We do rejoice to know that our
Lord Jesus does indeed reign. Let's open our Bibles to Luke,
the 23rd chapter, Luke chapter 23. This Lord's Day, we'll have
the Lord's Supper. And after we have the Lord's
Supper, of course, that follows our morning message. But after
that, we'll have our lunch in the back. And we look forward
to that. If you ladies or you gentlemen
want to sign up for food to bring, then you feel free to sign the
lists that are on the table in front of me. We've got several
folks that are having some issues with sicknesses and disease and
that sort of thing. And of course, we want to continue
to remember Clarence Wiseman, who is still at Ohio State University
Hospital. He did not have a good day today. White cell blood count is up,
showing infection. He's got lots of inflammation
in his body. Cheryl said he just felt bad
today, didn't feel like eating anything. They are going to do
an ultrasound of his liver in the morning. And he's a very
sick man. We ask God to be pleased to touch
him and use these very high powered antibiotics to do the job and
take care of this infection. He's a septic and very, very
sick man. Most of you know, I assume most of you know brother
Tim James had a heart attack Monday and we're thankful that
he is he's doing very well and He had one artery a hundred percent
blocked There was some damage to his
heart though the doctors assure him that in time That will heal. He has a couple of other arteries
that are 70% blocked, and the doctor said that's not unusual
for a man 72 years old. And so they put him on some medicine
for that. And I had a long talk with him
yesterday. It was good to hear his voice.
I said, you're not trying to get out to come to our Bible
conference, are you? And he said, no, he'd be here.
He said something to the doctor about it. The doctor said, oh
yeah, you'll be able to make it. So we're looking forward
to seeing him. Now, his daughter, Sarah, she's
also in the hospital in Las Vegas. And she has leukemia. She had first chemo treatment
last night, and the doctors told her this morning they're very
encouraged. I think the cancer cell count
was down as a result of that, and so we're very grateful to
God for that good news. and she is having, she'll have
several more chemo treatments as they kind of throw everything
at this leukemia and trying to take care of it. So you be careful
for his daughter Sarah and Debbie is there with Sarah and she's
kind of babysitting the boys so that Sarah's husband can spend
some more time with her in the hospital. His name is Chris.
So we ask God to strengthen Sarah and use the chemo for her good. And so we're thankful for the
good news we received on her today. Also continue, of course,
to remember our sister, Pat. We had intended to go over Monday
and have lunch with her. She was having a bad day, pain,
and couldn't get in touch with her this evening before the service,
so pray that she is better. We continue to remember Diane
also, and then I don't know the condition of him, but I heard
Bob Coffey had a stroke. I don't know the severity of
it. I haven't, although I have been told for the service it
was very severe stroke. I don't, I just don't have any
knowledge of the extent of the damage and that sort of thing,
but we do hold him up before God and ask the Lord to strengthen
him as well if it be his will. A lot of God's people, are indeed
suffering, and we pray that God will grant healing according
to his will. It's good to see Evelyn back
with us. She hadn't been with us in a few weeks, and we're
thankful that she's here and doing better, and I'm thankful
that you're here, all of you, and may God bless as we meet
together this evening. Now, we're here in Luke chapter
23, and of course this is going to go with our message this evening. Let's begin at verse 1. It says,
And the whole multitude of them arose and led him unto Pilate. That is, all the Sanhedrin, all
the Jewish leaders, were against our Lord Jesus. It's another
evidence of the depravity of man that notwithstanding their
devotion to the scriptures, their knowledge of the law of God,
they were absolutely blind when it came to the glories and the
beauties of Jesus of Nazareth. And they hated him whom God had
sent. and he was indeed the promised
Messiah, but they couldn't see that. They didn't recognize him. In
fact, having taken him to Pilate, the second verse says, and they
began to accuse him, saying, we found this fellow perverting
the nation and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar saying
that he is himself, he's Christ, a king. And Pilate asked him,
saying, art thou the king of the Jews? And he answered him and said,
thou sayest. Then said Pilate to the chief
priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man. And they
were the more fierce, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching
throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place. And
when Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the men were
a Galilean. And as soon as he knew that he
belonged under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself
also was at Jerusalem at that time. And when Herod saw Jesus,
he was exceeding glad. For he was desirous to see him
of a long season, because he had heard many things of him,
and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him. And then he questioned with him
in many words, but he answered him nothing. And the chief priests
and scribes, they stood and vehemently, mightily, and very forcefully
accused him. And Herod, with his men of war,
set him at naught. They made nothing of him. They
mocked him. They arrayed him in a gorgeous
robe. They sent him again to Pilate. And the same day, Pilate and
Herod were made friends together. For before, they were at enmity
between themselves, but now they have something in common. Verse 13, and Pilate, when he
had called together the chief priests, And the rulers and the
people said unto them, ye have brought this man unto me as one
that perverted the people. And behold, I, having examined
him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those
things whereof you accuse him. No, nor yet Herod, for I sent
you to him, and lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him. I
will therefore chastise him and release him. For of necessity
he must release one unto them at the feast. They cried out
all at once, saying, away with this man and release unto us
Barabbas, who for a certain sedition made in the city and for murder
was cast into prison. And Pilate, therefore, willing
to release Jesus, he spake unto them again. But they cried, saying,
Crucify him, crucify him. And he said unto them the third
time, Why, what evil hath he done? I found no cause of death
in him. I will therefore chastise him,
and let him go. And they were instant with loud
voices requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices
of them and of the chief priests prevailed. And this weakling, this Roman
governor Pilate, he gave sentence that it should be as they required,
and he released unto them him that for sedition and murder
was cast into prison, whom they had desired. But he delivered
Jesus to their will. There's the natural will of man
right there. Rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ Well, let's bow our heads together. Our Father, we're grateful for
the hour that you've given us to spend together. Having now
opened our Bibles to two portions of your Word, We shall seek to
look into yet another portion in the Gospel of John. We're
so thankful that you have left us an everlasting record of your
will, of your purpose of grace, giving us this vital information
as to who you are and all of your attributes and in all of
your just and righteous character. You've set before us your absolute
holiness, your perfections, and you have set before us our ungodliness. Lord, we are as bad as you say
we are. It's not a matter of us feeling
our sinfulness. It's a matter of us believing
what you say about us. That every imagination of man's
heart is only evil continually. And out of the heart proceed
all manner of evil things. And indeed the natural mind is
enmity against God. And as we read your scriptures,
we're so thankful that you have put within this book the answer
to that long, long asked question of how can God be just and justify
the ungodly? The answer is through the glorious
person and the magnificent work of redemption of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh Lord, what good news it is
to us, those of us who've been convinced by your spirit of our
sinfulness and of the vast distance that exists between us and thee. What good news that there's a
savior for sinners. There's forgiveness for those
who've transgressed your law. There's righteousness for those
who are by nature unrighteous. The Lord Jesus and his crucifixion
upon the cross of Calvary, which was indeed the capstone of all
of his obedience, that's the answer. He's the answer. to our
greatest need, the need for forgiveness, the need for righteousness, the
need to be accepted by a holy God. Oh Lord, open up our hearts,
teach us the truth, give to us the wonderful gift
of faith, to believe your word, to embrace the Son of God, And our Father, for those of
us who are indeed saved by your grace, who know something of
the work of the Spirit within us, Lord, I pray that you'll
teach us always of Christ, draw us ever nearer to him. May we
seek to honor him in our lives, May we seek to believe Him more
fully. Oh, to sit before us every day,
Christ in Him crucified. May the Spirit of God do that.
Keep us ever looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of
our faith. Lord, we lift up to you these that we've mentioned
who are sick. And you know, you know, So many
of your people are suffering. And it's all according to your
sovereign will and purpose. And Lord, we pray that you give
sufficient grace in times of need. And we believe that you
do. We believe that you will because
you've said you will. And give those who are ailing,
those who are suffering, Lord, give them a great confidence
in our God that He does all things well and that there is with God
nothing amiss about His purpose or the way He brings things about.
Your will is very mysterious to us. And yet, we know that your will
is filled with nothing but goodness and mercy and love for your people. Lord, how good you are to us.
And we know that you've said that you're working all things
together for our good, and we're grateful. And while we can memorize
and we can quote that verse, Lord, I pray that The realization
of it will go deeper than just our minds. It'll go into our
very innermost beings. Let us rest ourselves in our
God, finding a sweet consolation and a very comfortable pillow
for our weary heads and our bodies, knowing that our God cares for
us. Bless these who are here tonight.
Those who are away, watch over them and keep them safe. Bring
them back to us at the appointed time. And Lord, keep us believing
this glorious gospel. Thank you for Christ and him
crucified. These things we ask in his name
and for his sake, amen. All right, if you would, go to
John chapter 18. The book of John chapter 18,
once again this evening. And my subject is really fairly
simple, a pretty simple subject, and that is the questions of
this man named Pilate. He's got lots of questions. It's
usually said, like in an exchange of ideas, he who asks the questions
is the man who's in charge. Well, it is true that Pilate
asks a lot of questions, but he isn't in charge. He isn't
the one who's dominating this. Our Lord Jesus is. Now let me
read you I'm gonna read you the text and then I'll make a few
comments from it. Here in John chapter 18, and
look at verse 33. Of course, the Jews have delivered
the Lord Jesus to Pilate. And then it says in verse 33,
then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, that is
the praetorium. He called Jesus and He said unto
him, now here's the first question. You can underline these questions,
mark it, highlight it, ever how you want to. It's really interesting
to go down through here and see all these questions that he asked.
Here's the first one. Art thou the king of the Jews?
That was one of the accusations you will remember by the Jews. Art thou the king of the Jews?
Jesus said, answer him, and he answered him with a question.
He says, sayest thou this thing of thyself? Do you want to know? Or did others tell thee of me? And then in verse 35, here's
another question from Pilate. Pilate answered and he answered
with a question. Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief
priests have delivered thee unto me. Here's another question. What hast thou done? What have you done to stir up
such anger, such indignation against yourself? And Jesus answered,
my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants fight. that I should not be delivered
to the Jews, but now is my kingdom not from thence. Here comes another question from
Pilate. Pilate therefore said unto him,
art thou a king then? Jesus answered, thou sayest that
I am a king. To this end, I was born, and
for this cause, 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. Here comes another question.
Pilate saith unto him, what is truth? And when he had said this,
he didn't stick around for an answer. That's sad because there's truth
incarnate standing right in front of him. That one who said, I
am the way, the truth, the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. What is truth? And then he walked
out. When he had said this, he went
out again unto the Jews and he said unto them, I find in him
no fault at all. But you have a custom that I
should release unto you, one, the Passover. And here's another
question. Will ye therefore that I release
unto you the king of the Jews? Then cried they all again saying,
not this man, don't release this man, but Barabbas. And then the Spirit of God tells
us now Barabbas was a robber. They're gathered together against
our Lord Jesus, a great confederacy. of Jews and of Gentiles, earthly
kings and rulers, who set themselves in defiance against Jehovah and
against Jehovah's Messiah. And in their hatred and in their
spite and in their rebellion and in their opposition having
venomous, venomous desires. They actually succeeded in bringing
to pass that which God had purposed to happen even from old eternity. Even the wickedness of man, we
read in the Proverbs, shall praise the Lord. From the very beginning of Before
time ever began, I should say, God had ordained that Christ
Jesus would be the sacrifice who would die for the sins of
His people. Our Lord Jesus would lay down
His life willingly, voluntarily. He would be led as a lamb to
the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is done,
so he opened not his mouth. He went before Herod. Herod wanted
to see a miracle. No miracle was shown to him.
When Herod wanted to have a conversation with him, our Lord Jesus answered
him, never a word. Our Lord Jesus has no opposition
of going to the cross. His disciples don't want him
to go. while his followers said, stay
away from Jerusalem. But as it says in Isaiah, he
set his face like a plant, like a plant. He was bound to go. He wanted to go. When Simon Peter
opposed those who came to arrest our Lord Jesus, And there was
the servant of the high priest, Malchus. Simon Peter pulled out
his sword and he cut that man's ear off. He wanted to cut his
head off, but he must have moved out of the way and cut his ear
off. Our Lord reattached the ear. He said, don't do that,
Peter. Put your sword back up. My father's given me a cup. I
must drink it. The wrath of God, I must consume
it. Don't you understand, Simon?
I'm here on purpose. And indeed, there are all the
Jews and there are all the Gentiles and they gang up on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Here's a chief priest. Here's
Annas, the high priest. He's really the legal high priest. And then there is Caiaphas. He's the high priest that year.
He's the high priest appointed by Rome. And then there's Herod
and Pilate, the soldiers. All of these gang up on the Lord
Jesus to bring to pass that which God had ordained to be done.
that his darling son would lay down his life in the stead of
his people. When our Lord, after his resurrection,
he walked along and visited with those couple of disciples on
the road to Emmaus, he said, must not Christ suffer these
things and then enter into his glory? Well, that's what Isaiah
said in Isaiah 53. He had to suffer and then enter
into His glory. Here's the suffering first. The
glory is to follow. The glory will be as a result
of His sufferings. And I will say to you and to
me and to all the saints of God, many of them are suffering tonight.
Listen, we must through much suffering, through much tribulation,
enter into the kingdom. There is for us everlasting glory
that awaits, but on the way along this journey toward heaven, there
are many sorrows and troubles and sicknesses and illnesses
and diseases that we must face. The suffering is now, the glory
is later, just like our Lord Jesus. And as we come to our text tonight,
our Lord having appeared before Annas and then sent to Caiaphas. And we know Caiaphas, he was
kind of the spokesman of the Sanhedrin. He had pronounced
our Lord Jesus to be guilty. And I thought about this. Here's
an earthly high priest standing, the earthly high priest of Israel,
standing before the high priest appointed by God. We know Caiaphas,
he would have offered the sacrifices for Israel and he would have
presented petitions to them, to God on their behalf. But he
stands before and he condemns one who is the high priest of
God's Israel. of God's true people. He is the
one who in John 17 prays for his people. He said, I pray not
for the world. I pray for those that you've
given me out of the world. And then, now he's going to the
cross to offer up the sacrifice for his people, for his spiritual
Israel that will indeed settle the issue of our redemption and
our reconciliation. Of course, Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin,
they were insistent upon bringing charges against the Lord Jesus
Christ before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. They did so to
find where he finally said, okay, crucify him. We'll have him crucified. The accusations were that Jesus
of Nazareth was stirring up the people against Rome, that's sedition. that he told the people not to
pay tribute to Caesar, and that he made himself to be a king,
thereby putting himself in competition with Caesar. Well, he was not
a seditionist. These were three lies. He was
not a seditionist. He came to establish peace for
his people. He came to make peace by the
blood of His cross. He had said to Simon Peter, and
he says here to Pilate, listen, if my kingdom were of this world,
I got people who'd fight for me. Did you see my disciple? He wasn't hesitant to draw out
his sword. And I got some more who'd fight
for me too. But he said, no, my kingdom's
not of this world. I'm not a seditionist. Our Lord
was not a violent man. When they were violent against
him, he wasn't violent against them. When they struck him, he
didn't strike back. When they cursed him, he didn't
curse back. When they spit in His face, He
didn't spit in their faces. You see, that's the way we would
do, because that response is natural to us, but our Lord Jesus,
He's the perfect Son of God. Now, will He have retribution
someday? Absolutely. But it wasn't on
this day. Does vengeance belong unto him? No doubt about it. But he won't
have vengeance on this day. On this day, he's going to endure
the wrath of God in his own body and soul for all of his people. He was not a seditionist. Secondly,
he didn't tell people not to pay tribute to Caesar. In fact,
he said, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. and
to God the things that are God's. Our Lord Jesus, you think of
this, he submitted to every ordinance of authority. It may have been parental authority,
and indeed it was when he was growing up. He obeyed, he obeyed
Mary, he obeyed Joseph. He obeyed every ordinance of
man. He was made under the law, the
scripture says. He's the perfect man. There was
no rebellion in him. He lived a life of submission
to all the laws, to all the ordinances of God and man in order to be
the perfect sacrifice under God. Then they accused him of being
a king. And of course, what they meant
by that was, he's a king rising up against Caesar. Well, he did
not deny that he was the king of Israel, he's the king of the
Jews. You'll remember even in Matthew,
the second chapter, when the wise men came from the east,
they said, where is he that is born king of the Jews? We're
looking for him. There's no doubt but what he's
the king of the Jews. But his kingdom was not like
the kingdom that men thought that he came to establish. And
we'll get into that in just a little bit. He wasn't about to overthrow
Caesar. No, not at all. And the interesting
thing is the accusation, this accusation against him that he's
against Caesar, he's a seditionist, he's gonna raise up an army against
Caesar, in reality, that's what they wanted him to do. They wanted
him to drive the Romans out of Jerusalem and out of Israel.
They wanted him to reinstate the glory days of King David. Get those Gentiles out of here. They were ready to make him a
king if he would do that. You remember when our Lord Jesus
fed the 5,000 men plus women and children back in John chapter
six with a couple of fish and five little barley loaves? He
fed all these people and all this food was left over while
they said, this is the prophet. Let's make him a king. That's
what they said. Let's make him a king. We'll
follow him. He'll lead us to victory. He'll
mass together a great army. We'll overthrow Caesar. We'll
throw them out of here. And he escaped because that wasn't
why he came. That wasn't his reason for coming
into this world. He was no threat to Caesar's
rule. And so the exchange of questions
comes about. Pilate, first of all, he asks
him in verse 33, art thou the king of the Jews? We know the
Jews couldn't come into Pilate's court. Already back in verse
28, they couldn't enter into the judgment hall lest they should
be defiled. but they wanted to eat these
Passover meals. It went on for like seven nights.
So they didn't want to be defiled. They're very much aware of ceremonies
and rituals and laws pertaining to eating Passover suppers, but
it meant nothing to them that they were killing an innocent
man. In fact, even Pilate himself. It says this in Matthew and in
Mark. He knows what the Jews are up
to. We read Matthew said this and
Mark said this, that this man, Pontius Pilate, he knew for envy. That's why they took Jesus of
Nazareth. They were envious of him. He
was stealing their thunder. He was gathering a following.
Men were speaking of him as being the great teacher, the great
preacher. They were losing followers. It was for envy. For envy. And here's this man, Pilate.
He says, are you the king of the Jews? Are you the king of the Jews?
Now, the Jews had said, the Jewish leaders had said earlier in the
exchange with Pilate that if he weren't a malefactor, he said,
we wouldn't have brought him to you. Look back in verse 30. And here's another question Pilate
had asked in 29. What accusation bring you against
this man? They answered and said unto him,
if he were not a malefactor, if he wasn't an evil man, we
would not have delivered him up unto thee. Listen, he's not
a malefactor, he's a benefactor. That's who he is. He's a benefactor. He came to give, to give himself,
to give his life. to give all of those spiritual
blessings that were promised us and ordained for us in heavenly
places from old eternity, to give them unto us, to raise up
a seed, to raise up a people to the glory of God. Art thou a king? Art thou a king? And our Lord
Jesus said now in verse 34, Do you want to know yourself?
Do you want to know who I am? Now remember, our Lord Jesus,
God never asks a question because he needs to know an answer. Because
he already knows the answer. It's to draw it out of him. And
he says, are you interested in me? Do
you want to know who I am? Do you want to know the reason
for me coming into this world? And I could just ask these questions
of you. Do you really want to know? Is
it a matter of just idle curiosity or do you have some vital interest
in Him? And so, we read in Beginning
in verse 35, here's Pilate's next question. He asked Christ
about what he's done. Pilate answered, am I a Jew? I think he said that with a sneer.
I'm a Gentile, am I a Jew like you? While your own nation, your own
chief priests have delivered you to me, what have you done? And this is all the more remarkable
in light of what I've already said, that Pilate knew for envies
why they delivered him. And yet he's asking these things. And so then he asked Christ about
his kingdom. Jesus answered him, my kingdom
is not of this world. When Pilate says, what hast thou
done? Why have you made yourself to
be like a king? He's thinking only, of course,
of a carnal kingdom, of a literal kingdom, like Rome has. So the Lord Jesus says, my kingdom
is not of this world. It didn't originate. from this
world, though his kingdom was very much active in the world. He says, if my kingdom were of
this world, if it originated with this world, then would my
servants fight? If it were a carnal kingdom,
if it were a physical kingdom, if it was a government like your
government is, Mr. Pilate, then my servants would
fight. But my kingdom is not from here. I'll tell you something about
the kingdom of our Lord. It's not a carnal kingdom, it's
not a political kingdom, it's not a physical kingdom, it's
not a civil kingdom. It's not a kingdom established
by military power or by worldly means. It's not like any kingdom
in this world. Because His kingdom was and is
a spiritual kingdom. You see, our Lord, He's not gonna
have a kingdom with pomp and rituals and all kind of ceremonies. That's not His kingdom. He established
His kingdom in our hearts. He comes as a king and He overthrows
us. He overthrows the enemy who has
taken His residence up within us. And He drives him out. And our Lord Jesus establishes
His throne and His kingdom in the heart where He rules by His
grace. And He woos us unto Himself. He draws us unto Himself. And
He brings us to willingly submit to His kingship. Of this kingdom we know this
because the Lord Jesus said this, except a man be born again, he
can't see this kingdom. You can't even see it, you can't
understand what it is. It's not a carnal kingdom, it's
a spiritual kingdom. That's why this idea that some
people have, some of these prophecy experts have, that the Lord Jesus
is gonna come back and he's gonna establish a liberal throne in
Jerusalem and he'll rule over Israel again in a liberal way. That's wrong. He says, my kingdom's
not of this world. That's not my kingdom, he says.
I don't know why people don't listen to what the Lord Jesus
says. That's not my kingdom. It doesn't come that way. Our Lord Jesus, He rules over
all the world and as far as an everlasting kingdom, that's what
He says. He talks about it. My kingdom
is forever. He's not going to come back and
then go over to Israel and set up a literal kingdom, set up
a literal to have a temple built again. You know, there are people
who actually believe that the Lord will have that temple to
be built again and sacrifices will be reinstated. That's utterly
ridiculous. He is God's sacrifice for sin. God's Son has died. That's the
only sacrifice that matters. And as far as the temple of God,
you're the temple of God. We're the temple of God. And
our Lord Jesus himself is the temple of God. So he asks our Lord again in
verse 37, art thou a king then? Listen to our Lord's answer.
Jesus answered, thou sayest that I am a king? To this end I was
born. Now listen to his language. To
this end I was born, and for this cause came I into the world. I was born, there's his humanity,
I came into the world, there's his deity. For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given. He is indeed the child who was
born, but he's the son of God who was given. He had an existence
before He ever came into this world. He did not cease to be all that
He was before He came, but He became what He was not before
He came. He's the Son of God and He's
the Son of Man. And He says, this is a reason
He came. He said, for this cause came
I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth.
Under the truth. Under the truth of the gospel.
Under the truth of who God is. Under the truth of salvation.
He came to bear witness of the truth. He came to show us the
Father. And so he said back in John chapter
14 to Philip, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. He came
to bear witness of the truth. He came to fulfill the eternal
purpose of God, to save sinners. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sin. And I'll tell you this, he makes
this statement, everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. That is, everyone who is born
of the truth, they'll hear my voice. How do you hear his voice? In
the gospel. In the gospel. He said in John
chapter 10, my sheep hear my voice. And I know them, I love
them. And they'll hear my voice. and
they'll follow me. Because you see, the hearing
ear and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made them both. Well then, in verse 38, Pilate saith unto him,
here's another question, what is truth? What is truth? He seems to almost say what lots
of people are saying today. Is there really any truth? Is there just one truth? Aren't
there just many ways? Many truths? What is truth? Can truth be taken down and presented
in a concise way? Well, yes! Because standing in
front of Him is incarnate truth! And he didn't even bother to
ask Him anything else. Standing in front of the Lord
of Glory, standing in front of the only Savior, And he asks what is truth and
then he walks out. Now remember the Jews couldn't come in, so
he goes out once again in verse 38. And when he had said this,
he went out unto the Jews and he said, listen, I don't find
any fault in this man. But you have a custom that I
should release unto you one at the Passover. Will ye therefore
that I release unto you the King of the Jews? He's hoping they'll
say yes. He's already, he's kind of, he's
prompting them. He's trying to push them toward
that. He's the one you want me to release,
isn't it? And then they all cried again
saying, not this man. Release Barabbas. Release Barabbas. And he did. Now, next Wednesday
night, we'll see that our Lord and this man Pilate, there's still going to be some
things that will happen between these two. But the issue is settled. Pilate shows himself to be a
real coward. He has no no courage, no bravery to do
the right thing. This is the greatest miscarriage
of justice that's ever happened in the history of mankind, when
both a religious court and a secular court insist upon an innocent
man being put to death. And yet, while it's an instance
of the greatest miscarriage of justice, as far as men were concerned,
Before God, by imputation, he's made guilty of our sins. And
God said he had to die. So with God, there is no miscarriage
of justice. With God, this is justice at
work. He dies that we might live. I can give you three things real
quick in closing. Number one, be very careful of
an external religion that's no deeper than just the outward
expressions of religion. The Jews had that. And I'll tell
you what, they had more ceremonies and religious duties that they
observed than we'd ever think about observing. And to the Most
of the people, these religious leaders, they're the holiest
people on earth, but they were in fact ungodly. They were as
ungodly, maybe more ungodly in a sense, than people who never
darkened the door of a synagogue or a temple, because they're
enemies of God. Beware of a religion that is
only skin deep, a religion that is only external. Secondly, submit
to Christ who is the King. And thirdly, I'll give you one
more verse. Look at 1 Timothy chapter six.
Here's the third thing I wanna leave with you. First, the book
of 1 Timothy chapter six. Let me read you three or four
verses here. 1 Timothy chapter six. Here's the apostle Paul
writing to a young preacher. He says to him in verse 12, 1
Timothy chapter six, fight the good fight of faith, lay hold
on eternal life where unto thou art also called and has professed
a good profession before many witnesses. You might underline
that or remember that. I give thee charge. in the sight
of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who
before Pontius Pilate, witnessed a good confession. In other words,
he was truthful. He was absolutely truthful. That
thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, under the
appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his times he shall,
He shall show who is the blessed and only potentate, the King
of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality dwelling
in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath
seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting,
amen. Our Lord Jesus witnessed a good
confession before Pontius Pilate. When you have the opportunity
to witness a good confession, Stand up and be counted. Don't ever be afraid to speak
up on behalf of the truth. Our Lord Jesus answered honestly
and truthfully. Lets us do the same. In all things
in this world, in the physical realm, and all things in the
spiritual realm as well. Well, let's sing a closure.