God on Trial

Scripture: I Peter 2:21-23

C.I.: On Trial Before “The Religious”

In our first lesson…( Mk. 14:36 ) - Today we will see how to handle a trial before the religious who oppose us!

•  Character of the Religious & the Righteous in Trial, (Mark 14:53-65)

•  Two Things that Should Not Surprise Us, (vs. 53-54)

•  #1: Don't be surprised when “religious” people cause trials in our lives!

•  ( v. 53 ), “And they led Jesus away to the high priest; and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes were gathered together.”

•  As Jesus had prophesied – ( Mk. 8:31 ), “… the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, and chief priests, and scribes & be killed & after 3 days rise again.”.

•  Nor should any of us – ever be taken by surprise when we too suffer & are rejected.

•  ( Matt. 10:24-25 ), “A disciple is not above his teacher … if they called the head of the household Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!”

•  When others feel the time is right – they will come after you – just like they came after Jesus!

•  #2: Don't be surprised if people don't come running to your defense.

1) ( v. 54 ), “Peter had followed Him at a distance , right into the courtyard of the high priest;
and he was sitting with the officers and warming himself by the fire.”

2) Not too close! – So we shouldn't be surprised about Peter's later 3 denials.

3) But even this is not unusual – ( II Tim. 4:16 ), “At my 1 st defense no one supported me, but all
deserted me.” – People will let us down - yet our faith & strength are not in men!

4) ( II Tim. 4:17 ), “But the Lord stood with me & strengthened me, … and I was delivered….”

•  The (False) Testimony is Sought, (vs. 55-59)

•  The Jewish religious leaders - did not even follow their own laws - in regards to this trial…

•  The case was tried at NIGHT – (wrong time of day).

•  The case was tried at the high priest's home & not in a courtroom (wrong place).

•  The case was tried during the Passover celebration – (wrong time of the year).

•  The case was to devise charges to condemn Jesus to death – (wrong motive)

•  The purpose of a trial is to determine “truth”! – Yet their purpose was to determine guilt!

a. ( vs. 55-59 ), “Now the chief priests & the whole council kept trying to obtain testimony against
Jesus to put Him to death; and they were not finding any. – For many were giving false testimony
against Him, & their testimony was not consistent. – Some stood up & began to give false testim
against Him saying, ‘We heard Him say, “I will destroy this temple made with hands & in 3 days I
will build another made without hands.”' – Not even in this respect was their testimony consistent.

a. Too often, then as today, people's minds are closed – already made up!

•  Jesus words were – ( Jn. 2:19 ), “Destroy this temple & in 3 days I will raise it up.”

•  ( Jn. 2:21 ), “But He was speaking of the temple of His body.”

b. People who want to condemn don't care about truth – but will twist your words for their purpose.

1) ( II Pt. 3:16 ), “…the apostle Paul in his letters spoke of these things, in which some are hard
to understand, which the unstable & untaught distort, as they also do the rest of the scripture

a) When people do this with your words - its difficult in this situation not to become
defensive.– But our purpose is not to defend ourselves – but God's word as truth!

b) ( Phil. 1:16; I Pt. 3:15 ), “I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.” – “Always…
2) Yet, let us never do anything that validates their charge…. ( I Pt. 4:15-16 ), “By no means let
any of you suffer as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler. – But if
anyone suffers as a Xn, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name let him glorify God.”

•  Jesus and the Accusations of the High Priest, (vs. 60-65)

•  It was the high priest who put this charade together. – Now he needed to see it to its “proper” end!

•  ( vs. 60-61a ), “And the high priest stood up and came forward questioning Jesus, saying, ‘Do you make no answer? – What is it that these men are testifying against You?' – But He kept quiet and made no answer.”

•  They had no “5 th Amendment Rights.” – But they did have something just as good…

•  ( Pro. 26:4 ), “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him.”

b. ( vs. 61b-64 ), “Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, ‘Are You the
Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?' – And Jesus said, ‘I am; and you shall see the Son of Man
sitting at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.'”

c. In Jesus' answer – He gives four scriptural proofs of who “ the Christ” truly is!!!

•  “I am” = ( Ex. 3:14 ), “God said, ‘I am who I am; thus you shall say, “I AM has sent me….'”

a) ( John 8:58-59 ), “Jesus said, ‘Truly I say, before Abraham was born , I AM .…stones”

•  “Son of Man” = ( Dan. 7:13-14 ), “I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came to the Ancient of Days…”

a) Notice Jesus is given a kingdom – Authority to rule!

b) ( Phil. 2:9-11 ), “Therefore God highly exalted Him, and bestowed upon Him a name..

•  “Sitting at the right handoff power” = God the Son exalted by God the Father.

•  ( Psa. 110:1 ), “The Lord says to my Lord, sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”

•  “And coming with the clouds of heaven” = the language of judgment!

a) “The Lord is riding on a swift cloud, and is about to come to Egypt; the idols of
Egypt will tremble in His presence…,” ( Isaiah 19:1 ).

•  So how do the religious respond to God's truth?

1) ( v. 65 ), ““And tearing his clothes, the high priest said, ‘What further need do we have of
witnesses? – You have heard the blasphemy; how does it seem to you?' – And they all
condemned Him of being deserving of death Some began to spit at Him, and to blindfold
Him, and to beat Him with their fists, and to say, ‘Prophesy!' And the officers received Him
with slaps to His face.”

2) The outcome of the trial is not determined by what others think – but by what God thinks!

3) It is God vote alone that justifies us – ( Rom. 8:33 ), “Who will bring a charge against….”

CONCLUSION: Only one vote counts – God's! ( Rev. 7:9; Matt. 28:19f; Gal. 3:27 ).