Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.probap.church/sermons/84747/mark-1453-65/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] We'll say I'm really thankful. Stan mentioned this morning, and Stan thank you for that welcome. I think I'll not ask you to do welcomes for a while so you come fiery every time. It was good. We could just go ahead and pack it in and head on home. I think there was enough there to mull over. But I worked hard on this sermon, so we're going to proceed anyway.

[0:19] But we did finish a series, as Stan said, and really thankful to be back to our normal pattern this morning of working through the text, God's Word to us, verse by verse.

[0:31] We believe that all of it is inspired, and therefore all of it is, in fact, profitable for us. Working through a text in this way, verse by verse, prevents me from having pet topics, things that I particularly enjoy talking about, things maybe in the Christian life that I've mastered in some regard that I can with confidence stand up here and charge you to do the same.

[0:55] It causes me to have to take a look at each and every text as we work through the Scriptures together and apply it to my own heart as well, which is the great labor in each and every week.

[1:09] So I'm thankful to be back in that place, and I'm thankful, I've said this to you many times, but for a church that appreciates this type of preaching and doesn't expect that I'll always come up with some new, sometimes kitschy series every three or four weeks.

[1:25] So let's read together our text. We'll be beginning in verse 53 of chapter 14 and reading through verse 65. We remind you where we are. We're in the Passion Week. This is Thursday night.

[1:41] Jesus has been betrayed and arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, and we come to verse 53. And they led Jesus to the high priest and all the chief priests and the elders and followed him.

[1:53] Oh, excuse me. And the scribes came together and Peter had followed him at a distance right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire. Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none.

[2:10] For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, We heard him say, I will destroy the temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build a nether not made with hands.

[2:25] Yet even about this their testimony did not agree. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?

[2:37] But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am.

[2:48] And you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. And the high priest tore his garments and said, What further witnesses do we need?

[3:00] You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision? And they all condemned him as deserving death. And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, Saying to him, Prophesy.

[3:12] And the guards received him with blows. This is God's word to us. It's written for his glory and our good. We would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.

[3:26] Let's pray together. Father God, we do praise you this morning for the opportunity to come together as a church around the study of your word.

[3:39] And as I'm feeling this morning, and I'm sure so many others are, A hurriedness to get to this point. As I woke up early this morning and some six hours have passed since I've been awake, And yet it's gone by in such a flash.

[3:55] And we find ourselves now with this text laid open before us. We need you. No amount of preparation on my part is sufficient for the task ahead of me, But Christ is my sufficiency.

[4:12] By the helper that he sent, the spirit that is within me, You can ignite the words that come out of my mouth. You can help us to have right understanding by that same spirit.

[4:24] That we would know both generally what this text means for us today And what it means specifically for all of the lives of all of the individuals in this room.

[4:36] Father, change us by your spirit. Don't let this morning be lost on us. A mere gathering for religious purpose. Help us, Lord, to see you and to see you high and lifted this day.

[4:51] And we pray this in Christ's name. Amen. So our text this morning is the account of the trial of Jesus before the Jews.

[5:04] He will later have a trial before the Gentiles in Mark's Gospel at the beginning of chapter 15. But Mark, in his very hurried fashion, also gives us a fairly abbreviated version of Jesus' trials as well.

[5:19] There are actually six total trials before Jesus was crucified. Three before the Jews. And then later on, in kind of a mixed fashion, there are three before the Roman court.

[5:32] Not in this account, but prior to this, Jesus has been taken to also one called the high priest, a man named Annas. And Annas is the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who's currently serving in the role of high priest.

[5:48] Now, much like our presidents today, once you were called the high priest, you were always the high priest. And Annas and both Caiaphas are Sadducees. Annas is sort of the gang leader of the Sadducees.

[6:02] In fact, in succession, it had been his sons, I believe three sons, and then his son-in-law that had served in this role. And so he's taken first, Jesus is, to Annas, kind of to see what Annas think should happen in this case.

[6:17] And he's confounded by Jesus and the way that Jesus deals with him. You can read about all of this in John chapter 18. And then he's led bound to Caiaphas. And this is kind of where Mark fast-forwards us and brings us to this particular trial.

[6:34] And the home of Caiaphas is where these people are gathered together. The Sanhedrin, this gathering, sort of the supreme court of their day, gathered together under the cloak of dark.

[6:47] Now, the question should be asked, why does Mark tell the story in this abbreviated way? Is it all far too brief? The first trial, I believe, he leaves out because it's a formality.

[7:00] And the last seems to be as well, as the last is a public trial, but they've already really condemned him to death. They're just going through some motions. So he's kind of narrowed in for us and focused on the trial that seems to matter most in this series of trials that Jesus experiences with the Jews.

[7:18] And it would seem that Mark's aim is to highlight the depth of the deprivity of the Sanhedrin in juxtaposition to the holiness of Christ.

[7:32] Sanhedrin means, in this case, sitting together is where we get this word from. The Jews took very seriously the command given through Moses for justice.

[7:43] If you'd like to join me, you're welcome to. If not, you can listen to Deuteronomy 16, verse 18. For the sake of time, I'll begin. You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes.

[7:58] And they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality. And you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.

[8:12] Justice and only justice you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you. There was no part of Israel that was lawless.

[8:22] Even the very frontier regions of Israel, every town had some fashion of a court that was composed of judges or elders. And they were responsible for governing the communities.

[8:34] They took this very seriously, this process of judicial justice. This group that Jesus has gathered before is known as the Great Sanhedrin.

[8:46] And it was 70 plus the high priests. So 71 men, this odd number. And you'll note in verse 53, it was the chief priests and the elders and the scribes that made up this group of people.

[9:00] But Mark highlights for us how very, very depraved they are. The depth of their sinfulness in two ways.

[9:14] Firstly, Mark shows them to be perverters of justice. Perverters of justice. Was this an actual trial?

[9:24] Were they actually a seeking for justice to be done? No, they were not. They had already decided to condemn him unto death. Notice verse 55.

[9:36] Now the chief priests, the whole council, were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death. They'd already decided that this man must be killed.

[9:47] This man is coming to upset the power that we have in this place. These are the religious elite. They ruled over the religion of Israel.

[9:57] And they profited. And they had much acclaim peeped upon them for that role that they played. And we have seen in numerous ways the way in which Jesus came and disrupted that.

[10:09] Flipping over tables. Disrupting the temple trade. Not allowing people to cut through it any longer. Telling the Pharisees and the Sadducees exactly who they were in the sight of God.

[10:22] He was radically changing things. Messing up the power structure. And so they had already decided that he must be killed. They must preserve their power by his death.

[10:36] And there were some rules that are given in the Old Testament for how these trials were meant to take place. Which they break every one of. Firstly, all trials had to be public.

[10:50] They were meant to be observed by the people. All trials had to have both a prosecution and a defense. All accusations had to be made by two or three witnesses.

[11:03] We see this in Deuteronomy 19.15. A single witness shall not suffice against the person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.

[11:18] And those testimonies had to be in agreeance with one another. If not, a false witness was severely judged.

[11:29] Deuteronomy 19.16-19 So if somebody were to bring a capital charge against somebody.

[12:00] And be a false witness to that. And this is found out. That charge would have been applied to the person being a false witness. And they took this so seriously that the accuser or accusers had to deliver the first blow in the execution in a capital case.

[12:16] The way that the Jews put people to death in this day was by stoning. So they required that if you were going to be so bold as to bring the accusation. And this person is found guilty. You had to be the beginning of carrying out the sentencing.

[12:31] It was held very seriously. A trial could not be held at night. And in the case of a capital case. Must take place 24 hours in advance.

[12:42] To allow for any further evidence to take place. So as I said before and we really need to note. They followed none of these rules of the justice of their day.

[12:54] They ignored every single one of them. They had a private trial with no defense. With inconsistent witnesses who were not judged appropriately for their false testimony.

[13:08] They had it at night. And they had it less than 24 hours before Jesus was crucified. All this is highlighted by these false witnesses.

[13:19] As they try to find witnesses that will corroborate some story against Christ. And we see in verse 55 that they found none.

[13:29] For many bore false witness against Him. Guilty of that crime of false witness. But even then their testimonies didn't agree. They couldn't get together on the same page.

[13:39] And some said, we heard Him saying, I will destroy the temple that is made with hands. And in three days I will build another not made with hands. Which is a perversion of what He actually had to say concerning rebuilding.

[13:51] You see the account of that when Jesus turns water into wine. He's talking about His body though, not the physical temple. He does not talk in those terms at all in the Scriptures. And verse 59 says, yet even about this their testimony did not agree.

[14:08] And you see they had to pervert justice. There was no way to condemn Christ rightly. They had to because He was perfect in all things.

[14:19] He had no fault whatsoever. And this had to be the greatest perversion of justice in all history. Because He was without fault of any kind. I have a friend who served some time.

[14:33] Was convicted of a crime that he didn't actually commit. He would often lament this. The prosecution brought in false witnesses. People that he had never even seen before that testified against him.

[14:47] He often talked about how really broken the judicial system is in this regard. And I asked him one time if he was really embittered about that. Like how does it make you feel that you served these years for a crime you didn't actually commit.

[15:00] Are you just really, really upset about that? And he said, oh no. Because I was guilty of plenty of other crimes. Just not that particular one. He had done the thing that he was convicted of.

[15:12] Just not in that case. But he knew that he was guilty. And this is true of all of us. We've all committed crimes. You sometimes get a speeding ticket and think it's just really not fair that you got that speeding ticket.

[15:25] But you've gone too fast. We've all speeded. We're all guilty of such a crime. This was not so of our Lord. Not so of him.

[15:36] He was perfect in every way. He was spotless. He had kept the law as no one else could at every single point. So they had to. They absolutely had to pervert the justice to condemn Christ.

[15:48] Sin was the reason and the means by which Jesus was crucified. God used in his sovereignty the perversion, the depth of depravity of these men to take Jesus to the cross.

[16:04] So Mark shows them to be perverters of justice. Secondly, he shows them to be perverters of humanity. Perverters of humanity. After Jesus' proclamation found in verse 62, he responds to the question asked of him by the high priest.

[16:22] He says, I am and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with clouds of heaven. The high priest tears his garments, a sign of lament. It says, What further witnesses do we need?

[16:34] You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision? And they all condemned him as deserving death. And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, prophesy.

[16:45] And the guards received him with blows. The supposed, quote unquote, leaders of Jewish justice radically perverted that justice.

[16:56] And then they gave up their dignity, their very humanity, to punish him in a way that is barbarous. When you look at it, they spat on him.

[17:09] And they covered his face with a blindfold. And they strike him. And they mock him. And the world will tell us that sin makes us more human.

[17:19] We should give in to the impulses of our hearts. That that's who we are as people. But sin, in fact, makes us less human, not more.

[17:30] Think of Adam and Eve in the garden in human perfection. And that was spoiled by sin. And we all feel the weight of this, our failure to be Adamic, like Adam, or Evic, like Eve.

[17:47] We are less human when we sin and not more. Many have suggested it was just the guards. You see at the end of verse 65, and the guards received him with blows.

[17:58] But verse 64 says, And they all condemned him as deserving death. And then very quickly goes into this list of the things that they did.

[18:10] So if we follow our pronouns carefully, we can see that these are these religious leaders. These men that were given charge to deal justly with the people. There's an evil that kind of jumps up in them as they bring this conviction of death to Christ.

[18:30] They spit on him, which was a Jewish sign of contempt. It still seems to be so today. A fairly universal sign to spit on somebody when you find them deserving less than you.

[18:44] This is all fulfillment of Jesus' prediction in Mark 10, 33-34. He says, We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes.

[18:55] And they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him. And after three days, he will rise.

[19:06] They spit on him. They cover his face. Likely means that they blindfolded him. They blindfolded him probably so that he couldn't see who it was that was striking him.

[19:18] Or so that he couldn't defend himself from a blow. They blindfolded him so that they could beat on him relentlessly. And the text says that, that they strike him. And they mock him, saying to him, Prophesy, which would be a sarcastic request, which is rooted in the belief that a prophet would be able to know things about them, even though he was blindfolded.

[19:41] Maybe he could block the blow, or he could call out the individual that was hitting him. They didn't expect him to be able to do so. Otherwise, they wouldn't be spinning on him and striking him. They didn't actually think that he was a prophet that could do this thing.

[19:53] So they're mocking him with this sarcastic command to prophesy. Just as a fun aside for you, as we look at this dark scene in our scriptures, sarcasm can be a useful tool, to be sure.

[20:10] I found this week in my pocket of one of my shirts a Lego. And it was a little flat one by three thing. I thought, what is in my pocket? And I pulled this Lego out. And I said, Kade, look what I found in my pocket.

[20:22] Kade's my four-year-old. I said, Kade, look what I found in my pocket. And he's looking at me now. And I said, I don't have any idea how it got there. How do you think it got there? And Kade said, I don't know, Dad.

[20:33] Maybe it grew legs and climbed inside. And now he's grinning. Which is what he did then, too.

[20:43] He knew that what he was saying wasn't true. He was, in a sense, mocking me. Like, I don't know, Dad. How did that Lego get into your pocket? I didn't put it there.

[20:54] I didn't put it there. But here they are, mocking, mocking. Our Lord. So you see this depth of depravity as they've perverted Justin.

[21:05] They're perverting their very humanity in the way in which they're treating Christ. And Mark then juxtaposes. He holds Jesus' holiness up against this great depth of sin of the Sanhedrin.

[21:18] Mark exalts Jesus, the Holy One, by showing his readers how very bright his light is in this dark, dark night.

[21:29] In the midst of all of this that's happening around him, how very, very light Jesus is and how worthy he is to be exalted. And he does so by expressing Jesus' character to us in three ways.

[21:43] Nope. In four. I added a fourth one. I didn't change my note. In four ways. Firstly, Jesus is the silent sufferer.

[21:54] Jesus is the silent sufferer. Verse 60, Well, what they were testifying was falsehood.

[22:07] They weren't even agreeing in their lies. Verse 61, the first half says, Now, a student of the Bible would recognize that this is a fulfillment of prophecy.

[22:20] Isaiah 53, 7 says, He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is before its shears, is silent.

[22:31] So he opened not his mouth. He expresses this meekness in not speaking out against his accusers. And he also expresses his faithfulness to his father.

[22:45] Peter records in 1 Peter 2.23, When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

[22:59] In the midst of being unjustly judged, he knew that he was in the will of the father, and that God would one day vindicate him. His view of God was much, much higher than his fear of men.

[23:14] He had already committed himself earlier that evening to the will of the father. He had asked that the father would take the cup from him, but fully convinced that this was the will of the father, he gave himself to it.

[23:26] And this enabled him to be silent against these accusations of his accusers, right? None of us would naturally do this type of thing. We're being accused of things we didn't do. We'd say, I did not. That's not what I said at all.

[23:38] And yet Jesus is silent as he suffers before them. Not only is Jesus the silent sufferer, secondly, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

[23:50] This is the question in the last half of verse 61 that the high priest asked him. This is Caiaphas. Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? Which is fairly synonymous in our understanding of what he's trying to ask him, right?

[24:03] These two things could be a title carried together. The Christ, the Son of God, the Son of the Blessed. And Jesus simply responds and goes on beyond, but simply responds to that question, I am.

[24:19] I am the Christ, the Son of the Blessed. It's important to note at this point that Jesus had not really made this information public. He had gone around calling himself the Son of Man, but he hadn't gone around calling himself to the broader audience, the Christ.

[24:35] Remember in Mark chapter 8, verse 29 and 30, Jesus asked the apostles, this small group, this close group, who do you say that I am? And Peter answered him, you are the Christ.

[24:48] In verse 30, he's very telling, and he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. So it's likely that Caiaphas has noted the authority in Jesus' teaching and in his temple disruption.

[25:02] He's heard the stories from the surrounding area. The story has made its way from Galilee to the miracles that Jesus has performed. That he's putting it together in his mind.

[25:14] This may even be an honest question. Still looking to kill him to be sure, but he is actually asking because he knew who Jesus was claiming to be.

[25:28] There are some who say that in this day that the Sadducees and the Pharisees had not connected the Messiah, the Christ, to being the Son of God.

[25:39] And I think this question itself tells us otherwise. And others would argue that they had a clear understanding of prophecies like Psalm chapter 2, verse 7 through 12, which says, I will tell of the decree.

[26:23] For his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. So there's this picture in Psalm chapter 2 of the Son of God being the Christ, being the Messiah, the one that would come to judge.

[26:38] And we see in this Psalm a picture of redemption as well. Serving the Lord, rejoicing with trembling, kissing the Son, giving him the honor that is due him.

[26:48] So we see the redemption in that as well. It's expressed in another place by Paul, Ephesians chapter 2, beginning of verse 11. Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision.

[27:03] Think that that's the majority of us in this room. I don't know if any of us are of Jewish descent or not. But those of us who were not of Jewish descent, this is us. We were Gentiles in the flesh. We were the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, Jewish descendants, which is made in the flesh by hands.

[27:20] Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

[27:34] But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. And this is such a beautiful expression of the gospel in Ephesians 2, 11 through 13.

[27:50] Remember, I've been saying to you that the gospel is found all over the pages of scriptures. And here Paul, in just three verses, gives us this clear, clear picture of how we were once far off.

[28:02] But because of the sacrificial work of Christ, but God, this very, very precious little phrase, but now in Christ, those of us who are far off have been brought near.

[28:16] This is our Lord. Jesus says to this question, are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? I am. So Jesus is shown to be by Mark as the silent sufferer, the Christ, the Son of God, and thirdly, the Son of Man.

[28:35] Jesus expounds. He goes on in verse 62. He says, I am, and you will see the Son of Man, seated at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.

[28:49] And here is citing Daniel chapter 7, verse 13 and 14. So hear this prophecy of Daniel. A vision he experienced.

[28:59] I saw in the night visions. And behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a Son of Man. That's where this phrase comes from. And he came to the Ancient of Days, which is understood to be God the Father, and was presented before him.

[29:15] And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

[29:30] You see this strong language about Jesus the Christ, the Son of Man, being given dominion over the universe. And so he is king as the Son of Man.

[29:40] And he is also the perfect judge. John records in his Gospel account, chapter 5, verse 25 through 27, Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God.

[29:58] And those who hear will live. He's talking about the spiritually dead. And those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

[30:11] And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. He's been given this dominion to rule over, to reign, and to judge.

[30:24] And so Jesus is the Son of Man, King and Judge. The good King, the righteous King, and the just Judge. You see the juxtaposition now that Mark's trying to lay out for us between Jesus and his accusers.

[30:40] So Jesus is the silent sufferer. He is the Christ, the Son of God. He is the Son of Man. And notice, lastly, He is the faithful witness.

[30:52] He is the faithful witness. We highlighted for you the false witnesses that are brought before him, falsely accusing him, not agreeing in their lies.

[31:03] And then we see the faithful witness of Jesus. Jesus is God. And Paul states in Titus 1 that God cannot lie. Therefore, Jesus cannot lie.

[31:15] Praise God. Jesus says in John 12, 49, For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment.

[31:26] What to say and what to speak. His testimony of himself is perfect and it is true. And this is good for us, beloved.

[31:36] John records in 1 John 2, 25, And this is the promise that he made to us. The sure promise. The confident promise. Because Jesus is the faithful witness.

[31:48] Eternal life. This is the promise that he has made to us. So Mark, in contrast, stark contrast, to his accusers on this dark night, shows Jesus in all of his radiance to be the silent sufferer, the Christ, the Son of God, the Son of Man, and the faithful witness.

[32:10] And I hope that turns your heart toward him. I hope that that exalts him by the frailty of my words to do so. That you're getting a right picture of Jesus.

[32:21] But what does it mean as we behold Christ in this moment, in these ways? What does it mean for us? How does that impact our living? How do we turn those realities, those doctrines, into application, into life for us now?

[32:38] There's a couple of things. Because Jesus is the silent sufferer, we can suffer well. This is something that's promised to us if we're going to walk righteously, that we will be persecuted.

[32:51] We look to him as our model for this. Trusting in the just judgment of God. Romans 12.19 Paul says, Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God.

[33:04] For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. Because Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, we can boldly approach the Father because we have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

[33:18] Beloved, we have full granted access to Him. You do not have to carry around the guilt of your past or present sin, nor the future. If you were found in Christ, He bore God's wrath for your sin in Himself.

[33:32] And this is a completed work. We are so unique as Christians. Our faith is so different from the faith of the rest of the world because the work has been completed.

[33:46] Not so much what would Jesus do, but what has Jesus done and accomplished for us? We work at, we strive for, by grace, living righteous lives in response to the good news of the Gospel because we have been accepted.

[34:02] We don't work and strive and try to accomplish good things so that we will be accepted. And I think that most of us tend to beat ourselves to death when we sin.

[34:16] We carry around so much burden and so much guilt. As if Jesus needs to be put back on the cross once again. It is finished.

[34:28] It has massive implications for the way we live. Jesus is the Christ. The One who took away our sin. Romans 8.1 says, There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

[34:45] We have placed our faith in Him. So we have His righteousness. Go to the Father. Don't let your sin separate you from Him anymore.

[34:57] Because Jesus is the Son of Man, we can bear up under the trouble of this world because we are citizens of His kingdom. And we know that Jesus is the perfect King and a just judge.

[35:12] This world has so many troubles. The day in and the day out. I'm referring certainly to the persecution that's been promised to us. But also just the daily trouble. The day to day.

[35:23] The ins and outs. The challenges of school and of work and getting stuff done at home. There's so many things. Raising children. Men loving our wives the way that we should.

[35:34] All of the challenges that face us. Soon, it's been pretty cold and everybody's hoping and wishing for warm weather. The grass is going to start growing again when it gets warm.

[35:44] And I really hate keeping up with yard work at our house. I cut the grass about every two weeks and it is miserable at our home.

[35:55] It's all the things that come our way. All of the maladies of our health. This life is not easy. We're not promised that. But we are promised that for those who love God, all things work together for good.

[36:13] That is precious. Because Jesus is the Son of Man. Because He's the perfect King and the just Judge. This is true. He's reigning sovereignly over all things that happen in this world.

[36:26] Nothing escapes His attention. And we can trust in that. Getting that reality in our head working down into our hearts is a major challenge.

[36:37] I often say my problem is that I can't get my heart to catch up to my head. We know it to be true but we don't live as if it's true. Because Jesus is the Son of Man we can bear up under these things.

[36:50] We can know that He is fully in control. And finally, because Jesus is the faithful witness, we are to be faithful witnesses.

[37:01] We are to follow the example of our Lord. He is our teacher, our rabbi. We are meant to pursue Him and live as He lived. He witnessed truly about Himself.

[37:15] He responded rightly. He said, yes, I am the Christ, the Son of the Blessed. I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the restoration, the redemption back to God.

[37:26] And I am the Son of Man. Right? I will rule and I will rule forever. And we are to be witnesses of the same thing. Testifying to who Jesus is.

[37:41] And if you haven't noticed the theme to keep us in Romans, Romans 10, 14. Paul says, How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard?

[37:54] And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And Paul's not talking about what I'm doing. He's including what I'm doing. But he's talking about all of us sharing the Gospel message.

[38:05] Testifying to who Jesus is. And I will say to you that if you see Him rightly this morning, if you see Him as this just judge, the silent sufferer, the Christ, the Son of the Blessed, right?

[38:18] The Son of Man. If you're seeing Him in this way this morning, then it ought to work in you a desire to share that with other people. If we rightly behold Christ, He's the most precious thing ever in the world.

[38:35]  We should want to share it with others. Let's pray together.