All That Jesus Taught Bible Study - Part 76 — Zac Poonen

Jesus’ Trial as an Example for Believers

We continue our study today on all that Jesus taught. We've been considering the events, the words of Jesus and his actions in Matthew, the Gospel, and we considered last how Peter denied the Lord three times and Jesus, what do we learn from that, of Jesus' ways?

He warns us in advance of dangers that we are going to face. He allows us to fall so that we can be broken. These are Jesus' ways that we can learn from the way he allowed Peter to fall. He never prayed that Peter would not fall.

He prayed that after he fell, when he hit rock bottom, he would not lose his faith, that he would still believe that the Father loved him and he would come back to him. So that is what we see in the way Jesus dealt with Peter, and that is how he deals with us as well.

And in the way Jesus conducted himself in his own trial, there are a lot of things we can learn. He allowed the shearers to shear his wool from him, and he was just silent. And God, by his Holy Spirit, can give us the same grace to be silent when we are falsely accused and criticized by our enemies.

Here we are seeing examples for us to follow. We must look at this entire series of study as seeing how we're supposed to live on this earth, all that Jesus taught by his life and his words. We now look at Matthew chapter 27 and verse 1.

When morning had come and all the chief priests and the elders had took counsel against Jesus to put him to death, they bound him, they led him away, and delivered him up to Pilate the governor, because only he could sanction the death penalty.

Then when Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that he had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders and confessed to them, saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.

But they said, what is that to us? See to that yourself. I have a feeling that Judas Iscariot probably thought that Jesus escaped out of situations like this many times, and I'm sure he can escape somehow or the other this time too, and I'll get my 30 pieces of silver because I did my job.

He was so greedy and covetous. But when he discovered that Jesus did not let himself escape this time, he allowed himself to be captured, then he felt remorse, because he had thought of all the goodness that Jesus had shown him through many, many years.

And he went to the priest. This is the first case that we read of a man who has sinned and going to a priest to confess. Instead of going to the priest to confess his sin, going to them and saying, I have sinned, verse 4, if he had gone to Jesus, you know, just like people were at the foot of the cross, like the thief on the cross went to Jesus, Judas could have gone to Jesus somewhere and said, oh Lord, I'm sorry I betrayed you.

His end would have been so different. If he had only turned then, but he would not. And that's why the Lord knew in advance that he would not, and that's why he said he's the son of perdition. It's better if he wasn't even born.

What was his problem? Not that he fell. Not even that he betrayed Jesus, but that he would not repent. That's why he went to hell. You know, people don't go to hell because they sin. They go to hell because they don't repent of their sin.

Our sins have been paid for on the cross. There's no need for a single human being to go to hell now. Because all the sins have been paid for. What about the terrible sin of betraying Jesus Christ? Can be forgiven.

He said whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it'll be forgiven. Whoever does something to the Son of Man, it'll be forgiven. So Judas had heard all that. He could have gone to him and said, Oh Lord, I'm sorry that I betrayed you.

I thought you would escape again. But he didn't do that. Instead he went to the priest and he confesses, I betrayed innocent blood. I have sinned. Does a person who say I have sinned still go to hell?

Well, here's the example. Does a person who says I've sinned, can we categorize him as a person who is better if he wasn't even born? Well, that's how Jesus categorized him. And so he threw, he wouldn't take it.

They wouldn't take the money back, but he said I'm not gonna take it. I feel guilty and I threw the, he threw the pieces of silver into the sanctuary and departed and he went away and hanged himself. That was tragic.

That he went away and destroyed his own self instead of going to Jesus and repenting. It's a wonderful message. The gospel is that all of us can repent. If you have a slight desire to turn to God, use it and turn to God and say Lord, forgive me for I have failed.

Even if you've done the most terrible sin like Judas betraying Jesus Christ, you can come back to him in repentance. But he didn't do that. Don't go to man. Don't go to priest. The only sin that we confess to men is that which we commit against them.

Sin must only be confessed to God. There is no such thing as confessing to a priest. There's no such thing as public confession of sin. All this is a deception. We're to confess our sins only to God, except where we have sinned against another person.

Jesus said go to that person and be reconciled. He said in Matthew 5 verse 23 -24. But otherwise, we don't have to go to man to confess our sin because first of all man can't forgive our sin. What's the point going to him?

But if we have hurt that person, definitely we must go and ask for forgiveness. So this is the mistake he made. He went to the priest instead of going to Christ, just like a lot of people do today. And when he threw the money away, the chief priests were they said we can't put this money into the temple treasury because it is a price of blood.

The Religious Leaders and the Field of Blood

There were such crooks, these religious leaders, just like a lot of crooked religious leaders today. And they counseled together and with the money they bought the potter's field as a burial place for strangers.

For this reason, that field has been called the field of blood to this day. Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying, and they took the 30 pieces of silver, the price of the one whose price had been set to the sons of Israel.

It's an Old Testament prophecy on this. You read about it in the book of Zechariah actually, chapter 11 and verse 12. And they gave them for the potter's field as the Lord directed me. That's also in Zechariah.

So these things were all written in the Old Testament prophets. In Matthew 27 verse 11, it says here, Jesus stood before the governor and the governor questioned him saying, are you the king of the Jews?

Jesus’ Silence Before False Accusations

And Jesus said to him, it is as you say. When he was asked who he was, he said, this is what I am. But then when he was being accused, he kept quiet. You see the difference? When he was accused and all those accusations were false, he made no reply.

But even when he was asked who he was, he replied. And it's the same thing we do today. Somebody asks us, are you a Christian? Yes, I'm a Christian. I'm not ashamed to be known as a Christian. But if they accuse us falsely and say this, that, and the other, we follow Jesus and we don't reply, particularly when religious people accuse us.

I'm not talking about a false accusation in your place of work, where you probably need to state that you are not guilty of that sin or that crime, whatever they're charging you with, so that people don't get a bad opinion and you lose your testimony as a Christian.

We must not misunderstand this. It's not that if people accuse you falsely in your office, you keep quiet because then the testimony of the Lord is dishonored. So then you may need to defend yourself and say, no, I didn't do that, sir.

But otherwise, when Christians accuse you saying you're a false prophet or you're this, you're that, follow Jesus' example and be silent. Let them shear all the wool off you. Then Pilate said to him, verse 13, Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?

It was not just one thing. There were many, many things that they were charging him with and he did not answer him with regard to even a single charge. So that the governor was amazed. I mean he has seen many trials in his life, but he had never seen a prisoner like this who would not reply to a single charge.

Not even one. That's a great verse to bear in mind when people accuse us. Matthew 27, 14. It's a sort of reply we need to give to people who know the scriptures anyway, when they accuse us falsely about many things to say, Matthew 27, 14 is what I live by.

He did not answer him with regard to even a single charge. Because we live before God's face. We have committed our matter to him who judges righteously and we don't give a reply. You see 2nd Peter in chapter 2, it says we got to follow in Jesus' footsteps who did this.

Following Christ’s Example in Suffering

So when we see what Jesus did, how he acted, it's not just something to admire. We say we Lord we want to do that ourselves in 2nd Peter, sorry 1 Peter in chapter 2, verse 21, Christ suffered for us leaving us an example to follow in his steps.

First of all, in his steps who committed no sin. We must really seek to follow in his steps who committed no sin. To follow in his steps in whose mouth was found no deceit, no deception. And who when he was reviled did not revile in return, follow in his steps.

And who while suffering uttered no threats, follow in his steps. But he kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously. This is where we got to follow in his steps. That he's saying father this charge these guys have brought against me.

I'll leave that with you. You take care of it. There are a number of times when people have sought to harm me or done some evil or spoken or written some evil against me. And the Lord has asked me do you want me to deal with them or do you want to deal with that yourself?

I say Lord you deal with that. I'm not going to deal with it. I want to follow Jesus who kept silent. Let's follow that example in faith. Now at the feast Matthew 27 verse 15, the governor was accustomed to release for the multitude any one prisoner whom they wanted.

Barabbas, Pilate, and the Sovereignty of God

And they were holding at that time a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. When therefore they were gathered together while it said to all the people whom do you want me to release to you? You know, there's a custom in the feast to release one prisoner.

Shall I release Barabbas who is a well-known notorious criminal or shall I release Jesus and let him go? One of these I'm going to let go. And Pilate recognized that Jesus isn't a criminal. He's just being brought up here because of jealousy on the part of the Pharisees who cannot have the type of ministry he has.

Even a man like Pilate recognized that. This is sheer jealousy. But while he was sitting there before the crowds could answer that question, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent a message to him.

Look at the number of warnings that came to Pilate. She said to him have nothing to do with that righteous man because last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of him. In the dream, I don't know what exactly she dreamt, but she suffered.

She felt that there was some person my husband is judging who's absolutely righteous and it's a great crime that's being committed. And she sent that message to him, but he ignored it. And as the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitude to ask for Barabbas to put Jesus to death.

The crowd, you know, again, let me say there must have been in the crowd many many who had been healed by Jesus part of the 5 ,000 who were fed and many many blessings. Many of those people had experienced, but they had forgotten all of it.

And now they were just going to go along with the crowd and be popular and they said if everybody's demanding his death, we demand his death too. And so the chief priests urged them to say don't ask for Jesus, ask for Barabbas.

Let him be released. And so they asked for Barabbas and Pilate then said to them, Pilate was longing so much, especially after he heard from his wife. He wanted to release Jesus. Now if you and I come into a situation like this where we are falsely accused and they'd prefer a criminal in place of us, you can be sure there's someone who's gone ahead of you as a forerunner.

Yeah, I remember when religious people took me to court, the Lord said to me that religious people had taken him to court as well. And he said to me if you look for my footsteps, you will see my footsteps in that court.

And I did. I looked for the footsteps of Jesus in the court and I saw them. Forgiveness and love. Forgive and love. Forgive and love. And so Jesus is an example for us. He's gone ahead. He's a forerunner who's gone through every temptation we've gone through and shown as an example how we are to be.

And now we are to follow in his footsteps and be an example to others who come behind us. He never said a word. And when he was falsely accused and a criminal was preferred in place of him, can you imagine that?

A criminal being preferred in place of the Son of God. He just said that's fine. God is sovereign. Remember this my dear brothers and sisters, we can never follow Jesus if you don't believe in the total sovereignty of God who controls all circumstances and events relating to your life.

If you believe that, then you'll be able to accept that yeah, God has allowed this. And in his sovereignty, he'll bring out something wonderful out of this. And so Pilate asked the crowd, okay, if you want Barabbas, I'll release him.

What shall I do with Jesus? Who is called the Christ and they all they've all been instigated by the religious leaders. Let him be crucified. Pilate was longing to let him go. He said why should I crucify him?

What evil has he done? But they kept shouting all the more. Let him be crucified. Let him be crucified. And when Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was going to start now, he took water, washed his hands in front of the multitude saying I'm innocent of this man's blood.

Face to that yourself. As if he could get away by that, he had the right to release them. He could have released Jesus and Barabbas. But he wanted to be popular with the people. That's what we see here.

He wanted to be popular with the people and he was willing to condemn Jesus. He just washes his hands in public and says I have nothing to do with this. And all the people said that's fine. His blood be upon us and on our children.

And that's exactly what happened. These were Jewish people. They had crucified Christ and they said his blood, the guilt for him for his being crucified and we are the ones who support his crucifixion.

And if there's any guilt, let it be on us and on our children. And it happened exactly like that. The guilt was on them and on their children. Anyway, Pupilat washed his hands and said I'm innocent of all this myself and he released Barabbas for them and after having Jesus scourged, he delivered him up to be crucified.

Jesus’ Suffering and the Voluntary Bearing of the Cross

Then the soldiers of the governor, verse 27, took Jesus into the praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around him. They gathered all the Roman soldiers and they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him and wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head and a reed in his right hand and they mocked him, knelt down before him and mocked him saying hail king of the Jews.

That can happen also to people who are persecuted for Christ's sake. They're taunted, ridiculed and after that they spat on him and took the reed and began to beat him on the head. We can ask ourselves, why does, I mean, we know that Christ had to die for our sins, but why does God have to allow him to go through this painful way before he dies on the cross?

I mean, couldn't God protect him from at least all this ridicule and all before the cross? This was not necessary. But God's way is that. Jesus was to be a forerunner for all the martyrs in Christian history and therefore he had to be an example for every one of them.

So he suffers it. I want to say this also for those who are Christian leaders, that if you are a Christian leader, you have to be sort of a mini forerunner, a man who's looking at Jesus, the chief forerunner and a mini forerunner, so that you can look around at other people, younger people behind you and say, follow me as I follow Christ.

I also do not defend myself. I keep quiet when I'm falsely accused. And so he was led away to be crucified and as they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon whom they pressed into service to bear his cross.

I always say, remember this, the cross that Jesus asked us to bear is not something forced on us. The Roman soldiers forced Simon of Cyrene to bear the cross. They forced Jesus to bear the cross. But the cross that Jesus asked us to take is not something forced on us at all.

You don't have to take it if you don't want. If any man will come after me, let him take up the cross and follow me. And that leads to the crucifixion. So there's a voluntary choice there. You don't have to go to the cross if you don't want, but if you want to follow Jesus, there's no other way.

Jesus’ Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit at Golgotha

And when they, we read in verse 33, and when they had come to a place called Golgotha, which means the place of a skull, they gave him wine to drink, mingled with gall, and after tasting it, he was unwilling to drink.

Why was he unwilling to drink that wine? Because he didn't want to be dulled on the cross. He wanted to be alert on the cross. There were a lot of things he had to accomplish. You see, this was a little act of mercy that they gave him some type of anesthetic, where he wouldn't feel the pain so much.

But he just tasted it and knew that this is an anesthetic and I don't want this. The Spirit of God prompted him, I believe, at that time, don't take it. And there was a need for that. He had to speak from the cross and forgive them and say, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

He wouldn't have been able to say that. He was anesthetized on the cross. He had to take care of his mother and say, woman, I'd want to ask John to look after you. And most important of all, he had to forgive a repentant thief on the cross.

How could he do that? If he was anesthetized. So when they gave him something to drink mingled with gall after tasting it, he said, no, I don't want it. But later on, after everything was over, after he had forgiven the thief on the cross, after he had made provision for his mother, etc.

Then we read in John chapter 19 verse 29. There was a full, a jar full of sour wine was standing there and they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a branch of hyssop and brought it to his mouth and he received it.

Then it was okay, but at the beginning he wouldn't. So you see, even there he was hanging on the cross. He was very sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit like he had been from the beginning. Father, should I take this or not?

The father says, no, don't take it now. And it's only as we come to the end of that six hours on the cross that we realize why the father told him not to take it. Because he had to forgive a thief, he had to take care of his mother, he had to forgive those people who crucified him.

So again, we come to this wonderful theme that we've been seeing right through the Gospel of Matthew. The great thing in the Christian life is to learn to be led by the Holy Spirit. This is the whole secret of the Christian life.

And if we have learned this secret, then we have learned the most important thing. We'll continue our study in the next episode.