Mark14:55-64

and I just Well again good to see everybody out and for those that are in prayer and so let's do so and and the message

We're about to receive As we read in Psalm 66 one and two and three make a joyful sound to God all the earth

Sing out the honor of his name make his praises glorious say to God. How awesome are your works?

We'll be doing that throughout the service today and let's begin by Singing our choral call to worship.

Where are you there? Were you there a number of 260 in the red? 260

I Was listening to Marian Anderson. There's a name drop if anybody wants to look it up and her

Singing spiritual so I said, I think we've got that one in our handbook. I think we'll try that one this time Oh Blessing on our worship today who received

Your beloved son into your presence having raised him from the dead receive us in him now and Bless us that the

Spirit who brings glory to the Son Will work in our hearts to love him with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength and so to issue forth from the heart worship that is pleasing to you because it is centered in him and on him help us blessed

Holy Spirit and bless Lord your worship in every place Today where men sincerely call upon your name and we thank you for your good work

We call on you father again in the blessed name of your son Jesus. Amen And you shall call

Psalm 31 14 the psalmist says But I trusted in you

Yahweh. I said you are my God It's a very

Simple but quite a profound confession in that you are my God Whatever are counted as gods among men

We count the true God is as our God and so let's come before him and as Jesus said

Pray in this manner, so we will follow his Outline that he gave us when he said that Let's pray.

Oh Father, we we thank you you the one who? Have birthed a

Nation and continues to birth a spiritual nation of priests before you because of the priests that we have sung about here in Psalm 110 and so we ask

O God that You will hear our prayer teach us to intercede

But we thank you that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groanings

That cannot be uttered and so what we lack in our prayer and in our understanding and in our feeling

We know the Spirit prays on our behalf and so we thank you Spirit also tutor us teach us to pray

Fill us with wisdom fill us with your word so that we will be answering back according to what is written for we know that this is

God's voice and so father we ask from your throne in heaven hear us and we follow

Solomon's advice where he says God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore.

Let your words be few Lord we pray then that we will choose our words wisely again by the strength and help of your spirit

To say what needs to be said Lord we ask then first of all that your name be set apart be treated holy sanctified

Teach us in your name and we know as the psalmist has said you have magnified your word above all your name all the ways that you are made known and everything points to you, but your word is chief and your words are living and powerful and if they are in us and We are alive through them then you are working in us

We pray then that we will have faith to receive all that you are saying not to deflect anything because of the pain of conviction, but rather even to invite it and so we pray that your name will be

Set apart in all of the earth and we long for that day When the knowledge of the

Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the seas We pray then Oh God that your kingdom will come that you will cause it to come by your great power come

Lord Jesus and Until Lord your arrival to claim what is yours?

We pray that the kingdom of God which is righteousness and peace and joy in the

Holy Spirit Will advance in us in your people That Lord you will grant us that we will not let anything take the peace of Christ away that we will

As Paul told us to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts

And then Lord as King teach us your law teach us your commands and to love your commands so that your will will be done here on earth as Your angels do your will in heaven that they hear your voice and they go forth with strength

So Lord grant us to hear the word that will Be laid upon us and within us to also go forth to do what we hear or then bless

Lord Your servant James white to speak with all boldness today to reach your

People in your name We pray as Paul told Timothy for all peoples and those that are in authority over them so that we your church may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all reverence and sobriety and we pray

Lord do not deliver us into the hands of those who hate you and We pray for our brothers and sisters who are in prison today.

You have told us Lord to Remember them as though we were there chained up with them.

And so Lord we do pause to think upon them right now Lord, we know that We have brothers and sisters that are dying every day and because they would not deny the name of Christ We pray

Oh God that we might count the cost what it is worth even to mention the name of Christ Among those whom we we know do not believe that we will not be ashamed of Jesus or his words and We pray then

Oh God Lord of the harvest send workers into the harvest fields of the souls of men

Bless those who have gone forth bless those that we are privileged to help as a church as individuals

Lord God continue to raise up and Send forth those who hear the need who hear where the

Fields are white unto harvest and they there are harvesters needed Lord send us forth and grant us

Lord that we will walk in wisdom toward those who are outside the faith Redeeming the time our speech always in grace

Seasoned with salt so that we will know how to answer each one Lord God We we pray among the nations we pray for the peoples of your old covenant who continue to hold to the old covenant and Who do not hear the old covenant in its witness of Christ and the new covenant that has that has been?

Established and we pray then Lord how long? Until that promised time that the fullness of the

Gentiles have has come in and you lift the blindness of the

Jewish people Lord, but we think of ourselves then and as Paul told him thinking of them to fear that if the

Natural olive branch was cut off how much more we who are wild olive branches by nature will be cut off If we don't believe and so Lord work in us a godly fear and Revive your church that that we will

Be afraid to misrepresent you afraid to speak wrongly concerning you and and afraid to live

In a way that dishonors you that this godly fear Lord may motivate us Lord again convict us by your word so that you may also correct us and realign us with your ways

Lord we pray now asking That you will bless our families that you will bless us to be

Husbands who love their wives as Christ loves the church wives who submit to their husbands as the church is to Christ children who obey their parents in the

Lord for this is right and Parents Lord who consecrate their children in the mouth of your word

Lord then hear our prayer for our daily needs give us this day the bread of subsistence tear for us our portion of bread and grant us

Lord then self -control by your spirit with Food and drink and all things in this earth to hold them lightly as it were not to Return to idolatry in our hearts, but we do.

Thank you that we may receive as as Those who have been richly blessed for we we have and we pray that we would therefore be generous

That you would receive the sacrifice of help for the needy

We pray Oh God that You will receive Lord our acknowledgements of your lordship and ownership of all things that you would receive the tithes offerings

Lord we pray that you would grant us Recuperation of soul day by day and sleep and restful sleep

We pray that you would grant us healing Lord. We remember buddy Phillips we pray

Lord for Dave Lessard. We pray for Miriam Woodyard. Oh God Lord We pray for my mom pray for Sue green we pray

Oh God for Mickey Polk Lord for Don Cowden continue to strengthen him

Lord, we pray for Ashley bless her Lord and her Pregnancy her and the baby

Lord we Pray for Addison more that you would heal her of her eating disability

Lord We ask that you would bless

Spencer Tosi as he goes into field training for this week give him safety we pray for Julie Lessard for healing from kovat and That you will protect

David during this time Lord, we do pray for our the salvation of our lost loved ones and Lord We pray for your blessing on the

Mickey Schneider's family in the loss of Amy Lord, we pray for Will Platt and his recovery for from cancer and Lord bless the

Anderson families with salvation and sanctification Sanctification We pray

Oh God that You would bless Chris Hatton to find godly Christian companionship

Lord bless Linda Tabor with continued healing from pancreatic cancer and we pray

Lord for the release of the Americans and the Afghans that are are held hostage

Oh God Lord hear our prayers and whatever we have not enumerated before you here.

We pray Oh God that we will that we will obey your command to be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and Supplication with thanks to make our requests known to you and then

Lord we count on you to give us that Incomprehensible peace that will guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus Forgive us where we have rather worried where we have been frustrated and angry and not submitted to Your providences

Oh God, we pray that you would forgive us of all of our sins We know only the blood of Christ can cleanse us teach us to confess then

Oh God to say what you say about sin and to know it of ourselves and Then as those who are freely forgiven that we would freely forgive

We hear the warning of our Lord that if we do not forgive In their deviations neither will our father forgive ours and So Lord in this in every way we pray do not lead us into temptation

Rather search us out. Oh God, we know that you will not invent any temptation in us, but where there is a desire

Pulling at us and as the psalmist said if I gazed at iniquity in my heart the master would not have heard and so show us

Lord where We are perhaps entrapped in something today

Oh God and We pray for the Lord Jesus to do his work for he is

Savior He is deliverer as we have confessed in his word Lord Jesus deliver us

From evil from our own evil. We know the evil one Satan has nothing

That with which he can pull us down apart from our own evil within ourselves Therefore deliver us by showing us that evil that we may turn from it again.

Thank you for the advantageous place we are in that the word is going to be preached and the word is profitable for teaching for conviction for correction and realignment and For instruction in righteousness schooling us and staying in what we hear

Lord You love your people Lord, we love you we

Ask that you will speak to us from your word asking it in Jesus name.

Amen Mr. James White We usually have a scripture reading here

But he's going to read and do it I think right the way that old Paul told Timothy there when he said till I come give attention to reading to exhortation to Teaching and so I think that's probably the way it's supposed to go to start reading and start exhorting and teaching so praise

God Got to find a place here

It's a lot of stuff up here Well, it's good to be with you here somewhere in Florida wherever I am.

I think it's Valparaiso, but I Drove down yesterday from Atlanta I am still

Upset with Google as to how it's arranged that particular trip

I am learning that Google will put you through all sorts of places that you should never go with a

RV and Especially under a lot of trees. You should not go under with an

RV if you like to have your conditioner left on top. So anyways Didn't no damage we're good, but it was it was a bit on the the nerve -wracking side.

So we're gonna have to do some Rearranging on the way back. It's pretty much I 10 all the way back to my where I live.

So that's not really a brilliant issue but It is good to be with you. I mentioned that to the pastor.

I walked in you all have a pipe leak someplace There's water falling out of the sky. You need to Look to that I get a plumber on that as quick as possible.

I am from Phoenix, Arizona And so when it started coming down this morning, that was

I was quite enjoyable yeah, I think you got more rain in half an hour than we've gotten in the past year, but that's that's how things are there and so I was just up at the g3 conference,

I'm sure that Most of you are probably aware of that particular conference. So we had

I think 6 ,400 people at the conference this year and I Got a bear hug from Vodie Balcombe right before he spoke.

That's and if you know Vodie Balcombe, that's that's a bear That's a bear hug. It's a real one. And So it was good to see a lot of a lot of folks there.

I am traveling I in 2019 I flew 165 ,000 miles

Administered in Samara Russia in Johannesburg, South Africa. I spent about two and a half months in London I managed to just escape at the end of 2019 from Melbourne, Australia Which if you know what's going on down there you understand what

I mean? I just barely managed to escape It is such a shame such a beautiful city had a debate with a young Muslim fellow down there

I was looking forward to doing more debates with him Ran a 10k along the beach just beautiful beautiful place and in a matter of months it was locked down and it's one of the most freedom starved places in the world right now and so that was 2019 and my how things have changed and so To get the opportunity to get back out and to see folks

I think my overseas ministry is pretty much done to be honest with you but I want to while we still can before they set up the border guards and And put us start putting up the walls funny if these this group of people put up walls, isn't it

I we Purchased an RV. I had never done an RV before in my life.

So the learning curve has been great But I must admit

I managed to back her in and get her set up in a very brief amount of time last night At the little RV park nearby and so I'm getting better I'm not gonna be an expert so at least 20 ,000 miles

I would say but at the rate I'm going I'll get there by the middle of next year. So I would appreciate your prayers for safety while traveling

I see some wild stuff out there truckers that think they're actually on the

Indianapolis 500 Speedway and especially when going through construction zones where your lanes are this wide you got six inches on each side and and They just go blowing by at 10 miles an hour over the speed limit

It's like ways. I still have a lot of speaking to do. I hope you'll come out tonight and tomorrow night

Especially if you're interested in the Bible translation issue I don't think there's any controversy about that here in the payment to be funny.

It's okay things and so What its history actually is not strange stories made up By people's whose last name

Ryan was pleased to Matthew Mark chapter 14.

I was thinking I Pastor Kane wrote to me and asked if I would like to speak and I said sure and and what would you like to speak on?

And I said, well, I'll be honest with you. I will have just spoken at g3. We did Q &A's cetera cetera and I said the is

I've had the opportunity over the decades to teach Greek over and over again teach

Hebrew and people seem to enjoy and I simply do a walking through it and then go back through and make application and exegesis and Commenting on its history, whatever else it might be and so I was thinking

I normally I'll do like him do translation while translation of the

Gospel of Mark for Muslims Muslims and mosques and in in England South Africa and I still want to reach out to those folks even if I'm not gonna get opportunity to travel to those places and Many of them bias against the

Gospel of John they've been told that it's later unreliable so -and -so forth and they they've accepted the

Can change stuff and then

John was just off on an island do Gospels The issues that are raised when you start trying to figure that out and then interpret each gospel in light of a certain theory but one of the things that said is that Mark has the lowest view of Jesus and John has the highest view of Jesus and My Muslim friends all believe that they've been taught that Should be

Raleigh a fellow of debate or amongst Muslims And so I like to go to the

Gospel of Mark because it has such a high view of Jesus people Just sometimes skip over it or they're not aware of it or whatever.

It might be and as I was thinking about some of the texts in the

Gospel of Mark that are Truly amazing in what they witnessed concerning Christ.

I thought about the trial of Jesus And as I read through the text again, it struck me that there are actually a number of things that have tremendous ramifications and relevance to our own

Study, and I just realized it's very wise. I looked at my watch because your clocks dead just so you know

Now that's that's very convenient Because it's nothing has happened

It's so much in this text that we can make application to to what's going on in our world today

So let's take a look at beginning at verse 55 now That's a mark 14 the longest chapter rest and the trial of Jesus and so Jesus has been brought before the high priest and these

Sanhedrin and They are seeking to bring testimony against him. And so The high priests and all the

Sanhedrin were seeking testimony Against Jesus so they might put him to death

But they were not finding any for many were testifying falsely against him, but this is fascinating and Their testimonies were not and the term is equal

So some of your translations will say something like consistent But I'll come back and comment on that that they were not equal with one another there's something there about how you determine what is truth truth and consistency

Vastly important issues in our day in our postmodern world where truth and consistency is

Now something that is literally In our day being considered a bad thing

I've literally heard people view a meaningful epistemology a meaningful understanding of knowledge as an example of white supremacy and I don't know about you, but when

I got a plane I want an engineer that knows about truth and consistency having built it and maintained it and So it's interesting that the terminology there is but their testimonies were not

Equal or they themselves the testifiers were not equal with one or they were not consistent and Certain of these false testifiers these false witnesses stood up and They were saying that we heard him saying that I will destroy this temple made with hands and By means of or during the course of three days will

Raise up or even in this their testimony was not again equal or consistent and the high priest

Stood up in the midst Was standing and literally stood in the midst of them and so he took a central place in in the proceedings and He asked

Jesus he was asking Jesus Do you have no answer?

Do you not hear what these are testifying against you? But Jesus was silent and answered him nothing

Again, the high priest was asking him and saying to him. Are you the

Christos? That is of course the Greek translation of the

Hebrew term Mashiach the Anointed One the Messiah Are you the

Christ the son of the Blessed One? Jesus said

I am and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming

Now the chief priest Tore his robes. He tore his clothing the standard

This was this would be something that the Jewish people would do as a sign of tremendous grief

Or amazement at something like that. And so the chief priest tore his tunic his clothes and Said what further need do we have of witnesses?

You heard the blasphemy What do you judge and it literally means to shine so it was supposed to be that you know

The judgment of the judge shining light forth. It's rather ironic in this situation. It's used in that way

What do you conclude? What do you judge and they all judged him to be they condemned him?

It's a negative judgment. They contemned him to be worthy of death and So here you have

Mark's version if you want to read the parallels and by the way, I would strongly encourage you

There are excellent Printed or now, of course all on our phones and computers and so on and so forth parallels

Of the Gospels where you put Matthew Mark and Luke in line with one another the synoptic

Gospels and you can compare Them as they tell similar stories

So example, for example in this case of the section that we just read through is paralleled in and Matthew 26 59 to 68 and in Luke 22 66 to 71 and It is a very challenging study.

I I spent I if I recall correctly the seven or nine years teaching through the synoptic

Gospels at the Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church a couple of decades ago now, I think and It really challenges you to listen carefully to what is being said

It's it's easy for our minds to harmonize things. But when they're right there on the page together we can see

The challenges that are sometimes ours in looking at the synoptic Gospels and seeking to understand their testimony to the words of Christ and if I mentioned one such parallel in in a few moments, but Here we have

Mark's version. It's interesting that Mark is the shortest of the Gospels Mark doesn't give us a lot of the teachings of Jesus But when

Mark does focus in on an event in Jesus's life He normally spends more time

Giving us details than Matthew or Luke does which is interesting This is very important when you're looking at some of the alleged contradictions between the synoptic

Gospels Is that the other Gospels will summarize they'll telescope they'll bring stuff

Together, you know the old telescopes where you you know, pull it out like this and then push it back together Well sometimes, you know

If I wanted to relate to you for example The events so far on this trip

If if we were sitting down over dinner and you had a special interest in how you travel the country in an

RV Then I might give you lots of details about the places I've stopped and the things that I've encountered

That you'll run into and some funny things I've encountered less than that I got there and found out that he had a hundred and ten volt extension cord in the hose very specifically

Oh, so you mean minimum 30 amp 220 and and then it's like oh you need that.

Mm -hmm. Yeah Yeah, I do So if we were sitting down at dinner and you had an interest and I would give you a lot of details but if we're standing at the back door and I figure you're gonna be there for the next 60 seconds.

I'm gonna telescope a lot of that stuff I'm gonna leave out a lot of details now my line to you. No, it's just simply

I recognize I only have a certain amount of time I only have a certain amount of space if I was writing it down and so the various Gospels will

Will the gospel writers had the freedom to determine how much detail they were going to go into and it's interesting that when

Mark goes? Into detail on something he frequently goes into more detail Than the other

Gospels which cover much more territory than Mark did here in the shortest gospel.

You have this discussion of what happens before the high priest or messing with the system the the

Sadducees had become involved politically priests would be removed by the

Romans and other people put in and so you ended up with multiple high priests which is a violation of God's law, but that was the situation that they

They faced and the Sanhedrin and that's the exact word that's used in verse 55. So Nedry on that's the the council of the

Jewish leaders They have decided to move they have of course used

Judas to Betray the Lord and so they have decided to move now is the time to move against this man who has been such a thorn in our side for so long and we are concerned that this man is going to be doing and saying things that are going to Upset the balance the very delicate balance that we are trying to maintain

With our Romans is not going to last and barely fence

Jerusalem would be reduced to a smoking ruin by Titus and Roman legions and so Are seeking the term in verse 35 they are seeking they're looking for it's the same term

That's used in John chapter 6 when the men are seeking Jesus and they they row their boats across the lake

Which is interesting. They're the very men that Jesus identifies as unbelievers You've seen me, but you do not believe

And yet they rode boats across the lake to find Jesus. They were seeking him very same term that's used here in verse 55 the high priests are seeking

Against Jesus testimony, so they might put him to death not that they weren't they weren't finding pseudo

Martyrs, that's the term that's used in verse 56 pseudo witnesses False witnesses people who are willing to lie pretty easy to find folks to Lie if you promise them certain things and that's a sad commentary on the human condition

But it remains a grave danger to us today, and so they found many of them, but as I mentioned when

I read through it The the test of the testifiers and hence their testimony

We're not consistent they were not equal and I wanted to comment. We've been living in a day.

This has become policy educational policy

Well, it's going to be part of educational policy for decades. It eventually will become part of public policy

And I think many of us ignored the what we considered the wackos in the

Academy Who were bringing post -modernism and a completely foreign understanding of truth and how we know truth

And the importance of truth sort of said well Those are the weirdos and once people graduate from University and maybe once they've paid off their huge Debts and have discovered how hard that was days of being immature university students and those immature university students are now in charge and The result is what we are we are seeing we are we are literally seeing a situation arising where?

You have people the whole the whole issue of who is it two plus two equaling four is racist

This just complete destruction of common sense in our experience

We should have seen it coming You can't allow that to not go unchallenged for so long

That people are going to start acting on the basis of these things and so we are studied the the rhetoric of the

Soviet Union and Most of you aren't old enough. That's Cain Holder and it's still dark that was in school where you'd get under your desk in case of a air raid or something along those lines and We were

Soviet Union and every Olympic Games, you know, you had to beat the Ruskies Or the

East Germans because they wanted to beat you We just experienced that kind of a those people over there just went to Ukraine People singing the same hymns we sing here, but in Russian I just think how much the world had had changed we would have that call in a situation where?

What we assumed to be absolutely foundational truths to our society We still do we still we still do things

I I watched a little bit of the inauguration and you have a man standing there putting his hand upon a

Bible and I Just have to wonder how many young people have any any idea of the significance of that action?

Do you know by the way where they were traditionally the Bible was open to? anybody know

Deuteronomy 28 29 the blessings and cursings of Of the Old Covenant and if you've read them they are quite explicit

Why would in a in a in a secular world view and that's what we're facing today

We are facing a thoroughly secular society Where mankind is viewed as a cosmic accident?

You have no transcendent meaning. There will be no day of judgment and That is so completely different than the foundations upon which this culture was built

That the two cannot coexist for any lengthy period of time And so there is a day when a man made in the image of God placing his hand and taking an oath upon God's revelation meant that this person believed

That they needed to do what they were saying they would do because there was a day of judgment coming

And the reality of that day of judgment Constricted their behavior and gave you reason to believe that they would fulfill their oaths

Putting your hand Something that's merely an ancient book

When you are nothing but a cosmic accident who when you die simply cease to exist

And there is no judgment is no basis for an oath and no basis for trusting anyone to do anything

So young people today look at what we used to do in the past. I don't understand

Why did people do the things they did? Why were people willing to make the sacrifices they did

When that's not the case any longer well, it's because there was a worldview involved and Even here in the scripture the idea of Testifying being equal or consistent.

You cannot define the word truth without using words related to the word consistency and Yet when you look at our young generation today, what is the only?

Can what's the only consistency for them change? Change I look back at my life and when

I was younger, you know, what? Politics in the world were pretty much the same between second and third grade now you expect everything to change and I was

Forgot the doll ripple thing. Sorry when when doll ripple studied how the Soviet Union Soviet Union had a it still does it's still available in Russian had a publication called

Pravda and Pravda means truth in Russian and everybody in the

Soviet Union knew That it was published in Pravda. It was not Pravda If it was published there, it was untruth.

You just knew it and so the entire thought of The communist regime was to force people to confess lies

So you'd have to put signs up in your businesses that said, you know, you're for the workers

Of the world all this stuff when you knew what you were doing had nothing to do with the workers the world and You knew that the government was gonna lie to you all the time about production and that every year was better than the last

But you knew it was actually worse than the last and they'd literally change the numbers So if it's in Pravda, it was not and so the only consistency was inconsistency and Dalrymple's whole point was

That was purposeful it was meant to break you down because people servile people who lie all the time because they're told to lie are easier to control than people who insist upon speaking the truth and I'm hearing people in my own society all the time going these people on the left that they they're such

Hypocrites they say one thing and they do another and and they they tell us we've got to do this and they don't do it

And and how could they're just such hypocrites that I go. Yeah, it's purposeful It's absolutely purposeful.

It is meant to break you down It is meant to break people down and to make them submissive and servile and you simply can't expect

Consistency from people who do not love truth Remember what remember the scary words that Paul used to describe those who refused to love the truth

What what did what did God do them justly he caused them to love the lie? If you refuse to love the truth

God will cause you to love a lie And when God's judgment comes upon a people people will love lies

I don't know about you, but I see a whole lot of my fellow citizens who just seem to love lies today

They are absolutely passionate about them and they'll do anything to promote them

So these testimonies these testimonies these testifiers were not consistent

But then there were some there were some who stood up and They remembered something

Jesus had said that's fascinating. They didn't really Understand what he had said or why he had said it and it is interesting that this is what they would bring up in Jesus's trial

Where what he was actually saying and had been saying throughout his ministry About what he was he you know he sets his face toward Jerusalem It is necessary to go to Jerusalem remember he and Peter.

Oh the Lord never may be get behind me Satan Your mind of things of men not of God. I must go to Jerusalem, and this is what

I must accomplish and Yet, that's what comes up in the false testimony here in Mark is you know we heard him say

That he would destroy this temple made with hands now This temple that was staying in Jerusalem at this point in time had been under phases of construction for years and years and years and It It was really in this part of the world one of the most magnificent structures that had been built at this point in time is very richly and lavishly adorned and Was still in in essence still under some type of construction pretty much all the time improvements and expansions and things like that So it had become

Symbolic of the nation so to say you were going to destroy the temple Was basically in in essence a treasonous statement.

It was a treasonous Statement and so they got part of it, right? But isn't it fascinating to write there in verse 58 you have three days

There there they had gotten that part right and that he would build another made without hands in three days and the events

That they are participating in in the sovereignty of God, but unwittingly they don't know what their role is the events they're participating in would eventuate in the crucifixion of Christ his burial and his resurrection and The creation of that temple of God made without hands

So they weren't wrong They just didn't understand what the application was and thought that this would this might be something worth bringing condemnation

Would be the testimony that they bring but even in this their testimony was not again equal consistent truthful so Obviously what happens is the the chief priest starts losing patience

This is this is a show trial anyways he's probably very angry with the people who brought in these witnesses and Didn't school them well enough to get their testimonies straight to make it look good when they go before the

Roman authorities to be able to Have a public execution especially at a really challenging time

There and so the the high priest gets impatient and he stands up and He tries to get

Jesus to incriminate himself. Don't you hear what these people are saying against you? Do you have nothing to say in response?

but Jesus remains silent and answers nothing and so the chief priest now in In mark says is asking

Him and saying to him. Are you the Christ and I knew that in one of the synoptic

Gospels It was a much stronger term. I looked it up and it's Matthew's version in When Matthew records this he uses a very specific

Greek term that is used in legal proceedings Where you abjure you are placing somebody under a curse if they do not give an answer

So it isn't just simply to ask in a friendly manner of chitchat type of thing

It is by my authority as high priest. I abjure you I place you under a curse if you do not respond to me and Then he brings in the big gun

And why would I say it's the big gun? Well You already have had a number of people at this time in church history

Prior to This period who have claimed Messianic roles they've caused people to follow them

This is the huge political bomb Given the relationship that the

Sadducees and the Jewish hierarchy has to the Romans a Messiah is going to be a person who leads a rebellion a

Messiah an anointed one the the Jews have been looking for the Messiah for hundreds of years

There are all sorts of different understandings as to what the Messiah is going to be The role he's going to have they're looking at the

Old Testament prophecies and they put some of it together right over here but some of it wrong over there and they they don't see how the

Fulfillment is going to take place and this even plays out between John the Baptist and Jesus remember when

John the Baptist sends some of his disciples of Jesus are you the one we're looking for is there's someone else and and Jesus's response to pointing to certain of those passages are being fulfilled in his ministry

And and so there was a certain level of confusion, but there were certainly many Jews who saw a very strongly militaristic

Very strongly militaristic Fulfillment of the Messiah and that's what they were looking for and that's what the

Jews were really scared of who had authority who had power that did not want to see things change and So he decides let's go for it

We've we've already had had him arrested. We spent money for the false testimony, which didn't do us any good

Let's go for the big question and so he Says are you ha

Christos? The Messiah the Messiah not a

Messiah, but the Messiah in Fact the Son of the

Blessed One So Son of God In its fullest sense

Now we know that there had been Discussions of these things in John in other contexts, but here in a legal setting

Abjuring as Matthew puts it putting Jesus under Under oath in essence

Christ the Son of the Blessed One Now Jesus's response in verse 62 requires us

To be familiar with the Old Testament text In a way that certainly the chief priests and the scribes and the

Pharisees would have been familiar with the Old Testament text But many of us today are not to be perfectly honest

Because the response is so strong That there has to have been something that Jesus said that tapped into Not only what the

Hebrew Scriptures were saying, but what the expectation the Jewish people were so Let's look and I didn't bring my

Hebrew text So I'll go with the I don't know if any of you do any of you know when if I say

Jeffrey Rice and post -tenebrous Lux Bible rebinding Both of these are

Jeffrey Rice. I just want you to know it's It's supposed to be very impressive But Jeffrey is a if you if you have a

Bible you just love this Bible, you know what I got this Bible The what's called the block the text is a 1977 large print

NASB that I bought in about 1978 and It wasn't in bad shape.

I had taken good care of it and As the pastor can testify the older you get the bigger the font needs to be

That's one of the reasons frequently I will use an iPad to preach from because you can make the font so big I can sit

Back there and still read it But this is still very readable for me and Jeffrey rebound it for me

And I can only highly recommend if you have a Bible you just love but the cover is just Has seen its better days and is leaving marks, you know in your car as parts of it fall off Jeffrey Rice really knows what he's doing.

So he did this one for me and I thought I found it providential That this morning.

What did we sing? Well, we say and we sang pastor Cain's I think that was your we're all are all those yours the

Psalms, okay Psalm 110 Psalm 110 and so if you look at Psalm 110, this is

One of the most quoted texts of Scripture as we like to say at Apologia Church where I'm one of the pastors it's

God's favorite text of Scripture because he quotes it so often in the New Testament and Psalm 110 one is quoted a number of times and then of course

Psalm 110 four is also quoted many times in the New Testament as well.

So it's a very highly messianic passage and I am reminded of What's the first thing

Jesus does when he rises from the dead is? With the disciples on the road to Emmaus and then with with the eleven

Judas being gone. He opens their minds to understand the scriptures and how from Moses through all the prophets they testified of him

And so we see in Acts the sermons where these Old Testament pastors being brought up. That's what

Jesus taught them After his resurrection, we we wish we could walk along with the two disciples and hear that conversation

But we still get to get part of it when we read the book of Acts, for example, or read the epistles But here in Psalm 110

Yahweh says to my Adonai Sit at my right hand until I make thine enemies a footstool for thy feet

Yahweh will stretch forth thy strong scepter from Zion saying rule in the midst of thine enemies

And so here is a a song specifically originally about the king and Yet it has a fulfillment in the son of David and remember

Jesus uses this as a riddle How can David's Lord? the

Messiah David call yet here you have

Yahweh says to my Lord who is the Messiah of my feet and the

Jews had no answer They had no answer because they did not have a proper understanding of the grandeur and the exalted status of the person of Messiah what who he was going to be is that this is a text that speaks of the exaltation of the

Messiah to the right hand of Yahweh God the Father and of course one of the key elements one of the key proofs of the doctrine the

Trinity in the New Testament is the fact that that word Yahweh Yod. Hey, wow. Hey in Hebrew The name is used of the father as it is here

I mean, there's the distinction that is made between father and son here Isaiah 53 who lays our sins upon the

Messiah It's Yahweh and yet the son is identified as Yahweh in a number of different places

John 1240 and spoke about in Isaiah 6 was

Jesus and yet if you ask Isaiah who'd you see I saw Yahweh Which is

Yahweh speaking applies to Jesus in the in the in the Carmen Christian Philippians chapter 2 Identifies Jesus as Yahweh by quoting from from Isaiah 8 and so it is a regular

I'm going to 225 27 so over and over again the New Testament writers identified Jesus as Yahweh and of course the spirit of the

Lord is the spirit of Yahweh and Hence the identification of the Holy Spirit with that spirit in the

Old Covenant Likewise identifies him in the same way and so This is one that in my opinion one of the key elements of the demonstration of the doctrines of Trinity was the willingness of New Testament writers to do this

But notice sit at my right hand until I make thine enemies a footstool for their feet

And then you have his stretching forth of his strong scepter rule in the midst of thine enemies

There is a power that is ascribed to the Messiah and seated at the right hand being seated at the right hand of God but then keep that one in mind and turn back to Daniel and In Daniel chapter 7 you have this incredible vision

Daniel chapter 7 and so if you're looking for where the Fulfillment text is

Daniel chapter 7 You have in beginning in verse it becomes poetic in verse 9 and then 11 and 12 you have a description in verse 13

It goes back into the poetic section where it says I kept looking in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven

One like a son of man was coming and he came up to the ancient of days and was presented before him and to him was

Given dominion glory and a kingdom that all the people's nations and men of every language might serve him

His dominion is everlasting dominion, which will not pass away and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed now it's interesting that the the

Hebrew term to to worship ahab Can be rendered in with two different Greek words

Frequently in New Testament you have the Greek word prosecute Oh, which means simply to bow down before and when it's used in a religious context

It means religious worship, but the highest form of worship is Latruo and that's just describing the worship in the temple the temple worship and when the the

Greek translation of Daniel 7 says that They might serve him

It is the highest form of worship that is described here being given to this son of man

Who comes to the ancient who is presented before the ancient of days? Now some discussion about that, but I believe this is at the

Ascension. This is after Jesus has accomplished This is what Paul's talking about Philippians chapter 2

Where he is highly exalted in him and given in the name is of every name the name of Jesus every knee shall bow

Fs. Jesus Christ is Lord the glory of God 23 and so much to what he has been sent to accomplish

He is rescinded before the ancient of days Jesus say when he's ascending in Matthew 28 these two texts

Daniel 7 and Psalm 110 in mind Listen to Jesus's response First only says

I am the terminology that Jesus uses in John 8 24 8 58 13 19 18 5 through 6

Does it in John 8 58 the Jews pick up stones to stone him in?

18 5 through 6 when they come to arrest him he says I go I mean what happens to the soldiers they fall back upon the ground

So Jesus now some people say well, he's just using the emphatic form Yes, I am the Christ, but I I take the

Bible as a whole and see greater connections I am and you will see the

Son of Man Seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of he has taken a few words from Psalm 110

Specifically at the beginning in regards to being seated and then

He is literally Woven them together because Son of Man is from Daniel 7 Seated is from Psalm 110 and then come with the clouds of heaven is back to Daniel 7.

So he's showing us. These are all speaking of the same event Now it's interesting

I would just ask you to think about what does it mean to say to the Sanhedrin Who are passing judgment upon him you will see

You will see this take place You will see the

Son of Man seated in in the heavenly place at the right hand of God and Seated to the place of power which is what the right hand is and coming with the clouds of heaven

Now whatever we do how the Jews responded is not questionable is it

You may try to find a way around this and my Unitarian friends frequently do try to find ways around this and by the way,

I Made a mistake in coming here and the pastor made a mistake too. You've got to tell me when you normally get done and Normally what they do is exactly that whatever the spirit leads brother

That is the most dangerous response you can ever give Because I want to know when you normally get done because about five minutes after that I start seeing at least somebody in the congregation doing this

And then they start doing that most of us have digital watches that doesn't mean anything anymore

When I was young that meant you your watch you had to get it rewound again and it stopped or something like that But it's always meant to be a then the watch gets higher and higher people start becoming charismatic and you know all sorts of stuff like that and So I'm gonna

I'm gonna shoot for a good

As you can see, I'm extremely formal and very very stuffy and how I how I do this I actually I'm not

I'm much more of a teacher and I that's much more comfortable that way. Anyway, so Whatever you however you interpret

Jesus is weaving together Daniel 7 and Psalm 110 one you can't miss the response of the

Jews and If the Jews had completely misunderstood what Jesus was saying Why didn't he say anything?

My Unitarian friends. I call them friends because I can't call them my brothers My Unitarian friends will stand on their heads to try to get around Texts like this and my

Muslim friends as well because it's just so obvious How do they respond

The first thing the chief priest does is he tears his clothes this is this is what you do in the presence of tremendous tragedy

Death or in this case, what does he describe it as? blasphemy blasphemy

They fully understand exactly what he just said. They know

Daniel 7 they know Psalm 110 one They know this

Son of Man is given a kingdom and dominion and glory That all the people's nations and men of every language might worship him serve him

How dare this one and not only that clearly he's viewing the

Messiah as the Son of the Blessed One in the divine sense they fully understand it and The chief priest knows as soon as those words came from Jesus's mouth

We've got him we've got exactly what we were looking for Exactly what we're looking for.

He just said it. We all know it He tears his robes And he says what need do we have of further his witnesses?

You've heard the blasphemy. What is your judgment and They all

That's a sad phrase Doesn't say the majority They all

These were the men who have been put in the place to represent the people of God. These were men who?

possessed the scriptures and held the scrolls and When faced with the incarnate

Son of God and hearing him Expressing the fulfillment of the ancient scriptures in himself

Say that he they condemn him It's the term of condemnation they all condemned him to be worthy of death

What a tragic reality and you cannot help but think

About the fact that these events took place Only a matter of years 40 short years

Before the place in which they took place would be reduced to rubble absolutely destroyed and Hundreds of thousands if not millions of those people's children, and I can't help but think of remember when

Passion of Christ came out Mel Gibson's film You remember the huge human cry?

anti -semitism anti -semitism and They they took out Because it was amazing.

They actually had actors speaking in Aramaic and then you had subtitles and They had had the quotation from Matthew his blood be upon us and our but before the film came out

They removed the subtitles, but they kept the Aramaic So if you could understand at least enough

Aramaic They still said it But that it didn't translate it because it was considered anti -semitic and yet whose children died

By the hundreds of when Titus and Roman legions came into Jerusalem only 40 years later same once same once amazing thing to realize and so here at Jesus's trial he does not defend himself against false accusations

But when he is asked about his true identity by the high priest

His answer is to weave together Sadly what would be considered in most modern seminaries and Bible colleges to be completely disconnected and irrelevant words

We wonder why? preaching today does not point us to the Beauty of how these texts go back and and the the play between the old and the new and the

Consistency and the beauty of it. It's because most of our people are being taught that you can't do that with the

Bible but there isn't that level of of Consistency and harmony all the way from Genesis to Revelation Very often the people in the

Pio significantly more spiritual common sense than what appears in many of our schools

But in just these few words Jesus testifies of who he is and I I am so thankful that I've had the opportunity in my life

To not only give testimony to these words, but to defend these words in so many different contexts

Against people from so many different perspectives that deny these truths But I know one thing

That if these quotations are true Jesus's claim to be

Lord Is not only just as relevant today But in light of secularism

More relevant today. Let me close with explaining what I mean by that the secular worldview.

I believe to be the greatest Anti -christian

Movement in history At least the Romans were religious pagans

At least they had gods They didn't have the idea that we were cosmic accidents

With absolutely no transcendent meaning whatsoever When I think of everything good and positive that Jesus taught and stood for secularism

Denies it Think about it. Let's just use one example Jesus said from the beginning

The Creator made them male and female hmm

Aren't we trying to pass laws right now where if you say that you're you're a hater you can lose your job you can be sued

To say what Jesus said foundational to any kind of civilization that will last for any period of time at all and so when it says that in Psalm 110 that he is

Extending his separate rule Amongst your enemies. Well, Christ has a lot of enemies right now in Western culture and someone has to say

He is Lord He rose from the dead he has the final say as to male and female and marriage and sexuality and justice and everything else because he is

Lord and He is Lord not just in heaven. He's Lord on earth as well, and he wasn't afraid to make that confession

Knowing exactly what the response was going to be Don't think Jesus is standing there going.

Oh, I didn't mean to upset you He knew exactly what the response was going to be and yet he said those words and they've been recorded for us and The very least we can do brothers and sisters is to pray for the strength that when the challenge comes to us

We will say what Jesus said not of ourselves But of our Lord Caesar is saying to us bow

Offer the pinch of incense say Caesar is Lord. We can't Because our

Lord was the one prophesied in Psalm 110 Daniel 7 those were long before his birth he has fulfilled those prophecies and he is

King of Kings and Lord of Lords, let's pray together our gracious Heavenly Father we

Cannot help but at this time. Thank you not only for your word and the preservation of it over time so we might have these words and we might consider these things, but Likewise the fact that At least to this point in time.

We are able to gather in peace and to consider these truths we know there are many who would like to see that end and so we thank you for the

Gift of grace you've extended to us for so long and having such wonderful freedoms

And we we do pray that you would protect us From evil men and women who would seek to suppress the proclamation of your truth

I'm thankful for these who have gathered this day for this church in this place And so many faithful churches that are gathering right now all across this nation

Lord, I pray that those who bring the message will be bold. They will not fear the face of men And Lord you'd build your people up you'd give us direction and understanding

Deep in our faith in the truth of your revelation in the glory of the gospel and our love for one another

We thank you for our Lord and Savior in his testimony before the high priest And we ask that you would help us to remember and to seek to glorify that one

That exalted one who eternally existed With equality with the father and yet did not consider the quality something to be grasped

But he humbled himself and went to the point of the cross But now has been highly exalted and given the name which is above every name

Father we ask that we would be good servants of his That we would reflect his glory his love his mercy

That he would give us opportunity of testifying to these truths in this coming week