John 18. We'd looked a little
bit last time I've ever taught in the synagogue and in the temple,
whether the Jews always resort and in secret have I said nothing. We're going to look at all three
interrogations, the three inspections that this lamb went through tonight. This is the first one. And we
can really learn something of how to talk to people by how
our Lord talked to people. I don't want to teach you nothing,
but I want to be like him. And I figure you might want to
be like him too. Might learn something. He said, go back and see what
I've seen. I've told you twice. Told you three times, told you
over and over again. Verse 21, why asketh thou me? Ask them which heard me what
I've said unto them. Behold, they know what I said. You ever get hard questions from
your friends and your coworkers and your families that you're
talking about the gospel and you're like, yeah, and you want to have
an answer. That's a bad spot to be because
you don't have an answer. We're going to mess it up. You
know what our Lord just said? Go ask one of them that I've
taught. Come church with me. Go talk to my pastor. Go talk
to your pastor. That's good advice, isn't it?
Our Lord said it. Come in here. And when he had
thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with
the palm of his hand, saying, answerest thou the high priest
so? They had respect for that man
in that office, didn't they? So much so he struck the Lord
of glory in the face. And as he just had told them,
he said, boys, we're about to fulfill the scriptures. You've
read it, and you've read it, and you've read it, and you've
read it, and you've read it, and you've read it, and it's about to come to
pass in front of your eyes. Just as if they had an instruction,
like they had a recipe and they was making a cake. Add the eggs
now, hit him in the face now, take his jacket off, bet on him. You got dice, you bring the dice,
you need the dice, we're gonna roll, cast lot. Verse 23, and Jesus answered
him, if I've spoken evil, bear witness of the evil. If I've
done something wrong, you tell me. You tell me what I've done
wrong. You're saying I've done something
wrong, now you tell me what I've done wrong. I'm sure it was kind
and tender. us disciples of his ornery, Peter's
cutting off ears, John, James, sons of thunder. We're gonna
do a little thundering too, don't we? He said, if I've spoken evil,
bear witness to evil, but if well, why smitest thou me? Oh,
he's got him. He'd done nothing wrong. Now
Annas had sent him bound unto Caiaphas, the high priest. Annas, I can't handle this. It's the middle of the night.
Do you know that? It's two o'clock in the morning.
Y'all woke me up for this. This ain't, this is an unprofitable
conversation. It's turned into a beating. Y'all
can do that someplace else. I'm old and I want to go to bed.
Send him to my son-in-law. He's the other high priest. Cause
there's a high priest and associate high priest and temporary high
priest and Sunday school high priests. There are a dime a dozen. Send him to him. John doesn't
record that. John doesn't, but Matthew did.
Let's turn over to Matthew and look what that happened there.
This is the first inspection. Annas had him. Matthew 26. Annas had him and there was nothing
they could find wrong with him. The Lord said, for something
evil, tell me. And no one said it. They said,
just get rid of him. We don't know how to hang into this. This
man's speaking truth. Matthew 26. Now in verse 57. Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas,
inspected him first. Now Caiaphas is going to. Matthew
26, 57. And they that had laid hold on
Jesus led him to Caiaphas. He keeps being led. He keeps
being led. I remember, it always makes me
think, we used to watch I think it's called wrestling throughout
the common world. And the southeast of these United
States called wrestling. And so we'd watch wrestling on
TV when I was a kid. I was about four. My dad was huge. And he'd
lay on his belly in the floor and watch TV. And I'd sit on
his hind end, and I'd grab his foot, and I'd pull real hard.
And he'd go, oh, oh, oh. Oh, I'd hurt him every evening.
That leg was the size of me. Do you think I was hurting him?
I thought I was. And I sit here, I read this,
and I think them men, they really thought they was leading him.
We got him now. He's allowing himself to be led. The God of all, all power. If there's a chemical reaction
that takes place in a cell in somebody's body, he's the one
that purposed it and performed the power to do so. And they're
leaving him. Or we'll take you to somebody
else. You keep talking like that. Verse 57. And they that laid
hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where
the scribes and the elders were assembled. They got the whole
church up at 3 a.m. Right in the middle of the night.
All the elders, all the scribes, all the high priest, right there
all there together. They got the whole church gathered, emergency
meeting. We're gonna call a meeting. And
they brought him into them. But Peter followed him afar off
under the high priest palace and went in and sat with the
servants to see the end. Now, the chief priests and the
elders and all the council They sought false witness against
Jesus to put him to death. Who was that good, trusted council
member at the church? That good, trusted elder? They're
ordained. They ordained every one of them.
The chief priests, plural. What was their intention and
goal? Put him to death. We can't move. What if we had
to up and move? What if I lost my job? What if
I lost my status in the community? I'm getting a paycheck. I got
kids to put through school. We can't have it. One man, as
KFA said, has to die that the others may live. He had a little
bit of truth. They say some good things down
there, don't they? And they're crucified in God every chance
they get. Kill him. We won't have this man reign
over us. Kill him. Verse 60. They found none. They kept looking
for his false witnesses. They didn't seek true witnesses.
They sought false witnesses. They didn't say, get Peter, James,
and John and get all them boys down here. We want to talk to
them. They sought false ones. Couldn't find any one of them.
But they found him. And yea, though many false witnesses
came, they couldn't find a good one. yet they found none. At the last came two more false
witnesses, and they said, this fellow said, I'm able to destroy
the temple of God and to build it in three days. He had said
something like that. He said, you tear down the temple
of God and I'll raise it. He didn't say he was going to
build it. He said he was going to raise it because he spoke
of his body. Words mean things, don't they? Words mean things. God calls these false witnesses.
That's pretty close. This ain't horseshoes and this
ain't hand grenades. It's important. And the high priest arose and
said unto him, verse 62, answers thou nothing? What is it which
these witnesses against thee? That Jesus held his peace. You defend yourself. Defend yourself. Not once did he jerk back on
those ropes, or chains, or leather straps, or whatever they had
him bound with that was leading him. Not once said, now boys,
let me go. That's classic. You see somebody
locked up on them cop shows, they say, now let me out of here.
Not once has a cop ever said, oh, now that you ask, OK, we'll
let you go. They try, don't they? He didn't
try. He didn't fight back. He didn't say, now, y'all made
a mistake. You got the wrong one. He held his peace. He kept it. Defend yourself.
That's my hardest thing. People say false things about
me and it runs through me and my mouth opens and I defend myself. He did. He held his peace. And
the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee
by the living God. Now we're going to bring God
into this. A whole lot of churchy folks, this hasn't come up once.
Did anybody say, go get the scriptures and see if this matches? Prove
this to see if it's, that's what John's gonna tell them years
later. We're gonna have an epistle to read about that. Try the spirits.
See if this is of God. Now the demanding answers. I
adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou
be the Christ, the son of God. And you tell me now. Not defending himself. Jesus
said unto him, Thou hast said. You've said it. What did he tell Judas? You've
said it. Thou hast said. Nevertheless,
you've said everything that needs to be said. Nevertheless, I say
unto you, and sitting defending himself, this is a statement
of fact. Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the
right hand of the power and the coming in the clouds of heaven.
You're going to see Christ on his throne, sitting. Who was sitting right then? Our
Lord was standing and the boss was sitting. Caiaphas was sitting. He was sitting down. I'm going
to sit down. You come talk to me. You stand up when you're talking
to me. That's what we did in the army. We'd go pray, dress, or tension, depending
on who the person was you were speaking to. And the Lord looked
at him and said, you're going to see God sitting on his throne
and coming in power. He said that, that's a true statement,
I say that, that's a true statement, you say that, and there's true
statement people all around this world say. There's people with
mental illness on the corner of streets holding up cardboard
signs saying Jesus is coming. They don't know him. Mankind
puts this Lord in a manger every Christmas, don't they? They think
of God and they say, you know what, he's baby Jesus. and let's
put him in a little tiny basket, and we'll make a little tiny
figurine set of him. And then come Easter, we'll put
him up on a cross, and we'll lock him just fine. And we'll
put him anywhere we're well, good, and pleased to put him.
Because he's a figurine, he might as well be a porcelain doll,
the one that they know. Here a judge was judging the
judge of judgment. Might be a lot of J's, isn't
it? He was judging. Do you know better? I thought, I've heard a man tell
another gospel preacher, said, you've been preaching too much
on the rough stuff, on the hard stuff, we need some better stuff.
And I thought, I wonder if that person, when the Lord comes,
how would you word it whenever you sat down and say, Lord, I
was reading through Hosea, and I just think there's too many
chapters of rough stuff here. I think you got your proportions
all wrong. Would you do that? Might be good to bow, huh? Pray we bow now. There was a
judge judging the judge of all, and that's gonna change. Do you
know how fast it took for Caiaphas to be standing in front of Christ
in judgment? A vapor. As fast as the morning dew melts
away, he's gonna be standing in front of the Lord sitting
on his throne, his throne of judgment. That makes me sad for
him. He said, you got time, see what
you do. I won't go preach to Caiaphas
or any of them. Oh, don't you know what you said?
Now it's got to happen. Lord said this must, that must happen.
Verse 65. And the high priest rent his
clothes. He just tore his shirt saying he has spoken blasphemy.
He knew he was speaking of himself. What further need have we of
these witnesses? We don't have any witness. You just get up
and you just start saying stuff until he says something that
we can get him on. Nothing's changed. You just get him talking. He's going to say something we
can go against him on, and that's the bone we'll pick, and y'all
can leave. We don't need these witnesses
anymore. Behold, now you've heard his blasphemy. What think ye? And they answered, the elders,
and the councilmen, and the director of the board, and the president.
He's guilty of death. Kill him. What'd he say? Seriously. I mean, you get a legal scholar
out. He said, you're going to see God on his throne and coming
in his power. That's the truth. But they knew
that he was the one. They knew he was God, too. And
they said, kill him. And they did spit in his face
and buffeted him, and others smote him with the palms of their
hands, saying, prophesy unto us, thou Christ, who is he that
smote thee? You know everything? Which one's
the ones that just hit you? What an inspection of a lamb.
Did that get you? He's there causing me. That night,
it was so cold, Peter had to go warm himself by a fire. It's
for his people, for his bride. This world's so tore upside down,
looking anything but Christ. What's a woman? It's a biological
and a social picture of Christ's church. That's what she is. Look to him. Knock out other
nonsense. Need to. Back in our text, that
was a second one. Our Lord went to Annas and to
Caiaphas. Now here in John 18 verse 28. John 18, 28. They then led Jesus
from Caiaphas. They led him. That's what the
Ethiopian eunuch was reading in Acts 8. He was led as a sheep
to the slaughter. And like a lamb before his shearers
was done, he opened not his mouth. He was led. Then led they Jesus
from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment. And it was early, early
in the morning. Stand two. Five, four, five,
six a.m. I don't know. It was early. And
they themselves went not into the judgment hall. Now they took
him out to the courthouse where Pilate was. But they didn't go
inside, lest they should be defiled. You see that? They led Jesus
from Caiaphas into the Hall of Judgment, and it was early, and
they themselves went not into the Hall of Judgment, the Judgment
Hall, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover."
We're about to have the Jews' Passover, not the Lord's Passover.
They're going to have the Jews' Passover, because this is what
mom and daddy always did. This is how they did it. And that's what
we're gonna do. Now, I can't be defiled. I can't go into this
Gentile building, and then I wouldn't be able to participate in the
sacraments of the Jews' Passover. Has anything else changed? Tactics
haven't changed, the mentality hasn't changed. I bet if it was
this day, I bet they wouldn't cuss, smoke, or chew or run with
those that do. I bet they wouldn't take our
children to Halloween trick-or-treating. Because they're so squeaky clean
holy, but they'll spit on, they'll punch, they'll kick, they'll
mock the Lord of Glory by thinking little of Him and high of themselves. How am I any different? Who makes
me different? I'm the same. Peter's sitting
there spitting on his face by standing by the fire and that
man in there pistol whipping him with the rod. The difference
is the grace of God. The difference is what he's doing
according to the scriptures. Do we not read those things?
Do we not look over those things? No, we read it in all. In all. Verse 29. Pilate then went out
unto them. He come outside because they
couldn't come inside. He knew how squeaky clean it was. The
whole town knew. They wore the halo so tight it gave everybody
a headache. He said, what accusation bring ye against this man? You brought a prisoner. It's
5 a.m. What's the charge? You know,
not much change there either. This is a court. If you're going
to charge somebody, you have to have an accusation. There
has to be a charge, right? And in those days, even in wicked
rule, the rule of Rome, even in wicked old Romans, You had
to, there had to be a charge, he couldn't charge with nothing.
There had to be accusers. If you were charged by something,
you had the right to face your accusers just as you do in our
nation. Ain't that a good legal system? You gonna charge me,
you look me in the eye. You gonna say I did something
evil, you look me in the eye and say it. And you had the right to defense.
You had the right to air your side of the story. That's exactly
what happens in our day. Pilot comes outside and says,
what charge you bring against this man? And they answered and
said unto him, They give him a charge? No, they were offended.
Man gets so offended so easy, don't they? He said, what's the
charge? This is normal routine. We'll process him. You don't
have to come inside. I know you're weird about that.
What's the charge? And they answered and said unto
him, verse 30, if he were not a malfactor, we would not have
delivered him up to the, unto thee. We wouldn't even brought
him. Why are you even asking us? Do
you know our moral and ethical standing in this community? How
dare you? I don't have to dignify myself
with answering that question. And Pilate said to them, take
ye him, you take him, and judge him according to your law. The
Jews therefore said unto him, it's not lawful for us to put
any man to death. There's a lot of commentators
you could read on that and it says that the Romans came in
and they removed their ability to stone people. I partly believe
that. We'll give up anything the Lord
says just to keep everybody happy and keep up with the neighbors
and keep up with the Joneses. But they tried over and over.
So if that was true, what happened legally, they're liars. because
they're already lying, saying this man's done something, we
won't even tell you what it is, just kill him. We want him executed
and we can't do it, you do it. Or if they were able to, then
they're lying in that too. It's not lawful for us to put
any man to death that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled,
there's a colon there, which he spake signifying what death
he should die. Pilate gave him the opportunity,
didn't he? You all do it. They could have went and stoned
him if it was against Roman law. And I said, you can't stone nobody,
that's a lot. Pilate, he's the boss, he said
it was fine. We have witnesses. Well, Pilate said, okay, I guess
we'll let this one go. But that couldn't happen, because
the Lord told him. Right before they took him, he
said, we're about to fulfill the scriptures. He's gonna die according to the
scriptures, isn't he? It says in verse 32, that the saying
of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what
death he should die. Once they tried to throw him
off a cliff at the edge of town. Twice they took up stones to stone
him." That's the Jewish death. But it must be on a tree. He
must hang from the tree. And Luke 4 says they were in
the synagogue and they heard these things and they were filled
with wrath. He said he was God. Did you hear
what he said? And he rose up and they thrust him out of the
city and took him to the brow of the hill whereon the city was
built that they might cast him down headlong. They was gonna
throw him off a cliff. But he passed through the midst of them
as he went his way. He just walked right through them. Fulfilling what he just told
them. He's the Lord. John five said that therefore
the Jews sought the more to kill him because he had not only had
broken the Sabbath but said also that God was his father making
himself equal with God. If he's a healer, that's handy.
If he's a cook that can do miracles and make a lot of fishes, that's
handy too. We're gonna need some food. But
if he's God, we're gonna have to worship him. He said, I and my father are
one in John 10, and the Jews took up stones again to stone
him. Here in verse 31, and Pilate
said unto them, take ye him. and judge him according to your
law. The Jews therefore said unto him, it's not lawful for
us to put any man to death. Now they're willing to follow
the law of the Romans. Is this a law or is this a mandate about
the stone? Oh no, you said it, it's fine,
we'll do it. You kill him. That the saying of Jesus might
be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should
die. He said this before, before this
night. This is what the scriptures say.
Nicodemus came through. The Sanhedrins is who's there
with them. That's the elders. Remember when Moses, they had
70 to help him out? They got 70 elders. That's where
the Sanhedrin comes from. So now they had this numerological
office to fill, and they had 70 elders. That was the Sanhedrin. And so they're there, and that
one caught away from him one night, Nicodemus, there in John
3, and he went to him by night. And he told him, he said, as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, not as Moses
stoned the serpent in the wilderness, as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal
life. Kevin, you're laboring all these
things. We got it, man. We've read this 55 times. This
is concerning eternal life. Him being lifted up. This is
real important. That the scriptures be fulfilled.
Because if this ain't, then Christ died in vain. If it's not according
to the scriptures, if the law is not kept, if the jots and
the tittles ain't crossed and dotted. After this event, That
angel come to him there at the tomb and he said, he's not here,
but he's risen. Remember? Remember? I like the amplified version
of that, the Lord's remembrances. I just say, remember, remember,
remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee saying
that the son of man must be delivered in the hands of sinful men and
be crucified. and the third day rise again,
and they remembered the Lord's words. They remembered his words.
He did say that. He said he had to be crucified.
Our law says stone. He had to be crucified. Why?
In Deuteronomy 21, the Lord gave commandments concerning these
things. He said, if any man have committed a sin worthy of death,
and he be to be put to death, thou hang him on a tree. You gotta hang him. And his body
shall not remain at night upon the tree, but shall any wise
be buried that day, for he that is hanged is accursed of God.
Isn't that what Paul said in Galatians? He were accursed as
everyone that hangeth on a tree. What's so necessary? Hang them on the tree of the
Lord against the sun that the fierce anger of the Lord may
be turned away from Israel. Numbers 25. The Lord told him
all the way back then. He said, you got something like
this? You hang them on a tree in the face of the son of the
Lord against the sun and his fierce anger will be turned away
from Israel. I don't want to hear an intellectual
dissertation for four hours about why that's so. The Lord said
it, and that's for us, and he's turning his anger from us. Is
that good enough for you? Good enough for me. Verse 33,
John 18, 33. Then Pilate entered into the
judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto him, Art
thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered him. I love this. Sayest thou this thing of thyself,
or did others tell it of me? Tell thee of me. Are you finally
starting to catch on, Pilate? Is the Lord finally working in
you? Or did somebody else tell you? You just regurgitated what
somebody else said. Pilate answered, am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief
priest have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done? I don't know your all systems
and your customs and all those things. I know they brought you
to me. What have you done? I thought about that a lot this
week. I wonder if Pilot was just real
calm in this whole thing. He's in a leadership position. They
respected him enough to come to him. He didn't pander to him,
but he didn't ignore him either. He might've been what we would
call a real good guy. He's just trying to reason with
everybody. He said, what have you done? And Jesus answered,
my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants fight. And I should not be delivered
to the Jews, but now is my kingdom not from hence. My kingdom is
not on this earth. If it was, my disciples, they
come in and chop every one of y'all's heads off. But that's
not it. Now is my kingdom not from hence.
Pilate therefore said unto them, art thou a king then? Jesus answered,
thou sayest I'm a king. Isn't that what, is that what
hurts in you? God says you're a king and you're
a priest. What do you say? Well, he says it. He says it. That's humility, isn't it? It's
humility. Thou sayest I'm a king. To this
end was I born." We're made kings and priests. What's he say he
was? Born. Rightfully so. From eternity. For this end was
I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should
bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth
heareth my voice Everyone that's of him hears his voice. That's
they came to John the Baptist and I said, are you are you that
prophet? He said oh, no, I'm not the prophet. He said I'm just a voice They
said are you are you that Christ? I'm not that. Are you the king?
No, no, no, no The Lord just told Pilate. I'm the prophet.
I'm the priest and I'm the king That's why I'm here. That's why
you're doing what you're doing. I purposed you from eternity
past to be standing here asking me this. I've written it in my
word and I'm fulfilling it right in front of your eyes. I have pity on Pilate for this
next verse. Pilate saith unto him, what is truth? You think how many excuses he
got, how many stories he's heard and all those things just to
be in, you know, a judge in that position. And the Lord said, those that
hear my voice, they know truth. Those that hear truth, they hear
my voice. My voice is truth. And Pilate said, what is truth?
What's true? Whose truth? Who is truth? Truth is standing right in front
of you. And I'll tell you what truth
is. People say, what is truth? Anything that comes out of his
mouth, anything written in his word or anything he thinks does
or wills, wants to happen. It's truth. That's it. He is and anything that proceeds
from him. And when he had said this, verse
38, Pilate said unto him, what is truth? And when he had said
this, he went out again unto the Jews and saith unto them,
I find no fault. I find in him no fault at all.
I don't find any fault in him. Did Antus find any fault in him?
In this lamb to be slain? No. And he got so mad about it,
he pushed him out of there. Said, he's my son-in-law. Did
Caiaphas find any fault in him? On some trumped up shoulders,
they thought they did, but they knew they hadn't. They said,
we got to take him to Pilate. We can't do anything about this, even
though we've tried throwing him off a hill, and we've tried stoning him twice
already. Pilate, the third, round three.
Third time's a charm in perfection and completion. I find no fault
in it. I find no fault in it. I emailed
myself. I'm gonna see if I can do this.
Remember, I did not put up my notes. You know what else he didn't
find in him? He didn't find a need to know him. He didn't find salvation
in him. He didn't find peace in him.
He didn't find comfort in him. He just had some theological
facts right. Not so I find no fault in him. Oh, I know this y'all probably
read this once a week. I do Isaiah 53. Let's look at
one more time. Isaiah 53. Verse one. Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant,
and as a root out of dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him. He's despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it
were our faces from him. He was despised, and notice who
this is speaking. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and hath carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God and afflicted. but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes,
we are healed. All we, all the we's, all the
you's, like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his
own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter. And as a sheep before his shears is dumb, so he openeth
not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he
was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression
of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no
violence. Neither was there any deceit
in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath
put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoiled with the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul unto death. He was numbered with the transgressors,
and he bear the sin of many, and made intercession for the
transgressors." Who's all those we's and ours and us's? The sin
of many. That's all speaking about transgressors,
isn't it? We hid from him and we didn't
want nothing to do with him. And it was our fault. All these
things that took place in these inspections and these beatings
and spitting and mocking, that's on the behalf of a people. On the we's and the you's and
the transgressors, the many, many of them, a whole bunch of
them. Who's that? We end on a good note, you ready?
John 18, 38. That's what I said in the beginning.
I hope we can see the blind wickedness of mankind and cross steadfastness
in spite of us, his faithfulness. And all that was for his own.
And that's for his glory. He said, Father, glorify yourself.
And he said, you glorify your son. He said, I'm going to glorify
you. I have glorified you. I'm going to glorify you. We just
happen to be. This is for his glory. That's
paramount. Everybody else looking not to
save their own skin. You know, I need to get saved. Glorify God. And he chose to
glorify himself and glorify his son by saving the people. That's
us. That's us. John 18, 38. Pilate said unto him, what is
truth? And when he had thus said, said
this, he went out again unto the Jews and he said to them,
I find no fault. I find in him no fault at all, but you have
a custom that I should release unto you one at the Passover. I forgot. I remember y'all's
holidays. He knew them. They knew him. They had dietary
restrictions. He knew it. They had a Passover.
So I remember, y'all have a Passover going on, right? And it's your
custom, not my custom, that I release one to you. Will you therefore
that I release unto you the King of the Jews? You caught him that. You found no fault in him. I
find no fault in him. He's an innocent man. You want
him back? Why don't you boys let him go?
We'll get into it another time. His wife had talked to him and
had some dreams, but why don't you let him go? You want him
back? Pilate said he found no fault. He even called Christ
by his rightful title. He said, this is the king of
the Jews. But then he said, do you all want my king back? Don't tell me about your savior.
Tell me about your Lord. My lord, my kinsman redeemer, that's my
husband. I go where he goes. You take
him back, you're taking me with him. He said, that's your king of
the Jews. Oh, verse 40. Then cried they all. Then cried
they all again, saying, not this man, but Barabbas. We don't want
him. Give us Barabbas. Here's a full sentence, look
at the end of verse 40. Now Barabbas was a robber. Doesn't that seem
off place? What's a robber? Well, that's
a sinner. You kill him, we'll take the
sinners. We'll take that old mean robber.
You see what happened? They were fulfilling the scriptures.
The king must be bound. The sinner must go free. The
king must be bound, the sinner must go free. Were all them free? No, they wasn't sinners. Those
that the Lord had died for there, they're gonna find out later.
At the moment, they didn't know they were sinners. They said,
give us Barabbas. He must die that we may live.
Barabbas, I thought a lot about him too. Could you imagine that?
Was he tracking this on CNN the whole time? He's locked up in
cell and they said, we're gonna kill you. Probably didn't even
tell him that. He didn't know anything that was going on. He
didn't hear anything, know anything, didn't know any difference. All
he knew was he was in a prison and he was gonna die. That's
a good place to be brought. Have you ever been in a prison
and knew you was gonna die? And a command came, leave the prison,
you're free. Is that what happened to you?
Was you in prison? All of a sudden you realize you
was in prison and a command came? You're free. Due to a prior event. Because of the Lord's death.
According to the scriptures. He's fulfilled all that stuff.
Bravis walked free. Free to go. I pray the Lord to speak to one
of his people and show that because of our wickedness, what he had
to do, the things he must suffer according to the scriptures,
and because of that, his people, and we're burdened when we read
these things, and we're sad when we read these things, you're
free. You're free. And that's a command, isn't it?