I invite you to turn with me in God's Word to John 18. The context as we begin God's Word from John 18 is that this was the night the Lord was betrayed. He had broken bread with the disciples. He had the upper room discourse. John deals long with the upper room discourse. They leave. Jesus gives this high priestly prayer in John 17. He had already predicted that Judas would betray him. Peter would deny him. So the beginning of John 18, Judas betrays him and then Peter follows the Lord after the arrest. He has this false trial before the high priest. And now we come to John 18, verse 28, and we'll read to the end of the chapter, and those verses will be our text this morning. So John 18, verse 28, hear the word of the Lord. Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover. So Pilate went outside to them and said, what accusation do you bring against this man? They answered him, if this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you. Pilate said to them, take him yourselves and judge him by your own law. The Jews said to him, it is not lawful for us to put anyone to death. This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die. So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, are you the king of the Jews? Jesus answered, do you say this of your own accord? Or did others say it to you about me? Pilate answered, am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done? Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that it may not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world. And Pilate said to him, so you are a king? Jesus answered, you say that I am a king. For this purpose, I was born. And for this purpose, I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. Pilate said to him, what is truth? After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, I find no guilt in him, but you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews? They cried out again, not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. There ends our reading of God's holy word. Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, this morning we look at the trial of a king. One king is interrogating another king. It is a matter of life and death for the king accused. But we know much more is on the line here for the accused king, Jesus of Nazareth. Our salvation is at stake. Nevertheless, the prosecuting king will ask Jesus the question of the day, what is truth? What is truth? That is a question that is still and probably maybe even more often now asked, what is truth? Is there an objective standard to truth? Are we able to say with any surety that something is true and another thing is false? Of course. But why? Why? Because we confess first and foremost that this is the word of God. That if we have a true and holy God and he revealed himself, his revelation will also be truth. Back in John chapter 17, Jesus prayed this high priestly prayer. And he prayed to God, sanctify them by your truth. And he immediately defined what is truth. Your word is truth. We've already sang the word this morning. We've read the word from Exodus 20. We've read the word now from John 18. What is it? It's truth. It conveys the unchanging and perfect will of God. It's the standard of righteousness and truth. But more than that, the Bible doesn't just simply say true things. It contains the very message of salvation. So that when we sing, we confess the Apostles' Creed, we confess these truths. We're confessing something that isn't only in our mind, but that must take deep root in our hearts. We confess that Jesus is our Lord, that Jesus is my Savior, that I belong, body and soul, life and death, to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. Let that be our confession this morning as we see our Lord on trial before the world. The good news is that the very beginning of the Gospel of John contains, in John chapter 1, verses 11 and 12, We read, he came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. So congregation, as those who are trusting in Jesus Christ, as those who are children of God, hear his word this morning. Our theme is, our great Passover lamb is tried by Pilate. Our great Passover lamb is tried by Pilate. First, we'll see the charges. Second, the interrogation. And then third, the verdict. So first, the charges. Now, if you know the Gospels and the trials of the Lord Jesus Christ, you know that essentially there are more than one. In John, we see Jesus being led from the Garden of Gethsemane to the house of the high priest and now to Pilate. So what's missing in between there? Well, it's the trial before the Jewish court, the Jewish Sanhedrin, the court of the 71. The high priest would have been the presiding officer over this court. John is writing his gospel later than Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Matthew, Mark, and Luke being the synoptic, means same, synoptic gospels. He's assuming a knowledge of the synoptic gospels. So in that trial before the Sanhedrin, the accusation comes against the Lord. What was Jesus actually tried for? Well, he claimed to be the Christ. He also claimed, they bring the charges against him, that he said he would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days. And there in the trial before the Sanhedrin, he did not respond to those charges. He did not have to respond to those charges, just like in our court system, he did not have to testify against himself. And in that court system, the false witnesses could not even agree. So this trial is going to be thrown out. Jesus will be acquitted by the Sanhedrin because there cannot be agreement. Until the high priest asked the question, are you the Christ? Are you the one that they say that you are? Jesus did not have to testify against himself. At first, as a sheep before a shearer, he was silent and opened not his mouth. But then at the end of that trial, he says, yes, I am. He says, you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. That's what he says. That's enough. What more do we need to hear? Caiaphas says. In John, Jesus goes from the high priest's house directly to the governor's headquarters. And that's where our text picks up in verse 28. So why is this taking place? Why is Pilate involved in this whole entire process? Well, to understand what's taking place in this first century is that the Jews were permitted to practice their own religion and have their own laws, but Rome still was the governing authority. Caesar appointed lesser kings or governors over all the different provinces of the Roman Empire. And their task was to make sure that peace remains. It's also to collect taxes and other things, but primarily it's to keep peace in the empire. So Pilate is very concerned with peace. And what would happen is that the Jews would bring an accused criminal to the Roman governor who would just rubber stamp that and say, fine, deal with this accordingly. The governors before Pilate were much easier on the Jews than Pilate was. Pilate was hated by the Jews of the day. Pilate had a number of rebellions against him, and he was harsh. And he would end the rebellion with the edge of the sword. In fact, sometimes when there was a protest, he would send plainclothes plain-clothed officers or soldiers into the crowds with daggers. They didn't know who the soldiers were, and they would kill the Jewish people. This is the pilot of our text. And this is the pilot that will try the Lord Jesus Christ. Caiaphas, the high priest, might have gone to Pilate earlier in the evening, even before they arrested Jesus, to tell Pilate what's going to take place. Deal quickly with it. You don't want to mob. You don't want to revolt. People are following Jesus. There's only a few days earlier, Jesus, in the triumphal entry, rode out a donkey into Jerusalem. And boys and girls, what did the people cry out? Hosanna! Hosanna! The king is here! Hosanna in the highest! They don't want that. They don't want a mob revolt. So they bring Jesus to the governor's headquarters. They led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters. Verse 28, it was early in the morning. They themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover. Two quick points here. They were concerned they'd be defiled so that they could not eat the Passover. How hypocritical is that? They're scheming, plotting to murder the Lord Jesus Christ. They've paid false witnesses. They paid Judas 30 pieces of silver to betray the Lord Jesus Christ. They've had this mock trial where the witnesses could not agree, and yet they're concerned about this lesser portion of the law. We may not be defiled, so we cannot eat the Passover. This is what legalism looks like. when hearts are not humbled before the Lord. Second, you might be wondering, in this timeline, through this holy week, how this takes place. And a lot of it hinges on the question of when is the Passover? And if I asked you that question, probably many of you would say that the Passover was the night Jesus was betrayed, right? That is, after all, Matthew, Mark, and Luke connect that to the Passover. And that was on what we would call Thursday night, and Jesus was crucified that on Friday morning. Without getting too deep into a long discussion, I'm convinced this is all happening a day earlier. Jesus was actually crucified on Thursday. That meal, the institutional Lord's Supper, was on Wednesday night. I don't think we should change the day we celebrate Good Friday to still call it Good Friday. But nevertheless, this is why they were afraid of being defiled. They hadn't yet eaten the Passover lamb. Jesus is through the Lord's Supper with bread and wine, right? Not wine and the lamb. Wouldn't that have been more significant? Jesus' body is the lamb. He is the Passover lamb. That's the theological argument of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. So here we are. These chief priests, these Jews they're called in our text, do not want to be defiled by going into the residence or the headquarters of a Gentile. So they stay outside. And they'll stay outside for the remainder of our text. It's only the Lord Jesus Christ that we see going inside. They deliver the Passover lamb to a Gentile king. That's what's taking place. And that has great significance, as we'll see. In verse 29, Pilate goes out to hear the charge. At this point, it's clear this is going to become a legitimate trial. This is how trials worked. You have a charge, you'd have an interrogation, you'd have an impartial judge or jury, then you'd have a verdict. So what is the charge? What charge do the Jews bring before Pilate in our text? They don't even give a charge. Verse 30, they answered him, if this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you. So really the charge is, I guess, doing evil. Well, that is a theological term that refers to sin. And that's why Pilate's response is, that's not breaking the law. That's sin according to the Torah, or whatever your law happens to be, Jewish people. Try him according to your law. Doing evil, is not grounds for death in the Roman Empire. It might be grounds for excommunication among the Jews. This is essentially what they bring. He's breaking their law in some great way. Judge them by your own law. But the Jews here remind Pilate that they can't, at least not to the point of coming up with a conviction that will lead to death. The Jews were not permitted to put to death, and so they have to ask the Romans to do it. The Jews also would not have sought crucifixion. The death penalty in the Old Testament was stoning to death ordinarily. So the Jews are not able to carry out capital punishment, so they ask Pilate to do this work. And under this just system of Roman law, our own law is based on the same literature of Roman law, here's the accusation. This man has done evil. If he didn't do evil, we would not have taken your time. We would not have conspired this. We would not have planned this. We wouldn't have called the Sanhedrin out of bed early in the morning. We wouldn't have stayed up all night scheming. This will upset the Jewish leaders, but they'll be persistent. That brings us secondly to the interrogation. The interrogation of Jesus by Pilate is really centered on one great question. And it's this question. Are you a king? Are you a king? Is Jesus the king of the Jews? He asked him this in verse 33. Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, are you the king of the Jews? Jesus answers this in somewhat of a legal manner. He asked Pilate if he really wonders this, of his own accord, or if this is what people had told him. Is this actually the charge against him, that I'm the king of the Jews? And Pilate's response is simply, I don't care. Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done? He's trying to get to the point. What's actually at stake? What have you done? Why do they so hate you? Are you the king of the Jews? But why is that an important question? Why is the question of kingship so important? Well, as I mentioned, part of the role of the governor is to keep peace in the provinces. Pilate had this position only because Pilate married the granddaughter of Caesar. Pilate is not a Jew, he's a Spaniard. He's from Seville, Spain. But the question of kingship is important because Caesar doesn't want any challengers to the throne. So it's in Pilate's best interest to quell any potential rebellion or movements that might seek to overthrow the Roman authority. So Jesus tells Pilate something about this kingdom. He's laying out what theologians would pick up through the centuries. Augustine would call the city of man and the city of God. His kingdom is not of this world. It's an altogether different kingdom than the kingdoms of this world. There's no army going to be backing up Jesus. He could have called an army to back him up. You remember when Jesus fed the 5,000? That was 5,000 men. That's an army. They wanted to make him king, and they were angry that he did not want to be king. That was an army. He could have had an army. He could have had an earthly kingdom, but his kingdom would be spiritual. His deliverance to the Jews was willing. Here in our text, Jesus is still in control. But He is a King. And His kingdom will be altogether different than the kingdoms of this world. It will not expand by the edge of the sword or the clashing of shields. The kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ will be a spiritual kingdom, brought about by the Word and Spirit. But He is a King. Pilate asked that in verse 37, and Jesus confirms it. Then Pilate said to him, so you are a king. Jesus answered, you say that I am a king. For this purpose, I was born. And for this purpose, I've come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. For this purpose, I was born to be this king. Think of all the Old Testament prophecies. Awaiting and longing for and speaking of the King that is to come. Think of Psalm 2. Kiss the son lest he be angered. Think of Psalm 22. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Think of the Royal Psalms. Psalm 2, Psalm 18, 20, 21, 45, 72, 89, 110, 132, 144. You don't have to look all those up. Think of the enthronement Psalms. 24, a royal bride give heed. 47, 93, our call to worship. 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100. What are these Psalms saying? praising God for the enthronement of the king, giving praise to God as the great king. What kind of kingdom does this king have? It's a kingdom not of this world. It's a kingdom that God spoke to David and promised him in 2 Samuel 7, your son would forever sit upon the throne. Well, boys and girls, who is the son of David? Solomon? He was the son of David, but that is not the ultimate referent there. In 2 Samuel 7, it's speaking of the great king who will come, who will have an eternal kingdom. He will be the king of the kings of the world. It's Jesus Christ. And so when Jesus says, for this purpose I have come, he's speaking of what the prophets of old had prayed for, had sang about, had longed for. Jesus came for the purpose of kingship. But unlike an earthly king like Pilate, who kept people in subjection by the use of force, Jesus, the great king, the greatest king, would be the one who would be laying down his life for who? His friends? His enemies. He laid down his life for his enemies. while you were enemies, while you were yet dead in your trespasses. But God demonstrated His own love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. There's so much significance taking place in our text. This is a trial of the king of kings by a lesser king. The Jews are afraid to enter the headquarters because they don't want to be polluted before they eat the Passover lamb. But they're the very ones delivering the Passover lamb into the hands of a Gentile, that he might slaughter him for them. Behold, John the Baptist said in John chapter one, behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. On that day, that great day, the Jewish calendar, Nisan 14, 14th day of the month of Nisan. 20,000 lambs would be slaughtered in Jerusalem. The brook Kidron would run red with blood, but there was one ultimate lamb upon that day who would be slaughtered. He'd be the king. The good shepherd is becoming the sacrificial lamb. In John chapter 17, Jesus prayed that God would sanctify His people in your truth when He said, your word is truth. And now Jesus says in verse 37 that He came to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. And how does Pilate respond to that? What is truth? Think of the irony of that question from a judge What is truth? After all, isn't that the purpose of judgment? To establish truth from falsehood? But he asked the question that people still ask today. What is truth? Well, boys and girls, you know what truth is. You know the opposite of truth. The opposite of truth is a lie. You know what it means to lie. You say that you did something you didn't do, or vice versa. You understand what the truth is. We're living in a world of absurdities, congregation. The truth in Canada has been traded for the lie. People change their gender and think it is true. If you polled Canadians, if you did a survey of Canada and you asked them this simple question, I bet you all the kids here would get it right. Can a man have a baby? What percentage of Canadians you think would say yes? That is an absurd question. How old do you have to be to figure that out? You don't even have to have grade five biology. You know already as you play with your dolls. Babies come from moms. How in the world are we living in this situation? A situation where they ask what is truth? It's because they've traded the truth for the lie. They've been affirmed in their delusion. And that's the great virtue of the day, right? Affirmation. Affirm what I believe. If you've been told something enough times and you believe it. Pilate's question is a question that needs to be answered today. This whole mentality of affirmation regardless of truth. That's also why so many today are content to live in enmity with God and in isolation. What is the great need of today? Not the simple teaching of biology, of course, but they won't listen. They don't have ears to hear. The great need of today is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's where the church, here's where Christians play such a pivotal role. You have the truth. We have the word of life. And it exalts the Lord Jesus Christ, the very truth of God. When Jesus asked his disciples, as everybody else was turning away from Jesus, this is in John 6, Jesus just explained to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever eats me will live. I said, what? That is a hard saying. And all these disciples are leaving Jesus. And Jesus says to the 12, do you want to leave as well? You want to turn back as well? And what does Peter say? Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Pilate might have said, what is truth? That's a rhetorical question. But what he says reveals what a God-rejecting worldview will leave you with. It's all relative. What is truth? That brings us thirdly to the verdict, verses 38 through 40. The scene of John 18 really just follows the steps of Pilate. He comes outside. He goes inside, now he comes back outside. And while Jesus is still inside, Pilate goes outside to the chief priests, they're simply called in our text the Jews, and they're waiting. And so what's the verdict that Pilate comes out with? I find no guilt in him, he says. I find no guilt in him. Even if Christ does claim to be king, He's no challenge to Caesar. He's not enlisting an army. He's not even a challenge to Pilate. This man is a sheep. He's not some military leader. And Jesus just spoke of a kingdom that's not of this world. So in verse 39, Pilate rather, gives the Jews really a way out of their predicament. This man has done nothing guilty, at least not to the point of death. I'll tell you what, here's a way out from your predicament. You might disagree with him, I will condemn him, but you have this custom. There's a custom that a prisoner who has been tried and convicted and is worthy of death is released at Passover. It's to show the mercy of God. So Pilate is willing to release to them the King of the Jews. By Pilate continuing to use that phrase, King of the Jews, he's kind of making fun of the Jews. He's making a mockery of these Jewish leaders. But here they have an out. Here's the way forward. You want me to release to you the King of the Jews? They obviously reject Christ's kingship, but Pilate continues to bring this up. that the Jews are gonna reject Pilate's offer of releasing the king of the Jews. In the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Pilate gives them two choices. He gives them the choice between a robber and murderer, Barabbas, and Jesus of Nazareth. Both of those men, Barabbas and Jesus, probably both had the first name Jesus. Josephus mentions that. It's often recognized that Barabbas was some type of insurrectionist and thief. It's important that the name of the robber is used. In verse 40, they do not even use the name of Jesus Christ. Not this man. Not this man. But Barabbas. Barabbas. They call for Barabbas. Barabbas is a patronymic. What that means is that they use his father's name to make a distinction when there's two people in the same town with the same name. For instance, the church I grew up in had five John Zanstras. So I either refer to them by their middle name or their father's name, or and my wife's family, a bunch of Aunt Jans. So you refer to Jim's Jan, Bill's Jan. Okay, instead of in the Bible, them going by the wife's name, they go by the father's name. His name is Jewish Barabbas. The word Bar means son or son of, and you probably know the word Abba, Abbas, which means father. So his name Barabbas means a son of a father. Don't miss the significance of that name. The Jews call out for a son of a father instead of the son of the father. And this is the great substitution before Pilate. Barabbas, Barabbas instead of Jesus. The Jews are exchanging the son for a son. And here in this small event of our text, we see the very picture of what Jesus is doing. He's becoming the substitute. He's going to substitute himself as the Passover lamb. It's not going to be the blood of the 20,000 lambs that will be crucified on the altar in the temple that day. It'll be the one lamb on the one cross. Instead of painting the doorpost of the house with the blood of the one-year-old lamb without blemish, the cross will be painted with the blood of the greater one who is without moral blemish, the Lord Jesus Christ. Barabbas will be exchanged for Jesus. Jesus would go to the cross where Barabbas should have gone. and Barabbas will be declared innocent or go free. Christ is going to the cross as the great substitute. The text corrugation is pregnant with significance. The trial of a king by a king, the question of truth instead of the lie, the great substitution of the criminal. What we must remember, brothers and sisters, is why Jesus is undergoing this treatment. Why is he doing this? Why is he permitting himself to be traded for Barabbas? Why did he permit himself to be arrested in the garden? Likely 600 Roman soldiers came to the garden of Gethsemane to arrest Jesus. He could have called down 10,000 angels, slaughtered them. He could have called down one angel that would slaughter them all, but he didn't. Yet in control, he's letting the wicked seemingly have their way. And yet this is the very purpose for which he came. He's doing this for sinners. He's doing this for you, if you trust him, and for me. If you believe in the Lord, If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, then you have a final Passover, a final Passover sacrifice, exclaiming God's deliverance. It was such a special day for the Jewish people. Every year, they remember back to God's great deliverance. But there's a greater deliverance that was right before them. The promise that God will forgive your sins, has forgiven your sins, will continue to forgive your sins. You're granted eternal life. Your sins have been substituted for the perfect righteousness of this great sacrifice, Jesus Christ. So congregation, let us stand up for the truth. We can think of the relative truth of this changing world. They can reject the truth because they've rejected the very standard of truth, God himself. But let us seek the one who is truth. Let us be assured that this isn't simply a historical reality, it is. These things actually happened, but that Jesus did this. Jesus suffered this. Jesus will be so mocked and mistreated in this way for you and for me. Why? In conclusion, I know not why God's wondrous grace to me he has made known, nor why unworthy Christ in love redeemed me for his own, but I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day.