Christ in Bonds

Christ in Bonds

(No. 2822)

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MARCH 15, 1903.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, JUNE
28, 1877.

"Now Annas had sent Hum bound unto Caiaphas the high priest." (The
Revised Version says, "Annas therefore sent Him bound unto Caiaphas the
high priest").

John 18:24.

OUR only subject, on this occasion, is CHRIST IN BONDS–the Son of God
as an Ambassador in bonds, a King in chains–the God-Man sent,
bound–to take His trial in the court of the high priest, Caiaphas.

It seems to me that this binding of our Lord shows, first, something of
fear on the part of His captors. Why did they bind Him? He would not
attack them. He had no desire to escape out of their hands, yet, they
probably thought that He might break loose from them, or in some way
outwit them. Alas, that men should ever have been thus afraid of Him
who came alone from Heaven, neither bearing arms nor wearing armor–who
came to injure none, nor even to protect Himself against the harm that
any might inflict upon Him–at first, lying as a Babe in a manger and
all His life exhibiting rather the weakness of His Manhood than its
strength! Yet His adversaries were often afraid of Him. So it still
is–there is a latent, secret conviction in the minds of men that the
Christ is greater than He seems to be. Even when they attack Him with
their infidel weapons, they never seem to be satisfied with their own
arguments, so they are continually seeking fresh ones. To this very day
the ungodly are afraid of Christ and, often, their raging against Him
resembles the noise made by the boy who, when hurrying through the
graveyard, whistles to keep his courage up!

They also bound Christ, no doubt, to increase the shame of His
condition. Our Savior said to those who came to arrest Him in the
garden, "Have you come out as against a thief, with swords, and with
staves to take Me?" And now they bound Him fast as though He were a
thief–perhaps tied His hands behind His back with tight cords, to show
that they regarded Him a felon and that they were not taking Him into a
civil court where some cases of law might be pending, but they already
condemned Him by the very act of binding Him! They treated Him as if He
were already sentenced and not worthy to stand, a free Man, and plead
for Himself before the Judgment Seat. Oh, what a shame that the Lard of
Life and Glory should be bound–that He, whom angels delight to
worship–that He who is the very sun of their Heaven should yet be
bound as though He were a malefactor, and be sent away to be tried for
His life!

We may also look at this matter of the binding of the Savior as an
increase of His pain. I suppose none of you have ever been bound as our
Lord was at that time. If you had been, you would know the discomfort
and pain which must attend such action. John tells us that in
Gethsemane, "the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took
Jesus, and bound Him." He had scarcely risen from His knees–and the
bloody sweat was like fresh ruby dew upon Him–yet these men "bound Him
and led Him away to Annas first." I do not find any indication that His
bonds were unloosed by Annas, or that He had even a moment's relief or
relaxation granted to Him. But, with the cruel ropes still binding Him
fast, He was sent across the great hall into the other wing of the
palace in which Caiaphas resided.

"Annas sent Him bound unto Caiaphas." Then this, surely, must have been
done in very wantonness of malice. I have already said that they seemed
to have some sort of fear that their Captive would, after all, escape
from them. Yet they might, readily enough, have banished that fear from
their minds. There was no need to bind HIM! O cruel persecutors, look
into His face! If you are resolved to lead Him away to His death, you
may lead Him like a sheep goes to the slaughter. He will not even open
His mouth to upbraid you! There was no need to put any bands upon One
so gentle as He was.

Out of very wantonness, I say, they must have done it, that they might
express their hatred by every conceivable method, both in the little
details and in the great end at which they were aiming all the
while–namely, to put Him to a most painful death. Ah, me, how
shamefully was our blessed Master maltreated in this inhospitable
world! Men had often been regicides and we need not wonder at that when
we think what tyrants they were who were thus slain–but these men were
turning to deicide–putting to death the Son of God, Himself! And
before they did it they heaped upon Him every mark of scorn and
dishonor that was possible, that they might cause Him to die with
opprobrium as well as with pain.

You who love your Savior will think with tender sympathy of how He was
bound by these wicked men. My special objective is to try to find out
what are the lessons which we may learn from the bonds of Christ.

I. The first lesson is this. From the binding of our dear Redeemer, I
learn a lesson concerning sin. THE BONDS OF CHRIST TEACH US WHAT SIN
WOULD DO TO GOD IF IT COULD.

The unregenerate heart, in its enmity against God, would treat Him
exactly as the men of 1900 years ago treated the Son of God. What was
done to Jesus is just what man would do, if he could, to the Lord God
of Heaven and earth, Himself. "What?" you say, "would men bind God?"
Ah, Sirs, they would do much more than that if they could, but they
would certainly do that! They would annihilate God if they could, for,
"the fool has said in his heart, No God"–that is to say, "No God for
me!" He would kill God if it were possible. There would be no gladder
news to many men who are living today than for them to be informed,
with absolute certainty, that there was no God at all! All their fears
would be at once silenced by such tidings. As for us who love and trust
Him, all our joys would be gone and our worst fears would be realized
if God were gone. But, as for the ungodly, it would be the best news
that was ever rung out from church steeples if they could be assured
that God was dead! They would kill Him if they could, but, as they
cannot kill Him, they seek to bind Him.

Observe how they try to do this by denying His power. There are many
men who say that they believe in God, yet what sort of god is it in
whom they believe? It is a god who is fettered by his own laws. "Here
is the world," they say, "but let not anyone suppose that god has
anything to do with the world." They seem to have a theory that somehow
or other it got wound up, like a great clock, and it has been going on
ever since! Their god has not even been to see it– indeed, the
probability is that he cannot see! Their god does not see and does not
know anything–he is not the living God. They pretend to pay Him the
compliment of saying that there may be some great first cause–they do
not know even that, for certain, because they do not know anything. We
live in an age in which the man who professes to be a learned man,
calls himself "an agnostic"–a Greek word which, in the Latin,
signifies, "an ignoramus." That is, when you get to be a very clever
man, then you become an ignoramus, knowing nothing at all! Such people
go crowing, all over the world, that they do not know anything at all!
They do not know whether there is any God at all, or if there is a God,
they do not know that He has anything to do with the world. They say
that it is going on just on its own. Their god may set worlds going if
he pleases, but he has nothing do with them afterwards.

Ah, Beloved, the truth is that God' s Laws are simply the ways in which
He acts. There is no force in the world apart from God. All the potency
of attraction is simply because God lives and pour His energy into the
matter that attracts. Every moment it is God who works in all things
according to the good pleasure of His own will. Omnipotence is, in
fact, the source of all the potency that there is in the universe. God
is everywhere and, instead of being banished from the world, and the
world going on without Him, if God were not here, this planet, the sun,
moon and stars, would retire into their native nothingness as a moment'
s foam subsides into the wave that bears it and is gone forever! God
alone IS. All the rest–call them what you please–are appearances that
come out of His ever-existing power. God IS. The other things may be or
may not be, but God IS. Well did David write, under the Spirit's
Inspiration, "God has spoken once; twice have I heard this: that power
belongs unto God." But that is not the kind of god that the ungodly
want–they want one whose hands they can bind so as to make him
powerless!

Especially will they do this with regard to Providence. "Look," they
say, "you Christian people pray and you are foolish enough to believe
that because you pray, God hears you and sends you the blessings that
you ask for." It is assumed that we are fools, but, I think, it is a
mere assumption! Probably these gentlemen who are so generous in
disposing of their epithets, may be giving away what really belongs to
them! We are fools, so they say. These men of culture, the thinking
people–at least they are the people who call themselves by these
high-sounding names and, having done so, to prove that their culture
has made perfect gentlemen of them–they call all the rest of us, and
especially all Christians,

fools! Well, we are not anxious to contend with them as to that matter,
and we are quite satisfied to take the position that we do take–and to
be called fools–because we believe that God does hear and answer our
petitions! Even when these people are willing to acknowledge that there
is a god in Providence at all, his hands are tied so that he can do
nothing! Well, as far as I am concerned, I would as soon believe in a
god made out of the mud of the Ganges, or in the fetish of the
Hottentot, as bow my knee to a god who could not hear and could not
answer me!

Some unbelievers talk of a god whose hands are bound so far as the
punishment of sin is concerned. "Men will die like dog," so some of
these doggish men say. "God will not punish sin," say some sinners who
imagine that they have prepared a dunghill for themselves to fall upon
whenever God shall fling them out of the window as utterly worthless!
They imbibe ideas that are contrary to the Truth of God about the Most
High in order that they may be able to sin with impunity. But, whatever
they may think or say, let us rest assured that there isa God and that
He is a God before whom everyone of us must appear to give an account
of the deeds done in the body, whether they are good or whether they
are evil. We may be quite certain that although, in His long-suffering,
He may patiently wait a while before punishing iniquity, yet His hands
are not bound and He will lift them before long! And when He raises a
hand to strike the man who has broken His laws, He will do it so
effectually that the sinner shall know that, truly, there is a God who
will not pass by transgression, or wink at sin when it remains
unrepented of! Let us, then, be always happy to hear our testimony that
God cannot be bound, but let us always expect to see unconverted men,
in one way or another, attempting to bind the hands of the Most High as
these sinners in Jerusalem bound the Christ of God.

Some people think that God ought to do this and He ought notto do that.
And the moment you begin to reason with them, they do not refer to what
the Scriptures say, but they have a preconceived notion as to what
ought to be done or not done. That is to say, you could tie His hands
so that He must do what you judge to be right. But if He judges any
particular course to be right and it does not meet your tastes, then,
straightway, you will either have no god at all, or else a god that
shall be handcuffed by your reason and held in bonds to do your
bidding! In the Person of our blessed Master brought from Gethsemane
with His hands tightly bound, we see an exact picture of what wicked
men would always do with God if they could, and what they actually do
to Him, spiritually, in their own minds and hearts. God save us from
being guilty of such a sin as that! Oh, that the precious blood of our
Lord Jesus Christ may cleanse that sin away if it lies as a load upon
the conscience of anyone whom I am now addressing!

II. Secondly, we have here A LESSON OF LOVE.

Our Lord Jesus was sent away, bound, by Annas to Caiaphas, but, before
they bound Him, there were other bands upon Him. Christ was bound by
the cords of love and who but Himself had bound Him thus? Of old, or
before the earth was, His prescient eye foresaw all His people and
their sin–and He loved them and He gave Himself to them, then, in the
eternal purpose. And often did He look through the vista of the ages
upon the men and women who were yet to be born and, with a near and
dear love to each one of them, He pledged Himself that, for them, He
would bear the shame and the spitting–and that He would even die in
their place that He might redeem them unto Himself. So, when I see our
Divine Master thus led to the judgment seat, I grieve over the bonds of
cord with which men tied Him, but my heart exults over those invisible
bands with which He bound Himself on purpose, by covenant, by oath, by
Infinite, Immutable Love that He would give Himself to be a ransom for
His people!

Then, following upon those cords of love, if you look closely, you will
see His love again displayed in that He was bound with our bonds. We,
dear Friends, had sinned against God and so had incurred the sentence
of Infallible Justice. And now that sentence must fall upon Him! We
ought to have been bound, but Christ was bound instead of us. If you
and I had been bound with despair and hopelessly led away to that
prison from which none shall ever escape–if this had been the moment
when we were commencing to feel the torments of the Hell which our sins
deserve–what could we have said? But, lo, in our place Jesus is led
away to bear the wrath of Heaven! He must not lift His hands in His own
defense, or raise a finger for His own comfort, for He is bearing–

"That we might never bear His Fathers righteous ire."

III. But now, thirdly, learn here A LESSON OF GREAT PRIVILEGE.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was bound and there flows from that fact its
opposite–then His people are all free. When Christ was made a curse
for us, He became a blessing to us. When Christ was made sin for us, we
were made the righ-

teousness of God in Him. When He died, then we lived. And so, as He was
bound, we were set free. The type of that exchange of prisoners is seen
in the fact that Barabbas was set free when the Lord Jesus Christ was
given up to be crucified. And still more in His plea for His disciples
in the garden, "If therefore you seek Me, let these go their way." It
is with wondrous joy in our hearts that we sing–

" We were sore in bondage bound, But our Jesus set us free."

Do you think we, dear Friends, use our liberty as we should? Do we not,
sometimes, pray to God as if we were tongue-tied and had the bonds upon
our tongue? Do we not go to the great coffers full of Grace and,
instead of helping ourselves, as we have the right to do, we stand
there as if our hands were bound and we could not take a single
pennyworth of the abundant fullness that is laid up there for us?
Sometimes when there is work to be done for Christ, we feel as if we
were in bonds. We dare not stretch out our hands–we are afraid to do
so–yet Jesus has set us free! O Believer, why do you go about as if
you still wear shackles on your ankles? Why do you stand like one who
is still in bonds? Your freedom is sure freedom and it is righteous
freedom. Christ, the great Emancipator, has made you free and you are
"free indeed." Enjoy your liberty! Enjoy access to God! Enjoy the
privilege of claiming the promises which God has given to you! Enjoy
the exercise of the power with which God has endowed you! Enjoy the
holy anointing with which the Lord has prepared you for His service! Do
not sit and mope like a bird in a cage when you are free to soar away!
I can conceive of a bird that has been in a cage for years–the cage
may be all taken away–every wire of it and yet the poor thing has been
so accustomed to sit on that perch inside the cage, that it takes no
notice of the fact that its prison is gone! And there it sits and
mopes. Away with you, sweet songster! The green fields and the blue sky
are all your own. Stretch your wings and soar away above the
clouds–and sing the carol of your freedom as though you would make it
reach the ears of the angels! So let it be with your spirit, and with
mine, Beloved! Christ has set us free! Therefore let us not go back
into bondage, or sit still as though we were in prison–let us rejoice
in our liberty this very hour and let us do so all our days! IV. The
fourth lesson from the binding of Christ is A LESSON OF OBLIGATION.

This may seem like a paradox in contrast with the previous lesson, yet
it is equally true. Beloved, was Jesus bound for you and for me? Then
let us be bound for Him and to Him. I rejoice in the sweet inability
that results from perfect love to Christ. "Inability?" you ask. Yes, I
mean inability. The true child of God "cannot sin, because he is born
of God." There are many other things that he cannot do. He cannot
forsake His Lord, for he says with Peter, "Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life." He cannot forget his obligations.
He cannot withhold his time, his strength, his substance from His Lord.
He cannot become an earthworm and a money-grabber. He cannot wed his
soul to any other, for Christ has espoused him to Himself as a chaste
virgin. There are times when the child of God says, with Nehemiah,
"Should such a man as I flee?" Or, "How can such a privileged
individual as I am indulge in such-and-such a sin?" The ungodly
sometimes jeer at us and say, "Ah, you cannot do such-and-such! We
can." And we reply, "We have lost no power that we ever wished to have,
but we have gained the power of concentrating all our force upon
righteousness and the Truth of God. And now our heart is bound too fast
to Christ for us to go after your idols. Our eyes are now so taken up
with the sight of our Savior that we cannot see any charms in the
things with which you would bewitch us. Our memory is now so full of
Christ that we have no desire to pollute the precious stores that lie
therein by memories of sin."

Henceforth we are crucified with Christ and that brings to us a blessed
inability in which we greatly rejoice! Our heart may stir, perhaps, a
little, but our hands and feet are fastened to the wood and cannot
move. Oh, blessed is the inability when, at last, neither heart can
love, nor brain can think, nor hand can do, nor even imagination can
conceive anything that goes beyond the sweet circle of a complete
consecration to the Lord and absolute dedication to His service! Come,
then, you angels of the Lord, and bind us to Him! Let this be the
prayer of every Believer–"Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the
horns of the altar." Let nothing ever tempt us away from our Lord. You
may count the cost of all Egypt's treasure and then let it go–and it
shall vanish like a dream, for there is nothing in it–

"Solid joys and lasting treasure, None butZion's children inow"– and
these shall remain with you who are bound to Christ–with Him to live,
and for Him to die, if necessary. So, whenever we see Christ in bonds,
let us pray that we, also, may wear His bonds and be just as much bound
as He was. "O

God," let every Christian say, "I am Your servant and the son of Your
handmaid. You have loosed my bonds, now bind me to Yourself and to Your
blessed service once and for all!"

V. The last lesson is one which I pray that we may all learn whether we
are saints or sinners. It is A LESSON OF

WARNING.

Dear Friends, I have tried to picture, though I have done it in a very
feeble way, Christ being bound with cords. And now I want to very
solemnly say to all of you–Do not bind Christ with cords. Beware, you
who are unconverted, that you never bind Christ. You may do so by not
reading His Word. You have a Bible at home, but you never read it–it
is clasped, laid away in a drawer with your best pocket handkerchiefs.
Is it not so? That is another picture of Christ in bonds–a poor
shut-up Bible that is never allowed to speak with you–no, not even to
have half a word with you, for you are in such a hurry about other
things that you cannot listen to it! Untie the cords–let it have its
liberty! Commune with it sometimes. Let the heart of God in the Bible
speak to your own heart. If you do not, that clasped Bible, that
shut-up Bible–that precious Book hidden away in the drawer–is Christ
in prison and, one day, when you little expect it, you will hear Christ
say, "Inasmuch as you did this to the greatest of all My witnesses, you
did it unto Me." You kept Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah and all the Prophets
in prison! And all the Apostles and the Master, Himself, you bound with
cords and you would not hear a word that they had to say! Let not that
be true of any one of you, dear Friends.

There are others who will not go to hear the Word. They do not attend
any place of worship. They may have dropped in here once, but, as a
rule, they never go anywhere to worship God. Here in London people live
in the street where there is a soul-saving ministry, yet many of them
never cross the threshold of the House of Prayer. In some streets, not
one in a hundred ever darkens the doors of the place where God's people
gather for worship. Is not that tying Christ' s hands? How can the
Gospel get to people who will not hear it–absolutely refuse to listen
to it? They are really gagging our blessed Master and that is even
worse than binding Him with cords! They thrust a gag in His mouth and
make Him hold His tongue, as far as they are concerned. Some of them,
if they could, would gag the messenger as well as His Master, for they
do not want him. "Trouble us not," they say. "Are you come to torment
us before the times." And so they bind Christ and send Him away, just
as Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas.

There are some who both read the Bible and go to hear the Gospel, but
they tie Christ up, all the same, by prejudice. Some people can never
get a blessing through certain ministers because they have made up
their minds that they will not be profited by them. You know how they
come, with some preconceived notion, and though an angel from Heaven
were to speak, they would pick holes in whatever he might say because
of the prejudice which exists in their minds. Probably they can give no
better reason for their antagonism than the person gave who did not
like Dr. Fell–

"I do not like you, Dr. Fell,

The reason why, I cannot tell.

But this I know and know full well,

I do not like you, Dr. Fell."

I have known men bind Christ in another way, by delaying their
decision. They have heard a sermon and have felt its power–their soul
has been impressed by it–but their chief idea has been to try to
escape from Christ, or to bind His hands, if possible. I think I have
told you before that once, when I was preaching in the country, the
gentleman with whom I stayed, suddenly got up, towards the end of the
sermon and went out. And a dear friend who had gone with me, followed
him outside and asked him, "what brought you out here?" He replied, "If
I had stayed there another five minutes, I would have got converted.
Mr. Spurgeon seems to treat me just as if I were made of India
rubber–he squeezes me into any shape he likes–so I was obliged to
come out." "But," my friend said, "might it not have been a great
blessing to you if you had been converted?" "Well, no," he replied, "at
least, not just now. I have some things in prospect that I really
should not miss, so I cannot afford to be converted just now."

There are others who do not act quite like that, but the result is the
same. They say, by their actions, if not in so many words, "Now, Lord,
I am going to tie You up for a little while. I mean to give heed to
You, by-and-by. I hope Your blessed hand will be laid upon me for my
salvation, but not just now, please–not just now." Such people always
use silken cords, but the binding is just as effective as it would be
if they took an ugly pair of handcuffs, such as a policeman pulls out
for a thief. The man says, "Permit me, Lord, to tie Your hands for just
a little while–another month,

perhaps–possibly another year." Oh, that accursed procrastination! How
many have been ruined to all eternity by it! It is the bond that binds
the hands of Christ, the Savior, who say, "Now is the day of
salvation."

Other men bind the hands of Christ by seeking pleasure in sin. After
having been impressed under a sermon, they go straight to some ungodly
meeting place–a bar, perhaps, or the next day they go into society
where every serious thought will, in all probability, be stamped out as
men stamp out a fire! And what is this but binding the hands of Christ?
I know some–I tremble as I think of them–who persistently do that
which they know will prevent them from ever feeling the power of the
Word of God. Oh, that, by some means, they could be wrenched out of
their present position and be carried right away where the Truth of God
might influence them so that they might be led to Jesus' feet! I think
I hear someone say, "That is a shocking way to bind Christ's hands."
Then mind, my Friend, that you do not fall into that sin!

Now, in closing I need to speak to the Lord's own people for just a
minute or two.

Do you not think, Beloved, that you and I have sometime tied Christ' s
hands? You remember reading this sentence, "He could not do many mighty
works there"? His hands were tied, but what tied them? Finish the
quotation– "because of their unbelief" Are there not many churches
where they have tied the hands of Christ because they do not believe He
can do any mighty works there? If the Lord Jesus Christ were to convert
3000 people, at one time, under their pastor's preaching, what do you
think the deacons and elders of that church would probably say? "Well,
we never thought that we would see such excitement as this–to think
that it should have come into our place of worship! We must be very
careful. No doubt these people will be wanting to join the church. We
shall have to summer them and winter them–and try them a good deal–we
do not like such excitement." Ah, Sirs, you need not trouble yourselves
with any such expectation! God is not likely to give such a blessing to
you–He never sends His children where they are not wanted and, as a
rule– until He prepares His people to receive the blessing, the
blessing will not come.

Do you not think, also, that a minister may very easily tie the hands
ofChrist?! am afraid I have done so, sometimes, without meaning to.
Suppose I were to preach some very fine sermons–I do not do that, mark
you–but just supposeI were to preach some very fine sermons that went
right over people's heads? And what if a good old woman were to say, "I
would not have the presumption to understand it, but it was very
wonderful"–do you not think that I would be tying Christ's hands with
garlands of flowers? And may we not come into the pulpit and talk a lot
of theological jargon, and use words which are appropriate to us in the
classroom, but quite misunderstood, or never understood at all by the
mass of the people? Is not that tying Christ's hands?

And when a preacher is what they call very "heavy"–by which is not
meant that he is weighty–but dull! Or when he is very cold and
heartless, and preaches as if he were working by the piece, and would
be glad to get it all over–when that is the case, do you not think
that Christ's hands are tied? Have you never heard sermons of which you
might fairly say, "Well, if God were to convert anybody by that
discourse, it certainly would be a miraculous kind of miracle–
something altogether out of the common way of miracles, for He would be
using an implement that was positively calculated to produce just the
opposite effect–and making it accomplish His purposes of Grace"? I
have heard such sermons, now and then, to my great sorrow. And you
Sunday school teachers must take care that you do not so teach as
really to be hindrances to your scholars rather than helps, for that is
to tie the hands of Christ–and to lead Him into your class like
Samson–bound to make sport for Philistines than to get honor to
Himself. May we all have the Grace given to us to avoid such an evil as
that!

And do you not think, dear Friends, that we who love Christ bind His
hands when we are cowardly and retiring, and never say a word for Him?
How can the Gospel save sinners if it is never spoken to them? If you
never introduce Christ to your companions–never put a little book on
your friend's table, never try to say a word about the Savior to
him–is not that tying Christ's hands? The next thing to having no
Christ at all is for the church to be silent concerning Him! It is an
awful thing to contemplate what it would be if there were no Savior,
but what difference is it if there is a Savior, but men never hear of
Him? Come, you very timid people, do not excuse yourselves any longer!
"Oh, but," says one, "I always was of a very timid disposition." So was
that soldier who was shot for running away in the day of battle! He was
guilty of cowardice and was put to death for it. If you have been, up
to the present time, binding the Master by your retiring spirit, you
should at once come forward and declare what Christ has done for you,
that, with unbound hands, He may do the same for others!

And do you not think that whenever we are inconsistent in over
conduct–especially in the family–we tie the hands of Christ? There is
a father praying for his children that they may live before God. Five
minutes later, listen to Him! Why, his boys hate the sight of him! He
is such a tyrant to them that they cannot endure him. There is a
mother, too, who is praying God to save her daughters. She goes
upstairs and pleads very earnestly for them. Yet she comes down and
lets them have whatever they ask for and never says a word by way of
checking them in their evil courses! She acts like a female Eli to
everyone of them–is not she tying the hands of Christ? What can she
expect but that God, who works according to rules, will be more likely
to let her unkind kindness influence her girls for evil, than to answer
her prayers for their conversion? Let us be holy, dear Friends, for
then we shall, by faith, see the holy God freely moving and working
among us–and doing great deeds to His own Glory! So may He do, for our
Lord Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: BY JOHN 18:12-14,19-26; MARK14:53-65;
LUKE22:63-71; 23:1.

The passages which we are about to read from three of the Evangelists,
make up a continuous narrative of our Lord's trial before the high
priest.

First, John gives us an account of our Savior's appearance before
Annas, of which I need not say much, as I recently

preached upon it. [Sermon #2820, Volume 49–CHRIST BEFORE ANNAS]

John 18:12-14. Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews
took Jesus, and bound Him, and led Him away to Annas first; for he was
father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year Now
Caiaphas was he which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient
that one man should die for the people.

19-21. The high priest then asked Jesus of His disciples, and of His
doctrine. Jesus answered Him, I spoke openly to the world; I ever
taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, where the Jews always
resort; and in secret have I said nothing. Why ask you Me? Ask them
which heard Me, what I have said unto them: behold, they know what I
said. What an admirable answer that was! Whatever He might have said
about His doctrine, they would have twisted into a ground of accusation
against Him, so He simply said, "Mine has been public teaching, open to
all. I was not found in holes and corners, secretly fomenting sedition.
I spoke in the streets; I spoke in the synagogue; I spoke in the
temple; ask those who heard Me to tell you what I said." What more
convincing answer could He have given?

22-24. And when He had thus spoken, one of the officers, who stood by,
struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answer you the high
priest so? Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of
the evil: but if well, why do you strike Me? Now Annas had sent Him
bound unto Caiaphas the high priest So there we see Him standing–bound
before Caiaphas–the acting high priest for that year. Now follow the
narrative as given by Mark.

Mark 14:53, 54. And they led Jesus away to the high priest: and with
him were assembled all the chiefpriests and the elders and the scribes.
And Peter followed Him afar off, even into the palace of the high
priest: and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire.
We may regard what was said to Jesus, by Annas and Caiaphas, as a sort
of unofficial preliminary examination and, meanwhile, their fellow
conspirators were scouring the streets of Jerusalem to gather together
the members of the Sanhedrim–and also searching among the slums in
order to find witnesses who could be bribed to give false evidence
against Jesus.

55. And the chiefpriests and all the council sought for witness against
Jesus to put Him to death; and found none. A pretty court that was,
occupied in seeking for witnesses who might enable them to condemn to
death a Prisoner against whom no charge had yet been formulated!

56-59. For many bore false witness against Him, but their witness
agreed not together And there arose certain ones and bore false witness
against Him, saying, We heard Him say, I wiil destroy this temple that
is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made
without hands. But neither so did their witness agree together It was a
rule that they should be examined separately, but there had not been
time for them to be coached as to what they were to say, so one
contradicted the other and it looked as if the trial must break down.

60. And the high priest stood up in the midst Losing all patience, he
stood up, in a furious rage at the way things were taking.

60, 61. And asked Jesus, saying, Do You answer nothing? What is it
which these witness say against You? But He held His peace and answered
nothing. Again the high priest asked Him, and said unto Him, are You
the Christ? The Son of the Blessed? This time, according to Matthew s
account, the high priest said to Jesus, "I command You by the living
God that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God." Being
thus, as it were, put upon His oath, the Savior felt compelled to
answer. He could not remain silent when such a great and important
question was at stake.

62-65. And Jesus said, I am: and you shall see the Son of Man sitting
at the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds ofHeaven. Then the
high priest tore his clothes, andsaid, What need we ofany further
witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy: what do you think? And they
all condemned Him to be guilty of death. And some began to spit on Him,
and to cover His face, and to buffet Him, and to said unto Him,
Prophesy: and the servants didstrike Him with thepalms of their hands.
Perhaps we have the same narrative in Luke. Possibly, however, he gives
us a continuation of the sad story–it is difficult to say which is the
case.

Luke 22:63-71. And the men that held Jesus mocked Him, and struck Him.
And when they had blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face, and
asked Him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that struck You? And many other
things blasphemously spoke they against Him. And as soon as it was day,
the elders of the people and the chiefpriests and the scribes came
together and led Him into their council, saying, Are You the Christ?
Tell us. And He said unto them, If I tell you, you will not believe:
and if I also ask you, you will not answer Me, nor let me go.
Thereafter shall the Son of Man sit at the right hand of the power of
God. Then they all said, Are You, then, the Son of God? And He said
unto them, You say that I am. And they said, of what need we any
further witness? For we ourselves have heard from His own mouth.

Luke 23:1. And the whole multitude of them arose, and led Him unto
Pilate.