God on Trial

From Point Hope Presbyterian · 35:46

Show by Point Hope Presbyterian

Most of us have never once said it out loud, but we've all done it: quietly put God on trial in our hearts. Weighed the evidence, reached a verdict, and decided exactly what kind of God he's turned out to be. In this week's message from Mark 14:53–65, Pastor Rob follows Jesus from the garden of Gethsemane into the middle of the night, where he stands bound before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council. They already know their verdict before the trial even starts. Witness after witness is called, but none of their stories agree, there's no real case against him, and they condemn him anyway. Rob's point is that this isn't only a story about a corrupt trial two thousand years ago. It's a mirror. We reach conclusions about God's character all the time, quietly, in the dark, without ever needing anyone to agree with us. When he doesn't come through the way we expected, when he confronts the places in our lives we'd rather he leave alone, we start collecting our own evidence. It doesn't have to be the truth. It just has to be our truth. Here's where the passage turns. When the high priest finally asks Jesus directly, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" Jesus breaks his silence and answers, "I am," reaching all the way back to the burning bush where God first spoke his name to Moses. He isn't defending himself. He's revealing himself. And even after that, the council still calls the truth a lie. That's the whole message in one line: the truth is condemned as a lie so that the guilty might go free. Jesus doesn't walk out of that courtroom, because in order for the truth to set us free, the truth himself couldn't go free. He was condemned in our place so we wouldn't have to be. If you've been quietly weighing evidence against God this week, we hope this message feels less like an accusation and more like an invitation to bring it into the open. Sit with it in prayer, or share it with someone who might be carrying the same quiet case against him. We'd love for you to bring it with you this Sunday too. We gather at 10:00 AM at the Daniel Island Recreation Center — 160 Fairbanks Drive, Charleston, SC. 🎧 Listen to the full sermon on Podbean, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts — search Point Hope Presbyterian Church. You can also find it on our website and YouTube channel.

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