This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to day four of our look through Matthew chapter 26, sort
of a holy chapter I'm sure you're discovering as we walk through it, these holy
moments with Jesus right before the cross, this anointing, this Lord's Supper,
this prayer in the garden. Now things begin to seemingly fall out of his
control. These holy moments become an arrest and become a trial.

But I want you to notice that even as Jesus is arrested, he's still the one in
control. He's still the one who is Lord. Listen to what happens beginning in
verse 47.

"While he, Jesus was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived. With him
was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs sent from the chief priests and
the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them.

'The one I kiss is the man. Arrest him. ' Going at once to Jesus, Judas said,
'Greetings, Rabbi,' and kissed him.

Jesus replied, 'Friend, do what you came for. ' Then the men stepped forward.
They seized Jesus and arrested him.

With that, one of Jesus's companions reached for his sword, drew it, and struck
the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. 'Put your sword back in its
place,' Jesus said to him. 'For all who draw the sword will die by the sword.

Do you not think I cannot call on my father and he will at once put at my
disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the scriptures
be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way? ' At that time, Jesus said to
the crowd, 'Am I leading a rebellion that you have come out with swords and
clubs to capture me?

Every day I sat in the temple court's teaching and you did not arrest me. But
this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled. '
And then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

" Now notice that phrase in verse 56, that the writings of the prophets might be
fulfilled. Jesus is fulfilling the scriptures. In verse 54, how then would the
scriptures be fulfilled that say this must happen in this way?

Remember, fulfilled is one of the key terms in the book of Matthew, and here you
see it just in a space of a few verses. It's all being fulfilled right in front
of us. The prophecies are being fulfilled.

The purpose of God is being fulfilled. And through it all, Jesus is Lord. He is
Lord in every moment of this.

They come to arrest him, but even as Judas betrays him, Jesus is obviously in
charge. 'Do what you came for. ' Even as they arrest him, Jesus is obviously in
charge.

An ear is cut off. Some of the other gospels tell us that Jesus heals that ear.
He puts it back on.

Peter is the one who does this, and Jesus says to Peter, "Put the sword away. "
Still in charge. Some of the other gospels tell us that even the soldiers fall
down when Jesus says the words, "I am.

" The words that proclaim him to be God in their midst in this moment. In this
moment of arrest, Jesus's power is clearly seen, but it's just a bare minimum of
his power. He says, "I could call twelve legions of angels.

" The power that could have been seen in this moment would be unfathomable to
us. That's the power of God, but Jesus holds back. The Father, the Spirit, they
hold back in this moment because it has to be fulfilled.

What Jesus came to do. Why Jesus came. And so Jesus allows himself to begin to
go through the indignity of trials, of suffering, of a whipping, and then of the
cross, and then of his death.

And he chooses to do all of it. It begins with these trials. There are six
trials that happen in this night before Jesus gives his life for us.

Three Roman trials, three Jewish trials. There's a trial before Annas, and then
one before Caiaphas, and then one before the Sanhedrin, and then you move to the
Roman trials, one before Pilate, and then he goes to Herod, and then final trial
back before Pilate. The first is before Caiaphas that we see here in the book of
Matthew.

And it begins in verse 57. "Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas,
the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled. But
Peter followed him in a distance right up to the courtyard of the high priest.

He entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome. The chief priests
and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus, so that
they could put him to death. But they did not find any, though many false
witnesses came forward.

Finally two came forward and declared, 'This fellow said I am to destroy the
temple of God and rebuild it in three days. ' Then the high priest stood up and
said to Jesus, 'Are you going to answer? What is this testimony that these men
are bringing against you?

' But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, 'I charge you under
oath by the living God. Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.

' 'Yes, it is as you say,' Jesus replied. 'But I say to all of you, in the
future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One
and coming on the clouds of heaven. ' Then the high priest tore his clothes and
said, 'He has spoken blasphemy.

Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now we have heard the blasphemy. What
do you think?

He is worthy of death,' they answered. And then they spit in his face and struck
him with their fists. Others slapped him and said, 'Prophesy to us, Christ.

Who hit you? ' This trial, all of the trials of Jesus on this sad night, they
were not fair trials. As you study through what happened this night, there are
eight, nine, ten, twelve reasons why they weren't fair trials.

It wasn't a fair trial, one, because the number of witnesses that were brought
were not correct according to what was called for. Number two, the witnesses
didn't agree with each other. Jesus should have been let off as soon as that
happened.

Number three, the nature of the accusations were changed through the trials.
First it was blasphemy and then it became treason because that was easier for
the Romans to accept. And number four, a man arrested for a capital crime
couldn't be arrested at night, but Jesus was arrested at night.

Number five, if somebody was arrested for a capital crime, no one who cooperated
in the arrest could be associated with the accused. But they saw that also
violated. No Jewish trial could be held at night.

Not only did they arrest him at night, but they also held the trial at night. A
court was not to immediately pass judgment on a capital crime, but immediately
this judgment is passed. Witnesses had to be called before the prisoner could be
questioned.

They broke that one. A prisoner couldn't be asked a question, which would
incriminate them of a capital crime. But in the end, that's why Jesus is
incriminated reason after reason after reason why this was an unfair trial.

It was not fair, but it was perfectly used of God. God used even this unfair
trial to get Jesus to the point of giving his life on a cross. Can God work even
in the midst of what is unfair to accomplish his will?

Of course he can. Our American spirit says no. If it's unfair, we have to first
make it fair and then maybe God can work.

Fair or unfair does not tie God's hands. Even in the midst of what is unfair,
God can continue to work. The cross shouts yes.

Even in the midst of what is unfair and unjust, God can be doing his work. This
trial, and they were trying to put Jesus on trial, but actually they were on
trial. Every one of them.

This was a trial that proved the innocence of the accused and the guilt of the
accusers. The louder the accusations, the more innocent Jesus appears. And
they're the ones that appear increasingly guilty all through this.

Whether it's the high priest or whether it's Pilate, you can see the increasing
guilt of all of them. And in the end, they condemn him for the truth that he
tells them about himself. He is the Christ.

He is the Son of God. And he will one day be seen coming on the clouds of heaven
at the right hand of the mighty one. And that's what they condemn him for.

Now the truth is, Jesus is on trial in one sense in all of our lives. And you
and I can learn something from what happened in this trial. What's the major
reason that they reject Jesus?

They didn't want to change. They didn't want to change. They had their system
set up, their political system set up, their religious system set up.

They didn't want to change those things. And if they accepted the truth of what
Jesus said, they would have to massively change their lives. You see, we're the
same as these leaders were then.

We put Jesus on trial because of the truth that he's telling us. We condemn him
because of the truth that he's telling us. We don't want to change.

It's not that we can't accept intellectually what Jesus is saying. It's not that
there's the hypocrisy of believers, although we blame those things sometimes.
The problem almost always is that we have something in our lives that we don't
want to change.

So we accuse him or we accuse his people or we accuse his church, but actually
we're condemning ourselves because we're saying there is a truth about me that I
don't want to accept that he's saying. So I've got to ask, what's my verdict
going to be in this trial? The first verdict is whether you ask Christ to come
into your life.

You begin a relationship with him. But even in that relationship with him,
you're having every day to decide, am I going to change and allow him to grow me
or am I going to trust myself? Am I going to trust him or am I going to trust
myself?

In your mind, you might make a quick list of three things that you would not
want to change for any reason. I would not want to change these things. And some
of them may be things that God would never want to change, but some of them may
be things he wants to change.

They could be bad things. I would not want to change that habit. I know it's
wrong, but it helps me.

It comforts me, you tell yourself. Now those are lies that Satan's telling you,
but that's what you tell yourself. I wouldn't want to change that habit.

It could be a bad thing. It could be a good thing. I wouldn't want to change
where I live.

I would never change where I live. This town, I grew up in it. I'm never going
to change it.

What if God asked you to change? What's your verdict going to be in that moment
of decision? Jesus, as we talk to you, we know that you know us.

We know that you understand that it's hard for us to change, that we struggle
against it, that we see it as a threat. Help us to hear in your love the
invitation to change, the opportunity to become more what you're calling us to
be, to live more the life that you have for us. Lord, we know that when we
change and when we do it the way that you want, that we do see later.

That's why God wanted me to do it that way. Give us the faith to see that, even
as you challenge that change in our lives. We ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen. Well, join us tomorrow. We're going to take a look together at the
experience of Peter on this night before Jesus died.