Sermon: Lies, Justice and The Temple

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Go ahead and take a seat He would open your

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Bibles to the gospel according to Matthew the gospel according to Matthew chapter 26

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Matthew 26 We have a series that apology at church called the kingdom of God and it is as I said of working through the gospel

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According to Matthew verse by verse We chose to do this many years ago

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Because We wanted to make sure that as we go through a gospel We would be able to as much as possible with a church plant with a newer church

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Work through the Old Testament at the same time. We're working through the New Testament You can do that a lot

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Of course the other New Testament because the New Testament is constantly pointing back to the Old Testament But in terms of a gospel

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Matthew does the most quoting from the Old Testament So it gives us an opportunity to actually make sure we're giving the whole counsel of God that you're understanding

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What does the Bible teach Old Testament and New Testament much of what we have as a problem today in our world?

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Amongst professing Christians is we're largely biblically illiterate. We know the red letters in the

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Bible That's that's the important parts right the red letters what Jesus said But every word of God is pure all scripture is breathed out by God And this is a revelation from God in history where he is the master story together

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Teller and he is weaving the story together. This is his revelation the

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Older Testament and Newer Testament and so going through the gospel according to Matthew.

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We've been able to go into the Old Testament Explain why is this so significant for the

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New Testament authors? Why are they appealing to this verse from the Old Testament? And so today we are actually in Matthew chapter 26

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This is after the betrayal of Jesus by Judas We spent time talking about Judas the betrayer and his kiss and this of math in Matthew's gospel

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He has the scene in the garden take place where Jesus is betrayed and Matthew highlights the next section

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Before Caiaphas and so the synoptics you'll see some of the Gospels will have a little more detail and more information in one gospel than the other

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But Matthew chooses to go directly here to what take what takes place before Caiaphas the high priest

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So we are in Matthew 26 verse 57 Here now the word of the living and the true

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God Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas the high priest where the scribes and the elders had gathered and Peter was following him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest and going inside He sat with the guards to see the ends now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus That they may might put him to death

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But they found none of though many false witnesses came forward at last

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To came forward and said this man said I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days

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And the high priest stood up and said have you no answer to make what is it that these men testify against you?

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but Jesus remained silent and The high priest said to him

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I adjure you by the Living God Tell us if you're the Messiah the Son of God Jesus said to him you have said so But I tell you from now on You will see the

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Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven Then the high priest tore his robes and said he has uttered blasphemy.

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What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment?

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They answered he deserves death Then they spit in his face and struck him and some slapped him saying prophesy to us you

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Messiah Who is it that struck you thus far as the reading of God's holy and inspired word?

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Let's pray together as God's people God would come before you as your people with reverent all

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Before your word These are your words This is a story of what took place in History to purchase your people

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Lord, thank you for your word Your standards of righteousness and justice.

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We thank you for your holiness that you are God and you cannot lie in Lord as we examine this text today,

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I pray please allow me to be faithful Please allow me to equip your people to understand what your word says about justice and equal weights and measures and no

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Impartiality help us to understand the tyranny of this moment Help us to understand what you say throughout your word about this very moment before us

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We pray as always Lord that you'd allow your people to forget me and to remember what they've learned from you first and foremost in Jesus name

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Amen, it's a powerful moment. So if you're just getting into this with us

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Remember that Jesus has been telling his disciples that he's going to Jerusalem that he's going to be betrayed

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That they're gonna kill him and that he'll rise again Now his disciples will see especially in other scenes like the road to Emmaus.

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They're not quite understanding it They're not getting it and Jesus actually after being resurrected on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24

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Actually chastises them for being foolish Right slow of heart to believe all of the prophets had spoken.

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In other words, Jesus is there on time He is there as planned.

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He is there as promised and all of the details necessary to know About Jesus are in the

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Old Testament revelation even down to what's going to occur in his earthly ministry Everything about him is there where he's from Bethlehem who it is

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God himself that he'd be born of a virgin that he draw the nations to God that he would die

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Have his hands and feet pierced that he would be the true Passover that God would provide the true lamb on that mountain that would take away

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Sin, all of it is there his death his resurrection that Isaiah 53 he'd be cut off for the transgressions of God's people

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But he would see his offspring. He would prolong his days all these things written long before Jesus comes and Jesus tells his disciples not too far before this he's telling them he's going to Jerusalem and then he finally goes and when he goes there's all the fanfare of Hosanna Hosanna and Then Jesus goes in Matthew's gospel for another cleansing of the temple.

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This is going to be very important I'm saying this for a reason you need to hang on to these particular points in Matthew's gospel when

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Jesus says he's going to the temple He's going to Jerusalem he's gonna be killed crucified and he's gonna rise from the dead

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Matthew shows that Jesus goes for the cleansing of the temple We know the scene Jesus has the court of the court.

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He's turning tables over and all that But that's actually the second cleansing of the temple because in John chapter 2

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Jesus has an initial cleansing of the temple a first cleansing and then a second cleansing by the way as we've talked about That's exactly the duty of the priest from the

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Old Testament When he would go to a house to see if it was actually diseased He would take a first check and then he would come back and if it was diseased again

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That house was supposed to be destroyed So this is following the pattern of the Old Testament priest who was coming to a house first Cleansing come back again.

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If there's another cleansing that house actually must be left desolate. This is the law of God So Jesus goes for the cleansing of the temple

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Jesus actually Announces a number of times before this tax here that there is going to be destruction on that generation before they all die

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But you'll note something he uses terminology that the Jews are hearing remember now

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This scene doesn't take place too long after Jesus has a public ministry

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He's being invited into Jerusalem with all the fanfare of Hosanna and he's cleansing the temple and Warning them that it's all going to be destroyed.

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This is very very important. He has a public ministry He's announcing what he's about who he is and he's announcing the destruction of the temple and he even

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Promises them particular things even in parable of what's going to take place in their generation before they all die now

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Jesus has been betrayed by Judas Judas does it so deceitfully with a kiss, but remember the scene?

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Very important the scene before us in 26 We are now is you have people coming from the temple police and Roman soldiers

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This is key. What's so perverse about this moment is Nobody is following their rules

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The Jews aren't following the law of God in this scene You have the high priest here who is supposed to be the one where the buck stops everything all

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Responsibilities ultimately stopping with this one the high priest and now you have Jesus who is the true high priest before Jerusalem Jerusalem's high priest the high priest there is supposed to use the law of God as the standard always this never should have happened

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When Jesus shows up here, what's interesting is you had temple police show up with clubs

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They weren't allowed to have swords. They would beat people with the clubs, but they were temple police. What are they supposed to prosecute?

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Well, they prosecute religious crimes Rome does not care Rome is pagan

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Rome doesn't care what you worship How you worship all Rome cares about is that you ultimately say that Caesar is the boss

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So you can worship whatever you want Rome just so long as you say Kai so curious that Caesar is

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Lord Interestingly you have Jews and Romans working together in this moment, but the

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Romans don't care They don't care about your religious crimes what Rome cares about and what they prosecute are real crimes like what?

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robbers thieves murderers Rapists those sorts of things so Rome will prosecute people who actually do crime crimes and the temple police are there as Jewish police to protect the integrity of Jewish law and the temple itself, so they're there for religious crimes question

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How come we have temple police and Roman soldiers showing up on the scene? People have said it may be as many as a thousand people showed up in that moment swords clubs

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Rome Jews together in league against Jesus There has been plotting before this long before this they tried to kill

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Jesus on a number of occasions They picked up stones to kill him He said many good works have

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I shown you from the father and John 10 for which of these do you stone me and they? Said for your good works. We stone you not but for blasphemy and that you being a man make yourself

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God They knew exactly what he was saying He called himself the great I am echo a me before Abraham was

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I am and he says that if you don't believe that I am you'll die in your sins. They couldn't take it anymore and there were numbers of occasions

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I'm sure even beyond what we see in a New Testament where Jesus slips out of the crowd because it was not yet His hour and he says to people who were gonna kill him

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You don't have any power over me except that which is given to you by God. This was a predetermined moment

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For the people of God This was the Lamb of God at Passover going to be the true

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Lamb of God for the people of God and yet we have Jesus avoiding conflict at times.

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They're trying to trip him up They're trying to ask him questions to get him in trouble with Rome. You know the famous question

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Jesus is it lawful to pay taxes or not? And Jesus said taxation is theft.

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I'm just kidding. He didn't say that That's a different sermon well

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But Jesus knows their tricks They're trying to trip him up. They want to get

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Jesus in trouble with Rome. They gotta get him in trouble with Rome They can't do anything as Jewish temple police.

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They can't do anything as elders and scribes And so they're finding I'm gonna stop this guy in some way.

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So let's get him in trouble with Rome Let's get him to try to say he has authority over Rome and interestingly in that moment

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Even as they try to get Jesus tripped up in that moment. This is the God of the universe He knows exactly what they're up to and he answers them in a devastating way

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They want Jesus to come in a conflict with Rome in that moment They're trying to get him in trouble and Jesus said show me the coin

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Whose image is that and they're like, well, you know, that's Caesar and he says we'll give to Caesar What's his and give to God what's

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God's the interesting thing about that is whose image is Caesar in? God's So Caesar is supposed to give to who?

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God He's a master of course because he's wisdom incarnate

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Right, but they keep trying and trying and now you have Jesus now is confronted with like maybe a thousand people showing up in the under the cover of darkness

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Under the cover of darkness temple police Roman police why the two groups

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Why the two groups and so Jesus says to them have you come out against me as a robber?

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Right because you got Roman soldiers there that are supposed to prosecute real crimes like robbers and Oddly, Jesus isn't guilty of a crime like robbery theft murder

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None of those things and yet the Roman temple police together. What's what's going on?

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They can't get their story straight They're just doing anything they can By stealth under the cover of darkness to get

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Jesus and notice in the scene before us when Jesus is brought before Caiaphas it says something

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Interesting. It says verse 57 Then those who sees Jesus led him to Caiaphas the high priest where the scribes and elders had gathered.

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They're already there They envied Jesus They wanted to take him down for a long time

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And so they're watch under the cover of darkness because they don't want the crowds to freak out.

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They would have supported Jesus they thought They start having this nighttime trial under cover of darkness to even ask for Jesus death

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But what's strange about it is you've got the high priest and temple policed and Roman soldiers working together question.

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Where's the crime? who's got proof of a crime and It says that they were gathered together now pilot

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Knows as this trial goes on pilot knows that the Jewish leadership is envious of Jesus And that's why they're doing this so that we're gonna see this during the trial of Jesus before pilot pilot wants to let

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Jesus go Why because Jesus is not guilty He's committed no crime at all

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And so Jesus as he tries to release sorry pilot as he tries to release Jesus He actually ends up washing his hands publicly as a matter of record to say he is

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Guiltless he is innocent. He says you want to kill him you see to it

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So as a matter of record in Jesus trial in history, the only real Moment he had before the state the state said what not guilty

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How you like them apples and then amazing but they're conspiring because they're envious

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But they're gathered here in this moment against Jesus and a very confused position of authority with Roman soldiers and temple police

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Strangely working together, but they can't get their story straight. And so Again this is at night

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They are conspiring What are we doing in a night court?

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Why is this taking place like this? Why are they doing it under darkness and interestingly the character before us is

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Caiaphas now we talked about this before that Caiaphas is the high priest of that day

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Before him was Annas and we're gonna see in a moment that Jesus was actually brought there first and then to Caiaphas Annas was the old high priest.

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He's the father -in -law of Caiaphas but Matthew tries to tell the story in this way in Caiaphas scenario

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Caiaphas is scenario We have Caiaphas there who has right there in that moment for the

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Jewish temple and the temple police He has the ultimate authority there. He is where the buck stops

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He is the one who is supposed to take charge and he is the one who bears the full and final Responsibility for what takes place with Jesus note again robbers

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Criminals would go to Rome and yet in this moment. He's going before Caiaphas something is confused but it says in vip 59 the chief priests and the whole council were

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Seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death

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This is a tragedy This is truly tragic. Why in Deuteronomy chapter 4

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When God gives his people the law we won't have to go to that right now I'll just give you the gist of what they knew about the law of God when he gives his people the law of God He gives them righteous statutes and standards.

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He tells them not to show partiality He tells them not to believe lying witnesses

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He tells them to cross -examine witnesses to make sure that their testimony is actually true in a moment here

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I'll show you that God actually protects the court in Israel by saying if you have a false witness in court and it's

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Discovered that they're lying in court. Then you shall give to the false witness what the accused was going to get

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How's that for protecting the courts? If you're gonna lie about theft or rape or murder Then you will get what the accused would have actually gotten had they believed your lies

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That's how God secures justice in Israel He says no partiality you show poor people and rich people the same standard of justice

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You don't believe false witnesses You don't even receive accusations unless there's at least two to three independent lines of witness against there must be this intense and rigorous trial of Cross -examination you were to always assume in God's law the innocent innocence of the accused

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Innocent before proven guilty is actually from Moses. You're welcome It's a powerful thing

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But God's people knew that he actually says to them in Deuteronomy 4 He says to them that he'd given them righteous statutes and that all the surrounding nations are supposed to look into Israel's Story what was happening with them and they were supposed to say something like this.

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What kind of God is this? Look at these righteous statutes.

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Look at this. Look at this justice They were supposed to say a God so near to his people like this righteous statutes like this

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It was supposed to draw the nation's vision their eyes to Israel to say this is justice because in history brothers and sisters we just take it for granted as Christians when you talk about things like evidence in court and Proper witnesses and cross -examination that all comes from Moses.

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It all comes for Christianity We take it for granted Especially those of us who are raised under the blessings of these things in like given to us throughout history

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We neglect the fact that in history it didn't look like that Pagan nations don't show concern against partiality

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Pagan nations don't show concern for proper rules of evidence Pagan nations don't say things like equal weights and measures always in every circumstance

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Even to this very day You could be brought up on charges say for theft without ample evidence and some nations say well

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What's the right response to theft someone stole a loaf of bread? Let's cut their hand off That's unjust.

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That's evil. And what's so perverse about this moment? Is this is it? It says the chief priests and the whole council were seeking

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False testimony against Jesus so they could put him to death the ones who had been entrusted with God's own standards of justice and righteousness all of this

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They're the ones actually conspiring to find liars

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To bring into court that would end not in a scourging only but the actual brutal death of Jesus the

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Messiah their own Messiah. They are now trying to find ways to kill So here's what's amazing is that they're trying to gather false witnesses

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And they should have been the ones looking for false witnesses to prosecute They're looking for the witnesses for themselves when they should have been finding ways to prosecute false witnesses

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And the amazing thing in this moment is That here you have people lying about Jesus multiple witnesses, but their stories aren't

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Connecting they're not getting anything, right? They can't make it work And what's amazing here is that Jesus is doing something that he does actually you see it across the synoptics and in John You see

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Jesus doing something when lying witnesses are coming forward with false testimony. What's he do?

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What's he do? He stays silent He stays silent So, you know in in in America now, we we hear it because it's something that actually happened in the 60s

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It's in the Constitution United States of America By the way, I'm talking about God's law here and what influence that's had but in the

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Constitution because this was a Nation that was given to us by the benefits of the Christian worldview in so many different ways

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The Constitution says that you are Fifth Amendment. You are not required to self -incriminate

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Right, you are you are not required to testify against yourself. So in other words you have the right to what remain

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Silent so our Constitution says that it was further buttressed in the 60s with the Miranda ruling and that's why cops today when they

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Come before people. Thanks to Jesus and Moses. They have to say you have the right to remain what?

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That didn't come from atheism It didn't come from secularism That came from the

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Christian worldview. That's a benefit of the Christian worldview So you see I by the way One of my favorite things to do is to watch like the police and police videos and all these things where people have been

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Cars cops come up and the guy says I don't answer questions. I don't answer questions. I don't answer questions

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I'm gonna write remain silent. Here's my ID I don't answer questions and you'll see some cops to get really frustrated by that and like yay

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Jesus Here is Jesus who is the truly righteous one the blameless one false witnesses are coming forward and Jesus listen when they are making false

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Claims against him they are bearing false witness. That's what it means He didn't respond

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He does respond sometimes and we're gonna see the distinction between where Jesus does not respond to the false witnesses and their lies

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Because he doesn't have to help them He has the right to remain silent and when they actually say something that is true about him

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He goes I could testify to that and he responds and you're gonna see that in this very text before us

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But again, I want to highlight this That they should have been the ones looking to prosecute false witnesses, but now they're gathering them now

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Here's what's said. This is so beautiful This is so powerful. The Bible is just layered

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It's so layered with beauty and glory and power you can unpack this text for the next 10 years.

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Let's do it Yeah So it says this it says they can't get their witnesses to get their stories, right

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It's now that they're frustrated because Jesus isn't saying anything about it I mean Caiaphas freaks out here in a moment because Jesus isn't saying anything back to the false witnesses

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They can't they're they're they're doing well enough on their own proving their liars. So he's not helping him and They finally bring forth to now notice how the devil works

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Notice how injustice works It's always a little bit of truth and then it's twisted

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You see that's how accusations and slander and gossip often works, right? It's a little bit of truth and then it gets twisted and that's where the lies enter

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It says this verse 61 this man said I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days

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Did you catch that? This man said that I am able to destroy the temple of God and so rebuild it and to rebuild it in three days and the high priest stood up and said

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Have you no answer to make what is it? These men testify against you now, what was that that they said?

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They're twisting it into a lie They're twisting Jesus statements into a lie, but it says but Jesus remained silent and The high priest said to him

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I adjure you by the Living God Tell us if you're the Messiah the Son of God, here's what Jesus answers.

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Jesus said to him you have said so so he's like That's right That is the only true thing that was spoken in this room

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Do you get that? So Jesus isn't responding to false witness, but when the high priest asked him the question about his identity, he says yeah

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I'll testify to that Because that is the truth and then Jesus actually gives him a threat

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And they understood but what's interesting here is that they twisted his words Because they say that this man said that he'll destroy the temple of God and to rebuild in three days

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Well, let's look at what Jesus actually said go to John chapter 2 Go to John chapter 2

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It's to the right there of Matthew if you're new to the Bible, it's to the right in John chapter 2 in Verse 18 now,

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I'm gonna note the time we're at here in the ministry This is where Jesus as the priest has gone has come to the temple and he's done the first Cleansing of the temple that the priest was supposed to do so he's following the law of God He comes to check on the temple.

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He cleanses it He's gonna come back a second time as we've seen Matthew and that's where he comes to that final cleansing

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And then he actually says it's about to be destroyed, but he's just cleansed the temple and now

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They're upset about it And so in verse 18 the Jews said to him what sign do you show us for doing these things?

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Jesus answered them destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. So what do you say?

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Destroy this temple and in three days, I will raise it up So the

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Jew then the Jew said it has taken 46 years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three days?

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But he was speaking about the temple of his body When therefore he was raised from the dead his disciples remembered that he had said this and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus Had spoken.

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So what's he say to them destroy this temple and in three days, I will raise it up. What's he talking about?

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He's talking about his body What's he talking about? He's talking about his resurrection from the dead

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Destroy this and in three days. I will raise it up Jesus raises himself up the

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Bible says that God raises Jesus from the dead The Bible says the Father raised Jesus from the dead The Bible says the Spirit raised

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Jesus from the dead Bible says Jesus raised Jesus from the dead Father Son Holy Spirit one

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God but he's talking about the temple of his body this becomes very very significant because Caiaphas when he hears the testimony that this man said he'll destroy the temple and in three days

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He'll raise it up. Caiaphas immediately makes a connection that all the Jews in this day would have made most modern evangelicals

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Don't make the connection, but they understood exactly what was going on these two witnesses destroy the temple three days

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He's gonna raise it up again He's in a real rebuild in three days the high priest stood up and said have you no answer to make and He said this

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I adjure you by the Living God. Tell us if you're the Messiah the Son of God why the connection This is awesome

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Why the connection? Temple destroyed and you're claiming that you're gonna rebuild the temple

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Well, he made the connection. It wasn't a non sequitur. It wasn't like it wasn't logically connected.

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It was the Jewish writings from this day Too many to even talk about in one sermon today the

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Jewish writings from this day and prior Actually talked a lot quite a lot about the fact that when the

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Messiah came That he would rebuild God's temple. He would give us the

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Messiah's temple So their expectation was that when Messiah actually arrives on the scene

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That he is the one that's going to rebuild the temple and give us the temple of God That's what they expected and they expected it for a reason if you go to your

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Bible go in the Old Testament to 2nd Samuel chapter 7 verse 12

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There's a prophecy There's a prophecy That God makes in his covenant with David and in 2nd

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Samuel chapter 7 verse 12

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It says when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers I will raise up from your offspring after you who shall come from your body and I will establish

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His kingdom He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever

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So within this is a is a foretelling of what God is going to accomplish through the seed of David this ultimate

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Messiah Who will build the temple of God? Now the Jews know that Caiaphas knows that the elders know that the chief priests they know that Remember these two witnesses come forward and they say hey this guy says he'll destroy the temple and in three days

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He'll raise it up again. The connection immediately made by Caiaphas is this guy's claiming to be the

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Messiah Because if he's claiming publicly to rebuild God's house

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God's temple that he is saying ipso facto that he is the

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Messiah that he's the king It's his kingdom. So the connection is immediately made by Caiaphas.

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You're gonna rebuild the temple. That's what Mashiach does That's what the Messiah does another one go to Isaiah chapter 44

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Isaiah 44 28

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Isaiah 44 another prophecy concerning the rebuilding of the temple

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About Cyrus who says of Cyrus. He is my shepherd and he shall fulfill my purpose Saying of Jerusalem she shall be built and of the temple your foundation shall be laid

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The expectation was of that temple its building Ultimately, we'll see in a moment its destruction but more concerning the temple in this rebuilding 2nd

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Chronicles 36 22 through 23 don't go there just write these down Zechariah 6 12 through 13

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Here's the point when Caiaphas responds the way that he does in this trial with Jesus He immediately makes the connection when

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Jesus is It's claimed that Jesus is going to himself destroy the temple and in three days

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I raise it again that this one is Actually claiming to be the Messiah because the Messiah was the one who was going to bring the temple of God the messianic temple important He made the logical connection

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Now He stands up with indignation and he asked

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Jesus to help him in the prosecution He asked Jesus to help in the prosecution

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He says have you no answer to make what is it that these men testify against you? But Jesus remained silent

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Jesus doesn't have to respond to false witness now Here's what's so powerful about this passage when

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Caiaphas hears that Jesus is going to rebuild the temple He makes a connection because the

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Messiah is the one that's going to build the temple of God so he asked Jesus if he's the Messiah and One of the things that is so powerful about the

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New Testament is that it shows us that the Old Testament imagery of the symbol of the temple

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The Old Testament symbol of the lamb the Old Testament symbol of the high priest

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Which is what Caiaphas was supposed to actually be doing all of that imagery all of that stuff that God Had put before the people of God was supposed to tell them something about something deeper

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Something bigger something more beautiful and more powerful. So for example When the

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Jews had built a temple, what were they building? They were building a place that would symbolize

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God's Listen God's presence with his people God's presence with us remember in the garden and God first creates

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Humanity and God are together in perfect fellowship and harmony and When sin enters the world man is kicked out of the presence of God the fellowship with God spiritual death and alienation from God immediately separated from God and now

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God and man are Broken The relationship is broken

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Something is wrong and immediately God starts promising that he is going to bring redemption and salvation so what he does is he chooses a people before the foundation of the world and With the

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Jews themselves when he delivers them from their bondage to Egypt He brings them into the

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Promised Land He gives them directions of building a temple a place a house for God where God will dwell with his people

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But the temple itself actually had some problems because it displayed problems between God and us

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You had a specific place in the temple that was called the holiest place it was the holy of holies

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This was a place that you could not just walk in and access you couldn't go in There were all kinds of specific things that had to happen.

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There was a day of atonement Where you had a high priest Caiaphas his kind of duties where he had to rise up early and he had to provide a sacrifice for his own sins because he was a sinner even as a high priest and Then he would go and there was a veil before the people of God and God were only the high priest could actually go and access and When he would go in he would never sit down because his work was never finished

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They would offer an animal sacrifice and he would come and sprinkle the blood that symbolized. There was a life taken a representative taken for the sins of the people

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They had another animal where the priest would come in front of all the people and he would lay his hands on this scapegoat and he would confess the sins of the people onto the goat and then they would lead that goat away from the people out of The city and you would watch this goat where your sins were laid on it

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Depart from you as far as the East is from the West and disappear. They had all these things that were rehearsing and they were acting out

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They had lambs at Passover. They were told in Egypt. Don't break its bones. No spot

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No blemish put the blood over your house. God's judgment will pass over the house You'll be released from your bondage and they're just rehearsing and they're just rehearsing

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They're going through all this stuff. And so they have this temple. They have this city They're the people of God and here is where God is dwelling among us then

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Then Jesus then God walks among us

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You have to see this with your own eyes to see the glory of it Because when Caiaphas freaks out

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Because Jesus says that he's gonna be the one that builds the temple and he makes the connection

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So you're saying you're the Messiah because the Messiah builds God's temple Look what

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John says in John chapter 1 Some of you can quote John 1 1 by heart some of you can do it even in Greek in John 1 1 it says this in the beginning was the word and The word was with God and the word was

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God He was in the beginning with God all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made in Him was life and the life was the light of men

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The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Here's John Using essentially all of the imagery and all the stuff we know from Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 and on There's darkness

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God brings light Here is God who is there already? God creates from nothing speaks into existence.

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But what John is saying is this in the beginning? Jesus was already there and Jesus was with the father and it says that Jesus is

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God what God was He was in the beginning with God all things are made through Jesus and here's where it gets even more interesting in In verse 6 there was a man sent from God whose name was

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John He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him He was not the light but came with to bear witness about the light the true light which gives light to everyone was coming into The world he was in the world

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Jesus. That's Jesus He was in the world and the world was made through him yet.

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The world did not know him He came to his own people and his own people did not receive him

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But to all who did receive him who believed in his name he gave the right to become children of God who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor the will of man, but of God and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory glory as of the only

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Son from the Father full of grace and truth the word there dwelt among us is Tabernacled among us

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So what is John doing here? He's saying Jesus is God. He is always existed he created all things and God became flesh and Tabernacled among us what the temple was doing in imagery and symbol in a rudimentary way

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Is he was telling you the story about God who was coming to tabernacle among his people the temple was a foreshadowing

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With brick and mortar and gold and all the rest of construction They were supposed to testify to what was taking place with Jesus in his ministry

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What was the temple shouting? Here is a place where God dwells among us with his people and it was just a temple a building and it was glorious and it

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Shined off in the distance and all the rest, but here is Jesus God truly

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Tabernacled among his people and that's why he says as the true temple of God God With his people he says destroy this temple and in three days.

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I will raise it up. Jesus is the true temple of God He's what the temple was always pointing to what?

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Caiaphas doesn't understand is that he's talking to the true high priest and he's talking to everything the temple was about God incarnate they're angry

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Because they're twisting Jesus words about the temple not realizing that what they're about to do is destroy the true temple of God That's what they're about to do

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They're twisting Jesus words But it is interesting because he was the true temple

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God tabernacled among us They were going to destroy that temple the true temple and he would

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Resurrect it or raise it, but notice what they're doing They're actually conflating things that Jesus was saying and teaching publicly

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What do I mean by that? He did give them a warning about their temple being destroyed, didn't he?

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Right. I mean this is Matthew 26 Matthew 23 all the way through 25.

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Jesus is essentially warning them that in their generation They're about to be judged.

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What's he say? When he gives the seven woes to the Jewish leadership, which is by the way why he's here in Matthew 26 because they're ticked

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Seven woes to them He says to them behold your house is left to you desolate all the blood of the righteous

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From this beginning prophet and so now he says it's gonna be upon this generation So he says your house is left to you desolate

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He now goes the same direction that Yahweh went in the Old Testament before the destruction of the first temple

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Where God rested on the Mount of Olives before the first temple's destruction Jesus takes the same course and he rests on the

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Mount of Olives and his disciples are kind of freaking out Right because he just said the temple is gonna be left desolate and he says do you see all these things?

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There should not be left one stone upon another. So did Jesus actually say the temple was gonna be destroyed?

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Yeah Yeah, he did actually as a matter of fact

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Right as Jesus enters Jerusalem and cleanses the temple. What's he say to them? He says say to this mountain be cast into the sea and it will what was that about that was about Israel That was about them being destroyed.

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What's he say to the vineyard the story of the vineyard? He says so there's a vineyard owner, you know, he keeps sending people.

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I'm bringing I'm condensing the story now not word -for -word Don't don't memorize this. Okay He says he keeps sending people to come get the fruit from the vineyard

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But they like beat one they stone one all the rest and so he says I'll send my son and then they say oh look

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It's the air. Let's kill him and take his inheritance Jesus says, um, what's the owner of the vineyard gonna do when he finds out what they did and they're like They'll just he'll destroy those miserable wretches and give it out to others who will actually give him the fruit of it.

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He says, right That's you So Did Jesus actually threatened for the temple to be destroyed?

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He did as a matter of fact He told another parable another story about a wedding feast where people were invited who were supposed to be coming

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But they won't come so he just starts inviting others and then actually it says that the king sends his armies to destroy their city

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So Jesus actually did warn that the temple the physical temple was going to be destroyed.

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He did But actually they're conflating things. They're distorting the testimony because Jesus emphasis in his public teaching was about what?

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Destroyed this temple the true temple and in three days. I will raise it up.

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So they're twisting the story They're twisting the story Now what's important for us to get in terms of what we know about the true temple, which is

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Jesus and What was taking place here is In 1st

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Corinthians chapter 3 verse 16. The Apostle Paul makes a point to believers that don't you know that you yourselves are

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God's temple How's that? How's that? You the your body is a temple of the

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Holy Spirit You see in 1st Peter chapter 2 verses 1 through 10 The Apostle Peter actually talks about all of us as believers are all these little stones

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Being built up into God's house his dwelling place You see in Scripture very clearly the constant pointing to the fact

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Well, I'll give you an example in Acts 7 48 Stephen when he's when he's being accused before he's martyred and in Acts 17 24

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You see from the Apostle Paul the emphasis for the early church The early Christians was that God doesn't dwell in temples made with hands

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Why? Because he is the omnipresent Transcendent all -powerful and true

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God. He doesn't need your building to have a seat. God dwells Ever it this universe is nuts

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It is Truly nuts. I saw I just read an article real nerdy article the other day it talked about the

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Hubble telescope being pointed at a dark space a Dark space in the sky where you couldn't see absolutely anything

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It just sat and just filmed and pointed toward this dark space in the sky in outer space

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For like three days to gather everything it could and the images that came back from this spot where you couldn't see anything

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It just looked like pure darkness the images that came back were astonishing of more galaxies and Stars that you could possibly fathom and it was in this teeny speck of darkness that you can see in this vast sky

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Just all we can see is this bright star here this bright star there behind that way off in the distance in darkness is just Galaxy after galaxy after galaxy that are billions and billions and billions of light years away in other words

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You'd have to travel at the speed of light, which we cannot do it would it would you would vaporize the speed of light?

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Which we can't do for billions of years to reach one of these galaxies Our God made that and he's spoken into existence.

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He doesn't need your temple to sit in That's the point of the early church, that's what they said

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That's what they were proclaiming and Stephen says before they kill him. He says it before they kill him

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He says that he says this is the God. He doesn't need human hands to build him a house

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He doesn't dwell in temples made by hands What were the early Christians saying God did truly tabernacle among us?

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This was all pointing to the reality that God was coming in the person of Christ to take on flesh

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To dwell with his people. That's the story of the gospel and yet now they're distorting the story

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Jesus says destroy this temple in three days. I'll raise it up again. And now they're taking that as oh you're claiming to be the

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Messiah so What takes place? well What takes place is very interesting go to Matthew 26 again

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Jesus remained silent 63 and the high priest said to him I adjure you by the Living God tell us if you're the Christ the

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Son of God Jesus said to him you've said so That's an affirmative

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But I tell you from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven

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Jesus is quoting there from Daniel chapter 7 in Daniel chapter 7 is a promise

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It's a prophecy of the coming Messiah and his kingdom where he will bring every tribe tongue people a nation to God That he is gonna ascend up and he'll be seated and that his kingdom would never be destroyed

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They know the prophecy and in clearly in Daniel 7 this Son of Man this

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Son of God is Divine so Jesus says to the high priest you will see the

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Son of Man at the right hand of power Coming on the clouds of heaven. He is claiming to be that promised son of David He's claiming that he is the one who is the ruler of God's kingdom that he has the kingdom that will never be destroyed

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He is claiming to be the Son of God He is claiming to be the Messiah and what takes place is the high priest tears his robes and said he has uttered

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Blasphemy what further witnesses do we need you have now heard his blasphemy? What is your judgment?

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They answered he deserves death Now, how should we examine this?

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I'll try to do this very quickly Most of us know this but the brothers and sisters Let me say as we read what takes place in this horrific trial with Caiaphas We need to learn from it as believers to say

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What should we hate about this? What should we never engage in as believers with this?

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First God's rules against false witness. Most of us already know this I hope you do 10

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Commandments Exodus 20 verse 16. You shall not what? Lie, you should not lie.

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Actually if you read your translations, what's it say? You shall not bear what false?

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Witness, isn't it interesting? If you think about those words we think about lying and we think about false witness

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But when we think about false witness, we tend to think of it in like a larger more Strong category because we're thinking in terms of a court with a judge and charges and we say that guy's a false witness how

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Horrible to go to a court to actually have someone prosecuted when you are lying as a witness about them

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We tend to see like that's a little higher like there's lies and then there's false witness same thing

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Same thing you're bearing false witness. Don't do it. It's a sin and could be a crime in Exodus 23 1 go there quickly in Exodus 23 1.

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This is right after 20 verse 16 after the command that you should not lie or bear false witness in Exodus 23 1 it goes on it gives more details.

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Listen what it says You should not spread a false report You should not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness

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You should not fall in with the many to do evil Nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit siding with the many so as to pervert justice

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Nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuits. In other words, you're not allowed as a judge

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To side with somebody get this huge Because you feel sorry for them.

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You can't as a Christian as a judge You cannot side with somebody because you are emotionally connected to them

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You shall not show partiality You don't go with the mob. You don't go with the media

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If the media says this is the narrative believe it go with the mob. We're defining what's actually true here

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You don't go with them you do justice You Always say examine the evidence.

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Where's the witnesses? Has there been cross -examination? You always assume somebody's innocence.

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And so God doesn't just say don't bear false witness God actually elaborates

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Don't spread a false report Don't lie about somebody you should not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness

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What took place at the trial with Caiaphas? It's literally these are the chief priests and the high priest of Israel This is not far after the

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Ten Commandments It's like a chapter over You should not bear false witness and then

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God actually says you should not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness They are literally conspiring to find

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Malicious witnesses against Jesus. This is a violation of everything. They are as a people

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They're supposed to be light to the world With the law of God and God's standards of justice and they are perverting justice.

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Here's what's amazing. Are you ready for this? This is the lawgiver standing in front of them

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Enduring all of their perverse deeds everything evil They were doing they are doing to the one who is the standard of righteousness and justice

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He gave them the law and they are standing before the lawgiver perverting justice

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Isn't that wild Isn't that wild? They're they're talking about this temple bricks and gold and silver and things that perish

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They're talking about you're gonna you're gonna destroy that and rebuild it. He is the temple He's what it pointed to here's the high priest acting high and mighty and powerful while he's perverting

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God's standards of justice Standing in front of the true high priest Here's the high priest who's supposed to go and offer the sacrifice in the holiest place

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When standing before him is the true sacrifice By the way, what's the high priest do he offers the sacrifice and now he ends up actually turning the sacrifice

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Over to death think about that one That's a deep thought But what else does

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God have as rules number one? God says don't bear false witness. Don't join the mob

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Don't be a malicious witness. Don't do that. It's all sin. Don't do it God has rules for cross -examination in Deuteronomy chapter 19 go over a little bit

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Deuteronomy chapter 19 God says in verse 15 a

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Single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any witness that he has committed with any

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Offense that he has committed only in the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses shall a charge be established brothers and sisters

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That is a standard that runs from the Old Testament Throughout the New Testament. It's repeated again after the resurrection and after the ascension of Jesus.

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That is still a standard for God's people today You are not to receive an accusation against anybody against anybody unless it's on the basis of two to three independent lines of witness

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However brothers and sisters just because two or three people are saying something

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Doesn't make it true. That's important God says here if a malicious witness

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Arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing Then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the

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Lord before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days the judges shall inquire

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Diligently and if the witness is false witness and is accused his brother falsely

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Then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother So you shall purge the evil from your midst and the rest shall hear in fear and shall never again commit any such evil

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Among you your eye shall not pity there it is again You are not supposed to in matters of justice feel sorry for people

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You do justice you have equal weights and weights and measures you have put you have no partiality in other words when a judge is

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Doing this he's not supposed to feel sorry for somebody He's just supposed to uphold justice, but note something in God's law.

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It says you should not bear false witness It says don't go with the mob Don't join malicious witnesses and when you are receiving evidence has to be two to three

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Independent lines of witness and evidence before you can receive that and then after you receive it because you've got enough witnesses

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Then you cross -examine this week This week was interesting because this is the perfect time for this message

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Okay, I'm not giving you any conclusions about the famous trial happening in our country

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But I wanted to highlight something if we in substance

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Love the idea of having a fair trial a just trial with a judge

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Where you have a person who is on the defense and you have an offense and you have witnesses coming up and you have the lawyers coming up and Cross -examining and asking all the questions if you like that that we have that in this world brothers and sisters.

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Thank Moses Thank Moses, don't you love that?

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All the unbelievers in the world today are trying to borrow the capital of Christianity talking through the trial and cross -examination

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It's like can we get down to the nitty -gritty? You only have this happening because of Jesus. So praise

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God for those standards Again, this isn't about the trial and the outcome This is about what we have in a court setting where the

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Word of God provides the basis to have cross Examination of witnesses to see is the witness

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Telling the truth or are we just accepting what they say? The Word of God gave us those benefits here in Deuteronomy 19.

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God says Cross -examine the witnesses see if they're telling the truth.

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Why? Just because there are witnesses Doesn't mean they're telling the truth

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You have to actually ask questions challenge. Maybe they're confused. Maybe they are in fact a malicious witness but beyond this

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The chief priests and the rulers of Israel should have known God's standards of wisdom go quickly to Proverbs 18

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Proverbs 18 Verse 13.

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It says this if one gives an answer Before he hears it is his folly and shame

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If you give an answer Before you hear it's to your folly and shame

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So take that in a context of wisdom in the world when accusations are made against a person

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You cannot have a knee -jerk reaction and just start answering and saying I know what's going on You have to first hear before you give an answer now.

01:00:06

This of course applies in many areas I love the fact that it says in verse 6 a fool's lip a fool's lips walk into a fight in his mouth invites a

01:00:14

Beating that's nice. She put it that and your house on your refrigerator or mind your kids That's a joke, by the way

01:00:23

But look in same same passage Proverbs 18 17 says the one who states his case first seems right

01:00:31

Until the other comes and examines him the one who states the case first seems right until someone comes along and examines him

01:00:42

Brothers and sisters we have to live by that Just because somebody says something and sounds convincing and compelling doesn't mean they're telling the truth

01:00:53

We have to always hear both sides before coming to a conclusion Very important.

01:00:58

So the chief priests of the rulers and the scribes know these standards and they should have applied them What were they doing?

01:01:05

They were joining the mob. They were seeking Malicious false witnesses and what were they doing?

01:01:11

They were seeking to cross -examine the accused rather than the false witnesses

01:01:19

So Jesus stays silent when they're trying to twist his words and his minute his message

01:01:24

Jesus stays silent when they come to Jesus with an actual truth claim. Jesus goes.

01:01:29

I'll answer that one He is the Messiah. He is the Son of God, but you'll note something in Jesus life and ministry

01:01:37

Jesus was silent Now, of course, you know in Isaiah 53 It actually gives us this image of the the the suffering servant where it says that he's like a lamb

01:01:48

Brought before the shearers like Jesus is coming like a lamb led to the slaughter

01:01:55

He did not open his mouth and you see that in a trial of Jesus He doesn't resist and try to fight against this false trial and all this evil

01:02:04

He goes willingly to the cross But on the way there when there are false witnesses

01:02:09

Jesus is not required to respond to liars and So he stays silent

01:02:18

Now I want to emphasize this and we're gonna wrap up Jesus didn't play into their false charges.

01:02:31

He responded to the things that they said that were true and I think when we look at the sins of Caiaphas and the chief priests the rulers of that day

01:02:43

We have to challenge ourselves as believers to say this is pure injustice.

01:02:49

Don't be a Caiaphas You know what's so perverse about this I think is That before Jesus ever makes it to Pilate's who is it that is lying?

01:03:00

Who is it that is engaging in all this sin? Are you ready? This is a potent point

01:03:05

It's religious people. It's the professing covenant people of God we have to be aware brothers and sisters in a fallen world that people lie and Oftentimes religious people lie

01:03:25

Professing believers lie and in this case, what would have been their safeguard?

01:03:33

Against this evil the thing that they had been given to them as a gift the law of God and The standard we can look to today to say what was taking place with Caiaphas and the rulers and the chief priests the standard we

01:03:47

Can look to today to say this is what went wrong is the Word of God that they were supposed to be upholding the whole time

01:03:54

It's the Word of God that protects. It's the Word of God that preserves It's the law of God that actually brings light to these areas of injustice it does and When you apply that to the modern context, there's ways you can apply it.

01:04:10

I'll just say this quickly We can apply it every day with ourselves brothers and sisters if you hear a rumor if you hear a

01:04:19

Slanderous report about somebody if you hear sort of a whispering in a prayer circle about somebody who did such -and -such a thing

01:04:26

Brothers and sisters put that stuff to death We should be the ones who have the most rigorous

01:04:33

Commitment to the law of God and equal mates weights and measures and no partiality and proper witnesses and cross -examination

01:04:40

We are the ones that have the law of God in our own hearts We're supposed to love the law of God.

01:04:46

We're not supposed to be a Caiaphas So brothers and sisters in Christian community with each other.

01:04:52

We should have the most rigorous standards If so, you hear somebody making an accusation in a prayer circle or something like that You should go to that person and say hey

01:05:01

You need to put that to death if that's really a problem go talk to the person Go talk to the person because we don't want to be a

01:05:09

Caiaphas If you hate what happened to Jesus at this trial, then don't do it yourself

01:05:16

Don't engage in it. Don't find yourself amongst the modern Scribes and Pharisees and chief priests where you're in little circles trying to find

01:05:25

Testimony against somebody so that you can actually put them on trial or even have them put to death or canceled

01:05:33

But it can also help us today in the modern context when we look at our court system what gave to our nation this nation

01:05:41

We're not the center of God's plan in history, but we talk about the blessings we have in history What gave to us these blessings and all came from the law of God it came from God's standards

01:05:50

I I mentioned it often because I think it's important for us John Jay Our first Supreme Court justice was quoting explicitly

01:05:58

Explicitly from Moses the law of God when he gave America our case law system

01:06:03

He'd quote explicitly from the law of God what happened to us When everyone today cries out for justice and they say they hate

01:06:11

Injustice and we need to have justice and justice now and they throw up the fist. My question is by what standard?

01:06:18

By what standard because these perverse people in Matthew 26 were claiming to want to uphold justice, too

01:06:26

But their standard was totally perverse. So what can we learn? When there's accusations we need two to three independent lines of witness and evidence

01:06:36

They can't be corroborative and the blessing of today that yeah You guys remember uh, was it two years ago

01:06:43

Ronald Eunice happened the abortion is the pull the gun I'll wrap up with these thoughts in terms of witnesses in the modern context

01:06:53

We were out in an abortion facility and there was an abortionist who's killed countless children in the womb named

01:06:59

Ronald Eunice He pulled a gun on Elvis not Presley a different one Our Elvis he pulled a gun on Elvis.

01:07:07

The great thing is is you have GoPro, right? We always bring our GoPros and our cameras with us so we can make sure we leave a record and even show the world

01:07:14

Look what happens when you try to save babies God saves babies But we had Ronald Eunice pull a gun and point it directly at Elvis We tried to get the police to actually respond for a week and nothing we gave him the footage

01:07:27

We called no response No one moving forward question in terms of partiality if I had pulled a gun on an abortionist

01:07:38

How long Do you think it would have taken before the police showed up to take care of me?

01:07:45

Yeah, yeah a couple minutes. They showed up on the scene. It's a week nothing

01:07:51

Phone calls no movement. Nothing evidence there witnesses multiple witnesses.

01:07:56

Nothing Phoenix PD did nothing. Well, this is apology a church

01:08:01

We have apology of studios So we went with our cameras and we filmed ourselves Contacting Phoenix PD telling them that the perpetrator of the crime had just showed up at work the man who pulled the gun

01:08:12

Phoenix PD wouldn't show up they wouldn't show up and So we had to actually flag down a police cruiser because no one was coming

01:08:22

So we like literally like like ran up to a police car in the street. They pulled in what's going on? We said well, we call nothing's happening.

01:08:28

Here's the situation now We had to draw the police into this thing who had no interest in helping us

01:08:34

We showed the video and the you can see it clearly on the video the police officer looks at it

01:08:39

They do nothing and they said well, we can't really tell it's a gun So I said officer if you can't tell that's a gun you need to make a different career choice and He's like, you know witnesses and all the rest.

01:08:52

Here's a here's video footage Everybody who sees it is now a witness That's a great benefit

01:08:58

We have of today is you have video footage at time at times that makes almost everyone that sees it an actual witness to the

01:09:04

Crime itself, so that's a great blessing that we have in the modern context But the rule for us is two to three independent lines of witnesses

01:09:14

Second standard that's number one second standard just because two to three witnesses say something

01:09:20

Doesn't make it true What do we have to do always? cross -examination

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See if the witnesses are being honest What's the standard brothers and sisters you'll get the summary right now if you get this

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What is the standard always for us as Christians according to God's law? innocent innocent innocent innocent until proven guilty

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Innocent I've been to two court trials in the last five years of my life watching people that I love

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Stand before a very perverse in just unjust system and I can tell you right now the entire way

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Through the trial the judge Treated the accused as though they were guilty the entire way through the trial in both cases

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When one case the person was actually sanctioned and given punishments while the trial was happening

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They said they were innocent and the judge was giving this person Punishments while the trial was happening before a verdict was made on the case

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How do you think the judge made their decision in terms of a balanced and fair position when the entire

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Time before they actually gave the verdict and said guilty. They were treating the person as guilty the whole time

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What's the rule for us as believers? The people of God is what innocence until proven guilty always?

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Here's a rule for a fallen world always hold to it. Here's a rule a standard always uphold it

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People are sinners people lie

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Are you ready for that? I'll give it to you again. It's profound, isn't it? You came in here knowing it

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But embrace it people are sinners people lie people lie

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This world is filled with people who hate one another Who envy one another who have ulterior motives at times people lie

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You might think is it really possible for someone to lie like that just maliciously make a story up brothers and sisters

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Here's a story in history where they did it against the Lord of Glory the most innocent person who ever lived

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Yes, people will lie to the degree of lying about God in the flesh right in front of them

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So people are sinners people lie and here's another standard. Sometimes people are just confused

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They may just Make a mistake. They're fallible. They thought they saw something they didn't or maybe they're confused in the facts

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So brothers and sisters the standard always in this kind of a scene is to make sure that we uphold

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God's standards Assume the innocence of a person until there are adequate There's adequate proof that they are in fact guilty in Deuteronomy 16 verse 20

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God tells his people do Justice do

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Justice if you hate What Caiaphas represents in this story then brothers and sisters do justice and don't be a

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Caiaphas Don't be a Caiaphas. Let's pray father I pray that you would bless the words that went out today that you challenge us and you would heal us

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Where we need to be healed. I The good news of salvation and forgiveness in Christ and light from your law because your law is light

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And I do pray that you'd allow us to be an influence in the world around us For your glory and kingdom and these areas of justice in Jesus name.