Book of Luke - Ch. 22, Vs. 39-71 (12/06/2020)

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Okay. This morning, we're going to continue our study of Luke 22.

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We're going to pick up when Jesus is at the

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Garden of Gethsemane, just coming in. This would be chapter 22, verse 39.

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And it will begin. And He, and that's talking about Jesus, and He came out and went as He was want to the

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Mount of Olives. And His disciples also followed Him. Well, that's most of the disciples.

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Judas has already left the table, has gone on his way to meet the priest to betray

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Jesus. So He's not with them. The other ones are. Now they've gone through all of the things that they went through from 6 o 'clock in the afternoon.

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They had supper. They did all the things that they did. They observed a new tradition.

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And now they have walked out. Now they have left Jerusalem, heading toward the

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Mount of Olives. I was hoping that John Karpiak would be here so I could ask him this question.

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How far is it from the center of Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives?

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And how long do you think it would take them to walk there? Does anybody know? I think it's about 2 1⁄2 miles,

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I think. And I'm pretty sure it's steep downhill and steep uphill. So I would think it would be maybe a 30, 40 -minute walk.

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But maybe, I don't know, 2 miles uphill and downhill, steep uphill.

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Everywhere Jesus walked, there was a traffic jam. Well, not on this trip.

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This trip would have been near midnight. And there wouldn't have been many people out.

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But you're right about that. If He'd gone in the daytime, it would have probably taken longer. In any case, all of the 11 remaining disciples followed

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Jesus to the Mount of Olives until they got to the Garden of Gethsemane.

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And when they got there, Jesus left most of them at the entrance. And He took

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Peter, James, and John inside with Him to pray. And when

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He was at the place, He said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.

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Now, there's a couple of things that I found really interesting, or to me was interesting. First of all, Jesus knows the ordeal that He's facing.

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He knows the ordeal that they're going to be facing. He didn't ask for them to pray for Him.

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But He did ask them to pray. He asked them to pray for themselves.

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To what end? That they might not enter into temptation.

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Had they spent their time praying instead of sleeping, maybe they would have acted differently over the next few hours.

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Now, He's inside the Garden, and He's going to separate Himself a little bit from the three disciples,

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Peter, James, and John. And He's going to pray. But He's going to stay close enough that they can hear

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Him pray. And then they can pray without interfering with Him.

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So a little bit away, but they can still hear Him. And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and He kneeled down and prayed, saying,

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Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done.

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And that's a pattern we should ask for when we pray. Ask for what you want, and pray for God's will to be done.

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Now I've got a question. Was this prayer Jesus' answer? How was it answered?

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Does anybody know how it was answered? It was exactly like He asked. Not His will, but God's will.

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Okay, not His will, but God's will. And what was God's will? That He drink the cup.

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He did not remove the cup from Him. So that part of the prayer did not happen.

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But what did happen, what did occur, was the last part of the phrase was answered exactly,

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Thou will be done. What was His will for Jesus? What was God's will for Jesus?

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To go through this by Himself? No, He sent assistance.

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His prayer was answered. The answer? There appeared an angel unto

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Him from heaven, strengthening Him. Now that was one interesting thing.

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The next interesting thing is, Luke is the only one that has this verse in the description of the events in the garden.

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Have you ever wondered why? Have you ever wondered why Matthew, Mark, and John did not have this verse in the

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Bible? I mean, that would be a noteworthy thing, an angel from heaven appearing to strengthen the

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Lord. You would think that all three of them, that all three

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Gospels would declare that. Why do you think that didn't happen? They didn't see it.

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Why didn't they see it? Because they were sleeping. Well, we don't know about Matthew.

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Matthew, we know, was at the gate of the garden. He wasn't there to see it. The only ones that had a chance to see it were?

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Peter, James, and John. Now of those three, each one of them is the source of a

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Gospel. Matthew wrote Matthew. He was outside the gate.

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He didn't see it. The source for Mark was Peter. Peter was in the garden sleeping.

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The source for John was John. John was in the garden sleeping.

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Well, how did Luke know? Luke was not even a disciple.

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Luke was not even around. Why was he able to report this? Have you ever wondered why things are as they are?

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Very important, I think, an angel appearing to strengthen the Lord.

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Matthew doesn't record it. Mark doesn't record it. John doesn't record it.

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The only one that records it is Luke. Who wrote Luke? Luke.

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Luke was a follower of whom? Jesus, ultimately, but Paul.

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He was with Paul. Paul was Luke's source. Well, where did

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Paul get his information? Jesus Christ. When? In the third heaven when we went into the wilderness to be with Jesus.

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Well, actually, he might have gotten some there, but he also got some when he was wandering in the wilderness, studying with the

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Lord for three years. And interestingly enough, how many years did the other apostles walk with Jesus?

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Three years. How long did he walk with Jesus? Three years. So how did

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Paul know? Jesus told him. Jesus knew.

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And so, and there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

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Now, because he was strengthened, he still had to drink of the cup. He still is in agony.

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He's still facing crucifixion. He's still going to do all the things he had to do, but he has now been given an extra boost of energy, as it were.

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And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. And his sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

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And when he rose up from his prayer and was come to his disciples, the three disciples that were a stone's throw away from him, he found them sleeping for sorrow.

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And he wakes them. And he says unto them, Why sleep ye? Rise and pray.

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Now, again, he doesn't say rise and pray that somehow my pain, my agony will be reduced.

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What does he ask for? Lest ye enter into temptation.

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He is concerned about them. He's not concerned so much about himself.

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He knows what's coming for him. He has been strengthened. He is Jesus. He knows his job. He's going to do his job.

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He's going to do everything that he's supposed to do. But he's worried about them. Not for me, he says, but for you.

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Pray for yourself. And now we are going to be interrupted by the arrest of Jesus.

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And this will be out of Luke's account. And while he yet spake, behold, a multitude, and he that was called

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Judas, one of the 12, went before them and drew near unto

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Jesus to kiss him. Now, this was not just any multitude.

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I was going to ask you about that first. This was a carefully chosen multitude.

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This was a multitude that was selected entirely by the priest and the elders and their entire purpose was to go and to arrest

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Jesus. They came with swords.

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They came with staffs. And they came as a multitude. And their only purpose?

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To arrest Jesus and take him to the high priest to be tried.

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But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the son of man with a kiss?

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Now, John, was that a question? Not really. It was only worded like a question, wasn't it? It was not really a question.

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Jesus knows the answer. Yes, and so does Judas. And so does Judas. Did I say

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Jesus or Judas? You said both. I said, okay, good. Okay, good. Sometimes I say one and mean the other.

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He knows, Jesus knows that Judas is going to identify him. He even knows the signal.

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He knows that the signal that Judas left with the priest is the one

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I kissed, that's the one you take, bind, and take back to the high priest. So Jesus knows.

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And when they which were about him saw what would follow. Now, is that clear who that is, they that were about him?

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It's talking about his disciples, the 11 remaining disciples.

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And didn't he give reference to it when they were eating supper, that Judas would be the one?

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Oh, yeah, he had given reference at the supper that Judas would betray him.

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It was a longish supper. It started at 6 o 'clock. It ran, I would think, to 11 or 12 o 'clock before Judas was identified.

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And Judas left that into the night to go tell the priest. He did that. He arranged with him. He says, I'm going to kiss.

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The one I kiss is the one you're going to arrest. And Jesus knew all that.

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And I'm kind of putting the times in so you'll see what kind of time. This is sometime after midnight that all of this is happening.

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This is way after midnight because if Jesus got to the garden at midnight, we know he prayed at least two or three hours.

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So if that's the case, that's from the other accounts. If that's the case, then it's like 3 o 'clock in the morning.

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I would guess about 3 o 'clock in the morning is when the arrest is going to be taking place.

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And then he's going to be carried to a couple of other places. Okay. Now, I thought this was really interesting.

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If you remember last week when we went over the two swords, and I told you that it wasn't the swords that he was talking about when he said it's enough.

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He didn't say that's enough swords. He said, this is enough talk. Let's go to the mountain of Olives and pray.

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So that's what that was all about. Now, understand this. There's a multitude of carefully chosen men carrying swords and stakes, not three, not 12, not 20, a multitude.

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And when they, which were about him, saw what would follow, that's the disciples, they said to him,

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Lord, shall we smite with the sword? How many swords did they have?

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They had two. What are they facing? A multitude.

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Two swords against a multitude armed with swords and staffs.

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You think that's possible? Do you think it's possible for two swords to defeat an army with it?

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If God were with them? I mean, God was with them, but you know what

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I mean. He was with them in the fight. After all, Jesus did say two swords were enough, didn't he?

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Well, he didn't really say that. What he really said was, we're not talking about swords.

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We're talking about talk. Enough talk. Let's go. As for swords, how many swords were needed?

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One. You'll see why one sword is needed in just a second. Yeah. Two was too many.

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One was all they needed. And one of them, Luke doesn't identify him, but another apostle does,

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Peter, who had one of the swords, smoked the servant of a high priest and cut off his right ear.

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I don't know whether that was by intent or whether that was by mistake. No mistake. You think it was a mistake?

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I said there's no mistake. There's no mistake? From Peter's point of view, was he trying to cut the ear off or was he trying to cut his head off?

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Well, God allowed him to cut the ear off, and that was to teach him. I'm sure he was aiming for the middle of his forehead.

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I would think he was aiming for the middle of his forehead and he moved or he just missed. In any case, he cut off his right ear.

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And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear and healed it.

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Now he is talking about the servant. Now, that was confusing to me because of the way it was written.

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Suffer ye thus far. Who's he talking about there? Is he talking about the man whose ear was cut off?

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It's only the way the old English is written that's confusing. At least it's confusing to me.

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Jesus was not talking about the injured man. He's talking to his disciples.

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He's particularly talking to Peter when he said, Suffer ye thus far.

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In more modern English, we would write it this way or say it this way. Allow even this.

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Allow even the betrayal and the arrest of Jesus. That's what he's saying. Not suffer through the pain.

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Allow even this. Now, I know that because of John 18, 11.

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It tells us exactly what Jesus said to Peter. Who had just chopped off the ear of the servant.

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Then said Jesus unto Peter. I don't know if I told you. This is John 18, verse 11.

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Then said Jesus unto Peter, put up thy sword into the sheath. The cup which my father hath given me, shall

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I not drink it? Everything, and this has been mentioned three or four times, but I won't say it anyhow.

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Everything that happens, in fact, everything that always happens, always proceeds according to the divine timetable of God.

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Every detail was under the sovereign control of God. And in accordance with his eternal purposes.

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He had a reason for everything, and everything happened exactly for his reason. Then Jesus said unto the chief priest and the captains of the temple, and the elders, which will come to him.

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Look at all the people that came. Heading the army, heading the multitude. You got the chief priest.

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You got the captains of the temple. You got the elders. They were all out there and they were directing the mob. And the mob was come to arrest

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Jesus. And Jesus says, be ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves.

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When I was daily with you in the temple, you stretched forth no hands against me.

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But this is your hour and the power of darkness. John MacArthur handled that verse this way.

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And I want to go ahead and read that. Nighttime, the hour of darkness.

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They had not the courage to confront him in the presence of the crowds at the temple where he had openly taught each day.

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Their skulking tactics betrayed the truth about their hearts. Nighttime was a fitting hour for the servants of the power of darkness.

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And who's the power of darkness? Satan. Nighttime was a fitting hour for the servants of the power of darkness to be evict.

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And John 3 verse 20 says this, for everyone that doeth evil hateth the light.

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Neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved. So yes, darkness is the time when evil is done by people.

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More than in the openness of the day. More crimes are committed at night. More bad things happen at night.

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I used to tell people, there's nothing good that ever happens after midnight.

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If you're out after midnight, you're just asking for trouble. Nothing good ever happens after midnight. Well, that's not true, of course.

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That's just me saying something that is an exaggeration. Not many things good happen after midnight.

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I'll say it that way. Now what we had thus far is a review of some of the things that we did last week.

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And now we're going to get to the trials. There are going to be six trials that Jesus is going to face.

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Three Jewish trials. Then three Roman trials. I will tell you up front, we will not get to any of the

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Roman trials. Hopefully we'll get through the three Jewish trials.

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Next week, God willing, we'll tackle the three Roman trials. First, the

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Jewish trials. There was actually three. One before Ananias, another before Caiaphas, and another one before the entire

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Sanhedrin. And there's kind of a qualifier on the trial before the

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Sanhedrin, which we will get to in a second. And then there's kind of a, not just that qualifier, but a problem that takes place in the second trial that you'll notice as we go through.

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But first, we're going to look at Luke. And Luke, in his account, ignores the trial before Ananias altogether.

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He doesn't say anything about it. He goes straight to Ananias' son -in -law, the official high priest,

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Caiaphas. But John adds this to the account. And that's why I know that they went to Ananias first.

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This is in John 18, verse 12. John 18, verse 12. Then the band and the captain and the officers of the

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Jews took Jesus. Now, this is then after he's been identified by Judas.

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And they bound him and led him away to Ananias first. So first they take him to Ananias.

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Why did they take him to Ananias? For he was the father -in -law of Caiaphas, who was the high priest at that time.

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Now, so Ananias will then send Jesus, after his hearing, to Caiaphas, his son -in -law, who was the official high priest.

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Matthew adds this. The entire Sanhedrin council was present for this nighttime trial.

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And I put nighttime trial in my notes in quotation marks because a trial for a criminal offense was not allowed to take place when?

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At night, because that's when evil is done. They had to wait till morning. The Sanhedrin had to wait until morning to have their trial, and they will.

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But there will be a trial in the meantime. Matthew adds this. Matthew 26, verse 57.

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And they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled.

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So they're there, the scribes and the elders and the high priest were all there in order to hear the trial that is going to take place at Caiaphas' palace.

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Verse 54. Then they took him and led him and brought him to the high priest's house, and Peter followed afar off.

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Now, who's the high priest that they're taking him to now? They're taking him to Caiaphas because Luke just ignores the intervening step.

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And Peter followed afar off. Now, what did

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Peter do? He followed afar off. But what did Peter say he was going to do?

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This was either last week or the week before last. In chapter 22 of Luke, verse 23, just look back and see what

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Luke told Jesus. He said, yes, he's going to die for him.

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He says, and he, this is Peter, said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both to prison and to death.

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Now, before I read Jesus' response, I'm going to read my paraphrase of what

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Jesus said. Not really. You only think you are.

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But the way Jesus put it was more eloquent than I am. He says, and he said, this is

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Jesus, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day before that thou hast thrice denied that thou knowest me.

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Now, he told Peter this along about midnight, the first time.

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Now, he's been taken. Peter is following. But he is not right up there in the bunch with him.

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He follows afar off. And we've already talked about the time a little bit, so I'm not going to redo that.

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And so they get to Caiaphas' house, and when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall and were set down together,

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Peter sat down among them. Now, this has got to be 3 or 4 o 'clock in the morning. I was out walking my dog this morning at about, my dog wakes me up every day, about 530, and it was still dark.

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I had out the flashlight, and as I was walking the dog, I heard a rooster crow. Now, they don't start crowing at midnight.

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They don't start crowing when the sun's come up. They start crowing just slightly before dawn.

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So all this is going to happen sometime just before dawn. And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall and were set down together,

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Peter sat down among them. So here's Peter, totally unprepared, having slept when he should have been praying, sitting down among his enemies, a disaster waiting to happen.

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But a certain maiden beheld him as he sat by the fire and earnestly looked upon him, looked at him intently.

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And said, this man was also with him. Well, apparently she had seen

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Peter with Jesus. That wouldn't have been hard to have done. Jesus has been in Jerusalem for a while.

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He's been there many times. Peter was always around him. If one would see Jesus, one would probably see

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Peter with him. The multitudes had seen them together. So she probably, it's not surprising that she would have seen it.

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And now Judas, now Peter's first response.

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And he denied him. Peter denied Jesus. Said, woman,

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I know him not. That is so unlike Peter.

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It's not at all like the Peter we saw earlier today. The one that took up his one sword and attacked the multitude, that Peter.

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The one who cut off the ear of one of the chief priest's servants, that Peter.

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No, this Peter is so much different from that Peter. So much different that if Jesus had not warned us,

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I wouldn't have believed it. But he told us. He told

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Peter. He said, you're going to deny me three times before dawn. And this is the first time.

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That one didn't click with Peter, though. And after a little while, another saw him and said, that are also of them.

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And Peter said, man, I am not. Now, if you go to another one of the versions,

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I'm not going to go there. But he said it a little stronger than Luke reports.

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He cursed and he swore and he said, I don't know what you're talking about. I am not one of his.

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I am not of them. And that was his second denial.

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And about the space of one hour after. Now, here's another one about an hour later. This trial has been going on for about an hour now or over an hour.

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He's denied it once. He's denied it twice. It's getting close to morning. And about the space of one hour after another confidently affirmed saying of a truth, this fellow also was with him, for he is a

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Galilean. How did he know that? I'm sorry?

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Probably tell by his clothes. His clothes. Well, that could have been a way, but that's not the way.

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His manner of speaking. If you have been to Virginia recently, you've heard the

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Virginians speak. Do they sound exactly like me? Not exactly.

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Somewhat similar, but not exactly. My accent is a little bit different than theirs. And we grew up just hundreds of miles away.

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Different regions have different dialects, different languages, different language patterns. We can almost always tell where someone is from from how they speak.

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Except for me. People think I'm from Texas for some reason. And I don't even sound like a Texan. But they always think

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I'm not from the part of Texas they're from. I mean, it is really interesting.

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They say, well, I know you're from Texas, but you're not from Dallas. But if I'm in El Paso, they say,

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I know you're from Texas, but you're not from El Paso. I said, no, I'm not from North Carolina.

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That part of Texas. His accent gave him away.

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Now, here's how I know it's the accent. Matthew 26, verse 73.

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And after a while came unto him, that while is an hour. And after a while came unto him,

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David stood by and said to Peter, I mispunched.

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Now I'm back. And said to Peter, surely thou art also one of them for thy speech bereath thee.

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Now, I want to tell you something. I have read this passage probably a hundred times.

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And it was only this day that I recognized that that word was not betrayed. I always read that as betrayed.

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Just now, you said that bereath. I said, oh, you misspoke. And you look down. I actually, after I thought

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I misread it, looked back to see if I had miscopied it and if my computer had punched in a different word, as it sometimes does when

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I'm typing in, it jumps to a different place and puts the letter in. I thought I put in the wrong letter. I went back to correct it.

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I checked in three bibles. And it was also bereath. Now, what that means is that doesn't mean betrayed.

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That means your speech makes it clear who you are. That's what that meant.

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I can tell who you are from how you sound. Okay. That was interesting to me.

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Yes. And Peter said, man, I know not what thou sayest.

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And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crowed.

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That's all it took. Just exactly as Jesus had told him would happen.

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You will deny me three times before the cock crows. So what did the

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Lord do? The Lord is in a bit on trial. He's been tried for over probably two or three hours now.

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And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the

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Lord. How he had said unto him, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice, three times.

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And Peter went out and wept bitterly. And that should be a lesson for us all.

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Peter's strongest point was his bravery. Peter was rash, reckless, bold, and that's where he failed.

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Oftentimes, we will fail in exactly those places where we think we're the strongest.

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You know why? We won't rely on the Lord to help us. We'll say,

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Lord, you can take a rest. I'll do this one by myself. And every time we try that, we fail.

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Or at least every time I try that, I fail. And I try that way too many times.

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Now we're going to run through the trials. Up until now, we're just talking about what Peter did while the trials were going on.

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Now we're going to look at the trials themselves. And the first trial was before Anais, the former high priest who had retained this honorary title.

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We got that from John 18, verse 12 and 13. I just read it a minute ago. And who still retained great influence.

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He's a former high priest. He still had great influence in the nation. And we know very little concerning what happened at that other than it took place first.

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That's really all we know. That's all I can find out about what happened at the hearing in front of Anais.

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Whatever decision might have been made, however, had no legal weight.

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And why is that? Criminal trials were not legal if they're held at night.

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Okay? Plus a hundred other things, but that's one of the things.

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It was not of any significance because it was done at night.

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It's also not the next trial. It's not going to be legal. We know some things about it because they're going to try to create information.

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We'll see that probably today. And I did read that again.

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John 18, 12. And the band and the captain and the officers of the Jews took

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Jesus and bound him and led him away to Anais first, for he was the father -in -law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year.

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So that's how we know he went there first. And that's all we know about what happens there. Now, the second trial.

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Anais had him bound, or he was already bound, had him delivered to Caiaphas.

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Then they took him and led him and brought him to the high priest's house. Now, that was verse 54.

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55 through 62, we've just read. And we're talking about what Peter was doing before and during the trials.

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Verse 63, we'll pick up with some of the details of the trial. But now you've got to remember about this trial as well.

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That one is in quotation marks too. This one said, not also. This one is illegal as well.

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Everything that happened there is illegal. And some of the things that happened. And the men that held

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Jesus mocked him and smote him. And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face and asked him, saying,

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Prophesy. Who is it that smote thee? John, could Jesus have told him?

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Absolutely. Did he? No. Why didn't he? Because he didn't want to. Yeah, he didn't want to, but he wasn't going to give them the satisfaction.

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He wasn't going to give them the satisfaction. If he prophesied, he would stand like a lamb at his heart.

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That's right. And many other things blasphemously spake they against him.

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Now, that's about all Luke's going to say. So we're going to have to go somewhere else. Yes, sir. If he had prophesied, then they would have gone, wait a minute.

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Maybe this guy is who he says he is. You know, you may be right about that. We kind of talked about that the other day.

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But they couldn't have done it. That couldn't happen because that was not part of God's will for it to happen. But you're indeed right.

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We're going to go to Matthew and get a little more detailed account of what went on in this trial. And we will be in Matthew chapter 26, beginning at verse 31.

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And I'm going to pick up something that Jesus is going to say before the trial.

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This is before the trial. Then said Jesus unto them, all ye shall be offended because of me this night.

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For it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.

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Now, I read that to let you know this. Jesus is talking to his disciples earlier.

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This is 26, verse 31. He's talking to his disciples earlier. And he's telling them, all of you, all 11 of you, will be offended because of me tonight.

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Because it is written, I will smite the shepherd. Who's the shepherd? Jesus. And the sheep shall be scattered abroad.

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And who are the sheep? Well, in one sense, it's all of us. But in this particular instance, it's exactly the 11 disciples.

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All 11 are going to run away. And so he's going to warn them to do what? To pray and prepare that they not scatter.

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But they don't pray, and they don't pray, and they do scatter. Are they praying that they don't scatter or fall into temptation?

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He's praying. He asked them to pray that they not fall into temptation. The temptation is the temptation to scatter when the shepherd is smitten.

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Why would he ask them not to scatter? He wants to tell them to do what they should do.

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But he knows full well that they're not going to do it. That's for us to know.

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Some of this is for us, and some of it's for them. It's for us to do. When we have temptations, it is for us to pray.

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It was for them to pray, too. Had they prayed, they may not have scattered. But they didn't pray, and therefore, they did scatter.

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And it fulfills the prophecy exactly because the prophecy said the shepherd would be smitten and the sheep would scatter.

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But after I'm risen again, he's giving them hope, I will go before you unto

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Galilee. Now, here's Peter. Peter answers and said, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will

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I never be offended. And Jesus said unto him,

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Verily I say unto thee that this night before the crow thou shalt deny me thrice.

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And Peter said, Though I should die with thee, yet I will not deny thee.

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Likewise also said all the disciples. So everyone of them said the same thing.

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Oh, no, we're not going to deny you. We're going to go with you all the way to the death. When they take you off to be crucified, we're going to go right with you.

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If it means prison or death, we don't care. We're going to go with you. Now I'm going to skip all the way down to verse 26, not 26, 55.

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This is verse 55. This is chapter 26. And we'll pick up at the

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Garden of Gethsemane. In that same hour, said

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Jesus to the multitudes, Are you come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take with me?

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I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and you lay no hold on me. But all this was done that the scripture of the prophecies might be fulfilled.

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Then all the disciples forsook him and fled. That's when they scattered.

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Only two didn't scatter then. What two didn't scatter then? John apparently and Peter.

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They followed. John apparently knew the high priest and got in, and he said the guy at the door that was in,

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Peter let him in too. And so at this point, Peter and John are in the room with the rest of them.

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And they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled, the entire

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Sanhedrin. But Peter followed afar off to the high priest's palace and went in and sat with the servants to see to the end.

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Now the chief priest and the elders and all the council sought false witnesses against Jesus.

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So they're looking for somebody to testify that Jesus had done something worthy of being committed to death for, to put him to death.

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But they found none. Yea, though they found many witnesses, yet found they none.

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What does that mean? They couldn't find two to agree. One witness would say one thing, another witness would say another.

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They had a lot of people make up a lot of stories, and the stories didn't match. Now something else wrong about that trial.

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It's at night, and they are trying to manufacture false evidence. So that's at least two things that are wrong with it.

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And at last came two false witnesses who didn't agree on something. And they said, this fellow said,

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I am able to destroy the temple of God and build it in three days. And the high priest arose and said to him, answerest thou nothing?

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What is it which these witnesses against thee? But Jesus held his peace, as he had said he would, as the

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Bible said he would. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure you by the living

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God that thou shalt tell us whether thou be the Christ, the

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Son of God. Now if he had said that, they couldn't use that, because in their jury system, you couldn't use self -produced information to convict yourself.

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You couldn't admit it. Somebody else had to witness it. So it would have been illegal just on that ground had he said it.

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But Jesus said unto them that I have said. Nevertheless, I say unto you, hereafter you shall see the

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Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven.

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Then the high priest rent his clothes. Now, by the way, when he tore his clothes, that was illegal too.

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So now he can no longer preside. If his robe is ripped, he can no longer preside.

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So everything that would have happened from here on would have been illegal, just on that account. How many things have to go wrong?

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Well, you know what? It turns out that many, many things went wrong, but they executed him anyhow.

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Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, he hath spoken blasphemy, what further need have we of witnesses?

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So they couldn't get the witnesses to pan out, so they said we'll convict him on his own testimony.

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Behold now, you have heard his blasphemy. What think ye? And they answered, he is guilty of death.

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So right now, what do they know? They say he's guilty, right? They can't have had a trial yet because it's still not.

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Then they did spit in his face and buffeted him, and others smote him with the palms of their hands, saying, prophesy unto us, thou

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Christ, who is it that smote thee? This is Matthew kind of going through the same thing.

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We're going to look. And I'm going to the next several verses deal with Peter, and we've gone through those, and we will.

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I'm just going to skip down until we get to the verse that says, surely thou art one of them, for thy speech be wrathy.

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And we've already talked about that. Then he began to curse and swear. This is the more powerful version, saying,

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I know not the man, and immediately the cock crowed. And Peter, remembering the words of Jesus, which said unto him, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice, he went out and wept bitterly.

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And now we come to chapter 27 of Matthew. This is

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Deuteronomy 22. When morning was come. Now, all the chief priests and the elders of the people did counsel against Jesus to put him to death.

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Now, why did they have to do that now? Because it's daylight.

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Now it's daylight. Now what they're doing would have been legal had they not done so many other wrong things along with it.

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So now the Sanhedrin is going to vote. And when they had bound him, they laid him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate, the governor, the only authority that had the authority to put anyone to death.

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So all they can do is recommend to Pilate that he put him to death. And that's what they're going to do.

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I'm going to go back and finish up in Luke. And we're just about done. Back to Luke at daybreak.

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Jesus will be found guilty before the Sanhedrin in the third Jewish trial.

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The only one that had any chance of being legal. And it says this, as soon as it was day, the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes came together and led him into the council saying,

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Thou that Christ tell us, and he said unto them, If I tell you, you will not believe. They're going to try to get

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Jesus to incriminate himself. And if I ask you, you will not answer me, nor will you let me go.

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Hereafter shall the Son of Man stand on the right hand of the power of God.

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Then said they all, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them,

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Ye say that I am. And they said, What need we any further witnesses?

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For we ourselves have heard of his own mouth. What did they hear of his own mouth?

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He said, You say that I am. He didn't say, I am.

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He was. He didn't say that. He said it many other times. But here he says, Ye say that I am.

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And they said, What need we of any further witnesses? For we have ourselves heard of his own mouth.

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So they bind him, lead him away to Pontius Pilate, and we'll deal with the

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Roman trials next Sunday, God willing. Let us pray.

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Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, and thank you for all our many blessings. Protect us and keep us.

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Thank you for allowing us to meet in person again today, and thank you for all the people that are listening in on the