Mark 14:26-72 - Skip Heitzig

[Music] welcome to expound our weekly worship and verse by verse study of the Bible our goal is to expand your knowledge of the truth of God as we explore the Word of God in a way that is interactive enjoyable and congregational turn in your Bibles to mark chapter 14 speaking of the whole counsel of God welcome to expound where we explore and expound God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times and I believe that no church can claim to equip their congregation with the whole counsel of God unless this kind of teaching takes place where you actually as a congregation go through all of the Bible so we do that and that's why Wednesday night of all of the meetings of the weekly pallet this is my favorite this is the heartbeat of it all so we saw last week at mark 14 is a rather lengthy chapter there are 72 verses and we did about half so we'll pray and we'll get started father anybody can say things to you or sing things to you and feel really good and call that worship but it just seems that the truest form of worship is when we are willing to subject ourselves to what you have to say when you speak to us and we are willing to submit ourselves to the hearing of your voice your truth your word and then to walk away from that and say by God's grace that's going to become a part of my life and so father we continue our worship worship was so great and we felt by those words and the music assured into your very presence but now father in your presence we pray that your Holy Spirit would take these words written by Mark testimony about Jesus Christ and bring us to an understanding and a maturity in Jesus name Amen it was Martin Luther who once said you can't stop the birds from flying around your head but you can certainly stop them from building a nest in your hair but there's a Jewish proverb that's sort of like that that is more applicable to what we're about to read the Jewish proverb says the devil comes to us in our hour of darkness but you don't have to let him in now I begin with that because the scene that we're about to read is a scene of darkness darkness looms over this entire setting physically as well as spiritually it is nighttime and nighttime the night accentuates the spiritual darkness that is going on Satan is very involved in this night Judas is very in tune with the will of Satan all the while the will of God the sovereign will of God is being done despite all of that you may recall that when Jesus was tempted by the devil out in the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry Luke chapter 4 spells it out so beautifully saying that when Satan had ended every temptation he departed from him until an opportune time it's a key phrase Satan said I'm done here but I'll be back he waited for the right time the right moment an opportune time for him to come back and introduce and interject himself into the life of Christ question is when was that opportune time well one time was several months later when Jesus was up at says areia Philip I with his disciples and said who do men say that I am who do you say that I am we've been through that story and after that whole identification Jesus then announced that he would be going to Jerusalem that the plan of the Father was that he himself be delivered into the hands of the chief priests be killed he would die but he would rise again on the third day Peter began to rebuke Jesus never never we're never gonna let this happen to you Lord far be it from you Lord and if you recall Jesus gave him a response that must have taken Peters breath away get behind me Satan whoa you just said blessed are You Simon son of Jonah dude what's up with a get behind me Satan because Peter in saying what he said was voicing the will of Satan Satan in his theology never has place for the cross so when he tempted Jesus on that mountain at the beginning of Jesus ministry he tried to persuade Jesus you don't have to go the way of the Cross you don't have to go the hard way just bow down before me now I'll give you what you came for you came for the world I'll give it to you for it is mine and I can give it to whomsoever I will trying to keep Jesus from the cross so here is Peter saying we're not gonna let you go to the cross that you just predicted get behind me Satan it's as if Jesus looks at Peter and says I recognize that voice I recognize that counsel that is the counsel of Satan himself you're not thinking like God thinks but you're thinking like man thanks Peter that was an opportune time the second time is here in the Garden of Gethsemane in this time of darkness the parallel account to this chapter in the parallel account of Luke when Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane and by the way all four Gospels will tell us the denial of Peter denying Jesus after this whole event in the garden when Luke tells the story and Jesus is in the garden when they come to arrest him and he says look I was with you publicly in the temple and I was teaching and you didn't arrest me but then he said but this is your hour and the power of darkness this is your hour and the time when darkness reigns you are cooperating with the powers of darkness to even see this event to its end now as we pick up and we left off in verse 26 so that's where we'll pick up where we left off Jesus will leave the upper city of Jerusalem and go to one of his favorite spots the Garden of Gethsemane it has become over the years one of my favorite spots on the face of the earth I've gone to Jerusalem many times I've done 35 different trips over there when I get there in the afternoon typically is when we get in and people go to the hotel and they freshen up and they're kind of tired from the day and they may want to explore a little bit of the city and then go to bed I will often leave the crowd and go alone or with a friend or maybe a small group and I know the route so well that Jesus took that I take the same routes usually at night and I leave the city gate go around the city walls go down into the Kidron Valley while it is dark nobody's there cross the little what used to be the brook had run and go into the Garden of Gethsemane now there's a wall and there's a gate they try to keep people out but usually at night they can't they don't have cameras there so I just hopped the wall I don't mean any harm I'm not gonna vandalize anything and I just sit among the olive trees in the garden of gethsemane and I just pray it's something I've looked forward to because I remember from the scriptures it was one of the favorite hangouts of Jesus of course he didn't have to hop the wall and it wasn't a barred gate it was just a known area on the Mount of Olives but it's become one of my favorite spots so it says in verse 26 when they had sung a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives they went to the Garden of Gethsemane the Garden of Gethsemane is part of the Mount of Olives so leaving the upper city of Jerusalem which would be the north west side they would have gone around the city walls like I just described in those days at the time of Jesus the historians tell us there was a little brook at the bottom of the valley the Kidron Brook that was flowing with a little bit of water because of the spring in the winter rains but also because of the sacrifices in the temple during Passover that that little stream that brook kidron had blood in it the blood of the lambs being sacrificed in the temple a conduit went out from underneath the Temple Mount and emptied into the brook Kidron to convey the blood away from the city of Jerusalem so just imagine the imagery of the Lamb of God Jesus Christ stepping over the brook Kidron flowing with the blood of lambs from the Passover sacrifices with his disciples knowing that within hours he would be the lamb slain once for all impactful amazing so Jesus goes to that part of the Mount of Olives on the other side of the Mount of Olives would be where Lazarus Martha and Mary lived in Bethany also on the Mount of Olives it's a it's a large area but Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane so after the Last Supper after the Passover he's in the garden of gethsemane have you ever stopped ask yourself why a garden why does this take place in a garden I believe it's emblematic I believe it's pregnant with imagery human history began in a garden human sin and failure began in a garden human history will culminate you might say the pinnacle of our existence will be in the garden city of the New Jerusalem Revelation chapter 22 so in between the Garden of Eden where man failed and the Garden City of the New Jerusalem where God reigns is this very important garden scene the Garden of Gethsemane in the Garden of Eden the first Adam was overcome by sin in the Garden of Gethsemane the second Adam Jesus Christ overcame sin in the Garden of Eden Adam fled ran from God in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus Christ the last Adam 1st Corinthians 15 calls him the last Adam presented himself to the Father for the father's will very emblematic a garden not by accident I believe but by design then jesus said to them his disciples all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night for it is written I will strike the Shepherd and the sheep will be scattered but after I have been raised I will go before you to Galilee he is quoting now the Prophet Zechariah Zechariah's prophecies play a very important role in predicting the Messiah in his first as well as his second coming Zechariah chapter 13 this is a direct quote strike the Shepherd and the sheep will scatter Bay upon that he is saying I am predicting that that will be fulfilled when all of you flake out on me this is as if to say you're gonna run from me before I die I'm gonna run after you after I'm raised from the dead I'm gonna go before you into Galilee Peter said to him even if all are made to stumble yet I will not be that's his first step downward self-confidence jesus said to him assuredly I say to you that today even this night before the rooster crows twice you will deny me three times but he he being Peter spoke more vehemently if I have to die with you I will not deny you and they all said likewise so Peter once again the spokesperson always listed first in the list of the Apostles and often the one who speaks up and I'm sure a lot of people were thinking things Peter vocalized them and he was a leader among them because he said it makes it yeah what he said yeah well we agreed they all said likewise but Peter came up with it first and then they came to a place which is called Gethsemane and he said to his disciples sit here while I pray now just notice what he said he said just sit here while I pray he didn't say boys I want you to come and pray with me we often interpret that you know there they should have been praying and they should have been but Jesus just said look I just want you to be with me I don't want you to do anything for me right now or with me I just want you to be with me while I pray sit here while I pray so often it is so hard for us to sit with Jesus we're good at doing things for him but sometimes just be with me he would say just be in my presence just enjoy my presence I would encourage you to make time in your day to sit with the Lord and you might have a prescribed early-morning devotion we call it a quiet time and and in your regimented a certain way that's fine but just to be in his presence and say Lord you know I don't have a lot of stuff right now I just want to tell you I love you and it's great being with you and I want to enjoy intimacy with you I think the Lord loves that I think he delights in that just sit with me so they came to this place called Gethsemane now if you were to go to Gethsemane to today besides hopping over the wall which I do sometimes next to it is a church the beautiful church called the Church of All Nations the windows are made out of carved alabaster very thinly cut to let dim light from the Sun come in and light the inside of it it has been preserved for a long long time and though that's a great spot I'm really not a guy who likes to go into churches and go out look at this cool church because typically most churches to me the of ancient genre kind of all look like old churches but for me to go into that garden next to it where the olive trees are just growing it's private property and they're still growing trees is what it would have looked like back then so that's why we do show people the church but we often have our Bible studies in our worship time next to it just under the olive trees get cemani you're familiar with the name if you're a Bible student you've read it dozens of time reading through the scripture but do you know what gets M&E means it comes from two words in Hebrew got which means press and Sh'ma neem which means olives it's the masculine plural for olives so it really means the Olive Press got Sh'ma neem transliterated in English get cemani simply means the place of the Olive Press they grew olive trees they had an olive business they would harvest the olives they would crush the olives they would make olive oil now olive oil was made by taking two stones part of the press an upper stone which would revolve around the lower stone in anything between two stones pretty easily gets crushed when the olives were crushed the oil that comes from the pits of the olives is gathered into the channel and conveyed and bottled and sold that's the olive business the real value of the olive comes when it's crushed you can eat the olives but the real money in this business is the crushing of the olives the value comes from the crushing now again I want you to think emblematical II for a moment if you know your Bible you know that sometimes the Holy Spirit is given the emblem of oil that oil is emblematic of the Holy Spirit and Jesus promised that after he would leave he would send the Holy Spirit to work in all of us in the body of Christ but first before the oil flows the olive has to be crushed when the olive his crushed when that pit is crushed and the oil is exude 'add that's when the value comes Jesus first came and was crushed Isaiah 53 he was wounded for our transgressions the NIV says he was crushed that's the literal translation for our iniquities the chastisement for our peace was upon him and by His stripes we are healed Jesus crushed for us God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might be the righteousness of God in him 2nd Corinthians 5:21 tells us there's the value Jesus came to be crushed the oil of the Holy Spirit can then flow verse 33 and he took Peter James and John James and John were brothers with him and he began to be troubled and deeply distressed and then he said to them my soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death stay here and watch Peter James and John the familiar trio the inner circle we might say now I don't know how the other disciples felt about Jesus having an inner circle but I bet they were a little miffed don't you I mean first of all Jesus had a lot of people following him but he had 12 disciples whom he called apostles they were special they were with him a lot but on a few occasions he left the other apostles and he took only Peter James and John special occasion in inner circle it's interesting we find two other occasions with Peter James and John the inner circle gather together occasion number 1 mark chapter 5 at the house of Jairus the raising of gyruss from the dead member when Jesus went inside the house and took with him Peter James and John everybody else was left outside the second occasion is on the Mount of Transfiguration mark chapter 9 I believe if memory serves when they went up on that high mountain I believe Mount Hermon up in the north Jesus was transfigured before them with Moses and Elijah and it says that Jesus was speaking to Moses and Elijah about his departure which would happen at Jerusalem his death but he was in this glorified state and the third time he takes Peter James and John alone is here in the Garden of Gethsemane now let me throw out something that I think is fascinating all three of those instances have something in common death death number one mark chapter five the house of Jairus Jesus demonstrated that he was victorious over death by raising her from the dead instance number two Mount of Transfiguration Jesus was showing that he would be glorified through death his own death on the cross instance number three the garden here of Gethsemane Jesus presents himself for death to the father something else is interesting Peter James and John the very first Christian martyr was James according to Acts chapter 12 by King Herod the last of the Apostles to die was John the middle one was Peter who would be crucified in Rome also but upside down as we have often noted verse 35 he went a little farther and he fell on the ground and he prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass from him and he said Abba which is an Aramaic term also a Hebrew term now which means daddy or father it's an intimate term of relationship Abba Father all things are possible for you take this cup away from me nevertheless not what I will but what you will if you ever notice the way Jesus prayed and have you ever compared the way Jesus prayed with the manner in which some people even today tell you how you ought to pray what they say to you some people will say when you talk to God you need to name it and you need to claim it you need to come with absolute confidence and Lord I just like command soraida man that that's the wrong way to pray that's not a prayer of faith that's a prayer of arrogance and presumption even the Son of God didn't come and name it and claim it his method was request and rest that ought to be your method request and rest leave it to God Lord this is what I want but nevertheless whatever you want is most important that's that's a perv faith that's a pervade you know the best kind of prayer is Lord I see it this way but but you know the rest of the story I don't so whatever you want Lord I submit myself to that Jesus is submitting to the will of the Father in his human nature he's feeling the anxiety that's coming upon him but nevertheless not what I want I'm here to do what you want that is so foreign to the way we think it's so foreign to the way I think I have to be constantly reminded of this instance to be adjusted how could Jesus submit himself to whatever the father wants it's because he knew the character and nature of his father he submitted to the nudg of the father because he knew the nature of the Father the nature of the father as he's good he's not an ogre he always does what is right he is sovereignly in control he's not a passive bystander he's very involved in his creation knowing all that he knows about his father he says nevertheless not what I will but what you will and then he came and he found them sleeping and said to Peter notice what he calls him Simon if you remember on our weekend studies we noted that though Jesus changed his name from Simon to Peter sometimes Jesus will call him by his old name when Peter acts like his old self it's a helpful reminder you still have an old nature Simon Simon are you sleeping couldn't pray lest you enter into temptation the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak okay so let me ask you something candidly when you sit down to pray is it like really easy for you to do that it's like oh man an hour of Prayer this is just like so easy for me I'm just so into this I do this like all the time it's that easy and and reading the Bible do you find that when you sit down to read and pray is when your mind wanders and you get distracted the phone calls coming all that stuff but just your mind goes crazy goes wandering or you get tired it's like man I thought I was away but I'm so tired why do you think that is could it be that Satan knows that prayer is powerful and that study is profitable and he wants to take that power and that profit away from you so he'll just have all sorts of things happen when you sit down to watch and pray to distract you from it let me make a suggestion to you when you pray it's very helpful pray out loud listen to yourself praying when you pray quietly that's you're doing it in your mind in your mind you know synapse fires because of a pizza you had last night or whatever it might be so I find when I pray out loud and I'm listening to what I'm saying to God like in a conversation it's much easier also I like to walk and pray I'd like to take a walk and on that walk hover over several things with the Lord and just it's like come on Lord let's take a walk and I talk it sometimes I'm talking it out loud and I'm sure those that see me walk think he's lost his mind it's kind of fun to think that they think that again he went away verse 39 and prayed and he spoke the same words and when he returned he found them asleep again for their eyes were heavy I don't fault them for that it's late it's been a it's been a busy day Passover and they did not know what to answer him and he came to third time and he said to them are you still sleeping and resting it's enough the hour has come behold the Son of man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners while the disciples are sleeping the enemies of Christ are plotting do you see a principle at all in that do you see a principle in this idea of watching and praying I believe that there are meetings that take place in hell strategy meetings how can we get her off track spiritually this young little Christian who she's so on fire for Jesus let's see what we can do in her family in her work in her ministry to dissuade her or him in that regard do you not think that that kind of strategy takes place because if you don't go back sometime and read Daniel chapter 10 about that whole angel meeting the Prince of the power of Persia and all of that spiritual warfare going on behind the scenes and then think to what Paul said in Ephesians chapter 6 for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but principalities powers and the rulers of darkness in heavenly places and so what Jesus would say is engage in the battle get involved in the battle and you pull out the big guns when you pray please please please get rid of the notion that says I guess there's nothing else to do except pray that's your big gun man when you bring out the prayer gun it's like bringing a loaded gun to a knife fight that's why and and if you've if you've ever seen a gun at a knife fight I'm thinking of Indiana Jones now I always think back to that little episode in that movie where he's he like in that Egyptian little shook in there guys flinging the sword and Indy pulls out the gun and goes boom remember that it's classic scene one of the great scenes in movie making trust me on that one it's a great analogy it's the it's the weapon that changes the fight and so Satan would look at you and go how can I get that gun out of his hands how could I how could I keep him her from praying Jesus would say get in the battle get engaged look at verse 42 Jesus says after that rise let us be going see my betrayer is at hand now Jesus at this point is resolved to walk straight ahead into this whole scene that has played out apart from them where he is being betrayed by Judas Iscariot will be delivered into the hands of soap Roman soldiers and temple guards and go off to court and be crucified he's resigned to it rise let us be going behold my betrayers at hand the reason Jesus could rise up is because he had knelt down the reason he could stand up is because he had bowed before the Father and when you bow before the father you can stand up to anything and through anything rise let us be going my betrayer is at hand he's just like walking straight into the storm and immediately while he was still speaking Judas remember what his name means right praise of course Jesus gave him another name the son of perdition one of the twelve with a great multitude with swords and clubs came from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders now it's always helpful when you read a gospel if you can as much as possible compare what you're reading with the other accounts so when John tells the story he says they came with a detachment of troops a detachment was a cohort a cohort was a tenth of a Roman legion which was six hundred men that's what a detachment was so you could look at it as they came with a detachment of six hundred men however that seems a bit much just from from reading the scene the word for detachment translated cohort which is the tenth of a legion which is six hundred men is the Greek word Stara which is sometimes translated in literature a third of a cohort which would be two hundred men two hundred men is still a lot of men but it's a lot less than six hundred so probably a crowd of between two and six hundred men came to arrest Jesus now if you're thinking why that many people to get Jesus that's a good question I believe it's because Judas put him up to it you don't know this guy he's done like crazy miracles so Judas really didn't know Jesus he didn't know the Heart of Jesus he thought he's gonna like do some crazy miracle or he's gonna run or want to run away or he has primed people around the area to fight for him so we're gonna need a lot of men on this but we would call this overkill especially since Jesus walks right into it and gives himself willingly to it verse 44 now his betrayer had given them a signal saying whomever I kiss that is the common greeting he is the one seize him and lead him away safely it's proverbs 20 say 7 say faithful are the wounds of a friend but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful this is the kiss of an enemy the one that I kiss now they wouldn't be able to identify Jesus as any other way then I'm gonna walk up to this guy and give the common greeting I'm gonna be a kiss on the cheeks I'm gonna kiss him that's interesting because when I grew up I always thought Jesus glowed in the dark I honestly did I'm not making this up now how did I ever get to think that way well I had to hold these things called holy carts and holy cards were pictures of saints or Jesus and in the Bible that my parents had Jesus always had this glowing frisbee over his head that's what it looked like to a Californian there's a frisbee behind him glowing and he exuded this sort of this light he was a little more glowing than the rest of the scene but Judas didn't say now you'll be able to tell Jesus he's the one who glows in the dark and he's got the frisbee behind his head no he looks ordinary like anybody else you'd never know that this is the Son of God but I'm gonna go up to him and I'm gonna give him a kiss a common greeting and you'll know that it's him that will be the mark of identification Wow again the name Judas means praise Jesus calls him poison son of perdition he defiled everything and everyone around him he defiled Jesus Church the disciples by being a part of it he defiled what happened earlier in the account in this chapter when that gift of that woman was poured out and he said this could have been sold for 300 anarion given to the poor right but he was the thief the Bible tells us so he defiles her gift now he defiles a prayer meeting in the Garden of Gethsemane wherever he goes he brings his defilement with him verse 46 they laid their hands on him and they took him as soon as he had come immediately I don't know if I read verse 45 or not it immediately he went to him and said rabbi knee kissed him and he took there they laid their hands on him and took him and one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear who is that that's Peter doesn't say it's Peter but we know from John's account John identifies at bader mark doesn't identify with it but there's something we know about the Gospel of Mark who's giving mark the information for the account Peter now it's not like Peters prideful I just think that Peter wanted to distance himself from this have you ever had an embarrassing moment you see it's not you don't like want to bring it up in advertised everywhere you go oh yeah I was a guy that made that stupid mistake let's just tell that to everybody so Peter still was sensitized about this enough to say this happened he doesn't need to identify he wants to distance himself from it question why did Peter feel like he needed to defend Jesus well I think my opinion he's trying to prove something to Jesus he's the one that said even if all of these flakes forsake you not me you can count on me I'll never do that it's as if he's saying Lord you really don't know me do you I thought you did you are the Christ the Son of the Living God you don't know me if you knew me you know that I would never betray you well it's gonna happen Peter I'm predicting it and if I predict it's gonna happen Oh take taking out the sword to try to prove a point to Jesus he's always the impetuous one isn't he cut off the ear of Malchus the high priest I've always contended that Peter wasn't a great swordsman he was a good fisherman that was his occupation but he wasn't good at a sword because he wasn't aiming for the year now if he was aiming for the year we'd say good hit I think he was aiming for the head I think he missed I think he nicked his ear the Bible says Jesus healed his ear and told Peter put your sword up how many times have you been like Peter or you take out the Bible the sword of the Spirit and you chop up another believer to prove your point you want to be right you want to argue your point and you'll say things and use the scripture to do so just to prove you're right and so we leave chopped ears and bloody heads around in the name of being right for the Lord Peter I don't need your protection Jesus didn't need Peters protection he didn't want Peters protection there's sort of a interesting ideology among Christian leaders that they need to have their bodyguards with them there their protection with them really well now how sovereign is the Lord Peter don't need your sword put your sword up one of the accounts says but the scripture verse 49 must be fulfilled then they all forsook him and fled just like Jesus predicted now a certain young man followed him having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body and the young men laid hold of him and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked and no no way just stop right there that's just a weird thing that we just read right it is right and it's only found in mark because it's only found in mark it is believed that the young man mentioned is mark in mark is mark that this is the young teenager john-mark but it still doesn't answer the question what's going on here what are you doing in the garden with like a sheet on your body right that's just kind of weird right so let me piece this together for you here's a possibility and I believe this this is the case Jesus celebrated the Passover in a house in Jerusalem the upper chamber the upper room of a house in Jerusalem it just says in in in this chapter you'll be shown a large upper room there make ready didn't say whose house that is as you read the book of Acts it shows the disciples the early church meeting together in this large upper room it doesn't say whose house it is just as large upper room when we get to Acts chapter 12 we get perhaps the answer Peter has been in prison the angel releases him Peter it says goes to the house of Mary the mother of John whose surname was mark where the disciples had gathered together praying so it could be that the upper room where the Passover was at and the upper room they met at was the upper room as part of the house of Mary the mother of John mark mark who wrote the Gospel of Mark also called John Mark also the cousin of Barnabas as you read through the book of Acts you discover that so what happened what happened is that as Jesus was celebrating Passover who got up and left in the middle of the Passover and went away Judas to betray Jesus after Passover was ended jesus and his disciples walked out of the room went down to the Garden of Gethsemane Judas with the detachment of troops probably first went to the house of John Mark's mother where the Passover was where he had last been with Jesus not finding them there but you know you got a couple hundred men knocking at the door that'll wake anybody up in the house it woke John Mark this young teenager up in the house he saw what was going on that they were after Jesus he puts the bed sheet around him runs down to the garden of gethsemane and this takes place make sense that's how I'm piecing it together that's that's the best I can give you on that but verse 52 is just an interesting you know he had to literally streak out of the garden he left a linen cloth and fled from them naked well thank you for sharing that Mart thank you for putting that in our heads and they led Jesus away to the high priest and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes but Peter followed him at a distance right into the courtyard of the high priest and he sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire now we're going now through the trials of Jesus's let me just sort of truncate this let me abridge this for the sake of time there's not one trial there are not two trials that Jesus faced there will be six separate trials that Jesus will face before he goes to the cross the first three are religious the last three are secular Roman number one before Anna's the high priest number two before Caiaphas his son-in-law the Acting high priest that year number three early the next morning before the Sanhedrin the Jewish Council when they passed the verdict that he should die problem is now he's gone through three trials they can't kill him the right of capital punishment has been taken away from the Jews the Romans have the exclusive right they have to get a special acceptance by the Roman government to get this deed done so they go number four or number one on the secular side to Pilate Pilate tries to wash his hands of it doesn't want have anything to do with that tries to squirm out of it gives it to Herod Antipas harridan whatever anything to do with him sends it back to Pilate Pilate finally gives in to the will of the Sanhedrin and passes a law that he should be killed so that's six trials I mentioned that the acting high priest was Caiaphas but the power behind Caiaphas was his father-in-law a man by the name of anis in 6 ad anis was put in place by curry Gnaeus the governor of syria in 15 ad anis was deposed by i can't remember his name some like Gradius various something some some guy who deposed him okay so anis is not the acting high priests but a high priest is a high priest till he dies and the real power behind the throne is anis though he's not the acting high priest but his influence is incredible let me tell you why Caiaphas his son-in-law is the acting high priest but his four sons control the revenue from the temple all of those tables that were set up to collect money and to do transfers and to sell animals were done by his sons that's why anis wants to see Jesus and he's the first one to interrogate him because Jesus hid anis where it hurts the pocketbook when you overturned those tables that's revenue so anis the real influence then Caiaphas then the Sanhedrin then Pilate then Herod then back to Pilate and he gives in to the will of the Sanhedrin but notice that Peter is following at a distance and I believe that to be so physically I believe that to be so spiritually some of you may be following Jesus at a distance you look back and you remember a time when your walk was intimate you had front-row enthusiasm we might call it and you you're all in you're all there but as time went on that front row enthusiasm that intimacy waned and it's yeah there's Jesus he's way out there I'm following him but sort of at a distance on my terms that was a mistake for him and he warmed himself at the enemies fires verse 50 five now the chief priests and all the council sought testimony against Jesus to put him to death but found nan none for many bore false witness against him but their testimonies did not agree then some rose up and bore false witness against him saying we heard him say I will destroy this temple made with hands and within three days I will build another made without hands but not even then did their testimony agree did Jesus say that well he said something very close to it but you know being a false witness if you're a false witness like these people you can have the right information with the wrong implication yeah Jesus said that but what he was implying his own physical temple his body would die and three days later he would rise up that temple not the Temple in Jerusalem but they act the part of a false witness and the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus saying do you answer nothing what is it these men testify against you but he kept silent and answered nothing again the high priest asked him saying are you the Christ the Son of the Blessed remember Jews often didn't say the name of God because it was too precious to valuable to holy to be uttered by human lips are you the Christ the Son of God son of the blessed Jesus said I am you can't get any clearer than that are you claiming to be the Messiah are you claiming to be deity I am and you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven Wow that's like okay in your face unmistakable they would have immediately thought of something I hope you immediately think of now that you are astute Bible students and that is Daniel chapter 7 Daniel sees a vision of the Ancient of Days and the son of man coming in the clouds of glory to the Ancient of Days that's almost a direct quote he's saying I am that one that's who I am then the high priest tore his clothes and said what further need do we have of witnesses you have heard the blasphemy what do you think and they all condemned him to be deserving of death then some began to spit on him and to blindfold him and to beat him and to say to him prophesy and the officers struck him with the palms of their hands now as Peter was below in the courtyard of the servant girls of the high priest and when she saw Peter warming himself she looked at him and said you also were with Jesus of Nazareth but he denied it saying I neither know nor understand what you are saying and he went out on the porch and the rooster crowed that's once that he denied him and the servant girl saw him again and began to say to those who stood by this is one of them but he denied it again there it is twice he denied him I'm sure by this time Peter could have reached out gladly and choked that servant girl saying get out of here sick of these servant girls like a ruin everything for me a little later those who stood by said to Peter again surely you are one of them for you re Galilean and your speech shows it there was an accent the Galileans had an unsophisticated accent so that if you were in Jerusalem and you heard of Galilee and you just knew that's a Galilean when you hear somebody from different parts of the country and I'm not gonna even say from where they can be different parts of the state different parts of States close to us different parts of other states around America their speech gives them away am i right you can say is that a Texas accent no that's a North Carolina Acts and we'll forgive me or bless you child you know your speech will eventually give you away you might be good at God talk right now but in the right opportunity your speech will betray who you really are jesus said from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks put a person in a fiery trial and listen to what they say the real them will come out put Jobe in a fiery trial he lost everything the Lord gives and the Lord takes away blessed be the name of the Lord Wow your speech gives you away your speech betrays you you must be a child who trusts the Lord your speech gives you away she said and then he began to curse verse 71 and swear I do not know this man of whom you speak that's number three a second time the rooster crowed and Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said to him before the rooster crows twice you will deny me three times with each denial Peter becomes stronger until finally he curses and swears and the word here is a very strong word that in one of the sources I read was used in ancient times here's the equivalent may God condemned me or may god damn me if I am not telling the truth that's how strong of a curse Peter uttered this last time very very strong and then Peter remember what Jesus said and when he thought about it he wept the word wept is also strong it means not do you have a Kleenex it means to weep convulsively from the gut to be so torn up that you're emotionally breaking up that's how Peter wept Peter was so disappointed in himself but listen to this Peter was disappointed in himself rightfully so do you think Jesus was disappointed in Peter now I want you to really think about this because really in your heart you go yeah he was no he wasn't Jesus predicted he would if Jesus predicted he would deny him do you think Jesus went oh I can't believe you would do that no Peter dude I knew you were gonna do this I told you you were gonna do this I also told you you're gonna be recovered and when you are recovered to strengthen your brethren this is Peter's darkest night this darkest night will soon be eclipsed by Peters brightest day when Jesus comes after the resurrection and restores him to usefulness once again so if I were to close by giving you the three stages of where Peter is at in this story number one at the fire warming himself number two under fire who are you you're one of them I saw you your speech betrays you number three on fire after the resurrection the one who was at the fire then under fire will be the man who was on fire restored and usable in a way that he never thought imaginable and we on our weekend studies are partaking of that fruit as we read first and second Peter let's pray Oh father we thank you for showing us who these great apostles really are made of boy does it encourage us because we see as we look at them a mirror of ourselves so overconfident so unwilling to watch and pray so easily swayed by sleep and distracted by so many things yet you know our frame and you remember that we are dust lord I pray for so many who might be here who are so disappointed with themselves so disappointed with their walks I do believe that to be disappointed with yourself means you've trusted in yourself so Lord no matter where we're at would you just kindly pick us up set us back on the path your path and use us use us this week Lord use us tomorrow with our family in our neighborhoods at work that we can be a light that no matter what darkness we may be facing this night that as we go out into the darkness to our cars to our homes that the light of Jesus Christ the light of the truth would be that which fans our flame and makes us on fire in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 4,618

Rating: 4.6363635 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary Church, Skip Heitzig, Mark, John the Baptist, John Mark, synagogue, missionary, New Testament, clergy, baptism, satan, devil, King of the Jews, kosher, law, disciples, Simon Peter, Andrew, James, John

Id: lcHzhaMsnLo

Length: 58min 39sec (3519 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 11 2018