Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
1. The first has to deal with six trials. 2. The second has to with His substitutionary spiritual death on the cross.
With the exception of one short interrogation, these six trials were unfair and unjust in every way.
In His humanity, He had no sin nature nor did He ever commit one act of personal sin, 1PE 2:22.
The first trial was before Annas who was the father-in-law to Caiaphas, who was the high priest that same year according to JOH 18:12-14.
Annas was a former high priest but now he was the political boss of Jerusalem.
Annas was engaged in gangster activities connected with every system of corruption in Jerusalem, as well as with the bands of robbers in the Negev, who owed their protection to him.
From the palace of Annas, our Lord was taken to the palace of Caiaphas who was the legitimate high priest at the time.
In the second trial, Jesus was already considered guilty, for Annas had given Him “thumbs down.”
If Jesus had possessed an old sin nature, which is resident in every other member of the human race, He would have reacted.
ISA 53:7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.
There was a time to speak, and there was a time to be quiet as ECC 3:7 teaches.
That is one of the most amazing of all the attributes of the human race, to know when to use the tongue and when not to use it.
The Lord Jesus Christ put the whole matter in the Father’s hands, revealing His perfect orientation to grace and to the Plan of God.
“Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (ROM 12:19).
Gossiping and maligning, returning evil for evil, whether it is the truth or not, are among the worst sins a believer can commit.
Many Christians, thinking they can do a better job, try to trot some other person into the “woodshed,” only to find out that the Lord is waiting for both.
Every moment the Lord Jesus lived, He lived in the moment-by-moment Sabbath, the faith-rest life.
While these religious people could not see the uniqueness and power of His life, a brilliant Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, would soon perceive the truth concerning Jesus.
Many of these men were scribes who daily studied the Old Testament, where hundreds and hundreds of passages that point to the Person of Jesus Christ say, “He is the Messiah.
The kingdoms of the earth rest on His shoulders.
He is the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God.
Religion is blind, and these people were blind to the Person of Christ.
Why must we wait for Pontius Pilate to say, “He is a just man”?
Why must we wait until a Roman centurion looks up at the Cross and says, “Truly, this is the Son of God” (MAT 27:54)?
Here’s what the problem is; He is so loaded with religion that he could not see the grace of God.
The Greek says su eipas, and it is the strongest of all affirmatives, “Emphatically yes!”
The next few items on the agenda: resurrection, ascension, session, and the Second Advent.
Something else in Jewish jurisprudence – No one can condemn himself by his own statements, apart from a confession of guilt.
Caiaphas took a clear statement of fact, which in reality did not condemn our Lord, and said it was a confession of guilt, which it was not.
This was a courtroom under one of the best systems of court procedures that has ever been set up – procedures which God Himself set up in the Mosaic Law.
ISA 52:14 His appearance was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men.
When they were through with this second trial, Jesus no longer looked human.They kept punching Him until His face was destroyed.
The third trial was held early the next morning by the Jews.
The first two trials, the one before Annas and the one before Caiaphas were both held at night, which made them illegal trials.
The religious leaders, called here the Council of Elders, suddenly realized that the trial at night was illegal.
The key verb in this sentence is the word “led away” which is the aor-act-ind of ap-a-go which is ap-e-ga-gon meaning to lead someone to prison or punishment.
Silence is His answer to ingrained prejudice masquerading as honest inquiry.
MAT 7:6 “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”
Realizing that it was a feast period (Passover and Unleavened Bread) and they could not sentence someone on a holy day according to their law, they said, “Let’s pass Him off to the Romans.”
The more you learn, the more you’re able to expand your vocabulary and your ability to communicate.
Don’t let worry kill you, let the church help.
Thursday night pot luck supper, Prayer and medication to follow.
Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church and the community.
For those who have children and don’t know it, we have a nursery.
The rosebud on the altar this morning is to announce the birth of David Allen Boucher. The sin of Rev. and Mrs. Julius Boucher.
This afternoon there will be a meeting in the south and north ends of the church. Children will be baptized at both ends.
Tuesday at four o’clock there will be an ice cream social. All ladies giving milk please come early.
In honor of our pastor’s fifth anniversary at the church, we give him a plague.
Wednesday the ladies choir will meet. Mrs. Johnson will sing “Put me in my little bed” accompanied by the pastor.
This being Easter Sunday we will ask Mrs Lewis to come forward to lay an egg on the altar.
This leads us to the fourth trial which is the first trial before Pontius Pilate where Scripture declares that Jesus witnessed or testified an honorable confession, 1TI 6:13.
First of all, this was the day the memorial supper, the Passover, would be eaten.
Eating the lamb was a picture of believing in the Messiah, TLJC, yet they had rejected Him!
LUK 23:2 And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.”
In the first two trials, they accused our Lord of blasphemy, claiming that He was God.
The Romans had only one type of worship – Caesar worship! Caesar is Kurios (God), they said.
MAT 22:21 “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.”
They were implying that He was in reality setting Himself up as a King and trying to lead a revolt against Rome.
To refuse to pay tribute to Caesar was tantamount to refusing to pay your income tax to Rome and would be considered insurrection and rebellion.
Here was a rival to Caesar and a dangerous revolutionary!
1TI 6:13 “Christ Jesus, who has testified the honorable confession before Pontius Pilate,
Now the Jews USED the law, but they did not execute the law.
HEB 12:2 “for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame,”
They would have stoned Him. Crucifixion was not a Jewish punishment.
The Jewish people did not use a cross or a tree for capital punishment, therefore consider the odds of The Lord Jesus Christ having to die on a cross by the hands of the Jews!
The first question by Pilate implied both ignorance and distress when he said “Are You the King of the Jews?”
This second question was one searching for information, when he said “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You up to me; what have You done?”
The kingdom of Christ on earth awaits the Second Advent of Jesus Christ.
In the meantime, He has a kingdom of regenerate people, known as the Church or Body of Christ.