*Unfortunately we did not record the audio or video from this sermon. Pastor Ian's notes are available below for anyone interested. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.
Two Trials
Mark 14:53-72
Main Idea: Jesus was condemned in our place so that our fears and failures become the arena of God’s grace.
I. Jesus’ Trial (14:53-65)
Jesus remains silent because:
1. He is innocent
2. He is fulfilling prophecy written about him
Isaiah 53:7-8a: 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 before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away
3. He is on trial in the place of the guilty
“Of all the things Jesus could have said, he specifically says he’s the judge. By his choice of text [Daniel 7 & Psalm 110], Jesus is deliberately forcing us to see the paradox. There’s been an enormous reversal. He is the judge of the entire world, being judged by the world. He should be in the judgment seat, and we should be in the dock, in chains. Everything is turned upside down.”
~ Tim Keller, King’s Cross
II. Peter’s Trial (14:66-72)
Luke 22:61: And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.”
There were volumes of meaning in that look… I think it was a heart-piercing look and a heart-healing look all in one — a look which revealed to Peter the blackness of his sin, and also the tenderness of his Master’s heart towards him.
~ Charles Spurgeon, “Peter’s Fall and Restoration”
Luke 22:31–32:“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
Simon Peter had to see, after his own sword-swinging and fireside-swearing and midnight running, that the answer for him was not that he had nothing to fear, but that the fears were answered by the one who stood on his behalf before the Father praying ‘that your faith may not fail’ (Luke 22:32). Only after all that, on the other side of the Devil’s danger, on the other side of his own terror, could Peter ‘strengthen your brothers.’ (Luke 22:32)
~ Russell Moore, The Courage to Stand
III. Our Guilt & God’s Grace
1 Corinthians 4:3–4: But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.
Hebrews 2:11: For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers
