Who's Really on Trial?, Part 1

Today from Chuck Swindoll by the price and our believing in Jesus, God graciously imputes to us his own righteousness in place of our unrighteous. You knew no sin became sin on our behalf that we might be made the righteousness of God in him the gospel writer named colorful picture of Jesus final week on earth.

It includes a shocking sequence of painful events such as the betrayal of Peter the desertion by his disciples in a series of six bogus trials in which Jesus was dragged before the authorities on false charges today on Insight for living. Chuck Swindoll invites us to enter into these dramatic scene in doing so, our love for Jesus grows deeper as we engage in the suffering he endured on our behalf.

Chuck titled today's message who's really on trial gospel by Matthew and have come to the 26 chapter the last few verses that appear in this chapter are of our interest today and these verses turn our attention to the dark part of the whole story of our Savior's passion suffering and death if we forget the bright part of it having to do with the benefits that come our way.

We will be lost in the misery and the torturous experiences that were his. So we want to do both. As we look at the story as it unfolds. I'm looking at Matthew 26 beginning at verse 57 down to the end of chapter I'll read excerpts from these verses. At this point, Jesus is now taken on trial and he began what will be, not one or two trials but in fact six. All of them illegal but not one of them approving him guilty but all of them, resulting in his being crucified at the Golgotha of the place of the skull, but this begins the story after he has been taken under arrest and takes us into this Trial Takes Pl. in Caiaphas's court. So were looking at it. I have my Bible open to Matthew 2657 I'm reading from the new living version and your Bible may read a little differently but basically it will coincide. Well the new living translation is a little bit more easily heard when it is read in a public gathering like this.

Matthew 2657, then the people who arrested Jesus went into the home of Caiaphas, the high priest for the teachers of religious law and the elders had gathered.

Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and came to the high priest's courtyard. He went in and sat with the guards and waited to see how it would all end inside the leading priests and the entire high council were trying to find witnesses who would live about Jesus so they could put him to death. But even though they found many who agreed to give false witness, they could not use anyone's testimonies. Finally, two men came forward, who declared this man said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days versus 69. Meanwhile, Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard.

A servant girl came over and said to him you were one of those with Jesus, the Galilean, but Peter denied it in front of everyone. I don't know what you're talking about. He said later out of the gate, another servant girl noticed him and said to those standing around this man was with Jesus of Nazareth again. Peter denied it this time with an oath. I don't even know the man he said a little later. Some of the other bystanders came over to Peter and said you must be one of them.

We could tell by your Galilean accent. Peter swore a curse on me if I am lying. I don't know the man and immediately the rooster crowed. Suddenly Jesus words flashed through Peter's mind before the rooster crows, you will denied three times that you even know me and he went away weeping bitterly. I've often thought how grateful I am that the Lord no longer record his word. How thankful I am that all of that ended at the end of the first century of because who knows how many of our names would appear in places where we have failed it so happens in Peter's case, it is here for all of us to witness and down through the centuries for everyone to work over. I hope that in the presentation this morning you will come away not so much with a dislike for Peter but in fact a compassion for the man in his worst moment, which is recorded for us here. Matthew 26, but far more importantly with what our Savior suffered on our behalf or listening to to study the book of Matthew Chuck Swindoll. Be sure to download his searching the Scriptures. Studies by going to inside world.war/studies. Another message from Chuck, titled who's really on trial. Most people have never made a serious study of the life of Jesus, even critics, even cynics as they attack and make those statements which sounds so forceful and often convincing would often convince would often have to confess that they never really made a study out of the Scriptures of the person of Jesus. It was many years ago I was serving a church up in the Boston area and was invited to appear on a sort of a panel discussion which was held over the radio and people called in to talk with us about various subjects that related to the Bible and the subject of the day happened to be the person of Christ.

There were three others on the panel that I served on one was a professor at a local university, not a Christian school, but he happened to be a Christian scholar. The second was the host of the show who was himself a believer. The third was a leader on the campus nearby. I think either inter-varsity or campus Crusade. I forget, and that he was one of the four and then I was there serving as a panel panelist is a local pastor. We got a lot of calls. In fact there were times that all the lights were on for representing calls coming in. We were not able to take them all but I noticed in the longer we were there for that hour hour and 1/2 maybe as long as two hours. The very same kind of thought Washing around in my head that the people who are asking these questions while they are some of them speaking with such critical words regarding Jesus lacking information about him because they were referring to things that I've never heard of in my life and I made a lifetime study of his life and that I I am for the life of me didn't know were some of them had come up with the things that they were mentioning. So, toward the end of the broadcast. I began asking everyone I could talk to. Have you ever made on your own. A study of the life of Jesus from the Bible, had you ever gone to one of the four sources of those who walk with him who knew him, who wrote of him in the what's called the gospel accounts and would you believe, not one of ago to give them high marks for honesty. Not one of them admitted he or she had ever made a serious study of Jesus from the Scriptures that is easy to do in our day in which everybody has an opinion, but often it isn't based on original sources or facts that can be backed up giving us those opinions as I read somewhere not long ago. Everyone is a writer's opinion, but no one has a right to his own facts.

And if you want to get the facts about the truth the best place to go is the Bible. Obviously, many people don't believe the Bible which is which undercuts the information that is the mother of the greatest value to anyone who wants to know about Jesus. This is true when it comes to the of the ending of his life. I noticed that most Christians stand to job from the garden of Gethsemane to his death at Golgotha from Gethsemane to Golgotha. Most of never made a serious study of what transpired between his arrest in the garden at his death on the cross. I find that a fascinating reality because so much is contained both in history and in the legality of his day as it relates to the trials. For example, is a surprise to many to hear that there weren't there wasn't one or two hearings. There were six. You can even call them six trials, three of them were Jewish, and three of them are Roman. The reason it didn't stop with the Jewish trials because the Jews were not allowed under Roman authority to carry out capital punishment that required the Romans to approve that which explains why he would ultimately have to stand before Pilate, who was a representative of the Roman government.

None of the Jews had the right to take it to the cross. Had the Jews killed him. He would've been stone or strangled or drowned when the been crucified.

Crucifixion was a Roman punishment.

All that is found when you do a study of the trials and the events surrounding the court, the death of Christ, you realize that he was declared not proven guilty, but declared guilty of crimes. He never committed that he endured punishment that should never have been inflicted up. Furthermore, he went through a death that he did not deserve and the most excruciating form of death ever devised by humanity, not all of this is the horizontal perspective and when you look at only that it's all dark and and we will wear our response could easily be cruel. How unfair. But when you bring in the theological would you bring in the vertical you realize that this is the fulfillment of his earthly mission. Unlike all of us who come to live.

He came to die.

In fact, he dies at the age of 33 before most people who live and die die on this earth. He had fulfilled his mission, which explains why he would say on the cross.

It is finished. Mission accomplished. His death made possible this marvelous provision of our salvation. Charles Riley, the lay theologian writes in his study Bible. Here is the heart of the gospel. The simplest Savior has taken our sins that we might have God's righteousness.

Maybe you never thought of that before, but had he not borne our sins we would never know the privilege of gaining God's righteousness is called the doctrine of imputation by the death of Christ and our believing in Jesus, God graciously imputes to us, though his own righteousness in place of our unrighteous. He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So the trade-off is magnificent when you look at it vertically. Without that vertical perspective, it's all the tragedy. It's all heartbreakingly cruel, but the moment of salvation. God grants the believing sinner's righteousness because of what Christ did on our behalf. He was as the baptizer put it, the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world and by doing that we are not then forced to pay for our own sins because Christ has done that on our behalf. We find ourselves surrounded by and smothered in the grace of God.

For we get what we don't deserve, and how grateful we are for that and now we go from bad good news back to the awful horizontal scene of the dark part of the story as we look at two men on trial actually one is Jesus whose trial is public, albeit all of them are illegal should never been held at night. There should never have been violence in the courtroom. Of course they should never have those who would lie brought in as witnesses.

These who met as the Council knew the code of the Jewish law, but it did deliberately ignored it, but because he was there on trial to pay for our sins, he did not fight.

He did not resist it.

Remember it was a Gethsemane. He won the victory over whose will would have the way and that would be the will of the father, not my will but yours be done. Because of that when Christ went on trial. It was in a fight or struggle for him. Although it was excruciatingly painful. The other one on trial is Peter. Remember the words of Jesus to Peter before the rooster crows, this very night you will have denied me three times in Peter with great dogmatism, says though all these others made Doug did not desert you.

I will never desert you and EE spoke too soon because it within a matter of a very short period of time as we will see in this study he denies him exactly as Jesus said he would not once but twice, but three times. Let's pick up a trial in verse 57 here in Matthew 26 turn in your Bibles there and we will look at both men on trial. One of them hiding away.

That's Peter. The other was in public and that's Jesus the people who had Jesus arrested leading to the home of Caiaphas, the high priest by the way, when we come back to this study of the week after next.

I'm going to give you a chart I put together that offers the times of these events, and also will give you the events themselves. One after another front and back of the same sheet so you will be able to track the events that seem to sort of run together. For example, no one gospel writer covers all six trials you have to go from one to another.

If we were to go to John's Gospel. We would pick up the first trial which was held before a man named Annis a double NAS. Annis is a former high priest of this Supreme Court of the Jews called the Council and Anna's is out of office but his son-in-law, Caiaphas is now in office and Caiaphas now act as the high priest serves in the capacity and he holds the second trial, which is the one that Matthew begins with here in verse 57 follow along with the people who had him arrested, leading to the home of Caiaphas, the high priest for the teachers of religious law and the elders together well if I figured correctly and I but I worked on it tediously. This is about 3 o'clock in the morning. Okay, think about it.

3 o'clock in the morning and there's a trial being held in the home of Caiaphas, the Jewish code states the members of the court may not alertly and intelligently hear the testimony against the accused during darkness.

Clearly stated that there was to be no trial at night. Last time I checked 3 o'clock in the morning.

It's dark. Interesting isn't it that all of them found their way to Caiaphas's home ready for the trial.

Normally, people are not up at 3 o'clock.

Certainly not sitting at a trial where a notorious criminal like Jesus is the one being accused but they're all there, sitting before Caiaphas, the high priest, it's, it's obviously the result of a conspiracy.

They weren't there to find out the facts. They were there to rush to judgment, to declare him guilty of the put him to death. They wanted to get rid of it. So all of this is mockery uses a kangaroo court. In fact, the code further stated before, the verdict would be given here.

This the Council was to eat like food, drink, light liens and sleep well in their homes and once again return to hear the testimony against the acute then and only then, were they to vote. They knew the code but they didn't go all and spend those two days resting and waiting before the verdict would be cast there ready to cast the verdict right now. Remember, their goal is to get him on the cross to get rid of them and they are pushing for that at every calls. So Jesus is on this kind of trial.

I like the way Matthew eases into Peter sitting we read in verse 58. Meanwhile, Peter followed at a distance and came to the high priest's courtyard. He went in and sat with the guards and waited to see how it would all in. Peter has fled in the darkness out of the garden of Gethsemane, along with all the other disciple, not wanting to be known as one of the followers of Jesus for fear of his own life. He does not want to be identified.

Setting the stage for a message that continues Thursday and Friday as well. Listening to Insight for living title to study Matthew chapter 26, who's really on trial and to explore a variety of resources available on this study, please visit us online@insightworld.org. If you been with us from the beginning. When this brand-new teaching series started, you can truly feel the momentum growing as we near the conclusion of Matthew's gospel.

To that end, I remind you Chuck wrote a full-length commentary that parallels this teaching series. It starts in Matthew chapter 1 with the genealogy of Jesus and ends in chapter 28 with his great commission.

The commentary comes in two volumes and is called swindles living insights on Matthew and you can purchase your copy right now by calling us if you're listening in the US dial 1-800-772-8888 or go to Insight.org/offer when you decide to give a donation to support Insight for living. You can be confident that your investment truly makes a difference. Let me give you an example, someone from New Mexico wrote a note that said, Chuck my life eerily parallels David's my life was riddled with sin including adultery and alcoholism for a long time I hit it well from everyone except God's listener added Chuck at my lowest moment I read your book on David, I'm happy to tell you I've been sober for nearly 5 years now and found my way back to Christ.

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The rugged landscape reminds us to find refuge in God alone. The fertile valleys invite us to follow our ship Jerusalem's position at the very center of the world announces the good news of Christ to every nation, and now you can see Israel with Chuck Swindoll, Insight for living ministries March 6-17, 2022. Every time I visited the holy land of returned home with a refreshed heart for God and a renewed vision for the world. Really, I mean it every time. So I want you to have the same life changing experience to learn more, go to Insight.org/events call this number 1-888-447-0444 Insight for living ministries tour to Israel is paid for and made possible by only those who choose to attend tomorrow. Chuck Swindoll continues his message about Peter's denial of Jesus. Be sure to join us Thursday to hear Insight for living in the preceding message who's really on trial was copyrighted in 2017 and 2021 and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2021 by Charles R.

Swindoll.

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