Our Father, we acknowledge to you that we are still caught up in sin. We live for ourselves and not for your glory. We are proud people and we have nothing to be proud about. We are weak. We are frail. We have no strength but the strength you provide. We are creatures of dust. before the God of eternity. And we bow ourselves right now, acknowledging our sin before you, our need for cleansing, our need for the word to wash over us and to sanctify and change us. Forgive us, Lord, for hearing the word so often but not being doers of it. Lord, forgive us of our hypocrisy, for it is great and it would condemn us to hell if it was not for Christ's death for us upon the cross and the power of the cross to change our lives. So we ask this morning that you would help us to attend to your voice, that in the reading and the preaching we would hear the voice of Jesus. We would hear the spirit instructing us and the deep recesses of our hearts. that we would have truth in our inner parts. And we pray these things for your glory, Father, in Christ's name, amen. John chapter 18, beginning in verse 28, then they, that is the religious court, the Sanhedrin, Pharisees and scribes, then they led Jesus from Caiaphas, the high priest, 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. Pilate then went out to them and said, what accusation do you bring against this man? They answered and said to him, if he were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered him up to you. Then 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, that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying by what death he would die. Then Pilate entered the praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to him, are you the king of the Jews? Jesus answered him, are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning me? Pilate answered, am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you 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 fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now my kingdom is not from here. Pilate 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. Pilate 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. 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? Then they all cried again saying, not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. This is God's word. If you've ever traveled or traveled much, you recognize that in different cultures there are great distinctions, great distinctions in different cultures. Each culture has distinct characteristics about them. And so before visiting a certain culture, going to a different country maybe, it's important to know the distinctions about their culture, the characteristics about them, particularly so you don't wind up offending the people in that culture. I think of different characteristics, different cultural norms in different places. I know there are some places where to show the sole of your feet is improper and so you wouldn't want to go into somebody's home and cross your leg over your knee and have your sole pointed at them. Or some places it's rude to walk into somewhere and keep your shoes on. In fact, you can have that even in the United States. So different cultures even around us in the US. There's a lot of these different types of practices, cultural practices. I think of dining practices. Those are important. I think about it every time I go to even somebody's house. I mean, do they put their elbows on the table? I'm not going to do it until I see the host do that. I don't want to be rude in their home. And so there's all kinds of dining practices. In fact, I've heard that in some places You're supposed to respect the exact version of the food set before you, so you wouldn't ask for a condiment, you know. Could I get some ketchup for this? So you just simply eat what's put in front of you. And in some cultures, I hear that you're actually supposed to eat every last piece of rice on that plate. You know, clean it completely of food, you know, or you're being rude in some way. However, I remember a friend of mine who was a missionary kid in Mexico, in Puebla, Mexico, and he told me a story once where he would love to travel out in the mountains of Puebla, and he would go visit different villages, and they all had their different customs. And one particular custom was dining, and so he sat down to eat, And of course, you eat what is set in front of you, and so he did, and the very first bite, he said, this is gonna make me sick. This is terrible, I don't know what's in this, it's awful. And he just said, okay, here goes, and he just put it down as fast as he could, and he cleaned his bowl, and all of a sudden, horror. You're supposed to leave a little bit at the bottom that says, I'm done. But if you finish it, then you get another bowl. And he said he was sick for like a week after that. So it is important to know the different characteristics of the culture that you're in. When we turn to the Bible, the Bible speaks of cultures, but it really speaks of two specific cultures, two types of cultures. It presents us with two, and sometimes we might think of these as two kingdoms, two cultures. kingdom of this world or the culture of this world then there is the kingdom of God. We hear this in the book of Revelation, Revelation 11-15 that the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. There's two kingdoms, there's the kingdom of this world and there's the kingdom of God. These two different cultures really, one from below and one from above. We hear this in Paul to the Colossians, saying, you've been delivered out of the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of his beloved son. And so there's these two kingdoms, these two competing, contrasting cultures, you might say. So when we're presented with this in the Bible, we ought to ask ourselves, well, which do I belong to? Which kingdom do I belong to? Which culture is my culture? Is it the kingdom of this world, or is it the kingdom of Christ? Whose kingdom do I belong to? Who am I ruled by? Because really, the idea of kingdoms in the Bible, a kingdom, is more about not a place, but about a rule or a reign. So whose kingdom am I under? Whose reign or rule am I under? Is it the world, or is it God's rule? Or which characterizes me? What character traits do I have and do they belong to this world or do they belong to Christ's kingdom? Well, I believe here in our passage, we see in the second trial of Jesus as the trial moves from that Jewish trial that we saw last week before the Sanhedrin, and now they bring him to this Roman trial before this governor Pilate. because the Jews were under the Romans, and so they couldn't sentence a man to death without the Romans' approval. And so they had to go to the Romans next, and so they bring him from the Jewish trial to this Roman trial. We see in this second trial really the differences or some of the differences between the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of Christ. Christ's kingdom, Christ's rule, because Jesus says here, I am a king. Well, what's his kingship like? What's his kingdom like? And how is it contrasted to our kingdoms down here? Well, let's consider it this way this morning. First of all, we'll look at two characteristics of the kingdom of this world. Two characteristics of the kingdom of this world. And then we'll consider two characteristics of the kingdom of Christ. And by considering these characteristics, we can actually begin to learn, well, which kingdom do I belong to? Do these characterize me? These characteristics? Or do these characteristics describe me? So first of all, the two characteristics of the kingdom of this world. What are they? Well, as the Jews bring him to the praetorium, to the governor's headquarters to pilot, to try him before pilot, we see in the Jews something. We see in the Jewish leadership something. And oftentimes, understand this, that if you look at the leadership you'll so often see the followers. You'll see the same characteristics. And so sometimes we disagree with maybe the character of our leaders, but so often we are too much like them. And sometimes God gives us what we deserve, what we are already like. And so as we look at the Jewish leaders, we can see that the Jewish leaders and the people who are following them are really the same type of characteristics. And the characteristic that jumps out in the Jewish leaders, in fact, it's the corrupting sin that Jesus warned his disciples of when he was warning them about the Pharisees. Do you remember this? In Luke chapter 12, verse 1, when Jesus said to his disciples, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. The leaven of the Pharisees, the yeast, I mean, that's what you put into bread, so my wife says, and it spreads throughout and it lifts it up and fluffs it up. What's he talking about? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. He's saying, watch out for the influence. Watch out how the leaders influence you. But what is it? What is the leaven of the Pharisees? What is it that they need to watch out for? Well, he says, he says, beware the leaven of the Pharisees, which is? Hypocrisy. So watch out. Beware. The corrupting sin of the Jewish leadership, their influence upon their followers was that of hypocrisy. And we see that here in this passage. Their own hypocrisy in many ways, but I will point out a few. But let me begin with, what is hypocrisy? It's mentioned many times in Jesus' teaching. He constantly condemns the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. You hypocrites, you hypocrites. What is hypocrisy? Well, let me give you a definition. Here's a working definition. The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess. Okay, did you get that? It's professing things, beliefs, feelings, virtues that you really don't hold to. We all know what a hypocrite is. Somebody will say something, but then they live something completely different. In fact, the definition goes on to call it falseness. You're practicing falseness. You say one thing or you act a certain way, but that's really not who you are. That's hypocrisy. Hypocrisy. In fact, the Greek word behind our English word hypocrisy literally means A stage player. A stage player. This word had its origins in Greek theater describing a character who wore a mask. And so we might say, you're acting like a Hollywood actor when you're wanting to call somebody out. That's not really you. You act like this in front of other people, but that's really not you in your heart. You say this, but it's not true. In fact, Jesus explains this very clearly when he's speaking about the Pharisees in Matthew 23. In verse two, he says, the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses's seat. Therefore, whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works, for they say and do not do. There's hypocrisy. They say, but they do not do. So he says, okay, whatever the Pharisees are teaching you from the law of God, do it. But don't you dare follow their example, because they're hypocrites. They're hypocrites. They are stage players. They say one thing, they do another. So yes, obey their teaching, but do not obey their life. Don't follow their life, because they are hypocrites. One indication or an indicator of hypocrisy that's often seen, and you see this in the Pharisees, is super strict following certain things while neglecting other things. That's a sure sign of a hypocrite. They're really strict on certain things, but when it comes to other things, they kind of neglect those things. Jesus talked about this again in Matthew chapter 23 when he's calling out and condemning the Pharisees for being hypocrites. Remember, he just keeps calling them hypocrites, hypocrites, hypocrites. In Matthew 23, 23, listen to what he says there. He says, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of, you pay tithe, 10% of mint and anise and cumin, all these different spices, herbs. I mean, you are strict. I mean, you say, well, I'm supposed to give God 10% of everything. And so they get down to the very, they're very small herbs and they say, okay, make sure there's 10% here. And they're very strict. He says, you tithe like that and have neglected. There it is. That's hypocrisy right there. Oh, you've done this really strict, you're really good about this, but you've neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. Now Jesus doesn't say, well, stop all your tithing. He says, yes, you should be doing these things, that's good, tithe, be strict on yourself in this, but you shouldn't be neglecting this. These ought you have done without leaving the others undone. And so that's one indicator of hypocrisy is being super strict on some laws while neglecting the others. Hypocrisy is a sin that's so dangerous because it blinds you spiritually. Because, see, you're so focused on a set of things, I'm doing these things well, you're blind to all these other corrupting sins in your life. And that's what you have in the religious leaders, and that's what you clearly see. blatant it is here, as they bring Jesus to trial before Pilate, look at their hypocrisy. They won't go into his headquarters, why? Because they're afraid, if I go into their headquarters, I'm gonna be around Gentiles, and that means I'll become unclean ceremonially, outwardly I'll become unclean and I won't be able to worship at Passover. So we'll stay out here. What hypocrisy. These leaders are fearful of ceremonial defilement, but they are not fearful of the defilement of condemning an innocent man to death. How blind. How blind are they? I want to stay ceremonially clean while at the same time defiling myself by condemning the most innocent man there was. In fact, the Messiah, the Christ. condemning him to death, an innocent man to death. Their hypocrisy, they couldn't see it. They couldn't see it. With hypocrisy, we're often, as I said, super strict on certain stuff. I wonder what it is for you. You know, you're really strict when it comes to this, but on this other stuff, you just kind of let it go. You don't even really see. It's hypocrisy when we do this, being super strict on certain stuff. Why are we sometimes super strict? Why do we pick the stuff that, you know, what I'm going to be really strict on? Sometimes I think it's because we feel like we can control that. The other stuff's just too hard. I mean, this is easy, so I can do this. And I believe that's the way so often it was for the Pharisees. You know, I can present to others what, you know, the outside of my life, But it's too hard to clean up the inside of my life. And so we often are super strict on the stuff we feel like we can control. And so we choose what's easy for us. Well, that's easy for me to do. I'll do that. It's not too hard. But what we do is we choose what God gets. I'll choose what I think I can do, what's easiest for me to do, and I'll do those things, I'll be real strict with those things, but we are choosing what God gets. And so often we give the bare minimum, particularly for others, to be impressed that we are a certain way, instead of our hearts being truly who we are and letting that be seen. I wonder what it is for you. I mean, you provide the application here this morning for yourself. Are there things that you're very super strict on because you feel like you can control because it's easy for you to do X, Y, or Z? I mean, I was trying to think through different examples. I mean, there could be the hyper-formalist who says, well, it's easy for me to do the formalistic stuff, you know, so I can come to church and I can do this stuff, but then their devotional life's a wreck. But then there's the hyper-spiritual side that says, well, I like reading my Bible and having devotions and praying, but that corporate stuff. But hasn't Christ called us to all of it? Sometimes we just pick and choose. Well, this is easier for me, or I like this more. Think about somebody who says, well, maybe somebody who's very wealthy. They don't mind spending money. And so they may give generously to others and to the church, to missions, to all sorts of things. But don't ask them for their time. There's all sorts of things that we will do this. Oh, I will sacrifice these things, but not this. And so we're super strict on certain things, but not on others. Some people might be really strict with what they put in their bodies. They're very health conscious, and they say, well, my body's the temple of the Holy Spirit, so I'm going to put in good things in my body. Yet they don't think about what I put into my mind through Hollywood, the things I watch on TV. So we can do this in all sorts of ways. And I want you to consider this morning, it's like, where do I just hunker down on something? I'm just blinded. to my own lack of obeying Christ in the hard things. Where's my life hypocritical? You know, what is going on in hypocrisy? You know what's going on in hypocrisy? Falsehood, lying. We're lying. When we are hypocrites, we are lying because we are presenting one thing that's not true. The Pharisees are presenting one thing that is not true. Their hearts are far from God. With their lips, they honor God. Their hearts are far away from him. What we're doing with hypocrisy is lying. In fact, the Apostle Paul said that to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4, 2, that he says, in the latter times, men will speak lies in hypocrisy. You see? Hypocrisy and lying are pretty much the same thing. Because we're saying one thing, we're presenting one thing, but it's not really true. It's not really true. And some of us have been very convicted by that. Oh, you know, I might present myself as having it all together and being all this, yet in my heart before God, God sees my heart. Where's my heart at? And if we're lying, then the hypocrisy reveals who we're following, who our father might be. For the Jews, what did Jesus say? Your father's not Abraham. He says, your father is the devil and he is the father of lies. I mean, think about it. Remember this. Satan himself presents himself in a different light. He's a hypocrite. Satan presents himself as an angel of light when he is just complete darkness. He is a hypocrite. He is the chief hypocrite because he's the chief liar. And so we don't want to be anything like him, not living in falsehood. See, we want the truth, not simply on our externals, but down deep in our hearts. It's what David said to the Lord in Psalm 51 6, when he said, you, Lord, desire truth in the inward parts, not just on the external. You want truth, not just coming from my lips, but from my life, from every little part of me, you want truth. The hypocrite, though, does not have truth in the inward parts. And so these religious leaders present themselves as those who are complete hypocrites. Well, as these hypocrites, they bring Jesus to Pilate, and they're afraid of being defiled, when at the same time they're completely defiled in their hearts as they're condemning an innocent man. They're condemning the Messiah, the Christ, God's Son. But what about The Roman leader. I mean, those were the Jewish leaders. They were hypocrites. So what about this Roman leader, Pilate? What was his sin? And what was the sin of this Gentile leader? Well, as you read this, you hear such cynicism from him. Scoffing, mocking. The sin of cynicism. You know, what is cynicism? Here's another definition for you. Cynicism is an attitude of scornful or jaded negativity. You ever seen that before? Just jaded negativity, scornful. Especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others. Like, I don't think their motive's right. I mean, there's discernment, of course, but this is kind of a jaded, cynicism is a jaded negativity, scornful. And this is what I find in Pilate, complete distrust of the Jewish leaders, but even distrust of Jesus, kind of a scornfulness. He comes out, and you can see he wants nothing to do with this case. You can tell, he wants nothing to do with this case. He's a Roman, and he doesn't want to deal in these petty things of the Jews, and so he comes out and says to them, what accusations do you bring against this man? And so they say, well, listen, if he wasn't an evildoer, and we know from the other gospels, they said, well, he's trying to bring a revolt against Rome, which they didn't care about. They would love a revolt against Rome. But they were just using that to get Jesus murdered, executed. They didn't care. Once he hears this, he says, you take him. I don't want to deal with this. You judge him for yourself. He treats the Jewish leaders with scorn. He doesn't want to be involved in this trial. And so he says, you do it. And of course, they say, well, we can't execute him. We want him dead. And we have to get permission from you to do that. Of course, the Jews executed by stoning, the Romans by crucifixion. But not only does he show scorn for the Jewish leaders, and in one sense, they deserve scorn. but he also scorns Jesus, and that's the worst thing of all. But as he turns to Jesus, and it's interesting, here is a Roman governor who is under the Roman Empire and the emperor, and yet here he is standing before the king of kings, a Roman governor standing before the king of kings, and he's trying to try the king of kings. And so he says to Jesus, are you the king of the Jews? And then Jesus asked him the question, are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell this concerning me? Now, listen to the cynicism, the scorn that Pilate has for the King of Kings. Am I a Jew? That is said with complete sarcasm, because we know the answer is, of course, he's not. He's a Roman. Am I a Jew? Do you think I care about this at all? I have no interest in your petty disputes. I am far better than you Jews and I'm not interested. We are told in the very first verse of the Psalter, blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of scoffers. Pilate is a scoffer. and he scoffs before the king of kings. He is a fool sitting in the scoffer's seat. If he were wise, he would leave his scoffer's seat and he would get to his knees and he would kiss the sun lest the sun be angry with him. If it doesn't, Pilate, you rulers of the earth, you need to bow to the sun and kiss the sun lest he be angry with you. You have a chance, Pilate. But all Pilate does is show scorn. No interest. Am I a Jew? His cynicism increases, though, doesn't it, when Jesus begins to tell him, yes, my kingdom, I am a king, but it's not of this world. And then he says, I've come to bring you the truth. And what does Pilate say with great sarcasm? What's truth? What's truth? You going to tell me some truth? And he doesn't ask that, like, really going, Jesus, please tell me what this truth is. No, he says, what's truth? And he turns around and walks away, showing that he is not somebody of the truth, because Jesus, right before that, said, everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. And he says, what's truth? And he walks away. He's not interested in the truth. He mocks the truth. He doesn't really care. He's an opportunist, Pilate is. Whatever's good for me. He's not thinking about the truth. He doesn't care about the truth. And this is another characteristic of this world. This world is characterized by hypocrisy, but it's also characterized by cynicism of just, in a sense, a hatred for the truth. And scoffing and mocking at the truth. He's not interested in the truth. He belittles the truth. And brothers and sisters, we see this all the time in our world. It is mocked. It is laughed at. In fact, today, the truth is so often censored. What goes for truth is truly misinformation. Many of us woke up to the misinformation that was going on constantly coming out of the government out of media, particularly during 2020 and beyond, we go, whoa, they're feeding us so many lies. And there's this mocking of the truth. We should understand that this is the way the world works. The character of the world is based on lies, either the lie of lying with our life, acting one part, I really care, I really want to take care of everybody, and yet I don't. I'm really a great guy, but in my heart I am wicked. You know, presenting something, living our lives based on lies or mocking the truth. But we are called to leave the kingdom of this world and the characteristics of this world, the attitudes of the world, the hypocrisy and the cynicism, the scornfulness of the truth. We are to leave this and seek first the kingdom of God. We are to seek Christ's kingdom. Well, what is his kingdom like? If this is what characterizes the kingdom of this world, we see the hypocrisy in the Jews, we see the cynicism in Pilate. It's all based on the lie. Then what is the characteristics of the kingdom of Christ? Two things, truth and love. We actually sang that this morning. of his truth and his love." Two characteristics of the kingdom of Christ, his truth and his love. So when Jesus begins to explain his kingdom in verse 36, he says, my kingdom is not of this world. He says, its origin didn't come from this earth. It didn't come from men. It's come from heaven. It's come from God. My kingdom is the kingdom of God. It comes from heaven. This is where my kingdom is from. And he talks about how his servants are supposed to act. He says, If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight. That's how kingdoms do it down here. If a kingdom is threatened, then we fight physically. Well, Peter still thought he was in the kingdom of this world, and so he pulled out a sword and he said, not so. He says, no, this isn't how we fight. We don't do this. This is not the way the servants of this kingdom act. But the ultimate difference between Christ's kingdom, his kingship, and the world's kingship is that Christ's kingship is a kingship of truth. Because, again, look at what he says. When Pilate says, OK, are you a king then? What does Jesus say? He says, you say rightly, I am a king. Jesus is a king. He says, for this cause I was born, and for this cause I've come into the world. Now look at what he's come into the world to do, to bear witness to the truth. He says, my kingdom is a kingdom of truth. I've come from heaven to give the truth in a world of lies. OK? The kingdom of this world. We have to get this into our minds. The kingdom of this world is a kingdom of lies. Deals in hypocrisy, cynicism, lies. And yet Christ's kingdom is a kingdom of truth. And he says, I came to give you the truth. And it's people of truth who listen to my voice and follow me. That's the ultimate difference, is that this is a kingdom of truth. It is ruled by the truth, not by lies. Remember, Jesus said, the truth will, what? Set you free. Set you free from what? From the lies, from Satan. Good, from the enemy, from Satan, from death, from sin. Well, set us free from the lie of hypocrisy. Set us free, finally, to not be. Christ came that a Pharisee could be set free from his hypocrisy. So he's no longer a person of lies, but a person of truth. to save somebody like the pilot who is cynical towards the truth, to save them from the lie. Christ's rule sets people free, free from the lie, and we need to be set free from lies, because lies blind us. We've blinded ourselves, we've blinded others, and the truth comes, Christ brings his truth, and shines a light in us and reveals those areas of our hearts that we didn't see before. And so the kingdom of Christ brings the truth. It frees us from hypocrisy, cynicism, because the truth comes when it does come. It should humble us. It should humble us, showing us our hearts. When Christ actually speaks, we don't sit there and think about other people. We think about ourselves. And all we can think about before Christ's voice is this area of hypocrisy in my life that needs to change, that I've been blinded to this for so long. It frees us from this because Christ comes to sanctify us. And what is it? Remember, he said this. He prayed. He prayed, sanctify them in the truth. Truth sanctifies because when the truth comes to you, it shines the light on all those errors in your life. and it begins to deal with those areas in your life so that you begin to be more and more unto God. You don't simply just say now, well, I like these areas, but I don't know, I'm not gonna go touch this area or that area, it's too difficult. But the truth comes and sanctifies us. We become people of the truth in the inner parts because we're hearing his voice and he's showing us, pointing out the truth. And so Christ's kingdom is a kingdom of truth, not lies. The kingdom of this world, lies, hypocrisy, cynicism. But Christ's kingdom is one of truth. But also, second of all, Christ's kingdom is a kingdom of love. But what is love? Because so many people define it so many different ways. But when you look at the scriptures, I just have a very simplistic definition of love that that a child should be able to understand that comes from the scriptures, and that is love is giving yourself for the true good of another. The true good of another. Who defines what is truly good? God. So I self-give for what God says is the best of somebody else. what God says, not what I say or what the culture says, what the world says is best for other people, but what God says what is best. And we get that from the truth of his word. And so true love is self-giving, giving yourself for that person and that person's true good, which is ultimately God and his will. Your kingdom come, your will be done, your will be done in this person's life, in this person's life. That's what love is, and Christ gave himself How did he give himself? Well, he gave himself to death, but what kind of death? How would he die? What was the form of Christ's self-giving? It wasn't going to be the Jewish form that would be stoning someone. It was going to be crucifixion. He was going to be hung on a cross. And that's why you see in verse 32, When the Jews say, we can't put him to death, we can't stone him because we're under you Romans, and so we need you to execute him, what was happening? By doing this, it was fulfilling what Jesus said, how he was gonna die. How was he gonna die? At least three times in John's gospel, Jesus said the form of execution he would undergo. He always says, when I am what? Lifted up. He first said that to Nicodemus. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up upon the cross. We heard it back in chapter 12. We hear it in chapter 8 and chapter 12. He says, when I am lifted up, I will draw all people to myself. And John notes, signifying by what form of death Jesus is going to glorify God. What's this lifting up? It's that he would be raised up on the cross. Why was the form of Christ's self-giving so important? Why couldn't he just be stoned by the Jews? Why did he have to be lifted up on a Roman cross? Why was it important that he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, which the Nicene Creed says? Do you realize that? In one of the most important creeds we have, it actually mentions Pontius Pilate, crucified under Pontius Pilate, under the Romans. Well, this, first of all, tells us he is a universal king. But there's something very important about the cross. Of course, one thing is that it's fulfilling Old Testament scripture. Because the Old Testament says, in types and shadows, that Christ should be crucified. Again, think about the story of Moses with the bronze serpent. They lifted it up. Well, that was always supposed to be a type of the coming of Jesus, lifted up. removing the sins of his people. And so Jesus was fulfilling scripture by the way he died. It would be through Roman crucifixion, crucified under Pontius Pilate. But the cross shows more clearly than anything else his love for us, for his church. How? At the very end of our passage here in verses 39 and 40, when Pilate turns around with his sarcasm, what is truth, he walks away, he goes back outside to the Jews, He brings up this custom, this tradition that Pilate has with the Jews. And that is every Passover, every year at Passover, Pilate is willing to release one prisoner to the Jews. And he says, OK, it's Passover time. OK, here's our custom. Who do you want me to let go? And they ask for a felon, Barabbas. Now here it says he was a thief, but we also know from the other Gospels he was a murderer, an insurrectionist, a wicked man. This is a detestable negotiation for Pilate to do this. What's Pilate doing? Do you want me to release this murderer or do you want me to release an innocent man? Why are you offering this, Pilate? This is detestable. This is wicked, what you're doing. You don't offer an innocent man's life. You want me to let him go? Well, he's done nothing wrong. What are you doing? You already said he's innocent. Then why are you doing this, Pilot? But in this detestable negotiation where he is negotiating with an innocent man's life, with the King of Glory's life, yet, We have a picture of Passover here, don't we? Because what happens at Passover? You have this release of a criminal through the life of an innocent man. Well, go back to the original Passover. You had an innocent lamb that was sacrificed that the people might be redeemed from Egypt. Here you have Barabbas, this criminal. And Jesus takes his place. An innocent lamb taking the place of a hardened criminal. Herein we have the gospel. Herein is the love of God displayed in the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus takes the place of sinners. What you deserve, he did on the cross. He took the sin of his people, took their death in their place, And that's why I say it's so fitting that he was up on a cross. Because what we can see lifted up high on a cross is the love of God. He's not buried under a bunch of stones, but he's lifted up. And this is our call to lift up our eyes and look at the exalted king who is high and lifted up for his people, dying, suffering for his people, taking upon himself the sins of his people, that his people might go free. Us, guilty people, being set free through an innocent life. That's what we have. This is Christ's kingdom. It is one of truth and love. And this ought to transform us, thinking of his kingdom. But have we been transformed by Christ's truth and his love? Have you been transformed by the truth? Have you heard Christ's voice? Have you heard Christ, maybe even this morning, pointing out your own hypocrisy, pointing out your own hypocrisy in your own life, that you're not being honest with yourself or with others about your life? I mean, there's many people who say they're Christians and they're not Christians. Are you a hypocrite this morning? Maybe you truly are a Christian, but there's so much that you're saying, you know, I'm not going to give that to the Lord or that area. Are you neglecting major areas of your life? The voice of Christ comes into the recesses of your heart and says, I want that area too. I want that area too. This is the truth of Christ coming and people of the truth hear his voice. But also, are you transformed by the love of Christ? Does his love transform to the hidden places in your heart? Are you captured by his love on the cross for you to say, I was Barabbas. I am Barabbas. And Jesus took my place. I'm not a good man. I'm full of sin. I'm full of selfishness. I'm full of hypocrisy and cynicism. I've mocked the truth in my life. I've done so much wrong. I've sinned, and yet Christ took my place so I might be set free from this, so I can be reconciled to God? That should change us. That should transform even the hidden places of our hearts to say, oh Lord, drive that out. Bring truth to the inner place. And does truth and love characterize our own lives? Are we people of truth? Are we people of love? His love should change us so we might love like he loves. His truth so that we might speak truth and live truth as he did, and he does. But this morning, let us humbly bow before the king. Let's not stand before the king and say, well, what is truth? I'm doing pretty good. But rather, we should bow before the king. And what we should say to the king is, save me a hypocrite. Not my neighbor who is a hypocrite. Yes, we should pray for the salvation of all the hypocrites around us. But save me a hypocrite. Save me a scoffer. I've scoffed truth. Your pastor has scoffed the truth many times in his life. I'm not proud of that. That's wickedness. I'm Barabbas, but Christ died for me. Humbly bow before the king. Tell him of your hypocrisy. Look upon the king. and be saved from your sin. Lift up your eyes and see the King. Lift up your ears and hear the King's voice. Let's pray.