[0:00] We can resume our public worship of God by singing from Psalm 69, Psalm 69 and we're going to sing from the middle of verse 6, from the middle of verse 6 down to verse 13.
[0:19] O Lord the God of Israel, let none whose search do make, and seek thee be at any time confounded for my sake.
[0:33] For I have borne reproach for thee, my face is hid with shame. To brethren strange, to mother's sons, an alien I became.
[0:43] Because the seal did it eat me up, which to thine house I bear, and the reproaches cast at thee upon me fallen are.
[0:55] My tears and fasts to afflict my soul were turned to my shame, when sackcloth I did wear, to them a proverb I became. The men that in the gate do sit, against me evil speak.
[1:10] They also that while drunkards were, of me their song did make. But in an acceptable time, my prayer, Lord, is to thee, in truth of thy salvation, Lord, and mercy great, hear me.
[1:28] We can sing these verses, Psalm 69 from the middle of verse 6. O Lord the God of Israel, let none whose search do make. O Lord the God of Israel, let none whose search do make.
[1:54] And see thee be again, O Lord, let none whose search do make. And see thee be again, O Lord, let none whose search do make.
[2:10] For I have borne reproach for thee, my face is hid with shame.
[2:24] To dwell on the same, O Lord, let none whose search do make. To dwell on the same, through the search do make. To dwell on the same, through the search do make. But I give you the day, O Lord, let none whose search do make.
[2:39] Because the seed of Israel, let none whose search do make. Because the seed of Israel, let none whose search do make.
[2:55] And the seed of Israel, let none whose search do make. And the seed of Israel, let none whose search do make. The seed of Israel, let none whose search do make. Upon me fallen I.
[3:11] My tears shunned past, Thou break my soul, Where turneth in my shame.
[3:26] When shud Ц Lighted, Where could theniu God on the bright green fathom I.
[3:42] The more again and again Guess my tears At coach me dividing Tükre Standard bellyเจ 194 whipped 1 20 20 20 21 In my veil, oh Christ, truly.
[4:30] In truth, oh Christ, Iliked alone, and at all, He gives healing me.
[4:48] Let us join together in prayer. Most gracious God, as we meet together under the sound of your word, may we be conscious of your presence as a God who, by the Spirit that bears your name, takes your word and applies it liberally to our hearts and minds and allows us to engage with it in a positive and in an effectual way.
[5:26] We give thanks that it is the word of life and that you have reminded us through various portions of the scripture, of the privileged place that we have.
[5:42] In having this word in our own tongue and having it brought to our attention through the agency of your Spirit and through the preached word, the proclamation offered in our hearing over many years.
[6:03] And we give thanks for the privilege that many of us enjoyed from our youth in attending day school and Sunday school and being brought face to face with the truths of God and how much we are indebted to that.
[6:21] Even in our wayward years, how much your word acted as an anchor, keeping us in the storms of life.
[6:36] Sometimes our conscience awakened when we were engaged in wrongdoing and bringing us to a sense of shame and embarrassment because of how we were behaving.
[6:52] We give thanks for how it still acts in our lives and we pray that it may continue to do so.
[7:03] That you will not allow us to be under your word without it influencing our lives in positive ways.
[7:15] we remember to you the proclamation of truth to the ends of the earth, north, south, east and west. And we pray that all that has been wrought in your name up until the present and beyond, that you would bless it.
[7:34] You have promised that your word would not fall to the ground without accomplishing that which you have purposed for it. And we give thanks that that is true, even this day, that there are men and women, young and old, who may well have come to faith in Jesus Christ through the word.
[7:57] Some who have been bolstered and encouraged by it in the face of adversity. Some who have been brought into contact with error and heresy and all manner of false teaching.
[8:13] And they are reminded of the truth of God and that has brought them to their senses. And we give thanks for that. We pray that today would be a day where the angels of heaven rejoice, even in the presence of one who delights in one sinner repenting.
[8:37] We ask that you would bless us here as we wait upon you, as a congregation gathered in your name. We pray for the strengthening of all the graces that you have endowed your people with, that you would increase these graces and encourage them to walk with the Lord with an eye to his glory.
[9:01] And that they would reflect the knowledge of him as their Lord and Saviour. We remember those who are perhaps yet having much, by way of experience, and yet having not yet experienced the saving grace of Christ upon their lives.
[9:26] And we pray for them, that you would draw them in and that you would bless them and enable them to see the wonder of Christ, the one who was born into this world to seek and to save the lost.
[9:41] Remember the congregation, the community, and all who form part of it, even those who are remotely connected with the congregation.
[9:52] We do pray for them and ask that you would encourage them to come and to be part of that body in a meaningful way.
[10:04] Those who are totally oblivious to the existence of the Church of Christ, the reason for it, and having no interest in it, you are able to kindle that interest in them.
[10:17] And we pray for that. We seek your blessing on those who are grieving and sorrowful. And once again you have spoken to us as a congregation and as a community.
[10:31] We pray for the sorrowing and we ask that you would bless them in their grief. That the wounds that you yourself have inflicted them with would be healed.
[10:43] That the balm of your own loving kindness would heal their hurt and draw them into closer walk with Christ.
[10:56] And that they would know that he is the one who was able to weep with them as he wept with others. And who was able to recognize their sorrows as one who is a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.
[11:13] And we pray for your blessing on those who are suffering illness at this time. We know that there are some who are confined to their home.
[11:23] Some who are confined to hospital beds. Some who are in need of very intensive care because of the nature of their illness.
[11:37] And we may know some. We most definitely know that there are many that may have needs that are unbeknown to ourselves.
[11:51] But we pray for them that the God who knows all would do for them what we cannot. We ask that you would bless the gospel in particular.
[12:06] And that you would powerfully work amongst us. As a congregation, as a community, as a nation. We remember all that is done in your name.
[12:17] And ask that you would encourage those who are struggling to go out day and day out. And to bear testimony to Christ in the face of clear apathy and indifference to the things of God.
[12:36] Even an open hostility. And so many things are seen to be attractive. And so many people are active in promoting these attractions.
[12:50] To the detriment of their soul. Not realizing that the life that they live here is but of short duration. And if they do not give heed to the needs of their soul.
[13:02] Well the opportunity is afforded them. Soon as soon as they know it. They will be face to face with a God who will require at their hand. All that they have done.
[13:14] Be good or bad. So that you in measure. Would touch lives we pray for. That you would encourage your people to be unified. In their pursuit of holiness.
[13:26] In a desire to see sinners. And yield their lives to Christ. As we all must do. We ask that you would remember the nation that we are part of.
[13:40] Our king. His family. The governments representing us. In parliaments. In Westminster and Holyrood. Our local council and those who serve in it.
[13:51] While they may not see themselves as requiring prayer. Do not let us cease to pray for them. But to bear them before God.
[14:04] And to help us to do that. May your spirit visit us. Meshitfully directing our thoughts. And our feelings.
[14:17] So that they are appropriately expressed. Knowing that only God alone is able to do what we cannot. As we have reflected on earlier today.
[14:30] The recent endeavors made to once again undermine. The day that bears your name.
[14:42] It is nothing new. And it is not expected. To be something that we can resist. And yet we are required to.
[14:53] To all in our power. To promote. The good of the Lord's day. And to recognize. How we derive good from.
[15:04] A day of rest. A day of spiritual nurture. And nourishment. A day that prepares us for. A working week. And all that we are required to engage in.
[15:17] Within that week. How many have benefited from it during their days. So enable us to promote good. Even by speaking of the things that you have given to us.
[15:29] That so many despise. We ask that you would remember in mercy. The world in which we live. The nations that are war torn. The many that are.
[15:41] Daily confronted with the horrors. Of bombs and bullets. And all weapons of destruction. And others threatening to use.
[15:54] Weapons of mass destruction. And who of us would not be affected. Were these introduced willfully. And with no thought. For the aftermath of it.
[16:08] Our world. Is a world that has. Decreased in many respects. So that. What was once. Something that could be localized.
[16:20] And those. Who. Who. Live in places. Such as this. Would expect. To. Be insulated from. Much of. What goes on.
[16:32] At a global level. The world has shrunk. In so many different ways. So that the. Activities. Of the evil. Perpetrators.
[16:43] Of. War. Are easily felt. Within our. Own communities here. And the fear. That is generated. Is something. That is.
[16:54] Promoted. By the. Various. Agencies. That are. Setting before us. These things. Daily. In our. News broadcasts. So hear our prayers.
[17:06] So that those. Who are concerned. And disturbed. And those elderly. Who are frail. And fearful. And those. Who. Are disturbed. When they see. The. Awful reality.
[17:18] Of. The effect of war. On the elderly. And the young. And those who are. Already. Incapacitated. By reason of illness. We pray for them.
[17:30] And ask Lord. That you would spare. Their lives. And. That you would. Actively. Disturb. The peace. Of those who are. Peace disturbers.
[17:41] Themselves. That they would see. Themselves. Faced with a hostile. God. And a God. Who will. Break. Asunder. All their.
[17:52] Their. Wicked machinations. Whatever they may. Inconsist of. So hear our prayers. Watch over us. This is our time. That we're together. Pardon our many.
[18:02] Transgressions. We ask it all. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. I'm going to sing. From Psalm 40. Psalm 40.
[18:14] We're singing. From verse 6. To. Verse. 10. Double verse. Mark 10. Psalm 40. Verse 6.
[18:25] Psalm 41. Chapter 11. Sin offering thou. World. Burt it's not required. Then to the Lord.
[18:37] These were my words. I come behold. And see. Within the volume of the book. It written is of me. To do thy will. I take delight. O thou my God.
[18:49] That art. Yea that most holy law. thine I have within my heart. Within the congregation great I righteousness did preach, though thou dost know, O Lord, that I refrain not my speech. I never did within my heart conceal thy righteousness, I thy salvation have declared and shown thy faithfulness.
[19:14] Thy kindness which most loving is concealed have not I, nor from the congregation great have heard thy verity. Psalm 40 from verse 6 to the double verse mark 10.
[19:29] No sacrifice nor offering didst thou at all desire. No sacrifice nor offering didst thou at all desire.
[19:51] My ears shall worship an offering thine, and by its heart require.
[20:07] And to the Lord is where my Lord I come behold the sea, within the monument of the group.
[20:33] The darkness of me. Today I will thy faith divine.
[20:50] O God, O Lord, that I will not be. The darkness of me. The darkness of me.
[21:02] The darkness of me. O God, O Lord, that I will not be. The darkness of me. The darkness of me.
[21:19] The darkness of me. My righteousness is fixed.
[21:31] Though thou dost know, O Lord, that I with pain and harm my speech, I never live within my heart, Conceal my righteousness.
[22:05] I die in the wish of a happy way, And show thy faithfulness.
[22:23] Thy kindness is most earnest, Conceal my heart, O God, Your genuinely мира, Your heavenly glory, We're going to hear God's word as we have it in the New Testament, the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Mark and chapter 14.
[23:12] Mark chapter 14 and we'll take up the reading at verse 53. This follows the arrest of Jesus Christ by the soldier in the garden.
[23:39] Verse 53 And they led Jesus away to the high priest and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes.
[23:51] And Peter followed him afar off even into the palace of the high priest. And he sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire.
[24:02] And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death and found none. For many bear false witness against him but their witness agreed not together.
[24:17] And there arose 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 made without hands.
[24:34] So neither so did their witness agree together. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus saying Answerest thou nothing?
[24:47] What is it which these witness against thee? But he held his peace and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him And said unto him art thou the Christ the Son of the Blessed?
[25:00] And Jesus said I am And ye shall see the Son of Man Sitting on the right hand of power And coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes and said What need we any further witnesses?
[25:19] Ye have heard the blasphemy What think ye? For they all condemned him to be guilty of death. And some began to spit on him And to cover his face And to buffet him And to say unto him prophesy And the servants did strike him With the palms of their hands And as Peter was beneath in the palace There cometh one of the maids of the high priest And when she saw Peter warming himself She looked upon him And said art thou And said and thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth But he denied saying I know not Neither understand I what thou sayest And he went out into the porch And the cock crew And a maid saw him again And began to say to them that stood by This is one of them And he denied it again
[26:21] And a little after thee that stood by Said again to Peter Surely thou art one of them For thou art a Galilean And thy speech agreeeth thereto But he began to curse and to swear Saying I know not this man of whom you speak And the second time the cock crew And Peter called to mind The word that Jesus said unto him Before the cock crow twice Thou shalt deny me thrice And when he thought thereon He went Amen and may the Lord That his blessing Through this reading Of his word And to this name be the praise Let us sing now verses from Psalm 27 Psalm 27 And there's We're going to sing from verse 9 To the end of the psalm
[27:23] Psalm 27 From verse 9 Far from me Hide not thou thy face Put not away from thee Thy servant in thy wrath Thou hast an helper Been to me O God of my salvation Leave me not Not forsake Though me my parents Both should leave The Lord will me uptake O Lord instruct me In thy way To me a leader be In a plain path Because of those That hatred bear to me Give me not To my enemies will For witnesses that lie Against me risen are And such as breathe out Cruelty I fainted had Unless that I believed Had to see The Lord's own goodness In the land of them That living be Wait on the Lord And be thou strong And he shall strength Afford Unto thine heart
[28:25] Yea do thou wait I say Upon the Lord Let us sing these verses Psalm 27 Verses 9 To the end Far from me Hide not Thou thy face Put not Away From thee Far from me Hide not Thy face Put not Away From thee Thy Seventh In Thy God of all We View not
[29:26] More For cross Though we might be as bold should be, the Lord will be again.
[29:45] O Lord, instruct me in thy way, to me I lead thee.
[30:02] In thy way, but because of those that it prepared to me.
[30:18] Give me not to my enemies will, for with my sins I die.
[30:35] I give me rich and hour of sun, a tree of cruelty.
[30:50] I fainted, but the rest of time, even time to see.
[31:07] The Lord's broken, mentioned thine, all that thou will be.
[31:23] Wait on the york and be thou strong, and be just bent afore.
[31:39] And through thine heart, yea, through the way, I sing upon the Lord.
[31:56] And we for a short time turn to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 14. And we'll read again at verse 60.
[32:14] Mark, chapter 14, at verse 60. And the high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing, what is it which these witnesses against thee?
[32:31] Witness against thee. But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?
[32:42] And Jesus said, I am. And you shall see the Son of Man, sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clothes of heaven.
[32:53] And so on. When we try and think about the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, and especially when it takes us to the final days and hours of the Lord, there are many areas of study.
[33:29] Many things that we can consider uncontently. Some of them are quite mysterious. Some of them are quite difficult for us to determine the reason for them.
[33:48] There are other things that are more obvious to us. For example, when we think of the sufferings of Christ, we are inclined towards the cross, and we think of the physical sufferings on the cross, or even before the cross, the cruel treatment that he experienced at the hands of his enemies.
[34:20] He was beaten. He was beaten. He was tortured. He was, as we read here, they buffeted him with their fists, and they spat upon him.
[34:32] There's that physical dimension to his sufferings that the eye can see. There's also emotional sufferings, which we can often discover by reading the New Testament.
[34:50] You can't believe that Christ was without feelings when he was betrayed by his friends, when he was betrayed by Judas, when he was denied by Peter, when the disciples went away from him.
[35:16] These were the most intimate friends that he could have. But over and above that were many who allied themselves with him and were amongst a number that followed him.
[35:29] But they all disappeared one by one. Christ was not immune to the sorrows that that introduced into his thinking.
[35:44] There are also, of course, the spiritual sufferings. I suppose we have to imagine that there is a spiritual side to the physical sufferings and there's a spiritual side to the emotional sufferings, the psychological sufferings of Christ.
[36:04] Because we are so complex creatures that in our physical sufferings and in our spiritual sufferings, in our emotional sufferings, spiritual is often affected.
[36:20] We find that even in the lives of ordinary men and women when they suffer illness, when they are laid low by illness, it affects them spiritually, occasionally, if not always.
[36:39] And Christ is no different. And all of these things merit attention and all of these things, they are worthy of consideration.
[36:53] On the cross, Christ cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Words that we are familiar with because they are at the height of his sufferings.
[37:06] And how could Christ, the Son of God, utter such words and declare that God, a forsaken God?
[37:17] But it is the intensity of the experience that threw that from him. And while there is mystery attached to it, it is still something that is necessary for us to reflect upon.
[37:36] But always, alongside these things that we think are more important or things that invite study or reflection, there are other things in place that we might overlook and think that they are not really as important.
[38:01] And the section here that we're looking at involves Christ in the trial that he has to endure before the spiritual leadership of the day.
[38:20] And there are times when we can consider that. But what started me off looking at this was how it ties in, well, it ties in with a lot of things, but I was thinking particularly of the humiliation of Christ and the submission of Christ to that humiliation that ordinarily you would have assumed that he could easily have bypassed that without putting anything in jeopardy that he was required by God to fulfill.
[39:07] And yet, his submissiveness is part of what needed to be true of him as he encountered what was to fulfill the righteousness that God required of him as the sin bearer and the one who was going to act as a surety for his people's sins.
[39:36] And the trial that is brought to our attention here recorded in Matthew's Gospel and also in Luke's Gospel in slightly different detail is something that reminds us of that.
[39:52] He has tried before Caiaphas, the high priest, and we're told the whole of the Samhedron was there whether they were or not.
[40:03] There are occasions when they were not all present and there are occasions when members of the Samhedron did not agree to what the council were trying to do.
[40:21] But here the context describes to us the examination before his accusers. So I want us to think briefly about the trial and think of him who is tried, what we can say about him that is highlighted by the scripture in different ways.
[40:46] What needed to be true of Christ during his examination by the spiritual leadership and the conclusion to which these spiritual leaders came to with regard to Christ and what the scripture says about it.
[41:10] As I said the trial of Christ is reported here as before the religious authorities and we find that the old adage innocent until proven guilty is blatantly ignored here.
[41:32] It is a proverbial statement which doesn't apply I suppose to Jewish jurisprudence but they had their own regulations and they had their own rules and their own rules required them to prove a person's guilt and to go out of their way to do that.
[41:53] But here the process that they follow is to find Christ guilty. That's the whole point of what they're doing.
[42:04] Not to prove him innocent of any charge but to make sure that guilt is brought to bear upon his head.
[42:19] And each one of the gospel writers tell us in short compass they sought false witnesses against Jesus to put him to death.
[42:35] They sought false witnesses to put him to death. That was the whole intention behind this mock trial. And it seems they produced countless false witnesses witnesses but they lacked credibility because for the main part their stories did not tally.
[42:59] The charges were false and so were the accounts. And yet in passing we have to say that even this itself is part of God's foreordination because he foreordains whatsoever comes to pass.
[43:20] And the whole judicial process followed the pattern established in ancient liturgy according to legal practice but most especially to go beyond that back into the distant past where the people of God were required to commemorate the redemption of Israel from slavery in Egypt.
[43:59] And as part of that commemoration they were required to annually provide a lamb or every time they kept the sacrament of the Passover as part of that lamb would be provided by each family or each family group and the preparation involved that lamb which was to be identical with the lamb that God was going to provide in the sense that when it was examined that lamb was to be free from any blemish so that once it was sacrificed the declaration would be made about that lamb that it was free from any fault and while that may seem ridiculous to tie it in with something that's happening centuries afterwards the detail with which this actually complies with what takes place in the experience of one that
[45:30] God declares to be the lamb that he has provided when John the Baptist revealed Christ to those who were hearing him preach he said behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world and looking forward to the sentence of death being carried out on Christ one necessary preamble to that was that Christ would experience a judicial process by which he would be examined by the religious authorities and whether they liked it or not each one in turn pronounced him free from the guilt that they wish to apply to him and that's what we see happening here for all their desire to bring their accusations to discover the guilt of
[46:49] Christ they could not do that without bringing that charge to bear falsely there are a further three occasions where this lamb is examined because of the nature of the judicial process Israel Judaism does not possess the right to put a person to death they are a people who are under the governorship of Roman authority and they do not have their own authority to put a person to death which means that for them much as it sticks in their throat what we discover is that they have to bypass their own intention and pass it on to
[47:59] Pilate and then Herod and then back to Pilate again because they want Christ dead and they want Christ executed but they don't have the wherewithal they don't have the authority to do that but this is God's lamb and in the first instance the lamb has to be seen as pure and these verses remind us that despite their most most zealous endeavour to find Christ guilty they cannot do that so they have to follow a pattern that is exposing their false lack of genuine justice the apostle
[49:05] Peter tells us what had to be true of Christ which tells us in short in a small sentence what was true about the death of Christ the apostle Peter looking back to the cross even the Peter who embarrassed himself brought shame upon himself by denying his Lord those But There's someone who as he wrote his first epistle cannot get away from the cross and he says the following For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your father but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you what Peter knows and what Peter understands is that the death of Christ is sacrificial it is a death that was foreordained before the world was it is a death that is vicarious it is a death that is victorious it is a death that is substitutionary it is a death that is redemptive he understands all that by it and these men who were playing their part with enmity and bitterness and hatred thinking that they were fulfilling their own ends all the time what they were doing was something that God required them to do God was not responsible in the sense that he was blameworthy but God was responsible in the sense that he is the author and finisher of our faith he is the one who is who governs our providence but within that the hands of wicked men were involved professor finisher of the world he says it was meet it was right that the religious and the civil and the spiritual and the temporal should both have a hand in this it was right it was necessary it wasn't needed because without the concept of allies and there were allies in this instance responsible for putting Christ to death the whole the what took place could not have taken place it is a conspiracy where we find the failure to condemn because of innocence and yet the need to condemn precisely because of that innocence which seems so difficult for us to understand
[52:41] Jesus was free from any blame and yet he had to be declared as blameworthy he has every evidence from scripture to say that he was without sin and yet he had to be declared as if that sin of which he was blamed that he was responsible for it Christ is the accused and Jesus the Christ is asked the question directly in verse 61 the high priest asked him and said unto him art thou the Christ the son of the blessed and he kept silence he refused to answer and they needed him to say it and they wanted him to say it because he had to say it and he had to say it and he had to say it and he did not believe to be true we are familiar with Paul's words I'm sure and I suppose this in a sense is where my thought processes began when he writes his epistle to the Philippians
[54:14] Paul describes to us the Christ who humbled himself in the following terms let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name and so on his obedience to God required him to submit even to the enmity that was in the world directed against him he remained silent when he could have spoken when he is arrested those who are alongside him think that they have the ability to prevent his arrest we talked about this recently he says to his friends who want to prevent his arrest could he not call his father to summon up twelve legions of angels and this is the person who has the power and who has the authority and who has the will wherewithal if he willed it to resist all kinds of enmity against him but he submits to the will of God that requires him to submit to examination and to submit to judgment even the judgment that condemns him when it is a false accusation that is levied against him we know in the Old Testament how the prophet Isaiah speaks of the passion of the Lord Jesus Christ so clearly it must be considered the Christ and only the Christ that can be spoken of in this way surely he hath borne out griefs and carried out sorrows yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted but he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the justicement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed it goes on to say in verse 7 he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearer is done so he openeth not his mouth he was taken from prison and from judgment who shall declare his generation for he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people was he stricken there are countless passages of scripture that you could argue stand alone and yet they are all so linked together to testify to this amazing saviour who was willing to suffer and who was willing to submit to the father's will for him in order that he would be that surety that would settle the debt
[58:14] of his people Principal MacLeod records in one of his books he was not murdered he was not assassinated or words to that effect he was not killed accidentally but he was convicted by a judge after due process and judicially executed you might argue with the due process part but the process was according to law and yet this Christ was willing to submit to it because he is someone who was there for a reason and the reason was to bear the sins of his people the final thing we have is what is the sentence that is alleged what is the the what is leaves him worthy of having a sentence carried out against him he is accused of blasphemy he is accused of blasphemy
[59:33] I think it's one of these areas where you think about what is happening here and I think it should fill us with horror as we imagine these people who collectively sit in judgment over the Lord Jesus Christ sit in judgment in order to condemn him not to vindicate his life or to to exonerate him from blame if it was falsely brought but to condemn him and to put him to death not realizing or not caring that the very Christ that they are judging the very Christ that they are that they are coming to with all kinds of spurious offenses alleged forgetting that the day will come when they will answer to him and in his own way
[60:38] Christ tells him that he is asked are you the Christ the son of the blessed and Jesus can't deny that I am he says and you shall see the son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven what is he saying when he tells him that well the high priest understands too well what he is saying and he is offended by it and disturbed by it and infuriated by it but Christ has revealed to him that he is going to come again and when he comes again he is going to judge the world we barely touch today on what the believer will see in heaven because some of it much of it even might be hidden from us but Christ has revealed to us in his world that when the time that God has appointed comes to pass that he is going to come again and he is going to judge the world and these people who are breaking their necks to condemn him and to bring him to judgment and to put him to death will be amongst those who will face a judge who is not capricious who is not vindictive who is not an enemy in the sense that he is doing it out of enmity to them but he will judge righteously because he is a holy God and he will do so by way of the son
[62:29] Jesus Christ Bishop Ryle in his own comments on the gospel says that his glory and his gaze his holy gaze the greatness that comes with possessing that was still to come but they will yet see him and they will yet be witnesses to his royal power and majesty a substitute who was to be their advocate an advocate with the father who was condemned without without an advocate to defend but he is the defender of those who are his own people and because this was his claim he was considered a blasphemer he held his peace and answered nothing until he is confronted with a question that he can't but answer and then the high priest rent his clothes and said what need be any further witnesses you have heard the blasphemy and it goes through the motions of what a righteous indignant judge would behave that's how it's amazing how people are willing to go through the motions behaving how people would expect them to behave we don't know if this man knew exactly who Christ was but we do know that he had hatred for him we do know that he despised him we do know that he rejected him we do know that the spirit tells us that he was endowed because of his role as high priest with a spiritual discernment that would not have otherwise been his were it not for the office that he occupied which seems strange but he he spoke with enmity against
[64:53] Christ and this is God's way of taking this Christ to be the saviour of sinners marvellous awesome outworking of the mysterious ways of God and we look to that Christ in the ways that we seek to learn more about him that would make him more of a saviour to us more of a friend to us who has stood in our place who has borne our sins to the cross knowing perfectly what the cross was and what awaited him on it the word of God is always right and it's always reminding us that he of what Christ knew he did not despise the shame he did not bypass all that he had to endure because of the value that he placed upon the end result which was the salvation of his people through his own cross experience well may
[66:13] God stimulate an interest in this Christ encourage us to think of him as we look forward again that beckons to remember him in his death may we do so with faith may we discover more of the import that we should place upon him as our Lord and our Saviour let us pray ever blessed God we just skim on the surface of the wonder that belongs to a Saviour who who was willing to yield to the wickedness that is seen in unrighteous judge casting an unholy eye upon him and condemning him but only because as the Lamb of God he was to take away the sin of the world help us to appreciate something of that that we may look to him and see in him what would captivate our heart and mind pardon sin in him amen we're closing psalm 22 and we're singing the last four verses of the psalm psalm 22 and verse 28 because the kingdom to the
[67:43] Lord doth appertain as his likewise among the nations the governor he pays earth fat once eat and worship shall all who to death descend shall bow to him none of them can the soul from death defend as each shall serve as do to him and to the Lord it shall be for a generation reckoned in it is all they shall come and they shall declare his truth and righteousness unto a people yet unborn and that he hath done this these verses earth fat ones eat and worship verse 28 because the kingdom to the Lord does appertain as his oven because Because the kingdom to the Lord does aberdeen us,
[68:47] Like one son of a nation, the devil I am given.
[69:04] Earth that once the unworshipped God, all who to just descend, Shall go back to heaven, the Lord let God get strong from deathly pain.
[69:36] A seed shall send history to him, and to the Lord it shall be called a generation.
[69:58] A seed shall wreck one, in angels' law. They shall come, they shall be with his fruit and righteousness, And to the people yet unborn, and that he has come, And that he has come, and that he has come.
[70:42] Amen. May we praise mercy and peace from God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit rest, and abide with you all, now and always. Amen.