Echo Tammack with me in your
Bibles to John Chapter 18. And I want as the title of this
second message is, No Fault in Him at All, and that is the confession
of Pontius Pilate on three occasions in this one short passage of
scripture, this one judgment. It's wonderful to think that
the Lord's confession that we looked at earlier is our confession.
And it's good to go back and think of the things that he confessed. And it was good for us to contemplate
the circumstances of all of this. It's so wonderful to keep putting
all of the scriptures all back together again. But the Lord
Jesus Christ at this time had, metaphorically, but in reality
for him he had in his cup, in his hand, bound in his hands,
which were bound, the cup the Father had given him in the garden
that he spoke of. And he had He had this glorious
union with his beloved, those 11 apostles, even Peter. And there's a great contrast
in these gospel accounts, isn't it, between the confession of
the Lord Jesus Christ and the denial of Peter. And yet all
of that time, the Lord Jesus Christ loved him with an everlasting
and eternal love, and he would be brought back to him. We are,
according to John 17, one with Him, united with Him. We were
there, more real than we are here. We were there with Him
2,000 years ago. We were there with Him when He
lived before the law of God in perfect, holy, loving, spiritual
righteousness before God. We were there one with Him. We
were there one with Him as He comes at this time, this part
of the events of His life where He comes into the judgment hall
of men and the judgment hall of religious men, the judgment
hall of powerful men, the judgment hall of political men. He stands
before all of these people being judged of them and yet in reality
He was judging them. He was bound. Don't you love
the fact that he was bound? He was bound. He was bound spiritually to his
father's will. He was bound spiritually and
reality to the bride that the father gave him and he was bound
to all the covenant promises. He was bound as our merciful
saviour and he was bound to the offices that he was here declaring
himself to be the prophet who speaks the words of God and the
words of God must be fulfilled. He's bound as the priest who's
now in the process of shedding his own blood and going and taking
that blood into the Holy of Holies and we go in there with him.
And he's bound as the king, the king of kings and the lord of
lords. And here he is in John chapter
18, judged by these religious people. It's extraordinary isn't
it? As we go through this we'll see
that their hypocrisy and deceitfulness is just so extraordinarily evident. Did you know that the only people
the Lord accuses of hypocrisy in all the Bible He dealt with harlots and thieves
and weak, weak people, but he reserves the word hypocrisy for
the religious people. So let's go back to John chapter
18 and we just look at some of it, but I want us to hold John
18 in our Bible. And he says in verse 38, At the
end of verse 38, I find no fault in him at all. And then he releases
Barabbas and there's the glorious picture of substitution which
Lord willing we'll get to look at soon enough. But in verse
6 of chapter 19, I find no, at the end of it, I find no fault
in him at all. And he brings him out and he
says, that you might know that I find no fault in him at all. The Lord Jesus Christ is here
as the Lamb of God, about to be sacrificed. And I love the
fact that the Lamb of God was examined. Those lambs in the
Old Testament, they examined them from head to tail, and if
they found one thing wrong with them, they were no longer satisfactory. Leviticus chapter 22, verse 21
says, it shall be perfect. to be accepted, perfect to be
accepted. You might have heard of the red
heifer sacrifice. There are multitudes of people who believe that the
Lord Jesus Christ will be forced to come back to earth when they
build a temple over there in Jerusalem. And there are thousands
of farmers around the world that have been breeding red heifers
and it's an extraordinarily frustrating thing because you can breed these
red heifers and you can get them nearly perfect and then you go
examine them and they've got one black hair on them. No good. Not acceptable. Someone in America
has finally found someone, the Jews and all the people that
join in. That sort of deceptive nonsense.
Actually we're so excited that now finally we've got the Red
Heifer and if we can get the Red Heifer then we can introduce
the sacrificial system and if we can get the temple built then
we can force him, we'll get him to come back and we will reign
as kings. But the Lord Jesus Christ here
before us is examined by people, is examined by these religious
men. And I want us to just try and
flesh it out by going to Matthew's gospel and to Luke's gospel and
just try and get something of the picture of what's going on,
because John covers it as he does, such that we might believe,
that we might see and we might believe. But in Matthew chapter
26, I want us to just look at these witnesses. Matthew chapter
26 verse 59, Now the chief priests and the
elders and all the council, listen to this, they sought false witnesses. They were looking for false witnesses.
Amazing, isn't it? There they were, he who is the
truth, he who is God Almighty, and these people who say that
they stand in God's place and in Moses' seat, they were looking
for false, they sought false witnesses against Jesus. And
there's one purpose, wasn't it? They sought to put him But listen
to what it says. But found none. Though many false
witnesses came, yet they found none. And at last came two false
witnesses. So they finally found two false
witnesses that would agree with each other. And listen to what
these false witnesses say. And said, This fellow said, I'm
able to destroy the temple of God and build it and to build
it in three days. Can he do that? He spoke and
a universe came into existence. Do you reckon a few stones in
Jerusalem is a problem for the Lord Jesus Christ to build a
temple? We know, of course, that he wasn't talking about that
physical temple, even though he was to destroy that temple
in the not-too-distant future. But was that false? Is he able
to destroy the temple and build it again in three days? It's
not false, is it? They finally found two that agreed
with each other. And the high priest rose and
said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? What is it which these
witnesses against thee? But Jesus held his peace. We
can learn an awful lot about how we are to stand and to live
before those who bring accusations against us by the way the Lord
Jesus Christ dealt with these people. He opened not his mouth,
but he was forced at times He opened not his mouth as promised
in the Old Testament scriptures in Isaiah 53 and in Psalm 38
it says in verse 12, they also that seek after my life lay snares
for me that they may seek my hurt. They speak mischievous
things and imagine deceits all day long. What a way to live,
what a way to live. But I as a deaf man heard not,
and I was as a dumb man that opened not his mouth. But if you go on, we have the
Lord Jesus Christ speaking again. Halfway through verse 63, the
high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee, by the living God that they tell
us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. That adjuring
by the high priest is putting him under an oath, legally putting
him under an oath. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
has no problem in answering. He must answer. He was perfectly
obedient to the law. There wasn't a blemish with him.
And Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said, nevertheless I say
unto you, Hereafter you shall see the Son of Man. Sitting on
the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. I love
that quotation from Daniel chapter 7. I can read it to you, but
Daniel comes after the big books of the Old Testament. Ezekiel,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel and then Daniel. But listen to Daniel's description
of the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 13 of Daniel's Heaven,
I saw in the night visions and behold, one like the Son of Man,
which is why he declared himself to be the Son of Man all the
time, came with the clouds of heaven and came to the ancient
of days and they brought him near before him. How do you get
near to God? You have to be as good as God.
And there was given him, this is lovely, there was given him
dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people, nations, and
languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which
shall not be destroyed. Don't you love that description
of our Lord Jesus Christ? the king of this glorious kingdom you'll see him he said he had
to answer he had to answer pilot you'll see the son of man sitting
at the right hand of god i mean kyphos you'll see the son of
man he saw him He saw him when he died. You'll see him again
when the Lord Jesus Christ, that same Jesus comes back, sitting
at the right hand of God. He's sitting there. Don't you
love what Hebrews, how Hebrews describes him? Who being the
brightness of his glory and the express image of his person,
upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had, this
is one of the most glorious words, passages in all the scripture,
when he had by himself, purged our sins. That's taking something
that's filthy and making it perfectly, perfectly clean. He sat down
at the right hand of the majesty on high. You're going to see
me. You're going to see me in all of my glory. The high priest
rent his clothes, verse 65 of Matthew 26. High priest rent
his clothes saying he has spoken blasphemy. What further need
have we of witnesses? Behold, now ye have heard this
blasphemy. What think ye? They answered,
he is guilty of death. And the death that the law required
was a death by stoning. They did it with Stephen, they
did it, they were commanded to stone people they accused of
blasphemy. And then they go on and they
do all of this abusing, and then they send him to Pilate. But I want us to read on in Matthew's
Gospel. They are hypocritical and deceitful,
and they have only false witnesses against him. We know the story
of Judas and it's an extraordinarily tragic story to contemplate and
a salutary lesson in someone being so close to the Kingdom
of God for so long and having so much testified before him
and yet spending eternity regretting all the sins that he must live
in forever. But listen to Judas' testimony. I'm talking about there being
no fault in him. Pilate said it three times. But I want us
to see that everyone associated with the Lord Jesus Christ in
these events declared him to have no fault in him. Listen
to what Judas said. Verse 3. Then Judas, which betrayed
him when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself. That's no good,
that's not repentance. And brought again the 30 pieces
of silver to the chief priests and elders saying, I have sinned
in that I have betrayed, what? Innocent blood. They were excited
when Judas came. to him, came to them and offered
to betray him. And then Judas is forced to declare
that he was innocent. I find no fault in him, said
Pilate. Judas found no fault in him. There's someone else
that found no fault in him. If you read Matthew chapter 27,
go over to verse 19. Verse 18, Pilate knew for envy
that they had delivered him. It wasn't anything to do with
their law, it was just their envy. And when he was sat down,
verse 19, on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, Pilate's
wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that
Just man, righteous man, that's what the word means. Have nothing
to do with that righteous man. Have nothing to do with that
righteous man. This whole council stands against
him. And yet the whole council ultimately
is forced to declare that they have no serious allegation against
him. When they declare him to be claiming
to be God, they're only declaring what is true about him. But if
you turn over in Mark's Gospel to chapter 15, I want us to see
what the Sanhedrin is forced to say. In verse 14 of chapter
15, Pilate has the Sanhedrin there
before him, and he said to them, what will you then that I shall
do unto him whom you call king of the Jews? And they cried out
again, crucify him. Then Pilate said unto them, why,
what evil hath he done? What was their response? They just cried all the more,
didn't they? They just thought that by making
more and more noise, they could cause him to be put to death,
as they thought. In Luke's Gospel, I want us to see these witnesses
and why Pilate says again and again, I find no fault in him,
because these people could not bring a serious allegation against
him. But in Luke's Gospel in chapter
22 and verse 67. Let's go down there. He says, Art thou the Christ?
Tell us. This is before the council. And he said unto them, I tell
you, and you will not believe. And if I also ask you, you will
not answer me, nor let me go. Hereafter shall the Son of Man
sit on the right hand of the power of God. And they say, We have then said
they all, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them,
Ye say that I am. I'm saying, you're saying, and
we're all saying the same. And they said, What need we any
further witnesses? We have heard of his own mouth. Verse 1 of chapter 23, And the
whole multitude of them arose and led him unto Pilate. And
they began to accuse him, saying, We have found this fellow. Listen
to what they said. They are accusing him of blasphemy
in their court. And they take him to Pilate.
And listen to what they say. And the whole multitude of them
arose and led him unto Pilate. And then they began to accuse
him, saying, We have found this fellow a perverting nation. When
on earth has he ever perverted a nation? They had no witnesses
saying anything about him perverting the nation. They were just lying,
weren't they? Just hypocritical liars. And
forbidding to give tribute to Caesar. Where on earth has that
been said anywhere in the scriptures? Or any of the accusations against
him? And saying that he himself is Christ the King. That's about
the only truth they had. But why did they bring that accusation
against Pilate, when they brought him to Pilate? because they wanted
him crucified. They wanted him to be put to
death in the most public and shameful way possible. To be
hung naked on a Roman cross so that they could preach their
sermons saying that this man is cursed of God. Hypocrisy,
as I said earlier, is a word that the Lord Jesus Christ only
ever used with religious people. And these people are displaying
the extraordinary hypocrisy of religion. And woe to us if we
think that we're above them. What's the difference? Who makes
you to differ? Who makes you to differ? I don't know about
you, but I remember the time when I was exactly like these
people. And that's exactly what people do, isn't it? We are continually,
and religious people especially, continually bringing the Lord
Jesus Christ into the court of our judgment. And we have no
faithful testimony against him which incurs him of being anything
other than what he declares himself to be. Hypocrites. Hypocrites, woe unto
you, Matthew 23. I think at least eight times
he says to them, no wonder they wanted to kill him. Listen to
what he says to these same people. Woe unto you, Matthew 23, 23,
you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and
anise and cummin and admitted the weightier matters of the
Lord, judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought you to have done
and not leave the other undone. You blind guys. which strain
at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Now what have they wanted him
dead? Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you
may clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but within
they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee,
cleanse first that which is within the cup and the platter, and
that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe to you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites, For you are like whited sepulchres,
whited tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but within
are full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. Even
so, ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within
you're full of hypocrisy and iniquity. And they brought this
man before Pilate to have him put to death with all of that
hypocrisy and deceit. And Pilate continually says,
I've examined him before you. But Luke 23, 14, I've examined
him before you and have found no fault in this man touching
those things whereof you accuse him. Why what evil has he done? I have found no cause of death
in him. Therefore I will chastise him and let him go. Why could that not happen? The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Lamb of God. He must go to Calvary Street.
That's why it says in John 18 that the scripture might be fulfilled. That the scripture, that the
scripture, what he said about himself. You know in John 3,
14 he says, Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up. John 12 32 he says when I
be lifted up I'll draw all men unto myself when I'm lifted up
I'm going to draw all the men is an italics is going to draw
all of his people unto himself He said it plainly again and
again and again. He says in Matthew 20, Behold,
we go up to Jerusalem, verse 18, and the Son of Man shall
be betrayed under the chief priests and under the scribes, and they
shall condemn him to death and shall deliver him to the Gentiles
to mock and to scourge and to crucify him, and the third day
he will rise again. He will rise again. Our great
and glorious God promised that these things were going to happen.
Our great and glorious sovereign reigning God ruled all of these
events. I find no fault in Him. Pilate's wife found no fault
in him. Judas found no fault in him. The witnesses found no
fault in him. Pilate found no fault in him.
The Sanhedrin can only declare him to be what he said he was
and everything else they said about him was a lie. What an
exhaustive examination. For three and a half years they
had Judas there and they examined everything that he said and everything
that he did. And they have to declare that
there's no fault in Him. Isn't it wonderful? Isn't it
wonderful to think how they were finally forced to cause us to
have great comfort in the fact that there is no fault in Him?
He must go to Calvary's tree, and he must go to Calvary's tree
as the perfectly faultless, innocent one. He must go as the holy one. It's impossible for him to save
us from our sins, if he had any sin at all. It's impossible for
him to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,
unless he was perfectly, perfectly spotless. perfectly spotless. And yet, in his hand he had that
cup. On the cross at Calvary, he who
was perfectly innocent bore all of the sins of all of his people
in his own body on the tree. He was declared innocent. And
John 18 finishes with the glorious description of those for whom
he died. Barabbas was there in jail. They
say, take him and crucify him and give us Barabbas. What a
remarkable day that must have been for Barabbas. What a picture
of substitution. Barabbas was a robber. Barabbas was a sinner. There
is a perfect union between the Lord Jesus Christ and His Bride,
a perfect union which took Him through all of this life, took
Him into this judgment where He is declared to be faultless.
And that's what His people are declared to be, faultless. He's going to present His people
holy, unblameable, and unapprovable in his sight. And there's only
one side that matters, brothers and sisters in Christ. There's
no fault in him, no fault in him. What a glorious savior. The only fault, the only sin
that was ever laid on him was the sin of all of his people.
And it's gone, he bore it in his own body to the tree. Let's
pray. Heavenly Father, we do thank
you again for the testimony of the men who hated and crucified
our Saviour. Heavenly Father, we pray that
you would grant us the mercy and grace to see something of
our flesh in those people. something of what we have been
delivered from by the glorious work of your blessed Holy Spirit
in making us alive and showing us the Lord Jesus Christ and
showing us what we are and showing us how we would have treated
him if we could have laid our hands on him in our times of
unregeneracy. We just praise you, Heavenly
Father, that there was blood shed from before the foundation
of the world. The Lamb was slain. The Lamb
came for this cause into this world to be slain, to bear the
sins of all these people in his own body on the tree. Heavenly
Father, we thank you and praise you. for the absolute sovereignty
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that there was a reality about his
sufferings, a reality about his bloodshed, and we pray, Heavenly
Father, that you would cause us to come and bow and come and
rejoice as sinners who found grace and favour in a Saviour
who came for sinners. Make His blood precious. Make
His life precious to us. Make our union with Him dear
and precious to our hearts, Heavenly Father. Bless your words to the
hearts of your people here and wherever they might gather, Heavenly
Father. May we be sent away with comfort
in our hearts and rejoicing in our souls.