Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev19970511.htm

MATTHEW: JESUS AS ISRAEL'S MESSIAH AND HIS MESSIANIC KINGDOM
Part XII: The Postponement Of Messiah's Kingdom
C. The Passion Of The King
4. Learning The Art Of Merely Rightly Standing Under Aggressive, Godless Persecution
(Matthew 27:11-44)
  1. Introduction
    1. When the believer faces persecution for righteousness' sake, the trial itself can whip him up into a defensive frenzy where he either attacks or flees as did Peter in Gethsemane, cf. Jn. 18:10-11; Mtt. 26:51-56.
    2. Jesus exampled for the believer how to face such persecution skillfully (1 Pet. 2:18-23 as follows:
  2. Learning The Art Of Merely Rightly Standing Under Aggressive, Godless Persecution, Mtt. 27:11-44.
    1. Once he has put on the armor of God, the Christian is to remain in a stand position when under spiritual attack from the Evil One, Ep. 6:10-13. This is opposite Peter's unspiritual attack-and-flee mode recorded in Gethsemane when Jesus was arrested, Jn. 18:10-11; Mtt. 26:51-56.
    2. Just how we are to do this was exampled for us by Jesus according to 1 Peter 2:22-23, and we examine Mtt. 27:11-44 for that exampling as follows:
      1. When taken captive by the religious authorities, Jesus announced that the event belonged to the power of darkness, Luke 22:53. That meant that the Evil One was at work in pushing the whole persecuting event of the passion of Christ!
      2. We examine the events of this "power of darkness" persecution to see how Jesus stood properly:
        1. When brought before Pilate in trial and there was asked if He was who he was charged as being, "the King of the Jews," Jesus answered in the clear affirmative idiomatically, "You said it!", Mtt. 27:11. This answer was required as it was the legal charge, and it was a true one, B.K.C., N.T., p. 87.
        2. Also, when answering the charge, Jesus made it clear that He was in no way an illegal insurrectionist: had His kingdom been an illegal insurrection, Jesus noted that His servants would then have fought rather than yield like He had to arrest and questioning, Jn. 18:33-36.
        3. Pilate, seeing Jesus was not an illegal threat, sought to release Him as an innocent man, Jn. 18:38.
        4. However, the chief priests and elders started to pour on many charges to get Jesus condemned by Pilate, but when they did so, Jesus refused to answer them as those charges were false and were not required to be answered, Mtt. 27:12-13, Ibid. Pilate was stunned by Jesus' refusal to defend Himself from their many, boisterous and potentially destructive accusations, Mtt. 27:14!
        5. Though Pilate sought to get the people to release Jesus and condemn another man, a known insurrectionist, the chief rulers pushed for and got a verdict of crucifixion for Jesus, Mtt. 27:15-26.
        6. What followed was the vicious crucifixion, Mtt. 27:27-44, but no further defense was made by Jesus: (a) Though mistreated by the soldiers in the judgment hall, Jesus did not defend Himself, Mtt. 27:27-30. (b) When pushed into carrying His cross to Golgotha, He did not defend Himself, but yielded to the persecution as a calling of God, Mtt. 27:31-34. (c) When crucified, He did not resist in the process, Mtt. 27:35-38. (d) While on the cross and mocked by the religious leaders, Jesus did not retort, Mtt. 27:39-43. (e) When even reviled by fellow crucified thieves, Jesus did not come back with a defensive remark, but remained inoffensive, Mtt. 27:44.
Lesson: Under unjust persecution, Jesus (a) went out of His way to present Himself as law-abiding when it was required, but (b) non-defensive when unjust charges or treatments were dealt out to Him, no matter the level of severity involved. In thi s way, He did not ON HIS OWN TERMS ATTACK THE UNJUST PERSECUTION OF SATAN, nor did he ON HIS OWN FLEE the Devil's work.

Application: (1) We are NOT to react to unjust persecution by (a) shirking our legal or Biblical duties just because injustices abound against us; nor are we to (b) flee trouble by becoming defensive, etc. due to the pain or abusiveness of the p ersecution itself. (2) Rather, we are to STAND as did Christ by (a) working hard at heeding our BIBLICAL duties and (b) avoid hindering the gross persecution poured out upon us, no matter how severe it gets.