beloved congregation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Everybody at some point in their life is going to have to deal with Jesus. And when you deal with Jesus, you're going to have to deal with Him in a powerful way. So if you come to Him at night with all of your swords and all of your knives and all of your shields, with perhaps a thousand of you, and Jesus says, who are you looking for? And you say, Jesus of Nazareth. And He says, well, here I am. They all fall down. There's a power in Jesus. He is the Son of God. And when they drag Him and beat Him, then Annas and Caiaphas have to deal with Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, the last high priest pointing to the last Passover lamb. They have to deal with Him. Will they fall down before Him? Will they honor Him? Will they acknowledge Him? No. That's also a power in Jesus. There's no neutrality. There's not sort of this blah, oh well, it's just Jesus. I don't find him that interesting. No, you either love him or you don't. You either adore him or you don't. You either worship him or you don't. And if you don't, it's because you hate him in some degree. As Jesus had already said, don't be afraid or don't be surprised that they hate you. He said to his disciples, because they hated me first and now it's all coming together. And now Pilate has to deal. And Pilate has to deal in light of the man whom he is. Annas and Caiaphas, they think they're the men of God. They're the leaders of God's people. They're the holy ones. Everybody needs to listen to them. And Jesus needs to listen to them. And they want him dead. And now the people who follow him want Jesus to be dead. So children, I'm going to tell a story in this sermon. But it's a story I think many of you know, if you grew up in the church. But if not, I'm going to tell it to you. There is a story about a young boy named Joseph. And Joseph received dreams from Almighty God. He was the youngest son, and his brothers could not stand him. They hated him. And he had a dream that all of them would bow to him. They said, you think we're going to bow to you? Even his dad said, you think your mother and I are going to bow to you? God gave Joseph a dream, and in that dream was the word of God. God was going to send Joseph to Egypt, and he was going to become the second most powerful man in the world, but not before the hatred of his brothers, in part because his father favored him, in part because he was the beloved son of his father, They sold him into slavery. They wanted to kill him. They wanted to get rid of him. They wanted never to see him again. They even lied about him. They said, yeah, a wild animal killed him. That's how much they hated him. And one more story. Right at the very beginning of the Bible, there's a man named Cain. He has a brother named Abel. Abel is the favored one of God, his father. He brings sacrifices. He's a good man. But Cain can't stand him. And so Cain kills his brother. Joseph's brothers sell him out and now Jesus own brothers the Jews He comes to his own says John chapter 1 and they won't receive him But more than that they hate him and now they want him to be dead It's the power of God It's the power of Jesus. How do you see Jesus right now? He's bound up he's bleeding from his face because he's been smacked around now and And they send him into the praetorium. Did you notice that? I always find the irony of that interesting. That they won't go into the praetorium, and it was early morning, so we were about three to six o'clock in the morning. Pilate has been warned, they're bringing this man, Jesus of Nazareth, some carpenters, some rabbi. You better get ready. But the Jews won't go into the Praetorium because if they go in, it will be defiled. On the easiest level, it's simply because in the Praetorium, where the Roman guard then was housed, Pilate normally would be staying in Herod's house, but now because it's so filled up and everything is going on for the Passover festival, he's living in Antonia. And he's living in an apartment there. Herod actually is living much better than Pilate. And this doesn't sit well with Pilate, among the other things. But they're making bread right around that time. And during that time that the bakers are making bread, they're using leaven. And during the Passover feast, a Jew may not come anywhere near leavened bread. It must be unleavened. If not, they are not clean. They are not able to celebrate the Passover. We just saw a baptism. We just saw the water. It reminds us we need cleansing. We need to be whiter than snow. We need to be holy. That happens for us in Jesus Christ. They believe that that happened to them so they cannot go into the Praetorium, and they do not. They're willing to sell out the Lamb of God. They're willing to sell out Jesus who has done nothing but good to them. They're willing to take grace, mercy, and truth and cast them out. But here's what's interesting. Isn't Jesus a Jew? Isn't Jesus an observant Jew? Why are they sending Jesus into the praetorium? Why are they letting him become contaminated? Why are they letting him become unclean? Because they can't stand him. Now Luke has told us that after the cleaning of the temple, they wanted to kill Jesus. And part of that was because if a man desecrated the temple, they were under Jewish law, with the favor of the Romans, to be executed. In 86, Tiberius, Caesar, took away all of the rights of the Jews for capital punishment. Jesus then would have been stoned. And quite frankly, the Jews, well, they overrode that every once in a while, because as we go a little further into the Bible, we're going to see that they take Stephen and stone him to death, and he did nothing wrong either. He certainly didn't desecrate the temple. But now they're going on the basis of that charge, together with what we just read from Luke, where Jesus is forgiving sins. Do you say you're the Messiah? Do you think you're God? You can baptize sins. Now he's up on charges of blasphemy, but Pilate doesn't care. Why would Pilate care at all whether Jesus Christ is a blasphemer? He doesn't believe in God. Now Luke tells us that Jesus had said to them when they asked him about paying taxes He took the coin and he said whose picture is on there and they said Caesar and he said render to Caesar What is Caesar's and render to God? What is God's? And the Jews will not render now to God. What is God's and they will not render to Caesar? What is Caesar's so they won't go into the praetorium? But pilot now will come out to see them. He needs to keep the peace now Who is Pontius Pilate? Pontius Pilate was a ne'er-do-well. He drove Tiberius crazy. He annoyed him so much so that he got sent to Jerusalem. To be sent to Judea was a kiss of death. It basically meant your career is over. Nobody wants to go there with all those annoying Jews. So he already has the sense of the Jews are a problem. In fact, when he first came, He brought all the standards, all the flags, all the shields, and they had all of these pictures of Caesar on them, and all of the eagles, and all of that pomp and circumstance, and he had them set up around the temple. The Jews were so angry about that when he first came, that they all came and had a sit-down, we would call it a strike, but a sit-down protest, and just sat around there, basically paralyzing the city. And he told them, if you do not do anything, I am going to send in the army. He sent in the army. He said, I am going to cut off your heads. And the Jews actually laid backwards to put their heads back so that all of their heads could be cut off. And they won the day. They were tenacious in their religion, in their legalism. There's nothing they wouldn't do if they believed it was the right thing to do. but they also knew that they could actually push against pilot. But Pilate has to prove that you can't just push against me, that I'm somebody to be reckoned with. So when they bring Jesus Christ, we read there that they led Jesus to the praetorium and Pilate says then, what accusation do you bring against this man? And then verse 30 they say, they answered and said to him, if he were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered him up to you. We brought him here, Execute him. Why are you discussing our authority? And now Pilate is going, no, no, no, no, no. That's not how this works. You bring your charge. If he's a blasphemer, go ahead, stone him. If he is someone who desecrated the temple, go ahead, stone him. But it looks to me, you've got nothing on this man. And in the way that the Lord God has everything set up, the Jews are in one place outside the praetorium, Jesus is on the inside of the praetorium, and now Pilate, in having to deal with the Jews, at least has a little bit of respite, and he can go to Jesus and he says, what's going on? Are you the king of the Jews? And now Jesus will render to Caesar what is Caesar's and he'll render to God what is God. Respecting the man who is in front of him, he says quietly, did you come up with this or did they tell you that? Because remember what we talked about last time? The Jews were supposed to come up with two witnesses to talk about the character of Jesus, and then two witnesses to say what he had actually done, and they didn't have it. Now they're bringing it to Pilate, and Pilate is being told by Jesus, I'm holding you to your job. Did you come up with this charge or did they? And if they came up with this charge, why am I here? Because you need more evidence than this, Pilate. Now Pilate knows it now. What could be worse for a politician, eh? You've got all of these Jews during a festival. They're going to go crazy if he doesn't do what they want. They've come in violence. They want blood. They want Joseph dead. They want Abel dead. And they want him to do it. But he still has to answer to Caesar. And if he makes a bad judgment, he's going to be as dead as the man he puts to death. What do you do? Luke tells us that even his wife said, stay away from this, wash your hands of it, get out, leave it alone. But he's caught now. See, his ego is involved now. Hey, did this come from you? Or did the Jews tell you this? Am I a Jew? I don't even like the Jews. I want nothing to do with the Jews, Pilate says. Your own nation and chief priests have delivered you to me. What have you done? And then Jesus answers and he says, my kingdom is not of this world. So we're moving from our first point where Pilate has to deal with the Jews. He's starting to cave to the Jews so much so that now he's willing to go on to the attack with Jesus. Do you see the light? Do you see what the light does? It draws the darkness, but the darkness can't stand it and wants to put it out. So the Jews want to snuff the light out. Pilate wants to get rid of it, but he can't now. Because of the power of God. Because the moment demands. Something is going on. Something bigger than Pilate. Something bigger than the Jews. Our salvation is at stake. God is going to save us. Nothing is going to stand in the way of the Good Shepherd laying down His life as the Passover Lamb. He will become a sheep for you. He is doing this willingly for you. He's initiating the attack for you. He's the Son of God. He can take care of all of this in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. He can snap His fingers, and they all have leprosy. He can simply speak, and they all drop dead. But He will not, because He will die for you. What wondrous love is this? Isn't that what we just saw? And you and I are born children of wrath. But you He made alive. You and I were born enemies of the cross. Yet in His wondrous love, God sent His Son. And His Son, loving the sheep, will make sure that none of you who is a child of God will be lost. He is going to die for you. He is going to go to the cross for you. But He's not going to do that without speaking the truth in love. Yes, I'm a king. But my kingdom is not of this world. Come on, Pilate, take a look. Now in fairness to Pilate, a lot of Jewish people stood up and said that they were Messiahs and they put little armies together. He often was in trouble, okay? But Jesus says, look, where are my disciples? I ask that you leave them alone. One of them has betrayed me and has walked out into the darkness, and the other one has betrayed me. He wouldn't even say that he is my disciples. Where are they? Do you really think if I was a king nobody would be fighting for me? But now my kingdom is not from here. Are you a king then? You say rightly I was a king for this cause I was born. And for this cause I have come into the world that I should bear witness to the truth. And everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. Do you hear it? Do you hear the voice? Are you the sheep? Then you have to hear the voice of the shepherd. Jesus is my sheep, hear my voice. If not, run out of here. Get gone. If you're not hearing the voice of Jesus right now, because he's saying to you, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life, and I am the life of men, that is the light of the world. I am the way, the truth, and the light. That's why I came into the world. I came into the world to bring the truth. What is truth, Pilate says. It's standing before you, wrong question. The question isn't what is the truth, Pilate. The question is who is the truth. That is the way. That is the life. Do you see Jesus Christ in all of his glory? Can you embrace him there in that moment of humiliation? When he stands there before Pilate, who thinks he's in charge of Caesar, who thinks he's God of this world, Jesus says, no, I came into this world not to condemn the world, but to save the world. But Pilate, if you do not believe, you're condemned already. Beloved, if you do not believe, you're condemned already. Repent and believe the kingdom of God is at hand, the kingdom of truth. You are the warriors of truth. Beloved, you are the ones who are going to bring the truth of Jesus Christ into this world. You represent Him. You are the ambassadors of a new way. You need to tell them about the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is going to the cross for you. We learn from baptism that we need to pick up our crosses and follow Him and call the world into this great, marvelous truth. Jesus has come to save us. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was God, and the Word became flesh. The Law came through Moses, but in the Word become flesh. We have met grace, and we have met truth. We meet salvation, and redemption, and glory. This is our King. This is the One who is giving His life for you. No one's fighting for Him. Is Cain's getting ready to knife Abel in the back? And Joseph is now being sold out into slavery? Joseph is now being sold out by his brothers. But do you remember what God said? You meant it for evil, but I meant it for good. This is for your good, beloved. Sometimes I get angry when I read these stories. Sometimes I get frustrated. How can Pilate be such a wimp? How can he be so dishonest? How can he have no integrity? What's wrong with Annas? What's wrong with Caiaphas? And I go, but what's wrong with me? Ah, dearest Jesus, we're going to sing. How is thou offended? I, it was, denied thee. I crucified thee. This is happening because of my sin. I can't look at those men and then not see myself pretty quickly. I'll leave them to the Lord. But now let's cry out to almighty God and repent. Father in heaven, forgive us. What will change us? It's seeing Jesus in these moments. That he is willing to do this. How could we not be willing to give our lives for him? Do you see the light of the world? because Pilate has declared him innocent. He goes back outside, and he says, I find no fault in him at all. What's interesting is he's heard the voice of Jesus, he knows what the truth is, but he's still trying to get out from the power, and he can't because he has to deal. And he thinks, maybe I can make a bargain with the Jews, our last point, You have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews? Now when we put all the other Gospels together, we can see how that works. By the way, we don't have this information in any other form of history, but that the four Gospels tell us this, and there is some allusion to it in some of the Jewish work. that at these Passover festivals, the idea was that someone whom the people loved and who had represented them well, but Rome now had thrown into prison because they were a threat to Rome, would be redeemed. So that on the Passover that reminds us of the redemption from Egypt, that man would be redeemed. And they say, no, we don't want you to redeem Jesus. We don't want you to let him go. How despicable, how terrible. Give us Barabbas. If you have your Bible open, can you see it? B-A-R means son, and then Abba means father. So it either means son of a rabbi or more likely son of his father. And God in his providence gave Barabbas that name because here you have the man who is the son of a father, over against the man who is the son of the father, and they choose the human one, and on that day, interestingly enough, Brabus, we don't know whatever happened to him, did he come to believe? But in that day, or on that day, sorry, he got redeemed, didn't he? He got let out of prison. He was going to be killed. He was going to be executed. And on that day, because of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Barabbas gets his physical freedom. Do you see it? Even in that, there is a power of Jesus, our Lord. Isn't he amazing? Even in all of that weakness, Rome thinks they've got him. He's bound, he's bleeding, he's beat up. He's still the Son of God. Make a choice for Him. Serve Him with gladness. Follow Him into the darkness that is this world as the light of this world. Hear His voice. Now, if you're following the text, you probably realize that I missed something. And that was verse 32. that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which he spoke signifying by what death he would die. The Jews would have stoned him, but that's not good enough. He needed to die on the tree. But you know what's interesting? The Jews do not hang live people on a tree. They would hang the dead body on the tree. as a way of saying, we hand your eternal destiny over to God because we don't have the act of vengeance or punishment as human beings. We hand you to the wrath of God. Rome crucifies. Rome hangs them alive. And isn't that what Jesus said in John 11? The son of man must be lifted up. By saying this, he signified by what death he was going to die. between earth and between heaven. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Pilate, I am a king. I am the king of truth. I am going to die for my people. I am the shepherd who gives up his life. Hear his voice today. This is your Jesus, the way, the truth. and the life. Repent. Believe. Are you baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit? Then give your life to Him in praise and glory and worship. This is our story. This is our song. This is what baptism is about. Do you love to tell the story? Because it will be our theme in glory to tell the old, old story. of Jesus and His love and a God who keeps the covenant and by the power of the Holy Spirit go and tell the world. Amen.