Jesus Christ's trial before the Jewish leaders, specifically Caiaphas, is detailed, highlighting the false accusations and the high priest's manipulation of the situation. Despite the lack of credible witnesses, Jesus is pressed to identify himself as the Christ, the Son of God, which he affirms. This affirmation is then deemed blasphemy by Caiaphas, leading to a guilty verdict. The sermon also recounts Peter's denial of Jesus three times, emphasizing his subsequent bitter repentance. The narrative underscores the brutality Jesus endured, including spitting and being struck, and contrasts it with his silent suffering, ultimately leading to his condemnation by religious leaders blinded by hatred.
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to the twenty-sixth chapter again the twenty-sixth chapter of Matthew and we'll read a little more in this awful story this wonderful story of the sufferings of Christ Matthew twenty-six And verse fifty-seven, verse fifty-seven, was rather, shall I say, coincidental, very appropriate anyhow, that the text on the choice gleanings calendar this morning was the previous verse to this.
Then all the disciples forsook him and fled. Verse fifty-seven, Matthew twenty-six, And they that laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. But Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest's palace. And he went in and sat with the servants to see the end. Now when the chief priests and the elders and all the council sought false witness against Jesus to put him to death, but found none, yea, though many witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses, and said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.
And the high priest arose and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? What is it that these witness against thee? But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adore thee by the living God, that they'll tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said unto him, Thou hast said, Nevertheless, I say unto thee, I say unto you, hereafter shall we see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He has spoken blasphemy.
What further need have we of witnesses? Behold, now you have heard his blasphemy. What think he? And they answered and said, He is guilty of death. Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him, and others smote him with the palms of their hands, saying, Prophesy unto us thou Christ. Who is he that smote thee? Now Peter sat with Elton the palace, and the damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also was with Jesus of Galilee, but he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest.
and when he was gone out into the porch another maid saw him and said unto him unto them that were there this fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth and again he denied with an oath I do not know the man and after a while and after a while came unto him they that stood by and said to Peter surely Thou'd also one of them, For thy speech, bereath thee. Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man, and immediately the cock-crow. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock-crow.
thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out and wept bitterly. May God bless that blessed portion from his word. Shall we pray? Blessed God, our Father, we thank you for these solemn words which we have been reading this morning. What can we say about them, Lord? Words fail us. All we can do is read them and seek in some little measure to take in the deep meaning and to understand in some little way what it cost thee and what it cost thy Son. We think of the Lord of Glory, the maker of the heavens and the earth. the one before whom angels bow in worship and adoration, the one who said himself in this very chapter, I could call upon my Father and he would send twelve legions of angels.
And yet he answered nothing as he stood before Caiaphas and the Jewish sent even there. Truly the Scriptures said, He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before her shears his dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. We bow before thee, Lord Jesus, now, and we thank thee for enduring and suffering all this for us. We pray thou speak to our hearts now in the next few moments. We ask it in thine own blessed and purest name. Amen. Now we have been tracing the footsteps of the Son of God on that last week.
I thought it would be appropriate since next Sunday is Easter Sunday. It would be appropriate to bring our conference to an end by, even if we only read through, this wonderful story. Some few weeks ago, not few weeks ago, a few months ago now, we did go over this section of John's Gospel as we came to the concluding remarks of concluding weeks when we spoke on John's Gospel. And I must say, in all my experience, I've never been personally so moved and so touched as I was as we studied together here from this platform the story of the sufferings of Christ from John's Gospel.
I chose then to take Matthew's Gospel. Largely, perhaps because I don't know perhaps as much about Matthew's Gospels as the other ones, and I personally wanted to dig into Matthew's Gospel and trace the footsteps of the Son of God through these awful days, his last week here on earth before he went to the cross. All his life led up to this. He'd scarcely been born before Herod sent out a decree to destroy all the babies up to two years of age, all the baby boys that were born up to two years of age.
Right from his very start, Satan tried to stamp him up. Satan tried to destroy him. And often we read in John's Gospel on two occasions anyhow that they took up stones to stone him. And in Luke chapter four they took him out of Nazareth and took him out. to the edge of the mountain. We're going to throw him over the hill there at Nazareth, but he escaped out of the hands because, as he said himself, his hour had not yet come. But as we have been seeing here, he mentions the number of days. There were six days. There were two days. There was one day.
Then he says the hour has come. And here we are now this morning. with the first trial of the Lord Jesus Christ. There were five trials. He was tried by the Jewish Sanhedrin, Caiaphas and the... It mentions there who they were here. It says, Caiaphas, the high priest and the scribes, Caiaphas, the high priest and the scribes and the elders, they were all assembled. We read in the... first verse of our chapter, no not the first, the third verse of our chapter twenty-six, then assembled together the chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people unto the parish of the high priest who was Caiaphas.
That's where they took him first. Now John tells us, there's a little section there in John, if you turn to John chapter eighteen, oh you know this so well, but John eighteen, It tells us something that you don't get in any of the others. It says in verse twenty, Then the band and the captains and officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound him and led him away to Annas first. for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year.
Now in Matthew, he leaves out the visit to Annas. Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas. Annas lived on the the Hill of Evil Council, when we were in Jerusalem, that's where we stayed, in a beautiful Christian hostel. That's years ago in the war years. We had some lovely, wonderful Christian friends out there who had a hostel for serving men and women, people who were serving in the war. And we, what wonderful fellowship we had there in those days. the Hill of Evil Councils down on the road to Bethlehem, down the south side of Jerusalem.
I say this because to go from the Garden of Gethsemane to the house of Annas, a way down there on the Bethlehem Road and up on the left to the house of Annas on the Hill of Evil Council, it's quite a long way. Don't forget it was late in the day. Don't forget the Lord had gone through that awful agony in the garden, which had such an effect upon him and upon his spirit and his whole being that he sweat as it were great drops of blood. How he must have been weakened. And yet they dragged him bound, of course.
They bound his hands, and they dragged him all the way to Annas. And then from Annas back to Caiaphas, up in the center of the city. And then in the morning they took him over to Pilate. That was the third trial. And then later Pilate sent him over to Herod. And then Herod sent him back to Pilate. How weary and tired and worn. Up all night, no rest. We know what that means. Of course, the Lord was a young man. We older people can't do it.
I stayed up a little late in the night before last making some tapes for one of our sisters that left yesterday morning. And then I got up very early in the morning when I was five and took the tapes to her to catch her. I tell you, yesterday morning I was like, we can't do that now like we used to. But the Lord, of course, was only thirty-three years of age. But I think of the intense suffering and the weariness and the cross, long before we come to the cross. But all these things weakened him. And all these things made the cross worse for him when the time did come. So they dragged him around the streets of Jerusalem. So this really that we've got is the second child.
He went to Annas. We don't hear much of what he said to Annas. I don't think in Matthew eighteen that that question of the high priest was put to him by Annas. I think it was put to him by Caiaphas. You see it says to him, it says verse nineteen of John eighteen, the high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples and of his doctrine. I think by then he was backed by the high priest Caiaphas because, I tell you why, because it's whilst the Lord was asking, whilst and whilst Caiaphas was asking about his disciples, go right on reading in that chapter eighteen, you'll find that Peter was outside denying him.
And it says in verse twenty four that Anas had sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest. So I think he was back with Caiaphas when that question was asked about his doctrine and his disciples. And when he asked about his disciples, we pointed out this when we were in John's Gospel. He could very well have said, how about your disciples? Where are they? Well, we read just now they all forsook him and fled. But Acha'avis could have looked through, he was in that beautiful palace of his, and he could look through that wonderful, the iron grating, the wonderful wrought iron gates and doorways.
He had an out there in the courtyard there was a fire. And A'avis could have said, listen. And he would have heard Peter saying, I tell you, woman, I don't know him. And Caiaphas said, how about your disciples? How about that one out there? What do you think of that one? Listen to it. And the Lord was alone. Psalm eighty-eight in the last verse says, Lover and friend as thou put far from me and mine acquaintance into darkness. A number of years ago, hearing a man say, There are three stages to friendship and love.
If you just meet a friend and you know them in a casual way, you say, oh yes, he's an acquaintance of mine. He's an acquaintance of mine. But when you get to know that person better, you say, oh, he's a friend of mine. How but it may go further, and you say, he's a lover. And the three stages of friendship are there. Lover and friendest thou put far from me. Psalm eighty-eight, verse eighteen. and mine acquaintance into darkness. And the Lord Jesus was left alone. They took him to the palace of Caiaphas, the high priest. There was that rabble crowd there, the high priest, the scribes, and the elders, and they all wanted his blood, and they all hated him.
As we see, as we read this morning, they spat in his face. and his disciples are gone but there was something about Peter you know he followed far off but he followed he followed him afar off under the high priest palace and he went in and sat with the servants to see the end now it tells you in John that it was in John's gospel it tells you it was John that got him in there look again at John eighteen and verse at verse fifteen Simon Peter followed Jesus and so did another disciple because that other disciple was John so did another disciple that disciple was known unto the high priest and went in with Jesus unto the palace to the high priest so when I said he was alone all they all forsook him and fled John did follow from this verse it says that John went in And Peter stood at the door without.
He needed someone to escort him. Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter. Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, art not thou also one of this man's disciples? He said, no, I'm not. So you see, Peter couldn't have got in unless he had a friend. His friend was John. John was falling closer, and John went in, then he came and fetched Peter. How far in they could go, I don't know. As a matter of fact, as a matter of fact, the Jews would not...
associate with the Gentiles. And in the trial that took place the next morning before Pilate, you'll notice, especially to read John's Gospel, Pilate came out and Pilate went in, and Pilate came out and Pilate went in. And Pilate brought Jesus out, then he took Jesus in. But the Jews wouldn't go in. It was a feast day, and they wouldn't defile themselves by going into a Gentile house. No, not for anything. So the Jews all stayed outside. The Jews that wanted his blood. But somehow John got in somewhere near, and Peter got in somewhere near, into the house of Cleophas.
But this is not the house of Pilate. In the case of Pilate's house, in this house of course it was a Jewish house. But in the place of the case of Pilate, they couldn't get in. Well, they could have got him, but they wouldn't go in, because they wouldn't defile themselves by going into a Gentile house. But here, of course, the high priest was a great man, and you need some introduction to get in there. Peter followed afar off, and John seemed to have got him in. Now the chief priests and elders and all the council sought false witness against Jesus. It had to be false witness.
They couldn't find a true witness because there was nothing to witness against him. He was absolutely righteous. They couldn't find one fault in him in any way. But it says then they found two false witnesses. And they said, this fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and build it in three days. Now let's look at what he really did say in John chapter two. John chapter two. You remember when he came there in John chapter two, his first visit in John's Gospel was to Jerusalem. I don't say it was his first visit, because we know he went there when he was eight years of age.
But the first in John's Gospel, the first Passover he went to in the second chapter there, and he was in the temple, and he found the temple, and in the temple he found those that sold, I'm reading from verse fourteen of John two, he found those that sold oction in sheep and doves and the changes of money. I think we pointed out the other day in that thirteen verse it says, The Jews Passover was at hand, not the Lord's Passover, the Jews' Passover was at hand. And when he'd made a scourge, a small scourge, he drove them all out of the temple and so on.
And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house has eaten me up. Verse eighteen, then answered the Jews and said unto him, What signs showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple. Destroy this temple. And in three days I will raise it up. The Jews said forty and six years was this temple in building. It was called Herod's temple because Of course, it was originally built after they came back from Babylon, but Herod added to it, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
Then they said, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and will thou rear it up in three days? Now John adds a little bit, but he spake of the temple of his body. when therefore he was risen from the dead his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them and they believed the scriptures and the word which Jesus had said. So they found a couple of people that heard him say, destroy this temple, I'll raise it up again in three days. He was referring to the temple of his body. I tell you what, I sometimes wonder, this is just a little secret of my own and I don't want to preach this. But The temple's got to be raised again, you know.
The one thing that hinders the temple being raised in Jerusalem is the mosque of Omar now, today. They dare not destroy that. That would raise the whole Muslim world. That's one of their great holy places, second only to Mecca. They dare not. May be that God will send an earthquake and God will destroy it some way so that the temple might be built. But I sometimes wonder, God works in miracles. We have a way today when we can put up a house in a prefabricated house in three days. And I sometimes wonder when the Lord said, destroy this temple and I'll build it in three days.
If it took forty and six years to build it, the tribulation is only going to last seven years, how is there going to be a temple when the Lord comes back, unless he's come by some miracle? And I don't know whether the Lord won't. I'm saying this privately. The Lord could raise the temple in three days. He could. But he wasn't talking. John tells us, he was talking about the temple of his body. This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and build it in three days. And the high priest arose and said unto him, Answers thou nothing? What is it that they witness against thee?
But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjore thee by the living God. Now, when in the Old Testament... economy when the priest adjured a portion by the living God, he had to retire. That was the rule. She said, I adjure thee by the living God. Thou tellest whether thou be the Christ the Son of God. That's just what they wanted to know. Jesus said unto them, Thou hast said. What do you mean to say? That's right. I am the Christ.
I am the Christ, the Son of God. Now Peter, oh poor Peter, he was there and heard this, standing afar off, and he heard the Lord agreeing to the fact that he was the Christ, the Son of God. And Peter was the one who so gloriously said, to whom shall we go? Thou has the words of eternal life, and we believe and assure that thou art the Christ the Son of the living God. John six, Peter had said that. And yet just now Peter is saying, No, I don't even know him. I don't know who he is. But the Lord Jesus testified here. All is forsaken him and fled, and he testified for himself.
Thou hast said it. Yes, I am... the Christ, I am the Son of God. Now that was a crime, the one crime that could not be forgiven in Israel for anyone to get up and say he was Messiah, if he wasn't Messiah, because they said he wasn't Messiah. So that was the unforgivable crime. Anyone who would raise himself up and say that I'm the Messiah, he had to be put to death. That was blasphemy. Now let's look a moment at Leviticus chapter twenty-four. Leviticus chapter twenty-four.
And verse fifteen. Verse fifteen. And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin. And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death. And all the congregations shall certainly stone him, as well as the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall be put to death. That was God's rule. for one that blasphemed. And to say that he was the Son of God, if he was not the Son of God, was blasphemy.
Of course, they didn't believe he was the Son of God. So, see the reply? Immediately the High Priest says, the High Priest said, he arranged his clothes, saying, he spoke in blasphemy. What further need have we of witnesses? We don't need any more witnesses. He's witnessed for himself. He's spoken blasphemy, and there's only one rule for one that speaks blasphemy, stone him to death. What think he? He's spoken blasphemy. Behold, now we've heard his blasphemy. What think he? They answered and said, He is guilty of death. That's what the scripture said. You see, these were religious people.
These were people that knew the book. They knew the Old Testament. but they were blind not only were they blind but they were they hated the Son of God they hated Jesus of Nazareth and Satan had blinded them so he said what need of further witnesses he's his own witness he said that he's the Messiah we can only do one thing put him to death but they couldn't put him to death they hadn't got that authority The Romans had to do it. What think he?
They answered and said, He is guilty of death. Then did they spit in His face? How can we read these words? I find it hard to read them. Then did they spit in His face the holy spotless Son of God, whom we have learned to love so much, Then did they spit in his face and buffeted him, and others smote him with the palms of their hands, saying, Prophesy unto us thou Christ, who is he that smote thee?
Look again at John eighteen. John eighteen. Verse twenty-two, and when he thus spoke, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest thou the high priest so. Jesus answered, if I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil, but if well, why smiteest thou me? And so there before Caiaphas they smote him.
they spat in his face they degraded him the blessed holy son of god and then they smote him and it says they said prophesy in another place it says they blindfolded him and smote him and blindfolded then they would hit him in the face it says with the palms of their hands i have a notion that When they put that blindfold on him, they hit him with their fists. Because it says in, let's read that wonderful verse, Isaiah fifty-two.
Isaiah fifty-two, it says in verse fourteen, his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of man." Have you noticed the little note that Schofield puts in the Bible here? The literal rending is terrible, so marred from the form of man was his aspect that his appearance was not that of a son of man, that is not human.
The effect of the brutality is described in Matthew twenty six, sixty-seven and sixty-eight. That's what I'm reading. And in Matthew twenty-seven, twenty-seven and thirty, made him such that it wasn't the form of a man. The literal rending was terrible, more marred than any man. I think I told you that on one strange occasion. I was walking in the city of London one Saturday morning soon after the war and I went down I think it was Regent Street and in a corner store they had a collection of a sorority collection of relics and photographs and things about the German atrocities, the way they treated the Jews, pictures of those awful prison camps and furnaces where they burned their bodies and all this.
I saw all these things, but hanging on a pillar, there was one photo that struck me and kind of drew me to it. It was a picture of a man's face who'd been beaten, and I never saw anything like it. His face had been so beaten, punched and bruised, that it had swelled right up, and it was just like a round football.
two little slits, there were no eyes, but there was kind of slots where the eyes were, and the mouth just a little cracked, but it was just a brown ball bruised beyond recognition. And as I gazed at this awful bit, it was a sordid thing that took me in that day, I don't know, but I looked at these things and I saw that, and I can see it now, it's never gone from my mind, because as I looked at that picture, I said to myself, his visage was more marred than any man, so it must have been worse than that face I saw. This is how they treated the Lord Jesus, our Savior.
They spat in his face, they buffeted him, and they smote him. See, some buffeted him, and others with the palms of their hands smote him. So I take it, they punched him in the face. There's a picture then of our Savior. And this is only the first trial. We say the second trial because he's been to Annas. This is the night before the awful sufferings of the crucifixion. And he's the blessed Savior standing before care after us. Now let's go on a little bit. Verse sixty-nine. Peter sat with out in the palace and the damsel came unto him saying, Thou also was with Jesus of Galilee.
but he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. And after a while came unto him, they that stood by and said to them, Surely not one of them, for thy speech be read. He spoke with the dialect of Galilee. And they knew he was a Galilee, and he said, Your speech give your way. We know by your dialect where you come from. You belong to him.
And Peter began to curse and swear. I think, you know, that before the Lord saved Peter, Peter was a rugged, hard-old fisherman, and he was probably a wicked old man. What do you think? He began to curse and swear, He slipped back into the old life before the Lord came on that wonderful morning and said, Follow me, and he left his nets and his fishes and his boats. But in this awful moment when he should have stood true to the Lord, it all came back. And all that old nature of Peter's came out. And he began to curse and swear. And he used oaths and said, I don't even know him.
I don't confess him. I don't belong to him. For Peter, but there's one wonderful thing about Peter here. Look at him. Then he began to curse and swear, saying, I know not the man, and immediately the cock grew. And the Lord Jesus had said, Before the cock crow, Thrive. Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And the cock grew. And Peter remembered the words of the Lord. Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. But look at this lovely little bit. And he went out and wept bitterly. That proved something. Judas didn't go out and wept bitterly.
Judas was filled with remorse. We'll come to that. But he didn't weep. He threw down the silver and he said, I betrayed the guiltless one. But Peter wept bitterly. There was confession, there was contrition, and there was a broken heart immediately. And the Lord was able to deal with Peter afterwards as we know he did so well when he said, Peter, three times you denied me. Now three times I say, Peter, lovest thou me, lovest thou me more than these? Lovest thou me more than these? Though all men forsake thee, yet were not I, lovest thou me more than these? Three times he denied him, three times the Lord asked him that question.
And Peter was broken down. And so we leave Peter there to go and work that awful thing out. But we leave the Lord Jesus with Caiaphas and the Jewish Sanhedrin and the Jewish leaders and scribes and rulers. And it's night, an awful night. Now the next verse, the next chapter, verse twenty-seven verse one, says, When the morning was come. Now of course the cockcrow is in the morning. I don't know how long the trial went on at night. Sometimes you do hear a cockcrow in the night too.
That can happen. But it does say he was taken from prison and from judgment. as effort to see, is taken from prison and from judgment. And when I went to the, what is supposed to be the site of the Caiaphas Palace, where they built, as I said the other day, a beautiful, beautiful Roman Catholic Church, they took us down under the church, and they took us down into some prison cells. And they said this was the Lord's prison. That's what the Roman Catholics told us. This was the Lord's prison. And I wonder, he was taken from prison and from judgment.
Where did he spend that night? How long did that trial go on? Did it go on to daybreak? I don't know. Did Caiaphas sit up all night and all those Jewish leaders, or did they go and get some sleep somewhere? And did they take the Lord and throw him down into that prison and find him there? He was taken from prison and from judgment. I got a notion that some hours of that night he spent down there in an awful dungeon underneath the palace. That's how they treated our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we've been chasing his footsteps. Our time is gone. We've been chasing his footsteps in that last week.
We're trying to pick up the threads tonight, starting with that verse, when the morning was come. I wonder how God let the sun rise that morning, but he did. And when the morning was come. And we'll follow him further as he stands before Pilate, God willing tonight. Shall we pray? Blessed God our Father, we thank thee for giving us had these pictures of the suffering of thy son. Lord, we almost would draw there over our eyes and not gaze upon these awful things. But thou hast written him. And in this we see the hatred and the cruelty and the wickedness of the heart of man. And in this we see the love and the gentleness and the kindness and the endurance and the patience and the loneliness and the humility of thy beloved Son.
He answered, Never word. He was the Son of God. He was the Messiah. And how truly he said, Quoting, as we know from Psalm one hundred and ten, that he would sit on the right hand. I'll see him sitting on the right hand of God. And quoting from Daniel when he said, Behold, he cometh with clouds. And he said to Kephah, for as thou shalt see the Son of Man. sitting upon the right hand and coming in the clouds of heaven. We thank the Lord Jesus.
We bow at thy feet and we say with Peter, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. We thank thee for going to that awful place called Calvary and taking our place and bearing our sin. We bow in thy presence and worship thee and ask thee thou make us more worthy. of the great love thou hast shown to us. Dismiss us now with thy blessing. Give us thoughts again today. And as we further progress through this week of suffering, and as we gaze upon thy further sufferings and ultimately the cross, we ask, Lord, that break our hearts down before thee and do something in these lives.
Pray, Lord, that this week may not be a last week, but it might have its