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If you would, open your Bibles
to John 18. John 18. You know, in our communion time,
as we commemorate and remember the Lord's death, we see that his suffering began
quite a bit before his death. And as we look here in this portion
of scripture, leading up to his death, we ask
ourselves, why are these things recorded for us? Why doesn't
it just simply go straight to his death? Well, as we read here
in 18, John 18, beginning in verse 28 through 40, it sets
the stage for exactly how wrongful, how unjustly our Savior was accused. And that truly, as we'll see,
that even the judge at his trial here, the governor, Pilate, had
to conclude that he was innocent. It's in, I think in Luke, it
says he makes that statement three times, I find no fault
in him, in Luke 23. And then he, even to the point
when Pilate understood that Christ was from Galilee,
or that he had ministered in Galilee, he decides well because
Herod has jurisdiction in Galilee that he would send him to Herod.
Which the passage here in John 18 records none of that. Doesn't at all hear about, we
don't hear about that here, but in Luke 23 it's recounted how
that when Pilate did find out that Jesus had ministered there
because Herod had jurisdiction there and Herod was in Jerusalem
at the time he decided to send him to Herod and Herod was of
course greatly rejoicing that he got to see Jesus and and he
had wanted to hear had wanted to have an audience with him
for a long time it says And Jesus said not a word to Herod. And even Herod then concluded,
along with Pilate, that there was no fault of death in this
man. So there's some of the reason
why these things are recorded to us is that in the civil authorities
who dealt with this trial and dealt with the religious people
who brought him and delivered him to this civil trial, that
in that day it was clearly made known that it was a sham trial
because Christ was repeatedly vindicated as being not worthy
to die. So let's read here in John 18
beginning in verse 28, we'll read through the end of the chapter. Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas
to the Praetorium and it was early morning. But they themselves
did not go into the praetorium, lest they should be defiled,
but that they might eat the Passover." Now this praetorium, if I'm pronouncing
it correctly, is simply the governor's headquarters. It's where Pilate
stayed when he was in Jerusalem. It was the headquarters of the
commanding officer of the Roman military in Jerusalem. Verse 29, 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,
saying, 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 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 he 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. So we look at this, let's think about in verse 28
when it says, then they led Jesus from the high priest to the praetorium. They led him from Caiaphas to
the praetorium to Pilate. Who are they? Well, we know even
in verse 35, Pilate identifies them, your own nation and the
chief priests have delivered you to me. Now, I want to just
go back to Acts 3. It talks about Peter preaching
there in Acts 3, he speaks about this as well. In Acts 3 and verse
13, verse 13 through 15, this is following the healing
of the lame man and so there was a great uproar about what
happened and many people were greatly amazed and they looked
at Peter and John as if they were some sort of miracle workers
and here's what Peter said in verse 13, the God of Abraham
Isaac and Jacob the God of our fathers glorified his servant
Jesus whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate
when he was determined to let him go. But you denied the Holy
One and the just and asked for a murderer to be granted to you
and killed the Prince of Life whom God raised from the dead
of which we are witnesses." And then in 8 chapter 4 verse 8,
Acts 4 verse 8, Then Peter filled with the Holy
Spirit said to them, rulers of the people and elders of Israel,
if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless
man by what means he has been made well, let it be known to
you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised
from the dead by him, this man stands here before you whole.
This is the stone which was rejected by you builders." You see what
he did here? He made it very personal. He says, this is the stone which
you builders rejected, which means that these builders were
none other than the rulers and elders of Israel. This is the stone which was rejected
by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is
there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under
heaven given among men by which we must be saved." I want to
just point out here in these two sections here, how that these
builders, these elders, these religious people, were the ones
who delivered Jesus to Pilate. They were the ones who were... It wasn't Rome that made the
arrest. It wasn't Rome that was instigating
this trial. It was none other than the so-called
people of God who were the builders who were the religious elite
of the day. They were the ones who were at
odds with Christ. Notice that in verse 13 of chapter
3 in Acts, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our
fathers, notice what he says next, glorified his servant Jesus. In contrast to how God was viewing
Christ was the religious builders of the day, the Jewish elite,
the Sanhedrin, they delivered this Jesus up and denied him
in the presence of Pilate when Pilate was determined to let
him go. You denied the Holy One and the
just and literally traded this holy one and this just one for
a murderer. Now we think sometimes that our
judicial system is a little crooked. This was the epitome of a crooked
sham trial. It was the absolute high-water mark of someone being set up to be
killed. This is what our Savior experienced. What does he say in John 1? He
says, truly he came to his own and his own received him not. You know, they did much more
than that. They did not just receive him, they rejected him. but more than that even they
arrested and falsely accused him and in Matthew 29 just gleaning
a few thoughts from some of the other passages on this in Matthew
26 59 it says this way in relation to when Jesus was facing the Sanhedrin
there at Cephas house. By the way we don't have that
account in John either. John does not point out or does
not give the narrative of Christ in front of the high priest.
He simply skips over that and goes directly to the one with
Pilate. But here is what it says about
when he was at Pilate's house, I mean at the high priest's house.
In Matthew 26 59, now the chief priests, the elders, and all
the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put him to death. They wanted to kill him but it
needed to look legal. Needed to look like it was legit,
so they sought for False testimony they needed to have some sort
of accusation to bring as we seen here in John 18 that the
first thing that pilot asked well what accusation do you bring
against this man? they had to have some sort of
something that they could bring to the to a pilot and they sought false testimony against
Jesus to put him to death. See in their mind they had already
convicted him, they just need a sentence, they needed him to
be sentenced so that they could have him killed. You know usually
in our court system we are innocent until proven guilty. here and
that was also the the Roman authorities were much more interested in
that as well they were also interested in proving someone's guilt before
they convicted them or before they sentenced them and that's
why pilot asked what accusation do you bring against this man
well we usually look for a criminal
who committed a crime. Here they caught Christ and then
they sought for a crime to put to him. They were looking for
a way to convict him and it says in chapter in Matthew 26 60 but
found none even though many false witnesses came forward they found
none but at last two false witnesses came forward and they were Saying
that this fellow said I'm able to destroy the temple of God
and to build it in three days and in another place It says
that even those two did not agree and so it was a it was a it was
a real Debacle and then also in Matthew 27 in verses 12 and
13 Now here the account is before
Pilate and while he was being accused by the chief priests
and elders he answered nothing. Then Pilate said to him, do you
not hear how many things they testify against you? But he answered
him not one word so that the governor marveled greatly. And as this went on, and Pilate
ended up coming back out, I believe that was in the Luke account,
he comes out and says, I find no fault in him. And they became,
it says in verse five of Luke 23, they became even more fierce,
it says. So Pilate said to the chief priest
in the crowd, I find no fault in this man. But they were the
more fierce, saying, He stirs up the people, teaching throughout
all Judea, beginning from Galilee to this place." It was just an
emotional hatred for Christ that was coming
out of them. And in Luke 23 10, also, it says
here, that the chief priests and scribes
stood and vehemently accused him." The language is really
strong language. They became more fierce and they
vehemently accused him. They were consistent in their
desire to kill Jesus and this desire was in their hearts Yet
they were more concerned about being defiled by entering a Gentile's
house than they were worried about or considering their own
animosity. Notice what he says, this is
an amazing thing is how that someone can be so preoccupied
with ceremonial and ritualistic protocol and justify the hatred
and the bitterness and the defilement of their own heart that's what
we see in verse 28 this is the this is a mark of dead religion
which is so focused on propriety rather than righteousness rather
than purity protocol versus purity and they wanted to there's some
there's some question about how that this could mean the Passover
here but they themselves did not go into the building of of
this pilot lest they should be defiled but that they might eat
the Passover there's some question how this could have been the
Passover if Christ and his disciples had eaten it the night before
And so there's some thought that it may have meant the eating
of the feast that followed the actual Passover. So that's just
a thought that I came across, that it was possibly referring
to the feast that followed the actual Passover lamb. So they
would not go in because they did not want to be ceremonially
unclean. And this is a great irony because
they were completely unclean already. And as one commentary
pointed out, that Pilate should have been concerned about having
his place defiled by these people coming into his house. So Pilate actually bent over
backwards here. He was the governor of this province
of occupied Israel here in Jerusalem. He could have said, well if you
won't come in and stand before the judgment seat here, you can
go back to where you come from. But no, he didn't. Pilate actually,
they went out, then went out to them. He walked out and accommodated
their piety, so to speak, and asked
them there, well, what accusation do you bring against this man?
So they answered him and said, well, if he weren't an evildoer
or a male factor, if he wouldn't be a wrongdoer we would not have
delivered him to you." I think Pilate very quickly perceived
that this was a matter of Jewish custom and Jewish religion and
that it was rather a religious question and he said to them, Well, if you don't have anything
to really accuse him of, you might say, you take him and judge
him according to your own law. Notice what they said in verse
31, therefore the Jews said to him, well, we don't have the
authority whereby we can kill him. We don't have the right to put
him to death. Romans have taken that away from
us. Capital punishment is no longer an Israeli right here. It's not right for the Jews by
Roman law to apply the death sentence to anyone. Because that is why they were
there at the first place. We want you to sentence him to
death because we can't do it. You won't allow us. to do it
and you see how he was prejudged in the minds of these Jews and
that he was just, Pilate was just simply being used. by the
religious elites to kill him. It is not lawful for us to put
anyone to death. Interesting that I want to just
point out what it says next. Well let me finish this thought
here. The Jews were admitting that
they were a captive nation. Right here they were admitting
that they were not under their own jurisdiction. They were being
subjected to the Roman law that you cannot apply your own judgment,
you cannot execute a sentence against someone that you've judged. Not in a capital way, not in
capital punishment. They were admitting that they
were not a free people. It is not lawful for us, we don't
have the authority for us to administer the death sentence.
And so they brought him to Christ. Now
notice what he says in verse 32, that the saying of Jesus
might be fulfilled which he spoke signifying by what death he would
die. What did Jesus say about his
own death? He said, in I, if I be lifted
up, I will draw all men to myself. Now, the lifting up of crucifixion
was a Roman, that was a Roman punishment, that was a Roman
sentence. The Jews, if they wanted to kill somebody because of a
breaking of a law, they stoned them. So what we see here is
that even in these, even in this, this whole sham trial we see
that God was in control and that he was going to die the death
that God had planned for him that he was not going to be stoned
under the Jewish law but that he was going to be crucified
he was going to be lifted up on a Roman cross not the stoning
of a Jewish sentence. And this that the saying of Jesus
might be fulfilled which he spoke signifying by what death he would
die. And so we see clearly here that
God was in the business of orchestrating this whole event, even as it
was led up before he was ultimately crucified, even he was involved
in the sentencing and making sure that his word would be fulfilled
as Jesus had said that it would be. signifying by what death
he would die. Then Pilate, he entered the Judgment
Hall again, called Jesus and said to him, Are you the king
of the Jews? Now in the other passage, I want
to make a point of this, the courage that we see here of our
Lord when he was in front of the religious people, When he
was with the Sanhedrin, they asked him this question, are
you the son of God? And he admitted that he was.
He testified that he was. He owned a fact right in front
of this knowing how hateful that would make them. That they would
accuse him of blasphemy by admitting that he was the Son of God. By
acknowledging the truth of who he was in front of the religious
authorities. Now, when he comes over to the
civil authorities, notice what he does here with the civil authorities,
with those who are in authority in the government. When he is
asked, are you a king? Think about the threat that this
would have been to Caesar. The idea that, okay, we have
a man who claims to be a king and that we should When Caesar
says there is no king but Caesar, that he is the ultimate authority,
here too then, when Pilate asked him, are you a king? Jesus answered
him and said, are you speaking for yourself about this? Is this
something that you're concerned about? Or did others tell you
this concerning me? I'm not quite sure why Christ
asked this question, where he says, are you speaking? yourself
about this or are you asking this because you just heard?
Well Pilate answered, am I a Jew? Am I a Jew? And the commentaries were pretty
much in agreement that there was a great disdain here. This question Am I a Jew? That I should be
concerned about this? Your own nation and chief priests
have delivered you to me." That there was a real contempt
here by Pilate in regards to this in verse 35. Well, To finish my thought there about
the question which as we come further down in verse 37, are
you a king then? Jesus answered, you say rightly
that I am a king. In front of this royalty or in
front of this civil authority he acknowledges that he is a
king. Just in the same sense that he acknowledged his Him
being the Messiah in front of the religious set, we see the
same courage being demonstrated here that Christ was very willing
to stand and testify of His true identity. So in verse 36, 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. My kingdom
is not from here. Now does that mean that his kingdom
is not here? No, he says, my kingdom is not
of this world. He doesn't say that his jurisdiction
does not extend to the world, but he says that the nature of
his kingdom is not from the world, that his mode of operation is
not the same as this world. And he proves it, that his kingdom
is not of this world, by the fact that his servants would
not fight for him. And not only that, we know if
we go back just a few verses, we'll see that he not only, they
didn't, he commanded them not to fight. He said, put the sword
up. And so we see that his kingdom
is not, it doesn't, the, is not increased or extended or prospered
by fighting in a physical sense that the weapons of his warfare
are not carnal but mighty through God and so he says to Pilate
if my kingdom were of this world Then my servants would have fought
that I would not be delivered to the Jews." And he makes this
point that there was no fighting in relation to the Jews capturing
him and bringing him before the judgment. Pilate persisted, he
said, 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." Now, this is a great statement. For this cause
I was born and for this cause I have come into the world to
testify of the truth, to bear witness to the truth. It is the
currency of heaven. the truth is and we see Christ
here suffering for the cause of truth he was willing to align
himself with the truth that there was no other agenda that he had
but to stand for the truth and I want to remind you of what
it says in Acts how that God glorified his servant Jesus remember
that that was the true state of affairs it didn't doesn't
matter so much about what the religious authorities were trying
to do but the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob the God of
our fathers glorified his servant Jesus that was the true state
of affairs Christ was willing to stand for that he was willing
to witness to that truth he was Uncompromising in the true reality
the true state of affairs as it stood and So we see here that
he says Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. There's an interesting passage
in Romans 15 in verse 8 where it says, Now I say that Jesus
Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth
of God. to confirm the promises made
to the fathers." You see here that he became a servant to the
circumcision for the truth of God. That was the mode of operation
was demonstrating the truth of what God was saying about the
Jewish people, about sin, about salvation, about the law, And
he says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And so when Pilate
said to him, what is truth? He had the incarnate Son of God
standing right in front of him, who was himself the truth. Pilate said to him, what is truth? And we have many people today
who are very interested. I believe if someone is truly
interested in what is true, that God may well have already been
doing a work in their hearts. Because if you have a true desire,
if you have a real desire to know what the truth is, I believe it's because God has
put a love for the truth in your heart. And that love for the
truth, as it says in, is it Timothy, I think? Having not received
a love of the truth in relation to the false teachers. But here,
he says, Pilate says to him, what is truth? I recently, a
friend of mine was talking to me, We had a lengthy conversation
about religion, about, you know, the important questions of life.
And he said, as he's getting older, one of the things that
was driving his interest is the fact that his children were becoming
older. He had, I think, two or three
children. And this man is prominent in our county government. this little girl, his little
girl asked them why they don't pray before they eat. Because
they just, their habit is to do it at Sunday lunch, to say
grace at Sunday lunch. And he was convicted and it was
like, he began to question himself, well what is really important?
What is really important in life? And so we had this long conversation
and I told him, Well, you need to go read the book of John. Read the Gospel of John. Just
begin at the front and read the Gospel of John. And I want to
ask him at some point whether he has taken up my assignment. But this is the heart's cry of
someone who is who is looking. I don't believe
Pilate was honest here in his question about what is truth
because he went out. He did not persist in his desire
for truth. He was just saying, maybe he
was just saying in a kind of a cynical way, well what is truth? I mean who can know truth? What
is the reality of life and all that it means? But I think this is where I was just
thinking about what Isaiah said this morning in the opening about
truth and the fact of what is important. The truth is all that
we have. And so when he went out again
to the Jews, he said to them, I find no fault in him at all. He was again, trying to get out
of it. He was trying to, I believe he
knew that, honestly knew that Christ was falsely accused here. And he was looking for a way
to get him out of this situation, but he did not have the courage
to actually stand up against the chief priests and the scribes. And we see in verse 39 and 40
here that this was, I think, a way that he was trying to get
Christ off the hook. He said, 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? I think it was in one of the
other accounts that he asked the people this, because by this
time there was a great crowd of people out there. And he asked
the people, Because truly, if anyone would have stood up for
Christ, it was the local people. It was the people who had followed
Him. But the scribes and Pharisees
had already circulated through them and said, hey, we want you
to ask for this robber, this Barabbas, Instead we want you
to ask for him then they all cried again saying not this man
But Barabbas now Barabbas was a robber We see here very clearly
that it was They were choosing and in a in
a in a sense this is a picture of the gospel isn't it a that
one who was guilty of sin, one who was guilty of a robber was
traded for the perfect son of God. That Christ in all of his
perfection went to the cross and paid for the crime of this,
was sentenced instead of this robber who was actually guilty. And we recognize here that the
crowd was crying this out. We want We want Barabbas released
and we'll see as we go further in chapter 19 as we go on that
it is indeed, it was indeed Christ that they
condemned and ultimately crucified. But let's ask this question,
what is this picture we see here? Have you and I, have you and
I ever been falsely accused? How do we relate to that? Have
we ever been... Those who, let's ask this question,
those of us who have, those who have been closest to us, have
they ever been against us? I think we know that we face
these things for the sake of the truth. Are we willing to
go through and follow this example of Christ standing for truth
in light of this great this great animosity that came to him from
the religious people. Well let's consider these things,
let's come before the Lord in prayer. Father we thank you for this
example of the Lord Jesus and how we recognize your great sovereignty even in this sham
trial, how that the people were against him but you You orchestrated
the events that Your Word would be accomplished from all of the
prophets and all of the prophecies of the past, Father. We just
marvel at how You're able to bring Your Word to pass. And Father, we just pray that
as we consider our Savior and the great trial here that He
went through, even before His crucifixion, how he was marked
as a criminal. Father, we just are humbled and
convicted. And Father, we pray that these
truths would ring into our hearts and we would consider these things
and pray that you would go with us and keep us for your own purpose
and glory. Through Christ we pray. Amen.
Jesus On Trial
Series John's Gospel of Jesus Christ
| Sermon ID | 72725165152916 |
| Duration | 42:48 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Acts 3:13-15; John 18:28-40 |
| Language | English |
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