The gospel of Luke, chapter twenty three this morning, we'll be looking at verses one through twelve. We continue our morning Sunday morning sermon series through Luke's gospel. If you haven't brought a Bible with you this morning, we do have a few Bibles available in the pew racks in front of you along the seats in the back. And our passage this morning is found on page eight hundred and eighty three in your pew Bibles. We are in the midst of Jesus trial. Jesus has been arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. We have already seen that Jesus has gone before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council. Luke records that for us at the end of chapter 22. We know from other gospels that Jesus has also met with Annas, who is the former high priest. at this point in history and kind of the patriarch of a high priestly family. He has also met with Caiaphas in Caiaphas' own residence, the current reigning high priest, and then before the Jewish council, the Sanhedrin. And now he is sent off to Pontius Pilate and then also to Herod. And that's what we see in our passage this morning. Hear God's word from Luke 23, beginning in verse one. Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this man misleading our nation. And forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar and saying that he himself is Christ, a king. And Pilate asked him, Are you the king of the Jews? And he answered him, You have said so. Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, I find no guilt in this man. But they were urgent, saying he stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea from Galilee even to this place. When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, He sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him because he had heard about him and he was hoping to see some sign done by him. So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer. The chief priests and the scribes stood by vehemently accusing him. And Herod, with his soldiers, treated him with contempt and mocked him. And arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate. And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day. For before this, they had been at enmity with each other. Thus far, God's holy, inspired and inerrant word, may he write its truth on our hearts this morning. Let's again go to God in prayer. Indeed, O God, write the truth of your word on our hearts. That our Lord and our Savior was mocked and mistreated. For your glory and for our good. Our Father, we pray that as we see Christ in his suffering, in his passion. That you would fill our hearts with gratitude and thanksgiving and love for our Savior, who loved us and who gave himself for us. We ask this in his name, Amen. We have just song this morning in our worship service, Psalm 2, which begins by asking the question, why do the nations rage? Why do the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. And here we see in Luke's gospel, the fulfillments or a fulfillment of this great messianic psalm. The nations, the rulers raging and plotting and taking counsel against the anointed one, the Messiah, Jesus, the very Son of God. They oppose Jesus, and in doing so, they oppose God. They oppose God himself. Jesus has said, if they if they hate me, they hate the father. Those who who reject Jesus also reject God, because Jesus is God, he is the son of God. And they hear people say in the world today that, well, you know, I believe in God and And in some ways, you know, want to want to do what's right for God. But I don't believe in Jesus. Well, scripture makes it clear that that's just not possible. To reject the son. Is to reject the father. And so the psalm says not only do they plot against the Lord, but they also plot against his anointed. Both are included there. And that's what we see here in Luke, chapter 23, the nations, the rulers plotting against the Lord and against his anointed. Turn over with me to Luke's volume to the book of Acts to two books over Luke, John, Acts, chapter four. And let me show you how Luke later connects this incident in Luke chapter 23. So Luke is writing here in Acts chapter 4, beginning in verse 25, and he says this about the Lord who, through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, why did the Gentiles' rage and the people's plot in vain, the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His anointed, For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place." So here are the nations represented by Pilate and Herod, the Gentile ruler, the Gentile leader, the Gentile governor representing Rome itself and Herod representing the Jewish nation. They gather together. The nations are raging. The Sanhedrin first, then Pilate and then Herod. I want us to consider this morning why? It's actually the way the psalmist puts it, why do the nations rage? And I realize that in the psalm that that is a rhetorical question. But, you know, the Gospels actually give us a clue and some clues as to why Jesus is opposed. And I want us to consider that this morning. The nations are raging and some of the reasons behind that, because I think it's important for us to to stop and and think about why do people today reject Jesus? What's going on? That that that causes people today to be confronted with the very son of God. And rejected. And I think as we consider this, it may also reveal something of our own hearts along the way as well. Why did the nations rage? The gospel writers and Luke himself help us to understand that. And the first reason is this. The nations rage, first of all, because Jesus exposed their sin and threatened their autonomy. Jesus exposed their sin and threatened their autonomy. We see in verses 1 and 2 that the Jewish leaders, the ruling council, they have made their ruling in this kangaroo court. We know that the verdict was already decided ahead of time. They've been seeking for some time now to put Jesus to death, and so now they just formalize it in this early morning session of the Jewish council, and they bring Him to to Pontius Pilate, the Jewish leaders have found Jesus guilty of blasphemy. He, though they say, though a man makes himself God and that is blasphemy, but they want to be able to to put Jesus to death, they want to get rid of him together and they don't have that that power. And so they bring him to Pilate and what they present to Pilate is basically essentially a political charge. They know that if they come to Pilate and say he's guilty of blasphemy, Pilate will say, who cares? But the political charge is the one that they want to press upon Pilate. And that's what they attempt to press here. We see it in verse two. First of all, they say we found this man misleading our nation, literally perverting, leading it astray. This essentially is a charge that that Jesus is leading a rebellion. And in particular, leading a rebellion against Rome, leading them astray from faithful devotion to you, Pilate, and to Caesar, our king. And, you know, that's in John's gospel, that that's what these Jewish leaders actually say. And an astounding. statement in the Gospel of John, they say we have no king but Caesar. Total rejection of God, their king. And they say Jesus is is perverting our our nation, leading leading people astray. Of course, what Jesus. Is doing is he's teaching them in the way, the truth and the life. The right way, but they present this charge, he's distorting, he's perverting the nation. Secondly, they go on to say he is forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar. What do we know about that? That claim, it's an outright lie. Just a few chapters earlier, they they asked Jesus, is it is it right to give pay taxes to Caesar or not? And Jesus has said, bring me a denarius whose whose likeness, whose inscription is on it, and it's it's Caesar's. And Jesus says, well, then give this Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God's. Jesus actually encourages them to pay their taxes. Jesus is encouraging them to be good citizens. But they bring an outright lie. He is forbidding us, forbidding the people to give tribute to Caesar, and finally, he is saying that he himself is Christ, a king, Christ, Messiah, a king. They want to make sure Pilate knows what that claim means. The claim to be the Christ, the claim to be the anointed one. We were sung of in Psalm chapter two, the the king. And they're hoping that that that sticks with him, a Roman leader in many ways should be concerned about this, someone to be someone claiming to be a king, someone attempting some kind of revolution. Why are these Jewish leaders against Jesus? Luke and the other gospel writers help us to understand this. Jesus has confronted them with their sin. Jesus has confronted them with their hypocrisy. Jesus has said to them, you have a fine way of setting aside God's commands and inserting human commands in place of them. You don't keep God's word, but you keep human loss. Jesus has already directly threatened their authority when he cleared the temple right under their nose. And Jesus basically threatens their autonomy. The Jewish leaders, we learn elsewhere, were concerned that that Jesus might, in fact, lead a rebellion and the Romans would come in and and they would lose their their their position. The Jewish leaders would lose their positions of leadership. And Rome would simply enforce stronger, even stronger rule over them. Jesus exposed their sin. Jesus threatened their autonomy. And isn't it true today that that the nation's rage. That people rage when their sin is exposed. People don't like to be confronted of their sin, they don't like to be shown their sin, what's the what is the the adage of the day or one of them? Don't judge me. Almost everybody. Almost everybody, especially in our society, they may not know much of the Bible, but they know this verse, judge not, lest you be judged. Don't confront me. Don't show me my sin, I don't want to see it. When their autonomy is threatened, what's autonomy? Self-rule. I'm in charge. I'm in control. I'm not going to yield that to someone else. The nation's rage, unbelievers rage. When their sin is exposed, when their autonomy is threatened. Secondly, the nation's rage for political or personal expediency. political or personal expediency. They bring Jesus to Pilate. We see this in in in verses two and following. They present these charges before Pilate and Pilate directly asks Jesus, are you the the king of the Jews? He picks up on that question. Maybe he sees through the other two charges, but but he but he picks up on that one. Are you the king of the Jews? Now, what do we know about Pilate? We know he was a he was a career politician. Nothing wrong with that, but Pilate was one. In fact, Ken Hughes, in his commentary on Luke, writes this, he calls this trial the most infamous trial in history. He goes on to say a weird, twisted thing that began before Pilate, the careerist Roman politician, then detoured to Herod, the half-Jew puppet ruler, and finally returned to Pilate where the awful judgment was rendered. This careerist politician is the one who ultimately sentences Jesus to death. He asked him here, are you the king? And Jesus replies, much like we saw last week, you have said so affirming that Pilate is correct, but but not outright affirming it. Pilate, you're right, but but you don't totally understand. Though in John's gospel, we actually see a little bit more here. Because Jesus does go on to say, my kingdom is not of this world, if it would, if it were of this world, my servants would fight to keep me from being handed over to you. So Jesus affirms that he is a king. But not quite as as Pilate is thinking, and what does Pilate respond? Initially, he's innocent. I find no guilt in him. Of course, he doesn't. The sinless son of God, there's no guilt there, there's no sin there. And if justice reigns, strict justice on this occasion reigned, Pilate, who has ultimate authority in Palestine in the first century, should have and would have said what? Case dismissed. Trial over! Get out of my presence! Go, Jesus. You're free. He doesn't. The Jews react strongly. They object. And Pilate hears something in their objection. He's misled the people from Galilee all the way down to Judea and a light turns on. Pilate himself in Jerusalem, he'd normally be in Caesarea in Jerusalem during this Passover season. He knows that Herod, whose Jewish jurisdiction is up in Galilee, is also in in Jerusalem for the festival. Pilate says, I'll just pass him on to Herod. And that's what he does, he passes the buck. Off to Herod, who, by the way. Also finds no guilt in him, we see later. Jesus innocence being affirmed again by Pilate and Pilate says Herod found no guilt in him, but he gives in to the will of the people. Darrell Bach writes this that Jesus, an innocent lamb. Dies at the altar of political expediency. What are the immediate benefits, not based on moral? Reasons. But based on practical. considerations. What's in it for me? What's best for me, what's best for my career? Pilots probably thinking I. I want to do the best I can, you know, you got to. We have to realize that that Judea in the first century It's like this little backwater area to the Romans. It's strategically important, but it's still. This little backwater area, these these hicks. Southerners. Maybe I'll get a good gig somewhere else. Maybe Athens, who knows what pilots aspirations were, but what he was looking for was what was best for him. Many today come to the church. Or come to Jesus, even come seeking God or seeking Jesus, and what they ask is what's in it for me? Like the. Parable of the sower and the seeds, when that's our main question, we've got that thorny ground and when the seed hits and when trials come or when when when our desire for wealth and riches. Grow and show themselves, they choke out the seed and it never grows. But many never come to Jesus because it just doesn't work for them. Give up control of my life. Submit to God's law. Take up my cross. And follow Jesus. Personal expediency. What's in it for me? Third, the nations raged on this account because of what we can call either a calloused or a seared conscience. Jesus next gets taken from from Pilate to Herod, is sent over to Herod. Pilate saw a chance as Herod, as Herod Antipas, he was the son of Herod the Great, and his jurisdiction was was over Galilee. But what do we know about this Herod? We know that this Herod had an interesting relationship with John the Baptist. He had John arrested at one time, and yet the Gospels tell us that he feared him and he liked to hear John preach. Mark tells us in Mark 620, Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly. What we see earlier in Herod's life is some fear of God. and some interest in spiritual things. Until what? Until a young woman comes and dances before him and pleases him and his hand is forced to put John the Baptist to death. And now he's confronted with the Son of God. And no signs of that conscience, all he wants to do is bring Jesus in, do a sign, Jesus, entertain me. Is that what many want today? God, entertain me. Do a sign. Show yourself powerful for my sake. And then he mocks and he rejects Jesus. He puts him in a splendid robe, a regal robe, mocking Jesus as the king of the Jews. And he sends him back to Pilate. His conscience is calloused, his conscience is seared, and you know, the more We sin and remain in sin, the more calloused and ultimately seared our conscience becomes. The more people hear the gospel and reject it, the more calloused and and hardened they become to to the gospel message. In our country, we we have we see this, we are a gospel saturated country, or at least historically have been. And as people more and more rejected and more and more reject the demands and the claims of God on our lives, we see more and more of a callousing and a hardening and a searing of the conscience so that we live in an age now that calls good evil and evil good. And moving more and more away and now at a rapid pace. From the gospel and from the very word of God. God is a joke, God is sport. To many in our world today. And some like Herod. The very son of God is in your midst. The very son of God stands before Herod. And he's so calloused. He can't see it. Spiritual perception is gone. And we encounter many like this today. Calloused hearts, seared conscience, spiritual perception is gone. Jesus says God says God's word says. Today is the day of salvation. There will come a day when my word will be withdrawn, there will be no more chances Turn while you have the opportunity. And maybe there's someone here today. Who needs to hear this message, maybe it's a believer right now caught up in sin, or maybe it's someone here not yet trusting Christ, being a follower of Jesus Christ, though maybe you have grown up in church and you have heard the gospel many times. Today is the day to turn. Because Jesus Christ, the son of God, invites you to come. Fourth, the nations rage because it's part of God's plan. The nations rage because it's part of God's plan. Did you catch that from from Acts chapter four? Why did the nations rage? Luke writes in Acts chapter four, truly in this city, there were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do what? Verse 28, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. This is the very plan of God. And Jesus death actually makes no sense apart from that. But what we have here is this sinless and innocent lamb of God. who basically on this occasion, we read here, fulfills what Isaiah foretold in Isaiah chapter 53. He did not answer. He was silent in face of those who opposed him and who accused him. Why? Because in death, Jesus defeats the powers of darkness. Satan. Sin. Evil. And it's in this way that Jesus rules the nations. As Psalm 2 tells it. This is the king who who rules over all the nations, but how does he do it? He does it through his death. The nations must rage. Because it is part of God's plan to rule the nations. His perfect plan. He must be rejected. He must be killed. So that he will reign. Psalm 2 says to us that those who rage against God and his anointed face the anger and the wrath of God. Psalm 2 also says Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Are you taking refuge in the son of God this morning? The perfect spotless lamb. Who died for sinners. Let's pray. Our God, we do come to praise You as the great and powerful and almighty God, the Creator and Ruler of all things. We praise You this morning, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, that You are the Messiah, You are the Anointed One, the King of all nations. And we pray that you would calm, calm Lord Jesus, that you would would take up your reign and you rule. But even now, until you come again in power and glory. Bring to yourself, draw to yourself an inheritance of nations. We give you praise in your name. Amen.