Back in John chapter 19, last
Sunday we looked at the first five verses. Let's read those
one more time. Then Pilate therefore took Jesus
and scourged him, and the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and
put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe. and
said, Hail, King of the Jews. And they smote him with their
hands. Pilate therefore went forth again and said unto them,
Behold, I bring him forth to you, that you may know that I
find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth wearing
the crown of thorns and a purple robe, and Pilate said unto them,
Behold the man. Behold the man. It was a man.
A man who took our place on that cross. It was a man. I am more amazed and happy about
that every time I think about it. It was a man. It was a man. A man bore my sin. A man did. He bore your sin. A man suffered for us. A man went into the ground and
a man came back out of the ground. Arose from the ground. Not just
a spirit. Not just a spirit. A man. A man. A man. You know our Lord went up to
the Mount of Olives and gave his disciples some instructions
and while he was speaking to them he ascended up and they
stood there gazing up into heaven. Not just a spirit, a man. A man. A man is right now seated on
the throne in glory. A man. Isn't that wonderful? A man. Last Sunday night, we
beheld the man. Tonight, by God's grace, look
at the end of verse 14. It says, Behold your king. Behold your king. That same man
is our king. He's our king. A man is our king. Now, do you have a favorite president
that you would love to just keep in office? Do you have a favorite
president? You know they can run two terms.
And after that, they just cannot run anymore. You just cannot
vote for them anymore, and it breaks your heart. And then as
time goes on, they die, and you especially can't vote for them.
But everybody talks about him. What a great president that was.
Oh, if we could just have that man back in office. If we could
just have that man reigning back over this country again, making
decisions for this country again, protecting this country again. Well, a greater than our favorite
president is here right now. Right now. Behold your king. We have a king. Who is this king? Verse six, when the chief priest,
therefore, and officers saw him, They cried out, saying, Crucify
him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take
ye him, you take him, and crucify him, for I find no fault in him. This is the third time Pilate
has said this. He said it in chapter 18 at the
end of verse 38. I find in him no fault at all.
Chapter 19 verse 4, I find no fault in him. And now in verse
6, I find no fault in him. Verse 7, the Jews answered him,
we have a law and by our law he ought to die because he made
himself the son of God. Now who is this king? Last Sunday we took note of the
fact that Isaiah 42 verse 1 says, Behold my servant. And we looked at the man and
everything he endured, everything he bore. Behold my servant. But
do you know what Isaiah 40 verse 9 says? Behold your God. Behold your God. This is the
God man. Turn with me over to Hebrews
1. Hebrews 1 verse 8 says, But unto
the Son, God the Father, saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever
and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. That's who this king is. God
Himself. He is not a king that we vote
into place. He is not a king that will ever
leave office. His throne is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness. God
and Jesus Christ of Nazareth are one in the same. One in the
same. Go with me back to John 19. Verse 7 says, The Jews answered
him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because
he made himself the Son of God. Everything they accused him of
is absolute truth. Everything they said, everything
they said is absolute truth. They said he made himself the
son of God. He made himself to be one of
the equal members of the Trinity, not God's son, the son of God. Three persons. One God. He made Himself the Son of God. And men foolishly go around asking
people, won't you make Him your Lord? Won't you make Him your Lord?
You cannot make Him Lord, can you? No man can. He already is Lord. Peter said
in Acts chapter 2, let all the house of Israel know assuredly
that God made Father, Son, and Spirit. These three are one.
God made that same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord
and Christ. Nobody made him anything. Nobody
made him to be anything. He made himself the Son of God. Turn with me over to Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40 verse 13 says, Who hath directed the Spirit
of the Lord? Or being his counselor hath taught
him? With whom took he counsel? And
who instructed him? And taught him in the path of
judgment? And taught him knowledge? And
showed to him the way of understanding? Think about that. Think about that. Who taught
him these things? Who taught him these things?
He is from eternity. Nothing was before him. Nothing. Verse 18 says, To whom then will
you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare
unto him? Verse 21 says, Have you not known? Have you not heard? Have it not
been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from
the foundations of the earth? It is He that sitteth upon the
circle of the earth." I believe Christopher Columbus read Isaiah
40. Everybody kept saying, the world is flat, the world is flat.
And he said, I think it's round. It says right here, He sitteth
upon the circle of the earth. And the inhabitants thereof are
as grasshoppers. that stretcheth out the heavens
as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in, that
bringeth the princes to nothing, he maketh the judges of the earth
as vanity, yea, they shall not be planted, yea, they shall not
be sown, yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth, and
he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the
whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. to whom then will
you liken me? Or shall I be equal, saith the
Holy One?" Verse 28, he said, Hast thou not known, hast thou
not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of
the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his
understanding. No searching of his understanding.
There is no searching of His understanding. I love that. Someone
made the statement one time, ìI donít want a God I can understand.î
There is no searching of His understanding. It is so deep. Chapter 41 verse 4 says, ìWho
hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning,
ìI, the Lord, the first And with the last, I am He. I'm He. Behold your King. This is our King, the all-knowing,
all-understanding. That's your King and my King,
God. Chapter 43 here in Isaiah, verse
10 says, You are my witnesses. saith the Lord, and my servant
whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me, and
understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed,
neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord, and
beside me there is no Savior. I have declared and have saved,
and I have showed when there was no strange God among you,
Therefore, you are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.
Yea, before the day was, I am he, and there is none that can
deliver out of my hand. I will work, and who shall let
it? Who's saying all this? Who is
saying all of this? Who is this true and living God?
Look at verse 14. Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer." That's the one from John 19. The Holy One of Israel. The Lord
your Redeemer. The one who redeemed you. The one who hung on that cross
for you. Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He's the one who said all that.
Behold your King. Go with me back to John 19. Verse 7 says, The Jews answered
him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because
he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate therefore heard that
saying, he was the more afraid. Pilate was afraid of our Lord. He was afraid. He did not possess
the fear of the Lord. That beginning of wisdom. But he was afraid. Pilate did
not understand our Lord. He could not understand Him.
Why are you not answering me? Why are you not speaking? He
knew they were all lying. He knew it was false lies. He
kept sending Him everywhere and He was coming right back. I find
no fault in Him. Pilate had never seen a man not
plead for his life. He'd never seen a man do that.
He could not understand him. He'd never seen a man set his
face like a flint to the cross. Pilate had to be thinking, this
man wants to die. And now he hears that he says
he's the son of God. And Pilate didn't want to have
anything to do with this. Pilate, though, he's just an
instrument. There's a greater transaction taking place. We
know what this transaction is. And right here, we're going to
see our Lord's sovereignty. I love this. I love this right
here. This is our Lord's sovereignty.
Look at verse 8. 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? Where are you from? 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 have power to release
thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldest
have no power at all against me, except it were given thee
from above. Therefore he that hath delivered
me unto thee hath the greater sin. And from thenceforth Pilate
sought to release him. Alright? Pilate sought to release him. Now, earthly speaking, because
of his office, Pilate had the power to crucify him and he had
the power to release him. It was literally, it didn't have
to go before a board, it was all in Pilate's hands. Total
say, all up to Pilate. And Pilate sought to release
him. Pilate wanted to release him. That's what he wanted, but he
couldn't. He's talking about his own power.
Don't you know that I have this power? He wanted to release him,
but he couldn't. Our sovereign king overruled. Let me show you something in
Acts chapter 3. I had about eight scriptures
I was going to show you, and I thought, no, we're not going
to do that. I'm going to give you one. They all said the same thing. I'll
give you one. Acts 3, look at verse 13. It says, The God of Abraham,
and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers hath glorified
his son Jesus, whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence
of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. He made his determination. He made his ruling. This is my judgment. I've decided. I have determined
to let him go. Pilate sought to release him.
That's it. But it didn't come to pass. Our sovereign king overruled
him. Why would he do that? To save us. This is so real to me right now.
Everything was going against our salvation. Every player involved
cried he's innocent. Pilate, his throat was becoming
hoarse, crying, I find no fault in this man. I find no fault
in this man. I find no fault in this man.
I have all the power to release him, and I've decided to release
him. But we have a sovereign king
who was willing to save us, and he would not let it happen. That's
our king. The king we have right now. The
one who's sitting on the throne. Our sovereign king. Even though
he was absolutely innocent, our great king was standing there
holding all of our sin. Holding every ounce of it. Pilate
was going to let him go. But He overruled to redeem us. Let me show you something in
1 Kings 10. 1 Kings 10 verse 1 says, And when
the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the
name of the Lord, this queen heard of the fame of Solomon
concerning the name of the Lord. Faith comes by hearing, doesn't
it? That's the first thing that takes place. When the Queen of
Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord,
she came to prove him with hard questions. When the Lord opens
the ears, He opens the mind. And all of a sudden, the sinner
that has been enlightened needs answers to hard questions. It happens every single time. I have some hard questions that
I need answered. You mean Christ didn't die for
everybody? Who did he die for? That's a
hard question and that's one that needs to be answered. Well, if you're saying that we're
dead in our trespasses and sins, how can a man believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ in order to be saved? If you're saying that
I can't come and I'm dead and Nicodemus said, born again, can
a man enter into his mother's womb a second time? Hard questions. When the queen of Sheba heard
of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came
to prove him with hard questions. And she came to Jerusalem with
a very great train, with camels that bear spices and very much
gold and precious stones, And when she was come to Solomon,
she communed with him of all that was in her heart. She came
straight to him. Straight to him. Verse 3 says,
And Solomon told her all her questions. There was not anything
hid from the king which he told her not. He answered every question
she had. But I love how this is worded.
It says, Solomon told her all her questions. And when God starts
working on a dead sinner that has no questions because he's
dead, nobody out there has questions. All of a sudden, God starts telling
him, why don't you ask this? And why don't you ask that? Why
don't you seek the Lord? Behold me. Solomon started telling
her all her questions. Verse 4 says, And when the queen
of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, when she saw true wisdom
himself, we see that in Jesus Christ, don't we? When she saw
the source of all her wisdom, verse 4 says, And the house that
he had built Solomon did build a great house,
but our Lord said we are his temple. Lively stones built up. We are his house. Verse four,
when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom and the
house that he had built and the meat of his table. Don't you
love reading about all of the provisions that Solomon made
in every day? All of the deer and all of the
sheep and all of everything he provided. Oh, what a feast Solomon
spread. But if a sinner ever sees the
meat of the Lord's table, if a sinner ever sees why his body
was broken, if a sinner ever sees what his blood accomplished,
verse 5 says, the meat of his table and the sitting of his
servants She saw the sitting of His servant. In Him, where
do we, His servants, sit? On the throne with Him. I even,
I take a minute before that comes out of my mouth. We are seated with Him. We are seated with Him at His
table. Verse 5 says, The meat of His
table, and the sitting of His servants, and the attendance
of His ministers. I have a margin in my Bible for
the word attendance. It says standing. The standing. Where are all we His ministers
standing? All of us His ministers. Where
are we all standing? On Christ the solid rock. We
are standing on the promises. Verse 5 says, when she saw their
apparel, when she finally saw the righteousness that Christ
had wrought for His people. You know that sinner comes and
sees God's holiness and cries, woe is me, I'm a sinner, I'm
a sinner, God's going to kill me, what must I do? And then
as soon as they see Christ's righteousness that He has robed
that sinner with, Verse 5 says, when she saw his
ascent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord, when she
saw him high and lifted up, ascended up to the majesty on high, it
says there was no more spirit in her. Isn't that us when we
see him high and lifted up? No more spirit. Verse 6 says,
And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard
in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom, howbeit I
believed not the words until I came and mine eyes had seen. And behold, the half was not
told me. Thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth
the fame which I heard. I am not only counting on that,
I'm looking forward to it. Every man God has raised up in
the history of men, we've got John Calvin and John Gill and
all the Johns, the half has not been told to me so far. The half
I know of is glorious. I can't wait to see the other
half. So far exceeds what we've heard
so far. Verse 8, she said, Happy are
thy men, happy are these thy servants which stand continually
before thee and hear thy wisdom. Blessed be the Lord thy God which
delighted in thee to set thee on the throne of Israel. Now
watch this right here. Because the Lord loved Israel
forever. Therefore made he thee king. To do judgment and justice. Because the Lord loved Israel,
he made you king. Because God loved us, he made
Jesus Christ our king. The greatest king on earth. The
king of kings. Go with me back to John 19. John 19 verse 12 says, And from thenceforth Pilate sought
to release him, but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let
this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever maketh himself
a king speaketh against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that
saying, he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the judgment
seat in a place that is called the pavement, but in the Hebrew,
Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of
the Passover and about the sixth hour. High noon. the sixth hour. The moment in
time was high noon with the sun shining in all of His glory,
in all of His strength, in all of His brightness. Moses said,
Show me Your glory, didn't he? And how did the Lord respond?
I'll have mercy. I'll be gracious." Well, here
it is. And at high noon, with the sun
shining in all of his glory, Pilate said unto the Jews, Behold
your king. Behold your king. We just sang
that song, The Lord is King, and the last line says this.
Through earth and heaven, one song shall ring. From grateful
hearts this anthem spring, Arise ye saints, salute thy King. All thy days sing his praise. Isn't that wonderful? That's
our King. Now I'm closing with Psalm 24. Turn to Psalm 24 and I'm done. Psalm 24 verse 1 says, The earth
is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, the world and they that
dwell therein. For He hath founded it upon the
seas, and established it upon the floods. Now look at verse
7. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory
shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The
Lord, strong and mighty. The Lord, mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory
shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The
Lord of Hosts. He is the King of Glory. You know what that word Selah
right there means? Behold your king. Just take a
minute and behold your king. We have a glorious king seated
in the heavens and Jesus Christ is his name. Let's stand together.