Who's Really on Trial?, Part 3

Before Jesus was crucified, He endured a series of fake trials. There were six different judgments that were manufactured by Jesus' adversaries, and their trumped-up charges ultimately led to shameful accusations.

Each one was a sham, and each trial was designed to sabotage the growing sentiment for Jesus. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll presents another study in Matthew chapter 26, where the writer describes these dramatic confrontations. And Chuck draws a parallel between the first-century enemies of Jesus and those who deny Him today. Chuck titled this message, Who's Really on Trial?

Philip Keller has written a fine book years ago titled Rabboni, the word for rabbi. Listen to Keller's words regarding the torture. To celebrate, they decided to indulge in a ghastly game of terrible torture. Here were men who were supposed to protect the interests of their people, subjecting an innocent person to appalling abuse. They turned Jesus over to the street ruffians for some horrible amusement. They jeered at Him, challenging Him to prophesy who had last struck Him a stinging blow.

They slashed and smashed His face until it was purple and swollen with great welts. He, the Christ, was in a bear garden with beasts, writes Philip Keller. Meanwhile, Peter is at a distance, probably doesn't see this going on, but he's curious about what's happening. We pick up his story in verse 69. Peter is sitting outside in the courtyard and a servant girl came over and said to him, You were one of those with Jesus the Galilean.

Now how would she know that? Remember, for over three years, Peter has been in a group following Jesus, a group of disciples. Furthermore, he's been the leader of the group, and when she sees his face, she declares, You were one of them. You followed with those disciples.

You're a follower of his. Here's the first of three denials. Verse 70, Peter denied it in front of everyone.

I don't know what you're talking about. She lets it go, but verse 71 tells us a little later, out by the gate. Notice the change of location. Before, he's in the courtyard, but now he's moved out by the gate. Another servant girl notices him, probably had also seen him when he was in the courtyard. Had also seen him when he had been walking among the disciples, and she said to those standing around, This man was with Jesus of Nazareth. And now Peter swears he's not one of them.

He says with an oath, I don't even know the man that you're referring to. And a little later, some of the other bystanders came over to Peter and said, You must be one of them. We can tell by your Galilean accent. He realizes they've got him. It's true. I'm Galilean.

I'm Galilean. But now he's got to get out of this mess. So please observe what he does. Your Bible says he swore a curse on me if I'm lying. I want to be careful here, unless you think out came a lot of profanity in this statement. What he uses is a word that is so severe. It's a term used of pronouncing death on oneself at the hand of God if he should be lying. In other words, may I be damned before Almighty God if I am not telling the truth. That kind of swear, that kind of oath.

And that's about as extreme as you could get in his third denial. By the way, you may not realize it, but three things happened at this point simultaneously. To see them, you've got to go to Luke chapter 22.

Turn over there, will you? Luke 22. I'm in verse 59 of Luke 22.

This must be one of them because he's a Galilean. And Peter said, man, I don't know what you're talking about. Here's the first of three things that occurred. Immediately while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. While that oath was coming out of his mouth, the rooster crows. If he didn't remember the words of Jesus, he certainly remembered the comment about the rooster.

Must have stung to hear that sound in the distance. Before the rooster crows this very night, you will have denied me three times. So at the moment the words are in his mouth, the rooster crows. But Luke adds this tidbit that Matthew doesn't include. Verse 61, at that moment, notice these are back-to-back-to-back events, at that moment the Lord turned and looked at Peter.

You know what that tells me? Peter has made his way from the courtyard to the gate and now up closer to the mansion where the trial is being held and maybe he's looking through a window or maybe down one of the corridors and he's able to catch the scene of the torture as it's going on. Must have been shocking to see that. And Jesus turns, we read it right here, suddenly, we read, the Lord turned and looked at Peter, suddenly the Lord's words flash through Peter's mind and now he gets the recollection, before the rooster crows, you will deny me, you will have denied three times that you even know me. And he weeps bitterly. First the rooster, then the glance from the Lord and what a look that was. Followed by the realization of his denials, that the prediction was correct. Go back with me to Matthew 26. Suddenly the words flash before his mind and he went away, weeping, weeping bitterly. Now, hold on. Peter has suffered hundreds of years of being filleted and attacked by one preacher after another or by one believer after another who goes through this, these denials and pointing a finger back, you, you, you, you, you, you.

Wait a minute. Doesn't he weep bitterly? He doesn't shake his fist at Jesus.

He breaks. I think it's the first step toward repentance. There are times that tears reveal the first stage of brokenness and here's a case in point. It's, it's very Pharisaic for anyone to stand and do nothing but accuse Peter for the wrong he did, the, the, the denial he was guilty of and stop there.

And to think I would never do that kind of, wait, hold it. Just for a few moments, if you can bring yourself to it, just think back over the last few months, how about years of your own life, promises you didn't keep, warnings you didn't heed, contracts you didn't honor, statements you didn't fulfill, though you said you would. Just remember we're all in this humanity together. Let, let's lighten up on Peter. And the truth is, you may not even have wept over it yet.

It may have hardened you, and you may be a long ways from repentance, not Peter. As a matter of fact, it says he went away and wept. I wonder where he went.

I've never heard anyone address that. Where'd he go? Where'd he go?

Well, the fact is, we're never told in the Scriptures, so we're left to a little imagination. My guess, he went back to Gethsemane. He went back to the place where the rebuke was first given by Jesus, where he first heard the Master say to him, Peter, you're telling me all the others may desert, but you never, Peter, Peter, don't go, don't, don't.

This very night you'll deny me three times. I think Peter stood in the spot. I, I'm imagining this admittedly, but I think he went to the place where his self-assured pride was so firm and, and where he said more than he should have. Rather than acknowledging that he's weak and, and he needs the Lord's strength in tough times, he said, I'm not going to be like all the others. Peter realizes here as he goes before the Lord and remembers his backslidden situation. His backslidden situation.

My desire now is not to heap guilt on anyone, but simply to call to mind the reality that we're all, we all have some Peter in us. I mean, I wonder how long he stayed there working through it. I wonder what he said before the Lord when he fell on his face as a grown man, weeping, remembering. I wonder if he came to terms with it.

I think he probably did, just like many of us have at crucial junctures of our lives. We, we stop short and we say, I, I am, it's not my brother or my sister. It's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer. I'm the one that needs the forgiveness. Jesus is on trial.

Peter is on trial. How about you? Circumstances are different, okay? Let's say you're an environment that isn't safe. Let's say you're outnumbered. Let's make it even more difficult. Let's say you're the only one, the only one in your company.

Let me make it even harder. What if making yourself known as a believer would mean your, your death, your sure death as it's taken place on high school campuses when a student wouldn't renounce faith in Jesus and was shot by the killer or in some country where they find out you're a believer in your history. It's really worth thinking about because I, I don't think we're that far from a persecuted church in these United States.

I, I'm not setting dates and I'm not making hard and fast predictions, but I'm able to read the signs that have taken place in my lifetime and I'll tell you things are far worse now than when I first entered the ministry. I never heard of churches being invaded and people shot while sitting in congregations. That was unheard of. I never heard of little children shot in schools by killers that walked in. Killing at random. These are treacherous times. I came across a story that happened back in the 80s, early 80s.

True story. Before the wall was down, while there was still a KGB and the informers, the informants and all, listen to this and put yourself in the shoes of those who were there. Everyone was so excited to begin. They were especially looking forward to the reading of a new section of the Gospel of Luke that had just been received from a secret home church in another city of the Soviet Union.

Since Bibles are so scarce, the churches take them apart and exchange pages with each other. It had taken all day for the local body of Christians to assemble. They had to come at different intervals in groups of two or at most three at a time so as not to attract the attention of the ever-present KGB informers. Just as they were about to sing with subdued volume, but not enthusiasm, their first hymn of praise, the door burst open and two Soviet soldiers with automatic weapons at the ready rushed in and ordered everyone to line up against the wall.

Put yourself in this setting. Everyone of you line up against that wall. Anyone who will renounce faith in Jesus may leave now, out that door. The rest of you remain here with your hands up, shouted one of the soldiers. Two and then four and more left. The soldiers said again in an even more threatening voice, this is your last chance to renounce faith in Jesus Christ or else face the consequences.

The parents of small children looked down reassuringly at their frightened little faces, but no one else left. One of the soldiers walked over, slammed the door shut, then they both put down their weapons and said, all of you keep your hands up but in praise to our Lord Jesus Christ, brothers and sisters. As the believers looked at them in total astonishment, the soldiers said, we have become believers through contact with other Christians from home churches like yours. The soldiers said, we have become believers through contact with other Christians from home churches like yours. We were sent to arrest them and instead we were converted to their faith. But through our previous experiences, we learned that no one can be trusted unless he or she is willing to die for his faith. Added to this, this is a true incident reported by the underground church in Russia.

Where are you in that scene? Where will you be should that ever happen in some church where you're attending or some gathering where you've met to study the scriptures? I don't know what the Lord's plan is, but I know that in the last days, times will get only worse. And our testimony for Christ must be crystal clear, not so much lived out in our sermon to other people, but in our lives. When we have a chance, we do share the Savior's message and the gospel, but they're watching our lives long before they're listening to our words.

How's your life these days? How's the integrity of your faith with those without Christ? Bow with me, will you?

Let's all bow together. Right here where you're sitting today, you may have to admit, frankly, Chuck, I don't even have a faith in Christ. I've never come to know Jesus. Well, there's great hope for you right now is the moment whoever has the Son of God has life. But if you choose not to have the Son of God, the wrath of God will continue to abide on you. Trust in him now.

Believe in him now. Perhaps I'm talking to someone that's really on the fence. You've talked one way, but you live another. Sunday comes and you look your best, but it's amazing about Tuesday or Wednesday and life back in the real world, nobody would guess you're one of the followers of Jesus.

Or would they? Today's a great day for you to come to terms with this. That may be the reason you came today, to get off that fence. How good of God to preserve the story of Peter, not just to reveal his failure, but to remind us of ours and the need to make things right. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Do that right now. Lay it out before the Lord. Describe to him the struggle you have, the weakness that you fight with, that you need the strength that he can give, and then lean on him for it.

The test will come this week, I can assure you. This is the day to prepare for it. Father, thank you for catching us up short and out of the blue realizing we're really not reading so much about Peter, but about ourselves. And the scene is not from the first century but the 21st, because it's here we see ourselves on trial. Thank you for truth and the way it cuts right through and gets to our hearts. Humble us, Lord, and remind us that we're all only human, and only by your grace are we able to press on. And give strength to those who are in the midst of the circumstances where their testimony is on trial.

Give them courage to live for you and to walk with you and when it's appropriate to speak for you. We do commit to you this week that unfolds before us. Use today to prepare us for that. Now guard us from stumbling and remind us that we will be presented faultless before the presence of your glory with exceeding great joy. To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory, majesty, dominion, and power, now and forever. For those who follow Jesus Christ, we can expect to feel more and more pushback from those who oppose our Christian convictions. We see the obvious signs of persecution intensifying right before our eyes. You're listening to Insight for Living and the Bible teaching of pastor and author Chuck Swindoll.

We're in the midst of a comprehensive study through the Gospel according to Matthew called The King of Kings. And to discover a variety of resources available for today's study, please visit us online at insightworld.org. For instance, Chuck has written a daily devotional book called God's Word for You. The subtitle is an invitation to find the nourishment your soul needs.

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