Sermon Cloud

Scripture Reading; 1 Kings 22:15-28

This morning we are taking the next step as we move closer to the cross.

• We have been looking with at the last night of Jesus' life as John has given us so much detail of this important time.

• Last time we were together, we saw Jesus taken away from the garden in chains.

• After that Peter fulfills Jesus' prophecy that he will deny Him three times, but we will come back to this section when we look at the end of John's Gospel, Chapter 21.

• Through the course the night, Jesus has also been tried by the high priest and as the rooster crows and the sun rises, we are taken into the court of the Roman province and its governor, Pontius Pilate.

John 18:28 Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. ²⁹Pilate then went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?” ³⁰They answered and said to him, “If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you.”

• Talk about trumped up charges....

• All Jesus has done is fulfill His role as a Prophet of God. Jeremiah, Miciah, Elijah

• He has told them what the Father has given Him to tell them and they did not want to hear it.

• Now they have arrested Him like a criminal, and that with a great show of force, as He prayed in the garden with His disciples.

• We see what happens when you challenge the establishment.

• Sarah Palin is in good company as she fends of the 19 plus ethics charges against her as she has tried to live according to her conscience as a governor and VP Candidate.

• I am not really comparing her to Jesus, but the situation is in some ways similar.

• Everyone (at least the conservative folks) can sympathize for this poor woman who is being dragged through the mud again and again because she seems to be challenging the established powers on some level that is making them uncomfortable.

• On the other hand some people seem to hate her just for what she represents.

• Jesus too was mistreated because He was a threat to the leaders of His day.

• If you feel some level of sympathy for Mrs. Palin, how much more should you look at Jesus and take notice of the injustice and the great suffering that He endured.

• Sarah Palin has suffered, and I believe that she sees it as for the benefit of her state and the country, but what she is enduring is nothing compared to what Jesus would suffer for our benefit.

• Again, the point here that I want to bring out is the unjust nature of Jesus' suffering.

• If you can have sympathy for Mrs. Palin then how much more for Jesus whom we know was absolutely innocent and without malicious intentions.

• When He is brought before the governor and he asks the Jews, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”

• The answer is pretty telling, “If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you.”

• He must be a bad guy because we brought Him to you for a trial.

• Now just hurry up and find Him guilty so that we can get on with our religious celebration!

• What hypocrites!

• We want this Man done away with in a hurry so that we can go and worship God.

• They would not go into the place where the trial would be held because it would make them ceremonially unclean due to their religious rules.

• But somehow the killing of an innocent man for their own personal benefit was easy to overlook and must be quickly dispensed with in order to get on with their festival.

John 18:31Then Pilate said to them, “You take Him and judge Him according to your law.” Therefore the Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,” ³²that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die.

• Another prophecy is fulfilled in the fact that Jesus was crucified.

• John 12:32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”

John 18:33 Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” ³⁴Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?” ³⁵Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?” ³⁶Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” ³⁷Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am 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. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”” ³⁸Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all.

³⁹“But 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?” ⁴⁰Then they all cried again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.

• And so we see that Pilate questions Jesus and says that He is not guilty of anything.

• He has merely claimed to be the King of a kingdom that is not of this world.

• He has no intentions of political rebellion and Pilate says, “I find no fault in Him at all.”

• Twice more in the 19^th chapter of John's Gospel will Pilate tell the Jews, “I find no fault in Him.”

   

• He is after all, an innocent Man!

• Last time I spoke to you about Jesus going forth knowing all the things that would happen to Him.

• Here is the point from a human perspective that it appears His fate is truly sealed.

• Pilate seems to indicate that he is willing to set Him free and we will see more next week as we look into Chapter 19.

• Rather than engage in an argument for His own defense, Jesus states plainly what His position and intentions are.

• I am a King.

• I was sent into the world for this purpose.

• I came to bear witness to the truth.

• I think that Pilate is distracted and rightly so;

• These men show up at dawn with a prisoner and no charges.

• They thrust Him into the charge of the Governor of the province.

• They call for His death.

• Pilate questions Him and finds Him innocent.

• The Jews do not back down.

• In the midst of this Jesus makes a peculiar statement, ““You say rightly that I am 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. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.””

• Jesus seems to be waxing philosophical here.

• What is He doing?

• Jesus is bearing witness to the Truth.

• He is doing it here by submitting Himself to men who are unjust and all the while maintaining His own innocence.

• What truth is this demonstrating?

• The wickedness of man for one.

• Doing what is expedient instead of what is right.

• He is also demonstrating God's love for the world in that He is willing to endure this on behalf of sinners like these!

• Jesus Himself is TRUTH, we saw Him say this in John 14:6 “I Am the Way the Truth and the Life....”

• John speaks of truth 26 times in his Gospel.

• And here we might say is the moment of truth.

• Here as Jesus is examined by Pilate and stands before His own nation who have betrayed Him because they do not want to hear the Word of God.

• Jesus says to Pilate, ““You say rightly that I am 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. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

• And Pilate seems to think that this is an irrelevant statement and he replies, “What is truth?”

• Truth stands before Him in a linen robe, about to suffer for the sins of the world.

• Truth that contrasts the wickedness of man and the Love of God!

• Truth that will not back down in the face of adversity.

• Truth that finishes the mission that He has been given.

• Most of all, Truth, which is the heart of God toward a fallen world.

• A truth that is all too often overlooked by the world of men just at it was by Pontius Pilate.

• Everyone who is of the truth hears His voice.

• Then those who are not of the truth do not hear it.

• Some men as Pilate did that day hear the voice of Jesus, but they hear it week after week yet they do not really hear it.

• Pilate in his distraction and haste to deal with the situation and get it over with passed right over those words which Jesus spoke.

• Matthew 27:11 Now Jesus stood before the governor. And the governor asked Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?” So Jesus said to him, “It is as you say.” ¹²And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing. ¹³Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” ¹⁴But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.

¹⁵Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished. ¹⁶And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. ¹⁷Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” ¹⁸For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy. ¹⁹While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him.” ²⁰But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. ²¹The governor answered and said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” They said, “Barabbas!” ²²Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said to him, “Let Him be crucified!” ²³Then the governor said, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they cried out all the more, saying, “Let Him be crucified!” ²⁴When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.” ²⁵And all the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children.” ²⁶Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.

And so we come again to the question today.

• First, Do you see as Pilate did that Jesus was an innocent man that was tragically betrayed by His own people and and delivered as Matthew tells us because of envy.

• He was sacrificed as Caiaphas said He should be, in place of the nation.

• Rather than start some kind of uprising or tumult which would bring the Roman government down on them they turned Him over to the Romans to be dealt with.

• But He was there telling them what God wanted them to know and they threw that away!

• He was sentenced unjustly by the Roman governor because likewise he did not want to deal with the situation and take the time to set it right.

• Secondly, do you understand the truth of who He was and what He was accomplishing that day?

What a parallel to the situations of many people even today.

• They hear the truth of who Jesus is.

• They hear the word of God preached and the message of Jesus death for sin and the forgiveness offered.

• But they are not of the truth and so the message seems to fall on deaf ears.

• They hear the words but they never find it in themselves to make a proper and complete use of them.

• “Jesus is a good man.” they say.

• He is a model of selflessness and sacrifice.

• He is a good moral teacher.

• These things may be true, but they are not the Truth that Jesus spoke of.

• He was also God in human flesh.

• It was for this that He was initially found guilty because they could not grasp the idea.

• He was also the Sacrifice by which and only by which people are brought to God and find peace with Him.

• These men wanted to be right with God by birth into the nation of Israel and their religious practices.

• And so today if we ask the question with Pilate, “What is truth?”

• We must answer it with “Jesus.”

• Jesus is Truth.

• He is what God wants us to know about Himself.

• That even as God He would submit Himself to such great agony to redeem sinful men.

• That He would stand before the mocking crowds

• That He would submit Himself to a kangaroo court

• That He would trust all the time that it was the plan of God to redeem those who would believe.

• That we would be sanctified or set apart to God by this truth as we trust in it.

• Do you trust in it today or will you allow the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of wealth or other things to choke out the Word and make in unfruitful?

• The Jews were distracted by there power and the peace of their nation in occupied territory.

• Pilate was distracted by discharging his duties as the governor.

• Both missed the Truth that Jesus spoke of.

• Will you?