Turn to John 19. John 19, verse 7. The Jews answered him, speaking
to Pilate. The Jews answered him, we have
a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself
the son of God. And when Pilate therefore heard
that saying, he was the more afraid, and went again into the
judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest
thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have
power to crucify thee, and I have power to release thee? Jesus
answered, Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except
it were given thee from above. Therefore he that delivered me
unto thee, Caiaphas, hath the greater sin. Let's go to the Lord before we
begin. Our Father and our God, We thank You, Lord, that You
have provided us Your Word, that You teach us in spirit and
in truth. And we ask, Lord, that You do
that for us now. In Christ's name, Amen. Now,
Pilate heard the Pharisees say that the Lord Jesus Christ had
said that He is the Son of God. And when Pilate heard that, he
was the more afraid. He already was fearful of who
this was. He was fearful that he was sinless.
He, or at least not guilty. But now he hears that he has
said he's the son of God and he's the more afraid. He's the
more afraid. And so when the Lord, when the
pilot asked the Lord Jesus, whence art thou? Where are you from? Our Lord Jesus gave him no answer. He gave him no answer. We read
in Matthew 27, 12, when he was accused of the chief priests
and elders, he answered nothing. Then said Pilate unto him, hearst
thou not how many things they witness against thee? And he
answered him to never a word. And so much that the governor
marveled greatly. And then when Pilate began to
be bolder and he said to the Lord, don't you know I have power
to execute you or I have power to deliver you? Then the Lord
answered. He'd answered. And he said you
could have no power at all except it were given you from above.
Now I want to just look at these two answers. the Lord answered,
how he answered. One time he answered in silence,
another time he answered. And let's look at these two.
First of all, our Lord could have easily vindicated himself.
He could have answered when Pilate said, Whence art thou? He could
have answered that he's the son of God. And what happened in
the Garden of Gethsemane would have happened then. Remember,
they came to arrest him and he said, I am. And they fell backwards. He could have done that here.
He could have spoken and revealed himself to be the son of God
and vindicated himself, justified
himself of all these charges, and they would have fallen down
and he could have walked out of there without a single person
touching him. But he came to glorify the Father. He came to declare God just. He came to manifest the righteousness
of God. He came to save his people from
our sins. He would not do anything to save
Himself from going to the cross. He would not do that. He would
not do anything but depend upon the Father in perfect faith. And that's what we see here in
Him not answering. He cannot answer. He's got to
save His people from our sins. He has to depend upon the Father
perfectly. And He would not answer. He's
not going to deliver Himself from the cross. He's not going
to justify Himself. His silence declares that He's
holy. His silence declares that He's
faithful. That He's obedient from the heart
toward the Father. And it declares His faithfulness
and His love for His people. He would not speak. He would
not vindicate Himself. Because if He does that, He's
going to deliver Himself and His people will perish. And God
the Father's name would be blemished and he wouldn't do it. Our Lord
was silent because he would offer his soul and offering unto the
Lord on Calvary's cross. He must go to the cross. He must
lay down his life for his people. That's first reason he was silent.
He would honor the Father. He would save his people. Therefore
he would not vindicate himself. And then another thing is we
see in our Lord not answering Pilate that he is perfect wisdom. He is the wisdom of God. And
he would not answer, and listen to this, Proverbs 17, 27, says
that he that hath knowledge spareth his words. And a man of understanding
is of an excellent spirit. Our Lord Jesus Christ here gave
no words, because he's wisdom, and he knows what he's doing
was determined before the world was made. He knows what he's
doing is going to mean the salvation of his people. And so he, in
his wisdom, answered not. He is wisdom. In him are hid
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And it's by that knowledge,
Isaiah 53 said, it's by his knowledge that my righteous servant shall
justify many. We see an aspect of that knowledge
right here in that he didn't open his mouth to Pilate because
he must go to the cross. He must justify many, and by
his knowledge, he's not telling Pilate who he is. Now, as we
look at him not answering Pilate, in defense of himself, he's not
defending himself. We see an example of how that
while he bore all the sins of his people on the cross, that
God might be just to pour out justice on him in place of his
people. We see here that in his heart,
He was holy and he was faithful to God. He committed his cause
to God in perfect faith. He committed it to him perfectly,
trusting the Father to do as the Father had promised in his
covenant. He bore the spots of his people. He bore the sins of his people
in his body on the tree. He has made him sin for us who
knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him. But though he bore the sin of
his people so that God was just, this is the whole purpose was
to manifest the righteousness of God and it would not be just
to condemn him until the sin of his people had been laid on
him. And so though he bore that sin and though he was justly,
justly the wrath of God fell upon him. In perfect justice,
in his heart, he was perfectly faithful to the Father. And perfectly
faithful to his people, in love, by not opening his mouth. By
not opening his mouth. That's what we see. Peter said
in 1 Peter 2.22, when he was reviled, he reviled not again. That's an example he's left for
us, Peter said. When he was reviled, he reviled
not again. When he was smitten on the face,
when he had the hair of his beard plucked out, when they spit in
his face, when they mocked him and reviled him, he did not revile
again. That means not even a thought
in his heart of reviling against him. Not even a thought in his
heart. That's the righteousness it takes
to come to God. That's the righteousness God
requires of his people. No sin whatsoever. Not just in
the things that are easy to do or easier to do, but even in
something like where you're being punched in the face and mocked
and spit upon. Even then, to have no sin whatsoever. Just perfect holiness in heart,
perfect righteousness in thought and in deed. And that's our Lord
Jesus Christ. When he was reviled, he reviled
not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not. Here's what he did. He committed it to him. He committed
himself to him that judgeth righteously. committed himself to the Lord.
I read this to you the other day, but I want to read a little
further. Let's actually go look at it. Isaiah 50. I want you to see here why he said
this. We see here his perfect faithfulness
right here. Isaiah 50 and verse 6, he said,
I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked
off their hair. I hid not my face from shame
and spitting. Why did he do this? Here's the
perfect faith by which he saved his people right here. For the
Lord God will help me. That was his confidence, the
Lord God will help me. Therefore shall I not be confounded.
I won't be ashamed. Therefore have I set my face
like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is
near that justifies me. See, he didn't have to justify
himself because he knew the Father was near who would justify him.
When he had finished putting away the sin of his people, when
he had finished declaring God just and justifier, God would
justify him. God would raise him and manifest
to this world he is the holy righteous savior of his people.
He's near that justified me. Who will contend with me? Who
is it that can even contend with me, he said. Let us stand together. Who is my adversary? Let him
come near to me. Behold, the Lord God will help
me. Who is he that should condemn
me? Lo, they all shall wax old as a garment. The moth shall
eat them up. Now here's the practical application
right here in verse 10 and 11. This is what he gives to you
and me. This is the application. Who is among you that feareth
the Lord? that obeyeth the voice of his servant. Who here believes
the Lord Jesus? You obeyed the voice of the Lord,
you believed on him, the servant of God, and yet you're in darkness
and you don't have any light. Believers come there sometimes,
we get in that place sometimes, just in a place like where our
Lord was right there when these men were condemning him and accusing
him and he didn't answer. Here's what he says, if you're
in that place, let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay
upon his God. That's what our Lord Jesus was
doing. He was trusting the Father, committing it to the Father,
and staying upon God the Father. He says to us, now you do that.
You do that. When you hear this word preached, Try your best. You'll only do
this by the Spirit of God. You'll only do it by the power
of God. But set your mind on this right here. Stay on the
Lord. And by that I mean when you hear
this Word preached, hear the Word as Christ speaking to you
personally. It's not a question of who's
the preacher talking to or what's he saying. Here's the question.
Is what's being preached true according to the scriptures?
If it is, hear it. Hear it as the Lord speaking
to you personally. To you personally. Stay upon
him. Commit it to him. Commit it to
him. That's the message here. When Christ is our wisdom, when
He's our righteousness, go with me over to Romans 8. We just
read that there in Isaiah. Go to Romans 8 and look here.
When He's your righteousness and He's your wisdom and He's
your sanctification and your redemption, He's all your confidence,
you can say what our Redeemer said. You can say, the Lord God
will help me. He's near that justifieth me.
Who is he that shall condemn me? You can say that. Listen,
this is what the Spirit of God said of his people through Paul.
The Spirit of God had Paul write this to teach you and me. And
look how much it is just like what our Lord said. Look here,
Romans 8, 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather
that's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh the intercession for us. You see how closely that
is to Isaiah 50? You see, the Lord's gonna put
his spirit in his people. He had this spirit to not answer.
He had this spirit to commit it to the Lord. And He's going
to put that spirit in you. Now don't think by that. I know
that when you sit here and hear this and you think, I've reviled
back. I have to. Now follow Christ's
example and don't do it. But know this, that He is the
one that justifies His people. You can, you can You can hold
your peace. You can be silent. Sometimes
it's not wise to speak. It's wise to be silent and committed
to the Lord, and you can do that. You can do that, and He's near
that justifies His people. Our Lord is risen. He's interceding
for His people. Stay upon Him and trust Him.
Now, let's go back to our text, John 19, and let's see the second
way our Lord answered. By not answering Pilate, our
Lord declared that he trusted the father rather than men. He trusted the father rather
than men. But now when his father's glory was taken, he answered. When his father's glory was taken,
he answered. Now listen here, verse 10. Then
said Pilate unto him, speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou
not that I have power to crucify thee and I have power to release
thee? Jesus answered. Now he answers, and he says,
thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were
given thee from above. Pilate is boasting here about
his power over Christ. Now think about that. Here is
an earthly governor boasting of his power over the living
God. He's boasting of his power over
God who created Pilate. Pilate's saying, I can crucify
you or I can let you go. He's saying, I can be on your
side or I can be against you, so you better answer me. And
I believe Pilate, being a politician he was, he went out to try to
appease the Jews, and when he saw he wasn't gonna appease them,
he's probably thinking, well, maybe this man's got something
to offer me. I'll be for him if he's gonna give me something. But the Lord answered him this
time. He wouldn't defend himself when he was accused. He wouldn't
vindicate himself. But when it came to his father's
glory, he answered. He answered. He said, Pilate,
you couldn't have any power over me at all, except it were given
you from above. You couldn't have any power.
Our Lord Jesus Christ was about to go to the cross. He was about
to bear our sin. He was about to bear our curse.
And therefore, he could not and he would not open his mouth to
defend himself. He wouldn't answer Pilate to
justify himself. But when a natural, sinful man
began to make his boast to take God's seat and to take God's
authority to himself and boast in his will and his ability,
the Lord answered. Thou couldst have no power at
all against me except it were given thee from above." Both
his silence and his answer, the answer of silence and the answer
of what he says here, this is our Lord's faith. This is him
perfectly faithful to the Father, working by perfect love for God
and his brethren. He knew that God the Father willed
everything that was taking place here. That's how come he could
not answer and be silent and trust the father. He knew the
father, all this was of his power. Nobody could be doing anything
to him except the father gave him the power to do it. He knew
this was of his father. That will put a great amount
of peace on you in your heart and take the burden off you.
If you remember whatever you suffered in this world, If you
face an opposition, it couldn't be except by the power of God. Couldn't be. That's why the Psalmist
said, and it's our Lord speaking in Psalm 118. And he said, it's
better to trust in the Lord to put confident than to put confidence
in man. It's better to trust in the Lord
than to put confidence in princes. You know, there's a lot of folks
here who, if a governor of a major empire in the world came to you
and said, I've got power to release you, or I've got power to condemn
you, there's a lot of people that would bow to that. A natural
man would bow to that. He would try any way he could
to get on Pilate's good side, so Pilate would release him.
But that was a direct attack on God's sovereign character
and our Lord would not be silent there. He answered him and he
said, you could have no power but by, but from above. You realize brethren, I want
you to think about this power given from above. Our birth,
our first birth is by God's decree, according to God's purpose. Our being his servants is by
God's decree. If God has called you, it's because
he purposed it from the foundation of the world and he brought it
to pass. If he sends us to speak his word, it's of God. He's the power that's going to
put the word in the heart. He's the power that's going to
send you forth to speak it, and he's the power that'll bless
it. Whether he saves somebody with it or whether he condemns
them by it, it will be by his power. Listen up, go to Jeremiah
1 and we'll see this, and I want you to listen to what our Lord
says here, and I want you to see a picture of Christ in Jeremiah. And this is so you can put your
place here in Jeremiah because this is so of all his people,
his preachers, his people, who are his witnesses, but also see
Christ in it. Jeremiah 1, 5, this is what the
Lord said, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. Before
thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and
I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Then said I, I,
Lord God, behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child. That is a good
spirit to have. That's the spirit you're going
to have to have if you're going to speak for God. I'm a child. I cannot, I have no sufficiency.
But the Lord said to me, say not I'm a child, for thou shalt
go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee,
thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces,
I'm with thee to deliver thee, said the Lord. Then the Lord
put forth his hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to
me, behold, I've put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this
day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms to root
out and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down and to build
and to plant. And everything That applies entirely to our
Lord, that soul of our Lord Jesus, in every regard, as the servant
of God. He is God, but he came down and
took the form of a servant, and God ordained it all before he
was formed in the belly. And he was sent to pull down
nations and to lift up, and he did it by his word. He is the
word. But this is true of you too, brethren. This is true of
you too. That's the power from above that
everything's been decreed and purposed with God. Who we were
born to, where we were born, when we were born, it was by
God's almighty decree. It's by His appointment. It's
by His will. It's not by our will. And that's
so in the new birth. That's so when He sends the gospel
to you and gives you life, He did things that God had ordained
from eternity. Whatever we have, whatever we
don't have, is by God's power from above. The Lord maketh poor
and maketh rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up.
He raises up the poor out of the dust and lifteth up the beggar
from the dunghill to set them among princes and to make them
inherit the throne of glory for the pillars of the earth are
the Lord's and he set the world upon them. He will keep the feet
of his saints. And the wicked shall be silent
in darkness, for by strength shall no man prevail. This is
what our Lord's teaching us all along. It's not going to be by
our strength that we're going to prevail. It's by His power. It's the power of God. We couldn't
do anything except it were given us from above. And nobody else
could do anything except it's given them from above. This thing's
of God's power. Whatever knowledge we have, whatever
ability we have, whatever talents we have, all are of God's grace. The Lord gave it. We wouldn't
have it except it were given thee from above. Paul said, who
maketh thee to differ from another? What do you have that was not
given to you from above? He said, now if you received
it, why boast as if you didn't receive it? That's what Pilate
was doing. Pilate was saying, don't you know I have the power?
He's boasting as if he didn't receive it. Spiritual knowledge
is given us by God's power from above. If we know God, if you
have any spiritual understanding of who God is, that he's the
everlasting father, that Christ is the prince of peace, the salvation
of his people, if you know this, it's because God gave it to you
from above. Christ said on one occasion, I thank thee, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent. He's talking about the things
of the kingdom. He's talking about spiritual understanding.
God hid them from the wise and prudent and has revealed them
unto babes. This is the power of our God.
Job had a lot. He had a lot. And then God took
it from him. Even his health. Even his health. And Job believed everything was
given him from above, and he believed everything was taken
from him from above. He said, naked came out of my
mother's womb, naked shall I return, the Lord gave. And then when
he lost everything, including his health, he said, and the
Lord had taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name of the Lord. So when our Lord came into this
suffering and He came into this rejection of men, He's facing
the cross and He knew all of it was given to Him of God. All of it. He said, thou couldst
have no power at all against me, except it were given thee
from above. You know, the Apostle Paul, if
you go sometime and you read in 2 Corinthians and you read
of all those things the Apostle Paul suffered, I mean, beaten
with stripes, hungry, maligned, his character maligned, shipwrecked, just a over and
over and over and over. Why did the Lord... Well, first
of all, who gave him that? The Lord did. The Lord did. Men were used, and men did what
they did by wicked hands, but the Lord gave it to him, and
he knew that. And it was for a purpose. You
know why? Paul said, lest I be exalted of a measure. He had
been given an abundance of revelations. And Paul said, and lest I be
exalted because the revelation God gave to me, God gave me a
thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me. And he
said it again, lest I be exalted, lest I become puffed up, lest
this knowledge puffed me up. And I think I'm, I'm, I'm somebody
when God gave it to me. And he said, so God gave me the
thorn. God gave me the infirmity. He gave me the weakness. He gave
me the trial. He gave me the stripes. He gave that to me to
keep me humble at his feet. Everything you face in this world,
brethren, wouldn't it just shine light on it? Wouldn't it just
sanctify it in our hearts if we could just remember it's of
God? God gave it. God gave it. The
best thing for you and me to do, knowing that, is to fall
in the dust. At every occasion, whatever it
is, is to fall in the dust at Christ and to cast all our care
into His hand. Lord, I'm in Your hands. Teach
me, Lord. Preserve me by Your power. Don't
let me sin against You. Don't let me bring reproach on
Your name. Strengthen me by Your power. Teach me by Your grace,
Lord. Keep me looking to Christ. Keep
me as a child dependent upon my Father. Now here's what I
want us to get from this. Trust the faithful one. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Commit it all to Him because
our Lord Jesus Christ is He who judges righteously. Just like
He committed it to the Father, you commit it all to Him. We
oppressed and we afflicted him. We poured contempt upon Christ.
We poured contempt on every office. We've seen it right here in John
18 and 19. His kingly office, they crowned
him with thorns. We did this. This is the sin
we are. We crowned him with thorns. We put a purple robe on him.
We bowed the knee and mocked him and said, Hail, King of the
Jews. That was a derision of his kingly office. His prophetical
office, we blindfolded him and said, prophesying to us, who
hit you? His priestly office. We reviled
him and said, he saved others, himself he cannot save. No true
words ever been spoken. He couldn't save himself if he
go save his people. And yet, when it came to revealing
who he is, so as to vindicate himself, so as to deliver himself
from suffering, our Lord Jesus Christ answered Pilate, nothing. He must save his people from
our sin. Why did he do that? Because he's the one who fulfilled
the law and the prophets. And it was said of him, he was
oppressed and he was afflicted. This was 800 years before it
came to pass. He was oppressed, he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He's brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so he openeth
not his mouth. But when it came to Pilate stealing
the glory of his father, boasting of his power, the Lord Jesus
said, Pilate, don't boast. You couldn't have any power at
all except it were given you from above. And you know what
his last cry was? He answered nothing. Then he
answered, and you know what his very last answer to this world
was? It is finished. It is finished. He accomplished
the salvation of His people. He justified His people. You
that He's called to Him, you're complete in Him. You're righteous
in Him. You're justified in Him. So that
you can say at all times, in all seasons, in every situation,
whether you've sinned and He's teaching you something through,
the black backdrop of your sin or whether you've done something
that is right and you're being condemned for that. Whichever
the case, you commit it to Him because this is what you can
know in your heart. He is near that justifies you. He will justify
you. If you've sinned, He's already
justified you from your sin. He's going to teach you. He's
going to teach you to put that away and press on toward Him.
And if you've done something in His name that's righteous
and for His cause and you condemn, He will justify you in that.
All power is His. You've been made to return to
the shepherd and bishop of our souls. The word shepherd means
the pastor. Bishop means pastor. He's our
pastor. He's the shepherd and bishop
of our souls, and He has all power in heaven and in earth.
All power in heaven and in earth. So, with these things in mind,
knowing He is the God-man mediator, our mediator, knowing He's our
substitute, let us be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow
to wrath. I wish I could give it about
five seconds at least before I ever answer anybody. I wish
I could count to five before I say a word. And so far, aren't
we just quick to just, like we gotta give an answer. Swift to hear, slow to speak,
slow to wrath. And while this is so, also commit
all to Him. Know that He's judging righteously
for His people. Psalm 37.5 says this, Commit
thy way unto the Lord. If there's nobody here that's
ever believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, right now, commit your
way to the Lord. Right now, trust Him, believe
Him to save you eternally. And anybody that is suffering
any trouble or anybody that is worried and anxious about the
cares of this world or how you are going to pay the bills or
somebody is up against you or whatever, commit thy way unto
the Lord. Listen now, trust also in Him. Don't just commit it to Him and
then go about trying to figure out how you get out of it. Commit
it to Him and trust Him. Commit it to Him and believe
Him. What's my promise if I do that? And he shall bring it to
pass. You can do it one of two ways.
He's going to bring it to pass. You can do it committing it to
him and trust him, or you can do it rebelling against him.
He's bringing it to pass either way. So commit it to Him and
trust Him. Commit it to Him and trust Him.
Peter said, Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand
of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your
care upon Him, for He careth for you. All right, brethren,
let's go to the Lord. Father, thank You for this Word.
What a wonderful example you've given us to follow
in our Lord Jesus. Lord, we are poor followers.
Thank you that you continue to manifest your power to keep us
and show us that you are near to justify us and keep us. Keep
us remembering this, Father, that we might Know when to answer,
when not to answer. And know how to answer and how
not to answer. And in everything, Lord, we ask
you to keep us stayed upon our Lord Jesus. Keep us committing
it all to Him. Keep us trusting Him. Lord, we're proud by nature.
We ask you to humble us. We ask you to make us willing
to humble ourselves under your mighty hand, to cast it all into
your hand and trust you and know that you care for your people. Lord, you've wrought our salvation.
You've wrought salvation for your people, accomplishing eternal
redemption for your people. Make us trust you for that. And
Lord, make us trust you every step of the way through this
wilderness. Forgive us our sins, Lord, we ask it in our dear Redeemer. For his sake, by the power of
his blood, we have so many sins to be forgiven. We know you've
forgiven them. We know you remember them no
more, but you've asked us, you've told us to ask you. And we ask
you, Lord, we confess our sin to you. We ask you to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. Do it for the sake of our advocate,
our propitiation, Christ Jesus. It's in his name we ask it. Amen.