[0:00] Get your Bibles with me, please, and turn to the Gospel of Luke. We'll come to the end of chapter 22 as we walk through the Gospel of Luke. The last two episodes or scenes or whatever you want to call it, Peter's denial of Jesus in verses 55 to 62 and then Jesus' trial before the Sanhedrin in verses 63 to 71.
[0:49] So that's what we're going to read. We're going to read Luke 22, 54 to the end. And remember that this is right after the upper room where Jesus tells them there will be one who will betray him.
[1:05] He tells Simon Peter that he will deny him three times before the rooster crows. Remember that Jesus then went out into Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives and prayed fervently, prayed, in fact, in agony, prayed more earnestly that the cup would be removed from him, but not his will, but the Lord's be done.
[1:29] And then Jesus' arrest. So this is what's following the arrest of Jesus in verse 54. So if you're able, please stand to read from Luke 22, beginning at verse 54.
[1:42] Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house.
[1:53] And Peter was following at a distance. And when they had kindled the fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them.
[2:03] Then a servant girl, seeing Peter as he sat in the light and looking closely at him said, this man also was with him.
[2:17] But he denied it saying, woman, I do not know him. A little later, someone else saw him and said, you also are one of them.
[2:30] But Peter said, man, I am not. And after an interval of about an hour, still another insisted, saying, certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.
[2:50] But Peter said, man, I do not know what you are talking about. And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked to Peter.
[3:06] And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly.
[3:20] Now, the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. They even blindfolded him and kept asking him, prophesy, who is it that struck you?
[3:37] And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him. When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes.
[3:54] And they led him away to their council. And they said, if you are the Christ, tell us. But he said to them, if I tell you, you will not believe.
[4:10] And if I ask you, you will not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.
[4:23] So they all said, are you then the Son of God? He said to them, you say that I am.
[4:35] Then they said, what further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips. So it reads.
[4:47] Let us pray, Father, guide us today. Open our minds. Open our eyes to see the truth. Help us to see Jesus. Help us to see Peter.
[4:58] Help us to see the leaders of Israel in true light. And then help us to see us. This we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Please be seated.
[5:12] So we see here Jesus on trial. Can you imagine? What is it that we're actually seeing?
[5:25] We're seeing the holy, heavenly priest standing before Caiaphas, the evil, earthly priest for judgment.
[5:38] The just before the unjust. The true mediator before the false. The one humbling himself before the one who promotes himself.
[5:50] How can this be? As we reflect on this, what are we to understand? What does this show us about denying Jesus?
[6:06] Here in Luke 22, we see two different ways that people deny Jesus. We see Peter's denial. And we see the council's denial of Jesus.
[6:18] So what we're looking at today is what Jesus called under, when he got arrested, the power of darkness. Remember, back in verse 42, when he was in Gethsemane praying, right?
[6:34] He's praying in agony that he might avoid the cross. We see his humanity coming out that he does not want to undergo the cross because the cross means the wrath of God will abide on him for us.
[6:51] As he's bearing our sins, he's enduring wrath, which is unimaginable.
[7:02] And so he's praying about this path before him in Gethsemane. But through this prayer, he overcomes and he surrenders. Not my will, but yours be done.
[7:16] And then we see a little later, verse 52, as Jesus is arrested, he rebukes those who come to arrest him. He calls them out, right?
[7:26] In verse 52, he says to the chief priests and the officers of the temple and the elders, this whole crowd that comes out, including 600 Roman soldiers, they all come out to arrest him.
[7:39] Jesus said to them, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me.
[7:49] But this is your hour and the power of darkness. This is your hour. This is the power of darkness.
[8:01] This is when Satan, the great dragon, the serpent of old from the Garden of Eden, who will bruise his heel. But who will later have his head crushed.
[8:19] But this is the darkness before the light. So let's look at this denial, the peril of denial. I think we discover some things about the danger of denying Jesus.
[8:33] There's two types, two portraits here. We have a portrait of Peter denying Christ. So we might call that soft denial. That's a temporal denial.
[8:47] It's a believer denying Jesus, but not in a hard way. And then we will see the trial of Jesus where they're denying him. They're rejecting him.
[8:58] That's a hard denial. That's a willful denial. So we'll look at these two portraits, two types of denial. What we see, first of all, in verses 54 to 62 is Peter.
[9:12] His denial, as I said, is temporary. It's a soft kind of denial. But he is denying Jesus. And it's a picture for us as well. We can apply later as we also deny Christ in different ways.
[9:27] In a soft way. We either don't stand up for him. We don't speak up for him. Or we kind of distance ourselves. Or whatever you want to do. Ways that we're actually denying him where we should confess him.
[9:39] But I think what we see here in Peter's denial is that, let me put it this way, backsliding. Because Peter's backsliding, isn't he?
[9:51] Backsliding begins small and gradually ends in misery. We see it starts small, just with a servant girl.
[10:02] It starts small. But it gradually becomes one where he goes out and weeps bitterly. Right? Ends in misery. And that's true for all of us. When we sin. When we fall short.
[10:13] When we deny Christ. When we deny to trust the Lord and go on our own. Whatever we do. It might begin small. But it gradually will end in, as James says, it ends in death.
[10:26] And we end in misery. So let's look at it. Notice some things here. Notice why it begins. How it grows. And how it ends. Why it begins.
[10:38] Now we got to go back a little bit. Why does Peter come to that? Why does Peter all of a sudden deny Jesus? Remember in the scene before as Jesus is arrested, Peter's ready to take on the Roman army, isn't he?
[10:51] He's pulling out his sword. And he's hitting somebody and then taking their ear off. He's very deliberate. He's not sloppy. He knows what he's doing. He is taking a guy out.
[11:02] And he's ready to take out more. So he goes from that to all of a sudden he's in the courtyard. And he... I don't know him. How does he get there?
[11:13] What happened? Well, we can trace back two reasons, biblical reasons, why he failed at this. One, Jesus had already warned him back in the upper room, verse 31.
[11:28] Right? He had said... Jesus had said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat. Right? So Satan's coming.
[11:39] He said, we want you. He wants to sift you. He wants to take you out. He wants to devour you. He wants to leave, crumble your rock into pieces. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.
[11:52] And when you've turned again, strengthen your brothers. And Peter said to him, Lord, I'm ready to go with you, both to prison and to death. I won't.
[12:04] I'm good. Bring it on. I'm not worried about Satan. Bring it on. I'm so faithful. I'm so loyal. I love you so much. I can't imagine ever being sifted.
[12:19] And then Jesus lays it on. And I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you deny me three times. So first of all, one of the reasons he fails is because he disregards the warning.
[12:31] He dismisses the warning. He thinks he's okay. He thinks he's strong enough. He has a trust in himself. That needs to be broken.
[12:43] And then remember, too, in Gethsemane, then Jesus said twice to the disciples, pray that you may not enter into temptation. And what happens? They're sleeping. Right? They're sleeping. And Luke tells us they're sleeping because of sorrow.
[12:56] They're overwhelmed. So they have a human reason for not praying. But that's the second reason why Peter is going to fall, because he neglects prayer.
[13:09] He dismisses Jesus' warning, and then he neglects prayer. And any time we neglect prayer, we're weak. We're vulnerable. We will fall. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, even when we think we're okay.
[13:25] So that's how it begins. So notice, then, how it grows. Peter's trial begins in verse 56. He's just following Jesus.
[13:37] At least he's following Jesus, right? He's not one of the guys that runs away. So he's at least there in the courtyard. He's following, watching what's going on. And this high priest house is a big house for people that live in Jerusalem at the time.
[13:49] Big house. Two layers, at least, because Jesus is up above, and Peter's in the courtyard below with a bunch of other people. Being warmed up by the fire. And so he's just down there warming up by the fire.
[14:02] Perhaps trying to be incognito. I don't know. But he gets noticed in verse 56 by a servant girl. A servant girl.
[14:14] That's innocent or nothing, isn't it? That's unthreatening. It's not like a Roman soldier coming at you. Just a servant girl.
[14:27] And she notices him. Notice how Luke puts it. A servant girl, verse 56. A servant girl seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him. So maybe he's got, you know, it's night.
[14:40] Maybe he's got his foot up, you know, so she's walking around looking at him. And remember, in the garden where Jesus was arrested, he kind of stood out.
[14:51] She recognizes him and she says, this man was with him.
[15:05] This man, right there. This man was with him. I recognize him. But he denied it saying, woman, I do not know him.
[15:17] So how it grows, it starts small. It's a small comment. It's just a minor comment. This man was there. It's an unthreatening maid.
[15:27] And yet Peter's response is a careless, thoughtless denial that he knew Jesus. Just careless. Thoughtless.
[15:38] We're not told what he's thought. And then verse 58. Then how does it grow? Well, then another one. Okay. Okay. Now it's growing. Now it's not just one servant girl.
[15:49] Now it's somebody else. Now somebody else notices him too. And so Peter can't hide. And this one says, oh, he does.
[16:00] He was verse 58. You also are one of them. So not only was he with Jesus, but he's one of them. And he's, he's one of the followers. He's, he wasn't just one with Jesus.
[16:12] He's one with that group that followed Jesus. The whole discipleship folks. And Peter says, man, I'm not.
[16:24] So he dismisses not only Jesus, but he dismisses his association with the followers of Jesus. And then it gets more. Now it steps up more.
[16:34] It's escalating. It's intensifying. Verse 59. After an interval of about an hour, still another insisted. Now notice it growing here. So temptation, this trial starts small.
[16:47] Just a small comment. Then somebody else chips in. And now somebody else is insisting. Insisting. So it's becoming more public. It's becoming more of a challenge.
[17:01] He's being pushed. This man, verse 50, verse 59 saying, certainly this man was, was with him for he too is a Galilean.
[17:14] Now what does that mean? He's got a big G on his, he's got a, he's got a ball cap with a G on there. No, he probably stands up by his dress and certainly by his accent.
[17:28] One of the other gospels says he could, I could tell by his accent he's Galilean. So those northerners talk different than the southerners. And, and what's his response?
[17:40] Now he gets more vague. He's just trying to evade it. Verse 59 or 60. Peter said, man, I do not know what you're talking about. And immediately, while he's still speaking, the rooster cried.
[18:00] So how does it end? Observe verse 61. Here's some stunning words. And only Luke records this for us.
[18:12] And the Lord turned and looked at him. Now, can you imagine? No. I mean, would that not crush you?
[18:25] I mean, so obviously what we know if the Lord turns and looks at him, the Lord is right close by. He's up above and he looks down at the balcony.
[18:37] We know that from one of the other gospels that Peter's below him. And so he's near enough. And Jesus hears the rooster. And so he knows.
[18:49] Here it is. Peter. What kind of look is it, do you think? No. It's grief, I'm sure.
[19:00] The Lord grieves. Right? The Lord grieves. And he already knew. It's no surprise to Jesus. This is no surprise. But still. There it is.
[19:12] The Lord turns and looks at Peter. Then Peter remembered. Isn't it interesting? It's not the rooster, but it's the Lord's look that makes him remember.
[19:29] Or maybe, well, undoubtedly Peter heard the rooster and maybe that's what made him look up at Jesus. And their eyes meet. Right? And then he remembers.
[19:39] Then it all comes back. It all comes flooding back. That the Lord had said before the rooster crows today, you'll deny me three times. And verse 62, Peter went out and wept bitterly.
[19:56] So he remembers. When the Lord looks at him, he remembers. He's convicted of his pride, of his self-trust. He's humbled from his boasting.
[20:10] He recognizes that he really is that kind of person who can, even though he loves Jesus, he can wander from him.
[20:21] What's that song? Prone to wander. Prone to leave the God I love. Right? I mean, it's written so well. Right? It's like, I'm prone to leave the God I love.
[20:32] Why would I do that? Because we're weak. Because we haven't prayed. Because we don't think we're in a spiritual battle. We don't think Satan's behind anything.
[20:43] We think we're okay. When we forget those things, that's when we are most vulnerable. So it breaks him. He sees Jesus.
[20:54] It breaks him. It leads him to grief. And it ends in misery as he's weeping bitterly. In other words, he's sobbing. There's great emotion that comes out.
[21:05] It's just, he's crushed. Obviously, the look by Jesus, the remembering of what he did, what he never thought he would do. He has done it. And it breaks him.
[21:16] But remember what Jesus had said. You know, Satan's demanded to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you.
[21:29] That your faith will not fail. Not that you won't fail. But that your faith won't fail. That your faith will remain through this and it will bring you back.
[21:43] In fact, Jesus says that. And when you've turned again. So you already knew Peter will come back. I'm already planning to restore you, Peter. I'm already planning to forgive you. So when you turn, then you can strengthen your brothers.
[21:57] Out of the position of humility, now you can teach your brothers. Isn't that interesting? How do we communicate to other people? How do we help other believers?
[22:08] Out of humility. Out of brokenness. You know, he's not going to tell Andrew or whoever else. He's not going to strengthen his brothers by saying, you just got to try harder.
[22:22] You just need to make another resolve. You just need to be more committed. Now, that don't do it. Because no one's more committed than Peter. Now, what he's going to say is, okay, now you need to depend on the Lord.
[22:35] You really need to. That's the lesson we all have to learn, isn't it? Now, here's the thing.
[22:48] So we know that Judas betrayed Jesus, right? And we know that later Judas did what? Remember he threw the silver back?
[22:59] Then he went out and hung himself, right? So Peter also failed the Lord. He denied him.
[23:11] He didn't betray him, but he did deny him. He failed the Lord. And he went out and what? Wept bitterly. What a difference. What a difference between Judas and Peter.
[23:26] Right? Both have remorse. Both feel horrible. One goes out and kills himself. One goes out and weeps bitterly. And his bitter weeping leads to repentance.
[23:45] Let me tie a passage in for you. What does repentance really look like? Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians 7. He says, even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it.
[23:58] Though I did regret it, for I see that the letter grieved you, though only for a while. As it is, I rejoice. Not because you're grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting.
[24:13] For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation.
[24:25] Watch this. Without regret. You ever repented and then regret it? Good.
[24:37] Then you've only had godly grief. But there's possible to have a human grief, like Judas, that regret, that has regret.
[24:50] But it's godly grief. Whereas worldly grief produces death. What's the signs of repentance? To see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you.
[25:03] Also, what eagerness to clear yourselves. What indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment? In other words, the avenging of what you did wrong. At every point, you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.
[25:17] That's what real repentance looks like. It's produced by godly grief. It's a grieving. There is a regret and a remorse. There's an emotional element to it.
[25:28] But then there's a turning. That grief leads you then on to repentance. And I think the godly grief comes from conviction of the spirit. Right? And remember, there's a difference between the conviction of the spirit and the guilt that Satan produces.
[25:45] Right? When Satan makes you feel guilty or ashamed, what do you do? You wander away from God. Right? You go hang yourself. But the work of the Holy Spirit is going to draw you to God.
[25:55] It will convict you. It will bring grief. But we know it's the spirit because it draws me back to the Lord. Because the spirit will do it in a gentle way.
[26:06] Well, maybe not gentle sometimes. But it will encourage me. It will draw me to the Lord. That's how you know the difference. So, Peter sins.
[26:17] And we sin. We sin because we're proud. We think we're okay. We think we're strong. We don't want help. We're not broken. We sin because we don't trust God's word.
[26:27] We know God talks about spiritual warfare and we should have our armor on, but we don't put our armor on. We know that we should pray so that we might not enter temptation, but then we don't pray.
[26:40] And then we fall and we wonder what happened. Well, we know. And I don't know what Peter's motivation is for denying Jesus here.
[26:52] We know the reasons he fell, but we don't know if he was just trying to fit in, if he had a fear of man, had a fear of what people would think or say. We don't know why he did what he did.
[27:06] Was he momentarily doubting Jesus because now he's arrested? Was he fearful of people? We don't know. We're not told. Was it pride?
[27:17] Was it pride? Pride. Certainly pride. But, but, yeah, pride made him stand up against the Romans. So what, so, and obviously God doesn't think we need to know that because he hasn't recorded it.
[27:35] But the big point is even the best of us, even the best of us, Peter's, come on, he's one of the best of us. Can fall.
[27:51] So if the best of us can fall, how about the rest of us? Yeah. So let us hear that lesson, right? So we see, first of all, this kind of denial, the Peter kind of denial, the temporal denial, the, the, the soft denial where he backslides, he backslides here that begins in a small way but gradually grows to end in misery.
[28:17] But as we know, it also then led him, that misery led him to repentance. So then there's a second kind of denial. We see a hard denial. Now, in the end of the chapter here, verses 63 to 71.
[28:33] And I would call this more of a sinful unbelief. Peter wasn't unbelieving. Peter was a believer, but he was just evading, right? Here is a group of people who do not believe in Jesus.
[28:48] And it's a sinful unbelief because it's a willful scorning and rejection of Jesus. It's willful. We see the first group here, the soldiers of verse 63 to 65.
[29:05] I'd call this more of a basic ignorance. It's likely that the soldiers who are holding Jesus in custody don't really know anything about Jesus.
[29:15] They're not the chief priests. They're not the elders. They're just doing their job. But they do their job maybe out of ignorance, but they also do it with brutality because they're mocking him, beating him, taunting him, blindfolding him, prophesy you prophet.
[29:37] They knew he was a prophet. So they're making fun, taunting. And in verse 65, then they just kind of unload. They're blaspheming, swearing at him, slandering him, speaking falsely about him.
[29:52] Yet perhaps these folks, and they represent a segment of our society that just don't know. But that doesn't keep them from showing scorn toward Christianity or toward Christ or taking Christ's name in vain or dismissing Christ altogether and making fun of people that trust in him, though they're ignorant.
[30:17] So that's a scorn without knowledge or a scorn without awareness. But then note in verse 66, we have this gathering here. When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together.
[30:34] The elders were composed of both chief priests and scribes and they led them away to their council. So this council is the Sanhedrin.
[30:44] In fact, the word here, council in verse 66, is the word Sanhedrin in the Greek, which just means council. But the Sanhedrin was the ruling body of the Jewish nation.
[30:59] It was 70 plus elders and they made the major decisions about they ruled on things. Remember the 70 elders that Moses had right under him?
[31:13] These are the guys, these are following that kind of tradition where they're the leaders. They're made of priests and scribes. So the council acts in unbelief because we see them then asking Jesus.
[31:28] And Luke's just summarizing for us. There's many other things that happen in this trial. Luke's just kind of condensing it for us down to the bottom line. They say in verse 67, if you are the Christ, tell us.
[31:40] If you're the Christ, if you're the Messiah, if you're the son of David, tell us. But he said to them, this is kind of a Jesus response, isn't it? If I tell you, you won't believe.
[31:52] And if I ask you, you won't answer. He's just calling them out on their hypocrisy. If I tell you, you won't believe. In other words, you're not asking if I'm the Christ in a genuinely seeking way.
[32:10] You're doing this for a devious reason. If I tell you, you won't believe. Even though all the signs and wonders that I've done attest to the fact that I am.
[32:24] And then if I ask you, you won't answer because you don't want to take a stand. Although you're taking a stand. And then Jesus says, which is, here he gives them all the ammunition they need.
[32:37] Verse 69. But, you may not believe and you may not answer, but here's the truth. From now on, the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.
[32:55] Wow. The Son of Man. So, his statement, Jesus is blending two texts of scripture. He's blending Daniel 9, excuse me, Daniel 7, 13 and 14, where it talks about the ancient, the ancient of days.
[33:14] We just sang the ancient of days. And that there is one like the Son of Man who came up to the ancient of days, an ascension, one who comes up to the ancient of days and the ancient of days gives him dominion and a kingdom and power and authority and everyone will serve him.
[33:33] Who's that? Well, so that's where Jesus gets that phrase, Son of Man. It's only in Daniel 7, referring to the messianic power. But it's universal power.
[33:50] And then he's also, when he talks about sitting at the right hand, that comes from Psalm 110, right, written by David. Remember, Jesus asked the Jews, who is the Messiah?
[34:05] Right? Who is Christ? And they say, oh, he's the son of David. So Jesus brings up Psalm 110. He says, well then, if David's the son, why did David say, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand.
[34:20] If David's the son, how can he be Lord? If David, if the Messiah is the son of David, why would David, being the superior over the son, call his son Lord?
[34:34] Sitting at the right hand. You know, and that was one of those Jesus stumpers, you know, they didn't have an, nope, never thought of that. So Jesus is describing by that phrase from Psalm 110, that Jesus has a dual, that the Messiah will have a dual nature.
[34:56] He will be a son of God, and he'll be a son of man. Right? He's son of David, and he's son of God. Which the, which then, notice, this is what they see.
[35:09] Verse 70, so they said, so you are the son of God then. Because they know from that phrase, son of man, sitting at the right hand, is the son of God.
[35:24] Which is why Jesus then says, well, they're saying, are you the son of God then? If you're the son of man, you must be the son of God. And Jesus says, well, you just said it.
[35:38] Are you the son of God then? Well, you just said it. You just connected that dot between Daniel 7, Psalm 110, and asking me if I'm the son of God.
[35:55] You just connected, you just said it. Thinking again of verse 69, when Jesus says, you will, from now on, you'll see the son of man seated.
[36:14] From now on, the son of man will be seated at the right hand. Of the power of God. Now, here's the situation. They're judging Jesus, right? They're asking the questions. They're judging him.
[36:26] Then he makes this statement. Well, I'm on trial. You think you're judging me, but here's the fact. I'm the son of man who's seated at the right hand.
[36:37] Will be seated at the right hand of the son of God. And the power of God. You think you're trying me, but here's the real deal.
[36:48] I'm trying you. You think I'm on trial. You're on trial. Because you know who you're talking to?
[37:00] You know who you're dismissing? You know who you're mocking? You know who you're blaspheming? You know who you're rejecting? Son of God. Son of man. Son of man. Who will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.
[37:15] In other words, when I, you will kill me, I will raise from the dead, I will ascend, I will sit at the right hand, and then guess who's running things? Well, Jesus wouldn't say it that, guess who's running things.
[37:31] He's just saying, I'm running things. It may not look like that right now, but this is how it has to go. He's going to tell Pilate later, right?
[37:44] Are you a king? You know, and Jesus says, you know, I'm not here to fight. Because if I was here to fight, what, I could ask for what? Twelve legions of angels?
[37:55] You know, would there be a contest? I could just bring Michael down and we'd be done. But this is the way it's got to go.
[38:06] I have to die. I have to die. I have to lay down my life. Because people like Peter, who believe in me, but still fail, they need to keep hearing the gospel over and over again.
[38:20] We, we like Peter, fall, right? When we're, when we're trusting ourselves, when we're falling into the temptation, we fail. And you and I, we need, we need to hear that gospel again.
[38:35] I don't need to be saved again. I'm not saying that. I just need to know that Jesus has taken care of this and I can turn again like Peter. I can turn again. And be, as John, first John says, I, I just walk in the light and his light will expose my sin and I can confess my sins and be washed.
[38:58] But then there's people who have this, this sinful unbelief, this warful, willful scorn and rejection of Jesus. They also need to hear the gospel. And that's, that's also why Jesus is laying down his life to them.
[39:14] That's why he's not fighting. He's laying down his life. So even people like Caiaphas, like Annas, like Paul, or he was known as Saul first, who willfully rejected him, might have someone who can cover their sin.
[39:34] hold. So the end is the verdict, right? Verse 71.
[39:48] They said, what further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his lips. Jesus actually gives them, they have no basis, they have no witnesses to, to, to convince the rest of the Sanhedrin.
[40:04] Remember, there's leaders here. There's 70 plus in the Sanhedrin. Not all of those Sanhedrin are evil men. Not all of those people in the Sanhedrin will abide by what these guys want to do.
[40:18] Remember on the Sanhedrin, there's people like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea who were told did not go along with these guys.
[40:31] Right? So there's guys they have to convince and they have to get a majority, right, to, to make a verdict, an official judgment so that now they can officially, legally, quote unquote, now deliver him over to Rome to execute him.
[40:50] Okay? When they get to Rome, Rome's not going to care about these charges that he thinks he's the son of man or son of God or any of that. They don't care about that. So we'll see next chapter they're going to spin the whole thing so that Rome, oh, oh, he's a peace, he's a troublemaker, oh, okay, kind of thing.
[41:13] But now that Jesus says he's the son of man and the son of God, these leaders are satisfied that they have a basis to reject him.
[41:25] And for them, Jesus' words, the ammunition he gives them will justify their prejudice. It will justify for them that, yes, we need to, we need to get rid of this guy.
[41:41] Obviously. He thinks he's the son of God sitting at the right, he's profaning God, he's blasphemy. If he's not the real guy, then he's blasphemy. And we reject that he's the real guy.
[41:54] So he needs to die. That's essentially kind of the gist of it. So, not many did well, about 51 days later, Peter will stand up at Pentecost and preach.
[42:18] Peter, who had denied Christ, will now stand up before a huge crowd and preach about the weird things going on at Pentecost because there's tongues of fire, people speaking another language, all that stuff going on.
[42:30] He's going to explain that. Biblically, he's going to explain it. All of a sudden, he's going to have the courage and the boldness and the wisdom to preach to these people and 3,000 get converted, right?
[42:44] So Peter, 51 days later, will say, he will use the same words about the Christ to convict these people of their sin.
[42:56] Here's Acts 2. Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst.
[43:13] In other words, you have, you witnessed this. As you yourselves know, you can't dismiss this. This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
[43:33] God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. Now he cites biblical passages. For David says concerning him, I saw the Lord always before me for he is at my right hand and that I may not be shaken.
[43:51] Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced. My flesh will also dwell in hope for you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your Holy One see corruption.
[44:03] You have made known to me the paths of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence. End quote. Peter goes on, Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day.
[44:22] So in other words, David wasn't talking about himself. Bring, being therefore a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, David's throne, right, the Messiah, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ that he was not abandoned to Hades nor did his flesh see corruption.
[44:47] This Jesus God raised up and of that we are all witnesses. being therefore exalted at the right hand of God see there we go following resurrection exaltation to the right hand of God.
[45:03] Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit he has poured out this, the spirit that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens but he himself says now he's going to quote the other Psalm 110 the Lord said to my Lord sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.
[45:28] Conclusion that all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ this Jesus whom you crucified.
[45:46] So Peter uses the same words that Jesus uses 51 days later to bring about that God uses to bring about a conversion of 3,000 people.
[46:01] By the way Acts tells us later that many many priests came to the faith in that entry many priests. So here we see the true nature of unbelief it's hard hearted these people in the council these high priests and the Pharisees and the scribes they're hard hearted they're blind they will not accept Jesus' word they are deaf and they are callous they think they're okay they think they do not need saving they think they're able to keep God's law they do not think they're sinners nor do they see any need for brokenness this is the case for all who do not believe in Jesus all who do not believe in Jesus are in the same condition they think they're okay they do not trust Christ's words is this you have you heard yet do not trust do you think you're okay no need of a savior this is the condition of most of our society if you have not trusted it's not too late turn from your unbelief turn from your sin turn to
[47:36] Jesus he's ready to save you he's ready to forgive you and he's ready to give you life everlasting let us pray father we thank you for the portraits we see of Peter and and the trial of Jesus by those who are willfully rejected him father we can see ourselves in both of those we can see a time when we willfully rejected we remember that we also know times as believers when we love you and trust you and yet we have failed you we have fallen because we have forgotten or dismissed that we're in a battle and we have neglected to pray we have neglected to seek your help and to put our trust in you to rely on you for the strength and the wisdom to overcome temptations that often start really small but left alone they gradually grow and end in misery so father teach us show us who we are show us what what we must do today we ask in
[48:58] Christ's name amen amen you Thank you.