe, the Lord our righteousness. He is mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace, wonderful counselor. We trust, we have faith. that Jesus will save us on the day of wrath. May your name be glorified amongst your saints today. Thank you for the baptism to come. And we rejoice with our brother, Kyle. Amen. All right, any questions?