False Accusation and Undeserving Humiliation

[0:00] Please take your Bibles and go to Matthew's Gospel, Matthew chapter 26. If you're visiting with us, you can pull that black Bible in the chair in front of you.

[0:17] Pull that black Bible out and come to the back. They renumber the New Testament. So, the New Testament find page 23, Matthew chapter 26.

[0:30] Page 23 in that black Bible. Matthew chapter 26, we're going to start this morning in verse 57. We've been trucking through Matthew's Gospel.

[0:41] We'll be done by the end of next month. The end of August, God willing. Matthew chapter 26, today we'll start again, as I said, in verse 57 to verse 68 this morning.

[0:56] 57 to 68. Let me read. And those who said, seize Jesus, let him to Caiaphas, the high priest.

[1:10] The scribes and the elders were gathered together. But Peter followed him from afar into the courtyard of the high priest. And entering, he sat down with the servants to see the end.

[1:24] And the chief priests and the whole council sought false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death. But they found none.

[1:36] Though many false witnesses came forward. But later, two coming forward said, this one is dated. I'm able to destroy the temple and in three days rebuild it. Verse 62.

[1:48] And the high priest standing up, he said to him, do you make no answer? What is it these are testifying against you? But Jesus stayed silent.

[1:59] And the high priest said to him, I assure you under oath by the living God. To us you say if you are the Messiah, the Son of God. And Jesus said to him, you have said it.

[2:13] Nevertheless, I tell you. From now on you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest tore his robe saying, he has blasphemed.

[2:27] What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you've heard the blasphemy. What do you think? And answering, they said, he is deserving, worthy of death. Then they spat in his face.

[2:41] Punched him. And others struck him and said, prophesy to us, Messiah. Who is the one who hit you? A story is told about a man whose name is John.

[2:59] He was driving home late one night. And he ended up picking up a hitchhiker. As they rode along, he began to be suspicious of his passenger.

[3:15] John checked to see if his wallet was safe in the pocket of his coat. It was on the seat between them. And it wasn't there. So he slammed on the brakes, ordered the hitchhiker out and said, hand over the wallet immediately.

[3:31] Well, the frightened hitchhiker handed over a billfold. Went out the door. John drove off. He arrived home. He started to tell his wife about the experience.

[3:41] But she interrupted him saying, before I forget, John, do you know you left your wallet at home this morning? Did you get that? No. So you kind of look at me like...

[3:57] He left his wallet at home and then he asked the hitchhiker... Okay. We have to explain those things. False accusation.

[4:09] Being accused of something you didn't do. And yet you're regarded as guilty. When you're the one being accused, that's not so funny.

[4:22] It's unjust. It's wrong. What if you can't do anything about it? Robin DiAngelo wrote a book titled, Right Fragility.

[4:39] And in it she said the following. Quote, White people should be regarded not as individuals but as an undifferentiated racist collective. Socialize you, quote, Fundamentally hate blackness, unquote.

[4:55] And to institutionalize that prejudice in politics and culture. People of color, by contrast, she says, are almost entirely powerless and the few with influence do not wield it in the service of racial justice.

[5:10] People of color rarely emerge as fully formed characters in these pages except to provide opportunities for white Americans to engage in an, quote, authentic exploration of racial realities, unquote.

[5:23] That is to help them know when they're doing better. Close quote from DiAngelo. Rajveer was summarizing her points, her position.

[5:37] He says this, quote, If you're a white person and you question or deny her claims, then it proves you are guilty. You can either accept your guilt or deny your guilt, thereby proving that you are guilty.

[5:52] But if you're white, you're bad. White skin's bad. Non-white skin good, unquote. You're guilty just being white.

[6:09] And if you're silent about it, then you're just as guilty. You're painted into a corner. My question, and I'm being serious, I'm not being facetious, what do I do?

[6:25] I'm half Mexican. You know what's wonderful? The Son of God identifies with being falsely accused.

[6:41] And you know what? He faced that so that before the Father, He wouldn't have to come.

[6:54] I appreciate the prayer of that. It's so true. When He was falsely accused, that's where you should have been. That's where I should have been. That's where we should have been. But we would not be falsely accused.

[7:06] We would be rightly accused of sin, right? Yes. But Jesus was accused on our behalf. Falsely accused for us.

[7:18] We come to this in Matthew's Gospel. The driving force, bow down, worship Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, the King of Israel, the Judge of the world. And here today we will see His false accusation and humiliation.

[7:35] Undeserving humiliation. False accusation. And undeserving humiliation. False accusation.

[7:49] And undeserving humiliation. Statement for you. Jesus faced a false accusation and verdict for us. Along with undeserving humiliation, He did it all for us who are liable, guilty sinners.

[8:06] You are liable. You are culpable. You are guilty. But under Jesus Christ, not anymore. Amen. You're free.

[8:17] You are guilt free. When we should be shamed. When we should be humiliated. For our sin of blasphemy.

[8:34] Christ took it for us. So the Father can treat us not in a shameful way, but the Father treats you with honor. He treats you with grace.

[8:47] Jesus. Another way to put this. We should be tried before a court for blasphemy. And we should be found truly guilty.

[8:59] We should be humiliated and shamed for how we've treated God and His Word. We are deserving of death for our response to God. But Jesus took all that for us.

[9:10] If you miss anything today, don't miss that. Don't miss that. Jesus took that on your behalf.

[9:23] If you know Christ Jesus today, if you are a follower of Jesus, if you are a Christian, a disciple of Christ, you can hold on to that. You can hold on to that.

[9:35] It's true. According to Matthew's Gospel, this is the first of two trials, maybe a third if you want to count Herod, which is not in Matthew's Gospel.

[9:48] But the climax, as you will see, is Jesus' claim to be the Messiah. We need to Daniel chapter 7, Psalm 110, where He will return to judge these false accusers.

[10:02] They rejected His testimony. They accused Him of blasphemy. And then with biting sarcasm and violent contempt, they beat Jesus, mocking Him, making fun of Him.

[10:19] And all of this, we deserved. But Jesus did this on our behalf, for our sakes, as our substitute. Some people question, saying, well, how were the Jews able to sentence Jesus to death?

[10:37] They're in the Roman rule. Yes, they could still do that. They would need Rome to carry it out, though. When Rome took over their conquerees, as the conquerors, they allowed people some latitude, except with the death penalty.

[10:56] And sometimes they would actually put themselves in the process whenever they wanted to. But yes, they actually truly did sentence Jesus to die. But they were going to have Rome carried out for them.

[11:06] So notice, going back to verse 57, how this begins, the false accusation. Verse 57 to verse 63.

[11:20] And those who had ceased, Jesus led them to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together. Caiaphas was a designated high priest by Rome. So remember, the temple guards from last week at the betrayal, the temple guards brought Jesus to him, and then the scribes and elders were also present.

[11:40] And notice, next verse 58, Peter followed at a distance or from afar in the courtyard of the high priest and entered. He sat down with the servants to see the end. This is setting us up for what we will see next week.

[11:54] Peter denies Jesus. Verse 59. Chief priesthood counsel, they sought false testimony against Jesus for that they might put him to death.

[12:08] But none, they found. How many false witnesses came forward? So notice, right at the very get-go, they were not interested at all in a just trial.

[12:24] Justice as given by Old Testament Scripture and Jewish law was totally dismissed. They didn't care. I mean, they were having a trial at night, which they didn't do that anyways.

[12:40] Yet notice, they found, they could find no admissible evidence against him. They saw it, but none came. They were looking for something to convict him.

[12:53] Interesting. These were the religious leaders. The religious leaders who claimed to be devoted to the law.

[13:07] Notice, their action contradicts what they said. The hypocrisy. They completely circumvented the law in this trial with Jesus. It's very true.

[13:18] At this time, the Jewish establishment was corrupt. These shady shepherds. They didn't care for the lost sheep of Israel. All they wanted to do was line their pockets.

[13:31] And we know that wasn't for every single one of them, because we know about Nicodemus. Others, here and there from the Pharisees that believed in Jesus, but holistically overall, this is what they were doing.

[13:44] This is where they were at. But notice what happens. And in verse 16 to verse 61, two coming forward, they said, this one stated, I'm able to destroy the temple and in three days rebuild it.

[13:57] Claimed Jesus said he would destroy the temple. Rebuild in three days. Now it's probably from John's gospel, chapter 2, verse 18 to 22. I think I have it up there. Yeah.

[14:08] But, they misquoted Jesus. He never said he would destroy the temple. He never said that. He directed the action to them.

[14:21] He said, you destroy the temple and in three days I will rebuild it. Again, there's no justice. Justice is not part of the equation here. And mind you, any action against the temple would be treason to the Jews and seditious as far as the Romans were concerned.

[14:40] Maybe Jesus' action of cleansing the temple twice, maybe that played a factor to this false claim from these two before they were. Yet it's, it's bad when people bring things up you said weeks, months, even years ago.

[14:57] Especially when the statement is not totally accurate. It makes things kind of difficult. But notice, Jesus faced these false charges for us. There's plenty of charges by which we should be condemned.

[15:11] There's plenty of things that we have said and we have done by which God should condemn us. but again, Jesus stood in the gap for us. Notice what happens in verse 62 with the high priest standing up which is an action that meant this was kind of serious.

[15:28] Standing up, he said, do you make no answer? What is it that these are testifying against you? But Jesus stayed silent. The high priest pressed Jesus to respond because he knew that any response from Jesus could make things worse for him.

[15:52] He was trying to goad him. I mean, everyone knew they were lying. That's why Jesus was quiet. slain, remain silent knowing that the charge was false and that they were not interested in the truth anyways.

[16:09] Not to mention that he spoke about his body when he made that statement not about the temple, temple, temple. It's not a temple of a spot is what John tells us. Jesus stayed quiet. This is important.

[16:22] Side note here, Silas doesn't mean you're guilty. That's a lie. Or else Jesus will be guilty. It's ridiculous.

[16:36] There's nothing to say. If somebody's going to attack you, what are you supposed to say? I'm sorry you feel that way. There's nothing else to say because there's no justice.

[16:51] Notice what the high priest does. Jesus stayed silent and then he puts him under oath. I adjure you under oath. He puts Jesus under oath in God's name to us say if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.

[17:11] Interesting how he linked those two titles together to say Jesus was the Messiah would be to admit that he was the Son of God. Say Son of God meant that he was the Messiah.

[17:22] These two truths go hand in hand. It's not Messiah and then others and Son of God. No, they go together. You can't have one without the other.

[17:36] So here's this false accusation coming against Jesus and notice the contrast to this. The true testimony. Verse 64. Jesus said to him, you've said it.

[17:50] He, one writer puts it like this, ambiguously confirmed or affirmed what the library said. Another way to translate it might be that is your word.

[18:05] So Jesus vaguely affirmed what he said. But then notice how he unambiguously speaks here.

[18:16] Nevertheless, I tell you from now on you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Jesus unambiguously and candidly claimed who he was by this statement linking together Daniel chapter 7 verse 13 and the Son of Man and Psalm 110 verse 1.

[18:44] Jesus, the Son of Man will sit at the right hand of power, a designation for the Father and he will come to judge them all. I will come to judge you, high priest, you, counsel.

[19:03] That's pretty clear. Jesus clearly understood he was. Clearly understood who he was and will lay in store for him in the future as the glorious Son of Man who is sitting on his glorious throne to judge the world including those clowns.

[19:25] kind of fun. Friday I was playing Moondog's guitar and just practicing his guitar he had his things set up empathy in their control and I played I wasn't singing it but I was playing glorious Christ.

[19:45] It was kind of fun to do. I said to somebody I was playing glorious Christ he's like oh that's so cool glorious Christ it was neat.

[19:59] The glorious Christ is going to come to judge us all. That's why I wanted to sing that song because Jesus is proclaiming himself to be I'm the glorious Christ and I'm going to judge everyone I'm going to judge you guys.

[20:13] You think you're judging me? No. Jesus would have the highest honor in God's court judging them but the truth would be shocking since they would see the risen vindicated Messiah sitting on his glorious throne oh the truth would come out.

[20:38] So Jesus spoke about the coming future judgment where all unbelievers would be condemned believers would be rewarded and he'd reign in his kingdom.

[20:50] Remember you talked about that in Matthew chapter 25 chapter or so ago when he will sit on his glorious throne oh yes then they would truly regret it wouldn't they?

[21:10] Well notice what happens next which is a false accusation and verdict comes in verse 65 to 66 notice how the high priest tore his robes which was an action displaying outrage he was ticked off horrified he is blasphemed what further need do we have of witnesses?

[21:32] Look now you've heard the blasphemy the false accusation and then the verdict was the verdict blasphemy blasphemy was Jesus giving himself divine prerogatives he's calling himself God they didn't know for the witnesses because they got what they wanted evidence to condemn him anyone who committed the sin of blasphemy of this kind would be worthy of death according to Jewish law cross reference to that Leviticus 24 verse 16 they all agree notice verse 66 what do you think answering they said he is worthy of death for as they were concerned he was an imposter and then the actions followed showed their true utter contempt for Jesus which moves us into the last part of this as undeserving humiliation the false accusation undeserving humiliation verse 67 he spat in his face and punched him and others struck him some may have used whips or clubs to strike him that it was taught

[23:05] Jesus asking to prophesy who struck him in the way one writer brought out the contradiction with what Jesus said or the contrast to what Jesus said versus their actions here which I thought it was worth us looking at together spitting refuted his claim to authority it was disrespectful the blows displayed he had no power and the failure to prophesy was a sign that he could not predict the future notice how those three actions that they did they completely contrast everything that he just mentioned about his true testimony, do you see that?

[23:54] you have no authority what authority do you have? you have no power and you ain't no judge you can't predict the future their action displayed they totally rejected Jesus in anything that he said everything that he said it came out there's no middle ground with Jesus either you embrace him as your savior and lord today or you reject him there's no middle room Jesus took this humiliation for us where we should have been shamed where we should have been humiliated for our sin of blasphemy we blaspheme God Jesus took it all for us this was all part of God's plan and purpose for his son using the sin of sinful Jews and later Romans

[24:59] Romans