MELVIN NEWLAND, MINISTER
RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK
When people are invited to attend church, an excuse we sometimes hear is this: “I don’t go to church because there are so many hypocrites there.” Have you ever heard that excuse? It’s been around a long time.
Those who love the church have come up with rebuttals like, “Saying you won’t go to church because of the hypocrites there is like saying you won’t go to the hospital because it’s full of sick people.”
ILL. Zig Zigler used to respond to those who said, “I don’t go to church because there are so many hypocrites there,” by saying, “Go anyway. There’s always room for one more.”
PROP. Well, this morning we’re stopping at the house of Caiaphas, & what we see there is rank hypocrisy. It is everywhere. So let’s take a few minutes to look at it. But after we do, we’re also going to look at the genuineness of Jesus, & point out the contrast between the two.
I. THE HYPOCRISY OF CAIAPHAS
Our Scripture text this morning is Matthew 26:57-75. And in it we see the hypocrisy of Caiaphas. Our Scripture text begins with these words, “Those who had arrested Jesus took Him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of the law & the elders had assembled.”
I want you to notice that he is called “the high priest,” & that tells us that Caiaphas was supposedly an extremely religious & righteous man. He wore the garb of a religious leader over the nation of Israel.
As the High Priest, he was viewed as a man of God, a man of prayer, one who walked with God, who knew & followed His Word. And he was the only one who could go into the Holy of Holies to represent the people & to seek atonement for their sins.
But while that was how he appeared to others, inside, Caiaphas was actually just as evil & unrighteous as he could be. In fact, as you examine him you discover that Caiaphas had a vendetta against Jesus. He saw Jesus as an enemy to be destroyed
Listen to John 11:49-50, “Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, ‘You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.’”
Do you see the inconsistency? He is a religious leader who is supposed to be a peacemaker, one who loves his fellow man. But his agenda is to get rid of Jesus, & he is perfectly willing to break law after law to do it.
Legal scholars tell us that Caiaphas & his co-conspirators broke at least 40 Jewish laws in the arrest & trials of Jesus. Let’s notice just a few of them.
A. First of all, Caiaphas ordered an illegal arrest. To minimize opportunities for intrigue & injustice under cover of darkness, Jewish law said that you could only arrest someone for a capital crime during daylight. But Jesus was arrested at night. In fact, if you’ll remember, when he was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, it was very late at night – around one or two o’clock in the morning.
There never should have been a trial. Jesus should have been released because they had violated the law in arresting Him as they did. But Caiaphas ignored that law.
B. Secondly, Caiaphas presided over an illegal meeting of the Sanhedrin. As High Priest, Caiaphas headed up the Sanhedrin, a gathering of the 71 elders who served as the supreme judicial authority in Israel. And again, it was against the law for them to hold any judicial meeting at night. Yet, Caiaphas called them together & presided over their illegal meeting. That should have caused a mistrial right there.
C. Thirdly, Caiaphas permitted false testimony. Now the purpose of a trial is to
determine the truth, is it not? Yet he permitted & even encouraged false testimony. Listen to Matthew 26:59, “The chief priests & the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put Him to death.”
They were looking for what? “False evidence”! Vs’s 60 & 61 say, “But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward & declared, ‘This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God & rebuild it in 3 days.’”
Now Jesus did say something like that, but they twisted it completely out of context because Jesus was talking about His body, not the temple in Jerusalem.
D. Caiaphas also forced self-incriminating testimony. Now in our system you do not have to incriminate yourself, right? But in this trial, self-incriminating testimony was forced by the high priest.
Vs’s 62 & 63 say, “Then the high priest stood up & said to Jesus, `Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?’ But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to Him, `I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.’”
Here the High Priest is demanding on the oath of God Himself for Jesus to testify. Now if Jesus had been in one of our courts He could have said, “I refuse to answer on the grounds of the 5th Amendment.”
But listen to vs. 64, “’Yes, it is as you say,’ Jesus replied. ‘But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One & coming on the clouds of heaven.’” Under oath, Jesus told the truth. But in their eyes He had incriminated himself.
E. Fifthly, Caiaphas manipulated a guilty verdict. He should have been searching for the truth, but he was intent on finding Jesus guilty.
Vs’s 65-66 tell us, “Then the high priest tore his clothes & said, ‘He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?’ ‘He is worthy of death,’ they answered.”
What hypocrisy! Here’s the high priest, dressed in his holy robes. He’s ripping them apart because he is supposedly so overwhelmed by the unrighteousness of Jesus. Yet he’s the unrighteous one.
F. Finally, Caiaphas & the Sanhedrin show their true character as they cruelly began to abuse Jesus. Vs’s 67-68 tell us, “Then they spit in His face. They struck Him with their fists. Others slapped Him & said, `Prophesy to us, Christ. Who hit you?’”
Despite all the criticism directed against our current judicial system, we would not tolerate this kind of abuse in our courtrooms. And we’re particularly sensitive about accusations of police brutality even when they’re dealing with violent criminals.
But here, Jesus is bound. He cannot defend Himself. They spit on Him. They slap Him & mock him, saying, “Prophesy, who hit you?” And these were the spiritual leaders of Israel?
Back in Matthew 23:27-28 Jesus had said, “Woe to you, teachers of the law & Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones & everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy & wickedness.”
ILL. Karl Marx, founder of communism, idolized his father. His father, who was a Jew, one day announced to his family that from now on they would be Lutherans because they were living in Germany & it would be much better for their business if they became Lutherans.
Karl Marx never forgot the hypocrisy of his father. And later it was Karl Marx who wrote, “Religion is the opiate of the people,” a crutch, nothing more than that, because he was so affected by the hypocrisy of his father.
SUM. So here are Caiaphas & the members of the Sanhedrin, the leaders of Israel. They’re hypocrites, trying to fool the people into believing that they are better than they really are. And many people today are doing exactly the same thing.
II. THE HYPOCRISY OF PETER
Now there’s a second form of hypocrisy found in our text, the hypocrisy of Peter. It’s very different, & I want you to notice the difference.
A. Remember, after Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciples fled. However, vs. 58 tells us, “But Peter followed Him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. He entered & sat down with the guards to see the outcome.”
Later on, Vs’s 69-70 state, “Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, & a servant girl came to him. ‘You also were with Jesus of Galilee,’ she said. But he denied it before them all. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he said.”
Now remember what Jesus had told Peter in the upper room, “’…this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me 3 times.’ But Peter declared, ‘Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you’” [Vs’s 34-35]. “Not me, Lord. You can always count on me. I’ll be there through thick & thin. I’ll die with you if need be. You can count on me.” But now, in the courtyard of Caiaphas, Peter denies Him.
Listen to Vs’s 71-74, “Then he went out to the gateway, where another girl saw him & said to the people there, ‘This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.’ He denied it again with an oath: ‘I don’t know the man!’ After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter & said, ‘Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away.’ Then he began to call down curses on himself & he swore to them, ‘I don’t know the man!’ Immediately a rooster crowed.”
Who is this? He’s the one who said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” This is the one who walked on water, the one who stood on the Mt. of Transfiguration & said, “Let’s build 3 tabernacles. I don’t ever want to leave here.” This is the one who said, “Jesus, I’ll follow you to the death. You can count on me.”
Who is this? He’s a hypocrite, but his hypocrisy is reversed. Instead of appearing to be better than he is, Peter is trying to appear worse than he is. Why? Because Peter is feeling the pressure of the crowd to conform, to be worse than he really is.
B. I suggest that the hypocrisy of Peter is probably more prominent today than the
hypocrisy of Caiaphas. You come to church on Sunday morning, like to be with God’s people, like to sing praises to the Lord, like to be with God.
And then you go out on Monday & you’re in the courtyard of Caiaphas. There are coarse words & dirty jokes & a lack of integrity. And, like Peter, you’re feeling the pressure to say, “Jesus? I don’t know Him.” Have you ever heard the rooster crow?
You go to school & your classmates aren’t Christians, & they’re saying, “It’s all a bunch of garbage.” So you deny that you go to church, that your family believes in God, that you pray. Have you ever heard the rooster crow?
ILL. James Dobson tells about 11 women who were attending a seminar. After one session they were eating lunch together, & one of them asked the others, “How many of you have been faithful to your husband all the time you’ve been married?” Only one of the 11 held up her hand.
One of the women went home & told her husband about the question & said, “I didn’t hold up my hand.” He was devastated. She quickly said, “It’s not that I’ve been unfaithful to you. I felt that if I held up my hand they would make fun of me. So I just kept my hand down.” I wonder if she heard the rooster crow?
In John 12:42-43 there is an interesting statement, “Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in Him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.”
ILL. Elton Trueblood said, “Many of us would hate to be called a saint worse than to be called a sinner. We never boast of our virtue, but we’re extremely proud of our vice.”
That’s reverse hypocrisy, where we try to appear to be worse than we are. God has touched our lives. He’s changed us. And yet, when we’re in a different crowd we conform to the crowd, & we become who they are.
C. Now here are 2 very negative consequences of that kind of hypocrisy:
1. #1, it obviously destroys your witness for Christ. You can’t have a testimony
for Jesus if you’re like everybody else in the crowd. You have been called to be different. If you just conform to the thinking & speech & lifestyle of the world you’ll never have a testimony & witness for Jesus.
2. Secondly, you can become the person you pretend to be. How often have we
heard of police officers who are undercover agents trying to get into drug rings, who end up being addicted to drugs themselves? Or how many times have you heard of members of a vice squad becoming part of the prostitution scene?
You see, if you pretend to be something long enough, you can become what you pretend to be. Hypocrisy is a very serious matter.
III. THE GENUINENESS OF JESUS
A. Finally, notice the genuineness & courage of Jesus. Jesus stands before Caiaphas, & hears him say, “I charge you under oath by the living God to tell us. Are you the Christ or not?” Now all Jesus would have had to do was say “No.” He could have walked free, & there would have been no crucifixion.
But Jesus tells the truth. “’Yes, it is as you say,’ Jesus replied. ‘But I say to all of you: in the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One & coming on the clouds of heaven’” [Vs. 64].
He tells the truth, & it costs Him His life. But the genuineness of Jesus is so special because without that none of us would have any hope for eternal salvation.
ILL. Steven Brown, a preacher, said that after the service was over a lady came up to him & said, “You know what, preacher? We’ve had a lot of preachers here who told us they were sinners. But you’re the first one we ever believed.”
It’s true. I’m a sinner, saved by God’s grace. And I want to be just as real with you as I can be because I struggle with the same stuff you struggle with every day.
Somehow, in the church, we ought to be free to be who we are – weak & struggling people who make mistakes. We don’t need to pretend that we’re better than we are, or pretend to be worse than we are. God wants us to be just who we are, & what we can be when His Holy Spirit is leading us.
B. To accomplish that in our congregation we need to set some goals for ourselves:
1. The first goal is this, “To have faith that is genuine.” Not put-on faith, not hypocritical faith, not pretend faith, not faith just to impress others, but a faith that can look into the dark abyss & somehow see the way through. I want genuine faith.
2. Secondly, I want this to be a place of joy, not artificial joy, not put-on joy, but
real joy that wells up deep inside of us as we rejoice in the Lord.
3. Thirdly, I want this to be a place of truth, not where we just preach the truth to
prove everybody else wrong, but a place where we have a passion & a hunger for the truth because it sets us free to be ourselves, to be who we are before God.
4. Finally, I want this to be a place of kindness, mercy & grace, not a place of
condemnation, so that when you stumble & fall I’m there to pick you up. And when I stumble & fall, you’re there to pick me up. We help each other as we journey through the experiences of life.
A genuine church is where real people with real problems come to meet a living God who accepts us, & loves us, & forgives us, & gives us strength & power that is not our own. That is the secret to a real church being what God wants it to be.
ILL. Phil Donahue’s autobiography tells of one of his first assignments as a reporter with C.B.S. News. He said that he was assigned to a catastrophe that took place in the Appalachian Mtns. A mine had caved in & people were trapped deep below.
Phil Donahue went with his cameraman to get the story. He said that there were people gathered around weeping, wives & children, really concerned about the men trapped in the mine. Then the people began singing, “What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins & griefs to bear.” Phil & the cameraman caught it all on film.
“Then,” he said, “right at the end of the song an old preacher, an old seasoned veteran, stepped forward & started praying. The prayer was simple & short. It was very beautiful & uplifting, & so encouraging.” But the camera malfunctioned just as the prayer began, & they didn’t get it on film.
Finally, they got the camera working again. Phil Donahue said that he went over to the old preacher & asked, “Would you say that prayer again so that we can catch it on film?” The old preacher said, “No.” Donahue insisted, “You don’t understand. I’m not just a local reporter here. I’m with C.B.S. News. This will be on hundreds of stations. Millions of people will see it all around the world. Would you please say the prayer again so that we can get it on film?”
The old preacher said, “No.” Donahue said, “I got so angry at the old man. And it took me about a year to figure it out. Finally it dawned on me. Here was a man who refused to show-biz Jesus. Not for C.B.S. News, not for a world-wide audience. He would not show-biz Jesus.”
God help us to be like that. May we never just “show-biz” Jesus.
So as we draw near the cross, God help us to realize that all kinds of people gather there. And we’re just people. So please don’t be a hypocrite. Be authentic. God loves you. So come to Him for His understanding, His forgiveness, & His love.
CONCL. If you’re here this morning & you’re not a Christian, we invite you to come to Jesus just as you are. He wants more than anything to administer His forgiveness in your life today, to lift your burden of sin, to make you a new person in Jesus. So we offer His invitation. If you have a decision to make, will you come as we stand & as we sing?
