Back to John 18 this morning. We take it up again where we left off last time in the gospel of John in John Chapter 18 and this morning I'd like to read from verse 28 to the end of the chapter John 18 and verse 28. Let's all rise together and hear God's Word John 18 28 then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium and 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 out again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we pray you'd open this up to us by your Spirit. Enable us to understand the thrust of this passage, Father, that we might get behind the story to understand the spiritual significance of these mighty truths. In Jesus' name, Amen. Please be seated. The death of Christ was referred to by John Owen as what? The death of deaths. This is the event. We study history. We speak of history. We talk of the past. We talk of what things have happened to us, our honeymoon, the day we got married. We talk about these things. But let me ask you, what more significant event in all of 6,000 years of world history than this? This is the event, this is the story. This is the most extraordinary and significant event of all of history. And so what we want to do is take some time, we want to linger here and understand a little bit more of this great story of the death of Jesus and His resurrection. So we're going to take some time working through this. I know that's no surprise to any of you because we do take time as we go through the Gospel of John. But we want to pause and we want to look at what is going on here in the trial of our Lord Jesus Christ before Pilate. Remember, he was before the chief priests, before Annas and Caiaphas. Earlier on, they led him to the praetorium. They sent him into the praetorium, stayed outside because the Jews did not want to be contaminated at the time of the Passover with any interaction with the Gentiles or the Romans, so they were outside. Pilate is inside. The trial is occurring inside the praetorium. Pilate comes outside to interact with the Jews, goes back inside, this sort of thing is going on during the trial. Well, basically what we're seeing here is the fulfillment of John 1. Remember at the beginning in John 1 we read that he came to his own and his own received him not. John 1 11. But to them who received him, to them gave he the authority to be the sons of God. But he came to his own and his own received him not. And this is pretty much what's going on here. If you want to summarize what is happening in the trial of Jesus, his own received him not. His own rejected him. In fact, they were desperate to kill him. Their desperation was so intense that they wanted to kill him right away. They had gotten him. Now they want to kill him during the week of the Passover. So there is a desperation about killing Jesus. I'm not sure there's ever been such a desperation about killing somebody is what we find here in this story. There seems to be this strong desire to kill Jesus. We learn that They do this out of envy. We're going to explore that just a little bit in just a moment. But I want you to look at Jesus for a moment. Why would they want to kill this man? Jesus, did He ever rob anybody? Did Jesus ever murder anybody? Children, what did Jesus do wrong in all of His ministry, in all of His life? Did he speak a disobedient word to his parents? Did he ever say an unkind word? Did he ever say anything that would have been perceived or received as deception? Jesus never murdered anybody. He never robbed anybody. He never caused an insurrection. And Pilate realized this right away. He said, I don't see any fault in this guy. So Pilate gets it from the outset. It does look like Pilate is sharp enough to see through this, the Romans and the other great empires are concerned with justice. It's one thing I've learned as I read about these great empires of the past and read the great writings of the kings, the pharaohs, the emperors of China and others. The one thing they want more than anything else is justice in the courts. Believe me, the great empires, Rome, China, Egypt, others, the thing that the emperors want More than anything else, the thing they pride themselves in, more than anything else, this is their commitment, is justice. So Pilate is committed to justice. Pilate looks at this man, Jesus, and sees no fault in this man. He just doesn't see a reason for this man to be crucified, let alone fined or put into prison. There's just nothing. And yet, there is such a commitment on the part of these men to destroy Jesus. Now we come back to this again and again. Why is this? It is because of the hearts of men. This is the natural heart of man. This is the heart of man who hears about Jesus and hears about His salvation, and they turn away from Him. They dislike Him. They take His name in vain. They treat Him badly. This is those who hear the gospel of Jesus and the call of Christ, you know, to Him and to faith in Him and the offer of salvation. They say, I don't want anything to do with it. This is the heart of man that is so full of malice and envy and sin that rejects the Messiah Himself. This is an insight into man. This is an evil world. We live in an evil world. This is how evil the world is. Make no mistake about it. Jesus said, they will hate you too. They hated me, they'll hate you too. So there's an easy explanation to why they crucified Jesus. But I'd like to expand it just a little bit before we get into the meat of the text. The three reasons why they wanted to release a robber and killed the Messiah. Three reasons. Here they are. He was too humbled. He was too convicting. And he was too exalted. Now this is a typical man. Too humbled, too exalted. Doesn't like the piping, doesn't like the dancing. This is man. Doesn't like anything about the Messiah. He was too humbled. He was unimpressive. In Luke chapter 4 and verse 18, We read that Jesus steps out into the synagogue in Nazareth and he announces this great gospel. He says, I've come to preach the gospel to the poor. The spirit of the Lord is upon me. He's anointed me. to preach the gospel to the poor. And these people got it. They knew He was speaking of Himself. He's reading from Isaiah, but they knew that He was speaking of Himself. That He had come. That the Messiah was there. The Messiah from Nazareth. The carpenter from Nazareth is standing in the synagogue saying, I'm here to preach the gospel to the poor. He sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set liberty to those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And then they said, who is this? Isn't this Joseph's son? And then at the end of the chapter they're pushing him off the brow of the hill. Or attempting to. Why? Because he was Joseph's son. Because he was Joseph's son. What is the problem with being Joseph's son? A prophet is not received in his own country. Why? Because of the pride of men. Because they're too proud. They don't want to receive from their own. But Jesus had to be man. Jesus had to be like us. Jesus had to be in Joseph's household. Jesus had to be the man in order to bear the burdens of our sin upon Himself. But again, He was too humbled. They rejected Him for His humility. And then secondly, He was too convicting. And that's John 8, where Jesus throughout that entire chapter, I don't have time to read the whole chapter. You can read it sometime yourself if you'd like to. But John 8, Jesus is speaking the truth. He's coming forth. And He's stating the truth in its painfulness, in its convicting power, in its devastating, heart-rending word. The sword is piercing through. You are of your father, the devil." See, these people did not want to acknowledge that they were under the control of the devil. They didn't want to say that the problem was this bad. They didn't want to acknowledge that they had an issue. A very serious issue. They weren't willing to come face-to-face with their own sins when Jesus directed this word to them. So you're of your father, the devil, and you're not even receiving these words. You don't receive the truth because you are not of God. And throughout his whole ministry, he's tearing the facades down. You know, he has taken down the hypocrisies. He was relentless, and Jesus is relentless in his Word. Where there's insincerity, where there's hypocrisy, where there's pretended religiosity in American churches, including our own churches, including our own homeschooling families and other families that, you know, have something of a semblance of religion, of goodness, maybe an appearance of being slightly better than the next denomination or whatever it is. Jesus' words penetrate, you know, they come to us and they push on us and they identify those areas in which our Sabbath keeping is skin deep. And there's hypocrisy relating to the honoring of father and mother. Matthew 15. He convicted them of their sins and they hated that. And then he was too exalted as well. Towards the end of chapter 8, John 8, Jesus speaks to them. This is what drew them to pull the rocks out, you know, to throw the rocks at Jesus. He made himself equal to God. When after the Jews said to him, you are not yet 50 years old, and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. And that's when they went for the rocks. In Mark 14, you know, the trial in front of Annas and Caiaphas. Mark 14, 61. Here's what we read. The high priest asked him, saying, Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming with the clouds of heaven. And that's when the high priest tore his clothes. They rejected Him because He was too humble. And they rejected Him because He was too exalted. Three things they didn't like about Jesus. He was a man. He is a man. He's God. He convicts of sin and He shows our need for a mediator between God and man. And that mediator is Jesus Christ Himself. The accusation against Jesus comes in the next chapter, John 19, 17. Flip over there if you would, just for a moment. John chapter 19, verse 17. And He, Jesus, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified Him and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center. Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross, and the writing was, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, Do not write the King of the Jews. But he said, I am the King of the Jews. Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written. Now Pilate may have meant it for sarcasm. The king of the Jews. Can't you see how the Jews might have felt the mockery from Pilate? But there's all forms of irony here. Do you see also that Pilate did speak the truth? He communicated the truth because God intended for him to communicate the truth. The bottom line here is that the Jews did not want him to be their king. It was just too embarrassing. Here was a scandalous king of the Jews. It was a shame to them. They didn't want this king. But praise God for our king on the cross. What they didn't know is He was going into battle. Amen? He was going into battle for us. Well, they were too... He was too humbled, and this was a concern for them. Remember, four days earlier, He had come into town. And I'll read from Matthew chapter 21, verses 1 through 5. Now when they drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethage at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, The Lord has need of them. And immediately he will send them. All this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you lowly and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. Brothers and sisters, as I read this to you, can you receive this? You receive this? Here comes your king. Behold, your king. on a donkey's colt, the humbled Messiah King has come into Jerusalem. And this is the impression. The Jews saw this. They interacted with this praise that was coming to Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem on the donkey's colt. And he didn't meet the requirements And this is why Jesus is rejected. Because he doesn't meet the requirements. The requirements of who? The requirements of men. Because men have this prefigured idea of what the king should look like. And what the kingdom of God should be like. But Jesus comes humbled. And they rejected His humility. Why? Because of the pride of men. Now contrast Jesus riding on a donkey's colt with Revelation 19.11 where He comes on a white horse in righteousness. He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses." So this is the picture of Jesus in His exalted state. And even as the high priest rejected that note of Jesus on the right hand of the power on high, that is, they knew what he was talking about. He was talking about Him being on the right hand of God and coming on the clouds of heaven to destroy Jerusalem in AD 70. or to bring His judgment upon the world, which indeed He will at the end of time. He will come and He will judge this world as the King of kings, the exalted Lord of lords, and that's the King that is rejected by men. So He is the King on the donkey's colt. He's the King on the white horse. Either way, they reject Him. Either way, they would crucify Him as the high priest was committed to do. So here we are. The situation is such that the King of Kings is being judged by a Roman third-rate bureaucrat in the Praetorian. And Jesus is indeed the picture of the humbled King as He prepares for His crucifixion. Now the Jews and everybody else were wrapped up in who gets to be the next Herod or the next emperor of Rome. This is what consumes the newspapers. This is what consumes the minds of men as they argue their politics. And I'm actually getting a little worn out on politics myself. The complete ineffectiveness of politics and government to do anything positive, to bear any righteousness, It's hardly worth expending energy on politics. It's so useless. It accomplishes so little. How many Republicans, how many Democrats do we have to go through before you and me, we come to the conclusion politics is pretty much worthless? Yes, God has instituted governments for the basic purpose of executing a murderer from time to time. And let's acknowledge the tiny little purpose for which government is intended. But this idea that government, by increasing its expenditures and centralizing its powers, which it does in every administration, is going to accomplish anything worthwhile, needs to be put to bed in the mind of the Christian. Brothers and sisters, it's just not worth it. It is effective to hang a murderer occasionally, except when the Republicans and Democrats join forces and decide they'd rather crucify the Christ and let the murder go free. And make no mistake about it, the Republicans as well as the Democrats would be right there calling for the crucifixion of Jesus. With a few exceptions. An occasional gamaliel. So, Our hearts yearn for a king. This is where the hearts of men are. They want a king. Our hearts yearn for a king as well, a king of righteousness, a king who will bring righteousness to bear. This is where our hearts are going. This is what we desire. We hunger and we thirst after righteousness. And that, of course, is the goal of any Christian involved in politics. We want to bring righteousness to bear in some way, shape, or form in the public forum. and for the most part keep government out of our way so that we can preach the word of God and we get that, but what is it that we're looking for? Who is this king? What is this kingdom that we're seeking? Nine points to describe the king and the kingdom that we seek. Number one, Jesus is the mighty king and he is mighty to save. That comes directly from Zechariah 9, verses 9 and 10, we just read it. But if you see the king is coming, he's coming in a humbled state, he's coming on a lowly donkey, the colt, the foal of a donkey, he's coming, the very next words, behold your king, he is righteous and brings salvation. So this is the first thing we read. The king that is coming into Jerusalem. What is he doing? Why is he coming into Jerusalem? What's he doing? Riding on the foal of a colt because he's going to be on a cross in about four days. And so he has to begin this way. It wouldn't seem appropriate, would it, if he came in on the white horse. That wouldn't seem as appropriate as coming in on the donkey's foal because he is in a state of humiliation and he is going to gain our salvation for us at the cross. He is the mighty King. He is coming to save us. And this is the first description of our King. He is a Savior. as all kings are looked to, as those who will conquer enemies and settle things down so we can live in peace for the next 300 years. That's what kings do, or that's what they're supposed to do. And yet, you know, Jesus comes to establish perfect righteousness and a perfect kingdom and perfect peace for us. Have you ever been overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of your need of salvation? Has anybody ever been depressed? Has anybody been overwhelmed by discouragements? By despair? By sheer hopelessness? By the waves of guilt that come over you and the shame for your sin? And the intensity of your addictions? Have you ever felt that need for something? Some salvation? Something bigger than you? Something, a salvation that is so much bigger than your hopelessness. So much bigger than your despair and your sin and your addictions. You know you've come face to face with your inability to save. But now you know you need a mighty Savior and that Savior is the Lord Jesus Christ. I think one of the heresies that needs to be repudiated more than anything else in our day, is the heresy of the weak Jesus, or the plastic Jesus, right there in the windshield. There's a little folk song about this plastic Jesus, but this weak Jesus. In fact, the epistles do not refer to Jesus as Jesus, you know that? They almost never do. Maybe once or twice. But 99.999% of the references to Jesus is the Lord Jesus. The honorific title. He's not just my buddy. He's not just my friend. He's my mighty Savior. He has come to bring a salvation, I mean a salvation that's going to pull me out of the depths of the deepest hell and bring me into heaven. He's my Joshua. He's my Commander. He's my Great Savior. He's my Lord Jesus. He's the Anointed One. He's the Lord of Lords. The King of Kings. The Joshua Jesus. So be careful as you refer to Jesus that you're referring to the right Joshua, the right Jesus. Please, please, I plead with you, do not give way to this Jesusology that presents a Jesus that doesn't save. He can't set the captives free. He just sits there and says, don't worry about your sin. Don't worry about your sin. No big deal. No big deal. No big deal. Lift up your heads, O you gates. Be lifted up, you everlasting doors. And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? I love the answer given here. The Lord strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle. And this is the picture of our Savior. He's riding in. He has conquered sin. He's conquered death. And He's our mighty King. Number two, the Kingdom that Jesus Christ brings to us is good news. I want you to turn to Luke 8, verse 1. I want you to see this. I didn't catch it until just this weekend. But this is a powerful, powerful description of the kingdom of Jesus. It's described as the good news. The kingdom of Jesus is the good news. Turn in your Bibles to Luke 8, verse 1. You've got to see this, guys. Luke 8, verse 1. Jesus is going throughout the cities and the villages, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God and the Twelve are with Him. Did you see that in Luke 8.1? Now back up to Luke 7.20. This is where John the Baptist is in prison. His disciples come to Jesus. Things aren't looking well for the kingdom of God. John the Baptist, the great herald for this king, is in prison about to lose his head. You know, again, there are times in our lives in which the kingdom of God doesn't seem to be manifesting itself in its power and strength and so forth, right? There's times of discouragement in which we may be a little discouraged. And so the disciples of John show up and they ask, Jesus, what's going on here? Luke 7 20, are you the coming one? Or do we look for another? And now listen to this. And that very hour, he cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits. And to many blind, he gave sight. Jesus answered and said to them, Enough said. Amen? Pastor, what's going on here? Jesus said, look at this. Aren't you seeing it, man? Look at what's happening all around to me. See, that's what Jesus is saying here. Go and tell John the things you've seen and heard. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them. What is this? He's not just fixing hangnails, pulling slivers, collecting a little more offering for Herod's temple, and handing out aspirins for people who have headaches. He's emptied out the hospitals. He's bankrupted the schools for the blind in Galilee. Look at what is happening. The kingdom is here and the kingdom is now. That's why it says in chapter eight, verse one, he went throughout every city and village preaching and showing the good tidings of the kingdom of God. I want you to get a pencil or a pen and I want you to underline that word showing. In verse one of chapter eight, underline it. Showing. Aren't you tired of the political speeches? Come on, somebody say yeah. Aren't you tired of it? Is anybody tired of political speeches? And I will save the world by my education programs. The rhetoric, the utopian language of the philosophers, Confucianists and others, are you sick of it? Are you tired of the utopian promises of the campaign? People that run around telling us what they're going to do. Jesus' kingdom demonstrates it. Or it's not the kingdom of Jesus. I know there's a lot that pretend to be the kingdom of Jesus. But when Jesus comes to town, The blind will see, the deaf will hear, and the dead will be raised. You will encounter the power of the living God and the risen Christ. A hundred hallelujahs, a thousand amens. I love this kingdom. Has anybody done political stuff before? Let me tell you this, I love this kingdom. Do you love this kingdom? Amen. Okay, thirdly, this is tied in. This kingdom is a powerful kingdom, unlike anything you see among men, among the children of men. It's a powerful kingdom. 1 Corinthians 4, 20. I mentioned this two weeks ago, but this is an unusual verse. You may have to turn there because you probably didn't realize it was in the Bible. The kingdom of God is not in talk, but in power. Again, it's recognizable by the power. Why? Because Jesus makes his people willing in the day of his power. Psalm 110. Do you know how hard it is to preach, to obey the commands of God, to believe in Jesus, to have a whole new outlook, to receive the preaching and the teaching of the word of God to people who just are dead. Guys, it's impossible. It's impossible. And man always attempts on his own to accomplish the transformation of people's hearts and lives on their own. That's what Confucius was doing. Confucius truly believed that if you somehow give the person the right education, it would change his mind and his heart, and he could do it on his own. That's Confucianism. I spent the last eight weeks studying 4,000 years of the world in abject darkness. from the fall of man to the coming of Christ. In a little study I'm calling, Preparing the World for Jesus. And here's what I found. Here's the conclusion to 4,000 years of blindness. Siddhartha failed. That is, Buddha failed. Confucius failed. Chinese legalism failed. Islam failed. Hinduism failed. The philosophers of the Greeks failed. Every dynasty of Egypt failed. Every dynasty of China failed. The empires tried moralism, they tried human sacrifice, they tried hardcore bureaucratic, top-down, coercive, communistic oppression with the Qin Dynasty, and then the soft-core, socialistic, Swedish approach under the Han Dynasty at the turn of the millennium, and then they all failed. They all failed, they all collapsed. And most of these were tried before the coming of Christ, and they failed directly after the coming of Christ. In order that, Jesus would make the point that the Han Dynasty would fall, and the Roman Caesars would fall, and he would make the point in history that man would fall, his empires would fall, his ideologies would fail, again and again and again and again and again and again and again. Man would fail for 4,000 years until Jesus came and established a kingdom that would regenerate the heart, that the Spirit of God would do the work, transform the heart, and make the man willing in the day of his power. Praise be to Jesus. And you know, the cults are so powerless. I conclude the most distinguishing mark of a cult. I step back, okay, what is it? What distinguishes a cult? There are so many around, have been since the 19th century. For some reason, God has enabled the demonic influence to tear apart the Western world and introduce a thousand cults and so forth. So there's all these sort of makeshift, deceptive lookalikes to Christianity, kind of. You know what? You know what it is? It's the powerlessness of them. They are so powerless. The real faith, the real church is made up of people who are gathered around and saying, you know what? I don't care about the power of man. I don't care about the rhetoric of man. I don't care about the pretended facades that humans put together to make themselves look religious and make themselves look good and so forth. I don't care about any of that. What I care about is I'm here to see the resurrection power of Almighty God working in somebody's life. That's a true church. And the cults will fake it. They will fake it. And they'll be so powerless. So it's obvious that's not the kingdom of God. Now fourthly, this king also overcomes the devil. Look at Luke 11 verses 20 to 22. This is another wonderful illustration of the power of this king and this influence of his kingdom. And this is a very, again I am trying to find all the definitive clear passages concerning the kingdom of God, because this morning I'm trying to identify, I'm seeking it, as I know you are as well. You're seeking the kingdom of God, and we all do. So where is this kingdom? How is it operating? We want to know, don't we? Everybody here wants to know that. Luke 11, 20 and 21, beautifully presented here by Jesus as He has cast out the demons. They have accused Him that He's full of Baal's above and so forth. But in verse 20 of Luke 11, We read the words of Jesus, our Lord. If I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. And then he goes on, when a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace, and so forth. When a stronger comes, He overcomes him. He takes from him all his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoils and so forth. Jesus is powerful. Jesus casts out demons. Jesus overwhelms the devil. And yesterday we heard the story from representatives of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church's work in Uganda where the devil has done a powerful thing. And he has raked his claws over the churches there. And it's a horrible thing. But may I say, that wasn't Jesus that did that. What do we do? How do we react to this? We're grieved at the work of the devil. Yes. But we stand and wait for Jesus to come. Again, in faith we say, the work of the devil is not the kingdom of God. But God will come. The Spirit of God will come. He will do His work, and we'll identify that in the churches. Yes, in the Ugandan works, as well as the American works, we will see the work of Jesus. When Jesus comes, He crushes the devil. He destroys the work of the devil. Jesus Christ Our Lord crushed the devil on Fiji. Yes, those missionaries worked for seven years, and the devil had such access to the point that he set up the altar 20 feet outside the missionary house and sacrificed the live persons such that the stench was unbearable, yet, they said, the demonic oppression was far worse than the stench itself. from these human sacrifices and yet they waited seven years and the kingdom of Jesus came and crushed the devil and eliminated human sacrifice and the infanticide and the cannibalism. And friends, Jesus Christ's kingdom is obvious. He has come. His kingdom is here. His kingdom is now. And those of you in faith can say, look out and see in faith what He is doing in our homes, in our churches, in countries around the world. And we delight in the work of Jesus. He crushes the devil. You will see serpent blood in the churches. that Satan will not be able to divide and conquer the true church. He will not keep us in bondage. In the true church, we see the broken chains all around us. He has set us free from our lust. He set us free from the idolatries that have beset us. Not entirely, we're in process, yes. But we see these things, don't we? Now again, I'm hoping that as we have the purity of eyes, as the Holy Spirit of God enables us this morning, we will see the kingdom of God and delight in the kingdom of God. This is what the kingdom is. It's a kingdom of power. It's a kingdom that overcomes the devil, and it's a kingdom that is not of this world. In fact, it is out of this world. And what Jesus is saying here in verse 36, is my kingdom is not of this world. What he is saying is, Pilate, you will not be able to relate to this kingdom. You'll not understand it. All you can think of is people that run out and fight each other for ascendance, either politically or in military conflicts. You know that's what the kingdoms of men have done for 4,000 years. Big duh, that's what the kings do. But he says this is not that kind of kingdom. It's not of this world. It's nothing the world can relate to. And then secondly, this implies an absolute sovereignty. There's no competition between this king or this kingdom and anybody else in the world. Jesus Christ, our Lord, is far above all principalities and powers and every name that is named. He is on the right hand of God the Father Almighty. And, you know, again, no comparison at all. He's more powerful than a billion devils, a trillion Satans. You stack all the powers of hell up against God Almighty. Sovereign God. Get your thinking right concerning God Himself, and then understand that He's on the right hand of the Father. Our Lord Jesus on the right hand of the Father. far above all principalities and powers. Number six, this is a kingdom of truth. This comes in verse 37 of our passage. Pilate therefore said to him, are you a king then? Jesus answered, you say I'm a king. That's the way it's said in the Greek. You say I am a king, for this cause I was born, and for this cause I've come into the world that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who's of the truth hears my voice. And that's when Pilate said, what is truth? And he walked out of the room because he didn't, his was not a kingdom of truth. He had given up on the possibility of truth. But Jesus's kingdom is all about truth. In Revelation 19, what is the modus operandi of the king of kings and lord of lords? He rides out of the castle. What is he doing? Sword coming out of his mouth, and with it, he governs the nations. What is the sword out of his mouth? It is the word of God. It is the sharp, two-edged sword that cuts through the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, slicing through the thoughts and the intents of the heart. So that's it. That's the kingdom. It's a kingdom of truth. You come with a sword of truth, but you don't come with swords and bows and arrows and missiles and all the things the nations use to battle each other. No. Basically, it's a battle in the realm of ideas and truth. And that truth lived out in our lives. The Book of Acts, what is it? It's the story of the Kingdom of God. And what do we read? Again and again, Herod died, but the Word of God multiplied. The false believers, Ananias and Sapphira, they died, but then what happened? The Word of God multiplied. Now again, not impressive to Pilate. Oh, Bible studies going on in Jerusalem. A new kingdom. Yes, a new kingdom. Bible studies going on. The Bible studies are packed. The Word of God multiplies. Family worship every day, twice a day. 500 teachings of the Word of God in churches in Elizabeth and Albert County every week. 500 studies. of people coming together on a daily basis to study the Word of God. That's a strong indication that the Kingdom of God has come. When there is daily worship, daily in the Word, in the Apostles' doctrine, daily, and to the extent that it's not, we just step back and say, it's not the Kingdom of God. But as the kingdom of God presses forward, we're going to see that the kingdom of God is such that the word of God is multiplying. There's more of it this year than last year. There will be more of it in Elbert County next year and the year after that than this year. And the words of the king from Matthew 28, all authority is given to me in heaven and earth. Therefore, go out there, crush the enemy, Gather an army. Is that what it says? No, it says disciple the nations by baptizing them and teaching them to observe everything I've commanded. The devil will resist the teaching of the word for all that he's worth. You'll hear these words, don't do family worship today. You'll hear that. We don't have time, I'm too tired. I'm exhausted. How is it we get tired right around family worship time? Happens so much. Some of it's demonic. Some of it's fleshly. I don't know. I don't know how much of each of that. But you know that the devil does not want you doing family worship. Why? Because you're in battle. This is the kingdom of God. This is the critical time of the day. Will there be family worship? Will you go to Bible study? Oh, there's so many more important things to do. Oh, I already know all this stuff. All the ideas get in your way. Are you going to do family worship? Are you going to go to Bible study? Whatever it is, the Word of God multiplies where the Kingdom of God is vibrant. That's going to happen. This is very much the heart and soul of the battle. Number seven, He's a King who brings life. He's a King who brings life. And I draw your attention to Acts 3, verses 13 to 15. where Peter is preaching to the religious authorities in Jerusalem after he has released this man from the bondage of his crippled condition. Since he was, I think, 40 years in that crippled condition, Peter has exhibited the power of the kingdom in this very external way, in this physical way. And then Acts 3.13, we read, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus. So this is the explanation. God has glorified His Son Jesus whom you delivered up and denied Him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let Him go. But you denied the Holy One and the just and desired a murderer to be granted to you and killed the Prince of Life whom God has raised from the dead where we are witnesses." Imagine that. You killed the Prince of Life. Is there irony there? Anybody catch the irony? You killed the Prince of Life, and then God raised Him from the dead. God won. Life won. You lost. You released the murderer. You killed the Prince of Life. God raised Him from the dead. You lost. He won. Life wins. Hallelujah. For years I've grappled with the question, what is the heart of the kingdom? Is this kingdom about stopping abortion or resurrections? If an Islamic power took over America and eliminated abortion, would the kingdom of God have come? Is the kingdom of God about eliminating abortion or resurrections? raising the debt, true life, the bringing of eternal life and spiritual life. What is the most impressive part of this kingdom for you? Jesus is the prince of life. He's the king of the kingdom of life. He brings spiritual empowerment and spiritual life. The best part of the Christian family As I see it, what is it? What's the glorious thing about the Christian family? We get a front row seat as to the spiritual condition of our children because we are in relationship with each other. It's hard to fake it with each other in the Christian family, especially if you live a long time together. You don't send your kids off to boarding school. but you're living together for 12, 14, 16 years. And yes, it is in the family where we face the worst shocks, the greatest disappointments, the crushing reality of sin in ourselves and others when somebody turns, when that little boy turns to mom and says, I hate you, mom. or that brother turns to that brother and says, I hate you, I wanna kill you. There's a shocking reality of sin and the desperation of the human heart in the needing of the cleansing blood of Jesus. So there's something beautiful about the Christian family in that there is something shocking about the hypocrisies, the hatred, and the sin that lurks in the hearts of our children, and yet there's something so beautiful when the risen Lord Jesus Christ comes to our homes. And the transformations are amazing. They are real, they can't be faked, they are reproducible, they are sustaining, they are clearly revelational to us, and there's nothing that delights our hearts more than to see our children alive in Christ and walking in the truth. This is the most beautiful thing of the Christian family. Why? Because it's the kingdom of God on earth. Brothers and sisters, can you say there's anything you enjoy and appreciate more than to see your children resurrected and walking in the truth? Somebody say amen. Amen. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you, Holy Spirit of God. This is our greatest desire. It's our greatest delight. This is the best part of the Christian family because we begin to see the manifestation of true life, real life, sustainable life that's real and can't just be faked year in and year out. Finally, it's the kingdom that produces righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. You think that was the kingdom that Pilate was thinking of? Oh, the kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. You think that's what he was thinking of? Oh, no, no, no. He was looking for more power and more centralization of power, more bloodshed, more wars, more wealth, more decadence, more of an erosion of character that comes with more wealth and more decadence and more death. You know how it goes. You know how it goes. Over and over and over and over and over again. But Jesus came with a different kingdom. A real kingdom of life. And then finally, it's a kingdom where the subjects willfully do the will of the king. I've referred to this already, but others crucify the king, they mock the king, but not us, this is our king. And you remember the Apostle Paul then saw galloping down the road to Damascus at 100 miles an hour to kill more Christians and to persecute Jesus. Christ the living Lord on the right hand of the Father stopped him in his tracks and His very next words were what? Lord What would you have me to do? That is conversion Brothers and sisters young people. Are you listening to me young people? Can you bow the knee to Jesus today and say Lord I? What would you have me to do? That's conversion. And that is a change of heart and a change of will and a change of mind that is so dramatic that you will know if it has happened in your life. You will just say, Lord, what will you have me to do? Our Lord Jesus in Luke 6 says, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and you do not do the things which I say? It's a simple question. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and you do not do the things that I say? Our Lord says, I want you to love me and I want you to love my brothers. I want you to love my brothers and sisters as I have loved you. And here is an unlovable brother. There's so many problems in his life. Love him anyway. Forgive him anyway. Love him as I loved him and gave my life for him. Forgive him as I forgave him. He's just telling you something simple this morning. I don't know what it is, but he's saying, why do you call me Lord, Lord? Why are you praying, using the word Lord all the time in your prayers? But you don't do the things I tell you to do. You see, when you recognize this Lord, you will bow the knee and say with Saul, Lord, what would you have me to do? And the Lord said, I want you to get up and go visit this man and us. And that's what he did. And that's for us too. Amen. Let's pray. Oh Father in heaven, oh God, we delight in this kingdom. Ah, no better kingdom. Oh, we love every manifestation of your kingdom, the kingdom of life, the kingdom of peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, the kingdom of righteousness, the kingdom that makes us willing in the day of your power, the kingdom that has power in itself and crushes the devil. And Lord, we delight in that more than anything else. We delight in your salvation, God. Please bring your salvation to us. Set the captives free again. Raise the dead again and show your kingdom, Lord. So good, so good, so good. Let's come to the table now to remember the death of Jesus. I said it was the greatest event ever and we think of the death of Christ every Sunday. We'll speak of it more in the coming weeks. But let's come back to Acts 3.13, just for a moment. This is Peter's address to the Sanhedrin, or to the 5,000 Jews at the temple. The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus, whom ye delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go. But you, denied the Holy One and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses." These are great ironies, but an amazing message. God orchestrates these ironies, and He communicates them to us so that we will get them. This is something we need to step back and say, wow, what an incredible message. This is penetrating. To think that somebody killed the Prince of Life. I mean, think about that. They killed life. Or did they? Well, the answer is they didn't really. But they kind of did in that they killed the Prince of Life. But then God raised him from the dead. Pilate asked the question, what is truth? Truth was standing right in front of him. There's irony here, isn't there? There are blind men doing horrible things like Pilate in the Jews. But they're doing it in the very presence of life and light and truth. It's amazing. The stones which the builders rejected. That would be Jesus. In fact, they didn't want to use the stone at all. They didn't want to use it for the foundation. No, throw the stone away. God goes, gets the stone and says, this is going to be the chief cornerstone for the kingdom of God. And the one whom the Romans and the Jews would not save would be the only name by which they could be saved. And the one who they said on the cross, he saved others, let him save himself. was on the cross, for what reason? To save them. To save us from our sins. Great ironies here. Amen. I mean, there's a hallelujah in here somewhere. This is amazing kind of stuff, you know. This is really amazing. But the greatest irony of all is that it was by killing the Prince of Life that they could have life. but only if they repented of killing the Prince of Life. That's what was being said here in this passage. This is truly extraordinary, truly extraordinary. Peter goes on to say, repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. So this is the exhortation as we come to the table. Receive Jesus. Again, I'm encouraging you, turn your face towards Jesus. While others are running from the cross and mocking Him, stand around the cross, hold to the cross, and cry out to the Savior on the cross, save me. I need you. I need this blood dripping on my face now. that is dripping off of your hands, dripping off of your feet, I need this blood to save me and to cleanse me from my sins. So you see, this is what repentance is. Repentance is really to stop killing the Prince of Life, stop ignoring the Prince of Life, stop running away from Him or mocking Him or taking His name in vain, to saying, You are the greatest and most wonderful and most beautiful Prince of Life. You are my Savior. You are the pearl of great price. You are the one I would give everything in the world for. It is a change of mind towards the Lord Jesus. And then He'll send us times of great refreshing. This has been my prayer for this Lord's table for the last 24 hours. I've prayed for this table. That the Lord would make this table a time of great refreshing for His people. The Greek word is anasukos. Onosuchos is a recovery of life. It's like a breath of fresh air. It's like a spiritual oxygen poof on a 14er. I don't know what they call that thing. Taking a, you know, on the 14ers, you take a little oxygen It's a renewal of life that we'd be renewed at this table today. This is my prayer. I desire this so much that there be a refreshment of the Spirit of God that sweeps through here such that the joy of the Holy Spirit would shine in our body. This has been my prayer. And that we would receive the bread of life at this table, the bread and the wine representing the life that He gives us. May there be an anasukus, a repetition or a re-innovation of life and spirit in us at this table today. A refreshing wind of the Spirit of God in our lives at this table. This is my prayer. I ask that you pray with me concerning this. Father in heaven, we so desire this amazing, refreshing, life-giving sharing of the life of Christ at this table this day. Father, those who have not received much of the joy of the Holy Spirit, those who have not sensed their victory, those who have not appreciated the remission of sins and the forgiveness of sins that comes by your promise and by your Messiah and His bleeding and dying on the cross. Father, we pray that today they would receive this and they would be refreshed, Father, at this table. We come receiving Jesus, repenting of any kind of a negative attitude towards Jesus today. We embrace His cross. We say we love Christ. We love the new life that he gives to us by his death and by his resurrection. We pray, oh God, that you would pour this out upon us by your Holy Spirit. Renew us and refresh us in this time of refreshing today. Oh Lord, we rely on you for this. We reach out to you and we ask for this. In the name of Jesus, amen.