I invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to Mark chapter 14, Mark chapter 14. We are considering verses 51 to the end of the chapter, Mark chapter 14, second book of the New Testament, and you'll find that on page 1085, actually 1083 in your pew Bible, 1083. Beginning at verse 51 this morning of Mark chapter 14, this is the word of the Lord. And a young man followed him with nothing but a linen cloth about his body, and they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked. And they led Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. And Peter had followed him at a distance right into the courtyard of the high priest and he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire. Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death but they found none. For many bore false witness against him but their testimony did not agree and some stood up and bore false witness against him saying we heard him say I will destroy this temple that is made with hands and in three days I will build another, not made with hands. Yet even about this, their testimony did not agree. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you? But he remained silent and made no answer. Again, the high priest asked him, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed? And Jesus said, I am, and you will see the son of man seated on the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. And the high priest tore his garments and said, what further witness do we need? You've heard his blasphemy. What is your decision? And they all condemned him as deserving death. And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him saying to him prophesy and the guards received him with blows and as Peter was below in the courtyard one of the servant girls of the high priest came and seeing Peter warming himself she looked at him and said you also were with the Nazarene Jesus but he denied it saying I neither know nor understand what you mean and he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed and the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders this man is one of them but again he denied it and after a little while the bystanders again said to peter certainly you are one of them for you are a galilean but he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear i do not know this man of whom you speak and immediately the rooster crowed a second time and peter remembered how jesus said to him before the rooster crows twice you will deny me three times and he broke down and wept and there is the reading of god's word this morning to understand uh what is uh in before us this morning in mark chapter 14 you have to see that what are known as the passion narratives in the Gospels are inaugurated, especially here in Mark, with a reference to the Old Testament, which I am convinced that Jesus is using to help us understand everything that is happening here. Before he entered the Garden of Gethsemane, You'll remember last time we looked at this, and before he had entered in verse 27, he said something that is very important to understand what Mark is doing here. In verse 27, Jesus said to them, you will all fall away for it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. That's an Old Testament reference. Where? Where did the Lord go and what did he have on his mind when he particularly quoted that statement about striking the shepherd and the sheep being scattered? There are two places in the Old Testament. The first place is Zechariah 13, and I want you to hear both references to see everything that was anticipated and now how it's unfolding as we're studying it this is zechariah 13 on that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of david and the inhabitants of jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness now listen carefully to this and on that day declares the lord of hosts i will cut off the names of the idols from the land so that they shall be remembered no more and if one asks him what are these wounds on your back he will say the wounds i received in the house of my friends awake oh sword against my shepherd against the man who stands next to me declares the lord of hosts strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered wow i'm going to strike him you will see him standing next wounds on the back from the house of his friends and when it happens when he struck all the sheep will be scattered that's one of the places the other place is a very well-known place where we have an inference to this and it is isaiah 53 you know it well all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and the lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all the old testament anticipated this the old testament looked for this those are two glorious passages that jesus is now referencing when the messiah would come and on his back all of our iniquities would be laid in the midst of it he would be struck and the sheep would all be scattered jesus is telling us as he entered the garden of gethsemane the moment the scriptures are to be fulfilled has come and we need to understand that this morning because the message here is something very helpful and encouraging to us it's the message of the entire bible that jesus had to bear this responsibility alone alone he was bearing the responsibility to pay for all of our sins alone this is the heart of the christian faith this is the heart of the message the marvel of what we are about to study is study is that this is this is god incarnate god becoming one of us who became one of us to take these blows you never would make this up you never would dream this up we would never make it up because it casts us in the worst light but this morning this is a marvel to study it was the only way it was the only way that we could be delivered the predicament and the sorrow of the entire human race left us bound up and under the just judgment of god that was the predicament that that that we are in as a human race because of Adam and because of sin and God didn't leave it there God had announced his plan and published to us as the scriptures called an everlasting gospel and he wants you to know that he went through this and he did all of this for you woven into this this is this is what makes the study so fascinating also is that woven into these blows into this great narrative of what Jesus did is the story of the disciples and their story is one of utter shame utter failure utter embarrassment and it's meant to have a particular help and purpose for you it's meant to always be studied and say ah every time i go through every kind of distress in this life every time i feel the burden and the pain for what my sins have caused every time i go through it i can look at them and say wow, Jesus' very own that he chose to be with them failed like that in the midst of this was Jesus fulfilling it all. That's the intention. Woven into the passion narrative is the story of Jesus suffering and dying are these very messed up, these very weak men for you. Exposing their own shame and exposing their own misery to tell you one great thing. Stop looking to yourselves. stop consider him that's what this is this morning consider him who endured such hot from sinners who endured such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted don't you struggle with that consider him that's what this that's what this text is doing that's why we're studying this. What is before us this morning is a detailed description of Jesus being put on trial. There's a lot of detail that Mark gives here, and he does something that really helps us this morning. We're going to somewhat look at and compare some of the Gospels here for a moment so that you understand specifically what Mark is doing. All these Gospel writers have a specific intent and purpose so jesus has been at this point in the garden and you'll remember where we left off last time that this this roman cohort these these armed men had come with the temple police and the scribes and the pharisees and that's where we are now as we as he has been arrested they have been released we know from john that john uses that language and in verse 53 we read here something that now helps us to understand the dynamic of what's happened here in his arrest and they led Jesus to the high priest and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together what a scene it's hard even to ponder it's hard even to consider this is not easy stuff to write they seize the lord of glory and they have arrested him and now what is about to unfold before us in mark is the greatest and most important trial of history it's a trial the one through whom everything was made the lord of glory is bound up he's tied up before jesus went to the cross um you have two kinds of trials that took place you have essentially what is a church trial they call that ecclesiastical trial you have a church trial and then you have a civil trial what is before us and what we're studying this morning is the the church trial the ecclesiastical trial the very first trial begins with the most powerful and influential of all the jewish leaders we know from john that he had first visited a man by the name of annas annas was the most powerful figure religious leader of the jewish sanhedrin the gospels the other three focus this trial before his son-in-law caiaphas when you put all this together you see that that this whole thing is corrupt the the tactics that we see here are absolutely painful to study it was shrewdly argued in the sanhedrin that jesus should die that he should be killed murdered and annas and caiaphas had planned this for a long time annas just to give you some idea was in charge of the temple treasury and you could imagine how mad he was when Jesus was flipping over his money bin. Mark says that their intention was to find testimony against him to kill him. You put all this together, especially with John's gospel, the whole trial began with them evaluating and opening and questioning Jesus about his doctrine. What they tried to do with him was to hold Jesus out and interrogate him as if he is a false prophet, a false prophet who has done nothing but stir up strife among the brethren with all of these ideas that he has been a sectarian, that he has divided Israel, that he's completely disregarded the tradition of the elders. I mean, we could go on and on about all the charges against Jesus and essentially these same kinds of charges are made by the unbelieving world against him to this day. Jesus is put on charge, on trial for his views. Jesus will answer this in John's gospel in a certain kind of way by saying, I've always taught in the synagogues and in the temple where the Jews always meet and in secret I haven't said anything. Why do you ask me? Ask those who heard what I said. Indeed, they know what I said. If you've ever looked at any sect or any cult throughout history, I just spent some time watching this. Maybe you've seen it, this documentary on Scientology. That is really scary stuff. And you see the harm to people and the danger to people. But it really does capture in that documentary that was done how awful sex and cults are false teachers are often uh doing these things in in secret i've tried to drive by that him it thing and just i want to peek over the wall but i haven't done that um might not get out if i go in i heard but they they believe that the truth is only for them don't they they have their own band of of followers and and uh jesus when he was put on child spoke openly saying, listen, I never did any of that. I never do. You know I didn't do what the false cults and sects do, what insurrectionists do. It was actually the Jewish leaders who were meeting in their tight, strict executive sessions and arguing and fighting about all the little fine points of doctrine, weren't they? Jesus wasn't. Jesus was out in the open jesus was on boats calling the multitudes to come jesus went into the synagogues and taught jesus was in the temple courts teaching he was he was constantly extending his arms showing people the way of salvation he was healing people he was caring for people he was loving people he extended his arms and called people to come to him for life and he explained the gospel of salvation to people didn't he that was his purpose we've studied in mark i spoke openly to the world synagogue to synagogue teaching everyone's heard me you never found me off in a compound and that's always kind of a litmus test isn't it are our doors open of course they are we want everyone to hear this message every tribe tongue people and nation not just for for our group we want everyone to hear this, don't we? We care about that. What the biblical writers want us to see here in this first church trial is that the entire thing is corrupt. Technically, it's an illegal trial. You know what time it is? This trial took place between 1 and 3 a.m. on Friday. Who goes on trial then? Jesus is being condemned at 1 to 3 a.m. It's being executed on the feast of the Passover. That's specifically written into their law. You can't do that. His arrest came from bribe money from Judas. Blood money. And now Jesus is put on trial to incriminate himself. He has no defense. Who goes through this? Their laws said you can't have a hearing on a case like this during the Passover. No conviction was ever allowed at night. Here they are. Imagine if a trial of somebody, of your loved one, took place, and they hauled him off at 2 in the morning so nobody knew and tried him and condemned him. Mark now helps us. He zeroes in on something that happened. In verse 56, we read that many false witnesses bore against him, these false witnesses, These things, you'll see that there. But their testimony did not agree. And then they bring something specific. They say something very specific. And they said, we heard him say, I will destroy this temple made with hands. And within three days, I will build another made without hands. Jesus never said that. I mean, this is Satan in the garden twisting God's words when, remember, he went to eat. Did God say? And then he twisted everything that God said. He said he would destroy our temple and rebuild it. John made clear to us that he was speaking about the temple of his body. Jesus said, destroy this temple and in three days I'll raise it up. He wasn't talking about their man-made temple. You ever been on trial? You ever seen a trial where charges are made against someone? If charges are made against us, what's the first thing you're going to go do? You're going to go get a lawyer. You're going to make some kind of defense, aren't you? We all know what a false accusation can do against somebody. You ever been falsely accused of anything? You ever had your words twisted? Do you know what the goal of that is? It is to ruin you, isn't it? You ever thought about how dangerous that is and what that could do to the reputation of somebody? If it's a church trial and a pastor is put on a trial for his views and some kind of false teaching, now he's right in the spotlight and he has to answer all of these charges against him to make it right, doesn't he? But you know what happens to people in this. Even if he's done nothing wrong, He's now branded, isn't he? It's over for him. It's who trusts. Think about what you could do to somebody. Who trusts somebody after charges like this are made? You've wrecked them. Sad, isn't it? And this stuff happens all the time. Over and over, the Scriptures keep telling us, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, none of it collaborated to show that Jesus was absolutely just and pure and had done everything perfect. And that these guys were false witnesses twisting in a wicked attempt to destroy his reputation and destroy his life. Now here's the big moment. What's his response? What would you do? You would defend yourself, wouldn't you? You'd cry out and you'd say, you've accused me falsely of this. And we would then go on and moan about how abusive church leaders all are, right? Think about this. The pure Lord of glory, the God of your salvation, condemned by false witnesses. As I was working through this, I thought, I can't even imagine the humiliation of this. Again, I struggle to preach these passion narratives because how do you communicate it so that it comes across in a way that really communicates the depth of what's happening here? After all these accusations, the high priest stands up and says, are you hearing what all these men are testifying against you with? You're hearing what they're saying. What does Jesus do? There is a glaring statement here. Something that the Holy Spirit, and it has a deep, profound significance. We read something that really should be circled in the text. But he kept silent and answered nothing. Not a word. Huh? Why would he do that? It's really quite overwhelming, isn't it? They've opened up a book against Him of everything that's false. Silence. He has the ability and the power to stop this right now. He could call down angels at His disposal, couldn't He? He could have put an end to this. Never did one thing wrong. Only loved, only cared, only helped. And this is what He's getting. What do you say? What do you say for yourself? These are the charges, man. Silent. Seeing he won't answer, Caiaphas goes for the jugular. He knows exactly what he's doing. These are crafty men. These were the worst kind of popes. That's what Luther called them. They knew. They understood how to get him. The great charge against Jesus is that he made himself equal with God. Remember that? It's a big moment. The high priest says, you tell us right now, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed? I want to know. Everyone's there. Biggest, most important trial in history. Jesus didn't have to answer a word, did he? He didn't owe that to them at all. In fact, we know that he only gave this privilege to a few people along the gospel stories, didn't he? Along those narratives. He gave it to the woman at the well. Said he was the Messiah. He worked hard and gave that to his disciples, remember? Kept pressing them on that. Who do you say that I am? He didn't publish this openly. The whole ministry. What does he do? He now says the one thing that he knows it will take for him to be brought to full trial before Pilate and condemned and crucified. What does he do with an open mouth? Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And now he speaks. I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the power and coming with the clouds of heaven in a great moment in this the middle of this trial and a great ostentatious display the high priest oh rips his clothes we've heard it we've heard enough this is blasphemy we got him what else do we need what do you all say what's the verdict guilty all of them said it as soon as uh he said this one of the officers comparing the accounts with John, takes his fist, walks up to Jesus, pulls it back, right in the face. No command, walks up, gives him a deep blow to the cheek of our Lord. You ever been punched in the face? It's pretty humiliating. We all know the shame of that. We're not God. I can't, I just, how do you fathom this? The most humiliating thing, isn't it? The one who sat on the throne in eternal glory with his Father, all dominion and power given to him, lowers himself, places himself under the law to take that. For no, for nothing he did. And then we read here in Mark, one of the most graphic descriptions of what they did to him. Then some began to spit on him. Utter shame. Greatest insult you could do is walk up to somebody and spit on their face. They did it. And they take a big blindfold and they tie it around his head and blindfold him and they all begin to take rounds on him. The soldiers began to march, we know, and do this. Marching, and as they're doing it, they start to mock. Hey, hey, if you can prophesy and see things, tell us, who's hitting you now? Ridiculed? Laughed at, mocked, beaten, spit upon. Again, see how hard this is? Judgment Day, did you know the final Judgment Day is described as a trial? We'll get to Revelation 20. We're working through that slowly. We'll get there. In Revelation 20, we read, I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the whole earth and heaven fled away. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. This is the final judgment day. There is, says Revelation, a book of deeds. And Revelation says that the dead were judged by the things that were written in the books. Each one was judged according to his own work. So in the course of his life, Belgic Confession calls this conscience. The consciences are open. The books are open. And there's a record of your life. Everything. Everything that was in secret is brought out. That's Judgment Day. Every thought, every word of gossip, every foolish thing brought out. And then Revelation says that there's this other book. It's a Lamb's book of life. And there's no deeds written in that book. Just names. Just names of those purchased. Now, I believe that helps a little bit. It really does make the question of our Heidelberg Catechism so helpful and why we study these things. When it said, why did he suffer under Pontius Pilate as judge? That's where he's headed next. That's our next section. this is the answer so that he though innocent might be condemned by a civil judge and so free us from the severe judgment of god what we're studying right now is him put under the judgment to capture something for you he didn't deserve this he was innocent in every single way He underwent everything when he didn't deserve it to make something very clear for us that there was another judge who had taken his seat. He was under the tribunal of God as Revelation describes and became the guilty one. When he could have said the whole time, I didn't do a thing. I didn't commit any sin. I never did one thing. He stays quiet. And only says what he knows he has to say to get there. Are you processing that? You know what you have here. It's him stepping into your place. Every false thing you've ever held, and I'm telling you, even as Reformed people, we hold false things. We're not perfect. every cruel thing you've ever said, you say cruel things. Every wicked thing you've ever done, His mouth is closed for you. So what is this? Taking what should have been yours before God. You're studying your judgment in history. You're studying what judgment day is going to be like so that you don't have to go through it. So that you understand that judgment day, Jesus said Himself, is going to be a day of blows. Do you understand that? There is a day of blows and strikes. Strikes from God. You want to take that? You want to face that? For all the lawless things you've done and held? This is why the ministry is a plea to be reconciled to God. That's our goal here, to enjoy what is being announced to you. He made Him, we read this morning, who knew no sin, become sin so that in the great exchange we become the righteousness of god in him now you understand the love of god now you get the love of god it's the only way you're going to understand love this is now you get isaiah 53 listen to it now listen to it in light of what we're studying he was despised and rejected by men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and as one from whom men hid their faces. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And by his wounds, bruises, we are healed. Think of the punches. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet, ready? He opened not his mouth. See what Mark's doing? He's saying Isaiah 53 is fulfilled. He was like a lamb that is led to the slaughter. like a sheep that before its shears is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. Judgment, oppression. And in the middle of that, you know what it says? All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned, all of us, to our own way. And we hid our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Now do you understand what's sandwiched in all this, why it has so much meaning is Peter and somebody else. I'll get there. If I, I will never deny you even if I have to die with you. Oh yeah? I've been saying the whole time he has to do this alone. see how we fight this Peter didn't want his feet washed I'm going to do this can you drink the cup yeah Jesus is now to be hauled off to Pilate Peter thinks he's going to go die I guess he's manned up a little bit I don't know but a little servant girl comes up to him she's no sword this is a little servant girl he can't even stand before her It's really a fascinating section here. As Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, wait a minute, I know you. You're one. You were with the Nazarene, weren't you? Derogatory term. He denied it. I don't know what you're saying. I don't even understand what you're talking about. And the servant girl saw him and began to say to the bystanders, This man is one of them. But again, he denied it, number two. So a little servant girl has come up, completely and effectively, powerfully denies. I don't have any understanding of who this man is. So Peter now heads off, and he stands over by those we know from these accounts that arrested Jesus, that were punching Jesus. And he's now warming himself, because it's cold outside, by the way. After a little while, the bystanders again said to Peter, now they're all looking at him saying, listen, you're one, man. You're one. You're a Galilean. You are one. He begins to invoke a curse on himself. And he's cussing, swearing. I don't know this man whom you speak. Boom, rooster crows. And then it comes to his mind. Jesus just said, this is all going to happen. You see the contrast here? While Jesus confesses, Peter denies. He just confessed for him. While Jesus prays and watched, Peter slept. While Jesus was arrested, they were released. While Jesus is being accused of a sectarian and a divisive man and is shamed and humiliated and struck in the face, Peter's outside cold and needs some heat. While Jesus is taking all these blows and being called a false teacher, Peter hasn't got anything right theologically so far. It's been a mess besides confessing and then didn't seem to understand it all. And even that was from God, wasn't it? That he could confess. Luke says when this pain hit him, And he's standing there realizing what he just did, that all of a sudden Jesus is bound up and there comes Jesus being hauled off. He's going to Pilate now and walks right by Peter. And Peter turns and looks and Jesus turns around and looks at him. Peter says, I lost it. I went out and wept bitterly. Look at what I did. Imagine so intent on loving the Lord, following Him to death. No power. No ability. See why we're preaching grace? Beloved, I hope you see it. You're all wondering about this verse I've skipped. Verse 51, aren't you? Yes, you're wondering about the naked man running around. I know that. What is this? A young man followed him, verse 51, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body and they seized him. But he left the linen cloth and ran away naked. It's very cryptic. but I'll tell you what I believe it is. It's Mark's way of saying, I failed too. Mark's been hitting Peter pretty hard, hasn't he? Mark is saying, and John did this, the disciple whom he loved, and we knew that was John. Mark does it. This is in no other gospel. Mark does it. Mark's saying to you, I tried to stay with all I could and I couldn't. And I fled in ultimate shame. It wasn't just Peter. It's all of us. We were all scattered, as he said. And I learned a real hard lesson that day. But I learned that the Father laid on Him the iniquity of us all. I don't think we have to go beyond that. Some of you are thinking there's no way God could accept you because of the evil you've done. Some of you feel hopeless. Some of you feel like giant failures. Some of you feel like giving up. Some of you go out and weep bitterly after your sins, don't you? At some point, every sincere Christian goes through something like this. Wonders if God could love. And it affects our experience. I mean, it really does affect our experience. Here's the beauty of this this morning. Jesus didn't go through all of this shame for nothing. He did this so that no matter how great the sins are, you might look and say, at how great a savior we have you could look at peter and you could look at mark and you could remember everything that they failed with and you could look at jesus and look at the great love with which he loved peter and the lord once is believing sheep to know that in all the distresses of life don't despair he was struck in your place he was falsely accused in your place he was put on trial in your place. So that you would not doubt. You know, this is what John's whole purpose of his gospel was. These things are written so that you would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, and believing that you would have life in His name. If He could do it for these bumbling fools, He can do it for you who ran away naked. And He gives you a way forward, doesn't He? This is why Peter would say it's a gracious thing when mindful of God, one endures sorrow, for suffering unjustly. What credit is it when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, that's a gracious thing in the sight of God. Why? You're becoming a lot like your Savior. You have an example. Christ suffered for you, leaving an example. So you might follow in his steps who committed no sin. Neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, did not revile. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. Now listen to this final verse in Peter. How did our section begin? All you like the shepherd will be struck and the sheep will be scattered. For you were straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and the overseer of your souls. You're back. You're back, kept by his power. His trial is your trial. He was bruised for our iniquities. Believe him and receive. Simply receive in faith today God's gift to you of righteousness. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, such a wonderful section of Scripture and so above our little minds and yet a child can believe and understand this. How wonderful you are. The Father's love to give His Son that we might be called sons of God. May then, Lord, we learn from this and have confidence and boldness for the day of judgment, as John said, we should have. That Jesus went through all of this for us so that we might enjoy forgiveness and enjoy a right standing and now peace with God and peace with one another in how we behave, Studying so great a salvation. Thank you for your love. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.