Christ Was Willing

Then came they and laid hands on Jesus and took him. And behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck a servant of the high priests and smote off his ear. Then said Jesus unto him, put up again thy sword into his place. For all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my father and he shall presently give me more than 12 legions of angels?

But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be? In that same hour, said Jesus to the multitudes, are you come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple and ye laid no hold on me. But all this was done that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him and fled.

And they that laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. But Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest’s palace and went in and sat with the servants to see the end. Now, the chief priests and elders and all the council sought false witnesses against Jesus to put him to death but found none. Yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none.

At the last came two false witnesses and said, this fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days. And the high priest arose and said unto him, answerest thou nothing? What is it which these witness against thee? But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the son of God.

Jesus saith unto him, thou hast said. Nevertheless, I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes saying, he hath spoken blasphemy. What further need have we of witnesses? Behold now, you have heard his blasphemy. What think ye? They answered and said, he is guilty of death.

Then did they spit in his face and buffeted him, and others smote him with the palms of their hands, saying, prophesy unto us, thou Christ, who is he that smote thee? Would you pray with me this morning?

Our father, thank you for your word. Thank you especially for the lord Jesus, who as we see here suffered for us, took our place, was willing to yield his life for us. We have no other plea, we have no other hope, we have no other trust, But this savior. He is our refuge. He is our plea. He is our savior. Help us understand and know the truth today as we look at these these events.

Lord, help us to stand in awe of your goodness to us. I pray that the gospel, Lord, that you would so work in us, that the gospel would have a profound effect upon us. And we would not look at these things as truths that we have known that are stale, but they would be alive to us. For Lord, we know that this is the core of the entirety of our faith and our hope.

And so bless our time in your word, be our teacher, help me, Lord, to say the things your people need, In Jesus name, amen. So as you can see, we started here the arrest of our Lord in verse number 47. And we’ve already, as I mentioned before, we’ve already seen the will of God in the garden where you have this tension between the will of the Father, Jesus says, not if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.

So he’s speaking to the Father and obviously because Jesus went through with it and he took that cup, the wrath of God and is going to drink it, right? Because of that, we know it was the father’s will that the savior, the lord Jesus, accept that price on behalf of humanity, on on behalf of myself and you. It was the father’s will that he do that and of course, it was obviously in in in the flesh, in his humanity, the lord Jesus did not want to to yield to that. He asked for a way way around it but as we saw last Sunday, there was no other way. There is no other way. Not only is salvation not to be found in anyone else but the name of the lord Jesus Christ but there is no other way possible. It there was no other method that could have been devised for a sinner to be made right with the holy god. This is it.

If you don’t find salvation in Christ, you don’t find salvation at all, full stop. It is, he is the way. But you saw that tension between the wills of the father and the wills of the son and we know that Jesus is equal with the father. He is he is God is three in one. God is father, son, and holy spirit, but they are not the same person. They’re three persons that are united in into one God, and that’s why you have the wills of the father and will of the son. But in the end, the Son yielded in his humanity, in his obedience to his Father, yielded to the Father’s will, and his will became melded with and one with the Father’s will, not that ever ever was going to be different for it had never been than that.

But we see it illustrated here when he said, not my will, but thine be done. And this will of Jesus that we see here in the Garden Of Gethsemane is an important part of this narrative of the the sufferings and the death of Christ. It is a vital and important part of it. And here’s the reason it’s important, because you have to remember, I have to remember this, that at any point during these events from the the moment of of Jesus even in the garden where the sufferings really begin. That’s where as far as we know, we don’t know of any point that the blood of Christ is mentioned or or at any point that Jesus bled at all. Right? The blood being that that, you know, the the blood of Christ being spotless.

There is no point in scripture that we know of where the blood of Christ is mentioned until you get to the Garden Of Gethsemane. And so that indicates to us is this is where the suffering begins, the sorrow that came as a result of Christ’s suffering for us. This is where it starts. And from that moment, from the time that the Lord is praying until now, until this point in our in the story, and throughout the the entire sufferings of Christ, at any point, he could have instantly cancelled all of it.

That’s why the will, you see the will of of the father is so important in the garden, but we also see the will of Christ is vital as well, because the Lord could have stopped this at any moment, and had the Lord stopped it, had the Lord stopped it, and indeed he had several clear occasions where he says he could have stopped it. So it’s not just me me me presuming that, is the scripture actually says that, but had the Lord Jesus stopped it and put an end to his sufferings.

There would be no salvation. There would be no salvation. Here’s the thing we have to understand. When we say, when we say that we’re saved by faith in Christ, we’re not putting the emphasis on the faith part. We’re putting the emphasis on the Christ part, right? Of course, faith is involved. I said that last week. You we have to put our faith in Christ but the emphasis, the true emphasis, the the crux of the matter is Christ.

And what he did for us. He is the gospel that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose from the dead. Before we ever believe it, that is the gospel and we’re saved by Christ and what he has done for us. So, the will of Jesus is vital in this passage and you can see it in verse number 53.

In verse number 53, Jesus says to Peter, as Peter has drawn the sword, of course, this passage doesn’t say Peter, but we know from other other parts of scripture that it was Peter who tried to take the head off of the servant of the high priest, and it was Peter who tried to defend the Lord Jesus with a weapon, and we saw that last Sunday night. But but you see here in verse number 53, right after that, the Lord looks to Peter and he says, thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my father?

And he shall presently, that means immediately, give me more than 12 legions of angels. But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled that thus is it must be? Let me ask you a question at this point.

At this moment, we’ve already passed the garden. The guards in the in you know, there’s water on the bridge now, the guard’s in the pass. Now we’re in the the arrest, which is actually in the garden too, but we’re we’re post the prayer. What is Jesus’ will at this moment? Is his will to go to the cross at this moment?

It is. It must be. Because he says in the verse 53 that if he just lifted his prayer to his father, immediately immediately, there would be 12 legions of angels at his call to defend him. In other words, he didn’t need the sword of Peter which which kind of is is a little bit ironic because Peter wanted to defend him but of all people on earth, Jesus did not need defense.

He did not need defense. He had all of the angels of heaven at his command, 12 legions. Legions is about 4,800 in this time in Roman history. So we’re talking sixty, seventy thousand, you know, and I know he’s I think he’s probably using the word 12 in this in the biblical sense. That is 12 meaning there were 12 tribes, 12 apostles. In other words, all of them.

It could have been just all of them. Maybe they’re divided in 12 groups. I don’t know. Maybe all the angels are divided in 12 groups, but the idea being he had command command over all of the angels. What does that tell us? That tells us that at any moment, had his will been so, the cross would not have happened. And that’s the truth I want us to to come back to, which we saw last week, which is this.

At this point, the will of Christ and the will of the Father are one. And Jesus says it, think about think about how the the agreement between the Father and the Son at this moment. Now in the garden that there was, I wouldn’t say, not disagreement, but you know the Lord in his humanity was was, you know, was asking, is there another way? And I think really it’s not that he didn’t know there was another way or there wouldn’t there wouldn’t be another way, but it shows to us had he not said that, we would not have had that that emphasis that there was no other way. This is the way it must be. This is the salvation of god. This is how it must happen.

Well, here, we see the will of the father and the will of Christ as one. Because think about it. According to verse 53, read it if you would. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my father and he shall presently give me more than 12 legions of angels? So now you have the will of the father is different. Now it’s Jesus, the emphasis is on Jesus how that he is unwilling to call the angels.

You see this? Whereas before he was praying for another way, now he is refusing to pray for another way. He is refusing to pray for deliverance. For you, for me, our Lord Jesus Christ refused to pray for deliverance. And the Lord says in verse number 53, if he had prayed, even though the result would have been the perishing of all of humanity, all of us would have had no way to be made right with God, no way for a just God to pass over our sin at all if he had prayed that prayer.

Because Jesus says, despite what what it says in the garden about the will of the father, Jesus says, the father was willing to send the angels. He said, not only did he pray, he could pray that the father would send them, but the father would then do it.

So think about how it switched now. So in garden, the Lord Jesus is not willing, He is willing, but you know what I’m saying. But the Father is the one who’s driving the decision. Now you go into the second, you come to the edge of the garden when the arrest happens, now Jesus as the son of God, is driving the decision. It is his will that’s in view.

He’s not willing to call the angels. Had he called them, there would be no savior. Had He called them, there would be no salvation. Had there called them, you and I would be justly punished for our sin against God. That’s just a fact of it.

There’s You know, And when you look at the garden, you can see well, the reason Jesus did not did not The reason he yielded to take this cup and to drink that cup is because that’s what he knew the Father wanted him to do. That’s what we saw last week. But now, you don’t see that. So it raises the question, why didn’t he call the angels? Why didn’t he call out to his father?

See, the garden you could say he was being obedient to his father, right? And that’s true. But now you don’t have that that aspect. And that leaves us with the only other reason.

The reason that the lord Jesus Christ did not call on his father is because of you. Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. It was an act of the will.

And listen, do we believe and know that the Lord Jesus Christ is omniscient? That he’s eternal? Yes or no? Yes. That means that Sam Harris was in his mind.

That means that Wayne Yarley was in his mind. That means that he’s he refused as an act of his will to call out to his father for help because of Bill Stewart.

Because of Adam Wood. Think about that. Let that sink in. Let that sink in. Not only that though, when they did come to arrest him, look at John chapter eight if you would.

John chapter eight. Have you ever prayed to the Lord Jesus? Have I? I don’t know that I can say I have, but have you ever prayed to the Lord Jesus and stopped and just say, Lord, I just wanna let you know that I thank you that you did not call out to your father at this moment.

John 18 verse number four, this is the same event, different account of it. John 18 verse four, notice what it says. Jesus therefore knowing all things that should come upon him went forth and said unto them, whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. Notice he is in italics. And Judas also which betrayed him stood with them. And as soon as soon as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward and fell to the ground. Now, that’s not covered in Matthew. I have no idea why Matthew didn’t cover it. I don’t know. He was there. I don’t know why he didn’t cover it. Obviously, the lord did not lead him to cover it but he did lead John to cover it but here’s the thing.

So, this this crowd has come to, you know, come to arrest Jesus. Peter has already tried to cut the guy’s head off. Jesus rebukes him and say and says, don’t do it, don’t do it. I can call out to my father and have 12 legions of angels and then he says, whom seek ye and that they and they say, Jesus Nazareth, he says, I am he which is I am what he’s saying and they’re actually, they actually fall down to the ground. So, he didn’t even need the angels.

At any moment, with a brief word, they would have been over. This is the power of the son of god. He is god manifest in the flesh. He did not have to go to the cross. This is the point we have to drive home. He did not have to go to the cross and this is what we must understand. The salvation, salvation from sin is of the lord and I said this last week but it’s it it bears repeating. Salvation is of god. It is an act of god.

It is a plan god, god devised and it is a plan god executed and it is a plan that we’ll see later in Matthew 27 that God finished. Salvation is of the Lord because if it was not at any point, it could have been called off. And the reason it wasn’t called off is not because there was an opportunity, and the reason it wasn’t called off is not because the Lord wasn’t suffering. No, He was suffering greatly. The reason it was not called off is because god determined to provide a salvation for you and and provide a way for you to escape what you and I have earned in our sin.

The only reason we’re saved is because god determined to do it. The will of god Do we not often think of the will of god in terms of what god wants me to do? Forget about that for a minute.

It was the will of God and only the will of God that led Jesus to the cross. It wasn’t because he didn’t have another choice, oh, he had a choice. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10.

Sometimes I think we just need to stop and just say, Lord, thank you for what you’ve done, for your willingness. The willingness of Christ, the will of God and salvation is so important. Look at Hebrews 10 verse seven.

I could get into the context here, it’s about the sacrifices and how all of the sacrifices point to the Lord Jesus. You know, in the Old Testament they point to Jesus in the New, and they they’re they’re shadows of a real image, and but because of that, all those sacrifices in the Old Testament could never ever take away anybody’s sin, that was not possible. Not in the old, not in the new.

Those things, the real thing had to be done, and the real thing was Jesus and his sacrifice. But in that context he says this verse six, in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, lo I come. Then said I, this is Jesus speaking now prophetically. He said, lo I come. In the volume of the book, it is written of me. I come to do, what does it say?

Thy will. You see this? Now, why is Jesus coming? Well, that’s clear. Christ Jesus came into the world to what? Save sinners. So he’s coming to save. He he he didn’t come just to heal a bunch of people, although he did. He didn’t come for all that. He came for one mission, and that was to save sinners, and he did that by the cross, by the blood of his cross. So when you see this, he says, lo, I come to do thy will, oh god. The most important part of that is the cross.

The will of god. You see it? The will of god. Why did the cross happen? The will of god. Why do we have salvation? The will of God. Let’s keep reading. Verse eight, and above when he said, now we’re referring to the verse previous, sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not. That that wouldest, that’s the word will. In other words, he’s saying all those offerings, I didn’t want that.

Neither hast thou pleasure therein which are offered by the law. Then said he, this is Jesus now, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. So whereas in the Old Testament, the will of God, this is saying is prophetically Jesus came to do the will of God, but it wasn’t just the will of God, he himself, his body, here’s what he’s saying, I come to do thy will, oh God, he taketh away the first that he may establish the second.

By verse 10, don’t get lost in it now, by the which will. Now that that’s might sound a little confusing to us. By the which will. What are we talking about here? The will of Jesus. Here’s what he’s saying. He’s saying Jesus not we’re speaking prophetically here. Jesus it’s picturing a conversation in heaven if you will, okay? Where Jesus comes to the Father, this is what the scripture’s about and says, I come to do thy will, O God.

As the appointed savior, Jesus comes and says, I have come to do thy will, O God. Now think about it, in this chapter the context is the offerings And God is saying, I don’t want all those offerings. It actually says that in the verse. I don’t want those.

But what God does want is Jesus. He wants Jesus to come and so Jesus comes and he says, I come to do thy will o God. So when Jesus came, he came, we know I Jesus said, I do always those things that please the father, right? So his coming was part of the will of God. Everything he did in his life without exception, every breath, every blink, every thought, every word, every action, everything in Jesus’ life from his conception to his death, every moment, every second was in the will of God. Was doing exactly what the father wanted him to do. Wow, that’s amazing.

He said, I come to do thy will of god. All of that is encapsulated in that one statement but that wasn’t it. Jesus and this is this is where popular religion, Christian religion, and scripture kinda go separate ways.

Because of the next verse. You see, Jesus did not come to do the will of god just to be a good teacher, be a good man, or provide an example, although he was all of those things. The will of God, look at the next verse, was ultimately this, by the which will, verse 10, that is the will of Jesus that said, I come to do thy will, we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. You wanna know what the will of God is? It was when Jesus stood up and said, I come to do thy will, oh Father, knowing full well that that was the will of His Father.

The reason that you and I are saved, if you are saved, is not because you were willing, first and foremost, but before your willingness ever before you were born, God was willing.

And this willingness of God is not isolated only to the cross, but this willingness of God to save sinners, which we first see at the incarnation of Christ, we see in the garden, we’ll see at the cross, this willingness of God extends right up to the point of every individual salvation. God doesn’t save people by group.

Right up to the moment that you came to Christ and you put your faith in Him, at that moment you know what, God was still willing to save you as an individual on the basis of the cross.

He could have said, I guess, I’m assuming here, I don’t know I have a firm scripture on this, but I assume that God could have said, nah, Sister Pam, I don’t wanna save her. But he wasn’t. He was willing to save all that come unto God by him. Man, how amazing. For by grace are ye saved through faith.

Each one of us, when we came to Christ, God was willing to save each and every one of us. Look if you would at verse number 57 in Matthew 26.

As we go through verse 57 to 68 to finish up our message this morning, there are two primary, I’m just kind of introduce it to you because this is where we are in the text. There are two primary truths about Jesus Christ that you’re going to see pop up multiple times as we go through this chapter and chapter 27. And the reason I think that these two truths start to pop up is because these are the most important truth. These are the most significant and and valuable and emphasized truths about the Lord Jesus Christ. And so at this pivotal moment in his life, when he’s about to die, which is the ultimate the ultimate fulfillment of his mission, you’re gonna see these truths pop up. This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for as far as that, as far as the narrative goes.

And here’s the first one. Verse 57, and they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. But Peter followed him afar off under the high priest’s palace, and went in and sat with the servants to see the end. Now, the chief priests and elders and all the council sought, notice it, sought false witnesses false witness against Jesus to put him to death but found what does it say?

None. Yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses. Okay, so here’s what’s happening. Number one, the high priest and the elders, as religious and pious as they are, find themselves looking for someone to agree with them whether it was true or whether it was not true. I just wanna tell you on a practical kind of a side note, that is a bad place to be. In our world of affirmation, y’all are familiar with this term, it’s become a trendy term. In our world where everybody’s seeking affirmation, they don’t just just lie to me. Just tell me what I wanna hear. Lie to me. This is the spirit of itching ears. It’s not just in church. It’s also in in the world and it’s being borrowed from the world into the church. This is where we get itching ears which is to say, tell me what I wanna hear even if you have to lie to me. That is a bad place to be. That is exactly what they’re looking for. They’re looking for somebody who is going to say whatever is necessary, be it true or false, in order to accomplish and to affirm what they already believe about the Lord Jesus. And so they sought false witnesses. The Bible says there were many false witnesses brought in, not just these two that are in Matthew, but many, I don’t know, hours he was interrogated or accused before the council.

And the Bible says, though they sought many false witnesses, they found none. And we’re brought, this is one of the truths that we’re gonna see over and over and over in Matthew twenty six and seven, which is this, the absolute perfection and sinlessness of the Lord Jesus. And how fitting, he is going to be a sacrifice in chapter 27, right? It must be demonstrated that he is without blemish and without spot, because if he’s not, he can’t be a savior.

So this is going to be demonstrated. And the first way it’s demonstrated is the fact that they look for people who had dirt on him. They put a search out. They and listen, these are the leaders, they had all the resources at their disposal, and they looked for somebody that could get some accusation that would stick and could not find it. This is not done this this whole scheme, notice Judas, first of all, they gave him a mob, right, to go arrest Jesus, and then once the mob arrest Jesus and bring him, the council’s already seated, they’re ready. You know what that tells you? That tells you this was planned, this was pre organized. You think this happened on a whim? No. They had been looking for this. In fact, the scripture says in the gospels that they had they had sought opportunity before this. You so you think they couldn’t have found a witness by now? Oh, they could have if there was dirt, there was none.

There was none. There was no sin, there was no misgiving, there was no deed, there was no bad look, there was no words that Jesus had spoken in a way that was outside of the will of his father, he was sinless, he was perfect, our savior was impeccable in every way.

In fact, in John eight, you’re familiar with this, says Jesus actually challenged the Jews. In John chapter eight, he says, which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He challenged him saying, name it. In fact, not in Matthew but in in the book of John during the trial, someone slaps Jesus across the face. I think a chief captain slaps Jesus across the face and Jesus answers him and says, if I’ve done evil then bear witness of the evil and if not, why slappest thou me? Why smitest thou me? Why is it? In other words, say it. If I had said something wrong, say it. He says here, which of you convinceth me of sin? What did I do wrong? Name it.

Here, the only way that they could convince, they could convict Jesus of anything is if they lied and that’s exactly what they did. Not even the witnesses they had agreed with each other. Both of them saying the same thing about Jesus in the temple. Where in verse number 61, notice he says this, and and said, these are the witnesses now. This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.

Now we know when Jesus spoke that, he wasn’t referring to the temple made with hands. The Bible says he was referring to the temple of his body and he’s going to do it, but man, think about the Think about how close they got. Just think about it. He says destroy this temple, referring to his body, and I will raise it in three days. So he’s talking about the gospel.

He would die on the cross, the destruction of the temple for sin and he’s gonna rise again from the dead, that’s how we’ll raise it in three days, right? The witnesses, listen now, are falsely accusing Christ of these words, of all the words he said, he was a prolific speaker, of all the words he says we come down to these final two witnesses and what is their accusation?

They don’t know it but here’s the irony Isaiah. We’ve been going through irony in his schoolwork, different kinds of irony. Here’s the irony which is this, they had no idea that the very thing they’re accusing him of was the very thing he was going to do. They were this close to the gospel.

They were this close. The very accusation in a way was true, he did say that and he’s going to do that. But what they did is they took his words and twisted them and manipulated them. You know, that’s wrong, right? That’s evil. Knowingly twisting people’s words and here’s what they’re doing, that’s what they’re doing. Because they had no dirt on them otherwise. The only way they had dirt on them is if they twist his words into something he did not say.

In other words, they had to manufacture guilt because none was there. Our Lord was perfect. So much so, keep reading. Verse 62, and the high priest arose and said unto him, answers thou nothing? Which tells us they’re actually just trying to prod him into into answer into saying something out of line. That’s actually what all the accusations. They want him to speak out of turn so they can catch him in a in a unguarded moment if you will.

Answerest thou nothing? What is it which these witness against thee? But Jesus held his peace. Isaiah 53 verse seven, He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the son of the living God. Here it is, truth number two that we’re gonna see repeated.

Not only is Jesus without sin, he will be examined multiple times. He will be his sinlessness will be will be testified to in this narrative and what actually happens with people that do not believe in him.

But just as we’ve seen in the book of Matthew over and over and over and over again, here’s what we will see. Who Jesus is, His identity is going to be brought to the surface too. The perfection of Jesus, the identity of Jesus. Who is this man? Is that not what this whole trial is about?

That’s what this whole trial is about. He says, the question is finally posed to him plainly. Tell us whether thou be the Christ, the son of God. Jesus saith unto him, thou hast said.

Mark 14, listen to this verse, this is the parallel. But he held his peace and answering nothing and and answered nothing. Again, the high priest asked him and said unto him, art thou the Christ, the son of the blessed? And Jesus said, I am. Thou hast said, same thing, it means the same thing. What you’ve said, that’s the truth. You said it. It’s true.

And finally, all at once, how many, you you remember as we’ve gone through Matthew, why would you just tell us? And Jesus say, the works that I do bear witness. And then then he would talk about the son of man and I I know I know I’m bringing, you know, we’ve, this is, this is message 145 in Matthew. So, we have covered a lot of ground. So, I hope you remember some of these things that we’ve covered but in these 144 messages up to this point, we’ve seen Jesus say, the son of man, this, the son of man that, and they’re like, who is this?

Over and over the question of Jesus’ identity. Remember Peter, I’m just going through a few examples. Peter, whom do men say that I the son of man am? Some say thou art John the Baptist, some say Elias, some say the prophets. And then and the one of the most important verses in Matthew says this, Peter answers and says, thou art the Christ, the son of the living god. Same thing here. You see, who Jesus Christ is? Whether he be god or not, whether he is just a man or whether he’s truly god is one of the key themes, one of the key truths that we’re going to see in these two chapters as we approach the end of his life.

And as it turns out, the thing that ultimately is the basis of Jesus’ condemnation before the council is not what the witnesses say, it’s what he says. His own words.

Verse 65 proves it. Then the high priest rent his clothes saying, he hath spoken blasphemy, what further need have we of witnesses? Behold, ye have heard his blasphemy. Notice, he cites not the witnesses, but our Lord’s own words.

It was not what Jesus did that condemned Him before the council, but who He was. In fact, in this in verse 64, you see that he says, thou hast said to the question, the high priest, the council weren’t, they weren’t interested in his proving that fact because the truth is they believed that there would be a Messiah, Right? They believed it. They didn’t give him a chance to prove it, he had proven it all those times. All the miracles that Jesus that Jesus performed, they weren’t acts of they weren’t just acts of mercy, although they were. They were primarily signs to demonstrate who he was. That’s why it’s so important we understand that as we go through it.

Here, they provide him no opportunity. He’s already shown the opportunity. In fact, he is going to do one more thing to prove that his statement here is true, but it’ll be too late by then, which is his resurrection. That’s the whole thing, the sign of Jonah in Matthew chapter 12.

So ultimately, what Jesus did was not what condemned him. It wasn’t the healing, it wasn’t the teaching. In the final outcome, it was what Jesus said of himself that was the condemnation. You know what, that brings us back kind of full circle.

Our Lord was very good at redirecting questions, right? You remember he would, they say, they would say something to Jesus like, should we pay tribute to Caesar? And he would say, not yes or no. What would he say? Bring me a penny. Whose face is on that penny? Paraphrase. He Listen, you think he couldn’t have done that here? He he could have twisted this right back around on him and asked him a question or gotten out of it in some way. Mean, he is I mean, he is after all God in the flesh. He could have done that and it brings us full circle. He didn’t.

The answer he gave was the one that he knew full well would be the cause of condemnation. You know what that means? It was an act of the will.

You see he loved you, loves you, and he wanted you and he wanted me to be saved and would not accept deliverance. Wow.