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The Sunday Before Lent
The Lamb of God Brought Before the High Priest
February 3, 2008

TEXT:  NKJ John 18:12 Then the detachment of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound Him. 13 And they led Him away to Annas first, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas who was high priest that year.... 19 The high priest then asked Jesus about His disciples and His doctrine. 20 Jesus answered him, "I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet, and in secret I have said nothing. 21 "Why do you ask Me? Ask those who have heard Me what I said to them. Indeed they know what I said." 22 And when He had said these things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, "Do You answer the high priest like that?" 23 Jesus answered him, "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike Me?" 24 Then Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
 
Jesus was arrested and bound in the Garden of Gethsemane—dragged by troops from the garden to the Sheep Gate of Jerusalem—this was a gate near the temple—this gate was used to bring sheep that would be sacrificed to atone for sins of the people—the sheep would be led through the gate and taken to the priest where it would be killed to erase the sins of man—in our text we find that Jesus was not only bound—but He was beaten—before the events of the day were over, Jesus would be flogged, beaten, spat upon, lies would be brought as testimony, and He would be crucified—it was God’s will, and it was appropriate that the Lamb of God be sacrificed—and very appropriate that He would be bound and led through the Sheep’s Gate as any other offering would be delivered to the priest
 
Isaiah the prophet gave these words to God’s people almost eight centuries before Jesus birth
 
NKJ Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.
 
Jesus, the Christ, the One sent by God the Father to pay the price of our sins, had to suffer and die as part of God’s demand for Judgment and according to God’s plan—consider the words Christ spoke to the disciples on the road to Emmaus on the day of His resurrection
 
NKJ Luke 24:25 Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 "Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
 
Jesus’ suffering was also described for us by Peter in his first letter to the Church
 
NKJ 1 Peter 2:19 For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. 21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 22 "Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth"; 23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness -- by whose stripes you were healed.
 
To fully appreciate the incident before the high priest, we need to understand the custom of the day—to slap a man on the cheek, especially with an open hand, was to insult that man—Jesus stood before the high priest bound and unable to deflect the blow administered by the officer of the court—Jesus is being insulted and humiliated—but He never complains—and that is the point of this lesson—Jesus deserved to be treated with all the respect of the Son of God—but is humiliated and beaten
 
As we proceed through this Lenten season, we should think about sin—what God thinks about sin—how sin was forgiven in the Old Testament—and how it is that our sins are forgiven in the New Testament
 
What God Thinks about Sin
 
To say God despises sin would be a gross understatement—think back to the Biblical account of Noah and his family—God hated sin so much that He was sorry He ever created man and the earth
 
NKJ Genesis 6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the LORD said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them."
 
There are many more examples we could list—but there are not many among us who don’t understand that God hates sin—and in the Old Testament God punished His people for their sins—He placed them into captivity—He had them invaded and taken as slaves—and we could go on and on
 
God Forgives His People for their Sins
 
We’re all sinners—but few of us have murdered anyone—few of us have used their authority to have someone murdered—few of us have stole someone’s spouse from them—but if we did, God could forgive us—we have only to ask—let’s begin with Moses—who murdered an Egyptian with his bare hands—and fled to Midian until God called him to service
 
NKJ Exodus 2:11 Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. 12 So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, "Why are you striking your companion?" 14 Then he said, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?" So Moses feared and said, "Surely this thing is known!" 15 When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.
 
Another of our Old Testament heroes is David—who became King of Israel—who stole Uriah’s wife—who had Uriah killed to cover up his sin
 
NKJ 2 Samuel 12:9 'Why have you despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. 10 'Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.' 11 "Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 'For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.' " 13 So David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
 
David begged God to forgive his sin in Psalm 51—and David’s prayer makes up much of our liturgy today
 
NKJ Psalm 51:1 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.
 
NKJ Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You. 14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. 15 O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
 
Our New Testament example is the Pharisee Saul—who became Paul—a murderer of Christians—because they were Christians
 
NKJ Acts 9:1 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
 
NKJ Acts 9:15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16 "For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake." 17 And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."
 
We all sin—we all need God’s forgiveness—and that’s why God the Father sent Jesus, His Son to be sacrificed for us—Jesus’ blood—the blood of the Lamb—is our source of forgiveness
 
Jesus Came Down from Heaven to Save Us
 
NKJ John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
 
Just as David asked God for forgiveness—we must do likewise
 
NKJ 1 John 2:1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
 
ALL GLORY BE TO GOD!