In the 18th chapter of John's
Gospel, our Lord Jesus is arrested in the garden and drug away like
a common criminal through the dark streets of Jerusalem, first
to Annas' house, then to Caiaphas, the high priest's palace, and
from the high priest to Pilate's judgment hall. in the house or the palace of
the high priest. He was slapped and mocked and
ridiculed by the Jews, the religious leaders of the day. He was denied
three times by his beloved disciple Peter and then led on to Pilate's
judgment hall. You will search the pages of
history in vain to find another example of a person charged with
a capital offense, arraigned before two different tribunals
in a matter of at the most a couple or three hours. This aspect of
our Lord's trial is made even more extraordinary when you consider
the fact that he was arraigned before the courts of two nationalities,
the one Jewish, the other Roman, and even more, Outstanding in
this example of our Lord's mock trial, he was arraigned before
two different kinds of courts. The Jewish court was a religious,
ecclesiastical court. The Roman court, of course, a
civil court. Our Lord was tried by the Jewish
Sanhedrin with Caiaphas at the lead, the high priest in Israel
presiding over everything. And then he was tried by the
Romans, and so it must needs have been. So it must needs have been, else
the scriptures could not be fulfilled. It must have taken place just
this way. Otherwise, the scriptures would
not be fulfilled, which foretold plainly the manner of our Lord's
death and his crucifixion. The closing events of our Lord's
life were clearly foretold by the prophets. We read in the
second Psalm, the kings of the earth set themselves and the
rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
his Christ saying, let us break their bands asunder and cast
away their cords from us. Now there's no uncertainty about
the meaning of this prophecy or its fulfillment in Acts chapter
four. The disciples tell us, for of
a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed,
both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people
of Israel. Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles,
and the people of Israel were gathered together They all came
together with their own malicious designs, with their own purpose
of heart, with their own determined, depraved wills. They all came
together, each one doing exactly what he wanted to do. For to
do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to
be done. I find it utterly astonishing
at the detail, the precise detail with which our Lord's death was
described in the Old Testament prophets and all the circumstances
surrounding it, and the precise detail with which His enemies
fulfilled the prophets. It appears, it appears, if you
were just reading this as a historic narrative, If you just read the
Word of God as a historic narrative, it would appear that the Jews
and the Gentiles and the religious leaders, the Sanhedrin, the chief
priests, the Pilate and Herod, all of them had a checklist.
And they'd go back in the Old Testament and say, you're supposed
to do that, you're supposed to do that, there it is. I mean, the prophecy is just
that precise. And yet men, in their blind hatred
of God, refuse to bow to the plainest of revelations. They
did whatsoever God's hand before determined must be done. Thus,
the confederacy of the Jews and Gentiles, kings of the earth
and rulers, having set themselves in defiance against the triune
God and against his Christ, succeeded only in accomplishing that which
the triune Jehovah had in his eternal counsels determined must
be done. Acts chapter 4 and in Acts chapter
13, twice we're told, and when they had fulfilled all that was
written of him, they took him down from the tree. So it is today. Men in time, in the exercise
of their own heart's malice against God and against God's truth and
against God's people. Do nothing except that which
God from eternity determined must be done for the saving of
his people and the glory of his name. You see, from the very
beginning of time, all the types and shadows of the law through
all the writings of the Old Testament prophets in all the ministry
of our Lord Jesus and his disciples during his time upon this earth,
the time that he lived in this earth, and particularly during
those last three and a half years that he walked on the earth.
The writings of all the apostles in the New Testament, in all
the book of God, we have this clear testimony given, revealed
plainly, that the only way for hell bent Hell-deserving sinners
to enter into God's glory and stand accepted of God in eternity
is the way of Christ's death as the sinner's substitute crucified
upon the curse tree. There's no other way but this. If you would enter into heaven,
you must enter into heaven by the blood of God's darling Son. If you would be saved, you must
be saved by the washing of the blood of Jesus Christ sprinkled
on your conscience in the new birth. God giving you faith in
Jesus Christ, his son. If you would be accepted of God,
you must be accepted of God through the sacrifice of his darling
son by which he made atonement for sin and obtained eternal
redemption for us. All right, let's read about our
Savior's examination before Pilate in John chapter 18. Christ must needs have suffered
all the things he suffered in every detail before he could
enter his glory, before he could be our Savior. John 18 verse
28. Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas
unto the hall of judgment, And it was early. And they themselves
went not into the judgment hall. Lindsay brought you that outstanding
lesson this morning on self-righteousness. Here it is. Merle, they're going about the
business of murdering the son of God. But they're religious
as all get out. And the Passover's at hand. So
they go not into the judgment hall of Pilate, that Gentile,
that unclean place, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the passive.
Verse 29. Then Pilate went out unto them.
Wonder how that was arranged. What chance do you think you
might have If we decided to make a petition, not just Grace Baptist
Church, but all the churches in Danville decided to make a
petition. And we we went to the governor's house, went down to
Frankfort, went to the governor's house early in the morning, probably
early enough to get him out of bed. And because we thought he
was unclean and he was corrupt, he would decide that he'd come
out to us. Now, wait a minute. Considering
us to be his captives. Considering that we couldn't
do anything to him. We're completely under his dominion.
This is not a democratic society we're talking about here. These
Jews were captives to the Romans. And they go to Pilate's judgment
hall and They send somebody to tell Pilot, we've got a case
we want to bring to you. But you know, you're an unclean
Gentile. You're a filthy, uncircumcised
Gentile. And if we so much as walk into
your judgment hall, we're going to be defiled. And we can't keep
our Passover. Under normal circumstances, They
would have been doing good to escape with their lives. But
instead, Pilate came out to meet the Jews. Reckon how come? Because God so ordered things. Read on. Pilate came out to meet
these fellas, in verse 29, and said, What accusation bring ye
against this man? They answered and said unto him,
If he were not a malefactor, If he wasn't a common crook,
you don't think we'd bring him here, do you? We would not have
delivered him up unto thee. Then said Pilate unto them, take
ye him and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore
said unto him, it is not lawful for us to put any man to death.
These are the same Jews who said, we've never been service to anybody.
Back in John chapter eight, Abraham's our father, we were born free.
We're Abraham's seed. And now they acknowledge that
as a civil nation, they're completely destroyed. They have no right
to judge anybody. They have no right to put anyone
to death. They're in complete subjection
to the Romans. Read on. That the saying of Jesus might
be fulfilled. Why did they say that? that the
saying of Jesus might be fulfilled. Why was it they were in this
place of subjugation to the Romans? That the saying of Jesus might
be fulfilled. Which he spake signifying what
death he should die. He repeatedly told them, I must
go to Jerusalem, I must be delivered to the Gentiles, I must suffer
many things at their hands, and I must be put to death, and I
must rise the third day. Verse 33. Then Pilate entered
into the judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto
him, aren't thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered him,
sayest thou this thing of thyself? Or did others tell it thee of
me? Pilate answered, am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief
priest have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done? Jesus
answered. My kingdom is not of this world. My kingdom is not of that Jewish
nation. My kingdom is not like yours. My kingdom is not of this world. Then, or that is if my kingdom
were like theirs or yours, then would my disciples fight that
I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now is my kingdom
not from hence. Verse 37, Pilate therefore said
unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that
I'm a king. Thou sayest that I'm a king.
You're the one who said that, not me. To this end was I born
to be a king. To 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,
everyone that is of the truth, heareth my voice. Pilate saith
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 at all, verse 39. I find in him no fault at all,
verse 39. 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? Repeatedly, our Pilate has acknowledged
This is the king of the Jews. Will ye that I release unto you
the king of the Jews? Then cried they all again saying,
not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. The bloodthirsty Sanhedrin apparently
stayed up all night plotting and scheming how they would get
Pilate to execute the Lord of Glory. Early in the morning,
they bring Pilate, bring the Lord Jesus to Pilate's judgment
hall as early as possible. How they thirsted for his blood.
But all of this happened because his thirst was infinitely greater
than theirs. He thirsted to drink the cup
his father had given him. He thirsted to drink the cup
of his father's wrath, the fury of his father's judgment and
justice, to drink it to the very bitter dregs until he drank damnation
dry with one tremendous draft of love. You'll find my title
for my message in verse 37, where our Lord Jesus says to Pilate,
to this end, was I born. To this end was I born to be
a king by the accomplishment of redemption. To be a king,
a savior by the accomplishment of atonement. To be a king, a
redeemer by the sacrifice that I will accomplish here and now. To this end was I born and for
this end came I into the world that I should bear witness to
the truth. Now hold your Bibles open on
your laps and let me show you six things in this last portion
of John 18. May God the Holy Spirit be our
teacher. First, in verses 28 through 31,
we have a stunning display of hypocrisy. Our Lord spoke to
these Pharisees on numerous occasions and called them hypocrites, snakes,
vipers. Repeatedly, he said, you are
a generation of hypocrites, of serpents, of vipers. These Pharisees here give us
a stunning display of their hypocrisy. Here are the religious zealots
of Israel. The Pharisees, the religious
leaders of the Pharisees, the Jewish Sanhedrin, these were
the, these were the muckety-muck of the Pharisees. And the chief
of the Sanhedrins, the high priest in Israel, Caiaphas, all plotting
together to perform the most hideous, vile, wicked act men
have ever concocted upon the earth. The murder of God's darling
son, the Lord Jesus Christ. They came here, but they were
fearful of defiling themselves. Because if they were defiled,
it was so close to Passover time, why they couldn't keep the Passover.
They would be out of the most important religious celebration
of the year. And they couldn't have that.
They're the Pharisees. They're the Sanhedrin, the high
priest. While he's got to be involved
in the observance of the Passover, the whole thing would fall to
the ground without them. These hardened men show us that
the conscience of man The fallen, depraved conscience of man is
as wicked, as fallen, as corrupt, as depraved as every other aspect
of fallen man's nature. People say, I've got to follow
my conscience. Ah, don't you do that. Don't you do that. Your conscience, like your heart,
is desperately wicked. I've got to follow my conscience.
Don't you dare do that. Don't let your conscience be
your guide. You follow this book. You heed this book. Now, believers
have a new conscience. They're given a new conscience
as they're given a new heart and a new nature. And Paul speaks
of us having a good conscience toward God. A good conscience
is a conscience that has no guilt before God. A good conscience
is a conscience that has been made clean by the sprinkling
of the blood of Christ. A good conscience is a conscience
that allows a man who knows himself a sinner by nature to lift his
heart to God in heaven and say, my father, a good conscience
is a conscience of a man who trusts the blood of Jesus Christ
and that alone for his acceptance with God. But the natural conscience,
nothing good about that. Nothing good about that. Sometimes
it's hardened, seared, and dead, and feels nothing. Sometimes. At other times, that same conscience
is morbidly scrupulous about matters of religion and ceremony
and tradition. It's not at all uncommon to find
people excessively meticulous about trifling forms of outward
ceremonies while they're detestably immoral. I have a very good friend
whose father, buddy, he's against Christmas. He fights Santa Claus
and Christmas presents and Christmas trees, tooth and toenail. I mean,
he's just mad at it. And he's a rogue. I mean, the
fellow's just a rogue. Had no respect for God and the
things of God, but he's against Christmas. And he's not going
to give that up until he dies. Robbers and murderers are sometimes
real strict about the confessional booth. One of the things I always
find interesting in those movies that I like to watch, you know,
the ones about the mob, the mafia, and the gangsters, man alive,
no matter what they do, you find them at the confessional booth.
How come? Well, that gives them some absolution.
And they'll fight you for it. They'll fight you for it and
pay the priest good money to give them an absolution. They'll
fight you for it. Down in the islands, all the
Caribbean islands I've ever visited, the folks are real big on observing
Lent season. And oh, they're strict. They're
strict. And about the time they wash
the ashes off the forehead, carnival season begins. and you don't
want to be around there, and you sure don't want to have your
family around there. Because these very religious folks now
have their consciences free to do what they please. After all,
they've been very strict during Lent season. People who know
they're wrong in one direction often struggle to make things
appear right by excessive zeal in another direction. That very
zeal is the show of their hypocrisy and their condemnation. The past
couple of weeks, I've received a number of letters from a man
I acquainted with, and he's gotten pretty nasty. And unlike my nature,
I try to be real nice. That's not my nature, but I try
to be real nice. Shelby was at my desk and saw one of them one
day, and I had to let her see them, otherwise I wouldn't have.
But it becomes so vicious, so vicious. And the viciousness
was over the matter of sloshing water on a baby's face. That's
the viciousness. It's altogether about practicing
that Roman Catholic notion concerning baptism of babies. I mean, vicious. And Shelby said, how could he
be like that? And has he got a guilty conscience? He knows
he's wrong. And knowing you're wrong will
make you defend the wrong you do with great severity. Any form of religion that makes
outward forms and rites and sacraments and ceremonies, at the very least,
is suspicious. It may be accompanied by immense
zeal and a show of earnestness, but it's not sound. The Pharisees,
these fellows right here in John 18, were very careful to pay
tithes on mint and anus and coming and they encompassed land and
sea to make one postulate, one disciple, but they neglected
altogether judgment, mercy, and faith. Hypocrisy, you can mark
it down. Hypocrisy, self-righteous religion. is always mean-spirited and dishonest,
though it seeks to make a show of gentleness, meekness, and
brotherly love. These Jews knew. They knew that
the Lord Jesus had done nothing amiss. They tried for three and
a half years to find something. They sent spies out to look for
something. They watched for every word he
spoke to find some place of weakness, some place of inconsistency,
where they could have some excuse for putting him to death. They
found none. Even when they trumped up charges against him, they
had to hire somebody to bear false witness against him. They
knew that there was nothing this man had done amiss. And yet,
to hold their place to hold their position, to hold the people
in subjection to them, they went about this business of making
up accusations and crucifying the Lord of Glory. You see, envy,
covetousness, greed. These are the things that motivate
men in the exercise of hypocritical religion. Not occasionally, always. These Jews who thirsted for Christ's
blood, feared the defilement of the Roman judgment hall, and
made much ado about keeping the Passover, moved with envy, covetousness,
jealousy, and greed. Such religion is worth nothing. You see, God's saints are not
hypocrites. You might want to write that
down. God's saints are not hypocrites. There is, I readily acknowledge,
much hypocrisy about us. But God's saints are sincere,
open men and women. God's saints are men and women
who worship God and serve God and serve one another in sincerity
and truth. True faith Listen to brother
Frank's message here a couple of weeks ago is faith which worketh
by love That's how faith works Man looks on the heart and man's
impressed with an outward show of religion We're just that's just our nature
we like to see it we like to imitate it Ah, now, boy, you
look at Bill Raleigh. Watch how he prays. I won't start
praying like that. Oh, did you ever hear a man pray
such a beautiful prayer? I'd sure like to pray like that,
Brother Bob. Let's hold hands now. And let's pray and give
thanks. We like a show. We love a show. God doesn't look on the outward
appearance. Holding hands with one another
is not going to make God think that you love each other when
you hate each other. Putting on a show is not going
to trick God, not going to deceive God. Using flowery speech impresses
men. It doesn't impress God. Showing
me and how devoted and religious you are by your outward deeds
and selflessness does nothing to impress Almighty God the Lord
Looketh on the heart number two We have in verses 31 and 32 Marvelous display of God's overruling
providence Here he compels the Jews to as they were scheming
to crucify the Lord Jesus to bear witness to him whom they
crucified. Look at verse 31. Then said Pilate
unto them, take ye him and judge him according to your law. The
Jews therefore said unto him, it is not lawful for us to put
any man to death. Turn back to Genesis chapter
49. Genesis chapter 49. acknowledging that they were
not allowed by the Roman government to execute a criminal, these
Jewish Sanhedrin acknowledged that the scepter of civil government
had now departed from Judah. What does that mean? What does
that mean? Genesis 49 verse 10. The scepter
shall not depart from Judah, nor the lawgiver from between
his feet. until Shiloh come." Shiloh, that's the name for the
Messiah. That's the name of our Redeemer.
It means peace, peaceable, prosperous. These Jews then acknowledge that
now Shiloh is here, unto whom shall the gathering of the people
be. And the Lord God in the arrangement
of his providence, putting the Jews in subjection to the Romans.
They bring the Lord Jesus before Pilate, and they say, we want
you to do this because you're our ruler. And the scepter's
departed from Judah. We don't have any right to. Shiloh's here. The Redeemer has
come! The scripture's fulfilled. And
then in verse 32, we're told that the Jews did everything
they did with regard to our Savior's crucifixion that the saying of
Jesus might be fulfilled, signifying what death he should die. Now,
do you really think that those Jews kept a diary And they remembered
back in John chapter 12, verse 32, how that the Lord Jesus had
said, I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw men unto
me. This signifying what death he
should die. Do you think they really kept
a diary and remember what the Lord told Nicodemus in John chapter
3? Look at it, John chapter 3. Verse
14, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Repeatedly,
the Lord Jesus, during his earthly ministry, said, I must be delivered
to the Jews. And they will deliver me to the
Gentiles, because I must be put to death by being lifted up upon
the cursed tree, because I must be crucified like that brazen
serpent was lifted up in the wilderness. Otherwise, the word
of God cannot be fulfilled. And so the Jews, in order to
see to it that the Lord's prophecy about his death was fulfilled,
said to Pilate, we can't do this. Now, that wasn't their intention.
That wasn't their intention. Oh, far from it. No, that never
crossed their minds. But God Almighty in His sovereign
providence overrules everything evil to accomplish His purpose
for the saving of His people. Everything. Intimately, intimately,
he loves his own. And intimately, minutely, he
cares for his own. Here's the third thing, verse
33 through 36. Our Lord shows us clearly that
his kingdom is not of this world. Get down to verse 36. Jesus answered
Pilate and said, my kingdom is not of this world. My kingdom
is not of this world. What does that mean? His kingdom
not carnal. It's not carnal. The prophecy
nuts all around us. If you've got one of the Bibles
been messed with, more than likely it'll tell you that there's going
to be three second comings of Christ. That's strange business. He's coming secretly to rapture
the church before the great tribulation period. And then he's coming
publicly to take out his own before, at the end of the tribulation,
before the millennium to set up his earthly millennial kingdom.
And then after this thousand years of Jewish reign, when the
Jews go back to worshiping God with a high priest and Jewish
sacrifices and all the stuff they did in the Old Testament,
then the Lord's going to come a third time. That's going to
be it. The scripture doesn't talk like that. The scripture
doesn't talk like that. Christ's kingdom is not an earthly
kingdom. It is not an earthly kingdom.
Joseph Smith thought he could establish Christ's kingdom out
in Utah. John Calvin thought he could
establish Christ's kingdom over in Geneva. The Puritans came
here thinking they would establish Christ's kingdom in the new world.
It ain't gonna happen. His kingdom is not of this world. The kingdom of God is the church
of God. It is a spiritual kingdom. You
don't enter this kingdom by being born as a Jew. You don't enter
this kingdom by the waters of baptism. You don't enter this
kingdom by being rightly connected with the right religious people
on the earth. You're born into this kingdom. You can't see it. You can't see it. You look out
and you see these pieces of property all over this country and the
majesty of God's creation in this country. You fly into Washington
and you can see the Capitol building and you can see the various things
from the sky. You fly over the country and
you can see the Mississippi River and the Grand Canyon and all
those things and you see America. And if you turn your television
on, you can even see the worst of it. You can see Senate in
action. You can see it. Not the kingdom of God, unless
you're born again. That's what our Lord told Nicodemus,
isn't it? You must be born again to enter
this kingdom. You must be born again to see this kingdom. Oh,
brother Don, I've seen pictures of it. I've got Clarence Larkin's
dispensational truths in my office, and they got these pictures.
And you can see the new Jerusalem floating down, just kind of hovering
over the earth. The kingdom of God. The new Jerusalem Earl is prepared
as a bride adorned for her husband. That's not a carnal city. That's
not a carnal kingdom. That's you, God's holy nation. God's Israel. God's chosen seed. Those who are redeemed and called
by God's almighty grace, by the blood of Christ, by the power
of the spirit. The kingdom of God is in you. The kingdom of God is not only
not a carnal political earthly kingdom. It's not established
by worldly power and worldly means. Not spend a good while
here. The whole business of training
preachers. And Bible colleges and seminaries
have been for years teaching them how to employ worldly means
to accomplish spiritual ends. It can't be done. It can't be done. Why are men compromising who
at least mentally appear to know truth. Why would men who who
once stood firm for the truth of God run rapidly away from
it? Why? Boys, I can't tell you how
many times I heard this as a young man. I go to Bible conferences
and preachers meetings and I'd hear older men say, we've got
to make something happen. We've got to make something happen. We've got to make something happen. You make it happen, you live
with it. Now, the kingdom of God is not built by earthly means,
not by sword, not by the vote in the ballot room or the ballot
box, and not by carnal religious machinations. The fact is the
kingdom of God is not like anything in this world. It's totally spiritual. Totally so. My kingdom, the Savior
says, is not of this world. All right, let's move on. The Lord Jesus stands here in
Pilate's judgment hall and We read in verse 37, Pilate therefore
said unto him, art thou a king then? Jesus answered, thou sayest
that I'm a king. To 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. Now here our Savior declares
plainly his mission in this world. As our mediator, as our surety,
as our substitute, the Lord Jesus came here as a man to be Jehovah's
righteous servant. He came here as a man to obey
his father's will by which he would show forth the glory of
God Almighty. that he would be witness to the
truth. He was born at Bethlehem to die
in the place of his people at Calvary. He came into the world
to bear witness of the truth, the whole gospel, the whole word
of God. He came to bear witness to what
you're holding in your hands right now, the word of God, to
bear witness to it. He came here to show God himself
and the glory of God in him. to show us how God can be both
just and the justifier of the ungodly, which is the revelation
of the glory of God shining forth in the face of Jesus Christ.
And he declares here that everyone who is of the truth. Everyone
who is of God, who is born of God, who is taught of God, hears
his voice. My sheep hear my voice. They
hear my voice. They follow me. They follow me. Brother Don, I see a lot of folks
who are the Lord's disciples, and they're fine people, but
they sure don't follow Him and His doctrine. Who are you going to believe,
you or Him? He says, if you're of the truth,
you hear my voice. If you have the truth, you follow me. If
you have the truth, if you're one of my sheep, my sheep hear
my voice. I know them. I give them eternal
life and they follow me. All right, here's the fifth thing.
Pilate makes a declaration. He declares that our blessed
Redeemer is totally without fault. Pilate saith unto him, What is
truth? Now, when you read that, always
read it sarcastically. He wasn't interested in truth.
He was no more interested in truth than he was in humbling
himself before God. You speak of truth, what is truth? What is truth? He seems to say,
as almost all men do today, There's no such thing as truth. Cases in school over at UK, your
professors will tell you hurriedly there's no such thing as truth
except what you decide is truth. Am I mistaken? No such thing
as truth. Why? You wouldn't believe that
if you hadn't been raised up in such a strict religious environment.
Makes you with a good brain think foolishly. What is truth? Nobody knows truth. There's no
such thing. Truth is an abstract thing. Truth
can't be determined. Truth can't be declared. Well,
let's see. Let's see. All the paths of the Lord are
mercy and truth. Turn to Psalm 85. The scriptures
speak repeatedly of thy truth. Thy truth and the truth, thy
truth and the truth, not abstractly a truth. Thy truth, the truth,
thy truth, the truth. Our Lord Jesus said, I am the
way. What do you say? The truth, not just truth, the
truth, the truth. Thy mercy is great unto the heavens
and thy truth unto the clouds. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is
the truth, is the truth that sprang out of the earth in his
incarnation, sprang out of the earth in his resurrection, having
accomplished redemption, sprang out of the earth in his ascension,
the truth that now looks down from heaven and gives salvation
to whom he will, the truth by whom, in whom, and with whom
God is known. Look at Psalm 85, verse 10. Mercy
and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the
earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven. That's
our redeemer. He is truth. He is truth. And there is no truth. But the
revelation of Christ in his word. In order to have truth, You've
got to have something that men who hate God hate. In order to
have truth, you've got to have something that all men who hate
God hate. Hang on. Hang on. You've got
to have something absolute. Something not up for debate.
Absolute. Absolute. I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man gets the glory but by
me. Christ is the truth. What is truth? Truth standing
in front of you. And then we have a portrayal
of it in verses 39 and 40. Here's a picture of the truth. Pilate said to the Jews, I find
no fault in him. He's absolutely without blame. But you have a custom that I
should release unto you one at the Passover. Will you therefore
that I release unto you the king of the Jews? Then cried they
all again, saying, not this man, but Barabbas. Now, Barabbas was a robber. Barabbas was a robber, so are
we. For we robbed God of his glory
and robbed our souls of life and happiness. The Son of God
died in Barabbas' place, crucified by the wicked hands of wicked
men and slain upon the cursed tree. And Barabbas went free. Barabbas went free. How come? Because the law executed an innocent
man in the place of the guilty. Because the law executed the
just in the place of the unjust. Because the law found satisfaction
in a substitute and Barabbas went free. So it is with you
and with me who believe God. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. There is therefore now and forever no condemnation to
them that are in Christ Jesus. Amen.