The Supreme Court of Self
Transcript
Well, good morning. Grab your Bibles, go to Matthew chapter 26. That's where we'll be this morning. We're in our second week of our scandal series where we're looking at some of the things that happened to Jesus leading up to him going to the cross. So we're coming up on Easter and on Easter we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, that he was crucified, dead and buried and that he rose again to life.
And so we're celebrating that as we come up. And what we're doing is we're just spending some time looking at the events leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus and how people treated Jesus. And then we're kind of as we look at that, seeing how we can see ourselves a little bit in that, even though maybe we don't want to. And what we're going to see today is actually one of the more appalling pictures, when we actually realize what's taking place, one of the more appalling pictures that we ever will see in Scripture. One of the most horrific events that ever took place in the history of humankind.
And so we're just going to spend some time looking at that today. I'm going to pray and then we're going to hop in. God, I pray that you would open up our hearts to hear your word, to submit to you, to understand more fully what you have accomplished for us and how much you absolutely love us through Jesus. And so we love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. So Matthew chapter 26, we're going to be, it'll be on page 540 if your Bible is one of the blue and white ones on the row.
If you don't own a Bible, this is our gift to you. Take it with you. If you want a nicer Bible, wait until someone's not looking. Maybe grab their leather one. Do what you got to do. We're going to be starting in page 57.
Page 57, sorry. Verse 57. Page 540. It says, here's what we're picking up before we jump in. Sorry. Here's what we're picking up.
Last week we looked at where Judas betrays Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. And so what we're going to be looking at today is they have come to get Jesus in the garden. It was nighttime. Judas leads a group of armed, basically says a cohort, which was like a large group of the soldiers who were part of the temple. So the Jewish temple had their own temple guard, so he leads them to arrest Jesus out in the woods.
He has to kind of help them see which one is Jesus. They would not have had like wanted posters of Jesus up. They would not have seen Jesus very often. He came around Jerusalem a couple of times. Some people may have seen him more often, but it wouldn't have been you necessarily just immediately recognized who he was when he was walking around. So it's dark.
Judas has to be the one to say, this is the one you want. This is actually Jesus. Help him identify him in the dark. He walks up, kisses him. Jesus says, you're going to betray me with a kiss. They arrest Jesus.
Jesus says, you came out here in the woods to get me at night. I've been walking around with you daily in the temple. And he's just kind of pointing out how secretive they're being about this, how much of an underhanded thing they're doing. And then they take him to a trial where the Jewish leaders have already gathered prepared to indict and convict Jesus. So that's what we're going to pick up.
Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered. All right. So let me give you a picture of who this is. Caiaphas, the high priest and the scribes and the elders. In Judaism, they had the temple. And everything in their relationship to God kind of revolved around temple worship.
And in the temple, they had areas where Gentiles could be, non-Jewish born people could be. Then they had areas where you had to be Jewish. Then you had to be a priest. And then you had to eventually went all the way up to the Holy of Holies, which is where the presence of God was around the Ark of the Covenant. And only one person was allowed to enter into the Holy of Holies and only once a year. And only after he was wearing the appropriate clothes and had had the appropriate sacrifices done on his behalf.
And that was Caiaphas, the high priest. He is the person in Judaism who is supposed to be the absolute closest to God to the point that he actually enters into his presence once a year into the Holy of Holies. And the Holy of Holies was such a big deal that they had to tie a rope around themselves before they went in. Because if they hadn't done the sacrifices right, if they weren't wearing the right stuff, or even if they just their heart wasn't right. They had like a bad attitude when they went in. There was a chance God would just kill them.
So that's an intense moment if you're the high priest. You're like, okay, one time of year is a great honor, but let's go ahead and tie that rope around me. The reason they tied a rope was, if he goes in and God kills him, I ain't going in after him. They're like, in a way, I think he's dead, go get him. You lost your mind, you want paper, rock, scissors for this thing. This ain't happening.
And so they tied a rope to him so that after a while it's like, look, you've been in there too long. We're going to give it a tug. If you don't tug back, we're going to drag you on out. And then we're going to have, I guess, draw straws to see who has to be the next high priest. Like, we've got to figure this out because it didn't go well for you. So this is him, though.
Caiaphas the high priest is a big deal. And then it says the elders and the scribes are the people. So this is, in Judaism, in this time of history, in Israel at this time, we don't really have an equivalent for who this group of people is. It is kind of like if the Pope and the Supreme Court and the people you look to for just general practical life wisdom. So Dave Ramsey and Dr.
Phil, Dr. Martin Luther King in there. Like, that's who this group is. This is Stephen Hawking. Like, it's the people you look to for tell me how the world works in Judaism. This is the group, Caiaphas and the elders.
And they're going to have a trial in the middle of the night, early morning, of Jesus. But these were the people that you respected and you revered and you listened to and you cited in your term paper. Like, this was the little, Caiaphas says this. And it was like, oh, good point then. Like, that's how, this is a big deal. They have many leather-bound books.
Sorry. Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas and the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered. And Peter was following him in a distance. Peter's one of his disciples. As far as the courtyard of the high priest. And going inside, he sat with the guards to see the end.
Now, the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death. But they found none. One, though many false witnesses came forward, at last two came forward and said, this man said, I'm able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days. Okay. Picture this for just a minute. They've captured Jesus in the middle of the night.
They brought him to the high priest's palace. It's a palace. It's nice. It's going to be kind of dark, though. It's, you know, they've got torches lit. They know, we know there's a fire outside.
One of the other gospels tells us is Peter's sitting around a fire. So they've got a fire lit. They've got some of the council. I don't know if it's the entire Sanhedrin was called for this. But some of them, at least enough to hold a trial, prepared, gathered, prepared, seeking for a way to kill Jesus.
Now, with the Sanhedrin, we know that some of them, some of the elders actually liked Jesus, were sympathetic to him, had built some form of a relationship with him. We learned that through some of the other stories. But they were a very small minority. There's another group that actually genuinely would be seeking what God wanted them to do. In a wholehearted but incorrect way, would be seeking what was God's will. And then there were some of those that were really just defending their position, just defending their corner of, their little corner of glory that they've kind of mapped out for themselves, the amount of people that loved them and revered them, because so many people had started to love Jesus and revere him and listen to him.
And Jesus, on a consistent basis, called the scribes and the Pharisees and the elders of the people. He just called them out on their made-up junk, really. And so they're actually just seeking the killing. But they've got to make the trial look legit. And so they have people giving testimony. And they've got to have two witnesses give the same testimony.
And that testimony has to be enough for them to kill Jesus. So they've got people that they've coming in to give false testimony, but they still can't even, under some cross-examination, make that make any sense or be enough to kill Jesus. And finally, these two guys say, Jesus said he'll destroy the temple. Now, I don't know enough to know whether or not that was a capital offense, like whether or not just saying you were going to destroy the temple meant they were going to kill you. I'm sure it made people not like you that much. But we get to this moment where these two people say, this man said, this is verse 61, I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.
62, And the high priest stood up. So Caiaphas stands and says, Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you? So it seems to me, now maybe Caiaphas said this in a really calm way. Maybe he stood up and said, Have you no answer to make? It seems to me, though, this trial's dragged on for a while.
Jesus has responded to none of the accusations. He's just stood there, which is baffling. He's making no defense whatsoever. People would accuse him of false accusations. Jesus would listen to him, and then he probably would just turn and look at the council. And they're expecting him to defend himself, but he's not.
So finally, I think out of frustration, Caiaphas stands up and says, Aren't you going to say anything? Aren't you going to try to defend yourself? And then Caiaphas kind of takes over at this point and says this. But Jesus remained silent, and the high priest said to him, I adjure you by the living God. Adjure means like compel. This is kind of like a swear on the Bible kind of moment.
I adjure you by the living God. Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God. So the Christ was the Messiah, the promised one who was going to come. So these elders and the high priest had spent their life studying the Torah and studying the prophets and studying the writings. And they were looking for the Messiah to come. And so then they've got Jesus here who's posing as or pretending to be the Messiah because he definitely doesn't fall into the category of what they were looking for.
And they say, Tell us if you're the Messiah. I adjure you by the living God. Now don't miss this. Do you see the lunacy of what just happened? He looks at the living God and says, I adjure you by the living God. By your Father, by you, who in eternity past have existed trinitarily with one another in the Holy Spirit.
I adjure you by your Father, by you by the Holy Spirit. I adjure you by you who thousands of years ago bent down and out of the mud and the dirt molded a man and blew life into him. Spoke life into existence. Spoke the cosmos and the universe into existence. I adjure you by you who led the Israelites out of Egypt. Who gave the law to Moses.
Who through your Holy Spirit led them to write all the writings I've studied. Who promised over and over again that you would come. I adjure you by you. Now, if we're Peter and we're looking at this situation, it's frightening. We see Jesus who we love. A carpenter, a builder, construction worker for most of his life who's been doing miraculous things and has had some power and has had some teaching for the past couple of years.
We see him standing before the Supreme Court. The people that everyone holds as the leaders. We see him standing before them, powerless. Remaining silent in this situation. Wondering why he doesn't defend himself and knowing that we have no way to hell. We see him before Caiaphas.
One of the most powerful people in this moment, in this area. It's frightening. But if we could just for a second see what the angels could see, what we would see is actually terrifying. Because we'd see pompous, frail, short lifespan, weak, little, arrogant, dirt people who God formed from dirt and when they die will return to dirt and that God says their life before him is but wisps of smoke. They're like the flower on grass that's here and withers before him. And then we would see the ruling, reigning king of the universe in splendor and glory.
And it would be terrifying to be able to actually see what was taking place here where men, men propose to judge God. To condemn him. To question him. They believe they have some level of superiority over him. If we could see what the angels saw, it would, it's so idiotic as to almost be comical if it wasn't so absolutely terrifying that men would think that they could judge God if we could see what was really happening here. And so here's what, here's what Jesus says in this moment where Caiaphas stands up and says, the guy who's supposed to be closest to God stands up and says, I adjure you by God.
Are you the Christ? Are you the Messiah? Are you the one who was promised throughout all these texts? Are you the one who was to come? Are you the son of God? Are you the most important human who's ever going to walk on the face of the planet?
Is that you? 64. Jesus said to him, you have said so. This is the same response he gave to Judas which basically means you called it, you guessed it, you said it. You would have understood to be in the affirmative even if it's a little bit cryptic. But then he follows it up.
You have said so, but I tell you from now on you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest tore his robes and said, he has uttered blasphemy. What further witness do you need? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment? And they answered, that's the whole counsel, he deserves death.
Then they spit in his face and struck him and some slapped him. Okay, so here's what just happened. Caiaphas finally, after there's no testimony, that comes up that automatically proves that Jesus needs to be destroyed, they haven't found enough people to say terrible things about Jesus, it's not going well, Caiaphas stands up and says, I adjure you by the living God, are you the Christ, are you the son of God? And Jesus responds, you have said so, but I tell you, from now on you'll see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Jesus answers him honestly and actually gives him some very helpful information, which we're going to talk about in just a second.
But he answers him honestly and Caiaphas grabs his clothes and just tears his robes and says, you've heard him! You've heard him utter blasphemy! What is your answer? And the entire Sanhedrin says, he deserves death. There's no other option here. This man just claimed to be God.
He just claimed to be the Messiah and obviously he's not. He deserves to be destroyed. It's over in an instant. They grab Jesus, they spit on him and they start hitting him and slapping him. Other gospels tell us they cover his head with a bag so that he can't tell where the blows are coming from. So they hit him and then they say, prophesy, tell us who struck you.
And here's what Jesus said to Caiaphas that caused that. Jesus answered him honestly. He said, Caiaphas, I'm in your courtroom right now. It's not always going to be the case. Caiaphas, there's going to be a moment, Caiaphas, when you see me seated at the right hand of power. There's going to be a moment, Caiaphas, when you meet me in glory.
There's going to be a moment when you know that I'm the ruling, reigning king of the universe, Caiaphas. And there's going to be a moment where I ride in after cracking the sky open on the clouds of heaven to crush my enemies before me and to bring my people home. home. Let me tell you something, Caiaphas. I won't be silent and humble forever. I only go to a cross once. That's what Jesus says to Caiaphas in that moment.
And Caiaphas has an answer he'll accept from Jesus, but it's not that one. And so they condemn him. Now we're going to pause this story for a second. And we're going to back up a little bit. You see, this is the first courtroom we're going to look at today. But we're about to move to another one.
It's lunacy when you see this, that men proposed to judge God and believed that they could. We're going to zoom out and actually look at us today and look at our culture and see where we do this. Where culturally we join in in this idiotic idea that we can bring God in front of us, that we can sit in the judge's seat and that we can question him and release him, question him and condemn him. I want to talk to us a little bit about how we do this culturally. We, every time you hear sentences like, I can't believe in a God who would send people to hell. I just can't believe in a God who would judge and condemn people based on what they, like I just can't believe in a God that would do that.
So I, I just can't. If there is a God, if there is a God, he's a God of love. If there is a God, he's a God of forgiveness and grace. If he exists, this is what he's like. But I can't believe in a God that would say this about gender.
I can't believe in a God that would say, I mean, half the stuff we just talked about in theology of sex. I can't believe there's a God who would say that. That would step in and say, you can't be with this person if you love him. I just can't believe in that. And if there is a God, here's what he's okay with. If there is a God, here's what he's like.
Every time we do that, we've climbed into the judge's bench, we've brought God in front of us and said, let me ask you some questions and let me tell you what you get to be like. Let me tell you what the answers can be and if these aren't satisfactory, you're dismissed. Let me help us out there a little bit. I used to work at Sears and there was a lady who worked there before I got there and she had a list and I think it was about 50 items deep on what her future husband was going to be like. Like these were the qualities and characteristics that he was going to have and it was detailed. I know they told me some of them.
The one that stands out in my mind that I remember most was that he was going to have a hairy chest. Like you would think, put something like honesty on there. No, she was straight up like he's going to be above six feet tall, he's going to have a hairy chest, this is what kind of skin he's going to have. Like it was just, and I hate to break it to y'all, she hadn't met him at the time of when I learned this. Maybe she's found this guy. But she made a list and said this is what my future husband will be like and I don't think it went well for her in dating.
But here's the problem with lists like that. Men actually exist and they have their own character and attributes. She doesn't just get to make it up. Now she can go look for them but they're either there or they're not. There's either a guy who actually exists in this central part of Virginia that's like that. Maybe she was using the internet to help and she said, hey I'm looking, you know, I like Long Walks on the Beach and this is my favorite movie and I'm looking for a guy who, and maybe there's a guy who's like, wow you just described me and I'm not creeped out.
But he either has to exist or not exist. If she goes on a date with a guy and let's say she finds out he doesn't meet one of the qualifications, like he doesn't have a hairy chest. Okay, I don't know how she found that out. Let's pick a different one. She finds out that he doesn't like the movie Back to the Future. Alright, let's go with that one.
She finds out that he doesn't like the movie Back to the Future and so she's like, okay I can't date this guy. She has the option of saying, okay we're not going to date. If you saw her after a weekend where she had a date and you said, have the date go and she said, he didn't meet the qualifications, therefore he does not exist. You might need to call the cops. I think she murdered him. He doesn't seek to exist because he doesn't fit your qualifications.
You cannot date him. When we say, this is what God is like and if he's not like this he doesn't exist, you realize that's nonsense. If God exists, he has actual character qualifications, attributes, like he's a real entity. You can say, if God is like this, I will not worship him and you have that prerogative. I'm going to urge you to reconsider but you can say that. You can't say, if there is a God, he's a God of love.
You can't, like, not in a way that actually lets you do the choosing. That's not how entities work. Like, if he exists, he has attributes and characteristics so you can't just decide he's like this or he doesn't exist. So, let me just help us out here for just a second. If you say, I can't believe in a God who Judges and condemns people, it can't be the judging and condemning that you have a problem with because you just did that to God. You're okay with judging and condemning.
You just did that to God. It has to be the standard that he uses. Has to be. Because you're okay with judgment and condemnation. So, it has to be the standard that he uses. So, I want to ask you a question.
You've now stated that my standard is superior to God's. I want to ask you where you got your standard. So, when we say things like, when I say, as a Christian, things like, women should not be treated as property, I believe that God created the world and that he has a standard that rules over the world whether you like it or not. And so, when I say women shouldn't be treated as property, I'm basing that off of a higher authority. When our culture who doesn't believe in God and says that everything came about by random chance stands up and says you shouldn't treat women like cattle, based off of what?
It's not the majority of thought process throughout history. You can say it's the majority of Western culture and I agree with it. I'm glad Western culture believes that. I think it's good. But I believe it because the Bible says it and because I believe there's an authority over the world.
If we were to go to another country where they had a majority that believed the exact opposite which is women or property, the best we could do is try to prove to them that they aren't based off of maybe some statistics of how it's good if they don't just gather water and make babies, how life is better if you don't beat them all the time. But we can't step in and actually with any amount of real authority say you're wrong other than to say our society is better than yours. When we say that you shouldn't as a nation just roll in and murder other weaker nations but we also believe that the world was bigger, faster, stronger, smarter, eats, murders, kills, takes over, smaller, slower, dumber, all the time and that's how we progress that it was good when the Egyptians took over and then it was good when the Assyrians took over and then it was good and fine when the Persians took over because they're advancing society. It was good when Greece came because they brought all this other good stuff and it was good when Rome came and then it was good when, like, if we argue that that's how we had progress into history, then at some point it breaks down when we say but you shouldn't do it now.
If there's a tribe that's completely backwards and you have more money and more guns you can't just roll up and take their land. I agree with you but all based off of I think there's a higher authority not just what we believe. So if you're willing to admit that your standards come from your time in history and your western culture, fine. I don't see how historically infused standards would trump God's standards if there actually is a God who exists outside of time who's big enough for you to be mad at but not big enough to actually be smarter than you. The only other thing I want to point out to you is when we say things like if there is a God he's a God of love if there is a God he's a God of forgiveness the only place that idea came from is here.
That idea comes straight out of the pages of scripture. The tools you are using to judge and condemn God came from him you will not find them in any other world religion. You won't find that in pagan religions you won't find that in Islam. God's a personal God he doesn't want to know you personally he exists as a person and he's not very loving he's pretty condemning and judging and you've got to earn it. Buddhism doesn't have a personal God they believe in peace and love but not a God that loves you when we say things like if there is a God he loves me personally and he cares about me and he wants good for me that idea came from here. doesn't come from dualism doesn't come from Hinduism the only place you've gotten that idea is when the God of love revealed himself to humanity.
That idea is when the God of love revealed himself to humanity. I'd love to talk with you more about this if you have questions concerns push back want to argue with me I'd love to do that I don't want to argue but you can argue I'll listen here's the last thing there if God exists and he only exists the way you have mapped him out
I would be inclined to believe that he doesn't exist I told you I had a wife he said what does she like and I said she only likes the things I like she loves eating Taco Bell at midnight we never argue because she always absolutely agrees with me you would be inclined to think that she was as real as Manti Teo's girlfriend like I'm
Pretty sure you made her up bro because she that doesn't that's not how things work so if you have a God and he only agrees with you and your political philosophy and your cultural perspective I'd be inclined to think he was imaginary and I just want you to consider some of those things
Now most of us in the room I would say the majority of us in the room are here because we are Christians and believe in Jesus and you're like thanks for that long stuff about nothing but I don't agree with any of that don't think any of that I'm here maybe don't
Like everything he says but I believe he's real and says things I don't like that's me I don't like everything he says but I believe he's real and that he's going to say things I don't like because he's not an American he's God so he's going to disagree with me
That's fine I know I need to submit to him but here's where we as Christians most often climb into the judge's seat we treat God's word like it was handed down from an inferior court so the way the law works in our culture is there's
A court they make a ruling you can appeal that it goes to a higher court a superior court it goes up and up and up until it makes it to the supreme court and most Christians are going to exist when they do this
When they take judgment over God when they bring Christ in and set him in the judgment seat for us to be able to question him we're going to do it from the position of a superior
Court here's what we're going to say we're going to say things like yeah okay but that only says that in the Old Testament we're going to say things
Like yeah but that was written a long time ago and we don't really know exactly what they meant with that one oh well that was written
In a different culture yeah Bible says that I'm supposed to lead my family as a man but my wife is way better at it than I am so
We're going to do that or opposite yes I realize absolutely Bible says as a wife I'm supposed to submit to the leadership of my husband but the
Problem is my husband is a moron and so that one doesn't really apply to us I've tried that and it just doesn't work
I give this person of this I know the Bible says we shouldn't live together before we got married I know the Bible says
This about sex I know the Bible says this about this type of relationship I know the Bible says this about but it doesn't
Really prove it to me it just says it we're in love the Bible doesn't really say in the New Testament how much we're
Supposed to give just that we ought to be generous now I'm not talking about genuinely questioning and seeking and coming to God as
He is on the judge's bench and asking for clarification and help and growing and getting things wrong through ignorance I'm talking about the
Times that we bring the Bible in we bring God in we set him before us we look at what he says and we
Say yeah court dismissed we have as Christians the audacity to think that this submits to us that Jesus can stand before me I
Can question him and I can say well I just don't like that one so I'm not going to do it not I don't
Like that one so I'm going to struggle and I need your grace Jesus and I need your help and I going to I
Have a hard time not that that's perfectly Christian but I don't like that one you didn't really explain it well enough I'm not
Going to do it Jesus wants us to know the same thing he wanted Caiaphas to know you see Jesus was being honest with
Caiaphas he actually answered his question Caiaphas just wasn't willing to hear it there's going to be a final courtroom there's going to be a moment
Where all of us throughout all of time and history are going to be brought before the king are going to walk into the throne room before
The judge are going to see Jesus seated at the right hand of power there's going to be a moment when you lock eyes with your maker
The Bible is very clear about that there's going to be a moment for all of us when all of this melts away and we
Face reality for the first time true eternal spiritual reality and here's what we need to see today before you enter into that courtroom
Take a look at this one take a look at the courtroom we see in Matthew 26 before you see Jesus as the true
Reigning high priest of all millennia see him in front of this small one who's defending his own little corner of glory and see Jesus humbled
And condemned before you enter into the throne room where we will be humbled and condemned or we will be humbled and saved you
See for every person in history the moment that we see Jesus for the first time is either going to be the most glorious
Joyous overwhelming exalting moment in our lives that we cannot stand it or stand under it or it is going to be the most terrifying
Soul crushing moment that has ever happened Paul says that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord
At some point it's no longer an option it's compulsory and you'll either come in that moment and you'll see your sin melt away
As Jesus took it for you on the cross and you'll know that condemnation does not fall on you because it already fell on
Jesus he already went to this courtroom this low pitiful man-made courtroom to die on our behalf and all your sin and all your shame and all your guilt
Will melt away and you'll stand before the king and you will bow your knee and you will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord
Or you will come in under a sentence of condemnation your knees will bow and you will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord either
As a captive released or as a new prisoner of war Jesus Christ will be seated at the right hand of power he will crack the sky
Open and ride in on the clouds of heaven and before that moment happens we have the chance to see Jesus humbled and on
A cross dying to take our sin dying to make us his dying to set us free being condemned so that we Matt's going to
Come back up we're going to sing there is a final courtroom there will be a final judgment there will be a final sentence
Passed and if you have already seen Christ in this courtroom and already seen him to the cross and already placed your faith in
Him then that final courtroom will be a reunion with your king with the glorious eternal creator God of all history where you will
Be brought into his family and his home based not on your merit but his based not what you've accomplished but what he's accomplished
On your behalf or it'll be the moment when our pitiful man made arrogance and glory burns like chaff before the great glorious king
Of eternity it'll either be the moment when you are so engulfed by overwhelming love that your heart would not be able to stand
It were it not for his grace on you where you will be entering into an eternity before the God and king who humbled
Himself on your behalf to rescue and redeem you and make you his that you struggled your entire life to follow after in the
Midst of difficulty and it'll go away because Jesus was already condemned for you Jesus already took the penalty for you he already stands
Before God for you on your behalf as a high priest not a weak small one defending his own glory but a glorious one
Who laid his glory down so that we might actually have some later with him or you'll stand before the real true judge of
Your soul with nothing to base your defense on except for your own effort and work and it will fall short there's a final courtroom please
Please see this one first please see what we just read in Matthew 26 where Jesus stood and had a sentence of condemnation passed over him who did not
Deserve it did not earn it could have stopped it but had men manhandle him and slap him and spit on him so that you don't have to be destroyed please see that one
First we're all going to see the second one please see this one first so that we might be brought up together with the great king of the universe and set finally forever free God God God we ask for your help we thank you that
Through your holy spirit and through your cross you give it that you were condemned that you were put on trial that you were judged that you were crushed so that we don't have to be so that when we stand before you in faith the sentence of condemnation
Is already passed over us onto you not through our work but through yours God I pray for the souls of the city for every person that we meet that will stand before you as the great high king and high judge throughout all eternity I pray for the souls in this
Room who aren't ready for that day God for those of us who've trusted in you help us to continually submit to you as our king and our judge give us the grace to follow even though it's terribly difficult because we know that all the real difficulty has already been accomplished by you
God I pray that for those who sit in caiaphas's chair right now that they would hear what you told caiaphas that he was unwilling to hear this is the last time you judge me but there's a day when I'll judge you but I'm willing to take the penalty for you God we ask for your grace
Amen