Good morning, everyone. Something about that song hit me a little differently today than normal. It's always been a wonderful song, but I was just sitting there thinking about a sermon could be preached about what that song was talking about because, quite frankly, you were there. You were there. If you've been bought by the blood of Jesus Christ, he took your name to that cross with him. If you're outside of Christ, the cross, the burial, the resurrection is proof that God must punish you if you're outside of him. So everyone who's ever breathed the air on this earth was there. Finding ourselves continuing in our text today, John 18 verses 28 through 38. And by way of just making a comment, you will notice if you're looking in your Bible that there's actually two verses left in this chapter that we stopped short of because I think it really dovetails into the next chapter better. I mean, this is a continual saga or movement from 18 to 19 anyway. But as we're continuing in John 18, we are literally right in the center of the mock trials of Jesus. The three religious trials behind him, the beginning of the civil trials, if that's the correct word to use, of the trials that are before him in regards to Pilate, Herod, and then back to Pilate. Last week, we focused on the Jewish authorities and the Jewish portion of this trial or hearing and the handling of Jesus after they arrested him in the garden. As we shared, they had long since passed their verdict that he needed to be killed. This was just going through the motions to try to verify what they had already proclaimed. In John 11, 53, we read, so from that day on, they planned together to kill him. The trial was just a formality. The verdict had already been rendered. His hour had not yet come back then, but now it had. We're now in the early morning hours on the very day of Jesus' crucifixion. Just prior to today's text, he'd been led to Annas, the previous high priest, and who many of the Jews considered still the high priest, Caiaphas, the actual high priest at the time, and then right at daybreak, the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court, religiously, and Caiaphas come back together to verify the verdict they had already decided way before the trials even happened, that Jesus needed to die. Not just needed to, but he must die. Now, as we shared last week, John doesn't give us all those details, but you can harmonize the other gospels and see all those other details. I didn't mention this last week, I don't think. Pretty sure I didn't. But they had to finalize their verdict at daybreak. They had to finalize their verdict at daybreak. That's why the third account that's reconvening Because an overnight trial in Judaism and quite frankly in most legal sectors of the world, an overnight trial done in the darkness of night when nobody knows what's going on is illegal. And was it illegal then? For the Roman courts and the Jews, it was illegal. Not like they really cared about legalities at this point. They had in their heart to murder Jesus and whatever it took, but to try to give some kind of air or semblance of legality to it. They reconvened early the next morning to formally render this verdict. And they had two problems once this verdict was rendered. Most of y'all probably know of at least one of them for certain. But first of all, they feared retaliation from the common people and the followers of Jesus too, right? I mean, when Jesus came in, Hosanna, Hosanna, and there were people following him. But secondly, and what's the primary focus of the text in front of us, is that the right of capital punishment had been removed from them. The Roman authorities would let them practice their religion, would let them even have their own court up to the point of capital punishment. They could not kill someone. Now, I was looking into this, of when did this rule come into play, and Josephus, one of the most, probably the most well-known Jewish historian, says that this law went into effect about 6 AD. Other writings and writers say around 30 AD. However you slice it, it was in the window of time that the Lord Jesus Christ was walking this earth, is when this law changed, where they couldn't do that. So they had to engage with the Roman authorities to carry out this verdict that they had passed. Now, an interesting consideration in all this, if you're thinking ahead and if you know your Bible and you know the Book of Acts specifically, is that rule didn't prevent them from killing Stephen and stoning him to death. And that event doesn't happen that far in the future from where we are today. We'll talk about that seeming discrepancy in just a moment. With all that said, let's read our text today, and I wanna give you the background on something else also. Beginning in verse 28. Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the praetorium, and it was early. And they themselves did not enter in the praetorium, so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. Therefore Pilate went out to them and said, what accusation do you bring against this man? They answered and said to him, if this man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered him to you. So Pilate said to them, take him yourselves and judge him according to your law. The Jews said to him, it is not lawful for us to put anyone to death in order that the word of Jesus, which he spoke would be fulfilled, signified by what kind of death he was about to die. Therefore, Pilate entered again into the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to him, are you the king of the Jews? Jesus answered, are you saying this from yourself or did others tell you about me? Pilate answered, am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priest delivered you to me. What did you do? Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be delivered over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here. Therefore Pilate said to him, so you are a king, Jesus answered. For you yourself said, I am a king. For this I have been born and for this I've come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. Pilate said to him, what is truth? And when he had said this, he went out against the Jews and said to them, I find no guilt in him. Let's pray. Father, these verses that you've delivered us to this morning are dripping with irony, with hypocrisy, with this large cast of characters before us. Let our focus be upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the centrality of everything, and he is the centrality in these events as well. God, let us be mindful of what our Lord has done for us. Let us be mindful of the scorn and the ridicule he took on our behalf. Lord, let us commit to serve him better today than yesterday. reveal to us where we may have these dark spots in our lives, where we may have the hypocrisy in our own lives. And God, I pray, as we look at this text, some of the astonishing truths of what you did and what you've done and what you've promised yet to do are seen clearly for us. Lord, I pray anywhere that I may be a stumbling block in the proclamation of your word, that I may be removed and your people hear your word. And Lord, if someone here today does not know you as Lord and Savior, that today be that day of salvation. Father, we love you and we thank you in Christ's name, amen. So before we get into the meat of the text here, it's probably a good time to fill in some blanks for you. I've shared many times that John was written about 25-ish years after the other three gospels, so he leaves some stuff out purposely, not to try to hide them, but because it was well known, and he gives us some other details at other points. In the verses in front of us, we are introduced to this Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. Now he was introduced in Luke earlier on, but now we're introduced to him. A name that most of us know, even those who have probably never came to church, that name is infamous, I guess you should say. Pontius or Pontius Pilate. Now scripture actually doesn't tell us a lot about this man. And is it important for us to know a lot about this man? We already know that I'm a history and a theology nerd, so you know that I wanna know more about this man. But I think it's important to know a little bit more about him because it helps us in his response. It helps us in how he responds. We're going to see a reluctance in Pilate to carry out this verdict. Actually, he doesn't even come to the same verdict, does he? He didn't come to the same conclusion that they did. And if you know the story, there's some other things that we're going to come to in the next week or two also. He doesn't really want to carry out this execution. So why did he eventually carry out this execution? Because I think we all know that it did happen. Two points to make here before I give you a little backstory. Sovereignly, God was directing all of this. Every bit of this was in God's control, by God's direction, by God's predetermined plan, as Peter would say later on to the Jewish authorities. Humanly though, let me give you some more context if you're willing to listen to me for a little bit longer. Many of you may be familiar with the Apostles' Creed, one of the earliest creeds and confessions in the church. In fact, Claire had to study the Apostles' Creed at school. Part of the Apostles' Creed says this, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. In one of the earliest Christian creeds, it doesn't bring into discussion KF's part in it, Anna's part in it, the delivering over. It just focuses on Pontius Pilate. So there's been debate over the years of why not even Tiberius, the emperor in Rome, who by his authority, Pontius had his authority. Why not any of these others? Well, most theologians would agree that it's because Pontius Pilate was the one in the seat of authority and judgment. He was the only one that could actually render the verdict in this way. But the Gospels, again, the only time we really, the only other background we have on Pontius Pilate is he murdered some Jews in Luke 13.1. Now, at that same time, there were some present who were reporting to him about the Galileans whose blood palate had mixed with their sacrifices. So he had taken the blood and killed people and mixed it with sacrifices. The other references we have to this man, though, have to come from extra biblical sources. Josephus, whom I've already mentioned. There's also a Jewish theologian, Philo of Alexandria, who gives us some details. And this is important. I hope you understand why this is important. You're thinking, brother, you haven't told us yet, so we don't know if it's important or not. Pilate was elected governor or appointed governor. He wasn't elected. He was appointed governor by the emperor of Judea about AD 26. And he would hold that position until about AD 37. So for about 11 years, he was governor over this time. And about seven years after Christ was crucified, he still held that position. Now, Judea was kind of a remote outpost. It wasn't a position you'd be jockeying for to let me go be the guy over there, right? Because we know enough about the Jews, especially in this time period, they were pretty contentious, cantankerous, hard to deal with, were they not? Not a place you'd want to go. So when he comes to Jerusalem, when a new governor were coming to Jerusalem by order of the emperor, They come in, you guys have been in the military will understand what I'm saying. Even if you hadn't been, you've seen oftentimes in marching formations and parade formations, or even in PT formations, when you're out running, you would typically have somebody with what we call a guide on, and it would have the flag of like the unit you're in or something like that. And it will be flaring out behind it, oftentimes with like a little pennant type thing. And so when they come marching into Jerusalem, there was on top of these flags a emblem, a rendering of Caesar, of Tiberius, of the emperor. And all the other governors before him, they would take those off out of respect for the Jews, not Pilate. He flags it, he runs it in there, all pomp and circumstance, and the Jews didn't like it. They said, take that down. No one else has done this before. Take that down, that representation. He wouldn't do it. So the Jews gathered a large group. They came and circled his house. This is when he first comes into the city, OK? They circle his house. They're sitting around. And they demanded they be taken down. They weren't moving. So Pilate brings his soldiers in and said, if they don't move, kill them all. So that edict was issued out there of, hey, if y'all don't move, we're going to kill you all. What do the Jews do? The Jews pulled down their shirts and stuck their necks out even further and said, do it then. Pilate relented. He didn't go through with it. But word got back to the emperor. Tiberius was not a very forgiving man either. So fast forward a little bit. Later on, Pilate, the big swords of the big shields that you see the Romans would carry sometimes, he brought those into the city with the semblance of pagan religiosity and the emperor's face on it, and brought them all the way up to the holy place. Again, the Jews were offended greatly, beseeched the emperor, and the emperor said, stop it. Don't take those into their holy place. And yet a third time, Pilate wanted to build an aqueduct into the city, a good thing, right? Nothing wrong with that, getting fresh water into the city. However, he robbed the temple treasury, stole the money they had given to the temple to fund this operation. So again, they beseeched the emperor. You see where I'm going with this, why it's important to realize how Pilate responded. Pilate was on thin ice with the emperor. back in Rome. There's another story of what actually got him removed from office is some Samaritans went up to Mount Gerizim because they believed that Moses had hidden some treasures up there. They go up there to try to find these treasures. Pilate sent his soldiers up there to beat him to death because he thought they were trying to mount an insurrection. That's what got him recalled to Rome. And while he's being recalled to Rome, the emperor died. And then we don't really know what happened exactly to Pilate. Some say that he was tried and executed. Some say he committed suicide, and that's the overwhelming thought that he was banished and committed suicide. You might think, well, it's all pretty cool, I guess. That plays a part in his decision making here, I think. Because what was he fearful of? The Jews, but that they would report back to the emperor again that he had done something. I told you the very next thing that we know of that happened, he was recalled. All that being said, let's jump back into the text, but before we do, I want to say this. I've already said this in my prayer. There's a lot, there's a large cast of characters that play in these trials, but Jesus is the primary focus. Jesus is the primary power. Jesus is in control of all these events. Verse 28 tells us that They bring him from Caiaphas, the Sanhedrin mock trial, where they declare that, yeah, he needs to be killed at daybreak. The conclusion of that is found in Matthew 26. I'm going to read this to harmonize it a little bit. Matthew 26, verses 64 through 68. Jesus said to him, You yourself said it. Nevertheless, I tell you, hereafter you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest tore his garments and said, he is blasphemed. What further need do we have to witnesses? Behold, you have heard the blasphemy. What do you think? They answered and said, he deserves death. Then they spat in his face and beat him with their fists. And others slapped him and said, prophecy to us, O Christ. Who's the one who hit you? This is the end of the trial with Caiaphas, the high priest. Then with a need to legality, or a nod to legality at least, they gathered back up at daybreak, as I told y'all, to appear as if they had just done it then. They hadn't been doing all these other things. Matthew 27, 1 and 2 share that for us. Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel together against Jesus to put him to death. And they bound him and led him away and delivered him to Pilate, the governor. Now we're formally caught all the way up to verse 28. John notes it was early. Now in the original Greek proae technically is the fourth watch of the night. So from 4 a.m. I'm sorry from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. Now the common practice of the Roman officials were to start their day at daybreak. They start their day around six, and they would end their official day by mid-morning, right before lunch. That's not too bad of a day of work, you know. Start about six, be done around a little bit before lunch. And they wanted to be first in line, because it was kind of first come, first served. So they wanted to get Jesus there first, get this over with, get it done, get him off our hands. So they show up. And they just wanted him to rubber stamp it and say, OK, I'm going to do what y'all do, because why? Well, they already felt like they had the advantage over him because all these other things he had done, they'd been reporting back to the governor, back to the emperor. So he's just going to rubber stamp it and do what we want because we're going to go report to the emperor on him again. The Praetorium, I'm going to pause. They didn't want another trial. They just want to expect the pilot to say, OK, guys, I'll do what you want me to do. Cause they already felt like they had him at a disadvantage here. Now the praetorium will be the governor's residence in Jerusalem. They had cleansed themselves. Did you see that? They did not enter into the praetorium so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. Do you see the hypocrisy there already? They cleansed themselves ceremonially for the Passover meal later. Fearing defilement, they would not enter. Do you see, I mean, they were offering over the most innocent man they'd ever seen before to be killed, and they're worried about this outward defilement. Now, first of all, Gentile residents, they didn't wanna go into a Gentile residence, but also, the word among the Jews was that the Romans, when they aborted their babies, and apparently they did that a lot, that they would throw them into the gutters and the sewer systems and that kind of thing, and they were afraid of coming in contact with a dead baby. So concerned with this outward appearance, this outward cleansing, while ignoring the conspiracy to murder someone. They truly were what Jesus had told them earlier, right? Whitewashed tombs. The outside is clean and spotless and looks great, but inside is full of dead man's bones. I found a quote by D.A. Carson that kind of encapsulates my thoughts on this. The Jews take elaborate precautions to avoid ritual contamination in order to eat the Passover. At the very same time, they are busy manipulating the judicial system to secure the death of him who alone is the true Passover. So now the trial begins to unfold. There's three parts to this trial. The accusation, the interrogation, and the determination. So they won't come in to Pilate, so Pilate goes out to them, verse 29. And in deference to their unwillingness to enter, he goes out. Now, Pallet, y'all know more about Pallet now than a lot of people do because of what I just shared with you. But Pallet is known to be proud, to be arrogant, to be cynical, but also weak in some areas. Often insensitive, overly brutal, to cover up the weaknesses. And we find that a lot in our world today, right? People that are overly insensitive and overly brutal are doing it usually to cover up some weaknesses they have. or insecurities. As a footnote, Pilate would remain in that position six to seven years after the crucifixion, but it was that incident I shared with you a moment ago with the Samaritans that would get him kicked out of the city. The question that he asked is simple but necessary, isn't it? You're bringing this man to me, telling me he's guilty. What is the accusation? Don't just drop him off at my door and say, let me deal with him, because despite all of his flaws, Pilate was acting as the judicial authority. He was in charge of the army, but he was also in charge of the courts and the judicial system. He was in charge of all of it. So why is he here? Why have you brought him to me? Now, this question opens the proceedings officially. Now, it's important to note, he must have had some knowledge of this, right? And he had knowledge of Jesus to some degree, because there were Roman soldiers that were in the garden that night when they arrested him, right? And they're not gonna take off on their own. They had to get checked off on by at least their leaders. They wanted him. He understood they were going to arrest him. And the Jews expected a rubber stamp. The pilot wasn't gonna make it that easy on them. Again, I've already said the Jews didn't want another trial. They just wanted the execution to take place. Their charge was, as we all know, blasphemy, right? That was their primary charge, at least. That was the charge of which they could stone him according to Jewish law was blasphemy. But that wouldn't hold up in a Roman court, would it? They could care less about a religious matter amongst the Jews. So I had to think of another thing that would justify the killing. So there's a lot packed into this next statement. This is Pilate talking back to the Jews. The Jews say this. They answered and said to him, if this man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered him to you. Where's the charge in that? Where's the accusation in that? Where's the crime in that? They don't give him one, do they? He's a bad guy. We don't like him. He's a bad guy. We need you to kill him. There's a lot packed into this. An evildoer. It's not specific. This is insulting to Jesus and the pilot, actually. It's insulting to the judge, is it not? Well, he's just an evildoer. But also, it's skirting the issue, is it not? It's a way to avoid the issue. They accused him of blasphemy, but this is actual blasphemy, is it not? To call the son of God an evildoer? That is blasphemy. An assault on his character is really what's going on there. Not an official charge. Actually, their inability to lay an official charge on Jesus is proof of his innocence. Do you get that? The fact they couldn't lay a legal charge to him is proof that he was innocent. Unintentionally, of course, but it affirms that in the Roman court, at least. But don't mistake that they expect power to just carry it on out anyway. What do they say? We wouldn't have brought him to you. We wouldn't have brought him to you. Now, Pallett responds, take him yourselves, judge him according to your law. The Jew said to him, it's not lawful for us to put anyone to death. You see what Pallett did to them right there? You catch what he's doing? He in one comment made them acknowledge they couldn't do what they wanted to do without his authority. In a sense, he's telling them, if you want this man executed, and you can't legally do it, you need to convince me that it's legitimate. But that also begs the question, we know they're gonna stone Stephen not too long after this event. He gave them, he said, go do what you gotta do. Now this is where we see the sovereignty of God really on display here. That's not the way he had to die. There was a certain way he had to die at a certain time in a certain way in a certain manner. while all the while using Pilate to poke him in the eye and say, you can't do what you want to do legally, you have to go through me. Now verse 32 shows us the much deeper prophetic reason this was unfolding in this way. Why the Romans had to be the ones who wielded the executioner's sword, so to say. It tells us, verse 32. This is kind of a parenthetical statement, again, by John. In order that the word of Jesus, which he spoke, would be fulfilled, signifying by what kind of death he was about to die. Well, what's that all about? What is that all about? Jesus had told them Gentiles would be involved in his death. He told him that. Mark 10, verse 33 and 34. Behold, we're going to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed by the chief priest and the scribes. We've already seen that happen, haven't we? They will condemn him to death. We've already seen that happen. Will deliver him over to the Gentiles. That's what's going on right now. And they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him. And three days later, he will rise again. He had already told him that's what's gonna happen. That's what must happen. Now, Jesus had also repeatedly referenced that he would be lifted up. What was the Jews' way of killing someone? Throw them down and stone them. That's what they did to Stephen. That was the way they executed someone who broke the law. They definitely didn't crucify. Nobody else did at that time. The Assyrians did something similar, but it was a different discussion. John 3, 14 and 15. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up, so that whoever believes will in him have eternal life. Now, if you're with us on Wednesday nights, here's my shameless plug for Wednesday nights. That happens in the book of Exodus, and we will get to that event sometime as we're walking through the book of Exodus. John 8, 28, so Jesus said, when you lift up the son of man, then you will know that I am he and I do nothing for myself, but I speak these things as the father taught me. John 12, 32 and 33, and I, if I'm lifted up from the earth, will draw him into myself, but he was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which he was about to die. If the Jews had executed him, they'd have thrown him down and stoned him, not lifted him up on a crucifier's cross. not pointing back to the event when the serpents came in and were killing the Jews, the Hebrews wandering, and Moses made that standard and held it up high and put it on that stick and said, look to that and you will be saved. That's what Jesus is talking about. That was a reference to Jesus back in that time. We'll get to that in the book of Exodus. So if you start coming now, you'll eventually get to it when we get to it on Wednesday nights. I keep referencing Stephen. Most of y'all are familiar with Stephen, but let's read what happened to Stephen right quick. Acts 7, 58 through 60. This is after crucifixion, of course, and after this, Stephen is called a blasphemer. And when they had driven him, Stephen, out of the city, they began stoning him, and the witnesses laid aside their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. Y'all know him as Paul. They went on stoning Stephen as he was calling out and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And having said this, he fell asleep. They stoned Stephen. But again, the hand of God at work in these events, he had to be lifted up. He had to be killed. It had to go through the high priest, the scribes, all these folks, delivered to the Gentiles, hung on that tree. Not just what we've read here, but Isaiah 53 lays that out for us too. All of these events are guided and directed by the sovereign hand of God. Now, Pilate begins his interrogation. Officially, Pilate entered again into the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to him, are you the king of the Jews? Are you the king of the Jews? He leaves the Jewish leaders outside, they won't come in. This is Jesus, whatever the Roman court looked like, Pilate and Jesus. Are you the king of the Jews? Now, the question asked by Pilate requires a harmonizing of the gospels, because we haven't read that in John's gospel, right? They didn't tell Pilate in John's gospels, well, he's calling himself a king. We don't read it here, so did he say it? Of course he said it, Luke 23, two. And they began to accuse him, Jesus, saying, we found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar and saying that he himself is Christ, a king. So that is what they told the Roman authorities, that he is calling himself a king, that he's saying don't pay taxes. This was the accusation. This is the only accusation they could make that possibly would cause Pilate to kill him because that would be an insurrectionist. And he's a threat to Rome. Of course, these charges were a lie. Jesus had actually taught just the opposite, didn't he, in regards to dealing with the government, with the current occupiers in Rome. Here's what he told them in Matthew 22, 19 through 21. Show me the coin used for the tax. And they brought him a denarius. And he said to them, whose likeness and inscription is this? They said to him, Caesar's. Then he said to them, therefore, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. But Pilate couldn't overlook this accusation. He had to ask the questions, did he not? So he asked a simple question, and all four Gospels give us this as Pilate's opening question. Now, what's interesting to me is in the original language, we lose some of the emphasis, but in the original language, when it says, are you? Are you the king of the Jews? In the original Greek, he actually said twice, and it's more of a, you? You are the king of the Jews? You catch the difference in the emphasis there and the inflection of the language? Look at this man that's standing before him. You don't look like a king. There's nothing about you that would make me think this guy's royalty. That's what he's saying to him. You look nothing like a king. What kind of king are you? You're really the king of the Jews? No army, no stately form, no weapons of war with him, earthly war at least. Well, that should harken your mind all the way back to a chapter I've already referenced, Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53, we read this, verse two. For he, this is the Messiah, grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root at a part's ground, he has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him, nor appearance that we should desire him. This false European model of this Jesus that looks so different than everybody else in his first incarnation, he looked like a common person. He was amidst the common people. He had no stately form, no majesty in him, in physical appearance. So you can see why Pilate would say, you don't look like any king I've ever seen before. Jesus answered him. You saying this from yourself or did others tell you about me? Instead of a distinct yes or no, Jesus shows that he's in control of the situation, is he not? He's in control of the situation. If this was from Pilate's initiative, it was to see if he truly was a threat to Rome. Physically and politically, and that answer would be emphatically no. That was not his purpose in his first coming. Jesus had actually rejected the crowds attempts to make him king a couple of times, hadn't he? They wanted to come make him king, and he said, no, my hour's not yet come. No, my hour's not yet come. The second part of this, or did they say this about me? It's coming from you, Pilate? It's coming from them. So that would put a question marker over the whole legality of Rome doing anything about it to begin with. He's not making it easy for Pilate. Pilate's response, am I a Jew? Your own nation and a chief priest delivered you to me. What did you do? I didn't send my army to come get you. They brought you to me. Am I a Jew? Now, this also shows Pilate's disdain for the Jewish people. I'm not one of those dirty shepherding rabble-rousers. I don't know if I've ever used that word before, rabble-rouser. This assignment to Judea, the fact that they drug him into this, he don't want a part of this. It has nothing to do with him and his mind. What did he view it as? Primarily a doctrinal dispute, right? This is something in your religion that y'all need to work. And actually, the early Christians, that was a thought from Rome for a long, long time, that this wasn't something separate from Judaism. The Christian problem, as Rome called it, was just a religious thing between the Jews and the Christians. They need to figure it out. It took a couple hundred years, and then that's when the persecution came in really, really heavy on them. That's a different topic for a different day and more of a historical lesson. Emphasized by his comments that his own people are the ones accusing him. You're a king of them and they're the ones accusing you. They're the ones dragging you into court. Now, let me pause for a second. I'm not trying to exonerate Pilate. I'm not trying to say Pilate's hands are clean, even though he tried to clean his hands of it. We'll get to that account later. He tried to clean his hands of it. But he was actually confused at why the Jews thought he deserved death. I think. Why would they want him dead anyway? What is it he's done? Well, their accusations certainly didn't seem to match this man standing before him, did he? I mean, they said you're a king and an insurrectionist and all this stuff. That's not what Pilate was seeing standing in front of him. He asked a question he should have asked to begin with. What did you do? Really? That's the question. What did you do? Although Pilate had some confusion of the details, he did understand that envy and jealousy was involved. Matthew 27, 18, for he, Pilate, knew that because of envy, they had delivered him over. He knew that was working in the midst of this. But why this caused such a desire for his death wasn't clear. Pilate's just parroting what the Jews' accusations were and looking for more detail. I don't think Pilate would have had any problem killing him to begin with if the charges were legitimate, right? I mean, he wouldn't have no problem doing that at all. Jesus' response. My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be delivered over to the Jews, but as it is, my kingdom is not from here. Jesus declared his kingship, but that it was not of this world. Neither his authority nor his dominion come from this world and this worldly system, nor is it limited by this world and this worldly system. Jesus is king of kings and Lord of lords. He is king of the created and the uncreated, the seen and the unseen, the king of all. As he continues, as if he were from the world system, from a worldly king only, he'd have an army at his command, overthrowing these accusers. He'd have never made it to the pilot to begin with, fighting for him. And of course, as we know, being God, he could have called down an army of angels. He wouldn't have to do any of that. By the word of his mouth, over 200 people fell in the garden just by a simple declaration of who he is. No earthly king would have went willingly, would they? They would have fought. Jesus' kingdom doesn't require nor originate from human effort. That's why I don't like that term. Some of y'all might not like me saying this, but I'm gonna say it anyway. It had never stopped me before. You don't make Jesus Lord of your life. As so many evangelists try to say, just make Jesus Lord. Jesus is Lord of your life. John will get down to me about hitting the, That wasn't in my notes either. He is Lord. We don't make Jesus anything. He is Lord. His kingdom is spiritually active and one day he returns to physically reign over that which he is already currently reigning over. which is gonna look a little different, and he's gonna physically come back. Revelation 11, 15. Then the seventh angel sounded, and there was a loud voices in heaven saying, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever. Now don't misunderstand has become the kingdom. That which already is will yet see a future consummation of that reality when Jesus returns physically. Now don't dismiss Jesus' statement of being delivered over to the Jews in verse 36. This isn't merely a doctrinal Judaism disagreement. He wasn't leading a revolt amongst the Jews either, was he? He was calling them out for their hypocrisy, calling them out for their false legalism, calling them out for their false sense of cleanliness. He wasn't rallying troops. They were actually his enemies and they handed him over. Their charge that he was an imminent physical threat to Rome was fake, was false, was not true. His kingdom actually extended over all, but not in the form of the physical revolution they were accusing him of. Understandably, this would have been, this probably would have confused Pilate even more. What Jesus is doing is he's not clearing it up for Pilate, right? It's becoming more confusing for Pilate in many senses. Verse 37, so Pilate said, so you are a king. Jesus answered, you yourself said I'm a king. For this I've been born and for this I've come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. So you are a king. Jesus' answer is clear, concise, and drives to the very specific important point here. He is the truth. He bears witness to the truth. I like a statement Paul says to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6, 13. I charge you in the presence of God who gives life to all things and of Christ Jesus who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate. He's saying Jesus himself testified to Pontius Pilate who he is and that he's of the truth. Notice also here Jesus speaks to his eternality, his divinity, and his humanity in this one verse. while all along declaring the truth that he is the king, but not by the hands or the will of man. He has been born, he says. That speaks of his human nature. Coming to the world speaks of his eternality because he came from somewhere else to come into the world and his divinity. Pre-existent, incarnate God, before anything was created, was standing before the governor of this backwater, region in Rome. God is standing before this man declaring that he is the truth and all who are of the truth hear his voice. So what do we see Jesus doing here? We see a beautiful example. Y'all heard me say this before, not every text of scripture is an evangelistic text, but I see evangelism right here. He's saying the truth is right before you That's the external call. The external call is, I'm of the truth. But then he points that, and he points to the internal. Those that are of the truth hear my voice. Throughout Jesus' earthly life and ministry, he was proclaiming, explaining, and upholding the truth throughout his ministry. The truth about God, the truth about man, the truth about sin, judgment, holiness, love, eternal life. or as Peter says in 2 Peter 1 3, seeing that his divine power is granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness. Through the full knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence, everything is found in Christ Jesus. He proclaimed the truth and he was the truth incarnate. He is the only way to eternal life. And that's what he's telling Pilate right here. John 14, five and six, Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you're going. How do we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father but through me. The external call laid forth, the truth is before you. Jesus reiterates the truth. He's been declaring himself throughout his ministry. John 10, 27, he's been saying this throughout his ministry. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. The Greek word for hear, in verse 37, the Greek word for hear also implies the concept of obedience. Not just hearing it audibly, but hearing and responding to it. The Greek word implies that, not merely hearing the words. As we come to this final verse, Pilate said to him, what is truth? And when he had said this, he went out against the Jews and said to them, I find no guilt in him. What is truth? Is that not the correct question? But really, what it's saying here is that's a sad response. That's not really asked in the form of a question. It's a sad response. What is truth? What is it? Fell on deaf ears, didn't it? indicative of the truth that Pilate was not of the sheep of the great shepherd because he just told him if you're of the truth you hear me. He heard him audibly. There was no conversion of this man. He wasn't of the sheep of the great shepherd. Pilate probably did want to know what his truth though didn't he? I mean that whole culture, that philosophical culture was about that. Seekers of the truth. I think I've shared with y'all before that Paul Washer once said he was standing in front of a college conference. He said, if I stand up here and say I'm a seeker of the truth, y'all will all stand up and applaud me for that being a good thing. But as soon as I tell you I have found the truth, you will curse me like a devil. And even more so when he says, and the truth is in Jesus Christ, then you'll throw stuff at me and run me out of this place. Pilate probably wanted to know what is truth, but as is the case with all fallen humanity, the walls of seeing and hearing were both divinely appointed, that he could not, and human unwillingness. Man is unwilling, humanly. Sovereignly, God is unable. A man is unable. God must open the ears and open the eyes. Found a quote from Kind of a quote. I guess it's a quote. It's a long quote from MacArthur. It's not on the board. Just listen up. Speaking of this, truth. Without God, there cannot be any absolutes. Without absolutes, there can be no objective, universal, normative truths. Truth becomes subjective, relative, pragmatic. Objectivity gives way to subjectivity. Timeless, universal principles become mere personal or cultural preferences. That is where we are living at today, folks. All fallen mankind has accomplished by forsaking God, the fountain of living waters, is to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water, Jeremiah 2.13. Pilate's flippant retort proved that he was not one of those given by the Father to the Son who hear and obey Christ's voice. To say that truth is absolute when that's absolutely true is laughed at in the world today. Truth is subjective in our culture. We live in a weird time. Hopefully, that's changing. But we live in a weird time where somebody can go out and say, well, what I see out there is whatever. It could be absolutely false. But as long as they believe it enough, it's good. No, it's not. The sky is blue, it's blue. I don't care if you say it's green or not, it's blue. But absolutes begin with God. You remove God from the equation, it doesn't matter anymore. There's no absolutes anymore in the mind of the world. Concluding this initial interrogation, Pilate is not bending the knee to King Jesus. He's not bending the knee to the Jews outside either, though, is he? He must admit that judicially, he finds no cause to execute him. A moment of seemingly human righteousness within Pilate here, is it not? And y'all have been with us on Wednesday nights through Genesis. We see this over and over and over again, those who proclaim to be righteous doing something they shouldn't, and the pagan declaring something that's right and true. Judicially, he finds no cause to execute him. He is not an imminent threat to Rome. He has no army, he doesn't look like a king, he looks like he's been walking the dusty, dirty trails of Judea for three and a half years because he had been. I find no guilt in him, he says. I find no guilt in him. No valid accusation, no conviction. Is he hated, maligned, false accusation? Yes, but he can find no fault in him. Again, through God's providential hand, Pilate is declaring the truth. There is no fault in him. There is no guilt in him. There is no reason to kill him. And the religious Jews who claim to follow the same God are the ones that want him dead. Now, the story doesn't end here. Y'all all know that. But I would say this. This comes back to the age-old question that I must ask. What will you do with Jesus? the historical records of man confirm that he lived and breathed and existed. All the religions of the world can't dismiss it either. The Muslims, the Hindus, all world religions say, yes, he existed. And many of them will say he was a good teacher, he was a prophet, he was all these kind of things. But if what he said, what he claimed to be, and what he did Of course, we say he's God because he is God. But all these things he said and did, if he was not God, guys, he would be guilty of blasphemy. He would be. So he couldn't be a good teacher, a good prayer. He couldn't be any of these other things. Jesus himself throws out all those other options. you bend the knee to King Jesus, you don't bend the knee to teacher Jesus, prophet Jesus, any of the other things. He was a teacher, he was a prophet, but ultimately the question is, who is he? He is the truth, he is of the truth, and he is the son of God. Any other declaration of who Jesus is is wrong and will send you to hell. Only Jesus saves. And despite the fact that Pilate says, I find no guilt in him, just like these other false religions, right? I don't see anything wrong with him. If what he said is not true, then there's a lot of guilt in Jesus. But it is true. Every single bit of it. Father, we thank you for this time we've had together to study your word. Lord, I know that this text is maybe at times sounded more like a seminary class than it did a sermon, but God, these truths I think are important to share and explain to your people. they might more greatly understand the details going on and see your sovereign hand at work. And God, this pagan worshiping man standing before our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, recognized that there was no guilt in him, and yet does not recognize him as Lord and Savior, not of the sheep, but the great shepherd. God, let this give us boldness as we proclaim the truth of Jesus, that we understand the differences and the opinions of man, that we present the true Jesus. And God, that my heart cry for your people is that we would seek to serve him more today than yesterday, as I've already said. Not out of something else we will gain, but because he alone is worthy. And he stood in front of that Roman judge and took these accusations for us. that he would go to that tree. And Lord, much more is coming for our Lord and Savior Jesus as we will see as we continue in this word. For let us love him more, create within us a greater desire. Father, somebody here does not know you as Lord and Savior. If they perhaps only believe that he was guiltless and faultless, but not believe that he is King of kings and Lord of lords, that today be the day that you break them and bring them. Father, we love you and we thank you in Christ's name, amen.