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[0:00] All right, take your Bibles and go with me to the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 26. Matthew chapter 26, our text this morning will be verses 57 through 75. That will finish up the 26th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.

[0:13] Matthew chapter 26, starting in verse 57, we will read down to verse 75. If you know at this point in the text, if you remember, we have come to the point where the time of testing and praying and travailing is over.

[0:30] Jesus has been arrested in the garden. His disciples have been found wanting. One has been forsaking him and handing him over. The rest have been sleeping and resting when they should have been waiting.

[0:43] Their flesh was weak, but the spirit was willing. And we have come to the place where he has been captured. He has not been taken captive. He has surrendered himself to his captives.

[0:53] And we see in verse 57 that they are getting ready to lead him away. So the trials are about to begin. The time of trying, not of Christ, because his time of trying has already passed.

[1:06] That was in the Garden of Gethsemane when he was praying, Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not I will, but your will be done. His time of testing and trying is over.

[1:18] Now we come to the time of when man has their trials. And we will see the beginning of that this morning. I will tell you that if you want to really fully comprehend all that takes place that night, you need to read all four Gospels of that night and the next morning.

[1:33] You need to read all four Gospel accounts because as we will see it this morning, we will kind of jump ahead as the order of events. And I will hopefully go back and give you a little chronological order of how they came about.

[1:47] And we will see this. So if you are physically able and desire to do so, I'm going to ask if you would join with me as we stand together. And we read the Word of God this morning found in Matthew chapter 26, starting in verse 57 and reading down to verse 75.

[2:01] It says, It says,

[3:33] It says, Let's pray.

[4:13] Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your Word. Lord, we thank you, O God, that we've had the glorious opportunity of standing together and reading it and hearing it.

[4:24] Lord, we pray that as we come to this moment where we ask that you would speak to us. Lord, we pray that your Word would be so much more than sound moving through the air, but that it would be the very Word of God cutting to the very depth of our being.

[4:37] That it would move past every distraction, every hindrance, Lord, every care and concern. Lord, we pray that it would move past every day.

[4:51] Lord, we pray that as we hear it, that it would penetrate to our hearts, that it would mold and shape, do so much more than change our minds.

[5:01] Lord, that it would move our lives in its activities, move our lives for its purpose, for your glory. We ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen.

[5:11] You may be seated. Amen. Amen. We begin in verse 57 seeing a trial of testimony. A trial of testimony.

[5:24] Bible scholars kind of go back and forth as to whether or not there were five or six trials of Christ. While they may not have all been official trials, I believe we can count them as six different, at least, interrogation events.

[5:44] If you read all of the gospel accounts, you will find that when they led him away, John tells us that they took him to Annas first. Annas was father-in-law to Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.

[5:58] So Caiaphas was the current high priest. Annas was his father-in-law, but Annas was the prior high priest. See, it was a family business, not of the biblical sort, but of the financial sort.

[6:11] They had come to the place of prosperity in which they could afford to buy the position of the high priesthood from the Roman officials. And then while it went up year by year for auction, this family kept it within the family.

[6:23] And Annas and Caiaphas more than likely lived really close to the temple and more than likely lived in the same kind of housing mansion, if you will. So John tells us that when they led him away, they took him to Annas first.

[6:38] Just in case you're noting, that's the first problem, because Annas has no dog in the hunt, so to say. He has no word, he has no authority, because he's not high priest. He has no rights of any sorts, but that's beyond the matter.

[6:51] We'll get to that in just a moment. So after Annas interrogates him, then they move him to Caiaphas. And when they come to Caiaphas, this is what we have recorded for us here in Matthew.

[7:02] Both of these events happen while it is dark. Again, just in case you are noting, both very illegal activities as it pertains to the Jewish law, because it was illegal for the council to meet during the hours of darkness, especially to put one on trial for death.

[7:20] So they should have never met at dark. But Annas and Caiaphas, both of these take place at dark. Then we read in the Gospels that when the day had begun, the whole council gathered together.

[7:32] That would be the Sanhedrin. That would be the 70 leaders. Do not think that all 70 of them were there, because assuredly there were at least two who were not. You should know them.

[7:43] Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who came to him by night. Both of them were on there, and neither one of them would have been present at this trial, because only 23 had to be present for it to be considered a quorum, enough for a vote.

[7:56] So now there are the three Jewish trials, Annas, Caiaphas, and the Sanhedrin. After the Sanhedrin passes their sentencing, it is illegal for the Jewish people to put anyone to death, so they take him to Pilate.

[8:09] When he goes to Pilate, they bring the charges against him, though the religious leaders do not go into the courtyard, in order not to defile themselves, that they may eat the Passover meal, which tells us, when you read your Gospels, that this is the time of the lamb's slaying of the Passover.

[8:27] Okay? Because the religious leaders had not eaten the Passover meal yet. So he goes before Pilate. When Pilate learns that he is of the jurisdiction of Galilee, he sends him to Herod.

[8:40] He goes before Herod, and Herod wants to hear him, and Herod had been longing to hear him, and Herod wanted to see him do some miraculous work, yet Jesus never said a word in the presence of Herod.

[8:51] When he gets done with Herod, and Herod is finally frustrated enough that he can no longer get anything out of him, he sends him back to Pilate. And when he gets to Pilate, this is where Pilate attempts to give him up, but they ask for a murderer, Barabbas, instead.

[9:07] And they hand him over, and they say, Crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. Pilate washes his hands and said, May his blood be upon your head. There are the six trials.

[9:18] There are the six. All of this transpires in a very quick fashion. But yet what we see here is that these are trials of testimony.

[9:30] These are trials which testify to realities, not only of who Christ is, but also of who man is. Many of these events were illegal according to Jewish law and custom, but that is beside the matter.

[9:48] Not at any particular trial was Jesus ever found guilty, except for solely based upon his own testimony, which we will get to later.

[9:59] And you should know, by the way, that according to Jewish law, no man could die by his own testimony. It had to be on the testimony of two or more other witnesses.

[10:10] But based upon a man's personal testimony, no man should die. That testimony really had no bearing upon the Roman Empire, so according to Roman law, he was also found innocent.

[10:22] I say all of this by way of introduction, so that you may know that when we come to the cross of Calvary, there are two criminals and one innocent man crucified together. And even six trials testify to the reality that he is innocent, because if he was not innocent, then he is not sufficient.

[10:38] But since he is innocent, he therefore is sufficient, and the blameless, spotless, sinless son of God has died for the sins of man. But what we find through the trials are testimonies.

[10:50] And we begin the trial of testimony with the first happening, and we focus more on what happens with Peter, and we'll get to that in just a little bit. By the way, all four Gospels record Peter's denial, and we should pay attention to those, because when the Word of God repeats itself, then it means something.

[11:11] But we see here a testimony. The first thing we see being testified to is the willingness of many to reject him. The willingness of many to reject him.

[11:25] It says that after they had taken him captive, they seized him and led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together.

[11:36] Now we know chronologically he went to Annas, but we're here focusing on Matthew's account of it, which kind of jumps over the Annas interrogation and moves straight to Caiaphas.

[11:46] That should not surprise you, because Matthew is what? He is a Jewish individual writing to the Jewish people, and the Jewish people would have been concerned, what did the high priest have to say?

[11:57] Not what did the father-in-law of the high priest have to say, but what did the high priest have to say, right? So taking all text in context, that means we understand the author, we understand the audience, and we understand the intention.

[12:09] There's nothing to diminish the authority of the Word of God. That just means it was written to a specific people at a specific time by a specific person being moved by God to write the Word of God. And we're here to study that.

[12:21] We're here to understand that. So they're taking to Caiaphas, the high priest, and all the scribes and the elders were gathered together, but Peter was following him at a distance. We'll get to Peter in just a little bit. As far as the courtyard of the high priest entered in, sat down with the officers to see the outcome.

[12:35] And verse 59 says, Now the chief priests and the whole council kept trying. Look at this. The chief priests and the whole council. Again, we do not have to assume that that means all 70, because the quorum was 23 individuals, but at least a majority.

[12:49] So the chief priests and the whole council kept trying to obtain a testimony, not just a testimony, a false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put him to death.

[13:02] I mean, did you see that? The chief priests and the whole council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus. The irony of it, those who were to uphold the truth, to ensure the reality of truth, to be the judges and the discerners of truth, were knowingly, intentionally seeking to obtain false testimony.

[13:29] And the reason they wanted false testimony, it tells us, so that they might put him to death. Because they had an agenda.

[13:40] Because, see, the truth of the matter is, is that quite often, truth gets cast out the window when man has an agenda. When man has an agenda, he's willing to diminish anything, especially truth, in order to fulfill that agenda.

[13:56] You encounter it every day. You encounter people who tell you that your truth is your truth, and their truth is their truth, and they don't necessarily have to believe your truth, because truth is relevant.

[14:06] Well, in making a statement that truth is relevant, they have therefore made an emphatic statement, and they have declared an absolute truth, that is, that truth is relevant, and therefore everything they say from that point on is to be disregarded, because truth cannot be both relevant, that means that it cannot be declared to be truly relevant, and therefore irrelevant at the same time.

[14:26] You say, what do you mean, pastor? Well, if anyone ever tells you truth is relevant, they are declaring an absolute truth by their own standards. They are saying that all truth is indeed absolutely relevant.

[14:39] And you say, well, is that statement true? Well, yes, it's true. Well, then from then on, everything else you say can be disregarded, because if you are making a true statement, you're believing in an absolute truth.

[14:50] But when it fits their agenda, they can twist it a little bit. They can kind of go around it and find a false testimony.

[15:01] I can assure you and I can promise you that you can find a testimony to agree with anything you want to proclaim in this world. You look far enough, you dig deep enough, you go wide enough, and you will find someone who will agree with you on just about anything.

[15:16] You will. You'll find someone who will agree with you on just about anything. I mean, even Jerry Clower knew that. I was listening last night to Jerry Clowers.

[15:27] Some of you know Jerry Clowers, right? Ordained Baptist minister. Great sense of humor. I wish I had this sense of humor. Jerry Clowers tells the story of trying to catch a gentleman in the church who had a problem with lying.

[15:38] So they went and they wanted to tell him this big story, this story, and they wound this story so big about a bear and a dog, and about a dog beating a bear. This little bitty dog ate the whole bear and just consumed the whole bear.

[15:49] And they asked the man, I said, do you believe that? That man said, well, yes, I believe it because it was my dog. See, anybody will agree with anything given the opportunity.

[16:02] But what we find here is the willingness of men to reject the Savior to the point to contradict their own standards. He says, they kept trying and they did not find any, it tells us in verse 60.

[16:16] Even though, and this again surprises us, many false witnesses came forward. Do you know the penalty for false testimony in Scripture?

[16:28] It's stoning. That if you were to go to the court of law and knowingly, willingly offer false testimony against someone else, the Bible says you should be stoned to death.

[16:39] But if you knew the truth and did not declare the truth, therefore you were accountable to the truth. But yet we find in this instance that there are many who are willing to do it.

[16:50] Many. Because the sad reality is, is that many, many, many people will do anything just to rid themselves of truth.

[17:01] Especially when truth is embodied in the person of Jesus Christ. He says, and they couldn't do it, but later on two came forward. And they said, this man stated, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days.

[17:14] Now, if we read historically in Scripture, we will find that this is a statement that Jesus had declared some three years earlier. But in three years earlier, when he had declared this, he was speaking of his own body. Because he said, I'll tell you the truth, if you destroy this temple, and the Bible tells us that the body is the temple of the living God, right?

[17:29] If you destroy this temple, that I will raise it in three days. They kind of took that and twisted it a little bit because what he said didn't really fit their agenda. So they wanted to make it sound like he said something about that temple.

[17:41] And so they declared it. But then Mark tells us, but even in this testimony, the two of them didn't agree. Because again, not only can you find somebody to agree with you, you can also find something in the Word of God to sound like you want it to sound.

[17:57] The danger in taking Scripture out of context is you can make Scripture say anything in the world taken out of itself. I mean, you can. There have been numerous atrocities done throughout history by mankind.

[18:14] Many of them backed with what was proclaimed to be biblical authority. In our own nation, some of the darkest spots in our own nation, some of the greatest crimes in our own nations were declared to be taking place due to biblical authority.

[18:33] Because they take the text out of context and twist it and distort it and make it say what they want to. And all of this does for us, all this declares to us the testimony of the willingness of many people to reject him.

[18:50] The sad reality is is that many, many, many, many people are so willing to reject Jesus they'll do anything and believe anything. The sadder testimony is is that many of his proclaimed people are all too often too willing to do whatever they have to to avoid what he is saying.

[19:15] Sometimes we hear him sometimes we hear him speaking to us through his word. Sometimes we have the clear guiding and leading of the spirit within us, the Holy Spirit within us.

[19:29] Sometimes God uses other people or circumstances or events to declare realities to us. And we begin to hear what God is saying.

[19:40] And we hear it just as clear as day. I mean, you know it. You say, well, does God speak to you? Well, yes, he speaks to me. He speaks to me every day. And he speaks to you too. And you hear him and you know what he's telling you to do.

[19:53] I mean, in the heart of hearts, you know what he's telling you to do. But oh, how you don't always like it. I don't always like it. And oh, the great lengths we're willing to go just to say, well, that can't be what he's telling me.

[20:07] And surely that's not what he's asking me. Well, that was just back then. That's not now. That was something that happened back then. That was in that day, not today. Friend, the word of God has application for all days.

[20:20] And if he's telling you to do it, then do it. We see the willingness of man to reject him. The second thing we see being testified to during the trial is the witness of Christ before them.

[20:35] Because while many were willing to reject him, many were willing to deny him, many were doing all they could to get rid of him, still Christ is witnessing to himself.

[20:47] They bring this charge of destruction of the temple and rebuilding it He never says a word. Again, Matthew is one who speaks often of the fulfillment of scripture.

[20:58] The book of Isaiah tells us that he will be led as a sheep to slaughter but never saying a word. That he will be silent before his executioners. And here we see this over and over and over again.

[21:09] Christ never defends himself. Never denies these realities. Never has to stand up for himself. Again, it is not weakness, it is meekness.

[21:20] It is strength under control. And in his silence he declares an abundance. But they finally ask him, you're not bringing, you're not saying anything, why not say anything? And then we have this declaration from the high priest.

[21:34] He puts him under oath, so to say. It says in verse 63, but Jesus kept silent and the high priest said to him, I adjure you by the living God that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God.

[21:47] That is to say, I ask and declare to you based upon the authority of God's very existence that you tell us the truth. So Jesus speaks up. Look at the witness that he declares.

[22:00] He says, you have said it yourself. The first thing he declares is everything you say is absolutely right. All that you declare is absolutely true. He says, nevertheless, I tell you hereafter, you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power.

[22:16] He quotes two Old Testament texts which will be very distinguishable to the high priests and the council and the elders here. This first one, you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power.

[22:29] Psalm 110 verse 1. You should know that. Psalm 110 verse 1. Psalm 110 speaks of the reality that David said that the Lord said to my Lord, set at my right hand.

[22:42] And Jesus uses this text to say, well, if Jesus, if the Messiah is the Son of David, why does David call him Lord? Because David says, I saw the Lord, Yahweh, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D.

[22:55] Psalm 110 verse 1. Say to my Lord, that's not Yahweh, that is Master, L-O-R-D, not all caps. So two different words there. I saw the Lord, say to my Lord, set at my right hand of power.

[23:08] And then David goes on to say that that Lord, setting at the right hand of the Lord, will rule with authority. He will rule over his enemies. He will have an extension of his kingdom that will go to all the ends of the earth.

[23:19] And think about this, the leaders of the people are remembering this passage which speaks of the one who will rule over his enemies. And they are his enemies in case you missed it.

[23:30] And then we find it in the book of Hebrews as well because that same psalm says, you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Now, if you want to throw wood on the fire, so to say, Jesus is doing it here because not only does it say he will rule with authority, it also says that he is a priest forever.

[23:50] Now, who is he standing before? Caiaphas, who's having to buy his priesthood eternally. He's having to buy his priesthood yearly. He's having to renew his priesthood. But there will be a day when he dies so he will not be a priest forever.

[24:02] He's just going to be a priest as long as the money and his life exist, right? But Jesus here is opening up a passage that says he will be a priest forever. He said, I will rule over my enemies and I will be a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

[24:16] Because, see, biblical tradition teaches us that when an individual quotes one part of a passage, he is actually highlighting the entire portion of that passage. He is bringing to mind a truth which they know.

[24:29] So he testifies to them, I am both your ruler and your priest, but I stand before you on trial. And he's waiting. See, he has a testimony too.

[24:40] We see his witness before them when man is conniving. He says, but I tell you the truth. He says, I tell you the truth, the Son of Man. You will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power.

[24:52] And now we see the second text, he says, and coming on the clouds of heaven. Daniel chapter 7. Daniel 7 is a good text, right?

[25:02] Daniel chapter 7 because he here is highlighting something that is about midway through the 7th chapter of Daniel. And if you remember Daniel chapter 7, Daniel gets a vision.

[25:13] He gets a vision of all these weird beasts that are coming and ruling and reigning and being put down. And there's all these kingdoms. And if you kind of bring them through history, you see Daniel is getting a vision of the reigning authorities that will rule upon the earth.

[25:26] And there's the lion and there's the goat with the horns and all this stuff. And then about halfway through there, Daniel's vision is interrupted because he sees the Ancient of Days sitting upon the throne.

[25:37] Because see, what Daniel's been seeing are the people who have sat on the throne of earth. But then all of a sudden he begins to see he who sits on the throne of heaven. And he sees the Ancient of Days. By the way, isn't it good? Isn't it good that when we open up the Old Testament and we see these prophets who are confronted with the world powers that every time God wants to get their attention he shows them the galaxies and he shows them the heavenlies and he shows them the true power because they're dealing with world powers down here but there's a greater power up there.

[26:07] He says, and then I saw the Ancient of Days sitting upon his throne. And he begins to speak of the Ancient of Days and then he said, and then I saw one likened to the Son of Man. You remember that? I saw one likened to the Son of Man.

[26:18] Son of Man should stand out to you because you get that in the New Testament, right? He said, I saw one likened to the Son of Man going up into the Ancient of Days on a cloud. And the one that went on the cloud to the Ancient of Days who looked like the Son of Man was given authority.

[26:36] And when he was given authority, he was given a kingdom. And when he was given a kingdom, it says that he will rule over his enemies. See, Daniel says the same thing in Daniel 7 that David says in Psalm 110.

[26:48] And both of them speak to the reality that the one standing before them that they think they have control over. They have no control because he's been given a kingdom that will rule eternally and it will rule over his enemies.

[27:00] And then it says and his people will come voluntarily. See, here is the witness of Christ before them. All I'm saying is, my friend, listen, you can do all you want to and you can put all your efforts out there and I don't care how willing you are to rid yourself of him.

[27:16] The reality of testimony of Scripture is this, he will someday rule over you. He will either rule over you today or he will rule over you eternally in that day.

[27:28] But his rulership is not in question. It is the position you allow him to have in your life. His authority is not being challenged. His authority is not up for dispute because that's already been settled.

[27:44] I mean, that has already before the foundations of the world were laid. He was there. See, he who created it rules over it. So the trial is not a trial to see who Jesus is.

[27:54] The trial is to see who we are in light of who he is. And it really testifies to us because as willing as man is to rid themselves of him, someday they will all bow down before him because Scripture says every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.

[28:19] We see the willingness of man to reject him, the witness of Christ before them and then we see third and finally the weakness of all without him.

[28:31] This, those texts can preach to the world. This text convicts the people of God. This text preaches to the pew.

[28:42] The text of rejection, of willingness to get yourselves rid of him and of his authority and his power that can preach to the world. This last portion, it deals with the pulpit and the pew because we go from looking at the leaders and the council members to looking at Peter.

[29:03] And if there is one we thought we could trust in, it was Peter. I mean, he's the only other man besides Jesus who ever walked on water. Right? He's the only one of four individuals that was on the Mount of Transfiguration if you count Jesus as one of them.

[29:18] So he's, he's the only one on the Mount that even said anything. You know, Peter is the only one that had two miraculous catches of fish and then left them both. He did it once at the beginning of his ministry, walked away and followed Christ.

[29:31] He did it the second time at the end where Christ restores him and he leaves it in the boat again. Peter is the only one that drew a sword and cut someone's ear off in the garden. See, Peter is the only one that we thought we could trust in because Peter seems so strong and he is.

[29:49] Yet we see the testimony here of this trial is the weakness of all without him. It doesn't matter how much the Bible says be careful that if you think you stand lest you fall.

[30:02] Paul says to be careful if you think you stand because you might fall. Peter thought he was standing on good ground. That is the confidence of his own faith.

[30:15] And we meet a lot of problems with Peter. If you take the table talk questions you will have to address these problems and you'll probably have to, you won't probably have to, you will need to go through all four gospel accounts to really dig into these problems.

[30:28] The first one we see is Peter was following him at a distance. Listen, Peter wasn't with him, Peter was just near him. Nearness with Christ is not enough. You must be with him.

[30:39] But if you were to be with him you would have been on trial beside him. But Jesus is in isolation here. He says all will forsake me and deny me. All will fall away. So Peter is behind him at a distance.

[30:51] Peter was following him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest. Now John tells us that Peter could only get to the courtyard. He could get to the door. But there was another disciple who was following too.

[31:01] That's John. It's the disciple whom he loved. That's how John referred to himself. So here's Peter and John. They're both at a distance here and they're kind of back. And John goes on in because John knew the high priest.

[31:12] We don't know how he knows the high priest. We know that John's family is a little bit better maybe lineage but he was at least familiar with them so John could get in. And John goes and gets Peter in.

[31:22] So Peter knew someone who could get him in so he gets to the courtyard. And you got to see these houses and there's probably Annas' house over here, Caiaphas' house over here, these others and there's this courtyard. There's this big wall that goes around them and they're kind of in the middle.

[31:35] So Peter is not only with him. Peter's not with him. He is near him. He is following at a distance and now Peter gets in and it says he sat down with the officers to see the outcome. First red flag.

[31:46] Be careful who you sit with. I'm not talking about in church. I'm talking about in the world. You may want to be careful who you sit with in church. I don't know. That's why I always sit alone. That and because I'm going to come up here.

[31:58] But be careful who you sit with. See, he sat down with the officers. He sat down with the who was it, by the way, that went to the garden to get Jesus?

[32:10] It was the officers, right? It was the officers. So he sat down with the officers to see the outcome Peter wanted to see but he didn't want to take parts.

[32:21] Now we go down to verse 69. We are reminded again. Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. It's amazing to me.

[32:33] It just ran across my mind. I do a Bible study on this. It's amazing to me how many people in Scripture get in trouble because they're sitting down. It's amazing. Right? A lot of people get in trouble in Scripture because they're sitting down.

[32:45] Eli was sitting on the stool. He fell over backwards and died. You know, Peter's sitting. He get in trouble. There's all kinds of people get in trouble in Scripture because they're sitting down. But that's okay. We're just going to move on.

[32:56] I'll do that one later. I have to put that in my note and I'll do that. Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard and a servant girl. Now this is Peter. This is like give me my sword. I'm cutting Malchus' head off Peter.

[33:07] Right? This is Peter. I'm walking on the water. Peter. And a servant girl comes up to him. The difference is when Peter drew the sword and when Peter walked on the water and when Peter caught the fish Jesus was with him.

[33:21] Here Jesus is not with him. The world is with him. And the servant girl says you too were with Jesus the Galilean.

[33:33] But he denied it before them all saying I do not know what you're talking about. He said I don't know what you're talking about. And when he had gone out of the gateway the Bible tells us in the other Gospels that he began warming himself by the fire with the other officers.

[33:51] So he moved. He was no longer sitting down. Now he's going to go over here and warm himself by another fire. He says when he went out of the gateway another servant girl saw him and said to those who were there this man was with Jesus of Nazareth.

[34:06] And again he denied it with an oath. I do not know the man. Now look at the progression. The first thing he says I don't know what you're talking about. The second time it says he made an oath. I promise to you I don't know the man.

[34:19] I don't even know him. I wasn't with him. I don't know what you're talking about. Now I don't even know him. It's a strange place to be if you don't know what's going on isn't it? It's a strange place to be in the middle of the night if you don't know the man because if you're not a servant or you're not an officer you really have no right being there because Jesus is on trial and if you don't know him why are you there?

[34:39] He made an oath. I promise. And then we go on it says a little bit later the bystanders came up and said to Peter surely you too are one of them for even the way you talk gives you away.

[34:50] See Peter was from Galilee. All of them except for Judas Iscariot were Galileans and Galileans had a very distinct dialect. As a matter of fact the people from Jerusalem despised their dialect.

[35:04] They thought they sounded maybe a little bit like country bumpkins and just kind of stood out. You know we get that. If you're from middle Tennessee you have a very distinct dialect. You can't help it. You say I don't sound strange.

[35:15] Sure you don't. Not to us. There have been times where we've been we've been at conferences. I'll never forget we were up at Moody Bible Church at Founders Week Conference and I was listening to something and there was a sermon going on the Bible not this Bible but the Bible I use every other night is a rivalry study Bible.

[35:34] I don't use it on Sunday mornings. And I really wanted one of those rivalry study Bibles where they had them for sale there at the Moody Church. So my wife decided to go up. No it wasn't that.

[35:45] They were giving free Starbucks away. That's what that was. You could get free Starbucks. Hey I hadn't had Starbucks much. We didn't have it down here. This was a long time ago. Okay. So I wanted to get me some Starbucks. I had one in Chicago so Carrie went up to the desk and asked the lady where we could get that where we could redeem it.

[36:01] And as soon as she said something the lady asked her said ma'am what part of middle Tennessee are you from? She said how do you know? She said I spent some time at MTSU and everybody from there sounds exactly alike.

[36:14] So we have a dialect. That's what Peter and we're in Chicago. Right? Peter here is in Jerusalem. Now I don't mean this in disrespect to some present but the people from Chicago are the ones that sounded strange.

[36:30] Right? I think it's all the snow and the snow blowers. That's why they're so loud but I can't help it. But Peter here they say even the way you talk gives you away.

[36:41] Now Peter had said I don't know what you're talking about. I promise to you I don't know the man. Now look at this. And he began to curse and swear. That doesn't mean he was using profanity. That means he declared a curse upon himself and promised under oath.

[36:55] Someone said when they put Jesus under oath he testified to the truth. Peter puts himself under oath. What he says. Peter says I call God as my witness. And that if I am lying may he strike me dead.

[37:08] That's what he said. Look at what he says. He put himself under oath. I do not know the man. We see the weakness of all without him.

[37:23] my friend I don't care how strong you think you are without Christ you are weak. There's a song that says without him I would be falling.

[37:39] Without him I would surely fail. Without him I would be drifting. I think he says like a ship without a sail. because without him we are nothing.

[37:53] Nothing. Christ is taking on the sin of man and it's not just the sin of those who reject him but it's the sin of all who are weak without him. Now we see hope for Peter.

[38:07] Don't miss it because we see hope. Peter had called a curse upon himself. But look at what it says. Immediately a rooster crowed. We must praise God for that rooster.

[38:20] Because God's always got a way of calling his people back to himself. As soon as Peter calls this curse down upon himself a rooster crows and look at what it says and Peter remembered Peter remembered what?

[38:37] The word which Jesus had said. Friend listen to me. If you have went into a moment of weakness if you have been near Christ but not with Christ and you have went into a moment of weakness and failing welcome to humanity.

[38:53] Welcome to it. We struggle in the flesh but may you never neglect to hear the rooster crow that calls you back to the word of God. He said he remembered the word of Jesus and Jesus says before a rooster crow as you would deny me three times and when you come back to the word and do what Peter did not what Judas did.

[39:13] Judas got mad threw the money down and went out and hung himself. Peter got upset and went out and was broken. He says he wept. He wept bitterly.

[39:24] Here is someone Jesus can restore because he's weeping over his sins. He's broken over the reality that I need Christ and without him I'm weak.

[39:37] this is a trial of testimony. It testifies to the willingness of many to reject him. It testifies to the witness of Christ before them and it testifies to the weakness of all without him but I wonder what it tells us about ourselves.

[39:55] I wonder the testimony it declares about me and you. May we see ourselves as we truly are. Let's pray. Lord we thank you for this day and we thank you for your faithfulness.

[40:10] Lord we pray that your word would penetrate our hearts. May we as your people fall humbly before you and say Lord we need you more than ever.

[40:22] We need you more than ever. Be glorified in all that you do in each and every one of us and we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.

[41:06] Amen. Amen.

[42:06] Amen. Thank you.